Odds & Ends..

I wish I didn't have to start this post like this. I'm currently in Pennsylvania with my family, as we lost my Pop Pop early Sunday morning. He had been battling dementia, an ugly condition that I wish didn't exist. Then recently, we found out that he also had cancer. I was supposed to have a four day work week this week, but I took all of those days off. I don't deal with grief well; I'm a very emotional person. On top of that, I needed to be with my dad. He is THE most important person in my life, and I can't imagine not being right by his side during every step of this. This first picture is of my pop pop, sister, & I at my dad's surprise 50th birthday party that we threw for him 2 years ago. The second is of him & I at my college graduation about 3 years ago. So many happy memories that will be with me forever. =)

So, as most people do, I'm trying to keep myself busy. I wrote subplans for Monday, and had planned on driving the 1.5 hours to school to prep for the rest of the week. But my team is taking care of that for me. I am more grateful for them than they even know right now. But, like any other teacher who is out of her classroom, I've been checking my email [even though the internet here is so patchy. I doubt I'll even be able to post this on the first try]. Anyway, when I checked my personal email, I found out that I won a giveaway!

I am so excited. I've entered every single giveaway I've seen for one of these, and I won! I won a

from

Thank you so much for the giveaway, Denise! Yearn to Learn was actually one of the first that I started following when I entered blogland. Go stop over & check it out!

That's all I have for ya. Hopefully I'll be back within the week to link up with Farley.