Category: Uncategorized (Page 66 of 201)

I started my summer teaching schedule today.  I’m only teaching on Mondays and Tuesdays over the summer, so it will be a nice break from the full schedule.  I added up how many students are taking at least a couple lessons over the summer and I have 45 students.  That’s really not bad considering I normally have roughly 65 students in the school year.  Unfortunately I didn’t do enough planning and prepping for today last week, so I was up to my eyeballs in paperwork and clearing the books and getting new student folders ready (I have SIX new students starting over the summer!)… so it was a busy day.

In other news we had a fun filled weekend:  we went to St. Cloud to visit Shannon on Saturday (pictures to come this week) and then we had a BBQ with church friends yesterday night.  The BBQ ended up being a little more exciting than we expected when they opened their grill to make the steaks only to find a mouse with less than a week old babies living in their grill!  They used their grill less than a week ago–isn’t that crazy!?  Needless to say, there was screaming and running around and holding the dog back… I actually turned away as soon as they started screaming because I thought they had already started the grill and that they were on fire, but I was wrong.  He had JUST turned on the burner and turned it off before he lit anything on fire… The did decide to walk to the neighbors and ask if they would use their grill for supper, though.  🙂

This morning was a bit of a struggle–it’s always a little hard to get back into the swing of things after a long weekend.  Everyone seems distracted or slow or something.  And this morning Maddie also decided it would be fun to wake up at 5:30 this morning which didn’t help things.  Oh, and it was raining.

After we got Chloe on the bus we had to run a few errands.   On the way back home I decided a nice cup of coffee (decaf, of course) would be nice.  So we stopped into Caribou.  On an unrelated note:  I love drive-through.  I appreciate them so much more now that I have kids.  So. Much. More.    Anyway, I placed my order and waited for my turn, scrounging up enough coins in my car to have the exact amount.  I just love when I can do that.  And I got up to the window and the car in front of me had paid for my drink!  Can you believe that?  How cool!

I mentioned my Jamberry nail remover a couple of days ago, so it made me think of my new nails this week.  Aren’t they fun and loud?  🙂

They are basically nail stickers that you heat and press onto your nails.  I really like them, and they’re easy to put on and stay surprisingly well.  I usually end up taking them off after 2 weeks.

And let’s face it, I would NEVER have the patience to put little tiny polka dots on my nails (or music, for that matter!) so it’s a fun way to have more interesting nails even though I keep them cut super short.

I have often turned to superglue to fix (the seemingly endless) things that break in our house.  It has saved the day many times.  From toys, to window coverings, to kitchen gadget, and even decorations.

And not once, in all my years of supergluing things, have I ever spilt glue on my hands.

(Can you see where this is going?)

……

Until now.

I pulled out my handy dandy tiny tube of Krazy Glue and started to squeeze the glue onto the toy… and I must have been stronger than I thought or there was an air bubble or something, because A LOT came out instead of a little.  And, of course, my fingers happened to be right next to the object.  A glob of glue dripped onto my fingers and I panicked.  I smeared my three first fingers together instinctively, and felt them grow strangely warm and then start to bond together.  In terror I quickly separated my fingers and ran to the sink.  I started scrubbing them in the water with soap, but to no avail.

All of this happened in about 3 seconds.

I looked down at my sad little fingers.  They were now white and hardened with glue.  The feeling of tight skin made me feel claustrophobic.

I started angrily at my hands.  What a stupid mistake. I picked up the bottle of glue and scanned the back for information.

“Caution:  Bonds instantly with skin.”

Um, yes.  That’s accurate.

After sulking for another minute (and silently vowing never to let my kids use superglue) I went to my source of endless information:  Google.

I discovered that I can actually use Acetone nail polish remover to get it off.   Excellent!  So I ran upstairs and grabbed my nail polish remover only to read on the label, “Acetone-free”.

Groan.

I decided it was worth a try anyway.  So I scrubbed and scrubbed.  To no avail.

Then I remembered that I just purchased a fancy new nail polish remover for my jamberry nail wraps.  They said it worked better than normal nail polish remover, so I justified in my mind that it would do the trick.  And wouldn’t you know–it did!  I scrubbed and scrubbed and it eventually all came off.

It was such a wonderful feeling to free my skin from the bondage of the glue.  A feeling I never imagined before.  But trust me, it’s satisfying.

Moral of the story:  Never use super glue without gloves.

OR

Keep a bottle of acetone nail polish remover in your cupboard.

Sherlock will be missed.  He was a great dog and lived a full and wonderful life.  My kids especially enjoyed his giant teddy bear demeanor–he was so patient and spunky.

Farewell Sherlock.

Have fun playing with Dende.  🙂

Well, I’m officially on Spring Break now!

In celebration of that out day looked like this:

• everyone woke up exactly on time.  Apparently sleeping in is for pansies
• we ate cereal for breakfast
• I ran to the Chiropractor early
• we laughed at Mom’s silly exercise video as she worked out
• we had a friend from church over and the kids played wonderfully
• ate PB&J sandwiches for lunch
• I had an entrance interview with a prospective student
• we ran to the Chiropractor again, this time for Maddie
• then we made a Target run (always fun!)
• ate supper
• the kids and I played Chinese checkers
• I had a second entrance interview with a prospective student
• And now we’re going to watch a movie.

Are you exhausted?  I know I am!!  On the docket for tomorrow = Stacy is coming with Autumn for a visit!  Whooo hoo!

We all have those items that we just can’t seem to find.

It drives me insane–positively insane–when I can’t find something.  In a house full of stuff I generally can remember where I’ve put certain things, so when I can’t find it I have to look in all the “unusual” places hoping it will turn up.  (“Unusual” is code for the many little piles that accumulate over time.  These are the items that are left over after I’ve put stuff away.  Stuff that often doesn’t have a home, so just ends up in a pile in my closet… come on, you know what I’m talking about.  Don’t deny it…)

Well, I’ve been looking for a few things for a while.  Dare I say since we moved?  That means we’re going on 2 1/2 years of not being able to find these things and I had all but given up on them.

Today I happened upon some items.  It was a pure accident.  We were in the garage and Josiah asked for a toy out of a box that used to live in our old car and I begrudgingly opened up the container and fished it out for him.  In doing so I noticed another box next to it that I realized I wasn’t sure what was in it, so I started digging…

Want to know what I found?  (Warning:  This will most likely not be nearly as exciting to you as it was so me… 😉  )

Here are the items I found: My teaching triangle, My diamond heart necklace from Tim & My watch from Luke!

I’m not sure what I was most excited about:  I’ve been wanting to use my triangle in lessons for a long time (I use it when we talk about how the dampers on a piano work), but then again my necklace holds a special place in my heart b/c it’s from Tim  (not to mention it has actual diamonds in it!) and then there’s the watch from Luke which I’ve spent countless hours looking for.  I REALLY wanted that watch last year for contest since there aren’t clocks at the contest site readily accessible.  I ended up just carrying my cell phone, which worked fine, but I would have prefered my good ol’ wristwatch!

Actually, when I think about it, I think I’m just most pleased that they are not lost anymore.  Ah.  The feeling of satisfaction that I wasn’t losing my mind.