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.

I love Teachers Convention!!

And as a sub, I don't have to attend anything. I don't think the teachers in the district do either, but it is still 2 days off from school.
My house can finally get some attention. I haven't done a whole lot today, except catch up on some e-mails and TV watching(taped from the week). And I still have 4 hours of Sylvan today, so I don't want to get into any big projects. Tomorrow will be my big cleaning day since I have no Sylvan and don't have to leave the house.
And my parents might be coming this weekend, so that is a little extra motivation to get things cleaned tomorrow. We have a halloween party Saturday night too, so I don't want to have to clean on Sat and be too tired to enjoy the party!!

Earning money

Okay, so I have been really busy this month between subbing and Sylvan. I have been doing a long term subbing position for a paraprofessional in a Flex Kindergarten situation. I have been there for a month and am not sure how much longer it will last. Part of me, specifically my shins, are hoping that it is over soon.
I guess I better explain. My job is to follow, drag this kindergarten to his classes and make sure he is on task and safe. I am not exactly sure what his special need is, but I think he is a combination between ADHD and Autism, with some other issues mixed in. Nothing has been diagnosed yet, but slowly getting there. So, when something doesn't go his way, he throws a fit and sometimes kicks and hits. It usually doesn't last long, just needs a distraction and other times it does last a while. I have learned to dodge the kicks that I sense coming, but it is the ones I don't' that really hurt-especially when they hit the bone. So I have war wounds from my job and the pay is not really compensation enough, but it has increased since this is long term and I am starting to do better with this boy.
I guess I will stay. Originally I was told this would be till the end of the month, so I figured I could handle it that long. Now I am hearing that no one really knows when this lady is coming back-some sort of medical reason she is out. I know that I shouldn't be complaining because it is one more steady paycheck coming in, but at the same time it the pay worth the abuse.
My answer is no, but it is also not fair to this 5 year old to have a bunch of different people with him all the time. So, I am going to stick with it as long as I am needed.
The up side is that I am getting to know people in the school, including the principal, so this could be an in for next year if something opens up. I will keep my fingers crossed for that one.

food, fun, and fond memories

Friday night was my 10 year high school reunion. After a lot of thought about whether or not to go, I decided that there were a few people that I would be interested in seeing again. And there were also the others that I was curious to see what they were up to now.So, after getting lost in downtown Milwaukee-due to highway construction-we finally found the bar we were looking for (thanks to a phone call to dad) For being 30 minutes late, there really were not a whole lot of people there yet. So, we mingled a little, ate, and mingled some more. It was nice to meet the husbands/significant others of my classmates and hear what they have been up to in the past 10 years. I talked to everyone that I was interested in talking to, and even a few people that I wasn't, and was surprised to hear what some of them had been up to. Not many had kids, but quite a few were expecting. I expected most people to be married and a few that I expected to be were still single.All in all, it was a nice evening of reminiscing with high school classmates. Sharing stories that some spouses may not have heard yet, and hearing new stories of how relationships started. And I was pleasantly surprised that everyone looked pretty much the same way they did 10 years ago, in high school.

and frogs

Yes, I said frogs. I opened the breezeway door and was getting ready to head out the front door to get the Sunday paper when I noticed something greenish brown sitting on the floor between my shoes. I closed the breezeway door (I went back to the safety of the kitchen) and decided to keep an eye on this guy until Brian woke up. The Sunday paper would just have to wait.
10 minutes later when Brian came into the living room, I told him there was good news and bad news. The good news-we have a paper today (since we are only on weekend delivery this is sometimes a problem) The bad news-there is a frog in the breezeway. We then discussed ways to get him out of the house. The simplest was to go around to the front door and pull him out with a broom or something, hoping that he didn't hop all over the place. I told Brian to go for it. His response, "Why do I have to do it?" My response, "I kill all the other bugs in this house, you can deal with the frog."
Once he got around to the breezeway, he thought for sure I was smoking something because there was no sign of a frog. He moved the shoes he was between and even tapped the shelves and walked around, but nothing. I told him there was definitely a frog, maybe he was in my shoe. First shoe, nothing. Second shoe, out he hopped(fell) on his back and was "helped" outside by Brian.
Now, don't go calling PETA on us. The frog was still alive as he landed on the sidewalk outside. And when checked on a few moments later, he was frolicking (Brian's word) in the leaves by the front steps. There were no frogs harmed in this story.

The real question: How did the frog get in the breezeway?? There are 2 theories. 1. He hopped in while we were taking our time getting out the front door on Saturday night. It was dark, so it is entirely possible. 2. Someone put the frog in our mail slot during the night. It was homecoming in the area, so a neighborhood child certainly could have done it. I guess we will never know how he got it, but I am glad he got out.