Good News!

Hubby is coming home today! He has been on a mission trip to Mexico for two weeks. He will be surprised to feel how cold it is and to see how much snow is still on the ground. He may want to board the plane and return to Mexico.

More Adventures with Toots

Since my school was cancelled for the second day due to the 12 inches of snow we had received, I kept my granddaughter again overnight and all day. She was up early and began vomiting right after breakfast. Daddy came to bring medicine to see if that would help. She felt better, slept 2 hours and decided she still wanted to go to her favorite restaurant for lunch. I tried to talk her out of it, but was unsuccessful. (You pick your battles with this strong-willed child.) So, we made our way to the Mexican restaurant of her choice. She ordered her favorite, minus the cheese dip. After eating, she turned to me and said, "Mimi, I'm going to throw up!" With those words, she started retching. (I thought one of the gentlemen across the way would let his eyes pop out of his head.) We made it to the restroom where a few more deep retchings occurred. Then she quietly stood one foot from the commode... Okay, I'll stop the blow by blow description, but will close by saying I had to clean the hinge area of the stool thoroughly! By the time mom picked her up to go home, she felt much, much better. In fact, she was bouncing off the walls by bedtime. I'm doing okay, if I don't think about the stool hinges.

SNOW!

I'm home from school for the second day in a row because of a foot of snow. Yep, we got one of the big snows tying for sixth place on the all-time big snow list. My granddaughter and I went out in it for about 30 minutes. Before stepping off the back porch, we used the yardstick to measure the depth of snow. One of my plants had 9 inches mounded upon it. The black metal birdcage was no longer empty--it was filled with snow! When we tried to find the steps to descend the porch, we couldn't find them. We had so much snow that where the steps are located was a huge snow drift. Lucky for us, we knew where to start digging out the steps. After trudging through the snow to check out the pond and take some beautiful pictures, we saw the swing set. Toots wanted to play on the swing and slide. So we made our way to the jungle gym. After clearing off the top landing of the slide, Toots came down into a large pile of snow. She thought that was fun until she tried to wipe the snow off her face. With gloves matted with snow she tried in vain to wipe her face clean. Didn't work so well. We had to end our time in the snow to come inside to thaw. But then we were tired from all the work of just walking through the 12 inches of white stuff.

Accelerated Math Decelerates Blogger

Sorry for my absence. We have begun yet another new program in school this month called Accelerated Math. We are receiving training, but not quickly enough. We are to be immersed in the program, having all students actively using the program NOW, if not sooner. It has become a "learn as you go" program for we, the teachers. Thankfully we are willing to share with one another what we have learned, especially the parts about what does not work! Most of the students really like the program. Those who struggle in math are not as willing to work in the program. I am so busy keeping the program and all its components going while we are doing acc math for the day that it has become easy for the strugglers to just sit and do nothing. I will have to find a way to "fix" this problem, and soon!

Here's the Church and Here's the Steeple

Hubby is going on a mission trip to Mexico. He and 13 others are going to build a church with the money our church raised by donating 60 cents for a concrete block, $1.60 for a bag of cement, $5.00 for so many 2x4s and so on. Hard to believe a church could be built in two weeks and that it only cost $7,500. But then I don't think it will be the extravagant building like we are accustomed to. It will be sufficient for their needs. Perhaps we should be pleased with sufficient. Perhaps we should change our wants to match exactly what we need.

Cut the Trim

Well, I finally tackled the job of undecorating the Christmas trees and putting all the boxes of ornaments, lights, etc. away. I worked on it off and on all day. It wasn't as much fun as decorating, but still rewarding. Having the empty spaces and clean look back was quite refreshing. My granddaughter was here and was not happy about it. She thought since the weather was still cold that we should leave the trees up for longer. She made a good point, but the trees had to come down. I didn't try to explain to her that in just about 10 months we start the process all over again. Ugh! Now that sounds like work.

Luxury and Tight Quarters

Hubby and I went out to eat with our son and daughter-in-law for her birthday. Her father also went along. We met the son at a parking lot and all got in his vehicle, one of those crossover models. The parents sat in the back of the 5 passenger car. Son took off before we could get our seat belts on. So he had to stop and wait. We had a big laugh because it was such tight quarters that we couldn't put our belts on at the same time. And with the doors closed, there was no where to lean to give the others more room. On our return trip, hubby waited outside the car while her dad buckled, then me in the middle, and finally he got in and buckled. Wonder if that is in the owner's manual?

Dreams Can Be Nightmares.

Last night I had a vivid dream about my mom, my brother, and my dad, all of whom are deceased. We were in my dad's house, mom was in her bedroom, Joe in the living room, and dad was sitting at the kitchen table. I only talked with my dad, and he answered me. I was helping pick out two sets of clothes for him to wear to a friend's visitation and funeral. I picked out the red/orange leisure suit, and he agreed that would be fine. Now I don't go in for dream interpretations, but it gives me the willies to be talking with the departed. Does that mean I miss them? I long to be with them? I am dying soon? Too much stress? Don't answer that.

Resolution to Improve

While looking over test data from our students for this school year, our principal asked each of us to list what we felt was our strengths and our weaknesses. Then we are to state how we will improve our teaching to help the children score higher. I instantly thought of a good way to improve, retire;)

Back to School

It was back to school today for many unhappy children. All of mine returned, but not all were fully awake. Some had regressed with the 16 day break. It will be like starting all over again with them. I'm not a happy camper.

Love the Wii

I love Wii. I was able to bowl several games without my knees hurting. I also bowled a high of 215. I didn't have to keep score. (I know, the alleys today have automatic scorers, but I'm old and remember when...) My thumb is not sore from the hole in the ball. I didn't have to wear those smelly, used bowling alley shoes that broadcast my foot size. And I didn't fall down on the approach. And best of all, I didn't leave my house!

Unwanted Emails

I have to return to work/school today. It is teacher records day where we finalize the six-week grades, figure the semester grades, and export them. I decided early this morning to get online and check my school email to have that task out of the way. Whoa! My box was filled with vulgar email titles. We have a superior filter/block in place, but evidently it went on vacation also. When I arrive at school, I will need to forward one of the messages to our top computer technician man so he can have record of the violation as well as fix it. I doubt that I will be the only one sending the vulgar example to him. At least let's hope I am NOT the only one sending.

Let's Go to the Movies

Went to the movies last night to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was good, but very LOOOOOONG, just under 3 hours. I got tired of the story line, but was curious enough to want to know what caused such and such to happen. Several parts of it did not make any sense and seemed more impossible than the first part of the movie. But all in all, it was a good movie. At least I did not exit the movie in tears, just with my bladder full.