christmas with grandpa

i don't have a lot of memories of my grandpa (my mom's dad), but the ones i do have tend to either revolve around the "price is right", the tan car, or christmas. certain smells jog those memories and today i smelled the smell that brought back christmas memories with grandpa. it was the smell of smoke...like fireplace smoke, but it isn't the smell that every fireplace smoke puts off...it is a specific smell. i have no idea what it is, but it is christmas at grandmas. one of my memories is laying on my stomach by the christmas tree looking at my grandma's nativity scene. her nativity scene was different too... it had the moss on it or the gray grassy stuff.... hers was special. bing crosby brings back these memories too.... memories of the tree and dinner being upstairs. getting your fingers pinched in the brown wooden folding chairs (2 of which i now own). being able to eat as much garlic bread as you wanted (:S). people were somewhat normal...or at least we were too young and were sheltered from the abnormal. i have other memories of christmas at grandma's after grandpa died, but they were different. the tree went downstairs and stayed up all year for years upon years. the village stayed up year 'round too. no more bing crosby. dinner was downstairs and our bread intake was limited. ...and we were old enough to recognize the weirdness. christmas wasn't bad, per se....just different. our family has a lot of different traditions (which i love) but no other christmas festivities hold the special place that the old christmases with grandpa hold. <3

f R i D a Y f i V e

over....

What’s a profession you believe to be overpaid?
actors/actresses

Who’s a musician you believe to be overrated?
any of the rap/hip-hop artists

What in your life could stand to be overhauled?
my life in general....

What’s something interesting you recently overheard?
hmm... i don't know.... i overhear a lot....none of which is really interesting....

Who is the most overextended person you know?
someone i work with....

thanksgiving

thanksgiving!

today was a glorious day of relaxation and continued christmasification. i cooked turkey, dressing, mashed sweet potatoes and fresh green beans for lunch. ...and a pumpkin pie for later. all of it was really yummy....especially the dressing.

i also put up my christmas village. i think that is one thing that i own that carries a lot of sentiment. my grandma had a village that she had up (eventually year round) every christmas. when we were smaller, we each had a house and we would play with the village. a couple of years ago, my grandma took down the village and gave us our houses and whatever accessories we wanted. this year when lsf/def came to see me, they brought my ornaments and my village house and klf's village house too. i wasn't going to put it out, but i changed my mind. i don't have enough space for all of the accessories... but i did put out what i could.

it is a bit blurry... but you get the idea. the church on the left my mom made. complete with faux stained glass windows. then next to that is klf's house. and then my pink house with the tree. like i said before, i have other accessories, but no space for them.

now i am watching "home alone".... a tradition started by lsf.... every thanksgiving we watch it to signify the start of the christmas season.

all in all today has been a really great day... i started a book this morning and i am almost done with it. it is nice not to have the hoopla... like what happens at home. ah... but in about 3 weeks, i shall be in the midst of the hoopla, for i shall be on a plane headed home for christmas. (yay!)

p.s. it is time for a christmas background now... bye bye turkeys....

the day before thanksgiving

so i tried to wait until after thanksgiving.... but didn't quite make it (ipod would frown upon me). i put up my christmas tree today. it is not one you would see at macy's...but i really really love it. it is kind of sparse inside (that is what you get with a $20 walmart tree) but i really think it is pretty. all of my ornaments are red, bright green and clear...some of which are sparkly... most of my ornaments from when i was little fit in nicely and they really make my heart happy.

SANTA! santa is coming tomorrow! i know him!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

i don't get it....

i officially don't get it. i don't get the whole "twilight" thing. i haven't read the books (which could be part of me not getting it) and the thought of a love story between a vampire and a mortal... ok, it could work (i.e. klf/ipod) but the guy isn't even hot. he looks like he is continually high. i just don't get it...and quite frankly, i am ok with that.

p.s. ipod is a way cooler vampire....

war on terror

i am a crusader in the war on terror. my newest target: rodents. society portrays rodents...mainly mice, as wonderful magical little creatures.

they are super heroes they are media moguls


...with girlfriends

they are given cookies in books



are movie stars (who wear sweaters?!)

and we even use them with our beloved computers

let me tell you something world....we have been misled. in no way, shape or form, are mice as glorious as we have been told they are. this revelation came to me last night....when it happened.

i got home from b's house around 8. i changed and made some hot chocolate and was getting ready to go to bed. something caught my eye and i thought it was a giant spider...which is no big deal...i can kill easily. i looked again and it was (in case you didn't guess by now) a mouse. a large mouse. it ran out from behind my tv and ran into the wall under my window before turning around and going back towards the tv. i jumped on the couch and froze (i get that from def). i then jumped down and got my phone and keys and called v. i ended up hanging out with v...waiting for L to get home from church. it was getting later and later and v told me that i could just sleep in the guest room...but we'd have to go back down to get my stuff for today. armed with a broom (v had that) and kick-pushing doors open (compliments of me) we ventured back into the apartment to gather my belongings. and lo and behold...that scoundrel mouse wouldn't show his mousey face. even with v hitting everything with the broom.... so i got my items and went to bed upstairs. L bought some glue traps and set 2 up in the apartment and 2 up in the garage. this morning v told me that he caught the mouse in the apartment and took care of it for me. i am planning on staying in my apartment tonight...but only after i go to lowes or somewhere like that to find another shieldy thing for the bottom of my door. there is a gap under my door and that is where i think mouse came in from.... i can handle spiders and bugs...pretty much anything that can be squashed and flushed... but dear ones, you cannot flush a mouse. noope. cannot. i am so so so grateful that L was able to help me out and set the trap and dispose of the evidence....

a random gathering of a typical day....

what i *should* be doing instead of blogging...

• lesson planning
• teaching
• working
• vacuuming my classroom floor
• cleaning out my desk (ha...that sounds like i got fired for not working....)
• water my plant
• check facebook
• clean out my purse
• call parents of out of control children (even though it does no good)
• re-arrange my classroom
• make copies
• go down and get the kid i need to talk to from the other classroom instead of sending students repeatedly
  
• sharpen pencils

there is a game tonight. i think i am going. i am on the free pass list now and i don't have to pay to go to the basketball games anymore! woo-hoo!

it is freezing here. literally. freezing.

my computer is making a high pitched noise which irritates my students. i think it is funny. so i leave it up to make the noise. hehehe

now i am making kids pick up trash off the floor.... hehehe

another day in the life....

basketball

i am so so so exhausted. as i type this, i am thinking that i shouldn't be typing...i should be going to bed. ...yet i type on...

i had absolutely no intention of going to the basketball game tonight. it was close to peachtree city, which is south of atlanta...and it took about 45 minutes to get out there...and i knew it would involve driving at night (something that is very difficult for me to do b/c i need a different kind of contact...blah blah...). but...ms. b told me earlier that i could ride out with her, so i did. there was a jv game at 530 and then the varsity game after that. we got creamed in the jv game...but the varsity game...it was so close. our boys fought for that game and they all played the entire game. we lost 50-59. :(

after the game it got very very foggy. well on our way home, we were stopped by a police barricade...and ended up waiting in traffic (on a back country road) for about 20 minutes or so. i guess a car came around the curve fast and lost control (due to the fog) and ran off the road and hit a tree head on. the car was completely mangled. i would be surprised if the driver survived. it was that bad.

anyway...that was my evening. full of lots of cheering...lots of basketball. :)

christmas list...

my brain is totally short-circuiting. i CANNOT think of what to get people for the holidays. usually the ideas come easily...but for some reason, this year it hasn't happened yet. i have been looking on different websites...asking around..... nothing. i blame it on the aliens. they have sucked out all of my usable brain cells and have left me with nothing usable. so here is what my current christmas list looks like:

klf: cat sweater, sunglasses, and a home perm

lsf: glamour shot (circa 1990)

def: a copy of lsf's glamour shot (it isn't like i can get him anything relating to racing, since his driver changes weekly according to who is winning... :p)

aem: gourmet mustard and a tin of popcorn

... i got nothing. :(

stink day.

today was the worst day i have had in a looooong time. i got to work and someone started in immediately about something one of my kids did while in their care (i didn't even put my lunch in the fridge yet!). then the kids were b-a-d today. awful. i seriously got after one of them today (it just so happened to be the one causing issues this morning....). it was just constant. all day. non-stop acting up. and today is wednesday...meaning i cover the history class. the assignment lasted as long as it took me to go downstairs and go to the bathroom. by the time i came back upstairs, they were done and were out of control. i told them to work on other homework (which all of them had) and they continued to be out of control....so i made them write a reading thing that was assigned yesterday. they all wrote in silence for 45 minutes about the french-indian war (i only had to threaten making them write it 2x once....). THEN, i was told there was basketball practice after school (which no one ever seems to know when it is....) so i was planning on leaving a bit earlier today... but lo' and behold...no basketball...which means tutoring. so i tutored today and then i finally got out of there. ugh. i think the kids were genuinely out of control today...but it was magnified by the fact that i am totally exhausted. i sleep.... i eat protein.... i don't drink caffeine past noon. but i am exhausted. all the time.

hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. the basketball boys are leaving at 2:15 for a game on thursday and on friday... so that will help out a bit. i hope they are just calm enough to get through the school day. :/

sorry to complain.... well i am not too sorry. it *is* my blog...

on a happier note, this morning when i went outside, it felt like november. the way there are barely any leaves on the trees....leaves all over the ground....the (very) crisp air.... it felt like thanksgiving... it made my heart happy.

commented on....

so i was ordering stuff for our christmas party and i checked the address of the school...just to make sure i got the zip code right. well there is this website where people can rate the school and leave comments. so there was this one comment.... and i am kind of surprised to see it

Posted October 10, 2008

I love this school. I am currently going to it. I have an awesome teacher named Ms F. She is excellent in all she does. I don't know what idiot said that 'as a teacher i hated it.' and stuff, but I can tell you that it is a wonderful school. The principal, Mr. M is very kind and strict, I enjoy him as my History teacher. A girl named C. and I are at the top of our class. This is not a bad school, it is awesome. I understand that not all students are well behaved, but at least they try. You need this review from a current students perspective. (I being a current student.)

Submitted by a student

i am totally shocked and encouraged and feel really loved.....and like i am not screwing up these kids and i am not doing a stinky awful job (which is what i think 96.3% of the time....). i know who wrote it...and she is a sassy molassy kind of girl (but she is right on with what she said about the school)...i just had no idea she thought that about me! :)

friday five...middle (school basketball)

What usually marks the middle of your day?
lunch!

From whom (or to whom) was your most recent middle-of-the-night phone call?
um...no one... i tend to turn off my phone at night....

On what social, political, economic, or moral issue are you in the middle of the road?
enviromental issues....alternative fuel....

How likely are you to give someone your middle finger?
not too often...

When were you last caught in the middle of a disagreement that really had nothing to do with you?
every stinkin' day. example: (whiny voice) "ms. f.... he stole my pencil!" "no i didn't...i found it!" OR "ms. f....tell him that henry ford WAS a president" :/

i will be seeing all of my little "darlings" again in about an hour or so at our first basketball game of the season. i LOVE LOVE LOVE basketball season! tonight is a j/v game...so all of my boys will be playing. i wore my cheshire cat shirt today (it is the same color and striped like the cat) under my school spirit shirt.... love it! :)

saturday

nothing too exciting today....

i went grocery shopping....and bought some curtains. now that i have a full fridge and freezer to put food in...it is a bit overwhelming to go down the frozen food aisle. i survived though and hope i bought everything i need to last me the week.... :/

hanging curtains was a royal pain in the rump.... but i finally got them up and they are growing on me.... i keep messing with them (in true lsf fashion....) and eventually they will be the way i want them to be. they are definitely more attractive than the pink butterfly sheet i had up there before....

tonight is time change! i am so excited for an extra hour! :)

i guess that is about it... like i said, nothing too exciting today...