tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55095062011-04-21T11:32:15.514-07:00Briannaspeakgreat stuff Brianna says and maybe some stuff her mom thinksJulie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.comBlogger691100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1134159954726981182005-12-09T12:17:00.000-08:002005-12-09T12:25:54.726-08:00Brianna and I were just doing this money adding worksheet. I was saying something like, "There is 1 quarter," and she would tell me to write down 25. When I said, "There are 4 dimes," I expected her to tell me to write down 4 tens, but she immediately said, "40." I said, "Wow! That was fast! How did you know that." She said, "Well, you know last year we counted by tens," and proceeded to Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1134159438217127362005-12-09T12:09:00.000-08:002005-12-09T12:17:18.226-08:00So night before last, when Brianna and I were sitting in the hot tub, she said "You know, when I first got in, the heat was overwhelming, but now it feels just right." I thought, "Wow, I wish I could get past the point where life feels overwhelming that quickly." So that is why yesterday morning at 5:00, Paul and I probably woke the neighborhood with our shouts of "Thank you, Jesus!" when we Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1133306090627310222005-11-29T15:12:00.000-08:002005-11-29T15:14:50.626-08:00So while Brianna was staying with my parents, she said to my mom, "You know, Granny, I just love the way things get done around here!" My mom said, "What do you mean?" Brianna said, "Well, your washer and dryer are so fast. Clothes are clean and dry in just a few hours. Our washer and dryer at home take 4 or 5 days!"That's our story and we're sticking to it.Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1133305924627759862005-11-29T15:06:00.000-08:002005-11-29T15:12:04.636-08:00Last night Paul and I got to enjoy our hot tub for the first time in a long time. Unlike in many locations, we drain ours for the summer and just use it from fall to spring. It is just so lovely to sink into the hot water and feel all the tension float out of your body while you watch steam rise off the surface into the cool air. I am so grateful for this odd surprise that turned up in our Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1128018413096341352005-09-29T11:02:00.000-07:002005-09-29T11:26:53.143-07:00The Best Kept Secret in DallasOn Saturday, we headed downtown around noon, not telling Bri where we were going since it was one of her birthday surprises. We arrived, parked at a meter for 40 cents and walked into the Trammell and Margaret Crow Asian Collection of Art for their family fun day. Brianna was still oohing and aahing over the fountains outside when the two women at the door greeted Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1128016795624669042005-09-29T10:52:00.000-07:002005-09-29T10:59:55.630-07:00One really fun thing to notice is that this whole idea of learning becoming a part of the whole day instead of isolated to specific lesson times is seeing that Bri has begun to think that way naturally too. I mean, it's one thing for me--in all my intentionality--to walk into the kitchen while she's spooning peach slices from the big bowl into her individual dish and get her to tell me a Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1127149211447042372005-09-19T09:50:00.000-07:002005-09-19T10:00:11.456-07:00Brianna was just doing this worksheet where she had to color all the odd numbered spaces one color and all the even numbered spaces a different color. It actually made a cool, but subtle design. When she showed it to me, I said, "Well, there are two problems, but I think if you look at it closely, you'll see that there's a pattern and you'll be able to spot the problems easily." She said, "HmmJulie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1126809565218100012005-09-15T11:13:00.000-07:002005-09-15T11:39:25.236-07:00This morning Brianna and I read this haiku by Jack Prelutsky:If not for the catand the scarcity of cheese,I could be content.We read the whole book (If Not for the Cat) and counted syllables and learned new words--very challenging vocabulary, but manageable in such tiny, delightful bites. When we read this first one, I asked Brianna if she knew what scarcity meant. She said, "Sure, it means Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1124729972665131362005-08-22T09:55:00.000-07:002005-08-22T09:59:32.673-07:00We are taking our basketful of books about penguins back to the library tonight to get a basketful of books about the Middle Ages/knights/castles/etc. We have learned a lot of factual stuff about penguins, particularly Emperor penguins. (Ask Brianna or Micah or Kiara about the blubber experiment, which was one of our favorite learning activities. Actually we are all pretty in awe of Emperor Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1124336060835719152005-08-17T22:00:00.000-07:002005-08-17T20:37:36.310-07:00Homeschool day 1We started with Breakfast and Books and read Three Cheers for Tacky (Tacky's a penguin), and Living in the Wild: Emperor Penguins with Reading Bear. Then we did our morning day, date, weather, calendar stuff after hanging up the whiteboard in the hallway. That led to an interesting conversation about how we count the years and A.D. and B.C. Then the termite guy came and Bri wrote Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1124147372323198272005-08-15T15:32:00.000-07:002005-08-15T16:09:32.340-07:00I had no idea at the beginning of this day that there were so many blessings hidden in it. In fact, I was rather emotional and non-expectant, mostly because I have had an asthma flare-up, the first in quite a while. I even had to haul out the nebulizer. And I had forgotten how lousy it feels to not be able to sleep more than two hours without waking up coughing and gasping for air and then Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1121708029304552902005-07-18T10:25:00.000-07:002005-07-18T10:33:49.310-07:00Thank God for Harry Potter. No, I'm not reading the book. I don't read the Lord of the Rings stuff either. Fantasy of the fantstic sort just doesn't grip me. However, my husband and daughter are reading the new Harry Potter book in three and four hour bites, which give me three and four hour bites of pure solitude, which I refer to as Sabbath. I may do a little housework during their Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1119303355913910712005-06-20T14:27:00.000-07:002005-06-20T14:35:55.920-07:00Woohoo! There is great joy at our house this afternoon. Brianna and I just finally poured out everything in the sheep jug and counted up all the change and bills (at least an hour-long job). We found a tad over the $120 needed to buy a sheep for a needy family through Heifer Project! Brianna started saving up this money (with many contributions from fellow members of our house church Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1116380868900877722005-05-17T18:35:00.000-07:002005-05-17T18:47:48.906-07:00Today Brianna and I were playing Barbies. I was Prince Eric and she was Liz and their three-year-old daughter Sarah. It was just a few days after their wedding and they were still on their honeymoon (yeah--don't even try to figure that one out.). She said, "Okay, now, where should they be--Dallas? or Claude? or where?" I just shook my head and said, "Not Claude. How about Paris?" She saidJulie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1116259781192130272005-05-16T09:00:00.000-07:002005-05-16T09:09:41.196-07:00I've been reading a book by one of my favorite mystery writers, Stephen White. Either he has become even cleverer since I last read his stuff or it has just been too long for me to remember all the smiles. Two of my favorite lines: "I don't consider it trivia. I like to think of it as information of infrequent utility." And from a psychologist recalling advice given to him early in his Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1115763572418314882005-05-10T14:36:00.000-07:002005-05-10T15:19:32.463-07:00Okay, I am here because three things happened today--on the same day. One, I found myself scribbling down a poem as soon as the gang was out the door this morning, and for some reason I also scribbled a note in the margin that said blog. Two, while we were walking home today, Brianna said something cute that I wanted to share and she has not yet denied me permission to share this particular Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1106065741422956902005-01-18T08:22:00.000-08:002005-01-18T08:29:01.423-08:00Yesterday Brianna did not have school, so she slept until after 11:00. Then she came in to where I was at the computer and hugged me good morning. I said, "Did you sleep well?" She said, "Yes--and I've already said a thank you prayer before I got out of bed." I smiled and said, "Was it a thank you for being able to sleep late today?" She said, "Mommy," in that musical tone that indicates Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1102347102050695552004-12-06T07:28:00.000-08:002004-12-08T16:45:42.160-08:00Last night Brianna was snuggling with Callie, our calico cat that purrs 95% of the time. Then Brianna said, "Wow, if you put your ear against Callie when she's purring, it's so loud it sounds like an elephant tapdancing!"
I actually am writing every day right now--just not here. If you click on the "church" link to the right and then look at Lectio Life on that website, you'll get to my daily Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1093647418088762802004-08-27T15:41:00.000-07:002004-08-27T15:56:58.086-07:00Brianna really seems to love kindergarten. As parents, we find everything about DISD pretty confusing and non-user-friendly. Oh well--I'm glad SHE has a good attitude!
This morning as I was walking her into her school, I heard a voice somewhere way behind us yelling, "There's a white girl! Hey, white girl!" It never crossed Bri's mind that this was directed toward her, but a surreptitious Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1088451820719083342004-06-28T12:41:00.000-07:002004-06-28T12:43:40.720-07:00This morning on the way to camp, Brianna was talking about the moths that have spots on their wings to look like the eyes of a much bigger animal. Then she said, "We want all animals to survive. . . . 'Cause there might even be one time or two times when a few ants would come in useful."Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1084398789676421572004-05-12T14:49:00.000-07:002004-05-12T14:53:09.676-07:00As Brianna begins discussing her bear's eating habits in detail, I say . . . "Eeuuuw! Brianna--Remember I don't like to hear about all that yucky stuff."
"That's okay, MOm, 'cuz mostly Bear likes fish. So he sits by the river and then leans in and ---"
"Brianna! I don't like to hear about the yucky sstuff."
"But, Mom, this isn't yucky stuff."
"Oh? It isn't yucky? Being eaten isn't yucky to Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1084305586895827422004-05-11T12:58:00.000-07:002004-05-11T12:59:46.896-07:00Three disturbing "useless statistics" I just learned:
>> The average chocolate bar has 8 insects' legs in it.
>> The average person will spend 2 weeks over their lifetime waiting for the traffic light to change.
>> More than 2,500 left handed people are killed every year from using right handed products.
Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1082468845018527102004-04-20T06:33:00.000-07:002004-04-20T06:50:21.623-07:00This morning on the train, Brianna said, "Mom, you know we're not going to do Pinky forever." Pinky is the ongoing story that we tell on the train each day. "After 13 years, we are going to stop and then we'll do a story where you're the princess and I'm the queen." I said, 'Wow, Brianna, in 13 years, you will be 18, and you'll be going away to college, and we'll have to write the story back Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1080851116707045392004-04-01T12:16:00.000-08:002004-04-01T12:27:54.873-08:00Today to supplement a taped lecture used for listening practice, I have been telling my students about some of the culturally insensitive mistakes I made while teaching English to the managers at the Bank of Taiwan. Now I am homesick for that lovely and astonishingly expensive table on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center where I had the best view of the Statue of Liberty. I know, many Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1080148246618565532004-03-24T08:59:00.000-08:002004-03-24T09:13:16.810-08:00For quite a while now the keypad on the code entry part of our office copy machine has refused to acknowledge digits in the right-hand column. Ever resourceful, I punched some digits and found a scarcely-used code that the machine would accept. I have been using this new code for weeks. Yesterday, the keypad limited its acceptance still further. Now the only codes it will take are comprised Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1080147585381556652004-03-24T08:49:00.000-08:002004-03-24T09:02:15.670-08:00I have been so sick. Brianna has been coming and very sweetly saying, "Oh, Mommy, I'm so sorry you don't feel good. I hope you feel all well really really quick." Awww. Then the punchline, " . . . so you can tell me the Pinky story and play school with me and help me paint and . . ." All of the named benefits of my recovery were things to make her own life a little more fun or convenient. Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1078241196276676722004-03-02T07:24:00.000-08:002004-03-02T07:28:44.153-08:00Yes, I know--long time, no blog. If you want to see with my thoughts for the next little bit, you'd better just send an email to this address: LentenMeditation-subscribe@yahoogroups.com because I don't see both things happening on any regular basis!Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1075933304504248732004-02-04T14:11:00.000-08:002004-02-04T14:24:31.140-08:00Brianna and I have had this story going for the past week. She calls it "Pinky." It is about the girl named Brianna, who can transform herself into a cat, and the cat she has taken in, Pinky, and Pinky's 71 kittens. Here are a few gems:
Mommy: (after Brianna explains where we are starting the story today) So the 71 kittens were all sitting on the windowsill looking out--
Brianna: Peering, Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1074614738537845292004-01-20T08:01:00.000-08:002004-01-20T08:07:04.686-08:00This week, this was Brianna's Saturday-night-go-to-church ensemble: her "party dress" (which has a black velvet top and a very poofy, shiny little miniskirt of very bright gold, blue, red, and green plaid), pink baseball capris with dark pink stripes up the sides and a silver B on the cuff, black socks, pink and orange tennis shoes, and a pale pink feather boa. Accessories included her silver Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1074614372676190202004-01-20T07:54:00.000-08:002004-01-20T08:01:51.623-08:00Every morning as we drive downtown from our house, Paul expertly enters I-30 and crosses four lanes of heavy traffic in this very short distance in order to make it into the HOV (high ocupancy vehicle, high occupancy in Dallas being more than one) fast lane entrance. His skill always astonishes me. Today I was telling him once again how impressed I was, and he said, "As long as nobody slams on Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1073940006297600702004-01-12T12:33:00.000-08:002004-01-12T12:41:24.280-08:00Hooray! Brianna finally got to start at a new school today. She is still in preK, but at this preK, they have little "textbooks" and learn sign language in addition to Spanish. They wear uniforms and get to go into a cafeteria for snacks and meals, just like big school. She is one very happy kid. While her teacher tried to explain stuff to Paul and me, Brianna kept hopping up and coming overJulie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1070637515898118202003-12-05T07:13:00.000-08:002003-12-05T07:19:16.373-08:00Brianna is back at her school. So far, so good. After the first day back, we said,"Did you enjoy getting to play with Erica? Wasn't it fun to see her after so long?" "Well, no, not really. Erica has changed. She has a lot of bad ideas now--not good ones like we used to have." I asked what kind of bad ideas, thinking this was something like playing with puzzles instead of pretending to be Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1070637202113929872003-12-05T07:12:00.000-08:002003-12-05T07:14:02.653-08:00Brianna slept with some toy hot dogs under her pillow a few nights ago. She said it made her dream about hot dogs.Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1070637079818057102003-12-05T06:57:00.001-08:002003-12-05T07:12:00.373-08:00Brianna's question of the week: "Will there be movies in heaven? 'Cause I really like movies and you really like movies and I think a lot of people really like movies." I replied that I honestly don't know. She said, "Well, I guess we need to study some really important smart books like the Bible to find out." (Ah, the chronic problem for many people: all those things the Bible doesn't tellJulie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1070636506982146922003-12-05T06:57:00.000-08:002003-12-05T07:02:27.826-08:00I wish I could push a button and get my musings while on the bus to show up here. There are a lot of them I would like to have written down. Although I sometimes try to accomplish a task, like grading papers or stringing a necklace, it is my best solid chunk of thinking time. There is less interference there than anywhere else in my life right now.Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1070466281395634002003-12-03T07:21:00.000-08:002003-12-03T07:45:19.560-08:00Yea! I remembered my log-in name and password! Woohoo for me! It seems that every time my computer access at work changes, I do not manage to blog for several weeks. And when I come back--finally--I have usually forgotten my log-in info and getting that delays my re-entry into blogdom another day or so. But I am finally settled in my own office with my own computer--well, "settled" might be aJulie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1068220517305591422003-11-07T07:55:00.000-08:002003-11-07T07:55:14.873-08:00Warning: Long blog ahead with no cute Brianna sayings at all!!! Proceed at your own risk.
When my job was first relocated at the end of September, I received many interesting comments since --for the second time--we had just moved to be near the place where I had been told I would be working for the next few years. I went from being dropped off at my office door by Paul on his way to work to Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1068132959516192312003-11-06T07:35:00.000-08:002003-11-06T07:35:57.620-08:00This morning while Brianna was getting dressed, she called out, "Who can help me put my socks on?" I called back, "I will! I will!" When I went into her room and knelt down to start pulling her socks on, she said, "Thanks for volunteering!" :)
Last night, I went in to hug her goodnight, and when my fingers went under the edge of her two pillows, I felt something strange. I said, "What is thatJulie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1067875040052401962003-11-03T07:57:00.000-08:002003-11-03T07:57:18.106-08:00Brianna is not happy at preschool anymore. SIgh. I know part of it is that she has been sick and is still just a little too tired to keep up the pace all day. But I think the real problem is that her class isn't learning things that are new to her. Because her birthday is in late September, she didn't start kindergarten this year. Okay, that's fine. I know how healthy it will be for her to Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1067874448384525322003-11-03T07:47:00.000-08:002003-11-03T07:47:26.613-08:00We were eating at Wendy's the other night and I had ranch dressing. So I asked Brianna if she would like to dip her chicken nuggets in the ranch dressing intead of ketchup. She did so, then looked carefully at the dipped nugget before eating it, saying, "I wonder how chicken nugget dipped in ranch dressing tastes." She ate then said, "Hmm. It tastes . . . familiar." :)
She went into our Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1066406071722018872003-10-17T08:54:00.000-07:002003-10-17T08:54:31.100-07:00Well, we did survive Brianna's princess party. Fortunately for me, we ended up with only three little princesses. I had forgotten how hyper three five-year-olds can be. You can dress them up like princesses, but they're still going to race up and down the halls terrorizing the cats. All in all, it was a fine time that the girls enjoyed, probably even more than they would have if we had done Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1066404920566561292003-10-17T08:35:00.000-07:002003-10-17T08:35:20.210-07:00Woohoo! I finally figured out how to get back on my own blog!
Now that my department has relocated, my day begins with a bus-train-bus commute. It's kind of annoying because no one segment lasts long enough to get any serious grading done, and those segments are punctuated by long waits outside where it is too windy to get any grading done. SO, at my boss's suggestion, I have given up trying Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1064592365695657272003-09-26T09:02:00.000-07:002003-09-26T09:06:05.790-07:00Last night Brianna said, "You know, when Poon--that boy in my class--when he turned five, he got restless. I hope I don't get restless when I turn five." I said, "Wow--he got restless? What did he do?" "Oh, first, he started wrestling with people, and then it just got worse from there."Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1064416187649359702003-09-24T08:04:00.000-07:002003-09-24T08:09:47.693-07:00We found out that the big, unhealthy mimosa tree next to our old house fell down in the last storm. It is blocking the neighbor's driveway. We considered going over to cut some of it up for firewood, since our new house has a fireplace. Paul said, "Wow, if Stuart (our handy friend who has cut up the huge branches that have fallen from other old trees at that house) were here, he'd be all over Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1063986195997618482003-09-19T08:32:00.000-07:002003-09-19T08:43:15.550-07:00This morning, Brianna said, "There goes Blackie, drinking from the sink again. But sometimes, when you're moving and getting settled in a new house and have lots of boxes, that's what happens. That's just life when you move with four cats."
Yes, we are up to four cats. Probably against our better judgment, we managed to catch the little kitten that had begun using our old garage as his hotel Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1063054401875483602003-09-08T13:53:00.000-07:002003-09-08T13:53:21.770-07:00We have, by the way, closed on the house! We are now home-owners. It is a great little house, and it is so very OURS. Of course, two days after closing, I felt exceedingly conscious that the best paying ESL jobs are in Asia, which is not where we just --OHMYGOSH!--bought a house! But I feel sure that one of the reasons that I have coped as well as I have with recent outpourings of stress on Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1063053799061043242003-09-08T13:43:00.000-07:002003-09-08T13:43:18.986-07:00We are just about finished painting Brianna's room--only the door remains, and a second coat on the frame for the huge closet door, and Brianna needs to add the centers to the three flowers she painted herself. The walls are sunny-day-blue, with grass all the way around the floorboards and lots of flowers and half a dozen butterflies. Brianna helped me do all the grass, but I did the flowers Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1063053508888799972003-09-08T13:38:00.000-07:002003-09-08T13:38:28.833-07:00Last night, Brianna was looking out the window at the night sky, and I heard her singing, "God is so proud of me. God is so proud of me. He's looking down on me. He's looking down on me." Her confidence always amazes me.Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1061470277765944742003-08-21T05:51:00.000-07:002003-08-21T05:51:17.810-07:00So this morning while I was getting Brianna some breakfast, I knocked a bowl off the drying rack, and it broke very loudly. My first reaction was,"Stay back!" although it had broken neatly into three pieces. Brianna's first reaction was, "Hey--We can save that to make a collage!" My daughter is so cool! I was actually thinking it would be part of the eventual Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1061410362717594712003-08-20T13:12:00.000-07:002003-08-20T13:12:42.766-07:00I am married to the most fantabulous man. On Monday evening, my stomach was not feeling well and he was lacking a few tools and boards, so he took me and Bri home and then went to the new house by himself and pulled off rotten boards from window trim and put new boards up and then even put new guts in a toilet that was leaking. He didn't get home until after 1:00 a.m., and he still got up Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1061409780119503772003-08-20T13:03:00.000-07:002003-08-20T13:03:00.053-07:00Last night, Brianna begged me to tell her a story. Then, of course, she kept correcting me. The story was about a princess kitty named Sparkle. While Sparkle was sleeping, the bad fox came and took her collar. The bad fox would always take the dog collars and cat collars and eat them. I had been concerned that the bad fox might like to eat princess kitties, but no. Trying to get all this Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1060956256507070092003-08-15T07:04:00.000-07:002003-08-15T07:08:37.910-07:00The FHA loan people told our lender that they would not approve the loan until the back door was replaced and the peeling paint on the exterior trim was dealt with. Actually, they could have come up with a lot more conditions, so I am grateful. Still, we have to do these things before the loan can proceed, so we will have a busy weekend. We went over yesterday to take measurements and get a Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1060956208994025712003-08-15T07:03:00.000-07:002003-08-15T07:07:50.376-07:00Today is my last day one-on-one with Redouane. He is working on a paragraph about Aid El Kabir, the sheep-killing holiday. It has been very interesting. When he was trying to explain the religious aspects of it to me the other day, he said, "Oh--I don't know what you call this kind of man in English. Have this in Christian too. You know, in Christian,"--and he stretched his arms out wide andJulie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1060880596449456952003-08-14T10:03:00.000-07:002003-08-14T10:07:49.376-07:00So the "Last night" entry below was really written on Wednesday, but just now got found a way to get properly connected.Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1060880347982554892003-08-14T09:59:00.000-07:002003-08-14T10:03:40.940-07:00Last night I dreamed that there were not enough classes for all of the teachers here in my program to have a class to teach. My boss therefore asked me to be a student in Anne's class. I remember telling people all the time, "Wow, Anne is such a great teacher!" However, I was really worried that I would not pass her class. The main problem was this: Every morning she would ask a very Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1060348115835693542003-08-08T06:08:00.000-07:002003-08-08T06:09:18.166-07:00Wow! It's hard to believe we got o get Brianna tomorrow. What a quick week. I have been pretty productive (clearly not spending much time here), getting everything in the garage sorted into trash, garage sale, or packed-to-move sites. At least that will be all finished by the time we leave to get Bri! We also got the house inspection done on the new place, and today the apparaisers are thereJulie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1059512339661559192003-07-29T13:58:00.000-07:002003-07-29T14:01:11.380-07:00I am doing Elijah stories with the kids at church this month. I had forgotten that I really do enjoy teaching kids. It used to be awkward to have Brianna in the same group with the girls who are 3-6 years older than she is, but now it seems to work better. I always start with doing something and they always start by trying to guess what it has to do with the lesson. So Saturday night we were Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1059511142948778902003-07-29T13:39:00.000-07:002003-07-29T13:39:02.880-07:00Well--that was embarrassing. It has been a few days since I have blogged and when I went to log in, I got my password wrong. Not only that, when I tried to request my password, I couldn't even get my username right--not even with several tries. So I dug around in the pile of papers where I jot important notes while sitting at the computer, but I did not find my username or password. I did Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1059052798983176642003-07-24T06:19:00.000-07:002003-07-24T06:19:59.020-07:00Brianna is taking ice-skating lesson this week through her preschool. So one of the things she had to take was a pair of gloves. Well, we found our gloves in the closet--but none of Brianna's, of course. So we started shopping for winter gloves in July. We tried the thrift store first with no luck. Then we tried sporting goods stores with no luck. Finally--Walmart. Woohoo for walmart--At Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1058986822189425132003-07-23T12:00:00.000-07:002003-07-23T12:10:18.173-07:00Mostly I am just amazed at how very good God is to us. And I mean amazed in the pure jaw-dropping-open sense. Okay, a few months ago, in the process of house-hunting, we ended up being impressed with a certain home-builder company that was doing a new community fairly near Paul's work. Their models were gorgeous, the homes started in the 70's, the community had its own playground, and it Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1058289120863493952003-07-15T10:12:00.000-07:002003-07-15T10:12:00.916-07:00Planning for brianna's princess birthday party are progressing well. On Saturday, I went to Claire's while Paul and Bri were eating lunch in the mall. I dug through their clearance jewelry to find the sparkliest necklaces there. When I went to check out, the girl at the cash register said, "Oh, did you realize that a lot of these were originally priced over $10, so they won't be part of the 10Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1058288455392448482003-07-15T10:00:00.000-07:002003-07-15T10:00:55.453-07:00New favorite Brianna quote: "Tomorrow is gonna be the best day I ever had."Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1057613947398574192003-07-07T14:39:00.000-07:002003-07-07T14:39:07.390-07:00I'm wondering if I should put some kind of warning on the posts that are not Brianna-oriented since some of you might want to just skip them. Hmmmm.Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1057613798361612242003-07-07T14:36:00.000-07:002003-07-07T14:36:38.366-07:00We went to Dallas's Shakespeare-in-the-Park last Thursday. The combination of people who ended up meeting us there was the coolest part. Our little family, six of my students and two of their friends, two of my colleagues and their families, a med student from our church, and a teenager from our church. Interesting. The play was "The Taming of the Shrew," one of my favorites. But the Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1057613184474853282003-07-07T14:26:00.000-07:002003-07-07T14:26:24.546-07:00So last night Brianna came in and asked for a snack. I said, "How 'bout a hard-boiled egg?" because I had just found one in the refrigerator and was already peeling it. She said okay, so I cut it in half and put it on a little paper plate and set it in front of her. She said, "Oh, I was hoping it was one of those blue spotted ones. Because you do know how to do that." I thought, "Well, howJulie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1056989528344452212003-06-30T09:12:00.000-07:002003-06-30T09:12:08.383-07:00Since Paul has been having trouble with his back, we have been keeping an ice pack in the freezer for his back most of the time when its not on his back. Last night after he had gone to bed, Brianna was playing and bumped her toe on something. Since she was tired, the little scrape earned extreme panic and crying. I asked the standard questions from where I was inthe kitchen: Does it need a Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1056548338860279502003-06-25T06:38:00.000-07:002003-06-25T06:38:58.783-07:00So far, there has just been one day when Miss Angie (Brianna's teacher) has told us that Brianna was having trouble listening to her. Well, we had a big talk about listening that night at home. So the next day when we picked Brianna up after school, she explained: "I kept my listening ears on all day long but it was not easy. They did not want to stay on my head. So I taped them on with Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-105648900749307502003-06-24T14:10:00.000-07:002003-06-24T14:10:07.546-07:0006-08-03
I think Brianna preached her first sermon last night. I guess she doesn't have a chance not to be a preacher, getting the genes from both sides. She had been playing around on the keyboard while Paul was practicing guitar, and she came in the living room to tell me that she was having trouble with the song she was writing. "You see, it's called 'When I am afraid, I will trust in God,'Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5509506.post-1056487857426153792003-06-24T13:50:00.000-07:002003-06-24T13:50:57.493-07:00While looking for Tow, Texas, at 10 p.m.
Brianna: Daddy, are you sure you know where we're going?
Paul: Actually, I've never been here before, and it's completely dark out here. I don't even know which direction we're going.
Brianna: Oh, I do! We're going the RIGHT direction, Daddy.Julie Poehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02590744244850116248noreply@blogger.com0