5 on friday

I never figured out how to link up with this 5 on Friday thing.

But I love posting my random Friday thoughts so here ya go:

<ONE>

Last Sunday night I went to A Place to Land in Mt. Holly to take a lettering class. Pat: "Don't you already know how to write letters?" Y'all, it was so much fun! The studio is itty bitty, and the table held...mmmmm....10-12 people? It turned out being a whole lotta teachers, which didn't surprise me. Teachers love to doodle. I love to letter, but I want to be better at it. I did learn a lot from this class. Here is the piece they had us all create:



Then we got to create anything we wanted. If you go back to THIS post, you'll see the quote throw kindness around like confetti - something I've been wanting to use somehow, somewhere. So this is how I used it and I LOVE IT! After I did the lettering, I was planning to actually glue confetti around the border. But one of the ladies that taught the class offered to let me splatter it with watercolor paint while I was there, and I love how it turned out! It is now framed and hanging in my office.



Speaking of my office, it is now covered in quotations that I've lettered and framed. Makes me happy.

<TWO>

This past week, I extended my plank hold to SIX minutes. Did you read that right? SIX!!! My entire body shakes through the last 2 minutes and drips with sweat...but I can do it.

Also, for the first time in my life, I am able to do 10 consecutive push-ups. Real ones. "Men" ones. I attribute this to Insanity. My upper body and core strength are improving greatly and that makes me so happy.

I'm starting to see definition in my upper abdomen! Now if only I could get the cliff over my c-section incision to disappear I'd be stoked...any advice?

<THREE>

In case you didn't already know this, my 3 year old makes me laugh. I mean, seriously LAUGH. The things he says sometimes just stop me in my tracks. Where does he have the life experience to come up with some of these things? Being that I sat in on a lot of speech IEP meetings in my experience as an assistant principal, I learned a lot about how to correct articulation errors. Finn is pretty articulate. The errors he makes are age appropriate, but when I show him how to fix the errors - he does. And his carryover is good. So for example, if he says "Fank you", I tell him to look at me. I model how to make the /th/ sound and tell him to watch how I put my tongue between my teeth (aka stick out your tongue). He then repeats it and is successfully able to say "Thank you". On Wednesday, we ran through the drive through at Jimmy John's to pick up some sandwiches to eat in the car on the way to VBS. As we pull up to the window, Finn wants me to ask the lady at the register what her name is. I ask her. It starts with /th/ - I can't remember exactly what it was. Thelma I think? I tell him her name is "Thelma" and he says to both her and me, "You should stick out your tongue when you say that. Look at me. Thelma." (and he is sticking out his tongue as he says it). Poor lady, she had no idea how to respond. I just shook my head and laughed. He really does internalize what I tell him.

<FOUR>
Two out of the last three times I ran at 5:00 am in our neighborhood, I've had to jump over a snake. If you know me, you know how serious my fear of snakes is. Although we have street lights, they are not quite bright enough for my taste. You can see shadows, but you never really know what you're coming upon until you're right there at it. So about 2 feet away I realize what it is and at that point my best choice is to pray, then jump, then sprint. The first snake was HUGE and was on the sidewalk. So I started running in the street - there are no cars out that early. The one today was MEDIUM sized, and it was in the street. I can't win for losing. This makes almost 10 snakes I've seen either in our yard or neighborhood so far this summer.

<FIVE>
I have two weeks to find childcare for my boys. Beginning August 17, I need someone to watch them full time. No, I'm not a procrastinator. It was a sudden thing that came about yesterday. If you have any advice, know anyone who watches kids in their home or a childcare center that's affordable...let me know. I'm pretty desperate.

Til next week,