Caught Red Handed

I have a student in my class who is very bright but really struggles socially to know what is appropriate, and has a much lower maturity level than my other 7th graders. He has been known to just take pens off of my desk to use during class. When I catch him, I always make him put it back and then ask permission.

Today the kids were supposed to be working on an assignment and I noticed this particular student looking at his hands that were covered in bright red ink. I went over and asked him if he wanted to go wash his hands. He said “I don’t know what happened.” It was then I noticed that the pen he had was one of mine off the cup on my desk. I asked him if it was my pen and he immediately apologized for taking it. I then told him that I had a red pen leak all over my cup and all the pens were covered with red ink. He just looked up at me with these big brown eyes and said “Caught me red handed!”

I needed that today.

"Diamonds are My Favorite"

Ethan: So the jeweler made a mistake and accidentally put 9 more diamonds in your wedding band than we had told him.

Me: Oh yeah???

Ethan: Yeah, and they say since they were the cause of the mistake they will sell it to use for the original price we were going to get. Or we can send it back and they will fix it the way we want it. It's up to you...

Me: Well, it's going to be a difficult task, but I think I can learn to live with more sparkly diamonds...

Technology Woes...

There is no doubting that many advantages in technology have greatly benefited society. However, there many times when I stop and think "why do we need that?" or "why can't I just do something like I used to?" Here are a few things that technology has brought that I could really do without...

Teenagers having cell phones:
Seriously. What does a 12 year old need to have their own cell phone with unlimited texting and talking minutes. They don't have that much to say. I have even seen parents try to limit their teenager to 300 texts a month...HA! That changed when said teenager rang up a 1500 dollar cell phone bill due to texting...yep, you read that right 1500!!!! I see no problem with having a "family traveler phone" which would go with the teen on road trips or other events where they would need to call home for a ride. With the rate cell phones are going by the time I have kids they will be asking for their own cell phone at age 5. My poor kids...they will be deprived.

Videos instead of articles on the Internet:
I am an Internet surfer. I enjoy reading random things that pop up on MSN or Yahoo or whatever else seems to spark my interest. But, I want to read the articles...not watch it. Seems like everything now has a "click to play." Annoying.

Texting/MSN Talk:
As a teacher I forbid it in my classroom. You know, that new spelling in order to shorten all the words for texting...i teach 8 g8trs n skewl but luv my wknds. This absolutely drives me crazy. How hard is it to type out the entire word.

VHS then DVD then Blue-Ray then Plasma then Hi-Def now 3D:
I don't ever want to buy a brand new tv or DVD player again! Why spend the HUGE amount of money on something that is going to need to be replaced as soon as the newest "bigger and better" version comes out. As soon as we get a Blue-ray player (for which most movies are more expensive...most) there will be some "purple-ray" player that we will need to upgrade.

Facebook:
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy connecting with friends on facebook and seeing what everyone "posts" each day. However I do think it is human nature to not know when "enough is enough." I don't want to see half naked pictures of you, I don't want to see pictures of the car accident a student was in, I don't want to have to worry about who might say something or post a picture that I don't like. There is freedom of speech and expression, but lets learn to sensor ourselves!

Technology is great in many ways. It has helped make me a better teacher, stay in touch with family and friends, and even helped Ethan and I in the beginning stages of our relationship...but sometimes I wish I could go back to "the old days."

Those people...

There are those people who seem to have a place for everything. No matter what happens their home looks spotless, the bills are stacked neatly in their proper place, the filing cabinet is properly located for easy access and the files are arranged alphabetically, laundry is folded immediately once it emerges from the dryer, dust never has a chance to settle, the bed is made, nothing seems cluttered or misplaced...

I am not one of them.

But I would like to be... I want a spotless house, but many times I choose to enjoy an evening cuddling on the couch with Ethan watching our favorite show. I would love for the filing cabinet to be used for something more than a "catch-all," but as luck would have it, there is rust on the bottom and Ethan doesn't want it on the carpet or kitchen floor...so in a closet is where it stays. The laundry stays in piles of clean clothes until I decide to dedicate my entire Saturday to folding and putting it away (my mother would cringe). When it was hot from the dryer the dogs wanted me to throw the ball with them. In our house, dust is a protective coating for the furniture...or wouldn't I like to think. If the bed gets made it is usually after I get home from work, and only a few hours before we are going to climb in it. We have an ever-growing pile of mail that sits on the counter...I would love to blame it all on Ethan, but I have my fair share of envelopes sitting in the pile.

I guess it comes down to how you look at things in life. I want things organized and cleaned, but I don't want to sacrifice watching a pretty sunset on the porch or cuddling on the couch in order for that to happen. Some people would probably call me lazy, but when I look back on my life I want to remember the sunsets and cuddling, not the dishes and folded laundry.

Home Projects

Ethan's Aunt Margaret once told us, if your marriage can survive long road trips and home improvement projects, then you can survive anything. The very next weekend we left for an 8 hour road trip to Colorado and spent a nice chunk of money at Lowe's to begin the bathroom remodeling. We were going to test that theory even before we marry.

We survived the road trip, and even decided to try and make that an annual vacation to the Rocky Mountains. The bathroom remodel was about to commence. The task: add a shower to the bath tub, tile the walls, wallpaper what was left, new sink, new toilet, new faucet, new flooring, and do it all ourselves. (Well, actually Ethan and his dad would do the majority of the work, I helped pick things out and learned how to wallpaper).

The demolition began the weekend after Labor Day and continued through most of September. Ethan and his dad were able to get the plumbing done for the new shower head, and Ethan attached the new counter top.

This was perfect timing for a home remodeling project because I was going to be busy most weekends coaching volleyball and wouldn't be in Ethan's way. One Saturday I came home from a tournament and Ethan had replaced the old window with glass tile squares. It looked great!

Soon it was time to begin tiling...but we hit a little speed bump. The cold weather set in and the only place to cut the tile was in the garage. The tile has to be cut with a wet saw...meaning the tile is wet. Cold and wet. Not fun. So the project got put on hold for a couple months.

After January, Ethan and his dad, Bill, set in on the tile. This was something new to both of them (and that's saying a lot, Bill has done many many things.) I was amazed how good it was looking. I now was setting my sights on the perfect shower curtain. This was going to be a much bigger undertaking that I thought.

I found the perfect shower curtain, I fell in love with it from the beginning. It was at Bed Bath and Beyond, and it had the perfect amount of blues, browns, and creams. Now, I have a tendency to make decisions a little too quickly, I find something I like and just go for it. So, I decided to shop around a little...I mean I was in no hurry. Turns out I should have been my normal speedy self...I went to order the shower curtain and, as luck would have it, the darn thing was out of stock and not going to be replaced. Crap. Now I had to keep looking. After months of pouring over every possible shower curtain...this one too brown...that one not enough brown...that one too sheer...and those are just plain ugly...I found one. Again at Bed Bath and Beyond and this time I bought it right away!

Once the tiling was complete everything else seemed to fall into place rather quickly. The sink went in without a problem, new flooring looked wonderful, the toilet was pretty and white, and I helped Dolores (Ethan's mom) wall paper the rest of the walls that weren't tiled. And then finally after a lot of hard work...mainly by Ethan and his dad...the bathroom was finished. We survived, rather easily I might add, our first home improvement project together. I hope that the rest of them go just as smoothly...