Thanksgiving in Photo Form

Since I got a fancy new camera (an early Christmas gift from my dear husband) and we ended up with 203 different photos this weekend, I thought the best way to recap would be in photo form :)

Thursday:

I didn't have the fancy new camera yet so I borrowed these from my sister-in-law.

There was the coloring of the fireplace (next year there will be a real one):

There was much smiling and laughing:

 

There was food, and food, and food:

 

And the playing of the cards (I was reading Pride and Prejudice for the xteenth time):

 

Friday:

There was the joy of the camera, and much taking of pictures

Keegan was a favorite subject:

 

As were these flowers:

 

There are also about 17 of a squirrel in a tree, and 15 of a hawk.  Much fun was had with the camera.

Saturday:  We moved locations, this time to my parents house.

There was much baking (sugar cookies, Chex Mix, chocolate peppermint cheesecake, fudge, Buckeyes and caramels):

I'm afraid I can't give you the explanation behind this one.  It's a bit risque.

Are you taking my picture?

And there was attempting to fix an antenna:

Sunday:

There was much snow:

Ashlee likes the snow:

And that's about it.  That's our weekend in picture form.  After we got home, I watched Pride and Prejudice, worked on lesson plans, and made some Christmas decorations.  That's pretty much been my day.  I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove of things this week--it's been way too long!  I can't believe I've only been at school one day in the last week and a half!

Sweet San Antonio

Thursday-Saturday I was in San Antonio--deep in the heart of Texas, they say.  It was an enjoyable time.  English teachers know how to rock the party, I guess.  I'll give you a brief rundown of each of our days in Texas.

Thursday

Leave hours before sunrise.  Fly out before sunrise.  Land in Memphis.  Nearly miss our flight for lack of paying attention.  I begin to get involved in Twilight, much to my chagrin.  I so wanted to hold out and be the rebel that didn't become obsessive about this book.  Of course, obsessive is my middle name.  Land in San Antonio, take a taxi to our hotel.  Head out for lunch.  Decide on Mexican, because Hello!  We're in San Antonio!  Turns out we made a somewhat poor choice.  I got a drink spilled all over me, and when my colleague (the one the drink belonged to) asked if the waiter was going to replace what he spilled, he brought her a teeny tiny cup to replace the exact amount lost.  Most of the food was fair to not good.  The service was awful.  We were sorely disappointed.  We spent our afternoon doing some sightseeing (Remember the Alamo!  All five feet of it!) and then went back to the hotel to rest. 

 

My roommate had been sick on Tuesday before we left, and got miserably ill Thursday afternoon.  I stayed clear and read my book that I was obsessive about.  That's how I finished it that afternoon.  That night, we went to dinner at the Houston Street Bistro.  It was hands down the best dining experience of the trip.  Every last one of us spent the meal raving about our food.  We didn't get over it for the rest of the trip.

Friday

My dear roomie and I went to Shipley donuts (hello, my love...that was THE best donut experience I have ever had).  I was thrilled.  We did some business that morning, checking out a few sessions and some poster exhibits, etc.  We stopped by the Chili's at the mall for lunch that day.  Poor roomie of mine got sick, again.  She was miserable.  We decided to spend the afternoon in a "special session" about vampires in Washington State.  It was time okay spent.  The session was a bit of a letdown, because it was pretty terribly acted.   The more I think about it though, I'd like to see that session again.  I might like it better the second time around.   Then we headed back to the hotel, because we were meeting a group of teachers from a neighboring school district that we are involved in an educational technology grant with.  That sounds kinda confusing, I know.  But we did our dinner thing with them, and called it quits for the night. 

Saturday

Breakfast at Shipley donuts again.  Be still my aching heart, some day I will come back to you my donut love!  We hit a few more sessions, and learned some cool teacher tricks.  We had lunch at The Charter House, on top of the Tower of the Americas, which sort of looks like the Space Needle.  It was pretty sweet action. 

Then we went back and wandered through the exhibit hall, picking up some free books and product ideas.  Then it was time to head to the airport and go home.  I bought the second Twilight book at the airport, and read it on our flight.  All in all, it was a pretty relaxed traveling evening.

One more picture, before I go.  These statues have no hands, and look sort of goofy...like they might be poking fun a bit.  I really don't know, but I enjoyed them :)

Just another Manic Monday

I have to say, my days know how to hit me in the gut in style.  I've been feeling on the verge of the stomach flu for a day or two, so I have sort of stopped eating.  I felt kind of sickly this morning, but not enough to justify taking the day off.

I wish I had.

But it's good that I didn't.

I got to school early (an hour and twenty minutes before the day started, early).  I had some serious photocopying to get done, and I didn't want to wait in line.  Of course, the copier wouldn't work for me.  As usual.  It kicked into gear later, but it was just enough to start me off feeling a little agitated.

Then my classes started.  And they were pretty rotten.  I have a lot of the same kids, but the mixing is really bad.  All of my classes are very talkative and pretty disrespectful.  I think I'm going to have to write several up early on to get things under control.

Then, during second period, my department chair ran over to let me know that she needed to see me right away.  It turns out, I hadn't posted my grades correctly (I only did the first half, not the second) and all of my grades were showing up as invalid.  So I had to go back and hand average the first six weeks, second six weeks and final exam grades for all of my kids and manually enter them.  When she told me that, I stood in her office and cried.  As she had a class in the room.  As I needed to walk back to my room and teach my own class.  So I spent my entire prep period (where there is another teacher teaching a class in my room) doing that.  Thankfully, at the exact moment I was starting to average the grades together, another teacher sent out an email with an Excel spreadsheet he had created that would do that for you, in case anyone wanted to double check their averages.  This saved me seriously hours of work.

The rest of the day was fairly mediocre.  The kids are upset because their class t-shirts haven't arrived yet.  I must admit, I'm upset too.  I placed the order in time, but the store is running behind.  They are supposed to be wearing them tomorrow, but they haven't come in yet.  I keep hoping they'll call me tomorrow, so I can pick them up and the kids can wear them Wednesday, on "red, white and blue" day.

So...yeah.  I had sort of a rough start to this short week.  Here's to hoping tomorrow gets better!

My most recent obsession

Hello, bandwagon.  It's time for me to jump on.

Since I have started teaching, the same book title kept reappearing over and over and over.  Twilight.  My girls were obsessed.  I didn't know much about it, so I asked a few questions--things like, "Girls, what is this about?"  When they answered, "Vampires," I answered, "Ugh...so not my idea of fun."

But it continued.  Of the 80 book presentations I heard last week, easily 20 were over one of the books in the Twilight saga.  Grown adults were enjoying this series...and I kept hearing the same thing over and over.  "It's so addictive."  "I couldn't stop reading it." "Oh my gosh, it was so good."  Kids were sneaking the book under their desk (no small feat, since they weigh in between 450-700ish pages each).  The boys were starting to read.  Some because their girlfriends insisted; others because they were curious.  I began to suspect that more of my students were reading Twilight than anything I had ever assigned for them to read. 

I continued to hold out.  Then Shannon wrote a blog post about her recent foray into the fictional Forks, Washington, and the addiction that ensued.  If there is anyone I will trust for a book recommendation, it's Shannon.

So I decided to give in.

I asked my students to bring me a copy of the first book.

No fewer than four copies showed up on my desk that next morning.

And so I took the first book in the Twilight series with me to San Antonio.  And finished it the day I began.

 

I was officially hooked.  I kept telling my colleague who was my roommate, "It's so not well-written.  But I can't stop."

I bought the second book at the airport Saturday, and finished after I arrived home in Indiana.  I picked up the third and fourth at Wal-Mart yesterday, and did nothing but read all Sunday afternoon, evening, and night.  And so, now, well under one week after beginning the series, I have finished it.  And I feel a little sad.  I kind of want to go back.  I'm not finished with these characters, not by a long shot.  This fictional world of vampires and werewolves (or shall I say 'shapeshifters') drew me in in a way that I haven't been drawn in for quite some time.  It's really sort of embarrassing, but I'm okay with it.  I'll probably re-read the series in the near future (perhaps over Christmas), just to get another taste. 

What's an immoral pleasure seeker?

Last night, Andy and I ran across this little gem on YouTube. I made him play it ten times. It's too, too funny.




And now I'm off to Texas. Enjoy!

To Do Before Texas

Here is my to-do list for this week

Give finals-check

Grade finals-check

Lesson plans for sub-check

Seating chart for new trimester-check

Pack-almost check...I'm a lousy packer

Buy travel sized toiletries-check (thanks to Andy)

Laundry-almost check

Clean up house-check

Update and charge iPod-working on it

Groceries for Andy-check

Finish Spirit Week decorations-CHECK

As you can see...I'm almost ready for San Antonio!  Woohoo!

And I have a rash on my face

It's 12:10 in the morning.  And I'm still awake.  That's right.  Because I'm insane.  And because I just finished grading finals.  After my wonderful, oh-so-perfect weekend spent with sweet family and dear friends (in Indy and at home!), the reality of this week has set in.  I gave my students their finals on my Monday.  125 questions.  Multiply that by 96, and that's the number of questions I had to grade.  In addition to still teaching.  And planning lessons for Thursday and Friday.  And helping with last minute Spirit Week preparations.  And doing some tutoring.  And I have to have all of my grades finished and posted before I leave school tomorrow, because I leave for San Antonio at 4:30 Thursday morning. 

It's all fine, really, I'll get it done, with a little help from my sweet husband who let me nap on the sofa, bought me my carry on sized toiletries, and brought home dinner from Subway.  I heard a rumor he's thinking about getting me flowers when I get home Saturday too.  I requested the pretty flowers from the grocery store.

  None of that was really the point, though.  I'm sort of just rambling right now.  It's too late for me to up.  And five is going to come too early.  The real issue right now is that in the middle of all of this, my face broke out in a rash.  It's hysterical, really.  My entire face is covered with bumps and it itches.  I noticed it in the shower last night.  I had just taken a not non-drowsy Sudafed to help clear out my sinuses.  Of course, I forgot about that until after I took the Benadryl.  I slept real well last night.   

I had hoped that the rash would be gone this morning, but it wasn't.  In fact, as I was grading exams during my prep period this morning, my eyes started to burn and drain some sort of mucous-y stuff.  So I had a rash on my face, and sort of my neck, my nose was stuffed, and I had drainage seeping from my eye.  I was a sight to behold.  Give me a hunchback and I'll go on the road.