Hip Hip Hooray!

Just a quick post, and then to sleep. If possible, I am even more tired than I was last night.

Praise #1: I received my MAT scores in the mail today, and I officially did well. My percentile for my intended major is 89%, with 88% being my percentile for the whole group. I count that as a huge success since the range of topics covered on the Miller Analogies Test is so broad. My scaled score is 430, and I really don't know what that means.

Praise #2: The Tennessee River Rescue clean-up went well today. I tagged along with Josh & his co-worker to help them with their set-up by the Greenway. Cleveland High School students, girl scouts, community workers, & helpful citizens all joined in to help clean up Mouse Creek. I even got in for about an hour & filled up a huge trash bag. I liked helping out & being a good steward of our environment. Everything from broken glass bottles to tires to a full-sized "Business Customers Only" sign came out of the creek. And, I got a free t-shirt.

Praise #3: I get to go to bed now! By going to bed now, I'll get close to ten hours of sleep tonight. I really need it to catch up from a busy week. Josh is exhausted too, so he'll also get plenty of sleep.

To all my friends & family who read my blog, I am still reading yours! I've been so busy & tired lately that I haven't gotten a chance to comment, but I plan to soon.

Have a great rest of your weekend!

*yawn*

Looking forward to the hot tub tonight! Physically exhausted would be the words to describe me this evening. My feet, legs, back, & shoulders are all very tired, and I after A-Team is over, Josh & I will be going for a much deserved soak in a 100 degree F water. Ahhhhh...

Why so tired? Well, with some extra time on my hands on Fridays, and a need to eliminate debt, I'm doing some substituting at another local daycare. I would sub at my own center, but since I'm already on staff as a salary paid director, it would not only not help financially, but it would also just be kind of weird. So, here I am.

I worked today in a toddler room from 7:15 AM - 6:00 PM. I told them I could work the whole day, and I sure did. Most of the time it's a drawback to have a substitute who can only work one day, but when that day is Friday...So far I've worked two weeks in a row, and I have two other weeks lined up. Good thing about working all day is not only do I get a half hour break, but I also have the option of clocking out for 2 hours in the middle of the day to have another break. Josh has been wonderful and came in early with me, and stayed over late as well. I'm only probably as tired as I am tonight because I overhauled it cleaning the room & toys. There was a case of flu in that class this week, and I felt the need to BLEACH, BLEACH, BLEACH.

Besides that recent change, life is pretty much going on as usual. I am almost finished applying for grad school. All I have left is to type up my 500 word essay, schedule an interview, & turn in my (negative) tb test. Then, I should be ready! My undergrad online class is going well. It's actually a little too easy due to it being an intro class, and my having already graduated with a bachelor's. I'd rather it be too easy then too hard I guess.

That's about all for now. It's time for the hot tub.

Catching Up

What's been up with me?


Well, I've been preoccupied with the applying for the MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) program @ Lee. I've done a lot of what I have needed to, such as getting fingerprinted, filling out the application, & the biggest headache, taking the MAT (Miller Analogies Test). Studying for the MAT has taken up a lot of my evenings & weekends, and I can finally put that random trivia in storage, since I took the test this morning. The people at the testing center seem to think that I did a good job on my "tentative" score, so I don't' have any worries about it. All I have left now is to write a 500 word essay, have and interview, & get a TB test.


Besides that, life has gone on as usual. I've had my annual physicals recently, and found out that I'm still healthy, although I need to work on my triglycerides just a touch. My doctors seem to think I'm doing well, and surprisingly none of them ever tell me I need to lose a few pounds (although I know better). I've stayed well most of the year, and my only ailments over the past few weeks have been allergies.


We've had an interesting month of expenditures between new tires for my car, fees for grad school stuff (application fee, fingerprints, & MAT), home improvement unexpecteds (such as needing to replace a leaky faucet in the bathroom), and getting our heat & air serviced (which included installing a new digital thermostat). With these things in mind & the extra time I find myself with on Fridays, I am now a substitute at another local daycare. I'll just be doing it on Fridays as needed, but I'm looking forward to the new experiences, extra cash, & enjoying being a teacher instead of director. With only one online class this semester, I can handle it. I'll just have to see how those evening classes wear on me next semester. I may find myself taking my Fridays back for study time.


Josh & I have worked around the house on projects. He's getting ever closer to having the back porch finished. We also helped Jenny & Jud last weekend as they moved into their new home. We were part of the painting crew, and as reward for our troubles we were treated to sausage biscuits for breakfast & Rafael's pizza for lunch. And, one can't forget the delicious chocolate chip cookies. Great Value has remarkably good cookie dough for a generic. Don't they have beautiful wood floors in the living room? My husband, the spackle-machine!
Life was crazy today at the center, so I'm very ready for bed. Rain & daycares don't mix, evident by the stir-crazy children & teachers, the plumbing issues created by copious amounts of rain, & the never ending germs, which resulted in calls from yours truly to send the poor little ones home. Hopefully tomorrow will be a much brighter day. Fortunately my disposition was cheery since I had gotten the MAT behind me. I'm going to bed now. It's 10:30 PM, and I want my 8 hours of sleep!

More silliness

How did these miss the silly photo post?

Taken in "England-land" as Josh calls it. (Disney's Epcot)
At the Ocoee Whitewater Center being "one with nature".

Labor Day Weekend

A summary of our weekend:

Friday -- I got to stay home all day while Josh went to work. He spent the evening at a friend's house for a fantasy football draft and was back home with me by midnight. I watched Little Black Book, Premonition, & TV. I also did a lot of blog hopping. ;)

Saturday -- Josh & I worked around the house in the morning, and by early afternoon we went to Hamilton Place. I got fingerprinted for my MAT application, and then I shopped at the Jack & Jill consignment sale for the center. It was lots of fun, and we even got a mobile for us to use in the future once we have kids. Josh went to Sam's while I was picking things out for the sale and showed up near the end to help me carry things. (Internet picture of mobile below -- only $18 at the sale!). After shopping, we ate dinner at Abuelo's. It was delicious!

The big project of the weekend was Josh screening in the back porch. His parents came up Sunday evening, and his dad helped him Sunday evening through Monday evening. The men worked outside, and I worked in the spare room, helped prepare food, & wash dishes. My biggest contribution to the porch was holding one board steady while Josh set it in concrete.

We used the Screen Tight system, and we're very pleased. The porch is 75% complete, and Josh is working on it little bit each night. We both have recovered from the weekend slowly since both of us ended up with a stomach virus. Both doing much better now.

While everyone bustled around, the kitties rested, and they had to put up with me flashing my camera at them. The funniest thing about the screen is that Athena does not like it. She hasn't quite figured out how to get out of the porch, and the first time she ran out the back door she ran straight into the screen. lol. Poor kitty. She'll figure it out after a few tries.

I think that's about it for tonight. I'm just catching up on the blog while Josh watches the Steelers/Titans game, and then I'm going to go wind down for bed. I'm not much for football, but I have a mild appreciation for the game since I end up watching it/hearing about it semi-regularly because of the men in my life. *yawn* My pillow is calling.

Feeling kinda silly

Sometimes I've just gotta be a little silly, so I thought I would post some of my goofy faces & poses from years past. Hopefully you can get a few laughs. Sorry if any of them seem grainy or out of focus. A few of these "gems" came from my cell phone.

Grooooaaaan! So heavy! Some may ask, did we use photo shop? Nope, I was in Pisa during Spring of 2004 (Part of a trip with Lee), and our group found a strategic place to trick the camera.

You know, they really shouldn't leave patients alone in the room...look what happens. (I was getting a breathing treatment for bronchitis.) (I got the cute earrings at a flea market for $5. They are made of thread on a metal frame).

Taken at my wedding shower at the childcare; I apparently needed a little more roughage.

Well, what else are you supposed to do in a Boston gift shop? Put on a funny hat & take a picture of course!

Feed me! Feed me!

I was tired & bored one day on a lunch break, and I texted my sister this funny.

GRRRRR! A moment of silliness while writing thank you notes after the wedding. Those are the little sticky strips that come off the stamp booklets.

I worked too long decorating for VBS for Outrigger Island that year, and I started to get a little loopy.

What the daycare director does when teachers leave dress up items in her office at Christmastime...(In the background, left to right, over packed bookshelf, plans & color samples of the now renovated center, bulletin board with training options for teachers, City & County School system schedules). And, oooh oooh! I'm wearing my cute Coldwater Creek snowman earrings.

I'm so "gansta" yo. It's a pillow, btw, and it actually reads, "Do not use for sleeping" on the tag. So I didn't.

MMMMmmmm...blue sno cone in Boston.

That's all the pictures I have for now. I'm sure there are more funnies out there but they are probably not scanned in at the moment or could be potentially incriminating (just kidding).

I felt like a lighthearted night on the blog. My week has been less stressful than last week, but I am still prepping for the MAT, fighting allergies, & balancing work with school. Little blessings have been that my two wellness checkups in the past week have been just that, wellness. I like being able to go to the doctor & them tell me I look healthy. BIG change from last year! Also, my BP is back to 110 over 70. So I have gotten rid of some of my stress...maybe.

In other news, Josh & I are screening in the back porch, which will be very nice to keep the bugs out of the house (mostly), and also not around the hot tub so much. I'll post pictures when we get a chance to work on it. He's healing up from his cold, although he still has a lot of drainage. I had orientation for my online class tonight, so I get to start reading chapters & doing homework for my Intro to EC class. I'm looking forward to a trip to McKay's this weekend. I have about $24 in credit from returned books. I was psyched today to find a great curriculum book for the center (as well as bunches of board books) while I was dropping off the other books that I got credit for.

I think it is about time for me to head to bed. Bedtime has been close to eleven the past few nights, and ten o'clock is sounding mighty fine this evening. Hope everyone has a great week!

Photo "Friday"

Dreaming of sunny beaches, as Mamaw & Josh's parents are in Panama right now.

Here's a flashback to the beautiful Laguna Beach in June 2008. We were at Florida Camp with Josh's church.