I'm crossing this one off....

Need to remember next year to start very early again. AND - order three color ink cartridges and 2 photo color cartridges!

See more progress on: Send out Christmas cards in 2005

This photo has been deleted from public view by someone pushing the "may offend" button

This photo has been deleted from public view by someone pushing the "may offend" button
Originally uploaded by creativity+.

This is an awesome photo by one of my 43things friends and local colleagues here in St. Louis. Funny how today, at Mass at St. Cronan's, my husband protested praying for a group of people who were enduring a minefield in order to release prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. What's wrong with praying for someone's safety, regardless if you agree with the premise? Even if you are for the death penalty, is there something wrong with praying for someone else's soul lest how depraved it is? This creation said a lot to me. I guess that's why I am a teacher. Even though I am privileged and have grown up so, I really have seen the pain these enemies can do. I do so wish we could all be equal so there was no more suffering in the world. I hope that everyone could have the privileges I have had. This has been a Thanksgiving come lately for me.

Well....

I should know it in a couple of weeks. I donated blood today at the New Cathedral for Fr. Gerry’s challenge.

Even got Hubby to come with me – he’s B+. Felt good!

See more progress on: know my blood type

Jack Handy?

Mwwwwhahhahahaahhhaa!

Here's a little gift for you all!

http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?MomsL8

This is another cute quiz.....

M	Meek
O	Overwhelming
M	Mysterious
S	Spunky
L	Lovable
8

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

Hee hee!

How to make a MomsL8

Ingredients: 3 parts friendliness 3 parts silliness 1 part empathy

Method: Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add a little emotion if desired!

Username:

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com

Another cool quiz.....

You're a girl power mommy! You love to be girly,
but you're no pushover. Your kids are learning
that gender differences don't have to mean
gender inequality. You've taken back pink, and
you don't care who knows it!


What kind of a freaky mother are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Give me some hugs.....please???

*HUGS* TOTAL!
give MomsL8 more *HUGS*

Get hugs of your own

It's approaching!

Ok - here we go again!

I'm trying to lose weight again with Ediets.....

Personality Test Results-Enneagram Scale

Personality Test Results: "

Enneagram Test Results Type 1 Perfectionism |||||||||||| 46% Type 2 Helpfulness |||||||||||||||||| 78% Type 3 Image Focus |||||||||||| 50% Type 4 Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||| 66% Type 5 Detachment |||||| 26% Type 6 Anxiety |||||||||||||||| 70% Type 7 Adventurousness |||||||||||||||||||| 82% Type 8 Aggressiveness |||||||||||||| 58% Type 9 Calmness |||||||||||| 50% Your main type is 7 Your variant is social

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

"

Personality Test Results-Enneagram Types

Personality Test Results: "

Main Type	Overall Self

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

"

Oh Muh Gawd....ready to party?????

Ok – everyone who has been following this drama:

I HAVE A SINK!!!! Ok – before you break out the champagne – don’t yet – it’s not installed yet.

It’s sitting in the laundry room placed where it’s going to be connected – and hubby says TODAY!

He says at breakfast – do you want a short or long faucet.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG - I almost pissed my pants!

It’s there – it’s just not connected…..

Now…as with everything – for example, when I first met him – like a month into our relationship, I said I needed to put a speakers for my nice new Kenwood stereo in my oil-guzzling, smoking Honda CVCC (yeah, like a 1979), and he says – OHHHH, I can do that for you! So I ask him how long it will take – he waves his hand and me and guffaws – oh, bout an hour…...SIX HOURS LATER and my doors are off my car, taken apart, I tell him I’ve got to go to work sometime! He does get it done, but it was a rigamorole.

This will be the sink saga, too – as almost 20 years later, it’s the predictable problem-solving pattern of my DH.

But I will hug him when he finally does get it in….and I’m sooooo close I can taste it!!!

See more progress on: Put a laundry tub in the laundry room

Another example...

is my mother. We have never gotten along – I think, most probably from birth. I have tried not to duplicate ANYTHING she has does in her life – from being a woman to being a mother from being a career person. Sometimes, when I find myself acting like her, I have to shake myself and think about all the pain she caused me as a child.

She’s a master at this one, and she most recently threw her spiked barbs at me once again (don’t you hate that when you’re 40, your parents can still take you into a room and anihilate you with their lectures?).

I have tried to respect her sagacity (because the only thing she’s got going for her is really her experience, not that it’s wisdom, but she has lived before me), but still, there’s just things that people think that shouldn’t be said.

I take everything she says personally – after all, shouldn’t it be your mother who would love you lest you be an axe murderer? I keep thinking of Sisten Helen Prejean and “Dead Man Walking,” but to be honest, I think that if my mother were faced with a choice of $1M or me, she would honestly choose that money – or possibly the companionship of a man.

As a teacher, I am so aware of the power of words and how they can hurt. My mother thinks I am hurtful – but I had an excellent teacher.

Albeit I have had counseling for years regarding my soft spots and my mother, I still need to get over her hurtful remarks, and realize that it’s not about me – many people feel this way about her, and that I need to continue on with how I feel, regardless of whether or not I feel it “measures up.”

I guess that’s why this is on my goal list. I will be forever seeking approval because my mother puts me in the position – and most likely will do so until she dies – and I take everything everyone else says to heart.

I thought once I turned 40, it would all magically disappear – as if I would never have to deal with teenaged insecurities again, but I still need to work on this.

See more progress on: learn how to ignore hurtful useless comments

Casinos on Mississippi's Gulf Coast - PreKatrina

DSCN0085 Originally uploaded by MomsL8.

I was looking at some vacation photos - and found this one. I think I took some excellent photos of the coastline on my SLR camera, so I don't have them uploaded to flickr, but here are some casinos (except for Magic) that were moved up above Beach Blvd. in last month's storm called Katrina. I will miss this area - Godspeed to the folks of this region - wonderful people, really. I pray for an easy recovery - and I'll be back down to enjoy the vitality once again!

Once Again....

This space is not here for judgmental holier-than-thou intellectual beings who have no right to superimpose their beliefs on others.

I closed commenting off due to people thinking they have the inherent right to cynicize everything in my life.

It's not your life, nor your space, for this to occur. Go play in traffic somewhere.

Geesh - no one should have to explain why or how someone blogs.

One more comment, and I will just eliminate commenting at all.

Hasn't your mother ever taught you that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?

End of sermon - back to regular mundane boring life for some of you higher beings.

Yay, Kelly!

I did the kitchen mission today!

I know she says not to put things away – but what the heck, I did! I had a stack of Tupperware sitting there – put that away. I had my basket where I keep plastic silverware for parties out since April – put that away. Pitched a whole bunch of junk. Put the water bottles up on the shelf in the laundry room. Took excess prescription bottles upstairs. And I wiped EVERYTHING down!

Whoohoo – that made me feel good! One small babystep, but there’s a heck of a LONG way to go!

See more progress on: Do the Flylady daily missions

Small mall walk....

today when buying shoes and products from Clinique. Took the youngest DS with me – so we skedaddled. About 1/2 mile or 1/2 hour, I’d say. Exhilarating, but probably not enough.

See more progress on: walk three times a week

And so it begins....

Another school year....I have to be back at school for a luncheon on Wednesday, then Thurday am for breakfast and another lunch for good....the onslaught will hit me.

I still haven't written my curriculum. I guess I better finally get typing.

I feel pretty successful in that I've ordered the house a little - but this year will be a killer school year for 10 y.o. DS, so I best get going.

I miss my life of literacy - writing and reading - the easier job of teaching remedial reading.

Just went for my yearly well woman exam also. Gotta do my second mammogram. Yuck...

and boy was that scale creeping up on me. The job has really taken a toll on my psyche, with restricting my reading and my healthy diet.

I am clenching my fists and gritting my teeth, like a teenager dragged onto a rollercoaster ride, when I think of going back.

Sometimes I wonder if I did the right thing - the move to another district, leaving journalism to teach, marrying, the whole kitten kaboodle.

And then by December, I get to thinking I did.....

We'll see what kind of year this will be. Keep a stiff upper lip and a positive outlook - let's see if that will get me through it!

And yet another gem....

Because I just like to see what everyone is up to...


Fun and spunky, you link, there for you are! This
is all fun and games, and you do what you
damned well please!


What kind of blogger am I?
brought to you by Quizilla

Cats

I just had to! Hee hee!


The Cheshire Cat! You're a sly cat who grins on the
outside, but schemes on the inside. Even your
best friends don't realize that you may
actually be their worst enemy!


What kind of cat are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Ok...had the walk!

Today, I was well-meaning in getting up at 8 and desiring to hit some majestic beautiful sights of St. Louis on a walk with the dog and my camera. Instead….I putzed around on the computer until noon, when my youngest asked me to take him with me on a walk. He, being the art afficionado he is, wanted to go to the Laumeier Sculpture Park, to which he has been numerous times, even knowing where all the sculptures are and the names of them (if he hasn’t coined a cute name himself). So we went…dog, son, camera and me…and we hiked…and hiked….I ended up snapping 53 or so shots – testing out my architecture angles and settings. Check them all out in flickr if you choose. And I’m sure we walked for over an hour…trekking up hills and down wooded paths…it felt good, but I was HOT, starved, and tired by the time we were finished.

See more progress on: walk three times a week

'Tis Done!

Okies….I joined…and I registered 4 books at bookcrossing.

Commit random acts of literacy! Read & Release at
Book Crossing

And here's my wish list:

I’m going to release my first one to my manicurist, then plan on leaving the other three at different places in my city, since it’s not proliferated there.

This is kinda cool, and I am hesitant and nervous, but I figure – what the heck! Sistert’s comments really encouraged me to think about this in a new light!

See more progress on: join bookcrossing.com

Get Motivated - Stay Motivated: Need procrastination help?

Get Motivated - Stay Motivated: Need procrastination help?

I sooooo need this...right now, I should be writing my curriculum....or at best, getting in the shower and handling the events of the day.

Instead, I'm sitting here....avoiding.

Oh well...

Started.....

Running with Scissors yesterday at the pool. I think I’m at page 50 or something. Damned funny book, and so realistic to my life, it’s not even funny. Gawd, no wonder I’m screwed up! :-) Now, if RL doesn’t get in the way, maybe I can finish it before Aug. 1?

See more progress on: Read one book a month

Test post

I am doing 43 things.

Well so far so good....

This foray into blogging has gone well for me. I am glad I am doing something for me. I do not write anything here for educational or entertainment purposes. I am blogging for my sake. If anything here offends others or doesn't seem up to par, sorry - this is my space. I hope to diversify, branch out, and grow, in my abilities to release a lot of my feelings, dream, hopes, and aspirations, but until then, this has been a huge leap of faith for me. I'm glad I did it, but I'm not going to justify why and how I am blogging and what I blog about. This space used to be private for a long time, with no comments enabled. To open those features up has been a good step for me, but I'm glad I'm able to respect others' space as well.

Gibby Greets the Company

Gibby Greets the Company
Originally uploaded by MomsL8. Here's my bestest friend in the world...my blue merle Shetland Sheepdog, Gibby. He's my sweetheart.....

I'm frustrated!

Ok....now I can't get 43things to post from there....and don't know where to begin to figure that out....but I also can't get my Flickr badge to post right under my 43things list.....I'm not an idiot! But sometimes....as I round the bend of 40....I'm feeling like one!

Sunsets

Img2005-07-04_0054,
originally uploaded by MomsL8.

This is my favorite photo from vacation.

Yayyyyy!

I made a new template today.....added my cool link to my 43Things....and added my Flickr photos - I'm not sure why they aren't showing up yet....but I think this will be a neat thing. If I just remember to do this....blog at least once a week....oops, I better change one of my goals to reflect that. If anyone has any helpful links, tips, secrets, please, please, please share!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.