April 20, 2008

Today was pretty much a normal Sunday around here. We went to church and then out to eat at Pantera's. We had an extra child with us from Church until late afternoon. Michaela wanted Lauren to come over. Lauren's brother had a baseball game, so her family went to that and Lauren came out to eat and then home with us.

The kids played outside a lot. It was such a nice day. Michael even took the three of them to the park for a while. He said the park was packed. Doesn't surprise me any since we've all been waiting for weather like this for so long.

This evening we went to watch a little of my nephew's baseball game. My SIL was talking about our vacation. She's as excited as I am. My MIL is so funny. She was trying to act all nonchalant about it, but I KNOW she's looking forward to it, too. She's brought the subject up with me a couple times. Just 87 more days and we'll be there!

Anyway, my nephew seemed to be doing pretty good last night. He got two hits when we were there. One advanced a runner and the other he got on base. It was a pretty good day.

April 19, 2008

It's been pretty good Saturday here. Most of the day was spent at home. I spent two hours cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom, even those places that only get cleaned once in a while. I even turned the cleaning cycle on the oven. I've done about 2/3 of my laundry. And, I got to scrapbook most of the afternoon. I got four pages done! Yeah me!!!!

The kids cleaned their rooms and did their other jobs. Caleb is going to have to revisit his room tomorrow, though. Nothing that will take him long, but still.

Michael worked on his motorcycle some today. It needs some major work done to it and soon. He has to have it inspected and the license renewed on it this month. He also went and got some grass seed and straw for the side of our house. We have to plant there every year because it's so shady.

Abby got groomed today and looks and smells so much better!!!

We went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants here tonight. It's a restaurant that we've been going to since we were dating. The owners know us pretty well just from us going in to eat there. So, they watched part of our courtship, our engagement, getting married and both kids being born. It's kind of cool to have a place like that. The funny part is, the place is called "Hatfield's and McCoy's." They named it that because the wife owner's maiden name was Hatfield. So, way back when, right about the time we got married and they realized that we both now had the last name of McCoy they gave us baseball caps with the restaurant's logo on them, to "keep the peace." *LOL* They are fun people.

April 18, 2008

An earthquake woke us up this morning. Or, I should say it woke Michael up who woke me up. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night and had finally just gotten into a good sleep sometime after 3:00 a.m. Then, at about 4:37 in the morning Michael bolts upright in bed and shouts, "What the hell was that?"

At that point I realize the bed had been shaking and hear the mirror and television rattling on the wall. I was too annoyed at been woken up to even care that it was an earthquake, but Michael seemed to know what it was. I think it scared the dog some, too.

When I turned on the television at 5:00 am it was all over the news. It was centered in West Salem, IL. That is about 127 miles from St. Louis. It was a 5.4. Supposedly it was felt as far away as Chicago and Iowa. Most people around here felt it. Some say they were scared, but I don't know how you can be scared when something only lasts about 15 seconds. Some people say they heard a popping noise, too. I heard a weird noise, but it wasn't popping and I'm not sure how to describe it. It was sort of a rumbling, but also had the quality of an airplane that is very close.

We had a cover of one of the lights on our entertainment center break. A couple pictures were knocked over and a magnet had fallen off the fridge. I guess it did shake things pretty good.

Then, today during late morning there was another one at about 10:15 this morning. I thought I had felt something while I was sitting in my classroom and thought I heard a noise, too. But, in a building that has concrete walls, it's hard to tell. I did look at my cellphone thinking maybe it was vibrating because I heard that noise again, but it hadn't vibrated.

It was a long day at work as I only had 4 more parents show up. So, I had a total of 8 parents out of 23 come to parent teacher conferences. That's just so sad.

April 17, 2008

I'm tired. Tonight was parent teacher conferences. I only had 4 parents show up tonight. I spent some time trying to work on some lesson plans but did not get far as I could not concentrate. I did managed to sharpen every pencil I could find in my classroom.

Earlier in the day during the hour I had between school and conferences I managed to take some pictures around work. I got some taken of my school building. I figured if we are going to be getting a new building in a couple years, it would be nice to have pictures of the old one before it's "gone."

I also took some pictures of a house across the street from my school. This house was boarded up and abandoned for as long as I've worked over there. But, a couple weeks ago it burned pretty bad. It's kind of a sad sight. However, it just really intrigued me structural wise. I've been wanting to take pictures of it because it's just very interesting to look at. I guess I do have at least a little bit of an artistic eye for photography because I think taking pictures of stuff like that is interesting.

April 16, 2008

Tonight was my night out. Four of us ended up going to Trailhead Brewery. It was such a nice evening out. The sun has been out and the temperatures are going up. I got lucky and got a parking spot on the street just half a block from the restaurant. The Old Mill Stream restaurant that burned a couple years ago has finally gotten their bar open. This is right next door to Trailhead. I'm glad to see them finally getting back to normal. The sign said that the kitchen would be working soon.

We had a lot of fun tonight. Three of us got the nachos and Stacey (the oddball) got Quesadillas. But, she munched on nachos too. It was really good. We sat and laughed and just enjoyed each other for over two hours. The restaurant was not busy, so I don't think they minded us sitting there. We did not make any definite plans about the husbands but we do all agree they need to go out without us sometime. I hope we can figure out what to do with them.

I still need to have all the couples over for a game night. I know we would all have a lot of fun. Maybe in a week or so. I'm going to have to do some major cleaning. Well, the kids and I will have to do some major cleaning.

April 15, 2008

It was spring like today. I hope this means that the cold weather is gone for good until next winter. It's time for it to just be warm and get warmer and warmer.

The kids played outside after supper tonight. Michael had them practicing with a wiffle ball and bat. I got a few pictures of them. It was sunny even. It was so nice to watch the sun set and not have any clouds in the way.

I'm going to try to sleep in bed tonight. I think I may be able to. I still have a little bit of a cough, but it's going away finally. My voice is getting back to normal, too. It will be so nice to lay down and sleep in my bed.

My principal announced over the intercom this afternoon that he'll be out of the building the next three days. This means he will not be there for parent teacher conferences on Thursday night and Friday. I really wish he'd not said that so all the kids could hear.

We have a regular day tomorrow. On Thursday we have a regular school day and then have to be at work after school until about 7:30 pm for parent teacher conferences. Then, on Friday we don't have students but have to be there during regular hours for parent teacher conferences.

This means that the next two nights Michael is in charge of family stuff. Tomorrow I'm going out with the girls. Then, I'll be at work on Thursday night.

April 14, 2008

It was a busy evening for me. I had to take Michaela to gymnastics. While she was there I went and did the Walmart shopping that I did not do over the weekend. When we got time it was time to get the kids in bed.

Then, I spent the next 2 1/2 hours I worked on scrapbooking stuff. I got two layouts done. I'm not super happy with them, but they'll work. I also managed to clean out one of my supply boxes and got my two layouts posted at scrapbook.com.

April 13, 2008

I still feel like crap. I did not go to church again this week. Michael and the kids went without me. Then they went to Applebee's with Michael's parents for lunch. I did not even do the weekly Walmart shopping this weekend. I guess I'll have to do it tomorrow night when Michaela is at gymnastics. I managed to get laundry done today, but that's all I did. I'm so wiped out. I'm so tired of this stupid cough.

April 12, 2008

I watched the movie "Girl with a Pearl Earring" today. What a joke! They massacred the characters. The main character, Griet, was almost non-existant in the movie. The portrayal of Jans Vermeer was horrible. He was completely 1-dimensional. The mother-in-law, had none of the humor that her character portrayed in the book. Peter's father had almost no lines, so they did not give him any humor, either. Tonica was much harder and angrier in the book than in the movie. It did not even end correctly. Hell, it didn't begin correctly. Griet's sister and brother were not even mentioned. They just destroyed the book with that movie. I am so disappointed in the whole thing. Read the book, don't watch the movie. The book is awesome, the movie is an insult to the book.

April 11, 2008

I'm do glad it's Friday. I'm still fighting this darned cold. It would not be so bad if this horrible cough would go away. This cough is keeping me awake at night. It has made my throat raw and my stomach muscles sore. I just hate when I get a cough like this. It's been a while since I've had one and as far as I'm concerned it can go away and never come back.

I managed to get two more scrapbook pages done tonight. It took longer than I was expecting. One of them just was very stubborn and I could not figure out how I wanted it to look. That is so annoying. It's like writer's block, you can feel the idea nagging at the back of your mind, but it just won't come out and show itself.

Michaela is wanting to do some scrapbooking. I told her she could do some tomorrow. I hope I feel better tomorrow.

Michaela's girl scout troop is having a cook out at a park up the street from us tomorrow but I had to tell her we were not going to go. It's supposed to be cold here tomorrow. I just cannot be out in that cold air with this cough and besides, she'd get to running around. Whenever she's out in the cold like that and takes in a lot of cold air, her asthma ends up acting up in the form of an upper respiratory infection.