Last full day

We are back in Busingen once more, glad to not be getting on any trains today and to use the computer for as long as we want. I can even find the exclamation point!!!!!! And the letter Y is in the correct place. Small victories. Anyhow, I will give you the highlights of the last few days.
Three days ago we took the train(s) to Interlaken. As we were wandering down the street towards the Travel Information center to book some adventurous things we happened upon a booth advertising paragliding and other stuff. We ended up booking paragliding for both of us for that afternoon and rafting for the next day. Paragliding was amazing! I really never got scared, though I almost threw up. Taking off was the best part. You run a few steps, wait for you chute to catch up to you, then run a few more until there is no ground underneath you any more. I would highly recommend it to anyone. However, at the end as we were descending I agreed to a few acrobatic maneuvers which I think is what did me in. By the time we landed I was praying fervently that the Lord would keep my lunch from coming out my mouth. We then took the train, a bus, and a lift up to Gimmelwald and the Mountain Hostel where we stayed the night. It was a very busy place, full of American Alp enthusiasts all talking about good hikes and other places they had gone or are going to. We stayed in the owner's daughter's room (she is apparently away at college) so we got some space to ourselves. The next day we went back down the mountain and went white water rafting. I seem to remember going rafting in Colorado in years past and just wearing my own clothes and a life jacket. Not so here. We were given wet suits, wet suit jackets, booties, life jackets, and helmets. Pretty intense, but I was very thankful for them once I felt the glacial water. We opted to join the Swiss-speaking boat (as opposed to the one full of Australians) and not know how to say useful things like "all forward, right, left, and duck/hold on". The water was decently rough and within the first hundred feet we hit a rock funny and the entire back of our raft went under, leaving me up to my waist in freezing cold water. Somehow we were able to wiggle the boat out of the spot it was stuck in and regain some sort of bouyancy. It then took a few minutes for all the water to drain, at which time I felt like we were floating down the river in a full bath tub. The rest of the journey was not quite so treacherous, though we were bummed that our raft didn't get to attempt the small waterfall since our guide was brand new. Oh well.

I am apparently writing in too much detail because Riley has given up waiting on me and has gone back to the room. Summation of the rest of that trip: Next day we took some lifts up a mountain to hike, hiked the trail, took a bunch of pictures, but the mountains were covered in clouds so we couldn't see the big mountains, only the hills directly in front of us. Ate overpriced cheese fondue. Bought a few souvenirs. Took the train back to Schaffhausen. Fell asleep as soon as we got back. Today we are hoping to borrow some bikes and ride to the Rhine Falls. Tomorrow: home. Love you all!

Ang

Day 5?

We are currently doing a quick update on the computer at the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald. I will do this quickly so I don^t hog it.

Highlights
-Paraglided yesterday, almost threw up. It was incredible
-White water rafted today. Also incredible. In the first five minutes we nearly submerged our raft and we had to hang on for dear life.^ Wicked
-Beautiful views of the Alps. Wow
-Hiked under a waterfall, got a little damp.
-Thats it for now. Love you all
-Ang

Day 3- Ebenalp

Day three consisted of our second day trip to a beautiful little... place... called Ebenalp. If you want information about it just ask my dad, I'm sure he's researching everything we do. Keep up the good work dad! Anyhow, we awoke bright and early and caught a train to Waserauen. Then we took a cable car up a mountain/cliff to this little place that had a church and a house thing built into the cliff it was cool. Also, there were paragliders and hanggliders. Holy crap. They just put their chutes in place and take off running down the mountain until the wind catches their chute and they float off into the wild blue yonder, or a little ways past the cliff where they catch an updraft that causes them to sail around in endless circles. It's really cool from the bottom of the mountain because there's just a swarm of them circling the top of the mountain like buzzards around a fresh kill (do you like my use of imagery?). Here are some pictures of the beautiful scenery and paragliders...




Oh wait, our camera ran out of batteries after 4 pictures. Hopefully they are great pictures. We hiked a bit, I didn't die from the climb back up the trail, we caught the correct train back, all was well.

Things I learned today:
-It is totally ok to pack up your chute in your speedo
-Don't put your feet on the seats on the train, old ladies will grump at you in German.
-First class cars on trains have microscopic 1's on the side for all to see and you shouldn't ride in them if you are not supposed to be in first class.
-When it's dinner time, feed me, lets not walk all over Zurich looking for a power converter (though that was not at all Riley's fault, I was not hungry at the beginning of the trek).
-Swiss outlets are 3-pronged and look nothing like American outlets
-The Bible College where we are staying is not in Switzerland, it is in Germany.
-German outlets are 2-pronged.
-Most people who know English are very nice and willing to help you out.
-Chinese ladies at the Chinese Restaurant are not so helpful.
-Switzerland only gives out Francs, they don't believe in Euros and therefore no ATM in the ENTIRE COUNTRY will give you any.
-Again, the Bible College is in Germany, therefore the ATM right next door has Euros... so much wasted time.

Well, we are excited about the day to come. We head to Interlaken tomorrow, please pray that we can find a decent place to stay. Love you all! Apparently Riley thinks this is a good time to play ping pong so I'd better go.

-Ang

2nd Day Swiss

After some confusion with flight delays they (US Airlines) moved us to a Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. It was uneventful, unless you count the unhappy toddlers in the row next to us and the passengers in front of us who felt the need to recline into our laps. Oh well, at least we got to see the Hannah Montana movie.

We arrived in Switzerland yesterday morning, managed to get ourselves train passes, and find the correct train. We even managed to locate the right bus that would take us to the college, and some God-sent man knew where the college was and told us when to get off. We were then shown the apartment that they were letting us use for unbelievably cheap (in a country where "cheap" has a much more expensive meaning than we are used to) and crashed the moment we laid down. When we woke up we were famished and decided to brave the bus into Shauffhausen for some dinner. After walking around for quite some time looking for something good, checking out the prices on the menus posted outside, and wincing at the prices, we sat down to eat at a very good restaurant. Riley ordered curry wurst on the recommendation of a friend and we decided it tastes like chicken flavored Ramen with a touch of sausage (veal sausage to be precise).

Today we slept in and decided to take a boat down the sparkling Rhine River to a small tourist town (Riley calls it a tourist "trap") called Stein Um Rhine. It was very quaint and we had some excellent crepes for lunch, but we were ready to move on about an hour before our boat came back (though we did find a cool museum that our awesome Swiss passes got us into for free. This thing rocks!). When we got back to Shaffhausen we planned out our trip for tomorrow at the train station, then ventured in to what we were pretty sure was a grocery store. We were correct. We also remembered why we don't ever grocery shop together.

Now we are excited to be resting and gaining some internet access. We will continue the tale of our adventures tomorrow. Until then, here are a few things we have learned so far:
-Lufthansa is the airline from Germany (Riley won that bet, I assured him it wasn't German)
-Flying first class oversees is barely flying, it's traveling in your Lazy Boy while people serve you food and wine. We would like to try it someday.
-Europeans have a different definition of personal space.
-If it's hot and you want to swim but you don't have a bathing suit, no problem! Just strip down and sunbathe in the nude on the banks of the river while waving to passing boat passengers.
-When visiting a German-speaking country, it's helpful to know German.
-Words related to travel seem to have the word "fart" in them. Makes me giggle.

Have a great day! Chow!
-Ang

Rock, Paper, Scissors

So we were watching an extremely inspiring and thought-provoking movie the other day... Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, and it led us to an interesting question: how in the world does paper beat rock? I mean think about it! Since when does being able to cover something equal dominance? Does that mean clothes beat people? Or that bedspreads beat beds? Paper works when it comes to being beaten by scissors, but to think that you could conquer a rock by covering it with paper is just non-sensical. So Riley and I decided to think of what could really beat a rock but not scissors. My suggestion was erosion. Here's my reasoning: Erosion is the transport of broken down rock/soil/etc which can wear away at a rock until it is almost nothing. At the same time, your scissors are not going to be worn away like rock would. Riley thought that my reasoning was flawed due to the process of rusting. My response was that rusting is not a part of erosion, it is weathering. This heated discussion resulted in internet research and a call to my favorite geologist. She confirmed that rusting is indeed not part of erosion, making me right, not that it matters of course:) Anyhow, if you have any suggestions on something that beats rock but not scissors, please let me know. We are having a hard time coming up with a hand signal for erosion.

-Ang

Love and School Supplies

One of the best parts of being an intermediate teacher is intercepting some fabulous notes. I came across this tasty treat after school while cleaning up. Part of what makes this so great is who the note belongs to.

Just picture it: A very tall somewhat hefty Native American girl who could take me down in a second...and a short, stalky Vietnamese boy (at least a foot shorter than the girl) who speaks broken English and is quite the comedian because of his over the top emotional outbursts of joy. Are you picturing it? Okay....


Girl: Do you Like me? Yes or no.
Boy: No.
Girl: Why not? I like you!
Boy: Because I love someone else in the class.
Girl: Who? I wont tell! Name______________.
Boy: She is my secret admirer.
Girl: Well...I <3 you!!!!!
Boy: I don't like you. Can I borrow a pencil?


Glad to see he chose the kinder route and asked for a pencil instead of a pen. Telling someone you don't like them and then asking for a pen would be just plain insensitive.

-Kare

I'd be a lot less afraid of it if I just knew what it was called....

This post has nothing to do with the title. I was just thinking of how funny the movie Over the Hedge is and decided to use that as my title. Anywhoooooo...

Nothing to exciting to comment about, I just felt like Angela was sort of hogging the blogging (hehe...hogging...blogging...okay nevermind) so I needed to step in and let everyone know I'm still alive! So here is the readers digest version of my life lately:

-I got fired. Yes, I joined the thousands who can say, "I remember back in 09' when times got tough and even I lost my job" Oh goody. Good news is I am high on the list to get rehired and there is the possibility I might even get my same job back. Updates should come sometime next week so cross your fingers! And..."say a little prayer for me..." (cue Julia Roberts and dancing lobsters...anyone? anyone? I know you know it Ang!!)

-Ten days left of school. Enough said.

-My big sister is having a baby and I cannot wait to be an aunt. Still don't know the gender yet but I'll keep you posted. If its a girl the name is pretty much set on Piper Clementine Henderson. As for a boy..still workin on it. I love my hippie, trendy, Seattle loving sister. :)

-I have recently succumbed to an addiction to ZUMBA! If you don't know what it is, just imagine 30 or so women (and one very enthusiastic asian man) of all ages, shapes, sizes, and hip thrusting abilities shaking their booties to latin and hip-hop music. It is glorious and a dang good workout!

And there you have it. How thrilling right? :)

Much love!
Kare

epidemic

A terrible epidemic has struck our classroom. No, not the swine flu. Worse. Cholera. Yes I know, you thought cholera was a thing of the past. Well, you're right. However, my class is also a thing of the past, as in we are currently traveling the Oregon Trail. We have crossed the Platte River, gone through Forts Kearney and Laramie, and just stopped by Independence Rock. Unfortunately we met a vagrant who had recently contracted cholera and exposed everyone in our wagon companies. In my first class they were all too healthy and every stinkin one of them lived. Bummer. How boring is that? So in the next class I made sure they were already a little weak before I hit them with Captain Cholera. I was successful, but only just barely, I only lost one kid. However, my last class went much better: three casualties. It was very tragic. We had a moment of silence for our lost comrades. Mind you it was a quick moment since time is of the essence on the Trail. Perhaps in a few decades the invention of antibiotics will improve life expectancy. Now the only question is: what to do with the deceased pioneers while the rest of us continue on to the Oregon territory? Hmm... life's questions.


Now, I shall close with one of the many fantastic lines from this wonderful movie everyone should see: "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium"
Magorium tries to fly model airplanes around the store to no avail and cries out in panic:
"Mahoney! The laws of gravity have begun to apply!"

-Ang

Misc

There is nothing terribly important going on in my life currently, but I felt it was time to blog. I have spent the last 40 minutes looking through other people's blogs, laughing hysterically, and looking around sadly because there is no one here to share my giggles with. Riley is a Shiloh, aunty went home after Bible study was over, and my phone is sitting over there on the couch so I can't call anyone (at least not without getting up from this chair which is out of the question). So here I am on my favorite chair reading blogs and thinking about life. I really have nothing in particular to discuss, so I have decided to take a page out of my mother's life book and make a list. So here's my list of things I am thinking on Saturday, April 25 at roughly 12:07 (or 10:18 if you go by my cute red clock on top of my bookshelf, or 12:08 if you are looking at the coffee cup clock in the kitchen, oh wait, that one is actually correct, Riley must have reset it):
1. I have to pee. Why is it that all good things must be interrupted by my bladder? Perhaps it's hereditary, after all, aunty had to excuse herself twice during Bible study this morning to use the facilities.
2. Could I survive as a vegetarian? I was reading about the health benefits of eating natural foods and thought it sounded like a good idea. But let's be realistic, I don't like most vegetables. I find them offensive.
3. I think I am going to have to buy new slippers. I have the greatest slippers in the whole wide world, but they are starting to fall apart. Is it possible to find slippers as comfortable as these?
4. There needs to be a lamp somewhere in the dark corner of our living room. We have a wimpy overhead light, a lamp by the kitchen, but no light on the other side of the couch by the hallway. Maybe I could find some cute light to put there. Maybe I could go to second-hand shops or antique places and try to find something a little retro. I am still jealous of the lamp Alli pulled out of grandma's garage. Maybe someday she will get tired of it and let me have it. I would even buy it from her!
5. Why does my fridge make helicopter sounds?
6. The need to pee is taking control of my thoughts so I am going to go now. Have a great weekend!

-Ang

The curiosity of teaching

The last few days have been hectic at school. The dreaded state tests are next week and we are frantically cramming everything down their throats thinking that something will miraculously stick and they will all pass with flying colors, causing the district to say "wow, check out those fifth grade teachers, they're probably the best thing to happen to this school since the new parking lot. We should give them a massive raise since they are making us look so good" (just so you know, in my head that was said in a Strongbad voice. IF you are just not that cool and don't know who Strongbad is, check out homestarrunner.com and enlighten yourself). Anyhow, here's some highlights of my week:

Monday: walking down hallway after dropping my kids off at lunch

-Second grader- taps my arm

-Me- looks down to see what insignificant child could be wasting my lunch time

-Second grader- tells me pointless story about how sometimes things make him think of other things and about how that happened just now.

-Second grader- walks away

-Me- wondering if I was wearing a sign that says "please tell me about your thoughts"

Later that afternoon after dropping my kids off at Music...

-Second/Third grader (they are very similar in size and I don't pay attention to anyone below fifth grade)- walks by with new eraser in her hand. Stares at it like it holds the secret to the universe. Looks and me and says "Now I can go hunting with my dad".

Me- wonders how an eraser can evoke such a comment. Was that the last part you needed to complete your hunting rifle? Will you give the eraser to your dad in exchange for the hunting trip? Do multi-colored erasers possess great monetary value? Or perhaps this is just national "Tell Mrs. D random crap day".

Wednesday
Some of my students decide to start businesses of making nametags to put on desks. Signs are posted on the door advertising services. Students flock to door to read sign. Time is wasted making name tags instead of doing class work. My last roll of scotch tape is used up because when the name tag is done you then have to adhere it to your desk. At the end of the day I take down the signs like the grinch I am and make a mental note to do an economics lesson where they get to create their own businesses... later.... after testing.

Thursday
My day takes a turn for the worst at 8:24 when I start trying to explain adverbs to a student (which we have been talking about the last 2 weeks). I am really grumpy by about 8:48 when student is still clueless and I have not gone over morning work yet. My mood worsens at 10:04 after we have switched classes the second time and I discover copious amounts of pencil shavings on the floor around my trash can and covering the corner of my desk. My brand new electric pencil sharpener decided to stop working a few days ago and we have been reduced to the primitive hand sharpener. I have a few in my top desk drawer which I allow the class to use, but apparently I failed to specify where I would like the shavings to end up, like not on my DESK!!! I was hacked. I then gave each of my three classes a brief tutorial on how to sharpen a pencil by hand and not make a mess. There was a lot of sarcasm involved. They tell you never to use sarcasm when you are in teacher school but I disagree, it is a very handy tool (so long as you use it on fifth graders who get your sense of humor and not first graders who cry easily).

Anyway, my week was at least short since we had parent-teacher conferences Tuesday and Thursday and have the day off today. Sorry I drug on for this long. Happy Easter!

-Ang

Ho Hum

I really have nothing to blog about. I am once again sitting on my butt. I was interrupted from finishing The Golden Compass by Riley and a friend of his taking over the living room to watch a mountain biking video, which is fine, I like the movie, and really you don't want to finish a good book by giving it anything less than your full attention. It just isn't good courtesy to the book, it deserves your all. I'm also trying to decide when I should bust out the Raamen. We haven't grocery shopped since we got back from Moab so the cabinets are extremely bare. We hate grocery shopping. Now the boys are discussing a guy who did a backflip on a snowmobile. Is he certifiably insane? I wouldn't do a backflip on a trampoline, not to mention on a piece of machinery that could crush my skull and end my life. Plus I'm not a big fan of trampolines... weak bladder... 'nuf said. Basically I'm just not as studly as I sometimes think I am. Or as entertaining, which is why I will stop rambling now. Have a nice day. And Cori, BLOG!!!

-Ang

11 reasons why I'm awesome!!!

In the land of mountain bikes there are a few sacred spots in North America: Whistler in Vancouver, BC, Winter Park in Colorado, Ray's indoor Mountain Bike Park (for those who are open to some different winter options), and Moab, Utah. This last week we made our pilgrimage to the desert holy land to pay homage to the mountain biking gods. And the gods smiled upon us and granted us beautiful weather and pleasant companions. We rode a few trails (or rather survived a few trails), explored Arches National Park (which everyone should see some time in their life), and camped at a wonderful little campground called Up The Creek Campground (which was very chill and came complete with clean bathrooms and showers!). Instead of rambling on, which I tend to do, I will just show you my eleven reasons why I am awesome (in a very non-conceited kind of way):

11.
I was there.

10.
I was there too.

9.
And there...

8.
I climbed that.

7.
AND got down (more impressive than the up part for me)

6.
I somehow rode down that on my bike :)

5.
See, here I am riding down that hill

4.
We rode the famous Slickrock trail (Cookie and I just did the practice loop, but it's not easier, just shorter)

3.
I rode down that without dying!

2.
I shimmied down that, and it was fun!

And now a tie for the #1 reason why I'm awesome:

1.
I am married to that amazing guy!!!

1 b.
That's me. I'm driving! I stayed awake for all but thirty minutes in 16 hours, and I personally drove at least 12 of those hours. I know, try not to be too shocked. But it's true!


Well, those are the highlights. Now I need to go see if Jack Bauer can keep this poor expendable character alive on 24. It's not looking good for him. 'Night!

-Ang

Tick Tock...

I'm procrastinating.

I really need to finish my lesson plans for tomorrow, shower, then go to bed, and yet I'm sitting here blogging while Riley mends the hole in his backpacking pants with a needle and thread, he's so cute (and resourceful). Seriously, testing (*curse word*) is in three weeks and I feel that since it is my second year in the teaching profession my test scores should be higher than last year. I am thinking "crap, what have I taught them this year?". I think it's a government conspiracy to give teachers ulcers. We are good teachers, we teach what we are supposed to in interesting ways, and yet when the end of March hits we all start to panic. I think that the teachers should take the test instead of the kids, I feel so powerless.

Ok, I'm going to go finish my plans now. Tune in... soon... to hear about our spring break trip to Moab, Utah.

-Ang

Paula, Simon, Kara, Randy...and Harry?

Hi, my name is Karen, and I am addicted to American Idol.

Hi Karen!

Tonight was the first night of "offical" American Idol as I like to call it. And I was super pumped until I realized it was two freakin hours long! That is far too much drugged up Paula and melodramatic Simon for one girl to handle. So, to make the time go by faster, I grabbed The Half Blood Prince. Yes, I also belong to support groups for those who suffer with addictions to Harry Potter and Twilight...ahhhh Twilight...Edward...swoon...

Where was I? Oh yes, curled up next to my mother I watched the contestants sing, and then during commercials, or one of Paula's drawn out ramblings, I busted out a little HP to pass the time. FABULOUS. This is how I will be watching my American Idol from now on. Now for my expert opinions:

Danny: I love you. I know you miss your wife, but I am really good at being supportive and helping people cope. Call me. (Is that inappropriate? Who cares, hes studly and he loves Jesus.)

Adam: You're good, but not that good. Jeeze Paula, take a chill pill. Or maybe stop taking them? Hmm...

The rest of you: Not bad, although I can't think of anything clever to say about you at the moment.

Carrier Out.

Serving size

So I woke up this morning and told myself that I wasn't going to eat any sweets today. I succeeded... until about four thirty when I was driving home. I drove past a Braums and managed to keep my car going down the road. I pulled into my driveway, opened the door, grabbed my purse, put my purse back on the passenger's seat, closed the door, restarted the car, and drove to 7-11 to buy a pint of crappy ice cream. I couldn't help it! It called to me like a siren (the mythological kind, not the type that warns of coming tornadoes)! And I answered. I nibbled pleasantly for a while whilst catching up on my blogs, until suddenly I realized that I had eaten about two-thirds of the pint. That wasn't too disturbing until I checked the label on the back (not recommended) and found that the one pint contains FOUR servings. Seriously, who eats such a small amount of ice cream in one sitting? People with self control, that's who. Oh well, at least I didn't clean out the whole thing.

-Ang

My own infinte playlist...

My lack of blogging can be blamed on several things.
1) I am a teacher, enough said.

2) I get on with the intention of blogging, get to blog stalking and find myself sitting in the dark 5 hours later wondering where I am and why my contacts have shriveled up on my eyeballs.

3) I have had some major bloggers-block. So, I think I shall do what the greatest writers do when they can't get the creative juices flowing...copy someone else! Today I shall steal the "Infinte Playlist" idea from my second mother who has a fabulous blog herself. I have decided to just go with it, and write down whatever comes to mind and hope that it's not too embarrassing.

*Anything NSYNC: Sitting up in Sydnee's bedroom at night watching the contraband NSYNC concert taped from the Disney Channel that I snuck into her house. (Youth Pastor's daughters do not listen to heathen boy bands.)

*Maneater, or any of the Runaway Bride soundtrack: My fearsome foursome girls know exactly what I'm talking about. Needless to say it involved some silly boys and us silly girls swooning over them in junior high and who am I kidding, high school too.


*Legends of the Fall theme: Guaranteed to make me cry. There are multiple meanings behind this one, both rather bittersweet. High school marching band my freshman year, and fond memories from past relationships.

*Anything Justin Timberlake: Freshman year at Point Loma...joining the sorority, and staying at a frat house until 4 in the morning...good times ;)

*Ginny Owens If you want me to: Another one guaranteed to make me cry. Spring my senior year at Point Loma I listened to this song at least 5 times a day. A perfect reminder of the most supportive and amazing roommates a girl could ask for.

Okay, I realized I could go on and on forever, so instead of boring you to death, I'll end it here and perhaps do another installment later. And now to copy my blogging sister, a funny tidbit from school:

Discussing our writing topics a student was telling me about a concert she went to: "We sat down, but then we were hungry so we went to get condoms." Yes she meant condiments, and yes it took me a second before I could figure out what she was saying. Ahh good times.

much love
~Kare

Oops

So it has been... let's just call it "a while" since I have blogged and I think I am a little rusty. I logged in to my blog, then attempted to visit Aunty's blog by clicking on her picture on the side of my page (which I've done many times before). Well, some new windows popped up, I pushed some buttons, and now I am apparently following my own blog. No really, if you look at the list of people following at the side of my page you will see my picture amongst the family and friends. Good grief! And the bad part is that Riley is diligently...

... hey mom, remember when you homeschooled me and I was being somewhat less than cooperative so you made me look up the word "diligent" in the dictionary? I still think of that whenever I hear the word "diligent"...

... crap, what was I saying? Oh yeah... Riley... he is studying for a test tomorrow and was getting rather irritated with me for spontaneously giggling while catching up on Cori's blog (you know, that kind of giggle that pleads "please ask me why I am giggling so I can read you this funny thing and you can laugh too"). It was recommended that I relocate to somewhere out of the studysphere so I promised to contain myself. Then I started following my own blog and the giggling started to come out so I made up a story in my head about how there was something tickling my nose and that's why I kept exhaling quickly just in case he gave me the evil eye.

Anyway... this is my "extreme educator" blog so I will share a brief anecdote from school. Last week we had spelling words with silent letters (don't even get me started on the stupidity of silent letters. Why can't English be like Spanish and everything is spelled phonetically. Do Spanish kids study spelling?) and we had the word 'assign'. Well, one of my students got a little confused on where the silent g goes and it came out "assing". I won't even start the conversation of how that word could be used. Anyway... I had a good silent laugh.

Be safe.

-Ang

Twister

If you are a frequenter of my mother's blog, or if you live in the state of Oklahoma, you will know that when I say "Twister" I am not referring to America's favorite stocking-footed party game. This past week (I don't remember exactly what day since I have mentally blocked the whole incident) we had a series of storms blow through northwest Oklahoma city and the surrounding area (aka, the center of my universe). As a teacher I have to say that you have not lived until you have herded 21 nervous children into the boys bathroom to join the other two classes that are already in there and instruct them to kneel on the floor as close together as possible and assume the time-tested "duck and cover" position. They must be totally silent despite the uncomfortable smell, the suspision that the mystery liquid that just dampened your hand is actually pee, and the kid next to you whose shirt is not quite long enough to cover their exposed butt crack. And heaven forbid anyone makes any sort of accidental noise (like when your teacher, who has graciously stationed herself in front of the urinal that still had some pee in it so her students would be spared the horror, moves away from the urinal to join the other teachers across the room and upon moving the urinal flushes itself). We managed to keep very good order and I eventually ended up reading Shel Silverstein poems aloud to entertain. After all was said and done we were in the offensive "storm shelter" for approximately 30 minutes. We returned to our classroom and were told to go ahead and dismiss about 5 minutes early. I was ok with this, thinking my adventure was over and I could go home.

I was mistaken.

This was only the beginning.

As school let out we loaded the buses and began dismissing the "car riders" to their parents as they arrived. Then, as soon as we had loaded the buses (including the middle schoolers who walk over from the middle school next door to get on the bus) the tornado sirens began to go off. Crap! I look down the hall and see masses of wet students from 1st to 8th grade heading for the bathrooms and the teacher's lounge. Double crap. So I spent the following 30 minutes trying to keep the 4th and 5th grade boys from eating anything they found in the teacher's lounge and trying to get them quiet as our poor principal continues to call names over the walkie-talkie as parents arrive. She finally allowed all of us to find our way to the cafeteria (as it started to hail) and continued to call names for the next hour and a half. My favorite part was when she (still talking about my principal) stood up on a table and did the hokie pokie, since there were no parents arriving at the time. Go aunty! Anyhow... at about five o'clock they re-loaded the buses and I made the dash home. Throughout the previous 2 hours we had been hit by storm after storm with a few tornadoes in various places (like Chucky Cheese), but nothing that came too close to us. I had also been well-informed about the condition of my loved ones since some bright person invented twitter so we could be updated of every movement. I think I received at least 30 text messages during the whole ordeal. I concluded my day with a very detailed phone call to my beloved blog-buddy in Phoenix. She informed me that the most exciting thing that ever happened to her at school was a rainy day schedule due to excessive heat. Bah!
Ang

Another day, another donut-hole... ooo... donuts

My class... my wonderful, angelic, delightful class... have decided to push Mrs. DeLong to see at what point she snaps. She probably doesn't mean be silent when she said no one can talk. I bet if I confer with my neighbor I can get some good ideas for my essay even though she said we weren't supposed to. I doubt she meant single file when she said "get in a straight, quiet line". I bet we can get Mrs. DeLong to begin referring to herself in third person. They really are wonderful children, caring, responsive, but there are times when I say I want them to work quietly and I don't mean converse with your neighbor, get the answer from someone else, stroll around the room, hop around on your classmate's crutches, get your third drink in one hour, take a restroom break, go to the office for chapstick, doodle, or stare off into space. Call me crazy. So this afternoon I sought council from my more-veteran teammate and we discussed all the terrible things we could do to make them regret their very existence. I am currently throwing aroung the idea of resorting to endless worksheets until they decide to focus. Some part of me feels like I need to be more creative and positive and use rewards instead of punishment, but the other part of me just wants to be able to teach without expending all my energy on keeping them on task. Sigh. Oh well.

My night improved when my wonderful husband did the dishes so I would have room to make dinner (which I enjoyed so much that I followed dinner with cookies, of which I only ate 1 thank you very much). Then after our yummy cornbread pot pie he did those dishes, followed by the laundry. Am I the envy of women everywhere or what? Anyhow, I also worked out, which I really don't recommend if you enjoy non-sore muscles and full range of motion. I dread what my legs and abs will feel like tomorrow and I thank my lucky stars that I don't still live on the fifth floor of my college dorm. Good stuff.

Well, my bed calls so I must sign off...

Ang

A for effort??....

Soo....I tried to be blog savvy and change the heading since it is officially February. And all I could figure out was this lame picture only half the right size with the boring font. Ang...my blogging guru...fix it so we still look cool? :)

ps. School is fabulous. Friends are fabulous. Life is fabulous. The End.

-Kare

Cabbage

Cabbage
So last night I made potstickers for my husband and I and 5 of our closest friends. For those of you poor unlightened souls who don't know what a potsticker is I have included a photo. At least I would have if I was more motivated.

I enjoy making these little bundles of joy from scratch, makes me feel like a chef, but it does make quite the mess. Then I fed 7 people and we enjoyed ice cream afterwards. I also cooked up a batch of both white and brown rice. Needless to say the amount of dishes that were stacked around my cute little kitchen this morning was rather staggering. Dishes annoy me so I pushed up my sleeves this morning and dove right in. Unfortunately, after about three minutes the sink was backing up with water. This is not unusual, it just means I need to use the all-powerful garbage disposal. I flipped the switch and was suddenly treated to an Old-Faithful-esque geyser errupting from the other side of my sink. When I recovered my senses and turned it off both sides of the sink were flooded and small bits of cabbage were floating in the muck. Huh, so maybe I should not have stuck the left-over cabbage from the potstickers in the disposal. Who knew? I will spare you all the gorey details. Riley was in class til noon so I sent a pitiful text to a friend of ours who is good at fixing things. He willingly came over, experienced the excitement of my geyser, then proceeded to disassemble the pipes under our sink until he discovered the cabbage hairball that I, of course, saved to show my friends and neighbors and have graciously pictured below. I only wish that I could have included the smell with the picture.

OK, so again I am too lazy for the picture thing. Perhaps someday I will get around to gracing you with my rotting food pictures.

I think that everyone who comes into possession of a garbage disposal should be given a list of things that do not go in a diposal. I knew about potato peels, but apparently you should also avoid fibrous vegetables. To gather more information I naturally turned to the infinite knowledge of google. Here are some things that should not be garbage disposal-ed:

What Does Not Go Down Garbage Disposals

Anything that is not biodegradable food
Anything combustible
Plastic and metal
Cigarettes and butts
Bacon grease or other grease
Celery, corn husks & cobs, artichokes, pineapples, asparagus and other extremely fibrous foods


Ok so really, who puts combustible things in their garbage disposal? And surely there are better places for my cigarette butts. It was just the "fibrous foods" that no one warned me about. Well, now we know.

Life sucks and then you die

Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating just a smidge, but it's not my fault. I am terrible at being sick. Thursday morning, right as our 5th grade spelling bee was beginning (all the 5th grade teachers are judges) I had an incredible wave of nausea that threatened to overpower me. Now granted I am nauseated about one quarter of the time anyway, but this was different. This put me in true fear that I would lose it all over the poor soul sitting in front of me. I dashed to the back of the room, got a drink, and recovered nicely. However, the feeling returned midafternoon and I have been feeling... under the weather... ever since. Luckily, before I left school that day I left a few notes in case I would need a sub so I didn't have to worry about returning to leave instructions. I have henceforth done nothing but lie around for two days, which has actually done quite a number on my neck. At this point I can comfortably look straight ahead and... well... that's about it. My poor little husband has been very patient, but I think we are both tired of being cooped up. Anyhow, I am still feeling crappy and hoping I do not have to prepare sub plans for Monday.

OK, I am out of witty things to say and I'm still grumpy. I'm going now. Bah!

Ang

Is this really happening?

Is this really happening?


If I had could say anything to sum up last week, it would be that.

Let's start with Monday...
-My right arm has been hurting like crazy for the past month, then all of a sudden my left one starts up. Well some other weird stuff happens so I finally break down and go to the doctor thinking he'll just say I've been tossing too many bad children against the wall and I really should stretch before going into the classroom. Instead his response was..."That's weird. I'm going to have you get a chest x-ray and both arms x-rayed and you are going to give a blood sample." Gulp. To those that don't already know this...I HATE GIVING BLOOD. This would be the reason why when my dad plans and puts hours and hours of time into organizing a church blood drive...I simply refuse. Don't care if I am going to hell, I'm not doin it. Well, he said that he thinks God was punishing me and now I have to go give blood whether I like it or not. Thanks for the support dad. :)May not sound like a big deal to you, but I will fully take on the title of Pansy because it was a big deal to me.

Tuesday...
-Let's just say if you have two people listed in the contacts of your phone with very similar names...be sure to check and see who you are really sending your text messages to. ESPECIALLY if the text in question is about one of those people. You really wouldn't want to accidentally send a rather embarrassing text to the wrong person and then feel like a total idiot. Of course, this didn't happen to me, I'm just sayin be careful....I would never do something that stupid. I swear...

Friday...
-My Principal walks in while my kids are playing a rousing game of quiet ball/math trivia. This game involves the children sitting on their desks, catching a ball and answering a math question. Innocent enough right? Well, the first comment my principal makes is, "Make sure their feet are dangling and not tucked underneath them in case they happen to reach too far. Wouldn't want a safety issue." Totally right, which I DO tell my kids that, but since when are all your students doing exactly what you want them to be doing, especially when your Principal comes in right? So, I do a quick scan...NICE! Everyone is sitting flat. Time for the next question "Joey tell me what number is in the ten-thousand place." I turn to write the number and CRASH! One of my students inevitably has fallen off her desk, and is now crying on the floor with the desk on top of her. And YES. My Principal is STILL standing in the back of my classroom. Crap. I swoop into action catching the mixed look of horror, shock and I told you so on his face. Send the kid to the nurse immediately tell my kids to sit in their chairs and try to save some of my credibility as a teacher. Murphy's Law says stuff like that will happen. Well I want to know, who the heck is Murphy and since when was he in charge?

So there you go...I may be a drama queen but I felt like it was a rather eventful week. And yes, I did get my blood taken this morning, and yes I did almost pass out on my way to the bathroom to give another kind of sample. Not my proudest moment.

-Kare

Bark Bark!

So this afternoon I was talking to my fabulous little sister (it took me about 20 minutes to warm up my talking skills, but I got there eventually) and was trying to think of anything interesting to share in my otherwise routine life. For some reason Tess isn't always jumping up and down to hear all the little details about my 21 students (weird), and then I remembered something that would spark her interest and probably give you a good giggle as well. So I was sound asleep Wednesday night dreaming completely random things as usual. In my dream I was unlocking the front door of the house my grandparents lived in many years ago in Missouri and I had the feeling that in this dark abandoned house something spooky might be lurking, so as I unlocked the front door and kicked it open I took a deep breath and attempted to yell (was I yelling a warning for any lurking within? Preparing to cast out any evil spirit that may be lurking in the shadows in the name of Jesus? Or perhaps just making myself feel better). In typical dream fashion the scream got caught in my throat and ended up a sort of muted grunt. At this point I woke up, thought "yeah, that was weird", and repositioned myself to go back to sleep, at which point my hubby, who was apparently also awake, said "Ang? You awake?", to which I answered "yeah, why?". His answer surprised me: "You.... barked! You just let out a loud "Baarrrrraarrrrraarrrrraarrrrrrr' that woke me up and made me crack up". Oops. I guess I could have done worse things. What kind of sound does a water buffalo make? I hear they're pretty mean. Anyhow, that's my only amusing story for the week. I'm going back to 27 Dresses now.

-Ang

Special moments

So, apologies for the lack of blogging, but since our heat is on the mend, our computer felt it necessary to fill the void left by our now-working heat and pooped out on us. Options: pay a bunch of money to get it fixed (and still have a behind-the-times computer) or save a little more and get an entirely new one. We have chosen the latter, and are therefore computer-less currently.

Anyhow... I had one of those "wow, they really are listening" moments today. We are delving into the Revolutionary War and are, of course, starting off with the causes of the colonists' revolt. We started our class today pretending to be the British parliament trying to solve their financial problems that resulted from the French and Indian War (if you are totally lost right now, I have one word for you: wikipedia). I'll tell you what, start talking to a room full of 5th graders in a British accent and I assure you their attention is yours. Our goal was to solve Britain's finance problems. I "gently guided" them in the direction of taxing the colonists on paper products and eventually ended up with the Stamp Act. Later on in class one of my students made a comment that gave me hope that they do hear what I say:

Student: "You know Mrs. DeLong, I never thought about it from both sides before. I just always thought England was the bad guy, but really they didn't have much of a choice. "

He had me beaming when he got to the words "I thought". I made a 5th grader think! My life is complete.

-Ang