Guess What I Saw Today?

This:
Now, try to ignore the fact that lattice obviously needs to be repaired. (We know...we know...) Look at the SIZE of that snake. I stepped out to look at the sky and remove a newpaper from the porch, looked down, and commenced with a blood-curdling scream that even got attention from the neighbors. So, I did what you would do. I got my camera and took a photo. I COULD have killed it, but let's face it, I am a big weenie. I will only lodge an offensive against the green wigglies when I have a running lawn mower in front of me.

So my message to the snake is this: next time we meet, I will have a lawn mower, so beware.

Flooding

We have had a bit of flooding around here in the last week. It's probably due to the 7 INCHES OF RAIN we got. (with more rain still in the forecast). Well, I thought I would show you are few pics I took...

This one shouldn't have made me laugh...but it did. Anyone interested in buying this property today? Anyone?

Memorial Day Weekend

Drew and I went to Denver/Colorado Springs for the weekend. It was a blast! We toured the Coors factory in Golden, Colorado. I learned alot about beer there...I even tasted a beer that I could tolerate. (This is a giant feet for me considering I usually think beer smells and tastes like dirty socks.) We went to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs where it is ALWAYS breathtaking and a beautiful backdrop for photos. We also visited the Cave of the Winds and the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. The cliff dwellings were so cool and we got to crawl on them and explore this ancient native settlement. I placed some photos on PhotoBucket for you to see.

Music

This song has been really touching me lately...It's called "Sweetly Broken" by Jeremy Riddle



and this one...."Amazing Grace" by Chris Tomlin

It's done. Over. Finished

This school year has finally ended. It was over at 1:30 today.

The desks are cleaned.
Bags packed.
Chairs stacked.
Scores reported.
and hot dogs consumed.

I wished them all well and gave some advice from my arsenol of wisdom about choosing friends, learning life-lessons, and navigating the confusing maze known as middle school. I hope the best for each one of them and I did, indeed, shed my tears as they left elementary school as elementary students for the last time today.

Closing another school year is always so bittersweet for me.

Random Thoughts

I feel completely overwhelmed and completely random at the same time. Why? Because school gets out in 2 1/2 days (That's school days ya'll, not real days). Next wednesday our school releases at 1:30 for summer break. Like I said last year, it's somewhat bittersweet. I want so much for my students and pray that life treats them well. They will move on to middle school and I will move on to another expecting group of 10 and 11 year olds. I have a list 2, 354 miles long of things to get done, but most of it has to wait until 11 year old bodies have vacated the premises.

What am I doing with my summer? Well...we are growing a garden again this year at ma and pa's and then I plan to putter. Yes, I said putter around my home. I plan to watch my favorite TV shows, I plan to water and mow the lawn when needed. I hope to babysit my beautiful niece as much as her mom and dad want me to. Other than that...I plan to rest. Recover really.

We are MORE than ready to plant the garden this year, but mother nature does not want to cooperate with us. We had a frost just this last week. I am still scared to place young plants into the earth because I don't want them to freeze. I have enough trouble keeping plants alive without frost taking them before I have a chance to mess 'em up.

What are your summer plans?

Adoption Update - 2

I just wanted to update you all to where we are in our process to, hopefully, becoming parents. We have now officially finished the paperwork and have entered the waiting pool. What that means is that our profile is being shown to prospective birth parents with the hopes that someone will select us. We have no idea when, or if, we will be blessed with a child but it is a relief to know that we have been approved by the agency and are now waiting to be selected. Keep praying for us and we are so honored to be sharing our excitement at making it this far!

FWD: Just for Fun!

Eileen posted thoughts about different humor and shared an email exchange on her blog and it got me to thinkin' about this funny email I got yesterday from a co-worker. So, I decided to share it here with you. I do not know from whence this originated...so...I am sorry to say that I cannot site my references in APA format. (For all you graduate school geeks out there that can relate to that comment!) Anyway, here's the email...Enjoy!

____________________________________

Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate


DEAR DESPERATE,
First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.) Also do not attempt to reinstall Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0. In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie7.7.
Good Luck,
Tech Support