Gotta Love It

That's How We Roll...

So the lady in our condo complex is losing her mind....she is getting the early signs of dementia.  She lives with her husband, and has taken one of our neighbor friends Mandy as a personal crusade.  She is really mean to her.  She has cussed her out, made pretty outlandish accusations about her.  Today, she hit her on the head three times with a BROOM because of plastic chairs.  My husband had talked with her earlier, and made her cooler about everything.

Well, tonight after HH and I have a cookies and cake run.  I say, "Lets go to Mandy's door with a broom in hand."  We went and knocked on her door, and I said we had some problems we needed to talk with her about.  We all had a good laugh.  Laughter is good for the soul. 

This time next week I'll be painting the town red with ChiTown Girl!  WOO HOO!!!  :)

Please know that this particular comment I am about to make is being made without seeing the documentary Waiting for Superman.  I want to see it, but Chicago is the closest it is being played to me.  I have a valid viewwpoint as I work in a true turnaround school.  Seven years ago, my school was the LOWEST PERFORMING elementary school in my state.  There was even a very sad difference between us and the second lowest school.  We've made over a thiry point gain in the last four years.  We had over forty schools/officials visit our school to see what we are doing.    I believe that awesome things can happen in inner-city schools.  I do get really upset when everyone from the outside wants to "fix" us.

So to the comment....In the movie there is a mom who comments about her third grade daughter getting into this certain school and she says, "This will mean the difference between college and jail for her."  First, hats off to her for how much she cares about her child getting a quality education.  Way to go!  But seriously, have you given up all faith in your ability to parent your child, and YOUR role in making sure they make it to college and not prison?  I know I play a large role in helping your child, but so do you.  Don't let people take away your right to be a great parent.  You are instrumental too.

Who is Momma Cass?

HH and I bought our Halloween costumes this afternoon.  I went to sneak peak at the choices yesterday before meeting my friend Wendy.  Finding Halloween costumes can be a hard thing...I love the idea of us dressing up as a couple, and with HH's theater background, he is always game.  The problem comes in with the fact that we are Christians, and many of the outfits are less than edifying to me.  I don't want my body portrayed with super short skirts, and low cut tops.  This considerably narrows the Halloween costume field for us.

I hadn't thought of this idea before seeing it in the store, but fell for it completely when I saw it at the store: HIPPIES!!!  I wasn't sure HH would go for it, so I didn't want to get too excited.  HH said it was a GO!

Today we went to buy the outfits.  When HH saw mine he said, "Tiffany come on now, you've lost the weight you don't have to look like Momma Cass."  To which I replied who was she.  After he saw the outfit on me, he said it looked much more flattering than it appeared on the package.  (I googled her picture when we got home.)

For those of you who don't know who Momma Cass was....

Weekend Awesomeness

Friday night we had dinner at a new restaurant called The Bard's Town.  I had a restaurant.com coupon, so we got our $43 meal for $20 (20% tip included)....SCORE!

This morning I went to the Farmer's Market, and met my best friend Wendy.  I had my 100th visit to Moe's Southwest Grill.  There was no ticker tape parade, but man do I love that place!

CORN MAZE was next!  :)  I got these tickets buy one get one free from Groupon!  It was our first time ever attending.

At the entrance to the corn maze:

Farm Scene Investigation: We've Got This!  (Thank heavens HH has good map reading skills.)

HH is mapping out our course of action.

Aerial Shot of the Maze from their website:

In the maze, they had a lookout tower to see all the corn you were surrounded by:

At the top of the corn, HH snapped a picture of me:

Another cut-out pose:

Tonight I am relaxing while HH hangs out with the guys.  The recliner never felt so good. 

What We've Been Watching...

Where the Wild Things Are...

I am still plugging through 30 Days.  I really enjoy seeing what life is like through so many different perspectives.

Teaching in the City...

This was a picture snapped at the end of dinner with Ernesto, our student teacher from the spring.  He is such a great guy!  Fun times at Havana Rumba!

On Feeling Appreciated...

I am helping to tutor a boy in my class.  I started today.  This is something I am doing on a volunteer basis.  I really was reluctant to offer this, although the parent was asking me to.  (Please don't get that I don't want to "help" my kids, but I easily average five hours of meetings each week outside of school, not counting what I do in the evening.)  She was just expressing her concern.  When she got to school to pick him up (she lives 40 minutes away, and has to go through heavy traffic), she was SO APPRECIATIVE!  I was floored.  It was so nice and refreshing.

Sadness

HH and I are a bit sad.  HH is really sad.  He had his third followup with a church last night via phone.  (We had gone to visit with them over Labor Day weekend.)  They had some clarifying questions they wanted him to answer and one major point of contention.  He has worked the whole past week on the point of contention.  They spoke for about five minutes, and they had already come to the conclusion they would not move forward with HH.  They didn't want him to give his whole presentation since they were in agreement. 

I know there is a church out there for HH and I.  Please pray for his spirits, and my being able to encourage him to start over again.

Small Moments

A few glipses into my day....

* Tyler tells me that he didn't bring back his weekly homework packet because he went to see the Dracula play at Actors Theater this weekend.  Tyler is a sharp kid.  I laughed and said I didn't know the play went from Friday at 4:00 until Monday at 8:00.  He got it instantly and said he would have it in tomorrow.

* We had ballroom dance today.  My kids are really getting into it.  About half way through the session, I look over and see huge tears in Idonna's eyes.  I pull her aside to find out what is wrong.  She said her hips were aching.  She had a major surgery last school year from a birth defect on her hips.  She was out for a month.  She most likely has several more surgeries over the next few years.  I held her and told her how sorry I was that she was in pain.  She curled up on my park bench for the rest of the day.  (I am buying her a card and a treat this morning on the way in.)

* I had a meeting after school that was supposed to be an hour, and turned out to be two.  :(

* I met with my student teacher.  She will be with me full time starting October 8th, but will be coming at 2:00 until the end of the day on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.  She is very different from the seven that I have had in the past.  I'll just leave it at that for now.

* HH had my dinner waiting on me when I got home.  He did the mundane task of putting all the names, my name, Principal's name, school, phone number, school year, and student id on their electronic version of the report card.  (Talk about saving me an hour there!)  Then he read me Paul Revere's Ride.  (This is all while I am grading homework packets.)

* Our night ended with me being pretty agitated and upset.  I turn on Oprah, and see a new documentary called, "Waiting for Superman."  This is about how all public schools are failing, and it is only the teacher's fault.  This really got me going as I started telling HH my thoughts.  The movie comes out this Friday, and I want to go see it.  I can't seem to find that it is coming out in our area.  HH does not want us to go to this movie for a billion obvious reasons.

The skirt streak broke yesterday....I wore pants.  I had a good run of wearing skirts for 24 school days in a row.  (It helps that I actually don't mind them that much.)  We'll see how long the next stretch will be.

Our Sunday

On Sunday morning, per HH's request, we slept in.  I needed it more than words can express.  I slept almost twelve hours.

We went to Wild Eggs...

I loved how the silverware was arranged on our table.

Egg Salt and Pepper Shakers of Course...

HH getting ready to eat "A King Would Eat These"...

HH and I split the pancakes and an omelet.  The pancakes were great, but they were so rich that four or five people could have split them, and had their fill.  I had four bites, and was completely satisfied.

The omelet came with an "Everything Muffin," which is supposed to be their trademark.  (From their website: Everything muffins are home-made with fabulous flavors: roasted garlic, onion, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, and kosher salt. It's a true everything sensation since every flavor is baked through every bite - not just sprinkled on top!)

There was about a forty minute wait to eat here, but we did go during their busiest day/time of the week.  We will cetainly be returning.

Saturday

I was up at the crack of dawn for my conference presentation today.  I got lots of great feedback, and my two improvement comments were "slow down" (I majorly rushed), and to dim lights during video portions of the presentation.  One girl told me my session was the best one she went to all day!  :)

HH and I went to my parent's house to celebrate Meredith's birthday.  Our entire family was there for the event.  We hung out for several hours.  Here are a few pictures....

Trying to do an American Gothic pose....

Off to BED.  Tomorrow we are going to eat at Wild Eggs.  I can't wait!

Friday Date...

My HH picked me up from school, and we headed over to Indiana!  We had a lovely picnic.

I love my polka dot skirt.

HH even rubbed my (desperately in need of a pedicure) feet.  I loved when he put his wedding ring on my toe, and I had to take a picture of it.

We were going to pick some apples and tomatoes, but we were running short on time to get to our next destination, so we shopped in the store.

 Then we went to our second Marriage Rocks event.  We went to the first one back in March, and we had to miss the second one because I was in Boston.  The theme of this event was Love is a Battlefield: Conflicts in Marriage.  There were several hundred couples.  The band was awesome, and included some hits such as:

This one is a personal favorite of HH and I:


The couple hosting Marriage Live talked about the silliest arguments we've had in marriage.  They opened with video footage from their wedding, where they were arguing during their first dance.

Some of the other "funny" arguments were:
* Mayonaise vs. Miracle Whip
* A man wanted their six year old to grow a mullet, the wife said NO WAY
* A man surprised his wife with a weekend in New Orleans shortly after marriage, and packed her a sports bra and t-shirt for the ENTIRE weekend.
* A guy told his wife they needed to move away from the cameras at the event, or else they would end up on stage....and they ended up on stage.

We had some questions we answered as a couple.  HH and I have said many times before when we do have conflict, it is often because we are tired and or hungry.  I really don't like raised voices at all, and HH is great about never doing that.  I don't really care for debates that much either.  We are pretty good at discussing our concerns with one another.  HH also says my face is so easy to read, and he can tell pretty easily when he has upset me.

They had a couple who have been marriage counselors for many years talk about conflict in marriage, and that was good too.  All in all, it was an excellent date night.

For What It's Worth...

Ok....I'm not at all saying people should become vegetarian.  I really think we need a balance of all types of food for a successful lifestyle/diet.  This video does hit closer to home to me because I was such a huge McDonald's fan pre-op.

I Can't WAIT!!!

Chitown Girl is visiting HH and me on October 4-7!!!  Wooo Hooo!!!  We are going to have a blast!  I have already thought of a few things that are must dos in Louisville.  I can't wait!  Come on October!!!

Brain Drain

Sorry for the lack of posting....I am suffering from major brain drain.  I've got a lot going on with work.  I am presenting at a conference on Saturday.  I remembered Monday morning that I need some work samples for said presentation.  I have been gathering those, and getting my presentation handouts together.  This is on top of the normal day to day stuff.

Speaking of multi-tasking:

This is the book that I have to read for my history group for this fall.  It is not due until the end of November, but HH has already started reading it.  Our goal is to have it done (with the questions) by the end of the month.  HH has read me the three other books I've had to read for this group.  I love his animated voices, it makes the book more interesting.  (I love to read, just these books are not the type of book I would choose to read for leisure.)  While HH was reading tonight and Monday night, I was grading papers like a mad woman.

I'm Loving...

I am reading this book with a friend from work.  She teaches university classes that are held at our school, and is the student teacher supervisor.  She asked if I wanted to do a book study, and I said sure.  I selected a few books from a catalog, and gave it back to her.  She came in the next week saying she saw this book at the bookstore, and it stood out.  The author is a former pastor turned public school math teacher in Harlem.  This book has really hit home, and I'm only through chapter one.

I Wanted To Like It...Really

HH took my picture in the church lobby when I was trying out the Bacon Chocolate Bar.

I want to think that it is an acquired taste.  I'm going to give it another go, but maybe everything is not better with bacon.  (but still MOST things are)

My HH...

HH almost ALWAYS opens the car door for me.  It is still a really big deal to me.  Nothing melts my heart like when I see couples that have been together for decades, and the man still opens the door for her.

I wanted to offer PROOF that he does this very consistently for me.  Yesterday, he was getting the oil changed and running some errands with our friend Aaron.  He opened the door for Aaron!!!  How adorable is that?

I love this song....


Last night HH and I went to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner.  Then we went to see this play:

I had not read the book, and the play was much deeper than what I was expecting.

Groovin Into The Weekend...

Is it possible that Jerry's successor (for funny poses at dismissal time) has immerged?  I love this kid!  He is so much FUN!

My mom took this picture of HH and I on Monday when we went out to eat with them at Cheddars. 

I am looking forward to 3:45 today.  It has been a short week, but I have worked really hard.  HH even came up and worked for 2.5 hours after school on Tuesday with me.  Last night was Open House, he brought dinner, and worked some more with me.  I am working hard to get in my groove, but there is a LOT to get done.  Yesterday, my principal came in with a checklist with over twenty items on it.  He comes in our rooms a lot, and I had most of the things checked off, but still.

I have some big plans for tonight, but I will see if those plans win out tonight, or if it is a date at home with the recliner.

Oh How He Loves ME!

Yesterday HH and I are having lunch with my parents.  We are talking about HH's potential preaching opportunity.  My dad says, "It is only 310 miles from here."  That's right folks, my daddy loves me so much that he had already looked up the distance we would be apart.  I can hardly begin to imagine how much more so my Heavenly Father loves me!

Looking forward to finding out where our next "home" will be.

What Have We Been Watching?

We learned about this one on a preview to a different movie.  At the end of the movie there was one scene that I was sobbing throughout because it was so touching.

Prom Night in Mississippi was a documentary directed by Morgan Freeman.  I was baffled by the backwardness of an all white and an all black prom.  This didn't change until 2008.  Really?  "Nothing Changes Until YOU Do."  (Quote from the documentary.)

Airport Pictures

My husband struck up a conversation with this man about his likeness to our President.  I was fascinated by it.  I wanted my picture taken with him, but was too chicken to ask.  HH asked for me, and here it is.

In NC

We are wrapping up our very brief trip to NC.  HH had an interview yesterday with a church at the Ridgecrest facility.  (I love the Asheville area!!!)  We met the group at 11:45, and wrapped up shortly after FIVE!  I think it was HH's best interview yet. 

Here are two postcards from Post Secret I wanted to share...

This second picture hits home.  I never met HH's dad, because he passed a few years before we started dating.  I know that he had a big bias against overweight people.  He ran a large dental practice, and wouldn't hire anyone who was overweight.  I recall asking HH if he thought his dad would have liked me.  He paused and said, "He would have liked you more over time."  When I asked him to clarify he said, "You lost about thirty pounds from the time my mom met you until that November.  He would have had more respect for you as you dropped weight."

Can I get an AMEN, that I'm so glad my darling HH isn't like this!!! 

Quote I Needed to Hear....

"A person's true character is revealed when they discover or are told that they can't have exactly what they want when they want it."