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Friday, February 12, 2010

Bits Of February...

I have been working late so much recently that I haven't had much time for blogging. Late meetings and trainings are tiring but leading those late meetings and trainings is totally exhausting. The people who attend the most recent trainings were very pleasant and did not complain nearly as much as the people in the fall. My approach to the trainings was a little different this time so maybe that helped. There isn't much to share since we have been so busy.

I brought home a balloon for Sadie from a baby shower. She was not a fan of the balloon. I think she might have even been a little afraid of it. Have I mentioned that Sadie's name hasn't always been Sadie? The vet called Mike last week because they were updating her microchip information and they were confused because Sadie's microchip information lists her name as Tisha. I guess the previous owner or the rescue group changed it. I really don't think she looks like a Tisha!

Even though Valentine's Day is Sunday it definitely felt like Valentine's Day at school today. Many of the students brought gifts and treats. A vast number of those items were confiscated when they inevitably became distractions. The students were quite rambunctious when all that sugar kicked in sometime in the morning. The teachers of course were not far behind the students when it comes to sugar levels because we had our own cupcakes, cookies, and other sweet treats. If you can't beat them, join them! The sugar crash late in the day wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

I was pleasantly surprised with two gifts delivered to my school this year! I never understand people who say flowers are a waste of money. I am always willing to accept beautiful flowers! I usually send Mike cookies but didn't this year because we are attempting to lose weight. I couldn't come up with anything to send him so I opted not to send him anything this year. It is always weird sending him Valentine's gifts anyway because he is usually out of town which means I have to send the gift really early. I had mentioned sending him a fruit bouquet but he insisted he wouldn't eat most of it and didn't have a place to keep it. I was really excited when a student from the front office delivered my fruit arrangement. I was even more surprised when I received flowers later in the day. I waited to open both items until I got home so I didn't make a mess.

Since Mike is at a music conference it has just been Sadie and I most of the week. Tonight we are chilling on the sofa, watching the Olympics, and catching up on blogging. I've actually done pretty well this year. I never look forward to being home alone even for a short while. In years past I haven't slept well and have spent the entire time being very upset. While I still don't enjoy all this alone time I have tolerated it with a better attitude. I've been so tired from work that not sleeping really hasn't been possible. I did have some frustrating moments yesterday.

At the risk of sounding like a total loser, I'll explain my series of unfortunate events. When I arrived home pretty late after leading a three hour training after school I noticed I had left the freezer door slightly ajar. It had an extra long work day to thaw out. We didn't have many items in our freezer and most of it was salvageable. I have been eating frozen dinners since cooking for one when it is almost bedtime just isn't appetizing. After heating up my frozen dinner for the night I badly steam burned my finger peeling off the plastic. I never realized how serious a steam burn could be! It has been an entire day and it is still red and stings a little. Since my freezer was still recovering I didn't have anything cold to put on my burning finger. To top it off, I got water all over the counter, floor, and myself while simply trying to refill the Sadie's water dish because I was too busy pitying myself to pay attention. I guess I shouldn't be left alone too long!

As I mentioned previously we are trying to lose weight. That was going well until our scale broke. We had a decent old scale but decided to buy a new scale to symbolize our commitment to this endeavor. Things went wrong after using it for a few weeks. When I weighted myself I had gained more than thirty pounds literally over night! We definitely knew something was wrong when the scale read forty or fifty pounds even when we weren't touching it. By the next day it was adding more than a hundred pounds to our actual weights. I guess we learned our lesson. Don't waste money on a new scale when the old one works perfectly fine. It is now consistently serving us well. On that note, we have a prank scale if anyone wants one!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Bits Of Monday...

We went to the dentist today and both had good checkups. No cavities and good blood pressure numbers!

Mike took some of his students to visit an elementary school today and was suppose to have a substitute for his first period class. When the students showed up to class there was no substitute. Believe it or not the students actually got started on the work that was left for them and did everything they were suppose to do. They even went to the office to tell the secretary they didn't have a substitute...twice. What a pleasant surprise!

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Mr. Rogers...

Student 1: Everybody is afraid of Mr. Rogers.
Student 2: No...Mr. Rogers is just a teddy bear that yells.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Weekend Visit...

My parents came to visit this weekend. Friday night I had a lot to do to prepare for a baby shower I was going to help host in the morning. I got to work on the cupcakes.

Since they were just standing around watching me bake, I put them to work cutting fruit for the fruit salad.

Mike grilled us a fantastic fajita dinner. We have really enjoyed the grill I got Mike for Christmas. We are also glad we get to use the fajita skillets we got as wedding gifts.

There was no doubt in my mind that my mom would eventually purchase a Snuggie for Sadie. It is a little roomy but pretty cute.

While we were out and about we went to see the animals at Gallery Furniture. The blue parrot was gorgeous!

The grey parrot was mischievously eating the plant nearby.

The monkeys were really cute but difficult to take pictures of because they kept moving.

They really liked playing with all their toys.

I always love toucans because they are so colorful!

If I owned this bird I would name it Edgar Allen Poe because he looks dark and mysterious. It was great having my parents visit us. We are definitely looking forward to visits from more family members in the next few months!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

End Of The Semester...


Things were crazy last week since it was the end of the first semester. I still have to submit my grades this week because the system wasn't working correctly on friday. Amongst the stress, tests, and grading there were plenty of entertaining moments.

One of my favorite history teachers sent me a quick e-mail that made me smile. "We took a quiz today that had a word bank and I told the kids to spell correctly seeing as how the answers were there for them and I got this as a response: 'Lousezeana Territory'".

Am I a bad teacher if I give extra points when my students write something that makes me laugh? The prompt was to write as if they were a chicken trying to cross a busy highway. We had been working on using more descriptive verbs. One student wrote: "I cross the road because I needed my chiken wings. It was like a big adventure because the road was big. I dash, scrambles and zoom in a hurry not to get squished. Will I was running I droped my wallet and a truck split it in half. I just keeped going. I got my chiken wings, but I left my hot sause be hind."

One of my other favorites around the holidays that I forgot to share was a letter to Santa. My students and I discussed the Macy's campaign that involved people writing letters to Santa. This was a great opportunity for them to practice their writing and help Macy's donate money to the Make A Wish Foundation. It took a little convincing to get middle school students to write to Santa but they finally agreed that they could give it a try in order to help really sick children. Most were average Santa letters at best but one stood out from the rest. "I'm just writing this because my teacher told me that if I do Macy's will donate one dollar to help sick kids. Those kids deserve a nice Christmas so you should give them whatever they want. Maybe you could help them feel better too. I know you don't exist so I am not going to ask for anything for me. I want my parents to get me an iPod though. Thanks."

Thursday, January 7, 2010

A Well-Planned Retirement...


From The London Times:
A Well-Planned Retirement

Outside England 's Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot
for 150 cars and 8 buses. For 25 years, its
parking fees were managed by a very pleasant
attendant. The fees were £1 for cars ($1.40),
£5 for buses (about $7).

Then, one day, after 25 solid years of never missing
a day of work, he just didn't show up; so the Zoo
Management called the City Council and asked it
to send them another parking agent.

The Council did some research and replied that the
parking lot was the Zoo's own responsibility.
The Zoo advised the Council that the attendant was
a City employee.
The City Council responded that the lot attendant
had never been on the City payroll.

Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain
(or some such scenario), is a man who'd apparently had a
ticket machine installed completely on his own; and then
had simply begun to show up every day, commencing
to collect and keep the parking fees, estimated at about
$560 per day -- for 25 years.
Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over
$7 million dollars!
.....
And no one even knows his name.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy 90th Birthday!

Happy 90th Birthday Grandpa!!!

Some of my favorite things about my grandpa are his sense and humor and his thoughtfulness. The picture above is from our wedding reception. Christine (also pictured above) shared a funny story about grandpa while we were in Dallas for the holidays. Apparently, he told her sometime during our wedding festivities that he was glad we were not having fajitas because he wasn't found of the fajitas she and Alex had at their wedding a few months earlier. He was also probably glad the weather was warmer for his travels. Grandpa is still sharp with the one liners he contributes to every conversation.

Though we always got cards for holidays when we were growing up, we got even more cards and small gifts while we were in college. Even to this day I can look forward to a card from grandpa every few weeks. I try to return the favor as best I can but I'm not nearly as diligent.

Speaking of...I'll try to get the birthday card in the mail today so it will get there eventually. Don't think of it as me being forgetful...think of it as me helping to stretch out your birthday celebration. Besides...you don't get your mail all that often anyway. Love You Grandpa!