Frosty and Cookies

I had a Saturday that got me into the holiday spirit. I was at school early and enjoyed my time helping the students pick out gifts for their family members at the PTA Holiday Shop. The Holiday Shop was one of the activities families could do at the Breakfast with Frosty event. Of course there was breakfast, and a photo op with Frosty (see photo), and the Holiday Shop, but there was also a craft corner and a face painter decorating the kids' faces with snowflakes, snowmen, and Santas. The kids were all having a good time!Gram and I baked cookies for about 3 hours with a short break for lunch. We made all the usual favorites and we work like a well-oiled machine. GrandDad stopped over early in our cookie marathon and we sent him away, telling him to come back later and join us for lunch, which he did. Gram and I had the Christmas music going and it was a fun time and I now have all these cookies waiting for the boys to come home. 

Jim left me a message on my phone and I checked his race results on-line, so I can report that he and his team had a good day. Jim was the 5th Master's runner, out of a lot of runners, and his team of 50-55 year-olds took third place out of 13 teams. In his message, he said that he was quite pleased with his run and his team placing. I will be anxious to hear the details when he calls or gets home tomorrow night (which ever comes first!). 

I went for a nice run this afternoon and after a quick shower headed out to Marketplace Mall and the surrounding stores. After tallying up all my receipts, I think I returned more merchandise than I purchased-an unusual circumstance at this time of the year!

Tomorrow is the day I am going Christmas tree hunting with Gram and GrandDad. We'll go to Wilbert's Tree Farm and see what we can get. The weather is questionable for later in the day, so hopefully we'll have our outside work done before it moves in. Watch for a photo update in this blog.

Hope all is well. 

Friday-Yippee!

Friday's are great and we got the most out of this Friday by getting up at 5:30 and driving to Eastview Mall. A front-end loader moving snow in the mall parking lot nearly drove in front of us as I'm sure he never expected another vehicle to be driving around the mall parking lot at 6:45 AM! So Jim races tomorrow (don't remember what time), but think about him some time and send him some energy!

I had a great day at school. All my second grade classes are terrific groups of kids (for the most part) and they worked and played hard this morning. In the afternoon I have 2 first grade classes which can be challenging, but today we had more pluses than minuses so it was a good day all around. Here's a funny school story: a second grader came into the gym near the end of the day, to share his birthday treats with me. He had one very sad looking cupcake left on his tray and he was licking his gloved hand when he offered this cupcake. The frosting was half off the side and there was a fingerprint in the top of the cupcake. He then informed me that the cupcake only fell off the tray twice! Oh, they make me laugh. I have always accepted these birthday treats, and never eaten one! 

I talked to my nephew, Zach, today. His birthday was yesterday and I wanted to see how his special day went. When I first called he was outside making a snowman so I called back later and had a nice chat with him and my brother, Jim. It makes me happy to know that my 14 year old nephew still likes to make a snowman-he's a great kid! 

Last night Jim and I went to holiday party with his work group. Since he is new to this group, I didn't really know anybody (and he didn't know everybody), but we sat with 3 other delightful couples and laughed a lot. For dinner, there was a large table with a variety of hot and cold appetizers and later 2 pasta bars were set up. There was a chef at each one who would prepare the pasta combination that you wanted. The chef had 2 different kinds of pre-cooked pasta, 3 different sauces and a variety of mix-ins. He had 3 skillets going and he heated up whatever you wanted. It was delicious! So, we had a good evening, not getting home until 9 PM (on a school night!!!), and then Jim had to spend some time packing.

After school today, I got some Christmas shopping done. We have adopted a local family for Christmas through an ecumenical association and there are 6 people to shop for so I went to Target hoping to get lots of things there. I got less than I hoped, but am pleased with what I got. Two of the girls in the family asked for pullover, hooded sweatshirts and I thought they would be easy to find, but no, everything I saw had a zipper! I'll keep looking. 

Tomorrow Gram and I make Christmas cookies! Before we do that, I am going to school to help out at the PTA Holiday Shop. I will sell little kids mugs that say "Mom", screwdrivers that say "Dad", flashlights for uncles and photo albums for Grandmas! It is heartwarming to watch the kids carefully consider each gift and then pulled a few balled up dollars out of their pockets to pay.

Sandy sent me an e-mail photo of her Christmas cactus and it (or I should say, they) put my plant to shame! Her photo could be a Christmas card photo. And no, I am not going to share that photo with you because in the near future, I am going to make you look at my plant (it is my blog!). 

Time to go to bed. I want to be rested for the cookie marathon tomorrow!

Hope all is well.

Wintery Wednesday

Here we are mid-week. I went back to school today, after trying to go to school yesterday and feeling so rotten during our staff meeting, that a sub was called for me so I could go home. I slept a lot yesterday and feel much better today. Good enough to tackle 3 of my kindergarten classes (not literally!). 

Both Tucker and Corey called tonight which was a nice treat. Tucker called just to check in and said that the weather in Utah and Arizona is making his work schedule a bit disjointed. He is hoping to go to Arizona at the end of the week for a 3 day job, but that may be weather dependent too. Corey called to see if we could pick him up on Friday, Dec. 14th. I think Jim and I will leave here late in the afternoon that day, drive to SU, and bring Corey home for the holidays. Corey thought that would be a great plan because it would have us at campus in time for dinner at his favorite mexican restaurant before we drive back to Rochester! Tucker will get home on the next day (in a perfect world!). 

My Christmas cactus is getting ready to bloom and it always brings me great joy when I see that once again, it is going to bloom for the holidays. This particular plant had a very trying time as a youngster. Many years ago, I was admiring a large Christmas cactus plant at the house of our friends, John and Ann, when they lived in Iowa. They told me that even I could make that plant grow and they broke off a couple of the leaves(?). I put those leaves in a zipper sandwich bag with a bit of water and then left it in the car while I rode by bike across the wonderful state of Iowa (a week-long ride). When I finally got home, I stuck the poor leaves in a glass of water until some roots started to grow, at which point I put it in a pot with some dirt. Sure enough, that little plant, grew one beautiful blossom that first year and it has been growing strong ever since, in spite of my feeble attempts to nurture it. I do not have a green thumb, only a love of pretty flowers. I am thrilled every winter, when this plant forgives my neglect and decides to send out those delicate pink flowers. So, if you are looking for a hardy indoor plant that will add a bit of color to your life during the winter months, I highly recommend a Christmas cactus. As a matter of fact, I would be happy to break off a piece of mine and pass on the joy because every time I look at those lovely flowers and realize how tough that plant is, it makes me think of my lovely and tough friends, John and Ann.

Tomorrow Jim and I are going to a work soiree with Jim's colleagues. On the invitation, the menu was described as "grazing stations and beverages", sounds like dinner to me! After that Jim needs to come home and pack because he needs to be at Eastview Mall before 7 AM on Friday, to go to his National XC race in Ohio. He and his teammates are all riding a big bus to Ohio, which sounds like a good time! Guess who gets to get up real early on Friday to take him to Eastview?

I finished another scarf for another one of my custodians. Two down, one to go. 

Today at school, I discovered that my school iPod was missing. It was on my music cart in my office when my sub left yesterday. The iPod was added to a list of things that were missing in the past 24 hours, including an envelope that was being passed among the staff to buy gifts and a meal for a few of our neediest families at school. That envelope had at least $200 in it. My 2 PE colleagues then noticed that the air compressor that we use to inflate basketballs was missing and a GPS unit on loan from another school was not in the desk drawer where it is usually stored. WE'VE BEEN ROBBED! We met with the principal and she was going to contact the head of district security, who would bring in the police on this one. We have some idea of who was in our building yesterday afternoon and evening, but no real leads. My school iPod is one that I was awarded last year in a technology grant. It is pretty identifiable because the back is engraved with the words Greece Central School District. Stay tuned-I'll let you know of any updates I get.

Time to go to bed.

Hope all is well.

 

Sick Day

I called in sick to school today because my cold finally got the best of me. For a week or so I've had a mild, intermittent sore throat and an occasional stuffy head. On Sunday, all those symptoms came together and I woke up this morning feeling rotten and run down. So I called for a sub, went into school early to leave lesson plans and then came home and hunkered down for the rest of the day. I didn't even get any knitting done until later this afternoon because I wasn't up to it. Hopefully I'll get a good night's sleep tonight so I can get back to school tomorrow.

We have had some blustery winter weather today. Lots of wind and snow. Those conditions are supposed to continue through the night and we might end up with 8-12 inches of snow. 

Here it is Monday night and no Dancing with the Stars! I miss it! I guess it's OK since I am going to bed early anyway. 

Tomorrow I have yoga after school and then I have to come right home because the Sexual Misconduct Policy Task Group (SMPTG) from church is meeting here at 6:30 PM. Jim and I will have to make sure the driveway and sidewalks are shoveled right before folks are supposed to arrive. I have a crock-pot dinner in the crock and will put the crock in the pot tomorrow morning so Three Bean Turkey Soup will be waiting for us when we get home.

Hope all is well.

Snowy Sunday

Welcome to winter weather! We awoke to about 5 inches of snow which propelled Jim to pull out the snowblower and rev it up. I like to shovel and snowblow, so if time and circumstances permit, I do it. The temps rose to around the freezing mark later in the day and it rained for a brief time so the walks and parts of the driveway are down to bare pavement. The forecast for the week shows snowflakes on every day so I may be out there with the shovel or snowblower again in the near future. 

We had a nice dinner with our friends Tony and Ann last night, staying for about 4 hours. Ann has painted the rooms in their home in bold, bright colors and it was very energizing. I liked it! 

I got some packages ready for Jim to take the post office tonight. The self-serve station at the post office is so very handy! Unfortunately, we're not the only ones who love that option because Jim was able to get the postage stamps for the 3 packages, but the drop box for the packages was full, so one of us will have to take the packages over in the morning. I have been there around 7 AM and have seen postal employees there that early, so hopefully we can get these boxes out tomorrow. Tucker and Corey, check your mail in a few days.

I finished one of my gift scarves this afternoon,

when I attached the ruffle to each end of the scarf. See the photo. I am happy with how this turned out, especially since I designed it myself. I have two more scarves to complete, and I don't see a problem with doing that.

Gram and GrandDad did not go to Syracuse today because of the weather. We video-chatted with Corey this afternoon and he said that today was not a day to do a walking tour of campus with your grandparents! They will plan this for another time. 

T and C, mark your calendars. I bought some tickets for a holiday show called Plaid Tidings, at GEVA theater for Thursday, Dec. 20th. It is a musical revue that has gotten good reviews. For any of you  local readers, if you want to join us, give the GEVA box office a call and see if you can get tickets for Dec. 20th. It is in an adjacent theater to the main theater and it is a general seating performance. Leave me a comment if you get some tickets. There is an article about the show in today's Democrat and Chronicle. You might be able to view it on-line if you don't see the Sunday D&C. 

The Buffalo Bills pulled off a win in the final seconds of the game today, which messed up my pool at school, but I was happy for all the local fans.

Jim got the Christmas Pageant out in the front bush this afternoon, and I will try to remember to include a photo later this week. 

Time to knit.

Hope all is well.