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31 marzo Have you ever...Have you ever craved
DIRT
when you were pregnant?
HM came home and asked me this one day
I was like, uh.... no.... sorry....
He said he had heard it from a lady he painted for
He said some women do
because they are low in certain minerals
So they will actually crave Dirt
Isn't that odd?
Then today
Out of the blue
With no prompting
One of my kids asked me the same question
He said his aunt
craved dirt when she was pregnant
And I was like, really... wow,
Well there you go
I have the answer actually... 28 marzo DreamsI've had the weirdest dreams lately
Anyone care to interpret?
First dream:
I was at my Aunt Gloria's house
Someone that I was reminded that I have not seen in a very long time
And who I miss
She is very much like my mom
Same smile, same hands,
Same laugh
Same eyes
And I always thought she was beautiful
Anyway, I am at my Aunt Gloria's house
And I don't remember what
But for most of the dream
I was running around with my cousins
Doing a variety of things
Finally, we were downstairs
And there were two other girls with me
Friends
And I mentioned to them that my teeth HURT!
Especially the front ones
felt like I had been punched in the mouth
I leaned closer to the mirror to examine them
And found that the front ones would move if I touched them
And upon closer examination
I found that one front tooth was only held on by a string
And as I looked at it,
It fell off in my hand!
I was horrified
And turned to tell them
Just as I felt something else in my mouth
And realize that ANOTHER one of my teeth
Had fallen out!
I ran up the stairs
To find my Aunt Gloria
And by the time I made it up the stairs
I was carrying a handful of teeth in either hand
And FREAKING out!
I found my Aunt Gloria
And she took me into the kitchen
Where I was still sputtering and crying
And spitting out teeth and bits of teeth
Wondering frantically what in the world ever went wrong
And that my beautiful teeth were ruined
And then I woke up.
Still feeling upset
Second dream:
I came home from work
To find that HM's whole family was over
As they happen to do at random
So our whole house was literally SWARMING
with relatives
The walls were painted a different color
Now they were a pink color
but the paint job was horrible
and so it was 1/2 done and kind streaky
then to the side there was this huge hole in the wall
And HM told me they had wanted to know what other colors the wall had been painted
And so they had drilled down to see
And it was amazing because it revealed
5-7 different colors
But I was confused that our walls seemed so thin
Yet the paint went back to far
As I was trying to figure this out
HM whisks me away to show me something else
He had given Dudey my plant
Which in real life I had just been worried about
Becuase it was being wilty
And after soaking it for awhile
It had revived
But HM had given my newly-revived plant
to Dudey because he said Dudey wanted to learn more about plants
Dudey had taken my plant
And planted it upside down in the pot
and put it in his bathroom
And spread dirt all over!
Then HM and I decided
That we were sick of being pregnant
So we just took Sadie out of my stomach
Because in the dream she was attached by velcro or something?
But we kept forgetting that we had her
That she was no longer "attached"
So we would be going somewhere
and then stop and go, oh ya... where is our baby anyway?
We found her in random places--under newspapers in the truck, upside down in piles of dirt, etc
Again, before I could be upset
I was whisked away to see something else
The whole dream was like that!
His family dug up the sides of the road by our house
To prevent people from parking illegally
So there were 5-ft deep ditches everywhere
Then they bought a pool
That they wanted to put in our backyard to replace our old one
But it was way too big
So they put it on the back of a semi
and rode around in it for awhile
I woke up feeling mad and frustrated.
Don't you hate those kind of dreams??? Interesting conversationsYou gotta love Fridays.
Fridays means I don't have to teach for two whole days
Instead I get to watch movies and read books with HM
Something I must say I enjoy a whole lot more
Don't get me wrong
I love my kids
I usually love teaching
And as far as a job
It's a pretty good one
Mostly I get to do what I want
I get to be organized as I need to be
Be creative
Be innovative
Even teach kids something they don't know
I know that parents out there are good
I know that some don't spend as much time as they should with their kids
But the point is
I get to spend a whole hour with their child
EVERY FREAKING DAY
Like it or not
So while I am not their parent
I feel like it at times
When I have to answer questions from them
At those crucial times in their little teenager lives
Where they start to realize that other people and things exist
BESIDES THEMSELVES
This is a momentous occasion for a teenager
And while it SHOULD be their parents who are there for them
Sometimes I happen to be the one who is instead
These are NOT always huge tramatic events mind you
Most of the time they are just simple questions
That obviously they never got answered
But never felt comfortable asking
Sometimes I ask myself:
Should I really be explaining this to a kid???
And my answer to myself is always the same, more or less:
Who else would you like to explain it to them?
So I do
And maybe someday a parent will call and be upset at me
But I try to always make it a private conversation
Me and the kid who asked the question
So it's not a huge class discussion about some inappropriate subject
But that can't always be avoided
But I try
Just making a quick list:
I've explained to a boy what "impotent" meant
it was one of the synonyms in their vocabulary packet
and the kid didn't know
I explained it in a very non-sexual way
I was proud of myself
And the kid seemed very relieved to know what it meant
He was one person I would have thought would have known, but didn't
Interesting.
I had a conversation with a kid
who said his "friend" was interested in taking Viagra
And were there any possible bad effects?
We had a talk about taking drugs for the purpose they were intended
And about how young kids shouldn't really have those kinds of problems
and if they did
(as i looked at him very honestly and sternly)
That was not something drugs was going to fix
And he shouldn't be playing around with things so young
Just enjoy life for what it was worth
And stop worrying!
He seemed to feel better :) Being pregnant doesn't help with my kids either
It seems there are questions every day
One of my 9th grade classes
Was very interested in how the sex of the baby is determined
We had a brief discussion about male and female sperm
And the chances of having a girl versus a boy
Interesting.
I've had conversations
again, private ones
With boys about how to know if their girlfriend was pregnant
Symptoms, time periods until you know,
Chances of getting pregnant at which times
interesting.
I've had conversations with my kids about drinking
And about smoking of course
And about parties and getting drunk
And making good choices
The other day my CAHSEE class was discussion what a
"Healthy Life Style" really was
We were talking about the Childhood Obesity issue in America
And I asked them how many of them thought they knew
How to live a "Healthy" life
About 1/2 said they did
The rest: NO
So we made a list
It's funny because at some times as a teacher
I get the feeling that certain people are paying a lot more attetion than others
I mean you always know that in general
But one girl in the back
I had the feeling that I REALLY REALLY had her attention
We made a list of things:
drink more water
exercise
eat well
don't eat so much candy
don't drink so much soda
And finally we got to things like:
Don't drink excessively
Don't do drugs
And the conversation was less of the usual "they are bad"
that I figure they usually get
But more along the question of:
If you were smart, and wanted to live a good life,
should you choose to do these things?
The girl in the back was listening very intently
Why would you not do these things?
What kinds of things could happen to you when you do these things?
Unplanned pregnancies
Drunk driving accidents
Death
Liver failure
Death to someone else and hence, life in prison
The girl in the back seemed to nod like it finally made sense
Then the talk was more geared towards
You have to make decisions to get what you want
if you want to have a good life, go to college
Travel, have a nice family, have a nice job
You really shouldn't do these things
They aren't good anyway, and you shouldn't do them because they are bad
But also you shouldn't do them because you should want more for your life
And doing those things could make your life go places you don't want to be
Interesting. 27 marzo AmenMy kids are doing research projects right now Such a joy Any English teacher knows this is a frustrating time What seem like simple concepts Really aren't that simple to high school kids Sometimes I feel like all my kids are braindead But then I remind myself that NOT ALL of them are Just a few that I have to make sure I don't focus on too much
The great thing is that sometimes I am reminded very clearly that I am not just talking into the air And that some of my kids do get it and are just as irritated as I am with the kids who don't (and who I wonder if they ever will)
The first part of our project was a poster about their topic My 9th graders are doing theirs on the Holocaust And some of them didn't even know what that was Much less any details So the day it was due My little student Erick comes up to me and tells me It burned up. It burned up? Oh really... how did that happen? Well, my brother and I were kinda fighting and the poster got burned up When did this happen? Sunday morning So don't you think you should have tried to fix it before it was due Monday? Well, it wasn't my fault it burned up. That doesn't matter, it was your assignment, you needed to have figured something out But my mom wouldn't take me to the store. You should have figured something out But it wasn't my fault. It burnt up. Well, it was your assignment and if you wanted credit, you should have figured something out.
This went on for what seemed hours: It's not my fault You should have done something. Until finally it ends with: Look, you can't turn it in anymore. You got a zero. It's too late.
He finally walked away and sat down Acting mad at me And told his woes to the kid next to him The kid, upon hearing his story, told him: LOL I wanted to hug that kid right then Erick looked shocked that the kid said that and was finally quiet about his "horrible problem" Today we were doing outlines Well not even really outlines, but brainstorms in a kinda outline form I felt like I was explaining how to breath And everyone was still confused it seemed Or so I thought Finally, after about 10 minutes of talking very simply and very slowly I said, okay, get started Everyone was quiet and started to work I saw one kid lean over to this other kid, Dillon I assume he asked him: What do we do???? Dillong promptly responded: DUDE! She only just explained how to this like 20 TIMES!!! Just write down three arguments on your paper!!! Bless you my child It was such a relief to hear I was not the only one who felt that way! At the end of 3rd quarter my kids turned in their portfolios This is a compilation of all the work they did that quarter Including all their essays They are allowed to make up any work and include it I tell them But if I find they copied a paper--especially from the internet They get a zero for the whole quarter So I am grading this kid's portfolio and has all these papers that are barely a page long and then one paper that is four pages long on Gang Violence So I look it up, and find the whole paper, word for word, at various sites So when the kid comes back I ask him to tell me about this paper He says his sister helped him with it Why can I find your paper word for word on the internet? I don't know, he tells me, I don't copy off the internet I researched it a little though Okay, so which parts of your paper are research and which is you? What do you mean? it's all me. You have to say which parts are your research Why? It's my paper. I don't copy off the internet. Okay, well you look at this paper for me And I'll read this one, you tell me if I get any words wrong a couple paragraphs later I ask: did I get any words wrong? No. Okay, that was the internet site, why is your paper the exact same? I don't know. I don't copy off the internet. Okay. *sigh* Here's the deal: I'm going to be nice and this is what we are going to do: you don't get credit for this paper, you get 50/700 for your essay score and your grade goes from the A you would have got, to a B. he was mad I was dumbfounded. He left acting mad and I wasn't sure what to make of it Stupid or just playing dumb? Mad that I was being mean? Or Mad that he got caught? Who knows. But unfortunately I got the feeling He really didn't understand why I was being so mean to him And why I would give him a B when he worked so hard for his A I'm so mean Sometimes I feel like the only smart person left in the world But thankfully, it is just an illusion Or at least I think it is...
26 marzo Easter and stuff
Happy Easter!!! Okay, so that's kinda late, but hey, still... The first day back from Spring Break, one of my kids tells me: My 9th graders (and my 11th graders for that matter) are doing research projects To start out, they did an informational poster about their topic I assigned them all kinds of topics about the Holocaust On the second day of Research Jasmine called me over and told me: Um, Mrs. IIIIIrrrisssssssssh, (whiny voice) You gave me the wrong TOPic! Oh really, I said, why do you say that? Wellllllllllll, YOU said this guy's name was Dr. Mengele Ya... And, (roll eyes), well, his name is actually JOSEF Mengele! Hmmm... now, you do realize that "DR" is not his FIRST NAME, right??? *snickers from people around her* She still looked kinda confused... but I think she got it in the end... We were over at HMs parents for our traditional Sunday dinner And of course Tigger and CR and L were there, and Keiran And I was talking to L about Tigger about how he was starting to learn his letters She was reading one of those letter books with him now And when they get to M, it has a picture of two monkeys Look, he tells her, there's Dudey! as he points to one monkey And there's Uncle Chad! he says, pointing to the other monkey. Nothing like learning to read! 18 marzo Donate RiceThis is a cool little site I thought I would share.
I got the link from a guy at work and it's kinda an English teacher geek thing I guess
but it's still cool.
Basically, it's a vocabulary test.
But for every word you get right, they donate 20 pieces of rice to World Hunger.
Who that entails? no clue.
But the test tells you your "vocab level"
and it builds your rice on a little bowl to the side
so you can see how much you have donated.
Try it, it's fun and very addictive once you get going Week #24 |
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What is out on the lawn all summer and is Irish?
Paddy-O-Furniture
Paddy-O-Furniture
What does a leprechaun call a happy man wearing green?
A Jolly Green Giant
A Jolly Green Giant
Knock Knock
Who's there?
Irish!
Irish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Who's there?
Irish!
Irish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!
What do you call a diseased Irish criminal?
A leper con
A leper con
What is a nuahcerpel?
leprechaun spelled backwards!!!
leprechaun spelled backwards!!!
An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman each order a Guiness in a pub. Upon being served, each finds a fly in their beer. Repulsed, the Englishman sends his back. The Scotsman gently flicks the fly out of his mug and begins drinking. The Irishman, carefully lifts the fly up by its wings and screams, "Spit it out! Spit it out!"
Joey-Jim was tooling along the road one fine day when the local policeman, a friend of his, pulled him over. "What's wrong, Seamus?" Joey-Jim asked. "Well didn't ya know, Joey-Jim, that your wife fell out of the car about five miles back?" said Seamus. "Ah, praise the Almighty!" he replied with relief. "I thought I'd gone deaf!"
It was Paddy and Seamus giving the motorcycle a ride on a brisk autumn day. After a wee bit, Paddy who was sitt'n behind Seamus on the bike began to holler ..."Seamus ... Seamus ... the wind is cutt'n me chest out!" "Well, Paddy my lad," said Seamus, "why don't you take your jacket off and turn it from front to back ... that'll block the wind for you." So Paddy took Seamus' advice and turned his jacket from front to back and got back on the bike and the two of them were off down the road again. After a bit, Seamus turned to talk to Paddy and was horrified to see that Paddy was not there. Seamus immediately turned the bike around and retraced their route. When after a short time he came to a turn and saw a bunch of farmers standing around Paddy who was sitting on the ground. "T'anks be to heaven, is he alright?" Seamus hailed to the farmers. "Well," said one of the farmers, " he was alright when we found him here .. but since we turned his head back to front .. he hasn't said a word since!"
The Doctor was puzzled "I'm very sorry but I can't diagnose your trouble, Mahoney. I think it must be drink. "
"Don't worry about it Dr. Kelley, I'll come back when you're sober."
"Don't worry about it Dr. Kelley, I'll come back when you're sober."
His wife had been killed in an accident and the police were questioning Finnegan.
"Did she say anything before she died?" asked the sergeant.
"She spoke without interruption for about forty years," said the Irishman.
"Did she say anything before she died?" asked the sergeant.
"She spoke without interruption for about forty years," said the Irishman.
12 marzo
Tropical News
Sometimes when I write this
I picture writing to the whole world of you
Covered in snow
As I sit here in the sunshine
thinking about you poor people...
even though I doubt you are shivering in snowbanks...
So amidst my 75 degree weather
I hope you are all NOT freezing to death
As I would be if I was there with you
How do you like the new theme?
Very summery, don't you think?
Spring is officially here
3rd quarter is over almost
And all the trees are in bloom
The leaves are coming out on the trees
Flowers are blooming
All my little starter plants have sprouted
And the grass is green
Such wonderful times
These day I feel happy
And anxious
All in the same moment
Happy that summer is here
Which means:
Vacation
Beaches
Work in my backyard
Swimming in my pool
Getting a tan
and having my baby!
But then I feel anxious
Becuase it's almost summertime!
And the baby's room is not ready
We still have SO MUCH to do at school
We have so much left to do for the baby
Like, basically everything...
And hey, I am having a baby!!!!
AH!
Add to that
That I am planning on going back to work
For just one more year
And then that's it
But still
It will be very hard for me
Because when school starts
Sadie will be only 6 weeks old
And I don't know what we will do
HM says he can watch her some
But not all the time
And HM's mom could watch her
Because she took care of S's baby (HM's Sister in Alaska)
When she had to go back to work--also as a teacher
But HM's mom has lots of medical problems
And we suspect...
That she is getting some form of early Alcheichmers
However you spell that!
So not the best
But maybe it will work for just one year?
ANXIOUS AND HAPPY
See what I mean?
I hope things work out okay
Pray for me
AS I WRITE THIS:
My OVEN is FINALLY getting fixed
it has been comletely broken
for almost THREE MONTHS
And frankly
Even before that
It didn't work that well
It basically hasn't really been dependable
Since we moved in
Last July
so
THANK HEAVEN
we will finally have an oven!!!!
We have become quite good
At having crock pot dinners
And using a little toaster oven
We got at WalMart for $17.95
But it just isn't the same
I am so excited to have an oven again!!!
A dream update:
HM has been having interesting dreams lately
I'll tell you about one
But he's had several
Where we split up for some reason
And he spends the whole dream
Looking for me and wondering what happened to our baby?
What psychological meaning does this have?
I don't know.
Anyway, in this dream he had
I got mad at him for some reason
And I left
and I erased myself from his life
Somehow I put some sort of "program"
Into his brain
So that he forgot we had ever met
And also programmed him to think
he was already with someone else
So I programmed him to think
That he was his friend Eddie's daughter
(Eddie is in his 50s and has kids HMs age but they have always been good friends)
So he says he goes with this other girl, MyLea
And doesn't realize anything is different
Until he starts having flashbacks
About me and him
And the baby
But he can't remember me really
He finally thinks:
I should still have her number in my phone!
I should still have her number in my phone!
(I am under "Wifey") 
So he goes to look for me
And that is erased as well
And the dream ends there
With him thinking:
I wonder what happened to our baby?
Wouldn't that make a great book???
CHANGES
So I have been remiss in my duties
And have not reported
All the great changes around here
So here they are, the list of them...
YARD SALE JOY
The other Saturday morning
HM had to work
When he doesn't work
We either go out to breakfast or fix breakfast
But we spend a nice morning together
But that morning
He got up and left
And I was still asleep
But, I get woken up a couple minutes later
Because HM calls me
And tells me:
There are a bunch of yard sales around our neighborhood
You should go check them out!
So I do and
WOW
I found the coolest stuff!
Yard Sales seem to be like that
At least I have noticed
Some days you go and think: Man, nice JUNK! Maybe you should try GIVING that away!
And other days you go and it's like: WOW, you don't want THAT???
So I spent more at 3 yardsales than I ever have spent in my life
a whole $100
and got the following things:
A bird bath--HM fixed the hole and repainted the inside (flowers not included)
Another column thing that is inside the bucket--also new--until HM paints it
Cute little frames that look so good on the mantle...
Yay a cute thing for the baby's room!
Clothes for Sadie
Brushes for HM and for the house
Most excitedly: These palm plants!!! (the most expensive item on the list)
One big one, and about eight small ones we planted in the yard
More stuff for the baby's room probably--HM is going to repaint these too
Later Yard Sale Joy
after our success with yard sales the week before,
we were driving to get Dudey from somewhere
and saw this HUGE yardsale going on
and stopped and found this table!
It's pretty beat up but HM is going to repaint it
And I am going to do a mosaic thing on the top
And this will go in the Front room!
Some old Junk
I got from my Grandmother...
Remember the "we're not early risers" people?
Well as HM and crew were leaving, the lady asked HM if he wanted this?
It's some old thing I got from my grandmother
Says this 80-year-old woman
And I have no use for it
So he took it
And refinished it a little
It's so cute!
I guess you could say this is our first piece of
Antique Furniture?
The Swing Tragedy
The same lady
Also gave him this swing
But the swing didn't work out so well
HM and his friend Bryan
went and got it
And when they were coming home
HM forgot it was in the back of the truck
And went into the garage
And we all heard this big crunch sound
But they bent it back
and it looked pretty good still
We put it on our front porch
And it looked PERFECT.
I sat on it for a few minutes
swinging and enjoying the weather
HM was so happy that I was happily swinging
So he came to swing with me
And when he sat down
We swang once
And one of the poles broke in half
SO SAD
So he sat on the other side to see if those were weak too
And the whole thing came crashing down
I must admit I was laughing hysterically but HM was not
I think the most upset between the two of us obviously was:
HM
He said he was so thrilled to see me swinging on it
And so disappointed when it broke
I felt so bad
Now whenever he sees other swings
He gets kind mad
Poor swing and poor HM
I guess someday we will have to get a real swing that doesn't break...
Meet the newest member of the family:
"BETAMAX"
Dudey bought him for a project at school
But ended up using a spider instead
So we were blessed with a fish
Good thing we had Katie's little fish bowls still!!!
Dudey says his name is "Bruce Lee" but I think BetaMax is so much cuter and funnier!
A NEW LOOK
The other day, HM came home and asked me if I wanted to go for a walk?
We go on walks a lot since I'm pregnant
But he said the neighbors down the street had a couch for sale
So we should go check it out
So we did and I LOVED it!!!
$75 got us this brown couch
HM refinished the wood panels in front
And we cleaned it a bit but for that $75, we got
basically a whole new room in our house
Where before there was just an empty room
So this is our new Front Room!!!
(still a work in progress but at least it exists!)
Complete with this rose painting HM got from a friend:
BUG BITES
For the past TWO weeks
I have gotten a new bug bite
EVERY DAY
And some days more than one
Yesterday I got FOUR
They itch SO SO SO SO BAD!!!
I can only think
it's a combination
of my usualy horrible allergies
and being pregnant
The last sequence I had
I had one of my left pinky finger
And one time
found myself contemplating
cutting the finger off...
But then I convinced myself
That probably wouldn't be realistic
no matter how good it sounded...
05 marzo
It's a Girl!
I remember my whole life
Seeing people's ultrasound pictures
and while I acted all excited
I always thought to myself:
Why are you so excited over a fuzzy picture
That you can barely even decipher?
But now that I have my own
I have to resist the urge
to show them to random strangers
So sorry
For those of you who are thinking the same as I once did
But here is my little baby girl
For the first time in photos:
You can totally tell what that is right? RIGHT.
Okay, this is a picture of just her head and shoulders
Okay, so here it is a bit easier, and upside down so you can see it right side up
Look at the white parts--that is her face
See it now?
The big blobs to the right of her face?
You would think those would be hands
Even arms
But no
Those are her FEET
The toes on the one are closest to her face
And then the bottom of the other foot
The one arm and hand you can kinda see curled up on her side
The other arm is behind her
The ultrasound was pretty cool
It was so neat to actually be able to see her
They measured her head, her brain
We saw the four chambers of her heart
And you could even see it moving
They also measured her kidneys
And her legs and arms and all that
She was completely awake for the whole thing
And kicked and squirmed like crazy!!!
In fact, any time the little ultrasound thing
Would come anywhere close to her feet or arms
She would try to kick it!
She almost got it one time too!
When we were trying to look at her face
The lady had a hard time because Sadie kept turning
To try and LOOK at us
So we had a hard time getting her profile
She is definitely a girl though
She was not shy at all
And ya, if she is a he
He doesn't have much going for him so far
So I think we're pretty safe saying it's a girl!
Anyway, from the estimates from the ultrasound
They say she is about 1 pound, 1 oz right now
And 11 inches long
I am 4 days ahead of schedule
So technically I could have it as soon as July 6th
But whatever, you never know
It was so cool
I must say
She's a lot bigger than I thought she was
She's moved a lot this last little bit
And seems to be just stretching out
and making herself at home...
I also finally found out why I have felt such a weird pressure
Right up against my sternum
For days now
That is her head
and the weird pressure on my right side?
Those would be her feet right up against my ribs
She's basically folded in half right now
And hey, i'm not complaining about that
I am not really in any hurry to have her turn around and start kicking anything else!
Yay! :) So exciting...
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