Time for a real entry

I've been extremely busy these days, but it's a happy busy for the most part. Let's see if I can catch y'all up. Chris has been obsessed with the Pussycat Dolls' "Buttons" video (for pretty obvious reasons)-- plus it's coming on the radio a lot around here and it makes us laugh because I tease him about his crush on one of the ladies in there. He says he likes their "Wilson Phillips" walk which is so wrong because I picture Carnie doing this video and...yikes.


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Yvette, Angie, and I went to the Ronnie Freeman concert two weeks ago at a local church and it was fun. We were pals with Ronnie back in junior high and high school and it's good seeing him pursue his dream and touch so many lives with his music. Yes, it was a little strange being at a Christian concert for youth (we were the oldest people there besides Ronnie and the parents of the teens running around) but it was a good time to sit there, let the words soak in, and reflect on my life and stuff like that. I sat down a lot during the concert ("Is Ronnie ever gonna tell these kids to sit down???") because of my bad knee. It sucks getting old. Ha. Old pic from scrapbook: us at my 16th bday in 1988. (Yvette, me, Jas, Ronnie, and Angie). And then, us two weeks ago: Yvette, Angie, Ronnie, me. Jas couldn't make it that night but she wanted to come.
Here are some more pictures.

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In school news, I'm teaching the class of '08 Macbeth (honors), and Lord of the Flies (reg). To start our Macbeth study, I served up some Mr. Yummy gummy eyeballs writing that "Eye" thought it was a good way to start our Macbeth reading. They ate it up. Literally. It was funny watching them eat the eyeballs, they were so grossed out. "It's like a real eyeball!!!!" I wanted to do something different with Lord of the Flies this year (like a mock trial for Jack) but time constraints and the fact that I didn't want to reinvent the wheel this year (let's just do the normal projects) caused me to change my mind. If any teachers out there have done the mock trial thing for any characters, let me know your lesson plans and ideas. I have some, but I'm always looking for ways to improve.

Speaking of the class of '08, I find it interesting that I haven't found any of them who think OJ Simpson is innocent of killing his wife. They were only three or four when it happened and they all think he's guilty as sin. (This came up after he was arrested in Vegas recently.) Hmm...interesting, don't you think?

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In TV news, I watched "Moonlight" Friday night as I fed the baby and settled down for the night (Chris was watching football). I thought the father/adopted daughter/lust vibe disquieting. I don't think the show will last that long. It seemed kind of a throwback to 80s shows too, I don't know why, it just felt that way. Last weekend, Meg and I watched the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders reality show. We giggled and pointed the whole time. Loved it. I just forget when it comes on during the week---we caught a marathon of it.

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Congrats to Chris's cousin, Dave, and his wife Traci, who welcomed twins Grant and Parker to the family a few days ago! They have a 3 year old daughter Addison (Luke's pal). I hope that Grant, Parker, and Jake are good buds too.

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Here's a Luke update---he can't decide what he wants to be for Halloween: Darth Vader, Power Ranger, Ninja Turtle, Astronaut, or Pirate. I hope whatever he decides he still wants to wear it when it's Oct. 31st. Here's a photo of him with his cousin Mercy in September. They hadn't warmed up to each other at this point...obviously.

Here's an update on Jakers---Check out his sweet smile. He pretty much wakes up once a night lately and he loves his Kick and Play and watching his brother jump around.

That should be enough for now, right? Comment away---oh, and if you read me and never comment, use the Anonymous button to say hi. Just add your name on the end of it. :)

Hi.

War Eagle!

Not So Delicious

Well the Homecoming carnival was today. My Cake Walk (the official name---The Cake Walk: It's Delicious) was a bust. Note to self: teenagers don't understand or like cake walks. I ended up selling the cakes instead of getting a lot of people to do the walk. Oh well. We made 33.00 for the literary magazine. Glad I didn't put a lot of time or effort into this thing. The big money makers were those clubs who sold drinks and bar-b-que sandwiches. Oh, and the dunking booth with the administration getting dunked was a big one.


We were right next to the Hula Hoop for Hosa group. At one point a Mexican girl was hula hooping and, of course, gyrating. Two Mexican boys were standing nearby watching her, commenting in Spanish to each other. It was obvious what they were discussing. Funny.

I'm tired and sunburned. Goodnight.

Mmmm...Goaty...

This past weekend we headed up to north Al to visit Chris's family. We hadn't been up there since May so it was long overdue. We took Dylan and Luke to the county fair, where I got a sunburn, the boys got to ride VERY long rides (seriously, the kids had stopped smiling after the seventy-third time around already), the Saban Nation was out in full effect, and we all got to witness the birth of a goat.

Yep, we were hanging out at the petting zoo (not evil) and Meg and I were looking at this goat. She says, "What is that?"

There was a bubble looking thing coming out of what looked like its butt.

"I don't know!"

Meggan asked, "Is it a hemorrhoid?"

Hearing that, one of the farmer dudes who was running the petting zoo alerted his farmer friend.

That's when we saw something moving inside the every growing "butt" bubble.
"OH MY GOSH!"

So we watched (me, Meg, the boys, Chris and his dad).

"This is a little bit too educational for my taste," Chris told me.

I moved me and Luke back from the goat. She had a big ole bag o' many waters (!) hanging out of her and I just knew it was gonna burst all over us. That would not smell good. If you'd like to see a goat birth, go here. It was pretty much like that.

My father-in-law told us of some animal that pooped at the zoo and then spun its tail at the people watching, covering them with poo. I remember monkeys at the zoo throwing turds at all the first graders when we visited on a class field trip as well as the lion that sprayed a girl named Scarlet. What's a good gross zoo/petting zoo story you can share?

Thought of Stacy and Stephanie today after watching this clip. Ha ha! Take a listen. When I saw this last weekend, my mother-in-law and I were like, "What was THAT?"

Behind the Scenes

Sitting by an older, black male coworker (how's that for adjectives?) today waiting on the graduation exams to be handed to us so we could double check them, I saw that he was glaring at the back of a special education teacher walking by.
Me: What was that all about?
Him: She's so messy.
Me: Really?
Him: She's alway tryin' to start something.
Me: Hmm...
Him: She sent me an email telling me it was my third notice to come pick up some crap.
Me: Ha
Him: She can shove that email up her ass.
Me: (laugh)
Him: I shot her a bird.
Me: Huh? When?
Him: When she walked by the other day.
Me: What did she do?
Him: Nothing. What can she do?

Bizarre.

Life of a High School Teacher

Tomorrow around two I'll be doing this.
Pray for me and my knees.

Next week I'm in charge of a CakeWalk.
I live a strange life.

Wednesday...just checkin' in.

The Goldmans are tickling me. They are going after OJ's watch? Hysterical. I'm so glad they swarm all over him like flies whenever they can. I admire their tenacity. Speaking of OJ, what do you think he's thinking as he walks with those handcuffs on again? Maybe third time is the charm?
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Last night I was getting Luke out of the bath when I noticed a scrape on his leg.
"What happened to your leg?"
"I fell down at the park." (I then remembered Chris saying something about this when they got home.)
"Aww baby..."
"I laid down."
Chris had told me how he had lain on him crying.
"Daddy was there for you, wasn't he baby?"
"Uh huh."
"Mama and Daddy will always be here for you." I kissed him.
He looked in my eyes and said, "Don't ever go away, Mama."
Oh my heart.
*I hope I used lay/lie correctly here. I always (STILL) have trouble with this. I quoted Luke as he said it though. Feel free to correct "had lain" if I'm wrong. Teachers get confused too! :)

And...another one...

I taught the shooter at the junior high where I worked in 01-02. He dropped out before he got to high school. (I wonder if it was shortly after my notes on him stopped--I don't remember.) He wasn't a tough guy, just troubled. Below, from the newspaper today, with google-able words taken out for safety.

George L always was there for his family, so they took some comfort that they were with him as he lay bleeding in a parking lot from a gunshot wound to his head.
L, who was shot and killed early Saturday morning to become ******* 34th homicide victim this year, was a good and gentle man who never got in a fight or said a harsh word to anyone, said Fannie L, his widow.
Michael F, 20, of ************ turned himself in at police headquarters Sunday and was charged with murder in the shooting death of George L, according to Lt. Mark D, a spokesman for the ****** Police Department.
The bond amount was set at $75,000.
On the night L was shot, he and his family were helping organize a fashion show at the***** Masonic Temple, *****., where he served as one of the leaders.
The show began at 8 p.m. and everything went well, said Deborah **** one of Ls' three children.
She and her mother were closing down the temple when at midnight, a young man ran inside and asked them to call the police to help move some rowdy young men out of the parking lot.
***** was on the phone with **** police when she heard shots.
She and her mother made sure the children inside the building were safe. Then ******'s daughter, Q, ran in screaming.
"Help me, my granddaddy's been shot," Q cried.
Deborah M and her mother ran outside and found George L lying on his back in the parking lot, eyes open, in a pool of blood.
"Oh Jesus, sweet Jesus, tell me why such a kind man was shot down when he wasn't bothering nobody?" Fannie L said, weeping.
She said she hopes her husband was comforted by their presence in those awful moments.
"I cradled his head in my arms and raised him up to me telling him how much I loved him," she said Sunday.
Q said there were two groups of young men who started throwing bottles into the parking lot and then began firing pistols into the air. She didn't see her grandfather being shot, but was there just seconds afterward.
From what the family knows so far, George L had no words or quarrel with any of the young men involved, said Cynthia G, another of George L daughters.
Within a few moments of Saturday's shooting, police and paramedics arrived. He was taken to ****Medical Center , where he died about three hours later.
"It all seems like a horrible nightmare that I just can't wake up from," his widow said.
The family met dozens of friends and family members at George L's home in the ***** community. He took great pride in his manicured lawn.
"Daddy was supposed to be outside today trimming the yard, but I guess he'll never be back home again," Deborah M said.
**** said George L was known as the community's surrogate father because he helped many young men who grew up without fathers, giving them advice and support.
Michael S 43, said the 59-year-old George L was like a father to him.
S, a deacon at the ******Missionary Baptist Church, coped with his grief by talking with fellow church-goers about the man he loved, and what he meant to so many in the community.
He kept tabs on the kids in the community, and would check on them into adulthood, S said. George and his wife would come by the U.S. Post Office on **** Street, where S worked.
"He would tell me, 'I'm so glad to see you and your brothers grew up and made positive things happen for yourselves,'" S said. "His death is a tremendous void. It's like a member of my family is gone.
"The people who killed him had no idea what kind of man this guy was. If they knew, they would not have taken his life."
The crime occurred in City Councilman James N'sdistrict. He struggled to find perspective.
"We've lost a generation and they're wreaking havoc on society," N said. "We've lost respect for one another and that has a lot to do with children raising children. It's senseless, what we're dealing with today: senseless killers.
"Whereas you and I would walk away, they don't. They seek revenge."

Snorty McSnorterson, Puddin', Jakers

"Hi. I'm 12 pounds of lurve."

Neither Sporty Nor a Soldier

Can you tell that going back to work is kickin' my rear?

Where to start? Get this--I have arthritis according to the Pri-Med doc. I finally got off my duff and headed over to the doctor on Sunday after an excruciating night of knee pain. They took x-rays and the whole thing. The x-ray tech said something funny while I was sitting there with my sickly pale legs up on the table.
"Excuse me!" she ran back to her back room.
I wondered why she said that. Then she added, "My stomach is so upset after drinking that Green Tea!"
Then I smelled what she was talking about. Gross.

The doc gave me Naproxen and Lortab (sweet!).
I asked, "Isn't it unusual for someone my age to have arthritis?"
South African doc: "Not really."
So I wondered, that either means I'm not as young as I think I am, or young people do get this.
She asked if I had played a lot of sports in my past. Ha. Right.
"Not really---I played softball in elementary school." But then I thought about the car accident 11 years ago. Guess it's finally catching up with me--the whole knees into the dashboard thing. Yeah.
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And...I'm also sick. Body aches, sneeziness, and bad knees. Oh, and not much sleep. Yay for me.
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Took Luke to PTA last night with me so I could spend a little more time with him and to give Chris a break--dealing with two kids by yourself, especially after a tiring day, can be rough. At PTA, the teachers outnumbered the parents again. Nice. I had four parents show up. FOUR. One of the parents was under the impression that I hadn't been on maternity leave, that I had been on military leave, that I was in IRAQ! That made me giggle. I told Chris about it when I got home. He retorted, "Yeah, Jen's in Special Ops."
Luke was really good--he played with stuff I had in the classroom. I asked him later what he liked the best and he said, "The trees"--a Lord of the Flies project and "The barn"---an Animal Farm project. When he walked in to the auditorium and the bathroom/eating a sandwich lounge he said the same thing, "Mama, it's be--youtiful!" Cracked me up.

Jodie Foster, Butts, and Other Moms

Every time the trailer for the new Jodie Foster movie comes on TV, Chris hollers, "FREEGE!"

This is an allusion to her character in Silence of the Lambs, he explained to me, when she was in the basement and the lights were off and the freak would move around and she was just pointing her gun around at what she thought was him.

Perhaps you have to hear him yell this to think it's as funny as I do. I almost spit my coffee out all over the keyboard as he just yelled it again.

Speaking of Jodie Foster and her new movie...doesn't she look an awful lot like "Cuts Like a Knife"-era Bryan Adams?

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While changing Luke's diaper (which is now like changing a grown man's, he's gotten so tall--I really need to push this whole pee pee/poo poo in a potty thing), Luke says to me, "Mama, I love you."

I felt all warm about his sweet comment. Then he says, "I love my butt too."

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Went to the KA consignment sale this morning with my mom and the two kids (that was rough!) and I got some fall clothes for Luke and 2 outfits for Fatboy/Puddin'/Peanut (aka Jake). I have to say, I like the discounts at these places, but the other mothers kill me. They are so competitive and won't move out of the way for ANYTHING or ANYONE. It's like, "Screw you!" is being sent out by about seventy women to the other ladies at all times. I hate getting around lots of gals for this very reason. Mothers, specifically. I, of course, am perfect. :)

Cafeteria Plan Talk in the Cafeteria and other mundane things

So I'm playing "musical lunch tables". I skipped over from the science teacher table to the older teacher table today for a chat with them. They included a male math teacher (who was my interning teacher when I was 17!) who is just the sweetest dude ever, a secretary for the special education peeps, the new librarian, and my department head. I shared photos of the baby and we talked about the "cafeteria plan" insurance thingy. I still don't get why it's called a cafeteria plan. And I still don't quite GET how it works. Anyone want to put it in plain English for me who knows what I'm talking about?

Luke is obsessed with the Oriental Trading Company magazines. He is flipping through it all the time and even at his daycare, he sits at the Little Tykes plastic table and studies each page, showing anyone who will look what he wants. "I want that for my birthday first," he told me as he pointed to some cheap Ninja men. "OOH, scary!" He pointed to more plastic--this time spiders.

Classes went smoother today. It still sucks to have planning period so late in the day. I'm drained by the time it rolls around. Found out that the girl who got Kristy's job graduated from high school six years ago. It being my 11th year of teaching, that just feels weird to know.

Still having parking issues. Pray that I get a spot tomorrow. If not, I guess I'll just go down the parking lot line taking different people's spots for the rest of the year. Whatever.
My lit book (teacher's edition) was taken out of the library and not returned over the summer. Thanks. Yeah. Someone else has all my notes and crap now. Thanks for the spare. Eyeroll. Guess it doesn't matter really--it's our last year using this particular book. On to something new next year.

In positive notes, we each got a cool new FranklinCovey book and accessories. I'm excited. Gonna learn how to use it over the next week and put it to work for me. I remember Max having one years and years ago.

My feet hurt. Off to take a nice hot bath. Yes!

First Day Back

Gosh I'm tired. This will be a basic list of thoughts.

1. Baby only woke up once last night. Praise be.

2. Getting two kids and yourself ready for daycare/work---stressful, even though I got most of the stuff ready last night.

3. Someone parked in my spot so I had to park in someone else's spot which stressed me out.

4. Kristy's absence across the hall was tough. :(

5. I'm used to having planning period second period. Now it's sixth and that sucks, my friends.

6. I have two Honors 12th. Yay for that.

7. One of my students (not in Honors) had her baby the same day I had Jake. In the same hospital. She was also only a few rooms down from me. Weird.

8. Seniors? Born in 1990.

9. Lunch table chat was lonely, as my pals were gone. Chit chat with science teachers will have to do.

10. Did I mention I was tired?

FASHION QUESTION! I NEED YOUR INPUT:

Can one wear these shoes after Labor Day? Please advise!

Dear Diary...4 new entries added to the set.

I finally organized my clothes closet today. After putting it off all summer.

Anyway, I found my 1987 diary. I was 15 and some of this stuff is awesome. I scanned three pages of it. It's so funny what a 15 year old thinks is important.

Go here for the rest of them. (Notice I have some old ones up from '84 too.)

Pillow Road

Luke's latest creation when left alone in the living room for a while: