I hate Rush

...and no I don't mean the band. Of all the things to talk about on his show, Limbaugh has to chose somebody with a disease whose drug makes them shake. Interesting choice their Rush. How are those prescription drugs working of you? Oh... they're not? Well that's too bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyODxggQpAw

And my dad listens to this guy daily. Ughh.

What are you watching this fall?

Each season there is always a big hit show that I didn't watch, and by the time everybody says it is good, I am too behind to start watching it. I guess I am too lazy to reinstate our Netflix account and order the past seasons. (Though the series that tempts me the most to do this with is Grey's Anatomy.)

Anyhoo, at the beginning of fall when all these new programs came out I felt I had to pick one to invest in, and I picked Heroes. Kinda freaky at first, but once I got over the Vegas stripper girl's slaughter scene, I really liked it. My favorite is the asian character who can teleport himself.

Anybody else watching this show? What are you watching?

**By the way, i used to be a mediocre Desperate Housewives fan, however last night's episode where Gabriel tricked Carlos into thinking he had a chance, but then slept with a random guy from a nightclub REALLY made me hate the show. I didn't even like the Carlos character so much, but that was just so evil and mean. Ughh. I think I'm done investing time into that show.

Lack of posts

First of all, this is us at the fair. Animals, stinky pig pens, rides, and yes... funnel cakes. It was a great day. I love going to the fair, and there was just something about the SC State fair that was much more wholesome than the fair I remember growing up with.
Speaking of wholesome... I have stopped using myspace. Not so much because I feel some sort of moral obligation to stop (I loved checking my myspace and running into old friends) but because I literally cannot log in anymore. My account through myspace was sending out rather vulgar adult sites and it got beyond my control. I tried to change my password, and now I can't log in at all. It was like the entire account was taken over beyond me. So... yeah, sorry. I won't be checking my myspace. Kinda bummed about that. I had all sorts of old high school people on my friends list, and I am surprised how much I enjoyed seeing how everybody was doing. I guess I just should have put up with the porn sites being posted. Oh well.

Other than that, sorry I haven't posted. Things are kinda busy. Scott is always running around (see below) and Emily keeps me on my toes. OH yeah, school is busy too. We just got our SMARTboards installed today and got to take home a new laptop. Awesome. I just have to figure out how to use the board now. So many new things!

A Quick Update

I thought I better do a quick update so that people won't forget about us. I know it's been almost a month since our last post but a lot has been going on in the Johnson household. I brief everyone on what's going on with me and that might force Malisa to begin updating our blog again since she was the one who was really good about posting.

This has been the semester from hell!!! It's not that the classes have been difficult but I have been inundated with a lot of work and little time to do it. I used to have several days a week where I could stay home and focus on nothing but work. Not any more. Here's the lowdown:

1) I supervise 13 student interns. at two different school each about 30 mintues away. This means I'm away from home at lease twice a week for about 3 hours. Doesn't seem like much but that's a big chunk out of a day. That also doesn't entail the paperwork that needs to be filled out on each intern which adds another 5 hours a week.

2) For two of my classes, I read an average of 400 pages a week. After I read, I either post messages to Blackboard or type of notes on all my reading. And of course, both of these courses have all their assingments due at the same time! Damn conspiracy agains me!!!

3) My research internship is going well but means I'm gone from home often either during the day or in the evening. The families I'm interviewing live about an hour away which means a two hour round trip sometimes 2-3 times a week. My interviews last between 20-30 minutes and conversations have to be transcribed for analysis, A 15 minuted conversation can take 6 hours to transcription.

4) And on top of the two projects that are due in two weeks, I also have my qualifying exams which are due. I'm not officially a doctoral student yet in case all are wondering. I'm just a doctoral candidate.

So all I do is pee, crap, read, type, and drive. I don't do a whole lot of anything else so I'm sorry for not posting more often. When I take a quick break, I read everyone's blogs so I try to keep up with how everyone is doing. Malisa, Emily, and I will be in Bakersfield/Fresno at Christmas for a week (have to finish that exam) so hopefully we'll see everyone.

I'm thinking three things

It was a big day in the Johnson household. Yes, Emily got her first pair of pigtails this morning. All of her hair made it up into the rubberbands, and she went from looking like a baby to a toddler in about three seconds. She is getting so big!

I know I haven't blogged in awhile. School started and I don't feel like life really every calmed down from that. Life is good though. Looks like we will be out for Christmas. Dad got a new job and can't take the time off to come here like originally planned, but that is okay. We look forward to seeing not only our family, but friends too!

I've been thinking a lot about work, and staying at home with kids. I always thought that I would stay home with Emily and any more children we may be blessed with once Scott finishes up school. However, I really love my job. Before loving my job made it bearable to be away from Em all day, but now loving my job means so much more. I really do know that is where I am supposed to be, and my adult life at work as a professional makes me a better mom because it makes me whole. Does that make sense? Who knows. If anything else it takes away the looming doom that before hung over us being able to afford or not afford me staying home in the future. I guess I have found a peace with the situation that will allow me to trust that whatever God has planned... it will be fine.

Kitler

I wasn't sure if the Heathers and Adams of the worlds had come across this site so I thought I'd post it anyway. Introducing a new breed of cat known as the Kitler.

http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/

Cruel.com

I love my daily posting from Cruel.com. I see some of the wackiest stuff. Here is the latest I had to post. Even us Christians like a little spice in bed a la Song of Solomon

http://www.book22.com/merchant2/

The Haps . . . .

My semester of classwork has finally began so I’m beginning to get into the swing of things. Instead of teaching I’m supervising 13 student interns. It’s a lot of emails and paperwork but I don’t have to prepare for teaching a class. I do have to drive out to schools a couple of times a week.

I’ve also started my course load. Once again I have an all day Saturday class which meets every other week. This one going to be lots of work. I also have my first Anthropology course which also a Woman’s study course on gender and migration. I also began my research internship. I’m trying to hash out my questions before I begin my interviews.

I also just bought a new MacBook. I’ve been toying around with the idea for a long time especially since the new Merom processors are coming out at some point. But Intel says you can swap the processor out and upgrade the software. Hopefully. I could always keep waiting for the next update but I could use the laptop so I can make better use of my time. Especially being out on the road so much. Yesterday I drove about 100 miles and was gone most of the day with several hours down time. I could have used that time to type up work. So I bought the middle of the road MacBook and I’m maxing out the memory from newegg.com, getting a bluetooth mouse, a wireless router so I can work outside the house, and hopefully begin being more productive.

Now I will have more time to blog.

America's Got Talent... apparently not

Yes, we have been watching this awful show off and on this summer. Tonight they are revealing the million dollar winner. I am upstairs reading all y'all's blogs, and Scott is really upset because "rappin' granny" made it to the top five. It really bugs him that she has made it so far. I think that is actually the only reason why he still watches it... because he can't believe that she could go on.

Anyhow, if she wins I think that he will be real mad. Maybe it will keep the both of us from watching stupid reality shows...maybe.

Also, today was my first day of school. It went really well. That is just about all I have to say because I am tired. I am sure in the next few days I will fill in more details.

Right now, it really seemed more important to blog about rappin' granny.

These are the good things:

... about starting a new school that I am loving right now

1. If I am lost as far as what is going on, it is okay! Everybody else is just as lost and confused as I am, and we will figure it out together!
2. There are no"last year we..." because there are no expectations of what was done at this school last year, because it didn't exist.
3. The kids can't wait to come in their new school and check everything out.
4. The teachers can't wait to come in their new school and check everything out.
5. There aren't any remnants of crap left in cupboards from previous teachers. Everything you put in your room is YOUR stuff.
6. All teacher's editions, math manipulatives, and science equipment are brand new. Complete sets= happy teacher! :)
7. The technology is crazy amazing. We are getting Smartboards installed in every classroom. (in case you don't know what that is, you will have to google smart board. Sorry, I don't know how to post a link yet, speaking of technology!)

School starts Thursday. I think that I a may actually take some pictures of my classroom before the kids come. I have to say that I am amazed at how great it looks, not because of how I put it together necessarily, but of how the room was designed. I love it!

Back to work

The school passed inspection yesterday, and we were in today. Wow. It was so exciting to actually get to walk in the building. Everything was new, and though it still looked very much like a construction site, it is obvious that this place is going to be a beautiful school. We had meetings all day except for an hour and a half that we got to work in our rooms. My stuff was delivered from my old school into my new classroom at the new school by district movers, so when I walked in my classroom, my boxes were already there. Talk about spoiled. It was nice not to have to move all that stuff. Tomorrow we get to spend just about the entire day putting together classrooms, which I am really looking forward to.

Now... the bad part. I still can't get over how I can be so excited, yet cry so much and be upset about leaving Emily. There were many times this summer when I second-guessed my ability to be a stay-at-home mom. However, leaving her was so hard today. Scott did it actually because I had to be at school so early, and I knew if there was a problem (Emily crying as I tried to leave or something) that I would be late. So I got up early and worked out at the gym, got ready there and drove straight to school. And yes, I called Scott to check in on how their morning was going. And yes, after I hung up the phone I cried the rest of the way to school. Emily was a champ, and just saw it as a big play day with her friends. She had a little trouble at nap time, but other than that, she was fine. And I got to be the one who picked her up, so she greeted me by yelling "mommy mommy!" which made me cry again. Ughh. I know this will get easier. But right now I am having a bit of a time getting over it.

Say a prayer please

I know I have told a lot of you about the new school that I will be teaching at this year. Well tomorrow morning is our first day back for meetings and such, and next Thursday (8/17) the kids come back.

The problem is that our school has not passed inspection. None of the teachers have been allowed inside ever, and our stuff is in storage at another elementary school where we can't get to it. It failed inspection 7/31 and this morning at 9 am the government inspector is scheduled to come again to come. Last time I don't even think the sewer lines had been finished, but this time I hear there is a problem with the fire alarm, something the electrician was working hard to finish.

Anyhow, just pray that it will be done, and the inspection will go well. I really don't feel like teaching fourth grade out of my garage! Just kidding. But in all seriousness, our district doesn't have a back-up plan lined up in case the school fails inspection again. Hmmm. Makes me nervous.

So that is all that is on my mind this morning. That and the fact that starting tomorrow morning I will be dropping Emily off at Miss Sheri's house all day, and I will probably cry a bit. It amazes me how much I can love my job so much and look forward to going back, but at the same time I absolutely dread being away from Em all day long. Weird how those two things can simultaneously exists in my heart at the same time.

Let me OUT!

Of the house please! It has been so hot the past week that Emily hasn't been outside to play much, and she is getting sick of her toys. So finally today it was supposed to cool down a bit, which it did, but not enough. We decided maybe this evening after dinner we would all go out and play in the yard and let Emily escape the walls of our home.

Well then the storm moved in. I swear the lightening and thunder and rain hasn't stopped since two thirty. This was also the time when Emily got put down for her afternoon nap. Fifteen minutes into napping and she is woken up by the loud thunder. Nice. After the third time of putting her back down, Scott gave up. Now we have Miss Cranky Pants.

Scott is so bored he is actually considering taking us to the mall so I can find a new top for a skirt I got. He must be desperate. I am trying desperately to get some school planning done, to no avail. I am just plum bored.

Oh well. Hope your Saturday isn't nearly as boring as ours.

Music for the seasons... yeah, I guess

Yeah, I don't really have a lot going on to talk about.

We came home from Bible study, put Emily to bed.
I finally remembered to plug in my ipod so it could charge the battery.
Oh, and I switched up the music (I have the shuffle, so it doesn't hold nearly the amount as y'alls, but it does the job)

Anyhow, that's basically it. I'm really excited to hit the gym tomorrow with my newly added J5 music on the shuffle to listen to while on the treadmill.

I haven't listened to them in a bit, and I realized that all of their music reminds me of summers in Fresno. Why? I dunno. Maybe it was all those great times on the back porch with the music playing out the outside speakers. But I was really excited to listen to it. That and some Fat boy slim. Also reminds me of summers in Fresno. Weird how music does that.

Okay, and while on the subject, Radiohead and travis remind me of winter, especially winters in Fresno. That's Jenny's influence I guess. Anybody else have a band that does that to you?

**and yes, I purposely meant to b put y'all. And no, I never say it out loud.

School starts when??

I don't know if I have said much about this, but I am moving to a new school this year. And when I mean new, I mean, being built. I got the choice to go, and am very excited, good opportunity, great administration, new technology...blah blah.

That being said, yesterday was our official "inspection" day. We all hoped it would be completed in time, but every day that I drove by on the way to the gym, I thought, "there's no way." Maybe it was the sewer lines that hadn't been buried, or maybe it was the large piles of dirt in the front, or rather still maybe it was the parking lot that had yet to be paved and was still a dirt lot. But for some reason, it didn't pass inspection. I can't figure it out.

So... we teachers were all excited to get our keys to our classrooms early this morning because just about every other teacher in our district has their entire classroom ready by now. (we go back on the tenth, and have professional development all day every day until the kids come on the seventeenth.) We are all anxious. And we get the email that we can't yet. Nobody is allowed in until it passes inspection, and they are coming back to re-inspect on the ninth.

Great. That means that if it passes we have maybe that afternoon and the weekend to move our stuff in and prepare for school to start.

I guess this is all the excitement that comes with starting a new school, but I am a little bummed. I am going to let this be the last that I complain about it though, because I am sure that it will be alright... as long as it is ready when the kids come in on the seventeenth. Please pray.

I'm loosing my mind

Today Scott has had a terrible headache that started early this morning, and has pretty much debilitated him all afternoon. Once we got home from church, he needed to lay down. This was fine of course, but it left me to deal with Emily the Ornery all afternoon by myself.

Let's just say that out of all the days for her to learn how to open the fridge, this was the one she picked. Great.

Normally Emily will play pretty well, and stay with one toy for a reasonably accurate time for a little one her age. Today, that is not the case. The child is everywhere, and into everything. She watched me sweep the floor, and just when my back was turned to grab the dust pan, she stood in the middle of my pile. I fluffed up and straightened up the couch cushions and pillows, only for her to realize that the cushions do in fact come off the couch, so she took them all off again. And today she remembered how to gargle her milk, only to get it all down her shirt an all over the carpet, and then toss her sippy cup over the fireplace screen. Wow.

I know that she is curious, and I hope she remains curious for her entire life, however, today her curiosity is driving me INSANE! Okay, thanks for the vent. She is now pounding on the bedroom door where Scott is desperately trying to nap to get rid of the headache.

Vagina Rejuvenation Surgery... huh?

Scott and I caught a bit of this on some news station, and I had to look up more about it on the web. Interesting. The news program was fairly vague about the actual procedure, and my curiosity was peeked.
I don't have a penis, so maybe I am out of line thinking that maybe I could understand the need for this, but is there really that big of a deal after the birth of a chid that a husband would subject his wife to this sort of surgery? The woman on the news program had five children, and was getting it done to improve her sex life with her husband. Hmmm.

What do you all think?

I think I planted too many tomatoes!

I am trying to find some information online about canning them, so maybe this fall and winter I won't have to buy stewed tomatoes. Until then, I think that we will be giving more to our neighbors, who I think are just as sick of them as we are going to be.

This picture is from this evening. Emily and I picked them all tonight, and there are many more that will be ready tomorrow and the next day. Emily loves to pick them, and I think that she finally figured out you only picked the red ones.

I know Adam will appreciate this

Yes, that is a lovely tomato. We were in the garden this afternoon and when I turned to find Emily, she had picked a tomato and starting eating it like an apple. So she went back to her lawn chair and enjoyed it, where I took this picture.
And again at dinner she saw the tomatoes and made her "Mmmmmm" sound, so we gave her another whole one. She ate the whole thing. Wouldn't eat her ice cream from Chic Filet at lunch, but will eat an entire tomato. Funny kid.

Scott's going to kill me... mwhahahaha

Scott has put in so much work into our backyard, it is crazy. It really looks like a different backyard. And there are constantly things that need to be fixed around the house. I have these really cute stickers that I bought of power tools, and I have a vellum quote book that contains a page that says, "isn't it nice to have a man around the house?" I thought, wouldn't it be great to do a page for our family album with different pictures of Scott doing work around the house?

That is when I started taking pictures of him doing odd jobs around the house like tightening cabinet screws, building shelves in the garage, or whatever.

I think I really annoyed him Sunday afternoon when I brought the camera out while he was mowing the lawn in the ninety-five degree heat with 90% humidity. The first picture describes that quite well. Then...




Isn't this better? Nothing says, "Get that camera out of here" better than this fat fake smile.

What to do with

So this evening I came home from my small group bible study feeling very frustrated and a little annoyed. I have this problem with not being able to help myself from saying when I disagree with something. This does not work well in my bible study where one member frequently tells the rest of us what is right.

I have a big problem with these absolutes, often because I don't necessarily agree with them, but sometimes even when I do agree, I feel that they AREN'T absolutes, but merely his interpretation of what is being read. At what point does a verse in the bible go from an absolute truth from an interpretation? Yes, the part about Jesus dying to pay for our sins... that would be an absolute. But when he says, "it is finished" before he dies on the cross... I thought that was a phrase of the time used to describe a payment in full, thus his death for our debt. Tonight I was told that this phrase "it is finished" has to do with God's plan for us being laid out in entirety.

Ughh. Not that I necessarily want to debate what this phrase specifically means, but I am annoyed that my bible study has become this place where somebody feels they understand exactly what these passages all say, and that I must be wrong. (or whoever disagrees with this person, though nobody else voices any disagreement.) This is the bigger issue. The above was simply a "for instance" from this evening. There have also been other "absolutes" about word meaning and other things that I find trivial to the purpose of our bible study.

Also, being the reading teacher that I am (and being married to Scott) I totally believe that there is a transactional process that occurs between any passage and a reader. This occurring with the Bible as well. I think that maybe one of the major disagreements between me and him (other person) is that it doesn't seem that he can entertain the idea of multiple interpretations of the same passage. Though I think there needs to be a point in which some truths are inarguable. But again, what is that point? What is left for the Holy Spirit to intercede and apply as needed? I don't know.

And finally, the big question: What do I do next? I really would like to take the easy road and just excuse myself from attendance, and find one of the many other studies in my church to attend. But I don't think this is exactly the right solution, at least not without some sort of explanation of why I won't be coming anymore. I do know that it isn't a good idea for me to go next week because I don't like the way that I feel about what is said, and I leave feeling frustrated. And I know that it won't work to sit back and absorb, never contributing to the conversation in case it means disagreeing, or simply asking a questions for clarification.

I can't believe how much I am bugged by this.

Suggestions? Ideas about what is an absolute, and what is left for question? Or maybe there is a right and wrong to every passage, and I just need to figure them out one at a time? Thoughts?

Crash and Burn

I'm sure this is the first of many more falls to come. Most kids have skinned or scraped knees to show for their first fall. Not our kid. She used her face. Emily was at a picnic or my softball team and she was coming down a step out of a gazebo onto the sidewalk. She isn't that great with steps in general, but I thought she could handle one step down. She was holding a ball, so when she fell she didn't let go of the ball to brace herself with her hands. Thus, we have the scraped face.

Now I must say that I was quite proud of Emily for how tough she was. She cried that "late reaction" type of cry for a moment, and then she was more concerned with finding her ball than anything else. We took her home and cleaned her all up, and thought about giving her some motrin before bed to make her feel more comfortable. We decided against it because she seemed to be fine.

She still doesn't seem to notice that there is anything wrong, so nobody show her a mirror!

Great Trip

Scott had yesterday off, so we went to Charleston for an overnighter. Yes, the hotel I booked once again confirms that I am cheap, and choose bad hotels. But other than that, we had a good time.

We decided not to go on the ghost tour (too late with Em) but we did go on a 2 hr. Revolutionary War walk around Charleston's Historic District. Awesome! Scott, Emily and I were the only ones signed up, so we had the very knowledgeable guide to ourselves. I learned a lot, and he even gave me his business card so that this year when I teach the Revolutionary war to my fourth graders, they can email him with questions. Fabulous! I think that Scott's love for history is really rubbing off on me. Poor Emily doesn't have a chance.

After some great food and a rest at the hotel, we were back down to Market street to go through the street vendors and wander the streets checking out old churches and graveyards. Another great dinner, some much to rich chocolate, and we went to bed.

This morning we went back to the market, had some coffee, and then went to visit Folly Beach on Folly Island. This is a place I really wanted to check out to see about a possible vacation rental with friends or family next summer. Great place. The houses sit right on the water's edge and are all built on what seem to be stilts, so the house sits a good thirty or more feet above ground, leaving the underneath to be an open garage for cars to park under. Different.

Add a visit to a plantation, and train around some swamp areas to see some alligators, and we had a marvelous trip. Seriously, people need to come visit us soon. I am finding there is a lot of cool stuff to see.

I finally did it

I raised my voice to somebody else's kid. I always knew that this was going to happen. I know that somebody else will one day raise their voice to Emily as well. But for some reason I am okay with that, but I have a hard time doing that with another kid. I guess if my child was misbehaving I would want somebody to stop her. However, some parents don't feel the same way. Sticky situation.

... back to today. We were at a play group with a lot of really great moms and kids. Emily was playing, and two different times she started screaming and when I looked she was at tug-of-war with this other child. I couldn't tell who had the toy first (though from prior experiences with the little boy I guessed probably Emily had it first.) but I gave the toy back to the boy, and gave something else to Emily to play with. She was fine with that. The third time I saw him take it away from her and push her to the ground. I sprang out of my chair with my finger pointing and in a raised voice told him " You do NOT get to take other children's toys, and do NOT get to push other children down." Well, he started to cry.

I really don't feel bad about it like I thought I might. I feel like I need Emily to know that it is okay to tell a child to bug off if he is being rude or taking things. If I continue to "be nice" and give the toy to him and give her something else I am sending the message that she should always give in, and I want her to learn how to (politely) stick up for herself.

Now I must also say as I eluded to earlier that this child often has a problem with sharing. And sometimes it seems to me that he is only interested in the toys that others are already playing with. I watched him take things and start arguments with three other children besides Emily.

I just hope that his mom doesn't get angry with me, and the hard part about that is sticking to what I know was the right thing to do by telling him no. Ick. I hate confrontation, and when it involves children it can be especially hairy.

The day ended well

Today started out kind of bad. Apparently there is something called adult on-set seafood allergies. Well, after eating grilled Tillapea last night for dinner, I found out all of the sudden I was allergic. I spent most of last night in the bathtub trying to relax my tense muscles and make the fever go away. So, this morning I am sure I wasn't the most pleasant person to be around.

However, I did have quite the highlight of my day when I sold the extra fridge in our garage. Why do we have a fridge in our garage? Well our realtor wrote it into the deal when we bought the house that they leave the fridge. Of course we brought ours, so we moved this one into the garage, thinking maybe I would use the freezer to store extra meats, and whatever. Scott always said this was a bad idea. He was right. After one month we unplugged it because it was empty, and just wasting electricity. And I have spent the past year trying not to hit it with my car when I pull it into the garage.

That said, I did sell it for $75. Then I went on-line to check out hotels for a possible stay in Charleston this weekend. Behold, I found a great deal with our Entertainment book (thanks to Scott's step-mom for that Christmas gift) for exactly $74.95. I was thrilled. Scott let me book the room, and now we are going for an over-night stay to the beach. We love Charleston. Maybe we can get Emily to sleep in her stroller one night and take one of those midnight tours of the church graveyards. Sounds fun!

I hope that everybody had a good fourth of July. Scott and I took Emily to the annual Lexington county peach festival. We saw the parade, and then we went through this craft booth area, and finally ended up with some wonderful peach ice cream. It was super hot, but a lot of fun. You wouldn't believe how many people came out for it. Emily thought the ice cream was fabulous!

This put a smile on my face

It amazes me how much Emily watches what we do. For instance, while we were at the Portela's a few weeks ago, Emily walked right over to Audrey's play kitchen, pulled out a pan put it on the stove, and then stirred with a spatula. Now that was not something that I had to teach her. She catches on to so much more than we give her credit.

Such an instance tonight. Emily and I always go into her room after bath time and we sit in her rocking chair cuddled under a blanket, and we read a story or two before bed. Well, tonight I guess things were a bit out of sorts since her bath came right after dinner (we gave her a popsicle... BIG MESS!!) so there was some play time after her bath that she normally doesn't have.

Emily decided she is going to rock in her chair with a book by herself. It was quite the system she had down!

She got many of her books and her blanket and put them in her chair.

Then she would climb in... still quite the task.

Then she would read each one, and drop it off the side of the chair each time saying "uh oh."

When all the books were on the floor, she would get down, and start the entire thing over again. This went on for about twenty minutes. The entire time I was snapping pictures from the hallway and giggling.

Dieting

After three weeks of eating out, mom's good food, and all that other crap we ate on vacation, we... no really just I have started to diet. Scott is just sort of appeasing me. Anyhow, I have tried a few things in the past with no avail, however this weight watchers "points" thing really seems like it is going to work. No, I don't go to meetings and stand on a scale to be weighed in while people call me a cow in the back of their minds. But I do go on-line to see that I get to eat 22 points of food daily with my weight, and I see how many points different foods are.


I have to say that it really hasn't been that bad. It has really just been a matter of choosing different foods at the grocery store and paying more attention to the foods that I buy. They really don't taste bad at all, maybe I can tell the difference with some, but not all. (Scott by the way will totally disagree with me. He watched me unpack the grocery bags a few nights ago and heaved big sighs every time he say the words "fat-free" on the food labels. )

So far I have lost 3 lbs in a week. That is what will keep me going. That and the "skinny cow" ice cream sandwiches that are only three points each.

The only drag is that after my successful weigh in this morning at home, we had a pizza dinner tonight with the fourth grade staff at the new school. I think I ate way over my 22 pts. Oh well. There is always tomorrow, right?

It's hot, so add water!

Today we came home from church during a rain storm. It wasn't one of those summer southern rain storms that comes in and dumps for twenty minutes, and then heads on. Today was pretty much wet all day. Finally the drizzle went away for a bit, and the sun even came out. I dashed for our shoes so that we could get Emily out of the house and on her tricycle that she points at each time we go in the garage to get in the car.

So, off the three of us go to walk around the neighborhood and push Emily on her tricycle. When we get to the furthest point on our walk, is starts to drizzle a bit. By the time we passed two houses, the flood gates opened from the clouds and we were wet.



You would think by the picture that we might have been pretty cold. Not at all. The rain cooled us down nicely. I'm sure to any neighbor that may have driven by we looked rather ridiculous. But it was one of those times when being ridiculous was kinda fun. I'm sure that Emily loved it, probably Scott loved it, though he may not admit it. I think it will make a fun scrap page.

Three weeks is long enough

It's Sunday night, and we have a little over twenty-four hours before our plane leaves back for SC. I can't wait. I love to see all of our friends and family, and I am grateful that we have fit in as much socializing as we have, but we are all pooped!

So far, we have gone from SC to Fresno, to bakersfield, to fresno, to arroyo grande, to bakersfield to fresno to bakersfield to san berardino to fresno. No, I am seriously not exaggerating. Today when we were coming back from San Berardino we had about an hour drive left and Emily started pumping her legs and screaming in protest of being in the car seat so long. Can't say I blame her. Scott, Emily, and I have really not had a space of our own for going on three weeks, and living out of suit cases is getting old.

This trip has made me realize how much I love my home with my own little family. I can't wait to get to cook dinner for Emily and Scott in our kitchen. I look forward to Sunday morning breakfast with coffee and newspaper around our little kitchen table with Emily in her own high chair. I love that our house will be completely baby-proofed and I will finally be able to sit down on the couch in peace knowing that Emily is safe, and nothing will be broken. I can't wait for some night next week once Emily is in bed so that I can get out all of my scrapbooking stuff and get to work on all of the pictures from this trip, and have everything I need right were it goes in my room, and spend some time alone... just with me.

Our home is sacred to me, I guess like everybody's home is sacred to them. I know that for the rest of the summer I will be more thankful to be home. I think that I will also be thankful to have just the three of us at home... at least for a little while that is! Now if only we survive the plane trip back!

I've always wanted to be a gangsta pimp

I got this from Jay's blog. I thought that it was a bit weird that he should score so high, but then I did as well. I don't think that it takes much!



Prevent (or Cause) Do You Know the Hip-Hop Lingo at LiquidGeneration!

Seven more hours...

... until the taxi comes to pick us all up. 3:45 am in the morning. It should be interesting. What is kind of funny and sad all at the same time is that this will be Emily's fifth time going back and forth from the east to west and west to east. I have to say though, this time I am more nervous than ever. Tonight we went to dinner, and she wasn't "bad" at all, but she was surely loud, and excited to see so many people. She talked, and yelled in a very happy tone, however, Scott and I couldn't help but think that if this was a precursor for tomorrow's flight, we may need to invest in Xanex. But maybe she was just getting it all out of her system. Yeah right.

But I have to say I don't really blame her. She is only fourteen months old, and to her everything is an exploration. The idea of being restrained in a high chair, shopping cart, or car seat just really aggravates her as it deprives her from "exploring" everything from the stray dog to the chewed piece of bubble gum on the side walk. Maybe she will find the back of the air plane seat in front of her thrilling, and it will make her want to stay seating in our arms the entire way. Or maybe she will "strong arm" us every time she wants to get down and walk on her new walking legs as she waves and "talks" to all the other passengers who are tying to sleep.

Either way, she is not the first baby who has flown at this age, and I guess what we need to really be hoping for is patience. We could use some prayer for patience please.

Tomorrow at this time, we will all be in California visiting family and friends. Woo hoo!

Historical "Stuff"

Last night Scott, Emily and I went out to a great Greek restaurant ( I even had a gift certificate from a student... nice!) After dinner we took one of our random car drives that we do when we don't know an area of town well. We ended up in downtown Columbia, which Scott knows rather well. We drove by the state house, or capitol building, and we decided to stop because we had never really walked around it before.

It was really wonderful. First of all, there were no thunderstorms, and the heat and humidity took an evening off, so the walk itself was great. The gardens around the buildings were immaculate, and that was great to look at in itself.

By the history. Oh, the history. There were so many different statues, and monuments, and plaques to read. Scott was in high-heaven. Eventually as it neared her bed time, Emily went off to sleep, and Scott and I were left to read everything at our leisure. Of course there were the statues that were unveiled in the late 1870's from groups like "women of the South" that spoke of the "tragedy" and the horrific outcome of the civil war. The pride of the south is so evident in those statues and plaques, and of course we all know the confederate flag still flies at the capitol, which is pride as well. And there is also an annoying large statue of Strom Thurman, and plaques all the way around making him out to be the savior of the world.

There were also markers of where the original state building stood before the Yankees burned it down. There is also an old grave of a Revolutionary war hero on the grounds with a fence around it. The original grave marker is there, with a modern marker going around it to explain what the worn marker said. There was also a great african-american bronze monument that went through the various changes for blacks in our history. It was beautiful.

I guess I felt kind of guilty living here almost a year and not ever really paying close attention to the history everywhere. Sure, I noticed the remains of the original bridge that was burned by Sherman, which now is part of the zoo, and I drive by neighborhoods where new houses have been built on old family land where family plots still mark the dead.

I hope that this next year I can find more time to look for more of the history that is everywhere, especially living here in South Carolina. I don't want to move away years from now and look back and think, "Why didn't I take better advantage of learning more of U.S. History while I was living right in the middle of where so many events took place."

Baby no-nap

Today I had planned to get all of the laundry going, most of our things packed, and also the house straightened up. Well, to do this I was COUNTING on Emily taking her normal 1 hr. morning nap, and then her 1.5 hr. afternoon nap. "Hah!" is just about what she said to me. She slept for a whopping forty minutes this morning, and has yet to fall asleep this afternoon.

Normally we read a story, lay her in bed, and she falls asleep in 2-3 minutes. I have been listening to her fuss for the past twenty minutes. I really feel like I am going to pull my hair out. And then there is Scott, who wants to go get her out of bed because "she just isn't tired." Yeah right. If I go get her up without napping, she is going to be MONSTER baby this evening, and trying to keep her up until bedtime is going to be disastrous.

Oh well. As we speak he is in getting her out of the crib. I can't really blame him. After two rounds of trying to put her to sleep this afternoon, it seems as though her screaming will never end. Oh well for the packing. Hopefully we can do it all tomorrow... that is IF she takes a nap.

The Family That Is Liberal Stays Together

Here is my crack at this:

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 35% Conservative, 65% Liberal

Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Scott

Birthday Calendar

Here is an interesting website. Put in your birthdate and it will give you all sorts of interesting information about the day you were born.

http://www.paulsadowski.com/BirthData.asp

Hmmm... not too surprising!

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 40% Conservative, 60% Liberal

Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Ethics: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Last Day of School!

Today was my last day of school. It was pretty much the hectic, emotional, quick-paced day that most last days are. However, this was really a special group of kids that I have, and I am really going to miss them! The entire year was great, the school was fabulous, and even though I volunteered to go to the new school (i have always wanted to start a new school) I couldn't have been happier where I was this year. The district is the country club of school districts, and they are the nicest people all the way around. They even provide district movers to come into our rooms after we have packed up and move our things to the new school. FABULOUS!

Now saying that, the past four days Scott and I have had more dealings with FUSD. Long story short, it was ANOTHER bill that never got paid, and we never got the bill in the mail since we moved, and we actually got sent to collections... all taken care of now thank goodness. However, in dealing with our stupid, lame, district that I HATE I found out that FUSD stopped paying our insurance company on my behalf. They told the insurance company that I had been terminated from employment as of 4-1-05, and thus stopped paying them for me to be covered. But they still took a few hundred out of my paycheck the entire time. Hmmmm. The insurance company lady said this was the fifth case of this from FUSD, and she things personally that it is some sort of fraud, because this had only happened to those families with both spouses working in the district. I guess they figure if most of the bill gets picked up by the primary holder, it won't matter if the secondary holder isn't covered... maybe they won't notice. What the heck? It all got handled, but not before I called the district benefits office and they looked me up only to say they had no record of my employment. ??????? HUH??? Ughhh!

I guess my point in all of that is I am so thankful to be where I am. I know that this move out here was for Scott and his program, but I really believe that God's plan included me being where I am just as much as Scott. Maybe this week's medical bill fiasco was sent to remind me not to forget how fortunate I am to be working in such a great place. And to get me out of FUSD before I burned down the District Office.

Sorry

Sorry if Malisa and I haven’t posted in a while but nothing has been going on. I’m a stay-at-home dad taking care of Emily most of the time. We go the library, the mall, the zoo, and feed the ducks. I have even been going to a mom’s group. Emily is very social and loves to be around other kids.

Other than taking Emily places, I have been reading the books I’m using for the course I’m teaching in July. I have a meeting with my supervisor Friday to go over my schedule for the research I’m conducting as well as what to study for the comp exams which I will most likely take this semester. When you begin a doctoral program, you are merely accepted into the program but not as a full fledged doctoral student. For that you have to pass your comp exams which is usually answering three questions over a period of three days. You’re basically summarizing what you have learned so far in your program and they want to see how well you write.

Malisa finishes school this week. Each day is a half day but she has to stay at school all day. After school has ended for Malisa, we begin getting ready for our trip back to CA.

Stop Sign Vandalism

A while back I was leaving for work and every stop sign that I passed (three in all) had "Bush" spray painted in white underneath the "stop."

Okay, so my first reaction was, "hee hee! Funny! This republican sleepy suburb is going to FLIP when they see these three signs. It will be the topic of all conversations. "

And it was. But the thing is, it wasn't just the three signs. Literally every stop sign has "bush" spray painted. Then a couple weeks passed by, and I was coming home from work when I noticed that now somebody spray painted in black "don't" ABOVE the stop. Woo, I feel a battle a-brewin! So now late at night, I am guessing these vandals go around and either spray out or re-spray on top of the other's marking. It is rather stupid, and I am sure they will eventually be caught either way, but still. What a bunch of cowards. "let's go out in the middle of the night when nobody can see us, and vandalize street signs to promote out view of the president."

But, I guess that the attention they were seeking was achieved, because every morning when I go to work, i make sure to look to see who is winning the battle of the stop signs, and I guess the presidency. It keeps me amused.

Confederate Memorial Day..... huh?

Yes, in the good 'ole south we celebrated Confederate Memorial Day. This apparently was only a holiday to counter Martin Luther King Jr. Day which was only celebrated in our state for the first time a couple of years ago. But today, on this great day, our state celebrated the loss of all who died in the civil war. Hmmm. We still had school because it wasn't a federally recognized holiday, but still all state offices were closed. We are right in the middle of standardized testing (aghhhhh) and though we tested Monday and Tuesday, we couldn't test today because the state office of education was closed. Here was the legal mumbo jumbo that I found when I at first didn't believe this possible:

LEGAL HOLIDAYS

SECTION 53510. Legal holidays enumerated; state employees.

The first day of JanuaryNew Year’s Day, the third Monday of JanuaryMartin Luther King, Jr. Day, the third Monday in FebruaryGeorge Washington’s birthday/President’s Day, the tenth day of MayConfederate Memorial Day, the last Monday of MayNational Memorial Day, the fourth day of JulyIndependence Day, the first Monday in SeptemberLabor Day, the eleventh day of NovemberVeterans Day, National Thanksgiving Day and the day after, and the twentyfifth and twentysixth days of December in each year are legal holidays.
The holiday schedules of public colleges and universities, including technical colleges, shall not be in violation of this section so long as the number of holidays provided for in this section are not exceeded.

The End of My First Year

At times the year was tumultuous; at time exciting! I finished my first year at USC. Thank goodness you only have one first year. I finished the year with 5 A’s and a B+. Regular grades and + / - mean quite a bit here since the difference adds or detracts from your grade point average. That B+ was in my Educational Statistics course. I’ve never had a math class above algebra II so I thought it was quite an accomplishment.

Next year I will begin my first full-fledged research of which I plan on having an article written up. I also begin working on my cognate in anthropology.

Well anyways I look forward to seeing everyone in 4 weeks.

The End of My First Year

At times the year was tumultuous; at time exciting! I finished my first year at USC. Thank goodness you only have one first year. I finished the year with 5 A’s and a B+. Regular grades and + / - mean quite a bit here since the difference adds or detracts from your grade point average. That B+ was in my Educational Statistics course. I’ve never had a math class above algebra II so I thought it was quite an accomplishment.

Next year I will begin my first full-fledged research of which I plan on having an article written up. I also begin working on my cognate in anthropology.

Well anyways I look forward to seeing everyone in 4 weeks.

Tornados today

This afternoon we had a tornado warning for our county. A "tornado watch" is when they expect that the current conditions could eventually produce a tornado. A warning though means that an actual tornado has formed.

Well... wasn't this exciting. We spent over an hour in the hallway where it was safe. Some students cried, and when it was time for dismissal, we couldn't dismiss students. I think we only stayed about fifteen minutes after dismissal, but still. When some children had parents who were picking them up, the others who were left got upset that their parents weren't there. Besides that, we had to sit with the fifth graders too, and the entire hallway was packed. Ah, and I can't forget to mention that the hallways aren't air conditioned... just the classrooms but the doors had to remain closed for safety. Very stinky in that hall, but I guess if something drastic happened, we would all be safe.

But then I get home right away (scott had already picked up Emily) and they are calling for tornado watches and warnings all over the state. Nothing much came after that. Rain and a bit of wind, but surely not the golf ball-sized hail that was predicted and pelted other towns and quite a few tornados formed, and many of those touched down. Scott thinks about a dozen in all.

Very interesting. I learned a lot today.

92 degrees on Easter

So what is up with the near 90 degree temps here? Oh my gosh! And Hurricane season doesn't "officially" begin until June 1st. But apparently the forecast came out that a "major" hurricane will hit the east coast this season. I guess just because it hasn't happened in awhile statistically makes it more likely, therefore the 81% number was flashed on the news. Either way, Scott has prepared our family with an "all weather" "S.A.M.E" technology radio that is set to wake us if a terrifying warning were to come through for our county in the middle of the night. (Thanks Sam for that info!)

But, until then, we are just going to enjoy this early humidity and high temps. Emily sure did enjoy the baby pool in the back yard this afternoon. (As did Dakota.) I sure hope they get moving with our neighborhood pool so that it will be ready soon!

I can't remember the last Easter that I had when the temps were around 92. Happy Easter everybody!

Look what bargain I found?

I'm a little bored tonight, so I decided to go on-line to look at toddler forks for Miss Em. However, I came across these shoes. Aren't they so cute? And they are made by Stride-right, who offer widths for Flinstone feet babies like Emily. I just had to share my great deal. I got them totally cheap. I'm sure she will be stylin' in these new shoesies!

Apple now runs Windsows XP

In case you haven't heard the new already, the new Apple Intels will run Windows XP using a free piece of software called Boot Camp.  You have to provide your own Windows XP.  All you need to do is hold the control key to tell the computer which system to boot from.  It will burn all your Windows drivers onto a CD.  Damn I love Apple.

Softball and Tornados

So tonight we had our third softball game. So far we are 1-2. We lost so bad tonight that they had to call the ten run rule. Oh well. Last week we WON so bad that they had to call the ten run rule. The most exciting thing of the whole game tonight was when a girl on the other team hit a pop up over the dug out and nailed the windshield of a car. (Yes, I parked Scott's truck right beside that car, and no, I will not be parking it there again. He already gave me the lecture.)

But here is the thing. In the middle of the game, the clouds move in, rain sets in... in some places it actually hailed. It was over eighty degrees. Unbelievable. Then at the end of the inning when we were going back into the dug-out I hear the ump talking to the other coach about how we may have to go get in our cars in case of a tornado, so he wanted everybody to be watching.

What in the world?

Never in my life did I think that I (#1) would be playing softball and (#2) be watching for tornados at the same time. Living in the south is kinda crazy.

Also at school this morning had our first tornado warning which means that there was one sited. (watch means to watch out because the conditions are just right for one, and warning means that a funnel cloud has actually been sited. It took me awhile to understand that. To me, watch means, "Watch out, there's one a 'comin!" )

Anyhow, in all my time in school and teaching everything has just been a "drill." It was crazy to have something actually happen, though nothing happened really at all.

I still can't figure out which is worse, a tornado, or an earthquake. I guess we are really okay with the tornados as long as we aren't living in a trailer!

I've Changed My Last.FM

Let's just say I did not like having Michael Bolton and Kelly Clarkson showing up on my list. When Mindy was here she downloaded a bunch of music which included those two fine musicians. Since I'm not a fan, I changed it. Plus it will update more often so when I'm listening to Neil Diamond or Tom Jones, you all won't know.

The Zoo

Today has been the best day. We decided last night to put our family zoo pass to use and go today. After breakfast we went, and had such a great time.

This is Scott and Emily in the Lorakeet exhibit. For a buck you get a nectar cup, and the Lorakeets come and eat it from you. (I have another with two Lorakeets on Scott's head, but his eyes were closed in that picture.) Emily thought this was terrific.

Here we both are in front of the Sia Ming exhibit. I wish that we could have audio that could accommodate this shot. It was so loud. Why aren't they called "howler monkeys?" I think for a moment Emily got a little scared.

We also went off to the giraffes, gorillas, elephants, tigers, lions.... a lot. I am so pleased to have a beautiful zoo near by.
Oh! And also on the other side of the river from the zoo is a 15 acre botanical garden that is attached with zoo admission so the entire zoo is full of amazing plants and flowers. Right now everything is in bloom!

The best part of the day is we were done by lunch, were able to eat lunch, and get home before Emily's one o-clock nap. We all took a nap. It was great!

The black eye

I had my first church women's softball game of the season this evening. So, one would naturally predict with a title of "the black eye" that it came from either a softball, bat, or some other game paraphernalia. But sadly... no. I left my digital camera in my classroom, or I would totally be taking a picture to attach with this post. Maybe tomorrow.

Let's just say that I have a cut under my right eye, and a cut across the bridge of my eye. Sexy, I know.

How did you get it you ask? Well, you see... there are these gates that go into the dugouts. This particular gate had a very solid metal handle, and I guess I was so excited to go up to the batter's box, that I didn't see the big metal handle on the gate. It caught me right in the face... thus, the black eye, and cut up nose.

To make matter worse, or funnier, depending on how you look at it, I didn't even know that I was hurt. I think I said, "ow" and then walked up to bat. It wasn't until after the first ball went by that I put my hand up to my nose because it tickled, and it was then that I realized I was bleeding all over. Too funny. SO... I actually got a base hit, and after running through first base, I turned to our coach at first and said, "UH.... Jimmy? I think I did something." He looked at me like "how in the world????"

Yeah, only me. I am the only one that can get hurt at a softball game by a gate handle. This should be an interesting season!

The first birthday party!

So this is a little late on the posting, but that's okay. Emily's first birthday party was last Saturday. We had my mom, sis, grandparents, cousin, and some friends over. The weather was in the low 80's so we BBQd outside. The entire day was nice, minus Emily getting sick toward the latter part of the evening (and yes... it was ANOTHER double ear infection, even after the tubes, but that's another story).

Anyhow, everything went really well. Emily got a new trike with a handle that goes up to my waist so that I can push her. She also got a new wagon to tote all of our things to the pool this summer in. Really, she could care about any of that. She really just liked the cake. Oh, and hot dogs. We gave her a hot dog for the first time, and she liked that a lot. Oh, and cheetos. She thought Cheetos were awesome. Okay Geez. So we fed our child junk all day.

I still look at her and wonder where the first year has gone. And then my next thought is, "man I want another." Hopefully Scott will finish school soon. Kids are great!

Reading Mid-Terms

I have discovered if you ever want to make a teacher's life hell - write well over the maximum amount of pages given.  Students had to turn in a 3-5 page midterm reflecting back on the class.  Well I've had one 17 page paper, a 16 pager, several 10-12 pages, and several more 7 -10 pagers.  Since I have no ownership of the assignments, I wasn't the one who came up with the page limitation.  I have taken off points becuase of the great lengths of some of the papers but this is taking me forever to finish.

One year ago tomorrow...

Emily was born! I can't believe it! I thought about setting the alarm to 3:32 am (the exact time my water broke) and waking Scott up to tell him "it was time" just to see what he would do in his sleepy stupor. But I have decided against that. That first week of being new parents was so challenging with all that Emily went through. It is unbelievable how all of that plays no part in how she is today.

To look at how different our life is now than it was a year ago is crazy! And in so many ways in addition to becoming parents. Emily has totally changed the way that I see all children. I watch her as she constantly learns new things, and it never ceases to amaze me at how fast she catches on. I love to watch her explore and observe everything around her. What a little learner she has already become!

The other night when I was reading her a bedtime story, she reached down for the bottom right corner to grab the page. She couldn't quite separate one page from another, but when I separated them for her, she knew to grab the page and turn it. And once the page was turned, her attention went back to the new page. Little things like that are so simple at first, but it just amazes me. It also makes me realize that even at her young age, she is constantly watching our every move.

She is truly a gift from God.

This weekend

Let me start out by saying that I feel a little better about the cafeteria lady. I am still going to have a little chat with her Monday morning about how stupid she was to have said what she did, but I am proud of myself for not getting angry with her Friday.

Well, our weekend started out pretty well. Scott takes a class that meets most Saturdays, so after we all ate some breakfast together, he was off until his class at four. Emily and I played, and after lunch we got in the car to run some errands. We had a birthday party to go to in the evening, so we ran over to Target to get a gift. About half way there I start to feel a little yucky.

Now... I have to go back and explain what has been going on in my school district. There is this AWFUL virus that has been going around. It really hasn't hit too bad at the school that I am at, but Friday another school not far away from us actually sent all the kids home early at 11 am because they had 300 reported absences due to the virus, and by 10 that same morning, another 100 kids were sent home. The entire population of the elementary school is between 700-800. That is a lot of sick kids! Other schools have seen dramatic amounts of sick kids due to the virus too.

So back to me driving to Target. I don't want to go home because I had already got both Emily and I into the car which any mom knows is a task in itself. So in we go. I'm almost finished shopping, and I start to feel totally ill. What can I do? I push the cart with Emily over to the restrooms, and the cart doesn't fit. I leave Emily outside the bathroom while I run in and totally lose my lunch. Nice. Luckily after that I feel some relief and can check out.

By the time Scott got home, I was feeling a little better, but I still ended up in bed from about 4:30 yesterday evening until I woke up this morning. What a horrible thing! Luckily, Scott and Emily haven't gotten it so far. I just pray they don't!

Needless to say, we missed the birthday party. I still had a mild fever this morning even though I felt just fine when I woke up. Scott took Emily to church and I stayed home, not wanting to spread any germs. I got two hours of house cleaning. Wow. I couldn't believe how excited i was just to have a couple hours of uninterrupted house cleaning time.

Later this afternoon we all went outside so Scott and I could do some yard work. And now that I have brought Emily inside, I type this scared because Scott's yard work has turned into him burning the dead "stuff" that he has raked up in the yard. I am totally fine with small little fires to burn tumble weeds and such like my dad did when I was little, but when I saw Scott bring the gasoline can out of the garage, I got a little nervous. If nobody hears from us in days, it is because Scott caught the house on fire!

The cafeteria Lady from down under (no, I don't mean Australian!)

Today I had the best day in my classroom. It is days like today that really remind me what it is about teaching that I am in love with. We had some awesome conversation about poetry, I graded a math assessment where everybody scored either an a or b, and I just feel like the kids in my class really enjoy each other and enjoy learning. That makes me enjoy teaching.

Then we went to lunch.

Now I know that kids in the cafeteria can be loud. But eating is social. My idea for the cafeteria ladies is: DEAL WITH IT! If there are kids being overly boystrous, then fine. Have them sit by themselves. But my entire class was made to eat a "silent lunch" for three days in a row because I was told "my entire class." was overly loud. Yeah right. By the way, this was the case for the entire fourth grade. Yeah right.

Then to make things even worse, if we don't get the kids there the very minute that we are supposed to, the cafeteria ladies get all angry. They don't say anything to us teachers, but they treat our kids like crap and say things like, "can your teacher be on time for anything" or "do they teach you how to read a clock in fourth grade?"

Today was overly annoying and down right angering. I picked up my kids just to hear them all tell me that one of the lunch ladies actually told me kids that their teacher was "hard headed."

Huh? What does that have to do with being on time to lunch? And to make it worse, three of my kids told her that she needed to watch what she says, and never to say that again. The three got into trouble and had to eat an isolated lunch. Another one of my students got in trouble because she was talking during this silent lunch. Well yeah, she was. She accidently spilled her entire chocolate milk on her jeans, and was asking another student to help her.

Ughhh. So that is the situation. I feel like I am SO being tested because the "hard-headed" part of me wants to march in their and tell those ladies they can stick their own foot up their butt. But I know that I shouldn't and this entire week I have been working on controlling my tongue and that entire verse about "what ever is lovely..." Yes, so telling them where they could stick their foot is not exactly lovely, I realize.

I guess I just feel stuck with an administration who doesn't have the time to deal with the cafeteria issues, and parents who are furious that their kid missed recess again. The sad thing is, I don't blame them for being mad. Scott suggested that I just have the kids get their food and then eat in the room. I thought this was a great plan at first, but then I could see the problem with the logistics of it all.

Oh well. What to do. I keep telling myself that giving them a piece of my mind won't help.... I need to just calm down and very politely talk to them... again. Oh well. Thank goodness tomorrow is Saturday!

So amazing

Today was the big day for Emily's ear tubes to be put in. What an easy thing. We had to have her there by six, we went in for pre-op at 6:30, and then her surgery was at 7ish. The doctor was out within ten minutes of her being put under (she didn't even have to have an IV) and by the time that I went back to recovery to see her, she was already awake and drinking water.

After five minutes in recovery, she was moved back to the original pre-op room. There was a toy room that we didn't even get a chance to visit, but we did get to push her around in one of those big plastic cars. We pushed her up and down the hallway and she waved to nurses. You would never know that she had been under just moments before. Simply amazing!

The even more amazing thing is that the doctor was able to go in and get all of the infected fluid out of her little ears. So she is virtually ear infection free immediately. Wow. Six rounds of antibiotics, and this was what it took. Finally. I can't tell you how thrilled we are that this is done. We haven't had to give her any motrin, or ear numbing drops all day. Wooooo weeeee!

Oh and by the way, this was her last night helping with the dishes. It was just too cute. My little girl is already learning how to tidy up a kitchen!

Waffle House

Scott took Emily in to see the specialist today about her never-ending ear infection. We take her in tomorrow morning at 6 am to get tubes. She has be put under, but it is only a ten minute surgery, and after about three hours start to finish we are able to go leave. I can't wait until a night can pass without Scott or I seeing 3 am. Poor Emily needs some relief obviously too! THe poor girl is a trooper!

Which is what brings me to the Waffle House. I don't know what it is about this little family tradition that we seem to have started, but whenever there is a hospital trip involved, we seem to make a breakfast trip out of it before coming home. Something about the emergency, or outpatient care seems to leave us starving, and so it has come to pass that any time a member of the Johnson family must go to the hospital, a bit fatty breakfast must follow.

I guess this started when Scott had his kidney stone attack a couple years back. Scared the CRAP outta me. But at least after four hours in the emergency room we were both rewarded with a greasy omelet and some hash browns. Then came the pregnancy. Eight emergency room trips for Terbutaline shots to stop labor meant eight trips to BJ's for breakfast. And then of course when Emily was just two weeks old, Scott had knee surgery. BJ's again.

The restaurant of choice in the past has always been BJ's. Now that we are in the south, we think that tomorrow will finally be the day to try out the Waffle House. We have driven past so many times and said, "look how crowded. They have them at every restaurant, and they are always packed!" We have heard stories about the "loaded hash browns."

Hopefully after a long morning, The Waffle House will not let us down. I hope that by the time I post tomorrow that I will have gained a pound or two. All this up all night junk, and I deserve it! :)

Presentation

After a couple days to calm down over Saturday evenings "bash the working mom" fest and your votes of confidence, I am pretty much over it. I went to work today somewhat nervous about a presentation that I was giving in front of about forty teachers in the district about independent reading and conferencing in the Reader's Workshop. I was also not to thrilled about leaving Emily.

However, once I got going into the presentation, I realized that maybe I was really good at my job. Could God possible have planned for me to be a working mom because He has full faith that I can be a great mom, and still do a great job in the classroom? I think so. I love my job, and to be honest, even though I would LOVE to stay at home and be the "perfect" mom with Emily all day... I really think that if and when I get that opportunity in the future that I will REALLY miss my professional life. I think that it took the stupid comments of a bunch of insecure catty women for me to realize that it was okay to be a working mom, and it is also okay for me to say that I love my job without feeling any guilt about my abilities to simultaneously be a great mom.

Anyhow, that is my epiphany for today. Thanks for your comments. I was really pissed and hurt the other day. I think if I ever see some of those women again I am going to take Tom's advice and tell them about my second job as a stripper. :)

Why are moms so catty?

I have run into so many moms who are totally not honest. It brings me back to the Mennonite church that I grew up in where to admit one had a problem was horrible, and so people walked around with fake smiles on thinking that they were the only person in the world who was dealing with something, wether it be serious or not. New moms of little ones are especially bad. I don't know if this comes from worry that somebody else might think they are a bad mom, or what. But so many moms I know would NEVER admit that they have any doubts about motherhood in any regard. These women magically know how to do everything with their child. They know the best ways to discipline, they know how to have the perfect bed time routine, and they never get frustrated with anything dealing with their children.

Well, in my opinion that is a crock. Any mom gets frustrated when her child refuses to go down for a nap, or won't eat anything related to a vegetable. Moms question their decisions about things from when to start solid foods, to how long to let a baby cry it out. To think that so many women go around wanting others to believe that they are perfect drives me nuts.

Here is my question to moms like this: Why all the efforts to make me think that you are a perfect mom? Is it to make me question my ability as a mom, and then in return make you feel better about yourself? It is like the fourth grader in my class who makes fun of her neighbor's hair in an effort to draw the attention away from her own messy hairstyle.

The biggest area that these types of moms are drawn to is me being a working mom. I am so sick of moms finding out that I am a working mom, and then their first comments are, "Oh you are a working mom? When Steven and I got pregnant, we immediately made a commitment for me to stay home so that somebody else wouldn't be raising our baby." Well that is great for you and Steven. But it didn't work out that way for us, and I think God wants me right were I am. And I know that my happy Emily is find in with our set-up.

Then why do I question it and get upset when these crazies say things like this to me?

What it means to be "White"

In my critical perspectives course, one of the texts were reading deals with multicultural education. In the book, the author talks about that though the dominate culture in America is white, “White” people don’t have a sense of culture or identify. In other words, if you asked me what I identified with, I might say “American” but I couldn’t tell you what the definition of being “American” means. And if there was an “American” culture, what are some of those characteristics?

Why The Hell Would Anyone . . .

Why the hell would anyone want to invest their lives in statistics! I know statistics is plays an important part in quantifying everthing from sneezed per minute to farts in a life time. Those are important things to know. But deat God, I HATE statistics. I’ve been trying to be positive about the course. Even bought “Statistics for Dummies” which does a better job of explaining statistics.

My teacher Dr. Hyunh Hyunh (pronounced Win Win) is extremely intelligent but doesn’t teach us. He gets in front of the class and goes through the text. I feel like it’s a self-taught course.

I’ve been doing fine with my homework but I swear this week’s homework had very little to do with last week’s class. It’s not computing the problems that makes me ill - it’s a the other things he wants on the homework. Make sure you circle your answers, attach SPSS sheets with appropriate circles, name on each page, answers only on the answer sheet which as to be your first page, etc. Mess up on one of those things and you get points taken off though you might have a right answer. I spent at least an hour just making sure I had all the proper makings. It’s this kind of teaching which I’m totally against. I want someone to teach me statistics, NOT make me memorize computations.

All of a sudden he wanted residuals, squared correlations, and y-hats. Where did this come from? I think I figured it all out but it has made me tired. Must sleep to replenish brain cells . . .

Helping daddy

I thought that this was cute. Emily decided that she needed to help her daddy by pulling apart every pile of schoolwork that he had so diligently organized not long before. :)

The ear infection

After almost a full month of dealing with this ear infection, this is Emily. What a sweet wonderful, cheerful baby girl. If only you were at OUR HOUSE at 2 am!
1. Emily has been through so much for this stinking ear infection. She has gone through two different oral antibiotics, each lasting ten days, and then when both failed to knock out the infection, she went through a 3-day series of Reciflin (sp?) shots. That didn't work either. SO now here we are after four rounds of antibiotics and the poor girl still isn't sleeping well at night. In the course of the last month we have had so many sleepless nights it is unbelievable. We have made 1 am car rides, pharmacy trips, 2 am parties in the living room on the couches. Enough is Enough. I am SOOOO ready for tubes. Tubes can't be as harmful as jacking her little body up with antibiotics, don't you agree, or am I wrong?

2. Whenever I am awakened at two in the morning my first though is "Holy crap... not again, please Lord, anything but this! I just want to get some sleep!" And then my second though immediately following is, "Holy crap... I am such a selfish bad mommy for thinking of my own lack of sleep and not the pain that Emily must be in to wake up in the middle of the night." Her being sick constantly makes me question my abilities as a mom. "Should I let her cry it out, or is she in pain, do I cuddle and rock her to sleep, even though we have gone through the Ferber method to much success, and I surely don't want to undo that!" It is amazing how much I question myself.

3. Finally, the third thought on this ear infection is how in the heck to single parents do it? I don't know what i would do if I were in this by myself. Thank goodness for Scott. He got up with her last night, and eventually I got to go back to bed. He set up what he likes to call "the fort" in living room (he pushed the love seat and sofa together.) And he patiently loved on Emily and snuggled her until she fell asleep. I can't imagine what it would be like to go through the many sleepless nights without a spouse to help. I have a whole new respect for single parents, that's for sure.

The Doctor

So I hate to go to the doctor. I hate waiting in the waiting room, only to wait once they lead you back to the other room. I hate that I never feel like I get to ask the questions that I have, and I hate it when I have to take medication. Scott and I are so different in this manner. Probably because I have never been prescribed medication that is vital to my life that I take like he has. But either way... I hate taking meds. I don't take them on time, and I rarely remember to take antibiotics long enough to finish the "10-day" or "14-day" cycle. I have probably screwed with my immune system so much.

Well, here's the deal. About three weeks ago i came home on Friday after a mediocre conference. I had a raging headache, probably because of the sinus preassure I was feeling. Great. A sinus infection. I went to bed early, toughed it out, and within in a couple of days, I was okay except for an awful sore throat. Here it is three weeks later, and my throat is still so sore that it really hurts to swallow. I hate complaining about "hurts" or "aches" but this is really a nuisance. All the while, the past three weeks I have been asking myself back and forth, "When DO I suck it up and go to the doctor?" Does one ever really know? So I finally made an appt. for this Monday at 3:30 pm. I am already dreading it because I will have to race over from work, and go through all of the steps I already complained about before. But then what? What do I tell her? "uh... I have a really bad sore throat." How lame is that? Do you ever go to the doctor for a sore throat? But does one ever last this bad for three weeks? Yeah, I hate the entire deal with medical care, doctors, sickness. And in light of Emily's constant ear infections, and the threat of possible ear tubes, I constantly wonder what in the heck did they do a hundred years ago when people got sick? Did a "really bad sore throat" ever lead to anything that killed somebody? And if it didn't, then should I REALLY be going to the doctor, or would it just be another wasted trip that an over-precautious American took advantage of only to add to the problems with health care? But that's a whole other issue.

Interesting

Thought this was cool. Stole it from Kelly's blog :)
-Malisa

54 years 1 month younger than Andy Griffith, age 79
50 years 7 months younger than Dick Clark, age 76
49 years 3 months younger than Leonard Nimoy, age 74
47 years 2 months younger than Carol Burnett, age 72
44 years 5 months younger than Alan Alda, age 70
42 years 11 months younger than Bill Cosby, age 68
37 years 7 months younger than Linda Evans, age 63
35 years 5 months younger than Tom Selleck, age 61
32 years 6 months younger than Ted Danson, age 58
30 years 2 months younger than Jay Leno, age 55
26 years 5 months younger than Oprah Winfrey, age 52
25 years 4 months younger than Kelsey Grammer, age 50
22 years 1 month younger than Drew Carey, age 47
19 years 0 months younger than Michael J. Fox, age 44
15 years 7 months younger than Calista Flockhart, age 41
11 years 4 months younger than Jennifer Aniston, age 36
7 years 6 months younger than Alyssa Milano, age 33
2 years 7 months younger than Colin Hanks, age 28
3 years 2 months older than Mila Kunis, age 22
11 years 0 months older than Madylin Sweeten, age 14

and that you were:

2 years old at the time the first Cheers episode was televised
6 years old when L.A. Law was first aired on TV
6 years old at the time the series Married with Children began
9 years old when Seinfeld was first televised
11 years old in the month Home Improvement began
14 years old at the time the TV series Friends began
16 years old when Everybody Loves Raymond first aired
19 years old when Who Wants To Be A Millionaire began in the US

The River Walk

The pictures below are from our trip to the River Walk. It is basically a bike path that runs between two rivers (Broad River, and the Congaree) before they eventually come together. It is pretty cool to be walking with the banks of two rivers twenty feet to either side.

Emily had a great time. Scott had class, so I thought that it would be nice to get out of the house for awhile. I took Emily and Dakota by myself ( i was feeling brave) and all went well. We took snacks, and all together ended up walking about five miles. We saw geese (and heard them too) and turtles sunning themselves on the rocks within the rivers. Emily had fun waving to those who passed by. It was cute.

Broad River on the left side

Broad River on the left side
Originally uploaded by puzzleco.

Emily eating gold fish

Emily eating gold fish
Originally uploaded by puzzleco.

Emily taking a break

Emily taking a break
Originally uploaded by puzzleco.

Congaree on the right side

Congaree on the right side
Originally uploaded by puzzleco.

A Great Thing About Teaching at the University Level

I was just cleaning out my back when I pulled out two professional book catalogs. Before when I had received such catalogs I would throw them away or recycle them depending on what recepticle was closer or if my laziness was kicking in. When I grabbed the catalogs, I didn’t throw them away - I used my highlighter. Why? Because I can order any book I want . . . for FREE! If I want to view a book I can go to the a publishers website, choose the book, and order it as long as I use my work address.

(I do use the system honestly!!!)

Really

Another Post

When I checked my blog I hadn’t realized it had been so long since I posted. Time goes by quick without reflecting on past events. It’s 1:30 am on Saturday and I’m finishing class work. I think I’m going to enjoy teaching this methods class. There is a lot of work that needs to be put into the class but I think I have taken care of logistics. From this point it’s a matter of planning for each week. What’s nice is I basically know what I’ll be covering each week. Since you are all interested I’ll be covering Cambourne’s Conditions for Learning, creating a literate environment, and Smith’s “Joining the Literacy Club.” If you need to low down on what I’m teaching I can send you my syllabus ; )

I met with the professor who gave me an incomplete. She went over my paper. For writing my first doctoral research paper, I consider what she said to be “nice.” There were several compliments and several “do this next time.” What I really appreciated was the time she spent with me. Though she’s on sabbatical, we met at Banes and Noble. She proceeded to give me a pep-talk reminding me that I needed to ask more questions in class. She said never leave class not fully understanding. I agree this is one of my faults because I have to put up a facade as if I comprehend everything. Then I leave stressing about the class!

Anyway she was extremely proud that I took a chance researching language. Language can be difficult to observe since it’s not tangible like looking at reading, writing, or spelling. Language involves lots of listening and hoping you don’t miss something. I think I’m going to continue researching language or follow in the footsteps of Ralph Peterson and research the importance of community.

To make a long story short she gave me an “A” which means I received straight “A’s” my first semester of school. I didn’t think it was possible but I guess I can give myself a little pat on the back. I guess it’s time to get to bed since I have class tomorrow from 9 - 4 pm. Goodnight!

Obviously We're Not in CA anymore

Now that Malisa and I are back in the crazy town of Irmo, we had to face reality. Malisa is back and work and I have spent a few days sleeping. It’s hard planning for class, getting correct dates for papers due, establishing relationships with the school I’m working at, buying textbooks through Amazon, stressing about statistics and do I have the right calculator, and reading.

I begin a new semester on Tuesday. I’m teaching a reading methods class at Lake Murray Elementary School 5 hours each Tuesday. Students are in the class observing and working with students and I’m responsible for the other 4 hours. I thought it would be difficult planning that many hours but I’m already pressed for time on the first day of class. On Wednesday I take my second of two Advanced Language Acquisitions courses and Thursday is the dreaded Educational Statistics. On Saturday I take my second of four Language & Lit courses. I’m looking forward to this class because I’m reading all books by authors I know nothing about. I know my thinking will be pushed dramatically.

So once again it’s another jam-packed semester in which I’ll constantly be on the go driving all over Columbia getting from one place to the next. Thankfully the coursework will not be as difficult as it was last semester. And no more food court research!