April 8? WHAT?

Find a penny, pick it up, the rest of the day you'll have good luck.

My new mascot

Well I have a query for you dear reader: if I found a quarter does that mean I have good luck for the next 25 days? Well I guess I am not really asking that question... I often stop while running and pick up pennies, put them in my shoe, and use the rest of my run to think what I want to test my new found good luck on. Today when I spotted a quarter I was beside myself, well not really I find it hard to be beside myself and in the same spot at the same time. Anyway. I got to thinking, if you get one days worth of luck for a penny I bet I can get 25 days of luck for a quarter, and that means not only do I have a good run today (actually it is a little muggy out) but for the rest of the month including; you guessed it, the end goal half marathon! Hurrah! My little mascot will get me though, now to find a place where he will not be spent. He looks like he has had a rough life, being a homeless quarter for some time out on the streets he has taken a beating so he should stand out amid the other quarters to be spent. More on his status later!

Anyway: How does time get away from me so fast? I have tried to busy myself, and had no shortage of things to do, but dear readers (reader as I am sure there is only one of you) this has made writing about the goings on harder.As you can tell from the intro here my mind does not need much to get going on a distraction, and distractions abound when you are at home all day with incomplete to do lists!
I will start at the top of the week, Monday. I subbed that day for the golf coach. It is getting really fun to sub for him as I am getting to know the kids and class dynamics better. He also entrusts in me a lesson or at least something to do instead of stare at kids who are staring at a movie. Don't get me wrong I like an easy day as much as the next sub, but the last easy day I had I got to watch the second half of a movie five times which is great and all but I have not seen the first half at all. Anyway, Monday we reviewed for a test on the Cold War, one of my favorite historical events. I think I like the Cold War so much because I used to be obsessed with Austin Powers and when I was in college doing my first presentation for Oral Comm class I presented on the Cold War using a clip from Austin Powers to get the class interested. That teacher later invited me to join her Toastmasters group; she loved me! I thank the Cold War, and strangely Austin Powers (she called it a good hook, pats self of back). Needless to say it was fun to review all that stuff with the classes and I hope they did well on their test. Monday I also went on a run on a new trail! Lakeshore trail was fun and best of all FLAT! We are going back tomorrow for the 11 miler (these numbers are getting scary).

Tuesday morning, no sub jobs. Plenty of work to take care of around the house! First thing was to get my taxes in the mail. I am used to not getting my K-1 from the family farm until late, but for some reason this year I had everything together and when I got the K-1 I just spaced out on getting it sent in. So finally completed the taxes and got them sent to the accountant. I vow every year to do better and sooner next year maybe I should just let go and do it when I get time instead of making a big deal, I will let you know how that goes next year.
Next to do-Since I had powerwashed the front of the house the windows needed some TLC. So the BF and I jumped in the car and headed to the local hardware store. I love this place and if you click on that link you can see some pictures of it innocently sitting on the corner just below The Summit, talk about worlds collide! Anyway we went in and our helper informed me that I do not want to caulk windows but glaze them. I did not know what this meant, but I figured he is the expert (again I love this place) so home again with a tub of window glaze and a chisel head scraper thing.

Love the half re-painted archway!  Love my PowerWasher more!

Reminder to the reader-this is a part of the spruce up the front porch project gone MAD! I powerwashed the paint off the windows in places, semi accidentally, and then realized that in fact the window glass did not have a water tight seal around the frame. I thought-caulk gun and go- but learned something here. Glazing is actually not all that hard just clean out the space, fill with glaze on scraper so no water can sit on ledge, let dry for a while, come back and smooth with finger, done. Well then paint. Sounds like work but I love being outside and accomplishing. The first window I was warned would take some time to get used to the process so it can look a little bit bad while you work out the kinks. My first window might look the best of any of the windows-It should do-That first window took me at least an hour to just get all settled in.

Pre-glaze removal

Post-glaze removal

Again with post you can see a little of the old glaze left. This is what this window looked like after washing, not water tight!

The set of windows, mucho work-o!

From the street you can almost not notice any of the goings on. The irises are so pretty this year they catch the eye first.

Tuesday and Wednesday were both consumed with my window project. When I finished the big can of glaze (again good advice on getting the big can instead of the smaller one) I was on the last of the front windows. After that I went in and filled some of the spots where the powerwasher has powered a little to close and blasted the wood a little bit. This may have been the best part of the project in all. The sun was shining and the dogs were barking (the real dogs, not my feet) I am sure there were birds chirping anyway it was nice outside and I just got to enjoy. Wednesday I went for a run after taking the girls to the park. The BF and I walked for a while and he left to go home with the dogs and I ran back! I like running home from places as long as it is not to far and I don't die of thirst first (rhyme time).

Thursday I was excited to get to paint and see the culmination of all the work I had done on the way to completion. No matter what shabby things I notice in the front of the house I am done with this project (I think) completion is the goal. I went to the basement and located the trim paint, went outside and checked on my glaze only to find out it is not dry yet. Never fear I did manage to take care of one more thing (OK one more part of the project).  Our storm door is now a matching trim color instead of being a dingy bright white. I know that no one even noticed our mismatched door but as a wise friend told me that once you fix one thing it makes you notice how shabby everything else looks in comparison. Life's lessons learned the hard way, oh well it has kept be occupied. Hopefully after this weekend I can update these pictures (again I know) with the FINAL final front porch spruce up pictures!

Friday is back to school! Today is fun the kids are taking a quiz and then playing scrabble (English class) it is fun to watch them play and choose words! I think I could take some of the in words with friends (if I played words with friends) due to a full board of 3 letter words with a token 4 letter winner! It is fun to see some of the students I had last year, and earlier this year in AP Psychology, again and see them in different environments. It can and does totally change some of the kids personality to have a different friend in class with them!

Well I guess that is all for this week! Goodness I feel like I have been so much busier than this seems, but then again maybe not! I am constantly working on the same list item and not getting to the new ones, I need to get focused as this month is getting away from me faster than I can handle. Puzzle time must come soon, maybe a rainy day in my future?