Read. Write. Mom!

Free Printable Mother’s Day Word Search

Posted on April 23, 2022June 8, 2022 by Mandy

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and this free printable Mother’s Day word search is perfect if you are looking for a fun activity to do in your classroom or just for fun at home.

This Mother’s Day word search isn’t very difficult and features the following twelve words:

Candy

Flowers

Kind

Memory

Cards

Gifts

Kisses

Mother

Day

Hugs

Love

Special

My students at school amaze me with how they make completing a word search fun. Sure, you could use the old pen or pencil. Not my students! They grab markers, colored pencils, and highlighters to make their word searches colorful and fun! Here are just a few of the great products we use in the library:

BIC Brite Liner Grip Highlighter, Chisel Tip (1.6 mm), Assorted Colors (Fluorescent & Pastel), For Broad Highlighting & Fine Underlining, 12-Count Crayola Silly Scents Twistables, Scented Crayons & Pencils, 72 Count Sharpie 25053 Accent Tank Style Highlighter Chisel Tip Assorted Colors 12/Pk ZEYAR Highlighter, Chisel Tip Marker Pen, Assorted Colors, Water Based, Quick Dry (6 Candy Colors)

I can’t wait to share this Mother’s Day word search with my students. They always love a challenge! It’s a great way to lead into a little research on the holiday as well.

Click here to download your copy of the free printable Mother’s Day word search.

Additionally, if you’re looking for Mother’s Day gifts and are having a hard time deciding, check out this awesome collection of ideas for gifts. Know a single mom? I’ve written a post on how to bless a single mom on Mother’s Day that you should check out!

Spring Break Recap- 2022 Edition

Posted on March 27, 2022 by Mandy

Ahh, Spring Break. You were SO good to us! A week off from work was exactly what I needed! We’ve had a very productive week here at home, so I thought I’d share the Spring Break Recap for this year.

As soon as Friday afternoon quitting time came around, I headed to Walmart to pick up an order and then headed straight home to a long nap. Hubby was already home and taking care of supper. The teen had finished up school on Thursday, so he had Friday off. I woke up around 6 PM to the wind howling and something loud hitting our bedroom window. Turns out, it was sleet! Now, I knew there was a possibility for winter weather, but here in Mississippi, you sort of take that with a grain of salt. The day hadn’t been particularly cold. But as the night wore on, we found ourselves in a full-blown southern blizzard!

Blizzard is probably laughable to someone who lives up north, but this was truly amazing. It snowed for hours…big, fat beautiful flakes…and it stuck! It looked particularly beautiful sticking to our Bradford Pear tree. Look at how much stuck to the patio table:

And by lunchtime the next day, it was all but gone! I was glad, though. I’ve said it a million times, but I am sooooo over the cold and winter!

Trips & Lunches

On Monday the teen and the hubby headed out for New Orleans for a short trip to visit the National WWII Museum. I decided to let them make this a guy’s trip. My stamina for long periods of walking and being on my feet is just not there since having my heart attack back in December. I stayed home and cleaned house like a madwoman! Ha! It’s so much easier to clean when you have an empty house. However, as the night wore on, I sure did miss them. But they had a great time and even packed in a visit to the Audubon Zoo. They came home tired but enjoyed their little getaway.

On the second day they were gone I was able to join three of my friends for lunch. I tried a new sandwich and some broccoli salad and it was delicious!

We had a great time visiting and catching up. Looking forward to the end of the school year when I can do this more often.

I spent the rest of the week doing a deep cleanout of our spare bedroom that I use as an office area and eBay room. I still need to get into the closet in this room, but I was pleased with my progress so far. By the end of the week our Bradford Pear tree was blooming out beautifully and the weather was super nice.

And that’s my Spring Break recap! So, all of these things actually happened about two weeks ago. My laptop finally died on me. It was six years old and had certainly been a workhorse. I’m using the teen’s computer to type out this post and my new laptop should arrive later on this week. I’m excited to have a newer, faster one to work with. I’ll be back soon!

A Lazy, Restful Weekend

Posted on February 27, 2022September 29, 2022 by Mandy

We’ve had a lazy, restful weekend, which is exactly what our household needed. Hubby’s back has been hurting him, I’m having phantom shingles-like pain in my right side, and the teen has had a busy week at school. I did all of the deep cleaning last weekend so besides vacuuming, laundry, cleaning the toilets, and keeping the kitchen clean, I have definitely rested way more than I normally do on a weekend.

Jake has been resting, too.

It’s been very cold all weekend. We actually had a tiny bit of sleet Saturday morning. Nothing stuck, but it hasn’t warmed up very much. I know I’ve said it a million times before, but I will be so glad to see winter leave. We have had some really nice days, but they’ve all been during the week and then the weekends are always cold and wet. Blah!

Trucking Along

I’m trucking along at work and can’t believe that after next week we will be heading into the last nine weeks of school. This week is Read Across America Week and I’ve got a RIF book distribution going on for the kids. That will keep me busy through Wednesday. I have several different Dr. Seuss-themed printables and ideas on my blog should you find yourself needing them. Read Across America no longer uses Dr. Seuss for their promotion, but some people still enjoy using these books.

I’m also looking forward to Spring Break in a couple of weeks. Hubby and the teen have a small trip planned. I have an out-of-town specialist appointment one day that week. Not sure what else we will get into.

Taxes

Have you finished your taxes yet? I haven’t even started ours. I’ll probably add that to my Spring Break to-do list. I don’t know why I put that off each year. I guess because I don’t like to be rushed and I also like to make sure I have everything we need before I start. It seemed like once I thought we had all the paperwork we needed, something else would come in the mail or from work. Sheesh! It will get done. It kind of has to. Haha!

World News

Like everyone else, I’ve also been following along with what’s going on between Russia and Ukraine. I do not watch 24/7 news channels and only check a couple of websites for news. I see little blips and headlines when I visit search engines. I figured out a few years ago that feeding myself constant news streams was not serving me well. I do believe in staying current, but not obsessing over it. In any case, things are very serious and tense and I pray cooler heads will prevail. These past two years have been so strange and now this. I really do miss the days when life just sort of bobbed along with some normalcy. One thing I have noticed- not a mention of the virus anywhere I’ve looked this weekend. Amazing!

Have a great week!

Celebrating Our Boy’s 17th Birthday

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Mandy

We spent the weekend celebrating our boy’s 17th birthday. I’m still not quite sure how in the world he is 17 already. It just seems like yesterday we were bringing home this tiny little bundle of joy on Valentine’s Day. When I tell you the Lord really blessed us with a great kid, I’m not kidding. We don’t ever take that blessing for granted, either. He is kind, he is helpful and so humble.

He actually had to go to school on his birthday, so we waited until this weekend to celebrate. We went out to eat on Friday night at his favorite pizza place. The place is pretty great and we enjoy it. My mom joined us. Afterward, we came home so he could unwrap his birthday gift from us.

He saw what it was and couldn’t quite believe his eyes.

I think he likes it!!!

He told me he wanted an Oculus Quest 2 a few days ago and I wasn’t sure we could find one here in town, but it was hubby and Walmart for the win! This is a virtual reality gaming device and when I tell you it really does seem like you are in another world when you use it, I’m telling the truth! His reaction was just so genuine. He told me wanted this but then backtracked on it the day before we bought it. I think he realized it was a little expensive and he felt bad about asking for it. So, he definitely wasn’t expecting it. However, I decided that we could sell his other model of this on eBay, which is just a couple of years older, and recoup some of the money. His smile made it absolutely worth every penny. He hardly ever asks for a thing. I’m thankful we could do this for him.

A Little Absent Here

I haven’t posted in a few weeks because I was having some technical work done on my blog. It was too much over my head for me to figure out, so I had someone take a look and fix a few things on the back end. All seems to be in working order now. I can remember the early days of blogging when things weren’t so complicated. I’ve also been looking around at new blog designs. I’d love to freshen this one up a bit, but whoa Nelly! The price of blog designs has gone way, way up since I had this last design done five years ago. Yikes! I’ve tabled that idea for now. I actually wrote a post a few years ago about how to blog frugally but didn’t consider design cost in that post.

I’ll be back soon with more posts. I’ve just finished watching the Super Bowl and I am super tired! Have a great week!

Photo by Ylanite Koppens from Pexels

Card Shopping

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Mandy

Today the teen (I really need to stop calling him “the kid”) and I finally ventured out of the house to do a few errands. The first stop was to see my mama. I am so thankful that I only live about three or four blocks away from my mama. It was a crazy week last week, and by the time I got off work, she was napping most afternoons, so we were like ships passing in the night. I missed her and was ready for a visit! She had visitors mostly all morning. My aunts came by to see her and then we came over. I know she gets lonely now without my grandmother. I’m so glad she lives next door to my cousin and family and friends frequently drop in on her. She also has THE BEST neighbors. I’m telling you, I grew up on the BEST street in the whole wide world! But, I’ll save that post for another day.

After we visited mama, we hit up Walgreens. I needed a couple of greeting cards and also some cat treats. I had a $5 off $5 coupon to spend that would expire soon, so I definitely wanted to use it. We picked up the cards, and they also had my favorite Liquid IV drink powder on BOGO, so I took advantage of that. The teen wanted an Amazon gift card, so he spent some of his Christmas money on that.

Afterward, we drove through Sonic to grab some lunch. It has been well over a week since we’d had any fast food, so we decided to treat ourselves today. It is almost 9 PM and I am still full from lunch! We’ve been eating at home and not going out for food and although cooking most nights is very tiring after work, it’s definitely more economical for us. We have so much food here at home and I hate for it to go to waste.

I took a nap this afternoon and woke up and made sure we have masks washed up for the week. I also sat down to send off a birthday card to one of my aunts and a thank you note to a former neighbor who brought over a dessert to us after I had my heart attack. One thing I definitely wanted to be more intentional about this year is sending out cards. I’m off to a good start!

I’m all caught up on blog readings today and will probably go do a little book reading before I turn in for the night. It was so great to have a long weekend. I feel like I got a lot accomplished and it makes me feel better heading into the work week.

Good Sunday Morning!

Posted on January 16, 2022January 16, 2022 by Mandy

Good Sunday morning! We woke up to a very, very light dusting of snow here. I think we actually got more a week or so ago than this. Still, it was pretty to watch it fall for a little bit. I used to love snow days until about 5 years ago. The cold is just TOO much for me and now, thanks to virtual schooling, there are no more snow days built into our school calendar. That was part of the fun of it all!

Last Week…

I had another pretty good week at school. It got a little more hectic toward the end of the week because I was prepping for the school reading fair that will be held on Tuesday. It’s always a lot of tiny details. I spent all Friday afternoon getting things set up so that hopefully we will be ready to roll on Tuesday morning. I also had to pull early morning duty twice this week. I had to pay someone back for covering for me when I was off recovering from the heart attack, so I have been on my feet a LOT lately. By the time I came home Friday afternoon, I could hardly walk. My feet and ankles were screaming with pain. I was glad hubby was home more this week because he really stepped up with laundry and having dinner ready a few nights for me. I want so badly to be one of those women who can “do it all”, but I’m learning that I can’t, and asking for help is just part of life. This week should be much less taxing on my body. We are off tomorrow for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. On Thursday, the kid and I will be heading to my first appointment with the vascular specialist which is a two-hour drive both ways. So, it will be a short work week for me.

Cardiologist Update

I had my first cardiologist appointment since having the heart attack and it went well. My doctor ended up changing one of my medicines and increasing the dose on another one. And the best part is that I don’t have to go back to do the stress test I was scheduled to do in February since I had a heart catheterization done when I was in the hospital. So, that was a silver lining I guess! I will go back for another office visit in March. I think he just wants to see how I am doing with the new medicine changes.

Yesterday…

I spent all day yesterday cleaning house and I probably overdid it a little. I was honestly just trying to get as much done as possible in case this winter storm (fail) they predicted was much worse. I’m glad to be all caught up on everything so I can enjoy these next couple of days. I do still have a little laundry left. The kid’s new uniform shirts finally arrived from Land’s End on Friday. I ordered these shirts back in November. I don’t really blame them because I know everyone is experiencing delays from supply chain issues and a lack of workers. I’m just glad they are finally here since we experience our worst cold in January and February. Speaking of the kid, hubby had to take him to the eye doctor on Friday. He was diagnosed with a bacterial infection and given some eye drops. He says it’s already feeling much better. I was so afraid he was coming down with pink eye.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. I have over 500 blog posts to catch up on (yikes!), so I’ll be spending some time in the recliner reading them on my iPad. Hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Photo by Jill Wellington from Pexels

Week 1 of 2022- Hello, Winter!

Posted on January 9, 2022 by Mandy

Week 1 of 2022 started off with a light dusting of snow. It was extremely pretty coming down, but I was not ready for the bitter cold it brought with it.

The snow didn’t last long at all, but the cold sure did! It made for some good, cozy time in the house. My son built me a LEGO house out of sheer boredom I think. Ha! But I’m always amazed that he can do this. He’s always been so great at building things. I put it in my kitchen window. And yes, those windows will be cleaned come springtime!

Back To School

We stayed inside Sunday and I made sure I was prepared to go back to work on Monday. We had two weeks off for Christmas, but I also had been out the previous two weeks before for my heart attack recovery. I have been very nervous about going back because I wasn’t sure I was physically ready to take this back on, but I ended up having a fantastic week and I am so, so grateful for that.

It was very quiet at work this week. We had a very high number of absences of adults and kids all week due to the virus. Our school has a small enrollment, to begin with, so the missing people were definitely noticed. About three or four years ago our school got hit with the flu real bad, so it kind of reminds me of that time. We carried on and had a good week.

I think a couple of things have really helped me to start feeling better since my heart attack. The first is regularly taking magnesium. I have really low magnesium for some reason (probably due to diabetes) and was having to get infusions every couple of weeks before the heart attack. I was prescribed pills and I have started those. I’ve also been drinking two of these Liquid IV drinks a day:

It’s basically just an electrolyte drink, but with a better delivery system to your body. They come in a variety of flavors, but I was given a sample of this tangerine kind in a Wal-Mart pick up goodie bag, so I tried it and loved it.

Staying Warm

Jake and I have been enjoying our winter ambiance in the comfort of our warm home every evening. He piles up on the couch and I get in the recliner. We’ve found some “winter ambiance” videos on YouTube that I pull up on the TV. We listen to beautiful music and I read blogs. Jake is quite fond of piano music. This cat (who belongs to our neighbor) has got it made in our home!

Planning & Doing

My cousin and I have been communicating daily about the progress we are making using our new planners for the year. When you purchase one, you get access to a fabulous Facebook group for it and I am in awe of how people are using them and keeping up with everything. Someone posted a picture of a diaper caddy she bought to hold all of her planning supplies and Bible. I had to have it, so now my planning supplies are contained to this little caddy!

Slow Weekend

This weekend was a slow one. Hubby made great breakfasts and we did a little laundry and watched a little TV. Hubby did the grocery shopping and also picked up a few things for my mom, who has a sinus infection and doesn’t feel like getting out. The kid will be returning to school on Monday, and I’m kind of glad he has had an extra week off since this virus has ramped back up so bad where we live. I got a couple of small projects done around the house and now, I have to go vacuum so I can be finished with my weekend chores.

I do hope everyone is staying safe and warm! I am certainly not fond of the cold anymore, so I hope our winter won’t be very harsh this year. I’ll be back soon!

Welcoming in 2022

Posted on January 2, 2022 by Mandy

2022 finds me grateful to see a new year. Welcoming in 2022 was a quiet affair around our home. I had plans to cook, but decided closer to dinner that Chinese sounded great, so that’s what we did instead. Bonus for not having to clean up the kitchen afterward! We spent the rest of the evening channel surfing, catching the New York countdown and ball drop on TV, and then waiting for our countdown here in Central time. Once midnight rolled around for us, I headed right on up to bed.

2021 Was a Tough Year

To say last year was tough would be a huge understatement. It seemed like since February, the hits just kept on coming. We lost my mother-in-law in February, my grandmother in June, and my uncle the day before Thanksgiving. I dealt with a terrible bout of shingles from October through most of November, and finally, to round it all out…

I had a heart attack on December 3. I am ok, but I am different. Mainly, I just move a little slower and tire out very, very easily. I will write more about it someday when it’s not still so fresh. I’m still sorting out my feelings about it all and I’m still too emotional. I know this is normal and I know it will take time.

So, suffice it to say, I am very, very glad to see a new year and I pray it holds better health and happiness for us all. My heart has been so heavy for so many people this year, my blog friends included. Sometimes this old world just feels like it’s too much to bear, but that’s when I have to rely on my faith to help me through these tough spots in life.

But There Was Some Good

We did have some good times this past year. Our son completed Driver’s Education and got his permit. He finally went back to school in person in August. We paid off our car. We’ve enjoyed being with friends and family, and seeing some we haven’t seen in years. We had a couple of fun weekend excursions and tried out new restaurants. We joined Sam’s Club (haha!). We still have so much to be thankful for.

Making Plans for 2022

To help me stay better organized, I treated myself to a 2022 planner from the Passionate Penny Pincher. I am so pleased with my purchase and not only does it help you keep up with appointments and all the regular stuff a planner does…it also helps you keep your home clean and organized, helps you stay on a budget, AND includes a daily Bible reading plan for the year. It really does have it all. So, I’ve been busy filling this in and doing what I can around our home.

I know at this point, making huge declarations of resolutions for this new year would be pointless. I’m still trying to get my strength back and just do what I have to do on a daily basis. I do have some goals I am working on, and I will share those soon. I’m still trying to flesh them out so they are attainable and not impossible. I have a tendency to not offer myself a whole lot of grace, so that’s the huge thing I am working on. I’m so ready to have my normal energy level back and recovery isn’t happening fast enough.

See? There’s that grace thing again…

Here’s hoping and praying that this new year will be the start for healing and better for us all.