Morning = UGH!

♥♥ I was exhausted yesterday and went to bed at the unheard of hour (for me) of 11:00 pm. Seriously, I don't remember the last time I went to bed that early. But (and this is the problem) when I go to bed that early, that means I get up early the next day. We're talking I was awake and moving by *gasp* 7:00 am!!! ON A SATURDAY!!!! The birds were barely awake and only just beginning to sing and there I was -- laying in bed -- saying to myself, "GO BACK TO SLEEP.... GO BACK TO SLEEP...."


Alas, I couldn't. Once I was awake my brain turned on to high gear and I had a gazillion things running through it. I fought the fight and lost. And I'm up.


*heavy sigh*


♥♥ Max made it home and he had a very productive trip. He was actually offered another interim job at a hospital in another state and we are trying to decide if this is something he should do. NO we are not going to move. At least not yet. This is only an interim position and not worth packing up and moving -- especially when our daughter only has one year of high school left. He had some meetings with other hospital administrators in our state and many are looking for help in his area of expertise so he will visit with them next week and see if he can get any contracts.


♥♥ Remember when I told you about the owl that was living in my backyard? I have news: It is a Great Horned Owl. I still haven't seen it, but a lady in my ward did. She said it was like a great big cat sitting in the top of the tree.... the owl's "horns" looked like cat ears. After talking to this lady, we came home and Googled to see what we could find out about them. Click on this link to see what we read. Also, half way down the page is a sound clip. It's almost exactly what we hear when the owl is outside (there are no crickets chirping yet).

If you expand the facts on the profile of the owl, at the bottom of the 4th paragraph, you will read; "Owls have even been known to prey upon unlucky cats and dogs." After reading this, and a few other pages on owls, I was on high alert for a week or so. Every time I let our pets out in the evening, I'd stand at the door and watch and I wouldn't let them linger outside. But, I hadn't heard our owl for about a week and I thought he had moved on to more productive neighborhoods.


Until last night...


I put Dave the cat outside and forgot about him. At 10:00, I was so tired, I decided to start getting ready for bed. As I walked past the back door I could hear him meowing and remembered he was out. I had this urgent feeling that I needed to open the door quickly and let him in. So I ran to the door and he jumped in as quickly as he could, followed just as quickly by the dog (I didn't even know she was out!!). That's when I heard the owl. It was closer to the house than it has ever been before. It had to have been in one of the trees just beyond the deck. I was in our yard!! I freaked out for like 1.5 minutes and then cracked opened the door about an inch or so to see if I could spot it, or hear it again. It was gone. And then it dawned on me:


THE OWL WAS HUNTING MY PETS!!! And when I opened the door to let them in, I spoiled his game.


Scary, huh?!?!? (And Dave is one lucky cat!!)


♥♥ Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week. The elementary schools in our district celebrate in many different ways. The PTO gives the teachers a nice luncheon and several different gifts and they have moms from each room decorate the classroom door. I was asked to decorate Inigo's teacher's door. It was a little stressful for me. I haven't done anything like this before and I wasn't feeling especially creative. But luck smiled upon me and I ended up with a pretty decent idea.

Inigo's kindergarten teacher is exactly what a kindergarten teacher should be. She is soft and gentle and very kind. She fills the kids' school day with songs and activities. Seriously, every half hour or so, the kids stand up next to their chair and sing a clever song. Most are learning songs, with lyrics that help remember the names of the letters and their sounds or math facts, but some are just fun and silly. Some of the songs have active movements to keep their hearts beating and their heads cleared. The kids love it and Inigo has thrived in this environment.

When I was asked to decorate the door, I decided I wanted to celebrate the teacher's influence with music. This is what I came up with:

Each little music note is a heart and on notes on the music staff, I put each child's picture. The big music note in the middle is crinkled up paper... I wanted something on the door to "pop." I'm pleased with how the door turned out, but it seriously took a verrrry loooong time to finish.

And that is why I was so tired yesterday. And why I went to bed so early. And why I ended up getting up so early today.