Paul has been gone for a week and a half. And, of course, during that time, everyone decides to get sick. Sophia ran a fever last Wed. at daycare so I had to leave early to pick her up. It turned out that she had an ear infection, and so I had to stay home with her the next two days. She got over that pretty quick and then I started catching a cold. Then Thomas started catching a cold and had a small fever on Tuesday. I took him to the doc and no ear infection or anything. Well, this evening he became feverish, lethargic and unlike himself. So, now I have to take tomorrow off. It's basically the last day of school before break (Fri is a half day with fun stuff planned) and I had tests planned that I will now have to cancel.
I hate missing work and I've never missed 3 1/2 days in a matter of one week before! My kids definitely come first, but my students rely on me and ultimately their grades are in the balance. So, it's hard for me to be absent! And, it sucks that we don't have any relatives around here that could watch the kids for a day if they were sick so I could go to work. I give many, many kudos to single Moms who are doing all this stuff by themselves on a regular basis. I'm completely exhausted, out of energy and just plain worn out from these past 2 weeks. I only have a day and a half to go . . .
12.17.2008
12.08.2008
12.07.2008
BB King
Paul and I went to see BB King at the Houston House of Blues on Nov. 19. It was awesome - he is so incredible and is still touring at 83 years old!!! We've seen him 3 times now and each has been an awesome show. I took some video that I"ll share here. It is him playing the song 'I need you so bad' (not sure if that is the actual title), which is one of my favorite songs. It is one of my regrets that I didn't choose it as our wedding song. I had another I wanted to share, but it was uploading. I'll do this for now and see if I can get the other one to work. Sorry if the video is not complete professional quality - due to my vertical impairments, I had to hold the camera up kinda high. Anyway, enjoy!
12.01.2008
The Christmas Tree
The Christmas Spirit has found our house and it is moving in with full force! We went on Saturday to find our Christmas tree - not just pick it out of a lot, but to actually wander amongst neatly sowed rows of pines and pick the most fabulous tree we could find. It was cold for Texas - Paul was wearing shorts and nearly shivering, Thomas was crying because he was afraid of the tractor and Sophia wandered into the trees to end up with sap covered hands rolled in dirt and pine needles. Yay for the Christmas Spirit!! But, damnit, we were going to have FUN!!!
We found the perfect tree, which didn't really seem that big compared to all the other ones surrounding it. So, Paul sawed the trunk and I gave it the final push over after photo documenting the whole wonderful experience. The people shook it out, wrapped it up, helped us load it up and then we were off. After a few miles we had to pull over due to strange noises coming from above which turned out to be the tree slowly slipping off the top. The teenager who tied it on did a crappy job. We retied it, loaded up on some caffeine from Starbucks and headed home.
We brought the tree in, unwrapped it and it almost blew the windows out of our living room like Christmas vacation it was so big!! It is 9 feet tall and VERY wide!! Paul actually could not quite reach the top with a step stool to cut the wrapping all the way off. Paul is 6'6" tall - a sign that the tree is clearly too big. It looked so small out there in the forest . . .
Because the tree is so big we had to rearrange all our furniture, and it's all shifted slightly to the left so that all seats can see the TV. We put it in a stand that seems a little small for the size of the tree, but we had no idea that there are different size tree stands. I guess you live and learn. The trunk is very crooked and at one point nearly splits in 2, so it took five tries of anchoring it in the stand before it looked like it was fairly stable in all directions. Who knows. I am just waiting for the cat the take a drink and the whole thing to come tumbling down.
We are having lots of family come for Christmas, and so this tree will easily nestle all the gifts that will come, and it will spread all the Christmas cheer we can stand. It will be beautiful, if not a bit too big, and provide a lesson in just how big a tree we should consider in the future. But, it's environmentally friendly and smells good. I just hope there's not a squirrel in there somewhere . . .
We found the perfect tree, which didn't really seem that big compared to all the other ones surrounding it. So, Paul sawed the trunk and I gave it the final push over after photo documenting the whole wonderful experience. The people shook it out, wrapped it up, helped us load it up and then we were off. After a few miles we had to pull over due to strange noises coming from above which turned out to be the tree slowly slipping off the top. The teenager who tied it on did a crappy job. We retied it, loaded up on some caffeine from Starbucks and headed home.
We brought the tree in, unwrapped it and it almost blew the windows out of our living room like Christmas vacation it was so big!! It is 9 feet tall and VERY wide!! Paul actually could not quite reach the top with a step stool to cut the wrapping all the way off. Paul is 6'6" tall - a sign that the tree is clearly too big. It looked so small out there in the forest . . .
Because the tree is so big we had to rearrange all our furniture, and it's all shifted slightly to the left so that all seats can see the TV. We put it in a stand that seems a little small for the size of the tree, but we had no idea that there are different size tree stands. I guess you live and learn. The trunk is very crooked and at one point nearly splits in 2, so it took five tries of anchoring it in the stand before it looked like it was fairly stable in all directions. Who knows. I am just waiting for the cat the take a drink and the whole thing to come tumbling down.
We are having lots of family come for Christmas, and so this tree will easily nestle all the gifts that will come, and it will spread all the Christmas cheer we can stand. It will be beautiful, if not a bit too big, and provide a lesson in just how big a tree we should consider in the future. But, it's environmentally friendly and smells good. I just hope there's not a squirrel in there somewhere . . .
11.16.2008
Teaching
I teach high school. It is the most wonderful job in the world as well as one of the most underpaid jobs in the world. It's really hard to describe what my days are like as a teacher, but I thought I'd share some highlights from the past 5 years of my life as a teacher. Most of those years have been spent teaching at-risk students in 2 different states.
I don't think most people have an idea of what it's really like to be a high school teacher. We've all been to high school, but it's usually such a miserable experience that we all forget about it very quickly. Plus, no one is really in their right mind in high school, so once you've straightened yourself out, you lose all sense of what that time in your life was really like. So, it's easy to forget. Plus, a teacher sees alot more than one student experiences.
Teaching is not a dull job. Here are a few of the stand-out situations in my 5 years of teaching. I had a girl come to me with a problem about her 'girl parts' that ended up being herpes (9th grader at the only 'rich' school I ever taught at). I've had to comfort a girl because her mother was having sex with her boyfriend. I had a gang member explain where he could buy any gun you could imagine a few blocks from our school, but then didn't know what an i-pod was. I've had many pregnant girls, and even a few who confided in me that they were considering an abortion. I had a student experience a miscarriage of twins. I had one young man who lost his mother in a terrible battle against breast cancer. I've had students who are in alcoholics or narcotics anonymous as well as students who had abusive, alcoholic or drug addicted parents. I've had a student who was told by another teacher that he would never graduate and just end up in jail - he proved that teacher very wrong.
This biggest challenge for me is to explain to these students why some stupid standardized test is important when they are dealing with these kinds of situations at home. But, law makers keep telling us that these wonderful tests are extremely important and the only way to gague learning (whole other post there . . .). So, I struggle and do my best.
I am more than a teacher to many of my students. For some, I am one of the only stable role models they have (as well as their other teachers). I am a counselor as well as a teacher. This is what I was meant to do. I always thought I was supposed to be a paleontologist, but I was wrong. I fiercely love my job, and could not imagine another job making me happier. It stresses me out, it makes me grind my teeth, it saddens me, it stretches me, but there is no greater joy than seeing my students proud and excited about their success.
I'll be bringing more stories as I remember them or they come up. If you want to know about anything, just let me know!
I don't think most people have an idea of what it's really like to be a high school teacher. We've all been to high school, but it's usually such a miserable experience that we all forget about it very quickly. Plus, no one is really in their right mind in high school, so once you've straightened yourself out, you lose all sense of what that time in your life was really like. So, it's easy to forget. Plus, a teacher sees alot more than one student experiences.
Teaching is not a dull job. Here are a few of the stand-out situations in my 5 years of teaching. I had a girl come to me with a problem about her 'girl parts' that ended up being herpes (9th grader at the only 'rich' school I ever taught at). I've had to comfort a girl because her mother was having sex with her boyfriend. I had a gang member explain where he could buy any gun you could imagine a few blocks from our school, but then didn't know what an i-pod was. I've had many pregnant girls, and even a few who confided in me that they were considering an abortion. I had a student experience a miscarriage of twins. I had one young man who lost his mother in a terrible battle against breast cancer. I've had students who are in alcoholics or narcotics anonymous as well as students who had abusive, alcoholic or drug addicted parents. I've had a student who was told by another teacher that he would never graduate and just end up in jail - he proved that teacher very wrong.
This biggest challenge for me is to explain to these students why some stupid standardized test is important when they are dealing with these kinds of situations at home. But, law makers keep telling us that these wonderful tests are extremely important and the only way to gague learning (whole other post there . . .). So, I struggle and do my best.
I am more than a teacher to many of my students. For some, I am one of the only stable role models they have (as well as their other teachers). I am a counselor as well as a teacher. This is what I was meant to do. I always thought I was supposed to be a paleontologist, but I was wrong. I fiercely love my job, and could not imagine another job making me happier. It stresses me out, it makes me grind my teeth, it saddens me, it stretches me, but there is no greater joy than seeing my students proud and excited about their success.
I'll be bringing more stories as I remember them or they come up. If you want to know about anything, just let me know!
11.14.2008
Hi Everyone!
People have been bugging (encouraging . . .) me to post a blog, and I keep hearing about everyone else's blog. I'm starting to feel left out. So, here goes. I guess I'll just dive in and do it. With that, I'll just give you a little background about me.
I've been married for 5 1/2 years, and my fabulous husband and I have been together for a total of 9 years. We have 2 kids, 2 cats, 2 cars and a house. We live thousands of miles away from our families and are trying to do the best we can.
I"m a teacher. This is an all-consuming job. It is my calling - what I was meant to do on this Earth besides being a Mother to my children. It is fun and crazy and heart-breaking and motivating all at the same time. It is difficult to be a teacher and mom and wife all at the same time, but I do it because it is what I was meant to do.
This is my story. This is my life. It is busy and intense and exhilarating all at the same time. I hope it is interesting. Either way, it's my life. And, I'm sticking to it. :-)
I've been married for 5 1/2 years, and my fabulous husband and I have been together for a total of 9 years. We have 2 kids, 2 cats, 2 cars and a house. We live thousands of miles away from our families and are trying to do the best we can.
I"m a teacher. This is an all-consuming job. It is my calling - what I was meant to do on this Earth besides being a Mother to my children. It is fun and crazy and heart-breaking and motivating all at the same time. It is difficult to be a teacher and mom and wife all at the same time, but I do it because it is what I was meant to do.
This is my story. This is my life. It is busy and intense and exhilarating all at the same time. I hope it is interesting. Either way, it's my life. And, I'm sticking to it. :-)
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