New Blog

I decided to start writing another blog. I have found so many good ideas on-line for teaching that I thought I would share my ideas and other ideas I have found. Check it out here and please feel free to pass it on!

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. We have liturgy at my school today. They are always fun. They aren't too bad. I just think they are a little over the top sometimes, especially with the school photographer snapping away during the whole thing.

Anyway, the first Ash Wednesday that I remember was very traumatizing. I was in kindergarten. My teacher told us that a priest was coming to our classrooms to put a cross on our heads. I am sure that she talked about ashes but as a five year old I probably had no idea what she was talking about, either that or I wasn't paying attention. Anyway, the time came. The priest arrived, one table went up, then another. Finally it was my table's turn. I was first but I kept letting my table neighbors ahead of me. I was last in line. I got up to the priest, squeezed my eyes shut... it was over! That didn't hurt. That is when I looked around at my class mates and saw what I thought was dirt on everyone, obviously I later realized what ashes were! See, this whole time I had thought that the priest was going to nail a little wooden cross to my forehead! I remember that day like it was yesterday. :)

This year, since I have been told recently that I apparently look preggers, I have decided to give up junk food. All junk food! I am going cold turkey. Hopefully this will help me get back my "stick" look that apparently the above people prefer especially since they are the best ones to judge me in their body situations. Please note my sarcasm on that last line! Grrr...

Jealous much?

I have a lot to write about from the past week with swimming but it is too much to write in school so I will do that when I go home.

Today I woke up in a foul mood, mainly because of the weekend. My first class of the day is with the first graders and I can always count on them to say something cute to fix my mood, even just for that half hour period.

The first graders are creating feelings books in KidPix. Each week they write "I feel happy when...", they finish the sentence, and draw a picture. So today we did jealous and the one little boy, the "I live a duplicate" boy, said "I feel jealous when my cousin can have play dates whenever he wants." I responded by saying that is a good time to feel jealous. He then said "My cousin is 21 by the way." I love the things kids say!

I'm a better shot?

So Jim recently bought two pistols. I am totally ok with it. I mean my dad is a police officer so I have always had guns in my house. Plus, since Jim is working night work I am at home by myself all night and let's face it... if someone is breaking into my house I am very confident that the only damage my dog would do to the person is trip them because she is so excited that someone else is around to potentially play with her!

Since Jim bought the guns he has wanted to go out to a range to see how they shot. He also wanted me to practice shooting since all I have ever shot were rifles and shotguns at camp. Pistols and rifles are a lot different! A friend of Jim's teaches a gun safety class so after his class he gave me and Jim a private lesson which basically just consisted of telling us of the three safety rules at the club and then letting us shoot for an hour and a half.

Apparently I was a better shot than Jim! Where I hit may have been up in the top left hand corner off of the actual target but they were always clumped together. Jim's friend told me that girls are usually better shooters than guys because they have hips. I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not.

Jim is taking his grandfather to another shooting range tomorrow. His grandfather had knee surgery and is dying to get out of the house. They should have a good time.

Things Kids Say

So today I was getting ready to leave school and there were a few stragglers left over. One of the first graders was telling a teacher that he moved and he loved his new house. This is what he had to say:

"I love my new house! It is two houses in one. It is one of those... what do you call them? It is a duplicate! That's it!"

~SS 6 years old

How cute is that? 

The big 2-5!

Ouch! Yesterday was my birthday and I hit my "old" age. When you were growing up did you ever think "Oh man! That is really old??" Well I always thought 25 was really old. I kind of just thought that that would change as I got closer to 25, yeah. It didn't I still felt like I was old up until today! I am over it now! :)

Jim's grandfather is turning 70 this week so Jim's parents had a birthday dinner for the two of us yesterday complete with two separate cakes. A Stock's pound cake for Pop and  a delicious chocolate with butter cream cake from Shop Rite for me! My parents and sisters were invited. It was a nice day. Jim didn't give me his gift yet but I know what it is. It is a necklace I liked on QVC. Check it out here! I can't wait for it to arrive!

Catch up part two

The rest of January was pretty much the usual business. I started my new grad course. I did not have a good feeling for the teacher during the first class which caused me a lot of anxiety the day of the second class but I feel better now. I just hate that I am going back to school but I know that I will regret it if I don't finish my masters somewhere down the line. I am taking an Intro to TV Studio class. I already know all but one of the other students in the class from other classes so that is nice.

We are now coming down the home stretch with the swimming season. I will be happy when this season is over. It has been a little rocky with the Philadelphia Catholic League joining the PIAA and therefore having to follow the PIAA's rules, no matter how ridiculous! Hopefully next year will be better.

On Saturday I had a wedding shower to go to for my cousin. It was a nice time. I got to sit and talk to my cousins, eat good food, and reminisce about my wedding events last year! My cousin's wedding is at the end of March. After that we have three, possibly four, other weddings to go to this year! I am at that age now where people are getting married so I guess it is to be expected. Here are some pictures from the shower.

Erin coming in to the shower. She thought we were having a dinner for my Grandmom's birthday.

This is my Grandmom. Isn't she cute?

Erin again. Erin's niece likes taking pictures with my phone! This picture, Grandmom, and the rest of the pictures are hers. She's not too bad for being a six year old!

A picture of the delicious cake!

The favors. It was a great idea! They were boxes filled with cookies and a lottery ticket. Everyone got one of three sets of numbers. They either got the wedding date, Erin's birthday, or Bobby's birthday. I got their wedding date.

Erin opening up one of her china settings. I loved her pattern!

Here is Erin with her hat on!

Catch up part one

So I realized that I haven't written in quite some time! Here is what has been happening with me.

I went to a conference in Avalon from January 16-18. It was a great conference! Most of the sessions I attended were good, the hotel we stayed in was awesome, and the food was delicious! I drove down with my friend Betsy. The conference was at the Golden Inn. 

I stayed in a room that sleeps six. I was the only one in the room! It was AWESOME! Here is the sleeper sofa.

I had my choice of two beds! The pillows were awesome!

It was nice having a fridge in the room for all the water bottles I brought!

I can't wait to stay there for a weekend with Jim! The keynote speaker the first night was a man I have "skyped" with before named Will Richardson. I spoke to him last year during one of my sessions in my first Grad class. For that class his book was our required reading. I brought it with me and had him sign it. I know I am a HUGE dork!

Here is Will. He is a great speaker and very knowledgeable. His book was one of the only required readings that I actually ever read. I suggest checking out Will's blog if you are interested in technology.

The one bad part of the weekend was that for the whole week before the conference and the whole week after the conference I was feeling so crappy it was not even funny. I had no fever and was not throwing up but I was terribly nauseous. My friends at work all had me convinced that I was pregnant. I had myself convinced of that too. I finally went to the doctors the Tuesday I came home from the conference. He told me that he wanted me to have a CAT scan done on my appendix. I am TERRIFIED of tunnels like that. When I was little I always had nightmares about walking through a cave and the cave getting smaller and smaller and me eventually getting stuck, or playing in covered slides and the slides getting smaller and smaller and me getting stuck. Oddly enough I am ok with water slides but MRIs and CAT scans freak me out! Luckily they called back with my diagnosis and I did not have to go get the CAT scan done.

The doctor took blood work to see if I was pregnant, I was not. He took a urine sample and apparently it showed a Urinary tract infection. Well the secretary wanted to call in a prescription for me and I didn't answer my phone since I was teaching all day so they called Jim. Jim is now back on night work and was woken up by the call. Between being half asleep and the secretary abbreviating it by saying that I had a UTI Jim thought she said I had Ecoli!! It was very confusing but we got it straightened out. Luckily my sister Julie is a nurse. I told her the medicine they gave me and she said that was for a UTI. I think it was not a UTI that was making me sick because I had no symptoms for that. I think the doctors just caught the UTI early because I did go to them at the right time.