I miss my kitties!

This weekend seems so far away, and I am so ready to get back to the cabin after being away from it for fifteen days. The weather was so bad this past weekend that we couldn't go home, which is why we spent Saturday in Chattanooga. I'm pining away for our three little felines who have not been loved on in such a long time. Josh's Papaw is so kind to check on them on occasion, and this past weekend he changed their water, filled their food dishes, and changed their litter. They will be VERY NEEDY when we do make it home.

Unfortunately, that will be Saturday afternoon instead of Friday evening. My standardized test got moved to this upcoming Saturday morning (because of last weekend's weather). I'll be glad to have it out of the way and move on to other things.

I start school tomorrow at Lee, and I'm looking forward to beginning my master's, but I'm not exactly looking forward to classes. I have School Law, Assessment of Student Learning, Middle Grade Foundations, & Technology in the Classroom. All in all, that amounts to 9 hours of graduate level classes. SO....if you don't see me on here often, then you know I'm balancing work, school, and family. I think I will enjoy other semesters much more after this one. It will be an informative semester.

I've had requests for more Disney pictures, so here they are!

We went to Beaches & Cream at the Beach Club Resort with Chris, Tricia, & Miley, and we shared....bum, bum, ba dum...

A Kitchen Sink!

It was delicious, and a fun experience. Look at this video on YouTube for a video of one being made if you are curious what all is in there.

The Kitchen Sink.

Stuffing my face.
All gone! It took 4 adults & a 2 year old.
Here's a size comparison. (That's a serving spoon.)
Beaches & Cream
That's about it for now. It's almost time for my nightly Bible reading. I've been visiting with Job for the past few nights, and I'm about ready for him to be healed! lol. At least he comes near the beginning of the chronological Bible so I get finished early. Reading Job has helped me not to pity party too much over the Hwy 64 finish date extension. I've been focusing on the positive and thanking God that I don't have do drive an extra hour each day every night.

Think warm...

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy! Read through to the bottom of the post to find out where this yummy goodness comes from!

Although I'm not wishing for spring yet, I am wishing for temperatures above freezing. I had time at "home" today since I'm off on Fridays, plus the center I would normally substitute at was closed today, and in addition I needed to get some studying done.

So part of my day today I decided to look through some Disney pictures to share with you.

This was from the very beginning of our trip to Disney back in November. This is the view from the Grand Floridian beach.

The entrance.

Me in front of their HUGE gingerbread house.

What's included in their gingerbread house.

Their Christmas tree in the lobby.

Pretty landscaping with poinsettas & white light deer.

A full view of the gingerbread house.

When we arrived in Disney the day after Thanksgiving, we headed straight to the Grand Floridian for our reservations at The Grand Floridian Cafe. We looked around for a while, and then we had a great lunch. Josh had the Cobb Salad - Diced Turkey, Bacon, Avocado, Bleu Cheese, Eggs, Chives and Tomatoes on Shredded Lettuce. I had the Grand Sandwich - Open-faced hot Turkey, Ham, Bacon and Tomato, with a rich Boursin Cheese Sauce and Fried Onion Straws. Our food was delicious, and our sodas were quite yummy too. They had added some kind of fruit syrup, like cherry, to them, and I loved it. Here's a link to the lunch menu.

Afterwards we checked into the resort, which I'll post more pictures of another day. I posted a few a while back. That night we ate dinner at Tony's in Magic Kingdom.

Now that I've taken a trip through warm Florida memories, I focus again on the present. They announced today that Josh & I will have until the end of March before we get to be home every night. Although that makes me exceptionally sad because we will be away from our bed much longer, and our cats are going to be even lonelier, the very good news is that during my night classes this semester I will be living in Cleveland, and won't have far to drive home.

Classes start next Wednesday, and I'll have 9 hours of master's classes. I'll be taking School Law, Middle Grade Foundations, Assessment of Student Learning, & Technology in the Classroom. Honestly, I'm not overly excited about taking any of these classes, but I know they are very necessary, and I will definitely be soaking up lots of information.

I'm going to spend time with Josh now. We were supposed to get up early tomorrow to go to UTC for me to take a standardized test tomorrow, but it has been postponed for the weather. We're still planning on a trip to Chattanooga. We're going to PF Chang's for lunch, Sam's, Hollister (Josh needs cologne), Victoria's Secret, & possibly a Goodwill or Samaritan's Purse secondhand store. I think I'm most excited right now about The Great Wall of Chocolate. Thus, the picture at the beginning of the post. It's not my picture, but it does a great job of capturing the deliciousness that will be touching our lips & tastebuds tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

Amidst pictures I need to post and words that have yet to be written, I figured it best not to put off blogging because I haven't found the time to catch up, but I should at least try to focus on the present and touch on the past when I get the chance.

As it is a new year, and I am looking ahead at the many adventures and challenges that 2010 holds, I'm reminded of a quote from Walt Disney (If it looks familiar, you've seen it at the end of Meet the Robinsons).

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”–Walt Disney

I like the idea of always moving forward. The past is a great place to reminisce, to learn from, and to think of often, but it is also something not to always dwell on. I like to think of a great future ahead, and what God has in store. After all, there's another well known promise out there regarding our futures.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I hope you have all had a Happy New Year. Josh & I have had a great night at home enjoying each other's company, resting, and doing laundry. I had cat nap earlier in the evening, a fantastic shower with some exfoliating scrub, and then I followed it with more pampering of lotion and cremes. My skin has been extremely dry lately, and it is a much happier epidermis now.

It's now time for bed because despite the nap, I'm still quite exhausted. I look forward to a day at home tomorrow of making jewelry, playing Wii, petting the cats, eating good food, doing more laundry, and doing a little bit of studying.

Bonnet Creek & The Castle

Blog coming soon

I'm so behind on blogging, and I hope to do some catching up next week, so stay tuned! It's been a busy rush since Disney with my preparing for a silent auction, Christmas program, Christmas parties, etc. I am home tomorrow, have activities in town Sunday, & then Josh and I will have cabin time from now until Christmas! I'm excited not only to be home, but to also finally be able to take time to download some pictures and post. So, if you don't hear from me this weekend, look for pictures next week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Praise God for His good works!

If you haven't followed this blog, you really should check it out. It has given me chills & tears to see how amazingly God has shown Himself through this family.

http://the30dayjourneyforhope.blogspot.com/

Deck the Cabin

Here's the evening pictures of Christmas decorations I promised.

As I told Josh the other day, even though we won't have a lot of time home to enjoy them, and even though we have had to put them up really early, I really wanted to fully decorate the house for Christmastime because I have never really had the opportunity to do so.

I was one of those kids that as long as I can remember I always tried to decorate my room for Christmas. Naturally, when I got married, I planned to do the same with my house. Last year we were recovering from the wedding & honeymoon, and although we got some decorating done, much of our decorations ended up staying in Christmas totes.

The homemaker in me cried out for justice! So, this year the house is decorated, and I feel very satisfied with my accomplishments.

My birthday gift from Josh this year was handpicked by me on our last trip to Gatlinburg. I found it in Craftsman's Valley. It's a real leaf that's been coated with precious metals. I thought it was great, and now it's hanging on our tree.
Here's our Christmas Village at night. It's my first attempt ever at a Christmas Village, and I'm sure with years to come I'll get a little bit better at setup, and maybe our collection will grow some. Right now it looks a little bit like a blizzard has come to Christmastown.

Just like any southern town, there's a church on every corner! lol.

The tree.

The front of the cabin. Josh did a great job!

I've had the opportunity over the few nights we've been home to get pictures of the cats under the tree. Awwwww! Usually within a minute or two of me being on the floor with the camera the cat in the picture has walked over to get attention, which only allows me a few shots.

Isis.

Homer.

Athena.

That's all I have for now. I have to go wash some dishes, take a shower, and head to bed. My Disney bags are packed & ready to go. We leave on Thursday evening after our families head back to Cleveland. My other bags are also packed so that when we head to Cleveland tomorrow we can stay in town a few nights before heading back up here.

Hope everyone has a great night! Remember to leave me feedback about what earrings to offer in a giveaway. And, if you didn't catch the post before this, make sure to check out what we've been up to!

Also, check out this blog http://muncksquiver.blogspot.com/ for another Christmas giveaway. The Muncks are great friends of mine, and I love reading about their lives! They've just recently taken a Disney trip. ;)