A Random Post

Lots has happened this week/end:

Dessert for three at Olive Garden...yum.

My new brightly colored kicks.

My Olive Garden lunch.

Loving my new curtains. They make it feel much more "homey" in here. Glad my mama & Granny came out to help me pick them out & hang them up!

My first birthday gift. Another reason why I love my ZaZa. Peacock feather fingernail stickers for our birthday celebration this weekend.

Breakfast for late lunch at Riley's is my favorite, favorite Sunday thing.

This is a great Sunday tradition, too: cookie dough & hot tea at Coffeesmith's.

If you've seen a cuter cat, you're blind.

Ignore my mess of a closet--I was in the progress of cleaning it when P climbed up there, using my shoulder, of course.

In honor of the 101st anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, I watched the movie. Pacino was fascinated, too. Another reason why him and I are perfect for each other.

Weekend/Monday

It has been a whirlwind of a weekend. Here's the journey through photos:

A group of us went geocaching on Saturday. If you don't know what that is, it is like a global scavenger hunt. All over the place are little hidden "caches" and you go on the website to get the coordinates to find them. Some of them you can take/leave a trinket. I found POGs in one of them. If you don't know what POGs are, you probably didn't grow up in the 90's. I was pretty pumped up about it. I didn't take them, because they were a little soggy, but it was exciting that someone else in the world still values POGs.

There was some tree climbing. Not by me, thankfully.

Some scenic nature that will look much prettier in a couple of months.

What goes up, must come down.

Group effort.

Oh, Orange Leaf. 

Went to Rileys for breakfast after church on Sunday. As you can imagine, this would have been about 4 meals worth of food, if the bike lady wouldn't have put my bike through my to-go box. (I bought a bike, PS. Pictures later this week.) I love Riley's.

Up, down or stuck?

Ok, I went to Orange Leaf two days in a row. It wasn't my idea.

This is the delicious lunch at the school librarian conference. 

I also bought new shoes. And a new summer wardrobe. I can't buy anything for a long time.

It's kind of hard to work when this guy is sitting on the computer!

Log-walking.

How handsome could one cat get?!

I got home from the school librarian conference Sunday night just in time to hear Reba announce Garth Brooks. I was squealing through his whole performance, which wasn't nearly long enough. I must, must, must see Garth in concert before one of us dies...must. 

Two Cool Things

1. Read this post from my school blog.
2. Read this Twitter conversation from last night:

My favorite author in the world wrote about her dogs causing mischief. Turns out, I have a cat who causes mischief. So I wrote back to her, and she responded to me. Which some people might not care about, but I was all smiles. I love Ellen Hopkins. I've read all 11 of her books, and she is the most-checked-out author in my HS library. And she read a story about my cat. The Ellen Hopkins. That, my friends, is a powerful connection via the internet. How did we live before it? 

It also makes a case that I should try to be more witty and stylish in my writing.

Ellen Hopkins read my blog post. 

Boom.

Frosting Pie

The things you sign up for when you become a teacher....



The NHS just finished up a Coins for Cancer fundraiser. Each "building" (elementary, junior high and high school) had a friendly competition to see who could raise the most money. The losers had to take a pie to the face from the winners. Well, the fourth grade teacher was gone so I got asked to deliver the pie into the face of the kindergarten teacher. Well, she wasn't super crazy about it, and not many students know her since she is a new teacher and teaches kindergarten. So, we hatched a plan where two of the kindergarten students would come to rescue their teachers and get me with the pie. (The other kindergarten class currently has a long-term sub who wasn't really sure about taking the pie, either...) Our scheme worked out perfectly, and luckily, there was frosting in the pie tin instead of cool whip, which I don't like.

*video shot by one of our tech ladies

Oh, Pacino

I wish he was this cute and snuggly all the time!

A perfect night (except that I wanted to go to bed.)

A little water spill--imagine that.

We are working on less biting. Some days go better than others.

Explain to me how a cat can open these doors...

And bite holes into this bag of soil. There was a MUCH bigger hole on the other side that I didn't notice until I picked it up.

Then drag it through the kitchen...

And into the living room. Literally, the whole bag he drug into the living room. Out of the closet. And the closet doors were shut when I got back home. The bag is as big as he is, and heavy! I moved it before thinking to take a picture, because I was so confused about what was going on.

So, what does a girl do with a bag of soil that has several holes? Put it in a grocery sack I guess. But he was still messing with it! So into the other closet it went--the one he can't open. 

Anyone know a good cat whisperer?

Quick Post

Here's a picture of my acrostic poem that I left as an example for the kids tomorrow...love poetry month!

A New Month!

Long time, no blog. Lots of things and nothing happening at the same time. Here's my life in pictures from the last week, in no particular order:

Went to the Hawkeye women's NCAA second round game vs Notre Dame. The best part was these jump ropers at halftime! They were awesome!

Supper meets breakfast meets supper: eggs & baked potatoes for supper? Sure.

I practiced drawing this eyeball...clearly, I didn't have enough to do.

Pacino lost a whisker! He has super long whiskers...

Current favorite snack: PBJ in a wheat tortilla.

Best way to cover holes in the wall? Strategically placed artwork.

Dad made me sort through my first 18 years of living...

This was my ride on Saturday...I feel more important when I drive big things.

Found a whole shoebox full of notes from middle school. Quickly went into the trash pile.

This guy was missing me while I was gone. 

I decided that I refuse to drink anything this summer unless it comes from a jar. I also decided to start early. I made these "infused waters." Flavors: cherry/lime/mint, raspberry/blueberry/mint, blueberry/lemon/honey, orange/lime/lemon. We'll see how they turn out. I'm excited to drink them!

Have I mentioned how much I love these jelly beans?

Spent the afternoon at Coffeesmith's drinking mint tea and reading poetry. It's national poetry month, after all.