Lots and lots of snow

Obviously, we have had a lot of snow lately. Luckily we have a small, but perfect for us, hill next door in our neighbor's yard. Unfortunately, we trudged throughout our neighborhood with the snow and bitter cold in our faces before we found this perfect spot. As you can see, in my attempt to avoid the big tree in the middle of the run, I hit the bushes instead. Joey managed to pick himself right up, but I couldn't stand for laughing.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

I am very fortunate to have such great parents, just a great family really, but we were especially lucky to be able to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary with our family and friends. My sibs and I pulled together a surprise party after hemming and hawing over what we should do to celebrate. Well, it worked and they were surprised! Not when they walked in the door of course, but Mom and Dad were definitely surprised when Brian pulled into Cindy's driveway and there were lots more cars than usual. A good time was had by all!

Calmness in Our Lives

I am not a fan of chain letters, be it snail mail or email. I especially hate the ones that promise something horrible will happen if you don't forward it to 7 friends in 3 minutes. What kind of friend puts that kind of pressure on someone? Having said that, there are certain emails that should certainly be shared with the masses. Here is one that I received today:


CALMNESS IN OUR LIVES
By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace.

Dr Phil proclaimed, 'The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished.'
So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Chardonnay, a bottle of Pinot Grigio, a bottle of Riesling, half a pizza, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the chocolate chip cookies, some puffy Cheetos, and a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints. You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now.

Who can't find the truth in those words of wisdom?

Seriously though

Even though I had a few cake opportunities (red velvet at school, a birthday cookie from a student, cupcakes at my parents) , I didn't get to make a birthday wish. I thought I could light a candle and blow it out, but wondered if that really counted if the candle wasn't in a cake or if nobody sang "happy birthday" to me before I blew out the candle. Jill said that she sang to me on facebook and that the things didn't all have to happen together. As I was looking for something to stick the birthday candle in to hold it up while I blew it out, I started to think how ridiculous I was being, so of course I needed to document my ridiculousness. I gave Joey the camera, stuck the candle in a red raspberry and blew out the flame. Well, of course I didn't like the angle of the picture, so we tried again. I didn't like that one either, or the next one, or the next two. Joey was getting sick of taking pictures so we quit. (This is the best photo cropped to within an inch-at least you can see the raspberry candle.) Then I realized that I never had made the darn wish. I started to make a wish without the candle, but realized that I really don't need to wish for anything. I have the greatest friends and family in the world. Thanks to all of you who saw me and remembered my birthday (not that I would let you forget), called with good wishes, sent cards and/or sent messages via Facebook and email. I couldn't wish for anything better than those of you who are in my life!

Happy Birthday to Me!

There comes a point in your life when you realize....
who matters,
who never did,
who won't anymore,
and who always will.
So, don't worry about people from your past;
there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future.

Thanks to all of the people who are in my life now!

Merry Christmas

I was planning Christmas as usual with Santa's annual stop on Christmas Eve, but my son had another idea after he heard that Santa visited our neighbors' house a day early so that all of the kids could be present. When Joey learned that Santa delivers on other nights, he asked if Santa could come on a night when Greg would be home. I called Santa right away and he assured me that changing nights would be no trouble. Now Joey and Greg are happy, and I am just so proud of my little guy. It's not Christmas without Daddy.

NSTA Conference

After a year's worth of planning, the regional conference for the National Science Teachers' Association has come and gone. I served on the local arrangements committee as the Field Trips Manager-my job? To plan field trips for the 3,000 science teachers who came to Cincinnati for this conference. The experience of attending a conference of this magnitude was incredibly refreshing; the idea that I helped to plan it-inconceivable! The most difficult part was being away from my family for the 4 days-even though the event was held in Cincinnati, my schedule proclaimed a need for close proximity to the venue, hence a hotel room was in order;-) The best part? Working on a project this scale is an experience I am not likely to have again. Meeting the great variety of people was a bonus!
Thanks to Meri for inviting me to participate, my friend and teaching partner Dee for her tremendous support, my family for surviving without me, the committee and volunteers for honoring their commitments and my new friends and acquaintances for making this such a rewarding experience.
Here I come New Orleans (National Conference)!