Don’t send a lame St. Patrick’s Day eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!
When in doubt, smile.
Archives for the month of: March, 2008
Ella spent this weekend with her dad, which means Liz spent the weekend with me! Thursday Liz & Ella stopped for lunch at my house before we piled back into the car to meet Ella’s dad in Orlando. Once we were almost there, we found out his flight had been delayed, about 4 hours! He was calling us from Atlanta, when he was supposed to be in Orlando 3 hours already. So we headed to IKEA to kill some time. Liz had never been to IKEA before and was a little unsure that we could waste enough time there but sure enough, 2.5 hours later, we hadn’t even made it through the entire store and we got the phone call that Ella’s dad had landed. We rushed to sit in traffic for an hour .. seriously the sign said 45 min for the next 11 miles!! 11 miles in 45 min!! INSANE. Eventually we dropped Ella off and made it back to my house around 9:30pm.
Friday we decided to cook. I think its becoming our tradition to cook on our sister weekends. This weekend we made tomato, mozzarella & basil paninis, chili cheese dip, mushroom risotto, beer cheese soup and home made pizzas. I’ve never seen my sink so full of dishes!
Saturday Liz assisted me in photographing a wedding. It was an outdoor wedding, on the hottest day so far this year .. so yeah we were pretty exhausted when we got home. Preview pictures should be on my photo blog some time this week, Liz already has hers up. Today Liz got to pick up Ella earlier then in past visits, so I’ve spent most of the day being lazy, although I did clean my kitchen and took the dogs to the dog park 
When you have 4 hours to kill in Orlando 
Yep .. I took the sewing machine to our local repair shop yesterday .. and it worked totally fine. Yeah .. my sewing machine made me look like an idiot in front of the nice sewing machine guy. But hey, at least it works. Yesterday I finished my first apron to put up on etsy (FINALLY), embroidered both Belle & Ella’s future quilts, and finished Belle’s quilt top. I LOVE Belle’s quilt .. it was seriously the easiest one yet, but the colors and theme .. it just looks fantastic put together. I can’t wait to show it off. I’m going to try to finish Ella’s quilt before she stops by on Thursday, I should be able to get it done if I don’t clean tomorrow 
(this place is disgusting and needs to be scrubbed down badly)
Sean woke me up for the shuttle launch last night .. it was so beautiful. There was a thick layer of clouds, almost like fog but really really high. When the rockets ignited the whole sky turned yellow, almost daylight. It was amazing. It didn’t last long because of the clouds, but I think we could actually see a little more of its path to orbit then everybody at KSC. I was kicking myself the entire time that I hadn’t brought my camera out with me, but to put together my camera, tripod and find my remote switch at 2:20am was just too much to think about. Next time I’ll set my camera up before going to bed. Hopefully there will be a next time Oh! And I happened to put on HDNet after the launch to see their coverage .. they had 5 or 6 HD cameras set up capturing at different angles and different locations .. 2 of which were from a distance with water & marsh between the camera and the shuttle .. seriously beautiful images. I have no idea when or if you’ll be able to see those .. but def. tune into HD Net after the next launch because they have some beautiful shots. Oh heck yeah – http://www.hd.net/ – they’re replaying at 10pm tonight .. hopefully they’ll continue to replay it and you’ll be able to DVR it.
UPDATE – Liz picked StudioElla as her new photography name .. and her site should be up and running soon!
My sister Liz is also starting up a photo business She’s actually more talented then I am, I have more of the technical knowledge, so hopefully in the future we’ll make a great team and start up our own studio. But for now, she needs her own name for her work. So please take a minute and vote for some possible options for her business name:
[poll=2]
Oh, and if you can think of a good name, please leave a comment, its really tough to think of anything decent
I broke my sewing machine today .. I’m very upset .. I’m afraid that I actually might have done some damage to it months ago (before Christmas) and it finally just had enough of me playing rough with it. But its less then a year old and should still be under warranty. I’m hopefully going to bring it to an authorized dealer this week and see what they say about it. Cross your fingers its not an expensive fix. I was actually trying to finish up projects to finally put together AuntieErica.com .. blah.
Update on the Cadbury conspiracy – I went to ANOTHER Publix Friday and they were nowhere to be found! But I stopped at Walgreens next door and picked up a dozen They’re tempting me from my freezer .. mmmm.
Just incase you were wondering, here are some possible answers to that do you know me quiz from a few days ago:
2. Take a stab at my middle name. – Lynn
3. What is my favorite color? – I really dont have one, blue, yellow, pink or purple would probably be the best answers
4. Color of my eyes? – Blue
5. Do I have any siblings? – Yes, Liz
6. What’s one of my favorite things to do? Photography, sewing, snuggin (Sean or pups), hang out with friends or family.
7. What’s my favorite type of music? Almost anything is acceptable here, but based on my 3 favorite XM channels I listen to: Indie/Alt Rock (Ethel), Pop (20 on 20) and Vocal Dance (BPM)
8. What sport do I like to watch? Football
9. What is my favorite drink? Dr. Pepper, Beer, Mt. Dew, Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee & Starbucks Hot Chocolate
10. Do I have any special talents? I’m actually really good at building furniture, my knees bend the wrong way, and see #6 above
11. What am I most adamant about? No idea, I really dont think I’m passionate enough about anything. Maybe being close to my family
12. How many children do I have? 2 furry kids – Daisy & Frank, or Little Girl & Big Boy
My class turned out to be a math class not ‘world studies’ or whatever that is .. and it went really well .. there was a quiz for all the periods, and the teacher was there to start the first class .. so it was really easy to follow through since I could ask her questions before she left. It made me realize that I’ve had all good experiences with middle school classes, and now I’m thinking about getting re-certified to teach computers just in case an opening for a middle school computer teacher opens up. I actually got my certification in 2002, but it expired in 2004 because I didn’t take a full time teaching position.
Not much going on this weekend .. watching a major line of storms heading this way .. slowly .. hopefully they’re not as bad as they look.
I’ve been to 2 Publix stores and a Winn-Dixie .. and all have been out of regular old Cadbury Creme Eggs. I’ve even baffled 2 managers who tried to find them for me. There could be a Cadbury Creme Egg shortage here .. I’ll keep you updated .. tomorrow I’m stopping at a Walgreens.
Today I had my first substitute assignment! I was pretty excited about it until I figured out what time I was going to have to get up in the morning. Going through training they told us that we needed to be at the school at least 15 min before school, 30 min is better. So my assignment started at 7:30, I even went to the school’s website to see what time school started where I read school opens at 7:30 .. so to get there by 7am, I had to leave the house as close to 6:30 as possible. That was really rough, I got out of bed at 6, made my lunch, ironed my hair, fed the dogs .. and all of a sudden .. it was 630. I ran back to the bedroom to get dressed and put on my brand new pants I bought last week. Turns out .. I must’ve been really bloated last week. I ended up trying on all different sizes of pants that shopping trip, and finally gave up and bought the biggest pair of pants I have ever bought, I was so upset that I just shoved them in my closet until today. Well I put on that pair of pants this morning and realized they’re probably about 5 inches too big! Which .. yay .. I’m not as big of a cow as I thought I was .. but boo I just ripped off all the tags from these pants that are way to big for me .. so I guess I’ll be taking them in or something. I ended up wearing them anyway because I was already running late .. so the rest of the day I was pulling them up constantly .. yuck. I was on the road at 6:40 and made it to the school just after 7 .. and guess what .. the school was pretty dark. I checked in with the secretary and found out that school actually starts at 8, the school opens at 7:30 .. ha! On top of that, my teacher has planning first hour .. so I just hung out in the library reading Biscuit and Dr. Seuss books until my first class at 9.
I filled in for a Media Specialist at an elementary school. It was probably a perfect introduction back to working at a school. I had an assistant there so there wasn’t much pressure on me, she knew all policies, some of the kids names and she could check in and out books for them. I had different students throughout the day, the kindergarteners got a puppet show and watched a Dr. Seuss CD rom .. I actually had to read to 1st graders, a short biography of Dr. Seuss (his birthday was last Sunday), but most of the classes watched episodes of Ghostwriter .. some 1990′s PBS kids educational show. The episodes I saw were full of cameos including Robin Leech and Samuel L Jackson, but the best one was an episode where they were making a music video, 90′s style .. exactly like TLC’s ain’t too proud to beg .. the clothes and pop references were hilarious and these kids had no idea who anybody was! It was a good day, pretty easy, and got me used to speaking up to the kids again.
So yay! I picked up a half day tomorrow afternoon for a 7th grade social studies class. Hopefully it goes smoothly, the kids will be doing a worksheet .. and I plan on playing heads up 7 up if they finish it Bonus is that I dont need to be there until just before noon! Woo hoo! The FCAT starts next week .. for those of you who dont know .. its the test that determines school funding, it lasts 2 weeks. Its really important to the schools so the teachers cram with their kids, hence the lack of sub jobs this week (probably not many jobs for the past month). But after this time is up most teachers need a break, so things should pick up for substituting
You may have seen their awesome animations years ago in This Land or What we call the news .. if you haven’t .. click the links, they’re classics. Anyways they created an ecard section where you can now upload your own pictures and star in cute little animations .. most you have to pay for, but there are a few free ones, like this:
Don’t send a lame eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!
and yeah .. I used my free credits for the St. Patrick’s Day one .. be on the lookout for that
[UPDATE] – Ella’s reaction to watching the video is awesome!!!
I held off on this post so that I had some pictures to share with it This weekend was AWESOME. We all had a great time, especially Ella. I was amazed to see her play maracas with bongo players, hug and give high 5s to Disney characters, kiss sheep, shake hands with giant dinosaurs and dance for crowds. Even when Ella went back to the hotel for a nap .. mom, my Aunt Linda and Uncle Terry and I continued the fun with rides on Everest and Soarin’ .. unfortunately the day was just too short to do everything. Dad, Liz and Ella met back up with us for dinner in the UK, champagne and dessert in Paris, funnel cakes from the US and fireworks in front of Japan. It was a magical day, and one I hope to never forget.
Some of the highlights for me were moments that only Ella and I shared, as she was a little restless during dinner. She and I hung out and watched a Beatles cover band, went to visit Pooh and Eeyore for her 2nd time that day, and then watched the band again, this time she performed her dances in front of a little crowd, with many of them dancing along with her. She also clapped and yelled so enthusiastically every time a song ended. The best part was when she saw her Puppah and started to dance like crazy! She dances with him nightly, so she was so happy to see him while the band was playing. Because we kinda left the restaurant quickly, I didnt grab a camera, so I have to remember those moments in my mind (or here).
On our way back to the car after the fireworks, Ella asked me to carry her rather then ride in the stroller. I asked her if she had a good time that night, and she said yes (of course) but then said “Erica I’m happy” .. later on she said that her baby was happy, and mom even witnessed that, so I think she really did say it Seems like a pretty big concept for a 20 month old to grasp though.
Sunday I was amazingly sore .. I did more walking, lifting, carrying, and pushing then I’ve done in MONTHS. When I got home to Sean and the dogs, they were all super happy to see me, as I was to see them. Eventually the dogs pinned me down on to the couch and fell asleep on me within 20 min of me walking in the door, so I took a good nap with them. Perfect way to end a great weekend.
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