October

O-C-T-O-B-E-R

This is the month of the candy bar.

Christopher Columbus has a holiday.

Fall is here...

Winter's on the way!!

That's the only "month rhyme" I know. If anyone out there knows any more, please tell me! I would love to learn some others.

Todd loves this time of year. He always gets excited about Halloween and all the gross scary stuff. I prefer cute ghosts and pumpkins over the graveyard scenes with blood and guts. These are the sidewalk lights we put up each year. The skulls are Todd's, and the pumpkins are mine!


Today was one of those days that I wish I had brought my camera with me when I left the house. First, as we drove through a shopping center, we saw this older man driving right along with traffic on is lawnmower... no grass in sight! After that, we went into the 99-cent store for me to buy some plastic storage containers for my classroom. As I walked the isles, I noticed this 7"X5" Pocket calculator. I guess the pockets run much larger in China than they do here, even in Texas!

I hope everyone is having a great start to Fall. Have a great week!!

Spread Beagle!

Rollei, mind the way you sit! Sheesh!

By the way... Rollei is spelled that way because he is named after a camera. Ever heard of the Rolleiflex?

A day with Grandma

We took a short trip to visit Grandma a few Sundays ago. We had a little birthday celebration for her, but most importantly, we enjoyed spending time together. Here are a few pictures of the day.

A blog of so few words? You're not disappointed.

Have a great week!!

Making Memories

Well, today is our last day of summer. Todd and I have to report for inservices tomorrow. As you can tell from previous blogs, we haven't done just a whole lot this summer. We had a great short trip to Galveston (thanks ReRe) and another short trip to Abilene. I wanted to get one last day of fun in before we go back to work. Only problem is, when I say, "let's do something!" I have no idea what to do. I'm not very creative. We usually end up just going to the movies. Todd took control yesterday when I said I wanted to do something. When we were talking about something to do, and I gave him the last blank response of, "I don't care, I just want to do something other than stare at a screen!", he left the room. I thought I had made him mad. Next thing I know, he came to tell me that we were going horseback riding tomorrow morning! I haven't ridden a horse since I was a in Girl Scouts! FUN! I would have never thought of that! So, we drove to a state park and rode this morning. We were told to be there at 8:45, and the ride would start at 9:00. Well, about 10:00 we were finally assigned a horse. Now, mind you that I haven't ridden in years, and I was a little nervous. Todd as assigned to Blackjack. I was assigned to Hercules. The laughing started there. Couldn't they assign me a horse named Feather, or something less intimidating?

Waiting...

Todd on Blackjack. He was a little stubborn. Blackjack, that is.

Me riding Hercules. He ended up being a very easy horse to ride.

Blessings

Sometimes things are sent people's way that they don't really deserve. And sometimes these things are good. This is what I would call a "blessing". A blessing happened to me and Todd. So, we went shopping. After many weeks, and much deliberation, we decided on buying an entertainment center that I found at Sam's. It was advertised at a reasonable price and we both liked it a lot. The next day, Mom and I went to purchase it. (Thanks Mom. I'm so glad you have a big vehicle that helps us transport big things.) The price was almost half of the posted price from just the day before!!! I used to work at Sam's years ago, and I don't remember them lowering prices very often. Well, we had already planned to spend a certain amount, so we were able to get the rug we had deliberated over, too. Here are some pictures of our new living room furniture and rug. I loaded the thing up with random treasures. Please don't judge me on my decorating skills. I don't claim to have any. And there are plans to upgrade the TV; just not now. You'll understand why when you read the last part of this post.The rug and Rollei, of course. And if you are wondering, yes, we saw Underdog. Fantastic movie, really cute, going to buy it when it comes out... :-)

And, by the way, Happy Birthday to Todd! I don't have any pictures of his birthday events, but he had a really great day.

On the other side of things, we are saying goodbye to our old water heater tomorrow. We have the unexpected necessity of buying and having a new one installed tomorrow. Apparently the things aren't made to last over 12 years.

The end is near! (of summer, that is)

I got the official call from one of my fellow team members that most of us are going up to the school to prepare our rooms. So, bright and early this morning (about 10:00), I was there ready to work. After sitting around chatting way too long, then taking a much needed lunch break (probably another hour doing that), I finally started to make some headway.

Here are a few of my team members... They're ready to work, too. After chatting and lunch, of course.

This is a picture of part of my classroom before I started working. Notice all the junk piled ceiling-high?

TA-DAHH!! This is a pic of part my room after I messed it up more! The pile to the ceiling is not as bad, though. And I got all of my shelves and desks where I want them. Even started to load the shelves up. The computers are hooked up, too.

There will be more visits up to the school this week to hopefully finish setting up. The goal is to have things ready, but still have a few more days off before we have to report for inservices.

It's hard to post without at least a picture or Rollei or Todd. Today you are lucky, as I got a pic of them together. These two really do enjoy the "dog days" of summer!

Our BIG "vacation"

I guess this will be a post mostly of pictures...

I finally got to meet my brother's girlfriend, Virginia. We all went out to eat at a "hole-in-the-wall" Mexican restauraunt. Had a great time. I'm especially glad to have Dad and Steven back in the states.

A few days later, Todd and I left for our big 4-day vacation to Abilene. Very exotic, I know. We were excited to help Cary, Ron, K1 & K2 move from their old house to the "new house". We worked really hard moving stuff and painting some rooms in the old house to get it ready for renters. Cary's crew and Mom and Dad left Sunday morning for their Vegas trip. While we were in Abilene, we had some time to visit with friends. Todd hung out with this photography mentor, Tom. I got to spend great time with Jayme. Love spending time with her. I can't believe we let 2 years go by since I saw her last.

While we were in Abilene, some family came over to visit one night. One relative is a foster parent. She brought over her current foster baby, so needless to say, he got passed around. I thought Todd looked pretty good with a baby in his arms.

Can't leave Abilene without a picture of the girls...
Also can't leave without visiting the ACU bookstore. Here are our new wares...
Todd went to a benefit garage sale and purchased a small TV to put in his studio. He got a great deal, but I didn't want him to have another thing that keeps him in his studio all the time. This was the scene 30 minutes or so after we got home.