New Perspectives

Two of the ladies present...Betty (left) hosted us!

Our amazing spread at our book study tonight.  I love these ladies!  There's a group of educators that formed a book club and graciously let me join.

These ladies are so near and dear to my heart.  Some I worked with.  Some I am getting to know.  Some are retired.  Some are married.  All are amazing!  All love to read!  All make me laugh.  All teach me to listen (I'm still working on it).  All teach me to enjoy life.

Love, love, love them and our Monday night book club nights.

Friends

Pictured above is the mess that I cleaned up today.  It shows that food was eaten and fellowship occurred.  I had invited some friends over to have some soup on Saturday.  What a blessing it was to see seven women converse with each other.  Some only knew me and some knew maybe one or two others.  I was hesitant at first to invite people from different circles, but it was such a fun time and I was overwhelmed at people asking to bring items or offering to help clean up.

I began 2011 wanting to host a dinner party once a month...lofty goal and I definitely did not achieve it.  I think I made six of the twelve months, but after today, I know I need to be more proactive and just do it.  Sometimes I feel my house is too small or that others won't like the food that's prepared.  But I'm sure everyone else has those thoughts too.  Or, they're worried that the house isn't clean enough or that others will judge them.

After cleaning up, I sat and began a knitting project.  My roommate stopped home for a few minutes before she was headed out again and the conversation came up again.  She asked, "Who's your best friend?"

I couldn't answer her.  I don't have one.  I have some amazing friends that I consider to be my closest and dearest friends who I would share anything with, but I don't like to call any of them my best friend.

Growing up, I always struggled with wanting a best friend and never really feeling like I had one.  As I've aged, I think the label of a best friend is overrated.  I think it puts too much pressure on friendships.  I've heard many married women say that their husband is their best friend.

And what if your best friend has another friend that is their best friend?  See...I just don't like it.

Readers, what do you think?  What does the label "best friend" bring to your mind?

Quiet

This is my view tonight.  It's after 4 and I'm sitting here blogging. 

One of the advantages of being single is my after-school schedule.  I have no kids to pick up, no family to make dinner for, no dry-cleaning to pick up.

Most days I have errands to run, meetings to attend, workouts to do, or who knows what else I fit into my schedule. 

However, tonight, I sit here and blog.  I posted grades.  I listened to music (love Pandora) in the dark, with only my Christmas lights on.  It was beautiful!!!

Thursday's photo

I took a photo...just didn't upload it.

My trunk was half-full of bags from Dollar General.  We had taken the after-school service organization that I lead to DG to spend part of the money we raised from a pajama day at school.  These toys will go towards families in our community that are in need. 

Fifteen third and fourth graders walked with me to the local store and helped pick out items.  While you can imagine the stress, it was quite fun to participate in.

Racing Thoughts

It's funny how things can change so quickly.  Earlier today, I received a box of these heavenly doughnuts!  Nine are in the freezer and three are ready to consume from the fridge.

As I tucked them away (we are having a blood test in the morning for a health screening, so none tonight), I knew that I would write about the doughnuts and how dreamy they are.  Then I went to Bible study.

I didn't see my friends (basically fake parents that I've known for 15 years).  I texted the wife and she let me know that she wasn't doing well and to ask her group to pray for her.  Only one other member had come for our group, so I sent her to another (knowing she was okay with this) and went to my friend's house to sit, cry, pray, laugh, and fold laundry with her and her husband.

Emotions were raw, real, and rough.  Watching her battle cancer is tough.  I am amazed at the spiritual journey she and her husband have taken.

Tonight my thoughts race.  I remember my complaints from earlier in the day.  My criticalness.  My frustration with students.

God, may my attitude show that You are Good.  I may not see it clearly right now, but let me rest in that.  Let my racing thoughts stop and rest on the one constant that I have in my life.

Lunch...

I had the pleasure today to eat lunch with a friend who also happens to be our writing coach for the corporation. She taught our workshop today. She's the type of teacher who is calming, who listens well (truly listens), and is guided by what is best for students. I love when I get the opportunity to sit and watch her in action.

As she came in, she wanted to know what lesson...immediately I knew!

Setting. But wait, they also need to know about moving in the writing process. And, it'd be helpful if you could talk about doing their best. Um, also, what about spreads? Can you also mix in details of setting? Um, setting. Doing their best. Ugh...what do you think?

She just laughs and then says, "You're not getting setting."

She taught about taking their planning and working on spreads and what that looks like as a writer.

I also had to confess to her that I had mixed three lessons on Friday. I know, I know, I know. You NEVER teach more than one thing. Unfortunately, with our short weeks until our vacation and knowing we had missed a school due to snow and another day due to music practice, I taught three lessons (with breaks in between). 

I'm glad I didn't get setting.  I am excited about teaching setting to my students tomorrow and looking at the details that are needed.  We'll post some on our classroom blog. 

I loved hearing the kids work today.  You could hear the buzz of workshop.  You could see writers working.  You could see the wheels turning. 

My messy desk where I keep my notes!

My notes...where I write down what people say.

A Drive...

Don't my nails look great?

Here I am...in my car.  Listening to music.  On a drive.

I found out today that one of my cherubs from last year (who I dearly loved) has been in the hospital and is in the pediatric unit in a nearby hospital. (She's in stable condition now, but had not been doing well earlier.)

Not even the threat of rain turning to snow deterred me from going to see her.  

The drive back...not so fun.  I was happy to stay in the right lane, letting LOTS of people pass me as they sped on through the windy, wet weather.  The snow kept pelting my car and swishing and swooshing and changing direction.  Wasn't a fun drive back...but completely worth going to see my little girl.

Wake-up call...

I had the pleasure of watching another friend's kids.  They have four beautiful children and I am blessed to be able to jump into their lives and hang out with them for a bit.  The oldest girl calls me khaki.  :)  You'll see her saying cheese in the photo.

Here was their note for the morning...

Only two of the cute ones...

Saying cheese

My View Tonight

It's a Friday night.

A night that sometimes I feel like I need to be out.

A night that begins the weekend.

I'm beginning my weekend here...

There's no other place I'd rather be...well, until tomorrow when I'm watching my friend's four kids.

Love families that let me be a part of them!!!  You mean more to me than you know!

Christmas Vacation

One thing that I love about Christmas is the lights...

Near my friend's house

Across from my friend's house

The Griswold's live next door to my friend. Not really...but wow! I loved it!

Our park in our town

Again at the park. And now that I know where some of my extra features are on my camera, I may head back there to see what I can capture!

Playing around

I bought myself a new camera. The one I used to use was 7 megapixels. I knew I wanted to upgrade and from a friend's recommendation, I switched brands from Sony to Canon.

I was pretty impressed with a few of the extra features that were offered with what I bought, but then become disheartened when I couldn't find how to use them. And yes, I checked the manual, but couldn't seem to make heads or tails of it.

Lo and behold...after a few touches of a button, I found some great features!!! Let me share some photos with you. And a word of warning, I had just moved back home from a week of dogsitting and had unloaded all of my presents from everywhere.

Picking out the green hues...

Picking out the red hues...

Picking out the green in my house...can you tell I LOVE green?

This tree was my great-aunt's. My grandma had one too! I am thankful to have been given this from my mom so I could set up a tree that my cat doesn't chew on. Picked out the red tones.

This is the miniatures effect. I think it would look better with other items in it, such as buildings or cars or having subjects far away, but it's still kind of fun how some objects are blurred and others aren't.