My ABCs

A. Attached or Single? Attached for eternity!
B. Best Friend? Steven (I woulda put Mena down, too...but considering I'm not her BFF, I don't wanna make her feel bad or anything)
C. Cake or Pie? Cake (Carrot)
D. Day of choice? any day that I can relax (these days....ain't got a favorite day...ok, so there are "work days" where my kiddos work on a project...those are my FAV)
E. Essential Item? radio. I love singing along to all types of music.
F. Favorite Color? Sage Green (and yellow)
G. Gummy Bears or Worms? Worms (the sour two-toned ones)
H. Hometown? Clarksville, TN
I. Indulgence? Olive Garden or Crab Legs from Red Lobster (and all-you-can-eat garlic rolls)
J. January or July? Neither...cool fall weather for me, babe
K. Kids? Notta Yetta...so stop askin! (and when exactly do I have time to bathe, clothe, feed, or change diapers?
L. Life is not complete without? Dr. Pepper, Gardetto's, & back/feet rubs
M. Marriage Date? August 3, 2007
N. Number of brothers & sisters? 1 brother, 3 sisters...I'm the oldest girl :)
O. Oranges or Apples? Fiji Apples
P. Phobias? Cats and nasty feet (esp. those with toenails who are falling off...Steven)
Q. Quotes? "Oooooh, Uhhhh, Who am I a talkin to....Donna, Libby, Sheila, Greg, Tamber?....Well, ooooh uhhhhh....I can't hear ye, but I know you're there....but I can't HEAR ye, so I'm a gonna hang up now." OR... "Sheila....I'll walk ye to the door!" OR... "I'm goin to work now" ....famous quotes from my favorite grandparents...gotta love 'em. What will I laugh about when Sheila or Carroll get that old? ha ha ha...
R. Reasons to Smile? surprises when I come home from work, a good massage, my students doing better than they thought imaginable on a project, my nephew telling me I'm STILL his favorite Aunt, but as soon as I say hello, he asks "Where's Uncle Steve"...cracks me up EVERY TIME!
S. Season of Choice? Fall
T. Tag some Peeps! Shelly (to make you smile), Jess (to update your bloggy), Bev-erly (just for fun)
U. Unknown Fact about Me? I cry about once a week, and even MORE when it's "the time" of the month
V. Vegetable? Cucumber (esp in salads, like Outback does)
W. Worst Habits? Looking for hairs in the bathroom, having to fold my clothes ONE WAY, biting my nails, and needing for my desk to be tidy (stapler always on the right, tape on the left, drawers organized)...or else!
X. X-Ray or Ultrasound? Hmmmmmm....pass
Y. Your Favorite Food? pickles and crab legs (but never together
Z. Zodiac Sign? Pisces

Our lil Family

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

When Dioramas were cool...

You never know just how good life is until it gets pretty bad.

Lately, I have been losing sleep due to the many demands of living such a busy life. Teaching this year is better than I ever could have imagined. My students are great, and I love seeing them smile and believe in themselves. However, there is a new teacher that moved in next door...and let's just say it's like she came from the 60's and is still there! For crying out loud...she doesn't own a computer, she's just now figuring out how to email, she is scared of Jr. High kids (why she accepted the job, I'll never understand), she cried on my shoulder for at least 30 minutes a day, her students are running around buck wild most days, and you ought to SEE the stretchy pants that this woman tries to pull off!

And I think that I have it bad? Oh no...I have only just begun.

Anyway, to try to be more positive...I'll save the rest of the details for a later post. To be honest, she has 12 years teaching experience. I really don't see how she would've survived student teaching, but whatever. It is my job to help her. OH MY GOSH! What an overwhelming job it has been, to say the least. For three hours I sat in her room today, and all I can say that we got accomplished was next week's lesson plans! And to think that these kids are coming to MY classroom next year...YIKES! What a challenge it will be.

Challenge? You think that I'm kidding here? Let me tell you one that I am currently working on, and feel free to give me suggestions here. Ok, really...I'm begging! So, I get to talking about projects the other day with her, and she says she wants my input on a "fabulous" project that she wants to do: a diorama (did I spell that correctly?). She wants the kids to come in with old magazines, glue, and an old shoebox and they are gonna make dioramas. FOR REAL!!! It was all I could do not to crack up laughing and just walk out the door. Are you kidding me? I can't even remember the last time I made one of those. Kids these days know more about technology than I do, and she wants them to make dioramas to put around the room? Pu-leez!

So what did I do...I just smiled and quickly changed the subject. And you wonder why I'm worried...is it me, or is she really oblivious to our changes in society!

¡New Shoes!

I finally feel Like a Natural Woman again!

(don't look at my white cankles in the above pic, please)

I broke down (at last...) and bought me some brand new Nike's. I can't remember the last time I purchased new tennis shoes. I usually go w/ New Balance, but this time I just couldn't do it...Nike just felt right. It's like I had a SWOOSH in my head or something...

"JUST DO IT"

JUST DO IT

So, I DID! And I haven't regretted it since. My feet are feelin good, and I'm a happy woman. When you are as stressed as I've been lately...something NEW needs to be worn. And I'm a feet woman...gotta have me some comfy and cool shoes.

What do ya think?

School Pictures

Don't you just ADORE these? And now that we get them free of charge, I find myself STILL not liking these things. Ugh....

This is as much of an update as I can give you this week.

Pray for me....school, school, and MORE SCHOOL.

I'm very overwhelmed, but hanging in there.

My Mosaic

Here was a post that a few of my friends did. It looked like fun, so I gave it a try. It is sort of like a previous post I did, only I love the mosaic approach even more! So here goes nothing....again, I had to pick my answers from one page of findings, so some of them are pretty strange.

Enjoy! Thanks Lauren & Beverly for the idea!

Questions:

1. What is your first name? Tamara
2. What is your favorite food? Pickles
3. What school did you go to? Bowling Green High School
4. What is your favorite color? sage green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Michael Phelps (ha ha ha)
6. Favorite drink? Dr. Pepper
7. Dream vacation? Europe
8. Favorite dessert? Milk Shake (DQ, banana cream pie)
9. What you want to be when you grow up? mom
10. What do you love most in life? Steven (Conan O'Brain & ET?????? Don't know how they are related to "steven"...but I swear I didn't cheat!
11. One word to describe you. Picky (gotta read this)
12. Your nickname. T-girl (pandas are my favorite...how appropriate!)

If you are interested in creating your own....click HERE.

Our Christmas Stockings

Ok, so I totally forgot to post the results of our lil country-ish stockings I made. And thanks to Ollie for pointing out my lack of promtness and memory, here we go:

1. Steve's Stocking:

I really like Steven's choice b/c it has both traditional Christmas colors, and is a nice plaid. Red and Green...I'm sure he couldn't decide. He originally liked the large blue plaid, but when he stumbled upon this one...it was a no-brainer! It was a really good choice. The fold-over part at the top turned out great and for some reason the fuzzy inside is EXTRA fuzzy, and it adds a nice lil touch!

2. Tamara's Stocking:

I orinally bought the sage green plaid for myself. Many of you know that is my favorite color (thanks to the Google picture post), but it really turned out terrible!!! (See below....) This print is different from the rest, but there is a story behind it. Every year, Steven's family goes to St. Charles (near St. Louis) sometime near Christmas. His parents give us $5 to spend and about an hour 1/2 to spend it. We all meet up in the end and share our purchases. This past year was my first year to participate, and I found this GREAT lil antique store and purchased several items (I had a brought a bit of extra cash as well). One thing I picked up was this fabric along w/ the blue polka dotted one (the one many of you all guessed was for the L.F. child). Anyway, I didn't know what I'd do with it, but a part of my sentimental side popped out that day and thought I would be able to sew a quilt or something and have a piece of our first Christmas together included. Well, it may not have been sew into a quilt, but it will hang every year on my mantle (or bookcase) and I'll remember our first Chritmas (don't cry on me).

3. The least favorite child's Stocking:

Ok, so this is the one. I know many of you can't tell, but I made several boo-boos on this one. Every time I looked at it, I thought....uuughhhhh!!!!! There was no way in heck I could keep this one forever. Plus, it wasn't very fuzzy and cozy like the others. It was strange. AND...the green wasn't the same green as the others. It was the BLACK sheep. Normally, I'd embrace the uniqueness, but this time it was different and I just couldn't handle it. So, Steven & I decided to wait and we'd use it if we HAD to. However, my little sister Becka was over one day and fell in love with it and begged to keep it. SO, it will now adorn her shelf somewhere at BYU-Idaho. I'm glad I gave it away, cuz I was starting to wonder if I had jynxed myself into having SIX children! Ain't no way I need that many...Becka, enjoy!!!!!

So, there you go....I can't believe that several of you ended up guessing Steven's stocking correctly after several hints. However, nobody guessed either mine or the LF Child's Stocking. You are all losers and came in dead last. Consolation prize? We'll see about that!