A few weeks back I posted about doing things that might make mom proud. In the spirit of fairness, I figured I might should write a post to show why Bryan's mom should be proud of him.
Look at that attention to detail--look at that shine!
Surprised? Bryan was too!
But once he knew he was on camera, he tried to act a little happy about cleaning.
Most importantly, he wanted to show that real men clean showers!
Mom Wyatt, you raised this boy well. He cleans a bathroom better than anyone I've ever seen.
Working with 7 year olds is a lot of fun. If nothing else, it keeps you on your toes. As my family can attest, I get tickled quite easily. And once I think something is funny, it is quite hard for me to get control. This can be a dangerous combination.
A couple of weeks ago I gave a math diagnostic test. One of the questions read: "John needs 28 points to win the game. He has 16 points. He needs ______________ more to win the game."
One student's answer:
"He needs to pass the ball more to win the game."
So while he may not be the best math student, he gets some points for creativity (well, actually he didn't get any points for his answer, but I did laugh for quite awhile about it)
We officially survived life without electricity for just over 48 hours. It sure seemed like an much longer than that. At the peak, over 900,000 customers were without power. They are saying that it is closer to 500,000 now. I never realized how much we do that requires power. I never thought I would long to do laundry and dishes or go to work. I never realized just how quiet it can be. On the other hand, it was a little bit nice to be forced to slow down. To sit and read an entire 300+ page book in one day. To not have the TV constantly droning on in the background. To sit and talk to my husband without any distractions. Though I am more than happy to have electricity back, I am thankful for the quiet time--let's just hope it doesn't have to be for days at a time next time I need to slow down.
During the wind storm I decided to take a little video to share. The video doesn't really do the storm justice, but you can at least get a feel for it. Make sure you have your volume on because the sound of the wind is pretty amazing!
Here are a few pictures we took around the apartment. This picture is directly out our back door. Lots of small branches snapped off and dangling from the trees. Out front there was debris all over the parking lot. Luckily, Bry's car was surrounded with leaves, but not hurt in any way.
This picture was taken from the entrance to our apartment complex. I'm glad that big tree didn't end up in the middle of the road!
I took this picture on the way to church Sunday evening. This was pretty much in the middle of the storm. We had already lost power at this point. Church service was done in the dark, with no microphone and with the windows open for the breeze. Needless to say, it was really hard to hear! With no power and nothing to do, it sure is nice to have good friends to keep you company. Patrick and Keri came over to play a little Aggravation each night by flashlight. Notice the super cool flashlight holder--ingenious.
It's been a fun ride, but I am ready for life to be back to normal--whatever that is :)
Seriously. People warned me about the snow in Ohio, but they did not warn me about the hurricanes. Yesterday we officially met Hurricane Ike. Yes, I know all you folks in Dallas have probably heard all about Ike, but I am not sure you have met him like I have. Yesterday we had winds in excess of 80 mph. Over 900,000 of us were without power. Some of us lucky ones (over 500,000 of us) still are. (I'm posting from the library which has power). All schools have been cancelled. The few gas stations with power have hours worth of a wait. Restuarants with power have lines circling the building. They say that some may be without power as long as a week. We aren't really sure what the next few days hold, but once we are back up and running I will post pictures and video to show you what it looks like up here. Until then, I will enjoy my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while playing board games by flashlight.
It's been a month or so since I got back from Africa and I am happy to say that I can take a little break from sewing. This time I had a grand idea for gifts for friends. Actually, I had the idea 2 years ago, but never did then, so I decided to have that grand idea again.
Africa is known for having fantastic fabric at a really good price. Anyone that has been to Chimala knows that Kangas hold this secret addictive power. You are forced to buy more than you could ever possibly use. After 5 trips to Chimala, this has resulted in a huge bin of kangas that I have never done anything with. Enter my great idea...
Sling bags seem to be all the rage. My crafty sister Alisha has made several. She even made one with my adorable niece, so I felt I could give it a try. I decided to put that big bin to good use and after many weeks of a sweatshop looking living room, they are finally finished and delivered (mostly...it takes awhile to get to Texas and Vienna...especially if it hasn't made it to the post office yet).
Thanks Alisha for the pattern idea. I love how the bags turned out with the African fabric on one side
and corduroy on the other side.
I made 9 bags total. You can see 6 of them here: I was so happy to be able to deliver these bags. Mostly because it meant they weren't on my dining room floor, but also because it was nice to see the smiles on the recipients faces. Stay tuned for other crafting projects soon...
