I have slipped for the last few days and not updated. Sadly, my week off is over. I really have loved having five days of complete freedom! I got a lot done around my house, which was so nice. I am finishing off my tasks today. It will feel great to have a completely clean house!
On Thursday, I had a really lazy day. It was kind of a crummy day, so I didn't get to lay out in the sun. :( I laid around and didn't do much... it felt good, but it made me even more tired. I don't think I'll do that again for awhile. I did do laundry; at least I accomplished something positive! Ty came home and then headed over to Tom's shortly thereafter since I was headed to Bible Study. That is what's hard about Thursdays. I love, love, love my Bible Study, but he gets home and I have to leave very shortly after that. I am in a Bible Study with some friends from school called "Stepping Up: The Psalms of Ascent". Beth Moore wrote it and I am just a little obsessed with her studies. I just bought her new book on the apostle Paul and I am looking forward to this fall when I actually have time to go through and study it! However, the study that I am in right now is amazing. It's a detailed study of Psalms 130-143. These Psalms were designed to lead you up and out of whatever you might be going through. God has placed me in this study for a good reason, and I am enjoying all that I am getting out of it!!
Yesterday was the FOURTH OF JULY! You might not know this, but it is my favorite holiday. Tarah, no comments please. ;) I just love that it's smack in the middle of summer. I also love barbecue's and fireworks! It was great that T was able to be home yesterday. It gave us a nice long weekend. We spent the day together, played a few games of Disney Scene It (I won each game by a LARGE margin!), and went over to Robert and Viona's for a barbecue. We had a great time! She had some AMAZING appetizers that we munched on, we sat and talked for awhile, then went outside to grill. While Viona grilled, we talked and Tyler played "golf" with Wesley. They are two peas in a pod. It was very fun to watch. :) We had some awesome chicken, grilled veggies, bread, corn... you name it, we had it. It was great! Then, we enjoyed some Barefoot Contessa chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing that I made. 
I am proud to say that everything was indeed made from scratch. I was so proud of myself, and I think they turned out really well! We ended the evening with a few games of Sequence (one of our favorites) while Wesley tried to go to sleep on the couch. He was having a rough time because of all the fireworks, poor guy. He ended up getting up and saying over 30 memory verses to us before we
left! This little boy is amazing and SO precious. I can't even stand how cute he is. Before he went to bed, he said to his dad, "Daddy, I am very concerned that Mr. Tyler and Miss Rachel aren't spending the night." Then, as we were leaving, he presented me with a plum and said, "Miss Rachel, I would be happy to offer you this plum. I would also be happy to offer myself a plum." Too cute! Here is a short video of Wesley telling us some of his Bible verses and then a few pictures of us decorating the cupcakes with red and blue sprinkles!
Today, I have cleaned the floors. It is not fun, but very neccesary. Tonight, we are going on a date night. We are going to Red Robin, to see Wall-E, then to Starbucks. I'm pretty excited. I hope you all enjoy your weekend. Happy 4th of July!!
Day three is over and I am feeling a bit sad. This will be my last week off in a long, long time. I have so enjoyed this break and I think that next year, I will take the whole summer off and just enjoy myself. However, I am enjoying this summer with the darling kids I nanny for, so I will just take it for what it is... a fun summer that's just a tad busy! :)
Today was rather simple. I woke up, got ready for the day, and my precious friend Laurel came over. She was kind enough to help me paint my new classroom today! We painted for about 2 1/2 hours straight and finished! I must say, it looked GREAT! Neither of us had ever painted before, so we were kind of nervous, but I think we did an excellent job. It was tiring, but we got a lot done. We painted the room white, but when my kids come, we are going to make a border by using their hand prints dipped in primary colors! It should be very cute and very "elementary". :) The room was already white, but it was kind of a dingy white... it needed a fresh coat! I will put a picture up of the final result in a few months. Painting was a lot of fun and it was great to spend that time with Laurel just talking and catching up. She has quickly become a dear friend and a huge blessing and I love living by her!! I will have to take her out to lunch soon to say "thank you" for all her help today!
You may be wondering why I always say I will post pictures eventually. Well, this is because I am kind of afraid of this computer. We have a Mac and it is still uncharted territory for me. I could upload my pictures to my old Dell without fail. I was very good at that and I would totally be able to post pictures from my old computer. However, the Mac is still very confusing to me, so as soon as I figure it out or make Ty sit down long enough to teach me, you will see some real photos. :)
After painting, I came home and relaxed. I was exhausted. After a while, Grant and Em came over and we grilled out, then finished up The Departed because Grant and Em had already seen it. I had seen it, but I had just forgotten about how it went. It was a pretty good movie... a LOT of expletives, but a very clever screenplay.
So, that was about it for today! Tomorrow will probably be even more low key, but I love days like those. Maybe I will even get a chance to lay out in the sun.
Until then...
Well, day two of my big week off is coming to a close. The weather was better today; yesterday, it was quite rainy. Cincinnati has been void of humidity lately, which has been GREAT! It just makes me sad that my hair straightener has been sent away to be repaired, meaning that I have had to wear my hair curly for just about a week now. If I could wear my hair straight, it wouldn't be unmanageable for once! Just my luck. :) T says he likes it better curly anyhow and I don't have anyone else to impress!
This morning, I slept in until 10:15. It was glorious. To be honest, I don't even remember T getting up to go to work. I must have been really tired. It is so nice to wake up at a leisurely pace. I cleaned the house this morning, used more of my great Method products, and got ready for my day. I met my friend, Judy, for lunch at a great place in Fairfield called Roosters. I love eating chicken wings, and Roosters has the BEST chicken wings... they are huge! Five fill me up quite adequately. We had a great time catching up! I work with Judy and her daughter, Lindsay, is getting married in about a week. I miss that time of life. Don't get me wrong, but the months and weeks leading up to my wedding were some of the best of my life. Sometimes I get a little nostalgic at the fact that my wedding is over. However, if you were able to attend, I think it was a pretty great time. :)
After lunch, I headed over to my friend Viona's house. We meet every Tuesday and she is mentoring me. She is an incredibly amazing woman of God and such a blessing to me. I also work with Viona and she has quickly became a precious friend. I look forward to our times together so, so much. We are going through one of Beth Moore's books, Get Out of That Pit. I am learning so much from Viona and I look forward to many more times together. Viona and her husband, Robert, also have a precious little one named Wesley who has also quickly become near and dear to my heart. Honestly, I think he is one of the most (if not THE most) darling little boys I have ever met in my life. We are going over to their house on Friday evening for a 4th of July BBQ, so I will post pictures so you can see his darling-ness firsthand. :)
I have realized lately that it might just be physically impossible for me to pass a Target and not go in. However, today, I passed one and just kept going! Small victories for Rachel! It might also be due to the fact that I just was in a Target yesterday... but, whatever!
I went to a health seminar tonight with my friend Sherri who sells JuicePlus. JuicePlus is a whole food, not a vitamin supplement, that offers you more than the FDA suggested serving size for fruits and veggies everyday. The seminar was not a plug for JuicePlus, but specific guidelines for nutrition. I am so glad I went! I learned a lot about how to eat, what are common nutrition myths, and practical guidelines to eating healthy. I am really excited to start taking my JuicePlus and gradually change some things about the way I eat, namely cutting out ALL refined sugar and white flour. Is it the easiest thing? No. Is it impossible? No! Here are some things that I learned tonight:
- 1 in 3 women will have cancer in their lifetime.
- 1 in 2 men will have cancer in their lifetime.
- 1 in 6 women will have breast cancer.
- The average American child is consuming 5 POUNDS of sugar per week! Gross!
- There are 17 teaspoons of sugar in a 20 oz. Coke.
Those cancer statistics are mostly due to diet and nutrition!! Yikes! I think that it's our responsibility to know these things and how we can keep our bodies healthy. Leanne (the speaker) talked about how the first choice for recovery and prevention is nutritional excellence and she also gave me a good phrase: If it doesn't rot or sprout, throw it out! She showed us a meal from McDonalds that she has saved for the last four years... and it has not grown any mold or decayed or ANYTHING! It was actually very disturbing how many preservatives are packed into the foods we eat! She spoke on the importance of eating a lot of plant foods as opposed to animal foods. All in all, it was very stimulating and I hope to go back to another seminar with Sherri soon!
Tyler and I watched The Departed tonight until he got too tired and had to go to bed. Poor guy. He's been working so hard lately. That leaves me all alone out here writing to you! I have another day ahead of me in just a few short hours, so I think I will sign out for the evening. I will leave you with another great quote I heard tonight from Leanne: "Americans are overfed and undernourished!"
Love, the new health-lovin' Rachel ;)
I am proud to say that everything was indeed made from scratch. I was so proud of myself, and I think they turned out really well! We ended the evening with a few games of Sequence (one of our favorites) while Wesley tried to go to sleep on the couch. He was having a rough time because of all the fireworks, poor guy. He ended up getting up and saying over 30 memory verses to us before we
left! This little boy is amazing and SO precious. I can't even stand how cute he is. Before he went to bed, he said to his dad, "Daddy, I am very concerned that Mr. Tyler and Miss Rachel aren't spending the night." Then, as we were leaving, he presented me with a plum and said, "Miss Rachel, I would be happy to offer you this plum. I would also be happy to offer myself a plum." Too cute! Here is a short video of Wesley telling us some of his Bible verses and then a few pictures of us decorating the cupcakes with red and blue sprinkles!
