Westwoods

    I remember a time not too long ago, I longed and sought for a little piece of easy.  I was tired of the striving and 'the hard' of life.  I just wanted a breather, the kind you feel when you get to the top of a mountain after a good, hard climb.  If it couldn't be easier, I wanted it to at least, feel less painful.     It seems as if some people naturally seek the easier path, while others seem to search out the harder, more challenging way.  Sadly, I have always been the seeker of the easy path, until I began to discover the rewards in searching out what is hard and challenging.  No, I am not going to say what the rewards are, they are personal and not worth your time, but I have a pretty good inkling everyone will have a different set of rewards and challenges, so... You get to pick your own. You know what you need to work on.   - The way to get from one point to the other is to realize that good will come out of 'this hard',...

At the core of her being, she has a deep longing to nurture, bring comfort, and to fix things; things like broken toys, knees, and hearts. That's why she supposes, she feels distraught when at three in the morning she is still trying to settle a baby that- WILL NOT SLEEP!  It becomes clear, it is simply beyond her control, but she continues to feel a failure when her baby is grouchy and not sleeping. And so, at six o'clock, when she stumbles into the kitchen to figure out what husband and school children are going to eat for their lunches, the feeling of failure multiplies rapidly, upon the discovery and because of poor planning, that the pickings are slim. She settles for boiling eggs and opening a can of tuna, both of which the family are not crazy about. She will make them egg/tuna sandwiches. The sandwiches will smell unpleasant at lunch time, because that particular sandwich is noted for this, but this is all there is.  She'll try not to feel guilty about such trivia...

I promised myself I would not write about the children, the ones I am teaching, I mean. I am a mom myself.   To have someone observe, judge, and comment on my own dear flesh and blood would make me feel as if someone had invaded my privacy. So, am not gonna do that. But you don't want to read my journal. Some things are just too funny to not remember by writing it down. I am sure some of the things those kids say would be a perfect back drop in stories later. And maybe much later it won't matter so much, like five years from now. Maybe then I can tell you a few funnies. Anyhow, I will just say that children amaze me. I have often been amazed by my own talented, smart, funny, and cute kids, but when you have 16 in a small classroom, there is a bigger possibility for even more amazement. Kids, at school, get the whole concept of working hard to accomplish a goal. They do it every day. If they don't get their work done at school, they take home schoolwork . Some learn s...

After a week of lesson planning, relearning how to deal with the decimal and integers, and generally bossing around nineteen kids, counting my own, I felt I deserved a good catch up on my reading via the Internet. I also placed a shutter fly order, sent a few emails, and listened to Pandora while planning the next weeks classes. So, when I finally got around to Pioneer Woman and Sew a Fine Seam and all the other blogs I enjoy reading, guess what deters me? The advertisements. No doubt there is some click or a setting on my computer that would take care of some of these distraction, but when would I have time to mess with that?  One blog title promised a good read on french design and decor.  I have a weakness for farmhouse, french style decor, but when I got in there, a kid was strapped into a car seat pounding his car seat like a monkey, and the freakiest part was the kid was changing ages before my very eyes.  I finally attempted to x out of the screen that refused ...

Not saying the other days aren't wanted. I like them all, but there is something about the weekend that makes one let go of the holding of breath that may have happened during the week, depending on what was on your plate, so to speak. And there was a lot on mine this week. I knew it would be challenging, but we got through.  I found  that it is normal for the first day of school to be chaotic. That is stating it mildly. Very. I laid awake off and on the first night after, wondering how it was humanly possible to teach 16 children with twenty times more energy than I have. I also wondered what I was thinking when I said, "Yes." I thought about leaving the country or at least driving south a good ways. Then, I remembered this really simple thing. To the person that needs wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally.  Remembering that I can't, but God can, was a very big victory.  I was amazed the following day with two teacher's aids ...

Recently, my husband and I had an argument.  It was over words.  I use too many of them.  He uses a few as well, but only on important subjects like: work, vehicle problems, schedules, appointments, things like that. My words are usually about anything hinging on relationship. This can be: the kids, my friends, school, co-workers, life's lessons, something I read, how I felt about something I read or saw, the kinda thing that makes a man yawn and say: "blah, blah, blah, can we please get to the important part now?" He is usually quite kind to me about all my needs to use these words and describe the things of the  heart, and to bare all, the poor guy. But, this time, not so much. And it wasn't going to get better or go away, this conversation with no end, simply because, there wasn't time. Truthfully, I flopped around like fish outta water trying to get air, figuring out this dilemma. It drove me to my knees and back to 1 Peter 3.  I about have that chapte...

 I have been asked many times in the recent weeks, how I plan to be a mom, wife, and school teacher? The answer is: I don't know. One day at a time. Crock pot meals and one, old, favorite cookie recipe. And my kids. They have already helped me a ton with the household chores and preparing the classroom. My mom-in-law, gave me this cookbook a couple years ago; I finally plan to put it to use. Today we tried the African Chicken Treat...      It was OK... As crock pot meals go... I tend to like my food less crock pottish, more fresh and crunchy and much less mushy... if you know what I mean. Frozen vegetables are kinda pretty I guess.                                                       My helpers of laundry, dishes, and cleaning...    And now, because I am not a food blogger, and because I can, I will ...