Thirteen Things

I Do In The Morning

BEFORE Work

(in no particular order)

1. Make the bed (only if there's not still a body in it!)

2. Make coffee to drink in the car

3. Check email & weather

4. Think about doing any leftover dishes

5. Iron clothes (ugh)

6. Start a load of laundry

7. Pick up after Kenny (never-ending)

8. Pack my camera (yay!)

9.Take a shower

10. Get dressed

11. Hair/make-up

12. Get a call from my co-pilot informing me she's running late (10 minutes every day-I love her)

13. Kiss Kenny goodbye

3 Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day!!

The last couple days have been a mixture of partying, laziness, and work....

On Friday evening, my bosses gave us a huge, fancy, appreciation dinner at a country club in a ritzy part of town. We have been jokingly calling it our prom. But it really was because the attire was formal. Because I was in my friend's wedding last month, I wore the same dress (can you believe I wore it again!!!) and shoes, and got my hair done which was really the only expense-yay! The dinner and dancing was great. Here's a pic of us....

And there's my boss in the black dress dancing and laughing with Kenny!

I just had to include a picture of the dessert because it was to die for. It was sooooooooooooo good. It took all my willpower not to grab another plate on the way out the door.

We decided not to go camping with our buddies this weekend because it was supposed to rain 2 out of the 3 das, and plus we have a ton of work to do around the house. I work up Saturday morning to Kenny messing with the outside lights on the front porch.... in wind pants and his DRESS SHOES that were still out from the night before. Thank god no one saw him, or if they did, they still don't know us so I don't care. Kenny claims they were the only shoes he could find. Yeah right. You know men....they just DON'T LOOK!

I had a big to-do list for myself yesterday so I could stay on task. Otherwise, I will end up like Kenny and there will be a million things half-done and nothing finished. So I stuck to my list!!! I got 7 things accomplished yesterday. I'm trying to do the same thing today. Plus it's nice outside today, which is more motivation to be out there and get some sun. Can you tell I'm trying to pump myself up to work??

Have a great Memorial Day!

This Week's Theme:

COLORFUL

The curtains I made for the "orange" room are very colorful. Lots of oranges, browns, golds, and yellows in the fabric. It looks great with the orange wall!

Hot

What a scorcher is was here in Michigan today!! Hot hot hot! I left work early today to go to a baseball game.....

But not just any baseball game. My cousin T plays college baseball and is AWESOME. His team played in Michigan today, so I actually got to see him play!! It was the PERFECT baseball day. And his team smoked the opposing team. My cousin rocks!

Went I walked back to my car, this is what I saw:

My car is on the left. 4 feet from the smashed window. My aunt told me to send this picture to my car insurance company and show them why I almost had to make a claim. 4 feet from that.

F O U R F E E T!!!!

8 Random Things.....

Lori tagged me so here goes:

8 Random Things You Don't Know About Me

1. I LOVE honey mustard and A1 steaksauce on many things OTHER THAN what you are supposed to use them for (and I hate ketchup)
2. Black wrought iron furniture (some) is a must in my house (Kenny is coping)
3. My cell phone is pink....yes, I'm one of those
4. I drive a teeny car with EXCELLENT gas mileage
5. When I come home from work, as long as I am not going anywhere else, I immediatly put on the comfy, stretchy, old PJ-ish like pants....talk about a slice of heaven!
6. I used to have DDDs
7. There are baskets everywhere in my house....I think it's becoming an obsession!
8. I love (and still play!!!) softball

Okay, so today is like Monday to me since I wasn't at work yesterday. Coming back to work after my class had a sub for the day....not a pleasant thing. The room is trashed, you would think the kids would keep it picked up the way they do for me....but NO. I guess it's like letting your own children (so I hear) run loose through the house without supervision. Except, the sub is the supervision, right? Wrong. My room is T-Rashed. I repeat. T R A S H E D. I know I know, what did I expect? It's always the same, I guess I just thought ONE TIME I'd get lucky and it would be decent. No such luck. The lessons I left (copies of work that required NO teaching, just passing out to simplify things) weren't done, and somehow the kids got into their math folders that were as far away from the lesson plans as possible. Those folders weren't to be touched, actually, because I hadn't taught those lessons yet, and I'm not leaving work that has a new concept that the kids haven't learned yet for a sub to do. No way. But the work was done anyway, clearly the kids were confused and had way too many questions....MAYBE BECAUSE I HADN'T TAUGHT THAT STUFF YET AND THAT'S WHY THOSE MATH FOLDERS WEREN'T IN THE LESSON PLANS! Is it that hard? Really? I guess I must take it for granted that I can read english and follow simple directions, and pass out copies of work when needed. Cause that's what I did when I subbed. I followed the plans the teacher left AND THAT'S ALL. If there was extra time, I played games, gave free time/recess when appropriate. Once again, I guess I just take it for granted that I can read english. And follow another adult's directions. Needless to say, I am not a happy camper this morning. I'm a PISSED OFF camper. Teacher.

Now I feel better having vented to the internet.

Three positive things I will focus on today........

1. My new camera is scheduled to be on my doorstep when I get home.
2. It's going to be sunny and beautiful ALL DAY!
3. I have a softball game today. Yay!

I Heart This Weekend

This weekend has been jam packed with fun-ness....new word!

After work on Friday we (my co-pilot, best friend, and co-worker) went down town because the weather was BEAUTIFUL! I can't even describe the mood I was in. Since February, life has been so fast paced and I feel as if I've been on overdrive. It was so nice to just relax and have fun outside, and it made it even better to have N's camera with us!!!

Here we are on our way to the river....

Then we walked down to the river and played like kids in the water fountains on the river walk. Across the river is Canada....home of Redneckmommy!

Friday the Tigers played, so of course I was planted in front of the TV for 3 hours watching them win! My mom came and stayed the weekend....our first overnight guest. Saturday we went shopping and then came home and started working outside, trying to get a jump start on the landscaping project we've created for ourselves when we bought this house. There are a BUNCH of bushes in the front of the house that I hate, and so they have to go. Now. So Kenny, my mom, and a neighbor helped us pull the first of 4 bushes out, using a chain and his truck ater trimming all the branches and digging some of the roots out. Check out the process:

And the results on the yard....

Kenny promsied me that it wouldn't kill the grass. Funny how when I mowed the lawn this morning that there was a nice strip of dead grass. Oh well, it was fun watching! And the best part is, we have 3 more bushes to go!

Good news.....my new camera will be here on Tuesday. I can't wait. Then I can stop begging Kenny & my mom for use of their cameras. My new one is the exact model of the one that was lost, so there won't be any I-have-to-figure-this-out time with it....just let me get my mitts on it!

This Week's Theme:

COOKED

13 Reasons

I Say NO To My Students Daily

1. "Can I go to the bathroom?" (they just went)
2. "Can I get a drink?" (they have a water bottle in front of them)
3. "Can I call home?" (your parents will hate me)
4. "Can I earn my recess back?"
5. "Can I eat lunch with you?" (teacher needs a BREAK)
6. "Is it time to go home?"
7. "Can I come home with you?"
8. "Can I get a bandaid?" (when the cut is microscopic , no blood, and they don't need it)
9. "Can I write on the board?" (they make a huge mess with the chalk and leave the caps off my dry erase markers.....expensive much?)
10. "Can you call my parents?" (again, they will hate me)
11. "Can I eat candy for lunch?" (you'd think they would get this after a while, but no)
12. "Can we skip language arts today?"
13. "Can I play instead of silent read when I'm done with my journal?"

I'm not heartless at all. I just say "no" a lot. My students deemed me the queen of "NO." I'm proud of that title. I'm not a mean teacher, I just have limits. And rules. And a breaking point.

Forgetfully Lost

Yesterday the kids kicked my booty. They were so on top of their game....all day long....and I was not. For whatever reason I came to work yesterday and forgot everything. I forgot they had art at 8:30am, I forgot the lunch cards, I forgot about a special program, I forgot my keys when we went to recess......I forgot everything!!

Should I be worried about getting alzheimers or dimensia? For real? Sometimes I forget things that are UNFORGETTABLE. I do notice that this tends to happen when I'm overloaded with things at work or still in the midst of unpacking a house. Or just plain busy. But that't normal right? Please tell me that you forget things when you are super busy. I'll feel much better. It's embarrassing when a student reminds to do something that I should be automatically doing. Ugh. I guess that's the joy of teaching multi-age. When they are slightly advanced, they are slightly AHEAD of their teacher.

Besides forgetting, I feel lost. I feel like this at the end of every school year. There's so much to finish up, so much to still teach, so much time to spend with my students and really enjoy them, especially the 2nd graders because they won't be with me next year, and with all these things to do, I just feel lost. Even with lesson planning and having things ready ahead of time, I wander around like I'm not sure which way is up. I know what I should be doing, I'm just losing the motivation to keep going another 5 weeks. I know tonight I'll go home, go to my softball game and hopefully win like we did last week, and come home again recharged. But right now, I forget what day it is!! Do you ever feel like this too? Or am I just crazy?

On a more positive note....I'm sure you all know that my camera was lost in our move a few months back. No, it's still not found, and believe it or not, I still get upset about it every night when I fall asleep. It actually keeps me awake sometimes. Anyway, I received a little bonus check unexpectedly yesterday, and guess what it's going to buy? Yup, you guessed it. My new camera. I can't get it ordered fast enough. You know what will happen as soon as I get it?? Some of you already called it.....I'll find the old one!

I'm still on weekend time

Back to the daily grind....

These weeks are flying by. And the weekends? I blink and they are gone. Kind of like when you drive through a small town.

We finally visited IKEA this weekend. It's not all that great! I mean, it was fun and all, big, lots of choices, lots of different ideas, but really? It's cheap furniture that looks appealing. They do have some higher end stuff, and EVERYTHING looks great, but I guess the quality reflects the prices. You get what you pay for! Don't get me wrong...there's nothing wrong with inexpensive stuff for the house! We bought at little chinese-like lantern as a bed-side lamp and some more lucky bamboo stalks. I put together my first post of lucky bamboo a year ago and since then, I can't get enough! And at $1.99 a stalk, you can't beat it!

In our house we have a plant box in the half-wall of the livingroom/front door area. I knew I wanted bamboo stalks there, I just didn't want to pay $25 for 3 stalks! So at IKEA we stocked up and this is how it turned out:

What do you think? Give me your honest opinions!!

Can you guess what my mother's day gifts were to my mom and grandmas?? Hint, hint.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

to my momma and both grandmas....

I love you!

And to all mommas-Happy Mother's Day! Much of your work as a momma goes without being acknowledged most of the time. Enjoy and celebrate being a mom not just today, but every day.

This week's theme:

FIVE

( a few of my students on a field trip)

I have been a teacher for five years. I love my job. I love the kids. I love watching them grow and explore and learn and I mostly love their unique personalities and the millions of hugs I receive a day. There isn't a shortness of love this year. Not all my years have been this good. It's taken five years to get to best teaching year I've ever had. And it was worth every single minute! The only problem is, we only have five weeks of school left. I need to start buying the tissue in bulk now.

To see what the Photo Hunt is all about, click here.

Thirteen Things I Am Proud Of

1. Kenny

2. Our first house

3. My students this year-they are the BEST!

4. Being raised on a farm

5. My brother for his wise business ventures

6. My college degree that hangs on the wall (ooooooooh-so proud!)

7. The quilt I made for a St. Jude’s Auction that brought $800

8. How far I’ve come as a teacher

9. Moving to this side of the state for a job in Detroit, with NO idea what I was getting into (thank God I did it cause I have Kenny because of it)

10. My parents for remaining close even after divorce

11. My mother for staying strong though this rough patch

12. My friend N for getting through her first year as a teacher (middle school.....ugh)

13. Beating depression

Busted

Warning: This contains nudity. If you are a family member, please stop reading now or else you have been fair warned!

Every morning when I get ready for work, Kenny is still sleeping. Actually, he is just falling asleep as I am waking up. Makes for some interesting sleepy conversations. Wait, let me stay on topic....it's a good story. I love the quiet time I have in the morning, when there aren't any students demanding my attention, Kenny isn't yacking my ear off (he's soooo long-winded), and it's still dark outside. It's so peaceful, and even though I hate waking up so early, once I'm awake, it's worth it. I have never been one to prance around naked, even in my own home, even around Kenny, EVER. Do you hear me?

N E V E R E V E R E V E R.

I do, however, get dressed inches from Kenny's snoring body. He's always knocked out by that time, so there's no need to worry about him watching me get dressed, right? Huh. Well, today, I dropped the robe, and turned around to catch him staring at me. I was completely naked. And some of you might think that I'm overreacting about this, but really, it's a wierd feeling when you're not used to it. It's not like we're never naked, just not STANDING IN FRONT OF HIM.....WITH NOTHING TO COVER UP WITH....which is always my first instinct. I was totally caught. And he just smiled and said he'd been waiting for 5 years for this moment. What a shit.

Before & After

We have done a lot of "redoing" to our house since we bought it in February. I think it's all I do anymore. But I'm not complaining, because when we're done with a project, the way I feel makes it all worth it. Cause WE did it!

We actually redid the livingroom the very first weekend after we closed on the house. Kenny had scheduled the carpet man to lay the carpet on Monday, and we had only gotten keys the Friday before. So we had to move move move. This is the 1960s version of the livingroom, complete with heavy, thick, dusty drapes and nasty old carpet:

And now.............

Of course the TV was added recently. I guess it's been a dream of Kenny's to have a TV like that for a long time....he's been bugging me about getting one FOREVER. I kept putting him off and telling him we didn't have room in the apartment, wait until we were in the house....I ran out of excuses. But I have to admit I love it too:)

Weekend Wrap Up

This was a great weekend. I need another day or two. Is that possible??

Kenny and I went "up north" yesterday as Michiganders say. "Up north" means somewhere north of us, between Lansing and the tip top of the Upper Penninsula. We didn't go THAT far though, only a couple of hours. We went to help out a buddy which turned into an all day deal, but it worked out nicely because Kenny ended up buying 7 of those 8 feet tables that every guy needs in the basement for under $100. And normally, those tables are from $30 to $40 a piece, so he was happy. And so was I. That means I can spend more money on rugs and towels, right?

Anyway, on the way home, we stopped at Tony's to eat, which doesn't look like anything fancy, but it's a famous place to eat when you are "up north." Even those guys from that Chopper show on TV have been there. Here's what the outside looks like...nothing fancy, just a family owned place.

Here's what they are really famous for......HUGE portions. Look at the size of the potatoes next to Kenny's hand. And he has big hands too!

I was good....I ordered a burger and didn't eat the bun. And no fries, salad only. So I didn't feel like a stuffed pig when we left.

I wish I could make this weekend last forever, ya know? It's so nice being home today and doing odds and ends around here. The leaves are on the trees now, and it's sunny and NOT cold. It's truly a perfect Sunday. Except for laundry. Which I'm avoiding.

----------------------

And on another note.......

My friend D (and her hubby B) had their first baby yesterday......

Welcome to the world Baby Jake!

Both D and the baby are doing fine, and they'll come home on Tuesday. I still can't believe the

baby is already here. It seems like D and B just told us they were pregnant, and now they are parents. D is the first one from my group (5 girls) of highschool friends to have a baby. It seems like we were all jsut graduating and deciding what college to go to. Time flies. D is the kind of person who has been preparing to be a momma since she was old enough to talk. She was always the one babysitting on Saturday nights instead of hanging out with friends because she loved babies so much. And she had to wait until she was through both college degrees to have kids. Anyway, I am so happy that she (they) finally have their baby and he's healthy!