Grandma's Plant

I haven't blogged in a while and I wanted to write about something different other than New Year's Resolutions.  Don't worry, I will be blogging about those soon. 

When Mike and I were first looking at houses, it took us a while to narrow down where we wanted to live.  During that time, my grandmother's old house was up for sale again.  The house had been sold way before that.  It was located in Old Brooklyn and the place had been totally remodeled.  The pictures were amazing.  The neighborhood isn't bad.  It definitely wasn't what it used to be, but nonetheless it could be a possibility.  I really wanted to go look at it.  The thought of seeing it after so many years was fascinating to me.  I wondered if it still had the same smell or had anything that reminded me of grandma.  Months passed by and we were still trying to figure out where we wanted to live.  Eventually, my grandma's old house had been sold.  I never got to see it.  It made me kind of sad, but I knew that the house wouldn't be a good fit for us.  We wanted something with a little more space. 
Then one night I had the weirdest dream.  Often enough, I do have dreams that take place at grandma's house.  Well, this one was a little different.  I was in her living room and she was sitting in her usual chair.  The house was just like it was when she lived there.  The hamburger brown carpet, the old tv stand, the ship on the mantle, etc.  In this dream though, my grandma was talking to me.  She told me, "Desi, you don't have to buy my house. I'm not there anymore.  I'm wherever you want me to be."  This dream was so unbelieveably real.  I woke up and I remembered it so well.  From then on, it never bothered me again that I didn't buy her old house. 
When we finally did move to Cleveland Heights, it turned out that I would be living very  close to my sister-in-law Kathy.  I hadn't seen Kathy since way before her and Paul's divorce.  We had begun talking again in the past year or so. She said she lived really close to me and would love to stop by.  So she stopped by with her cute daugther Kayla.  She brought me a housewarming gift even though I told her I didn't need anything.  It was one of my grandma's plants.  Kathy explained how in all these years this plant has never died.  She said it was a hardy, old plant just like grandma.  I couldn't help but laugh because she was right.  To this day, it's the best housewarming gift I ever received. 

I keep the plant in the kitchen window so it can get tons of sunlight.  It's going through a period of re-growth. 

I have plenty of things from grandma yet.  I have the ship off her mantle, one of her green ducks, and I still have one of her green pullover coats that she insisted I take.  This plant means so much though.  It's a living piece of grandma.  I can't thank Kathy enough for giving this to me. 

Christmas

I hope everyone had a nice holiday.  Ours was pretty good.  We stayed up late on 12/23 to get presents wrapped.  On Christmas Eve we stopped at Mike's grandma's house.  Then we went to Unity for their Christmas Eve service.  The church was decorated beautifully as usual.  There's no Christmas Eve service like Unity's. Trust me, I've been to tons of Christmas Eve church services, nothing compares to Unity's. 

Then off to my parents house to exchange gifts.  Cheyenne loved her new doggie sweater and treats.  I got my Mom a digital camera.  My dad got a new Tracfone - he can get rid of his ancient cell phone.  I got Mike Apples to Apples so we ended up playing that until late Christmas Eve.  Christmas Day was nice.  No particular place to be.  Mike got me remote start for my car, which is going to help me a lot!  Mike and I went to his parents house.  We got to see Grandma again too.  Mike's parents bought us some great stuff.  They are so generous.  It was a nice quiet Christmas.   We drove home and then we made our Tofurky for dinner.  It was a delicious dinner. 

I'll add some pics soon! 

Christmas Break!

I am so relieved to be on break!  I need a new perspective on things. 
This past weekend was an excellent start to break.  It started with a much needed massage.  I stopped at my parents' house afterwards and they told me they were going to Amish country Saturday (the next day).  I was like I have to go!  So I did.  We don't often get to go to Amish country so close to Christmas - sometimes there's snow- or there's just no time.  The snow covered valleys were beautiful.  It's always nice to step back and sit in simplicity for a while.  I really needed that.  Of course, we bought a bunch of stuff including some Coblentz chocolate which is amazing.  Here is the website : Coblentz!  Malley's or Faroh's has nothing on Coblentz!
After getting back from Amish country it was time to go to Joe's Praise the Purple Christmas Tree Party.  We had a fund game of Apples to Apples and received some awesome white elephant gifts! So nice to hang out with intelligent and funny people.  Sunday was a relaxing day.  I had brunch with Christopher at Dianna's in Lakewood and then I headed home.  I took a much needed nap that afternoon.  It was glorious and was especially nice because Artemis joined me too!

So now, I need to finish Christmas shopping.  This is the latest I've ever shopped.  I'm gonna wake up early so I can hit the stores while everyone is at work.  : )  I'll write some more later this week. 

Snow Day and a Book Review!

Today was a snow day! I didn't think I would have one this early in the school year!  So I watched some movies, worked out, and organized some stuff.  So it was a very productive day. 

I finished Eat Pray Love two weeks ago.  I've been meaning to post a review, but I just haven't had the opportunity until now. 

Let me just say that this book is a must read for anyone searching for more in life.  Not the typical get married and have babies story, THANK GOD! Some people are happy with just getting married and having babies, great for them.  Some people are looking for something different, much like Elizabeth Gilbert the author of this amazing book.  There's a lot of spirituality in this book.  I love Gilbert's view of spirituality.  No one religion is the answer according to Gilbert.  I truly love that concept. The book is divided into the three I's.  Italy, India, and Indonesia.  After her divorce she decides she's going to travel for a year.  She starts in Italy, which brought up my memories of Italy.  The Italy portion of her book was probably my least favorite. Don't get me wrong, it was a good way to get the book started, but having been to Italy my view is a bit different.  It was nice to revisit Italy through Gilbert's eyes.  Florence and Rome is where I need to spend a month soon! 
Next was India.  I'm not too keen on actually visiting India (heat,sickness, etc.), but Gilbert spends her time in the ashram of her guru. Spending time at an ashram makes India more fascinating and doable for me.  Meditation is something I struggle with, but so does Gilbert.  So reading about her struggles and how she overcame them really gives me hope that maybe one day I might be able to quiet my ever calculating mind!
Last was Indonesia, well Bali that is.  Bali sounds beautiful and I'm not really fond of tropical places, but I think I might like to visit Bali sometime and see the medicine man she spent time with (if he's still alive). 
Reading this book made me think about how important it is to keep life simple.  I don't need to worry about every single thing going on in my life.  It's so not worth it.  Finding happiness is important, and it's not necessarily the paycheck you earn.  Yet, Gilbert really doesn't have too many financial problems given her success.  So one does have to keep that in mind.  Most of us can't travel the way she does.  I hope one day to be able to though.  I definitely need to experience more of the world, and I hope to get an opportunity to do that soon.  :) 
I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the world and re-center themselves.  A good read!  I hope to read Eat Pray Love at least once a year. 

December 9th Update

I know I haven't posted in a while.  This week has just been rough.  Lots of snow disrupted our normal schedule at home. So much to do and so little time. Waiting for holiday break has been crazy!  It can't come soon enough!  It's only a four day week for me because I took a scheduled day off for Friday. I needed it.  I thought I could make it without a day off, but the kids are just wearing me down. The same old battles are just bothering me so I need to step back to come back with a fresh approach on Monday.  Sometimes I don't think people realize that being a teacher is not a 9-5 job.  Every day presents new challenges. 

 Plus this week, I think I was fighting a tiny cold from being around germy people over the weekend.  Now, I'm much better.  All I truly needed was a good night's sleep and some DayQuil.  I love that since I eat healtheir and work out on a regular basis that I get sick a lot less. Now watch, I'll get super sick.  LOL! 

Mike and I went on an adventure Wednesday evening during the snow storm.  The snow storm was insane!  We walked  to the Subway that's up the street from us.  It was so much fun!  I don't like driving in the snow, but I love walking and running in it.  We also got to watch the Cleveland Heights plow and salt trucks come down Mayfield road.  There was a long train of them and the leader truck honked the horn a bazillion times and had everyone make a huge u-turn on Mayfield.  Kinda crazy watching that and being careful to not get pelted by snow. 

This week I was also able to get my Christmas cards done and mailed!  I think this is the earliest I have ever done that.  Now, I just need to finish Christmas shopping!  UGH! 

10 Year High School Reunion

So here is the anxiously awaited high school reunion blog. 

Diane really wanted to go to the reunion, so I was like why not?  We will get some good laughs about it!  As soon as we walked into the lame bar called Jocko's we got glares.  For what reason, I do not know.  We laughed and we got to talk to some great people like Ricky and Andrea! John was there too!  It's sad how some people never change though.  Some people were trying to get pics of us and I caught them and we flipped them off!  I'm proud to say that I actually have friends that I did not go to high school with, LOL!  The major benefit of me going was winning a $20 Target gift card!  Will I go to a 15 year reunion? Probably not! 
The drawings for the gift cards were a great idea, but other than that it was a prettly lame party.  I'm a way better party planner!  So here are the pics: 

John's Self-Portrait!

Diane trying to get some tongue action! 

Happy December!

A new month of blogging!! :) 
Today was a smooth day at school. Yesterday was not and that's all I'll say about that.  I'm just getting really annoyed with school lately.  The laziness of the students is getting on my last nerve this week. I have such a passion for learning and I have rough time dealing with people who don't share that same passion.  :(
I'm still plugging along though and they will learn, DAMMIT! 

We've doing commercials in my Speech class.  The topics have ranged from condoms to Mr. T. advertising an XBOX 360. I laughed a lot. My 9th grade repeaters have been the laziest, but should I be surprised when they were too lazy to pass the 9th grade?  NO!  These are just some of my daily frustrations, but I will get past them like I always do. 

I promised more pics in my blog so I'm including a picture of our Christmas tree this year!

We went with blue led lights this year and last year we had red lights.  Happy December!