Tired

Why am I tired? Because I've been WORKING! I got an interview, a job offer, started/setup my classroom/began teaching... all in a little over a week's time! It's been a little crazy. While everyone else is just now starting school this week, we are on Week 2! Which is nice because it means we'll get out a week earlier than everyone! :-)

Things are going great... Oh yeah, did I mention I'm now teaching PreK? Little different from 3rd graders; but I LOVE it! They are already learning so much!!! Carpet/Calendar time is going MUCH better! We're still working on walking in the hallways in a line! It's hard for them to walk in a line! Anyhow, we have had an interesting week and a half already. I'm already ready to relax this weekend! Conner has been here with us because my SIL's mother had to fly out to Phoenix for a new surgery. She had a sudden vision change, and found out it was due to an aneurysm behind her optic nerve. This surgery was going to be set up to drain out the aneurysm. So, my SIL went to Phoenix to be with her. There were some complications, so I don't know if my SIL will be there longer or not.... but anyway! Being around 4 year olds all day, and then coming home to one has been interesting to say the least!

I'll update more later. I'm finishing off breakfast and then will be making my way to work. Have a great Wednesday!

10 Days and counting

There are just 10 days left in the year, and I couldn't be more thrilled! I've been doing all sorts of things here and there and definitely keeping busy! Next week is a testing week at the school... so other than individual days, hopefully it'll WHIZ by! Thursday we will have the last choir practice for this school year, and then that evening they will have their last concert for the PTO meeting. The 1st graders are also going to perform some songs. The week after that will be a bit busy also. It's an all jeans wearing week, though... so who really cares what else is going on?! lol I will be teaching a Cause/Effect lesson that week in Michele's class, and I'm excited about that! Then that Friday will be all the class Holiday parties, and then we are off for 2 solid weeks.

Other than all that, I have plans for Christmas shopping still... I've gotten all the kiddos' gifts, now I just need to take care of close friends, and family! THEN, all that's left is wrapping... that's the fun part for me! We're still working on the Christmas tree, but the front yard is totally decorated... glad that is done... hopefully we will have equally nice weather when we put it all away as when we put it all out there!

Tonight I will be going to have some dinner with Jamey, and then we'll talk some fun makeup stuff, and after that we (I think) are going to watch 27 Dresses because she hasn't seen it yet, and I insist that she watch it... if she thought Bride Wars was cute, she'll LOVE this one! Anyhow... off I go... I'm finishing up watching some stuff off the DVR while Mom and Dad are out on business w/Dad's work... making a holiday party appearance. I'll catch up more on DVR tomorrow while I'm doing laundry and they're out for ANOTHER party appearance!

Also, on a side note, my dating life may be picking up... more details on that later.

Fast week!

This week has gone by so fast after a holiday that seemed to drag on forever (and not really for good reason!)...

Tuesday at work was busy as usual... well... busier than usual, actually... the kids have been taking their CBA's (Curriculum Based Assesment) this week... and so it hasn't been uncommon for us to have anywhere between 5-10 kids in there that need their test orally administered... or just need extra help. What makes it stressful is that we usually have 3 different grade levels (at least) testing at once... so, it isn't uncommon to be going back and forth between 2 grade levels reading test questions and answers and then helping them make sense of what they need to do. It also doesn't help that the 4th and 5th grade teachers want the kids to justify all their answers by providing at least a sentence-long explanation of why they chose the answer they chose.

When the district Superintendent first imposed these CBA's (he's new this year... it's his first year with our district, and he SWEARS by CBA's... talking about how WONDERFULLY they worked in the district he worked with previously) they were supposed to be 5-10 questions in length. Now they're anywhere between 15-20 questions. Why did they lengthen them...???? Because the kids have to score 80% to pass them... and with only 5-10 questions, that wasn't happening. I personally think that for kiddos that are in Special Ed. they really shouldn't be taking as long of a test as other kids anyway... largely because most of them can't stay focused that long... and also because a lot of the stuff on the CBA's hasn't been covered at length... they already have the disadvantage of being behind as it is... couple that with only covering some of the items for 1 class...!

Anyhow, tomorrow is the last day, and I believe it's just a make-up testing day for any kids that were absent this week... hopefully we won't have too many kids in there testing...!!! In other news, tomorrow is FRIDAY! TGIF! This week has honestly coasted by because I've been so busy... the only part that's dragged was my lunch duty! lol Well, and Tuesday (even tho a huge chunk of the day was expended on watching the Inauguration with the kids...!) because that evening Jamey and I were going with some of my co-workers (my AP included) to the Spurs game! We had a BLAST! They played the Pacers... so of course it ended up being a blowout, and Jamey and I left early... for a 7:30 tipoff we were home by 10:05... which isn't bad!

This weekend my nephew and brother will be coming in town. We're keeping my nephew for a week because my SIL is going with her mom and sisters on a cruise. Since she stays home with my nephew, and my brother can't take a whole week off work... we'll be keeping him with us! My Mom and Dad are ECSTATIC! I'm pretty happy, too... although, I'll really only get to see him in the evenings since I'll be at work during the day. This Saturday we also have a party for my cousin to attend... it's a graduation/going away party. He just finished up his Bachelor's at Texas State Univ. and will now be going to St. Louis for about 4 years for seminary school. I will really miss him. Although he and I aren't AS close as we used to be... he's really more of a little brother to me because we grew up together until I was a Freshman in HS (my mom took care of him while my aunt/uncle worked).

A lot has happened... and a lot is yet to come... :)

Last day of NaBloPoMo!

It's also, coincidentally... exactly a year from when I published my 100 Things About Me

It's been a bad day... I've been sneezing all day long due to my allergies, and the family went back to Spring today. I'll really miss my nephew... he's growing up so fast! Thankfully I'll get to see him again in January (they'll be in Kansas with my SIL's family for Christmas so we won't see them until after the New Year).

In other news, I go back to work tomorrow... :( It's a sad face because I got used to sleeping in until 8:30 or 9am... so waking up at 5:15am tomorrow will be UNWELCOME! BUT, the good news is that we just have 3 weeks and then we have Winter Break!!! I'm counting down the days til Dec. 19th... where the kids get out early from school, and we will have a paraprofessionals Xmas party right after work! YAY!

I'll post again... but maybe not tomorrow... I'm sure that everyone wouldn't mind not reading my blogs that are only being written to fulfill a silly goal I set for myself for a month! ;)

Just in time...

So much was going on today I almost forgot to post! LOL We had a pretty laid back day... didn't venture out to Black Friday as I have done before... we just hung at the house with the family. After Conner's nap, Daughn, Damian, and Dustin came by. Dustin hadn't seen Conner before... although he asks about him all the time and whether or not he's in town. So he finally got to meet Conner... but I think he was a lot more interested in playing ball with "Chachi's Dad."

After they left, we watched WALL-E... it was okay... not as funny or witty as the past Disney/Pixar movies, but it was cute. Then we ate some food off the grill and then rounded out the night by watching the Spurs take on Memphis. :) It was a pretty good day. I, of course, forgot to take pictures all day long of Conner. I'll have to make sure I remember to take some tomorrow.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hopefully all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and really had a nice laid back day to spend with loved ones! Ours was good... although, all of us are shocked at A) How much food Conner put away today (seriously, that little guy ate a good, heaped plate of food) and B) that Conner didn't take a nap all day long... at is JUST NOW getting to bed!

Here's a couple shots from today:

Thanksgiving is 1 day away!

And my brother and the crew are about 1.5 hours away! :) I'm feeling better... I've successfully gotten things cleaned and ready... and I'm so excited for tomorrow!

And with that, I'll leave you to yours... I will check in tomorrow...! :-) Hopefully you've thawed your turkey out and have everything ready to start your cooking tomorrow morning at 4am!!!

Everyone is A-okay!

Well, this crazy storm sure did cause a lot of problems for people here! Thankfully my brother/SIL/nephew who live in the Houston area were fine. They stayed at home... no real damage... just a hole in the roof (and subsequently a leak) due to the fact that my brother thought an old satellite dish up there wouldn't cause any problems... he was of course wrong about that! lol But that's really the only damage they suffered along with their little puny tree in the front yard uprooting and laying down in the yard (it was only like, 5 feet tall).

Yesterday both my parents and the gang from Houston wasted a day meeting in Sealy so that my brother could get a generator from my Dad because they had no power at home due to the storm. Well, by the time my brother/SIL/nephew got back home, they discovered the power had come back on... and through talking with a neighbor... it happened about 10 minutes before they arrived back at home! lol So, all the effort was for nothing! Anyhow, I imagine my brother may be working from home b/c I doubt he can get into Houston/downtown Houston to the office due to flooded roads and/or debris. But it is good to know that they are all safe... and also that they'll have no issue (other than possibly lack of fuel) to get here to San Antonio this coming weekend. My brother is participating in a golf tournament here in town that my Dad is putting on (he has been in charge of this tournament for the past 4-5 years, and will continue to do so until he retires, I imagine).

In other news, I got a reassuring email today from the NISD... basically my application is being pushed to the forefront of the list or something due to my certification area and a need for people...? Anyhow, I hope this brings good news to follow... I have to run a few documents over to them tomorrow (I don't trust snail mail for documents like my transcripts/resume/etc.)... so, keep me in thoughts/prayers and cross all crossable appendages!

Memorable Vacation

Well, my family and I had a very memorable vacation. We'll start from the beginning...

First and foremost, this was my nephew Conner's first trip to the beach (he'll be 1 next month!) and it was very interesting to see how an 11 month old likes the sand/wind/water/pool, etc. :) He's so incredibly adorable and an explorer!

Second, there have been many accidents on 361 that I've heard of... (this is the main drag of all the condos/beach houses/hotels that are on Mustang Island/Port Aransas beach). This was the first time I've seen one... and it didn't look good at all. It looked as if 3 cars were involved in the accident... one of which was a pretty large truck... and it was flipped over and the tires were up in the air... not to mention there was a TON of emergency personnel there... and lots of people being attended to on stretchers and gurneys and such. It was definitely a moment that you hope all the idiots that repeatedly like to speed along that stretch and try and pass people by on the shoulder, etc. take notice of the scenario... and that they internalize that they are not immortal and it could be them. This was Saturday... our first day there... Kinda puts a sting on the mood... but only temporarily... this is because....

Sunday was Mother's Day... We all ate some breakfast and hung out in the condo... we tried going down to the beach but it was WAY too windy for any of us... the wind was blowing the loose sand onto us and it felt like little needles! We ate an early big meal around 2 (which I prepared) of loaded spaghetti, salad, and fresh garlic bread. It was delicious... and very fun to watch Conner try spaghetti for the first time! :)

Monday my Dad and Rob went down around 7:00am to go fishing... my Dad came back up around 9 to check a print out of different kinds of fish because he had caught something he'd never seen before... turns out he caught a GREAT fish (Florida Pompano) which ended up being a delicious dinner the next evening... in total the two of them caught 6 keepers on Monday. After they cleaned and cut them they returned to the room... my brother was showing my the fillets in a baggie and asking me if I thought they looked good... my response was... "are they supposed to smell like burning?" We then noticed that the smell was coming directly from the AC vent above us... so I quickly went and shut off the AC unit. When I turned around and looked back at my brother... I could see SMOKE flooding out of that AC vent in the sunlight in front of me!!! We called the maintenance guys... they came up and immediately made sure that the thing hadn't caught fire.... it was (obviously) really smelly and smoke-filled in there... not to mention HOT and HUMID because there was no AC... so we were quickly moved just a couple units down on the same floor... So, the rest of our morning til about 11ish was spent moving all of our luggage and refrigerated things to the other unit.

We had a fairly uneventful rest of the vacation... Later on in the day Monday we went down to the beach with Conner and he played in the sand and in the water... and then went to the pool and had a blast... and then that night we watched Dan in Real Life (which was better than I expected it to be). Tuesday we went to the beach and pool with Conner again and then went to play our annual mini golf game... then that night was our fish fry... well... fish and chicken... Kathy (my S-I-L) isn't too big on fish either... so the 2 of us mostly had some broiled chicken and tried some fish... everything was pretty delicious!

Wednesday morning Rob, Kathy, and Conner headed home... and my parents and I went to try a new restaurant in Port Aransas and then went and spent some time in town at the shops and at one of the public piers. We headed back to the condo and just relaxed the rest of the night and vacation.

On our return we stopped at another restaurant in Port Aransas we had never eaten at before for lunch... they're on the bay/in the docks... they had quite possibly the BEST shrimp I've ever had. Then when we got back in town we went and picked up all the animals from boarding. So... all in all... catastrophies aside... we had a spectacular, fulfilling, and relaxing vacation!

Oy! Too much free time!

Today has been kind of a gloomy day! It's been cloudy out almost all day long and the clouds are a little gray... but Fiesta is well under way here in San Antonio!!! ARRRRIBA! lol Tonight is the river parade... I think I'm actually going to watch a bit of it on tv this year... mainly because my parents are gone in Spring, TX... my Dad had something for work tonight (Monday) in Conroe, TX so he and my mom headed out yesterday around 2ish and figured they'd go get in some quality time with my little pumpkin boy nephew. I'm anxious to see pictures... we saw him about a month ago and when I talked to my mom last night on the phone she said he's moving around so much and really trying to get to pulling himself upright (he's been crawling about 2 months now). I think it's ENTIRELY possible he'll be walking on the beach when we go May 10-14!!!

In other news, I went out and bought a new memory card for my camera. If you can believe it all I had was a 128MB SD card! lol Office Max had 2.0 GB SD cards on sale for $15 so I went to go get one!!! I should've gotten 2! lol Anyhow, I went out and took a few pics of the dogs and the new fence (my Dad had a new fence put in last week in the backyard... it's nice... and it'll be nicer after it's stained). Anyhow... below are some of the pics of the dogs... I may even add the movie I took if I'm ambitious enough... lol (and please, no comments on my silly sounding voice... I'm well aware that I look and sound like I'm still in HS!).

Pictures:

VIDEO:

This is pretty typical... I try to get MAX to talk, and Dioji does all the talking... and notice how he constantly tries to get her to play with him... but she's too lazy! lol Enjoy.

Holidays Wrap-up!

Yeah, you like that pun, don't you??? :-) I had a pretty jam-packed holiday season this year! I didn't mention it in my last blog, but the day before that I had actually attended a viewing for my Uncle Gene's (not blood related unlce... uncle by marriage) mom... She wasn't my Oma, but I've known her all my life, so she may as well have been. She had battled cancer, and various other health problems, so her passing was not sad as it relieved her of a lot of pain. We were unfortunately unable to attend the funeral Saturday morning (22nd) because Rob, Kathy, and Conner were on their way into town that day. I wish I had been able to make it considering my cousing Craig (Oma's grandson) delivered the eulogy. He is currently in school at TX State and will be attending seminary in the next year... we are all very proud of him and he has a faith I never knew possible.

Now, I know it probably seems like the holidays would be sad and upsetting... and they were sort of... but not because of Oma's passing. Sunday (the 23rd) we were supposed to have everyone on my Dad's side over to the house for gift exchange. Well, Saturday morning we got a call from my aunt saying that my Grandma (who lives in an add on to my aunt's house) was feeling very sick. My Grandma has had several health problems in the last 4 years... which all started with a heart attack... since then she's had stints put in her heart... and been on various medications to help her heart work. She has begun to have more bad days than good... especially in the last year. She averages at least one bladder infection a month (not too unusual for her anyway... she's always had problems with her bladder) which is very hard on her considering she's not as easily mobile as she once was. When we found out she wasn't feeling well we were (of course) concerned... although it doesn't help that she said she felt like she was dying. Well, so we changed plans and decided to take Christmas to her... by Sunday she had figured out that the problem was another bladder infection... a bad one, at that. She's doing much better now, thankfully! We had a very pleasant Christmas with my Dad's side...! I got a lot of neat gifts... an AWESOME cookbook from my Grandma (I LOVE to cook and bake!) and a cozy blanket... from my aunt I got some spiffy froggy houseslippers that I totally plan on saving for my classroom (that I will eventually have) as it's difficult to be on your feet in dress shoes all day 5 days a week... so, slippers are worn in the classroom to give the dogs a rest ;) My cousins got me some Hershey's Pot of Gold chocolates and a neat digital picture wallet card. My uncle got me a book about cats and why they do what they do (because he's convinced my cat is crazy... or possessed...) and some cash... which I eventually used at Lane Bryant and on a new handbag from JC Penney's!

The next couple days were busy... Christmas Eve we had church service in the evening... it was nice (aside from Silent Night, Holy Night... which I no longer like due to it being played at my Grandpa's funeral when I was in 6th grade). I exchanged gifts with Daughn and Jamey at church that night. Daughn and them got me a willow tree person holding a kitty and also a beautiful Christmas angel...! Jamey got me some WONDERFUL lotions from Bath and Body Works! It was nice to visit with them... and I actually hope to see Jamey in the near future... hopefully at the gym tomorrow night if she doesn't flake out on me!

Christmas day was SO WONDERFUL! It was Conner's first so we were very excited about that... we opened presents with all of us first (because Conner decided to take a nap) and I got some neat stuff from my parents and Rob/Kathy... From my parents I got: a reed diffuser (pear scent), some new earrings, a new watch, a BUNCH of Halloween decorations (it's my favorite holiday), a new wallet, a willow tree ornament of the one holding the kitty, and a couple new shirts (one dress, one casual). Rob and Kathy also got me a reed diffuser.. it's in a really neat vase thing, tho... and the scent is more like incense... it's lavender and mint. Then we opened Conner's gifts once he woke up... he got lots of clothes and books... and a cool toy that his Aunt Kelsie got him (a Baby Einstein toy... teaches them colors while playing music and doing a light show... he LOVES the music!). Later in the evening (around 5:30) my Mom's side came over. They told us how well Oma's funeral service had gone... and then each took turns passing Conner around visiting with him. I got a Macy's gift card from them... I used it to FINALLY get my cross necklace. I had one before.... however it was gold... and it wasn't good quality as it broke. This was back in middle school!!! I've been without a nice cross necklace for far too long... I was excited to finally find one... and it was 50% off! I haven't taken it off (minus showers) since I got it Monday!

Rob, Kathy, and Conner left the day after Christmas... and then the next day my Mom woke up with a terrible upper respiratory PLAGUE (j/k... but it was pretty bad)! The 27th Mozart went for her post-op follow up at the vet... she did WONDERFULLY... after this I came home and packed as I was going to Austin for the rest of the week/weekend to visit with and celebrate Xmas with friends. We mostly were catching up one of aforementioned friends on some televison... as well as eating at some places we frequent together (Rounders Pizzeria on 6th St... AWESOME Garlic Knots... AND went to eat Indian food! YUM!). It was nice to visit with them... I now own The Office seasons 1-3 (woohoo!) and I have Reno911 Season 4 and Buffy Season 1... Ricky (one of my very best friends) is convinced I'll love Buffy... I'm skeptical... but will give it a try. We got back to San Antone on the 30th... at which point I took it easy... the 31st I celebrated bringing in the New Year with Daughn and Damian... and Deena and Jon... and then went back to Daughn/Damians on New Year's night to watch the Sugar Bowl!

I forwarned that my holiday break was jam-packed... and I didn't lie at all...! If you made it to the end and actually read everything... I'm VERY impressed! lol I hope everyone else had equally as wonderful a holiday celebration!