Memorials

I went with mom for a quick stop at Sunset to check on Grandpa's flag and flowers. While we were there we made a pit stop from the family rounds to let Steve know we were thinking about him, and we were glad to see that he had some flowers too.

Congrats Emilia.

Last week Emilia was presented with a certificate for making the Honor Roll! That is a GPA of 3.8 or higher. Congratulations Emilia!

Dear NOLA, Here we come again!

This year makes the third year in a row that Chris and I will be making our way down to the beautifully enchanted city of New Orleans. However, there are 4 exciting changes taking place with this year’s trip…

1) We’ll be going in December instead of November.
2) We’ll be joined by more family than just Thom, Heidi, Matthew, and Andrew.
3) We won’t be making a trip to Biloxi…so…No Yummy Heidi Thanksgiving Dinner.
4) We’ll be traveling with our new baby!

Our method of transportation is staying consistent ---by not having any consistency.
Year One: Fly Down – Amtrak back.
Year Two: Drive Round trip.
Year Three: Amtrak Round Trip.

We will also be joining Brent, Amanda, and Makenna on the train, so we are all traveling on the same days, arriving at the same place, and being dropped off at the same place and time. (That just makes things easier.) Chris and I booked a small Roomette for a little more privacy with the baby… plus our own thermostat. Last time we took this train it was cold enough to “hang meat” Chris says. So, that in itself was worth the cost of the small private room.

I’m excited about the trip, but not so excited about the cost. I just hope that we survive the adjustment to the new expense of having a baby, and Christmas at the same time - so we can actually afford to do something on the trip – although, outside of food we really enjoy just walking around and taking in the sights and atmosphere. It will be fun because we’re going to be with family either way…as long as they don’t let us be the party poopers if we’re exhausted and poor all at the same time. =)

Chris can’t wait to get him some Acme Oyster House! Bring on N'awlins!

Iceland Volcano

Just because I am tired of looking at nasty, depressing storm pictures - here's one event where at least there is some beauty before the depressing pictures of the after toll take over.
View more: Thanks Time

20 Weeks!

Half way there this week! Thought someone out there might want to see "my lovely baby *hump*" Belly button is starting to stick out a bit too. We took a picture of it, but my belly has not only gotten bigger, but hairy as well!! ...annnnd no one wants to see that. LOL (Don't mind my yard work clothes on what was a beautiful day till about 4:30)

Medieval Times!!

Who doesn't love a good dinner and tournament show?? We love Medieval Times - as we're sooo happy to go back again with Emilia and Reid.

There are no words to describe my husband!

Our Knight was the Black and White Knight. "He once made a rose bloom in the Spring time no less!" Haha - now say it with an old English accent. LOVE IT.

Not Skurred of a little competition...

Chris said the venue (The Pearl) was very, very nice. They had the live music, dancing, dinner, and Shoreline Brewery was there for the beer hook-up --- blueberry beer, I guess.

I guess I should be a little worried about this guy. Christopher's hands look to be heading a little low.... V =P

White Sox

Now Emilia has not only been to an NFL game, but she has also been to a MLB game - a totally American experience. We can't believe that there are only 25 days left for her exchange program. =( I know her parents are ready for her, but I'm totally not ready to give her up yet.

Chris had a few extra tickets to the White Sox game for work, so Emilia and I grabbed some up for the opportunity to get her to a MLB game since the Cubs schedule hasn't been working with our schedules, and because who wouldn't want to totally enjoy a corporate suite!?!?! It was fancy and such a BLAST! He had hot dogs, hamburgers, roast beef sandwiches - wings - salad - fruit - soda (lots of beer for the guys) - and the MOST AMAZING DESSERT CART EVER!!!! It had everything you could imagine - Emilia and I got the Cheesecake with fudge - YUM!

Emilia Prom Pics

Emilia and the girls ready for Prom! Cassie at the top, Taylor in the silver, Sarah next to Emilia!

Josh Turner

Wooo-Hoooo! We have a date with Josh Turner in July! Thanks Christopher! Seen him in Chicago opening for Alan Jackson - Can't wait to see him again.

Got It Fixed

So to anyone who may have read my earlier rant about being frustrated with blogger - I got it fixed... (somewhat) .... Still not the same as it was, some things are still not working right for me, but at least, the colors are back!

Bring On the Shine!

Last Week I ran out of my Redken "Glass" 01- Shine goop for my hair. I went to get some more, and since Redken items were on BOGO - I picked up another shine agent, "Vinyl Glam" 02. I have used it twice this week and both times I had students asking me if I colored (and/or) brightened my hair. I'm taking that as a good sign - and it's probably a good thing I decided to venture away from the norm, because the norm was obviously looking more than a little dull.

Last Doctor Visit - 5/12

I never did post on my last doctor appointment, so for those family peoples that care – let me catch you up…

The office typically has done a great job of getting us back into a room within a few minutes of our scheduled time. Generally, we choose to visit on Thursdays in the afternoon so that I don’t have to miss work or leave early, and Chris can leave a little earlier than his normal time and just stay home the rest of the day. (Kudos to them!)

We had a different nurse this time, but still ended up having the normal nurse Amber get the baby’s heart rate, because the other nurse couldn’t find it. (Don’t even joke about scary!) She spent a few minutes pushing the wand and moving it around A LOT and kept shaking her head, “No, that’s yours. No, that’s yours…...(a very “long” time later)……I’m only getting your heartbeat, let me go see….” (voice trails off as she speeds out of the room.)

Surprise! It’s Amber. Looking mighty calm at my *hurry the freak up lady before I start to cry* face. She actually found it relatively quickly, but had to spend about 7-10 minutes trying to get the machine to give her the actual rate. “That’s one active baby. It’s doing lots of flips and spins in there; it’s just hard to pick it up long enough.” But finally – she got it, 150.

Then the DR came in a much longer time later. I’m afraid Chris and I almost ran out of things to talk about just waiting on him to come in – he took forever. He checked my legs, arms, felt on my belly – said that my stats were good. “Four pounds in four weeks – you must be reading the books.” I’m just glad he was happy about the weight this time. =)

And, I believe that was pretty much all there was for that. Our 2nd level Anatomy scan is scheduled to happen very shortly. :p

Weather Tired?

Funny how the weather can make you so stinking tired! I have been on the brink of taking a nap all day long - too tired to enjoy the yard sales between rain falls - Chris and I picked up the Port-A-Pit Chicken we bought for the Exchange Club, took pictures of Emilia and her friends in their prom attire (All were just stunning!), went out for dinner, went to watch "Something Borrowed" (Very cute, little too Chicky for Chris though I'm pretty sure I heard him snore at one point! lol - and the dude in it looks just like even better than Tom Cruise 20 years ago! BONUS!)

So I couldn't sleep at bedtime. I took a bath, still couldn't sleep. Now I'm just going to post some pictures of the scrapbook pages I have completed for you. There are five all together, but one won't be done till we find out if we're having a boy or a girl, another won't be done till I run out of room for "bump" pictures and need to start another one, and one is a small month-by-month account - so it won't be done till the baby arrives! There are others to do, but I just have not gotten around to starting them yet. Here you go:


"The First Ultra Sound"
- March 17th @ 2:45
-Length: 4CM
-Heart Rate: 174
-Short Story.


It's Positive!!! =)

Things the Students Say..

At every job there are going to be interesting comments made. You may get lucky and have lots of intelligent comments being muttered about, but I was one of the unlucky ones this week. Truthfully, by working in a high school classroom I am always one of the unlucky ones. I hear hundreds of unintelligent comments every week whether they are whispered in the classroom or yelled through the hallway. You may not know this, but there really is one thing worse than the typical grumblings of high school students. That would be the uneducated comments.

I’m just going to come right out and tell you what the student said (and repeated more than once) to the classroom with straight conviction. “You all white people made a big mistake by releasing us black people from slavery because all we done was brought you gangs, and drugs, and-“ That was all he said before I stopped him. It was heartbreaking to see that he had no understanding of the statement that he just made. He’s one of those students that really is just so determined to be the biggest drug-dealer in the neighborhood, that he thinks he does not need an education of any sorts. It’s sad, and unfortunately I’m not so sure that he is the least educated student in the building.

Summer Plans & Not to Brag...

But final grades are in for this Spring semester...and I'm very happy.

Creative Writing - A.
Social Psychology - A.

This will be my first summer without a rushed 8 week class in several years. I'm actually really excited and looking forward to enjoying summer and staying on top of the yard work. I do however, think that I am going to sign-up for an IMPROV group at the Art Center for the summer. The only thing stopping me from signing up today is the fact that it is every Sunday except July 3. I think I really want to have something I'm committed to doing over the summer though (other than yard work, which who knows how much I'll actually be doing)...Does that make reasonable sense to anybody?


I'll also be taking the Fall semester off... I think. I kind of want to take an easier on-line class, but then I don't want to waste the money on a class I don't need. =/ The plan is to start back up at PNC in January.

Happy Mother's Day

I may have not given my mother a card or pretty flowers, but I gave her the gift to take her back to her teenage years for all the amazing *Nsync and Britney concerts she took me to see. --

I gave her tickets to see three of the four Monkees! <3 Happy Mother's Day!

New Video

Uploaded an old, but new video to the YouTube site today too. Emilia says that it felt faster than it looks on here, lol.

Photos!

So... I uploaded and ordered all the photos to the walmart site - just to realize I changed the link to the Shutterfly page. All of the pictures have been loaded to the Shutterfly site now so everyone can enjoy them. lol.

Ouchies....

Been a terrible day in the pain department. I think I am having that/those(?) Round Ligament pain(s) in the worst kind of way. I had some pains earlier in the pregnancy, but all was good - today I had it happen twice - and the first time I had to leave the classroom because I was in so much pain there were tears just flooding down my face. I called the DR office, they suggested I try waiting the pain out, and if it is not totally painless within thirty minutes then call them back, or if I notice any of several symptoms they mentioned then go right to the ER room. They also suggested I go home and rest with my feet up - but the pain did go away and one of the MO students was sleeping in the "quiet" room - So I took all of fourth and most of fifth period and just rested on the oversized-ultra comfy chair and ottoman in there so that teacher could go back to her classroom. So it wasn't my classroom - but it was better than taking another half day off just to come home and do the same thing - might as well get paid to rest when it benefits other teachers. lol!

New Hair Do

For Chris...

you likey??

Bye, Bye Celica

Chris finally got rid of his sports car - and is saying hello to a new family friendlier car...

A "Barcelona Metallic Red" Toyota Rav4.

Graduating !!!

Whoot! After a DIFFICULT fight with the testing company - I finally got my scores from the test and I PASSED!

I missed the portfolio presentation session for the May graduation, but.... as it turns out (after stressing-out about missing this session to the point of making myself almost get sick) the college I am transferring to to finish the degree is the only transfer college that DOES NOT require a passing portfolio to be accepted to the School of Education - Teaching License - Here I Come!

Bye, Bye

Bye Tigger! Yes, the cat is gone and his new family has officially renamed him Gordo (Fat Boy). They said he was a little freaked out, but think that he will adjust just fine in a couple days. I think his new name is highly appropriate for him. =) We're going to miss Tigger in a lot of ways because he has been with us for at least eight years, but we're just not cat people and our house was starting to smell like cat. I think this will work out for all parties involved. The new family is happy to have him. =)

Spending and more spending

We're officially in the market for a new car. Mine is the one with all the minor problems that is nickel and dimming us to death, but we decided that we need to get rid of the sports car now that baby is coming. So, we are starting that search today.

Went to Morton's for dinner in Chicago last night to celebrate Chris's raise at work... Got out of there with only a $124 bill for the two of us.... and that was meal for only one person. I think we were the only people to walk out of there without a dogie bag.

Swoosh, Swoosh, Swoosh

Heard the baby's heartbeat today! Chris said it sounded like the baby was playing cops and robbers. =)

Aww, the fun.

Mom and Dad came over Sunday to watch Emilias play at the high school (Yes, Emilia's play - I know some other students in the play who did a very good job - but Emilia stole show - videos coming later to prove it) anyway... So they came over, went to the play and then ate some yummy Albano's Pizza. annnnd....I was THIS close to letting dad take Tigger and dump him somewhere. I'm not a cat person, and I don't think I ever will be - so Rachel and Ashley - find somebody to take your cat, because the Tiggs has got to go. Mom dropped off her Circuit so Emilia and I can get graduation cards together for Emilia, and of course some scrap book pages ready for her to take home with her. I'm excited to get the time to put things together. =) We watched "Life As We Know It" the other night.. I'm glad I did not go to the theater, $5 would have been waaaayy toooo much. It was cute and had funny moments, but mostly I thought it was boring. Sorry if I just ruined any high hopes you may have had for it. >.< Spring Break is coming up and I am feeling it already. Students are out of control, and I'm pretending today is Thursday. As Mrs. Hastings said, "If we pretned it is Thursday and no one shows up on Friday. No one will know that we are not here!"

Brought on a tear or two

Nine-year-old Anaiah Rucker is being hailed as a hero after saving her sister from being hit by a truck last month. Anaiah told The Today Show's Ann Curry today that she didn't think twice before pushing her little sister out of the path of the vehicle as the pair crossed the street in Madison, Georgia to get to the school bus stop.

Anaiah took the hit, instead, and lost a leg and a kidney for her bravery.

"I love her more than anything," Anaiah told Channel 2's Tom Jones of her five-year-old-sister, Camry. Anaiah said it was raining and her sweatshirt hood was covering her eyes as she and her sister crossed the road. The girls' mother, Andrea Taylor, witnessed her older daughter's act of bravery from the porch of their home, where she watches the girls catch the bus each morning.


"I saw the truck and I was like, 'No,'" Taylor told Channel 2. "I seen my daughter kinda snatch my 5-year-old back, and if it wasn't for that, my 5-year-old would have ... I don't think she would have made it." The driver wasn't charged after police decided he was not at fault.

Today, Anaiah told Curry that she doesn't feel she deserves to be called a hero. She said her sister "was too young to be hit like this, and if she got hit she wouldn't hardly be alive. She would be probably gone forever."

Anaiah might also not be alive if it weren't for bus driver Loretta Berryman. Berryman pulled over immediately and started performing CPR on Anaiah, who wasn't breathing. "I instructed her mom to hold her head while I gave mouth-to-mouth, chest compressions," Berryman told NBC News. "As she took a breath, my first thing was, 'Thank God.'"

Taylor recently lost her job and her car. The community held a BBQ to raise funds for Anaiah's medical bills and renovations needed to make her house handicap accessible. Thousands of classmates and Madison residents took to the streets to welcome Anaiah back when she got out of the hospital last week, after a month of care. You can contact United Bank in Madison to donate to a fund to help with the family's medical bills, which is in Anaiah's name.

"Anaiah has a really, really big heart," her mother said. Anaiah's grandmother told the Morgan County Citizen that her first words after regaining consciousness were, "Am I going to chorus today?" She's active in Sweet Home Baptist Church and the Boys and Girls Club in Madison.

Video Here

Vacation time is almost here - but before that........Emilia has a school play! We're totally looking forward to it. Mom and Rachel I know are for sure coming over to enjoy the show. =) Anyone else?

Exciting news here - Just when you think the neighborhood is safe - it happens! The battery in Chris's keyless entry fob-like thingie went dead. So, Saturday night his doors did not lock... and guess what? The car got broken into - while sitting in our driveway! Yes- it got trashed, everything pulled out of the glove box and center console. All they took was $8 cash...and maybe the Tripley game pennies out of the trunk (Chris swears we brought them in the house, but I still can't find them...) BTW - who's up for a Tripley night? We haven't had one of those since...um.... Kokomo with Casi and Shane, Martha and EB?? Chris just had a chat with the neighbor and he said his car also got broken into. Same thing as ours - rummaged through pretty good, but nothing of any importance stolen. Chris really freaked me out however, when he pointed out that all they had to do was push the garage button on the visor to have access to the garage and the house. Thankfully, it does not appear that they got into the garage or the house.

Speaking of game nights - we FINALLY learned how to play Yahtzee Free-for-All! WOW! It really was a lot of fun. I told Emilia she should be happy she missed out on our DOMINOES phase, or she'd playing that almost every night. Ah, now I want to play Harry Potter Clue again!

Homework awaits! Lots of writing to do - but first I'm going to step outside again and help Chris get the yard straightened up while it is still 58 degrees! Tomorrow is to be even warmer!

Bring on the Spring!

Keep your Zombie Ants though Bela! =)

“Zombie” ants fall victim to mind-control fungus

'Zombie ants' may sound like the title of an Ed Wood movie, but, according to National Geographic, they are quite real.

Oddly, there's nothing very zombie-like about the actual ants. It's only when a particular fungus takes over the ant's brain that things get weird.

Once the "stalk of the newfound fungus species Ophiocordyceps camponoti-balzani infects an ant, the ant gives up control over its own body. After the fungus is in control, it forces the ant to scamper toward "a location ideal for the fungi to grow and spread their spores." Then, it's lights out for the ant. Who knew a fungus could be so diabolical?

These wild discoveries were made by a group in Brazil headed by entomologist David Hughes. National Geographic published a series of pictures of ants that have "lost their minds" to the fungus. You can check out a sample of them below. Not for the squeamish.