Toast to May

Um, I know I just did toast to April last week. I had a slight panic moment when I realized I needed to write this post and thought to myself... I didn't even make any notes in my phone!! Good thing I'm a better note taker than I thought. So here it is! My toast to May:

Here's to construction at the airport. Traffic at 9:30 pm is awesome!

Here's to taking random Mondays off. Because of this, I am proposing a 4 day school week!!

Here's to brown sugar. Because it makes recipes just that much better.

Here's to patios. I feel they are under appreciated in this world.

Here's to cousins. They are not under appreciated. I love them and our Facebook message thread. Aka the CTU.
Here's to first meetings in front of all my friends after a Rangers Game. "Dad, this is duck dude." 

Here's to awkward moments of conversation. "So, Heat or Pacers?" 

Here's to mini coopers speeding past you like they're camaros. Uh, little man syndrome much?

And last... but certainly not least.
Here's to summer. It is SO nice to see you. 

Hello June!

Weekend Conquered.

My three expectations were definitely filled over the weekend. And now I am starting a 4 day week. Hooray! I decided to give three bullet points for each day of the weekend... and maybe a picture or two. I have got to get better at taking pictures.... and including myself in them. 

Friday: Duck Dinner

• I love conversing with adults. I am thankful my parents forced me to be able to hold my own in an adult conversation. 
• I still do not consider myself an adult, even though I am almost a quarter of a century.
• I honestly enjoyed listening to all these different people (contractors, vets, accountants, VPs) talk about their passion for raising ducks.

Saturday: Lake Day

• I might be biased, but my friends and family are the most fun people to be around.
• We only got caught in the rain for about 3 minutes when it was a 40% chance. I like those odds.
• My blonde lil bit needs to work on her tubing skills. They were not up to par. 

Sunday: Nicest Lake house I've ever been to Day

• Lake House doesn't cut it... it was like a resort. With separate little villas.
• I spent most of my time laying on the dock. The breeze and sun were an excellent combo.
• Is there anything more relaxing then sitting in a big comfy chair around a fire pit?

 

Sunday: Horse Racing Day

• My boyfriend wore his thrift shop, supposed to be for Bingo shirt to the horse races and looked like a Las Vegas tourist with his binoculars around his neck. 
• That was my first time to ever bet on anything in my life. 
• Yes, I picked by my favorite names. Prancy Fancy, Wimbolden Star, Smarty Carol to name a few.

Told you. Weekend conquered.

3 Expectations

Welp, it's Friday again! Sometimes I don't think I'll ever make it to Friday again, but then I do! Whew!

Last weekend was full of Byron Nelson fails and long cab rides with no dramamine, but ended with Top Golf and hanging out on the back patio which are definite favorites in my book.

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend and we are kicking it off with a lake trip! First of the summer and I could. not. be. more. excited!! I finally get to see my Lil Bit after she has completed 1/2 of her college career and she gets to hang out with Duck Dude and me. It doesn't get much better than that folks.

I have 3 expectations for this weekend.
1. Fun          2. Relaxing          3. Sun-kissed Skin

Which are no different than my expectations for every single day of the summer.

7 days of school left. Hollllllla. This is how I feel today.

The Allergy Life

This is how most of my days begin. A text from my momma saying "the cotton seed is high today" or "the pollen count is high today" or "the 34 other things you're allergic to are high today". Ah, the life. The snotty, drainage running down your throat, constant sinus headache life. The life where you literally have to say to your students, "Quit saying 'bless you' ... I've been blessed and it's not helping so just stop!" That's because I sneeze about 14 times in a period. When this is your life, you try anything. Cue -- Kick Ass Allergy. 

Hold up. Did Mollie just curse? Yes. Yes I did (and already asked for forgiveness D-Mommy!). I swear by this stuff. It is made by Wish Garden Herbs and is just that.. a whole bunch of herbs thrown together in a very disgusting brown liquid. But it stops my sneezing and gives me enough relief to make my day a little better. You put 3-4 squirt things (what's the technical name for that thing?) into 6 oz of water or gatorade and just chug it. I know I'm real bad when usually the first time I cannot taste it because I can't taste anything.    It's sorta expensive, 13 dollars for the bottle, but I will be heading back to Sprouts asap because I just ran out. 

They have a lot of other Kick Ass things as well, but I've only tried the allergy one. But I would be willing to bet a whole box of Kleenex's that Kick Ass Immune and Kick Ass Sinus will work too. I also want to try Cramp Relief... but that's a whole 'nother post. Hey mom, you should try Hot Flash (soothing tonic)... just saying.

Littlest Lindstrom

Today, I am having my very first guest blogger. Who? Caroline. The littlest and blondest sister. Why? Well, 1. Because she's still in Waco and I'm starting to forget what she looks like and 2. Because most of the time she's pretty funny and I thought it'd be a good idea to just let her ramble for a while. When I first texted her with the idea, she said "I have no idea what I'd write about" and within the next 15 minutes she texted me and said "Holy cow, I'm off on a tangent!" Welcome to the world of blogging. So here she is in her blogging debut: 

Guest blog from the littlest Lindstrom who is a part of the 3 percent of Baylor students still in Waco. I’m currently working at a library, which is clearly abandoned with finals coming to a close, so I have ample time to write down what goes on in the mind of Caroline. When I’m not reading Les Mis, my current obsession, and catching up on all the shows I missed this semester, I have caught myself daydreaming about everything this week. What triggered most of my pondering was something I read in Les Misérables, “Prejudice is the real robber, and vice is the real murderer.” My interpretation of this was that unreasonable attitudes and wicked or immoral behavior can steal. Maybe not physically, but emotionally.

            I don’t see the point of getting angry anymore, or possibly I’m just too lazy to get angry. This mostly came to me now that I am in college and maybe this is the “growing up” adults speak of. I think of myself as a carefree individual, and would hope that is what others see me as too. I do not get worked up easily, nor cry hardly ever. My sisters joke with me that I need a new soul, but the last time I was at Walmart they were out. I think too many people let their unreasonable attitudes get the best of them. And I mean that literally. So many girls, maybe guys too, let themselves get so frazzled over such a minute situation that their day is ruined. I just want to ask why? Life will go on with spray paint stained driveways, dishes in the sink and unfolded blankets in the den. Don’t get me wrong, I like a clean house too, but messy roommates is not something I would let ruin my sophomore year. However my other two roommates are trying to start World War 3 with condescending eye rolls and nasty text messages. I am sorry that I might be robbing them of happiness, but I am also sorry for them. These girls have just about everything in the world besides the ability to play nice. In fact, I think they actually look for things to get mad about. This is when my mom would say, “Well Caroline, Happiness is not found in people, places or things, but in a relationship with Jesus Christ.” What I have to say is, “I’m moving out.” Their intolerance for any sort of fun has acted as the vice that murdered our friendship. And I hate that. I would love to put our differences aside and talk things out, but that would require them to come out of their rooms and acknowledge us as they speed walk to their cars.

            I realize now how blessed I am to have two older sisters who don’t allow unreasonable attitudes. If by chance there is something bothering one of us we just say it. There is no point to hold things in and let it eat you up inside. Ergo we are three of the closest sisters you will meet. The world is full with too many adventures to explore, flowers to smell and pictures to take to be “Les Misareble”. All in all, the time you spend upset is time that is wasted. Be excellent to each other, and party on.

 

10,000

When I started this whole blogging thing it was for family, out of town and state specifically, to follow my teaching adventures. Which morphed into DIY projects when I got my first apartment, which morphed into cooking adventures (most of which have been successful), which morphed into the ever so random fashion (or lack there of) post, which morphed into rants/soap box blogs, which now I would just go ahead and throw myself into that whole "life style blogger" category. I love this little area that just lets me type. I am rather proficient in my typing skills, so when I type I can almost keep up with the amount of thoughts that are flying through my head (hence the amount of errors in my posts). 

Yesterday, I hit a milestone. 10,000 views. 

Woah. That's a big number. Especially when you started this for only a handful of people. I know it gets passed around and my grandmother is notorious fantastic about emailing the links out to all her people! But still, 10,000? I probably had a goal of maybe getting to 1,000 views when I started. 10,000 was no where in my range of numbers I was thinking of!! There's no way that many people want to come here (and come back again) and read about my not-really-that-exciting life. So thank you. Thank you for reading and thank you for coming back. 

It's been a good week for me. 

Happy. Friday. 

  

Baylor Family

Not my actual Baylor family (hey cousins and sisters!)… my Baylor family. Ya know, the kind you form through bonds of disturbingly long/pointless essays, ridiculous group projects, and mockery of professors. That Baylor family.

My Baylor family was quickly formed through our wonderful world of middle school math. We’re all a crazy bunch anyways… I mean, there were nine of us in the entire University -- that’s gotta say something. Then, of course, we went ahead and formed a smaller, clique-ier group within the nine. We were kind of an eclectic group of people: a sorority girl, a definite over-achiever, a military brat/sweetest person ever, the funny/witty sarcastic one, and whatever kind of category I fit into… the athlete/all around fantastic procrastinator? But I know, without a doubt in my mind, that I would not have made it to graduation without this group of incredible girls.

We have some ridiculous stories. Some are included in the following synopsis, but this is for sure, not all of them:

We should really begin by thanking our professors, because of them we bonded through textiles. Without their apparel choices, we might not have started this lifetime bond. Everything from corduroy duck pants to pleated jeans worn by our favorite nerdy, male math professor. Let me be clear, this mockery is out of pure love… I love those embroidered ducks and the old man that wore them; seriously, we would beg him to wear them. The highlight of our nights would be when the duck pants would make an appearance at the Baylor baseball games. This, said, professor had season seats and we pretty much had season seats. We then decided we should have a pumpkin carving contest, so we did. We got some intensely designed stencils and ended with some pumpkins that hardly resembled  anything close to the stencil, but we bonded. Once you touch someone with slimy pumpkin goo, you automatically move up a few notches on the friend scale. By the end of our sophomore year, our friendship was pretty much solidified. Junior year brought on our study sessions. Sid Rich (the math building) knows no study party like a 4-8 math study party. We eventually got to the point where we just were not capable of studying without Taco Cabana tortillas, queso, and guac. It = brain food, duh. I think somewhere in this year is when “the picture” surfaced. Thanks to the witty one and my notable procrastination we convinced the over-achiever to, at the last minute, let us use her 5^th grade picture at the end of a group presentation. This was no ordinary picture. First of all it was 70’s theme, secondly she had massive coke bottle glasses, and lastly it was one of those pictures that you beg your mother to please hide or switch out with a new one before your new significant other comes over because you just don’t know how you would reasonably explain it to them.  Once we had access to this picture it showed up on every email, presentation, paper, group project we ever did again…. Not exaggerating. It also started the phrase “peace, love, and 5^th grade [Barbra]” (the name has been altered for “pride” reasons) I might still use that phrase today. We spent hours upon hours in the basement of Moody using DreamWeaver to create our e-folios… which I’ll just say we did a lot of creating. But you know what they say, “when you create together, you stay together!”… or at least that’s what I say! We formed crazy bonds with our professors… somehow everyone loved us even though we spent the majority of class trying to put paper in each other’s hair without them noticing! One night I stormed out of class when my entire project didn’t save and I was going to have to start from scratch. No one stopped me, no one told me to come back, and we were able to laugh about it the next week. (I don’t even think I made it up) And even now, some of my professors follow this silly little blog of mine because that’s what happens at Baylor. (Hi Mrs. Smart!!!) And if it hasn’t been clear from the synopsis already, we have about the maturity level of the ages we teach. So obviously, graduation wouldn’t be acceptable without one last hoo-rah. In our wonderful methodology classes we always got to play with snapcubes. So we stole a few snapcubes and wrote a message on them from our 4-8 math gang. As we walked across the stage we each handed our professor a snap cube and made her figure out the message later. Surprise!!

Now we’re on to real life stuff.. like naming our 4 legged children after our favorite Euclidean geometry professor. But seriously, after being in the real world for 3 years now, I’ve realized we’re not normal. We’re not just people who have put in a tremendous amount of hard work together and parted ways forever. We’re a family. A family that I know I could still call on today if I needed to, and have in the past. Our mockery of professors quickly morphed into admiration, those long group projects might be implemented into my classroom today, and I wish I could tell you I found use for that 15 page essay over 20^th century math, but I cannot.. that would be lying. I, however, would not be lying if I said I cherish all these memories and would give anything to have a study night in Sid Rich with my wonderful Baylor family again.

 

Did you think I was lying about the paper part?

Try and decode that mesasge! ha 

With our life support and the greatest teacher on the planet!

Our God is Greater

I am writing to you today graciously humbled by my God. 

9 months ago my dad was facing a stage 4 diagnosis of melanoma. 

He wasn’t a candidate for MD Anderson, chemo had to be stopped to save his liver, and radiation did not work.

Cue some very recently FDA approved drug and a 3-4 month waiting period. Do you know how long 3-4 months seems? I wasn’t happy about that part. I’m pretty vocal when it comes to my family’s health. I was reassured that this was the best option for my dad at this point.

The update I gave in January was the first bit of good news we received. I was relieved and happy, but it was still nothing compared to the news I received from Dad about his most recent PET scan.

Cancer. Free.

There are no more tumors in my dad’s body!!!! It feels weird to even type. I am elated. I am emotional. I am proud. I am overwhelmed. Stage 4 to nothing?

I’ve been saying all along that God is a healer. If this isn’t proof, I do not know what is.

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome and power
Our God, Our God... 

How to survive without Internet...

Yesterday and today, we have been without Internet at school due to a virus. Awesome. Our school phones are connected through the Internet as well, so we've really been cut off. All this is being typed from an iPad... It's pretty annoying, so please ignore any typos/grammar mistakes.. There will probably be 57 instead of my normal 42. These are my tips for surviving without the Internet:

1. Cell Phones - I've never been so thankful for a smart phone. Speaking of smart phone, what is the actual definition of a smart phone? My para said yesterday, "my smart phone doesn't have the Internet." I had to restrain myself from commenting that her phone was probably a dumb phone rather than a smart phone!

2. Exercise - I've seen the inside of other teachers rooms more within the last 2 days than I have all year. I'm also counting it as my exercise for today and yesterday since I've walked an extra 200 yards.  So basically, no Internet helps with your summer bod.

3. Carrier Owl/Pigeon - this is my favorite form of communication... I prefer to use an owl because of my love of Harry Potter... But I guess you could use a pigeon if that's all you can get your hands on. I feel like the pigeons should be jumping on the opportunity to have a real purpose in life rather than shot with a pellet gun off the telephone wires. Doesn't everyone do that?

Hopefully tomorrow we will be up and running again and I can tell you about the most scrumptious dessert/salad recipe ever.

Camping: The Freeze

I like to call this trip the Great Freeze, because even though summer rates started May 1st and we were there May 3rd.... it got down to 30 degrees on Friday night and somewhere around 3 am I began worrying if my toes had frostbite. Around 5 am I layed awake in bed for about an hour trying to force my bladder to stop telling me it had to go to the bathroom so I didn't have to get out of my three layers of blankets. (sorry if that was too much information) On the up side, I got to listen to some coyotes, then some gun shots (I'm still trying to convince my family members I did not dream this), and finally a turkey friend who was gobbling to himself all morning. I'm not judging, I talk to myself all the time -- but I was ready to beat him with a large stick (since guns aren't allowed in the park) and put him in my freezer until November. I'll narrate the rest of the trip through these lovely pictures. 

 

Left: Mine and mom's home sweet home for the weekend! Yes, you can see our tent for miles. It is an 11 x 11 space of awesomeness. Right: This was my favorite view of the entire weekend. We hiked all the way to the top of the mountain and we were all out of breath, but check out that view. Worth it!!!

 

Left: Here we are at the base of the waterfall! We're so cute! Right: All I really want you to notice about this picture is my fanny pack. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty convenient. It held my phone and my sunflower seeds..... and I looked pretty cool. 

 

Left and Right: Hannah and I were notorious for climbing in and on things while growing up, so we were ready to squeeze through this little opening to get into a cave! Definitely not for the claustrophobic. 

 Left: Did I mention I like to climb things? If something looks difficult, I take it as a personal challenge. I love challenges. This was a cool arch, that I decided I would climb into and look out. Right: I'm glad I did, because this was the view from where I'm sitting on the left. Props to God on that one.

Left: Would you like regular pancakes or chocolate chip pancakes? Would you like cheese in your grits? Right: Our set up before the wind kicked in. We cooked most of the other meals in the shelter so everything wouldn't blow away. 



Left: You can't have camping without smores! And yes, I eat mine without chocolate. Right: My tending to the fire skills are excellent. I have perfected the art of a glorious camping fire. 

And my family has perfected the art of a wonderful camping weekend full of conversations, laughing, hiking, and good food! 

Squat Challenge

This post has nothing to do with camping. I'm sure my thousands of readers are all anxiously awaiting that post. It's coming. You can blame the iphone for the delay. You see, I don't have enough storage to take pictures anymore. So mom/Hannah are emailing me their pictures to use for my post. I currently have 19 emails... all from my mom because she doesn't know how to send more than one picture in an email. Maybe I'll teach her how to do that for her Mother's Day gift. Kidding. Kinda kidding. 

This post is about why I am sitting at my desk all day. Because my hiney muscles are so sore it hurts to move. I found this squat challenge for the month of May through another blog I read religiously. I figured, hey! I'm a volleyball former volleyball player, my legs are strong! Eh, the whole former thing is really making this challenge a difficult one. I'm hoping if I power through it, my legs will look half as good as Carrie Underwood's for the upcoming swimsuit season. If my legs look good it will distract people from the rest of my body which will hopefully transform into shape when I snap my fingers like I'm Mary Poppins. Today is a rest day, praise the gluteus maximus muscle.

I think we need the cargo bag..

It's FRIDAY!!!!!

And as soon as that bell rings at 3:25 I am headed to Oklahoma!! Most of the time I would not be excited about leaving the great state of Texas.... but I am headed to meet my favorite red-head, my only bro in law, and my mom for some camping!!!! :) I am so excited I packed Wednesday night... which took me all of 10 minutes. Because it consisted of sweats and snacks. That's it. That's all we need..........

Wronggggg!!! Mom calls me as she's loading her car and says, "I think we might need the cargo bag.." To go on top of the car. Because her Dodge Durango with the two back seats down... is not enough room.... for our camping stuff. This was always my responsibility growing up. I looked a lot like the people below, but it was reasonable when we were growing up. 4 people had to ride in the car, 4 people had camping gear. Now it's just me and my mom.... and we still need the cargo bag. 

But maybe I should clarify how we camp. It's more like "glamping" -- glamour camping. Pre-packaged meals? Heck no, we have steaks and asparagus. Smores? Absolutely, but that's typically after a peach cobbler has cooked in the dutch oven. We look more like this:

Just kidding. I promise we sleep in tents... although we do sleep on air mattresses, but that's fair. My almost 25 year old body just wouldn't be comfortable on the ground ground. So now we're on the ground, just raised about 6 inches! And I promise we have some typical camping food as well. I bought two whole big bags of sunflower seeds... and I hope they last me and the bro in law. You can never have enough beef jerky... I'll probably be finished with that on the drive to Oklahoma. 

I'm sure there will be a post after our camping weekend, but until then.. I'll leave you with this:

But then again, we're all Baylor Bears... so we obviously would friend any bear we would come across. 

Be Daring

I thought it was about time I changed my Dorothy quote in my bathroom. The Dorothy quote was the very first project I did with canvas and puffy paint. I wanted to see if it worked before I started creating things for others. I loved it because it was my first one and I still believe a pair of shoes can change your life, but it ended up being pretty boring compared to my other ones. 

And I wanted to attempt a new process of putting a quote on canvas. I  used stickers to make the letters and then painted over them. I have this quote that I have loved for a while. I think it sums up me in the teaching world... I'm a little bit different. So, seeing this quote every morning in my bathroom will be a good reminder to go for my ideas in my classroom! Who wants to be ordinary? Ordinary is boring. Ordinary is not the kind of teacher I want to be. 

I ran out of as, is, ts, and ns! That's the only reason for the purple letters!

     

I had the slightest idea to be done with the project once I painted back over it. You can see how the letters are raised off the canvas, but ultimately decided I wanted this quote to be bold. I wanted to make sure I could read it everyone morning and not just look past it. 

I love the little imperfections of these projects.