A long week...

This has been a longer week than usual mostly because Jim is in Washington DC for the whole week. I've been busy the whole time but it has certainly been a tiring week. On Monday I went up to the old schoolhouse and helped my former team members assess their students with the assessment tool that they are using. It was great to get to be working with the students again--at least the one-on-one work was fun. Such smart children too! That night I had handbell choir from 7 to 8...



Tuesday--back to school for part of the day to continue the same--->that evening I had a meeting at church from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. It's amazing how a change in routine can just make one so tired!



Wednesday--again to school ...although this time I left for a lunch date with a couple of friends from church, then went back to finish up Melissa's class. Sherry has a few word lists to finish so I told her I'd finish those on Friday morning.



Thursday (today) I visited with a rep from the Heritage Makers about their product (making storybooks written by you or me or anyone else.) They have put together a pretty neat website and will "publish" books for all the scrapbookers who like to journal more and more. Then this afternoon Patrick and I went to eat at Mijo's.



Tomorrow I finish with the assessment help and the next time I go up there will probably be as a sub for Sondra on the 12th.



Over and out!



Cheryl

Fear of Heights

Yesterday I confirmed that one of those old fears that I had as a child still hangs on out there! FEAR OF HEIGHTS!! When I was growing up and would ride in the car with my family, we rarely drove anywhere other than in the area between Fort Worth and Hillsboro. There were a few times when we got to take a vacation and one of those vacations that I will always remember was to the GRAND CANYON.

There was something about viewing the Grand Canyon from the edges of it that absolutely scared me to pieces! I can remember getting mad at my two younger brothers for getting too close or what I thought was too close to the edge.

And then there was the simple drive to Arlington to swim with the family at Lucas Park. On the way home my dad drove us west on Arkansas and rather than going home the way we came down Spur 303, he drove us across the dam of Lake Arlington. I was in the floorboard praying silently that we'd make it across and not fall into the hole in the lake that was visible to anyone who didn't ride across hiding her eyes in the floorboard of the back seat! I was truly scared and didn't appreciate that trip route home. Well....

...as you can read from the sign, yesterday those fears were again brought out when Jim and I drove to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado. The scenic views were breathtaking but it was all I could do to keep from crawling over the back seat of the car and getting down in the floorboard with my eyes tightly closed. At first, it wasn't too bad, but at about Mile 8 of 19 I was looking away from the window with tears streaming down my face.

Luckily the digital cameras of today can take pictures (although not always great ones) without the camera owner having to look through the view finder!

It's about at that spot that the paved road becomes a dirt road and it seemed that each hairpin curve our vehicle was just about to spin out as we turned around each corner. Luckily for us and for all of the other hundreds or maybe thousands of visitors to that famous mountaintop, we arrived at the top safely and then later descended to the base of the mountain without anyone getting hurt. I thank God for keeping us safe and giving us the chance to make that trip even though it scared me to pieces!

It's no wonder that the composer (whose name escapes me at the moment) of "America the Beautiful" was inspired to write that beautiful patriotic hymn when she visited the summit of that mountain! It is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to see the pictures that Jim took yesterday. My pictures are not quite as sharp as I'd hoped- a little blurry. But as you can see here -- some turned out ok.

We are blessed to be able to travel and take in the views that others have shared with us...

Thank you, God, for bringing us safely back to our hotel. I know that I will most likely always have that fear of heights at times. Help me, God, to be a lot less nervous so that whoever is with me doesn't end up with a crick in the neck as Jim did yesterday due to my own fears making him uptight too! Thank you, too, God, that Jim is the safe and self-confident driver that he is---getting us both to the top and back-- without letting my fears infect him.

The views from the top were awesome!!

Almost Finished!

Here we have the final project...at least, everything except the window treatments (probably will be shutters). I'm thinking about making cookies tomorrow so that I can try out my new oven!

The next picture is of our backsplash that is on the wall under the ventahood and above the new cooktop. We especially like it because we designed it ourselves along with the help of one of the women who work at the Arizona Tile store/warehouse where we picked out our granite for the countertop and the tile for the backsplash. The cooktop is a Jenn-aire and it has 5 burners (and means we need new pots and pans because they have to be flat-bottomed.)

Our cabinets were all sanded and stained and look terrific! How nice to have what seems like a brand-new kitchen!

Here you can see the corner of the cooktop and the corner of the sink. It is a black sink and even though the salesman at Home Depot tried to dissuade us from getting a black cast acrylic, I 'm very glad we did---we love it!

Coming up next is the ceiling fan that is in the breakfast room. We hadn't even thought of getting a new one...but the peach colored one just would not have worked in our new dark, rich red walled kitchen and breakfast room.