The 44 Presidents

This is very cool - you should go watch it...

44 Presidents

Bizarre Remedy

Some time ago, I read somewhere on the internet that rubbing Vicks Vaporub on the bottoms of your feet when you go to bed would quiet your cough.

Bizarre, right?

So, a couple of weeks ago, I had a cough that wouldn't quit and got worse at night. One night I decided to try the Vicks remedy. Unfortunately, I also took some prescription cough syrup (not that its ever done any good). As a science teacher, I know to only change one variable at a time, not two.

My coughing disappeared that night.

I had no idea if it was the cough syrup (probably not) or the Vicks.

The next several nights I did only Vicks.

I'd cough for just a few minutes and then it would disappear.

I didn't believe it.

I still don't believe it.

But, it has worked for me.

Maybe it's psychological.

Here's what snopes.com has to say (I always check them out when something sounds too good to be true)

Vicks

If you know me, you know I will try almost any alternative treatment before medical intervention so it shouldn't surprise you that I actually slathered Vicks on my feet in an attempt to quiet my cough. :)

Another One Bites the Dust

Today, Steven mailed the check that will pay off the truck. Well, the last payment will be debited on the 25th but the check for the remainder was mailed.

Next up - the motorcycle payment. I'm hoping that will be paid off in about 4 months then we'll have both of those payments to get the CC debt paid down.

Right now, both our jobs are secure but who knows what will happen in the future. I'll feel so much better when we get out from under all this debt. I'm also really ready to build a house. :)

Sanctity of Life Sunday

Today is Sanctity of Life Sunday. This is always a difficult Sunday for me but more so this year. I cried all through church, all the way home from church and then cried until I fell asleep this afternoon. Since I'm not a crier, this was some serious emotional stuff for me. My eyes still hurt and my heart is so heavy that I feel like it's about to burst through my chest.

My heart has always been broken for those precious grandbabies I'll never hold but now that I know there are more than two, I sometimes feel like I just can't stand it.

When I got up from my nap, Jenny and Emily were here. It was almost too painful for me to hold her. My heart is so heavy. Have I said that already? Well, it is.

I'm so very thankful that all those years ago, I chose life for my babies and chose to keep them and raise them. I know I wasn't always the best mother and made a multitude of mistakes but my children are my life and there's no way I can begin to imagine my life without them.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I did not think it was possible for 2 babies to look so much alike.

Emily Elizabeth arrived Friday afternoon at 4:39. She weighed 7 lb. 13 oz. and was 20 inches long.

She is beautiful! She also looks *exactly* like Bailey did when he was born. A couple pounds smaller but that's a good thing. :)

Everyone's home now and doing well.

Never a Dull Moment

So, we're all here for Christmas except mother. Daniel, David and Bailey are outside playing. Daniel comes in and tells us that there's a wild hog in the woods beside our house.

There can't be a wild hog there, we live in town for goodness sake.

But, David confirmed - not that I doubted Daniel, you understand. It was just too unbelievable.

Daniel called his brothers and told them to bring the bow.

There is no longer a wild hog in the woods next to our house.

It was a mercy killing. The poor young hog only had 3 legs and 1 ear had been ripped off. We figure it had been caught in some type of trap.

Zach was going to eat it but decided against it. Probably a good decision.

Never a dull moment...

How Exciting

David is home for Christmas. He flew in last night. His flight was due in at 10:37 at IAH.

His plane was delayed.

It got in at 12:35.

It took forever for his luggage to arrive.

We got home at 2:30 something.

Thank goodness I didn't have to go to work today. I'm sorry that Steven did have to go to work.

How exciting... NOT!

Ticked Off

Last Friday I took 12 pint jars of various jellies and green tomato relish to work and put in the work room. I sent an email to 10 people - the other 8 classroom teachers in my hallway, the computer teacher and the ISS teacher. I took 12 so that no one had to take what was left and not have a choice. I was expecting to bring 2 jars back home.

I went in later and all 12 jars were gone.

Who would assume that they could either take extra or tell someone else to take them?

Next year I'll leave my yummy goodies at home for my family to enjoy and then I won't be ticked off.

Smoke

I've been sensitive to smoke for lots of years now. I can get off the elevator at a hotel and tell if someone is smoking anywhere on that floor. If someone has smoked in a hotel room, I can tell. I also have to have another room. When I'm around smoke, I really, really suffer, I cough, get drainage down the back of my throat and have difficulty breathing.

Burning leaves is probably the worst because it's so invasive, comes into my home and I can do nothing about it.

We came home from the Christmas parade and having supper at Jenny's house.

It smells like the entire neighborhood has been burning leaves.

I'm suffering. I'm having trouble breathing and who knows how I'm going to sleep tonight.

I despise smoke of all kinds...

Who Knew?

that all that sneezing I did Friday would lead to a full blown head cold?

I sneezed several times Friday, a bit unusual for me. Didn't think to much about it, just figured it was something in the air. Sneezed some more at Jenny's house Friday afternoon/evening. Still didn't think to much about it. My nose started running at Jenny's house. I should have known then that something was up, especially since I wiped my nose raw. By the time I went to bed at 9:00, my head was stuffed up and I was having trouble breathing.

Steven woke me up at 9:00 to get ready for Bailey's last soccer game. Didn't happen. My throat hurt, my head was stuffed up, had a sinus headache, my nose was stuffed up/running. I didn't feel like going, it was cold and I didn't want to pass this mess on to anyone, especially Rowdy and Jenny.

Stayed up for about 1 1/2 hours then back to bed for 4 hours. Up for a couple of hours then tried to go back to bed. My body couldn't handle being back in bed again so watched a movie. Wanted to watch another movie but went to bed instead. Still feeling miserable.

Woke up this morning not feeling much better. Been up for 1 1/2 hours and think I'm going back to bed again. I need to go to work tomorrow. I have no lesson plans done, no papers graded for Tuesday folders but I guess it will all work out.

I hate being sick...

Veteran's Day

In memory of:

Thaman Corley - US Army - Vietnam

In honor of:

Chris Crouch - US Navy
David Vantreese - US Air Force
Daniel Butts - Louisiana National Guard - Iraq
Greg Landgraf - US Army - Afghanistan
Layne Crouch - US Army Reserves
Jimmy Wade - US Marines
Hugo "Tex" Santos - US Air Force

I'm sure I've missed someone but it's sure not intentional.

Thank you each and every one for the sacrifices you've made to serve our country.

I can't even begin to say how very proud I am that all 4 of my boys are serving their country.

Public Service Announcement

Today is election day. Please go vote.

Quilt Show

Last Thursday, I took the day off and went to the Quilt Show in Houston with another teacher. According to some ladies sitting at our table at lunch, this is the biggest convention in Houston every year. I know there were lots of vendors, lots of quilts displayed and lots of people.

We saw some beautiful quilts, some ugly quilts, some bizarre quilts and some weird quilts. I made some discoveries about the types of quilts I like. I have eclectic tastes, according to Mary. :) I've long suspected that I loved scrap quilts and that was confirmed. I also like some appliqued quilts and some that are pieced to look like animals. Log Cabin in one of my favorite patterns. Lots of town/village quilts called my name also.I totally dislike pastel colors, no matter what the design.

There was a booth with my wonderful, fabulous Body Sense heating pads. I thought that if they had a show special, I might pick up one or two. They did have a special.... buy 3 and get 10% off all 3. Needless to say, I came home without any new heating pads.

I only came home with 1 book and no fabric (I did stop at Hancock Fabrics and bought some fat quarters) but I was inspired to start a new quilt. Tonight, I'm going to start my Hawaii quilt. When we went to Hawaii, I bought some Hawaiian print fabric squares. They've been sitting in a bag for 5 years now. I think it's time I made them into a quilt.

It's Been Awhile

14 years to be exact.

Tonight, the kindergartners performed at the PTO meeting. It's been 14 years since I've been to a kindergarten program. I forgot how cute and enthusiastic they are. They sang their hearts out.

Except for one.

We thought Bailey was upset because he didn't get to have a part and wear a costume.

We were wrong.

He was scared.

He was scared because there were so many people there. His teacher went back and talked to him and he finally sang some on one of the songs.

He was fine once the program was over and was back sitting with us.

Being in the Elementary cafeteria brought back lots of memories for me. I started working in the school when Rachael was in 1st grade. I was the cafeteria clerk. Now I'm a real live teacher. Some days it's still difficult for me to believe I've traveled that road.

19 Years

Friday was our 19th anniversary. If you had told me I would remain married to the same man for this many years, I'd have called you a liar yet here I am, 19 years later and very happily married.

I almost always forget to get Steven a card. I don't know why I can't remember that but I can't. This year I remembered but didn't write on it. At 11 something Thursday night, I was in the bathroom trying to write something on the card. I'm sure it looked like c*ap but the card was on the computer waiting for him when he woke up, a first for me.

I was slightly disappointed that there wasn't a card waiting for me but didn't say anything. I"m so glad I didn't because when I got in the truck to go to work, there was something even better waiting for me.

Early in our relationship, when we both worked at Circle K, Steven used to take the front of a cigarette carton and write me a little note with his schedule for the week. It was very special to me. When I die and the kids are going through my things, they'll find some of those notes. Now they'll know what they are.

Anyway, there was one of those notes propped up against the steering wheel. I smiled so much my face hurt. I took it to work and looked at it all day and smiled every time I saw it.

I'm sure the ladies at Shell thought he was crazy when he went in at 6 in the morning and asked for an empty cigarette carton and then proceeded to tear off all the sides. I think he did explain what he was doing. He came back home, put it in the truck ( I didn't know until that night) and came in the house to get his phone. I didn't think anything about him coming back in but telling me he forgot his phone was just his ruse for returning home in case the dogs got restless when he drove back in the driveway and I went to look. Wasn't that sneaky?

On to our "date"...

Our anniversary tradition is eating at Outback. We very seldom eat there any other time because that keeps it special. We love Outback. The steaks (me) and fish (Steven) are great, the steamed veggies are wonderful (wonder what they do to them?), the Ceaser salad is divine (very garlicky) and the bread is out of this world.

For the first time ever, my steak wasn't cooked correctly. The 1st half was fine but the second half was red and bleeding. I have no idea how that happened but it did. I'd already cut it into pieces and had eaten half so I didn't send it back. 45 seconds in the microwave the next day took care of all that redness. :)

I was exhausted because the night before was Fall Festival at school so we just ate and headed home.

Just past Briarcrest, we hit a traffic jam. We could see flashing lights so we knew it was a wreck. Traffic was not moving at all, even in one lane. Even the off ramp at William Joel Bryan was not moving. We sat there for awhile before I asked Steven if he was going to turn around (can you believe I actually asked that?) He said that as soon as he did, traffic would start moving and it would take longer.

So - we sat there for 30 more minutes, just yards from the WJB off ramp before Steven finally took off across the median and turned around. There were officers at the Briarcrest on ramp turning traffic back up the on ramp and sending them down the feeder road. Traffic was backed up as far as you could see. When we passed where the accident was, it didn' look bad, one truck had rearended someone but that was the only vehicle. We wondered why both lanes were closed.

kbtx.com reported that it was a 5 car pileup and took 2 hours to clean up. Since we were fairly close to where the accident happened and we waited almost an hour, I'm really, really glad we turned around and came on home.

It was an interesting anniversary "celebration" but that's OK - we're working on year 20 now.

Changing Tastes

It's amazing how a person's taste buds can change over the course of time.

I've never liked kettle corn. It's sweet and popcorn was not meant to be sweet. It's meant to be salty.

At the Mushroom Festival, Bailey wanted popcorn. It was kettle corn. He didn't like it - Jenny didn't like it and I decided to try it. It'd been several years since I'd had any and I know that my tastes do change over time.

Needless to say, it was delicious! Maybe it was just different from what I've had in the past but this stuff was good! It was so good I ate the entire (small) bag. I didn't even ask Steven if he wanted to share. I was so full I didn't eat supper. Not very nutritious but it was sure good.

I'm wondering what's next on my list of things I've never liked that may now tickle my taste buds. It's definitely not baked sweet potatoes. Tried those recently and still don't like them.

Hhhmmmm....food for thought....

I Love My Crockpot

I've been fairly successful in remembering to put something in the crockpot on Wednesday mornings. Steven has choir practice Wednesday nights right about the time supper would be getting started. We can't seem to get supper going any earlier so had to come up with a solution. Crockpot to the rescue!! All I have to do is steam some veggies and make some garlic bread and we're good to go. We have a good meal, Steven goes to choir practice fed instead of hungry, we're not spending money grabbing some fast food and I feel like super wife which happens seldom these days.

Of course, Steven actually put the roast in the crockpot this morning but that's unusual so I'm giving myself a pass today. I do have to put the onion soup mix in so I will have contributed. :)

It's nice to come home to a wonderful smelling house and to know that supper is only a few minutes away.

Here's Rachael

The fall softball picture is up on the website and Rachael is on the front row. It's too bad they don't list the names of the managers and graduate assistants.

Aggie Softball Picture

15 1/2 Pints of Green Tomato Relish AKA I Have The Best Husband in The Whole World

If you don't believe that I have the best husband in the whole world, just ask me, I'll be happy to extol his virtues to anyone who will listen. Unless, of course, you catch me on a day when he's being a man. In that case, I'll still extol his virtues, just not as happily. :)

Saturday, Steven had a board meeting in Waco. I stayed home to watch Bailey's soccer game. On his way home, he called to ask if I wanted him to ATM some money to get me some green tomatoes. Dumb question but that's OK. I've only been trying to grow some tomatoes, without any luck, so I can have green tomatoes for relish.

He was driving by and saw a man on the side of the road selling produce. He saw green things and couldn't tell if they were tomatoes or apples so he turns around and goes back to check. How many men would actually do that?

We went to Robert's to get his grinder (on the condition that I never bring it back to his house) and shopped for the remainder of ingredients for green tomato relish. I also got pint jars from Mom. Thanks Mom! I used all of mine and 9 of the ones you gave me as well as 5 1/2 pint jars (I grossly underestimated how much relish there would be).

There was a small crisis before we began - I couldn't find the recipe I had so lovingly typed out at Birdie's house! I distinctly remember putting it in a "safe" place when we got home. It was very safe - I couldn't find it. A quick call to Birdie - she was demoing at W-M - she would call with ingredients and then type the recipe when she got home. Of course, as soon as I called her, I found the recipe. Thanks for being willing to help Birdie! Thanks for introducing me to this yummo relish and giving me the recipe too!!

Sunday afternoon when we started, the tomatoes had already started turning red but were still firm so they were OK. I had enough tomatoes for 1 1/2 batches and didn't have enough cabbage but a quick trip to the store remedied that problem. We ground veggies until we were blue in the face then I salted them and put them in the fridge overnight.

Thank goodness I was off today. It took me about 3 hours to get the relish rinsed, drained, cooked, put in jars and sealed. The last of them are in a water bath as I type. The recipe didn't say to give them a water bath and I'm sure they didn't need it but they got one any way.

Right now, I'm waiting rather impatiently for my boiled eggs to cool and some relish to cool so I can have a delicious egg salad sandwich.

Life is good...

Soccer

Bailey had his first soccer game yesterday. Jenny is coaching. Yes, 6 month pregnant Jenny is coaching soccer.

It was so much fun to watch. Since it was their first game and they'd only had one practice, they really didn't have a clue what to do. There was at least one little girl that really didn't want to play and most of them had no idea which goal they were supposed to kick at the whole first half. The second half was better in that respect except for one little boy that still didn't have a clue, he was just having a good time kicking the ball!

I tried to remain impartial but I'm pretty sure Bailey was by far the best player. Really, I'm sure he was the best player.

One of the players is the son on the custodian that takes care of my classroom and one little girl is the cousin of one of the girls on my UIL team. I love living in a small town!

Mom just called and asked if I enjoyed watching soccer as much as she did when Chris was in kindergarten, lived with her and played soccer. Of course the answer was a resounding yes!

Grandchildren are such a joy...