The post where I sound like Maw-Maw

I've had one of those "when it rains, it pours" weeks.

Darryl left Monday night for a business trip.

Tuesday, I had a 14-hour day. I got up at 4:45 (as I always do), let the house at 6:15 in the morning, and didn't return home until 8:30 that night. Our school had an AP Parent Night that evening, so I had to talk about my class, AP Language. Between leaving work and the meeting, I picked up Amelia, took her to dinner (where we had dessert because we so deserved it), took her to the school to kill time, and then took her to a daycare teacher/friend's house so I could go to the meeting. By the time I left the meeting (it wasn't even over and had already gone on an hour!), picked up Amelia, and got home, I had decided to skip Amelia's bath even though she had chocolate in her hair (from our dessert).

And of course, Wednesday morning I got up at 4:45 to begin a whole new day.

Wednesday evening, my eye felt very irritated, but I figured it was just eye strain, allergies, whatever.

I also forgot to mention that somewhere around Monday and Tuesday, I was getting the beginnings of a sore throat. (By the way, I had to spell "throat" for one of my students this week. Seriously?)

Thursday, my looked red and puffy before school, but I still thought it was just a minor eye irritation. By the end of the day, it was RED and swollen...and it throbbed with pain any time I was in any kind of light. Then I found out that several basketball players were home with pink eye.

So I turned in a sub request for Friday (today), quickly got together some lesson plans for the week, and then went to a doc in the box. The doctor walked in, barely got past the door, and said, "Oh, yes. You definitely have pink eye." Then she proceeded to poke me in the face around my nose, and when I practically came off the table in pain, she said I definitely had a sinus infection, too.

When I picked up Amelia from daycare, I found out that Amber, the one who kept Amelia Tuesday night, was also diagnosed earlier in the day with pink eye. So who knows? Maybe I gave it to her, or she gave it to me...regardless, it's no fun.

We picked up my antibiotic and my eye drops from the Target Pharmacy, and my total was $111.00. When I asked why it was so high, they said it was the eye drops, that they were $99, and my insurance had paid $9.00 of it. Thank you, United Heath Insurance. That is so generous of you.

Amelia and I got home, ordered pizza, and watched Despicable Me, which is totally cute. What does it say about me that my favorite movies of late have been animated???

I got Amelia to bed, then went to bed myself. Darryl got home, and bless him, agreed to take Amelia to daycare for me this morning. I got up this morning and helped get everything together for her, and then I went back to bed and slept until a glorious 9:30.

So here I sit on the couch, surrounded by Kleenex, the remote control, my computer, and my phone, and frankly, I am glad this week is OVER.

The New Look!

I was so ready for a different look to my blog. I think my last "look" was too girly for me. Last week I tried to win a gift certificate to Designer Blogs, but I didn't win (shocking!), but when I browsed around on the site and found this very inexpensive design (and even more inexpensive at 30% off), I went for it. I wanted something clean and linear with just a little color. I love it!

Amelia Sings

Before you watch, you need to know the following:

1--Darryl was on a business call while this was going on.
2--Forgive the clutter. Three people had been in this house for three days at this point. Things were getting messy. (And I totally cleaned up most of that today! Go me.)

P.S.

My blog design is just temporary. Shabby Blogs (the site that offers free backgrounds) said I had to reset my html code, and my old background wasn't available. I don't like how the banner (the thing at the top) looks with the green/pink, BUT the banner is a huge pain to create and I just don't have the patience right now...especially when I think I might just do something new altogether in the next few weeks.

Thoughts on Snow Days

We're at the beginning of Snow Day #4. I anticipate that we'll go back to school tomorrow (and I am willing to bet that the students are going to be WILD), just in time for a three-day weekend. Thank goodness. I could use a day off.

So here are some things I have learned from our Snow Days:

1. Laziness just lends itself to more laziness. Monday, when I first thought we would be out just one or two days, I was very lazy because I "deserved it." However, it has been very difficult to climb out of the rut.
2. It is a bad idea to bake cookies early in the Snow Day week. Nothing like being trapped in the house with freshly baked cookies.
3. Our house makes a bad home-office, as Darryl can attest.
4. I think I'm more of a homebody than I realized because these days off? I have loved them.
5. The great thing about Snow Days is that they are unplanned; therefore, we don't overplan them with activities and stuff to do. (Not that we could go anywhere anyway...)

So what have I done with my time? I've cooked some, played around with the computer (I might be addicted to iMovie, y'all), played with Amelia, and been lazy.

It's been divine.

Now, the big question is when we're going to make up for all these days off...

(P.S. Not to be Debbie Downer, but I realize as much as I've enjoyed these days off, some of my friends--especially business owners--have really been hurting this week. I'm crossing my fingers that we thaw out soon so things can get back to normal for them.)

Project Life

This may be of no interest to anyone except scrapbookers (and maybe a few relatives who love me unconditionally and will read/watch whatever I post here).

After my Glen Ella weekend, I have scrapbooking on the brain. One of the projects I completed over the weekend was Project Life.

Project Life
Last Christmas (Christmas 2009), I asked my mom for Becky Higgins's Project Life Album Kit. I won't go into detail with what comes with the kit because you can read all about it on her website, but I took the "photo a day for a year" approach. Now that the album is complete, I absolutely love it. (Also, this album could easily be done by someone who isn't a "scrapbooker." It's basically an album with some cards for journaling.)

The difficult part for me was just the process of printing the photos and getting them in the album. Because of that, I decided this year to do the digital version of Project Life to eliminate the whole printing the photo part; I simply upload the photos to my album as often as I want. I know I sound like an infomercial here, but yesterday I uploaded my first batch of photos and the site was extremely easy to use. At the end of the year, I will simply order my completed album. (If you are interested in this...if you pay now, you get about $30 off the price of the album.)

Okay, y'all, we are in the midst of a WEATHER EVENT, so I have some spare time on my hands. I made a video of my album if you are interested.

That's right. A scrapbooking video. Don't judge me.

All the photos in the slideshow are just some of many in my album. And I am so glad I have them.

Glen Ella Weekend

This past weekend, I went to the Glen Ella Inn for my yearly scrapbooking retreat. I really can't convey in words how much I enjoy this weekend. And let me tell you, after "single parenting" Amelia through much of December while Darryl was traveling, I was READY READY READY for this weekend.

After going to this retreat for three years now, I feel as though I can consider many of these women to be friends. While many of us might not see one another outside of this retreat, we all look forward to meeting up during this weekend to catch up, laugh our heads off, and participate in a hobby we're all passionate about.

For a Giveaway...Blog Makeover?

This is a kind of random post, but I would really like to give my blog a makeover, so I'm entering a giveaway at Designer Blogs. (I get to enter one more time if I link over from my blog.)

There are some really neat designs there, though, and they seem very affordable, so if you are interested in spicing up your blog, you might check them out!

Snowed In

Just in case you've had your head buried in the sand and didn't know, Atlanta (along with many other places) received a big dumping of snow Sunday night. We received 6-1/2 inches.

School was cancelled Monday.

It was cancelled today.

It is cancelled tomorrow.

I've had a little extra time on my hands, so I decided to make my first movie in iMovie. I don't think it is too bad for my first try.

Allow me to present my first short film, "Amelia and the Snow."

1-1-11

Don't those numbers just suggest a fresh start?

I'm not making a list of resolutions this year. I know some specific things that I want to work on and do better, but overall, this is my goal:

I want to get my life "right."

What does that mean? I don't even know the answer to that.

I've been pondering a lot of deep issues lately, but I'm not in the mindset now to write a deep post.

I just know that something doesn't feel right. Is it my job? Is it my relationship with other people? Is it friendships I've let fall to the wayside? Is it not "acting" when my heart says I should do something for others? Is it blaming others for things that are 100% my fault? Is it turning to food when I'm stressed, bored, or overwhelmed? Is it a spiritual black hole that I need to climb out of? Is it opening myself to negativity when I really need to see the glass half full? Is it letting little things drag me down instead of ignoring the good things all around me?

Is it all of the above?

Rather than listing my resolutions, I am instead going to leave with a Bible verse that I am adopting as my "life verse for 2011":

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26