If you can read this, thank a teacher.

2008-12-24T06:54:00.001-08:00

Which creature of the night are you? Your Result: Sorceror Control is the name of your game. You are a studied tactician and scientist and you seek a kingdom where things make sense, damn the morals, even if you have to create it. You are cold, calm and calculating.
Vampire
Incubus/Succubus
Cthulu Spawn
Ghost
Werewolf
Demon
Which creature of the night are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2008-12-22T17:29:00.001-08:00

2008-11-24T17:05:00.001-08:00

Lets101 Quizzes - fun Myspace quiz

Niagra Falls

2008-11-08T16:10:00.001-08:00

I have to share my incredible journey to Niagra Falls. ~
We left Friday, Oct. 17th and arrived in Buffalo, NY around 9 p.m. Everything had gone pretty smoothly that day. We picked up our car rental from Hertz ~ our car had a GPS navigation system in it ~ OMG it was a lifesaver on our trip. (After we figured out how to use it.)

We drove to our hotel, the Sheraton, on the Canadian side of Niagra Falls. Our hotel and room overlooked the falls. We opened our window and could hear the faint rumble of the falls. They were lit up in fiberoptic colors. It was cool! Brandon was hungry (it was fourth meal time), so we walked toward the strip. We made it to TGI Fridays and popped in. I couldn't eat much ( I had the stomach virus from about 2 am Friday morning). We learned a lot from our waitress about the exchange rate, exchanging at the casino to avoid a fee, and pay with a credit card to get the best rate.

We both slept in the next morning. With the comfy bed and low rumblings of Niagra, who wouldn't? We hit the strip and checked out the Harley store and some shops. Then we got ready for our friend's wedding in Chatauqua, NY. (Thank goodness for the GPS). The fall foliage was brilliant. We were amazed by the scenery.

The wedding took place outside surrounded by colorful, mature trees. It was a little chilly, but not too bad. Lori was beautiful, and Mark couldn't stop grinning. The reception was at Peek n Peak Ski Lodge ~ it was breathtaking. We were appropriately seated next to the bar. lol. We had fun dancing (I think we were comic relief--there was a couple there that could really dance well.)

Sunday was our busy Niagra Falls day. The weather was perfect, and the timing on everything fell into place. We went into New York, and finally had a nice border patroller. First we watched an IMAX movie about the legend of the falls. Then we road on the Maid of the Mist. You get a true appreciation of the enormity of the falls seen from the bottom level. We wore blue ponchos and still got wet. Then we walked up the side of one of the falls. After that we did the Cave of the Mist. They gave you water shoes and a yellow poncho because you get soaked on this tour. We rolled up our jeans and went to the hurricane deck right by the Bridle Veil Falls. Brandon stayed awhile. I went up there and left pretty quickly. He said it was like being in a hurricane.

There were rainbows everywhere. It was absolutely gorgeous! We also walked around the state park and enjoyed the trails in the woods, little streams, and little waterfalls. It was very peaceful and calm. Squirrels and birds were everywhere. It was so colorful ~ green blue water, fall foliage, people and some animals. ~

We walked out to Terrapin Head and watched the Horseshoe Falls from that point of view. The roaring, rumbling, and the mist is indescribable. We hitched a ride on the trolley to the opposite side of the park to go to the aquarium. I had been to the Dallas World Aquarium, so this was more like a nature center. But we did see a cute seal show.

We went back to the Sheraton and changed to head back out for the night. We walked to Skylon Tower and decided to spend Mom's anniversary $ for a special dinner in the rotating restaurant that overlooks Canada, New York, and the falls. On the way to dinner, we joined the 1/2 mile high club. Then we had a sunset dinner ~ it was so cool! We left at dark, and walked around the Canadian "strip". We took random pics around the town. Finally we made our way back to the casino. I played okay at the black jack video and Brandon got lucky on the machines too. Ummm did you know that you can't take pictures in a Casino...we found out. lol. We got the girls $10 worth of Canadian coin - for $2.50.

The next morning we finished our souvenier shopping, and went to the whirlpool. We went over the whirlpool in an aerocar. That was really neat. Surrounding the whirlpool the trees looked like a wooded cal-de-sac a-blaze in fiery colors. The whirlpool itself was green blue and had class 6 rapids that ran into it, churning the water to make the whirlpool. After we tracked down the whirlpool jet boat, we headed back to NY and back to Oklahoma. Definitely a memorable trip!

A Little Bummed Out

2008-10-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

I'm a little bummed out now. Within the past week I have found out that my uncle has terminal cancer and it is over his entire body. He is making final arrangements. I just don't know how he can do that. I think I would be too numb to. I took my cat to the vet yesterday, and her liver is in decline. I've had Casey for 11 years. Within the last 3 months she has been very cuddly...wanting to sit in my lap or sleep by me everyday. The vet didn't give her very long-she's just bones now. My aunt is not doing well and they don't know what is wrong with her. My other aunt has been diagnosed with precancerous cervical cancer. I'm glad that was caught early. It's a lot to take in a short time. I'm leaving for Niagra Falls in two days, and I'm excited, but I feel like a cloud over me too.

Sunday Zoo

2008-10-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

----------------
Now playing: Nature Sounds - Jungle
via FoxyTunes

We went to the OKC Zoo last Sunday. It was such a beautiful day, and all the girls were here. Brandon wanted to especially see the snow leopards. They were so cute. There were two young cubs. When we went to the cat forest, we asked a man if the snow leopards were in there. He said, "I don't know, but there's one pissed off tiger in there." Sure enough, we checked it out and this tiger paced, growled, and even mini-lunged at the fence. (Maybe he didn't like me calling him "pretty.") The girls climbed a pretty high rock wall too. Maycie got scared about 2/3rds up and didn't want to go farther. I was having fun trying different ways to use my camera. All in all we had a fun day!

I'm a Lover

2008-10-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

You are The Lovers

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.

The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.

Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that the you have or will come across a person, career, challenge or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

They got this one right!

2008-10-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

Your Autumn Test Results

You are a energetic, warm, optimistic person. You approach everything with a lot of enthusiasm.

When you're happiest, you are outgoing and expressive . You love celebrations, and you enjoy showing off a little.

You prefer change to come slowly. You need a long transition period when your life changes.

You find solitude to be the most comforting thing in the world. Being alone with your thoughts feels very peaceful.

Your ideal day is active and full. You like to keep busy with your favorite things, and you appreciate a routine.

You tend to live in the moment. You enjoy whatever is going on, and you don't obsess over the past or future.

Time to catch up

2008-09-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in about a month, school has kept me really busy.

I have a really sweet class---I really like them. I've started teaching with a "power teaching" technique that I saw on You Tube. Don't laugh! It has really worked to keep their attention. I was battling the window, boredom, summer vacation fun. Plus a chatty class. Now they can summarize a concept I taught them to each other. Now they have to pay attn and they get to talk. Win Win.

They earned a free recess yesterday, so I took them out early. Of course I had to show off and do cartwheels, round offs, and hand stands. I'm quite the hefty one now, so one of my tender hearted students was very concerned that I might hurt myself. lol!

Maycie has kept me really busy with Fall Ball. She's on the Grasshoppers team and we've moved to machine pitch. They placed second in the "Moving Up" Tourney a couple of weekends ago. Saturday all the girls kept striking out. By Sunday, it was a different team, and the girls were hitting pretty well.

Maycie has also been in a cheer clinic this week, so she got to do some cheers at the football pep assembly Friday afternoon. Then she cheered at the football game (halftime) Friday night. All of those little girls are so cute.

Rylee is in choir and likes it a lot. They are preparing for a singing competition in a couple of weeks. She's been drawing a lot too.

The girls got their progress reports and both are making straight A's. Maycie's reading on a 3-4th grade level. So she's doing really well like her big sister.

I've been supoenaed to give a deposition regarding the incident from my last travels. Not too happy about that. But I did get a new phone finally that I really like!

I got to go to my first OU football game. It was a blast! I took Hailee and we tailgated with my friend Deanna. Tailgating is high tech now! Flat screen tv's, tents, food, beer, OU chairs...it was awesome!!! Very friendly people. Hailee and I left early so we could shop for souveniers at the book store...we hit the clearance area. OMG there were so many people! It was overwhelming to weave through the sea of crimson and cream. At kick-off, fighters flew overhead and they showed a cool video about the Sooners on the big screen. The atmosphere was electric...it was awesome. By the end of the third quarter, we were getting tired (fun meter was getting low) so we left to beat the crowds. It was a lot of fun being there.

I finally got the carpets cleaned, so it smells good. Along with opening up the windows...it's felt great! Now I have 3 loads of clothes to put away...never ends does it?

Now I get to put away clothes and get ready to watch the fourth graders cheer and play football. If my class asks me to go, I try to make one of their games. This is a good weekend to watch them: I have a lot of house cleaning to do and Brandon's gone to work. Perfect proscrastinator's excuse.

I'm tired

2008-08-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last two days working in my classroom, and there's no end in sight. I basically drug everything out of my cabinets and drawers and went through everything. I'm tired.

Six Flags

2008-08-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

Six Flags~ whew the end of this trilogy.

We headed off to Six Flags about 10:30, the girls were pretty tired from staying up late to watch a movie. Annie left us breakfast and snack food, so we munched and left. (She's so thoughtful!)

I stuffed the snacks in a backback just in case the girls got hungry. Who wants to pay escalated 6 Flags prices. Well, we get to the gate, and you can't bring snacks in ~ so I walked them back out to the car. BTW it was already 100* . So then we re-enter the gate, and we get busted for the suntan lotion. Ummm you can't bring aerosol suntan lotion spray. So we had to check that in. Okay, finally in. We did the 4 D ride ~ To the Moon ~ that was really cool. Then we were in line Hell after that. (Hot and long). We decided that Batman was worth the hour wait, but Tony Hawk wasn't. At the Batman ride (and all of the big rides) you can't take ANYTHING with you on the ride. So they offer a locker to rent for a dollar. That's crazy! So for each ride you have to pay a dollar-each time you ride it. I told the guy that Six Flags was trying to "suck the money out of us." I guess that was rude. Luckily May was half an inch too short, and they wouldn't let her ride the big rides. So she was the official bag and drink holder. Hot and tired, we took a break and had dinner at Denny's (about 3:30). The girls did not want to go back to 6 Flags, but since we drove all that way, they didn't have a vote.

When we went back around five, we rode the water ride, Aquaman (Splashdown). The line was only 25 minutes (when we left earlier-it was at the 1 1'2 hour mark). We were wet, fed, and refreshed! The lines were only 15-25 minutes after that. Awesome ~ we're having a good time! Then storm clouds loomed. So as Hay and Ray are sitting in the Texas Giant (Ry, May, and I are next in line), they make everyone leave because of storms. We kill time by watching (not one of their best) shows, and the storm moves off. Now we get to ride the big rides with no wait time. We ended up staying until 9:30p.m. The drive home was really long!

Dallas Fun...

2008-08-04T02:08:00.000-07:00

More fun after the Dallas World Aquarium...

The girls and I left the aquarium to head back north ~ destination...The Speed Zone. B wanted me to take the girls Go-Kart driving. 30 minutes later (for a 8 min drive) we arrive. It's really cool...it's like a small version of Celebration Station, but with very cool Go-Karts.

We're starving, so we share some pretzels and drinks first. Then we go to drive these super cool Go-Karts. Well, the tracks the girls can drive on are closed, so Plan B. The girls play at the arcade and win about 800 tickets. Rylee and Hailee, then Rylee and myself danced off to DDR. I love that game! (BTW my mom just bought a Wii version for us ~ spoiled.) After 3 hours (J/K) of picking out prizes, we head off for Annie's apartment.

Annie's apartment is so cool! It's located in downtown Dallas, not too far from the Dallas World Aquarium. She has a pool on the roof of her apartment building. The girls thought that was very neat. So we met up with Annie and James and ate pizza; it was very nice to visit with them. Then Annie and I took the girls to the roof to swim. They had so much fun! On the roof there is a green area for dogs to relieve themselves, a bar area in the middle by the pool, a good size square pool, and a long rectangular hot tub adjacent to the pool. The hot tub has fiber optic lights that cast random colors on the wall. The girls swam from 7:00 to 9:30pm.
(girls swimming on rooftop pool)
(View of downtown at twilight:)

We went in and got to see the bowling alley in the bottom of her apartment building. Then we went in to settle down for the night. The Ry and May on the couch, Hay and Ray on the air mattress. It worked out really well. I got to stay in their other bedroom, which was nice.
Then it was off to a full day at Six Flags Wednesday morning.

New Blog

2008-08-04T02:04:00.000-07:00

I've created a new blog site for teaching ideas, strategies, vents, or just funny stories. I've signed up at the Ring Surf website, so hopefully some teachers will join and we can share ideas.

My teacher's site is www.teachingfourthgrade.blogspot.com

Murphy's Law at Work

2008-08-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

This summer has been Murphy's Law!
1. I have been pouring money and chemicals into my pool to get it clear the whole summer. What I'd managed to do was create a "Super Algae" ~ so nothing was working. For two weeks the pool was cloudy blue, so we deemed it "swimable". Well one rain later and it was green and NOT turning blue...no matter what I did. So I called Tammie, who does this thing for a living, and she helped me out. So last Monday, I poured 12 gallons of liquid chlorine into the pool to kill the super algae. It worked!!! We left the next morning to go to Dallas and Six Flags. We returned late Wednesday night. So Thursday was the first day the whole summer that the water was clear! The girls swam in it ~ no prob ~ B swims with them, and he snags a previous patch job. Well I think he made it worse when he tried to fix it. He got out and the girls continued to swim. Next thing you know, the pool is half empty and the filter is still running. So now I have an empty pool, and all I could think of was the $50 I had just spent washed out into the back yard!

2. The whole point of going to Six Flags was to reward May for reading 600 minutes, and for her earning her free ticket. I was able to get three more free tickets from teachers, etc. So we get to Dallas, and guess what is sitting at home on my desk? May's Six Flags ticket! Isn't it ironic that the person who actually earned their ticket is the one I had to buy when we got there. The stinger is that her ticket was sitting in my car the whole summer (in her EOY paperwork, report card) and I cleaned out the car to pack up for the trip.

3. I have been having trouble getting to my destinations this summer. My blonde factor has really kicked in! One day trying to get to RSC (I had already driven there a hundred times) I by-passed streets 3 times and had to turn around. I'm constantly turning on the wrong streets this summer and having to backtrack or just getting easily confused. Crazy~

Dallas Aquarium

2008-07-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I took Ry, May, Hay and her friend Raymie to Dallas. We were going to check out the Dallas Aquarium and play at Six Flags on Wednesday. When we stepped out of the car at the aquarium's parking lot, the girls were just amazed with the big city and the murals on the buildings. They were saying ~ this is cool...this is awesome.

When we went into the entry-way...it was all jungle. Then when we stepped inside we saw baby penguins playing. The girls loved this! One would swim and wave the whole time. When we went in, it was amazing! When you walk through the rainforest, you walk through its different layers. There were different animals and aquatic life shown in the layers. Hay and I had a bird swoop right past our heads. We saw manatees from above. Monkeys playing in the trees right in front of us.
In the shark aquarium, there were so many different types of sharks swimming above us and around us. It was amazing! In another aquarium we saw HUGE manatees, fish, catfish, sea turtles. We saw a sloth sleeping in a hammock ~ that was hilarious. We saw crocs with piranhas, sting rays and manna rays. We were surprised how bright the flamingos were. We watched the lady feed the penguins fish (it smelled smelled heavily of shrimp).
Then the girls got to shop in the gift shop ~ which was fun for them! We loved the Dallas Aquarium!

Just B and Me

2008-07-27T05:40:00.000-07:00

Well the girls have been with their dad this week, and I've really missed them. We are using this time to be somewhat productive...I just can't seem to quite break the lazy mode though. Our driveway floods every time it rains, so Brandon got our yard dug up and a drain put in! Yay! With the help of our neighbor and a buddy, he got a hefty size drain put in. I was able to get the house cleaned up again (mopped even) and laundry caught back up. It's running around the century mark here (hot as hell), so we treated ourselves to a matinee and watched The Dark Night. OMGosh ~ it was awesome. Heath Ledger did an incredible job in his role. They say he got so into his character that he had trouble sleeping, which led to his overdose. I can see that ~ I would say his character did the best acting job. It was just so sad watching the movie knowing that - that was it. I've never been gaga over actors or rock stars...but I really did like him.

After the movies we went by Mom's to pick up some peppered noodles that you can only get in MO. They are so good. So we fixed Alfredo with grilled chicken, salad, and fruit. I've been on a kick the past couple of days that my plate needs to be colorful. haha Today (7-26-08) we're going to go to church in Tulsa and attend B's cousin's daughter's baptism. We've been asked to be the godparents ~ so we said sure. It will be nice to see his family, and we'll pick up Hay at the same time.

Magician's Camp

2008-07-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

This week I had taught Marvelous Magician's at Rose State College. This turned out to be a real fun camp. My students were 6-9 years old, so we tried to do more of the simple tricks. The first thing we did was make magic wands using pencils, black paint and foil. They turned out pretty cute. After doing research to teach this camp ~ now I know how the magicians do some of their illusions. Everything is pre-arranged...so the trick is figuring out how they do it. Part of me is sad because a lot of the tricks are ruined for me. ;-) We had our magic show today at the end of camp, and the kiddos did a really good job! I wish May and Hay could have taken this class, because they would have loved it! It just didn't work out that way.

Whew!

2008-07-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been interesting... My car has been acting up for the past couple of weeks-acting like it won't start. Well Wednesday morning it decided to die. Thank goodness it didn't die on my way to and from Tulsa Tuesday~that would have been a nightmare. My guardian angel was watching. It still didn't start this morning, so for the past two days I have been driving an unairconditioned service van in 100* weather. Nice. I bought a battery today after work, so hopefully Brandon will fix it.

Tuesday...now that was an interesting day. I had to work, so I brought Hay with me. I'm teaching Marvelous Magicians this week (6-9yo) so she fit in and had a good time. We left straight from Rose and took off for Tulsa. Too long later I met Jes at the Double Tree where my meeting was. The positive thing was that I got to see my travel buddies from last year, and it was a nice reunion. We met with a lawyer from Cali ~ then one from here. It was a nice 5 hour meeting ~ so afterwards Pat and I decided to have drink. She ordered a Cosmopolitan...I had never had one, so I had one too. It was pretty stiff (I deserved a stiff one) and it was good too! Then I met up with Ruth to get B's microwave back. It was 10:45p.m. before I made it home. Talk about exhausted. ~

Dad's 60th birthday

2008-07-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

Friday we celebrated my dad's 60th birthday. Karen and Jimmy flew in from CO on Thursday, so we went to Wes Watkins Lake. The girls rode the tube, boated, and swam. Dad, Karen, and Jimmy fished a little later. We cooked out and visited. It was fun. Then Friday we came over and had NC BBQ ymmm, corn on the cob, etc. Finished it off with an ice cream cake to celebrate dad's bday. We opened presents. I had made Dad a t-shirt with 40 or so pics from birth to 60. I had also made a photo show, so we watched that after he opened presents. I put a Carrie Underwood song to it, and everyone was teary-eyed. Dad really liked it. Dad surprised Karen and me with a Wii. He came in with a big bag and said, "Christmas in July." We all had a lot of fun playing with my parent's wii, so we were pretty excited. The girls were VERY excited. Saturday morning the boys did some early morning fishing, and we all met for bfast at Don's Alley. Brandon had invited everyone over to our house to fish (100*) and eat brats. So we did that and set up our Wii...lol Karen and Jimmy left for the airport about 4:00. It was a really good weekend.

It's Jennie's fault!

2008-07-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm starting this blogger here, because my friend Jennie has one too. lol And I had to go through hoops and loops to leave one comment on her blogger. Plus this looks pretty fun and easy to do.