Castle in the Clouds

Yes, folks, it's that time of year again. The end of the first marking period approaches and reports cards will be prepared. I hate report cards. Maybe if they had all smiley faces or a consistant string of straight A scores, I'd pay them about as much attention as my parents once did, which means barely a cursory glance with a vague "good job" to boot. Instead, I get to count down the days until I have to explain once again what anything less than a C means for my oldest boy's future. This may sound a tad bit pessimistic, but you should know it's experience speaking here. This happens every marking period. And I hate it. Just once I'd like a report card with his name on it that doesn't have DOOM written all over it in invisible ink. I'd love to give hugs and kisses and extoll praise. I'd even gladly clean out my wallet if I thought bribery would help (it doesn't). On the upside, I feel pretty confident the little guy's score...

Me..as a Candy Corn Witch Terri...as a Dead Bride Ken, Me, Kenny & Terri Archie and Angie Amy & Eric Our Hostess and Host

I can't believe I just happened to stumble across this little tidbit today. How, oh how, could I have missed this? One of my favorite epic fantasy stories has been made into a mini-series. It will be premiering this weekend on November 1st at 8 p.m. under the title of "Legend of the Seeker". Fantasy fans might better recognize it's printed variation as the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.

Friday After work we dropped the kidlets off at my sister's place for the night so we could run up to the funeral home. After standing in a loose circle of people I hardly know for two hours, we went over to my cousin's house where we ended up watching old home videos of our husbands and their friends playing baseball. It was rather bittersweet, a mixture of laughter and tears. Considering the circumstances, it was a nice visit. Saturday After picking up the boys from my sister's, I had to run to Meijer to pick up a few things for that evening. We had a sitter lined up, which meant we needed to make sure we had dinner and snacks. Frozen pizza, pop and chips. I also needed a small curling iron capable of creating ringlets. I wanted to be a curly-haired candy corn witch. (I'll post pictures later). While I was off shopping, the hubby was home disciplining our oldest child. He's officially obnoxious now and his mouth finally got the better of him. Someday, though, I...

I'm having one of those days. I've had a headache since this morning. I never get headaches, so I don't cope well with them. Irritation turns into ornery real quick, which makes me a less than pleasant co-worker. I don't see the night getting any better either because we have a funeral showing to attend. One of my hubby's friends from high school was killed in a car accident a couple of nights ago. The rest of the weekend looks promising, though. We have an adults-only halloween party tomorrow night. That should be fun.

From Them.

Friday night I attended a local writer's group meeting. Once upon a time, I used to be a member of this very group. I read and critiqued for several months, but life interfered and I dropped out. Recently, I ran into one of the group members and was invited back. Although I live quite a distance from where the group meets, I decided to give it a go anyhow. I'm glad I did. There were a few members who I remembered and who seemed to remember me. Strangely enough, they actually remembered one incident in particular because they had been outraged on my behalf. I hadn't realized it at the time, but it's nice knowing the fella's opinion on what I should or shouldn't be writing hadn't gone unnoticed. Although, honestly, I took his words as an ass-backwards compliment after I thought about it. I had just finished reading a vampire or historical romance (can't quite seem to remember which) and he told me, "You're too good of a writer to be writing this k...

Today I attended a Teaching Summit where I work. The keynote speaker was Jeffrey Zaslow , the co-author of The Last Lecture . If you're not familiar with The Last Lecture, you can catch bits and pieces of it on YouTube . I'm still absorbing everything I heard and felt. Randy Pausch's story is heartbreaking and awe inspiring. The book, if you haven't read it, is an amazing collection of short stories put together to deliver a life lesson each of us could benefit from learning. The Summit wasn't just about Randy's story, lecture, or book, though. It was an opportunity for our faculty and students to take a moment to think through what life-lessons, in and out of the classroom, are important to them. Their presentations revealed not only the power of teaching, but the scope of where teaching is done. Learning does not happen only in the classroom. It happens everywhere and sometimes the teacher is really the student. There was one other message I took away fr...

Sorry I haven't been updating. Things have been a little crazy, which means I get a lot distracted. Over this last weekend we had soccer, trick-or-treat Halloween at grandma & grandpa's campground, a wedding, and then I experimented with senior pictures. First things first..there was soccer. The boys didn't do so well. I know my little guy's problem (child in red - top picture) was that he had been up too late Friday night. Instead of picking them up and going home at a reasonable hour, we stayed out too late talking to our friends. (My nephew was playing goalie in Pic #2 and my niece is walking down the field with her coach in Pic #3). After soccer we went trick-or-treating through the campground. Again. Yes, we just did it two weeks ago. What's your point? This was a different campground. Besides, you try telling grandma and grandpa no. See how that works out for you. As soon as the campground opened back up and cars could once again move, we headed off to a ...

I think it's safe to say we're settling into a routine around my place. The mornings are rough. I've never been one for getting up willingly and when the alarm clock is going off at 5:30 in the morning, I'm even less willing. This usually results in everyone feeling rushed. Thank goodness I have the world's most amazing husband who isn't afraid of packing lunches or overseeing breakfast. The majority of our days are spent at school or work, of course. And can I just say thank God for lunch hours. If it weren't for my lunches, I wouldn't have time to read, write, or run errands. This one little hour out of every day has become my lifeline, my sanity-perserver. After we pick the kids up from daycare, we run home and start working on their homework. Some nights this goes by very quickly and they're done before dinner is on the table. Other nights the oldest boy is still struggling to finish up by 8 o'clock - it just depends on the how much ...

Friday I burned up one of my vacation days so I could stay home with a sick puppy. Yes, puppy. The children were fine and went to school. Puppy on the other hand had some serious intestinal issues. I seriously contemplated taking him to the vet, but the vet assistant assured me that as long as things didn't deteriorate, he would be fine. When he managed to make it through several hours without any explosions, I began to feel a little less anxious. Not that I didn't keep him locked in his kennel most of the day. I did. Cleaning the diarrhea out of there is bad enough. I didn't want to worry about the carpets! This gave me lots of time to clean my house, which was desperately needed. I even did the windows! I know! Later that night, after the hubby got home, I was supposed to go visit my Grandma. Although I always enjoy visiting Grandma, I did have an ulterior motive. I needed to interview her for the assignment due Monday (today). I was just about ready to walk o...

You wouldn't know it by looking at this photo, but my brother hates to have his picture taken. Managing to catch more than a side profile or the top of his hat can be quite the challenge. Yet, when he's holding his daughter, I've been able to snap more than one "keeper". I love that!