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?!
"the verve, the umph, the vibrance, the life, the exuberance, the stuff, the gusto!" This saying is written on the tag placed on the bag of items you have purchased at the new store. Austin and his friend Ashley have opened up a new trendy store with a New Yorkish feel. It's name is Gusto! and it's job is fashion! If you're ever in the downtown Winston-Salem area, check them out! Click on this link for an article published in the local paper just this past Saturday! http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2010/feb/20/true-to-their-fashion-best-friends-open-an-upscale/ Austin and I are practically cousins, just not blood related we say. Our grandparents were best friends, our moms grew up together, and not only did we grow up together but we grew up as back door neighbors. We have spent every Christmas morning eating breakfast together, eaten lunch every Sunday after church together, grew up riding our bikes for hours after school, worked together along with other siblings to make the best ramps for sledding, starred in "movies", ridden in the back of pickup trucks with PaPa driving, snuggled up watching Clue with PaPa holding us during the "scary part", celebrated birthdays, gone to the beach with our familes, and have cried during deaths in our families. He truly is like family and I can't describe the excitement when I first stepped into his store Saturday after Lena's shower. I was overwhelmed and couldn't decide if I wanted to scream with joy or cry with happiness! I am so proud of him!
I went home this past weekend to help celebrate the upcoming birth of Ella Rose Ammons. Lena and Rick will welcome baby girl Ella the end of March. The shower was hosted by Jane and Audrey at Audrey's new house. It was a floating shower, but of course we stayed from 11:40ish until it ended at 1:00. Actually, we stayed until almost 2 visiting with family! We walked over to Lena's house and saw the completed nursery. It's so sweet! The neat thing about all this is Lena is due on Marty and Jane (her aunt and uncle's) wedding anniversary. Audrey, Jane and Marty's daughter, is due one year exactly from the day that Marty died. So even though Marty is now watching over all of us, he is still here in spirit. Life really is a blessing.
Almost two years ago when I joined Team In Training many of you might remember me talking about our team hero, Jacob. Back in January, there was an alumni night at a local running store. I asked one of the coaches if they knew anything about Jacob and how he was doing. They had not heard anything at that point. A few days ago, I got an e-mail with this link. You can click on the video on this link to watch his mother talk about Jacob. Thankfully, he is still doing well today! http://support.missionfoundation.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ffl_patient_stories
Since I was unable to go hear Yonder Mountain Thursday night, I made up for my sadness last weekend. Friday night, I went out with some friends for dinner and drinks downtown. As I was sitting around early Saturday morning reading, my friend Anna called and asked if I wanted to grab some lunch and ride with her to the outlets. Since nothing was on my agenda for the day, I took her up on the offer! I did some window shopping and enjoyed a great lunch before heading back into town. That night, I went out for my friend Lauren's birthday. We met at Westville Pub for dinner and drinks to celebrate her special day.Sunday afternoon, my best guy friend from high school Jon, his wife Caitlin, and their brand new puppy Brutus came over to "watch" the Carolina basketball game. Pattie was in love with Brutus and he eventually got over being so scared of her! It was great to catch up with an old friend! About an hour after they left, I headed over to Hollie and Ben's house for a Superbowl party! To top it all off, I found out at the party that school was on a 2 hour delay! That still means I'm supposed to be there, but knowing I could sleep in and not see kids quite as early was fabulous considering we haven't worked much lately! And I was worried I was going to have to work a full week!!!
So, one day last week when I was snowed in I decided to enter my cute niece and nephew in the Cutest Baby contest. (still not sure why I got the e-mail!) When I got to the last page, you had to pay $40. So, I just closed the page and went about my day. Today, I got an e-mail from the website saying that Caroline is in the running for the cutest kid of the week! So, click on the following link and vote for her!!!! Thanks!
(she is wearing a pink shirt that says birthday girl, sitting on a rocking horse and waving at the camera. I took this picture last year on her 1st birthday!)
"snow" much fun! Even though I'm over the large amounts of snow that have been falling and sticking around for weeks, I quite enjoyed them last night! Just as I had decided it was time to shower, get in my pjs, have some dinner, and settle in for a long winter's nap my neighbors called and invited me for sledding! They go over to Erin's parents house for sledding. They had left early afternoon and the husband Aaron (yes, they share the same name!) was coming home to pick up a few things. So, I jumped in the truck with him and went back for dinner first. After dinner, it was time for sledding! I can't remember the last time I went sledding! They had been doing this all day, so the path was slick and you could pick up speed quickly! Of course, I had a few tumbles which almost made it better somehow! We came back home after 9 trying to make it before the roads froze back over. I certainly rested well last night! I'm not as young as I used to be!
Fridays' forecast consisted of a heavy snowstorm that was heading our way. We began our school day knowing that this storm wasn't supposed to hit until 3:00 at the earliest. This meant a whole day with super excited kids...yeah! I prepared myself for the "best" and headed to work. As we were coming back from lunch, we found out that there would be a 1:00 dismissal...thank goodness! We sent our kids on their way and waited until the all clear from the county. We looked out our windows around 2:30 and flakes were just starting. At 2:45, we were finally dismissed and the storm was in full force! The grass was quickly being covered. I parked my car in the driveway at 3:30 and by 3:45, it was covered along with the street. It snowed 2 inches per hour for the 1st 2 hours of the storm. It slacked off a bit, but was still steadily coming down! The most I could find in my yard was 10 inches even though the news reported that the most around the area could be found where I lived...13 inches!!! We woke up Saturday morning to sleet packing the snow down. So, today has been spent lounging. Pattie and I have gone outside every hour or so to "play" and check things out. The last time we went, I was beginning to get a little stir crazy. So, we took out the chuckit and frisbee to play. A few times Pattie was able to dig out the ball from the snow, but the last time it was lost in the heap of snow. No sweat, I know the general area and we'll find it when it thaws. So, we just switched to the frisbee which worked much better! Who says you can't throw the frisbee in the snow? My next trick is to teach her to throw it back to me!
has bitten! After running the race this past weekend, I began thinking about upcoming races. Last night, I went to alumni night for Team in Training. Over a beer, appetizers, and good conversation I was convinced that I really should be thinking about some more races! After the alumni night, I met up with some friends at a local pizza place for a little pregame basketball dinner...Go Heels! It was during this time that I decided that I would shoot for another half marathon this coming Fall. I now want to beat my time; which I hope is possible. The first race came at a difficult time in my life; and I think that with more confidence, training, and determination I can at least beat my time by one second if nothing else! I don't think that it will be through TNT again, but instead just running with my group of friends. You can breathe a sigh of relief that I won't be attacking your wallets...just not yet at least!
Saturday, I participated in the Issac Dickson Hot Chocolate 10K. Waking up Saturday morning as if it was a regular work day was not my favorite. However, I had to get awake and ready to meet the girls (Maggie and Ann) at 7:00. We headed to the race site thinking the parking would be crazy only to find out we pulled right into a spot at 7:30. Since the race didn't start until 9:00, what were we to do now?! We walked down to the school and picked up our packets before walking back to the car to get warm again. It was hovering around 31 and cloudy which made for some cold bones! We hung out in the car checking out our "prizes" ( a t-shirt and a pair of socks), putting on our numbers, eating some energy chews, and chatting before deciding it was time to head down to the start line. We met up with some other friends and stood close to each other to stay warm! Finally, it was time to head to the start line and let this running begin! Maggie and I ran together while Ann, Lauren, and Amanda took off and kicked some running butt! Maggie and I only let ourselves walk through some of the water stations and were able to finish the race; including the final hill with a pretty decent time! You start the race downhill, run about 5 miles on flat ground, and finish up the last 1/3 mile on a slow incline hill. It certainly makes you dig deep! When I turned the corner, I looked first for the finish line, then second towards the ground not wanting to see how hard I felt I was pushing but how slow I was getting there. When I finally started reaching people is when I allowed myself to look up and face that finish line head on! I was able to cut 3 minutes and 16 seconds off my time from this same race last year! Now, my goal is working towards the Cooper River Bridge Run at the end of March. I'd like to keep cutting off time and run that race in an hour! We'll see what happens!
Today is my sweet mother's birthday! We won't tell her age except that she's 30 years older than me! This past Saturday, mom and dad offered to drive up here to help me "winterize" my house. I declared operation winterize Friday afternoon and was determined to take back my house! We hung film on most of the windows stuffing paper in most of the cracks first. Luckily, I no longer feel cold wind blowing at me when I stand in front of the windows. I certainly appreciate their help! After we were finished working, dad and I took mom out for her birthday "lupper"...a late lunch/early dinner before they headed back home. We thought about going over to "stone cold slab" (it's a new combo ice cream place mom created!) for some ice cream, but passed when we walked outside and it was blowing snow again! We were a bit shocked at the size of the petite filets that mom and I both ordered...good thing we didn't decide to split them! Nevertheless, we had a good chuckle over them, enjoyed a good day together, and were reminded how lucky we are to be family. Happy Birthday Mom!
A year ago today January 11th), this little ball of energy was born and I am lucky to call her my own. Saturday night, she went over to play with Chloe for a girls night. Sunday, we got together with one of her sisters and brothers to play for the "birthday party". It consisted of watching them play nonstop for about 3 hours! She didn't even eat dinner she was so worn out! She got a doggie version (instead of the cha-cha-cha, it was ruff, ruff, ruff) of Happy Birthday from the Ohio Gribbles and a card with a dog magnet frame from "grandma and grandpa". Of course I spoiled her today with extra treats and love. How lucky is she to have such a wonderful family?!
Amanda and I were friends growing up. We went to the same church and have remained friends every since; hanging out on weekends, playing Barbies, having sleepovers, and being introduced to sneaking food into the movies! Unfortunately, we don't get to see each other very often, but thanks to quick reunions at church and now the ever important world of facebook we are able to "see" each other more often. We were both home the Sunday after Christmas and I was able to meet her sweet baby girl. Lilly Kate was born in October and made her first debut to our church back home on her first Christmas.
