an unfortunately crazy day

Well, a bit of venting... I'd rather not have the posts very often. So, today this was my excitement. After having a fairly "fine" morning (in spite of being shown one bloody lip which was the result of a series of daily after school fights between two darlings) we came back from lunch hoping for a similarly "fine" afternoon. Our center time went pretty well--(other than one child who ran away-for the second day in a row-after being publicly corrected, which I shouldn't be doing because his IEP indicates that any corrections send him into depression...) which is a big plus as students work independently at literacy centers for at least 40 minutes or so while I work with smaller groups and book sets. Then we needed to take our afternoon bathroom break. My dear friend who is bipolar and often unmedicated gathered her coloring book and crayons to take with us. I told her these supplies would not be necessary and that no one would be coloring in the hall either. She became very aggravated but with great hesitation followed us into the hall. The longer we were in the hall the wilder she became... all over the coloring book. Finally, she ran away from me and went into the room where she held the door shut from the inside. When the rest of the students entered (she finally let go) she hit two of them in her coloring book tantrum. The consequence for hitting is moving a stick which says H and stands for "hands or feet on others or property" and as a result losing 2 minutes of recess... most kids would recover... too bad these kids are so easily set off. She began screaming shouting and pulling the sticks off the wall and throwing them. Next she reached for a chair and held it above her head coming toward me... every now and then she slammed it on the ground for the terrifying effects she hoped to have. In the meantime one audacoious other student comes up to me saying "Mrs. Peery, Mrs. Peery" ready to tattle about another chaotic bit errupting on the carpet. I couldn't believe it! I backed to the phone and called our security who came to the rescue. If only they totally took care of things I would be happy. Unfortunatly, they just sent her to another room for the rest of the day and she joined us for recess. I wonder what these children are learning about behavior and consequences?! CRAZY!!! That's the rant... and a rant it is.

a domestic day

Since I've been home this week I've enjoyed a lot of domestic opportunities. They include the following:

~baking my first ever bread pudding... which Matt loved, for him to rave about a dessert is a rare and great thing!
I found the greatest recipe online... I would highly recommend it... I took some reviewers suggestions and modified the recipe a bit by only using 3 eggs and adding 1/4 cup of brown sugar:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bread-Pudding-II/Detail.aspx

yummy!

~putting the finishing touches on a "welcome home" wreath for a soon-to-be mom and dad who are our upstairs neighbors and wonderful people

I think she loves wreaths, at least she's had one on her door since
we moved in, so I thought this would be a nice gift for the family!

~making homemade household cleaners thanks to Martha Stewart's trustworthy advice in the Homekeeping Handbook I was given for Christmas last year. Martha says its "green" and more compelling... its cheaper and better for your house. She explains that lots of our store-bought cleaners are much harsher than they need to be and cause things to corrode... I found it quite interesting. So now I have countertop cleaner (2 cups water + 2 TBSP Ivory dishsoap), shower cleaner for soap scum (1 cup white vinegar + 1 cup water), and bathroom cleaning paste (a paste consistency of baking soda + Ivory dishsoap + a little bit of water) for tougher places. I'd say "it's a good thing", haha!

I also decorated our home for fall... my favorite, a centerpiece:

a leftover wedding bowl, with last year's Hobby Lobby clearance 90% off pumpkins
(I think each one was only about 10 cents at that point... amazing!)

Now I need to go make our bed with the day's clean sheets (we did the laundry today also) so that we can go to sleep! I look forward to more days like this in the future. I am very amazed at the Lord's work in causing my heart to be so fulfilled in our home and in making it a lovely place for us to seek Him and rest from our days. I am so thankful to the Lord for His goodness in creating women to fulfill these purposes.

an unexpected break

The Lord is so good! This week Matt and I have thoroughly enjoyed a very unexpected break from his classes and my job teaching. Due to left-over hurricane winds which hit Louisville Sunday the power has been out throughout the city this week. While that is not a "good thing" in many ways, school was canceled as a result. Our power was out from Sunday through Tuesday, but came back Tuesday afternoon upon our return from the mall (specifically the food court where we sat and charged our cell phones near a fake plant!). We used flashlights and candles to see and went to sleep pretty much when it got dark on those first evenings. Once our power returned, we pretty much felt like vacationers and decided to see more of Kentucky than we'd been able to since we moved here.
Matt is a wonderful husband, and went with me yesterday 3 1/2 hours away to explore an Amish community in Western Kentucky, very close to Missouri's bootheel (sp?). We enjoyed seeing their homes and even arrived back in Louisville with some Amish goods... homemade and very fresh banana nut bread (Matt's favorite), two handmade Amish baskets to give as gifts to each of our moms, and a spaghetti squash which I've always wanted to try.
So the week has been incredibly restful, peaceful, and full of joy which is exactly what I'd needed after becoming so worn out from teaching. Pray that I will continue to rest in the Lord and pursue my joy in Him, even when teaching begins again Monday.

a tree we saw in a near by neighborhood

(I'll work on adding some pictures soon of the damage we saw throughout our city, as trees and power lines went down everywhere.)