P is for...

Photos. I took some photos on my walk tonight. I did the "short" walk (1.5 miles). I was going to go longer, but a young man who lives down the street tagged along on his bike, and as his home situation sucked and I suspected he needed a friendly chat with someone he knew (I worked with him last year at school) I took the shorter walk and we chatted the whole way. He's a nice kid.

Anyhow.. before I share with you some views from my walk.. here's my hedges. In all their clipped glory. It's a far back shot so you can see just how much hedge I have to work on. My arms still hurt.

Many Happy Returns

Thirteen years ago, on this day, I found myself on the shopping adventure of a lifetime. Or from hell, depending on your point of view. See, I had a new boyfriend, and it was his birthday. And so I went shopping with his best friend, and we were going over to his parents house for dinner and cake. I figured, who better to help me shop than his best friend. Boy was I ever wrong. I decided to get him the new Metallica Box Set that had just come out. Problem was, no one had it in stock. We found ourselves at the mall, and the next thing I know, I'm being talked into going up the down escalator. The crazy thing, is that I did it. And of course, at the top I fell and got chewed up by the steps. Next thing I know, we are running across a busy local highway to a music shop. We found our box set, realized we were going to be late for dinner and made a mad dash to the other side of town. I walked into the house, bleeding, bruised and looking a little worse for the wear. My sweet man laughed at the story, kissed me and then patched me up.

Random Wednesday

It's quiet at my house today, aside from the birds chirping up a storm outside. The cat is in the house, so I think they are complaining that they are low on food in the feeder. Dudes, it's raining out.. you're going to have to wait!

Ms. Thang is off at the summer rec. program. Her brother opted to stay home today. They both went for a check-up yesterday, and he scored himself a shot in each arm. As tetanus was one of the shots, he has a baseball sized lump on his arm and is quite sore today. I thought it was pretty mature of him to reason with me that he can't swim, can't play games and might as well stay home. I agreed and he actually has been a bit of a help around the house today. Totally different kid when he doesn't have his sister around to antagonize.

Due to the effing rain, not only can't I paint, I can't finish trimming my hedges either. Y'all.. the boy bought me a new set of hedge trimmers this year. And I was hesitant to use them. Our old pair came with our house and they were dull and heavy and awkward and I decided years ago to just trim the hedges by hand. In less time than I worked on them yesterday by hand, I had 60% of my work done last night with the electric trimmers. They kick arse! They are lighter, sharper and a lot less awkward. Being there is no sun today, I thought I'd share my sunflowers. How they are thriving out there in all the rain with no sun is beyond me. I started them from seeds, planted them across the side of the kids playhouse, and hoped for the best. The boy weed-wacked half of them out when they were wee babies, and this is all that is left. This was the first bit of sun they've had in about a week. They are the multi-colored kind, and I can't wait to see how they come out.

This, is my sock. I mentioned last week that I was at the toe. Friday morning, while I watched a bit of GMA before the kids awoke, I finished the toe and was getting ready to graft the sides together. I went back to the pattern to see if there were grafting directions, as I never can remember how it goes.. and discovered that I missed part of the toe pattern. I was supposed to knit around every other row. Yah, I didn't do that. So since Friday evening, I've been tinking back the toe. Tinking is a very slow process and takes twice as long as the original knitting. I finished this morning while GMA said goodbye to Charlie Gibbson, and that pile of yarn is what is left of the toe. I'm hoping that later this afternoon (nothing else to do, it's raining.. again) or tonight I will get that toe knit up and grated and I can move on to my other sock. The best laid plans.. right?

For the Love of Pete..

I have roughly two hours before I have to leave and go pick up the boy. The kids had physical's today, so that means lots of time spent in the car, between driving himself to work, picking him up and whatever errand I have to run. Mr. Man has his first eye exam Friday and so of course.. more of the same.

Two hours. I could paint my porch floor. Except it's muggy as all get out, and even though they say it won't rain until tonight.. does that look like a sky that holding off rain? No, I didn't think so either. I can't paint, with the chance that the rain will pour through the door. That and it will stay tacky forever.

Ain't We Having Some Fun Now..

So, I read several different blogs each day, and while I was over at Drew's blog, finding it interesting how many people's blogs I read are doing the Saturday Sky thing, I disocovered a post I missed. What fun! Drew, I stole this from you... but you stole it from someone else.. so it's all good!

Here's how you play:

1. Put your iPod on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.
How am I feeling today?
Everything Old is New Again- Barenaked Ladies
Will I get far in life?
My Town- Montgomery Gentry (guess I"m not going far lol) 

For 40 Days. and 40 Nights....

Y'all, if it doesn't stop raining soon, I cannot be held responsible for my actions. I might have a nervous breakdown. I might hold up a liquor store. I might buy a cheap-o canoe and sing show tunes in the middle of the street. If you click that photo, you might make out that it was pouring. What I want you to notice, focus on even, is how effing GREEN everything in my yard is. The grass, the moss, the nut tree, the hedges. It's all green. Now don't get me wrong, I love green. It is my favorite color after all. And I don't like brown grass and dead leaves and all that... but give me a break already!!!

Saturday is for ...

Sky photos! Sandy came up with this fabu idea of every Saturday, posting a photo of your sky. Being I always have good intentions of blogging on Saturday, but am always so busy, I think this is a great idea. So check out her page, grab your button and spread the word. Let me know in my comments if you will join in, and next Saturday I'll come check out your sky!

O is for...

O is for ordinary.

There is nothing special about me. I am average height, and average weight, not too skinny and not overweight.. I am married with two kids, a house and a dog. Also a cat and a hermit crab, and some field mice. I live in a small town, we have a mini-van. I work full time, raise my kids, clean my house and do all those other ordinary things that other people do.

I Don't Want to Work....

This is what summer mornings look like from my porch. Normally I would take my cup of coffee (I'm down to one in the morning, I'm very proud of myself) out to the porch and sit on the chair and watch the birds play, but right now we are painting our porch so I stood at the doorway and watched the street wake up instead.

It is 7:55 am.. and instead of rushing around trying to get everyone out the door at this time, I'm getting ready to go hang up my laundry that just finished washing. Life is good.

Fried

I know it's Wednesday and all that.. but ya'll. I am drop dead tired. Exhausted to the very core of my being. So I will give you some tidbits, and hopefully tomorrow will be a better post.

Today was the last day of school. What a crazy arse day it was. My daughters teacher, whom she's had for 3 years now hosted a breakfast for her parents and an awards ceremony. It was nice.

I played kickball with a bunch of grouchy 4th and 5th graders at recess today, and let me tell you, you shouldn't play kickball in flip flops. No siree.

On top of that, you shouldn't re-cert for CPI after school when you're exhausted and sore already. Not a great idea.

That all, plus the several beers I had after school today at my friends house, might be contributing to the GINORMOUS headache that I currently have.

However, before school this morning, I started knitting the toe of my socks. Yah baby.

Good Night!

Say What?

Hmm.. very true! (2 more days!)

You Communicate With Your Ears

You love conversations, both as a listener and a talker. What people say is important to you, and you're often most affected by words, not actions. You love to hear complements from others. And when you're upset, you often talk to yourself. Music is very important to you. It's difficult to find you without your iPod.

How Do You Communicate?

Some Thoughts on Father's

Every year, when it comes time for Father's day.. I stop by the card section of the store, thinking I might buy my father a card. I flip through funny ones, and sweet sentiment ones, and sappy lovey-dovey ones. And every year I go home empty handed. So I make manly cards and mail them to my dad and my father in-law. My FIL gets a nice written note inside about what a wonderful man he is and how blessed I feel to have him in my life, and my father gets "Happy Father's Day" and a signature. I am not ashamed to admit this, but the whole idea of it makes me sad.

Today's Post is Brought to You by the Letter...

Cuz I spent too many hours today painting... and I'm fried:

ABC me - courtesy of Carly. Go ahead.. try it. You'll like it!

ACCENT: Umm.. I guess it's a bit Mass.. bit NH kind of thing going on. I don't add r's where they don't belong and I don't leave them off.. too much.

BIBLE BOOK THAT I LIKE: Mathew is my favorite gospel..

CHORE I DON'T CARE FOR: shoveling dog shi....er.. poo. I don't do puke either.

DOG OR CAT: (sigh) we have one of each. I hate the damn hair. And the barking, and the cat scratching...

Wierd Science

What do you get, when you cross a sixth grader, a microwave and various household objects?? A half hour of fun and laughs, that's what! The sixth grade class, curious as to how plasma worked, decided to take matters into their own hands. One of them saw an old microwave at the dump, and brought it in. Our fabu 6th grade science teacher went out on the internet and did some research about the way different objects would react in the microwave. This afternoon,
we tested it out... Plasma, according to whatisit.com.. defines this as part of it's answer:

Cold November Rain

hmmmph.

You Are Rain

You can be warm and sexy. Or cold and unwelcoming. Either way, you slowly bring out the beauty around you. You are best known for: your touch Your dominant state: changing

What Type of Weather Are You?

One More Hand!

Ya'll.. we have 5 more days of school. FIVE. Someone asked me this morning, and for real, I had stopped counting cuz I am just so damn busy right now. So I counted it out, and yelled.. "WOOHOO.. we have one more hand!!" Yah, I spend too much time with kids. Two more days with our students though really, as marks close Friday and we *shouldn't* be seeing students next week. Some teachers are funny though.. so we'll see how that goes.

Play Ball!

When we first took the kids to the ballpark last year, they were excited. The whole idea of a game was new, and they didn't know what to expect. Who doesn't love cheering for the local team (we root for the Keene Swamp Bats), and besides, it's baseball! It was long, and buggy, and they were tired and eager to leave. I was a little disappointed, but we went again a few more times. For $3 a ticket, you can't really go wrong. When we went to the last game of the regular season, the kids were a bit more into it than the first game, but not so much.

Yellow...and.. Round....?

I rolled over, in a state of half-drunk with sleep, and this bright light was shining in my face. Several incoherent thoughts flashed through my mind, the last of which was something similar to, "If you don't shut that g.d. light off, I'm pushing you out of bed." Clearly the thoughts of a rational, well rested person, right?

I cracked an eye open and realized that it wasn't a lamp shining in my face. It was the sun! I haven't seen the sun in so long, I forgot what it looks like. As it rises towards the side of the room that my side of the bed faces.. I sleep with my blinds turned the other way, to keep the light off my face. This is also helpful to diffuse street lamps. My next house.. will so be pitch dark at night. Not only did I awaken to the sun today.. it stayed out ALL. Day. Long!

Summmer... Turns me Upside Down....

Summer is almost here. Officially, and it would seem, in reality. It hasn't even felt like spring around here. It has rained and rained and rained.. and today is the first day in forever that it didn't. I went out to inspect my vegetable plants, and discovered that my "pink flowering bush" has bloomed! I don't know what this shrub is, I inherited it with my house, but I love it. The flowers smell so pretty and sweet. And on a nice evening, I get hummingbirds that come and visit. It doesn't bloom that long, just a few weeks and then it is just green for the rest of the summer. It was a pleasant surprise. I guess all this rain has been good for something.

N is for.....

N is for news.. as in newsletter, as in.. here are a few letters. (it's a reach.. I know)

Dear Ned Flanders,
I'm sorry your wife is so ill, and also that you have diabetes and will not be staying in the little yellow house across the way. I'd like to say that I am going to miss you.. but not so much. See, you were a little too "Fr. Martin-y" for my likes.. right down to the stupid sandals. And that day that you showed up at our school and starting preaching about how "someone" loves you. Yah.. that was uncomfortable too. So I will wish you best of luck down in MA where you are from. And maybe our new neighbor pastor will be here soon. And just maybe, he will actually LIVE THERE. Oh, and here's a novel idea.. maybe he will take down the sheets on the windows and put up shades or something.
Best of luck,
The White House on the Corner

Beach Baby...Beach Baby....

Now this came as NO surprise. Now if it would only stop raining!!!!

You Should Spend Your Summer at the Beach

You're a free spirit who is always thinking of new ways to have fun. And you don't just love summer... you live for it. So, you really should blow off your responsibilities and head to the beach!

Where Should You Spend Your Summer?

Short Term Goals...

Y'all... I feel beaten down. You know you're in for a long day when it's gone to crap before it really even started. This has felt like the longest week of my life, and today is only Thursday. I was talking to the boy at dinner about something we did just last Friday, that honest to goodness feels like a month ago.

We had a staff meeting today before school started. It would seem that the goal of the meeting was to go over our State test results from last fall, and to discuss where we go from here. We already knew that our school failed to make AYP (adequate yearly progress) and the short and sweet version of why.. is because they changed the standards. They now want a greater percentage of the kids to pass, and they are including a larger number of the student body. It used to be just grades 3 and 6 that tested. Now it's 3 through 6. The other reason that we didn't make AYP is because of our large number of socioeconomically disadvantaged students. What that means in plain English, according to the reports, is that poor kids are dumb. Don't quote me on that. But because we are testing a larger group, the student body is broken down into subcategories (male is one, female is one, poor apparently is another.. there are 9 altogether), if one subcategory fails to make sufficient progress the whole school fails. Needless to say, our kids, that are in the "poor" group (based on free and reduced lunch data).. scored very low on the test and therefore.. no AYP.

What The....

Once upon a time, in a different lifetime when Ms. Thang was a wee lass (I'm thinking around, oh 2.. she's almost 9 now) I worked for Macy's. Actually, I worked for Federated Dept. Stores, at Macy's in the lingerie dept. to be exact. The best part of that job, was the discount. When added to a fabulous clearance you could buy items for next to nothing. It certainly wasn't the hours, nor was it my boss, nor was it helping women with saggy tata's find support garments. (all you trolls can just leave now.. nothing to read here).

Cha..Cha..Cha..Changes.......

I've resigned myself to the fact, that the only thing constant in my life, is that there is no consistency. Nothing ever stays the same. Just when I settle into something, and think I'd like to stay there a while.. the universe gives out a soft chuckle and BAM! I'm off to somewhere else. See, the thing that I've discovered about myself, that I didn't really know until this year.. is that I like consistency. I like knowing that, with some degree of variables, things will mostly stay the same. It's not that I hate change, I don't. I just don't like bouncing from one thing to the next to the next.

Each year, as we approach the final days of school.. and the class lists are made up for the next year, it becomes apparent where we will be lacking staff. This past year has been particularly rough on us, as we had one person quit over the summer, one person left before Christmas, another person left to have a baby and we lost yet someone else in early spring. Add to that, one of our ladies is leaving to be the Special Ed. teacher in another school (and I'm sad to see her go, we've become fast friends this year she's been with us) this fall, our half time person in the autism program is leaving, and shhhhhhhh.. don't tell..but another one of our staff is looking for a new job elsewhere. Oh, and did I mention another of the girls in the autism program is burnt out and has asked to be transferred out? Out of all those ladies we lost this year, one person has been hired to step in. No, I take that back. We had 2, one quit after a month.

The Dirty Dozen..

12. Twelve. 10+2. Twenty minus 8. Twelve glorious days of school left. (shh, the last day is a half day so it's really only 11.5). On one hand, it's hard to believe that we are already looking at the end of the school year. On the other hand, I can barely stand my excitement that this year is ending. I. Am. So. Ready.

Today was the kind of day that kicks you when you are down. I know, it's Monday. Monday's aren't supposed to be great. Y'all... mine mostly sucked. But yet, at the same time, today was a day that I will never forget. I'll share the good first.

I work with this little boy in the second grade. This is my second year working with him. I see him for about an hour each morning before lunch. He has learning disabilities, as do his half brothers and his father. He especially has a hard time with math and reading. Last year, when I started working with him at the beginning of the year, it was just he and I. He could barely spell his name. He didn't recognize color words. He couldn't sight read, write half his letters, nor recite the alphabet in order. If we were reading, he couldn't sound out words and would either guess or ask me.

I am....

Tired y'all. The kind of tired that seeps into your bones and drags you down faster than a rock tied around your ankle. We have 13 more days of school. Starting tomorrow, I will spend 8 hours over 4 of those 13 days doing testing. Let me clarify.. I won't be testing. Instead, I will be reading the test to students who's IEP's call for them to have tests read to them. And to top it off, the test is on the computer. In the bright fluorescent library. I checked to make sure I had enough eye drops to last. So in lieu of all the recent hullabaloo.. I give you this. Shamelessly stolen from Abby, but hey.. she challenged and I rose to the occasion. *photo is the view from my bench. Taken the middle of last week, before it started raining. (it just ended tonight.)*

I am.... A mother. A wife. A raving lunatic if I feel someone I love has been wronged. A bit dramatic sometimes. A little more passionate about somethings that I should be. A damned good friend.