It was above freezing today--hurray!

I woke up feeling "stuffy" today, but don't have a real cold or anything. But it was good to sleep in a little. I worked on preparing for science for tomorrow, and I was getting really overwhelmed when I looked at the material. It was an introduction to physics with a lot of math and new concepts. We had scheduled to do the whole module in one week, and I was thinking, "There's no way these kids are going to be able to do this!" I mean, some of the older ones would be fine, but some of the younger ones would be lost. But I went ahead and did the whole module of prep, thinking the whole time of different ways to stretch it out over two weeks and make it work.

Then, after I had done it all, I looked at Karen's teaching schedule, and she had made the test OPEN BOOK! Whew! I was so relieved for the kids! I know I'm the teacher and could have decided that, but it never occured to me. It was such a fair way of dealing with the lack of time and all of the new material. She's a genius! So now I feel much less like a mean teacher going in there tomorrow and trying to cover all of that!

I paid some bills, ate some lunch, and went for a walk. It was almost 40 degrees today! Wow! It felt almost balmy. Such a refreshing change to be outside.

Then we went to UV, and it went well. I was feeling really bad for Ehne Thau at the end of homework time though. It was 5:30pm-6pm and she was working on math problems. Simplifying fractions that should have been quick. But her teacher makes them list all of the factors of the denominator and numerator for every single problem then show their work in dividing the top and bottom of the fraction by the same number. Oh, how tedious! She was plugging away, but she didn't finish her 23 problems. She did them all right and didn't need my help, but I just sat there with her anyway because she was the last one left in the room, and I felt so sorry for her. Moral support, you know.

Then I went to Marc's and back to take Abby to dance. She said her ballet class went well. So glad. Now home and I'm tired! All that fresh air I think!

I told the EDD that we couldn't have them over this weekend because we were having friends over for dinner--which is small group Friday night, but we decided that we need at least one day of the weekend to be free and more restful. If Friday is super busy, we have the girls over on Saturday, then church and babysitting for h2o on Sunday, I will feel exhausted and like I never get a break. I'm working on making space and margin in my schedule, and this seemed like a time to practice it. We'll have them over the next Saturday though. She said we could write messages on facebook! That's kind of fun! So, I'm trying not to feel guilty about freeing up my schedule some, and to know that God wants us to have a breather in our week. The Sabbath was His idea, you know.

I am getting very excited about getting my hair cut on Friday! I have found a couple of pictures that I like, and I'm going to see what Denise thinks, but I'm ready to have it shorter and have the color done again.

While I was waiting for Abby, I was listening to WKSU and they were talking about this new cookbook that scientists made with more "scientific" ways to prepare food. Like, grill a burger to the perfect done-ness. Then dip it in liquid nitrogen to freeze it and keep it that way. Then take a blow torch to it to make a crispy outside with the perfect inside. Hmm....why does that not sound appealing? Like they said, it sounds like a bunch of very rich guys playing with their food. But who would have believed microwaves? Let's just say, I won't be buying that book--I think it was insanely expensive too.

Well, that's about all the news for today. I am expecting a call from Hannah about the spring break trip soon, so I want to be available to talk to her. I loved Katie's blog and hearing about her day. I look forward to reading it every day! And I appreciated her answering my questions about French life too. I read that Thomas Jefferson book with Ehne Thau again today--with the "potatoes fried in the French manner." Well, actually, she read it to me very well! Hannah would be so proud of her little student! Anyway, it was fun to help her make the connection that Jefferson went to the same country that Katie's in right now. So, until tomorrow, dear reader!