Yahoo Popular Blog Material Part 1

Check this guy out. He is 79 years old, competes in bodybuilding competitions, and has overcome polio, open-heart surgery, prostate problems and financial ruin to become an Australian body building champion. I found him on Yahoo Popular today right next to the featherless chickens. I am thinking Yahoo Popular would be a good place for blog materials. But anyway, the reason I thought this guy was interesting is that he is more than twice my age and he has a better ass than I do. What the hell is up with that?!?

House Husband

On Saturday our friends Karl & DJ hosted a great party in Brian's honor. It was a lot of fun and the speeches everyone gave about Brian were so touching that I almost cried. I say almost because in the back of my mind I was thinking about all of those phone calls. And the 14 hour work days. And the phone calls. And the long work days. (you get my drift) So even though the things everyone said were touching and made me so proud of the man I married, I was also relieved because he is taking 30 days of leave before he goes to Fort Riley for his training. That is 30 glorious days of not waking up at 5:20 (4:20 on Tuesdays for PT tests). That is 30 glorious days without middle of the night phone calls, underage drinkers, DUI's, or inappropriate sexual relationships that the 1SG apparently needs to know about. 30 glorious days without calls from the local police or the military police. (I think they've had our number on speed dial since the minute we got here.)

The party was a lot of fun and if youtube.com wasn't down for system maintenance right now you'd get to see some funny videos. For now I am just going to be happy that I have my husband home with me. He has been cooking, cleaning, washing dishes, cleaning the house, dropping the boys off at school in the morning and picking them up in the afternoon, walking the dogs, shopping for groceries, and doing everything that I normally neglect get done during the week. I love having a house husband. I am thinking that when he retires from the military in 4 years, 4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days (who's counting?) he should just stay home and take care of me, the boys, the house, and the pets. He is doing a super job and I am loving every single minute of it!

First Day

Today was my first day out in the schools for practicums. I had reading in the morning in a 5th grade class. The classroom teacher I will be learning from was Chase's language arts teacher last year. I absolutely love her! I started today and will spend five hours a week in her classroom for the next 10 weeks. I will teach two lessons per week that I write and then work with small groups for the rest of the time doing things that she needs me to do (tutoring, extra reading help, etc). In October I will go to another school to teach math and science in a kindergarten class. Today I went to meet that classroom teacher during her planning period. She seems very friendly and organized. I will teach two math and two science lessons each week for six weeks. I am very excited about all of it. Here are the course descriptions from the college just in case you are extremely bored and want to know what these practicum classes are all about:

ED 4309 Mathematics: Instructional Strategies for the Elementary and Middle School Teacher (2-2). This field-based course emphasizes the integration of research and theories about the process of learning mathematics. The development of logical reasoning in students, stages of intellectual development, appropriate questioning and problem solving strategies and techniques will be used with students in a public school setting. The TEKS addressing basic mathematics information, methods, and materials will be included. (Must be taken concurrently with ED 4311, ED 4314.)

ED 4311 The Elementary School: Instructional Strategies in Language Arts and Social Studies (2-2). The development of the elementary school learner, including special student populations, with emphasis on social, emotional, and intellectual development will be stressed. Problem solving, critical thinking, and other appropriate strategies will be studied using concepts from the social studies and language arts essential elements. A field practicum is required. (Must be taken concurrently with ED 4309, ED 4314.)

ED 4314 Science: Instructional Strategies for the Elementary and Middle School Teacher (2-2). This field-based course emphasizes the integration of research and theories about the processes of learning science. The major science processes such as observing, experimenting, measuring, classifying, analyzing, interpreting, sequencing, recognizing properties and patterns, and inferring will be used with students in a public school setting. The TEKS addressing basic scientific information, methods, and materials will be included. (Must be taken concurrently with ED 4309, ED 4311.)

Chase's Tan Lines

Brian, Chase & Kenny went out playing on the 4-wheeler last weekend while I was doing some schoolwork. They got dirty and muddy and had a great time. When everyone was all cleaned up Chase had some strange tan lines on his back. I wonder how he got them?!?

Here's Hoping ...

I finished and submitted my essay for the Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged $10,000 scholarship. All 1296 words of it. It took me about a month to read the 1078 page book, a week to think about which essay question to answer and how to answer it, and five hours (with breaks) to write the essay. First place is a $10,000 scholarship. There are 3 second place scholarships worth $2,000 and 5 third place scholarships worth $1,000. Then 20 finalists get $100 and another 20 get $50. I don't want to seem greedy, but I am hoping my hours and hours of reading and writing are worth more than $50. Winners are announced on November 27th. I'll keep you posted!

Happy Birthday Shelley!

Lisa's Blog

I am still having trouble trying to figure out why Lisa's blog won't show up in my "Places I Go". It's there, but it won't upload. Last winter Lisa and I both decided to change our URL's so they didn't have our last names in them. Do you remember that? Remember when I changed my page address? She did it too. When I added the feature to my blog that shows when my friends had updated their blogs it was only because (1) I do everything Jennifer does on her blog and (2) it saves me time by giving me the ability to see who has updated without actually going to their pages. For some reason Lisa's new URL still tries to send me to her old URL (which does not exist). I can't figure it out and neither can Jennifer. If Jennifer can't figure it out I basically give up. If anyone out there thinks they can help me then call and I will give you my blog password. We'll discuss it over the phone and I'll drink margaritas with you in thanks the next time I see you. Anyway, my point here ... Lisa and Toby have moved back to NC. They have a beautiful new house and I want you to see it. So now she has her own little link over there on my sidebar somewhere. Go visit if you have a chance. The view's great!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the love of my life ...

.... my babydaddy

Good Advice

So I was just talking to my friend DJ and I told her I had to get off the phone to take care of the boys. It went something like this:

me: "I better go. It's way past the boys' bedtime and I haven't seen them in an hour. I've been drinking margaritas and hiding in my bedroom since we got home from dinner. I guess I should quit ignoring my kids."

DJ: "I like to think of it less as ignoring and more like teaching them independence."

Happy Birthday Andrew!

We hope you have a great birthday. We miss you!

Wordless Wednesday -- Good Bye Summer!

Karma

Karma can really come back and bite a girl in the butt sometimes. Today I started getting a soar throat and feel like I might have a low grade fever. I am thinking it's because of the Nyquil. I would rather have a headache!

What Do You Think of This?

My dear friend Mandy is constantly trying to convince us to move back to NC. She sends me interesting news articles as her ammunition (no pun intended) for her cause. This is the most interesting one yet. I'd love to hear your opinion about this:

Teachers at a tiny Texas country school packed a gun along with their lesson plans when classes started this week.

The isolated, 110-student school near the border with Oklahoma is thought to be the first in the United States to allow guns in the classroom.

School officials say arming teachers is the only way to protect the old brick schoolhouse, which sits 30 minutes from the nearest police station.

"How do you stop the angry person without enough sense?" said Superintendent David Thweatt of the Harrold Independent School District.

"It's not going to take very long for it to be a total massacre."

But critics say the risks of having guns around children far outweigh the potential threat of a crazed gunman.

"Which risk is more likely: that someone is going to accidentally set off a gun in class and God forbid hit a student, or someone will come in off the highway and start a random shooting spree?" said Doug Pennington, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

While random shootings grab headlines, they are extremely rare, Pennington said, adding that fewer than one percent of school-age homicide victims are killed on school grounds or on the way to and from school.

Pennington questioned whether teachers were adequately trained to respond in a crisis situation and said the school would be better off with a security guard -- the only people technically allowed to carry guns in Texas schools.

Thweatt would not say which teachers were armed or how many but said they all received adequate training.

Harrold's school board decided last October to allow its employees to carry concealed handguns on campus when the 2008-09 school year began on Monday.

Mass murders at schools, college campuses, shopping malls and churches have claimed scores of lives across the United States in recent years.

Some, like Harrold's superintendent, blame the violence on federal legislation enacted in 1995 that made such areas "gun-free zones."

"That's the place people could go if they are feeling crazy or mad at the world and get a big body count," Thweatt told AFP.

Thweatt says he studied the issue for two years while he filled his school with more than 100,000 dollars in state-of-the-art security systems.

But even with the new keyless entry, camera system, lock-down buttons and classroom telephones, Thweatt said he still could not have prevented a mass murder like the one in an Amish one-room schoolhouse in Pennsylvania in 2006 that left five girls dead.

It also would not have been enough to deter the deranged student at Virginia Tech University, who killed 32 people and wounded 23 in 2007.

"They were like fish in a barrel," Thweatt said.

The Harrold policy requires that each teacher who carries a gun be approved by its school board, earn a concealed carry license, and complete training in crisis management and hostage situations.

Guns must be worn -- not locked in a safe -- and loaded with ammunition designed to blast into powder instead of ricocheting through the hallways.

The decision to arm teachers isn't a far-fetched idea for this ranching community, said Bridget Knight, who lives in nearby Vernon.

"For Harrold, it makes total sense."

Its windswept fields are ranch country, she said, where guns are a mainstay -- if not to stop a madman, then to shoot a snake, a wild hog, a wild dog or coyote that might run onto the playground.

Even Harrold children are raised to handle guns, said Lee Anderson of nearby Wichita Falls, Texas.

"Most high school seniors been huntin' on their own since the age of 12," he said. Many eventually join the rodeo circuit or work in the oil fields.

"These are country people. They grow up with guns. It's nothing unusual."

Still, that doesn't make guns fit for the classroom, said Kristina Tirloni of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association.

She called the policy "extreme."

Adding security guard to a teacher's duties is "a lot of responsibility for someone who already has a lot of responsibility in the classroom," she said.

While a handful of colleges and universities allow people
with permits to carry guns on campus, "as far as we are aware this is the first policy of its kind at the elementary or high school level," Pennington said.

Addictions Anonymous

I love this stuff. Last winter I spent two straight months sick and always had it in my medicine cabinet. I wasn't buying those pansy ass 6 ounce bottles from the grocery store either. I was buying the double pack of gallon jugs from Sam's Club. Today I came home from school with a killer headache. My migraine meds dulled the pain somewhat, but it never went away so much that I felt 100% again. I would usually reach for the Tylenol PM in a situation like this, but apparently my Tylenol PM addiction has left me with an empty bottle. I was digging through my medicine cabinet for something else to take and I found my leftover supply of Nyquil from last winter. 20 mL later and I am already looking forward to a night of being blissfully unaware of anything and everything, including my headache. I really think I could get addicted to Nyquil. And that's not even a funny thing to joke about ... Brian has a brother that used to drink Nyquil to get drunk and by the time he was 25 his voice sounded like a 90 year old woman who had been smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day. I think I am safe though ... he was drinking the whole gallon jug and I only sip enough to help me sleep. And 99% of the time I take it when I am really sick. Excuses, excuses! Hi, my name is Amy, and it has been 20 minutes since my last drink.

Wordless Wednesday -- Boy's Best Friend

My Coping Mechanism

Here's Chase with all of his necessary gear for Beginner Band. Notice the no shirt thing ... this was taken the day before school started and for some reason my boys don't wear shirts in the summer at all any more. It has gotten so bad that they will just get in the car without shirts even if we have to go to public places. And I don't even notice! One time we were going to the grocery store and I had to make Chase wait in the car because we got all the way there before we realized he didn't have a shirt on. But wait, this post was supposed to be about band, not a belated thankyouLudwigsenfamilyforgettingmyboysintothishabit post.



Here are the books and the metronome. That thing is tiny, but boy is it loud. And it doesn't turn off. We have to take the batteries out to make it shut up!

Here is the "bell kit" Yes, it is a xylophone to those of you that don't know any better. But trust me, I am becoming well versed in the whole percussion subject! I am also becoming well versed in the money spending category too, but we won't talk about that because it is too early in the morning for tequila.

This is a practice pad. It is not loud at all. It is so quiet I would go so far as to call the sound it makes music to my ears.


This is not a practice pad. It is a snare drum. A very, very, very loud snare drum. Which Chase's band director so nicely allowed him to keep at home for practice. 30 minutes of practice. Seven days a week.


Here is the assortment of mallets he needs to make noise music with. They weren't cheap either!


And this, my friends, is my coping mechanism. This is how I deal with the cost and the noise. It is so so so so good and so so so so worth it! Lisa isn't selling Tastefully Simple any more, but when this is all gone I will find a new consultant because I can't make it through Beginner Band without this!

First Day of School!