Between losing an hour of sleep, it still being dark out, and the sound of rain on the roof, it was hard to drag my weary bones out of bed this morning.  I can’t say I’ve been a ball of fire, but I keep plugging along and things do get crossed of the list.  Slowly but surely.

The Fine Linen Drama production of “Oliver!” was superb.  FLD is made up of several home schooling (large) families and members of the Rolla community.  Every spring they do a big production with lots of kids (which is handy for them). Opening scene with the orphans singing longly about having enough food to eat.  No photography was allowed, so I got this from their home page.  

The redhead in the deep red dress is one of RMS upstanding teachers, playing the part of Nancy.  Not “type casting” at all.  A community member, Dan Goff, who usually plays humorous and heroic characters, also stepped outside his usual roles, making a very frightening Bill Sikes.  

We had 13 bean soup, seasoned with polish kielbasa, and cornbread for supper tonight.  A little bit of sunshine is peaking through the clouds, just before the sun goes down. 

Between losing an hour of sleep, it still being dark out, and the sound of rain on the roof, it was hard to drag my weary bones out of bed this morning.  I can’t say I’ve been a ball of fire, but I keep plugging along and things do get crossed of the list.  Slowly but surely.

The Fine Linen Drama production of “Oliver!” was superb.  FLD is made up of several home schooling (large) families and members of the Rolla community.  Every spring they do a big production with lots of kids (which is handy for them). Opening scene with the orphans singing longly about having enough food to eat.  No photography was allowed, so I got this from their home page.  

The redhead in the deep red dress is one of RMS upstanding teachers, playing the part of Nancy.  Not “type casting” at all.  A community member, Dan Goff, who usually plays humorous and heroic characters, also stepped outside his usual roles, making a very frightening Bill Sikes.  

We had 13 bean soup, seasoned with polish kielbasa, and cornbread for supper tonight.  A little bit of sunshine is peaking through the clouds, just before the sun goes down. 

If I were a suspicious person, I’d think some RMS student shared a stomach virus with me. No details.  I’m to the point I’m wondering when/what I should try to eat.  

I expanded my current reading/interest in WWII occupied France (Reading Blood of Free Men) by watching “Inglorious Basterds”.  Of course the movie is NOT historically correct, but I enjoyed it. Reality be damned; justice and revenge were served in the theater that night.  

Today is Matt’s 27th birthday.  Happy Birthday Baby Boy!  Hope all your wishes come true. 

Woke up to the sound of rain; and went right back to sleep.  Slept until a little after 8 AM.  It looks like the sun is trying to peek through the clouds now.  We need the rain.  I hope we don’t have another hot dry summer. 

The snow is off the garden.  None of the seeds we planted have made an appearance yet.  The broccoli we started is looking pretty good. The jonquils are blooming.  I got a photo of 2 geese flying over the house.

I made the mistake of looking at some new SLR digital camera reviews on-line and would like to upgrade.  It’s been a few many years since my EOS20D was at the top of the digital camera list.  Just from reading the reviews, I would like to do some side by side real life comparing of the Nikon D6000 and the Canon D6.  I’m sure I’d be happy with either.  The Nikon edged out the Canon in sharpness and autofocusing, although the Canon had a higher rating over-all.  At this point it is just wishful thinking.

Off to boil some eggs to make tuna salad for sandwiches for lunch.  Left-over potato salad and dill pickle spears.  Maybe pickled beets.  I think I am now officially hungry.  

It got up to 43 degrees today.  The sun was also shining.  A nice day. Tomorrow we are supposed to see temperatures in the 50′s.  60′s on Saturday and then rain.  Followed by highs in the 40′s all next week.

Middle school kids don’t have the best social skills.  Some have even fewer than most.  Today one such boy came into my office absolutely beaming.  His new best friend is a girl.  She liked him yesterday and she still likes him today.  I suppose that makes this is a long-term relationship.

Tomorrow is Friday.  I dug the RMS green St. Pat’s t-shirt out of the back of the closet–I will wear it with my jeans tomorrow. And again next Friday. Tomorrow is also “mustache” day–for 25c you can wear a mustache tomorrow.  It’s a fund raiser to supply “care packages” for children who are taken away from their parents by DFS.  New pajamas, toothbrush & toothpaste, stuffed animal, etc.

Daylight Savings time starts this weekend! 

It was 22 when I headed to work this morning.  BRRRRR.  Very windy.  Gray and cloudy.  No recess because it didn’t get above 32 plus the wind chill.  I took the snowmen who were hanging out in my office and packed them away.  It’s time for Spring. I guess I should look for some Spring decorations for the office.  Of course it’s supposed to be down to 20 again tonight.  The warming trend always seems to be “just a day away”.  

Another group of 5th graders went to the St. Louis Science Center today.  No drama.  In fact, it was a fairly calm day in general. 

Tonight was First Wednesday Club.  Delicious reuben sandwiches.  Lots of different potato dishes.  Baclava and cookies and some wonderful bread pudding with Bailey’s Irish Cream sauce.  Several members of the group were recently in Florida and had some interesting stories to tell. They may have enjoyed warm weather while they were there, but now they are suffering the late winter blues with the rest of us.  

All in all, it was a good day.

was covering the ground when i got up this morning.  It was still snowing.  It was 32 degrees, and with all the chemicals that have been put on the roads, they were just wet.  It was a cold and gray day, even after the snow stopped.  Even though it did get above freezing, a cold NW wind kept the wind chill temperatures in the 20′s.  It is still cold and windy.  It was snowing again on the way home from work.

3 or 4 fifth grade classes are going on field trips to the St. Louis Science Center each day this week.  Today was not a good day for a field trip. One student had a melt down before the bus got out of the parking lot.  I went out to the bus and brought him to my office.  I called his mom and she picked him up.

After work today I went to Aldi’s to get lunch meat, sliced cheese & bread for Dennis’ sandwiches for lunch.  I also got spaghetti sauce and lettuce so we could have spaghetti & salad for supper tonight.  It’s not WOP Wednesday, but we are having Reuben Sandwiches tomorrow at First Wednesday Club.  I plan to take potato salad and some dill pickles.  We’ll probably have left-over spaghetti on Thursday.  My Fish Friday may be tuna noodle casserole.  Not much was accomplished after work tonight. Work & weather have me feeling drained.

I started watching the Mizzou vs Razorbacks game at 6 PM.  At 7 PM I gave up on the Razorbacks and watched NCIS.  Mizzou won 93-63.  People are celebrating in Columbia tonight!

and be productive or something.  Today, some sunshine and 40′s, was a tease (weather-wise) because tonight/tomorrow we will have cold temperatures and either rain or snow.  But the rest of the week warms up until we see 60 on Friday.  I managed to get my deliveries made and some errands run after school.  We had vegetable chowder for our Meatless Monday.  It was pretty good, and easy.  A combination of fresh vegetables and canned, with some milk & cheese to round it out. It was filling without being heavy; a tad bland however.  And we’ll do Fish Friday.  At the risk of being politically incorrect, I might start having Wop Wednesday.  There are lots of good Italian dishes out there.  With any luck, it would be left-overs for Tuesday & Thursday.  Of course weekends are a whole ‘nuther animal.

Work was work.  Busy but pretty routine.  3 or 4 of the 5th grade classes will be on field trips each day the rest of the week.  Going to St. Louis Science Center. 

Listening to Joan Baez.  Dennis is watching “Are you Tougher than a Boy Scout” on the Nat. Geo channel.  Don’t know if he’s rooting for the scouts or the old farts adults.

I made a prioritized list of things that need to be done before we leave for Spring Break. I included a massage for the last Wednesday.

The Blood of Free Men is extremely interesting.  I had no idea how much “fear of Communists” influenced political/military thinking during WWII.  It certainly explains how McCarthy got his foothold of power post WWII.   

The cats have been “into it” tonight.  Lots of romping around chasing each other.  I don’t think either one has had claws out.  No hissing or growling either.  Pretty amusing. Lucas watches with his dignified “I am a Poodle” look on his face. 

It was snowing when we headed to Springfield about 8 AM.   It snowed on us almost the entire way.  There was also snow on the ground, even in Springfield.  The sun came out while we were there, and got above freezing…34 degrees.  We picked up BBQ from Buckinghams for lunch.  After lunch Jax entertained us for an hour or so.  Then we went to look at a house (on almost 7 acres).  Matt came along.  Sara put Jax down for a nap…he’d been to a baby shower (with other kids also there to play with) and was exhausted.  The house was disappointing…and we crossed it off the list.  If the house had been liveable, with potential for remodeling, it would have been a good deal.  But it wasn’t.  An investor will probably buy it for the land, bulldoze the house & outbuildings, divide it into smaller lots and make some $$.  

We went back and hung out with Matt & Sara for a while.  Jax was napping and no one wanted to wake him up.  Fortunately I got a few photos of him earlier.  You can see he’s got quite a few teeth now.  He’s getting a lot taller too.

Like many most people I know, I am ready for spring.  It snowed most of the day with the temperature hovering at 32.  Things got kind of dicey during the night with snow and the temperature dropping into the 20′s.  Quite a few people fell getting from cars to the building this morning, and kids who fell getting to their bus stop.  The stomach viruses continue, along with many headaches.  Kids still horse around and get hurt.  I was glad when I could clock out and go home…it was 32 and still snowing.  

Today we had our intruder drill and lock-down drill.  We didn’t evacuate the building because of the temperature and it was snowing. 

Tomorrow we go to Springfield to celebrate (a bit early) Jax’s dad’s birthday.  We also have an appointment to look inside the old farm house on almost 7 acres inside Springfield city limits out by the airport.  It has several outbuildings.  Springfield allows chickens (sans rooster) inside city limits, but I’m not sure what the rules on other farm animals are.  It also depends on the neighbors and how tolerant they would be of having an urban farmer in their midst.  We also have to see what the inside of the house looks like…does it have good bones and worth the work & expense of remodeling.  It might also be interesting to see how many planes take off & land every day.

During my lunch break I managed to knit/purl 2 rows on the scarf.  It’s looking good.  I plan to work on it while Dennis drives to and from Springfield.  When I finish, I’ll experiment more with the circular needles and seed stitch.

Tonight I made coconut shrimp soup using another (and better) recipe.  This one is definitely a keeper.  It’s the Sriracha (chili garlic sauce) that gives it the “pow” (or “bam” as Emeril would say).  I have a veggie chowder recipe to try for my Meatless Monday.  Not to become a boring cook, but the meatless Monday and fish for Friday is a routine I plan to establish. 

Vive le weekend!

I feel bad for the seeds Dennis planted…shivering under the snow. I took the photo this morning.

 It’s been snowing most of the day and temperatures dropped below freezing about 5 PM.  Once again, we’d just finished eating supper when Dennis got called in to plow snow tonight.  He had his full 40 hours in when he clocked out tonight…so at least he’ll get paid over-time for tonights adventure.  

Another busy day at work.  I didn’t get lunch.  When I got home, all I could manage to fix was some broccoli cheddar soup. I’d hoped to make enchiladas & Mexican rice, but it didn’t happen. Today’s “humor” is rather pathetic.  A 7th grader lost a tooth and wanted to leave it in my office because he didn’t want to keep up with it.  I put it in an envelope and handed it back to him.  That’s how I keep up with teeth.

On the way home from work I stopped by Uniquely Yours and got some yarn to knit an “infinity” scarf. It’s using a seed stitch.  I tried to figure out how to do it on circular needles but gave up and am using regular needles and will seam it together like the instructions said.  Sigh.  In my mind it worked so well on circular needles.  Reality proved to be a whole ‘nother animal.