Last week was homecoming week. I am the 10th grade sponsor, so I had to supervise my students as they decorate, which was why I didn't make any posts last week. Most nights we stayed until at least 7 and when I got home I was pooped. Unfortunately I didn't have enough students that came to help. That means the walls were unfinished and everything looked tossed together. Don't get me wrong, the students that came worked really hard, but there wasn't any way to get everything done with only 4 or 5 students working. I had one girl who was a talented artist that worked on our banner all week. Because of her dedicaiton, we won the banner competition. In the locker banks I ended up posting a sign that says "Dear Class of 2012, What you see for homecoming decorations was done by a few dedicated members of your class. We hope that next year you will find your school and class spirit and help make the locker banks reflect how truly great you are." I hope some feel guilty for not helping so that next year when they are helping decorate for prom, more people will come and help.

I have a secret to confess. I really enjoy the new show on the WB called "The Vampire Diaries." I'm sure this show is directed toward teenagers, but I really like it. And apparently I'm not the only one because at least two other English teachers have made a similar confession. Another new show I enjoy - "Mercy." Old guilty pleasure: "America's Next Top Model." (And this season for top model is for "short" models...I'm sorry but if you're 5'6" or 5'7", YOU'RE NOT SHORT!!)

My Wishlist

Today I made two loaves of zuchini bread - I think I'm obsessed with it. I still can't believe that something so tasty has vegetables in it, but it does!

I'm still trying to get Brandon to buy me a netbook. He's being a bit stubborn about it, but I'm also being stubborn about getting this netbook. It's not like they cost thousands of dollars. The one I was looking at was $300. And really, who uses a desktop bought in 2000? And what's compatible with a desktop built in 2000? Nothing! So we should get a netbook. E-mail Brandon and tell him that we need one, maybe he'll listen to someone other than me! :-)

Today I did nothing of interest except for clean out the utility room and organize our linens. Oh, and I made a Christmas Wishlist. I know it's early, but I was watching NFL football (that I don't care about) so I got bored and started thinking about upcoming holidays. I must have been REALLY bored with football because when I say it was a wishlist, it really was. I mean who's going to buy me a grill? Maybe if my relatives win the lottery or something I'll get a grill, but otherwise, it'll remain on my wishlist for a while.

GO HOKIES!!

Next week is Homecoming, which means as 10th Grade Sponsor, I am in charge of the decorating of the 10th grade locker banks, showcase and banner. I get $250 to buy things. Yesterday I went to Michael's just in time for a sweet sale and today I hit Walmart. My $250 has been spent. If they need anything else, that's just too bad :-) I think it'll look cute, but we'll see. It depends on how many students show up to help.

Today Virginia Tech won 16-15! It was a nail bitter. I decided to start treking to Walmart at the very end so naturally I was sitting at a stoplight with Tyrod through that beautiful pass to Danny Cole to put us on the 3 yard line. I was cheering and waving my hands - I think the people stopped at the stoplight thought I was crazy and needed to go back on my meds, but hey! They won! GO HOKIES!!

A quick thought on parenthood - I realized the other day while talking to my husband's family that I miss being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I wouldn't trade Colby for anything, but honestly I do miss the freedom. It made me think that all those teenagers out there who get pregnant have no idea what they're getting themselves into and how much they'll miss their freedom when it's gone. I say if you're young, have fun and don't tie yourself down to children until you're older and have done things in your life that you enjoy, because when that little tyke comes, you have to think about them first.

Lunch & Politics

I've been buying school lunch this week and I must say, I'm pleasantly suprised. Last year I didn't buy school lunch at all, but now I see I've been missing baked sweet potatoes, spiced apples and decently tastey lasagna (not all on the same day). I'm getting my school lunch in while I can - next week it'll be salad and more salad.

Many of you may be suprised to read this, but I'm thinking of voting for McDonnell in the governor election. I know this is probably a stupid reason for voting for someone, but I generally like his more positive commercials and the fact that he has a family with teenage as well as grown up children who seem to be very supportive of his endeavor to be Virginia's governor.

Oh, and I have to give props to President Obama for calling Kanye West a jackass. I know he's the president and all, but sometimes you have to call it as you see it.

No More Arrests

So far I haven't had any more students arrested - great!

If you didn't know, I'm taking a class at Radford to work on my Master's Degree in Educational Leadership. The class I'm taking is Ciriculum Development and I thought it was going to be a bore, but the professor is making it enjoyable. The only thing I don't particularly enjoy is having to actually GO to class. In the past, my professors have made my classes online, which makes it easy to have a toddler and take classes. I remember the days when taking a three hour night class was no big deal (think Law with Dr. Haga), but with a toddler and a husband that works night shift, it's no easy task. Thankfully I have a wonderful sister-in-law who is willing to watch Colby on those nights. I don't know how I'd do this without her. I think I mentioned this before, but it's still weird to walk across campus - I still feel old. Oh, and my professor made me feel really nervous about being a principal. He pointed out that principal's serve at the superintendants pleasure and can be fired for no reason at all. I guess that's how the real world works, but as someone who is used to tenure and has a family to support, that's a scary prospect. I still think that it's what I'm supposed to do, but it makes me a little nervous to know that little tidbit of information.

Tonight I went to parenting group at church. We're learning how to raise our children to be good, godly adults and I really like it. What we learned today: Your relationship with your spouse is more important than your relationship with your children. Of course you love your children, but your marriage should come first. Our homework is to have 15 minutes of couch time with our spouses as soon as we get home. I think Brandon and I do pretty good about talking when we get home versus throwing ourselves into playing with Colby, but this week we'll make it a point to see how we're actually doing and improve if we need to. The point is to show Colby that we really do care for each other so that he will be secure in the knowledge that he doesn't need to worry about mommy and daddy and their love for each other. I think he gets that, but it never hurts to make a point to show that our relationship is important to each other.

I'm starting my diet again this weekend. I need to lose the rest of the weight that I set out to lose so that when I look in the mirror I'm not dissatisfied. It's great to wear clothes that are too loose for me now, but I still have some progress to make. Wish me luck.

Crazy Week

Okay, so last week I got to add a first to the list of teaching firsts. On Thursday I had my first student arrested in my class. Here's the story. This kid was banging on a wall I share with another teacher. I asked him to stop and when he did it again I asked him to move up one seat. He refused to move up, so I asked him to come out into the hall with me. He refused to come out into the hall and started making some very insulting comments to me. I asked school security to come so they did and he asked the kid to come with him. The kid refused so the security guy called the School Resource Officer. The SRO came down and asked him to leave with him, but instead the student told the SRO that he hit's people like him. At this point I was like OMG! The SRO started back to get him and the student started to run! I'm like holy cow! The SRO grabs him, forcibly pulls him from the classroom and tackled him in the hallway while the student was screaming obsenities. They cuffed the kid and took him directly out to a squad car. Apparently he was charged with disorderly conduct and taken to lockup. It was totally crazy. I never want to experience that ever again!

On a lighter note there was a PKU picnic in Charlottesville this past weekend. It was pretty cool to see all the kids running around and having a good time and eating foods that they knew were safe for them to eat. There was a kid there that goes to UVA! I'm so glad that there are kids with PKU that are going to quality colleges (even if it is UVA) and more or less making it in a world that makes it hard to deal with PKU. We cleaned up on door prizes too, so that was cool. We also got to reconnect with the family that lives in Pulaski that has a daughter with PKU. It's nice to know that we live so close together and we made a commitment to get together and visit sometime soon. We also got to meet the family in Bluefield, Virginia. They were really nice and their son was sweet.

The Trip Home

So, the trip home was pretty horrendous. We started off stopping at JCPenny where he ran all over the place, which for the record, it's really easy to lose your child among the clothing racks, so put your kid in a stroller. I found some cute pants, so I guess that's my consolation prize for being stupid and not bringing in the stroller. Then he starting fussing around Richmond, but before I had a chance to stop he fell asleep, so I was like "whew" and kept driving. Around Charlottesville he really started screaming so I pulled off the interstate. I saw a sign for a park and I was like "sweet, we can go run around," but before we go to it, I heard a splash. He had thrown up all over himself. I pulled into the nearest empty parking lot and proceeded to clean everything up. I think I used like 50 wipes. Colby ended up wearing his gorrilla pajamas and a clean diaper. His car seat looked pretty good when I was done, all things considered, and since I used 50 wipes or so. We drove for a while longer and stopped at the Cracker Barrell in Waynesboro. Cracker Barrell actually has a lot of really awesome food options for Colby so it's a pretty good place to stop. Plus it's pretty tasty for adults too :-)

While I was there, I realized that some people are not nice people. Everyone who saw Colby seemed to enjoy his sticking up hair and pretty blue eyes even if he as banging his fork and wearing pajamas. But I could tell this one old woman was thinking about what a horrible mom and child we were. I don't know if she disapproved of the pajamas or if she thought I was some irresponsible single mom or if she disapproved of toddlers banging forks around, but she wasn't nice. I tried to smile, but I got nothing. If only she'd known the disaster that had happened 30 miles back, maybe she'd have been a bit more understanding. I was sort of mad about her behavior in Cracker Barrell, but I guess that just goes to show that people, including myself, should be less judgemental about other people that they don't even know or understand.

At any rate, I'm home and I'm enjoying my day off, but I still have class tonight so I'm not completely free. I guess I'll finish my homework this afternoon before I go. And I'm going to enjoy my day even though it's cloudy and dreary, so there mother nature!

Visiting Weekend

This weekend I traveled to visit my parents. One thing I know for certain is that I do not miss the SciFi Channel (or the SyFy Channel as it's now called). It has crappy programming that I find I no longer enjoy.

Driving to Hampton with Colby was an okay experience. He only fussed a couple of times, but I didn't need to stop except to get some juice for him. We spent time visiting my grandparents. Colby is certainly into anything and everything. It was all we could do to keep Colby contained and keep him from breaking things. He also spent a lot of time trying to get into trouble at my parent's house, but we managed to contain our tasmainian devil.

The weather has been beautiful lately. I hope it keeps up through Monday and my lovely day off.

Happy Hump Day!

This week has been a little hectic. On Monday we had all of our students at school. It was an early release day, but I didn't get to enjoy it because I had a little bit of a migraine when I was done with school. Once in a blue moon I get migraines and I have to sleep them off, but I didn't even get to do that for very long because I had to go get Colby and go grocery shopping. My students seem to be okay, but I have some VERY talkative students who don't know when to turn their mouths off. We're jumping right in with work, much to their dismay, but it'll be good for them to get used to the pace we keep in the English pod.

On Monday I also started a new class towards my master's degree. Unfortunately this class is not online so I actually have to go to the class once a week. It's going to be weird because I haven't gone to class weekly in five years! I think I'll like the class, though, so it will be okay. I just need to work out who will watch Colby when Brandon is working. Hopefully I can work something out with Katie, but we'll see. Also, I have to say that walking around Radford University feels weird. I feel like an old maid compared to all those younguns walking around. Also, I can't find anything on Radford's campus - I think I'm just too much of a Hokie :-)

I can't believe it's only Wednesday...it feels like the week had been forever long so far.