Things I promised.

Here is my fantastic Halloween costume. My teaching partner and I dressed up as big cereal boxes and trick or treated in each classroom for box tops. It was also a contest for each class.

Ghost Cupcakes and Jake's Birthday Cake

Our little cottage in the woods, near the river

Home Sick

I am spending the afternoon at home. Something nasty is going through my school building. There are 3-6 kids out in each class and our sub board is full. It was only a matter of time until it got me.
I went to work today feeling a little wobbly but not !00% but, I do that all the time.By 9:15 I knew this was not going to be a good day. I stumbled up to our school office and asked one of the secretaries if we could find me a sub for the afternoon. She said it might be difficult this late but she would try. 30 minutes later I had a sub and I could go when she got there. Whew! I would not have made it through a full day today. So, here I sit, on my couch, going back and forth between sleeping and feeling miserable.

Dinner smells delicious. Thanks Gram!

Tonight, I needed a challenge with dinner. I was sick and tired of the old standbys. I am a half decent cook so why not use my skills? Well, I also have a picky eater for a husband. I love him but, I am an adventurous eater. Ok, maybe not that adventurous but I like a lot of things.
So, tonight I walked into the grocery store and bought two cornish hens. I had seen a beautiful picture of a finished product in my Nigella Lawson cookbook and needed to eat it. Now, Nigella calls for sweet potato but DH wont eat those. I am using regular red potatoes. There are also a few spices that are called for that are not the typical Thanksgiving type bird roasting spices. I will forget to mention those to him and see what he says when tasting.
I also have a great grandmother who happens to live close by. She is 94. She used to live in New Jersey but she came out here to Illinois when she sold her house. I love her. She also reminds me of normal things when I become too absorbed in the crazy world. My great grandmother recently gave me her roasting pan. It is red, oval, and has off center handles. It also has a huge, domed lid. I am using it tonight. This is also very exciting.

The birds should be out of the oven in 5 minutes. It smells so good right now. It better be delicious.


*update*
It was more than delicious. It was amazing. Also, DH loved it too!

       The end result

          Holding Gram's red roasting pan and wearing the apron she made me.

                     Charlotte is not letting that out of her reach.

Today will be the day...

Today is the last day that there is only one paycheck in my household.
Tomorrow Kyle will get his first paycheck from a job he loves and loves to go to every day.

Today is the last day that my house is a total disaster.
Tomorrow I will start the day with a (mostly) clean house.

Today my dog has skin issues.
Tomorrow, hopefully, she will be back on the way to not being covered in icky hairless, scaly spots.

Today I have major money issues.
Tomorrow I will be taking care of many of them. They are not going away but I am working on it.

Today is the day I start getting my life back in order the way I want it. I am not letting it control me.

Rant rant

I have red hair. I have always had red hair. Why do people need to point this out to me? Today at the grocery store I was in a self check out and a random dud comes right up to me and says "wow, that looks like almost real red hair. How'd you get it so good?"   "Um, it is real hair"  then the guy keeps talking to me about it. I just ignored him. really dude, do you think I don't know what color the hair on my head is?

gems

Today in first grade we were trying out different percussion instruments and hearing all of their sounds and classifying them int o 5 groups: woods, metals, shakers, scrapers, and drums. I always save the windchimes for last. Today, in one of my classes I ran my hands through it and a little girl remarked "It sounds like sparkles!"
Then I melted into the floor and wanted to take her home with me to say cute things all day.

My school is also located very near Six Flags. We noticed how the rachet sounds like going up the hill on a roller coaster. So, we pretended to be on a roller coaster. Me and 24 first graders. We all tilted back and pretended that we were all on the roller coaster. Then I slowed the rachet down  and when it stopped, we all tilted forward and gave out a little "Whooooooeeeeeeee!"

I love them

Today was one of those rare days when my job wears me out and I end the day feeling like I want to cry. So many of my students are going through such tough stuff right now and often times it translates to really tough times in this classroom. When you have many students like this in one room, it makes for one teacher who is at a breaking point. I nearly cried in front of a class today. I just did not know what to do with them.