Hi Folks. It's Monday morning, 34 degrees, my nose is stuffed up and my body hurts. My body hurts because Jason and I spent most of this weekend doing yard work. We planted some bushes, annuals, hostas, and a tree. This yard work thing is harder than I thought! I have also made the office a project of mine since it has been the only room I haven't touched really since we moved in a year ago. It's coming along I guess. Jason and John also spent a couple of hours making "Bags" boards. They made 4 sets and guess who is painting them- yep, you guessed it- me! Actually, I really enjoy it but I wish there was more time. I am pretty excited to paint all these boards because they've all been requested after seeing a few of the boards I have done already. Hey, maybe I'll quit my job and paint Bags boards for a living. Not exactly what I thought I'd do when I grew up. Wait, have I grown up yet?

We didn't start the deck yet because we went to on a couples' cabin weekend last weekend instead of starting the deck. We couldn't start it this past weekend because we are leaving again to go to a cabin with Jason's whole family for Memorial weekend and we didn't want to have no deck for too long because of Wrigley. Especially now that I planted a bunch of flowers in the front yard and Wrigley is probably going to trample all of them if we let him out that way too long. Alas, we plan to start demo now on the 31st. There shouldn't be any reason not to stick to that plan.

Well, I think that's about it. My job is still great. I just lost my first student though because she is not doing the summer program and then she is going to Kindergarten. Her name is Riley and I love her to pieces. I guess I have to start getting used to this stuff.

Jason's job is great but this is busy season and he's getting stressed already. But, luckily I married a man who handles his stress well.

All in all, I have to say that this weekend was really great despite all the hard work. Other than a cook-out we went to on Friday night, Jason and I got to spend the whole weekend with each other. We weren't traveling or entertaining like usual. We slept in a little both mornings, ran errands, and we did all the yard work together. It was a great weekend alone.

Busy Busy

Wow, it's that time of year again when our weekends start filling up like crazy. On top of that I have been extremely busy with my new job (preschool teacher). Those of you who think there isn't much lesson planning involved with teaching preschool- GUESS AGAIN. Not to mention the endless prepping for the multitude of projects. I'm certainly not trying to complain though because it is so wonderful to have my very own class and the kids are fabulous. There was a lot of work for me when I entered the classroom about 7 weeks ago. The teachers before me did not exactly run that class with much precision or care and it showed. The classroom was in shambles (dirty and unorganized- and you know how that drives me nuts!), the kids had no structure, routine, or clear expectations which led to major behavior problems, and last but not least, no one was learning anything! Well, I changed all that in a hot hurry and took it on as my personal goal to get that class in to tip-top shape. The fruits of my labor are becoming evident because just today my director informed me that they are turning my classroom into a "model Pre-K room" for La Petite Academy- meaning that it will be the example room for all teachers in training in the greater Madison area. I'm quite proud, yet this requires more work and I am going to have to stay late several Wednesday nights a month.

This wouldn't be a big deal except I just started singing in the choir at my church 2 weeks ago, and yup, you guessed it, choir practice is on Wednesday nights. I had to make the decision to push off choir for a while in order to fulfill these work duties. I'm sad about that but the choir will always be there and this schedule will not.

Well, Jason and I have a date set to tear down the deck and build the new one. I was looking forward to the demo part but it turns out that our neighborhood is having a group garage sale the same day so I will be running that while he's in back with some buddies tearing away at it. I can't wait until it is finished because we both plan to spend lots of time outdoors when it is done. Our current deck is too small to buy the patio set that we want so we just held off on buying anything until it is done. Jason and I love grilling lots of fish in the summer and I just keep dreaming about eating fresh fish and sipping a cocktail on a warm summer night.

Not much more news except that Jason and I just sponsored a young girl, named Neema, from Rwanda on Monday night. We sponsored her through World Vision which a is a reputable Christian organization and we're so excited to help her and her family and have the opportunity to watch her grow since she is only 4. Another exciting aspect is that our church has become part of a partnership where many of us and other local churches have sponsored children from the same communities in Africa so that someday we may be able to all take a trip together to visit the children. We hope and pray that will happen someday.

Well, I'm going to be a nerd right now and study a little for ANOTHER state test they're making me take to extend my Wisconsin teaching license. Everyone keeps laughing at me for studying because I probably don't need to and will still pass-- I never studied for any of the Illinois tests-- but I can't help it. I set a personal goal for myself to get one of the top scores cause I was really close on the last test. I have no idea why I care because it's just a pass/fail test as far as WDPI or any employers are concerned.

Maybe I'll just give Wrigley a bath and think about my final moments at work today cleaning up a 4-year old after she pooped in her underwear. Ah, one of my many job perks.

Oh Good Grief, I've been receiving requests for another blog...so sorry, (add Japenese accent to "so sorry"). Not much to tell folks. We're shut up in this house with nothin' but snow, snow, snow-- ever-falling. Throwing snow and cuddling on the couch aint cutting anymore. I have seasonal depression and it is giving me the urge to throw popcorn at Jason every time we have movie night. Maybe that's cause movie night is EVERY night.
No really, I'm fine. I have my trip to Chicago this weekend to get me back into the swing of things. I'll have more exciting things to blog about then, I'm sure. For now, I'll just try not to make that peanut butter and bacon sandwich to feel better. Oh, and by the way, I personally won the chili-cook-off and had to keep the trophy to myself. Yep, "Chili Con Class" was the winner!
One last thing, I did manage to venture outside the house the other night and discovered a new love, yes folks, Shuffleboard. hoowee.

Later.

Just felt like having a blog without having kids

Not much to say except tell stories about Jason and myself. We go out with friends, or stay in with them. Last weekend we went to a fancy engagement party for our friends, Jay and Laura, and this weekend we are hosting our first annual Wipperfurth Chili Cook-Off. We even ordered and engraved chili pot trophy to give to the winner. Our January calendar has already filled up and it's creeping into February. I can't complain because it is filled with visits with our friends from Chicago, Michigan, Indiana, and of course here in Madison. We are currently deciding whether or not we can manage a weekend trip to a cabin in Georgia where some friends are gathering for a birthday celebration-- I fear we will not be able to swing that one though.

Substitute teaching is going surprisingly well despite the infrequency of jobs some weeks. I do not have many nightmare stories to share. The kids are great and I love being in the classroom.....if only I had my own classroom, but this will do for now. I have frequented one school district enough now to experience the delight of children passing me in the hallway and saying, "Hi Mrs. Wipperfurth." A few hugs here and there too. It's simple but grand.

We are absolutely in love with being home-owners. I finally get to live somewhere without white walls and a little room to grow. Our only gripe so far occurred in early December when 23 inches of snow decided to dump on us over a couple of weeks. And there we were with a corner lot and a couple of plastic shovels. Alas, we agreed that this was too time-consuming and back-breaking so we drug our feet into Sears and bought a gigantic snow-thrower. I learned way too many things about those machines including calling it a snow-thrower, not a snow-blower. Ugh. I figured my snow duties were over until Jason left to go to a cabin with his buddies for a weekend and we got our first big snow-fall since our purchase. There I was figuring out how to use this thing and terrified that I would look like a complete idiot out there in the snow. But I will gladly toot my horn and say that I pulled it off and Jason was happy to come home to a completed job. Yeah, I'm a kick-ass wife. :) Hey, don't laugh at me, people. I was the youngest of four, and clutzy on top of that so these kind of jobs weren't relegated to me as a child.

Okay, that's it for now. Jason just got home from work and is impatiently wanting to tell me about his day. Time to be a kick-ass wife again and listen to him while I cook his dinner. :)
I guess I had more to say than I thought.