What's in Your Box?

Tina, Tiff and I have a game: What do you NOT want to find in your mailbox at school.

We email all day sometimes back and forth all of the things you would DIE to find in your box.

Underpants.
Feminine products.
Prophylactics.
A Speedo.

You get the picture.

So, Tina... what do ya think you're gonna find in your box tomorrow???

I Know. I KNOW. Geez

I know. I keep changing things.

I like Amy's Annotations better.

So sue me.

Tuesday Tune-age

For You

To my mother, to my father,
It's your son or it's your daughter,
Are my screams loud enough for you to hear me?
Should I turn this up for you?

I sit here locked inside my head
Remembering everything you've said
This silence gets us nowhwere
Gets us nowhere way too fast

The silence is what kills me
I need someone here to help me
But you don't know how to listen
And let me make my decisions

I sit here locked inside my head
remembering everything you've said
The silence gets us nowhere!
Gets us nowhere way too fast!

All your insults and your curses
make me feel like I'm not a person
And I feel like I am nothing but
you made me so do something
'Cause I'm f-ed up because you are
Need attention, attention you couldn't give'

Cause I sit here locked inside my head
Remembering everything you've said
This silence get us nowhere!
Gets us nowhere way to fast
~Staind

Babies, Babies, Babies

I went this weekend to Idaho to attend my friend's baby shower. I haven't seen my friend since last February. FEBRUARY!?!?!?!?!? Holy cow, it's been THAT long. Over six months.

It was a great weekend and it was SO good to see my friend and her husband. When we spent the weekend with them in February, she was just barely pregnant. Not showing, but feeling crappy. When she came and found me in the baggage claim area of the airport Friday night, I was totally flabbergasted! I mean, I knew she was pregnant. I knew her tummy was going to get big. I mean, duh! But I was so surprised how fast it seemed to happen. I'm sure that it didn't for her, but, remember the over six months part? Yeah. Seemed like yesterday I saw her last. Wasn't expecting the tummy!

She looked awesome. And so HAPPY.

Her baby shower was slated for 2:00 the next afternoon so we had a list of things we needed to do before her mom came at noon. One was to melt candy bars in diapers for one of the games. It was totally gross opening diapers with melted candy bars in them and try to guess what candy bar was in which diaper. We tested it out on her hubby and HE GOT EVERY SINGLE ONE CORRECT. We said he knew his "shit". He just said he was a connoisseur of candy bars.

Now to the party... My friend's mom is the Martha Stewart of Idaho. Seriously. Here's what she did...
1. Hand made all of the invitations for the party.
2. Hand made six different jungle animals that were put on straw and then inserted into cupcakes that looked like an African Savannah.
3. Made a mobile out of a large poster tube (painted yellow with green ribbon striping it), a yellow and green umbrella and blow up African animals.
4. Hand stamped labels for chocolates that went into boxes that were in boxes that were wrapped in African animal paper.
5. Researched celebrities and their babies for a matching game.
6. Arranged all of the food
7. Helped set everything up
8. Ran all of the games

I couldn't believe the amount of work that her mom put into this party. It was wonderful, and beautiful and special.

Seventeen people attended the party and she received many great gifts. That night her hubby and I put together the swing. The next day she and I put together the mobile for the crib, the pack-n-play, packed the diaper bag, took the tags off the clothes that little man will be wearing right away, unpacked the baby monitor, put on the new switch plate and night light, and went to Babies r Us to return some duplicate gifts and purchase things that were needed.

The weekend went by so fast that I couldn't believe that it was actually time to head to the airport.

I got a call tonight from her asking if I had any pictures of the buffet table. I didn't. That was the only picture I DIDN'T get. She also said that she felt funny all day today.

Maybe little man will make an appearance sooner than she thinks!

Snot Rockets and Why Kleenex Was Invented

Kids by nature are nose pickers. Heck, some adults are STILL nose pickers.

Me? I find it nasty and gross. It makes my skin crawl to see people picking their noses in public like it's no big deal.

Ugh.

What I REALLY enjoy is when the kids who are "savvy pickers" try to hide their picking adventure by using their other hand to cover up the one that is doing the damage. Like, "YOU CAN'T SEE ME PICKING MY NOSE BECAUSE I AM COVERING IT UP WITH MY OTHER HAND! THERE IS NO NOSE PICKING GOING ON HERE!"

Today we are having the "Kleenex talk". My fourth graders have not figured out why Kleenex was invented and that when you pick your nose with your finger and touch everything in the classroom, you get GERMS everywhere. Which makes the teacher sick. And crabby. And nauseous.

So I tell them to please use the Kleenex. We have probably seventy-five thousand boxes in here and hand sanitizer. Fingers are forbidden. I told them how Ed blows snot rockets when we are camping or out working in the yard. They totally grossed out at that. And I said, "What is the difference between blowing snot rockets and using your fingers to get the snot out?"

I think they got my point.

Belly Shirts and Front Butt

You may have noticed that I have a site meter at the bottom of my blog. Tiff has one on her blog and I thought it would be cool to see who checked in on me and where they were from. I've had people from back east, Texas and down south check out my site. Mostly it's because I have friends who have blogs and they have put a link to my site on their sites. When their friends and family read, they can scroll down and check out who my friends are following as well.

So, the other day I decided to check my site meter to see who's been peeking in on me. There is the usual Kirkland, WA and Seattle, WA and Puyallup, WA and Maple Valley, WA, but, there down on line number Five was: Switzerland, Basel-Stadt.

WTF????

Switzerland? Who the hell do I know in Switzerland? I click on the number and it takes me to an information page that shows me where they logged in from and where they found my site.

Here's what's funny:

Whoever looked at my site from Switzerland had GOOGLED the words "belly shirt" and "front butt".

First of all, why in the WORLD would you just HAPPEN to Google those two words together?

And B: What about those words is NOT explanatory?

And 3: If you happened to be looking for the definitions of THOSE two words, why in God's name would you look at someones blog to find them????

I actually find it hysterically funny that someone from Switzerland looked at my blog and read about Marv and his icky girlfriend with daisy dukes on and no underwear.

Kinda makes you wonder what Europe thinks about US.

Sick

"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay,
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash, and purple bumps.

My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox

And there's one more--that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut, my eyes are blue--
It might be instamatic flu.

I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I'm sure that my left leg is broke--
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button's caving in,

My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,
My 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb,
I have a sliver in my thumb.

My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.

My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.

I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?
What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is---Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"
~Shel Silverstein~

Hello Internet. Today my name is Peggy Ann McKay. I am sick.

Only I really am.

Really.

Day Seven

Today was the seventh day of school.

I haven't written about my class yet because I was kind of waiting to see how things went. I have to say that I am liking them. They have some fun personalities, strange idiosyncrasies and are fast learners.

I have to say, that this is the first class to fall into my routine this quickly. I still have to give a few reminders for some things, but, for the most part, my kids are meshing well and our days are going more smoothly.

Julie and I have really been partnering this year. I am teaching writing, science, social studies, Second Step, giving the spelling test, and teaching computer lab for both classes. I almost feel guilty because I feel like I should be here longer working on things, but, the reality is that I just don't have as much work only planning for that small amount. I do have twice the grading for those subjects, but, I can already tell that the pay off in time of less planning is going to be awesome.

I feel like I'm finally bonding with Julie's class too. We had a rough start to the year. I think that they didn't think I was serious about being prepared and that I would knock down their character points, but, after our talk yesterday, they came around. She has some really nice kids and a few "corkers" but, so do I. I'm starting to feel like they are mine as well as Julie's.

I'm tired.

But, it's a good tired.

Not an "exhausted" tired.

I'm almost holding my breath, but, I think that this year is going to be a good one...

Oh Tif-an-yyyyyyyyy!!!!!

When was the last time I combed my hair? Seven days ago.
When was the last time I rode my motorcycle? Tonight.
When was the last time I had a beer? Two weeks ago.
How long since Tiffany's last post? Forty-one days (if I counted correctly!)


Love you Tiff...

But that spider gives me the creeps!!!!!!

Summer Goal Achieved

I'm still going to Weight Watchers.

It's been a long hard road. 21 weeks and only 5.2 pounds gone to show for it.

BUT, I have made some big changes as far as how I think about food. At the beginning of the summer Heather (my WW leader) challenged us to make a summer goal. It could have been a weight loss goal, a health goal, or a "I'm going to learn to cook healthy food goal". My goal was to pay attention to my "full meter" and keep in mind the mantra "Hunger is not an emergency".

Paying attention to my "full meter" just means listen to your body when you eat. I started with smaller portions to begin with on my plate. If I was still hungry after I ate the smaller portion, I could go back and get 1/4 of what I had on my plate in the first place. I ate only 1/2 of a sandwich but cut that half in half to fool my brain that I actually had more than I did. I ate a piece of fruit before my meals. Half way through my meal, I got up and went to the kitchen for more water so that the contents of my stomach settled. (I found that if I just sat there and ate my whole meal, my food didn't settle until I got up to take my plate to the sink, and most of the time I was miserable because I'd eaten too much. So now I get up half way through my meal for more water and the food settles and my brain recognizes faster that I am satisfied.)

I also figured out that the time in the afternoon right before I cook dinner is the most dangerous time for me. I started drinking flavored water. (You know, those little flavored packets that you dump in water. ) That makes my brain think it's had something sweet and it stops the hunger until I can get real food inside of me.

Also, my friends Tina and Tiff have decided to be... I think Tina called it "food Nazi's".

No, wait, was it "weight loss Nazi's?"

At any rate, they have a goal to lose ten pounds by October 2nd. I have joined their quest for permanent weight loss. Every Saturday I text them my current official weight and how much was lost for the week. I think I'm doing pretty good... 5.2 pounds gone.

But, I'm getting worried. I had a hungry day today. I know that I ate too much and it's going to show if I don't get it under control NOW.

I wish they had the same lunch at school with me.

Back to School

So, school started last Tuesday. I have 26 little munchkins in my room this year. I think that they are going to be a good group. They seem to be pretty bright and they are catching on to the routines and expectations pretty quickly.

I have some families that I had previously... brothers or sisters of my fourth grade alumni... I also have some new kids to the district. They are the ones that struggle the most. It's funny watching the kids that have been at our school for at least a year because when the new kids misbehave, the veterans look at them like, "Dude, you did NOT just do that." The new kids tend to straighten up and fly right pretty quickly.

I am actually glad to be back to work. Summer was really hard for me this year. Ed had a new job and even though he was really close to home, the stress and amount of work he inherited with this job didn't allow us to do much getting away this summer. So, I spent the summer stacking wood, cleaning the office, painting the back hall, mowing lawns, getting bids for the kitchen and trying to figure out the financing for the kitchen project. We did go to Sand Camp and to Blue Lake twice. But, usually during my 9 week summer we are gone for three of those weeks to Blue lake and camping and at least a long weekend is spent on a motorcycle ride. Most Friday mornings we'd meet someone at Lake Samammish and go for an early morning ski.

No bike ride.
Two weekends at Blue Lake.
No Friday morning skis.
One week at Sand Camp.

I was pretty lonely.

It's nice to get back to work to actually feel like I'm contributing something and getting some adult conversation and just having something to do... a schedule that doesn't deviate.

Having someplace to go where someone needs me.

Having something to talk about besides how much you got done around the house that day.

Being able to think about something besides how lonely you are.

Hmmm... I guess the mopey feeling isn't gone after all...

Music Monday on Friday

Way down yonder on the bayou
There lives a little girl-o
Skin so pale
Six feet high
Skinny as a rail
Just one eye

She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona

Her daddy gone to heaven
Her mama won't like you
Her brother he's crazy
He just might bite you
Her sister she's pretty
But she just won't do

She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona

Oh you can say she gonna love you
Because you made a little voodoo
Oh but what they didn't tell you
Is it ain't up to you dude
You better not cross her
You try to boss her
Then you better duck Mister
Here come a cup and saucer

She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona

So if you're going to the bayou
Man I'll tell you all I know
She's got skin so paleShe's six feet high
And she'll look right through you
With just one eye

She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona
She's the one-eyed Fiona

Lyle Lovett (my other boyfriend)