The Good Life

I'm feeling twitchy...

2011-06-24T17:51:00.001-07:00

I'm feeling twitchy right now. I can't explain it. It's not really anxiety -- I'm not worried or stressed about very much right now. I'm sad that one of my best friends is moving away from WI. I understand WHY she is going and I know that this is probably a very, very good move for her, but it still sucks. I'm just feeling lost in a lot of ways right now. Here are some of the biggest things to happen in my life in the past 2 months (or so)

1. One of my best friends was hospitalized because her kidney transplant (from 2 years ago?) failed and it was a very scary situation. I feel like there is more going on than I know (or need to know) and that's a really tough thing to watch someone go through.
2. I was screened for ADD/ADHD and from all the research I've done, it describes me. A light when on and I said, "Oh, I get it. That's me...that's me... yep, that's me too...." so I'm trying to learn more about what it means, figure out how to make adjustments to my daily life at home and at work so that I can continue to do my best for others without completely destroying my health or sanity in the process...
2b. My insurance company is moving at a SNAILS pace to approve further ADHD testing for me -- without the testing, there is no way for me to at least consider medication that might help my focus and short term memory retention. Which impacts item #2 and is starting to stress me out.
*On a happy note, I did find out more about why I feel physically exhausted throughout the day that is linked to ADD/ADHD...and I found some new things to try... so I AM trying... and that gives me hope for each new day. :)
3. My grandma died. She was 3 months shy of turning 98. I know what you're probably thinking... She was almost 98. You're 37. This shouldn't really be that big of a deal for you. Well, it is. She was my "step" grandma because my grandpa got remarried after my grandma P died in 1979. Since 1980, Grandma Barb has been part of my life. She's the only grandmother I've had since Grandma L died in 1990 and the only grandparent I've had at all since 1995 when grandpa P died. I had NO biological grandparents alive to witness my college graduation, my missionary trip to Guatemala, my seminary graduation, my wedding (even my grandma Barb didn't make it to town for that), the birth of my daughter... My grandma Barb loved getting letters and photos and would send nice cards and notes back to us. She loved yellow roses and one year for Mother's Day I sent her a bouquet of yellow roses to surprise her. She was feisty, smart, spunky. I have many good memories of fishing with her and my grandpa, playing "Skip Bo" at their house, watching football on Thanksgiving, family meals, etc. She was a wonderful cook who was up at the crack of dawn to get things prepared for meals. I just miss her. I didn't get to visit her very often once I became an adult but I just miss the fact that now I can't even SEND her photos of my daughter. The last thing we mailed to her was a homemade note from my 4 year old. She had taken a 1-800-Flowers catalog and (on her own) cut out some flowers and used a glue stick to put some on some white paper. I helped her spell out "Happy Easter" and then she wrote her name on both of them. We mailed one to Todd's grandma (who is almost 93) and sent the other to my grandma, along with the latest (4 year old) professional photos we had done in March. Some days it doesn't bother me as much to know that all my grandparents are in heaven, safe and sound and loved. Some days I miss them. All of them.
4. Well, my good friend moving from WI back to ID. She's been a good friend and could practically be a younger sister to me. She made moving back to WI from ID (where I only got to live for a year) suck LESS -- well, she and of course coming home to Todd! He was the BEST reason to move back! But the fact that she'd found a teaching job in WI, even 2.5 hours away from my house, was still good because I still got to see her and hang out with her. That was always fun. And I feel like now she GETS to go back to Idaho, gets to visit all our awesome/fun/terrific friends out there...and I'm stuck here. Nothing against my friends here in WI. I genuinely love you. I just miss my gang from out there a lot too. So now that 'link' is gone.
5. I'm not sleeping well. I haven't been for a long time, but it's getting worse. I feel like every time I go to the doctor, I've got something new to complain about. Not really complain, just report to him. He actually seemed almost "excited" that I am snoring loudly and waking myself up several times at night...because if it's sleep apnea, then there are possible treatments for that which could impact a lot of the other health questions that I have had lately. Oh joy. I guess it is something to be cautiously optimistic about, right? I think the lack of good sleep impacts not only mood, but energy level, eating habits -- everything. I'd like to get back to having more energy and feeling more "normal".
6. Usually I spend my whole summer planning out things for the next school year, getting some lesson plans/units planned out, etc. This summer I'm just feeling stuck. A little overwhelmed. This past year has been one of the most unusual for me. When I worked at St. P's, I had the 2 hours in the car everyday, rain/blizzard/sunshine, to listen to audio books, or music, or comedy, and have some 'alone time' (as strange as that sounds). It was a little TOO far and sometimes a little TOO stressful to do all that driving, but I loved my job, the people I worked with, the kids, everything. And even if I didn't feel like every subject that I had to teach was my "best", I learned and grew a lot in the process and genuinely felt like I did a good job. When I moved to ID, I was bursting with new ideas. Some which I could implement, some which were shot down...but I loved that job. I loved the paperwork/phone call/meetings part of being a principal. I loved the interaction with the staff (most of them... even the 'difficult' people still taught me a lot!). I loved teaching for part of the day. I loved the location. To give that up was really difficult but I didn't have a choice -- my husband was here and there was a job in a local Lutheran school here, so there was nothing to debate. The schedule at CLS was incredible my first year. Teaching the subjects I loved most -- religion, social studies, and reading! And technology, which is always interesting and fun. I actually had prep time of 30 mins/day! Once a week, I had an HOUR of prep time! I felt like I could keep up with things and life was pretty good. Well, there were other issues but I liked the new schedule. I didn't know how the could afford to give us the prep time... and it turns out, they couldn't afford it. After everything that happened last summer (I won't relive it here) and being thankful just to HAVE a job this year... I worked my butt off this year to keep up with everything. And I know that most of the other people on staff did too. For the first time in my career, though, so much of the structural part of the school's operations is not in place and it's exhausting as we keep teaching without a lot of that in place. We do the best we can and I think we're doing a great job... I'm just impatient.

Well, writing this out has felt helpful. It doesn't really matter to me if other people read it or not. If you do, I hope there is at least some little part of it that connects with you and makes you feel as if you're not the "only" one dealing with that issue.

Christmas Magic

2010-12-25T07:50:00.000-08:00

This Christmas might just be my favorite. Katie is 3.75 years old and this seems like just the perfect age. She asked Santa for a few simple things -- a Dora guitar (which she really had her heart set on), a Barbie doll, and a game. Some of these items, like the Barbie and game, were at the subtle encouragement of mom and dad since we'd already purchased a 7-pack "Disney Princesses" Barbies at Target for 50% off and we'd picked up Candyland and Mickey Mouse Yahtzee Jr. when they were on sale at Target too. We picked up the Fisher Price Little People Nativity set at Target too. I wanted to give it to her before Christmas but she ended up playing with my Nativity set (a wedding gift from Jon & Sue Schultz) and since those figurines are not breakable, it was fine.

Last night, on Christmas Eve, we checked her stocking and found that Santa's elves left her a whole bunch of goodies -- "Nemo" Pez dispenser, Tigger toothbrush, Princess toothpaste, Dumbo book, Ernie activity pad, socks, etc. She was so thrilled with all these "treasures". We left a big mug of Milk and two plates with notes -- cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. (Thanks to my bff Jodie for providing the treats!) Katie was so tired that she fell asleep before we got half-way through the "Dumbo" book.

Katie woke up around 7:00 a.m., which is sleeping in for her. She was cooperative for getting dressed (which usually doesn't happen when it's me getting her dressed) and she was so excited, but cautious, about whether or not Santa left any presents at our house.

The first thing that she saw under the tree was a huge package wrapped in Disney Princess paper. Her eyes grew SO wide when she realized that there were SEVEN Barbie dolls, that they were all Princesses AND that it included Rapunzel! (She & I had gone to see "Tangled" on Thursday. So glad we went, she was absolutely THRILLED about that Barbie doll!)

She opened her Dora guitar, which was very exciting -- until she realized that you can't actually "play" the guitar. Dora sings songs or it just strums so music. I think she was totally disappointed in the gift, but I think the more she plays around with it, the more she'll love it. We could've bought a "real" guitar for about $7 more than the Dora guitar... so maybe we'll think about that for her birthday!

Katie knew what Candyland was; she was also excited about the Micky Mouse version of Yahtzee Jr. We've already played 4 times and she beat me 3 games to 1! We also played Candyland. I think we'll be playing a lot of fun games in our future. :)

She opened the Christmas nativity set last. It was very fun to see how excited she was about her OWN Nativity set. Now she doesn't have to share with mom.

This is my favorite Christmas because everything under the tree was what she asked for...and so much more. She knew what she'd asked for but had no idea that a "Barbie doll" would be SEVEN Princess ones! She had no idea she would get her own Nativity set.

God promised a Savior for all Nations. Jesus is everything we could ever ask for...and so much more. Just when you think you've read the entire New Testament and things have already been covered, re-reading verses are new and fresh again. Perhaps that's why we know God's word is living and active -- it is never 'outdated' or inapplicable to our lives. The gift to ourselves is to remember the thrilling Christmas 'magic' of wonder, love, and appreciation for God's gift of Jesus, each and every day.

Blessings to everyone. - Tanya

Cousins Christmas 2010

2010-12-24T19:19:00.000-08:00

Connecting the dots

2010-02-16T21:41:00.000-08:00

I don't know about anyone else, but being 36 has been great so far. Honestly. Far better than I could've imagined. Do you know why? Because I finally feel like all the 'dots' are connecting. All the random things that I learned about in school since, well, about 1980 are fitting together like one big puzzle. It is actually really encouraging to feel that "A-ha!" moment when you realize something for the first time and it all makes sense now. Randomness isn't gone but it isn't the 'norm' anymore either. The song that kept going through my mind this a.m. as I was in the shower was, "I wish I knew now what I knew then, when I was older..." I thought about daily growing YOUNGER instead of older. The new wrinkles, small patches on gray hair at my temples, even the small aches and pains that weren't there before assure me that I AM getting older. However, I'd like to think I can keep a young attitude and spirit. Maybe the biggest blessing was having my first child when I was 33. Seemed so old but honestly it is keeping me young, I think. :)

Mardi Gras

2010-02-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

Today is Mardi Gras. It is making me think of Pastor Bat. I really miss him. His funeral was a week or two ago. Before the Super Bowl. He was from New Orleans and it was so neat to see all the photos from when he was growing up. I had a feeling that the Saints might win the Super Bowl and that would've just delighted him (if he even cared about football).

I also think of him because I'd never heard of a "King's Cake" until I'd met him and Christa. What a neat tradition. If I'd been thinking about it earlier, I would've baked one and brought it to school. I'm always disappointed when I miss those types of opportunities. Then again, I have to remember that God could be giving me another chance in the future.

Tomorrow starts Lent. This year, especially, it feels like Christmas just barely ended. I want to sit here and ponder the baby Jesus. To smell the hay (and other odors) of the stable. To think of Mary holding her tiny baby and treasuring up all these things in her heart. To think of Simeon and of Anna, waiting their whole lives to see the promise of a savior fulfilled. To think of hope, courage, love. To ponder how much God loved the world to enter flesh and walk, talk, sleep, eat.

I'm not ready to journey to the cross. Ironically, during Christmas vacation, I read Paul Maier's book Pontius Pilate and fell in love with it. The amazing historical and cultural insights I gained. It was as if I was looking upon God's plan and timeline with fresh eyes. Now that the time to teach this has come (at least for my 8th graders), I want to sit and rock a baby. Then again, when I started to teach about Pontius Pilate and the Passion of Jesus, I felt joy I'd never known before in teaching. I felt so filled with enthusiasm and life.

Ash Wednesday starts my own journey as well. I have set a goal of doing the T-Tapp workout during Lent. I'm so bad about being faithful to that workout, even though I know it works. I did so well with Wii Fit and then once I unlocked Advanced or Expert on the majority of the games, the interest leveled off. Sad, I know, but true. So I need to get some sleep so I have energy to do the T-Tapp workout. And then to really focus on the sacrifices that Jesus made for all of us. Sometimes it's overwhelming. Sometimes it's thrilling. Sometimes it just is.

I should be sleeping, but...

2010-02-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

I should be sleeping, but...

There's always something else to do, right? I spend the majority of my day on my feet, on the move, NOT in front of a computer... I spend my days talking, presenting, entertaining, guiding, parenting, helping, checking, admonishing... for ME, when I get home, the computer is a nice escape. Connect with other adults. Leave behind the stresses and frustrations of the day. Share the joys and laughter of the day. It is something I really look forward to.

For my husband, he works with computers almost every day. The thrill is gone. The last thing he really wants to do when he gets home is be on the computer. If he is on the computer, it is most likely to look up something to do with sports. I'm OK with that.

I should be sleeping but I don't want to. I want to write. I want to read. I want to think. I want to justrelax. I don't want to sleep. That's what the weekend is for, right? I love weekend naps. My husband never, ever naps. So weekends he isn't up late. It seems so opposite and crazy, but I guess that's how we make it work.

Best Sugar Cookies and Frosting -- ever.

2009-12-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

If you didn't hear, my first attempt at making Sugar Cookies from scratch this Christmas season did NOT go well. I used the recipe from Better Homes and Garden cookbook. I'd never tried that recipe before and I should've known I'd have problems right from the start. It called for equal parts shortening and butter. We had two (opened) cans of Crisco -- both of which were disgusting and apparently "expired" about 3 years ago. I don't think I'll ever forget the sight/smell. Ewwww. I thought I would double the recipe and apparently when you double it, there isn't enough sugar... because they honestly tasted like (what I imagine) baked play-doh would be like. Ick.

So I turned to my most reliable source for anything related to baking: My friend Beth. She is amazingly talented so I knew she's have a great recipe for me. She uses a Betty Crocker recipe. As it turns out (from talking to my mom today) this is also the one that my mom used while we were growing, with a few modifications. Learning from past mistakes, I decided that if I wanted more than one batch of dough, I would make one batch right after the first one instead of trying to double the recipe.

Here is the original recipe, as passed along from Beth (this is what I used):
Cream Together: 1 & 1/2 c. powdered sugar and 1 c. butter
Stir in 1 egg, 1/2 t. vanilla extract and 1/2 t. almond extract
In a separate bowl, blend 2 & 1/2 c. flour, 1 t. baking soda and 1 t. cream of tartar (OR, if you don't have the cream of tartar, use 2 t. baking powder instead of the soda/tartar combination).
Stir flour mixture into the sugar mixture.
Chill 2-3 hours or overnight. (I kept mine in the fridge for about 2-3 days because I got busy and didn't have to roll/bake them right away.)
Roll out to 3/16 inch thick. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake in 375F oven for 7-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

For my mom's variation, she uses 1/2 c. butter and 1/2 c. cream cheese. She uses 1 t. vanilla and no almond extract.

OK, no one wants to eat cut out sugar cookies plain, right?

I didn't want to make a powdered sugar icing because, well, that's not what I grew up with for sugar cut out cookies. I talked to my mom and she said she used buttercream frosting. Could this recipe be any easier? Honestly, why would I ever buy a can of frosting again??

16 oz. Powdered Sugar
1 stick of Butter
3 T. milk (add one at a time as it's mixing so the consistency is right)
2 t. vanilla

This makes about 2 & 1/2 cups of frosting. Wow, it was good. I couldn't find where I'd put the food coloring, so I saved some white frosting and I mixed some green colored decorated sugar into the rest of the frosting. I made cut out of bells and trees so the bells are white and the trees are "snowy" white/green. :)

These recipes were delicious, simple and well, obviously, fool-proof since I made them with great success. I gave K a bite of a cookie when they cooled and within 10 seconds, she came running into the kitchen saying, "I need nother cookie, mama!" Excellent.

Christmases Past

2009-12-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking about Christmases past...

1976 I remember getting an engraved angel necklace charm from my maternal grandparents. It's the only thing I clearly remember my grandma Elsie giving me. (She died in 1979).

1980 I remember getting a Barbie who was a ballerina -- she had a beautiful tutu and built in crown. I was thrilled.

1983 Cabbage Patch Kids came out and even though I was in 4th grade, my mom's coworker had connections to get a doll. It was a Christmas surprise because my parents didn't remember where they hid it and I didn't get to open it until we'd be done opening gifts for a while.

1988 I went ice skating with my brother and my cousin Sylvia at Running Park while my mom was working at Fairview Southdale. I slipped getting on to the ice and broke my wrist. As soon as mom got home, she had to turn around and wait 4 more hours in the ER with me. They called in my brother's bone doctor (from when he broke his leg) -- he was at Mass and had to leave. I felt so bad about that.

1996 I was living in Guatemala and we (the single female teachers) were invited over to a school family's house for supper at midnight. No lie. Midnight. It was SOOOO fun. I got to sit next to grandma. All she could say in English was, "I was born in Chicago." At dinner they served Mogen David (dessert) wine and grandma kept telling me, "Es muy sauve..." Ha ha ha... don't have to tell ME twice to drink that wine.

1998 I was living in St. Louis and didn't drive home to MN because I had to sing in the church choir on Christmas Day. One of my seminary professors asked what I was doing for Christmas and when I told him that I would be staying on campus (I lived in a small guest housing room at that point), he immediately invited me over to his home and said his wife would be thrilled to have another person at Christmas dinner. True to his word, they were both very gracious hosts and there were other Seminarians at their house as well. After a wonderful meal and wine, his wife played Christmas hymns on the piano and we all sang along.

2003 I had just started dating Todd. He was in NY visiting his parents (his grandma and aunt were there too). Heidi & I went to Cross View to deep clean the high chairs in the infant room and all the toddler room chairs that were caked on with old jello and all kinds of crud. It was just a nice, relaxing time.

2005 Todd & I were newlyweds. We had purchased a pre-lit artificial tree the day after Christmas the year before so it was very fun to decorate our home.

2007 Kathleen's first Christmas. She was 9 months old. She received a lot of books and accidentally slammed her thumb in a book. She cried a lot but was fine. :)

Wow, so many blessings throughout the years.

What's Cookin'? Christmas 2009

2009-12-23T21:32:00.001-08:00

As you may know, my husband loves to cook. Loves it. He honestly missed his calling -- he could've, should've -- been a chef. Since weather is so unpredictable in December, it's understandable that people don't typically make the trip from the Twin Cities out to Appleton for Christmas here. We (Ok, *I*) decided that it would be nice to make a big Christmas meal at home. We invited some friends from our church to join us for Christmas Eve eve dinner (ie December 23) but it didn't work with their schedules. So at the last minute (like, yesterday) Todd suggested that we email our friends Jim & Monica to see if they were free. Jim is Todd's former roommate, he was in our wedding and we've been to their house just about every summer for a cookout. It was long overdue for us to have them over at our house.

In case you're stuck for ideas on something to new or different to cook, here is what we were cookin' up for Christmas meal this year...

1 Turkey breast (just under 8 lbs) -- 325F for 3 hours. 2 cans of Chicken Broth used to baste. It was covered with aluminum foil. The most MOIST Turkey I've ever had.

Refrigerated Mashed Potatoes - 5 lbs of red potatoes, peeled all of them except for about 4. Slice to 1/2 inch pieces. Boil in salted water until tender. Drain water. Add enough milk to mash. Place in greased baking dish. Cut 3 oz of Cream Cheese into 1/2 - 1 inch pieces. Mix into warm mashed potatoes. Add 1/2 cup of Sour Cream and mix through. Cut 2 T. of butter/marg into 4 pieces and place on top of potatoes. Sprinkle top with Paprika. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour if not longer (up to overnight). Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350F.

Sweet Potato casserole - 4 or 5 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch slices. Place in greased 8 x 8 casserole pan. (I microwave them with some water for about 10 minutes). Add about 1-2 T. of Orange Juice concentrate. Sprinkle with 1-2 tsp Brown Sugar. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove and mashed as much as possible. Cover with mini marshmallows and allow time for them to melt on top (can place in warm oven for a while to help them melt if needed).

Stuffing - we used Sage stuffing from Stove Top. I didn't eat any of it but Jim and Monica loved it.

Orange-Cranberry Relish. This is so easy and one of my favorites. 1 orange (cut into 8 sections, keep the peel on). 1 bag of fresh cranberries. 3/4 cup of white sugar. Mini marshmallows. Using a meat grinder (I have the attachment for a Kitchen Aid mixer), place the orange sections through the grinder, followed by the cranberries. Mix in the sugar. Refrigerate and top with marshmallows just before serving.

Croissants - Pillsbury Croissants from a can. Easy but good treat.

Cran-Apple Pie Tart - Peel, core and slice 4-6 Granny Smith Apples. Place in bowl and add 1/2 c sugar, 1 & 1/2 T. flour, 1/2 t cinnamon, 3T lemon juice and orange zest for 1/2 a large orange (or 1 whole small orange -- I used the zest from part of the orange that I put in the orange-cranberry relish). 1/4 - 1/3 cup of cranberries (more or less, to your preference). 1 t vanilla extract. (I used 1/2 t. of vanilla extract and 1/2 t. of almond extract just because I had them both). Mix everything in a bowl. Heat 4 T (1/2 stick) of butter or margarine in a pan over medium heat. Place the apple mixture into the pan and cook over medium for about 10 minutes. On a jellyroll pan, place the pie crust. Spread the apple mixture on the crust, to about 2 inches of the edge. Fold the edges up and around the mixture (there will be about 3-5 inch circle in the middle). Bake in 350F for 30-40 minutes. So easy, so yummy!

Procedures, Procedures, Procedures

2009-10-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

OK, I may be slow... but I think I've finally gotten down the key to making things run smoothly (eventually) in my multi-grade classroom.

The key, as Harry K. Wong, would remind us all: procedures.

I spent an entire first week of school practicing procedures with my students. Who sharpens the pencils, who straightens the books, how we line up, how & when we pack up at the end of the day, how we are quiet when others are talking, etc. Over and over and over. To this day (week 8), some kids STILL sit down as soon as we say the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag, even though we have said the pledge to the cross and the student bill of rights for our classroom EVERY.SINGLE.DAY of school right after the Pledge to the American flag. Is it really that hard to remember? Seriously?

So now that I've been reading (and finally watch the rest of the Harry Wong videos about Effective Teachers), I decided to put it into action. The premise is that every day all of us follow procedures -- how/when to answer a phone, how to go through security at the airport, how to wait in line at the grocery store, etc. Classrooms are no different. I loved Dr. Wong's comment that you can start the year with 5 rules and end up with 100s of rules by the end of the year because rules are tedious and must be enforced -- who has time to police students all day? Procedures are the WAY we do things. No right or wrong, no discipline just simply the WAY we do things.

When I'm interrupted for the 2nd time by students having their own conversation, I look at them and say, "I'm sorry but the procedure is for ONE person to talk at a time. I am talking now. Follow the procedure and stop talking." Likewise, even though our student bill of rights states that they each have a right to hear and be heard, they talk non-stop while others are talking. When I remind them of the classroom rights, they ignore it. When I tell them about the procedure, they pay attention. It's a slow process but other teachers are noticing a subtle change in my group.

I admit that it's more annoying when I must do the same thing with middle schoolers... but I do it. It gets results. This will probably end up at home with my toddler as well. I may not say "procedure" but I will say "We do not do this... we do it this way..." We'll see. :)

2009-10-13T14:12:00.001-07:00

2009-10-13T14:11:00.001-07:00

This is why I LOVE teaching...

2009-09-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

So, I teach 4th-5th graders in the mornings from 8:30 - 10:00 a.m. and then again from 2 -3:15 p.m. This afternoon we were playing a spelling review game (Last Man Standing -- they spell 4 -6 words at a time, then they all stand up. I spell the word & they sit down if/when they get a word wrong...)

Anyway, one 4th grade boy said to me, "Could you be more pacific next time?" I decided to joke with him and say, "Yes! And then I'll be Atlantic!... and then I'll eat pasketti for supper!..."

He rolled his eyes and said, (dead serious tone), "You know, you're a real piece of work..." Hilarious. Sometimes I forget how much I love teaching. They days they litearally make me LOL.

I feel very blessed because the 6th-8th graders (especially the 7th-8th graders) are usually pretty laid back and willing to work without complaining. So I enough teaching them from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. each day.

I have to recommend...

2009-08-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

I have to recommend...

... iTunes Radio. Go to www.itunes.com. Install. Launch. Go to "radio" on the left hand dashboard. Go to "religious". Go to either Air-1 Radio or K-LOVE. Excellent music choices.

...www.pray-as-you-go.org. (You can also find this as a Podcast if you have iTunes). Short, 10 minute devotions from the Jesuit monks in Great Britain. Short amount of time but Very deep devotions. Love it.

...Channel 1107 on Time Warner Cable (if you have a cable box). On demand Exercise tv channel. Sadly, they no longer have Tai-Chi (which I used to love when we first got cable here) but I'm trying out Jillian Michaels' 30 day Shred1. Yeah, it's not even funny how out of shape I am but it's a good variety and it's only 20 minutes. I can push myself for 20 minutes at a time.

...a bike ride. I did not grow up as an athlete in any way, shape or form but my whole family rode bikes regularly. I have not stopped loving to ride my bike. Even if it's just a short ride around the block a few times with my daughter. For those of you with kids, this is the bike seat we have on my bike for Kate to ride in. www.weeride.com, then click on "Kangaroo Carrier". I LOVE this bike seat. I used a trailer when I was a nanny and I hated how there was always a 'drag' feeling to it. I was nervous about having her mounted behind me in a seat because it changes the center of gravity on the bike. I was nervous about having her sitting in front of me -- would I be able to see over her? What happens if I were to flip the bike? The truth is, she sits low enough that it's not a problem to see over her, she's wearing a helmet to protect her (and her feet are protected in the 'cup' things) and I love to be able to wrap my arms around her and talk to her while biking. Tonight she kept saying, "Sunshine, go night-night now. Moon, wake up! I go sleep and listen to Jesus (music)..." So great. :)

... Scentsy wickless candles. More about this later. I believe that Tina & I are going to sell this together because 1) the products are great (they had one going every day at Kathleen's old daycare in Idaho), 2) the idea of a light-bulb powered 'candle' around a toddler seems like better than having a candle(s) around the house, 3) they have plug-in (smaller) wall units, 4) I have yet to see ANYONE in Wisconsin with a Scentsy Logo on their vehicle -- so maybe we can be among the first people to sell/promote it here. (Unlike in Idaho Falls where I think 1 out of 3 cars had a Scentsy logo on it!)

... using Cash Only to pay for the majority of your everyday purchases. www.DaveRamsey.com. His books and CDs are on sale. Check them out, you'll never regret it.

... doing all my lesson plans on a Sunday night. Hopefully, less stressful throughout the week. :)

I'm too old for this

2009-08-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

OK, I realize that most of my friends reading this are not my age (35) but please bare with me.

I've always been the type of person who would rearrange the furniture in the room or move heavy items by myself without a second thought. No problems. Few aches and/or pains, if any.

I know that as I turned 30, the aches and pains were starting to catch up with me but lately it has been ridiculous. I wonder WHAT is wrong with me. I feel like every little thing that I do, I feel it and it doesn't feel good! Even a short bike ride -- I'm feeling it.

So, of course, I don't have the common sense to NOT push myself. I moved in everything (except the couch, washer and dryer) to my apt by myself a year ago. I moved everything (except the above items) out of my apt by myself at the end of July. I moved things into Tina's duplex and then lifted all kinds of things to help load the moving truck. I have been carrying and moving around all kinds of things at school. It's like I barely have a chance to rest and then I do more and more and more.

I haven't been to the chiropractor like I should. I was going once/month and that helped. I like my chiro here but she's always in demand and seems like she can't be inconvenienced to see me on a regular basis (actual quote, "Well, just make an appointment whenever you feel that you need to; I don't think I need to see you on a regular basis."). Yeah. My chiro in Idaho was great and he booked me every month to make sure that I didn't go too long and just 'live with' tension in my neck/shoulders.

I have not been sleeping well -- but what else is new. I have utterly forgotten how EXHAUSTING it is to teach a multi-grade classroom. SNAP! Teaching full time is hard enough. Having time to prepare all summer long is hard enough. But to do it with barely a week in town to prepare -- I'm worn out and feel like I'm running to stand still.

K is still doing great at daycare. She never cried when daddy dropped her off. She gets a little pouty with me but is getting better about going into the room without any drama. She didn't want to leave today (they were playing outside). Good sign.

Todd is still insanely busy at work. Or just insane. It's good to keep him busy or he will drive me CRAZY because he's bored and doesn't know what to do at work all day. No problems like that lately -- I'm so thankful for that.

I'm thankful for the 4th-8th graders at Celebration. They are a SUPER group of kids and seem to get my quirky sense of humor and enjoy being in my class. It's exhausting but I know it's worth it, too.

Night all!

"It's not enough to say"

2009-05-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

This is from a post that my friend, Audrey Duensing-Werner (a DCE in Kansas that I worked with at Cross View in MN) posted on Facebook:

"It is not enough for us to say: "I love God," but I also have to love my neighbor. St. John says that you are a liar if you say you love God and you don't love your neighbor. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live? And so it is very important for us to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. I must be willing to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is not true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me." Mother Theresa

Here is my reply and honest insight. I think this was a very timely post by Audrey as I struggle to love those around me who seem to serve, at this time anyway, to be nothing but a 'speedbump' on the road to change here.

"It's easy to "love your neighbor" -- at least the ones that you like and see eye-to-eye with; the true challenge is to work on loving the ones that you don't like, that are rude or disrespectful or disagreeable...(Did I just sum up jr and sr high youth group??)

Somehow if we assume that they are not a Christian then it gives a "good reason" to them for being that way -- they don't "know" better... but the biggest challenge is to love the neighbor that you know confesses to be a Christian and yet is so difficult to LIKE.

And when we fail, as we always do, we rest is grace alone. And we pray for another chance tomorrow to try and be Christ-like in our love for that person."

The truth hurts

2009-05-09T19:58:00.001-07:00

One of the hardest parts of my job is doing evaluations. Not that I can't find the good (and the bad) in each staff person at my school. They just have rarely had evaluations done in the past. The former principal was there for a year or more before doing evaluations. At that point, they were done every 3 or 4 years, I think and so the staff isn't used to being critiqued and told what they're doing well and what they need to change.

I always hated being evaluated, I'll admit it. Many times my evaluations were fine but sometimes they were so nit-picky that I thought, "Am I doing ANYTHING right?" I didn't want to just tell the staff that everything is sunshine-and-roses but I didn't want to nit-pick every single thing, either.

I tried to find a good balance of things that they're doing well and also some of the things that they need to change. I always think it's best to set some goals of new things that you want to do next year and things that you'd like to change. The problem is, the truth hurts. Sometimes people are so used to making their own decisions and doing their own thing that when we tell them they need to make changes, they get angry and resentful. I already was on the receiving end of that earlier this week. It hurt my feelings to have someone lash out at me for being (brutally) honest and doing my job. In the end, that person will not be returning so none of the suggestions and changes for next year mean anything at this point.

At what point do you decide to stop being honest, especially if it's brutal, to just crush someone's ego a little less?

I feel like I had to compromise my professional ethics in some way to give a rosier-than-realistic picture so that they can leave on happy terms.

I know that ministry is not like life in the 'real world' of business management. Even so, it doesn't make it any easier when someone who should be a brother or sister in Christ acts decidedly un-Christlike.

I am hoping and praying that our enrollment numbers are enough for me to come back to work here next year. We need the chance to chart a new course, with a smaller staff, and really repair years of decline and neglect (in terms of administrative duties) at the school. I know that God can and DOES do amazing miracles every.single.day so I keep that in my heart.

I was in a mild panic to think that our numbers for re-enrollment were so much below last year's enrollment numbers... but then I received a comparison and we're only about 7 students short at this point. It seems like a lot now but it gives me renewed hope that we can get to that level and, I pray, about 10 more so that there is no question that we can afford to open the doors to the school next year.

I invite anyone who is reading this to pray for Hope Lutheran school. We need a miracle and I know only one place to get it -- from God above!

Some answers...

2009-05-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

I went to my doctor on Wednesday because on Good Friday I had done an "insulin resistance test" (similar to what most pregnant women have to do to make sure you don't have gestational diabetes). My results came back normal for fasting, 30 mins, 60 mins and 90 mins. Then my insulin really spiked at 120 mins. So what does that mean? I'm not diabetic and not even 'pre-diabetic'. I'm considered insulin resistant, stage 1, so if nothing changed in the next 3-5 years, I could become diabetic. Fortunately, there is medication that I can start and this is considered 'reversible'. My dr believes that I'm genetically predisposed to this (my dad is diabetic) and that I have something called Metabolic Syndrome or Syndrome X (high blood pressure, high cholesterol and insulin resistance) of which all of it is reversible with medication, exercise (which I'd started doing more of) and adding more protein to my diet. He also suggested anti-anxiety medication because I've been so busy with school/work and taking care of my daughter by myself while we still wait for our house in WI to sell so Todd can join us out here. My mind has been going non-stop and it's been difficult for me to sleep at night. Little sleep + busy toddler + stressful job = lots of anxiety and little energy. So far the medication has helped me fall asleep faster and sleep better. Not a sleeping pill, just something that relaxes me and helps me feel more calm. Excellent! I haven't started the medication for insulin resistance yet but I have started more protein to my diet and it really seems to be helping. :)

I just want to encourage everyone who has questions or concerns about their energy levels, sleeping, eating to see their dr. Talk to him/her about it regularly. I tried to tell my dr in Wisconsin that I was exhausted, that I didn't sleep well, etc. He knew I had problems with my blood pressure and cholesterol, knew I had a high stress job and a child but never suggested the insulin test or put me on medication for anxiety. So after a year or so of really feeling like something was wrong and needing some options (I did a plan to change my diet and increase my energy and ability to workout in October but with mixed results). So I'm hoping that I can make some life-long changes one step at a time and these will have lasting results. I'm very encouraged with having some answers and some options with medication to help with the changes.

Pray-As-You-Go

2009-04-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

At our Administrators' Conference in Portland OR last week, Dick Weniger used mp3 devotions from www.pray-as-you-go.org for our morning devotions. Awesome. Very powerful stuff. They open with bells ringing, then some type of music (chanting, singing, African music -- you just never know), then a Bible verse/story, then a meditation, then quiet time for reflection, then a re-reading of the verses, then more quiet time and then a Gloria Patri. I can't wait to use this with my own staff. It's more moving than just about any other devotion that I've used in recent memory. Hope others will check it out. You can download it to your iPod or other mp3 player, or just to your computer. It's from a Jesuit group in England (so there are the great accents and everything) and I truly look forward to listening to them every morning. :)

The blog/FB connection

2009-04-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

So, apparently on my settings, whatever I type in my blog will appear as a 'note' on Facebook. Too cool. Or I could just post on Facebook because I'm way better at doing that than remembering to update my blog. Oh well.

"I burp"

2009-04-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

Oh, yes... today's highlight... I picked K up from daycare at 4:30 p.m. We went to the park across from daycare to play (we've never been at that one before). I taught her how to climb up the ladder arch thing (with my help) and she loved it. I had fun swinging and she was howling with laughter watching me swing next to her. We stayed for 30 mins and went home.

I put her in his highchair booster seat and she said, "'scuse me. I burp".

BWA ha ha ha ha.... I knew she started saying, "bless you!" after SHE sneezes (which is hilarious) but this is too much. I'm sure Todd would be mortified but it is really funny. At least she knows when/why to say "excuse me". :) YEA!

Twitter on, you twit... ?

2009-04-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

OK, do you Twitter?

I don't know why I signed up but it seemed new and cool but not TOO popular... Now, of course, it's being advertized EVERYWHERE for EVERYTHING lately...and, well, I don't really get it. People have entire conversations on twitter. I'm not sure how, really. I've aimed comments at a few people (mostly people Todd knows) but I wouldn't say I engage in actual conversations. So, what's the appeal? What am I missing? I must admit that I just find it to be a random update-stream of consciousness-Facebook status type thingy. When I'm really feeling random or really, really, really need to vent (but I can't on FB because it's about someone who may or may not see my vent on there) then I turn to Twitter. But I feel like a 'twit', really, because I feel like all these people are using Twitter for something more interesting and engaging than I'm using it for. What gives?

So -- fill me in on what I'm missing out on. Until then, I'll continue to randomly vent on and on... ;)

Technology Quiz -- How well can you score?

2009-04-26T21:42:00.000-07:00

At our recent Administrator's conference in Portland, OR we were told that many of the things we assume are "technology" in the classroom, really aren't. If you can find a non-tech way to do something, it is not really 'technology' in 2009. So, here is the quiz I will be giving to my staff to see if they really know what is technology (which, incidentally, our 'technology' teacher doesn't actually teach 'technology' under these new standards.... interesting...) So, how well could YOU do on this quiz?

1. What is TokBox?

2. What is Skype?

3. What is a Wiki?

4. What is a blog?

5. What is a netbook? What does it feature? How much does it cost?

6. What is a podcast?

7. What is U-Stream?

8. What is YouTube?

9. What is School Town?

10. What is a GoogleDoc?

11. What is SketchUp?

12. How do you log in to an interactive calendar? Which websites offer them (name at least 2)?

13. How is typing different from handwriting and how is it similar?

14. How is powerpoint another form of making a presentation? Can the information on a powerpoint be done with magazines, poster board, etc?

15. How is internet research similar to research in a book and/or encyclopedia? How is it different?

16. Is a Smartboard any different that using a whiteboard?

17. Which class is the easiest to integrate technology into? Which class is the most difficult?

Every Scar Tells a Story

2009-04-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today I did the children's message at my church. I decided to do something a little different for me. I had the kids sit on the steps and I stood with my back to the congregation. I think I was less nervous, or less distracted, that way and it went well.

My message was based on the Gospel lesson. Jesus visited the disciples in order to prove that he was raised from the dead and that he was truly alive and not some 'spirit' or 'ghost'. I took Kathleen's little pink glasses and put them on (which was comical since I have such a fat head) and asked, "Even if I wear these, can you still tell it's me?" (Obviously, they could). Then I put them on Kathleen and said, "If she wears these, can you still tell it's her?" (Same response). I told that Jesus appeared to his disciples to show that even if his appearance changes, he still is Jesus.

Then I showed them various scars on my arm. "This one is from when my cat scratched me in 10th grade...this one is from when I accidentally set a hot pan on my arm while a cook at camp... this one is from when I had chickenpox..." I pointed out about 6 or 7 total little scars from over the years. I asked if they had any scars. They all nodded and I said, "I bet you could tell me a story of how you got each scar too. Jesus had scars too. " Then I asked where his scars were and how he got them. I said, "Jesus was just like us, human. His disciples couldn't believe what they were seeing. They wondered if he was a ghost or spirit." Then I asked what he did to prove he wasn't one and they remembered that he ate a piece of fish (the Gospel lesson had just been read ). I said, "Would you believe that I brought each of you a piece of fish to eat too?!" Of course, all the adults giggled at this thought. Then I said, "No, just kidding. I did bring you something to eat but it's not fish." Then I handed out dum-dum lollipops and led a prayer.

I'd love to hear the stories that your scars tell -- and invite you to think of Jesus every time you tell someone about your own scar.

Random Thoughts about the world around us

2009-02-08T06:06:00.000-08:00

Rather than daily musings about my own life, my husband's life or our daughter's life, I wanted to make some comments and - perhaps - insights about the world around us.

*I know the economic 'downturn' is hard for almost everyone. But could prices really continue on the way they had been going without something like this eventually happening?
*It really irritates me that some of the people in 'foreclosure' were those who KNEW they couldn't afford the homes they bought. Meanwhile, we lived in and made improvements to our sweet little 1300 sq. ft. Cape Cod style 1920s home. Where is our huge home? Our entertainment system? Our Wii? Our stainless steel appliances, granite countertops and island? Our quiet home on a cul-de-sac? Oh, right. We couldn't afford it so we didn't try. We stayed in the home we could afford at the time.
*On a tangent, it also irks me when family on 'scholarship' have the money for cable tv and video game systems and bowling league and vacations but can't pay their tuition bills. Or help their children with homework.
*I think it's ridiculous to think of our 1300 sq. ft. home ever being worth $200,000. But if it were in S. Mpls or Edina, MN it's very possible it could be worth that much. Location, location, location.
*It's so frustrating that prices shot up so quickly this past spring and summer in the wake of high fuel prices...and yet now that fuel prices are 40-50% less than they were, the prices of groceries, clothing and other household items still remains higher. I understand there is a 'gap' between when fuel prices rose and when they could pass that cost on to the consumer, but this is unacceptable now.

Now on to the world...
*Rev. Dr. Harry Wendt of Crossways International (Bloomington, MN), an Australian Lutheran minister and teacher, has remarked over and over again that the only way there will be true, lasting peace in the Middle East (which, for all of you who are/were challenged in social studies, is technically 'southwest' Asia) is through Jesus Christ.
*He's not being some 'Bible banger'. When two groups are fighting, they often need a mediator to step in and work with them.
* Jesus offers forgiveness and peace. Both sides need to forgive each other. Both sides need peace. Instead of making their own interests the top priority, they could see the other side's needs and place them above their own. It requires a selflessness that our sinful nature makes it impossible to achieve on our own. Yet the Holy Spirit can work faith in the lives of both sides to make it happen.
*Don't 'pray for peace' in a generic sense. Pray for hearts to turn to Jesus and for His love and forgiveness to work in lives all around the world.

Next item: Fuel and the "green" movement
*Why is everyone acting like the 'green' movement is a brand new thing? Because now we're supposed to put our money where our mouths were, say, 30 years ago? I remember being in Girls Scouts, circa mid-1980s, and having it drilled into us that running water while brushing your teeth was bad for the planet.
*School House Rocks from the 1970s and early 1980s had a segment about the taking care of the earth. Of course, back then the earth was shivering because it was getting COLDER.
*When I was in the 5th grade (1984-85) we had to design and build an "earth friendly" home which included 1) a home built mostly underground, 2) solar panels, 3) greenhouse, 4) trees placed according to which direction/what function they were needed (ie evergreens to the north to block the wind, etc). As a FIFTH grader I did that. 20+ years ago.
*Note to self, it's not "global warming" per se. It's global Climate change. Just you watch -- that will be the new 'buzz phrase'. Remember you heard it here first.
*As a very wise scientist from my church/school has said, "If you study rocks, you will see cycles of cooling periods for thousands of years and that wasn't caused by 'man-made' activities. The earth does what it does with or without our help." She's awesome.
*The next 10-20 years, if the Lord grants it to our world, could be disasterous for places like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. As technologies change, I believe we'll get to the point where we no longer depend on fossil fuels. At all. Solar and geothermal power, along with some wind and possibly hydrogen/water (although it's always 'dicey' to depend on water because you never know the quality, condition or amount of it that you can depend on) will fuel our world in the next 15-20 years.
*What, then, does Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have to offer the world? Or Venezuela? Anywhere that is thriving because of fossil fuels needs to think about the impact of the 'green' movement. I am not saying that it will break many hearts, perhaps, when their 'cash cows' dry up or aren't in demand (as the current slow down in fuel consumption is a preview) but it makes me wonder how the lack of money pouring into those countries will destabilize them (potentially). Not that we should feel responsible for that or obligated to get involved when it does.
*There comes a point where we need to mind our own business. Unfortunately, fanatical people rob us of ignorant, isolationist peace. We find it heartbreaking and unacceptable when Americans are killed for someone else's 'cause' but we can't remain ignorant or isolationist and pretend that people aren't out to hurt us.
*Again, if the world has Jesus as their mediator...and were actually able to put another's needs above their own, we could mind our own business and not wonder or worry about what is going on in another part of the world.
*But we're sinful so even if we had Jesus as a mediator, someone would screw it up eventually because unless you work on love, forgiveness and selflessness every.single.day it just doesn't happen on its own. The sinful, natural self and the Holy Spirit-infused self wrestle night and day. As St. Paul wrote, (my own paraphrase, of course) "The good I want to do, I don't. The evil I don't want to do, I keep on doing." Wrestle, wrestle.

Moving on...
*When I feel like life is crazy, disorganized and chaotic you can see it two places - my vehicle and my home. My vehicle will have papers and all kinds of other stuff everywhere. Of course, all it takes to 'fix' that is to put a small laundry basket in the vehicle & put all that stuff into the basket before getting out of the vehicle each day.
*Naturally, though, that stuff ends up in my home. Right now I have the bare minimum of furniture because we're in limbo -- the house in WI hasn't sold so most of our 'stuff' is in storage there. They say if you have your stuff in storage and can live without it, you don't really need it. Well, I NEED that stuff! Most of it, anyway. So I have a folding table and chairs for us to sit at. A hand-me-down (basement) couch that some wonderful friends lent us. A rocker/ottoman that someone else lent us. Second or third hand dishes from my mom. A new bookcase that serves as a tv stand. You know, though, it's OK. It makes it harder to 'organize' things because it really doesn't FEEL like there's a place for everything...but it works for now. I also have a toddler who lives to 'un-do' all the things I've done, like folded laundry and books on the shelf. That's life.

Enough randomness for now. We'll wait and see how much was insight and how much was rambling.

Evil Elmo and more blessings...

2009-02-03T22:15:00.000-08:00

This is the true story of why I had an interesting day today...I had an interesting day because of my daughter and because of my school.

Being a single parent here, I've had to make some tough decisions about my schedule and my daughter's schedule. It never fails that if we're up and ready to go early (ie before 7:30 a.m.) & I can drop K off at daycare before 7:30, then I have meetings or something else going on until 5 or 5:30 p.m. I hate leaving her at daycare for longer than 8.5 or 9 hours per day. I know from personal experience at Cross View that those infants/toddlers who were left for more than 9 hours at a time just didn't seem to have the same quality time with their parents as the ones who were there for less than 10 hours. It's a tough balance here. I have decided that she will probably do better if I give her a bath, feed her some breakfast (oatmeal or yogurt, etc) and just take her to MY school each morning with me for devotions at 7:45 a.m. This week I have "door duty" and welcome the kids as they enter (and then stand outside and dismiss them when they're picked up at the end of the day). It's not as convenient to have her at school when I have door duty but the school kids seemed to love seeing her. I take her to daycare around 8:30 a.m. This gave me the chance to workout after school and still be able to pick her up before 5:30 p.m. (and beat the "9 hour" limit I've imposed on myself...)

After dropping her off at 8:30 a.m., I headed directly for the post office. Remember the Bible verse from Malachi -- pour out so much blessing there won't be room for it all? I saw that for real this past week. I asked the school kids to bring in beef jerky, peanuts/cashews, hard candy, gum and lotion/chapstick for my college friend Martha's younger brother in Afghanistan. They had one week to bring items in to school. We had 18 flat-rate boxes FULL of goods for the troops! Even the lady at the post office was surprised! I had to fill out 18 customs forms -- so I was at the post office for over an hour. But it was worth it. It was about $200 to mail everything, but again, God provides. We had extra money in our "Scrip" account and we'll be using that to pay the postage. God is good -- all the time!!

So, that wraps up the "more blessings" part... on to "Evil Elmo"...

K doesn't really watch tv. I bought her a Sesame Street DVD, thinking it would keep her busy while I make supper but she couldn't care less about it. They must have/do a lot with Elmo at daycare because she definitely recognizes 'him'. As a baby shower gift 2 years ago, a family gave us these little plastic bowls/lids with Sesame Street characters on them. It is on the TOP SHELF of my one kitchen cabinet. I swear she has hawk-like eye sight because she can ALWAYS spy it! And then she yells "Elmo! Elmo!" I showed her that there is only Tang-drinkmix powder in there. Of course, being a toddler, she dipped her finger in there a week or so ago. Ha ha -- don't do that again! So tonight she screamed for Elmo AND for the powder (ick!). I showed her that it hadn't changed. I had the lid off and it was on the counter -- I then turned to put laundry in the washer (which is in our pantry room, right next to the kitchen). Next thing I know, she had pulled the container OFF the shelf (?!!!?) and was 'eating' the powder! Her hands and face were covered in it! ACK!!! Not like it's poisonous but still -- it was EVERYWHERE. Oh that Evil Elmo! Tempting her to be naughty! So Elmo is 'hiding' on the very back of the shelf!

K has been struggling to sleep well the past few nights. I have tried everything -- Tylenol, Motrin and even some Benadryl. She has a green runny nose so I thought the Benadryl would help the most. Not really. I can't tell if it's just a cold, or if she's teething again, or if she's growing (which I'm guessing, since she's eating anything I offer her), or if she's having night terrors. It's so hard to know what to do for her. I finally realized that I should do what worked a few weeks ago -- I put her in her highchair/booster seat thing and tilt it back so she's sleeping at a 45 degree angle. I think that's helping her breathe and she's finally getting some rest.

Which is what I plan to (try to) do right now too! Night!

-Tanya

Inspiring

2009-01-25T21:41:00.000-08:00

"Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room for it." - Malachi 3:10

I noticed this Bible verse on the Christmas letter from Lutheran Island Camp (Henning, MN. www.islandcamp.org) and it totally touched my heart. They have recently done major renovations and have plans for new buildings and programs. This is the same camp that seemed like it was nearly close to shutting down and now it is thriving and growing. Awesome! The same is true about Concordia - St. Paul (my alma mater). They were in the midst of building new things on campus when I transfered there in 1994 but it has just florished ever since then. I am simply amazed.

I am a bit selfish, I suppose. I hope and pray that God will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out blessings like that upon Hope Lutheran school. (www.hopelutheranschool.org) I will feel extremely blessed if our house sells. I will feel extremely blessed if Todd has a job waiting for him here when it does sell. This Bible verse is so inspiring. Now it is my turn to put faith and trust in God and see how all His blessings are revealed.

- Tanya

Cold Remedy

2009-01-25T20:15:00.001-08:00

I don't know if you've heard about this recipe...and I don't remember where I first heard about it... but at some point in the past I'd tried it and it's not bad. I don't know that I could use it instead of cold meds but it is soothing and seems to help...

In a saucepan, bring 2 cups of Coca Cola (don't use Pepsi or generic) to a gentle boil. Add fresh cut ginger or powdered ginger to taste (I used about 1-2 tsp of powder). Let boil gently on med-high heat for 5 mins or so. Let cool slightly.

Sounds like fun

2009-01-25T19:45:00.001-08:00

My mom bought Kathleen a CD for Christmas, "Sounds like Fun". It is from Discovery Toys and has lots of educational songs. It is really good to listen to but, as with most children's CDs, it is so repetitive that it is nearly like water torture to me now! I go around humming the phonics ABC song and the 12 months of the year song... argh...

What is NOT fun -- my cold. It started as a sore throat. Then it was a full-fledged chest cold yesterday afternoon. A cocktail of expectorant cough syrup, Mucinex, coca-cola with ginger (more on that later) and, finally, Nyquil helped me get some rest and helped to break of some of the congestion. Still not fun though.

K has been having some cold/cough issues too. She doesn't want to sleep in her own bed. I can't figure out why. She's also been finding her Tylenol bottle and bringing it to me more often (obviously I don't give it to her EVERY time she brings it over!)... It does help me to know that she is hurting (sore throat?) so it's good she can communicate that. She's been sleeping in bed with me but she tosses/turns/thrashes around so many that it's not very restful for me. I am letting her nap and/or fall asleep in her highchair/booster seat because it reclines and she seems to fall asleep easier in there.

What is also NOT fun -- starting potty training. My mom said that I wasn't trained until after I was 2 years old; of course my little brother was born when I was nearly 2, so I'm sure that didn't help my situation! It took my brother even longer. Mom said that she & my aunt Norma had gone to pick up my grandma from the hospital, so they left my brother at my aunt Jan's house. SHE had him potty trained in one day there! Mom isn't sure if it was because he was around our older cousin Gregg or what. She was flabbergasted! I am taking Heidi's advice since she's been through potty training more times than anyone I know because she worked with toddlers and 3s for 10 years. I'm trying to get K to be aware when she goes wee-wee or 'icky'. I bought some training pants to use on the weekends at home. I had to go back and find the ones with the plastic outer shell so it won't leak all over. She definitely DOESN'T like it when she's wet. The next step will be to get her to associate going with sitting on the potty. We're not there yet. My plan it to let her wear the training pants and training/plastic pants to bed at night so she knows what it feels like to be wet. Then she can wear diapers at daycare. They DO have a little bathroom/toilet in the toddler room, so when she's ready they'll be ready to help her.

On to other things...
My apartment is a disaster. I confess it. I used to have plenty of hangers and now it seems like I don't have ANY. I am tired of my clothes being piled up everywhere so I bought some more hangers. We literally have 100 hangers at our house in Appleton but I figured that Todd wouldn't be willing to mail them to me so I just bought some more. Hopefully that will help get things put back and more organized.

I LOVE my Roomba iRobot vacuum cleaner. I absolutely love it. I cleaned up everything off the bedroom floors and let it loose. I don't know why, but as soon as I set it loose, I get more motivated to clean up the rest of the house. :) Yea! I did a couple of loads of laundry so I hope to get everything put away and then it will be time for bed. Ah!

What I could really use is rest. A good, dependable babysitter on the weekends to give me a chance to clean up around here or take a nap. Or, ideally, for our house to sell & have Todd out here to spend some daddy-daughter time with K on the weekends.

- Tanya

The secret to skating...

2009-01-22T21:37:00.001-08:00

Yesterday all of the K-6 kids from school went ice skating. I haven't been ice skating for a couple of years. I even bought (cheap) figure skates a few years ago but they just were never that comfy. My brother has suggested over and over again that I try hockey skates. So I decided to give it a try since I needed to rent skates anyway. :) Guess what! They aren't THAT comfy (either) but they ARE like rollerblades and I did manage to skate for 2 hours on them. I made a HUGE mistake -- should've worn long socks but didn't -- so I have some nice blisters, especially on my calves where the 'boot' of the skates rubbed. OH well. It was a GREAT time. :)
Some highlights...(Helping a 1st grader...)
(Almost being knocked over by another 1st grader...)

Daddy, Boppa, Grandpa Kathy

2009-01-22T21:25:00.001-08:00

Hmmm, Kathleen is quite the character. I know, what a shock. When I came back to ID after Christmas/New Year's vacation, I brought back some of our wedding photos. They are on the window sill in the bedroom. Whenever she wakes up in the morning, she wanders into my bedroom as I'm getting ready. Then she looks at the photos and says, "Daddy! Dada! Daddy!" Every once in a while I'll get a "mama!" but mostly it's all about Daddy...

She did talk on the phone tonight with grandma Kathy. Or, "Grandpa" as she calls all the grandmas. I said, "Oh, is that grandpa Kathy?" and she kept saying "yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" Soooo funny. She did manage to call my stepfather 'Boppa' (his nickname that his grandkids gave him) so that was fun for him to hear her saying "happy birthday Boppa".

I'm always shocked what she notices. She'll just burst into "Dada! Mama!" and I know she's noticed one of our wedding pictures. If she says, "Bucky!" she's probably seen a dog or photo of a puppy. She's so funny...

What wasn't so funny was tonight. I was trying to rock her so she'd finally go to sleep. She stoof up on my lap and let go of my hands. Then she'd point at me and say "1...2...no! Monkeys!" She is obsessed with "No more monkeys jumping on the bed" so I know she was trying to do this on my lap. Of course at one ponit she slipped and hit my face/nose with her head. She wasn't fazed but it honestly makes me wonder if I broke my nose! I'm going to my dr tomorrow to check on my blood pressure anyway, so I'll have him check it out while I'm there...

Life is dangerous with a Toddler, I'm telling ya...

Grown up names are for grown ups, right?

2009-01-16T22:56:00.000-08:00

Over the past three years or so, I've been going to a chiropractor on and off again about every 3-6 months. My chiro in WI is swamped with patients and never has a follow up appt scheduled with me. It's just 'whenever' I feel like I need to come in. She doesn't push any supplements or try to find my "energy spots" or anything else goofy like that. The routine was always the same. She has a rolling-pin-type thing that she rolls up and down my spine a few times. Then she'd crack my back. Then I'd roll over and she'd crack my neck on both side. Done. In and out in 15 minutes or less. $25 co-pay. Done. I knew it was time to go back in whenever my neck would get stiff and I couldn't turn it all the way to the left, or when I would turn my head and it would crack, or when I would get tension headaches. It's probably been close to a year since I went to Dr. Laura because I just haven't felt a big need for it (or I was in denial and just never went in). It's finally to the point where I'm experiencing all those things -- neck stiffness, cracking, headaches. I found a chiro here who has early morning appts so I can drop off K and go to an appt and still make it to school on time. They had to do X-rays on Wed for my first appt. He pointed out the same thing Dr. Laura pointed out in Dec 2005 when she took X-Rays -- one of the discs in my neck is compressed (I had a car accident in 2000 and one in 2004) and if not treated, it could lead to arthitis in my neck someday. Doesn't THAT sound fun...

My new chiro here did an adjustment and I felt SO much better right away. Unlike Dr. Laura, he scheduled a follow-up for today. Twice in one week? The only other time I saw a chiro that often was the other chiros filling in for her last year while she was on maternity leave -- when I fell down a couple of steps in our house and twisted my back before landing on my hip. (So graceful, I know!) Anyhow, the chiro here also recommended a therapeutic massage this morning before the adjustment because it helps with the adjustment.

I've had a massage before -- ONCE before, that's it. It was nice and relaxing. This one was like being put through a grinder. "Gentle" and "soothing" were not at all how I would define it! Yikes! It hurt. That's the point, I suppose. To work out all the knots and tension. Ouch!

When I was done, the chiro started my adjustment. No rolling-pin thing. Just cracks my neck and then has me sit on the floor and lean back over his arm/hand to crack my back that way (well, whatever, it works I guess)...

TODAY he says, "So, how old is your daughter and what's her name?" I said, "She's almost 2 and her name is Kathleen." He said, "Wow. That's a grown up name. You don't hear that often." Ummmm.... seriously? She will be a grown up someday! (God willing!) I said, "Well, that's my mom's name too but my mom goes by Kathy so my daughter goes by Kathleen or Kate or Katie." Did he think her name was going to be "Bunny"?? I admit, there are some names that I can't imagine on small children. But still... Goofy comment. In any case, I feel a little better today. I am going back next Friday for another massage/adjustment combo. It may not feel great but at least it's a little more proactive than just saying, "See you again whenever..."

- Tanya

Potty Princess

2009-01-14T18:58:00.000-08:00

A few weeks before Christmas, I changed K's diaper and then decided she might as well just take a bath (it was the weekend). I was chuckling that she was standing there completely naked and even said, "Hey! You're naked in the living room! Don't go wee-wee on the carpet!" Sure enough... she went wee-wee on the carpet AND on me (which made me yelp out of sheer shock!)... So I called Todd & we decided that maybe she was ready for a potty chair. I gave her tiny pieces of candy cane to encourage her to sit on the potty, just to get used to it.

Then we went home for Christmas break. Now that we're back, I went to the library and got a "potty" dvd for her. She was fascinated! Now she's not really ready to START using it, but she is signaling to me when she's gone in her diaper and she likes to go to or point to the potty, so she's starting to make the connection. Of course, the dvd shows how you can train newborns to "go wee-wee" on command (uhhh, really?! Why?!) & into a toilet (if you hold them, naturally)...or on the ground (double ugh...)...or into a bowl, etc. Yeah. That was a bit much for me.

So, she's a potty princess right now. Not the Queen of the potty chair yet, but we're working on it.

Oh, and by the way, I got a cute note from a second grader yesterday that said "Your the best princebull ever, Mrs. Jonson." I LOVE IT!!! :)

- Tanya, your favorite "princebull"... ;)

Bob the Bunny

2009-01-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

A couple of days ago, K kept bringing me her stuffed bunny and saying, "Bob....bob... bob..." I think she was trying to say "Hop" or maybe even "bop" but I thought it was so cute, I have now named her bunny "Bob the bunny" (nevermind the pink bow)...

Here is Bob:

Bob lives in K's bedroom. Since before she was born, actually, he has lived in a four pocket wall-hanging thing. In her bedroom in Wisconsin, it was hanging on the wall. In her bedroom here, it is tied to the end of her toddler bed. Bob lives with his best friends (all of whom are nameless but we're taking suggestions)... Teddy bear (again, dressed in pink, but I may call him "Freddy Teddy"), a "duckie" (we may name him/her "Kiel" after our buddies Jim & Monica, who gave duckie to K), and a "baby". These are all too cute because they have little 'slippers' on their feet! I tried to call the "baby" either "Sophie" or "Ari" after our newest little cousins but K gave me a look of slight disgust that her baby would be named after those newcomers. We're working on that... :)

Here is Bob's home.

Here is Bob & his pals being carried around by K:

Here is Bob being snatched out of his home (poor Bob, never a moment's peace):

We hope that someday you'll all come and visit Bob (and the rest of us too) here! It's never a dull moment! :)

Let 'em snore, let 'em snore, let 'em snore...

2008-12-27T20:22:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhh... How do I know I'm 'back home'? I can hear both my husband and my daughter snoring... ha ha ha! He's already apologized that she inherited his 'bad sinuses'. Well, I don't suppose there is much we can do about that. I'm anxious for the house to sell but I realize that once it does, if we're still living in our 2 bedroom apartment, I'm not sure where I'll sleep! I'm such a light sleeper, that I think I may be sleeping in the living room at that point. Not that I'm not used to it but I was just starting to enjoy sleeping in our wonderful Verlo bed again. I don't care what the Denver Mattress commercials say -- it isn't the best night's sleep I ever had! The first bed, with a layer of "memory foam" (which didn't work because apparently I keep my apartment too cool at night to 'activate it') was so horrible that I woke up in PAIN. The new mattress that I exchanged it for is definitely better -- but still not like our Verlo. I'll survive until the house sells. I just keep telling myself that. :)

I am looking forward to meeting our 'new' realtor. She is actually the 'team leader' of our former realtor. Not sure why but apparently she asked our realtor to step down from her job and she has taken over all the listings for their 'team'. She has 10 years' experience and we have a long list of reasons we weren't happy with our realtor, so I'm hoping she can turn things around in the next 30 days or I think we'll seriously consider going with someone else.

All the snoring is making me tired, even though my body still thinks it's 9:30 instead of 10:30, so I better get some sleep. :)

K's favorite things!

2008-12-27T02:40:00.000-08:00

Favorite thing #1 -- reading books

Favorite thing #2 - Puppet shows

Favorite thing #3 - Goofing around

Grandparents & granddaughters 2008

2008-12-27T02:38:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Tom with baby Sophie, grandma Barb with toddler tornado Katie

Cousins 2008

2008-12-27T02:36:00.000-08:00

Kate was NOT about to "hold" Sophie on her lap... so this was the best we could do... Bless Sophie's heart, she was so patient with her stubborn older cousin!!

Cousin pictures - Christmas 2008

2008-12-27T02:33:00.000-08:00

Todd & Kathleen; his sister Sara and her daughter Sophia. I found these matching outfits at Oshkosh outlet store in Seaside, Oregon while at my teachers' conference in November. Not really "Christmas-y", I realize, but seriously -- how cute are they?!

Kathleen has decided she wouldn't like to have a picture taken in front of the tree, thank you...

Family pictures - outtakes

2008-12-27T02:30:00.000-08:00

Ummmm, yeah. Either daddy's not looking or K's goofing around. And my mom made sure the Christmas star is coming DIRECTLY out of the top of my head. Brutal.

Christmas 2008, part one

2008-12-27T02:28:00.000-08:00

Here she is, playing the piano at grandma Kathy's house and singing some hymns with grandma too!

Running around

2008-12-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

In mid-October, my doctor asked if I would participate in an eating/exercise program (otherwise known as a 'diet' to the rest of the world) because all of the workers in his office (himself included) had already done the program and he was encouraging every one of his patients to give it a try. Not just to lose weight, but to make exercise an important part of life and to learn healthier eating habits. Geez, who couldn't use that, right?

I had switched to a low sodium diet just before that and was doing T-Tapp workout (www.t-tapp.com) just before this. I was really seeing good results but I knew it would be hard to continue the workout part with my hectic schedule. And while it builds strength and flexibility, I never found T-Tapp to build cardio endurance, so I decided that I would give this new program a try. I was supposed to start with 15 minutes of walking (5 mins slow, 5 mins faster, 5 mins slow) on the treadmill, then do some 'weight' training with soup cans (boring!) at home and follow the eating program. The workout room in our apartment's clubhouse has a treadmill with an interval program, so I followed some online advice -- start at 20 mins, then the next week do 22 mins, then 24, then 26, then 28 and then 30 mins. Once you've done the same speed/incline program for 6 weeks, 30 mins will feel comfortable so you can challenge your body with a higher speed/incline but reduce the time to just 20 mins (3 times/week) and then repeat the pattern of adding 2 mins each week... That was working well for me. I detest weight machines and working out with weights/soup cans, etc at home. So I came up with an ingenuis idea. Our clubhouse has an outdoor (covered with a roof though) hottub that is open year round. I could do my walking/jogging routine on the treadmill and then head out to the hot tub afterwards. The warm water feels GREAT on tired muscles and I can do three really good arm/upper body exercises out there. I use the bench in the hottub to do 'arm dips'. The water gives resistance but also makes it much easier than just trying to do them using a chair. Then I stand up and do 'push-ups' against the side edge of the hot tub. Again, good resistance from the water but much more fun than a regular push up or even a modified push-up against the wall! Finally, I kneel & pull my body in towards the wall, gripping the brick edging. I feel that in my lats. At my first check-in with the doctor (AFTER Thanksgiving! Doh!) I had actually gained 3 lbs (doh!) but I'd gained 4 lbs of muscle so he wasn't too concerned. He said, "At some point more muscle is going to burn off fat, so your weight will be going down." My biggest struggle is with the eating program. You're supposed to eat a balance of protein and carbs in the morning (biggest meal), then moderate carbs and more protein at lunch and a high protein/low carb meal for supper. Oh, with snacks throughout the day too. Ummm, 1) who has time to COOK all this specific stuff and 2) who has time to EAT all through the day?! Not me! So that has been a struggle! My dr said, "It doesn't have to be fancy. Find which recipes you like and have that every single day -- or every other day -- if you don't like to cook..." Yeah, easier said than done! I have found a modified plan that requires almost NO cooking that I can do every other day. Breakfast is a high protein bar like Balance Bar. Mid-morning snack is a FiberOne bar. Lunch is 1/2 footlong (turkey, lettuce, cheese -- easy to pick up at Subway) & some fruit like an apple or grapes. Afternoon snack (if I have time) is a piece of string cheese. Supper is 1 can of broth and 2 cups of frozen veggies. That doesn't sound like much of a supper but on a cold winter's night, it really tastes good. And it's minimal cooking. I've also been reading that hot cocoa can lower blood pressure, so I try to have some of that in the morning to start my day. Olive oil can counteract simple carbs and so I'm trying to add that to most meals. Grapes & soy have antioxidents that work well together so I have switched to soy milk (I can't drink/use Skim milk that fast anyway -- it often spoils or gets close to it in my fridge) and will try to eat more grapes. Small steps...

I needed new running shoes. I had some great ones right after K was born and I literally wore them out. The next pair (which I've been using for a year or so) weren't as great. I read about the Nike+ system online. A sensor goes into a small place under the shoe liner and another sensor attachs to the bottom of your iPod Nano. It tracks how many miles, time, calories, etc for runs. I don't consider myself a runner, but I do know that graphs motivate me if I can visually see my progress. You don't have to buy the special Nike shoes for the sensor to work (you can tape or velcro them to the tongue of any tennis shoe) but I found a pair I liked that were 40% off, so why not? I splurged for the Nike+ sensor kit since I already have a Nano. It is awesome. I loved it. I set out for a 3K walk/run and it was fun to hear someone say, "You've completed 1 K. You've completed 2 Ks...." etc. Cool! It's been hard to find a new routine when I'd been doing so well on the treadmill in Idaho. I never did get to the Bloomington high schools' gyms to work out with my mom when we first got into town. I did have fun playing the Wii with my in-laws but that's not the same. I experimented with our treadmill here yesterday but found it frustrating to continually be changing speeds and inclines. I finally tried out a pre-programmed option on our treadmill and I really enjoyed it. Now it's off to iTunes to download some new workout music. I used to walk/jog to audio books. BORING... then I switched to Johnny Cash (which is what I walked to this past summer for HOURS), which was much better but is definitely getting OLD... so I think some new music will help make it even more fun. :)

Oh, and we got a call at 9 p.m. tonight. Our real estate agent has been asked to leave her agency. Shocking. Not. She hasn't done MUCH for us at all. Her former partner, who has been an agent for 10 years, called to tell us. And to tell us that someone wants to look at our house tomorrow. So, we'll see. We won't finally meet the new agent until Sunday but I think it's important that I get to meet her because we're really ready to either pull the house from the market for the rest of winter or look for another agent! She seemed to understand and I'm hoping she'll do a much better job because I'm not willing to waste another 6 months with no results. Keeping our fingers crossed and saying lots of prayers tonight! :)

- Tanya

Home for the Holidays

2008-12-26T18:33:00.000-08:00

Being on vacation, it's easy to lose track of what day of the week it is today. Kathleen & I flew out of Idaho Falls last Saturday morning. There was a 40 minute delay and once we finally got on the plane, we were told that the Minneapolis airport was closed to incoming flights and it would be another 20 minutes, at least, before they could find out when/if we would be taking off. Truth be told, it had been such a busy, rushing week, that if they had canceled our flight that day, I would've been just fine calling Connie to come and pick us up again so we could have some more time at home in our apartment to relax. The pilot came right back, however, and informed us that we had been cleared for take-off in the next 7 minutes! Alright!

The man sitting next to me graciously moved up to the one empty seat in the front so that I could at least spread out with K on the plane. She never really sat in the seat but it did give us a chance to let her move more. She enjoyed her books and someone across the aisle lent us a ballpoint pen so she could 'write'. It was still a long flight though -- and it was only 2 - 2.5 hours. No crying, screaming or melt downs this time though. (Last time, the end of September, she had hand-foot-and-mouth disease and it was a NIGHTMARE flying with her!)

We spent Saturday and early Sunday at my mom & stepfather's house in Bloomington. To our absolute SHOCK, they actually subscribed to cable and bought flat-screen LCD tv's! Will wonders never cease! K slept on a blanket in the living room (on the floor), which she seemed to enjoy. Her highlights were running/skipping around the house, looking for 'grandma' (whom she calls 'grandpa'??) and playing the piano while sitting on grandma's lap. Too cute. Actually, she would sing and play piano. Adorable. :)

We had brunch with my dad & stepmom at Perkin's on Sunday. Took K a while to warm up because she was so tired and out of her routine. Our car (ie my Honda Civic EX that Todd has been driving) died on our way to Perkins. ARGH. Of course, it was -33 windchill outside, so we're hoping THAT was the main reason for the problem. We went to Q.Cumbers for supper with mom & Dewey on Sunday evening. Always really good food & tons of fresh veggies & fruit for Todd to pick from. Yea!

We spent Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday at my in-laws' house. We finally got to meet Todd's niece, Sophia, who is now 2 months old. She is adorable. I can't decide -- sometimes she looks like mommy, sometimes like her daddy. She is a very sweet baby. K didn't find her so adorable, especially when mommy was paying attention to her. Yikes! But she didn't seem too bothered to be sharing grandma and grandpa with Sophie. She was very entertaining and kept saying, "grandpa...grandpa..." and, of course, if grandpa didn't respond, she'd say "grandpa!" louder! Toooooo cute! We played many different games on the "Wii", with me finally able to win one or two games of bowling and my mother-in-law winning one too. The final verdict -- bowling is fun, tennis is too confusing (but fun), lawn darts/horseshoes/darts were just TOO different from real life to be easy to play. I also did some of the Wii Fit & that was a fun change of pace. Maybe I'll stick to my treadmill work out though...

We met my brother at Joe Senser's in Bloomington on the 23rd. Some people from my graduating class were supposed to meet there but I think it was almost all guys -- and no offense, but I didn't recognize ANY of them! Even from their pictures on Facebook! So we just decided to have supper with Ken and have a good time while my in-law's had quality time with K at their home. Ahhhh, relaxing! I highly recommend the black & blue tenderloin (Ken had that) and a Purple People Drinker (aka "Purple Rain" at Garcia's for all my Idaho friends) -- yum!

We drove back home to Appleton on Christmas Eve. The roads were bad and the snow was light but consistent. Ugh. We still made pretty decent time though. There was a mountain of snow in our driveway when we got back. We're SO thankful to have a new snowblower! Todd would STILL be out there shoveling if we didn't!! K & I ran to get groceries while Todd got rid of the snow on the driveway. Once we had everything we needed, we got dressed & drove an hour up to St. Paul's in Luxemburg for the Christmas eve service. It was neat to see the progress on the new school and to see my former students, some of the parents and my former co-workers. How fun! Those types of 'mini-reunions' always make me think it is a preview of heaven -- so happy to see each other again. The service was missing about half the school; perhaps they will finally see that holding the service on Christmas Eve just isn't a good option anymore when more & more of the school kids aren't members at that church. You never know.

Being home again has been bittersweet. It has felt really great to be 'home'. It has made me realize just how much Kathleen has grown to see her walking, talking and getting into everything around the house. It's a little surreal. She seems like such a 'big girl' now!

We slept in on Christmas morning and then Todd & I worked hard to make a homemade meal while K napped on Christmas day. It was WONDERFUL and very delicious. I also ran out to the storage unit to look for my old winter jacket and boots. I found the coffee maker (Todd wanted that), found the small saute pan -- the handle had cracked on it! It's an expensive one from Pampered Chef...so glad they have a "Lifetime Guarantee" on that! I'll be sending that back for a new one! And, sadly, our beautiful Longaberger Pasta bowl was broken as well! I don't know what happened -- if something heavy was set on that box or if it was broken on the trip out to storage. ARGH. I have learned, though, that's life and there's no use being upset or angry about it. It happens. We'll just have to save up for a replacement someday. I'm sad that it was the Eggplant (purple) color that's discontinued...but it happens. After spending an hour or so going through almost EVERY box in storage, I finally came home (with some items that I planned to mail to myself in Idaho). There was a big box in the garage. I started digging through it and TA-DA! THERE were my boots and jacket! I knew I had put them in a box in the garage so they'd be easy for Todd to find if I needed them! Doh! I guess he didn't really dig through that box. Oh well. The lost has been found! And it's on the way to Idaho as we speak! :)

As nice as it's been to be 'home' again -- I am still anxious for the house to sell. It would be a huge burden off of us. It would be strange not to be able to come "home" to Appleton because I really have missed it... but at the same time, I'm really missing Idaho Falls as well. My brother said, "If I win the lottery, you can quit your jobs and move back home to Minnesota." Todd was fully in favor of that. I was more hesitant because I really love my job and like being in Idaho. Yes, not that convenient to have no family out there -- but new friends have gone above and beyond and it's feeling like home there too. I'm anxious for Todd to get out there, find a job and really start feeling like it's 'home' for him too. One day at a time though. :)

- Tanya

11 days and counting...

2008-12-04T07:18:00.001-08:00

There are 11 days left of school before Christmas break. But who is counting, right? Just when I didn't think life could get any busier or crazier, it is Christmas program time. Yes, already! Since EVERYONE leaves for Christmas to visit extended family, gone are the days of Christmas program on Christmas Eve. But don't worry - I plan to go to the Christmas program on Christmas Eve at St. Paul's (in Luxemburg); despite Todd's protests, it's a fun tradition if you get to CHOOSE to be there (ie I'm not on staff this year...)!

Tonight is the Christmas program for 3, 4 & 5 year olds. Since we have no pastor to read the narration part of the service, I am stepping in. Which meant that I had to get a new dress. The dark blue bridesmaid dress from Heidi's wedding a few years ago (which was the only dress in my closet here!) wasn't going to cut it. I did find a great dress on sale last night. Yes, last night. Talk about cutting it close. I needed a haircut to so I decided to delay until today so it can be cut/styled in time for the program. Yea!

My favorite part of the program isn't part of the program. Our 2nd grade teacher has twin daughters who are a year older than Kathleen. They love to come in my office in the morning this week (their babysitter is the pianist for the Christmas program) because, well, this is where all of K's toys are...so it's fun! They've also been sitting in on all the rehearsals. Their mom said that one of them loves to recite as much as she can remember. One of the Kinders says the line, "Clip-clop, clip-clop... I'm a little donkey... I carried Mary..." and she has been repeating it at home. Even better, she was walking up and down the hall this morning during our devotions saying, "Flip-flop, flip-flop..." Too cute!!

Thanksgiving Break

2008-12-04T07:11:00.000-08:00

Preview

2008-11-13T23:49:00.000-08:00

I didn't know what to title this. Preview? Heavenly preview? Reunion? Homecoming? The choices were endless. I am in Seaside, Oregon by the grace of God. Literally. We flew from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City at the crack of dawn on Wednesday morning. From SLC we flew to Portland, OR. Two of my teachers, Jim (who is nealry 60) and Tina (mid-20s) drove the mini-vans two hours to Seaside. The problem was that it was raining non-stop and one of the roads out here was being closed down. We rode with Tina, who is young, single and brave. She drove through the water without a second thought. Water was up to the BUMPER on a school bus. It's a wonder we even made it through! In any case, we got here and our hotel rooms were nice. My staff are right on the ocean with a kitchenette and fireplace in their hotel rooms. Nice. Our hotel is maybe a little nicer but no kitchenette or fireplace (but they serve free breakfast here -- it's a tradeoff). I'm not a huge drinker but I'm not going to turn down the chance to 'socialize' with (most of) my staff. We had a wonderful time at the banquet. For me, it was great to catch up with my college roommate Heidi. We had a lot of laughs and she fit right in with my staff. We stayed up until 1 a.m. talking. So fun! It's that type of thing that makes it feel like a reunion and homecoming. I also ran into Debbie, a friend I've pretty much known my entire life through church and then school and then college. So then I wonder, "Is this a preview of heaven?" Some great reunion of those of us who love and live for Jesus? It sure has been more fun than I can share here.

Kathleen is at home in Idaho Falls with Grandma Barb. They are both having a blast but I think it's wearing Grandma Barb out! They've read books non-stop, went shopping (when Kathleen put on her jean jacket, winter jacket AND wanted her sweatshirt-type jacket on... g'ma tied it around her waist), do art together... K went to sleep pretty quickly the first night. Last night, of course, she kind of caught on that things are different when g'ma is there. She slept for an hour or so and then knocked at her door to come out. Then she was awake until 10:30 p.m.! Which is 90 minutes later than her dad stayed awake at home! Poor grandma -- she will have to go spend time with baby Sophia just to recover for all the toddler activity!! Although it's been fun for her to listen to all the new words that K is saying, including "pink" and to watch her feed herself. She does pretty well with a spoon. She had been deathly afraid of the sippy cups with straws (or just straws in general) but I brought some of them to daycare and they've been working on it with her so she's been doing much better with them. I'm so proud of what a big girl she's turning out to be.

I'm sure there is more to share but I'm tired and need some rest. Happy weekend to everyone!

Harvest Carnival

2008-10-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

It was a wild week. On Monday I had a dr's appointment, just to monitor my blood pressure. I felt like I was getting chest congestion but didn't say anything because my sinuses seemed fine. By Thursday I had no voice. :( I still had no voice at all today so I went in this morning to see Dr. Packer again. "Just a virus". Yeah, OK. He told me not to go to work and not to talk today. Ha ha ha. He even told me that he could write me a note. I'm not sure who I would give that to -- my secretary, maybe? She IS the person in charge around here! It's been tough to not be able to speak above a whisper all day. I scrapped my lesson plans for this afternoon and ended up renting "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" for my 3rd graders to watch so I could rest my voice. Keeping 3rd graders quiet -- so much for resting my voice. I did lock myself in my office this morning to work uninterrupted and then went to run errands from 10:30-12:00. The 3rd graders put on a 'circus' for the rest of the school -- very cute. I left after that and came back at lunch time. I did try to rest my voice, if not my body, for a while!

Tonight was our Harvest Carnival. I LOVE that we have a big, active PTO! They planned the whole thing and it was lots of fun! K wore her "ladybug" costume from last year and it is still SO cute! Everyone was going goo-goo over her. We had a "Plin-ko" type game where kids could win LIVE goldfish! (We won -- and gave our fish away...), a racecar game, a cake-walk (K was RUNNING around with me, it was so cute), a photo booth (one of the dads takes professional-quality photos -- it was awesome!), bean bag toss (K got one in -- with a little help), decorating pumpkins (with foam stickers), face painting (she has a pumpkin, which looks SO cute but she cried the whole time!)... it was such a good time. It runs from 6-8 p.m. which is just the right amount of time for little kids to be out on a Friday night! I know I will miss the Fall Fest at St. Paul's this year -- with it's over-the-top decorating and MOUNTAINS of candy that they hand out to the kids... but I won't miss all the prep work that always fell on the teachers. We charge tickets here so this is a great fundraiser. I made a big crockpot full of chili for them to sell and I also donated a case of water and a mini-Barbie cake for the CakeWalk. It was so fun though and people are so good to us here that it's just a small way to give back.

Time to call it a night. I went and got a Library card today while I was running errands. They have all kinds of great videos available there so goodbye Hollywood Video (they are really expensive, compared to Family Video in WI!) and hello FREE dvds. Although I did have to rent the DVD this afternoon since all their copies were checked out. Oh well. So it will be a weekend of library DVDs, hot tea and rest for us here.

Welcome to Hope Lutheran!

2008-10-12T13:17:00.001-07:00

Yes, I should've done this post MONTHS ago! So sorry... but I think it's time to take you on a short, "virtual" tour of our home-away-from home... This is the vinyl sticker sign on the wall outside my office door. Isn't it great? I got it on clearance at Kohl's! I've had a lot of people comment on how neat that is...

Here is my office... yes, it's not clean and organized but that's because I spent a couple hours last night moving my computer and reorganizing things... It'll get there! And, yes, the joke about it being "Kathleen's office" is more and more true everyday! (You can't see the toys in the corner...) Here she is in her usual pose -- with a pen/pencil and 'writing'...

This is our lovely 1980 gym/lunchroom. Enough said. This is the 3rd grade classroom that I teach in from 12:30-3 in the afternoons. Yes, every.single.thing is yellow in there. Here is the door to my office with my schedule. Yes, there is a money dropbox so parents and students can bribe me! Ha - just kidding. This room used to be the OFFICE and they can't switch out the doors. So every Monday the secretary or bookkeeper has to come in and check to see if anyone has left checks there. And I put any cash that parents hand me for hot lunch payments, etc in there so that it's secure. I bought the blue "HOPE" sign for $1 at Michael's and put little $.25 wooden things like a pencil, "Welcome", Schoolhouse, etc on it. Cute, right?

This is another view of our playground/soccer fields. The brown buildings are the 'modulars' -- the one closest to the gym door is for PS/PreK (middle photo). The right photo is actually the end of the PreK modular, looking out towards the Kindergarten modular. So much for "temporary", they've been here for years. Beyond the K modular, they've just finished paving that road (yea! Except it cost us $60K!) so we can dream of putting a more permanent building and getting rid of the modulars...

This is the classroom building. It sits between the gym (middle photo) and the church (see photos below). The red doors were just replace (to the tune of $10,500!... which was a memorial for someone) -- I suggested that they be painted RED so that parents/kids know to use those doors to enter the building. The gym doors (around the corner, by the modulars) will also be painted that color.... And, are you feeling sleepy? This is a lavendar bush, we have several around our building!

This is the main entrance to church, it is connected to the other side of school. I don't know that anyone actually USES this entrance. There is a parking lot to the left and most people enter through the side/office doors. Behind the tree (middle photo) are some bricks. They have our church/school sign. Do you see it? Yeah, neither do passing motorists!! That is on my 'list' of things that I'd love for them to change!!!! Here is Kathleen running from the gym to the front of the church. Funny girl.

Welcome to the church... It's sorta a "theater in the round" look... Looking up at the church balcony, you can (almost) see that this area houses the school library! The last photo is the church narthex that no one uses because, well, the coffee/cookies are in front of the side entrance by the school, so I didn't even know we had mailboxes or a guest book until -- last week, I think!

Thanks for coming on this 'tour'... ;)

SNOW way!

2008-10-12T12:34:00.001-07:00

Oh yes, that's right!

There has been SNOW here this weekend! It started as the heavy, wet stuff on Saturday afternoon when we left the office at school...it melted right away so it wasn't too bad. We woke up this morning and the ground was COVERED. ACK! It's OCTOBER!!! But the parking lots are wet and it is supposed to be in the mid-50s by Thurs, so this won't last. Still, it's a shock to the system to see it this early in the year. Then again, when you live 5000 ft above sea-level, what do you expect, right? Did I mention that Kathleen managed to find EVERY puddle in the parking lot? Espeecially since she doesn't have boots yet? But she looks pretty adorable with her new outfit from grandma Barb and her blonde hair in curly pigtails.

Photo Captions: Kathleen outside with the snow/puddles; the school playground/soccer fields; K hamming it up in the hallway/entry to the offices.

Looking Ahead

2008-10-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

Wow! Things have been SOOOO busy around here!

We were in MN/WI the last weekend of September for Todd's grandma's 90th birthday party. It was so fun to see everyone from the McLeod/Johnson side of the family and spend a few days with them. Unfortunately, Kathleen had hand, foot and mouth disease (a virus) so she was pretty miserable and, of course, spread it to the other little 'cousins' there too! ARGH. It was a HORRIBLE flight back home for the last 45 minutes with BOTH of us in tears... but once we got in the CRV and drove back from Salt Lake City (about 3 hours away) she finally slept and life was a little better. She did miss most of daycare last week, which meant I had to juggle a lot of things at work. THANK THE LORD that we have a sub list and so many great people who are willing to sub!

I can barely believe that the end of the 1st quarter is on October 24th! We have parent-teacher conferences 10/30 and 31st so no school those days! I'm hoping that I can get some office work done those days.

Our church is in the midst of finding an Intentional Interim Pastor. Someone to help lead the church while we actually take a look at ourselves and our vision for the future and THEN find a pastor to match those things. In the past they've been in such a hurry to FIND SOMEONE that they've ended up with good pastors who just weren't the right fit for the congregation... so we're hoping to avoid that by taking 6-12 months and THEN looking for a new pastor. Yeah. Pray for us!

The weather is getting cooler. Can you believe that last week it was in the 80s all week long?! Just sunny and beautiful! Last year on Oct 1 they had snow here, this year it was 80! A cold front moved in over the weekend and although they promised some rain, we didn't get any. Oh well. They are saying it will snow and have a high of 47 on Friday. I'll believe it when I see it at this point...

...and did I mention that my winter coat and boots are somewhere in storage?! ACK. I will be ordering a new one from Lands End as soon as I get paid on the 15th! K's snow pants and jacket from last year still fit her, so she just needs new mittens and boots this year. That's easy enough.

I wrote an email to my school board to let them know that I would like to go home for Christmas. One person gave me the OK to borrow the money from our moving allowance so that we wouldn't have to come up with that money right now while we're trying to pay for 2 households and daycare, etc. Then the chairperson of board said that the church will donate the ticket to me since "it's not good for man - or woman - to be alone" and they realize the sacrifices that Todd & I have made to make it possible for me to be here. So right now I believe I'll have 15 days at home -- not sure how much will be in MN and how much in WI... but I'll let you know when we figure out those details.

That's all that is new around here. We're anxiously waiting for Todd's sister Sara to have her baby sometime in the next couple of weeks! I'm already thinking of all the cute pictures of K and Sophie that we'll be able to take over Christmas. (Hopefully K doesn't try to poke baby Sophie's eyes out... we'll have to practice with her dolls...)

Peace!

- Tanya

Time to eat, sing and write!

2008-09-19T19:19:00.002-07:00

Ok, she just cracks.me.up!! I broke down and bought a new microwave last night. It is awesome. For whatever reason, K is loving the $.88 microwave meals. I used to spend all this time carefully preparing her lunches for daycare -- raviolis or chicken breast, some crackers, fruit, baby carrots or frozen veggies, go-gurt, etc. She wouldn't eat half of it. I ran out of stuff like that to pack this week so I stocked up on some Chicken nugget/Mac & cheese frozen meals... She loves them. Eats everything. I send a cereal bar and/or Go-gurt along with to add some nutrition. I tried a lasagna meal yesterday since I ran out of the Chicken/Mac&Cheese ones, but she didn't like it. So now I'm going to buy 2 of each kind -- one to try at home and one to send to daycare (if she likes it -- if not, I guess that's an easy dinner for me one night...) I'm also going to still send the more 'homemade' meals a few times a week but if she'll eat the frozen meals (and $.88 is way better than $3 for 'hot lunch' there! Which was crackers, cheese, a pickle (!!) and some apple slices last time...) then I'll keep sending them until she decides that she doesn't like them anymore...

So we tested out Spaghetti and meatballs last night... and she loved them...

Since I have been home sick most of today (I subbed from 2-3 p.m. today. 4th grade teacher took my place on the 3rd grade field trip -- she also has a 3rd grader, so it worked out well) I decided to get some work done after school. Kathleen & I went to Perkins for a breakfast-for-supper meal and it was so fun. She was hamming it up and "singing" for everyone.

Then she got down to business and was "writing". My camera phone isn't the greatest but I sure LOVE having one on me at all times. :) So convenient!!!

Time to Write!

2008-09-19T19:19:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Time to Sing!

2008-09-19T19:18:00.003-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Time to eat!

2008-09-19T19:18:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Sticker Girl

2008-09-19T19:10:00.002-07:00

K's been enjoying the stickers that Grandma Barb sent her. She was supposed to be falling asleep the other night but I walked in and found her enjoying a secret stash of stickers! :)

Sticker girl

2008-09-19T19:10:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Clean room!

2008-09-19T19:08:00.003-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

$1 signs

2008-09-19T19:08:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Die cuts (stars & moon)

2008-09-19T19:07:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

K's room

2008-09-19T19:06:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Decorating for almost no money... :)

2008-09-19T18:52:00.000-07:00

After staring at boring white walls... I had to do something to add some decorations. I had a budget of about $10 but with a 25% coupons to Michael's -- and a brand new Accu-Cut die cut machine at school!! -- I did pretty well...

Tired

2008-09-18T16:40:00.001-07:00

Well, I have another sinus infection. This one is REALLY bad. I still have pain in my jaw and I have been on antibiotics since Monday night. All the meds are taking a while to kick in and it's hard for me to sleep. I cough a lot and it's just not fun.

This is all just after I told one of the board members that I never take sick days. The difference here, though, is that I have no one else to care for Kathleen. So I work and work and then come home and take care of here. There is no rest time for me. I just can't keep up with it. I went from yesterday from 10-11:30 so I could nap. I had been up ALL night the night before with a cough and I was exhausted. I dropped Kathleen off at daycare at 8 instead of 7 today (she needed the extra rest too) and then had to meet with Dick Weniger from 9:30 - 11. He is the equivalent of a Superindendant of schools for us so I needed to meet him and talk about the school. Then I went back home and slept. I have no voice and it's so hard for me. I don't want to be at home. I want to be here at school. I slept for a couple of hours. Todd called (on purpose) so I could get up and get K from daycare. She had a rough day today too.

I did learn something new. For a month I've been lovingly making sandwiches or putting some ravioli or chicken breast or whatever in a container with some veggies and grapes or mandarin oranges. I would put a Go-Gurt in there... She LOVES those things... so I genuinely had fun packing her lunches. Then a day would come where I was out of something or we were running late and she would eat "hot lunch" -- and she'd eat BETTER those days! What I'd pack was what she'd eat well at home for supper... but apparently she didn't want that for lunch. So I bought the $.86 microwave "chicken nuggets and mac -n- cheese" meals -- and she LOVES those. I sent a lasagne one today because we were out of the chicken ones... she hated it... Live and learn. Cheap microwave meals (with an added Go-Gurt and some fruit) OR hot lunch for that girl. So crazy.

She is making strides in daycare. We get out of the house with NO blankets or snuggli or pacifier! She does have a pacifier at daycare and usually still needs it at naptime... somedays she gives it up after nap and somedays she doesn't. They are really working hard on teaching sign language and music. She does action songs and "sings" but I'm not sure what they are! It's pretty cute though. She can sign "please" and "thank you" in addition to "more" and "Milk" (which she already knew). They are working on learning colors, so I really have no idea now. It's very fun to watch.

I bought her some Crayola "TaDoodles" -- "markers" for toddlers. They make a huge mess... argh. BUT last night I stripped her down and put her in the empty tub. She could "color" anywhere and it washes away -- so that was a good solution. Next time we'll stick to the 'crayons'.

That's all for now. I'll post more pictures on dropshots as soon as I remember to bring my laptop over. Hope all is well with everyone else.

This isn't a good sign....

2008-09-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I know it's probably been a month since my last blog. The fact that I couldn't remember my password right away to log in can't be a good sign. Yikes.

It's hard to believe where the past month has gone. In that time, we found a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment about 2 miles from daycare (or less) and about 2 miles from church/school. Perfect.

I lead my first (and second) staff meetings/in-service. It was more of a "tell me what to expect" than a "here's what to expect" and "here's the plan for this year". But my staff is terrific. They are all different but their overall strengths make the school better than if they were all so similar that no one had anything unique to offer.

The first day of school was Monday, August 25. It was SO early -- what kid (or parent - ha!) is ready for school before Labor day?? The good thing was that the 4th-6th graders got to go on a field trip to Salmon, ID which is where Lewis & Clark crossed through Idaho. The museum there is only open between Memorial Day and Labor Day, so I guess the pre-Labor day start of school worked out well this year. I have decided that if the public schools all start before Labor Day next year, we will start on the Wednesday instead of a Friday. It's too hard on everyone to shift from summer to a full week of school right away. We could work up to it with 3-day, 4-day then 5-day week. Live and learn.

Bring principal means you're gonna have some drama, right? Other than delinquent accounts and parents that may/may not reenroll at the last minute. We had a kinder who cried the entire first day so her parents pulled her out. Then demanded a full refund. We don't do refunds. So there was a lot of venting (on their part) and frustration (on my part). Eventually they came and vented to the school board and (I think) because they go to a huge church, we agreed to refund tuition (not registration) so that they wouldn't bad-mouth our school. Maybe they still will, but I hope not.

In addition to all my administration duties, I teach spelling, social studies and English to the 3rd grade. Yikes. This group could almost make me want to retire from teaching forever. 4 girls -- they're fine. 6 boys -- only 1 or 2 of them are on task most of the time. Yikes. It's exhausting to just work with them for 1-2 hours sometimes! But all the kids here are great and they love the "Silent" traveling trophy (we hand each week at chapel for the quietest kids in the hall) and the "Principal's award" for students who help each other - i.e. "Catch 'em being good" award. The trophy winners get mini Hershey's bars and the award winners get entered into a drawing for a prize at the end of the quarter. They are LOVING it.

In addition to administration and teaching, I also lead chapel for PreK twice on Wednesday. I was kind of dreading it because this isn't my age group. But I love it now. They are so excited to sing just about anything and love any Bible story you tell them. I had one little boy seranade us all with a solo of "Jesus Loves Me" because he decided not to wait for the rest of us to join in. Too cute. And I subbed in the morning class yesterday. We did an art project with Zaccheus and sang the song 3 or 4 times. One little boy said, "Teacher, what was wrong with the tree?" I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "You know, the sick-more tree..." BWAH HA HA HA.... I love 4 year olds. They are so hilarious.

Our house still hasn't sold and the interest has been sparse lately. The biggest complaint is a lack of yard and we really can't do much about that. So we keep hoping and waiting. It's getting easier and harder to be a 'single' parent now. Easier because our daily routine is getting faster and better each week. Harder because she is still going through times where she won't sleep at night and I'm just exhausted. We both just miss Todd really badly and would feel more at home with him -- and our furniture!!-- here. I did buy Kathleen a toddler bed frame and we've borrowed a crib mattress. She thinks she is SO smart whenever she gets out of bed by herself. It's pretty funny to watch.

She is talking more and more. Random things like "puppy" and "yes". She went into our pantry and grabbed a plastic container (the individual size ones) of applesauce yesterday and said, "Here". Ha ha ha -- guess she wanted some applesauce! The other night she said, "Mom bath now". Ummmmm, what?! Her new obsession is the foam alphabet that sticks to the walls in the tub (I even bought a second set on clearance at Target so we can spell her name). She wants to stand up in the tub (which I don't allow) and "teach" with the letters. I also bought magnetic ABCs for her to play with in my office. There's a whole wall of file cabinets, so she's got lots of space to 'teach'.

My mom and stepfather came out for a visit last weekend. That was so nice. I could run errands by myself. Yeah! Kathleen went sight-seeing with them last Friday (which she loved) and we had a nice visit. It's hard to imagine life here until you visit so I'm glad that at least someone from our family has been here. If the house doesn't sell anytime soon, I'm hoping Todd will be able to come out for the week of Thanksgiving. That would be so nice.

I *heart* Craigslist. I found K's jogging stroller here on there for only $70. It is awesome! How did we live without one for so long?! I also have washer/dryer hookups in my apartment and after a few weeks of trying to take 3-4 loads of laundry...and a toddler... across two parking lots to the club house to do laundry (our apartment doesn't have a central laundry room in our building) OR to try and get her to not run out the door at a busy (or not so busy) laundromat is next to impossible. I found used washer/dryer for $200 (total!) on Craigslist. The girl selling it was moving to L.A. for grad school. Her friends from church were storing it. They brought it over AND brought it up the flight of stairs AND hooked up the washer for me. The dryer needed a different plug, so my stepfather changed that when they were here. It is SO nice to be able to do laundry right away and not worry about quarters or hauling clothes (and toddler) to/from the CRV. Yea!

I have a new LG Rumor phone so I can text and read emails/Facebook from it. I can't see attachments and if you forward something with a million other addresses listed, I just close that one because it takes too long to get to the actual message. Then I forget (or run out of time) to look it up again at work. So if I don't reply -- or if I reply with no caps (or all caps! Doh!) it's probably because my phone is my main link for email now. But it is a nice phone and I've been really happy with it.

Keep us in your prayers. Todd found out he's in the candidate pool for a job at ISU (Idaho State Univ) -- their main campus is in Pocatello but the job is actually just across town here at the Idaho Falls site. It would be a slight pay raise (instead of a bigger pay cut) and it would be in town. If Todd were to get the job, he could move here right away. So, I'm praying for that! If it doesn't work out, we're just still praying for the house to sell SOON.

Well, this should be long enough to keep you all updated. I'll try to be better at updating, it's so hard without internet at home. On the bright side, I bought one of the digital converter boxes for our little tv here and now we get 8 channels instead of just 2, so that's a bonus! :)

Check out our dropshots account for some new photos.

- Tanya

Photos

2008-08-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

OK, if you have Facebook -- there are lots of photos added. If you don't have Facebook (ahem, Becky)... then you can check out our photos on Dropshots (but there aren't as many there).

www.dropshots.com/mnstlgirl

Email me if you need the password!

- Tanya

A new home (part I)

2008-08-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

Todd found an apartment online a month or so ago. It looked nice -- way bigger than the apartments I'd found and not much more money than the other ones. The only problem was that they were booked full. At first they told me there were a 'few' available on August 5th. When I called back the next day to make a deposit, the "few" was just "one" and it had been taken already. Ummmm, yeah. OK.

I decided that I would just look around once I got here. What I found were a lot of section 8/subsidized housing or BEAUTIFUL brand new Senior/Assisted living apartments. One of the teachers told me that the apartment complex I'd thought about checking out was OK but the windows and doors weren't that great so she wouldn't recommend them. Back to square one.

I drove around today around 11 a.m. just looking for some apartments in an area close to K's daycare and not far from my work. I passed by two duplexes (I think one was technically a townhome) with "For Rent" signs in front. I called both of the numbers and the townhome person said it was $1000/month. Forget it. The duplex person it would be $900-950, depending if we wanted to sign a year lease or not. They sounded nice enough but said it wouldn't be ready until at least 9/1. Forget it.

So I thought about the apartments Todd had originally found online. I used Mapquest, Yahoo Maps and even Google Maps (from the apartment's website) and got THREE different ways to get there! It's in such a new area that none of the ways were very accurate and, of course, I got totally turned around. I FINALLY happened across it. They didn't have a 2 bed/1 bath available (naturally) but they had ONE 2 bed/2 bath available. I toured the model (2 bed/1 bath) and it was fine -- pretty spacious for an apartment and it is in a nice area -- SUPER close to her daycare and not far from my school either. I'll be able to make a big 'loop' in the mornings -- go one block to the main street, make three turns to get to daycare, then come back to the main street and continue across to school. Total trip is about 5-6 miles. A daily total of 12 miles is a LOT better than the 110+ I used to drive to/from St. Paul's!

The apartments are SO nice. More expensive than I wanted -- but once the house sells, that will help a lot. And we could sign a 9, 10 or 12 month lease for the same price so I signed a 10 month lease -- that should get us through the school year and then we can decide if we want to keep renting or if we are ready to buy or whatever.

Here is the link: www.eagleslandingapartmentcommunity.com

AND -- the very funny/odd part is that when I was chatting with the lady who gave me a tour today, I found out that her younger brother went to Grace Lutheran in Pocatello and that SHE is thinking of putting her daughter in a Lutheran school, but didn't really realize that there was one so close by in Idaho Falls! Every the "salesperson" that a Luth. school principal has to be, I told her that there is a waiting list, but if she calls soon the school board may be able to split the class into two groups and her daughter could get in...and if she doesn't get in, she could definitely think about bringing her for 1st grade.

THEN I went over later, after picking up K from daycare, and dropped off our brochure, welcome letter and other information! You just never know...

K had an AWFUL day at daycare today. I knew it would be. She was wide awake from 3:30 - 5 a.m. Her nose was so snotty, I'm surprised she could breathe. She did finally go back to sleep until about 8 a.m. but was just "off". I should've given her some tylenol or motrin this morning. I'll know better next week if she's still like this. She was horsing around at lunchtime because she wasn't hungry and fell off her chair, bumped her cheek and got a small bruise. Then she refused to eat, refused to nap... finally fell asleep as everyone else was waking up and then ate all her lunch -- at around 3:30 p.m! She didn't really enjoy "water" day outside (I thought for sure she'd love it... guess it wasn't fun enough just playing with the water tables)... I know she'll enjoy two days at home with me, but I also know it's important for her to go there and be around everyone everyday. Despite everything, they said they really DO think she's getting better overall. I'm hoping by the end of next week she'll really start to open up. We move next Wednesday (not that we have any furniture, really) but I am borrowing a crib/mattress from one of the teachers and I hope that will help her feel more at 'home'. Once I get all her toys/books, etc there, I think that will help too. Although people either smile or get a good laugh out of the fact that I have her little Sing N Play chair and a bunch of her toys out in my office. I think I should keep a few things in case Esther has to babysit her during my meetings and in case I have a shy Preschooler come for a tour. Kids love books and stuffed animals, etc.

That's all for now. I still can't get the wireless network to work with my laptop at school yet. So no pictures yet. Soon, I hope!

-Tanya

Nearly Friday

2008-08-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy it's nearly Friday. It's been strange to have this whole house to ourselves. Nice in the sense that I don't feel like we're imposing on them, but also hard because we're not in our own place and don't really feel "settled". And, really, we miss them. Kathleen even said "Maddie!" several times the other night. It was so cute. I hope she'll say it again when they get back home.

It was my hope to have an apartment lined up before the Phelans returned home from their trip. That's a little more challenging than I expected. There isn't much to pick from around here. Much of it is subsidised and we wouldn't 'qualify' (nor would I want to, I think!) for those apartments. There are several BEAUTIFUL, brand new complexes that have just opened -- but it's all senior living or assisted living. ARGH!! One place looked convenient since it is about 1/2 way between school and daycare; but a person on staff told me that they aren't the greatest apartments and from their website, they seem awful expensive. Their 2 bedroom apts are 850 sq ft for $650/mo; but Todd found apts that were 1200 sq ft for $690! THOSE are the nice ones -- and the ones with a waiting list. We are thinking about looking for duplexes to rent, but I'm really not sure how many there will be in this town (the population is only 50K. And unlike Appleton, it really IS only 50K. There aren't a lot of suburbs that all melt into it around here....)

I'm also praying that our house sells quickly. The whole process is stressing Todd out, I think. And transitioning Bucky to the Hanson's. We want things to go for them and for him, so it's hard to wait & see how they'll go. I think KPVI really is anxious to get Todd out here -- and, judging from some of their news coverage lately, they sure could USE him!!! But, mostly, I miss him and am more than ready for him to be out here!

Daycare is slowly getting better for K. Stills cries and screams when I drop her off in the mornings but then she plays and is fine. She even gave the asst. director a hug this afternoon. She was acting all shy and clingy when I picked her up this afternoon -- but then she was smiling as we were walking out of the building, so I really do believe that she has fun there. I left her there a lot longer than I had planned because I got busy at work and lost track of time, but that's probably a good thing for her. Still hoping next week goes better. She's eating better and sleeping longer, so I *think* that is a good sign! I think she's fighting off some sort of cold. Still has a runny nose and now is coughing. My poor girl!

My job is great. I spent a big part of the day working on a master schedule because last year some of the teachers who teach "specials" (music, Spanish, PE, etc) barely got a lunch break while other teachers had plenty of 'prep' time during the week. The workload wasn't fair so I tried my best to redo the schedule. I may actually end up teaching LESS (not sure if that's good, though) because many of our 'specials' are in the afternoon. Oh well! We'll see how it goes the first week or two. So far, so good on the teachers' feedback. I'm sure there are bound to be SOME sort of glitches.

More kids are enrolling! We especially need to fill the afternoon PS (3 year olds) and PK (4 year olds) because we're at like 2-4 kids in each class...and that's not really good. I've never seen a Lutheran school struggle to fill classes for little ones! But it's not unusual for the PS to add kids throughout the year. As soon as their child turns 3, parents think, "Maybe I should sign them up for preschool". Nevermind that it's not typically how schools do it. OH well. We'll still take them!

I'm enjoying the chance to get to know most of my staff better. They are so positive and are genuinely willing to try new things. It's so nice. You have NO idea. Well, OK, maybe Jodie can imagine since she was out at St Paul's for VBS this summer!

That's all I have for tonight.

- Tanya

A Different Perspective

2008-08-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

Things are busy as usual here. K is slowly adjusting to daycare...as in, today was a little better than yesterday. I think the biggest hurdle is just how tired she is. She napped a little longer today (almost an hour) but she had been up since 6:30 and didn't nap until 12:30! Yikes! They said it took a little while to get her to finally fall asleep. I know sooner or later it will be routine. I pray for sooner.

I brought lemonade and cookies to her teachers this afternoon when I picked her up. Not just because I feel bad that she's having such a hard time and they have to listen to it all -- but because I know what it's like when a new child comes into a room (since there were a few of them like that in my 3 years in the Infant Room at CrossView). I wanted them to feel appreciated so that they'd continue to remain positive about her. I just want them to see the happy, bubbly, outgoing side of her. I'm bringing donuts and juice for her morning teachers because they REALLY have to listen to her wail when she gets dropped off. Sometimes I wish they had a webcam in the room just for my own sanity. I don't have any doubts about the quality of care she's getting -- I just want to reassure myself she's NOT crying. I do call and check on her, but I limit it to once a day. So, we'll see. Perhaps, if all goes alright for the rest of the school year, she will have to go to daycare once or twice a week during the summer so she's not completely OUT of the routine. They do have a 'drop in' program where you can pay by the hour if you call and reserve a spot in advance. I love that. I hope that they don't do away with that!

As we were getting ready this a.m. and I was feeding her breakfast and getting our lunches made, I had Good Morning America turned on and they were promoting an interview with Steven Curtis Chapman. I've always loved his music -- for years and years and have seen him in concert a couple of times. I know I'd read about the tragic accident where his 5 year old daughter was killed but I didn't get to see the interview because we had to leave.

I looked up the interview online. Here is the link. Warning, though, I bawled my eyes out. It definitely gives you a different perspective about life and what a gift children are. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=5519704&page=1

That's all I have for now. Must go work on some more scheduling issues. I love being principal. No, seriously, I love it. I could do this type of thing all day. Most of the teachers have been very positive about my suggestions. We'll see how long it lasts, but I'm grateful they're willing to make some small changes. Yea!

We're still alive...and super busy...

2008-08-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I realize it's been almost a week since I wrote any updates -- it's been absolutely CRAZY! Kathleen & I arrived in Idaho Falls on Thursday afternoon. We stopped by the school/church to pick up my keys. We ran into Cherie (Sha-ree) Phelan and the 2 younger daughters, Maddie and Marie. They were paying tuition. Kathleen went RIGHT OVER to Cherie and gave her a hug! I was stunned since, well, she just doesn't do that. To anybody!!

We ran a few errands around town and then arrived at the Phelan house. Man, it is so nice here. Not just a nice home but a great family. Michael is going to be a senior in hs, Megan will be a sophomore in hs, Maddie will be in 6th grade at my school and Marie is the mighty 2nd grader whose energy does.not.stop! She, in particular, has had a GREAT time 'smothering' K with lots and lots and lots of love and attention!!!

One of the errands I ran that day was to purchase a jogging stroller that I found listed on craigslist. I *heart* it! The wheels need a little air and it's a little different to turn than a 'regular' stroller, but it moves well and it's great. The girls have had a great time pushing K around in it already!

We spent the weekend enjoying time with the Phelans and doing things around church/school. I met with the 3rd grade teacher so we could split up teaching duties for next year. I called families to let them know I'd be team-teaching 3rd grade (which was met with enthusiasm, from what I hear). I attended pastor's farwell worship service and potluck lunch on Sunday. Hope is a wonderful church -- but Kathleen definitely 'stands out' as one of the very few toddlers in the group! I never realized how much little 'noise' and 'chatter' by babies/toddlers went on at Good Shepherd. A little distracting, ok, but not attention grabbing! Fortunately, though, a cute little 15 month old girl was sitting in the pew behind us so we were the only ones distracting others during the service.

Later in the evening I went to Jim and Betty Oloff's house for supper. They have what has to be one of the neatest, most unique homes...well, locations anyway! It is right on the Snake River and right next to a lumberyard. That's it. You turn on the dirt road in an industrialized area and there is the house. However, they have the gorgeous view of the river, and they've got a small creek/bridge in front of their front yard, lots of plants, animals, etc. It was really neat. The house itself reminds me of an old farmhouse and it's just a neat place to visit. The meal was really wonderful -- until K took her bbq sauce/baked bean sauce-covered hands and put them on my white capris and white shirt sleeve. GREAT. I've tried washing/soaking several times already. ARGH.

Monday I was busy working in my office and then ended up giving a tour to a very, eh, 'eccentric' woman and her neighbor. She's from Montreal (I think) but has lived all over the world. She goes by the nickname "Mitch" (no kidding) and is a church-hopper who found out about our school in the longest, round-about way possible. Her Methodist minister in AZ told her that his 4 kids go to the local LCMS school and they love it there. He looked up Idaho Falls and found our address for her. That is simply remarkable to me! I don't know if she'll end of enrolling her son or not -- but it sure made for an interesting hour or two of my day as both she and her neighbor wanted to discuss theology (He is a former LDS -- ie "Mormon" and she may have been at one time too) and politics, etc. Yowza! I did get to go to lunch with the grade 4/Spanish/Music teacher, her daughter (who will be in 3rd grade and is SO excited I'll be teaching!) and the 1st grade teacher. Yummy Mexican food and a nice chance to get to know them better.

Last night the Oloffs had their daughter Esther (in high school?) and Lydia (who is 4)...and son Daniel (5th grade) come over to school to babysit Kathleen during out board meeting. She wasn't a happy camper at first but by the time the meeting was done, she was laughing and playing. What troopers they are!! Only son Noah (high school -- jr or sr?) was off the hook and got to stay home last night!!

Yesterday was also Kathleen's first day of daycare. I love her center. The center itself is in a brandnew area and it is just a great facility. The people are great and her toddler 'teachers' are SOOOO patient! Of course she toddled into the room and bumped her head on the way into the room yesterday so she was in tears when I left. So heartbreaking! But she was sitting with the rest of the kids in a circle for story time when I picked her up at 3 p.m. -- so adorable! What a big girl! Today the dropoff was a little rough, but I knew it would be. It wasn't an easy morning, either, from what I'm told, but better than yesterday. She was practically asleep on the floor when I got there today. Actually, she had to take a nap shortly after we got home yesterday because she only naps for about 30-35 mins there! Too much to 'miss', I'm sure! She was asleep by 6 p.m. MDT tonight. Poor girl. It's so good for her though. I'm hoping by next week she'll be more into the routine and she'll begin enjoying it. I can hope. It is fun to pack her lunch each morning though. I found a pink camo lunchbag for her -- it is too cute for words.

As for Todd, Bucky and our house... THEY are super busy too! Bucky will be moving in with the Hansons -- what a great situation. Someone we know and they have a lot of land AND other dogs. I hope and pray he behaves well and gets along with the other dogs and daycare kids there!! Todd has been working non-stop on all kinds of 'little' (and not so little) tasks around the house. The realtor is hosting an "Open House" on Sunday, so we're hoping and praying it leads to a buyer. We did have someone walk through the house already last week. They really liked the house, but the husband is 6'4" and felt the upstairs was too short and narrow for him. Darn you giants! Ha ha ha... but two more people walked through the house today. No feedback yet, but someone took a packet of information, so that could be a good sign. You just never know. We're so anxious to have Todd out here!!! The weather has been great -- 80s and low 90s but NO humidity... there 'might' be a t-storm this weekend, but might not. They've only had 4 inches of rain here all year so far. How crazy is that?

I am going to be looking for an apartment on Thursday or Friday this week. We love the Phelans but don't want to be in the way either. They just left for a week long trip to Washington, DC. It's really lonely without them around. K walked all throughout the house last night saying, "Hi! Hi!" and waiting for someone to respond. Poor baby misses her girls already!!! It will be nice, though, to have our own place and unpack our stuff and start to feel just a little more 'settled'. So I'll be busy with all of that too.

That's really all I have to update you all on right now. Well, this is a novel already! Mental note *Must be better about daily blogging*!! I can't get my laptop to work with the wireless router at school yet (I don't think the signal reaches all the way over to my office) so I can't share more pictures yet -- but I'm working on it.

-- Tanya

Enchanted Highway...

2008-07-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

Oh, I forgot to mention that we passed by the "Enchanted Highway" in North Dakota (see Metal Geese sculpture)...

Check out this website for better pictures of the geese and some incredible other sculptures. How unbelievable! How cool! http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2155

Montana!

2008-07-30T21:12:00.001-07:00

Enjoying some yummmy but messy cherries (how cute is she?!)

Theodore Roosevelt National Park and North Dakota Badlands

Metal Geese Sculpture

Montana roads... Digging through mommy's wallet instead of eating... Hmmmmm, ketchup!.... Showing off how to pour out ketchup for fries...

Idaho Trip, Part III

2008-07-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

It took a long time to pack and load the vehicle today (Wed), so we didn't get on the road until 9 a.m. Oh well, no hurry. We drove to Dickinson, ND (where a sign informed us we were now in Mountain Time Zone) and enjoyed the views of the North Dakota badlands. I didn't even know they HAD badlands around there! Then we arrived in Montana. WOW! It is soooo different than living in WI, that's for sure!!! Mountains -- but not like mountains in Colorado... lots of sage brush, cattle (angus beef), kind of dry and desolate looking.

We arrived at Billings MT around 2:30 p.m. MDT. We got settled into our hotel room, then went over to Cracker Barrel for supper. She enjoyed the small rocking-chairs out front. She didn't eat too much -- some fries if they had ketchup on them. And, oddly enough, if it had grape jelly on it. (Yeah, don't ask, I don't get it either!!!!)

We came back to the hotel and went for a swim in the outdoor pool. It had been plenty hot outside so the water was warm but the evening air was getting cool, quickly. We DID manage to find time enough to do a few "tricks" we'd learned the night before in Bismarck...

1) I put her on the outside of the pool. I count with/point with my fingers "1", "2", "3" and then say "Jump!" Of course, she had no idea what to do, so I'd pull her back into the water at that point... but she loved trying to count-down with her fingers (she manages the "1" and "2"... "3" is also with 2 fingers -- so cute!)...

....tonight she figured out that when I say "Jump!" she can take a step or two forward and fall into the pool. Naturally, mommy is right there to 'catch' her and she thought that was just the best thing ever!!

2) We practiced putting her head under the water. Yesterday she didn't figure out to close her eyes or mouth -- so we didn't do it more than twice because she'd get a mouthful of water and that didn't look too fun!

Tonight I would say, "Look at mommy!" and then I'd close my eyes and mouth and then say "Here we go -- under, under, under...." Then "1, 2, 3, go!" She managed to close her eyes every time and her mouth -- well, about 50% of the time. She LOVED it.

The air was getting a little chilly so we didn't stay in very long. We came back to the room and she had a warm bath with her duckies. Ahhhhh, so nice. :) Then I took a shower and we were ready to relax.

I planned to wash some clothes because K got cherry juice all over her brand new jammies this morning. The one and only washer was being used. Felt like being back in college again!!! We played and made some calls and then walked down there again to do laundry. Good thing I waited. While I was on the phone with daddy, K found a grape jelly package from supper tonight and managed to CHEW on it -- and get it ALL OVER her jammies! I should've taken a picture but she was SO sticky, I had to get her washed off. Now I *had* to do laundry! Luckily, the machine was open and someone left free detergent (with a note saying, "Please help yourself"). I put the clothes in the dryer but the note says it runs slow. Before I could check and put it on longer for the clothes that needed it, someone else had thrown them on the table. Ah, again, college days... So now I'm off to see if the dryer is free... and then go to bed.... I think it's going to take a day or two to get used to being an hour behind.

-Tanya

North Dakota adventures

2008-07-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

The sign on I-94 at Fargo that says "Welcome to North Dakota" -- don't blink, you might miss it!

Swimsuit model!

Idaho Trip, Part II

2008-07-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning we left Minneapolis. It was hard to leave my mom's house. She rarely cries when I leave. Not when I left for college (or, rather, when she dropped me off at Concordia-Chicago), not even when I left for a year in Guatemala (www.ias-xela.org)... but she broke down in tears when we were leaving. Perhaps that's more because Kathleen will be so far away. Of course it made me cry.

I had just been thinking about how much harder it was to leave our friends than our family -- because I know that, at some point, I'm GOING to see family again. With friends I just don't have that guarantee and it's really hard for me to wrap my mind -- and my heart -- around that fact. \

We went for breakfast at IHOP with my dad and stepmom. K ate like a horse. Anything we put in front of her, she ate. It was unbelievable! I've never, ever seen her eat like that!

With our bellies full, I had plenty of energy to drive and K slept, slept, slept!! We stopped in Alexandria, MN (about 30 miles from where my mom grew up) because I had a pounding headache. We bought some tylenol at Walmart and then we were back on the road.

We stopped again at Jamestown, ND. I thought *maybe* she would be hungry since it was 1:30 or 2 p.m. I ordered a chicken McNugget meal for her. She ate one nugget. I ate one nugget and the apple slices (no dipping sauce). She screamed because I wouldn't let her hold the milk jug. When she did, she dumped most of it down the front of her shirt. Naturally. Oh well... Neither of us was very hungry, so we got back on the road.

Around 5 p.m. we finally made it to Bismarck, ND. http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=46.805371&lon=-100.779319&zoom=13&q1=Bismarck%2C%20ND
The hotel wasn't that great, but it wasn't that awful, either. We were on the second floor -- no elevators -- so that was fun carrying a toddler and luggage... UGH... but we survived.

We drove around town looking for a place to eat supper. We ate at Paradiso. (http://www.paradiso.com) K loved the free chips (I know, SHOCKING) and also ate some of the rice and beans that came with my chicken enchilada. What I really liked was that you can order just ONE enchilada. No huge platter of 3-5 different things! Just the right size. I also had a margarita. K got SO SO SO mad when I wouldn't share!

We got back to the hotel and went swimming. She LOVED it. We worked on jumping in from the side of the pool and putting her head under the water. She was SO funny. She wore her new baby Gap swimsuit. Adorable.

She finally managed to go to sleep around 10:30 p.m.!!! But she slept soundly and slept until 7 a.m.! YEA!!!

Bye-Bye Wisconsin...Hello Minnesota....

2008-07-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

Bye-Bye Wisconsin....

Hello, Minnesota

Idaho Trip -- Part I

2008-07-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning, Kathleen & I left Appleton around 7:30 a.m. to go to Minneapolis. It was so hard to say goodbye to Todd and Bucky. They had to leave a little earlier than usual so that Bucky could go to Tailwaggers (www.tailwaggersddc.com) so he'd be out of the way if there were any showings at the house.
We had a pretty uneventful drive out to Minneapolis. We went through the drive-thru at McDonald's in Stevens Point to pick up some breakfast. I was missing Jodie -- we stopped at McD's once or twice on the way to VBS in Luxemburg in mid-July and she would hand food back to Kathleen while I drove... I'm glad I can at least reach around and reach her carseat (even in the CRV) and K ate pretty well.
We made it to Minneapolis/Bloomington by noon. I'll post some pictures from the bridge crossing into Bloomington, right by Fort Snelling/cementary and by the MSP airport. I never get tired of that sight.
We went to lunch with uncle Ken, grandma Kathy and boppa (my stepfather Dewey) at Joe Sensers. (www.sensers.com -- just for my friends who love to check out menus online. ;) Hee hee hee!) YUMMMMMY!
We went to see grandpa & grandma Laabs so I could pick up one of their old cell phones because mine is completely DEAD. I couldn't figure out how to get it activated....
We went to the Outlet mall in Albertville to meet up with Beth, K's godmother. Beth is excellent at picking out adorable girl clothing -- so K came home with some new overalls, shirts, skirt, bathing suit (it is SO cute) and jammies. Good sales!!
We rushed back to the Twin Cities to meet up with some March mommies (they have kids born in March 2007 also and we post on the iVillage March Muffins message board)... I didn't check my email when I got to town and I didn't have a cell phone... so I went to Panera Bread in the mall and waited. And waited. And waited...
If I had been SMART, I would've brought my laptop into Panera since they have free wifi there... but no, I just waited... and then ended up leaving because I didn't see any mommies with toddlers...
Turns out they'd sent emails (after I'd already left home) that they were meeting NEXT DOOR at TGIFridays! DOH!!! Well, I guess next time we're in town we'll have to meet up with them!!
We ended up going out for supper with Ken and Courtney. We ordered fries for K but she filled up on free popcorn and the taco chips that came with my taco salad. As long as she's eating...
We slept at grandma Kathy's house that night.

On the market

2008-07-27T20:07:00.001-07:00

We met with Michele, our real estate agent on Saturday at noon. From 5 a.m. - noon we cleaned like mad people!!!

I really like her. She's high-energy and she's from the area, so she knows the area well and knows what people are looking for and what they're willing to pay.

Originally, we thought about selling the house ourselves. So far, I'm glad we didn't do that. First of all, we would've priced our house at least $5K under her minimum asking price!

Secondly, we wouldn't have even realized the few simple, easy things we could do to spruce up the house. We've done most of them already and they make a big difference!

We're asking $124,900 for our house. I know it seems like a lot -- but there are lots of newer things that have been added/updated in the past 5 years. Trust me, if you had seen this place when I first met Todd.... well, ewwww.... the carpet was nasty -- they had large dogs and smoked several packs a day... the walls were a chalky gray... the ceiling was leaking and falling down. We've made lots of repairs. We've put a lot of time, energy and love into making the house look the best that we can get it to look. Yes, there are still some home improvement things that could be done -- new windows, refinishing the wood floors, new siding on the garage -- but our agent is confident that we're still OK in our price range.

In fact, she's already had two people ask her about it because they overheard her talking about it yesterday!

As my mom says, "It only takes ONE buyer..." And Michele was here this evening to take pictures of the house. She's motivated to get our house on the website and get people out here to walk through it. We're really excited about it!

Keep sending prayers and positive thoughts this way.

I miss you all already! - Tanya

35 reasons why Thurs was, um, "fun"...

2008-07-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

I had been up since 3:30 a.m. when K woke up screaming (eyes closed). Night terror?

1) Todd & I take both vehicles to the auto repair place. Drop off the CRV (they aren't open yet & have no drop box)
2) Take Todd to work (about 10 mins from there)
3) Go back to auto repair place to drop off the key. Little old man is working there. K is FLIRTING UP A STORM with him. Hilarious.
4) Go to opposite side of town (b/c we were close to the freeway) to buy bolt cutter at Home Depot. (We lost both keys to the MasterLock on Monday).
5) Go to storage unit (other side of town). Try to use bolt cutter. Am pathetically weak.
6) Go to the Home Depot that is closer to storage unit. K flirts up a storm with the two ladies at the Returns register. Hilarious.
7) Drop off items at Goodwill.
8) Nearly get run off the road by huge SUV on my way to the post office. Sticker on back says "Michigan school of engineering." I'm thinking, "Maybe you should engineer a way to get your HEAD out of ..." Nevermind...
9) Get to post office. Wrestle K into umbrella stroller, grab two huge boxes and a package to mail. Barely make it into the building. Engineering SUV lady walks in right behind us.
10) Go to library to pay a fine. Engineering SUV lady walks in (I'm NOT kidding) as we're walking out.
11) Come home. Cut the grass. K is in her umbrella stroller in the driveway, clapping, waving, laughing. Mommy is SOOOO hilarious.
12) Come inside. Pack. Check email. Pack. Check email. (We're asking people if they're interested in adopting Bucky. Not sure if he'll make the trip out there OR if we'd be able to find someplace to rent that will allow BIG dogs.) Deal with dog who is mad he's inside instead of outside. Deal with overly tired, clingy toddler.
Fun fun!
13) Put K down for nap. Phone rings.
14) Feed K lunch. Won't eat.
15) Put K down for nap. Phone rings.
16) Give up on naps altogether.
17) Race to Neenah/Theda Clark Hospital to meet with ENT dr. Put the dog in the car because the appt is only supposed to take 5-10 mins. We get there at 3 for a 3:15 appt.
(Rolled down the windows in car for the dog)
18) Am informed that dr is still in surgery. No idea when he'll be done.
19) Wait for 15 mins, then inform them I NEED to take my dog home and I'll be back in 30 mins or so.
20) Audiologist comes out to test her hearing at that point. Everything is GREAT.
21) Wait.
K plays with toys, walks around, blows kisses/waves to the few people waiting in the room. They all eat it up.
22) Go into exam room. Nurse takes info.
23) Wait.
24) Dr finally comes in, looks in both ears, says it looks 'perfect' and says to come back in a few months.
I inform him that we're moving. He says, "Oh, let us know if we need to forward her files anywhere." Super.
25) Swing by McD's because K is STARVING and crabby. She inhales 2 chicken nuggets. She holds them like they are sandwiches (w/both hands) when she eats them. SO super cute!
26) Go to pay for Todd's vehicle. Put K & Bucky in Todd's vehicle (more room than the Civic)
27) Go to Todd's work to pick him up. He says Co-worker's going-away party is still going on. (My cell phone is completely dead at this point).
28) Go home. See TWO FIRETRUCKS and FOUR police cars on our block. Barely room to get into our driveway.
29) K is finally asleep in the car, so I roll down windows and leave her there to ask neighbors what happened.
30) Someone -- either drunk or seizures -- raced down our street at 40 mph or so and struck a power pole 2 house down the street from our house. No power. No Cable. No way to call Todd!
31) Neighbor let me use his cell phone to call Todd. (Just wanted to set a time to pick him up later since he couldn't call me) He said, "Just come pick me up now,"

BUT I just got home!

SIGH

32) Go BACK to Todd's work...
33) Get home.
34) Tired, crabby toddler makes packing impossible. We're all tired and crabby around here at this point.
35) I run away to go to water aerobics. Barely. Todd distracts K in the swing outside.

But it was worth it because swimnastics outside was AWESOME. I have so much fun there with my peeps. ;)

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

Hey! Sit!

2008-07-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

What will you hear a lot of around our house? Other than "no"?

"Hey!"

I never realized how much we say that to get Kathleen's attention or to refocus her attention elsewhere. We say it enough that she has started saying "Hey!" every now and then. It's pretty cute and very funny when it catches you off-guard.

Her favorite word the past couple of days?

"Sit!"

She says it over and over and over and over and over again. Especially when she sees Bucky.

Poor Bucky dog. She's so used to 'growling' at the dog whenever she sees him. It's funny (to us) that now she tells him "sit"! I know we say that to him a lot -- when we want him to wait to go outside or when we are ready to give him his medication or a treat...

She is also picking up on and using sign language more and more. She will do the sign for "more" quite often. She is getting better with "milk" and "thank you" (although ty looks an awful lot like blowing kisses... oh well, still cute)!

We went to see "Night at the Museum" at the free movies today with Melissa and Jodie. Then Jodie went to Chipotle for free lunch with us. They are officially opening on Friday so to promote the restaurant, they are giving away free burritos today. YUM!!!!!

- Tanya

Tears of Joy

2008-07-21T19:48:00.001-07:00

Well, saying "goodbye" sure is hard. I thought it was hard to say goodbye to (almost) everyone in our young adults group from Good Shepherd a week or so ago... but then I went up to St. Paul's in make a copy of some stuff that will useful for me at Hope... It was so hard to say goodbye to Kristen. I've said it before but it's so true -- working for Kristen was a true highlight of being at St. Paul's... I can only hope to be half as understanding, encouraging and loving as a principal as she has been/is to those of us on her staff. She is awesome!

Her last words to me today were: "There are no mistakes. God has good things planned for you." I know, it's just hard to say good bye.

On my way towards Green Bay, I called Robin. We met at Bay Park square mall. For living so close to each other, we haven't spent nearly enough time together! Her kids were SO excited to see Kathleen. Irelynne couldn't wait to push her in her little umbrella stroller. Brady was all about tickling her as we were walking around. THEN he was *toddler cop*. It was hilarious. The three of them were sitting at a small table in the food court. When K was done eating some pretzel, she got up and wandered 2-3 feet over to the little carousel ride. She's never SEEN anything like that! Brady kept jumping up and running over to her, grabbing her arm and walking her back to her seat. It was SO so so so cute! I just love those kids! They are so cute.

The three of them DID get to ride on the carousel. K had been so excited just to sit in the little boat. She had no idea that it actually MOVED. Once it started, though, it was like she was on drugs -- laughing, smiling... just having a GREAT time. Of course, once it STOPPED, it was the END.Of.The.World!!! Crying, screaming, gnashing of teeth... Oh, drama!!! "Auntie" Robin felt sorry for her so she let them all go on it again... ah, joy. :)

We had to race home to let poor Bucky out. He was so comatose from 3 days at "Tailwaggers" that he didn't even notice we were gone almost all day!

In other news... I *love* Craigslist! (So far, anyway!) Ever since I found out we were moving, I'm been watching and hoping that someone would list a jogging stroller for sale. No luck. Nothing much in Appleton but a LOT to choose from in Minneapolis. Thought maybe I'd have to buy one there while I was driving through. TODAY there was a jogging stroller for sale in Idaho Falls. I emailed and she said she'd hold it for me until I arrive on 7/31. I can't wait! I think it will be a smoother/faster ride that both Kathleen & I will enjoy. We tested them out about a month ago at Baby Depot in Burlington Coat Factory. Love them!

There was a HUGE thunderstorm here this evening... K & I had to pick up something at Walmart and got caught in the rain on the way out to the car. She was giggling in the car and thought it was so much fun! Bucky was in the car, waiting for us, and he decided it was NOT that much fun!
We did see a double rainbowon the way home -- beautiful!!!!!!!!

Oh, before we forget, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JODIE!!!!!

That's all from here.... - Tanya

Thyme for Walking!!

2008-07-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy, busy week!

On Thursday, Kathleen went to Hanson's to play with Karen, Melissa and Ava, a little girl 2 months older than Kathleen. Her mom has a new baby at home, so I'm sure it was a nice change of pace for both mom and Ava to have her at Hanson's again. :) Kathleen had met Ava before and had so much fun playing with her! They are literally two peas in a pod!

Since Ava is a great walker (and climber!) Kathleen was motivated to walk more on her own. She's been using the push toy more and more and then letting go to walk for a few steps, but now she is REALLY going! She decided to test out her new skills non-stop this weekend!

We were able to enjoy Chanda's baby shower. We all painted custom-made onesies for Chanda's baby. It was so fun and they turned out so cute! It was great to see great-aunts Marilyn and Janice (and honorary great-aunt Jo), and great-grandma McLeod!

Kathleen loved that auntie Sara was feeding her Skittles while grandma Barb read books to her. Heaven!

We raced over to grandma Kathy's house so we could travel to Parkers Prairie and see great-grandma Barb. Great-uncle Ed and great-aunt Jan were there visiting, so that was an unexpected surprised! She continued to show off her skills in walking. And she decided that, really, she *doesn't* need a nap. Ever.

After walking and playing 'peek-a-boo' at great-grandma's house, she was pretty exhausted. She didn't really want to sleep on the way back to the Twin Cities. She was one tired girl! Really, really, really tired girl!

She slept great when we got to uncle Ken's house. She did wake up at 4 a.m. but decided if she can sleep with mommy & daddy, then she would go back to sleep. Luckily the guest bed at uncle Ken's house is a king-sized sleep number and there was plenty of all 3 of us in there. We never 'co-sleep' with her, so I wasn't sure how any of us would sleep. We were all so tired, it wasn't a problem.

Once we got home today, we decided to make some pizza for supper. I have been growing cilantro, sweet basil and thyme in a porch flower box this summer. I love the cilantro in salsa. I love (!!!!) the sweet basil in just about anything 'Italian'. I wasn't sure about thyme. I guess I never realized what fresh thyme tastes like. It may be my new favorite. Even more than basil. Well, at least they're tied now.

I know that time is quickly running away from me. I am so pleased with how our bedroom looks with the new light blue paint! I think the 4 coats of primer covered the dark green so well that we don't need to put another coat of "Club Soda" blue on. That will be a huge time saver!

This week is all about packing up clothing and some of the items Kathleen & I will need until Todd joins us out in Idaho. A family from church/school has offered to let K & me stay at their home (they have a guest room/bathroom in the basement, it is where Todd & I stayed in June). Since I'm not really bringing any furniture, they wanted me to stay at their home until I find an apt. I'm already feeling very blessed by the generosity of people there!

Once the packing is done, I will being rearranging furniture to "stage" the house so it's more attractive to buyers. I've got a few small changes in mind. I'll try to post some pictures.

Have a wonderful week! - Tanya

The Happiest Toddler

2008-07-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Kathleen has been having some issues lately -- not sure if it's her teeth, a growth spurt, or both. She's been staying up until midnight and then waking up sometime between 2 - 3 a.m. Orajel has helped but she's just still not herself.

Yesterday was very busy. Jodie joined us at Peabody park for the Tues morning playgroup. Most of the playground equipment was designed for older kids so we didn't stay as long as we usually would have stayed. Instead, we went to Barnes and Noble to purchase "The Happiest Toddler on the Block". I liked the handout we received at Lamaze class about "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and had heard positive things about the toddler book, so there I was. I have to say, a lot of what Dr Karp says in the book is what I already do/say to K. I'm not sure if it's just from all the years of working with 1 year olds or what. I did find it good to use certain words repeatedly when she's whining. It has worked well so far today. I also found it helpful that when the repeated words *aren't* working, it probably means she's overly tired or sick. Sure enough, both times when I tried repeating the word or words that I thought she was feeling at that time and she didn't calm down, I put her down for a nap in her crib and she slept. And slept. And slept.

Yesterday after Barnes and Noble, we came back and put on swimsuits. It was so hot and humid, we thought the pool would be fun. Jodie hadn't seen K swim around like a fish. It was very entertaining! We brought her over to the sand area but she didn't really like that. She definitely likes the pool and the things that spray water the best.

After the pool, we went to Stuc's pizza for lunch. I've only had food there twice before but it was always excellent. I wanted to actually eat in the restaurant. The food was fine. Maybe not quite as good as what I've had in the past, but that's OK. We finally got home at 2 p.m. and Kathleen *finally* got to take her nap. She still was awake until midnight!! ARRRRRGH!

Today was so hot and humid. We didn't end up going to the free movie today. We took Bucky for a walk and only managed to go about half our normal route because it was too hot for poor Bucky. Kathleen napped form 10:30-12:30 and again from 2:30 - 5:30 or 6. REALLY! I think she's just catching up from her missed morning nap yesterday! I spent a good part of the morning TSPing the walls in our bedroom and taking around the windows, doors and baseboards. THAT is a tedious job! I did manage to get one coat of primer on the walls before a late lunch. I was working on a second coat when Todd got home. I ran out of primer so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Tomorrow Kathleen is going to the Hanson's. I think Karen has been going threw 'withdrawal' since her daycare has been closed for the past few weeks this summer. I do hope that one of the kids, Ava, who is close to Kathleen's age, will be able to come over to the Hanson's and play with Kathleen tomorrow. This should give me time to take some stuff out to storage, finish priming the walls and then, hopefully, get at least one coat of "Club Soda" paint on the walls. I hope!

- Tanya

Wrestling moves!!

2008-07-14T20:22:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Chillaxin' with daddy

2008-07-14T20:21:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Dining room (after 2)

2008-07-14T20:20:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Dining Room (after)

2008-07-14T20:19:00.001-07:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Dining Room (before)

2008-07-14T20:18:00.001-07:00

Swimnastics...aka Water-nastics

2008-07-14T19:53:00.001-07:00

Well, today I didn't get very much done. I wanted to tape the trim in our bedroom, maybe start priming around the windows/doors, etc. I did manage to move the bookshelf from the office to the dining room, put the curtains back up, set the table to it is "staged" and ready for a buyer to be completely impressed with (I hope!), empty the dishwasher, do some dusting, etc.

Kathleen's fever lasted for about 12 hours and she never had any signs of a virus -- no rash, vomiting, or anything else. Not much eating, a little bit of drinking. I know it had to be something more than just teething, but not sure what. She wants to sleep for 15-30 mins and then snuggle and then run around with her push toy... no long naps for her today. ARGH.

I did get to go to swimnastics tonight from 8-9 p.m. with Jodie, Melissa and Krista at a local high school pool. It was SO fun. I've never done any type of water aerobics before, but I did regular aerobics when I was a junior in college... This was just as intensive but a little easier since it was in the water. Loved it! So sad I'll be leaving in a few weeks! But I'm sure they have something similar available in Idaho Falls.

I just have to say I'm so grateful to my friends from Good Shepherd because I've heard nothing but positive and supportive things about the move to Idaho Falls. I received an email from the head teacher at Hope -- he had been on vacation and purposely didn't check in with anyone about my decision until he came home. He was so happy to hear that we are coming and said it really is an answer to their prayers. I was starting to feel bad about the call because I know just the thought of us moving away is hard on our families. But I never stopped feeling like I was called to be there and that what they need in a principal is what I have to offer. We found an apartment that is about the same sq. footage as our house, so I think we will try to rent for 6-12 months so we can really look for a house that is at a location that works best for both of us (and, including, wherever Kathleen goes to daycare). The only bad thing is that the apartment won't be available until 8/5. I think I can stay in an extended-stay hotel or perhaps with someone from the church. I know there are options out there.

As for Todd, he is keeping SO busy at work. They put a long list of to-do items on his plate for the Annual company meeting that is coming up soon. And, of course, the deadline is Thursday afternoon. I'm happy that I'm home during the day and he doesn't have to worry about coming home for lunch or to let the dog out at lunchtime. He can focus on his work, eat lunch there and get back to work right away. I'm sure he can get everything done. He came home and spent time with Miss "Crabby-Appleton" tonight while I was at "Water-nastics" as he called it. I know they both enjoy daddy-daughter time but I think he gets a better appreciation of how busy she is now and how draining it is when she's whiny.

Here's hoping tomorrow is MUCH happier day. We plan to go to the park with the Good Shepherd playgroup and then, possibly, to the pool. She was SO mad at me tonight when she saw me walk out the door with my swimbag -- and SHE wasn't going along! She's jibber-jabberings a lot more (sometimes with hand gestures -- hilarious!) and breaks into a "Hiiiiii", "Hiiiiiiii", "Mom", "Dad"... even a "Tanya" tonight (I swear!)... If you haven't seen her lately, I'll try to post some video clips of her 'dancing' on dropshots. So funny!

- Tanya

Goodbye Yellow Room!

2008-07-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

Our dining room used to be a yellow color -- "Melted butter", to be technical. It looked really nice with our "eggplant" colored curtains and I loved the color combination. Unfortunately, I know that yellow isn't your usual 'neutral' or popular color, so we set out to paint the room (walls *and* ceiling!) our 'default' neutral color -- Cancun Sand (ivory). Since the yellow was darker than the Cancun Sand, we had to prime the walls first. It took two coats for the yellow to be *mostly* covered. The fumes were awful!

Today I did the children's message at both the 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and then we started to paint the dining room. It was SO breezy out that we opened the windows and it was just great. The breeze helped us keep the fumes to the minimum and helped the paint dry faster. Two coats later, it looks *SO* nice!!! I think that I may move the ivory curtains from the living room into the dining room. I'd like to put the old round table in there to make the room look even better but I'm not sure we want the "nice" table to be in storage. Decisions, decisions!

Next up: prime (ugh) and paint our bedroom upstairs. That's going to be a BIG job. Then prime and paint over the custom-painted border in K's bedroom (wah! I'm so sad because it's so cute!)... We also have to rearrange some of the furniture around the house and move some of the stuff our to storage yet.

So much to do, so little time! I'm also looking forward to Swimnastics on Mondays and Wednesdays (for the next couple of weeks, anyway!). K had a slight fever tonight, so I'm watching for any signs of a virus. The dr's office wasn't concerned, but I just have to keep an eye on it.

Hard to believe the weekend is already over!

- Tanya

Happy Birthday to Todd!

2008-07-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

It's Todd's birthday. July 12th has always been a type of 'unofficial' holiday for the Potratz side of my family because it was my grandpa's birthday. Since he was the oldest in his family, we usually had a family reunion/birthday party for him in July. It's a favorite time of year for me.

For Todd's birthday, we had a very exciting day. We went to Home Depot to buy some paint and painting supplies. Then we came home and he installed new items in the bathroom -- towel bar and toilet paper holder -- while I primed the walls and ceiling in the dining room. Kathleen took a LONG nap because she was ex-haust-ed from VBS this past week! When she woke up, she had some raviolis and pineapple for lunch. She was COVERED with sauce -- so cute -- but of course I didn't have my camera near by! She sat in her pack-n-play and 'read' books to her doll and teddy bear. So, so funny!

When we first adopted Bucky, we bought a DVD called "Doggy Sitter" -- it shows animals like squirrels running around and there are "nature sounds" to keep dogs entertained while you're away. Yeah. THAT never happened. Bucky hated it. Kathleen, however, LOVES it. She was *belly laughing* at it. She's not too interested in tv. She's watched "Sesame Street" a couple of times and liked the music. She belly laughed at "Teletubbies" (go figure) and doesn't know what to think of "Mr Rogers". She was never interested in Baby Einstein or Brainy Baby DVDs... but Doggy Sitter is a hit. So entertaining!!!

Tonight Todd, Kathleen & I went out for supper at Good Company here in Appleton. It was a beautiful night and if we hadn't been so tired from our home improvements, we could've just walked over there. K had taken a second nap and then had a bath, so she was ready to mingle. She kept turning towards the people at the next table and offering them some cereal, her sippy cup or her "Who Loves Baby" book. She made sure to wave and blow kisses before we left. She was in full *HAM* mode tonight!

- Tanya