7th Grade Geography

My 7th grade geography teacher, Mr. Beagle, use to tell us that he was so mean so that people would remember him after he died. In the school district where I grew up we had a junior high that contained the 7th and 8th grade students. We were only a few weeks into my 7th grade year when this story takes place.

As I'm walking to school one morning a friend of mine offers me a jaw breaker which I cannot turn down. Now, it's against the rules to eat candy or chew gum in school. But, this was okay because I wasn't at school yet. As you know, jaw breakers cannot be eaten too quickly and I was just finishing mine as I was entering the building. Mr. Beagle stops me and asks me to spit out my gum. I inform him (politely I might add) that I was eating candy and I swallowed it. He told me that I could sit in his room until I was ready to tell the truth and spit out my gum.

So there I sat...alone...in his room...panicking. I was panicking not because I was afraid of being late to homeroom, I was afraid of the attention that being late would bring upon me. So I gave in...I took a tissue from my purse, balled it up, and told him that the piece of gum was in there and threw it away. Every time I saw him after that he called me 'the liar'. Ah, there she is, the liar. Oh, look, the liar is in my study hall. This devastated me. Obviously, my reputation as a goody-two-shoes did not in fact follow me to the junior high school.

All 7th grade students were required to take one quarter of geography and there was only one 7th grade geography teacher....Mr. Beagle. I had my mind set on changing his opinion of me and showing him what a great student I was. One day Mr. Beagle sprang a pop quiz on us about States and Capitals. I started to freak. But, what's this? He left the map of the united states up in the front of the room. This is not a test about the states and capitals, it's a test to see which students are observant enough to look up! This is it! This is my chance to show him that I'm smart and have common sense, and to show him that he was dead wrong about me. I start to copy down the answer and I see him walking toward me with a big smile on his face. Yes, he is smiling because he is proud and I am the only student smart enough to look up. When he reaches my desk he takes my paper and throws it away. What the hell just happened? He then says to me, "Not only are you a liar but you are a cheater as well." And he quickly takes the map away before anyone else has a chance to see it.

I'm almost happy to report that Mr. Beagle is dead and I still remember him.

Yard Sale Season

One day when I went to pick up Jared from preschool he asked, no begged, to eat lunch at Burger King. I told him that we couldn't...I didn't have money for that. He cried and begged and my heart broke. Then I had an idea, "Jared, why don't we go home and pretend that we're at Burger King. I'll make a happy meal for you."

I was surprised when his eyes lit up and he said OK.

Once we got home I made a counter between our kitchen and dining room and asked him for his order.

"I would like a cup with juice, a straw, chicken nuggets, french fries, and napkins."

While his food was in the oven I got some card stock and made containers for the fries and nuggets just like they do at the fast food places. I made sure he had some juice with a straw and served it to him on tray. He ate everything! I was going to share pictures of our lunch with all of you but I couldn't find the camera. Dan took it to take picture of the garage clean-up.

Jared enjoyed playing 'fast food' so much that I was set on painting a large cardboard box to look like Burger King for him to play in. Until I went to a yard sale this morning. Here are all of our great finds from this morning...

A McDonald's play set - without the play food - cost $5. A pair of boots for $0.50. Four book that cost $0.80 all together.

Jared has been playing with the set all morning. I can't tear him away from it.

Mystery Reader

This month Jared's preschool had a different mystery reader come to each class and read a book to the children. The mystery readers are the parents of the kids, even the child of the mystery reader has no idea who would be reading. There was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity. I took a personal day from work and prepared myself for the reading. I knew one of two things was going to happen. Either Jared was going to be excited to see me there and yell, "Mommy!" or he was not going to be happy that I was at 'his' school and yell at me to "Get out!"

After he went into his classroom (never looking back mind you), I waited in the lobby for the teacher to come and get me. Now, I talk in front of over 100 teenagers everyday without a second thought. That's no problem at all. But, as I stood there waiting I started to get butterflies in my stomach about reading to a bunch of three- and four-year-olds.

Finally Miss Donna comes to get me and tells all the students to close their eyes. I walk into the middle of the circle and sit down. "Okay, everyone open your eyes!"

Jared looks up at me and yells, "Mommy!"

Whew! As soon as I started reading the butterflies flew away. I have to tell you , if you ever have the chance to read to preschoolers jump at it. They are so lovable.

My Husband's New Parakeet

Here's a story that my husband shared with me and I knew I had to pass this gem along....

My husband was about 10 years old and at that time his sister was 7 and his brother was 5. Their maternal grandmother had a parakeet that she no longer wanted. So, she asked Dan and his brother and sister if they wanted said parakeet. They were ecstatic. My husband remembers thinking that having a parakeet would be so cool. Just think about it, he would be the only kid he knew that owned a parakeet. All his other friends only had dogs or cats.

It was all set then. His grandmother would deliver the parakeet on her next trip to town and bring the parakeet. A few days later as promised she brought the parakeet. Dan went with her to her car to receive his new responsibility with much anticipation. However, instead of opening the back seat of the car as he assumed, his grandmother walked around to the rear of the car to the trunk. My husband thought this was unusual but didn't give it another thought. She unlocked the trunk to reveal... a dead parakeet. The poor thing died of heat exhaustion. Well, that's what they assumed, they didn't have a autopsy performed.

Me? Run?

I've never been a runner. I was even on the basketball team in high school and even then I didn't think I had any running skills - nothing that I could hold out for any length of time.

I started to get inspired last year while watching Invincible. I did blog about that movie earlier. You can read about that here. The movie isn't about running, it's about football. But there's this scene where Vince seems to be running away from the past and toward the future and I remember thinking...ah, that would be so nice...just to run.

So, I consulted with colleagues who are runners to get advice and tips. You know what I found out? Runners are the nicest people, the want to encourage you to run, they want you to succeed. I never got the impression when talking to them that we were in competition. I was further inspired to join the community of runners.

I started out on my treadmill and was doing well (for my standards anyway). So, I upgraded to the high school track that is about one block from my house. I ran about 2 or 3 days a week until I had company. I will admit this....I have trouble running in front of other people. Typing this I can see how stupid and childish I sound. When I went to the track and was met with stares of teenagers that I didn't even know, I lost my nerve and didn't go back. I'm a coward. But, I plan to be a coward no more. When I put myself outside the situation I realize that no one cares if I run or not.

Sooooo....I've started running again...on my treadmill. Once track season is over I will venture over to the track and not be afraid of a few imagined stares from teenagers.

Bella's Lullaby

As you know, I'm crazy about the Twilight Series. I've been trying to find sheet music for Bella's Lullaby. It's wasn't too difficult to find...for about $15 for a movie score. Then my husband lost his job and I had to improvise.

In the back of my head I heard a colleagues advice from a few months back, "You can learn songs from youtube". So I gave youtube a quick search and not only did I find a tutorial on Bella's Lullaby, I found sheet music. I've been playing the piano since I was in 2nd grade and I am not one to memorize. I need to see the music to get through piece. So, seeing someone else play a song on youtube didn't sound like something that would be easy for me. But, sheet music...oh, I can play if there's sheet music.

Check this out:

The Bad Guys

My little boy is all about the bad boys. He likes to roll play and every character he pretends to be is a bad guy. Like Swiper or the Grumpy Old Troll from Dora, Brutus and Victor from Geo Trax, and the Dirty Bubble from Spongebob.

Tonight our free fun thing to do was to watch Spiderman. Jared has never seen this movie before and we thought it would be fun. During the scene where the Green Goblin makes his debut, the scene at Times Square, there was a lot of mayhem...police officers are injured, a little boy was almost crushed, Harry was knocked unconscious, and MJ almost fell from a fatal height. At the end of this scene Jared looked very concerned about what he just saw. He looks over at Dan and me with one of the saddest faces that he is capable and asks, "What's the matter with the Green Goblin?"

Fun for Free!!

So, as you know my husband is out of work and I have this challenge in front of me to find fun free things to do. I love a good challenge. My first idea was for the whole family to take a trip to the library. I realize this book is a little out of season but I read Glenn Beck's The Christmas Sweater. I wanted to share a few lines with you from this book...

Life is what you make of it. There's always fun and laughs right under your nose if you're willing to open your eyes to see it. Most times we're so focused on what we think we want that we can't appreciate how happy we already are. It's only when we forget about our problems and help others forget theirs that we realize how good we really have it.

I'm sure we've all been there, feeling sorry for ourselves when it really wasn't necessary or even justified.

Anyway, about the fun right under your nose part...

As you know today is April's Fool's day and every year I place a rubber band around the sink spray hose to get my husband or he does it to get me. This is such a great prank because it's the same one year after year. This year was no exception.

Before leaving for work this morning I put the rubber band in place and was on my merry way. Once I got to work I realized I had a voice mail from Dan. hee hee I got him! I was so excited and pleased with myself. To make a long story short - he didn't call about the prank and I spoiled it by reminding him what day it was.

My husband more than made up for it. While at his parents' house he placed a rubber band on their sink spray hose (tee hee). My father-in-law was the first victim. But instead of taking the rubber band off, he let it there for my mother-in-law (tee-hee-hee). However, he forgot it was there and became a victim AGAIN!

So, while he was all pissed off from pulling the prank on himself he yelled over to his wife, "Donna get over here a look at this!!"
"I'm busy! You're going to make me get up now!"
So, she walks over to the sink and he tells her, "Turn on the faucet!"
And she does, but instead of turning the water off right away, she jumps back allowing the water to spray all over.

I am practically doubled over in laughter. It doesn't get any better than that - and - it's FREE!!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Wow! 34 years. I'm sorry, but I don't have any photos to show you...I forgot to put my memory card in my camera :-(

We made steaks and potatoes on the grill for the big event. And for dessert....porcupine cakes! One day while my mom was watching Jared he took pretzel sticks and stuck them in a cake. She dubbed it a porcupine cake. So, what would be more fitting than a porcupine cake for their anniversary?



Fire update:
Here is a post that my husband did on the emergency forum for this county:

I woke up responding to an unknown type fire. Then upon leaving the house I hear from police on scene it was my father`s business, Oswald Plumbing and Heating garage, fully involved.
Needless to say I went directly to the scene. I was not a firefighter this time, but a victim. 25 years in business gone in no time. It was one of the few times I had seen my father cry in my life. He lost everything, 2 service vans, tools, and a large inventory which he built up over his time in the bus..
When he started, he worked from our basement. I remember having to move pipes and fittings when I want to get my bike from the basement. 5 years later he expanded to this garage. I remember how empty it looked inside and how I wished it was when I arrived on scene.
Sometimes we respond and brush off an incident as it was just another call, now I know how it feels on the other side.On behalf of my family I would like to say THANK YOU to everyone involved there that night and all emergency services who take the time from their families to help others.

Bedroom Makeover

Below you will see picture of how we lived for over a year. No curtains, we did have sheets, but there were in the wash the day I took these photos, no pictures on the walls, just blah.

I had enough of looking at this white pallet. I gave myself a budget of $100 to redecorate. Once I started doing my homework I realized that with a budget of $100 I could basically buy curtains. But I was determined to work with $100. At lot of the improvements you will see below are handmade or found around the house with what we already owned.

I took a trip to Walmart and bought fabric for the curtains - total cost for curtains: $24.

The quilt I made and already owned. I just needed to finish putting the binding on. So I got my butt in gear and finally finished the quilt. Jared and I made the two matching pillows with leftover fabric.

The photo hanging on the wall was in our living room and I needed a change.

The hamper - $20

The quilt rack was downstairs too - free.

New Lampshades from Big Lots - $24.

Painting - I made two - one that you see below and one for the living room bare spot - $15.

Hat boxes - from my grandmother's estate - free.

Wall hanging - sitting in a box from our last anniversary.

Wooden Bench - this was sitting awkwardly in our dining room - fits great at the foot of our bed.

Bed Skirt - $10 from eBay.

Total - $93.00

Having a Bedroom you can be proud of....priceless!!

The Shack

Wanna read a thought-provoking book? Read the shack. Although this is not a difficult read, I found myself reading about one chapter a day. I needed time to think about what I just read and what that meant to me.

Fire

I'm sorry to say that my in-laws and husband have suffered a great loss. My in-laws have their own business and my husband works for them (or he did). This past Tuesday the business went up in flames, literally. Here are a few pics...

My father-in-law has been in business for 25 years. I know that this is just a building and no lives were lost or even injured, but this was a huge part of his life.

Rusty

The summer between my Freshman and Sophomore years of high school we bought Rusty. She was a beautiful Irish Setter and 6 months old. There were a few signs that maybe this wasn't the best idea.
For one, when we went into a little room the meet the dog, she was literally bouncing off the walls. She ran from one wall to the other jumping off of them. We thought it was cute...until she did it in our house.
The second clue was when the pet shop shut down a few days after we bought her. I hope that was just a coincidence.
Then she threw up in the car on the way home.
We had a cook out that evening and she stole the hot dog right out of my hand.

I joke, but Rusty was lovable. Those huge brown eyes looking up at you with her head on your lap. All she wanted was a little attention. I also feel good about buying her because they were going to put her down soon (she was 6 months old already).

We had to put Rusty down about 4 years ago due to cancer. She was in a lot of pain. There is one story that sticks out in my mind with her and that is the day I murdered the baby bird. Bird slaughter!

My mom had a hanging plant on her back porch and you know how birds love to nest in those. I loved to step up on the wall to check on the eggs' progress. I did this just about everyday. One day I stepped up, looked in and all the baby birds jumped out. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I had Rusty out with me and she grabbed one and only held it in her mouth.

The mother bird came flying over and if I were capable of understanding the language of bird I'm sure it would have been close to the vocabulary of a sailor. Her panic brought many birds from the neighborhood over to 'yell' at me too. There were robins, blue birds, cardinals, all there looking at me. Accusing me of murder. I wanted to cry. I felt so horrible. Aren't these the same birds that fight - they came together to yell at me.

Rusty killed the baby bird. She didn't mean to. It wasn't like she bit the poor thing, she held it in her mouth and it suffocated. In any case the blame is all mine. I should have kept her in the house while I looked. It's not her fault, she was a bird dog.

Would you Listen to Me Already?

A while ago I noticed that I had a loose tooth. You know how annoying that can be. I kept nudging it with my tongue until I made it worse, and then finally FELL OUT! Naturally, I poked at my other teeth with my tongue and they were loose too. All of my teeth were loose and when I wouldn't let up, they ALL fell out.

What the...??

I couldn't believe it. So I poked around with my tongue some more...they were fine. All my teeth were there, sturdy as ever. What the hell is going on? Then it dawns on me...I was sleeping a minute ago. But it felt so real. I felt it with my own tongue.

This dream happened to me often. It was getting to the point were I almost expected to have this at least once a week. And it fooled me every time. I never caught on that it was a dream until I finally woke up and felt it for myself.

Once I moved out of my parents house the dreams stopped. I couldn't stand it anymore...I needed to know what these dreams meant.

I don't remember where I found the information so I can't site it properly, but I found out that when you dream about your teeth falling out, you feel as though you are not being heard.
That's it! It makes total sense.

My dad is a typical male (no offense dad). But, when I would go off on one of my typical teenage girl stories, my dad's eyes would glass over and the occasional 'hm mm' would be mumbled by him. He wasn't listening, only being polite.

Once I moved out of my parents house well two things happened. For one, I believe that I get to the point a lot quicker now (except for this post), and two, I met Dan who is a better actor than my dad and it really does seem like he's listening to me.

It was quite a relief to know what these dreams were about, and finally to have them end. Anyone else have a reoccurring dream?