a christmas like never before...

while my family was scattered on the west coast and throughout the desert on christmas eve and christmas day, i spent my time with beau, enjoying his family and then quiet time with just him and the cat. it was very different, but i still enjoyed it. i missed my family, the loudness and laughter, and knowing the stories that were being told :) but i enjoyed the new stories, the new traditions, the laughter and busyness of it all. i was able to spend some time in california with my parents, my brother, sisinlaw and niece, which was great, and i wish they didn't live so far away.

since christmas beau and i have been sick at some level or another, he being the most sick with a respiratory ickiness that i think he's finally getting over. i had a stomach bug that lasted about a day, and have been battling the regular winter cold by staying inside most of the day... :) (except when i have to go to the grocery when it's raining cats and dogs).

so things in the south are going well... i'm looking forward to getting back to work so i can see my kiddos again and have a routine again. i'm looking forward to new years and fun with friends... i'm glad the rain hasn't been too bad since i've been home from california (we had an adventure with rain earlier this month).

i'm also looking forward to the cupcakes i'm about to bake...

i may not be able to cook wonderfully, but i am confident in my baking abilities. :)

funky baking

i've been in a funk the past couple days. wednesday i helped shauna with a catering job which was great, i only broke one glass. lol. really, i did. embarrassing to the core, but not horrible. i was exhausted after that though, and i don't know that i've fully recovered, in spite of sleeping until like 10 today, i'm still not completely recovered. emotions are shot, for some reason. and it's not the typical girl reason either, so i don't know what my deal is. sensitive and whiny, i hate being like this...

so... i decided to bake. i cleaned and now i'm baking. :) sugar cookies first cuz, well, they're delicious. :) i tried my hand at grandma's frosting... it's off just a smidge, but it still tastes good. i'm waiting impatiently for my cookies to cool so i can frost them. :) i might make banana bread again... i'm getting good at it... it might get put off til tomorrow though so the bananas are a wee bit riper. i like them mushygushy for banana bread. otherwise the flavor's not right.

anyways, i'm listening to christmas country music. love it. :) baking and feeling my spirits lift just a little bit... which is good.

im really bad at blogging, i've decided. not that i'm not whimsical and creative, just that it takes time... time i'd rather be investing in other things... like facebook? oh snap... ok... nevermind.

maybe i'm just bad at coming up with topics to write about. cuz my life isn't really all that interesting...

but today i will not give you the rundown of my life, because it's really not anything new. spent thanksgiving at beau's aunt's which is fun, and lots of good food, traditional southern thanksgiving dinner is much different than traditional yankee thanksgiving dinner, and while i missed some important ingredients from my previous thanksgivings, i was grateful for wonderful people and delicious food and feeling like a part of the family.

that was the only nutshell you are getting...

moving on...

yesterday at school, one of my little boys (xavier, 8), said he's decided my boyfriend is santa. or at least was the santa in their pictures. why? because he has a beard and he's big. ;) lol. oh kids... today, he reiterated the fact that he was positive beau is santa. i told beau, and he didn't seem as entertained by the idea as i was... i however think it's hilarious.

TODAY at school, one of my little girls told me that her family is not celebrating christmas this year. sad to hear, and curious, i asked her why, since i was pretty sure it wasn't a religious thing. sadly she told me it was because "christmas was too expensive". HOWEVER... and this made me really have to bite my tongue, her family was going to celebrate Hanukkah and Kwanzaa because those weren't as expensive. LOL. are you kidding me? really? instead of making christmas not about the presents, they decide to celebrate different holidays? really? how sad is that?

sunday night, beau and i started playing wii resort. we've learned i'm pretty good at bowling, archery, and i started out really good at swordfighting. but... alas... the second time around for every activity we did last night, beau beat me. and with a smile on his face, he ended the game a victorious. close games though, and soooo much fun!

well, it's time for lights out. i will share more 2nd grade wisdom as i come across it. :)

ida and the cat.

ida didn't touch us. i stayed home from school last monday night, and the storm never came. well, ok... it came, and if i lived down the road, would have been stuck, but... in chalmette, the winds came, some rain came, and that was it. now, i've heard ida became a wicked storm in the northeast, and i'm sad for those peeps... i'm glad that it didn't rip through here crazylike...

my kitty is at the vet still. i get to pick him up this afternoon. it's amazing how much i miss him. it was weird getting to beau's house yesterday afternoon and not have him (the kitty) run up and attack my legs... or climb up my leg while i was making dinner or ... anytime really. he's a climber. although, now, without any front claws, it'll be interesting to see how he gets around. he's really gonna have to learn to jump. anyways... i miss him. he still needs a name. everyone says it's sad for the kitty that he doesn't have a name. but i haven't come across anything that seems to fit him. the only thing that i think i like is Mac. because he likes my computer, but i don't think beau will go for that , cuz he's a PC.... it's the never-ending argument... mac vs. pc... those commercials don't help (i do love them though). soooooo... yeah... i don't know. maybe i can figure something out when he (the kitty) comes home today.

school is kicking my butt. i have to focus. i have no focusing ability these days, and i need some... a lot, really. the end of the semester is upon me and i have a LOT of work to do... but i can't seem to get anything done.

SIGH.

well. that's all for now... my head hurts. my leg hurts. my back hurts. old age setting in? maybe.

the nerve...

ida is in the gulf. i tell myself i'm not worried. but my eyes tell another story. but really, deep down i'm confident that it's going to be okay. i know that God is watching over us. i also know that beau knows what to do in these situations. so i'm not worried. the kitten is freaking me out though because he's freaking out. weather changes freak animals out, for sure.

but ida's not supposed to touch us. affect us, yes, but hit us, no.

so there you go. :)

oh... and no work today... off for the storm... :) so i get to play catch up on homework again. :)

the job!

the job is amazing. i work with 2nd and 3rd graders, helping them learn how to read. it's challenging work, heartbreaking work. to think that there's this world of knowledge, fantasy, imagination that the children don't know about and can't enjoy because they can't read well. some of the children i tested last week read so poorly that they couldn't comprehend the story at all... they missed out on the key words. it literally breaks my heart. so, i hope that in these group sessions that i have with these kids, i can help them reach their potential and open this world up to them...

naptime

Yesterday I met with my academic advisor at UNO. Even though this lady gives me a ton of homework and so much of it seems like busy work, I am learning the most from her class, and I really enjoy going to it. I went to her to figure out my classes for next semester, as we’re getting ready to register, and I found out that UNO is only offering a couple of the classes I need left. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to finish in the three semesters like I planned, so I wanted to talk to her to be sure... Also, I was concerned that without a full-time status, I wouldn’t get my student loan, which would ultimately determine whether I would be able to go to school. SO... it was so encouraging to talk with her. She was surprised that they allowed me to register for five classes, being a fulltime student and a fulltime employee. She was surprised I was doing well... :) I told her I was changing jobs, and that I was looking forward to the part-timeness of my new job because then I could get caught up on all my field experience hours. She told me I was well on my way to finishing all my classwork by this time next year, and then entering into my student teaching (which I hope to be in my classroom that fall anyway). SO... that’s exciting for me. So technically, it will still take me four semesters, but classwork wise, it’s only three. So next semester I will take three classes if the financial aid office will let me keep my loan. If not, she told me to talk to a professor about taking an independent study class for reading intervention (which is what my new job is) and then sign up for a reading class that will help me in that field. That way my unit won’t be a complete waste of time and money. SO... I still may have to take four or five classes, but hopefully I can take only three and still get my loan. I am glad I met with her. We talked about the class I’m in with her--classroom management. She said I have a good head on my shoulders, and I really seem to know my stuff. I told her, well I’ve been working with kids since i was a kid, and it all kinda comes natural to me. She said she thinks I really helped this girl in our class who is also working with little ones (she’s got 1 to 2-year olds, Lord bless her). The girl felt kinda lost in class, trying to seek out help from the class, but not really being able to translate what we’re doing in class (which is geared for prek-3rd grade), and my professor thinks some of the things I’ve said really encouraged the girl. I hope so. I told her it was hard for me at first, but it started to make sense, and I’ve been able to take some key things and apply them.

I am sad a little bit that tomorrow is my last day in my classroom. I am happy a lot that tomorrow is my last day in my classroom. I feel confident that Mary is going to do wonderful with whomever they put with her. I pray that the match is a good one. We were a good team, Mary n I. I will miss her take charge, take initiative, and ability to keep the kids’ attention longer than I. I look forward to what God has in store for me though. I am excited to work with Ms. Liz next week and learn from her. I am excited to meet my new students, and to see what reading intervention is all about. I am excited to the doors that this job is going to open. I will miss my cuddles from a couple of my kids, but I will not miss the poopy diapers and biting and hitting and screaming. I am sure I will deal with something new at Davies, but I am hoping it’s a little more manageable. :)

Well, naptime is over, so I had better go...

aP