My kind of Dog

Sweet Duchess, our spoiled rotten, ever-shedding dog is allowed in the house in the evenings. She knows to wander around and lick up any dinner drops that have been neglected. Even though her nose is even with our counter-tops, she never gets up on them to clean up leftovers or anything that might be out. Our table is even lower than that and she still will leave it all alone -- steaks, hamburgers, chicken scraps.

HOWEVER -- if you leave a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich unattended for more than 7 seconds, you can kiss it good-bye. It is HERS!

Circle of Life

Words I knew I would eventually hear: "Mom, I think Shadow is dead."

A moment of silence please.

After Troy's mom died, his dad gave us a fish tank with about 25 fish in it becaus he didn't want the hassle of maintaining it. Troy cared for the fish and cleaned the tank and the rest of us didn't too much else. We were doing good to remember to feed the fish when Troy was out of town. We lost a few fish. Last winter we finally sold the tank, fish, and cabinetry.

Riley was CRUSHED. Bless 'im. Could not have cared LESS about the fish when they were here, but grieved when they were gone.

So Riley was on a quest to save up enough money for a beta. We beta-shopped and compared tanks and starter kits. Finally, the big day came (no, I don't have it on my calendar -- it was in the spring sometime). We picked out a beta, picked out a beta bowl, and picked out a name: Shadow.

Riley very dutifully fed Shadow and cleaned his water. However -- remember that we're keeping our home fairly warm (okay, we're an OVEN) these days so that we'll be able to at least eat beans and pay the electricity bill. Well, bread, bananas, and evidently betas don't do too well in a constantly hot house. His water just got yukkier and yukkier and I would forget to remind Riley to check on it.

Shadow has been flushed to the beta bowl in the sky. Yes, there were tears shed. No, there was no funeral over the toilet (it was all I could do to not throw up on top of the recently deceased Shadow). The worst part about it is that Riley thinks it's all his fault that Shadow didn't make it. So how crummy do I feel that I can't even pay for my home to be a reasonable temperature for beta water? Plenty of guilt over Shadow's demise. And, of course, Troy was at some lah-dee-dah dinner with 698 of his closest friends, missing the grief, sorrow, guilt, and flushing. He misses all the good family stuff because of his job.

Riley hasn't decided whether or not he wants the vulnerability of another fish. The pain and sorrow are just too fresh now.

Any memorials may be made to: Stirman Family Utility Fund.

5th Grade Pop Quiz

Ashley learned this clever mnemonic in 5th grade today.

What does it help her remember?

King
Henry
Danced
Merrily/Gracefully/Lazily (depending on the usage)
Down
Center
Main

I predict my mother or Tony Langley to be the first to get this one right (I'm pretending Tony reads my blog -- but he will know the answer).

Remember my fascination with what Google search brought people to my blog? I forgot to mention that this article brings many people looking for "How Great the Father's Love". And it is. However, today someone in Asia googled "Why are Christians so intolerant?" and wound up here. Ouch!

Which Are You?

This is the closest I have EVER come to having brain-dominance. I tell people that I'm not left-brained or right-brained, I'm no-brained! Some people call it "balanced" -- whatever. I think for me, no-brained is a little more accurate! I am just creative enough to drive my organized self crazy and just organized enough to drive my creative self crazy. No-brained it is!

You Are 55% Left Brained, 45% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Quote for the Day (or not)

I subscribe to heartlight's "Quote for the Day". They run the gamut from light and fun to deep and ultra-heavy. I save all of them in an email file to use in my writing on occasion. Except for the one today:

Those who are wholly God's are always happy. -- Francois Fenelon

This made me feel really crummy and begin to beat myself up since I am not always happy. So I was thinking that a)I must not be wholly God's and b)I must be a really lousy person.

Then it made me think about something Tim Hansel wrote in his book, "You Gotta Keep Dancin'". It said (I'm paraphrasing because many years ago I loaned out my copy and don't have one any more) that the word "happiness" is rooted in the word "happening" -- meaning that happiness depends on occurrences and circumstances, while joy comes from God's spirit.

Then I wondered if Francois (I'm sure a noble and wonderful person) had ever read Isaiah and Jeremiah. God Himself is not always happy. There is plenty in this world to grieve His Spirit, have you noticed? So, happy? No, not always. But, joy ... I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, DOWN IN MY HEART!!!

Sorry, Francois, but I am unable to agree with this thought -- and, if you are always happy, I'm sure it is due to the fact that you are wholly God's and may you bless those around you!

(After some Google research, I have learned that Francois Fenelon lived 1651-1715 and had many titles that I don't understand other than 'theologian and writer'. I'm sure Francois IS, at this moment, wholly God's as well as always happy!)

Sniglets

Being a word person, I love sniglets. According to Wikipedia, a sniglet is defined as a "word that should be in the dictionary, but isn't". While Rich Hall invented the word "sniglet" itself, sniglets are actually a long-running popular joke in which people make up their own humorous words to describe things or concepts that have no "official" words.

Some of my favorites:

• Cheedle: The orange residue left on fingers after eating Cheetos or some other cheesy snack.
• Execuglide: The act of using your wheeled office chair to move from one place to another.
• Glackett: The ball inside a can of spray paint (or other aerosol can) for stirring the contents inside the can.
• Toastaphobia: - The fear of sticking a fork in a toaster even when it's unplugged.
• Telecrastination: - The act of always letting the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up, even when you're only six inches away.
• Spudrubble : - Unclaimed french fries at the bottom of a fastfood bag.
• Presto-frigeration: - The peculiar habit, when searching for a snack, of constantly returning to the refrigerator in hopes that something new will have materialized.
• Pillsburglar: - Person able to sample the icing on a new cake without leaving a fingerprint.
• Omnibiblious - adj. Indifferent to type of drink. "Oh, you can get me anything. I'm omnibiblious."
• Musquirt: - The water that comes out of the initial squirts of a squeeze mustard bottle.

Lesson Learned

When teaching, it is unwise to have any sort of lesson that requires you to be in very close proximity to the children after lunch on burrito Thursday.

How You Know This Energy Conservation/Heat Wave is Getting Out of Hand!

• There is no cool water, only warm and hot.
• Bread and bananas now have a 12 hour shelf-life in your house since it stays about 90* in your home.
• Your Swiffer Wet is no longer wet.
• The only reason to shower is to start a new layer of sweat.
• You need to pre-heat your outdoor grill to 375*, but your pre-heat time is greatly reduced since the grill is 200* when you walk up to it.

Any others?

"How long, O Lord, will this go on?" Psalm 89:46

Happy Day!

Due to this event, I have exactly 3 minutes to type here. But I could not let today pass without acknowledging my parents' 41st anniversary. I am proud of both of my parents for so many reasons, but their marriage is one of the main reasons. And, more than anything, I know they would think that's silly because they are both so crazy about each other that they can't imagine life any other way. I am so thankful for the example they both are of being a godly spouse.

May you both have a wonderful anniversary!

Who Are You?

This creeps me out just a little -- but I admit I like the description, though I'm not sure how accurate it is. So, I'm a squatty green gourd with a bad moustache.

What Veggie Tales character are you?

Mr. Lunt
Take this quiz!








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You Got Here from WHERE?!?!

If you scroll ALL the way to the bottom of this page, you will see a number hovering around 20,000. That is the number of times people have wandered on over to my blog. That number alone is amazing to me -- don't you people have anything better to do? I know; I do, too -- yet I continue to scope out all of my blogs!

My little "number spot" tells me the website that referred a visitor to my blog, and my favorite are the searches that people do on the internet (and the post on my blog that it brings them to!)

I'm beginning to think "It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming" is the number one quote googled on the internet. It is, undoubtedly, the most frequent search that lands people at my blog. It is a precious phrase emphasised in a speech by Tony Campolo. (Ironically, when _I_ google for the phrase, my blog is no where to be seen!)

This post brings all sorts of people looking for cults of all names and sorts. And, poor Tom Rukala, is also a frequent google-subject. I suspect he is somewhere trying to re-claim anonymity these days.

I have a few people actually google for "Sarah Stirman", but I suspect a few of those are some of my forgetful friends who can't ever remember how to get here (naming no names, of course).

Recently someone was looking for Blue Bell Bombsticks. That kind of cracks me up. If you aren't looking at the Blue Bell site, what exactly do you want to know about them? How much I enjoyed that one? Because I REALLY enjoyed it. A lot!

And, my happy little number-counter thingy showed me that joyfuljourney at The Jackson Journey has me listed as "Someone I Would Like to Meet." Isn't that nice? And bless her heart! :-) AND I have high billing -- right up there next to BooMama! I am trying to think of some star to compare that to being listed next to, but I am so out of the loop I can't even think of someone from MY day, much less today. Just know, it is BIG doin's to me! And, joyful -- you're not too far away. We could actually make that happen sometime. I'll bring along my friends Denise and Tammy in case you are really an ax murderer with a really precious family picture on your profile! :-) We could have our own little West Texas blog-a-bration! Rumor has it there will be a BlogFest in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area at the end of October. Maybe we should go. Gasoline may still be under $5/ gallon by then!

Life Lessons

I truly never realized how long I would go on stealing other people's blogs, but Antique Mommy continues to show her genius. She created the following list entitled: "Things I Learned From a Balloon":

1) If someone knocks you down, bounce right back and be perky. It’s annoying.

2) It only takes one little prick to take the wind out of your sails. (Interpret that however you wish.)

3) Sometimes the greatest joy is in the releasing and letting go.

4) Some go out with a bang. Others linger long and lifeless. But nothing lasts forever.

5) Sometimes all it takes to cheer someone up is just to hang around.

6) It's probably best to stay away from power lines.

She then invited her readers to continue the train of thought. Continuing in the tradition of clever and creative readers that Antique Mommy seems to attract, they came up with some beauties:

7) The more colorful your group is, the better.

8) Birthday parties are almost ALWAYS the best places to be.

9) All it takes is a little rub in the right spot to make someone's hair stand on end. (again, interperet however you wish)

10) Suffer the blowhards. In the end they just pop.

11) Only let someone you trust control your strings.

12) Balloons become flaccid with old age. (Also, open to being interpreted)

13) If they don't stay grounded, you'll never see them again.

14) Dare to be transparent - your colorful, delightful, transparent self.

Then Rebecca left this priceless little story:

Right after my grandpa died, I was walking with my little daughter and she was holding a balloon - which was accidentally released to the sky.
"That's okay," I said to my sobbing daughter, "It's going up to Heaven to see Great-Grandpa."
My little girl looked at the sky.
"GREAT-GRANDPA!" she screamed, "YOU GIVE ME MY BALLOON BACK RIGHT NOW!"
Life Lesson: It's rude to take other people's balloons.

I truly never knew you could learn so much from a balloon. I think I shall go in search of a balloon today!

My God is so BIG!

by Sarah Stirman
on heartlight

It's Vacation Bible School season. A magical time of Kool-Aid and cookies, sheep made from juice boxes and cotton balls, and lots of marching and singing about being in the Lord's army. Plump little fists will raise the scrawny arms they are attached to as little souls sing, with gusto, "My God is so BIG, so STRONG and so MIGHTY!! There's NOTHING my God cannot do!" We will all smile and sing with them. But do we really believe it?

As my children's faith began to emerge, I would answer very typical questions as they tried to comprehend the incomprehensible: the bigness of God. "Mom, is God bigger than our house? Bigger than that big coliseum? NO WAY!!" Of course, we impress on our children that God is bigger than the biggest mountain and all of the oceans of the world. In fact, He's bigger than the whole world, bigger than the universe.

One of John's statements has, for me, the ultimate trump card in the bigness of God: "For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything" (1 John 3:20).

I pray that is as encouraging to you as it is to me. I struggle and wrestle with this earthly vessel and all of the nature of the flesh that comes with it. I have realized I simply can't do it, I simply can't win that battle. Then the good news: God is greater than my heart.

• God is greater than the selfish wants and wishes of my heart: all of the need to have MY schedule go MY way instead of listening to God's leading.
  
• God is greater than the regrets and worries that sometimes overtake my heart: the "what if" or "if only ..." that starts an enormous snowball of doubt and mistrust.
  
• God is greater than the stones of unforgiveness that I drag around in my heart.
  
• God is greater than my heart's need for approval and applause on this earth.
  

The list goes on and you may have your own list. That God is greater than my heart is gloriously good news to me. However, the difficult part is that God gave me the option of allowing Him to be big in my life or not.

At spiritual peaks in my life, when I am resting in the shadow of His wing, I can see that I only know and see the hem of His holy garments. I am reminded that to simply abide in Him and His love will allow Him to do far greater things with me than I would ever do on my own. But because my feet are still on this earth, I allow the "daily-ness" of life to burden and overwhelm me so much that eventually I confine the Lord to a shoe box in my mind, tucked away in a corner where I know He will be if I ever need Him (as if there is ever a moment on this earth that I DON'T need Him!!).

Oswald Chambers put it beautifully: "It is the dull, dreary, commonplace day, with commonplace duties and people, that kills the burning heart unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus."*

Abiding in Jesus! That is the secret! Jesus told us over and over that was the key to bearing fruit (John 15:1-17) and he responds to whatever it is I think I am doing on my own with this important reminder: "... apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Not "not very much," not "only a little," but "nothing" is exactly what I'm accomplishing when I'm not abiding in Him!
I will pray for my "daily-ness" to become abiding in Him. Then I will raise my fists and sing, "My God is so BIG, so STRONG and so MIGHTY!! There's NOTHING my God cannot do!"

And in my heart I will know it to be true.

*Oswald Chambers quote from "My Utmost for His Highest", March 22.

(Author's note: I wrote this about 6 weeks ago. I really needed to be reminded of this -- is it okay for me to say that? Still praying for that "daily-ness" of abiding in Him!)

First Day of School

So unbelievably stinkin' tired.

I would love to go into detail about my day -- but I already went into as much detail as my weary brain can for my teaching partner so that she will know what she's walking into. Also, there's evidently a ream of papers my own children brought home for me to fill out.

In short -- the day did not go quite as smoothly as it could have. Alas, I did not lose a child OR a parent, so, all in all, a success. Isn't it funny that the only 2 times it rained all day my class was outside for one reason or another? Why is dismissal such a zoo? I always stink at dismissal. Maybe it's because by 3:15 I want to simply fling open the door and shout, "Run, Forest, Run!!" I will make smoother dismissal a goal. It's good to have goals, right?

I started the day with a headache, and I think I've had it all day, but right now I'm too tired to know. My sweet neighbor offerred to drive the kids today (they are supposed to ride their bikes on my work days) because of the chance of rain. I was so thankful to have one less thing to worry about. And, sweetest of all, my precious Troy sent me some flowers. They got to me at a moment that I REALLY needed them -- and the thought of them still brings tears to my eyes.

I had forgotten what I loved about teaching (no, it's not payday -- for another 6 weeks!)

I love that they call manilla paper "vanilla" paper.

I love that new shoes can make you run fast as well as look great.

I love that they ask me, "Are you glad I'm in your class?"

...So much more!

The Things We Teach in School

Continuing in my series of stealing other people's blog posts, this is from Judy Thomas from last year. I had Mrs. Thomas for children's literature the semester her beloved husband, Sam, lost a very long battle with cancer. I love that she has a blog so that she can still sprinkle her droplets of wisdom. She read this to us, as she did each of her classes:

We teach math so students can function in the real world and creative thinking so they can function in a world to come with things not yet thought of.

We teach four-year-olds who have never seen an indoor bathroom how to hit, how to flush, and to put the lid down.

We teach the 16-year-old girl, who is pregnant and unmarried, the skills she will need to survive as a single parent, and we provide day care for her child when it is born so she can stay in school and succeed.

We provide counseling and non-judgemental guidance for the students who have AIDS.

We bring kids together in teams, whether they be debate teams, football teams or ag judging teams, and we teach them the art of give and take and loyalty and cooperation which will ultimately be used in marriages, in court rooms and in churches.

We know that every child who comes to us is at risk whether he or she is 4 or 18. We teach them that school is a safe place where they can come from 8-4 every day: Where adults are warm and caring, where laughter is pure and clean, where videos and dvds are not rated X and books and magazines do not have obscene pictures. School is often the best place some kids have.

We teach autistic David the pleasure of communicating in sentences over four words long.

We teach music with its mystical power to enrich the lives of children who know more about video games than Beethoven and more about super heroes than Mozart.

The things we teach in school include practical things like the alphabet, the multiplication tables and grammar, but also include things like : keep your fingers out of your food; one match will destroy a forest; and just say no to strangers and drugs. We teach safety like the third grade teacher who took her class to Safety City last year, who lost control of her own little car, ran over a telephone pole and had to miss several days of school.

We teach creative writing so students can learn that their own words count,and that this is an avenue of exploration and imagination which is theirs at the drop of a pen anywhere, any time, any place. With this gift, thay can always say this is my story, my life, my truth.

We provide gifted and talented classes and laureate classes for students like middle-schooler Jason who has spent much of his school life living in a car on the streets of Abilene. He knows his life can change because he is being taught the skills to make it happen.

We teachers on all levels teach truth, understanding and knowledge in a thousand ways everyday in planned and unplanned lessons and conversations, in the way we talk, and the way we treat students and the way we persuade them to interact with each other.

We have put snags in the rivers of children passing by and over the years have redirected their lives.

We celebrate small victories and marvel at changes--we cry when we see childrenwho come to school in shorts on 20 degree weather days, when a boy comes back to school the next day after his brother dies from a drug overdose, when children come to us with bruises and cuts, when a 6th grade boy leaves the campus in handcuffs because has threatened the life of his teacher.

We teach social studies so we can come to know ourselves and to know each other and to value the worth of every human being.

We teach the lives of great men who confronted povery and won like Abraham Lincoln and Colin Powell.

We teach the lives of great women like Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks who courageously fought the unjust society in which they lived.

We teach physical education and the enjoyment of the human body to children who spend more hours in front of a TV set than they do playing outside.

We teach with joy and optimism everyday so that our children will learn joy and optimism in this often fatalistic world. Teachers are often the only sentries we have against hopelessness.

We teach with energy and enthusiasm and enormous respect for the learner, the science, the literature, and the math that we love so much.
We tell and read stories to students who are falling apart because we believe with Barry Lopez that one should never underestimate the power of a story of repair a spirit.

We teach very carefully the essential elements, cooperative learning, shared reading, and whole language. We get kids ready for TAKS and a thousand other tests.

We dig trenches, climb mountains, and in between we try to help our students know that we are all human, that it is ok to cry, and ok to dream and that each of us has a special gift and a special place in this world to serve.

I Am A Teacher

In honor of yesterday's meet-the-teacher meetings for my kids, and Monday's meet-the-teacher for me, here is a post I lifted from Craig Fisher's blog from last year:

The following is an excerpt from 32 THIRD GRADERS AND ONE CLASS BUNNY. The author is Phillip Done, a teacher of twenty years. He does an excellent job of telling stories that occur in the classroom. If you have never taught, read this book and you will experience what life is like as a teacher. You will laugh. If you are a teacher, read this book. It will make you laugh and cry.

A teacher:

I read Charlotte's Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory every year, and every year when Charlie finds the golden ticket and Charlotte dies, I cry.
I take slivers out of fingers and bad sports out of steal the bacon. I know when a child has gum in his mouth even when he is not chewing. I have sung "Happy Birthday" 657 times.
I hand over scissors with the handles up. My copies of The Velveteen Rabbit and Treasure Island are falling apart. I can listen to one child talk about his birthday party and another talk about her sleepover and another talk about getting his stomach pumped last night - all at the same time.
I fix staplers that won't staple and zippers that won't zip, and I poke pins in the orange caps of glue bottles that will not pour. I hand out papers and pencils and stickers and envelopes for newly pulled teeth. I know the difference between Austria and Australia.
I plan lessons while shaving, showering, driving, eating, and sleeping. I plan lessons five minutes before the bell rings. I know what time it is when the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the nine. I say the r in library. I do not say the w in sword.
I put on Band-Aids and winter coats and school plays. I know they will not understand the difference between your and you're. I know they will write to when it should be too. I say "Cover your mouth," after they have coughed on me.
I am a teacher.
I examine new braces and new blisters and holes in mouths where teeth have just fallen out. I can spell vacuum. I know the magic word.
I wear four-leaf clovers and dandelions in my shirt pocket that have just been picked with love at recess. I pray for snow days. I pray for Stephen to be absent.
I spend Thanksgiving vacation writing report cards, Christmas vacation cleaning my classroom and summer vacation taking classes on how to relax. I know the difference between a comma and an apostrophe. I can say "apostrophe".
I buy books about cats and dogs and sharks and volcanoes and horses and dinosaurs. I turn jump ropes and am base in tag. I am glad you can only get chicken pox once.
I correct pencil grips and spelling mistakes and bad manners. I push in chairs all the way, push swings higher, and push sleeves up while children are painting. I can touch the paper cutter.
I own one suit, two pairs of shoes, and eight boxes of graham crackers.
I have every teacher mug that Hallmark ever made and every save the Children tie too. I say, "Use two hands!" when they carry their lunch trays. I say,"Accidents happen," after they did not use two hands.
I wear green on Saint Patrick' s Day, red on Valentine's day, and my bathrobe on Pajama Day. I poke straws into juice boxes and untwist thermos lids that are too tight. I unpeel oranges that are too tight.
I sign library passes and yearbooks and new casts. I attend soccer games and Little League championships and funerals for guinea pigs. I answer to both "mom" and "dad."
I am a teacher.
I hope April Fool's Day is on a Saturday. I blow up balloons that will not blow up. I always blow the whistle early at recess. I can borrow and carry very fast. I give them more time to answer six times eight than two times three.
I never end a sentence with a preposition. I know what a preposition is. I draw stars and smiley faces. I say, "Take over," in four square games when I was not looking. Once I forgot eight plus seven.
I know when to say "can" and when to say "may." I have worn green marker, red paint, yellow chalk dust, glue stick and glitter all on the same day. I hate glitter.
I always begin a sentence with a capital and end it with a period. I always walk in line. I always lose at arm wrestling. I leave "shuger" and "vilets" misspelled on their valentines.
I know all of my continents and all of my oceans. I tape pages back into books. I can find the end of the new roll of Scotch tape. I call on children whose hands are not raised.
I know that colonel is a really hard word to read, and so is doubt and so is gauge. I know kids will read started, when it says stared. I have spelled out because and beautiful and friend six million times.
I am a teacher.
I look both ways before crossing the street. I save balls stuck in basketball hoops. I have given 842 spelling tests and have written "Have a Good Summer!" that many times too.
I collect milk boxes and coffee cans and egg cartons. I know all of my times tables. I can type without looking. I know that two pretzels do not equal one Hershey kiss.
I can make a telescope out of a toilet paper roll and a totem pole out of oatmeal boxes. I can make snowflakes out of coffee filters and a space shuttle out of a Pringles can too.
I know my notes because "Every Good Boy Does Fine." I know my directions because I "Never Eat Slimy Worms." I know all of my planets because "My Very Elegant Mother Just Sat Upon Nine Pickles." And I can only say my ABCs if I sing them.
I fix watchbands, repair eyeglasses, and search for lost milk money after freeze tag.
I know when their fists will make a rock and when they will make scissors.I know when a child does not understand. I know when a child is not telling the truth. I know when a child was up too late last night. I know when a child needs help finding a friend.
I am a teacher.

How Things Change

Think back to 1996.

If someone had said the sentence, "I googled my ex-boyfriend," what in the world would you have thought that meant?

Nothin' in My Noggin'!!

I feel compelled to replace my father's oh-so-clever poetry. Oh-so-clever, but quite gross, so we need to be moving along, but I have either too much or too little to report on.

In my past two days of inservice, I have learned:

• I have no shoes to wear to teach in all day. I've been sitting for 2 days and my shoes hurt my feet.
• I have very little patience for meetings -- especially the re-hashing ones. Blech.
• A grown man with a goate' dressed as June Carter Cash is hilarious -- but does not inspire me to teach children. Don't ask.

I have one more day of inservice then I get to actually work on the room and/or get ready to teach actual children. That's the part I'm excited about. Troy and I are both really proud of how calm I'm being! :-)

We did have a date tonight -- two thumbs up for Abilene's Copper Creek restaurant!! Wow. Very swanky, very tasty.

I really need each of you to quit blogging for a few days. I'm terribly far behind on my blogs. Let's all pause, shall we?

This conversation would take place in my house. Too funny.

Must move along to put my weary head to bed. I will try to observe something FASCINATING to blog about tomorrow. As a matter of fact, I THINK (oh, I hate to tease like this) I just might be getting a scope and sequence for EACH subject matter!!!! Are your toes simply tingling with excitement? Can you only imagine? I KNOW you wish you were me!

God Bless Nonna and Gran'dad. . .

For those of you that wonder where I get my sense of humor or writing ability, check out the comment my dad left on the previous post at Monday morning, 1:21 a.m.:

So mom in her kerchef and I in my cap,
had been settled in for a long summer's nap.
We'd been asleep but an hour or two,
when we heard Ashley standing beside us quite blue.
"I've been sick", she moaned, as my toes began curling,
and there in her room was the proof: she'd been hurling.
Everything she'd ever eaten was there in plain sight,
I knew right away it would be a long night.
Nonna did the scooping as I did the "re-sheeting",
and Ashley lay quite pale, plaintively bleating.
Now the laundry's almost done, and the hurler is better
the sheets are clean and the carpet's a bit wetter.
Although the temptation was keen to become deranged,
it's really nice to know that nothing has changed.
In the middle of the night children still need love,
and they'll always be the finest gift from Heaven above.
So thank you, S & T for entrusting them to us,
and praise you, God, for what you do for us.

Observations from Today

The shrieking ones are in Louisiana. I am in West Texas. West Texas is almost too quiet right now.

I used to think I could no longer sleep in a car. Turns out I can sleep in a quiet car. Sweet Troy even drove for 90 minutes with no music so that I could sleep!

You know how cute and carefree you think you look riding in the car with your bare feet propped up on the dashboard? You don't. I had to keep from gagging at other people's feet propped up on their dashboard. So, I had to take my own down so as not to cause another driver to gag about the site of my feet.

Drivers of automobiles on their cell phones irritate me. Drivers of 18-wheelers on their cell phones scare the bejabbers out of me.

I think my father quizzes people he knows about what is on my blog. If they score well, they are allowed to continue to be his friend. Either that, or Monroe needs better cable television. Met many of my blog readers at church today (of course, do any of you ever comment??? Noooooo -- except Lisa C., thankyouverymuch!)

My children are not in this state. My husband is sitting alone watching television. I am blogging. Something is wrong with this picture. . .

Education 101

Today started new teacher orientation. It was a wealth of valuable information. To sum up:

Working for AISD -- very good
Lining up a substitute -- very good
Sexual harassment -- very bad (key phrase is "unwanted" regarding sexual advances and overtones)
Homeless Children -- very bad (situation, not the children)
Technology -- very good, but Big Brother @ AISD is watching ... Don't be a moron!

Tomorrow's agenda --

Discipline -- very good
Teacher evaluation system -- not so much!

In "educational circles" I avoid going into details about my current employment set-up (being what is referred to as 50% -- what you and I know as part-time). Today was a great example of why. My name tag listed my campus. One lady from administration asked me what I would be doing there. I told her, then ventured into the "I'll be 50% sharing a classroom" conversation. She got a look on her face as if I had told her that I would be having the enamel removed from my teeth every time I came to work. Still with her "ewww" face on, she whispered, "I'm sure it will be okay."

Whatever, dude -- that's kind of how I feel about her job, but to each her own, right?

From where I sit:
50% teaching -- very good

Has School Started Yet?

Some summer numbers for your day:

37 -- average number of times in a day I walk in my laundry room to close the door to the garage that is blasting 107* air into my home

38 -- average number of times in a day my children go through said door, not QUITE getting it shut so that one good gust of 107* air will blow it open

15 -- average number of times in a day you can hear me saying, "(previous response of grunt, "WHAT????", or "I know" with the understood 'duh!') is not the right answer to that. The right answer is 'Yes, Ma'am.'"

16 -- average number of times in a day you can hear me saying, "you can say 'yes, ma'am' without that attitude."

26 -- average number of times in a day I have to deep breathe and remind myself that loud, happy shrieking is better than angry shrieking

3 -- average number of minutes it takes for loud, happy shrieking to become angry shrieking

6 -- average number of times in a day everyone gets sent to their rooms, including mom.

36 -- number of hours until we leave to take little shrieking people to spend a week with Nonna and Gran'dad

5 -- number of nights little shrieking people will spend with Nonna and Gran'dad

2 -- number of little shrieking people that will keep a part of my heart with them all week while they're gone. . .

It's a Blog-a-bration!

I don't remember the first one of Roxanne's birthdays she and I spent at her house in "the boonies". It must have been after I got my driver's license, so 1986? 20 years ago? The tradition became a chocolate sheet cake with chocolate frosting, and a 2-liter diet coke, with the hopes of polishing them both off. Oh -- and no plates for the cake. Just 2 forks, keep the diet coke comin'.

Today is Roxanne's birthday. I doubt she has time to sit in her living room floor watching TV and eating chocolate cake while planning the next 20 years of her life. Which is just as well, since I can't drive the 7 hours to get to her to share the cake and she should NEVER do that without me.

Head over to Roxanne's blog and wish her a happy birthday. She's pretty bummed about this whole going-back-to-work business!

And, in her honor, sing my favorite -- the Karyn Henley birthday song!:

Dear Special Friend,
It is your birthday.
It is the day that Jesus sent you to the earth.
And we REJOICE!!
We come to ce-le-brate,
Because we love you and we thank Him for the blessing of your birth!

Question of the Day

WARNING: You may need to have a cup of coffee or two before you read this and/or respond. It's pretty deep.

This stems from a conversation in my Beth Moore class Sunday night. We are currently doing "Living Beyond Yourself," Beth's study on the fruit of the Spirit.

Is your faith in what God is doing or who God is?

Are you hoping in God's doing or God's being?

Do you trust an I DO, or an I AM?