Snowed in...

DOUG IS OFFICIALLY HOME! Yay!!!!

This last weekend, the east coast got quite the storm. Doug and I came home late Friday night from a Christmas party at my parents' ward and went to bed early. The next morning, we woke up with several inches of snow on the ground. That in itself would have been exciting because it was the first snow to really stick this season... But it CONTINUED to snow for the rest of the day, pretty heavily at times. I heard somewhere that we accumulated 30 inches of snow, but I personally did not measure it.

Winter Wonderland! The view when we opened the garage for the first time.

 
Saturday afternoon, they canceled school for Monday and Tuesday, so it meant that there would be no more school before winter break!! Good thing I gave my kiddos all of their homework in advance, just in case the storm was bad! ;) Church was canceled on Sunday, so we basically stayed in and hung out all day. We barely ran out of milk the day before, so everything I cooked over the weekend needed to use powdered milk. Yuck! (I grew up on the stuff, so it brought me back...) Luckily, we had plenty of TP and other essentials to get us through the big storm.

The best sledding hill in the neighborhood is right next to our house. We 

could hear kids screaming as they went down it the whole day.

I was hoping the Doug would get the day off on Monday, but when he called the hotline it was an optional vacation day or something like that which basically meant he didn't need to go in, but he would have to take a vacation day if he didn't. He wanted to use his vacation days for later, so we managed for get him out the door before the sun rises as usual. He drove regular the hour and a half to work and told me later that the roads weren't all that bad and traffic was light. A lot of people took the day off, so he was able to get more projects... which is a good thing because the newbies don't get to do interesting things very often.

Monday and Tuesday I was home alone, with not much to do. The roads are/were yuck and it takes like 3 tries to back out of the garage with the piles of snow on either side, so I opted to stay in. So far I've watched about 24 episodes of Gilmore Girls, organized all of the baby clothes that my sister gave me (just to get rid of mind you, I'm not announcing anything :P), cleaned the house, and then decided to wash the cats (never a good idea). So, basically I haven't left the house since Friday night and it is now Tuesday evening...

Darwin looking oh so thrilled after me giving him a bath and then blow drying him to make sure he didn't get too cold.

The kitties keeping me company while I organize the baby clothes.

An aerial shot of all of the Tupperware containers full of baby clothes that my sister has sent my way. I guess I'll be able to use it all one day (unless I have all boys or something...)

Back in the Routine of Things

I'm starting back into the routine of my Facebook and blog checking. It was really hard to get online for a while after Daisy's death. I'm really thankful that the holidays were right afterward because I needed time to heal.

One of my best friends that I grew up with died in a car accident the end of October. I hadn't seen her since our sophomore year in high school when she transferred to a different school, but we had reconnected through Facebook in the last year. She was teaching English in middle school and had a little boy starting kindergarten. It was really great to exchange silly little memories of us as kids. Her death was sudden and hit me pretty hard. It happened over a weekend so luckily Doug was there to comfort me as I bawled. I went to her viewing and was rocked by the reality of death for the first time in my life.

Jenn's death caused a lot of thinking on my part. I was having a hard time coping the sadness, but Doug called me with a surprise that next weekend and we adopted Daisy. Lucky and Darwin are great, but they've never really been lap cats. Daisy was an absolute joy in my life from the moment we got her. She would follow me around the house, sleep with me every night, wake me up in the middle of the night licking my face, sit in my lap as I worked, watched TV, ate dinner. She was my constant purring companion.

The day that Daisy died, I had been planning to sneak her up to see Doug in Annapolis. We decided that morning on the phone that I should just stay home because Doug was going to be home early for the Thanksgiving holiday and I would see him in three short days. My mom was in Boston at a conference and my dad and siblings were going to pick up Liza from college for the Thanksgiving holiday. They were trying to find a place to Johnny, my little brother, and I offered to take him for the day.

Johnny was upstairs on my computer and I was watching TV when I heard a board fall down in the basement. The cats are always knocking things down in the house, but I had a feeling and went to check right away. What I found when I went down the stairs was terrible. Daisy was laying on the floor with a board laying on top of her head.  She was bleeding out of her mouth and ear and was jerking violently.  Her eyes were unfocused, but she still looked afraid and in pain.  I knew that there was nothing I would be able to do, so I just picked her up and held her up to me to comfort her.  I rushed her upstairs dripping blood all over the carpet and floor until I was able to lay her in the kitchen sink and call the vet.  I remember screaming at Johnny to grab a towel while he just stood there and stared at me in shock.  Johnny held her in a towel while I drove frantically the 20 minutes to the vet.  I remember a mother and younger daughter being there holding open the door for me as I ran in.  I don't remember what I was wearing or if my hair was brushed, I just remember crying and begging them to fix her or to at least make it so that she wouldn't feel pain anymore.  They gave her pain medication immediately and then did x-rays to see if there was any hope. The x-rays confirmed what I feared I already knew... there was nothing that they could do for our little Daisy.  She had lost so much blood that it was taking them forever to even find a vein to euthanize her.  Once they did, I held her as she slipped away.

Johnny was with me the whole time helping the best he could through the panic. I felt really bad that he had to be there for the whole thing, but in the end, I'm glad that there was someone else there with me. My dad came later that night, picked up Johnny, and helped clean things up. Doug came as soon as he could the next day and came home the rest of the week instead of going to the apartment. We buried her at my parents' house the next day.

The first couple of days were hard, very hard. I had told my students all about getting Daisy and naming her. They had been asking for daily updates about her. I was terrified that they would ask me how she was doing and that I would just break down. I even met with the school's guidance counselor in the morning before school started with a system to have a student bring a note down to her if they brought up Daisy. Luckily, I was able to dodge any questions about her.

I was really saddened by the loss of Daisy, but had the most difficulty with flashbacks of the experience. My family helped out a lot by talking to me during my commute so I wouldn't have time to think about it. Luckily, with time, comes healing. I guess sometimes things in life just suck.

I hope that there is a kitty celestial kingdom (heaven) because Daisy definitely would have made it.

I took this picture the morning of the day that Daisy died. The cats don't like it when I get out of bed in the morning, so they lay on me and look all cute. Daisy always slept with me... Darwin was just being jealous.

Daisy died tonight. It really hurts. I wish Doug was here.

Crazy Cat Lady

So, I just added the picture of Daisy to my sidebar of the blog. I think I picked the third one for those of you that voted. I realized that I have now become a crazy cat lady. We were only going to be a two cat family and now we are a three cat family. We are officially outnumbered by our pets. I guess that means we need to balance it out now with more people!

Potato Soup... from SCRATCH!

So I've been trying to try some new things specifically with cooking. I got the idea to try this fun meal from a friend's blog here. She has links to other blogs with the actual recipes. I actually made this the night of Halloween, which I wouldn't recommend because it is very time intensive. We really liked the soup and it was EXCELLENT for leftovers. (I really HATE leftovers so this is quite the accomplishment.) The bread bowls weren't really worth the time, but I always find making bread so interesting (the whole 3 times that I've done it).

Recipe for the Potato Soup:

Ingredients:
-4 large baking potatoes
-2/3 cup butter
-2/3 cup flour
-6 cups milk
-3/4 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon pepper
-1 1/2 (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
(I usually add more because I love cheese)
-12 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled and divided
-4 green onions, chopped and divided
-1 (8 ounce) carton sour cream

Instructions:
Wash potatoes; prick several times with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees for one hour or until done; cool. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise; scoop out pulp and reserve. Discard shells. Use a potato masher to mash the potato so it isn't so chunky.

Melt butter in a big pot over low heat; add flour stirring until smooth. Cook one minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk; cook over medium to medium heat high; stirring constantly until thick and bubbly (at least 30 minutes).

Stir in potato, salt, pepper, 1 cup cheese (I just do a big handful which is probably more than one cup), 1/2 cup bacon, and 2 tablespoons green onions. Cook until heated.

Stir in sour cream; cook just until heated (don't boil). Sprinkle servings with remaining cheese, bacon and onion and enjoy!


Recipe for Pumpkin Shaped Bread Bowls:

Ingredients:
-1/4 cup warm water
-1 cup tepid water
-1 teaspoon kosher salt
-1 package yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
-3 1/2 cups unbleached flour
-1 beaten egg white

Instructions:
Pour the yeast in the 1/4 cup of warm water. Let it sit for a few minutes to activate the yeast. Once the top is foamy with bubbles, pour the yeast mixture into your mixing bowl. Also add the other cup of water and the salt. Mix this together. Add some drops of food coloring to color the water a nice orange color. I used liquid food coloring and put about 4 drops of red and 6 drops of yellow.

Next, attach the dough hook to the mixer. Add the flour a little bit at a time. Keep kneading the dough for another 2 minutes after all the flour is in. You’ll see a soft, slightly sticky dough.

Spray a large bowl with oil. Place dough into the oiled bowl and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Place in a warm place and let rise for 1 hour. It should double in size.

Flour your surface and rolling pin. Punch down the dough and remove it from the bowl. Remove a small handful of dough and add some green food coloring to it. Knead the dough to mix the color as thoroughly as possible and set aside. Knead the rest of your orange dough. Separate into 5 small round balls (for kid sized bread bowls) or make 4 round balls for a larger bread bowl.

Set your round dough balls on a greased cookie sheet. Take the green dough and make 4 or 5 small stems by making little round balls. Place the stems on the top and middle of your orange dough balls. Cover it again with oiled plastic wrap and let it rise for another 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. When the dough is ready, beat the egg white and brush the top of the dough.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. When you tap it, it should sound hollow. Allow it to cool before slicing. Slice the top of the pumpkin bowl off and hollow out the inside of the pumpkin to make a hole for your soup to sit in. Now, fill with your favorite soup!

Here are some pictures from my cooking experience!






I've actually made the potato soup again since we tried it the first time. I got a potato masher instead of bending up my wire whisk again. I'm trying to find an easier way to mash up the potatoes. It takes an hour in the oven before I can even start skinning and mashing. Does anyone know if you can do this process in the microwave faster without losing quality?

Halloween?!?

Wait, wasn't that two weeks ago?? I'm a little behind on my blogging. I posted some pictures of Daisy yesterday and it got me back into the blogging spirit I guess.

So for Halloween, I was once again the Princess Pea from the book, The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo who happens to be one of my favorite children's book authors! There were some pretty awesome and creative costumes in my class. Here is a collage I made in Picasa with some of my favorites + a class picture!




Doug and I also carved pumpkins and did all of that jazz, which reminds me that I probably should collect the water soaked, probably half rotten pumpkins from our front door. Doug carved the spider one on the left and I carved the amazingly terrified pumpkins on the right. No amazing creativity on our part, we just taped the patterns from the little 99 cent book we bought on clearance last year.

New Addition!

Doug's dad was visiting this last weekend and they decided to go to visit grandma for the weekend. While they were out on a walk, they saw a man walking his dog being followed by a kitten. When Doug and his dad remarked on how funny it was that the cat followed him while he walked the dog, the man told him that he didn't know who the cat belonged to. It turns out that the county/city where grandma lives has a rule that if you feed an animal it becomes yours. So... no one was feeding this poor kitten and it was running alongside a busy road. Doug and his dad decided to take it home to save it from being roadkill. I got a call Sunday afternoon... and well the rest is history.

Doug named her Daisy. The name isn't sticking with me quite yet, but I think it will in time. She's very dainty and she purrs as soon as you pick her up. Her purr is so loud that you can hear it across the room easily. When she chases the blanket monster, (a favorite activity for all of our cats) she actually bites the blanket and gets fuzz in her mouth. She's really quite cute!

Darwin and Lucky took some time to get used to her. Lucky has found a permanent hiding place in the laundry room and Darwin and Daisy have been running around the house like crazies all evening. I followed them around for a while with my camera trying to get some shots where they weren't all blurry.

Which one should I put in my sidebar as a picture of Daisy?

TP Pet Peeve

I found this picture on Google images while searching for pictures of arrays for a fourth grade computer lab activity that I am cooking up. It made me chuckle and reminded me of full out wars that we used to have at my house growing up. I found it on some site called treehugger.com. I guess that it was on this site because it helps conserve toilet paper or something like that.

People putting the toilet paper on the wrong way has always been a pet peeve of mine. I'm thinking about posting this picture above the toilet paper roll at my parents house just to prove a point. I know I'm weird, but does anyone else feel this way??


Have you ever had an argument over the direction of the toilet paper?

Rainy Day Car Shopping

With my car suddenly going kaput, we needed another vehicle to get me to work ASAP. Luckily, the art teacher at my school lives like 3 houses down from us so it was easy for me to hitch a ride with her to and from work all week. I usually stay quite a bit later than her and arrive a little earlier than her so it made it an interesting week, but I was EXTREMELY grateful to have a way to get to work.

Doug had been thinking about trading in his 2004 Civic Hybrid because it wasn't as good for his new commute that involves more high speed interstate travel rather than the stop and go traffic of his last commute. My commute IS stop and go traffic so we decided get a new car for him to drive and I would drive his "old" one.

It's never the best condition to have to buy a car when you ABSOLUTELY need it, but this was our situation. Friday after school was out, Doug picked me up and we started right away visiting dealerships all around the DC metro area. We were looking for a sedan/coupe that cost under $12K, had around 50K miles, was newer than a 2004, and was preferably a Honda or Toyota. (Doug also wanted to get a manual transmission...) We knew that it would be quite the challenge to find such a vehicle, but we weren't going to settle unless such a car did not exist.

It's been pouring down a depressing, very cold, yucky rain since Thursday, so we were the only people out looking for cars. We visited some pretty interesting places from hits that we found on autotrader.com and cars.com. Whenever we got there, the cars that we were interested in were either gone already or hadn't been taken care of. We didn't even get the chance to haggle on a car because they all stunk. They even sat us down to talk to The Manager who asked us, "What can we do to get you into a car today?" It was pretty annoying and exhausting at the same time. We left the last used car place at 9:00pm Friday night and headed home pretty discouraged.

We started early this morning hoping to have better luck at a Honda Certified Dealership up in Maryland where my parents had bought their Odyssey a few years back. We were a little skeptical because these places usually run more expensive. When we arrived, they actually had already sold the two cars that we had come to see, but we decided to stick around and test drive some anyways.

We test drove a 2007 Honda Accord SE first, but Doug wanted to try out a 5 speed. We got into another 2007 Accord that was a 5 speed, but it had some burn marks in the back seat and was more expensive. The last car we test drove was a very low mileage 2008 Honda Civic SI Coupe (2 door) that was a 5 speed. Doug LOVED driving it. I liked the first Accord, but Doug really liked the Civic. Both had their sell points...

The salesman that we worked with was much better than the others that we had encountered the previous day. He was up front with us and supported our decisions. He didn't try to push us up on the price tag by showing us cars outside of our preferred range. He was just a nice guy AND he listened. He left us for a while so we could discuss the decision privately.

I felt really bad as the wife to have to ground Doug, aka Mr. Practical, with practicality because I wanted him to be able to get the fun car. Kids or no kids, Doug drags around a bunch of stuff in his car and it would be hard to get to the back seat without 4 doors. In the end, Doug agreed with me and we decided that the 2007 Accord would be the best buy for our family.

Well, here's our new car... well, at least it's new to us.


2007 Honda Accord SE

RIP 1999 Honda Accord

Honda Accord, 10 years of age with 180k miles, died October 13, 2009, of transmission complications.

Honda joined our small family of two in the early spring of 2004 from the Brent Brown Dealership in Provo, Utah. Bought in the early days of our relationship, you were our first big financial decision made together. We toiled several hours after finding you wondering if you would be the right one for our family. After many tears, prayers, and a co-signing from my dad, you were finally ours.

The night before we took you home, we sat at the dealership in your leather seats and contemplated the big decision we were making. We were worried about the monthly car/insurance payments we would need to make on top of our rent and tuition payments as poor college students. But, we were also tickled at the thought of taking you home and gaining independence from The Bus. No more grocery trips in the roommate's car, no more bus rides to the movie theater for a date, and maybe.. just maybe, a trip to Squaw Peak to "see the stars of Provo".

We've been through good times and bad times... speeding tickets, cross country road trips (5 to be exact), and many many hours of commuting. I've spent many hours at your wheel thinking about life in general. Many important life changing decisions have been made as I have pondered at your wheel while driving the 45 minutes to and from work every day. You have been a good car.

Honda is survived by owners Doug and Jenny and a younger, more spry Honda Civic Hybrid sibling that hopefully has a lot more life in it.

Honda, you will be missed... but remembered fondly around tax season as we submit your donation to a charitable foundation as a tax deduction.

Columbus Day Weekend

Doug and I basically did nothing this long Columbus Day weekend, but it was nice to just have an extended amount of time together. Saturday, we met my parents at Five Guys to celebrate Doug's graduating from school. We saw a lot of friends that we haven't seen in a while that are in my parents' stake and it was nice to catch up. It was also nice to have a big double patty bacon cheeseburger (on my dad's tab) as a graduation present for Doug. Yes, Doug graduated from his training for work... finally! He was second in his class and I'm really proud of him for all of his hard work! Unfortunately for me, this doesn't quite mean that he's finished with his apartment. He now has some on the job training until December... but the end is in sight.

As you've read in previous blog posts, I've been having some car troubles. Last night Doug was loading up HIS car so he would be ready the next morning to leave for work. When he was unlocking the car, he happened to notice that the locks were kind of slow coming up. He got in his car to start it and his battery was DEAD. We jumped it with my car and took a late trip to Walmart in his car to buy a battery and installed it right there in the parking lot. (Walmart parking lots at night are scary places.) I had called my parents earlier to let them know that we might need a car if it was a more serious issue, but it turned out that it was only the battery. As I was hanging up the phone with them, I let them know that they might want to be on alert if something went wrong in the morning and we needed a last minute extra vehicle.

Fast forward to this morning... Doug car started up without an issue and he was on his way at around 5:45am. I was ready and out the door by about 6:15am. My car started up just fine and I headed out of the development. Just as I was pulling out of the development, my car decided to rev the engine, but not actually move forward. (I'm pretty sure this has something to do with the transmission.) The guy behind me, decided to start honking his horn at me and made me feel really bad. I was able to pull out of the neighborhood and turn around in the Squircle to head back. (I wrote about the Squircle here.) I pulled my car into the garage and called my family to have Chris take me to work. I was not going to take chances and be on the side of the road again.

My little brother, once again, needed to take me to work. I got there only 5 minutes after my students were in the door and had a nice day for the most part. The art teacher at my school lives a couple houses down from me and was willing to bring me home today. We left right at 3:00pm, yes that is about 5 hours earlier than I usually leave! All of my teammates were standing in the hallway in absolute shock as I walked out the building! :) I got a name and number of a mechanic in my town from my home teacher who happens to be located RIGHT next to my neighborhood. I was able to drop it off around 4:00pm and walk the short distance home. I'm just waiting on the call to see what in the heck is wrong with my car.

I'm hoping it's not too expensive of a fix!

Teaching Moment

Today in reading we were doing an author's purpose sort. The students were to cut out words (like advertisement, cookbook, science fiction, encyclopedia, etc.) and sort them into the author's purpose categories telling if the author is trying to persuade, inform, or entertain.

I came upon one student doing his sort and noticed that he had the word "Fantasy" in the persuade section. I had a feeling that he was unsure of the meaning of fantasy so I asked him. He responded, 

"A fantasy is when you dream about a girl."

I kept a straight face and informed him that I was looking for something more like, "Fantasy is a fictional genre." or "Harry Potter is an example of fantasy." He quickly was able to place it under the entertain section and didn't think anything of it.

Where do they learn this stuff?

My Car's Prognosis

I got my Check Engine light checked at AutoZone. It's either the O2 Sensor or the catalytic converter. My car is running okay right now and I shouldn't end up broken down on the side of the road again. Off to Annapolis to see Doug for the weekend!

REALLY???

So I'm driving home after work today and Doug calls while I'm in route. He asks me the usual question, "How was your day?" I responded with a slightly unusual answer saying that it was just great BECAUSE no weird lights turned on in my car AND I had no sudden power losses that caused me to be stranded on the side of the road for over an hour. We continued our conversation in which I mentioned that I was excited that my car was working well again so I would be able to drive up to see him this weekend

AND then...
My check engine light turned on.
The mechanic that I went to yesterday told me that if ANYTHING happened that I could come right on over and they would look at it. I remembered from yesterday that he said I could pick up the car as late as 8:30pm. Well my check engine light turned on at 8:22pm and I was about 3 miles away from the shop at the time, so I decided that I would try to see if anyone was still around.

I walk in the store part of the gas station and the clerk informs me that NO ONE is in the garage. I didn't give up though because flashing warning lights are not ignored by me anymore, NO not after yesterday. I basically told the clerk (a high school teenager) that my car wasn't leaving the parking lot until I had a better idea as to what was happening with my car. I WAS NOT GOING TO END UP BROKEN DOWN ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AGAIN. He actually called the manager, Roger, at home. He chats with him for a little bit and then Roger asks for my name. He somehow remembered me from yesterday and had the clerk pass over the phone to me.

He talked me through it and basically told me that the check engine light really didn't have anything to do with the alternator issues that I was having yesterday. The check engine light or "Malfunction Indicator Light" as it calls it in my car's handbook thingy has to do with the emissions system and I SHOULD be able to get home. He was kind, calmed me down, explained things to me, and was extremely understanding. He was not at all annoyed that I was talking to him at his home at almost 9 o'clock at night. This is not my regular mechanic. I met him for the first time yesterday.

I called home after that and was going to have my parents take an extra car to my house tonight so I wouldn't need to drive my car to work tomorrow. Basically, they would've had to drive 2 cars the 45 minutes to my house and then back. They were busy and I didn't want to inconvenience them.

I am driving my car to work tomorrow WITH the "Malfunction Indicator Light" on.

Pray for me.

The Day After...

When I am not talking (which isn't too often) I like to think and reflect on my days. More often then not, this happens during my long commute in the morning and and afternoon. Also being home and having no one to talk to also has increased my personal reflection time.

These are my reflections on my car breaking down...

Things I am Thankful For:
-I left home at 6:30am instead of 6:00am, so the sun was rising and people could see my car (and not crash into me!) even when the flashers stopped working.
-I have family nearby that can rescue me AND loan me an extra car if I ever need it.
-I have a cell phone.
-Two people from my school stopped to help and comfort.
-Two strangers actually turned around and stopped to ask if I needed help.
-The police officer was very kind and understanding, even though he had just worked the last 12 hours and was on his way home.
-I had specialty classes in the morning, so I didn't have to take time for a sub.
-When I got to school, my students were extremely understanding and were good for me on my not so good day.
-My car was fixed and ready for me to pick up at the end of the school day.
-A coworker took me over to pick up my car so I didn't have to ask my family to drive an hour to get me from work at the end of the day.
-It was only the alternator and not something worse.
-My battery was still good so I didn't have to buy a new one.
-The repairman was friendly and even recognized me when I came to pick up my car.

Things I Learned:
-If there is a warning light going off in your car and the repair people tell you that it can wait, it can't.
-It costs $85 to tow a car 1 mile.
-You should have a plan in place if your car breaks down. Have a tow company in mind and their number in your car or programmed into your phone.
-Police Officers are still ON DUTY even when they are driving home.
-A radar gun makes a sound for the officer as you increase or decrease your speed.
-Radar guns can get your speed from far away.
-Police are people too. :)
-People should slow way down when driving by policemen directing traffic. He kept on having to yell at them to "Slow Down!" and some people almost clipped him or his car. I thought people showed more respect to policemen.

Car Troubles

Friday last week, the emergency break light, the battery light, and the door lights all started flashing randomly flashing whenever I accelerated my car. My car didn't sound or run any differently, so I decided to ask about it when I was getting my oil changed on Saturday. The repairmen exchanged glances after my description and told me that it would take a while and that they might not even be able to get to it that day. I decided that I would schedule an appointment during the week and not while Doug was home with me on the weekend.

Fast forward to this morning as I am going to work...

I get in my car to go to work this morning. A couple miles down the road, the red lights all turned off and the yellow ABS light turned on. I checked my brakes to see if there was any change at all which there was none and decided that I would TRY to just make it to work. A few more miles down the road, all of the instrument panel went off. This included my headlights, the speedometer, you name it GONE. The car was still running so I called Doug in a panic and was going to stop at the gas station just down the road to figure out what was happening. The road that I drive to work on every day is bordered by farms and nothing else. It doesn't even have a shoulder to pull off onto...

I was on the phone with Doug (and only one hill away from the gas station) when my car completely lost ALL power and started losing speed. I had to react quickly and pull off the road onto the non-existent shoulder and hope that my car didn't roll into the ditch. My car was still partially on the road and causing quite the traffic snarl, so I called 911 to report that my vehicle was causing a hazard. I decided to get out of my car for fear that someone coming around the blind corner behind me would smash into the car.

Within a few minutes, one of my co-workers happened to be driving the same route and pulled over to see if I was okay. Another co-worker happened to stop a few minutes after that. We stood there and waited for the police/tow truck to come. While I was standing there, two other police cars drove by me and a nice man in a pickup truck also stopped and offered to help me if I had a flat tire. The third police car I saw, actually stopped and asked if I needed help. I let him know that I had called 911 and that they were sending someone. He told me that they didn't send him, but that he could help. He parked his car right behind mine, set up flares, and started conducting traffic around my car.

There were accidents on both main routes leading to where I was stranded so it took over an hour for the tow truck to get there. The police officer offered to drive me to the gas station with the tow truck following. There was no room in the front seat, so yes, I got a ride in the BACK of a police car without handcuffs. There wasn't much leg room because of the big barricade, but the leather interior was nice.

The short distance took a while because traffic was so bad so we talked for a while. It turns out that he was getting off a 7pm-7am shift and was on his way home to WV when he saw me there. It was interesting to talk to a police officer for an extended period of time because well he seemed HUMAN. I know this shouldn't be a surprise! I usually imagine cops sitting in their cars all day chuckling evilly and waiting to nab speeders. While we were waiting in traffic, he was getting frustrated with all of the cars speeding by, so he turned on his radar gun and I got to see one work close up. It was pretty interesting. I didn't realize how far away it can actually get your speed. (Note to self: try not to speed so much.)

We got to the gas station and my little brother arrived right after us. I had called home earlier to have my little brother (who is jobless and trying to save for a mission) come and take me to school. The mechanic at the little gas station was really nice and knew right away that it was the alternator. The tow was $85 for the less than 1 mile that my car was taken, but that guy was nice too. Luckily my class had computer lab and music first thing in the morning so my class was basically covered until I got to school at 8:45 an hour and 15 minutes after school started. In writing today, we practiced our letter writing format and wrote to the Loudoun County Police to thank them for what they do.

My car was ready right after school so a coworker dropped me off on her way home. I'm home safe and $400 lighter, but with a new alternator and a new appreciation for police officers.


My FIRST time calling 911! ...and hopefully my last.

 

Driving It Into the Ground

So this was the blog entry I had cued up to post this afternoon... I had reason to be nervous, as you'll read in my next blog entry.

My car is getting up there in the years. It is '99 Honda Accord with about 180,000 miles on it. A couple years ago Doug and I were trying to decide if we wanted to sell my car and buy a new one or keep it and "run it into the ground." We feel kind of sentimental about my car because it was our first big purchase together when we were dating. It has been a good car for the most part, so there was really no reason to get rid of it.

Last week on Friday on the way to work, some lights went off on the dashboard as I was accelerating. When I accelerate the emergency brake light, the battery light, and the door lights all flash on. It is rather weird. When it happened the first time, I turned off the air and the radio and just listened to my car. It's not driving ANY differently and its not making any weird sounds, but these lights are lighting up whenever I accelerate.

Doug drove my car over the weekend and determined that it started at about 2,000rpms. A couple days later, the lights are now turning on at about 1,500rpms.

I went to my car shop on Saturday to get my oil changed. Whenever I told them what was happening, the two guys there just gave each other this look and then told me that it would probably take a while to figure out and asked me if I wanted to spend my Saturday hanging out in their lobby. Of course, my answer was no because my weekend time with Doug is precious and I went home. I mean, my car isn't driving any differently, right?

So, now I'm starting to get a little nervous. It is just some lights randomly going off or am I going to be stuck on the side of the road driving to or from work.

SO here is what it looks like, I may or may not have been driving while I took this picture...

A Turtle in Our Yard!

Things have been slow lately... literally!

Doug came home HOME this weekend. He got home a little earlier than me and mowed the lawn. YAY! I have been mowing the lawn since May, so it was nice to get a little break. I was walking through the yard later putting back the rain gutters when I saw something moving in the grass. I got a little closer and saw that it was a turtle! We never found turtles at my house growing up (even though we did have a pet turtle named Turd for a while from one of my dad's fishing trips... but that's another story).


Anyways, I ran and got Doug and he picked it up and said it smelled bad. I put it in some water and tried to feed it grass and mushrooms and all kinds of other things that I'm sure turtles don't actually eat, but I wanted to see it do something. I got tired of it after about 5 minutes, took a few pictures of it, and then set it loose.


He was a nice turtle. I named him Mr. Turtle. He was very small. Is anyone out there a turtle expert that can identify this one? My husband thought that he might be a snapping turtle???

Workaholic

Dear 3 Blog Readers,

I have not blogged in a week because I've been busy, but not really. My life consists of waking up every morning at 5am, driving to work, working in my classroom until 7:30pm, driving home, feeding fish and cats, eating Ramen noodles and/or cereal for dinner, and then curling up with a good book to go to bed by 10pm. This has been my exact schedule for 2 weeks. The sad thing is, it doesn't bother me. Doug isn't home and I like to be productive. The only unfortunate thing is that I feel like a loser.

Sincerely,

Loser Teacher in need of a reason to come home at night

First Day of School

Yippee!

Yesterday was the first day of school. This year I am starting my fourth year of teaching. Can you believe it?? I was so antsy the night before that I packed my lunch several hours early and laid out my outfit for the next day. You'd think I would've gotten over this stuff by now.

Anyways, I got to meet all 21 of my students for the next school year and I know all of their names already. (I don't think that I had the names down that quickly years 1-3.) Lucky for me, everything went very smoothly. All of my students were at the same school last year, so I didn't need to do any extra tours or introductions. The kids are always really good the first day. As we stand at the door greeting the children in the morning, we always comment on how quiet the classrooms are the first day knowing that this is the last day/week that they will ever be that good again. The honeymoon stage is always nice. It varies every year how long it lasts. This year I am hoping to get at least a full week.

Turns out that we're watching the Obama speech this Thursday as a school. Parents were sent home a note today and have the option of opting their child out of the speech for an alternate activity. I'm fine about the content of the speech, but I don't like that I don't really have the choice whether or not I'm going to show it. I had a cool math activity planned for that block. I hope this is beneficial to my students. I'll let you know how it goes.

Obama Back to School Speech

I personally am not a fan of Obama's politics, but after doing a quick reading of his planned speech for tomorrow, I am pleasantly surprised. I will not be showing the speech in my classroom on the first day because of scheduling conflicts, but I do believe that it is mostly a good message.


First off, let me say that I DO NOT believe in using the classroom to push political agenda. I try very hard as an educator to be an unbiased as possible in presenting material to my students. They are at a young and impressionable age and it is not my job or the government's job to push political ideas on them. I witnessed some interesting political conversation among my students this last school year that makes it obvious to me that they pick up a lot of ideas from their parents.

I'm sure that people can read into the speech and find faults, but my first reading found it to be a good message. I personally think that it is a little long for the elementary school level and my fourth graders probably wouldn't pay attention to the whole thing. Basically what I got from it is that you need to work hard in school. Kids see Obama as a movie star because he's on TV so much. I have seen it in my own classroom, so I hope he does inspire some kids to work a little harder. I appreciated this one part of his speech particularly because I am a "no excuses" kind of girl.

"But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying. "

Personally as an educator of young children, I would've had him take this next part out because kids don't really care what he's given speeches about. They'll have a hard enough time listening to the whole speech. I think this is where they would phase out.

"Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve."

Yada, yada, yada. Blah, blah, blah..

I know that this has turned into quite the issue even causing my school district to release this statement. Obama isn't the first president to come up with the idea of addressing school children. The first George Bush did it in 1991 and received the same type of criticism from Democrats. I don't believe it's a terrible thing as a president to talk to schoolchildren as long as there isn't a hidden political agenda.

Here is a link to the speech if you are interested in reading the whole thing.

Gift Card Date (Yes, ANOTHER one!)

As a teacher, I am very lucky to have the classroom parents I do. They usually like to get me gift cards as thank you's during the school year. Today, Doug and I got to have another gift card date before the school year starts. I blogged about my last gift card date here.

We started the morning at a fancy pants place in Ashburn called the Amenity Day Spa. Let me start this off by saying that Doug and I are NOT fancy people... The people there were like sipping champagne and talking about rich people stuff. It cost $65 per person for a 30 minute massage! (but I was using a gift card so I guess it didn't matter) We came in and they started us in the "relaxation room" with a drink of our choice and tons of forms with weird questions to fill out. The lady took us on a mini tour and showed us the changing rooms where we were given robes and fancy slippers to change into.

When we came back to the relaxation room to wait for the masseuses, Doug announced to me that he felt ridiculous and uncomfortable in the robe. :) They gave us our massages in the same room. Doug had a female masseuse and I had a male one which I thought it was weird that they didn't do it the opposite way, but we both enjoyed the massages. It was a 30 minute deep tissue massage which actually hurt a bit, but afterward it felt really good. The whole robe thing was a little uncomfortable, but I guess I could get used to it if I had $150 bucks to blow when I wanted a massage.

As we were leaving I told Doug, "He massaged my butt!" He just laughed at me and let me know that they do that. It was quite the surprise to me! I kind of wished that he would've warned me going in.

After the spa we went to the Dulles Town Center where I was finally able to get the Aeropostale people to remove the ink tags off the jeans I bought there almost 2 weeks ago. Not a store that I usually shop at, but they had a buy one get one free sale a little while ago and I had a coupon on top of that. I had to dig through all of the size ZEROS to find a 10 that fit me. Size 0, who wears that? When I joked with the cashier about all of the size zeros, he informed me that their usual clientele are younger (and smaller too, I guess.)

I hate that there are certain stores for certain types of people and you don't know it until you go in and a salesperson intercepts you and kindly "hints" to you that this ISN'T the store for you. (I tend to get reminders like this frequently.)

Anyways, we also got to stop by Borders for me to trade a duplicate book that I accidentally bought. We found this great Calvin & Hobbes Sunday Edition book for Doug that actually has the rough sketches next to the final ones which is pretty cool. Last time I was there and asked for my teacher discount the lady flat out asked me how old I was. When I showed her my badge, she told me that she thought I was 15. Yeah, I may be younger, but 15??


On the way out, we stopped by a Kirtland store and actually bought a painting to go in the breakfast nook of the kitchen. This is quite the big accomplishment for me because I am such an indecisive person. They had a HUGE sale going on and there was a picture that I really liked a while ago, but passed up on because of the price. We got it for $20! (and on gift cards too!) It should go with the Americana kitchen theme that I hope to do, but haven't actually bought anything for yet.


We then headed over to Red Lobster where Doug got the Neverending Shrimp Platter and I got some Lobster Pizza. We love the cheesy biscuits there! I have to recommend the lobster pizza. I don't really like seafood all that much, but Doug loves it, so we try to go a fish place every once in a while. The lobster pizza was only an appetizer which made it cheap, it was big, and sooo good!


What a fun day! Doug said that one thing that he'll miss once I stop teaching (besides the paycheck) is the fun gift card dates that we get to go. Sorry for the long blog post. I was so excited about our day.. our usual Saturdays consist of going to my parents house to hang out all day and watch TV.

Mister & Mrs. Tang

...is what Doug and I go by in the WAMAS group, a group for saltwater aquarium enthusiasts in the DC Area.

Doug started up a saltwater aquarium about a year ago. Saltwater aquariums take a lot of work and unfortunately Doug has not been able to do a lot of the upkeep because he is not living at home right now. For the last few months, I have been taking care of the tank and am proud to say that I haven't killed anything... that PBJ coral was on it's way out already.

Anyways, the tank is pretty dang awesome and I realized that I haven't actually put any pictures of it on my blog. So, here are some pictures of our tank. It's not just Doug's anymore. I now feel a little bit more ownership now that I'm the one taking care of it.

I hadn't looked through the pictures that we took all the way from the beginning. It's pretty crazy how far our tank has come!

This is the tank when we first got it and put in live rock.

A couple months later with our first corals.

This is basically what the tank looks like today.

This is Mele Mele, our yellow tang. He is Doug's inspiration for starting a saltwater tank.

This is one of our two tiger-banded sea stars. They only come out at night, but they're pretty cool.

This is Manie, the Mandarin. It's hard to take a picture of him because he flutters 

around like a hummingbird. This is one of the hardest fish to keep and we haven't killed it yet!

This is a picture of one of our two frogspawn corals.

FYI Dental Insurance

I blogged a while ago about worries that I had with dental costs here. I've now completed "My Treatment Plan" which included 2 crowns and 3 fillings. Yuck!

I had already paid $800 for my treatment and my plan covers 80% of the stuff I was getting done, so according to some calculations I did it looked like I might actually get a little money back. Last week, I received a $1,300 bill from my dentist. Yeah, I was surprised too.

I started by calling my dentist who let me know that the claim for one of my crowns had been denied. Denied? Um, how can your insurance deny something that they say that they cover?

I learned a bit more about the insurance process today while I was on the phone and I can now answer that question. So if you go or will ever go to the dentist, this might be some helpful information. I know it all seems very basic, but I really did think that my insurance would cover the procedures that it listed on my policy. Silly me!

Each time a dentist submits a claim they need to attach x-rays and such showing why they needed to do 'X' treatment. The insurance company then has their consultants look over this information and decide whether or not the procedure was indeed "necessary" before they will cover it. If the consultant deems it UNnecessary, then the patient (me in this case) will need to pay the full cost of the treatment.

This all sounds VERY reasonable and I understand why they need to go through this process because dental insurance companies don't want to pad the pockets of dentists that are doing unnecessary procedures. When I talked to my insurance company on the phone, they told me that it was good practice to have any procedure over $250 pre-approved with them before actually getting it done. Once again, excellent information, but 4 months too late.

Now what do I do? Well, the insurance company told me that I need to have my dentist office file an appeal explaining why my treatment was indeed necessary. You can file up to two appeals. If the appeal is granted then the insurance will cover it. If not... well I guess I will have a big unexpected bill coming up.

So hopefully this will be a positive learning experience and my claim will be covered. What can you learn from this and why am I sharing? Make sure that you get any procedure pre-approved EVEN if your policy says that it is covered.

Lesson learned.

Squircle

The town that I live in was planned by a bunch of nincompoops who really like stop signs and wasting time. In the very center of town, we have what the townspeople “affectionately” call the squircle. The squircle is a big intersection thingy that functions like a round-a-bout, but its a... square. This last week, Doug’s grandma was dropping off the girls at the house and was unable to get to our place because of this confusing squircle. I remember the first few times we drove through it to come watch the house being built and I had no clue where we were going. I’m just now starting to understand how it works and we’ve lived in our house now for well over a year and I drive through it every day.

Anyways, this squircle has really been annoying me lately. I’m taking a slightly different route to school in the morning that takes me the annoying way through the squircle. I took a screen shot of the squircle in Google Maps and showed the route that I have been taking. Taking this route involves going through 3 stop signs in under a minute and you only end up about 100 feet front where you started.


I know this is a lame post, but I using up all of my brain power to set up my classroom. Unfortunately I lost the motivation today to actually get any real work done, so now I'm blogging.

Word Verification

I was feeling daring and took word verification off of my blog a couple months ago because I thought it was a pain. For those of you that forget what word verification is it that little thing that has you type in the weird letters to verify if you're human and not a computer when you leave comments. I haven't gotten any "comment spam", but I don't have much traffic either.

You should do it too... well unless you like verifying that you're human.

Five Below

For Activity Day Girls this last week I planned some fun with water balloons. I ended up going to FOUR different stores to try to find water balloons with NO LUCK. I started to get a little panicked because the activity was on Tuesday and it was Monday and I was running out of time.

I posted on my Facebook status update that I was looking for water balloons and was informed by Doug's Aunt Rachel that she just saw some at Five Below. I had never been to a Five Below so I Googled for locations and found one a few miles away from the school. I dropped by on Tuesday and the water balloons were in one of the front bins on display!

While I was in the store, I decided to walk around a little and check out what else they had in the store. BIG MISTAKE... they had a section with books! I spent some money, but I picked up twelve great books (some of them hardbound!) for under $40. Eleven of them are for my classroom and one of them is for Doug. I found this really neat book called Spies and Espionage: a Directory. I hope he likes it! He loved the movie Breach and we were just randomly talking about spies this weekend.

All of these books for under $40!

These non-fiction books have great pictures and good info for curious kids.

Kids love books with disgusting or amazing things in them.

Doesn't this look like a cool book?

If you are near a Five Below... stop by and pick up a non-fiction book for your child's elementary school teacher as a Back to School present. I guarantee you that she/he doesn't have enough non-fiction books!

"What a Little A-Hole!"

We went by my parents' house while Doug's siblings were visiting this last weekend. Allie was looking for a craft to do while we were in the process of making Katie addicted to Guitar Hero. Allie made this cute little race car out of a foam kit that my mom had sitting around. It came complete with a little pennant that they could put their name and a lucky number on. She did it with a little bit of help on my part, but it turned out great!

While we were at the zoo the next day, Allie accidentally left her little craft on the table. When we came back, Darwin had ripped her little pennant to shreds, but luckily left the car alone. I was having a bit of a flashback to when Darwin chewed my shoes, so I really could relate with Allie. She was really sad, but then she decided that she would "give" the pennant to Darwin since he was having so much fun with it.

We were kind of upset at Darwin until he started walking away with his tail sticking up and there was the A from Allie's name stuck to his butt.

Doug exclaimed, "What a little A hole!" :)

Double Yolked Egg!

I was making breakfast for the girls and Doug this weekend before we went to the zoo. I made the girls some YUMMY french toast and finally coerced Doug to have some "Toad in the Hole." Toad in the Hole is a family favorite at my house. I've heard it called Eggs in a Basket by other people, but my family calls it Toad in the Hole. Toad in the hole is an egg fried in a hole of a piece of sliced bread.

Anyways, as the title says, I cracked an egg with TWO yolks! This is the first time that I've cracked a doubled yolked egg or even seen one. Doug and even Katie had both seen double yolked eggs. I was so excited I ran to take a picture!



I was curious about the double yolked eggs so I looked it up on Google and found this site. Here is a short excerpt from the site:

Double Yolkers appear when ovulation occurs too rapidly, or when one yolk somehow gets "lost" and is joined by the next yolk. Double yolkers may be by a pullet whose productive cycle is not yet well synchronized. They're occasionally laid by a heavy-breed hen, often as an inherited trait.

About 1 in 1000 eggs has a double yolk so it isn't all that rare. In some countries, markets sell cartons of double yolked eggs.

Throughout history and in different cultures, finding a double yolk has been considered to mean anything from an impending wedding to a financial windfall to a death in the family.

So would a double yolked egg produce twins? Probably not:

... the presence of the two yolks would generally lead to an unsuccessful hatch. The nutritional value of the egg white, which is an important food supply for the embryo is insufficient for the two embyros.

I hope this means that I'm going to become instantly rich...

My Cat Sleeps Kinda Funny...

Darwin likes to follow me around the house and usually falls asleep wherever I happen to sit for a while. These are a few random shots of Darwin around the house. I don't know where he picked up sleeping on his back, but I think I may have figured it out while walking around the zoo on Saturday...