Happy 2011!!!

Wow! What a year it's been. 2010 brought lots of changes and fun to our family. I had to go back through and read our blog to remember all the things that have happened this year!

We welcomed 2010 with a New Years party and enjoyed the company of our friends here in Juneau. This year we welcomed 2011 with a mellow evening at home.

2010 was a year of crafting, crafting, crafting and I did my first craft fair with my friends Molly & Tracy followed by our First Friday debut at the Red Dog Saloon in December. I also taught my first after-school jewelry making class to a group of middle schoolers.

2010 was filled with lots of little house projects for Adam. We put our house on the market at the end of September and started looking for new homes. This meant that all those little projects we'd get done someday needed to get done NOW. Lucky for me the hubby LOVES working around the house and he had a great time painting, repatching and sprucing up the condo.

Adam and I took our first "real roadtrip" together. We took the ferry to Prince Rupert and drove through Canada, along the West Coast and into Colorado. Once we were in Colorado we went to Josh & Erin's wedding and spent time with the family. It was a month of living in our car and having no agenda or responsibilities.

Adam's dad and brother both moved here towards the end of 2010. His dad is living with us and we've been enjoying home cooked dinners every night.

I'm sure 2011 will bring lots of new adventures. I'm hoping that we'll...

*sell our condo!!!

*travel!

*stay healthy!

* and have many new adventures!

Happy 2011 friends!

Merry Christmas *2010*

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone out there had a great Christmas! Ours was wonderful...... different from the Christmases that I'm used to but wonderful all the same.

It's a tradition in my husband's family that you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. ("that way you can sleep in!!", says my father-in-law). I struggled with this for a few days but then remembered that it really doesn't matter WHEN you celebrate and it's all about the memories you make and the moments you share with the ones you love that count.

So, on Christmas Eve after a delicious dinner of breakfast for dinner we settled in and passed out our gifts. Gavin got a bunch of dishes for his new apartment and a few thrifted t's from Santa. Terry received coffee, licorice, sudoku puzzles and a new kindle (that he has to share with me!). I got a warm sweatshirt that has a ton of pockets which eliminates the need to carry a purse, some new tools for my jewelry making and Hall Anderson's new photo book (Hall has been the photographer at Ketchikan Daily News for the last 30 years and he just published a book that captures the history of Ketchikan perfectly-I highly recommend it!.). Adam was spoiled with a new gaming chair and headphones (thank goodness we no longer have to listen to the noisy machine gun sounds of Call of Duty!), books, coffee and some new clothes. Rosco got a few presents too but I'll let him tell you about those on his blog.

We all stayed up late playing with our new Christmas toys and were able to sleep in the next morning. After an early dinner of ham and sweet potatoe fries we settled in to watch a few Christmas movies (gotta love Elf and A Christmas Story) and relax. I took a Christmas evening walk with Rosco and the weather was perfect!

While I missed being with my family during Christmas it was nice to have the in-laws around to help us celebrate. I hope you all had the perfect Christmas this year. Love and miss you all! Cheers!

I'll be a plumber in my next life.

So, we've been having problems with our sink for the last couple of months. It seems that every once and awhile it gets backed up and won't drain properly. We figured it had something to do with the garbage disposal so off to Home Depot we went to buy a new disposal. The handy hubby installed in and we figured we'd be set. Nope...the very next night our sink plugged up again.
I started thinking about WHEN our sink would get plugged. It started when Adam's dad moved here and after he made mashed potatoes. I decided to google "potatoes & gargabe disposals". Guess what I found out! You should NEVER put potatoe peels down the disposal because the starch creates a paste that plugs up the drain. Well, who knew??!!! I also found out that if you put baking soda and vinegar down the disposal, wait 10 minutes then flush with boiling water it will clear it out and make your disposal smell wonderful!
We thought we were done with sink problems but the very next night the husband accidentally spilled some wax down the drain. I wondered if my baking soda/vinegar trick would work for this too. Sure enough, it worked! In my next life, I'll be a plumber ;-)

Marvelous Monday....

Today is the first Monday of break so it was definitely a MARVELOUS one!

As much as I love these little monsters it sure is nice to have a break from them!

Adam's class grew cat nip this year and the kids loved it!

Adam's brother, Gavin, arrived on the ferry this morning at 6 a.m. so there wasn't much sleeping in at our house. But, it was nice to wake up and have coffee with the whole gang. I'm beginning to feel like the odd one out being the only girl around here. I had to escape to my friend Erin's house last night just to have some girl time!!!


I was able to get to the gym this morning and caught up with Molly for a few minutes before she headed out to work.


Also managed to sneak in a trip to the thrift store and found the most PERFECT shirt for a friend. I can't wait to give it to her...and NO she won't mind that it's thrifted ;-)


Spend the rest of the day reading, relaxing and getting a few presents ready to ship. I've decided that some boxes will just be late this year and I'm going to be ok with it.

Terry made dinner so I didn't even have to worry about that!

For those of you who need a little more Ugly Sweater fun here's a picture for you. The guy on the left was the winner. It's hard to see his sweater but there are mountains and two parachuter's falling down the sweater. It was pretty hard to choose between his and the white cat sweater in the front row. I think this definitely needs to be a new MRCS yearly tradition.

What did you wear today???

Today was Ugly Sweater Day for the staff at school. After a crazy few weeks of trying to get MRCS shirt orders delivered, having a guest in my classroom, attending the school concert concert, organizing a spaghetti feed and Friday Fun night this was definitely a fun way to start our winter break. Great idea social committee!


I had the greatest outfit for ugly sweater day!! Our friend Stephenie found the PERFECT sweaters for herself and the hubby last year. Lucky for me she's too pregnat to wear it this year.

Got my outfit ready the night before.....

Couldn't wait to show off that there were TWO....YES, TWO of these sweaters! One lucky husband and wife must've looked good! ;-)

Unfortunately, we didn't win the Ugly Sweater Contest (in fact, we both got a lot of compliments on how cute we looked and how cute our sweaters were....um, WHEN were they cute?? 1970? maybe...but the fact that there were TWO people wearing these definitely makes them UGLY!!!) but it was pretty fun wearing them. I don't think I've put this much thought into an outfit since highschool! Thanks for playing with me, Erin!

The rest of the day was filled with fun and lots of organized (or so we tell ourselves) chaos. Adam and I both brought home a ton of yummy treats, coffee and even a beer from our wonderful students. It's been a great year so far but we're definitely looking forward to a break!

Marvelous Monday...

It's the last Monday before winter break.....

Got a mini foot massage after dinner....

Ate a pint of ice cream.....

Am heading to bed before 7:30p.m.....

Hello friend! I haven't seen you in awhile :-(

Here's a little glimps of what our week looked like. I swear it was the busiest of our lives!!! On top of the regular chaos of school as winter break nears these are a few of the "extras" that we did this week. Image -weheartit.com

*Monday - Two sets of make-up parent teacher conferences then off to pick up apartment applications for the brother-in-law (he'll be here on the 20th!)

* Tuesday - ANOTHER make-up conference after school then off to drop off apartment applications for the brother-in-law.

* Wednesday - Shopped for Friday Fun Night then off to the Music concert until 7:30

* Thursday - Rosenbruch fundraiser (WHAT A HUGE SUCCESS!!! We're up to $8500 raised and money is still trickling in!)

*Friday - 5th grade Friday Fun Night fundraiser (7:30 a.m. till 9:45 p.m. at school! Thank goodness we have a nanny for the doggy ;-) )

* Saturday - Proctored ACTs in the morning, Open House at 1:30, watched students in their lego league competition at 1:30 then headed to watch more students at their dance recital from 2-4.

It was a lot of late nights at work this week, NO time for the gym or socializing with friends and very little sleep. BUT, I have big plans for the next few weeks and I'd love to share those with you too!

Photo - weheartit.com

*Saturday - Wine night with my wonderful Carriker friend. I love the chaos and laughter that fills her home. No matter how crazy the boys are I always leave her house feeling happy and relaxed.

*Sunday - A slow moving day is what I'm looking forward to most. We'll wake up without the alarm clock, drink coffee in our p.j.'s and read the day away. In the evening we'll have friends over for turkey burgers and sweet potatoe fries (I've recently discovered how simple home made fries are to make and can't seem to get enough of them!)

*Next week - I plan on getting to the gym, catching up with our friends (Stephie-we need to hang out before the baby comes!!!), crafting and taking some time out for ME.

*Winter break - I was the high bidder on a massage at the silent auction so I plan on using that as soon as possible! I will catch up on all the books I've been dying to read and try out all the yummy new recipes Erin's been posting on her blog.

I'm thinking of doing a Christmas give away soon. What do you think? A necklace?? Earrings?? Ideas for entry questions? I love give-aways and will soon have time to do something fun in the blog world!

Marvelous Monday....

Linus has gotten into the habit of drinking water from the sink. Every morning while I get ready he sits on the sink and slurps like he's drinking from a fountain. It's a great way to start the morning for both of us.

It's time again for another Marvelous Monday post. As I've said before...some days are easier than others and with indoor recess for the kids today it was definitely a little harder to find come up with a list of things that made today marvelous. But never the less...here it goes....

~coffee...I was able to have lots and lots of coffee this morning.

~Lunch with the hubby (even our quick 15 minute lunch together is more than some people get)

~Lots of orders for necklaces that I get to work on this week...

~Watched three episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm (if you haven't seen it you MuSt!)

Today was marvelous and we only have ONE more Monday at work before Winter Break!!!

Gallery Walk and the rest of the weekend....

I love, love, love Juneau's December gallery walk. It's the time of year where everyone in Juneau fills the downtown shops looking for Christmas presents, drinking hot cider and munching on Christmas cookies. Usually, I'm out there braving the weather with everyone else but this year I enjoyed Gallery Walk from the warm and cozy balcony of the Red Dog Saloon.

My friend crafty friend Tracy had the great idea of selling some of our handmade goods during Gallery Walk. Conveniently, she and her husband are part owners of the Red Dog so we were able to set up in the balcony and sell our crafts. We had so many friends and coworkers stop by to chat and check out our crafts. This was definitely the way to enjoy Gallery Walk, I think we'll do it again next year!

Saturday morning it was back to real life and I started bright and early by proctoring the SATs at the High School. We had another open house later in the afternoon and thank goodness for my loving hubby and his dad who spent the morning getting the house clean. We spent the rest of the day out at the school catching up on things that didn't get done during the week and planning for the two busy weeks ahead.

Our school is hosting a spaghetti feed next week for one of our former students who is battling with cancer. I'm in charge of the silent auction so I spent Saturday getting that piece ready. I've been amazed at how many local businesses have been willing to donate wonderful items to our fundraiser. Annie Kail's, Heritage Coffee, Alaska Zipline, Gastineau Guiding, The Nugget Alaskan Outfitter, Pavitt Health & Fitness and Curves were just a few of the many businesses in Juneau that made some amazing donations. We have such a giving community!

Sunday was spent RELAXING, catching up on my favorite blogs, watching movies in my pj's and trying to finish my book. Sometimes I wonder when it'll all slow down but then I realize how lucky I am to be able to do so many things that I truly enjoy . I hope you all had a great weekend...busy or slow I hope it was exactly the weekend you wanted.

MeMoRiEs of aN AlaSKaN BoAt giRl ** Christmas Edition

About a month ago my friend, Erin asked me to do a blog post for her 12 Days of Christmas feature in December. I finally decided on blogging about my Christmas memories on our sailboat which also got me thinking about turning this into a monthly post. So, for those of you who haven't read this already I hope you enjoy it and be sure to check out her blog. She has some super cute blog friends posting for the next 12 days. I already scored a sweet (hehehe) recipe that I'm definitely going to make for the hubby.

When you're young you never really give much thought to family traditions. What you do in your family seems to be the "norm" since you're too young to know any better. Living on a 32 foot sailboat with a family of 4 forced my parents to get creative when trying to give my brother and I the traditional Christmas memories. Looking back I realize that some of the traditions were a little silly, some strange but all are OURS...they're those little nastalgic moments that belong to no one else but MY family and I'll treasure them forever.

Christmas Dinner****The traditional turkey, stuffing, casseroles & pies were out of the question. The kitchen (oops, galley) on the boat was way too small for any of that. Our Christmas dinner was always a favorite dish that my brother and I got to choose. Halibut Olympia, taco pie or manicotti was frequently what we requested and mom usually had a cherry cobbler in the oven for dessert.

The Christmas Tree****We definitely weren't the family that went out and chopped down a tree. There really wasn't room on the boat for a tree but every year my mom would clean off a small spot on one of the shelves to place a small (I'm talking "itsy bitsy teeny weeny" type tiny!!) fake Christmas tree. Looking back it makes me appreciate how important it was to her that my brother and I had a Christmas tree.

PRESENTS!****With such a small tree on the boat presents didn't go under the tree like they probably did in your house. My brother slept on the couch (oops, bunk) which was closest to the Christmas tree so we'd pile some of our presents right at the edge of his feet. There wasn't much room there and on Christmas morning my mom always seemed to be pulling Christmas presents out of some hiding place she had.

The Advent Calendar****I loved having an advent calendar to count down the days until Christmas. The one I remember best was a punch out calendar with a piece of chocolate in it. My brother and I got to take turns eating the chocolate pieces. Because there wasn't really a spot to "hang" the calendar we set it right above my bunk and it was the first thing I'd see when I woke up in the morning.

Christmas Lights****We never decorated the boat with Christmas lights but we'd always pile in the old gray soccer mom van and drive around Ketchikan looking at Christmas lights. Some years we'd watch the boat Christmas light parade cruise through the channel and I'd wonder why we never entered our sailboat in the parade. (It probably had something to do with the fact that our boat was packed with the everyday STUFF of two kids and would've been a nightmare to secure for sailing).

The "good China"....Most families have some type of fancy plates and silverware that they take out during the holidays. On most days we ate off paper plates because it made doing dishes easier and we really didn't have anywhere to store a bunch of dishes. However, we did have a set of 4 large plastic plates in the popular 70's orange and yellow color scheme that we would take out on special occassions such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. These days they'd be considered "retro" or "vintage" and I hope that my parents still have them so that I can someday add them to my kitchen.

Christmas day phone calls.....We didn't have a phone on our boat until I was 12 or 13 so when we needed to make a phone call we'd walk up the dock and use the payphone. Usually, after we opened presents we'd all head up the dock and call our friends and family to wish them Merry Christmas. We got pretty good at squeezing into that little phone booth on those wet, windy and cold Christmases.

My mom recently told me that years ago the pastor of our church asked her to talk to the congregation about Christmas on the boat during one of our church dinners. Thinking nothing of it she described our typical holiday experiences and said that afterwards she had so many people come up to her with wonder and amazement in their eyes asking, "how do you do it???!!!" and inviting us over to their house for Christmas dinner.

After that we seemed to have housesitting gigs every year and rarely spent another Christmas on the boat. I'm not sure if people just felt bad for us or really did need housesitters. Either way, our Christmas traditions morphed into a strange compilation of holidays spent in other people's homes....but really, that's for a different post.

Merry Christmas blog friends,

Tristan

Marvelous Monday....

Today was marvelous but went by way too quick. It was marvelous because...the hubby was well enough to return to work....my students were well behaved and productive....I was able to get a little workout in after school and I had a wonderfully relaxing evening with the family. Happy Monday, I hope yours was just as wonderful. ;-)

Weekend photoshoot

It's been a fun filled Thanksgiving weekend that has gone by WAY too quick. We had my parents visiting for Thanksgiving and had a great time with lots of food, fun and shopping. After I dropped them off at the airport today I headed over to my friend Stephenie's house for a quick baby photoshoot. We took a ton of pictures and I'm still editing but here's a sneak peak, enjoy!

Marvelous Monday....

Today was marvelous because there are now only TWO days until thanksgiving break. Oh how I'm looking forward to having my parents in town, sleeping the mornigs away, shopping with my mom and eating a huge homecooked meal. Hope your Monday was wonderful too ;-)

crafting, crafting, crafting.....

My weekend started with wine night with my favorite little family. I love going over to my friend Erin's house. It's crazy and choatic with her two little muchkins running around and I love, love, love it. There's nothing like good wine, great conversation and crazy boys running around to make your evening perfect. Saturday was FULL of CRAFTING. It's been a long time since I've sat down and crafted all evening but with winter setting in it's definitely time to get back in it. Here are a few of the projects I worked on this weekend.

A display case for my earrings. I'll be selling at the Red Dog during gallery walk so I needed something nice to hold all my earrings. I had a few extra cardboard book holders at school so I grabbed those, spray painted them, added a few cute stickers and whalllaaaaaa.....earring holders. Easy, cheap and cute.

My friend Melissa at Those Alaskan Girls is hosting a design challenge and I was honored to be invited to participate. She sent a small box of beads and metal to a few Alaskan jewelry artists and invited them to participate in a fun and creative challenge. Each box contains the same beads and all the artists will design something and send it back to her. She'll be posting the finished products on her blog so we can see how each artist used the supplies. I made a handstamped necklace and some matching earrings. I'll be sure to post the link when she gets all of the jewelry photographed. I can't wait to see what other people created.

Here's a little project I worked on awhile ago but haven't been able to post pictures because it was for my friend Danielle who I know reads my blog on occassion (Hi, D!!!). Two summers ago I performed Matt & Danielle's wedding seremony in Seldovia, Ak. It was one of the most wonderful weddings I've been to and I wanted to make Danielle a little something special. I asked her father-in-law (who is one of the sweetest dad's around-she is super lucky!!) to collect beach glass or small stones from their wedding site. I ordered this locket from a Thailand seller on etsy (I didn't realize it came from Thailand until I inquired with the seller after two months of not receiving my item!) then I handstamped their wedding date on a piece of metal. It was a fun little project and I hope Danielle loves it.

I also started crocheting a big cowl neck scarf while I watched Dexter with the family. I can't wait to wear it since it's been so chilly here lately.

That's about it for the crafting projects. I managed to sneak in a great workout, found some good deals at the thrift store and had a nice drive with the hubby on our sunny Saturday. What a perfect weekend!

Happy Sunday!

MeMoRiEs of aN AlaSKaN BoAt giRl **1st Edition

Welcome to my little snippet of childhood memories. Growing up on a 32 foot sailboat in a family of 4 created some weird and wacky memories. It wasn't always a fun experience, it wasn't always an adventure and some days it didn't even feel do-able but we managed to do it. As my dad always said, "it builds character". Well, THIS character thought it would be fun to share little pieces of boat memories on occassion. Welcome to the first edition of my (hopefully) monthly series.
Enjoy!

Kids need a place to play and when you don't have a backyard, or a front yard or even a sidewalk to play on you take what you can get. For my brother and I that happened to be the docks. On sunny afternoons we'd play on the dock next to our boat and when it was warm enough we'd put on our bathing suits, fill a bucket full of water and grab a few measuring cups for a good old fashion water fight.

One afternoon we were out playing with our water bucket and measuring cups (why measuring cups??? I have no idea...like I said, my childhood was a little wacky). It wasn't very warm out but my brother and I decided to start splashing and chasing each other with our water filled measuring cups. I backed away from him laughing until suddenly I fell into the cold icy ocean. I remember looking up at a barnacle filled boat bottom thinking that the owner really needed to scrape the bottom. As I found my way out from under the boat I clung for the dock and yelled for my mom.
I'm sure most parents would've found this event fairly traumatic but when you grow up on a boat it's just one of the daily hazards. I'm guessing my mom was scared and worried but it wasn't the first time one of us had fallen into the water and it definitely wouldn't be the last.

Marvelous Monday

Ahhh, what a Marvelous Monday today was! It was parent teacher conferences at school today so things were pretty relaxed without the kids around. I sat in on a few conferences and they went well. Much more positive than I was expecting so that was a good thing!

While the temperature in Juneau is dropping it ended up being a gorgeous sunny day. I wasn't able to get outside much today but I did enjoy the sunshine from my toasty warm office.

Basketball season is coming to an end this week but the girls still had a great practice today and worked so hard this afternoon. I can't wait till our last game on Wed and a pizza party on Thursday!

After a great turn-out at our open house on Saturday we had a showing this evening and it was a great excuse for us to go out to dinner at our favorite restaurant, The Island Pub. Now it's time to relax with the family and watch a movie. Hope your Monday was just as great =-)

"You are the company you keep"

I was reminded of this quote the other day and couldn't stop thinking about how it applied to my life. I started thinking about the company I keep and wondered what it said about me. If it's true that "you are the company you keep" then I've decided I must be a pretty cool person ;-)

I must be a person who loves new adventures....

I must be a person who will try new things even when they scare me....

I must be a person who is silly and has a great sense of humor...

I must be a person who isn't afraid to look silly as long as we're all having fun....

I must be a person who cares about others.....

I must be a person who is delighted by the simple things in life.....

I must be a person who loves.....

I must be a person who thinks there's nothing better in life than sunny Alaskan summers and good friends....

I must be a person who knows the only way to have fun is to get a little dirty....

I must be a person who lives in the moment.....

I must be a person who doesn't stress the small stuff....

I must be a person people can laugh with.....

I must be a person who is strong and determined.....

I'm so fortunate to have such amazing people in my life and am truely blessed by the company I keep....

Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day!

*Dad in Vietnam*

No matter what your feelings are on war I hope that you take the time today to thank a Veteran for protecting our country. Thank you to those who leave their families, travel abroad and put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms and our country. Click here if you want to see more of Dad's Vietnam pictures.

It's been a quiet day at home for us. A quick workout at the gym this morning, a trip to the thrift store (took full advantage of the $5 bag sale!), watched some documentaries with the family, did a little grocery shopping and made some jewelry. I hope your Veteran's Day was just as relaxing!

Marvelous Monday...

Today was great...woke up early....got to work on time...worked out with my friend Molly....had dinner waiting for me when I came home...BUT, the best thing about today was getting a letter in the mail saying that a LARGE part of my student loan had been paid my my parents. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! It made my Monday Marvelous....XOXOX

Rock On!

My brother sent me this picture of my nephew and I had just fell in love with it so I decided to use my photo program to alter it a bit and add some cool features. It makes me think of an alternative rocker who really doesn't give a care what his album cover looks like because he just wants to rock.

It's hard to believe another week is done....they seem to be flying by too quickly. This weekend is filled with craziness....a two day university class for me, an open house at the condo, time in the classroom for Adam, groceries, cleaning, laundry and (hopefully!) a couple workouts at the gym. I'm ready for Thanksgiving break!

Marvelous Monday....

Some Mondays are harder than others and today was definitely one of THOSE Mondays. Didn't sleep much last night, woke up with a tummy ache, the kids were crashing from their Halloween sugar high and it was cold and gray in Juneau.

So, when I was finally able to come home after work and basketball practice I put on the p.j.'s, enjoyed a dinner NOT prepared by me and watched The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus with the family. This was Heath Ledger's last film and it made me sad that there won't be any others. Ahh, Marvelous Monday.

Halloween Weekend F-U-N!

When Halloween falls on Sunday the celebration and fun starts on Friday! Here is a recap of our Fun Halloween Weekend!

*FRIDAY*
-Woke up and picked out a halloweenish outfit to wear to school. It was a great excuse to wear the yellow skirt I found at goodwill while on our road trip!

-Went to school and was bombarded by so many tasty Halloween goodies and treats from my work pals. My favorite was the "pumpkin poop" from one of our Special Education teachers...too cute!
-Went to Fall Festival at school and had a great time seeing all the kids dressed up! (unfortunately, I forgot my camera so there aren't any pictures of the cute costumes)

*SATURDAY*
-After a workout and thrifting date with Erin I endured the grocery store madness to pick up a spaghetti squash. I've been craving spaghetti squash and figured this would be the perfect weekend to make it.

-Baked some tasty spaghetti squash seeds that tasted a bit like almond roca. I altered the recipe from a few other recipes out there so here it is if you want to try it:

(Oh, by the way, I rarely measure things out so you'll just have to do your best)

A little bit of brown sugar

A tiny bit of olive oil

Some nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon

Mix it together in a bowl then add your clean seeds. Spread out on a pan with tinfoil and bake at 300 for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

-Bought some new fall colored beads and made these earrings (I can't wait to wear them this week!)

*SUNDAY*

-Enjoyed a LAZY Sunday.

-Had TWO trick-or-treaters and one lovely friend who dropped off some ghost cookies for us.

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween weekend!

Marvelous Monday....

I'm so lucky that my Mondays are pretty relaxed and easy at work. It makes for a great way to start off the week. Today was marvelous because of....

**A great post-observation conference with my principal (it's always nice to hear that you're appreciated)

**lunch with my hubby (yes, we work in the same school but things are usually too busy for us to get together during lunch).

** A nice little chat with my little exchange student friend.

** A great workout

** Breakfast for dinner! (silver-dollar pancakes, sausages and the best omelet ever made).

** Watching Dexter with the family.

** Thinking that our next holiday wasn't until Thanksgiving break but finding out today that we have Veteran's day, a teacher work day and conferences coming up in November. (I love my job but holidays and days without the kids are always a nice little treat.)
I hope your Monday was marvelous too....