Snow Shots

Another storm rolled in on Saturday night, bringing more snow our way.  It's a small storm, compared to the last one.  Until today the snow has been light.

Today, however, it is coming down more heavily.  It may bring up to a foot of snow by morning.

Not great timing, since the state-mandated AIMS tests, required for high school graduation, start tomorrow!

Inconveniences aside, the snow is always beautiful.  Here are some shots of today's powder.

They include the charming, such as the fallen branch in our driveway in the above photo and, at right, the little ditch in front of our house that's been transformed into a trickling stream.

They also include the mundane, as in the pictures that follow...

After school, Jacob and I found the car covered in 3 to 4 inches of snow.  It makes the interior of the car all dark, like in a snow cave. 

Here, Jacob has started clearing the windshield for the drive home.

No matter how carefully you try to enter the car, some of the snow always enters with you.  The trip home ends with a damp backside.

The snow likes to hitch a ride by clinging to you.  These clumps were stuck to my hair by the time I walked across the parking lot and got inside the car after school.

Soon, they turn into beads of water that make your hair sparkle.  I like it.

Just another beautiful winter day!

Egg Bash

At lunch time yesterday, the Bible Club held an "Egg Bash" to raise money.  For $2.00 the students (and a few teachers) could crack eggs over the heads of our assistant principals.

At left is Dave Clark and on the right is Luke Smith (who is also our town's mayor, as I've mentioned before).

The kids really got into it.  Two of my students are in this shot: the girl in yellow on the right and the girl in the dark shirt on the left.

They raised $130 for Bible Club.

Mr. Clark and Mr. Smith, I salute each of you for your courage, your sense of humor, and your commitment to our students!

And I'll bet your hair is feeling luxuriously silky today!

Valentino

Meet my new buddy, Valentino!

Yesterday Sarah and Jacob took advantage of the after-Valentine's Day sales.  Jacob wanted to get me a belated gift, but since he knew I can't eat candies right now, he bought me this adorable, plush poochie instead.

Valentino is SO soft.  I cuddled him through American Idol and Lost last night, and he kept me nice and warm.  I had to keep a close eye on him to prevent Dylan from snatching him!  (Dylan has a thing for stuffed animals, too.)

Now Valentino will watch over my bedroom by day and rest at my side by night.  Thank you, Jacob.  I love you, too! 

Happy Heart Day

Happy Valentines Day, everyone! 

Our family actually celebrated Valentines Day 2 weeks ago.  Since we knew we would be dieting by now, we enjoyed our boxes of chocolates at that time so we wouldn't feel deprived when the holiday rolled around.  Since Jacob has joined Sarah and me on the hCG diet this time, only Dylan is able to indulge himself in the foods now forbidden to us!

Because we had celebrated early, I didn't expect this morning to be anything other than a typical Sunday morning of preparing to attend church.

Then I walked through the kitchen in the middle of the night and found these beautiful roses and a sweet note from my lovely daughter Sarah.  What a touching surprise!

Her note, written in pink crayon, says simply, " Happy Valentine's Day, Mom!!  I love you!"  Of course, it made my day!

And here are my favorite three Valentines:

We made these signs to send a Valentines greeting to my niece and nephew, Savannah (Savii) and Rhett, who live in Mesa.  We have seen Savii and Rhett only a handful of times since their parents divorced more than 10 years ago.  They were just children then, and we've missed so much being able to watch them grow up.

A few weeks ago I was surprised and thrilled to receive a letter from Savii, expressing her desire to reestablish contact with her dad's side of the family.  She is now a beautiful young woman of 17 years and Rhett is already a good-looking young man of age 13.  Since Savii's letter, we have communicated via letters and emails and emailed photos, and exchanged promises to get together when we find ourselves in the same towns.  We are all so excited to be a part of their lives again!

We hope you had a wonderful day of feeling cherished and being pampered by those you love!  We "heart" you all!!

Vote for Brock!

My long-time friend Jill of California has 4 adult sons who are incredibly talented.  Her eldest, Brock, is living his dream, trying to break into the world of comics.  Please read his message below and take a few moments to support his quest to win a big contest! 

"One of the dreams I've held onto since I was a little kid was to work for one of the big two comic book companies--either DC or Marvel. This month, I've actually got a shot at it. DC Comics has an online comics arm of their business called Zuda. Each month, 10 comic submissions are pitted against each other to see which can win a contract. Right now, I have a submission in contention, MONSTERPLEX, which I wrote and created (friends David Schlotterback and Michael DeVito join me on art and colors, respectively).
*

"The winner of the competition is based solely on popularity. This is where I desperately need your help. Here's a list of everything the Zuda overlords are looking at to determine which comic they're going to sign for a one-year contract:

1. Votes (very important--can only vote once)

2. Adding to Favorites (very important, and can only be done once)

3. Star Ratings (can only be done once--also very important)

4. Number of Comments (can do this as many times as you'd like)

5. Traffic (numbers count!)

"To participate (vote, favorite, leave comments, etc.) you'll need to register an account over at Zuda ( www.zuda.com -- only takes a minute or two, tops). The competition runs for the duration of the month and the entries are STRONG. I'm not one to usually ask for help, but I think we've got a good comic and I'd so much appreciate your help in this. If you don't mind my saying, the prize is also worth thousands of dollars and, needless to say, that would be extremely nice.
*

"Anyone can register and vote and add favorites! If you have any questions about doing so, please refer to this link:

http://monsterplex.blogspot.com/2010/02/big-announcement.html

"(That's also the official Monsterplex blog where I'm posting daily updates and links to interviews and reviews). THANK YOU so much."

Good luck to you, Brock and associates!

Bang Bang

Tonight I had my bangs restyled by my good friend Wyndie.  What do you think?

I do prefer myself with bangs, but I was getting tired of my really thick, bowl-cut style forehead-carpet.  So I cut and pasted pictures of movie stars on the Internet whose bangs I liked, printed them out, and showed them to Wyndie last week.

"I can do that," she said.  I knew she could!

This is the finished project.  I like them a lot!

We moved the part to the right side.  My part has been down the center since 8th grade! 

I love how it seems to make the silver in my hair more visible.

The real test, of course, will be when I wash my hair and have to style it myself for the first few times.  I have no talent for hair.  None!  That's why I wear it long and straight.  No talent required.

I'm going to print out these pictures and hang them by the mirror, so I can see what the bangs are supposed to look like while I work on them!

Wyndie, Sarah, Jacob, and Sarah's friend Emmi all expressed approval of my new look.  My brutally honest son Dylan said, "Mom, from the front you look like a boy."

Hmmm...  Maybe he's right? 

While we were at it, I asked Wyndie to give me a trim.  My hair was long enough to sit on, but it was getting pretty straggly at the ends.

Wyndie always cringes when I ask her to do it, but she took off about 6 inches.  I'm happy with it.  It's still plenty long (although I feel lighter!), but now it looks fuller.

The truth now: what do you think?

Dog Day Afternoon

Life is always interesting when you're the mother of three dyed-in-the-wool animal lovers.

After school, Jacob was driving by the public library when he saw a small dog almost get hit by a car, twice.  He felt compelled to rescue her, so he scooped her up and drove her back to school with him, bringing her to my classroom where I was waiting for Dylan to finish his Big Brothers/Big Sisters activity.

I admit, she was cute as a very fluffy button.  Full of winsome personality, a bundle of energy, affectionate but well-behaved.

Jacob wanted to bring her home with us, promising to plaster the neighborhoods around the library with flyers.  He was smitten with her perky little self immediately.

However, I pictured a sad family, missing their pooch.  She was well-groomed, well-fed, and clearly well-loved.  I didn't want to make her family wait and search longer than necessary.

Besides, I already have more mouths to feed than I can afford, between 3 kids and 5 pets!

After Dylan joined us, we drove straight to the Humane Society.  We were thrilled to learn that the little dog, a pomeranian mix named Bridget, had a microchip under her skin.  The staff scanned the chip, punched the numbers into the computer, and gave us her name and her owner's name, address, and phone number.

Apparently Miss Bridget is quite an escape artist.  She'd also slipped away from her home just this past Saturday and had ended up at the Humane Society that day, as well, forcing her owners to pay $20 for her release into their protective custody. 

We offered to drive her home ourselves, thus saving her family further fees.  There was a joyful reunion between Bridget and one of her owners, an older lady named Mary.  Bridget had wandered quite a bit farther from home than was usual, so they hadn't even considered looking for her in the area of the Larson Library.

The boys felt so warm and fuzzy about their good deed, they quit complaining about losing Bridget's cheerful company.  Then, as we turned onto our street, far ahead of us we saw Sarah struggling to manage a huge, shaggy dog on a leash.

It seems Sarah had found her own stray while we were gone.  She had just returned home from an all-day babysitting job when she found Blue, a neighbor's dog, running free.  Sarah is the biggest dog lover of them all, and she can't bear the thought of anyone's dog being lost or hurt.  She can be counted on to mother every animal that comes her way.

However, Blue is a muscular, enthusiastic handful, even for Sarah, so Jacob and Dylan jumped out of the car and ran to her aid.  They soon delivered him safely to his home around the corner and down the road. 

So much for the restful afternoon I had planned!  But it's good to know our canine friends are safely at home with their loved ones tonight, and their families aren't worrying about their furry friends' welfare.  It was a satisfying way to spend an hour!