Reward #2 coming my way!!

I just finished my midterm, and feel really good about it. This professor is awesome about getting stuff back in a timely manner, so I feel sure I will know the results soon. I am pretty proud of myself b/c I'm not good at making myself study and I did! So....whew! That is o.v.e.r.! And, tomorrow, I'm scrappin' with the girls!!! Woo-hoo!! Then, I am taking the whole weekend off and will think about what comes next with my class on Monday. The weather here is suppose to be spring-like this weekend. I am hoping to get OUTSIDE!

Now...what am I gonna make for scrap night? Or rather pick up? ha!
I am about to make my class jello with gummy worms in it to celebrate finishing the book How To Eat Fried Worms....think the girls would want that too? LOL!

oh, and some of my kiddo's really believe I am making something with real worms in it like the book! suckers! hee-hee!

Wordless Wednesday: Bored or Tired?

Crazy Eights MeMe

*with updates at the bottom!

CRAZY EIGHTS!
I was tagged by Lindsey to play along, so here I go!

8 Things I'm Passionate About:
1. Kevin & his sobriety
2. my pets (aka fur kids)
3. my family and friends
4. teaching
5. organizing!!
6. scrapbooking
7. blogging
8. animal abuse/neglect

8 Things I Want to do Before I die:
1. earn my master's degree
2. para-sail (maybe this summer!)
3. go on an Alaskan cruise
4. see New York
5. swim with dolphins
6. see the Grand Canyon
7. have kids of my own
8. win the lottery! :-)

8 Things I Say Often:
1. Shhhhh!!!
2. Listening skills are very important (to my NON-listening class!)
3. No talking in the hall.
4. I need to write that down or I'll forget.
5. What time is dinner? (to my personal chef, Kevin)
6. Is Simba inside? (before I lock the doggie door)
7. I love you.
8. I'll just wait....(on my class to be quiet and LISTEN! ha)

8 Books I've Read Recently:
1. How to Eat Fried Worms (a favorite)
2. Chocolate Fever
3. All About Rosa Parks
4. Uncle Jed's Barbershop (love this one)
5. Follow the Drinking Gourd
6. The True Story of Ruby Bridges (brings tears to my eyes every year)
7. currently reading my class textbook: Practical Research
8. and The Purpose Driven Life with Kevin

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over:
1. American Pie - Don McLean
2. Mustang Sally
3. Candle in the Wind - Elton John
4. Earle - Dixie Chicks
5. Jackson - Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash
6. I Need You - Tim and Faith
7. Leather and Lace - Stevie Nicks
8. When Will I Be Loved - Linda Ronstadt

8 Things That Attract Me to My Best Friends:
1. honesty
2. loyalty
3. fun
4. laughter
5. has my back and I have theirs
6. can put up with my neat freak quirks
7. let's me vent and vents back
8. scrapbooking is a plus! ha!

8 People I Think Should Do Crazy 8's:
if you haven't already been tagged, go for it! :-)

** updates: My Aunt went home from the hospital today - no surgery yet. They put in a stint and are letting it drain. Hopefully surgery won't be necessary. Thanks for the warm thoughts and prayers.

AND, I just got my assignment back from last week - I MADE AN A!!!! Now, wish me luck on the midterm this week. I am going to study right now!

Over and out! :-)

Weekend Report

I am home from the stress-free two day trip to Hot Springs....ahhh! It goes so quickly!

Peggy, my cousin, was the big ticket winner for the day with a $38 winning ticket. However, we were all winners! yay! I won $51, and basically broke even and had a free day of fun. We all won between $50 and $60...yippee! This is me and my Momma! She wins every year ~ I, on the other hand, hadn't cashed a ticket in about 3 years until Friday! ha!
Here's you a shot of the horses getting ready...it was cold, so I took it through the window. My cousin, Peggy, scored us the box seats from her work ~ we were loving it!
On Saturday we got up and shopped a bit and then headed on back. The bad part is right when we were getting ready to leave, my Granny called to say my aunt was in the hospital. She usually goes with us each year on this trip (it's my mom's sister). She didn't get to go this year b/c she had a business trip. Well, she got home and went straight to the hospital b/c she had been in severe pain the whole time she was gone. Turns out, she has a cyst the size of an orange that is pressing up against her kidney. She is having surgery tomorrow, so please keep her in your prayers!

Woo-hoo!

Well, I just got out of class - assignment one is turned in!! My parent conferences are only one shy of being DONE and my interims are in the kiddo's mailboxes waiting to go home tomorrow. AND, I AM GOING OUT OF TOWN TOMORROW FOR REWARD #1!!! Surely with all that off my plate, I will sleep peacefully tonight and stop doing research and grading papers in my dreams! LOL!

I'll leave you with a shout out for two new blogs I have found that I now visit daily ~ go show 'em some love!

Check out Vader's Mom ~ the minute you pull up her blog, you will see why I started reading. Vader isn't a human kid - it's her dog! (and it's not even a boxer - so hush Tee! aka Tan these days! ha!) I love it! And when I saw the quote in her template, I knew we could be friends!

While you are out browsing check out From the Cheap Seats ~ another teacher blogger! She gives lots of support in the area of stress related to teaching! Now, she has new stresses with the world of stay at home mom. That is a job I admire!!

Enjoy! I added them to my Favorite Reads in my sidebar and somehow messed up some of my links. Who knows? I am not worrying about it now though ~ I am officially relaxing for two days!

Wordless Wednesday: My cousin's security system

For Teachers....

I know you've probably seen it before, but it's always a funny read if you are a teacher!


Jeff Foxworthy's Take on Teachers

You Know You Are A Teacher If...

1. You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.

2. You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.

3. You walk into a store and hear the words 'its Ms./Mr. _________' and know you have been spotted.

4. You have 25 people that accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.

5. You can eat a multi-course meal in under twenty-five minutes.

6. You've trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day: prep and after school.

7. You start saving other people's trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom.

8. You believe the teachers' lounge should be equipped with a margarita machine.

9. You want to slap the next person who says 'Must be nice to work 7 to 3 and have summers off.'

10. You believe chocolate is a food group.

11. You can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside.

12. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, 'Boy, the kids sure are mellow today.'

13. You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.

14. You believe in aerial spraying of Ritalin.

15. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

16. You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own children.

17. You can't pass the school supply aisle without getting at least five items!

18. You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils.

19. You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer.

And finally,

20. You understand instantaneously why a child behaves a certain way after meeting his or her parents.

Here's the plan...

....because I always have to have a plan! Ha! Seriously, THANK YOU to everyone for your support and advice ~ you really did help pull me back up yesterday and inspire me to get motivated!!! I knew that I wouldn't forgive myself if I gave up, so...I am taking deep breaths and looking at it one assignment and one week/day at a time. (And I have rewards in place to look forward to!)

This week, I have an assignment due and my interim reports at school - reward: Friday taking off and going to the horse races! (annual girls trip)

Next week, I have my mid-term - reward: next night girls scrap night! woo-hoo!

After my BIG second assignment - reward: using my massage/facial gift certificate from Kevin for Valentine's Day - thank you honey!

After my last assignment and final - reward: going to see Sugarland/Little Big Town in concert with my Mom.

I do love some incentives! LOL!
And, I have had all my parent conferences except for two that need to re-schedule. I printed my interims today before I left work - which means I had all my grading caught up! (and all you teachers know that being caught up on grading doesn't last long at all!!!) Tomorrow I will write comments on the interims and turn them in to the principal. Kevin has been super supportive AND forgiving - he went to the grocery store today (I hate doing that!), finished up the laundry AND cooked dinner! What a guy!

I am sure that you have realized if you read my blog or know me that I do not handle stress very well. I let it build and build and then eventually have a meltdown. Yesterday was my meltdown. I put entirely too much pressure on myself sometimes. I think I have to do everything and do it THE BEST. I mean, you know how I beat myself up over a B last semester - ha! I am trying to relax a little...promise!

Now...I am off to work on my assignment - with visions of horses racing in my mind! :-)

IT'S TOO MUCH!!!

Maybe if I relieve some stress by blogging, I can focus. I should be on my way to Searcy with Kevin right now to see his family. Or, I should be getting ready for church. I'm not doing either. I'm at the freakin' computer - again! I am supposed to be doing research for my stupid class. URGH! I hate this class! It's too much....I went to work on Friday, had parent conferences as well as a million other tasks, left there, went to the library for research, came home and graded papers and did grades until 9:30 - ON A FRIDAY NIGHT! I did that so I could go to Searcy today, and only have to research when I got home. Ladies - you know how it is - women do not just work outside the home but at home too. So, not only do I have all this crap going on with work and my masters class, but I have to keep the house clean and the laundry going, yada yada.

Well, it all came crashing down. I was holding it all up the best I could, and now I am just a crying, blubbering mess. I looked up the drop date for my class. I am not a quitter - that's the only thing that has stopped me so far. I don't think I can do it though - 2 more months to go with 3 more major projects, a midterm next week, and a final. I strongly want to quit and have my life back NOW - not in 2 months.
I'm ashamed to admit that I took it out on Kevin - my stress. I snapped and yelled at him in the middle of the night b/c I couldn't sleep b/c he kept waking me up. So, now we are arguing - just what I need. Why didn't I just keep my trap shut and get up and go to the other bedroom? Geez!
Seriously, it has been so long since I was in school, if I drop the class and take a W, do I get my tuition money back? I can't lose $700 - that would be incentive to stick it out.
I am rambling and this didn't help - darn it! I need guidance - what to do? I should've taken this class in the summer!! I know I will be disappointed in myself if I give up, but I also know I will be relieved to let go of the load...decisions!
Any advice?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Really - Kevin and I aren't "celebrating" Valentine's day until Saturday because I had class tonight, and he has to work tomorrow. BUT, when I walked in the door from my crazy Valentine party at school followed by two parent conferences...look what Kevin had for me! I LOVE tulips...tulips and sunflowers are my absolute favorite flowers! He really is pretty awesome! And, on Saturday, I am taking the day off from school work and master's work, and we are going treasure hunting or junking - whatever you want to call it when you hit a bunch of flea markets in one day! We love us some flea markets! :-)
At school, we had an ice cream sundae party for our Valentine party. The kiddo's were HYPER all day. All of you teachers know how it is...on party days, we should just come to school for the party and go home. It is impossible to get anything else done. To make it even more chaotic, it was casual for a cause day (where they pay a $1 to wear whatever they want instead of their uniforms). Let me tell you, uniforms do make a difference in their behavior b/c anytime they don't have to wear them, it is a wilder day!
I am so lucky this year, my parents and kids are awesome...look - I got even MORE Dr. Pepper for Valentine's day! I love it! Boyfriends and husbands of teachers have it easy on Valentine's day b/c we get so much chocolate at school! ha!

And...we get to keep being a kid - look at these Valentine cards...they are so much fun! I am like a kid b/c I still love to dump them all out at once and read them! LOL!
Hope you all had a great day!

Wordless Wednesday: Snuggle Buddies

(This is where they snuggle up in the office while I'm on the computer - like now! LOL!)

Ewwww!

I thought I would be smart and keep my Dr. Pepper from the kids at school....LOOK what happened over the weekend!

We have rats or mice or something....GROSS!!! I mean, what would make them want Dr. Pepper cans? Luckily, they didn't reach the cans, so I brought them home to safety! Ha!

Seriously, do you think I should get a top for Nibbles (our guinea pig) cage? What if they are getting in there at night and scaring her and eating her food!?!

NASTY!!!

I hate mice, but I hate rats even more!

Birthday Stuff

I had a great birthday on Friday ~ despite the fact that I feel old now! LOL!

My kids were so pumped it was my birthday that I couldn't be down about getting old for long! Here's the funniest thing ~ they ALL know that I have to have a Dr. Pepper in the mornings. If I don't then, they say I'm grouchy. If I have one, then they say, I'm happy....well, one day last week I think, I came to school and I said, "Class, beware, I had a little bit of Dr. Pepper this morning but it was flat, and flat Dr.Pepper is like no Dr. Pepper at all!" One kid tried to give me his lunch money to go to the vending machine! Hee-hee! Well....for my birthday a parent comes in with this huge gift bag, and it's heavy. They got me a case of Dr. Pepper!!! Ha! I love it! They were so excited ~ they broke into the birthday song at least 3 different times on Friday. And, then Kevin showed up at the end of the day with Sunny D and cupcakes for the kids and Starbucks for me! What a guy! He even stuck around and challenged my boys to some games of chess. They loved it!

A meeting of the minds...After my "birthday party" at school, we went to a local flea market, and I found a birthday treasure. Yay! And, then we went to this awesome restaurant, Gaucho's, that I haven't been to in forever! YUMMY! We basically rolled ourselves out the door after dinner.

Today, we dreamed really big and went to the RV Show. Oh wow, they had everything from pop-up's to $300,000 RV's. AMAZING! We did register to win a $8,000 pop-up! It could happen...you never know!

As for my stress, well, I've sort of taken the past two days off. Kevin helped me grade papers tonight. Tomorrow I am working on my paper for my masters project and trying to get at least half of my parent conference forms filled out. Wish me luck!

S.T.R.E.S.S.

Ok...I have a confession. I have taken on too much or something. My plate is overloaded as they say....today at the end of the day, I looked down and my hands were shaking and my heart was racing. I had to make myself sit down and take deep breaths. Seriously...parent conference forms, conferences, a freakin' research paper, papers to grade that are piling up AGAIN (I graded for 3 hours last Saturday - there is NO catching up as a teacher), appointments, class tonight.....oh, and I'm turning 35 tomorrow. I need a secretary!

Check us out!

I'm cheating and giving the same post from my classroom blog...but darn it, aren't they cute? I am proud of them, and today was their honor roll assembly. So...here's my kiddo's!

School House FUN!

Our root beer/coke floats were a hit on Friday! The kids loved it! I don't remember having this much fun when I was in school. I overheard one of the kids say, "This is the best class ever. I mean, we got to EAT our science lesson!" LOL! Yes kids, you have a teacher that loves to eat! Now quick, what is the solid, the liquid, and the gas in this experiment?

Really???

We leave McAlisters today from lunch & this massive Expedition parked like a crazy person...I couldn't even get in my car. I had to climb in from the passenger side. Seriously - how ridiculous is this parking job?

I really wanted to go inside and make them move their car, but everyone else wanted to just snap pics of me trying to climb over from the passenger's side in my church clothes! LOL!

I hope this was a teenager just learning how to park, but I'm guessing it was a jerk in a hurry! URGH!

Happy Super Bowl ~ may the best team win. Now...who is playing again? hee-hee!