Quick Update

Not a whole lot has been going on, but I thought it was about time for an update:

Eric and I went to Houston for Valentine's weekend. It was so nice to get away! We saw Coraline in 3-D, hence the above picture. The movie was a bit on the strange side, but I still enjoyed it and Eric stayed awake the majority of the time. We also visited the Bodyworlds exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The exhibit featured numerous displays of plastinized cadavers. Romantic, I know! It was also on this weekend that I officially become a Banana Republic fan.

I received this lovely arrangement at school on Tuesday. It was from Eric just because he was thinking about me. :) By the way, he has a blog now. The more you comment, the more he'll write.

And finally, we are beginning to see progress on our new house. It was "released" today, whatever that means. We will be meeting with our builder next Friday for the first of several meetings that we will have throughout the building process. Yay!

What to do with a Wedding Dress. . .

Even though Eric and I have been married for a year and a half, we STILL haven't gotten all of our stuff moved out of our parents' houses. This summer when we move into our new home, I plan to finally get all of our belongings under one roof.

One thing that is still at my parents' house is my wedding dress. As soon as the wedding was over, it was zipped up in its bag and hasn't seen the light of day since then. I haven't even had it cleaned! That's awful, I know. . . .

Anyway, I've been thinking about what I should do with my dress, aside from getting it cleaned, of course. I hate for it to just take up closet space, but I don't think I can bear to part with it either. What have you done with your wedding dress? Or, what do you plan to do with it?

No biggie, there's just ice on the road.

Issued by The National Weather Service
Bell County, TX
5:31 am CST, Wed., Jan. 28, 2009

... SLICK AND ICY ROADS AND WALKWAYS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH LATE MORNING...

Did TISD delay school?

No.

I was counting on the ice for a couple extra hours of sleep. :(

Update:

Eric just went outside to see how much ice was on his truck. He can't even get his truck door open. Haha! I told him he should call his principal and tell her he'll be late. :)

Praying for Patience

It's been the same prayer every morning for quite some time:

"Lord, please give me patience with these kids!"

Apparently I should have been more specific like:

"Lord, please give me patience with the students I already have. Please do not add a wild one to the mix in order to teach me what patience really is."

A couple of weeks ago Jemerril* joined my homeroom. Prior to him my biggest problems were a few chatty students, one disrespectful girl, and a couple of unmotivated boys. My, my how things have changed! God must be trying to teach me patience with Jemerril.

Jemerril seems to think that he does not have to follow our school's expectations or any teachers' instructions. This means that it is okay for him to leave the room (or the building for that matter!), walk around the classroom calling out student answers on a quiz, talk when no one else is supposed to, and be generally disrespectful.

In moments when Jemerril is out of the room, I realize that I have much more patience with the students that used to get on my last nerve. I suppose that's the patience I was praying for.

Listen! I think God is laughing. . . . Not really, but I do think I've had about all the patience training I can take!

*Name changed to protect privacy. :)

It's the Small Things in Life

I just bought a Libman Wonder Mop. . . and I'm excited! :)

Does anyone else ever get excited about new cleaning supplies, or am I just a big dork? Nevermind, don't answer that.

You're Fired.

Those really weren't the words used, but they may as well have been.

My assistant principal came into my room saying, "Sometimes we've got to do these things." Things like what, I wondered.

Then the assistant superintendent of student services came in and asked what my lesson plans are like. I happened to have a copy of last week's plans nearby, so I handed them to him. He looked them over and was full of praise. "I like how you caught their interest by first showing a video clip. . . Wow! Look at all of the detail you put into your plans." Truly I don't believe my plans look any more or less wonderful than anyone else's.

Our small meeting soon grew to include our new superintendent as well as my principal. The superintendent asked me how I felt about teaching lower grades. I asked her what she meant and she said, "Well really I mean how do you feel about subbing or being an aide?" She said this like these were two wonderful options to teaching.

I understood what she was getting at. I asked her if she was demoting me. The answer was yes. WHAT?! I asked her if I could speak to her in the hall. She obliged.

Once we were in the hall I loudly asked her why she was doing this to me. She asked me if I understood that students could hear me and I told her I didn't care. She went on to say that the district had told her they needed to cut the budget by $7/hour. She decided that could be done by getting rid of me. I was beside myself. I didn't know what to say or what to do.

Then I woke up. It was time to get ready for school.

THE Big News

We're building a house!

Here's a picture of our lot. The expected completion date is July 15th.