Happy Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! This is my favorite time of year. I love the fall weather, I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I enjoy the festive spirit that comes with them both. Another special reason I love fall is because my wedding anniversary falls in that time frame as well. Today is our fourteenth wedding anniversary. Where has the time gone? It's getting harder and harder to remember my life before David. I'm thinking that's a good thing. We're planning on going to Anthony's restaurant in West Point tonight. I've never been there but a few friends have sworn that it's the best. We'll see.

So an update of sorts is needed. Here ya go in no particular order:

1) I am out for Thanksgiving break and boy am I thankful. When I was in Florida, Thanksgiving break was only two days of that week. Since moving here to Mississippi, my Thanksgiving is now a week long. I am so thankful for this.

2) I'm in the downward slope in my last graduate class. I have one group project to present on November 30 and a final on December 7. Yahoo! I'll be so glad when this is over!

3) We (my parents included) are traveling to Denver to see the rest of our family for Christmas. I'm not a fan of not being able to get around town when I need to. Not that I would actually do any of the driving but still.....I'd like the option. I don't get excited when my brother or sister-in-law tell tales of getting snowed in. This does not bode well. I've started worrying about this now. Why wait to worry when you can do it now?

4) I really enjoyed watching New Moon. My friend Wendy, a fellow Twilight addict, got some tickets for the midnight show Thursday before it opened on Friday. I enjoyed myself greatly. I went the following night at 7 and liked it then too. I plan on going again tomorrow. This movie is great. The book is great. Have I mentioned that I liked this movie?

5) I'm sitting in my robe right now and it's 2:15 pm. I love the fact that I can do that. I was dressed earlier when David and I went to Lowe's to get stuff to replace the kitchen light fixtures, but now that I'm home, I can be lazy if I want to. I love vacations.

6) David has done some repairing during the break. He's working on the truck so we can take it to Denver and in the process, he snapped off some isolator bolts and the pieces fell into the engine. Never fear, he was able to get them out. We are now waiting for the new parts to be delivered again.

7) I am looking forward to Thanksgiving Day. My family and I have lots of traditions. I think everyone has them. Here are ours:

* Mom makes an incredible breakfast casserole and we go over in the morning to eat some.

*We watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Raelynn enjoys this.

*Dad then watches football.

*My mom and I work on dinner. She does 99% of the work. She makes the turkey, the dressing, the veggies, the pie.....all I do is make the deviled eggs (I have the world's best recipe...ask anyone that's had them) and I make dip for the raw veggies. Basically we graze on veggies and dip, cheese, and pickles until we eat in the afternoon.

*We then eat until we feel sick. Later in the evening we make wonderful turkey sandwiches. My dad and others will get together and play cards in the evening.

Well......I think that's about it. I'm sure there is more that I'm forgetting but I've got the time to post again if I remember. I'm on vacation, so I've got time.......

It's Finally Here!

Isn't this a great movie poster? I love it so much that it's the wallpaper on my computer and I now have a t-shirt with this image..(Thank you Wendy!!!)


I've been waiting for this day for a long, long time. I've been anxiously waiting for this movie since the first movie, Twilight, came out last November. I'm embarrassed to tell you how many times I saw it at the movie theater....Wendy knows that number (she was with me most of those times) and then of course, I've watched it a million more times since it came out on video. I have to say here, that if you were to judge the Twilight movie simply on its own merits away from the book, it wouldn't be my favorite movie at all. Knowing the series like I do, I can't help but love it. Even with all the mess ups that I caught the first time I saw the movie and didn't have to wait for Internet Movie Database to update. It is/was a classic.


So here's what's on my schedule......

-Go to school and teach.
-Hurry home and try to take a nap. I'll have Raelynn with me so I doubt that will happen.
-Get up and take a shower and then head over to Kathy's house.
-Enjoy some great company while watching The Office at 8.
-Watch Twilight and enjoy a small New Moon party with some great friends.
-Leave Kathy's house to wait in line forever to go to the midnight showing of New Moon with hundreds of loud, crazed teenagers. I just hope I'm not sitting in the front row.
-Come home and try to sleep for the remaining 2 hours before I have to get up for school.
-Try to make it through Friday without passing out.


Sounds like quite a list, but I'm up for it.


Did I mention that I'm going again to see New Moon on Friday night with some teacher friends? I know, I've got a problem..... I've got a fever and the only prescription is more New Moon!

Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler...

Howdy people!


Did you miss me? I know I certainly missed blogging.....Good news....I passed my comps and my last graduate class is almost over. Finally, I'll be able to breathe...and blog.


So I went into work today. Doesn't sound unusual, right? Today is SATURDAY!!!!! Did I mention that I don't get paid for Saturdays? Even so....I can't work Monday through Friday if my classroom is such a mess. You'd think that I'd spend some time daily to clean, but believe it or not, I don't have time. When the kids are here, I'm all about them. Their learning, their issues, their problems, their papers.....you get the picture. So I'm here on a beautiful Saturday and cleaning up. As I'm doing so, I've reorganized my staplers. Yes, that's right...I said staplers, as in I have more than one. There is a reason for this.


Let me 'splain......


See, to teachers, there are several office supplies that one can't do without. Tape dispenser, glue, paperclips (I prefer the silver jumbo size but that's a different post for a different day), White Out, Sharpie markers, rubber bands......you get the picture, right? Of all of these supplies, I am the most protective of my staplers. Looking at my desk right now, I see that I have 6 staplers on or near my desk. Each has it's own purpose and it's own place. I have this lovely purple basket that I keep them lined up in.....so cute. Anywho...you must be wondering about my loyalty to staplers, so I thought I'd do a lineup for you so you can see just a little that goes on in my head.

I would be terribly remiss if I didn't start off by giving major homage to Milton, from the movie Office Space. Here is a guy who spends his time mumbling and basically creeping everyone out but his best line in the movie is , "Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler." It doesn't sound so great at first, but imagine a psychopath mumbling that all day. Classic. Watch this movie if you get a chance. I think the missing stapler was the straw that broke his back....I won't spoil it for you, but Milton gets back at the company for taking his beloved stapler. And the truth is....I can see his logic. Once you've had a great stapler, you can't go back.

I'll start with the stapler that I like the least. I have a Stanley Bostitch stapler in my basket that I got from some school supply catalog. It doesn't work so well. That's why this is the stapler that I let the kids use. I love my students but if something has the capacity to break, they will find a way to make that happen. Frankly, I consider this stapler disposable. I will lose no sleep if I have to throw it out.Next would be the reliable Swingline. I have two of these. They are very hearty. One of them I got from a school supply catalog and the other was given to me by one of my favorite people, Kathy S. She and her husband own Copy Cow here in town and hooked me up with some sweet school supplies last year. I use these staplers when I want to put together 3 or 4 sheets. These are also the staplers I use when putting up my bulletin boards. They open really well. They rarely jam and I don't let the kids use them.

Next on my list is the ergonomically correct Bostitch upright stapler. This one feels good in your hand when using it. I'm guessing that's why it's ergonomically correct. This one I bought from K-Mart when I lived in Key West. It's been around a few years and is still trusty. In its old age, it does stick every once in awhile but all in all, it's a good stapler. This is the one that most grown-ups reach for when using a stapler in my room-kids aren't allowed to use it.Next on my list is the Paper Pro. This thing is amazing. It will staple like 20 sheets with just one finger and with very little pressure. It's a great medium weight stapler. I find that I don't use it much anymore because I'm either stapling 2 sheets of paper together or it's 60 sheets. I bought this stapler myself at Wal-Mart several years ago and used it mostly to staple students' weekly graded papers. It didn't work so well at times because I had more than 20 sheets to staple. One other drawback to this stapler is that it doesn't work so well on 2 sheets of paper. It staples with such force that often, it will lose the top sheet because the staple hole it made is big. It basically staples through the paper. I hate when the kids sneak this one off my desk because not long after they've stapled their 2 sheets together, I'm not finding the top sheet. But I still wouldn't give it up.

This is my all time favorite stapler. This is the one that if I lost it or it was broken, I'm positive that I would shed tears over it. This is the One Touch from Staples and it cost me something like $40. I didn't want to pay that much at the time, but I've not regretted getting it. This is the Mack Daddy of all my staplers. This one is advertised as being able to staple 60 sheets with one finger and minimal pressure. I'm here to tell you that it can staple more than 60 sheets. The only time I use this stapler is when I'm putting together the weekly graded papers for my students. It's so special that I don't have it in the basket on my desk. It sits in its own place on the shelf behind my desk. This is to insure that no one randomly reaches on my desk and helps themselves. I wouldn't want to be the kid that picks this stapler up from its place. There's no telling how I would react. It's truly a thing to behold.

Well, that's about it. I think I have about 5 more staplers than the average teacher. But now that I think about it.....when have I EVER been average? Answer....never.....that's why I have 6 staplers and if one of them is missing, I'll be walking around the building saying, "Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler."

Gimme a Woot Woot and a Yeehaw!

This was me today. Except for the fur and whiskers. Today, I took my oral comps. I submitted the written portion a couple of weeks ago and today I had to go in and present my paper. Through much prayer and the grace of God, I passed my comps, both written and oral. And can I just say....I'm so glad that's over! I'm still taking a class with some tests, papers, and projects due but I'm definitely on the downward slope. Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers. They matter. God is good and He delivers. Now I'm hoping to get caught up on schoolwork (grading papers, etc) and have more time for blogging. See ya soon!!!!

Welcome Great Pumpkin!

Do y'all remember the Halloween Charlie Brown special? I can remember watching it each year with joy. This, of course, was before we had VCR/DVD's and everyone could own a copy. You saw it once a year and you made sure you watched it, because it couldn't be Halloween without it. The same went for the Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, and Easter specials. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown comes on TV on Tuesday. I'm hoping to see it with Raelynn. David's not really a fan but he endures it for us.


Lots going on this week....gotta get caught up on all my school work and start working on my presentation for my comps. In addition, I now have another paper and project due for my current class......I'm so ready for this to be over. I don't think I'm going to bite off anything major for awhile. If I do, kick me.


Going to a couple of Halloween parties this weekend. Raelynn has been invited to a friends birthday party (always with a Halloween theme) and then on Saturday, Raelynn and I are going to Wendy's house and going trick or treating in her neighborhood and then party at her house. I really like Halloween parties....I've not been to many, but the best ones have kids at them.


Think of me this week as I try to get more work done.....I'm hoping to be sitting in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin, because I know that my pumpkin patch is the most sincere.

Nervous Breakdown? My Life as Usual? You decide.....

This could be me. It's only Tuesday and I've already had two meltdowns. Thankfully, neither of them were in the presence of children. My poor friends have had to deal with the nervous wreck that I am. It's just getting to be a lot for me right now. Comps are due tomorrow. Then I have to create a presentation for them. After that I have to present them. There are dryer sheets all over my house and I can't remember the last time I cleaned. Graded papers don't seem to be getting done any quicker and the daily stresses of teaching the youth of America do not seem to be getting much easier. Apparently I'm the original miracle worker and I didn't know it. Wish I got paid like I made miracles happen. I bet David Blaine and Chriss Angel get paid more than I do. Anyway, back to the grind.....someday soon my life will return...until then, I'm just a big hot mess and I appreciate you all for sticking with me.

I'm Just Sayin' Is All...........

I'm going to try to keep this post short. It's a beautiful fall Saturday and I'm sitting in the MSU library to study for a midterm exam I have on Monday. I also need to work on finishing up my papers for my comps which are due on Wednesday. Now that I think of it, I'll need to write some sub plans for Wednesday, since I plan on falling out right after I send my stuff in for comps. After that, I'll need to prepare a power point presentation for my oral comps......ughhhh....


When I woke up, I felt pretty good...the weather outside is beautiful......I think it's currently in the low 50's and the sun is shining. That may not be entirely true since I'm sitting amongst all the "Inactive Reference Materials" nowhere near a window on the fourth floor of Mitchell Memoria Libary. I wish I could be outside. This weather is one of my favorite things about Mississippi. In Key West, all we had was summer and I'm not really a big fan on heat.


So I went to Huddle House for breakfast (alone) since David and Raelynn went to his dad's house to help David's dad haul wood. David's dad cuts and sells firewood, and this is his busy season. Raelynn is going because I can't concentrate on my studies when she's running around. (I don't think facebook and blogging helps either...) I ate some breakfast, got some soda in a "to go" cup and headed to the library. I walk in and the smell of it hits me everytime. All libraries smell the same. I'm convinced it must be because of the books.


The first draft of my stuff for comps is done...all I have left to write is the reference pages and then go back and check my stuff to see if it all matches the APA format. Fun. Today my focus is to read and summarize 7 chapters in my textbook to prepare for this upcoming test.


Things are pretty stressful. For some reason, I feel sad. Probably from being cooped up in this library for so long. In just a short time, this will all be over and I can breathe again. Anyway, I just wanted to check it with everyone and let you know that I am still here. Please continue to pray for me.......I'm having a hard time staying focused.


It might be all the books....I don't know.....I'm just sayin' is all.........