TGIF!!

It's finally Friday!! It's been a long week and I am ready for a weekend break! We don't have anything planned really. I would like to have Landen come spend the night, but haven't talked to Elizabeth yet. I broke down and called her boyfriends phone last night and left a message incase her phone isn't working again. Walter's son, Sean, may want to go out to eat for his birthday, so maybe we'll do that if he calls. Otherwise, I'll do as little house cleaning as I can get away with and then relax! I hoped my 2 new books would be in by now, but I got a notice that my money was refunded from Half.com with no explanation, so I reordered them from a different seller, but wont have them for this weekend.

Cameron finished all but 1 hour of his driving for driver's ed. He has to go again Monday for an hour, then he's done. I told him I will take him to get his permit if his attitude seems mature enough this week to seem like someone who should have the responsibility of driving a car! When JP was this age, I did not allow him to get his permit or license until he was 17 because he was so irresponsible and we knew he was doing drugs. Cameron is a totally different child and we do think he's ready to drive with a permit, but he better act right too. The first day Cameron drove, his coach picked him up and Cameron enjoyed the driving lesson a lot. The second day, the coach's wife showed up to get him and Cameron came home unamused. He said, "she just had to comment about everything I did, where Coach only said something if I did it wrong. It was like having you in the car with me!" Yeah, yeah. That's why I didn't offer to teach him to drive!

My brother, Kenny, sent some new pictures of my niece, Daphne last night. She is 1 and is such a cute little girl. In the first picture, she definitely has the "Dawn attitude" look. I told him to expect eye rolling next! And yes, she's still in love with the giant Elmo I gave her for her birthday. Elmo goes everywhere she goes. My brother is 6'5" and I think Daphne is going to be a tall girl. She is in the 99% percentile for her height!

Work was great yesterday! I got to sit in on one of the groups on cultural diversity that was done with our 3rd graders by the professor from William & Mary College. He is the same person who is doing workshops with us in the evenings this week, and I went to a 2nd one last night. After the workshop, my supervisor told me that the professor told her that he thinks I should coordinate monthly parent activities at the elementary school to help get the parents involved with their kids at school and he told her that he thinks I seem organized, sensitive, and that I would be respectful. Go me! And yes, I probably will try to do that if they give me some better idea of what they are talking about.

So, I was late to steak night because of the workshop, but I just met Walter, Cathy, & Brent there and had them just order for me and got there right on time!! As usual, it was delicious! We had our favorite waitress and her co-workers sing Happy Birthday to Walter and he loved that (not!!) and he got a complimentary piece of cake that I gladly ate due to the status of my diet going down the drain again this morning!! I need to work on that!! Walter was also worried about going to work yesterday because he has done that whole decorating people's desks in black thing on their 50th birthdays and once even photoshopped pictures of someone on an old man's body. I told him to think about the 10 years that he's known me and to think if he's EVER seen me do that with any friends or family and he said no. I said, "that's because when MY time comes around, I don't want anyone to do that to me!" He was lucky that they did not do anything crazy (he said he thinks they forgot what he's done in the past) and just got him a cake!

I've had SO many compliments on my new layout!! Be sure to check out Anissa at Beelicious Blog Designs when you have a chance! She rocks my blog world!!!!

Well, time for work! Have a great Friday!!

Blog Heaven!!

Y'all!! Look how awesome my new blog layout is!!! I volunteered to be a "guinea bee" for Anissa at Beelicious Blog Designs and who knew I would end up with such a great layout!! I think you should go right on over there and check out her website if you haven't been by there yet. I am totally in love with my new page!!

Cameron is driving again as I type with his driver's ed. instructor. He will drive again for 3 hours today and i'm hoping he does as good today as he did Monday. He brought home results for a reading screening that he was given at school and he scored on a post-high school level, which is great for a 10th grader who really should be in 9th grade. He made the cut off to start school by a few days, so he started Kindergarten at 4 years old and sometimes struggles a little bit because of it. We got really tickled reading the results because Cameron does not do ANYTHING extra as far as reading or studying. I read a few of the computerized comments to him:

• These scores indicate that Cameron Jean (for some reason it calls him by his first and middle names as if he's in trouble - and the Jean is French and is pronounced closer to John) likely reads for pleasure, information, and academic purposes (ok, if you say so!)
• Cameron Jean likely previews chapters before reading and takes notes while studying (cough, cough, cough...he doesn't read the chapter at ALL and trust me he isn't studying, much less taking notes!)
• At this level, Cameron Jean needs to continue to read nonfiction materials, classic literature, and the daily news (bahahahahahaha...is World of Warcraft considered nonfiction??)

Anyway, I was proud of his reading abilities and hope that will encourage him to maybe, oh I don't know, open a book?

I was a very good dieter today, not really by choice, but I was. I had a low-carb Slim Fast for breakfast AND lunch!! I brought one to work just incase I couldn't slip away to eat, and then I couldn't slip away to eat!! It worked out fine though because I really wasn't hungry and just had a snack when I got home. The guy who did our workshop yesterday was at one of my schools all day today starting some programs with some of our kids, so my supervisor, my boss, and pretty much everyone from the school board was in and out of the school throughout the day and I didn't want to leave incase anyone was looking for me. I met with several of my kids and caught up on some paperwork and got some meetings scheduled, so it was a productive day.

I'm going to go rest my brain now!! Have a good evening!!

I could get used to this!!

Yes, that's right!! More awards!! I could get used to this people!! Watch out!!

Patti at Nonna's News gave me this award today! Isn't it cute?? Thank you Patti!!!

Here are the rules...

Mention the blog that gave it to you and comment on their blog to let them know you've posted your award.
Publish these rules
Share 6 values that are important to you and 6 things you do not support:

6 things I value:
1. My relationship with God
2. My family
3. My friends
4. My education
5. My job
6. My desire to help others

6 things I do not support:
1. Barack Obama
2. Drug use
3. Pitt bulls
4. Dead beat dads (or moms)
5. Teachers who forget why they chose to be teachers
6. Euthanizing animals that are not terminally ill

6 people I'd like to pass this award to:
1. Breanne at Expectantly Waiting
2. Karen at Surrounded by Sea Monkeys
3. Kelley at My Life With My Love
4. Chelle at Chelle's Writings
5. Leslie at Got Kids, Need Valium
6. Virginia at Maboozle

Tulsi at The Family Awaits gave me this award today!! Thank you Tulsi!!!

The creator of this award said that "since everyone is being warm and fuzzy with the passing of awards lately, I've decided to come up with my own. It will be called the "NYX" award after my cat."

The rules will be simple:
Pay it forward to at least one blogger you think needs a bit of cheering up, or a mean ass little kitty to stare down unwanted people, objects, moods, lingering doubts, etc. If you don't know anyone needing a Nyx fix at the moment, keep her in reserve.

Link back to the blog who gave it to you.
Link back to me if you want. This part is completely optional. I'm not in this for fame and fortune. This is about putting a smile on a fellow bloggers face.
Pretend to like cat's if your a dog person.

I am going to give this "pick me up" award to Kimmy at MBKimmy's Krazy Thoughts because she has a new baby plus a toddler, and they are ALL sick and have been off and on for a few weeks!! And well, she just needs something to make her smile, so I hope this does it!!

AND, if that wasn't enough, I get to be a "Guinea Bee" for Anissa the Queen Bee for a new blog design!! I am really excited to spice up my boring blog layout!!!

Ok, so, what else? I had another long day today. I went to a workshop after work today until 6pm about cultural diversity and disproportionality today. I'm glad I went, but I'm tired! I had an IEP meeting (it's a special ed. thing) at 9am this morning, and the parent who came showed up with sandwiches, chips, brownies, cake, and soft drinks. And yes, they put the brownies in front of me and I had to look at them for 2 hours while the meeting went on. And yes, I totally blew my diet and ate 2 brownies, a sandwich, and a bag of chips. And no, most parents do not bring food to the meetings, but this one always does. How cool is that? And since I blew my diet, my co-worker/friend, Courtney & I went to eat at the Chinese buffet before the workshop. I will do better tomorrow!!! But it was worth it!

Cameron's dad picked him up today for his week with him, but he'll be back tomorrow after school so that he can do his driving for drivers ed. again. I should be able to get to see him for a few minutes before his dad picks him up. I'm still waiting to hear if Landen is free (he has a busy social life) this weekend to come spend the night. I miss him!!

Go Me! Go Me!

Woohoo!! I am celebrating over here!! I got an award and won a contest today!!

I received this award from Ronda at Ronda's Rants and I am so honored!! I have eyed this little beauty on other blogs and have never received it myself!! Now she's mine!!! All mine!!! Thank you so much Ronda!!! I am going to nominate 5 people for it who have award winning blogs!!!

1. Dawn at Dawn's Diversions - Dawn and I have a lot in common (just start with our names and you'll see what I mean) and I learned about the PRIZE I just won from her blog, so her blog deserves my latest award too!!

2. Renie at Renie Burghardt's World - I love reading Renie's blog and seeing the beautiful pictures of her grandchildren!

3. Frizzy at Heaven's Gift - Frizzy has a great blog and always shares pictures of her beautiful daughter and the fun they have!

4. Tracy at The Journey - this blog is very uplifting and wonderful to read! Also, lots of great pictures!

5. Ronnica at Tale of a Kansas Girl - I really enjoy this blog and the deep thinking that goes into many of her posts. It challenges me to think!

And next, I won an awesome prize in a contest from Christine at Mommy Madness today!!! Yay!!! I am so excited to have won something!! Thank you, thank you, thank you Christine!!! My grandson, Landen, will LOVE the webkin!!!! I will share the rest with my sweet little niece, Daphne!

I had a long day at work today, then had my social work supervision group until 6pm. I am worn out!! I saw all the kids I had scheduled today and also held the first Why Try group with my 8th graders on my own. My co-worker is leading 2 other groups with me, but I wanted to try some others on my own. Only 3 kids showed up today, so it may end up being a small group, but that is fine with me. I am not great at keeping control over large groups of kids, so thank God I'm not a teacher, but I do ok with the small groups. Today, the kids just introduced themselves and we talked about what "Why Try" means. They all 3 said they were excited to come back next week, so that's something. I can't say that our other groups were real happy about coming, but hopefully now that they know what it's about, they'll want to come. We gave them candy at the end, so if nothing else, they can come for the candy!

We ended up going to lunch at Kevin's Seafood Restaurant instead of Hilltop yesterday since it was less crowded. I had a ribeye and some veggies and stuck to my diet! We both did good today too, so hopefully we'll lose some more weight this week. I had a low carb Slim Fast for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and oddly enough, I wanted a bacon & cheese omelet when I got home tonight. Several people asked for the low-carb meatloaf recipe that I found:

Low-carb Meatloaf:
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (or try 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 ground pork)
1 cup pork rind crumbs
1 egg 1/3 cup tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons parsley
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
** I added a mixture of tomato sauce, splenda, & worchester sauce to the top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients (except the mixture I added at the end). Shape into a firm oval loaf in shallow baking pan. Bake for 50 minutes. Add mixture to the tope and bake for 10 more minutes. Makes 6 servings - 2.5 carbs per serving (not counting my mixture on top.). There will be a lot of fat after it is cooked. You can drain it off or let the meatloaf sit and soak it up. It is drier if you drain it off.

Cameron would normally go back to his dad's after school today for a week, but his dad is out of town and will pick him up tomorrow after school. It ended up that today was Cameron's first driving day of driver's ed, so he was gone from 3 - 6 and drove to Hammond, which is a town about 45 minutes from here!! He was nervous before he went, but afterwards he said it was easy and that he enjoyed it. I'm glad someone else is brave enough to take first time drivers out in cars! Yikes!

The river is finally opened again since the hurricanes. We haven't seen boats on the river in weeks, so it was nice to see some out this weekend. The water is still nasty looking, but it's gone back down to normal levels and hopefully, life as usual will resume before we know it.

Sunday

Awww man, you gotta love those Tigers!!! As they like to do, they came from behind last night and won in the last minute of the game so that all of us Tiger fans can go on in to see our Cardiologists in the morning!!! Lawdy be!! But it was a good game and i'm glad we won! They played against Auburn and it's the first time in 10 years that we've won in their territory! We have new quarterbacks, so nobody knows exactly what to think this year, but they did great and played a good game. Walter went to watch the game at a neighbor's house down the street. The guy, Tim, is the "party house" on the street and a crowd can always be found there on the weekends. I am not a huge sports fan and like to watch the game while i'm doing other things, so I stayed home and watched it while finishing New Moon.

And speaking of New Moon, it was a good book, but not nearly as captivating as Twilight. I'm not sure I would have kept reading if I hadn't known there are 2 more books in the series, but it was good and i'm glad I finished it. Stephenie Meyer is an incredible writer and really makes me feel like i'm there in the book and know and love all of the characters. I ordered Eclipse and Breaking Dawn this weekend and hope they will be in soon.

Walter and I are both going to continue with the Atkins diet this week and are finding it easy to stick to. I never really have trouble with it, but it's so much easier not to have to cook something separate for him when I cook all low-carb meals. I made a low carb meat loaf this weekend from a recipe I found online. I've made it before and it really is good. I can share the recipe if anyone is interested. We did decide to just enjoy dinner at the Mexican restaurant, chips and all, and then just pick back up with the diet today. My problem with that is that I usually don't pick it back up the next day!!! But we have and are both looking forward to losing some more weight this week. I still want to think about working out, but it's going to be a busy week for me after work. I have my social work supervision tomorrow until 6 and then I signed up for 2 trainings after work this week that will both last until 6.

My mom & step-dad are coming this afternoon to take Walter & I to lunch for his birthday, which is Thursday. We are going to go to Hilltop, (Walter's choice and my favorite restaurant in the world), and they have an awesome hamburger salad that is perfect for our diet. Cameron is invited, but his attitude was so ugly last night that I have informed him that he will either have to show me that it has improved or stay here. I wont be embarrassed by his rudeness. He chose to stay here, but he did tell me why he was being so ugly, which is due to our argument about the homework last week. I guess he's been stewing over it for a few days, which is fine, but he isn't going to treat me disrespectfully. He also didn't send an email "thank you" for 2 birthday gifts he received on Tuesday, so I let him know this morning that he has until noon to send them or I'm sending the gifts back. Both gifts were money/gift certificates, so it is not something he wants to lose, so I hope he does the right thing. I'm sure he's angrier with me now, but he will use his manners or lose the gifts. I talked to Walter about freezing Cameron when he was 10 years old and soooooooooo sweet. Now I wish we'd done it!!!!

I've been trying to call Elizabeth but haven't heard from her. I hope everything is ok since Ike rolled through. The house they just bought is near where 2 rivers meet and after Gustav, there was water almost in the house. I can't imagine that they could stand the extra water that came with Ike. I did invite them here and they didn't come, so I'm sure they are fine. I want Landen to come spend the night next weekend and maybe Mack too. I hate to not invite him, but he is such a hand full. Maybe if Elizabeth would come pick him up the next morning and Landen could stay longer if he wanted too.

Oh, and I almost forgot! Thank goodness, nobody showed up for the party yesterday, so I guess everyone got the "evite" email update and will come next month if they can make it! At my graduation party last year, a friend of mine showed up a week early by mistake and so that really had me worrying about yesterday!!! Whew!! And someone asked about the daiquiri machine - we rented one for my graduation party and it was about $150, which included the drink mix. We had the best time with it! We put it in the backyard where the party was going on and it stayed cold the entire time!!

Have a great Sunday!

Saturday

Good news on the diet so far! Since Monday, I have lost 5 lbs. and Walter has lost 4! It hasn't been very hard to stick to the diet and we are going to keep going! We will likely not be able to stick to the diet tonight because we are taking Cameron & Bryce to a Mexican restaurant for Cameron's birthday and there really isn't anything low carb on the menu. You may think that a taco salad without the shell would be ok, but seasoned beef is full of carbs, I've discovered! So, we are just going to enjoy a nice dinner and then go back to our diet once we get home.

Work was busy yesterday, but went by fast and I'm glad to be home for the weekend!!! My co-worker, Joan, & I held the first Why Try group with some of my 6th graders, and it went ok, but the kids were really silly when we first put them together and were only somewhat cooperative, but as they get used to the group, it should be better. We had the kids introduce themselves and tell a little about themselves, then explained briefly what Why Try was about. The teacher was supposed to have the kids come straight to our room at the scheduled time, but that didn't happen, so we lost 15 of our 30 minutes just waiting to have someone find the kids. Overall, it was ok and i'm looking forward to next week. Joan had to lead the 7th grade group at another of my schools by herself due to the meeting I found out about at the last minute, and that group did not go very well at all. We really do need to have 2 of us, at least at first, to keep the peace and settle the kids down. Unfortunately, I can't make it to that group next week either! I offered that Joan could just skip next week, but she wants to go ahead and have the group again. Many of the kids think automatically that they are in trouble or that the group is for the "bad kids" and it really isn't. It is for kids who need motivation, help making good choices, and dealing with peer pressure, but I know it causes some anxiety for the kids at first.

Thanks for all of the kind comments about JP's poem, and yes, I do plan to frame it! He said in his letter that he hoped I would frame it or put it on the refrigerator. He called last night to get some addresses of people who wrote to him, including my friend, Lesley! You can never imagine how much it means to hear from people when you're in a place like that. What's crazy though is that they can't have the envelope, so he doesn't always have a return address. What do they think you can do with an envelope? Anywho, he is doing good and was very happy to have gotten some mail. I found out yesterday that his Maw Maw (his dad's mother) completed her chemotherapy for lung cancer and the cancer is gone! She still has to have radiation to "sterilize" the area, but the cancer is gone. She & her husband both have other health problems, but at least that is not a problem anymore. They live about 15 minutes from me and I try to check in on them when I have a chance. They are good people and helped me so much with JP when he was little.

Walter's 50th birthday party was scheduled for today and I'm so nervous that people didn't get the email about us rescheduling it and will show up today!!! I made sure I cleaned the house good just in case!! Things like that just happen to me, so I know better than to think nobody will show up! Walter wants to rent a daiquiri machine for the party like we did at my graduation party and i'm excited about that! It was such a great idea and everyone loved it!

Yes, you know what night it is!

Yes, it's steak night!!! The best thing about the Atkins diet is that I can eat my favorite ribeye steak, sauteed mushrooms and veggies!! We will go whenever Cathy & Brent get home, which hopefully wont be long from now. Walter is stopping on the way home to get his hair cut at a little salon down the street but i'm sure he'll be home before them. I went and got my hair cut this afternoon and it came out cute. I'd take a picture except that I didn't get the girl to blow dry it, so I'll do that this weekend.

I got a poem from JP in the mail today and it really touched me. If you can get past the drug use and subsequent behavior problems, he is a wonderful person, and I have always been able to get past that to see him for who he is, but can't allow that in my house or around Cameron. He is a former "gifted" student, although I never liked that label. He was tested for the program in 2nd grade and we were told that only 1% of the population has an IQ as high as his. So, to see him end up where he is today, in jail, and possibly for the next 40 years is really hard for me. But as I've said, I turned him over to God even before the incident happened that landed him in jail 18 months ago and I feel certain that God is going to give him a second chance. Ok, but here is why I said all that...check out the poem he wrote me. I really had to laugh about the "always on time," because I am, neurotically, always on time. He is that way too, thanks to me, which I guess is a good thing!

I was tagged by Anissa for this meme!
1. Where were you 10 years ago? Just starting to date Walter, partying like a rock star with my friends, working as an office manager.

2. What is on today's To Do List? Drop boys off at school, work, hair cut, steak night, read blogs and new book.

3. What would you do if you were a billionaire? Pay off all my bills, give money to all of our family members, set up savings accounts for our kids, pay for anyone to go to college that wants to go, donate millions to charity, start a shelter for cats.

4. Name 5 places you have lived. Baton Rouge, Louisiana; East Point, Georgia; Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; City I live in now, Louisiana.

5. Name 3 of your bad habits. Talking too much, worrying too much, snacking too much.

6. What are your favorite snacks? Ice cream, bread pudding, chocolate

Who will you tag for this meme? Anyone who wants to do it!!!!

I've been fighting with Cameron this week about spending an hour each day doing homework or studying. It is always obvious when his dad doesn't stick to the rules because now I get an argument since he isn't making him do it on his week. We agreed at the beginning of the year that we would BOTH (not just ME) require him to work on school work an hour each day after school whether he has homework or not. There is always something to read over or catch up on or even work ahead!! Cameron told me he was NOT going to sit there for an hour if he didn't have homework. I informed him that he WAS and yes, for the record, he did. He pouted the whole time and that's his choice as long as I don't have to see it. I emailed his dad and asked him if he's sticking to our agreement and it could be that missing so many days from the hurricanes just created some laziness with Cameron, but I want to be sure. Cameron told me yesterday that he'll just go live with dad all the time, something you always wait to hear with teenagers when they don't get their way, but i've never heard it before. I told him he'll want to check with dad about changing schools because dad drives him 45 minutes to school every day of his week and 45 minutes home every day of his week. He might not appreciate that too much and Cameron isn't going to switch schools. So yeah. Call dad!

Alrighty then, I'm outta here!! Have a great night!