A little about me...
I was born in Iowa and raised in Florida with my older sister and brother. My dad was in the Air Force and died unexpectedly when I was only four.
When I was ten, I thought I was going to be a famous tennis player. My first high school tennis match was a rocket ship to reality when I realized I wasn't really THAT good. It's just that my mom was REALLY good at encouraging me and always telling me I could be WHATEVER I wanted to be! I will always love her for that.
So, since Wimbledon was not in my future, the next best thing would be a classroom teacher. After all, I did get excellent references from all my stuffed animals who I made suffer through extensive lessons in my garage every day after school when I was a kid. Armed with my chalkboard easel and homework papers, I turned those stuffing-for-brains-critters into super smart students. (Well, all except for Oscar the Grouch, who kept disrupting class and ended up in the "principal's office" every day.)
My mom is a nurse and married my new dad when I was a senior in high school, which brought me back to Iowa briefly. I graduated from the University of Northern Iowa (GO PANTHERS!) with a degree in Elementary & Middle School Education, and a K-12 mathematics education endorsement. I love the Panthers and all, but I'm afraid I still bleed orange and blue...GO GATORS!
I returned to Florida when I married my high school sweetheart. That was 19 years ago! We have three really awesome children. We moved back to Iowa seven years ago so we could be closer to our families. It's pretty cold here in the winter, but we have enjoyed trading our sand castles for snowmen!
My Favorite...
Books...The Help, Jane Eyre, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, historical fiction, dog stories
TV Shows...Downton Abbey, Covert Affairs, Person of Interest, HGTV shows, LOST, Alias, Fringe, Friends, Seinfeld, college football and...I secretly kind of like Call of the Wildman, but I would never admit it to anyone...ever.
Movies...You've Got Mail, The Philadelphia Story, To Kill a Mockingbird, Soul Surfer, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Bourne Trilogy, Sherlock Holmes, Pirates of the Carribean movies
Food...um, yes please! (Sorry, can't pick a favorite because I love it all!)
Drink...Diet Dr. Pepper (which should never, under any circumstances, be called "pop"), iced tea, coffee, coffee, oh, and did I mention coffee?
Places...Home, the beach, stargazing outside on a summer night, being with friends
Music...Harry Connick, Jr., Michael Buble, Toby Mac, Michael W. Smith,
Sports teams...FLORIDA GATORS, UNI Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers,TB Rays, Grinnell Tigers
Hobbies...reading, rug hooking, house remodeling, crafts, Mario Kart!
Things...movie night with the family, summer nights, playing board/card games...by the way, I'm not at all competitive when it comes to Nertz or Bananagrams...
This is me in the fifth grade. I was one of the captains of the School Patrol. Can you tell which one is me? I bet you'll never be able to guess. We went on a train trip to Washington DC for a few days. I still can't believe my mom let me go!
(me, my sister Kelly, my brother Chris.)
My mom always took a picture of us in this same pose...every year. My sister is now the Director of the children's department of a public library. My brother is getting his PhD in something to do with computers and the government. He has one of those jobs where, "I could tell you what I do, but then I'd have to kill you." So, I don't ask what exactly he does. I think we're all happier that way.
