Happy Halloweenish

I slept really well last night!!! I so needed it! I am feeling a bit better today = )

We have a long meeting today afterschool. We had a meeting our entire planning period today! My kids are watching " in Language Arts "The Little Vampire"...and R.L Stine is a scary writer of childrens books . We have 10 or 15 of them in the library. SO I saw one of his videos at Walmart for 5 bucks and bought it this weekend. My reading classes are watching it.

I am talking to a guy on the Internet. I'm actually kinda excited....So I am not going to jinx myself...I'll let you know if we meet up this weekend. Wish me/us luck.

SNL

Well...it's Sat early evening. I met Tommy for lunch at the MArket (the best seafood place in the city). We split an order of crab cakes. We both got a cup of seafood chowder and some boiled shrimp. It was a YUMMY lunch. I needed that!!!!

I deserved it! I have been in ALL week taking meds for this cough and chest congestion. I still have 2 more days of meds. I get to having coughing fits that will last what feels like 10 minutes! So I got out for a few hrs and now I am in for the evening looking forward to seeing HUgh on SNL tonight. I think he's charming and funny...not to mention BRITISH (I'm a sucker for an accent).

Hope all is well in your world. Enjoy the EXTRA hour of sleep we get tonight, I know I will!!!

Vicious

Yeahhhh! It is Friday! I made it to work the last 2 days.... Go me! I still have 4 more days of meds....I'm laying low this weekend. I have a few errands to run...Ya'll may find it odd, but I don't drink coffee. I am wanting to purchase a cofffee maker to have at school. I simply want one that will boil my water so that I can have Hot tea or Hot Chocolate. Wanna suggest a modle or brand name? I'm totally coffee skill illiterate....



See the people I work with daily...not all but a few are represented here!

A friend emailed me this thought~

The elderly priest, speaking to the younger priest, said, "It was a good idea to replace the first four pews with plush bucket theater seats. It worked like a charm. The front of the church always fills first now". The young priest nodded, and the old priest continued, "And you told me adding a little more beat to the music would bring young people back to the church, so I supported you when you brought in the rock'n roll gospel choir. Now our services are consistently packed to the balcony." "Thank you Father," answered the young priest. "I am pleased that you are open to the new ideas of youth."

"All of these ideas have been well and good," said the elderly priest, but I'm afraid you've gone too far with the drive-thru confessional." "But, Father," protested the young priest, my confessions and the donations have nearly doubled since I began that!"

"Yes," replied the elderly priest, and I appreciate that. But... the flashing neon sign, "Toot 'n Tell or Go to Hell" cannot stay on the church roof!

Pumpkins and Movies

K...I made it to work today. I survived. I am about to crash...I need the rest~ I wanted to compliment my "Auntie" for the last 2 days...yesterday she brought over a bit of Harvest decor. She set it up on my hearth...she also brought some huge magnolia leaves (branches) and wanted to leave them out for a fuller effect, but I asked that she not leave them cause my kids with fur coats would eat them during the day. When I would get home they would leave me upchuck if I let them munch on them. Destiny is famous for chewing on my fresh flowers and then throwing up.

"Auntie" made her famous vegetable soup and brought it to me after school today. She made me two containers full! It was just what I needed for my throat and NOT wanting to have to cook anything....She has been sweet to me. I am lucky to have her!

On to halloween questions....can anyone suggest a movie 1 or 2 hrs preferably G rated new and fresh that I could rent for my students at school??? I gotta know soon if I plan to show it Monday or Tuesday....ideas appreciated!!!

Happy Halloween!

HOW! as my ancesters say!!!

He looks like my last date! The wonderful world of dating~~~ They are all DOGS!

Or should I say...looks like some of the politicians we have running for mid term elections in 12 days. Please go out and vote on a candidate for his standing on the issues and if you don't mind someone who wants us to actually have social security, slowly get us out of Iraq, someone who will offer support to teachers and the educational system as a whole...and with Christian values!

Hack hack* hack*

Well, I haven't been to work in two days. I went back to the doctor today! Ughhh, he put me on more decongestants and antibiotics. He says, ya know I "think you have the flu". Well, I told him last week I felt really crappy and a week later I am feeling worse. = (

I am going to attempt to go to work tomorrow. Luckily subfinder sent me a sub Monday and I called a sub to go for me today. God only knows what my room is like after 2 days without a regular person...and my special ed lady sneaking her self around. GRRRRRR

Not much to talk about w ith me, I just wanna feel energetic~ It would be nice if I could stop coughing and waking the neighbors with my *delightful hacking* fits of flem.

I did just take a HOT shower...I am clean and my hair smells really good! I used some Biolage products I got with Dawn this summer. She's my hairdresser friend in Louisiana who will get me the expensive stuff - Redken, Aveda, Biolage and hair dresser price (which is 1/2 what we pay at a salon)....My hair has no tangles and and is shiny...Yeah!!!! She also got me a pineapple body scrub which is heavenly....

Hope ya'll are feeling good and enjoying the cooler weather........

For the love of money~

Well, I have been home all weekend with the exception of the drug store. I am hoarse, I sound like a 100 yr old smoker...and feel like it too! I am coughing like a damn cow and feel just as lazy.

I really debated work tomorrow, but it's the first date of our "scheduled hour" meeting for our new program at school. I know my principal will frown on me....so I'll go and If I feel really crappy, I am going home. If I don't feel better in a day or two I am going back to the doc. It's a sore throat, drainage but a dry DEEP cough from hell. GRRRRR The only benefit from this was I got some needed rest this weekend, and managed to see 2 good football games.

My kitties are happy with me, they got extra love and kitty nip from me this weekend.

Hope everyone else had a decent weekend.
I found out the only way I woudl be able to save money, I so hope I don not offend anyone reading it...........

Female terminology

WORDS WOMEN USE

FINE> This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

FIVE MINUTES> > If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given 5 more minutes to watch the game before helping around he house.

NOTHING> > This is the calm before the storm. This means "something," and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with 'Nothing' usually end in "Fine"

GO AHEAD This is a dare, not permission. Don't do it.

LOUD SIGH> > This is not actually a word, but is a nonverbal statement often> misunderstood by men. A "Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over "Nothing"

THAT'S OKAY> > This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. > "That's Okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when > you will pay for your mistake.

THANKS> > A woman is thanking you. Do not question it or faint. > Just say you're welcome. Oh, and before we forget "Whatever"
.it's a woman's way of saying *!#@ YOU!

JUST THINK IT"S ALMOST FRIDAY!!!

single and not the only one

Married couples, whose numbers have been declining for decades as a proportion of American households, have finally slipped into a minority, according to an analysis of new census figures by The New York Times.The American Community Survey, released this month by the Census Bureau, found that 49.7 percent, or 55.2 million, of the nation’s 111.1 million households in 2005 were made up of married couples — with and without children — just shy of a majority and down from more than 52 percent five years earlier.The numbers by no means suggests marriage is dead or necessarily that a tipping point has been reached.The total number of married couples is higher than ever, and most Americans eventually marry. But marriage has been facing more competition. A growing number of adults are spending more of their lives single or living unmarried with partners, and the potential social and economic implications are profound.“It just changes the social weight of marriage in the economy, in the work force, in sales of homes and rentals, and who manufacturers advertise to,” said Stephanie Coontz, director of public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, a nonprofit research group. “It certainly challenges the way we set up our work policies.”While the number of single young adults and elderly widows are both growing, Professor Coontz said, “we have an anachronistic view as to what extent you can use marriage to organize the distribution and redistribution of benefits.”Couples decide to live together for many reasons, but real estate can be as compelling as romance.“Owning three toothbrushes and finding that they are always at the wrong house when you are getting ready to go to bed wears on you,” said Amanda Hawn, a 28-year-old writer who set up housekeeping near San Francisco with her boyfriend, Nate Larsen, a real estate analyst, after shuttling between his apartment and one she shared with a friend. “Moving in together has simplified life,” Ms. Hawn said.

food for thought

Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. One night I responded to a call to a house in the less-affluent part of town. When I arrived at 2:30a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, and then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door.

This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked." Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the oor opened. A small woman in her 80's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.
"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she asked. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing", I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated". "Oh, you're such a good boy", she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?" "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly. "Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice". I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long." I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

"What route would you like me to take?" I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture >warehouse> >that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing. As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she softly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now." We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a>portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair. "How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse. "Nothing," I said "You have to make a living," she answered. "There are other passengers," I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you." I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life. I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life. We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.

But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one. PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT 'YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID, ~BUT~ THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.

Life may not be the party we hoped for ~~ but while we are here, we might as well dance.

monday

Well my morning was BUSY. Meetings per team, per grade level and with our principal. My 1st class starts at 10...it's my collab class which means I have special ed kids mixed with reg ed kids. I have the special ed teacher here~ (well she is supposed to be here)....My princiapl asked me to have my kids come to the computer lab while the 8th graders test in my room from 8:30- 10:30 everyday this week. Well my special ed teacher was supposed to bring the kids upstairs ( I teach in the 8th grade hall---my 6th graders) she didn't ever show. So I had one student in the computer lab. It was where I was supposed to be as per my principal. She ended up keeping 18 of the students in her itty bitty room....She didn't call me . So basically, I had a quiet 4th period..AMEN AMEN AMEN

I feel kinda yuckky today. My throat has been scratchy for a few days now and I feel kinda feverish~ I'm going home in exactly 2 hours and taking a HOT shower and relaxing.

Any thoughts from ya'll on the whole Madonna adoption? Should she get faster adoption service because she's a celeb and can afford to "donate" money? Or should she be placed on a list with other hopeful adoptive parents???

Sunday

The weather is simply WONDERFUL! The sun is shining, not a cloud in the sky and cool temps!!!! All I need is a snuggle buddy to share it with...

Mom went home yesterday. Her visit was ok. We went to one of my uncles homes yesterday on our way to meet dad...I took a few pics. As I was taking the pics Barn Goddess...you are who I was thinking of!!! When i see your wide open space photos...i just stop and day dream. There is such a serenity and warm fuzzy feeling I get when I am exposed to them.

I really do want a few acres of land one day...It would bring be some peace and quiet...a wrap around porch with several rocking chairs....iced tea and good friends to share stories with....a good book for the time you want to be alone with your thoughts or someones else's stories.

On the floor

I was NOT in the energy mode this morning...I finally got out of bed at 7:20 and made it to my aunts house to drop mom off for the day. I made it to school by 8:10. Trust me that is a feat...I actually rolled my hair this morning, took roller out in the car driving while mom damn near had a heart attack.

Well, report card covers were due back today. This is a busy morning for me! As the homeroom bell rang one of my IB students (International Baccelaurate Program) was helping me organize these covers alpabetically. I went in the hall trying to get students out of my room and on to their exploratories...I was talking to a student that was moved to the other 6th grade team. At my feet my student Brian fell---boom. He looked as though he had a mini seizure...As if he tried to get up but he couldn't move. The guidance counselor came running over to help. Apparently, while I was talking to Sara he hit his head on the front door of my room and blacked out. He scared me to death. He's got the LOVE to give and the character to be a comedian. I called mom got her to come and get him. I told her he needed to be seen by a physician and checked for seizures. I hope I did the right thing by suggesting he be checked.

MOm

I have never been a Nascar fan, but he's cute!

It's hump day and I'm glad the weekend is almost here!
At 4:00 on the dot I am running out of here! I think I'll take mom out to dinner tonight =) ...somewhere inexpensive and quick. We don't agree on several things but she is good to me, and I am lucky to have her!

Have a good evening!

weeds and ants

Well today was definately better than yesterday. School wise we had a faculty meeting from HELL! He will lose 1/3 of his teachers next yr if he doesn't get it together and soon. HE had us there for 2 hours after school...long story but a lady I call Poison Ivy got up and attempted to cry crocodile tears cause she felt a resistance from the 8th grade teachers with a program our school is trying to adopt.

Well, she hit a few nerves and 2 of the 8th grade teachers told her that, unfortunately they were tactful (she thinks she wears a damn halo and needed to be put in her place). Anyway, to sum it up the principal wants us an EXTRA hour once a week after school to do some total B.S. Ummm HELLO people have lives outside of that place AND have children they need to care for/pick up or make arrangements for....

OK so it was near 7 when I got home last night. Mom is still here visiting and I was a total SOUR PUSS. Guess she felt bad for me and they (auntie came over) mowed and blowed my yard today. It looks great.... I felt a sigh of relief when I drove up today. As I have said before the good lord definately left 2 things out when I was created a GREEN THUMB and a sense of direction.....

Kitties are calling and night cream is waiting!

Hope we all make it through HUMP day feeling like we had a great humping experience at home!

My boys won today!!!

How about dem SAINTS????????

Reggie Bush scored his first NFL touchdown....a punt return!

I miss home.

TGIF

Well, I am feeling a bit better today. I guess it helps that it's Friday. Yankee Candle has a sale on buy one get one free of their housewarmer candles =) ...I have a gift certificate a friend gave me for my birthday, so I think I'll run over there after work. I got their catalog in yesterday and they have a few of my favorite scent being offered on line (not in stores) Caramel pecan. Oh Yummy isn't the word how your house smells!!!! fresh baked cookies~~~~ I have gotten more compliments on it than any other scent in my classroom or in my home.

My kids are watching "The Tale of the Frog Prince" with Robin Williams as the frog (he's fabulous) and Teri Garr as the princess. My last period class my special ed kids laughed and laughed!!! It's cute! Robin had me smiling! yeah! I invested 100 bucks in Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre....32 tales in all ...most are 40-50 minutes..so far so good. It was a good investment. Besides grades for report cards are due today! So I am putting in comments all period while they watch.

Mom and Auntie are going to Tennessee for the weekend Family reunion. I can have my house to myself for a day or two. They went to the "Beauty Parlor" yesterday.....so they will be styling and profiling ! I just pray they make it there and back safely. That drive to Tennessee is so beautiful this time of year with fall foilage....

I wish I had a good man to get a log cabin with for a week and enjoy the season change and snuggling by a fire.....

on that note enjoy your weekend!

IS it Friday yet?

Well...it's almost Friday! I am waiting and praying for God to give me patience and serenity. I really feel like I am pissed off at the world. I hate so many parts of my life right now. Yesterday was a nightmare with my collab teacher. She doesn't challenge these kids. She is so soft on them how in the world are they going to learn anything?? Yet, I am held responsible for them.

I went home just wanting to have peace and quiet. Mom is here (and I love her) but she is interested in my life and wants ever detail. I just closed down yesterday. My head hurt...(I am wondering if I am getting migraines) I have only had one migraine it was in N.O. but my doc gave me a shot for it. Anyway, I found a movie on HBO "Sister Hood of the Traveling Pants". It had several moments of good messages in it. I cried and cried....
One of the messages went something like: We can't be happy all the time...maybe it's the small things, the small events--that if we string them together---we can be happy. Something to think about.

Money

QUICK QUESTION DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO FIND OUT WHO SOMEONE IS WITH THEIR LICENSE PLATE NUMBER?????? I SAW SUCH A CUTE GUY DRIVING TO WORK THIS MORNING...I WROTE DOWN HIS PLATE ( A FORD F 150 NO LESS)

OK...I've been away for a few days...I have been pretty busy here. Sat I met with my cousin Debbie (we're the most alike of all the relatives for her 52 birthday in Greenville, Alabama. Her mom and dad, my mom and dad and auntie were also there. She bought herself a new Acura sport model...it's cute!

Mom came back here with me for 2 weeks. My evenings have been with her and not on the computer. My days have been busy too. However, my worst behavior class is on a field trip today =) ~ So my 4th period I will only have 2 students (happy, happy, joy, joy).....
I have conferences the next 2 mornings...So perhaps today is my day of rest and sanity.... It's early yet and I have only had a homeroom...so know that I am OPTIMISTIC!

Well, we did get raises! Mine is about 200 a month...hey that's one one of my hardwood floor payments! I paid off my diamond earrings this month!!!! YEAHHHH considering I paid 4000.00 for them over a year ago...no interest for 18 months, and they are paid in full early! Yeah!
Speaking of money, just when you think you get ahead...I had to bring my car to the Honda dealership yesterday....it needed it's 60,000 mile inspection...it cost me 500.00 bucks! I sent one of my credit cards 1000.00 this month ...and I sooooo thought I had made progress! DAMN!