Saturday Scribbles

I love lazy slow Saturday mornings. Do I have lots to do? Yes. Do I have a time frame? Yes. Am I in a hurry? Not at all.

Today starts my three week long house sitting gig at The Ranch. I will be living with two furry guys who like to cuddle and go on long walks. I am one lucky girl!

Yesterday, as everyone knows, was Valentine's Day and I enjoyed myself. I was showered by love from my students and can't wait to read all the cards that they gave me. I even got some from students that aren't in my class. The best part of the day was when the Voices from the high school came to deliver singing Valentine's to some of our students, they decided to do an impromptu song for Kris and I! I LOVED IT!! They did such a good job! I bought myself the album that has this song on it for my gift for Valentine's Day. Again, one lucky girl!

Yesterday was also my monthly RAOK day. This month it was a tad easier since it fell on Valentine's day and there are lots of ideas for such a holiday to do for people. More on this to come when I can get my pictures rounded up.

Ok, I have procrastinated enough. Maybe tonight  can get my RAOK post up and running.

Happy Saturday adventurous ones!

What is your favorite type of Saturday morning?

Valentine Baby

On Valentine's Day, Michael Scott was born in Delta, Colorado to R.D and Lucille Wilson. He was born with bright red hair and everyone who passed by exclaimed,

"Oh look at the little red head! And on Valentine's Day!"

My grandmother told this story every year. She is no longer here to share this story, but I have taken it upon myself to continue her tradition. I tell this story every year, to whoever will listen.

Happy birthday Scotti and I love you more than mashed potatoes.

The picture I got when  asked him to send me a picture
for my his contact picture in my cell phone.

With his great nephew, Cole Brance, who looks
a lot like my dad did when he was younger.
I can't wait to see him with my kids.

Father's Day 2013
Camp Wilson

With Santa on the Georgetown Train Christmas 2013
Most people take their children, we took our dad!

TTT~ Books That Make You Swoon

Brought to you by Bookish

Or a day late. Or six instead of ten. It is just that kind of week!
 I have been waiting for this topic since I discovered TTT.

Books that make me act like these girls and swoon when I read them...

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
The Cheney Duvall M.D Series by Lynn and Gilbert Morris

And since I want to round the list out to ten, I am going to add four movies that have the same effect.

Beauty and the Beast
Return to Me
While You Were Sleeping
Robin Hood (the one with Kevin in it, but the Disney fox has the same effect on me also.)

What books make you swoon? If you don't have a book, do you have a movie that makes you swoon?

*Heart Flutters* in the Midst of Freezing Temps

It has been miserably cold this week and we have been inside all week. Hopefully next week will be warmer and we can at least go outside for recess.

Here are a few things from this week that made my *heart flutter*

One of my friend's dear sweet daughter came and brought this to me this morning. I saw that she had been painting with her grandma recently, but had no idea that she was painting for me! My favorite little guy on a cute little canvas. I have it proudly displayed in my classroom!

One of our maintenance men at school always has a good attitude and he makes me smile. He is often whistling as he goes along. One time I was leaving school and he was working in one of the bathrooms and whistling away. The tune sounded familiar and it took me a moment, but I realized he was whistling AC/DC! How cool is that?! Anyway, today when I was leaving I ran into him and asked him how he was doing and his response was, "Better than some people."

I don't know why, but I love it when he responds this way. He knows that there are people who have it worse than whatever could have possibly gone wrong for him that day. I try to have this attitude. It can always be worse.

I got a sweet email from Kerith over at Brielle and Me. It amazes me how you can really connect with someone that you have never met or spoken to. Kerith lives in Georgia and I "met" her through a blogging group that I don't even know how I found anymore and I now truly consider her my friend. I hope to meet her and her family that I have read so much about some day. Also, she is about to release a book she wrote and I. CAN'T. WAIT. TO. READ. IT!

Here is a blip from one of the emails we exchanged this week:

"I hear ya. Sending hugs and wishing we could split a bottle of wine...or two...or...."

Wine, my kind of girl!

Friday Breakfast Burritos with my sassy teaching partner, Kris. Every week we reward ourselves for making it through another week with a breakfast burrito and a frappuccino  from the local gas station. This makes us super happy!

I promise we don't dress the same on purpose, it just happens...often.

And finally, today I finished renewing my teaching license and I swear they want your first born child. By the end I was a little frustrated and irritated at the whole process. So when my students came into the room from P.E/Music I told them that they better appreciate me since I had to go through so much to be their teacher (all in my fake angry voice.) I then went on to tell them what I was doing and why. One boy (who has been known to be a little wild and crazy) looked at me and asked,

"Is there anything we can do to help you?" It just came at the perfect time and reminded me why I was renewing my license in the first place.

How has your week been? What has gotten you through?

TTT~ Books That Make Me Cry

Brought to you by Bookish

Yea! A Tuesday that I want to participate in! It is a super cold and windy Tuesday but I am cuddled up on the couch under a blanket.

Do you like sad books or do you stay away from them? I tend to stay away from them, but have read a few that have stuck with me and made me reach for the tissue. Here are ten books that have made me cry:

I read this book to my students every year and every year I cry. A lot. I was even crying when my principal made a walk through. Every year my past students ask me if I am still reading it to my class and if I still cry. Always.

Pretty sure that I started crying in chapter two and didn't stop until the end. I would read a chapter cry like I had never cried before, go and calm down (cleaning or something) then go and pick the book up again and start all over again. I have never felt the way I felt with this book with any other book before. I felt as if the character's pain was my pain. I even wrote Karen Kingsbury a letter telling her how well she did her job!

Ok really, any book with a dog on the cover ends up being sad.

I can't remember if I fully cried on this one or not, but I know I sure wanted to. Every teacher should read this book and no child should ever have to endure this.

If you have seen the movie and cried, multiply it by three and you have the book!

This book started my love for Charles Martin. 

After my step-mom passed away, I decided to only read children's books  because they were safe. I was wrong. 

Again, if you saw the movie, book was the same. I didn't think I was going to cry since I knew the ending, nope, wrong again.

I knew nothing about this book other than it was the second one to The Notebook (which I didn't like.) I don't even know why I cried, I just did. I couldn't really relate to what happened to the characters. It is a mystery.

What book(s) makes you cry?

Sarah Vs. The Bear

A funny thing happened on the way to Alamosa from Denver one August morning. 
I hit a bear with my car. 

Yes, you read that sentence correctly. 65 mph collision with a bear in the middle of the road. Grab a drink, pull up a comfy seat, sit back and get ready for a story like you have never heard before.

My dear friend Amanda decided to buy a car while she was home for the summer in New York. She asked me if I would fly out and then drive back with her so she could have her car at college. Yes please! My first time to travel to the east and also to drive that far in a car. It was my chance to see parts of the country that I hadn't seen before.

I very much enjoyed my time in New York and was able to travel to Maine for the day to see the Atlantic Ocean and body surf. We packed as much in as we could before we had to head west.

Due to the fact that we were college students and not very smart, we were going to leave eastern New York Saturday night after Amanda's cousin's wedding and be in class on Monday morning in southern Colorado. That meant driving straight from point A to point B. As you can imagine, my parents weren't real excited about this plan. This was before everyone and anyone had a cell phone, so they sent theirs with me along with several tips and pointers for a safe trip. One of them (repeated) was to pay attention to mile markers. Didn't think too much about this at the time, but did as I was told.

We arrived in Denver at about two o'clock in the morning on Monday where I then got in my car and she followed me. I knew that this was going to be the hardest part of the trip since we had been driving for so long and we were no longer together in the same car. I found a bag of snacks and energy drinks in my car left by someone in my family so I partook in said snacks and drinks. This is where I place blame of the whole debacle. If I hadn't had that drink, I think we would have sailed right through.

I don't know if it actually kept me awake other than the fact that it made me have to go to the bathroom about every ten minutes. I think we stopped on the side of the road three times in the next two hours. 

We were driving along, me singing along to the radio at the top of my lungs at about four at this point, in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. All of a sudden 

I didn't even see him until I hit him. I didn't see his head, or his behind, just his side as I smashed into it. Everything in the car went flying forward and the air bags deployed. I some how had the state of mind to pull my car off to the side of the road and to a stop. The car was filled with smoke from the air bags, the horn was going off and the hood was smashed with smoke pouring out of it. 

This is where all logical thought left me. I got out of my car and walked back to meet Amanda. I no longer had my parents' phone (I left it at their house when I got my car) and I wanted Amanda's to call my dad. She still had her mind about her and didn't really want to get out of her car in case there was an angry hurt bear hanging around. I remember wanting to sit down and she wasn't moving fast enough so I was just going to sit down on the ground unaware that it was the middle of the road. I thought we were far enough to the side. Thankfully she caught me on my way down and put me in the car. 

By an act of God we had cell service and I was able to call my dad. I don't remember much of the phone call other than telling him that I hit a bear with my car and him asking me if I had killed it. At the time I thought this was the stupidest question ever asked. I replied with, "I don't know, want me to go back and look?" He quickly told me no! Everyone else, but me, was thinking about an angry bear wanting to take on whatever just disturbed his leisurely stroll. I figured he was experiencing fight or flight, he lost and now he was flighting away!

Dad calmed me down, gave me instructions to call 911 and get someone out there. This is where the advice of paying attention to mile markers would have been handy, but since I was in familiar territory, I hadn't been paying attention to them anymore. I knew that we were almost to the next town and the name of the highway we were on, which was a miracle in itself. The dispatch told me that they were having a hard time finding me, which was also silly to me. We were the only one's on the stretch of the highway for miles and one car was demolished. Didn't seem that hard to me.

So finally, the state patrol showed up along with the ambulance. They took me to the nearest hospital with the fear of internal damage in my abdomen. I had burns on my arms from the air bag and a spot on my stomach from either the steering wheel, seat belt or the air bags. Amanda followed us in her car and I never saw my car again.

I was looked over by the doctor in the ER and set free. Amanda drove us the rest of the way into Alamosa and the small victory was that we made it in time to go to class! I didn't go though. I thought I had a pretty good excuse for not making it and so did my prof. 

My dad, step-mom and sister left our house in Hotchkiss shortly after they hung up with me, drove the four hours to Salida to clean out my car, then another two to Alamosa to see me and make sure I was ok, then four hours back to Denver. 

Once everyone knew that I was ok, that's when the teasing began and hasn't stopped since! My cousin informed me that I am the only one in the world that has ever hit a bear with my car. He isn't correct on this but he just says that I am the only one he knows. It has been several years since this has happened but still a fun story to laugh about with friends and family.

What is the strangest animal you have had a run in with?

This has been a Finish the Sentence Friday post. The sentence is "A funny thing happened on the way to..." brought to you by Finding Ninee.

Because of Winn-Dixie I Got a *Heart Flutter*

This week (and it is only Wednesday) and I haven't gotten along very well. If you are wondering how the week is truly going, ask one of my students. I am sure they will tell all.

I have been trying really hard to figure out what is going a miss and what I need to do to fix it. Pretty much I got nothin. I don't know if it is the really nice weather where I have the doors and windows wide open and then the next day my nose hairs freeze when I step outside. I don't know if it is just the traditional January sludge that happens every year. It's something.

While trying to figure out what is going on, I have tried (even if not very hard) to find some positives in each day. Today I made myself write a list of things that made me smile. I figured I would share the top moment of the day with you all.

Kate Dicamillo happens to be one of the most incredible authors of all time. In fact, this week she was honored with the highest honor in children's literature with the 2014 Newbery Award for her newest book Flora and Ulysses, this being her second win. Because of Winn-Dixie won the Newbery Honor a few years ago, so as you can see, her work is award winning.

Earlier in the year I read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane to my class and they adored the story and one boy was upset for days that it was over. Today I fnished reading Winn-Dixie with a novel study group and I got the same results.

Once the last word was read one boy said, "I love this book. I just love this book. It is just so amazing. It is in my top ten most favorite books." The look on his face as he was professing his love of the book was priceless and what I hope to see on every students face. I asked him why he loved it so much and he had a few points, but mostly, "I just loved it!"

Of all the moments today where I wasn't prepared, the words wouldn't come out and I lost my patience, I did one thing right. I put a book into a child's hands and watched it change his world ever so slightly, just like India Opal's life changed because of Winn-Dixie.

Have you read any Kate Dicamillo books? I can't wait to get my hands on Flora and Ulysses.

P.S Kate did not ask me to write this, but if she did, that would be cool. That would mean that we were friends. All the opinions in this post are mine and if you know me at all, you know blurt out my opinions to anyone who might listen! ;0)