09.24.08
reading is for lovers
In my 5th grade class I begin every day by reading a chapter aloud from The Trumpet of the Swan by EB White, the same guy who wrote Charlotte’s Web. It is such an excellent book with rich vocabulary, and a touching, but comical story. My kids have really been into it. They are always eager to hear what happens next, and groan when the chapter is over and it is time to stop.
The story is about a swan who is born with no voice. His father is ashamed of this “defect” because he knows the mute bird will not be able to attract a mate. So he steals a trumpet and the young swan learns to play it beautifully…there are a lot of details, but for the sake of the blog it is important to know that a young female swan has caught his eye. He tries to woo her, but is unsuccessful.
So today, I was reading and the swan left the lake to work at a boy’s camp as the camp bugler, playing Reveille in the morning and Taps at night. When one of my students heard that he was leaving the lake and his family, he said, “But what about his mom and his dad and his lover??”
At that moment it took all of my control not to burst out laughing. It is just weird to hear an eleven-year-old boy say “lover” in a correct, serious, appropriate context. I kept reading, but I had to stifle giggles every time I thought about it.
“What about his lover????”
09.20.08
totally worth it
My father calls my mother a squirrel because of her frugality. I am my mother’s daughter in so many ways. I definitely came into frugality honestly. I hate to spend money unnecessarily, but there are a few items that I am willing to stretch my budget for because in such instances, you get what you pay for. Here is a list of items that are totally worth the extra few bucks:
Burt’s Bees Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil
This stuff is wonderful on so many levels. First of all, it is the most soothing brand of lip balm ever. Second, it smells like pomegranates. Pomegranates are a favorite fruit of mine, and for some reason they are growing in popularity. I think it is all the antioxidants. Third, it is a little bit pink on your lips. Not too much, just enough. This stuff is totally worth the extra cash because frankly, a tube of chapstick lasts a long time. So it is an investment.
Express Sexy Basics Bra Cami
I hope no men read this blog. If you are a man, I apologize for the inappropriate picture. Just skip to the next item on the list. Better yet, just skip to the next post because this is the girliest post ever.
Ladies, the picture really is necessary to explain the wonder of this product. These things are expensive, but I wear one nearly every single day. EVERY DAY. See the picture? This cami is LONG, the only long cami to be found in a world of camis that are just too short! Also, this cami does not show cleavage. I use these to make every thing I wear modest. If a shirt may rise up revealing my stomach when I reach up, this cami keeps everything covered. If a shirt may reveal too much of my upper half, this cami keeps everything covered. This cami also hugs tightly. I LOVE the feel of clothes that hug my body, but I hate to wear tight clothes for the sake of the men in my life. So I just wear these under everything I wear. They hug my body AND keep me modest! Who knew two opposites could co-exist in one cami?? I have 5 different colors…black, white, tealquoise, purple, and red. Because of the use I get out of them, these are totally worth the investment ($16….ouch!).
Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte
I love coffee, but I refuse to spend $4 on specialty drinks when I can have a cup of their wonderful coffee of the day for a third of the price. I am a staunch patron of Sweet Eugene’s House of Java, but occasionally find myself at Starbucks. I always get just a cup of coffee. No latte, no frapp, no extra million calories or extra million dollars. Just a cup of coffee. They have wonderful coffee. Just plain coffee. I think if more people realized this, they would be saving a lot of money.
But once a year, the holiday season rolls around. I am a sucker for the holidays. It is September and I am already listening to my Rat Pack Christmas music because it has been “cool” today. (Cool in Texas means not 90 degrees.) And once a year, Starbucks sells their pumpkin spice lattes. I am also a sucker for anything with pumpkin in it – pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin dump cake, pumpkin seeds… When I hear the pumpkin spice latte is back I always buy at least one. And it is ALWAYS worth the cash.
Boleslawiec Polish Pottery
I love this stuff. It is a traditional hand-painted Polish pottery. It is beautiful. I first started loving it on my first visit in Poland (2006). Then I discovered that of all places…Ross Dress for Less sells this stuff. (WHAT?? You are asking yourself. Yes, that is what I ask myself every time I see it there.) Ross has a wonderful housewares department. I realize that this is shocking, but they have great brands (like Calphalon, OXO, Cuisinart) for a ridiculous amount of cheap. I once bought an OXO brand ladle there for less than $3. I buy all of my kitchen wares at Ross, including wedding gifts that I would usually buy for twice the price at Target.
So, I saw a cup that looks just like the one in the picture, and thought, “Wow, that looks Polish!” I looked at the bottom, and sure enough, MADE IN POLAND with the Boleslawiec stamp and everything! So I bought all they had (only 2 mugs). I went back another time and found a spoon rest. Last month I bought a bowl. When you pair these with the teapot I bought in Poland and sugar bowl I received as a gift, I have a nice collection of Boleslawiec growing. I have decided to budget in one item per month. I am really hoping for a plate next month…
In the grocery shopping department I almost always buy store brand. However there are 3 things that I really believe you get what you pay for:
Buitoni Tortellini, Breakstone’s Cottage Cheese, and Honey Crisp apples. The extra flavor and substance in these three things make them worth the extra money. Now my secret indulgences are exposed!
09.17.08
hurrication!
(hurricane + vacation?)
There was a hurricane, in case you hadn’t heard.
People in College Station overreacted as usual. Marylyn and I underreacted, which turned out to be just the right amount of reaction. We spent all day Saturday sitting on the couch, reading, and watching movies. I spent about 1/2 of that time blowing my nose. Despite having a cold, it was such a relaxing bum of a weekend! Then Lindsey and Matt stayed the night with us before going back to Lake Jackson to survey their damage (which is very minimal, praise-aluia!).
And now…Navasota STILL has no power, so after my wonderful lazy weekend, I now have a surprise week off! It could not have come at a better time. I started the weekend behind on seminary, with 2 essays, 1 paper, and 1 midterm to do, and I am now 2 weeks ahead!!! I am using this week to reclaim my social life in the weeks to come! I feel like I somehow beat the system of having a full time job and going to school. All thanks to my good buddy, Hurricane Ike!
On a more serious note, a lot of people have lost everything as a result of this hurricane. I haven’t heard an official death toll, but I know it is climbing. A fellow coffee-shop patron asked to borrow my computer to check his email, afterwards showing me a picture of his street on Bolivar Peninsula. It is seriously a river, with two story houses sticking only 3 feet above water. Where his house should have been, there was nothing. He found a picture of his roof 1/4 mile away from where his street used to be. Combined with the death of his grandmother last week, an number of high school friends who tried to ride out the hurricane in Bolivar, and trying to stay caught up on school work, he was having a pretty tough week. I asked him about his spiritual beliefs (thanks to my wonderful personal evangelism class!) and found out that he was raised in the church, but right now his faith is really being shaken. Be praying for this guy, Ryan.
09.10.08
discipline = love
Today I got to love my students some more, plant more seeds that will produce fruits of righteousness. God is so faithful to answer my prayers about discipline. I can honestly say that after disciplining my kids under the Lord’s guidance, my love for them truly deepens.
Today some of my students were arguing about who got which color of supplies. I reminded them about using pleasant words, and to work it out without arguing. They continued arguing, and as a result water got spilt all over the spelling center. It was a pretty minor thing, but when I disciplined them by not giving them their sticker and giving them a boring spelling assignment (there was no more water for the fun spelling assignment!), one student accepted the discipline very well; the other did not. He started pouting, and acting like a little thug, and walking around the room kicking things, and refusing to work, and saying very sarcastic things. At first I ignored it, which cures most attention-seeking behaviors, but eventually addressed it when it got to be a big distraction to the others.
We talked in the hall, and I asked him how he felt. We narrowed it down to mad. I asked him if he was mad at the other student for arguing with him, me for disciplining him, or himself for misbehaving. He said no one. I knew that was not right, but dropped it. I explained that for misbehaving during spelling, he loses free time. For misbehaving during reading he loses recess. I said, “Now it is your choice. You can choose to behave during writing and get your sticker, or you can choose to have a bad attitude and I will call your mom. It is your choice.” So we went inside, and after 2 more minutes of sulking, he totally turned it around! I was so proud of him.
About an hour later, he ran in my room all sweaty, and looked up at me with his sweet grin and said, “I’m sorry!” I asked him what he was sorry for and he told me, “For kicking stuff.” Well, I figured that was close enough. I thanked him for apologizing and told him I was proud of him.
Later his teacher told me that she had him run at recess (hence the sweatiness) and then asked him about his behavior. He told her that he was mad at himself for misbehaving. I was so excited! It is really hard to pinpoint 1) emotions, and 2) reasons for emotions, especially for these kids. This was a great learning experience for him, and it ended very positively. He was not mad at me, I was not mad at him, he made the first step in dealing with anger…this bodes well for future anger management lessons. Thank You, Lord! I can already see those peaceful fruits of righteousness!!
substitute…
I had my first substitute on Monday. I spent all Tuesday doing damage control. I never want to be sent to training again.
I used to be a sub in Special Ed, so I know how difficult it is to determine the difference between a kid’s disability and a kid’s misbehavior. But this lady assured me that she knew my kids already. Apparently she did not know them as well as she thought.
I have two students with Autism, and she told me afterwards, “They just wouldn’t sit still or be quiet or stay focused.” Okay, this is not because of lack of will or of defiance. This is because they just are not able to do that. So she punished them. Then she said, “I told them that it didn’t matter what they did as long as they just sat still.” So she took away all their boundaries (bad idea!) and gave them only one boundary: sit still, which is something they can’t do! In a similar circumstance I would be very frustrated. For these kids, frustration is magnified. So then they started misbehaving.
If it had just been the sitting still thing, no way would I have disciplined them when I returned. But they did choose to misbehave after they got punished. Granted, it was absolutely provoked, but they chose to misbehave. So I had to discipline them. It made me sad because it was so easily preventable. But because I love them, I disciplined them. And they were both so repentant, and cried big, fat tears. It was good to see them in grief over sin. They were not crying because of the sub, or me, or the discipline, but because of their misbehavior. Praise the Lord! I AM creating little disciples!
I think I gave 6 “do better” talks yesterday. Like I said, damage control.
09.06.08
small town football
I did not grow up in a small town. I grew up in the suburbs of 4 different cities. I have always heard of small town football games being a big deal, but last night was my first real experience with it. It really is a different animal.
Friday is my night of the week that I don’t work on lesson plans or seminary. It was very nice to just rest and have fun. It was SO much fun!
I went with Amanda, my carpool friend. (Side note: carpooling with Amanda is probably my favorite part of the day. It is a time to prepare for the day, debrief after each day, give and receive advice, have great discussions about faith, and it saves us both a fortune in gas money. I love Amanda!)
A few things I noticed about small town football:
It is the social event of the week! Everyone was there, whether they had kids in school or not. No one watched the game exclusively, they did a lot more walking around and talking to each other. I was so distracted by all of the movement, I just watched people the whole time. It was so entertaining!
The girls were all dressed up! We kept noticing the fashion parade – High school fashion just cracks me up. The latest trend here is wearing empty backpacks at all times. With the price tags still on them. It sparked a conversation about all of the trends we remember taking part in – designer shoe laces, scrunchies on the wrist, glitter eye shadow,
These kids can play football! The team is predicted to make it to state, and one of their seniors has already been recruited to play for Texas A&M next year, so it was some legit ball playing – they won 49-14 or something like that. It was great to support a team that wins. It is also great to support teams that don’t win like the Aggies and the Braves.
As faculty, we get in for free! Nothing beats free entertainment.
We saw our students there! And some of them even talked to us! My favorite (yes, teachers have favorites whether they admit it or not) little guy was sitting 4 rows in front of us, so I got to meet his mom. He is super sweet – this is the kid who told me, “4th grade is so much fun!” Sweet….love those kiddos.
Overall, it was a great experience that will definitely happen again.
09.03.08
mourning for Pete
Today was sad.
Pete is missing, and by now he is probably not coming back. My Pete. I feel a little silly crying over a cat, but I also feel completely justified. I chose him, and he loved me. He didn’t love Lindsey, not Merritt, not Daddy; he just loved Momma and me. He was mine. And now he is gone. And I am so sad.
He would fall asleep in my lap, sit on the edge of my bathtub, wait outside my bedroom when the door was closed, he loved me.
I don’t want to go home to Spring. It will be strange not to see his bowl under the hutch, not to cuddle with him on the furniture Momma forbids him to sit on, not to wake up to his little insistent voice. I don’t want to go home. It will just be sad. I can’t go back. Not yet.
I don’t want my family to get another cat. Pete was MY cat, and now I don’t live there anymore. If they get a cat, it won’t be mine. It will be theirs. That just wouldn’t be right.
I am trying really hard not to blame my family. I know that they are not to blame, but all of the “what if”s keep coming to mind. What if they let me bring him to College Station? What if they hadn’t gone out of town? What if someone stole him? What if he had worn a collar? What if they put up signs to try and find him?
I feel so pathetic, like a little child, to be so upset over this. But I am sad, so, so sad.
I cried at school, I cried in the car, I cried when I got home, and I am still crying.
I feel like I will have no closure. Nothing about my life here in College Station is different. I began mourning today, but these feeling will all happen again when I go home and things are different.
If you don’t love a pet, sorry. I know you think I am super lame right now. And that’s okay. I will think you are lame when you mourn over fantasy football or American Idol. You can think I am lame when I mourn over Pete or Survivor.
