Adventures Around Town

Since I last posted I had a great weekend. Brandon, Colby and I went to the Radford vs. Pulaski football game on Friday night. Four alums that were in the military parachuted onto the field before the game bringing the game ball, which was pretty cool. Unfortunately the rest of the game wasn't so interesting. Radford had a pretty good lead when we left after the halftime show. Halftime was kind of fun - they played Bon Jovi "Dead or Alive."

On Saturday we all went shopping for a little while at Once Upon a Child. Once Upon a Child is a consignment shop just for children's cloths and I love it! I can buy great clothes for a great price and feel good about not adding to the massive waste that's already taking over the world. I bought seven pairs of pants and a reversable winter jacket for $50.

On Sunday we went out to eat at Olive Garden for dinner - excellent as always. Plus I had leftovers for an equally excellent lunch on Monday. BTW, I don't know anybody who can nag so much about not getting a third plate of pasta as Jerry Gill.

Today Colby and I went shopping for towels. I have some thoughts about redoing our bathroom, thoughts that Brandon isn't all the excited about because they would involve a lot of work (installing a window and creating recessed shelving). But I think I can do both projects for an excellent price so I think it would be totally worth it. Plus it would make the bathroom look 100 times better and make it twice as functional. So to get started on my thoughts I bought 6 bath towels and 6 hand towels for $62 at JCPenny....is that a good price?

All Students at School

Today was the first day of school for all students. That meant that the ninth graders had...gulp...seniors to contend with. I don't think any freshmen ended up in lockers or trash cans, so that's good. I did however have to call a couple parents today. One kid was acting crazy and the other was sleeping in class (on her first day!) I feel like I need to jump on this stuff early. I can't afford to have any crazy classes with 20+ students in each class. It sort of makes me miss Covington when one year I had a class of 6 children. Those were the good old days...sigh.

Today was a two hour release day, but I still felt very pooped by the end of the day. Thankfully I got to come home and take a nap, but I still feel pretty tired as I type. I'll be going to sleep soon I suppose.

New Ninth Graders

Today was the ninth graders' first day of school. I have a brand new group that seem pretty bright. I only have a few repeaters including one kid who has failed English nine three times already, which is really crazy in my opinion. The only drawback this year is that my class sizes are really crazy. Right now I have classes of 21, 21 and 22. Next semester as of right now I have a class of 27. That's a crapload of ninth graders. I may have to kill somebody.

I'm very optimistic though. It's going to be a good year without the craziness of co-teaching. And I got a closer parking spot...what could be better than that!?

Colby started back to daycare this week. On the first day he got bitten...poor guy! He seems to be enjoying being back, so that's good.

First Official Day of School

Today was my first official day back to school. We started the annual round of staff meetings, professional development, and room cleaning. Our new superintendent is really into Marzano strategies (Marzano is the name of some big guru of teaching skills) so now we have to go over Marzano strategies. I'm okay with that...Marazano strategies are things that good teachers have been doing for years anyway.

I did realize today that I cannot stand working with people with bad attitudes. Attitudes within our department can sometimes be negative, but we're usually pretty upbeat. Others, though, are irritatingly negative all the time. How could you even get up in the morning to come to school if you feel that negatively about your students, their families and your schools? Sorry for my negative attitude toward negative attitudes :-)

Boys at Beach

Colby and Brandon are at the beach, I on the other hand am at home because I have to be at work tomorrow. It's strange to have the house truely to myself for the first time since I've been married. I almost cried at church today because our preacher was told us to think about something that gives us joy and felt sort of mopey because the joys of my life were at the beach without me! But I fought the tears because I've promised myself I wouldn't cry or be mopey. I would enjoy the peace and quiet and freedom of being able to do what I want when I want to do it. And so I am :-)

Veggies

We finally got to pick some corn! We planted some silver queen corn, a variety that my grandfather grows that is quite tasty, and today we shucked a small batch of it - enough to fill a gallon plastic bag. It's not as big as granddaddy's and some of the ears are going to go out for the birds because they don't look good, but the one's that are good look really tasty! I'm excited.

We also picked our first watermelon. It's about the size of a basketball and sounds juicy inside! Our pumpkins are going crazy in our garden. The seed packet said that pumpkins need six feet of space on all sides, but I'm convinced it needs twice that. It grew from one side of the garden to the other, all the way down the potato hills, through the corn, over the fence and is starting to reach it's tendrils into our neightbors yard. We have two pumpkins that are already starting to turn orange and others that are still green. There is a giant one growing in the corn that has yet to turn orange...it'll be really big! There are two growing on the fence so Brandon is having to make slings for them so they don't break the plant. I think we'll have some awesome jack-o-lanterns and hopefully one or two for making pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread.

Oh! And I'm going to make zuchini bread today! Mmm...tasty!

We recently got a call from Colby's nutritionist and his phe level was a .8, which is REALLY low. I was nervous about this test because he'd been getting about 300mg of phe for the 3 days before (300 is the top level of what he'd previously been allowed to have) so now we can step it up to 350! This means he might be able to eat some higher phe foods!

Okra Adventures

So yesterday we decided to try some fried okra. Brandon planted a couple plants out in the garden and we had a big bag filled with the things - they looked like green hot peppers. So We followed a recipe and fried them up and proceeded to eat them. They tasted pretty good on first taste, but then you started chewing and chewing and chewing...and then you had to spit out the fiber that was left because you definately couldn't swallow it...but if you did you'd be REALLY regular. It turns out bigger is not better when it comes to okra and if you wait until they are too big they turn "woody". So if you're planning on harvesting okra, make sure you harvest them when they are two to three inches long like we plan to do in the future. They'll be good eating when they are not "woody".

Good Weekend

This was a good weekend! Colby and I went to Stepping Out in Blacksburg on Saturday morning. Stepping Out is a big festival where everyone busts out their arts and crafts. I thought some of it was outrageously expensive ($18 earrings made out of plastic beads? Please.) but I thought there was some really cool stuff (Yes, Gwen, I did see the VT sock monkey, but didn't check the price :-) ) I got started on some Christmas shopping and got a really cute purse for VT football season! It's a little girl's denim skirt that's been turned into a purse with a VT belt in the belt loops and a VT strap. The pockets are usable! It was super cute and very unique. I know I'll only be going to one game, but I'll be prepared for the entire season!

After spending the entire weekened with Colby, Sunday morning is when my nerves start to get frayed. His continuous penchant for touching everything had me raising my voice and running away from me while trying to get him dressed had me frowning and irritated. It's a good thing there's church, which gets me back in a good frame of mind to deal with a high energy two year old.

I Can Conquer the World

Some people feel like they can conquer the world after they...save someone's life, or learn something really hard, or finish something like a thesis. But for me I feel like I can conquer the world after shopping and spending thriftily. My budget for putting together 15 baskets for the international students was $550. I spent $508 and ended up buying towels, a lamp, hangers, candy bars, goldfish, oreos, bottled water, water bottle, pens, pencils, highlighters, notebooks, laundry detergent, toothbrushes, tooth paste, shampoo, soap and a laundry basket. I felt like a superstar when we we put those baskets together and they looked awesome! Beyond that, I think any student would love to get one of those baskets. It's my hope that they really feel blessed because it was a blessing to shop for them! Colby was with me and he did a great job. He only got antsy after I started filling my third cart! It was sort of funny because a couple of the Walmart employees were looking at me like I was crazy and they were like "Do you need help?" I was like "Yeah!" That was the longest receipt in history, but I guess that's only to be expected when you buy 75 spiral notebooks!

Crazy Storms!

Today we had our first doozey of a thunderstorm. I was in the Christiansburg Office Max and heard it thundering. I thought I should get out before I got drenched going to my car. What greeted me outside was a full out electric storm. When it rained it poured so I decided to stop and wait it out at a different location. The whole time I was like - please don't hail, please don't hail. When it cleared enough for me to be comfortable I drove on home. Pulling onto Martin Ave. I noticed that the tree near the beginning was shredded all over the road. Our neighbors flag was down and draped over their car and our flag pole was bent and on top of the truck, one of my hanging plants was on the sidewalk, what was left of the sunflowers were bent over and a limb fell out of one of the trees behind our fenced back yard. Thankfully the gazebo was still in good shape and the corn is still standing. We're bracing for round two as I type.

While I was out I got a new battery for my watch. You may think that's a small thing to write about in my blog, but the battery has been dead for like 8 months, so that's pretty awesome. I also got my ears pierced. I can finally say that I'm a grown up...mostly!

I'm excited to go shopping tomorrow for a project my church does. We make baskets full of stuff to give out to international students that are attending Radford University. We hope it will help lead them to our church and hopefully to a life with Christ. I get to buy stuff for 15 baskets that college students might appreciate, especially if they are new to America. It's a fun challenge to buy some nice stuff with only $35 dollars per basket that I hope others will appreciate.

In Gear for School

Still no dogs. I'm not hopeful that they will turn up at this point, they've been gone too long.

I'm thinking about getting my act in gear so I'm ready to go when school starts. I'm considering getting my ears pierced and I'm thinking about when to go get my hair cut. I'm also mentally going through my wardrobe to think about where my weaknesses are as far as clothes. Oh, and I bought a beta for my classroom! I had one my first year so I decided to get another so that I can add a little life to my classroom. I think I'll name him Romeo :-)

Pups Still Missing

Well, the dogs are still missing. I've done everything I can think of to find them short of going door to door. I'm pretty bummed. I look out in the back yard and I expect Brandy to be there, but she's not :-( I miss that pup. I feel like someone has picked them up and they aren't making any effort to return them. I figured someone would call animal control if they found two dogs with collars that looked well taken care of. But I guess all people aren't as good as others.

Well, this past weekend Brandon had his ten year high school reunion. I think Brandon was bummed because most of his good friends from high school weren't there, but it was interesting to see a group of people ten years older and see how they've ended up. Apparently some haven't grown up much judging by the amount of drinking and white boy dancing going on. But I really enjoyed the music...it was like a weird trip down memory lane. It sort of made me interested in going to my own reunion, but I won't be going since Brandon is working. That's okay though. I'm sort of like Lindsey - I don't appreciate people who never cared a lick about me in high school acting all nicey nice well after the fact. It's not genuine and it's iritating. Maybe by my twenty year I'll be over it.