SURPRISE

We're at my parents' to surprise my mom for her birthday!

Wake Up Call

Nate and I were awoken this morning at 7:10 AM to knocking on our bedroom door (the one that leads to the deck). It seems our Little Neighbor (LN) was very excited about seeing his new bike. We will be having a talk about appropriate and inappropriate times to visit very soon.

Bike!

I sent an email out to the teachers I work with and within a few minutes, I had 5 offers for bikes for my little neighbor. We got one today and although I was initially concerned about it's condition (namely that the brakes weren't working) with a little TLC from Chuck, it's now functioning and ready to make a little boy's day!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my Mommy's birthday! I love her so much!

PR

I'm on the PR committee which had a 2 hour lunch meeting. Good thing I love this school. It was actually a very good meeting, even though it did steal my afternoon.

Cataloging

I cataloged 5 books just now.  I decided see if I catalog 2 a day how long it will take me to finish my stack.  I should be able to finish my mid October.  Maybe I should do a few more today.  Blah.  I don't like cataloging.

Disappointment

The internet is working.  Guess I will be too.

To Go or Not To Go

There's no point in going to work if the internet is still down. Too bad I have to get ready and go just to find out.

3rd Place

We got 3rd place at trivia again tonight!

Tattoo Update

So I went back to the place where I got my tattoo and he said I have some scar tissue, but that if I give it another 3 or 4 weeks, it should be healed. Here's hoping!

If You Feed Them, They Will Come

My little visitor from Monday morning came again today around lunch with his cousin- soaking wet because they walked here in the rain. They wanted to play with the cats and eat cereal.

Rough Morning

These are the things that suck:

• no internet at school, so I can't get my work done
• class rosters rearranged, so I have to redo half my work from Friday
• principal vetoes what I decided to for AR, but insists that I figure out how to change it on my own
• got a 43% on a big class assignment that didn't have a rubric, so I didn't know it was not what he wanted
• due to above grade, I got my first B in grad school
  

Morning Rain

I like it when it's raining in the morning.

Movie I Want To See

I want to see this movie. Who will go with me?

Weekly Walk

What a nice walk (followed by a long conversation sitting on the floor in the hallway) Noelle, Megs, and I just had!

Shopping with Noelle

Noelle and I went shopping at several thrift shops today. We're looking for a bike for an 8 year old boy in the neighborhood. While we didn't find one, we did find dinosaur sheets, cute skirts, and some fabric for Noelle's classroom. Anyone know where we can find an inexpensive children's bike?

Furloughed

Even though they promised it wouldn't happen, Troup County teachers have been furloughed 3 days this year. I'm not very upset though, because DFCS workers have been furloughed 1 day month for a year and their job is as important as teachers! I just wish they didn't pick one of our preplanning days to tell us we can't work. There's too much to get done!

Miscommunication

The trip to Decatur was successful with the exception of a miscommunication between Nate and me that resulted in going 3 stations too far. We had a great time with Andrew and Kara and we even discovered that Marta has a bus that could take Nate the mile from the station to the school. All in all, a great trip.

Marta

Nate and I are about to drive up to the nearest Marta station and ride Marta to Decatur to time Nate's commute for the fall, then we're having dinner with Andrew and Kara!

Breakfast Visitor

At about 8:05 one of the neighborhood kids arrived at our house 55 minutes early for camp. I guess he was excited about going swimming! We had breakfast together and played with the cats until a more reasonable hour. We had 8 kids come to the pool and everyone had a great time.

Swimming

Today is the last day of our neighborhood camp so we're taking the kids swimming at the college pool!

Nothing to Say

I just wanted to make sure you know that the reason I'm not posting today is because I have nothing to say. Yep, I just wasted your time.

Dinner and Dessert

Nate made these amazing balsamic honey pork chops for dinner and then we rode down town to the new ice cream shop for dessert. Yum!

Random

As if my blog posts aren't random enough, here's a random list of things I did today:

• bought a loaf of bread, jar of salsa, and 2 cucumbers at the farmer's market
  
• finished shampooing the carpet
• 2 loads of laundry
• worried that my tattoo STILL isn't healed
• cut out the pieces for the dress I'm making
• yelled at the cats for rolling on my clean carpet
• read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  

Farmer's Market

Nate and I are about to bike down to the farmer's market!

Pizza and Ninja Turtles

Good thing we had pizza for dinner because I would have been craving it after watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Secret of the Ooze.

Nevaeh

I just entered a new student into the system- Nevaeh.  Heaven spelled backwards.  I read it was a popular name a few years back and I wondered when I'd meet a little girl with this name.  Guess I will in a few days.

Impressive

Our new principal has already impressed me.  Not only did she move nearly every teacher's classroom but she also vetoed the new PTO president and is appointing a new one.  This woman does what she thinks is best for the school and she's not afraid who she ticks off or how much work is involved.  Impressive.

iPod

I am thankful for my iPod because it makes the tedious work of putting students' names into 2 computer systems bearable. 

Shapooing the Carpet

This afternoon, I will be shampooing the carpet.

Breakfast Entertainment

Nobby is attacking the rug by the front door as if it is the most deadly enemy.

Jim Dale

Nate and I are just about to finish listening to Harry Potter 4 on CD. It's performed by Jim Dale. He's the best.

New Principal

I just met with the new principal.  I really want her to like me and think I'm good at my job.

Visit

I got to visit with Danielle, her mom, and Noelle this evening. It was very, very nice. I will not give up plotting ways to make her come live in LaGrange.

Disney Withdrawl

Nate and I are suffering from Disney withdrawl.

Tattoo Bumps

After some internet research, it seems that my tattoo has had a bad reaction to sunscreen/sun/sweat or something because it's all bumpy and itchy.  Ugh.  I can't wait for it to be healed!  I'm had to wear my wrist band all during these meetings.  Partially because I don't know how my new principal will react to it and partially because it's so ugly right now.  I want it to be pretty!

Where to Start

I'm kind of glad for these meetings today.  If I had to work in my office, I wouldn't know where to start.  Piles of books to be cataloged, stacks of magazines to check in, lists of kids to put in the system, books to order, supplies to purchase... Guess I'll have to figure it out tomorrow.

Not how I wanted to spend my morning

I've been called into school today for 10 meetings with parents to decide if their 8th graders will pass to the 9th grade. Boo.

DONE

As far as I know, I am done, done, done with my masters!

Nervous

I'm sitting here in the lab waiting for our presentations to start.  I forgot my jump drive back-up and I don't have a pen.  Hopefully that's the worst that will happen tonight.  Please pray that everything goes smoothly.

MASTER

In a few short hours, I will have my masters of education in school library media. I'm presenting my portfolio this evening and then I'm done!

Favorites

Here are some of my Disney favorites:

• Animal Kingdom
• Expedition Everest
• fruit bats
  
• Epcot
• soft pretzels and ice cream
• fireworks
• the Toy Story ride at Hollywood Studios
  
• Japanese food
• Nate getting to be an extra in the Indiana Jones show
  
• time with family

Magical

Our Disney vacation was magical. I'll post pictures when I have time.

Did I Mention...

that we're going to Disney! Today!!!

Dinner

We're off to enjoy dinner with some wonderful folks from down the street.

Mending Basket

My mending basket is finally empty! Today I mended 3 pairs of pants, 2 skirts, and altered one bridesmaid dress. Now all I have left to sew is my sundress. I'm hoping to have it done before school starts.

Mario Marathon

Nate has been playing video games on the TV while watching people play video games streamed through his laptop. I would get onto him more, but at least it's for a good cause. We donated that the Yoshi level! Check it out.

Harry Potter

I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Looking forward to listening to the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in the car tomorrow. DISNEY here we come!!

Lunch

My oh-so-healthy lunch consisted of popcorn, pineapple, and a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Regrets

I really, really, really wish I had not gone to see Bruno last night.

Packing

I've been packing for Disney. I think I'm one of the few people in the world who really enjoys packing. In my mind, it builds up anticipation of the trip- thinking about what we'll do, what I need to bring, what I'll wear. Disney in 2 days!!!

Window of Productivity

I am absolutely the most productive during the 2 hours directly after I wake up. Productivity increases significantly if I have not yet taken a shower.

DONE!!!

Today I completed all of my projects for my masters AND I finished sewing Nate's laptop bag!

Brief Reflection Paper

This "brief" reflection paper is going on 4 pages and I've only answered 5 out of 9 questions. This is redundent and stupid.

Disney- A Retrospective

And here are the pictures of my first trip to Disney. My grandparents took me (10) and Laura (7). Don't you love the matching outfits?

Disney- A Retrospective

Now that I am only one short paper away from being done with my schoolwork, I can focus on our vacation in Disney! Thanks to my movie project and a new scanner, I found these pictures of my previous Disney trips. We'll start with the most recent (11 years ago).

Here I am with some of my chorus pals on our 8th grade trip to Disney. Please notice I'm not the only one wearing a fanny pack.

Puffy

It's been a week and a half since I got my tattoo and it's still really raised and puffy. It doesn't hurt, it just looks like a tree shaped puffy scab. I hope it's just because I have sensitive skin or something.

Calling All Tech Savvy Friends!

My electronic portfolio is a PowerPoint presentation. It has links to other documents which are all included in one folder. I've checked it several times and I still can't figure out why the links stop working when I zip it or put it on a CD and try it on another computer. Any suggestions?

Electronic Portfolio

I am loading my Electronic Portfolio (aka final project for my master's program) onto the UWG server right now. It's currently at 5%. Once it's done, all I have to do is finish my movie and write a reflection paper for psychology class.

13 pounds!

Mrs. Reynolds went to the vet yesterday. We've had her on a diet for the last year and I was looking forward to finding out how much weight she lost. NONE! She still weighs 13 pounds! I don't know what we're doing wrong.

Almost Done

I have 3 minutes of my movie done, only about 45 more seconds to go! 2 days left to get a lot of school work done.

Blame Game

Our washing machine shakes so badly it sounds like it's going to bust through the laundry room doors when it's on the spin cycle. The appliance people said the floor is weak. The floor people say the machine is out of balance. No one fixes it. It still shakes.

Clean

After a relaxing bubble bath, I'm getting into fresh-from-the-dryer clean sheets. I feel so wonderfully clean and content.

Summer Evening Walks

It's 9:15 PM and only just getting dark. I love walking in my neighborhood on summer evenings. Everyone's out on their porch. On this evening's walk, Megs and I visited with TK admiring both her home improvements then Megs'. Then on my way back home, I talked with the neighbors. Looks like I'm going to bake them some banana bread in exchange for getting the lawn mowed. I love summer evening walks!

Camp Viola

Nate and I are off to Camp Viola for the evening. I love serving with Ms. Beth!

Scanner

We just bought a scanner so I can scan about 50 pictures of myself into the computer for that movie project. The idea is to show how as I've grown, I've had educational experiences that have shaped my philosophy on teaching. Hopefully it will work!

Movie

Today I am going to start on the most ridiculous project I have ever had. I have to make a movie (3-5 minutes) based on my philosophy on teaching. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have no idea where to start.

Food

I was all ready to post about the homemade pizza (with homemade crust!) we'll be enjoying for dinner with a few of our frineds when I realized just how many of my posts are about food. I wonder what that says about me.

Muggy

It was muggy all day yesterday. It stormed all night (we lost power for a few hours). It's muggy again today. Blah. Humidity sucks.

Cinnamon Friendship Bread

Today I am baking a bunch of cinnamon friendship bread. Instead of passing on the starter, I plan on sharing some freshly baked, super yummy bread with some neighbors this evening.

Soundtrack

I'm an thoroughly enjoying the Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog soundtrack.

Fireworks and Friends

We're enjoying cooking out, backyard fireworks, and the company of a few friends this evening!

Killer at Large

Nate is watching this movie about obesity while I'm working on my school work. What bothers me the most about our country's obesity epidemic is that there are people here who are dying from too much food while people all over the world are dying of too little food. Surely there's a way to balance it out so everyone has the right amount.

Blueberry Picking

I'm going to pick blueberries at TK's right now!

Glad to be Home

After 2 weeks of traveling all over the place, I'm glad to have a whole week at home. We took Nobby to the vet and though he was dehydrated, we think he'll be alright. I'm trying to get some school work and house work done before we leave for Disney.

My Poor Kitty

Nobby is sick and home alone. We're currently south of Charlotte and spending the night. I hope to be home comforting my baby cat by noon.

Air Mattress

Our air mattress deflated after about 20 minutes last night. It appears the cats got to it sometime since we last used it.