Wordless Wednesday- Knitters gone wild

Sunday Sunday Sunday

We had friends over for dinner last night. We love to have people over...so when our friends asked if they could invite K and C, of course we said yes. Then we decided to make it a real party and asked S, J and N over too. This was all decided friday afternoon and yesterday morning. After power cooking and cleaning, Mr and I decided that we should use our heartrate monitors while cleaning...it can be a real workout...LOL! We also decided that we must like to entertain because we have all of the equiptment to handle dinner for that many at a moments notice, cloth napkins and all.

Don't let the napkin thing fool you though. It wasn't a formal dinner. Our crowd is the "everyone in the kitchen, hanging out, laughing and drinking" kind of crowd. Yes we use cloth napkins and I made fig and blue cheese tenderloin, but there was tons of laughing and joking around.

In all, we had 11 for dinner and they hung out and played a great game (Apples to Apples- FUN!) Boo loves it when we have people over. He was really good when playing with N, who will be 2 next week. He even got him "my favorite cars: the red Lightning, the Mach 6 with the 6 on the bottom and the WRX" it was really sweet the way they played together.

All in all a great night.

Today is a lazy day. I do need to grocery shop and prep meals for the week. Do you do this? It's something I've been in the habit of doing since we moved here. On sundays, I plan meals for the week and make a list. It's cut down on eating out and now I'm working on cutting down our grocery bill too.
I spread out any new magazines I have to look at around me. I subscribe to Cooking Light and Rachel Ray (don't watch the show, but the mag has good recipes!) then decide what Boo might eat, what Mr can eat (he does low carb...I know, I know...) and what sounds good to me. Not always an easy task. Then I make my list. This week it includes:

Cream of Broccoli soup with biscuits
Pork Vindaloo with Jasmine rice
Turkey Tacos with yellow rice
Broiled Tilapia Parmesan with carrots and sweet potatoes
Homemade Chicken Fingers with broccoli
Fig and Blue Cheese tenderloin with carrots

Sorry for the boring post, but this is my day today...LOL!

Taking the plunge!

I'm signing up to take the GRE and ordering my transcripts to be sent today. I am actually applying for the grant! WOOOO School librarian here I come....

My principal told me today that she could "see me" in that role. I take that as a huge compliment. Our librarian here will be retiring in 2012 and I'd like to slip into that position. I'll still have to finish my Reading Specialist degree too as I need the endorsement. Next fall might be a might busy time!

Anyone have suggestions before taking the GRE? I'm taking the general one so I'll download the prep stuff. I'm not too worried, but the math is always scary to me.

Even Though I Don't Like Meme's, I am in the Mood...30 Things You (Probably) Already Know About Me...Or not.

1. I am the youngest girl of 8 children. I have 5 brothers and two sisters and 22 nieces and nephews.
2. My parents call me the "oldest of the second family" as they had 6 in 7 years and then a ten year gap (mc's) and then me.
3. My older brothers and sisters voted on my name...hence my name is Linda Michelle. If my mother had won, I'd be a "Shelley."
4. I am a knitter. I learned to knit when I came back from my maternity leave after Boo was born. I knit a lot while pumping.
5. I have freckles. My "name" littleangelkisses comes from my father. When I'd complain about my freckles, he'd tell me they were angel kisses.
6. Mr and I met via the internet.
7. I eat wierd things. I like fried chicken livers. I also adore tomato sandwiches on white bread with miracle whip. When I'm sick I eat SpagettiO's warm on white buttered bread.
8. I am a 6th and 7th grade reading teacher.
9. I teach in a very low SES school.
10. I have been at the same school for the entire time I've been teaching.
11. I've been at the same job for 12 years.
12. I am the only child in my family to graduate from college.
13. I have a Master's endorsement in ELL and am almost finished with my Masters in Reading.
14. I am applying for a grant to University of Iowa for Teacher Librarians.
15. Mr and I have been married 5 years.
16. I often invite people over to my house for dinner because I need to clean the house and can't get motiviated.
17. I am a good cook but hate to bake.
18. I used to be a restaurant manager at a 24 hour restaurant. ICK
19. We are going to be the March of Dimes Ambassador Family for 2009 in our area.
20. My favorite book is Gone with the Wind. It's the only book I've read many times. I found it in our basement after the nuns at school told us we couldn't order it from the Scholastic Book orders!
21. I didn't see the movie Gone with the Wind until I had graduated from High School.
22. I went to Catholic schools from Kindergarten through college.
23. My sister and I look so much alike that in my wedding pictures, my students asked me if we were twins. (not so fun as she's 12 years older than I am!)
24. I used to work in a jewelry store. I was good at that!
25. I don't have very many close close friends.
26. I have a propensity to pop any zit I see on myself or Mr. He hates this.
27. I was a virgin until I was 22.
28. I didn't even have a first kiss until I was 21!
29. I've lived in Iowa for 14 years.
30. My real first name is Linda.

BRRRR....Baby it's cold outside!

Windchill today is -15 or so. I finally got back this afternoon from my parent's house. There was a blizzard warning yesterday, so Boo and I stayed over. We were to have come home from Wisconsin yesterday but decided not to chance it.

It's nice to go to Mom's and be babied! My mom is a great cook, so there was no need to do that. I did make it out to their mall to get some shopping done, sas Boo. That was nice. We watched old Jodi Foster movies and played Five Crown. Sigh...it was good to be home.

Grandma and Grandpa adore Grant. You'd think with SO many grandchildren....but they love him and he loves them. They taught him how to play "Dot Dominos" (as opposed to Car's Dominos), they played Go Fish and taught him War. Grandma has more cookies than a bakery....he was in heaven!

Today it's back home and back to reality. Shopping, cleaning, wrapping...but that extra day was a nice break for me.

Show and Tell

This is our tree this year. I didn't like the way it looked, I don't know why. But the more I look at it, the lights illuminating the ribbon, the more I like it. I'm pretty proud of it!

Last night we had a "holiday party." Although not too many people came (I sent out invites too late) we had a great time. Food, friends, a few games of Five Crown....what can I say?

Our friends invited some of their friends to come (hey, the more the merrier I say!) Chris kept staring at the tree, telling me how beautiful it was....to which my husband said "yeah, I'm married to Martha Stewart, didn't Bob tell you?"

Guess I did okay huh?

Now, go post your own SHOW AND TELL! I want to see what ya got!

Snow removal for hire...anyone interested?

In order to keep from thinking about the email I had to send to our clinic postponing our cycle until further notice....

Anyone need help shoveling??

I love this kid!

I was going to fire up the snow blower when I got home. I didn't get it started, but Boo was having so much fun in the snow that I pulled out the snow shovel. He wanted one, so I handed him on. He actually shoveled about 1/8 of the driveway!!