Hannah's List

When I'm in the right mood, I really enjoy Debbie Macomber's books. She writes contemporary romances with little to no sex and more on the light-hearted side. The Romance Dish blog has a give-away going on right now, well until May 9, for a free copy of Macomber's latest hardcover Hannah's List. The contest can be found here.

Set in Seattle, like so many of her other books, Macomber revisits some of her previous characters from Summer on Blossom Street, Twenty Wishes, Back on Blossom Street, and other Blossom Street books, in this book about widower Michael Everett. The reviews of this book have been mixed. The majority of reviewers like the book, but have questioned some of the sub-plots and the quick wrap up of them. I guess I'll have to read it for myself and find out if they are right. Here's hoping I win a copy from The Romance Dish.

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New SU information

I have just posted on my craft site some great new information about Stampin' Up's changes. You can access that post here.


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The ABC's of me

I saw this on Southern Belle Mama's blog and I'm stealing it for today's post. Here's a bit about me:

The ABCs of ME!

A. AGE: old (44)
B. BED SIZE: queen...used to have a king, but it fell apart
C. CHORE YOU HATE: Cleaning, all of it, bathrooms especially
D. DOG'S NAME: no dog never ever
E. ESSENTIAL "START THE DAY!" ITEM: A shower and coffee!
F. FAVORITE COLOR: Purple...and green.
G. GOLD OR SILVER: Silver
H. HEIGHT: 5' 6
I. INSTRUMENTS YOU PLAY: Nope nothing, recorder in seventh and eighth grade
J. JOB TITLE: English teacher, full-time graduate student, Girl Scout leader/Service Unit Director, wife, mother
K. KIDS: Un— Deirdre
L. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: We live in the house we built 15 1/2 years ago. They started digging the foundation the Friday before Memorial Day weekend of 1994.
M. MOM'S NAME: Caroline
N. NICKNAME: Kate
O. OVERNIGHT HOSPITAL STAY: 3 April 1973 for Rhy's Syndrome (nearly died), Dec. 1996 (D was born), and June 2001 (Pneumonia) I think that's it
P. PET PEEVES: People who can't DRIVE!!!!
Q. QUOTE FROM A MOVIE: "I'll be back!" in Arnold's voice of course
R. RIGHTY OR LEFTY?: Right, but except for writing, pretty much ambidextrous
S. SIBLINGS: Older sister
T. TIME YOU WAKE UP: 5:45 A.M.
U. UNDERWEAR: TMI. I'll just say yes.
V. VEGGIE YOU DISLIKE: CELERY!
W. WAY/ REASONS YOU ARE LATE: I am always trying to do too much
X. XRAYS YOU'VE HAD: Really? Too many—both ankles many times, knees, hips, left shoulder/collarbone, ribs, teeth, whole head, left wrist (not at the same time as the left shoulder/collarbone), right index finger
Y. YUMMY FOOD YOU MAKE: Lemon bars, turta (cheesy pasta dish that we all call turtle), banana nut bread
Z. ZOO ANIMALS YOU LIKE: Elephants, cat family

Now you know just a bit more randomness about me! Happy Thursday!

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Pictures for Tuesday's class

You can click on all of these to make them larger.








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The Time Traveler's Wife

Looking for a good read? Then have I a suggestion for you—The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger has moved me to tears several times. I have just finished listening to it as I drive back and forth to work and to school. I can't remember a book that has made me laugh, smile, and cry as much as this one. As I write this I am three or four tracks from the end of the last cd. The climax has happened and we are moving on to the resolution of the story. As readers, we have known about the climax for at least one cd now. I really like the way the story changes from Henry's point of view to Claire's point of view. I didn't want to see the movie, but after seeing who is playing the leads (see below), I might (emphasis on might) be interested in seeing it.

AS I looked up the book at amazon.com to find out the author's name and "borrow" a picture, I couldn't help but read a few reviews. The majority of people (1185 of 2075) liked the book and gave it five stars. There were 174 reviews that only gave it one star. I could see their points: directions and streets given that weren't necessary, some poor development of secondary characters, and jumping into situations that are clear to the reader are just a few.

I also went to imbd to learn about the movie. I saw that Eric Bana was playing Henry and Rachel McAdams was Claire. But what I really noticed was that "Traveler's" is spelled with two "l's" in the UK title. That intrigued me.



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The facts of life

This is my follow up to MckMama's post here.

Marriage is a hard road whether it is the first year or the 21st year, raising one child or many. Anyone who tells you that marriage is a piece of cake is either lying or is not married or living together or ignores the other half of the partnership. That's exactly what marriage is——a partnership. Personally, I forget that sometimes. I go through life a day at a time without thought to others.

When Jeff and I got married we had to meet with Father Jim three times before hand (maybe it was only twice, I don't remember). We heard the "lobster story" three times at least. Father Jim talked a lot about communication between spouses. He said he would rather be with a poor family, who loved each other and communicated with each other, eating pork and beans than with a rich family, who didn't like each other and didn't talk, eating lobster. What he really hoped for was a family who communicated and had the lobster too. When we were first married we laughed about this story all the time.

Because I have stretched myself too thin this semester, I have just now taken a rest from Girl Scouts. It will have to be someone else's problem for awhile. The plates that I was juggling are starting to fall to the floor before I can catch them. Something has to give and my family has already done enough giving. The posts may become even fewer and the crafting even less, in an effort to focus on school, family, and my job.

I opened my classroom door to grab this picture. It is snowing quite fiercely here. You have to look carefully at the white blurs those are snowflakes falling fast and furious from the grey/white sky.



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Happy Anniversary—to us!

It's very early in the morning on August 27. Today is our anniversary. Twenty-one years! We have our ups and downs like everyone else, but we're doing okay. Since I won't be home until sometime after 9:00 tonight (my class goes from 5-8), I figured I'd better get this up now. Below is the card I made for Jeff. I used our wedding colors of forest green, soft yellow, and cream. For all the exact details on the card you'll have to visit the other blog.

The outside. I tried to keep it simple.

The inside, slightly blurring, again very simple.

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Elementary school

In Illinois where I was raised elementary school, is called "grammar school." After living here on Pluto I have learned to call it elementary school. I remember those years. I had two first days of new school in a row as I attended private school for nursery school and kindergarten and then public for first grade. Then we moved the day before school started in second grade.

As my friends reflect on sending their children, whether the first or last, to kindergarten, I am reminded of Deirdre's first day seven years ago. The switch to kindergarten wasn't that much of a deal in our family. She continued to attend the Child Development Center at Snow College. We dropped her off there and they took her to school and picked her up from school. Her life changed, but as a whole the family's life didn't much. Now the next year was a different story as the Lab was no longer an option for first grade. We now were in charge of getting her to school. That's when D received a cell phone. She biked to school and sometimes walked home or to Snow alone. The cell phone was for emergencies only. Now she texts and calls all the time.

Flash forward to last year and the first day of sixth grade. Now that was a change. Seven days later or to be more precise a year ago tomorrow, we were contemplating the move to seventh grade. Did we do it? or did we continue to be frustrated and perhaps end up with a "problem" child. We did it, as I talked about here.

First day of kindergarten—August 21, 2002

First day of eighth grade—August 24, 2009

You will notice the tree next to her. She has grown quite a lot in seven years; the tree not so much. She is now taller than her grandmother, although I doubt my mother will ever admit that. She looks a little nervous there in kindergarten. Monday—not so much. As a matter of fact it was the first day that she planned on not having a parent either take her or come to her classroom with her. Unfortunately that didn't happen as she had a flat tire on her bike that I luckily noticed before I left for school and could take her.

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A new blog

I set up another blog for my crafting, stamping, scrapbooking ideas and "stuff". So this blog will just be for family events and happenings. I'm sure there will be cross over every once in awhile. So for the next little bit the blog will be changing as I delete and move widgets that are for crafting to the new blog. I won't delete any of the old post, so those will still be available. I'm going to leave the link below also in case someone actually does want to place a Stampin' Up! order. My siggy will probably stay the same for right now, although I'm creating a new one for the new blog.

To see what is happening in that world click here for access to my "Stamping with Kate" blog.

This means that instead of a blog, a personal website that is basically for school, and a troop website to maintain, now I have another blog and my Stampin' Up website. Sometimes I really wonder.

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The new craft room

Along with all the changes that have been happening upstairs there have been a few downstairs as well. No one really expected that we could only do one project at a time did they? So, my new craft room is pretty much finished. Okay the border isn't hung and the walls probably have to be repainted, but the furniture is where it is going to stay and it is usable. The first picture is what you see when you walk into the room. I basically stood in the entrance to take the picture. Yes, that is my family from 12 plus years ago in that picture. We've been hiding it in the former guest room since we had it taken. No one knows why.


Like my punch bars? I borrowed the idea from Erin, who I guess borrowed it from someone profiled in Stampin' Success. I only know this because when I commented to someone about how much I loved her punch storage, that person was really nasty about letting me know exactly where Erin had "stolen" the idea from. Some of you may know who I am referring to, but I'm certainly not going to state names.


This picture looks back toward the entrance to the room. Jeff finally hung (okay, I hadn't really asked him until D knocked the whole thing onto the floor including 71 ink pads) my 72 ink pad and ribbon holder for me. It is full and I have my craft pads (those that aren't Whisper White and Very Vanilla) and a couple of duplicates and retired (from '05) ink pads stored. This is certainly not all of my ribbon either. The dresser has my Big Shot, Cuttlebug, cutter, and a holder for 8 1/2 x 11 paper (mainly construction and white) on top of it. In the dresser drawers are my smaller cuttlebug folders and Big Shot dies. Plus it holds crafting supplies: pipe cleaners, wooden spools, pony beads, etc. Yes, Rudolf Nureyev and Michelle Phillips are wearing almost no clothing in the picture in the background. It is a movie poster for Valentino from 1977. Nureyev was my favorite male dancer before he died of AIDS about 10 years ago. His death is not the reason he isn't my favorite anymore just that new dancers have come along since then.


The colorful drawer unit used to hold most of the items I needed for Scouts, but now that we don't hold meetings in my dining room (YEAH!), I rearranged the items. D and I cleaned it out and moved some of the things to the dresser, some to the trash, and rearranged what was left. I also have drawers used for stamping items like the designer paper sampler, the punch sampler (thanks Erin for picking that up for me at Convention), and the ribbon sampler. Next to it holds the small tote with the items I use while working all the things that don't fit in my Pampered Chef tool holder. It sits on my desk and is in constant use. I deliberately left the top shelf empty to hold things while I'm working and don't want to put away right that moment. I also have my cd player, two Stack & Store caddys right where I need them. My desk is small, but it pulls out to another five feet or so if needed.


This final picture is of the stamp sets that have been labeled. In May's (I think that month) Stampin' Success a woman was profiled who labeled all her stamp sets. So I've started. Most of the retired sets do have red dots on them and all the holiday stamps are labeled. I also read online about people who photograph what each stamp set looks like and put the photographs in binders. This way they don't have to pick up each stamp set to figure out which one they want. A clever idea that will eventually happen.


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Deep breath

Well, I did it. I created my own Stampin' Up! website. I've taken the plunge. I want to get into it more somehow. I can't really do classes or clubs, because I don't have any spare time once school starts. But in searching the web, I've found many people who only hold classes for six people. It would be tight, but I think I can do that in my scrap/craft room. If I open my desk it will hold six people. So we'll see as the year progresses how or if I add this or not to my (our) life. I may even start a separate blog for scrap/crafts from the home blog. Again an idea just floating right now. One of the bloggers I follow has a class kit by mail, so all there is preparation not people in the house. That's a thought too. But for now there will be a "click here to place an order" on all most of my posts.

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In front of the camera

When I received my paperwork for my scholarship to the U, it included a request for a 4 x 6 picture. I don't take pictures. I stay on the back side of a camera and take pictures. I faxed in everything requested, except a picture. Today I received a request for a picture. It was nice to know that they had everything else. I was a little worried, not enough to call and check, just enough for me to wonder at 2 in the morning. You see at the College of Education there is a bulletin board that has all the scholarship recipients each on their own plaque. The plaque includes which scholarship they received, a picture, and a short bio. It's extremely nice of them to do this.

So, Jeff took a few pictures today out by our tree(s) and then used Photoshop to get rid of the lovely extra red I have on my face, the zit that just appeared a few days ago, and I have no idea what else. Oh, yes I do the extremely lovely black circles under my eyes. I figured if a bunch of strangers were going to see this everyday for a year, then I could at least put it on my blog where even more strangers or worse close friends could also see it. So there you have it. If you scroll down on the right side is the latest of moi. At least I don't look like Jabba the Hut like I do on my driver's license.

Here, there, and everywhere

visited 49 states (98%)
Create your own visited map of The United States
I found this on someone else's blog. Thanks to the six years of travel that I did with my family. I've been to all the states except Hawaii and all the Canadian Provinces except the new one (Inuit Territory?).

Twilight camp

Last week I took my scouts to Wheeler Farm for Juniper Service Unit's Twilight Camp. They always hold their camp in the afternoon and evening because of the heat. So camp ran from 3:30 to 9:00 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We commuted back and forth each day leaving around 1:00 or 2:00 and getting home between 11:00 and 11:40.

At Juniper, accompanying adults are put with groups that don't include daughters, so I was with 8 year old Brownies. It was different working with the younger girls. I was supposed to be the helper for the group, but on the second and third days the unit leader didn't come, so that put me in charge of our unit. For our skit, the girls had Harry Potter since we were the "Broomsticks". They did a good job with almost no adult help. We did help them the first day figure out who they were, but after that they were on their own. My unit had really cute girls in it.



The far left group composes of Heather as Hermione, Hannah as Hagrid, Amelia (her back is to the camera) as Ron, and Celia as Harry. The middle group are the "evil" Malfoy (Serena), Crabbe (Cara), and Goyle (Alex). The last group is the twins Samie and Katie as Voldemort and Quirrell.

Getting pictures of my cadettes wasn't easy since I wasn't with them, but I did capture a few.


Watching the magician and eating dinner (D, Maddie, and Malynn and D, Sarah, Malynn, and Maddie).


Coming back from putting dinner back in the van (Malynn, Maddie, and D, and Sarah).

We have added a new member to our troop—Maddie from Ftn. Green. We are excited to have her along for the ride.

These pictures are from the girls helping the younger ones. Maddie worked with a Glass Slipper (the five year olds) while the others helped with Poppies. The girl sitting with her back to the camera next D is Jaydn, daughter of Melinda Despain, who I had as a junior back in the 1993-1994 school year. It truly is a small world.

First game and more

Well we lost 11-6 against Moroni. But, they had an extra week of practice. Until last Wednesday the people in charge of city league games weren't even sure there would be a team at the Filly level. There is no team at Fox (7-9 grade) this year, only six girls signed up.

The team looked good. Our catcher was crying after the game, because she missed a few balls and one major error. But, it was the first game. D did a great job at first base. She, the pitcher (Megan), and the SS (Olivia) had some great in-field plays. If you saw her leg you would be extremely impressed. From knee to almost ankle is missing the first layer of skin plus some gashes. She really did a bum job yesterday playing baseball.

For Scouts we made scrunchies. D had done them in FACS (Family and Consumer Science) and was happy to be able to teach a class on how to make hair scrunchies. JoAnne (really Malynn) and I brought our sewing machines to the meeting. I had thread, pins, and ribbon. I thought I had the elastic that was needed, but I didn't. So JoAnne ran down to the local fabric store and bought some 1/4" elastic. She was already to write a check out from the troop when the owner tallied up the amount of 60" of 1/4" elastic for $.51. Surprisingly, she would not take a check for only 51 cents. :) The girls made their scrunchies for their Design It IPP. I have a feeling that now that they know how easy they are, they may make some over the summer. I have the lucky experience of wearing the one D made first. Hurrah!!

Turning the news to me—I received an A- in my harder of the two classes. I was soooooo happy! I reread the articles before the final and reviewed my notes, but it seemed that I could not remember anything, so I only got an 87% on the final. I received a 93% on the final that I spent all day and night doing. The final was 35% of my final grade. I was pretty thrilled with an A-. As a matter of fact I wasn't sure I wanted to open the e-mail that told me my grade. It's been 12 years since I did any schooling that had a grade attached, so I should feel good. And you know what? I do. I'm not some 22 year old going to school full time—I teach all day, drive the 100 miles each way to class, run a Scout troop, and try to have time for my family. I should pat myself on the back for a job well done.

And the remodel continues

The latest update. I don't have better pictures right now. I haven't taken any (you know gone over the weekend) lately. The new wall is up (just studs right now). The old hall wall from the back of our bedroom closet is partial gone. We walk through the old closet to get to our bedroom. It's sort of a maze right now. The electrical has been a problem for Jeff as he tries to figure out what wires go where and power what. As stated before, our electrician wasn't the best. It's pretty exciting to see the way the area is shaping up.

And here is Jeff relaxing on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. He worked all weekend on the house, but had to read The Color Purple for class on Monday. After only four and a half years Rocky and Greymalkin have declared a slight truce. We gave Rocky a reprieve right before Thanksgiving. He actually has perked up.

On to me:
I was accepted into The University of Utah. My classes start on Jan. 14. I will be taking two classes Spring semester: one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday. On days that D and I have gymnastic meets than I will travel up to SLC three days in a row. I haven't figured out how I will make it through the next couple of years, but somehow we will manage. When I leave school on Tuesdays, I will have to be prepared for classes on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I need to move Scouts to Tuesdays. I will miss Service Unit meetings unless they are moved, and worse I'll miss Stamp Club for Feb., Mar., and April., maybe even May depending on my finals schedule. I can do this—at least this is what I keep telling myself. Wish our family luck for the next two years.

What have you done?

To participate, just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done. It's kind of fun!!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (does DisneyWorld count?)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestor (does this mean the original ancestor who came over on the Mayflower or closer? Either way I've been to England and France, as well as, all the states, except Hawaii)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (does Elvish count—that's what my mother and sister said I spoke as a toddler)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David (I think it's at the Louvre?)
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser (um, no not really, we had to keep going on to Glacier Nat'l Park and couldn't wait for it to actually erupt)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (I don't remember :( )
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (does a PBS television production count?)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (as a child and an adult!)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason (are you kidding me! never in a billion years)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial (drove past when in D.C., again no time to stop and actually tour)
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (married to a published author, though)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House (drove past)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (eew!)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury (called several times while living in Chicago, always sent home)
91. Met someone famous (Rudolf Nureyev for one and a ton of other dancers, and Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues, and Governor Thompson of Illinois back in the late 70's)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument

I decided to participate too. I tag anyone who has the time to do it.

Happy Thanksgiving & Construction messes

The picture on top is what the living room/hall/foyer looked like on Tuesday. The bottom picture is what it looked like yesterday when I got home at 6ish. We have no electricity in part of the living room, dining room, or kitchen. Luckily all three of those rooms do have some power in the plugs. Also the appliances are on different breakers. Our electrician was an idiot, I believe. He had to come back twice after we moved in and it would have been more times, if Jeff hadn't just figured it out on his own. But we are talking electricity—the one that kills if not used properly.

Today, Jeff has been dealing with attic insulation. The drywall on part of the ceiling had to be taken down, as well as, some 2 x 4's. This means a ton of insulation has fallen to the floor. So far, he is at 10 bags of insulation to be put in the dumpster. At some point either today or tomorrow we are hanging new drywall on the ceiling. Luckily it is only a few pieces that need to go up. Although, I think I prefer hanging the ceiling rather than walls. I don't remember, I have deleted the Thanksgiving of 1995 and summer of 1996 from my brain. When we decided to try for a baby, we also decided to finish the basement. So, the summer before Deirdre was born, we drywalled. Hard to believe that was 12 years ago.

This is the first remodel that we have done that doesn't have us thinking "resale" value. We might have really changed how much our house is worth by deleting an upstairs bedroom, but at the same time we are making the remaining two rooms larger. But we aren't selling until D leaves for college, if then. Who knows what the market will be like. No matter what we sell the house for, it will most likely be more than we built it for even with the additional costs of the remodeled kitchen, both upstairs bathrooms, the finished basement, and now this one.

I have a pumpkin pie baking in the oven as I type this. I love pumpkin pie! I like pecan pie even more, but D doesn't so it's pumpkin for us. We are having Cornish Hens, stuffing, mashed yams (mashed potatoes using a yam), peas, maybe spinach souffle (I had to buy it when I saw Albertson's had it), rolls, gravy, and pie with real whipped cream. Jeff doesn't really like turkey and D hates it, so Cornish Hens it is. Cornish Hens are easier to cook than a turkey anyway. I am also about to make the honey butter for the scones for tomorrow's bake sale in Manti. I have the dough thawing for the scones. I also have Rice-Crispy treats, brownies, and maybe sugar cookies to make. This is one of our fundraisers for Girl Scouts. Besides a small profit from cookie sales, as a Service Unit, we do two big fundraisers: the Manti bake sale, and during pageant time we clean the tables at the "food court" and hand out the Sanpete Messenger's pageant insert to the people entering the temple grounds. The majority of girls in our Service Unit live in Manti. As a matter of fact, our Junior troop there lost more than half its girls to aging out (They should have come to mine, but didn't reregister.), the troop was down to about 7 girls. She is back up to 17!! I can barely get 5 to come to our meetings.

Well have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm off to clean and cook.

What's my name?

I "stole" the following from Heather Atwood's blog. As a teacher, I am used to "borrowing" ideas from people all the time. No sense re-inventing the wheel, or in my case lesson plans, when I can let other people put the time and energy into it. :)

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car): Thisbe Odyssey

YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fav hobby/craft, fav weather element + “Tour”): The Reading Raining Tour

YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Mint Chocolate Chip Oreo

YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name): C-car (yeah, that makes sense)

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Purple Cat

YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, hometown city): Rebecca LaGrange

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first): carca

SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink): The Green Water (ooh, that sounds sooo scary!)

STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy): Chanel #5 Chocolate

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names): Francis Theodore

WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Farland Frankfort

SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Fall Rose

CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”): Apple Sweatie

That was a ton of fun. Just what I needed today. The whole school has been sick. The faculty is falling like flies: headaches, sniffles, etc. I went to school and stayed until 9:45, which is when the sub got there. Of course by the time she arrived, I was feeling a little better. I came home and slept from 10:45 until Deirdre came home and slammed the front door at 3:10. My body just shuts down like that when I get sick. Of course there is tons to do this week, with the girls bridging on Saturday.

We sat outside WalMart for 5 hours on Saturday and didn't get any stuffed animals. We have a ton, but still a few more wouldn't have hurt. I had to deal with bored and fractious girls. Plus, a ton of people who wanted to buy Girl Scout cookies. If we had been selling cookies, we would have made a killing. But, no, we sell those at booths in the colds of March :( and go door-to-door in the "lovely" weather of late January/early February. For those wondering, cookie sales start Jan. 17. (I have students asking all the time when they can buy cookies. I should just sell the extra I have in my garage.)

This is what my nickname means, although I have been called by "Kate" as long or longer than "Catherine".

What Kate Means

You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life. You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home. You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Above it says that I can flaky and irresponsible, Never!!


And this is for "Catherine" similar, yet different :)

What Catherine Means

You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life. You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home. You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Just like a horoscope, I can see parts of "me" in this. But it's all fun and games. We need some of that right now.