Happy New Year!

Tonight we are headed over to Mark's sweet sister's house for a night of cocktails and snacks. Mark started up the crazy Atkins diet yesterday, so I made deviled eggs with dill and broccoli salad. But what I'm really excited about are the pomegranite martinis!! I have been nibbling on this GIANT pomegranite since yesterday so I bought all of the other ingredients from Oprah's recipe and I am set!! Have some bubbly for midnight as well....

Do not expect a post tomorrow... I will be in bed!

Love, Nancy

Finally!

Today I finally had the TIME and the ENERGY and the DRIVE to do a little scrapbooking! I pulled out the book I started making back in 2005 about advent. It started the last week of Nov. and went up to Dec 25th. I had finished it up until December 11th. So today... only 2 years later it is complete. There is journaling for every day of the month and photos for most of them (I petered out on photo taking near the end!) I feel really happy to have it completed. One more thing to check off on my thousand item to do list! :)

As for the photo above, all the scrapping about our last Christmas in our house in Sugar Pine made me miss it, so here's a picture for you all to enjoy!

Love, Nancy

My song....

Found this story on "Inspiration Peak".... trying to hear my song today, but dizziness and nausea are getting in the way. Let's just hope it's too much Diet Mountain Dew and not the flu!

They're Singing Your Song
From a story told by Alan Cohen
in his book: Wisdom Of The Heart

When a woman in a certain African tribe knows
she is pregnant, she goes out into the wilderness
with a few friends and together they pray and
meditate until they hear the song of the child.
They recognize that every soul has its own vibration
that expresses its unique flavor and purpose. When
the women attune to the song, they sing it out loud.
Then they return to the tribe and teach it to everyone
else.

When the child is born, the community gathers and sings the child's song to him or her. Later, when the child enters education, the village gathers and chants the child's song. When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the people again come
together and sing. At the time of marriage, the person hears his or her song.

Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, the family and friends gather at the person's bed, just as they did at their birth, and they sing the person to the next life.

To the African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child. If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, the individual is called to the center of the village and the people in the community
form a circle around them. Then they sing their song to them.

The tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behavior is not punishment; it is love and the remembrance of identity. When you recognize your own song, you have no desire or need to do anything that would hurt another.

A friend is someone who knows your song and sings it to you when you have forgotten it. Those who love you are not fooled by mistakes you have made or dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.

You may not have grown up in an African tribe that sings your song to you at crucial life transitions, but life is always reminding you when you are in tune with yourself and when you are not. When you feel good, what you are doing matches your song, and when you feel awful, it doesn't. In the end, we shall all recognize our song and sing it well.

You may feel a little warbly at the moment, but so have all the great singers. Just keep singing and you'll find your way home.

Like a slug

This week I have definitely been feeling like slug....

sleeping 10 or so hours per night
playing spider solitaire many times per day
looking at blogs
reading
eating LARGE lunches

I have accomplished a few things.... maybe I'll make a list later and revel in my productivity.... or maybe I'll veg out on the couch and watch dull TV (will those writers please, please settle their strike soon!)

Of course, last week I was incredibly busy with activities filling up my every minute, so maybe this nothing ness is just me decompressing and recharging....

Here's a photo from last week of my first ever "gingerbread" house (you can see it is made from graham crackers)... Each of my lovely students made one. The trick is to pre-assemble each house using royal icing. I did not actually do much assembling, my teaching partner and her parent helper did all the work while I watched both K classes at Exploration Time. For me it was a great trade off! I did actually enjoy decorating my house, and would love to do it on my own some day

Me around 1972....

Merry (late) Christmas

It's a little known fact that the Christmas season actually STARTS on Dec. 25th, so dont' rush to take down those trees yet! Take a hint from all the Europeans and celebrate until the Epiphany (Jan 6) when the three wise men came and bestowed their gifts to Jesus. Hope your days continue to be merry and bright! Love, Nancy

Almost there..

Only 2 more days until Christmas vacation.... now, if we can just get through the Winter program tomorrow night and then successfully decorate our gingerbread houses on Friday, I will be set... Well, except for all the of things I need to do at home to get ready! Will for sure be consuming copious amounts of alcohol by Friday at 1:30... You may expect your Christmas card next week... Mark is supposed to email me his paragraph for our letter tonight.... (are you reading this, honey?.... send me your paragraph!)

My Granny

Yesterday we went to Hayfork to my Granny's Christmas party. Every year she invites all of her kids, grandkids, greatgrandkids and nieces and nephews, etc, etc, to a big potluck party at the fairgrounds. It's really great to get to see everyone... and Santa even shows up! I had a really good time meeting my cousin Jenny's new man and chatting with her. Also, Granny told me a great story about when she was a girl: When she was in 8th grade in a one room school house, her only academic resposibility was to pass her constitution test. So every day she sat at the little low table with the 1st and 2nd graders and taught them. She loved it so much she thought she would one day become a teacher. So I guess that's where I get my love of teaching from! She would've been a fabulous teacher, too, because she is one of the most giving and sweet tempered people I have ever had the priviledge of knowing. So, here's my challenge to you... take a little time and chat with someone you love. Find out something about their childhood.... record some memories....... I promise, you won't regret it! Love, Nancy

My family....

What a gorgeous family I have..... Love each of them so much.

Mark... my stability, my worrier, my love
Mason... my reasoner, my tender hearted, my witty challenger
Kyla... my firecracker, my cuddler, my sentimental darling

Scary Christmas

A sweet little guy in my class gave me this card today.... Here is the front: This is the inside: It says, "If they are on the naughty list Santa is really mad!"

LOVE IT!

Scary Christmas to all!

The dreaded Christmas card pictures

So, this year my plan for the Christmas card picture was individual shots of each of us lined up in a row with the letters P-E-A-C-E on the photos. I made it clear to all that my goal for the weekend was to complete these pictures by Sunday. On Saturday I met a barage of resistance from everyone, hence, the only pictures that were taken were of me.... Mark took them and I was really direct about how I wanted only my face... He kept trying to back up and insisted that he was worried the pictures were chopping off all of my hair... like NONE of it was showing. Here is the result... Hmmmmmm, he's good at many things, wonderful even, but a photographer he is not! (love you sweetie!) And, do you see those wrinkles around my eyes? Those are my new 40 year old wrinkles here only 9 months before I expected them!! As far as the rest of the pictures go, I am on my way to Costco right now to drop them off. It was a pretty tough-to-take scene at my house last night. M got beligerent and ended up throwing around some language that put a hole right through my heart. I am hoping the ache of it will fade just as it did when he was 3 and yelled "I hate you!" Needless to say, he is grounded. And in closing here is my December bulletin board from my classroom. I hand cut the Santa and sleigh and the Kinders made the reindeer from a pattern by TLC. Merry, Merry! Love, Nancy

Christmas Goal...

Christmas--that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia... Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance... a day in which we think of everything we have loved. This is my goal...... This is my goal..... This is my goal......

Undeniable

It is undeniable that she is beautiful.

It is undeniable that she is creative.

It is undeniable that she is emotional.

It is undeniable that she is sassy.

It is undeniable that I love her.

Tis the season

I have been trying to get a little bit of Christmas set up each day without stressing myself out. I started with my cute little gingerbread/candy themed tree since the boxes for it were on top of the pile. I used Kyla's new digi camera to snap this picture of it when I was done. (All of this actually took place on Saturday) On Sunday night Kyla and I set up the tree in her room and then I put out 3 boxes of decorations in the kitchen and living room on Monday. It is taking me a really long time because I can't remember where anything goes in this new house. Tonight when I got home from work I decorated my angel tree and put up the last (and biggest pain in the butt) tree. It will hopefully get it's lights and decorations tomorrow. Then there's just one more box to go. I don't have much for decoration outside, but I'm OK with that. Actually, one of my goals for after Christmas is going to be to sort through the decorations and get rid of as many as possible. This is VERY difficult for me since I am so sentimental and everything has a memory tied to it. But, I am going to try! "Simplify" is my new motto.

Bye for now!

Love, Nancy

This is a test, this is only a test....

Every time I try to post lately, I get an error message, so here is a quick test to see if blogger and my computer are friends again....

Twenty eight

I am now officially sleep deprived again. It is unfortunate how easily my body adapts to staying up late and sleeping until 9 or so in the morning.... so since school is back in session, I am getting up at 6:11, but still going to bed around 11 or so. Also, Mark had his work schedule change, and he now goes to work at 9:30 at night and gets home around 7 a.m. I REALLY miss having him around to cuddle. The first night I put a pillow in the bed in his spot, but it just isn't the same. I even have to use the electric blanket! Things feel like they are on the verge of getting holiday hectic around here. I have always loved Christmas, but the last few years I am really trying to simplify and enjoy myself more. I was thinking today of maybe going on a fun family outing every week of Advent... maybe on Saturdays. The thought occured to me while I was driving by the bowling alley. Maybe bowling one week, hiking at Fern Canyon, going to the beach... It sounds great to me, but I know I will meet stern comments and huffs and rolled eyes from the teenagers when I suggest it. It 's just too bad they don't appreciate what a fun and entertaining set of parents they have! :-) Anyway, sorry about ditching the NaBloPoMo thing, I just got bored of the computer and had to take a break! Maybe next year I will make it a whole month.... I was thinking of going on some sort of theme.... Any suggestions? Love to all! Nancy

Twenty five

It's the last day of vacation, and I spent 4 hours at my classroom today. Once I got home, I also spent an hour on my bed cutting and creating pieces for a project tomorrow. After that, I spent about an hour putting together 3 new homework bags to start sending tomorrow. Teacher Nancy is back!!

Twenty four

Went to see the Bee Movie today with a big group of people... it was very cute and funny... although I had to keep biting my tongue to not tell Mark all of the incorrect scientific facts about a bee's life. In my class we do a BIG wonderful bee week in the spring, and boy! do we learn all about bees!

Twenty three

Enchanted Today I went to see this movie with Ann, Karen and Kyla. We missed the beginning, but overall it was really cute.... cute with a capital C-U-T-E! It was all about love forever and ever and love's first kiss being the most powerful thing in the world. It did have a lot of parts where fairy tail singing and dancing and mushy talk were shown to be weird and out of place in today's society. It kind of reminded me of that Sex and the City episode when Carrie is dating the Russian, and all his big romantic gestures seem fake and out of place to her. I don't think I need too many big romantic gestures... but a little bit of sweetness each day (like cuddling before you go to sleep, or bringing someone a soda when you are getting one for yourself, or walking all the way across the house to give your love a kiss) that's what makes happily ever after for me. Also Patrick Dempsey is yummy to look at!

Twenty two

I had thought of making a list of all the great foods I ate at my TWO wonderful Thanksgiving dinners, but then I thought I'd make a list of all the things I am thankful for instead (it does include several of the foods I ate at my TWO wonderful Thanksgiving dinners) 1. For Mark, who knows just when to change the subject to keep me in line 2. For Mason, who smiled his "no teeth/braces showing smile" for picture after picture because I promised to pay him for them 3. For Kyla, who said "I love you because you are weird, Mommy." 4. For Pepper, who is sitting on my lap right now keeping me toasty warm on a cold night 5. For my Mom who always makes all of the dinner and won't let anyone bring anything and always does all the dished even when you try to help 6. For my Dad who tasted my cranberry sauce (which I brought without telling my Mom) even though it had "sticks" in it (They were cinnamon sticks and whole cloves) 7. For my sweet sister who walked with me this morning to counteract the TWO dinners and bought me Mike's Hard Lemonades to drink 8. For Alyssa who lets me call her string bean and makes me laugh 9. For Alivia who is just beginning to read and sat on my lap and read "Pickle Things" to me 10. For Madi who jumped up and hugged me as soon as I arrived and said, "Happy Thanksgiving, Auntie!" 11. For Ann who handled cooking and serving dinner to over 20 people with grace and thoughtfulness 12. For all of Mark's family... His Mom, Ann, Dennis, D3, Karen, Blair, Jessica, Saeng, John, Liz, Charles, Nick, Cheryl, Josh and Hannah for making the effort and come together for a family holiday. 13. For the best ravioli I've eaten maybe ever 14. For getting to hold a baby even if he was tired and overwhelmed 15. For Lemon Merengue pie... when Kyla ate it she said "What's in merengue?" and we told her and she said, "No wonder it's gross!" 16. For my sister remembering about 8 years ago when I called Kyla "Lollipop" and Alyssa said, "Just call me sucker!" because she wanted a cute nickname too 17. For my mom's yummy stuffing 18. For candlelight 19. For conversation with 5 and 6 year olds... I am starting to miss my class 20. For sunshine all day and moonlight all night Happy Thanksgiving! Love, Nancy

Twenty One

Here's an old photo of me (with the wing hair, buck teeth and tucked in sweater vest) and my always cuter sister in her tan corduroys with the embroidered jean pockets. The cat in the bottom left is Sadie. He was my personal favorite cat for most of my childhood. He had long. soft fur and stripes in all the right places. I named him Sadie because 1) I thought he was a girl, and 2) He had "sad" eyes. I actually considered naming him Saddie, but was talked out of it by my mom. I was obviously a very concrete minded child as my first cat (before Sadie) was named Blackie. Can you guess what color he was?

Well, I am really looking forward to tomorrow as we are spending the morning at my parents house with my sister and her family. Then, the evening at Mark's sisters'. This will be the first year that all of Mark's siblings have had a holiday together since 2000. I am going to be in my official photographer mode, so hopefully I won't imbibe too much! I did buy a bottle of Mum's tonight... am in the mood for some yummy champagne. I guess we'll see!

Cheers! Nancy

Twenty

Today was a pretty joy filled day for me, but I am starting to suffer from mourning my lost vacation. It's silly, I know, but about half way through a vacation I start to feel the pressure of accomplishing all the wonderful ideals I had envisioned before it started. I thought I would have time to work out every day, and scrapbook, and get caught up on household chores and spend a day at work getting ready for Monday. None of these things have happened, but I am trying to look on the bright side, so here's a list of what I did accomplish today: 1. walk/run 3 miles on treadmill 2. New hair color 3. Pedicure 4. Fun lunch complete with expensive champagne to celebrate my sis in law's birthday (Happy Birthday, Karen!) 5. Grocery shopping (Wow! was it crowded!) 6. Went and looked at several houses on the market to try to prepare myself for giving this one up in a few months 7. Yummy dinner cooked by me (Chicken oporto, pasta and asparagus) 8. Watched the Netflix movie that has been sitting around here for over a week so I can send it back tomorrow (The Good Shepherd... I liked it, but Mark loved it) 9. Watched the Bachelor After the Final Rose... interesting how it turned out this time 10. Left no mess in the kitchen and did 2 loads of laundry So, does it look like I am accomplishing much on my vacation? Happy Tuesday! Love, Nancy

Nineteen (I'm finally back on track!)

Today I.... 1. woke up with a sick stomach and headache 2. got showered and ready and said goodbye 3. rode in car to Angel's Camp and bought snacks 4. rode in car to Williams and ate western bacon cheesburger and fries (#2 hangover cure) 5. napped in car almost the whole way over highway 20 6. sat in car for 1 hour and 20 minutes because of a big, scary accident about 20 cars ahead of us where a helicopter was brought in 7. rode in car to Willits where we got more snacks 8. picked up Pepper and M from my parents (in his dirty clothes) 9. Dropped K & A off at my sister's house ( I could really use a break after almost 10 hours in the car with them) 10. Unloaded the car, checked email and blogged

Eighteen

On Sunday I..... 1. Got up and went to house to do clean up/ winterizing. 2. Vacuumed, scrubbed, removed cobwebs and dusted top floor of house including ceiling fan 3. Saw my first ever, real life black widow (wow was it big!) living in our outside garbage can 4. Vacuumed, scrubbed, removed cobwebs and dusted middle floor of house 5. Over saw K & A while they attempted to wash windows and clean up doors with magic erasers 6. Vacuumed, scrubbed, removed cobwebs and dusted bottom floor of house including 2 big windows 7. Went back to Joannas and took a shower 8. Had a fun evening with Joanna and Rick and Anne... drank 2 hard lemonades & 4 glasses of white wine

Seventeen

On Saturday I .... 1. Slept in late and still felt yucky from overindulging the night before 2. Had a relaxing morning visiting with Rick and Joanna 3. Dropped Mark off at the golf course to meet a friend 4. Tried unsuccessfully about 10 times to reach my friends to set up a time to get together 5. Puttered around WalMart and TJ Maxx looking for Christmas presents 6. Ate a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese and fries for lunch (my faithful hangover cure) 7. Tried to take a nap in the car after 4 more unsuccessful attempts to meet my friends 8. Finally got a hold of Shelley and made a date to meet at her house at 2:30 9. Wandered around the cute shops in downtown Sonora still Christmas shopping 10. Waited at Shelley's house until 2:55 11. Kristin got dropped off and we went for drinks at Alfredo's ( I had water) 12. Ran into sweet Karen and said Hi 13. Shelley arrived at Alfredo's 14. Had a great catch up time 15. Picked Mark up at 5:30 from golf 16. Bought food for a get together at Joanna and Rick's 17. Enjoyed a night of catching up with friends in front of a HUGE bonfire 18. Drank only 2 hard lemonades

Sixteen

I have spent the weekend living my real life instead of my cyber life... so here's a list of what we did on Friday.... 1. Left the house at 7:40 am (only 10 minutes late) 2. Dropped M off at school (the last thing he said to me was don't forget to leave my suitcase at Grandma's... the last thing I said to him was don't you want to say goodbye to Pepper?) 3. Dropped Pepper and all his supplies at my parent's house 4. Ate lunch at the new Straw Hat Pizza in Williams 5. Dropped all our cleaning stuff off at our house and saw that we forgot to leave M's suitcase at my parents' 6. Dropped K & A off at a friend's house 7. Went to Joanna and Rick's and got ready 8. Had a good dinner with friends to celebrate Joyce's birthday 9. Went to the Seven Sister's and had 3 lemon drop martinis 10. Listened to a weird bluegrassy chick band... didn't like them 11. Went to bed cranky and pretty drunk after 4 lemon drops and a glass and a half of wine

Fifteen

I am taking tomorrow off so we can drive down to the "old house" and do some winterizing. For me it's actually so I can go and see my friends who I miss so much! I really hope Mark doesn't try to put me to work. I can handle vacuuming the whole house or something, but any wheelbarrow/rake/pine needle removal will be met with intense resistance! I just checked the weather there and it's supposed to be 68 or 69 and partly cloudy the whole weekend. For here that is summer weather! Should I take my capris?

Fourteen

Even though I have exercised for 5 days in a row, I feel incredibly fat! It may have something to do with the tasty mini weiners in their exquisite little homemade buns that Cindyanna made for goody day today.... they even had this delish homemade honey mustard! or maybe those cute pecan tarts that I ate 2 of! What a great cook she is! Despite the fatness, I went shopping after work for a new outfit to wear on my trip this weekend and maybe something for Thanksgiving. I got some jeans that I really like and 3 new shirts and a quilted jacket. I like everything I got but was disappointed in the color selection available. This season's color palette seems somewhat limited. Everything I got was black, brown or red. Would have liked something with a little more va-va-voom! I was just thinking I need to get off here and make a couple of phone calls, but then I saw the time. I never call anyone after 9:00 p.m. If you're reading this Joanna, I promise to call you tomorrow! Since I have more time, I guess I can tell you about the book I finished reading while I was walking on the treadmill tonight. It's called "Vanishing Acts" by Jodi Piccoult. I really like her writing style and was pulled into this story. It's about a 32 year old woman who finds out her father (whom she adores) kidnapped her at the age of 4 from her alcoholic mother. It is told from 4 different character's viewpoint. The parts told from her father's point of view as he is in jail, and the things that go on there were especially disturbing for me, so tonight I am going to pray for all of those men and women who live under those conditions. Those who have hardened their hearts out of necessity. Those who feel they have no place in the society outside of jail. Those who are driven to commit desperate acts. Those who wield a vengeful power over others. Those who are isolated. Each of these people is of value... even if they have forgotten (or never even knew it).

Thirteen (my 200th post!)

Hi all, Well, luckily for me I was granted 2 of my 3 wishes today! Can you guess which one did not come true? If you said #1 you are absolutely right! No shock there! On a different note, we had a great time celebrating my sweet niece Madi's 5th birthday on Sunday. She used to be a pretty wild and crazy little gal, but since starting Kindergarten she has really settled down and become much more sweet natured. You can see the wild and crazy came out at party time! What a crack up! Love you Madi! And the rest of you too! Nancy

Twelve

I was thinking of writing about the inept customer service I received while trying to get pictures developed at Long's today... or maybe making a list of what I did today (I do so love lists).... but instead I think I'll make a list of what I wish for tomorrow: 1. That our realtor will call and say we have an offer on our house 2. That the oreo cookie turkeys we are making with our 8th grade buddies will turn out 3. That it will not rain during any recesses I'll let you know how it all turns out. Love, Nancy

Eleven (yes, it's late, but it's not my fault!)

The community I live in is pretty isolated. And about every 2 months the internet and all cell phone service is completely lost due to a problem with the cable..... you see, in most places there is more than 1 cable connecting an area to the cyber world, but here there is only one, and people keep chopping, sawing, cutting into it with large machinery. On a separate note, Saturday I was buzzing around the internet and I looked on "How Much is too Much" and loved the weekly challenge. It was to use an entire alphabet on your scrapbook page. So yesterday morning I made this page with a baby picture of me that had been sitting on my scrapping table. The paper is actually scalloped all the way around the edge, but my scanner couldn't fit it all in. Bye!

Ten

Lovely, lovely Saturday. Sleeping late A 4 mile walk with my 2 favorite boys: Pepper and Mark Pasta for lunch Toodling around at work for 2 1/2 hours while M worked the snack shack at the football game Pasta for dinner Watching "Pride and Prejudice" A glass of wine later Aaaaaahhhhhhhh......

Nine

I am soooo happy it's finally Friday! And Monday is a holiday for me so I am practically beside myself with joy! What a tiring week this has been. Everyone in our primary has noticed that the kids are harder than usual to deal with. Lots of loud, off task, rough and tumble behavior. In addition to that it was parent teacher conference week. I really do get worn out from being friendly to people I don't know well. It doesn't mean I don't like the person... it's more along the lines of stressing out about whether or not they'll like me. I am really ready to sleep late and putter around my house accomplishing a lot of nothing. On an entirely separate note, I came across this quote from my "Generous wife" tip from yesterday... Let me be a little kinder, let me be a little blinder to the faults of those around me. Edgar A. Guest This is a goal of mine in dealing with everyone I come into contact with, not just my husband. Let's face it... if you are intent on disliking someone, you will be able to find faults in them and overlook their better qualities. We are all imperfect and in need of acceptance and love. So, in the spirit of being a generous wife, mother, teacher, friend, sister, daughter, in law, etc. this is my goal. TGIF! Love, Nancy

Eight

So tonight while I was happily walking on my treadmill reading my newest Jodi Piccoult adventure, Vanishing Acts, Kyla came rushing into my room screeching. Apparently M had tried to kill a spider in his room, and somehow it escaped and found its way into her room... under her bed. She was beside herself.... howling about how freaked out she was and how no one would help her.....how she could not sleep in her room, etc. I told her to ask Dad for help, but she already had (I must add here that I know from experience Dad will not take you seriously when you are crazy freaked out and being unreasonable). My next advice was to take all the bedding off her bed then check under the bed by moving it away from the wall. She left now whining instead of howling.

A few minutes later Mark (Dad) came in and said Kyla was freaking out... They had removed the bedding and looked under the bed and the spider still missing. He said she was afraid the spider would crawl into her mouth while she was asleep. I recommended she sleep on her brother's top bunk.

After I was finished with my workout and sitting here checking my email, she came in and we were talking and she said, "You know, spiders can do horrible things to you."

I said, "What do you think it is going to do?"

"Well," she says, "Once this boy had 2 spiders crawl into his ear and they mated and all the baby spiders came crawling out"

"That couldn't really happen," I said.

"Yes it did," she insists.... "I read about it in a book." Then she adds, "And once, a spider laid an egg sack in a girl's cheek."

Trying to be the voice of reason here, I say, "If someone had an egg sack on their cheek, you would just pull it off and flush it down the toilet or throw it away. It couldn't hurt you."

"But all the spiders came crawling out!" she says.

"Do you know how long it takes for spider's eggs to hatch?" I ask. "It doesn't just happen overnight. You would see the egg sack and get rid of it."

"But it was in her skin," she says

"How could a spider put the sack under the skin?" I question her.

"I don't know, but I read about it in a book," is the answer she gives.

"What book"

She grins and me and looks sheepish. "A book of horror stories."

This is further proof to me that my 13 year old daughter has MY overly active imagination and will not be allowed to watch horror movies until she moves out of the house. Seriously, if a book of kid's horror stories has her this freaked out, what would happen if she saw "The Hills Have Eyes"?

And just so no one out there worries that my daughter is actually infested with sacks of spider eggs ready to hatch, the spider ventured out of it's safe hiding place and was sufficiently squished.

Bye for now! Love, Nancy

Seven-a book list

I stole this from Professor J who stole it from Lanie Painie who stole it from Grammar Snob. Copy this list and Bold those you’ve read. Italicize books you have started but couldn’t finish. Add an asterisk* to those you have read more than once. Underline those on your To Be Read list. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Crime and Punishment Catch-22 One Hundred Years of Solitude Wuthering Heights The Silmarillion Life of Pi: A Novel The Name of the Rose Don Quixote Moby Dick Ulysses Madame Bovary The Odyssey Pride and Prejudice* Jane Eyre A Tale of Two Cities The Brothers Karamazov Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies War and Peace Vanity Fair The Time Traveler’s Wife The Iliad Emma* The Blind Assassin The Kite Runner Mrs. Dalloway Great Expectations American Gods A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Atlas Shrugged Reading Lolita in Tehran Memoirs of a Geisha Middlesex Quicksilver Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West The Canterbury Tales The Historian A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Love in the Time of Cholera Brave New World The Fountainhead Foucault’s Pendulum Middlemarch Frankenstein The Count of Monte Cristo Dracula A Clockwork Orange Anansi Boys The Once and Future King The Grapes of Wrath The Poisonwood Bible 1984 Angels & Demons The Inferno The Satanic Verses Sense and Sensibility* The Picture of Dorian Gray Mansfield Park* One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest To the Lighthouse Tess of the D’Urbervilles Oliver Twist Gulliver’s Travels Les Misérables The Corrections The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Dune The Prince The Sound and the Fury Angela’s Ashes The God of Small Things A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present Cryptonomicon Neverwhere A Confederacy of Dunces A Short History of Nearly Everything Dubliners The Unbearable Lightness of Being Beloved Slaughterhouse-Five The Scarlet Letter Eats, Shoots & Leaves The Mists of Avalon Oryx and Crake Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed Cloud Atlas The Confusion Lolita Persuasion* Northanger Abbey* The Catcher in the Rye On the Road The Hunchback of Notre Dame Freakonomics Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance The Aeneid Watership Down Gravity’s Rainbow The Hobbit In Cold Blood White Teeth Treasure Island David Copperfield The Three Musketeers

Happy Reading! Love, Nancy

Six

It was a pretty good day at school today. It is parent teacher conference week, and I get sort of worn out from all that chatting. Making conversation with people I don't know is very trying on my poor nerves. I am, after all, painfully shy. I had about 6 conferences yesterday and 5 more today. I am glad to be finished with the bulk of them only 5 more for the rest of the week! Yay! I took down the scarecrow/pumpkin patch bulletin board and put up all the funny pilgrims my class made. I will take a photo after we add some writing to spruce it up. It has been hard coming up with ideas to make the students start to understand what life as a pilgrim was like. Today we read a Thanksgiving book and had a discussion I thought went really well... lots of good comments from the kids. Then, when we were finishing up our drawing of the Mayflower,one of my smartest boys says, "Can I draw a motor on it?" I try to look on these moments as opportunities for more teaching.... which is what I did... more questions... more discussion. But, some days I just want to pull my hair out. Without a time machine, how can I give them the knowledge of "Long Ago"? They are so wrapped up in the here and now... in what they can touch and feel and smell. They can't imagine a camera that doesn't show you the picture on the back right after you take it..... how am I to teach them about life without electricity? I will keep on plugging along. Looking for the best story books and websites and activities and videos. I will keep collecting the realia. Maybe, just maybe some of them will (sort of) get it. Off to walk on the treadmill... Love, Nancy

Five (LATE!)

In response to my ranting #4 post, sweet Cindyanna brought me a cup of cocoa on Monday morning. How lucky am I to have such a thoughtful friend?! It really brightened my day.

The ranting was mostly due to anger at poor Mark who often has to suffer for the baggage I have brought with me into our marriage from my previous life. I overreacted to him not doing what I wanted him to do (come shopping with me). This overreaction was caused by the disfunctionality in my parent's marriage and had very little to do with my marriage.

Lastly, I have no good excuse for my lack of posting on day 5. It was pretty much just forgetfulness.... this is not a good sign for the month ahead!

More on Four

P. S. I am starting to simmer down.

Four

I have anger bubbling up out of me like a sauce on over boil. I don't know where it's coming from. I am going to try to take a moment and get it under control before someone becomes scalded and scarred..... but it may be too late. Many anger filled words of resentment have already splashed out.

Three

Today my mom came for a quick visit to drop off some apples from one of my dad's trees and some Halloween candy for the kids. She was telling me about how Livi and Madi (my nieces) were out in front of their house trying to sell their Halloween candy! Usually Livi has a lemonade stand and Madi has a chocolate milk stand, but I guess today they were out of lemonade. Hence, the candy stand. It would probably work pretty well if every other kid in the neighborhood didn't have three pounds of candy at home as well! This conversation brought up the time I tried to sell pet rocks out in front of my house. I guess I was about 7 or so, and I saw something about pet rocks on TV. It made me think I could make a fortune selling pet rocks to the tourists who drove passed our house while touring the Avenue of the Giants (an ancient redwood forest). Unfortunately, our house happened to be on a stretch of straight road where the forest is far away, so all the tourists sped up and flew by without even a glance at my "Pet Rocks For Sale" sign. I also tried many summers to raise money for the Fortuna Rodeo (always a BIG goal for me) by picking and selling blackberries to the aforementioned tourists. This also was always a big flop. My friends and cousins and sister and I would spend one day picking as many berries as we could. Then, the next day we would try to sell them... but after a night in the fridge those juicy, ripe berries were always pretty soggy and most of the tourists who stopped didn't want them. It was always so tragic. Another big letdown for raising money was the penny scramble. I would always have visions of collecting so much money I would be set for the upcoming carnival by scavenging at the penny scramble (which took place the night before the carnival's opening). I would imagine money raining down and counting up, say, $15 or $20. Of course, my total was usually around $2.50. But for some reason I always got so excited. I guess that's why some people call me 'idealistic'. Isn't that just a nice word for gullible? So what are some of your childhood memories? Love, Nancy

Two

Good News and Bad News today... luckily it's mostly good. First, the people who looked at the house didn't want it. (Good) Second, we get to renew our contract here for 6 months. (Good) Third, we have to allow other potential buyers to see the house with 24 hours notice. (Bad) Fourth, I walked 3 miles yesterday and 3 miles today. (Good) Fifth, I have seen a noticeable enlargement in my poochy tummy due to Halloween candy consumption. (Bad) Sixth, I didn't eat a single piece of candy today. (Good) Seventh, it is Friday and I survived Halloween week and get to sleep in tomorrow. (VERY Good) See you tomorrow! Love, Nancy

One

So, on a whim I joined NaBloPoMo. I have seen this acronym around and thought it sounded kind of nasty (I have a VERY dirty mind!) but never had the energy to find out what it stood for. Well last night I finally checked it out and it meas NAtional BLOg POsting MOnth. Hmmmm not so interesting as when it's an acronym! When you join, you challenge yourself to blog faithfully every day during the month of November. So, put you seatbelts on people! You are going to be buffeted by posts!!!! Hopefully they won't all be boring... I'm shooting for 50% boring, 30% mildly entertaining, 15% pouty or grumpy and 5% fabulous! Today's notable items: 1. I left work at 3:15 today. (Usually leave around 5:00, so Yay me!) 2.My friend, Cindyanna called me on my cell around 4:10 to find out where I was... again SO unusual for me to leave before 5:00. 3. I was at the public library when she called and got many dirty looks from other patrons as I giggled about her 'having a guy give me a massage is creepy' problem. 4. At 5:10 a couple came to look at the house we are living in because they may want to buy it and kick us out since we have been unsuccessful in selling our old house and closing the deal here. When they came to the door, I couldn't even look them in the eye. I immediately took off walking with Pepper and left Mark and the kids behind as I cried and walked as fast as I could. We should find out tomorrow if we're house hunting again. 5. Before the people came to look at the house I frantically cleaned it all up as if I actually wanted them to like it. I guess either I'm really, really well trained in wanting your house to look it's best when a realtor is showing it, OR deep down I want them to buy it and end our wondering if this house is really "the one", OR I am just such a people pleaser I can't stand the thought of someone looking at my house and thinking it's dirty. Sorry for the weird ramblings... I am somewhat scattered tonight. Love, Nancy

Happy Halloween!

It seemed like such a long day today.... the energy in Kindergarten was high, and the weather was foggy and cold which meant being outside was unpleasant. We did end up spending most of the day outside, though. I am longing to curl up in bed with the heating blanket on and a bowl of chocolate to munch on. But I am trying to resist. Have not worked out since Sunday... possibly the cause of the malaise. Will be back tomorrow with more energy, I promise!

Love, Nancy

Our House

So for the past year we have been living in this great house. It is the first brand new house we have ever had. It is roomy. It has 4 bedrooms. It has granite counter tops and 10 foot high ceilings. It has arches in the living room and beautiful windows. It would be a great house to entertain in. I have always had dreams of hosting raucous barbeques and cozy family dinners and elegant cocktail parties in this house. It has never happened. The only party we have ever had here was in October of 2006 when Mark turned 40. It was nice, but you can't have too much fun on a Sunday night! Today we found out that we might be forced to move. The owners of the house are disenchanted with 15 months (and counting) of waiting for our house to sell. Kyla has been crying most of the night. I feel sick down deep in my stomach. Mark is showing definite signs of stress. But tonight God sent us a message. Mark's sweet sister Ann and her husband Dennis brought over dinner and we hung out and talked and laughed and ate and drank wine. This is just the kind of life I pictured in our beautiful house. Friends and family... company here. Enjoying each other and listening to each other. It was perfect. And if God has this house in His plan for our lives, we will be here. And if not, He will show us where He wants us to go. Wishing you love on this foggy night, Nancy

It's Monday!

Hooray! OK, so that wasn't really my first reaction to "It's Monday!" My first reaction is almost always, ICK! I hate getting up to the alarm and I feel blah and out of the routine.... But I am trying to look at Monday as a blessing... Hooray! A whole new week is here in front of me... full of possibilities and the promise of learning and wonder and love. And so far it feels pretty good. But, to backtrack... I had a busy weekend. On Friday I drove to Ferndale and back 3 times (for work, the carnival, and M's homecoming rally). On Saturday I drove to Ferndale and back 3 times (for the football game, to take M to the dance at 9:00pm, and to pick him up at midnight). On Sunday Cheryl and I walked 8 miles. It felt really far.... almost worse than the 13 last weekend. I brought Pepper and he got tired and we had to carry his fat little self about the last mile. Even throughout this busy-ness I felt pretty good. I actually scrapbooked 6 pages! That's huge for me.... I haven't done that many pages in months. It felt really good to write and pick papers from my big stack and glue stuff and look at my old pages. It felt really good to create. The Halloween anticipation is getting pretty serious in my little world of Kindergarten. Today we predicted whether or not we would weigh more than, less than or equal to a BIG pumpkin I bought over the weekend. Almost everyone thought they would weigh less than the pumpkin even though they could pick it up. Then we took turns standing on a board with a fulcrum in the middle and the pumpkin on the other end to see what happened. There was actually one little girl who weighed less than the pumpkin. Tomorrow when our 8th grade buddies come, we'll be doing some geometry estimation with candy corn. I can't wait! See, it will be a week full of learning and wonder and love! Hugs and Halloween candy for all! Nancy

I *heart* my job

This is a picture of my October bulletin board. It is a floor to ceiling bulletin board, and I have sacraficed an important wall to create this space. Last year I had a smaller board up high, and it just wasn't right, so this year I rearranged my room to free up this wall. Some of the art shown here is:

1. Fingerpainted leaves with the student's names on them

2. Fingerpainted pumpkins (made by mixing red and yellow paint)

3. crows with googly eyes I designed from an old tole painted crow I have

4. A large scarecrow made by me... modeled after "The Little Scarcrow Boy" (sometimes I add sentence strips with the words "I see a yellow hat." "I see blue overalls." etc, but this year I didn't have room.

5. Sunflowers with real seed centers (because the pumpkin patch we take a field trip to has sunflowers planted in it)

6. An interactive chart with the life cycle of the pumpkin on it where the students have written some of the words

On the far right you can see the edge of my barn. This year I had Mark remove the whitboard (Thanks, honey!) from the middle of the barn, and I put all my calendar stuff in there. Overall, I am really loving my room arrangement this year.

I am also feeling like I have a better handle on teaching all day K. I have changed my schedule so that it fits me and my style, and things are going great.

My students this year are really hard working and efficient and learning things soooo quickly!

In the next couple of weeks, we are going to be welcoming some fish into our room and studying them for science.

I am having a blast.

TGIF, everyone!

Love, Nancy

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday my wonderful, sweet and generous husband turned 41! We had a nice family dinner out with lots of laughter and pleasant conversation and cheesecake at the end.

I can't even come close to expressing how thankful I am to be married to this man. It is truly the most extraordinary blessing of my life.

Love you honey!

Nancy

Clink!

Here is a funny shot of me and my wonderful sister, Cheryl, enjoying a glass of champagne after walking 13 miles yesterday.

It has been such a blessing to spend Sunday mornings walking and chatting and laughing and catching up with each other.

And hopefully my heart and body are in better shape after all the exercise.

Wishing you a wonderful Monday night.... I'm off to watch The Bachelor.

Love, Nancy

I can't talk!

So today was the half marathon, and my sister and I walked our 13 miles in about 2 hours and 20 minutes. When we got back we drank some water and then celebrated with a glass of champagne. M took some pictures of our shoes and our sausage hands and also a couple of us sitting on the deck with our sweaty backs and champagne glasses enjoying the beautiful day.

Later I took a little rest, and when I woke up I sounded like a frog. I definitely have laryngitis. I hope it is gone by the morning because whispering all day at a crowd of 4-6 year olds is very exhausting!

Happy Sunday!

Love, Nancy

A List

I woke up pretty early today (8:00.... very early for a Saturday) and felt super productive. But, after grocery shopping and mapping out a route for my sister's and my 13 mile walk/run tomorrow, I have lost all my energy. I actually just spent about 2 hours on amazon.com browsing around for stuff to buy. It is weird when I am in a shopping mood, but just can't seem to put anything into that shopping cart. I guess I was just in a window shopping mood. With the window being my monitor. I did actually manage to buy a patriotic song CD for my class (why I was online at all), a set of new dishcloths and dish towels (desperately needed) and a Hot Dog with ketchup costume for Pepper (for Halloween).

But the reason why I am here is to make a list of things I like to say... some of my non-words and weird sayings (inspired by cindyanna) :)

1. wonky
2. gi-normous
3. fantabulous
4. superindeliblenevercomeofftillyourdeadandmaybeevenlatercolouringmarkers (Robert Munsch)
5. pritinear (this is Okie speak for close or soon)
6. hi-yun-dee (how my Grandma pronounced Hyundai)
7. Pot-i-pur-uh (how she pronounced potpourri)
8. Blasted

Well, that's all I can come up with right now..... if you remember one I have forgotten... or have a favorite of your own... There's always my empty comment section! Hee Hee!

Love, Nancy

High Hopes...

Today I was snappy and cranky with my class. I felt dizzy and headach-y and tired... like a fog was floating through my brain. And my patience just wasn't there.

I guess I am coming down with the sickness everyone else has had, and I thought I would avoid. Ha! Silly me!

But in spite of all this, I have high hopes. I spent about an hour after school planning next week, and I am so excited about all the engaging and fun activities there are to do. My big problem is fitting them all in! It is very hard for me not to fill up every moment of the day. It seems that every week after I plan, I remember something I NEED to do then have to erase and rearrange and simplify.

Also, I am working really hard on giving lots of opportunities for children to respond and interact with each other and me. I am trying to think about the purpose and goal for each activity and make it meaningful (and not just do it because I always have or it's cute). I am trying to make sure I think about what they need and break down the process of getting them there with activities that help them to learn while playing and laughing and feeling successful.

So, even though it's only 6:37, I am making cocoa and getting my lesson plan book, and climbing into bed to rest.

Because tomorrow I don't want to come home feeling like I was cranky again.

Love, Nancy

Autumn Splendor...

The weather has been entirely too unpredictable around here lately. We'll have rain, winds, fog. clouds and sun all in the space of about 3 hours. I never know what to wear, and last Friday I was especially stressed out over whether we would have to cancel our field trip to the pumpkin patch or not.

Fortunately, we decided to risk it, and it turned out to be a very pleasant day. Right after we arrived, we were herded from the bus to an area surrounded by pumpkins where our wonderful guide proceded to tell us all about pumpkins and how they grow with the help of a glass case full of dead bees and two pumpkin flowers. As we were being pelted by increasingly large raindrops she was explaining the difference between male and female flowers. You see, the female flower has a bulge at the base which turns into a pumpkin, whereas the male does not. She asks, "What do you think the male flower does?" And one of my students promptly says, "It helps get the baby out." Hmmmmm..... obviously, not quite following the conversation. Anyway, we all tramped around in the fields and picked out pumpkins to bring to school. We even had a nice snack and saw some peacocks while we were there.

Today we gave our pumpkins a bath and predicted how many unifix cubes it would take to get to the top of the stem then made a unifix cube tower and counted it.

On another topic, I have been trying to take a roll of pictures (24) each week in an effort to document our day to day life more. I took a few pictures of myself last Monday after everyone else had left for school using the timer. A problem I often have with the timer is that it focuses the camera on the background instead of on the spot where I am going. I even put a tall chair right behind where I was going to be to try to fix this, but it didn't work. So I had 3 blurry pictures of me and 2 blurry pictures of me with Pepper. I was really bummed,but I fiddled around with it to make it interesting and here it is.... Guess I'll have to keep trying!

Have a great week!

Love, Nancy

October 13

is the day of my sweet mother's birth, so I just wanted to say I hope you have a great day and I love you!!

P.S. Isn't she beautiful

photo taken shortly before my entrance into the world.

Pouring down

The rain started drizzling at about 3:00 today, and now it is simply pouring down. All internet access and cell phone service was out in our WHOLE county today due to some weather issue (I am guessing high winds, but who knows).

Was supposed to do 6 miles on the treadmill today, but instead I read my book, then made dinner, then cuddled up on the couch and watched "Blood Diamond". It is a good story and made my heart ache for the suffering and terror and loss of hope that so many people in Africa face each day. It makes me feel so helpless. I mean, how in the world could I ever verify that these beautiful diamond earrings Mark got me for my birthday were not pulled from the earth in a war zone. After fussing around in the kitchen for a while, I decided the only thing I can do is to pray. So, I am off to snuggle up in bed and have a talk with my God and hope that as I listen to the rain pouring down, I will also feel his love pouring down and showing me my path here on earth.

Early goodnight to all.

Love, Nancy

I LOVE....

ANITA ARCHER!!!

Today and tomorrow I am spending the day away from my class at a conference. The presenter is Anita Archer, and she is FABULOUS! When I signed up for this conference I remembered that I had loved the conference I went to where she presented about 8 or so years ago, but going back again has been terrific. She is funny, dynamic, practical and most of all OH SO knowledgable about everything teacher related. It was a great day, and I look forward to learning even more tomorrow.

It will be delightful....

Bye! N

Update on weekend list

1. check
2. check
3. check
4. 2 loads done
5. check
6. check... and I also got my haircut!
7. K refused to go to the mall with me
8. check
9. check
10. Not yet
11. tonight, if the football schedule allows
12. didn't buy, but also didn't scrap
13. Not yet
14. Nope
15. check

And here are some silly pictures of me and the cupcakes I made for my class when they all had memorized their birthdays.

And for Michelle.... a long overdue picture of my house.... Look! It's sunny!!

Love, Nancy

Adding that survey (again)

In April, I put up this survey where you go and choose adjectives to describe me. I am putting here again in the hopes that a few more people will participate....


Please!


http://kevan.org/johari?name=nberg

It's really fast, I promise!!
Thanks! Nancy

TGI... the weekend!

This week seemed to drag on and on. It felt like I was ready for a day off by Tuesday! I am just NOT A MORNING PERSON. I just love (more than almost anything) sleeping in. So today I lounged around snoozing until about 9:00. That is just perfection for me. If only school started at 10:30.... what a wonderful idea.

So, since I am adequately rested it's time to make plans for my weekend..... Let's see,

1. Clean (horribly dirty) bathroom.
2. Walk 4 miles with dog Sat.
3. Walk/run 10 miles without dog or giggly/wiggly/fighting girls in stroller Sun.
4. Laundry.... 6 or so loads.
5. Grocery shopping.
6. Buy a set of workout clothes with pocket for i-pod that I am not embarrassed to wear in public.
7. Buy Kyla that shirt she wants from Wet Seal.
8. Check on all the blogs I like to visit.
9. Call or email Gina.
10. Call Aunt Roni and Grandma Millie.
11. Watch episode 8 from season 1 of Sopranos.
12. Try not to buy any new scrapbook supplies, but actually make some pages for scrapbooks.
13. Start Christmas list.
14. Dust (or pay Kyla to do it)
15. Call Kristen about Kindergarten conference.

Looks like I'd better get going.... Have to brush my teeth and get started on #2 although #8 is calling my name!

Love, Nancy

I actually scrapbooked yesterday!

Shocking, I know!! It's not a fancy page, but it was fun for me to do, and I used my new Journaler's Notebook and Narratives papers. It was fun to look at my friends and remember our giggly, fun, wine drinking times.... Miss you guys!!

Love, Nancy

Random List from this week.....

1. We got an offer on our house, but are now waiting for someone else's house to sell.
2. I ran my farthest ever distance on the treadmill on Thursday and felt great afterward.
3. Had fun on Tuesday night celebrating my sister-in-law's birthday with a decadent dinner out. I had duck for the first time in my life and it was served rare (which freaked me out). Happy Birthday Ann! :)
4. Smokey Bear came to my class on Friday. He was a rookie Smokey, actually a Dad helper who volunteered since the regular Smokey was out fighting an actual fire. He did a great job!
5. Am going to dinner tonight at my parents'.
6. Got my first paycheck since June yesterday (boy, that's a loooooong time without a paycheck!)
7. It rained yesterday, hence I had to deal with my first rainy day recess of the year.
8. Kyla and I finished Harry Potter #7 last night. We both cried. We both miss the book already.
9. I didn't get to talk to my sweet Michelle this week, and I miss her.
10. I thought I was over my Grey's Anatomy obsession, but the premiere was really good, and I think I'm re-hooked.

Happy weekend! Love, Nancy

Better Late than Never....

It seems like I am always the last one to catch on to things.... I read great books long after the time when everyone is enjoying them and talking about them. I certainly am not up to date in the fashion arena! I watch movies or shows when they are on cable. I never know what's going on in the world because I Hate to watch the news!

Yep, I am behind the times and just plodding along at my own little pace!

So, Mark and I decided to order The Sopranos, Season 1 on our Netflix. We watched the first 4 episodes this week, and I loved them! Such humor and drama and life (thankfully very different from my own life) but seemingly a good representation of REAL people who are neither all good nor all evil.... who make mistakes and try to fix them. Yes, I am hooked! Only 7 more years of episodes to go! Now we won't be able to watch a regular movie for the next 6 months!!

Hope you are all well.

Love, Nancy

My sweet pup

So today was supposed to be an easy day for training.... just 5 miles.

But yesterday my sister said, I really don't want to just go 5 miles, I could do that on the treadmill.

So I said O.K. we can go farther if you want.

And she said how about 7?

And I said sure.

So this morning as I was hurrying to get ready Pepper, my sweet pup, gets so excited. Every time he sees me with my running shoes on he starts to whine and runs over to the door wagging his tail then runs back to me and licks my leg then runs back over to the door. And he keeps repeating this until I hook his leash on him or leave with out him. (Whick breaks my heart)

So today, for some reason, I decide I will bring him along on our 7 mile walk. It may have been guilt for only walking him once this week, I don't know. But whatever else it was, it was craziness. See, my sweet little pup has legs that are only about 3 inches long. And, he is desperately weird looking on the outside (due to being inbred), so who knows what deformities he may have on the inside. And, last summer when I tried to take him 3 miles on a hot day I had to carry him 1/2 way home. Of course, lately he can go 3 miles no problem, but that's only 3 miles people, not 7!

But we went, and he took off like a madman (as usual) so my sister got a side ache from pushing her 2 girls in the jogger stroller, and my legs were aching. I expected him to get tired around mile 4, especially since the sun came out, but he was such a trooper! He walked the whole way!! And when we got to the turning point for 7 miles my sister just kept on walking, so we actually went 8 miles! As we got back to the school (about 3 blocks from my house) we put him on the little girls laps, and he rode the rest of the way home like a king.

And later when we were all alone, I gave him a whole hot dog to celebrate his great accomplishment.

My sweet pup.