My Work Place

OK...this may be a year late, but this was the first I was able to capture of picture of Florence Black Elementary School in Mesquite. After 15 years with the Richardson School District I finally landed a job in my home town of Mesquite for the 2007-2008 school year. My driving commute went from about 20 miles (one way) to a mere 2 blocks. Couldn't have come at a better time with the gas prices going up. I am still teaching Special Education. I am doing the same thing, teaching Resource Classes at the elementary level. This is a wonderful school in a wonderful district. GREAT Administration and a wonderful staff to work with. I will be returning to Black Elementary for the 2008-2009 school year doing the same thing with the same staff and most of the same students.

Summer Vacation 2008

This summer John and I flew to San Francisco. This was the first time to the city for the both of us. We stayed at the Marriott at Fisherman's Wharf. It was a great place to stay because it was walking distance to just about everything we wanted to see. On day one, we took a boat cruise around the bay, under the Golden Gate and around Alcatraz. Day Two we took the Trolly tour around the city. I am glad we didn't have to drive up and down those steep streets of the city. That evening we took the Alcatraz tour. On day three we took a van trip up to Muir Woods and were able to hike amid some of the amazing Redwoods. On the way back we stopped at Muir Beach and looked out into the Pacific Ocean before stopping at Salsilito for lunch. On the fourth day we took it easy. We did go over to Pier 39 and watched the seals and browsed in some of the shops. The best thing was leaving this Texas heat and enjoyed the cool ocean breezes. We had an enjoyable and relaxing time. Now, where can we go next year? Hmmm...have a couple ideas.

How Does Your Garden Grow

Every year I manage to get a garden planted in the backyard. This year I planted about 100 onions (Texas Sweets). They were harvested early June and are really good. I also plant tomatoes, peppers and for the first time this year I tried zucchni. I didn't even know I had one until I took a good luck under all the leaves and found this humungous vegetable. It will be shredded up into some zucchini bread. The tomatoes are really nice, but not producing much. The peppers are coming in real slow also. Hopefully I will be able to make one batch of ketchup.

Taryn and Evan

On March 15, Taryn, John and their son Evan Anderson came up from Waco, TX. While John attended a conference, Taryn, Evan and I enjoyed the afternoon at Grapevine Mills Mall. We had a fun lunch at The Rainforest Cafe. Evan enjoyed all the sights and sounds of the rainforest. At 7 months he is such a sweetie. We then wore ourselves out shopping the rest of the day.

Company to Mesquite

Hey!! We love visitors coming to our house. The week-end of March 1, Chris & Ann from Washingston State and Kelly from CoSprings came to the Big D to see the Stars play. (We won't talk about the Stars game here:( But it was nice to have their company. We revisited a popular restuarant--the Bavarian in Plano. One more liter and we might have gotten Chris and Kelly up to do the chicken dance. We came back to the house to work off the evening feast with some Wii exercise. Kelly kicked our butts in bowling. On Sunday we went to the Magical Time Machine. Met up with some old friends--Jeff and Gail--and antaganized our waiter--Dr. Jekyl and Mr Hyde. We appreciated their visit....Waiting for more of you to come on down, over or up!!

Anniversary

On March 6, John and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary. We didn't do anything special, but go out to eat at Steak 'n Ale.

Our Christmas Tree

Well, thanks for John's help I got the tree put up today. It us pretty much a full day's job. The cats are liking it. The older ones just sit in the chair or under the tree and admire it's glistening beauty. The younger ones like to climb it and bat the ornaments off. Oh bother!!!