Happy Mardi Gras!

In the spirit of Mardi Gras, I decided to start a new tradition with the boys and buy a King Cake. These cakes originated with the Epiphany and represent the 3 kings, or Wise Men. They are decorated in Mardi Gras colors and have beads and a gold baby on top that symbolizes the birth of Christ. Inside of the cake is a gold coin. The person who gets the piece with the gold coin will have prosperity in the new year.

Buehler's gets the cakes shipped directly from a bakery in New Orleans. They are pretty tasty too! They are basically a big glazed donut with icing and sprinkles. We have really enjoyed it and the new tradition that we have started. Thus far, nobody has gotten the "lucky piece" yet. Either we got jipped or it is in the remaining one or two pieces left.

Nonetheless, happy Mardi Gras and enjoy the upcoming Passover/Easter season with your loved ones.

Surprise!

So, I go out to my car after a long and exhausting day of work and extended detention last Friday, and I see something strange on it. There was a beautiful, full red rose with a card on it all wrapped up sticking out of my windshield wiper. My lovely and sweet husband decided to drive over and leave it as a surprise for me!

Long time, No Blog

Well, life has been pretty hectic over the past several days at our household. I feel like we are all just strangers passing in the night. However, Taylor has been on my case on a daily basis about not posting, so I decided to sit down and pound out a few entries- if time allows.
Last week, we started the week out by picking the boys and "Richie" up at the airport in Akron/Canton. They had a very enjoyable time in Fort Myers with dad & Sue. I was quite envious of their newly tanned skin. Even grandpa had some nice color on his face. It sounds like they had a really good time. I have heard stories of Jungle Golf, the beach, the Outrigger, bike rides, the manatee park, and sadly, of the Bridge restaurant closing down. We were happy to see the boys and missed them while they were gone. Taylor brought me back a cute mug with palm trees on it and Peyton brought me a fish-themed picture frame to add to my collection at work. Taylor also gave Derrick a mug with a shark on it and Peyton gave him a sand dollar and a key chain with his name on it..... well, sort of... it actually said "Derek"... but, the thought was there.
Also last week, I had some night classes, my interim grade reports were due, I had an environmental science club meeting, three days of detention, Peyton had practices and a game, and Taylor was busy planning his student council dance this coming Monday.
Over the weekend, Terrance stayed with us. We were all exhausted by Friday night, so we watched some movies, got take-out, and went to bed early. On Saturday, Peyton had a game against Dalton. They won by quite a bit. Peyton added 18 points to that tally. Saturday night, the boys and Terrence played "Road to the White House" and had Taco Bell, while Derrick and I ate at BW-3's with some friends.
On Sunday, we drove out to no-man's land- literally! We had to pick up Tony's car at what we thought was the airport in Columbus because he is being deployed from Oklahoma to Iraq. While it was an airport in Columbus- it was the military base- 26 miles outside of Columbus. It took us nearly 2 hours to get there. We picked up the car, stopped at Friday's for dinner with the boys in Polaris, and drove the 2 hours home.
Nonetheless, it has been a busy last couple of weeks. But, I made a promise to Taylor that I would make a better effort of updating the blog.

A Quick Recap

I have been utterly swamped this week and have had little, if any, time to update my blog. This week, not only do I have 2 research papers of my own due, but grades are due on Friday for all of my classes (interims) and we have parent-teacher conferences on both Tuesday & Thursday nights until 8 pm and five full school days this week. Ehhhh..... I am tired and starting to develop what feels like the dreaded flu virus that has been plaguing half of my students. Thus far, I have been lucky enough to avoid it, but today, I am feeling a bit off- sore throat, dizzy, sneezing, etc. Nonetheless, it has been one heck of a week and it is only Wednesday.
To recap the happenings of our life since I last posted on Friday, I will start with Friday itself. Friday night, Taylor and Peyton spent the night with great-grandpa, or Richie, as they so affectionately call him. The purpose of their stay was to "help him pack for Florida". Anyhow, they got to enjoy a nice meal of stromboli at the all-new Eat at Joe's in Shreve. Derrick and I decided that we were hungry for sauerkraut balls and headed to CW's, where we ran into Kirt & Julie who were eating there after Kirt's game. Derrick's cell phone kicked the bucket, so the highlight of his day was the purchase of his first 3G phone- the Motorola Q- which he has not stopped playing with since.
On Saturday morning, Peyton had a basketball game against West Holmes at Wayne Elementary. It was a hard-fought game, but his team suffered their first loss by 3 points. There were certainly some bad calls made, for instance the one where Peyton was clobbered on the head and fell to the ground, not even moving. Yeah, well the average person would have thought the whistle-blow signaled an intentional foul, but instead, travelling- on Peyton????? Derrick had to have a nice discussion with the striped-guys after the game about that call. Needless to say, the game pretty much followed suit from that call on and his coach was actually shouting at the official for the first time in two years. Nonetheless, Peyton and his team didn't really show up to play and ended up not pulling it off in the end. He had a season low of 6 points. After the game, he spent the day with his teammate Charlie and his former teammate Reese at Charlie's house. Derrick, Taylor, and I went to Buehler's to eat and went home to get some rest. I think we were all sound asleep by 10 that night.
Sunday did not really bring much excitement with it. The highlight of the day had to have been the cleaning of the basement (*rolls eyes*). Oh, Taylor and Peyton did open their Valentine's presents since they will be in sunny Florida- new cell phones! They were pretty thrilled! I guess this was the weekend of the new cell phone... well, for everyone but me that is.
The rest of the past few days have been a flurry of busyness and work for me. Taylor and Peyton are leaving in the morning for Florida, provided the flights don't get cancelled due to the impending high wind warning (60+ mph predicted). Derrick and I get to look forward to work and more work while they are gone. We will be going away on Saturday night for Valentine's Day... details to follow later as it was somewhat of a surprise for Derrick.

Ever get sooooo bored waiting on a doctor that you become delirious? That is kind of how I felt last night- hence the x-ray photo of me for this thread. I had to go to the ortho. yesterday for some x-rays of my spine, neck, and shoulders. My appointment was at 3:15, the x-ray tech. didn't even call me to take the pictures until 4:10 and the doctor finally arrived in my room somewhere around 5:15. Needless to say, I was quite irritated and bored. I will never understand why doctors triple-book time slots. Wait, never mind, I will.....$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Anyhow, as I sat in the room for 45 straight minutes waiting on the arrival of the great one in the white coat, I had nothing to do. There were no books, no magazines, nothing to even look at but this lovely X-ray photo of my skull, spine, and shoulders, which was largely projected on a flat-screen monitor in front of me and that I so kindly took a picture of for you all.
Now, I have seen many an x-ray of myself before, but usually only when briefly flashed in front of me by a surgeon, only to be removed before I have had sufficient time to study it. This time, I had 45 minutes, alone with nothing but a picture of my bones. Out of sheer boredom, I found myself entranced with the picture. Maybe it was the fact that I would never in my lifetime see those bones myself (well, at least I hope not because then I would have a much greater problem than boredom) or maybe it was simply because the x-ray actually made me look slight (something about the layers of fat & skin peeled off maybe?). I don't know, but it was fascinating to me. The moral of the story I guess would be two-fold-that A) I need to get a life or b) Doctors need to actually see their patients at the scheduled times.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Old Faithful

Today, I am dedicating my blogging to my old friend Kosa. Kosa is going to turn 9 years old this summer, and I worry about her often. She has already outlived my other boxer, and quite possibly the best dog that ever lived- Nico. Boxers have a life expectancy of about 7-10 years and not much more. They are a dog with big, loving hearts, that are unfortunately, otherwise weak.

We have been toying with the idea of getting another puppy after we have our yard fenced in. I think this time we are going to go with an English bulldog, but while doing research on them, we came across an interesting history on the boxer. The boxer dog was first brought to the United States by soldiers in WWII. They were bred to be German fighting dogs and cattle herders. They actually get the name "boxer" from the way that they like to play and fight with their front paws raised like fists. They are known as being super protective of their families and to have very sensitive feelings. Interestingly enough, they are also known to exhibit mood swings- which we most certainly have witnessed from both Nico and Kosa.

Nonetheless, despite Kosa's issues here and there, she never ceases to be a faithful friend. If everyone else in the world is angry with me, I know when I come home that I will have at least one family member standing at the door, wagging her tail with excitement to see me.

A Day in the Life of Me

I get asked a lot (well maybe only really once or twice) what I do in a typical day. As most of you know, I have pretty much been a single mother for the past 8 years, as well as working full-time, and going to school myself. Hence the fact that my life is always so hectic and I tend to sometimes "forget" things easily. Well, here goes:

I wake up every morning at 4:45. Well, that is when my alarm goes off at least. I usually reset it until about 5:30, at which time I get up and get ready for work. Most days, I can do this, fix my lunch, make sure the boys have everything ready for school, and be out the door by 6:20. However, given the lovely winters that we have here in Ohio, it tends to take me about 10 extra minutes this time of year due to the fact that I typically have to defrost my car, scrape ice, shovel snow, and heat it up.

I normally arrive at work around 7:05 in the morning and begin to prepare my lesson, tests, worksheets, etc. for the day. The bell rings at 7:24 to start the first class period. I teach Ecoscience first, followed by a period of tutoring students for the OGT, then Marine Biology, Ecoscience, lunch & prep periods (during which time I typically either work on grading the work submitted for the online course that I teach or doing my own homework), Advanced Biology, Ecoscience, and finally, Advanced Biology. The last bell rings at 2:15, at which time I gather up all of my papers to be graded and the work that I have to do for my own courses, and head up to the study hall where I monitor after-school extended detention until 4:20. At 4:20, I have to distribute all make-up tests into the appropriate teachers mailboxes, check all the detention students off in the office, clean up my lab from my last class period, close up my room, and start the journey home.

I usually arrive in Wooster somewhere around 5:15, at which time I head straight to the gym for my workout. I normally get a 45 minute workout in and then head home to scoop up Peyton to deliver at his various practices. Some nights, I have to take him earlier and other nights I may have my own classes to attend at Ashland, but no matter what, I never miss my workout. After delivering Peyton, I normally head home to start dinner and then run back out to pick him back up. When I get home, I finish dinner, serve it to the kids, clean-up afterwards, do 1-2 loads of laundry, fold clothes, help the boys with their homework, pick up the house, get my clothes out for work the next day, and then hop in the shower somewhere around 9 pm. After showering, it takes me about an hour to blow-dry and flat-iron my hair. I normally get to finally sit down at about 10:30 on most nights. This whole schedule excludes Thursdays, however, as that is my night of cleaning the house. On Thursdays, I do my thorough house cleaning- sweeping, bathrooms, dusting, mopping, etc. Nonetheless, I normally don't get to even shower until around midnight on Thursday nights. I started the Thursday night routine years ago and I always stick with it because I refuse to clean on the weekends. Saturday and Sunday are my time to enjoy with my family and I don't want any housework looming over my head.

Now that I have bored you all to tears with my not-so-exciting daily routine, I need to get back to grading tests. Oy vey!

El Presidente?

So, last night, after an exhausting and very long day at work, I was blow-drying my hair when I get verbally accosted by the one and only Cornerstone Student Council Prez. It seems that I "forgot to mention him in my post" yesterday and thereby forever wounded his ego. I promised him I would pay homage to him today with an entire post dedicated to his existence and week.

Apparently, Mr. Top Dog himself has been very busy arguing with his fellow classmates, student council members, and advisers. They have been working hard to formulate a fund-raising idea and have come up with having a dance competition in which attendees will pay $2 each. A portion of the money will go to charity, while the rest will fund the student council activities for the remainder of the school year, whatever they may be. You will have to speak to him directly if you should need details, but there has been a scuffle between what Taylor wants and what the people that he represents wants and he has had many an argument as of late with them, which has been reflected in his not-so-pleasant mood on the homefront. Ahhhh, such is the life of a busy politician!

And, hence, I have decided to add my most-favorite picture ever of Taylor from my collection. Enjoy!

Super Sunday!

So, hear goes... my first "official" post finally. I have been dealing with some computer glitches at home and haven't had much of a chance to post anything exciting because all of my pictures are on my laptop at home. Nonetheless, a quick recap of the weekend. Friday night, Derrick's best friend and best man at our wedding, the other Derrick (or white Derrick as he so affectionately calls himself) and his fiance Kathy were in town, so we met them out for an evening at the Olde Jaol while the boys spent the night with mom. Good times and stories were shared and we really miss having them closer to home. We will all be making the trek down to Virginia for their wedding in April.

On Saturday, Derrick and I drove to Canton in the morning to watch his younger brother, Kordell, play in his first basketball game. He plays in a church league and he did a great job. His team won and he scored 12 points himself. After that, we had two more basketball games of Peyton's to attend. Peyton's team is undefeated and got bumped up to the upper division, so the games were a bit more challenging this weekend. However, they ended up winning both games by 22 and 16 points respectively. Peyton didn't play so well in the first game, as he had been fighting a cold and the flu for a few days, but he scored 18 points in the second game. After that, I took the boys out to dinner at Green Leaf for their great grade cards and Derrick went with the guys to watch the big championship UFC fight- exciting... LOL.

Yesterday... the Big Game! We had our own little SuperBowl party with the four of us, however, I made enough food for about 14 of us instead. We literally cooked all day, but it was worth it in the end. By game time, we had deli sandwiches, potato salad, buffalo chicken dip, chips, a cheeseball with crackers, the infamous chicken cups, calico beans, chocolate cake with red sprinkles for the Cardinals (sorry, no Steelers fans allowed in this house...LOL), cookies, cheese, and I can't even remember what else. We were all so excited to eat that by the time we actually fixed our plates, nobody was hungry anymore. Nonetheless, we will be eating the aforementioned for the next several days. The game turned out to be a disappointment but congrats to Santonio (Go Buckeyes!) on being selected the MVP. And, if any of you were lucky enough to see Jennifer Hudson sing the National Anthem, then hopefully you will agree that it was quite possibly the most beautiful version of it that has ever been sung. She was amazing and she looked stunning, particularly since she just lost her mother, nephew, and brother to a tragic shooting less than two months ago.

Sorry for the grainy pics of the food at our "party". I had to take them with my Blackberry and I am still working on figuring out how to rotate pics. Hopefully you will cut me a little bit of slack since this is my first actual post....ha ha.