Hometown Rivalry

We have dinner reservations here in Charlottesville at 7:30. This poses a problem, as the Philadelphia vs. Atlanta football game will not be over when it is time to leave.

Falcons' Vick is out with a sprain.

I have a backrub resting on an Eagles win.

Suppose they have televisions with the game playing here?


Update: Eagles 24, Falcons 17. And yes, I collected on my bet.

All Wrapped Up

Kevin has published something like 4 posts since the last time I've posted, which always makes me feel like a slacker. Seems like everytime I sat down to write, nothing immediately came to mind...and then something else would catch my attention and I'd be off and running in a new direction.

We went back to my home in Pennyslvania and had Christmas with my parents and sister and, when there was food to be had, sister's boyfriend. The trip itself was something of an adventure. Since my parents have 2 cats of their own, they saw no problem in our bringing our own two with us. This sounded just fine, until the day or two before we left, when I actually contemplated traveling 5 1/2 hours by car, with two crying furballs in the back. Nevertheless, we set out and all was well for about the first 3 1/2 hours of the trip. We then switched places and I got behind the wheel. Callie, in loyalty to me, I suppose, waited about 5 minutes and then Kevin says, "Uh....She's throwing up." Fortunately, nothing too bad, as far as cat vomit goes and my intrepid husband soon got it cleaned up with the paper towels and plastic grocery bags I had brought along for just such instances. Feeling triumphant, he settled back in his seat, until a few seconds later, a rather unpleasant odor began to move through the cabin. Poor Callie. If it's not one thing, it's another. This time we pulled off at a gas station so that I could clean out the carrier. I laughed until I cried. Callie slept for the remainder of the trip.

Christmas itself was fairly uneventful and enjoyable. My parents, Kevin, and I went to the Christmas Eve mass at the church I grew up in. We got home around 9:00, and my sister (who had been working) and her boyfriend joined us. We stayed up for another 2 hours, making a good dent in the Christmas cookies and drinking hot chocolate. It's tradition in my household that my sister and I always get a new set of pajamas on Christmas Eve, something that my parents have done since we were kids. This year, Kevin was included in the fun, and we all went to bed decked out in our new "duds." In a house of all adults, Christmas morning doesn't start quite as early as it does when we were kids. 4 out of 5 adults were up and drinking and coffee by 9:00. My sister the youngest and least morning person of all of us, joined us at around 10:00. The next hour and a half was a flurry of unwrapping and ooohs and aahhs. Kevin collaborated with my parents to give me a new Ipod Nano and an iHome clock/radio/alarm that I can dock the Ipod in. I'm not usually very "techy", but this is fun! 8 hours of only songs that I like, without commercials, without interruption. Very cool. A late breakfast and early Christmas dinner meant we were all feeling fat and stuffed by 5:00. Kevin and I rounded out the night by playing 3 rounds of chess, a new game for me. The first time, he gave up alot of moves in the process of teaching me the game. The second time, I insisted on no mercy...and lost in 4 moves. By the third time, however, the student gave the teacher a run for his money. So that's another Christmas come and gone. So much more to share, but that will wait till the morning. We're home again, for the night, before leaving again for 3 days in Charlottesville.

Hope your holidays were as wonderful as ours!

While Visions of Sugar Plums

We had a full day of school today, but now it is finally finally finally winter break.

The kids actually were really good today. Rowdy, but good.

The adults were feeling a little bit rowdy, too.

Bring it on!

Do I Really Sound Like That?

Do I really sound like I hate my job or that I'm unhappy all the time?

I don't. For the most part, I love my kids (all 34 of them). They DO make me laugh on a daily basis. The small percentage that don't are dominating my work life right now. But I'm also damn good at what I do, even if it's not recognized. I feel many days like I'm the only one fighting for my kids and I keep hitting walls I can't figure out how to get around. But I do enjoy my kids. Maybe I need to work harder at conveying that?

Some recent highlights from the last two days:

Yesterday on the way out of my room at the end of the day:
Connor: Merry Christmas, Mrs. B!
Mrs. B: (confused) Merry Christmas, Connor. Won't you be here for the rest of the week?
Connor: (matter of factly) Yes. Why?



Mrs. E (my team teacher): Tabias, you have a quiz for Mrs. B today on the John Henry story. Are you ready?
Tabias: Yup!
Mrs. E: Great! Why don't you tell me about the story?
Tabias: Oh, no, I can't!
Mrs. E: Why not?
Tabias: If I do, it'll all be gone from my head.



Hannah (coming down the hall at the beginning of the day): Mrs. B! Mrs. B! I have a surprise for you!
Mrs. B.: Yea! Is it a good surprise?
Hannah: Yes!
(puts her items away, then returns to the door with something under her coat)
Hannah: Are you ready?!?
(pulls out book missing for 3 weeks from under her coat)
Hannah: Tada! It was under my sister's bed the whole time!


Moments like that keep us going when we're being told so constantly how "bad" we are.

Jekyll and Hyde

This morning I sleepily stumbled into the living room to find that Scarlett had tipped my ENTIRE bowl of dried vanilla potpourri over on the floor and then proceeded to play with it aaaaaallll over the living room.

Just peachy.

I turned to scan the room to yell at her and came across this:


I kid you not, this is not the first time I've watched her try to ease out of this predicament. She has taken to sleeping with her back end stuffed down between the couch cushions, with her top end sticking out. This is all well and good until she has to get herself out and finds herself stuck.

Truly, it's hard to be mad at this.

Another Monday, Monday

This morning started out with a remediation meeting with the principal for our my students who are performing below grade level or have behavior problems. That was....10 students out of 35. Blech. Then an hour and a half of (fairly) uneventful instruction, followed by lunch. An episode there caused a little bit of stress and upset, but the afternoon again ran smoothly. Kids left at 2:45....and I left at 6:00. Next stop was PetSmart to get a second cat carrier, as we are taking both our kitties with us to PA for the holidays.

It was at this point that I realized I had left my cell phone sitting on my desk at school. I was a sophomore in college before I had a cell phone. I DO remember life without. However, it's now become something of a lifeline. All my numbers, to anywhere or anyone important are stored in the phone. Several days ago, I tried to call home from the phone in my classroom and realized I couldn't remember my home phone number. Sure, I have it memorized. Yes, I've filled out dozens of forms with the home phone number. But it's also on speed dial on my cell phone. It's not a number that stays at the forefront of my mind. I've become semi-dependent on the convenience of a cell. Realizing that the building was now locked and I wouldn't be able to get back in tonight to retrieve my phone was cause for some mental restructuring.

Home around 7:00 and in time to do some more schoolwork until 8:30 when I finally reached the end of my workload for tonight.

All this rush is just part of the nearing holiday. We have a full work week, not getting out till 2:45 on Friday. Wednesday is a work meeting after school that threatens to be long...and even if it isn't, it's guaranteed to be draining, so little work will be accomplished afterwards. Thursday is another trip out to the peninsula airport to pick Kevin up. Friday night is packing to be ready to head out of town, kitties in tow, on Saturday morning. That leaves just tomorrow to wrap up all those last minute details.

Exciting and exhausting.

More Holiday Hoop-la

We both had rough days on Friday. It was about 4:30 before we left for the 2 hour trip to Richmond. With Friday traffic, it was about 7:00 before we finally crashed in our hotel room, only to get up 15 minutes later to search out a fast dinner and make it to the concert venue by 8:00 for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. Rush, rush, rush. The concert, though, was amazing, just like last year.

We drove into town again yesterday morning, in time for me to make 3 dozen cookies for today's cookie exchange. Kevin had to go in to work, but then met me for a friend's Christmas party dinner at 7:00 last night. Her husband is an amazing cook, and a good time was had by all:

Today we were up and moving pretty early to get Kevin to the airport. He's spending a few days in Atlanta with his family while I work this week. After dropping Kevin off, I went to the cookie exchange and then finished shopping and any last minute stuff. I want to NOT have to go out this week, if at all possible.

5 more days of school and then the following week off. Thank goodness, a week without my cherubs. Our holiday shopping is complete, all that remains is to pass the time.

Time Warping Again

Oops. Half of another week come and gone and no posting here. 7 more days of school before our winter break. Kinda plugging through until that point.

Lots of festivities this weekend, though.

I love the holiday season, but where does it all go?

Missing

I'm missing my husband. I don't mean the lonely kind of missing. I mean, I'm not quite positive where he is.

He had to take the ship up to a neighboring port today. He was planning on coming back tonight, but warned me that he might not be able to make it, with some stuff going on at work. Okay, baby, fine. Just let me know what your plans are.

That was at 4am (argh!!) this morning.

That was the last time I talked to him.

So I'm pretty sure I know where he is. And I'm not really worried. Even though I've tried email and cell phone.

No, I'm not really worried.

But it is kinda embarrassing, when your in-laws call, and you have to admit you're not sure where your husband is.

Holiday Flurries

Not the white kind, unfortunately. But yesterday was clear and crisp and definitely more holiday-like than the 70 degree temps we were experiencing earlier in the week. Filled with holiday spirit, we set out to find find the perfect tree (you have to click on the third one to attain the full effect):









Once we got it home, we discovered it was too big for our tree stand. Frantic rushing ensued as we looked at the clock, realized we had two hours until friends would be arriving, and a 7 foot Douglas Fir lying on our living room floor. Kevin went out to get a larger tree stand, while I pulled out all the other boxes. When he got home, Kevin strung up the lights on our big formal tree in the living room while I worked on the smaller one in our bedroom. The smaller one holds all the ornaments we've bought together over the last couple years, as well as ornaments from our childhood:













When the lights were strung, on the large tree, we finished decorating it together. The end result is, I think, quite pretty:

Return to sender

Since Grey's is a rerun tonight, I have time to relate the following moment.

By 9:00 last night we were both done in. So we tried going to bed. Except I was too tired to go to sleep. So, in the dark, we ended up talking about everything and anything. Which is when the following occurred:

Kevin: I remember when I was about six, we must have had more money or something because that was a really good Christmas, gift wise. That was the only year I wrote to Santa.

Maria: The only year? How come?

Kevin: I dunno, it just was. I dunno if the letter was ever delivered or not, but after that I...

Maria (interrupting): Wait, what?? You don't know if it was ever delivered? Delivered where???

Kevin: Well, wait, I meant...


I can't even tell you what came next. I was laughing too hard. And continued to laugh for a good half hour.

I got his permission to post this. Don't want to cause too much embarrassment! But seriously, that story just begs to be told! And told....and told....

Feel free.

Jolly Ol' St. Nick

First and foremost, I finished another grad class tonight, complete with the 18 page final project. A good 15 hours (since Saturday) later, and the whole thing is done and over with. Yippee!! We (Kevin and I) celebrated with Chinese food.

Today, December 6, is also St. Nicholas Day. In Germany, little children leave their shoes out at the door and St. Nicholas (the actual Saint, not Santa Claus) comes and generously fills the shoes with nuts and tangerines and little gifts. Since I was little, St. Nicholas has always come to our house. As an adult, I introduced Kevin to this idea. The celebration really isn't for adults, but since it's just the two of us, it's nice to celebrate the holiday and to bring this old family tradition into my new and future family.

My parents sent us one of those tiered candle thingamabobs. I have no idea what they're called, but they're so pretty!

Kevin bought me a house for our Dickens Village. My parents also gave us trees to complete the scene. This is quite a change from the single cottage we had last year. This weekend, we'll put the tree up. In the mean time, the inside of the house is slowly coming together. My amateur photographer husband has taken the pictures below:

A Taste of the Old Country

My family's German roots come out most especially during the holiday season. When I was a little girl, when we were living in Germany, we would sometimes get these tins at Christmas. While you can get lebkuchen in small quantities here in the U.S., these tins are a piece of art in and of themselves and are all but impossible to find.

Until this year. This year they showed up at the Navy commissary. My darling husband bought 2 tins, chock full of Schmidt lebkuchen. One for us and one to send to my family. I'm in heaven.

Grrrrrrreat!

It's been a challenging week. I would do better to accept that, circumstances as they are, ALL weeks are going to be tough weeks, at least until June. Yet I start each Monday with renewed hope. Still, this week was a challenge. It hasn't been until today that I've been able to recognize some "greats," too:

1. Happy Feet. This movie is phenomenal. Incredible soundtrack. Laugh-out-loud funny....over and over again. Great characters. Great cast. We were able to see it at the IMAX which, I'm sure, doubly enhanced our viewing experience. Nevertheless, I'll be buying this one when it comes out on DVD. How great that Kevin and I were able to enjoy such an awesome movie together?

2. My team teacher (and partner in crime) and I had reached our breaking point on Friday. We both felt run into the ground, beaten, and out of options. So we laughed. And laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed until we were crying. Thank God I have somebody to face these challenges with. Without her, I don't know how I would get through each week. Another teacher laughingly told us that we were "two peas in a pod." When things changed so suddenly at the beginning of the school year, I was fearful of who I would be teaming with. How great that things worked out so well.

3. My dad, who has a complete camera aversion and who for years has refused to be in any pictures at all, was out shopping with my mom at a local wine store when he was approached by a newspaper writer from the town paper. The journalist interviewed him about holiday shopping and then the photographer took a whole series of photos! With his permission! My mom has told everybody she knows to call and harass him. So I did, much to his chagrin. How great that we have a family that can tease each other and live to laugh about it.

4. Yesterday I came home and found my sailor had left a card propped against my pillow. A "just because card" that came with an intent to buy flowers, "but the florist was closed by the time I got there." He thanked me for being so supportive of his own challenges. Me? Supportive? Ironically, I don't feel I was supportive at all this week. I had been sick since last Saturday and only just today have I gone without medicine. I've been tired. I've worked long hours. I've had problems at work. Kevin has made dinner, run hot baths for me, put me to bed. And I've been supportive. My response was, "If I was supportive this week without even trying, imagine what I can do when I am trying!" He laughed. How great that I have somebody who spoils me and how great that he feels supported, even when I'm only doing little things.

5. At the end of the work day yesterday, one of my coworkers from last year, a new mom, brought in her 3 month old baby girl to visit for the first time. I was able to hold Elizabeth, who promptly fell asleep on shoulder. So I got to hold her, sway, and chat, for the next 45 minutes. Maternal instinct says, "Ohhhhh, I could do this forever." Realism says, "I'm so glad I can still sleep in till 10am on weekends." Realism aside, there is nothing greater than having a 3 month old burrow into you. They are soft and warm and so dependent.

6. The radio stations are all playing holiday tunes, my Christmas shopping, at least the big items, is just about finished, holiday specials are on tv..and the temperature dropped from 80 degrees yesterday to 50 degrees today. Much more seasonal. How great this season is!