Just Babble

Still no real post this evening; no photos either (boohoo)

The good news, although I'm on the eve of the most busiest months of the year (work wise), I am still healthy and have almost completely recovered from my cold, from being exhausted and from burning my lips off!

And so, "busy" around here this time is defined by:
-Andrea's tennis season has started - it will end April 8th
-McKenna wants to be a munchkin in the high school's production of The Wizard of Oz - that would end the last week in April.
-the first yearbook deadline was extended from Jan. to Feb. 8th - half the book due, no if, ands or buts this time
- the second half of the yearbook is due in March
-the first of March - artwork due up at the Sumter Co. Fair
-the first of April - thank you cards due for the Volunteer Reception
-and the big finale - the student artshow in the month of April (which now includes, not one but two evenings filled with sidewalk chalk and student performances)
-oh, and then there will be Valentine, Easter and Teacher Appreciation gifts in there....

Good news, I've caught up on entering grades again, but continue to be behind on my classroom blog! I made time tonight, but blogger wasn't cooperating - frustrating......

And we saw the Green Hornet on date night (that's news in itself, date night); I didn't care for it, thought it was silly, but Scott liked it....

okay, in hopes of keeping myself "healthy", I'm off to bed.
Best wishes All,
Love,
Melle

In this big, big world,

there is lil ol' me.

Out there in the world, it's been a rough start to the new year.
Major flooding in Australia;
Devastating mudslides in Brazil;
Snow in 49 states;
Blizzards in the northeast and
a very tragic shooting rampage in Arizona.

I can't imagine; I can't imagine what it must be like.
I am so grateful for my warm little bed.
I am so grateful for my safe home and
I am so grateful for my family and friends.

But here, in my own little world, it too, has been a rough start to the new year.
Sick.
Sick with a cold;
Sick with exhaustion.
And then, sick with something I hope I never have again, only I'm not exactly sure what happened. My guess is, after a combination of different ointment to treat a cold sore, I essentially burned my lips. Weird. I know. But let me tell you, painful. So very painful.

I am, thankfully, almost recovered.
What I hope I remember from this 17 day experience, is that I hope I never take sleep and rest for granted again. I hope, I can keep them a priority in my life because so much depends on them.

Okay, yeah!
Finally the end of my pity party!

When I started blogging, there was this unspoken vow (or perhaps I did say it out loud),
but this was not to be a place of my personal ramblings.
It was however a place to share stuff we do.

And with that, this Saturday, the four of us got to do something together and it was a nice day.
There was a Scottish festival near Orlando and I got to snap a few photos.

(Nope, I don't know this little boy, or his dad. I just thought it was a neat moment.)

At the very end of the day's ceremonies, all the bands who competed, play as a "mass band". It is amazing to hear and splendid to see. Goose bumps. It gives me goose bumps every time.


I'm grateful to have the time to play with these few and I look forward to the time when I can play some more.

Night to all.
And thank you.

Melle

The way I'm feeling....

......stressed......
.....overwhelmed.....
......exhausted.......
......frustrated.......

but we all feel that way;
maybe, from time to time,
(or do we feel that way a little too often)
so, I don't mean to have a pity party
so, am I making excuses?

I was telling my mom today that "I'm in a blogging slump",
but I don't think that is it at all. Actually, I have plenty I want to blog about; lots of ideas; it's actually something I think about frequently. And if I'm not thinking about what I want to post on the blog, then I'm searching other blogs so I can gather more ideas.
Egad! What is wrong with me?
Because this post is still turning into.....ready for it.....
another blog post about why I don't have time to post!

So I won't.
I won't go eat that dinner that is waiting for me in the kitchen.
I won't finish entering those grades that are due this week.
I won't finish the PowerPoint I need for my lesson first thing tomorrow morning.
I won't write up that MIP paperwork that has been due for several months.
I won't work on another yearbook page.
I won't write even one lesson plan ('cuz I've only written 3 all year).
I won't go finish another load of laundry.
I won't do all these things, this Sunday night, until I officially write a legitimate post!

ADMIRE vs. ENVY

admire - to regard with wonder, pleasure or approval.

envy - an emotion that occurs when a person lacks another's achievement.

I admire those who can keep a clean house, but I envy those who work from home.
I admire talented photographers, but envy their fancy cameras and big lenses.
I admire those who can use Photoshop, but envy those who can use Photoshop.

I envy those who have lots of paints, inks, canvases and gel mediums at their fingertips, and admire those who know what to do with it.
I envy those who have tapped into the internet through blogging and websites to share their passion, and admire those who have.
I envy those who are creative, and admire those who do something with it.

The truth is, I feel creative, I'm just frustrated that I can't seem to find the time to finish anything or the means to complete them.

Now, don't worry and don't read too much into all this blubbering.
It's just the way I'm feeling....tonight. Sunday night.
It's the usual feeling of,
"I'm not quite done. I'm not quite ready. If I only only had just one more day....".

And on that note:
Since "express yourself" is my "word" for this year,
may I share this from last weekend,

and this one from yesterday.

Donna Downey says "inspiration can't happen unless you are doing something", she also encourages us to play in our inspiration journals at least once a week.....here's to next week!
Best wishes everyone,
Melle

Happy New Year 2011!!!

That's me...typical, a day late and a dollar short...
Happy New Year everyone!
I'm afraid we've all started our new year off with colds, so that continues to set me back a little from what I had hoped to have accomplished by now.....well, that's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it!

My "word" for 2011.....
well, I've thought on it a lot....
I even got Scott involved in thinking about it with me....

And although I thought of plenty, I'm breakin' the rules and actually using two words for this year:
"Express yourself"

I'll explain more.
but for now......

back to the grindstone tomorrow.....happy .....and sad......

Love,
Melle
(I'll explain the blue on my next post :))

Bitter-sweet

As I lay here to write this post, I am so very, very grateful I do not have to get out of this warm and cozy bed and face work today. It is COLD! No, I mean, 6 major airports shut-down; snow flurries in Florida and Sunday night football postponed until Tuesday for the first time since 1940 somethin' kind of COLD!

On other hand, as I lay here thinking about what I wanted to post about our wonderful holiday this year, I always feel a little sad that it's over, sort of a "post holiday depression"..... You know how it is, we spend so many, many weeks getting ready for the Big Day and then it seems it's over so quickly. It was such a wonderful holiday for us this year; from the candlelight service at church on Thursday night to the four of us spending the Sunday after Christmas playing games together.

(I do have photos to post, but Scott helped clean up my laptop and transferred ALL my photos to my external hard drive....that's okay, however, the hard drive is in the living room, and as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I am in my warm and cozy bed and I am not getting out...well, not yet anyway! :o) )

The chilly weather also means no working in the studio for me. Well, I did dawn several layers and managed to slather some paint on paper last night and I started to feel much better. However, today, it looks like I better tackle one of the many projects on my list that can be done in the warmth of the house.....

-yearbook pages
-filing the piles of bill paperwork
-yearbook pages
-posting photos to the blog
-yearbook pages
-start washing our new clothes
-yearbook pages
-start putting away the monorail that's under the Christmas tree
-start putting away the Christmas tree
-yearbook pages
-ordering prints of our Christmas photos
-yearbook pages
-catching up on lesson plans
-yearbook pages

Hmmm, I certainly have plenty I've been procrastinating......

Wait, I could even venture out to shop at Hobby Lobby with my new gift cards, but that would require me getting out of this warm and cozy bed. I mean, if I can go outside to shop, then I surely could go outside to work in the studio!

The weatherman says our temps will return to the 70's by this Thursday and Friday. If I plan wisely, complete that list from above and I could declare Thursday and Friday as "Studio Days".......

Perhaps I better start with a shower, however, that will require me getting out of this warm and cozy bed......

Happy Day everyone, stay warm and check back soon to see if I ever made it out of this.....warm and cozy bed!
Melle

Signs of the holiday......

mmmm, the house smells heavenly this morning.
It smells just like cookies and brownies.
It's too bad blogs don't include the ability to share smells.
Smell; might just be the most unappreciated sense that we have. Just think, you can't enjoy food without it.
(....Perhaps I could use a little less ability to smell, since I keep gaining so much weight....but I digress....here let me eat one of those newly baked cookies to help me focus....)
We are almost done with the baking. Yesterday we finished, several of those Nestle frozen cookies that have cute reindeer and special holiday colored chips, but then we baked our usual Reindeer Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, and chocolate chip.
(oh oh, we forgot the oatmeal raisin - of course I think I'm the only one who eats those....thus the extra weight again....sorry, here I'll eat another cookie to help me ....mmmm...focus).
We made Rice Krispie Treats, brownies and Andrea added a really delicious truffle recipe to our usual list of treats. We still have the Forget 'ems, Cream Cheese Bars and banana pudding to make today.

I'll share recipes soon....
I'll share why we do all this, soon.....

In the meantime, I had some photos ready to share:
Catching up from last week, McKenna and fellow classmates in the choir had a holiday performance at Church on the Square in The Villages.

The students did a wonderful job. It was a beautiful evening.

A few days later, Scott also performed at Church at the Square with The Sounds of Scotland. It too, was a very nice evening.

And on Black Friday McKenna had a chance to visit with Santa. It was so cute because while Andrea had every intention of just watching from the sidelines, Santa had a different plan. When he raised his white gloved hand and used his pointer finger in the "you, come over here" sign language, Andrea knew she better go and "visit" with Santa too. He seemed to take a real liking to her. Spoke with her longer than McKenna. They chatted about college and the future.....cool.

Merry Christmas everyone!
Tomorrow, tomorrow I'll get to finish my holiday shopping. :o)

Melle

There are those commercials again.....only 4 shopping days until Christmas....and I'm still not done yet.....however, it'll still have to wait because today we practice a favorite holiday tradition:
It is cookie bakin' day!! And one of our favorites to bake are these cute little babies, Reindeer Cookies.


We just use the chocolate chip cookie dough recipe from the back of the Nestle Toll House chips bag. We use the mini pretzels for antlers, chocolate chips for the eyes and of course a red M & M for the red nose.

The butter is softening now and I can't wait!
Have a great day everyone!
Love,
Melle