Uh-Oh...

Those were my exact words today when I proceeded to throw away my engagement ring/wedding band. On accident.

As soon as I said it, I had two ladies helping me dig through the trash can to find it. Thankfully (I think..) I was in a bathroom so the only trash in there was paper towels. It took about 5 minutes, but we found them.

Seriously? Could that be any more disgusting? Digging through a trash can? In an airport? Gross.

But they are safe and sound right back on my fingers. Don't worry, I soaked them in ring cleaner for no less than 30 minutes.

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is a pretty special day for me. It marks the celebration of our wedding. We were married December 19th in Aruba with only close family and friends. Upon our return, we had a grand celebration on New Year's Eve with all of our family and friends. It was a pretty special day for us.

I'm happy to report that tomorrow I will be celebrating two wonderful years of marriage. Let's get a little run down of those two years:

• Moved 500 miles away from our families
• Adopted our first puppy, Leila- MANY adventures with her.
• Had our first fight as a married couple.
• I took my first teaching job
• Hubby took a new job
• Bought a house
• Adopted another puppy, Zoey- LOTS of cuddling with her!
• Re-did our guest bedroom, master bedroom, and living room
• Traveled home approximately 20 times!
  
• Drove home, with two dogs in tow, 5 times.
• Hubby took another new job
• I took a job in a new school

I'd say we're doing pretty well. I think I wanted to punch him only once or twice during these two years!

ESPN....

Dear ESPN,

Although I think you're good at babysitting my husband, sometimes you get in the way of things. Like Saturday night, for example. I was happily dancing with my husband and started serenading him. He was completely unaffected by my singing and when I asked why he was not paying attention to me, he proudly stated..."I was watching ESPN on the big screen behind you."

Seriously? Do you have to follow me to the dance floor?

We're going to need to talk about this. I can't have you crashing the sweet moments I have with my husband. It's not often I get him to dance.

Sincerely,
Moi

Marley Shout Out...

Just went to see "Marley & Me" and in the first five minutes of the movie, they give a little shout out to my hometown newspaper, The Kalamazoo Gazette and my Alma mater, Western Michigan University.

Pretty cool, eh?

And, for those of you wondering.. I did not cry. My cousin says I'm cruel-hearted.

Snow, snow, snow.

We're here. Finally.

Only 10 hours of driving with two dogs in the backseat and tons of snow crossing the Michigan border.

The dogs love the snow, we're happy to be with family and it's Christmas Eve. What could be better? Don't worry, I'm not a scrooge anymore. The first sight of snow made me feel all Christmas-like again.

I'm home for a while, so blogging may be slim. Hubby just came in to check on me, asked what I was doing and I stammered... "Um... nothing." He laughed when he saw the website. I stammered again, "I don't want to lose any readers because of my absence!" He proclaimed, "I thought absence made the heart grow fonder?"

What does he know?

Anyway.. if I don't get back to you for a little while, don't leave me! I'll be back full of tales of the kiddies and the same old wit, just after the Holidays.

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas.

Vocabulary Lesson

My kids were talking today about a donk. I thought they said dump. They giggled at me and then whispered, "She doesn't know what it is!" They were right, I didn't.

I asked them to explain and they erupted into a fit of giggles.

One brave soul finally said, "You know, Mrs. L, a donk.. a bottom... a big bottom!"

To which I reply, "Like a ba-donk-a-donk?"

Even more laughter.

Oops. Silly white girl.

Zoey

Sage & Ashley tagged Zoey in this fun little meme.

Here are the rules...
1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.



Here goes!

1. My name is Zoey, but my parents call me a lot of nicknames. I answer to just about anything, but they usually call me Zo, Zo-bo, Zoers, Little Dog, Zoey Boey, Schmoopie, Schmoops, and Stinky. Sometimes when I'm naughty my Daddy calls me sh!t ass. But it's only when I'm naughty and I'm not naughty all that often.

2. I am part cat. Not really, but I act like it. My favorite thing to do? Jump on the back of the couch and look out the window, while taking a nap in the sun. If I can't look out the window, I'll just take a nap.

3. If it weren't for my sister, my parents would let me run around the house all day long by myself. But, it's not fair to my sister and we can't be out together or we'll play WWF.

4. I am a mixed breed and I don't really know what I am. The shelter said I was Beagle/Whippet mix... but my parents think I look like maybe I might be some Jack Russel Terrier. I don't know what I am, but I'm pretty darn cute!

5. I can run REALLY fast. Just ask my mom when she had to chase me once to catch me after I jumped the fence. Ha.

6. I love to cuddle with my mom. My dad doesn't cuddle very well, but I love cuddling with my mom. If it weren't for my daddy, I'd get to sleep in the bed every night with my mommy.

There you have it! Straight out of the Little Dog's mouth!

Now, I tag...

Kristi from ...and baby makes 3!

Monogrammed Teacher

The Pink Putter

I know it's not 6, but I can't think of anyone else!

Best.Husband.Ever.

Last night he took me out for appetizers, drinks, and dinner (this is VERY rare for us) to celebrate our anniversary. Tonight? He's bringing home Chipotle, which is my absolute favorite take-out meal ever.

Seriously? I love this man. He knows how to keep a girl fed!

Dear Driver....

If you were sitting next to hubby and I tonight at a light digging for gold picking your nose, please don't wonder why we were both staring at you. It's just a little odd when you see someone picking their nose while driving.

And don't worry, we didn't laugh at you (much).

Sincerely,
L

Ugh.

Hubby's computer kind of crashed, so we're sharing a computer. This might be grounds for divorce. He was on my computer for about 30 minutes today and the entire time was spent with me sending him dirty looks, wishing that he would hurry it up so I could get on it.

Seriously, if his doesn't get fixed soon.. we might be headed for divorce court. I.cannot.share.

Thankfully, though, he's a good sharer. And, he's smart enough to remember that it's mine and I don't share well.

Anniversary/Christmas...

Hubby and I weren't/were very smart when planning our wedding two years ago. You see, we got married December 19th and that's just too close to Christmas to do two different gifts. He says we were brilliant (he LOVES that he can get me just one gift!) and I say it was a bad idea (I want two gifts!).

Well, we already got and exchanged our gifts. Yes, I realize it's early... but we both are horrible about surprises and LOVE instant gratification.

Here's my gift:

A pink ipod shuffle. Hubby thinks it will get my butt in gear to do some more working out. I think it's a great excuse to buy the new Britney Spears CD (I don't have a CD player in my car...).

Here's hubby's gift:

Sunglasses. He's a big time runner and these will come in handy when he's running or when he's driving.

Happy Early 2nd Anniversary/Merry Christmas, Hubby!

I've Been Busy...

Today has been a busy, busy day!

What started out as just a quick trip to Michael's turned into a full fledged shopping spree! You see, the Michael's by my house didn't have what I needed. So I had to run to the next town over to check out their selection. Well, that store happens to be right next to a Linens 'n Things which is going out of business (read-- HUGE sales) and I just had to stop in.

Here's a run down of my purchases.

Two dining room chairs. Original price? $99.99 each. Sale price? $49.99. Actual price? $24.99

While they didn't have a complete set, I'm cool with it because I figure we can find a set of 4 chairs that compliment them and use the two of these on the end.

New bedspread, pillow shams, and decorative pillows. Original price? $99.99. Sale price? $49.99

What a deal! And it matches perfectly with the room.

(Notice Big Dog in the middle of the bed- she loves to destroy make the bed) And no, that's not an inappropriate bedroom toy in the bed with her, it's her bone that just happens to look like a sex toy. Hubby and I make fun of it every time we see the dogs playing with it.

And, another view. I can't ever decide if I like the curtains opened or closed. What do you think?

I did make it to Michael's to get the canning jars to make homemade hot cocoa mix as gifts. I'm pretty excited about how they turned out. I'll post pictures of them later.

Hubby LOVES the new bedroom set as much as I do. We both crawled in bed and invited the dogs to have a little middle of the afternoon slumber party! I'm actually pretty excited to go to sleep tonight. There's nothing like clean sheets and a new bedroom set.

Can't Sleep...

Okay, I was just wandering around some blogs out there and came across something that really bothers me.

Typos. Seriously? Blogger has spell check. How do you have spelling errors on your blog? I can attempt to ignore the grammatical errors, but I cannot forgive the spelling errors. It takes an extra two seconds. Hit the damn ABC check button at the top before you publish.

I found a blog I really thought I would like. The girl was witty, snarky, and preppy- just how I like my blogs. But she had grammatical errors AND spelling errors. Un.for.give.able.

I Love Him, But...

I hate when he runs errands with me.

Seriously, the man thinks it's cool to be in and out of a store in under 5 minutes.

Actual conversation in Tarjay today...

Me: Honey, isn't this fun?
Him: Ugh.. what?
Me: Look at these pj's.
Him: They look like something my grandma would wear.
Me: Okay, maybe.. but I would like some new pj's.
Him: How about you just wear my old t-shirts to bed?
Me: Seriously?
Him: Are you ready to go?
Me: Um.. no. This is fun for me. I love to wander around Tarjay and dream.
Him: You dream in Tarjay?
Me: Ugh. Never mind.

He doesn't get it, probably never will. I love Tarjay. I love wandering and looking at everything. I enjoy just thinking about things I want, need, or hate. I make fun of things while I'm there. You know, like who uses the tacky hot pink Christmas lights? Or who buys a pumpkin wreath? I just enjoy wandering. I can often be found attempting to build an outfit and then putting it back. It's relaxing to me, I'm out of the house, and I'm doing something I enjoy: shopping. Even if I don't buy anything, it's still fun for me.

Not so much for hubby. And he rushes me and then I just get annoyed with him. It's a good thing he's cute, otherwise I might trade him in for a gay man who could join me on shopping sprees.

Random

Today is going to be pretty random. For that, I apologize. Here goes....

• I'm not scrooge anymore. Hubby decorated my laptop by adding a holiday background.
• Hubby made me clean up Little Dog's leg after he made her poop on herself. (he was running and made her start running before she was, ugh, done)
• I haven't even started Christmas shopping. Oops.
• I just thought of a great gift for my dad and hubby shot it down. Here I was all set to get my Christmas shopping started.
• I've been sick for two days, so I think that explains my foul mood and relatively negative posts prior to this.
• I'm thinking of hosting a giveaway because that seems to be the only way to really find out who is stalking reading my blog.

One more thing

I was told today I have an issue with confidence. While I totally agree with this (in my current situation)... I'm not sure where it came from.

Ask anyone who knows me in real life, I'm cocky. I'm arrogant. I think I'm top sh!t.

Why did this confidence go away? When can it come back so I finally feel like my old self again?

Sorry.. this is a "I'm feeling sorry for myself" post. But anyone else out there been through this before? I'm talking, a complete 180 degree turn around. One day I think I'm pretty awesome, the next I feel like I can't do anything right. Ugh.

Almost there...

Tomorrow is the day.

Presentation day. I have to present my portfolio to my professor that demonstrates that I've met 3 out of the 6 standards for being an administrator. Holy cow. I'm not sure I'm ready for this.

For those of you who know me in real life, you know I'm the epitome of a procrastinator. We're talking waiting until the last minute for everything. I work best under that pressure. But, I've been done with this project since Monday, with the exception of a paragraph describing my last paper.

I'm almost feeling too prepared, which worries me! What if I haven't met these standards? Eeks. This is all I've wanted for the past six years-- to have my master's and be an administrator. (Don't get your hopes up, I'm still 18 credits away from completing my master's AND one test away from being certified as an administrator)

Think of me tomorrow at 5:15, will you? Thanks.

Rhyme Time...

The following is a glimpse into my rhyming lesson today...

Me: I sat on a rock. What rhymes with rock?
Kid: C*ock. C*ck, rock.
Me: You're right, c*ock rhymes with.. wait, did you say c*ck?
Kid: No.. c*OCK.
(at this point my assistant is dying laughing at me for repeating the word c*ock twice)
Me: Ohh... clock. Yes, clock rhymes with rock.

Fast forward about 20 minutes later... working with my 2nd graders on making words.

Me: Let's think about the -it family. Give me some words with -it in them.
1st kid: kit.
2nd kid: pit.
1st kid: lit.
1st kid: fit.
2nd kid: mit, rit, dit, bit, sit.
1st kid: (laughing to himself) I have one!
Me: Oh yeah? What is it?
1st kid: I bet you can't guess it!!
Me: Try me.
1st kid: (sounding it out...) it starts with shhhhhhhhhhhh... and ends in...
Me: Don't you dare, dude. Not cool. Curse words are ugly words. We only use kind words in this classroom. Now what's another word you can come up with?
3rd kid: Mrs. L.... he's trying to say sh!t!

::rolls eyes::

Me: Okay, we're not studying the -it family anymore.

Utterly Embarrassed...

I had a bit of an upset tummy today at work. I'm pretty sure that's an understatement. I felt like my stomach was going to explode at some point during the course of the day. So I did what any teacher would do.. just ride it out because there's no one to cover your class while you take, um, a bathroom break.

While working with a small group I felt really horrible. I felt a little rumble and then it happened. A little gas escaped. It wasn't planned. It wasn't forced. It just came out. You could definitely hear it. My face turned bright red and I immediately said, "Um.. excuse me. Sorry, Mrs. L has an upset tummy."

Little guy next to me says, "It's okay Mrs. L, you don't have to be embarrassed, it happens to everyone. It's natural."

Seriously, dude? You made me want to cry. That was just what any embarrassed teacher needs to hear, a little one sticking up for her and using the same lingo I use when any of my little ones lets out a little gas and everyone is listening.

Me = mortified.

On the home front.. I definitely went to the store wearing my slippers inside my crocs. I was too lazy to run upstairs and get socks on, plus I knew I'd just come home and put my slippers back on. I'm pretty sure the makers of crocs made them just big enough to fit my slippers in. It was fate. I suppose it's no different than the crocs with the liners in them. Mine just happened to not go with the shoes I was wearing.

I know, I'm super-embarrassing today.

And, once I hit spell check before posting this.. I realized I spelled embarrassed wrong every.single.time.i.typed.it. Ugh.

Bah Humbug!

I'm pretty sure that I'm Scrooge this year. Before you judge me, let me explain.

• I'm super busy at school.
• I've been working really hard on my papers and projects for my grad classes.
• I have been sick, sick, sick.
• Up until yesterday, it didn't even feel like winter here. I mean, I'm from Michigan.. it's winter when there is snow on the ground. Not when it's 40 some degrees.
• I won't even be here Christmas-New Year's.. so really, what's the point?

If I put the stuff (the tree, decorations, etc) up, it'd be up for a total of 10 days. Is it really worth it? I don't think so.

So yes, I'm scrooge this year. But I'm okay with it. You should be, too.

Poor Me...

I'm beginning to get a complex, again.

It says I have readers. Like 15 a day. But NOBODY comments. I'm sure some of you are like me, reading through google reader and you're lazy.. so you don't want to have to click on the page to go to comment. But please... it's starting to hurt my feelings.

I'm going to have to break out the bathroom humor again and I'm sure nobody wants that.

It's a Lost Cause...

At least he's cute. Or he'd be kicked to the curb by now.

The following is our convo just a few minutes ago... baking break & bake cookies.

Hubby: Please help me, I can't bake like you can. (suck up.. it's not really baking) I just don't know how to bake cookies!
Me: Seriously? You break them apart and put them on the baking sheet.
Hubby: How far apart? What cookie sheet? Help me.

Me.... utterly annoyed, walking into the kitchen...

Hubby: Want a glass of wine?
Me: Sure.
Hubby: Only if you help with the cookies.
Me: Seriously? (Reading the package) Preheat oven to 350. Break apart. Place 2" apart... could this be any easier?
Hubby: I just needed your help.
Me: (Laughing at his horrible lying/baking skills) You know I'm going to blog about this, right?
Hubby: Yup.

I'm pretty sure it's a lost cause. Don't be jealous ladies, I know you want a helpless cook for a husband.

Seriously?

What would your response be to the 5 year old child who walks into your classroom and says, "I'm beginning to turn into a man!"

Um.. I'm not quite sure how to take that, little dude.

What about the little guy who is sobbing in your lap, snot dripping down about 2 inches, and he sniffs it back up? (He was crying because someone called him Mr. Smelly-feet) His feet do smell... I'm just saying...

Sometimes I wonder how I can keep a straight face when these kids are so upset about the awesome put-downs they are receiving.

Seriously? Man-boy and Mr. Smelly-feet... I do love that you provide such awesome blog material when I'm not feeling so well (stupid cold) and I can't even pretend to be humorous.

Bathtub+Bone=Happy Big Dog

Big Dog decided that the best place to eat her bone while I was using the bathroom was...

the bathtub.

Now, you must know that Big Dog has an insane obsession with the bathtub. But she took it to another level when she was eating her bone in it. Weird.

Does anyone else have pets out there who think they must join you in the restroom? Or a crazy dog who thinks the bathtub might be the coolest place on earth? (unless the water is running and I want to give her a bath, of course)

Go!!!!!

RUN! Right now! Head on over to Ashley's Antics to register yourself for her giveaway. I know her in real life and she LOVES fabulous things... so this is sure to be a great giveaway. Be sure and tell her I sent you! :) And.. I don't think you need to be a blogger to enter, so go on.. you have no excuse!

Dear Medicine...

While I appreciate your ability to keep me less crazy, I do not appreciate that you have a warning label on the side of you that says I shouldn't drink while taking you. You have the ability to keep me less crazy, yet you make me feel as if I've downed 10 shots after only consuming one drink. After two drinks? Definitely feel as if I've downed 20 shots. You can imagine what drinks 3-4 felt like.

It's always fun when you have to face your parents and grandmother while being completely hung over like a 21 year old. I tried to blame you, dear meds, but they weren't buying it. Even though it really was true.

It's even more fun when you have to delay your 9 hour drive to the following day because you just can't seem to function.

Oops.

Confession...

I can't even believe I'm admitting to this, but I feel like I can't keep a lie and I totally want to make fun of myself (and the show...).

Okay, here goes... I've been watching "Paris Hilton: My New BFF"

Anyone out there addicted to reality t.v.? Especially television that doesn't make you think and is totally addicting, even though you want to make fun of it the whole time.

Hubby makes fun of me. But, he's the reason I got hooked! We were channel surfing one night and he jokingly said, "Paris Hilton! My New BFF! We have to watch it!" (In a totally joking voice that made him sound like a girl) We did. And now I'm hooked. I may or may not have watched all the previous episodes online.

Now? I have to keep watching to find out who wins. It's kind of like "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila". We were addicted to that over the summer. Lame, I know.

Dog Breath...

The dog? She licked up the garlic powder I spilled all over the floor.

Her breath? Disgusting. Even Zoey can't stand smelling her.

This gives new meaning to the term 'dog breath'!

Brown is the New Black?

If you know me in real life, you probably know that I have a sick obsession with anything black. I wear it pretty much everyday. To the point that even my father (who doesn't often notice what anyone is wearing) comments that I wear a whole lotta black.

Well.. I have a new love. I guess two new loves, actually...

brown and green

I cannot get enough green in my life right now and I'm slowly falling head over heels in love with anything brown. Especially clothing.

Anyone else out there change their trademark color overnight?

Public Service Announcement...

If you have a child with ADHD, it's not in their best interest to buy them light up shoes. Seriously.

I'm sure you can imagine what that looked like.

This was my inner dialogue: Please, stomp your feet and watch those lights. Do it while I'm teaching so I can get really annoyed with you and then make you go shoeless for the day. I don't care if your socks are going to get dirty. I only care that you are a) listening to me and b) not attempting to throw your shoes in someone else's face because you think they want to see your lights close up.

Seriously people, ADHD kids and shoes with lights? Not cool. Not cool at all.

Bathroom Humor...

Serious bathroom humor. Literally, it's about the bathroom.

Okay, so little guy comes up to me and whispers in my ear, "I have to go p-o-o-p!" (and he spelled it like that, too!).

Me: Um.. okay, you can go to the bathroom.
Little Guy (LG): I can't.
Me: Why not?
LG: It's not like a home toilet.
Me: Well.. what do you think we should do? I can't have any accidents in my room and I can tell you really have to go.
LG: I have to go home.
Me: Not an option. How about a more private bathroom? Like in the nurse's office.
LG: Okay.

We walk down there.. there happens to be a cricket in the bathroom. I suggest he kill it. He wants to save it. I didn't want an accident, so we saved it.

While he's in the bathroom he begins talking to me. Not thinking, I replied. Then I realize, "Seriously? You're holding a convo. with a child taking a crap. What is wrong with you?" I had to get out of there. I ran. Up to my room. And died laughing.

Seriously, I'm losing my mind.

Reminder...

Remind me to tell you the story about the little guy in my classroom who had to p-o-o-p and the drama that unfolded.

Gotta get to bed. I'm exhausted. Plus, I think I blogged three times today and I can't guarantee that a good story will come out of tomorrow's adventures in teaching.

Question...

Okay, I figured out the reader in Allendale, MI.

Now... I'd like to know who is reading in Ellicott City, MD.

I'm not going to give away my *exact* location, but I'd venture out to say you come to shop in my town quite often if you're going to Macy's or something.

If you don't want to own up to it in public, feel free to email me.. midmidlifecrisis at gmail dot com. I'd love to know who you are, how you got here, and if you blog! :)

Target Lied.

The snow blower? Not-so-much $15.99. Apparently there was an "error" in the listing and the actual price of the snow blower is $299.

I'm glad that Target didn't charge us the full price, but I'm disappointed in the way they handled it. They simply sent us an email stating there was an error. Um.. hello? If I was in your store purchasing this item and it was listed incorrectly, you'd definitely give it to me for the listed price. Why doesn't this work on the internet?

I'm thinking I'm going to have to think twice about shopping on Target.com.

Snow Blower?

Last night Hubby informed me that Target had a snow blower on sale for 95% off of $299... it was $16.

We don't really have that big of a need for a snow blower in Maryland, but for $16? We bought it. With shipping it will cost us $40 total. That's a steal!

And.. I should mention that there are snow flurries in the forecast for tomorrow! Of course, it's not what my parents have in Michigan.. you know, supposed to get up to 6 inches tonight.

Monogrammed Giveaway!

What could be better?

Go ahead, check out the giveaway Monogram Chick is hosting. Be sure and tell her I sent you!

Rookie Mistake...

What do you get when you take 6 kids, balloons, and a 1 lb. bag of sand to make stress balls?

A really big mess.

Why oh why did I think it would be a good idea to make stress balls in my classroom? Five out of six of the kids broke them within a half an hour. And two of them? Broken on the rug.

A funny little side note: One of my kids keeps insisting that I am his mother. It's deeply disturbing, but quite hilarious at the same time because I'm certain that I'm older than his mom. And I'm only mid twenties.

Blood Donation, Round 2...

Okay, remember when I donated blood the first time? Well, someone from The Red Cross called to let me know that I could give blood in a few weeks, but asked if I would be interested in donating platelets. At the beginning of the conversation I wanted to cut in and tell the woman of my passing out and feeling like an idiot. Apparently, she read my mind. She told me it was perfect for people who have negative reactions to giving blood. Because I have a hard time saying no to doing good things, I told her to sign me up.

So this morning I woke up, ate breakfast, and headed to donate platelets. I lounged in a comfy chair for about an hour and a half, watched a movie and had people wait on me while I was doing a good deed. Talk about feeling like a queen!

Do you think I could get hubby to cover me with blankets whenever I'm cold?

I'm not going to lie, I was a bit concerned about it. Especially when my friend Ashley over at Ashley's Antics told me a story about friends of hers who could feel the blood being returned when they gave platelets or plasma.

Good news, though.. I survived and I'm pretty confident I'll do it again in a couple of weeks. You should think about it, too. You could be saving a life.

Who Doesn't Love a Giveaway?!

I know I do!

Check out Monogrammed Teacher and enter for a surprise from Tarjay... be sure and tell her I sent you!

Domestic Goddess?

I started with these hideous dresses. Compliments of Goodwill. The hunt for them was mildly annoying, but I was pleased with the outcome. (The hunt involved parents not watching their rollerskating kids in Goodwill, while one little jerk decided to sneeze on me and didn't even react when I said, "Bless you!". In my class, that wouldn't fly. We say thank you for that.)

Those ugly dresses? Turned into these lovelies:

Behold, Exhibit A....

And now, Exhibit B...

Exhibit C? Both of them together. Turned out nicely, if I do say so myself. And all of this for less than $15 and about 20 minutes of my time.

Don't worry, I'll be stopping by Goodwill again to find some other dresses to recycle. After all, one man's trash is another man's treasure*.

*I did feel guilty buying these perfectly good dresses, as someone needier than I may need a lovely flower dress. But, I figure I'm doing them a favor... I reduced the out-of-style and hideous items they had to dig through to find what they were looking for.

The Life of a Teacher...

.... often involves some rather humorous events, with a mix of the truly sad. While I absolutely love the humor involved in my job, I have the hardest time with the sad events. Things like lack of food, dirty clothes multiple days in a row, and any story of abuse. None of these events are welcomed in my classroom, but I know that they are real and alive in the lives of my children.

If you've been reading for a while, you may know that I work with students with emotional/behavior difficulties. We're talking not able to maintain these issues in the regular school and thus thrust into my hands. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about my job because I love what I do. I have never enjoyed a school and classroom as much as I enjoy mine. However, knowing what these kids come from just breaks my heart.

If you have children or are involved in any way in the life of a child, take the time to tell them how much you love them. Embrace them a little longer and a little tighter than normal because there are children out there who do not have much. They lack homes that are caring. They have people in their lives who are not looking out for their well-being.

Sorry if I put a damper on your day, I just needed to reflect a bit and this makes me feel better just getting it out there.

Hi.lar.i.ous.

Is it horrible that hubby and I think it's hilarious that Little Dog can't catch anything and just lets it hit her in the face?

It's quite funny to watch her wag her tail in anticipation of the toy being tossed... then watching it hit her square in the face.

I promise we don't beat our dogs or anything.. we just think it's funny.

On the flip-side, Big Dog can catch just about anything. Especially if it involves food of any kind.

Oh I love these dogs.

Sunday, Funday?

You know you're trying to avoid working on a paper when you voluntarily rake and blow the leaves in the front AND backyard.

Yup, that's how much I wanted to work on my papers.

Even hubby thought that was a strange one for me. I'm not above surfing the internet for hours or taking a little snooze with a puppy or two. But the leaves? Weird. I blame the neighbors and the horrible sound of the leaf blowers all over the neighborhood. I guess I just wanted to join the fun.

Don't worry.. I'll probably never do it again.

How?

How am I supposed to get work done with this face staring at me? Seriously... that face melts my heart and then I want to cuddle with her instead of getting my work done. Damn.

Things I should be doing....

• progress reports
• grad class papers (all 3 of them...)
• cleaning the house

Instead... I am...

• blogging
• cuddling with the little dog
• avoiding all of the previously mentioned activities at all costs.

bummer.

Hmm...

Is it bad when you tell your students, "If I hear my name one more time without a hand being raised, I'm taking a self time-out?!"

If it is, take my teaching certificate away. I had one of those days.

A self time-out is a time-out that the kids ask for to take a little break when something is frustrating them or they need to be away from the group. Sometimes I wish I could take them.


This was after:

• a kid flipped me off (not too uncommon)
• a kid "bucked" at me (when you step towards someone like you're going to hit them)
• my room was destroyed not once, but twice
• I had to break up a fight
• I had heard my name seriously 1,992 times without a hand being raised
• a kid put 15 circle counters in his mouth and I touched them after he spit them out
• a 6 year old told me to "shut the f*ck up!".. only he used the real words
• I had white paint ALL OVER my classroom because someone decided to walk on their hands that we had just painted to create hand print snowflakes

I think I kind of deserved a self time-out.

The only thing that made it better? The little guy who came up to me and said, "You look like you need a hug. A big bear hug. Where I don't let go until your angry thoughts go away."

Seriously, dude? You read my mind. Even though just two minutes before I wanted to kick you out of my classroom for playing hopscotch from chair to chair.

Dear Readers...

I have a confession to make. I have a little tracker to see who reads my blog. It all started when I was averaging zero comments a week and started to feel like I didn't have any readers. So, a blog friend of mine suggested I get stat counter to see how many lurkers are really out there. It really isn't for the purpose of seeing who is reading, more to make me feel better that I actually DO have readers.

Well, I've been checking it here and there. It's pretty neat to see how many of you are coming from different places. I'm just a little baffled. I have a high readership in Allendale, Michigan. A very high readership. Who are the Allendale, Michigan readers?

If you don't want to identify yourself on my blog by leaving a comment.. or you don't have the ability to comment.. send me an email to midmidlifecrisis at gmail dot com (but put it together like a real email address).

Just curious, you know.

Vote.

I hope all of you have voted today. If not, Go! Now! You still have an hour.

All the cool people are doing it, duh! Check out who wore their "I voted" stickers with pride!

Little Dog is licking her sticker. She wasn't quite so sure she wanted to wear it. And yes, that's my hand trying to hold her head so I could take the picture.
Big dog posed very nicely, but it's hard to read the sticker. I was bribing her with a treat. That's the only reason she's looking at me.

See? All the cool people are doing it.

OH! And.. this is my 100th post! Happy 100th post to me!

X...

Today we were talking about the letter x. One boy (with speech problems) proudly points out the letter x on the wall. Only when he says it, it sounds more like @ss. A whole lot like @ss. I'm giggling in my head thinking... oh, I can't wait to share this one!

Apparently the little guy next to me (not the X boy) heard the same thing and thought it was equally as hilarious. He quietly says to X boy, "Tell Mrs. L to kiss your x!"

I wasn't quite quick enough to intervene when little X boy says, "Mrs. L, kiss my @ss!"

That was after a child told me he wanted to be a hooker when he grew up, just like his mom.

Sweet. Good goal there, dude.

Domestic Goddess..

Yeah, pretty much that describes me lately.

Yesterday? Homemade Halloween costume. Today? These..

Check it out! Cute little personalized onesies. Made these for friends of ours who just had a baby.

The duck one is my FAVORITE!

The teacher in me just loves these. If you can't see them... it says E is for elephant and F is for frog. It's never too early to start teaching them!

You know you want to be my friend and have a baby!

Oh.. one random thing. I have this habit of locking the front door every time I walk out of it. Going to get the mail? Lock the door. Going to work? Lock the door. Throw out the trash? Lock.... the.... crap... hubby isn't home. It's definitely raining. I had no shoes on. You do the math.

Halloween Costume

Here it is, folks... and I made it all by myself. Well, except for the 12 phone calls to my mother.

I had a difficult time in the cutting stage... so I did not take any pictures of that part. It involved many curse words and a mini-fit.

Little dog is "helping" with the costume making. Of course, her idea of helping was to lay right where I needed to be.The finished product. I was pretty impressed with myself. It only took about two hours, 12 phone calls and one mini-temper tantrum to complete.
The red shoes are just perfect.

Now.. can you all tell who I'm supposed to be? Please tell me you know. The shoes should be a dead giveaway.

Random Musings...

These are the pumpkins my kiddos decorated. I, of course, had images of cute little pumpkin faces smiling brightly. Instead, this is what I got. I think they are quite funny. And totally representative of my kids. Look at the color mixing going on here!

This one even has the stem decorated!

In other news, I lost again this week! I'm down a total of 4.5 pounds. Only 11.5 to go! Now, I'll be honest.. I wasn't very good about logging my points this week, but I really feel like I consciously made better choices. Take last night for example. We were out to eat at a pub (not my choice) with a friend of hubby's. Instead of scarfing down the cheeseburger like I wanted to. I asked hubby to split chicken tenders with me and my appetizer was a side salad. That was a healthy choice and caused me to eat less in the end.

We've been invited to a Halloween party on Friday and I haven't a clue what we're going to wear. Anyone out there have any suggestions?

You MUST

You must head over to check out Brock and Ava to see the super-cute Vera Bradley giveaway she is doing.

While you're there.. you should definitely tell her I sent you! :)

Birthday Round up...

These were sent to me today at school from my parents. What a lovely surprise!

Please note the seat belt wrapped around them. Yes, that was the only way to get them home without any spillage. When I buckled them in safely, I thought to myself... I must get a picture of this. This is definitely blog worthy.

Any of you out there have moments like that? You know, when you think "This would be perfect for the blog!"

Birthday Girl

Tomorrow is my birthday! It's sort of a big one.. the big 2-5. You know, a quarter of a century.

It's pretty much how I thought of my blog title. You know, it's not a mid-life crisis because I'm really mid-midway through my life. Get it?

Again, I've been working on grad papers so my humor is a little off. Seriously, reading about collaborative problem solving and writing about group dynamics? A little dry.

On a brighter note, today was much quieter at school. I had two kiddos absent and the noise level decreased dramatically. It made me realize how much energy little kids have when I only had to keep an eye on 5 of them instead of 7.

Full Moon...

Today I looked FABULOUS in my cute gray dress with black trim, a black sash bow, gray tights, and cute, cute, cute boots. I was very impressed with my get-up. Hubby was, too.

I was totally cute until one of my little ones decided to run away at recess. Yes, a child with emotional/behavior issues ran away from me... and keep in mind that 5 year olds are much faster than their teacher running in boots and a dress.

The fantastic part? The wind gust at about 15 mph as I was reaching to grab him.

Yup, full moon. For the entire playground. Pretty sweet for me.

A little of this..

... and a little of that.

The weekend seemed to fly by too fast, again. In between working on papers for grad class, trying to plan for the week, and securing a new project for my internship... I did not get much accomplished in any other areas of my life. I'm just having a hard time being so organized and planned at school that my home life seems to really lag behind. Any other teachers out there have suggestions? I'm just exhausted when I get home, so cleaning, cooking, and doing other things around the house just don't seem to get done.

Today in school I overheard a conversation between two of my students:
A fight was brewing between a little guy (who is a huge tattle-tale) and my little mini-me. Here's what tattle-tale said,"I'm telling Mrs. Italian-last name what you just did!"

Mini-me says, "Oh no you're not! That's not being respectful!" (um.. what?)

Tattle-tale thinks for a minute, "Well, you're not being respectful so I'm telling!"

Mini-me retorts with, "Fine go be a snitch, but don't you know ain't nobody like a snitch... once a snitch, always a snitch."

My mouth was wide open. But, they solved the problem on their own and tattle-tale did not want to be a snitch.

Annnnnnnd... I'm having such a hard time with weight watchers. Sometimes a girl just wants the juiciest, fattest, delicious cheeseburger. And some fries on the side.

Basically, I'm a whiner today. Sorry. I promise to bring you back to our normal programming just as soon as I figure this all out.

It's a sad, sad day...

The greatest toy ever has been eaten. Big Dog just couldn't stand that the toy was still around. She ate it. Chewed it for a few minutes and swallowed it.

I wasn't home so hubby had to mourn the loss by himself. Even Little Dog was a bit sad. Big Dog? She had no clue.

Take Your Friends to Work...

The new curtains my mom made for my classroom. The kids are VERY excited to have these up. We have been talking about them for a while and they just could not believe that a) I have a mother, and b) that she made curtains for our classroom. I think they turned out just perfect. Thanks Mommy for making them!





You can't see very well in the picture, but the ones on the outside are striped and the one in the middle is polka dots. The stripes have some polka dots on them too. They are totally complimentary.

And this is the view from my desk... but a little zoomed in. In the back, with the rug, is where we do morning meetings, calendar, and read stories. It is also where we have quiet time. Quiet time is when the kids lay down on their tummies and the quiet music is on. Seriously, it's the only time that it's peaceful in the room. They know that if they talk or get in any trouble, the music will be turned off and it's back to work. This all came about because on the first day I was like, ugh, what am I going to do to calm these kids down? I came up with the idea on the fly and we have been doing it ever since. I think it's silly, but they enjoy it. And, I'm not going to lie.. I like the peace and quiet for 5 minutes!

Sorry I didn't get any other angles.. it was really early in the morning and I meant to get more before the end of the day, but it just didn't happen.

Back to reality tomorrow.

Wish List...

I'm in one of those moods..

So I thought I'd put my wish list up. Here are the things I'm wishing for...

1. A new wedding band. Mine has caused this nasty rash thing on my hand and I can't wear it.
2. A new school bag, preferably in black and white and with a pink monogram.
3. "Magic Pants" from Target.
4. My house to be clean. We're talking SPOTLESS. Shining.
5. Long, brown hair. I'm so tired of my short, mousy blonde hair. I want it brown. I have for years now..
6. My master's to be finished.
7. To have lost the 10 lbs. I'm hoping to lose.
8. Things to calm down at school, so I can stop stressing.
9. My cousin to move here.
10. My family to move here.

I'm sorry this is such a slacker blog post. I'm just not feeling it today.

Seriously?

Today a kid had an ear ache. He whined and cried for about 5 minutes. I finally gave in and asked him what was wrong. He said there was something in his ear. I calmly replied, "Your finger?" He assured me there was something else in there. The following is our convo.

Me: What could possibly be in your ear?
Him: Something black.
Me: How did something black get in your ear? (Rolling my eyes..) Did you put something in your ear?
Him: No...
Me: Then how do you know it's black?
Him: I don't know. I just do.
Me: Did you put something in your ear? (in a rather annoyed tone, I'm sure).
puts his head down...
Me: Seriously, what did you put in your ear?
Him: Just something I found on the rug.
Me: Just something? Something you found on the rug? Seriously? You put it in your ear?

We walk to the nurse. The whole time I'm grilling him about putting things in his ear.

We walk into the nurse's office (who happens to be his nurse from his prior school...) and I say, Little Dude has something in his ear. Something he put in his ear.

She exclaims, "Little Dude! I saw you three times for this last year! When are you going to learn not to put things in your ear?!"

I had to walk out.. I was afraid of what I might say to him. He's six. Shouldn't he know this already?

Tired...

Whew. I'm exhausted. Why?

I thought you might ask...

Let me give you a run-down of my class. One kindergartener, three first graders, and three second graders. Three of those are extremely ADHD and do.not.stop.talking.ever. Top that off with two drama kings, two criers, and seven whiny little kids. Oh, and add in two who want my attention every second of the day.

All of that= a tired teacher.

My day consists of saying, "Excuse me?" "Please make good choices" "Don't do that!" "Say you're sorry" "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, thank you for not making me get to zero." "Is that a good choice?" "We don't say that in our classroom." "You're not sitting safely" "Criss-cross applesauce, spoons in your bowl" and many other choice phrases about 999,998 times. I'm beginning to think I'm a broken record.

The good news? This tired teacher loves her job. Even though the kids may whine, scream, shout, kick, tell me they hate me, and more... I still look forward to the hugs each and everyday. One kid told me today that I could have ten days off, and two kids shouted "NO! Don't leave us for ten days. We'd miss you too much. We would make bad choices if you weren't here!" That makes my day. Of course, they continue to make bad choices here and there, but they are learning and that's all I can ask for.

What.a.Day.

You know what kind of day it was when I have happy hour on Monday.

Yes, I drank on a Monday night.

To top it off? I was definitely making lunches for tomorrow when hubby came downstairs and said to me, "Why is your purse still on your shoulder?" Um.. excuse me?

Yes, I did have my purse on my shoulder and no I did not realize it was there.

I.am.losing.my.mind.

I Lost?!

Somehow I managed to lose weight this week! This is even after I ate at a fondue restaurant, ate out the following night-- pasta? oops., and had a PotBelly's sandwich for lunch yesterday that was definitely 12 points.

I think even though I feel like I ate a lot, I did make some better choices. For example, yesterday when I was eating the 12 point sandwich, I nixed the mayo. This is huge. Normally I pile on the mayo. I didn't even notice it was missing when I ate the sandwich.

It may have helped that I walked about 5 miles yesterday while hubby was running his marathon. (Good job, babe! You did AWESOME!) It was hard work following him around!

Well, hopefully this week is more of the same. But I'm going to try harder this week... really. No more fondue all-you-can-eat nights. Seriously.

Greatest.Toy.Ever.

This? This is the greatest toy ever. What started out as a nice puppy chew toy almost three years ago is now a little two-inch piece of fabric.

before...

after...

Don't get me wrong, rawhide bones and other edible treats are much preferred by Big Dog and Little Dog, but this? This has been the reason for many a wrestling match in the living room. I have tried to throw this thing away many times. It just seems every time I remember that I should throw it away, it is hidden somewhere.

It's like it just keeps coming back to life.

Perhaps I shouldn't fight it. After all, we probably paid $8.99 for it two years ago AND it keeps the dogs quiet sometimes. Just like a pacifier.

Grr..

You know it's been one of those days when the pizza guy comes and you want to punch him. In the face. Twice. In my defense, he had it coming.

He walks up and I greet him, "Good evening!" because I'm just that nice.

Walking up with a small pizza and a oven roasted sandwich... "Hi. Please sign."

As I'm signing, "Oh... you must be really hungry."

Yes, I am jackass. I've been eating carrots all day because I'm going out to dinner for fondue tonight and I'm on Weight Watchers and there aren't enough points in a week to fit a fondue night out with the girls into it!

Seriously, don't mess with me.

And for the record, the pizza and sandwich were for my husband. You know, the guy running a marathon this weekend. That's 26.2 miles. And yes he's hungry. Jerk.

Riddle...

What do you get when you cross a kid, a magnet, and a computer monitor?

A rainbow screen.

Ask me how happy I am. Not very. Apparently while I was out of the room today in a meeting a little one took a magnet to the monitor. His response when I asked him what happened?

"I wanted to see if the magnet would stick!"

Nope, it doesn't.. but it does turn it a different color.

WW...

WW, as in Weight Watchers.

I took the plunge. I've started Weight Watchers. Today was my first day. I'm feeling pretty good... not too hungry, not too full. But, I still have some cravings that I'm going to have to get over and some food in the house that hubby is going to have to eat soon.

The cookies on the counter? Calling my name.

Little Dog...

Hi there! I'm Zoey, AKA Little Dog, Zoers, or Zo Bo. My parents have lots of nicknames for me because I'm just too cute.
Here I am in my favorite spot: the back of the couch. The only thing I like better than this is cuddling with my mom on the couch, or any other place she'll let me cuddle. Anytime my mom is sitting down, I must be as close to her as possible so I can have cuddle time.My grandparents think I'm spoiled rotten, but I think it's just because I'm cute. I love to be outside, especially when there are other animals out there. I enjoy chasing animals and have been known to jump the fence in the backyard just to get a closer look at the squirrels, deer, or birds. Even though I enjoy these things, I'm actually really lazy. My parents say I act like a cat because I sleep so much and I am always climbing on things. When I'm not sleeping, though, I am terrorizing my sister. Shhh! Don't tell my Mommy and Daddy, but I'm always trying to get Big Dog in trouble. They don't even think it's me because I am too cute to be naughty.

For those of you wondering... I don't really know what kind of dog I am. My shelter said I was a beagle/whippet mix, but I don't know that for sure. Maybe some Jack Russel Terrier? I'm pretty sure it's just cute mixed with adorable. I definitely use my looks and my love to my advantage.

Big Dog

I'm stealing this idea from The Pink Putter (a cute blog I stumbled upon the other day!) I hope she doesn't mind!

Hi! My name is Leila. My parents call me Big Dog so that I don't know when they are talking about me. When I'm not terrorizing my parents, I can be found sleeping lazily on the couch. I enjoy going for walks, playing outside, and chewing anything I can get my teeth on. My mom thinks I'm always the trouble maker between me and my sister, but really the little dog is and I just get blamed for it.
I love eating just about anything, even things that aren't food. Shoes used to be my favorite, but I saw how much that made my mommy mad so I stopped. Now I just enjoy eating paper, grass, leaves, and sticks. I don't like it when my Mommy tries to cuddle with me. I only cuddle on my own terms. I usually want to cuddle in the middle of the night when my parents are asleep. They usually kick me out of bed, though.

My sister is my best friend, even though she is a stinker sometimes. I enjoy playing with her and wrestling in the house. Sometimes we get in trouble together, especially when we play WWF on Mommy's bed early in the morning.

I'm the cutest black lab you'll ever meet!

October...

... is my favorite month.

• It's my birthday month!
• It's the beginning of fall and I love, love, love fall.
• I can usually wear a sweater or long sleeves and feel comfortable.
• The windows can be open in the house- I love the fresh air.
• It's my birthday month!
• The school year is in full swing by now.
• I love apple picking.
• I love carving pumpkins.
• It's my birthday month!
• I enjoy being outside when it's sort of warm, sort of chilly.
• And.... last, but not least, it's my birthday month!

Name-Calling...

Apparently I'm a woser. A big, fat woser. [that's loser, but little guy can't pronounce his l's]

Annnnnd, if that wasn't bad enough... nobody wikes me.

All of this after the cutie destroyed half of my room. Seriously, it's like they know that nothing else bothers me, so they feel the urge to destroy my classroom. Call me every name in the book, just don't.touch.my.$hit.

Except he had to clean it all up. And that included the 198 word wall words that were in alphabetical order. Now he's spending his free time organizing it back to the way it was. I don't have the heart to tell him that probably half of it was out of order anyway. I was meaning to organize those one day....

Tattoo?

Today I had an interesting little conversation with one of my students. Keep in mind these kids have been with me for 25 days now.

Little man is sitting on the rug during story time and he raises his hand (YES! I've taught them something) and asks me, "Mrs. [insert Italian last name]. Why do you have a tattoo?"

Stammering, I reply "I wanted one, sweetie," and I return back to reading my book.

He raises his hand again. "I thought only adults who curse have tattoos?"

I wait a minute, trying to regain my thoughts because surely they didn't teach us this in school.

"You don't curse, do you?"

Um... hello? Queen of cursing, right here! But not in front of the kids, of course.

"No, sweetie. I don't curse. But many adults get a tattoo for many different reasons."

Loser...

Yup, that's me.

Today I made the brave decision to give blood. I've only done it once before and I'm scared crazy when it comes to needles and my own blood. I can handle anyone else's blood... just not my own. I was so proud of myself when I watched the woman prick me AND I took a look to see where all that blood was going. I was pretty darn proud.

This is where the loser part comes in...

I stand up and make a joke that the comfy seats are just so hard to get out of. I walk to the canteen and BAM! fell to the floor, only to feel like I was going to vomit all over the lady's shoes. They rushed me to the gurney looking thing and tell me to lay down while they place ice cold paper towels on my head and neck. They then close the curtain and bring me a barf bag. Sweet.

Fast forward about 5 minutes and I'm feeling better. I sit up and make my way back to the seat I was supposed to sit in. It hits again, I'm going to pass out or vomit. I'm rushed back to the gurney. After about 20 minutes, I feel MUCH better and am actually able to sit up and eat something.

Damn. I was so proud of myself, too! That's what I get for not eating a huge breakfast before I gave blood. Next time, I promise.

So.. next time you're donating blood and you see someone who doesn't look well, don't laugh. It could be me.

:)

I might have a new friend! A real life friend, not all of you blog friends. Believe me, I love all my blog friends... but I also need real-life friends.

This is huge for me. I'm really hoping this works out. I know that sounds so silly, but it's true. I don't really have any real-life friends that I actually do things with. You know, the friend you call when you just need someone to run to the mall with. Or the friend you call when hubby is going to be out of town because she'll watch the chick flicks with you.

I grew up with lots of girl friends, especially some very close girl friends. Once I moved here, that changed. It became hard to meet people and make close friendships. Don't get me wrong, I have worked and currently work with some pretty cool people. But they have their own friends, or they live 40 minutes away, or they just didn't like me. I prefer to think it's the distance, I know I'm pretty cool.

So this is really getting me excited. Blondie from the couples date told hubby that she had a really good time and that we should go shopping together. Thankfully hubby played it cool and didn't make me sound like a nerd without any friends (which I am) and said, "Try and keep my wife away from a mall!" Whew. He didn't sell me out, yet.

So, I'll let you know how it goes.

Quirky?

Um.. so hubby just informed me that he might be starting a blog. I, of course, got all excited. He then told me it was going to be a running blog, just about what he ran for the day. I gave him a weird look... and he said, "Well, I'm not as quirky as you!"

Excuse me?

He then tried to explain himself, but the damage was done.

I think he just doesn't appreciate the quirks. Or, maybe he does.

**UPDATE**
Okay, hubby has done some more explaining. He would like you all to know that he doesn't mean quirky. He means witty.

Weekend Recap...

Saturday hubby and I met up with some of my work friends in Annapolis. We had a good time hanging out, watching football, and drinking. The bar we were at has a special shot, the Oyster Shot. It definitely is a raw oyster with cocktail sauce and vodka, chased with a shot of beer. Because I never turn down a dare, you know I totally tried that. It was gross. It won't be something I try again.

After that we headed to meet up with one of hubby's co-workers. It was a total couples date. I don't always do well meeting new people and was not terribly excited for this, but it turned out great and I'm really hoping that she had as good of a time as I did. I know it sounds lame, but sometimes there just aren't enough good couples friends out there and when you find a good set, you really don't want to let them go!

Today we ran a bunch of errands and did some shopping. Now we're just watching football, eating nachos, and drinking beer. Seriously, what could be better than that?

Cute...

Little Dog camping. She did not lay on the ground once. She insisted on sitting in chairs. Such a spoiled little dog. I love it!
Sorry for the blur, but big dog just doesn't take good pictures. She's still cute, though.

Seriously, look at that face. Now you know why she's spoiled rotten.
Both puppies cuddled up together. On the back of my couch. Seriously, they think that it's their couch. They won't move for anything.

no subject

I'm a little disappointed. I give you a story of a little kid saying pi$$ and I don't get any comments. What's up with that?

How about the little guy who called me a b*word, an f*ing b*word, a p*word and a fat p*word, f*word b*word all in one breath? Yes, that takes talent. Heaven forbid he know how to read when he can come up with insults using profane language, right?

A day in the life of moi.

Annnnnd.. if I get around to it, I'm going to copy Ashley and bring you all to work so you can see what I'm working with. Don't get too excited, it means I have to remember my camera tomorrow. And if you know me in real life, you know I have the memory of an ox and I forget everything. Seriously.

Ooops.

So today when we were sounding out words, I had a kid change a word from his (huh, iiii, ssss-- that's how we sound it out) to this on the board. He changed it to pis. Wouldn't have been quite so bad except I have one kid who loves to repeat EVERYTHING I say, just like I say it. And I turn to hear him say, "Sound it out.. does that spell this? No.. it's p--- iiiiiiii----sssss!" I whipped around to hear a fit of giggles and the little guy proudly proclaim, "Oops! I said a bad word!"

Word to the wise.. be careful when first graders are sounding out words on their own. You never know what you're going to get from them.

School, School, and more School!

Okay, my life has officially gotten boring. I feel like all I do is go to school, come home and work on school work for regular school, then do more school work for my grad class. I'm not sure this is what I had in mind when I said I wanted my master's in two and a half years. I love school, I really do. I just don't think I love school as much when I'm teaching full time and taking two classes. Yuck.

On a brighter note, I got some exercise today (which totally means I can now have a second helping of dessert, right?) and actually sort of enjoyed myself. Shhhhh! Don't tell hubby. He'll think I should do it more often.

Curious as to what kind of exercise I got? I rode my bike! I have a fabulous bike and there's just something about going for a bike ride when your bike rides like a BMW. Not too shabby considering I used to ride a bike that was 12 years old and squeaked when I used the brakes. There's just nothing like feeling the wind in your face. I was actually taken back in time to a day when I used to enjoy riding my bike daily. The weird part? I felt like I was going really fast. Come to find out, I wasn't. Shucks. Oh well... nothing says I have to be the fastest bike rider (just the cutest!).

Thanks for letting me use you as a great break from my grad papers! You are such a distraction, Blog.

Google Reader

I had a few comments a few posts back (when I was feeling sorry for myself about not having any readers...) and there were a few people who didn't know what google reader is. Let me explain.

If you have gmail, which I know you do because you commented on here and you are not a blogger. Google Reader is a program that allows you to follow blogs and be alerted when the blogs you are reading have been updated.

At the top of your gmail account, it says something to the effect of calendar, documents, photos, reader, etc. If you click on reader, it will allow you to set it up. It's super easy. Once you do that, any website you go to that has an rss feed (a little orange sign on the top right corner will easily let you know if it has an rss feed) and you can click on it to add it to your google reader.

Or, if this wasn't helpful... just go google it.

Bread, Rashes, and Grad Classes..

This is what my life consists of.

Mom and Gram sent a bread machine our way. After one failed attempt at creating cinnamon swirl bread, I decided to start off easy. I just finished a piece of warm, buttery, white bread. It was to.die.for. We're really looking forward to trying some of the awesome bread machine recipes. I mean, rosemary bread? Hello Macaroni Grill bread, only way cheaper. Sun-dried tomato and mozzarella bread? Yummy.

Yes, I realize this purchase really makes me sound old. Don't laugh at me.

Rashes? Well... hubby had poison ivy a few weeks back. Fast-forward two weeks and a few creams later, he had a full blown allergic reaction to something. We're talking hives all over his body. I took him to the doctor and they loaded him up with some pills to get rid of the pain and the rash. Hello day off for me!

And now I'm stuck working on grad class stuff. Papers galore.

I'm beginning to sing, "Bread, Rashes, Grad Classes, Oh My!" You know.. like lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!?

I really think all this 'serious' writing for my grad papers has warped my sense of humor. Eeks.

Less REALLY is more...

So I'm hubby-less and puppy-less tonight. Can I get a heck yeah?!

Don't get me wrong... I love the hubby and adore the puppies. But it's been quite some time since I've had even a few moments to myself. Tonight I'll be indulging in some guilty pleasures that I can't always get away with when one or the other is around.

1. Being on the computer for as.long.as.I.want...without interruptions.
2. Eating cereal for dinner.
3. Catching up on my shows. Now, I can usually get away with this but it almost always involves at least one dog. Said dog usually has to go to the bathroom, or wants to cuddle just at the time the plot is thickening.
4. Going to bed at 8:30 and falling asleep by 8:45. Again, Hubby would be fine with this... it just doesn't usually happen.
5. Not doing the dishes, cooking, or cleaning. I could get away with this when hubby or dogs are home, I just know I shouldn't.

With that being said... I'm off to fry my brain staring at the computer and the television.

Ahhh... freedom.