It's Expensive being a Teacher

It's that time of the year... School Fundraisers.

I teach the most incredible kids at SCWC. I love them and they know it... The whole "I just can't say no" applies here.

What do you do when you see this smiling up at you with a fundraiser book in one hand and a list of what prizes they will get if they sell the most in the other?

You buy whatever is cheapest... or at least I do. When there are 30 kids, you can't afford to buy what you really want.

This is what I got back over the last year.

Magazine Subscription: I think I read one issue and started handing them off to a family member - BAD CHOICE

Holiday Ribbon Organizer: I think this ended up in the trash - BAD CHOICE

Silicon Cupcake Holders: These are collecting dust on my nightstand... why on the nightstand? I have no idea - BAD CHOICE

Girl Scout Cookies: I got these last night. At church. In front of the youth and kids. These were the one thing that I was looking forward too. Obviously everyone else was too - BEST CHOICE

Let me elaborate on this Cookie Phenomenon.

I opened a box to try, mouth watering and ignoring how much fat they contained. Next thing I know, I have hungry teenage eyes staring and begging with their eyes. "Would you like one?" They didn't have to be asked twice. I turn around and there's a sweet little face staring at me, I say again "Would you like one?". Minutes later the little girl who sold them to me ask "Where'd you get those from?" (Really?) I say, "Would you like one?".

Those little cookies barely made it home. Too bad everyone else didn't have radar for a ribbon organizer and silicon cupcake holders.

That, Ladies & Gents, is the joy of being a Sunday School teacher... If you see me with a sign on the corner you know why.

Random Pictures and Strange Mail

I was going through my 2 story high pile of mail, really maybe 1 story, and found this piece of mail that could not possibly have been sent to me! I checked the back and I was wrong, It had my name on it... why would someone send this to me? Ha!

Maybe I'll call for a free gift...

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A couple of weeks back my sister and I made dinner for everyone. I made my chicken pasta and she made a salad with her incredible homemade dressing. She treated us all to yummy tuxedo brownies with strawberries....

In case your mouth is watering... you can get the recipe here - Ghirardelli Brownie Recipe.

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A couple of weeks back I went to the park with my nephew... He is so much fun and a happy distraction for me. I can watch him for hours and love to hear him try to form words. He is actually on his way over here to spend some time with his aunties!

Anyway, after he'd exhausted us on the swings, basketball court, slides, and everything else on the playground, he settled down with his water cup, a rare moment for this rambunctious boy.

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This past week at our community group meeting we had the kids make thank you cards for God. This one girl, we'll call her Sally, always tugs at my heart. Her sister and brother have had it hard this year. They've been homeless and now live in a family members garage. Yet, through it all she smiles. She loves Jesus with all her heart and her favorite thing to do is to sing. A recent song that she picked up goes like this, "Faith, faith, faith just a little bit of faith. Faith, faith, faith, just a little bit of faith, you don't need a whole lot just use what you got..." What a testimony she is to me.

She made this incredible card and I just had to share it with you.

"Dear Jesus, I thank you so much for everything."

October's Rush

October is a busy month around here. Everything seems to be going and going and going... no time for a breather!

I'm working on Part 2 of my Disneyland trip. That will be up shortly. As for now, I had some random stuff to share.

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I just finished Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck, the funniest book I've read. After about 3 weeks... I turned the last page. Like I said, no time to breathe let alone read! Sweet Caroline is a must buy, great message. I struggled with the ending, but I understand why the author chose to end it the way she did. Now, I am trying to get my hands on book #2, Love Starts with Elle. I'm told this will fill in the blanks.

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I am in the middle of a costume frenzy... trying to figure out what to be for our Harvest Party on Friday night. The teachers are putting together a party for the kids and their family and friends. Horse rides, games, grilled corn, candy galore and all the other Halloween festivities. I was told by my sweet sister that maybe I should be a horse... not going to happen.

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To get us in the Fall spirit, my co-worker gave me the below candy bag. After reading the label he put on, makes you think twice about eating it!

Go Ducky, Go!

A couple of weeks back we had a Ducky Race in the pool for our Jr. Campers.

We had several kids short on money so my sister, the director for the children's department, pulled her creative juices out and decided to have a Ducky Race at the last minute.

The entire church was given the opportunity to buy rubber ducky's and put their name on them. Each person was to race their own ducks across the pool. First one to finish line received a gift card to Starbucks.

The above picture is some of the kids and adults getting ready to throw their ducks in. "Kickers" sat on the sides of the pool to help make waves.

This worked so well! The ducky racer helped with the kids deposit and ALL the kids were able to go.

The winners! Aren't they cute?

-Daily B-

6 Word Memoir Meme and Then Some

I was tagged by Jenster who was tagged by Seaspray to do a Memoir Meme. I don't know how interesting my memoir will be, but we'll see.

I am going to break the rules and write six things each in the Likes and Dislikes category.

Likes: God, Corn, Computers, Kids, Books, Family

Dislikes: Hell, Peas, Cats, Rock (music), Phones, Baseball (major league)

Here are the rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want.
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4. Tag at least five more blogs with links.
5. Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

I tag Sony, Cat, Yolie (mom), Angela, and Eileen.

Don't feel like you have to do it... =)

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I open the headline news and this is what I see...

Major Earthquake is a Sure Bet (!!!)

And where is this earthquake going to hit? California. Of course. I remember when the Northridge earthquake happened, I was pretty young and it pretrified me. We were used to little quakes but this one was the "Big One".

I hate it when people say, "This is earthquake weather.". I wait for it to hit and when it doesn't, I am relieved until I hear it again, "This is earthquake weather.".

So, the Big One will happen within the next 30 years. Most likely in Southern Cal. Lovely. Maybe I'll plan a move in the next 15 years to Arizona until it's all done.

Read more here.

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I went to my Grandma's grave on Saturday. It was so hot in the hills. Over 100 degrees. I honestly didn't feel any connection with the memory of her there. No connection. But it was nice to go with my aunts and know that they found comfort there. I was overly concerned with the fact that my legs were about to catch on fire and making sure my umbrella was covering most of my body. It's too hot in LA to really enjoy. I'm so glad I live in the OC!

My Wonderful Random Week

It's been a really great week... If Sunday was any idea of how the week was going to be, I was ready to stay in bed and cover my head until it was over. But, it has been wonderful! Very random, but great! The one thing that would have made it better... reading. That always lifts my spirits. But then again, maybe it was such a good week because I wasn't reading... who knows.

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This post is going to be a full of pictures today. I walked outside the Saturday before Easter and saw these poinsettias in full bloom... from Christmas! In my backyard! I don't know how it is anywhere else, but we don't see poinsettias around here until late November.

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Kids and Cell Phones

On Wednesday nights I work with the kids, ages 2 - 13 at my church. Every Wednesday we have to make an announcement, "Please turn off your cell phones.". Not just for the older kids, the little kids too! Here are two of our 11 year old boys texting away before class starts. Next thing you know the toddlers will have cell phones!

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Enchanted *sigh*
I had the itch to see Enchanted (click for trailer) after my Sister and Becky said that they saw this twice already. I have now seen it twice and wouldn't mind seeing it again. Such a great movie! I loved it! Family friendly, great music, funny, and sweet.

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Faith, Hope, and Love...
I came home late on Wednesday night, I go straight from work to the hotel where my church is temporarily at while we are in the process of buying our building, and there was a box waiting for me. I opened it, expecting Wives & Daughters DVDs that I purchased forever ago. This is what I found...



BOOKS! I had forgotten that I sent in an application to be a Judge for The Eighth Annual Faith, Hope and Love, RWA Chapter’inspirational Reader’s Choice Contest. I received four books, all signed by the authors! Best of all, I can keep them!

• Summer by Karen Kingsbury


• Black Ice by Linda Hall


• The Will of Wisteria by Denise Hildreth
  
• The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Rolling by Neta Jackson

I'm reading and judging these this month, I can't reveal my actual scores, but I will let you know about the ones that I really liked. I have never read any of these authors before, I know what you're thinking, Never read Karen Kingsbury? This will be my first one. I've been wanting to read her books for so long, I just didn't know where to start. Has anyone read Book 1, Sunrise? If you have, please let me know if I should read that one before Summer. Or fill me in so I'm not lost...

This is going to be very different for me, I don't usually read books like this, I tend to be drawn to the Christian Romance. We shall see...

Keep an eye open for a book giveaway this month... My bookcases are getting too full at this point.

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No Books for two weeks...
I can pick up a book and READ on Saturday! I thought that I would be able to read today, but I calculated wrong. When I wake up on Saturday morning, Deep In The Heart of Trouble and I have a date!

Busy Bee

It's the beginning of a very busy week in my part of the world. We had awesome church on Sunday night, our last service before we move into our new building, Yah!

I am so excited! Change is always good, sometimes scary, but in this case exciting. I am ecstatic about what God has planned for my church.

Our first service in the new building was supposed to be the weekend before Christmas but things fell through. Our first service *fingers crossed* will be this Thursday. I will take some pictures to share.

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Onto the weather... It has poured buckets the last couple of days. We don't normally get rain like this in Orange County. It rained so bad on Saturday night that we went out to eat and came right home and sat by the fire, no point in getting soaked. Sunday was coooooooold! I am sure my cold is warm for everyone that has snow on their ground right now.

Since we don't usually have oodles of rain, the drivers do not seem to know how to maneuver a vehicle. Lots of accidents and spin outs. Oh yes, and slow pokes. It takes forever to get somewhere

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Funny kid antics happened again this past weekend. Since we are still in the middle of the move, we blocked in the kids again and did a lesson on How Important Your Brothers & Sisters Are. We split them into groups of two and had them join together to come up with a talent such as singing, acting, making a joke, ect.

The little boy known here as the Robot Kid sang a song that I did not expect him to know... Also in this video montage, one group decided to do a catwalk. I believe the Robot Kid did not get the fact that girls and boys walk differently... My pastors son did not show by example. lol!

The Robot Kid

This past Sunday morning my sister and I had the kids. All the kids. Ranging in age from 3 years old to 11 years old. Our church is in the middle of a move so things were everywhere. We enclosed the kids in a circle of chairs and played Bible Trivia Hot Potato towards the end.

Some of the answers were as follows:

Cathy: What were the names of Noah's sons?
Dillon (11): Hmmm...
Cathy: I'll give you a hint, one is a meat.
Dillon (11): Steak!

It landed on Dillon again and we heard another funny answer.

Cathy: Who was the richest man in the Bible?
Dillon (11): Ohhh! Esau!
Cathy: No...
Dillon (11): No No, I meant Lysol!
*lots of laughter*
Cathy: No, that was the cleanest man in the Bible!

In the middle of the trivia hot potato the kids started getting antsy, so we had a dance break. One little boy was breaking some moves...