Song and Dance

As I mentioned before, I have a class of 32 8th graders. I'll be frank- I don't like 8th graders. (In case you couldn't tell from the last post.) I know I should group them all together like that, but seriously? Have you been stuck in a room with 32 of them all waiting for you to fail miserably so they can laugh at you? I don't know WHAT happens to them over the summer, but it's not good. They go from being squirmy, hyper, full-of-life 7th graders to "I'm too cool for that", attitude, apathetic 8th graders.

I'm sure not all 8th graders are apathetic- just most of my 32. About a 1/4 of my class is already burned out on school and it's only the second week! Yikes! I try to tell myself these kids are not mean spirited; that it is NOT their goal to see me fail...I try to remind myself that these kids are just victims of peer pressure and are too afraid to answer or do their work because they don't want to look like a nerd in front of their peers.

I knew this year would be a challenge when the teachers started making comments on my role sheet. This is the first year I've EVER strategically planned out where each child would sit ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! I mean, it took me an hour to do the seating chart! And these kids kind of scare me too... They are the kind of kids that could turn on you at any moment. I don't know if I have enough allies in there to make it!

So far they have been okay. Except that they are totally silent. I am trying to count my blessings that they are quiet, but when I say silent I mean- NO one will answer any questions or participate! They suck the life right out of me. I am totally drained by the end of 8th period! Teaching them anything will be an interesting challenge this year! I will be doing a LOT of praying!

Back to work

So, I'm home all summer with nothing to do, and I have a lot to write about... School starts, and I am very busy, and I can't think of anything to write about... How's that? The first week of school is always so boring to me. I just want my kids to be trained already and to drive into the standards. Here's some things I've observed this last week:

The difference between 7th and 8th graders (oh and there are many!):
7th- scared and timid the first week of school.
8th-cool with attitude the first week ( I can't wait till their first week of high school!)

7th- get quiet when you ask them to stop talking
8th- argue that they weren't talking when you ask them to stop talking

7th- laugh at your stupid jokes
8th- roll their eyes at your stupid jokes

7th- turn their homework in a day early
8th- are finishing their homework as you collect it

I could go on and on... I have two classes of 7th grade advanced and one class of 32 8th grade regular kids. This is going to be an interesting year. I feel almost like I need to be two totally different teachers for the two groups. I can be excited and animated with the 7th graders, but I have to be subdued and boring with my 8th graders. Not to mention- this class of 8th graders is different than any other class I've ever had. It may take a while to get a feel for them.

One week down and many more to go. I've had to weekend to relax and recover my voice. I think I'm ready for another week. Maybe I'll have more to write about this week.

Ice Cream and the First Day of School

Summer is officially over for us. We had our students today. I thought I was ready... I thought I was relaxed and calm, and then I saw the kids. Hundreds of them! And I decided I wanted to go back to summer vacation. This is my 8th year teaching, and the first year I didn't have the teacher nightmares before school started. I was also very calm and composed today- no nerves at all. So, that's all it takes- 8 years and it all goes away. What a relief!

I hate the first day of school because it's so boring (and if I'm bored, imagine how bored the kids are- I'm the one talking!), and because you have to train them all over again. That is one thing you forget over the summer- that they still have to be trained. You'd think after 6/7 years in school, these kids would know how to act in a classroom, but you still have to train them every year. While I may not like the first day of school, I do love 7th graders on the first day. They are so sweet and terrified. This time of the year is what I call "The Honeymoon". Unfortunately, it will come to an end, but I will enjoy the kids while it lasts.

As the school year begins, I reflect on my summer. I had a good summer full of exciting adventures. I visited 10 states, was gone for 4 weeks, and read 10 books. Can't get better than that?! Soon afternoon naps and leisure time will be replaced with grading and planning.

On a side note, Aaron and I have found a LOVE for La Rosa Ice Cream Bars. They are ice like popsicles and are SO good! I'm addicted to them! And... they are unique to Bakersfield! How cool is that. What I love about them is that they are filling and most are only 70 calories! Can't beat that.

Update on the Ants

This morning we got up and the ants were gone! There was still some corn meal left, but no more ants! They are either 1. dead or 2. feasting on their food and sleeping. Let's hope it's the first. So, I think we've found a new, pure ant remedy! Yippee!

the ants came marching two by two...

We have ants! It all started Sunday night when we noticed a trail of ants devouring the cat's food. We followed the trail to our pantry. We had to empty everything out of our pantry, throw away anything that wasn't sealed tight ,and kill the ants. But these ants would NOT be defeated... by morning, they were back, and back again in the afternoon. After fighting them for two days, we had no other choice, we decided to feed them, and let them be our pets.

Okay, not totally, but we are feeding them. We've heard that if you put corn meal out, the ants will take it back to their home and then eat it. When they do, their bodies can not digest it, and they will die. We didn't know what else to do, so we tried it. Last night, we put corn meal out, and this morning, they were back. This time there were even more of them! The good news is that they are in fact going for the corn meal. They have been working so hard all day long on taking the food back to their home. All day long! How long is this going to take? Two days? Three days? A week?! Maybe we shouldn't have put that much corn meal out. What I'm wondering is what will they do when they run out of corn meal? Will they go for other food in our house? Will they try to eat our cats? Or will they go back to their home and eat up?

I've had some time to watch these little worker ants and ponder about them. I wonder if the women folk are back at the colony setting the table for the feast the men folk are preparing for them. Maybe the Queen Ant is bossing the little worker ants around, telling them not to stop working. Some of the not-so-faithful worker ants have stopped to enjoy the corn meal, and they've died.

Well let's hope this works, because it is KILLING me to just sit by and let these ants parade around my home! I guess if it doesn't work, we've just supplied them with enough food to last until next Spring. We'll see....

It's a Small World After All

So, yesterday I happened to be doing a lot of driving around, and I kept hearing this voice on the radio that sounded familiar. It was the voice of a "Cari Kates", but it sounded like the voice of Caryann Wheeler from Wayland. So, when I got home I did some investigative work. I googled her, and got WBU's website. I read an article about Caryann, known as Cari Kates on the radio. It stated that she was a radio DJ in Birmingham in 2007. I put two and two together and discovered I was right, it WAS Caryann Wheeler! I found her email through Footprints, sent her a message, and heard back from her almost immediately! How cool was that?

It just so happens that she is a DJ on our local Christian radio station and lives an hour from here. She moved here only two weeks ago. She happened to have an event she was working in Bakersfield today, so I met up with her after she was finished. How exciting is that? I had a great time getting to catch up on the past 8 years! I can't believe it's been that long! It's so nice to get to see people from Wayland, especially so far from Texas. What a nice surprise!

School Supplies

Ahh.. school supplies! Call me a nerd, but I LOVE school supplies. My favorite thing to do is walk up and down the school supply aisles at Walmart and Target! I love it! Even though I don't technically "NEED" to buy binders, pencils, locker organizers, I still get excited to see all that's out there. Last weekend Aaron and I made our way to Walmart to get some supplies for our classrooms. They had notebooks for 05 cents by the way! I was so excited to walk around just looking at everything. I think Aaron tired a little before me...

There's something about the new school year I just love! New group of kids, the idea that they may be a great group of kids, new rules, new assignments, new ways to set up a room, new decorations... I guess that's why I became a teacher... Does anyone else feel this way about school supplies, or is it just me?

I officially go back to work next Wednesday, and I am so ready! I think that must be a sign that I love my job! I don't know if it's because this is the longest I've ever been at one school, or that I'm not switching classrooms therefore don't have to redecorate, or that I already know what I'm teaching for the year, but I am really excited and ready to get started! I feel the need to buy some new clothes... you know school clothes!

Meet the new neighbors

So, we've had a vacant house to the side of us for a few months now, when suddenly we saw people moving in. We were so excited to have new neighbors and even more excited when we met them! They are a couple (Corey and Jen!) from Missouri, and they're Christians, and they have a dog named Molly! How exciting is that??! So, when Aaron met Corey, he decided to introduce him to our Molly. Well, our dogs NEVER miss an opportunity to embarrass us, so when they opened the gate to the backyard, Molly just kept walking out the gate to the front yard. By the time Aaron got out there, Molly had made her way INTO our new neighbor's house! (No this is NOT this first time she's ran into a neighbor's house!) After a few minutes, she finally came out and Aaron was able to catch her.

If that's not embarrassing enough... Sunday night we were washing cars out front with the dogs (on a leash, of course!). Well, our new neighbors came out with their Molly to introduce us, and it was Charley's turn to embarrass up. Charley, a dog who couldn't care less about other dogs every other day, was really excited about their Molly. (I think he thought it was a cat) He started jumping and barking- which he NEVER does. Aaron took him off his leash and walked him over to meet Molly. Well, since Charley's lost weight he has gotten stronger too. The result was Charley dragging Aaron while he charged Molly. Aaron finally caught up to him and was able to stop him, but not before their Molly ran away with her tail between her legs! What a way to make a great first impression! Thanks Molly and Charley!

Myrtle Beach

After our long drive across country, we rested. Boy did it feel good to sleep in! We were staying at Merissa's in-laws house. We had this nice room above their garage to ourselves. It was so quiet in there, I could have slept all day.. but we had shopping to do! After lunch, we headed to the outlets (one of two in the Myrtle Beach Area!). We had a great time shopping. The next day, we did some more shopping as well. At night, we went to dinner at some great restaurants! Here are some pictures from the trip:my feet in the Atlantic Ocean!

Michelle will be living with Merissa and her family in little River- about 30 minutes from Myrtle beach- for a while. Michelle works in Little River too. I thought South Carolina was really neat. I loved the Myrtle Beach area, and the church people seem really nice. I think Michelle will be great there.

While I enjoyed my time there, I was really happy to be home. The South is a different place- even different than Texas (although, Texas is in a league of its own!). I don't think I could fit in there. I think this trip showed me how much I love California. When I stepped off the plane in Los Angeles and it was 68 degrees with very little humidity, I thought I was in Heaven! I'm glad to be home now.

Jen and Michelle's Wild Cross Country Adventure- Day Four

The final day of our trip. We could smell the ocean air- well almost. We left Knoxville early in the morning, so we would arrive in Myrtle Beach before dark. I think Michelle was anxious to get there. Me?- I could have spent a few more days in the car- just kidding!

The drive from Knoxville to Ashville, NC was the most beautiful stretch of road ever! It goes between the Appalachians and the Great Smokey Mountains. I was in awe every moment! Had I not been driving, I would have been snapping pictures every minute- which I tried to do while driving until I scared Michelle and had to stop. Here are some pics from the drive. They don't do it justice!

We stopped in Ashville, NC for an hour or so. They were having this Bele Chere festival (still not sure what that means) where there where concerts and arts and craft booths set up. Other than the festival, all the shops in town were closed because it was before noon on a Sunday. Ashville is a beautiful little quaint mountain town- reminded me of Durango, CO. While we were headed back to our car, we heard a band warming up. We were surprised to run into Building 429 practicing! Here's a picture of them.

I can't tell you how many times we stumbled across cool things in our trip! This was awesome! Too bad we had to leave and couldn't hear them play later on.

The rest of the drive went quickly and we made it to Myrtle Beach around 4:30pm or so. South Carolina was beautiful too with its greenness and trees everywhere. I have to say, the trees were different for me. I found it hard to drive into a town because you couldn't see what was ahead for the trees. It was nice to be at our destination. We ate a Merissa and Randy's house. We were glad to not have to wake up to an alarm clock the next morning. I was already missing Aaron. In fact, I was missing him two days ago. This may be harder than I thought.

Day Four Summary:

Miles Traveled: 413.15 miles

Hours it SHOULD have taken us: 6 hours and 55 minutes

hours it took us: we lost count along the way... maybe 9 or 10??

Jen and Michelle's Wild Cross Country Adventure- Day Three

We knew we were well over half way to Myrtle Beach by now, and that we only had 8 hours to drive today- so we were pretty excited. Today was the day we had been waiting for, the day that made the first two gruesome days of driving worth it. Today, we were going to get to GET OUT OF THE CAR! We were sightseeing in Tennessee!

Our first stop was in Memphis, just over the border and boy was it a stop! Memphis was so cool! We started our tour with a stop at Graceland! We didn't have time to do any tours, so it was just stop, get out snap photos, and move on. Still Graceland was cool! It was beautiful!

Upon looking at a map, we noticed that Mississippi was really close. We decided to detour, 10 minutes and drive into Mississippi to make our journey through 10 states! We stopped at a Wendy's, used the restroom, got a drink, and drove back to Tennessee. Next stop, Beale Street for some BBQ! This is where it got really exciting.

Downtown Memphis is amazing! It is home to the best BBQ in the country, the home of the blues, and has so much history! All we knew coming into Memphis was that Beale Street was a cool place to see. After getting downtown, we found much more. We ate at this adorable cafe called Blue City Cafe. We also found the famous Peabody Hotel. The Hotel with the ducks!! It was so cool! after walking around for a few hours, I wanted to drive by the National Civil Rights Museum- which was the Lorraine Motel! I couldn't believe we stumbled across this! There was so much to see that we didn't have time for- I am definitely going to take a vacation there! The only bad thing was that it was SO hot! With the heat and humidity, I don't think I've ever sweat that much in my life! WOW!

Next stop: Nashville. We weren't sure what was in Nashville, except the Grand Ole Opry. We stopped at a Starbucks along the way and this nice guy told us where to find the original Grand Ole Opry. We made our way to downtown Nashville. There was so big beer fest going on, so some of the museums and such were closed. It was a neat town though. More restaurants and musicians trying to make it big, and more BBQ.

Michelle discovered that the Neely's from "Down home with the Neely's" on the Food Network have a restaurant in Nashville. We ate more BBQ for dinner. I think we spent a couple of hours in Nashville before driving on in to Knoxville. We found another great hotel, slept for very few hours again, and we were to be in South Carolina. It was a great day! We packed SO much in to one day! I will definitely go back to Tennessee one day!

Day Three Summary:

Miles Driven: 528.59

Hours it should have taken: 8 hours, 6 minutes

Hours it took us (with all our stops): 12 hours?? roughly- but it was worth it!

Jen and Michelle's Wild Cross Country Adventure- Day Two

This morning started out rough. I don't think we said two words to each other getting ready. One minute my head was hitting the pillow, the next minute, two cell phone alarms we going off loudly. Did I mention there isn't even a Starbucks in Santa Rosa to get you going? We were on our own this morning. We quickly made it to Amarillo, TX, where we both experienced sadness over not having the time to drive down to Plainview and relive old times. We could tell we were in Texas because the guy in the gas station talked with us like we were old friends (I love Texas)! This is the dragonfly Michelle tried unsuccessfully to get off her Jeep in Amarillo. We went on uneventfully to Oklahoma City, OK where we stopped for lunch. We didn't stay long- we still had 4 hours before we could stop for the night. The view in Eastern Oklahoma was much better than the deserts of AZ and NM. There were beautiful trees and lakes to look at along the way. Somewhere across the Arkansas border we stopped for gas. There were two things I was amazed at when we stopped. First, we had stopped at a full service gas station! This man was filling up our tank before we even got out of the car! It was so neat! I was tickled to death about it and asked him if I could take his picture; he agreed- I think he was even flattered- look at his stance!

We didn't know we had to tip him until John and Aaron gave us a hard time about it. So to the guy at the gas station- we are sorry... hope this was tip enough? it only took two more hours to get to Little Rock. After driving around in circles for another 30 minutes and getting lost in the ghetto, we found a wonderful Holiday Inn. We even made it there around 6pm or so. Michelle, too tired to go eat anywhere, suggested we order room service from Bennigans (which was in the hotel). I agreed. Let me tell you how it went:

Michelle: Will you call and order the food, I'm too tired.

Jennifer: sure. (I called the hotel and ordered our food after much misunderstanding- I swear I need a translator to talk to people from the south!)

When the food arrived, I paid, brought the food to Michelle's bed where she hadn't moved- and got ready to eat. Michelle realizes we didn't get forks- tells me to go get the lady

I run out of the room, but it's too late, the lady is gone. I go downstairs to the restaurant and retrieve two forks. Upon returning to the room, I see that Michelle has already eaten half the dessert we were sharing!

Michelle: I'm stuffed, I can't eat anymore of the dessert.

Jennifer: well, no you can't because that's my half that's left!

I got a nice swim in before going to sleep.

Day Two Summary:

Miles Driven: 764.57

Hours it SHOULD HAVE TAKEN: 11 hours, 20 minutes

Hours it actually took: 10 hours 30 minutes (we're doing better!)

Jen and Michelle's Wild Cross Country Trip- Day One

What would possess two ladies to stuff a jeep to the brim and drive literally across the country? Here's the backstory: Michelle (single and living in California) goes to visit her college friend Merissa in South Carolina last summer. Merissa sets her up on a date with youth minister named John. Michelle comes home. John emails Michelle. A friendship is formed. John and Michelle start talking on the phone. John comes to visit in January, fireworks go off... In February or March, Michelle sits me down in a crowded Chili's and breaks up with me.. just kidding, she tells me that she's in love, so is he, she's moving to SC this summer. April- Michelle get s job in SC teaching at a great school, June- John surprises her with a visit and proposes marriage; she accepts. July- we move Michelle to S.C. (I'm sure I am going to get in trouble for that rendition, but this is my blog, so I can tell it how I see it). I agreed to drive with Michelle to South Carolina and have one last wild adventure. Here's what happened:

Day One: The day started early, at 4AM. Michelle showed up at my house around 5:30AM after a tearful goodbye with the family, of which I refused to be a part of- someone had to be able to see to drive. After a quick stop at Starbucks, we were on the road! We knew that this would be the longest, most boring day of the whole trip. We planned it that way. Get the worst over with, and then we could enjoy the rest. We stopped in Kingman, AZ for lunch at In-N-Out, the last one along the way. Let me say that every time I stop in Kingman, there are weird people there. I think it's the desert heat that messes them up, anyway today was no different. Things were going good until after Flagstaff, AZ. My part to drive. Can I just say the drive from Flagstaff to Albuquerque is the longest drive ever! It's around 4 hours, but it's at that part in the trip where you've been sitting just a little too long and don't k now if you'll make it. I was tired, hungry, had to use the restroom, and borderline delusional! Thanks to Pat Benatar's greatest hits (and sweethearts), we were able to make it into Albuquerque, NM.

We were starving when we arrived in Albuquerque. After seeing many enticing Cracker Barrel signs along the way, we decided nothing else would do. So, after driving around for 30 minutes, calling information, and using the GPS, we finally found Cracker Barrel. Here's a picture of us at Cracker Barrel. Mind you, we'd been up for 14 hours at this point.

After fueling up on yummy breakfast food ( I think my body still felt like it should be morning), we had the energy to make it to Santa Rosa, NM. We pulled into the La Quinta around 10:30PM NM time and we crashed for a few hours- had to be up at 6AM to have another long day of driving.
Day One Summary:

Miles driven: 928.94 miles (not counting the backtracking we did in Albuquerque searching for Cracker Barrel)

Hours it SHOULD HAVE TAKEN: 13 hours and 21 minutes

Hours it actually took us: 16 hours!