Today it may not look much like Spring,
(with snow falling outside)
but...

In a few days we will be doing this.....

and this......

Spring Break is finally here!


"A vacation is having nothing to do
and all day to do it in."
-Robert Orben

YEAH!

♥
JoAnn

Itchy feet......

As you all know,

I have a bad case of itchy feet.
(Translated: Spring fever, restlessness, travel-bug-itis)

And
since we just celebrated St. Patrick's Day.....

I took a little trip down memory lane tonight.
(Translated: I pulled out some very old travel slides and relived some memories.)

Since I only spent a few days in this beautiful country, I would love to return and
discover all the charm of the Irish landscape and its people all over again.

I don't think I have ever seen so many different shades of green as I saw there.

The beauty of lakes and hillsides......

The rugged coastline.....

Sigh!

"O Ireland isn't it grand you look-
Like a bride in her rich adornin?
And with all the pent up love of my heart
I bid you the top of the morning!"
-John Locke

♥
JoAnn

If you want to see some great mosaics, check out Mary's
Little Red House.

Wanted.....

Today I made myself a "wish list".

I know, I do that quite frequently, but this time I made one for real.
(I have a lot of blessings and I'm not complaining about that,
but these are a few things that I would really like.)

#1. We have been working on some cleaning and organizing projects at our house.
Our basement has undergone some impressive de-junking.
We still have some other projects to finish, but it feels good to get started!
(Now, if we could just get going on the garage.....)

#2. I keep saying that I'm ready to get started on some healthy living goals, but it seems like life gets in the way. Did you know that teachers usually end up with about 15 to 20 minutes actual lunch time? Sometimes even less. Unfortunately, that means eating so fast you don't really remember the experience and so you when you get home you feel the need to eat constantly.
Besides, my husband is thin!

#3. A vacation is on the horizon. In 5 more days we have our Spring Break!
I don't have exotic plans or anything, but we are taking a short trip to be with family.
It should be relaxing and fun.

Well, now that I have that off my chest I think I'll go start on one of my projects.
Have a great weekend!
XOXOXO
JoAnn

P.S. I just finished up two nights of parent teacher conferences. Maybe that explains my somewhat unbalanced mental condition!

Going home.....

"There's nothing half so pleasant as coming home again."
-Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

My husband has lived in a lot of cities, in many different states.
He has fond memories of all of them.

One house that he brings up a lot is this one.
It was an old army barrack in Vancouver, Washington, but it had all those
elements that make a fun house for kids:
a big stair way with a perfect railing to slide down
a wrap around porch that made a great rainy day play area
fire place pillars that could be wrapped to look like candy canes at Christmas
plenty of trees to climb
a rose trellis that made easy climbing up to the second story
an old attic
an old coal furnace in the basement that made a perfect shop

(His family lived in the duplex on the right.)

In 2004 we were able to revisit this house.
It has been restored and is now on a historical registry for Old Fort Vancouver.
(Ulysses S. Grant once slept there!)

It is now used as an office building.

It's kind of sad to think that children no longer play within its walls.

BUT
It is a good thing that it is lovingly cared for and preserved for the future.

♥
JoAnn

Mountains, showers, and chickenpox...

Utah has some beautiful mountains!

Yesterday, I went to Provo with my husband's parents and two of his sisters to attend a baby shower for a cousin's daughter. My sister-in-law has this view from her front door.

Pretty spectacular, isn't it!

She can walk out on her front porch (or look through a window) and almost touch this beautiful mountain, lovingly referred to as Y Mountain!
(Click to read more about it.)

For four years I got a daily dose of its beauty, too, as I went to college at BYU.
We drove a little further to a pretty farm area called Lake Shore to attend a baby shower for a cousin's daughter.

It was great seeing all these fun cousins again!

The rest of the weekend I hung out with some special little girls who just happened to have
a mild (but still contagious) case of
chickenpox.

(It's good to know that chickenpox feet can still taste delicious!)

Their mommy had a bit of cabin fever and needed a break-so we all enjoyed hanging out in our pajamas and taking it easy.

It was an unusual weekend-
but a good one!
♥
JoAnn

There's nothing like a little drama to start off a weekend......

A MELODRAMA, that is!
What better way to relax and release some pent up stress and work fatigue than by actively booing for a nasty villain, worrying and fretting over a helpless damsel in distress, and cheering for the unlikely hero- who always saves the day (just in the nick of time, of course)!

Tonight we did just that.
(And laughed a lot, too.)

We have season tickets to this theater:

Tonight we got to enjoy the show "Pirates of the Car-rib-eee-an". It was pretty funny and had some of our favorite players in it.
We have a standing date with three other couples and always look forward to the evening.
(Our friends Tom and Shirley were here tonight from Montana
and it was fun catching up with them again, too.)

Did you know that melodramas started out as music dramas?
Music plays an important role in increasing the audience members emotions. The familiar sneaky villain music always lets you know when to boo (for those who are not too observant)
and the hero's music always makes you cheer.
Somehow it seems to unite the audience.
A melodrama always has a battle with good and evil, but with a guaranteed happy ending.
Justice always wins!
(Who doesn't like happy endings?)

At our last show my husband was pulled from the audience (if you know him, you can imagine how he really was coerced) and became part of the cast.
He's the slightly-older -high-school-dude (the one with the chicken Mohawk on his head).
He did a great job!

The evening always concludes with an olio.
Sometimes that is my favorite part.

Does anyone remember the old Saturday morning cartoons with
Snidely Whiplash and Dudley Do-Right?
They were my favorites!

Have a great weekend.
♥
JoAnn

Happy St. Parick's Day...

(picture by Google.com)

I'm heading off to work today in my green sweater.
(Yes, my students will be watching for that touch of green!)

Maybe when I come home tonight I'll cook a green dinner.
(If I cook at all.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What are you doing to celebrate?

♥
JoAnn

Key lime pie sounds delicious!

Is it Spring yet?

I love the spring time!
It is one of my favorite seasons.
The grass is green.
The flowers healthy.
The temperature mild.
What's not to like?

Maybe waking up to this:



Instead of looking out my window and seeing some pretty blossoms and flowers, we
got to watch rain/snow fall for most of the weekend.

We need the moisture so I won't complain,
but
I can't wait for the real thing!

♥
JoAnn

P.S. Does any body else HATE losing an hour?

P.P.S. It's now Monday and I think I've changed my mind about DST. Tonight my friend and I were able to start walking again- and it still isn't dark.

Check out some other mosaics at The Little Red House!

And we have a winner.....oh, wait.....we have TWO winners!

Today I put the names of those of you who entered Holly's give-away in my
lucky Mickey Mouse bowl.
(Thanks, Karen for giving it to me-I love it!)

We mixed and shuffled and mixed some more.
We rolled the drums........
We pulled out a name.....
And the winner is.....are.....?

Michelle and Pat at Mille Fiori Favoriti

No, I haven't forgotten my basic grammar rules and Yes, you did read correctly.
We have TWO winners.

The first drawing winner was Michelle, who just happens to be my daughter. I was so excited for her to win (Yeah!), but then I thought that maybe people might think we cheated. What's a fair minded blogging mother to do?

It's a simple solution.
We decided to have TWO winners!

The second drawing was for Pat. I am so excited to have Pat win because we have become blogging friends. She lives in the fabulous city of New York and posts some amazing pictures and facts about the Big Apple. She makes me want to head off to the tourist agency and book some airline tickets for New York. (If you plan on going there any time soon, check out her blog. She posts about so many interesting places and gives you the back ground information, too.)

Thanks to Holly for sharing her amazing talent with us. Remember to check out her store when you want something cute (You can copy her button on my side bar.) And, thanks to all of you who took the time to enter our contest. I loved reading all your comments!

Pat, please send me an email with your address (joannclegg@comcast.net). Holly will mail you your cards soon!


♥
JoAnn

P.S. Did you know that another one of my blogging friends, Beth at Aunties With Advice, and I just figured out that we have some commonalities. We know some of the same people and our children went to the same Jr. and Senior High Schools (at the same time)!
I've said it before, but
IT IS A SMALL WORLD!

Oh my.....

Thank goodness a weekend is in sight!
Ever have one of those weeks when your "To do" list keeps getting bigger and bigger?

If I can dig myself out from under, this is what I would like to do:

Go for a walk (somewhere pretty)
Browse a furniture store (just to do some wishing)
Eat some popcorn (at a movie theater)
Visit my sister (who just had surgery)
Go out to lunch
Plant some flowers
Cook breakfast (and eat it at my leisure-in my pajamas!-IN BED!)
Read a novel
Go exploring a new neighborhood
Sleep
Try out a new recipe (and get some new photos to blog about)
Go for a pretty drive

Well, it's time to shower and face the day. Hopefully, by next week I will have some great things to report back about.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

♥
JoAnn

P.S. The weather report says a storm is coming!!!
Oh my....

Tomorrow is the end of Holly's Give-away!
Don't forget to sign up.

Kids really do say the darnedest things....

(Self-portraits by last year's class)

Every day I spend time with some of the most interesting people on the earth.

I can honestly say that there is never a dull moment when one works
with eight year old kids.
(I should write a book about some of the funny things I hear-but parents would probably be mortified at what would be revealed!)

Today after school I was practicing with a small group of kids who were asked to sing at a funeral for "Grandma Treat", the mother of one of our kindergarten teachers.
Grandma spent many years volunteering at our school and earned her nickname because of all the goodies and treats she brought to share with others.
She loved the children and served them well.
(Who says you have to retire from service?
She was still coming to school until about a year ago-and she was almost 90!)

As we were practicing, the chorister was trying to prepare them for the funeral experience. She talked about how people would be feeling sad, maybe even crying. She reminded them that they would need to wear nice clothes to show respect, and that they might get nervous, but to focus on watching her.
She went on to tell them that they would be missing about an hour of school, but that they would be back in time for lunch.

About this time they realized they would be leaving the school grounds.
A spontaneous cheer erupted.

One student yelled, "Yeah! It's a field trip!"

I had a nice chuckle (under my breath-of course)!

♥
JoAnn

Sisters.....

I grew up on a farm.

What is every farmer's dream, you ask?

Sons!
(Farmers need boys to help with the farm work and to carry on the family name. Right?)

Well, our father was blessed with four girls and
ZERO Sons!
(He loved us anyway.)

Last week I went to the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" and all I could think about was my cute father trying to keep up the "traditions" of his ancestors while he was dealing with silly girls who didn't like to get dirty or smell funny. We were a sad lot as far as being very helpful.

BUT...
We did do some farm chores like drive the truck to haul hay, wash down the barn after milking, and feed the calves.

I have some great memories of fun times with my sisters! I'm sure I would have loved having brothers, too, but sister relationships are special.


"She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities.
She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best,
and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion,
someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark.
She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent,
even your shrink.
Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child."
-Barbara Alpert


A few years ago I made each of my sisters a photo book with all the pictures I could round up of us as we were growing up and some recent ones as we had gathered together for family parties or girls' trips. I put in some sister quotes and a few memories.
It is always fun to sit and ponder those times.

Note how I left some blank pages at the end. I hope we can put in a lot more great pictures as the years pass.
Thank you to my wonderful sisters: Diane, Linda, and Julie.
I LOVE you!

Do you have any sisters,
or good friends that are as close as the real thing?

If you do, I hope you agree!

♥
JoAnn


P.S. Holly's give away continues. Be sure to leave a comment and you might be the winner of a set of her cute cards.
Enter before March 13th at midnight.


This is another example of her cards.
Check out her shop here.
I am linking this post to The Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

An instant party.....

(Last weekend)

Another weekend is here!
Yeah!
Our house always seems to fill up with friends, family, and food.

Tonight we created an instant party with some food from Costco and a cardboard box.

While sane people might be heading off to a movie theater or a fancy restaurant,
we're home enjoying the simple life.
(I'm not saying we don't enjoy those things, too, but once in a while
it is nice to relax and let your hair down!)

Could it be that some of us are feeling a little RELIEF that grades are posted, report cards are finished, and a new term begins on Monday???
(Don't forget, FOUR of us work at a school!)

Have a great weekend!
♥
JoAnn

P.S. I'd kind of like a curtain at my dining room window, but I can't quite figure out what would work there. Any ideas?

(photo from Google.com)

Today I spent the day at home.
Alone.

I wasn't feeling well, but I think a good rest was all I needed.

♥
JoAnn

P.S. Thanks to everyone who entered Holly's give away! It is still open so if you haven't signed up you still can.

P.P.S. Last night we saw "Fiddler on the Roof" at Hale Center Theater.
It was amazing!
(If you go, don't sit near the aisle, where you will be "spotlighted" crying like a baby!)