teacher tidbits*

teacher tidbits*

September 30, 2010

Today started crazy as usual. My class this year has energy to say the least. Well we changed classes, I started teaching Science again and suddenly the unthinkable happened. Fire drill.....I have yet to receive my drill map. My students lined up like we had rehearsed for this or something, and I stood in the hall asking teachers were I was supposed to go. We went outside, came back in...end of story.


Or so I thought.


Well my homeroom had a bit of a incident. Apparently (leading up to the fire alarm) my students had not thought to bring pencils to their next class, that teacher applies the policy I used last year and requires a shoe trade for a pencil. I just haven't gotten aggravated enough yet to do it this year. Well apparently my half shoeless class heard the alarm and instead of finding a shoe decided to fall out in the floor yelling and rolling around like nuts. 


Was I surprised? No I was laughing so hard when I heard this the principal came out to tell the kids to be quiet...truth be told it was me. (uh oh) The teacher who currently had them was cracking me up, she threatened the mess out of me if I didn't warn her ahead of time that they were having "one of those days" again. In her words "At least stick your head out in the hall to yell they are psycho", she kills me. 


Needless to say I can only imagine a whole class rolling around with no shoes during a fire drill.


Who else is excited tomorrow is Friday?

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Zumba

Zumba

September 29, 2010

Dear Zumba,

I love you. I am so so happy I will get to see you twice a week starting in October...then three days a week in two weeks. Yay! Shaking my booty after work really perks me back up. Way better than bribing lazy Ellie to walk. She is too lazy. We drag more than walk.

Can't wait until Monday,

Emily

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{unhealthy fear}

{unhealthy fear}

I am utterly convinced the lizards on the front of our house are waging a full on attack against me. The other night when I came home from bible study not only were there at least 10 {that I counted} of them, but as soon as I got to the door they ran towards the door! I then called Jeremy, who thought I was being ridiculous and told me to come inside...well I came in, but not through the front door. I stumbled through the mess that is our back yard and came through the darkness of no lizards. 

Then the next week after bible study, same thing. Except J pulled into the driveway shortly after me and I thought he would be a gentlemen and let me in the house. Not exactly how it played out. Ya see, there was a lizard on the inside door...not just on the walls and screen door. I immediately freaked when he tried to open it for fear of the sucker getting in the house. Did he try to calm me, did he try to get ride of the lizard? No. He told me to quite acting crazy in the front yard because people could see me. 

Which brings us to yesterday morning. On my way running (literally) out of the door to try to escape certain death by lizard I suddenly got snagged and couldn't run. My purse had gotten caught on the screen door handle. OH MY WORD! I fumbled around quickly and got loose, but I am convinced they are setting up traps for me now. 

This has been a life long battle between me and the lizard population of Louisiana. Needless to say 75% of the population now resides on the front of my house. I will win it too if I have to get a pellet gun and snipe the little monsters off my house. 

All this lizard warring makes me think of that Bravehart quote "They can take my land, but they can't take my freedom." 

Why doesn't someone make lizard repellant?!?

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{the weekend}

{the weekend}

September 26, 2010

Friday- We went to Strauss Theater and watched their production of "Curtains". I was really good, raunchy, but good. I could have done without the large amount of raunchy the play offered.

Saturday- I could no longer take the nearly 2 weeks without furbabies. So after waking up at 5:22am for no apparent reason I decided to call my Dad and have him meet me at our halfway point with my furkiddos. After that much time getting into everything their grandparents offered them it was time for a bath. Usually Maddie is the nut when it come to bath time but they swapped roles. Maddie however, is strange. After washing her off I went to take her out of the tub and noticed she still had soap on her and said "Oops Moopy, we're not done rinsing!" Then she did something really odd. She moaned, not a growl, or a whine...but a very clear "are you serious woman?" moan. 

Ellie was just ticked off that she was blow-dried, but I thought she was a cute little munchkin. 

Then I made a Target run and nearly had a fit over these:

 An adult size hot dog costume!

 And a doggie size one! We could be a family of Weenies!!! {Jeremy vetoed that one btw}

As much as Maddie and Ellie attempt to chase squirrels I think they should be one;)

I also chose to be a nice dog momma and buy the girls new collars and a bone each. Who would have known the chaos that would ensue. I got home, unwrapped them, and handed them off. Then the girls took off in different corners with their bones, then took off into the other dogs corner and stole a bone. Ellie hid her behind a guitar and Maddie left her in the dog bed. Which is why at 11pm we were woke up to the sound of two daschunds growling at each other in the dog bed once the bone was rediscovered. Go figure. 

 She stayed this way for awhile.

I also wen to Sam's and grabbed a few steaks. I have been dying to have steak, baked potatoes, and onion strings for dinner. I should have taken the pic before I butchered the steak with my knife.

Onion String:

Ingredients:

1 Sweet/Vidalia Onion

3/4 c masa harina

1/4 c self rising flour

salt

pepper

red pepper

cumin

milk

vegetable oil

Directions:

Soak thinly sliced onions in milk for 5 mins. Mix all dry ingredients together in a Ziplock bag. Begin heating oil in skillet. Drain onions and toss in bag of dry ingredients. Shake off extra flour and place in oil. Fry until golden brown. 

Sunday- Somehow we woke up crazy early again so we went to the 8am service at church, went to Life Group, then headed home to start school work yet again. The bone drama has yet to end though.

Maddie wanted to take a nap with us while Jer did homework and I caught on my bible study homework. She brought the bone with her of course. She also slept so that she could keep an eye on it. Paranoid much? 

Oh and ignore the grungy pillow. It is my "knee pillow". I have this thing about my knees touching while I sleep. It started with a travel pillow while I was in England years ago and have turned into a full size pillow. Bad habit. You can also see the pink corner of my other bad habit. 

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{blogger's block}

{blogger's block}

I have no idea what to blog about. When I have an idea I don't have time. And when I have "time" it is filled with school work.

Dear Blog Topics,

Please come to me freely.

Thanks,

Emily


P.S. That Saints game today was a waste of an afternoon.

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{a horse if a horse, of course, of course}

{a horse if a horse, of course, of course}

September 20, 2010

Unless the horse is actually a weird little weenie dog.

{taking a nibble of my apple}

{yum yum}
This was by far the weirdest thing this dog has done. She hovered over  stayed under me while I ate my apple Saturday morning so I decided to let her lick the core, at least that is what the other dogs did. She on the other hand walked right up and took off a little bite and chewed it...then continued to do this until all that was left was the actual core, not the still slightly fruit covered core I leave behind. She even ate around it while I held it. So odd. I miss my furbabies.


Pop says dogs are a product of their environment...is my health freakness waring off on the dogs? Or the dog, because Ellie thinks half the things are absurd.


After I shared my apple with Maddie Mom and I headed out to see Beth Moore's Living Proof Live Simulcast. Might I add it was absolutely amazing. She talked about Proverbs 31:26 and the laws of kindness.  Our memory verse for the day was:


"She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness."


We also went over the 8 tastes of kindness{I won't go through my whole set of notes but I want to be able to look back here and remember what I learned}.


1. Kindness is not weakness
2. Kindness is not an action. It's a disposition.
3. Kindness wears down when we do.
4. Kindness looks pain in the face.
5. Kindness is a Savior.
6. Kindness has good memory.
7. Kindness craves an outlet.
8. Kindness leaves a legacy.


Needless to say that was message I needed to hear. Work has been tough this year an I just spent all of today continuously saying Pr. 31:26 to myself. But like I told Jeremy, after lunch today I was sucked dry of my kindness and actually raised my voice a few times. I think I did good though in one situation where I would have normally lost my cool a bit with a student.
............................


Oh a completely other note...I am in love with this chair.

And I want these two chairs to go on either end of my farmhouse table.

Love love love them! I like the size and shape of this couch, but I'd like different material.

Can you tell I am itching to redo the living room? My parents just did theirs and it made me even more anxious to ditch our ugly old couch. I want to buy a house and do the whole decorating thing...but I have got to hold off until we get done with school. I'll be a dead dog before we buy a house in North Louisiana.


That was last weekend by the way, I did but one of those head massagers that I have wanted for years. Needless to say Joshua loved it. I have never seen the baby sit so still...and with his hands neatly in his lap.

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{my precious}

{my precious}

September 17, 2010

Tonight I noticed something...my nephew crawls like Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

Smeagol wouldn't crawl as far as I wanted him to, but here is a little video of the hobbit in action.

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{when all else fails use bullets points}

{when all else fails use bullets points}

September 16, 2010

• This has been a long darn week. I can't wait for May. I was all excited about December, but I may not survive that far.
• Official Fall begins is 6 days, big Whoo Hoo!
• I know I have homework but I can't, for the life of me, actually get the motivation up to do it. 
• The furbabies were, as Laura put it, "surprised adopted" Wednesday after the lovely not-so-handy men showed back up to bring the outside hell hole to the inside. We got home from work to find a nice hole in our kitchen...and the dishwasher by the kitchen table. We received no warning about this disaster. They are refusing to give us an end date too. So until something is figured out my parents are dog sitting.

{the hole in the kitchen...lovely}

• Apparently people aren't supposed to work and should take off for an undetermined amount of time to keep their dogs out of the way when people show up unexpectedly after a month of not showing up to fix the plumbing mess. Or just lock them in the bathroom, as the lady suggested. Sorry but we leave at 6:20am everyday and don't get home until 5pm, there is no way I am locking my dogs in the bathroom for that long. 
• After work tomorrow I am heading to Vidalia for the Beth Moore Simulcast at First Baptist Natchez on Saturday.  I am super excited, except for the fact I have to come back right after because we have a Life Group Leader dinner on Sunday. 
• We started the Deeper Still study this week and I am just loving it, I am enjoying this bible study so much I am tempted to work ahead but am refraining;) 
• Heart to Home starts next week and I am really excited about that too. It is just great that there is something for young married women to be involved in that you don't have to have kids as a requirement to attend. I love the idea of MOPS but I'm not going to hit the PreK kid requirement for a few years...and don't want to either after what I saw today at school. Has anyone participated in this before?
• A kid puked right in front of me today, which sent me into total freak out mode. At the same time someone from the school board walked in as well as my assistant principal. Did anyone stop to help the kid, nope. What did I do...run the other way. 
• I had a dream that I had twins, a boy and a girl. They weren't named and Jeremy was not my husband in the dream. Actually I wasn't married in the dream. It was so realistic though that when I woke up I was surprised to see him. Mainly because the whole dream was in my bed with me, my Mom, my dream boyfriend, and his great grandmother...all in my bed with two babies that we never named. Oddly we discussed how we should make our relationship legit because having this unnamed twins made us realize we liked each other. Can you say odd?

How's y'all's week going? Or ending...since tomorrow is Friday!

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There was an old lady who swallowed a fly...

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly...

September 13, 2010

For your entertainment I will share my series of interesting events today. Murphy's Law stalked me very heavily today. Only because I had my university supervisor coming for my 1st of 8 classroom observations of the school year.


To start...I dropped all of my makeup applicators in the toilet this morning.


Then I got to school, took and big sip of my red colored Crystal Light...and dumped it all over me. I had several massive red spots all over my pants for the remainder of the day...even after attempting to spot remove with my Tide pen. Jeremy said I should stick to clear liquids. I almost wore my favorite shirt on earth today but decided on a "so so" one, call it lucky. But all that got me a 2 out of 3 for my appearance score, which is acceptable but not target. 


Then to end my day at school I took another massive gulp of my drink and felt something solid enter my mouth. Last time I checked Crystal Light is not chunky. I made a "Oh Crap!" face, which only one kid noticed, and took off running to my classroom sink. After spitting it all out I saw a fat little fly in the midst of the Crystal Light spit. 


What the heck!


Leave it to Murphy to make my day interesting.

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{problem solving saturday}

{problem solving saturday}

September 11, 2010

I don't know about y'all but as soon as school gets back in full swing my skin immediately dries up like a old rag. It is starting to make me think there are only two skin seasons, In School and Not In School. While not in school I can wear lighter moisturizers, and I tend to get off of my crazy "in school" daily face routine. I don't have to put lotion on my feet, and my legs don't burn like crazy after I shave.


Lately I have started noticing my face is completely lined when I wake up in the morning and my feet look like I have been wandering around shoeless....so it is once again time to break out the heavy duty stuff. Yesterday I had to run to the dollar store to pick up something and noticed my Mom's favorite moisturizer in a travel size bin.

I can't use Nivea year round because it makes my skin greasy during the Not In School season, but slathering this all over my face at night before bed during School Season allows me to wake up feeling like I have skin and not burlap attached to my face. If you have a dry spot anywhere on or near you this will end it immediately. It is amazing what standing on your feet all day and outside duty will do to your skin. 

What are your dry skin solutions?

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{what's the baby doing}

{what's the baby doing}

September 10, 2010

Friday night Skyping with a baby. Sorry for the poor quality, I took pics with my phone and Laura's computer camera is not to great.

Not a very talkative Skype friend. Apparently it is acceptable to let your Aunt baby sit from 90 miles away!

Oh now I get to watch Laura eat a fajita. These people weren't good conversation. JBaby was also very irritated that Laura wouldn't give him her food, he kept reaching out and smacking the table.

What's that Laura? She kept complaining because I was taking pics of them.

Someone hasn't gotten the hang of conversations, turning around in your highchair while someone is talking to you is rude kiddo haha.

Oh Gigi is funny, and we are still not understanding that Meme is on the computer.

What do you do when the baby turns around, turn the baby around. Joshua just kept rattling his keys at the highchair bars like a happy little prisoner.

Oh someone got brave! This kid is going to be big trouble once he starts walking. 


Want to know what we talked about...nothing. I just watched the baby do weird things while Laura had her back to him. She never has been good at talking on the phone...so who would have ever guessed she'd be bad at talking on the computer haha. 


Happy Friday;)

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Fill in the Blank Friday

Fill in the Blank Friday

www.thelittlethingswedo.blogspot.com

1.   The strangest thing I've ever eaten is      alligator, I don't do game meat so I don't get too odd. However J thinks my really healthy habits are strange.

2.  I wouldn't be caught dead      {once again} eating deer, yuck! I also wouldn't dare wear these new super mini dresses that scream hooker   .

3.  When I am 75 I will....       sit on my porch, drink lemonade, and yell at random passing kids  .

4.  If I had to be named after a place I would want to be named       Piper {Piper City, IL}  .

5.  My name is     "Emily" because no one else in the family was named that and "Anne" after my Mom's middle name .

6.  My all time favorite photo is       of me and Nanny from 1988 fishing at the camp, it is in the previous post;)  .

7.  If I could afford it I would       drop everything here and move to England, if Jeremy would agree I'd do it immediately after graduation    . 

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{my favorite picture}

{my favorite picture}

September 7, 2010

Today last year was my Nanny's memorial service. Honestly I have been in the dumps a bit but to honor her memory I decided I'd post my favorite picture of us together.

This is Nanny and I at our camp in Spring of 1988. A huge chunk of my childhood memories are at this place fishing with either Nanny or Pop. Mom swears that her and Dad were there on the weekends too, but I don't remember them to much. I just remember Pop leaving super early to go fishing and Nanny cooking breakfast, then making blackened Perch for dinner. Yum. I even have a very vague memory of Nanny's mom Granny Rose sitting at the window in the kitchen. It might not have occurred right after this picture, but I very strongly remember Nanny trying to get me to take the Perch off of the hook on my own and getting poked half to death with its sharp little fin. 

Good times. 

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Fall/Saints Wreath

Fall/Saints Wreath

September 6, 2010

I've been in the mood lately to get fall started and with the football season already in swing I decided to combine my love of fall with Jeremy's love of the Saints and make a burlap wreath. I had originally seen a crepe paper wreath in Country Living that I wanted to make but after looking around I found the blog Craftaholics Anonymous and found this little ditty. I am thinking that I can change out the fabric flowers for different seasons...but for now it is Fall/Saints themed. 

Here is the link to the burlap wreath tutorial/fabric flower tutorial. 

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Happy Start of Football Season!

Happy Start of Football Season!

September 4, 2010

Yay for football season starting back! And yay for the cool weather...who cares if it is just because there is a hurricane blowing in on the east coast. Jeremy has been so excited that football season is starting up, he is a major Saints fan. He has also worn his jersey every game regardless of their win status, so this last season was amazing for him. 

Surprisingly the men around here are passed slap out and don't appear to be watching any of the games...which is highly unlike them. Jeremy asked if I wanted to take the dog and baby to the river walk then next thing you know he was conked out. The other two men folk are int he living room doing this...

Hope y'all are having a fun football filled Labor Day weekend!

 Geaux Tigers!

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Fill in the blank Friday .

Fill in the blank Friday .

September 3, 2010

www.thelittlethingswedo.blogspot.com

 

1.  If I didn't have to work anymore I would       watch reruns of Sex and the City/be a couch potato, cook fabulous things, do volunteer work, work out more, and walk the dogs .

2.  My favorite thing about a vacation is      having absolutely nothing to do, no school work is sheer happiness .

3.  When packing for a trip I       always forget underwear or something else important  .

4.  If I could go on a road trip with anyone (dead OR alive) I would choose       Sara Jessica Parker  , because,        I just love her, she just seems like a cool person .

5.  My top 3 absolute travel essentials are     1) pony tail holders because I can't stand my hair to be down when I sleep, 2) magizines, and 3)beef jerky .

6.  Vacations are       the reason why I chose teaching, only job you get 2 months off on  .

7.  On vacation you must always       only eat at local places, I can't stand going out of town and eating at a Chili's     .

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Study Guides, Pens, and Weekend Plans

Study Guides, Pens, and Weekend Plans

September 2, 2010

This is exactly how I felt today.

     I send home study guides...that are a bit to close to the test for my taste. I don't exactly feel like it is my fault if  kids don't tell their parents they got one. So all you parents out there...ask your kid what is going on before you jump your kids teachers case. I just don't appreciate having to waste my planning period talking to the principal because some parent doesn't like their kids grades...but doesn't bother to make them study.


     On another note I am officially obsessed with Sharpie pens!

     They just write so pretty and I am so in love. I want to send out little notes to all my far away friends just so I have an excuse to write with them. So Gabby, if you get anything don't be surprised! 
     I also got a teacher card at Office Depot today. OMG amazing! I bought a $5 grade book and the pens were about $8 and I only paid $10. I just love getting a deal! So teachers go get your teacher card at Office Depot!
     
If you don't know it...tomorrow is Friday. I love Friday...but only at 3:20 do I love Friday. This weekend we are driving down to Vtown to hang out with a fat baby and my crazy family. It is the anniversary of Nanny passing away and I think us women folk need to get a daiquiri and watch the dvd slide show we made for the memorial service. Or maybe we should do the Nanny thing and pop popcorn and drink beer. Gosh I love that quirky woman. Maybe I can finish organizing and typing up her cookbook since we are off work Monday. 

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