Quick update

1. School has started. My 8th graders seem manageable. I think my 7th graders will be crying by the end of the week. I have about 3 or 4 kids that are definitely going to be a pain in the a$$ until I break them.

2. Maggie is skunkilicious right now. Somehow, she got sprayed right in the mouth, but no where else. We THINK it is living under our deck and she stuck her face under there. I was in a dead sleep Monday night after a long day. It was only about 10. Kendall let the dogs out and when Maggie came back in, she ran to the bedroom and started rubbing her face on our sheets and pillows. I immediately sat up in bed and yelled, "What the f*ck is that smell?!?!?!?!" It was AWFUL. If you've never experienced it before, you're lucky. Kendall literally threw Maggie into the bathtub and we started ripping the sheets off the bed. He bathed her for a good 45 minutes but the smell definitely doesn't go away that way. I called my mom and she gave me a recipe that is supposed to help lessen the smell. We've applied it several times since then and the smell has receded a bit, but she's still pretty stinky. My mom said at LEAST 6 months before it goes away. GREAT. Baby M is going to LOVE her.

3. My belly is ALMOST cute enough to photograph. Expect a picture sooner than later.

4. The baby furniture is all in and set up and we're working on getting the new blind and curtain up. Once those and the giraffe pictures are up I'll take a picture of the room. :)

See you in another week I'm sure......

ps. I have been reading peoples' blogs but honestly haven't had time to comment. So sorry!

For Stephanie.

At least I picked a new, even scarier shot....see below for actual updated post.

An Update

I've been a busy girl since I last posted!

We've painted the baby's room. It's yellow, in case you were thinking we made it gender specific. As soon as I get the curtains up I'll take a picture. The paint we bought was AWFUL, but unfortunately, we picked a shade of yellow that is only allowable in a specific brand of paint. It was a nightmare and we could have probably painted a third full coat on the walls, but we gave up and are hoping no one can tell. :) Painting also included the ceiling and the trim. It now looks fresher and nicer than any other trim in our house. My mom came down to help and it was definitely greatly needed. Who knew how hard one tiny room would end up being to paint? Stupid Valspar....

So that was two weekends ago. We also got to go miniature golfing for the first time this year that weekend. We went to Young's Dairy. My mom enjoyed herself, she hadn't mini golfed in years.
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I've been heading into school quite a bit, setting up my room and getting lesson plans together for the 7th grade reading class that I am teaching this year. I am not thrilled about it. It means extra work for me now and later. All of my 8th grade materials are ready to go, even ready to give to my long term sub. I feel like I'm working twice as hard for one 45 minute period of 7th grade. I'm extremely stressed about having materials for my long term sub. By the end of last week my room was pretty much set up though and at least tentative plans have been set through December for my 7th grade class.

We learned last week that the state has made some changes in classroom safety that we need to comply with as a building. Now keep in mind that the EPA is probably going to condemn our building soon and that we don't meet code for like a million other things, including our furnace and our overhead lighting. It might give you some perspective on how ridiculous some of the new rules are for "safety". Here's just a sampling of two such rules:

1. We are no longer allowed to have curtains of any kind hanging around our room. Not on windows, bookcases, anywhere. They are flammable and unsafe. However, I am allowed to have fabric on my bulletin boards. And keep textbooks. And hang student work. And teach on hardwood floors. None of those things are flammable according to the new safety rules. Nor is it dangerous to stack 50 boxes of paper in the copy room, all on top of each other. Did I mention that each box has 5000 sheets of paper in it. It must be fireproof paper.....

2. We cannot have ANY type of cleaner out where kids can have access to it. This includes hand sanitizer. The kids might drink it. Or get it in their eye. It might cause them to die. I have to have it locked up in a cabinet at all times. But don't worry, the pointy scissors and pencils that we let them use don't have any safety issues. They won't kill anyone. Nor will the compasses that our 8th grade students use in math class. Completely safe. No deaths.
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We lent Dathan and Natalie our car for the last two weeks (the Expedition) to head out to South Dakota to pick up a trailer and haul a pool table home that belonged to the family. It saved them several thousand dollars in plane tickets and rentals. The only thing we asked was that they a) pay for an oil change when they came back from the 3000 mile trip and b) not wreck our car. They can only fulfill requirement A. While out there, they hit a deer. With my car. It's in the shop right now having its front end replaced. I should have it back by tomorrow night. I'm not upset with them for hitting a deer. It can't be stopped. The poor deer's butt must hurt like a MOTHER. What did upset me was that they filed a claim on our insurance without calling us first. Without checking to see if we had a deductible or if it would raise our rates. It's here nor there now, but it was just irritating. And I felt like they kind of gave us a hard time about getting them a rental car and letting me keep their car until mine was fixed. But I won't get into that here.
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My dad and family visited this past weekend and stayed over night for the first time EVER. We had a great time. We went to the Darke County Fair on Saturday and it is definitely one of the best county fairs I've ever been to. It was HUGE. It had lots of food, lots of smelly animals, and lots of interesting people to watch. We ended the night with a cookout at our place and ice cream. While at Dairy Queen, I got a chance to talk with Bill and Sara one-on-one (my brother and sister in case you don't know) about their upcoming school year and we also talked about their long term plans. I was happy to hear that Bill is planning on going to college in two years. I was worried. He's thinking some type of computer graphics or design. Right up his alley. My sister was more interested in talking about fraternities and sororities at this point, but there's still time- she's only going into the 8th grade. We made them homemade blueberry coffee cake, eggs, and bacon for breakfast the next day and my father was very impressed. He ate 3 helpings. :) I think he forgets I'm a grown up sometimes. I even showed them my belly button trick. They all laughed and I was only a little embarrassed.
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The last two days have been spent working and getting a hair cut. I'm pretty much ready for school to start with the exception of making photocopies. I'm planning on spending all day Thursday doing that. I also have an all day retreat tomorrow with my building. It will be good to see all of my coworkers again and find out how ugly our staff t-shirt is this year. I can't promise to write much over the next week or so just because work will be keeping me very busy. But I promise to try. Sorry for the long absence and equally long post. Oh, and I'm posting the cicada picture again, just to "bug" Stephanie every time she opens my blog. HA!

*Shudder*

I hate this time of the year. The cicadas are out like crazy right now, and many of them are shedding their nasty little skin and flying around, singing in my trees.

While I'm out mowing my lawn it seems like they get even crazier. It's like the lawn mower irritates them or maybe (even scarier) it sounds like a mating call. It seems like whenever I drive under a tree I can hear them screaming at me. And crawling on me. Even thinking about them crawling on my makes me feel like they're crawling on me.

They stick to my window screens. They fly around while we take the dogs for a walk. The other day, one landed on me. I screamed and danced in circles. It makes me scared to go outside for more than a few minutes at a time. And while I'm out there, I'm looking to make sure they don't land on me.

Their shells/skins are lying in my flower beds and stuck to my garage door. It's so NASTY. I can't wait for them to die in the first frost. Is it fall yet?

Yummmmm!

We made s'mores over a sterno can on our kitchen table tonight. They were DELICIOUS!

No Stopping it Now

I seriously need to stop watching shows where deliveries go wrong. I find myself sitting there, almost in tears, thinking to myself, "Oh my God, this is going to be me. Will I die? Will the baby die? How will Kendall live without me?"

I know that many of my girlfriends said that they weren't scared about the delivery, but about bringing the baby home. I've even talked to all of these girls afterwards and they all had normal deliveries. I watched my own sister-in-law have a normal delivery. But it doesn't matter. I'm still TERRIFIED. I don't know if it's the needle for the epidural, the pushing, the potential to pass foul things onto the bed WHILE pushing, but I'm terrified of the actual delivery.

Which isn't good. Because it's happening. I can't "put it back". The Nugget is in there and moving. I can't stop it now. But for some reason, I can't STOP watching these shows. It's like I'm mentally preparing myself for the worst.

It's probably bad that I still have 4 months to go and I'm already getting anxious, isn't it?

Lunch

I went. I was quiet. I blamed it on the baby and being tired. It was easier than just being a brat and not going. "A" did not go. I was just annoyed by the drama and the lunch was already ruined for me. I went to be nice. It was awkward. That made me happy. :P

Co-Workers as Friends

So I've probably said it here before, but I really like the other 8th grade teachers...or at least most of them. Some of them I would consider more than just co-workers and say they are actual friends. People I talk to on the phone and would hang out with after work hours are over. There's really only the one lady on the team who gets on my nerves, and most of the time I try not to let it get to me or affect the rest of the team.
The annoying teacher and I had a big blowout in the middle of last school year. I didn't really get into a lot of the details on Blogger, but it had some serious affects on our relationship with each other and dynamics with the rest of the 8th grade team. The awkwardness pretty much carried to the end of the school year, to a lesser and lesser degree as the days went by, but I vowed to never let her push me like that again. Even the end of the year was awkward.

I'm not looking forward to the start of this school year for many reasons. The heat is really affecting me (makes me nauseous), I'm teaching a class I've never taught before and trying to make maternity plans for it, they're making us jump through even more pointless NCLB hoops, and of course-this teacher (we'll call her A). I'm really hoping it's her last year. It would make my life so much simpler.

So I wanted to have lunch with a couple of my teammates before the start of the year. While I wouldn't have minded inviting other team members, I realized that I'd have to invite everybody if I invited too many people and that would include A. Now I can be a big girl, but lately, I haven't felt like being one. And so I decided that it was only going to be 4 of the 7 of us. Not only would I enjoy the lunch more, but it would be less complicated for seating at a busy restaurant at lunch.

This was a concern for one of the people I invited. He's worried that we'll hurt A's feelings if she finds out we had lunch "behind her back". I tried to explain that it wasn't a "team" lunch. It was just me having lunch with some of my friends. Why can't it just be that simple? Obviously it's not, because he called one of the other people invited to go and she had to call me to discuss the situation. I finally said, "Invite whoever you want. I'll deal. I was just trying to have a simple lunch." It already feels like 8th grade drama.

This has essentially ruined the lunch for me. I don't even want to go. But if I don't go now, it just looks like I'm being a drama queen. And I'd rather suck it up and go than let them call me that. *sigh* I just don't think I have to be friends with everybody on the team just because they're on the team. And if that makes me a brat, then I guess that's what I am.

As Ricky Bobby Would Say....

Dear 8 pound 6 ounce Baby Jesus, thank you for getting my Double Issue of People Magazine to me today. I am so grateful to have this magazine in a time of need, when my husband is leaving me for 4 days to go to Chicago. And Dear Tiny, Infant, Jesus, thank you for allowing People to have the 14 million dollars they needed so that crazed people like me could get a glimpse at babies that mean absolutely nothing to my life. Amen.

I know, I'm probably going to hell for that.....

More Bizzaro

Today I saw a man riding a ten speed bike, while balancing a medium sized plastic dog crate on the handle bars, with a bunny the size of Maggie inside.

No, I was not dreaming.

Stupid People Magazine

I am totally getting screwed by my People Magazine subscription. I'm a week behind. WTF?!?!

Speaking of Addictions

I read on CNN today that Brad and Angelina have sold the rights of the first photos of Knox and Vivienne to People Magazine. The article says they will be in Monday's issue. So I think to myself, "Wait! TODAY is People magazine day!" I quickly put on my flip flops and head for the mailbox.

What do I find when I get there? Not Brad and Angelina on the cover, but the Florida Toddler Mystery. I skim the sidebar, still no mention of the Jolie-Pitt crew. I think to myself, "I've been robbed! Have I been getting my magazines a week late?!?!" I even check the table of contents. Nothing. I am now consumed with worry that I am getting my subscription a week behind everyone else.

I am sick, people. Sick. Maybe they should make People Magazine subscriptions illegal....they are a highly addictive substance.

Skype!

So I got to actually talk with our friends in the Ukraine today. It was cool. We used a service called Skype that provides free long distance calls, both domestic and international. Even the software is free to download! Now it's obviously not something I'd use on an every day basis to call people, but it's free for international calls, which saves you a lot of money if you know someone over there. All you need is a microphone and speakers.

I wanted to mention it on here for those of you who are like us and your parents are living far enough away that you can't see them every day. Not only can you talk to each other for free, but if you have a webcam you can also see each other during the conversation. I have friends that use this method to communicate with their parents weekly so that they can see their grandkids. It's not the same as being able to hold them and play with them, but it does give them the opportunity to see them. We plan on using it with my parents when M is born. Granted, we'll have to get my mom a computer that isn't from the Dark Ages....

The only problem I had was that I was getting serious echo and delay on my voice. Staci was coming through nice and clear and probably simultaneous with her actual speaking, but for some reason, there was a 10-20 second delay whenever I would speak. It was weird. And I could hear myself in the speakers. She said I sounded fine on her end, but I kept inadvertently interrupting her talking because of the delay. It was slightly annoying. We're definitely going to have to try to work out the kinks before baby.

Speaking of Staci, they finally found their little boy! Hooray! They still have to go through a court process and then a waiting period, which could mean several more weeks in the Ukraine, but hopefully the process goes smoothly and quickly. It was so nice to actually hear the happiness in her voice. They've waited so long for this day to come and I can't wait until they make it home to Dayton and we get to meet their new son.