I've Been Lax

Yes, I know that I haven't posted in a while..... Things have been busy with school, work, and the fact that it was my birthday on the 23rd and everyone wanted to see me but I didn't have the time!!!!!! Perhaps I post something tomorrow.

Unlucky Arithmetic: Thirteen Ways to Raise a Nonreader

1. NEVER READ where your children can see you.

2. PUT A TV OR COMPUTER in every room. Don't neglect the bedrooms and kitchen.

3. CORRECT YOUR CHILD every time she mispronounces a word.

4. SCHEDULE ACTIVITIES every day after school so your child will never be bored.

5. Once your child can read independently, THROW OUT THE PICTURE BOOKS. They're for babies.

6. DON'T PLAY board games together. Too dull.

7. Give little REWARDS for reading. STICKERS and plastic toys are nice. MONEY is even better.

8. Don't expect your children to enjoy reading. Kids' books are for TEACHING vocabulary, proper study habits, and good MORALS.

9. Buy only 40-WATT BULBS for your lamps.

10. Under NO circumstances read your child the same book OVER AND OVER. She heard it once, she should remember it.

11. Never allow your child to listen to BOOKS ON TAPE; that's CHEATING.

12. Make sure your kids only read books that are "challenging." EASY books are a complete WASTE OF TIME. That goes double for comic books and Mad magazine.

13. Absolutely, positively NO READING IN BED.


Written by Dean Schneider and Robin Smith. Taken from The Horn Book (www.hbook.com)



We read this snippet in class (Literature for Children) yesterday. The moral is two-fold:
If you don't READ the title, you may get the wrong information from this list and, secondly, READING--in any form--is important!!!

Not Much Goin' On

Here I am, posting, when I have nothing of interest to write about. I allow myself few minutes at the end of the day to check my e-mail and blog site -- it's like a treat. :) I've had a long day (started class today) and it's nice to sit down and not do too much of anything. It doesn't last long though. I'm about to go pick out an outfit for tomorrow, write a note to Pete (I only see him in the mornings), scoop the litter, take my shower, and hit the hay. Hopefully my tired little head will be on that pillow by 8:50 or so. Here's hoping for a good day tomorrow!

It's a moon thing

I was just helping Beaksterbeak (A.K.A. Roxy) with her newest blog and since I was in my own blog (helping via phone), I figured I might as well publish something tonight....

Here's a scientific study that you might like to read about (I'm the scientist):

Full moons make second grade students NUTS! When there's no full moon, they are much calmer. The study also goes on to say that when the second graders are nuts, their teacher feels very frazzled.

Please look at the calendar. Do you see a moon under today's date? Guess what??? It's a FULL MOON! So that means I'm:

A. Lovin' life
B. Frazzled and ready for bed
C. Excited for my day tomorrow
D. Wishing I was on summer vacation again



If you said B and D, you are CORRECT!!!! (Good thing today was payday!)

A School Day Vignette

A large sigh............. Gotta love those kids, right? Here's a good one:

Earlier today I was talking to my kids (about what, I can't remember) and mentioned Mr. H.......... (name deleted for anonymity). One of my kids asked, "Who's Mr. H..........?" and, before answering, I asked the same question to the group (everyone was on the floor; I had just read a story): "Does anyone know who Mr. H.......... could be?" One child answered, "Your husband." "Very good," I replied. Then, one of my more outspoken kids shouted out, "I bet he looks like you!" Well, I must have had a quizzical look upon my face and was about to answer, "Well no..." but this kid beat me to the punch. "He looks like you 'cause you have a boy's haircut and it's like a man." Oh boy. I was shocked and peeved all at once. I just sat there and stared at him for a few seconds before I told him he was very rude. Can you believe that? Out of the mouths of babes doesn't apply here--that was downright rude. I've gotta work with him and his manners. (There have been other incidents before this one: last week he untied a decorative bow at the bottom of my shirt while I was standing there talking to him. Again, I was shocked and said that I couldn't believe he had done that, touched my shirt, etc. He looked genuinely sorry and mumbled something about his brain and hands not talking to each other. Geesh.)

Kids.......

Labor Day Weekend

As always, the weekend has come to a close. No matter how many days I have off, they always seem to fly by. Not that I'm complaining though--my kids have been great and I'm looking forward to going back tomorrow. A four day week will be nice too!

My weekend. Let's see.... Friday when I got home Pete and I drove to the Chevy store to pick up his car (he's been having tranny trouble). It took us almost an hour and a half from start to finish as there was a lot of traffic (it didn't help that we left at 4:30 either).

Saturday was supposed to be a terrible day. Lots of wind and rain were predicted but hardly any came. My parents drove out to see us. After visiting for a little while, we all drove to Manchester (I drove Pop's car with Mom, Pop went with Pete in the truck--my parents were leaving from Manchester to go home instead of driving back to our house). We all went to eat at Hops (yummy!!!) and then Mom and I went to JoAnn Fabrics while Pop and Pete drooled in Circuit City. Mom was going to make me some new living room curtains for my birthday until we figured out that it would actually be cheaper to buy them! I need 8 yards of fabric and it was running anywhere from $8.00 to $25.00 a yard! We'd also have to buy 8 yards of liner fabric, pleater tape, etc. Way too much $$$! I think I'm just going to dry clean my current ones. (Cat hair city!) After JoAnn's we went to Cape Cod Crafters and then to Christmas Tree Shop. It was very crowded but we picked up some great stuff (got a $15.00 tent like cat carrier for the truck). Saturday evening we took it easy.

Sunday: After church, Pete and I drove up to the Yankee Candle Flagship Store in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. It took us about an hour and a half to get there; it rained the whole way. Pete and I spent several hours in there checking everything out and smelling countless candles. Of course, we picked up some samplers for ourselves and some of the large jar candles to give out as presents. At the register, we got a $15.00 gas coupon (whoa!) so, of course, we topped of the tank (gas anywhere is cheaper than CT!). While Pete was filling up, I thought that maybe we could check out a little country store in Vermont that I had seen in a pamphlet in Yankee Candle. Seeing as it was only 1:30 and pouring rain (what were we going to do at home anyway?), we decided to drive up there. After driving an hour North of South Deerfield (which, remember, is an hour and a half away from home), we made it to The Vermont Country Store in Rockingham, Vermont. What a great place!!! We browsed for about an hour. We finally picked up some stuff to eat (I hadn't eaten lunch yet--only had a scone with Pete at Yankee Candle). I purchased a block of horseradish cheddar cheese (for later), some cubed Cabot cheddar, little wine crackers (on the sweet side--they're like little pretzle stubs only white. Dee-licious!), and some salted, smoked herring. Pete also got a root beer, honey sticks, and a generous hunk of chocolate-peanutbutter fudge. We ate the cheddar cheese, crackers, and fish in the truck before heading home. Pete didn't eat very much of the fish. Man, was it salty! It tasted great with the crackers and cheese. Afterward, my mouth and tongue felt like they had shrunk about 2 inches! We left the Country Store at 3:30 and pulled into Pete's mother's house at almost 6:00 (she was on the way home and I was dying of thirst). We visited for a little while and were home by 7:30. Pete and I both slept like rocks last night!!

Today (Labor Day): Not too much going on today. I went grocery shopping this morning, did 2 loads of laundry, helped Pete wash 3 windows, made a casserole, took a walk with Pete, and ate the casserole (lots of cheese, eggs, bread, and butter--almost like a souffle), and..... here I am. I'm about to go upstairs and figure out what to wear for tomorrow.

Well, that's it. There's my weekend in a nutshell. Let's hope my week at school is just as exciting but uneventful. I've got a GREAT group of kids. I told them on Friday that they're one of my best classes yet. I hope I didn't count my chickens before they hatch though. I'd hate to ruin such a good thing!

I hope everyone who reads this blog had a great weekend too!

Until next time.... :)

Not too much goin' on (or is there?)

Although it might be interesting to some, I am not going to do a day by day recap of school stuff here on my blog. Oh, there's always something interesting happening at school, whether it's the kids or adults. OK, OK, here's something juicy: I heard that one of our special ed teachers has "come out." Not that that's a bad thing--to each their own--but it's yucky when the teacher MAKES OUT with her instructional assistant (teacher's aide) in the classroom! Yuck!!! There's no kids in the room while they're doing this, but still! They're on duty; they're teachers in a SCHOOL!! There's ALWAYS something interesting going on; gotta love our public schools!

First Day of School

The first day of school has come and gone. It really wasn't all that bad. I have a relatively well-behaved bunch. I have two who are quite the chatterboxes but I'll work on that. I had 2 1/2 of my kids not show up today. One kid (the 1/2) came at lunchtime because (and I just KNEW this would happen!) his mom didn't realize today was the first day of school until some rather large yellow objects drove by her house. I don't know what happened to the other two kids--my attendance program just shows them as having unexcused absences. Oh well. We'll see if they come tomorrow.....

I think I'm going to have a pretty good year. :) The first day is always rough though--we were all so tired come 3:15! When I was finally able to leave, it was just about 4:00. After leaving the house at 6:30 this morning, I was ready to come home.

Until tomorrow! :)

School Starts Tomorrow!!

Well, I've resigned myself to the fact that summer is now over. I've bought some new clothes (no new shoes, but I'll deal), had my hair cut, bought some new makeup, got my classroom ready, put the parking pass on my rearview mirror, and made out the class lists. Tomorrow is the day! I've got 22 students (maybe a 23rd; they randomly show up to register later in the day because, and I quote, "We saw the schoolbus drive by--has school started?" Eeek. The stupidity.) Anyway, I have 4 special ed. students, 4 or 5 ESL students (one of which is also special ed.), and a few students who don't talk much (one didn't start speaking until last year). The thing that gets me is that I have to fit time in my schedule (which has NO extra time) for 10 hours of special ed support (out of classroom), 2.5 hours of in class support (special ed), 160 minutes of speech (combined for 3 kids), ESL support three times a week--half hour each time, and SPANISH support!!!! That really frosted my cupcake. What country do we live in??? Speak the language at home and LEARN ENGLISH IN SCHOOL!!!! It's only 30 minutes once a week, but still! I have to have these kids (the ESL ones) pulled 5 minutes early from the end of my math lesson, 20 minutes from silent reading, and 5 mintues from the beginning of my science lesson (when directions are given) every Wednesday for the entire school year!!! I don't like that ESL teacher either. She's got a bad case of Puerto Rican pride (although I don't think that is what country she's from -- it's one of those in your face "pride in my culture" Spanish countries down in hurricane land). I am professional with her--don't worry about that. One major problem is is that I have her granddaughter in my class this year!! She's already been in my face ("It's my culture" yada yada yada....). I'm a Yankee, ever think about that??? Leave me the hell alone!

Oh Sarah, enough already. (It does feel good to vent though! Yet another reason to NEVER let ANYONE associated with work get ahold of my blog address!!!) Well then, with all that said, I think I'm going to go relax. I'll write back one of these days about how things are going in my classroom.

Adios! (Ooops! Sorry! It should have been: GOOD BYE!!!)

So Tired...........

School starts in a mere 38 hours. Oh the pain, the agony! Eh, who am I kidding? It's really not going to be that bad. I'm just really tired as I spent yet another day getting my room ready. Today was, however, my first official day of work--by contract we had to come in today. Tomorrow it's the same deal. Every single day last week my poor butt was in my room getting it ready for the kidd-o's. After all of the meetings today *snore* I was back at it. I made myself leave at 5:00 so I could come home. And, since finishing supper, guess what I've been doing? Yup, more school work!!! Geesh. At least my room is very organized this year. It's only taken me 8 school years to get this organized. Live and learn, right? One feat, that I am determined to finish by Wednesday morning, is leveling ALL of my books in my classroom library, put them in corresponding containers, AND stick a little sticker on the back of each book that indicates which book box it belongs in. For starters, I have over 5,000 books in my room. Second, they were a mess from last year. Third, I have to arrange them all (by level--easiest to hardest) and stick these &^%*& stickers on them. I must be punishing myself! I also have about 1,000 non-fiction books (not leveled) that I have in containers: bugs & animals, non-fiction (general), and dinosaurs. Once I am done, there will be NO mistaking what book belongs where. If one of my kids even thinks about putting a Horrible Harry book in the dinosaur book box, poor 'ol Mrs. H. is going to flip her lid!!!

Ah, Ah, Achoo!

Yup, you guessed it: I caught Pete's cold. Lovely. It's not a terribly bad one--I'm stuffed up and have a sinus headache. It's gotten worse since I've gotten home. Oh well. What can ya do?

Stay well everyone!

I'm A Slacker

Well, not really, but perhaps when it comes to this blog. Ideally, I'd like to post something everyday. Realistically, it's a different story. It's not that I have a lot going on but I'm busy. From Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon, Pete fought a cold. Yesterday, I spent quite a few hours "redding" up my classroom in preparation for the big day next Wednesday. I was there today and will be there tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday. I have a lot to do (all of our math curriculum supplies came in this afternoon and I now have 11 giant boxes in my room to unpack, organize, and put away). I'm not complaining -- I love working in my room and tidying it up. I'm actually going to bring in my tabletop fountain (the one you gave me Roxy!) for some soothing sounds this school year. Hopefully it works! :) Well, that's enough for now. I've got to do some stuff in Word so that it's ready to be laminated for tomorrow.

Adios!

Breathing a Sigh of Relief..... And Feeling a Sense of Accomplishment

Ahhhhhhhhhhh....... I'm done. 68 pages and about 35 stolen graphics later, I'm done.

I've taken it upon myself to create games, directions for, props, game boards, etc. for all 12 of my new math Topics. I have been at this since just after lunch today. I took a 45 minute break for supper and a 25 minute walk break. Other than that, I have been a slave to this computer. But...... it's all done and ready to be printed and sent through the laminator at work. Now, my question is, should I share it with my fellow teachers? I put A LOT into it. Maybe I'll share it with Heather........

Remind me to NEVER give this blog address out to ANY of my co-workers! This is going to be my place to complain and tell it like it is. If I have any of them reading then I can't speak my mind and what good is that?

I'm done with this computer for today. I'm reading the first book in the "Left Behind" series and I want to do some reading today. I picked up a copy for Dave as well and, since we're seeing them tomorrow, I want to have a little more read before I discuss it with him.

Chow!

Various Thoughts

I've been meaning to write in my blog a little more than I have in the last few days. It's just that I didn't know what to write. Nothing major or interesting is going on with my life (but I'm not complaining at all -- it just doesn't make for an interesting blog). But, then again, who cares if my blog is interesting? Do I write for myself or for others? Yep, I thought so: ME!! (You just happen to be reading my blog at the moment.)

Right now I'm sitting at my Apple computer sipping an Inko's White Tea (White Peach flavor). I LOVE this tea! As you may or may not know (hey, wait, I'm writing this for me, not you!) anyway, I eat (and drink and wash my hair with) organic stuff. Shaw's, my neighborhood grocery store, has an amazing organic section. All my meats and eggs are free range, cage free, and none of that hormone crap. I eat organic veggies and fruits, enjoy organic snacks, heck, even my coffee filters are organic and non-bleached! Pete, amazingly, goes along with it. My handsoap, shampoo, and conditioner is all organic too. I even bring my own canvas bag to the grocery store! Hooray for healthy and the ethical treatment of plants and animals!!!

Hmmmm...... what else? I am about to work on my new math curriculum. We're switching from MathLand (total CRAP!! I HATED that math program!) to Growing With Math. I am in the process of organizing it all. We have 12 "Topics" to teach, with 10-15 lessons in each "Topic." I have 12 books (one for each topic) with the needed lessons in it. For example, Topic One is "Reviewing Number and Time Concepts." I didn't like the box that all of the books came in so..... I bought 2 three inch binders to put everything in. Today, I took all the staples out of each of my 12 Topic books so that I could fit everything into the electric hole punch at school (defacing school property! Whatever will I do?!?) and put it all in binders (one binder for Topics 1 - 6 and the second for Topics 7 - 12). I also copied 200+ pages from the Black Line Master book to put into folders that correspond with each Topic. Hooray for organization and a bit of destruction on the side!!

I'm also in the process of making baby shower cards for Erika (she's due in March). I went to Michael's today and spent over an hour in the store slaving over choices and the look I was going for. I spent $35.00 on supplies. I started the cards before I ate supper and I don't like them!!! I think I'm going to have to find my new markers (packed away with all my school stuff) and add some more color on the front. Ugh. More work that I was planning on but they'll be pretty in the end. (Aren't I cocky?)

My feet stink (as usual) and I'm wearing my new St. Joe's shirt. (I think people think I'm in college when I wear it. Heh Heh Heh, I look 21, don't I??) I had leftovers for supper (and, still have some left!!). I'm listening to my very own playlist on iTunes (Pete would be proud!) and I'm still sipping my tea. I'm contemplating turning off the A/C and opening the windows again. I should have just stuck it out while it was humid for about 3 hours earlier. I think it's such a waste to have the thing run for the better part of the day just for it to blow out the windows because I have a bug to open up the house. What kind of naturalist am I, anyway? Yeah, I'm gonna go shut it off......

Moving on to school...... I got an A in my last class (that killer 6 credit one I took in 2 1/2 weeks)!!!!! I found out yesterday. Hooray! I'm very proud of my 4.0 average!!! Just 2 classes to go! I will be graduating on May 20, 2007 (hopefully magna cum laude!!!!). What does that mean anyway? Anna, do you know?

Oh boy, have I ever rambled on. For those of you who thought I had been slacking, I hope you've enjoyed and gotten your fill of the glasses wearing, freckle marked, green eyed, cat loving, tree hugging, teacher-type-person. Yep--that's me!!!

Yes, those are my feet. (Don't get too close -- they smell!)

Now, let the comments come!!

I Feel Blah....

I don't feel very well.... I have a headache and I'm very tired. I can't think of very much to write so I don't think I will.....

Lieberman: Ousted (Or So We Think....)

Yesterday was the Democratic primary in Connecticut. Yes, I am a Democrat (Pete is a Republican -- we won't go there). I voted for Ned Lamont (even have a lawn sign). Joe Lieberman, who's been our senator for 18 years, lost the Democratic nomination to run on the Dem's ticket this coming November. Now, most people would think that he'd give it up, heck, he lost, right? Nope. Joe has been quietly petitioning for the past 5 or so weeks to get the 7,500 needed signatures to switch parties. Yup. He's going to run as an Independent this coming November. I don't like that. Lieberman's not a bad guy, it's just that I don't like the flip flopping. I know Pete's going to vote for him (it's been said that Joe is the Republican's favorite Democrat. It would be only natural for Pete to vote for him seeing as the guy running on the Republican ticket is a putz). Gotta love politics, right?

Picture to Left: Ned Lamont
Picture to Right: Joe Lieberman

Mom Came to Visit!!

Last evening, Mom surprised me by asking if I'd like some company for today. Of course I said yes! Mom got here at 7:30 this morning and just left a few minutes ago. I showed her all of my pictures that I took during my time with Anna (it's a 10 minute slide show!) and then we went to Staples to hit them up for more pencil boxes. After Staples, we headed to Petco as we had some time to kill before the quilt shop in Simsbury opened. Mom got a few toys for Diana (crazy feral that she is). We then drove over to Sew Inspired. From there, we headed to Plainville -- Pete wanted to see the new car that my parents just bought. We met Pete at work, showed him the car, and then went to my most favorite restaurant in the world: Imperial Buffet. We had a few minutes at the house before meeting Roxy at a house here in town that she and Dave might be interested in buying. We were there for an hour and a half. The house was large but very dirty -- the current owners are kinda gross. Overall, the house was very nice. Mom headed out a few minutes ago as to beat the rush hour traffic in and around Hartford. Pete and I are going out there on Friday to celebrate Adam's birthday that was this past Sunday. Chow!

My Visit With Anna, Jerry, & Francesca

I had such a wonderful visit with Anna, Jerry, and my God-daughter Francesca! Here's a little run-down of some of the things we did:

Thursday: I arrived at BWI an hour late (no one quite knew why we were late). After a few fearful minutes, I found Anna, Jerry & Francesca (on the OTHER side of security! I can be such a dolt!!). They took me back to their house to unload all of my things. A little later on, we went for a ride to the mall (which had some really neat stores in it). We had dinner at Johnny Rocket's. Anna and I then stayed up late talking.

Friday: Both Anna and Jerry had to work. Anna was working a half day so I stayed home with Francesca (who's 6) during the morning hours. She and I colored, played Barbies (one of which got "eaten" by a T-Rex), and then created our very own paper dragon (I drew and cut, she colored and glued, and, oh yes, told me what to draw!). Anna arrived home at 1:30 and then the 3 of us went to the library (one of the best I've ever seen!). We picked Jerry up a little later on and they took me to an Amish Farmer's Market! I was in Heaven! We had dinner there and then checked out all of the Amish goodies (homemade jams, breads, cookies, whoopie pies, pretzels, quilts, furniture........). If I had been able to, I would have picked up some jam, a pie for my father, and about 3 dozen whoopie pies for myself. I did buy my mother a handmade (quilted) pot holder. The quilts, as beautiful as they were, were upwards of $700.00. Mom's little potholder was only $6.95. After the Amish market, we quickly went to Barnes & Noble so Francesca could pick up her free book and then we headed to a wonderful park right on the Chesapeake Bay. Anna and I stayed up talking again (we talked to 2:00 a.m.!!!).

Saturday: We went to Washington D.C.!! We drove to the Metro station (subway) in Bethesda MD and met up with Serena and Cris. We then took the Metro into D.C. We took the Metro right to the Mall. The above picture of the Washington Monument was taken right from where the subway station was (above ground of course!). We walked past the Washington Monument to the WW II Memorial (second picture). It was beautiful. This picture doesn't capture the entire monument. From there, we walked to the Viet Nam Memorial and then to the Lincoln Memorial (above). From there, we walked to the Korean War Memorial and then back toward the Washington Monument, headed to the Museum of American History (part of the Smithsonian). We saw Jim Henson's Muppets display (yes Dave, I took pictures. The Muppets we saw were the real deal!). After that, we hit up a few gift shops (I got Pete some of NASA's freeze dried ice cream) and then headed home. It had been quite hot out and we were all beat. That evening Anna made some kick-ass tacos and she and I went through her many CDs picking out which songs she wanted Pete to load onto her new MP3 player. We then went upstairs and talked well past 2:00 a.m.! There were some great discussions to be had! :)

Sunday: Jerry made scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes for breakfast. Mmmmmmmm...... Following breakfast, we went to Wal-Mart (had to scope out Francesca's Christmas present from Auntie) and then took a ride to see Francesca's school. After that, we went to a park quite near BWI so Francesca could ride her scooter. We took a nice walk and then headed to BWI. I had a 3:35 flight and wanted to get to the airport between 2:00-2:30. We hung out for a while before I went through security. Once going through security, I waved goodbye and was on my way. It was hard to say goodbye, especially to one of the sweetest 6 years I know. I arrived at Bradley right on time. Pete picked me up and surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I guess he really did miss me!

Anna~ I had a wonderful trip and cherish the time I spent with you. You and I had some heart to heart talks and spent some time just being girls again. I loved it!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I'll never stop loving you!!!

Today is the Day!

I'm going to be leaving in about 2 1/2 hours for the airport. I'll be arriving in Baltimore by 5:00 this evening. Hopefully it won't be as hot........

I will post again on Monday (with pictures from my trip).

Anna: I'm coming!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm So Excited!

Tomorrow I am going to see Anna!! I haven't started packing yet but that's on my To Do list for today. I've started gathering a few things and yesterday I made my list. I'm really looking forward to seeing her, Jerry, and Francesca again. I even get to spend some quality time with Francesca (just the 2 of us!) on Friday morning. She's the cutest thing and I'm sure we're going to have a good time together. I'm glad that the weather is going to cooperate this weekend. It looks as if it's going to be in the mid-80s. I'm really looking forward to going to D.C. with my 3 hosts. Thanks again Anna! I can't wait to see you!!

Well, that's it for now. I've gotta get ready for the day and water my plants. They seem OK but today is going to be even hotter than yesterday. It's on 7:10 but it's already nasty outside! It's been a long time since we've had heat like this. I don't mind though (I have A/C!).

Happy August!

Wow. I can't believe it. August is here. I go back to school THIS MONTH!! Ugh. I wait all year for summer vacation and it's over in a flash. Oh well.

It's been forcasted that today, tomorrow, and part of Thursday that we're going to have temps at and possibly over 100. Wow. I better go outside and water my plants soon so they don't get stressed during the day. I don't want to lose them.

I'll be leaving for Anna's in 2 days! I'm excited but a little nervous too. I haven't been on a plane in 9 years and I've never flown by myself before. At least it's a direct flight. I'd really be scared if I had to change flights! Anna: I can't wait to see you!!

Well, I should go get ready for the day. I've eaten but haven't done my hair or made the bed yet.

Stay cool everyone!

Our Kayaking Trip

Sunday was our long-awaited kayaking day. Pete and I have been planning a trip down the Farmington River for a few weeks now. On Saturday, we planned our route. We wanted to kayak the part of the river that was a little more low-key vs. the upper part of the river (which has some rapids). We decided to put-in in Farmington (off of Rt. 4 -- Wannowmasa Lane). We wanted to take out at "The Tree" on 185 (it's the largest tree in CT). Our route (including a lunch break) was going to take us 8 hours and was a hair under 13 miles.

We rented our kayaks from Main Stream Canoes and Kayaks in New Hartford. Geesh, were they expensive to rent! ($45 apiece!!) We were there at 9:00 sharp to pick them up. They had to be back no later than 6:00.

The beginning of our trip was OK. We got the kayaks into the water with no trouble. About 0.1 tenth of a mile into the trip, the river became extremely wide and had some really weird currents. The kayaks we rented were much bigger than the ones I was used to (Pete and I have both been kayaking in New Hampshire on several occasions). I could not steer my kayak for the life of me! I was going around in circles and could not aim it where I wanted to go (which was downstream). After about a half hour of figuring out how to work the things (they had rudders too which we decided, after a few painful minutes, that we weren't going to use), we were off. A little further down the river (about a mile or so), Pete saw some water to the left of us. Oh boy, that was bad. I remembered seeing in my book, "The Farmington River Guide," that the Pequabuck River started from the Farmington (on the right hand side), and and I, for about 10 painful minutes, thought we were now going down the Pequabuck toward Bristol!! Upon realizing that we were still on the Farmington, we proceeded. (I had stopped to look at my Guide and realized that we were OK.) After we passed the REAL Pequabuck, we were aware that we were coming up to an old dam. We had to stay to the left of the river as to get out and find a portage path. We could NOT go over the dam with our kayaks!! It was a small, broken down dam, but, nonetheless, it was a dam. We found the path and dragged both kayaks up, around, and then down the side of the dam (on land of course). We then continued on our merry way with no other incidents!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. There was a lot of paddling for us to do but there were also some times that we could stop paddling and just let the current take us. We were on the river for a LONG time but we enjoyed ourselves.

After we crossed under Route 44, Pete got out to swim. I had planned on it but decided against it. I didn't want to sit in a wet, silt filled bathing suit for another 3.3 miles. We were going to go for a swim when we reached the pull-out at "The Tree" but decided against it when we got there. The place was jammed with screaming kids, people who didn't speak English, and a car booming Latin music in the parking lot. We were absolutely beat and we didn't want to deal with all of that.

We had left Pete's car in the parking lot at 8:00 that morning. After we pulled the kayaks out, he took the car to go get the truck, thus leaving me with the kayaks. It took him about 40 minutes to drive to our put-in spot, get the truck, and come back to me. After sitting there, on top of the kayaks for that amount of time listening to booming Latin music, I was so glad when Pete returned with the truck. It took the rest of our energy to lift both of our kayaks up to put in the bed of the truck. After tying them down (they stuck out of the bed quite a bit), we were off -- headed back to Main Stream to return the kayaks.

Once the kayaks were returned, we quickly stopped home so Pete could put on dry sneakers. We then took the truck to Farmington to pick up the car. When all was said and done, we were home at about 6:45. What a long, yet very enjoyable day!

Next time we go kayaking, we are going to go up river, perhaps starting in Barkhamsted. We want some of the wilder water that the Farmington offers. We're also going to look into possibly purchasing some used kayaks -- $100 rental each time we go is a bit much!

I'll post some pictures after we finish off the camera (disposable) and get the pictures put on CD.

Stupid Political Phone Call

This is one of those things that I just have to put in my blog....

On Saturday I got a phone call from "Malloy for Governor." I picked up knowing full well that I was going to get some message about voting for him in the primary on August 8th. I WASN'T prepared for what I was about to hear:

Me: "Hello?"

Guy on phone campaining for Malloy: "Dan Malloy is running for governor."

Me: "Uh huh." (I alreay knew that)

Guy: "Uh, he's running against John DeStefano."

Me: "Uh huh." (Knew that too)

Guy: "Uh......uh, I don't know what else to say."

Me: "OK then! Bye!"


Can you believe that? That's one of the stupidest calls I've ever gotten. Dan Malloy is not going to get any votes with morons like that making calls to people!!

Hooray!!

I am DONE with all of my assignments for my summer class! Hooray! I mailed my packet of work to my professor this morning. My unit on recycling was 11 lessons and 55 pages long! I worked on it ALL DAY yesterday! It took 45 minutes to print the awful thing. (If anyone is interested in seeing it, I'll send you the files!)

Now, here's hoping for an A in the class. We'll see.........

My Day Today...

Ugh. I'm beat. I've literally been at my school work for over 6 hours (just about straight). My neck is getting tired and I'm starting to get antsy. I think it's time to call it quits for today and move on to bigger and better things (like watering my flowers and doing some hand trimming outside).
My Day:

5:30 a.m.: Alarm went off for Pete. He got up and hit the snooze button. Pete then decided to snuggle with me until the alarm went off again.

5:39: Pesky alarm again. Pete got up to shut it off and then came back to bed with me to snuggle for another 6 minutes.

5:45: Pete got up. I laid there for a few more minutes.

5:50: I'm up; a little bleary eyed but up nonetheless.

5:50-6:30: I got up, opened all the blinds, fed the cats, got dressed, went outside to get the paper, started the coffee, toasted 2 English muffins, and began to eat breakfast (after leaving Pete his daily banana, Vitamin C tablet, and a travel mug filled with blueberry coffee).

6:30: Pete leaves for work. I went outside to say goodbye and to wave as he drove off.

6:30-6:45: I finished breakfast and reading the paper. Clean up time.

6:45-7:20: Did my hair and made the bed.

7:20-7:40: Called mom (my morning ritual while on vacation)

7:40-7:50: Tidied up around the house. Kissed my kitties.

7:50-10:00: Went to Wal-Mart and picked up some stuff that I needed. I also bought my brother a ton of stuff for his birthday. He's a bachelor and about to get laid off ($ is tight). I bought him a bag of pretzels, toilet paper, bar soap, boxed mac & cheese, band aids, a 2-pack of Tidy Bowl (one for each toilet!), laundry soap, 2 boxes of tissues, a 4-pack of sugar free Red Bull (yuck!), a bottle of Febreeze (he needs it), 2 rolls of paper towels (the cheap ones), and a can of hash. After Wal-Mart I headed to Barnes and Noble (had to wait 10 minutes for them to open) and then to Shaw's for some mid-week groceries.

10:00-10:30: Came home and put everything away.

10:30-10:35: Called the kayak rental place down the road. He told me to call back on Saturday to make Sunday reservations. (Pete and I are going to kayak down the Farmington on Sunday. It's going to be about 12 miles on the river. I can't wait!! The weather looks great too!)

10:35-11:45: Worked on my assignment (a huge unit with 10+ lessons -- useless) for my summer class. I started to print a 214 page manual (The Connecticut Framework: K-12 Curricular Goals and Standards). I had to print it in 50 page incriments. While it was printing, I would grab bunches of the already-printed stuff, collate it, punch holes in it, and stick it in the new 3-ring binder I picked up at the Mart this morning. The printing took a real long time but my ink never ran out!!

11:45-12:30: Took a break for lunch. Watched the 12:00 news.

12:30-3:45: Continued to work on my assignment (ugh). Mom called somewhere in there so that was a nice break. Finished up my binder with the CT Framework.

3:45-4:10: Took a walk. I needed to get out.

4:10-4:55: Went back to work on my assignment (*&%$*!@ UNIT!!!)

4:55-5:20: Heated up my leftovers from lunch. Watched the 5:00 news.

5:20-6:20: Came back to work on my %$&*!@*! assignment. I think I'm about half done. What a waste of a day. I'm not even gonna use this crap in my classroom. Oh well.

6:20-6:40: Posting on my blog. Like you want to read this. Too bad. I'm in the typing mode.....

6:40-9:30: I'm gonna go back outside and do some trimming and watering. Then, I'm going to read. After that, shower time.

9:30: Pete will be home from work!!! Hooray!

10:00: Bed

Tomorrow: Repeat today. :(

My trip to Aunt Betty's

I had a very interesting weekend. It wasn't relaxing like I had hoped it would be but it was OK nontheless. Pete, his mom, and I went to visit his aunt and uncle (his mom's sister) in Danbury. They recently moved into a $600,000+ condo. On Saturday we visited and then went for a tour of Stamford and beyond. We went to some beach somewhere on the Sound (no swimming -- we were there for about 20 minutes). After driving for about 2 hours (during which I got car sick twice), we stopped at a really great pizza place called the "Colony." Pete's mom has been raving about that place for years. The pizza was great! My pizza was an anchovie pizza (dee-licious!!). The pizza's there have an extremely thin crust (crispy) and wonderful velvety sauce. It was soooooo good!

We slept over on Saturday and came home on Sunday. Here's a few pictures to share.

Performance Day!!

This is it -- my final dance day. Honestly, I'm glad it's just about over but I'm also excited to dance tonight in both performances. We've worked long and hard for this day. I'm excited that I've got 4 people coming to watch me too. Pete seems like he's really looking forward to it tonight which makes me feel good. I wonder what he's going to think when he sees the whole thing through. (He stopped by yesterday but we were only rehearsing bits and pieces of the show so he only saw the angels part and the opening.)

Pete took some pictures of us yesterday. They didn't come out very good because it was dark and we were moving. I posted them anyway. Enjoy!!

Dress Rehearsal Day!

Well, here it is: Dress Rehearsal Day (Dance Day #12). I knew the days would go by quickly. I feel so much better about my dancing now. I totally wanted to quit back on days 1 and 2! And now, here I am.

Our times are a little different today. Instead of a 9:00-5:00 day, we're to be there from 11:00-6:00 or 7:00 (not sure which yet). We've got an 11:00 start time tomorrow also. Our performances are at 4:00 and 6:00 tomorrow. Pete, Mom H., Roxy, and Dave are all coming for the 6:00 performance tomorrow.

Hopefully Pete will stop by today on his way back from getting a haircut in Hartford. I really would like him to come. I'm proud of what I've accomplished and learned and want to show off to him before the performance. I told him that he would probably never see me in this type of environment again. I wonder if he'll be surprised when he sees me. I know I've been showing him a lot of the dance moves at home but, under the bright lights and up on stage with everyone else, I'm sure it will look different.

It's very gray out right now with a temperature of 66 degrees. I guess we're in for some rain today, tomorrow, and Saturday. There's a tropical Storm (Beryl) out in the Atlantic right now. She's going to lovingly dump some rain on us. I don't mind though as the ground is beginning to get dry and I'm going to be indoors anyway.

Chloe's got a vet appointment at 10:00 today in Torrington. Pete is going to bring her as I need to leave between 9:45-10:00. I've got to make a quick stop at the post office so I can mail a box loaded with birthday present goodies to my very special God-daughter. I can't believe that on Monday she's going to be 6! Boy, does time fly!

Our 3rd Anniversary

Today is our third wedding anniversary. I can't believe that I've been married for 3 years already! Not that it's a bad thing -- I love Pete more today than ever -- it's just, looking back on the day, that time flies!

I am not really going to write a lot tonight. Pete surprised me by coming home 45 minutes early from work. He just finished changing and I'm going to go spend some time with him.

Until next time!

Tuesday's News

Today's News:
Hot, Hot Weather! It was in the upper-90s again today. I broke out into a sweat just while sitting outside eating my lunch. Sweltering.

Severe Thunderstorm Watch. Yup, with the hot weather usually comes thunderstorms. We're in a watch-box right now. There are some nasty cells heading toward us. I expect it to be raining and booming by the time I go to bed. I'll have to take my shower early. Those dark clouds are a-comin'!

Dancing Day #10. I've made it this far already!! Things are getting a little easier for me as we're just drilling the dance routines now. I'm not up for learning anything new; I've gotta keep all this in my head for three more days!!

Same Old, Same Old at the Homefront. Which is fine by me! I love coming home to my cozy (and cool!) house and my cats. I have been waiting up for Pete since I don't have to get up quite as early every morning. This place is my haven!

Well, that's all the news for now. There may be more but this reporter's gettin' tired and wants to get a glass of water and settle in (before the T-storms) with my book.

Dance Day #9

I can't believe that today is July 17th already. I've been out of school (work) for just about a month. Another 5 weeks or so and I'll be headin' back!

Today was our 9th day of dance. This week is it -- our dress rehersal is on Thursday and the performance is on Friday. Pete, Mom H., Roxy, and Dave are all coming to my performance. Mom and Pop would if they could but they're in Michigan right now and won't be home until Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Today went pretty well. We all went through the whole performance, stopping now and again to tweak things (I had to be tweaked once, I'll admit. I looked around while I was supposed to be standing deathly still. Oh well.). My back muscles are the problem -- man o' man are they sore! I've been keeping a tube of Ben Gay in my bag. Today I brought a box of IcyHot muscle patches too. This morning, after just 30 minutes of dancing, I slathered that minty smelling stuff all over my back! It helped for most of the day. Around 2:30. the pain returned! I put an IcyHot patch on at the end of the day -- still have it on now -- to ease the mighty pain coming from the muscles on both sides of my spine. I even have a muscle ache over my rib bones (the ones in your back -- yeah, there's muscles there!). My back itself is OK, it's just those darn muscles! I can hike up Talcott Mountain and not have a problem, but dance! Oh, that's a different story for my poor 28 year old body. My muscles just don't like moving the way I've been moving them. Jump, jump, knees to chin, clap, clap, turn, spin around, arms over head -- wave 'em too! -- jump, jump, spin around, clap, clap -- don't forget to smile! -- now switch and start with you left side! Jump, clap, swing, booty shake, jump, knees to chin, clap, clap, clap, breathing hard, collapsing to the floor. Ow!

Holy Hotness!

Oh boy -- today was a hot one! I didn't think it was that bad until Pete and I left his mother's house this evening (it was her birthday today!). After being in and out, in and out, in and out of the heat and the A/C, I felt quite sick to my stomach. All the way home, I was very uncomfortable. Pete, as kind as he is, just made me some Alkaseltzer to drink. I feel a little better. I don't think it helped eating a big meal at Ruby Tuesday and then having cake and ice cream. I swear I could feel the ice cream curdling in my stomach as we drove home.

The heat never really bothers me if I just stay out in it. What bothers me is the constant changes in temperature. Either I need to stay in where it's cool or I need to stay out where it's hot. No fluctuation between two extremes and I'm fine. 92 degrees isn't that bad. Tomorrow it's going to be 97 but I'm going to be trapped inside all day practicing my dance steps (or attemping to anyway). I really shouldn't complain though -- it IS July! :)

Heublein Tower (Talcott Mt.) Hike

Pete and I went hiking up beautiful Talcott Mountain in Simsbury this afternoon. It was a perfect day for a hike as it was warm but extremely overcast. We were excited to find the Tower open when we got to the top (it's usually closed). We were eager to go in as I've never been in and it's been years since Pete's been in the Heublein. From what we're to understand, the Tower was built in 1914 and was used as a hotel. President Eisenhower was a guest in the Tower. We were able to see the chair that he was sitting in when he accepted his party's invitation to run for president.

The hike up the Mountain was beautiful. Pete and I took some incredible pictures. On a clear day, the views are much more spectacular but, we were pleased with what we could see today. The landscape below had a blue hue to it due to the humidity. It was just wonderful to be so high up and to be able to see so much. On a crystal clear day, you can see not only a lot of the CT landscape but Long Island Sound, MA, NY, and RI from inside the "ballroom" at the top of the tower. We couldn't see that far today but we could see pretty far. It's estimated that from the 165-foot tower (which sits 1,000 feet above sea level) that over 1,200 square miles can be seen on a clear day. Wow. Our hike and visit to the Tower today was such a wonderful experience and great excercise too!

I don't like incompetence

My dance class has 2 aspects to it: dancing with Jacques and Kay from 9:00-4:00 hours and then class time with Susan from 4:00-5:00. What a waste the classtime is. Susan is a horrible professor! I don't feel as though the class is tying in with our dancing and where exactly does the "mulitple intelligences" part come in? Through the lessons she's having us create? And the way she wants us to write up our lesson plans is absolutely ridiculous! I am learning absolutely nothing in this class that I can take back to my own classroom. I'm going to do what she wants just to appease her and get the A that I'm after. In terms of using the unit I create in my classroom this coming year -- yeah right.

There's my rant for the day. Now I've got to do my homework. :(

Wednesday Morning

I've got a few minutes before I have to make my lunch and head out the door. I feel good -- a little sore in a few places (Ben Gay has been applied) -- and ready to go. I've got my dance/exercise clothes on: a purple spandexy tank top (not tight fitting but very close) and my 1/2 cotton 1/2 spandex short shorts. Those are the best for movement as I have to pretty much bring my knees to my chin. This type of clothing is actually very comfortable. I think that when Pete and I go hiking (just up Talcott Mt.) I'm going to wear this getup.

I guess we're in for another day of severe thunderstorms. We got rocked yesterday afternoon while we were at St. Joe's. The power blipped a couple of times and some alarms went off in the building. Other places in CT were without power for a while. I guess the driving during the storm was pretty trecherous too -- 15 cars were involved in 4 accidents on 91. Geesh! I hope that if it storms again today that we're safe within the confines of the auditorium and that it clears before I have to drive home (driving over Avon Mountain is no picnic even in clear weather!). It's cloudy out now but very humid. I'll definitely be shutting the computer down before I leave!

Wow! I can do it!

Well, I survived another dancing day. It's not so bad really (as I type with a clenched jaw). No, really. I think that I'm realigning some strands in my brain somewhere to be able to do this. Just my luck, tonight when I go to brush my teeth I won't remember how! It's funny how people can learn things that they swore they would never do or even know how to do. Anyone who knows me knows what a cluts I am. I've got 2 (no, make that 3) left feet. I'm Polish for goodness sakes!! I can't dance but..... wait..... maybe, just maybe, with a little practice and some TLC, I CAN! Our main instructor, Jacques (who's world renowned I might add), actually came up to me today and told me, in front of all 48 of us, how much I had improved. He gave me a little huggy squeezy type thing and then promptly told me that I was stepping on the wrong foot to do one of the dances I just did. Oh well. I was beaming anyway. It feels good to improve (ever so slightly in my case) and then be recognized for it. I wonder what I must look like up on stage anyway. I'd probably die if I knew.

So, the moral to my long rambling story is: try, try, try and try some more. I'm going to use this summer dancing experience as an example when I try to teach the concept of perserverence to my students this coming school year. I think they'll enjoy the stories that I'll have to share! :)

Another dance class done -- 9 to go!

Here I sit. Tired and and sore. I suppose I'm getting better at the whole dance thing -- maybe 5% better. It's some tough stuff! I pulled a muscle in my leg earlier today when we were doing the fall backward routine. I've since put some Ben Gay on it. It feels a lot better but the cats have been all over me! Chloe, after doing a bit of heavy-duty sniffing, let loose quite a bit of cat drool on my leg. After I cleaned that up, Hannah proceeded to get on me and actually lick my leg! I stopped her when I realized it but I think she got a little high off of it. It was some good whisker lickin' after that!

I've just got to keep my chin up. I know there is much more out there that I could be worried about. I'm young, I'm healthy, it's my summer vacation, and I've actually lost a little bit of weight! I will definitely be proud of myself when Pete watches me in the final performance next Friday (July 21st).

Sooooooo...... I've got to quit all my complaining and just be happy! :)

My thoughts

I haven't written in a few days; I've been kinda busy. All is going relatively well with my class. Friday was a much better day (although I'm still having a hard time dancing, I'm starting -- slowly -- to improve). It has been a rough 3 days but hopefully next week will be better.

Friday was also Pete's 30th birthday. It was pretty uneventful as I was at class most of the day. I've been bugging him for about a week now about turning 30. He's OK with it. Yesterday we had our annual summer picnic in honor of Pete's birthday. The weather couldn't have been better. Adam was here (he slept over Friday night) as well as Mom and Pop, Mrs. H. (Pete's mom), Roxy and Dave, and then Phil (he showed up later but came nonetheless). It was a very good day. Mrs. H. also gave me some dancing tips and she and Pete taught me how to keep time with music (which will greatly help me tomorrow as I have to clap along with the beat of a gospel song and I couldn't do it on Friday -- I seem to always be clapping when other people aren't).

This Morning: Pete and I went to the 8:00 mass and then to McDonald's for breakfast (I had already eaten but Pete had not. I got a bacon, egg, & cheese buiscuit -- it was grease central! I brushed my teeth immediately upon returning home!). Later Today: I'm going to be heading to Kohl's momentarily to buy some more shorts for my dance class. I can't wear jean shorts as I can't bend/move around good enough in them. After that, it's about 3 loads of laundry. Pete's going to glue our paver stones down on the front step. Later on, I'm going to do some written work for my class (ick!). Maybe later we can go for a nice walk somewhere. It's an absolutely beautiful day!

Dance Class

Well, here I am on the morning of Day #2 of my dance class (it's really a multiple intelligences class but, honestly, all were doing is dancing). Yesterday, we danced for about 5 hours, sang for a half hour, and drew the stage (yup) for another 30 minutes. We had a 45 minute lunch. At the end of the dance day (which is 9:00-4:00) we have class time from 4:00-5:00. Man was I beat on my drive home yesterday!!

The one bad thing about this course is that I can't dance. Believe me, I'm trying but it's very hard. The dance instructor guy (who's 70 and very lewd at times) is some bigshot from NYC. He's got some other dancers with him to help out. These dancers have pulled me aside (twice) for some one-on-one instruction. (Yep, I'm that bad.) After a bit of practice, I can get the dance step that they've taught but.... I can't do it all (there's a ton of dance steps we're doing) especially when he (Jacques, the dance guy) has us speed up. My legs and arms are all over the place and usually one entire dance move behind. It's pretty bad. At one point Jacques came right up to me and told me I didn't know the steps. I was embarassed and told him I was trying. The fact is, I DO know the steps, I just can't get my body to cooperate. So much for a "multiple" intelligences class. This class is just focusing on a narrow band of intelligences (such as spacial visual). My intelligence (I'm a naturalist!) has nothing to do with what we're doing! That's why it's so hard for me. Oh well. This is a 6 credit course which will be over on July 21st. I just have to do my best and try to have fun. I think part of my problem is that I'm stiffening up because I'm upset over how difficult it all is. I have to loosen up and just do my best. Ugh. Geesh, if only I had known what I was getting myself into! (When I signed up for this course I had NO IDEA that we'd be dancing all day!!) Let's hope today goes a little more smoothly than yesterday!

Happy 4th of July!

Blah!

OK -- I'm going to vent now..... I am sick and tired of working on my master's!!! I hate B.S.ing the professors just to get a good grade. For instance, I've got to have a "reflection journal" for my next class (which starts this Wednesday). I haven't touched the journal until about 10 minutes ago (in fact, I just went out and bought the journal an hour ago!). We're supposed to have read all 3 text books and have 4 journal entries AND post on Blackboard (with 5 responses) ALL FOR WEDNESDAY!! Here goes the B.S.ing part! I've written 2 journal entries so far, one dated 4-22-06 and the other dated 6-3-06 and I've written about how much I'm looking forward to the course (not true) and how much I am going to learn from it (yeah right). I actually am dreading the course (it's 13 days -- M-F, beginning on July 5 and ending on July 21 -- for 8 hours a day!! To make it even worse, it's a DANCE class! I don't dance, I CAN'T dance, and I don't like dancing!!) The sole reason that I am taking this course is because it's a 6 credit summer class. That's it! Blah I say. So, now that I've roped myself into it, I've got to do a lot of B.S.ing because I want an A. After this class, I've only got 2 more classes to go until graduation. I've made it this far with a 4.0 and I'm not going to mess that up now. So.... I'll do what I do best (as Pete says) and brown nose until the class is over. I'll do everything they want, when they want and, if that means making up stuff (like now) then, so be it. What else can I do? Say forget it and blow my A average? Not only that, it's costing me $3,400 to take this course!! Blah I say, blah!!!!

Front Step: Day 2

Well, with many thanks to my parents, our new front step has arrived! The picture is of Pete and Mom pouring some of the Quikrete into the wooden form. We used 12 bags of Quikrete! Most of the bags were 80 pounds apiece (poor Pete did all of the moving and lifting of them). We poured one bag at a time into each of the two wheelbarrows, added water, mixed, added more water, more mixing, and, when it was ready, dumped it into the "hole."

We're going to let the concrete set tonight and tomorrow. On Tuesday, we're going to place our paverstones on top. We should be able to glue them on Friday.

I'm not sure how Pete and I would have faired if it hadn't been for the hours of help my parents gave both yesterday and today. Both of them are a wealth of information and expertise!!

Front Step: Day 1

Today was the first day (out of two, hopefully!) of our demolition of the front step. It was very rotted and wobbly. My parents offered to help us with the project -- the above picture is of my father taking the sledge hammer to the step. And the bees, yes, they were killed (although not by me). There were over 100 of them!! We eventually found the queen and about 50 eggs deep down inside the step. Quite an ugly but sad sight. My father got stung twice.

Tomorrow we will pour the new step using Quikrete cement mix and apply the paver stones. We want to re-do our entire walk and stone wall in paver stones but, one project at a time. We hope to have the entire thing completed by the end of the summer.

Beautiful Friday (finally!!)

Well, the nice weather has returned (and so has Pete!). After we rest up a bit from our lunch, Pete is going to go up on the roof and clean it off (lots of sticks and leaves). He only goes up there when I'm home just in case he falls. I don't mind. I always have a lot of weeding to do.

Tomorrow my parents are coming out and we're going to replace our front step. It's falling apart and a little dangerous (if you step all the way over to the lefthand side, the whole piece of slate lifts up!). We're going to get some concrete (the mix-it-yourself-in-a-wheelbarrow kind from Lowe's), rip out the old step, and pour a new one. We're going to put the 3 pieces of slate back on top so that it still looks like the rest of the front walk. We bought some dinner plates (2 white, 2 blue, and one red) at Wal-Mart today which we are gong to smash into pieces and put into the step as well (not the part that you step on but the verticle part between each step). Hopefully it looks good! I'll take some pictures and post them when I can. The only thing I feel bad about is the killing. Yes, there is a family of bees that live in the step (yup, it's that rotted). I actually like the bees. They are the nice kind and don't bother me at all when I'm sitting or walking there. I saw them this morning and felt bad that their days are numbered. I think I'll have my father spray them -- I'll be inside the house. I hate the destruction but we have not choice. They are bees after all and we will be destroying their house...........

Home Alone...

Here I am, home by myself and my two wonderful kitties. I really don't mind so much I suppose. Pete is out across the state visiting my brother. He's been after Pete for some time now for some quality man to man time. I think they were going to go target practice somewhere and then go 4-wheeling in the state forest. I am looking forward to Pete coming home tomorrow so I can spend some time with him too -- he's one popular guy!!

It's Raining Again!!

Ugh. I can't stand it. Another day of rain! Things are actually starting to rot and grow mold outside. Yesterday, as I cut the lawn, I was amazed to find white mold actually growing right on the ground. One of my big oak trees in the front yard has about 30 moldy dark brown mushroom type things growing up the trunk. That requires a lot of moisture! Some of my flowers are rotting and dying (mainly my geraniums). It's pouring out yet again.........

Why so much rain as of late? I've begun to wonder about the whole global warming thing (which IS happening at a rather alarming rate). The polar ice is melting, thus creating more water in the liquid state and less water in the solid state. More liquid water means more evaporation, thus meaning more water in gas form in the atmosphere. Clouds form and then the rain comes down. I haven't read anything on this -- it's just a theory I have myself. I've been feeling for a while now that major things are happening with the earth and more is on the way (i.e. severe weather that we're not accustomed to). It's all food for thought but it's also weighing heavily on my mind.....

Sunny Tuesday

What a beautiful day today! The sun is out and the sky is clear blue. Lucky me even got to spend two sweat soaking hours mowing the lawn (it looks great though!). The only thing that stinks about today is is that I have class! It's so nice out and I have things I'd love to do outside but.... I have to leave in an hour. Oh well, I've got more days ahead of me!

Books That I am Reading

I am reading a refreshing series of books by Beverly Lewis. The series, "Abram's Daughters," consists of five books: The Covenant, The Betrayal, The Sacrifice, The Prodigal, and The Revelation. I am currently reading book 4. These books take place in the Amish Country of Pennsylvania and follow the lives of several young Amish women. These books can be found in the Religious section of any major bookstore or on-line at www.amazon.com. I highly recommend them!!

Next up for me to read: Beverly Lewis' new series, Annie's People.

Rainy Monday

Well, here I am, sitting here at the computer on yet another rainy day. It rained some on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We then got quite a bit yesterday and today. We've had so much rain this spring and early summer; it would be almost amazing if it wasn't such a pain in the butt. My mom told me just this morning that the last time the Eastcoast has gotten this much rain in this time period was in 1938 -- the year of the whopper hurricane (the Hurricane of '38). Great. Let's hope it's not a trend!!

My First Blog

Well, I've finally entered the Age of the Blog. I think it was just a few months ago that I asked Pete what exactly a blog was. Now here I am.......

I've got so much to say about so many things. But, it's a beautiful morning and I've been planning to work outside all week. Today just so happens to be my first full day of summer vacation!!!