Capturing the Glory Days

The idea of taping your kids’ sporting events is certainly not a new one, but I’ve discovered a new use for these recordings. Well, maybe it’s not exactly a “new” use, but it’s new to me as I hadn’t ever thought of doing this before. I tape my kids’ sporting events not only to preserve the memories, but to use as a teaching tool.

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Preparing for a Hurricane

Since my kids and I just moved here from Chicagoland a year ago, we’ve never experienced a hurricane. The news is plastered with reports of Tropical Storm Issac down here. We’re far enough away from the storm’s projected path that we should only experience some rain and wind. I haven’t been worried about it, but to hear some people talk, you’d think it was Armageddon.

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Letting Go Team Go

Football season is underway! I totally lucked out for a third year because Lexi is cheering for Jackson's team so I only need to endure enjoy one game a week. they had their first game this Saturday. It was only a practice game and the boys ended up tying 6-6. As you know, I'm an absolute football EXPERT as shown by this blog post full of my extensive knowledge HERE. So, after the game, since I'm a wonderfully supportive mom, I asked Jackson, "Why were you hitting like a girl?"
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Back-to-School Nightmares, er Memories

Today was 'Meet the Teacher' day here in Orange County.  And just like last year, every school was open to pick up schedules and meet teachers all on the same day.  I have two kids in high school, two kids in middle school, and two kids in grade school, and since I still haven't perfected my cloning device or teleportation machine, it was a trick getting everywhere at once.  Unlike last year when I had a meltdown of epic proportions (You can read about me breaking down, losing it, and crying in the middle of the high school campus here.  Go ahead; I'll wait.  I don't mind reliving the humiliation.) , my super-powers were intact and working this year and I managed to take care of everything.

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A Brand-New Year, Deserves a Make-Over

Last year was my first year working in my school (or any school, for that matter). In fact, it was my first year working outside the house in seventeen years. I was so overwhelmed with moving across the country away from all my family and friends, trying to figure out everything in a very new place, and going back to work while trying to juggle everything and take care of my kids all on my own. Because of all that, I didn’t really do anything to my classroom last year. Other than the addition of a couple posters on the walls and a picture frame on my desk, my room looked just like every other plain, white, institutional room.

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Geography Lessons

Watching the Olympics, I've come to the realization that my geography knowledge is a little lacking. A couple times, I've had to google a country to learn where it's located. Every time I've been curious, I've looked up information about the country. What I should have been doing, however, is sharing this information with my kids because their geography skills . . . oh boy!
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I Have a Driver! And a Wet Butt. And Apparently, a SpongeBob Problem.

I took Savannah back to the DMV once more today. We walked in and were immediately asked, “Do you have an appointment?” I anticipated the woman telling us that they didn’t have time for any walk-ins today at which point I would jump over the desk and slap her. Or do something really horrible like make her listen to asinine insurance commercials on my phone. I might even go as far as bringing Brooklyn in so she could ask her if her tooth is any looser. Repeatedly. Hour after hour. All day. But I don’t usually resort to such acts of terrorism.

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They Were Cones!

I've had several people ask me for an update on my health. My leg doesn't hurt to walk anymore which is awesome. But the veins are still hard and a bit inflamed, and I may kick you if you try to touch my leg because it's still sore on the surface. I still get short-of-breath pretty easily, but I've started walking on the treadmill once again which is good because I've gained about a million pounds with all my prolonged inactivity.

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On the Mend

I’ve had several people ask me for an update on my health. My leg doesn’t hurt to walk anymore which is awesome. But the veins are still hard and a bit inflamed, and I may kick you if you try to touch my leg because it’s still sore on the surface. I still get short-of-breath pretty easily, but I’ve started walking on the treadmill once again which is good because I’ve gained about a million pounds with all my prolonged inactivity.

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Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other

The principal of my school had a speaker come in today to talk to the math teachers. I’m not a math teacher, but I do help students with math regularly so I was invited to attend as well. The principal insisted I would enjoy it. She used words like “fun” and “awesome” to describe the event. In my world, the words “fun” and “awesome” do not belong in the same sentence with the word “math”. Sitting through seven hours of math talk sounds almost as delightful as peeling off my skin and rolling in a pool of salt. Still, I trust my principal and and if she said this would help me to help my students, I was onboard with it.

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Going for Gold (or a trip to the ER)

My kids and I have been avidly watching the Olympics. We watch the events live during the day. We watch the recorded events in the evening. We watch until the programming goes off the air here and the folks in London are crawling home from the pubs. (I actually have no idea when Londoners crawl home from pubs or even if they crawl home from pubs, but our American programming did a whole segment on pub crawls in London, and if the TV says so, it must be true.)
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