Thankful Thursday!

I was thankful for a lot of things yesterday, but one thing in particular made me even more thankful!  I was going to go from Black Hawk where I was teaching to Wm. Byrne where Sam teaches and help him put up bulletin boards for the New Year.  He got to Byrne before I did due to technical difficulties with the sound system at Black Hawk and me now starting my class late.  The doors were locked.  He couldn't get in.  School was officially closed for the holidays.  He sent me a text.  It came during my last unit of First Aid.  I did not have to go to Byrne.  I could go home.  I was so thankful because I was just plumb tuckered out!

He, of course, will be going to work early now on Monday and I can't (legally) go in to help him due to Covid restrictions.    

CPR, FIrst Aid, and Farewell!

I taught CPR and First Aid this week at ISD 196 for the final time with Pat Bennett, our Aquatics Director, at the healm!  Fortunately, my time there this week was much better than hers!

She met me at the door Wednesday morning saying, "I am so ready to retire!  You won't believe the week I've had!"  She proceeded to tell me everything that had gone wrong - from sick staff to needed Covid tests to finding more certification staff!  I was just happy those were her problems and NOT mine!

My problems were easy - one of my students looked just like my supervisor, Mo, at ISD 194.  I had to work hard to call her "Terri" and not "Mo".  One of the WSA students came up to me crying, "I don't feel well."  "Um . . . call your parent and go home."  Cheesy peasy easy!   

Best wishes in your retirement, Pat! 

Dinner with Dad!

We were able to drive down to Iowa on Sunday in order to celebrate Christmas a day late with Dad.  We had a fun time, save for watching the Vikings attempt to play football!  Unfortunately, the weather dictated an earlier leave time that what we had wanted.  Fortunately, the roads were fairly decent.  The winds were miserable!   

2021 Steiger End of Year Recap

Micah and I went to Ukraine in 2017 with Steiger International's "No Longer Music" Team.  We were impressed with their dedication to Jesus while on tour and Sam and I have grown even more impressed as we've listened to their podcast, "Provoke and Inspire."  They are not your Sunday morning suit and tie church goers, but men and women who are out there sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in what some would consider non-traditional ways.  To God be the glory!

 

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

 

Christmas Eve Dinner!

After our respective Christmas Eve services last night, Sam's Aunt Lenore, cousin David and his wife Jeanette joined us for one of my family traditions - pizza and ice cream!  Sam made us a delicious homemade stuffed crust pizza and the Dureys brought the ice cream.

We had so much fun, just laughing the night away, from the story of how David and Jeanette met to Uncle George had hair!?!  And not just any hair - beautiful golden locks!  It made for a wonderful Christmas Eve!  

Christmas Eve Services

At Christmas Eve Services last night, Pastor Terry asked us whoever reads Matthew 1 at Christmas?  It's the genealogy of Jesus!  So, he sang it for us!  Just listen:

 

Burgers or Cokes?

On Wednesday, Micah and I met our friend Heidi for lunch at Red Robin.  We weren't there for the burgers!  In fact, Micah had chicken fingers.  We were there for the cokes!  

Between the three of us, we went through at least twelve glasses of soda!  I confess, I was probably the biggest drinker, but I had gone swimming in the morning and I was thirsty!

Family Swim Day!

I know, I know!  You all thought it was Christmas Eve yesterday, but at the Y, it turns out we had a totally different event going on in the  lap pool!  In lane one, we had a married couple working out.  In lane two, we had Sally and her daughter Hailey doing laps.  In lane three, neighbor Nancy and her daughter Mary were doing laps.  And in lane four was me.  All alone.  Without family.  Bummer.

Twins Day!

Our teachers declared Monday "Twins Day" and Angela and I carried through on being our favorite fifth grade twins:

 

Gifted . . .

I had been blown away by the generosity of Julie and Aimee on Monday and I truly didn't expect anyone else to gift me on Tuesday.  I was shocked!

I stopped by my space and there on my table were three gifts.  My anonymous gift contained a package of nuclear popcorn, hot chocolate and a candy cane.  Leo literally shocked me with a Target gift card.  I mean, how unexpected is that?  And then there was the sweetest gift from Kai and Otto, the twins.  

Kai and his mom had made Micah's "Malted Milk Ball Cookies" in competition with Otto and his dad's peanut butter cookies with a Hershey's kiss on top.  I was told at recess by Kai that I needed to eat them before I left so I could let them know who's cookie was the best.  Honestly, it was Kai's hands down because it really tasted just like Micah's and I like them alot.  Otto's cookie had been decorated with green frosting to make it look like a Christmas tree and I just don't like frosting!  Sorry, Otto - Kai won my vote!     

MIssing . . .

 When I left school on Monday, I couldn't find my phone.  I turned around in the school parking lot, went back inside and retraced my steps.  No phone.  Thinking maybe it had fallen under a seat or something, I went back to my car.  Still couldn't find the phone, so I prayed, "God you know where my phone is.  Please let me know" and went to the grocery store.

At the store, I ran into Stephanie who I hadn't seen since Covid started.  We caught up and then she asked me how I was doing, really.  I told her my phone was missing and I was a bit worried about it.  She was so sweet.  "My son-in-law, Tim, will be at my house at 5:30 tonight.  He's found my lost phone in Wyoming.  I'm sure he can find yours.  You call me.  And we'll get him to work on.  He's a techo-guru."  With a thank-you and the hope that I could send a text from my phone instead, I finished my grocery shopping.

I got home and asked Ol' Eagle Eyes, more commonly known as Micah, to go to my car and look for my phone while I checked my school e-mails.  Relief.  I had left my phone on Julie's desk.  One of the kids I work with recognized it, and once the groceries were packed away, it was back in my hands!

Over . . .

Overwhelmed by love?  Overjoyed by what was given?  I'm not sure what is most accurate here, but both were quite true on Monday afternoon . . . 

The two fifth grade teachers I work most closely with had sent me texts that morning, asking me to stop by their rooms before I left school (I only had lunchroom and recess duty on Monday).  I stopped by Julie's room first and she went to her desk to grab a gift bag.

M: "I know that gift bag.  I went shopping there on Friday!"

J:  Smiles.  

Class:  "Mrs. Zupke, will you open it and show it to us?"

M:  "Only if I don't have to share!"

J:  "No sharing . . ."

M:  "This is my most favorite chocolate in the whole world!  Thank you, Ms. Urban."

It was Droolin' Moose Mint Melters - absolutely amazing!

Aimee's class was headed to the library when I came out of Julie's room.  

A:  "You open that gift from me and come into the library and find me."

I opened the gift from Aimee and began to cry.  I cried even more when she told me why.  In fact, we were both in the library crying. 

Last year, one of my earrings from South Africa had fallen out (while removing my face mask) in the school parking lot.  I found it the next morning, crushed.  

Aimee had spent the summer looking for earrings similar to my South African ones and look what she found.  A perfect pair!  In Iowa, of all places!

I am so blessed to work with this two wonderful women and they say how blessed they are to work with me!

 

   

What if . . .

My friend, Karen, who attends Lugogo Baptist Church in Uganda, sent out this quick videos of their Thanksgiving Church Service.  It brought back many great memories of worshiping in Africa . . . and made me wonder, as I was sitting in church today, what if . . . 

• We worshiped so joyfully in our churches
• We gave, not from our abundance, but from our hearts.
  

 

A Lars Update

We received an update on Lars yesterday.  He's still in the hospital, they were hoping to take the breathing tube out today.  He was able to nod his head and squeeze his wife's hand on Wednesday.  Not what we hoped for, it's been hard on staff and students, so we pray . . .   

Tik Tok Holiday

Sadly, our school district received a social media threat that caused it, along with Farmington Schools, to close for the day.  To whoever made the threat, I don't know why you did it, but I do know you left many disappointed staff and students at my building, including me.  One of our fifth grades had declared today "Twins Day" where you could either wear Minnesota Twins clothes or dress like a twin.  It has been the lunchroom talk for the past two weeks as students plotted and planned!  I spent last night texting my blonde co-worker Angela as we decided to be our fifth grade twins, blonde Kai and dark-haired Otto.  We were looking forward to hearing what they had to say when we told them who we were!  And we didn't get to . . . because media won and we had an unwanted Tik Tok Holiday.     

Thankful Thursday!

Earlier this fall, I helped Heidi make snowman ornaments for the Holiday Craft Sale in November.  She gave me some leftover bits and I made some snowmen to give to friends for Christmas, including the teams I work with at school.  I snuck them onto desks during lunch on Thursday and got a lot of "thank-you" texts back, but my two favorite thank you's came from our special ed teacher who interrupted my lunch to tell me how much she liked and appreciated the snowman.  The other most favorite thank you can from my recess counterpart who sent me this picture, saying the snowman fit right in!  I'm thankful that I could bring smiles with some help from my friend, Heidi! 

Teaching in the Classroom . . .

With Rich in the hospital, and his sub not quite sure what to do, Monday morning Aimee and I decided I would have a much easier time teaching her class while she taught Rich's.  She was right!  I had fun . . . and her class survived me!  Fortunately, it was only for half an hour!

Last Friday's Snow . . .

. . . Made Monday's and Tuesday's recesses a winter wonderland!  There wasn't a child to be find on the playground because everyone who had snowpants and boots were making snow balls, snow men and snow forts!  Loved it!

Lars

Lars is one of our fifth grade teachers.  We found out this morning that he had slipped and fallen on sidewalk ice yesterday afternoon.  He has a fractured skull with bleeding on his brain.  He does recognize his wife, but has no idea what day or month or time it is.  Our hearts are heavy . . . we have no idea what this means, but pray for the best.

The Saga Continues . . .

Sears said (promised?) that once our new dishwasher was installed, they would come out and pick up our old dishwasher.  After all, it was a replacement.  So Monday afternoon, I called and was told that the person I was speaking with had put in a manual order.  That meant that within one to two business days, someone from Sears would call us and schedule the pick up.  

I called again today, five days later, and said that no one had called us back to schedule a dishwasher pickup.  Low and behold, I got a date.  Someone is supposed to be here to pick it up on Tuesday.  I can only think of the old song, "Dream, dream, dream, dre-e-e-e-am . . ."  

Thankful Thursday!

I can not tell you how thankful (and happy!) staff and students were in both Sam's district and mine were about the two-hour early out today!  The fact that we found out on Thursday evening made it even better Party on!🎉

An "F" Means "Fabulous!"

Not really!  Not at all!  Imagine my (horror? dismay? shock?) when I came home from the Tutor Christmas Party Monday evening and Micah said, "Mom, I got an F on my 1500-word paper."  

"You mean the paper that we worked on for a couple of hours on Saturday and again for a couple of hours on Sunday?  An "F"?" 

It turns out that she had (misunderstood/misinterpreted/made a major mistake) on the directions and her prof flat out gave her an "F".  So she want to bat for herself, explaining why she chose to do what she did, and asked for another chance, saying if he'd let her, she'd redo the entire paper this weekend.  In return, he said he'd read the paper on Tuesday and make his decision then.  

Imagine my (shock? surprise? joy?) when she came out of her room Tuesday night and said, "You won't believe this!"  Her prof had read her paper, reconsidered her grade from the night before and changed that lowly "F" into an "A-" saying that she had written the best, most thorough, paper in the class, even though it was on the (incorrect?) information and he was glad she had advocated for herself.

Look out Dean's List!  Here she comes!

Buns and Lyerlys!

Sunday mornings after church, Sam and I stop by Lunds and Byerlys for a loaf of my current lunch addiction - handcrafted artisan cranberry walnut bread.  This morning, we discovered they were having their "members only" baking sale.  Of course, we are members!

We walked out of the store with butter, white sugar, powdered sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, two bags of chocolate chips, one bag of peanut m&m's, a dozen eggs  and my loaf of bread to the tune of $18.28.  Savings?  $18.98.  We actually saved more than we spent!  

We Have A Dishwasher!!!

And it works, too!  Our friend, Jerry, came over this afternoon and helped Sam install it.  After a few more rounds with Sears, we just said "to halibut", and took Jerry up on his offer.  One wash down, and it's looking good!  We may have rejoined the First World . . .

Out Too Late?

Micah and I knew Matt had been out too late last night when he grabbed a box of cereal and a plate this morning for breakfast.  He looked at what he had done, shook his head, and said, "That's not gonna work."  

Thankful Thursday!

Frosted

Today, I am thankful that Micah was one of the top five finishers in the StarTribune 2021 Holiday Cookie Contest.  While she didn't win first place, she was thrilled to be one of the top five finishers out of over two hundred and fifty recipes.

We've known that she was one of the top five since the end of October when we took an oath of silence.  Naturally, today was the day the paper arrived late.  She went out a couple of times to check.  I went out once and Sam brought it in just before he went to work.  Micah came down and let me know, with a big smile on her face.

"I didn't win, but I'm one of the top five and THAT is cool".

And you know what?  Those "Malted Milk Ball Cookies" are a winner every time, too!

Sandwich Version

TOMORROW!

When you get up tomorrow morning, grab your Thursday's copy of the STAR TRIBUNE and turn to the Variety Section.  We know for a fact that a picture I took will be in there . . .

You'll Never Guess What We Got!

Ever since our dishwasher was "repaired" in early September and that repair fried our dishwasher leaving a hole in the basin, Sam has said over and over and over, "I think they put in the wrong part."

He'd be right.  Based on the fact that the part we needed finally arrived yesterday!  But it will do us no good because there's still the hole in the bottom of the dishwasher . . .

My recommendation?  Don't buy from Sears and certainly don't purchase a totally worthless protection agreement! 

I say that as our new dishwasher remains in the box because Sears can't find an installer.  We've been told that twice now and we have a really hard time believing that there isn't a single dishwasher installer in the entire Twin Cities Metro . . .