Carissa...Teressa

Carissa if you read this will you please invite me to your blog. I'm wanting to get back at being in touch and sharing and using my blog, my family blog, facebook, and whatever else as resources for keeping in touch and I got on...I've been thinking about you and its been so long that I click on your link and its been deleted. Then on Facebook, same, deleted. I started worrying and thinking what has happened to her? I've been thinking a lot about you and was hoping I could email you. I don't have your email so I wasn't sure what to do. Any how, if you read this, or if anyone who is close enough to Carissa and has contact info for her could ask her to contact me how ever she feels, I would so appreciate that. My email is: hugnkiss37@yahoo.com. I hope that I can get an invite to your blog. I want to read and see whats up with you. I will say I am not the best at commenting, I try and comment but it gets tough when I'm trying to just read to catch up, but if I don't comment doesn't mean I don't read it. I hope everything is okay. Hope to hear from you! :)

Teressa I don't know if you will see this either. I don't know if anyone actually read my blog and that was part of why I had a hard time continueing to post. I was worried and my thoughts got away from me. Side note...any way...teressa, I want to email you to so what is the best email or best source of contact that is easiest for you? Let me know. I hope all is well. :)

The Last Lecture....

I read a book that my mom read. It was called the Last Lecture. Many of you may have heard of the man who gave the 'last lecture' or you may have read it already. I just wanted to put it out there that it was an excellent book. The ideas in the book that he gives of ways to be better or things to do in your life were very inspiring for me. There is a handful of the things that he talked about that he did that I have already applied in my own life. He was very inspirational. I will warn, if you haven't heard of it and you don't know about this man. He has cancer and knows he is going to die and is giving this last lecture. So its possible that you may cry and that's okay. I bawled my eyes out the last chapter. It's because if you also don't know, he has died as of today, which makes reading the book that much more intense. I felt the whole book was very inspirational and the last chapter was just a clincher of emotion and I bawled the whole way through it. I do recommend it since I was able to get so many things from the book. Let me know your thoughts if you have read it, or think about reading it, or are not going to read it and why?

The Twilight Series

Okay, I am doing this post especially for all those Twilight lovers out there! I read all 4 books. I completed them. I read the first 3 in I think it was 8 or 9 days. I can't remember. But that is a world record for me. That was the fastest I read any book and to read 3 in that amount of time. Whoa! So, I wasn't working and i could read in the daytime and the night. I had borrowed them from the library and I got the second book first and then when I got the first I had to read it quick in order to avoid having to return the second book and wait again forever for it. So, then I was wanting to find out what happened in the third book and got that right as I finished the second book and so I read it quickly as well. Phew! So then I had to wait like a week and a half or something for the last book. But I read them. I have meant to put up this post right when I finished them, but I didn't get around to it and then I started school. So, sadly for all you who are obsessed over it. I thought it was interesting and kind of a new twist to add to a love story. But honestly I didn't LOVE them. As cute as the Cullen's appear to be in the movie they were just okay for me. Its possible that the authors style of writing didn't just hit me or that those who followed it along as they came out or whatever the reason I didn't just love them to death (by a vampire...ha, ha, ha. I'm kidding, I thought that would be funny right there though!) I will talk about it and be excited for anyone that wants me to be about the movie coming out and whatever else. Just being honest with you all though, I didn't LOVE the books. :$

School, school, and more school

Well, I have been at work now for 3 full weeks. So far it has been very interesting. I am still adjusting and getting used to things. I have had some interesting encounters with the teacher, funny enough, more than with the kids. My schedule is good. It's 7:30 to 3:30. Normally, I don't think I would be real hyped up about the idea of getting up to be at work by 7:30. For anyone who doesn't know, I am NOT a morning person, in the least. Lately though I have not struggled as much with getting up earlier. So, it works out to get up and get to work and then finish with time left in the afternoon. The next good thing is that work is only 6 min away. From the time we leave the house to the time I get out of the car. (I still can't drive and so Stephen is dropping me off.) So, its nice that travel time is less than 15 min for the whole trip. Also, it works out that since I can't drive and Stephen is not always able to pick me up, I am able to put in my exercise time and walk home. It takes about 40 minutes for me to walk it. So that's great! Now there is a morning class and an afternoon class. The morning class they are only 3 years old and the afternoon class is 4 year olds. There is only 4 students in each morning and afternoon. So 8 total kids that we work with. The morning class is farther behind, since they have not been in a school type setting for a year which most of the 4 year olds already have. I think all the kids are so cute. Its nice that there is only 4 at a time to work with so you get to see there personalities more and there cuteness is more apparent then it possibly would be in a bigger group. Its been a lot of fun to work in a school setting. This is my first time working in a school setting and its been fun. Its interesting going from working with the parents and how they are treating the kids to just getting to work with the kids. My job is also, more of the play with the kids and get in there in the middle of it. So, its been fun in those ways. There's the added aspect of the focus being getting the kids to talk and saying things so you can understand them. That's also a fun aspect. I'm enjoying all the time and efforts and experiences that I'm getting with the kids. Like I said the interesting encounters are with the teacher. Hopefully with time these encounters will lessen. For the time I try to focus as much as I can on the kids. :)

Its been a LONG time!!!

Well, its been sometime now since I have been on our blog. I haven't been on in some time that Stephen has put posts and I didn't know it and was shocked when I saw them today!!! I thought I would give some explanation to the first post he put.



So the big pocket! I borrowed some sewing books from the library a while back and I finally decided to see if I could figure out how to use my sewing machine. The books were really old and they were not helping. I ended up realizing I had an instructional book that came with my sewing machine. I hadn't looked at it very closely in the past and so this time I did. It helped me get my sewing machine so I could sew.
A long time ago a friend gave me some scraps of fabric she had and was not going to use. So I picked out 3 little pieces and just started sewing. I was trying to put it together so it would end up looking like a bag. Well, Stephen walked over to me and simply said, "Are you making a big pocket." I started laughing and told him what I was doing. I decided to go ahead and just call it a pocket. Since it was so cute of him to think I was making a big pocket. I was very proud of myself that I was able to put some pieces of fabric together and have it come out somewhat like a bag. If you look close enough the sides ended up where the 'insides' are out. So the 'pockets' not perfect, but it could hold things and Stephen was proud of me! So its now on to my next sewing project. :)



What a darling pocket I have!!!

Your first day at school!

Hi Sweetie,

Wanted to congratulate you on your first day of teacher aiding. I am very happy that you are in a more positive working environment! I know its been hard to not be working, but you needed the break, both physically and psychically. I love you and can't wait to hear how those small people under three feet tall bring you big surprises!

What you got in your pocket me lady?

Hi Sweetie! I just wanted to say how proud I am of you making your first thing with the sowing machine! I enjoyed seeing how happy you were with the finished product and the sparkle in your eyes! And remember babe that its not the size of the pocket that is important, but what you carry around in it! I recommend carrying my love for you in it! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Today is my babes birthday and I wanted to wish him a really big happy wonderful birthday day! Stephen is the best husband and I'm excited to celebrate his birthday with him. Stephen is such a great helper in the house. He cooks, cleans, does laundry, takes out the trash. He is so wonderful helping in the house. He is so smart and works so hard at school and work. I'm so proud of him and all he has accomplished with work. Stephen has gone above and beyond and has gotten many compliments about his degree of working and that he goes the extra mile. I am so proud of Stephen when he plays his bass guitar. He has been playing for about 12 years and he is such a natural at it. Again, with his abilities to play he will get many compliments on his unique style of playing. He is so much fun to listen to and watch playing. He truly loves it. Stephen is so much fun to be with as we laugh over so many things. He has such a great sense of humor, wonderful personality, and is truly my best friend. I love you Honey! I hope you have the best day ever! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STEPHEN, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! :)

Pizza, pizza

Okay so going along with our trying to save money and cut back where we can we would get a pizza almost every Friday night and have pizza movie night right. Not EVERY Friday, but it was close. So, we decided we needed to not do that, but the thing was, we both like pizza. So, I remembered from my mission this lady making pizza on french bread. Now at the time, however she made it, it really wasn't all that good. But I thought Stephen and I could attempt and maybe we could come up with something that we liked. Well Stephen taught me about using spices. Now when I hear the word spices I think Cinnamon. So why would you put Cinnamon on pizza. Well you wouldn't but there are lots of spices and I'm finding that a lot of times I think spices are what make food taste a little bit better. So, this is what we do:

1. Take a loaf of french bread $1.50- Cut it in half long ways.

2. Take 2 cans of tomato sauce $0.10 (on sale, up to $0.30 a can)- spread one can each on the loaves of french bread.

3. Take Italian Seasoning $1.00 (Depending on the brand and size you can spend more, but this will last you a whole slew of pizza's.)- Dash the Seasoning onto the sauce. (I don't know if this is technically a 'spice' but it goes with all other 'spices' so any way...)

4. Take Shredded Mozzarella Cheese $1.50 (We use what I've gotten on sale, Stephen likes Mozzarella so its usually Mozzarella or Pizza since Pizza is a Mozzarella type cheese. I buy the regular size about 8 oz., not the large size, )- Take the cheese and spread across bread covering the sauce. Leave just a little bit of cheese.

5. Take Pepperoni (Gallo Brand is what we like) $3.50 (We like pepperoni, we've not tried other meats but I'm sure they would be good. This bag is good for about 4 pizza's.)- Take pepperoni slices and spread on top of cheese.

6. Take the remaining cheese and spread across the pepperoni so just a little cheese is on top. Then Dash just a little bit of the Italian Seasoning on top of the cheese.

7. Cook in the oven at 375 degrees. We cook it for about 25 minutes. (I don't know if we have actually cooked it the same time ever, we just watch it and when it looks good to us, the cheese melted and browned just a little then we take it out.) We let it sit for about 5 minutes to cool.

Now I have gone in to great detail about how to make the pizza. But it is really the easiest put it together meals we have. It is one of our favorites as well. Because it comes out so, so, so good. As you can see it comes out to be about $4.50 a pizza I am estimating, due to the pepperoni and the seasoning being used more than once. You should all try this and let me know how it turns out for you. It is now our Friday night Pizza instead of the $14.00 pizza (which was the price with a coupon) and we spend the time together making the pizza. It's really quite fun! Here is the before its cooked and after its cooked products! So you have a better idea of what I'm talking about!

The french bread pizza ready to be cooked!


The yummy french bread pizza all done!

Exciting News

Well, I am very excited to share some news! I wanted to share that I got a job! Now there are a few reasons why this is so exciting. I want to be a sign language interpreter. I love sign language. I have shifted gears and focus of what I had been doing. For the last 3 1/2 years I have been working with parents whose children were taken from them due to abuse, neglect, abandonment. I worked with these parents and taught them parent skills and life management skills. We covered discipline, nutrition, safety, appropriate behavior, development stages, and interaction with the child and actually having interaction. We covered hygiene, home skills, budgeting, job skills, transportation, community resources, how to seek resources, housing and seeking it, getting it, keeping it. I had lived, breathed, dreamed, talked, and done this job for so long that I was beginning to feel like it was my whole life. The people that I worked with, the parents, were people who taught me many, many valuable lessons. I learned so many things from working with them. It has been a very challenging and growing processes the last 3 1/2 years. There are some very good memories and good times and there are other times that were very hard and difficult to deal with and work through. I nearly wanted to just strangle my client(s). I've gained so many skills from that job that I really don't know of any other job that could teach such a variety of skills. Now, I was at a point that I needed to get a job and I was tired of working in the field that I had been working in. That was when I began thinking about how much I loved sign language. So, I decided that I wanted to start working with people in the deaf community. So, I got hooked up with a website that had a bunch of different agencies and I made some calls and sent out some emails and after some responses and correspondence I got myself a job. I know am going to be working at Center for Hearing Impaired Children. They work with the State school which is Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind. I am going to be a Preschool Teacher's Assistant. I am so excited. I have my foot in the door of the deaf community now and so it will be that much easier to maneuver around in different areas that I would really like to get some experience as I will be working towards getting my sign language interpreting. The people that I met that I will be working with are the sweetest people and just so kind and generous. I am just so excited. I am going to learn so much from this position and I just can't wait to begin!!! :)