Talking Tuesday

1. Whenever I watch 24 and a time comes up, I briefly feel how tired I would be at that time. For example, if the time is 10pm-11pm I would think "It is time for bed." 3am-4am? "Why am I not sleeping, I am so tired! "5pm-6pm" I just need a quick nap after work.

2. Chris and I both work in Navasota now so we can carpool to work. We are saving like $60 a week on gas. Maybe more since gas prices are so high now. It is really awesome.

3. I am super-duper excited for spring break, but even more excited for summer. I love teaching, but it is exhausting! Chris told me once "Summer is a teacher's way of getting back at parents."

4. I recently realized that as long as I stay a teacher, I will never have to work a Christmas break. And I never had so far. I have always been able to ask off for work or find someone to cover my shift. Those are my benefits.

How true this is.

Leaving Children Behind

I really wish that the people in charge would understand what not funding education will do to the future of our country. Who do they think will be running the country 30 years from now?

I love this article about it.  Well, love/hate it. Because it tells the truth, but the truth ain't pretty.

There is a rally in Austin, Texas on March 12. There are ways that the government can spend more money on education, but they are not even considering those options. What is more important? Pleasing the few rich people who donate to your campaign, or the millions of Texas school children who aren't getting the education they will need to be competitive in the future? Unfortunately, they have the wrong answer to that question. And they may say one thing, but their actions tell the true story.

I didn't vote for Rick Perry.

Education in America

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

If you have been living in a cave, or if you are just not surround by education all the time, you might not know that education in America is suffering. American children are behind the rest of the world in test scores. Have any of the politicians thought about the future of our country? Because it is in the hands of the  children that sit in our classroom right now.

There is a part in this video that really makes me mad. Can you guess what it is? I would like someone to follow me around for a day and tell me that my job is only part-time. That I am done by 2:30. I usually don't leave the school until around 5pm after getting there before 7:30.

I already know that if I have a job next year (because no one has been guaranteed one yet), there will be no raise based on experience or based on inflation.

Anyways, I'll post later on what you can do in Texas if you would like to help.

Comin'-At-You Tuesday

Miss me? Here is a new segment on this blog here. I don't have a better name for it. I shortened it from "I don't have a real blog post, but I like lists so I'll make lists here instead of blog posts." Make sense?

1. Brandon Davies got kicked off the BYU Basketball team for an honor code violation. Really? That "really" is not for BYU, but for Davies. You had a chance to go to the NCAA finals. Why mess that up with an honor code violation. Have no idea what he did, or when he did it. But hello? It's not like the honor code was a surprise. I guess we'll see how BYU plays tomorrow night.

2. I found a cheap bribe for my students. Ice. They love it. Yesterday I had some in class to practice reading thermometers. And they just begged and begged me for some. Finally I made a deal that if they worked quietly, I would let them have some. And it worked. Don't think I could try it too many times though. 

 3. We got a new lunch menu yesterday and today was Stuffed Pizza sticks! I had some like a month ago and they were so good. I've been waiting that long to have them again. I was so excited for lunch today. I took one picture without the banana. I figured I should add it so you could see I had something healthy.

4. This is the fad in school this week. And they are already starting to die out; I am a little behind the times. I have picked up so many of these in class the last two weeks. My drawers are full of colored plastic string. The thing is, you really have to have patience to do these. Why can't they have that kind of focus on math?

5. I said Crap in front of my students yesterday. It wasn't my best moment, but I had messed up something. And some of my students freaked out. It was funny for about 20 seconds. 

Bend and Snap

We went to San Antonio a few weekends ago to see Legally Blonde the Musical. It was supposed to be Chris, Charleah and Me, but Chris got an opportunity he couldn't refuse so he didn't get to go.

We left on Friday night and drove to San Antonio and stayed in the Doubletree Hotel. (Where we didn't get our cookie.) 

On Saturday, I navigated us through San Antonio sans directions. Which I am pretty proud of. I only drove the wrong way down a one way street once. First we stopped at The Alamo. Or as I call it, the Fake-lmo. Only because it isn't the real Alamo, but a replica which is passed off as the real thing. But it is still Texas history. 

 Then onto the show! The theater is really pretty inside. The set up makes it look like you are sitting outside. The show was fantastic. It was not as good as Wicked, but I enjoyed it. I have been listening to the soundtrack a lot the last two weeks. 

Then we went to the Riverwalk and ate at Rio Rio. It was okay; I probably wouldn't eat there again. But it was cool to eat on a table right on the Riverwalk. Our waiter was nice and kept calling us Sweetie. 

And then we came home! It was a long drive but we finally made it home the same night. It was a fun weekend. Next time I make a road trip, I will make sure Chris is with me. 

Everything is Bigger in Texas?

I had my first snow day as a teacher on Friday. There was snow that we were promised all week long. But I wasn't really sure if it was going to show up.

As you can see, it finally did. There was so much snow, I think all the schools in/near/around Houston were closed. At first Navasota was just going to start late, but then I got the phone call at 6:45 that school was cancelled. Which just means we get to make it up later in the year.

Seriously. This was it. There was more up North in Navasota, but not much here. But some of the freeways were closed and the overpasses and there were tons of accidents. Not because the snow/ice was that bad, but because Texans can drive through anything! Not really. I imagine that there were lots of arrogant Texans on the road who figured their truck would not be affected by the ice. 

So this was our snow day. And we didn't even get to build a snowman. But I'll live. 

And today, it got up into the 70s. That's south central Texas for you. 

365 days and counting

One year ago, Adison left.  This is almost the last time I saw him. That bag he is carrying is mine. It is the one he insisted that he didn't need, but I insisted I'd bring it to the airport anyways. It turns out his bag was too heavy and he needed it. You know what they say... big sisters are always right.

And then he went to the MTC. He was so excited for the food. And then a couple of weeks later he confessed that it had gotten old. And showed me in a diagram. He summed it up with "and one day you wake up and realize that if you have to eat it one more day you will kill yourself three days ago."

And now he is in Argentina. Where he he is taller than everyone by at least a foot. Seriously, doesn't this look photoshopped? I am pretty sure it isn't. He has forgotten how to spell and I would say he forgot correct grammar, but I don't know if he ever really knew that.

But he is Super-Missionary, so he doesn't really need to know those things to teach the gospel. At least not in English.

And while I am still glad that he is on a mission and doing his best and teaching the gospel and serving others. I am glad to say the countdown begins. 365 days!

Things I Like Right Now

1. Old-style country- as opposed to the pop country

2. Books on CD

3. Ice Cold Water

4. Sleep

5. My Smartboard in my classroom

6. Cute Socks

7. Orange- I have eaten more oranges in the past two weeks than I did all of last year

8. Getting money back

9. The Office- just joking. I like The Office always!

10. Legally Blonde The Musical soundtrack

Force-the-Truth Randi

Chris and I decided to get rid of our storage unit to save the $100 a month it was costing us. So I spent half of my Christmas vacation throwing stuff out, donating and refitting everything into less boxes to take back to Chris's parents shed.

Well, I didn't check what the policy was for moving out of the storage unit. I figured if we out by December 31, we wouldn't be charged for January. No such luck. The owner said we had to give a 10 day notice and I didn't tell him till December 30. And he doesn't pro-rate, so we would have to pay for all of January. But he said that if he rented out our unit in January, he would refund us our money.

Well, we weren't too happy. Chris more upset than I was. But he said ours was the only unit like it that would be open, so I figured it would rent out soon.

Fast-forward a week. The storage unit is down the street we live on. We pass it frequently. And we can see our unit from the street. Last Saturday I drove buy and saw someone moving into our unit! I wasn't 100% sure because I wasn't paying attention. I thought the owner would call us soon. But a week went buy and nothing.

Then my mom drove buy this Saturday and saw it again. So I figured either Chris or I had to call. I tried to call Chris to get him to do it because I can't really handle that stress much. But I couldn't get a hold of him.

So it was left up to me. I called and this was our conversation, after introducing myself.

ME: "Have you rented out our storage unit yet?"
HIM: "I have someone who is interested and if they come in I will refund you."
ME: "Okay, but I have seen someone moving into our unit this week and last week, so...what about that?"
HIM: "I don't remember; I'll have to check."

He calls back 10 minutes later.

HIM: "It has been rented out. I forgot because the lady originally rented another unit and her truck wouldn't fit into that side of the unit and so I moved her. I'll send you $70."

Now, I don't want to say that he lied. But, our unit was the only one left like it. And why would you build a storage unit where a truck wouldn't be able to fit into part of it (since most people probably bring trucks there) and I saw the truck, it was an F-150.

Moral of the Story: There may be liars out there, but I can stop them. Even if I have to deal with anxiety afterwards.