I have to give Aly credit for finding this one.

Why can't I hit rewind...

Office lost my worksheets I needed.
Half my classes missed today due to a blood drive (they were not supposed to miss my class)
I scratched the side of my car on a pole.
I had to stay for tutoring until 5 instead of leaving early
I didn't wake up in time after eating dinner to vote.

I give up!

Not much time...

Still working (overworking) and I'm plumb tired. I am taking off tomorrow to try to catch up on my grading and get a bit of sleep.

Aly's head exploded on Friday night. We had two Japanese bands play for a food drive at Mohave. She was able to meet with them after they played and got autographs from each band. (I briefly met some of them too, but I was mostly in my classroom grading while she had some fun.)

Hopefully I'll have more time now that I'm switching my second day at Hastings to a Friday night and getting Sunday's off. The turnover on Friday night at 11:30pm and coming back at Saturday at 9am is a bit tough, but I'd like to get some semblance of a weekend back again. Perhaps if Mike is earning enough, I might even be able to drop to Saturdays only. We'll see how it goes.

On a more positive note...

(two blogs in the same day)

Aly had her birthday about two weeks ago. She got a few manga books from Toby and two large-Japanese based stuffed animals. From me, she got a few books on running (for her XC running), a flip dictionary, an astrology book and a mystery novel that takes place in Japan (it’s a series, woo-hoo). I made the comment that most of her gifts were books and this proves she's a geek. I got a playful smack in return, but it was so worth it.

For a cake, she eschewed the traditional cake for an Italian crème cake. It was almond flavored with chopped almonds on the top with just enough icing to make it good. We might have to do that one again.

This week we also put in an order for her announcements, cap and gown, etc. We ordered the smallest economy package that gave her a few options like a t-shirt and a tassel only because we can pay it off in 4 payments. We also ordered her class ring (which is part of her Christmas gift) again, choosing the affordable option and the payment plan. The down payment was affordable and I can pay most of it off in December with my bonus. We just won't be going out to dinner much this month, but I think these are more important than a restaurant anyways.

Go! Fight! Win! (or lose!)

It started off early in the week while Aly and I were sitting in my classroom. My classroom is next to the restrooms the kids use so there is occasional talking, doors banging, puking (that one is fun during class, especially when they're working quietly), etc. Now when there is a fight, it is very distinctive yelling and loud banging, which is what we heard. I looked at Aly and she mouthed fight, so I called the office and went to go help. I could hear that one of the other teachers was there already due to the loud "get out" and "stop it" shouting. In the hallway there is a large crowd of kids confirming, of course, there is a fight in progress in the men's restroom. I hate that. Working my way through the kids, the other (might I note only female) teachers and I see a closed stall in the middle with kids holding the adjacent stalls closed. After a minute of us pounding and yelling, I came up with a bright idea - Hey these doors are weakly held on, Break it down - so shoulder to door and two hits later, the stall is open. The two in the stall were very muscular and hyped up on adrenaline, so I definitely didn't want to mistakenly get hit this time. I turned my attention to the onlookers, most of whom exited upon our request. A few stuck around and when we tried to shoo them, we got a face full of cussing and "that's by cousin" and "you can't make me" crap. Thankfully, the calvary from the office finally arrived (this included a male teacher as skinny as Aly who was smiling the whole time - his first fight - and he was the one who got between them) including an administrator so all was out of my hands. We herded most of the students to class as the first bell rang, so I headed back to class too. My hands shook all through first hour due to my own adrenaline levels and I was tense most of the day. Again, thankfully my classes were just testing and taking notes on their own, so I didn't have much to do anyways. Later that week, we found that not only the fighters, but also three of the onlookers (who also held the stall doors closed) were also on long term suspension (Bye-Bye!) One actually tried to say he wasn't here that day since he was marked absent all day, but you know what? If you cuss out a teacher, we remember you! Doh!

Oh...my...

Saw this on Mythbusters....Fainting Goats...seriously!! My side hurts from laughing...baaa...baaa *flop*


And if you haven't seen it yet, a new Simon's Cat - "TV Dinner" (Good, but I still like the original best, though)



Will post real news this weekend after I actually find a few hours to sleep...Oh wait, on Saturday Aly has to be at the school at 4am!

Sick!

I was fine for the first two weeks of school (which began on July 31 for me and Aug 4 for students - yuck) and then that Saturday I noticed I had a sore throat. Went to Hastings and then practically fell apart. Fever, weak, dizzy. Somehow I managed to do my 4 hour shift the next day as well, but the rest of the day was miserable. I drank juice, ate soup and crackers. Doing dishes took two hours, not because there was a bunch (just over one sink full of glasses and bowls) but because I had no energy and had to keep lying down until I felt well enough to try it again. At least the Olympics were entertaining to watch while I rested.

By Monday I was no better and Aly was beginning to show symptoms. We had the next two days off for sick days and upon returning to school on Wednesday, I had developed a deep cough (which I haven't really had since quitting smoking - now I really remember why I quit!) and no voice. Ditto on Thursday. Finally on Friday, I found I had some energy and was feeling better.

Did I mention I'm behind on my grading? Oi!

Aly and I finally returned to Cross Country practice this week. We met a local man and wife who have been training some of the others. He's Army (set to be deployed in October) and hilarious. He has a local running club called the "desert juggernauts" that meets every day if you want to do it, so I'm going to check it out. Perhaps if I can find a running partner, getting back into shape will be easier. I definitely feel the excess 25-30 pounds I'm carrying. Technically my BMI is in the normal range, but it is so much easier to move when it is closer to 25 than to 30! I also need to do some core work and get my back, abs and arms into shape, as this is one of my weakest areas and doesn't help my running.

Well…back at practice, Aly is trying hard to run more consistently. I give her a lot of credit for keeping with it, especially since she’s “always last” That’s a good mental battle to win and she’s going to have the best improvement by the end of the season, I’m sure. One of the interesting things we did after practice last night was cold water therapy. In this area, that means submerging at least your legs, if not more, into the frigid Colorado River for 10-20 minutes. I admit that this is the first time I’ve been in the river since we moved here. It felt good, though, after the initial shock and my legs were numbed (not totally numb, but more of a lessened pain sensation wherever the water soaked) for at least an hour after. Very cool (no pun intended)

Well, off to school and an Open House this evening…the fun! I think I’ll just take Aly home and spend the rest of the day grading until the parents arrive. I’ve also rented, but not looking forward to (in fact loathing to) watching the new Beowulf film. I’m teaching it and all my students keep mentioning it, so I need to, reluctantly and with protest, know what happens in the film.

Always look THEN move....and...

make sure your desk drawer is closed before you stand up and turn or you may look like this!





And a few days later...





A one time whack on the left leg and I have a 4" circular bruise midthigh. The color changes are already happening, and I should see most colors of the rainbow within the next week! And to top it off, that night I stubbed the small toe on the same leg. Must not have been in my right mind...

Finally, A few minutes...

I'm on the merry-go-round and I'm getting dizzy.

School is going fine so far. Class sizes are huge, but they seem to be minding so far. In fact, my bigger classes are some of my best. My smallest class is 25 and it goes up from there...32, 34, 38, 41...actually taking role in the largest is easy...they all show up! I just go...yup all the desks are filled and there are three without a desk so that equals 41. I only have a few that concern me, but they just seem to be "talkers", nothing that can't be trained within a few weeks since they also seem to want to participate. My only dread is the grading....

Working at Hastings on Saturday and Sunday mornings seems to be working fine. It keeps my sleeping schedule regular; however, if Mike's not working shortly, I might need to find something else to do (my library hours might not be as lucrative as they once were)

Additionally, Aly has taken up Cross Country, and I with her. We started running last week. She probably has the farthest to go to get into shape as she hasn't run long distances before, but she's sticking with it so far. I run with her and after walking periodically I try to get her running again. I'm trying not to hurt her too much on these workouts as she is really a beginning runner, but also I know she needs to run to stress her muscles to get better. A fine line indeed! She is going through spaghetti like crazy and hasn't had any soda all week. Yesterday we did about 2-1/2 miles (running an 800m on the track - two laps - then doing pushups and sit-ups) and she ran at least half of it. Did I also mention it was about over 100F? That heat really sucks the energy out of you! She did manage to complete one circuit (that was four laps: 800m + 10 pushups + 20 crunches). I keep telling her one day it shortly it will just kick in.

In between it all I've kept the house clean (yea!) and watched the Olympics...which is dangerous I might add. Turn it on at 8pm and then the next time I look at the clock and it is 1030 or 11pm! Ouch! It's so fun, though. I really want to go swim some laps after watching all the pool events...

Let there be.....dusty weather!

After having Mike with me for about a week and a half, I drove him to the airport in Vegas and dropped him off. On the way up we stopped at Laughlin's library, so on the way back, I "watched" (i.e. listened to) the pilot episode of JAG. I just can't listen to music on long trips...heck, I can't listen to it in town either. I left Vegas about 4:00 and made good time.

It was a little cloudy on the way back and thought I had better hurry in case it rains (I had one or two items out in the yard from cleaning that wouldn't like being rained upon, such as the leaf-blower.

I was planning on going to the store on the way home. Upon reaching the top of the hill near Christmas Tree Pass and beginning the decent, I quickly noticed that I couldn't see the mountains on the other side. It wasn't clouds or rain, although it was dark, but dust. As I continued down the hill, the neighborhoods on the other side of the hill disappeared until I reached the bottom of the hill. The dust storm was moving in and I had beaten it to the stoplight by literally a minute or two. As I drove up the highway (driving parallel to the storm) I felt like one of the scenes in Hidalgo or the Mummy. I could see the storm in my rearview mirror and I could see it creeping up along side of me as well.

As I drove, more and more dirt began blowing across the road in front of me. It felt more like driving in fog, as I had a hard time at points seeing the cars in front of me (I could see only the taillights when it was thick.) Along with the sand, larger and larger objects were being blown across the road. At first it was plastic bags and paper, but then I saw some plywood (most likely from a roof), siding, and a plastic chair or two. I continued on and watched the storm building, and even more dust blowing. At one point within a mile of home, the dust was so thick I couldn't see my own hood, much less and traffic that might be in front of me. It was very similar to driving in a whiteout, but I'm not sure what to call it. Upon arriving home, I rescued the items in the yard (with the housing, the winds were not as bad in the neighborhood as they were on the highway) and also rescued my trashcans that I had left at the end of the driveway (these have blown away before and I've found them blocks away).

All items saved, I went in to check the TV for warnings. I found a warning for severe thunderstorms and possibly large hail for this area on the weather channel website. The TV had no break in warnings for our area, as I suppose the weather in phoenix took precedence (we weren't even a blurb at the bottom of the screen until an hour after the storms ended...thanks guys!)

We got a small bit of rain here, and apparently we will have activity for the next few days...should be fun!

The dustbunnies cometh...

First of all, I think I've updatd the videos on a previous post so you can see them now.

After returning a few weeks ago to Arizona sans Mike and Aly, and after watching a few episodes of the BBC "How clean is your house", I really caught the cleaning bug. I started with a few small projects like cleaning the hallway in front of Aly's room (usually covered in clothes) and her bathroom (there is actually a usable sink and floor now). After that, I began work on the storage area.

It took about half a day to pull out all the boxes. All were very dusty and some had mold on them. I then worked on pushing the insulation back in place (some was just hanging there) and covered it with what I could afford, thick brown paper. Considering the original covering was just cardboard, this seemed to fit in. After replacing this it began to warm up, so most of the items stayed in their boxes outside for a few days (a cool down was forecast for the following week).

Inside, I went through the kitchen and checked labels on cans and other foodstuffs, throwing out all expired product (if it was close, I kept it, but there were a few labeled "use by XXX 2003", no thanks!) I also went through the medicines we keep in the kitchen for the same check. I also cleaned the freezer and fridge (I usually do this weekly for food going bad, but this time I went through for jams and pickles, etc.) and cleaned all the shelves. I got rid of some things I knew I'd never eat and restacked things nicely. Much nicer!

Next project was our bedroom, namely my clothes. I was vicious as I went through them to see what I really needed. I have held on to many outfits for a while, but now I've gotten rid of them. I plan to donate 8 large trash bags filled of just my clothes (Mike and Aly will do the same shortly). I did keep some items for mementos and also kept t-shirts (will send these away and make a quilt with them to preserve the memory in a useful way). The closet is even cleaner than when we moved in.

With the temperature cooling down to the upper 90s/low 100s I headed back outside to tackle the storage area. I put up my small DVD player and used the FM transmitter through a radio so I could really crank up the noise. I watched the entire second season of "Deadliest Catch" twice during the project (talking about frozen waves and freezing temps I think helped). I also found an item at the store. It's a small bandana that you wrap around your neck. It's filled with a crystal that expands in water (i think it's the "buffalo snot" we used to use in the garden) and it keeps the back of your neck wet and "cool". I can put it in the fridge, but that cold doesn't last too long. With entertainment ready, I began the purge. One dumpster full and a small stack of kitchen items to donate, I cut the clutter by half. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of book clutter (which, btw, Mike says doesn't count as clutter/hording) but I did get rid of some old textbooks from college and some water damaged materials.

Back inside, I tacked our bedroom. Again, I was determined to have a clean room, and even reorganized it in the process. Entertainment ready (One season of Monk) and I was off and throwing away/recycling items again (Got rid of most of the stored magazines that filled up a lot of shelf space). After the initial clutter removal, I went and placed two to three crates of books that were on my bookshelves into storage and reorganized many of Mike's war-games to fit on the shelving. I can find the books I really want to read, added a space for library books, and even put up one of our wedding pictures in a frame we received on the wedding (both were in storage before). The only room left to do is Aly's...

All was clean when Mike arrived for our anniversary. I've been on his case about leaving shoes and cigarette cartons wherever with the "(honey,) what are you going to do with __________?" I know I'm not cleaning it up. We went to Joe's Crab Shack for the anniversary dinner and sat on the deck drinking cold soda and eating just appetizers (not that hungry, could've been the heat. It was 110 in the shade with some misters) Seemed reminiscent of our honeymoon in PEI with the seafood by the water. Very nice.

JabbaWockeeZ Dance Compilation (Part 2)

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And if you want to see a bit more...part 2 (the ending of the second segment, where they have the reddish masks, is amazing when he does the headspin) Needless to say, they won the competition!

I'll post shortly on the cleaning chaos...

JabbaWockeeZ Dance Compilation (Part 1)

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SECOND ATTEMPT! Sorry it didn't work last time, it did on mine (weird)... if it's a snafu, let me know-

An amazing dance group. If you watch closely, in addition to the amazing choreography, on all their dances (except one) they begin the routine in the same formation where they end the previous routine.

state of education

I was poking around on the internet searching for a phone number or two for a fellow coworker for a reference and found a website rating teachers Well, I had to see what they said about me! So I searched my name and found the following:

She's an English teacher who loves role playing and teaching. She listens to heavy mettle and will even show her favorite students videos of her screaming at concerts over MSN. But yet, is respectable

On the scale the website asked, I also received a 3 on easiness, a 5 on helpfulness and a 5 on clarity. (it's a 1 to 5 scale, 5 being the highest, same scores as Kevin Greene, honors teacher)

First of all, I must focus on spelling heavy "metal" correct in the classroom and second, well...I know I teach many things in my classroom: Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, The Crucible, Macbeth, etc....now my question. What does "but yet, is respectable" actually mean...Did they learn? Did I make it interesting so it was fun to learn? What does this mean!? And why don't survey websites ask names or email addresses? (I would love to know who penned this comment!) Now I curious....

The Hauntening

Testing the video function. It's still fun if you've seen it before. Enjoy!

Still relaxing

I've been on my own for two days. I've been alone for the first time in years in my own home I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. I went to the library and rented a few movies. I rented a few silly things, and I rented a few serious movies. One was a show called Ghost Hunters. It's a fun show and I don't take it too seriously. It is really fun to watch at night, but I didn't realize just how much I could scare myself by watching it alone. Freaky yet fun! I also rented a few things on Jane Austen as well as a musical are two. One other thing I rented was The Other Boleyn Girl. It took some liberties with the history, but it was still quite fun to watch. These are due back by Saturday and I think all pick up a few more things. Oh don't worry, I've been doing laundry and dishes in the interim. The house is cleaner than it has been a in a long time. Yipee!

I also want to say how much fun I had why was in Colorado. Although the time was too short, I had so much fun of being with my family and my husband. The sunburn that I got after an hour's walk outside did peel, but I think the walk was worth it. I do need to remember to put on sunscreen next time. I did enjoy seeing green again, and also I enjoyed the cool temperatures which I am sure I will not see for several months (We have just started hitting the hundreds and summer is just beginning). I wanted to thank everyone for their support. I am much more relaxed and feel that I can finally think clearly. Thank you.

I will post again shortly after watching a few more films and indulging in a nap or two but before having to work this weekend.

Finally done!

The last few weeks of school have been extremely stressful. I finally figured out that I have five classes of research papers to grade instead of just two. Totally sucks! It turns out that my senior class is also have to write papers of approximately the same length as by juniors. By the time they're done researching it is the end of April or early May. So instead of having spring break and several weeks to grade these papers, I have one or two weeks. Needless to say, I cannot be as thorough as I would like on these; however, I checked to make sure there is no plagiarism and it is not entirely quotes. Good enough for me and for credit

To add to the chaos I also had to do finals which includes an in class essay and a fill in the blank test. I suppose I could've made it easier on myself and have given it a multiple guess, I mean choice, test but I can never tell if they know the answer by using this. Add in Hastings on the weekends leaving little time for grading and you have a recipe for little sleep, little fun, and... and...not much else, except maybe cats, Aly's a year and a trip to California and ensuing choir concerts, graduation, visits from former students, great... did I mention sleep? It's a good thing the school year ended or I think there might have been a fatality or a loony bin involved.

Yes, I finally got some sleep and lots of it. Now all I have to do is clean my house.

(btw I've been practicing using the microphone speech recognition on this blog.. . Quite fun and it makes an interesting words. Sorry if there's any typos.)