You're it!

I was TAGGED! Here goes...

3 Joys- Diet Coke, Starbuck's White Mochas, anything pumpkin spice....(wait a second, those are all food....so I'm adding a fourth), Dizzy greeting me at the door...oh and cuddling up having late-night chats with RJ before bed.

3 Fears- Something happening to my dear RJ, not being able to have kids, not saving money in case of emergency.

3 Irritations- Bad grammar, people who treat me like a server (yes, I know, I am a server...that doesn't mean you get to be bossy and mean about being bossy!), the word "hun" in general!

3 Facts- I genuinely like my job, I love a good girly chick flick, I wish I was a runner.

I tag....Hum...Melanie and Sarah.

I'm having a get-together!

Hey all! So I found myself wanting one of these fabulous Scentsy warmers....if you haven't used one before, they are GREAT! They make your home smell SO good, are affordable, and the wonderful scent actually permeates the house, not just the immediate area! Plus, the scent bricks are only $5, so you can change the scent often...instead of buying a wonderful Chirstmas-y scented candle in December...then still having it in summer because it's so huge....like me. No bueno.

In my quest to buy one, 3 friends said they wanted one too. So...I thought of my friend Jenny who sells them....put two and two together...

I'm having a Scentsy open house!

OK, now I totally hate those parties that you have to go the whole time and then feel like you HAVE to buy loads of stuff you'll probably NEVER use. SO...please don't feel like you need to block out your calendar for the whole night just to empty your monsterous savings account on warmers and accessories.

But, if you would like to check them out, or even just stop by and chat, or even come for the food (I'll get yummy stuff!)...then come on by!

It'll be Friday, Sept. 26 the time is TBA. I think the order will be open for a few days after though if anyone is interested! Hope some of you local Logan friends can make it....And Lisa, I do expect you here...Canada isn't THAT far away! :) And Natalie...Georgia is even closer, so...as my BFF...see you there!

Hum....

It's been kindof a thoughtful day....I have a sweet little gal in my class who is new this year. I got a letter in my box today from her former teacher at her old school. I innocently grabbed the letter and walked down the hallway with my stack of stuff from my box...usually "junk mail"-catalogues, book orders, flyers, etc. The letter was on top. I casually started to read it on my walk back to my room. That's when it stopped me dead in my tracks and just made my heart hurt and my breath stop. The teacher said that this girl comes with a lot of "very sad baggage" and went on to explain what her 8 year old past has been like. Wow. This girl has seen and endured things that most of us as grown adults have never and will never see. I say endured, but has she really? I don't know. I mean, sure, she's alive and functions just fine. She's adorable, sweet, helpful, and kind. But I wonder what she is really thinking about as we discuss standard and expanded form in math. I wonder what her mind trails off thinking about while she reads an innocent Clifford book. It just overwhelms my naive mind what some people have to go through. And she's ONLY EIGHT YEARS OLD. That is just so not right in my mind. So unfair. When I was eight, I remember my parents reading me a story at night, both parents, in a peaceful, clean, and happy home, and going to bed at 9 in my nice, safe, warm bed all tucked in. I'm unsure of how often that really happens anymore for many of our children.

Then, as my heart was broken for this poor sweet thing, I turned on Oprah. Did anyone else see Oprah today?! I was so deeply saddened and sickened that I had to just turn it off. It was about the sexual exploitation of children on the internet. And I'm usually a fan of Oprah, but today I just couldn't take it. Maybe it had to be said to open up our naive eyes a little, but I just couldn't handle the graphic explanations she had. Maybe it did some good though, because I was inspired to do something I've never done...write to the senator regarding the PROTECT our Children Act. Below is some info about this, that I copied from Oprah's website (I don't think she'd mind! :) )

The PROTECT Our Children Act will:

• Authorize over $320 million over the next five years in desperately needed funding for law enforcement to investigate child exploitation.
• Mandate that child rescue be a top priority for law enforcement receiving federal funding.
• Allocate funds for high-tech computer software that can track down Internet predators.

Act Now!
Your U.S. senators will be voting on the bill soon, so it is crucial you contact them immediately.
Go to www.senate.gov to find contact information for the senators in your state. Search for your senator by name or state by clicking on the arrow from either dropdown menu. Contact information is provided here. To send an e-mail, click on "Web Form" below his or her name, and e-mail your letter to make a difference!

Anyway, I think the next time I am grumpy because I don't have a diet coke, or my shoe is giving me a blister, or my laundry isn't quite dry, or any other little thing...I'll remember how trivial and petty these things are compared to the reality of some of these young little sweet lives and how much more they have ahead of them.

Yum....

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this cereal!

Food that looks this healthy (look at all that fiber! SO GOOD for you!)
normally is kinda sketchy...
but this tastes just like Cinnamon Toast Crunch!
YUM!

Tomato, tomato....

I think Dizzy belongs somewhere else...(Don't worry, not really...)
I just dropped a tomato, while trying to throw it away....AND DIZZY ATE IT. Neither R.J. or I like tomatoes....where could she have gotten this from?! And why do I spend massive amounts of money on Science Diet food?!

Ah...Friday....

Right at 2:30, I opened a Red Bull.
Then I had to go run an errand...
and I stopped to get a GIANT Diet Coke.
And I'll probably finish both.
It was just that kind of a week.

Labor Day

I think the original intent of Labor Day was to have a break from all the labor. At our house, we took the opposite route and put the LABOR in Labor Day....

Here was our to-do list posted on our little chalkboard...
By far the biggest task was cleaning out the garage...yikes. Here's before...


And here's after. All the old goodies I found (a lot of these boxes went clear back to 6th grade!) will have to be a blog post for another day. But, it was a productive day! It does look a lot more organized!
I threw away SOOO much...

I haven't blogged in a while...I've just been SO busy! I forgot how much school consumes our lives...in a good way! But we're just working all the time it seems, and when we get home we're much too tired for cleaning, eating, laundry...much less blogging! Speaking of school, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my class. They are so awesome-a really great group of kids. I wish it was ethical to post pictures of my class on here, because they're great. And I have some funny stories, that you really just need a face to go with the story, you know?

I try to eat lunch with my kids in the cafeteria at least once a week. It's so interesting to sit with them, not in the "teacher" role, when something has to get done....When I sit with them during their free time, I get to hear their conversations, see them interact, hear about their weekend, friends, family, etc. In the nature of getting things done, the time in the classroom just has to be so structured....but in the cafeteria or out at recess, I get to just hear from them. Anyway, it provides for some great insight. And, it's good for me too-to get away from my classroom, my "to-do" list, and just enjoy the innocence of an 8 year old. So, yesterday was pizza day in the cafeteria, so of course that was a "stay-and-eat-with-my-class" kind of day. Somehow the conversation turned to what the kids wanted to be when they grow up....and the following ensued...

Girl: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Boy: "Eh...nothin' "

Girl (horrified): "Nothing?! You can't be nothing..."

Other girl: "Yeah, you have to be something so you can buy stuff..."

Other girl: "Oh no...maybe you'll be homeless...."

Girl (still not hiding how horrified she is): "Yeah, you'll need money to buy a fancy car..."

Other girl: "Or even to buy your family food to eat."

New boy perks up: "You don't have to be anything,
you can just get a wife to make all the food."

HA! I wanted to bust up....I forgot how when you're little, you really think the wife just gets the food (no money involved) and just makes it! I just had this picture of some man on the couch saying, "Woman, where's my dinner?" haha. Anyway, thought that was funny!