Tuesday, August 30, 2011
:)
"Mom, when I was a baby in your stomach, could you feel me kicking you?"
"I sure could."
"And when you ate cereal, did it fall on my head?"
Sunday, August 28, 2011
rock you like a hurricane
I had a couple of long days of school meetings and Isaac's daycare is not in session yet, my mother took him out to her house to spend a few days and he was THRILLED. I missed him terribly though, and I only got him for one night before I had to turn around and hand him off to his father for the weekend. I missed him, but he had a lot of fun, and it gave me a lot of time to get things together for school.
Anyways, unless you've been living under a rock, I'm sure you've heard about the wacky weather on the east coast lately. Starting with the earthquake. Someone posted this on facebook and I had to share it, because, this was pretty much as intense as it got:
I was sitting in the high school auditorium listening to a presentation on sexual harassment, when what felt like a big wave or ripple went underneath me. I could feel that it was moving like a wave and that it had started behind me and passed underneath me, but that was it. It wasn't intense or scary. It almost just felt like someone really heavy was stomping down the aisle next to me. Of course, since we were already slightly bored sitting there being lectured at, we all got on our phones and discovered it had been an earthquake!
Then this past weekend, with hurricane Irene. Isaac was with his dad, which had me a little bit worried, since he was much closer to Jersey. I went out ot my parents' house for the weekend. My brother Joe and his girlfriend Kami were there. We went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse, and then stayed up playing Uno. Even though Leola is no where near the coast, the wind was still instense and the rain was coming down in sheets. The lights flickered a few times, but we didn't lose power. Before the hurricane made it up, quite a few counties, including the one my house was in was under tornado watch. Church was cancelled, a few tree limbs were down, but thankfully no one in my family had a flooded basement or a loss of power. My favorite bike trail is now underwater. My friend Nicole's street looks like this, but overall everyone I know is safe and sound. We were pretty blessed.
Anyways, tomorrow s our first day back at school. Isaac and I will both be in first grade this year. This is the first year since I started in the district that I will get to teach only one grade, and I am SOOOO excited. Have a great week!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
well, well, well.
My sister finally gave in and blogged about the shore first! I'm glad, because she has some pictures that I don't have. Jump over to her blog Walkin the Line to check it out.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
advice for new teachers...
Today's topic is advice for new teachers.... which... I feel like a pretty new teacher myself... but here goes. (FYI-- for those who have hopped over, I do first grade autistic support in a cotaught classroom)
1. Make friends with your speech therapist, OT and PT. They are a wealth of information and are usually happy to share ideas and resources. I am amazed when I am totally frustrated with a situation and I bounce it off of one of them, how they might see the situation from a totally different point of view than I do.
2. When writing IEP goals, try to align them with data you are already collecting anyways. We do tons with DIBELS data, so I have started including that as reading goals. Why do double work?
3. It's okay to shut the door and cry during your prep period once in a while. It happens to everyone. Heck, I cried on my way home from school pretty much every night in August, September and October of my first year. But it got easier.
4. Don't be afraid to ask questions or ask for help. Everything will be so overwhelming at first and you won't be able to figure it all out on your own.
5. Have a plan B (and a plan C). And it's okay if, once in a while, your plan C is playdough. I've had all kinds of kids since I started teaching and playdough is a universal pleaser.
6. Don't be tempted to go crazy in the teacher store. Sure at the beginning it's fun to splurge, but so many things can be made, or picked up at yard sales, or inherited from other teachers who no longer need them, or discovered in the closet of that empty classroom... Ask around first before you shell out cash.
7. Listen to little Johnny's long rambling story. You might be the only person who gives him some undivided attention that day.
8. Let people push you a little when it comes to letting your IEP kids bloom. This can be a hard one. I looped with my students with autism for three years and found myself making snap judgement on what I felt they could and couldn't do. It came from a place of good intentions: the mama bear in me wanting to protect them and shield them from "failing". There were definitely times when a colleague or supervisor pushed me to have a child participate in something and I would be surprised at how well they would exceed everyone's expectations.
Monday, August 22, 2011
I was simply minding my own business...
Trying to relax on my last day of summer vacation with a good book in my parent's hammock. 
Eventually I just gave up and let him have it...
Isaac was having none of that though...
Eventually I just gave up and let him have it...
Sunday, August 21, 2011
when upon life's billows you are tempest tossed...
WARNING: Rant blog ahead, heavy with LDS terminology. (This could be the one that gets me axed from the VFRS blogroll.) My non-LDS friends will probably want to just move along to the next entry in your reader...
Look, I know I've been railing on about this forever. Especially if we are facebook friends I'm sure it must feel like I'm beating a dead horse by typing blog entry 2119807282 of why I dislike my ward.
But....
Too bad.
I've got more to say.
I've found myself in the position lately of dreading the third hour of church. I've always loved RS, had callings in RS and in general felt uplifted and inspired after discussions there. But lately, I've been feeling a little excluded by the lesson topics and discussion. Like, it's been so bad I am considering volunteering for a stint in nursery. I am not exaggerating, last week we heard about the sacred covenant of marriage , the lesson before that (that I have attended, I've been on vacation) was about getting along better with your spouse. I know that the lessons are more or less prescribed to us in the manual and that they are important and inspired yadda yadda but MAN am I tired of the marriage and family theme. Can't we throw in a service lesson once in a while? Missionary work? Something? Anyways just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, enter today's lesson: chastity.
For obvious reasons, not my most favorite discussion topic. I considered leaving right after the opening hymn.
I probably should have.
But I decided to stay.
It started off on an interesting path, actually. The teacher was saying how we as a church needed to look at the way we taught this concept to our youth, because they are being told their whole lives that sex is bad and dirty and not to be talked about and then when they get married and all of sudden it's a-ok and I guess people are developing complexes when they try to be intimate with their spouse. The psychology major in me found this intriguing but we didn't discuss this for too long.
Then we moved onto the meat and potatoes of the lesson: Adam and Eve (Replenish the earth!!!!!), homosexuality (We sure love those gays, bless their hearts, but what they do is gross!!!), some quotes from the Strength of Youth pamphlet (Passionate kissing = bad!!!!! Getting naked with someone = worse!!!!!) and then we began to discuss the seriousness of breaking the law of chastity. That's when the discussion started to cross the line from uncomfortable and awkward into hurtful, inaccurate and just wrong. I'm not going to recap every unkind thing that was said, but my feelings were intensely hurt by judgmental comments that were made.
After having my moral worthiness be compared to someone who has committed murder, I had enough. I stood up, swung my church bag over my shoulder, turned to the girl next to me and said something to the effect of "Can you let me out? I've had about as much as I can take of this lesson" and I stormed out of the room.
Fortunately, a few people had the good sense to recognize how abrasive some of the commentary must have been to me and chased after me. I ended up in the parking lot having a really good discussion and cry with one of the sisters I actually feel like I can relate to. During our talk a member of the RS presidency came and apologized for what was said and actually encouraged me not to come back because the commentary had gotten even worse.
So, not my best day at church. Want to know the best part of all of this? Guess who is substitute teaching Relief Society in two weeks? Yours truly. Should be nice and awkward.
Anyways, believe it or not, I'm pretty much over the comments that were made. I had a good cry this afternoon and made an appointment with my Bishop to let him know how I feel about everything but I'm not going to dwell on it any longer. I wish people in my ward would be more open-minded and a little kinder, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it. What other people think of me is none of my business.
But what really leaves a bad taste in my mouth is that we can't be real in church. Why do we have to sit there and perpetuate this impossible standard that like 90% of people sitting in that room are struggling to meet? Why can't we just be truthful? Your average RS congregation isn't filled with people with perfect lives and perfect hair and perfect marriages with perfect children. Your congregation is filled with women in unhappy marriages, people with wayward children, or women who grew up in abusive homes, people who had unexpected crisis pregnancies and people who weren't virgins on their wedding days. Why can't we just cut all the crap and have honest discussions about how these are things people legitimately struggle with every single day? Maybe, we could even come up with ways to support each other instead of putting blinders on and just insisting that everyone besides you is leading happy little LDS lives. I can't be the only one feels terrible that they don't measure up.
I don't know. Thoughts?
Saturday, August 20, 2011
what we've been up to
(see those pale white thighs? When he's in the tub he looks like he is wearing a pair of white swim trunks)
We stayed until we had enough. As we were driving home and passing the exit for the Smith Memorial Playground, we decided spur of the moment to stop there for a while and ended up staying for like 2 hours. If you have kids and live anywhere close to Philadelphia, I highly recommend it. It was a really lovely day.
I'm exhausted now but craving brownies. Since I don't have any mixes handy, I gave this one a try. It's a super easy and delicious recipe. Even the cat loved them. She was licking the batter from the bowl when I turned my back. I am going to assume that cat germs are like alcohol and will burn off in the oven....
My parents randomly stopped by Thursday night. They were in the area visiting a friend who is in the hospital. I didn't tell Isaac they were coming and he was sooooo adorably surprised. My dad works for the Bon Ton now, which is a department store in central PA. He picked up a whole bunch of stuff from sample sales for us. My mom brought me a ton of cute clothes she got on super clearance at a Penny's sale. It was like Christmas!
Anyways, I'm officially registered for my first grad class. It's education technology and it has no required textbook, so that's good. I have to go to campus on Monday to get a parking pass and a student ID. I'm really looking forward to getting back in the swing of things again and maybe even picking up some good knowledge about my job, since, lets face it, technology isn't really my forte. It will make me feel a lot more secure about my employability once
I finish up the second certification. I'm only kicking myself for not taking care of it sooner.
I also went and spent some time at Domestic Relations this past week when Isaac was at camp. I had to pick up some paperwork in order to add M. to Isaac's birth certificate. During the Great Argument of 2011, M. gave me a laundry list of things that I had done that had hurt him. Leaving him off of the birth certificate was (understandably) on the list. I was extremely bitter towards him when I was filling out the paperwork in the hospital and decided to leave him off, purely out of spite, but I don't feel that way any longer. Of all of his grievances, I figured this was one thing I could easily fix. So I trekked out to the Norristown Courthouse, fed a meter an astonishing amount of change (a quarter bought you seven and a half minutes.... seriously). It's always an interesting crowd there, but the clerk was actually friendly and helpful, even if he did refer to me as "madam" more than once. So the paperwork is all completed. Monday I will drop it in the mail. Go me for productivity.
My stint at Domestic Relations did afford me some time to keep working my way through this novel:
I know two people have read it. The first loved it and called it "life-changing". The second had a hard time getting into it. I'm leaning more towards the latter. This book is really depressing. I'm nearly done it, but only from a sense of obligation to finish it, not because I really care about what happens. I can't say I really love it (sorry Jami).
What did you get into this weekend?
***Incidently, I did inform M. that I was taking Isaac out of the state. The last time I took Isaac to New Jersey for the day, he had a fit when he found out because I took Isaac out of the state without asking. Which is being totally ridiculous. New Jersey is a 15 minute scoot over a bridge from his house. It's not like I flew Isaac to Texas without his knowledge. BUT ANYWAYS, he got his obligatory "I'm taking Isaac to Camden" text, so I hope he's happy.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Can we talk about...
How much I loved this movie?
We read this one for my book club. The book, by Kathryn Stockett, was amazing, and the movie didn't disappoint either. The movie was very faithful to the book, but still read the book, because there are so many good details and they can't put it all in the movie. All of the major and important scenes were there though and the characters really came to life on the screen.
I know there is a fair amount of backlash against the book and the movie. I acknowledge that some of the criticism may be valid. I think it's pretty unsettling that the HSN has come up with a line of products based on the movie. But it is thought provoking and entertaining. Check it out!
We read this one for my book club. The book, by Kathryn Stockett, was amazing, and the movie didn't disappoint either. The movie was very faithful to the book, but still read the book, because there are so many good details and they can't put it all in the movie. All of the major and important scenes were there though and the characters really came to life on the screen.
These two were perfectly cast as Minnie and Abileen:
But she was my favorite as Celia Foote.
These two were fabulous as well. I love Emma Stone and I thought she played Skeeter just right.
I know there is a fair amount of backlash against the book and the movie. I acknowledge that some of the criticism may be valid. I think it's pretty unsettling that the HSN has come up with a line of products based on the movie. But it is thought provoking and entertaining. Check it out!
E-Harmony Reject Pile
"Spending time with my children and granddaughter"
He's 37. I'm really freaked out that E-Harmony wants me to date someone with a grandchild!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
yikes
I went back to the dermatologist today to have my stitches removed. The lesion they removed came back as more troublesome than they initially thought (but still not cancer, thank goodness!) When I was there I had to put on a gown (which Isaac was concerned was "broken" since it gaped open in the back) and have a full body exam. This resulted in her taking samples from 5 more moles to send off. Kind of scary. I'm just glad we are removing things before they become too troubling.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
E-Harmony Reject Pile
"Occupation: I am the pennstate head manneger at the head campus"
Hmm, something tells me you're lying...
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
...Summer is fleeting...
I'll do my my beach update soon. I have to mentally prepare myself for all of the time it takes to get all the pictures over here in blogger. It was a lovely week at the beach and so fun to have my sister and brother in law in town for as long as they were. It was so sad to say goodbye to them again. Anyways, here's one of our groups shots on the roof deck:
While we were down at the beach one of my cats had a bad health scare. Cody Pablo (the cat with 9 lives) had a urinary tract infection which is a very dangerous thing for a male cat. I lost a day at the beach to drive back and take him to the vet. Fortuneatly, he didn't have to be hospitalized and after I dropped about 100 bucks i don't have on prescription food and meds but he survived. My dad keeps telling he that Cody is more trouble than he's worth (which I know is true) but I like to keep him around.
Isaac and I have been watching some movies that I loved as a kid. It's funny how much he loves making microwave popcorn, and snuggling up together on the couch. Sometimes I get so obsessed with planning the big, grand things for him to do, but he really is satisfied with the simple things. We have seen Sandlot, Rookie of the Year, Robin Hood, Pete's Dragon, and The Muppets Take Manhatten.
So I had this wacky thing on my head that I thought was ringworm (I know-- SO gross). It wasn't going away with ringworm cream and so they referred me to a dermatologist. She thought it might be, like, an out of control mole and removed a little piece of it. Turns out, it is an "atypical nevus" that was "moderately" concerning. Last week I went and had a piece of my scalp the size of a nickel removed and a ton of stitches. Next week I go back in to have the stitches removed and a full body exam for any other troubling moles. They already identified another one on my scalp that I will be having removed in a few weeks. It was a little bit scary, because a girl I knew in college just recently died of melanoma. I'm glad, at least, that hearing about her gave me an increased awareness of the risks and a better push to get things checked out. I'm glad to be dealing with it since people with atypical nevus have a much higher risk of developing melanoma. It's scary. But anyways, enough about gross health issues.
I'm pretty excited for the weekend. Isaac's dad is meeting up with me at some place that sells super cheap tires and he is replacing a few of mine tomorrow. This is long overdue. It's been raining lately and I've been slipping and sliding all over the place in the puddles on my bald tires. It sounds a tad on the shady side, but at this point, I am so broke, I'll get tires from a shady place if I don't have to pay for them. After that Isaac is going with his dad for the weekend. I'm not sure what I will get into, but I will definitely be heading to my parents for a bit to help out around the house and to visit my friend Nicole, who will also be in town.
I still have another week of summer vacation left before I have to head back to school for inservices and stuff. I've popped in a few times this week to get the room together. It's going to be a really interesting year since we have lost so many services and things with the government cuts. Sometimes it's just hard to work in an impoverished area in a place with so few resources. My sister and I were commiserating about this on the phone tonight.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Franklin Square
We just returned from our big week at the shore, and I will be blogging about that soon. My sister came out a few days before the beach and we had a fun day together. I have a bucket list of things in the city I want to see and do, and Jenny is always game for crossing them of the list when she is town. This year I planned a walking mural tour of the city, which was awesome, but had us trekking all over the city. Thank goodness it was somewhat overcast that day. We had some time to kill before it started, so we decided to play the mini-golf course in Franklin Square, which I LOVE! Each hole is some kind of Philadelphia Landmark.
The Liberty Bell
Chinatown
Boathouse Row (see the little rowboats in the water?)
The Art Museum (this one made me laugh because the plaque talked about how this was the building from Rocky and home to masterpieces. I love how "home to masterpieces" comes second!)
Love Park
Center City
Ben Franklin Bridge (I'm on the Jersey Side)
Elfreth's Alley
Congress Hall (I think that is the official name).
I would definitely recommend the mural tour and the the mini-golf for out of town guests who are visiting the city.Saturday, August 6, 2011
you make me wanna staple bacon to my face, then remove it with a pitchfork
I decided this summer that I wasn't going to turn down any invitations and it's led to some interesting opportunities (I went rock climbing, scored some tix to the DMB Caravan). So when my dad approached me about joining him for a Weird Al concert in Lancaster, I figured, why not?
I'm by no means an avid fan, but I had a few of his albums when I was a kid and of course I recognized a lot of the music he parodies. He was definitely entertaining and put on an energetic show. Now I can say that I have seen Weird Al sing "Amish Paradise" in Lancaster County (which feels like a bucket list item for an uber-nerd). He did all of his big hits: Fat, White and Nerdy, Perform this Way, that endless Star Wars song to the tune of American Pie. It was actually a pretty intense show with back up dancers and tons of costume changes. He was definitely funny and is a talented accordian player. I'm not sure I would ever catch him again, but it was definitely an experience; thanks for inviting me Dad!
I'm by no means an avid fan, but I had a few of his albums when I was a kid and of course I recognized a lot of the music he parodies. He was definitely entertaining and put on an energetic show. Now I can say that I have seen Weird Al sing "Amish Paradise" in Lancaster County (which feels like a bucket list item for an uber-nerd). He did all of his big hits: Fat, White and Nerdy, Perform this Way, that endless Star Wars song to the tune of American Pie. It was actually a pretty intense show with back up dancers and tons of costume changes. He was definitely funny and is a talented accordian player. I'm not sure I would ever catch him again, but it was definitely an experience; thanks for inviting me Dad!
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