A is for....

Welcome to A-Z April- A post a day except for Sundays- 26 days through the ABC's- My theme is: the things that make me, LIVESTRONG, LOVESTRONGER, LAUGH HARDER...
A is for antique.
Some of my favorite things are those that belonged to our families...and come with stories of our past:

 First is my husband's Grandmother's sewing basket. It is filled with 25 cent threads, 35 cent packages of needles, and rick rack with the prices stamped on the packages. Grandma Tillie would be 104 if she were still alive- a good Mormon woman who sewed for her large family.

My awesome Pyrex mixing bowls belonged to Grandma Mc Queen. They are in perfect shape, never having been washed in a dishwasher...but mixing decades worth of meals for another large Mormon family. This was the first set introduced by Pyrex in the mid- 1940's.

Mormons have a year's supply of food and supplies- here is what was found in Grandma Mc Queen's basement! A stash of medicines and supplies from the 40's. The Sucretes have the price written on the wrapper in grease pencil...others have a sticker...morphine was over the counter and has a list of how much to give to a "colicky infant!" The old razors and tooth brushes are fun to compare today's. One of the coolest of the lot is....

 the vaporizer. Grandma was born in 1913, on the farm her father settled back when Utah was a territory. She was a sickly child and remembered using this when she was ill.

Lastly,

here is a birdhouse made from the wood from the old chicken coops that were torn down when the property was sold. This was a Christmas gift to me from my mother-in-law. I am going to decorate it with hardware I took of the old barn and coops....and add a few other fun things.

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*HAPPY BLOGGING A-Z*

Senator Leland Yee

Here is Senator Yee addressing the students at my old school before a bike and fitness rally for Red Ribbon Week back in October 2007.

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*SERIOUSLY I HOPE THE

 KIDS DON'T REMEMBER*

Bloggin' A to Z

Blogging A-Z starts Tuesday...one post a day with Sundays off....and the posts go alphabetically. This is year 3...with one course of A-Z Mondays years ago.  There is generally a theme...last year was children's books...but I must admit, even I was bored with it. So this year, I go themeless- or rather things that make me LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER* 

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTROGNER*LAUGH HARDER*BLOGGIN' A-Z BABY*

Personal Bests

Soooo....it was minimum day Wednesday and although the kids leave early the teachers had district grade level meetings. I had planned to run to my old school for the meeting and have a co-worker take my belongings in her car. It rained cats and dogs all morning up until the kids were dismissed...I packed another set of clothes thinking I would be soaked by the time I ran the 3+ miles. But by the time I changed, the sun had come though the clouds and it was super nice for my run.


Rewind to last Sunday, when I ran my weekend loop, I smashed my previous record of 49:49 by 1 minute and 22 seconds! Today I left my school being very cautious because the sidewalks were wet and there was a lot of mud, pinecones and stuff on the ground. The best part of this run is that it is down a BIG hill to start out...like about a mile all down, down, down...and I can run like I am 18 again.


Fast forward to today...I started out cautious and made all of the stoplights until the very last one...I missed it by a few seconds and had to wait for an entire set of lights...when the light changed I was a little stiff but I wanted to get a decent time...(and mainly not be late tot he meeting.) I turned off my Garmin watch and felt my runner's high throughout the meeting. When I uploaded the info to my computer I ran a 27:49...and then I looked up my last run on that route and it was 30:31!


Shaz-am! I think all my workouts are finally paying off...and I am down 5 pounds...enough to fit in my summer shorts :) I can't wait to see my time in my next event in 2 weeks! And if I can keep up with my kids in the tough mudder in May.

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*RUN BABY RUN*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY GIRL!

SINCE SHE HADN'T HAD A BIRTHDAY AT SCHOOL SINCE HIGH SCHOOL, I ORDERED THIS BOUQUET OF CUPCAKES FOR HER DADDY TO DELIVER TO HER AT WORK. Take that spring break...you didn't get her birthday this year...and the last two years her birthday was on the weekend...so this was it!!

AND once the cupcakes are eaten by 36 forensic students there must be a real bouquet to last for a few days...Happy Birthday my first born :)

YOU ARE OFFICIALLY HALF MY AGE...AND YOUR DAD'S...whose birthday was Saturday...(so how does it feel to be 15?) Much love to our creative, fun, athletic, artistic, cancer surviving daughter! We love you!!

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIDDO*

 

Do you like GREEN EGGS & Spam?

I do not like Green Eggs & Spam....I do not like them Sam-I-Am!

Sam if you just let me be, I will try them you will see.....

And every student who cracked an egg found that it was GREEN inside!

SAY! I like Green Eggs & Spam...I do like them Sam-I-Am!

And every student ate Green Eggs & Spam!

It made the hour and a half that I spent making tiny pinholes in 27 eggs and injecting a full of syringe green food coloring into the tiny hole well worth it. I wasn't going to repeat this since it is second grade and all...but I felt I had to for the students new to my class this year.

The leprechaun also visited and put gold covered chocolate coins in every clean/neat desk he found. When class was dismissed there were 4 students cleaning out their desks...without prompting :)

I hope your St. Patrick's Day was filled with fun!

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*DIG THOSE GREEN EGGS AND HAM*

Before and After

I hadn't been posting much because my photos wouldn't load...then I tried Google Chrome and "wha-la!" IT WORKED!! So photo time...

 I have an itty-bitty backyard. We recently had two giant redwoods cut down....there was one in each corner of the small year. They were 50 years old and planted apparently when the house was first sold. One was rotten in the center and was dying...one good storm and it would have toppled. The other was pulling up our tiny patio and the roots were in our plumbing....so down they came. I posted photos of the workers scaling the tall trees 4 stories high...it was amazing! After the trees came down The Captain and I had the yard leveled and terraced. A small part was set aside for my cactus garden. So when the weather hit summer yesterday, (80 degrees!) I headed to Home Depot for cactus soil and thick gloves. I removed soil and then worked the cactus soil into the area. I whacked off the two large cactus and buttons off my barrel cactus out front. Then I walked the dog to the park and got a few starter pieces from there.

BEFORE

Then I added deocr....horse shoes, lava rock, horse skull and jaw, hummingbird feeder and rocks that we have collected on vacations over the years....all I have left is to add some small rocks that I plan to get from the soil and rock store next weekend.

Those nasturtiums wandered over from our neighbors...they will get to hang our until we decide what to plant there that doesn't take a lot of water.


Oh...and if you plan to transplant some cacti, keep some tweezers in your pocket.

*LIVSTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*PLANT YOURSELF SOME FUN*

So I am only 4 days behind...

...but I will make up for it...Lent that is. I was baptized a Catholic, made my First Holy Communion, did a stint in Agape Youth Group and then bailed. But in preparation of celebrating Mardi Gras, I was explaining Fat Tuesday to my class. I love second grade because not only do they listen for more than 1 minute, they also come up with some pretty darn good questions. "What are you giving up?" Who me??? Nothing!


Later that day I heard about 40 Bags....GIVE AWAY!! Help others!! Clear the clutter!! The idea is to give a bag a day away to Goodwill or the likes. So today, I took my huge, 4' tall paper bags, (that I got from the free compost section at our local dump,) that were waiting in the garage for a while now, to Goodwill. Each day I will clear out my closet, my dresser, a drawer, etc...40 days worth!! I did my own version of this a few summers ago where I got rid of one item each day....and when I had exhausted all my extras I started organizing one thing a day. I have too much...STUFF!! so 40 days should put a dent in it.

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*PURGE*

Read Across America

You're never too old,
too whacky to wild
To pick up a book
and read to a child.
                                                                   Dr. Seuss


Go ahead....you read it...MONDAY!
Read-Across-America!


I have the superintendent, a policeman, the director of the club where I work out, a board member, the principal, the art teacher all reading to the 2nd graders. They will let the kids know how they use reading in their jobs, why reading is important and best of all, what they read for fun :)

*LIVESTRONG*LOVESTRONGER*LAUGH HARDER*HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS*