.day.28. ice is a-nice

I have turned into a Virginian. It freezes over a little, and I expect a cancellation. Today, however, I got my wish. Our first day of NO SCHOOL BECAUSE OF SNOW/ICE! e cancelled her morning appointments today, so we hung out. finally put all of the christmas stuff away. It had been down, just not packed away. Now it is all good. We can start to look forward to spring!! (maybe)

This is the view from the bedroom window. I was not about to go out into the ice. No thanks. I stayed warm and toasty on the inside.

.day.27. the first snow!

What a crazy Tuesday! The day started out with a winter weather advisory for the area. When I woke up, there was nothing on the ground, just snow clouds in the sky. Every county around us cancelled school except for the idiots in King George. So, we drive to school thinking that it is going to be a normal day.

Well, on the drive in, we hear "King George County Schools are now closed..." on the radio. We scream with excitement. While we are deciding to turn around or keep going, we called Jenn to check in. While we were screaming, we missed the adendum to the announcement: Employees must report. That really pissed us off. Ha. We get to school, and the snow is really coming down by this point. At 10 o'clock, they decide that we are allowed to leave. We stayed to get our report cards done.

By the tme we left school around 1, it was freezing. I ran outside to get these few pics, and ran back in. C-O-L-D.

.day.26. mail call

mom and dad sent this in the mail for me. A good-luck charm for the SUPER BOWL on sunday!

.day.25. no football

first day of no football since July. Very disappointing. But at least we have one more game next week! Went grocery shopping, (again) made taco dip, (again) and creepy phee hung out in the window (again). :)

.day.24. surprising dinner

Had dinner up in Alexandria with Jim and Alissa. It was a really good evening. I get to be in the wedding officially. :)

.day.23. edible cells

sounds pretty gross, looks pretty gross, and it probably tastes gross too. But the kids love it.

fruit by the foot = cell wall
muffin cup = cell membrane
pudding = cytoplasm
gusher = nucleus
gummi bears = vacuoles
green sprinkles = chloroplasts

.day.22. ABC.123

closer to the weekend... but not quite.

.day.21. colorful clips

Work all week. Nothing exciting, really. Another day, another dime...

.day.20. inauguration day

Had to be at school today for the inauguration, but we watched the coverage on tv all morning/afternoon. A good, good day.

.day.19. mlk day

I had the day off today, and it was nice and relaxing. One thing that I did take note of, everyone is a-buzz with excitement about tomorrow's inauguration. HOW EXCITING IS THIS??? I am so so so happy to watch the coverage at school tomorrow. I know that I am going to cry when he gives his speech. I think I might just warn my students so that they know what to expect. :)

Speaking of my students, I cannot even begin to describe the happiness that I have about the STEELERS going to the Super Bowl again this year!!!! My kids harrass me something horrible, (I provoke it 100%!) and I would have hated to hear that my team sucked. But, no need to worry. Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl! HERE WE GO!

What a great week this is!!

.day.18. freelance star

The Sunday paper had a great write-up and photo collection of Obama's journey to the White House. I can't wait to visit DC again. This time, E and I won't flip off the White House. Hey, you never know if Bush was looking out the windows at that very moment. ;)

.day.17. waffley weekend

We got a new George Foreman for Christmas, (cant tell you how much we needed one!) and it has removable plates. One set of which is for WAFFLES! YUM! So, they were delicious, but I put a little too much batter in. Made a big mess. oops.

.day.16. hardware

It was time for a cleaning of my hardware collection. Yes, this is what I wear in my ears everyday. I must be nuts.

.day.15. pizza party

Well, not really a party. But dinner nonetheless.

.day.14. snack time

Taco dip is the best ever. I thought the chip bag looked pretty cool...

My secret recipe?

8 oz. sour cream
8 oz. cream cheese
1 packet taco seasoning
cheese
lettuce
tomato

Mix the sour cream, cream cheese, and taco seasoning in a bowl. Spread onto serving plate. Layer first with cheese, then lettuce, and chopped tomato. ENJOY!

.day.13. scary stuff

Appropriate on Day 13... a scary story. E finished her book by Brian Keene. It was about zombies and the end of the world. So, if you like that stuff, she said it was awesome. :)

.day.12. save the date!

My good, great friends Reb and Nate are getting married! I am in the wedding party, and I am so glad to be a part of their special day. Even before that though, I took their engagement photos so that they could make their save-the-dates and such. So here is the final product, hanging on our fridge... Love you guys!

.day.11. bring on baltimore

grocery shopping this morning. my all-time favorite hobby. and then i worked on yearbook stuff and updating my blog. meanwhile, the steelers beat the chargers. thank goodness. afc championship game next sunday! hell yeah. its late. i am tired. can you tell?

.day.10. wine-ing

a wine party and dinner with the crew. fun times! we hung out at amanda's and enjoyed several bottles, wii, football, food, catchphrase, wet clothing, and of course photos.

.day.9. cleaning out

e spent part of the day at work cleaning out the office. so, i got some dry erase markers out of the deal. good thing, i need new ones at school...

.day.8. plain and simple

is it just me, or do you hate taking down the christmas decorations? everything is so plain again. e was lucky enough to be off during the day today, so she worked on de-decorating the house. havent yet put the stuff away in the closets yet... that day will come.

.day.7. i love toast

did i ever tell you how much i love toast? well, if not, i am telling you now. I asked for a toaster for my classroom so that I can make bagels and/or PB toast for snack and lunch. best idea ever. here is the case that i use to carry the bread to school. (can you tell i teach elementary?)

.day.6. new toy

After my successful fundraiser for the yearbook staff, I was able to use the money to purchase a laptop for the school. And I get to use it to make the yearbook online. At home. A sweet deal.

.day.5. back to life

back to reality. the first day back to work was a busy one. stressful even. I resorted to performing this "weekend update" because I was simply too tired and did not have enough time to mess around on the computer daily. But, that's okay. As long as I continue to blog and continue to take my pictures, then that is all that should matter. well, at least to me. :) here is a pic of my new purse that I used my Kohl's cash for. Free stuff is awesome.

.day.4. christmas passed

So the holidays came and went. Can you believe it? Me neither. Today was the last day of freedom for a little while. Back to busting my ass tomorrow. sigh. All good things come to an end. How depressing.

Today was breakfast with Eliz, then home to do some laundry and cleaning up. E came home from work and we had Tra-Sket for dinner. One thing we havent done: de-decorate. here is a remnant...

.day.3. poor bbc

The last saturday before the end of vacation. yuck. Oh well, I guess I am ready to go back. That just means that it is one step closer to summer vacation! :) Even though I am going to have a SHITLOAD of things to do. Parent conferences to line up, yearbook to create, laptop to purchase, pictures to take, fundraiser to finish, SCA meeting to host, report cards to make soon, GMU students to mentor, papers to check, lessons to write... yikes. Oh yeah, and how about photo blogs and personal goals and working out, and a social life? yeah. One step at a time, tracy. Nothing like getting overwhelmed at the start of 2009. I will handle it all. No sweat. At least I am not still working on my masters. Sheesh. Can we say mental breakdown?? :)

So babycat had a cut on her little mouth that looked like it was getting infected. So being the good moms that we are, we took her to the vet this morning. Poor little thing. She cried in the car something horrible. I took her out of the cage, and she clung to me. Fur flying. But, the doctor said it was no biggie and gave her a shot of antibiotic. She should be good as new in a few days. We put her in the bedroom so that the others wouldn't bother her. She needed her rest.

.day.2. a new look

I am proud to say that I did a ton of photo work today. I backed everything up, saved to cds, edited, posted, etc., etc., etc. And I found time to run to the gym for the first time this year. Not for long, but I made it there. And ate healthily too. :) Accomplished.

Now for the photo. I got new plates which e put on for me yesterday. Bless her heart, it was freezing out there. But, they made it. I thought I would represent one of our favorites. I tried for just "avenged" but that was taken. so what the hell. a7x. word.

.day.1. resolutions

Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that it is already 2009. I feel confident that I will keep up with my picture-posting if I have e working beside me. Let's get serious. And keep our fingers crossed. ;)

I have been editing my ass off these last few days. I have made promises to get photos done, and I am well on my way. All of Mike and Lauren's wedding pictures were done today. Whew. So now I can work on others... Here is a sample from those photos:



Another resolution: drinking more water. This photo is almost like one of those "can you guess what it is?" things. Well, this is my new water bottle. exciting, yes? Day 2 of Operation 64 oz. complete.