I'm back!!

I know, I know, it has been almost a month! I actually thought about waiting until Friday to post so that it would be a full month. As it is, this will be rather short because I see that there is a scheduled outage in less than 20 minutes! Aaggghh!!

All I can say is, WHERE HAS THE SUMMER GONE?????? Granted, school starts late this year for me (Sept. 2), but I have already started inservice days and prepping. Of course, they are waaaayy behind in the asbestos removal so who knows when I'll even be able to get into my room. It's going to be chaos! I'm sure I'll post pictures when the time comes!

Anyway, the main thing I wanted to write tonight is to ask all of you a question: do you have (or have you had) an article of clothing that it seems like no matter when you wear it, something ALWAYS gets on it? Well, I have. In the past, it had been a pair of dress pants that I would wear to school and crazy things would happen to them every time I wore them. I remember one time I dropped my Turkey Hill Iced Tea bottle on the stairs as I was returning to my room and of course it exploded all over the pants!

The latest article of clothing is my white tank top. Now, I didn't pay much for this top, and I didn't expect it to last all that long, but really, do I have to spill something on it EVERY time I wear it???? I can't remember what got on it first, but the last time I wore it, I spilled a Burger King Iced Mocha coffee on it (they hadn't put the lid on tight). Now tonight I went to Weis to buy pine nuts (which they did not have and had never heard of so I'm substituting walnuts for my pesto because I did not feel like going to Costco just for a big bag of pine nuts that I won't use again until it's cold and I spend the day making spaghetti sauce! - How's that for a run-on sentence?) and pan spray, you know, Pam? Well, as I was roaming the aisles looking for the pine nuts, I must have braced the can of spray against my stomach. Of course, it left a nice circular grease ring on my white tank top!!!

Well, I'm going to go make said pesto now. I thought I had plenty of basil leaves, until I read that I had to have 2 cups "packed." Yeah, I had half of a cup. So, I went to Courtney's and raided her basil. :)

Oh, and when this "outage" is over, I will probably break my self-imposed "no personal photos" rule and show you pictures from my brother's wedding. They were just too good not to share! :)

Finally, if you were given my shutterfly page and password, check it out - LOTS of new pics to see over there! (That info I AM keeping private!)

Until next time!

random bits

So, my friend, Krista, asked if I had taken the new header photo. I realized that I had neglected to discuss this one and the previous one.

The first one I had either myself or my husband took of Sea Bright, NJ, beach - looking north towards NYC. On clear winter days, you can actually see the skyline in the distance.

The one that I have now I took of a lily that (if I remember correctly) is from a bulb that I got at a friend's wedding. The sad thing is that I specifically took that picture to turn into a header photo! :)

Of course, with both pictures (and any future ones I put up there), I played around with the exposure/coloring quite a bit. I think they are fun - and play into the "shades of grey" theme I have going on.

Speaking of "shades of grey" - I would like your thoughts on what that means to you! Maybe sometime I'll let you know why I picked that title! :)

On to another random bit: I just got my grade for that class I just finished. 99.8%! :) And the professor even gave me a compliment! (Yet, I still wonder if she just took off a random .2% simply so I wouldn't receive a perfect score) If anyone is interested in reading anything about Stephen Krashen and/or the Critical Period Hypothesis, just let me know! :)

Until next time...

trying to catch up...

As I mentioned in previous posts, after finishing school (and all of its packing), my next big thing was helping my mom with her church's Bible School. Thankfully, I had backed out of playing the piano for it, opting to teach the kindergarten class instead. I know, I know, it was kindergarten. BUT, let me tell you, what an eye-opening experience teaching middle-class kindergarteners!!! The one kid is reading on a 5th grade reading level!!!!! Another funny moment was when I asked the students what their favorite food is and one kid answered "pigs' stomachs on butcherin' day"!!! I was certainly not in the city! :)

Anyway, Bible School took up the morning, and in the afternoons I worked on my 1-credit class. I had told myself that I wouldn't go home until all of that work was submitted. By Sat., I was ready to go home, but unfortunately, my work wasn't done. Mon. at noon I submitted the last assignment and my car was packed by 1pm!

I do have to say that although the weather was entirely too cold for the clothes that I had packed, everything was beautiful. So, I end this post with a lot of pictures from the week in Johnstown (well, the surrounding area anyway).

June 15th, my husband rode out with me and we went water-skiing with my 2 sisters and their significant others (husband & boyfriend) at the Youghiogheny River Lake. Hubby then rode back home with my youngest sister and her boyfriend. The first picture is from wikipedia. I took the rest.

The newborn llama (called a "cria")

and a few days later...
finally, some scenic shots (in slideshow format because there are so many!)

p.s. did you notice the new header picture? :)

sorry it has been so long!!

In the last month since I last posted, I have only been home 7 days (not in a row) - and those were spent working on the kitchen and doing laundry to get ready to leave again!

Anyway, there is a lot I want to share with you about these last few weeks, but alas, that will have to wait until later. So, I will just do a quick update on my book list for the 50 Book Challenge!

4. A Place Called Here - Cecelia Ahern: she's the author of P.S. I Love You, but do not expect this book to be even remotely similar!

5. Being Committed - Anna Maxted: chick lit

6. Sleeping Together - Stacey Ballis: chick lit

7. My Fake Wedding - Mina Ford: chick lit, but much more vulgar than they usually are; also, a LOT of British slang that was difficult to understand

8. The Lightning Thief- Rick Riordan: the first in a young adult's series regarding the Olympians (you know, Greek gods); very cool, especially if you know anything about Greek mythology

9. Uglies - Scott Westerfeld

10. Pretties - Scott Westerfeld

11. Specials - Scott Westerfeld: also YA, but older; EXCELLENT trilogy. There is a fourth, but I've been told that it doesn't quite fit in with these last 3

12. The Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan

13. The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan: I am ready for book 4 in this series!

14. Lucy's Launderette - Betsy Burke: chick lit

15. Island of Lost Girls - Jennifer McMahon: I'm not quite sure how I feel about this book; it's a quick read, and sort of reminds me of Alice Sebold's Lovely Bones

So, all in all, as busy as I have been, I've still managed to read 12 books! We'll see if I can keep this pace! :)