I was able to spend mother's day weekend up here with my sweet mom. She arrived Friday night to a lasagna and salad dinner prepared by yours truly! We spent the evening playing with Pattie and sitting outside enjoying the weather. Saturday morning, I took her out to eat breakfast at Sunnypoint Cafe. (Which if you are a fan, they are in the running for the best breakfast by Good Morning America. You can vote May 15th, I believe.) After a scrumptious breakfast, we browsed Target and World Market before heading home. We played in the yard for a bit before deciding to head to Carl Sandburg's house. After traveling down the wrong road for awhile, we finally found our destination! We walked around the lake, the house, and the barn before heading to a few shops in the Flat Rock area. We made a quick stop to pick up a few movies and a few more groceries before arriving back home for the movie marathon! We decided leftovers would make for a good dinner before popping some popcorn for the second showing of the evening. We watched It's Complicated, took a break and played outside with Pattie, then came back inside for Julia and Julie. Sunday morning, we ate our leftover breakfast with a few new extras and drank coffee leisurely. After church, I made mom lunch before she had to head back home. During our lunch of salmon, sweet potato, and sauteed squash, onion, and zucchini we watched the last move Love Happens. We had wonderful weather and were able to enjoy being outside with Pattie while enjoying each others' company. I am truly blessed to have such a loving mother.
I'd just like to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful big brother! Thanks for taking care of your little sis all these years and for being such a great role model. I love you!
I took Pattie to the vet today. She hasn't been since the summer when she had her girlie surgery. Well, I actually took her a few months back to see how much she weighed before buying more heartworm and flea medicine. Anyway, I was totally dreading the experience based on past visits. However, this one was so much smoother! She never jumped on anyone that walked by or in the room and she even laid down while waiting in the room! She now weighs 44 pounds! They said she was ready to advance from puppy food to adult food. My baby pup is growing up!
On another note, while walking to lunch today here was my conversation with one of my kids: Kaden: Is Mrs. Watkins married? Me: Yes, she is married to Mr. Watkins. K: Oh, I thought you were married. Me: No, not yet K: Well, you should find someone to marry so he can be Mr. Gribble. Me: Laughing I told him that I would have a new last name one day when I met the right person.
Looking a little bit confused, he continued to lead our line to lunch. Oh the thinking of five year olds!
Friday night I attended the Rachel Pally Trunk show at Gusto. Intending only to show support, enjoy a sweet treat and a drink, and mingle with family was overpowered by the beautiful necklace and green shoes that I purchased before the night was over! I wore my new shoes out of the store just like I had gotten a new pair of Zips shoes. (Apparently this was my "thing" when ever I got a new pair of Zips shoes when I was young?!) As you'll be able to see in the pictures, Grandmother decided later in the evening she wanted to try on some high heels! She and mom both are quite the shoe models! Saturday morning, mom and I met Kathryn and Tom at the mother load of rummage sales! The junior league of W-S was holding their annual sale. I walked out of there with 5 sweaters and 3 skirts for only $16; holding true to my $20 limit! That's some bargain shopping right there! That evening, Mom and I headed downtown to join Kathryn and Tom for dinner before walking up to the fashion show. Gusto was the host of the evenings festivities. Some of the proceeds from both nights would go back to the Susan G. Komen chapter in W-S. The fashion show was actually the chapters deal and Gusto graciously offered their place and fashion tips! There were two breast cancer survivors who spoke about their journeys then joined the others to strut their stuff in the show!
Friday night, I arrived home in time to eat dinner with mom and dad at Pinebrook. Before I continue, I would just like to apologize to Pinebrook for chicken bones and cell phones; musical treats while the tea and table meet! (That's for mom and dad who are probably laughing right now!) Okay, let's continue. Saturday morning I went with mom to meet most of her brothers and sisters for breakfast. Laura and Grant were in town so Kyle, Kathryn, mom, and I meet up for a little breakfast, lots of coffee, and an abundance of chit chat! I love surprise meetings like this!Soon after the breakfast, it was time to head over to Audrey's shower. Audrey is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Baby Banks who is expected to arrive one year after Marty's death. Such a bittersweet moment this will be. Audrey received a kitchen table full of gifts along with a piggy bank for Banks. He certainly has a good start to his fortune! There was a dining room table filled with yummy snacks such as blueberry yogurt covered pretzels, chicken salad bites, shells filled with blue tinted "fluff" topped with a blueberry, fruit with dip, bite sized ham biscuits, and muffins. Can you tell that Audrey is having a boy and she also loves blueberries?! Mom and I helped Audrey unload the presents at her house, checked out gifts from previous showers, and saw the updates to the nursery. Banks will be set! That afternoon, I met Kathryn and Tom downtown for drinks and appetizers. It was a perfect afternoon for sitting in the sun and catching up. We later met up with Kyle and Marie for dinner. I stopped by Gusto on my way and invited the owners down for a drink. A few minutes later, Austin arrived and caught us up on the latest happenings of downtown life! What a family filled weekend! I'm looking forward to the fashion show next weekend!
This post is dedicated to my cousins, Mary (Maggie) and Lina, both of whom enjoy cooking, baking, and trying new recipes. I on the other hand do not get much pleasure out of cooking. When entertaining I do enjoy fixing foods. However on a daily basis cooking is not on my top list of things to do. One day I'm going to enjoy being in the kitchen...one day! I was invited the last Sunday of my break over to my friends Anna and Blair's while they were grilling out. Blair enjoys grilling and he made a mean hamburger that evening..might tasty. I offered to bring dessert. I was craving a chocolate pie, but decided to spice it up a bit with crushed Heath bar pieces in the pie and sprinkled on top. This picture captures what I saw as I stepped back once the pie was complete. This is how we "cook" in the south:
Wednesday morning the Ohio Gribbles headed out for the long drive home. After a walk with mom and Pattie, I headed on my way to the Cary/Apex area. I spent the afternoon hanging out with Heather, Mark, and the boys. After work had ended for Jessica, I headed over to see her and the girls and drop off my stuff before heading over to the Hughes' house. Dinner was spent with Eddie, Jill, and Holly in between some playing time and bath time before I headed back to the Lewis' for the evening. Thursday we spent drinking coffee on the back deck and catching up while the kids played outside. That evening we went to Tyler's for dinner and a table for 10!!! After saying goodbye Friday morning, I swung back by mom and dad's to pick up the rest of my things and Pattie. She was glad to see me, but enjoyed her bonding time with GG and PaPa!!!! I arrived home Friday afternoon to a yard full of hay! After unloading the car, I tackled the ridiculously high grass while Pattie sunbathed. Ann brought Chloe over to play with Pattie before we met Mandi out for dinner. Saturday was spent "sleeping in", pulling some weeds, heading out to run errands while Pattie was left out in the house (Pattie stayed by herself a total of 3 hours split between to different errand runnings. Yeah Pattie!), and then some planting. I also finally removed the "firepit" that Travis had built in the middle of the yard. Some of those rocks were heavy, but the whole process was quite therapeutic! Now let's just hope the grass seeds I planted will actually grow! I love Spring weather!!!
Tuesday was our last full day together. We headed downtown so the rest of the family could see Austin's store, Gusto. After visiting with them, we walked down to Skippy's for lunch. Uncle Kyle met us there for a nice lunch outside. When lunch was finished, we walked back to the cars then headed to Putt Putt. Mom, Dad, and I took him to play. I played too since I can't remember the last time I had been! Kathryn stopped by for a quick hello before we all headed back outside to play. Sawyer got to fly his first kite from the Easter bunny, we did some more swinging, and playing baseball in the yard. After dinner, we walked up to the church playground for some fun before dark. It was a wonderful visit and I'm already looking forward to the next time!
Monday was another busy day. Dana, Jammie's childhood friend, came up for a morning visit. We enjoyed some time at the park and outside time around the house. After lunch, Dad and Phillip took Sawyer to "the real golf course"! I'm not sure if Phillip or Sawyer was more excited! That afternoon, we played on the swings and grilled out for dad's birthday. His birthday is on the 14th so we celebrated early with steaks, potatoes, salad, and cake. Uncle Kyle stopped by after working at the farm for dinner. The kids enjoyed helping Papa blow out the candles, but more importantly eating his cake!
Another beautiful day was spent enjoying the weather, family, and friends. The kids awoke to find the Easter bunny had left them baskets! Sawyer loved his toys and Caroline loved her candy! Uncle Kyle stopped by to enjoy some coffee and the festivities. After walking to and from church, we gathered for a family picture before dad left to pick up Grandma Gribble. We all gathered at Grandmother Gen's for the usual Sunday lunch before hours of playtime and "sunbathing" while chatting outside. The kids did some resting while some of us took Grandma Gribble back. After a walk with Pattie back to Gen's for dinner, we had fun playing hide n' seek in her yard.
Saturday morning, we all headed down for golfing, breakfast, and an egg hunt. We went early and enjoyed breakfast with dad and Phillip before they headed out to golf. Since there was time before the Easter bunny would be arriving, Sawyer wanted to hit some far shots with the men on the driving range. After a few shots and keeping Caroline entertained, the Easter bunny had arrived! Caroline loved following the bunny around as he passed out chocolate. Finally, it was time for the egg hunt! The kids filled up their baskets with eggs filled with candy and money! We headed back home, unloaded the baskets, then headed over to grandmother Gen's for some playtime. Uncle Kyle stopped by for a bit of playing before heading back to the house for some lunch. The afternoon and evening was spent resting and enjoying the warm weather outside. Sawyer was quick to bed as Phillip spotted the Easter bunny hopping by!
Spring Break began Thursday at 3:45! After packing up the car and Pattie, we hit the road for good ol' Rural Hall. Getting into town after 7, I ran Pattie outside while we waited for the others to arrive. By 9:00, everyone was here safe and sound! We enjoyed some play time together before crashing. Friday was a busy day spent playing over at Grandmother Gen's, playing in the backyard here, going to see some chicks and ducks, and playing some more! Thankfully there are 4 more days of fun to be had!
My dear friend Dana and her son Grayson flew into NC Sunday. Her parents wanted to see their grandchild for Easter, so they decided to fly them home for Dana's break. Trent is still in CO working and probably catching up on some sleep! We met Monday night at one of Dana's favorite places and mine too...PaPa's and Beer. Even though it was a short visit, I'm thankful for the quick time to catch up. I was lucky enough to see them at Christmas and thought it would be summer before our next meeting. What a surprise when she called a week ago to say she was coming "home". And this time there was talk about moving back in the summer of 2011...I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
Thursday afternoon I dropped off Pattie at her sister's house and headed to Charleston! Anna, Blair, and I got down there around 9:30 and anxiously awaited the arrival of the others. The next group came in around 10, then 10:30 and the final group got in around 11:00. We sat around, enjoyed a relaxing beer, then headed off to bed around 1:30. Most everyone enjoyed a relaxing morning and joined me with coffee on the beach. I'd say that's a pretty fabulous way to start your day! After showers, we all headed downtown to pick up our race packets and grab some lunch. This all took a bit longer than expected, so our afternoon of beach time turned into late afternoon/early evening which was fine. A little bocce ball, a little splashing in the cold water with the kids, and some sand digging were done before we headed back for a late dinner. We decided to fix a easy spaghetti dinner at the house while we waited for the others to arrive. By 11:30 that night, our party of 14 plus 2 kids had all finally arrived! Saturday morning, we all participated in the Cooper River Bridge Run before enjoying an afternoon of celebration beers and game playing. It was overcast, windy, and chilly so we choose to enjoy the company of friends while watching some tournament ball. A few of us did make it down to the beach one last time before dinner and more game playing. We were all pretty much wiped and headed to bed around 11:30. We did some running and lots of relaxing! Good times!
Sunday afternoon, my good friend Anna went with me to school. We copied my entries then packed my box. Before going, I had already put my entries together according to the "packing slip". So, she called out what I needed and I double checked myself. We checked each envelope twice before putting the papers inside. An hour later, my box was packed and ready to be shipped! We left school today at 4, mailed the box, then headed to Chili's for drinks and appetizers! Since it was snowing, that's right I said the "s" word, we headed home to get warm. Luckily the snow has stopped, the warm ground melted it away, and I'm now on cloud 9! Of course, there will be studying for my test May 1st then waiting until November for my results. Either way, I might fail, but at least my box is in the mail!!!!!!
...minus the book. A few of us from school went out Saturday night. We "read" the beer menu, heard some music, did a little dancing, and enjoyed laughing until our faces hurt!
I have demonstrated procrastination at its finest! I signed up for National Boards last summer. Began the school year knowing I would be tackling this and finally printed the 300+ pages of information sometime in October. I started attending the county meetings the end of October and listened as they told me to get started. Over Christmas break, I finally sat down and made a plan. Only having three months left seemed to be worrying my family more than me! I came back in January with a new plan. I mapped out each task(s) that needed to be completed weekly and set this calendar out to slap me in the face each morning! The first 3 weeks I was highly motivated checking tasks off and also recording my exercising since I was training for this upcoming race. Then, snow hit and I lost all motivation. I got a little more motivated, then snow hit again. This pattern repeated itself two more times until that last turn of the calendar. When I turned the page for March, my stomach instantly hurt and my heart began racing. Only 31 days until my box was due and 27 days until I was running the race! After hyperventilating, I got motivated! Since then, I have recorded my videos, gathered my papers, and written until I no longer even enjoy checking e-mail or facebook since that involves sitting at the computer. Doing webcams with my niece and nephew are still enjoyable though! So, from Sunday until yesterday (Saturday) my week looked like this: *Taught school 4 days, taking off Friday for a National Board writing day. (I get 3 of these from the county) * Attended a meeting after school Monday * Helped with girls on the run 2 days this week after school * Exercised 4 days this week *Tried entertaining an energetic puppy since we had 3 days of rain * Spent 21 hours writing on my boards (11 came from Friday and Saturday) * Ran an hour yesterday in preparation for the race * Ate dinner at some friends' house last night in basically my pajamas because I knew as soon as I got home I would crash!
Lesson learned: don't procrastinate. Lesson I'll follow: I work best under pressure, so enjoy the day after you finish! I look forward to having this box mailed off next week so I can enjoy the race in Charleston with friends and then Spring Break!!!
I got an e-mail titled this today and thought I'd share. Since my National Board deadline is fast approaching and I have been doing some fast typing due to major procrastination; I probably won't be doing much updating until this mess is done!!! So for now, enjoy this:
Jeff Foxworthy on School Employees
~YOU might be a school employee if you believe the playground should be equipped with a Ritalin salt lick.
YOU might be a school employee if you want to slap the next person who says, 'Must be nice to work 8 to 3:30 and have summers off.’
YOU might be a school employee if it is difficult to name your own child, because there's no name you can come up with that doesn't bring high blood pressure as it is uttered.
YOU might be a school employee if you can tell it's a full moon, or if it going to rain, snow, hail.....anything--without ever looking outside!!
YOU might be a school employee if you believe, 'shallow gene pool,'~should have its own box on a report card.
YOU might be a school employee if you believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, 'Boy, the kids sure are mellow today.'
YOU might be a school employee if you have no social life between August and June.
YOU might be a school employee if you think people should have a government permit before being allowed to reproduce.
YOU might be a school employee if you wonder how some parents MANAGED to reproduce.
YOU might be a school employee if you encourage an obnoxious parent to check into charter schools or home schooling and are willing to donate the U-HAUL boxes should they decided to move out of district.
YOU might be a school employee if you think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.
YOU might be a school employee if you can't imagine how the ACLU could think that covering your students chair with Velcro and then requiring uniforms made out of the corresponding Velcro could ever be misunderstood by the public.
YOU might be a school employee if meeting a child's parent instantly answers this question, 'Why is this kid like this?'
YOU might be a school employee if you would choose a mammogram over a parent conference.
YOU might be a school employee if you think someone should invent antibacterial pencils and crayons...and desks and chairs for that matter!
YOU might be a school employee if the words 'I have college debt for this?' has ever come out of your mouth.
YOU might be a school employee if you know how many days, minutes, and seconds are left in the school year
The last weekend in February was busy and had I known a bigger snow storm was coming, I might have enjoyed being outside even more! I will be an assistant coach for the Girls on the Run group at my school this Spring season. So, Saturday was spent at GOTR training along with the other 3 coaches. We finished up around 1:30 and I immediately headed home to take my recycling! Since I can only get to the dump on Saturdays and well there has only been one Sat. since December that wasn't snowy I had to take advantage of this day. The one warm, non-snowy Saturday was last week when I was home for Lena's shower. After dropping off my large pile of recycling and trash, I headed home to let Pattie play. Beginning to not feel well, we played a bit then took the night easy. Sunday was spent taking it easy between church, a funeral, and some more playtime with Chloe. Monday began March and with it came a rush of nastiness in the form of a cold. It had been building for about a week, and hit me full blown when I was at school. My deep manly voice I had acquired with this cold was slowly turning into a non-existent voice as the day progressed. Finally at 1:30 I called defeat and headed home to sleep. My assistant finally looked at me and said, " Little Martha, go home!". I am stubborn and dedicated just like my mother which I feel is a compliment! Who better to be like than her! Monday night the snow began falling and we woke up Tuesday to the ground covered and snow still falling. The final count was 8 inches, slightly above the 2-4 that was predicted! Nevertheless, I didn't let the snow keep me inside anymore. I decided I was making a snowman this time and as I headed out the door, a 22 oz. beer was stuck in my snow. It was payment from the my neighbors for parking in my driveway once again. Not too shabby, of course I'm not feeling much like a beer right now. Still just pumping my body full of vitamin C. So, on to Saturday school we go as a make-up day for Tuesday missed. Make-up day for today has yet to be determined. Anyone have lesson plans for the 4th of July?!
