Celebrity Look-alikes

just being silly - I'm not sure I agree with any of these . . . 

You can click on the picture and it will get bigger.

Silly Questions

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
no - not that I know of

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Last week in class when one of my non-verbal students started talking (happy tears) - and when I talked to one of my student's case workers and realized how very very bad it really is for him (very sad tears).

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
ehhh - sometimes. For the most part I guess.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
turkey!

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
Yes. 3 wonderfully adorable ones! :o) I like them A LOT!!! 

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Oh totally! I'm a hoot! heh heh heh

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
no. never. (pshhh - whatever!)

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
I have and I LOVED it! One of the funnest/terrifyingest things EVER!! :o)

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Special K w Strawberries! Mmmmm (or peanut butter Captain Crunch or cookie crisp! Mmmmm)

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Nope - not until it's necessary.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Anything with chunks. It's so fun to pick them out. Cookie dough - Cookies - Brownies . . . mmmmm!

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Good question - body language - if they are happy

15. RED OR PINK?
Red

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I tend to be easily distracted and forgetful. Oh well!

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My sisters and my Dad!

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
Everyone in the world?!?!?!?! There are some people I just don't want to know that well. ;o)

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Jeans and barefoot. My favorite!

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
My kids watching City of Ember. Haven't seen it yet.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?'
Yellow!

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Toast, Christmas, fresh rain, babies, clean sheets.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My Momma

25. HOW DO YOU KNOW THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
She is my awesome Visiting Teaching companion! She truly picks up my slack!

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Baseball. I love baseball!

27. HAIR COLOR?
All natural Red! Woop woop!

28. EYE COLOR?
Hazel - but they turn deep green when I cry.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Yes! Thank heavens they invented them!

30. FAVORITE FOODS?
Chips and salsa, tacos, smoothies, sub sandwiches

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings all the way!

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Scoop

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
yellow

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer! Can't get here fast enough!

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Ok!

37. DESCRIBE YOUR PENCIL CUP
At work it's a ceramic bumble bee flower thing w pens, pencils, highlighters and markers. At home it's a wire mesh one with pens and scissors.

38. FAVORITE ARTIST(s)?
Mark Rothko, Vincent Van Gogh

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Book of Mormon and Comprehensive Literacy Resource (sounds fun huh!?!?!)

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
Notes from my kids. For Mother's Day they covered a mouse pad with paper and wrote notes all over it for me. I LOVE IT!!! :o)

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Nothing.

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S)?
Aaron Copland songs, Nimrod (Adagio), wind in the trees, birds singing, my kids playing, my husbands voice, the sound of the kids falling asleep (trust me! I can hear it!) hahaha :o)

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Beatles

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Trier Germany, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Paris, Luxembourg, I don't know which is the furthest. 

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
playing the piano

46 WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Grinnell, Iowa

47. FAVORITE PIECE OF JEWELRY?
My wedding ring. I'm not a big jewelry person.

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
Stake dance. I was 14.

49. DO YOU USE TWO SPACES AFTER SENTENCES?
Yes. And I refuse to change! I will not give in! Just kidding - it's just habit. Oh well! When that's the only thing I have to worry about I'll address it! :o)

50. WHO GAVE THE RIGHT TO MESS WITH THE QUIZ?
Ummm . . . I don't know.

51. When you are happy and you know it, do you clap your hands?
Almost daily. I teach PreK for heavens sake!!! hahaha!

Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole

Mmmmm!  Yum!  This is what we had last night for dinner.  It was so homey and tasty!  I cheated a little and used canned chicken and just Cheddar cheese I had on hand.  No onion either.  But it was still good.  It would be really good using one of those deli roasted rotisserie chickens.  Late in the evening if there are some leftover at the store they mark them down super cheap and you can buy a bunch and debone and freeze them.  Yum yum!

Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole

INGREDIENTS 

• 1 1/3 cups uncooked white rice
• 2 2/3 cups water
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups mild salsa

DIRECTIONS

1. Place rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, place chicken breast halves into a large saucepan, and fill the pan with water. Bring to a boil, and cook for 20 minutes, or until done. Remove chicken from water. When cool enough to handle, cut meat into bite-size pieces.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. In a medium bowl, combine Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses. In a separate bowl, mix together cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, onion, and salsa. Layer 1/2 of the rice, 1/2 of the chicken, 1/2 of the soup and salsa mixture, and 1/2 of the cheese mixture in prepared dish. Repeat layers, ending with cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until bubbly.

I've Turned a Corner

I don't know if this is good or bad . . . and I'll spare you all the tremendous details.  Let's just say - today I managed to take care of something that no one should have to take care of (unless you happen to be that child's mother) without gagging, throwing up, or even getting watery eyes.  Shocking - I know.  Especially given the gag reflex I have - as detailed in my post on Mary's Marvelous Mush.  (just saying that made me gag a little)  And let me just say - whatever your imagining at this point - isn't even close to what happened.  It was beyond normal imaginations.  

A year ago - I couldn't have even looked - and today I managed it all without a flinch.  It happens from time to time - given the nature of my job.  The majority of my students aren't toilet trained - and when they are sick . . . well . . . 

I think the real corner turner for me tho - isn't just that it didn't bother me - but I'm ok going back tomorrow.  I want to go back.  I just love these little guys - and although this isn't what I ever pictured myself doing - it's right where I'm supposed to be right now. 

Tough Cookie

I like to think of myself as a tough cookie - able to manage and figure out most things on my own.  This past week Bob was in London.  (Lucky!)  And there were a few of the usual things that seem to come up when he's gone.  I'm sure they come up in a normal week too - but managing them on my own seems more difficult.  The furnace stopped working one night - and I'm actually pretty handy with it - having been down that road before.  I've got a whole bag of tricks that usually works before I have to call our repair guy.  So I waited till I got home from school and gave it a shot.  I planned on sanding down the sensor to get the oxidation off - but in the process ended up breaking the ceramic ignitor into 5 pieces.  Then it was really broken - it also was supposed to get down to 31 that night.  So I left a message for the repair guy - piled tons of blankets on the kids.  It was actually pretty cozy - until morning came and we had to leave our nice little caves.  Holy Cow!!!!  It was cold!!!  The repair guy came - it was just a connector (well and the ignitor too.  Ooops!) - and that worked for about a day.  Then the motor went out - and he came back and fixed that too.  He hadn't had a new motor in his truck the first time - so we crossed our fingers the connector was all it was.  Guess not.

Then at one point my car didn't start - but luckily I just tried again and it did.  I knew it was the battery.  Been there done that before.

Then I picked up my Buddy from school - took one look and knew he was very sick.  He was running a temp of 103 - and it wouldn't come down that night.  He asked for a blessing - and my father-in-law came over with a brother from his ward and administered to him.  It was a sweet and tender blessing.  I was so grateful to be able to just call for help and it was there.  I stayed home with my Buddy the next day and took him to the doctor.  They ran a strep test - which came out negative - so they're running the full test over the weekend so we can narrow it down.  

He was feeling a lot better by Saturday (yea!) so we headed out for the Pinewood Derby!  It was a big deal.  My Buddy's last year - and Cowboy T's first.  They'd spent the past two weeks making them with Bob before he left.  They were some cool looking cars.  Amazingly we were running on time - got in my car and it was dead.  Checked the battery cables a couple of times - jiggled them - got the corrosion cleaned off - you know - the usual stuff - and it still didn't start.  So I thought - we'll hop in Bob's truck.  Guess what!?!?!?!  Dead too!  Well I just kept trying and trying - mapping out some backup plans in my head - when my Buddy suggested we say a prayer - and he did.  I tried one more time - cleaning it off - and checking the cables.  My Buddy suggested we jump it off the riding mower - but we all know I would have reversed the cables and fried!  No matter how many times Bob explains it to me . . . I just can't remember.  Wouldn't have been a good day for that to happen.  So anyway - after the prayer - it started right up!  Yea!!!  There's some faith for ya!  We made it to the derby ok.  

Got there - weighed the cars (had to be under 5 oz.) and they were both .2 over.  And there it was - the tough cookie cracked.  I have a lot of skills - furnace skills, broken window skills, changing a tire skills, painting a house skills, throwing up some drywall skills, mowing skills, car wreck skills - but I have NO - zero - zilch - pinewood derby skills.  I'm not a boy.  I had no brothers.  I had no idea what to do!  Yank off a wheel?  Chop off the back of the car?  Start sanding?  The boys were panicked - and I had no idea what to do.  They were looking at me with that "Mom! Fix it!" look - and I had nothing!  They'd melted the weights and sealed them inside their car.  It's not like I could just take a washer off or something.  And in that silent moment of desperate pleading in my head - trying to beg for some mercy - where I really thought I'd reached my limit and wanted to cry uncle - in walked my Father-in-law.  Another answered prayer!  I handed him the boys cars and told him they were over by .2 oz.  He said "I'll be right back" and raced out the door.  He quickly returned - and had drilled out just a bit of the weight from where they had poured the lead in - and both of them weighed in ok - and the race began.  The boys did really well and had a lot of fun.  Won some heats - and lost some heats - had a blast - and really enjoyed the whole process of making the cars.  It was all good!  The best part was after the derby when we went to pick up Bob at the airport.  It was so wonderful to see him again and have him back home.  I gladly handed him the keys to drive home - and enjoyed the rest of the evening - knowing whatever might come up - I had backup.  And also how wonderful it is to have a husband who takes such good care of us and seems to make everything so much better!

Don't tell me not to call the police . . .

ImageSource: http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/uploadedImages/krcg/News/Stories/police_lights.jpg

Well let's see . . . I had a faculty mtg after school on Tuesday.  I left early so I could get the boys.  As I was passing the Central Library in the left lane - a lady from the CENTER lane decided to turn left into the library.  I could see it coming and sped up as fast as I could - but she still clipped the back side of my car.  So we both pulled over.  Here's the kicker . . . she gets out of the car and starts screaming at me!!!!!  I was thinking - you've got to be kidding me.  

Then her passenger gets out - a drunk older man - and he starts screaming too.  They were saying - Don't call the cops - you better not call the cops.  (ummm Red Flag!)  The man told me it was all the lady's fault and that she was lying - and the lady said he was drunk and had been drinking all day.  I really didn't know what to do.  I've never had a wreck before - other than my solo-hydroplaning-total-the-car wreck.  So I checked the damage - it was so minimal.  The paint was a little scratched - but I know how to buff that out.  In any other case I would have said don't worry about it - I have better things to do and moved on.  But the screaming and the telling me not to call - and then the insurance card they handed me that had expired in 2007 really sealed the deal.  So I called 911.

I was inside my car when I called and I explained the situation.  The operator heard the guy yelling - 'You better not call the police.  They'll be really angry with you for calling over such a minor thing!'  The operator heard it and quickly surmised the situation.  She told me to stay in the car because she was worried about me being safe.  The police came immediately and then I waited while they looked everything up and stuff.  I think by then the entire faculty meeting had let out and drove past the whole thing.  They all thought I was getting a ticket!  :o)  Anyway - by the time they told me I could leave there were multiple police cars there and it looked like not only would they be towed for no insurance - but I'm guessing maybe some warrants out or something like that.  

It took so long that I called my father-in-law to pick up the boys because I knew he would be close by to get them.  I think I owe the school secretaries some chocolate . . . they were so kind to the boys.  It wasn't exactly how I planned the afternoon to go - but I'm grateful it happened in a nice big public place in the daylight and that it wasn't a big deal for the car or me.  Phewph!  

Cowboy T's Baptism Day

Player Piano

Image Source: http://www.mrmooreismyteacher.com/CHC/Decades/10s/10s_Images/playerpiano.jpg

Guess what we got?!?!?!?!   I got a call from my principal asking if I might possibly be interested in a free player piano!  Ummmm YES!!!!!!!!!!!!  Her friend was remodeling her home and had been trying to find a home for it and couldn't find anyone who wanted it.  It had been in her family for 32 years and wanted it to go to a good home.  When my principal heard about it she said "I know just who would want that!"  And she was right.  We picked it up this morning.  It's really cool.  The pedals take a lot of work.  It'll be a good workout if I don't make it to the gym!  :o)  I'll just play the player piano instead.  We'll all have super strong leg muscles!  It came with different rolls of songs and the kids have already gotten it rolling!  So fun!

Texas Weather

Image Source: http://weatherlook.net/weather-in-texas.jpg

Well - in true Texas fashion - the high tomorrow will be 80 and the next day we will hit 34.  Of course! 

Here's a little tip I learned and would like to share so you can avoid the same mistake.  A few weeks ago we had one of those mornings where everything had iced up overnight - and my car was parked outside.  Well - I was leaving the house in a hurry and realized I had quite a thick covering of ice across my windshield.  This is Texas - so I don't have an ice scraper.  That little doo-hickey seems very out of place in the car during the summer when it's 180 degrees.  So anyway - the next best thing is my library card.  This was carefully chosen over my work ID, bank card and gym card.  The kids can always provide backup library cards.  Anyway - I digress.  Quickly I surmised my library card was worthless (in the ice scraping sense - not the enjoyable reading sense).  So I did the next best quickest thing - that I KNOW I'm not supposed to do . . . bad for the window . . . yadda yadda yadda.  I got a jug of room temperature water from inside and took it back out to the car.  I'd turned the wipers on to scrape of the minuscule amount of ice fuzz that I'd managed to scratch off.  I thought I'd just stand off to the side - dump this water and be on my merry way.  (Mary way! hahahaha - sorry - couldn't resist), 

And here comes the tip:

Never pour water on the windshield when you're standing in direct line with moving wipers!  

I was soaked and freezing and laughing like a lunatic.  Some guy was walking down the sidewalk past me when I did it.  I think I frightened him a little.  It was so hilariously funny.  I looked liked I'd just run through the sprinkler in freezing temperatures.  But!!!!!  It did the trick - and I hoped in my car - and was on my merry way - laughing so hard I could barely contain myself.  Ahhhhh!  Another Mary moment brought to you from my crazy mind!  :o)

My Class

I just realized . . . it won't be up much longer - but probably until Monday or Tuesday you can Click Here: Kooken  - and see my morning class at a Christmas program.  We'll be gaining another student when we go back next week.  They sure are a lot of fun and they melt my heart every day.