Longwood Gardens

My husband was working all day on my birthday this year. To make up for my lonely day he took me to a local arboretum called Longwood Gardens the day after my birthday. The gardens were developed by Pierre du Pont in 1907. Pierre du Pont is part of the du Pont family that started the Du Pont corporation that specializes in scientific innovations and whatnot. You've probably seen the logo on something related to cars or trucks before. Anyways, he bought the property of Longwood Gardens because the family that owned it had to sell it, and all the trees were going to be torn down. He was loaded, so he was able to make the property beautiful. He believed that no greenhouse should be private, so he opened his gardens to the public.

It cost $36 for the two of us to get in. It was worth every penny. The high cost keeps out the ruffians and bratty children, which makes it even better. We spent the entire afternoon and early evening there. We simply moseyed along the paths looking at whatever we felt like looking at. There weren't many crowds since we went on a weekday. This was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable days of my summer.

Ben bought me a new camera for my birthday, so I got a little carried away with snapping photos.

Here are some beauties I stumbled upon in the exhibition halls/greenhouses:

We also had fun watching the rather tame "wildlife" in the gardens. We had never seen bullfrogs up close like this before. They were everywhere. Ben always has to check out the fishlife in whatever body of water we come across. He found lots of well-fed bluegill and some very friendly catfish!

There were quite a few fountains scattered throughout the gardens. Pierre du Pont had a fascination with water stemming from his childhood. Some of the fountains made me feel like I was touring one of the estates mentioned in some of Jane Austen's novels. Well, except for the one my husband decided to drink out of.

By far, my favorite part of the gardens was the water lily garden. I've had a fascination with lily pads ever since my canoeing trip to the Boundary Waters back in college. There were lilies and lily pads everywhere on the lakes we canoed. I had so much fun taking pictures of these lilies. They actually dye the water black to make for better pictures and to discourage algae from growing.

At the end of the day, our feet were pretty sore from all the walking we did. My toes were actually swollen for a couple days. We probably shouldn't have worn flip flops! The last gardens we traveled through were the rose garden and the topiary garden. We were the only ones in there, so we took off our shoes and walked through the lush grass. Man, that felt good!

What a wonderful day! Can't wait to go back to see some of the light displays at night sometime!

All the pictures in this post were taken by either my husband or me. I used picmonkey.com to put the photos in collage form. No other editing software was used.

Summertime

It's finally here! Summer! Today I finished tidying up my classroom and had my administrator sign off of my end of the year checklist. What a great feeling! For the first time since I started teaching three years ago, I actually didn't have to pack up my classroom to move to a new classroom. I was in three different classrooms in the three years that I've been teaching. It will be so nice to be in the same room two years in a row. Makes for a whole lot less work.

Now I have to figure out what to do with all of this free time. I started a spreadsheet for my to-do list. It gets longer by the day. I love the feeling of endless possibilities that comes at the beginning of every summer. There will be much relaxing, much reading, much cooking, much crafting, much organizing, and much exploring taking place in this little apartment!

I'm hoping to share my summertime adventures on here in hopes that I get myself writing. I've been slacking in that department. I think with an almost non-existent stress level for the next three months I should be able to get a little more of that done.

Source: thesweetestoccasion.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Changing Perspectives

I currently have a lot of faulty perspectives in my life. I tend to imagine situations that don't/won't exist. I tend to think my house is too messy to ever get cleaned. I tend to think I need to watch as much TV as I can possibly cram into the few hours of free time I have in the evening. I tend to think leaving a restaurant without being stuffed is a waste of money. I tend to think everyone is laughing at how ridiculous I am/look.

All of these things detract from true happiness. Whenever God gives me the strength to rise above these perspectives, I experience glimpses of what life could really be like. So why don't I banish these perspectives from my life? Why do I allow them to dictate my happiness?

I've really been doing some soul-searching lately. I KNOW I would be happier knitting the evening away than frittering the evening away on Facebook. I KNOW I would be happier spending a significant amount of time reading my Bible than reading annoying articles by stay-at-home moms about how hard their lives are. I KNOW I would be happier living in a clean, organized home than living in a pigsty. I KNOW God wants me to rise above my laziness and faulty perspectives. I just need to get up and get moving. Like I said yesterday, it's the getting up and moving that stinks.

So, I'm going to finish this post. I'm going to start a load of laundry. I'm going to wash dishes while listening to Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. I'm going to grade papers while watching reality TV on Netflix. I'm going to knit for a little bit before bed (if there's any time left over). I'm going to enjoy my evening. I'm not going to invent imaginary impossible situations. I'm going to think of this list whenever I'm tempted to waste time on Facebook.

Source: Uploaded by user via Melissa on Pinterest

I'm going to live life the way it's meant to be lived.

Spring Break.....ahhhhhhh

I'm so relaxed right now. I'm on spring break! Since January 4, I have had two days off of work not counting weekends. I'm sure many people have had even fewer days off of work than that. But, I had 23 middle-schoolers to deal with who also had only 2 days off since January 4. I was fast-approaching  extreme burn-out. I was waking up nauseated every morning  (no, I'm not pregnant) dreading the day to come.

Today I plan to get my house back into some semblance of order before my family arrives. When I'm stressed/depressed my house falls into shambles. I'm currently sitting on clean clothes I folded on Sunday and never put away. I hate it when that happens.

Even though I had a rough few weeks, God really blessed me yesterday. He sent the principal to take over my dreaded lunch duty and caused a family to cancel their parent/teacher conference with me (which was the main reason I was miserable every morning). Lamentations 3:22-26 (ESV) pretty well sums it up:  

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
   his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
   “therefore I will hope in him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.
²⁶ It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.

My Family's Coming...My Family's Coming!

My mom, dad, brothers, and one brother's girlfriend are coming a week from today! I cannot wait! I live 900+ miles from home and really miss them terribly. Here's a list of things I'm looking forward to about their visit:

1. Mom's backscratches.
2. Making fun of Dad.
3. Caitie (my brother's girlfriend) keeping my brothers in line.
4. Jake (my baby brother) daring my husband to do really stupid stuff.
5. Tastykake binge.
6. Prospect of a Shady Maple trip.
7. Eating cheese steaks.
8. Being critical.
9. Showing off my domestic skills.
10. Overeating.
11. Having my dad make decisions for me.
12. Talking face-to-face.
13. Psychological tickling.
14. Making fun of Luke (my middle brother) with the help of his girlfriend.
15. Repeated water ice runs.
16. Showing off my family at church.
17. Mom's nicknames for me.
18. Mom helping with dishes.
19. Being lazy.
20. Overeating.
21. Talking about Weight Watchers after overeating.
22. Using the phrase "get back on the wagon" after overeating.

Most of these things mean nothing to you. Oh well, brain dumps help me get even more excited.

My First Car Story

This is a really cool website that allows you to make an animated cartoon of your first car experience. I had so much fun making this and even more fun watching the cartoon afterwards. Check it out!

My First Car Story

♫The Best Day Ever♫

Yesterday was one of the best days of my adult life. What made it so spectacular? My husband and I were able to spend an entire day together. Start to finish. No one else to share each other with. No obligations. No time constraints. No responsibilities. It was amazing! This song from Spongebob Squarepants was playing through my head all day long (Yes, I know I'm too old for Spongebob. I don't care):



We got up and went to breakfast at a great little diner called John's Plain and Fancy Diner. I had a delicious Mexican omelette and my husband had a fancy Greek omelette. We also split a plate of  delicious scrapple. If you don't know what Scrapple is, it's probably best if you didn't know.

Source: steamykitchen.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Then we went to Wal-Mart and bought a lamp for our nightstand, screw anchors to rehang the towel rack and toilet paper holder in the bathroom, a new toilet seat, and a roast so my husband can prove to me that pot roast isn't all that disgusting. Buying those seemingly boring items actually was thrilling. We were able to accomplish little projects that we had been talking about for a looooong time. The best part was we were together.

Then, we headed over to JCPenney to buy a shower curtain rod and some curtains. We live in a tiny studio apartment, so I wanted to get a tension rod to hang up a curtain in the doorway to our alcove bedroom. I've been getting ready in the dark every morning while my husband still sleeps. With this new curtain set-up, I can turn the lights on without bothering him so much. Maybe I'll break my habit of going back to sleep after I take my shower. : )

Yeah, my bed isn't made, my pajamas are on the floor, and I'm a terrible photographer. That's what this blog is all about!

It was a great day! I'm so thankful God blesses me with days like this. It helps me keep my sanity and remember that he does want what is best for me. Throughout the day, I was a little worried that he was going to somehow "ruin" the day by making something "bad" happen merely because I was enjoying myself so much. I constantly have to remind myself that God wants what is best for me. He is not out to ruin my fun. Yesterday was a great reminder of that.