Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank

I went to the library to return my 1 week loan of T is for Trespass a wonderful book by the lovely Sue Grafton (who I met once because I'm hot stuff) and I happened upon a little hardcover copy of Stop Dressing Your Six Year Old Like a Skank.

Had to check it out. I'm always up for a provocative title.

It is so freaking funny -- especially since the author observes a lot of trends about the 6 year old population that I do. If you are looking for a quickie that will make your stomach hurt (from laughing not concern), I'd go the skanky route... but that's just me.

Oh and yes my parents did pay good money for me to get my degree in English and no I don't often check out the great American classics (ok ever... I don't ever check out the great American classics).

Salud (dinero y amor)

Well, Luis and I had a nice weekend together which is rare (the weekend part not the nice part). Usually he is working or flying and I am being worthless around the house because I'm sleeping until noon and watching episodes of MTV stuff online (since we 86ed the cable).

Not this weekend. We puttered around and ate Chinese one night and Pizza the other... heaven.

There is no one that can get under my skin like my husband, but I think that is b/c there is no one that is more like half of my brain. We are just cheeseball like that.

So, here's to cute husbands to make the rare weekends fun. And here's to the dogs who mostly stayed out of our way this weekend so we could argue and laugh and just generally experience the blessing that is time together. Salud!

Ur on red.

So I have a list of favorite blogs that I like to visit and I noticed that when I checked one that had not been updated since January 1st, I was mentally chanting "update your blog, update your blog". Apparently that would be a case of the kettle and pot and some black cause guess when I updated my blog last... oh yes, it was the 1st. So, here I am updating since I am hoping my favorite bloggers will do the same.

So, what to tell... The one thing that happened today that was kind of funny was a little "love note" that I got from my right hand man Connor today. Preface this story in your mind with the fact that the behavior in my class is by colors: green- good day, yellow- a little note goes home explaining some silliness or talkative behavior, and red (which only 2 people have gotten all year long)- which means the kid him/herself has to call his/her parents and explain what the crap has happened to turn his/her life into this downward spiral of disaster during the day.

Well, Connor (or Bartchy as I like to call him since his last name is so much more punchy sounding) wrote me a note and folded it hand-arthritis-givingly-small. When I opened it is said "ur on red" translated: this little genius just put his teacher on RED for no reason! Ha - love the moxie. Wish I had it when I was 5!

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Now, my favorite bloggers (and you know who you are) update your blogs and keep my entertained -- or else you will be on RED.

Fun Friends

Oh, and here's a little shout out to our fun friends, Ryan and Cheyney. We had a great time celebrating New Years with them last night and we are so thankful that you guys are in Raleigh!!!

Tracking In

Tomorrow I return to work after a nice extended track-out. This is my second, but since Luis was in Colombia during my first track-out, this one was immeasurably more fun. Here is a list of things that I will miss when I track back into school tomorrow morning:

1. Sleeping until 10 AM, eating some breakfast, reading, then sleeping in a little more.

2. Taking a long bath when I am ready to (instead of a quick shower so that I am not even one second later than I already am).

3. Keeping our house clean and clutter-free.

4. Making (sometimes) fancy suppers for when Luis gets home from work.

5. Staying up reading WAY after Luis falls asleep.

6. Sleeping until 10 AM and repeating the previous day's rigorous schedule.

I am excited to see the kids tomorrow, though. We rearranged the classroom totally on our workdays, so I am almost giddy imagining them finding their new seats and reaquainting themselves with all of their friends. And don't even think that I've forgotten about my class-boyfriend, Jackson -- I'm ready to get back to getting his little lovenotes :)

Wish me luck!!! (Actually, I'm pretty rested up so I should be great fun this week!)

Jools

Here is Jools in her favorite habitat in the entire house. If I can't find her, I know to look under my desk. When I work at my desk, I automatically sit to the side so that my little dingo (not the one that ate the baby) can be comfortable. She survived Katrina, so darnit, she's gonna get spoiled here.

The squeaky belt gets the oil -- then tries to chop your finger off

On the way home from work for his mini-bday celebration, Luis decided to stop and put some oil on a sqeaky belt in the Honda... in his effort to be fast so that he could get home and get showered before my parents got there, he put his finger down to steady the belt. Well, the belt had no regard for the steadying intentions of my poor husband and it took his finger all the way around and through the pulley. Needless to say his finger looks like he should be on the news for a shark attack.

They always say that the squeaky wheel gets the oil -- is this the logical next step: attempted amputation? If so, I am ignoring the parents in the class who make huge deals to get little perks for their kids so that I can protect my digits. And, yes, that is a napkin ring around L's finger -- we like to decorate where we can.

Luis's Bday

Yesterday was Luis's 31st bday. My parents came for supper and we had a low key night with them. Today, though, for his bday we are going on 2 surprises -- one of which Dad accidently spilled the beans to him about. I could have screamed. As hard as it is it to surprise Luis, I was impressed that I kept it going this long. Here is Luis posing in the jacket my parents gave him.

Going off the rails of a crazy train

Tomorrow is the last day of teaching that I have until 2008. Kathryn (my trusty TA) and I are holding onto our sanity by our fingernails and have been for the last 2 weeks. Our normally borderline-genius kids have been acting ... well... like children from the "other" Kindergarten class. We had some high schoolers come down and talk about recycling and my students told them that they really don't like coloring. I think we all just need a break from Kindergarten. But as soon as we are ready to be over it, one of the kids will hand us a "love note" which is their latest craze. They take paper from the the estimation box and write messages on it like "I loe m v" (translated from the original kindergarten this means I love Mrs. Velasquez) or more brazen attempts like "I love Vlascez". We might be going nuts, but at least we'll all go down with love :)

The tree

Luis finally got to do one of his favorite things that involves cursing in spanish a la Ricky Ricardo... he untangled the Christmas lights and put up our tree. It is really nice (of course I'd say that). We also put up the Christmas village. Good thing his cousin Andres was here to remind him the bad words in his native language in case he forgot any of the good ones. So after a bunch of mumbled mal pa-somethings and bestia hijo de pu-somethings, the tree is up and we are filled with Christmas spirit!

Christmas House

The Christmas decorations have been out since Monday, but now that Thanksgiving is done Luis could finally put up the lights. I love our house and now I love our house with Christmas lights.

And then there is the matter of the cute creature who put the lights up in shorts, a camo jacket, and hat -- Christmas lights AND eye candy... it doesn't get much better!

Huge Bone

Simon and Jools celebrated a very successful day today. Simon was celebrating his trip to the vet where he got a ton of shots and was maligned as being overweight by 5 pounds and Jools was celebrating her first day ever out of the crate while no adults were home.

This bone is HUGE. It is literally as long as my arm from my wrist to my shoulder. I had to buy it for them. The funny part is that neither of them can chew it -- all they can do is lick it and carry it for short distances.

And the bathtub

Here is the bathtub we've been working on. It is a real tub that we have painted (with the labor of the children included) to get ready for a reading destination. The kids read sitting anywhere (it is funny to see where they choose) and they are always so good that when the offer of a tub came we couldn't resist it. It is hard to tell from the picture but the pillows are made out of towels -- an idea much too creative for me to take credit for. So, soon as the rest of the pillows arrive the kids can have another place to read.

Thanksgiving Feast

So we had our Feast today and here is one of my students dressed as a Ingrim (a pilgrim/indian hybrid that was so unintentional I had to let him keep it on). The feast was much less chaotic than any of us expected.

Rainy days and Thursdays

I had my observation and it actually went really well. The mom (and the backup) mom had to cancel for centers so the principal ended up observing a math lesson. The children were super. They had no problems and looked brilliant by sorting manipulatives by esoteric sorting rules like "these blocks have scratches and these ones don't" she loved that. It is supposed to be a rainy day today so we are knocking out some assessments -- at least that is the plan.

Wal*Mart Oil Change

So we're all about saving the pennies so Luis asked me to go to Wal*Mart to get the Jeep's oil changed. I considered the last time I went there and wasted 2 (TWO) hours of my summer waiting to save about $11 ( or 1.64841 Switzerland Francs), but considering that I did get to sleep in past 12:38 this afternoon I was down. I showered quickly and put on my best "I don't care how I look because I am going to the Wal*Mart in Wake Forest" outfit and hopped in the jeep. I put Dr. Laura on my IPOD and nodded along while she got impatient with a guy who wouldn't get rid of his 8 year old cat even though the cat didn't get along with his wife of 4 months -- jerk. About, oh, 24 minutes later I pulled up to Wal*Mart and there was an empty car parked where you're supposed to wait for the guy to check you in. I pulled beside it so the guy would come and he told me to go ahead and park. OK makes sense Sam, so I parked. Twenty-three minutes (that would be 1,380 seconds) later and 2 handheld devices critical to checking me in running out of batteries I was in. I wandered around Wal*Mart in Wake Forest and I was able to hear a lady point out that she had enough ammunition in her dad's car in the parking lot to keep some other person at bay for at least 5 minutes (I swear she really said this and she wasn't joking). About an hour and 17 minutes later (but who's counting) I went back to see if they had successfully been able to replace my more than 1,247 miles overdue oil... of course they were done about forty minutes ago-- they just had not called me like they promised they would. LOVE saving money.

It's the freakin weekend

So, it's been a long week with my TA out one day. We are really a pair so it was good to have her back even without her voice. We made the Native American costumes (vests, necklaces, and headpieces) and part of the Pilgrim costumes. We are looking forward to the feast that we have scheduled for the day before we go on Thanksgiving break. The kids made their invitations today so we'll see how many parents RSVP -- I suspect most will. It's going to be a nutso day that day.

Oh Crap (again)

So we have a new principal and apparently she likes to observe a little more casually than the old one... she dropped in with her laptop today just as my little blessings were lining up for PEPI (where the high schoolers come and play games with them) so I dodged the perverbial bullet this time but now I know she's on the prowl. It's not like I have anything exciting to hide, but I like to be over-prepared for observations and today we were not going by the script... we've been doing 2nd quarter math assessments and even for Kindergarten those assessments suck the life out the the kids. So today I was letting them work on their Native American necklaces for our upcoming feast. It was an ambitious project since we were using bottled glue and sand so I guess she would've been impressed... but now we have to wait for the next unexpected visit. I can just about hear the jaws music in the background.

Cheyney is in Raleigh

So, I opened my facebook today and there was a message from my high school friend Cheyney. She and I went to school together when we lived in Georgia and now she lives in Raleigh... what are the chances? I am so excited to see my friend. She and I had a great time back in those olden days. Can you stand how life works out like that sometimes?

Sandy Toes

So here we are at the beach. Our condo is called Sandy Toes and it is owned by one of my students' family and some other friends of ours. They have an album of the condo makeover and I am IMPRESSED! It is also funny to see pictures of 2 of my students on the wall -- work is never far away, but that is a good thing sometimes (like when we get to go to the beach because of it :) It has been so nice and Luis is having fun playing Nintendo 64 Vietnam-vet style (marine jacket with no shirt and ripped off pajama pants).

The dogs have had fun fun and attacking each other in the sand and we have eaten TOO MUCH. That's what the beach is for.