Just Two More Weeks!

I know I have been a huge blog slacker for the past few months, but if you can just hold out two more weeks, things should start slowing down (at least that is what I am hoping for). I have been writing so much lately that blogging just doesn't seem very desirable when I have a free minute. I hope to get back to my regular updates very soon! Until then, please say a few prayers that I survive the next two weeks. :)

Two Hours of Bliss

To say that my Spring Break has been a week of rest and relaxation would be a lie. Although I have not had to teach during the day, I have spent most of my time at WKU. I now have a topic for my thesis but all the work I have been doing for one of my classes has ended up not helping me at all for the thesis road to come. So I have switched topics and basically have to redo all the work I have done for one of my classes this semester so that I will be further along for my thesis. It was a sad realization for me but hopefully in the end all the extra work crammed into the next four weeks will pay off.
With all this extra stress I felt I should finally use a much needed Swedish massage and pedicure gift certificate. I have been saving this gift certificate to Bella Salon and Spa since Christmas which was a gift from Bryan's parents. Now I have never had a massage and I very rarely get pedicures so I didn't want to use it until I absolutely needed it. Well the time had come and it was amazing. I felt like I was in heaven! For those of you in BG that have not been to Bella Salon and Spa I would highly recommend it. Not only was it beautiful and very relaxing but you are treated like you are royalty. If you go into some salons there are people yelling and talking on the phone and you feel like you are just another customer, but not at Bella. They did everything they could to make me feel as comfortable and relaxed as possible. From the luxurious robe to the soothing tranquility room to the massage room filled with a gorgeous chandelier and fireplace to the warm neck wrap during my pedicure, I felt like a princess. I am not sure how often I will be able to go back but they have won me over. I am already looking forward to the next time.

Gearing Up for Gardening

Since Thursday was the first official day of Spring, I decided I should start gearing up for my gardening. School was out Thursday and Friday for Beta Convention so I spent my days preparing my flower beds by putting down garden edging, shopping for shrubs, and researching what would grow best in our front yard. I visited a nursery and was given a lot of great advice for our yard. I have decided that during mid-April I am going to be planting hydrangeas and laurels in front of our porch and along the sidewalk I am planting firepower shrubs and some flowering plants. I have already bought the shrubs but I am going to wait until after tomorrow evening to plant them because there is another chance of snow! The weather sure has been crazy this year. The hydrangeas and laurels and flowering plants have to be bought and planted after the last frost which is apparently around mid-April. I am taking all precautions to keep these plants alive. I have a one year guarantee on the shrubs, thank goodness. Bryan even helped me yesterday test the soil to determine the pH level and the nutrients our yard needs. We have determined that between now and mid-April we are going to have to increase the acid level for the hydrangeas and laurels to live. We also have no nitrogen in our yard thus the reason no grass will grow and only clover will. Apparently clover can absorb nitrogen from the air but grass cannot. So we are going to be sowing grass seed after the last frost date too along with lots of fertilizer. Hopefully in a few months I can post some pictures of a beautiful green and flowery yard. Just keep your fingers crossed! :)

Heading Home on a Crazy, Snowy Day

I headed up to Louisville for the Kentucky Teaching and Learning Conference on Wednesday right after school. I was looking forward to the trip because Louisville has some great places to shop and eat and I get to enjoy those things during any free time. I had a wonderful meal at P.F. Chang's Wednesday evening (thanks to the suggestion of Kelly and Nathan). I enjoyed a delicious meal at Lynn's Paradise Cafe on Thursday (probably my most favorite restaurant ever). Then Thursday evening I did some shopping at Mall St. Matthews and we finished the day at the Cheesecake Factory. I also got to visit the Whole Foods Market that was right beside the mall. It was amazing and although I was only able to purchase some black grapes and organic honey I was quite pleased with my first visit. I will definitely be going back for a larger shopping trip soon.

Today when I woke up at 5:15 eastern time (4:15 ours) my friend Tamara and I realized that we might possibly get snowed in if we stayed for the rest of the conference. We did some major debating and then around seven we decided we better eat breakfast and hit the road. When we left at close to nine, there was already several inches of snow on the ground and even more was coming down. The forcast said that they should expect 10-12 inches by tomorrow! They are even expecting thundersnow. Just when I thought spring was coming, we have some crazy, snowy weather.

As we were driving south the roads were very slick until we got close to Munfordsville and then there was mostly water. I decided I would stop by the grocery store in BG just in case we also get some measurable precipitation. It is supposed to start later this evening so I can't wait to see. For the rest of the day I am going to cuddle up on the couch in a warm blanket, watch Lost (I didn't get to see it last night), and then take a nice long nap. :)

Here are some pictures of the snow:

This was from my hotel window, just when the snow was starting this morning.

This was the Lousiville Airport as I was driving by. As you can see the snow is so thick you cannot see the planes or the runway like you normally can.

The Interstate signs were very quickly being covered with snow.

More snow!!!

My Brother the Runner

My brother has had a surprising few months. He has become quite the runner. He ran in the St. Jude Marathon on Dec. 1, 2007 which was amazing because he had only run a few 5K's previously. He qualified for the Boston Marathon during that race, but he also had a personal goal. He wanted his store, Dick's Sporting Goods where he is the Running Specialist, to raise $10,000 to support the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. He told them that if they raised that amount he would run from the Jackson, TN store to the hospital which is 85 miles! The event was an incentive and a way to publicize the fundraiser. There was an article in the local newspaper, he had several interviews from local radio stations, and the tv news crew also helped to publicize the run. On January 31, 2008 he took off on his two day journey. He couldn't realistically run the whole thing so he said he would run five miles and then walk one until he got there. He was able to run (he didn't have to walk) 42 miles the first day before the weather got so bad that he had to stop. The next day he made it to St. Jude and was welcomed by the hospital staff. His friend John followed him the whole way and he also had a police escort for most of the journey. Here is a link to the video of the event:

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=27978948

Since then he has been raising money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The Lance Armstrong Foundation, also known as LIVESTRONG has sponsored him to run in the Boston marathon and he is trying to raise $3500 for research of cancer. If you would like to donate to support him and the Lance Armstrong Foundation you can click on the link.

www.livestrong.org/grassroots2008/mricherson

I am very proud of my little brother the runner! :)

Exhaustion

This week and the weekend have been so busy and full of so many late nights that exhaustion has taken over. I don't really know why it has been so busy other than the fact that I had meetings and gatherings that took place amongst my usually normal busy schedule. I spent the day in Louisville at a Kentucky Reading Association board meeting for instance instead of catching up on sleep like I normally do after class on Saturday mornings. Every other day this past week has had some kind of extra squeezed into it too. I am trying to be restful today but I have all my graduate classwork to work on today.

I am attending the Kentucky Teaching and Learning Conference this week. I will head up to Lousiville again Wednesday evening and will enjoy lots of learning until Friday evening. I am hoping that this will be a nice little break from the normal hustle and bustle since I had no choice about going. I am required to go because of a grant that our school receives for the Lit. Lab. Yes, although it doesn't seem like it sometimes because 3rd takes up more of my day, I am still a part-time Literacy Lab teacher. It makes for a very strange day, but fun nonetheless.

On a different subject, while I was gone yesterday Bryan and our friend Nathan tore the garage down. Bryan almost broke his back by falling off a ladder and he is incredibly sore now, but he is going to be fine. I will try to post some pictures soon of the garage destruction. :)

I've Been Tagged!

Although I have never heard about blog tagging, I figured I would participate. Here it goes...

THE RULES

Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
Post THE RULES on your blog.
Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
Tag 7 people and link them.
Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

My 7 Weird or Random Facts:

1. I require absolutely enormous amounts of sleep. I have to have at least 8 hours of sleep each night and I can take a nap at any time during the day without any problem.

2. I have always wanted to be in a famous singing group. I don't like to sing solo but I absolutely love singing with other people. I used to sing on the praise team at church in Jackson. If you are a BG or Cookeville friend, you might not have known that.

3. I admit it, I am a big Nascar fan. After many years of making fun of Bryan for being one, I have finally converted into one as well. I am even participating in Fantasy Nascar this year. (So far I am ahead of Bryan in points.)

4. I am a Post-it Note Queen. I use post-it notes for everything.

5. I have a phobia of writing in books. I guess that is why I use post-it notes so often. :)

6. I have an obsession with buying children's books. I am always looking for the best deals. I have over 800 books in my classroom library.

7. My favorite desert in the whole wide world is Mariah's bread pudding. I don't know how I lived without it for so long. Yum! Yum!

Since everyone that I know that blogs has either been tagged or tagged me, my blog tagging adventure is stopping here. I hope you enjoy the weird and random facts about me.