Sand in the Hour Glass

The escape of time seems to be my theme these past few posts. I literally watch it seep through my fingers, while desperately trying to clinch it between my grimy fingers. Second after second sifts through the cracks, my other hand grasping, trying to slow it down, just a bit. But, slowing time is not a talent that I possess.

For the first time ever, in the whole history of the Benson's owning a computer, I didn't even turn it on for three days straight. H and I were SHOCKED when we realized how long it had been this morning.

So, in order to catch you up on our mundane life, I'm writing a post that covers most things from a to z and many of the letters (ahem: subject matter) in between.

I've begun cooking. It's a shocker. Don't leave any comments about how you thought I was a good cook. Andi just kids about that. I'm really not. But I'm trying. Something about necessity. Budgets and all that kind of stuff. So far, so good. No one has died yet, or even choked. Although, tonight, H didn't clean his plate. That was a first. It was pretty gross. I wouldn't suggest trying sun-dried tomato and ham alfredo. Hopefully the rest of the week will not be a bomb.

M starts school again tomorrow. Thank goodness. I'm sure poor Aubs is tired of the long days. She'll be repeating 3K because she's not old enough to move on to 4K. Her sweet preschool took her early last year as a favor to us. She's, um...not exactly excited about starting back. I'm noticing that she's more and more like her father in that she doesn't really like change.

I'm having a little surgery next Thursday. Hopefully the doctor can remove all of my endometriosis so the pain will be relieved and we can get us a baby.

My dad, my sweet, sweet dad, is going to be working with the Mayo Clinic to help with his lung disease. He was diagnosed 16 years ago and has suddenly taken a little turn for the worse. He will ultimately be placed on the lung transplant list, but must return to the Mayo Clinic in September for a few weeks and some intense testing.

I'm re-addicted to the Twilight series. I read all the books during my Christmas break last year. Last weekend, my neighbor and I watched the movie together. I'd resisted the movie (vehemently, I'd say) because so often (almost always) the movie does not do the book justice. The lover of words that I am, I usually (nearly always) prefer the text to the image (unless it's a photograph, but photographs are worth a thousand words). Can I just say, I LOVE the movie. As in, I want to watch it again...and again...and again. There were parts of the book that I so wish had been in the movie because they would have made the movie that much better, but I'm going to be a little bit forgiving here. Just the images, the scenery from the movie are breath-taking. After seeing the movie, I'm reading the novels again.

So, that's what we're up to. My hope is to write a thought provoking, image rich post this week. This week is INCREDIBLY calmer than last week. But last week brought several blessings during the busy-ness. I'm looking forward to some quiet time in the evenings with M to help get her behavior back under control. She's having a little whining problem. If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears (well, eyes, actually).

Catching up

I'm telling y'all that I have no idea where my time goes!


Well, I mean my time after school. I can tell you where my time goes between 8AM and 6PM. I worked the afterschool program every day this week so help get it started. From now on, I'll just work the 4-5 shift and let someone come in my room to finish the day off with those that are waiting on their parents who work to come get them. It's rewarding, developing sweet relationships with only 5 or 6 children.


As hard as it has been for me to adjust to Kindergarten, I'm already seeing the fruits of my labor. I'm amazed at how much the children have learned in just seven days. They are already doing better walking in the halls, eating lunch in the cafeteria, using the bathroom at assigned times. Soon I know the real teaching will begin, which is my passion, I've discovered.


I only brought home one small task to do to get ready for the week. Everything else has been done or can be done Monday morning. This weekend is about catching up.


I did a photo shoot right before school started and just finished editing the pictures today. There are several wonderful pictures. This is one of my favorites. Getting these pictures finished was a major item on my to do list. You make those, right? I'm not the only one who must make a list to remind herself of all that needs to be done....RIGHT?

Isn't he adorbale?

I'm taking another on-line photo editing class and loving it. Of course, everyone else is on day 13 and I'm plugging along on day 3. But I'll get there. Hopefully, by the end of the weekend, I'll have a few more lessons finished. Luckily, once you take a class at this website, you have access to it forever! Wonderful concept! LOVE this that I learned. How fun to use this technique to actually add some text to a picture. This was just my practice with one of my favorite verses.

M is needing some serious Mama time. We've been lucky this week that our friend, Aubs, was able to take care of her for us. They love each other. M tells me all about the fun things they did during the day. One more week of full time work for Aubs, then M will start preschool each morning.

We've got a few other fun things planned for the weekend. I'll get some pictures up soon. I hope you're doing great. My blog reading list is quite extensive. I'm adding that to my to do list now.

Back on Schedule

Hello friends!!!

Hello, hello, hello.

It's amazing what 10 hours of HARD sleep will do for a disposition. I'm pretty sure I woke up in the exact same position in which I went to sleep. Wow!

This has been a super hard-working week and I definitely am NOT one of those people (God bless you!) who can work more than 50 hours in a week on a regular basis. I worked 12 hours more than once this week and almost 10 hours the other days. I started the week off getting my classroom ready for Open House, meeting 21 of the SWEETEST, CUTEST kindergarteners ever, in the history of all kindergarteners, planning, planning, and more planning. Thursday morning, in they marched and we started our year!

And now I'm exhausted! Second grade was hard work, but the beginning of the year in kindergarten is a very humbling experience! This is definitely going to be a year of learning and growing for me--and I hope for my little students, too! I didn't realize that their attention span would be about 2 minutes. Thursday was a tad rough--I lost control a few times because I thought they could sit longer or listen more. Friday was better. By 1:00 each day, several were asking if it was time to go home! The days definitely seem long for them. I almost wish the first few days were half days for them as they adjust to being at big school. During "nap" time, several (okay...almost half of them) fall asleep!

I could NEVER have made it through the week if my parents were here and there to help with M. She spent the beginning of the week with them in Savannah (or Havannah as she calls it!) and then they came here. They had some fun adventures--a day trip to Atlanta to visit my grandmother for her birthday and a trip to the pool another day. Nona and OB, THANK YOU! You were truly live savers this week. We were all sad when you left yesterday. I hope you get lots of rest this weekend and enjoy the rest of your summer.

I'll work on getting a more fun post up later today with pictures. I plan on taking some time today to plug around your blogs and leave you some love!