Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays all! So far besdies being very sick this is a great Christmas. I wanted to post some great pictures of this morning since I am at my sisters, who has all the pictures. I hope you all have a fabulous day!
I wish I had a rain coat that cute!
I scored big with Spore!
Having fun with the My little Pony Scooter.

It's a Wonderful Life!

So I just watched "It's a Wonderful Life" again and had to tell everyone to go watch it! I love this movie. It is the ultimate feel good movie. It reminds you of how many people we all affect in our lives, more than we have any idea of. Also I went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert last night and it was great! Edward Herrmann was one of the guest stars, I have loved him since I watched "Annie" around 40 times as a kid. He played FDR. Anyway it was a great way to help me get more in the Christmas spirit. Thanks to my relief society president who gave me the tickets!

I made it!

OK. so when I was offered my current job last year and decided to go back to school while teaching so I could get a "fulltime" job I thought, "It will be hard but I have been working two jobs and going to school for the last 2 years. No big deal." Well I was wrong. It was a big deal. It was a lot harder to be a 1st year teacher and go to school full time than I thought. And I did have experience and a teaching degree already. I don't know how my fellow classmates in the ATP program did it. Anyway I made it through and last Tuesday was my last class, yea!!! Hopefully I will soon be a fully qualified Special Ed teacher. I should also say thanks to the man above who as usual knew what I needed and kept nudging me towards this even though I kept resisting!

Countdown to Sanity!

Thanksgiving!

Ok, I don't have much to say but I am going to be busy the next couple of weeks so I figured I should say something now. Thanksgiving was great, pretty relaxing. I cooked, I will it admit it is because I am controlling and particular about my Thanksgiving dinner. I want the traditional turkey and stuffing, done right. It works out for everyone else thought, I think :) Anyway Kenn and I took my Mom to see Twilight, yes that makes 3 for me.... in a week. What can I say I am a sucker for a vampire love story and each time I went with people who hadn't seen it. So now I am trying to complete a semesters worth of work in one week so I can finish my class next week. Yea I will be done! I also have to get 5 IEP meetings in before Christmas break, finish Christmas shopping, do Christmas cards, treats etc. It is going to be a busy three weeks. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and thank you all for being part of my life. It wouldn't be as good with out you.

crash, leak and twilight.

Hello all. I figured it was finally time to catch you all up. Last week... could have been better. Everything was going OK until Wednesday. This is how Wednesday went- Woke up, then nose bleed. Finally get the bleeding stopped, get ready, go to leave, and bang, back into someone. I swear I looked but they came up fast. Anyway the person called the police so I ended up getting to class 5 minuted before it started. I then realized that I had forgotten my flashdrive that had the powerpoint I had spent 2.5 hours making the night before. So I quickly had to come up with something else for my students to do. I made it through the day, went home and collapsed on the couch and turned on the TV thinking, "I will watch Keith and he will make me laugh and inform me and I will feel so much better." Oh, no. Not on this day, Keith was on vacation. Yes, how dare he. Anyway I swallowed my bitter disappointment and got ready for Enrichment night. It was nice and I came home about an hour later in a better mood to find that... my ceiling was raining. My roomate had gotten home a little while before me to discover lots of water coming through the light fixtures and smoke detector in the hall. The carpet was soaked and they still had not figured out where it was coming from. Luckily the maintence people figured it out, cut a large hole in the ceiling and replaced the burst pipe. After a late night carpet cleaning and a giant fan for a couple of days all is well except for a musty smell that welcomes us as we come home. I was very thankful to live in an apartment with maintence people though! After that lovely day things did get better. My reward for surviving the week was going to see Twilight. I actually saw it twice, but only so I could see it with other people. I made plans to see it with my cousin's Martha and Lisa, and Lisa's daughters awhile ago. My brother could not make it Saturday ngiht though so I went to see it with him Firday night. Luckily it was very enjoyable so I did not mind seeing it again at all. It was a fun girls night out. I think I enjoyed it so much because I went in with very low expectations. After reading several interviews with cast members I was a little scared about what they may have done. Luckily they did a very good job transffering it. The movie is like the book in that it is great escapist entertainment! I hope you all are well and that you all have a great thanksgiving!

A new world...

So I woke up this morning and I could feel the hope in the air. I know some of you may not have voted for Obama but all of us should feel privileged to be living in America at this time and to be apart of this historic moment. I am so proud to be an American today. Because we elected this first black man to be president, because we had a huge voter turn out, because people stood in line for hours to make their voices heard!!! Anyway enough of my effusions ... There is something else I have been meaning to do and haven't yet. A couple of weeks ago I accepted a challenge to tell 5 people in my life how grateful I am for them so here goes...

Kim- You are the best sister I could ask for. Thanks for listening to my rantings, for being so supportive and for all the fun we have. Also thanks for producing the cutest, most enjoyable kids!

Kenn- Thanks for always being there. No matter what I ask or need I know you will be there when I ask. Also thanks for all the games, movies and fun! If not for my family I wouldn't have much of a social life but that is OK with me because you guys are my best friends.

Melanie- Thanks for being the most loyal friend ever. And thanks for helping keep me sane.

Angie- Thanks for being so easy to get a long with. Thanks for making me laugh frequently and for all the great conversations. Also thanks for putting up with all my stuff, rantings and obsessions.

David- Thanks for being the best brother-in-law ever. Thanks for all the help and for giving me so many new experiences like Taiwan, military bases in Prauge, Greek food, and countless others.

Ok so this is not a complete list, I have many other people in my life that I am very grateful for. So please everyone that is reading this, Thanks for all you do for me! You may be on the next list :)

Election Results!

To help you keep up! And because I think it is cool.

A to Z tag

I was tagged again by Lauri so if anyone is sick of these blame her :)...

A-Attached or Single: Single but severely attached to my family
B-Best Friend: Sister and brother
C-Cake or Pie: Chocolate cake
D-Day: I like nights best
E-Essential Item: jeans and a computer
F-Favorite Color: black
G-Gummi bears or gummi worms: Gummi worms
H-Hometown: Boise,ID
I-Indulgences: Reading all day or watching movies all day and doing no grading!
J-January or July: July, I don't have to work!
K-Kids: 3 nieces and 1 nephew, yes they count!
L-Life is incomplete without: Keith Olberman and/or Depeche Mode
M-Marriage Date: I think this is a prejudicial question
N-Number of Siblings: A sister, a brother and sister-not-appearing-in-this-movie
O-Oranges or Apples: oranges
P-Phobias or Fears: spiders, especially big hairy ones
Q-Quote: "Sarcasm was very important in my family."
R-Reason to Smile: when some is funny or kind around me.
S-Season: all them
T-Tag: Kim, and Angie
U-Unknown fact about me: I love the Princess Diaries books.
V-Vacation destination of choice: Europe and/or Disneyworld!
W-Worst Habit: Not being patient with my students
X-X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Whichever is needed?
Y-your favorite food: diet coke and chocolate
Z-Zodiac Sign: tarus

Catch Up.

Sorry all. it has been awhile since I posted. I have been busy. I had midterms last week. I got a 59 out of 60 on one so thats good :) I also signed up for a technology grant program through my school district. It means I got my own projector(that is supposed to be mounted any time now), a voice enhancement system, access to a mobile computer lab, a digital camera and a student clicker response system. It also means that I have all this work I have to do to show that I am learning new technology and using it in my classroom. I put it off for the first few months of school and now I am playing catch up. The good news is that I finally got my voice enhancement system installed last week. It is basically a sound system that I can talk into, and play music through. It also came with a wireless microphone that I can have my students read into. I have had a lot of fun playing with it this week. Especially the first day when my students didn't know what was going on. Other than school and work I have not been doing much. I played Sttlers of Catan with Kenn and his roomate John, and won. John fits right in with our family, he whines when he is losing too :) Anyway I am going to go make some cookies now.

A Poem...

Ok. So I am going to post a poem that John Cleese wrote about Sean Hannity. Now I know some of you may not think it is very funny and some might even be offended, I hope not. But this is my blog and I think it is highly entertaining, also I would welcome any comments :)

Ode to Sean Hannity
by John Cleese

Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You’re a profanity
Hannity

Debate?

Ok I will not say anything about the Vice Presidential debate (those of you who know me know what I would say:) except that I did not throw anything at the TV. I think I showed remarkable restraint, I have learned discipline over that last 8 years :) On to the catch up.. it was a fast week. At school I did find out that I most likely will be able to keep my current schedule and my class of 38 went down to 27! Yea! I still have a class of 33 and 36 but still it is better. Also Pushing Daisies premiered this week and I think it is my favorite show on TV now. If you have never seen it you should give it a try. In closing I would like to say you should all go to Dave and Kim's blog and checkout the video David posted a link to. The video is pretty much indescribable, enjoy :)

Tagged?

So I was tagged by my friend Lauri, I have never been tagged before but I think I am supposed to fill out the info for me, so here goes..


I am: A teacher, a daughter, a sister, an Aunt and an Abba lover!
I think: All people should travel because as Mark Twain said, "Travel is fatal to prejudice."
I know: I have so much to be grateful for.
I want: to keep my history classes!
I have: great family and friends.
I dislike: disruptive, defiant students.
I miss: my nieces and nephew.
I fear: Spiders, anything with 8 legs can not be natural.
I feel: "Happy. I think I'll go for a walk..."
I hear: The sound of the after debate commentary.
I smell: vanilla hand soap.
I crave: good books.
I cry: rarely, especially in front of others.
I usually: drink too much diet coke everyday.
I regret: yelling at my students.
I search: google for interesting pictures and videos for my power point presentations
I wonder: what many people are thinking sometimes.
I love: my friends and family and good chocolate.
I care: sometimes too much and sometimes too little.
I always: Try to get home in time to watch Countdown.
I worry: about the people I care about.
I am not: very disciplined.
I remember: a lot of trivia, it is useful in games!
I believe: we all have a responsibility to vote!
I dance: in the halls at school
I sing: loudly in my car
I don't always: Tell people how grateful I am.
I argue: when I can, I always enjoy a good discussion.
I write: on a lot of student papers
I win: a lot of games and contrary to popular opinion I can be a good loser.
I lose: my patience too often
I wish: School started at 9:30 am
I listen:to a lot of 80's music
I don't understand: why bringing a pencil to class is so difficult
I can usually be found: trying to catch up
I am scared: a giant tarantula will jump out of a package at me.
I need: prayer
I forget: to do things I don't want to do.
I am happy: when I am with my nieces and nephew.

The Tongue is a very important muscle...

So last week I had a crown fall off. I called my family dentist, Bill, and made an appointment. I had to take a whole day off because he is in Pleasant Grove but it is worth it because 1. He is a great dentist, 2. he's family and 3. He has me totally parinoid about seeing another dentist who will tell me I have cavities and other issues when I don't then stick me with that horrible needle when I don't need it. Anyway the crown ended up being an easy fix, just glued right back on. But while I was there he asked me if I wanted him to cut off the fibroma on my tongue. I think that was the technical term for an annoying bump on the side that he thought was some scar tissue (I bit my tongue hard, then kept biting it or something) and I had had it for 2-3 years. I think he finally figured I was not going to go to the Doctor and get it cut off so he said he could snip it off. I said sure, thinking, otherwise it's not coming off. Anyway I found out that trauma to your tongue is very inconvienant. It wasn't extremely painful, I mean it hurt but it was more that my tongue swelled and it was really hard to talk. Being a teacher and not being able to talk easily is hard. I got sick of mashed potatoes and pudding really fast and I gave in and showed my students a video and played games on Friday. It taught me to be very grateful for that unsung hero of our body, a healthy tongue.

The Vampires...

Ok so I started commenting on my sister's blog entry on the Twilight books that she finally just read and comments posted about it and it got to long so I decided just to put it on my own blog. So here goes for all you that have been waiting eagerly for my opinion on the series (sure) Well all those of you that said it is not the best writing, you kept reading. If writing is truly bad you stop, believe me, I've read enough LDS fiction. Not that I am saying it is the greatest writing but she has created complicated characters and a very engaging story. I think it can be a great tool to show girls what is good and bad about adolescent behavior. Come on Bella cooks, and cleans for her father willingly, without complaining, because she loves him. I agree she is very obsessive about her love but if a teenager has to be obsessive about something, which they usually are at some point, it could be worse. I guess Edward reminds me of Mr. Darcy in some of the ways he acts and that is not all bad. Also he changes as does Bella throughout the series. Jacob is the one that gets on my nerves, especially in the last book. We all know you are tortured, get over it. Anyway those are my thoughts please feel free to agree or argue with any of them. I'd love a great discussion!!

Lock down, this is not a drill....

Hello all. This week was pretty good, mellow, nothing to exciting until Friday. First the beginning of the week was just work and class. I started my Special Ed law class on Tuesday and it seems like it will be pretty interesting. My Thursday night class so far is not so interesting. It will be a struggle to get through this semester.

Back to work, my administration is AWESOME. We had a meeting this week to discuss the 4 special ed classes we have that have over 23 students in them.(Luckily none of those are mine) The district will not do anything about maybe getting an other teacher until we count numbers on October 1st. So until then my Principal and Vice principal are going to take turns going into the over crowded classes and help the teacher teach them. I have never seen that before. The bad part of this is that I may have to go to teaching all Special Ed classes for the rest of the year. I really don't want to so everyone cross your fingers that it works out.

So exciting Friday... it was a normal day until the middle of 7th period. I was with my 7th grade Special Ed reading class. The secretary came over the announcements and said we were going into lockdown. I knew we were going to have a drill sometime soon so I assumed it was that and ran towards the door to close and lock it as I told my students to get in my office. My autistic boy yelled that the lights had to be turned out, I told him I would get them. He then yelled "Drop, cover and roll" and flew under my desk. I let him stay under the desk while trying to calm him down. Then my students in the office said, "What's going on, they said it wasn't a drill." I said, "Really?!" Anyway it turns out there was an armed robbery at the 7-11 adjacent to our field and the cops saw the suspect go in the school's direction. We were only in lockdown for about 45 minutes before they caught the suspect but it was kind of scary. I felt much better after Kenn and I went to the Mama Mia sing-a-long again and we dragged John too.

Finally acting instead of just talking...

So this week went really fast. The second week of school went very well, this year is sooooooooo much better and easier than last year. I also had classes, well one was canceled and one was really boring. After teaching all week the last thing I really want to do is to go in on a Thursday afternoon for a three hour class, especially one on adaptive technology. Anyway besides all of that I volunteered for the Barack Obama campaign. It is the first time for me and it makes me feel a little better about spouting my views so vehemently :), at least I am actually giving my time as well. Anyway they even talked me into making phone calls. I signed up for data entry, I told them I would not, could not make calls. I got there and before I knew it she was setting me up to call supporters. She got me by getting me to where I was uncomfortable telling her no. I tried to get out of it by extolling my bad sales skills but she said that was better because I would sound more real. Anyway it was not nearly as painful as I had imagined. I only got one republican and she just said they were voting for McCain very nicely. It was fun to be a part of the process and I am going to try to talk Kenn and his friend into going to Colorado one weekend to do some canvasing. If he is with me I can make him do all the talking :) My main point in telling you this is that one, I got out of my comfort zone which is usually always a good thing and two no matter what you believe it is always good to get involved! And oh ya, everyone go vote on November 4th!!!!

Back to School

So once I got back from my extended vacation, School started about 5 days later. Well I had to be back at the School. It was a hectic week before the students actually came back. I moved from two rooms into a brand new one at the end of last year and had not done much putting away or arranging. I did get it all put together and I feel much better about my room than last year. I actually have bulletin boards with boarders on them! I am a real teacher now :) The first week with my students is now over and it went pretty well. I pretty much just gave, reviewed and reviewed some more the rules and procedures for my classroom. I learned last year that in middle school teaching rules and procedures can be more important than the academic content. Hopefully after laying my base last week this next week will go really smoothly. Here's hoping :) Today was Labor Day and Mom, Dad and I went to Kenn's new apartment and had lunch with his roommate John, his friend Lowell and KiRin. Kenn's apartment is really nice. It is an older building downtown with a lot of cool details. We then walked down the street to Pioneer park,temple square, Brigham Young Memorial Park, City Creek park and Memory grove. There are a lot of nice parks right around him. We then played scene it where my team hardily beat Kenn's and John's. I'm not really that competitive :)

A beginning...

Ok. I have given in. Today I was sitting thinking about how I need to write in my journal about my trips and experiences this summer and about how I didn't really want to do that. Then I thought about how I really need to e-mail some of my friends that I haven't communicated with in a long time. Then I thought about how I really need to e-mail my Grandma more and how bad I am at that. I then thought (don't you like this stream of consciousness I have going) maybe a blog could work for all of these things. So I am going to try it. Hopefully there are some people out there that might be interested in what is going on in my life but even if only my Grandma looks at it it will serve its purpose :)

Anyway a very quick recap of this summer... Take a deep breath, I did a lot...

First I loved being off work and getting paid. It was Awesome! I saw several movies including Mamma Mia, The Dark Knight, The X-Files, Wanted and Kit Kittredge. In June Kim, Dave and the kids came to visit and I went with them to Blackfoot, Idaho for a week. I had a great time staying with David's family, especially camping. Then Kim and I, with the kids, went to Boise for a week. It was great to see all the family there as well. Kim, kids and I then came back to Salt Lake City for 2 weeks. My roomate put up with all of us staying in our three bedroom aparment for most of that time extremely well. We were very busy. We went to Lagoon, went camping, went to Provo, had a swimming party and a bunch of other stuff too.

After the Police concert I went back to Connecticut with Kim and the kids. Yes I made Kim get plane tickets that were after the concert, it was important :) The plane ride went amazingly smoothly and I then watched the kids for the next 2 weeks while Kim studied for the bar and took it. It was tiring and wonderful. I loved spending all that time with them. As soon as she was done we went and picked up my Grandma in Boston where she was staying with my cousins Aaron and Brandi. It was great to see Aaron, Brandi and their kids even just for a little while. (I managed to see all my Blake cousins this summer!) Kim, Dave the kids, Grandma and me then all went to Rochester, New York. We saw Niagra falls, very pretty. The next morning we went to Palmyra and saw The Smith farm, the Graden Building and of course the Sacred Grove. The Grove was a lot different than I thought it would be. It was beautiful and had a wonderful peaceful, happy feeling in it.

After New York we went back to Connecticut for the next week. Here is a brief list of what we saw and did... Mark Twain's house, Starry Night by Van Gogh, New Haven and a little of Yale, the oldest continuous ferry in the U.S. and Walgreens- I got a pretty bad cold. We had a lot of fun with Grandma, I was so glad I could experience all those things with her. Both of us especially loved seeing the art Mueseum.

After the quick week and a few airplane mishaps, Kim and I took Grandma to the aiport at 5 am and then took the train into NYC. We stayed with the sister of a friend (thanks!) in Harlam. It was great to be able to stay in someone's house and kind of see how people live. Harlem was much different and less scary than I thought it would be. We went to the Metropolitan Muesum Saturday morning and saw an Egyptian Temple, a bunch of Monet's, Van Gogh's, Picasso's, Warhol's and others. It was very educational and great. Next we stood in line for 2 hours to get half price tickets to Spamalot on Broadway. It was worth it! In between the waiting and the show we went to the Empire State building. That was over priced, a long line in which they tried to sell you something more every 2 minutes but the view was incredible.
Sunday we went to sacrement meeting in Harlem, different and the same. Then we went to china town which reminded us a lot of Tiawan. Then Kim made me walk across the Brooklyn bridge, I'm glad she did, it was a great view as well. On Monday Dave and the kids met us and we went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. That experience is hard to describe, it was historical, patriotic, moving and fun. I could imagine all those new immigrants comming with a dream and hope in their hearts and not much else, and seeing the Statue for the first time and all it ment for them. It made me very proud of our country that 98% of all those millions of new immigrants found their way in to make new lives as Americans.

So this is a really long post so I think I will leave the rest of the catch up for another day.