Money of Mine

Since I love getting grades (something to prove how AWESOME I am), I jumped at the chance to see my credit score grade. Credit.com has a free credit score report and I would just like to say, I am an A. Yep, an A. So is hubby (don't know his report card score but he is a couple points higher than I am number-wise). We're going to get a SUPER interest rate on our next mortgage.

My fav part of the report was when it told me "You have a score better than 167 million people" and automatically that makes me better than 167 million people. If I wasn't as infantile as I am, this wouldn't matter. But today, I will be thinking in my head: I am better than 167 million people.

Yes, I am often this silly. And no, I REALLY don't think I am better than everyone else. I just like to indulge sometimes;)

Just on a side note, my blood type is A+.

The Stink

This was so awful that I had to post about it. Naturally.

Today a kid in my class, I'll call him GEORGE, found a big stink in his desk. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most stinky, GEORGE'S stink was at least a 9. This stink was of unknown origin. At least that's what he insisted to me. This stink left the classroom it was so large. It went down the hallway. It ate all our clean, fresh, natural air. This stink made us all groan and want to puke. It was a mixture of: dead animal, stinky feet, rotting horror.

THIS STINK WAS HORIFICAWFULHORRIBLETERRIBLEWRETCHEDNAUSEATINGGODAWFUL.

It was.

I had two papers on my desk GEORGE just turned in and those made my desk stink. FOR REAl. I made the kid clean out his ENTIRE desk contents to bring home over the weekend. I wasn't letting that stay in my classroom! It had permeated them so completely!!!

Odd thing is, there wasn't any mess. At all. On anything. After repeated questioning, GEORGE didn't know what the stink source was. I gave up and wanted to gag all afternoon. It gave me a headache. I feel like I need to shower now. And I HATE showering.

GROSSAWFULYUCKGAGGAGGAGGAGGAGGAGGAGGGAGGAG.

Kids. Remind me to never have one.

Amazing!!!

You know what I love? Seeing people grow. Not physically, but more mentally and academically. I was trying to express this to my kiddos today and they stared at me blankly.

I was working with a small group on summarizing an ENTIRE book. Incredibly hard for a 9 year old. Trust me;)

Me: "This is hard, isn't it?"
Them: "Yes!"
Me: "You know the amazing thing though? In 6 months, I won't need to help you this much at all! You'll be able to do this well all on your own! Wow isn't it?"
Them: Stare. So?
Me: "You will have grown and learned SO much that you will be able to summarize a WHOLE book without my help! It will be so amazing!!"
Them: Stare, nod for loony teacher's sake.

Hehe. Kids. Don't appreciate their growing brains:)

Today was violin lesson. I LOVELOVELOVE that I have bow strength now, that my tone is rich. I love that Mary Had a Little Lamb is now child's play. I love that I can play a 3 note slur. Amazing! Vibrato, here I come!!!

I Worked Out

My one relaxing thing to do at work is to read Time Magazine. Odd, I know. But when I decide to have lunch in my room because the morning has been especially hairy, I enjoy reading the goings-on in the world, courtesy of Time. I get (or rather got) the mag free when my students got their Time For Kids last year. This year I'm doing National Geographic Explorer but do I get that free? NOOO. Fortunately, I get NG at home. Alas, this leaves me with nothing to read at work:(

So I had ONE issue of Time left and I read it last week during lunch. I really enjoyed this article about how exercising doesn't really help make you thin.

Basically, exercising won't make you thinner because you:

1. Tend to eat more when you exercise since your body needs more energy to replace the calories you burned.
2. Tend to eat more thinking you deserve that cookie since you worked out.
   
3. Tend to be less active throughout the day/evening since you had such a hard workout.
   

Last Sunday I went to yoga. It was a new class and place so I didn't know their routine and MAN was I sweating like a pig by the end!!! I was WORKED OUT. Went to Whole Foods afterwards and thought, I can have a piece of pizza for lunch because I worked out! Sat around the rest of the day cause I worked out. Didn't want to do much cause I worked out. In the end, I did take Sadie for a walk. But I worked out, I didn't have to do anything, RIGHT?

So yes, makes sense how you can actually gain/replace weight when you exercise. SO TRUE!!

The cure for this is to be active DURING the day, not just at one big workout. As a teacher I walk, sit, stand, and scream (hehe) all day at my job. When I wear my pedometer, I get close to 10,000 steps by the time I get home. And then I take Sadie for a walk after dinner. I eat healthy generally. I'm good to go:)

I think I'm okay.
But I just wanted YOU to know about this.
Cause I worked out.

Croak, Croak...

There's this blog I read called Dooce cause she's freaking HI-LAR-I-OUS. We both talk in caps a lot and maybe she yells a lot in real life, like I do. Anyway, she started a blog of HATEMAIL to make ad money off the crazy things people comment on her page/e-mail her.

I really like this idea. But I think if I got hate comments, I'd cry a lot. A LLLLLLOOOOOTTTTT. Because I am a wimp when it comes to accepting criticism. Or hate. It makes me sob and worry.

Guess what? I'm staying home from work tomorrow cause I'm losing my voice!!! I had to do this once last year, in December (3 days in the 3rd week that month) because I got a HORRIBLE cold, didn't rest, and it consumed my life. Seems familiar. Damn me and my not resting skills. Why is it when I feel fine, I am lazy but when I am sick, THINGS MUST GET DONE?

ANYWAY, I will be home tomorrow, antsy and home. I need to go out and buy dishwasher soap, return some things to stores, and drop off Goodwill stuff. But I'm scared to cause if any of my students' parents see me, they will immediately assume I'm skipping out on their kid to play hooky and run errands. When I speak/croak, they'll know I have a good excuse but what if they see me far off? What if they point fingers? CRITICIZE ME??????

I think I'll do my errands in a different town, not in mine.

BTW, I don't know how to spell criticize. Or errands. Or available. Isn't that smart of a teacher? But I am a very good teacher, a fine example to kids that not everyone is good at everything. I'm an amazing teacher but an atrocious speller.

New Harmony on Saturday, must be able to speak by then!!!

These are thoughts I've had since coming down with a bad cold Thursday:

1. Should I really be staying home if I'm not puking and dying? Yes, I know I have 48 sick days saved up, BUT STILL. What about the chillens? They need me!! I assuaged my guilt be the reminder that I would have wilted under The Power of The Fourth Grader in my delicate condition. Plus they would have been drenched in my germs.
   
2. Yesterday I sneezed at least 60 times. I counted sneezing bouts and multiplied by 4 since I tend to sneeze in 4's. And these aren't my normal tiny sneezes, these things are BIG. For me.
   
3. I've spread germs on probably every surface in the house. Lovely. Of course I worked VERY hard on this, PURPOSEFULLY.
   
4. Yesterday I rebounded in the middle of the day and did laundry, hung out laundry, organized guest room closet, organized my closet, went through clothes, did dishes, and cleaned the house. This is when I did the most damage spreading germs.
   
5. The Internet doesn't have anything new. Books make me sleepy since I'm not sleeping well BECAUSE I CANNOT BREATHE. I've read 3 magazines. Watched 7 episodes of Gilmore Girls. Ate a lot.
   
6. I like being wide awake at 2:30 AM or 5:30 AM because it gives me time to do things. Such as looking at EVERYTHING on the Internet. While sitting on my butt.
   
7. I don't like not sleeping. But even more, I HATE the repetitive, inescapable, sicky dreams I have. OH MY do I hate dreams when I am sick. It's like I'm hallucinating and all I want to do is LEAVE THE DREAM, NOW. But often I can't. So I suffer through them.
   
8. I'm using cloth napkins to soak the snot oozing out of every pore of my being. I'm not wasting tissues but and spreading germs, once again, by carrying around a snot encrusted red napkin.
   
9. I complain a lot.
10. I'm snarky.
    

Seriously, you'd think I'm dying from this post. No, just bored. I was with myself all day yesterday.

Since I'm up so early, you think it would be okay to go spread my germs at garage sales?

BTW, next week this time, I'LL BE IN NEW HARMONY. Or waking up to get ready to go there.

A Little Irritation

As a teacher, I think it is very important to expose my students to different and new ways of thinking that they might not be familiar with. I ask their opinions on how things are going in class or with how I'm teaching, we talk about culture, racism, the morals of lying (white lie, big lie, lie?), and everything else on the planet.

I endeavor to show my kiddos every day that we are all different and that is fine! Some kids get knocked for a loop when they realize they struggle a great deal in reading or math. "I must be stupid, I'm getting extra help from the teacher!!" they think. I want them to know that is perfectly fine and normal not to be good at everything. It is wonderful when they accept who they are and learn on a level appropriate for them. We all have talented areas and areas where we have great difficulty. We all need to accept that in ourselves and in others.

All this "Accept One Another!" talk sounds like mumbo jumbo, I know! But it works in my classroom. We generally live a peaceful, bully free existence.

AND THEN COMES THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH. And parents make it clear to their kids this man should not be accepted.

I've read the speech. I admire it. A bit weighty for 4th graders but beneficial nonetheless. The entire speech is about staying in school and studying hard in order to achieve great things and make something of yourself. A speech that any speaker at a convocation at my school would give and we would applaud.

But I've got a few kids who will be leaving when we play the recorded speech on Friday morning. They'll be going to the library to read because their parents deem it WRONG for their kid to watch THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES tell their kid to stay in school.

I don't know why I am SO ridiculously pissed about this. Must be PMS. I've tried hard to think around my opinions and this is what I've come to:

1. If President Bush gave this speech, I'd say KUDOS! I may not have entirely liked the guy but heck, I'm not forbidding my child to listen to him.
   
2. Talk radio and news shows have really hyped this up. Maybe parents don't really know the speech's content, just what the media says about it. But if I continue down this avenue, I get disgusted with people for not forming their own opinions and simply absorbing what other people say.
3. If Hitler gave this speech, I don't know if I'd want my kid to listen to him. I'm assuming some people must hate Obama as much as others hated Hitler? Best I can do.
   

I must say, I'm a bit saddened by this. ACCEPTANCE PEOPLE, ACCEPTANCE. Change what you can, don't hate others for differing views. Hey, but aren't I not accepting them? Yes, that's true. I AM A HYPOCRITE. I see this now:(

I just confused why the speaker is unacceptable though the message is sound.

No Rest For the Weary

In fact, I'm not weary. That's why I'm up at 11:57 on a work night. J is asleep before I am. For those of you who know my school-year sleep habits, this is quite odd. But it does happen. SOMETIMES I DON'T GO TO BED AT 9:30!!!! This happened once last school year. It is happening again tonight. DUDUDUDUM.

I know, this is SOOOO interesting. Don't worry, everything else ahead in this entry is RIVETING, ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT NEWS.

Tonight J and I got in a slight fight. For those of you who don't live with us, I thought I'd outline the levels of our fights. Oh, the thrills of reading my thoughts!!!!

1. Happiness: This is where J and I are 70% of our time. We joke and cuddle and have a gay olde time together. We like Happiness. We sometimes bicker about things we don't agree on, but happily, if you can imagine. We laugh a lot in this stage. I chatter endlessly too, thankful I married a man who loves to hear me talk. OR SO HE SAYS.
   
2. Disagreements: We land here about 20% of our existence. This is when we disagree amicably and are able to get over it pretty quick. A common conversation here might be: "No, that's not what I meant." "Oh? That's what I felt." "I'm so sorry to have conveyed that. I love you." "I suppose I do too. Give me a minute though. Okay, I love you too."
3. Arguments: 10% maybe? We were here tonight. This is when we get mad and irrational and raise our voices about it. Mind you, we don't yell, we merely raise our voices a bit. There is frustration and pent up fury. This could go on for hours, until we pull our heads out of our asses and see that in the grand scheme of things, this really doesn't matter. We are only 2 tiny people among BILLIONS and will we really remember that this was so important in a year? Or even in a week? NO. Tonight it took us a grand total of less than 30 minutes to take a reality check. Yay for us!
4. FIGHTS: 5% or about 1/month. These are full blown and hideous. there is yelling (loud, usually on my part), crying (vehemently, usually on my part), and very open fury (both, but I'm better at it because J is so very wonderfully nice). Of course we both still recognize that we love one another and this is just a FIGHT but still, we (I) relish it for a while. Often for a day. At least. And the whole time, I'M thinking, "Aww, I miss J. I wish I could cuddle with him on the couch. I wish we could go for a walk, holding hands and talking." BUT NOT ENOUGH. And J is thinking. "Geez, Sarah is such a FREAK!" And he is correct. But he is a freak too, that's why I married him ~squeezing J's cheeks~.
   
5. The other 5% of the time I don't know what we do. You decide.
   

BTW, being married is the most wonderful thing I've ever done in my life but OH SO HARD. You work every day and if you slack off, FIGHTS, here we come!!!

Yeah, That.

Oooo, MUSHROOMS!

Delightful Abby and Summer

Ze Kitty

I'm surrounded by boys! They love me!!

Bella and Me. She's cuter:)

Sometimes I'm the world's biggest slacker. Sometimes I'm the most productive person that ever lived. I guess that's just how life goes.

So lately I've been craving new music. These are on my must get list: The Decemberists, Wilco, Neko Case, Bon Iver, Nick Drake, and The Shins. Some I have their old albums, some I don't have at all. But I NEED NEW MUSIC, LIFE IS BECOMING DULL AND MEANINGLESS.

So I asked J is we could set aside some money in next month's budget for us to "invest" in new music. I never got a straight answer so I'll wait a few more days before asking again. I'm gung ho YES but the thing about marriage is I have to get his stamp of approval also. DANG IT.

J is good at waiting a LIFETIME for anything to happen while I FREAK OUT AND DO EVERYTHING ASAP. Seriously, that's how it is.

ME: We need to get this done? I CANNOT REST UNTIL IT IS COMPLETE. STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING, STOP THE WORLD, OBSESS, DO IT NOW.
J: We need to get this done? Let's think about it, ponder it, meditate on it, research it, wonder about it, and then talk about it again before we decide anything.

The longer we are married, the easier it is to find common ground. In fact these days I am less frantic and obsessed and he is.... well, I am less frantic and obsessed now. He makes me better:) Aww:)

And since I've got nothing better to talk about and pics of mushrooms won't entertain you for long, I should got start dinner. Corn on the cob, baked beans, happy, healthy hotdogs, and watermelon. SUMMER!!!!

P.S. Any music suggestions? One can only listen to so much Belle and Sebastian, Killers, and David Grey w/o going mad. MAD.