Yesterday was one of those days that no matter what else went on in the world - things were right and happy in my corner of the universe.

We started off the day at church, which, by itself, is not so monumental (in fact, that's something I need to post about). But then, after church, the kids went to Sunday school, and Brent and I snuck off to the local coffeehouse to have a soda and some conversation...instead of going to the adult Sunday school. Sacreligious, I know.

Then, we stopped at Subway and picked up some subs for lunch, picked up the kids, and then went home. There, we saddled up everyone for a 15-minute bike ride to the elementary school playground. We would eat our subs there and play awhile. A very nice ride - Spencer rode by himself, Kirby rode tandem with me, and Brent pulled Elliot in the trailer. We were quite the convoy. Anyway, the weather was nice, clouds were clearing out and temps were reaching into high 60s.

After about an hour, we ride back home. Because of the nice weather, and the absolute need, I spend about an hour power-washing our screened-in deck, followed by another half-hour of deck washing, followed by another hour of power-rinsing. I also hosed off the deck furniture and part of the house. Brent did some other outside stuff.

I come back inside, and take a break by grading a little bit of homework. Within the hour, though, it's time to start supper. Kirby and I had decided earlier this weekend to have banana pancakes, sausage, and hash browns. Now I enjoy cooking, so I liked the three-ring-circus-challenge of doing this meal...between the flipping and pouring of pancakes, stirring of hash browns, and microwaving of sausage, I was having a ball. Not to mention watching the clock, because timing is everything!

After that, I took some provisions over to my school for this coming week, and we went out for ice cream.

So it was a productive and fun weekend...but most of all, I felt like part of a family. With all this play stuff the last six weeks, I've felt a bit alienated from them. However, one more week to go and I'm done with community theater.

Life will be changing around here some in the next few months.

Brent just got his acceptance letter today from Iowa State University. He's going back to school to get his Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instructional Technology - sounds pretty fancy, doesn't it? Basically, he wants to work on computers in schools.

He starts this summer, and it's probably going to be a three-year commitment.

We're probably going to have to tighten up the pursestrings a bit (not a bad thing)and we may have to drop out of some of our outside community involvements (not a bad thing, either).

You all probably thought I was pregnant from reading my first line. Huh.

Good evening, everyone.

Kudos to me for a first-time posting in the month of April.

I have roughly two weeks until I get my life back. In two weeks, the play I am co-directing will be over and I'll have evenings free again.

Two weeks from today is my birthday and I will be one year better.

Two weeks from today Parent-Teacher Conferences will be over and I will be in the middle of studying Romeo and Juliet with my freshmen.

Two weeks from now should hopefully mean nicer weather instead of the winter-like conditions we've had around here lately.

Two weeks = happiness and freedom

Oh, and...got to give it up for small victories. My weigh-in day was yesterday and I stepped on the scale to a 1.4 pound loss! Yay! Brings me to 13.4 pounds total since December 31st. 131.6 pounds. Size ten pants WITH A BELT!

Seemed like it was going to be another day on the mill, nose to the grindstone.

Filed the kids in and out, ate my lunch, took attendance...you know, all the basic mundane requirements of my job.

Then, seventh (and last) period rolled around. I stopped in the teachers' lounge to pop a mini-bag of popcorn. A little mid-afternoon snack now allays the hunger pangs later. Anyway, I set the timer for 1:30 minutes and then buzz quick to the bathroom. I come back to blankets of smoke issuing forth from the microwave like an electronic Mount St. Helens. Within seconds, the fire alarm goes off and the entire school has to evacuate.

Yes. All me. Without assistance from anyone, I manage to clear out the entire school. Thankfully, it wasn't for long...just a couple of minutes.

Methinks I'll add that to my list of stupendous educational achievements...right underneath getting written about on the boys' bathroom wall earlier this year.

Good god, this week flew by. Directing the community theater play in the evenings has taken up all my time - I get home after school, try to crank out some miles on the treadmill, get dinner to the table, get the kids off to their various activities they might have, and then get to the playhouse by 6:45. I'm there until 9:30, at which point I come home and pretty much go right to bed.

I got no schoolwork done, meaning I spend a big chunk of weekend time doing it.

Honestly, though, no complaints because I had a pretty good weekend. First of all, on Friday night, we went to a banquet put on by the FFA. Smoked pork loin, potatoes, corn, beans, and a variety of breads and desserts. One thing about the Future Farmers of America - they know all about the feeding people and hospitality. Then held a pie auction...made-from-scratch pies! I was able to effectively resist the apple, cherry, and peach pies...but then the banana cream came up on the block - and I was lost.

Thirty-five dollars for a banana cream pie. But. It was really effing good. I still have some in my fridge.

Saturday we schlepped all the kids to the Science Center of Iowa. I have not been in there in years, and not at all since they relocated. It is a very nice and well worth the $8 admission price. Spencer liked making racing cars out of Legos, Elliot liked the bubble wands, and Kirby liked wrapping and dropping the "egg" to see if it would break. Personally, I had a good time too, and usually I tend to tolerate those type of things because "it's for the kids". We ate lunch at Spaghetti Works, and despite the wait, it was AWESOME.

Even though we were having all this fun, I still got a lot of papers graded on the ride. We got home, made dinner, watched "Adventures in Babysitting", and got the kids in bed. I stayed up a bit late grading more papers.

Yesterday we skipped church to go to Brent's grandma's auction. She is showing the signs of Alzheimer's and was recently moved into assisted living. So the family sold the stuff they couldn't fit into the apartment. We got a really nice, barely used loveseat for $50, some sweet vintage disease signs, and a Cyclone figurine that belonged to Brent's grandpa.

Then we went out for dinner with the whole family, and got home around 7:30. I got on the treadmill, finished entering grades, and went to bed about 9:30.

All in all, fairly serviceable weekend.