January 31, 2008

The news has been full of remembering a snow storm that happened 26 years ago today. In 1982 our area was bombarded with over a foot of snow. I vaguely remember this. I was 13 at the time. I think we missed at least a couple days of school that year from that storm.

They are talking about this because it's been snowing most of the day here. It's not going to be anything like that storm in 1982, but it's more snow than we've been getting in recent years. A lot of schools have already called off for tomorrow because we're supposed to get the worst of it after midnight and I guess the road crews are already having a difficult time keeping up with it all, especially with the temperatures so low.

Michaela's school was called off before 8:30 pm. All the districts in the county I live in have called off. My school has not yet called off. But, then again we seem to be the very last district to do this whenever the weather gets bad. I'm sure if they do call off it won't be until morning time.

LOST was finally back on again tonight. I have to watch it again to decide what I think. I'm finding it hard to adjust to the shift in plot line, having the flashes be forward now and having them in regular society is a little unsettling for me. I guess I need to be deprogrammed just like someone who has been in an experience like that. But, yeah, I need to watch again. Usually it takes at least two viewings for me to begin digesting it anyway. I was a little disappointed we didn't get to actually see the "rescuers" yet on tonight's episode. I guess that comes next week.

Oh, and I am NOT happy about them moving LOST to Thursday night. I used to love Wednesdays because Jericho and Lost were both on that night. Now both have been moved to nights that I'm usually more busy. It seems Jericho will be on Tuesdays now. Oh well, at least they are both still on the air. I usually record them both anyway so I can watch them more than once.

I still have my cold. That's what I think it is now since I'm not having the usual discomfort I have with sinus infections. This really just seems to be an old fashioned cold. I had fever again on Wednesday but, no fever today.

January 30, 2008

It seems I missed a lot at work yesterday. My principal had breakfast for everyone, which he does every once in a while. I actually knew about that because he told us he was going to do it. But, it seems he's started another rotating award. He's got this large, very heavy gold apple paper weight type thing he is now giving to staff members who have made a lot of progress with their students.

I am the first recipient of this award. I was a little taken aback by this. I really never expected something like that. It's nice to be recognized for what I do. I got it because my kids made the most gains on our DIBELs testing in the building for middle of the year benchmark. So, it was a nice surprise to come back to work to.

I am still feeling like crap, though. So, I'm kind of glad it was my day with two planning periods. We did spend half that time in a grade level meeting, but it was a good meeting, so no wasted time.

January 29, 2008

Today, Michaela and I both stayed home. Michaela had a slight fever early in the day, but she seems to have bounced back very quickly. I on the other hand still feel like crap. I broke down and asked Michael to go get me some OTC meds. He got me some nasal spray and NyQuil. I've taken both and will be going to sleep very soon.

I really didn't do anything but sit around and watch Jericho today. I was going to go to the drug store myself, but just could not make myself do it. It was REALLY nice outside this morning. It got up to 72 degrees here before the cold front hit. The temperature has dropped more than 50 degrees today.

We got some snow tonight. It was blowing really hard when I was bringing Caleb home from school. It was hard to see and I only had to drive a couple miles. It did not accumulate though. They are predicting snow for Thrusday and Friday. We'll see.

Michaela and I did stop at the grocery store before we went to get Caleb from school. I just got a couple things so Michael would not have to go out to the grocery store tonight. I have been able to eat some today, but my appetite still isn't what it usually is. This is probably a good thing.

January 28, 2008

I've been remiss in writing in my blog for the past few days. The weekend went by quickly. Not a whole lot happened. At least nothing exciting.

Michael did not work for the first Saturday in weeks. He finally put his foot down and said he would not work. I was proud of him. But, he was really grouchy most of the weekend. Part of it is because he's been battling a headache. He slept most of the day Saturday, which I think he really needed. We ate all our meals at home on Saturday, which is very unusual for us. But, it was kind of nice to just be home. The only time we were out and and about was in the morning. We went to Wal-mart and only had to get a few things. Then, we went to Sam's and ordered Caleb's cake for his party and then to Walgreens to get a prescription. That was it.

The kids got to play outside both Saturday and Sunday. As a matter of fact they were outside from the time we got home from eating out after church until supper time. They really enjoyed the outside time. It was nice that it got warm enough for them to go outside for some fresh air.

I started getting sick on Saturday night. I really didn't feel good. It was mostly just a headache, but I went to bed without taking anything hoping it was just a headache. No such luck. I woke up feeling icky on Sunday. I took some Advil and felt ok to get laundry started and go to church. We went out to eat after church and I was able to eat, but my appetite wasn't what it usually is.

By the time we got home and I got started on folding clothes I was achy all over and just wanted to lay down. I did some laundry, worked on report cards but did not get them finished. I also did not get lesson plans done. I just couldn't concentrate on it. I finally broke down and took some generic Dayquil. It helped some. I was able to function enough to get laundry done and make supper for my family, but I did not eat. I just couldn't face food.

I did finally force myself to eat some Raspberry Sherbet around 8:45 p.m. I watched one episode of Jericho's first season and then could not wait any longer to get in the shower. I just felt so horrible. I only took Advil before bed because my system is very sensitive to cold remedies. If' I'd taken NyQuil, I'd never have gotten up in the morning.

I felt really bad this morning. I made myself wait until 6:00 a.m. to take some DayQuil. I also had a dose of Advil about an hour later. This made it possible for me to function enough to teach. I wasn't at my best, but I was better than I would have been if I'd not taken anything. Those meds lasted me until about 3:00 p.m. which would have been ok except I had to tutor this afternoon. By then I was afraid to take more DayQuil because I don't want to be up all night. So, I waited until I was on my way home to take some Tylenol. It took that about an hour to help me feel better. It has helped the aches and pains, but not the runny nose, cough, itchy ears, and sinus pressure. I hate sinus infections.

Something interesting happened at work today. Our reading coach came to me and asked me to model for a group of third grade teachers from another building. This means in a couple weeks, they will come to my room and watch me for two hours during my entire reading block to see how I fit in all the things we're supposed to fit into that time period. It seems she was "bragging" about me during a training session with third grade teachers and they all asked to come watch me. Lord, this makes me nervous as hell.

Tonight Michaela did not go to gymnastics. She had a very slight fever when we got home and said she wasn't feeling well. She even got into her pj's right away. Which is really not like her. I think she probably would have been ok to go with a dose of Tylenol, but considering the fact that I am sick and I don't want her to get worse, we stayed home.

Now, she is laying on the couch watching American Gladiators with her daddy and brother. I am in my bedroom watching Jericho. It starts back up in a couple weeks and I want to re-watch the first season so I remember everything. At least it's only one season to re-watch and not three like LOST. Although, I'd go back and watch all those all over again, and again, and again, and again, too.

But, as soon as the kids are tucked into bed, I'm taking a shower. I'm just hoping I can make it through the night without taking anything more than Advil. I just hate feeling this way, but chances are if I take something else I'll not be able to get up in the morning. It's not a good week for me to miss work.

January 25, 2008

Ok, so I've been in a really foul mood all day. I don't know why, I just have been and haven't had any desire to change it. It's only the end of January and I'm already sick to death of the political crap on television. I hate politics and I hate politicians and as I said I'm just in a really bad mood. Then, I got an email from a friend that just irritated the hell out of me. Of course it probably would not have bothered me so much if I hadn't been feeling pissy in the first place, but you know how that goes.

Nothing bad happened at work. As a matter of fact the day went pretty smoothly and the people around me were very easy to get a long with so at least the day did not seem to drag on. Plus, the kids were pretty good today and worked really hard.

By the afternoon I was feeling a little better. My students and I were all very ready to go home for the weekend. I did get a couple little hugs and that helped a lot. First graders are just so loving and caring. I am very lucky to get to work with kids of that age.

I did not go to get the kids right away after work because again, Michaela asked me not to. It seems her daycare teacher has made Friday afternoons very exciting for her. So, I had a little time to myself which helped my mood. By the time I picked up the kids I was feeling a little more human.

We picked up something for supper on the way home so we would not have to go out in the cold tonight at all. I do love all seasons, but there is such a thing as too much cold. Plus, honestly since it seems we're just never going to get a decent snow again I'm just ready for spring. No, I'm ready for summer.

Tonight at home I helped Caleb get his Webkinz registered and then tried to have some quiet time to myself. Michael followed me back to the bedroom and wanted to talk. I love that my husband wants that time with me and that he's still that much in love with me. I just really needed to not have to talk or think about what someone else was saying. He ended up falling asleep when Ghost Whisperer came on, though so I did get to see it. It was a rerun of course. I've lost my patience with the writer's strike.

Then, Garth Brooks was coming on and he just irritates me. I mean I actually like to listen to his music, but I don't want to look at him and I don't want to hear him telling me how great he is, but Michael really likes him. So, I left him to his Garth Brooks and went and took a bubble bath. That was the best thing I'd done for myself all day. I let the water get as hot as I could stand it and just laid there in the bubbly fragrant water. It was a very relaxing thing.

When I got out, the kids were watching a Muppet movie and I went downstairs to find something to watch that I like. I found Find Your Style on HGTV. When it was over I put the kids to bed and watched House Hunters and House Hunters International. Now it's time for bed.

Caleb's Day ~ January 24, 2008

Ok, so I think Caleb had a pretty full birthday. He helped pick out the cupcakes for his class and then went to school. At school they shared his cupcakes and had their 100th day celebration, so he thought that that was cool it fell on his birthday.

I was able to pick him up early since I got to leave work earlier than usual today due to my inservice. We picked Sissy up from school and came home. He played on the Internet for a while until Daddy came home.

Then, he got to open his presents. He got two Transformers (Swinole and Dropkick), a Webkinz Collie, and Mater National game for Wii. He was very thrilled with them all.

For supper we went to Chuck E. Cheese's as per the birthday boy's request. The kids had a blast. It was not crowded at all so it was actually pretty relaxing. They ended up with 353 tickets to add to their growing stash.

Finally, we went to Michael's parents' house. Caleb opened his presents from them. They got him a pitching machine. It's just a little plastic one that pitches plastic balls, but he was happy with it. He and his sister played with it in their basement some.

We came home and there was only about 10 minutes left until bedtime. I let them get in their p.j.'s and told them they could stay up until 8:15 playing because Caleb really wanted to get his hands on his Transformers.

So, that was the day for Caleb. He had a very good 6th birthday. He's still got his party coming up on February 2 which he's excited about.

January 23, 2007

Today was a long work day. It was actually pretty easy during the school day because I had my double day which means I had back to back planning periods. That is my students went to Gym and then to Art and were out of the classroom for 50 minutes strait. I of course have report cards due soon so I was working on grades and attendance.

However, after work I had a committee meeting. I am a building rep for our district's Career Ladder committee. Career Ladder is a program where teachers commit to so many extra hours of work in things that will improve academics and then get paid at the end of the year for it. There are three stages (levels) and each stage has it's own requirements of responsibilities and and hours that must be completed for the pay given for that stage.

A teacher must be in good standing in order to participate in this program. They are making "good standing" harder and harder to accomplish. Not because expectations are too high. There is actually no way to tell if expectations are too high because the powers that be will not give solid definitions to the criteria listed on our Performance Based Teacher Evaluation that the principals judge us with. The wording is very vague and left very much up to interpretation. This is the instrument that is used not only to determine if we can participate in Career Ladder, but it is also used to determine if we get to keep our job.

Anyway, our committee submitted questions to try and help get some clarifications on these things to HR so we can move forward with the planning of next year's program. Around 5:10 p.m. two women that work in HR came into our meeting to address our concerns. First of all, we submitted, as requested, our questions in writing in November. We were told that we would receive answers in writing in a timely manner. They've not yet put anything in writing and of course they were visibly irritated by being asked to join our meeting.

They proceeded to dance around the questions and throw them back at us. One of the women was actually yelling at us. When we were asked what does distinguished mean in relation to the PBTE she yelled back at us, well don't you know? You know what distinguished looks like. Set your goals towards that.

It took all I had to bite my tongue. Ok, when it comes to my evaluation it does not matter what I think. I don't sign my own damned evaluation. I don't get to fill it out. This is an instrument the district has implemented and given to the principals and told them to use to evaluate us. We ask what does it mean and we get slapped in the face, yelled at and spoken to in a way that was designed to try and make us feel stupid.

I am so sick of crap like this. I have already decided to not do Stage I or II next year just so I don't have to deal with this. But, now I'm thinking of just saying no all together. The woman who yelled at us really "put us in our place." She "reminded" us that Career Ladder was designed as an incentive to be better teachers. It is a reward for being exemplary teachers and not supposed to be extra pay for extra duty type thing. Well, duh.

The thing is, the way she treated us tonight and the way A LOT of the district level employees treat us why should we even try. No matter what you do or how hard you work it's never enough. It's never good. You work your butt off and just get slapped down and spoken to in a very unprofessional and degrading manner.

Anyway, that was my meeting. The other person from my building that is also a building rep and I left while the yelling was still going on. I had to leave or my mouth was going to fly open. Honestly, I really think all the teachers in the district should boycott the program. Our district does not only get money from DESE for it, but they got money from the tax payers. According to state law, if the money is not used is MUST revert back to the tax payers. Our district is getting ready to ask for a tax levee. Losing the money for Career Ladder would hurt their chances for that levee desperately. But, I know this would not happen. There are teachers that would not give up that extra pay and it would only work if NO ONE participated.

So, in the elevator on the way down, I counted to ten and took deep breaths. I reminded myself that I was going home to my children. This is my vent and now I'm going to let it go. I go to work for my students and for myself, not for those people who would do whatever they could to make my work life impossible. Tomorrow will be a better day.

January 21, 2008

The kids and I were home today because it is MLK day. Michael had to go to work. I actually was by myself until my mom brought the kids home around 8:45 a.m. The kids played together all day. They actually made it until late this afternoon before they started fighting.

They spent most of the day downstairs building tents and forts and watching movies. They also made things with blocks in Michaela's room and played cars in Caleb's room. Once they started fighting, Michaela went to her room to play alone and Caleb started playing on Playhousedisney.com.

I spent the day doing laundry and watching LOST. I'm almost finished catching up. I have about four episodes left of Season 2. Since I started with Season 3 and then went to Season 1, this means I should be finished watching all three seasons by the time LOST starts in 10 days.

Next, I'll be watching my Season 1 of Jericho to get caught up with it. It starts up again in February. I'm so glad it's coming back. It's a great show. Hopefully, CBS will give it a chance this time.

January 20, 2008

Today was a lot of just routine stuff, mostly. At least until this afternoon. We went to church. I did some laundry. The kids played. That kind of stuff.

At 4:00 we took the kids to my mom's. We exchanged birthday gifts. It was late for my mom and me, but early for Caleb. We ate cake and then Michael and I left the kids there.

We went and had steak for supper at Texas Roadhouse. It was the first time we'd ever been there. It was good. They gave us a sample of their ribs. I let Michael eat them because I'm just not much for BBQ. I got a baked potato and steamed vegetables with my steak.

Michael and I enjoyed some alone time. We also watched most of the game between Green Bay and New York. He was rooting for Green Bay and I was rooting for New York. This irritated him. Hehehehehehe

Saturday was a lot of relaxation and fun. I did start out the day by paying bills and updating the checkbook. This was not a small task. I think I've mentioned before that I don't have any problems getting the bills paid on time every week, but I do have a tendency to just go online, pay bills and that's it, without updating Quicken and/or the check book register.

So, I had three weeks worth of banking that had not been recorded. Since neither of us carries cash and we use our debit cards mostly, that's a lot of stuff to enter. But, I got it caught up. Sometime soon I need to reconcile, though. It's been a couple months since I've done that.
The kids and I just hung out around the house most of the morning. I did not go to Walmart this Saturday. It was very cold and Michaela has a cough. Plus, there really is nothing we need that cannot wait a day or two.

We had soup and sandwiches for lunch. Michael offered to pick something up on his way home, but nothing sounded good to me and the kids were wining about not wanting this or that so soup and sandwiches it was.

I laid on the bed and watched Season 2 episodes of LOST most of the afternoon. Michael decided to work on our network. Since we got the new router, we had not secured it yet because Michael wasn't sure what to do. He called his brother and got some advice from him. But, then still got to the point where he wasn't sure what to do.

You see, we needed my laptop, the desk top and the Wii to be able to see the network, but did not want anyone else in the neighborhood to have access to it. I guess it's a bit complicated. I know I don't understand all that stuff so I just let him do his thing.

Anyway, he got to a point where he needed more help so he called my brother. Brandon tried to help from home, but that was not working so he and Karen came over. I told Brandon I wanted him to see if he could figure out what was wrong with my browser, too. I was still having problems with it. I knew it was probably something simple, but something I didn't know about.

So, Michael and Brandon work on the network. The got it all set up and secured with very little problems. Then, Brandon went to work on my browser. He started doing all the stuff that I'd already done and it didn't work. Then, he un-installed some things that I've not been using for a long time and cleaned up my hard drive some. This did not take long because I'd just done this a couple weeks ago. Still my browser was giving that stupid security certificate message.

Then, Brandon decided to download Firefox browser. He thought that maybe a different browser would work better. It didn't, but it did give us better information on what was causing the problem. It said something about the date. I can't remember exactly what, but it prompted Brandon to look at the clock/calendar on my laptop. It was set to OCTOBER of 2008. Well, yeah, website security certificates from now will be expired then, but it's not October YET! Ok, so who would have actually thought to look there? I mean seriously, who opens the calendar on their computer to check it very often.

In any case Firefox helped us find the answer to the problem right away and of course Microsoft's product was vague and unhelpful. I'm really starting to hate Microsoft. All those problems I was having that were just making life difficult had a very simple solution and could have been fixed right away by myself had it just told me, "Dummy! Check your calendar it says it's October when it's only January." Grrrrrrr!

Now, I'm trying to decide if I want to install the tool bars that I use on Firefox and use it exclusively or what. It works the same as Explorer. It sure was a lot more helpful than Explorer ever would have been. I'm just leery of downloading the newer versions of the tool bars. Especially now that things are working and my hard drive has been cleaned up.

After we got the computer stuff all figured out we all went out to eat. We went to RT Weiler's and enjoyed some food together. Then, we came back to our house and played Wii. Karen wants one now. I boxed both Karen and Brandon and got to do something I've wanted to do since the day my parents brought him home from the hospital. I knocked him out!

Michael and Brandon tried out the Brunswick Bowling game we have rented from GameFly and seemed to really enjoy it. It is a lot more realistic and has better physics than Wii Sports bowling. I tried to play it some, but was having trouble figuring out the controls to it.

Brandon and Karen stayed until about 11:30. It's amazing how fast time goes when you're playing with that thing.

Play Time

Tonight has been play time. We had supper and Michael and I watched a little bit of the news. I put on my soft penguin pj's to lounge in for the night.

Then, the kids and I turned on the Wii. Michael is tired and crabby tonight. What's new. He's working yet again tomorrow. One day he's just going to collapse and then he'll have to take a day off.

Anyway, the kids and I played Wii Sports for a while. Michaela beat me at bowling. Caleb beat us both at fitness test. Caleb beat us both at bowling. It was a very off night for me and bowling. Both kids set new records for themselves, though. Then, I boxed Michaela and knocked her out in the first round. She was not happy. She's been in her room ever since. Did the same thing to Caleb, but he wanted a re-match and knocked me out in the second round.

Then, Caleb and I turned on Raving Rabbids. He was getting very frustrated because I beat him at about half dozen games so we got out Super Mario Galaxy. We've had this rented from Game Fly for over a week, but hadn't played it yet. It's kind of cool. I played until I got through the third level and then was tired of it.

Now, Caleb is playing and is presently trying to catch those bunny things with the star shaped ears. Those things are really hard to catch. It's kind of weird getting used to being on a 3-D surface and running upside down at times. But, it's cool.

Oh, and we now have three remotes and nunchuks. I ordered another remote and nunchuk and they came this week. The new remote came with a blue sleeve which I was not expecting. So, now I need to find some more colored sleeves because you know we'll be fighting over the blue one.

BTW, when we were playing Wii Sports the Wii console recognized the new remote. But, when we tried to use it for Raving Rabbids, we could not get it to recognize it. Anyone know why?????

The kids are going to bed soon. I'm starting to feel really tired.

January 17, 2008

Another day come and gone, another night we were out. Tonight Michaela's school had a fund raising night at Chuck E. Cheese's. So, we went there for supper. I'm not a big fan of the food there, but the kids had fun. I got to play Skee Ball and didn't have to cook, so it's all good I guess. Tomorrow night we are not going out to eat. We are not leaving home.

It's a three day weekend and I'm so glad. I need it after the marathon this week has been. Next week should be a little more tame. Michaela still has gymnastics on Monday, but no girl scouts for two weeks. Next week there is not tutoring, so I have a break from that. I'm hoping our principal will let us work in our rooms on Tuesday in lue of a staff meeting since the end of the quarter is tomorrow. I do have another career ladder meeting on Wednesday, but that's it.

I had thought about having my family over this weekend to kind of celebrate January birthdays, since there are three of us, but I just cannot even think about making sure my house is that clean and preparing for that. I don't want to be obligated to something like that this weekend, so we'll have to do it some other time.

Right now it's time to get the kids in bed. Michaela is grouchy and I'm tired and have no patience for it. Plus, I just need some silence for a little while.

January 16, 2008

Is the week over yet? I'm so tired right now I can't focus. It was a long day at work. Wednesdays I have two planning periods, but at least part of that time has to be spent in a grade level meeting. Today our meeting was about our DIBELs data from the benchmark assessments we gave last week. My class did the best in the whole school this time around. I was really pleasantly shocked. But, as far as I'm concerned, it's not good enough. My students really need to be beyond benchmark to make it through 2nd grade without struggling.

Then, after work I had a Career Ladder meeting at the District Office. This was the day that we were supposed to look over everyone's submitted plan from our building and either ok them or suggest changes. One of the third grade teachers submitted a plan with 8 responsibilities in it. She only needed 4. We could not ok ANY of the 8 she wrote. This is her third year doing Career Ladder, you'd think by now she'd know how to write a plan. But, the other rep from my building and I got a good laugh from it. I know that's mean, but I can't help it, it was funny. It's not going to be funny when she sees her plan and she is going to be so difficult to deal with for the next week or so, but c'mon this is a woman with a Masters Degree, she should be able to put together a few sentences that make sense.

Michaela had girl scouts tonight and since my meeting went until 5:00, I had about 10 minutes between getting home and having to take Michaela to her meeting. I forgot to take the check with me to pay for the sleep over at the museum, so I came home for a little while and then went back to get her.

For those keeping score, I've had to be somewhere every night this week. Sunday night was skating with girl scouts. Monday I had tutoring and then had to take Michaela to gymnastics. Yesterday I had a staff meeting and then we had to take Michaela to SOAR night. Tonight was my meeting and girl scout meeting. Tomorrow is a fundraiser for Michaela's school at Chuck E. Cheese. I don't know if we'll go to that. Michaela really wants to, but I'm just tired of having to run around constantly. We'll see.

I'm so tired tonight that I've already had my shower and am going to bed very soon. I wish I could keep my eyes open because there are some things I'd like to look at, but I just cannot.

January 15, 2008

Happy 59th Birthday to my mom! I've not gotten to talk to her yet today. I was running late this morning and she works late on Tuesdays, so, I'll call her in a little while. I hope she had a good day.

It was a pretty good day for me. We got a lot done in class and the kids worked really hard. My staff meeting was virtually painless today.

Tonight was Michaela's SOAR night. SOAR is the gifted program that she attends through the school district. She goes to it on Tuesdays instead of going to her regular class. They have been working on learning about countries and poverty in other places in the world. Michaela has mainly been learning about Peru, that was the country she picked/got this year for her first semester projects in SOAR. They did a report on it, made up a story about how the country got its shape, did a Power Point presentation on what they'd learned, did a news cast on their project, and made a poster to illustrate important things about their countries. She amazes me a lot of the time. She loves SOAR and is very excited to find out what their second semester theme will be.

Caleb got Daddy to play Raving Rabbids with him tonight. Michael really got into the bumper cars game. He was having fun with that and with the hot plate game and the football game. Caleb didn't like that Daddy caught on so fast and started beating him at all the games he's been practicing. *LOL* MIchaela was happy to see someone beating Caleb.

They are in bed now. My mom should be home from work soon, I'll call her. Michael will be home from grocery shopping so then I'll put away the groceries, take a shower and go to bed. Tomorrow is hump day!

January 14, 2008

Cookie sales are in full swing now. I took my sheet to work and I think it's got over 100 boxes on it so far. My mom took a sheet to work, too but I've not talked to her so I don't know if she got a chance to get any orders. Michael took one with him, but was too busy to ask anyone. I don't like to take Michaela around the neighborhood. We have a lot of senior citizen neighbors and I feel guilty asking them to spend their money on anything.

Work was ok today. It was Monday, but not a bad Monday. I did have some problems getting them to focus today, but nothing horribly bad. I think my one little girl that would not complete assignments may be gone. They've been questioning her residency and she's not been back to school since we've been back from Winter Break.

Tonight was Michaela's gymnastics night. I had to go to Best Buy and get a new wireless router so I did that while she was at gymnastics. Our router died and we've been having to use only one computer on the Internet since Friday. They had exactly what we needed on sale so that was cool.

Michaela is almost doing a front pull over on the bars by herself. She's pouting because she's still having trouble with back rolls. My goodness the child has only been going to gymnastics since August and she only goes once a week. She really has very little patience for things that do not come easy for her.

Anyway, it is very nice to be able to be online with my laptop again. We were also able to get our Wii hooked up to the Internet so now we can download games if we ever feel the need. We can also check the weather and news and share pictures with the Wii.

Our third remote came in the mail today, but I've not told anyone yet. I'm waiting until the nunchuck comes, which should be soon.

January 13, 2008

It was kind of a busy day today. We went to church after not doing much in the morning. Michaela took her cookie sales sheet with her and did pretty good. She sold probably close to 50 boxes just at church. Pretty good for a small church.

After we ate lunch, Michaela and I went to pick up Lauren. Lauren played over here for a few hours until her mom came to get her. They had somewhere to be by 4:00 p.m. Which was fine because we had somewhere to be by 5:15.

Tonight was the girl scout cookie kick off rally. They had it at a skating rink. The girls from all the troops in the neighborhood go to roller skate for a couple hours. There were snacks, girl scout cookies included of course, drinks and some games on the skating floor. They all had fun. I saw a lot of people I know and got to talk to one of the other moms I like for a while. It was a good time. But, I forgot my camera. However, the other mom that I talked to took pictures and sent them to me online already, so it's all good.

I did a little more laundry when I got home and watched two episodes of LOST.

Announcement Time

Ok, so I've been talking about this research I've been doing. Well, today it concluded so now I can make my announcement.

This afternoon I booked the condo we're going to be staying in when we go to Destin this summer! Yes, we are going on vacation again this coming summer! YEAH! I really did not think we'd be able to do another vacation just a year later, but we are.

I have spent the greater part of the last two weeks researching condos down there because we're going to be gone for 10 days. They do have a few hotels down there, but most of it is condos because most people want a kitchen when they're down there.

We got a one bedroom condo right across the street from the beach. I think we're at the back of the complex, though so I don't think we'll have a view of the ocean, but who cares when you're going to be spending a great deal of time ON the beach.

Michael's parents will be down there at the same time. They will be staying in the same condo that they stayed in last year. It's about 7 miles down the beach from us. AND, Michael's brother and his family will be down there at the same time, too. But, they rent a condo from a friend in Fort Walton. It's right next to Destin and is probably about the same distance from Michael's parents, too... or close to it.

I guess it's going to be a very McCoy Beach Vacation. I'm so excited I cannot stand it. I have set up a separate blog for this vacation like I did our vacation last summer. It sounds like we will be driving down caravan style and leaving in the middle of the night before check in because it takes about 13 hours to get down there.

Our check in is July 16, 2008 and we come home on July 26, 2008. Ten whole days just to laze around, play in the waves, relax, shop, whatever. It's going to be heaven. I didn't want to talk about it until I had the condo booked because I did not want to jinx it. Then, after I got stupid and ran into the garage door we had to wait and see how much that was going to cost before we could actually book something.

Our condo has washer, dryer, dishwasher, ice maker, microwave, satellite television, WiFi hookup, queen bed in the bedroom, bunk beds for the kids (they put these in an alcove in the hallway.. a lot of places down there do that), and all kinds of other stuff. And, like I said, it's just across the street from those beautiful white sand beaches.

Just 186 days and I'll have my toes in that white sand.

January 11, 2008

So, today is my birthday. It started out great. Caleb was the first one to say happy birthday to me. It was this morning when I was getting my breakfast and he was still eating his. We were the only two in the kitchen. He looks up at me with those big blue eyes and smiles and says, “Happy Birthday, Mommy. I love you.”

It was a pretty good day at work, too. The kids were on their best behavior today and I was so proud of them. They all worked really hard on their weekly tests.

The attendance secretary even went to one of the kindergarten teachers and got a “Happy Birthday” sticker for me to wear on my shirt. The kids got a kick out of that. And, all my co-workers were very kind. It was a fun day.

Of course between my grandmother and my mother it’s a wonder I have any self-esteem whatsoever. Yesterday, I got my birthday card from my grandmother. It says in it Happy 39^th, the last of the thirties, next year it’s over the hill. This coming from a woman that will be 80 in October.

Then, today after work I noticed there was a message on my cell phone. It was from my mom. She sang happy birthday to me and then proceeds to say, “Today is a much nicer day than they day you were born.” Gee, thanks Mom! I am assuming she meant the weather is nicer today than it was 39 years ago, but still.

Tonight was good, too. My MIL and FIL took us out to eat at Pasta House for my birthday. It was YUMMY! They gave me a gift certificate for a 1/2 hour massage to Salon De Cristie and some cash to pay for the tip. I'll probably go the day after Easter when I have the day to myself.

When we got home from the restaurant, I opened my gifts from Michael and the kids. I got the sound track to Grease! I've been wanting another copy of that for a long time. I had it on LP back in high school, but of course that was a long time ago and it was played so much it wore out. Now, I can put it on my iPod. I need to do that with the Poison CD I got from Michael for Christmas, too.

I also got Raving Rabbids 2 for the Wii. Michael said it was the only game on my list he could find. So, now we can send the rented copy back. We played that most of the night. I've got another Wii remote and nunchuk ordered so I can play with the kids when we play Raving Rabbids, because when you do multi player on that you all play at the same time and cannot share a remote. I found a remote online for about $6 less expensive than they usually are.

There was also a bottle of Blackberry wine sitting next to my gifts from a Missouri winery. I'm going to put that away for a special occasion. Open it sometime when my mom or someone else is here to share it with.

Michael is still working a lot. Not like he was before Christmas, but still a lot. He was so tired last night he fell asleep before 9:00. I guess my being sick and creating extra stuff for him to do at home by breaking my window probably didn't help.

The kids went to bed around 9:00 pm, too. At this point I'm having problems with my wireless router and am hoping that leaving it unplugged for 30 minutes will rectify the situation. In any case, I'm off to bed soon. I think I had a very good 39th birthday.

January 10, 2008

I went back to work today. It was an odd day at work. Our building had a big field trip to see High School Musical. Half the students went and a lot of the staff. I stayed behind. This meant I ended up with more 5th and 6th graders in my room than I had 1st graders. It all went pretty good. The older kids had work to work on and they helped out with the younger ones some. If I'd been more organized I'd have had them do more for the little ones.

We also went to computer lab and they seemed to enjoy that, to. They got to help the little kids again, but still got to do their thing, too. But, man, oh man, I don't think I could do 5th and 6th graders. They giggle to much. Actually, since it was just for today it was kind of funny and fun to joke around with them but I'm not sure I could do that every day. I need things to be serious at times.

The kids and I played some Raving Rabbids II on the Wii. I may go play some more by myself in a little bit. It's hard to get a turn with those two since we only have two remotes.

My windshield in my van got replaced today. It was so nice to see my van without a gaping hole in the back of the van. The kids laughed at me when we got home. I patted my new window and said, "It's so good to see you here. I promise I won't break you." For some reason the kids thought this was funny.

Michael went shopping for my birthday present tonight but he won't tell me what he bought.

I already have one present though. It's the jacket that is pictured up above with the Scotties all over it. It came with a matching hat. It's soooooo warm. I love them both. I bought them for myself. So, they are my birthday present to me from me.

January 9, 2008

I did not go to work today because I am still sick. Actually, this evening I'm finally starting to feel a little better. My stomach has stopped jumping around and my fever is gone. However, my stomach muscles are sore and my head hurts and I'm just exhausted. I need to go back to work tomorrow.

This morning I called about four different glass companies to see how much it is going to cost to get my back windshield replaced. The first place I called the person who answered was very nice and helpful. They actually gave me the lowest quote. But, of course I did not know that at the time.

Then, I called another place and they were a little higher, but not a whole lot. They were also very nice and polite on the telephone. So, it seemed to be going smoothly.

Then, I called Glass Doctor. And, let me tell you I will never be calling there again. The man that answered was just rude. I told him what I needed. He gave me a quote that was $250 higher than the first place I called and proceded to say, "When do you want to schedule that?" First, I'm thinking I haven't told you I would use your business, then I say "You guys are really high."

He asked where else I'd gotten quotes from and what companies they were. I told him. He said he would meet the higher of the other two quotes, but only IF I brought the vehicle to him. So, I say, "Why would I do that when the other place will come to me and do it for the same price."

He says, "Well, I guess that's what you're going to do then." and slams the phone down. Alrighty then. I guess I really interrupted his day. Whatever.

Then, I called another place and they were even more expensive by another $200. Alrighty, then. No brainer there. We're going with the first guy. He's coming out tomorrow to fix it.

I don't really want to drive my van on the highway with just plastic on the back window, so I'm taking Michael's truck to work. Michael is going to borrow one of his parents' vehicles. The glass company is going to come to the house. Michael's dad will meet him here and open the garage for him. He'll also give the guy the check.

I'm really not sure what Michael and I would do without his parents. They have been a Godsend to us throughout our whole marriage. And, they are just genuinely great people. I got very lucky in the in law department. I dearly love them both and am so extremely grateful for them.

I'm really kind of glad this week will be over soon.

January 8, 2008

Today was an absolute horrid day. I have not felt good all day. Actually, I started feeling bad last night when I was waiting for Michaela to do her gymnastics. I felt bad still when I got up this morning but was hoping it would go away after I'd been a wake for a while.

No such luck. I ended up coming home from work at 11:30 because I had a fever and I was feeling even worse. I came home and napped and laid around until around 4:45. At that time I decided to go get my kids from the daycare center.

Then, the day just got worse because I'm an idiot. My garage door has a tendency to stick. Usually it stops about a few inches up and doesn't open hardly at all when it does get stuck. Well, tonight it decided to go halfway up. I saw daylight but did not turn around and look completely. I backed into the darned door and shattered my back windshield. There was glass everywhere. It was a mess and I feel like the biggest loser.

I also managed to knock the garage door of the track, but did not realize this until I got all the glass cleaned up off the garage floor and driveway. That's when I pushed the button to put the garage door back down. It would not go down all the way.

I still feel like crap and I am so angry with myself I can't see straight. I hope the rest of the week is not going to be like this.

We Lost a Tooth~ Jan. 7, 2007

Big major event in our lives today... Caleb lost his first tooth. He's been dying for this to happen. It's been loose for a while now. It fell out at Guppy when he was eating his morning snack. Michaela was in the room with him and they both were so excited.

The first thing I heard when I opened the door to his classroom at Guppy today was, "MOMMY!!!! I LOST A TOOTH!!!!" He had it in a little plastic bag and of course had to show me but would not let me carry it.

He is now asleep, happily awaiting the tooth fairy with his tooth under his pillow. I'm sure he's dreaming of all the things he thinks he going to buy with that dollar bill!

January 6, 2007

Today did not go as planned for me. I had all the good intentions of getting all kinds of things done for work. HA! I got the bed linens changed and laundry started and sat down to work on stuff for work. I keep my grade book and attendance online. So, I logged onto the Internet.

Well, my computer has been doing stupid things like constantly telling me about security certificates, not letting me stay logged onto my gmail and not letting me log onto MyPoints at all because it keeps saying my cookies are not turned on. They are turned on.

I dealt with it all long enough to get my attendance updated online. But, it was really starting to drive me crazy. So, I messed around with the cookies and security and stuff like that all I know how to do. No luck. So, I ran a spyware check. Everything is clean. So, I ran a virus check. Nothing found there either. So, I downloaded the newest version of Explorer. It's still doing stupid stuff. It's driving me crazy and I've managed to waste most of the day on it.

I did manage to get laundry done. And, I did make both lunch and supper today. I also cleaned up all the dirty dishes during the day. But, I've not gotten lesson plans written. I'll see what I can get done in the morning at work.

I also managed to cut my hand. I'm not sure how. I think I scraped it on the wooden magazine rack that sits at the end of the love seat when I made sure the lamp was plugged in all the way. It's not a deep cut and it didn't even really bleed. But, it's sore and I think I bruised my hand right there where the cut is too. I'm not happy about this.

Michael spent the whole day working on the garage. He took down the rickety wooden shelves that were on the back wall and attached metal shelving he brought home from work that they were throwing out to the wall. He put some on the wall on my side of the garage, too. He re-organized everything. He did such a great job. He's so tired, now though. He's going to be sore tomorrow, probably.

Caleb's fever finally broke this morning. He's been fever free all afternoon and evening. So, he's going to school tomorrow. I need to be at work because tomorrow is a tutoring day. He was really full of energy tonight and wanting to eat every thing under the sun. I'd say he's better.

Michaela was wiped out tonight. She fell asleep on the couch downstairs. She didn't turn on the television or anything. Just went down there to lay down. I had a heck of a time waking her up so she could go to bed.

Well, I think the research I've been doing came to a conclusion tonight. I have one last thing to check on tomorrow and if things go the way I am hoping I'll post what it's all about in my next blog entry. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

January 5, 2008

I did nothing today. That is I did nothing around this house. I have sat on my butt most of the day. Although I did play a couple rounds on the training mode in Wii Sports. So, it's basically been a lazy day.

Michael went to work this morning. He took my van because his truck was at Dobb's having the breaks fixed. I managed to sleep for almost an hour after he left. This is something that almost never happens. It was wonderful.

I have spent a great deal of the day on the computer doing some research that I will talk about when it's been completed. I also talked with some online friends and browsed eBay a little, but did not buy anything.

Caleb was supposed to go to my mom's tonight, but he was acting funny most of the morning and complaining of his leg hurting. It seems it was achy because by about 1:15 he had a temperature of 101. Great. He's been snifflely and coughing a little the past couple days so I guess it's turning into the flu or something. He took about a two hour nap this afternoon.

I did go to Walmart and do necessities shopping, after all it is Saturday. This time I got to go by myself, though. That was nice. It's so much easier to shop when you don't have kids with you. I made a stop at Blockbuster and Schnuck's too, but those were very quick stops.

Michaela went to Anikca's around 6:00 this evening. I told her I'd pick her up around 1:00 tomorrow afternoon. I am not planning on making Caleb go to church tomorrow. So, there should be no reason why I can't let Michaela stay at Anikca's until afternoon time.

Right now Caleb is watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He will be going to be soon. He just had a dose of Motrin. He didn't eat much supper and has been bundled up in a blanket all night. Silly boy kept thinking if his temperature was normal he'd still be able to go to Nana's tonight. I don't think so.

January 4, 2008

I'm really glad it's Friday. Going back to work this week was brutal. Work itself wasn't too bad. It was kind of weird, but not bad. It's just getting back into the routine of things. Plus, the seasonal depression thing makes it harder. But, I made it through pretty much unscathed.

Tonight has been low key. The kids and I just hung out until Michael got home. We went to RT Weiler's for supper. Then, we took Michael's truck to Dobb's and dropped it off so they could put new breaks on it tomorrow.

When we got home, Caleb and I played Wii some. Michaela hung out in her room and Michael fell asleep. He was snoring so bad that when Michaela came out here to log onto Webkinz World, she could hear him at the computer. I really wish he could stop working 6 days a week.

I sat on the couch with my laptop for a while after the kids went to bed. I chatted with some of my online friends. My friend in MN was online and she and I got a little goofy. I'm not going to last much longer, though. I'm so tired I'm getting slap happy. It's time to shower and go to bed.

Of Ups and Downs

I just hate this time of the year. I have seasonal depression. It's not bad enough that I take medication or anything but it really does effect my whole outlook on things. Between the holiday let down and so many dark hours I just want to be in a different place literally and physically. It makes me feel like a petulant child and I want to throw a temper tantrum.

But, it's not like I can't be happy and don't enjoy things. It's just a really weird funky time for me. I mean I do look forward to my birthday every year. I can't help it, part of me is still like a kid. I love having that day that is just about me. That day that means I'm special.

And, this year there are some fun things I have to look forward to. Among other things that I don't want to talk about yet, I have Spring Break to look forward to. It's going to be awesome this year. The 14th of March is my last day of work before Spring Break. That Sunday Michaela and I will get to go to the Girl Scout sleepover at the City Museum which is going to be so much fun.

Then, that week both kids and I get to stay home together. We all have Spring Break at the same time and I get to NOT pay Guppy tuition that week.

The week leads into Easter which is always a great family time. Michael's parents usually take us to a buffet brunch that day. Plus, the kids just love the fun stuff that goes on for Easter.

And, to top it all off, I get Easter Monday to myself. Michaela and Caleb have to go back to school that day, but I have the day off. I'm so excited about that whole time, it's not even funny.

So, it's not like I don't have things to be happy about, I just have this annoying depression thing that goes on right along with it, which actually makes it even harder to deal with when I'm feeling two such opposite things at the same time. I just want to scream.

Ok, enough pity party. Time to focus on enjoying the fact that I don't have to go anywhere or do anything tonight.

January 2, 2008

It was my first day back at work today. The day went pretty well at work for me. No complaints really. I'm thinking it was a mistake to go back this soon, though because our attendance was WAY WAY WAY down today. Maybe it will pick up tomorrow.

Tonight Michaela had girl scouts. Only half of them showed up. I paid for the cookie rally skating party and the mother daughter dinner. There are a lot of activities coming up for girl scouts. The skating party, cookie sales, the mother daughter dinner, thinking day, and a sleepover at The City Museum all before spring break. They made swaps for thinking day tonight at their meeting.

I also submitted a date request with Pump It Up to see if I can get Caleb's birthday party scheduled. I don't know if we'll be able to get in but we'll see. I'm hoping by having it there we can just do family and friends all at the same time. It's expensive so that'll be his gift from us, mainly. I have a couple little things I bought during Christmas shopping, but that'll be it from us.

Michael beat both Caleb and I at bowling tonight. He's pretty smug about it. I finally beat the computer at tennis. Yeah, me!

I also went to Blockbuster tonight. I had to return Super Monkey Ball. I looked to see if Raving Rabbids II was in yet. Of course it's not. Hopefully, GameFly will send it soon, then. I'm going to tell people that's what I want for my birthday.

I'm glad this is going to be a short week at work because I know I'm going to be tired. Today wasn't too bad, until the end of the day. Tomorrow will probably be painful. For me the second day back is always worse than the first. I'm always way more tired on the second day back than the first. And, I have tutoring tomorrow after school so I have to be at work until 4:45. Therefore, I guess I should go shower and get to bed.

My New Year's Eve

I realized I did not talk about New Year's Eve at all in my Jan. 1 post. It was a fun evening. My mom and her boyfriend got here a little after 7:00. I was playing tennis on the Wii when they got here. We got them involved in bowling on the Wii.

My brother and SIL were an hour late, but there was no schedule so no big deal. We put out a bunch of snacks. We just munched and munched all night long.

We spent most of the evening playing with the Wii. My brother was going nuts because he couldn't beat me at bowling. You see he hardly ever loses when playing any kind of game and he's very competitive. Plus, in actual bowling his average is in the upper 200's. I am lucky if I break 100.

We stopped the Wii for a while close to 10:00 and played a round of T.V. Scene it. It was guys against girls and they beat us. They were behind most of the game but figured out how to catch up. It was a really fun game.

Then, my brother would not leave me alone until I bowled with him on the Wii again. I was so tired. He just couldn't take not beating me. I didn't care at that point, couldn't really focus and didn't really try. He beat me, but of course realized it was not the victory he wanted because I wasn't doing my best. But, that was enough for one night.

Around 11:30 we turned on NBC and waited for them to drop the ball for us. We all had a glass of champagne, toasted and then cleaned up the food. My mom and her boyfriend went home. The kids went to bed and my brother and SIL sat around for a little while longer.

Poor Abby was so beat. She kept looking at us with these very sad, tired eyes. I'm sure she was thinking, "What the heck? You're never up this late. It's time to go to sleep, c'mon guys."

My brother finally decided to leave when he saw my eyes wouldn't stay open. And, at that point we went to bed. I really enjoyed the evening. I hope we do it again sometime.

January 1, 2008

The beginning of a new year. It was a quiet day, but productive around here. Michael did not get out of bed until after 10 a.m. Caleb was up before 7:30 of course. That boy is just going to be the death of me purely for the fact that I'm never going to get to sleep the way I need.

None of us got dressed before 11:00, though. I brought the totes and boxes upstairs to start putting away Christmas. I did get all my Santas back in their individual boxes before lunch time. Then, we went to Burger King because Caleb has been begging to go there for about three weeks. We missed the iDog he was wanting, though. But, he does like BK better than McD's. Thank goodness.

Then, we came home. Michael sat on the couch and watched the Mizzou game while I started to take ornaments off the trees. About half our ornaments go back in their original boxes so I made Michael do that for me.

It took me most of the day to get everything put away in the totes and boxes. I did leave the tree and the blow up snowman for Michael to take care of. We Freecycled the old tree and Caleb's old car seat, so the basement is de-cluttered too.

I did take a little bit of a break to eat some supper. Michael went and got pizza from Pizza Hut so I wouldn't have to cook. But, I still had to put all the other stuff back onto our shelves and move furniture back where it belongs and vacuum. I was finally completely done by 7:00 p.m. or so.

It's nice to have my house back to normal. I do love Christmas, but usually by the time it's over I'm ready for my house to be back to normal. The tree just takes so much room and I start feeling claustrophobic. Now, my living room is more spacious. We have more room to Wii, now!

Caleb and I did play one game of Tennis on the Wii. He boxed some and then it was time for the kids to go to bed. I'm getting ready to go shower and go to bed soon. I have to go back to work tomorrow. Both kids will be at Guppy because Michaela does not go back to school until January 8th.