A view from the top of the driveway. We’ve already bought a snow shovel :)

The exercise equipment is right inside the front door. Much harder to ignore…

The kitchen and dining area.

The living room. The kitchen/dining/living rooms are all in one, large open area.

Laundry room and downstairs bathroom.

Master bedroom, bathroom, and closet.

Office area (open area) upstairs and the guest bathroom.

Guest bedroom.

Library (work in progress)

View out the back of the house. Yay! :)

:)

Okay, so here is a picture of our new house (before we bought it). I’m thinking I should take some new pics and post them before we head to MD.

This year we had a great Thanksgiving! Lots of food and friends :)

"Ahh...interesting! You are a force to be reckoned with! You are normally miles ahead of people in things you do. Am I right? Your card is the Ace of Spades. It's a rare card and a very strong card."

"Umm...what is this from?"

"It's Atlantian Astrology. Nobody knows where it came from, but it is very old and people have been using it for years."

<smile> "That's really neat. Well, I have to get going."

He smiled at me nicely and walked away and got into his car. I finally started my car and drove off. When I was about a block away I remembered to check my wallet to make sure I still had my ID and credit cards. Thanks, Dad, for teaching me at a young age about what's real and what's entertainment :)

Dear New Homeowner,

Congratulations on the purchase of your new home. This is an exciting time. You have the opportunity to set up your new home according to your specifications and make it a reflection of your personality. What fun!

This new home is another step in your life's journey. Maybe you're looking at it as your last purchase; as the place you want to spend your golden years. That place of permanence, that life base, where you finally have everything just the way you want it.

At some point, however, you should think about your final, permanent move. This doesn' thave to be a dismal subject. It can, and should, be a topic that invokes an action which allows you to express your love and care for the emotional and financial needs of your spouse and family.

Your recent move involved a certain amount of excitement and stress. Your last move will involve both sorrow and stress. By preplanning that last move you can eliminate much of the unnecessary stress that is associated with this event. Those who have preplanned their final arrangements have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that they've given their loved onces a wonderful gift. When the time of your inevitable departure finally comes you too will have confidence that your loved ones will not be unnecessarily burdened. They can think about the good times you've had instead of the funeral details and costs.

Imagine for a moment what it will be like for either one of you to wake up one morning to find your spouse has quietly passed away in the night. If you are not prepared, the next few days will be an emotional, and possibly a financial, nightmare. Is that what you want? What would you rather have that experience be?

It's been said that most major decisions in life are made at the wrong time.You will often confront those major decisions during times of stress, emergency, or crisis. During those times it seems that there is little time for choices and costs are usually inflexible.

I can help you put your final arrangements together. In the comfort of your home you can consider your choices and pay for those arrangements with our convenient fincancing options. Prepaying also locks in the cost of those arrangements so you won't have to worry about price increases or the impact of inflation. This is very important considering that funeral costs of been doubling, on average, every seven years.

Please give me a call to arrange an appointment....etc, etc.

Sigh...I feel old :)

 Comcast had estimated about 10-14 weeks to get us set up. All of the other vendors had said they don't serve in our area. Well, when I went to return the fios stuff from our old house to verizon, the clerk worked some magic and got verizon to give us fios. YAY!!!!

More posts soon (hopefully with pictures).

Please plant all of the extra trees along the left side of the house, right along the property line :)

Thank you,

Rachel

Disclaimer: While I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, the audience had mixed reviews. People were either very scared or not at all. Got 85% on rottentomatoes though :)

FYI, thought you'd both be interested to know that I've had 2 pens Anson out on me today.  Not sure what's going on. :)

When your pen "Ansons out" on you, it means that it works fine for everyone else, but stops working as soon as you try to write something. For example, when we were writing up the offer for the house, the pen worked fine for me, but kept Anson-ing out on Anson. I'm hoping this catches on :)

http://funnyvideos.todaysbigthing.com/2009/08/11

Easily the best story of the year: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32702588/ns/us_news-weird_news/?GT1=43001.  First, a robot escapes its human captors and disables it's homing beacon.  Second, it's nicknamed waldo and the scientists are hoping that boaters will spot it.  Third, the teaser for the article is something like 'boaters need to watch out for this robot' - clearly it's hell-bent on world domination and stage 1 is complete.  In short, lock your doors and pull out your Handford books for practice.  Man, what a great day...

My mom and dad were babysitting Kira the other night.  Dad suggested they go to Dairy Queen for dessert. Yum! My parents finished their dipped cones and Kira was still eating her Dilly Bar. Kira says hers is red. So Dad says, "Pops had a chocolate dipped cone, Mamie had a yellow butterscotch dipped cones, and Kira had a red cherry Dilly Bar." Kira looked him straight in the eyes and says 'Kira HAS a red cherry Dilly Bar'. :-)

Anson just headed back to work this week, so I've started doing stuff around the house. So far, I've got some new towels for the hall bathroom, a clock for the downstairs, and a grocery check-list. I've also started updating all of our birthday and contact information. Maybe we'll actually get cards in the mail this year <fingers crossed> :)

While Anson and I were home, we watched some new shows. We watched the first season of Legend of the Seeker. It was pretty good. It's based on a book series that we haven't read, but it's the kind of books we read all the time. So, we're pretty happy about that. We started to watch Sanctuary...we'll see how it goes :)

I recently read Warbreaker (SO good!). Now, I'm re-reading the Wheel of Time series in preparation for the last couple books coming out. It's very exciting that Brandon Sanderson (author of Warbreaker) is writing the last few books. Woohoo! Can't come soon enough!

I'm hoping to update this page more since I will be home for a while (taking a break! phew!). This week, I hiked Snoqualmie Falls (pics to come soon). I'm planning on doing some more hikes, but I need to stick to the easier ones for a while. I'll probably do Snoqualmie Falls a few more times...any other suggestions?

And my favorite picture of Kira...

Basically, you search for what you want to shop for on bing.com, use the link on that page to purchase it, and you get some % of money back (sometimes 15% money back!). It's nuts! :)

I've started my week of break before I head back to Maryland for Angie's wedding (YAY!). So far, I've managed to put batteries in the smoke detectors (I had taken batteries out of all of them about a year ago because "something" was beeping and I couldn't figure out what). We are once again comforted by the knowledge that we will hear beeping if the house sets on fire! Yay!

Today, I managed to get the garage cleaned out enough to fit the car in it:

I have to thank Eric, Sheri, Chris, and Jane...without all of you, this might never have been possible :)

Busy planning the bridal shower and bachelorette party. YAY FOR ANGIE'S WEDDING!

Kira was talking to me today and said "I'm going to be a flower girl."

So, I said "Really?! Is Mommy getting married?"

And she said "No! Eric is." :-)

http://www.autism-community.com/vocational-centers-for-adults-with-autism/

They look so happy!

And, because it is just about midnight in Maryland, I can post this:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGIE!!!!

We've started watching The Office....HI-larious! We've also been catching up on House in our spare time. The only other show we've been watching is the Dollhouse. Which I have high hopes for where it is going...Joss Whedon hasn't let me down yet!

Anson and I are hoping to go see Watchmen this weekend. We were too sick/tired to go on Monday night, so hopefully this weekend it will work out.

This weekend I get to pick out my bridemaid dress for Angie's wedding. Yay for wedding fun!!!

Alright, I'm off to school...more posts later :)

2 pots of plants have been set up in the classroom. One is placed right next to the window, the other in a dark closet. Both sets have been roughly watered by students for 5 days and the seeds are now resting on top of the soil instead of under it. For 5 days there have been no sprouts in either pot (and the chance of anything actually sprouting is now slim to none). 

The following conversation took place on day 6:

Student: Ms. Horton! Ms. Horton!  The plants are growing!!!

Me: <quick glance at the pot by the window...I notice several of the seeds are actually pointing up, but there are no sprouts>  No, it looks like the seeds are just pointing up. There's nothing growing in that pot.  When something grows, it will be tall and green.

Student: No, Ms. Horton....the other pot!  The one in the closet is growing!

Me: <walks over to look at the plant in the closet. Sure enough, there are sprouts coming up>.  Oh. 

For Valentine's Day, Anson set me up with an iphone :-D  It's quite possibly the best phone ever!  Then, we went out to see Friday the 13th. It was good...very similar to the original. Anson and I both think that Jason X was the best one though. Really, we went to see this one because it has the guy from Supernatural in it (also the reason I went to see My Bloody Valentine 3D....it has the other guy from Supernatural in it :). I'm convinced that if there were a horror movie with both guys from Supernatural in it, it would be the best horror movie EVER!

Sunday night we went to see Coraline with Sam, Karen, and Luke. It was really good. Kind of creepy for a kid's movie. In fact, it was a bit scarier than Friday the 13th. A few of us left the theatre a little worried we'd be having nightmares :)

Today is President's Day, so I have it off....tomorrow, it's back to work! :)

http://www.templegrandin.com/templehome.html

On Saturday Abby and I went to see My Bloody Valentine in 3D. It was TOTALLY worth the drive into Seattle :)

And on Sunday, sadly, I watched the Cardinals lose the Superbowl. Next year I'll win the bet with my dad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edrck-141sQ

A couple of Webster ones :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zIpiuCeHCg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN_HXDAer6w&feature=related

We started our journey by checking into our hotel. Unfortunately, they placed us in a room that can best be described as "dorm room size" and right beneath the roller coaster. If you were wondering what it would be like to live in a room that shakes and has dozens of people screaming every few minutes....well, Anson and I would be happy to tell you :)  After we got are room changed (yay! Anson's a hero!) we went out to dinner with Sam, Karen, and Alex at America.  Vegas definitely lives up to it's reputation...steak and king crab legs for $14.99 :)

The next day we wandered around Ceasar's palace for a bit. It is a really beautiful hotel and fun to walk around in. We were looking for the show with the statues battling...this picture below is a statue, but not a battling one. It took us a while to find the right ones :)

While searching for the statues, we got distracted by FAO Schwarz :)  Anson and Sam had a basketball competition!

We finally managed to find the show.  It was a little disappointing. They were animotronic statues and didn't really do much. Although, the flaming sword was cool and we were hoping that guy would win. He didn't.

That evening, we went to see Believe. Don't get me started. Put it this way--there's a group of people working to get their money back.  After Believe, we went to try to see the TI Pirate show. It's one of the free shows on the strip. Of course, after standing out in the freezing cold for 15 or so minutes, they cancelled the show due to "high winds". We stood outside the next night as well...cancelled again. At least on the 2nd night, they had the cast do a meet & greet inside the hotel. But, it was ridiculous...the pirate girls were wearing giant coats over their costumes. And even though someone said "take off your clothes!", they didn't! Well, you can see the pirate ship we stared at below:

As well as the volcano which, despite waiting outside in the cold, we also didn't see:

Well, that was the end of Saturday. I'd show you pictures of us gambling (and by "us", I mean everyone else), but it turns out that he casinos don't like you to take out your camera when you'er at the tables. On to Sunday...

We started off the day on a fun note...Las Vegas was experiencing technical difficulties :)

We found the best arcade on the strip! It had skeeball, pinball, and a shooter game that Sam and Anson beat before we left :)

We played some poker and blackjack in the hotel before heading out to La Reve (a good show).

The hotels on the strip are pretty amazing. They are so beautiful!  I particularly like the Wynn where we went to see La Reve. They had a nice lighted tree display.

La Reve was an amazing show and made the whole trip worthwhile. Good choice, Karen!  It was a water show and they did some amazing stunts. I was pretty sure that some of the divers were going to die at certain parts of the show. SO COOL! They don't really let you use cameras during the show (in an attempt to make it so that people won't die), but I did take a picture of the set at the end as we were leaving.

 After La Reve we went to see the fountains at the Bellagio. They were also fun to watch :)

Pretty much the rest of the trip was spent gambling. Anson and I left Vegas having won about $20 on the slots!

Karen, Sam, and Alex all had fun playing Blackjack and they all had chips to cash out on the last night. Yay!

Overall, it was a really fun trip :)  We did get to see Tim and Mary a couple times, but our schedules didn't match up very often on the trip. I'd post a picture of them, but I value my life.

Congrats to Mary and Tim! See you both in VEGAS!

CONGRATS to Angie and Eric! Happy New Year :)

We opened our presents and had some fun using our gifts. My parents' gift made us glad that no one has a pacemaker. They got Anson shocking tanks....literally SHOCKING! EEP! :)

We got lots of reading material, so we'll be busy over the next few days. Anson is currently enjoying using his new headset. I'm pretty psyched to be able to leave the house soon...I have nice new earrings, a bracelet, and a purse I want to show off!

But for now, I'm gonna go catch some Z's on my comfy new sheets. Night all!

Since we have been snowed in, we have had to find new ways to entertain ourselves. Since I am a teacher, I had some arts and crafts stuff around the house and we made some Christmas ornaments.

 I made a Christmas tree (and a reindeer, but it didn't photograph well):

Anson made an origami Santa out of a single piece of paper :)

Clint made the star for the top of the tree:

And here is the final product!

Aside from that, there isn't anything very interesting to report. Yesterday, I attempted to save some of our family traditions. I walked to the store with a backpack and came back with: a turkey and roasting pan, a brisket, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, brocolli, buns, and (of course) blueberry muffins! That way, we can have the traditional Christmas and Christmas Eve dinners. And my back is only a little sore, so it was totally worth it :)

I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season :)

The first is someone singing the song from Aladdin...watch the whole thing :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9-CS2v8wcc

The other is a pretty cool original song. We love that people have talent!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eg3l79KR4U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkkFA8_O3N8

This made my day :)

This is the link for Washington state. It has some interesting information on insurance for people with autism...I'll be writing my legislators over the holiday break :)

If you're not in WA, I would recommend checking out your own state. Get involved!

I'm still waiting on pictures of Kira from Halloween...I'm told she was a dancing elephant. But I guess I'll never know because no one has sent me pictures (::cough::cough:: ANGIE!).

I decorated the house for Halloween. We had giant spiderwebs and a glow in the dark wall border. Also, some orange lights. I put them up about an hour before the kiddos came and Anson took them down the next day. We only had about 5 groups of kids come to the house. There is so much leftover candy, it's ridiculous. I'll have to remember to get Anson to take it to work with him. Thus far, I've forgotten every single day.

We're now gearing up for Thanksgiving. Lots of food, lots of decorations. Should be fun!

For his party, we went bowling with some friends. Anson DESTROYED us in bowling (as it should be). We even had them announce it was his birthday over the intercom :-)  It was pretty fantastic...especially since they were told the wrong age to announce :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efv3Vr8T9MA

I have been sick with a flu-type thing since last Friday, but finally got back to student teaching today. It was a good day :)

I have just registered for my Praxis II exam in special education. I'll be taking that on Nov. 15th. Which should be fun since I will be taking the master's exams on the 14th. Wish me luck!

Anson's birthday is coming up, so we're excited about that :)  Not sure what we're going to do yet. Although, this is the first time in forever that I actually have gift ideas for him. So, if you need any suggestions...shoot me an email.

Lots of congratulations to send out this week:

CONGRATS Dan and Sarah on your marriage!

CONGRATS to Eric and Jane on your engagement! I was trying to wait until I got a picture of you two to put up here...I'll fix that this weekend :)

And I'd like to thank everyone who made a donation towards my autism walk. It was a great walk and I was able to meet my $500 goal in a week and a half!  Over $250,000 was raised at the seattle walk, and over $1.5 million has been raised over the past two weekends for autism research. THANK YOU!

Things have been amazingly busy recently and I don't think they're going to get easier any time soon. I am student teaching like crazy...Anson is working like a madman...I think you get the idea :)  I'm just glad we get a little break tomorrow night...Phantom of the Opera!!! 

Alright, .I've gotten about 20 hours of sleep this week, so I'm going to go nap :) YAY for Fridays!

If anyone is interested in making a donation, please visit the site below:

http://www.walknowforautism.org/seattle/personal/horton

Also, if you're in the Seattle area, feel free to come walk with me! It is a great opportunity to meet a lot of local politicians and activisits. Last year, Dave Reichert gave a very interesting speech about what he is doing to support families with children with autism. Alright, I guess maybe I'm the only person that is excited by this kind of stuff. But, at the very least, you get to walk around the beautiful UW campus :)

http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j137/married01/Kira/?action=view&current=0028.jpg

http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j137/married01/Kira/?action=view&current=0012.jpg

http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j137/married01/Kira/?action=view&current=0013.jpg

http://s79.photobucket.com/albums/j137/married01/Kira/?action=view&current=0031.jpg

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26639098?GT1=43001

We saw two movies this weekend. "Mirrors" wasn't that great. It reminded me that no one, dead/alive/trapped in a mirror, should mess with Jack Bauer. Also, it had the most disgusting death scene that I've ever seen in my life! And by "seen" I mean "cover my eyes and listen to the horrifying sound effects". We also saw "Tropic Thunder" which was laugh-out-loud funny. I highly recommend it :)

Alright, enough procrastinating...back to writing my paper.

Happy Anniversary to THIS GUY! It's the 1st anniversary of his 29th birthday. CONGRATS!

I got to hang out with Jane this weekend, which was a lot of fun. She helped me pick out a dress for Kendra's wedding. Yay!

This upcoming week I get to meet with my host teacher for student teaching and start planning. I'm pretty excited about the first day of school :-D

http://autism-community.com/

We went to see the Dark Knight and it was AMAZING! If you have the opportunity to see it at the IMAX, I highly recommend it.

Angie had her appendix out and it recovering. :-)

I just finished my first summer class. It was actually one of the best classes I've taken. The class was on Functional Behavivor Analysis. Next week I start a class on ethics. Yay!

We're working on getting a bid on getting some work done on our house. Currently, a structural engineer is going to come to the house to see if we can get the job done by only extending the top floor (which would save us a ton of money).

That's all I can think of! Man, we live a low-key life :) 

Dancing around the living room :)

At the beach :)

We've been doing Thursday night movies the past few weeks. Here's the summary of summer movies so far:

"Incredible Hulk" was just okay. It made me want to watch Primal Fear and Iron Man again :-)

"Wanted" was quite entertaining :-)

"WALL-E" was frickin' amazing!

And tomorrow we are going to see "Hancock"...I'll post a review of that later this weekend.

Anson and I are currently enjoying the severe thunderstorm warning for the area. We're not supposed to leave the house because of hail and winds...although, currently there is no hail...or wind. Not even rain, just thunder :)

And a special section of this post is dedicated to my sisters. For Angie, I say congrats on all the good work stuff! :-)

And to Mary Louise Hotovy (the youngest one). Congrats on surviving surgery! Congrats on registering for classes! And congrats on getting old...I mean old-er :-)

Here's your birthday pic for the year:

And because I'm not entirely sure these are actually Mary's feet on the ceiling, here's another picture:

I can post these pictures because I live across the country and she's too far away to come over and destroy me :-) Happy Birthday!

I just finished finals for spring quarter and my grades were okay (pass, pass, 4.0, 3.9, 4.0). I also completed a draft of my application to the human subjects committee for my research. I'm waiting to hear back from my advisor so that I can officially submit it.

I started my summer classes this week. Right now I'm taking a Functional Behavior Assessment class. I got to spend the whole morning manipulating behavior data...it was so much fun!!!

Anson and I are going with a group of people to see "Wanted" tomorrow night. Also, we're going to see Walle this weekend. Should be fun :)

A special note to Mary, who is getting her wisdom teeth out tomorrow. Good luck...MWA HA HA HA!

First of all---GOOD LUCK IN SCHOOL TOMORROW CLINT!!! Don't forget your lunchbox! And if any of the kids are mean to you, tell the teacher :-)

Anson and I went to see Cirque du Soliel and it was amazing, as usual :-)  We also saw Iron Man. I have to say, I enjoyed it quite a bit.  Anson and Michael (who we went with) liked it as well...we're excited for the sequel!

I'm beginning the design of my research study. I know how I want to do the first half, but the second half is a bit interesting (complicated)...I have a meeting this Wednesday that will hopefully help me figure it out.

Lastly, I'm hoping everyone will say a few prayers for my cousin. He was unfortunately injured in a random shooting incident this weekend. Doctors say he is going to be okay, but it will be a while before he recovers.  Thanks :)

It was also Kira's 2nd birthday. Since I don't have a recent picture, he's one of her 1st birthday :-P  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Well, Anson has been busy at work (as usual). I have been very, very busy at school. 18 credits is a little crazy :-)  I finally got my research topic pre-approved and my advisor and I are trying to have my research proposal done within the next month. Then, it will go before the human subjects committee and hopefully be approved before September (when I want to conduct my study). Woohoo!

Anson and I both read "Mistborn" by Brandon Sanderson over my break. It is a FANTASTIC book! We're actually getting a copy signed by the author. Hopefully it will arrivie in the next few days.

A greek restaurant opened in Redmond. I've had something good and something not-so-good from there recently. I got a salad for lunch today and they gave me almost no lettuce and TONS of extra tomatoes to compensate. Since I don't like tomatoes, it was a pretty unfortunate experience. Overall though, I'm excited about it :-)

And right now, at midnight, I'm procrastinating finishing an assignment for tomorrow. Back to work for me :-)

SHERI!!!!!

Happy Birthday to Angie!!!!

Next quarter I will be taking 18 credits (ugh). But, the summer should be pretty light (woohoo!).

Eep!

At least they're talking about the parents in this article...

Piecing together the drawers. I helped do this!

Seeing if the drawers fit in the bed...

What it looks like now :-)

The finished drawer (except it doesn't have a handle yet).

Clint is drilling some holes in the wood before assembly.

Another drilling shot:

Getting all the wood upstairs...

Getting ready to listen to Leila's show :-)

The beginnings of the bed!

Slightly sturdier...

With the top on it

Actually attaching the top, instead of just placing it on top :-)

Finishing the top of the bed!

Our queen mattress currently sits on top of this frame. We're going to add a few more boards tonight and get some staining done. Hopefully it will all be done before Clint leaves tomorrow!

In other news, Clint is going to start working on our bedframe :-) He edited his design with the exact measurements for the mattress and is charging his power tools as we speak. AWESOME!

But, I'm not doing much (aside from sleep and attempting to do schoolwork) so I don't have anything new to report. Other than that Clint is going to be here in less than 10 hours!!! Yippee!

Here's hoping I can keep up with my schoolwork while I have this!

Buttercup: Westley, what about the R.O.U.S.'s?

Westley: Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22684589/?GT1=10755

www.autismthemusical.com

I am 26 years old...I feel old!

Anson made me a birthday cake. Lemon with cream cheese frosting. Best. Cake. Ever :-)

I got the middle piece because it's my birthday :-)

So, here is the breakdown of the work I need to get done.

--> Write up my text-talk lesson plan and reflection

--> Annotated bibliography of articles about fathers with children with low-incidence disabilities

--> Create a self-management plan for a behavior and include how it will be generalized

--> Take-home final for early literacy class. 4 questions, about 10 pages of writing or so.

--> 10 compentencies documented for my practicum

I am finally over the "hump" and the rest of the work I need to do is going to fly by! I'm SO excited!

Fortunately-- I bought a perfect turkey two weeks before Thanksgiving. It was one of the really good ones that are normally all sold out by the time I get around to buying a turkey :-)

Unfortunately-- I didn't know you needed to put the turkey in cold water to thaw it otherwise you might kill people on Thanksgiving. So, I left it out for over 10 hours on Wednesday making it uneatable (for those of you wondering how I thawed the turkey every other year, the answer is that I didn't...which is why we didn't eat until 9 or 10 at night) :-(

Fortunately--When I went out at midnight the night before Thanksgiving I found an unfrozen, 20lb Butterball turkey hidden under a bunch of smaller ones. WOOHOO! We're saved :)

Unforunately-- I can't cook. Actually, this time I blame the oven. Some parts of the turkey were cooked well over the 180 degrees required. However, when we cut into it, parts of it were still bleeding :(

Fortunately-- Anson got creative with his carving and was able to carve out enough meat for everyone to fill up on turkey :-)

All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving :-) Lots of friends, lots of games!

Now I'm starting my planning for Christmas. I need to get the house decorated before I leave in mid-December for Maryland. Balancing this task with finals should be interesting :-)

We had a bunch of people over to celebrate and it was a lot of fun. Especially since Kerri was able to make it! For those of you I haven't told, a good friend of mine from middle/high school has moved to Olympia. She and her boyfriend Brian were a new addition to our Thanksgiving celebration :-)

My school's better than your school :-P

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21116732

(MARY-this post is for you!)

We're gearing up for Thanksgiving. Finalizing the evite and preparing a menu...it's a lot harder to plan this thing when I have school. But, it'll still be fantastic, I'm sure.

Angie and Kira moved into their own place. WOOHOO! Pictures will be coming soon :-)

Anson has just started reading a new series of books. I think it is called "the prince of nothing" or something like that. Joe recommended it to him claiming it was the best fantasy series he's ever read...we'll see...

OH YEAH, this weekend I met with my personal trainer for the second time. I hurt! It's great though...she's very nice and I know she'll whip me into shape in no time.

He's 28 today, so be sure to send him an email or IM to remind him he's getting older :-)

Next up...Anson's birthday!!!!

I'm still working hard at school. I started my internship and it is great. I should be implementing my first instructional plan for a student sometime next week.

Anson's birthday is coming up this week and I finally got his present :-) WOOHOO!

http://photos.ivillage.com/home/inspirationsgallery/2006/02/beehive_yourself_1.html

Stuff like this makes me SO ANGRY!

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd090706s.gif

1. Dinner Parties

2. Ping Pong

3. Wine

I'm getting close to my goal! So far, Friends with Feet have raised $675!!!

My sister Mary...she wants YOU to support Autism Speaks!

Chrisbro :-)

My wonderful parents-in-law made a generous donation :-) (I don't have a pic of them on this computer...I will work on getting one..)

Also, someone joined my team! See my Friend with Feet:

Friends with Feet is currently $400 away from our fundraising goal. So, tell your friends!!! Get involved! I will update about the latest super people who have donated tomorrow :-)

Okay, so I thought I would throw it out there again.  I will be walking to support Autism Speaks in October. I lost a lot of my contacts when my computer broke, so PLEASE tell your friends or anybody you think might be interested :-)

Also, I'm reading Stardust...it's good so far.

One more thing---I'm meeting my peer mentor later this week...EEP!

Here are the August birthdays.

First we have my mother. Her birthday was August 14th. She turned 29 for the <mumble mumble> year in a row :-) I considered putting the real number up...but I'm pretty sure she'd fly over here just to kill me for it.

Next, we have Mr. Clint Mays. His birthday was on the 18th. I'm not entirely sure how old he is...we'll say 28 :-)  I seem to always think of people as the age they were when I first met them...but I'm pretty sure that Clint isn't 19 anymore :-)

Tomorrow I get to help Sheri decorate her classroom. Fun! We're going with a kinderGARDEN theme, so they'll be lots of flowers, bugs, etc. :-)

This week I'm doing some babysitting (like today) and hanging out with Anson. I think we might go see a movie on Thursday...maybe. On Saturday I am going to help Sheri move again. She's moving from Sammamish to a house on Education Hill (which, funny enough, is about 3 blocks from the house I helped her move out of about six months ago).

I am LOVING my zune. Does anyone else have one? I want to know what other people think :-)

I went to see Stardust last night. I liked it a lot. I'm going to read the book as soon as I finish the series I'm reading now. It's strange...Stardust has been on our bookshelf for a long time, but neither Anson or I can remember reading it. He he he :-)

The Wii is a lot of fun. I accidentally pulled a muscle playing baseball against Anson though :-)

One little piggy stayed home.

One little piggy went to Best Buy

and went "Wii! Wii! Wii!" all the way home :-)

Early Literacy Instruction
Educating Native American Youth
Applied Behavior Analysis for Teachers
Field Study/Independent Study

Anson gave a presentation today. Something about LINQ (sp?). I hear it was AWESOME. Best presentation there :-) Anyway, he has been focusing so much on this presentation that we haven't had the chance to do much for fun since I got back from MD. I think we're going to go to a movie or something this weekend. No decisions have been made yet.

I'm officially meeting with my graduate advisor next week to set up my schedule. I'll keep you posted...

I've started babysitting a little bit again. It's a littler hard to go back to babysittng after teaching for a while, but it's nice to see the kids again. This Friday I get to see Sally and meet her new baby Max. PLUS, Mark and Ioana had their baby a couple days ago (phew! baby craziness!). They welcomed Michael Alexander Piersall into the world and I'm sure Ioana is enjoying her time off work :-)

In other news, I am scrambling to register for classes. Someone in the main office went and changed my permanent address to Juniata College's address, so I didn't receive some of the notices I needed....anyway, I'm running a little late. Eeek! My graduate advisor agreed to meet with me next week to help me set up my schedule. Hopefully I can still get all the classes I need!

But Transformers was AWESOME!

I watched Kira for the weekend. That was fun. She's a cutie-pie :-) We were stuck at the house though because Angie took the car keys to the beach with her (her punishment has yet to be determined).

The Walkersville carnival is this week and I'm thinking about going. I'm not sure though...I seem to remember it was fun in high school, but I can't remember why. Hmmm...

Flight reservation

Thu, Jun 28, 2007
Departs 11:05pm, Arrives 6:50am
AirTran Airways 229
Seattle, WA to Baltimore, MD

Mon, Jul 16, 2007
Departs 7:50pm, Arrives 10:15pm
AirTran Airways 228
Baltimore, MD to Seattle, WA

Let me know if you want to hang out :-)

Yeah, we celebrated Eric's birthday pretty early. He is in Tech-ed all week and then he is heading to MD for his high school reunion. The weekend after that is my graduation, so....that was just about the only day we could celebrate it!

I will be graduating in 2 WEEKS!!! WOOHOO! My mom and dad arrive a week from tomorrow, so that should be fun :-)

Yesterday, we celebrated Eric's birthday. Jane and I threw him a surprise luau (it was fun!). Now, I've just got to figure out what I'm going to do for Anson's bday....

Yeah, that's my hubby's name on the cover :-)

On Monday I have another PPA evaluation for a math lesson (which should go fine). I am excited to be almost done with my student teaching.

My computer should be fixed sometime this week (hopefully). Also, our roof and tile will be fixed soon. YEAH!

I had my midterm review this week. Normally the host teacher, university intern coordinator (UIC), and the student teacher all fill out an evaluation form and you average the three scores. I got really high marks and I am ready to take over all the subjects starting next week!

I have only been going in for half days the past couple of days. My foot decided it didn't like me and wanted to make it so I couldn't walk. I went to the doctors and they were like "Wow...that looks like that hurts. What are you taking for the pain?".  Well, let's just say that I'm still not taking anything for the pain, but hopefully it'll be all better by next weekend. Actually, I'm hoping it will be okay enough for me to go bowling with Eric and Jane on Saturday. I really want to go!!!

Anyway, here are the pictures. Hopefully they aren't too big (I don't have the program I need to resize them on this computer).

The lesson I taught centered on the objective of taking research notes and creating a small moment story. I integrated social studies into the lesson (which in the frameworks for first grade, is based on the family). The kiddos really seemed to enjoy it :-)

Monday is my mid-term evaluation, but I'm not too worried about it.  I am going to be teaching a math lesson on measurment. We'll be putting soil/sand into cups...messy lesson!

Tomorrow I am helping Sheri's family move up to Sammamish/Issaquah.  Should be fun! Then, Sunday I am going to RELAX! I am so tired already...I can't wait to sleep in on Sunday :-)

I am getting observed again tomorrow. AHHH! I am teaching a lesson on recognizing comeback lines in books and being able to incorporate comeback lines into your own writing....should be fun! Then, I get observed on Friday as well. The lesson on Friday will be a bit more fun (I made it that way since it's the end of the week). It is WASL week 1 and the whole school environment is a little tense. We have to be quiet because of testing and a lot of the students are nervous.

Only 2 more weeks until my midterm evaluation...PPAs....eep! I should probably start looking at the requirements for that :-)

I finished my first true-blue week of student teaching. I was in charge of all the reading lessons. Everything seemed to go smoothly, but it is a bit overwhelming to try to keep track of everything. I'm still surviving though!

I'm still working on my summer plans. I think I might head back to Maryland for a bit...we'll see. :-)

Kira is almost 1...AHH! She's growing up so quickly! When I get my computer back, I'll post some recent pictures :-)

Still no laptop, but I am able to use the computer upstairs. Tomorrow I'm going to break out my old computer so that I can use word to write some lesson plans. Starting Monday, I can just write them up at before/after school.

A belated Happy 21st birthday to Angie!!! <not that she reads this>

Other than that, no new news.  I'm making garlic lemon chicken tonight...Mmmmm!

Anson and I watched Independance Day tonight. It was made it 1996, but it's still a good movie.

I made lemon pepper chicken last night and meatloaf tonight. Anson's still not a huge fan of my cooking, but I think it's getting better :-)

I had my last official class on Thursday night.  I could stop everything right now and I would graduate with my BA. The next few months are dedicated towards my teaching certification.  FUN STUFF...hmm.... :-P

To Anson's disbelief, I am going to try to start cooking again.  I bought some cookbooks and am trying to write a menu for the week. Hopefully, now that I will be home most evenings, I will be able to cook dinner more.  Tonight we're having some sort of chicken. It's in the slowcooker right now...WOOHOO!

And this is an article that's been a long time coming:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17349066/

Anson went to see 300 this weekend and he thought it was pretty good.  We got the 9th season of Stargate. We're a little bummed that Jack O'Neal is gone :( But, the new guy is okay.  I particularly like the new girl (although, I'm not sure she's sticking around...I'm sure they'll bring Carter back).

Also, I got this letter in the mail:

Congratulations! The faculty of the College of Education has recommended you to the Dean of the Graduate School for admission into the M.Ed. program. You are being recommended for admission into the entering class of Autumn, 2007 for the following program: Professional Preparation of Special Education Teachers (Severe Disabilities). We hope you will choose the University of Washington as the place to embark upon the next stages of your professional development....

Anyway, you get the point :-)

I got observed by my practicum supervisor last week. She had nothing but nice stuff to say. In fact, we mostly just talked about next year and not my teaching.  Tomorrow my host teacher is doing an observation for me...I'm a little nervous. He sees me teach about 3 days a week, so he knows all my weak points! Oh well! It's exciting for him because his wife is due to have a baby any day now :-)

AND, I'm having a peer observation on Thursday. It's not that I don't normally teach this much, it's just that I have to write up a lesson plan every single time someone observes me. And for those of you who know, writing a lesson plan is a pain in the tookus!

A lot of my friends are taking the PRAXIS II this weekend. Good luck to all of you! I will be there at 7am for coffee and to wish you luck.  Plus, later that day I am having the clipboard party. Hopefully I will have the house clean by then :-)

Tomorrow is my last music class. You have NO IDEA how happy this makes me :-D

Anyway, I'll write more later...

There's a short commerical first...

Here's a team picture we took as we were packing up:

This week Anson and I both have a ton of work. We have to get ahead so we can enjoy puzzzlehunt next weekend...WOOHOO!!!

Clint comes out next week! We are super-excited for the visit.  It's superbowl Sunday next weekend...GO BEARS!!!!

Plus, Puzzlehunt is coming up. I can solve a Sudoku puzzle in under 5 minutes (at least, I've done it a few times...I average 8-10).  Anyway, I've been training, so it should be fun :-)

Anson and I are planning on seeing Pan's Labrynth at some point. We were going to go this weekend, but kept putting it off. Hopefully next weekend will work out.  It's hard because we both get so busy!

In case you wanted to see...<you can't tell in these photos, but it's still snowing>

Our big, happy wall =-) 

I attempted to get a shot of all the snowflakes (hanging from ceiling and on walls), the tree, and the stockings...unfortunately, the flash takes some of the magic out of it.

This is the scary bear. I tried everything to make it sing and nothing worked...until I took this picture! Craziness...

Phone calls. Ugh.

I need to call the tile people. They put the wrong color grout in the wrong bathrooms so they need to come and fix it. They've become a little frustrating to work with. This is the 3rd time they have to come out and work on the tile and it is the BAZILLLIONTH time I have to call them.  They keep forgetting they need to fix it. Hopefully with the holidays being over, they will be a bit more organized.

I need to call UW to check on the status of my application. They sent me a letter right before Christmas saying they were still waiting for some of my transcripts to arrive. Hopefully, they have gotten there by now, but if not I am going to need to call around and make sure those are in the mail.

I need to call the eye doctors and set up a "field of vision" test. I have really good eyesight (15/20 and 20/20) but they're a little worried because my optic nerves are not identical. They don't think it's anything to worry about, but they are going to do some extra tests just in case.

I'm pretty excited because my laptop arrives tomorrow! Anson bought me a laptop for my birthday and I am SO HAPPY! My current computer has been slowly losing function (it's 80 something in human years).  Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to play with the website and stuff after I get the new computer set up (including new pictures). I'm also supposed to work on the website for my classroom (which I'll post a link to when I'm done with it). We still haven't figured out the password for it though...hopefully soon...

I'm excited for my bday too. I will be the BIG 25! That's a landmark year, right? My friends are taking me out to dinner on Thursday to Claimjumpers. We always end up at Claimjumpers, don't ask me why. Maybe it's because one appitizer can feed 4 of us (their portions are HUGE). 

What else can we talk about? Oh yeah...New Years! We had a party here and it was pretty fun.  A bunch of people came over and I got to decorate the house. I have some pictures of the decorations, but it really doesn't do justice to what it looked like. We had 4 foot tall inflatable decorations, snowflakes on the ceiling, a "happy holidays" message taking up a whole wall, and a possessed talking bear.  I can explain the bear. I bought it because I thought it would surely bug Anson (in a cute, funny way).  It is 3 feet tall and supposed to sing "Little Drummer Boy." The only problem is the directions didn't tell you how to make it sing. I tried squeezing it, turning it upside down, punching it, tickling it, throwing it...everything! Well, I finally gave up and figured I had bought a dud. Before our party I was taking pictures and all of the sudden the thing lights up and starts singing (one of the cheek lights was down around the chin and only half of it's jaw moved because of all the punching....but singing, nonetheless). It turns out that the flash from the camera makes it sing. I'm not sure why anyone would design something like that, but there it is!

Alright, I think I might be able to sleep now, so off I go! :-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

More coming soon (when I'm more awake)...

The Princesses of Pedagogy at the starting line (except for Gigi and Chloe, they were up closer because they actually ran).

One hour and three minutes later, we crossed the finish line!!!

This is Irfaan eating something. Is he enjoying it? Is he gagging? I'll let YOU be the judge :-)

Today I got our Christmas tree and set it up.  WOOHOO! The best part about it is this....it....is....<dramatic pause> SNOWING!!!!!!!  I tried to take pics of the snow but I couldn't quite get a good shot.  It's starting to stick though, so I might get a good one later. Pajamas inside out tonight. I'm hoping for a snow day tomorrow!

We're trying some new recipes this year (Tuscan Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin Cheesecake with a gingersnap crust, etc). We'll have to see if everyone likes it...

=-)

Sheri, Mandy, Stephanie, and I all went to this cute little seafood place for lunch. Yum!

Walking around campus...most of my pictures were fuzzy, sorry!

Sheri and I at Skylark before the John Goodlad presentation.

Mandy and Stephanie sitting across from us at Sklark...a cozy little restaurant =-)

Sheri and Paul =-)

Chris and Kacee deciding how to carve their pumpkin.

Chris carving the teardrop on his sad, sad pumpkin!

Guest Bathroom above, Master Bath below =-)

Yep, I am working on my grad school application! It is slow-going. I just got an email back from UW about one of their programs and they have, once again, referred me to someone else they think will be more knowledgable.  Hopefully I'll get this straigtened out soon...it's pretty stressful!

Homicide is GREAT! We are almost done with Season 4 now and I'm going to have to go hunting around shops for Season 5. I'm excited to see your pictures and hear your stories (Mom Horton)!  Anson's a huge fan of Pembleton, but I like Bayliss myself. 

Mary- Yes, Brandon was in an episode. More specifically, he was in pictures that were in an episode. I haven't seen them yet though...

I'm teaching 2 lesssons tomorrow and am getting a peer review.  I'll be working with a reading group and teaching a whole class lesson on "retelling." Should be fun! =-)

Also, this week I start my PE class. I will be going from my practicum tomorrow to my gym class in a Seattle Elementary School.  I hear we are going to be playing chase games and jumping rope....AHHH!

Our plumber came today and he was FANTASTIC! I recommend him to everyone in the area that needs a plumber.  His name is Noel and he's with All Pro Plumbing (number upon request).  He's fast and he charges hundreds of dollars less than anyone else. Anyway, we now have no wall between our two bathtubs/bathrooms. It's a little crazy, but it should be fixed by late next week. In the meantime, I'll be using the gym shower =-)

It's getting late and I'm still up playing with my cellphone. Anson got a new phone, so I got his old audiovox. I'm working on giving people customized ringtones. It's fun finding songs for people =-)

Anson and I have been watching Homicide episodes. We've bought seasons 1-3. It was a pretty good show =-) I know a couple people that did some of the episodes, so I'm hoping I'll catch their little cameos. There was one episode with Robin Williams and Jake Gyllenhal...Jake Gyllenhal was SO YOUNG I didn't recognize him. It was crazy!

http://www.google.com/literacy/

We went to see "Wicked" this past weekend. It was AWESOME! I love the music in that play.  They changed the plot quite a bit from the book, but I still liked it. I recommend the book to everyone....Gregory Maguire is a great author! I own all his books and love them all (except "Lost"...that was sucktastic). My dad has my copy of Wicked, so you east-coasters should feel free to steal it from him. He's not reading it. Yes, I'm sure.

I'm currently reading "A Long Way Down" by Nicolas Hornby. It's really good so far.  I'm about 1/3 of the way through, so I should be done in a month or so =-)  I'm a slow recreational reader because I do so much reading for school. I'm reading "A handbook of assessments" at the moment. I need to read a professional book this quarter, so I'm thinking about "Take the bully by the horns" by Sam Horn. I really enjoyed "Tongue Fu" by her. It's a great book for anyone who has to deal with people (particularly in a customer-servicey way). Anyway, enough about reading!

I got my GRE scores back yesterday. They were okay. I don't feel like elaborating too much. Maybe with Leila. She's taken it so she'll know what I'm talking about =-)

My professor recommended we talk to "people" about grades this week.  By "people," she means anyone that is not in the education field =-)  Anyway, I thought I'd post some stuff and see if people respond (comments and/or emails are encouraged).  Basically, I'd love to know what you think about getting a "C" in a class.  What does that mean?  (Anyone heard of a "gentlemen's C"?)  How do you feel about it?

And, since I like posting pictures I'm going to search through my files and find a good one.  Hmmm....I like this one because Kira is cute! And because Angie's wearing pearls with a t-shirt =-)

And, since the page looks bare without pictures, here are some more pictures from the 3 day!\

This is one section of camp the first evening =-)

This sign was posted at one of the pit stops every day...cute, eh?

This guy was in one of the honeybuckets at the lunch stop of the last day. Scared the beejeezes out of people!

This was actually pretty funny (and fortunately, I just missed it).  While leaving one of the pit stops on the last day, I was shocked when I suddenly heard screaming behind me. I turned around to see exactly what you see in that picture....the sprinklers went off right in front of all the honeybuckets! People got soaked...it was funny =-)

I had my last day at work on Friday...I'll miss those kiddos. But, I start in a first grade classroom tomorrow...AHHH!!!

Here's a couple quick pics of the 3 day (just some random ones). I think I've talked to most people about it, so if I haven't feel free to ask some questions =-)

 Day One: A Sign in Marymoor Park (truly inspiring =-)

Day One: Walking the Sammamish River Trail...look at all of us go! WOOHOO!

Day One: Rest stop in Kirkland =-)

At camp in the evening:  These people who helped direct traffic for us had some fun with their motorcycles =-)

I have more pics...I'll post them if anyone is interested!

Off I go.... <walk walk walk>

Eric walked 12 miles with me yesterday for training. AHH! My walk is next weekend....less than a week away!!!

We saw Snakes on a Plane last night. It was exactly as good as I expected it to be =-)

Today's walk was a little more interesting. We walked from the U-District through Fremont (finally got a good look at the troll!) and into a Starbucks in Ballard...and back (of course!). It was fun! It's definitely much easier walking with someone than walking alone =-)

15 DAYS TO GO!!!

Anyway, I took my test. I think I did okay...we'll find out in early September!  Which, by the way, is when I will be taking the GRE. CRAZY!

I like being married...my hubby is awesome =-)

More pictures, eh?  I'm not sure I've taken any recently....except for Camp Rachel, but those are all on my boss's computer. Oh wait! Here's a picture of the tile we're thinking of putting in our bathroom =-)

 Nevermind...the "add image" button isn't working! More pictures later....

Countdown to PRAXIS II exam:

12 Days

Everyone loves to get mail - especially when it's a personal note from a friend or loved one. Tell your friends and family that they can send you personal greetings while you are on the Breast Cancer 3-Day. Ask them to mail their letters of encouragement, no later than two weeks prior to the 3-Day to:

Breast Cancer 3-Day Camp Post Office - Seattle
Attn: Participant Name
1200 W. 35th Ave Suite #360
Chicago, IL  60609

We will deliver the letters to the 3-Day, where they will be available for pick-up at the 3-Day Camp Post Office.

Important Notes:

• All letters must be postmarked no later than 2 weeks out from the event.
• The 3-Day location and the participant name MUST be clearly marked in the address
• No boxes/packages; envelopes only!
• Letters will not be mailed to participants after the event. Any unclaimed letters will be disposed of.

You know what's hard and painful to do? De-tile a bathroom wall. 

You know who the cheapest tiling people are? Home Depot Professionals...they don't charge over $80 an hour!

You know what happens when there's a leak behind your wall? The wall gets soft.

You know what happens when you don't know the wall is soft and you go to break the tile with a hammer? Your arm goes through the wall.

One of the exams, the WEST-E/Praxis II, is for teaching certification. It tests my general knowledge in all of the content areas I am trying to be certified to teach. The only one that really worries me is the social studies and history section. I've been told that people do the worst on that section (in general) and I haven't taken a history class in a long, long time.  The other exam would be the GRE and that would be for admission into a master's program.  I've got to get studying!

Also, this is my last year of undergraduate education....WOOHOO! I will graduate next spring and, hopefully, take a much needed vacation. I'm sure after student teaching 1st grade, I will need one!  Besides, I already have over 200 credits...how many more can it possibly take to get my bachelor's degree?

And Pirates of the Caribbean was AWESOME! Eric is just trying to rain on my parade =-)

Anson and I are desperately trying to get someone to mow our lawn.  It's reached an insane height and I think our neighbors are beginning to hate us!

I have been a little lax in my training for the 3day, so I'm going to be working on that a lot the next few weeks. Only 7 weeks to go!

I have just registered for my WEST-E or PRAXIS II exam. I'm taking it August 5th and have a lot of studying to do before then.  I'm a little nervous, so I'm hoping to get a study group together at least once a week until then.  I'm also planning on registering for my GREs soon....AHHHHHH!

Other than that, I've just been working and doing school stuff. I'm taking a great class right now on supportive learning environments.  It's great fun!

Maybe it would help if people asked questions. Then I'd know what to post more often =-)

Oh yeah...Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was AWESOME!

It's over 90 degrees out there...hot hot hot!!! I'm hoping the heat will kill the grass in the front yard. That way, I won't have to worry about finding someone to mow it =-)

Along with that, I just finished my first session of Camp Rachel. It went pretty well =-) There wasn't much crying or anything (yeah!), but I was EXHAUSTED by the end of it. Just a few more weeks until I have another one!

Finals week is here!!! I have my math final tomorrow night and then I will finally be done with this quarter. For some reason, my classes this quarter have seemed particularly tedious.  I enrolled for a few extra special ed courses this summer and they're online so I will get so spend more time at home =-)  I'm also working on studying for my PRAXIS (WEST-E) exam and my GREs. I'm considering going for my masters or PhD right out of school, but we'll see how I feel about that in the fall =-)

I am still training for the 3-day (though not as hard as I'd like to be). I'm really going to have to step that up over the next few months...AHH! It's going to be a lot of fun (I hope)!

Taylor won American Idol! Just goes to prove that the cute girl doesn't always win =-)

Boy: Hey dad, who were Jesus' girlfriends?

Dad: Well, Jesus didn't really have girlfriends...

Boy: Yeah he did! I saw it on "True Hollywood Story"

=-)

Some things that are not overrated are:

Sun tan lotion

Stretching

=-)

(more recent pictures of baby to be posted soon...hopefully)

Just in case anyone needed some proof....  =-)

We watched "American Psycho 2" the other night...it was nowhere near as good as the original.  Maybe we'll go see Slither this weekend...maybe =-)

Happy Easter everyone!

Not too much else has happened. I met the class of 5th graders I will be teaching this quarter and they seem wonderful (of course!).  Anson and I went to play Halo with some friends this weekend. It was the shortest 4.5 hours I've had in a long time ;-)

I had fun watching "Muppets from Space" and "Ghostbusters" at Eric's house last night. I never thought I'd be able to convince a group of grown men to watch "Muppets from Space," but it turns out that it's not really that hard. I think it's because the muppets are just so darn cool =-)

Thanks to the following wonderful people who have made donations to the Breast Cancer 3-day!

On March 27th I start classes again.  I will be taking the second section of Mathematics Methods, Art Methods, TESL (teaching English as a second language), and a science practicum (no clue which grade yet).  Should be fun!

I started training today so that I will be able to do the 3-day walk for breast cancer in August. It's 60 miles!!!  I think I can do it though =-)  I walked 6.5 miles today. So, I just have to walk about 14 more miles than that a day to be ready...eep! :-P

I took my math methods final last night. It wasn't too bad...I think I probably got a "B" on the final (which means an "A" in the class).  But, I'll have to wait until next quarter to find out what I actually got on the exam.

I also taught a lesson yesterday. I was observed by one of my professors, Jeff. He's really nice so I had nothing to worry about. I'm teaching in front of the principal on Thursday...that I'm worried about!

Anyway, I'm off to work. It's my first day back after having a couple weeks off...should be interesting!

Today I discovered that I like Better than Ezra...who knew? =-)

Went out with the gang to Claimjumpers today. It was fun (although, I was bummed Sheri couldn't make it).  It always puts me in a good mood to get to chat about teaching with people =-)

Beta's trying to convince me to play pictionary =-)

Maybe I'll go see a movie this week and tell everyone about it =-) I have some vacation time this week. I only have one day of work and school. Woohoo! I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with my free time yet. Hopefully hit the gym, but probably just sleep a lot.

Not too much else to mention. My practicum is going well (I think...ya never know).  Still no set plans for Valentine's day. Any suggestions?

Oh hey...I think Eric made it so I can post pictures! Let's try it =-)

The Superbowl was tons of fun! GO STEELERS! <sorry seahawks!>  I have to admit though, the refs for that game made some pretty bad calls.  It really should have been a closer game than that...

Hopefully I'll have pictures up soon!

Other gems in the book:

Ever wonder how trains hear? Through their engineers, naturally!

A turkey is a lot like a ghost when it's a-gobblin.

And in case you were wondering...

The difference between a cat and a comma is that a cat has its claw at the end of its paws, and a comma has its pause at the end of a clause.

I'm teaching on Thursday...woohoo! My teacher wants me to be observed by the principal...eep!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1329362959167995041

They are in no particular order...

I met with a handyman today to discuss work on our bathroom. There is a leak behind the wall whenever I turn the shower on. So, we need someone to break down the wall, fix the plumbing problem, and put the wall back together again...easier said then done.  The guy today thought I should just "redo" both of the upstairs bathrooms since they both share the wall that has the leak in it.  Sigh...unbelievably expensive. Anyway, I'll probably be spending the next few weeks trying to figure out what the cheapest way to fix this is. 

Still haven't had much of a chance to investigate online photo sharing. I've checked out a few, but I don't really like any of them that much. I think I'll stick with working on the webpage I have set up. I'll probably update it this weekend, so keep a lookout for new pictures =-)

School is going well. My math methods class is pretty interesting (although the teacher is completely monotone...go figure).  It makes me wonder if I'd enjoy teaching middle school math.  Maybe I'll try it out next quarter...

I really enjoy my science methods class. We basically do experiments the whole time =-)  Plus, the professor likes science so much that I'm not sure the class will ever seem "dull" or "boring".  I can only hope that I have as much passion as he does after so many years of teaching.  Lastly I have my communication class. It is AMAZING. I love my professor. I've had him for a few classes before, but this is the last time I am scheduled to have a class with him. It's kind of a bummer...he's very good at his job and he really takes the time to make the information relevant.

That's all I have to report for now =-)

Anson's vacation is coming to an end. We're trying to finish season 4 of "24" before he goes back to work. We have eight hours left and it is the last day of his vacation...we'll see =-)

I started school again. Looks like my classes are going to be pretty fun. I meet the 3rd grade teacher I am working with tomorrow...woohoo!

In other news, Anson and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary!  He bought me a beautiful crystal rose (I will hopefully be posting pictures later this week...using the digital camera he bought me for Christmas =-)

I'm going to see the Producers this afternoon. Hopefully it will be as good as the remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Should be fun =-)

I went on the 12 Ks of Christmast walk yesterday (but I only did 5K...and people doing 12K beat me back to the starting line). It was a lot of fun! Maybe I can convince some people to do it with me next year.

My grades have been posted! We can all relax now...I did okay =-)

* The Seattle "One Night Count" in October 2004 identified 8300+ homeless individuals in the Greater Seattle area, several hundred of these persons were grouped in families

* A Gonzaga University study determined that at anytime available statistics on homeless families should be multiplied by at least 8, because 80% of homeless families are staying unoffically with family and friends.

Anyway, that's all I've found so far...

Rent was a pretty good movie. I'm looking forward to seeing Narnia though. Hopefully we'll get to see it this weekend =-)

I did the Diva Dash last week. It is a 5K walk to help create programs to promote physical and emotional health in young girls. It was a lot of fun and I'm thinking I might enjoy doing some more events like this in the future =-)

HAPPY SNOW DAY EVERYONE!

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. The deep fried turkey turned out pretty good (although I didn't have any) and the apple pie turned out to be the favorite of the 5 (I didn't have any of that either).  We played a bunch of board games, which is always fun. I'm pretty sure I lost almost all of them, now that I think about it =-)

We've been playing a lot of XBOX 360 lately. It's pretty cool =-)

We're looking to go back to Maryland sometime in December. Should be fun!  We just have to figure out how we're going to get there and back without spending a fortune....

Harry Potter opens this weekend!  Woohoo! I'm pretty excited about that. Also, I just got back from Sally's event and I got some nice pieces of jewelery.  It was a lot of fun.

Anyway, lots of stuff to do tomorrow. I need to clean the house and get some homework done...wish me luck!

I probably shouldn't be up this late, but I've been doing homework (I don't think anyone who reads this has homework anymore...sigh).

Anyway, I'm off to bed! I hope everyone had a good weekend =-)

Things I'm excited about: Sally's trunk show on Wednesday, Harry Potter movie, Thanksgiving

Things I'm not-so-excited about: psychology class, PE quiz, my car making funny noises

Hope everyone else is having a good week!

Clint, Eric, Anson, Jim, and I all went to Daniel's for dinner to celebrate Clint's visit. It was very, very yummy!

Clint is coming! Clint is coming! Clint is coming! FOR PUZZLEHUNT! I'm excited =-)

School is blah.  But, everything else is going pretty well.  I like my job. I love my husband. I guess I'd have to say the glass is 2/3 full =-P

On a happier note, tomorrow is Halloween! YEAH!

We had a party tonight =-) Played some boardgames...ate some cake.

We also carved pumpkins today. We used patterns to make cool ones. Anson was successful. I was not :( But, we still have 4 more pumpkins to carve, so maybe tomorrow I will do a better job!  If I do, maybe I'll take some pictures =-)

We went to a brunch in Kirkland on Sunday. It was at a place called Hectors. It was pretty yummy =-P

Anson and I saw Doom this weekend. It was pretty awful. To make up for it, we are going to see Serenity tonight. Yeah!

That's all the update I have for now. Lots of stuff going on, but I have to leave for work...

I also went to Mandy's pumpkin party. It was a ton of fun!  Lots of pumpkin carving, pumpkin food, etc.  I have some pictures but I can't post them until I finish my roll of film...so, it might be a while.

The next four weeks are going to be VERY busy, so I might not be able to post very often. I have a lot of research projects, exams, and presentations...not to mention it's the holiday season =-) WOOHOO!

Unfortunately, I'm going to miss most of the pumpkin party this weekend =-(  Maybe I can catch some late-night pumpkin carving after I finish babysitting.

We went to Azteca for lunch. It was pretty good, although I think I still like Oobas better (their fajitas are SO good!).  We also got some cold stone and chatted (I feel kind of funny saying all this considering Neil is going to be reading it...a bit of a repeat for him =-)

Anyway, not much else happened. I babysat. fun fun fun. I want to go see the moving Waiting tomorrow, but we'll see if I'm feeling up to it. I have a quiz on Monday. People in my cohot have been telling me it's hard to study for, so I should probably spend some time on it instead of the movie =-) That's life!

Btw, people should bug Eric to post more often!  We need to know what's going on!!