quicker than quick update...

1. Mark's bday was on Friday. Love you babe!
2. We had dinner out Fri, and dinner at relatives' houses Sat & Sun. That means I didn't have to cook dinner for 3 nights in a row. Love you even more, babe!
3. I think (fingers crossed here) my class is settling in and quieting down.
4. I am stocked up on candy for Halloween. (10 huge bags)
5. I found the Halloween decorations and put them out last night.
6. I hope to carve pumpkins this week.
7. I still haven't been to Kohl's.
8. I have been averaging an hour of Bejeweled Blitz per day.
9. I have not been working out.
10. I have a new email: nbergenske@yahoo.com

So, send me a message!!
Love, Nancy

Drat!

It's been 3 days and Manuela never called back. Now I have to go searching for a new internet provider. Any suggestions?

P.S. Cocktail recipes will also be accepted.

sunday boozy sunday

It is Sunday night at 8:11... and I am drunk! I had a few goals for the weekend...
1. Clean the bathroom (didn't do this)
2. Go to church (check)
3. Clean my kitchen (check)
4. Call my sister in law (I called, but she hasn't called me back0
5. Go to the Fire and Light Sale with Cindy (this happened at the last minute, but was fun and well worth the 1 1/2 hours in line)
6. Work out twice (I worked out once)
7. Get my email problems worked out.

Ahhhhh... here's the problem.

I called my lovely email/internet/cable provider and I was on the phone for 56 minutes. Now if this were my first try to fix my email issues, maybe that wouldn't be so bad. But, it was my 4th try. Since Sept. 12th! And, first, I was accused of being a criminal trying to break into someone else's email. Then, I was apologized to and helped. But, Manuela, the unfortunate girl who ended up trying to help me, did all of the things that the other people did the other 3 times I called, and (just like the other 3 people who promised to solve my email issues) She is supposed to call me tomorrow... with all the problems solved. If she doesn't Mark and I have decided to change our email/internet/cable providers.
I was so stressed out by the end of 56 minute call, that I truly thought my brain might explode. So I invented a new cocktail. (I love the word 'cocktail') It was a strawberry limeade. With Vodka. Lots of Vodka. And now I feel better.
But let's hope Manuela can work it out, because if she can't I'll have to go through all the trouble of changing email/internet/cable providers. And that just might cause my brain to explode.

Cheers, on a Sunday.... Love, Nancy

I *heart* weekends

I had a great weekend last weekend. My sweet Granny came over from Hayfork and spent the weekend at my Mom's. So, Saturday we got to spend the whole day together. I met up with them at Madi and Livi's soccer game.

The best part is always after the game when all the parents make a tunnel for them to run through.


After that we went to my house and got my family, and then to lunch at Cafe Marina.
That's Mason and Kyla with Granny.

After lunch, Granny, Mom and I drove to Blue Lake to put flowers on my Grandpa Bill's and Uncle Tim's graves.

This is Mom and Granny walking into the cemetary.


It was a great day of visiting, catching up and laughter.

October

October is here. School is in full swing. Kyla and Mason have both had colds and missed one day. I've had a sore throat for 3 days with no other apparent symptoms. The kinders are starting to get the hang of the routine. They are more focused on their work, but they still like to yell out across the room to one another. They are a busy bunch. I have a dentist appointment soon. My mom's birthday is coming up. I am one month late getting new contacts and the ones I've been wearing since August are starting to feel a little weird. Tonight when I turned around from eating dinner it looked like the kitchen was filled with smoke. I also need an appointment with the gyno. Things feel like they're piling up. I have given up trying to work out in the morning. My alarm would go off at 5:31 and I'd push snooze. Then at 5:40 I'd push snooze again. At 5:49 I would get out of bed, turn on my lamp, reset the alarm for 6:21 and go back to sleep. It just isn't in my genetics to pop right out of bed. Even though I liked the feeling of having my work out out of the way, most days I just couldn't handle it at 5:31. So now I'm walking Pepper almost every day and doing a little yoga and weight lifting.

Goals for the month:
Read 2 books
Work out at least 5 days per week
Go to the class I am taking to get a unit increase at work every Tuesday
Have drinks with Shelly
Watch my nieces play soccer
Create 5 scrapbook pages
Write a few notes to friends/relatives
Go to church every Sunday
Get at least 8 hours sleep each night (9 is better)
Take pictures with my film camera since the digital one I wanted is never coming (again, out of stock)

On my mind...

1. Lots of thoughts of God, and how wonderful it is that he loves me just as I am yet pulls me to become the best 'me' possible.
2. Worrying about Kyla.
3. Can't get excited about eating anything (or cooking it, either) after a weekend of total food indulgence at the retreat.
4. Feeling sluggish after days with out working out.
5. Excited about reading the last book in the "Series of Unfortunate Events" book series. I hope things turn out well for those sweet Baudelaires.
6. Wanting to reach out more and build a community of friends.
7. Glad the Saints are playing well.
8. Anticipating (with pleasure)sleeping in my own bed tonight.
9. Grateful for such a generous and kind friend as Danette.
10. Loving the beautiful, sunny skies we've been having.

Weekend Away

Everyone needs a "break" from everyday life now and then. So, this weekend I am going to a Christian Women's Retreat with my wonderful friend Danette, who I've known since Kindergarten. I don't have to cook any meals, answer any questions about when phones will be replaced or guitar picks will be purchased. I won't have to worry about doing my hair, or laundry or dishes. I won't have to listen to football games blaring in the other room. I get to take some time to rejuvenate and renew my relationship with God (and hopefully make some new friends while I'm at it.) And hopefully, I'll be able to sleep on the hard old bunks in the freezing cold in a sleeping bag. Cuz, there are two things I need every day: 3 good meals, and a good night's sleep!

Hope your weekend is lovely!

It's football season

Yep, it's football season again, so every Thursday night, Saturday (all day), Sunday (all day) and Monday night this is what I am looking at. No chance of doing any fun family activities (unless they involve watching football). For the next 18 or so weeks, I am officially a football widow. Mark was sure happy when the Broncos came from behind for that last minute victory, though.

Lovely Friday

It's lovely Friday again. It was a super busy week. On Thursday night we had Back to School Night. That's where all the parents come and listen to me talk about the program and just how Kindergarten works in general. Today we had our Teddy Bear picnic at school, and it went really well. One of the boys in my class is lobbying to have another teddy bear picnic. I think he must've had fun. I am starting to settle back in to the teaching routine (as is my class), and I think things are OK. The girl is handling her restriction with more maturity than we've seen in the past, and she has expressed an interest in playing the piano and the drums. The boy hasn't crashed my car or gotten a ticket or anything yet and is teaching himself to play guitar on a borrowed guitar. He is generally pretty talkative and pleasant to be around. The best part, though, is that I am going to go to bed super early and read until I fall asleep with my face in the book and sleep in super late then go for a walk with my sweet sister (who I haven't seen enough of lately). Lovely, lovely Friday.

One day at a time...

The way I deal with all difficult situations: prayers, taking it one day at a time, finding pleasure in small, everyday occurences and relying on friends and family to help me through. My life is blessed. I just need to remember to focus on the good parts. Thanks for all of the support.
Love, Love, Love you!
Nancy

Bad, bad weekend

This weekend has been like, completely crazy. The weather has been beyond gorgeous. I had a great visit with my family on Sunday... complete with bbq and heritage books and fresh veggies. I had a perfect dinner with some of M's family on Saturday... complete with brownies and catching up and fruity margaritas.
But the hours between 10 pm on Saturday and 5 am on Sunday were like out of a nightmare. The girl had lied about where she was going, and when we called to check up on her she turned her phone off. The first 5 or so hours consisted of sending her text messages, driving around town waking perfectly innocent people up trying to get any possible information about her whereabouts, tears, and despair. The last 2 hours we filed a missing persons report, then waited until the sheriff brought her home.
Yesterday morning, I truly felt more despondent than I have in years. The whole state of my body was messed up. I was just angry, and sad, and worried, and pessimistic about the future. The only time I can remember feeling this way was during the first month or so after we found out the girl had cancer. I am praying and wishing and hoping that the next 4 months (while she's on restriction) and then the next 3 1/2 years after that (while she's in high school under our roof) will not be as filled with obstacles and problems and traumas as I am anticipating. I truly don't know if I will survive it.

Today

Today I slept in until 9:00.
Today I made pancakes for breakfast.
Today I played Bejeweled Blitz for an hour in the morning and got my 125 K medal.
Today I watched tennis and college football with Mark because I like his company, not the sports.
Today I held my shaking puppy in my lap while the vacuum cleaner roared around us.
Today I invited some family members over for dinner.
Today I will go grocery shopping because we are out of milk and tp.
Today I watched my poor girl hobble around the house because her feet are swollen from wearing 4 inch pumps for 16 hours.
Today I found out my camera won't be her for another 20 days.
Today I feel my battery recharging and getting me ready for another challenging and worthwhile week with my new class.

5 days down....

175 to go.

I know, it seems a little early to be counting the days until summer. I just had a rough kind of week. I really love my class. I have so many sweet, funny, smart, engaged students. Just as a group they tend to be very LOUD. They love to talk. And, they all tend to talk while I'm talking or, while they are playing, in extremely loud voices. Herm the Worm and I (and my freezing signal, the rainstick) have been getting quite a workout. Herm even told me not to feel too bad because he had a headache at the end of each day, too.

So I am having a super mellow night with no noise around. Would love to have a cocktail to go with my quiet evening, but I have to pick my girl up from her first high school football game at 10:00.

First Days

Today was the boy's last first day of school. That's right, he's a senior. I can still clearly recall his first day of Kindergarten. It was raining buckets... like a deluge. He was wearing his shiny blue raincoat with the red and yellow stripes and his first Green Bay Packers Jersey underneath. He carried an umbrella. After his teacher shooed us out of the classroom, Mark and I went to this special room where they served doughnuts for the distraught parents. We each ate a doughnut and went to work. Today he wore jeans and a white tee shirt with an undershirt underneath (since the shirt was kind of see through). He dropped me off at school and drove himself down to the high school. I feel old.

Today was my little pumpkin's first day of high school. She was in a horrendous fury yesterday because we would not let her ride to school with her cousin's boyfriend. You see, in CA, it is illegal for kids to drive other kids around until 1 year after they've had their license, and he's only had his license a few weeks. He's already been pulled over with the cousin in the car and the police had to drive her home. She thought we were being incredibly unreasonable for not letting her ride with him. When I dropped her off at her friend's house this morning (who she was riding the bus with) she answered my "I love you" with a firmly closed door. After school we spent almost $80 on school supplies. I had no luck trying to persuade her that cute binders and pens versus plain binders and pens didn't determine her worth as a person. I feel stomped on and tired.

Today was my 11th first day of school as the teacher. I can't remember any details from my first day of school as the teacher. Except that I had a cute little class of 16 Kinders and I was really excited about putting my room together. Today, I didn't feel at all nervous. I really can't remember the last time I felt nervous about starting school. I had some fun moments with my class, but they sure had a lot of energy!! It will take many sessions with my favorite puppet Herm the Worm, and lots of practice, practice, practice for them to all get "how" to do school. I have many talkers. When we were walking out to the bus they little boy who was holding my hand looked up at me and said, "I had fun." For this, I am happy.

Quick Check In

I am checking in to report how I did on my previous list of items to do for the last month of summer. The goal will be listed first with what was accomplished in parenthesis.

1. Exercise 25 times for one hour or more. (I exercised 15 times. Never over 1 hour... usually 20-30 minutes)
2. Clean 2 junk drawers. (finished early on... and they still look pretty good!)
3. Visit Granny Millie (Nope, didn't even call her)
4. Flowers on Granny & Grandpa's graves (Nope)
5. Pick blackberries and make cobbler (Accomplished... it was good.)
6. Learn to make a really pear martini (Nope... had some great Mango margaritas in Cabo, though)
7. Go to Fern Canyon (No)
8. Go to Patrick's Point (No)
9. Read 10 books (Yep, I read 11.)
10. Make an appointment with the dermatologist (Did it... everything's fine)
11. Clean off the laundry room counter (Yes, it was clean, but I have refilled it with other stuff!)
12. Have guests for dinner once per week (Well, I had people over twice)
13. Work on Homework bags for school ( I did work on them, they are sitting incomplete on the laundry room counter.)
14. Start memory books (Technically, yes. They are assembled in a big box in my garage.)
15. Scrap 40 pages (I got 16 pages completed)

So, I guess I did OK... definitely lacking in outings... maybe that'll be a goal for Fall.... to go on some day trips.

Cheers! Nancy

Stress

Sometimes getting ready for a vacation and getting back from a vacation are such stress filled times that I wonder if it's really worth it to go... BUT NO! I KNOW it is worth it to go, and I am looking forward to it... I have a week of laying by the pool, reading (I am taking 8 books with me), working out, eating yummy food, drinking luscious cold drinks, and basically being responsible for nothing. It will be wonderful.
It's just that I'm already dreading the 7 days after I return... when I will be in a pressure cooker timewise... to get my classroom ready... to learn the new Language Arts Curriculum... to be ready to teach again after such a short break....
That's the clincher... I feel like summer just began, and now it's over.
BUT, I do have a great class coming in with lots of parents I adore... so that should help a thousand fold! Wish me luck... (and prayers, too... prayers really help!)

Crazy

It's crazy how fast time flies when you spend a couple of hours each day reading.. and when you just putter around taking time to do all the things you usually have to rush through, like making your bed and wiping down the counters and scrubbing the sink and flossing your teeth and eating your lunch. It's crazy how good it feels to just float through each day with a list of things both written and unwritten to do, yet rarely feeling rushed or stressed about it. Because it's summer time and there's always tomorrow...

It's crazy how when you've had a day where much of it felt frazzled and hectic because of car accidents and closed roads and scraping machines and changed appointments and PMS headaches and a stressed out son... that a few minutes of time to gather your thoughts and relax and get your priorities straight makes it all better.

I love summer.

finally...

After years of begging for a digital camera, Mark said tonight, "I guess you can go online and buy that camera you want for your birthday." So here I am trying to buy it, and having no luck at all! Won't someone please take my money and send me this camera!?!

What Matters

I have an old album I have never quite finished called "What Matters". The pages are 8x8 and it's all planned out, so I thought it might be a good place to get my creativity flowing...


The base of this page was made at CKU-M ages ago at the Hero Arts class. It has lots of fancy stamping that I never take the time to do on my regular pages. The picture is from last year's birthday wine tasting trip to Sonoma. I sure miss these girls!



This is a page for Mark's family. Photo was taken Thanksgiving 2007. The last time all 5 siblings were gathered together.

List update

I know you are all just dying to hear how I've progressed on my list from yesterday:

1. Worked out- 1 hour of yoga and walked Pepper
2. Cleaned out both junk drawers
3. Picked blackberries but didn't make cobbler yet.

Feeling pretty productive for the first official day of vacation!