The Case of the Missing Hair

I started this post out this was because I used to love Nancy Drew Books and a mystery was always fun to figure out. During spring break I lost 10 inches of hair in a fatal cut. It was a little traumatic but now I love my new style. I did this for Locks of Love. This is a great organization that takes donated hair (10 or more inches) and create wigs for kids with cancer. The great thing about human hair is that they can swim in it, wash it, and curl/style it. It helps lessen some of the emotional pain that kids, who are dealing with cancer, experience. It was hard to loose 10 inches, I can't imagine if it was all of my hair. I will post picture later of the new hair cut... but there are not currently any that I like.

Update on Spring Break Weeks

This time has not gone exactly as planned in the list I mentioned earlier but it has been a lovely time. I started out the week with the new addition to the family "Lili." It took several days for any sort of peace to come back to the house after this. Layla- the schnauzer- was not happy at all. There were several days of war. In order for there to be any peace, walking had to occur (for long distances and often occurences) I walked them 2 miles in the morning and then when Robb got home we walked another 2-3 miles. Tired puppies are quite puppies :) They are now getting along a lot better and actually tore up something together. I guess you have to take the good with the bad. I did get a chance plant fowers. They dress up our front porch. I am excited to continue doing this throughout the spring!
We had a wonderful visit from Robb's mom and sister this weekend! We went shopping, ate Indian, Greek, and at a Fish Camp restaurant. It was so nice to have them here! This coming week holds for me a trip to Atlanta and then on to Cleveland. I am looking forward to both!

We're adding to the family!!

The time has finally arrived for us to add another member to the family. We have been anticipating this for several weeks. We are going to pick up our new Airedale today. We are getting her from an Airedale rescue group. She is 8 months old and named Lili. We have been looking at this breed since last fall. This breed is known for intelligence and loyalty. They are great with children.One breeder we talked with shared with us a story about one of their Airedales guarding a glass front door when their 3 year old child wanted to open it for a stranger. It would not move until an adult came and then it calmly got out of the way. We are not sure how Layla feels about the new dog... but I feel confident that it will take some adjustment but then they will be fast friends. These pics are Lilli.

Ummm.. That's Not What I Signed Up For!!!

For the past four days at work I have been entering in class request for all of 520+ students that are assigned to me. This is a pretty monotonous task. The average amount of classes entered in for each student is 10-12. Meaning I have approximately entered in 5200 request. During the boringness of each day I have had moments of laughter from the comments that were often written on the sheets to "clarify" what the individual ( actually the parents) wanted. Examples-"please notice the rigor of the classes requested and be sure to spread them out evenly between the semesters" ( side note- we are on the block system- each student takes 4 classes in the fall and 4 new ones in spring-much like college) "please do not change any class written down without calling me (the parent) and receiving permission," "I can get my kid through high school if you will place every class in the order that I tell you to."
Many times I honestly laughed because this system just does not work exactly like that, there are too many variables. Yes, we try to help but.. school is similar to life and just does not always work like planned. Conflicts: We have tons of classes listed that we do not currently have teachers for. Some classes are only offered once and interfere with another class, etc.
Driving home today I thought about how many times in my life that I wish I could, and probably do, ask or demand that God spreads out the "rigor" of my life... It would be great if the stress level could be balanced at a steady level that I could handle! I want to tell God, "If you will do things my way, I will be a successful Christian and not mess up." I also thought about the classes many of the students requested. Knowing my students decently well at this point, I saw some students that requested classes that going to cause huge struggles for them. They have no real concept of the difficulty level of the class the requested.I placed those students in the challenging classes because it will cause them to grow- even if they do not keep an "A" average while in the class. I asked myself driving home how many times does this happen in my life. I ask for something and then get in the middle of it and feel like I can barely keep my head above water. I have to remember that there is strength that comes through these challenging times. Being a counselor is one of these areas for me right now. It often is extremely stressful! I could do something that keeps a kid from graduating from high school. I am not counseling as much as I would like to. I probably counsel more parents than kids. which is odd because I often do not have the "right" answer that is going to solve problems that have usually been there for years and I have do children of my own- so I cannot truly understand how these parents feel.- as much as I want to understand. I keep reminding myself that i am growing as a counselor and personally through this. I also remind myself that this semester is easier than last semester and hopefully next year will be even better. I also try to remind myself that it could be alot worse!!!! Whenever things like this get be down I try to think of a situation that would make the circumstances even worse. Example- I could have 3 other counselor to work with that are all hateful towards me. ( I really work with 3 awesome co-workers that allow me to vent and ask 100 questions everyday.) Okay... so I have digressed into a blog about my job and frustrations that this sometimes holds for me. thanks for reading if you made it to the end. Please do keep me in your prayers. It is hard.

You Are an Excellent Cook

You're a top cook, but you weren't born that way. It's taken a lot of practice, a lot of experimenting, and a lot of learning. It's likely that you have what it takes to be a top chef, should you have the desire...

Are You A Good Cook?

Spring Break is a Coming

I am soo ready for spring break! The next week will feel like a year. I will be off for two weeks. Part of that time I am going to Clevagas to hang out and see old friends. Who knows where the wind will take me after that. .. It feels funny to go to Cleveland for part of spring break, but I am very much looking forward to fellowshiping with all down there and relaxing.
List of things to do:
* Sleep in as long as I want- everyday but Sundays.
* Spend one day in my PJ''s- while reading and watching movies ( not at the same time)
* Eat each meal with a different friend while in Cleveland
* Plant some flowers in our yard...I am not sure if I have a green thumb or not- this will be a fun experiment!
* Clean out my closets!!
*Explore more of Nashville
*Take naps
I think that is a good enough list for now. I'll report back how much of this list actually goes as planned

A Whole New World

This Saturday Robb and I went to the Nashville Gun Show. Robb's brother works at a gun shop and thus was at this show, so we went. I knew that I had entered a whole new world when walking in the parking lot I had to do a double take at a man carrying a large gun in broad daylight with no deer around. Once inside there were men ( and women) carrying guns all over the place. Guns of ALL shapes, sizes and purposes. When you come in the door you have to take the ammo out of the gun you are carrying in but... I am really not sure what the point is when there is ammo being sold inside everywhere. While talking with Keith.. I quickly came up with plan for hiding if one of these people decided to unleash some pent up aggression. I would have been okay if all of the guns were clearly hunting rifles... that makes sense to own. But, many were clearly not to be used to hunting animals.... they would have blown any animal to bits. What then is the purpose of owning an expensive weapon that you should not use? The entire afternoon was a cultural learning experience ( it seems like I am having a lot of those lately). There was every type of person there... young, old, a old man with a large dog collar and chain on his neck, and many good ole' boys. When we left several hours later... I was overall less bothered by the whole experience and eventually walked away from the table that I had designated as the hiding place. We even talked with Keith about teaching me gun safety/ shooting practice just to take away the "fear" aspect of guns. I do not like to be afraid of anything- this leading to the interest in learning about it. We shall see how this goes.