Inspiring Blogs

Today I would like to take a few minutes and just share with you all some blogs that inspire me to be a more feminine and gracious woman. They also inspire me to be a better housekeeper. To get creative and busy around the home.

To these bloggers I say thank you.

This is not a complete list. There are so many. I set a timer everyday and read through a few. The next day I read through a few more. When I'm done for the day, I feel so refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of my chores or projects.

Ahem, sometimes I do sneak back on at night when the house is quiet and hubby is busy with something else.

For your inspiration and enjoyment here is the first list.

A Gracious Home. Mrs. Sallie is absolutely precious. She is an older first time mom and her wisdom amazes me. I love browsing her blog as it is so pretty and full of great advice.

Trivium Academy. Mrs. Jessica is a 2nd year homeschooling mom who has great ideas. I have stepped away from her blog many times ready to implement new ideas with my children. Her sidebar alone is a wealth of knowledge that I love to explore.

The Sparrow's Nest. Mrs. Wilt is a gentle wife and mother. Her home is beautiful. Her homemaking ideas wonderful. This is definitely a timer blog as I could just get lost in the reading and ideas. Mrs. Wilt herself is just as lovely and feminine as she is sweet. She is definitely on my list of ladies I would like to be like someday.

Rabbit Trails. Mrs. "Bunny" is a homeschooling, preacher's wife. Most of her children are older, a few have even left the bunny home. In a few days I will list her daughter's blog because I am blown away by it, but today belongs to this wonderful, godly woman. She never fails to elicit a chuckle from me, with her thoughts or pictures. She has great advice for raising boys and girls, as she has done and is doing both. In reading her posts I think that she would be a wonderful friend. I love her sense of humor. Her children certainly seem like they enjoy her and she them. I want to be a mom like her someday.

Charming the Birds From the Trees. Mrs. Emma is a true example of femininity. I cant say enough about how inspired I am through this blog. Right now she has a finishing school in progress. She has so much wisdom. Her posts are always gentle and informative. I always seem to sit up straighter and smile more after reading one of her posts.

Well, there is it ladies. The first five inspiring blogs. I'm telling you I have a folder full of them and I seem to always find one more to add.

Set the timer and enjoy.

Inspiring Blogs

Today I just want to take a few minutes and share some blogs with you that inspire me to be more feminine and take better care of my home and family.

This is not a complete list by any means. Im actually thinking about doing this every week. I dont want to say I will but I will definatly try.

An open letter...

I cant stop thinking about high school. Maybe its because my 10 year reunion is right around the corner. I don't know. Anyways, this is my first post about "relationships" I had in HS. Its interesting in that what you are about to read is a little different then what you normally read. But once again this is my journal and I like to look back and see where I was and where I have been. This also helps me to see how blessed I am to be where God has put me and with the man God has given me.
And its really funny. Well to me and to at least a few people who will read this, because they were actually there for most of it. This post will be almost like an inside joke to them. I will expound more later.

Dear people who will be named throughout this letter,

My dear confused best friend in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade Amanda, a chocolate key for Paul, really? Why did you let me do this? Why did you encourage me to call someone and sneak his freshman schedule so I could get, all. the. same. classes? Why did you let me keep those "love" songs in the locker, he asked me to share with him, in hopes he would find them and fall madly in love with me?? Really?

My 10th grade Creative Writing 1 teacher, who I cant even remember your name. A book of poems to be given to the guy I was madly in love with, who might have had a small crush on me, on Valentines day. Seriously? I mean really deep love poems. You wrote on the front page of this assignment, "Good luck". Were you secretly laughing at me?? Did you know this would end with him hightailing it the other way with another girl the very next day? Come on. You were the teacher. You could have stopped me.

Jessica, Jason, Jennifer... anyone who read the acrostic poem I submitted for the poetry book we published in Creative Writing 2. WHY????? WHY???? Did you believe Chuck would not notice his full name written in acrostic declaring my undying love. Seriously? WHAT? Did you all hate me? Not love me? What? "NO he wont notice," you assured me repeatedly. Did you lie to me?

Last but not least. Senior year. You know who. Come on. You could not tell me to back off a bit? Although I will tell all of you doubters at one time you know who and I had a discussion about what would happen after his first year in college when he transferred home, which of course never happened. I was told by you know who that we could not be in a relationship until he came back. I still think at one point he liked me. He and I talked a lot about things that others don't know about.


Love,
Psycho girl.

P.S. I still love everyone who let me blindly walk into my acts of insanity. Except maybe that teacher. I mean she was a teacher for crying out loud.

Apparently, fortunately for my husband who is now the absolute love of my life, I l-o-v-e passionately and blindly. I act on these emotions without thinking a lot. I have toned it down a bit, but not for my man. He never knows what I might have up my sleeve. I have noticed this passion lacking in the past year and I'm going to revive it. I love him 100x more than I loved any of those other guys. Yes, even you know who, who I planned our wedding and all of our children with. LOL. He deserves to be treated just as manically as I treated those other guys I stalked..hmm... I mean loved. ;p.
I firmly believe who we used to be shapes who we are. I was just practicing for the love of my life. My husband.
Another night I will expound on the above relationships. It promises to be a hoot for those who were there to witness the insanity.

P.S. The above letter is humorous. Tongue in cheek. I fully expect comments from Michelle and Jessica declaring that none of this happened and I'm truly psycho. LOL

Book Sale Treasures

I had a great time Saturday at our homeschool used book sale. I got to stand around for about an hour just chit chatting with two of my closest friends. It was a lot of fun. Here are the treasures I found.

My biggest treasure was a brand new set of Saxon 5/4. It has all three books. The first set I found was a little ragged but would do. It was 35.00. I kept looking and found it another one in about the same condition for 30.00. THEN I found one in brand new condition for 20.00. WOOHOO. I was so happy.
Here is the rest of what I got:

Contenders of the Faith booklet for 1.00
Baby Signs 7.00
Ready, Set, Read 1.00
Shepherding a child's heart book and workbook 5.00
Thematic Copywork Lessons Copywork for Boys 2.00
Thematic Copywork Lessons Copywork for Girls 2.00
Art Basics for Children 5.00
2 Sets of the Teaching Home magazine 1990s for 1.00 a set
A Charlotte Mason Companion for 6.00
Literature Pockets Fiction 2.00
Websters New World Children's Dictionary 5.00


Dont you just love a good book sale??

Be Blessed.

One Trip to Walmart....

So my day started out great yesterday. The used book sale, hanging out with two of my good friends, chit chatting, laughing, finding a lot of great books, finding the whole Saxon 5/4 set in great condition, brand new for 20.00 dollars, going to the library later and getting them to reduce a fine I was worried about, hanging out with hubby and the kids. It was a good day. THEN.....

I got my grocery list and headed to Walmart.

Hubby stayed home with the kids, I rolled the windows down, cranked up the music and started my drive. I have three Walmarts to choose from. My second choice is the one closest to us. There are never any lines open and its always packed. My third choice is not really a choice at all as I refuse to go there. Its dirty and the people who work and shop there are just plain rude. My first choice is about 1/2 an hour away. Most of the time if Im not short on time I ride out there. A new plus is they opened an organic supermarket close to my first choice so I can swing in there on my way to or from. I did just that yesterday. I picked up some breakfast bars for Wed mornings and some olive oil. I did not see any local honey so I will still have to either drive across town for that or order from our co op. I found out they are having a grand opening celebration there next week so I will be sure to stop in.

After that I toodled on to Walmart. Peaceful and ready to shop. I had my cash and I had a great list and menu for the next two weeks.

I breeze into Walmart and grab a buggy. The first thing I noticed was that the buggy swayed just a little to the left. It was not too bad so I figured, "I can deal with this." HAHAHA. I breeze past the big girl clothes and see nothing of interest. I halt at the girls clothing and find a GORGEOUS summer dress for Kelsie for 4 dollars. It is an impulse buy but I could swing the money. I head past the preschool/toddler clothes stopping for just a moment to check out the 50 percent off rack. Nothing. Although they had some darling jean dresses for infants/toddlers marked down to 2 and 3 dollars. I made a mental note to tell my friend with a baby girl about to turn 2.

I start my grocery shopping. I cant afford the organic eggs at 3.12 a dozen, so I opt for the free range, no hormone added eggs for 1.12 a dozen. There are only about 5 dozen there and the first three I open are cracked wide open. Not a good sign. I grab the next two and sigh with relief to find they are whole. I run around crossing stuff off the list and writing down prices. I was keeping a running total on the calculator. It looked good. I was way under budget. About halfway through the store my buggy was full

Unruly and Rebellious Children

I was doing my daily Bible reading today and I read something that I have read many times and never really thought about before. It is in Dueteronomy and a lot of Deuteronomy is about sacrifices and other laws that I dont think we can follow in today's world. Not that I dont think it applies to us. I think that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The God of the old testament is still the God of the new testament. I think we are under a new covenant and dont have to follow the law that was given to the Jews. That being said how serious does God take disciplining our children?

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. Dueteronomy 21:18-21

Do I think we should take our rebellious children to the street and stone them? NO! NO! NO!

But I did find it interesting that when the parents could not control the son he was killed so that the evil would be put away.

Can you imagine how this would look today? Does anyone not know at least one family, probably more that have no control over their children?

Now in reading this, I realize that it was probably an older son, but the way I see it the young person did not just become stubborn and rebellious overnight. Also, these parents had come to the end of their rope. They knew what would happen if they took their son before the elders.

Anyways, it just gave me something to think about. We live in a world right now that is so afraid of hurting our children's feelings that we are not disciplining. We are letting them grow to be stubborn and rebellious, glutons and drunkards. All the while we just shake our heads and say, "We did the best we could."

I am reading a great book right now called Boundaries with Kids. Its by Dr. Henry Cloud. I was pleased to see that I was implementing a lot of what he said already, while learning some new stuff, also. See, my husband and I are raising our kids on purpose. We are not of the mind that the kids should raise themselves. While I dont agree with everything in the book, I do agree with the principle surronding it. Make kids take responsibility for their actions and for who they are. I want to expound on this some more in another post. We live in a society where people dont think they should have to be held accountable.

Apparently, God thinks we should.

Anyways, just something I was thinking about.

Be Blessed.

Nothing to write about

I have plenty of ideas, but dont want to put them down in writing yet. I have a draft box full of unfinished posts, but I dont want to finish them, right now. I have some extra time that I should be composing something in writing, but instead I ramble on without saying much.

I have a feeling today is going to be one of those days where nothing gets done. I have my todo list written. I hope I can cross off a least a few things.

The sky is dark outside, a gloomy, rainy, curl up in bed day.

Maybe, I will. *Smile* I doubt the kids would go for that.

Book Sale

Saturday is our homeschool used book sale. Im sooooo excited! I went to it for the first time last year and it was AMAZING! I took $100 and walked out with $50 and my arms were absolutly full of books. Im taking some bags this year. OH YEAH.

Now my problem is I have to write up my list of what I want. *Sigh* I know I need Saxon 5/4. Im also hoping to see some VP history and Bible stuff there thatI can snag. (This is a long shot, but Im going to look) Im going to look for Teaching the Trivium along with a few other general homeschooling books that I would love to have. Im also looking for some reading guides based on good books.

I shared with a friend the other day, one thing I have learned is if I really want a book and I see it at a good price I should buy it, then if its not what I thought I can always sell it again.

Speaking of, I need to get some books out that Im thinking about selling and see about getting that set up. They have to be there Friday.

Well it looks like I have a lot to do. I better go get busy.

Be Blessed!

Going Home

Ruth Bell Graham
June 10, 1920 - June 14, 2007

Goodbye Mrs. Graham. Thank you for all the hard work you did on earth. Being a wonderful wife and mother and giving us all an example to look up to. Surely your children arise up and call you blessed and your husband is known in the gates.

Just had to share

I just found this beautiful blog. Im still exploring it, but I absolutly love it.

Beans will never be the same

So for awhile now I have been trying to learn how to cook dried beans. They never came out right. It was frustrating. I could pick up packs of dried beans for less than 50 cents but could not make them come out right. Well friends I have tasted success and it is YUMMY. I got my new crockpot out the other day and decided to try the bean thing. I rinsed off the dry beans and sorted through them, then I threw them in the crockpot, filled the pot with water and cooked on low for 8 hours. PERFECT. We mixed about half of them with chicken, diced tomatoes, corn and taco seasoning and had black bean and chicken tacos the other night. MMMM. I dont think I will ever cook my beans a different way again. It was so easy and it came out great. I have a ziplock bag full of cooked black beans in the fridge which I will mix with turkey sausage, rice, cheese and tomato sauce tonight for a differnt meal. I will let you know how it comes out.

I will try to post some of my favorite recipes involving beans next week. They are so cheap and so incredibly good for you.

Be Blessed.

Must we always move around???

Im a little tired of this idea that children must be kept constantly in motion or in front of fast flickering images or in entertaining enviroments. If we dont we loose their attention and then they cant learn, I have heard "experts" say. I have also heard dear sweet Christian men and women say this. Whatever happened to,

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10? What are we teaching our children by entertaining them A-L-L T-H-E T-I-M-E?? What happens when God calls them to something hard? Something not fun? These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world John 16:33 tells us we will have tribulation. Our peace will be in Jesus. Will tribulation be fun and entertaining? Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God Acts 14:22 . I would not think we would need much exhortation to continue in the faith if tribulation was something to look forward to. When do we teach the children to work hard? When do we teach them that life is not always about fun? We can have fun, but first we must work? When? I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. Revelation 2:2. Does this sound like the young people, the future generation, of your church? In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

I know a lot of children and even a good number of adults who would be starving to death. We as adults have to set this example for our children. We have to make them work. Would it be easier to "do it ourselves"? YES. Oh a thousand times yes. What do our children gain from that? What do our children gain from having everything handed to them at church? Would they not be better off being taught to serve, to work in the church? Who will be the leaders and the workers in our church if we dont train the young ones coming up behind us?

Do I think we should not do anything fun with the children? NO. I think that fun activities at church for the kids are great. Even fun Bible learning activities. Thats not what I mean at all. Im just worried that if we keep trying to entertain them all the time, they will grow to expect God to entertain them all the time. Thats all.

Be Blessed

A Morning Walk

Im starting our morning walk again this week. We will go after all morning chores are done. When we come home all hot and Florida glistening, we will have some water and do our Bible reading.

We left this morning eager and ready, by the time we were done all we wanted was a glass of water and some air conditioning. It was fun though. We saw worms sunning themselves all over the sidewalk. The girls saw a lot of lizards though we could not catch any, they were too quick. I pointed out flowers and colors to the baby. By the end of the walk he was pointing to flowers and saying "foo, foo" which in my opinion means "flower". The most exciting find of all was a smooshed frog being carried away by ants. We were able to talk about the verses in Proverbs, Proverbs 6:6 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:, and also Proverbs 30:25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

The children enjoyed hearing how ants were referred to in the Bible as hard workers and wise.

I love walking with my children and seeing the world through their eyes.

Be Blessed.

Pray for Kaleb

Kaleb is a 6 month old baby in Tampa, FL who was shaken by his babysitter in May. He is a miracle baby in that he is still fighting and hanging in there, though things are still very touch and go. His mother has a lot of faith and its wonderful to read how she is trusting God. I dont know this baby or his family, but the story breaks my heart and my prayers are with them.
Here is the myspace page for Kaleb.

Sometimes you just have to!

So today I spent all morning getting some lab work done. Fun, Fun! I had not eaten since dinner the evening before and I had to be at the office at 7am. I left there at 10:30... I was hungry! I picked the kids up from moms and when we left there it was almost 11:30. I needed food and I needed it now! So I swung into McDonalds. I fed myself and all 5 of my kids for 13.00. Want to know how?

A twenty pack of nuggets split four ways is more than enough nuggets.

2 $1.00 double cheeseburgers for Karly and I

2 large fries to be split among the six of us. It was enough fries to satisfy withou over indulging.

We are drinking water at home.

Its not the best meal, but at least I could make the best of it. I know as they get older this will probably not be as easy to do, but in this season we can afford the occasional trips to McGreasers. We eat there so rarely now a days that I forgot how greasy the hamburgers were. Yuck! LOL.

Be Blessed!

Real Boys

We will so be purchasing this book for our boys. I love watching little boys play. They are so rough and fun. I think we are neglectful in teaching them that little girls are not boys and they should be treated differently. Of course I think we are neglectful in teaching our little girls to act like ladies and not little boys. I finally told my girls I dont want them to play fighting games. Number one my oldest looses control of herself and starts acting wild, number two its just not lady like.

My dilema is that most of the time we play with other girls. I have one friend who has two boys and one on the way and we try to get together with her as often as possible. Adrian needs the opportunity to be a boy. He needs the rough and tumble world of boys. I had one friend for awhile who would panic if the kids climbed on something or played tug of war to close to the sidewalk. Of course she has girls. With Adrian its completly different. I expect him to get hurt. I expect bumps and bruises, scraped knees and heaven help me, one day a broken limb. I dont want that for him, but I expect it.

Yes, Im going to get this book. Yes, my husband will have a blast playing with the boys and doing all the neat stuff in here.

I want my boys to grow up to be strong, godly men. Just like Jesus.

Be Blessed!

Dancing and other goodies...

Well today two of my little girls started dance. Our pastor's wife teaches dance and she was so excited to start the girls. We met at a church across town and had a wonderful time. There were three other girls from our church there. My two girls were in the younger class. My older daughter will be in the older girls class if she decides that dancing is important enough to her to finish her schoolwork. The younger girls are about 5-7. They learned some basic technique but a lot of their dance will be movement oriented. Its all praise and worship dance which just thrills my heart. Watching the older girls learn a beautiful dance to Shout to the Lord today was AWESOME! Mrs. Connie teaches at a Christian school during the school year and she already has plans to include the older girls from our church in her dance team from school next year. My favorite part is the costumes. She told me today she wants me to help pick them out. She mentioned the costume she wore the first time I saw her dance and I said, "Oh thats my favorite!!" The first time I saw her dance she did a worship dance at her old church. She wore a black long sleeved leotard, black footless leggings and a LONG flowing black skirt. Thats when I knew I would beg her to teach my girls dance. That was one of the main things I was bothered by when I was looking for a dance program for my girls. The skimpy outfits. These are so modest and yet beautiful. Im hoping those are the ones we go for. Im so excited to go to the store this week and pick up the pink and black leotards for practice. I cant wait until next week. :)
Karly completed a Kids Sewing 1 class on Monday. Its part of a summer camp at Joanne's. She made the prettiest pillow case. When I get a chance I will take a picture of it and the throw pillow she made back in April and post them. She will get to take the Sewing 2 class even though its on a Monday and Wednesday. I was worried she would not because of dance, but the church we do dance at is minutes away from Joanne's and the sewing class ends at 12 and her dance class starts at 12, so at about 11:45 I will pick her up from sewing and take her to dance. She will be sewing pajama pants. Im so happy Joanne's has these classes. I cant teach her to sew yet, but I know its a skill I want all the girls to have. I promised the other two sewing machines and classes for their tenth birthdays and they tell everyone that now.
Ok well thats enough babbling for now.

Be Blessed.

Rainy Day

Today is a rainy day on the homefront. We really really needed the rain here so its a huge blessing. Its a nice rain. Not stormy, just steady. I love stormy when its at night and Im curled up under the covers. I love rainy any other time.

Hubby has gone off for a time of fellowship with some of the men from church. Tonight I will be going to dinner with my mom and a few other friends.

The children are playing with their dress up clothes and baby dolls. There is much laughter and ooohhhing and aaahhhing as they dress in different outfits.

The baby is napping as he has some more teethe coming in and is plum tuckered out from all the whining and fussing. Pain reliever and teething tablets are a mama's best friend.

I have been reading some of my Amish books lately. Wanda Brunsetter and Beverly Lewis. I love their books. When I read how busy the characters stay keeping their home and family it really inspires me to get up and get busy doing.

I want to get some more work done in the great room today and then scrub the counters in the kitchen. Since hubby will be eating around 4 and I will be going out to dinner I only have to come up with something for the children to eat tonight. Im thinking about mixing up some from scratch Mac n Cheese and calling it a night. They would love that.

Look here and here to see what I ordered last night with Macy's gift cards hubby and I recieved for Christmas. Im excited. The crockpot is bigger than mine, though I probably should have held out for the 7 qt I saw at BJ's a few months ago. Of course when I went back to get it, it was gone. *sigh* Im also looking forward to having the smoothie maker. The reviews for it were mixed but why not try it? It could be a life saver, right? :)

Well I better get moving. I need to check the freezer and pantry and come up with meals for this week.

Be Blessed!

Heartbreaking

What is the world coming to??

Only read this article with a tissue.

Habits and Goals for June

Well as summer descends upon us I decided to pick this back up. I really think it helps me to know that Im going to report back on my progress at the end of the month. So here we go.

Health:
1. Eat at home more. We eat out entirely to much. I can cook healthy meals here at home. Im learning how to do this more and more and do it quickly. I love allrecipes.com, by the way.

2. Begin taking Cod Liver Oil.... EWWWWWWWWWW! Not looking forward to this at all, but after reading up on the health benefits its definatly something that hubby and I want to do.

3. Walk at least 3 times a week. For awhile there the kids and I were walking every morning before school. It helps them get the wiggles out and its good excercise.


Home:
1. Declutter my bedroom. This is my big project for the next two weeks. Believe me it will take at least 2 weeks.

2. Keep the kitchen clean and functioning. It will be so much easier to accomplish number 3 under health, if I can do this. I cant make bread if my kitchen is not clean. I cant get creative for dinner and baking if my kitchen is not clean. Ya see??

3. Maintain the kids rooms. They are nice and neat now. A little pick up everyday and they will stay that way.




So here we go June.

Be Blessed!

K - 12 School Memories Meme

Mrs. Sallie at A Gracious Home came up with this little meme. I decided to go ahead and participate in honor of my 10 year highschool reunion coming up in June. I was just going through some pictures the other day to send to the reunion committee. I loved highschool. I had so much fun!!



Apple Jacks or Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries? I went through a period in highschool where all I would eat for breakfast was Apple Zaps (generic Apple Jacks)

Band or Choir? I took chorus in 8th grade and then tried to be in the extracurricular chorus in highschool my freshman year. The teacher scared me so I dropped it.

Class Ring? Yes, it has my birthstone which is Topaz. It was white gold. I know it had a Bible and Cross on one side, but thats all I remember about it. I have it packed and put up somewhere now.

Ducks or Battleships? I dont remember.

Earning Money? I babysat some in highschool. My senior year I got a job as a receptionist at H&R Block for tax season.

Favorite Teacher? In elementary school it was probably Mrs. Wilcox, my 5th and 6th grade teacher. I went to a private school where 6th grade was still considered elementary school. I dont remember who my favorite teacher in middle school was. The two teachers I remember were my English teacher Mrs. Burton who was very very old and had a touch of dementia. She cracked me up, and my Algebra 1 teacher Mrs. Kirk. She was the wife of a minister and she would get so mad sometimes at certain people she would curse. Then she would spend all night calling all of her students and apologizing. She was a hoot. In highschool I had two favorite teachers and they were both my English teachers. Mrs. Bagby was my 10th and 12th grade AP English teacher. She was so funny and she really cared about all of her students. She made learning fun. Then my 9th grade English teacher Mr. Shreve. Oh my this man was a trip!! He was very sarcastic and had no problem calling you down. I learned a lot in his class.

Go Back and Do Over? I would care about my grades more. I was an "always just get by" student and I wish that I had actually done the homework and studied. Also I would have picked my friends a little better. It was not until my senior year of highschool that I found my perfect group of friends. We spent all year together and had a blast, while not being too wild and still doing school work. The group I had before was more worried about boys then school. They were also wild and had a reputation around school that I did not know about until I had seperated myself from them. I was also hanging on the fringe of a group of girls that went on to become teachers. They were great. I could have incorporated into that group a lot sooner and saved myself some heartache. I would also have tried to be friends with more people. I have learned that I enjoy getting to know others, but in HS I was scared of other people. I had little self confidence so it was harder for me to step out of my comfort zone.

Home Economics? I went to a college prep school, we did not believe in learning how to keep house. :(

Indoor Recess? Any day of the week. I hated going outside.

Jacks or Jump Rope? Jump rope. I can still jump a pretty mean rope.

Kickball or Dodgeball? Kickball. I could always be counted on to actually kick the ball.

Lunchbox? I think I bought my lunch most of the time.

Musical? I was never in one, but our school had an awesome drama program so I got to see some great ones. I did help build sets for A Night of One Acts at our school one year. I was in 10th grade.

Number of School Districts? 3 I think. From K-2nd grade I went to a school by my granny across town. From 3-6th grade I went to a private school near my house. From 7-8th grade I went to college prep middle school in a SCARY part of town. In Highschool I went to a college prep highschool close to the middle school and still pretty scary. LOL

Orange or Apple? Orange. I love the juciness.

Playground Equipment? Swings

Quiz Team or Debate? NEITHER! First of all did I mention I went to a college prep school?
Everyone there was a million times smarter than me!! Also, I was very, very shy in highschool (until you got to know me). I cried when I found out that I could not use creative writing as my art class and had to take a drama or speech class. I could have taken an art class, but I could never draw and knew that would be just as embarassing as either of the other classes. So I took drama my Senior year and actually enjoyed it, thanks to the wonderful teacher.

Recess? No, thank you. I had very low self esteem and thought recess was made for torture.

Spring Break? My family and I spent many spring breaks in Alabama visiting relatives or in Orlando visiting the Mouse.

Team Sports? I tried out for softball in 7th grade. I made the team, but was too embarassed to actually be on the team. Im telling you I was pathetic! LOL

Unfulfilled Dream? Im good. Im married and have a housefull of young'uns.

Valuable? Probably learning what it was like to not assert myself. Shying away from people because I was afraid of them. Pushing people away because once you became my friend or showed an interest in me I was a bit clingy. Learning what true friendship means.

Walk or Bus? Walked in elementary school, rode the bus in middle school (which terrified me so much I promised my kids would never do it, and they did not), bus the first part of highschool, then I convinced my mom to take me, then I got my drivers license and drove.

X Country or Basketball? Neither. See the above softball story.

Year? 8th and 12th grades. This was when I had the best friends and experiences.

Zzzzzz’s? Gym. Honestly I would pick male teachers for gym so I could sit out of a lot of stuff. There was plenty that the male teacher did not want to talk about and I knew just what to say to sit out. Also Probability and Statistics my senior year. I did not need it to graduate and it was just plain boring to me.