When There's a Four Letter Word in the Forecast

It's a funny thing to consider how people all of the United States react when there's a four letter word that begins with "S" in the forecast. When you consider it, some of the actions will have you scratching your head or laughing out loud.

I live in the South. There's not much snow here, but since I work in the schools, we live for the hope of snow in the winter. It doesn't matter how much, and it doesn't matter where it is as long as it's in the county where I work. A lot of us keep an eye on the forecast and tend to get our hopes up when we see that sweet little symbol on our phones.❆ We also feel a lot of disappointment when we wake up and nothing looks different outside. We grumble that we stayed up too late the night before because the meteorologist said it was a sure thing. Sometimes it is a sure thing, but just north of us.
I've never bought into the whole "let's run to the store and make sure we have plenty of bread and milk", but the times I have had to run and get some milk because we're out have been frustrating. I mean, it's not like we're going to be stuck inside for days. It's very rare when the snow hasn't all melted by mid-afternoon.

I have a friend who lives in New Hampshire. When it snows they go about their everyday life. Sure, they have snow days and ice days, but those crazy Northerners choose to stand outside in the snow and watch cross country ski races! My friend has a generator so they still have some semblance of modern life when the power goes out. They're the ones who need to stock up on their food, not southerners who think an inch of snow is Armageddon.

Let me just say: snow on the weekends is a waste. Sure I still get a little excited to see the white stuff floating down, but unless it happens on a Sunday when there's not a holiday on Monday, it's a waste. That is unless there's enough of it that the melting remnants stay on the roads enough to ice over.  Then, we'll take a delayed start, which is almost as good as a day off. On those days the Kindergarten classes have breakfast and lunch within the span of an hour. Crazy, huh?

There's so much excitement when I see ❆ on the forecast map. It's easy to get my hopes up. CH doesn't understand the excitement, but that four letter word in the forecast is like a Christmas present, especially in the South.

{Friday Fotos} Busy, Busy, Busy

The planter on my front porch is really quite the eye sore. I need to research and see if I can find something that will actually thrive with little sun. Little water would probably be good, too, since I can't seem to remember to water them on a regular basis. We found these lilies, so we're going to give it a go.

CH & I spent most of Mother's Day in Home Depot, firming up the kitchen plans. While we were there, my favorite twins left something for me:

That evening, YS fixed an amazing dinner for us:

It was the last week of school, so I try to do something fun for the last day. I found this cute idea on Pinterest:

The kids really enjoyed it, and it was a cheap & easy idea. By Friday, my rooms looked like this:

Thursday, my in-laws treated us to an anniversary dinner (33 years in the books!):

I was able to get home on Friday before they left. My FIL took the above picture, and the picture below:

We had a couple of little storms over the week. Laika is not a fan:

Every time I put coffee in my new coffeemaker, I hear the Darth Vader theme:

I'm ready to take a couple of days to relax before I get into a summer schedule!

{Thankful Thursday} Thanksgiving Edition

Photo by: © Penny Pickelmann | Dreamstime Stock Photo

I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving...I'll try to keep it to just a few things!

🏈 1 more Thanksgiving with my daddy. 

🏈 Firefighters that saved the school and many houses.

🏈 Not only firefighters, but the forestry service. And the National Guard.

🏈 Friends who allow me to use their pictures (see above).

🏈 A husband who didn't ask me to fix the usual banana pudding for the office Thanksgiving Dinner because he thought I was too busy. (Since I didn't have to go to school on Tuesday because of the fire, I went to the store, bought the ingredients, made it, and had it to him about 30 minutes before they ate.)

I hope you have a very wonderful Thanksgiving!

I'm linking up with Rebecca Jo  at Knit by God's Hand for Thankful Thursday.

{Friday Foto Friends} Leaves, Smoke, & Just What I Needed

Foto with Friends is my way of summarizing what's going on in the Small Town during the week through pictures. Deb at Breathing in Grace is gracious enough to host this every week!

The leaves are still pretty spectacular.  This was taken during our camping trip last weekend.

Another picture from last weekend. Love the leaves against the blue sky!

Leaves in the creek near the campground. Pretty cool reflections, too!

CH snapped this picture as we were finishing up a hike.

Fast forward to Thursday: Around 1:00, there was an announcement over the school intercom for everyone to come inside. I thought maybe there was a bear-sighting (I was at my mountain school), so I looked outside. I saw the SRO (School Resource Officer) walking toward the gym, so I knew it wasn't a bear. Then, the fire alarm went off. We all went out to our normal spots, but then we were evacuated to the ballfield across the street.  The mountain in back of the school caught fire. We've had virtually no rain in a long time, so it's extremely dry. This was taken when we were walking down to the field:

The church is next to the school.

The buses came and took the kids home, and some parents came to get their kids. All of the teachers stayed calm and calmed down the students who needed it. This is what the fire looked like after about 90 minutes:

We were allowed 3 minutes to grab what we needed out of our rooms, get our cars, and leave. When I got home, 13 miles away, I saw this:

It was an exhausting day, and I wasn't even one of the ones in charge! I just checked on kids and did what someone told me to do. When I got home and checked the mail, this was in it:

My Blessed is She Advent Journal! I wasn't sure if I was going to get it in time for Sunday (1st Sunday of Advent) because I never received a confirmation email, but there it was! It was exactly what I needed at that specific time!

Please pray for the community where the school is, as well as for the firefighters. The fire has spread to 500 acres, and we're expecting winds tonight. There may be some rain, but it's not going to be the amount we need. As I write this, no homes have been lost, and the school is okay. 

There was no school there today, but since I split Fridays with my mountain school and my other school, I went on to school this morning. There was a hint of smoke in the building all day; they're about 10 miles apart from each other. Here's what it looked like outside of my window:

You hear about fires in Colorado all the time. Then there are the fires in NC, which is close, but this hits home. The fire chief said "we've been living on the edge, and we know that, and every day we wake up and thank the good Lord that it didn't happen, but today it happened." 

Probably the dumbest question was when a newscaster asked the chief what it looked like in the fire. He just kind of looked at her, and said, "It looks like a mountain is on fire. It's smoky." Wow. 

Hopefully we'll get the rain and it will be more than expected. And hopefully things will get back to normal soon. The beautiful mountain behind the school won't look the same for a long time, but, eventually it will. And this will be something we'll all be talking about for a long time to come.

Dancing into June Hodgepodge!

1. How should success be measured? Using that as your standard, who is the most successful person you know? (Or one of the most successful?) 
Success is measured by living a good life. My daddy is the most successful person I know. He & my mom raised 10 healthy, responsible children; he has his health & faith.

2. Have you ever been to a hot air balloon launch/fest/party? Ever taken a ride in a hot air balloon? Is that on your bucket list? According to Frommers the ten best hot air balloon adventures in the world are-

No, No, and NO!

Loire Valley (France), the Serengeti (Tanzania), Napa Valley (California), Lake Champlain (Vermont), Cappadocia (Turkey), Istria (Croatia), Gstaad (Switzerland), Yarra Valley (Australia), Muelle (Costa Rica), and Albuquerque (New Mexico). 

Which one on the list would you most like to experience? 

I'd like to go to Napa, but be securely on the ground.

3. May 25th is National Brown-Bag It Day. Did you/will you pack a lunch today? When did you last pack a lunch for someone and what are your go-to ingredients for a brown bag lunch?
Absolutely NOT. School is out; I packed my last lunch last Thursday. I usually take a turkey/cheese sandwich (I really like the "Really Thin Bread" from Pepperidge Farm; it's 1 way to cut down on a few carbs and still feel like you have a whole sandwich & a few baked Lays with it!), carrots, and some kind of fruit. Or, I'll take some leftovers from dinner the night before.

4. What's one of your favorite dance scenes from a movie or television show? 

This is an easy one! I absolutely LOVE seeing Hugh Grant shake his behind in "Love, Actually" 

5. John F. Kennedy made famous the line, '...Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." So what can you do for your country?

Pray. Seriously. This county is in such a world of hurt. Oh, and I guess being a good citizen and doing what's right should be up there, too.

6. Weekends are made for __________________________________.
Catching up on sleep, housework, etc.

7. On this last Wednesday of the month, bid farewell to the month of May in seven words or less. 

Looking forward to June!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Day 3 of summer break, and I need a break! I've been trying to get to the grocery store for the past 2 days. I finally got my list together yesterday, but then decided I needed to take a nap. Today, for sure!
1 more random:
One of our former priests from my parish is now the chaplain where I went to undergrad. I went to their page this morning to see what the summer schedule is, and I actually got chills when I read what is on their homepage:

See the quote? "Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire"--St. Catherine of Siena. The quote is still following me around!

Thankful Thursday

Once again, I'm linking up with Knit by God's Hand to look over the past week and be thankful for the little things.

This week, I’m thankful for…

...surprise snowstorms after we get to school.

…teachers who take their students out to play in the snow before settling down to work.

… Stations of the Cross. It’s a beautiful thing. If you don’t know what it is, this link should help you out.

…spending the day baking cookies.

…yucky days off from school (too bad it was already a holiday1)

…British series that keep you busy during yucky days off from school. If you haven’t heard of “Broadchurch”, check it out on Netflix.

 

…2 days of 2 hour delays for school. It gave me the chance to go to daily mass both days.

…quick activities to keep my students busy that also double as homework.

…coming home after Saturday evening mass to a cooked dinner. YS had a chicken breast over spaghetti squash & marinara sauce waiting for me. I had been wanting to try spaghetti squash instead of pasta; I was very much surprised at how good it was!

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday! Time for Thankful Thursday with Rebecca from Knit by God's Hand.

I’m Thankful for...

…fellowship with women in my parish.

(By the way...the distribution didn't work out very well. We had 3 desserts, 1 appetizer, and a variety of wine!)

.…Good lab results, proving that watching what I eat & losing weight is working! (23 pounds so far...11 to go!)

…teaching my students that our county is not the center of the universe.

 …snow on the playground. I love the way the playground looks when there’s snow.

…selfies with someone who shares my name. You don’t see 2 Mary Coopers in the same room very often!

 …having a day off on Ash Wednesday. I was planning on taking a half-day since it was time for my mammogram, but I had a bit of a dilemma.: My appointment was at 8:45 and Mass was at 8:00. I would have to leave Mass early and still be a little late for my appointment. Since we had a day off, I was able to make my appointment on time and go to Mass at Noon. Win-win! 

…running into a quote again. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard this quote before, but lately, it just keeps popping up.

…being able to use social media during Lent.

What are you thankful for this week?

Thankful Thursday

Rebecca is a gracious hostess every Thursday to remind us to stop and remember the little things we have to be thankful for. 

This week, I’m thankful for…

... my job. Or rather, that I love my job. Kids are absolutely fascinating...little human beings who are developing senses of humor as well as opinions. They make me smile...most of the time!

...snow days! The snow was beautiful today. CH worked from home & YS didn't have class or work today.

...heat. It was cold, y'all! I can't imagine not having a warm house to live in.

... coffee. It's been the perfect thing for these cold mornings. 

What are you thankful for this week?