Another Christmas present!

Matt's dad and Jean bought him a nook for Christmas (the Barnes and Noble book reader). Unfortunately, like all new electronics, they were sold out and on back order at Christmas. Jim called Friday to let Matt know that it is in. I'm excited because Matt said he "can't" read another book until he gets his nook. Now we get to plan a trip to St. Pete to pick it up. Thanks Jim and Jean!

Christmas presents!

Ok, I know January is more than half way over, so it may seems a little late to be posting about Christmas presents, but you'll understand. My grandma and my abuelo both gave us Christmas money. Last spring break I decided to take down and wash the sheers. I didn't put them back up right away and the cats tore them while the curtains were waiting to be hung, so for about a year I have been wanting to do something different. We have been talking about doing shutters in the front windows, but those are expensive! We found nice curtains at Walmart a few months ago that matched our bedding, so we went back after Christmas to spend our money on more curtains for the front of the house. We reused the rods from the sheers and saved some money there. We put up the curtains in the dining room right away, but waited to put up the ones in the living room until we took down the Christmas tree and decorations.

The dining room (and Juliet's tail)



The living room

A green cleaning tip

I'm sure some of you never thought I would post a cleaning tip, but I got this from one of the teachers I work with. Rebecca is pregnant with twins and was asking about green cleaners and Adair mentioned this tip that she got from Patty. (Props all around!!) (Of course, we all know about the many uses of vinegar, too.) I tried it last night, so I know it's a good one.

For glass top stoves:
Sprinkle with baking soda. Wet paper towels under hot water and lay on top. Leave overnight. Wipe it up in the morning!

The baking soda soaked up a lot of the grease on the stove top. I did have to scrub (not hard) a few places and there are some stubborn stains I think I will redo tonight, but for cheap baking soda it worked well! I did use a lot of baking soda, so to make quick work of getting it all up I used the vacuum hose.

New Year's Resolutions

I can't believe we are already into the double digit numbers in the new year. Sure, it's only been 10 days, but the first 9 have gone by quickly!

Here are my New Year's resolutions:

1. Memorize scripture. I haven't really done it since I was in school, when we had to do it every week. One of our Sunday school teachers (there are about 3 that share the responsibility) suggested learning Romans 12, so that's where I am starting. I remember verses 1 and 2 from school and I have 3 down pretty pat now. I wish the students took hiding God's word in their heart more seriously, not just looking at it as something that you have to do every week. Of course, that's obviously how I viewed it or else I would remember all of those verses I learned growing up.

2. Speaking of my students, that leads me to #2: help my students learn how to spell!! I would often let it slide because I always said "I'm not an English teacher," but now that I am older and wiser, I see how much they need to get it. I have heard the excuse "I don't need to know it, I'll type everything on the computer and use spell check when I grow up." Of course, as adults, we know that isn't always true. What really drives me crazy is when the word is written in front of them and they still misspell it! Case in point, I had my 7th graders write out Genesis 1:1 - 2:3, the account of creation. A vast majority of them spelled "separated" as "seperated". They were so surprised when I pointed it out to them.

Here are other common ones:
Wrong = Right
definate = definite
dose = does
thier = their
4 = for (just write it out you lazies!!)
there = they're
coarse = course
pitcher = picture
Wendesday = Wednesday
loose = lose

I know the English language is hard and we tell them to sound it out, but that doesn't always work. Sometimes you just need to learn how the word is spelled!

3. Keep the house clean. We have tried keeping a cleaning schedule (like what Lisa and Kelli do), but that doesn't work for us. We are finding if we just clean up a little every day we can spend a little extra time on the weekend vacuuming and dusting. The dishes and leaving mail around seem to be the biggest messes, so that's really where we need to focus.

4. Exercise. A lot of people know that I have been working with a trainer for 6 months. I have another 6 months with him (1 year contract) and hopefully these next 6 will produce even better results than the first. I have a 4 day cruise coming up with girl friends from high school and I want to look as good as they do! I am so excited about going and spending time with the ladies again. Thanks Polly for getting it all together for us!!

Feel free to post with your resolutions and we can help keep each other accountable!

Whoops!

Lisa pointed out that I had 2 slideshows that were the same on my Christmas blog. It was the 3rd one that needed to be changed, so check it out.

The other night Matt and I played Jenga. One of the teachers had it out for students in her room that weren't taking exams and it got me wanting to play. I think we got it up to 30 stories before it fell. We took the picture right before it came tumbling down!