The count down is on!

Well, the official count down is on! Starting tomorrow, I have three more months of this school year, 60 more days. I do have a week for spring break, the first full week in April hidden in there, and I know I have had the count down going all year long, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. Things are better, because the end is near and I have been in a much better mood about school the last few weeks. My work load hasn't let up any, I am still working just as hard as I have all year long. This year has just been so difficult, challenging, stressful, etc. God has given me the strength and I pray for it daily, just to make it through. I still take one day at a time. He has blessed me in little ways each day and week, that has helped lighten my load and He will help me finish strong. I've been saying that I'm just burned out all year and I still feel that, I'm tired of teaching all day. But, the finish line is in sight and I am running hard to make it. January and February has flown by in a hurry and I'm sure the rest of the months will too. They are normally very busy, because you have so much to teach before the PASS (state test in May). Just keep praying for me to keep my stress level down, my sanity, and my work load to lessen and that I'll be have to have some "me" time and some "me" and Kevin time. I can do it!

Thank Goodness for a Happy Ending

This afternoon I did something that thank goodness there was a happy ending because I don't know what I would have of done if the worse had happened. I was pulling into our road/driveway, I was slowed down to a crawl and I was turning in to our second driveway and I could see Abby, then I heard her squeal really loud. I stopped very sudden and then I saw her come from around my car and she had one of her front legs off the ground and was hobbling. I got out of the car, and I just started crying, because I had hit her. I called Kevin and his first response was "Is she dead?" The happy ending is that she didn't even have to go to the vet, that after about a minute she was back to her old self, running and jumping around like nothing was wrong. But I know that I had to at least bumped her with my tire or hit her paw with my tire. Kevin called after about 30 minutes after that happened to check on Abby to see if she was okay and to check on me to see if I was okay. He also wanted to know how many milk bones Abby had had. I told him at that moment none. Which he said, you just almost ran over her, she should at least get 1. Which I gave her 2 after I got off the phone with him. But it was a very upsetting 10 minutes. Thankfully, I can say this story had a happy ending.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Well, my weekend has been different. Friday, I worked until about 5:30 at school and got home about 6:00. I cooked dinner, Kevin got home about 6:30, and then I went back to my computer to do more school work until 9:30. To keep Abby satisfied I gave her a toy that had a tennis ball attached to a rope. (She was given this toy for Christmas and I have been saving it). And to say the least, she made a mess of it, tore it up. Just as I got into bed (which Kevin and Abby had both been in bed for about thirty minutes), I hear a noise that I know everyone with kids or pets hates to hear.....someone throwing up.....and that someone was Abby, in the bed, on Kevin. (that part is kind of funny). I lay there for a second for it to hit me that Abby just threw up, so I turn on the light, and apparently Abby had not only tore up the toy, but she had eaten most of it too. So, I get up and clean everything up. Before I can lay back down, she does it again. I ask Kevin to get up to help me, he got in a bad mood because he had to get up at 5 and go to work the next day and honestly wasn't much help. But all I wanted him to do was to put Abby somewhere and get her off the bed. I got the 2nd mess cleaned up, put Abby in her cage and carried both to the den. Just as I sat down on the couch, here it comes again for the 3rd time. So, once again, I cleaned it up. I decided that until she stopped, she was going to sleep in her cage. So, I sat down and watch some of the Olympics, until I got sleepy. I slept on the couch until about 2:30, then we both moved to the bed. She had not thrown up anymore. Saturday, I didn't do anything until about 4:00 that afternoon. Meaning, I laid around, watched tv and took several naps. Then I finally got up and cleaned up the house and had dinner ready for Kevin, when he finally came home at 8:00 last night. Today, Kevin had to got to work again, so I have been doing school work. Then I have to clean up the house again (it just amazes me how it is always messy, even when you just clean), go to the store. Kevin's suppose to work most of the day again today. He has this spreading litter job that he is trying to finish up, he normally doesn't work all weekend or work on Sunday. So I thought that I would get something special to make for dinner tonight to cheer him up. I don't know yet what it will be. Also, all day long Abby has been hearing the trucks go back and forth to the chicken houses and she has been barking like crazy. She normally doesn't bark, but it's been non-stop today for some reason. Anyway, this is the last week of February. Which means, I just have 3 more months of school. Yea! The weather has still been cold and I am getting ready for spring and warmer weather. I'm tired of wearing the same old thing every day and every week. Oh well, that's all the news I have for now.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last night, we both were so tired from playing in the snow that we decided to wait to go out to eat for Valentine's day for lunch today. So we ordered pizza and just stayed around the house. I was getting ready, because at that moment we had not decided to stay in, when Kevin asked me to go and check to see how much money he had in his wallet for dinner. I walked into the kitchen, and there was a dozen red roses on the counter. Kevin had come in from finishing working at the chicken houses and I didn't ever come to meet him, so I was surprised to see them there. Today, we went to eat at Chilli's, our favorite place, for lunch. My mom had sent us a valentine card with a gift card from Chilli's in it. Our lunch was super and we got dessert which was even better. My favorite dessert they have there is their chocolate molten lava cake. It's a little chocolate cake with hot fudge inside, with ice cream on top and the ice cream has a hard candy shell. Talk about heaven! Anyway, we had a nice time. We both exchanged cards this morning and I gave Kevin a gift card to Lowe's. We both told each other no candy this year. (Trying to cut back, but of course for Valentine's Day you have to get dessert!) I hope that you and your special someone has a Happy Valentine's Day!

S is for Snow

I really enjoyed watching the snow fall Friday night. I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but at the first of the week, Kevin and I were watching the weather channel and I made the comment that I wanted to get at least 5 inches of snow. Well, God delievered in a big way Friday night. We got exactly 5 inches of snow. He is so amazing! Thank you! Saturday, I woke up at 8:00 and went outside to take pictures. I knew that the snow wouldn't stay around for long. I created a slideshow of pictures from around our house. There are a few that I think are so pretty. Some of my snow pictures I would love to get framed. Then we had a great time playing in the snow. We had several visitors that came to play with us. Now, just about all the snow has melted away. But we had the time of our lives playing yesterday. We stayed out all day.





Here's a another slideshow of our snow day. This shows all the fun we had.





These are some of my favorite snow pictures I took.


I love the light in these pictures of the chicken houses.


So pretty in white!



I didn't take this picture in black and white.
It's just how it turned out.


This is at Mrs. Katie's house, in her
backyard.


This is down the road from our
house.

It's Snowing!

Finally, it is snowing in Blackville! Today was a teacher work day, so no students. It was a great day! I had gotten all my lesson plans and other stuff done by Thursday afternoon. So, today I was able to spend my time cleaning up my room. It looks so much better. However, I know that by Tuesday afternoon, you won't be able to tell that I have done anything. (We are out of school Monday for President's Day). Anyway, I left school at 1:40. (We were able to leave early if you had some hours built up from home visits from the first of the year). I headed to Barnwell, to do a few errands and run by the store, just in case we did get snow. At 2:00, it started snowing. However, the temperature was 42 degrees, so I knew that it wasn't going to sick anytime soon. I finally got home at 3:30. I took a few pictures then. Abby wasn't that found of the snow.

At 4:30, it finally decided to stick. Here's a few more pictures.

At 5:00: here's some more pictures. I also found out that we were going to have two house guest, Kevin's grandmother, Mrs. Thelma and Katelyn and (my new niece or nephew to come). (Katelyn's pregnant! She is due in October.) And Abby all she wants to do is play ball in the snow. I'll keep you updated on the snow.

This was taken about 6:00 tonight. As you can see the snow is still falling and our yard is becoming more and more covered.

Bridgestone Super Bowl Ad - Taters

I love this commerical! Every time I see it makes me laugh so much. I had a Mr. Potato Head when I was little. I got it for either Christmas or my birthday. My grandmother (my dad's mom) gave it to me. My mom said that when I pulled it out of the box, that I started backing away from it and was very scared of it. I didn't know what to think about it. I was like about a year old, but later, I loved it!

The Return of the Sweet Potato

This evening, I came out of one of our guest bedrooms, and as I walked into the kitchen I noticed something on the carpet in the den. I was like, what is that? I thought it was some kind of toy, but I knew that Abby had tore up a toy last night. Do you know what it was? Part of a baked sweet potato. No joke! Where in the world did she get it from? I haven't cooked any since last week. I guess she must have of hidden part of the potato somewhere and pulled it out since she had tore up her toy. Who knows! I threw it away and I hope she doesn't have any more hidden around. And now it's got me thinking, what else does she have hidden in the house that we don't know about? I know that at Mrs. Katie's house, she has tennis balls hidden all over the house. Mrs. Katie says that she has no idea where Abby gets them, but she knows exactly where they are and as soon as she comes in their house she will go hunt for them. And in just a few minutes she will appear with a tennis ball in her mouth. She very sneaky!

Favorite Uncle Report

Well, Kevin found out today that not only was he Lily Kate's favorite uncle, but Kayla's as well. Both shared about their Uncle Kevin this morning in kindergarten. I tell you, Kevin is flying high. He's calling himself "Super Uncle" and wants a special t-shirt made. It's so funny. Thank you to Lily Kate and Kayla for making your Uncle Kevin feel loved and appreciated, even though he constantly picks on you and aggerates you to death. You made his day!

This was the only picture I have of all 3 together.

My Favorite Uncle

This evening, Tori came by with Lily Kate, Jared, and Houston. Lily Kate had a special poster or project to turn in for school tomorrow on her favorite uncle. She chose Kevin. Tori asked her why Kevin was her favorite uncle. Lily Kate said because he was selfish. Tori said that what Lily Kate meant was the he was silly and aggravates her a lot. Kevin was very excited about this. Tori came by to get a picture of Kevin and Lily Kate. Unfortunately we were unable to get a picture with Lily Kate smiling. Tori said that Lily Kate was excited to get her picture made with "Uncle Kevin" and talked about on the way to our house, but when it came time to smile for the camera, she got upset. However, she really does love her Uncle Kevin and enjoys playing with him.

This was the best picture we could get this evening.

However, this picture shows that Lily Kate really does love her uncle and enjoys playing with him. (this was from our family vacation to Edisto this summer.)

Are You Romantic?

Monday, I was reading a story to my students called "The Best Story" and it was about a girl who was entering a writing contest. She took her story to each family member to get their opinion about her story. Each person told her to add something different to make the story better. One said add more action, make it funny, make it sad, and her sister told her that the best stories were ones that were romantic. I asked my students if they knew what "romantic" meant. Their response was: marriage, hugs, kiss, (to which they said "ewww!") Then one of my girls asked me "Mrs. McCormick, are you and your husband romantic?" I had to laugh, but continued reading, I didn't answer that question. So my question is, to those that are married or dating someone, "Are you romantic?"