The World According to Leslie

 Apparently, I made it!!  Thursday, February 15th was my 40th birthday! In 2013, I went to see my doctor, and he told me I wouldn't make it to 40 if I didn't lose some weight. In 2014, I started the process to being approved for weight loss surgery. In 2015, I had surgery! In 2018, I made it!  I'm 40!!!  (I'm also 200 lbs lighter than I was in 2015!!) I didn't do anything very exciting. In fact, I slept most of the day. I had been sick for a couple of days. I had already planned to be off work all day.  Unfortunately, I didn't know I was planning to hang out and watch TV all day with a temperature of 101. Hey! At this age, you take the rest and relaxation where you can get it...right? :) All in all, I had a good day! Tony and the Princess got me a few PURPLE FitBit! I rested! I made it! When is your birthday?  How are you planning to celebrate?

  Photo by Kaboompics // Karolina from Pexels For most people, today is just Valentine's Day. For me... it's the first day in a really long time I've called in sick to work. I didn't sub today. I didn't work at the daycare today. I got someone to cover the bowling alley tonight. Not only that, but today is the LAST DAY I'm 39! Tomorrow is my birthday! I don't know that I have done a lot this year (since Feb. 2017) except work, but I know that I have lots of things I want to do in the upcoming year! Tony is at work. I'm fighting a sinus infection!  (YUCK!!) I have no idea what we are doing for Valentine's Day..... probably eating at home and watching TV! I know that Tony and I have been on a great journey since we got engaged on Valentine's Day 2000. I can't believe it's been 18 years! A little over a year later, he and I got married in a Valentine's themed wedding in the middle of May! He's put up with a lot o...

Last week I got older. I guess that's not really crazy.  We technically get older every day.  Then this week, in ONE day, I got 430 views on my blog!!  That's NEVER happened before, but I could get used to it! ****** We are still in the middle of Girl Scout cookie season. If you haven't gotten yours yet, let me know. I can either deliver them (if you are close enough) or give you the website where you can order them. ****** On Sunday, the stuff for Vacation Bible School came in! I'm so excited!  I'm the director this year, but I am going to need a TEAM of awesome people!  We have a church full of awesome people!  I'm going to get the recruiting video ready so that the pastor can show it before we have the volunteer meeting!!! On Sunday, the pastor also announced to the church that we are doing toys for 500 kids this Christmas. We are going to be collecting toys and money. If you have new/gently used toys that you'd like to donate, please let me ...

Happy Valentine's Day!  OR as the Princess informed me this morning.... "Happy Singles Awareness Day!!" Either way, I hope your day is happy!! Today is my last day to be 38 years old. At 2:45am tomorrow morning, I will be 39! I will be starting my final year of my 30s!  OH MY!  Where did the time go? This year has been interesting!  At home, I have been able to do more. I've cooked more (and everyone survived!)!! I've gotten outside more--and consequently sneezed more! I even coached the Princess's rec league softball team last Spring!  I've been happier, mostly! At church, I've been more active. I'm working in Children's church. I'm singing on the Praise Team (in rotation). :) I'm heading up VBS this year. (That will technically be when I'm 39,  but I've started plans already.) I'm helping head up the 500 stockings for families this year. (That will also be when I'm 39.... but still!) At work, I'...

You all know I love a good countdown.  I countdown to Christmas, vacation, Friday, the end of the work day…. EVERYTHING!   Well, I think it is part of how I deal with stress.  When I am aggravated about something, being able to countdown to the end of it makes it easier!    So….here are a few countdowns (some are fun/others not so much)! (Some are vaguely close to the real dates….they will get more specific as the time comes!)   5 days until I pick up about 1000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies 8 days until cookie booths start 9 days until my birthday 37 days until the Art Gala and Auction at the Princess’s school ~12 weeks until Spring Break starts (April 18th) ~12 weeks until Easter ~15 weeks until EOGs start for the Princess ~17 weeks until Memorial Day ~19 weeks until school is out!   I’m a little stressed out this year with all the stuff I am doing.  I haven’t been able to scrapbook with my DIVAS since Sept. or Oct....

Thursday, I spent the entire day in training. Because of the class that I teach, there are special trainings I have to attend for strategies to teach the students. I could probably do it without the trainings, but for the school district to “allow” me to do it, I have to be trained.  (But…they pay for the training, materials, and my time!)   Obviously, I had a sub on Thursday. I got to my room yesterday only to realize that all my desks had been moved. They were no longer in the cool zig zag pattern my overly excited brain had designed.  No! They were in boring rows. ARGH!!!   I asked all three of my classes if they had moved them. When I got to 4th period (my 3rd class), I was informed by several students that the substitute said that my desk design was “bothering” her and she didn’t want it to “bug” her any more. So…. she rearranged my room! She also didn’t give the students all the assignments because she “talked to them”. (She left a note to that effect.)...

Is it just me, or do you think it’s rude for someone to hand you an invitation to a birthday party a few hours before the start time?   At the softball game this morning, the Princess came to me and handed me the invitation to a party that starts in just a few minutes. Of course she wants to go! She also wants to get the girl something for her birthday.   I’m sorry. I don’t know this kid all that well.  We will go to the party, but I don’t know what to get her. So, we are going empty handed. (Really, showing up is asking a lot of me on a Saturday…..especially since I have only been home long enough to SLEEP all week!)   Note: They won the first game, but lost the 2nd. (If we had not let girls that were just learning to pitch do the pitching, we would have won it too! But…this league is about learning all the positions. So, we lost by only 4!  Not bad!)

Today is my BIRTHDAY!!!  At 2:45am, I turned 35!  WOW!  (I'm getting old!) So there are some things I want to work on this year.  (I don't make New Year's Resolutions, but I do try to do things differently on my birthday!) 1. Stop stressing over the little stuff.  To me, in recent years, everything has been "big" stuff.  Not now! 2. Lose a little weight.  I'm not setting a goal of 100 lbs or anything, but I want to get back on track with losing weight again. 3. Have more family time!  I want to spend more quality time with the family!  I think that it would help our family dynamic.  I think it would also help Chasity to excel (even more) in all her activities. Thanks for all the birthday wishes already!  Some of my friends, who know there is NO WAY they will wake up before me, posted "Happy Birthday" for me last night so I would get it this morning!  You guys are the best!  I hope you all have a great day!

Happy Valentine's Day! I can't believe that 13 years ago today Tony proposed to me.  That means that on May 19, I will be married for 12 years!  OMG! That's crazy! :)  I can't believe February is 1/2 over!  Where is 2013 going?  Wasn't it just Christmas?  WOW! I can't believe that tomorrow this time, I will be older.  Tomorrow is my birthday!  Today, I'm going to celebrate the love and relationships in my life.  Tomorrow I will celebrate life! :)  Happy Valentine's Day!

You know, if I had enough people who would do it, I would start a "bloggy party" on Fridays.  It would be called "Fractured Fridays".  It would be where we would share all the randomness in our brains.  :) For today, I am going to give you MY Fractured Friday.  (Maybe one day, I will have people to do it with me.  Any takers?) 1. My birthday is a week from today.  What does any good teacher do on her birthday?  Take the afternoon off and give a test! :)  2. Softball sign ups are now.  The Princess isn't sure if she wants to play because her really awesome coach from last Spring isn't coming back! :(  One of his kids made a traveling team.  One is going to be on a team from a different church (and we would have to play them!) 3. My Girl Scouts planned out most of the rest of the year last night.  It's cool having older girls!  They can help plan things. 4.  Cookies come in on Tuesday!  I am excited! :)...

Tomorrow is my niece's 9th birthday!  The coolest thing about that is that she is #5 of 5 kids in her family!  My daughter was born in August 2003.  My niece was born in Jan. 2004.  Why is that so cool? My sis-in-law and I were pregnant at the same time.  However, because she had already had 4 kids, she knew how to "hide" hers.  She waited until after my daughter was born to tell the family.  (I think she waited until like October to tell us!) She wanted me to have all the fun (and perks) of a first pregnancy without taking any of it away from me.  Wasn't that awesome of her? Now, my daughter and my niece are best friends.  Unfortunately because of how their birthdays fall, they are in different grades.  Mine=4th; Niece=3rd.  But.... they do get to play on teams together in the softball league.  We try really hard to keep them on teams together so that they don't have to play against one another.  Since her bir...

As of yesterday, I have had a cute diamond ring on my finger for 11 years! As of yesterday, Tony and I have been together for 11-and-a-half years! In 2000, on Valentine's Day, Tony and I had been dating for 6 months! (We started dating on August 14, 1999)! That day, I knew we had plans for the evening. I also had plans with my dad to go get my "new to me" car. We got there. I drove it. I started the paperwork. I realized I left the CASH at home for the down payment. We flew home--in the truck! I got the money. We went back and finished the paperwork! The coolest thing about my "new to me" car was that it had a radio! The car I traded in did not have one! So that night, we took my "new to me" car to dinner. After dinner, we were sitting in the parking lot at Ryan's (which they closed down a few years ago in that location) and we were playing with the radio settings. Then all of a sudden Tony knelt down in the floorboard of my car and pul...

Today is the last day of January. That means I only have 15 days until I get older....on February 15th. Thus, the reason I am contemplating life. I always think about what I could be doing. What I should be doing. What I want to be doing. I know I want to teach. I have always wanted to teach. Lately, I have been thinking that I want to be a writer. I know I am a writer, I write here. However, I want to write. I want to get paid to write. I can do it. I love writing. But, I don't know where to go to write. The newspaper here isn't hiring, plus they always want someone with experience. I would love to do some Freelance Writing. I just don't want to get sucked into a scheme.... ya know? So if anyone knows where I can get some freelance work for writing, just let me know...please. Also, I have been trying to think of ways that I can earn some money. Aren't we all? Anyways, I would love to earn some money doing something I love. I used to think that I wanted t...

You'd never know by the amount of posts that I have put up lately (haha!) that I have been swamped! I love school. That's probably why after I had a 5 year break, I went back. I love English! Again...that's probably why I'm working on getting my license to teach High School English! I LOVE IT! However, I don't love paperwork. Ok...I'm lying. I do love it! I have had so much of it lately that I'm not really enthused about it right now. Anyways, I'm starting to be able to see the bottom of the pile on my desk. So...I should get back to normal (however I define that) soon. School is almost over for the semester. I have completed my observations. All I have left are 3 big assignments. Two of which I need to be working on now, but I'd rather blog. lol Last week, I even wrote out a blog to post, while I was observing in Mount Pleasant. However, I never got around to it, and now....well... it's old news.....even to me! :) Right now, there are just a few...

Y es! I have stuff to do. I have more stuff than I know HOW to do! Let's see... this should be a pretty busy weekend. 1. Get yard sale stuff together. I have some stuff that I need to go through so that I can get rid of some stuff and take it to the Yard Sale tomorrow. YES tomorrow! I know, I know... I should wait until like 2am to get the stuff together! 2. Homework! I have three stories to read that I have to write something about tomorrow...by midnight. So, I'll read AFTER I get yard sale stuff together. And...I'll read at the yard sale! Then I have TWO books to read before May 6th because I have a final that night and the two books that I haven't read yet WILL be on it! :) I have SIX two page papers to write... I just haven't figured out what I am going to write, so I'm having issues writing! I think that's it for this weekend! 3. YARD SALE! I have the yard sale tomorrow morning! I go at 6am...it starts at 7am! 4. Ball game! Chasity ha...

So yesterday I weighed in (at home of course). I am now at 388. OMG! That means I've lost 28 lbs total since starting WW. I lost another 2 lbs last week! I'm so excited! So I had a great weekend! Friday night, we were supposed to go out for my birthday, but my kid sister, Lisa, had to babysit. So we waited until Saturday night to go out! WOW! We went to Applebee's to eat! I love it because they have Weight Watchers stuff on the menu! So I didn't have to really think about what I was eating! I just enjoyed it! It was awesome! Sunday, my parents too me out to eat for my birthday because they didn't go Saturday night with us! We went to a local place for lunch, Mr. C's. I had grilled chicken. It was really good! I was supposed to go SHOPPING yesterday, but....my mother made other plans, so she couldn't go with me. I have to have something to wear to a special church service on Sunday night (next week) so I have to go this week to get something!...