A Few Random Thoughts

I am determined to be more present here on the blog this year, yet it is already the 7th day of the new year and I haven't blogged a thing.

I've started several post in my head, but I can't seem to find the time or energy to get them from my head to to here.

Going back to school after Christmas break has kicked my tail.  I finally came home Wednesday afternoon, laid on the couch for a couple of hours watching TV, and then went to bed at 7:30.

It was much needed.

I struggled to get out of bed every single morning this past week until Friday.

Friday I was wide awake at 5:15.

Friday we had a snow day and I didn't even have to go to work.

As much as I didn't want a snow day (I'd rather have my days in the summer) it was a much needed snow day.

Andrew worked from home.

We spent the day working, reading, and working on a puzzle.

If you want to know more about my exciting puzzle adventures, follow me on SnapChat.  It's riveting stuff I tell ya.

I just finished reading this book...

It was sooo good.  It is a book for young adults, but I recommend it to anyone.  Historical Fiction...about the Berlin Wall.

I could not put it down.

I always set myself a goal to read 52 books a year.  This year I decided to up that goal to 70 books in 2017.  It feels like a lofty goal, but I think I can do it.

We are getting ready to jump back into the world of fertility treatments.  I have had lots of emotions about that, so many that they need their on blog post.  I'll share soon I promise.

Life Lately

A couple of weeks ago we took our yearly visit to the see the trumpeter swans.  We love these mouthy birds.  This year my parents joined us for the fun. 

Last week we got a little bit of snow and a little bit of ice that resulted in me only have to work on Tuesday. 

 I enjoyed every day of sleeping in, wearing PJs all day, and reading good books.  Warm bubble baths were also a necessary part of snow days.

Lincoln Baxter didn't feel the same way about those warm baths as I did.

Giant cups of hot chocolate make for good snow days.

At one point I got motivated and decided to clean out one of the upstairs closets.

I pulled everything out and then pretty much lost all motivation.  I did manage to get a few things sorted and either thrown away or put back in the closet.

But that bedroom pretty much still looks like this.

This week I decided to get an ear infection.

BAD IDEA!

Ear pain is not any fun.  Not too mention I can't hear and feel like I'm in a tunnel.  I went to the doctor Thursday and he prescribed some meds.  Hopefully this will be over soon. 

On a happier note I get to have dinner with lots of family tonight.  BBQ nachos.  YUM!

Snow Day #351,975

It's another snow/ice day at the Weaver house.  All four of are still laying in bed at almost 9:30.  I'll have to get up soon and let the LBs out but right now I'm enjoying the warm comfort of my bed.

Andrew has been sick since yesterday.  I'm thankful the weather will keep him at home today so that he can continue to rest and get better.  I'm not nearly as good of a nurse as he is.  Apparently there is a virus going around disguising itself as the flu.  Not fun!

Laundry is piled high and will easily keep me busy for most of the day.  But in between those loads of laundry I hope to get a little crafting in.  I bought stuff to make a spring wreath for our front door Saturday.  I would like to get that made and do a little organizing in my scrapbook room.

Of course there are also lesson plans to be made and papers to be graded.  It's the never ending story of a teacher.  I've also started to think about next school year and how I will decorate my classroom.  I'm saying goodbye to the owls and moving on to something else.  I'm just not sure what yet.  

-------------------Continued at 5:30----------------------

Well I did get all papers graded and a few loads of laundry done today.  I also watched Friends and Boy Meets World and took a nice long nap.

It's been a great snow day.

Andrew is feeling much better.  Whatever this virus is it doesn't seem to last long.  For that we are thankful.

 I just got the call that tomorrow is another snow day.

Snow Day #9

I'm home enjoying yet another snow day.  Today makes #9 for my school district.

Goodbye Summer Vacation!  It was nice knowing you!

Seriously...I don't remember ever missing this many days in one year.  

But I'm trying to choose a positive attitude and enjoy the time at home and not think about having to make up all of these missed days.

Our little town is beautiful right now.  

Andrew has been working at home so Snow Days have allowed me a little extra time with him.  We get to sit down together and have lunch each day.  

Snow Days mean trying new recipes and laughing when they completely fail.

I tried a new recipe from Pinterest last night.  It was a MAJOR fail!  

I have yet to try to a recipe from Pinterest that wasn't a fail.

I'm going to blame Pinterest! 

It can't possibly be me or the fact that I don't like cooking and am not very good at it.

I posted this picture last night of the aftermath of our dinner.

The caption included some of the quotes that came out of my sweet husband's mouth over the course of attempting to eat this chicken crescent roll thing.

"Would you be interested in taking cooking lessons?"

"Now we're figuring out how to eat this."

"Time for dessert.  What do you want?  A turkey sandwich?"

 One thing is for sure...He makes me laugh.

Snow Days also mean lots of time to watch my new favorite TV show.

I've also had lots of time to search Pinterest for a new haircut.  It is time for a change.  My hair is pretty thin and does better with a shorter cut.  

I sort of like this cut, but it is WAY out of my comfort zone.  I've been texting it to my friends to get their opinion.  So far the look has gotten mixed reviews.

Andrew isn't a fan at all.  I'm not sure I'm brave enough to go this short.   

I just know I'm ready for something different.

Unfortunately, snow days also mean time to work on taxes.  YUCK! 

But it has to be done.

Have to focus on the positive...like my beautiful view of Sugarloaf Mountain.

God's creation.  It's amazing!

A Potential Snow Day

I have a feeling there is another snow day in my future.  It is currently sleeting outside and there is supposed to be snow on the way.

I have mixed feelings about it.  I wouldn't mind a day or two off but I also don't want another week of snow days to make up.  

We had a very productive day yesterday and now we are ready for a relaxing snow day.

The LBs finally got a much needed bath.  Bath time isn't exactly their favorite thing to do.

As you can see Liberty clutches on for dear life when it is time for a bath.  Lincoln may look all sweet and innocent in this picture, but he is wild.  Bathing him is definitely a workout.  He only jumped out of the bathtub three times.  That doesn't include all the times he TRIED to jump out of the tub.  By the time we were finished the bathroom was covered in water.  

Also...don't you just love Liberty's "toupee"?  Andrew said she was the Donald Trump of dogs.  HA!

We are all caught up on laundry and we joined everyone else in our town at Wal-Mart to get our milk and bread.

Now we are curled up watching football coverage.

Why oh why does the Super Bowl mean we have to watch football ALL DAY?

Can we not just watch the game?

I'm keeping myself entertained with some online shopping.  I'm constantly drinking water at work.  It's my thing.  I'm the teacher that drinks water.  I prefer to drink from a cup with a straw, but the straw to my owl tumbler broke back in August.  I finally ordered myself a new cup today from this Etsy shop.

I can't wait to get it.  I'm pretty much obsessed with monograms.  I want to put my monogram on everything.



This is a horrible way to end a blog post, but that pretty much wraps up my random thoughts for the day.

I'll try for a better ending on my next post.

Five on Friday 01/10/14

First things first.  I have wronged my husband and I owe him a public apology.

I left something very important off my Year in Review post.

In 2013 we saw Fleetwood Mac in concert.

Whew!  Glad that's off my chest. 

Now we can move on to a little Five on Friday fun.

Andrew & I had a consultation with an orthodontist Wednesday morning.  It was the same guy I mentioned before.  The first visit was just having molds made and the initial prognosis.  Wednesday we sat down and talked about exactly what needed to be done and how much it would cost.  For me that means braces on top & bottom but only after I have four teeth pulled.  For Andrew that means braces on top after he has one tooth pulled.   Something about that doesn't seem fair to me.

I had a consultation with another orthodontist last week.  He didn't want to pull teeth right away but felt like it would probably have to be done before we were all finished with the process.  

It has taken me time to get to this point, but right now I'm leaning toward the first orthodontist - the one who wants to pull teeth.  I just feel like he has actually studied my mouth and cares about me individually.  The second guy feels like cookie cutter orthodontics.  I feel like he gives everyone the same treatment regardless.  

I have another consultation with a third orthodontist next week.  I'm thinking after that appointment I will make a decision.

As I was getting ready to go back to school after our orthodontist appointment Wednesday afternoon I got the phone call that they were dismissing school at 12:30 due to incoming inclement weather.  I had just backed out of my driveway when the call came so I went around the block and right back home.  Around 8:30 Wednesday  night I got the call that we would be enjoying yet another snow day Thursday.  I enjoyed getting to sleep in, but I'm going to be in school all summer.

My blog is in the process of a makeover thanks to my sweet friend Miranda.  She has been designing my blogs for quite awhile now and always does a fabulous job.  I was heart broken when she got out of the business.  Good news!  She is back!  She has just opened a new shop call Lil Birdie Design Shop.  If you are interested in starting the new year with a new look, please go check out her shop.  She does amazing work and is so easy to work with.

I think I have finally made a decision about my first decorating project for the house.  There are a lot of blank walls in our house, but there is one that drives me crazy.  Our little breakfast nook.  I snapped a picture of it a couple of weeks ago and asked friends for ideas.

The table doesn't sit centered on the wall which throws me off a little with decorating.  I received several ideas.  Most people suggested that I paint a quote on that wall or do a quote with vinyl.  Andrew isn't a fan of that idea.  Besides it would take me a sweet forever to decide what quote I would want to use.

I found a picture on Pinterest that I liked.  It is actually very similar to my original idea for this space.

I grabbed some scrapbook paper and taped it on the wall.  I need to live with it awhile before making my final decision.  Pretty sure this is what I want to do.  Now I just need to find the perfect fabric and decide what color I want to paint the canvases with words.

I went to Zumba tonight for the first time in over a year.  I've been wanting to go for a couple of weeks but haven't been able to find the motivation.  I finally just went tonight even with Andrew tempting me to skip and go eat at Brother's BBQ (where we had our anniversary date).

I am so glad I went.  It was so much fun!  I've missed it.  I had a big goofy grin on my face pretty much the entire time.  But man am I going to be sore in the morning.  I can already feel it!

Snow Day

Arkansas is experiencing a winter storm.  To be more specific we are experiencing Cleon.  Apparently they are naming winter storms these days.

We were sent home from school at 2 on Thursday and told that we would not be there on Friday.  It is always nice to know the day before that school is cancelled.  I immediately turned off my alarm for Friday morning.

Andrew has been sick all week.  I was thankful the weather was forcing him to stay home and rest Friday though he seemed to be feeling better.

We had the perfect Snow Day.  And by Snow Day I mean Ice Day.  

Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast. 

Lots of Snuggle Time.

Fun little walk to the grocery store.

We finished putting up the Christmas tree.

And even wrapped a couple of presents.

Playing in the Snow

Liberty loves the snow and begs to go outside. Liam tolerated it once we put his sweater on.

Snow Day

I got my wish. I'm home enjoying a snow day today. They actually called off school yesterday morning when it wasn't doing anything. We've just been hearing how bad it was supposed to be. Weathermen have predicted anything from 6 to 12 inches in Central Arkansas.

I was crazy enough to stop at Wal-Mart yesterday on my way home from school. We didn't need anything, but there was a few things I wanted...non grocery items. I had to wait in line to get a cart. The poor cart boys were working as fast as they could, but just couldn't keep up. I was really in and out of there pretty quickly considering.

Since I knew I didn't have school I didn't worry about anything last night other than reading my book. It was a story about 4 scrappin' friends and how God worked in their lives. It was called Prints Charming by Rebeca Seitz. If you like to read and scrapbook, I definitely recommend it. Even if you don't scrapbook, I recommend it. Good story. This is what the boys did while I read.
They were tired boys!

Not sure what I will read next. I have a closet full of books to choose from. Though I'm trying to sweet talk the husband into buying kindles for my mom and me. I didn't think I would ever want one when they first came out. There is just something about holding an actual book that I enjoy, but now I'm beginning to change my mind.

So back to my snow day....so far I have managed to have a wonderful conversation with my Momma and enjoy some yummy cinnamon rolls. Oh and I slept in until 9:30. My only goals for the day are to get caught up on grading and laundry. If I can manage that I will be a happy girl. It would be nice to get a scrapbook project finished today as well.

Andrew had to work today. I'm hoping he'll get to come home early though. It really doesn't look like we got that much snow. I was hoping we'd be out the rest of the week, but it doesn't look like that will happen. We might be out tomorrow though.

Snow Days

Sunday afternoon it began snowing and continued to snow all night. It was so pretty. Made me smile. It was real snow too, the fluffy kind....not ice like we usually get.

I've been home yesterday and today due to said snow. I have to admit I've really enjoyed having the past two days off. I know I will think differently in June when I'm still in school, but for now it was nice.

I took advantage of being home yesterday and tackled our bedroom. I had wanted to do this over the weekend, but didn't get the chance to because of our last minute trip to Tulsa. I knew our bedroom was going to take a full day to do right. I lucked out and discovered that Darlene at Time Warp Wife had posted 28 steps to deep cleaning your bedroom yesterday. PERFECT!! I printed it off and got to work. It was an all day job. I started around 10 yesterday morning and didn't call it quits until arond 4:30 yesterday afternoon. Hard work!! But well worth it. It feels like our bedroom doubled in size yesterday. I really do love our house when it is clean.



I had thought about tackling the bathrooms today but the bedroom smooth wore this girl out yesterday. I slept in instead. We had lunch with my parents today. My Daddy is 49 today. He's definitely one of the greatest guys I know. :) He chose Red Lobster for his birthday lunch. I was suprised to find something there that I like. HA!! We had lunch and then hit a few antique stores with them before heading home.


School is back in session tomorrow. Honestly, I've have mixed feelings about it. I don't want to be in school all summer, but the past two days have been so nice. Andrew has worked from home. He's been busy so we've haven't spent all day together really, but he was in the house. Made me want to be a stay at home wife and have him work from home. I can't say that I've missed school the past two days either. Oh well. Going back tomorrow.

My Granny's husband passed away today. She married Herb shortly after my PaPa passed away in 2002, at least it seemed like shortly after to me. I cannot imagine losing one husband in my life, let alone two. The hardest part is that I don't know where Herb stood with our Lord. I honestly have no idea. I plan to ask my Granny. I hope she knew where he stood.

Please, if they don't know about your relationship with Jesus Christ, tell your family.

Snow Day + Scrapbooking = 1 Long Post

People started talking last week, around Wednesday I think. A few weathermen were calling for snow Monday and Tuesday. One even went as far as to promise breakfast to one lucky viewer, if it didn't snow. I didn't believe this for one second. I mean it had only been a few days since we had gotten snow/ice. That rarely happens twice a year in Arkansas. The week went on and with a very busy weekend, I completely forgot about the possibility of snow.

Until last night that is. There were facebook status about the snow that was supposed to be coming. I just figured that it would all be in the northern part of the state and those poor people were going to be in school all summer, bless their hearts. So needless to say, I was a bit suprised this morning when Drew got up to let the dogs out at 5:30 and came back saying it was white outside. The ground was covered. I had to get up and look for myself. This is what I found outside this morning.

Once I got the phone call from school confirming that school was cancelled, I went back to sleep. I slept until 10:30 and I must say, it was nice. Somewhere in the time, Drew went to work. Around 11:30 or 12, I looked out and couldn't believe that it was still snowing and getting whiter outside. I bundled Liam Bailey and myself up and out we went. He had never seen snow like this, and let me tell you, that little boy is not a fan. I shouldn't be suprised by this. I know the little guy doesn't like cold weather. Liberty, however, was dying to go out. She loves the snow. I took her in the backyard so she could run around and play without being on a leash.


I stood outside while Liberty played for about 30 minutes. During that time I couldn't help but to sing and praise our God. Snow is one of those things that I see and just think of God. It was so beautiful outside. Everything was gleaming white and these huge flakes were falling just as fast as they could. It is a wonderful reminder that our God washes us white as snow. Our sins are covered by his love.


While I spent most of the morning reading, I managed to get a little scrapbooking done. At the request of a friend, I thought I would share with you some of the things I've been working on the past few weeks. Let me warn you now that I'm still working on perfecting my skills at taking pictures of my layouts.

Here is a Valentine's card I made for my Mommom. Very simple, but I think it is the first card I've ever made that didn't end up in the trash. I'm actually somewhat pleased with out it turned out.


Last Sunday, I finished the first album that I'm keeping. Everything else I've finished I've given away. They've been things like ABC Baby albums, Mother's Day gifts, and Father's Day gifts.

The album I finished was of Weaver family vacation 07. I started it back in 07 and am just now finishing it. I know, it's sad. I'm glad I decided to scrapbook this particular year. Andrew and I haven't got to go on this vacation since then, and to be honest I can't see us ever being able to go again. It is taken during September and I just can't bring myself to miss a week of school as soon as I get back to school. Either way, here are a couple of pages from that album.







And last but not least, a few pages from my Project 365. These are fairly plain layouts. With so many pictures, it's hard to make it too interesting. :)

This is my title page. There will be a picture there eventually, just don't have one I like well enough yet.




Haven't ordered the pictures from this one yet. Love this paper though.


I guess I was feeling a little purple when I did this one last night. I'm not sure that I like it. I'm hoping once I add the pictures it will be okay.



So there is a sample of what I've been up to. I'm sure there will be more to come.

I plan to answer the questions you all have asked sometime this week. All two of them. HA!! Surely more of you have quetions. I hope I'm not that boring. :)