PORTRAITS of ME.

Good, right?! They learn from the best :)

IF YOU WERE HERE FOR TEA.

* Well, I survived the first week back to school after being sick! I slept A LOT this week - like 7:30 p.m. bedtimes. This is completely opposite to Phil, who was too nervous about basketball playoffs to sleep this week!

* Speaking about basketball playoffs, Phil's team won the semi-final game on Wednesday night and came SO CLOSE to winning the finals yesterday evening. They lost by 4 points to a team that has won the championship for years! Ah - it was quite the game to watch! Next year first place is THEIRS :) Way to go, Phil!!!! You are a FANTASTIC COACH and we are so proud of you and your team!!! xo

* In other basketball news, Phil and Steve are hoping to score some professional development funds to attend a coaching clinic in Athens this April. I am going to urge Phil to go anyways because I think the opportunity is a good one. Flights to Athens are cheap and there are some big name people presenting that weekend. Plus.....PD for PE is hard to come by! Especially over here. I say he goes for it - reimbursement or not!

* Last night we had pizza for dinner with the Huffho's, Emily and Steve. The Hussain's opted for some Kuwaiti food and brought over their dinner to eat with us. I think it made the basketball loss a little easier to handle (you know how much Phil loves PIZZA)! Sophia also made a SPECTACULAR cake that was all kinds of colours! It was a piece of art and she let Phil have TWO PIECES! Needless to say, good company and yummy food seemed to keep him in good spirits :)

* My kids were pretty awesome this week. I really missed them while I was away and I think the feeling was mutual :) I love their innocence and sense of fun. I love their enthusiasm and resilience. If only I could remember this during moments of frustration.....haha.

* Tonight we are going to the Kuwait Little Theatre to watch a musical produced by our friend Kristen. We have heard great reviews from colleagues that attended earlier this week and I can't wait to see it first hand. I picture it as one big sing along :)

* Did Ben REALLY keep Courtney on The Bachelor this week? Does he REALLY want to meet her family? Is he being paid EXTRA to carry her through? ICK. Next week's episode is sure to be a great one. We're still rooting for Kacie B. in this household!

* Survivor began this week! When Phil wakes up this morning, I hope to have it all ready to go on my computer. After that, I'm not really sure what to do in order to ease his playoff sorrows. Pizza, Survivor........maybe a can of Pringles is next on the agenda? Ohhhhh I hope I can distract him from his feelings today!

Happy FAMILY DAY weekend to all of you back home! We are looking forward to all of the fun things we'll get to do together this summer! Until then, have lots of Canadian fun for us :)

Tired like WHOA.

Today was my first day back to school since being really sick and all I can do is say WHOA. I am comatose on the couch! Turns out I'm not as well as I think I am.....

I suppose I still need to do a little more of this:

and this:

Off I go.....

Have you heard of this guy?!

His name is JEREMY LIN and he's proven that EVERYONE deserves a chance.

Let the "Lin-sanity" continue!!!

DEEP BREATH IN!

This afternoon I went to the school for an hour or two to organize my classroom and get caught up on everything that piled up last week.

Deep breath in.

My desk was barely recognizable.

Deep breath in.

The inboxes were overflowing with student work.

Deep breath in.

My reliable post-it notes were missing.

Deep breath in.

My scissors were covered in some sort of sticky guck.

Deep breath in.

My email inbox went on for scrolls and scrolls.

Deep breath in.

ENOUGH! I did what I could in my mucus-y, dizzy, weak, and headache-y state (yep, STILL not 100%).

Oh the joys of being absent! My mantra will have to be "one hour at a time".

Wish me luck!

HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY to US!!!!

TWO YEARS AGO today, I started "The Pearl Curriculum" as a Valentine's Day gift for Phillip. Our holiday rule was that our presents had to be MADE rather than purchased, and with little craft supplies available in Egypt, I opted for arts & crafts of another sort. It seems to have worked out pretty well, as the blog has become quite the "staying-in-touch" tool for the rest of us! (SIDE NOTE: To you February 14th dis-likers, without this romantic day, we wouldn't have THIS place to catch up!)

Thank you to all of you who continue to read our day-to-day nonsense! I really do think that every post brings us CLOSER to the real deal ;)

Love Linds & Phil
XOXO

Hmmmmm....

Stress? Maybe it wasn't Ian OR the massage.......

Ladies and gentleman, this is my fifth day off in a row. My advice for the rest of you?

"IF YOU NEED A PERSONAL DAY, TAKE A PERSONAL DAY."

If I worked for a pharmaceutical company....

1. The letters "A/C" would never be seen on my medicine! The last thing you want to think about when you have the chills is air conditioning.


2. My pills would never call you mean names.

Good Morning!

We get some pretty skies in Kuwait. This is the one we were greeted with today :) SO BEAUTIFUL!

Let the OPTIMISM shine through!

Update: still sick! This is my third day away from school and I am non-stop stressing out at home. I hate being away from my kids. I hate being out of routine and seeing the work pile up right in front of me. Bah. Stressful. Nonetheless, the doctor forbid me from school for three days. And so.....I'm trying to pull some reverse psychology on my body to see if that works better than the meds. Here it goes:

* Dehydration? Muscle aches? WHO CARES! It's a real party in the "IV" department of the hospital. I get to listen to people on the neighbouring cots say things like "can you please bring me an iPhone charger?" and "this is ridiculous - I've been waiting for 10 minutes!" Haha, if they only knew what home was like.

* I usually have to change every four or five hours because the clothes I am wearing end up DRENCHED within this time period. But really - it's like one ongoing game of dress-up! I'm just like Britney Spears on tour - keep the costume changes coming! (And Phil is happy with the amount of laundry I am producing!)

* This is the perfect time to watch movies - something that I can rarely sit through when well because I get bored and need something to fidget with. Well, THANK YOU WEAKNESS! Today I managed to watch "The Help" and "The Smurfs" without any effort.

* Two nights ago I pulled my first all-nighter in YEARS! It was fabulous. If someone had video taped my evening and then put it into super-fast mode, it probably would have looked like a really fun dance party.

* Me being sick has brought out "SUPER PHIL"!!!! Phil is already the most kind, wonderful, thoughtful, and CARING husband there is. But he's reached a whole new level. Prime example: he took care of me INSTEAD of watching the last quarter of the Super Bowl (the only quarter he was awake for). I LOVE YOU, HUN! THANK YOU! xo

* My mountain of Kleenex sorta resembles snow. It's that time of year ;)

Now....did you hear that BODY?! I am having a blast. Really!

(Fingers crossed that this bug "scrams" SOON! I MISS SCHOOL!)