My First Thanksgiving

Feeling:

*excited* *well prepared* *a wee bit anxious* *relaxed* *warm & cozy*



Grateful for:

*my love of cooking* *my dad* *a home to fill up with family and food*
*the smells of the season*


Thinking about:

*the man who stands at my side* *the four smiling faces who make it all worthwhile*
*the family I'm missing* *my friends whom I love*
*how I ended up so blessed*

Happy Thanksgiving friends.

Love,
The PRP

A Time To Chill

I haven't been very quiet about the fact that I've been freezing for four and a half days. Ice cold, teeth-chattering, wearing my coat all day kind of freezing. It seems that the powers that be in mainstream education feel that it's best to put money into silly things, like paying for tests that kids don't pass, rather than warming the bodies of the people in their buildings and I am not having it. Because even though my love for the best! coat! ever! runs deep, no one likes to sit around in wool all day, myself included.

I've been so cold in fact that yesterday, while meeting with a grand man who wears many hats in my life for a recommend interview, I asked him to take off his church hat and put on his admin hat and literally, help a sister out. He switched gears effortlessly and gave me the insider extension to get the heat in my room cranked up.

But now I feel lame calling and complaining because really? What else would I do if I couldn't comment on my coldness?

To prepare for the frigid week ahead, I also spent a few minutes yesterday making some of these. They are adorable. Warm and soft and perfect for typing and reading and card making. And they are sitting adorably on my kitchen counter as I type. And my frigid hands are not with them. Drat.

I think all of the ice running through my veins is starting to get to me because I'm at a total Christmas card stand still and I don't know what to do. I figured it all out, had a plan, went to the store, changed the plan completely to a new and better plan, bought adorable trinkets and doo-dads and can't create a decent card to save my life. I'm about to scribble "Go Christmas!" on a post-it and send it on it's not so merry way. I'm always annoyed when my brain gets in the way of me doing things.

Happens all the time.

I blame the cold.

The kids have been making fun of me for being so cold because they are apparently used to it. Used to freezing their hiney's off as they try to break the code of AP environmental science. Teasing me for hunkering down in my seat and repeatedly blowing on my hands.

I wonder what they'll say tomorrow when I show up in my snow pants and parka.

I find myself looking at the clock every 12.7 seconds because I am literally counting down to warmer weather. I'm going to race home with the heat on high, pull on three pairs of sweats and two hoodies and burrow under my down comforter and not think about tomorrow when I have to return to the arctic.

In the meantime, I think I'll start addressing those post-its.

Calphalon Thursday

Yesterday I farted around with a post for well over an hour. Such is the luxury of a public education substitute teacher but really? It was a bit much, even for me. I knew what I wanted to say and wrote it out several different ways but couldn't make anything stick. It was annoying.

Today I came in and thought "Well! I'm just going to publish what I wrote yesterday and be done with it!" But I just reread it and I still can't make it stick. It's lots of pretty words talking about choices and being still and not getting bogged down in the little things and maybe it would have changed someone's world. But maybe not.

I guess we'll never know.

So here I am up to my eyeballs in Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Curried Chicken Casserole and I need a break. Typing recipes that have already been typed once before is the stuff of looney bin making but I'm doing my best. I'm my very own little engine that could...I think I can, I think I can.

I am on day 3 of full! time! work! and I have to say I am longing for my babes. I think I saw them a total of 47 minutes yesterday and it stinks. Stinks like goat cheese at a picnic. I'm thankful for the opportunity to make some extra money and help provide for our family but the waking the kids up part? The rushing them around to get out the door part? The part where I don't get to feed them breakfast or snuggle their sleepy selves part? That part stinks. Like goat cheese and rotten egg salad at a picnic.

I brought my iHome in today at an attempt to be a cool teacher. When you're married to a school fav, the kids expect big! things! and I have no idea how to deliver. Yesterday the kids asked me to turn on Pandora which I happily did but the speakers weren't working and their disappointment was palpable. So this is my attempt for today. To let them rock out while they answer the Environmental Science Free-Response Question from the 2004 AP exam. Tomorrow I may bring cookies.

The older babes have their school conferences this afternoon and I have to admit, it's one of my most favorite things. To hear another adult sing the praises of your children is right up there with hot air balloons and believing in Santa. It. is. the. best. And I find each year that I'm less and less worried about their academics...to me it's all about how they are in class, how they interact with others, whether or not they are leaders in their classrooms. Kindness will change the world if we give it the chance. That's what I want my kids to be learning. And I think they are.

This post? I don't know if anything stuck or not but I'm sending it out and returning to my job as typemaster. Recipes to type, babes to miss, high schoolers to bribe, children to praise.

Such is my life on a Thursday.

Today

Today is the day that I'm trying to keep in perspective.

To not get bogged down in the nutty details of life but find joy in the small things.

To see trials for what they are and find the blessings that lurk within.

But it's real, real hard.

---

Austin came down with a severe case of bronchitis on Saturday evening which meant I didn't get to attend Stake Conference yesterday and see, in our own small town, Jeffery R. Holland stand at the pulpit and address us.

But my husband and older kids did.

---

I'm trying to make plans for the week ahead and get a jump on my Christmas cards but our external hard drive crashed last week which means everything is missing. All of our

pictures
music
recipes
PTO stuff
church stuff
addresses
videos
etc

is locked in a little black box that doesn't want to give them back. We've had people working on it feverishly but it's looking like we'll need to send if off and hope the professionals can retrieve our life, to the tune of somewhere around $1000.

But at least I've posted some pictures to the blog that I know are safe.

---

I'm subbing for the next week and a half, something that has been on the books since September and while I was originally thrilled at the extra money we'd have, it now looks like it will all be going to repair the external hard drive and pay my silly little ticket from last week.

But at least extra money is coming in.

---

So here's where I am: trials suck. They do. But if you look real, real hard, there is also something good to be found.

A Deal For You

Note: Chipper self has once again returned. No cop is gonna keep me down!

So, want something fun and girly to do tomorrow? Want to come snag some unbelievable deals on some of your favorite items? Like Shade Clothing galore for the bargain price of only $5? Or the latest creations of the fabulous Dandee? Or stock up on your favorite Christmas scents or make a great purchase for your mother-in-law with Scentsy? One stop will hook you up.

Hope to see you there!

Go here or here for more details.

Fast Times At P-Town High

When the alarm went off at 6 this morning, my first thought was really? Did Austin sleep all the way until 6? Like that hour of the morning is something to celebrate but after the weeks we've had of routine wake-ups at 4:45, 6 am felt like a gift from the universe.

I rolled over to Brad who was coughing and sputtering away, clearly not getting any better despite yesterday's rest and an early bedtime. I know! I thought. I'll sub for Brad and let him rest today! He won't have to race into the school to drop off sub plans or make any special arrangements. He can just tell me what to do and I'll take it from there. Perfect!

I tested my idea out on Brad who was happy to accept my offer which means he is really, really sick. Brad never gets sick, never misses school and rarely accepts help so his eagerness told me he feels real, real crappy and isn't just hankering for more time to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. (Note: I'm sitting in his classroom as we speak and there is a full-sized poster of that game taped onto his white board. What is is with grown men and video games?) Anyhoo, I got myself ready, did the girl's hair and rushed out the door, feeling great about being able to help my sweet husband.

My great attitude lasted all the way until I pulled into the school parking lot where I was pulled over by a not-so-friendly policeman. I was pulled into my parking stall and was getting out of my car when he instructed me to get back in my car and wait. Lights flashing, kids staring, me wondering what the heck? He asked for license and registration and then went and sat in his car behind me for.ever. before he returned to my window.

"You are being cited for going 26 mph in a school zone, which is 20 mph. Here's your ticket. You have fifteen days to appeal. Have a nice day."

Um, excuse me?

I very kindly explained that there was no way I could have been going 26 mph as I pulled into the parking lot because really? Brad's 90 Honda Accord really can't corner like that. And I'm not an idiot (despite what you're all thinking) because I saw the police car well ahead of time, knowing there is a police car parked in that exact spot every single freaking day.

He just stared at me.

Then he walked away.

That's when the rage started to build and I began to lose my cool.

But not before I looked down at the ticket amount.

Two-hundred and ten farging dollars.

And then I started to cry.

So I was crying in front of all the students staring at me, and I had to walk into the building crying, check in crying, and walk to Brad's classroom crying. Good times.

So it looks like today I'm subbing for free. And next week's subbing will also be for free. And my desire to help my husband and save the day was all for crap because my mood is ruined and I'm not evolved enough to bounce back from this in a timely fashion and return to my normal chipper self. Nope, I'm going to be pretty farging horked all day long. And think some not-so-nice things for Mr. Policeman.





How's your day going?

Brothers

It was just over two years ago when Austin came to be. I had never planned on having another baby, had fought the idea really, but then one day I knew. Knew that a little boy needed to come here and that I would bring him to our family. I never wavered that he was coming, or that he was going to be a boy.

I just knew.

When I first began telling people that I was expecting, they would ask how far along I was and what I hoped it would be. And I always answered that I was 7 weeks or 12 weeks or 19 weeks and that I was having a boy. I'm sure many people thought I was being foolish, to be so sure of something that I had absolutely no control over.

But I just knew.

After our ultrasound confirmed what I already knew to be true, people would congratulate me on the good planning of two boys and two girls, as if I'd had a hand in that. And then they would inevitably say something to the effect of "Spence must be so excited! Too bad they'll be so far apart in age."

But I knew, with absolute assurety, that these two souls would be the most kindred of spirits and that the eight years between them would be nothing more than a reminder of what's behind one and what lies in the future for the other. They play together, they laugh together and Spence has become a fantastic little caretaker for the shadow on his heels. They are brothers, and the bond between them fills me up.



Just like I knew it would.