2008

Since today is the last day of 2008 and I have some free time, I decided to take a look back on the year.

Personally:

*5 years of marriage

*the leaky basement was finally fixed ($3000, and a beautiful tree loss, later)

*we became godparents

*2 new family members (2 cousins had new babies)

*Brian changed jobs a few times (I think he is finally somewhere where he can be happy)

*I am still looking for full time work

*now sub for 2 school districts

*bought a new snow blower (which has come in very handy this year so far!)

*reconnected with several old friends, via Facebook

*3 years as homeowners

*family and friends are relatively healthy (I have a cold as I write this!!)

*broke down and bought an Apple computer (love it!!!)

*another successful summer school (3rd year teaching, 3rd school-Wonder where I will be in 2009?!)

*bought 1/4 of a cow (freezer space is very limited now!!!)

*had several bonfires in the backyard with friends

Other big happenings:

*first African-American president elected

*Appleton hit record snowfall for the month of December (broke the record set in 1887)

*stock market in trouble

*gas hit all time highs, only to come down again

*several companies shut down production-leaving many jobless (several right here in the Fox Valley and more in Wisconsin)

*unemployment hits an all time high

Hopes for 2009

*stock market recovery

*continued health of family and friends

*less snow

*a full time job

*continue a happy, healthy marriage

*attending at least 1 wedding, possibly 2

*ability to spend as much time as possible with family and friends

*lower unemployment rate-more jobs created

*possibility for more travel-not just to visit family or friends

*Sylvan enrollment will increase so we can all get back to the hours we were used to

*safe travels for all family and friends

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, but...

...enough is enough!!  It is not even winter yet (officially) and we have already had one of the snowiest Decembers on record.  And more is on the way, just in time for all the holiday travel.  We are not getting hit as hard as the areas south of us today, but I am still sick of the snow.  Don't get me wrong, I love the snow and it wouldn't be Christmas without it, but there is a limit.  When it snows about every other day, that is too much.  

We have lots of travel plans, SOUTH, for this weekend which I hope are not affected:

*Housewarming/Christmas with friends in Waukesha

*Christmas with mom's side of the family in Hales Corners.

*And I have a cousin that is supposed to be flying in from NY this weekend.  Hopefully that will happen, I haven't seen her in a year!

And if that wasn't bad enough, we are supposed to get more snow Saturday night into Sunday.

Mother Nature sure has some twisted sense of humor!!

Well, here is wishing safe travels to anyone going anywhere these next few days, even it is just down the street.  

Happy Shoveling Too!!!

I love student teachers!!!!

I probably didn't feel that way when I was one, but now that I am a sub, they are great!!

I subbing in a 4th grade classroom today, with a student teacher.  He was at the point where he was teaching everything.  So, why take that joy away from him to change things and confuse the kids.  I am not one who like to confuse kids and take them away from their routines.  So, Mr. Lamers taught the class today.  

What did I do all day??  I watched, and circulated the room to help out where necessary with directions and behaviors.  Now, keep in mind that they were 4th graders, so they didn't need much help.  There was also an hour break in the morning for Gym/Music.  There was nothing that needed to be prepped and Mr. Lamers was all set to go for the day.  So I read my book, a lot of my book.  

My day was a pretty easy one.  I like to have those every once in a while.  I hope that all of you get an easy day every once in a while.

Recess Duty

Up until today, I have had recess duty for the past 6 days that I have subbed.  As a teacher, I know how precious those recesses are, both to students and teachers.  And being a sub, I don't mind covering the required recess duty so the teachers can get a much needed break.  But every day was starting to get a bit much.  I would leave in the morning with my boots and winter gear prepared for duty.   And sure enough, but the time I read through the plans, I would see I HAVE RECESS DUTY written there.

I usually don't mind recess duty-when the sun is shining and there is no snow on the ground.  6 days of recess duty is a little much when there are so many layers required to just go outside.  And then with the snow, there is a little extra watching required to make sure that there are no snowballs being made or thrown and that everyone is playing safely in the snow.  And again, if the sun is shining I typically don't mind that much.  However, lately it seems that the wind has been pretty strong on my duty days.

I am beginning to wonder if teachers schedule conferences and necessary meetings on days that they know the will have duty, just to make the sub suffer!!

Luckily today was 5th grade at the intermediate school, so I had a pretty good feeling when I left this morning that there would be no recess duty in my future today.  I was right and was able to stay inside and warm all day long!!!

Happy December!!

Winter is definitely here!!  Our snow blower got it's first voyage today, since we bought it.  And it works great.

We woke up to a wonderful blanket of wet, cold, white stuff this morning.

I am told that there has been measurable snowfall on Dec 1st, for the last 3 years-more so down south from us.

And now the winter driving begins, along with school closings and delays.  

It is the weather like this that actually makes me want to put up the Christmas decorations and get rid of all signs of fall around the house.  I am sure that our decorations will be up by the end of the weekend!

Happy Holidays to everyone!!!

Turkey Day and Early Bird Survivor!!

I am happy to report that I have survived 2 turkey days and 1 morning of shopping, early bird shopping!!

Turkey Day #1 was at the in-laws on Thanksgiving.  I was a little worried about this one, since there is some history there.  Surprisingly everyone was on their best behavior.  One SIL even played a game with the rest of us!!  There was no arguing, shouting, complaining, or raising of the voices.  All in all, it was much better than expected.  

Turkey Day #2 was at my parents on Saturday.  This was just my parents, Adam and my aunt.  So nothing really out of the ordinary there.  Mom kept retelling the same stories, and the rest of us would just roll our eyes, knowing we had already heard the story.

Early Bird shopping was great.  Brian and I were up at 4am, and out of the house by 4:30am.  We were standing in line outside of Best Buy by 4:50am. (Best Buy opened at 5)  We were in and out of there in 15 minutes.  Then it was off for more shopping.  There are no injuries to report from the morning and we got everything we set out for.  I am happy to report, that thanks to this early shopping day, we are almost done with our Christmas shopping.  We returned home by about 9:15, after visiting 6 stores and stopping for breakfast!!

Finally, a (good) reason to be tired at the end of the week!!!

Besides my 2 hours, 2 days a week at Sylvan. 

I have been subbing again.  Today I was in a Kindergarten classroom and had a blast!!  Wednesday afternoon and Thursday I was in a first grade, bilingual, classroom.  That wasn't quite as much fun, but I can say that I have had worst times subbing in the past at that school for the older grades.  I usually don't like to go to that school for the bilingual reason, but at this point in the game I figured I can't really be picky.  And I was lucky enough to be teaching the English part of the group, so it all worked out for me.  May have been a little easier if I could speak Spanish, but maybe someday I will take classes!!

And I even have a day and a half booked for next week!!  It is with a new district, so I am excited to see how different this district is from the Menasha district that I have been used to for 3 years. I will be in 2 different 1st grade classrooms in 2 different schools, so it should be interested.

Stay tuned and I will let you know if there are differences and how I feel about this new district!!

WHY???

*Why can't Brian and I find jobs?

*Why is the price of everything going up?

*Why is the state so backlogged with unemployment?

*Who do you need to tell your whole life story to a stranger in order to get some assistance? (that you may or may not actually get)

*Why does it seem like very few good things come our way?

*Why can't I be content with the things that I do have?

*Why can't contentment with the things I have be enough to get through life?

*Why does it seem like my college degree doesn't meant much right now?

*Why are there so many struggling families this year?

*Why does the economy suck?

*Why is the government bailing out auto companies and banks? (I think the taxpayers could put that money to much better use)

*Why won't the government bail me out?

*Why can't I think of a work from home job that I can start myself, with no money? (If anyone needs a tutor or Christmas gifts wrapped, give me a call!!)

*Why don't I try to write children's books? (If anyone knows how I can get started with that, let me know)

*Why is it that the price of things we need everyday keep going up  Is it because they know we will pay whatever price they ask because we need it?  If supply and demand stay the same, shouldn't the price?

*Why are teachers not needing as many subs this year?

*Why do employers not respond to a resume (even with a NO)

*Why do make money from home sites require such a large start up cost?

*Why aren't there more work from home jobs?

Okay, I am done with my pity party.  Time to move on and be thankful for all the positive things that I have going on in my life.

Thank you

*Thank you for our health.

*Thank you for our parents-who are healthy and able to help us out financially.

*Thank you for the few hours that I am getting at Sylvan.

*Thank you for the opportunity to be on the sub list for 2 school districts.

*Thank you for the roof over our heads.

*Thank you for the food we have.

*Thank you for keeping our cars running. (can't afford repairs)

*Thank you for our friends, who continue to pray for our well being.

*Thank you for unemployment checks (once they start coming)

*Thank you for our ability to search the Internet for jobs.

*Thank you for heat.

*Thank you to everyone reading this blog, who has kept us in your thoughts and prayers for so long.  We appreciate all of you!!

Like a good neighbor...

...Brian and Sara are there.  We did our good deed this afternoon.  We raked/blowed the neighbors leaves to the curb.  Brian did this mostly because he didn't want them blowing into our freshly raked yard (they have not raked once this season and the last pick up is Monday)

These neighbors tend to be annoying and move about the yard at the strangest times.  They have parties in their garage, where the music tends to get really loud-almost sounds like they are holding a band practice.  They also have bon-fires late into the night sometimes and they do not have quiet friends.  They also just recently got 2 dogs(who tend to bark a lot when they are outside), so there is now a chain link fence in their yard, which doesn't really bother us because there is a fence between our two yards already anyway.  They come and go at strange hours of the night and day.  The cops have also been at their house a few times in the past.  There was once a rumor about drugs, but that has never been proven, nor do we know why the cops were there.  So these people are simply neighbors, not friends or even acquaintances, simply neighbors whom we tolerate (at least for now)!

We don't really know or particularly like these neighbors, so it was a really nice thing that we did.  I am not expecting to get anything in return, they have never done anything for us.  Nor I am even expecting a thank you.  I will be satisfied knowing that I have done my random act of kindness today and leave it at that.

Ballot Number 1057

I have done my civic duty for the day, and it didn't take as long as I expected.  The poling place was a 3 minute drive from my house and I was doorstep to doorstep in less than 30 minutes.  I guess it pays to go during the "down" times.  Or not that many people in my district are voting.

Now, it could have been faster if the people looking up your information were a bit younger and faster.  But overall, I guess I can't complain.  And I had Brian go first, so my name is in the book right after his!!

Hopefully all of you out there are going to vote today or have already voted.  Feel free to share any of your voting stories, good and bad.

Happy voting!!!!

Fall clean-up!!

We just did a second round of fall clean up in the yard yesterday, since the weather was fairly decent.  About 3 weeks ago, we raked the whole yard.  Those of you who have seen our yard know what a big task that was.  I figure the yard could use a good raking at least once a year.  So our leaves and dead grass were raked to the curb for pick up, and the gutters were cleaned out.  Of course, the trees can not cooperate, so there is more raking/blowing done every week  We get curbside pick up for about 5 weeks, on our garbage day.  So, if they are going to pick up once a week, we will get leaves out there once a week.

Since yesterday was a beautiful fall day, we decided to do one more major clean up.  I used the leaf blower on the yard, and Brian cleaned out the gutter (which appear to be full again today-darn wind).  We even pruned a few of our bushes and burned the remaining brush in the fire pit, so no critters would make a home there over the winter.  

There is one more week of leaf collection after tomorrow, but we will have to see what kind of weather next weekend brings.  It is not looking promising right now.

Did you ever wish...?

that you could just shake the leaves off the trees??

(Sorry, but I couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture!)

That is exactly what we convinced Abbie she could do.  I showed her how to "shake" the tree and make leaves fall down.  Thankfully the wind cooperated a bit with this as well.  So as we were playing in the leaves in the front yard (they don't have leaves at their house, so they came to play in ours), she would decide that she needed more leaves.  Abbie would walk up to the tree and "shake" it as hard as she could.  Se had her "working really hard" look on her face (I wish you could see it in the picture it is a cute look)  And then the wind would blow a little and she would watch all the leaves fall in the yard and in the street.  She thought this was the coolest thing.  So she would play in the leaves for a while and then go back and "shake" the tree.

If only raking in the fall was that easy.

Fall is here!!

As if the colder weather the last few days wasn't a sure sign that fall was here, all the leaves that I raked out of my yard this weekend and the ones that are still falling assure me that fall is here to stay.  We were teased this weekend with temps in the high 70's and low 80's.  Temps which allowed much outdoor yard work to get completed without being too uncomfortable due to cold.

This weekend we:

*Raked the back and front yard.  Leaf collection starts this week and goes every week for 5 weeks.  And this is our one good raking of the year.  My arms are still feeling it today and I have blisters on my hands to prove I really did do the work.

*Cleaned off the lawn chairs and stored them away for the winter.

*Dumped what was left of the planter boxes on the porch and cleaned out the "garden".  Our garden didn't really work this year.  Not enough sun and plenty of bugs, so nothing grew and we were left with the dead remains of our plants.

*Put the garden hose away for the year and turned off the water to the outside.

*Cleaned the leaves out of the gutters to prepare for the rain we are supposed to get this week.  However after the slight wind today I am sure that they are full again.

So, that was our busy weekend.  Hopefully all of you did something outside to enjoy the last bit of summer this weekend as well.

Maybe I'm not meant to be a teacher

Yesterday, I thought I still had a chance at the Kindergarten job in Menasha when I called the school to see if the position had been filled and the secretary said they were still working on it.  Today, I know that my chances are gone.  I subbed at that school and one of the Kindergarten teachers, who I e-mailed yesterday to update on the situation, said that they hired someone.  Luckily that was at the end of the day, so I only had to hold it together for a few minutes.  She made it sound like this had happened a while ago, but was sorry that I didn't get the opportunity to interview.  Why was I lied too??  Was the secretary not aware that the principal had made a decision??

It also gets me thinking about my Perceiver interview.  Was it that bad??  Was the principal seriously considering me for the position or was I granted the phone interview out of guilt??  (I did hand my application directly to him and worked at the school most of last year)

I know that the economy is in a tight spot, but why an I not getting a teaching job??  I am not a bad teacher, though I haven't really been given a chance to show that.

I would not be as upset if I had at least been given the chance to show myself and my skills in a face to face interview.  Would I be less upset if the secretary had told me yesterday that the position was filled??  Probably.  I don't mind the no's, because I know i got looked at, but why the lies??

So, now I contact the day care that was interested in me before the Menasha saga started.  I informed her that I had some opportunities through a school district that i was waiting to hear about.  Hopefully I didn't burn my bridges there or I don't know what i will do.  I need something full time and subbing is not going to cut it.

Thanks for reading my vent.  I know that I am a good teacher who will shine given the right opportunity.  I'll keep you posted on my career saga.  And if anyone needs a good tutor, or knows someone who does, let me know.

Teacher Perceiver Interview

For all of you teachers out there, you know exactly what I am talking about.  For those of you that are not teachers, the Perceiver interview is about 60 questions on your teaching style, teaching philosophy, interpreting situations, and how you would handle different situations.  Not all school districts ask for them, and this is actually the first one I have done since college (which was just a practice one)

Overall, I think the interview went fine.  It was done over the phone, so I really couldn't see reactions.  And it was done at 9pm, after I had subbed all day and put in 4 hours at Sylvan.  My brain was a little fried, but the administer knew all that was going on in my day and still wanted to give the interview at 9pm.

I answered from my heart and a little of what I think they want to hear.  (Who doesn't answer interview questions that way, either in person or on the phone?!?!)  After the interview, which took about 45 minutes, he was able to tell me some things that her "perceived" about me, based on my answers.  I would have to say he did pretty well.  He was able to perceive that I was a good listener and knew that there was more to listening then just listening.  He also picked up on that fact that I am a focused person, based on the fact that I have wanted to teach since childhood and have done things in life to reach those goals.  He did say that my mission was a little messed up, based on the fact that I didn't think that teachers were more important than doctors.  I think that they are equally important, but for all you teachers out there, teaching is the most important job in the world.  Remember that for future interviews.  He did think that I had the right mission, he said there were just other pieces floating in and out.

He was going to call the school principal as soon as we got off the phone and let him know what was perceived and then the ball was in his court.  Well, that was Thursday and I am still waiting to hear.  

I had a dream last night that the principal called and offered me the job, without an interview.  After all, I spent most of the year there last year, what else does he need to know about me.  So here I sit waiting, but not by the phone-don't want to seem too desperate.  Hopefully something good will happen, but for now it is out of my hands.

From summer to fall in a few hours

Wow, what a temperature change from Saturday to Sunday.  Saturday was beautiful; some sun, no rain, nice enough to hang laundry outside and wear shorts.  Sunday was gloomy, cold, no laundry outside and pants and a long sleeve shirt.  I guess we have truly entered fall.  The upcoming week shows more of the same cold and cloudy weather, with a little rain.  I am actually waiting for the rain to start, they said it would be in Appleton about 10am.  Almost 11 and no rain, but Doppler showed it, it is coming.

What a great day to bake blonde brownies and warm up the house with the oven and the home baked brownie smell.  Guess I could do some cleaning too, since I am not subbing today.  And I will be the next 2 days, so I will not have time then.

A "warm fuzzy" after a Sunday from hell

I will start with the Sunday from hell.  It started out nice, we went to church and out to brunch with the in-laws.  The intention was that after brunch, I would help one of my sister-in-laws with her math for college.  We were at the house and the other sister-in-law decided that she was going to put on a lovely shouting match complete with insults for practically everyone in the house.  I sat there and took it for probably about 20 minutes then looked at Brian and said are you ready to go??  So we left and P was upset because I was supposed to help her with her homework and her sister screwed everything up.  (Hopefully that ended up being a fight between them later.  Did I mention they are twins??)  So Brian and I left and my mother in law ended up bring P to our house for the homework help.  And I will not be going back to their house to help with homework.  The kicker here is that A will also need to take this same math class in a few weeks and was hoping that I would be able to help her as well.  Needless to say she screwed up that opportunity and all the "I'm sorry's"  in the world will not make me help her with the math.

On to the "warm fuzzy".  I got called to sub for yesterday afternoon at the school where I spent most of last year as a long term sub.  I was welcomed back by many of the teachers whom I got to know last year.  A few of them even asked when they were going to give me a job already.   The nice part was that as I was in the middle of read aloud, the principal walked in.  I thought he was there to talk to a student (I was in 5th grade).  No.  He said that he found out I was in the building and wanted to come and say HI and welcome back.  I thought that was really thoughtful of him.  How many other principals would have done that.

Then I had 4 hours at Sylvan, which was much easier than it sounds.  I didn't have nearly the amount of students I was supposed to have according to my schedule.  Hour 1-3 students.  Hour 2-2 students scheduled, I only had 1.  Hour 3-2 students, 1 given to me from another teacher because one of mine didn't show up.  Hour 4-1 student, 2 scheduled.

So after a weekend from hell, I had a great Monday which pretty much made up for it.  I also came home last night to find that one of the day cares that  I applied for called me back and wants to set up an interview.   Wish me luck there!!

First day of school

Today is the first day of school for most in the Fox Valley and here I sit at home.  Now I didn't really expect to get a subbing call on the first day of school, but I was hoping to have my own classroom.  I do still have one application out there-the posting does not close until today at 4:30pm-so there is still hope.  I even broke down and applied for a lead teacher at a day care-something I thought I would never do.  But I am realizing that I need something more permanent than subbing because I can't guarantee that I will have a nice long term subbing like I did last school year.

So, here's to hoping that something still comes through.  And knowing that I probably won't be called to sub for a few weeks.

Good luck to all of you students, parents, and teachers who have started off the year today.  If anyone needs a tutor, give me a call!!!

I should feel more worried

For most in the Fox Valley, school starts next week and for the 3rd year in a row, I have no school to go to.  All summer I say that I am not going to worry until September, because I know that a lot can happen over a summer and I know of lots of teachers that get hired days before school starts.  Well, it sunk in this weekend when someone asked me if I was excited about school starting.  I replied with, "I would be if I had somewhere to go."

So why am I not more worried about that fact that school starts in a week without me??  I know that there is still time, but the chances are getting slimmer.  There are still a few postings, but not like there was at the beginning of August.

I am on the sub list for the district I was at last year, but am not expecting any calls the first few weeks of school.

Part of me is glad not to have the stress of setting up a classroom, but as school draws nearer and I still have unanswered applications out there, I know that the stress of setting up a classroom could be greater should I get a last minute job.

Now I continue to play the waiting game and look for other ways to supplement my income until subbing (hopefully) picks up like last year. 

I thought we were done

Phase I is not really complete.  We took the tape off and most of the paint came along with it.  We left the tape on overnight, which we believe was a bad choice.  So today we are re-taping and re-painting.  This time we are going to take the tape off as soon as the 2nd coat is on in hopes to leave the paint on the wall this time.

You live and learn I guess and now we will know what to do and not do next time we paint!

Painting-Phase I complete

This wasn't a large project, but it makes the room look better.  We had the windows replaced in our 2 bedrooms a while back.  Well, the trim that is on these new windows was not as wide as the trim from the old ones, so we could see parts of unpainted wall around the windows.  Since the walls are white in our room and light blue in the guest room, you could really notice the spots with no paint.  So yesterday, Brian decided that he had been staring at the unsightly walls long enough.  He taped around all the trim and painted the spare bedroom wall-there was only 1 window in that room.  This morning I scraped the high, built up paint around the bedroom windows and Brian painted them-there are 3 in our bedroom.  

So you can no longer tell that we had the windows replaced, they look like they have been there forever.

I know I called this post Phase I, what is Phase II you ask??  Well, everything in our bedroom is white; the walls, the trim, the doors, the blinds, the ceiling fan.  Even the carpet is cream.  I had to buy blue window valences when we moved in just so it didn't seem so sterile.  There are other things we added to give it some color, but I am sick of staring at white walls, trim  and doors.

One day, while at Home Depot for some other reason, we happened to walk by the OOPS! cans of paint.  We decided to look and see what colors were there, since they were only $5 for a gallon.  They had the perfect shade of periwinkle that I had talked about using in the bedroom since we moved in, just never had the extra money for that minor improvement.  Now, you only have one gallon for a whole room, you ask?  

My plan is to just create an accent wall with the periwinkle.  I am hoping to paint the wall behind our bed.  I would like to do something on the opposite wall, but I am not convinced that it will look decent.  So I am totally content with doing the accent wall and hoping that will take care of the sterile feeling in the bedroom.  And I think that it will look nice with the white baseboards.

Not sure when this project will be started, but I am hoping to tackle it before winter.  I don't think that is asking too much.  Besides, Brian is already got experience cutting in around the window!!

Brett's a Jet

If you haven't heard the news by now, you must live in a bubble.  This information has dominated all forms of media for most of the day today.  In fact it was the entire first 10 minutes of the 10pm news this evening.  Granted I was watching a Green Bay station, but I am sure it is all over.  I must say that I am glad the whole saga is over, but am slightly disappointed that Brett will not be staying in Green Bay.  From the beginning I had thought that if he came back to the green and gold he shouldn't be starting QB anyway, I mean how fair would that be to Aaron who has been working his but off for the months since Brett "retired".  From the moment Brett announced his retirement, I had a fear/hope that he would come back. (Check my previous blogs, I really did)  I just was not quite hoping for it to end with Brett going to the Jet's.

Brett did some wonderful things for the Packers and will be remembered for them, even those saying they will no longer be Packer fans.  Were you ever really Packer fans to start with then??  I mean, players come and players go, but in the end it really is just a game.

I wish Brett luck with the Jets but can't help but wonder if and when he will flop there.  I mean Mike McCarthy said that Brett's heart/mind was not in the right place to play for the Packers.  For the Jet's sake, I hope he finds the right mindset that he needs just to be able to play football.

In the words of my brother, hopefully the Packers and the Jets will meet in a playoff game and Aaron can kick Brett's butt.  Wouldn't that be some sweet revenge?!?!

I think I may have to make a trip to GB tomorrow to get some discounted Favrewear-I hear they are slashing prices.

I wish Brett and the Jets luck, just not too much-wouldn't want them to outshine the Packers.

And I am moving on and will happily cheer Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers on to a Super Bowl!!!

Random Thoughts

*Brett, make up your mind!!  I am glad that he will not be coming back as starting QB, should the Packers decide to keep him.  It is not fair to Aaron.

*People, there is other news in the world besides the Brett saga.  Why does he get first news story and several newspaper articles.  Lets get this whole reinstatement over so the state can move on with things.

*We are now officially godparents.  The baptism was Sunday.  Little William cried when the water was poured, only because he was sound asleep before that time.  What a way to wake up, cold water poured on your head.  Can't say that I have had that happen to me.  He was great the rest of the day.

*Still job hunting and procrastinating on cleaning my house.  It is so damn hot lately, who wants to do anything too stressful.

*Would like to go to State Fair this year, but not sure if that is going to happen.  Will have to see if I can find some discounted tickets somewhere.

Thank you for reading Random Thoughts, by Sara :)

good deed

I did my good deed for the week yesterday.  I went to get my hair cut and the lady asked me if I was interested in donating.  I said sure, if it was long enough.  Turns out it was way long enough!  So I sat in the chair and watched as she cut a very long ponytail off the back of my head.  I was shocked myself to see how long it really was when it was sitting on the table.  I kept thinking "wow, I can't believe it was that long".  That would explain why I was getting a sore neck every time I put my hair in a ponytail.  To top everything off, because I was donating, I got a free haircut.  

I think I need to do this more often!!

5 years

It is hard to believe that 5 years ago today, Brian and I were standing in front of our families and friends professing our love for each other.  And 5 years ago, at this exact time, we were climbing into my Escape so my brother could drive us to the Embassy Suites (which is no longer called the Embassy Suites, by the way) so we could have pictures taken in the grounds.  It is hard to believe that 5 years has past already.  Life sure has changed, not only for us as we began to deal with situations that arose from having to share everything with someone else, but life in the world has changed quite a bit too.

Thank you to everyone who was part of our special day 5 years ago and is still a special part of our lives today :)

Last Comic Standing

Well, there are actually still 12 in the running, but tonight was the last of the semi-finals.  While I didn't watch any of the episodes leading up to tonight, I had heard that there were 2 people from WI, so I decided to tune in.  There were indeed 3 from WI, only 1 whom I thought was mildly funny.  He was from Janesville and didn't make it to the finals.  Oh well, no reason to continue watching now.

a much needed break

Ok, I only saw the kids for 10 days and only for 3 hours on each day, but there are a few of them that I was ready for a break from.   You can tell the kids who have never really had any structured sort of school experience, which of course is why they are in summer school to get ready for kindergarten.  Most of the kids are 5.  There is one who just turned 6 and i have one that is still 4, and you can tell that he is 4 just by looking at how he acts compared to the rest of the class.

So on this break I had planned to get my neglected housework done so that when school started up again on Monday I would have a clean house.  Well, here it is Wednesday and the only thing I have done is a few loads of laundry to catch up on towels and sheets.  How exciting, so my house is still a mess.

Ark building anyone?!?!

We have not started here, but we don't have it quite as bad as southern Wisconsin.  We have been lucky to only get the heavy rain, and that it had plenty of places to go so that it didn't sit on the roads.  We did get a little in the basement, but not enough to ruin anything.

I have friends in Oshkosh and Fond du Lac, and things do not look pretty there.  Streets are flooded.  Water was up to the apartment doorsteps last night in Fondy, and she had to park 2 blocks away and walk home after work last night.  And if that wasn't bad enough, there is water in the basement too.  Luckily she lives on the 2nd floor.  Oshkosh streets we flooded already on Sunday when we drove through there, so I can only imagine what things look like now-the pictures are helping!

Hopefully all of you are dry and safe and have not lost too much in any of these rains.  

Summer school frenzy!!!!!

Summer school starts on Monday!!!  I have been to my classroom yesterday to begin setting things up only to find that the room is really not a good learning environment.  I understand that the teacher probably has a lot of her own things in the room, but my kids are going to need something to play with.  There was pretty much nothing left out, she did leave a few games that have seen better days.  And all of the computers and shelves we shoved in a corner and covered in plastic.  Imagine being a 4/5 year old, maybe coming to school for the first time and walking into a room that looks like this.  Talk about a traumatic first school experience.  

I have nothing to bring really, since all my kindergarten stuff belonged to the school I was at.  So now I have to scramble around to find something that the kids will be able to do during free choice time.  Luckily one of my good friends is also teaching K Readiness at the same school and teaches Kindergarten during the year.

Tomorrow is shopping for snacks for the month and then back to school to do the final organizing.  Wish me luck!!

Freeloaders

Well, now for this week.  I guess it was last week.  We had rodents in our attic, which woke us up last Sunday night.  I heard scratching and wasn't sure if it was outside.  Brian looked and saw nothing, so I figured that it was coming from in the wall.  Well, Brian being the paranoid person he can be, decided to call the cops, just to make sure.  So they came and of course found nothing outside-DUH, I told you that the sound was in the ceiling!

So, tried to go back to sleep and would call pest control in the AM.  Orkin man said that if we could hear scratching it was probably a squirrel need to call animal control.  Animal control came out and went in the attic, after fixing the step that broke as he stepped on it, and said that there was bat poop, somehow knew that there was a flying squirrel up there, and possibly rats/mice.  So, the nice man put a trap up there to get the squirrel, and bait for the mice.  He also put a out only door by the hole they most likely came in from, in case anything was still in the attic that he didn't see.  And he would be back in 3-4 days.

He came back on Friday.  He took out he EMPTY trap from the attic, didn't see anything up there, and permanently sealed the hole in the roof.  So, we are hopefully rodent free! (Knock on wood)

My apologies

I am sorry to those of you who check regularly hoping to find something new and exciting going on in my life, only to find that I have not posted anything since March.  In my defense, it has been very busy since then.  Here are some of the highlights/lowlights.

*My long term sub picked up again, only this time it was for the other parapro-she "resigned".  Not sure on the whole or correct story there, but at least it meant a steady income for me.

*"old" computer died, got virus or something.  It was only 2 years old, but we started getting the "screen of death" as Brian calls it (the blue one with white letters).  Everytime we were able to get on and tried to run virus software and get updates, it would kick us to that blue screen.  We even tried to totally reload everything and start over, but the computer froze when it was just about done.  

*So we stimulated the economy by buying a new computer-a Mac.  Brian has had enough with PC's, so we decided to give a Mac a try.  So far, so good, but it does take some getting used to.  And there are some things that I am no longer able to download because they are not Mac supported.  Oh well, everything comes with a price!

*Spent quite a bit of time getting all my paperwork in order to turn in to teach summer school in Appleton.  I will once again be teaching the Kindergarten Readiness program for the 3rd year and in my 3rd school.

*Attended a memorial service for my great-uncle and was able to catch up with distant relatives.

*Attended a baby shower for my cousin.  Still waiting to find out if she has arrived yet-due tomorrow, I believe.  My other cousin had her 2nd, a boy this time.  Can't wait to see him.

*I had a clean bill of health from the dentist, but Brian had to go back last weekend for a filling redo.

*Attempted another rummage sale.  Was fairly productive, sold our dead computer parts-and made more money then mom and dad!  There is another city-wide rummage in September and I think we are going to try again.  If anyone has anything they want sold, you price it and get it here and we will be happy to sell it for you!! (We won't even keep any % for ourselves!!)

WE'RE GODPARENTS!!!!

Brian and I officially became godparents on Saturday evening around 7:37pm. Baby William Nicholas came 10 days early, he was 8 pounds 1 ounce, and 21 inches long. He is healthy and happy. Mom and baby are doing fine, came home Monday. Big sister is a little jealous that mom can't pick her up and that everyone who comes over pays more attention to the William.
We visited them last night at home and made sure that Abbie got plenty of attention. After she went to bed, it was William's turn.
We are excited to be godparents and hope that we can be great role models for William.

A sad time for Packers fans

While I would hardly call myself a die-hard football fan, it is a sad day in Packer country. With the announcement of Brett Favre's retirement yesterday, the media has taken that and ran with it. The end of an era, they are calling it. We all knew it was coming, we just didn't know when. Now that it is here, it seems to be consuming our lives.
Brett will be missed and Packer football as we have come to know it will never be the same. As hard as it is to believe that Brett will not be coming back to wear #4, part of me is thinking that this is all a joke and in a few months he will announce that he made a mistake and will be wearing a Packer uniform for training camp. You can see, from all the highlights that they have been showing, that Brett truly loved the game and all the good and bad that went with it.
I respect his decision and am actually glad that it came early and he did not drag it out like last time. He will now have more time to devote to his family and his Forward Foundation. I only hope that Brett will miss Green Bay as much as Green Bay will miss him.
Aaron Rodgers, you have some big shoes to fill, fill them well.

Winter Thunderstorm?!?!

I don't know about all of you, but here in the Fox Valley, we had a winter thunderstorm last night. It was both cool and scary. The cool part was seeing the lightning as it lit up the sky and the shadows that were cast on the slick snow piles that are on the ground. The scary part was when the lightning would light up the sky for close to a minute. At one point, it started out normal and then the sky turned to almost an aqua color. As neat as it looked at first it was a little creepy as to what could follow.
I am glad that I was inside my house last night and didn't have to go anywhere. I am also thankful that our sump pumps were working last night and still are today-and boy have they been running a lot.
So just when the rain lessened the snow piles slightly, the rain turned to snow. So I got to go out this morning and shovel, once again. Why does it seem like I always have the day off when there is heavy wet snow on the ground and no place to put it?!?!
Who needs a gym membership when you live in Wisconsin in the winter. You never know what to expect!

An end to the backups????

Well, the crew finally came yesterday to replace our sewer pipe. No one was home, so we are assuming it is fixed-we were told the old one was broken in 3 places. (That would lead one to believe that they took out the old one, right?!?!) So, we now have a new pipe leading from the house to the street and are even less some snow. Since they needed to move it to do the work, they got rid of it. It is at least easier to back out of the driveway.
So we will see, in a few months, if this solved the problem.

I HATE SNOW!!!!!!

I enjoy Wisconsin winters, most of the time, but this year enough is enough. I am so tired of the snow, and the sub 0 temperatures. I am tired of the snow shovelling, brushing off my car, and trying to navigate snow covered streets that don't get plowed in a timely fashion. Just because I do not live on a busy street, should I have to wait until the day after the snow stops falling to get my road plowed?? (especially if the main roads around me are already clear) The city is really slow at plowing and sometimes my road gets missed completely. I am glad that 5 years ago when i purchased my new car I decided to go with the SUV or I may have gotten stuck coming home a few times. I am guessing that Brian is also glad he went for the SUV. They also help when navigating other streets with idiots that don't know how to drive in this white stuff.
About a week ago I was that I was no longer living in Milwaukee or even Fond du Lac with all the snow they got from Snowstorm Grace. First of all, Grace?!?! Who comes up with these cutsy names for snowstorms. as if that is going to lessen their impact on our lives. So anyway, jsut as I was starting to be thankful for living in the Fox Valley, Snowstorm Hunter comes in and just keeps dumping. Those of you in the Milwaukee area, I think I know how you felt last week.
Not only is this snow annoying, but it is getting in the way of trying to solve (used loosely) our plumbing issues.

That's right, we are still having water in the basement. And a month ago we had, what Brian has called, a poop gyser in the shower. The plumber came out and grinded the roots out of the pipe, once again. The camera showed that our pipe is not squarely connected to the city pipe and that is why we keep having backups. How many times do you need to be called out for the same thing before you look all the way to the street?!?!? Needless to say that we were not very happy with the plumbers-especially since this will be our 3rd, very costly attempt to fix the back up problem. We have already replaced the shower and told that everything should be fine. We then cut sown a wonderful, shade producing tree in the front yard becuase we were told it's roots were causing our problems. And now we are told that we need to replace our sewer pipe. And becuase it is our lateral, we are responsible with no help from the city.
Which is where we get to the snow issues. This was supposed to happen yesterday. Of cource that is when "Hunter" decided to show up. Luckily we don't have to wait long to reschedule, they are going to try for Monday. But, those of you who have heard the weekend forecast know that there is another storm coming Sunday night. UGH!!!

Why can't things go the way we need them to just this once!?!?!?!?!

Good to be missed

So today I went back to the school and classroom where I was a sub all last semester. This time I was the other parapro, so I got to see how the one I subbed for gets on with the kids-at least the little bit that we are actually together.
After being in an EBD room from hell last week, I welcomed the chance to get back to familiar surroundings with students that I knew how to handle. I had never been told by so many people that I was missed. And this was coming from both staff and students. I missed them too, even though it was not that long that I was there.
It seems as though some things just are not running as smoothly, but there is nothing I can do about that. I am not the district hired parapros, I am just a sub who happened to fall into a long term position and create a routine and relationship with the students and staff. Once they got back from break they had to start new routines and build new relationships with a new person.
Everyone seems to be doing okay and I will jump at the chance to go back there any day, even if they are special needs kindergartners. Anything is better then EBD kids that are bigger than you are.

A look back at 2007

2007 was not an extremely eventful year in the Burns' house, but here are some highlights:
*2 years in the house
*finally unpacked that last box
*organized the basement
*labeled all the tubs in the basement
*had lots of water backup issues in the basement
*cut down one of the trees in the front of the house to "fix" the back up problem. (so far so good-knock on wood!!)
*got 3 new windows in an attempt to cut down on heating costs
*had a long term subbing position from the end of Sept. until Christmas break
*Brian changed jobs-twice I think
*bought a new car-Mitsubshi Outlander
*survived 4 years of marriage
*attended a cousins wedding
*taught another successful year of summer school
*attended my 10 year high school reunion and reconnected with some old friends
*got a snowblower (it is dad's old one, but at least we don't have to shovel)
*my "little" (perhaps younger would be more appropriate for those of you who know him) brother graduated from college
*family and friends continued to stay relatively healthy

I think that is it in a nutshell. I think that one of my New Year's Resolutions will be to try to post on here more often. Course, that will also depend on my subbing, now that my long term is done.