You're It ...

What Was I Doing 10 Years Ago?
1998 ... I was finishing up my student teaching at Cherokee Elementary School in Paradise Valley. I taught 3rd grade and then a special education class. I had moved back home from NAU and started tutoring our next door neighbor. Which lead to me working in a kindergarten class the following year. To this day, I'm CERTAIN that many of those children will need therapy as adults - directly as a result of my teaching influence! I am NOT cut out for kindergarten. Too many tears, an insufficient use of soap and sanitizer and a total lack of knowledge for tying shoes! One can only take so much torture! Besides ... my sarcasm worked far better with the middle schoolers!

Five Things on Tomorrow's To Do List (It's already 8pm and I'm just ready to move everything over to a fresh day):
1. Try to get both boys completely out of their jammies and into NORMAL clothes by lunchtime. (Yesterday, I was only mildly successful!)
2. Give neighbor boy a piano lesson.
3. Tidy up downstairs so I can fool the people in our Bible study that my WHOLE house is that clean!!
4. Buy bread and salad for Bible study potluck.
5. Take pictures off of camera from Joshua's 2nd birthday ... (Who am I kidding? They'll still be on there when he turns 3!)

Five Snacks I Enjoy:
1. Popcorn - cooked on the stove with lots of oil! I think I'll make that for dinner!!
2. Mint Oreos
3. Yogurt covered pretzels
4. Tortilla Chips dipped in FRESH cottage cheese
5. Salt water taffy


Five Things I Would Do If I Became a Billionaire:
1. Buy an RV for Ben so we could cruise around the country and serve different golf tours... having BBQ's and a place for the players to hang out. (It's his DREAM to do this ... and I'd need a billion dollars to find an RV big enough to fit the whole crew and all of our stuff!)
2. Buy a vacation home in Idaho and one in Oregon with enough land for our extended families to visit or build a place of their own.
3. Crank the air-conditioning down to ridiculously low levels during the summer months ... versus my current plan of going to the frozen food aisle of COSTCO to cool off!
4. Hire a maid, a personal chef and Clinton Kelly and Stacy London as wardrobe consultants. Can you imagine what one could get done in a day if all of your cleaning, cooking and wardrobe issues were in another's hands??
5. Invest it and send my kiddos to Surrey Garden :)


Five Bad Habits:
1. I tend to express myself quite freely ... occasionally without thinking first!
2. I will vacuum one room of the house, get distracted and leave the vacuum cleaner plugged in for days! (I'm okay with that one but apparently it drives Ben NUTTY!)
3. I'm a stacker. I LOVE PILES! (I really want to get rid of them but they keep coming back ... so secretly ... I must love them!)
4. I am awful at answering the phone and not so great about returning messages. Which could be why when a friend calls and I actually pick up they say, "HOLY COW!"
5. I procrastinate like it's a full time job!

Five Places I've Lived:
1. Smithville, MO (where I was born)
2. Parker, CO
3. Phoenix, AZ
4. Portland, OR
5. Flagstaff, AZ

Five Jobs I've Had:
1. The Grand Canyon Railway ... "Thank you for calling the Grand Canyon Railway. This is Carrie. How can I help you?" Dumbest question ... there were so many ... Can I take the train from Hawaii? Does the train go to the bottom of the canyon? YIKES, people!
2. Counselor at Eagle Lake Camp ... with The Navigators
3. Private Tutor for autistic children
4. 8 years as a 6th-8th grade middle school teacher
5. Full-time mom to 2 ... definitely the most tired and frazzled I've ever been ... but also the most rewarding!

Tagging .... Rachel S, Ann M, Marianne, Angie, Janna and Amy T.