A Month's Worth of Life

It's been a crazy month. Once I was officially hired full-time by the school, suddenly I was required to provide lesson plans, reports, all sorts of stuff! I have been barely keeping my head above water...at school. Don't even ask about the house. Yikes.

So in a nutshell, here's been my month...

Along with all the schoolwork, I also had to prepare for one of our troop's bi-annual Courts of Honor. I am the awards chair and have to bag up all the awards the Scouts earn. Since they went to summer camp, the boys earned 13 rank advancements and 142 merit badges.

After my classes finished the sewing unit, all but the 8th graders began the cooking section. We just finished Friday...I get a whole new group of kids on Monday. We made smoothies and a chocolate cake. Here is one of the more creative ones after they finished decorating:

 Nicky and I walked/jogged a 5K this morning to benefit the middle school PTSA and the high school cross-country team. We did pretty well, although it looked like we came in toward the back because a lot of the walkers quit halfway through. Weenies. Here we are after the race, leaning against the cross country coach's car:

We were whipped! It's very different doing a 5K on a street and doing one on grass, gravel, through the woods...But it was fun and for a couple of good causes. Maybe my class will get a SmartBoard out of this fundraiser. Nah.....

The topper happened earlier in the month. Our school has Students of the Month, voted by their teachers. There is also Staff Member of the month, one voted by the students and 1 voted by the teachers. Guess who won from the staff nominations?

Yep, there it is, in my room. Very humbling. I'm sure this was given to me as a token of appreciation for my years of subbing for all the staff members. But it's still cool. We just had another vote for October, so this will be leaving me. But I'll always know...And now I have a lot to live up to.

This teaching thing is pretty cool.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Today I did another 5K--this time for the local hospital's Breast Cancer Research unit. With Eric out of town and Nicky being a Saturday slug, I did this one alone. Same place as the Pet Day one...down in Solomon's Island.

I didn't register in advance for this one, so I got there at 7AM to register and be sure I got my shirt. I then had an hour and a half to kill. Several sponsors had booths set up, so I browsed the pamphlets.

At 8AM one of the sponsors, World Gym (of which we are all members) did a 10-minute warmup for the race. Everyone was looking pretty goofy, but having a good time.

Even the frog mascot from one of our local radio stations got into the action!

And we're off! Right on time, too.

Believe it or not, this is the view from someone's front yard, at just over the 1 mile mark. I would love to wake up to this every day.

Here's a lovely shot of the Chesapeake Bay with the sun shining on the water. Glorious.


Our route took us right past one of Solomon's institutions--The Tiki Bar. There were people already there! (I hope just getting the place ready to open for lunch.)

I did OK this race...46:33, which is a minute and a half off my regular time. I'm not a runner...just walked with occasional burst of jogging, so I was pleased with this time. I'll get better as I go.

Here I am in my official race shirt:

And my very cool pink shoelaces:

I walked/jogged this one in honor of my mom, who was a 14-year breast cancer survivor before pneumonia took her away from me. This was for you, Ma.

Fall Equinox??? Not Yet...

I went to a sunrise Yoga class this morning by the Chesapeake Bay. It was to celebrate the arrival of the fall equinox. Which really isn't until Wednesday. But no one would have been able to come on Wednesday at sunrise, so we celebrated today. It's OK...the sooner fall gets here, the better!

Here we are about 5 minutes before sunrise.

The instructor, Beth, is getting the class ready for our "practice".

There were maybe 50 or so of use there, braving the 56 degrees and very damp boardwalk. We needed a beach towel under our mats to absorb the moisture so we wouldn't slip away!

Here it comes...the sunrise...

I can't believe I caught a gull flying right over the sun.

Happy Fall, y'all, in anticipation of Wednesday!

For All the Pets Out There

Nicky, Eric and I did an official 5K today...to benefit the local Humane Society. We went to Solomons Island, which isn't really an island, but that's beside the point. :)

Here are my boys...I had number 289.

And the runners are off! We were walkers, so we helped bring up the rear.

The 5K mascot was there to see us off...I didn't think I'd ever get a picture because every time I approached, she took her dadgum head off!!!

This is the evil Thomas Johnson Bridge...I won't drive over this one. Evil. Two lanes, VERY narrow, and VERY high. Evil. This is where the Patuxent River meets the Chesapeake Bay. Pretty. But evil.

Eric and Nicky are just ahead of me here...I led for most of the route, but fell behind here to take a few pictures.

Like this one of the Chesapeake. Just beautiful at this time of morning.

No pictures of the finish line, since we all decided to run across it. But we finished in about 45 minutes, which isn't too bad, considering how many times I stopped to take pictures.

Here are Nicky and me in our official 5K T shirts after we finished.

And Eric and me.

It was fun---a very good turnout. I look forward to the next one...maybe someday I'll actually run one of these instead of walk!

Crafts and Memorials

Nicky and I headed to the first craft show of the season today. We went to Leonardtown, a small town in the neighboring county about 35 miles from here.

The show wasn't all that big--about 15 booths, and several of those were party-type items: Silpada, Pampered Chef, etc. To me, that's not craft show material...if you can have a party at your house and buy this stuff, it's not a craft. But that's just me.

I didn't buy anything, but I did donate to the Greyhound Rescue League.

Look at this handsome guy.

Nicky wanted to bring him home, but I didn't think Bingo and Muffin would be all that thrilled.

The downtown area had several nice memorials for those who had given their lives in war. This one covered WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars.


The last one was all WWI...both sides were covered with names.

This one sparked quite the discussion...you may not be able to see the names, but the right side was labelled "White" and the names on the left "Colored". Nicky had never seen anything like that before. Quite eye-opening for him. He's never known intolerance like that. Lucky him.

Nice to remember those who gave their lives for our country, while we were also thinking of others who gave their lives 9 years ago today, however unintentionally. Never forget.

Cake Pops and Cake Bites

Our Scout Commissioner Corps, of which I am a member, is having a Bake Sale for Buckles tomorrow night at our monthly Roundtable. Our District provides a lovely Eagle Scout belt buckle for all Scouts making Eagle Scout. My JJ was the recipient of one of these buckles at hius Court of Honor in March. I chose to make cake pops, from the website of the fabulous Bakerella.

Mine did not turn out as fabulously as hers did. I ended up making cake bites, served in truffle cups. Still tasty, just not as cute.

I've attached the link above to her blog and the recipe. Here are the ingredients I used:

I ended up not using the chocolate candy melts...just the colored ones. I went with blue melts with yellow sugar, and yellow melts with blue sugar, in honor of Cub Scouting. (Just couldn't come up with an acceptable sugar color to go with green.)

This is the devil's food batter--by far the better of the two, in my opinion.

And the yellow cake mix.

I rolled the batter into balls about 1 1/2 inches across, and chilled on a cookie sheet. Actually stuck them in the freezer, because the colder they are, the easier they are to dip.

I was planning to make these as Cake Pops, so I stuck a lollipop stick in each ball before I froze them. After dipping them in the melted candy melts, I dipped them in the colored sugar and placed on a foil-wrapped styrofoam block.

The chocolate ones are above, and the yellow ones below.

One of Bakerella's favorite picture poses!

Mine's a tad out of focus. Oh, well.

Once they were dry, I attempted to cover the pops with the treat bags, but they were too small. Plan B--I had some mini-muffin cups, and put the cake balls in them.

I think it works. Hope they sell out, because I can't have these back in the house...they are...WOW!!! So sweet!!!!

Enjoy browsing Bakerella's blog...so many great ideas, so little time!

It's Been A While...

A lot has happened in the last few weeks since I've posted some pictures. We left on August 18th to start our way across the country to take JJ to college. We spent a couple of days in Chicago, as we did last year when we visited Iowa.

Such a pretty city.

We took in a show...The Second City, which has started the careers of such greats as John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Steve Carell, to name but a few.


It was a tad R-rated, but luckily the kids are older. It was very funny and I could see any of the actors on Saturday Night Live.

We took in a Cubs game...none of us had ever been to Wrigley Field. It was awesome.

The Cubs played the Braves that day, which was a bonus for me! And the Braves even won!

We attended a book signing at a downtown Border's for Dave Mustaine, the lead singer of Megadeth (and formerly of Metallica, but that was a whole 'nuther ugly story..sssshhhh). JJ bought his book and wanted it autographed. After a 1/2 hour wait (with hundreds behind us) JJ finally got to get his autograph and even had a short conversation with Dave.

The day we left Chicago we happened upon a film set...Transformers 3 was filming some helicopter scenes downtown, and closed the bridges so the copter could fly right over the river.

Looks almost like it's posing for me!

We got the the university around supper time and began the long process of unloading the car and getting the dorm room set up.

Lofts are great, but what a pain to make up!

A week or so before we left I made JJ a fleece blanket with Iowa fleece that I ordered from joann.com.

I think he liked it...he turned the air conditioner WAY down and slept with his new blankie.

We went back the next morning and made sure he had everything he needed. Got this shot right outside his dorm.

And on Sunday, August 22nd, my nest became a little emptier. I left my baby almost a thousand miles away and began the long journey home.

I miss my boy, but he's doing very well at school. Making friends, attempting to study, eating at the all-you-can-eat dining hall.

He'll be home for Thanksgiving. Until then...