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Israel

So just to let you know...we will probably be letting this blog die out...a) because we never type on it anymore and b) because we will be starting another one to cover our trip to Israel...I'll post that sites addy on here as soon as it is up and running.
We will be in Israel from June 15th to July 17th.

just call me a slacker...

I haven't written on here in almost a month. I think I forgot that we even had a blog. Oh well. We had a very eventful holiday break. We took off to Alabama for 12 whole days and the best part is that Adam only had to use 3 vacation days for it...whew hew! We pretty much saw everyone of our family members and a lot of old friends. I felt like we were on a constant schedule though and I think we need a vacation from our vacation :).
I am in my last week of working....which is good and bad. Its good b/c God has allowed me to quit three jobs and just focus on student teaching this semester. Its bad b/c I want to contribute to our income and I feel awful guilty. I am a little upset too at the fact that student teachers not only have to pay tuition to "teach", but we also have to teach for 40 hours a week without pay..and some of us (not me) have to drive like 45 minutes away. That doesn't seem right...at all. Why has no one ever spoken up about this....I can't see why anyone would want to go 5 months without an income and then pay a school thousands of dollars to "let" them do it. Anyways, I checked for scholarships for student teachers but alas almost 95% of them are for undergraduates or for those wanting to teach math. Art is important right?, and graduate students are not filthy rich right? Anyways, like I said Praise God for the finances to allow us to pay right out for school without loans.
One of my favorite things about going home was being able to see my grandparents. My mom's dad is still up to no good and loves to pick at us. My mom's mom is a sweetheart and gives great hugs. My dad's dad is a different sort of grandparent..not bad, but he shows his love differently. Anyways, I am so glad that I got to see him b/c he had a stroke this morning and although the doctors say he will be ok with some physical therapy, his health problems are becoming more and more and his hospital trips are becoming frequent. I ask that you if remember too, pray for him and his heart. He is not a christian ( from what I know and can see). He doesn't tolerate that kind of talk....I think I know why but that is another blog.
Otherwise, I am excited to start teaching next week. My mentor teacher is amazing and I am teaching in a district that allows the faculty to wear....duh duh duh duh ...JEANS....YAY!!!! I love to get all dressed up and be girly but we all know that heels and dress pants gets OLD !
Hope everyone had a great holiday break and Happy Late 2009.

This past week

Well, this definitely hasn't been the best week of my life, but not the worst either. It all started Sunday morning when I was getting ready for church. Adam was already at church since he had to work the sound. I was joyful, well as joyful as you can be trying to dodge two cats while brushing your teeth (they like to drink from the sink and rub on me while I get ready...every morning). Then I started to clean my ears..like I do every 3 or 4 days, and have done every 3 or 4 days for the past 24 years when something weird happened. I stuck the q-tip into my right ear and pulled out just an empty stick. I immediately lost hearing in my ear and immediately started to panic. It's not like I slammed the qtip down my ear and forced it around...i just wet it, stuck it in and pulled back out. I called Adam and he told me to use a bobby pin to get it out....BAD IDEA BUDDY. I however listened b/c a)i like to hear and b) i know he is smarter than me. I started digging with the bobby pin but only got blood and wax. So i called him back (with a louder, more panicky voice) and he said ok, pour hydrogen peroxide in your ear and it will moisten the fibers and hopefully come out. Well, that is easier said then done. I would hold a mirror behind my head while pouring in the peroxide, hoping that I would see the qtip rise up to the top of my ear and I could grab it. Wrong again. I ended up drinking a lot of the peroxide and my ear begin to sting b/c it was so scratched up inside. So I vowed not to call Adam again :) and headed to Walgreens....2 seconds away. On the way to Walgreens I was thinking some pretty weird things...like hmmm..at least I have one good ear, maybe we can sue Q-tip and get a lot of money, or well, I have always wanted to learn sign language, but what if Adam's cant?, or this may help my teaching career since I won't be able to hear all of those noisy children. Anyways, the pharmicist there made me buy one of those baby nose syringes thingies and stuck this long flexible tube on the end. Then I laid in her lap (remember i dont know her from adam..haha) for about 20-25 minutes while she pumped this little syringe back and forth and dropped ointment into my ear. She was saying things like " honey, if i dont get this out, you will have to go to the ER, and I've heard of people busting thier ear drums while trying to get these things out". She finally started to get some of the fibers out and then all of a sudden the whole thing came out...i could instantly hear!!!!
Lesson learned- don't use q-tips. I was researching on the internet and there are tons of stories where people get them lodged in thier ear and suffer temporary and in some cases permanent hearing loss. I am going to use a washcloth and whatever I can get with that is going to suffice.

The next day (monday) I woke up and immediately was nautious and my stomach cramped. So i attempted to go to my GA but had to get up and ran out. I spent the entire rest of the day at home, flat on my back. We were hosting bible study at our house that night so I laid upstairs in bed while Adam led bible study downstairs. We thought I had food poisoning....from the church dinner on Sunday night...nothing bad to say about the dinner, it was fantastic, but that is just the first thing we thought off. Tuesday I woke up with ever worse stomach cramps so I went to the doctor. Turns out I have something that starts with a G and ends with itis. Its where my body is flushing out the lining of my intestines...great, who needs that anyways? So I have to take these pills full of bacteria that will latch on and start to rebuild the lining. I also can't drink dairy-which if you know me, you know that is horrible. I have at least 2 cups of milk a day and some yogurt for breakfast. Let me also add that I am lactose intolerant and therefore I crave the thing that hurts me. Oh well, as of today (thursday) I am feeling well, no nausea and my stomach has only cramped a couple of times.

The only other down side of the week has been my cooking. I LOVE TO COOK. Last night I was making a lemon cheesecake and tiramisu for some(3) parties we have this weekend and I had 6 egg whites left over. Being the savvy cook that I am I thought " hmm, i will make macaroons"...so I beat the eggs until they were fluffy ( thanks to my new standing mixer) and then added cocoa, vanilla and some sugar. Well when they came out of the oven they looked beautiful, and then 5 minutes later they had shriveled up and looked gross. Apparently I should have got out my cookbook and added the flour and confectioner sugar as well. Serves me right, thinking that I had reached diva chef level and no longer needed the aid of my cookbook. Adam still thinks they are good, but I'm not surprised...he ate my salt pie.

My Papa is on a roll..he is scanning in old photos and sending 3 or 4 to me every other day. This one is of Christmas...the women on the left is my beautiful nana with 3 of her 5 children. The little girl is my mom..nice glasses :). My mom thinks that my grandmother and I look similar...maybe? I love old photos!!

My mom - back in the day

Thanks Papa!! He just keeps on providing me with good stuff to blog about! He sent me this picture today and asked if I recognized the kids. The girl is my mom...probably about 7 or 8..the other two boys are her brothers Jeff and Ricki. They were in a car accident with my grandmother when they were 7 and 5 and were killed. There are pictures of them all over my grandparents house but I like this one the best. They were in Vent Hill, VA fishing during the summer while my papa was stationed there. They were re-located to Germany after the boys died..my mom stayed there until her senior year of high school!!

Just call us the "Handy Harvells"

I'm not to sure if Adam and I comprehend the idea of a "weekend". We definitely did not take two days off!! We are having Thanksgiving at our home this year so we have 7 people coming in tomorrow night (Tuesday) and staying through Sunday. This was the perfect excuse to finally get some things done around the house. We already have all of the Christmas decor up, but there were some little projects that I wanted to get done. First, we painted our coffee table to match our bookshelves...the green wood look ( LOVE IT). Next, we put a fresh paint of white enamel paint on our dining room table...we got the set for free and there were some black scuff marks on it. Next, we cleaned up the kitchen and in the process remembered that there was some paint on the bottom of the fridge. As I cleaned it off I discovered why...there were some rust spot...about the size of pieces of rice. So, we headed to Lowe's to get some paint for the fridge. Yes, they do make it!! We chose to paint it glossy white and it looks like a brand new appliance....love it. Finally, we got all the towels and bedsheets washed, both guest bedrooms cleaned and some christmas presents wrapped. Today I am going to tackle the 3 bathrooms (ugh) and vacuam!!!! Sounds like a lot huh...but so worth it. I am so excited for my parents to see our home and for Adam's parents to see all of the things we have re-done or painted or fixed!!!

P.S.- Priscilla did not help any this weekend. He peed twice outside of the litter box...and both times we caught him. We are going to watch and make sure that he doesn't have a bladder infection. Adam is pretty sure that he is stressed out...Elvis is not the nicest brother to him. So for now we are talking in very soothing voices to him and praising him when he uses the litter box.