Thursday, March 27, 2014

About Me

Hey y'all,

I'm Sandy. 

I live along the beautiful Gulf Coast of Florida. Shhh, I really don't like for everyone to know how beautiful or the traffic will increase even more and make it just that much harder to get to those sugary white sands. I have lived in the deep south all of my life except for a two year stint in Germany as a baby. (Daddy was stationed there right after I was born.)

I am a wife, mother, daughter, retired school teacher after 31 years, and follower of Christ.

Oh, and yes, I did major in home economics. I have great plans, but God had others. However, now I am living the dream of being a home economist.

Things I Love
a clean house
banana pudding
macaroni and tomatoes
sewing and stitching
growing roses and geraniums
reading 
doggies
orange and blue together 
pink
monograms
seersucker and gingham
starched clothes (yea, I know I am probably the last person on Earth who still irons everything)
baking
sunshine
PURSES!!! one can never have too many
history of space exploration

I am a southern girl to the core of my being except for one small thing. I absolutely hate sweet tea, but I do love lemonade!






Monday, March 24, 2014

B. S. in Home Economics

I have a degree in Home Economics Education from Auburn University. I was so sad to learn that they no longer have the degree program. During my first few years of teaching, I could see that it was not so vogue anymore. I quickly added areas of certification to secure my place in the working world.

My dream job was to be a county extension agent, however, marriage, kids, not living in an area that needed one, led to a different path. My husband often used to joke with me about my lack of cooking skills...with "you majored in home economics." Now I will be the first to admit, that I far more loved the decorating and sewing side of things. And...it is not that I don't love to cook, actually I do, but it takes a tremendous amount of time, and working and raising a family kept me booked to the max all the time. He seemed to enjoy it much more, so we worked out the deal for most of our 30 year marriage of  ---he cooks and I clean. I actually love to bake! I love to sew and counted cross stitch, but those too have taken a back seat to a busy life.

I even have my old my textbooks. Me- packrat? - maybe  - after all I am a teacher.

I have spent 31 years in the classroom, 3 teaching home economics at three different schools, 25 teaching in grades first through sixth, and the final 3 as a science coach serving three schools in my district. I am about to embark on retirement as a public school teacher. I am looking forward to spending countless hours in my first love...home economics.

My goals are to cook more at home with meals that will put my husband and me on the track to good health. We are both a bit overweight, and I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. I actually can't wait to plan our meals and couple it with exercise. I have a closet full of fabric just waiting for me to practice on all those sewing skills that I learned, but placed on the back burner for far too long. Sewing takes a lot of time and patience, something I haven't had for many years. Each summer, I would try and do something fun, but have to shut her down in August. I already have my first counted cross stitch project ready to go. It will be quite a project, a 20 X 24 heron. I am giddy just thinking about it. I want to organize my home and keep it running a bit more smoothly than I have. Finally, I want to spend time growing things and actually following through with tending it. I have a bit of a farmer in me, in that I love to plant and watch things spring up. I love roses, geraniums, angel wing begonias, house plants, but I want to dabble more with the vegetables.

Sewing closet just waiting to be opened.

I have been more than blessed with my teaching career. It allowed me to work, but still have lots of time with my kids. We lived for those summers, and they stayed at a home very close to my work location with other teachers' kids. They were with me during their elementary years, and with their dad during their high school years. I have great memories, but I am looking forward to getting back to my roots as you might say.

Can't wait to tackle this!

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Here Goes

I have attempted to start a personal blog before only to back out and delete it.

I guess many of us are like that, fear of taking those first steps to something that might get some negative feedback. I mean a blog is much like a journal and shouldn't that kind of be private, or at least that is what I have told myself. Of course, I am intensely private person and yes, SHY so, that would make it even more difficult to throw things out there. 

I do have a professional blog, and I have survived that. I work as a science coach in my school district. I felt a blog was a purposeful way to disseminate useful information to the teachers I worked with. It is called The Pathfinder Post and can be found here.

I absolutely love reading blogs though. It is just a whole new world of reading, and I do L-O-V-E to read. I have found so many creative ideas and helpful tutorials. I think one of the reasons I drawn to them is that I love to read biographies. As a kid, I discovered biographies one summer at our public library and read all them in a series. I learned about Rachel Jackson, Martha Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. I have always been drawn to a good biography. Two of my all time favorites are: Pat Nixon: The Untold Story by Julie Nixon Eisenhower and First Man: The Story of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen.

So, I am going to take a leap and join the blogging world. I will introduce myself in the coming days and begin my journal, if nothing else for posterity's sake.