Thanksgiving Visitors

This year for Thanksgiving my brother and my parents flew into town. So far, the visit has been wonderful. The weather has been exquisite (with the exception of yesterday when it rained for the first time since May).

On Thanksgiving day my mom cooked our traditional dinner which was, of course, incredible. On Black Friday we ventured to a few stores to buy a couple of items. Then, we went and ate San Diego's famous fish tacos and took a hike at Torrey Pines State Park. Yesterday, my mom helped me decorate my house for Christmas and then her childhood best friend came in from LA for the evening and we took her to Old Town for some authentic Mexican food. Today, my brother's friend from LA is coming into town... but it sounds like the boys are going to go to a bar and watch football all day (BORING), so my mom and I have to come up with a plan.

All in all, I am shocked and dismayed that today is already Sunday and my vacation is basically over. Boo! My family will drop me off at work tomorrow and keep my car to venture into San Diego one last time before they go, and then they will head out of here on Tuesday.

It certainly does seem like these visits always go by way too quickly!

The only thing that could have made this Thanksgiving better would be if my sister, her hubby, and my nephew could have been here, too.

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends.

A Day Gone Wrong... Very, Very Wrong

Today was one of those days....

It all began when Mike's alarm went off before 7:00 am. I screamed at him, and he supposedly turned it off. However, he must have just hit snooze because sooner than later that blasted thing went off again. This time, I figured if I wanted something done right I had to do it myself, so I scrambled over him to turn that thing off. In an unfortunate turn of events, though, in my haphazardness to turn off that wretched alarm clock (that had absolutely no business going off on a Saturday morning!), I kind of sort of kneed him in a place that guys don't appreciate very much. He awoke with a howl. After that, any notion I had of getting just a little bit more sleep went right down the drain. He was up, and sadly, so was I.

But that was okay, because I had big plans for the day. My brother and parents are arriving in just a few short days, so I was prepared for Operation Get the House Ready for Company to commence.

I really did have the greatest intentions. In fact, if I hadn't stepped on that metal dog brush I'm sure I would be kicking back right now, patting myself on the back and enjoying the fruits of my labor.

I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself, though, so let me backtrack a bit.

First on my to-do list was to bathe and groom my dogs.

My husky went first. I bathed him, I brushed him, and when I was finished with both of those tasks I set down the metal dog brush and moved to get up from my position on the bathroom floor. However, I lost my balance and my left foot came down with all of my body weight behind it, right on top of that metal dog brush which to my dismay was laying teeth up.

The way I knew it was really bad was that I didn't feel any pain. All I was able to register was the sickening feeling of the dog brush coming loose from its placement inside of my foot. That's when I started to scream for Mike.

A small bit of chaos ensued. Michael had a little difficulty locating first aid supplies, I felt as though I was going to faint or throw up or both. I don't do too well with blood, even when it's mine.

Then Michael asked me when I last had a tetanus shot.

umm... high school?

Off to Urgent Care we went.

Oh what a day it was. And that, my friends, is why life is so darn interesting. Never in a million years could I ever have imagined that I would impale myself with a dog brush and spend the entirety of my day in Urgent Care.

Good Times.

New Moon

I am super, wild, crazy excited about watching the movie New Moon.

Last year when Twilight came out, I was equally excited, and a couple of my Twihard friends and I got tickets to the movie on opening night.

We realized that there would be a lot of people there, but I don't think any of us was prepared for what we walked into that night.

First of all, there were the lines waiting to get into the theater. Lines full of teenaged girls and their mothers. Lines that travelled up and down and around. Did I mention I hate lines?

When we finally got into the theater, we thought all was right with the world. We were soooo excited. And then, the movie started... and the girls in the theater started screaming. Or, to be completely accurate, it was more like high-pitched shrieks. Every time Edward Cullen entered the picture they shrieked. This lasted the entire movie.

It was annoying, to say the least.

But, that wasn't even the worst thing. I know I teach young teens, so I shouldn't play into the stereotypes about them, however.... I'm just going to go ahead and say it. Teenagers can often be rather obnoxious when in large groups with other teenagers.

The teenage girls sitting behind us not only talked throughout the entire movie, but one of them also kicked the back of my friend's seat throughout the majority of the movie. No look we gave was dirty enough to halt the socializing or the seat kicking. Finally, my other friend turned around, grabbed the girl's foot, and gave her a death look. The kicking ceased; the chatting did not.

It was by far the most unpleasant moviegoing experience I have ever had.

So, though I am beyond excited to see New Moon, I am rather wary about when and where I will see it.

I will keep you posted.

Validation

As some of you know, I recently celebrated my 28th birthday.

It has been a wonderful birthday. If your birthday is the day you are supposed to feel loved and appreciated, mine certainly did not let me down.

I have received many wonderful gifts, cards, and notes from family, friends, and students; but, today I received the very best birthday gift by far. It is a heart-felt letter from one of my 8th grade students. I cherish it. And, as I told Michael after he finished reading it.. if I continue teaching after this year.. it will be because of this letter.
(I tried to scan it and post it, but it came out too small to be read... so, alas, I must type it).

Mrs. (Sorry),
Happy (belated) birthday! I hope you the best 28th year of your precious life. You've made it this far, doing great things for your students and others around you. Your presence is joy to me, your smile a brilliant star beaming on my world.

Thank you for being an awesome teacher who not only teaches from the book and guidelines, but a teacher who teaches from a loving heart. One who tries to get to know and listen to us as much as you educate. Thank you for dedicating your time and hardwork to get us ready for the future. Thank you for the attention you give to each of us, your students, who look up to you with respect.

For me, you are more than an 8th grade teacher. You are my guide in my teenage (a very, very hard time in life) time, and hopefully, a teacher who lasts a lifetime. Your kindness and care for me and your other students are strongly appreciated and treasured. And even though I know that you believe we should see you only as an authority figure, as a teacher, you have done so much more for us than what a teacher needs to. Your patience and effort to make learning fun in class makes me eager to hear and know what you have to tell us. Thank you!

Cherish life and don't stop smiling, Mrs. (Sorry).

With hugs and smiles,
Joyce

I did my best to type the letter out exactly as it was written... errors included. Because, I would like to point out that this particular student is an English as a second language student. She moved to the United States from the Phillipines 2 years ago. Before she came to the U.S. she spoke, wrote, and read in Tagalog in school and with her family all the time. She and a friend of hers would speak and write in English to each other for fun. She is basically a self-taught English speaker and an amazing young woman.

I feel blessed to have a thoughtful student like her who is so appreciative of me and who is able and willing to express that appreciation so beautifully.

Highs and Lows

As a teacher, I've found that it's very common for me to have HIGH highs and LOW lows. There are also many of those inbetween moments, too; it's just that those moments don't seem to stick with me as much.

Sometimes an entire day is good or bad. But, usually, it's moment to moment.

For instance, today I had an extremely successful religion class with my 8th graders. It was one of those times where everything just seemed to click into place and all of the students were engaged and part of it. We were having a class discussion and they were eager and interested and it was soooo awesome! It's moments like those that I get it - the whole being a teacher thing. I was flying high during that discussion. Nothing could bring me down.

That is....
Until the next class period when I gave the students in my 5/6 language arts class the wrong words for their vocabulary test. I gave them the Unit 5 words instead of Unit 4. And, doncha know, they let me get through the whole list of words before one brave student raised his hand and said, "Umm.. Mrs. (Sorry), I don't think these are our words."

Sure enough.

In that case, there was nothing I could do but laugh.
And I also gave them a little bit of extra study time as apology for scaring the living crap out of them. I'm sure they were all having secret anxiety attacks thinking they had made the mistake and studied the wrong words.

I heard a few of them chuckle quietly and make comments like, "Oh, that Mrs. (Sorry)." I don't think any of them were too surprised. Sadly, it's not out of character for me to do that kind of thing.

Yeah.
High highs and Low lows, that's me.

Happy Veterans Day

This is quite a week...three big days in a row.

First the Marine Corps Birthday, today Veterans Day, and tomorrow? My birthday.

I took an extra moment today to reflect on what this day means. I have a wall in my house that is covered with pictures of our family members who were in the military.

My maternal grandfather served in the Army during WWII, my dad went to Vietnam as a Corpsman, Michael's paternal grandfather served in the Navy, Michael's dad retired as a Rear Admiral in the Navy.

And, of course, there's Michael.

On this day I am very proud to be part of two families who have given so much to this country.

Happy Veterans Day.

*Note: I've never thought about the fact that there is no apostrophe in Veterans Day until today. I decided to look it up and came up with this info: "Veterans Day does not include an apostrophe but does include an "s" at the end of "veterans" because it is not a day that "belongs" to veterans, it is a day for honoring all veterans". Interesting. FYI, I found this information Here.

Marine Corps Birthday Ball 2009

Let me begin by saying, "Happy Birthday, Marine Corps!"

The above picture is, you guessed it, Mike and me at the ball. I used some cool special effects and am thinking this photo might be a framer.

While I'm on the topic of the photo, take a look at my Marine's medals. They're lookin' good, wouldn't you say? The one that caught the most attention last night was the bronze star... it's the star on the far left.. and it actually looks more like gold than bronze. just saying.

In any case, straight to the point, the ball was a BLAST. It did, however, start out a bit rocky. It had nothing to do with the shoes (I managed to make it through the night without a single episode of tripping on my dress) and it had nothing to do with the hair (I managed something that I deemed acceptable). It had to do with the fact that Mike was in the sword detail.

In other words, he was part of the ceremony and wasn't able to sit with me for the first 30 minutes of the ball. Which was supposed to be okay, because our friends were at our table, so I was supposed to have company. But, they were late.

While Mike prepared for his sword detail, I took a seat at the table... by myself... for a good 10 minutes. Awkward. No one else from our table was there! Finally, one of the marines showed up and told me the ball had been delayed by 50 minutes due to some traffic situation.

So, I headed for the bar. And that's when things started looking up. Our friends arrived, and we had 50 minutes to drink and socialize before the ball began. Translation: everyone had a nice buzz going before heading in for the opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony. The first 30 minutes of the ball the Marine Corps impresses you with their incredible sense of honor and discipline. They remind you that you're not just there to dress up, socialize, look pretty, and have fun. You're there to remember the Marine Corps and all it stands for. They make you proud to be part of something bigger than yourself. It's quite awesome.

And, if I may say so myself, my Marine did an impressive job marching in, standing at attention, and providing sword detail for the guests of honor. Sadly, I have no pictures as my table was near the back of the room, and I couldn't get a good shot of him. So, you're just going to have to take my word for it.

After we ate the delectable food and had a few photo ops in our pretty clothes, we took to the casino. (Oh, did I mention the ball was at a local casino?) Some of the girls and I changed clothes, but the boys opted to stay in uniform. We had so much fun that we stayed out until 2 am! The boys had so much fun that they stayed out until 4 am.

Fun indeed.