NFL Championship Game Predictions

I don't know why I do this.  Last week I was 1-3 in my NFL postseason predictions, making me 2-6 for the postseason.   Maybe I'll turn it around this week.  Because I don't care about the teams remaining, I have done no analysis and don't care who wins.  Here are my picks:

NFC Championship game: Cardinals 27, Eagles 24.

AFC Championship game: Steelers 20, Ravens 10.

Go Packers.

Crockpots, Crying, and Wal-Mart

One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was my new 2-quart crockpot with a removavle crock. My grandma got it for us and we have used it 5 or 6 times already. It is the perfect size for 2 people and easily fits into the dishwasher. I love love love love it.

Yesterday I tried a new recipe for a pork casserole in the crockpot and wasn't very pleased with the way it turned out. The rice was mushy and it was overall just too bland. When we were done eating Matt was carrying the half-full pot back to our kitchen and dropped it right in the middle of the floor. I heard it bust and neither of us said anything for at least 20 seconds. I knew in my heart it was broken but hadn't seen it yet.

This is where things get crazy. I immediatly jumped up from the table to see the damage and gave Matt a hug and said, "it's ok." That's when the tears started flowing. I was just so sad that our new crockpot was broken. I kept saying, "I miss our crockpot." And I'm pretty sure Matt thought I was crazy! Since it was only 7 o'clock we decided to go get another one. We visited 8 different stores in 1.5 hours around town and no one had a crockpot smaller than 4 quarts.

Finally, at 8:30 we gave up and decided just to order one online. As I was looking for crockpots online I found the exact same one we broke at the Wal-Mart that is practically across the street from us. I couldn't believe it. So, in the next day or two I will be visiting Wal-Mart to replace our broken crockpot.

Project Grace's Room

I have been having a lot of fun the past couple of weeks thinking about what our baby's room is going to look like. If you know me, you know I like to decorate with bold colors and due to the small size of our house decided to keep the baby's room along those same lines. Her room will be seen by everyone who walks in our house and I didn't want a princess room. So I started looking around for bedding sets. To see one that I really like and what the room looked like a month ago you can refer to a previous post. Anyway, I decided it is not worth the money to get a crib set when I want to make curtains and a bed skirt on my own, I don't want to use a bumper and the quilt isn't practical. So for all the money the only thing I would use would be a crib sheet. Not worth it. I did end up registering for accessories from Target that are part of the set I like and picked fabrics and made a few homemade decorations to go with it. So the set I like inspired what the room will look like.

As far as furniture in the room goes we are keeping the couch and bookshelf that are already in there. My dad is making us a crib (I can't wait until that is done) and we are going to purchase a dresser. I'll probably make a few pillow covers for the couch out of curtain fabric. Finally, we are planning on moving the TV out of the room.

Here is the picture frame I made to go with the jewelry box I made about a week ago. Eventually, I want to have lots of animal, letter and number stuff in the room so the decorations are also educational.

The curtains will cover the whole window and be laid out like this picture with about the same proportions of each type of fabric.

Here is a close up of the fabrics. Pretty much anything red, blue, limish green, yellow, or brown will go with these colors. We held up about 25 different fabrics to these fabrics and it all looked great. It should make it so nothing clashes too much in the room.

Here is the bookshelf with bins and room for toys, books, and other random stuff babies need.

That's all I have for now. I'll keep you faithful readers updated as the room gets more and more put together. For the next several weeks the baby's room will be a sewing room as I not only bought fabric for her room but have fabric for a few other projects non baby related as well. So don't expect many updates soon:)

NFL Divisional Playoffs Predictions

Last weekend was a great weekend of NFL playoff football with 4 entertaining games.  However, my predictions were bad (I only got 1 right out of 4 games).  I'm studied harder this week and I feel confident in these predictions:

Titans vs. Ravens:  The Titans had the best record in the league while the Ravens defense looked great last week.  Can the Ravens' rookie QB, Joe Flacco, win on the road against the Titans?  I think he can.  Ravens 17, Titans 13.

Panthers vs. Cardinals:  I still can't believe the Cardinals won last weekend.  The Panthers are the best home team in football and have a great rushing game.  They won't have any trouble against the Cardinals.  Panthers 34, Cardinals 17.

Giants vs. Eagles:  The Giants are the defending champions and begin their quest to repeat against their division rival.  The Eagles are one of the hottest teams in the league, but they didn't look exceptional in beating the Vikings last week.  I say Giants in a close one.  Giants 20, Eagles 17.

Steelers vs. Chargers:  This is the toughest game for me to predict.  My head tells me to go with the Steelers, who have the league's best defense, are at home, and have a playoff-tested team.  My heart is drawn to the Chargers, who looked like a very solid team in their victory over the Colts and seem to have some magic after being 4-8 over a month ago and since then, winning 5 straight.  However,  I can't ignore the Steelers defense.  Steelers 24, Chargers 13.

25 Weeks

Baby Grace all scrunched up. Can you see the head, legs, body?

Here is Baby Grace from the outside:)

I just got home from an ultrasound and decided to post about what has been going on lately. We had to get another ultrasound because Grace was moving around so much at the last one they couldn't get good pictures of her spine. We were excited to get to see her again and I got to leave school early on a Friday for a short doctor's appointment. No complaints here:) I also asked if they could confirm we were having a girl and the lady said it looks like a girl to her. Now the slight fears I had that we would actually have a boy have gone away. Grace is still breech but I try not to worry about that. I've read that many babies are breech until about 32 weeks or later. So she still has plenty of time to turn herself head down. I don't think I really have anything else to report.

Lunch Duty?

For those of you who don't know the story here is the low down. At my school we get one semester with 2 free periods and one semester with a duty and a free period. Most of the time the duty is study hall in your classroom. This is slightly annoying because you have to supervise kids but overall it is not that big of a deal. You can grade papers, work on lesson plans, work at your computer etc. My first year teaching I had a study hall in my classroom, my second year teaching I had lunch duty, and my third year I had study hall in the auditorium 4th hour. Let me tell you, lunch duty was not fun. I had to supervise teenagers eating lunch for 64 minutes everyday. Yuck! But, I really worked hard at putting in my time without complaining too much because I knew everyone had to do it sometime. Well then things got annoying...not much happened with schedules so when I had 4th hour free again last year I was worried I would get lunch duty. Thank goodness I didn't but I had to supervise an 80 person study hall in the auitorium that was 30 min., lunch and then 30 more min. So, I had to take attendance twice, calm the kids down twice and be super strict. I liked it better than lunch duty but it was still the 2nd worst duty I could have had.

After putting in 2 bad years of duties I was really hoping this year would be better. Well in August when the schedules came out I had lunch duty again. What?! Not only was I annoyed because of lunch duty (someone else needed a turn) I was sick and miserable because of being pregnant. The last thing I could handle was school food, being on my feet and morning (all-day) sickness. Thankfully a co-worker of mine switched with me so I could do it 2nd semester. The bright side was I would only have half the semester of duty because of my maternity leave and I wouldn't be as sick. The down side was I'd be 6 months pregnant and growing at the start of lunch duty. Well, here is where the story gets good. Another co-worker of mine volunteered to give me his study hall and take my lunch duty so I wouldn't have to be on my feet for 64 extra minutes a day. And the study hall is even going to be in my classroom. I can work on sub plans and be seated at my desk for that extra time. I didn't even have to ask either. I just am so grateful that God provided me with this kind person who took me into consideration. It might seem like a silly thing to you readers but it is a big deal to me. I've been praying about this situation and God has answered it in the best way possible.

So the answer to my question Lunch Duty? is not this year!

Wild-card Weekend Predictions

Well, the NFL playoffs are upon us.  It's been a tough year for me being a Packers fan, but I will certainly enjoy being an objective observer of the NFL playoffs.  For those of you who don't follow football, I pity you.  You are missing out.

Also, for those of you who only like college football, the NFL actually has a playoff system to determine its champion.  That means the top teams in the league play each other in a single-elimination tournament until 1 team remains.  It is an amazing concept and I hope it catches on some day in college football.

Anyway, on to this weekend's games and my predictions(*):

Cardinals vs. Falcons:  The Falcons have the better record, but the Cardinals are at home.  The Cardinals have a really bad defense and a really good passing offense.  The Falcons can run the ball and have a rookie QB (Matt Ryan).  I'm going with the team that can run the ball.  Falcons 31, Cardinals 24.

Chargers vs. Colts:  Two of the league's hottest teams meet in this match-up.  The Colts have won 9 straight games, while the Chargers won their last 4 games of the year to get into the playoffs.  The Colts are solid on both sides of the ball, while the Chargers are weak on defense and explosive (yet inconsistent) on offense.  I'm going with Peyton Manning's acting ability and the Colts.  Colts 27, Chargers 20.

Dolphins vs. Ravens:  The Dolphins are one of the surprise teams this year, making it to the playoffs after going 1-15 this year.  Despite a solid defense and a good running attack, I don't see them defeating the Ravens who boasts the league's 2nd-best defense and a great rushing attack.  Also, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis scares me.  Ravens 24, Dolphins 10.

Vikings vs. Eagles:  Could I possibly predict all 4 away teams to win on wild-card weekend?  That would be....well, wild.  The Vikings have been an enigma all year, while the Eagles realized they were a good team the last month of the season.  This game will come down to who will be able to run the ball (both defenses are solid against the run).  Adrian Peterson is too good to not have a big game.  I'm going with the home Vikings.  Vikings 27, Eagles 24.

*Historically, my predictions have not been accurate.  Please do not use any content displayed here as insight for wagering on the games.