Being Blessed

Happy weekend! I'm a little behind updating but for the sake of documenting everything I'm going to back up to include some events.

Back at the beginning of the school year we found out about a mentoring program the district was organizing to give some students the opportunity to build strong and positive relationships and in turn have some extra motivation when it comes to their test scores. I signed up for two sweet girls and have had fun getting to know them. A few Saturdays ago we took a pizza out to Caddo Lake and played on the playground and took a hike on the nature trail. It was such a beautiful day!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of chaperoning a group from church to pre-teen camp. It had been forever since I had been to camp! The worship was great and we met some great friends in our cabin. Olivia was the only girl and had a great time stepping out on her own and meeting new friends. She even played in the mud.
My sister came to town this weekend and we've just relaxed and eaten good. This afternoon we're going to do some shopping and go out to eat with some family. Good times!

A Goodyear Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

I can say I actually like all holidays. Even Valentines Day as a totally single girl. It's always fun to have a little something different and fun going on. I really consider last Friday my Valentines celebration because I spent the afternoon partying with 21 little dears and that night I cuddled on the couch with three of my favorite kids and watched a silly Nickelodeon movie. My Valentine weekend continued Saturday with a hike at the lake with some sweet girls I'm mentoring from school and a steak dinner with my parents and movie with Mom. Just Go With It is the sweetest movie!Today has just been so crazy I can only laugh at it now. I have a training this week so I got to sleep in (a bright side of the day) and leisurely make my way down to the class. On my way back from lunch I pulled into the parking lot only to get up to a little spot in the drive way where it curves into the parking lot and the curb sticks out a little. Right at that time a vehicle is coming from the other direction a little too far on my side and I in turn wacked the curb sticking out and immediately felt my tire deflate. Great. Dad saved the day by coming to change the flat and putting my spare on.

Needless to say as soon as the class was over I headed down to Wal-Mart to get a brand new tire for my flat one and one to match on the other side. Yay! While they put my tires on I browsed the store and even picked out a pair of sandals as a treat for myself. Luckily most people aren't buying tires on Valentines evening so it didn't take long. I came home and enjoyed a cupcake from my sweet roommate, read a new magazine and caught up on some blogs and basically just enjoyed some quiet. I even drove my Valentines tires down to Sonic for a Valentines dinner. It was pretty empty. My guess is that most people were going for something a little more classy.

I could have a bad attitude, and I've had my moments I'm not going to lie, but I've come to realize that I'm pretty sure my car running into that curb was the Lords way of bringing me to him today. As I walked around Wal-Mart alone, drove home to my empty house and sat in the still and quiet I couldn't help but thank Him for his provision and grace. Thank you Lord for being my only Valentine!

Beauty Secrets

I'm a little late but still wanted to link up this week.

I love this topic! It's so much fun to see the little things that everyone uses to get fixed up!

I use bare minerals powder and love the coverage I get with just a few brush strokes. Other foundations I have tried, which have been a lot, took forever to cover and then still looked blotchy. I also use the warmth and I love their eye shadow and brushes. I have tried the eye liner and mascara and both seemed to smudge pretty easily and were a little greasy.

As far as eye make up goes, I am a Maybeline girl. I don't get the same mascara every time and like to try new ones because I know all of theirs are good. The Colossal Volum' Express is what I'm using now and it's great. I used the Unstoppable eye liner as well.

I think one of the keys to beauty is creating a clean polished look. These camis from Old Navy are amazing for that! I wear one with every. single. thing. The built in bra helps you feel secure up top and they're long enough to cover that gap you can get with low rise jeans. If you are looking for a reliable cami and haven't tried this one you should.
Go see more beauty secrets, products and tips over at Kelly's Korner.

Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting,
But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.
Proverbs 31:30

Homework

Happy new week!

Ok I'm going to cut to the chase because I'm barely awake. I'm having my class Valentine party on Friday because next week I will be out for training on Monday which is Valentine's Day if you aren't keeping track. Can you believe next week will be the middle of February!? Unreal!!

Here's where you come in. My plan is to have cupcakes, whatever treats kids bring to share, exchange cards and do some kind of craft. On top of planning this party last minute I also have two other big projects I'm working on this week. If you come across any cute and simple Valentine craft in your blog hopping or magazine reading this week or see anything else that can help this currently creatively challenged girl out leave me the link please. I know some of you stay at home mommies have nothing better to do this week than to plan my party. I kid!

Lazy Saturday

It's been such a laid back day! I spent the night with Mom and Dad and slept so good. I can't remember the last time I slept through the night without having to go to the bathroom or cough or just wake up. I couldn't believe when I woke up and it was light outside and I felt like I had just fallen asleep.

Dad cooked us breakfast and Mom and I cleaned up and changed sheets because my sister and her boyfriend were coming home from LA Tech. We've watched a lot of tv, visited with my grandparents and watched some old family videos. I've barely left my chair all day while we've all just laid around.

We did go out for a few minutes to play in what was left of the snow.

We even made a snowman!

Last night Dad was measuring around the tv stand saying he was going to make a new one. I didn't think much of it but as of this afternoon, after just a few hours of work, there is a new tv stand.

On the agenda for the rest of the night is some Phase 10 and maybe a movie. My day has been so exhausting that I don't know if I'll be able to stay awake for much.

The Most Costly Investment

It's the end of snow day number two of the school year. Fridays are pretty quick and painless so my team and I were hoping we would be able to power through and not miss another day we would need to make up later. No such luck but considering the roads were in pretty bad shape this morning it's a good thing. I know when I got up to find out the final call I was glad to stay in bed and not be getting ready and out of the house. Not to mention that every holiday or day off Kathie Lee and Hoda unintentionally try to convince me to quit my job so I can spend every morning with them. If they only knew.

When I finally made it out of bed I decided to make my day productive. I hadn't done any laundry in I'm not even going to say how many weeks days and my closet door had reached the point of not closing because of the junk, so I got busy. I ended up with a trash bag full of shoes and things to take to Goodwill and another bag or two that size of trash. I arranged everything to fit and it is much better. Little projects like that make me not dread the fact that I'll probably be moving this summer. Usually when I move I'm doing the cleaning out as I'm packing which doubles the work and stress.

After lunch I wanted to head out to my parents house but wasn't sure of how the roads would be out their way so I waited until Dad got off of work and followed him out. Mom and I have both been nursing sinus infections this week so we took our dose of antibiotic and nose spray and have been watching tv with the vaporizer. We're currently watching Alaska Gold Rush with Dad. I've been out here for a few Friday nights lately and we've been following these guys who basically risked every dollar they have and moved to Alaska with old, rusty, second hand equipment to hit the big time. You can probably see where this is going if you've ever watched a reality show. Some of them don't get along, everything breaks and goes wrong and of course they are far from millionaires. Apparently my grandpa has been watching too and Dad said that this might be Paw's last episode. He told Dad this week in his most serious and determined tone (and my version omits some choice words) that if they don't find some gold this week, he's done! It seems as if there is someone as invested as the miners in the hunt for gold. That is of course if you really can invest in a gold mine from your recliner in Waskom, TX with your tv volume set on 60. I think we can all safely say that emotional investment is much more costly than any money you can pour into a shaker pan and sifter.

New Home

Hello! I've wanted to change things up for a while and finally got to it this week. My main goal was to grow my blog up a little. I spend all of my time with my class or sweet friend's kids, everyone of who I love dearly, but blogging and reading blogs is something I do for me so I wanted to branch out a little and start over in a different place. Make sense? Hope so!

So, since this is the story of my life for now, I want to be able to look back in months or years and see how things have changed so I wanted to record for the sake of documentation some goals I have for myself.

*Continue to grow in and serve the Lord. A children's minsistry position has been open in our church for months and a mother of five is currently filling in. I know the fear that I am too busy isn't from the Lord but again I don't feel a clear call to pursue it either.

*Grow in my job. Some days I feel like I've been so lazy. I want to give my all to them.

*Be open to new friendships and better about keeping in touch with old ones. Life will be changing when Chelsea gets married and I want to be open to what the Lord has in store.

*Make smart choices about finances as I will likely be purchasing a car and possibly even a house in the upcoming months or years.

Leave a comment and let me know you're reading and update your links. The link will stay on the old page and I'll post that link on the sidebar if you ever feel the need to go back to the old days.