a new flip

I'm so excited...I just ordered a Flip! I'm mainly going to use it for Kindermusik, but I'm sure you'll see some cat videos and maybe even some bits and pieces of our upcoming vacation! Stay tuned...

latest pictures

The mold removal is almost done! (Well, as far as we know...there could still be some mold in the dining room, but there's still too much furniture in the way to check. I'm PRAYING there's none in there.) Today all the painters have been here: the guy we hired to paint the outside of the house, and two guys that the insurance/contracting company hired to re-paint the walls that were replaced. I think our bedroom is done, and they still have to do the kitchen, office, and piano room. Here's what it looks like today:

The kitchen (not great light in this picture, sorry):
The piano room (yes, the room I JUST painted a few weeks ago):
Our bedroom:
The office:
The huge mess that is still our main living area (this is seriously killing me):
You'll notice that the windows are covered. That's because of the painting that's being done on the outside, and here is how it looked when I got home from Kindermusik today:
You can see the different colors I painted on the front, LOL. Now the first coat is completely done. Tomorrow he'll do the second coat and the trim. Early next week the flooring people are coming to do the floors, and then I can spend the next several months putting everything back. :( It took one day to tear it all up, and it will take ages to put it all back.

And I just want complain about the drywall dust. The contractor said to me, "When we leave, there won't be a speck of dust." Well, he TOTALLY lied. When the light is on in the kitchen, you can SEE the dust all over everything in there. It hurts my heart! I am going to lose my mind! My house is always CLEAN, and can you see how it looks right now?! Ugh. This project can't get done soon enough.

OK, vent over. :)

Edited to add: I just ran out and snapped another picture of the outside - I LOVE the color!

Much different from what it was before (this picture was taken when we bought the house in August 2005):

the fungus that was among us

I'm laying on the guest bed keeping the cats company, since they have to be locked up in here when the guys are working. They're here hanging drywall today. I am SO GLAD that things are moving along. I'm seriously about to go out of my mind with the house being like this.

Also, we're having the house painted, but it keeps raining, so today the painter came and covered the windows. It's weird not being able to see out. LOL Our house looks pretty funny right now - plastic taped over all the windows and three different colors of paint in sections on the front. (I was trying to decide what color to paint it.) It's raining or I would take a picture.

When I came back from class, it was Grand Central here. The drywall guys were here, truck blocking the driveway, the painter was here, van in the driveway, and just as I was pulling up, I noticed that the FedEx guy was here delivering my latest KM order. Everything always happens at once!

Anyway, that's the latest. I will update with more pictures soon.

office space

Well well well, I'm not dead after all!

I admit that I've been horrible about blogging AND reading blogs. But I thought I'd give you a quick glimpse into my project right now...it's the "What Miss Kerri does between Kindermusik semesters" project. haha. We're turning our piano room (AKA the room where we put all of our leftover junk that doesn't fit anywhere else) into Brian's office. It will also still serve as a piano room. :)

It had a little boy-ish baseball wallpaper border, which I tediously scraped off yesterday, and it has a chair rail; above the chair rail was dark tan and below is navy below. I have just finished painting the top half a nice aqua color! And after I shower I'm headed to Lowe's to get the teal paint for the bottom half. Anyway, this room had the piano and all my piano and Kindermusik stuff (that's a lot of stuff!), some of Brian's stuff on a tall bookshelf, a huge futon, and 2 file cabinets. Plus other odds and ends.

Brian is on a MAJOR deadline at work, but he got off at the normal time (7:00) on New Year's Eve and we worked ALL NIGHT taking everything out of there and moving it to various other places in the house, as you can see below. We also completely rearranged and organized the closet, and I will take a picture at some point. It makes me VERY happy!




(No, I haven't taken the Christmas stuff down yet...I just jumped right into this project; it's been on my mind for weeks! Plus I like the lights.)

In fact, we worked so much that night that we completely missed midnight and at about 12:30 Brian said, "Oh...happy new year!" That's the first time we haven't seen the ball drop since we've been married, I think! Oh well. Anyway, here you can see the beginning before I started painting, but after I had taken down the stubborn border (ugh!), repaired the wall with spackle, and started taping. Isn't it DARK in there?? I hate it!

When I went to bed last night, I was about halfway done with the upper half of the room, first coat only. I also had a ton of paint in my hair from where I carelessly leaned my head against the wall while working on the trim. *sigh* Anyway, it looked like this:
And today I have finally finished the entire upper half of the room, TWO coats, even! Here it is:



I don't guess you can see the color that well, but it sure is bright and cheery. I'm going to finish the bottom half tonight and then tomorrow I'm headed to Ikea to get the new bookshelves. Brian has to work tomorrow, and he had to work yesterday, too. :( But the good thing is, he gets to see the progress when he comes home at night (at 11:30) and he loves it! I'll keep you posted. And I'll also update you on Christmas sometime. Cheers!

the sink debacle

All I wanted for my anniversary was a new kitchen sink. After all, the old one was boring and ugly, I could never make it look nice no matter how clean it was, and the faucet leaked. After much trial and tribulation (we bought one sink, it didn't fit right, so we bought another one, same thing again...) and paying the plumber for hours of work with nothing to show for it, we finally have our new sink. I ordered it Thursday morning from a place with a nearby warehouse, and it arrived Friday afternoon. I rushed over to pick it up and the plumber came on Saturday to put it in. Yay! So, without further ado...here's the old sink:
And here's the new sink still in the box with Sam testing it out:
And finally, our new sink:
Yay! I'm so happy with it! Happy anniversary to us. 8 years. Wow!

a great day

I am blogging from my brand new adorable TINY laptop that I got today! It's so small, it's really hard to type on. I have to type slower than usual, but I think I'll eventually get used to it. It's the size of a portable DVD player! Insane. Here's a link: Eee PC

Brian also got a new 22" HD flatscreen monitor today - he's been wanting one forever and now that he's making games for the iPhone, he needs something bigger than his laptop to program on. He set up a temporary workspace in the kitchen tonight - we will be re-vamping the piano room after Christmas so he can have a workspace in there. When I came in to see what he was doing, here's what I found: How cute is that?! It was nice to put the dining room back together...he's had his workspace in there for awhile and it has gotten messy!

So we had a great day today. It's been awhile since we had a whole day with nothing on the agenda. I can't even remember when the last one was. Anyway, we stayed up late last night playing cards with Tim and Christi (girls won both rounds, yeah!) and after they left, we stayed up even longer, just getting things cleaned up and lounging around. We turned off the phones last night and slept VERY late this morning - it felt great! It has been nice just to be together.

Tomorrow we're going to Disney after church. We want to ride Everest - every time we go, the line is too long. But tomorrow we're just going to tough it out! Our anniversary is Tuesday, so it's perfect timing to have a non-stressful weekend together. :)

For our anniversary, we bought a new kitchen sink and faucet today. I cannot WAIT to have it installed - the plumber is coming on Wednesday to do it. Our sink now leaks - it's the faucet, it leaks all over behind the sink and we constantly have a puddle of water there. It drives me nuts. So I am really excited about my new sink!

Well, I want to get a little more work done before bed. Kindermusik is awesome and I will give an update on that soon. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

wow

Oh my goodness, has it really been over a month since I've posted? Wow. September has been REALLY busy. I'm now working with the kids at our church, and I also agreed (apparently in a moment of weakness) to fill in for the church secretary for the month of September. Those two things along with Kindermusik and piano lessons have taken up more than all of my time. There have been many days when I've said to Brian, through tears, that there aren't enough hours in the day. I really don't know what I'd do without Brian - he's helped hold things together here on the homefront...cooking, cleaning, and overall just being my rock. :)

However, this month is almost over and once the secretary thing is off my plate I think I'll be ok. Never again. That's all I'm saying.

My cousin Chris got married last weekend to Gloria. We have loved Gloria from day one and we are more than thrilled that they are married! The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and I was honored to be a part of the ceremony - I got to sing in an awesome trio and I also played keyboard on a few songs. It was fabulous to have our old band together again!

Our Kindermusik semester is flying by...we're already halfway through! I can hardly believe it! My classes are just amazing - I love the kids so much and all the funny things they do and say. I'm teaching an "older" class (4 & 5 year olds) this semester and I'm just amazed at the musicality of the class. They can clap quarter notes and they say "shh" for quarter rests, and I'm so proud of them. I have more students than I ever dreamed I would have beginning my second year!

Brian is doing great. He's loving his job and he's happy that Apple is letting people make games for the iPhone and sell them on iTunes. He's been working on a few games for awhile and he hopes to put one of them up for sale on iTunes this weekend. He's got some cool stuff going on at work, so look for some major news soon!

That's about all. I'm just barely keeping my head above water - but today I've been working hard and feel like I can take a minute to post. I'd also like to say that I am really REALLY missing my friends from New York lately. I've been thinking about them ALL the time and I have been horrible at keeping in touch. So girls, if you're reading, I LOVE you guys and I MISS you!!!!

Did I mention the cooler weather? It makes me so happy! It still gets in the high 80s during the day, but the mornings and evenings are MUCH cooler. I love it. Bye for now...

jump right in

I have officially survived my first week of the semester. Boy, am I exhausted!

I decided that I would just jump right into my new routine with both feet. So I started a new exercise routine this week, too. I've been walking 3 nights a week with my wonderful friend Sarah, but the walking just doesn't seem to have the same effect that it used to have. So I decided to join a gym that has classes. I know that I will go to classes.

So on Monday, I taught one class and then did some work at home, then went to Pilates. It was HARD, but really fun!

Then Tuesday I could barely move, but I had a super busy day! I had 2 Kindermusik classes, then piano lessons until about 6:00. I cooked dinner, walked with Sarah, showered, and fell in bed.

Wednesday: 3 KM classes, more piano lessons, cooked dinner, worked on the computer, crawled to bed.

Thursday 3 KM classes, worked on the computer, sat down to eat lunch and fell asleep for about 30 minutes, more work, then did an open house at a preschool. Practically had to be carried to bed.

This morning, I got up and went to a Body Pump class at the gym. It was SO HARD but super fun. I went with a friend and she and I were both hanging onto the stair rail for dear life after class. It was SO hard to go down the stairs!!!! It was like one leg alone was too weak to hold me up! :)

Anyway, today I have more work to do and I need to figure out something for dinner. Tomorrow I have a class in the morning, Sunday is church...I'm feeling like I'm not going to have much free time this semester. Things will settle down, though...right?

ing or een

Since when did everyone become too lazy to properly pronounce the suffix ing? For the "ng" sound, the back of your tongue must lift toward your soft palate. Which is QUITE different than the "een" sound, during which the tip of your tongue comes right up behind your teeth. Seriously. I'm SO SICK of hearing people say things like "workeen" or "playeen"!!!! Are you REALLY that lazy? Too lazy to pronounce ing???? What really gets me is when people say "singeen" - like they are not too lazy to pronounce the first ing, but they just can't bring themselves to do it twice.

I probably shouldn't have gotten on this subject, because now I'm thinking of 4 million other commonly mispronounced words. And don't even get me started on spelling.

I think that in my old age I'm becoming less patient with things like this. Of course, I don't say it to the person, I just vent to Brian or my brother or dad, because they understand, sympathize, and agree. :)

So. I have about a week and a half until fall semester starts. Kindermusik is crazy as ever. My classroom is in the middle of being remodeled, so we're going to be in another room for awhile, which is ok. I can't wait to get back in MY room. I need to go to Ikea and find some fun things to put in there. Right now I'm working really hard on getting my classes filled and studying the curricula. I'm also trying to work ahead on my weekly emails, newsletters, and etc. It's exciting, fun, and exhausting!

That's all for now. I have to study. I actually just spent about 30 minutes playing through some old piano pieces I played in high school and middle school. It was fun. I should play more often! OK, off to study! More updates later. ;)

stop this train

Well, I'm turning 35 tomorrow. I have a quiet day planned; I'm finished preparing for my lessons for Tuesday except that I need to take some things over to the classroom. I also need to run to Lowe's. Other than that, the house is clean and I'm planning to scrap the day away. Brian is in charge of dinner - we haven't decided if he's cooking or if we're going out. Not an exciting birthday, but a pretty good one in my book.

And I can't quite articulate my feelings about this birthday. I'm not really sad or worried...I'm reflective. Lately, I can't get enough of John Mayer's "Continuum," so I'll let this song explain it for me:

No, I'm not colorblind
I know the world is black and white
Try to keep an open mind
But I just can't sleep on this tonight

Stop this train, I wanna get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in, I know I can't
But honestly, won't someone stop this train

Don't know how else to say it
Don't wanna see my parents go
One generation's length away
From fighting life out on my own

Stop this train, I wanna get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in, I know I can't
But honestly, won't someone stop this train

So scared of getting older
I'm only good at being young
So I play the numbers game
To find a way to say that life has just begun

Had a talk with my old man
Said, "Help me understand."
He said, "Turn sixty-eight,
You renegotiate...

Don't stop this train, don't for a minute change the place you're in
And don't think I couldn't ever understand, I tried my hand,
So honestly, we'll never stop this train."

Once in awhile when it's good
It'll feel like it should
And they're all still around,
And you're still safe and sound
And you don't miss a thing
Till you cry when you're driving away in the dark,

Singing stop this train, I wanna get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in, I know I can't
Cause now I see I'll never stop this train

2500 miles

We're back from vacation. We're tired and overwhelmed with real life, trying to get back into the swing of things. We got home Thursday night and spent part of yesterday recuperating and the other part cleaning my new temporary Kindermusik classroom. We cleaned more today and moved things in, and we'll clean more tomorrow - we have to shampoo the carpet.

All in all, we drove right around 2500 miles on our vacation. We left here and drove straight through to St. Louis, where we met up with my friend Mandi and her family and spent a day at the zoo - in the rain, no less. Then Brad & Kari came and we all ate at the Spaghetti Factory (yum!) and then Brad, Kari, Brian, and I went to a Cardinals game. It was Brian's first MLB game, and sadly, the Cards got stomped by the Phillies. The score was 20-2, pretty ridiculous. The next day we all went to the arch together, including Mandi and her husband Brad. Yes, we had Mandi and Brad, Kari and Brad, and Kerri and Brian. :) After the arch we went shopping, and then Brad and Kari went home and we went to church with Brad & Mandi the next day, Mandi & I played a piano duet (fun!), and we went out to eat. Then we took off to see my grandmother in Tennessee and finished our trip in Atlanta. Whew. It was a whirlwind.

Did I mention that Mandi and I met on Lifetime Moments? :) I will write more about vacation later and share pictures.

Tonight we're going to see Jesus Christ, Superstar. Brian is taking me for an early birthday present. Life is busy and wonderful.

the lost has been found

That's right, I'm back. It has been so long that I have dreaded the thought of trying to remember everything we've done over the past month or so! I will try to give an adequate update, starting with this past weekend.

On Friday we headed out around lunchtime for Tampa. We visited the Big Cat Rescue and took an awesome tour! It was one of the neatest things we've done in a long time. Below are several pictures that we took of the cats. I was just fascinated, despite the heat. They were so adorable and you could tell many of them were pretty hot, too. One tiger named T.J. even got in his pool to show off for us. It was fabulous!!

After the tour, we went on to St. Petersburg where we spent the rest of the weekend. We stayed in a wonderful bed and breakfast, Inn at the Bay. It was luxurious and relaxing. We spent the weekend doing a whole lot of nothing, and boy did we need that! We've both been working so much and we needed to unwind and recharge. Saturday Brian surprised me with a couples massage that he had arranged earlier. It was heavenly! Sunday afternoon we came home and then met some friends for dinner and a movie, Prince Caspian. It was great! All in all, it was a spectacular weekend.

Some other rather large news is that I resigned from my church. Yes, folks, we are now undergoing the great church search. Although we LOVED Winter Haven and really felt at home there, with gas prices climbing, the hour-one-way drive was getting pretty old. Not to mention that we were gone 7-8 hours every Sunday, meaning that Sunday had turned into another work day. April 27 was my last Sunday and I greatly miss my boys in the band. I'm hoping to still be able to play with them on occasion.

Let's see...my cousin Chris got engaged to his fabulous and amazing girlfriend, Gloria. We love her and we cannot wait for her to be part of the family!! We haven't seen them since they've been engaged, but we hope to get together with them soon for dinner. Maybe we'll try out their church. :)

The first weekend of May we went to Ft. Myers to see my grandparents. They have since gone back to KY, so we were at least able to get in a quick visit before they left. I don't know what I can really publicly say about the visit - I guess I'll say that senility is a very sad thing. Nan and Pops aren't who they used to be. :(

My Kindermusik semester has ended and I have a few weeks off. Summer camps start near the end of June and I already miss the kids, so I'm looking forward to that. The church is renovating my room and I'm SUPER excited about it! Stay tuned for pictures of the demolition and remodeling.

I have 2 days left at the Montessori school and I've already informed them that I won't be back next year. I really enjoyed the people there and the kids too, but my life has just gotten too busy. Health and exercise have taken a back burner and I promised myself I wouldn't let that happen again. I don't want to gain my weight back or let my life get out of control again. So now I only have ONE job, Kindermusik, and I'll be able to focus on my own studio and still have the time and energy to eat well and exercise.

Let's see. I think that's just about all. I'm sure there are more things to tell you about, but I can't think of them right now and I just want to get a post done so you'll all know that we're still alive down here! So, more later.

AND - YAY! DAVID COOK WON! :D

OK, here are the cat pictures. Amazing. I'm ready to go back.

happy birthday, brian!

Today my sweet husband turned 34. He had a great day at work, went out to lunch and had Mexican, and tonight I made lasagna in the crockpot (lowfat, of course) and we had strawberry cheesecake parfaits for dessert (fat free, sugar free). Yum! He's taking the day off from work tomorrow and we're going to Disney Quest. Games all day - fun for B! And then on Saturday comes my gift to him - we're going to learn how to ride Segways and then we're taking a tour all around Epcot - the Around the World Segway tour. It's going to be SO much fun! We are SUPER excited!

In other news, we FINALLY moved back into our bedroom. It is SO NICE to sleep in there again! The bathroom is done, all except the glass shower enclosure. I don't know when we'll get that done - at this point, I'm SO OVER having workers in and out of our house, we may NEVER get the glass done. So, we have new tile in the shower and around the tub, new tile on the floor, 2 new sinks, a new toilet, and new fixtures in the shower, on the tub, and on both sinks. I know I keep saying that I will post pictures, and I promise I will. Whenever I have time.

Kindermusik is going great - next week is Spring Break and I will be happy for the break. Although, I will be visiting a Mommy and Me group to talk about Kindermusik and do a demo class. I also hope to help my friend Christi get unpacked in their new house, I'm having lunch with a friend on Thursday, and I need to go to the dentist and probably some other doctors too - dermatologist, etc. So, part of my week is planned, and I also hope to organize and clean out a little in the piano room and maybe the guest room - I'd love to get some things listed on eBay! We have so many things to sell. Oh, and we're having date night with another friend and her husband, which will be fun! Plus, I want to wash the windows and do some other spring cleaning. It will be a busy week!

Anyway, pics coming soon of the bathroom and also of Brian's crazy fun birthday weekend! Cheers!

murphy lives here

Well, the bathroom STILL isn't done. *sigh* It's been over 2 months and we are sick and tired of sleeping in the dining room! Our clothes are hanging on all the doorknobs, the laundry, furniture, our shoes, etc. are in the guest room (along with the litter box, yuck). My makeup mirror is in the office, our dresser is in the piano room, and on and on. We just need our bedroom/bathroom back!!

What has happened is that we've had a 4-day job that has turned into a 2.5 month job. It's because our tile guy doesn't bother to show up when he says he's going to. And when he DOES show up, he wants to talk to us or talk on his cell phone instead of working. However, the tile is FINALLY done and he's coming tomorrow (I'll believe it when I see it) to do the final details - touch ups on the grout, etc. The plumber is coming on Saturday to finish putting the shower fixtures on - that has turned into a big mess with things fitting, etc. I won't even go into all the things that haven't fit, worked, etc. It has been a nightmare! And tomorrow morning a guy is coming to fix our tub where the tile guy dropped tiles or something and made FIVE nicks in the tub. Our nice, beautiful Roman tub!! >:(

I'm REALLY hoping to move our bed back in this weekend, but the plumber is going to have to cut into the drywall to install the shower fixtures. Which means then we're going to have to patch the drywall. Ugh! So I don't want to move the bed and furniture back in until that's fixed, because I hate drywall dust and I don't want to have to clean it off of all the furniture! Y'all pray for us that we can get our bedroom back soon. Of course the mold problem has turned into a nearly complete bathroom remodel with all new tile, a new floor, a new toilet, new sinks, and new fixtures on the shower, tub, and sinks. Whew!

That's just about all that going on with us right now! This project is taking over our lives! However, Brian's birthday is next week and I have something VERY FUN planned for him!! He's taking Friday off and we're going to Disney Quest for the day. Then on Saturday morning, I have something REALLY exciting planned but it's a surprise so I can't blog about it yet. But I will share pictures afterward!

I will also post pictures of our bathroom very soon!

a day of good news

Today has been a great day in our household!! First of all, this morning we paid off my car!! YAY!!!! We now have no car payments. In fact, we have no debt except for the house! We got our tax return on Friday and we were able to save part of it, put part away for a trip to Hawaii next year, use part of it for our bathroom (which is now getting close to a full remodel), and pay off my car. We are SO excited and happy!

Also, today we welcomed into the world our brand new nephew, Jason Luke. Welcome, little Luke, and congrats to Brian's brother Jason and his wife Angela! :D We are a proud aunt and uncle (for the fourth time!)

All in all, things are going well for us. The new tile in our bathroom is looking really pretty. I'm excited to get it all done! OK, I have to go and try to learn how to play the guitar. I have to teach my 4-6th graders guitar! :P

new favorite page

I went to a crop today with a friend and had lots of fun! Of course, I only got one page done. I put the finishing touches on when I got home, but it's turned out to be my new favorite page! Here it is: Of course, there is a lot for me to update, but I just haven't really had time. Our shower is finally underway - the tile is in the shower but still needs to be done on the walls around the tub. Then the floor will be done and we also have to get the glass enclosure. Still lots to do, but it's progressing. I'll post pictures soon.

PS - This week's menu:
Monday - BBQ chicken, veggies
Tuesday - peanut crusted fish, veggies
Wednesday - game night, no cooking
Thursday - Brian cooks, chicken biscuits (?)
Friday - chicken casserole

the mold

OK, here are the pictures of what took place in our bedroom/bathroom on Saturday. The mold was behind the tiles in the shower. It was also all over the liner of the shower pan (the orange plastic you see in the pictures). We are getting a whole new shower! Yay!

Here's a picture from our bedroom side - we cut some holes in the drywall first to see if there was mold in there. There wasn't, thankfully. You can see all the way through to the shower here.

As soon as we took off the first tile, we found the mold. See how the bottom is black? You can also see how wet it was behind the tile. AND - we hadn't turned the water on in this shower for 2 weeks!! It was still that wet! Gross!

Here's when we got a bunch of the tiles off the wall. You can see the orange liner and how moldy it is on the bottom. Water was just sitting in there. It came through a tiny hole in the grout. (I think there was more than one hole!)


Aaahhhhhhh, our shower in pieces. Gotta love it!

Brian shows off the mold.

Eventually, the glass door and glass walls had to come out, along with the entire shower frame. Apparently, there was a ton of gross water inside part of the shower frame. Yuck!! Our new shower is going to be so wonderful! :-)


We are SO grateful to our wonderful friend Pete for all his help! We would not have been able to do this without him. I can't even tell you how much money he is saving us! Thanks, Pete! :-)

In other news, the cats are rather enjoying the bed being in the dining room:

And Sam is loving the dresser drawers on the guest bed:

Yep, nearly everything in the house is displaced right now, but - I'm sure we'll survive. Somehow! Ha!

12 of 12, mpm, and other stuff

I did it! I did 12 of 12 yesterday! 12 of 12 is this cool thing my friend Susan does on her blog, and I've decided to try it. The idea belongs to Chad, who is someone Susan knows. Anyway, you take 12 pictures on the 12th of the month and it just documents your day. So - this is my first ever 12 of 12! Here goes:

So yesterday, my wonderful friend John, who used to play in our band at church, got married! B and I headed to Lakeland for the wedding. Here I am driving. Notice my sleeveless dress - it was in the 80s yesterday!

Um, yeah - I totally left my camera in the car, so I don't have any pictures of the wedding. Well, John and Joy might not want their picture all over my blog anyway! But I did want to get a picture of me in my new dress, but by the time we got home I forgot about the picture - I just wanted to get out of my dressy clothes!

Anyway, after the wedding, we headed over to Violette's, my not-so-local scrapbook store. I had gotten the Classic Metro QK alphabet for Christmas (thanks, Mom & Dad!) but when I opened it up, the wrong alpha was in there! So I had to go exchange it.

Brian drove home and I studied for my upcoming Kindermusik classes. Mainly I was learning some new songs. Brian had the pleasure of me singing many kids songs a cappella in the car! :-) So goes the life of a KM teacher. We're always singing!

When we got home, I had to cut out my laminating - I had laminated all the lyric sheets for this semester and I felt like I had to get SOME work done yesterday. As you can see, I had a little "help" from the cats...they LOVE the laminated posters! They're slick, so the cats run and jump on them and slide across the family room!


I'm embarrassed to show you this next picture, because our Christmas tree is still up. *sigh* I swear we're taking it down tomorrow night! I was sick all last week and running around like crazy this past week trying to make up for it. Thus, all the decorations are down, but we still hafta take down the trees. Anyway, this gives you a good view of our family room with all the boxes - my Kindermusik materials came in this week and I got them all separated on Friday night. (We took them to my classroom today, so the family room is clean-ish now.)

We were home for about 45 minutes and then we left to go to Tim & Christy's house to play cards. On the way we stopped and picked up dinner at Urban Flats.

Here are the flatbreads we had for dinner - yummy!

And the card playing commenced...

When we got home, I had to take a picture of B because he was wearing his sexy jeans. Doesn't he look hot??!!

Before bed I had to do a "killer" Sudoku (also called "sum" Sudoku) - these are my favorite!

As soon as we start un-making the bed, Sam runs and gets up there - he CAN'T WAIT for us to get in bed with him!

So, that's a Saturday-in-the-life-of-us. Pretty exciting, huh? LOL!


In other news, let's talk about MPM (Menu Plan Monday). I have to admit, today when I was preparing for this coming week, it was nice to plan out my meals and know what we're having for dinner. Then, my wonderful husband went to the store while I did even more Kindermusik preparation, and he bought what we needed for our menu and for snacks, etc. So without further ado, here's our oh-so-exciting menu for this week:

Monday - veggie soup (leftover)
Tuesday - peanut crusted fish
Wednesday - B's game night, so I won't be cooking. I'll probably have PB&J.
Thursday - B's night to cook (I teach evening classes) - pasta with grape tomatoes, basil, and parmesan
Friday - minestrone (here is my recipe, it's YUMMY!)

That's it for now, except........I worked all afternoon today after church, got a TON of stuff done, but tonight I actually carved out the time to scrap a page. Here ya go. Good night!