Happy New Year

Well, another Christmas has come and gone. It was a little strange this year because it was actually just Gary and I for Christmas. That hasn't happened since Dec of 1976, the first year we were married. Anyway, there wasn't nearly as much leftover wrappers and papers and thing to haul out to the trash. We had a good Christmas, as we always do. We got to talk to all of the grandkids and kids for Christmas. I wish that we could see all of them on Christmas but that just isn't going to happen anymore because of where we all live. Gary fixed us a good Christmas dinner. We had prime rib and the fixins'. That was a great christmas present for me because I didn't have to do the cooking. We still have 8 more days until we have to go back to work so I am pretty much useless these days doing nothing and sleeping in and going to bed early. We don't have any big plans for New Years Eve, mostly because my eyes won't stay open past about 9 p.m. so I always usher in the new year by sleeping right through it. I did get my Christmas tree and decorations taken down and put away for another year. I also shampooed my carpets upstairs after taking down the decorations. I wish that it would stay clean forever, but it seems like within about a week it looks icky again. Gary has not had gout for a few weeks which is great, but he has been having a bout with bronchitis. He is working out in the garage today putting up shelves and cabinets to get the garage organized. I need to organize on the inside too, but heck I am on vacation. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and would like to with all a Happy New Year!!!!!

Christmas is soon here

Wow, only 3 more days til Christmas. We really missed our chance at a white christmas this year because it came a week too soon. The snow is almost all gone but the cold lingers. Tomorrow Angela and I are heading over to St. George so she can go to the doctor. Grandpa is going to stay home and tend Ben and Jacob. They should have an interesting day. Grandpa is hoping it will snow because he told the kids if it does they will go out in little whitey and spin doughnuts. Gary and I are on a little winter vacation now. We actually have 17 days off of work and don't go back until January 5th. I hope I can catch up on my sleep but I doubt that will happen because I have an internal clock that makes my eyes pop open at 4 a.m. every morning. We did buy a prime rib roast so we can fix it for Christmas dinner. Gary likes to cook them every year and I like it when he does because then I don't have to cook it. We were planning a little trip to Battle Mountain to help Jason with some electrical wiring on his garage, but the ground is to frozen to dig a trench for the wiring, so I don't know what we will be doing. I think we are having a dfs person (division of family services) come to inspect the house on the 27th for a safety check and if that happens then we will have to be here for that. I talked to some people last week and they said that we are probably going to get the girls at the end of January so we also need to convert my sewing/computer room back into a bedroom for them. I hope they will be happy here and that we can provide for them what they aren't getting at home. I will keep all updated about it later when I find out more info. Changing gears a little, I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and Santa leaves what everyone wants. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Another week gone.

So I hope everyone had a wonderful week so far. For me it is the weekend, I so love four day work weeks. We just have four more days of school before we are out for the Christmas break. There really won't be a lot of teaching next week though, because we are preparing for our school program and then partying all day Thursday. Gary has had a bit of a rough week. He has been home from work for the last two days because his knee is the size of a soccer ball and really hurts. Gout again. I sure wish they could come up with a remedy for this. We have tried everything at the GNC and home remedies and everything else except for the most drastic which would remove the problem you know just cut off the offending appendage. He doesn't like that idea very much. I started the week out sick and missed Monday at work, but I am fine and back to work. I am sure thinking this is the nicest spring weather we have had in years around here. It was so nice at school today that after we got through with program practice we let the kids play outside for about 45 minutes. They needed it after sitting for 2 1/2 hours for practice. Tyson does a dance with the rest of my 5th grade class that really has turned out fun to watch. Ryan sings and his favorite song is "Here We Come A Caroling" He wants to try and learn to play it on the piano. I hope everyone enjoys the picture of my little dog Nia. She is my baby and usually follows me everywhere I go. She is always waiting for me right by the back door when I come home from work. It feels good to be loved.

elfdance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

So here it is the middle of the night. I am up because I have caught myself a doosy of a cold and I am congested and have a sore throat and so I can't get comfortable. The only way I can breathe is sitting up so here I am. I got ambitious today and cut out and sewed up a skirt. It was actually fun. I haven't sewn anything for quite some time mainly because my sewing machine has a mind of its' own. I will be sewing along fine doing a straight stitch and all of a sudden my machine will decide I need to be zig zagging instead so it changes stitches on me. The other day Angela was using it to put together a quilt and it decided to start embroidering, so it went into a flower pattern. I called the company and they said that they really can't troubleshoot a computerized machine so I have to send it to Monteal Canada to get fixed. They are sending me a shipping label. I just haven't decided if I want to let it go that far away.
I am not sure what I am going to do with myself tomorrow because Gary is feeling better now so he is going to go spend the day plowing at the ranch and Angela and Aaron and the boys are heading off to Las Vegas to see Aarons parents before they leave for Christmas so I will be all alone. I think I will go to school and change out a hard drive on a computer and see if I can make it useful again. We keep getting new students so I can't afford to let a computer in the lab be down and no one else attempts to fix them so I have learned (self taught) how to dismantle and change out parts on them. It is really kind of fun and I am always excited when they actually work when I put them back together. I have been doing MAPS testing last week and will continue it this week until I get all the students second through fifth in the school tested in math, reading, and language arts. We are also practicing for our Christmas performance so I have had to schedule each class around that. The good thing is that it will be all done before we get out for Christmas break.
So Christmas will be here before I know it and I still haven't come up with an idea of what to get Gary for Christmas. I have a hard time surprising him anymore because he likes to get tools and I have bought him so many of them that I have to have him actually pick out the new ones so that I don't get him repeats of something he already has and then he gets the ones he really wants. I just don't think there are many more to get him. Our garage is full of wood working tools like saws, sanders, planes, drills, biscuit machines, etc. you name it he has it. I think we will go shopping next weekend and he can pick out yet another tool. SURPRISE!!!! I still have to wrap up the grandkids presents. I wrapped up some of them and sent them home after Thanksgiving, but I still have to wrap for Tyson, Ryan, Ben, and Jacob. Wrapping isn't my favorite thing. I have never been so slothful when it comes to Christmas but I just am not in the Christmas mood this year with everything that has been going on around here.
Merry Christmas to all and to ALL a good night.

So today has definitly been an interesting day for me. I have learned that I now am able to put on a hard shell and let things roll off my back. I had an experience at school which let me see this. It is interesting what some people come up with and where they get it from. To make a long story short, if you are a pretty girl then you need to watch out for me because I am a mean mean mean mean bully to pretty girls. Someday when I feel like typing a lot a will elaborate on the story. Maybe I should just write a book about all of my experiences as a teacher. I was really tired last night and went to bed at 5:30 p.m. I had a couple of bed mates for a while. They laid (and crawled) by me to watch cars. I went out for the night. I don't know what time their dad came and got them. Anyway, I am totally rested today. I was so tired because I went to work at 3:00 a.m. yesterday because I wasn't prepared for the day yet. I am really enjoying this blog thing by now. I am not used to writing about my everyday life and this kind of gives me more of a chance to reflect on things in my life. I also enjoy reading up on everything that is going on with all my siblings and thier families. Thank goodness for electronics and email because if it were left up to me to write letters and send them in the mail, everyone would think that I had died because they would never hear from me.