a very long engagement

17 years my friends. feels like 17 minutes.

engaged to the love of my life.

(yes, we're married)

yet we still acknowledge and celebrate the date of our engagement

best friend

encourager

he gave me the gift of education (see nanny mcphee)

every day he asks me to be be the best self i can, and he leads by example

he won't like this post, and yet i could write more.

he doesn't toot his own horn, and shies away from anyone tooting for him

Dear Daniel,

you are the best friend/husband i could ever hope to have.

thank you for you love.

This Our Hymn of Grateful Praise

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth and friends above,

For all gentle thoughts and mild.

Lord of all to Thee we raise

This our hymn of grateful praise.

(Folliot S. Pierpoint)

the house is clean

the air smells of turkey and pumpkin pie

and someone's exotic perfume :)

two little men run around just as their daddies did (a long time ago) but with shorter hair (long story)

one little prince can say his abcs, the other can pass a football better than some thrice, no quintuple his age

our grandparents who raised us are now gone from our table; we would set a place for them, but space doesn't allow. and that is good, for my table is full of siblings. the siblings in whose home i was not raised. pieced together, patched together, one phone call, FB message, and txt msg. at a time. and the babies. little 2 year old princes who are a perfect blend of the daddies and mommies and the grandparents. tiny men who grow stronger and smarter every day.

sifting through the memories, gleaning warmth and love's embrace from the past-- choosing which to perpetuate (someone must learn to make THE CANDY) we have the stuffing and fixins under control, and my husband's turkey is better than (bacon makes everything better)

we'll keep up the joke of the NO FUN HOUSE, but really we can have some fun. we'll play wii at Christmas and maybe there will be stockings; each one bursting with one apple, one orange, one Hershey bar, and maybe a chapstick

how many Buckeyes must one eat to fill the pit in your stomach, the ache of missing Oscar and Lorene so much? why does it hurt more today than last month? last year?

how much love can we lavish on each other to match what those two dear people gave us?

what should we do each day to carry on their legacy? the hole they left is in the shape of ladylike manners and Boy Scout camp expert... working hard for every dime, saving, sharing, and even sometimes splurging. if it costs too much and it's made of plastic, built it yourself, make it better and nicer! you get what you pay for. take care of what you have. be kind to God's creatures. Don't spend all your money in one place. Don't use too much toilet paper!

Visit the shut-ins. share what you have with those who don't. Don't be greedy. Teach Sunday School. Take your turn at VBS and the nursery. Wear an underslip. There is no need to show cleavage. Don't talk with food in your mouth. Conserve your paper plates. Read your Bible. Send a get-well card. Send a sympathy card. Keep your car's gas tank FULL.

Keep your heart thankful every day.

An Introduction to Project-Based Learning | Edutopia

An Introduction to Project-Based Learning | Edutopia

take a look at this video :)

studying

I am keeping my promise to myself and my future students to be a lifelong learner. My latest venture is to train myself in the Kristina Smekens/Dr. Maureen Scane Writer's Workshop method also known as 6-Traits. A few of the teachers in our building have had the opportunity to participate in the actual workshops, and one wonderful lady has loaned me her materials! I am thrilled to have the chance to improve my knowledge and skills in writing so that I may be a better facilitator in the classroom.

I don't want to infringe upon any copyrights, so I won't be posting any PDFs or downloads. You can google Kristina Smekens, or go to her website if you want details.

Moving on....

I have made a commitment to abstain from complaining for the month of November. As day 1 draws to a close, I must confess that while I've kept my oath (no verbal complaints) outwardly, the little nagging voice in my head has been chitter-chattering nonstop. When will she tire?

Recently pulled from the shelves...

Chris Van Allsburg books

Just a Dream

The Garden of Abdul Gasazi

My Evil Plot

An Evil Plot and Some Gratitude

So, ok now...

It's been about a month since I last posted. You know that. What you may not know is that my Evil Plot has come to fruition: create a blog, entice some followers, then ditch the whole dang thing. Check, check, and check!

Maybe I need a theme. Maybe I imagine myself to be a lot funnier than I actually am. Could it be that once I roll thoughts around in my skull enough times, that is enough and I really don't need to share my opinions with all of the blogosphere? Possibly.

While I chew on some options for the future of this blog, I'll leave you with a brief list of gratitude. Wonderful things, people, and events for which I am truly thankful.

1. my dear husband and the selfless way he made my "birthday weekend" very special

2. the privilege of attending a memorial service of a Godly man whose "Life was well-lived, and his family was well-loved"

3. great dinner out at New India. yum yum yum (including non-complaining children)

4. positive class time with students who were genuinely excited and engaged in our reading activity

uglies

i have the uglies. my 10 year old has good uglies, as in ugly dolls. she stitches them by hand. she painstakingly draws, cuts, stitches, and stuffs her little friends. (photos soon, i promise)

back to my uglies. mine are bad. mine are jealousy, discontent, and impatience. you don't want photos of my critters. S C A R Y, i tell you. i need to get rid of these nasties. maybe i could sell them on ebay or craigslist. people get lots of icky stuff on craigslist. grr. chomp chomp.

just a few things

Today we traveled to Auburn for our nephew's 2nd birthday celebration. If you ask him to tell you his name, he says "two". This kid is a hoot. He can pitch a baseball better than most 6 year olds. He won't be needing the tee in tee-ball. Probably his mom and dad should get him on a team. tomorrow.

Our other nephew will be turning 2 in a couple of weeks. He loves Buzz and Woody. His mom and I had an interesting dialogue about how we would never have matched up the 22 inch stuffed Woody doll to play with the hard plastic Buzz sized 6 inches smaller. They just don't go. But, they do.

We have kids who are much older than the sweet little nephews. 12 going on 45 and 9 almost 21. You know how that works, right? That's not to say that our munchkins aren't sweet. They are. We just have to be more intentional about noticing the sweetness. And praise it, and pray for more.

Lest you be misled into thinking we are young, I should disclose the fact that we have 2 adult nephews and they each have a wife and 2 kids. These things happen when your husband's mother has 5 kids all spread out and the oldest gets married and has offspring while the baby (my husband) is still in elementary school. This is normal, I am sure of it. And the nephews (nearly aged 30) relish every opportunity to say "Brant, tell Great-Aunt Layla thank you for the (whatever)" Nice.

My brain is all tangled in knots tonight, so let me just make a little list of where we've been and what we've done.

Friday and Saturday : our yearly journey to the Windy City

hotness freaking hotness! our dear old Honda wagon has given up on even trying to keep us cool, so we made the entire trip with the windows down.

good trip

great memories

2 hour tour on double-decker boat down the chicago river and out into lake michigan

rain on the boat

drunken stupidity on the boat (not us, we don't need beer for that)

lovely skyline

trek back into the city when we could have been driving home

wonderful husband hunts down a cupcake bakery for me YUM

Wow-E-Wow! $4 cupcake

stop at super-target

discovered a new neighborhood to investigate: Lincoln Park

trying to convince husband we should do a 1 month house swap with some nice unsuspecting family in Lincoln Park

Smoque BBQ. maximum occupancy 45. they were cutting it close. might have something to do with all the busboys lurking in wait to sanitize the tables.

more on the chicago trip later.

now for a confession

i've been reading trash

well, in my opinion, trash

see, i am a book snob

i hate nicholas sparks books. read one a long time ago. ick. was dragged on a girls night out to see "the notebook" (the Village was playing in the next theatre over, I should have just sneaked in there).

will not read danielle steele or harlequin romance novels. disgusting!

so what am i doing reading Pretty Little Liars? I don't know. except to say that they just suck you in and leave you wanting to read more about secrets, excruciatingly expensive accessories, and psycho blondes. I blame the ABC family network. (what kind of family are they promoting?) They made the book series into shows. I have nothing to say for myself other than it started with a momentary lapse of reason and has blossomed into a disgusting obsession.

someone better throw me a latte and a jane austen novel before i lose my sense of propriety!

next time...

c.s. lewis collection at wheaton college museum

how chloe has selected nearly all of her birthday gifts

and

why jacob has a $50 backpack