Moving On

This thing is really sprouting:

I should have taken a picture when the leaves were still folded into each other, it looked so cool. I can't help but think how awesome the Lord is...making an entire plant grow from a tiny seed, with all its parts jammed into something that tiny.

I'm really enjoying this thing called free time. I've almost finished an entire book this week, one that D's mom gave me. It takes place in Alaska and has reminded me that I have always wanted to take an Alaskan cruise. Maybe for our ten-year anniversary...ok, twenty-year...?

With this free time, I've also joined a bible study that starts next Monday with friends from church. We're going to be reading and discussing a book called Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. I'm excited about the book, it looks really good.

I'm picking up A on Friday night for the first time in a while. It's her last day of school, so we're going out and celebrating...and we're going to make smoothies, too. I guess I had promised her a smoothie-making experience a while ago, but didn't carry out said lesson the next time I had picked her up. So of course that was the first thing she said when she got home, "Here are the brownies we made, Mom, but we didn't make our smoothies." She said it like she had been mentioning smoothies all night and I completely ignored her, when, in fact, it was the first time I had heard about any such smoothie promise. However, this time, my kitchen is completely stocked up with smoothie-making ingredients. I am prepared. No more, "but we didn't..." unless she comes up with something else.

I didn't mean for this weekend to be so busy. Actually, I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be. Last weekend wasn't busy at all and D and I had the best time together and it seemed to go by sooo slooowly. I wanted another one of those.

D got home around 8:30 on Saturday morning and crashed. He said the one night he actually wanted to be able to get some sleep (so he could start the weekend) there were all sorts of mommies having babies! How dare they :)! I stayed with him for a little while, but got up to continue the cleaning I knew needed to get done. He slept until 1ish and got out of a lot of cleaning (I kept wondering if he stayed "asleep" on purpose, but he assures me he was really sleeping...). Yeah, I don't know how our apartment gets to messy with just the two of us, but I'm glad we have people over rather regularly otherwise I'm not sure what it would look like. I wanted to make some pepperoni bread for our guests that evening, so we went to the local food store. Of course we walked out with $16 worth of things instead of just the $3.49 package of pepperoni, but so it goes. D insisted they had a good sale on chicken, so we had to get some.

Our second Wii party started around 7:30pm. The games we had weren't good enough for the guys, so they went to Hollywood Video and rented another. Not sure of the title, but they seemed to enjoy it. Us girls were content with talking and doing our best not to laugh at the strange moves the Wii makes people do. The little baby (3 months old) fell asleep and stayed asleep the entire time! He had this neat little swaddle blanket that looked like it could be a cruel contraption, but as soon as his mommy put him in it, he was zonked. Quite cute. By the end of the night, we had all played a few rounds of bowling, created some new Miis, and had quite a lot of fun in the process. Everyone departed around 12:30am, realizing that Sunday School was in less than 9 hours...ugh!

After morning service on Sunday, D and I went over to our friends' house to watch their little guy (same little guy from last night) while they went to see Pirates 3. We were invited, but babysitting is much more fun in my book and D had a presentation that he needed to work on, so he decided to keep the baby and me company. He wasn't as into the baby as I was, but I don't know if my enthusiasm could have been matched. And it tired me out!! I felt bad just leaving him in his swing or bouncy thingy without any entertainment (he had been in his carseat for a few hours while everyone ate lunch), so I was carrying on all sorts of conversations with him. He was a perfect audience, too. I tried not to hold him too much, don't want to create that bad habit, but it was hard to resist his little smiling face. We brought him in his bouncy seat into their kitchen with us while we were making brownies and he fell asleep. He was probably thinking, "Maybe if I go to sleep, she will shut up!" That freed me up to do some of his laundry, which I'm surprised D didn't comment on. He usually does the wash, we both hang it, and I fold it. I had a comeback at the ready, though: "They have a washer and dryer right in their basement."

By the time our friends got home, all of us had to leave to go over our mutual friends' house for a birthday party (thus, the brownie-making expedition). We brought stuff for brownie sundaes...YUM! After a pizza dinner and dessert, it was getting late. We did, however, manage to plan our trip to the beach this summer. The six of us went to Ocean City, NJ last year and had a great time, so we decided to do it again this year. Although now there will be 7 of us :). As much as New Jersey is not my favoritest state, I do have to admit that they have extremely nice beaches.

Oh, and another thing that was accomplished this weekend: we booked our hotel for our mini-vacation at the end of this month. Old Orchard Beach ended up being too far and Misquamicut ended up not having what we wanted, so...we're going to Hampton Beach, NH! It has a boardwalk and everything, so I'm excited. Dad insisted on a suite, so each of us has our own space. This hotel is right on the beach and our balcony overlooks the ocean. We'll be there in 13 days, but again, who's counting?!

Thinking happy thoughts, thinking happy thoughts...

Well, I was going to take a picture of my little bean plant and ask if anyone had any guesses as to what the message might be because when we left the apartment today, the shell was still on...thus hiding the message. However when we got home these eight hours later, the message had finally appeared! So no more waiting...

Not sure what to do with it now, but I'll keep watering it and see how long it stays alive. The directions said something about replanting it, but I don't really have that option in an apartment. Maybe if it's still alive when we go to CT in 12 days, I'll replant it there. Possibly next to the calla lilies (which was my flower of choice on our wedding day) Dad and Mom planted near the front walkway. You know...wedding...calla lilies..."I love you" bean plant message...they all kind of tie in. Hmm, we'll see.

Look at how much it has grown...just from last night!

I can see half of a smiley face on one side and an exclamation point on the other. Whatever it says, it's said with exclamation!

I've been faithfully giving my Can of Words 2-3 tablespoons of water each day since Monday and this is the progress thus far:

Upon further reading, the Can said that it takes anywhere from 4 to 10 days for the bean to sprout, the average being 5. So I am still awaiting my secret message. And David's night float schedule is coming to an end as of 8am tomorrow morning. Yipee!! It's been quite a week.

Oh yes, Kindergarten Graduation was tonight. It was...nice. Not awesome like it has been the past few years. But it's what I expected. Most of the kids will be coming to Summer Camp, which I am excited about. We have a lot of cool trips planned, including the Philly Zoo, Phillies Stadium, New Jersey's Adventure Aquarium, The Franklin Institute, Longwood Gardens, and more...all on their dime! Our very first trip, though, is picking strawberries at a nearby orchard. It is confirmed that we WILL be buying chocolate to dip them afterwards. There are a few perks to working with kids :).

Well, off to clean. I guess we are having another Wii party tomorrow night. This time there will be a baby amongst our guests, so it's my kind of Wii party!

Graduation conversation #1,489:

J to K, with a little too much attitude: "Make sure your mom does your hair for graduation, K. Your hair is always messy!"

The unfortunate thing is -- she's right!

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"Wow, Dougie is FAT!"

"RUDE!! [wonder where they've heard that before..] You're going to hurt his feelings!"

"Sorry, Dougie."

"Just because he eats a lot of grass and flowers and fruits and vegetables, doesn't mean he's fat."

An unsuspecting kindergartners enters the conversation as the last few words were uttered and says, "Yeah, Dougers is so chubby!"

"RUDE!! You're going to hurt his feelings, too. Why is everyone calling him fat [because he is] and trying to hurt his feelings? You people need to stop being rude and start gettin' some manners. You think you can act like this in first grade [wonder where they've heard that before...]? Now, say you're sorry."

"Sorry, Dougie."

Umm, for the record, Dougie's BMI would tend to put him in the overweight category. But I wouldn't say that in front of the kindergartners. Ooooooooh no.

This week has been…unusual. D has been on night float all week, so I’ve seen him exactly an hour and a half each night this week. Except for Monday when I saw him for ten minutes. I keep thinking this is how it’ll be, only a bit worse, when he is in Connecticut doing his away rotation(s). He has tomorrow off to study for a test he has on Friday, so that’ll be a nice change of pace.

There’s been no lack of things to do or people to talk to, though. I usually charge my phone every other day, but I’ve been charging it every day at work this week. And I’ve been prepping the next night’s dinner so I just have to cook it when I get home…since D is only home for bit before he has to leave. (Tomorrow night: homemade pizza using Mom's yummy recipe on our newly purchased pizza stone…we’ll settle our ongoing debate of: Is pizza really better when baked on a stone?) I don’t know how people do third shift; you have to have a completely different lifestyle.

We went on a nice walk today to catch up and to get our exercise. I miss our nightly walks the most because the weather has been absolutely gorgeous (although Friday is supposed to be 92 and humid, ugh!). One of the things we talked about was Kindergarten Graduation on Friday. This will be my third, and mostly likely last, graduation. This was the year that would drag on and on, I was sure of it. Not so. And, for all their…differences…I actually think I’ll miss this group. They were needier than the other two classes, so all the intertwining relationships somehow morphed into something resembling a family. One was a big sister to another, another helped so-and-so with math after being helped with reading, and then everyone “helped” everyone else follow the rules they often “forgot” themselves. Actually, come to think of it, it wasn’t such a terrible year after all. I learned a lot, they learned a lot, and one of the girls even said today, “I definitely think I’m gonna miss you Ms. Jess. I will try to come back and visit you here.” Thanks…um…I definitely think I’m looking forward to that visit.

Next year will be my last class and I probably won’t be able to stay until graduation time because we’ll be moving before then. I feel like this is the calm before the storm and I keep telling myself to enjoy this year instead of rushing through it because I will one day look back on this time and long for it.

And speaking of longing for something...this is where I long to be:

I can't wait to hit the beach this summer. Dad, Mom, D, and I are taking a mini-vacation to either the beaches of Misquamicut, RI or Old Orchard Beach, ME for a few nights at the end of this month. 18 more days to be exact, but who's counting?

"Ms. Jessica, can I tell you something that my eyes do?"

She got an affirmative nod.

"They stare at everything."

Well, she is right, her eyes do stare at everything...but there's nothing like stating the obvious...

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One of the girls sees a worm on the ground and screeches. The boys come running over and of course start playing with it.

"GUYS! Don't touch that worm! You'll get ringworm!!"

My thought: Why does she know what ringworm is? I didn't know what it was until a few years go. Sure, her prognosis wasn't exactly correct, but still, I was impressed...

I checked my email Sunday afternoon and saw something from my professor. The same professor who is evaluating my Portfolio that was only sent to Michigan on Tuesday, the same professor who has four to six weeks to review and to grade the Portfolio. So naturally I instantly thought, "What did I forget? Oh no, the CD didn't burn correctly, I checked it, though, it should have been fine. Did something get damaged in the mail?" All these thoughts ran through my head in a matter of the .75 seconds it took me to click on the email to open it. And this is what I saw:

Jessica..just wanted to send you a little note saying congrats..you passed with flying colors ...in fact your portolio I must say was probably the best I have reviewed....ever! Now take a break! Dr. S

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Breathe, breathe.

Then I noticed there was an attached document:
Program Portfolio Evaluation

I couldn't believe that he had graded it so quickly. It took me three long months with hours and hours of typing and editing and he was simply done grading it in less than a week. Isn't that how it always goes? I didn't mind getting my grade back so quickly, though.

Now, OFFICIALLY, I am done with and have my Master of Science in Elementary Reading and Literacy. I should, according to the school's website, be getting my diploma in 8 to 10 weeks. I still can't believe I am done...

D and I were out this evening, browsing around in this little knick-knack store we discovered not long ago. I like having no reason to go to a store except to look around...and being of the mindset that finding something to get would be nice, but not finding anything worth getting would be okay, too. It was one of those kind of nights. I ended up finding a neat pair of sunglasses that my mom said were cool back in the 80s. If I had known that beforehand, I wouldn't have purchased them, but what's done is done. They weren't ringing up at the register, so the girl "gave" them to me for 99 cents. Couldn't beat that price.

And David also found something. This:



He will be on night float this upcoming week, which means his schedule will be the complete opposite of mine. He'll be working from 6pm until 8am. That's why he got me this Can of Words. It says, "Give it water for 5 days and watch it sprout a special message!" I'll be interested in seeing how it works. He knows what the message will be, but peeled off the sticker so I wouldn't know. Hopefully my green thumb will last five days!

One unforgettable memory from this past Memorial Day weekend is two pesky mosquito bites that I keep scratching at. One is on the bottom of my foot and the other is on the side of my second toe. Couldn’t they have picked less uncomfortable spots??

Anyway, we totally avoided any holiday traffic that I was sure we would be stuck in for hours – both ways! We left at 8pm on Friday night and arrived at 12am. That was including the time it took to stop for Jersey gas which was only $2.98.

Everyone was up when we got there, so we visited for a while. Then Dad and I were up early the same morning to go food shopping (and he snuck a trip to Lowe’s in there, too) for the picnic that would be taking place in a few hours at our house.

There was soooooooooo much food, too much really. Chicken, ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, macaroni salad, chips, and so on. It was a very splendid meal. The company was splendid, too. Between family and friends, there were about thirty people…but, and no offense to anyone, this little girl was the most entertaining:













I finally got to kiss Ari-cheeks!!! She was quite the hit and was such a good sport about being passed around when all she wanted to do was to get down and walk. After the picnic, we went over D’s house where Ari was being watched by his parents. So we got more Ari-time, which is always, always fun!

The rest of the weekend went by at a good pace. We went to church on Sunday, went to D’s house for lunch and to watch Night at the Museum (A-, cool concept!!), built another campfire at my house later that night (for which we got marshmallows), and watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (A). Monday, Mom, Dad, and I went shopping in the morning. All of us ate the picnic leftovers before D and I had to hit the road. It was so nice not having a hectic schedule, it actually felt like a vacation!






The trip home was uneventful, which is what we like. We stopped for dinner in PA, courtesy of Mom, around 8:30pm. We dropped into bed soon after we arrived home, ready to begin the week at Tuesday. And just so you all can be impressed: everything is already unpacked!! This quick action has brought down my average-time-it-takes-me-to-unpack of about 3 to 4 weeks quite nicely.

I met my goal of finishing up my Portfolio on Friday. I finished it during our car ride to CT, just not before we left as I had previously planned. I figured I would be sitting for a few hours, so mind as well do it then. I called Mom as I was about to type the final punctuation so she could experience the moment with me. I even did a mini-countdown before I typed it...yes, by that point, the entire project was making me a little nutty. But that wasn't the end of it, I still had to present it. Dad is right: I spent all this time working on the content but the first impression is made when my professor sees how all the content is presented. So that's how a lot of my/our time was spent this weekend: designing DVD case covers, choosing which DVD cases to use, making sure the CD/DVD labels looked perfect. Fortunately for me, Dad really gets into this stuff and was a HUGE help. The results are below (thanks, Dad!).


All my files, which, would easily fill a 3" binder if printed, are on a CD in slimline DVD holder. The two supporting DVDs are together in a two-disc holder. And I mailed them today. It feels like I have a whole new life now because I don't have to constantly think about what I should be doing for my classes. Very odd feeling. I now have to few new projects that I am thinking about working on:

• Writing a children's book
• Compiling a cookbook from all the Women's World magazines I have accumulated over the years (this is no small task, I easily have 50+ magazines)
• Reading all the books listed on my desktop sticky note
• [Job-related] Completing all the paperwork for Keystone Stars to achieve Star 2 for my specific center. The Stars program earns us extra money to spend on the entire building for anything we want/need. This isn't a completely noble task - there is a $2,250 bonus at the end of it for me.
• And hopefully, finally finishing up our wedding preparation scrapbook I started those many (3) years ago.

I think those are good for now.