spray salad dressing

I'm not sure if it's working for me.......it's kind of strange. I thought I would give it a try. There are 10 sprays in a serving, 10 calories per serving and 1 gram of fat.......I need at least 42 sprays on a bowl of salad. Even with 42 sprays, I'm lacking a little flavor here.

I love summer. I love everything about it. I wish it were summer all year long here in Northern Indiana. I love fresh garden vegetables, sun tea, laying in the sun. I love washing my car. I love going to the zoo and the park and running through the sprinkler with my kids.

Speaking of washing my car.....I spent the day outside washing my car on Wednesday. After I finished and took my shower, I realized that my back was sizzled. It's as bright as a tomato. I'm finding it difficult to wear a bra.

I have to tell you about this man at the wallpaper place. It touched me so much I almost cried.

Well, first I need to share the news that I AM going back to school in the fall. As burned out as I've become with the day in and day out of teaching, I find myself needing one more year to keep my pension with the school. In the past, I have desperately wanted to quit teaching for one reason or another, and someone has always ended up doing something to lift my spirits and keep me in the game. A student will give me a little gift, or say something sweet, or a colleague will drop me a note or a card, just when I'm needing it the most. Anyway, I haven't been looking forward to going back in the fall. I love working at the scrapbook store. I love the friends I have made there. I love my schedule, my life, being home with the kids. It's been awesome. I've made great strides with Robby (who has autism) and Adam (who had pneumonia 8 times in 7 months the year before last). Dealing with these things are stressful enough, but having to deal with all of the stress of teaching and then being sick, myself, losing my grandpa, and Doug losing his job, I became incredibly depressed. It was such a relief to take this past year off and just focus on what means the most to me. Family and friends and myself.

ANYWAY....Alice thinks I'm crazy, but I am a firm believer that God gives us each gifts that we are to utilize throughout our lifetime. Alice doesn't know it, but I think her gift is to spread joy to people like me who are down about themselves and their lives. She totally made a difference to me in so many ways! God gave me a gift to connect with kids. I'm not bragging....it's just my gift. I'm an excellent teacher. Really, I rock. Kids feel comfortable in my classroom, around me, and they respect me, so I never have discipline problems, never have to yell, very rarely have problems with kids in general. Sure, there are ones that annoy the holy heck out of me and I'm really glad when they leave my classroom, but the funny thing is, it seems like these kids are the ones that come back five years later to visit me.....I like to think it's because I've made a difference. I get depressed because I don't always feel like I'm touching kids in a way that will affect them later on in their lives. I mean really, how many of you remember your Art Teacher from elementary school??
So, I'm getting off the subject at hand......The wallpaper guy......
I went in to the wallpaper store yesterday to buy some clearance wallpaper to put on my bulletin boards at school. I like it because it doesn't fade. I found some really cute blue wallpaper with red and white paislies on it. Not something ANYONE would put in their house, but definitely the kind of bright that kids love. I took it up to the counter and the guy made a comment about it being bright and fun. I told him what it was for and he looked at me.....with all seriousness......and said "Why??? Why do you teach??" I didn't even hesitate in my answer "I like the kids". He continued ringing me up....asked me some questions about where and what I teach....said he loved art....took it all through school and enjoyed every minute of it. Then he stopped and he looked at me again and he asked me AGAIN...."WHY do you teach?" Again, I said, "I like the kids". He said my total was $6,000. I said, "Hey, I don't have that kind of money, you forget that I'm a TEACHER!" He stopped ringing me up and he handed me the two rolls of wallpaper and he said "Here....because your a TEACHER who likes the kids."

I was sooo taken aback. I couldn't believe he gave me the wallpaper......I mean, each roll was only 5.99, but the kindess in his actions were priceless to me. It wasn't even so much the fact that he gave it to me as the lesson I learned from the entire experience. I TEACH BECAUSE I LIKE THE KIDS. Nothing else matters. I can't help but think that God was giving me a message. He forced me to look inside myself to find the simple answer to why I teach. It's not complicated. Thanks God.

MIA

For those of you who may read my blog and have been wondering where I've been......well, I was abducted by aliens. Seriously. It was an awesome adventure, but I'm glad to be home. I needed to shave my legs. Those scaley little aliens don't have any hair.

Anyone who thought that exersizing would help you lose weight......STOP. I can testify that it absolutely doesn't work. For three weeks I have been sweatin' on the treadmill and doing a pilates tape. After my workouts, I'm STARVING. I eat. I eat more than I did before......and thanks to my dear friend, Jeri, I am now addicted to almond m&m's. They are yummy.

If your wondering why I have been killing myself with these workouts.....here's why. I am going to ride a mechanical bull. Yes. You heard me right. I am. I'm not kidding. My friend, Donna, and I are going to do it. She tried before, but couldn't get up on it. hee hee! I bet that was funny to watch!

I also want to wear a swim suit this summer without looking like a curd of cottage cheese. What is up with that??? Why does that happen??? In my youth....ahem.....I had such smooth beautiful skin. Now that I am entering ancienthood (yes, I made that word up.....you can do that when your ancient) my thighs have these ripples that look a little like....well, the dunes. *sigh* Shut up......you know you have this problem too. It comes with age. If you would shave your legs....you would see it too.

Okay...well, I will see ya all in another three months. Just kidding....although, I don't know when I'll be back again. I'll try to be better. I know your all Jonesen (ha ha....get it???) for some Jones!

WHY??

Why can't I ever get anything done? Seriously. I don't know what I do all day....but is certainly isn't productive. (for some reason when I press enter on my blog, it doesn't take me to the next line...it just moves my screen up a tad and the curser disappears, so if this appears to be one run on paragraph.....it's really not my fault. .....It's bloggers) Anyway, I am going on a scrapbooking retreat down in ARCADIA, IN. for the weekend with some of my pals on the design team. It's going to be a rockin' blast. I can hardly wait. I packed up all of my scrapbooking supplies a couple days ago in hopes of getting things done around the house before I go. I didn't want any distractions, you know? So what did I do all day yesterday???? I can't tell you. I don't know. I did laundry.....but the rest is a blur. Valentines day came and went without too much excitement. I got a seriously funny card from Doug. On the front is a dog. He has his tongue out and it says "pant, pant, pant" "Is this bothering you?" When you open it up....it says "If it is, just say the word, and I can lose the pants!" That is soooo totally Doug. Our kitchen is probably the biggest room in the house but when he's in there with me....it suddenly becomes closed quarters. I don't understand this. Keisha and I have talked about this. Why do men do that? They think it's really sexy to rub against you for no apparant reason while your TRYING to cook or clean!!! Aggg! Men. Then when I say...."ahem....there is plenty of room in the kitchen....do you NEED to do THAT???" he either gets the "puppy dog look" or he says something corny, like "awe, come on baby, you know you want it".....ummmm.....no.....not really....but thanks anyway. You would think that after being turned down 10, 489 times in 12 years, he would get the hint and STOP doing it.....but nope. He continues to do the same thing...over and over again. I wonder if he thinks that ONE time....just ONCE I might actually strip down naked and we'll do it right there in the midst of a spahgetti dinner while the kids play silently in their rooms. Speaking of naked....my butt is getting large. I noticed it yesterday when my mom came over and took some pictures. I was goofing around and she got a shot of my butt. AGGG! I didn't need to see that. There's a reason it's BEHIND me. I do diet.....but it doesn't work. How can it when I eat donuts and potato chips on a regular basis DURING my diet. Doug (for obvious reasons) thinks that if I had sex every night, my butt would get smaller.....but I think I would rather eat potato chips and watch American Idol. Did you notice that some of the idols are chunky? Maybe "chunk" will be the in thing. I really hope so. I would hate to give up my eating habits and have to give Doug sex.

wow!

Yep. It's been awhile. I got a little irritated with my blog not too long ago. I wrote a long blog and I went through a lot of trouble to pick out pictures, resize them and then tried to load them. It took me a good hour to do all of this. Instead of loading my pictures, I was sent to a "this website is not responding" and when I pressed "back" everything was lost. I tried again with a shorter blog and resized my pictures so they were smaller....and yet again....this happened. I got mad and gave up for the day, thinking I would return, but everytime I thought about blogging again, I got a bad taste in my mouth. I figure with Valentines Day on the rise and my cropping retreat, I would prepare you all for some good adventures and blog again.

Butt kicker

Okay....December is kicking my butt. I don't know what the deal is....but it's almost half way over and I swear we just had Thanksgiving. I got reamed by Alice yesterday for not blogging since the second....but I swear....YESTERDAY WAS the SECOND! How has this happened?
I think the main reason is that this house has been infested with microscopic organisms bent on destroying my life. I'm serious. It's been nothing but puke and poop in this house! The thing that drives me batty is that the little hooligans get it and throw up twice and are running around the house like torpedos shot from a sub. I get it and I'm down for five days gasping for air, dehydrated, and shriveled like a raisin, POUNDING on deaths door to let me in, begging for a 15 minute nap! Damn that Reaper. I know he's laughing. Some people hear the trotting of hoof beats as the Reaper draws near......I hear him giggeling as he drives on past while my head is in the toilet for the umpteenth time.
So Christmas is almost here and I'm no further on my list of things to do than I was the last time I blogged. I obliterated a few simply because they won't get done....I'm not sure if that counts. Oh well. I did get up and address my envelopes for Christmas cards today. At least that's done. I was given the guilt trip yesterday because my dad's birthday was on the first of NOVEMBER and I still haven't given him his card. :( My mom's birthday was on the 26th and SHE still hasn't been given her gift. She's coming today to get it. (damn, Reaper....now I'm going to have to deal with her too! I'm blaming him for all of this!)
Well, my tummy is doing loop de loops again, so I better visit the toilet before it visits me! I'll just leave you on that pleasant note! :)

Aggg! Kids!

Okay, after I picked the kids up from the bus stop we went to Kohls. Let me tell you about the 9th level of hell. There is nothing worse than dragging three boys around a department store. I looked like a crazy woman yelling at them the whole time. The cashier gave me "this look" like I was nuts. AGG! Soooo......while we were there, they had 40% off of geotracks PLUS an extra 20% off of that. WOW! That was exciting! I had just paid $40 bucks for the set I got Ryan earlier at Target. Soooo.....I got him TWO $40 dollar sets AND the ROUNDHOUSE for $50! I was soooo excited. I figured I could take the one I got from Target back and then give him the THREE I got at Kohls. I told him that they weren't for him, of course....but I told him that if Santa brought him ALL THREE of those sets AND another set (that we got the day after Thanksgiving) if he would STILL want the set from Target. Of course none of the sets at Kohls were the same as the one from Target. What does he say? He says YES. He still wants the one from Target because it has an EASY drawbridge. Okay....I say....well, what if Santa brought you all THREE of these and a fourth one that HAS a drawbridge in it......would you still want the one from Target? (the one we got the day after Thanksgiving has a drawbridge) and he says....well, yes....he STILL wants the one from Target instead because THAT drawbridge is EASY. AGGGG! So? Do I take the three back and give him the one from Target or do I keep the three and explain to him when he opens the fourth one at Christmas that the drawbridge IS EASY?? The delimas! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I win the scrapbook contest I'm entering. I guess I better bust my butt to make an extraordinary project!!

Surprise!

Yes, I know.....I've been ignoring my blog! I'm just so busy with the holidays! I will try to be better. I thought I would post a layout I did the other day. It's for the front table at the store. Our theme is Christmas for obvious reasons. I love this layout. It's simple. I think it's time to revamp my style a bit. I was really into the shabby chic, but I think it's going out now. I think the bold geometric lines and shapes are in style now. Not only do I like the look, but it's easier to scrapbook. This is Robby. Can you believe it? What a cutie!