Noah? Can You Hear Me?

So far in 2008 we've had a blizzard, and earthquake, numerous tornado warnings and now a flood. Yes, a real honest to goodness flood.

We had another round of bad storms roll through this evening. So bad, in fact, that Hubby and I enjoyed our dinner in our unfinished basement (what else can you do when there is a tornado warning during dinner?) We didn't get a tornado (thank goodness...what would happen to all my landscaping?), but we did get a TON of rain. And I mean a ton. As in, on average, 4 inches and hour. As a result of this torrential rain, the creek in front of our house flooded and covered the road.

Here is what the road used to look like:

Here is what it looks like right now.

See the difference?

(And, yes, that is a car in the last photo...he didn't make it far because the road is closed in all directions....wait a minute...that means I am trapped in my house. Anyone have a boat I can borrow?)

I am Loved!

Nothing makes me happier than to know that I am loved :-), and Crystal over at Memoirs of a Mommy shared some bloggy love with me and many others last week in the form of the "Sharing the Love" award. I am thrilled to know my blog and my random thoughts have touched someone else. So, thanks Crystal for your thoughtfulness. I will be adding you to my "People to See" sidebar.

In the meantime, everyone should check out Crystal's blog and see the pictures of her adorable kids.

Thanks, Crystal...I will display my award with pride. And I will pass the love on to others soon.

Landscaping. Ugh.

One of the reasons I haven't blogged regularly is because I have been busy with end of the school year stuff. Lucky for me, Friday was our last day with kids and today is our last work day...and it is only a half day at that. Hooray!

The other reason I have not been blogging has to do with the tiny home improvement project my husband decided we should take on: landascaping.

We have lived here for almost 2 and a half years and we had no landscaping. Sad, I know, but in the grand scheme of everything, it didn't seem that important, so we kept putting it off. Suddenly he decided that this was the year to do it. And he picked Memorial Day weekend to start. Normally I wouldn't care about doing work over Memorial day weekend, but I had lots of things planned for that weekend, so I was a little miffed that we had landscaping. (Okay, so I lied...I had BIG FAT NOTHING planned for that weekend...I just didn't want to landscape).

Hubby started working on the Friday before the long holiday weekend. We worked all day Saturday, all day Sunday and some on Monday (it rained and he golfed.) We still weren't finished. We worked every spare minute we had last week. We still weren't done. We worked Saturday...and we were darn close to being finished. We slept great knowing that we would most likely be finished early Sunday...

That is until Hubby decided he had one more flowerbed he wanted to build...so off we went to Lowe's. And then Natorp's. And then home again we came. He worked on getting the bed ready and by last night, we were finished (for the most part). Sure, we still have more plants to buy, but we look at this as a process...a process that caused us to nearly kill each other at times, but a process nonetheless.
So, enjoy the before and afters. Hopefully I can blog more now that I have a little less dirt under my nails and a little more time on my hands.

Well, Shucks.

First, to the three whole people who may wander by...sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I have been busy. For real busy...not "I'm just saying I've been busy to get off the hook." I've really been busy. I have new flowerbeds to prove it!

Today I received a thank you card...from a parent. The card was actually mailed to school, and in it the parents thanked me for being such an influential person in their daughter's life. I have been teaching for eight years and never once have I gotten a thank you card from from a parent...especially not at this time of the year. Usually at this time of the year I get nasty emails and phone calls, so this was a welcome surprise.

I emailed the parent to thank her for the thank you card (sounds weird, doesn't it? But I wanted to make sure that she knew that I got it.) She emailed back and let me know that she never sends thank you cards to teachers, but she felt she needed to in this case. I was flattered and taken aback by her kind words and her encouragement.

I get burnt out a lot of times with work. I get VERY frustrated at the end of the year. When I get frustrated, Hubby gets frustrated and asks why I still do what I do.

Today I'll show him the card and he'll get his answer.

Saturday Special...#1

I have decided to try a couple of new memes...so, this week I am playing The Saturday Special. All you have to do it answer four questions each Saturday.

This week the general topic of the questions is remembering childhood...here goes.

~Remembering Childhood~

1. As a child I loved to play?: Anything that allowed me to get dirty. I grew up with a brother and all boys on my street, so I had to adapt if I wanted to play. I wasn't a "girly" girl at all. I played sports, played in dirt, rode my bike, buried stuff in the yard, played with Hot Wheels...I was a tomboy for sure.

2. As a child I wanted to grow up to be...?: A veterinarian. I realized after working with a vet and watching her put a horse down that I just couldn't do that with my life. I became a teacher instead. I have no regrets. In fact, I am grateful to the vet for showing my the truth.

3. As a child my favorite thing to eat was...?: Spaghetti. It was what I always had my mom fix for my birthday dinner. I still love it. Italian food (in general) is my weakness!

4. As a child my favorite relative was...?: My Uncle Bill and my Aunt Taniya. (they are a pair...I couldn't split them up). They are from California so I never saw them. When I did, we had so much fun. As I grew up, my grandma became more special to me, but my aunt and uncle hold the top "childhood relative" spot.

Want to play? Visit The Saturday Special now!

Third Time's a Charm?

I just heard on the news that, according to the latest Gallup Poll, George Bush has a 69% disapproval rating. They said that this rating is the lowest in the 75 year history of the Gallup Poll.

Richard Nixon's disapproval rating was only 66% right before he resigned.

George Bush has been on the list of five highest disapproval ratings THREE times...

The other two? Harry Truman at 67% and the previously mentioned Nixon at 66%.

That is NOT a club I would want to be in.