Happy New Year

As I am baking, yet again, a memory crept into the back of head of past New Year Eve's. While we were growing up there were always new Disney movies that came out into theaters around Christmas time. My parents would load all of us up including my cousins from Texas into the car and take us to a movie on New Year's Eve.

I can remember seeing Aladdin, Little Mermaid, and many others. We always went to the last show of the night and the new year would be upon us when the movie let out. I remember always looking forward to these movie nights. I also remember one of my cousin's walking into the wrong restroom by accident after the movie was over.

As we grew older the movies stopped. The last movie that I do remember seeing was 101 Dalmatians (the one with Glenn Close) with my sister and my mom. I was 16 when this movie came out and I was working at the theater and we got in for free.

Hubby and I are going over to my brother's house to celebrate. I hope everyone has a safe and happy night! Welcome to 2009!

No more drip!

The old kitchen faucet has been dripping since fall and it has just gotten worse since then. So we went out to Lowe's on Saturday night and bought a new faucet with a spray handle. It has been hubby's dream to have a spray handle. My parents even got him pipe wrenches for Christmas.

Here is our old sink faucet with some water
spicket that was never hooked up.

Here Jenni is trying to help hubby complete the task.

Ta da! Our brand new faucet and sprayer!

Hubby was surprised on how easy it was to change out the old handle and put in the new one. He said we should have done this years ago. Then he went off with his pipe wrenches to change out the shower head with the new one I had bought three years ago. Gee whiz! Who knew new tools could be so much fun!

Ten Years

It is hard to imagine but this is my 10th Christmas that I am celebrating with my husband. Six years while we were dating and four years as husband and wife. Who would have thought that 10 years ago we would be where we are today.

Finished

This is how I have spent four days of my winter break:

The only thing that I did not make on this platter were my mom's chocolate chip cookies because that is one thing that I cannot duplicate. I have even tried. Tony, Rosanne, and Laura have all told me when I made them that they were good, but they weren't mom's. Although mine will never compare to mom's!

Rosie helped me put all of the platters together last night, and I believe that my mom is delivering them today. I am just happy to have them out of the house.

Good news, bad news

So last week was a whirlwind of activity. My parents and Laura left for Houston on Monday and they came back Wednesday. After the tests that my dad had on Tuesday, it has been concluded that chemo is working and he will only need two more sessions. One here in South Bend at the beginning of the new year and the last session down in Houston at the end of January. Then he gets to take a "Chemo Vacation." Yahoo!

The bad news is that hubby was laid off from his job on Thursday. He went into work on Thursday afternoon where they told him at the beginning of his shift that they were laying him off along with 11 other people. They also mentioned that they would pay him for Thursday and that he could stay or go home. Gee that is a hard choice, stay or go home. He went home. They also told him that they would not fight him on unemployment. (Gee thanks a lot!) So we filed unemployment on Friday over the Internet. Now we just have to sit back and wait to find out what he will receive.

Cheap dinners

Do you feel like eating out but is money tight? I got an e-mail today from my coupon saving website advertising www.restaurant.com This site gives discounts on certain restaurants around your area.

So naturally I went exploring. I typed in my zip code and it brought up different restaurants around the area. I saw one that we like to eat at so I clicked on adding a certificate to my cart and then typed in a special promo for the season...SANTA. For a $25 certificate it was $10 but if you type in the code SANTA at the check out screen you get it for 80% off. So my $25 certificate was $2.

Nope that isn't a typo, it really was $2. The only catch is that I have to spend a minimum of $35 and they will also add a 15 % gratuity before the discount. But heck I got $25 for $2. But then again maybe I should be leery...but it is only $2. :)

The weird thing though is that I have to print out my certificate and my printer is low on ink...so guess what I am doing at work tomorrow before anyone gets there. I won't tell if you won't! :-)

Grrr...Circuit City

While I was wrapping gifts today, one of the Blu-Ray DVD's that I got my brother fell out of the paper sleeve. I then was joking to my husband that, "Hey we could watch this and put it back into the case and he would never know."

I opened up the case as I was saying this and low and behold it is missing a disc. It is a two disc set. We have the bonus features disc. The movie disc is missing.

So I called up Circuit City, but because I got it at the southside location (aka the one going out of business). They cannot do anything for me. I made the comment that so because of you I am out 20 some odd dollars. The dang employee says well not me. I then asked to speak to the manager and he too said the same thing. So I just hung up on the rude manager.

So I am ready to march on down to the store and just fling it through the doorway and walk away.

I am now refusing to do business with Circuit City. Grrr to them! So if anyone wants to see the bonus features of Pirates of the Caribbean in Blu-Ray...let me know.

You think that they starve

Yesterday morning I noticed that the cat food was empty. So I drag out the new bag we got last week and fill it up. Five minutes later this is what I had...

Keep in mind that only 20 minutes earlier they ate the can food that I fed them in the morning. They really are strange.

Well this stinks...

Hubby was told last Thursday that there would be a meeting at work before his shift on Monday. He thought it would be the same old crap that they tell everyone at every meeting.

He called tonight and I asked him what the meeting was about and he says I don't remember. WHAT! Then he said he really wasn't paying attention. Gee that's helpful.

Then he preceded to tell me that his last day of work is tonight and he doesn't go back in until next Monday. He will then proceed to work for four days and then be off until January 5.

So as much as I love to have him home and actually have a husband during the week; I would much rather him be at working making money. Gift buying just got a whole lot more tricky and interesting.

He did tell me however that he can file for unemployment for the days that he is not working. So tomorrow when he is home we are going to try to navigate the world of the unemployment website.

His company has told him that they will have orders to fill when they come back to work in January. We can only hope for the best. :)

Christmas Spirit

Well it only took a week to finally finish the tree, but I am happy to say that it is complete. Hubby has decided that we need more ornaments. I told him we can wait until after Christmas for clearance priced ornaments.

We are also hoping that the dang thing just doesn't topple over because one of the screws holding the tree up is stripped. So I need to find a good artificial tree stand. If anyone has a good one let me know where you got it.

I am planning to work on Christmas cards today and bake cookies. The cookies are going to the SMC local students who are studying for their finals this week. I am trying to be more active in service projects with the Alumnae Club. Plus baking is my passion, so all is good. Have a happy Sunday!

Free Soup

I came across this offer in a magazine I was reading a few weeks ago. If you text TLC to 467467, you will be prompted to give your name and mailing address. In two to four weeks you will have your coupon for a free can of Campbell's Select Harvest Soup. I got my coupon in the mail about a week ago. The only catch is that it is only available to the first 50,000 texts. But I doubt that has happened yet.

My sister thought I was crazy for wanting a free can of soup! I told her that every little bit helps! Enjoy your soup!

I wanna go here...

Doesn't this just look peaceful? It is located in the southeastern part of France. Just extremely breathtaking!

Lysol Please

I have had a student out since Monday. I received a note from the office on Monday stating that he was in the ER the previous night and was sick. That was it nothing else. Tuesday rolls around and the student is still sick.

Today (Wednesday) the student shows up and still looks horrible. He doesn't say anything to me. So I send everyone off to art and then they come back after 45 minutes and we do our spelling test. He barely makes it through the spelling test because he is all congested and coughing a nasty cough. At this point I am keeping my distance. When we begin our grammar lesson that is when he sneezes and apparently pukes on his desk.

The student next to him made a ewwww sound. I sent the sick student off to the bathroom while I took a paper towel and threw it over the desk and went on with my lesson. If I had made a huge commotion out of it, an entire class of 7 and 8 year-olds would be chaotic. So once recess rolled around (15 minutes later). I called down to the office and had the janitor sent down to my room.

She had already cleaned up and disinfected the bathroom. She then Lysoled everything in the vicinity in my classroom. I had her throw his papers and pencils away that were on top his desk. She sprayed that stuff everywhere and used Clorox wipes to wipe even more things down. I have a very clean room at the moment. At least I am hoping.

After that whole episode this morning I just felt icky the rest of the day. I was planning on going over to my parents tonight to eat. However I decided against it because I don't need to be carrying some flu bug to my dad. It really is the last thing he needs.

So a nice relaxing evening of not touching anything school related is in order. :)

Heat?

As if driving home in this lovely weather wasn't enough, I get home and I am cold. The only thing that I can think of is that hubby forgot to turn the heat back on. Sure enough he went off to work without turning the heat back on. So it was a lovely 64 degrees in my house.

He has gotten into the habit lately of turning off the heat before he takes a shower because he overheats. It has even gotten to the point to where he is opening the bathroom window when he takes a shower.

As much as I vent to him to just turn the heat down or close off the register vent, it still has not sunk in that I am a fan of heat!

Black Friday

Yes, I was one of the insane people up and about today at 5:30 this morning. I will say however, I did not venture out onto Grape Road. I am not THAT insane! I stayed on the southside here and shopped at Kohl's, Old Navy, Target, Circuit City and Lowe's.

I really thought that Kohl's would have been busier. I was there at 5:45 this morning and by the time that I checked out at 6:30 I walked right up to a register. Last year I waited in line for at least 1/2 an hour. Not this year. The only real line that I waited in was at Target and that was maybe 5 minutes at the most.

So I have my father's gift finished. I then have everybody else started. I even have my secret santa present for school finished. I am trying to get everything finished within the next two weeks, so I can enjoy the season. Also school gets very crazy the last week before break. So I just need one less headache.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I ate way too much, but it was all yummy. Here are some pics from our festive event. Enjoy!

Run, Run, Run

It feels as though I have not stopped moving since my feet hit the floor at 6 this morning. School felt like a blur. Since we were not in school on Friday, it means that all of my tests that I give on Friday were pushed to today. So that means I have a spelling, grammar, and reading test to grade for each of my students. My prep today was really spent to trying to figure out my Thanksgiving Basket deal and our annual feast that is happening tomorrow. So nothing has really been graded. Ugh!

Then I had to run to pay a bill after school and then off to Martin's to shop for the turkey and other items for our Thanksgiving Basket at school. Normally I love stuffing our basket full of goodies, however since hubby has not worked a full week since September. I need to get creative. But I think I got some great deals and the basket should be really nice. Normally the students bring in more than enough however this year I ask for cans of beans and I get one lonely can. So it has been interesting nonetheless.

Then I had to run home and start peeling apples. A couple of weeks ago the St. Mary's Alumnae Club here in South Bend was asked to donate pies to help out the Thanksgiving feast at the Hope Rescue Mission. They needed 80 pies. So I volunteered my baking talents to make two pies. I opted for making two apple pies. The funny thing is that I have never made an apple pie in my life. However I will say that they smell delicious and I am sad that I will not be able to taste one.

My mom-in-law also brought me over 3 cups of pecans tonight. Some client dropped off a huge bag of pecans at her job today. So she shoveled out some for me for baking. So I called my mom and said that I have pecans for her pecan pie that she makes. I also asked about my dad because he had his second round of chemo today. Mom said that he looked tired but that is about it. He is also starting to lose his hair. As I was helping my parents clean yesterday at their house for Thanksgiving preparations, he kept tugging at his hair and moustache. I told him to knock it out, needless to say he didn't listen too well. His next treatment will be in December in Houston.

Now I am off to NOT grade papers and watch Heroes before falling asleep and having another chaotic day tomorrow.

No more two hour delay...

Now we are closed for the day. That just means that I have a three day weekend. How nice! Although now we go to school on President's Day in February. Oh well.

You know you're a teacher when....

I am sitting around the house this morning because of a two hour delay. I normally would go back to bed but I fell asleep at 8:30 last night. So I am well rested. I came across these funnies called You know you're a teacher when....

• You can make up games on the spot.
• You realize there are never enough pencils/glue sticks/scissors in the world.
• You see a child misbehaving in the supermarket you automatically give them "the look".
• You have perfected "the look" which turns any child to stone.
• A social life was a thing you used to have.
• You know the life story of every single child in your class, and can recognize them all from the back of their head.
• You dread notes from parents.
• The word OBSERVATION sends blind panic through your system.
• Weekends are spent planning for next week.
• You can't remember the last time you blow dried or straightened your hair.
• You can maintain a straight face in ANY situation.
• Stupid names of children in your class become the norm to you. Also, you realize some names you will never name your own children, due to experiences with children who have that name!
• The staffroom is your sanctuary.
• Packed lunches are a part of daily life.
• You want to choke a person when they say "Oh, you must have such FUN everyday. This must be like playtime for you."
• You know what all the "must haves" for children are right now.
• You can sense misbehaviour without actually seeing it.
• You don't know whether to laugh or cry when someone says "Teaching? That's an 8-3 job! You're so lucky!"
• You say things once, then repeat them, then ask if everyone understands what you are saying, before repeating again.
• You know at least 5 different methods of doing multiplication (not including a calculator)
• You secretly love it when a child in your class has a birthday - treats!
• You get fed up with different news reports everyday from politicians telling you how to do your job - why don't they spend a day in a school for a change?
• You find yourself using cliche teacher phrases that you swore to yourself you would never use - e.g. "pens down, arms folded, eyes front." "I'm sorry Reece, you clearly have something more important to say/be doing than concentrating on my lesson" "tuck your shirt in"
• You don't bother telling people anything about your job as they never seem to fully understand the stress...(sigh)
• You count down the days till half-terms, holidays, weekends knowing that without them you would be headed for a nervous breakdown.
• You have more control over/respect from children than their parents.
• When you meet someone else who is a teacher, you have an immediate bond.
• You loathe children who finish their work quickly!
• There are headache tablets in your desk drawer.
• Stickers are still a form of excitement for you (especially scratch n sniff ones!)

He did what?!?!

As I was conducting reading groups today, one of my students came up to the group in a panic yelling, "Bobby* just ATE a crayon!" What the heck was the first thing going through my mind.

Then Penelope* proceeds to tell me, "I told him to eat a crayon and he did. I didn't think he really would!" I look up and sure enough Bobby is wiping crayon out of his mouth with a tissue, shouting "I didn't know she was kidding!"

I asked Penelope why she would do this and she just replied, "I don't know." She felt totally horrible though.

Then another student comes up to me five minutes later and says, "Tiffany just put an eraser in my mouth."

Oh gee whiz, could life in the second grade get any more exciting?

*I have changed the name to protect the innocent. :0)

Waste some time

If you feel like you have some time to waste, check out my cousin's wedding pics at: http://grantisaacstudio.blogspot.com/

The photographer did an awesome job. Also check out some of their other work. I really enjoyed some of the pics!

I hate rainy days!

There is nothing worse than a rainy Friday. I actually dread Friday's because I have no preps. I have the students from 8:00 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon straight. My saving grace is usually 15 minutes for morning recess, 20 minutes for lunch followed by 15 minutes for recess, and then a 15 minutes of recess in the afternoon. However when it rains it means the only time that I am away to hear myself think is the 20 minutes that I get to scarf down my lunch. Otherwise I am cooped up in the classroom watching recess float by. Gee an indoor playground sounds great on these days! It would save my sanity. :)

Happy Birthday

Happy 22nd birthday to my little sister! Too bad that she is in class today from 10 AM until 7:30 tonight. But then again her weekend begins on Wednesday...so I don't feel too sorry for her! :)

Isn't it too early for that?

Does anyone else think that Thanksgiving gets mixed up or even forgotten about this time of year? I love Christmas, but I also think that it is too early to start with Christmas music. I think that just about every store I walked into today, there was Christmas music on. There was even a radio station with Christmas music on. School is just wacky this time of year because of our huge Thanksgiving feast that we put on. Just please let me get through Thanksgiving, then maybe I can start to think about Christmas. :)

My Father

My parents made it to Houston safe and sound on Tuesday evening with no problems. They did however get lost when they made it towards my aunt's house in Montgomery, but they made it there and enjoyed a yummy steak dinner.

They met with the doctor on Wednesday in Houston. They answered all of the questions/concerns that my parents had. My dad, however, is not a candidate for the experimental pill. So they scheduled him for a bunch of medical tests that probably required a bunch of poking and scanning of his body and a scan of his brain yesterday (Thursday). Then they scheduled chemo for Friday (today).

He will have chemo every 21 days. His first round was today. His next round will be in 21 days back here in South Bend and then after that it will be back to Houston for his third round of chemo. So by the time Christmas rolls around he will have lost his hair. Hubby just told me that him and my father will be bald for Christmas. :)

The images from the brain scan and countless MRI's that he had shows that there are no masses of tumors on his brain or on any other part of his body. This is a good thing because they thought that would have been the case due to his spread of cancer.

So they are trying different combinations of chemo, hoping to stop the spread of the cancer. The doctor says that the outlook should be good after these rounds of chemo. So now only time will tell. One thing that my mom told me is that on this particular floor of the hospital, there are 30 doctors dedicated to stopping the spread of prostate cancer. My dad's doctor is a lady in her mid-thirties heading this experimental study. So they feel she knows what she is talking about.

I know there is more to tell, but Rosie couldn't explain it to me because she said that she is not the one studying to be the nurse in the family (as she put it). Only Laura could do that, however Laura is feeling crappy and went to bed early. When I was talking to my parents tonight, their phone died because the battery went dead. But they will be home Saturday afternoon.

I just ask that you please keep my father in your prayers.

Where's George?

Has anybody ever seen the dollar bills with the inked wording, "Track This Bill"? I received one of these bills last night at Barnaby's in Mishawaka. I was excited because I have seen these from afar and just have never gotten my hands on one.

So I entered the necessary information and hoped that I was one of many that has tracked this bill. Gee was I wrong! It has traveled from Mishawaka to South Bend. Whoppie!

So I signed up to receive notification of where this dollar bill will go when it leaves my hands. (I know I'm a dork!) So now I am off to spend my hard earned dollar on a very yummy Culver's ice cream sundae because it has been one of those days!

Also keep my father in your prayers. They left for Texas today and hopefully they have found their way to my aunt's house with no problems!

Let your voice be heard

I am looking forward to tonight and seeing what the outcome will be. I am also ready for the political commercials to be over with.

I thought I would post a poem about voting, but there are none that are halfway decent. So instead I found some quotes that I like. Enjoy!

"Those who stay away from the election think that one vote will do no good: 'Tis but one step more to think one vote will do no harm." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all." ~ John F. Kennedy

"Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be." ~ Sydney J. Harris

Let us remember that our right to vote was not a right earned easily. So please get out there and vote today!

Happy Halloween

Spooks

by Sandra Liatsos

There's a goblin at my window,

A monster by my door.

The pumpkin at my table,

Keeps on smiling more and more.

There's a ghost who haunts my bedroom,

A witch whose face is green.

They used to be my family,

Till they dressed for Halloween.

Happy Halloween!

The Call

My father has finally received the call from Houston. He is going to Houston for a promising new drug treatment that will hopefully slow the growth of his cancer.

He leaves on Tuesday with my mom and Nana in tow. They will be renting a car at the airport, driving and then staying at my Aunt Rosa's house in Montgomery.

This will be my parents first trip to Texas. It is probably a good thing that they are going in the fall time when the weather is cooler!

Wild and Wacky Weather

This has been an extremely wacky day of cold, miserable weather. I thought that we might have indoor recess all day because of the heavy rain that I drove in this morning. Then all of a sudden we have sunlight for the first recess. Yahoo!!!

Then during lunch recess it looked like it would start raining. It was spurting little rain drops here and there, but nothing major. So the students went out. About three minutes before recess is supposed to end they are lined up because it just started to downpour! Okay I can deal with the three minutes that we have left of recess. I just get to transition early into Math.

Then afternoon recess rolls around and the sun is shining and all seems well. That was the case for 11 minutes of recess and then the other 4 minutes we were being pelted with hail. Yup hail! Try lining up second and third graders in a hail storm. I have some students covering their heads, some opening their mouths, some screaming, and some picking up the hail off of the ground. Just as soon as I got the students inside, it stopped hailing and the dang sun came back out.

I just cannot win today!

Meet Marigold

Nope Marigold isn't a cat, but a lamb. My cousin Margaret is a senior at Purdue and is majoring in Animal Science. She works in the sheep housing part of the lab and the mother sheep rejected her baby a couple of weeks ago. So Margaret has been bottle feeding the baby lamb because she did not want to see it put down.

So my parents met Margaret in Michigan City to pick up the lamb. So Laura named the lamb Marigold and they have been trying to bottle feed her. She ate really well when they first got home and tonight she hasn't been wanting to eat. But Marigold did figure out how to drink water from a bowl.

So Marigold is going to hang out in my parent's mud room in a dog cage until she is bigger. Then she will be placed with the three remaining goats that my parents have.

So you know how some people like to dress up their dogs, well we dress up farm animals...

My Dad said that Marigold was shivering when she was outside, so while they were at the farm store this afternoon, my Mom bought Marigold this dog sweater. This going to be one spoiled sheep!

This is what I want to do today....

Although she looks like she is pissy, she is actually enjoying curling up inside the bottle water case to sleep. After looking out of the window this morning, I feel the same way.

Weekend

My weekend started today at 11:00. I am looking forward to a nice little break from school. It is also ultra nice that hubby has the day off tomorrow also. So I actually get to see my husband. :)

So what did I do to start my weekend off...I cleaned out my fridge. It was quite disgusting if you ask me. I think this is the first time in the 3 1/2 years that I have actually washed, wiped, and cleaned out the inside of the refrigerator. Kinda scary if you ask me. However I do have ubber space now! Just in time for all that holiday baking!

As if that wasn't enough, I also cleaned the rest of my house. It is nice to have a fresh start to the weekend. Hubby usually does the cleaning on Saturday morning, so I think that he will appreciate it that he doesn't need to clean now!

So tomorrow I am deciding what to do about my Halloween costume, frost my pumpkin-shaped cookies, and make some cupcakes. I love this time of year!

Clueless

We have a Halloween party on Saturday and I still have no idea what I am going to wear. I always seem to wait until the very last second to decide on a costume. Last year I was a witch and the year before that I was a vampire. Not very original, but I was able to use the same costume for each. I just accessorized differently. :)

So here it is Tuesday night and I still have no idea what to do. Hubby said that we could do a couples costume. I was quite surprised by that comment. I suggested Raggedy Ann and Andy. He just rolled his eyes. So since I do not have school on Friday, I figured that would be a great time to think up a costume.

Frozen

I am a frozen popsicle at the moment. When I arrived in my classroom this morning it was chilly. I thought once I had some heated bodies in the room, it would warm up a bit. Gee was I wrong. I am so glad that I brought my sweater this morning. However my fingers and nose were freezing, there is nothing that can help me warm back up.

The principal got on the intercom this afternoon telling the students to bring their sweaters and sweatshirts (uniform of course) tomorrow because the boilers were broken. From the news in the grapevine, apparently the boilers have been broken for quite awhile and it is going to cost a chunk of change that a Catholic school really cannot swing. I can see why the school hasn't fixed the problem already. As if 40 degrees in the morning isn't reason enough to fix it.

The worse thing is that my room is right next to the playground doors. So I have three outside walls and I just freeze anyway. This is not helping the situation. I am really contemplating about bringing in my space heater on Wednesday because the students leave at 10:50 and I am working on everything that I can so I can breeze out of school on Thursday at 11:00. However I do not want to be a frozen popsicle on Wednesday afternoon.

I even left earlier than usual today because I just feel lousy. My ear is hurting again and my throat is sore. I just feel another cold coming on or my sinus' are just insane.

Maria's Wedding

Saturday was spent at my cousin Maria's wedding. Maria is a cousin on my mom's side of the family. My mom has 9 brothers and sisters. All 9 brothers and sisters and their families were able to make in for this joyous occasion. It was the first time that we were all together in years.

The photographer took a picture of all of us at the church with the bride and groom before the ceremony. It took about 10 minutes to get all of us situated and then he took 10 shots. Then he arranged all the cousins together with the bride and groom. It will be neat to see those shots when they come in.

Maria got married in Elkhart and then dinner was at Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury. They even got to pull up in front of the restaurant in a horse and buggy.

The Amish food was excellent and even hubby agreed because he usually doesn't like wedding food because it always too greasy for his taste. Even though there was no music or alcohol we still had a good time.

Hubby and I

I just LOVE this picture of my brother and hubby!

The sisters together, even with Laura's goofy smile!

Joke for the Day

After a day of rainy weather and 15 very energetic students with four walls surrounding them, I sure needed a laugh....

Never make your better half go shopping against his will......

This is why women should not take men shopping against their will. After Mr. and Mrs. Fenton retired, Mrs. Fenton insisted her husband accompany her on her trips to Walmart. Unfortunately, Mr. Fenton was like most men--he found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunately, Mrs. Fenton was like most women--she loved to browse. One day Mrs. Fenton received the following letter from her local Walmart.

Dear Mrs.Fenton,
Over the past six months, your husband has been causing quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and may be forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against Mr.Fenton are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras.

1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they weren't looking.

2 . July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.

4. July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, 'Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away.'

5. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&M's on layaway.

6. September 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.

7. September 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department.

8. September 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'

9. October 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.

10. November 10: While handling guns in the hunting department , he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.

11. December 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme.

12. December 6: In the auto department, he practiced his 'Madonna look' by using different sizes of funnels.

13. December 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled 'PICK ME! PICK ME!'

14. December 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!'

15. December 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here!'

Regards,
Walmart

Tunnel Vision

After lunch today one of the aides from a classroom in the building came to me to talk about what she had witnessed in another classroom. As the aide was sitting in the back of the room, there were four boys launching pencils from their desks during the lesson. One might think that the classroom teacher would notice pencils being launched. Nope she was completely oblivious to what was happening around her and just kept on teaching the lesson.

She and the other aide were talking later about what they had witnessed. The aide that is in the room all the time mentioned that the classroom teacher told her at the beginning of the year that she has tunnel vision. Is that an actual medical term and why in the heck are you in education?

So needless to say the aide was completely frustrated because she is not in there to discipline the students. This is also the same classroom teacher's room that I went into a couple of weeks ago to drop off homework to a sibling and the classroom teacher looks up at me and says in an irritated voice, "What are you doing here?" Gee that was such a warm welcome!

Coupons

I have become a coupon lady. I have a pouch that is sorted by different products in the grocery store. I usually can get good deals if I start to sort through my coupons. I have gotten in the habit of looking through my coupons before going to the store.

When I heard of a guy that touts himself as a The Coupon Guy on a local radio station, I had to investigate. He basically gets a ton of great deals with paying next to nill.

So I started reading his website and I signed up for a magazine called Refund Cents. After getting the magazine in the mail yesterday, I can say I am a bit overwhelmed. There is so much lingo to shift through it is unbelievable. So I am taking it by baby steps.

I got on the website and started reading through discussions about how everything works. I did find one handy piece of knowledge from Target. It was the Target schedule of markdowns. I am a sucker for just walking through the store and purusing the clearance aisles to see what good deals I can find. It will now be easier to know when certain departments will mark down items. So I just had to share:

Target markdown schedule:
MONDAY- kids clothes, electronics
TUESDAY- women's clothes, domestics
WEDNESDAY- men's clothes, toys, health and beauty
THURSDAY- lingerie, shoes, housewares, sporting goods
FRIDAY- cosmetics, hardware, auto, jewelry.

Now I just have to figure out where the rest of the good deals are.

This just makes me think

Dr. Gary Marx was our speaker on Tuesday morning. I could have sat there all day and listened to him. He has a book entitled, Sixteen Trends...That Will Profoundly Impact Education and Our Future. He presented a lot of stats and interesting data that affects the way that we will be teaching our students in the years to come.

I couldn't help but start to think of the video from You Tube, entitled Shift Happens. I was shown this video my last semester before graduating with my Masters. The information just astounds me everytime I watch it.

I wish I had a camera

As I was driving home from Indy today, I was taking in all the beautiful scenery that Indiana has to offer. There is one particular point on US 31 between Grissom and Peru headed north that is breathtaking. I marvel at the beauty of this point in the road. The road winds and the Autumn beauty of the trees looked absolutely gorgeous. It really was picture perfect. Too bad my camera was all the way in the back of the car and not up front with me. I actually contemplated turning around and doing the drive again just so I could get the picture. I then decided that I really needed to concentrate on driving. :)

Adventures in Indy

I have a mini vacation from school. I played hooky Friday and the weekend was quite relaxing, and then I had to go to a two day conference at the Adams Mark Hotel here in Indy today and tomorrow. So technically I have had a 5 day vacation. It has been quite lovely.

I left my house at 5:30 this morning. I had to be at the hotel at 8:30. I figured that would be plenty of time. Since I refuse to drive on the big scary road called 465, I took the back way to the hotel. I got quite a nice tour of Speedway, Indiana. I drove right past the Indy 500. I didn't realize that it was literally in a block of neighborhoods. I guess I should have expected that when we went to the State Fair back in August and that too was in a block of neighborhoods. 

So after turning the wrong way on 16th Street, I finally found my way back and proceeded to the hotel. I finally got to the opening speaker at 9:00. I was only a 1/2 hour late. It just meant I didn't have to stand in line to register. :-) Plus it wasn't anything I hadn't heard before about differentiated instruction. I took an entire grad class on it. I don't think much has changed in two years. 

The meetings that I attended were quite good. I cannot wait to get back to school to try some of these ideas out. I have an opening speaker tomorrow, followed by 2 break out sessions. Then I will be on my home....minus the big scary road of 465. Large lanes of traffic freak me out! :-) Which is one of the reasons I refuse to drive through Chicago.

Shhh...

It was a four day teaching week this week. Today was our diocesan wide meeting day. We had to pick one of 6 meetings we could attend a couple of weeks ago. I picked my meeting about something that had to do with using some computer program to help student achievement.

I get a note from my principal yesterday morning stating that the meeting had been cancelled and that the person in charge of all of these meetings was going to e-mail the principal again to let me know where I was supposed to go.

I never received anything from my principal later in the day telling me which meeting I had to attend. Then I come to find out that the principal left school before school was even out. So I had no way of knowing where I was supposed to go. I figured that I must go to my second choice that I vaguely remember putting down. It was some meeting about using rubrics in the classroom.

Fast forward to this morning....I had to call the doctor and get an appointment. They had an opening at 9:15 this morning so I took it knowing that the actually meeting part didn't start until 9:30. I figured I would be a little late...no big deal.

After leaving the doctor's office, I show up at the school I am supposed to be at and there are 5 cars in the parking lot with a plumber's van. I saw little old ladies organizing something inside the building. I really think that this meeting was cancelled also, but I kept driving not knowing what the heck is going on. So I went to Walmart to get my prescription filled.

So I am playing hooky. I'm sure there was a sign in sheet at these meetings, but I have a feeling my name was not on any sign in sheet because my first choice meeting was cancelled. This is the most disorganized I have ever seen the diocese. Oh well...I'm enjoying spending time with my hubby until he goes off to work.

Tony's House

I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful fall weekend! We spent the day at Tony's house. He is having major water issues in the basement. So my parents and Tony spent yesterday digging trenches with the Bobcat and tearing apart the basement. Today we filled in the trenches attempting to get the water to run away from the house. Rosie and I cleaned windows. Laura came over after work and painted some of his closet and even gave Lexi (Rosie's dog) a nice black spot on the top of her head.

Trenching the gutters away from the house.

Hey guys....what's going on?

Filling in the area

Working Hard

Even Lexi was working hard and had to get a drink.

Goodbye Summer

I remember...

I remember when school pictures used to take months to get back from the photographer. Now two and a half weeks later and I am handing out school pictures to the students today. It is amazing how far photography has come.

Being a teacher, we get our picture taken for the yearbook. This then entails the photography company giving us our own packets of pictures. When I first started teaching, I thought it was a little weird getting pictures of myself like I was still in grade school. Now seven years later, I just hope that I took a decent looking picture. Also what in the world do I do with the packets of pictures I get every year? I get to share....

Now imagine I have seven years of photos like this. The only thing it reminds me of is that I get older every year. Blah!

Also I ask that you say a prayer for my Dad, he is going in for radiation treatment Thursday afternoon.

I feel like a child

I went to the Urgent Care place tonight. My ears were bothering me. My right ear kept making odd popping sounds all day and my left one just hurt. I knew that I had an ear infection. I wasn't prepared for having a double ear infection.

The doctor was amazed because she has never seen an ear infection in an adult. She only sees them in children. So yup my ears never grew up. It also appears that my left ear with the tube in it seems to have ruptured. It sounds scary, but I don't feel anything. The doctor just said that it looked black around the tube. Which only means that the dang thing tried to launch itself out of my ear and it did not succeed. Good thing for me, because I would have to go and get another tube put in.

I then went to Walmart to get my prescription filled and they proceeded to tell me that I do not have prescription coverage and had to pay full price for my meds. Instead of arguing with the dang technicians, she said I could have my prescription back and go to Meijer because it is free there. Well lets see...pay 22 dollars or nothing. Hmmmm...I choose nothing. I love Meijer! So now I have my horse pills and I am ready for bed. Nothing better than that!

Happy First Day of Fall!

My students were being thoughtful and making me leaf shiskabobs. Basically they take a stick and run around the playground picking up the leaves that have fallen from the trees and poke them through onto the stick. I must have had 3 or so in my hands within the first five minutes of recess duty. Well the next 10 minutes I spent itching my nose and sneezing. So I think that I am allergic to leaves, or it could be the Plymouth air because I swear there is something in that town that I am allergic to. So happy first day of fall to me!

Lets Have a Crazy Morning

I walked into my classroom this morning and all was a buzz. Apparently the students had saw a cat running around outside of the building when they stepped off of the bus. This small hysteria was then transformed into it was one of my student's cat. She was sure it was her cat and it followed her to school. I proceeded to tell her that there was no way her cat could keep up with the school bus. She seemed very satisfied with that answer.

Then one of the boys said that the principal was taking it to the humane society where they kill cats. Oh gee and it is not even 8:15 in the morning. He proceeded to tell me that they got their dog just in time before they were going to kill it. I had to rest assure the students that not all shelter's kill animals. They were all content with that.

I finally got them calmed down and working on the work that was on their desk. Then we have our morning announcements followed by our schoolwide prayer. Then just as the principal was getting off of the intercom, she proceeds to tell the school that there is a cat outside and when we are out on the playground that we are not to go near the cat or touch the cat. Gee lets just dangle the dang cat in front of them! Recess isn't for another two hours!

So needless to say they were hyped up again! When I finally got them calmed down again, it was time to take them to gym. As we were walking by the front doors there was the cat trying to get into the building. Argh! I just cannot win!!

However when we came back from gym the cat was gone. And all was forgotten about the cat until morning recess finally came around and when I heard some students on the playground yelling, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty."

System Error

Okay so my system error was actually an easy fix. The abbreviation for my assignments was too long. Linda told me I should have called her because she was at school at 9:30 AM on Sunday. Then she thought it was dumb that it really should just say what the specific problem was. Ugh...computers!

I thought I would be productive...

I have sluffed off most of my grading this past week because I have felt like crap. Now that I am starting to feel a little better, I thought I would be productive this weekend.

I graded papers last night while we were watching a movie and I entered in the grades in my grade book. (I know a very exciting Saturday night!) Progress reports are supposed to go home this week. This is what is causing me problems.

We got a new grading system at school that allows us to enter the grades in any computer hooked to the Internet. So this allows me to be at home and enter in my grades.

Well we just got the program up and running last week. We really have no clue what we are doing. That being said, I log into the program this morning and I am able to move around to the different subjects that I teach. However when I start to enter in assignments, the assignments cannot be saved because it says "system error contact your administrator". ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!

I doubt that Linda would like me to call her up at 9:30 on a Sunday morning to tell her the grade book is not working. I guess that means I get to put in long hours Monday and Tuesday, so that my grades can be finished for Wednesday.

Sometimes technology can be a curse. So much for being productive today. I guess I will go read.

Happy Birthday

Happy 33rd Birthday to my Hubby!

It just stinks that we don't see each other during the week because of our opposite schedules. I might just have to surprise him tonight. :0)

At Least They are Concerned

I have a horrible sinus infection. I could tell something was up last Friday when I was getting a sore throat. I took it easy over the weekend and was feeling okay. Sunday I had a horrible sinus headache that just would not go away with any medication. Monday the pain was still there but it subsided a little. By Monday night, I was feeling totally crappy.

Tuesday I thought for sure that I was calling in but stupidity won out and I dragged myself to school. It is more work for me to be gone than it is actually being there. The students kept asking me if I had a cold and I just told them yes because try explaining what a sinus infection is to a seven year old.

So I made it through today and was totally wiped out. The other teachers saw it on my face. But this morning I had my second graders ask again if I had a cold. Then one girl said that her mother is a nurse and that she could help me with any disease that I had. Then another girl said that her mom can fill my medicine at Walgreen's. I had to chuckle, at least they are concerned. Then another student said that I should be resting at home and not teaching. I think she just wanted me out of the classroom. :o)

I am hoping that the weather starts to level out because that way my head will also level out. So in the meantime, I get to talk really funny, cough and blow my nose every five seconds. All while trying to teach. Fun times.

Annoyed

I get a note from a parent of one of my students today. It asked where their scrip order (gift certificates that help the school) was from Friday. They thought maybe that I didn't pull it out of communication folder on Friday. I do however remember pulling it out and having my messenger drop it off in the lunchroom for it to be filled. What I don't remember is getting the filled order back.

So I ask my messenger and she said that she did drop it off at the table on Friday. Then the next person I had to ask was the secretary because she is the one who puts the completed orders into the teacher's boxes. She assured me that all scrip orders from Friday were placed into the appropriate boxes. I went back to my classroom and started picking through papers on my desk. Then I get a phone call from the secretary telling me that she called the scrip lady and she did fill it and it WAS placed in my box and that I needed to check the student's backpack, desk, folders, and my desk thoroughly.

I hung up the phone muttering under my breath because I swear up and down that I did not see that blasted envelope anywhere. So I went over to the over 2nd grade teaching asking her if she had seen my missing scrip envelope. She had not.

So back in my room while sifting through papers, I get another phone call from the secretary telling me to send the student down with his backpack. I proceed to take his folder down to the office and here comes a 6th grade student with the envelope. Apparently it was placed in another teacher's box. All because we have two last names in our school that look and sound almost exactly the same but minus a letter. Plus the secretary was in a hurry to get out of school by lunch time on Friday because she was taking a long weekend.

At no point did I receive an apology. Grrr!

Meeting

We have a half day of school today. Usually this is a source of joy, however when the meeting was supposed to be at Marian High School, it was okay because it is right around the corner from my house. Then we get an e-mail from our superintendent stating that the meeting has been moved to St. Pius. Now this meeting is 20 minutes from my house plus the 30 minutes from Plymouth.

Why did it have to move you ask...St. Pius just opened up a brand new Catholic School last week. The only reason why we are having our 2 hour meeting is so that they can show off their new school. GRR!!

Yearbook

I found this great site called Yearbook Yourself. Basically you upload a pic of yourself and then transpose different styles on you. If you have some time to mess around; go and enjoy yourself. It is quite fun.

Aren't we cute!

Happy first day of September!!

Second Grade

It's funny how I have spent my teaching career wishing and thinking that second grade would be the ideal grade for me to teach. It is something that I have wanted to do since college. Now that it is my reality, I have come to realize that maybe second grade really isn't for me. It's funny how that works out.

I would rather have the students that are ready to take some responsibilities and actually do some independent thinking. So I think fourth grade is now the ideal grade for me. I think teaching for five years in the junior high spoiled me. :)

I do however LOVE the students that I have this year. For the past three weeks, I have not had to raise my voice once asking for the chaos to stop. I go home at the end of the day with energy. Something that I have not had for two years! It is amazing how a difference of personalities will do that.

However, I have lots of drama with my head hurts, my tummy hurts, and other various aches and pains of 15 students. I have learned that a band-aid will solve anything and if you tell the student to sit down for a little bit everything is amazingly better. :0)

So for now, it looks like the year will go smoothly because of the types of students that I have. So it is a year to actually look forward to teaching. I tell people that the class I have this year is the class that reminds me why I went into teaching in the first place. So I really cannot complain too much!

Veggies

My veggie garden is just about finished. I spent an hour pulling dead plants on Sunday. I think that it is pretty funny that I didn't plant any cucumbers this year and just take a look at what I have:

Yup cucumbers. They grew from seed last year when they didn't get picked because I was in Europe. So they pretty much rotted away and viola new cucumbers for this year. This is the reason why I only have one jalapeno. The cucumber vines kinda squashed out the poor jalapeno plant. Oh well.

However, I was quite surprised when I started pulling the dead plants, and I found three honeydew melons growing underneath everything. So only time will tell if they will be any good. I am hoping that they will be. At least the cucumbers didn't kill everything. :)

Bread Ties

Every so often the principal puts things in our mailbox at school that really have nothing to do with teaching. Basically she gets forwards in her e-mail and then prints it out and gives it to each of the teachers.

I found the one she gave to us on Friday quite interesting. It is about bread ties:

"When you go to buy bread in the grocery store, have you ever wondered which is the freshest, so you 'squeeze' for freshness or softness? Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores fives days a week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color twist tie:

Monday=Blue

Tuesday=Green

Thursday=Red

Friday=White

Saturday=Yellow

The colors go alphabetically by color. So if today was Thursday, you would want a red twist tie; not white (which is Friday) because the bread is almost a week old!"

So now I plan to really see if the bread ties are in fact different colors. I get to test this idea tomorrow at the store after school. We shall see.

Wouldn't you be curious?

If you were driving by and saw this...would you be curious?

I just LOVE the fact that my mother was wearing her glasses on her blindfold!

Surprise!

On Sunday we threw a surprise party for my parent's 30th wedding anniversary. They did not want to throw a 25th wedding anniversary party, so we decided to surprise them for their 30th!And gee they were surprised!

Laura told them that she was taking them out to lunch on Sunday and that they had to agree to wear blindfolds. I thought no way that they were going to wear blindfolds! Well Laura actually got them to wear the blindfolds! As they were going down the driveway my mom refused to wear hers, Laura actually stopped the truck and refused to move until mom put hers on! So they did cooperate! My parents were both trying to figure out where they were going my dad actually was driving in his mind turn by turn until Laura started turning on random streets. So needless to say they were quite surprised and appreciative. My dad even teared up a little. It was quite cute!

Looking for a Laugh?

Check out this blog: Cake Wrecks Then go back and look in the archives. Some are really insane.

Never in my life would I have imagined that professional cake people are capable of such things!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 23rd Birthday to my sister Rosanne! She is celebrating tonight at Corby's. Please go and join her. I sadly cannot because I have to get up before the sun comes up. Blah!

Frustrated and Annoying at the Same Time!

School started today. South Bend calls at 7:33 this morning trying to get ahold of me to set up an interview for a sixth grade position that they knew about on Friday. I did not look at my phone until this afternoon because I was teaching and then had a stupid meeting. So needless to say I did not call the lady back. I just find it rather frustrating and annoying. This is why I have decided that sending my resume and cover letters to the principals out at the end of March next year might not be a bad idea. Maybe I might at least have a shot of getting in somewhere due to the fact that there might be a ton of teachers retiring next year.

Let the Year Begin

Look how calm and collective my classroom is. At 8:00 AM it will be inhabited by 15 second graders hopefully eager to start the school year off. Too bad their teacher cannot say the same. Please give me another week....I'm not ready for summer break to be over with.

Daughtry

The Indiana State Fair was fun, Daughtry was great!! I had my first corndog, and I can say that I enjoyed it if I put enough ketchup on it. I know 28 years on this planet and I have never had a corndog. I must have been living under a rock, but I can now take that off of my list. :)




We had great tickets, we could see everything. Rosie wanted to be on the track but you cannot argue with free tickets from the state police officer we know! Virgin Millionaires opened the concert. They are a local band from Indy. The only thing that I can say about them was that they were really LOUD. I don't even think Daughtry was that loud, but then again I could have been hearing impaired by that point.


Daughtry played from his current CD and some new songs that he is working on. They are going back into the recording studio in September to compose a new CD. He played for about 85 minutes. All in all it was a great show.


I would go back again if I could. I tried to convince Rosie to leave me there for Backstreet Boys tonight, but alas I have school tomorrow with students. Goodbye summer, see you next year.

Daughtry

I had totally forgot that Daughtry was coming to the state fair. Rosie was planning on seeing Daughtry tonight with her friends. Her friends however cannot make it, so I volunteered myself to go with her. So all the sisters are taking a ride to the State Fair today! This should be a fun day!!

Have you seen Kate?

Kate is someone who lived two rooms down from us my freshman year at St. Mary's. She is now my Mary Kay rep. I just get a giggle everytime I see her on a tv because I can say, "Hey I know that person!"

What are we...six?

I am guessing that I did not get the job because the principal has not called. Plus when I called the school yesterday, I informed the secretary who I was and was asking if the principal had made a decision. The secretary went off on a tirade exclaiming that the principal is on a retreat and will be for the week and I could call back on Monday if I wanted to speak to her. So needless to say I think I did not get the job.

Anyways so I told the other third grade teacher (my mentor) when I first started and Linda (8th grade teacher) about my interview. The third grade teacher then tells the first grade teacher, the first grade teacher marches off to my principal's office and tells her. My principal goes and asks the secretary. The secretary claims she knows nothing about it (even though she knew I was serious about trying to switch). The secretary called Linda and Linda called me.

I was told the principal starts ranting and raving about how I am under contract and I cannot break that contract without reprecautions. In my mind I know that there are no reprecautions because teachers do it all the time. Plus I saw an article about this very subject in one of the magazines we got from school last spring.

So needless to say it will be a very interesting day tomorrow. Although I don't think my principal will mention anything because she hates conflict. Sometimes I have no idea why she is a principal. She tries to please everyone and it just cannot be done.

Patience

I went on my interview today for a sixth grade position. She asked me nothing about previous teaching experience. I thought that was rather odd because I am always asked about my previous experience. My mom reminded me that I did give her my resume. I was asked six different questions all about different types of scenarios and how I would handle each of them.

The principal told me that she would reach a decision by the end of the day. She told me that she would call no matter what the outcome. I was one of three people that was interviewed. Well I can say my nerves got the best of me and I could not sit at home waiting for a phone call any longer because I was literally going nuts!

So I went off to paint. Yup, I'm painting again, and not my house but my brother's house. I really like to paint because there is something just so soothing about hearing the sound of the roller go back and forth. So here are some pictures of what we have been doing....

The Kitchen....we are unsure of what color to paint the cabinets? Any suggestions? Laura and I were thinking a chocolate brown, while my mom thought black.

The living room...doesn't it just remind you of a summer cottage on the lake?

The Master Bedroom...yes I know about the color everyone who sees it gives a little yelp, or in my mom's case an outright dislike. But I think once we get done with the accents it will look real nice. Besides Tony likes it, or he is just saying it because he doesn't want to buy more paint. :)

The other bedroom that will become his office area. The blue trim will be painted a nice bright white. It is just gonna take a nice good primer to cover the blue. I am even surprised that just two coats of red paint covered the yellow paint.

I just now realized that I did not take a picture of the dining room. Oh well, I guess I can post that when it is finished. So I made Tony a list of things that he needs to get so we can finish up trim and the little odds and ends. Laura told him he is not going to have any money left after he is finished sprucing up his house. :-)