Be Grateful #7 and #8?

I am sooo behind.  ;)  Big surprise there, huh?  Life has been busy, busy, busy!  I've already been at my new job for a whole month now, and this week, I was struck with a cold, so I am taking it slower.  This means I am a little behind on my day-to-day things like laundry and lesson planning, not to mention this!

on our non-snowy Snow Day

1)  I am thankful we got a "snow" day!  A week ago Thursday, we were hit with a little ice.  Originally, we were going to do a delayed opening, but about thirty minutes before we had to leave, the school closed!  Zach and I celebrated with French toast and the season three special of Downton Abbey.  (We SAW that coming from a mile away, but talk about heart-wrenching!)  We got snow on Tuesday, too, but it started to melt just about as soon as it piled up, so we were still open.  :(

Our bridge was covered in a solid sheet of ice by the time it quit sleeting. 

2)  I'm thankful for how well my new job is going.  I'm kickin' butt and takin' names!

French Toast--I served it with bananas and Nutella!

3)  I'm thankful my Thirty-One party turned out better than I expected.  My cousin is a consultant, and she talked me into having a party after I had a Scentsy catalog one for my niece last year.  As of Wednesday morning, when my orders were due, I had only sold $47.  By ten that night, I had made it to $209!  This meant that I got to take part in the hostess rewards AND helped my cousin out with a little cash from the commission.  My husband, who is a bit OCD about organizing, LOVED looking through the 31 catalog.  *lol*  He picked out some things for the car, but I am excited for my server set (casserole carry case)!

 Amy gives Zach bunny ears.

4)  I'm thankful for former students.

Scrabble:  This time, Amy own and Zach lost.  A reversal of fortunes from the last game.

5)  I'm thankful for freebies!  We have a Sam's Club membership and get awesome things from them.  Just this week, we got an Air Wick warmer and fragrance.  Our kitchen smells lovely.  :)

I made my photo look Instagrammy.  ;)

6)  I'm thankful for friends!  Last weekend, we had dinner and Scrabble with the Ganns and then joined the Jebarajs and others for our dinner and Theatre Squared night.  We were supposed to have gourmet grilled cheese night with our friend Amy last night, but I came down with a cold, so it is postponed a week.  :(  Still, last weekend we had enough fun to carry us to today!

snowy Non-Snow Day

7)  I'm thankful for the new Tempur-pedic mattress that is on its way to us.  Zach wanted a bar for his birthday, so we started looking last weekend at Hank's and Ashley's.  We ended up walking away with new mattress set and $300 worth of free pillows and sheets AND a bar!  Our furniture won't be in for at least another week, but I can't wait to have a comfy QUEEN-sized bed.  :)

I measure the snow using these two birdies.

8)  I'm thankful for the new niece or nephew we will welcome in the fall.  :)  Zach's sister Erin and brother-in-law Josh phoned us Wednesday to announce they are expecting.  Many prayers appreciated for a healthy pregnancy and baby.  They are moving next weekend, and I told Erin she doesn't get to lift anything.

9)  I'm thankful for my husband when I am sick.  He went to get me medicine and Dixie Cafe last night, and he is sleeping on the couch.  I volunteered to sleep on the couch to keep him safe and healthy, but he refused.  Such a sweetie.  :)  I'm also thankful he puts up with my grumbling on snowy non-Snow Day days and non-snowy Snow Days!

10)  I'm thankful to have discovered what St. David's Day is.  I love anything that acknowledges the beauty of a daffy.  :)

11)  I'm thankful for Kennedy Coffee and their chai tea lattes.  HEAVEN in my mouth!

12)  I'm thankful I found my eyeglasses.  I usually keep in them in the passenger side of the car; somehow, they made it to the driver's side, and I was panicked when I didn't find them in their usual spot.

13)  I'm thankful I got my permanent crown installed (?) without incident!

14)  I'm thankful for Ms. Juanita at work who gave me a Milky Way in honor of my granny.  She has switched to eating whole foods but was tempted to eat it.  When I mentioned on Facebook those were my granny's favorite (we even had them at her visitation!), she surprised me with it.  I thoroughly enjoyed it when I had to give up hope of a snow day this week.  I'm also thankful for my supervisor Lenora who shows that she appreciates our hard work and makes work fun!

Be Grateful #1

Well, we have returned to the daily hustle and bustle of everyday living.  My classes start in one week! I am halfway ready and halfway prepared.  I've worked on various things but haven't completed any.  I am still dreaming of the holidays, and it doesn't help that we haven't had time to take down our decorations yet.  (It's happening this week!  We have a kitty tower to put up...)  It also doesn't help that I have bronchitis (sorta), finished my antibiotics yesterday, and still have drainage issues with a cough that comes and goes.  I'm just praying it doesn't turn into pneumonia.  I have toooooooo much to do!

Zach, Will, me, Matt, Lexi, and Mama

Will had to dress up as Phil Robertson (from Duck Dynasty) for church for some reason.  (I didn't ask.) That's why he is wearing all camo; usually, he is dressed to play football!

Also, I didn't get to fix my hair that morning, so it is WILD!

1)  I'm thankful we got to spend lots of time with family this weekend, even if it meant being away from home another weekend.  Saturday, we travelled to Batesville for the Pharr family Christmas with all of Zach's aunts and uncles and cousins.  I don't know some of them as well because they do live far away, and additionally, we have missed the last three gatherings in four years because of various reasons.  But Zach and I spent the night with his aunt Brenda and uncle Davey, so we could travel to Lonoke the next day; that allotted us an opportunity to visit just with them (as well as his cousin Lindsey and his uncle Chuck, both who also stayed since they live in our part of the state).  I didn't get any pictures, including the traditional full family shot, because I know lots of cameras were clicking, and they will eventually be sent to us.  On Sunday morning, we drove down to Lonoke to have Christmas with mama, brother, niece, and nephew finally.  (We had to head back home early at Christmas because of the snow and missed seeing them.)  We all had a lovely time over lunch, opening presents, and watching part of The Walking Dead.  *haha*  I'm so thankful God has seen that old wounds have been healed and that broken relationships have been mended.

2)  I'm thankful I've only gotten almost bronchitis.  (The doctor said it looked as if my body is trying to get it, but it's not full blown bronchitis yet.  At least it wasn't full blown last Thursday...)

3)  On that note, I'm thankful I can work from home when I feel cruddy.

4)  I'm thankful for my husband.  Very few things make my heart sing as when he turns to me in the car randomly and says, "I'm glad you're my wife."  He is my best friend, my champion, my lover.  We both understand that when we got married, we also married into each other's family, and I am thankful for that understanding and for the love we have for each other's relatives.

5)  I'm thankful for the new gold sheets Zach surprised me with!  He got them for Valentine's Day, but he was worried I wouldn't be pleased with them and didn't want me to be disappointed on the holiday, so he gave them to me early.  :)

6)  And it may be silly, but I am thankful Downton Abbey has started again.  Who's with me???

7)  I'm thankful for the good evaluations my students gave me.  Yes, it is nice to have my self-esteem and ego boosted, but mostly, I am happy to see that they are learning and enjoying my classes, even when they find them challenging.

8)  I'm thankful I got approved for the Remistart Extended Access program for this year.  This will help with our out-of-pocket costs for my Remicade treatments, which I have every other month; the medicine itself costs around $3,000 in Arkansas, which means it is worth $18,000 for the year.  We don't have to pay anywhere close to that amount because our insurance is GOOD, but since I still only work part-time, it does help to have some assistance.

9)  I'm thankful for randomly cheap raspberries at Sam's, so we can have raspberry chocolate chip ice cream.  As well as raspberries stuffed with white chocolate chips.  :)

10)  I'm thankful it's a new year with fresh opportunities and second chances to become a better me.  I feel a bit silly, but I am taping this (somewhat altered from the original in The Help) next to my bathroom mirror:  "You are kind.  You are smart.  You are beautiful.  You are important.  You are loved."  Because we all are.  :)

How is your New Year going thus far?

Life Without Facebook (Day One)

Well, y'all, I decided to go without Facebook for Lent. (I must be cra-a-azy. I am ALWAYS on Facebook, which is why I decided it must go. My rationalizations to keep it just showed how much I needed to leave it for a few days...or forty.)

I've almost made one day.

It's been fairly easy. :) I was very productive at work (except for a few minutes I spent on Rate My Professor looking up my friends-who-are-instructors' ratings--I have some HOT instructor friends *lol*--I ended up staying fifteen minutes after work on there!). When I got home, I was able to go walking for twenty minutes, and I dusted the upstairs AND downstairs, and I finally put all of the clean laundry away and made up the bed and started a new load of laundry. I was reading a blog in between of all of this, but it's much better than being on Facebook on Astrid (that's my MacBook's name) AND my iPhone AT THE SAME TIME. (Sooo embarrassing, guys...)

But, in other moments, it was HARD.

For example, a friend of Zach's from his undergrad days, Amy, came to eat dinner and watch Downton Abbey with us on Monday. Somehow, we decided to do quesadillas, and she said she would bring the fixings as long as we picked up some salsa and cheese. (I tried two new flavors of each--lime and garlic salsa and queso panela, and both impressed us! WIIIIIIING!) Amy even brought dessert--coconut ice cream bars! Anyway, she was so sweet to leave the leftover marinated beef, so today I made myself a half-quesadilla for lunch. IT WAS SOOO GOOD! And I immediately wanted to pop on her Facebook timeline and say thank you for leaving the leftovers (since I don't have her number--Zach does). But I couldn't. :( I hope I remember the next time we see her...

Then I was watching The Office for the millionth time, specifically the episode in which Dwight almost burns down the office to prove that the office is not prepared, and it causes Stanley to have a heart attack, and so the company brings in a CPR trainer. She explains to Michael that he should be pumping the chest to the tune of The Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive," but he starts singing Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive." So the trainer corrects him, and Andy starts singing, and Kelly starts dancing. AND I SWEAR Y'ALL--I dance just like Kelly does! Which means I really don't...I do this sort of awkward moving of my shoulders and arms while rotating from side-to-side at the waist, and it's totally off-beat. I wanted to share that with the Facebook world because I have many a friend who LOVES The Office and many a friend who can appreciate my lack of coordination (because theyand many of friend who does both.

So I shared that bit of realization with Zach when he got home...and now all of you guys. ;)