Just Call Me Spacy

Went to Target today to return a couple of things I bought to much of for my tree... Guess what I forgot to take to Target... The returnees. Goodness... If my head was not attached I would probably lose it.

My First Christmas Tree

Well... not really my first Christmas Tree... but my first Christmas Tree that is mine. I got it from the Hutton Settlement Christmas Tree Lot. It is really pretty... I probably should have gotten a cheaper one but it is pretty. I will post pictures when I find the cord to connect my camera to my computer. I think I got a Douglas Fir... it has flat needles and smells great. I didn't have any of my stuff to put on it as it is all at my parents house in Montana so I took a trip to Target to get some things. See story about that later in the post. I bought lights, garland, raffia, silver icicle ornaments, and turquoise balls. I think it's pretty. It would be better if it had more ornaments but that is okay. At least I had the Angel that my parents gave me a few Christmas' ago to sit on the top of the tree. I'm happy with it :)

So... my trip to Target was actually 2 trips to Target. We had snow again last night so I had to clean off my car. I decided I would just go start it and leave my purse in the house. Bad idea. I ended up cleaning off my car and just getting in a driving off. Didn't realize that I forgot my purse until I got to Target. This is about a 10-15 minute drive. So I went home and got my purse and went back. Ugh!

Traci, Snow and a 12 Passenger Van

So... I'm not the most confident driver... especially in snow. We had the first snow of the season on Tuesday. I had the duty of driving some kids to school that morning. Let just say that my trip took about an hour and a half when it normally would take about thirty minutes. I did fine dropping the high school boys off (slid at one corner) but then I had to go up a hill. The car in front of me got stuck so I in turn got stuck. The little white car that was in the way of the huge van finally got going with some help from a pusher. My 2 girls got out of the van to push and the guy that helped the white car helped too. I finally got going, thank God, and the girls jumped in. They then told me that we got going because a guy in a jeep pushed us along. WITH HIS JEEP! I was shocked and so glad I didn't roll back and crush him. What a day. I was exhausted by the time I finally got home... and I didn't even take time to get my stress relieving White Chocolate Peppermint Latte.

Post Thanksgiving Shopping

I wasn't going to do it... But I did. I only went to 2 stores and knew exactly what I was going for. I was in and out of Fred Meyer for a wicker basket/trunk for the end of my bed in no time. I found the rug I was going to purchase for my room quickly at Shopko... but stood in like for at least 20 minutes to buy it. Was it worth it? I don't know... it wasn't a bad experience. It's not like I got up at 3 am to go shopping... I went at 10 and got what I wanted. I think people are nuts to get up at 3 am to go shopping. Really... is it worth it? Now that I bought things for myself I guess it's time to buy Christmas gifts. I did get my annual purchase of Starbucks Christmas coffee made today. Yum! I'm excited to brew some tomorrow. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Mistake

A few months ago I turned down an opportunity to be a primary houseparent for Cottage 1. I turned it down because I was nervous about working with the other houseparent, I thought it would be to hard. Plus I didn't want to give up my good schedule having Friday and Saturday off. I am now thinking I have made a huge mistake. I have no joy working with Cottage 2. They have always been the harder girls for me to connect with. It's really hard to love when you don't recieve love back. I'm not saying this is true for all of those girls but there are 1 or 2 each week that make it apparent to me that they don't like me. It dosen't help that my co-worker is young and fun. I'm not saying she is not good at our job but it does make it harder for me because we don't have the same personality. Thats my rant for today. Pray for me!

Waiting Up

I'm sitting here waiting for my high school girls to get home. It's almost 10pm and they are on their way home from a youth group thing. I think this is one of my least favorite parts of my job. If this was a normal family situation I would just go to bed because they would have a key to get in the house... but this is not so. When night comes around I am soooo tired! I'm always ready to go to bed... and then I have to read for so long to wind down too. Luckily... I get to sleep in because my working partner said I could. Yea! On another note... I made a mock Thanksgiving meal for dinner... It turned out really good and I think I could probably pull off the real thing if I had the opportunity. That will be a fun thing to do sometime in life. I have learned that I really love to cook... especially for people that eat what I cook and love it. One Cottage has really picky girls and the other girls will pretty much eat anything. I really love cooking for Cottage 1 :) This post is really long and winded and I don't think anyone even reads this anymore... but that is okay! If you are reading... thanks!

Thursday

As much as I love the stress of my job... I gotta say I love that tomorrow is Thursday... that mean that I get to get some rest... But seriously... I do love my girls... Even if they don't love me all the time :)

Parent Teacher Conferences

It's parent teacher conference day for my elementary girls. I think that they will be good conferences and I always enjoy seeing their classrooms and talking to their teachers. I enjoy confereces much more as a parent than I did as a teacher. However... every time I go to a conferece and step foot in the schools I wonder what I am doing. Did I make a mistake taking 2 years now off from teaching? What should I be doing for the next school year. I would probably be content staying and working at Hutton... but is that the right thing to do? I just don't know. Please pray for me as I seek out God's plan for my life. My job is a great one and it will be hard to leave... but only God knows where I should be and what I should do.

Dan In Real Life

I just got back from a really good movie... Dan in Real Life. I was not so sure about it in the begining of the movie but as it moved along I grew to really enjoy it. It was laugh out loud funny... plus a good romance story... and a feel good family story... and my friend said it was a good cry too (I didn't cry... but... I usually don't at movies). Good music too. Go see it if you want or rent it... It's really good :)