Don't Be Jealous

My family started its own university.  That's right folks -- the Jolley University held its first session in January with Pie Crusts 101 and Introduction to Website Design.

The pie making class was hosted at our house.  My mom was the instructor, and she made all the women in the class our own cute aprons.  Thanks to her great teaching, I was able to make a delicious cream pie.

Here I am with the crust...

...and here's the finished product.  Looks good enough to eat!

My younger brother Michael taught the website course at my grandma's house.  

I created a website for my first grade class, but need to tweak a few things before I make it available to parents.  If I'm being honest, I probably won't get around to it this school year.  Oh well!

Drama Queen

I have this girl in my class this year who is really something else!  She's smart, sassy, always wants to help.  She is also very emotional and demands a lot of attention.  I just have to share two funny things that came from her - one from today and one happened last week.

Story #1:

This morning I was in the middle of reading a story to the class and suddenly she interrupts, out of nowhere, "We're not matching today!"  It took me about 5 seconds to realize what she was talking about.

A few days ago she and I wore a similar pink v-neck shirt and I commented that we were matching, and that I had noticed we wore the same shirt on the same day a couple of other times before.  So today she wore the pink v-neck shirt, and I did not.

After she interrupted the class to proclaim that we were no longer shirt twins, I told her that I thought about wearing the shirt this morning, but changed my mind.  She said, very matter-of-fact, "Well, I prayed that we would wear the same shirt today.  Jesus probably told you to wear the shirt this morning, but YOU didn't listen to the Spirit."

How could I have ignored such an important prompting from the Spirit?  I will be praying for forgiveness tonight...

Story #2:

Last week my "shirt twin" brought me her math homework right when she came into the classroom in the morning.  The procedure is to put homework papers in the homework box, so when she handed it to me I pointed over to the box.  She then pointed to her paper, in the top corner, where she had written "go that way" with an arrow pointing to look at the back of the paper.  I turned the paper over and read the following note:

Mrs. Erickson (picture of a tear) I (more tear drawings) I I I I (tears drawn between each capital I) I lied to my mom so now my mom dusint (doesn't) believe me so I have to do everything in frunt (front) of her.  I want a hug.

After reading the emotional plea, I glanced over the paper to her, standing in front of me with her arms outstretched and the saddest expression on her face, tears welling up in her eyes.  I gave her a hug, handed her the math paper, and she put it in the homework box and started her school day.

Later that day she told me a little more about the note.  I guess her mom asked if she had brushed her teeth before going to bed, and she lied and said yes when she hadn't really brushed her teeth.  So now she has to brush her teeth in her mom's bathroom so her mom can see.  She also has to get dressed, etc, in front of her mom to earn her trust back.  What a great idea!  Good for mom!  I think it's safe to say that my sassy little shirt twin has learned a valuable lesson about honesty.

Free Day

I have a Free Day today.  What is a Free Day?  Well, let me tell you, they are amazing!  A Free Day is a day when I would normally be at school, but have been given the day off.  Today it's all because of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Three cheers for that great man!

My Free Days can spent spent in all kinds of ways.  Sometimes I do nothing all day, or clean the house, or visit Spencer at the office.  I usually like to run errands on my Free Days too.  There is nothing better than going grocery shopping in the late morning on a weekday!  So much better than 5:30 or 6:00 pm after a long day of work!

Today my Free Day will go something like this:

7:25 am - rolled out of bed.

7:30 - 8:30 am - checking facebook, reading blogs, and updating my own blog!

8:30 am - shower, eat breakfast, and get ready for the day.

10:00 am - shopping for clothes (I have some Christmas money that is just burning a hole in my pockets!)

Noon - home for lunch.

Afternoon - Take care of some much-needed house cleaning.  Also, read a book.  And..., whatever I feel like!

6:00 pm - start on dinner and anxiously await Spencer's arrival home.

...Did I mention that I LOVE Free Days?

Guess what we've been doing...

If you guessed shoveling our driveway NONSTOP - you're right!  We may not have had much snow for Christmas, but this last storm has definitely made up for it.  Wednesday morning (before 7 am), Spencer shoveled a few inches of snow off his side of the driveway so he could make it to work.  I left the house around 9 am and got stuck at the bottom of our driveway in the snowplow pile!  After digging around the tires and with a push from my neighbor, I was on my way.

I got home from running my errands around 3 pm, and there was no way my car was going to make it up the driveway and into the garage without some serious snow removal first!  So I "parked" the car on the street and shoveled several inches off my side of the driveway.  I thought about leaving the rest of the driveway for Spencer to do when he got home, but when I looked outside at 5 pm, I knew I had to get to work.  I spent over an hour shoveling snow while Spencer crawled home (he said he was driving 'walking speed' for part of the time!) on the slick roads.  I got the driveway cleared in time for Spencer to pull right in when he finally made it home.

The picture is a little blurry because my camera lens kept fogging up.

Thursday morning (Spencer's dayoff, thank goodness!), we spent the late morning shoveling another foot of snow off the driveway.

We had to shovel again later in the day.  Now today, Friday, we have a couple more inches of fresh powder waiting to be taken care of.  Are you kidding me?!?

Sometime during all the shoveling, I managed to throw a rib out of place, due to the strain and twisting as I tried to throw snow over the ever-growing snowbanks lining our driveway.

Here's a shot of me trying to get a shovel full of snow up and over the snowbank.

Luckily, I happen to know a great chiropractor, and he has taken good care of me and my rib!

So, what do I think of all this snow?  Okay, okay, the shoveling became pretty tedious after a while.

But overall, I LOVE it!  Here are a few reasons why:
1.  Shoveling is great exercise!
2.  The snow is so pretty.  It's a fluffy powder, all sparkly and clean and fresh.
3.  I got to try out my new Christmas present -snowshoes- to check the mail.  They work great!
4.  It's fun to play in!  Just ask Spencer and Jack.

Here, Spencer is coaxing Jack up the driveway pile.  Poor dog kept slipping down again.  Spencer eventually had to pull him up by the scruff of his neck!

Well, enough blogging.  I've got to get busy -- you guessed it! -- shoveling our snowy driveway!

Thanks babe!

I'm having a hard time kicking this cold I got a couple weeks ago, and yesterday I was feeling particularly worn out.  So, while I laid on the couch wrapped up in my snuggly soft comforter, Spencer went to work whipping up a delicious gourmet dinner! 

We were out of town for Christmas and hadn't been shopping for a while, so our cupboards were a little bare.  Still, Super Spencer managed to pull together homemade chicken parmesan and battered fried red potatoes.  Maybe not the typical combination, but he really wanted to use the deep fryer he got for Christmas the day before.  Both dishes were a-m-a-z-ing!  Thanks for taking care of me, husband of mine!

Traditions

Every year around Christmas time I make chocolate truffles.  I've been doing this since before Spencer and I were married, so it's been at least 7 years.  They're delicious, but it takes a lot of time and can be a little tedious.  That's why I only do it once a year. 

Here's the tedious part:

Each little truffle has to be spooned onto a cookie sheet, and then they have to be shaped into round balls.  After that, I dip half of them in a melted chocolate coating.

The other half get coated in chopped pecans.  I didn't get pictures of the pecan-coated truffles.  In total, there are about 75 delicious chocolaty truffles. 

From start to finish, these bad boys take a little over 3 hours to make.  Totally worth it though!

Another tradition that just started last year is taking a trip to Temple Square to see the lights with a couple of my old college friends.  We don't really look too closely at the lights, as we spend most of our time talking.  I did manage to get one picture of the lights.

The night is complete after a quick trip to the nearby Village Inn for some tasty hot cocoa.

I hope these and other traditions continue on for a long time to come.

Christmas Card

I didn't have the time or energy to create, print, and mail Christmas cards last week.  So this year, we're going digital.  Enjoy!