Field trips

I really miss the days when field trips were fun. You know, the good ol' days when I used to be taken places.

Now that I'm the taker, and not the takee, field trips are not nearly so fun. I'm chasing 40 kids around, begging them for money and chaperones. It's not my fault that the trip was scheduled for the Friday night before Thanksgiving! They don't wanna go.

It ought to be fun, though. We're going to go see a production of Hamlet. I've never seen Hamlet (just read it), so I'm looking forward to it. It ought to be interesting; I'm really really hoping that it's also very very good. (That doesn't sound like the writing of an AP English teacher, does it?)

There's only a million or so loose ends to tie up before we're ready to go! (wheeeee.)




Fun Fact: The Commonwealth Governor's School refers to these as "Field Experiences", not "Field Trips".

Caramel Apples

I made caramel apples today for the first time. Jimmy and I worked on them together, and it was so much fun. (and messy, but messy is fun, too)

Jimmy asks to do caramel apples EVERY time we go to the grocery store, and since Annie was out at a friend's today, I decided it would be pretty great to do something with Jimmy. We crushed cookies and peanuts and mixed toppings together and had just a grand old time of it.

One of my favorite things about Jimmy is that he's still interested in a lot of different things right now, so I can suggest just about anything, and he's game to give it a try. Eventually, his interests will settle down to just a few things like Annie's did, I'm sure, so for now, I'm going to take advantage of his attitude and just keep trying new stuff to see what happens!

Twilight

I did it. I read Twilight.

I'm teaching freshmen English this year:21 girls, 3 boys. It seemed like a necessity. :)

It's actually a pretty good book. I would say that I was pleasantly surprised by it. It's full of teenage love and angst and vampires. What's not to love? On the bright side, the vampires are nice - sorta - and the story is quite riveting. It's no classic, but I did enjoy it as a light read.

One thing I really did like was that it was clean. In spite of the girlfriend/boyfriend aspect and the life-threatening nature of vampires, there were no steamy scenes and no swearing. The worst exclamation was, "Holy Crow!"

I obviously can't tell you what happens because I don't do that, but I will definitely agree with Bella. "I'm with the vampires."

Save me from this STUPID c.d.!

I have a new job.

(Hooray!)

On my first day, Beth, a neighboring teacher, brought me a cookie. I didn't have the heart to tell her I couldn't eat it. Of course I did tell her about my celiac disease eventually. She showed up about 10 minutes later with a grin on her face and handed me an apple. Beth's pretty awesome.

What's most difficult about my new job is having to re-explain my medical condition. Most people will just brush off my strange eating habits as part of some crash diet, but once in a while someone will catch me reading a label on something like whipped cream - something that you don't normally read - and they start asking questions.

It gets a little easier to explain every time, but it's hard. No one's heard of it, so they're confused and ask more questions, and then I have to see the look of confusion change to pity. The only ones who don't ask questions are the ones who are already dealing with c.d. in their lives.

I don't care so much anymore that it's a part of my life...I just want to be done explaining it over and over again. Maybe I'll just pass out informational 3x5 cards. :)

Hooray for no homework!

Every day, Annie gets out of school at the same time that I'm allowed to leave work. She comes home and calls me to let me know she's in the house and give me an update on homework and how her day went.

Today she had no homework for the first time in a long time. She was SO excited. Well, it just so happens that some Wednesdays I have a lot of time for grading and planning, so I too had no homework today.

By the time I got home, she had Rock Band 2 loaded and ready to go. She had my guitar out and was seated in front of the drums. We celebrated our lack of homework with some serious gaming. It was the awesome.

Having a bad day?

Just remember, it could be worse. So, be glad this isn't you!

I'm back!

I have decided that I really do miss writing my blogs. It's a nice outlet, after all. (Plus I've had a few emails from family and friends that were quite encouraging. Thanks!)

Today, it doesn't matter what else is happening in my world. There's only one noteworthy item as far as I'm concerned. I recently found out that my nephew Ryan is walking, and I am so excited and proud of him that it's all I can talk about.

Ryan is 9. Not 9 months, 9 years. He, my son, and my brother were all born the same year within a few months of each other. It's been an interesting adventure watching the 3 boys go their 3 separate ways, but Ryan's adventure has always been a challenging one. Challenging for him, for his parents, for all of us, really.

You can see video of him walking - unaided - something we were never sure he would accomplish - at my sister-in-law's blog. Her and her husband's dedication and care have been nothing short of inspirational, and as I said earlier, I am amazingly proud of my little nephew. He looks so excited in this video, too. He's just rarin' to go.

Check him out at http://joyliza.blogspot.com/2008/10/ryan-walking.html

GO RYAN!