Is there a sign?

I think there was a sign on the front of my car this morning that said "Pull out in front of me or cut me off. I don't mind!"
I say this because not 1, not 2, not even 3 people did it to me throughout the course of the day. Try 8! I am not exaggerating either. I'm talking slam my breaks on they are coming! It was insane! I think I need to put my NRA (National Rifle Association) sticker on the front of my car instead of on the back. They might think twice about doing it then!!

Too early!

I think 5:20 in the morning is too early to start waking up. Yes, I said start. If you have read my past blogs you know that the snooze button and I are good friends. This morning I only hit it for 20 minutes. Much better than my 2 hour date with it yesterday morning. I just can't get motivated for meetings. This whole "teacher work week" is actually "teacher meeting week." I haven't got much work done. I still have things in both offices, all the new equipment is in one closet (the guys and I did unpack it at least,) you can't see my desk, and I haven't even begun to think about a lesson plan. Since Monday I have been in a meeting. I might have 20 minutes between them. That is enough time to just get started and on a roll doing something before I am whisked away to my next meeting. You can tell the atmosphere in the building isn't a positive one because of this too. We are all complaining. As a member of Leadership Council I am going to bring it up I think.
Today we aren't even in the building! All middle school teachers are going to one place. There is nothing we can do about this though, it is a county decision, but the rest of it has to be fixed.
I am ready for Winter Break and the kids haven't even come back! Oh, and I was taken off of morning bus duty and given 6th grade lunch every day! Not happy about that either. I know I can't always get what I want but the lady they put out there doesn't want it at all. Just saying, if the teachers are miserable, the kids will be. It isn't all bad. it is a great school. I am hoping we are just off track this week.
I am sure I'll let y'all know :)

Introducing Lonestar Lonnie

This is Lonestar Lonnie. I made her yesterday in that sewing class I mentioned in yesterday's blog. I was right about $50 being better than $400. I learned a lot, most importantly how to use the embroidery part of my machine. I still want to take the other classes, but this was a great start. The face is all embroidered and the star motif below. It really wasn't hard. I did mine in muted colors and everyone else did brights or metallics. The teacher, and creator of this project, had never seen one done like mine and she really liked it. She said it was more Americana and then she said she needed an Americana one (she has several like Heirloom Hope, Crazy Patch Carol, Appliqué April... ). She was thinking of a name and I said "Americana Amelia." She loved it. I told her if I saw it I better get a free class on her :)! Anyway, now that I know how to use my machine more, hopefully you will be seeing a lot more pictures of things I am making. Of cousre school is about to start up so I will have to neglect my job to do my hobby :)

AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!

I went up to the school yesterday with the intention of only being there for the new teacher luncheon. I stayed till 6 pm. I started cleaning out a closet and organizing it. Then I got a call to come to the principal's conference room. One of my fellow PE teachers had just resigned. Just resigned...the Friday before teachers report on Monday. Guess what I get to do this weekend? Comb over resumes, make phone calls and hopefully do some phone interviews. I was hired over the phone. I only have 4 resumes to go from right now. Slim pickin's. The good thing is that I was trying to figure out the best way to tell her (the lady that quit) that I was going to take her office. Now I don't have to! She is moving out out on Monday. I can't say I am going to miss her too much. I mean she is really nice and sweet, but kinda set in her ways.
I am going to the chiropractor today! Good thing too because my neck is hurting this morning a lot and giving me a headache. Then I have a class at the Springfield Sewing center today. I hope to use it as a quick way to figure out how to set up the embroidery part of my machine. $50 is better than $400 right now.

Keep praying for Bennett Speck. You can read up on him at www.prayingforbennett.blogspot.com. You can read posts by Travis and Kelly if you click the link at the top right-hand side of that blog.

I'm not ready!!

I am not ready to go back to work! I need about one more month. That should do it. I know, you're thinking, shut up, what are you complaining about, you have 2 months off in the first place. True, true, but I also have to deal with 11-14 year olds 7 and a half hours a day 10 months out of the year. Want to trade?

On a completely different note....I want to get my hair cut. This is never easy for me. I want to keep it long, I want it to be easy to fix in the morning, oh, and I want it STRAIGHT! I want it long so I can put it back, and I like to sleep so I need something quick to fix. And I am not to happy with my curls....AT ALL. I got a straight perm one time and the lady that did it said she had never seen it not take.....till me. I have tried to embrace my curls and have gone curly the past couple of weeks. I hate it. So I have to do something. Maybe a wig?

Praying for Bennett

I know most people that read my blog will already know about little Bennett Speck and what he is going through, not to mention Travis and Kelli. I knew Travis when he was in high school and would lead singing where I went to church when his brother couldn't be there. It's a small world isn't it? I am so sure that our God, the only God will be faithful to us that I crocheted him a little hat tonight. I can't wait to see him wear it!

When there is nothing else to write about...

All of the phone numbers have fallen out of your address book. Whose number do you look for first and why?

OK, this kinda happened to me....twice. I don't know about you but I don't remember many phone numbers anymore. They are all in my cell phone. I remember numbers I had before I had one like my parent's and my sister's phone numbers. The first time it happened my screen dies on my cell phone. The phone worked but I couldn't see any numbers on the screen. When I got my new phone I was able to transfer some of the numbers but not all of them. The next time was about a month later when my cell phone was stolen (there are times I hate teaching in a middle school.) There was no recovering them this time. I got a cheap little phone and had few numbers in it. I did write down some of the numbers before, but not the majority of them. So, which ones did I not write down that I missed the most? That would be a friend of mine in Texas that I hadn't talked to in a couple of weeks and it was my turn to call. What was I going to do? Then I had a stroke of genius (yes me) and I scrounged up an old phone bill. They have all the numbers you called and that called you listed and the city it is registered in. I found lots of numbers that way! This time I did write them down though :)!
What number would you look for first?

UFOs

How many UnFinished Objects do you have? I just added to my list today by cutting out a bunch of tote bags and part of a shower gift. If I count those.... let's see that's 6 plus...... 1 quilted wall hanging, 1 burp cloth, 6 crochet afghans, 2 crochet scarves, 1 knit scarf, 2 large cross-stitch projects, 1 small cross-stitch project, 1 large painted tub (pictured), 2 large blankets.....I am sure I am forgetting about 10 other projects. And that isn't even counting materials I have for projects I haven't started! Thing is some of these projects don't lack much being finished. Take for instance the wall quilt just needs to have the binding put on it. The burp cloth would be done in 30 minutes if I would just sit down and do it. The small cross-stitch I could finish in a day, the painted tub might take 2 days to allow for drying time, but not many of my UFOs would take a long time to finish. All that to say... I would like to propose a UFO weekend, well more like a UFO Saturday. Reserve the room next to the kitchen, the room across from that room, and the kitchen at Fairfax, set up tables, chairs, ironing boards, etc. and do nothing but work on projects that are already in the works. Scrapbook pages, painting projects, sewing projects, crochet projects, knitting projects, needlework projects... shall I go on? We could do donuts and juice for breakfast, bring a bag lunch and have dinner catered. We could even have a couple of babysitting shifts for those that need to bring their kids. Just throwing it around in my mind. I would like to hear what some of y'all think and if you think others would be interested.

My trip to The National Aquarium...the "fake" one

I live, what, 20 minutes from DC and today was the first day this summer I went downtown. Shayna and I decided to do something neither of us had done before and that was to go to the National Aquarium. Did you know there was one in DC. Yes, there is one in Baltimore but there is another one in DC. It is under the Commerce building or something like that....next to the Ronald Reagan building. First of all let me tell you that it is not free. It is $5 to get in. It was worth about 50 cents. I'm not kidding. Do you know what a Barking Tree Frog looks like? Well the picture and the exhibit below the picture...well look for yourself...
Call me crazy but those look like fish below. There were some pretty cool things there but not many. My favorite things were the fake exhibits. The highlight of my day was when a lady looked in awe of this one exhibit saying how cool it was and knocking on the glass to try to get the fake lizards coming out of fake eggs to move. Bless her heart!
There were some colorful fish....
But my favorite were the piranhas...This thing looked pretty cool too. It is a dragon something or other.

Oh, and when fish use too much eye liner (don't they know they're in the water?)

And Shayna's favorite, the turtle (you can even see part of Shayna in the glass.)



So now I can say I've been there. There are actually a lot of places I haven't been downtown. Where haven't you gone and what's your excuse?

A meeting that was actually worth my time!

Don't you just hate most meetings? Most are meetings for meeting sake. There is no point and rarely does anything really get settled. I had a meeting today that was from 8:00 to 3:30 for new department chairs in the county. To my amazement it was actually helpful and informative. My favorite part...How and when to hold a meeting. I guess since they are telling us how to they had better do it right. I wish all my meetings were like that. I really wasn't bored once today. I am however a bit overwhelmed. During the meeting today I thought to myself, I can handle this.... Then I remembered that I also teach 5 classes on top of my responsibilities of being department chair. Oh, and that I want to start my Masters program in the Spring. Oh, and I do want a life. AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! At least I know how to have a great meeting!

Another great random question

When you hesitate before hitting snooze on your alarm clock, are you being lazy?

If you don't know where I am coming up with these questions they are in the user profile. I thought this one was especially appropriate for me. I am the Snooze Queen. Let's see this morning I hit it 6 times. Yes, 6 times multiplied by 9 minutes each time is almost an hour. And I do sometimes hesitate before hitting snooze. I have to muster up the energy to move my arm to turn it off! Sometimes my arm is asleep and won't actually move. I have tried sitting my alarm clock across the room so I would have to get up to hit snooze. That didn't work. I just ended up turning it off and going back to bed. No, I opt for the set my alarm to wake me up WAY before I need up option. I guess my last hour of sleep isn't really restful, but it is something I have learned to cope with. I also do math in the morning. You know, figure out just exactly the latest I can stay in bed and still make it to where I have to be on time. The only time my alarm doesn't work is when I incorporate it in a dream. It usually ends up being a phone ringing and when I hit snooze I am answering it in my dream. It is those times I wake up late and about have a heart attack, flying out of bed and getting ready in record time. Which always makes me refine my math the next morning because I CAN get ready pretty quick if I need to :). What are your alarm clock habits?
Don't you find yourself wondering what the next random question will be?

Not allowed to work!

We were told last week that we aren't going to be allowed to our classrooms till the 23rd so I can't really go to work and get things done I wanted to. Normal people would be happy about this. I, however, am trying to get around it. I have so much stuff to do! I think I can do most of it in the office which I am allowed to be in.....but still! I guess I'll HAVE to go to Splashdown more this week than normal. And I'll HAVE to sew some. Life's rough. I'm sure I'll get over it though :)

The Random Question is...

What is the best time you ever had licking stamps? Who comes up with these questions? First of all, I don't think kids today would believe we ever licked stamps. (Why didn't I invent the self-adhesive stamp? What genius!) The sad thing is I can actually answer this random question! Who remembers Green Stamps? We had a White Stores grocery where I grew up and my mom collected Green Stamps. It was my job to lick them and put them in the little book. Mom, correct me if I am wrong on this, but I think what you did was turn the book in for different things. Things that have long since been put in a yard sale I am sure, but that wasn't the point of Green Stamps I don't think. I think the point was to keep me quiet and out of the way while my mom put up the groceries! Same as the Publisher's Clearing House envelope was "my mail" and gave me something to do while mom paid the bills. I licked those stamps too. I even got to pick which car I wanted if we won. (I always picked the black Jaguar but sadly never won it.) So maybe this random question wasn't so crazy anyway. Took me back for a little while. What about you?

The one day.....

Uggghhh! The one day this week I go to Splashdown....it storms! Really now. I only got to stay for 3 hours. I only got in the Lazy river one time, granted that was for over an hour, but still. I know, I know, we need the rain.

Football pre-season is starting up. I am so excited. My Colts play Dallas tonight. I may not be able to talk to the Sergios during the game :) It is time to start listening to ESPN radio in the mornings again. I love my baseball but they are so boring when they talk about it. I had much rather just watch the game.

Tonight I am going to try cooking something new. I don't even know what it is called. I am making it up. I'll let you know how it turns out and if it is any good I'll share the recipe...if I can remember what I do.

This post has been all over the place! Oh well. Oh, and Katherine, you are welcome to come drool over my new machine. I am still drooling myself!

100 degrees...that's nothin'!

I know it has been a while since I last posted. I was in Tennessee for a couple of weeks visiting. I am back and trying to get ready for the beginning of school. Today I went in and counted uniforms. That was the most boring thing I have done in a while!

I heard that today is supposed to be the hottest day of the year. It is already 100. I remember in Saudi Arabia it being 137 degrees. I will have to admit there wasn't much humidity but still, 137 degrees is hot. I just have to thank God that he created the person that invented the air conditioner :).

I think I am actually going to get some sewing done today. I got a new machine a couple of weeks ago. It is a Pfaff 2170. I haven't tried the embroidery part yet. I will have to do some reading first. I want to take the classes on my machine but because I didn't buy it there I have to pay $400 for them! I think I will wait on that. I consider myself relatively intelligent so I am going to see how far I can get by reading the directions first.