February 29, 2008

I thought I was starting to feel better today. The sun was up higher in the sky as I headed to work and that's always very helpful for seasonal depression. Plus, it's the last day of February and that means Spring is getting closer.

But, then tonight Michael and I had a horrible fight. I really lost it. I used words that I try really hard not to use when fighting, especially when the kids are around. I hate the way the fight happened. I don't think I've been that angry in a very long time. I have never used language like that in a fight with him before. I think we have the air cleared now. I hope so.

February 28, 2008

It's Survivor and LOST night. I was so glad for a night to just stay home. It's Thursday so it's my long day at work. I had two visitors to my room this morning. They each only stayed about 5 minutes each, but I'm so tired of feeling like I'm in a fish bowl.

After work I rushed over to the district office. We're adopting a new math series next year. The one we have most teachers hate, including me. It's just awful. Anyway, we are allowed to go and preview four math series and vote on the one we want. I'm not sure how much of a say we actually get, but when we did this for our reading series it turned out pretty good. The four series they had for us to preview were McGraw-Hill Math Connects, Houghton-Mifflin Math (this is the company we bought our reading series from), Everyday Math, and the newer version of Investigations (we are currently using the original version of this).

Math Connects looked kinda of cool and this is what I put down for my second choice. It had a lot of support material, technology components and decent assessment pieces. It is something I think I could live with. I put it down as my second choice.

I had my hopes up actually about the newer version of Investigations because I'd heard it's greatly improved. Well, it's improved, but it's still not what I would call a good series. It got my lowest score. From what I heard from the people who were running the show yesterday, it's not gotten any good votes from teachers yet.

Houghton-Mifflin I LOVE the way it looks. It has the same teaching format as our reading series and that REALLY works. I am very much sold on this company and their products. They make it really easy for the teacher, they give you TONS of support materials, their technology components are great, their assessment pieces are complete and they align with state and federal grade level expectations. This got my highest score. I really hope this is what we end up with.

Then, the last one was Everyday Math. Michaela's school uses this so I was curious to look at it. It looks a lot like Investigations, but seems more complete. However, I was not really impressed with the assessment pieces and it really has no technology component. I was a little disappointed because I expected more from it. It was ranked #3 with me.

After that I was really pushing it to get to Michaela's school on time to pick her and Anikca up from choir rehearsal. But, I managed to even have time to have a short conversation with the principal at her school. I like talking to her.

After we dropped Anikca off at home we went and got Caleb. I needed to go get something for a shower gift for a co-worker and needed to get a family movie that I promised to donate to Caleb's school so we went to Walgreen's. When we were finished there it was already 5:30 so we went through the drive through at Taco Bell.

After supper, I went downstairs to make a mini photo album to include in my shower gift. I love doing this. I watched some of Heroes online until it was time for Survivor to come on. Then, all four of us watched Survivor together. I love it that the kids are old enough to enjoy that with us.

When they went to bed, Michael decided to do some work for work. So, I went to the bedroom to watch LOST and talk online with my friend in MN. It's so much fun to be online with her when LOST is on. We get to be shocked and awed and drool over Sayid and Desmond together.

February 27, 2008

Well, I ended up doing the grocery shopping and sorting girl scout cookies last night. I was not hungry at supper time, so while everyone else I ate I went ahead and headed to the grocery store. That way I got it out of the way early.

Then, the kids helped Michael and I sort cookies until they had to go to bed. We managed to get through all the orders I had to bring to work today before they went to bed. It was nice all four of us working together. Michael and I finished up the rest of the orders after the kids went to bed.

Today I rushed around and delivered most of the cookies to my co-workers at school. I have a lot of people who did not order either because they didn't know I had the order form or because they were not around and I just did not get to ask them order some now. I think next year I'm just going to make up a bunch of single form orders and leave them in the teacher's lounges with a note saying to fill out what they want and leave it in my mailbox. That way I may be able to get everyone.

We had frozen pizza for supper tonight because I was just too lazy to fix something else. No one seemed to complain, though. Michael and the kids went over to MIL and FIL's house to give them their cookies and they were gone until after 8:00 pm. I sat and watched Wife Swap. I'm not proud, but hey, we're all entitled to our "guilty pleasures." Although, don't you have to at least feel a little guilt for it to actually be a guilty pleasure?

February 26, 2008

We did not have a staff meeting at work today, but I still had to stay until 4:30 and work in my room. That's ok, it meant I was able to get some things done. It's nice to be able to just work in my classroom undisturbed. I feel like I accomplished a decent amount of work. We don't have grade level meetings this week either so I'll get my whole double planning period to myself tomorrow.

Tonight will be mainly getting all those Girl Scout cookies sorted and into bags for each person who bought cookies. I really hate this part of being a mom of a Girl Scout. Honestly, I'm not even looking forward to eating any of them this year. Every year "Michaela" ends up selling around 250 boxes of cookies. Do you have any idea what 250 boxes of cookies looks like sitting in a family room??? She ended up being top seller in her troupe this year. I don't think that means anything except she gets to say, "I am top seller."

Michael made "tags" that lists all the cookies each person bought and what they owe so we can staple them to the bag for each person. We did this last year and it just made things so easy. I'm lucky that my husband does things like that to be involved, too. It makes life easier for me. And, the kids get to develop a great relationship with him.

One of us needs to go do grocery shopping tonight, too. I wonder if I can talk him into taking two turns since I did. I might tell him that he has a choice. He can either put the cookies into bags or go grocery shopping. We'll see what happens. Right now, really, all I can think about is bedtime.

February 25, 2008

Ok, so it was tutoring day at work, so I didn’t leave until after 4:30. It was also gymnastics night for Michaela. And, I had to go pick up the 250 boxes of Girl Scout cookies she sold from her leader’s house. I managed some how to broil the two Filet Mignons we had left from Omaha Steaks before I left to take Michaela. However, I did not have time to eat mine so it’s in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch.

That’s pretty much it for today. Work, tutoring, home to fix supper, gymnastics (pick up cookies while Michaela is at gymnastics), pick up Michaela, home, kids to bed, run to store for milk, ready for bed.

But, daily routine is not what I wanted to blog about tonight anyway. I’m in a funk right now. I hate feeling like this. Everything is irritating me. Things that should not be irritating me are and it just drives me nuts. It’s like being stuck in someone else’s skin. Yes, it is about PMS time, but it’s not just that. That actually has been MUCH better since last August.

It’s this time of year. I am a person who generally loves all four seasons. I feel amazingly blessed that I was born in a place that gets all four seasons. I love the heat and freedom of summer. I love the bright colors and brisk temperatures of fall. I love snow and bundling up next to a fire in winter. I love the freshness and newness of spring.

However, I do suffer from seasonal depression and I hate it. It’s basically caused by limited sunlight. It doesn’t help that there are no windows in my classroom, either. Fluorescent lighting is not a good substitute for natural sunlight.

Add to that, this part of the school year is just stressful. On one hand, it just feels so long. Third quarter just always seems to feel a lot longer than the other three quarters. But, on the other hand it’s going too fast and I always start to panic that I’m not going to get my students through everything I need to get them through.

Anyway, it just makes me want to either hide from everyone and hurt someone. I can’t stand feeling this way. I haven’t even really been talking to my friends lately because I don’t know how to say things without my irritation and nastiness showing. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or be unduly mean. If I had a cabin somewhere in a secluded forest, I’d go there and just hide under the covers by myself for a while. Maybe a punching bag would help.

February 24, 2008

It was a good day. This morning I got up early because I could not sleep or stay comfortable. It’s been like that all weekend. At least I was able to stay in bed until 6:00 a.m. this morning, which is better than Saturday was. I hate when I can’t get comfortable in bed. But, that was really the only bad thing that happened today.

We went to church and the sermon was actually pretty good today. I enjoyed church this morning. The lady who lost her husband was there and she thanked me for the sympathy card. She said it was beautiful and asked if I make cards a lot. I’m glad she liked it. That made me feel good to know it meant a lot to her.

After church a big group of us went to O’Charley’s together. There were four families that all went together. There were 17 of us. This included two toddlers, three grade school kids, and four teenagers. I love it when we go out to eat with this group of people. They are just fun to be around.

Then, we went home and changed clothes. I took Michaela over to play with Lauren for the afternoon. I finally remembered to take the pictures I had for Stacey with me. I also left Melissa’s pictures there, too forgetting that I would see her later on.

Back at home, I finished up laundry and worked on scrapbooking some more. I also watched some more of the television show I started on Netflix yesterday. It’s Heroes. I can’t believe I’ve given into that. I’m not into super hero stuff at all. But, my mom has been talking about it and I thought I’d try it.

It’s better than I thought it would be and of course now that I’ve started watching it I have to see what happens. I’ve watched about 12 episodes so far of the first season. I’m glad they have all the episodes from both seasons on Netflix. The only problem is that now I’ll get into it and once I get caught up I’ll have to wait for each new episode. But, I’m not going to worry about watching it when it’s on. I’ll just watch it on Neflix. I love technology. Well, most of the time anyway.

We went back to church for supper tonight. They were having a chili cook off fundraiser for the high school kids. They use the money from these fund raisers to take kids to CIY camp in the summer time. It was fun. We got to see all the people that we like at church plus some extras. Most of the chili was really good.

When we came back home, I played Wii with the kids some and they went to bed. So, I went downstairs to clean up my scrapbooking mess. If it doesn’t get cleaned up regularly, then I can’t find anything. While I was doing that I watched some more Heroes.

February 23, 2008

Things I accomplished today:

· Did three loads of laundry

· Paid bills and updated bank book

· Shopped for necessities at Wal-mart

· Made a great supper of roast beef, mashed potatoes, peas, raw carrots and applesauce

Fun stuff I did today:

· Completed two scrap book pages

· Played Wii with my kids

· Watched a movie on Netflix

· Began watching a television show I’ve never seen on Netflix

February 22, 2008

The kids and I were home for another snow day today. That makes three for my district. Ok, that's enough. My district has now used up all our extra days on our calendar. Michaela's district does not have extra days so they have to make up all four that they have had so far.

Ok, so I'm someone who usually likes winter, but seriously, it's the end of February and I'm ready for it to be over. The kids are driving me nuts because it's too cold for me to let them go outside. I'm tired of wearing coats. And, I'm really tired of cold wind. Yes, the wind has bothered me more than anything this winter. I guess I've realized there is a type of weather I don't like. I don't like wind, especially cold wind.

Anyway, I managed to get laundry started today. I also cleaned and mopped the kitchen. And, I took some stain remover to the kitchen chairs. We have very light beige fabric on our kitchen chairs. Yes, I know, not ideal when you have kids. Anyway, they all needed some stain removal and I really worked hard on that today. They don't look like new, but they do look a whole lot better. Especially considering Caleb had chocolate doughnut ground into his chair.

Tonight, the kids and I played on the Wii. We had two games from Gamefly and they have been playing one, but I wanted to try out the other one, too. They've been playing EA Playground a lot. They seem to really like it, so I tried that one first. It's a cute game and great for kids. It has things like shooting baskets, dodge ball, slot cars (which is a lot of fun), this soccar/volley ball game, etc. You collect marbles and stickers to unlock other games. I think this is one we are putting on our "to buy" list.

We also had a game called Game Party. I played around with it for about 30 minutes. It's going back and we will not be buying it. It's very difficult to manuver things in that game. It has you aim like the games in carnival games does, but then when you throw a dart or toss a ball it doesn't go where you aimed. I could not figure out how to get my character to move right for air hockey either. It was very frustrating. We will not be buying that game.

I went downstairs for a while to go through my latest batch of pictures. There are quite a few that I need to give to other people. I've not given the ones I took at The Boar's Head festival to my SIL and BIL yet. I also put some frm Christmas aside for them. And, I have a couple of a friend from church where she's sitting with the man that recently passed away that I know she wants. I also managed to get one scrapbook page done today.

February 21, 2008

Well, this morning was fun! NOT! It started sleeting and freezing rain early this morning. As soon as I turned on the news this morning (5:00 a.m.) they were already saying the roads were icy and slippery. By a little after 6:00 a.m. all the districts in my county had called off school, but none of the districts in St. Louis County had called off. I waited as long as I could and then headed to work. Both kids went to daycare.

I drove slowly to work. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good either. There was an accident that happened about 1/2 a mile ahead of me on one of the major highways I take to get to work. Luckily, since I was close to the front it did not take long to get past it. No emergency vehicles were there yet, so there were two lanes getting by still. It took me about 10 minutes to 15 minutes longer than usual to get to work.

There were only about 6 cars in the parking lot at work. I was not happy about this. It meant that even if a lot of kids stayed home, I was still going to have a room full to cover those who were not there. As I was walking in the building a parent was walking out and told me they'd canceled school.

I went inside to talk to my principal. It seems he didn't even know they were going to call off school until he got to work and he only has to drive about half the distance I drive. There were four other teachers there besides me and the custodian. I sat down and talked with the principal for just a few moments and then headed home.

The accident that had happened on my way to work now had all but one lane blocked. Thank goodness at this point I was going the other direction. There were no major things blocking my way home, but the roads were already getting much worse. It took me about 20 minutes longer to get home than usual. But, at least I did not have to try to drive home after a full day of this stuff.

The kids and I got home around 8:40 a.m. We have stayed inside all day. It is still sleeting and is supposed to do this all night and overnight, too. I really hope they cancel school tomorrow again. I already told my principal that I would not be there if Michaela's school is closed tomorrow. He said he completely understands.

I've been pretty lazy today, but that's ok, I needed some major down time. I'm probably going to be lazy the rest of the day and into the evening until bedtime.

The kids have played Wii, played with Caleb's cars and his plastic grill. They've played downstairs and upstairs. They've played hide and seek and are now watching television and movies. Michaela is in her room watching t.v. Caleb is watching a Scooby Doo movie.

I have managed to get all the pictures I took when we were at The Magic House and Chuck E. Cheese last Saturday organized and manipulated the way I wanted. I uploaded them to Shutterfly, too. So, I have gotten something small accomplished. I do need to get the pictures from Monday off my camera so I can work on them. I'd like to do some scrap booking, too, but can't seem to get myself downstairs.

February 20, 2008

Not a whole lot going on here the last few days. I'm still tired and cranky. Not quite as bad. I still would love to have a couple days just to myself, but it's just not going to happen.

It's going to be very cold here tomorrow. It's supposed to be down in the single digits in the morning. They are predicting "wintry mix" for tomorrow and Friday. We'll see. I think it's too soon to know what will happen.

I think I'm going to take Caleb to the doctor soon. His eye is not really black anymore, but he's still got a bruise under it and I can feel a bump under the skin. He says it hurts there. Now, I feel bad. I guess I should have taken him to the doctor sooner.

February 19, 2008

I don't really have anything to say today. I'm tired. I'm cranky. I'm depressed. So, I don't feel like talking. And, now I'm annoyed because I've typed this damned post three times and the stupid website keeps screwing around and logging me out instead of publishing my post.

February 18, 2008

Today was a holiday for me and the kids. It was President’s Day, so we did not have school. Michael had to go to work, though.

I was tired this morning because of being out late and not sleeping well during the night. Plus, Michael barely said goodbye to me. He’s upset with me, for who knows what. I mean I can guess, but if it’s what I think it is, I don’t care. He can pout. I’m not going to molly coddle him. He’s actually been pretty moody for almost a week now.

Michaela has been coughing some and I was afraid to take her swimming at Jill’s hotel.

Taking her into that humidity and then out into the cold would just turn her cough into something more. I know the kids were disappointed, but they’ll get over it.

I took the morning to get a couple things done. I did all but the last load of laundry because I needed to be home when that dried. It was Michael’s shirts. I also made a sympathy card for the lady who lost her husband this week. It took me almost two hours to make, but it turned out pretty good. I also got the dishes cleaned out of the sink.

After we ate lunch we went to meet Jill at her hotel. From there, we went to St. Louis Mills Mall. I knew Jill would like it there. We spent a lot of time there.

Our first stop was Claire’s. Tina got a bling bling ring. Michaela got a bracelet. Then, we stopped in at KB Toys. Caleb found a blue Dinaco Lightening McQueen he wanted, so he got that. Then, we stopped into a store that had all kinds of cool stuff. It had things like incense and potpourri oils and stuff like that.

Then, we went into the Family Jump Center. It’s just a store space with a lot of those blow up jumping things in it. We let Michaela, Tina, Aaron and Caleb play for over an hour there. Tina even got to play dress up during this time. There was another little boy there that was dressed up as Super Man and he was flirting with Tina. Tina wasn’t interested. Anthony got to get down on the floor and have some freedom. He loved this.

Anna (Jill’s MIL) went shopping while Jill and I sat and talked and watched the kids play. She was loving it and enjoying the time to just look around. She bought a few things.

When we left the jump center we went to The Children’s Place Outlet and they were having one of their awesome sales. It was great that they were having this sale when Jill was here to take advantage of it. They had most winter things on sale. I don’t think any of their winter things were above $3.99. I got five shirts for Caleb and four shirts and a sweater for Michaela for $44.00. Jill got two bags full of stuff for her kids and Anna bought some things for Jill’s niece and nephew.

The line to check out was really long and it took a while to get through it. At one point Tina was trying to hang from one of the racks. Anna and I were both telling her to get down (Jill had the older three with her. They’d gone to the restroom). I told Tina, “That’s just for clothes.” She tells me, “I’m pajamas.” What a turkey.

When we were finally done waiting in line at The Children’s Place I only had a short time left before I had to get home to make supper. So, we took the kids to the playground that is inside the mall. Jill grabbed a map of the mall to plan the rest of their shopping experience. The kids got to play for about 15 minutes. Jill and I talked a little more. Then, it was time for me to leave. It was really hard to leave.

I enjoyed her visit down here so much. I wish we could have spent even more time together. I really did not want to say goodbye. I don’t have any friends that live close that I am that comfortable with. I can totally be myself with her and feel completely comfortable about it. It’s the one thing I’ve always wanted from a friendship and never could find until now. And, Anna is great. She is so down to earth and so easy to talk to. I love listening to her stories. She’s just a really neat lady.

Then, there’s the kids. Aaron is so cute and all boy. Caleb LOVED having another boy to hang around with. Michaela felt left out some because she’s not used to Caleb having someone closer to his age. But, she did like having the other kids around. Tina is a spitfire and so full of life. She’s so funny and so much fun to watch. She’s so smart, too. Jill is in trouble in so many ways with that child. Anthony is just the cutest baby since Caleb was born. He is so happy. The only times he fusses is when he’s hungry, needs changing or is confined to a stroller or car seat. It’s so easy to get him to smile and laugh. I had so much fun playing with him.

I just hate that they live so far away.

Then, tonight after supper, Michaela had to go to gymnastics. I watched her until she decided she didn’t want me to watch anymore. It’s hard to watch them there because of the set up of the building, so I sat down and tried to read a magazine. Their chairs are the MOST uncomfortable chairs ever. They are hard plastic and I swear you can feel the metal supports through them. It’s just very hard to sit in them. So, I went out and sat in the van and listened to the radio and just zoned out until it was time to go home.

So, I guess that is it for my long weekend and my visit from my dear friend. I miss her already.

February 17, 2008

It was a busy day for us. I tried to get as much laundry done as possible before church because I knew I'd not have a whole lot of time to do it after church today.

We went to church normal time today. It was a better sermon and not so tedious today. Although, sometimes I wonder if preachers really "hear" what they are saying to people. But, that's a different post for a different blog.

After church we went through the drive through at Taco Bell because we had very little time to eat before we had to be back at church. We brought it home and ate and then left again very soon afterwards.

Today was the day they had the funeral for a very nice man from church that died this week. He had been battling cancer for a while now. He lost that battle on Wednesday. He was a really neat man. He was always laughing and joking around and had a great sense of humor. I really only knew him from church, but I knew his wife before that. She was a teacher at the grade school I went to as a kid. I never had her myself, but I did work with her some when I did my student teaching there. She is a very nice woman. I know this was a big loss for her because she and her husband were very close.

There were tons of people at the funeral. They had to get out extra chairs and still there were people standing. I don't think that church has seen that many people in the sanctuary at once in years.

It was a nice service. The preacher did a great job with the eulogy. They sang one of my favorite hymns, too. Michael and his parents are sad over this because they all like him very much. Michael's parents were very friendly with him and his wife. I feel badly for them because I know it hurts them to have lost their friend.

We went to the grave site for the burial ceremony. It was very cold and there was ice coming down. We were not able to get close enough to hear what was going on, but we all huddled together to stay warm. They had a gun salute and taps was played on the trumpet because he was in the military. He was 76 years old. I did not realize he was that old, by the way he looked I thought he was in his mid-60's. I'm glad we went to the grave site ceremony. I know Michael wanted to go and it was important for him.

After the funeral we came home. We hung out at home for a while. I was able to get a couple more loads of laundry done. Michael laid down for a short time. The kids just played around the house.

Then, by late afternoon we left to meet Jill at her hotel. The plan was to go to RT Weilers for supper. We got down there to find out that it was closed, They changed their hours and had a sign on the window stating that their new hours includes closing at 4:00 p.m. on Sundays. What a bite. I was not happy. So, we ended up going to Steak 'n Shake instead.

After we ate, Jill took her kids back to the hotel. We came home so Michael could get ready to go to his meeting at church. I took the kids to my mom's and then went back out to Jill's hotel.

She was not ready when I got there so I played with the baby for a little bit while she finished getting ready. She was getting the older two kids ready for bed and getting them settled for the evening. Her mother-in-law had agreed to watch them so Jill and I could go out and spend some time just the two of us.

We left the hotel around 7:40 or so. We went to Denny's to have desert. We sat there and talked and laughed for a long time. The waitress, I think was getting impatient for us to leave. I wasn't too worried about since they were not busy and we were not keeping her from turning over a table. But, we were there until about 10:00 p.m. We then went to Wal-mart just so we could wander and talk some more. After that I took a very long route back to her hotel so we could talk even more. It was fun to get to talk to her one on one like that. I did not want the evening to end, but at 11:45 we decided we'd been out long enough and I took her back to her hotel.

February 16, 2008

Today started out as a normal Saturday for us. I got the bills and check book stuff all done early, which is a relief. I was also not behind in any of it for a change. I'm trying to get myself back on track with that so I don't get behind anymore. I don't like the way that feels.

The kids and I went to Walmart and I did great there, today. We didn't need much so our final bill was so much less than it has been in the past. This made me happy.

We came home and all of us started working on chores. Both kids cleaned their rooms and I tried to straighten mine up a little. I also took care of part of the kitchen and got laundry started. Caleb dusted and vacuumed the steps and the furniture. Michaela cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed the upstairs. They both worked really hard. I did manage to get a couple loads of laundry done before I needed to make lunch.

Michael came home as we were getting ready to eat, so he had lunch with us. Then, we just kind of hung out around home. Michael still is not feeling great, so he laid down on the bed. I dozed, sort of, on the couch while the kids played on the Wii and the computer.

Then, my friend from MN called.

She arrived here somewhere around 2:00 p.m. Today was the only possible day that we could go to the Magic House while she iss here and they close at 5:30 p.m. so we headed out there as soon as we could get together. Due to my mistake it took a little longer to get there than it should have, but we got there and had a couple hours to play in the museum. The kids all had so much fun! It was great to see them all playing together and having fun. Aaron has gotten so tall. He was so fun to watch, he was so "serious" in his explorations of everything. The Magic House was PACKED and the main floor was a mad house. But, we had fun anyway.

After that we had planned on going to Incredible Pizza. Well, it's pretty new to our area and I've never been there. It's supposed to be on the same road as The Magic House, but we got down close to the IL boarder and I do not know my way down there at all so, we decided to come back to St. Charles and go to CEC instead.

Jill's kids road in my van with me on the way back to St. Charles. Tina is so funny. She just talked my ear off all the way back. She'd start every thing with "Chrystal, I gotta tell you something." I wish I could remember everything she said because she made me laugh so much. She told me about six times that she had bubble gum and that her mom brought juice for her. When we were looking for Incredible Pizza she kept saying, "I found it!" *LOL*

Then, she told on Jill's sister. She said, "Chrystal, I gotta tell you something." So I said, "Ok, what is it?" She said, "Aunt Brandi can speed!" *LOL* And, then she proceeded to tell me that she was naked in the car, but she had a pull up on. Jill, I think decided these were two different stories that happened at different times.

A little later Tina says, "Chrystal, I gotta tell you something." I said, "Ok." She said, "The bathroom in St. Louis smells like alcohol." *LOL* Jill explained that her mother-in-law has really bad allergies to things used in cleaning hotel rooms and has to wipe things down with alcohol to keep from breaking out. But, Tina proceeded to tell me the smell would go away and that then the bathroom would smell like chocolate milk. We've not figured out what this means yet.

Tina also sang for me. She sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Did you know that ... Rudolph the red nose reindeer had a very shiny nose and I wish you ever saw it you would even say it glows and all of the other reindeer, reindeer had a very shiny nose and if I wish you ever saw it you would even say it glows.

Well, we had a little trouble getting to CEC because where I had planned on turning has been blocked off. This particular overpass they've been working on for two years and every time you go across it they've got a different configuration. We also had fire trucks go past us and end up separating us. I had to wait in a Walgreen's parking lot so Jill could catch up to us. I thought that was very rude of those fire trucks. But, we finally made it to CEC.

HOLY COW, CEC was a mad house, too! *LOL* I've been there on Saturday evenings before, but they were making you wait in line to get in, to regulate how many people were in the building. It was crazy. They even had people finding tables for you. Luckily we didn't have to wait long once we told them how many of us there were.

Of course, the kids had a great time there even with all the craziness. It did start to thin out quite a bit before we left. Tina and Aaron both got to cash in their tickets. Michaela and Caleb brought theirs home to add to our growing stash. I need to count them all up. I think they have what we set our goal to by now. They came home with somewhere around 350 tickets.

By the time we left Tina was really getting tired as were both of my kids. I think we got home around 9:00 p.m. My kids went straight to bed. I will going to bed here real soon, too.

February 15, 2008

It's a long weekend! Yeah! I have Monday off (as well as the kids) because of President's Day.

Tonight when I got home with the kids, I fed them a quick supper. Then, a little after 6:00 p.m. we took the kids to my mom's. She wasn't home yet, but Griff had agreed to watch them by himself until she got home.

Michael and I went out to eat at Pio's. This is a very established, family owned restaurant in our town. It used to be highly rated. It's not my favorite place, but Michael really likes it and I wanted him to pick tonight. He very rarely gets to pick things like that and I wanted him to have his turn tonight, so I'm very happy that's where we went. It was a nice dinner and so nice to have that time to just the two of us. We also just had some alone time after we ate before I went to get the kids. It was a great evening.

February 14, 2008

It's Valentine's Day. I know there are a lot of people out there who do not like Valentine's Day, but I do. I mean, it was the day Michael and I got engaged (14 years ago) so how could I not like it? It was very low key here, though. Michael and I both have stressful days at work, so we basically just exchanged gifts and got a pizza to eat at home. We also watched Survivor together. Michael kept falling asleep on the couch, though. After it was over he went back to the bedroom to crash, as much because I turned on LOST as because he was tired. Tomorrow we'll go out to eat, just the two of us and spend some time alone together.

February 13, 2008

It was a full day at work today, meaning a lot went on. I had visitors in my classroom which I wrote about in my teaching blog.

http://15thyearteacher.blogspot.com/

Then, we had a very productive grade level team meeting. We were able to get a few things accomplished and we took some time to just talk about some of our frustrations. Our principal came in and talked to us some. He was very pleased with the lesson he observed in one of my teammate's classroom. That was so cool to hear him give her such high praise. He keeps telling us that he's very happy with his first grade team. Yeah us!

After school I had another Career Ladder meeting. This one went much better than the last one. I think we finally made some headway on next year's handbook. I left around 5:10 because I just did not want to be there until 5:30 p.m. again. It does not help that we do not start until after 4:00 pm. If we'd get started on time we wouldn't have to be there so late.

Tonight at home we had hamburgers on the grill. Michael grilled them. He's such a good guy most of the time. After we finished supper and I got things cleaned up, Michael went out to go shopping for something for me for Valentine's Day. I wasn't very helpful in giving him ideas, but honestly I really don't know anything I want. I really just want some alone time with him. Hopefully, we'll get that on Friday night.

Now, it's quiet. Caleb decided he didn't want to be around Sissy. So, she's watching television in her room and Caleb has taken over the television in the living room. Earlier they played like crazy with his cars. Michael took away Wii privileges from Caleb tonight because he got a yellow card in school today for throwing toys. He wasn't throwing them at anyone, just throwing them, but that's not acceptable.

I'll be glad when it's bedtime, though. I really got tired today. Having people come in to watch you while you're working is very tiring. I've been very tired since about the time my visitors left my classroom this morning.

February 12, 2008 ~ Jericho is Back

The kids and I stayed home today. Michaela's school was closed for a snow day. I did not want to pay the extra $30 it would cost me to have Michaela at Guppy all day. Honestly, I also did not want to do the half day PD at my work. I kept Caleb home, too, so we would not have to get up and take anyone anywhere.

We just hung around the house most of the day. I did a little bit of scrap booking. The kids were a little restless. I wish it wouldn't have been so cold. But, it was way too cold for them to go outside.

After supper I went to do the grocery shopping. It was supposed to be Michael's turn to do it, but I needed to make a couple other stops. I needed to get a few things for Valentine's Day. So, I made those stops before going to the grocery store. I managed to do it all in an hour and a half. I was impressed with myself.

The kids went to bed around 8:15 or so. Then, I took a shower and now I'm watching the season 2 premier of Jericho. I'm so happy it's back on. I'm not happy they moved it to Tuesday, but I do like the later time slot they put it in. However, I'm starting to fade. It's a good thing there's only about 15 minutes left of it. I'm ready to go to sleep.

February 11, 2008

Coming home from work tonight was hell. Tutoring was cancelled because it started sleeting. My van windows needed to be scraped before I could come home, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Then, it was time to drive home. I knew the minute the highway came into view that it was not going to be a fun drive home.

There were probably at least 4 accidents on all the highways coming home. It didn't matter which way I chose to come home, it was going to be a long trek. It took me over two hours to get home. It was horrible. I love snow, but I HATE ICE. It's just nasty.

But, I made it home safe and sound. I did not take Michaela to gymnastics. I just could not bear to go out into that stuff again. She was not too upset. She decided to get her Valentine's ready for her class party on Thursday.

I've been spending most of the night getting old pictures of Caleb scanned in and pulling digital photos of him off CD's to email to his teacher. They are getting the slide show for the KG graduation ready. I can't believe that in three and a half months, my baby will be finished with kindergarten. Looking at all the old pictures is making my heart ache. What happened to my babies?

I hope this week goes by fast. Next weekend is a three day weekend. And, my friend from MN is coming down. She'll be here sometime on Saturday. I'm so excited about getting to see her. It's going to be so much fun!

February 10, 2008

Sundays are supposed to be about church and family. I hate it when there is something else planned on a Sunday. I mean I like it when we plan to go do things as a family. But, when it’s something like a girl scout function or something like that it just irritates me.

Today we lazed around mostly until it was time for church. We went to church. I was amazed that we got through hymns very quickly, a lot sooner than usual. But, then the preacher went on and on and on and on. Ok, I think I’ve mentioned before that I grew up Lutheran. I am still Lutheran and I will be until the day I die. Lutheran services are very interactive. There’s a lot standing up and sitting, but you’re involved in the service. The actual sermon is usually only about 15 minutes long. I love Lutheran services.

Michael’s church is a different species altogether. They believe in pounding something into your head forcefully for extended lengths of time. Ok, being in education I know all the research on how people learn and what a brain does during different learning activities. Why they don’t teach this to preachers is beyond me. A person’s attention span during a lecture (which is what a sermon is) lasts about 15 minutes, give or take a few minutes depending on the individual. Yes, there are some people who can sit and listen for hours and there are some who aren’t going to hear anything after a minute. We’re talking average here.

Therefore, when you decide to preach for 45 minutes on five verses from the Bible, of course you’re basically going to end up just repeating yourself. Yes, there are ways to say the same thing a million different times but it’s still the same thing. Ok, “Do as God wants you to do.” Yeah, I got it. I got it the first time you said it. I got it the second time you said it. After that, my brain has turned off and I’m thinking about what we’re going to eat for lunch. Because you see, their church also starts very late so it doesn’t get over until after noon. Which is something that I don’t like either, but that’s a minor thing?

In short, I am not a person who responds well to a preacher who raises his voice in order to get a point across. I do not respond well to someone who feels that he can get almost an hour worth of sermon out of five verses of text. I do not respond well to having to sit and listen to the same message drilled at me over and over again in an extended length of time. Ok, so yes, I’m also a bit on the grouchy side this weekend.

This afternoon, Michaela and I went to World Thinking Day for girl scouts. I’m not going to write about that here. I’ll put that on her blog. http://sweetpeamichaela.blogspot.com/

Tonight we had pork chops, cheesy potatoes, corn, apple slices and the kids had mac ‘n cheese because they don’t like the potatoes. Michael did the pork chops on the grill and they were yummy.

I did laundry most of the night. Michael and I watched Survivor after the kids went to bed. Now it’s bedtime for me.

February 9, 2008

It's Saturday and Michael did not go to work today. He went to the woodworking show with his dad and Griff. They left a little after 9:00 am and Michael was home by 4:00 pm. It seems like they had a good time. He didn't spend any money, though. Which is good.

The kids and I went to the bank, dropped off a game at Blockbuster, did necessity shopping at Walmart, and went to Sam's and bought a Wii game there. Then, we grabbed some lunch and came home.

After we ate, we did some stuff around the house. Michaela and Caleb cleaned the bathroom while I got laundry started. I also cleaned up the kitchen. Then, it was time to take Michaela to get her hair cut. She needed her bangs cut desperately. She also had a little trimmed off the ends. They washed her hair, too, which she loves.

When we came home the kids finished their chores. I did some more laundry and then went downstairs to work on Thank You notes. I needed to get those done since it's been a week since Caleb's party. I actually made each one myself from my scrap booking supplies. Every one of them is different so each person is getting a custom thank you note.

I stopped after about 5 of them so we could go eat. We went to Pasta House to eat tonight. It tasted so good. I love pasta. I shouldn't eat so much of it I know but it is one of my favorite things.

We were going to go to the Sprint store because Michael needs a new phone. They were very busy, though. They only had three reps working and the lady at the door said it would be 9:00 pm before someone would be able to get to us. We'll go back later. I swear every time we go there it's a horrendous wait. She tried to get us to make a reservation for tomorrow, but Michaela's girl scout thing is tomorrow. Michael was not happy, but he insists on staying with Sprint, so he'll have to deal with it.

So, we came home. The kids hung out around the house. Caleb was watching the hockey game with Michael. Michaela was watching television in her room. I was downstairs working on the thank you cards. The kids went to bed at 8:00. I thought it was 9:00 at the time. I did not realize it was 8:00 until at 9:00 when Law & Order came on instead of the news. This means they'll be up early.

I finished up the thank you cards and got everything down stairs cleaned up by 9:30 p.m. I'm very happy with how they all turned out. It's now getting close to 11:00 and I'm the only one still awake in the house. So, I guess it's off to the shower and then to bed.

February 8, 2008

Yeah, it's Friday! I'm very happy about Fridays this month. We're doing a dress down fundraiser on Fridays this month. We get to wear jeans to work and we pay $3.00 each Friday. The money is going to one of our district's charities. I am such a happier person when I get to be comfortable.

Now, there was something that happened at work today that really irritated me. You see, a few weeks ago when I had to leave early because I was sick I had to split up my class because of course they won't send a sub for something like that. I had a fever and was just not feeling well at all.

Anyway, I asked all the teachers in my hallway and of course they all said yes. I mean, this is not something we tell each other no about because you never know when you're going to need the favor returned. I was trying to keep the number of students each of them would have to take at a minimum, so I went to ask the KG teachers, too.

Mind you all this time I'm still feeling like crap and the longer it takes to do this, the worse I feel. The first KG teacher agreed without hesitation, but the other KG teacher who is new to our building this year flat out refused. She sat there and was going to start a conversation about it, but I just said, ok and left. I didn't feel good and needed to find someone else to help me out. I did not have time for a debate.

It really hurt my feelings that she was not willing to help me out. I have never turned down one of my co-workers like that. Sure there are times I really don't want the extra kids, but we need to support each other. One of the third grade teachers ended up helping me out.

Well, this morning the aide for the KG teacher that had told me yes came to me with five children saying their teacher had to leave and they were going to be in my room. Ok, so first of all I was not asked I was told by an aide that I had to take them. This particular aide is not my favorite person either, but that's another story. But, I thought they were from that class so I said yes and took them in. Forget that this was a testing day in my classroom.

Then, I find out they were actually from the teacher who had told me no. WHAT???? And, I find out that she actually asked the other teachers herself. From what I gathered the aide thought this teacher had asked me, too and thought I knew the children were coming to me. Ok, so am I the only one seeing something very wrong here? Honestly, that was just low. I just don't get why she felt it necessary to refuse me and then had to act like a coward about asking me if I'd take her kids.

But, work is over for the week and I had a good day with my students, so I'm just going to enjoy my weekend now that I've vented and let it out. I left as soon as I could today and since Michaela did not have school I could pick them up right away without having to wait for the bus to get to the daycare center. I was in for a not so pleasant surprise there, too.

Caleb has a horrendous black eye. They called my school and left a message with the secretary there. Well, by the time the message got to me it was basically that Caleb had bumped his head, they'd put ice on it and he was fine. They had called Michael's cell phone and Michael had gotten the whole story, but I did not know that I was going to see what I saw.

It seems Caleb and another child were running races out on the play ground. At one point they manage to collide. The other boy's head made contact with Caleb's eye. The other boy has a small bump on his forehead, but as you can see by the picture in this post, my poor baby boy got the worst end of the ordeal. It's a pretty bad black eye, but it seems to just be a black eye. He says it still hurts, but it's not effecting the way he wants to play or anything so he'll probably be back to normal in a couple weeks. Of course it upset me more than it did Michael. I think it upset me more than it did Caleb.

Tonight I made spaghetti for supper and we hung out at home. Michael still is not feeling well and I'm feeling some fatigue. I think it has to do with Aunt Flo. It's about that time. Yippee. NOT. At least Aunt Flo isn't as bad as she used to be since my visit to my GYN last summer.

The rest of the weekend will be fairly quiet. The only thing besides church that is planned is World Thinking Day for girl scouts. It's on Sunday afternoon at the school that Michaela goes to for SOAR class.

February 7, 2008

It was a long day at work today. We had our visitor from the state come and check on the K-3^rd classrooms. They do this because we are a Reading First school.

They come to see if we are following Reading First Guidelines. This happens once a year. Last year they were not happy with our school. I was the only teacher who got positive evaluation on what they were looking for.

I hope we did better this year. But, we have a lot of teachers in our building who refuse to follow any kind of guidelines. If it’s not what they want to do, they just ignore what they’re asked to follow.

Thursday is also my day that I do not get a planning period. This usually makes the afternoon seem very long. We do go to computer lab, which helps. The kids love this and it’s a great way to get them involved in some of the things that we’re working on in class.

Today, was not so bad, though. We had an assembly. A man from Springboard to Learning came. He was awesome. He told the kids stories and poems. He had us all laughing the whole time. His stories and poetry were meant to teach morals and integrity which was really cool. The kids loved it and so did the adults.

Thursday is a tutoring day for me. So, I’m at school for an hour and a half after the regular day. I have 6 kids in my tutoring group this semester. One of them was absent yesterday, though. We had fun in tutoring. I let them use the computers and the Smart Board for the first half. Then, we worked on some vocabulary and played a vocabulary game.

Tonight, I made a quick supper. I was really tired. I think having the people from the state in the building had me more stressed than I realized. I got very tired once we hit lunchtime and I knew they were finished in my room.

I had to go to Michaela’s school for Parent Teacher conferences. I really like her teacher. She was feeling some stress, too. Her principal picked yesterday to come in and do an observation of her. This on top of them having to work all day with students and then having to be at work until 7:30 or later the last two nights for conferences.

Michaela is doing well. We need to work harder on getting her to remember to fill out and turn in her reading logs, though. She’s only turned one in during the past four weeks. It’s made her reading grade slip down to a B. I’ll accept a B in any other subject from her except Reading. She’s reading two grade levels above her grade level. There’s no excuse for anything but an A.

After the kids went to bed, I settled down to watch LOST. My dear friend in MN was online so we turned on our Yahoo Messengers and “watched” the episode together. That was so much fun. Michael does not watch things like that. He really doesn’t like television or movies because they are not like real life. Whatever! So, it was fun to be able to talk to someone while I was watching it.

Technology is so cool. Because of it I was able to watch one of my favorite shows with one of my favorite people even though there about 520 miles between us. Of course, if it weren’t for this technology, she and I would have never even met, either. It’s because of the Internet that I have met some of the best friends a person could ever hope for.

Seriously, the very best friends I’ve ever had in my life, I have met online and would never have met them if it weren’t for the Internet. I have learned so much more about myself and how relationships work from these people that I am lucky to call my friends than I would have had I never met them. The only thing that is hard is that I live so far away from most of them. Once you get to know someone you want to spend time in the same breathing space as them.

I will get to do this soon. Next weekend my friend that I watched LOST with last night is coming down here for a visit. She will be with her three kids and her mother-in-law. We are going to go to the Magic House, Incredible Pizza, maybe the Science Center and The Mills Mall. It’s going to be so much fun. She’s been here once before, but only overnight so we had very limited time. This time she’ll be here for three days. She’s coming during President’s Day weekend, so I’ll have all three days off work.

Maybe someday I’ll make it up to MN to visit her. I also really want to visit my other friends at some point. They are pretty much scattered all over the U.S. and Canada with a few on other continents as well. My goal is to get to meet each of them face to face before I die. Hopefully, that means I have many, many, many years to accomplish this goal.

February 6, 2008

Michael came home tonight. He was home a little earlier than I had anticipated, which was good. He's not feeling well at all though. He's got a fever and his throat is hurting him. I feel so badly for him. I hope he gets over it quickly. It's good to have him home though. It sounds like his trip went well.

Michaela had girl scouts tonight. While she was there I went to Walgreen's to get her prescription. I also bought a Dalmatian Webkinz to give to Caleb for Valentine's Day. I already have a Polar Bear Webkinz for Michaela. I'll put them in bags with a small box of chocolates and that'll be their Valentine's.

Caleb mostly messed around on Webkinz World on the computer tonight. He did play Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games on Wii for a while, too. So, it's been a quiet night mostly.
I didn't make it to church tonight since Michael just got home and isn't feeling well.

Hopefully, next Wednesday. I really do want to go to at least a couple Lenten services this year. I also really, really, really want to go to Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services. I need to look at see what time they start. The kids and I will be on Spring Break that week.

I can't believe how tired I am tonight. It know a lot of it is fatigue. I'm battling some seasonal depression again/still. Work is really kind of stressful right now, too. I'm getting that wanting to hide and withdraw from the world feeling so I know it's at least partially depression. I also know it'll pass. It does every year, but it sure is a whole lot of NOT FUN while I'm going through it.

February 5, 2008

It was a busy day today. Michael left the house almost an hour early because he had to get to the airport. He flew out to Arizona with his boss and one of his co-workers today. They have a customer in Flagstaff they needed to visit. They went out there this time last year. There's tons of snow out there right now, but luckily they have the roads cleared by now. Michael said their flight was very bumpy today, though.

Work was pretty normal. But, after work I started to feel like I'd never get a chance to sit down. Since it's an election day, we did not have a staff meeting, so I went and did the grocery shopping before I picked up the kids.

By the time I got to the grocery store it was POURING down rain. I did have my umbrella with me, but with the wind it didn't do much good. It was still raining hard when I came out of the grocery store. I managed to drop a glass jar that from some miracle did not break. And, then trying to hold a small umbrella in a lot of wind while putting groceries in the back of the van is not an activity I wish to do often. One of my bags broke and everything that was in it ended up rolling around in the basket. That was fun.

Then, when I got to the daycare center, the parking lot was packed. I had to park about as far away from the door as the parking lot would allow. Great. More walking in the cold rain. I also managed to hit the curb with my tires about four times trying to get into a spot because the back part of the parking lot is not very conducive to turning large vehicles. It's the one big gripe I have with my daycare center, their parking lot. It sucks.

By the time the kids and I made it back to the van, we were all soaked. My umbrella really didn't do much good. Again, the wind just whipped that rain all around us. So, we came home and got into our pj's right away.

I put away the groceries and cleaned up the dishes that needed to be put in the dishwasher. Of course this meant putting the dishes that were in the dishwasher away, too. Then, I finally was able to get supper started. Supper tonight was mac 'n cheese. But, that's not all I did. guess I was queen of multi-tasking tonight because as I was cooking and eating I updated the check book. I hate that job, but it needed to be done desperately.

Then, I helped Caleb register his two new Webkinz and his Mushabelly Mushkin. He and his sister played on the computer until 8:00 pm. Michaela and I read for about 20 minutes. Caleb wanted his back rubbed. And, then finally I could relax some. Of course nothing decent has been on television and I've already had all the politics I can take. So, I was just poking around on the Internet.

Michael is gone until tomorrow evening. He should be home around 6:30 or so. It usually does not bother me when he leaves. I mean it is a very rare occasion that he does, but when it happens it usually does not bother me. This time, for some reason I just don't like it. I want him home. I miss him a lot and am not even looking forward to having the bed to myself which is very unlike me. I'm not sure what's going on, but I do know I'll be glad when he's home tomorrow night.

February 4, 2008

Tonight was the Mother/Daughter Dinner for Girl Scouts. It was a lot of fun.

See: http://sweetpeamichaela.blogspot.com/ for more details.

It started at 6:00 p.m. and was held at a banquet center here in town. This meant I had to rush home from work. Monday is one of my tutoring days. Tutoring is not over until 4:30 p.m. It takes me about 30 minutes to get to Guppy from work.

So, I rushed the kids home and Michaela changed clothes. They both got a snack. Michael was trying to make it home in time for us to leave, but could not get away from work. So, I took Caleb to Michael's parents' house.

Michaela and I had a lot of fun. Michael and Caleb were playing Wii when we got home. I think they were having fun. It sounded like it, anyway.

February 3, 2008

We did not go to church today. It was the first Sunday of the month and that is the day that the kids do not go downstairs for junior church. This is hard enough when it’s just my kids, but with Anikca with us, I knew that the girls would want to giggle and play. Now, I know that I am perfectly capable of controlling this, I just did not want to, so I was bad and did not make any of us go.

On another church note, the Lutheran church I grew up going to has started having Saturday evening services every other week. Since I’ve been having such a difficult time getting myself to get up and go to early church there twice a month, I think I’m going to try and go to the Saturday evening services. I would also like to make it to at least ONE Wednesday night Lenten service this year. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll have Michael pick Michaela up from Girl Scouts on Wednesday this week and actually make it to Ash Wednesday service.

The kids played around the house until about 11:30 am, this morning and then we decided to leave. The kids were just very rowdy and after Michaela and Anicka waking us up at 4:00 a.m. I was just too tired to deal with it.

We went to Steak ‘n Shake by St. Louis Mills Mall and ate lunch there. Then, we went into the mall. Of course since Michael was with us we had to go in to Cabela’s first. I find this store immensely boring. But, Anikca had never been and really enjoyed seeing the giant catfish in the aquarium. The kids like seeing all the stuffed animals, too.

Then, we headed towards the playground. I am NOT a happy camper. They moved The Children’s Place. It’s no longer right there by the playground. This really annoys me. Of course, Michael was happy. That is until I told him I still had a gift card that I needed to spend at Justice. It expired today, so it had to be used. I spent about $35 but, the gift card was for $15. So, Michaela got two really cute tunic type tops (one long sleeved and one short sleeved) and a pair of capri leggings.

I will still be able to go to The Children’s Place when Michael and I take the kids to The Mills, just not when we only have about 15 minutes to let the play, which is about all the time we could allow because we had to take Anikca home soon. There is a Disney Outlet store coming there soon. I’m kind of hoping they put it where The children’s Place was. It’s probably a long shot, but possible I guess.

After we left The Mills, I called Anikca’s house because we were running late to let them know we were on our way. It was around 2:10 when we dropped Anicka off. She’s a really sweet kid, but I was still very glad to be back down to only two kids.

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry and working on lesson plans. Michael napped on the couch. I did make the kids do some quiet time in their rooms. Mommy needed the quiet, plus they both were not at their best. Caleb was very stubborn about it at first. He ended up crying at one point because I refused to give in. He fell asleep on his bed and napped for about an hour.

Around 5:00 p.m. I started the finger foods in the oven. Michael decided he needed some beer so I went and got that for him. We ate finger foods and raw veggies and birthday cake for supper. The kids watched the Super Bowl with us until bedtime. Michaela was very difficult to get to bed. She was so tired from her “sleep” over that she fell asleep on top of Daddy and we couldn’t get her to wake up. She’s way too big to carry anymore.

After they went to bed I watched the Super Bowl with Michael until New York got their final touchdown. At that point it was obvious that New England was going to lose. So, I went to take my shower. I am really tired, too. I actually slept through most of the third quarter of the game.

Now, I must explain the picture for today's entry. I had no idea what kind of picture to put on here. I did not want to do a football picture as that is just cliche' for this day. So, I thought, since we ate finger food for supper I'd put a picture of finger food up there. And, well, this is what I found when I did a search for "finger food" on google. I thought they were funny. They are actually breadsticks with peperoni finger nails and rosemary hair knuckles.