Mel's Box of Chocolates

When I was a kid, I remember complaining to my grandma once how I hated how slow time went.  I can still here her response, "one day you will realize how fast time is going and wish it would go slower." Every year, I think I understand her statement more and more. I can't believe that tomorrow is December 1st. I swear that Christmas comes faster and faster every year. Here, I looked forward to Thanksgiving break since, well, the first day of school and with a blink it was over.  Now I have 17 days of school till winter break and 25 until Christmas. I'm sure I'll be ringing in the New Year before I know it. Why does time seem to go by so much faster the older we get? SUBSCRIBE to never miss a piece of chocolate Be Sweet, Follow Mel on Twitter

If you are following me on Twitter or on Facebook then you may have already heard my flooding story from yesterday.  If you somehow missed out on the fun though, I'll give you a quick recap.   Yesterday morning, as Zoe and I were snuggled on the couch watching some tv and enjoying our school free day, I heard water dripping.  After doing a quick scan I didn't see anything so I got up to investigate.  When I got over to my kitchen I saw water trickling out of my light switch and telephone plug.  When I looked up I saw water spots on my ceiling and immediately knew that water was running in the upstairs bathroom.  As I flew up the stairs I immediately noticed water in the hallway and when I got to the bathroom I froze. There was about an inch of standing water and it was still pouring out of the overflowing toilet.  After my second of just staring in astonishment of what was happening, I came to my senses and waded through the water to turn off the ...

I was cleaning out my drafts and found these kid conversations that I hadn't shared yet.  They took place quite awhile ago, but still made me chuckle so hopefully they will put a smile on your face today, too! Dylan: You don't have to get that much stuff ready.  It's not like we are going to Texas. Daddy: That's where mommy wanted to go on vacation. Dylan: Why?  She doesn't even speak Texas. Me: Umm what language does Texas speak? Dylan:   I don't know.. YeeeeHaaawwww?! Aunt Steph: What is this? {showing a $5 bill} Zoe: A dollar.  Aunt Steph: No, look at the number. Zoe: Oh, it's 5 dollars. Aunt Steph: Good, now what's this {she shows her another $5 bill} Zoe: 5 dollars Aunt Steph: Yes, so now what do you have {she puts the fives togther} Zoe: Two five dollars. or as some may say $10 {which was what Aunt Steph was looking for!} SUBSCRIBE to never miss a piece of chocolate Be Sweet, Follow Mel on Twitter

If you read my post from Monday then you know I have been a bit frustrated with my job.  So when my aunt sent me this email, it was absolutely perfect timing. Thanks Aunt Steph!!!   I figured it was something we all needed to hear now and again so I hope it brings you encouragement as we all make our way through this thing called LIFE. The Charlie Schulz Philosophy     (This is  marvelous!! Scroll thru slowly and read carefully to receive and enjoy full effect ) The  following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz , the  creator of the 'Peanuts' comic strip. You don't have to actually answer the questions.  Just ponder on them. Read straight through , and you'll get the point. 1. Name the five wealthiest people in the  world. 2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners. 3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant. 4  Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize. 5. Na...

Have you heard about geocaching?   Basically it's a worldwide scavenger hunt and our family has been having a blast exploring the area where we live on the hunt for geocache trinkets.   My little brother actually told us about it because he and his friends would go out and do it all night.  After doing some research I found tons of information about it and had no idea that it was so popular.  There are actually 1,233,975 active geocaches around the world.   Now I cherish my sleep so you won't find me out geocaching overnight, but my family and I have enjoyed spending afternoons and evenings on the hunt.  Some we have found in parking lots at Walmart and grocery stores while others we had to go hiking in some local state parks for.  We have only found easy to some medium difficulty, but I am intrigued that some geocaches are under the sea and others at the top of a mountain and people spend days searching for them.  We have kep...

It seems like forever since I've been able to take time to pay attention to my blog.  That real job, the one that pays the bills, has been eating up my time and it's been a good couple of months since I've been able to do anything for myself.   Back to school time is always busy as we get back into the routine, but this year has been especially hard.  It's good to know that it isn't only me though.  It seems that every teacher in my school is feeling the same way and while we were out trick or treating I got to talk to one of my teacher neighbors and she said everybody in her school is feeling the pressure too.  It just seems that more and more responsibilities are being put on school teachers.  We no longer are allowed to just teach and take care of our students, but instead we have paperwork overload, new assessments to implement, hoops to jump through, and the list goes on and on.   The powers to be in Washington think up these idea...