A Little About Us

Since LMK is still swooning from his trip to the MLS finals yesterday and I'm off to school to worry myself into an ulcer until my meeting with the administration today. I leave you a meme. Stolen from Erin.

A Little About Us
The basic facts:

Who is your significant other? Lawn Mower King

How long have you been together? We met when I was 17 and he was 19. We've been together ever since. I'm 27 now. You do the math.

Dating/Engaged/Married? Married

How old is your S.O.? 29, going for the big 3 - 0 next February

What’s his/her middle name? James

Who eats more? It's usually a toss up. Depends on what day you catch us.

Who says “I love you” first? Him. He says it all the time. I'm very lucky that way.

Who weighs more? Sigh... me

Who sings better? Me!

Who’s older? Him. Ha!

Who’s smarter? Him, definitely. Not feeling too smart lately.

Whose temper is worse? Mine. I rant and rave. He seethes silently until he finally blows.

Who does the laundry? We share those responsibilities most of the time. Lately, him more than me due to busy-ness.

Who does the dishes? Usually me, unless there is a huge pile. Then he usually makes them disappear for me. He will also unload the dishwasher - which I hate.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does.

Whose feet are bigger? We wear the same size which means I can wear his shoes and he can wear mine. I'll give you a minute to picture that in your head. Hehehehe.

Whose hair is longer? He works for a military school. Mine.

Who’s better with the computer? Depends on what program you're talking about. Mathmatical/technical - him. Creative/ froufy - Me

Who mows the lawn? He does most of it now. Lawn Mower Queen HATES push mowing.

Who pays the bills? I do. I can work the online banking and Quicken faster. However, when I get really out of sync, he balances the checkbook.

Who cooks dinner? The crockpot! We take turns otherwise. He's a pretty good cook, except for chili powder in the spaghetti sauce. Ick.

Who drives when you are together? Me. I'm a control freak.

Who pays when you go out to dinner? Me, but the money all comes from the same place.

Who’s the most stubborn? Me, hands down.

Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong? LMK, even when he doesn't think he's wrong.

Whose parents do you see more? His. In fact, we've seen them more since we moved to VA then we saw them in the 4 years we lived in Ohio. We're the exact same distance away. Things that make you go hmmm.

Who named your dog? Me! The funsucker wouldn't let me name her Ariel Belle (I was going through a Disney phase), but he would agree to Lucy. He also wouldn't let me change Socks' name to Mickey. No fun, I tell you.

Who kisses who first? Me, he's not much for kissing. He's a hugger/cuddler.

Who asked who out? I talked to him first and drove to meet him first, so I guess me?

Who’s more sensitive? That'd be me again.

Who’s taller? He is, by 4 inches. (The way he carries on you'd think it was 4 feet)

Who has more friends? We have a lot of common friends, so I'll say it's a tie.

Who has more siblings? I do...he's an only child. I've got a brother.

Who wears the pants in the relationship? LMK does a great job of letting me think it's me. He generally won't buck the system unless it's something he feels strongly about and then I usually defer to him.

Good enough

After school today, I grabbed my gear and raced out of the building so I could make it to LMK's soccer game this afternoon. The first one I've been to all year! Of course, I think I left some book order money at school. At least, I hope it's at school. Otherwise, I've lost it and that's just a whole kettle of fish I'm not ready to open right now. I'll worry myself an ulcer this weekend and find it first thing Monday.

LMK's game was pretty darn good. The guys played well and even though they only tied, it was a great game to watch. Yaaaaay, team. That being said, LMK has had quite a week. When I met him after the game, we immediately got into a conversation about soccer, his job, and his department head (**cough, cough** jack ass **cough, cough**). My usually observant husband never asked me about my day. So dear blogging world, you get to hear about it instead.

One of my kiddos has been diagnosed with OCD. I'm not surprised at all. This student walks around with his arms up so that he doesn't have to touch anything, washes his hands constantly, and won't eat his lunch if he thinks someone looked at it crossways. They put him on a medication and all I can do is hope it makes a difference for the best. His mom doesn't know just how closely I've dealt with mental illness. I'm grateful I can be his teacher. Just another reason I had to get through LMK's illness. Maybe I can help this student.

My new student is proving to be quite the behavior problem. Yesterday, I sent home detention slips with him and another young thug-in-training (do the abbreviation.....ahahahaha, ok, moving on) because they were caught where they aren't allowed when they were to be at breakfast plus some other misbehavior here and there. I threatened them with loss of recess until I got the forms back and both showed up today. I no more than saw those than the principal came to get them, again.

Evidently, they've been "stealing" food in the cafeteria. I use the word stealing loosely because the aides have been allowing them to eat whatever food is left on the trays that are "pushed to the middle of the table". They're putting the kabosh on the food free for all, but the principal investigated further. My two darlings basically told her they're just hungry. Lunch isn't all that impressive - a protein and 2 pieces of fruit/sides. It's all to common in this country. One goes home to ramen noodles shared with two teenage brothers and the other doesn't have much either. Since our lunch is very late, we've been allowing the students to bring snack.

Well, now we have to have snack for the entire class. The principal made the comparison of inviting someone to your home, eating, and not letting them have any. I can understand that, but here's the problem.

Just where do I draw the line at providing for these kids?

I already provide notebooks, composition books, pencils, crayons, markers, science supplies, books, etc, etc, etc for the students who need them. It's a common teacher lament, I know. Now I'm supposed to get enough snack for the class, too?

Luckily, the principal is aware of the financial strain that causes and is looking into ways to supplement the snack, which I appreciate. Half of me feels sorry for these children. That's all they are afterall, children. I never had to sit through school and be hungry. They shouldn't have to either. No child should have to be hungry.

That being said, they are in trouble constantly. Constantly. Every class, the teacher is telling me how they were misbehaving. They don't do it in my class because I've come down on them. Hard. I'm even pulling out the "I'm so disappointed in you" speech. So I spend my day vacillating between wanting to strangle them and wanting to bring them home and "save" them from this horrible life.

In other news, I finally got a smart board in my room. It's not mine, I'm using one of the one's the school has for teacher's to checkout. I love it! How did I ever teach without this thing? How will I teach when they take it back? It's the bestest toy - EVER! There is so much I want to do with it. I'm already doing my morning journal on the Smart Board. The kids love to come up and correct sentences on it. Today, I found a spelling game where the kid's can click and drag computer magnets. I love technology.

Add to that new teacher responsibilities, house responsibilities, LMK's school responsibilities, and family responsibilities and I'm just zonked. No wonder so many teachers quit in the first three years!

Hand in hand with all the "bad" things about teaching are the good things. I like to think I'm pretty strict with my students regarding behavior. I expect them to be leaders in the school and make good choices. Nine out of ten of them live up to that. Then there are the kids who live to please you. The silliness. The laughter and the learning. The hugs - except from Touchy Feely Kid, I don't want to have my boobs nuzzled like my colleague. Eek. Teaching is the hardest, longest, best job I've ever had. I just can't wait to feel like I'm doing it well, not just acting like a teacher.

Thanks for reading through all this, if you're still here, I needed to share it with someone. Have a great weekend!

Two down, three to go

Well, new teacher in-service is almost over. I must admit, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. At times, it's almost fun. If you ignore all the get to know you games that I hate and the group work. Each day there are door prizes and they give us lunch. True we have to sit through a presentation by whoever is sponsoring the lunch, but I think that is the least we can do for a free meal.

The only thing I do not like is the seating. We are either in an auditorium with the old, old, old style wooden seats or we're in the cafeteria on round stools attached to tables. By lunch time my ass hurts! It's awful. My tail bone still aches. Friday was so bad that with two hours to go a bunch of us were standing up, just so we didn't have to sit on those seats.

Everyone I've met has been really, really nice. They're so grateful to have us here that it makes me excited to work there. Yes, I have tons of meetings, but really, who needs sleep?

The trip to Chicago was great for another reason. LMK picked up a "part-time" job. Really, it's more like a consulting job. He's officially a staff coach for US Soccer. It sounds more impressive than it is, but it's still really exciting. It could be up to a year or so before he's needed, but it's still an honor. He's thrilled and it will make a fabulous addition to his resume. Woohoo!

Note

Note to self: If you don't want to run into LMK's students in town, DO NOT go into town on a Friday night. Good gravy!

It's quite weird hearing kids calling him sir. I love it. Mwahahahaha.

Also, I might have forgot to mention yesterday that I have my FIRST Virginia job interview on Thursday. I know I've said this a lot lately, but - "Fingers crossed!"

One last thing, I finally found one of my favorite episodes of Friends on YouTube. Unfortunately the cut the end right in the middle of the best part.

I always end up singing, "Mornings hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" for days after I see it.

I survived!

So the basketball games weren't that bad. Of course, I remember now why I don't care for basketball.

#1 - There's nothing to cheer about. Ideally, one team scores then bam, the other team scores. In sports like soccer, scoring doesn't happen all that often.




Well, except for that one game last season, remember that one, LMK?

#2 - Squeaky shoes. Oh, how I hate squeaky shoes. And please, tell me why some players insist on licking their hands and wiping off the bottom of their shoes. EWW! I don't care if you're able to stick to the ceiling after you've done that - it's gross!

We...well, I also met several of LMK's colleagues/big wig's at the school. Everyone was incredibly nice and friendly. It really does feel like a huge extended family. Personally, I really like a working environment like that. Yes, families have squabbles from time to time, but for the most part, everyone pulls together and takes care of one another. That's how I was raised and I do well in that type of environment. It was definitely NOT the type of working environment LMK and Head Coach had/have at The College. I think even LMK would agree while we miss the girls and Head Coach, we do not miss the working environment.

This afternoon I'm running my application to the town schools. I'm hoping to finish the year out at least subbing (long term subbing would be even better) and then get something permanent for next year. Whether it be here a in Larger City. I'm almost leaning toward Larger City with it's half hour commute because they're getting a new elementary school and I'd LOVE to work in a new school.

We'll see!

P.S. Did everyone see that David Beckham has signed with the L.A. Galaxy, a MLS team? Hopefully this will jumpstart soccer in the U.S. Common........Women's MLS!

This and That

Anyone else too excited that Top Model is in Spain? It's probably because I've been to Spain. Although, I was hoping they'd be in Madrid or somewhere I'd actually gotten to see. Instead of Barcelona where all we got to see was the airport. However, I was shouting to LMK last night that I knew that airport! I did know it! I even rocognized the steps we booked it down after our flight landed to try and make our flight to Sevilla. I could even tell LMK where the bathroom was that we all ran to (hey - I hadn't peed in 9 hours, it was the highlight of Barcelona, let me tell you.)

I've also decided I'm a CariDee fan. I couldn't stand her in tryouts, but now? Love her. Never cared for Miss Melissa Rose.

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Lawn Mower King called his parents last night. His dad wasn't home, so he got to catch up on all the family news. My favorite piece of news? Three of his cousins (all sisters) are pregnant - including the one that "stole" my baby name. Soooo upsetting.

Then his mom asked the question she asks every year at this time, "What do you guys want for Christmas?"

Ohhhhh, uh. LMK honestly has no idea. He's like me - the thing he really wants is too expensive. He would like to take the course to get his next coaching license which costs $800. Yeah, we can't afford that, nor can his parents or my parents.

Me? I want:

- a treadmill
- a better digital camera (to take pictures at LMK's games)
- an iPod

Everything I want is way too expensive, thus I am not asking for anything. The only thing I could think of that may not be too expensive was a vacuum cleaner. We need a new one so I can give my mother back hers.

Me: Well, I need a vacuum cleaner.
LMK: Great! I want a vacuum cleaner.
Me: Hey! Wait! You stole mine!
LMK: Mooowahahahaha!

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Don't Mess with My Dryer

Last week, two days before the team dinner, my dryer started making a really weird/awful noise. I emptied the clothes out of it and found the Lawn Mower King's wallet. Not to worry, it was nice and clean after being run through the washer AND the dryer. His id for The College was missing as well as his driver's license. We looked all around in the dryer, but couldn't find it. I had the Lawn Mower King call the repair service and promptly put it out of my mind.

A week later, we finally got the repairman out to fix the dryer. He turned on the dryer, listened for a second, and turned it off proclaiming he knew what it's problem was - even though it had stopped making the horrible noise at that time. Then he pushed a magical sequence of buttons and my washer lit up like a Christmas tree. Every light was on and it was spinning! It was pretty damn cool. If only I knew what buttons he pressed.

After he left, and we still hadn't found LMK's license he went down to the basement to check the dryer vent. Maybe it had some out there.

Oh, it came out there all right. Here is what is left of his driver's license.

Speaking of his driver's license, when we went to get his replacement license yesterday we were asked a classic stupid question.

DMV woman: You know you're just going to have to renew this again in February.
LMK: Yeah.
Me: Can he use that license until February?
DMV Woman: Well...no.

Thanks, honey

While I taught first grade for a week, I dealt with runny noses, upset tummies, and one barfer I was thrilled when I made it to Friday without even a hint of a sniffle. Ha ha! Score one for me!

Monday, two days before the team dinner, I felt a cold coming on strong. I took A.irborne faithfully and actually felt the cold symptoms going away. By Wednesday I was symptom free and off the A.irborne. Whoopie!

Thursday, I was sick. Sore throat, coughing, congestion - just plain ick. I made it through my two days of teaching last week hopped up on D.ayquil and sugar. When I'm sick I don't want to be touched or looked at. Just leave. me. alone. Lawn Mower King is really good about this. He brings me tissues and sleeps in the spare bedroom. I couldn't ask for more.

Finally, yesterday, I was starting to feel better. Minimal hacking and blowing my nose makes me happy. Last night, after I made chicken enchiladas I told LMK that I wanted some ice cream. Off we went to the store! On our way home he stated he was tired and would probably come home and take a bath.

Me (jokingly): Maybe it's mono, honey.
LMK (rolling his eyes): No, it's not mono.
Me (alluding to the lack of...uh...action lately): You're right, there's no way you could have caught mono in the past few weeks.
LMK: Gee thanks! The first thing I did when I got home was give you a kiss.
Me: Yeah! On the cheek! That's not how mono is spread.
LMK: Well, I did sleep in bed last night...maybe I caught it from the runoffs of your drool pillow.
Me: ...................shut up.