A Quiet Day in Room 207

My class is remarkably quiet today as the students finish up their final test for To Kill a Mockingbird. I cannot tell you enough how much I love this book, even more this year than I did last and I hope that each year I teach it my love for it grows. To me, it's like one of those movies where each time you watch it you find something you didn't see before. I'm still learning from it despite the fact that I have read it 5 times now (more than that if you include the fact that I re-read it 5 times a day with each of my classes!). The way Harper Lee weaves together this book is absolutely incredible and powerful. I think I could make a whole class just out of this novel.

Tomorrow we start the in-class essay and I'm pumped. Call me an English teacher, but nothing gets my blood flowin' like writing essays and discussing themes! (Sidenote here: the students are not showing as much enthusiasm as me? I cannot understand this.) Maybe we should rename Herndonland to Nerdville. Sorry.

A productive Saturday and a goodbye to a crazy month.

Finally, March is almost over!! This has maybe been the busiest month in a while. Between program planning meetings (where each 9th grade teacher meets with about 30 students and their parents individually throughout the month to discuss registration for next year and future goals), cheerleading tryouts every night for a week straight, a Saturday in-service day to make up for a missed snow day, and welcoming a new nephew, March has been crazy, fun, AND EXHAUSTING.

I took a personal day last Monday to catch up on everything I've let fall by the wayside in the meantime. You know...laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, SLEEP. For the first time on a personal day, I did not even think about school. I left my precious students in the capable hands of a substitute with a long and good reading assignment and did not even think twice. I was THAT behind.

Now that all these little loose ends are being tied up, I finally feel like things are getting back to normal. I can finally get back to a normal routine of coming home from school on time, exercising, fixing dinner, and spending some good time with Patrick. I'm heading into the final stretch of school with one last book to teach, a research paper, and preparing for the final exam. Whew! I can't believe it's getting here so quickly! I love this time of year. After feeling like I've run around like a chicken with my head cut off and barely holding everything together for the last couple months, I'm reengergized, motivated, and looking forward to finishing the school year strong.

That being said, today was a great Spring Saturday. I thought it would be a lazy one, but I surprised myself with an incredible amount of productivity! I love when that happens. Here is an impressive list of all the things I did (And I did not rush through any of them! I moved with a great sense of peace from one activity to the next and fully enjoyed the day):

• slept in until 9:00
• made a batch of oatmeal, cinnamon-topped muffins and a pot of good strong coffee
• leisurely caught up on some missed tv
• ran 2.25 miles at the gym
• prepped all the veggies in our fridge for easy salads and cooking this week (I was inspired by watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last night on ABC. Fascinating and wonderful.)
• got up the leaves in the front yard (which should have been done this past fall)
• made progress on the leaves in the backyard
• planted some thyme and cilantro and vowed not to kill my potted herbs this time
• had family dinner at my granny's and caught up with cousins not seen in a very long time
• caught up on most of my grading
• updated our blog!!

What a great day! I'm looking forward to a good week ahead (and to Spring Break the next!)

Holy Week is upon us. I'm glad I've gotten my distractions out of the way and gotten back into a routine so that my focus this week can be on Christ as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. May you have a blessed week as well!

Sayge meets Auntie Emily and Uncle Patrick

We look good with a baby, huh?? I thought so, too. :)

I get to be this cute baby's aunt!

How sweet is that?

I wanted to wait until I had a picture to share, but...

Welcome

Sayge McCoy Herndon,

my newest nephew,

into the world!!

8 lb. 4 oz.

19 inches

"He's the shortest and fattest of my babies so far." - my sister-in-law.

"He's a Herndon!" - me.

(This was only said with love and endearment. The Herndons are not fat, but they certainly are not tall.)

He is PRECIOUS.

I can't wait to hold him!!

Do you know about this?

I just discovered via this lovely little blog that I read, a website called SuperCook!

You enter in the ingredients that you have, and it searches the web to come up with recipes that have only those ingredients! I just did a quick glance over our pantry and fridge, entered in a bunch of stuff and it came up with over 2000 recipes!! You can store the ingredients list so that you only have to enter staples like flour, sugar, soy sauce, etc. one time. You can also enter exceptions (things you don't want the recipes to contain). How cool!! This would work great for weeks like this one where I have promised not to go to the grocery store and to use up some stuff that we already have. Check it out!

Some Updates

Cousin Beth caught me again on a blogging hiatus. I seriously need to get my act together. I know. Beth, thank you for being my accountability partner in this endeavor, and sincere apologies in advance to our unborn children, who will have significant gaps in the lives of their parents' pre-child days thanks to my slacking off. Here are some things that have been going on around here in Herndon Land:

1. Spring is coming! This can be witnessed by the fact that our crocuses (spelling?) have already bloomed and the tulips are pushing through the ground. Also, the last bit of snow has melted, finally, and we can actually walk on our front lawn for the first time in months! Seriously, you would think we lived in Antarctica around here.

2. Patrick has been doing a great job keeping our table supplied with fresh flowers. We are anti-Valentine's Day around these parts, but he is good about showering me with flowers a lot of other times during the year. They make me so happy! Below is a picture of the ones I received this weekend.

3. You can see my new blinds that I installed ALL BY MYSELF in the background of this picture. Aren't they trendy!! I love them, and am very proud of myself for using the drill without the assistance of my husband. This was one of my many snowday activities.

4. I also installed new cabinet and drawer pulls in our kitchen on said snowdays. What do you think? (Notice I strategically cropped out the mess on the countertops.

5. I confess that I took 2 weeks off of running. I hadn't been sleeping well and school has been intense. For the first time in months, though, I'm all caught up on schoolwork! Finally. I went running yesterday to get back into the groove and did 2.5 miles. I need to start increasing again so I'm ready for my 4.4 on April 24!

6. My brother came in to visit for my mom's birthday on March 7. We had a great time hanging out and having family dinner. I wish he was around more often. I think my mom and I will be going for a visit over Spring Break.

7. I'm still working on Possession by A.S. Byatt from my booklist. I have also began reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, which, for the record, is not on my list (this will probably put me behind). It is really thought-provoking to read about the food industry in America and how we've deviated so far from our roots of natural, whole-foods, local eating. It makes me want to plant a garden and live off the land like she did with her family! Unfortunately, my thumb is every color shade EXCEPT green, so we have had to look for alternatives. We will be eating a lot from my uncle's garden, who grows more vegetables than he knows what to do with (he tried to help me with my garden the last few years...it was a lost cause) and we have joined a local co-op that has partnered with the Homestead Creamery (we get our milk delivered from a local farm weekly) and will be getting boxes of fresh vegetables and herbs delivered to us weekly from May through October. I also plan to shop more at the farmer's market in town and continue my preserving/canning/freezing efforts that I started last summer. This makes me sounds all crunchy-granola, I know, but food really does taste better this way. ....Wow, this was a long bullet! Sorry for rabbit trail (no pun intended).

8. I stopped my Read Through the Bible in 90 Days, which was my Lent committment. I have this OCD thing I do that when I get off schedule with something and can't do it perfectly, I quit completely. This is part of my sin nature, I realize, and have inspired to pick it back up. I've been going to a class on Sunday nights at our church about seeing Jesus in the Old Testament. God is awesome, and through this class has answered so many questions about what I was reading. It has also encouraged me to start the schedule again. Even if I don't finish "in 90 days" I know this time with the Lord is good for me. And He has told me through this class that this is the scripture He wants me in right now. Funny how He works things together so well.

and 9. Our final update is the impending arrival of our NEW NEPHEW on Wednesday of this week!! My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are expecting their 3rd child! My beautiful and strong sister-in-law has scheduled the C-section for Wednesday; she has had to have C-sections with the other two so she made the decision that it is probably best to go that route again. She is such a wonderful mama of two precious children already. We all cannot wait to hold Baby Herndon in our arms! By the way, they are not telling the name yet. But Patrick and I actually know what it is -hehehe :) They needed someone to run it by, and of course we were willing volunteers! I love secrets. I will post on Wednesday with pictures!!

Um,

I'm not doing a great job with my Lent commitment. I just felt like I should tell someone.

I think I'm going to fast from Facebook and from my Google Reader for the rest of this week so I can get my game face back on.

Pray for me and for some precious time with the Lord.

A New Hobby

I finished the scarf last night. Picture to come, I promise. This marks the celebration of my first knitted piece being complete! I have used this as an experiment to teach myself the basics. I sort of feel like an old lady, but you know, who cares?

On a related note, knitting is somewhat sweeping over the high school where I teach. A bunch of girls formed a new club, "The Knitwits," headed up by a guidance counselor and a couple of crafty teachers. They meet every couple of weeks, and sit around to knit and chat! How cool is that? And no, it's not just for the, um, dorks (I know what you're thinking...); this group is full of girls from all social circles at the school! The coolest thing is that they are working on a project to send knitted blankets to military hospitals. The girls knit squares of fabric and send them off to be sewn together into blankets. This article was in the town newspaper last week and gives better details if anyone is interested in participating. Pretty cool!

Happy Links and Thoughts

1. Lent starts today. I love this post which does a great job of explaining Lent. I'm Baptist, so this is not something we typically celebrate, but I learned long ago that setting aside time to focus on the upcoming Holy Week is good for me and my relationship with the Lord. I am often bad at spiritual disciplines and like having a time set aside to give to the Lord in order to grow.

2. So, for Lent, I'm taking on this. Actually, I've already started (and I'm already behind) but I want to commit to really sticking to this reading plan.

3. I really want to make this and this. I have the perfect spot to hang the family rules thing (in our dining area) but feel like I should hold off until...you know... I have a family. Keeping it in the back of my mind though.

4. I made this bread on one of my many snow days off last week. It is AWESOME! And good for sandwiches too, which I was having a a problem finding in terms of bread recipes. This recipe makes 2 loaves. I froze one and ate the other one. Like, by myself. It was that good.

5. I'm still doing this and up to Week 7, 2.5 miles!! Yes, I realize I have been doing this for longer than 7 weeks. A girl can take her time, you know. I've already started looking at training charts for 10k training. This may or may not take place.

6. I have been knitting a version of this scarf FOREVER. I'm about to call it quits and just wear the thing forgoodnessake. It's almost Springtime, so if I don't do it soon I may lose the opportunity! Even though it says "April Showers" the yarn I used definitely makes it a winter scarf. Although, we still have a hefty amount of snow on the ground so I think I'm good to go for at least a couple weeks.

7. Patrick let me buy this picture and this one for our house. We were looking for a couple prints for him for his new office so I was doing some browsing anyway. I think I caught him in a moment of weakness when he was too tired to tell me that I couldn't spend any money. I like them so much and think that they will make me happy to look at them.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Happy to Share

Patrick and I were supposed to have a date night on Wednesday night (and by date night I mean a "we are trying to save to go to Australia so we'll cook at home just make something a little fancier and eat at the table...oh and maybe go to Starbucks afterward" sorta date night) since he was leaving me on Thursday to go to Indiana.

I made lasagna because that's his favorite.

Five minutes before we are supposed to eat, Patrick answers his cell phone. I hear him laughing and talking really excitedly to someone on the other end. "You didn't have to do that! Oh my gosh!" I kept hearing him say. Apparently he had lost his credit card at work that day (and didn't tell me). His wonderful co-worker and friend, Mike, had gone out to the dumpster and gone through all the trash to try to find it. What a man! Patrick couldn't believe that someone would care enough to do that. He himself certainly didn't do any dumpster diving looking for the thing!

So Patrick invited Mike to dinner. Mike doesn't live here. He's actually a consultant for Patrick's company and many other companies. He comes and goes. He travels a lot. His home is in Florida, but he hasn't been there in months. Have you seen Up in the Air?? That kind of traveling. So Mike was thrilled to have a real homemade dinner with real people at a real table. He immediately accepted the invitation. Patrick got off the phone and was afraid I would be mad that he had invited an impromptu guest for our supposed date night. I was thrilled!! I shoved the lasagna back into the oven and set it on "keep warm" until he could get here, dumped some bagged salad into a nice pretty bowl, and put out another place setting. We also happened to have cupcakes because I was making them for the cheerleading squad and had extras!

God calls us to practice hospitality, and I love opportunities to open our home. They don't come often enough. And it was wonderful to sit around the table and chat. Patrick and I made it to Starbucks later and did have some "date" time. But we wouldn't have traded dinner with Mike for the world.

(Incidentally, Mike is a runner and is the one heading up this "marathon" we are supposed to all be partcipating in in April. He is running the 12 mile up-hill portion while the rest of us get 4 mile stretches on the flat ground. I did threaten his life and tell him that if he breaks a leg dumpster diving for my husband we are all in trouble. Don't do that ever again!)

Snow Day To Do List:

• Drink hot coffee in pjs
• Make broccoli soup
• Hang new blinds (attempt to use the drill without my husband's supervision!)
• Grade a few papers
• Read new book
• Take a nap

I have heard a lot of complaints about the weather this winter. I, for one, love it! I'm a winter baby at heart. I thrive on snow days and see them as little gifts of rest and peacefulness. I NEED them about this time of year to recharge. Yes, we will have to make up school on the teacher work-day in March, which pushes the work-day to a Saturday. But the good news is that I was already planning to work that Saturday (cheerleading tryouts are the same day). So really, this snow day IS a gift! I plan to enjoy it for all it's worth.

Thankful for the moment.

For a content, peaceful, quiet, and cozy house. At the moment, snow is falling quietly outside. Patrick is asleep and snoring quietly on the couch with the cat curled up at his feet. I'm snuggled into our oversized chair with my second cup of tea for the evening and finishing up my latest read, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. The dishwasher is purring in the background, cleaning up from the pizza dinner we had delivered earlier and ate in our PJs.

I love cozy Friday nights.

Some random things:

1. I went with Cinderella Man. Good choice. My students need to see a strong father figure like Jimmy Braddock and the images of the Great Depression are spot-on what I wanted them to see. So many connections that we can make to To Kill a Mockingbird!

2. I have not eaten carbs in 2 days.

3. It's supposed to snow this weekend and, while everyone else seems to be sick of the snow, I am thoroughly delighted. I guess I'm a winter baby. Bring on the coziness.

4. I'm actually looking forward to running today since I have not gone in 3 days. Also, I had one of my cheerleaders volunteer to run with me and train me. I do not know whether I should be embarrassed by this or flattered.

5. I survived 1st semester of teaching 9th grade for the 2nd time. Officially today.

It's a movie week.

The end of January.

Everyone seems tired. I'm tired. My students are tired. I've worked their little minds to the bones 1st semester and this week marks the transition to 2nd semester.

So, I'm giving them a break. End of semester projects are due today. Plenty of students do not have theirs. Typical of my 9th graders. I'm showing a movie today to finish up class, since presentations are only taking half the class. We're finishing up Stranger Than Fiction, a Will Ferrell movie where the main character, Harold Crick, hears a voice narrating his life and discovers that he's the main character in a tragedy and will soon die. Words like "dramatic irony," "third person narrator," and the like are thrown around. Plus, we recently read Romeo and Juliet and discussed the nature of a tragedy.

Thursday and Friday I would like to show a movie set during the Great Depression, because our next novel is To Kill a Mockingbird. Last year I showed Seabiscuit. I'm think of either showing that one again or maybe Cinderella Man. What do you think?

I think we just need a quiet week and a reward for working so hard first semester. Sometimes we could all just benefit from slowing down. Even at school.