Live Writer Ate My Post

 

I had prepared a little before and after post showing some changes we’ve made in our living room.  We had done some painting, remodeled a table, and purchased a new couch.

As I was about to hit “publish” I somehow deleted the post.

ARRRGGGHHHH!

Gone- without a trace.

Vanished- into thin air…

Evaporated.

And…

I can’t make myself recreate it.

Those thoughts and words are gone forever.

I guess this will be the condensed version of that post.  As Sgt. Joe Friday would say, “Just the facts, ma’am”.

Here goes (in one long breath):

We tired of our green walls and painted them tan.  The bright red/orange flowered couch no longer matched anything in our house and it was replaced by a new neutral one that we really love.  Ken added a shelf and some small legs to make a KSL.com (thrift ads) table taller.  I am grateful for a husband who takes all my wishes and bright ideas and turns them in to reality.  He really is talented and I know I am blessed!

Whew! 

At least the pictures are still available.  I’m going to let them speak for themselves.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Here are a few more after pictures.

Is your head spinning yet?

I know that neutral is often a synonym for boring, but when I go from room to room now it doesn’t feel like I’m crossing over the border to a new country.  It feels peaceful. 

Besides, who can’t use a little more tranquility?

JoAnn

P.S.  THANKS, KEN!

♥

 

A Great Escape (or hanging out with the Comic Con crowd)

Picture a perfect September evening, after a long, busy, extra- warm week of work.

Imagine the ambience of City Creek Mall in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.

Throw in some great company.

(Irene, Katie, Jessica, Michelle, and Liz-missing Heidi and Brittany)

Spend some time relaxing over a yummy dinner of Johnny Rocket hamburgers and people watching.  Did I mention it was Comic Con weekend? 

 

 

Laugh, listen, and linger until the sun sets and the cool fall air sooths away the stress of the week.

Return home refreshed and invigorated.

(Unless you spent the night at the Marriott Hotel in the Presidential Suite- on roll in cots.)

 

It really was a great escape- kind of like losing yourself in a familiar comic book, novel, or movie!

JoAnn

Zinnias

 

Zinnias make me happy.

I’ve neglected my garden since school started. 

It seems that spending time teaching eight year olds takes most of my energy, and that when I get home each day I’m too tired to go out in the yard and putter.  The zinnias were late getting planted this year and weren’t really doing too well.  They had grown really tall this year (almost as tall as I am) and must have put all their energy into their height.  This weekend, as I was working in the yard, I noticed that they finally decided to blossom.

I’m not sure what it is I love about zinnias, but they are so lovely in a wild, chaotic way.  The color variety is so different, yet they blend together so nicely.

If artistic talent were mine, I would have painted this picture to enjoy on a dreary January day, but since I can’t even draw straight lines, I resorted to a little fun with photo filters (eggshell crackle). 

Maybe it is time to go cut a bouquet to brighten the Sunday table.

I love zinnias!

Do you?

JoAnn

Urban campout #2

We love camping!

When our children were younger, summer camping trips were a big part of our lives.  We happily packed our vehicles to the brim with tents, coolers,  lanterns, firewood, sleeping bags, stoves, Dutch ovens, charcoal, watermelons, marshmallows, hot dog sticks, and so on as we headed up the nearby canyons for a few evenings of escape from city heat, traffic, telephones, and noise.  Many wonderful camping sites are within an hour of our home and offer hiking trails, fishing, streams for wading, lakes, fresh air, and relaxation.

One of my favorite camping activities has to be watching the night sky, with all the stars twinkling in the darkness.  Living in a city, those stars are just hidden in the reflection of the lights.

The problem is, we had such a busy summer that we had a hard time making it to the mountains.  Coordinating schedules with all of our children and their families gets harder every year.

We did make it to Mueller Park for an evening dinner, at the beginning of the summer.  It is a beautiful place, just a few miles up Bountiful canyon.  But an evening picnic dinner isn’t quite the same as spending the night crowded together in a tent, cooking over a fire, and bonding with each other in the great outdoors.

As hard as we tried, the summer sped by without any family campouts, so we did the next best thing- an urban family campout at home.

This is the second year we have had an “Urban campout”, right here in West Valley City, in our very own back yard.

We only had to put up one really big tent.  The food was kept cold in the refrigerator until we were ready to eat it.  The grill was already in place and just had to be lit, and the bathrooms were clean and odor free (and only a few steps away).

Robbie hung a large sheet for our movie screen and a fire was lit in the fire pit,

Pretty low maintenance for a camping trip!

Instead of hauling everything to the camp site and spending hours setting up, we had plenty of time to relax and unwind from the week’s labors.

Maddie even celebrated her 9th birthday with a mini party.

While there is something wonderful about rough camping in the beautiful mountains, coming home with dirty feet, bonfire smoke tinging your hair and your clothes, and then having to unpack and put away all the camping gear, it is a lot of work. 

Urban camping isn’t quite the same, but not a bad second. 

And so much less physical labor!

Will we do this again?

Pretty sure we will.

JoAnn

P.S.  Do you like to camp and where do you go?

Dear old golden rule days….

It’s that time again.

The past few weeks I have been busy working at school getting my classroom set up.  The playgrounds have been busy, too.  These relaxing and content geese will soon lose their peaceful and quiet summer hangout, to be bombarded by hundreds of noisy, running, and jumping human feet.  (There is still a window of time before the geese will head south for the winter so they will probably be house hunting.)

Many teachers spend a good amount of time during the summer getting things ready for the next year, since there is more to do than you can accomplish in the few contract days they allow.

My bulletin board is ready with all the names of my new students.

Behavior chart and learning objectives are ready to go.  The whole school is using the “clip up and clip down” system this year, and the new trend in education is to post learning objectives.  (Is it to keep teachers on task?)

Rules and procedures are posted and ready to teach (and reteach).

Job charts, schedule, and positive reminders are finished, too.

The new textbooks are ready to be explored.

I still have a few little tasks to do; things to put in place or hide away, and some planning to finish, but I’m getting close.

School starts on Wednesday.

Am I nervous or excited?

Yes and Yes!

I think we need to do something wonderful with the last few days of summer vacation.

Any suggestions?

JoAnn

(aka Mrs. Clegg)

 

Wrapping up summer….

It has been a wonderful summer.

I am so grateful that we were able to have our entire family together at the beach in Oregon.

Life is good!

JoAnn

Bad hair days

Doppelgangers?

I said I needed to relate to animals more, but is this taking it too far? 

Given a little humidity, I quickly get this look.

I’m off to the beach, so more fluffy hair photos might be coming your way!

JoAnn