Yesterday was the day! My husband made it official -- he gave notice at work that he is retiring at the end of March. The news was received much as we thought it would be -- they don't want him to go but.... they understand. Oh, my, what a change this will make in our lives! Just 9 weeks from today! Any of you "retired" people want to offer us any suggestions?

Well, I had this just about written and it disappeared! I wonder where it went...a mystery.

Today was class day and I did a presentation on the United States Census 2010. For those who don't know, the US Constitution mandates a complete census to be taken every 10 years. This is our year! Not only is taking census mandated but also the cooperation from the population is required by law. I felt that this was an issue that needed to be addressed with my non-English speakers. I was right -- they had a lot of questions. But, I think that they understood after I finished with my presentation.

One of the most interesting things I found when I was researching the Census was a language "card" (actually 4 or 5 pages long) that listed 51 different languages. In case a Census worker was speaking to a non-English speaker he/she could show them the language "card" and have them pick out the language that was spoken in that house. Then someone with the appropriate language skills could visit and get the form filled out. There were languages listed that I've never heard of. I found info about all of them except for one. Still working on that one.

In past years many of the undocumented people living in the US have not been counted. This year the goal is to count everyone. No one will be asked for documentation -- no social security numbers, no green cards, etc. I assured them that if they get the packet and return it then no one will come to their door. I also covered what to do if someone did come to their door. If they had returned the info packet then the person at the door was probably a scam artist. So, we covered what not to say and do if someone did come to their house. All in all, I think it went well.

Today the Digital Bookmobile was at our library (where we have our ESL class.) It is possible that only one other area in Texas received or is going to receive a visit from this Bookmobile. It was interesting. Unfortunately, there were some language/understanding problems but I believe everyone got the point. I will continue to work with them in this area. First, however, I probably need to learn more about it myself! I don't have a device that will accept a download but Tom does and I am sure I can borrow his.

Weather still lovely but we are supposed to get another dose of winter this weekend. I'll keep you posted!

We are having absolutely beautiful weather! I am feeling much better -- still coughing from time to time but my congestion is responding to Muscinex and I can breath again. I think I will survive!

Yesterday was ESL day and I had a great class. Last week I dropped three of my students for non-attendance but one of them showed up yesterday. She was very unhappy to hear that I had dropped her (to explain the term I told her I had erased her name!) She promised to be regular in attendance or to call if she could not come so, soft heart that I am, I let her back in.

We are working more on speaking and I was greatly amused to hear my students trying to pronounce the English words. I had a Spanish speaker from Columbia, a Spanish speaker from Mexico, a Spanish speaker who was born in France but lived in Mexico, and a Farsi speaker.
I would get four very different pronunciations of each word. The three Spanish speakers all sounded different! I had to laugh when my Colombian student pronounced upon as 'uppen.' I told him that was an original pronunciation!

I was surprised to learn that these students did not understand words like "upper," "lower,"
and "middle." Well, middle was "center" to them but I had just assumed they knew the other two words. Why? Why would I assume that? It just seemed so simple but if they knew things like that I wouldn't be needed, would I.

We also talked about current events -- I feel that I need to do that because they aren't keeping up with the news of the world and of our area. They had not heard about the Wed morning earthquake,(5.9) in Haiti, so we discussed that.

We worked on sight words -- before we started the French/Spanish speaker asked for me to put the alphabet on the board -- she is still unsure of it. That surprised me.

After the class was over two of the students told me it had been a VERY GOOD CLASS. I was pleased.

Next week Y will join our class -- he is from Cameroon and Belgium. I think he will be a good mix with our class.

Hello all of you in blogland!
Sorry I haven't been around much but I am either running or crashing. This will be a busy week and I am having some sinus problems that have now gone into congestion. I'm getting better but it does drag me out a bit. Today was MLK day and school was closed so
V called to ask if she could come to spend the day with me. I already had a luncheon planned with my quilting buddies so I told her I'd pick her up after lunch. She and Gracie did some bonding. We took Gracie for a walk -- she (G) is really enjoying our walks. We will gradually lengthen them. Good exercise for both of us.

Tomorrow I am starting a volunteer day at Katy Christian Ministries. I will be doing data entry. It will just be one day a week, and whatever hours I have available. Tues is the only day I could do this. We'll see if it takes too much time. I may have to rethink my plans.

This weekend we will assist with Seasons of Refreshing, a CMA conference. There will be between 200 -300 people attending so there will be plenty for Highway Disciples to do since we are hosting. I went shopping with a couple of the ladies on Saturday -- we shopped at Costco and purchased an amazing amount of items for the conference. Filled up the back of the Navi-"Gater" with all the stuff we bought.

We are only 10 weeks from a momentous occasion in our lives -- will tell more later.

WOW! It is 53 degrees (F) outside! Gracie and I went for a short walk and we both enjoyed being outside in the sunshine. I think we have one more night with temps below freezing and then we can uncover the plants. We are supposed to get a bit of rain toward the end of this week and that will be welcome.

Church yesterday -- I started a new Bible study on the book of Ruth. I think I will enjoy it as that has always been one of my favorite books of the Bible.

I'm preparing a new lesson for Wednesday's class. We are going to emphasize more conversation so I am using some picture lessons. These particular lessons are centered around health matters and the one for Wed is about childhood obesity. That is a very big problem here in the USA. Old lady obesity is also a problem! Oops, did I say that? Naw, couldn't have been this old lady!!

Last week I had a new man come to visit my class -- he wanted to join but when everyone is present we don't have room for him. I think I will call everyone who has been absent and tell them to come back or lose their place. I hate to turn someone away.

Gracie had a Dr. appt this afternoon -- she got a clean bill of health! The Vet agreed with us, that she is about 1 year old and is fully grown. She will have her surgery on Feb 9. Then she will be fully healed and ready to travel with us when we go on a couple of trips in the spring and summer. She has started playing with her toys so I believe she is more comfortable with us than she was at first.

This is the 11th day of this new year -- time is already flying!

Dog clothes

We aren't going to dress Gracie in dresses, like some of our doggie friends wear, but we did buy her a coat today. Well, perhaps it is more of a cape -- red corduroy with a black fleece lining and a fuzzy black collar. I don't think she really likes it but she didn't shiver as much when we went outside.

Good morning to all of you in blogland. It is a really cold morning here in the gulf coast region.
We are, after all, normally semi tropical, and today it is 29 deg F. It feels colder than that when I go outside and Gracie doesn't care for going outside at all!

This really cold weather is supposed to last until Sunday -- we have tried to cover most of our more fragile plants but don't know if they will make it -- a hard freeze over several days is a little more than most of them can handle. My yard has almost become too much for me to handle so if I lose some of these plants, oh, well, one or two less to have to worry about. It will be easier after my Sweetie retires -- just 3 months! I think I need a load of soil for my back yard -- our previous dry summer caused some subsidence under the two big trees and that area now floods when we get much rain. I need some new soil to fill in there plus I need to put in some drains.

Yesterday my oldest daughter, R, who lives in NM, and I spent much of the day running errands and shopping. We had a great visit -- then last night we all went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. We really enjoyed the visit with the kids. Now that R no longer home-schools she is able to travel with her hubby and he comes here on business several times a year. They will go to Minneapolis next week -- that should be a real cold experience for her. She isn't much of a cold-weather lover!

Talked to my Mom -- she said she was staying home all the time until this really cold weather goes away. Her friend that provides the transportation for their outings is really bothered by the cold weather. I know she will be happy when it warms up.

I hear that England is having record cold and perhaps Ireland, too. Doug -- how is it there?
Are the donkeys staying warm?

Love to hear from someone so drop a note if you can!

This lovely creature is Gracie, and she has come to live with us. She is 1/2 Chihuahua and 1/2

Dachshund. We haven't had a pet in 14 years so we are happy to have her join our family.

HOWEVER, I really got a scare today (and so did Gracie!) I had her on a leash in our back yard and a neighbor dog broke through the fence and ran to attack her. I got between the dogs but it was a really scarry happening. Gracie was making a noise that could only be considered a scream. I managed to get her up and we ran into the house. She recovered more quickly than I did! My legs felt like jelly for some time. I knew the dog that tried to attack her and she isn't a bad dog, but I feel it would not have ended well had I not been able to separate them.

To make matters worse, on Christmas Day Gracie's mother, Ginger, wandered into a neighbor's yard, where she lived, and was attacked and killed by two dogs. I felt like history was repeating itself.

A new year! 2010. Gosh, that seems such an amazing number. When you were, perhaps, 10 0r 12 years old, did you ever think you would still be alive in 2010? Did you think we would have robots to clean our houses by then (I'm still waiting!) I went to Disneyland the year after it first opened and toured the "house of the future." Some things never came to pass and others did and are now "old hat" to us.

I haven't had much blogging time due to the holidays. I'm still trying to put Christmas away. The tree is down but not the small displays. We went out of town over the New Year and had a lovely time at a retreat center. Just us and a few of our friends -- lots of food, fun, fellowship, and games, games, games! Big fire in the fireplace, lots to eat, and lovely friends. Who could ask for more!

To each of you, I wish for you a wonderful and peaceful new year!!