Saturday, December 12, 2015

Day 345, Friday, December 11, 2015

We have a food drive at school every December.  It breaks my heart to see some of the students bringing food that I know they got from the food pantry.  If you look really close at the lower right hand corner, you will see the total of pounds for the last 5 years.  Today our total was 1,250 pounds.  I weighed it all myself today.  I had just finished weighing the cans, when the fire team came to pick it up.  They will have a pizza party with the class who won.  It was a very inspiring prize to have pizza with the firemen!

Day 344, Thursday, December 10, 2015

This morning the sunrise was very colorful!  ...and the sunset was just a beautiful!

Day 343, Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Our Elf on the Shelf, Jovie decided she was going to be the  "Golden Rule Student of the Week" with a kindergarten student.  On Wednesday, the student of the week, gets to pick who sits at their table during lunch.  Jovie packed her lunch bag and perched herself at the table, too!

Day 342, Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Cindy and I have been working together for about 25 years.  We enjoy many of the same things (sorry, no fishing for me!).  We decorated our office Christmas tree this morning.

Day 341, Monday, December 7, 2015

Our card swap group met at Avanti's to eat dinner together, swap gift card holders and have a scrapbook/card making gift exchange.  We have been together for a long time.  Some members are newer to the group, but most of us are the original girls who got together at Scrapbook Magic when that store was open.

Day 340, Sunday, December 6, 2015

Cindy and I went to Leo's Studio to paint this cute snowman.  Everyone's turns out just a little bit different.  We had a great time painting, even if the paint brushes were a little worn!

Day 339, Saturday, December 5, 2015

We didn't have much to do today.  We ate dinner at Kaydee Kat's in Peoria Heights.  We drove out to Washington to view the lights on Jaden's Way.  There is a house decorated to resemble Christmas Vacation and it is called Griswald Way!    The neighbors have their house decorated as well.  We enjoyed all the lights on this street.

Day 338, Friday, December 4, 2015

We went to the Morton Buildings Christmas party at Embassy Suites in East Peoria.  I was getting low on gas, so we stopped at Costco and filled up for $1.61 a gallon.  I can't remember when gas prices were this low.

Day 337, Thursday, December 3, 2015

We tried a new chicken recipe for dinner tonight.  I used Brussels sprouts instead a fresh green beans.  Of course, I was afraid Jim wouldn't like it, but he did.  We will have this again when there are fresh green beans.

Day 336, Wednesday, December 2, 2015

I eat lunch at Subway, every day.  I know the employees well.  My favorite sandwich artist has been making my salad for me.  He made a happy face with the BBQ sauce and cheese for hair!

Day 335, Tuesday, December 1, 2015

My car is 10 years old.  She is a good girl!  She turned over 100,000 miles today.  I might have had to drive around the block a couple of times to get this photo!

Day 334, Monday, November 30, 2015

I bought new silk flowers for my Shabby Mason jar.  I had fall flowers in the jar.  The stems were super long, so I had to cut them off with the wire cutters three times before I got the right length!

Day 333, Sunday, November 29, 2015

We decorated the outside of our house this morning.  There are lights along the roof line.  The snowman and Santa Claus are lit as well.  It was cold, but we bundled up and got everything done.

Day 332, Saturday, November 28, 2015

We went to Walnut Grove Farm in Knoxville.  I bought a fresh wreath to hang on our front door.  This is a working barn, so there wasn't any heat and it was only 30 degrees outside.  We didn't stay very long because it was so cold.  There were several artists with displays.  I had my picture with Santa.  There was also a horse and carriage ride.

Day 331, Friday, November 27, 2015

We spent the day decorating the house.  We put the large tree in the living room this year and the little Santa tree in the family room.  We did have a little rest time in between.  Our house looks like Christmas!

Day 330, Thursday, November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving!  We had lots of yummy food today.  My family filled out the annual "grateful" cards.  We watched "Christmas Vacation" as our annual first viewing of this Christmas Classic!

Day 329, Wednesday, November 25, 2015

I entered a raffle at a crop in September and won a car detailing coupon.  I took my car to Mike Miller to get it cleaned inside and out!

Day 328, Tuesday, November 24, 2015

I like the badges that my Fitbit sends me.  This badge marks the 4000 flight of steps I have climbed.

Day327, Monday, November 23, 2015

I bought a new bracelet from KEEP.  The I Hate Cancer Club was having a fund raiser and I always like to support my friend AJ.  I got the purple bracelet with the tree (family), cancer awareness (for my mom and John) and the camera.

Day 326, Sunday, November 22, 2015


Jim gave me this pumpkin for my birthday.  It has a Jack-O-Lantern face on the other side.  I bought fall flowers and decorated it for Thanksgiving.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Day 325, Saturday, November 21, 2015

It is snowing and the wind is blowing and so far the salt truck has been by our house 2 times!

Day 324, Friday, November 20, 2015

Snoopy says its almost time for pumpkin pie!

Day 323, Thursday, November 19, 2015

We have been trying to purchase mini iPad's for the students at school.  We finally got them after working to buy them for several weeks.  Apple doesn't want to sell them to a school through a retailer.  They have to be purchase directly from Apple.  I have been putting the screen savers on them, today.

Day 322, Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Today was Grandparents Day at school.  There were about 200 grandparents who ate lunch with their grandchild.  They came to the library where they could adopt a book for their grandchild and I took their picture with their grandchild.

Day 321, Tuesday, November 17, 2015

I had a 30% off coupon for Kohl's as well as some Kohl's cash, so I bought a Kitchen Aid Mixer.  Not that I bake that much, but it sure makes the best mashed potatoes!

Day 320, Monday, November 16, 2015

I worked on this Christmas layout, even though I spent the entire weekend at the Barn working on my December Daily, I just had to do another layout!

Day 319, Sunday, November 15, 2015

This is what our table looks like this morning.  There are six of us, scrap-booking for the whole weekend.  It was a fantastic weekend and I can't wait until we can all get together again!

Day 318, Saturday, November 14, 2015

I made it to the Barn last night.  We made this sign to reflect how we feel about our visit!  Priceless!

Day 317, Friday, November 13, 2015

Today we celebrated Cindy's birthday at school.  Her birthday is tomorrow, so I brought her present to her and had a hot cocoa bar and chex mix to share with our staff.  Happy Birthday to my BFF! 

Day 316, Thursday, November 12, 2015

I made chex mix to take to school for Cindy's birthday and more to take to the Barn for the weekend trip!

Day 315, Wednesday, November 11, 2015

This is one of the Veteran's Day decorations in our hallway at school.  The students went to the junior high this afternoon for a program honoring our local veteran's.

Day 314, Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Since daylight savings time has started, it gets dark before 5 p.m.

Day 313, Monday, November 9, 2015

I am going to the Barn this coming weekend.  Jenjo asked if anyone had a snowman die and stamp.  I sent her this picture.

Day 312, Sunday, November 8, 2015

I went to Kroger's today to get groceries.  The Wiener Mobile was in the parking lot.  The licence plate is BIG BUN!

Day 311, Saturday, November 7, 2015

This is a picture of Nate.  He was about 8 months old in this photo.  His 34th birthday is today!  Happy Birthday, Nate!

Day 310, Friday, November 6, 2015

The leaves are all falling as the temp has been dropping.  This is probably going to be one of our last walks outside this year.  Coco loves to walk with me.

Day 309, Thursday, November 5, 2015

Stacie, Cindy and I went to the benefit, Totes for Ta Ta's.  Tiffany invited us to go after she had gone to the first event.  We had a great time, bidding on the purses and totes to benefit breast cancer.

Day 308, Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Mary Beth, a friend of mine, posted on facebook the other day about her gas gauge.  Her husband was concerned because she always lets her gas gauge go as low as she can.  I do the same thing, except in the really cold winter.  I hate to pump gas.  I can do it, I just don't like to!

Day 307, Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Coco and I have been enjoying our walks in the afternoon.  The trees are so beautiful!

Day 306, Monday, November 2, 2015

Snoopy is my favorite character. He has been for a very long time.  This is the 50th Anniversary of Charles Schultz creating Snoopy and his gang, Peanuts.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Day 305, Sunday, November 1, 2015

The mums are beautiful at Grand Prairie.  We did some shopping and ate lunch at Smokin' Notes BBQ.

Day 304, Saturday, October 31, 2015

Happy Halloween!  It was a rainy cold day.  We went to see the movie "Truth" this morning.  We only had about 4 trick or treat kids tonight.

Day 303, Friday, October 30, 2015


We had a book fair during our parent teacher conferences.  This giraffe was looking at me, so I had to take its picture.

Day 302, Thursday, October 29, 2015

I suggested a Super Hero Halloween theme.  All of our teachers and staff dressed as super heros.  Cindy and I created a "city scape"  to use.

Day 301, Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Our Pre-Kindergarten staff had their Halloween activities today.  There are two morning and two afternoon classes.  Lots of little Halloween costumes!

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Day 300, Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Today is my birthday!  Jim sent me flowers to say Happy Birthday!

Day 299, Monday, October 26, 2015

If you look really close at the photo on the left side of the sign, that little puppy was Coco when he was only 10 weeks old.  He is the groom dog of the month, so they put his profile picture on the sign.  He was only 3 pounds and 6 ounces in this picture.

Day 298, Sunday, October 25, 2015


Jim picked the remainder of the tomatoes from our two plants that Nate planted in May.  There were still about 50 or so green tomatoes on both plants, but it will be too cold for the plants to survive this week.

Day 297, Saturday, October 24, 2015

Happy Birthday to my parents!  My mom's bday is today and my dad's was on Wednesday.  We went to Kouri';s to eat dinner and took a cake to Morton Terrace to share with the residents who were really excited about cake!

Day 296, Friday, October 23, 2015

I drive by this tree everyday on my way to work.  It has been changing colors and it is just beautiful!