Friends Forever

If you have spoken to me lately, you know I (among many, many others) have been very upset this weekend.

In middle school I made two very good friends. Friends that I kept through high school. We were inseparable. We had many differences, but we were tight. I don’t have many memories of middle school or high school without one of these girls in it. We made our “Senior” jeans together. We went to the formal dances together. We stayed at each other’s houses. We have a page in the yearbook of the three of us. We called each other’s parents  Mom and Dad. One of Dad’s was always willing to give the girls a little bit of spending money on our way out to the movies or rollerskating. For my 17th birthday, these two girls gave me Tabby (my black cat that was raped and created JoJo). They have been with me through so many things. I can remember Stephanie driving me to school in her little, white convertible. One of us always brought breakfast and we loved strawberry cupcakes for breakfast! That convertible has many memories. Driving around, singing at the top of our lungs “Strawberry Wine.” We thought we were so cool. We hung out in the Guidance office together on our study hall. We danced on tables together in the Senior portable. (shut it!) We split our Spanish translations into three parts that I don’t think ever made sense when we tried to put them together.  Of course then we had all the boys copying them down before class and the translations would change again. I wish I had some of those to read now. It’s amazing how time goes by so quickly. I am so blessed to have these two amazing women in my life. They are the friends that I know I could always call no matter what. They are both wonderful mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, and friends. Everyone is in your life for a reason. Some may make a bigger impact than others, but they all help you become the person that you are.

Please keep Stephanie and her family in your prayers. She is an inspiration to many for the strength and courage that she shows on a daily basis. Here is the link to Steph’s blog and here is her story on Fox 13.

Thanks, Rachel!

Rachel tagged me for a meme. (It’s just a random survey of questions that you answer for others to get to know more about you.) I need to try to keep my mind busy, so now is a great time to fill it out.

1. What kind of SOAP is in your bathtub right now? I have a shower only. Inside my shower I have Dove. I’m a commercial for them. Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash, and Deodorant…I use it all.

2. Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? Love watermelon! It’s just not the season.

3. What would you change about your living room? I would sound-proof it. I am constantly turning the volume on the tv up and down b/c I can hear everything upstairs.

4. Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? dishwasher? what is that?

5. What is in your fridge? Milk, juice, eggs, butter, mustard, lunch meat, cheese, water, and I’m sure a few other things.

6. White or wheat bread? honey wheat!

7. What is on top of your refrigerator? ziploc bags, aluminum foil, canasters, and mucho dust.

8. What color or design is on your shower curtain? My shower has a door, no curtain.

9. How many plants are in your home? Plants , umm…..none.

10. Is your bed made right now? with me in it?
11. Comet or Soft Scrub? I heart Clorox clean up.

12. Is your closet organized? It’s as good as it’s every going to get.

13. Can you describe your flashlight? no, let’s hope the power doesn’t go out.

14. Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home? glass

15. Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? No, I plan on making some tomorrow.

16. If you have a garage, is it cluttered?  My landlord’s is very cluttered.

17. Curtains or  blinds? I have both. Molly is trying to destroy them.

18. How many pillows do you sleep with? 4

19. Do you sleep with any lights on at night? no.

20. How often do you vacuum? not often enough.

21. Standard toothbrush or electric? Standard.

22. What color is your toothbrush? blue

23. Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch? I dont’ have a front porch, but my landlord’s has a mat on his.

24. What is in your oven right now? Again, I don’t have one of those.

26. Chore you hate doing the most? Toilets

27. What retro items are in your home? Nothing that I can think of.

28. Do you have a separate room that you use as an office? No.

29. How many mirrors are in your home? 3

30. Do you have any hidden emergency money around your home? I don’t have hidden money anywhere.

31. What color are your walls? most are white, need to be repainted, and patched.

32. Do you keep any kind of protection weapons in your home? just an attack cat.

33. What does your home smell like right now? wood burning

34. Favorite candle scent? Cinnamon

35. What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now? Dill pickles!

36. What color is your favorite Bible? I have a white one.

37. Ever been on your roof? not here or there, just on Teaberry and Mom’s house

38. Do you own a stereo? no.

39. How many TVs do you have? 2, only one that I can watch

40. How many house phones? Just use my cell.

41. Do you have a housekeeper? No, I tried to train the cat but she didn’t respond very well.

42. What style do you decorate in? Do I have a style?

43. Do you like solid colors in furniture or prints? Solids.

44. Is there a smoke detector in your home? yes, but I really don’t know if it works or not.

45. In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you’d grab if you only could make one quick trip? Purse, Molly, keys, and jacket (it is snowing here)

Well, now you know a little more about me. I’m going to curl up on the couch and watch Friday Night Lights. The mountains look beautiful all covered in snow.

umm…it’s now winter?

I woke up this morning and like every other morning grabbed my laptop to check the unpredictable Colorado weather. I try to be prepared, but I realize there is no guarantee as to what my day will bring. When I looked up the weather it said…..36 snow. Wow! It’s October and my last post was all about how it was Fall here. I went to school on Sunday to try to rearrange my classroom. It was a mess between the review game we played and the kick-ass volleyball game that the teachers played against the students. I took a pic of the clouds very low on the mountains because it was just icky and rainy. The mountains are shaded with fall colors. : )  So, here is that picture…

It rained, it sleeted, and then it snowed!!! Yes, I saw snow today. It was very wet and melting as soon as it hit the ground, but it was snow. I hear that Aspen has A LOT of the white stuff. Nick had a hard time driving in this morning with all of it. He had to pull over and clear out his HEAD LIGHTS!! He was going slow because of it and it was collecting very quickly. When I heard it was snowing here, I ran outside and took a quick picture and made a few phone calls. You can’t see much of the mountain, but this picture was taken in the same place as the one above. There is a mixture of snow and clouds blocking your view. : )

Needless to say, my kids were WILD! They are ready to ski, snowboard, and play in it. We have no accumulation in the city, just on the peaks of the mountains. I took the last picture out of my classroom window. You can see snow on the tops and clouds still hanging on. I bought my first pair of Sorel snow boots today. I was told that they are the best to keep me warm. Let’s hope so.

It’s Fall, Y’all!!!

I drove up in the mountains today. Below are a few pics. The first is me standing in the TUNDRA. All I can say is burrr…

The second picture is me standing in front of an aspen grove. They are the most beautiful trees. Their leaves look like gold and flutter in the wind. I can’t believe how beautiful and short Fall is here. It was snowing when I was riding back down the mountain. It was sleeting at the bottom of the mountain and finally just raining on the way back home.

Kids playing…

Above, is a picture of our playground and basketball courts. The kids get about 15 minutes to run around, yell, whatever…work out their energy from lunch. Below is a bunch of kids playing soccer. They love recess and it is almost impossible to calm them down afterwards. I’ve started taking 3 minutes of “quiet time” after recess. Here are my rules….

1. No talking.     

2. No working on any school work.

3. Relax.

It’s helped the past few days. I’m not as irritated after those few minutes. : )

I think this is going to be our last weekend before it stays cold. (or so I hear… I’m still adjusting to the fact that there is ice on my windshield in September/October.) I went to dinner at Nick’s house on Tuesday night. (He’s the other 8th grade Algebra teacher.) I’m so glad that I did. He lives about an hour away from here, but it was soooo worth the drive. If I hadn’t been following him I would have taken pictures of everything!! The river, the lake, the trees changing, the sign that said, “Slow for baby foxes!” It was awesome. I wouldn’t want to drive that far everyday, but I can understand why he would want to live there. If I get a few spare hours this weekend I’ll drive back up that way and take some pictures. Oh, the sign….the babies curl up in the road at night and go to sleep. How sweet! He said that they have a lot of wildlife very close to them. They live in a cabin right on the river. There’s a cabin just down from him for rent. If it wasn’t an hour away, I would jump on it. It’s a little more than my house note was, but it’s on the river. hmmm….we could carpool. No, I can’t be that far away. I like Target and beer too much. That’s all for now. I fell asleep trying to type this last night and have bunch of things I need to be doing….laundry, grading, cleaning. I think I’ll just go watch Thursday night TV instead. There’s always the weekend. Love to you all!!!

Finally!!!

I haven’t had internet all weekend and it was driving me crazy. The landlord’s were out of town and came back yesterday, so the internet is fixed. I really need to take a picture of Mt. Sopris so that you all can see the snow that has already accumulated. It’s definitely fall here. Cold in the mornings and great in the afternoons. There was ice on my windshield for a second time this morning. I just got the following pics in an email from Mom. Check out my cute niece and then I’ll update more. : )

Okay, now that you had a break with a precious little girl….

I detailed cars on Saturday and have enough money for a plane ticket. I just need to know when I’m coming home so I can get it booked. Yesterday, I went and had a manicure and pedicure. There is a great nail shop just a few minutes from the house. I went shopping and found an awesome place for warm stuff. (long underwear, wool socks, coats, boots, etc.)  I didn’t have much of a weekend and could really use a break. I don’t get one until Thanksgiving, so I guess I just have to hang in there. That’s all for now, since I have papers to grade. Hugs-n-kisses!