Christmas Break

I was in much need of this break.  My students were tired of each other and I'm sure of me.  When I didn't have to get up when that alarm clock went off this morning it was so wonderful.  Donny had to go back to work after being off for two weeks.  I had a busy day and will have a busy evening.  I had to finish my Christmas shopping, which was only two gifts.  I also had to pick up some things we needed around the house and the dreaded grocery shopping.  Now that I'm home I have to finish up some sewing for some friends, wrap presents, prepare Christmas cards, and hopefully make my sweet husband a surprise.  I'm so looking forward to Christmas.  This was always such an exciting time for our family and I plan to continue to keep it that way along with making new traditions.  Remember that Jesus is the REASON FOR THE SEASON!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I have so much to be thankful for.  Make sure you take time to reflect on how much the Good Lord has blessed you. 

What I'm thankful for:

• My salvation
• Grace
• My wonderful husband
• My mom
• My brother
• That my daddy is in heaven (I wish he was here with me, but I know he having a good time in heaven.)
• Our jobs that pays the bills
• Those in uniform who protect my freedom
• The roof over my head
• The comfy bed I get to sleep in every night
• Tammy and Billy
• My great friends and all of their sweet children

Enjoy the food and time with your family and friends!  It could all be taken away in an instant.

You Wouldn't Cry For Me Today- Mandisa

I miss him!

I am preparing for a huge class project over the next to weeks.  As I was working on preparing the bottle caps using a drill I remember that dad use to help me with my crazy ideas.  I've really been missing him.  I didn't blog about it, but I made it through the first year without him.  Donny treated me to a trip to the mountains.  I have to keep remembering that he is always with me, but much happier.  I still have a hard time dealing with the memories of that horrible month last year.  This is the song that carried me through the anniversary day as we were driving up to Cades Cove.  (It is the post before this one.  I couldn't get it to post correctly in this one.)


I miss you daddy!

Thankful

• Oh, how thankful I am to see the weekend.  This week has been the longest week.  I felt that Wednesday should have Friday. 
• I'm thankful that I survived the week with out snapping on one of my students because they just won't listen (not all of them, but most.)
• I'm thankful that morning duty is over for a couple of months. 
• I thankful that it is a three day weekend.
• I'm thankful that my papers are graded and lesson plans are complete.
• I'm thankful that college football is here.  WAR EAGLE!!!
• I'm thankful that I only have to drive 11 miles to work with no traffic problems.  I spent this afternoon on the north bound interstate and on 31 south in Vestavia in bumper to bumper traffic for way too long.  I'm thankful that I have a sense of directions and a navigation in my car that allowed me to take a scenic route from Vestavia to Pelham.  Mom didn't trust me.
• I'm thankful that the crazy horse, that my dad liked so much, and I are bonding.  I finally got him to eat from my hand and to touch his face.
• I'm thankful that my husband hasn't complained that our house is dirty and needs to be cleaned.  (My only project for the weekend.)
• I'm thankful that my aunt has invited us to the lake to spend the day with them on the boat.
• I'm thankful that the public hearing on the Cahaba River went well last night.  I just hope that our voice will be heard and be taken into consideration.
• I'm thankful that my sweet husband will be home this weekend.
• I'm thankful that a girl I have known most of my life (Courtney Comer Higdon) is expecting her first child in April.
• I'm thankful that I can sleep late in the morning.
• I'm thankful for my students that I had last year give me hugs daily.
• I'm thankful for the memories.
• I'm thankful for having a job.

Those are just a few things that I can think of right at the moment.  It has been a rough week at work and I needed to reflect on the things that I am thankful for to keep life in perspective.  I'm going to enjoy a relaxing weekend with my husband.

Weekend Project

We have needed curtains in our bathroom since we moved in, but I refused to buy any and didn't take the time to make them.  (For clarification the window is one of those you can't see through.)  Over the summer I decided that I was going to make the curtains one of my summer projects.  It took me forever to find the fabric that I wanted.  I looked everywhere.  I decided to check out Etsy.com and it became my new addiction.  I spent countless hours looking at "stuff."  I did find the perfect fabric and ordered it weeks before school started.  It sat in the sewing room for weeks.  Yesterday I had a fun filled day.  I worked on Sarah Kayte's birthday gift, but that didn't turn out so well.  I then went to Sarah Kayte's first birthday party...with NO gift.  Then I came home and finished all my school stuff for the weekend.  I then decided that I was going to make the bathroom curtains.  I started about 8:30.  I went to bed at 11:30ish and decided to finish today.  After church, I convinced my sweet husband to take me to Alabaster to get a curtain rod.  I worked on them for a couple of hours this afternoon and we just hung them.  I love them!  I will admit they aren't perfect, but I've come to the conclusion that you can't be a perfectionist while sewing.  So, here are my bathroom curtains.

First "Real" Project

So, a friend of mine thought that I was perfectly capable of completing my first "real" project on the embroidery machine.  Oh, I was so nervous.  I only have three fonts on my machine that you can use the keypad and of course they are not very fun fonts.  I searched for hours last night for fonts and a program to help me put letters together to spell a name.  I really had no idea (and I still don't) what I was doing.  I wasn't comfortable with the font that a practiced with so I settled for a flower with an "R" in the middle.  I practiced on several pieces of fabric before I finally prepared the dress on the machine and hit the start button.  It is not perfect, but I'm not sure what I did wrong.  This is what I came up with...

If anyone has any tips for using an embroidery machine, classes you can take, programs to use, websites, etc. I would appreciate the help.