Christmas in my Classroom

I apologize in advance for the poor lighting in my room. I got the place decorated for winter (it's easier than Christmas because I can leave it up until March). I started reading winter/snow/Christmas books today (Owl Moon and The Polar Express), and they are loving it!!

Happy January!

Good Morning! And, to anyone who cares, this is my 100th post on Blogger!! As a 100th-post-on-Blogger gift, I'll send the first person to comment a set of coasters just like the ones I posted last night.


It snowed here! I know, I know, it's pathetic that we here in the south consider that snow, but to us it's very exciting! It doesn't take much more than that to cancel school around here sometimes.

You'll probably see me again later today!!

Christmas things and an end-of-year wrap up

I hope all of you have had a really good 2007 and are looking forward to 2008 as much as I am. 2008 promises to be a year of big changes!

I'm still sewing like mad on my new machine. I have made so many things (especially those little travel bags) that I have lost count. I finally got around to putting in the elastic in my pj pants I made for Blair and myself for Christmas. Matching pjs...a new Christmas tradition (which promises to be much cuter a few years from now when I have little ones to make them for also).

2007 has been a year of lessons learned (hopefully). Even just today Blair learned to look at every piece of laundry he does before he puts it in the machine. He accidentally felted one of his favorite sweaters. On the plus side, it fits me like a dream!!

I hope you all have a great News Year's Eve. See you in the next year!!

Corners of my Home

Yet another blogging idea from the amazing Amanda Soule. This is called Corners of my Home. Each Thursday I will try to post a picture of some corner, nook, or favorite spots around my home. Here is today's corner (which really isn't so much a corner as it is the top of my piano). My favorite is actually the blurry black-and-white. It makes me smile!


These are a few of my Christmas decorations. Hope you are enjoying yours!!

A Breakfast Date

This morning Blair and I had a breakfast date...I had half of a grapefruit and he had an apple. Very nutritious, I know. But since we rarely see each other before 4:00 in the afternoon, I thought we'd start the day by, gasp, actually spending time together! Who knew it was possible anymore?

It's now the time of year (my favorite by the way--when will it be cold?) that we can get out the Christmas mugs!! I'm enjoying vanilla caramel truffle tea with a little Sugar in the Raw. Blair's mom gave it to me because she didn't like it (which was due largely to the fact that she wasn't making it properly, but why should I have said anything?). It's absolutely wonderful! Have a cup of tea and enjoy the day, everyone!!

More Fall Yummy-ness

With the continued cooler (and drearier) weather today I was still feeling the fall mood. I made these sugar cookies:



and applesauce:


and triple chocolate muffins (which are REALLY yummy):


Now, on a less (or not at all) yummy note, we have officially caught 6 baby mice, so we're hoping that's all of them.

Happy Autumn, everyone! Go bake something!

My Fall Decorations

Some of these (the wreath) I already had up. But, since I had the day at home, I decided to do some more extensive decorating.

Here are the decorations in front of the window (thanks Mom and Dad for the straw):


Here's my wreath on the front door:


I have these sitting by the steps inside:


This is the center piece on my dining table:


This is the center piece on top of the piano:


And this is everything on top of the piano:


I just felt like Fall today!

What a fourth!!!

Today was pretty much the best July 4th EVER!! We all had lunch at Mama's, and after we ate Blair, Matt, Karen, and I all played Wii. We bowled several games after an unsuccessful attempt at tennis (on my part). Then we played Karen's card game, Oh Phooey. Karen won, of course. Then the "real" fun started. While Karen was making pasta salad for our get together tonight, Matt and I played catch with Karen's gloves and softball. He managed to throw the softball at my foot, and amazingly that was the only injury sustained. We had a little trouble playing, because Solomon, Mama's black lab, kept making off with the ball. During all this, Blair had gone into town to buy a really cool-looking soccer ball. When he came back we started kicking the ball around and realized that it is really hard to play soccer in flip-flops and Crocs. Matt was the only one wearing tennis shoes. It took about five minutes for us to realize we all tennis shoes there. After much searching around for socks (sounds like a children's book...or a new edition of Stick Karen) we all headed back out. I dubbed our team "Blair's Groupies" because he's the only one of us who can actually play. He grew up playing soccer and played for his school teams. He's sooooooo good. He tried to teach us, but I don't think much of it actually sunk in. I took a break to cut Mama's hair, Karen climbed a tree, and then we all went in. Karen and Blair played Wii golf, and Matt and I played Oh Phooey again. He won, but just barely. We had planned earlier in the week to go to a 4th party with some friends and decided this afternoon to go swimming afterwards instead of watching fireworks. We had a great time at Amanda's house. Several people were there, including my international friends Azhar, Areej, and Sachie who were celebrating their first Independence Day. After too much food and an interesting water balloon fight, Matt, Karen, Blair, and I left to go swimming. We went to the indoor pool at our apartment's "Clubhouse." We swam for a while and then sat in the hot tub. It felt so great! Blair caught two tree frogs, which Karen contained and took home. Matt and Blair played a little air hockey and then we called it a night. Blair and I walked back to the apartment since it was so nice outside. It was just a really fantastic day. I'm so glad we can have fun with Matt and Karen. We have to do it again SOON!!!!!

Here are some pics from today: