North Dakota - wedding bound

We hit the road at 7:30 AM {{just a bit later than what we had wanted, but aren't there ALWAYS some delays that hold up a trip??}} :-)

We came prepared!!!!  iPad, iPod (2), laptops (2) for movies, Kindle, smartphone, Nintendo DSs (3)..... we weren't hurting TOO much to keep everyone occupied.

I debated internally whether I wanted to divulge everything technology related that we packed to keep everyone happy with something for the 10-hour trip, and in the end, if anyone wants to judge me, so be it.  10 hours is a LONG time, driving through plain landscapes!

And despite all the technology, Cassie eventually pulled out her book :) 

Paul drove the ENTIRE way!  LOL.  My car is DEFINITELY not build for his 6'6" frame!  

He keeps threatening me that I'm driving the whole way back on Sunday. 

We ran into Julie's family yesterday just as we were checking into the hotel. They had just finished the rehearsal and were heading to the hotel's dining room for dinner.  It was exciting for the girls to see them all!  Shortly after arriving and getting settled, we were back on the road to hit a local grocery store to stock up on some 'hotel-friendly' meals (poptarts, cereal, milk, popcorn, bread, sandwich meat).  With a growing family of 5, we didn't want to depend on only restaurants for our weekend excursion; specially when the hotel is equipped with a fridge and microwave. 

So, with food in tummies--what else is there to do at a hotel??????

HIT THE POOL!

So, this morning has been very relaxing!  I've caught up on ALLLLL emails from the past month!  So if your box was loaded with emails from me, now you know why :)  My inbox went from 221 to 8!!!!  Whew---what a task.

We are sitting poolside again right now, just enjoying a very QUIET morning (as compared to last night---the pool was packed full!!!!--and now it belongs solely to the girls).  Our schedule today is quite carefree;  the wedding doesn't start until 1:30, so literally......we are filling it with some great downtime.

Water is a bit colder this morning, huh Cass?

Happy Saturday!

Holy Cow! It's been a week!

Wow, wow-o-wow! I finally have a moment in an evening to sit and blog! I just put the girls to bed and waiting for DH to get home so I can go downstairs to run. (ALL thanks to Angela's running post!)

So...the quick run down since last Thursday

No further action on the OTR---no shopping done to buy batting.

NO running on Friday, Saturday OR Sunday, and I fought the inner-guilt-battle because of it! Specially since I had a 17-miler on the training schedule for this weekend and the marathon is looming 4 weeks (now just over 3 weeks) away. But, I buckled down on Monday night and ran for 6 miles. After coming in the house, DH told me he was NOT going to be heading off it a buddies house, so I went back out for another couple miles to bring the total to 8.3 for the night.
Tuesday night I worked the Vball game and got home just after 10:00---whew! That was a long, exciting match, and then I decided to do some quick paperwork in my classroom before heading home.

Last night was actually a somewhat quiet evening, but I was exhausted, so I didn't accomplish much other than finish fussy-cutting 82 diamond-shaped pieces for my BIL's Nautical C'mas quilt (pics to come later). I then parked my butt on the glider and poked around the web for an hour; during which time I finalized my registration for the marathon, verified travel plans for this Saturday's half-marathon, and emailed Julie (running-buddy) to get plans lined up for next weekend's Half-marathon.

Amidst most of this; evening school work has started to become a common occurrence, but I'm working on fixing that. I'm really contemplating the amount of HW I'm giving out to my students----How much is too much? What is the actual purpose of each assignment? Is it just busy-work? Is it for accountability? Isn't 84 minutes enough (we run a block schedule at school) So.......slowly I'm going to be making changes, and hopefully will be for the best for everyone.

ahhhhhh....the front door just opened----DH is home.
I'm off to change and run.......and MAYBE even sew??? I don't know---I won't push my luck.

Happy Thursday

Procrastinating????

Dare I say that I've been procrastinating with my posts this week because I know that 100th post is right around the corner?!?!? *chuckle*. This is Post #97, but this week has been full and crazy and getting back to what "normal" is going to be soon once school starts.

Monday consisted of sewing and quilting! (duh, right!) I have put together all of blocks needed for Masha's Wonky nines; I'm not keen on the 5x8 layout, though, BUT I'm trusting the pattern. (FYI--I would set this up as 6x7, specially since I have 45 total blocks made, but I've already put 4 of the extra blocks together to make a pillow case). The colors are bright, and hopefully she'll enjoy. It'll end up being a twin, with each block being 10" finished.

Tuesday consisted of picking up the house AND I needed to put some finishing touches on Julie's quilt I made last year. I hadn't quilted it much last year and I wanted to ensure it wouldn't come apart in the future, so I "traded" my OC with her for the time being so I could put some quilting on it. However, I wimped out and simply tied the quilt instead of doing any machine quilting on it. It's SO BIG that I just didn't have the heart to schlep and fight that thing under my machine. I put a tie in each of the yellow sashing corner squares and called it done.

Tuesday evening, I also helped lead the 7th Grade Orientation, since our new Principal's first day wouldn't be until today (Thursday). We have a Junior High still (7th and 8th grade) instead of a Middle School (6-8), so we always have a special orientation for our incoming 7th graders; talk through expectations, hand out schedules, and have them try out their locker combinations. You wouldn't BELIEVE the amount of students that can't open their lockers, even by the end of week 1!!! This transition is very difficult for some...

Wednesday found me in school all day. I spent 3 hours in the morning just putzing in my room; hanging new posters, cleaning out my storage, getting books and binders ready for Math 7 and Pre-Calc, etc. Then I spent Noon-3:00 in a technology meeting to learn our new student-information system so that I can be a "teacher-leader" for other staff during the school year. Quite intense, a lot of info crammed into 3 hours, but fun and exciting things coming for the year-to-come!

Finally, today was a "field-trip" to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN, for those of you not familiar with our nickname of the two cities). We spent the day visiting Julie since she was off of work. AMAZINGLY we actually hit the road at my goal time of 8:00 am and we arrived at Julie's by 10:00, and headed directly to the Como Zoo. The day was muggy, but thankfully the full sun decided to take the day off. The sky was 50/50 cloudy/sunny, but was more cloudy than sunny for most of the morning hours.

We saw the entire lot: Primates, aquatics, cats, "african hooved" animals (aka: giraffes and zebras) *chuckle*. By FAR, the hilight was the big cats, although most of them were lounging and sleeping in their shaded areas. Also, a baby orangutang (OMGoodness-HOW do you spell that??!?!?) was absolutely precious and adorable!!!!

By 12:00, we had seen the zoo and were ready to find our own shade and plop down for the picnic lunch I packed. Then, the rest of the afternoon was spent at a beach Julie had heard about from a friend. Very nice beach!!! I didn't realize how much Caitlyn LOVED the water! Holy Buckets! When I finally said it was time to leave, I almost had to drag her from the lake! Actually, I reverted to good-ol-fashion bribery----McDonalds was promised!!! Yeah, yeah---shoot me! :0)

So now, I'm kicking back, posting, and icing my shins. Yup, Yup.....I almost forgot! My Garmin Forerunner 305 arrived on Tuesday, so I used it right away Tuesday night after the 7th Orientation by running home from school. (Sadly, I had always though it was 5 miles, but ended up being only 4.75 miles, according to my lovely Garmin!) Without a doubt, the feature I love the BEST is the elevation mapping once I upload my runs to my computer. I live in a rather hilly area, so just about every run of mine could be considered a hill workout. I've really upped my mileage this week; probably too fast considering the standard rule of 10% increase MAX per week. I haven't really looked at my numbers, but I feel like I've upped my running quite a bit over the past week just because I am MOTIVATED again. Yeah........ But the bad thing about increasing mileage too quickly is injuries, and right now my shins are thanking me for two days off!!! I'll be back out tomorrow though for a simple 4 miles (and a goal of 14 miles on Saturday). Then off again on Sunday.

Well folks, I think that's a pretty good update, huh? Plans aren't definite for this weekend, yet, but I think my arm is going to be twisted by three lil' girls to head up to the farm to see Gma and Gpa. (I don't think they need to twist too hard, though, because it actually sounds like a good idea to me, too). DH will hang back here and get some work done for a client.

To close, Amanda HAS reached her 100th post and will be drawing on Friday for her give-away. Three more posts to my 100th give-away. I THINK I almost have the give-away put together, too :0)

Happy quilting
Happy weekend
Happy closing ceremonies of the Olympics

*10:30pm EDIT*
Okay folks----I was letting the girls unwind from the day's events by watching a movie in our bedroom---that was a little after 9:00. I don't even know how long they lasted, but I do recall things getting rather quiet around 9:45......

First week of August update...

Well, we have our whole family in-tact again. We picked up the girls yesterday by meeting up with my parents at a zoo about an hour away, which is smack-dab between my parent's house and mine. Oh my goodness, has #3 (Candace) picked up some words! She's clearly saying "wait", "I a pretty girl", "stop mamma, look!" (when crossing a road or driveway). And she seems to have grown about a full inch!!!

Well.....ummm...I wanted to upload some pics of my recent quilting work, but it appears that Blogger is having "internal issues."

I've been making progress on Oklahoma Backroads, I've laid out a possibility for the Wafter Cookies Quilt, and have begun (and almost finished) piecing Fun with Bricks. FwB has come together FAST! Very quick!!! (It's one of Bonnie's patterns---(see it here).

My two weeks of classes are through, and I still have a bit of work to do since I ended up taking the 4-credit option (the credits were offered free since I'm the Coordinator---I couldn't pass up that deal!!!)

Ummmm......let' see.......
Oh yes, I had a very active Saturday!!! It started with a 5-mile race, which was NOT what my body had in mind!!! As I came to the first mile, I basically said "Okay, body, you win!" I was NOT "feeling" the race at all.....and backed off my pace to cross the finish line at 53:01. Definitely no where NEAR my PR, but I really wasn't going to push it since I had a full day of volleyball yet to come. The temps were already pushing upper 80's at the finish line (9:23 am). I originally intended on literally running from the finish line to the volleyball courts 1.5 miles away, but.......uh-uh! I called up DH and had him pick me up-----JUST in time to make our first game at 9:30 am. So.....from 9:30 - 1:00, we played 4 matches (8 games to 11 points) with very few breaks. From 1:00 - 2:30, we sat (and got STIFF and TIRED). Our game at 2:30, we lost, which put us in to the "losers bracket," (grrrrrrrrr), which meant we were now in the position to play, play, play non-stop until we lost again. Afternoon match #2 we won in three games, Match #3 we also won in three LENGTHY games, and Match #4 we won the first game, but ran out of gas and lost the next two to end up losing that match and finishing the day in 4th place out of 10 teams. (sigh) Disappointment for sure! Other teams were also a bit surprised because we were expected to finish third minimum, but....well......the cards just didn't want to be played that way. It was 5:30 when we finally lost, so we spent the next couple of hours watching three more matches leading to the Championship match. There was some GREAT volleyball to watch!!!

Anyway, I wanted to run Sunday morning, but my body sarcastically said "are you completely out of your mind?!?!?" I was just a weeeeeeeee bit sore....*chuckle* At 7:30 am, DH and I headed out to get some grocery shopping done instead. I then putzed with some sewing before leaving to get the girls a bit after noon.

I haven't run yet today either. I will give myself until tomorrow, but then I MUST run! I have a half-marathon coming up this Saturday. This typically is a fun day since I run it with Julie (running buddy that graduated college this year). It's a Marathon-relay; I run the first half and she runs the second. It's such a fun day with LOTS of spectators; besides Julie and I meet up with each other every couple of miles to cheer each other on; supply each other with nutrition or ice; and LOTS OF photo ops!
My half is the "hill-half" and her half is typically the "hot-half." I'll have to get a pic of the elevation levels of the race so can see just HOW hilly this bad-boy is!!! Seriously, from mile 5 to mile 9 it is just ONE LONG UPHILL!!!! Mile 12 is the BEST though----imagine all the elevation that is climbed from miles 5 to 9---THAT is the elevation that is "lost" in mile 12! A GREAT coast coming into the 13.1 mile "hand-off." Julie and I have both run each half at least once; we both are running our "favorite" parts this year. I wanted to go for a PR this year on my first half (I ran 2:11:30 last year), but I realllllly don't think that's going to happen this year! I just have not been "into" my training this year....*sigh*. But I spoke with her last night and she's backed off her training too, so we're just going to "kick back and enjoy" this year----smile a lot for the camera, get a t-shirt, and enjoy the scenery.

Okay, let's see....is that about it???
Well...not quite. I spent three hours at school this morning talking with our somewhat new Superintendent (he's the old K-6 Principal----AWESOME leader!!!) Our 7-12 Principal just resigned three weeks ago, so Brian (our Sup) has been getting in applications for the position. He's asked me to sit in on the interview process----I guess it pays to be the person at school who can never say "no" to anything----at least all my extra-curricular events are getting noticed. Anyway, I met with him and some others who will be sitting on the panel to go over the questions we want to ask the interviewees. We have 6 coming in; 4 on Wednesday (5:00pm, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00pm) Could you IMAGINE having an interview at 8:00 at night!?!?!?!?! Yikes!!!! But, Brian wanted to be sure to have our School Board members at the interviews, so they needed to be in the evening.

I at least have two more whole weeks off yet before our inservice. Summer is ticking away.....I'm still holding on for awhile yet, though.

Well folks, sorry for no pics.........It's a lot of text, but hopefully it wasn't too boring.

Procrastinating...

Okay.....so I may not QUITE have this mentality YET about running, tonight's run was MUCH more enjoyable than any so far since I've started up again. The wind finally wasn't a factor; but it was raining lightly. I ran the 3.2 miles course again, this time in 35:42. So.....I'm getting there. OH, AND for most of the run, I was tinkering with my HR band and watch, trying to figure out why I was registering "dead." I had a 0% HR for most of the run, so......considering......35:42 isn't too bad for a dead chick! :0)

As promised, here are the pictures from the graduation....

Julie and myself


Julie and Cassie

And I thought I'd share a few pics of Candance from this weekend......
.....between getting busted with the baby powder...

...
...or the 2008 version of "stacking blocks".....



I don't think I'll get any quilting done tonight. As the title of this post eludes, I'm procrastinating! I have a stack of Math 8 "Can you eat Healthy at Mcdonals's for a week?" rough-drafts that are calling my name. So.....that is TOP priority, and then, I'll probably be too drained for quilting.....

Happy Monday....

WHERE did the weekend go?

*sigh*
*slumping into chair*
*kicking up feet*

No pictures tonight---to tired to mess with downloading.

Yesterday's schedule:
Woke at 7:15; breakfast, shower, "groom" myself and Cassie; do a few loads of laundry, wash dishes, pick up house; headed to the Twin Cities at 10:00. Arrive at Twin Cities at 12:15; ate a little lunch with Julie and her family (see previous post for an introduction of Julie). 1:00; headed to Graduation ceremony. The ceremony was a bit long, with one extremely boring speaker, but tolerable. One thousand ten graduates crossed the platform; whew! It took 1 hour and 20 minutes to recite everyone's name as they crossed. So 4:30, ceremony was over. Headed back to Julie's for some munchies; said bye to her family; and headed off to the Mall of America, since all Zoo's were closing at 5:00. We took Cass on a rollercoaser (her FIRST); hung out for a couple of hours, and headed home at 8:30pm . Arrived home at 11:00 pm, and fell into bed with Cass.
No quilting Saturday.

Today's schedule:
Woke at 6:28; breakfast and cartoons. Started grading test papers at 7:00; stayed on top of keeping the laundry machine loaded; finished the last bit of "homework" at 9:10. Threw bed linens into washing machine, loaded dishwasher and hand washed other dishes. At 10:15, upstairs to pick up the loft area and the girls' bedrooms. At 11:00, outside to plant a quarter of the garden. At 12:15, inside to make lunch. 12:45, downstairs to complete sewing the Stars-n-Stripes rows together and started putting on borders. 1:30, upstairs to check on Candace, and fell asleep next to her. (YEAH!!!!!, But WHY do I feel guilty about that?!?!?!) 2:15, woke and made a snack for Caitlyn and Cassie; back outside to plant two more rows of corns. 3:00, afternoon "lunch" for Paul who just came home from his job-site, hauling wood. 3:45, loaded the truck with entire family, and went to Dad's job site to help him haul the next load. 4:00-7:00; cut and carried wood to trailer. 7:20, dropped off back at home; made supper for girls. 8:00, rush-readied the girls for bed, 8:15 tucked in. 8:25; pulled bed linens from the dryer and made bed. 8:35; laid on bed, SOOO tempted to just go to sleep. 8:50, shushed Paul off to the shower (Peee-Uuuuu!) and logged on to Internet. 9:10---current time.

Good night everyone! I'm tired, don't mean to whine, but I'm bummmmed I wasn't able to put more time into quilting this weekend. *sigh*

I do have darling photos from yesterday, and will HOPEFULLY be certain to get those up tomorrow.

Where DID this weekend go?!?!??