Cinderella's Castle is FINISHED!!!!!!

I am so happy to finish a UFO!!!!!!   I just love this design!!!! Every time I look at it I just smile!!!  This is my 5th UFO finish this year!!!!  This is a retired design that I actually received off 123stitch's weekly wishlist.    The person that send it had actually finished about 1/4 of the design so instead of starting it over I just decided to start stitching where she left off....I mean..Why waste a good stitched piece.  I did check it to make sure there were no errors and all was well!!!!!

I needed a little bit of pixiedust this week after everything we went through at school.  See the previous post because it was heartbreaking.   On Friday,  I took the day off to rest after everything that happened.  Mark and I spent the rainy day watching the entire season of Revenge on Netflix.   We got all caught up and ready to start the new season.   I have been stitching on my HAED- A Wintery Heirloom because I need to finish a tree....If you have been reading for a while then you know I HATE stitching the trees on this design because it is nothing but confetti stitches.  UGH!!!!  I will post an update of it after I finish the tree....I hate this tree.  Just so you know!!!!

My diet hasn't been that great since all that has been going on.  I have lost 4.4 lbs!!!!!   I had an Idea to try on the dream pair of pants and take a picture.  I dug them out, put them on and they only came up to Mid-Thigh....I decided not to take that picture!  You have no need to see my fat or my underwear!  HEE HEE....Going to put on the pants once a month....hoping they will fit sometime!!

Death of a student

This has been the most horrible week in a teachers life.  I went to school on Thursday of last week all happy and ready to work.   One of my students stopped me to let me know I had to go to another teachers room because she was crying over a student.  I ran to her room to find out that one of my guys who I have taught for the last 3 years passed away the night before.  We do not know anything and won't for a while.  

I had to call in all of my students who were his friends and break the news to them.   Over 20 kids sat in stunned silence for over an hour.  I had to take a couple of boys out of the room so they could cry on my shoulder because they don't cry in front of friends.   My students were so upset.  I had several who stayed in the classroom we designated as the grief room for 2 days.  I had to make them go to class on Monday because they had to get back into the routine.

On Tuesday, I gave a class on etiquette for the visitation and funeral.  I wanted my kids to know what to expect.  The school was wonderful.  They provided a bus for us to take over 50 kids to the funeral.  Visitation was HARD!!!    Saying goodbye to him was horrible.   Luckily, Mark went with me and it was a good thing.  He had to hold me up at one point because I just couldn't stand.  I am going to miss this young man so much.  He was just a tender hearted  guy who befriended everyone!!!

The funeral was terrible but our kids did amazing!!!  They came in and was very respectful of the service.  They helped each other out by rubbing a crying classmates shoulder or pulling them close so the could cry on their shoulder.  I couldn't listen to the funeral because I was too focused on my kids.  I had to move around a bit to pull some of them close.

When we got back to the school,  I kept 12 kids with me and we just blew bubbles, drew, and listened to our IPODS.  

I am so tired,  I haven't had a chance to breathe yet.  I am taking the day off work tomorrow because I am just emotionally exhausted.

Struggling with weight!

I have to keep this in my mind at all times!!!!!  I am someone who as a child, teenager or in my twenties never had to worry about my weight.  It was never an issue.  I was always a perfect size 4.  Then I aged into my thirties, met Mark and all of sudden I started going up in size.  At first I wasn't too concerned, as long as I stayed in the single digits of clothing I was ok.  Well...I moved to size 10 and that broke me.  I tried losing weight last year but whenever I started....something happened.  I think my first hurdle was Strep throat, that turned into bronchitis which lasted for over 3 weeks.  I got out of the routine, tried to start but then school got frustrating. Let's face it.  I have an excuse for why I don't diet.  One of the main reasons...I like food especially anything Fried or cooked in butter!!!!  I  told myself as long as I don't get to 140 life will be ok...I stayed around 138 for a long while.   Last Sunday, I stepped on the scale and I weighed in at 149.1.  Yep..0.09 before I reached 150!!!!!  I cried!  

I knew something was up because well..I can't fit into any of my pants.  That isn't true.  I have one pair of capris that fit without me having to squeeze my belly in or lay on the bed.   I have one pair of capris and one pair of jeans that if I lay on the bed, I can fit into them.  I do worry the button will pop off though.  

I am dieting again!  This time I found an app for my Ipad called Lose it.    I like it because I can also log into the website to list my food and exercise for that day.  The best thing...if you exercise, it lets you eat more food!!!!!  YUM!!!  I don't feel like I am starving.  I can honestly say that this week, I haven't eaten all of my calories.   My plan is too lose 1 lb a week.  As you can see from the picture above, that is alot!  So by May of 2013, I will hopefully be at my goal weight.  How will I know if I am there??  By one pair of jeans.  I have kept the pair of jeans that I wore on my first date with Mark.   I can't even get them up past my knees now...but once I can put them on and zip them with no problem.  I will reach my goal!!!

I am using my Biggest Loser Wii game for exercise.  I try to work out at least 4 days a week plus my weigh in day.  What happens this week when I was working out? I twisted my ankle...but I bought a brace and not letting it get me down!!!!  I am also climbing the stairs at work and parking farther away so I have to walk.  Another thing I am doing is trying to eat more whole foods, not pre-packaged meals.   I do love to eat out though...

I would love any tips or suggestions you may have on weight loss. What has helped you??? Any good recipes????  

Summer Ball, Mushrooms, Floss and Gibbs

As you can tell by the title this is going to be a LONG post.

I finished page 3 of my Summer Ball project!!!!   I am now over the 50% mark on this piece!!!!  Just Love it!!!!

In case you don't know, my husband is a fresh mushroom vendor for Wal-mart.  He works for a mushroom company based out of PA.  Every once in a while, he will get samples in to take to Wal-mart.  Usually we just get enough to take to them and usually an extra pack for ourselves.   This time someone was feeling generous.  Mark thought he was getting like 9 packages....we got 40 instead!!!!  I have coming out my ears. We gave away alot of them to friends, coworkers and family.   I still had 8 packages left ( I used one pack to try out this mushroom soup recipe below) to do something with so I searched the web for a Homemade Cream Of Mushroom soup recipe.  

Soup recipe for one batch

one pint bag = one can

I made the sample batch and loved how it turned out.  The recipe above does NOT have any seasoning in it.   The only salt it has is the butter used to cook it. This is just like a cream of mushroom thickening agent for your meals.  Once you use it, add seasonings to what ever you are cooking.....it will be awesome!  What I like best about it, is that it is just made up of 5 ingredients and no preservatives!!!!!!!   I had 80 bags and wound up the 4 left over...so right now I have 76 bags (cans) of Cream of Mushroom soup in my freezer.  I used a measuring cup to measure a can size which is 10.5 oz.    If you try this, remember this has no seasoning so you will want to add some.

Can you guess what Gibbs ate this week???  Gibbs and Brigen destroyed 3 paper bags.  They just love them!!!

Check out this receipt from JoAnns!!!!!  I went there on Saturday so I could take advantage of the DMC 4 for a $1.00 sale.  I was able to find 314 skeins of floss.  It was $83 before my teacher discount. That brought it too $72.   I actually saved $56 due to the sale!!!!  The sales lady had to ring each one individually and she told me this was the longest receipt she has ever seen!!!!! 

 Here is what a pile of 314 skeins looks like.....Anyone want to help me sort it??????