To My Sister

Tomorrow, my sister will get the two degrees that she has been working towards for the past five years. I am so proud of her, and at the same time, am so heart-sick about it because I don't know what it's going to be like without her here. So, I wrote this for her, and thought I would share it with you.

To My Sister,
You are my family, you are my sister, you are my best friend.
You have yelled at me, cried with me, and laughed together afterward.
You understand my frustrations, and I don’t test your boundaries.
You support me, and I support you, even when we don’t necessarily agree.
As you step into the next chapter of your life, I thank you for sharing this chapter with me, and I want to remind you that no matter where you go, no matter what we do, no matter how far apart or close together we are,
You are my family, my sister, and my best friend.
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow…


I love you!

Along with it, I gave her a ring that is three rings intertwined together to make one ring. Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow...

So, go to her site and congratulate her on a job well done! She deserves it!

"Easy"

Webster's dictionary defines easy as

1 a : causing or involving little difficulty or discomfort b : requiring or indicating little effort, thought, or reflection

I don't think that's true. I think the word "easy" is a relative term.

This is the main reason why I don't allow my students to say the word in my math classes. Certain aspects of mathematics are not as easy for some people as they are for others. So, if they insist on using that word, I make them amend it and say the phrase "easy for me."

This year, a group of teachers decided to repeat a fun thing from last year, and we're doing a cookie exchange. It's fun because you bring a certain amount of cookies, and then you go around and get some of everyone else's cookies, too, and you end up going home with the same amount of cookies you brought, but of all different varieties. The only non-easy part of this cookie exchange is that they said you couldn't bring the same cookies this year that you brought last year. Ugh.

Anyway, I remembered that one of my master's ladies had brought some cookies once that were to die for, so I asked her for the recipe. She started the description with how "easy" they were because there were only three ingredients that you needed. Oreos, cream cheese, and white almond bark. So far, so good, in my mind. Then she told me all I had to do was crush the Oreos, mix in the cream cheese, and dip in the melted bark. Sounds "easy" enough, but boy, was it NOT!

First, Kroger didn't have any regular Oreos, there were only Reduced Fat Oreos... weird. Then, there was only one package of the bark, even though she had told me that if I needed anything extra it would be the bark. Ugh. So, I started these "easy" cookies Tuesday night, so that if I needed more stuff, I could run and get it Wednesday afternoon, since we were exchanging our cookies today. Not only did I not have enough bark to dip them twice, it was barely enough to dip them once! And when we say "dip" that's not exactly the easiest way to do that. Oreo balls like to come apart if they haven't been in the refrigerator until the exact moment before you "dip" them. Argh.

So, two more packages of bark later, I finally have four dozen little Dirty Snowballs. They are really good, though, so I guess I'll just have to forget how "easy" they were for next year.

And then, my husband of few pieces of advice, tells me not to forget that the first time you try anything it's always hard. I guess that's his vote for me to make another batch.

Heavy Hearts Abound

My bestest friend is upset about her baby's tiny flaw... which I understand...

My husband is upset because he lost his pistol while hunting with his dad, and our child has a cough that won't go away, and our checkbook has a leak and doesn't hold all the money that goes into it.

My sister is upset because someone is stupid and immature, and she's worried it will affect the difficulty of her final exam, therein preventing her from making the B in the class that she so painstakingly worked for. If she doesn't make the B, she can't graduate on Saturday.

All of these people I care so deeply for, and I can't stand to see them hurting, but right now, no words I say can make any of their pains go away, and so all I can do, and what I'm asking you to do, is pray that God takes care of each of their needs in the ways that He sees fit, and that in a few days, all will be back to the joyous spirit of Christmas again, because that's the fun part.

Before I had kids...

Everyone always says that after you have kids, you forget what life was like before they came along... and WOW is that the truth!
Before I had kids, I had time for everything that I don't have time for now. I stayed in better contact with all my friends, I kept my house cleaner, and I got to wake up whenever I wanted to wake up. I could go to bed without having to pick up clothes and toys off the floor, and there weren't crushed pieces of cracker in my carpet.
I didn't react to sudden noises by saying "Noise!", I didn't open the cabinet and hear "More, more?" and I didn't see the little things as so important.
Since Thursday night, I have had the opportunity to remember what it was like before I had Micheal. My husband decided to go hunting with his dad, and he took our child with him so that Micheal could hang out with his grandma. Plus, it was my LAST AND FINAL MASTER'S CLASS EVER! So, he went to her instead of her coming down to him.
Anyway, I got to do the things I've been wanting to do this weekend, and it has been wonderful!
I got to have one last hoorah with my sister, who will be moving away from us next week. But, I can't talk about that. I got to go Christmas shopping without having to worry about when I had to be back home, and I finished my shopping! Then, Amanda Sue came over, and we wrapped our Christmas presents and had girl time fun! I had forgotten how much fun it is to just hang out with a great friend and not have to worry about babies and husbands wanting attention and other things needing my attention. I got to have conversations with Amanda that opened my eyes to things that I've been wondering, and I got to share time with the people that I love, other than my husband and child.
I realized that I have been neglecting certain things since my child was born, the most important of those, myself and my friendships.
But, in the end, I find myself wondering what time my child will be back home, and I can't wait to hear him ask for hugs and kisses, and say thank you for everything that goes his way, whether I gave it to him, or if he gave it to himself.
What did I do before I had kids?
Does it really matter? Because it's so much more fun now! And he gives me so many more things to laugh about!

I am Woman, Let Me Cry!

Ever since the stupid buyout of AT&T Wireless by Cingular, we've had some creative cell phone bills. We opted to stay with the default carrier that picked up our contract, and have been happy with their service for the past few months. But, when our carrier officially cut all ties with AT&T, we had to go into the store and have a piece in our phones switched out, so that it would officially be all our carrier, and nothing else. My husband took his in a couple of weeks ago and had his SIM card changed out, no problem. So, yesterday, since he's been off forever, he took my phone to get "updated."
When I got home, I asked for my phone, and he told me that they couldn't get mine "unlocked" or some crap like that, so they just transferred all my phone numbers, and then gave me a new phone. It is just like my old one, except it's not blue, it's grey, ugh. And, they lost all my photos that were on there. Like the ones of my child being goofy, and the things that I had seen that I didn't have my camera with me, but I had my phone. I was pretty upset that I had lost my phone, and I had had a long day, so the tears started flowing.
That's when my husband starting getting defensive. Why do they do that? Let a woman cry if a woman wants to grieve the loss of a phone and all her photos!
Then, to top it off, when they transferred my phone numbers, they doubled and tripled almost all of them, and now I have to go back and delete all the repeats. Stupid minimum wage phone company workers.