Happy like a river

In case I hadn't mentioned it, I am in love. YES! For reals this time. And it rocks my world. It's interesting though.... in my "younger" days I always thought I'd be super giddy and starstruck and all that. I mean, I did feel all those things in the past when I was in "love." So either I've grown up and am a little more realistic, or love just feels different when it's actually mutual and good and working well, etc. 


My love is like a river. It's constant, and fairly deep. Abiding. Yes, perhaps that's a good word for it. It gently colors my world a beautiful shade of rosy pink. Most of the time there's not crazy fireworks and explosions and grandiose moments, but they happen often enough that I'm not worried about anything missing. 


The only downside? Distance. And time. Because the distance is just enough to make it inconvenient to see each other every day, we talk a lot on the phone. And that time flies way too fast. And when it is over not only do I wish we had more time talking, I realize I need more time to do my little tasks too. So instead of switching my laundry and doing lesson plans I blog..... yeah. Teaching this new year may very well kill me. Too many students. Too many "extras" to worry about (science fair, spring sing, grades, re-enrollment,  P-T conferences, valentines, etc). Lots of pressure/high expectations. Depending on if my mom's scale and my sister-in-law's scales are fairly similar, I've shed 5 pounds in the past 3 weeks since coming back from the break to teach. (And those aren't the healthy, oh I worked so hard to lose that weight pounds. No, they're the stressed, stressed, stressed lost pounds.) 


So to sum it up, I need to change the laundry and go to bed like 30 minutes ago. Because the grind begins early, and I'm still fighting my 2 week illness, and I need to work hard tomorrow so I can play with my man later this week. And that concludes one of my more random posts. 

Recipe To Try

PUMPKIN CHILI

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
• 1 (46 fluid ounce) can tomato juice
• 1 (28 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 cup white sugar

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, cook beef until brown; drain. Stir in onion and bell pepper and cook 5 minutes. Stir in beans, tomato juice, diced tomatoes and pumpkin puree. Season with pumpkin pie spice, chili powder and sugar. Simmer 1 hour.

Doors and Windows

So 2012 has been very interesting so far. VERY good so far! And it looks to be extremely promising on some fronts, which makes me happy happy. Of course, you can't have a house where all the windows and doors are open at the same time. So naturally, some windows have had to close. For the first time in my left, I voluntarily chose not to participate in dance. 

WOW.

It was surprisingly easy. Easy in the sense that I've been dancing for over two decades and have always ended prior dance commitments through someone else's choices - moving away, not making a team, etc. Actually choosing my future? Choosing to say no to dance?? Yes. I did it. And it feels right. 

My travel journal documents my impressions from our very last performance in Lisbon. It was a back-to-back show for LDS church members from three stakes in the area. Both shows were packed! The audience was so wonderful and it was an amazing synchronicity of performer and audience. Perhaps my words that night sum up this choice. "Absolutely best way to end dancing :) " At least for now, one chapter of my dancing story has closed, but I am confident that it's not the end!

Miss this face and these moments...