I'm offended

There was a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn't pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market.

The poor wretch threw himself at the king's feet and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt.

The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, 'Pay up. Now!'

The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, 'Give me a chance and I'll pay it all back.' But he wouldn't do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid.

-from Matthew 18, the Message Bible

This story is a lot like me. The Lord has forgiven me of thousands of sins, yet I remember and ponder every action that offends me.

Lord, help me to forgive as you forgive, graciously, patiently, and with love.

Works For Me Wednesday

I detest navigating phone trees...I JUST WANT TO TALK TO A HUMAN! Is that too much to ask? :)

Well now you don't have to do that anymore. Go to http://www.nophonetrees.com/ and click on the company you are trying to call. Type in your phone number, and your phone will ring! It's that company calling you, and it will be a human being!

Yay! Whoever thought of this is a genius!

Go to Rocks in My Dryer for more tips.

Random Thoughts

• I love having family so close! Tomorrow night I am meeting my mom for a Moe's date! Yum!
• Summer school is going great. I have 12 students and they work pretty hard. We work on reading all day. We have been doing an author study on Kevin Henkes with books like Chrysanthemum, Weekend with Wendall, and Owen. We also have to do a boring lesson twice a day on phonics. Its not the most exciting thing but it works. I'm teaching things like the different ways to spell the /j/ sound. Fun!
• Kelly is pregnant! I've been reading her blog for a while now and I couldn't be happier for her! She's been wanting a baby and was having trouble getting pregnant. God is so good!
• Isn't this weird? Square watermelons so that they would take up less space in your fridge.

• I've been trying to exercise. Two days down. I know that if you do something for 14 days it becomes a habit. We'll see!
• I'm still loving http://www.surfthechannel.com/! I've been watching ER while I walk on the treadmill.
• To quote Big Mama, the problem with the heat is that its hot. I'm already tired of being hot and its only June!
• That's the end of my random thoughts, thanks for staying awake.

Weekend Shmeekend

I had a good but busy weekend! I went shopping on Friday and got a new outfit from Ann Taylor, my favorite store! If I was rich, that's where I would go for my wardrobe. But for now I will shop the sales racks!

Saturday I had two big events: the Amazing Race for church and Angie's wedding. I wanted to go to both! Especially the Race because I had so much fun helping get it all planned. I decided I would just go to the wedding and miss the reception. Then, it rained allllll afternoon. Poured! Downtown turned into a river, and we canceled the Race. So, I got to go to the reception. It was my first reception where they served alcohol, so that was a new experience for me. Haha! They had dancing and it was fun to watch people that you work with dance! I danced a little too. They even had a Soul Train! I didn't know what it was called, but it is where the guys and girls face each other and the people at the end of the line dance down the middle. It was so fun to watch. One of the guys did push ups, another did a high kick. SOO FUNNY! Here is a picture of the girls I went with: Leslie, me, Devon, Jodi, Jennifer. We have Bible study together and some of us work at the same school.

Church was great today. I had nursery during Sunday School and I just love it. You know how much I love babies. And I love my pastor's preaching. Today he was trying to express how important his point was, and he kept saying, "This is BIG! This is HUGE!" I am, by all means, not teasing him, because his point was huge.

(He was preaching from Acts 10 where Peter had a vision and learned that the Gentiles were NOT unclean. They were worthy in God's sight and needed to hear about Jesus just as the Jews had. Therefore, we need to be careful not to erect barriers in the church. We don't need to be afraid of change. I hope I wrapped that up correctly!)

So, anyway, all of the emphasis of how BIG and HUGE his point was reminded me of one of the entries on Stuff Christians Like. This entry, number 136, talks about "Wake Up Phrases" that preachers use. It is hilarious, and so true. But I need these phrases because I do fade in and out at times, no matter how much I'm into the sermon.

After church a bunch of us went to eat together, and I have to say, that is one of my favorite parts of each week. My friends from church are so funny and I just love being around them. And Jill totally made my day when she said she checks my blog! (Hi, Jill!)

I went to my mom's for dinner but before we ate we went to get our nails done with Karlie. It is so fun to get your nails done although my germ-a-phobic tendencies have a bit of trouble the whole time I'm there. ;) Mom made a delicious dinner and my grandparents were there too! It was a great weekend. I'm not even dreading going to work tomorrow, summer school is so nice. I'm going to try to be a better blogger this week! I hope you have a good one!

Works For Me Wednesday

There aren't too many tv shows that I must see, but "ER" is one! I absolutely love it and totally get into the drama of their lives. I also love all the medical stuff and can tell you a whole bunch of terms that I don't understand - "get me a cbc, chem 7 and piggyback the ansef!"

OK I better get to the point! "ER" comes on at 10pm, and that is past my bedtime, at least during the school year. I've missed out on this whole season because I no longer have a DV-R.

So - http://www.surfthechannel.com/! You can find all kinds of shows there, from old school stuff like McGyver to the latest episodes of ER!

No ads, no interruptions. Only thing, you might have to deal with Japanese subtitles!

It works best with Firefox or Safari, so don't go there on Internet Explorer.

Happy viewing! Check out Rocks in My Dryer for more tips.

I'm a wannabe

No shame about it: I want to be a mom! Ever since I was little I've dreamed of having babies and taking care of them. But for me, there's just a little prerequisite to having a baby: a husband! Since there's no eligible husband around, I've got to get my fill of mom stuff another way.

I LOVE mom blogs! I know, its weird, but I do! I love hearing the stories about the kiddies, the pictures, the tips. Look at my blogroll - just about all of them are moms! I read a ton more, but I haven't gotten around to adding them to my blogroll.

I found a new one in my comments today: Mom's Crafty Life! And they are having a giveaway! And since I had such luck with 6yearmed, I thought I'd give them a shout out so I can have a shot on winning their contest.

My favorite part of the site is the "Works for Me" section. I love these kinds of tips! I'm such a mommy wannabe.

1st day of school

I wonder if I will get the jitters on every one of my first days of school? Today was the first day of summer school and it went very smoothly!

I still can't get over two of my boys' names: Richard and Frank. For some reason, I just imagine middle age men when I hear those names! But sure enough, they are little boys.

We are doing reading ALL DAY! Reading is my favorite thing to teach, so that is good for me. These little ones need lots of encouragement when it comes to reading. My main goal is to increase their confidence in reading and get them to stop saying, "I can't read."

And - exciting news was waiting for me when I got home and checked my email. 6YearMed emailed me to let me know I won her giveaway - a Starbucks gift card! How cool it is to win something from someone I feel like I know ... Thanks Danielle!

Ouch

Yesterday I got some details on my summer school class. I was excited to have 8-10 kids because I would be able make a real difference. Lots of one on one and small group time. Then I opened my email and I see 15 names.

15 names? That's not a small group!

I hit the reply button to type some sort of tactful yet complaining email to my boss. Then, I thought, let me call Jodi. Jodi is a friend of mine with a very level head and a Christian heart. Let me see what she thinks.

If I want sympathy, this girl is the wrong one to go to! The first thing she says is, "You should be thankful for the job." Hmmph. Not what I want to hear. I want someone to complain along with me!

The more we talked the more she made me realize that I should be thankful. Another teacher who had wanted to teach summer school had received a call this week and was told they wouldn't need her this summer.

So, I hit the X on the email. Then I remembered this verse that I have sitting in my car. "Do everything without complaining or arguing." (Philippians 2:14)

That's my challenge this summer! No matter what is thrown at me, I want to handle it with grace and patience.

Project complete!

OK-I admit, I didn't finish it until last night! I had to get some good procrastinating in and some nice time surveying the pile of correspondence before I could actually do anything.

See that notebook? I wrote down everything that I needed to do: emails to write, phone numbers to record, calls to make, etc., and then was able to throw away a ton of those papers. So I'm definitely going to use this notebook from now on and toss the papers right away.

I was on a roll, so I went ahead and tackled the laundry room (big time clutter!), kitchen, and bedroom. I was very happy with my work! Just take a look at these clean and clutter free surfaces! For some reason it makes me happy to see a surface with nothing on it! Anyone else that way?

Today's my last day of real freedom because I start summer school tomorrow. So I'm glad to get some cleaning done!

Works For Me Wednesday

I'm trying to be green. I'm also lazy, so anything that requires more effort usually doesn't appeal to me! :) But nonetheless, I drive by a huge mountain of a landfill everyday on my way to work and it reminds me that I need to do my part. Here's a few of the things I'm doing:

• I use reusable grocery bags instead of paper or plastic. They are actually much more convenient and easy to carry, and they hold a lot more. You can get them for about $2 at your grocery store.


• I recycle cans. Since I'm a huge diet coke fan, this is big!**


• Whenever I need a new light bulb, I buy the new energy efficient kind.


• I turn out the lights, TV, etc. when I leave the room.


• I only use one napkin instead of 5.


• I have a programmable thermostat and I actually learned how to program it!


• I never use paper or plastic plates at home.


• I try to line dry my clothes whenever possible.

These are pretty self-explanatory and nothing too drastic. But its a start!

Visit Rocks in My Dryer for more tips.

**Actually my grandpa recycles them for me! He takes all the cans to the SPCA, and they get the $$. Thanks papa!

Today's Project

Here's my first project of summer vacation. I went around the house and found all the little stacks of paper that were accumulating and gathered them all here on the coffee table.

Oh wait, I found more. Yay.

Most of these are things I need to do for the church website. I upload the sermons and add announcements. The rest is junk mail, thank you notes, and other mail that I actually have to do something with instead of just throw away. So here's to the internet for accountability!

Eye Candy

Now that's my kind of eye candy. Meet Toby, the miniture love of my life.

1st day of summer!

Today was great! I slept in, watched boring TV, checked out all my favorite blogs. I did two loads of laundry, cleaned my kitchen, scrubbed the doggie door. I gave my dog a hair cut and a bath. Then I spent the evening at my mom's house celebrating my grandma's birthday. This is actually her second party; last Saturday we went to Mimi's near Folly Beach to celebrate too. I love being with my family.

Kelly and Katie at Mimi's

Grandpa and Grandma

Its always a little crazy when we all get together. First of all, we are all dog-lovers. Just about everyone in my family owns at least one dog. And we all like to bring our dogs along to family get-togethers! The latest addition is Stella, Kelly and Austin's pit bull. Yes, she's a pit bull! They have a really bad reputation, but its all in the way you raise them (says Kelly). Stella is just a big, cute, muscular teddy bear with lots of energy!

We always have at least 4 conversations going at the same time, and I love to sit back and listen to pieces of all of them!

Oh, I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Works For Me Wednesday

"Mom..I'm bored!"

Here's my suggestions, but I preface by saying that I'm not a mom! But I am a second grade teacher, so I guess I'm a little qualified!

• Play school! Have your kids be the teachers, and have them make worksheets for you. Make some mistakes and challenge them to find out if you made a 100%.


• Visit educational websites like http://www.storylineonline.net/ and http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/. Read poetry from http://www.gigglepoetry.com/ (check out "Potty Poems")and challenge your kids to write their own.


• Go to the library! If you sign up on this website your kids can get FREE prizes for reading.


• Practice skills that your kids learned this year at school by playing these games. Some are more fun than others but don't let all that learning go to waste this summer.


• This is more for parents, but check out what your child will learn next year. It will help you understand what they are doing at school!

Last Full Day

Today was the last full day, complete with awards assembly and ice cream party. There were about a dozen parents in my room, ice cream, and about 10 different toppings. Kids and parents and medals and trophies and sugar. That might explain the nervous tick and twitching them I'm experiencing. :)

On the good side, my grandparents came and were lifesavers as usual. They totally helped me pull off the party and did the entire clean-up while I was stuck in a faculty meeting.

And...I'm teaching summer school! I'm so excited because it will be extra $$! Plus, I will only have 8-10 kids and I will be able to make a huge difference.

Thanks for reading this scatter-brained post!

Outdoor Adventures

I'm not really an outside kind of girl. I'd like to be in inside, sealed places with no bugs, heat, pollen, or humidity. Unfortunately, I have a yard. It has to be taken care of, but I actually find satisfaction in a nice, neat, edged yard. I even have a small flower bed and am out there every day tending to it.

Well, I am fine with the mowing, edging, weed-whacking and stuff, IF everything works correctly. My lawn mower is excellent and always starts easily. On the other hand, my grandpa gave me his old weed whacker and it worked fine. It was plain but trusty. Then I had the grand idea to ask for a new, fancy weed-whacker/edger all in one. I got one for Christmas and was thrilled.

Its never worked for more than two minutes at a time.

In the meanwhile, old trusty got offended and it decided not to work either.

So, suffice it to say that I will be going shopping tomorrow for a solution to this problem! I'm tired of fixing the string every minute!

In other news, I only have 1 and 1/2 days left! I'm very excited, although I still don't know if I will be teaching summer school. And I still have about 11 more DVDs to burn! They are taking 1-3 hours per DVD! And then, sometimes it spits the disc out in the last minute with an error message. I'm hoping that I will get them all done by tomorrow afternoon!

How does she do this??

Look at this video...she says the same sentence in 21 different accents. Very cool!



I "stole" this from Melanie!