Best Mini Golf Game...Ever!

Today on the way back from Y-town (which we had a blast), we stopped by the Family Fun Center to go miniature golfing and so Dennis could race on the go carts. I had my best game ever!!!! On the last 9 holes I actually scored under par which brought my total score to par....I've never done that before!!!! I had a rough start with some holes in the 7 stroke range....but then I pulled through! Dennis had a good time with the carts. He was the only one racing which was kinda funny when you watched, but he thought it was pretty cool.

My sisters b-day part was really fun. Lots of people showed up and it was really nice hanging out with my brothers and sister.....and Dennis too! My oldest brother made 2 pies...walnut (which is very much like pecan) and blackberry. They were both pretty good, but the blackberry was absolutely AWESOME!!! I wished I would have grabbed another piece to save for later.

Well, it's back to work tomorrow. It'll be nice getting back to the grind of things. Happy Monday......and remember tomorrow is April Fool's Day!

Final Day of Vacay

Today I lost track of time by watching my much loved SATC (Sex and the City) series. It was so relaxing getting lost in the world of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte. I watched season 5 disk one and am already longing to put in disk 2. I can't wait for the movie to come out, but I am desperately trying not to read, see, or hear anything about it.....you could say I'm like those famous monkeys.

Tomorrow we hope to go to Y-town. Although, Dennis isn't feeling that well and there is a storm coming in. So I don't think we'll make up our minds until tomorrow. My brother and my sister's husband are throwing my sister a birthday party on Sunday. I miss going to family birthday parties, so Dennis suggested we go. So if I don't end up blogging for the next couple of days, Y-town is probably where we are.

Have a great weekend!

Trees

As my wonderful husband pointed out, I forgot to tell you about our new trees! This weekend (Saturday to be specific) we went out to get 2 trees for our naked front yard. I didn't think it was going to take as long as it did to pick them out. I went there with a pretty firm idea of what I wanted, but couldn't find it. Then when we found a tree that was very similar to what I wanted, Dennis didn't really care for the shape of the tree and I didn't like that it cost $72!....EACH!!! So after going back and forth, BACK AND FORTH, we decided on 2 crabapple trees. They are very pretty and have very dark red leaves and trunk. I even think that they will have pink blossoms which I so desperately wanted! We planted them that afternoon ( and when I say "we" I mean Dennis did most all of the work). I helped by watering the trees and adding cocoa mulch......and if you've never used cocoa mulch, I suggest to go NOW to your local nursery and pick yourself up a bag or two. It smells sooooooo good....just like chocolate chips!.....It took all I had not to nibble on one of those cocoa nubs. Mmmmmmm. Anyway, they look so pretty and we can't wait till they get bigger! I envision Christmas lights in them this year!

Day 2 of Vacay

It felt like I did a lot more today than yesterday, but looking at my kitchen and living room, it appears that I did less! I was able to deal with the stupid WaMu issue in 5 minutes by visiting them in person. I really should have done that in the first place. Anyway, I went to Target and then almost took a nap. Instead, I went to Carie's and we went on a walk. Caleb seemed to enjoy it because he fell asleep pretty quickly. Then I spent the next 30 minutes or so on the phone until Dennis got home. So I guess even though the day went much faster than yesterday, I actually didn't do anything around the house like yesterday. What will tomorrow bring, I wonder?

Day 1 of Vacay

1. Woke up at 9:30

2. Ate a cream cheese and jam bagel

3. Watched "Cat People" while paying bills online

4. Called Dennis at 11am

5. Took a shower at noon

6. Emptied the dishwasher

7. Called lame a** WaMu

8. Called Dennis at 1pm

9. Called Carie

10. Ate some macaroni salad

11. Bought strawberries at Safeway (onion breath and all)

12. Had a yogurt and some strawberries

13. Vegged on the couch until Dennis walked in the door around 4:30pm

I have a feeling tomorrow will follow much of the same pattern. Although, instead of getting strawberries, I have to get tortillas and make an appearance at WaMu, Los Bagels, and the Post Office. Woo hoo!

Hoppy Easter!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter celebrations. We had a gorgeous day followed by some unexpected rain. Because I didn't make brunch, we had breakfast for both breakfast and dinner. Waffles and eggs this morning (actually I was the only one with an egg...on top of my waffle too!) and biscuits, gravy, eggs, and REAL bacon this evening. Normally I buy the microwave bacon, but today I thought we'd splurge and eat the real stuff. Along with our normal Sunday chores we dyed Easter eggs. So very fun! I then proceeded to make macaroni salad and a deviled egg for myself. I love most anything that calls for a hard boiled egg and I would make them all the time if it wasn't for the horrid smell. Actually, I don't mind it so much, but poor Dennis practically yaks at the first whiff of them. So I only make them on Easter.

Enjoy the day!

It's Finally Here!

The Other Boleyn Girl has made it to our tiny town!!!! I'm so excited, but am afraid I will be disappointed as I most always am if I read the book before the movie. To avoid this I've realized if I know a movie is going to be made I will watch that FIRST then read the book. This way I avoid any disappointment.

Open house went well. I didn't have any "cup" incidents but I did have some accidental visitors. They were looking for the sample Math textbooks that were looking to adopt for next year. I did also have some students wonder in to say hello and one who wanted me to buy some coffee for a fund raiser for the eighth grade trip. Oooh, this Thursday was also the day we finished The GATE Gazette! I'm so proud of my students and so so happy we finished on time! I need to try to figure out a way to get it on my blog. I may need to talk to Nancy about this.....I think she may know.

Well, off to buy some trees!

St. Patty's Day

So yesterday I forgot to blog.....Yes, I know it's a tragedy, but I'm back tonight. St. Patty's Day had all the kids bouncing off the walls! I think they were even more hyped up than on Valentines Day! I, along with Nancy, had way more sweets than usually.....I think around 4....but due my sugar rush, I cannot be completely positive about that. I also spread the rumor around in a certain 2nd grade classroom that I saw a leprechaun (it caused quite a ruckus)....but I really and truly did! Then a leprechaun caused all sorts of mayhem in Nancy's class.....(s)he got glitter EVERYWHERE, knocked over cereal, got footprints all over the room, and messed with all of the student "Leprechaun Traps" looking for gold.....I wonder what kind of leprechaun could have done such a thing......hehehe.

Today we worked on The GATE Gazette. I really don't think it'll be finished by this week.....it would be nice, but I don't think it'll happen. But I've realized that it is OKAY if it doesn't get out until after spring break. It's our very first one and we had a lot to do.

I have to go to a student site council meeting tomorrow and I'm a little nervous about it. I haven't been before and I really hope they are not going to ask me any questions. Then, on Thursday, we have Open House. This is another day where I sit in my room (all by myself) and watch people walk by.....I just hope I don't have another "cup" incident.

Don't Forget

Don't forget to wear green tomorrow (otherwise, you'll be pinched into a bruisey mess)!....It's St. Patrick's Day after all. Not sure how the students will be tomorrow.....I think they'll either be no different from last week or over the top with excitement. The trouble with not working on Friday's is that I can't judge what Monday will be like.

Oh, don't forget to stock up on some Guinness or green food coloring!

Nothing Much

Nothing much has been going on, except I got a haircut on Friday and I don't think I like it too much. It's like the picture day haircut.....in fact, she really didn't take much off. I think we had a communication issue and she didn't quite understand what I wanted. Maybe it's because most every time I see her, she's cutting guys' hair.....plus she talked WAY too loud....I don't know what was up with that. Anyway, I don't think I'll be going back.

Our friends came over with the baby tonight. We had Chinese and then oohed and awed over the baby. He's smiling now and has recently discovered his hand makes a good pacifier.....just adorable.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Girl Scout Cookies

This is the season for Girl Scout Cookies if you didn't know already. It is always around the end of February that I begin to have a strong craving for them.....thankfully, they arrived on my desk Monday morning!!! I ordered more than I should have, but I can save them by putting them in the freezer (like that'll actually happen though).

The GATE newsletter is coming along. We don't have as much in there as I would like, but oh well. I really hope we can get them out by next week.....it'll be close....otherwise, it'll have to wait until we get back from spring break on the 30th.

Off to enjoy some GS cookies!!!!! Mmmmmmmmm.

Math Adoption

We went to the county office of education to further research math programs to adopt for next year. I didn't really need to go since I'm not a classroom teacher.....yet......but I wanted to know what they were thinking and what program(s) I would be assisting with next year. Ideally, we are supposed to adopt a K-6 program, but the needs and wants of primary is totally different from the middle grades. So basically primary wants one and middle grades wants another. The whole process really sucks and is stressful.....but then again I'm looking at it more from an outsider point of view.

Anyway, Dennis and I are going to watch No Country for Old Men. It should be pretty good.

Buh, bye!

Happy Birthday Brady!

Today is officially Brady's 1st birthday! It was a great party and Brady got to munch on his own personal cake (above). Kelly made it from a diabetic cake recipe. It really didn't taste very good but we didn't think Brady would have a problem with it. Kelly also made some diabetic frosting and it was really bad so the boys picked up some 50% less sugar frosting at the store....it was actually pretty decent. It was really fun to watch him play and eat his very first cake. The day was beautiful and warm....perfect for a birthday party. And now I will leave you with some pictures.

Cautiously testing his cake...........

Okay, this is good AND fun! (Frosting ended up on the wall by the time he was done)

The cutest cowboy in the world! And yes, that is a real roppin' rope and cowboy hat!

Brady's Birthday Party

Today we are celebrating Brady's 1st birthday!!!! His actual birthday isn't until tomorrow, however, because of leap year, he is 365 days old today! You see, it all works out. The boys are out buying a sandbox and sand for his birthday. Kelly is putting the B-man down for a nap and then we are going to decorate the house. It's all very exciting and I can't believe he is a year old already! They just grow so fast!

Don't forget that tomorrow we set the clocks an hour ahead. This is a bitter sweet event for me. I love having more daylight, but loosing an hour wrecks havoc on my system.....thank goodness it happens on a Sunday rather than Monday. Can you imagine if we changed them on Monday? It would be complete chaos! Okay maybe not complete chaos, but things would definitely be more wonky.

I Finished!

Last night I finally finished The Constant Princess. It was soooo good and I can't wait to read other Gregory books....but first I must read Shakespeare's Secret for my GATE novel study class. I passed out all their class assignments today and some of them didn't get their first choice on the first class offering and they were whining like babies and asked if they had to go to the class. It completely irked me that they said this. I specifically told them if they didn't get their forms in ASAP, they may not get their first choice. And of course it is those who never get their stuff in on time that it affected and complained about it......but enough of my griping.

Tomorrow Dennis and I will be heading over for Brady's 1st birthday party!!!! We are really excited and can't believe he'll be a year old on Sunday! I still remember when we got the call (or voice mail rather) that they were headed to the hospital....and when I called them back he had JUST been born and were handing him to Jonathan!!! We were bummed we couldn't be there for his delivery, but we left at the butt crack of dawn the next day to welcome our beautiful nephew into the world.

Off to pack and what not. Hope y'all have a great Friday!

Bad Case of the Monday's

No post yesterday because I had a very bad case of the Monday's. It seemed like I hit one obstacle after another. The first thing I discovered yesterday morning was that my desks were raised WAY too high.....too high even for me. Now can you imagine a little first grader working at a desk like that? Talk about torcher for all parties involved! Then I had a note from my principal that made me feel like an idiot and I didn't know how to do my job. It basically came down to a misunderstanding, but I'm kinda concerned that he really thinks I didn't know what I was doing.....but I really do! Then I had a teacher tell me something about a student that kinda grated me the wrong way. By that time (10 minutes before school even started) I was in a very VERY foul mood. It was so bad that I ate in my classroom all by myself because I didn't even want to be around people, let alone be social....I really didn't even want to be around myself! Thankfully when I called my husband on my way home, he brightened my god awful day. He had one of his coworkers answer the phone and tell me that he "Henry" had taken over my husband's job. Dennis does this all the time, but has never had this guy answer the phone before. He was so good and kept it going without any hesitation that I was laughing so loud and hard I thought I would need to use my inhaler! And then when I got home and we just chilled out together, it was like my whole day just melted away and I was a completely a different person. Thank you honey.

Today, even though it was as long as hell, was better. I subbed for a 3rd grade teacher while he gave his 4th graders the STAR writing assessment. I was plunged into a world I haven't visited in a long, LONG time. Of course I have been in and out of classrooms (almost everyday) but I haven't subbed in a very long time. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I long for the day when I have my own classroom. With the current state budget, I'm concerned on how long it will be till that day comes.

I hope tomorrow will be another good day. I'm not wanting perfect, I just want good.....I'd maybe even settle for fair.

Happy Tuesday!

New Cell Phone

We braved a new cellular store and were successful! This time the sales people (a young guy and an old guy) were so friendly and helpful. When he looked up my information he ran into the same problem, however, we was able to figure it out within second. I told him I wished the other lady at the store in the mall could have figured it out as easily. Then I told him everything that happened. He felt bad and thought maybe that person was new......but when we described her he was like "whoa," she's been there forever! We were so thankful that this guy was so nice....especially since I was being very indecisive. I decided on the same brand (Samsung) and chose function over style. The other phone I liked was a slider and looked better, but since it was shorter and didn't have a curve when open like a flip phone, it wasn't as comfortable against my ear. The really cool thing about this whole process was that they were able to transfer all of my contacts from my old phone to my new phone. That alone saved me at least a couple of hours! I really hope this phone lasts longer than 2 years....I really don't like having to buy new ones.

The warm chocolate cookies are calling my name....plus, the squeaky space bar on my laptop is starting to annoy me. :)

A New Light

Dennis successfully installed a brand new dining room light today! However, remember how I hoped he would do in unscathed.....well, it almost happened. Everything went just fine when he was in the attic and when he was working in the dining room....until he dropped a screw. The screw landed over by our fireplace, so naturally he bent down and picked it up. Sadly, he forgot about our mantle and hit the top of his head on it! So hard that it knocked him out!!!! Now (poor thing) he has a gnarly red bump on his head. But now we have a beautiful new light over our dining room table. It's so weird, but it's so awesome too! I just love, love, love lots of light!

Yesterday a small piece on my cell phone broke off shortly after I hung up with Nancy. I have a flip phone and the piece that broke hold the phone together while it flips open and closed. Now, when I open it it's all crooked and I have to hold it together. So we went to the cell phone store to get me a new one.....but we encountered 2 problems. One, I didn't really like any of the cell phones available and the ones that I kinda liked were really expensive. Two, the sales lady was completely rude! We were basically told to leave the store. It all started when she was looking up my information to see if I was eligible to get a new phone. After I gave her all my information including showing her my ID, she said there was nothing she could do for me and I needed to call customer service. I asked her why and she said she couldn't give me any information. I asked her if she could recheck the info I gave her and she kinda just shook her head and said she couldn't do anything. I told her I was confused and I didn't understand what exactly was going on and she again said there's nothing she could do.....But this whole time she was so rude! Her tone of voice was mean and she didn't even attempt to fix or look into the problem! It turns out (after I was on hold for 15 minutes with customer service) the zip code needed to gather my info was from when I lived in Ashland 6 years ago! When I had moved from there they had to cancel that phone and issue a new phone number.....so I have 2 accounts when you pull my info up. The crazy thing is that it took maybe 5 minutes for the customer service rep to figure everything out.......and she was sooooooooo nice about it all! She also said that if I go back to the store to buy a phone and they run into the same problem, I need to tell them to look again because I have 2 accounts. Oh, she was so helpful and I totally appreciated it in my frustrated and pissed off state! So tomorrow I will head to a different cell phone store to hopefully buy a new phone.

Peace out!