5K
My family held the first ever Aurand Turkey Trot a 5K walk or run. We had a good time, at least I did. We started out at 7:30am and we shot off at 8. It was the coldest Thanksgiving Morning in 16 years. We had plenty of people willing to tend our campfire in the park so that when we finished hot cocoa and coffee were waiting for us! ummmm. It was a great time. I can't wait to do it again. Feel free to join us next year!
Reunions
Meeting up with old friends is always a great time. Because of them I can now carry about my own moist towelettes, which is the responsibility of responsible women...I have been informed. ;)
Seeing friends and family, from near and far away reminds me of how much I have to be thankful for. And it reminds me of how much I miss the absent loved ones. I am hoping to see you soon.
Good Night
I bought new pajamas. They make it easy to crawl into bed at bedtime.
I picked up my baby chinchilla, whom I have named Wicket. He makes it hard for me to say good night because I just want to play.
I have to get up early for school tomorrow. That makes me want to head for bed immediately.
This is Thanksgiving Week and so that means that tomorrow will be a little crazy as far as school goes. That makes me want to stay up (if I don't go to bed I don't have to get up...).
I love to sleep. Decision made! I am going to bed now.
Baby, Baby
If you don't have the time or the resources to travel to exciting destinations like the Andes Mountains...Adopt a pet that is native to the area! *wink* I am so excited! I finally got to pick up my baby chinchilla today! He is so much fun. He is absolutely the softest creature that you have ever held! He is cute and adorable and I love him! He and I are going to bond over the Thanksgiving Holiday. And I will introduce him to my class after break. I think that he is going to have to come home with me every weekend because I couldn't bear for him to have to be alone...Its bad enough that I had to leave his brother. Toby assured me however that both chinchillas will be fine.
He has a great cage! It's fantastic with multiple levels and toys and stuff to gnaw on. I think he loves it!
He is so beautiful! He is mostly grey with some white. He has perfect little ears that he perks up when you talk to him. And his tail is bushy.
Some things to know...
Chinchillas are an adorable animal with long ears, large eyes and bushy tails. Their tail looks like a squirrels' tail and accounts for about one third of their length. They have the finest fur of all the mammals which makes them very soft."The Chinchilla's exceedingly soft, dense coat is the cause of it's present extreme rarity in the wild"
Chinchilla means "little Chinta," the South American Indian tribe for which the animal is named.
More on the Married Roommates
Lauren says it is "Pick on Married People Day" I think that she is right.
Just moments ago there was a rather confused discussion about the upcoming release of the new Harry Potter movie. Tom thought that it opened on some other November 18th and so he said they couldn't go. Lauren wasn't too upset but I think that she might have been plotting a secret viewing without her husband. He heard whispers of that plan and put the kabosh on it right away. Now they are both headed out the door to a movie that starts in two hours. They are going to "hang out" at the theater for a while. But don't worry, they are quite experienced at this sort of thing. They are equipped with books, puzzles, and Lauren's endless trivia knowledge. This midnight viewing is quite impromptu however it is just exactly like them, not unusual in the least.
I make fun of them because I laugh at how quickly they can go from having no plans to running out the door. Any excuse to get away from me! Ha ha! I get the house: I WIN! *giggling* Too much fun. Too much fun.
Official Notice/Warning
To: Any man in the near to far future who may
ever consider marrying me (admittedly a rather limited audience *wink*)
Prepare yourself to eat leftovers. Just because a food was not prepared on the intended day of consumption doesn't make it inedible. Rather the inedible factor of most of my meals comes from my cooking *wink* not the preservation process. Refusal to eat leftovers drives me crazy. No one wants to see that.
Why doesn't someone ask me
NOW what it is like to live with a married couple? I have something to say!
That is all for today.
Taken Away
I love to be around people who are getting married! I don't know what it is but I think that I am truly addicted. I love to hear their stories of how they met, the excitement of the proposal, the stress of planning a wedding and the joy of looking forward to a lifetime of "togetherness." I simply love to be around people that just overflow with joy. It brings out the best in me. And I couldn't be happier for them.
Tonight I unexpectedly dropped in on a friend only to find myself in the midst of a "Wedding Hair Try-Out" involving my very favorite hair stylist (she is simply
the sweetest person in the world...I can't help but loving her to pieces!). I hope that I didn't make too much of a nuisance of myself but I really did just enjoy being around them, hearing their stories and looking at their pictures. It has made me bubble with happiness and expectancy.
I feel like I have spent the past several hours in a glorious dream world. And perhaps I have. A world of beauty and love, acceptance and joy, excitement and anticipation. It is a deep place, full of intrigue. And my visit has left me quite wistful and daydreamish. I breath each breath intentionally. I hum and sing through my day. I skip and twirl as I walk though high winds and cold rain. I hardly notice my surroundings because
I am so taken away by the promise of it all.
Someday...
The beauty
The beauty of having
your very own washing machine and dryer right in your home is that you can do a load of laundry
whenever you feel like it! Like
now! I don't have to wait 'til the weekend...I am doing my laundry on a Monday night..."How can it be done?" you ask...well, it is quite simple...I load the machine and then I
am free to walk away and let it do all of the work. I don't have to stand guard over my stuff. I don't have to drag loads of homework to grade with me. I don't have to watch insane t.v. I don't have to generate random conversations with the other unfortunates trying to do their laundry. I can do
whatever I want! I don't even have to stay in the
same building!
Life is good.
Flannel brings in Fall
I have pulled out the flannel sheets, the flannel jammies, and the pile of afghans. I am now ready to be cozy warm for the cool seasons ahead. Yea! Christmas decorations are going up soon. Christmas music is already playing. I
love this season. It can
never start early enough for me!
All of my days are glorious!
The Wizard of Oz
I have been waiting and waiting to see one of my all time favorite musicals on t.v. Tonight was the night, finally! I suppose that I am going to be singing for the rest of the week now because the songs are all stuck in my head and
I love it! I now feel like the holiday season has officially begun...because I have
at last seen
The Wizard of Oz!
Ice Crystals
I love these dishes! I want these dishes! These dishes are on sale! I have successfully left a store without them once but I am not sure that I am able to do so again. But they are on sale NOW! This is painful. But I don't really
need dishes. Mine are perfectly fine. Although I don't have any Christmas/Wintery dishes...
A girl has just got to have Christmas/Wintery dishes....Doesn't she?It is times like these when I would really like a second opinion.
Chicken Little...
...well worth seeing!
Michigan
Michigan was wonderful and well worth the trip. At least for the parts that I was awake for. I really started my flu season there so I
slept for five hours on the drive up...then attended a meeting and
went to bed late. I woke up early to attend some very great discussion groups till lunch time and then I
slept from noon to six or six thirty. I attended another meeting...sang at kareokee...and then went back to
sleep. The next day we drove home...and, you guessed it...
I SLEPT! Honestly, I think that I learned a lot about being honest and about communication. Basically, I learned that I do a lot of stuff wrong and it is no wonder that I can end a relationship that seems to be going so well so quickly. Oopps! Maybe I will do better
next time.
We shall see.
What I do
Parent teacher conferences went so much better than I ever could have hoped for. You know how you always have
that one meeting that you dread? Well, this year ... I didn't have one of those! All of them were so easy to get through. My kids are so great and they are so easy to brag on. So basically I had a wonderful week telling great parents just how much I enjoy spending my days with their children.
Flu season is upon us. Or at least upon me and my class. I have had kids in and out of school for the past couple of weeks (which by the way makes my job MUCH harder...keeping track of late work and missed tests). My days have pretty much boiled down to: school, nyquil, rest, dayquil, school, nyquil, rest, dayquil. I sleep between 10-12 hours per night trying to build my strength up for the next day. The good news is that it is actually working. While I have a hard time getting up in the morning and a hard time winding down at night, I have been greatly enjoying my days. I accomplish much. I have the strength to accomplish much. I have the desire and the creativity to enjoy what I do. All is well.
I had to arrange for a Chapel speaker this week and that went amazingly well. I asked one of my small group leaders to speak and he did a fantastic job. The kids loved his talk and the songs and even the motions...not an easy task let me assure you. I am so thankful that it went so smoothly and that I don't have to do that again until next semester.
Basketball season has begun. If you have not recently been able to watch a game that involved 5-6th grade boys in their first years of playing the game then you are missing a real treat. It is some first-rate entertainment I tell you. They spend a significant portion of their 5 minute periods on the floor dramatically over reacting to fouls, falling, sliding, flailing, etc. Even the cheerleaders are new and they flee from the floor in fear when they hear a buzzer, they stand on the court while the game is playing, and they cartwheel and flip right into each other...Oops! If you are looking to laugh, home games are most every Thursday.
We got our school pictures today, but I accidentally forgot mine at school.
Meeting up with old friends is always a great time. Because of them I can now carry about my own moist towelettes, which is the responsibility of responsible women...I have been informed. ;) 
If you don't have the time or the resources to travel to exciting destinations like the Andes Mountains...Adopt a pet that is native to the area! *wink* I am so excited! I finally got to pick up my baby chinchilla today! He is so much fun. He is absolutely the softest creature that you have ever held! He is cute and adorable and I love him! He and I are going to bond over the Thanksgiving Holiday. And I will introduce him to my class after break. I think that he is going to have to come home with me every weekend because I couldn't bear for him to have to be alone...Its bad enough that I had to leave his brother. Toby assured me however that both chinchillas will be fine. 
