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23 settembre Our crazy yardI must say
Was very smart
Heck with these stupid little flowers
This person planted VEGETATION
Our backyard is really amazing
And we really can't take any credit
Because it was all there before
And all we did was apply water
And it grew like this!
So I guess that is something though
Since when we moved in
It looked very much dead
But now look at it!
I mean, inbetween the tree and the banana trees
Is a gigantic flower bed
But you can't even tell because the bush is so huge!
I had to take a picture of our bush
This bush has just gone crazy this year
And just the last few weeks,
It's "bloomed" I guess and looks like this:
I made HM stand beside it even because I don't think that really tells the story:
it's HUGE!!!! It's bigger than the fence
And if you notice, it's almost as tall as the base of the palm tree
It's a crazy bush
Oh and also, I'm very proud
See the vine things on the fence next to him?
I grew those from SEEDS this year SEEDS! and look at how amazing they are doing!
HA!
Then we have another one too that is now bigger than the lemon tree:
Where another Thumbergia or whatever it's called
(I really should learn the names of these things someday)
Is also taking over and growing all over
Now don't get me wrong
I love our yard to death
But it is kinda crazy
See these white flowers down towards the bottom?
I planted those
(thank you I did something to contribute)
And they WERE about 5 ft tall...
But they were getting crowded out by the red flower plants
And one day, I looked out there
And they were all bent over
And I said some aggravating words about my dog ruining my flowers
And thought they would soon die
But no....
Here were are almost two months later and
they are still healthy as anything:
growing sideways
So my theory?
They "fell over" on purpose
To get more sun
So if you look closely
You'll see that they are growing sideways and then up
Going around the red flower plants
isn't that crazy?
Along those same lines,
I finally remembered to take a picture
Tree Trimmers of Btown lament I suppose
That HM loves to do all the trimming himself
And I'm sure Dudey does as well
Well, I don't doubt, I know
He complains loudly whenever he has to help
(but he complains pretty much about anything so eh
But this is a regular occurance--keeping our palm trees looking good
This is how we spend our Saturdays:
 20 settembre Happy Birthday!!!Happy Birthday Kate!
How old are you now? 12?
 Sorry I forgot to call... oops
But did you get my card??? Places to hid things...Everyone needs to have their little "hiding place" for all their treasures
It's healthy I think
Privacy and all that
But a little advice
Make your hiding place somewhere you can get your stuff BACK
And not have to have your brother
Unscrew one of the boards in the porch
To get you OUT of your hiding place when you go in to retrieve your treasures:
Because when you have to be hauled OUT of your little stash
Everyone becomes very interested in what you have stashed back there:
And while you are enjoying your treasures once again,
They are looting your hiding place:
And finding all sorts of things they have been missing:
TWO MONTHSSadie is TWO MONTHS old already!!!!
As per her last Doc visit:
She is 13 lbs 6 oz and 25 inches
And still so CUTE
And her newest trick:
She's starting to hold her head up!
Camera's back!I finally got my camera back!
So happy... Classic case of not knowing what you have until it's gone...
I left my good camera in Utah when we were there for Mike's "farewell"
And so I had to use my other camera and I have come to the conclusion that
IT SUCKS
Especially compared to my Good camera
I am so happy to have it back!
AND
It's nice to have my pictures that I took there
So I can share them and show you all!
So here was our trip to Utah that we took...uh...
Well I don't remember but here you go:
My brother Mike is leaving on his mission in October
So HM and I and Sadie went to Utah to go through the temple with him
And then we all went out for Chinese Food afterwards:
Then Sunday night we celebrated Mike's birthday:
His whole "harem" was there also of course
The girl in the greenish shirt is his "special friend"
And this picture was just included when I got my camera back:
What did you do???
15 settembre Whew...That's how I feel lately: WHEW...
School is going well
Today I got their first unit of vocab corrected and back in time
It was quite the feat considering this is the most kids I've ever had
And the most kids I've had in a long time that actually TURN IN work! lol...
There is a difference!
In many ways it's easier to teach generals: you don't have to grade as much! lol...
That's a terrible way to look at it I guess
Anyway, deficencies were also due today
(for you non-CA people, deficencies are like midterm grades
You don't send grades though, the parents just get a "deficientcy notice"
Notifying them that their kid is "in danger of failing"
Either for homework, tests, or absences)
And pretty much everyone had either an A/B
or an F
That's quite the scope!
It'll even out once the year goes on
And everyone settles into it more
(Unfortunately)
But for now, it sure is nice to not have to give out so many deficencies for once!
It's weird how time flies really: we're already 1/2 way through 1st Quarter
That was one of the most amazing things I "learned" my first year of teaching:
The school year will actually end
Sounds weird I guess
But I spent the whole year being so concerned with my kids
That when the year ended, I was shocked
And I realized, Oh yeah... the school year does end, doesn't it?
So while I will have these kids for a whole year
Sometime in the not so far away future
They won't be in my class anymore
So not to sound like I don't care, that's not the point
But when I think of that, it's to remind myself
That all these stresses at work will reappear and appear again
Every year and it's important to not focus on them too much
But just to deal with them a part of my normal life
And not treat it like some amazing event
It's just my job...
And it's all the same stuff I do
Every year about this time:
I'll always feel stressed when deficencies are due
And feel like we haven't even begun yet!
I'll always feel stressed on Mondays because vocab has to be corrected and recorded
I'll always feel irritated that we can't get more done in a day
And that maybe I should be doing more
Even though I know I'm doing fine and I can't realistically do any more
And that kids don't change in two seconds
And how they are is pretty much how they are
Either fight them or love them, that's about all you can do
Change is all internally based at this point of their lives anyway,
so the main point:
Recognize Cycles 12 settembre Painted BlackSomeday I should make up my own categories for this blog
But I just get such a kick out of picking from the generic catagories
I ask myself: is this Entertainment?
Or Heathy and Wellness?
Or how about News and Politics?
All such good choices.
So here we go: this entry is under Entertainment
This is why you should never paint your walls BLACK.
I know you have been tempted before
All you goth fans out there, I see you nodding
But next time you do
Think of this example:
HM and CREW got a big job to paint a future store
In a strip-mall thing where his paint store is
The paint store actually got him the job
recommended him to THEIR owner
And in the process of talking to her about THIS job
mentioned that he wished he would have been around
to put in a bid for the exterior of the place
Because whoever did it, did a horrible job
And so that must be rather embarrassing for his paint store
to have a terrible paint job on it!
Anyway, the lady apprantely liked him
And told him that she/the company owned 80 more little mall things
And she was sending his name to all of them for future use
So hopefully this means he will get a bunch of really big jobs
So anyway, back to the BLACK:
This new place
(Stine and White Lane for you bakersfield people)
Is going to be a glow in the dark mini-golf course
all indoors
(supposedly all the rage back east...)
So HM is painting this huge open warehouse type place
BLACK
Everything but the floors
And it's a MESS
Yesterday they sprayed everything
So HM, Tyler and Jeff
All spraying
All wearing ventilators and hoods and there was this black haze in the air
Then today, they finished spraying the whole thing:
But the "dust" from this black paint
Was like coal dust
It stuck to EVERYTHING
Especially the floors
Now, you might be asking:
"Why didn't they cover the floors when they painted???"
And that's the gross part:
THEY DID.
And you pull up the drop cloths and it looks like that underneath
Just think what it would have been without being covered!
I went today and visited today again
And D was pushing HM around on a rolling scaffold
Pulling off the paper from all the lights
And both of them were COVERED in black dust
I told him I never knew my husband worked in the coal mines!!!
08 settembre Whew...Whew...
That is what I felt like at the end of last week
I finally had to go back work
My mother in law, Cheryl is watching Sadie
And I must admit, I was quite nervous to go back
I had all kinds of nightmares in my head of things that would happen
Or how my life would be
I don't know, I was just worried to death
But my first week back went super well
My kids loved their sub, so they were all happy and working
SUCH a relief
And Sadie did super good with her grandma
I am rather tired though I must say
I wake up at about 5am
And I have two hours to get ready, feed Sadie, eat breakfast and make lunches
I had nightmares here of having to get up at like 4am or something but turns out it works out well with Sadie's schedule
So then I go to school
Sadie sleeps for another hour or two if her Grandma is lucky
Then wakes up and has a bottle
I have a prep period, then two periods of English and one of CAHSEE prep
Then Cheryl brings Sadie to school
And we all sit down and have lunch :)
Then they go home
I teach two more classes--both English
And then I'm home
Sadie hopefully sleeps during this time
And I"m home in time to feed her again
It actually works really well
Sadie only has to have a bottle once really
And everything is still good
I have really good students
TONS of them
But still good
I have around 170 students this year! yikes!
I'm teaching all Seniors and so far, they are really good kids
That always makes it easier!
This last weekend, we found out why they say:
Don't get a puppy and a baby at the same time
(because they sell babies outside KMart don't you know...)
HM's friend Mike went out of town
And asked us to babysit his new puppy for the weekend
(my first reaction when HM told me this was: You're kidding right?)
Mike's old dog was his best friend
He is a gardener and he took his dog to work with him
And probably spent more time with this dog than his own family! lol...
But tragically
The dog jumped out of the truck one day
Something he never did
Got hit by a car and died
Mike was devastated
So a few months later, this is the replacement dog :)
A boxer, like his old one
And really a nice little fellow named Sidney
I had never seen a baby Boxer but he was CUUUUTE as anything
Andre was actually pretty good with him
When he wasn't trying to hump him
GRR GRRR
They actually got along and the puppy was so cute
But this is why you shouldn't get a puppy and a baby at the same time:
YOU WILL GO CRAZY!
I told HM that this would be how it would be to have Twins!!
At one point we had the puppy yelping in his pen, Sadie screaming
Andre crying outside, dinner timers beeping
And HM in the garage talking to Dude on the phone
(Dude was having another teenager moment)
And me in the middle going: AHHH!!!
This is why you don't get a puppy and a baby at the same time
So the puppy went home today
And now we can all look at the pics and go:
Awh, how cute
And try to forget how it peed and pooped all over
And cried for a good 1/2 hour before it finally went to sleep both nights
Because he is SO CUTE
So... this is one of those things that you look back on and laugh about
But at the time, it sucks.
We got rid of our bed recently
We wanted to MAKE SURE
that our little bed bug problem stayed gone
So we threw out our old bed
And slept on an air mattress for about... a month and a half?
Ya... the LAST two months...
After all my suffering with the bites
We DEFINITELY didn't want Sadie getting bit
So we were willing to make the sacrifice.
It wasn't that great
We went though 2-3 mattresses
And the last one, was particulary special:
Hmmm... what? Oh... that lump? What is it?
Oh, that's the bed actually...
And it got bigger than it shows in this picture
That is the mattress
Losing the seem inbetween two sections
So it blew up bigger than normal
And stayed that way!
Try sleeping on that!
We did.
It doesn't work very well
And we did it for about a week actually
Two adults and newborn in a bed that when you take into consideration the
HUMP
is about the size of a twin bed
The angles to the middle
And makes horrendous amounts of noise anytime you move!
So breath deep everyone:
We got a new bed finally
It is a Queen size bed
It's quiet
More than one person can lay on it
Without sliding towards each other
And Sadie doesn't wake up every time her dad rolls over!
YAY!!!!!
Sadie really is the cutest
The best part of my day is when I get to see her
My favorite thing she does lately is this:
Look at those fat little Cabbage Patch arms!
Yesterday I was looking at her and I noticed: She's getting big.
Her skin has cleared up and she is growing bigger and fatter
And looking more like "Sadie" than a "Baby"
So sad in a way, but still so cute...
01 settembre Narnia fansFor all you C.S. Lewis fans out there
I thought this was pretty cool
This is from my old student Emily's blog
She just started at Westmont this year
(my heavens they grow up fast! I had her as a freshman!)
Anyway, she is probably one of my favorite students ever
And has an amazing family to boot
So anyway, I read her blog just to keep tabs
But I thought this was worth sharing:
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