So, I thought it was a long time between the last post and the one before, but whoa, now it's been a longer time. I do finally feel better though. It took almost two weeks, but I'm not coughing much anymore.
We had a good weekend taking the Karen girls to Kent to see Katie and Hannah. It was kind of an ordeal to get them and lunch and get there, but after that, it was very worth it. Sunday we had Kayla with us all day--she got to experience the boringness that is being a Yackley on Sunday afternoons. We just don't do very much!
IMPACT went pretty well acutally. We ate pizza and played the game with tape and cotton swabs and straws from LT a few years ago. Then we talked about plans for the fall and Andrew led a talk/discussion about where we get our identity. Good stuff.
Thought we were going to Kent after IMPACT, but turned out Kay still had to go to Kent so we sent the stuff for Katie and Hannah with her. Had to make a cereal run!!
Today everything went pretty well at BOW, except that I am a little concerned that my students aren't all handing in all of the assignments for every week. I don't know if it's because they don't know what to do, or they're just getting into the swing of school, or their parents aren't checking/helping them. Whatever, I think I need to send an email to tell their moms what the assignments are for next week and to encourage them to make sure their kids have everything. They are nice kids and so the teaching is fine when we're in class.
I was grading papers tonight just like a real teacher. While watching CHUCK!! Great first episode--so many funny moments. Such a good show.
Abby has driving tomorrow morning so that should be fun--and make for a busy day.
I need to go get some food tomorrow too. And work on science stuff. And go to Urban Vision. Guess I better go and plan what that food will be that I need to buy. So, off to work on that!
Maybe I'll have something exciting to blog about sometime soon. Good night, dear reader!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Long time, no blog
Long time, no blog...Ever since Tuesday, I haven't been feeling well, so I've been doing the basics and not much else. Wed. I did manage to teach my science class, but didn't feel great. Thursday, I worked on school stuff, but felt "officially" sick: coughing, achy, chills. Yuck. One day of somewhat rest, and then Friday we had planned to have our small group over, so I cleaned and made rigatoni for that. Coughing more and feeling crummy. And of course it was a later night.
Saturday, I did very little. Told the Karen girls we couldn't have them over since I was sick. But Jeff and I did work on the budget for a very long time. Not sure what took so long except that for every question, it took some time to find the information to answer it. But one exciting thing there...as of the end of September (Lord willing and no emergencies arise) we will be done with our 3-6 month emergency fund, Baby Step #3!! Yay!! On to finishing our retirement allotment and working on saving for college and a car. We will need another one some day since the Honda and Saturn are both 1999s. That seems really old...is that right? I think it is...well, good thing we've upped our savings for that!
Today I didn't go to church because I kept waking up during the night coughing, and so Jeff let me sleep in until they were leaving. Good to rest more, have a long quiet time, make a "neck-a-lace" and then Jeff and Abby were home.
We did go for a walk, and I made it without a coughing fit, so that was good. Now Jeff and Abby are doing their Sunday route to get a paper, take some rigatoni to the Eatons that I wanted to give them on Friday night but forgot, and get shaving cream for Abby's youth group kick-off at Green Valley tonight. Sounds like it will be a "let's get sticky!" kind of night there.
Jeff and I are going to try to have a semi-date while she's there, although I won't be able to talk much, but maybe at least get dinner somewhere even if we don't go out. I need to be able to talk for 3 hours tomorrow: from 9-11am and from 1:30-2:30pm. So I need to save my words for that.
So, that's my life lately. Fairly boring, but being sick has that effect. Glad to hear Katie and Hannah are doing well at Kent. Love reading Hannah's blog about her daily affairs--what she's eating, what classes are like, who she's hanging out with, etc. And since some of it is done with Katie, I can keep up with her that way too--and fb and calls of course.
So, maybe I'll go out and enjoy this lovely day by reading a book outside...until later, dear readers.
Saturday, I did very little. Told the Karen girls we couldn't have them over since I was sick. But Jeff and I did work on the budget for a very long time. Not sure what took so long except that for every question, it took some time to find the information to answer it. But one exciting thing there...as of the end of September (Lord willing and no emergencies arise) we will be done with our 3-6 month emergency fund, Baby Step #3!! Yay!! On to finishing our retirement allotment and working on saving for college and a car. We will need another one some day since the Honda and Saturn are both 1999s. That seems really old...is that right? I think it is...well, good thing we've upped our savings for that!
Today I didn't go to church because I kept waking up during the night coughing, and so Jeff let me sleep in until they were leaving. Good to rest more, have a long quiet time, make a "neck-a-lace" and then Jeff and Abby were home.
We did go for a walk, and I made it without a coughing fit, so that was good. Now Jeff and Abby are doing their Sunday route to get a paper, take some rigatoni to the Eatons that I wanted to give them on Friday night but forgot, and get shaving cream for Abby's youth group kick-off at Green Valley tonight. Sounds like it will be a "let's get sticky!" kind of night there.
Jeff and I are going to try to have a semi-date while she's there, although I won't be able to talk much, but maybe at least get dinner somewhere even if we don't go out. I need to be able to talk for 3 hours tomorrow: from 9-11am and from 1:30-2:30pm. So I need to save my words for that.
So, that's my life lately. Fairly boring, but being sick has that effect. Glad to hear Katie and Hannah are doing well at Kent. Love reading Hannah's blog about her daily affairs--what she's eating, what classes are like, who she's hanging out with, etc. And since some of it is done with Katie, I can keep up with her that way too--and fb and calls of course.
So, maybe I'll go out and enjoy this lovely day by reading a book outside...until later, dear readers.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
A Foodperks Grocery Trip Adventure
We had a fun weekend with Hannah home on Friday and Katie coming home on Sunday night after h2o. An unexpectedly free day on Saturday since we were planning to have the Karen girls over, but they couldn't come because their family went to Niagara Falls for the day. So we did some shopping, and we had dinner, and our friends, Kasey and Bethany came over for the evening and stayed in our basement overnight. They came to church with us and played in the band. Fun, fun!
Sunday evening we took Hannah back to go to church at Kent, and Abby and I went to babysit for the kiddos so that the moms could attend church. We're going to try to do that regularly. It was actually quite fun--the kids are so sweet and funny and adorable.
Sunday night we kind of ate some dinner after we got home--late--but we mostly missed dinner earlier. And we had cake and ice cream!
Monday we had the Karen girls over, so that involved cooking "soup and rice" (chili), and French fries too! We helped Eh Ler with homework, the younger girls played in the basement for a long time with the doll house. I'm so glad we kept that. They have played with it more than our girls ever did. We also made a trip to Wal-Mart for Eh Ler to get some school stuff and for Katie to get a few things too. I needed a large jug of vinegar for a science experiment on Wed. and walked out of the store without picking it up after paying for it. Guess I was a little distracted!! I went back though and the cashier had it for me.
Abby and Eh Dah Doe had baked a cake for EDD since her birthday was last Friday, and she said she didn't have a cake because her family was busy with something all week. She turned 13!! We've known them for over 2 years now. So when we got home from WM, we ate cake and shuffled them off in the van with Jeff and Abby so that I could make dinner, and we could eat and take a walk, and then take Katie and Hannah back, but not until quite late! Like 9 or 9:30pm! One of the great things about going to college close to home--we can take them back late and spend every minute together possible!
Today I woke up with a headache that I went to bed with last night. Too many late nights with my contacts in. I helped Abby with school stuff a little, balanced the checkbook, looked over my stuff for science class tomorrow, started to prepare for history next Monday. After lunch, we went to Giant Eagle for my first attempt at using my foodperks of 20% up to $300. Abby went with me since I knew it would take 2 carts to fit everything in.
I had planned carefully to keep my total close to $300--I was most concerned that they would be out of things that I needed in larger quantities to make my plan work. But that went well. Abby was a huge help, kept me laughing when she sang along to the musak, and kept me from buying the wrong things. We had two very full carts, and it ended up being three when they bagged them. I spent my $300, got $60 off, and my receipt was 57 inches long!! It also said I saved $201 with all of the sale items, coupons, and foodperks. Not bad! I got lots of chicken, pasta and sauce, chips, brownie mixes, some pop, yogurt, ice cream, frozen pizzas, sugar, and a few things I needed just for this week. Also got $1 off fuel just this trip, and since I put it on Discover, got the cash back too. Now I just have to take some money out of the grocery budget for the next couple of paychecks to balance it all out, but I think it was well worth the planning and collecting food at the store and carting it all home and putting it away. It made grocery shopping more of an adventure than a chore!
So then we watched a "What Not to Wear" to relax after our big event--Abby also knows how to relax after hard work--I like that girl!! :) I made tacos for dinner, was going to go for a walk, but it's been raining on and off, so we watched The Cosby Show until the DVD player started turning off on its own! Just then Glee started, so we've been watching that instead.
OK, so now it's almost time for bed, and I AM going to go to bed earlier tonight because I've been feeling like I might get sick today. Kinda stuffy, headache, tickly throat. But I'm hoping I can fight it off if I sleep.
Glad to hear that K and H's first English Conversation Group went well today. I'm excited for the people they will meet this semester through that. I'm sure the word will spread, and more people will come as the weeks go on. I'm sure that it will be a great learning experience for K, H, and everyone who comes. Go girls!!
BOW tomorrow--hope that goes well. I feel more prepared, so we'll see...
Good night, dear readers!
Sunday evening we took Hannah back to go to church at Kent, and Abby and I went to babysit for the kiddos so that the moms could attend church. We're going to try to do that regularly. It was actually quite fun--the kids are so sweet and funny and adorable.
Sunday night we kind of ate some dinner after we got home--late--but we mostly missed dinner earlier. And we had cake and ice cream!
Monday we had the Karen girls over, so that involved cooking "soup and rice" (chili), and French fries too! We helped Eh Ler with homework, the younger girls played in the basement for a long time with the doll house. I'm so glad we kept that. They have played with it more than our girls ever did. We also made a trip to Wal-Mart for Eh Ler to get some school stuff and for Katie to get a few things too. I needed a large jug of vinegar for a science experiment on Wed. and walked out of the store without picking it up after paying for it. Guess I was a little distracted!! I went back though and the cashier had it for me.
Abby and Eh Dah Doe had baked a cake for EDD since her birthday was last Friday, and she said she didn't have a cake because her family was busy with something all week. She turned 13!! We've known them for over 2 years now. So when we got home from WM, we ate cake and shuffled them off in the van with Jeff and Abby so that I could make dinner, and we could eat and take a walk, and then take Katie and Hannah back, but not until quite late! Like 9 or 9:30pm! One of the great things about going to college close to home--we can take them back late and spend every minute together possible!
Today I woke up with a headache that I went to bed with last night. Too many late nights with my contacts in. I helped Abby with school stuff a little, balanced the checkbook, looked over my stuff for science class tomorrow, started to prepare for history next Monday. After lunch, we went to Giant Eagle for my first attempt at using my foodperks of 20% up to $300. Abby went with me since I knew it would take 2 carts to fit everything in.
I had planned carefully to keep my total close to $300--I was most concerned that they would be out of things that I needed in larger quantities to make my plan work. But that went well. Abby was a huge help, kept me laughing when she sang along to the musak, and kept me from buying the wrong things. We had two very full carts, and it ended up being three when they bagged them. I spent my $300, got $60 off, and my receipt was 57 inches long!! It also said I saved $201 with all of the sale items, coupons, and foodperks. Not bad! I got lots of chicken, pasta and sauce, chips, brownie mixes, some pop, yogurt, ice cream, frozen pizzas, sugar, and a few things I needed just for this week. Also got $1 off fuel just this trip, and since I put it on Discover, got the cash back too. Now I just have to take some money out of the grocery budget for the next couple of paychecks to balance it all out, but I think it was well worth the planning and collecting food at the store and carting it all home and putting it away. It made grocery shopping more of an adventure than a chore!
So then we watched a "What Not to Wear" to relax after our big event--Abby also knows how to relax after hard work--I like that girl!! :) I made tacos for dinner, was going to go for a walk, but it's been raining on and off, so we watched The Cosby Show until the DVD player started turning off on its own! Just then Glee started, so we've been watching that instead.
OK, so now it's almost time for bed, and I AM going to go to bed earlier tonight because I've been feeling like I might get sick today. Kinda stuffy, headache, tickly throat. But I'm hoping I can fight it off if I sleep.
Glad to hear that K and H's first English Conversation Group went well today. I'm excited for the people they will meet this semester through that. I'm sure the word will spread, and more people will come as the weeks go on. I'm sure that it will be a great learning experience for K, H, and everyone who comes. Go girls!!
BOW tomorrow--hope that goes well. I feel more prepared, so we'll see...
Good night, dear readers!
Thursday, September 02, 2010
No funny title ideas today
The second day of school (Wed.) was much quieter and emptier at BOW. Less kids take classes on Wednesday I guess, and since I didn't have to go until around 11am, it felt kind of weird. Like being in school when everyone else got to leave and have fun! My class wasn't until 12:30pm, but I went early for Karen to show me how to use her projector for Power Point slides (that she made and let me use--she's a gem!). I had also invited a new family to come and observe classes on Wednesday, so I thought I should go and meet them too.
I ate lunch there and was talking to some of the moms, and one mom whose daughter was going to be in my physical science class that day said, "I just want you to know that my daughter isn't thrilled with taking this class. She saw how much work it was for her brother when he took it, and she's kind of dreading it." Great. But her point in telling me wasn't to make me feel stressed or anything. It was so that if I needed to give her a "let's have a cheerful attitude" talk, I would know I had her permission!
I didn't feel as prepared for this class, mostly because I couldn't really get a feel for how it would go--time, order, power point stuff. So I decided I just had to do it, and then next time I'll know better. It was tricky using someone else's slides because I didn't always know when there was a new slide for the next topic, so I did some backtracking, etc. But the experiment went well, and the kids talked and answered questions, so overall, I thought it was OK. The best part was at the end when the "dreading the class" girl was leaving and said, "Thanks for teaching us. I had fun today!" OK, so I guess it wasn't awful!!
We cleaned up and left quickly to go home and meet Jeff to go to Kent. Tom Short was going to be preaching on campus, and we wanted to go and hear him. It's always interesting to hear what people think. When we got there someone had just asked him what he thought about the mosque being built in NYC right near Ground Zero. I thought he gave an excellent answer. (He had just been there last weekend to see it.) He said that legally, they have every right to build it there, but if their reason is really to "build a bridge" between Muslims and America, it's a totally insensitive and wrong thing to do. That led to a barrage of comments and questions about Islam--one student there was Muslim and very out-spoken. And very angry that Tom would say that Christianity is right and Islam is wrong. It went on for a long time, and he had to keep repeating himself because new students would walk up and ask the same thing he had just covered over and over.
Even Christians told him they thought he was doing the wrong thing by being there talking to a crowd. I find that sad. Especially because everything he said was true, and he said it in a good way--didn't beat around the bush, but was never offensive or rude or unkind. Unlike so many of those who spoke to him. Someone even threw two eggs--missed everyone, but apparently trying to cause a distraction. Tom ignored it and kept talking. Even when he was telling this very personal story about his father-in-law who was an atheist for 70 years and finally at the end of his life admitted he needed God, this guy was writing with chalk on the ground in a big circle around where Tom was sitting: The only truth about God is found within. Listen to no one else. Or something like that. He ignored that too.
Wow. I know that is his gift and calling, and that's why we go to support him when we can because it's a hard job!!
We ate dinner with him and others, saw Katie for a little, got to see Hannah's room with a roommate's stuff in it--didn't get to meet the roommate yet. Heard a little about classes and roommate stuff from Hannah and Katie, and that was about it. Quick visit, but we'll get to catch up more this weekend.
Today was an "at home" day--laundry, school with Abby, planning for the next science class now that I know what I need to figure out, and soon, making dinner. Jeff is going to the Browns game with some friends, and Abby and I are going to Angie's to help with kids while Jeff takes Jason away to the game. Haven't gotten to see them much for a while, so that will be fun. Love those sweet kiddos!! And love to get to chat with Angie too of course!!
OK, eggs, bacon, and toast for dinner it is. We have to eat early since Jeff is leaving for the game, so I'm making something easy! More later, dear readers!
I ate lunch there and was talking to some of the moms, and one mom whose daughter was going to be in my physical science class that day said, "I just want you to know that my daughter isn't thrilled with taking this class. She saw how much work it was for her brother when he took it, and she's kind of dreading it." Great. But her point in telling me wasn't to make me feel stressed or anything. It was so that if I needed to give her a "let's have a cheerful attitude" talk, I would know I had her permission!
I didn't feel as prepared for this class, mostly because I couldn't really get a feel for how it would go--time, order, power point stuff. So I decided I just had to do it, and then next time I'll know better. It was tricky using someone else's slides because I didn't always know when there was a new slide for the next topic, so I did some backtracking, etc. But the experiment went well, and the kids talked and answered questions, so overall, I thought it was OK. The best part was at the end when the "dreading the class" girl was leaving and said, "Thanks for teaching us. I had fun today!" OK, so I guess it wasn't awful!!
We cleaned up and left quickly to go home and meet Jeff to go to Kent. Tom Short was going to be preaching on campus, and we wanted to go and hear him. It's always interesting to hear what people think. When we got there someone had just asked him what he thought about the mosque being built in NYC right near Ground Zero. I thought he gave an excellent answer. (He had just been there last weekend to see it.) He said that legally, they have every right to build it there, but if their reason is really to "build a bridge" between Muslims and America, it's a totally insensitive and wrong thing to do. That led to a barrage of comments and questions about Islam--one student there was Muslim and very out-spoken. And very angry that Tom would say that Christianity is right and Islam is wrong. It went on for a long time, and he had to keep repeating himself because new students would walk up and ask the same thing he had just covered over and over.
Even Christians told him they thought he was doing the wrong thing by being there talking to a crowd. I find that sad. Especially because everything he said was true, and he said it in a good way--didn't beat around the bush, but was never offensive or rude or unkind. Unlike so many of those who spoke to him. Someone even threw two eggs--missed everyone, but apparently trying to cause a distraction. Tom ignored it and kept talking. Even when he was telling this very personal story about his father-in-law who was an atheist for 70 years and finally at the end of his life admitted he needed God, this guy was writing with chalk on the ground in a big circle around where Tom was sitting: The only truth about God is found within. Listen to no one else. Or something like that. He ignored that too.
Wow. I know that is his gift and calling, and that's why we go to support him when we can because it's a hard job!!
We ate dinner with him and others, saw Katie for a little, got to see Hannah's room with a roommate's stuff in it--didn't get to meet the roommate yet. Heard a little about classes and roommate stuff from Hannah and Katie, and that was about it. Quick visit, but we'll get to catch up more this weekend.
Today was an "at home" day--laundry, school with Abby, planning for the next science class now that I know what I need to figure out, and soon, making dinner. Jeff is going to the Browns game with some friends, and Abby and I are going to Angie's to help with kids while Jeff takes Jason away to the game. Haven't gotten to see them much for a while, so that will be fun. Love those sweet kiddos!! And love to get to chat with Angie too of course!!
OK, eggs, bacon, and toast for dinner it is. We have to eat early since Jeff is leaving for the game, so I'm making something easy! More later, dear readers!
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