??Seriously??...

... I mean 'SERIOUSLY'?????

What we did on President's Day...

As Winston would say...  'Piscussting!'

More snow, yuck!  About five minutes after I snapped this picture it started snowing again.  And according to the radio, there's an 80 percent chance of snow through Thursday.  Ugh!  I'm hoping to skip out of here in a couple of weeks to go to South Idaho.  If this weather keeps up, I might not get to.  My car isn't set up for snow driving - Preston needs the Mountaineer to get to school.  It was so lovely last week.  Why couldn't it just stay that way?  Maybe next week will be lovely again - I'm a dreamer.

My sick baby.

So for President's Day, Winston slept on the couch in and out of fevers.  Preston went to join Keaton in Idaho at their friend Evan's house.  There was some crazy space game competition going on between the three of them - it's a teenage boy thing.  Tom had to work.  (He gets every holiday off except President's Day).  I puttered around the house, doing laundry and a little of this...

I've been wanting to try it, and the holiday gave me a day with little responsibilities so I took the time to do it.  It's faux stained glass.  It's just a piece of photo-frame glass.  I used glue - white elmers with black paint in it for the leading.  Then clear elmers to add the other paint colors to.  It was a lot of fun, but very time consuming.  Tom was impressed with it.  I was impressed that it took very little glue and paint to do it.  I'm thinking of trying another larger picture in the future.

A little of this and that - with LOTS of Pictures...

I don't usually like to post pictures of my beautiful self, but here's one for the record...

I spent an entire weekend making soups and cooking things to put in the freezer so making dinner will be a little easier around here.  I got called in to the principals office at work last week and they asked me to add a new responsibility to my workload.  They need someone to sub for the school janitor in the evenings - and silly me, I said I'd do it.  I can just feel more grey hairs growing.  Thank goodness there's only three months of school left for this year.

Here are the flowers that Tom brought me for Valentines Day.  I like how my glass humming bird looks like it's sampling the blue Hyacinth.  Every year he buys one of these arrangements for me in the greenhouses at the college.  The great thing about it is that I can plant them in my flower beds and the next year they will come up again, so I get to enjoy them every year.  I have quite a collection of them growing in my 'tractor tire' flowerbed.  The other great thing about this particular arrangement is that it was one of the last left, so they gave it to him for free.  That put a smile on Tom's face, and the flowers put one on mine!

Winston was doing some interior decorating the other day.  This is his tablescape for the kitchen table.  Don't know why we need Elmer's Carpenter Glue as a condiment.  Not sure what look he was going for with that one.  Maybe he just needed to add some 'height' to the structure.

Preston - on the job.

Preston has been working the track meets at the college.  Tom was bored yesterday, so he drove in and visited with Preston while he was working.  This is inside the Bubble on campus.  Preston's responsibility is to groom the jumping pits.  He seems to enjoy the work.

Here he is hard at work.  (Tom appologizes for the fuzzy picture.  It was kind of dark in the Bubble and the exposure wasn't set quite right.)

This is the college's lovely new statue of Butch the Cougar.  I love it!  It is really big, too.  His hind end is about as tall as I am.  I want to have our family picture taken in front of him someday - hopefully before the boys decide to move out.

Here is Winston sitting in the Captain's Chair.  He's driving the U.S.S. Enterprise.  He doesn't understand why we aren't that interested in being his crew.  Maybe because he's kind of a bossy captain.  He does have quite the imagination, though.  He even falls out of his chair when the Klingons shoot and hit his ship with their photon torpedos.

Poor Winston has been sick all weekend.  I'm a little concerned because he has a real rattley cough.  He's also had a pretty high fever off and on for more than two days.  We've had a few kids at the school come down with pneumonia from this cold.  Hopefully he will start to get better soon.  I'm spending Sunday home with him.  Thank goodness we have tomorrow off from school.

Keaton has again abandoned us for the weekend.  He drove to Idaho to spend the weekend with his friend Evan.  I'm sure they are busy playing Age of Empires until the wee hours of the morning.  It's  President's Day weekend, so he is having a nice long stay there.  Ever since he got the Geo, we haven't seen as much of him.  He's got his wheels and he's gone.

Okay, here's another one for the record.  It's my granny shot.

You can really see my grey hairs in this one!

Well, that about sums up our happenings.  Just waiting for spring.  One day it's warm, the next it's snowing.  Sure wish the weather would make up it's mind!

!!!That better not be 'MY' son!!!.....

The classroom where I work happens to be just across the hall from the K - 3 bathrooms at the Grade School.  As I was working with one of my 3rd graders on his reading, I heard a distinctly familiar noise coming from the bathrooms.  It was a hooting, hollering, shreaking sound, being made by a couple of kids.  In my mind I was thinking, "That sounds just like... wait a minute... THAT BETTER NOT BE MY SON!"

So I went storming out of the classroom and just as I walked up to the boys bathroom, out comes Winston.  I had seen him go in there about 15 minutes earlier before class started, and here he was, still in the bathroom.  I said "What is going on, here?"  To which Winston replied, "What???"  Yeah, the old 'What? I didn't do anything' ploy.  He was looking at me with those innocent baby blues.  I said "Were you screaming in the bathroom?"  He said "Yes." (At least he's honest)  I asked who the other boy was, and he told me.  Apparently the other boy escaped just before Winston came out and got caught. 

I dragged Winston into my room and gave him a stern talking to, then marched him down to his class and explained to his teacher what he had been up to.  Winston looked pretty embarrassed about the whole ordeal, especially with  his whole class watching as his teacher and I pow-wowwed about it. 

Yeah, I'm a mean Teacher/Mom.  The thing is, I'd do the same if it was any other kid that I caught doing that.  I don't feel I should treat my son any different for the same offense.  Okay, maybe I was a little hotter-in-the-head because it WAS my kid.  But I treated him the same as any other. 

I don't think he'll be doing that again... or if he does, he'll either think twice about it or make sure I'm not around to catch him!

Places We'd Like to See #4...

Ireland!

Keaton's Choice

Yahoooo... everyone in this house would LOVE to go to Ireland.  Maybe it's the Irish in us - both sides of the family.  It just seems like such an impressing place, the green fields and the sea.  To me even just looking at pictures of the place feels like home.  And it's right next door to my favorite Island, the old G.B. herself.

(southwestwalksireland.com)

It would be great to spend a week or more, just driving around to different parts of the island.  It would also be fun to visit an Irish Pub... just for the food of course!  Maybe even hear a folk tale or two from one of the locals.

storysuitcase.com

It would also be neat to visit all of the areas I've read about in this beautiful place - both for the geography and the biography.  Hey, even exploring the geology and biology would be fun, too!

I'm really glad Keaton chose Ireland as his ultimate place to visit.  After all...

He is my little Irish Leprechaun Baby!

?? Valentine ??

So it's Valentines Day.  I took some time to discover a little bit about where Valentines Day comes from.  Thanks to Wikipedia, I found some interesting things to ponder...

Valentines Day is on February 14.   In early Rome, 'Lupercalia' which was observed between February 13 through the 15th  was a fertility rite where a festival was held in honor of 'Juno' the Roman God.

In Ancient Athens the calendar period between mid-January and mid-February was called the month of Gamelion and it was dedicated to the marriage of the Greek Gods Zeus and Hera.

In early Christian times, there were a couple of Christian martyrs named Valentinus.  One was a priest in Rome who was martyred about 269 AD.  The other, Valentinus of Terni, was a Catholic Bishop at about 197 AD.  And a third, saint, who was said to be martyred in Africa.  One of the 'Valentines' is said to have been buried on February 14th. 

There is a midieval legend about Saint Valentine that says he was interrogated by Roman Emperor Claudius II.  It says Claudius wanted Valentinus to convert to the Roman pagan beliefs.  It also says that Claudius banned marriage to young men who served in his army.  Valentinus went against the ban, and performed secret marriages for the soldiers.  Evidently when he was found out, Claudius imprisoned him.  Another legend is that on the eve of his execution, Valentinus sent a note to a 'loved' one through the window of his prison.  That last one was provided by American Greetings to History.com.  Most of these legends have no proven historical basis - but make a good story, nonetheless.

Also during midieval times, Jeffrey Chaucer is recorded to have written about Valentines Day "when every bird cometh there to choose his mate."

And most of us know the Victorian significance of the day, being when Valentine cards first were sent out to those we love.  The rest is commercialized history.

Anyhoo... just found some of these interesting.  What are we doing for Valentines Day?  We're having pizza for dinner with heart-shaped pepperoni's.  Happy Valentines Day!

WONDER OF WONDERS!!!!!!!

Tom Baked An

Apple-Blueberry Chrisp!

And it looks Awesome!

(Hope it tastes awesome!)

(Preston's just in the picture for moral support)

Grandma Shop Finds... and Horsechestnuts!

My latest Grandma Shop finds included this cute little baby toy ball.  The monkey makes funny sounds every time it moves.  I got it for a quarter!  We have a toy room (actually Winston's bedroom) and I collect toys for all ages to keep in it.  This one will add to the baby toy selection.

I also found this beautiful ceramic Japanese doll.  I couldn't pass it up.  This one is for you, Mom!  She's coming with me next time I visit.  Too bad the bunny-ears behind her won't be coming with me.

Winston found a Horse Chestnut at school last fall.  He's been dragging it all over the house all winter.  He wanted to plant it in a planter, but I didn't have any handy so I told him he'd have to wait.  The other day he came back from the barn with this old planter and a bunch of old dead leaves in it.  He said he planted the Horse Chestnut and put it in the window to grow.  I think I don't have to worry about having any Horse Chestnut trees yet.

Incentives

Winston succeeded in our last 'behavior at school' deal.  He will be getting his new "Poor Puppy" book soon.  It is very surprising what my son will do when the right 'incentive' is dangling in front of him.  We've been addressing the issue of his very, VERY sloppy handwriting at school.  Part of the time his teacher can't tell what words he has written, and neither can we - it's that bad.  (Gets it from his father, hee-hee!)  So we made another deal (*cough* - bribe) with him.  If he can improve his handwriting at home and school for the next month, we will get him the toy of his choice (one stipulation - $20 or less).  And AMAZINGLY enough, his handwriting has improved overnight (so far).  Let's see if he can keep it up for an entire month.  You'll never guess what toy he wants to get (okay, maybe you can guess if you know my son at all)...

THINK SPRING!!!

Today when I got home from work I just felt blue... after spending 45 minutes out in the cold during lunch recess.  The wind was very chilly today.  So to cheer myself up, I decided to do something creative.  Banners seem to be really popular on the craft blogs lately, and I've seen some I really liked.  So I decided to make a banner for my piano - with a touch of Spring in mind...

I used images from the Graphics Fairy and printed them off on white cardstock, cut them out, punched holes in them and strung them up with my favorite blue satin ribbon.  It brightens up the living room and puts a smile on my face.

'Think' Spring!

 Just some pictures of my favorite parts

I think we are all ready for Spring!

Blah... and more Blah...

I haven't had much to post about lately.  Everything just seems to be going along as always.  Not much new to report.  I've had extra hours again at work and it's been nice to have a husband that picks up the slack around the house.  Winston has been struggling with his writing at school.  I think he's just being stubborn.  As a result we've been doing a lot of practice writing at home.  He's also reading 30 minutes a night to try to win Silverwood Tickets through a reading promotion at the school.  So far he's a little over half-way there.  Keaton is happy to have his Geo fixed again.  The headlights went out on it, so he was driving my car for a while.  I was tag-teaming with Preston for the Mountaineer during that time.  I'm glad to have my car back again, too!  Preston is really enjoying his classes, and he has lunch with his Dad almost every day.  Tom's ready for Spring, working on his lawn mower, getting it ready to go.  That's about it (told ya there wasn't much).  Just trying to keep away from the Winter Blues, blahs and more blahs.