14 Weeks

Welcome to the second trimester! This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb. Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb. In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches — about the size of a lemon — and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces.
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Okay, this week in our life:

- I've done lots and lots of cleaning in the bedrooms. With a lot of help from my mom, we actually got just about everything done that I had planned to do this summer. Of course, I planned to get all that done much earlier in the summer. Of course, I didn't plan on being so incapacitated so early on.

- One of the big reasons that I needed to get my butt in gear and get things cleaned up around here was because my mom and I hosted a shower for my good friend, K, at my house. She and her husband are adopting a beautiful 6 year old girl after many years of fertility issues. It's so amazing to see how life turns out. You think you want something for so so long and then BAM! Your destiny presents itself in a very different way. It's wonderful to see them all together - they all just can't stop smiling. :) I couldn't be happier for them! Anyway, the shower was this evening and everything went very well. It was great to see some folks from school that we hadn't seen in quite some time. We have a great group of women that work together.

- One of the other big reasons for the big clean up push, is because it's time to start going back to school. People who are not teachers have no idea how much time it takes to get an elementary classroom ready for the school year. No, we do not show up the first day of school - our first contract day, with the room and materials all set. Pretty much every elementary teacher I know spends at LEAST one, and usually two, weeks prior to the start of the year in their room every day getting everything ready. Yes, it's a lot of work, but those couple weeks are usually some of my favorite days that I spend in my room. I get it all the way I want and then the little buggers come in and mess it all up! j/k! I love diddling around in my room. Yes, the summer always seems too short. You finally get used to a summer routine and then it's time to get back to the school year routine. I'm anxious for school to start and see how I do with so much more packed into my day. I have had nightmares that I've fallen asleep during reading groups, or that I've taken my kids to music and fallen asleep at my desk and forgotten to get my kids.

- Some excting things happening- I'm currently taking a class through our ISD about writing. I did a similar class last year and LOVED it. Some days I wish that all I had to teach is writing all day. It's hard, it's challenging, but the program we do is awesome. Yes, I get geeked about learning new things. I'm a nerd and proud of it. But I'm a nerd with good hair. :) Also, I am going to a conference OUT OF STATE! Whoohoo! Hotel and room service here I come! This one is about assessments and when I get back, I'll be helping train other teachers in my district about what I learned. No pressure! I'm going to have to take very good notes! The conference is about 6 hours away, and I'll be riding with 2 other women. T asked me the other day if they are aware of how fun I am to ride in the car with. I sleep. The car turns on, and I'm out. Always have, always will. No wonder my parents and my grandparents took me all over the country when I was little - I was a fantastic traveler. No DVD player, no cds - all I needed was a pillow. Anyway - fun, crazy, busy times ahead. My next post will be from KENTUCKY! :)

13 Weeks

How your baby's growing:Fingerprints have formed on your baby's tiny fingertips, her veins and organs are clearly visible through her still-thin skin, and her body is starting to catch up with her head — which makes up just a third of her body size now. If you're having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. Your baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.

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Okay, since my last post, I've thrown up 3 more times and been crazy nauseous. Things are supposed to be getting better!!! Next week marks the start of the second trimester when everything is supposed to be improving. Here's hoping!

Oh, let's see... what's been happening around the 'nac...
-T and I went to another Tiger's game on Friday. Saw another loss. Boo hiss. Apparently, we were not their good luck charm this year.
-Saturday we went and saw T's mom. Two weeks after a full knee replacement, she's up and around and only needs a cane some of the time. Much better than the last time we saw her - the day after her surgery.
-I got a new camera!!! As you all know, I'm a bit of a camera nut - I can't help it, I get it from my mom!! I've had my current digital for the last 4 years and it's still an awesome point and shoot. I wanted something with more zoom and a bunch more fun features. Mission accomplished! So far, in the not even 24 hours since I've had it, all I've taken are pictures of the dogs. They LOVE getting their pic taken. Remy knew the sound of the other camera turning on and would get all jumpy and happy. He doesn't know the new one yet, but I'm sure it won't take him long to figure it out. Anyway, it's 9.1MP, 15x optical zoom and lots of fun things to do with it. I seem to do a new camera every 4 years. My first was a Mavica that recorded to a floppy disc (scary thing= my school used the same camera until just a few months ago) and was 1.something megapixels. ACK! My second, 5.1MP, 3x optical zoom. This newest camera was also the cheapest of any of my cameras. Man, I love technology!! :) Now, we're looking at video cameras. I have a feeling we'll be getting one for bday or Christmas - in time for February 14! Shelley- if you are reading this - follow our example and get your booty to the store and upgrade, sweetheart!!!! (Shelley is my sister-in-law and has used the same camera ever since I've known her and I know she had had it a while at that point, what was that, 6 years ago that I met you!?!?) :)

I have some college friends coming over this afternoon, including one of my bridesmaids that I haven't seen since our wedding!! Fun times. :)

It's been a gorgeous weekend in Michigan- I hope it's been nice wherever you are! :)

Appointment

Today I went for my 12 week appt. I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! Whosh-whosh-whosh-whosh. A strong and steady 150 bpm! :)

Everything else was great - blood pressure, proteins, sugar, and all the other stuff they can tell from my cup contribution.

In other news... tomorrow is my last day of teaching summer school. Yay! It's good $$, but I'm ready for it to be done. Sleeping in until 9am- here I come! I want to enjoy it for my last few weeks before real school starts.

12 Weeks

Today marks 12 weeks:

How your baby's growing:The most dramatic development this week: Reflexes. Your baby's fingers will soon begin to open and close, his toes will curl, his eye muscles will clench, and his mouth will make sucking movements. In fact, if you prod your abdomen, your baby will squirm in response, although you won't be able to feel it. His intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into his abdominal cavity about now, and his kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder.Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and in your baby's brain, synapses are forming furiously. His face looks unquestionably human: His eyes have moved from the sides to the front of his head, and his ears are right where they should be. From crown to rump, your baby-to-be is just over two inches long (about the size of a lime) and weighs half an ounce.

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Does anyone else out there think that a proper lime is larger than 2 inches?

This week has been much more uneventful and that's great!! During the week, I mostly layed low in the afternoons to catch up on my rest. I felt much better. Maybe I'm getting to that "feeling not like crap anymore" stage. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Friday night we went out to a lovely fancy dinner with some friends at the English Inn in Eaton Rapids. Wow! I was impressed! I hope I get to go back someday! I had Lobster and enjoyed every second. :)

Saturday I slept in and then my mom came over to help with some reorganization. Holy cow, I can't believe all that we got done. Basically, my closet set-up was as follows: The closet off our bedroom contained all T's clothes, and my in season things, the closet in what will be the nursey contained my off-season clothes, and a closet in the basement held my fancy/show clothes that I don't need to look at every day. Please note that I love clothes. Therefore, I have a ton of them. Shopping used to be a part of my weekly routine. It was a rare weekend that I didn't visit a mall. And these closets I am referring to are large walk-ins and a 6 foot long closet. I wanted to condense things down to just have all my clothes in one closet. Crazy thought, I know! So my mom came over and I totally purged an ass-load of clothes. Many still had the tags on or were only worn once. I will be having a massive garage sale on Aug 23 - if anyone out there wears size L-XL, size 14 - it will be like a department store! We even got the things I dug out priced! It was a big day!

On Friday, we are getting a pellet stove insert for our fireplace. T did lots and lots of research, and after receiving our projected propane budget (which went up over $100 a month!), we took the plunge and ordered one. Basically, with the cost of the wood pellets, we would spend approx. $600 a winter to heat our home, as opposed to $3600 to heat with only propane. Ouch! We figured it would take only a couple years for the insert to pay for itself at this savings! With all the other expenses coming, wherever we can save, we're going to jump at it! I'm also very seriously considering using cloth diapers for the baby - save money and the environment. More on that research/decision later...

Oh! And because of the insert, we had to move the furniture in the living room (no furniture can be within 3 feet- and the coffee table was just inside that). Some switcheroo things happened today. I'm still getting used to it. Almost 4 years of having things one way and my diminished brain capacity as of late, have made this change not my favorite. I think that it will be just fine. However, my immediate concern is WHERE WILL THE CHRISTMAS TREE GO?!??! The former spot is now occupied by the giant brown chair. Ugh. I know I have many months to contemplate my options, it's just really bugging me right now. I have to obsess about something!

Heartburn has also entered my life this week. Lovely. I get to go to the doctor for my 12 week appointment on Wednesday. I will be able to hear the heartbeat at that one! **happy happy clap clap clap** More updates after my appt!

11 Weeks!

Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden. She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

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Wow, water ballet. Amazing.

Today I feel like I've been hit by a truck. We had a very full, crazy weekend and my afternoon naps and sleeping in didn't happen. :(

Thursday, Grandma came in from FLA for 3 weeks. Of course, shopping followed.
Friday, T and I went down to the Tigers game. Very fun - until the bottom of the 9th. Pisser. Mom and gma drove me to T's office in East Lansing so I didn't have to drive over and then have to drive home at midnight. Of course, shopping preceeded the dropping off.
Saturday, T and I went to see T's mom in the hospital. She had a full knee replacement on Friday. We visited for a while and watched her do some therapy. Her therapist said she was a rockstar and progressing much better than expected. Yay! Then we came home and I did get to have a bit of a nap before getting ready to go to Wharton to see my fav musical Wicked! This makes 5 times in the last 3 years. We were very disappointed in last year's performance at Wharton and after many email exchanges with people in charge, we were able to get tickets for this year's performance as compensation for our experience last year. MUCH MUCH better this year! :) Very pleased! :)
Sunday, T, Mom, Gma and I went to brunch at Flat River Grill in Lowell and then went down to Otsego for my uncle's retirement party. Lots and lots of people were there that we hadn't seen in ages. It was funny, there were 2 big tents put together outside the golf course and one tent was all Kzoo people and the other was the old Lansing friends and family. Many people got up and told funny/heartwarming/kind/"roast" style stories about my uncle. He was also a basketball coach there for many years, so there were also a lot of funny coaching stories. My cousin got up and made me bawl - he's the more emotional of my cousins and said some very nice things. Then my uncle got up and introduced the family and made a big display of announcing my news! My only wish for the whole day would have been if my grandpa could have been there. He would have absolutely loved it. My uncle was his life for so long and no one was his bigger fan - especially through all his basketball days and coaching days. I'm sure he was there somewhere and was very happy. :)

Anyway, that was my weekend, the long version of it. Sorry, I should have warned you. More interesting gma stories to come...

10 Weeks!

I am now 10 weeks along! Double digits! A quarter of the way there! :)

Here's what my handy dandy web md email had to tell me about the development this week:

"Although he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby now has completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature. If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin."

Crazy all the stuff they know! :)

In other news - the bedrooms are mostly switched now. Our house is looking quite different! I spend a good portion of my weekend on the couch watching furniture go from room to room. My mom came over and cleaned my house! Love mom!!! I thought after all the switching was done that I should have taken pics of before and after. I think that I may have some befores somewhere on my computer. I'll try to post the new views when those rooms finally look acceptable. That could be a while. Still a lot more things to clean out. How did we acquire so much stuff?!?

I have news!!

Okay, I guess it's time to finally share our news - I'm pregnant!!!! We decided to give the whole parenthood thing a try. I am due on February 14, 2009 - yes, a Valentine's baby!

We're crazy busy now getting some rooms switched around. Our current guest room will become the nursery, and our current office/den will become the guest room. Lots of (heavy) furniture going other places.

The last few weeks have basically sucked for me - no energy, no appetite, no sleeping when I need to sleep, and just all around yucky. Although the last 2 days have been much improved. I'm hoping it's a sign of things to come and that the worst is behind me. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

I'll try to update often with all progress! I know I've been a blogger slacker this last year - but now I actually have something to talk about! :)

Anniversary #3!

Wow, it's hard to believe that three years ago today T and I got married. What a crazy, awesome, unbelieveable day that was! Of course there were the minor snags, but all in all it was a fantastic day.

This is the first anniversary that we have not gone back up the Homestead in Glen Arbor for our anniversary. That's one of our very most favorite places in the world and we've spent many weekends there - both skiing in the winter and sunning in the summer. We also spent part of our honeymoon there. We're going on our yearly trip with my parents to a cottage on Hamlin Lake for the week of the 4th, and we leave for that the day after tomorrow. Maybe when our anniversary is closer to a weekend, we can go away again. Tonight we are planning on heading out to the big city of GR (a treat nowadays since we don't go very often due to gas prices!) and going to one of my fav restaurants. Then we're going to do some errands that I've been saving up for our trip to town! Big fun things for a Wednesday night!

Bad, bad blogger

Well, the great lack of posts in the past year or so should tell you about how my life has been since my bday.

I will attempt a quick recap:
Health news:
in the 8 weeks following my bday-
1. My doctor thought that I had appendicitis and I had to be rushed to the hospital for a catscan. It was awful, and turned out that I had swollen lymph nodes around my appendix due to a urinary tract infection. Sucked.
2. I developed my first ulcer! I had some icky stomach pains in the days before, then I woke up at 4am the Tuesday before Thanksgiving thinking I was absolutely going to die. All I could do was lay on the cold bathroom floor shaking and sweating. T was very freaked out. Another trip to the hospital later, and I had an ulcer diagnosis and a handful of pills. Love drugs.

Musical news of the year:
In September I started rehearsals for Little Shop of Horrors. I played Crystal (one of the trio doo-wop girls). Very fun, loved every minute of it. Ulcer #1 popped up the day after we closed. Coincidence? Um, no.

In December I started rehearsals for a two-person musical called The Last Five Years. It's all in song, very cool show. This became my final stage performance. Why not go out on top, eh? Ulcer #2 came into my life right after this show closed. Starting to notice a pattern...

In March, I began rehearsals as the music director for the high school's production of Into the Woods. The show went on Mother's Day weekend - another huge success. I took extra meds as to ward off another ulcer - and it worked! :)

In school news:
My class size doubled this year. Two times as many kids, desks, chairs, and just STUFF in general. It was also a very demanding class. I had the same emotionally and academically needy students that I've always had, now there were twice as many and still only one of me. A long time ago, there was an older teacher who "lost it" while teaching kindergarten and ran up and down the halls screaming. I suddenly could relate to her in a very real way. On a pretty regular basis. The kids weren't bad, just needy and chatty. Very chatty. The year is now done. I never thought it would end. It was pretty horrible. But now it's over and now I get to rest. Love summer. :)

Other notables:
We went to visit gma in Daytona a few times. Lovely warm weather.
Splurged on a new Coach that I just adore.
Got a new laptop - realized my old one was about as speedy as a brick.
Currently trying to burn our entire cd collection into itunes in order to store away all cds. I had no idea we had accumulated so many. Ugh

Projects for Summer:
1. RELAX
2. continue itunes mission
3. Total overhaul of all rooms and closets, including basement
4. Total Clothes reduction - anything and everything that no longer fits is leaving the premises. No more waiting around for that "someday" I get a massive stomach flu and can suddenly fit into clothes I wore a few years ago. I probably wouldn't wear them anyway! Can you say, garage sale?!? Cha-ching!

Okay, hopefully the posts will be a little more frequent over the summer! I'll try, I promise!

Thirty

I am 30. As of 12:13am, I became old. I loved my 20s. There was college, beginning teaching, my master's, finally being out on my own, building a house, and getting married. I accomplished a lot in a decade! In anticipation of this day, I had a lot of mixed feelings - most of them not exactly happy. I think of the Friends episode when they show the 30th bday parties of all the friends and Joey just keeps yelling "WHY GOD?!? WHY ME?!??" That's the one I related to the most!!! But now that it's here, it's not so bad. I'm still the youngest teacher at my school and I hang around with 8 year olds all day - if that doesn't keep you young, then I don't know what will. Although some days I leave school and I feel about 100!! T will always be more than a year older than me - and so will Mimi! :) So I'm still the youngest of my peer group! I'm expecting to have lots more big events and things happen in this decade. More fun to come! Even though the last time that I had my palm read, she said that something traumatic would happen later in my 30s. That was happy news. Whatever, hopefully she was high on incense or something and got my lines crossed. She also told me that I would have one child. That is happiness to me! I guess now I'm really an adult. I know there's lots of other October bdays out there in my circle of friends - happy bdays all around!! :)

Little Update

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I don't have much time to update tonight - but I'll try to get on again tomorrow and post pictures (just for you, Melinda!).

In the aforementioned post that will be coming soon, you will read about 1) my week of vacation in Ludington, 2) Tigers (the ball team, not the RAWR! kind), 3) my garden, 4) my subsequent day of baking because of the garden, 5) scrapping, 6) musical-viewing, 7) my last week off before summer school starts, 8) giving my classroom a complete overhaul before summer school, 9)ummm... I think that's it. I'll probably think about more to ramble about when I post. I'm sure you can't wait!! :)

Anniversary #2

T and I have now been married for two years. 2 doesn't seem like a very big number, considering it feels like forever that we've been married. I don't mean that in a bad way - we've been married forever! No, just meaning that it seems like our life together has just always been there. Last night we watched our wedding video when we got home. That's a tradition that started last year - some friends of ours gave us the advice of making a point to watch our video every year to remind us of what we're celebrating. It's so fun to see it all again. I don't think that I was quite bridezilla, but I was in charge of everything - because I didn't want to give up control of anything. When I would watch the video in the weeks after the wedding, I was annoyed at the little details that I saw that were not quite as "perfect" as I thought they should be - how my hair would not keep a curl (93 degrees with 80% humidity) because that was my fault, how the pastor forgot to light the candles for the moms to light and how T's mom had to go get him to light them while everyone waited, how the organist just sucked. Now, I just think how beautiful everything was. I'm so glad that my perspective has changed!!

For our anniversary, we went up to Glen Arbor to the Homestead for the weekend. We absolutely love that place. It's right on Lake Michigan and our condo was a stone's throw from the beach. We had beautiful weather - I have the slight sunburn to prove it. While we were up there, we hung out on the beach a lot, went canoeing, shopped, and ate really well. On the way home, we stopped at my favorite winery - Black Star Farms in Suttons Bay to do a little tasting. T isn't much of a wine guy so I have a DD - at 10:30am! It was great. After we left BSF, then we spent the afternoon hanging around Traverse City. It was a great little vacation- I turned off my phone and didn't check email for over 3 days. It was very nice.

This is one of T's famous "long arm photos". Too bad it seems to add some chins to his face. hee hee...













Black Star Farms - I remembered to bring my tasting glass from last time so I got free tastings this time! :) Because it was our anniversary, the guy who was serving us gave me another limited edition glass. Whoohoo - a set!

Summertime...

...and the livin' is easy. It's now every teacher's favorite time of year - SUMMER! Sorry for my lack of posts lately, the last few weeks have been crazy busy. A week ago today was the last day of school - it seems like I've been on vacation longer than that! I still don't have my classroom totally packed up and rearranged. I somehow have to find a way to put 14 more desks into my room since my class size will double for next year. It makes me want to throw up just thinking about it.

This is the first summer in like ever that I don't have major things going on. No wedding planning, house building, classroom moving, apartment moving, grad classes. I'm all done with all that! It's a great feeling knowing that I get to choose how to spend my days. I know that I'm very lucky - but I've spent the last 10 months earning this time!! :) On the agenda this summer: exercise, scrapbooking, stamping, and maybe reading a few books (grown-up books, not 3rd grade books). We don't have too many travel plans (yet) for the summer and I love that!! We're going away for our anniversary (#2!!) at the end of June and we go to Ludington for a week in July, but other than that, we're home this summer. T's parents have a cottage up north, so I'm sure we'll head up there a few times too.

I'm off to take my dogs for a walk - my parents' dog is also visiting today so I'll have 3 big brown dogs. Luckily, they all get along really well! :)

Life

Life is pretty much back to normal around my house again. My grandma was here from Daytona to see my show and to be here for Mother's Day. Speaking of mother's day, T and I hosted my family for a backyard bbq on Sunday. It was great - including the weather! My mom and my uncle have had some differences lately and this was the first time that they had seen each other since our spring break drama and trauma. Therefore, I kept the alcohol flowing! I made peach bellinis and they were very tasty, if I do say so myself!

Allergy shots hurt. I just had to say that.

My kids at school are starting to get a bit squirelly. They seem to think that since the year is winding down that they can just do what they want to. I'm sure as a kid I never did that!!! hee hee... My nice class has suddenly turned on me - don't worry, I'll get them whipped back into shape. They hate it when "grumpy teacher" has to come out for the day. As they should, grumpy is a real bitch.

This weekend is going to be filled with birthdays. My dad's bday is on Saturday, so we're going out with them and doing cake and presents at our house that night. Sunday afternoon, we're doing a bday celebration for some of T's family. There are so many of them, that we used to have bday get togethers like every month. Now, we're grouping them more and only doing like 2 per year. Sunday, we're celebrating T's mom, dad, sister, sister-in-law, niece, and 2 nephews. Do I have to buy presents for all of them? Yep. Those of you who really know me, know what the shopper I am, so I usually have things covered way in advance from previous sales. I'm still working on the nephews and t's dad. It has not been a normal winter/spring for me with the play going on, so I got a little behind on my shopping.

Flowers. I like flowers. I like looking at them. I like buying them. I hate planting them. I do not in any way, shape, or form care to get dirty. I never have, and I'm sure never will. Last week, my mom and I went to a greenhouse to pick out some annuals for out pots and hanging baskets, etc. Loved that. I bought some awesome stuff. Last year, my mom planted everything for me - I plead ignorance at flowers. This year, my grandma was here, so my mom was off entertaining her and didn't come to plant my flowers and I HAD TO DO IT!! Ugh!!! T is really good at planting other stuff - big stuff. So I put it off until of course the last minute Sunday morning before people were going to be coming. I was a mess. It was gross. But now it's done and things look nice. A gardener I am not.

Done!

The show is now over! We had an excellent weekend! The kids did a really great job and we had really great attendance. Meaning, we made some money!! We're the first high school show ever to have made money! Usually, they're either in the red, or just break even. Hooray!!! This means that we have a budget for next year. And yes, we are talking about doing another show next year. Despite the fact that we have a list of students who will never ever be in another show with us again, most everyone was quite committed. It's now all done, everything put away and taken care of - although my truck is still full of crap. And when I say full, I mean, I can fit in it and that's it.

Last night I had dinner at home with T for the first time in about 2 months. It was great! Then I went and took a 2 hour nap. Then I went to bed.

I hired a cleaning lady! I'm sooooooo excited!!! A friend of mine is adopting a baby soon and her parents are here for the summer. Her mom is looking for something to do to keep her busy, and she loves to clean! Perfect, because I hate to clean!! With the musical, I haven't been very vigilant in my cleaning regiment. Normally, T does all the floors, and I do bathrooms, dusting, and glass. If we're working together, it usually takes us the same amount of time, so I feel it's pretty fair. With the weather so nice, T is always working on projects outside, and I've been pretty much non-existent so the dust and dog hair have totally taken over our house. It's gross. If there were more hours in the day, then I could do it myself, but there's not. So now I'm almost excited to go home and start picking things up to get ready for her to come. We're having the Mother's Day celebration at our house again this year and I want it to look good. But I don't have the time to do it. I'm soooooo geeked!!!

I have flowers coming up in my flower beds!!! Last year was the first year that we planted anything and a lot of stuff is coming up. We built our house two and a half years ago and we didn't get to any landscaping until last spring. I'm totally loving not having to put in all that work again this year! Although I am starting a garden. T planted it for me last weekend and put up a big fence around it so the deer and other critters stay away from it. I had him plant summer squash, zuccinni, pumpkins, mini pumpkins, and gourds. A lot of fall stuff. Those of you who really know me, know that I am not good with growing things. Plants, flowers, anything basically dies in my presence. Hopefully something will grow. I'll try to post pics soon of some awesome double tulips I have blooming right now. Man, I sound like a total nerd.

Crazy!

I think my head is going to explode!! Way too many things bouncing around in there of things that need to be done before my show opens this weekend. There just are not enough hours in a day, so I will taking the day off sick tomorrow to get it all done. Next year, I'm going to delegate a lot of these responsibilities to parents or capable students!! We had our massive tech rehearsal yesterday and things went well. It was a very long day, but a lot got accomplished. On Satuday I learned how to sew. We had to sew some patches onto basketball and cheerleader uniforms. And they had to be sewn on by hand because next week we have to rip it all off! But, the kids wore all their costumes for the first time yesterday and it all looked really good. The end is in sight!!

Same Job!

Yes, I have kept my position at my school! It's going to be so totally different here next year, with only one of each grade level. Everyone else at my school who was displaced was able to "bump" into another position - except our newest teacher. She's only been here 3 years, but she's first in seniority order to be called back. It sucks. She's pregnant with her second child and now they have to put their house for sale because of the instablilty of her job situation. Sucks. I'm sure that there will be a job for her - over the summer, something always happens and someone takes another job, moves away, etc. After the meeting on Friday, 7 people left without a job. Oy vay. Terrible. I know that there are a lot of other school districts in a lot worse trouble than us, but it's still hard to see people that you know go through these things.

In other news, the musical is less than 2 weeks away. We had a work day on Saturday and got many things painted and finished. Good things!! Although some student left the top to a can of brown paint laying on the stage, which is the same color as the stage, and I didn't see it and stepped in it. I'm still trying to get the brown paint off the bottom of my foot. That was fun.

We watched Borat this weekend. I'm still not sure what I think of it. Yes, I leaughed out loud many times. But would I have felt satisfied that I had gotten my money's worth had I seen it in the theatre? I doubt it. I guess 'shock value' is more of what that show was about. But it was a nice form of free entertainment for an otherwise uneventful Saturday night at home. Plus, now I feel more "in the loop"! I've seen Borat! :) hee hee...

Speaking of being home, I got to be home for a good portion of the weekend! In fact I never left my house on Sunday. I used to hate having to stay home - now I love it! I'm never home anymore, although 2 weeks from today I'll be all done with the show and can be home again! I did mountains of laundry, totally cleaned my house, and my parents and my in-laws came over for dinner. It was a good day! Plus, it was gorgeous outside so I had just about every window in my house open. Loved that!

No longer displaced!!!

I just got some terrific news today! I am now officially NOT displaced anymore. I'm not totally in the clear yet for keeping my same position at my school, but it's a lot more feasible now! Long story short, my teaching partner was offered another position within the district (non-classroom teaching), which left me as the only 3rd grade teacher here, and since we only need one - that's me! Now, I can still be "bumped" out of my position, but I'm not sure why anyone would choose to come here. Generally people don't choose to come to my school - we're considered the 'bottom of the barrel' population. Yes, we have kids from very diverse backgrounds, and yes, they're a pretty transient and unstable bunch, but kids are kids. You just gotta love 'em. Anyway, our big bid/bump meeting is on Friday, so then we'll finally know for sure where everyone will be. It's a bit tense around the schools these days. One other good thing - our school board approved a buy-out for 9 teachers in our district. As long as they free up the right jobs, then no one will have to actually lose their job. The retirement/opening list still has not come out. What a wacky time! I'll for sure post again this weekend about what all happened - that is, after I sleep off my hangover - I'm actually going to drink on Friday. A lot. Can't wait.

Thanks for the idea, Jess... wow, this was an eye-opener!!

Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence

Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes. You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time. You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it. Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds. You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

My mom's crack pipe

As promised, here is the story of my mom and the crack pipe...

In Daytona, there is something called the Flea Market. It's only open on the weekends and there is everything imaginable there. Mostly, it's t-shirts and hats, but also fresh fuit and vegetables, jewelry, purses, toys, cell phone accesories, etc. A lot of the vendors go up to Shipshawanna (sp?) in the summertime. So if you've heard of that place, that's like the flea market.

We're walking down the aisles browsing at all of the stuff and my mom stops at this glass case. Inside were all these colorful, blown-glass things. I was down a ways, so I didn't see at first what she was actually looking at. As I got closer, I saw that it was a place that sold "smoking paraphenalia". Great. My mom says, "I think I'm going to get one of these, they're so pretty!" Um, hello!?? I said, "Mother! Get away from there!" She said that she thought that they were fancy wine bottle stoppers!! I quickly informed her that those pretty things would not make good bottle stoppers and dragged her away from the case. Can you say, naive?

That's my mother. Gotta love her.

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We are now back from vacation. Overall, it went pretty well. We had some family drama and trauma - and it's very nice to be back home. We did convince my grandma to come up to Michigan in May for my show and for Mother's Day. That was a good thing!

This week we attended the funeral of my grandpa's brother. He was a little more than a year younger than my grandpa and died a little more than a year after he did. Crazy. 80 years seems to be the life expenctancy of the brothers. Weird.

The show is coming along. We're up to our armpits in rehearsals. I'm having a great time - a stressful time, but it's a lot of fun. We have a lot of really great kids in this show. We open in 3 weeks! I'm a bit nervous about that!!!

This weekend will be filled with more rehearsals and mountains of laundry. Somehow I acquired a bunch of new clothes on spring break. Unfortunately, most of it is for warmer weather so they're going to have to go in the closet for a while. I'm also going on a date with my husband! He's been crazy busy with this seed thing he's in charge of for pheasants forever, so we really haven't seen much of each other this week. Can't wait for the weekend!! Have a good one, everyone! :)