Well....

I admit defeat! School and school are all I can handle. I won't be deleting this blog, because hopefully I can post again in the summer.
See you in June! :)

New Car

My son is driving!
He's been saving his money for about two years and is now the proud owner of a
Oldsmobile Intrigue!

More Trip Pictures

My dad plays this game in the swimming pool with the grand kids. They hang onto a noodle (the train) and then they go up 'snowy mountain.' On the way up to snowy mountain you go through these obstacles like "Buster's Bumps" and "Bill's Hills." This year was his 72nd birthday, and my clever sister made this cake of snowy mountain!

We built bird houses.
We sluiced for rocks at Hiddenite Mines. The boys loved it.
This is the library in my sister's little town. So quaint. I love it.

Home Sweet Home

Just got back from a ten day trip to see my family.
This swing doesn't get much use.
They live in a small town in Pennsylvania. Very quaint. They have ducks they like to feed on the towpath behind their house. Donkeys used to tow barges carrying coal for fuel for the homes on the canal.

This is my younger nephew. I'll have to do a whole post on 'peeking' shots I have of him!
For some reason I cannot upload any more pictures, so more to come tomorrow!

Nephews

First of all, I have no idea why there are two pictures of the giant green pepper on my last post. I guess I could take one off, but it's kinda funny, so I'm leaving it there.
I've been at my dad's for almost a week now with my sister and nephews. The older of the two nephews rarely stops talking. Seriously~the talking ceases in sleep or during a movie. Midstream he'll say "Can I tell you something?" My responses started with "Yes" then moved to "You already are" and then to "No." Which didn't stop him, he just keeps right on going.
I've also heard "why?" approximately 5,624 times.
If they don't like an answer you get a "WhaT?" with the final consonant clearly articulated. Funny.
The three-year-old likes to tell this joke:

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Alligator.
Alligator who?
Just an alligator.
To which he falls down in peals of laughter.

So cute. We've been to the children's discovery place, sluicing for rocks, the aquarium, swimming, swimming, and more swimming, and building Lego structures galore. I'm headed home Sunday. I plan to sleep the rest of the day! Happy Weekend.

Fourth of July

Happy Independence Day Everyone! I survived my "June." Taught summer school, took a class, and taught a class at OU. Finished all my homework, including my twenty page paper on time! Yep. Here's a pict of my crazy kids. My son will be leaving for church camp in a couple of hours. I guess they figure if they start the 15 hour drive at 11 pm, the kids will sleep. Yeah......right.
My daughter will be TWENTY on Wednesday. Wowza, I'm old! Ha. The guy at Sam's who wrote on her cake hadn't had all that much practice. At least he spelled everything right.

We had a cookout...make your own kabobs with the two largest green peppers I think I've ever seen.

Hope you all had a great June and weekend.

Funny Teacher Story

Ok, I admit it, I'm in waaaay over my head. Teaching summer school for the district, taking a doc class (with a 20 pg. paper due in a couple of weeks), and teaching a college class. Not only that, grading papers, answering emails.....yeah.

This morning, I'm in line at the water fountain with my class (K-1st grade). I always count when kids are getting a drink or they tend to stay there for 20 minutes while the people in line behind them wither away. So, I'm counting backwards from ten. And this kid says, "You're counting backwards!" I said, "Yep, and it's your turn, do you want me to count forwards or backwards?" He says "I want you to count in Spanish!"

Church~Old Style

We went to church with my in-laws this morning. I've been lots of places in my 42 years and love where we're at now, but a Church of Christ a cappella rendition of "The Old Rugged Cross" can still give me goosebumps!

On another note: I begin my June work/school marathon tomorrow. Probably won't be by much, but I'll check in. Have a great summer!

National Spelling Bee

I was listening to Air1 while watching A at the skatepark this afternoon. They were having people call in to do an impromptu spelling bee in honor of the National Spelling Bee finals on TV tomorrow night. The words were like: onomatopoeia, pfefferneus (which I can't find the correct spelling of....Seth?), and some other word I'd never heard of.
I am not smarter than a fifth grader.

Wind Up Sushi

How's this!? Great, right? I know it looks like a piece of french toast, but it's supposedly egg sushi. A great gift from my secret pal this year.

You probably won't see much of me for June. I am overbooked, as usual! I'll try to pop in now and again to let you know I'm alive!

Memorial Day

Taking time to remember friends, family, strangers, and their families who have served our country.
Thank you.

Really!?

This was at Wal-Mart the other day. Wow.

A Skateboard Ramp!

He loves it!

We Are Building.....

Check THIS Out!

Our anniversary is next Friday. Thirteen years. It's been a little slim, so we decided we weren't buying each other anything (does that ever work? No.). I spent about $30 on hubs.

Hubs got me THIS! Isn't it beautiful!? I *love* it!

I have to make a place in my 'craft' room for it, so it's temporary home is the living room. It works! It has a knee lever instead of a foot pedal. How cool is that!? The book and bobbins and presser feet were in the drawer. Date: 1951! SOOO excited, can you tell?

It's called Necchi. Anyone familiar with?

On another note....I just watched my son drive away on his first 'drive' with the driver's ed people. Sniff! On both accounts!

Bookstop

My first job was at a book store. I loved it.

I don't usually unpack all my junk when I teach at a new school. Don't always need everything for each specific grade/subject that I teach, so I just leave some of it in boxes.
I am doing a quilting project with my third graders, and began searching boxes for the fabric crayons. And I unearthed this. This is my name tag from.....oh sheesh, I don't even want to tell you. I was 16. Mishi was the nickname given to me by my manager. Remember those old label makers!? And in case you didn't catch the name of the store, it's on there twice.
I think I actually wore it attached to that pin that says "Does your mother know you're out?" Nice.

Fruit Dip

Hi all! I stole this from Stacy. SOOOOO yummy! Made it for small group at our house last night.

Recipe:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups whipped cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, brown sugar, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream.

Purty Flowers

Went outside a couple of weeks ago and saw this beautiful iris. This is what happens when it is the first spring in your new house. We had an awesome arc of daffodils in the front beds, too. I love irises...especially purple. They always remind me of my grandmother. I love the dusky purple of this one.
These are awful pictures of my bluebonnets. Needed macro.
Had to buy myself a couple of these when I saw them at Home Depot. A little bit of 'home' in our front yard. My grandmother also had bluebonnets in her yard. They filled a whole side flowerbed, and it seemed every year there would be more. These are looking kind of scraggly right now, but there have been lots of seed pods, so we'll see. Always an adventure waiting to see what will pop up next year.

On anther note...I interviewed for a job that I found out last night that I didn't get. I didn't need the job, it would have been sort of a promotion and definitely more money, but that's okay! Not complaining because I still *have* a job. Just FYI.

Have a lovely weekend. Hope you have beautiful flowers where you are!

It's a Right not a Privilege

This bumper sticker says "Everyone has the right to be stupid, but you're abusing the privilege."

So, is it a right or a privilege, or are they one in the same?? :)

Ents

Apparently, we teach Ents at my school.

Tornadoes

We were not affected by the tornadoes other than losing power for about seven hours. Some members of our church and some students and teachers I work with were hit fairly hard. We went over to one house last night to help them clean up their yard. This tree used to be in a yard two houses down. Some people are still without power and water.
Happens in a blink, happens in a flash!

Happy Mother's Day!

So, what's the best advice you got from your mom?
I'll start:
~Get your teaching certificate, you'll always have a job.
~Send Thank You notes

I am Alive!

Hi all! Or should I say the two of you that are still here!
This has been one crazy semester! I had my last class this evening. It was my hardest class yet, but I learned a lot! We had to design and implement a research project. It was fun! I did mine on sign language vs. PowerPoint on the effect of learning sight words. As it turns out, neither worked better than the other. I wanted sign language to win! Oh well. I didn't have a lot of time, I think one intervention would have proven more effective had I done it longer.
My last class for this semester is tomorrow night. I'm ready for the break before summer classes start.

Three more weeks of school. June will be rough...I'm teaching ESY, taking a class, and teaching a class. But July....going to see my sister and her family and my dad.

Hope you all are well.

Thirty-One

Hey all! I'm having a catalog party for my friend who is selling Thirty-One bags. They are SO cute and you can have them monogrammed! Check out her website and let me know by Tuesday if you'd like to order something!

What a Day!

I got my Research Design test back and got a 100! Thanks to those extra credit questions ;)
When I got home, I *finally* had the results from the interpreter's test I took back in December. I got a 3.4. I need a 3.5 to be an educational interpreter in Oklahoma, but I don't care! It was SO much better than the last debacle! I am so proud of myself! And it's not like I'm going to quit my job and become an interpreter, but I wanted to have it in reserve. Just for kicks, I *can* be an educational interpreter in the states of NJ, KS, KY, LA, NC, and WI. They only require a score of 3.0.
Texas isn't on the list. Hm.

Spring Break

What a great Spring Break! I went down to see my Momma in San Antonio. We shopped and ate a lot. One specific place we went to eat was called the Sand Bar. Very fancy....I'm sure we committed a few faux pas. We ordered the shrimp appetizer and this is what we got. Yeah, the WHOLE shrimp. It was quite off putting. The waiter with an Australian accent explained that they cook them whole so that you know they are fresh. Okie doke. The wasabi aoili was pretty good.
We also saw one of Rey Mysterio's masks. Not really, but it was funny.
My mom and step-dad have a rat terrier. She doesn't eat much. I thought this was so funny because we buy the 40-lb. bags!
My car went from 29,999
to 30,000
My sister-in-law got married. Outside and their new house. It was nice.
Here's the groom talking to my beautiful grandmother-in-law who will celebrate her 91st birthday this year.
And here's a sweet picture of my hubs and the beautiful bride.

Street Sign

Last weekend, I went to the OKC fairgrounds where they were having the library book sale. Great fun. I got 11 books, including fairly new hardcover bestsellers for $10. As i was leaving I saw this sign. Don't know if it's named after Ree or not, but I'd like to think so as she's the bomb!

Another Teacher Story

Sorry I've been MIA lately. I am stressed this semester. The classes I have are really challenging. The sun hasn't been out much, and blah, blah, blah.
Anyway, today I was working with my third graders and one of them said, "How much more time until lunch?" I said, "I think you can tell time by now, you tell me." She said, "I know, but it's hard and takes effort." I said, "Welcome to the rest of your life."

Teacher Story

I had my Kindergarten group in with me today, and one of them pointed up to a sign hanging from the ceiling and said "What's that?" I said, "It's a sign, it says Happy Valentine's Day." Another kid says "And the baby shoots the arrow." ha!

Yummy Dip

Hubby found this dip recipe that we took to a Superbowl Party:

Buffalo Chicken Dip
1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. blue cheese dressing (or Ranch)
1/2 c. Frank's RedHot sauce
1/2 c. crumbled blue cheese (or mozzarella)
2 cans (12.5 oz. each) Swanson Chicken Breast

1. Stir the cream cheese in a 9-in deep dish pie plate until smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients.
2. Bake in preheated 350 degree over for 20 minutes. Stir and serve with veggies or crackers.

My Crazy Son

My son is in art again this semester, and the assignment was something to do with Target. I thought this was pretty clever! Freehand.
He ordered a new pair of shoes from the local skate shop a couple of weeks ago. It took forever for them to come in, but we finally got them yesterday. The first thing A did when he got in the car was to open the box and smell them. He's weird like that.

Magazines

So, I get home today from an all-day conference, and this kid is standing in my driveway. SIGH!! He's all excited and I know he is about to sell me something. It's one of those "I'm trying to earn points to do yada yada. If you buy a magazine, I get points." So, I figured the best way to get him to leave me alone to eat what turned out to be bad Chinese food was to buy one. I picked one and he was filling out the form and I was filling out my check until he said "That'll be $75." Are you freaking kidding me? For a magazine subscription?? Sorry, kid!

New Project

Well, we're on our third weather day off from school, with a fourth tomorrow. I started this new Mariner's Compass quilt today. The colors in the photo aren't true. The points that look yellow are actually light green.
I like it so far!
I'm actually going to a conference tomorrow, so I won't be off again. They'll tack these days on to the end of the school year and we'll be going into June! :( Hopefully the temperature will be nice and toasty tomorrow to melt this ice!

More Winter

Umm...I don't think this is supposed to happen.
Pretty ice crystals on the blackberry bush.

Giant icicle.
Didn't want to chance the roads to go to church. Haven't left the house in 4 days now, and I'm OK with that! Got a lot of homework done, laundry, quilted, and slept a lot. May be back to work tomorrow.