Random Ruminations

Time for some Sunday ruminations...

Work:
--Work continues to be challenging. At our Leadership meeting this week (department heads, administrators and the principal) we were informed that there were more "Class 3" offenses at our school in the past week and a half than in the ENTIRE school year last year. Class 3's are considered "major offenses" and the recent occurrences include two students who had a knife on campus, assault of a teacher ("luckily" with fists not a weapon,) and stealing. We had a full-faculty meeting this week to discuss safety on school grounds. I am saddened that things got to this point. I fear our meeting was probably "too little too late."

--The Florida state legislature (similar to many states) is looking at several changes within the public education system. Those which currently frustrate me the most are: budget cuts and
connecting teacher pay to a "rating" given by parents. I believe I am a decent teacher who maintains frequent contact with the majority of my students' parents. However, I don't think it is fair to connect my paycheck to a rating given by people who do NOT observe me in the classroom, nor witness my work first hand. Phone calls, e-mail correspondence, conferences and open house are not an adequate portrayal of all that goes into being an educator. Seeing as MOST of a teacher's work occurs IN the classroom, I don't understand how we can be fairly evaluated by people who do not observe us there. Sighs.

--I am at the point I will give my current school one more year and then if things have not improved, I will look at transferring to a different school. This makes me sad, as my goal when I changed to this school 2 1/2 years ago was to stay here until Emma was finished with middle school. Remember, I have her on "special assignment" at the elementary school next door to where I teach. I am disappointed...if I transfer it will mean changing schools for her as well. Crossing all fingers that things get better next year. (This would require HUGE changes within our administration team.) Overall, teacher morale is very low this year. There are many people who are unhappy and who are looking to transfer schools at the end of this year.

Books:
--I recently read "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. LOVED this book! It is narrated by an elderly man who is reminiscing about years he worked in a traveling circus in the 1930's. The book toggles between his present day life and his memories of the circus. Awesome, awesome story! DH actually read the book after I did and he enjoyed it as well. :)

--I'm currently reading "Home" an autobiography by Julie Andrews. Interesting read thus far, though it has been a bit slow going due to school work and our Disney vacation.

DH:
--Plugging away on his 4th book. Entered a contest for his 3rd book...with a 1-in-100 chance of getting to have his entire book read by a book agent. How wonderful would that be? I continue to admire his perseverance. I don't think I could stay dedicated at "keeping at it" without support from an agent by now.

Masters:
--Dear Readers, what is your opinion of on-line university programs? I took several online courses to obtain my teaching degree. I am highly interested in obtaining my masters degree, but would like to find a program that is 100% online. Due to DH's work schedule (he works 11-7 every weekday and 9-5 many Saturdays) evening courses at one of the local universities would be difficult for me to attend due to needing child care for Emma.
--Do you think employers think less of "virtual" degrees than they do of face-to-face degree programs? Or once I've obtained a diploma will it really matter?

I think that's all the latest...

Random Ruminations--Catching Up Version

I can't believe February is nearly halfway gone...I've been managing to keep quite busy, here's the latest:

Vacation On My Mind:

Summer: Super stoked to be able to go to Wisconsin this summer! My Dad was raised there and we spent many July 4ths of my youth in Wisconsin for family reunions. After my grandmother died in '93, two things happened....

1. Myself and many cousins were officially "adults" and no longer had summers free to travel. Welcome to the working and/or college world! (My grandma died the summer after I graduated from high school and I had my first full-time job working to save $$ before starting college in the fall.)

2. The reunions no longer had a matriarch-focal-point, and thus sadly were no longer scheduled as frequently.

This year, my younger sister and I were able to coordinate our summer-schedules a bit. Emma and I will be able to travel from Florida to Ohio, and then on to Wisconsin with my sister! Yay! Cousin time and sister time....SO thrilled!

Spring Break: For the first time in several years my younger sis and I also have the same spring break schedule. She will be coming to Jacksonville to visit the last week of March. Hooray!

Disney: DH and I both put in for personal/vacation days on 2/25. We'll be heading to Disney World after school on Thursday the 24th for a mini-vacation with Emma. CAN'T WAIT!

Why all this vay-cay time on the brain???? Because WORK SUCKS!

School--The Bad: SO tired of administration at my school not buckling down and enforcing things...

-The same teachers (myself included) repeatedly do after school "bus duty" (wherein we go outside with the students and encourage them to get on the bus, try to distract from fights, monitor students in the cafeteria whose buses haven't arrived yet, etc. Despite having emailed and/or stated to the faculty several times that duty is "not optional," there are NO repercussions for teachers who do not help. Thus, you can guess what happens, right? Out of a faculty of 85...there are about 20-25 of us who help each day while the others don't bother. SO ANNOYING!

-The administration does not communicate with one another. The whole faculty was emailed a month ago by our principal with a schedule for a half day training at some point on 2/17 or 2/18. Most of us had already prepared lesson plans and substitute teachers as needed by the end of last week. On Thursday, we were all emailed a message from one of the assistant principals stating that our state-required benchmark testing would be held on the 17th and 18th. Of course there were a slew of emails sent back and forth---do you plan to have benchmark testing when half of the teachers are out at training, etc?---things were finally resolved by the end of the day on Friday. Benchmarks will now be held the week of the 21st. Again ANNOYING. How difficult is it to check with the master calendar before setting up testing dates?

-I've been teaching for 8 years. The team of teachers I am working with this year is leaps and bounds better than any team I've ever worked with as far as their "team" approach. We have a team disciplinary process....usually it is every-teacher-for-themself, but this team has agreed on a discipline procedure and we stick with it! Makes things WAY more effective when they are reinforced by all of the teachers a student sees each day. The pisser is that the house administrator assigned to our grade level is not supportive. Despite having a slew of documentation for the interventions we have done both individually and as a team for students, she is not processing behavior referrals in a manner that we feel is fair.

It is extremely frustrating when as a teacher I rarely write behavior referrals. When I do write a referral, I have a list of documented interventions I include with the referral so she can see what strategies I've tried (usually including multiple phone and/or email contact with the child's parent) prior to writing the referral. Sadly, the consequence given by the administrator usually includes thing like "silent lunch" or "conferenced with student." What the heck? Where is my back up? Kids are getting to the point that they don't think referrals are a "big deal," because the consequences are often lax. It is ridiculous.

-Student IDs: This is the 2nd year my current principal has been at our school. Last year she started a policy where students are "required" to wear IDs. I LOVE this idea and feel it was executed wonderfully at my prior school. However, here....again...NO consequences or follow up for students. They are supposed to be wearing their IDs at all times. Half of my students have lost their ID. At my prior school there were not-wearing-an-ID consequences such as: Students with no ID had to be last in the lunch line, weren't permitted to attend after school games, dances, or extra curricular activities, could be "written" up, etc. At my current school NOT A SINGLE DAMN CONSEQUENCE. Ridiculous! The kicker is that frequently during the morning announcements, the principal will say things like, "Just a reminder--all students should be wearing IDs at all times." Does she really think kids are going to pay $5 to replace a lost ID if there are no consequences for not wearing one?

-I have two students who were in ISSP (in school suspension) last week due to having received behavior referrals from multiple teachers. BOTH of them attended the Valentine's Day dance on Friday. Sorry, but allowing a child to attend a dance on the same day they had ISSP doesn't seem right to me.

-The contract my district had with S.cholast.ic for the reading program used daily in our reading classrooms expired last year. Thus, we no longer have "S.cholast.ic Consultants" who visit our school to provide support services. Things have really sucked district-wide, as the new worker in charge of the reading program for our county has NO experience teaching the program. (Remember me mentioning that we didn't get enough work books at our school until 2nd quarter?) Things continue to be disorganized and "last minute" with regards to testing our students and/or use of data specific to our program. Again, WAY annoying as it makes it difficult to plan things. Leaves me wondering why a county as large as mine would hire someone who isn't familiar with the ins and outs of the program. Duh??

School--The Good:
District Visit: We had a reading-department district visit on 2/8 and ROCKED IT! We finally received positive feedback department-wide, which is wonderful and helped deescalate a (little) bit of stress.

Yearly Evaluation: My yearly observation/evaluation was conducted by the 6th grade assistant principal I mentioned above. I was worried going into it that she might be a hard-ass and not evaluate me fairly. I was pleasantly surprised to have a positive evaluation. Comments included that I am a "positive influence for the teachers on my team" and that I talk to my students "in a calm manner" and "re-direct problem behavior positively. Yay, me!

Date Night: My in-laws watched Em for a few hours on Saturday night so DH and I were able to go out. We had dinner at J.Alexander's a restaurant that is new to Jacksonville...super yummy! After dinner we went to the bookstore and had time to "linger" sans Emma, which was awesome. :)

Blogging and Comments: Sorry I've been away...I've been scrambling to get things ready for our district visit and my yearly evaluation, and then trying to get WAY ahead on my lesson plans, as I won't be able to do plans the weekend we're at Disney, so need to have them finished ahead of time. Things are starting to calm down now, so I should be able to catch up soon.

Valentine's Day: I enjoyed watching Emma as for the first year she did everything independently with regards to the valentines for her class. Though she addressed her cards last year, this is the first year she was able to label/address the cards and fold/sticker them independently. Too cute! Happy v-day, everyone!

Random Ruminations

Ending the week with some random ruminations...

Books: We're only 21 days into the year and I've already read 11 books! Yay!


The 39 Clues:
I highly recommend the 39 Clues book series to anyone with 8-14ish year old kiddos. The series is written by a variety of popular childrens' book authors and was a super fun read! The books are about a brother and sister team who go on an around the world clue hunt. They visit many historical places along the way. I also admit that I have thoroughly enjoyed the online activities and games that correlate with the books. (Each book comes with 6 cards that can be entered online to help lead the reader as a "clue hunter".) Fun!

The only downside---the cards that come in each book can only be entered online one time. This means that families with more than one child will have to share their online account, rather than having one for each child...unless they fork out $12 per book to buy a book for each child...NOT cool in my opinion!

The Hunger Games:
An amazing trilogy I finished at Thanksgiving time and never posted about... The teen-lit series by Suzanne Collins takes place in the future. The premise is that there is not enough food to feed the citizens of the country, so every year there is a contest where 2 representatives from each district must fight----to the death---to determine which district will get food from the government for the year. Offers much to think about and an AWESOME strong, female heroine as the main character.

The Missing Series:
Cool young adult series I finished during winter break... The premise is kind of tricky to discuss. But the books include time travel,adopted children finding out who they "really" are, and are written by Margaret Peterson Haddix an author whose works I love!

The Mockingbirds:
LOVED this book which was a Christmas gift. It is a young adult novel about a high school teen who was date raped. Most of the book is about her seeking justice for the crime with a secret student-run organization called the Mockingbirds.

----------------
School:
--Today was teacher planning day.... as always I didn't get nearly the amount of stuff done that I had hoped to.
--Principal met with me regarding the quarterly departmental reports I send her. Assured me that she knew I was not at fault for not sending them (as the vice principal had alluded to.) Whew!
--Yearly observation is coming up in February. Should be interesting, as I don't have a stellar class to use this year. (Usually I schedule my observation during my best class. This year, I sadly don't have a "best" to choose from.) Doh.

Home:
--DH and Em stayed home sick yesterday. DH with cough and sinus congestion, Emma with the pukes. My FIL kindly kept Emma today while I was at teacher planning day. Fortunately, she hasn't vomited again since mid-day yesterday. And her fever seems to have subsided as well.
-DH just got home with pizza for dinner, so I'm over and out... :)

Lunch Grumblings

Anyone else out there dislike packing lunches?

Due to:

a. The cost
b. Emma and I being finicky eaters
c. I only have a 30 minute lunch, part of which consists of escorting students to and from the cafeteria...thereby making it difficult to travel somewhere to purchase lunch

I pack lunches nearly each school night.

Sighs...... Why do I hate it so much? I don't know, but I do.

What "chore" do you hate to do, Dear Readers?

Random Monday-ness

School Stuff: On Friday I picked Em up after school and brought her to my school where we watched the spring play, The Idi-Odyssey. The play is a comedy designed to explain to students why they have to read "old" works such as The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer. It was cute, and I was pleased with Emma's behavior as I am certain she didn't understand much of the humor.

--33 School days left. Whew!

--My students are still somewhat "checked out," but after reviewing their crappy grades with them last week, more of them are "on board" for work time now.

Emma: DH and I are at our wits' end.... Getting dressed/hair brushed/out the door on time in the mornings has become a HUGE ordeal. I hate yelling...DH hates yelling....but it seems we result to this at least 2-3 mornings per week as Emma lays in bed stalling.

--We've tried a sticker chart for "cooperative mornings" where she could go to the Dollar Tree if she filled up a week. (Em LOVES Dollar Tree.)
--We've taken away evening TV time based on morning behavior.
--I've refused to pack her lunch and forced her to eat the school lunch (she WAY prefers packing) if she didn't cooperate in the morning.
--We usually leave at the same time. There have been many mornings I've left without DH and Em (poor DH!) Em freaks out when I do this, but it still doesn't change her behavior.

Em is usually such a sweet girl....but the dawdling in the morning is driving us NUTS! Any parental ideas of what makes your kids get up and dressed independently in a TIMELY manner?

DH: Plugging away at another book. He texted me last week that he finished the 5th chapter of his 3rd book. He continues to seek agents. I'm so proud of him!

--Sick, sick, sick. DH was vomiting and in bed much of the weekend. He seems to have caught a stomach virus. Bleck. Poor guy.

Me: My parents arrive on Tuesday evening for a 4-day visit. SO excited to see them! One of the greatest pleasures of Mommyhood is watching Em interact with my parents. Hearing her on the phone with them this weekend was precious. She is SO thrilled they'll be here to attend a school field trip with her this week.

--I got all of the house cleaning done this weekend. (Drat! I shouldn't have put it off....sick DH couldn't help out like he usually does!) Tonight all I have to do is change the bedding and the house will be ready for visitors. Yay!

--I finished the Percy Jackson book series. LOVED them! And was tickled to see in the acknowledgements from the author that he considers this "the first of the Olympian series." YAY! I assume this means there will be more Olympians in the future---awesome!

--I've been hooked on the Showtime series The Tudors. I've watched all of seasons 1, and 2. I'm halfway through season 3. (Season 4 recently started and I have them recorded and waiting for me on our DVR.)

--Last weekend I was able to meet more blog pals!!! I met Lynn from Wistful Girl and Kym from I'm a Smart One. We met at the Applebee's in Waycross, Georgia. It was super! We had over 2 hours of conversation. Topics included: IF-issues, Teaching, Insurance, Husbands, Childhoods, etc. Even Leroy from the original Fame TV show. We had great conversation! We're planning to meet up again this summer...I look forward to it!


Kym, Lynn, and I

School, Home, and a Playdate

I'm a little behind in the times again....

School: The good news: Our last district visit for the school year was this past Tuesday. We FINALLY had a positive review of our department. Guess my stress and work the past 2 weeks paid off. Whew!

The bad: Last week was the first week of 4th quarter. My students are already checking out. They are ready for summer... "Are we really doing lessons this week?" "FCAT is over, why are we starting a new unit?" Seriously??? We still have school until June 11th. It's going to be tough to maintain the kiddos these next few weeks. I truly don't remember having students feel "finished" quite this early before. Sighs.

More good: Em and I went to the last home Track Meet of the year this past Wednesday. 3 of my students are on the team----and I enjoyed cheering for them. Em loved standing in the grass beside the track, waiting for the gun to fire signaling the beginning of each race, and then she'd sprint down the length of the track and back. Needless to say, she slept GREAT that night!

Home:
The good: My parents are coming to visit and will arrive next Tuesday night! YAY! They will also be able to attend a school field trip with Em on Wednesday (petting zoo and picnic lunch,) which Em is very excited about. Then Em will stay out of school on Thursday and Friday to go on adventures with them while DH and I are at work.

The bad: There was a cat (in heat) making God-awful noises outside of Emma's room last night. Our dog woke Emma up with his barking just after 11. After I pounded on the window, the noises stopped. Em went back to sleep. Around 12:30 blast it if the whole thing didn't start again.... loud meowing/screeching outside and dog freaking out and barking inside. I have a feeling Little Miss will be dragging when I wake her up in a few minutes. Sighs.

Lastly for now....

On April 9th, Em and I were able to meet up with a blog friend and her Kiddos who live in St. Augustine. We met Katie and her 4 year old twins Megan and Jeremy at their house. Then we traveled together to a park. The kids played. The Moms visited. Next, we all had lunch and had MORE play time at their house. It was great! (Only one accident of the day---Emma and Megan were running full speed and ran into each other---Em had a large goose egg/bruise in the middle of her forehead, and Megan had a big bump on top of her eyebrow. Oops!) Overall, the kids got along together really well.

Katie is a freelance writer for a local newspaper. She made me giggle when she informed me that I had a type-o in the comment section of my blog. (I had written "Dear Reders" instead of "Dear Readers.") She was sweet saying she didn't want to embarrass me by telling me of the type-o in a comment where others could see it. People----I teach Language Arts for a living. I am a spell check Diva. If I have a type-o, I implore you to TELL ME.....because spelling inaccuracies drive me crazy! Thanks! :)

It was wonderful meeting another mom with Kiddos close in age to Em. It was nice getting to know someone I've only known for the most part via blog land. (Katie substitute teaches sometimes, so I had met her at my school before, but we weren't able to have much conversation time.)

I need to get ready for work, so must go. Pictures below were all taken by Katie. (K--THANKS for sharing your photography prowess!) We look forward to future playdates!


Megan and Emma




A smooch!




Em and Megan



Jeremy, Em, and Megan


Searching for red leaves

Friday Night Ruminations

Tonight is probably the last time my blog-buddy Danifred is going to host Friday Night Leftovers wherein bloggers can blog whatever random "leftovers" they didn't blog about yet that week. Check out other blogger's leftovers HERE.

Birthday Stuff:
a. New sneakers. I nearly forgot how nice it feels to have arch support. My old N.ewbalances were much in need of a replacement. On Wednesday I went to the mall with Em and DH. I was able to purchase new sneakers AND new sandals for less $$$ than I had planned to spend on just sneakers. AWESOME! I wore my new sneakers all day today....ahhhhh sweet comfort!

b. DH surprised me with "Percy Jackson: The Demigod Files" by Rick Riordan. Super cool! I didn't know there were other Percy Jackson related books. I'm in the middle of book 4 (of 5) and am loving the series! Looking forward to another fun read!

c. Rockin' bracelet. Yesterday we received a package in the mail from my sister Laurel. Included were birthday gifts for DH and I and some cute things for Emma as well. As Laurel recently returned from a trip to Spain (with some of her high school students on an exchange program visit) all of our gifts were purchased in Spain. Check out my awesome GREEN (my favorite!) bracelet. LOVE IT!



Yearly Eye Exam:
The bad---at my eye exam yesterday I was informed that I have an astigmatism in my left (already "lazy") eye. I didn't know you could "get" an astigmatism...I thought it was something you're born with. However, according to the eye doc astigmatisms are common occurrences "as people age." Gee, Mother Nature...happy birthday to me. ;)

Overall it's not that big a deal. Though my thicker contact lens has taken some getting used to.

The good---I always use my prepaid prescription card to purchase a year supply of my contact lenses. (I wear the disposable type that need to be replaced every 2 weeks.) I like the convenience of having the year supply on hand. In addition, I like that with buying a year supply, I always get a rebate. This year in addition to my year supply and rebate, my doctor's office had the perk of a FREE pair of sunglasses.... Thus, with my year refill of contacts I got a free pair of Vera Bradley sunglasses with lovely case! Price tag said $139. This is a definite upgrade from my usual $12 T.arget shades. Sweet!




Me in new shades.



VB glasses and case.



I didn't get to choose my case, but I love this teal/brown print.


Blog Friends:
Today Em and I met my blog friend Katie and her cute-as-pie twins for a playdate. I'll give more details in a future post (including pictures---Katie is a wonderful photographer!) A great time was had by all, and I believe future playdates are in store.... yay!

In 1 week I am going to a girl's-day-out lunch in Georgia. I'll be meeting blog friends Lynn and Kym in person for the first time. SUPER COOL!

That concludes this session of Friday Night Leftovers. Thanks, Danifred for being a swell hostess!

Sunday Ruminations

School: Had my yearly evaluation signature meeting with my principal this week. She wrote that I'm "a joy to have on the faculty." She said that even if I don't win the award she nominated me for, she knows that I make a difference every day. She also said I need to keep the nomination in my professional portfolio.

--Due to the post-FCAT reduction in stress, and the recent positive feedback from my principal, I'm okay with staying at my current school next year. However, I will NOT be taking on as many roles within my department----at the very first meeting of the school year, departmental duties will be assigned if no one volunteers. (My principal okayed this---yay!)

Emma: --Spring break is right around the corner...I signed Em out from her school for her "vacation week." (She gets 2 vacation weeks per school year.) I'm hoping the weather warms up again, so that we can go on some fun outings. I'm longing to go to the beach for some shark-teeth and shell collecting, if we have a warm day.

--And we'll look into enrolling her in...GULP...Kindergarten. (One of the perks of teaching in my county is that our contract allows teachers to have their child/ren attend schools near where they teach (or at the school where the teach, if age-appropriate.) Therefore, next school year, Em will be attending the elementary school directly across the street from my school. I have colleagues whose children currently attend there, and haven't heard negative feedback from anyone I've talked to. We drove by the schools today, and Em seems pretty excited about being "right beside Mommy's big-kid school."

TTC: Had myself convinced I was PG this week. I had sensitive ta-tas, increased smell awareness, and was super-duper tired. When I made it to 12 DPO according to my ovulation monitor, I finally caved and bought a HPT. Yes, I know it was super early, but....AF wasn't timely and I was hopeful. My pink-line test was a negative right away. More expensive digital test showed an "error" sign, but I didn't bother re-testing. AF arrived the next day dashing my hopes of a baby-on-board birthday present for myself and DH. (Our bdays are April 6th and 16th.) Sighs. Totally disappointed. We purchased new ovulation monitor pee sticks today, so the TTC saga continues...

--One perk of TTC, is taking pre-natal vitamins. I've had amazing fingernails the past few months. I treated myself to a manicure today. Previously, the only mani I've ever had was for my wedding, and involved acrylic nails. Check out MY nails! (And the nail tech convinced me to get the cute flower drawing on my ring-finger. I was tickled with the look, and can't believe my whole total was only $12!)



This is a self-nail job I did last week. The wine color is darker than I usually use, but I received TONS of compliments on it. :)



TV: DH and I are stoked! We had the U-Verse system installed this weekend. Due to DH's work discount, we got an awesome deal. And our monthly bill is less than $5 more/month than we were already paying. Now we have TONS of channels. "Tru Blood" is recording right now, I can't wait to catch up...

Drat!: Have you ever had a scent that you really enjoy, but then the store that markets it discontinues the scent? When DH and I were first dating, I wore perfume and lotion called "Peach Hyacinth" marketed by V.ict.oria's S.ec.ret. I LOVED that scent soooo much! Shortly after we were married, they discontinued it. A few years ago, I found "Sparkling Peach" by Ba.th-n-body-works. It was similar enough to my original peach scent that I really liked it. After my manicure today, I went into BNBW to buy some more....they've discontinued their peach line too. Dag nab it! Guess I'll revert back to my non-scented Joh.nson's lotion.

Twilight: Anyone else purchase the "New Moon" movie this weekend? I didn't attend a midnight selling event, but I did buy the film yesterday. I enjoyed the accompanying behind-the-scenes documentary. :)

Books: One of these days I'll update my sidebar... I'm in the middle of book 3 of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. LOVE this series. The humor integrated by the author is superb. And the integration of Greek mythology within his novels is really neat.

Guess that's it for now. Hoping that the next few days I'll post the last of our Disney pics and will get caught up on blog-commenting.

Random Ruminations

Drat! It's only February and I've already broken my blog-resolution to post at least one time a week! Here's the latest...

School/Work: My students took the 8th grade Writing F.CAT test last week. Continuing with the crappy last-minute notice teachers have been given at my school this year, we were not given the rosters for the students scheduled to test with us until the day before the test. ACK! Fortunately all of the students who tested in my room were present the day before the test, so I was able to inform them where to go during test day. However, there were many students who were nearly late for testing in other classrooms, as they didn't know where to report until the morning of the test. (Don't get me started about how teachers are not assigned "homerooms," apparently that would be too logical...) Fortunately, the testing itself went well. I had purchased granola bars and bottled water to ensure all of the students who tested in my room had "breakfast" prior to testing. This seemed to help them focus, so I will definitely do something similar for the other F.CAT testing next month. It is my 7th year teaching, and only the 2nd time I've ever been able to "proctor" F.CAT for students whom I teach. (Usually I get stuck proctoring a room full of kiddos I don't know. I HATE it when that happens!) I truly believe knowing the students and having rapport with them made a difference in the testing experience for my students and I!

Blog Love: Two cool things: First, I received my SITM socks in the mail last week. WAY cool, I looooove argyle! I will be wearing them to my OB appointment this Tuesday. Pictures and more sock details will be posted next week.

Second: I might be able to meet a few fellow bloggers in person! The wonderful Anxious Mummy is sponsoring a Southeast Georgia blogging event, but was kind enough to invite me since Jacksonville is relatively close. Yay! :)

DH's Job: It's sounding like his job is secure for now. The "higher ups" at the company have assured workers that their center is NOT going to be bought out in April. Thus, DH is hanging in there. Meanwhile, he is plugging away at his 3rd novel, as he continues to try to get published. His ultimate goal is to one day make a living at writing, and quit his current day job altogether. Woot-woot! How wonderful would that be?? I'm so proud of his perseverance. :)

TTC: SOOOO glad I started using the fertility monitor my friend loaned me! Turns out I DID ovulate. (Whew!) However...it wasn't until day 21- 22 of my cycle. Thus, I will definitely continue monitoring...the expense of the "pee sticks" are worth the "knowing" at this point. (And of course I need more than one month of accurate data to determine the regularity (or lack thereof) of my cycle.) I will definitely discuss things with my OB at this week's appt. Also, THANK YOU to those who recommended the Fertility Friend website. I had been using "mymonthlycycles dot com" which is NOT nearly as user friendly!

Busy Week: This week I have my OB appointment on Tuesday. Thursday is my yearly formal evaluation conducted by my school principal. Then Friday--- DH, and EM and I are headed to 3 days at Disney World. (Ode to tax return $$ and great deals for Florida residents!) I'm looking forward to it, as we haven't been to any Disney parks other than Magic Kingdom for many years. We still haven't determined which 3 of the 4 parks we'll be visiting, but my brain is ready for a getaway!

SORRY blog buds....I've been negligent about commenting the past week, as I've been busy getting the paperwork for my yearly evaluation ready... I have Monday off, so am hoping to catch up. :)

I leave you with some Emmaisms:

2/3/10 On Toxic Gas:
"Know something funny that happened at school today? I had a whole bunch of really stinky farts. And know what else? Everyone thought it was Todd! He has stinky farts all the time. So they thought it was him and not me!"
(Cracks me up! And I love that at 5 she's already learned the female etiquette----the stinky ones are ALWAYS a guy's fault! Lol.)

2/4/10 On What DVD Mommy Would Like To Watch:
"I know what your favorite movie is! That one with the werewolf!" (A.K.A. Twilight New Moon)
(a. First of all, that movie is not even available on DVD yet! b. Second of all, I'm big time Team Edward, NOT Team Jacob.) :)

2/9/10 On Royalty:
Em: "I know how ladies become queen."
Me: "You do? How?"
Em: They are princesses and then when the queen gets old or dead, the princess is the queen."
Me: "Oh. How do girls become princesses?"
Em: They need to have a crown, some candy, a purse, and high heels."
(If only I had a crown...I could be a princess!) ;)

Sunday Ruminations

Halloween: Em decided a few weeks ago she was going to trick-or-treat in the Supergirl costume my Mom sent for her birthday. She had a blast....and WOW what a TON of candy! I think we only went to 15 or so houses, but the amount she collected was enough to fill a large mixing bowl. Wowsers.

We went to DH's parents' house last night. We hadn't seen them since August! Due to us being out of town for Emma's birthday, DH's Mom working most weekends, and them being out of state for 2 weeks on vacation last month, we just hadn't been able to connect with them in person.

Em was thrilled with the B.arbie items and H.ighSchoolMus.ical dolls Nana and Papa gave her as a belated birthday present.

Paycheck Vacuum: Sighs. My car started making a loud noise on Thursday afternoon. We were able to get it into the repair shop...$957 for a broken air conditioning compressor. Yikes! Sucked my paycheck right out from under us. And while part of me was willing to go without A.C. for a bit, the mechanic advised against it, as it could lead to further belt and/or engine damage. Argh!

Emma "The Bad": I spoke with her teacher in person. Ms. T admitted that she DID show students "some" of the news on TV. She claims to have only shown a news clip from when Summer was still missing and her mother was crying and distraught saying that she missed her. The teacher said she wanted to reiterate to the students how sad their parents would be if they were ever lost or ran away. And to help remind students not to ever go somewhere with a stranger. I was extremely fired up by this...especially since the school director told me she had asked the teacher NOT to turn the news into a stranger-danger lesson... However, as time has gone on, I'm mostly over it now. I don't like the way things were handled, but I believe Ms. T really had the students' best interest at heart. Ms. T mentioned multiple times that like me, she was disappointed that students parents had allowed their 4/5 year olds to view the entire newscast. She said that students discussing the news had been going on the entire week---from when Summer was only missing, to when Summer was found dead, to news footage of her funeral. And while the way she "taught" students the importance of staying with their parents is NOT what I would have wanted for Em...the reality is that I cannot control what happens when Em is at school. Gulp!

Emma "The Good/Funny": DH was at work on Saturday while I was home with Em. I was in the shower and DH called. DH and I have specific ring tones attached to our cells, so when we are the ones making incoming "home" calls, we're able to identify the call by sound. Em can't reach our home phone when it is hanging in the receiver. So she got my cell phone off the table in our foyer and CALLED DH's CELL and left him a voicemail: "Hi Daddy. This is your little girl, Emma. Mommy is in the shower. You can call us back after lunch time, okay?" I didn't know she even knew HOW to dial my cell, let alone how to locate DH's number on it. Too, too funny!

Books: I've been updating my Books Read list on the left sidebar of my blog. However, it's been awhile since I posted about anything that I've read. Recently I read the first 4 books in L.J. Smith's The Vampire Diaries series. I found the books to be enjoyable, fast reads. However, I was stunned by how similar some of the vampire characteristics are to the vampires in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga. I was further surprised in researching the Internet and publishing dates to learn that the Vampire Diaries novels were released a decade before Meyer's books. And though I LOVE the Twilight books and think Edward and the Cullen family could kick the Salvatore family's vampire butts any day...it was a bit of an eye opener for me to see that some of Meyer's ideas weren't 100% original. What a bummer!

This weekend I've started a new young adult series: The Shadow Children by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I read the first two books (Among the Hidden and Among the Impostors) yesterday, and started on Among the Betrayed today. The books are about a society that only permits families to have 2 children or less. There is a "Population Police" that captures (and sometimes kills) any 3rd (or higher) children. The main character of the first 2 books is a 12-year-old boy named Luke, who is an illegal 3rd child. I don't want to give away plot details....but the books have been entertaining and suspenseful. I will definitely be recommending them to my 8th graders.

DH's Novel: He has promised to let me read the ENTIRE first draft over Thanksgiving weekend. Yay! Meanwhile, he toggles between editing his first book and working on writing his second. Super cool!

Emmaisms: Let's close with some Emmaisms. First, a conversation I jotted down from July 4th, regarding excellent teachers and bendable straws:

Em: These are called antignal straws.

Me: They are? Who taught you that?

Em: Let's just say that I have a really good teacher.

Me: Oh. Did Miss Stephanie teach you that?

Em: No.

Me: Then where did you learn it?

Em: I just taught myself.

(She may be a "really good teacher," but how about some modesty?)

10/13/09 On learning more about the world:

Daddy, did you know there's a place in this world called Duval County?

(Yup...and you've lived in it your whole life, Kid.)

10/17/09 On transportation:

"A long, long time ago people didn't have any cars....they only had taxis."

(Forget the camel, donkey, horse, or elephant...taxis have apparently been around for years.)

11/1/09 On elderly parents:

"I get to have 5 scoops of Mac&Cheese, since I'm 5. Sorry, Mommy. I know you're 101. But we don't have 101 scoops, so you'll have to just have 5 too."

(I'm aging quite nicely, if I do say so myself...)

You Asked, I Answer

Answering some recent blog-comment questions...

Nancy Drew: All hail the Nancy Drew lovers of the world! My blog post where I stated I loved reading the original Nancy Drew series when I was a girl, received many comments from others who also loved the books. Awesome!

Webster: Yes, I totally remember the freaky/scary "Webster" episode with the empty rocking chair. I had forgotten this episode... I just remember thinking the secret passage behind the clock was cool in general. I had forgotten the creepy, scary component. ACK!

"Up" Movie: Yes, Emma did like it, and she SAT through the entire movie. Movies are hit-and-miss with her. If she loses interest, she has "ants in her pants" and wants to stand up and move around much to her mother's irritation rather than sitting. But she watched the entire movie. "Up" moves at a decent pace, which helped, I think.

B.arbies:
--Does Em play independently for 2 1/2 hours? This is a tough one. She plays SOMEWHAT independently. It goes something like this:
Me: Able to read half a page of my book
Em: "Can you help me get this dress on?"
Me: Put down book. Help dress Barbie. Pick up book. Resume reading. A few words paragraphs later...
Em: "I can't get this Barbie's shoes on, can you get them?"
Me: Put down book. Help with shoes. Continue reading. A few paragraphs pages later...
Em: Plays for a little while. Then, "Did you see what I did? The baby was acting silly while the Mommy made dinner."
Me: "Ummhmm."
Em: Plays some more. Then, "Did you see how I set up the room? I don't like the pink bed, so I'm just using the purple bed."
Me: "O-kay."
Em: Plays a little more. Then, "I'm lonely. Will you play B.arbies with me?"
Me: "When I finish this chapter."
Then 10-20 minutes later, I'm playing B.arbies WITH Em. Though I do have to say, she played for 35 minutes ALONE yesterday. I was excited, and able to read a LOT! :)

--I guess I should also add this part of the conversation:
Em: "I didn't like this B.arbie's bangs, so I cut them off."
Me: (Thinking, at least it was the $1 clearance B.arbie) "WHAT? Why did you do that?"
Em: "They were prickly and I didn't like them, so I cut them."
(She's right, they were super glued hairsprayed so that the "bangs" would stay in their permanent B.arbie curl.)

--B.arbie DreamHouse: Yes, mine was the 3-story one with the elevator. (As an aside, I have a fond childhood memory of the Christmas morning when I was 6 or 7. Going downstairs and seeing the large B.arbie house with my stocking....pure bliss!) (Oops...according to g.oogle images, I had the "Town House," not the "Dream House.")

--B.arbie prices: I agree, I can't believe how expensive some of them are!! I've been meaning to ask my mom... Surely they weren't this expensive when I was younger? (I will say that "Santa" found a few at B.ig L.ots for $5 last year. Yea!)

--As I was nearing the end of my childhood B.arbie phase, I loved the Day-to-Night Barbie. Just found this pic on g.oogle:




The gist of this B.arbie is that she had a business suit for "daytime" work. Then you could remove the suit jacket and the skirt was reversible with a fancy "night time" party-type skirt. I SOOOO LOVED this B.arbie! The website I found this pic on said she is from 1985, which means I was 10. Ode to memories. (I still have the B.arbie, hat, purse, and briefcase...her suit was ruined when my parents' basement flooded a few years back. Sighs.)


If I recall correctly, I received the B.arbie for my birthday in April, and then this for Christmas:

The home/office. LOVED it. The "home" side had a bedroom for B.arbie, complete with bed, wardrobe, and vanity. I loved the B.arbie-sized brush, perfume, photo of Ken, etc. it came with.

The "office" side had a desk with computer, telephone, business-type newspaper, office chair, and other work-related items.

Yesterday when I was playing with Em, I decided to get my old B.arbie Home & Office out of the garage. She was tickled to see something "new" as I unveiled it. When we opened up the house, and Em unfolded the B.arbie's bed, the old foam mattress and pillow had disintegrated. There were teal "crumbs" all over my living room. As we have beige carpet, this was not good. I vacuumed today...not all of it came up. I think some of the pieces are down in my carpet fibers.

DH went and bought new vacuum bags, so I'm hoping when I re-vacuum tomorrow the rest will come up. If not, I'll have to post pictures...there are 9 teal blotches throughout our living room. (Why? Because I made the mistake of handing the leftover B.arbie mattress remnants to Em and asked her to put them in the trashcan. She meandered through the living room dropping pieces as she walked to the trash can. UGH!)

NOTE to anyone storing old 1980's toys: If they have FOAM parts, REMOVE the foam prior to storing. (For example, old F.isher P.rice hospital and/or house beds had foam pieces in them, my old F.isher P.rice Doctor's Kit had foam in the stethoscope---these foam things have also disintegrated over time. Maybe it's due to being stored in our garage in the Florida heat? I dunno...but I'm praying the teal foam B.arbie bed remnants come out of our carpet!)

Swimming: The town I grew up in has one large city pool. My parents always had a "family membership" for us to use each summer when we were growing up. I don't remember the $$, but I know there was also an admission fee for those without memberships. I've been in Jacksonville for 11 years now. And though the pools are smaller (and don't have concession stands) than the one in my hometown, they are FREE, clean, and nice. And like I said----we hit pay dirt this year. I've learned that 3-5 p.m. is the "golden ticket." The summer camp kiddos have left by then. Many of the evening crowd aren't home from work yet. When Em and I were at the pool yesterday, there were only 6 other people there. It was awesome!

Zoo: We're zoo members, because our local zoo is only 10 minutes from our house, so we go several times a year. With that being said, sometimes I take Em knowing that we may only go for a few hours if it is toooooo blazing hot out. I was VERY surprised yesterday. I thought it would be much more crowded, as it is summer time. It was NOT crowded at all. In fact, 2 different zoo workers mentioned that when it is in the 90's, there tends to be low attendance.

This worked out great for us, as we had close-up views of the jaguar and bonobo monkeys. Em was the ONLY person on the carousel when she rode it. We didn't have to wait in line for lunch. The water park area was a little crowded, but still not as congested as I've seen it before. We were very pleasantly surprised!

Crying at T.arget: Okay, so this wasn't a question, but I'm going to share anyway...

On Sunday DH, Em and I went to T.arget. As we were walking through the store, DH was pushing the cart, as Em and I walked behind him. For some reason, Em went up behind DH, stuck her hands in both of the "butt-pockets" on his shorts, jumped up in the air, and then HUNG on his POCKETS. You can imagine what happened next....Emma nearly fell over. DH's pants dropped to his knees. DH turned around and quickly pulled his pants up.

Being the kind-hearted wife that I am, I started laughing hysterically. Hunched over, side hurting, tears rolling down my face laughing. I still don't know why it seemed so funny to me. Maybe it was the "Oh shit!" look on DH's face?? Maybe it was seeing his entire butt in the middle of a somewhat crowded store? His bum wasn't exposed---he was wearing underwear, but his entire underwear-covered butt was OUT for a moment. Giggles. Truly....HILARIOUS!

Whew! I think that's all for now.

This post has been brought to you by the letter B and the number 10. :)

Random Ruminations

Nothing much going on...we've been house cleaning and "hanging out." (My sister arrives from Ohio this Thursday, so we're prepping for her visit. And when she leaves next week, Em and I are going with her---so I have to have our laundry and packing ready.)

Barbies: Today Em was super excited to set up a "Barbie Wedding."

The Bride and Groom (sorry picture isn't vertical.)

Glued to the TV---watching the DVD from my wedding with DH back in '98

(Cracked me up when she tried to replicate some of our wedding stuff into her Barbie wedding. Too sweet!)



Em's favorite part was dressing all of her Barbies and placing them in seats to
"watch" the wedding. The Barbie wedding and preparations lasted about 2 1/2 hours. (Just like her mama...I spent maaaaaany hours playing with Barbies when I was young.)

As an aside---I found two B.arbies on clearance at W.algreen's last week for only $1.00 each. Wow! And I thought my prior B.ig L.ots $5 deal was good. :)

Anybody out there play with B.arbies in the '80's? Do you recognize the furniture her B.arbies are sitting on? It's the furniture from my old 3-story B.arbie D.reamhouse which I passed down to Em at Christmas time last year.


Zoo: Yesterday we went to the Zoo...

On the carousel


Brushing the goats....Goat #1 (Can't get my pics to "rotate" horizontal today, sorry.)


With Goat #2

Thanks to the J.acksonville J.aguars NF.L team and its owners, the Jax Zoo has the largest collection of Jaguars at any U.S. zoo. A baby jag, Harry, was born at the Zoo this past January. Em and I were excited to see him up and active yesterday, as at prior zoo visits he was sleeping, or laying quietly beside his mother...

Just scratching...



Mama Jaguar on left, baby Harry on right



Isn't he gorgeous?

Swimming: I'm still amazed that the City Pools here are FREE! There are 20 or so pools throughout the city that have free admission. Em and I went again this afternoon. We found a nice local pool that isn't crowded. This is the second time we've gone from about 3-5 p.m. Had a great not toooo hot swim. It was super. Em is getting the knack of going under water by herself, and kicking/doggie paddling independently (with floaties.) She'll take her first ever swim lessons at the pool in my hometown when we're in Ohio in 2 weeks. (The same pool my younger sister and I learned to swim in. Ahhh, the circle of life.)

School: I've loved procrastinating and putting off doing any school work. I WILL work on somethings (lesson planning, vocabulary ideas, etc.) during the time we're at my parents' house. I've enjoyed my three weeks with NO school work though. :)

House: DH painted much of the outside house trim this past weekend, and the railings on our front porch. The house looks MUCH better! :)

Exercise: I'm pleased with myself right now. I've stuck with the W.ii A.ctive 30-day challenge program. I still find the exercise program motivating and I like the variety of exercise movements. I believe today I'm on day 12 of the program. Yea!

I think that is all the latest. :)

Random Ruminations

Summer: Em and I have been enjoying summer outings. Today we went to the amazing downtown library. We participated in Story Time (which always ends with a story and song sung by an animatronic owl---WAY cool!) and Family Art Time. The "Main Library" downtown is literally the largest public library in Florida. It is amazing! I'll have to take pics for Show&Tell one of these days. :)

Today our friends from Em's gymnastics class went with us. It was our first non-gymnastics related play date with them. It went really well---Em and M hit it off well. His Mom, G and I got along great. I even legitimately ogled his 7-month old brother WITHOUT jealousy pangs, yea me! (And of course somehow the conversation somehow led to IF at one point, wherein I learned G had 2 miscarriages and struggled to get PG prior to the birth of her baby. Sighs.) Hooray for new friends!!

"Cool" Play yards: One thing that drives me insanely crazy is the LACK of inside and/or shaded play areas here in Florida. When it is in the 90's as it has been the past week and a half, it is difficult to find outings where Em can run/play/exercise in a cool environment. ALL of the B.urger K.ings nearby have taken down their play equipment...I'm guessing someone somewhere sued them. This is a bummer b/c there was a B.K. with a ginormous and amazing Kid's area...that now has tables and "Free WiFi" instead of the play yard equipment. We sometimes end up at C.hic F.ilet, which is fine, but their play yard isn't very large.
There are many local Mc.Donald's, however the majority of those with play areas have OUTDOOR play yards. I'm fine with this, as I enjoy spending time outside...except, they don't have shade. Who designs this stuff? Play yards in FL with NO shade?
Kind of like our favorite local park...great swings and jungle-gym type equipment...but we can only go in the evenings this time of year, or we'll scorch! Once again---no shade. Luckily, both malls that are nearby have indoor play areas.
This morning I searched online to see if there were any Mc.Donald's with indoor play yards. I found one---10 miles from the downtown library. Ahhh, what the heck...we didn't have anything planned after our library play date. Em and I lunched and then she played for TWO HOURS while I finished my 800+ page book "The Sweet, Far Thing"....all in the air conditioning. Super sweet...definitely worth the extra drive.

Mail: The first 2 sentences of a letter I received from my insurance company last month:
"Our records indicate that you may have already delivered, or are expecting in the very near future! We would like to remind you to schedule an after-delivery (also called postpartum) exam." If I go to the footnote at the bottom of the page it states, "If this is not the case, please call Member Services at the toll-free number on your ID card so that we can correct our records." ACK! Blasted insurance company. My summer was going great...I didn't need a January miscarriage 'reminder.' Not to mention, even if I was still pregnant, I wouldn't be due until mid-September, not the "very near future" in my book. Ugh!

Yesterday's mail included a letter to all teachers employed in my school district. It includes some "minor benefit changes" that went into effect on 10/1/08: Items no longer covered by our insurance include "routine eye exams, infertility treatment, and massage therapy." ARG. Though DH and I still don't know our next steps on the IF journey, it saddens me to know that my employer/insurance benefits no longer cover IF treatment for those who choose to pursue IF treatment options. (Not to mention my yearly eye exam, dang it!) Blasted insurance companies.

Exercise: On Thursday DH and I bought "Active," a new W.ii exercise game. (Click HERE for the info link.) We both enrolled in the "30 Day Challenge." WHEW! It is a killer! Even at the low-level, our quad muscles are killing us today! (This secretly makes me happy, as DH has been a runner for 5 years....knowing that he is in pain along with me and my newly-exercising-fat-butt makes me feel like the exercise is really working. Am I sick, or what?) We both LOVE it thus far. Especially as compared to the W.ii Fit. I enjoy W.ii Fit, but frankly it can take up to 2 hours for me to feel I've had a true workout. With the Active, my muscles are totally burning today, after only 22 minutes Thursday and 30 minutes yesterday. Sweet!

Smiles:
--Today marks the last day of my first full-week of summer vacation. Ahhh. I'm loving it! :)
--An Emmaism: On a picture of a volcano: "Why does that volcano keep interrupting?" LOL.
--My summer reading is underway. I've stayed up late reading the past few nights. LOVE it!
--ICLW starts tomorrow. :)

Summer Ruminations

--All day yesterday I was singing the "What Time is It?" song from (I'm sad to admit) High School Musical 2...
What time is it?
Summertime!
It's our vacation.
What time is it?
Party time.
That's right, say it loud!

--Today is my first day of SUMMER!!!!!!!!! Woot woot! As we have to pay for Em's preschool/daycare a week at a time, she'll still be going through the end of this week so I can have some much needed ME time. Yippee!

--Part of my "me time" sadly includes some major household cleaning. But I'm trying not to do too much, as I know I can do some cleaning next week (and beyond) when Em is home with me.

--My sister sent me a gift certificate for a massage for my birthday...I wonder if it's too short notice to cash in on it this week? Hmmm....

--There are 40 books in the Scholastic Read180 collection, used in my reading classroom. I've brought the 35 I haven't read yet home with me so that I can read them this summer. This will really help me have "book talks" with my students next year. (And before you freak out, while some of the books are 200+ pages, many "Level 1" books are only 40 pages or so, enabling me to read multiple books in one day. I love to read---but even I wouldn't try to conquer 35 ginormous books in one summer!)

--I'm currently reading the 3rd book of the Gemma Doyle trilogy and am LOVING it. I have enjoyed these three books thoroughly and am eager to find some other great summer reads!

--I think I'll head to Kohl's today. I received a 15% off EVERYTHING in the store coupon in the mail this week. I can't resist! And I could use some new sandals anyway...

--I'm determined to enjoy every moment, as summer always flies by in a whirlwind. Our plans this year:
--June: Em and I will have local excursions---zoo, beach, parks, picnics, hanging out at
home, library, etc.
--July: My sister Laurel will be visiting the first week of the month. Can't wait to see her!
--After she visits with us, Em and I will travel to Ohio with her. Laurel will return to her
apartment, and Em and I will stay at my parents house. (Em touched my heart this week.
I asked her what she most wants to do this summer. She said, "Go to Grandma and
Grandpa's house." Awww!)
--We'll have playdates galore with our Ohio friends and family while we're in Ohio. Yippee!
DH will join us for his 2-week vacation for part of the month. Yea!
--My older sister, Michelle will also visit at some point. (I haven't seen her for several
years and Em has never met her...it will be nice to finally connect!) (She lives in Seattle,
WA. The distance and $$$ make it difficult for us to visit one another.) (She just
finished earning her Ph.D GO, MICHELLE!!! YOU SUPERSTAR! She was hired by Drew
University in New Jersey, so will be moving to the East Coast. Yippee! We can likely
see each other much more often now!)
--August: Em will stay with my parents while I attend a "Girl Power" reunion with my
college gal pals. (Click HERE to view my post about last year's fun Girl Power adventure.)
This year we're going to NYC for an extended weekend. Should be a blast!
--After GP weekend, Em and I will be returning to FL...where we'll only have 2 weeks left
before back-to-school time starts again.
--Whew!

--Ever since I typed the "What Time is It" lyric above, I keep having random summer-y songs pop into my head...
"Summer lovin' had me a blast...summer lovin' happened so fast." (Grease!)

"School's out for summer!" (Alice Cooper)

"It's a cruel ... cruel ... cruel summer. Leaving me here on my own. It's a cruel ... it's a
cruel ... cruel summer. Now you've gone" (Bananarama)

"Summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime...." (The Jamies) (I admit, I had
to look the artist up on this one.)

"I got my first real 6-string. Bought it at the 5-and-dime. Played it 'til my fingers bled.
Was the summer of '69." (Bryan Adams)

--Some good 'ole Beach Boys: "We're waxing down our surfboards. We can't wait for
June. We'll all be gone for the summer. We're on safari to stay. Tell the teacher we're
surfin'. Surfin' U.S.A."

--"I remember how you loved me. Time was all we had until the day we said goodbye.
But I remember every moment of those endless summer nights." (Richard Marx)

--"Hot town, summer in the city. Back of my neck getting dirty
and gritty..." (The Lovin' Spoonful) (I had to G.oogle the artist on this one too.)

Cracking myself up here....I'll stop with one of my current favorites:
"And we were tryin' different things. And we were smokin' funny things. Makin' love down by the lake to our favorite song. Sipping whiskey out the bottle. Not thinking 'bout tomorrow. Singin' 'Sweet Home Alabama' all summer long." (LOVE this Kid Rock song. Though I didn't smoke, have sex, or drink in high school...I definitely relate to the "Sweet Home Alabama" and "caught between a boy and man" (girl and woman in my case, of course) that he sings about as he reminisces 1989---my freshman year of high school.

Hooray for summer!

Ruminating

Nothing really new going on...just some things I've been ruminating about lately.

--Allergies--My newly diagnosed Hay Fever is kicking my butt! I am thrilled that I don't have a throbbing headache as I did most of the weekend. However, I have a scratchy throat and mild congestion. Mostly, I am just SOOOO TIRED. The Zyrtec is helping, but it makes me so very sleepy. Seriously... I can't believe how wiped out I am. The doctor gave me a narcotic to take "as needed for pain," but of course one of it's side effects is drowsiness, so I haven't taken any since I was off school on Monday.

--Teacher--There is a teacher from my school who is in a chemical induced coma after suffering brain damage after having multiple seizures over the weekend. (Cause of seizures is unknown.) She's a cancer survivor in her young 40's, with a son who attends 7th grade at my school. It is just so heartbreaking...the email my principal sent to the faculty made it sound as though her husband doesn't expect her to live through the week. Makes me remember to be grateful for each day....
--She was the co-teacher/inclusion teacher many of my students had when they were in 7th grade last year. Thus, it's been a difficult week helping the students to cope.

--Home--DH and I are going on our first date night since my parents were here in November! Yea! We're going to dinner and to see the musical "Wicked" this weekend. I'm really looking forward to it. :)

--Emmaism-- Emma has been very into spelling lately. Especially opposites yes/no, in/out, open/closed, etc. Yesterday we were riding in the car and she said, "Mommy what does WEJZ spell?" She became upset when I told her it doesn't spell anything. "Yes it does! It's always in your car! You know, 96.1 WEJZ."

Heheeee. Go my little speller!

Why I'm blue...

I have the blues. Sighs. Here's what's going on in my world...

--We just got back from 3 weeks in Ohio. My daughter, DH, and I were spoiled by an abundance of time with my parents and younger sister. Now we are back in Florida and I miss them all.

--It is BLAZING hot here. (Sign at Walgreen's today said 99 degrees...there's nothing like sweating just by walking to the mailbox. And NO, I don't have a long driveway.)

--I have baby longings. I've been off the pill for a year and 7 months. No baby. Am I too old? Too fat? Too out of shape? Is child #2 just not meant to be? My cycle was late when we left for Ohio. I was so excited to think that we might be pregnant and actually able to tell my parents about the pregnancy in person this time, instead of via the phone like when I was pregnant with my daughter. Confession: I even bought a hpt....and literally started my period the day after the blasted test was negative. I haven't been to the OB for a yearly check for almost 2 years, because I am afraid what she will tell me. Am I pathetic, or what??

--My younger sister and I are 4 years and 8 months apart...I don't want Emma and any future siblings to be much farther apart than that. Emma turns 4 in September. Sighs. This means I need to get pregnant soon.

--School starts in 3 weeks. While I am extremely excited to be teaching at a new school this year, I don't want the summer to end! I am enjoying Mommy-and-Emma time!

--I went yesterday to see my new classroom for the first time. The prior teacher did not take down anything! I stopped counting at 35 posters that are stapled into the wall. In addition, the desk drawers and cabinets are still full of stuff (including 30+ bottles of silly-string spray...sadly I'm NOT kidding.) I resent that I have to spend time clearing out her crap before I can begin to get my own stuff ready.

--Our yard looks like a mini jungle. We just got back from vacation...it is overgrown and our yard guy hasn't returned my phonecalls. Our lawn mower broke a few months ago, so even if I wanted to mow it myself, I can't.

--I was raised in Ohio. I lived there until just after I graduated from college, when I moved to Florida to live with DH (whom I met in college.) I am still in touch with one close friend I've known since 3rd grade. In addition, I still have some girlfriends from college who I am in contact with.
Since moving to Florida, I have struggled to make girlfriends. It is hard to find people with similar values and/or interests. Those who I have found: Alex---moved to North Carolina last September, MaryAnn---moved to Indiana last November, and now Teri---moved to Michigan last month. What the heck?? For some reason this is a very transient city. I am praying to make some new friends at my school this year.

--I don't know where I want to be. This time last year I was gung-ho on moving back to Ohio. Then in December, DH's grandmother passed away and we went to Ohio for her funeral services. It wasn't even a rough part of winter while we were there. But boy oh boy did I realize how much I hate the snow, dreary weather, and bitter cold. I hate being far from my family, but the 1 - 2 months of extreme heat here are much less than the 4 (sometimes 4+) months of winter they have there. Ugh.

Okay...enough wallowing...