I PASSED!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I passed the reading specialist test! All I have to do now is have KU submit my scores and coursework to the state and I will have my reading specialist license. I am going to talk to my principal this week to let her know that I will be looking for a new job, and to ask for a letter of recommendation.

On another note, I stayed home sick today. My voice has been going in and out for the past week or so. Yesterday I went to work and felt horrible by the end of the day. My chest was very congested and I was exhausted. I got plans ready for today and stayed home. I feel a lot better, but still have no voice. Good news is that since there was such bad weather, I only had 12 kids show up today and I had a good sub. I will probably go in to work tomorrow provided I still feel okay. It is an early release day for students and we are having our staff potluck instead of professional development, so I could most likely go home early if needed. I'll have to completely make new plans if I don't have a voice though.

Anyway, I'm going to focus on the great news that I passed the test!!!

The Surprise!

Tuesday, November 25th was my parents' 30th wedding anniversary! Unbeknownst to them, we had planned on visiting for quite awhile. Francie was in on the surprise. She picked us up at the airport on Tuesday night. Momma and Daddy were shocked when we walked in the door. The surprise worked!

On Wednesday we had a little surprise anniversary party...okay, we had cake and a present. Francie learned a neat photography technique in one of her classes. She was able to transfer pictures from their wedding onto a tile. It turned out really well. Then we all went out to dinner at Big Dog's (the local watering hole).

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Everyone pitched in to create the meal. (I volunteered Cody to make the mashed potatoes.)

After the obligatory post-meal nap, we all went to Freemont Street, where Cody and I had never been. They have a show set to music on the canopy every hour. We watched Born to Be Wild and American Pie. This was pretty cool! We also got our picture taken with a million dollars. I'm sure that's the closest we'll ever be to that much money.

Unfortunately we had to leave on Friday afternoon. Plane tickets were much more expensive on the weekend. But I'm glad we got a chance to go see my family and I'm sure they enjoyed the surprise.

Well...it's done.

I did not do much this weekend on account of my test on Saturday morning. I took the test for reading specialist licensure. We'll know within four weeks if I passed or not. I feel pretty good about the test, but there were some things that caught me off guard. There is no official study book or guide for the test, and I was the first one in several years to take it from KU, so I didn't really have any guidelines about what to study. If I passed, then KU will submit my application to the state and (cross your fingers) I will have my license around Feb./March. Just in time to start applying for jobs for next year.

While I was studying Friday night, Cody went down to Spring Hill and had a sleepover with Larz. He finally got Jeff to hear "the noise" that his truck was making and they got it temporarily fixed. He bought the part Sunday morning and fixed it permanently (knock on wood!).

Saturday evening we went to the Bennetts' wedding. It was very nice. They had the ceremony at a church on the Plaza and the reception at the Shriners' Hall. Lots of fun had by all!

Sunday was spent as lazy as possible. The only things we accomplished were fixing Cody's truck (which only took a few minutes), watching the Chiefs' lose again, laundry, and dishes. It was nice to have a laid back day.

Another Busy Weekend

I had the day off last Friday (for some reason the district gave us a random Friday off...we get another one in April). I got my oil changed in the morning. Then I met Cody for lunch since we don't get to "do" lunch very often. On the way home, I went to Target for last minute Halloween costume supplies and decorations. I also went to the grocery store. When I got home I began a mad dash to clean the house for our Halloween party. I don't think I sat down and relaxed at all on my day off.

Our Halloween party was a good time. Even Darwin got in to the spirit of things and dressed up. He was a jack-o-lantern.

On Saturday we went to Liz's wedding. Liz was my student teacher 3 or 4 years ago. It was a pretty wedding. They had their reception at Terrace on the Green, which neither of us had ever heard of. It is a reception hall that overlooks Ironhorse golf course and it is beautiful. It was an afternoon wedding, so we were home at a reasonable time and just vegged in front of the TV.

Sunday morning was for sleeping in. When I finally got up and checked my phone, I found a text message from Janell. Her water had broken around midnight and she was on her way to the hospital. Cole Steven Urban was born on Sunday at 3:12 in the afternoon. Cody and I went up to visit with the family. Cole is CUTE! Congratulations to Janell and Tim!

A "Rotten" Start to the Week

They say "bad" things come in threes....

1. Monday morning was probably the coldest morning we've had so far this year. Deciding to be nice, I went out to start Cody's truck and my car to let them warm up. Cody's truck started right up, my car.....clicked. Yup...the battery was DEAD! Unfortunately, neither one of us had jumper cables (although we'd talked about needing to buy some several times). Lucky for me, I have a wonderful boyfriend who called in late to work and changed the battery for me. I made it to school only 20 minutes after the kids got there.

2. Every morning I get on the computer to check my email, bank acct., etc. Tuesday morning when I checked my bank account I was overdrawn. In my flustered hurry the previous morning, I used my debit card to pay for the battery (and jumper cables) instead of my credit card. Since it is almost payday, I didn't have enough in my account. I did get the bank to credit back some of the money since I am a good customer, but still....

3. Last Saturday, Cody bought a pumpkin. We finally got around to carving it tonight. Wanting to impress Cody with my culinary abilities, I planned on making pumpkin pie with real pumpkin. We went to the store to get all of the supplies. When we opened the pumpkin it was rotten! There was absolutely NO WAY we were going to use that for pumpkin pie. The jack-o-lantern did turn out pretty good though (Cody did all the work).

I know...if these are the worst things that ever happen, then I've got it made...but it didn't start the week out on the right foot. But tomorrow is the fall party at school and then I have the day off on Friday. We have our Halloween party that night...so maybe the week'll turn itself around.

The Reunion

Last weekend was my 10 year class reunion back in Liberal. Cody and I left on Friday morning so that we could stop at Grandma Knowlton's house for lunch. We got a later start than expected, had to drop Darwin off at the kennel, and had to go by Target to get a new purse (the strap on mine broke the night before). Then we got caught in all sorts of road construction on the way including a one lane road with a flagperson. Needless to say, we were late to lunch.

When we finally got to St. John, we had lunch and a good visit with Grandma and Uncle Jim. We stayed for a couple of hours and then got back on the road. I'd forgotten exactly how long of a drive it is to Liberal since I hadn't been back in over 8 years.

We got into town around 6:30 and checked into the Liberal Inn. Boy, has Liberal changed! One whole end of town is very run-down and many of the buildings on the main street are closed. I felt a little sick to my stomach the first time we drove down Kansas Ave. The other end of town has exploded. There are so many new businesses. The house I grew up in looks horrid. It was a cedar house which is now covered with light blue siding that has burnt orange trim. The yard looks like somebody was trying to landscape but quit halfway and let everything become overgrown.

Enough complaining....we went to the LHS football game and sat with some friends from high school. Then we all went to a bar in town and hung out for the rest of the night. Melinda and Toby convinced us to get on their bus afterwards and we were out WAY too late. We even made a trip to the state line. Cody was very excited because he had never been to OK before. I took a picture of him with the OK dirt. We ate some tacos from a taco stand on the border, which Cody claims were the best tacos ever!

On Saturday we got up to take a tour of the high school. It was mostly the same except they have added a small addition. Cody was very interested in all of the trophy cases. We left LHS to go eat at the Pancake House which hasn't changed a bit. In fact, I think one of the cooks has been there since I was a kid. We followed up with a trip to Dorothy's House where Cody took a picture of me beside my brick from when I was a Dorothy. I'm sure Cody was very impressed with the tour.

Then we drove around town for awhile so I could show Cody all of my old haunts. We stopped by the cemetary to put flowers on Grandpa Knowlton's and Great-Grandma Knowlton's graves. Next was lunch at Cattleman's which also hasn't changed a bit. The original plan was to go to the air museum next, but we decided to take a nap due to our late night. Cody says missing the air museum just gives us an excuse to go back. We had our reunion dinner at the Elk's Lodge. Not very many classmates showed up...apparently a lot of people didn't know about the reunion or got very short notice. I was disappointed that more of my friends from high school weren't there.

Sunday we spent the day driving home. It had been awhile since I've driven across Kansas and I had never seen any of the wind farms before. I thought they were quite interesting. One of the gas stations we stopped at had a "scenic look" at one of the wind farms, so I decided to be a dork and take some pics. That about does it for our trip to Liberal. Maybe we'll go back in another 8 years or so.

Isn't it ironic?

Last Friday, Cody and I went to the Royals' game. He got four free tickets and a parking pass through a guy at work. Since we couldn't find anyone else for the last two tickets (it was pretty last minute and everyone already had plans), he walked up to a guy waiting in line and sold the tickets for $20 (less than 1/2 price). That paid for our dinner at the K.

Saturday morning Cody got up and was quite productive in the yard. He trimmed our shrubs and cut down the grass plant that we have in the front yard. When he was almost finished, the neighbor told him he wasn't supposed to cut it in the fall, only in the spring. But the neighbor's son (40ish year old guy who does lawns) told Cody to cut it down in the fall and even wrapped the twine around it a couple of weeks ago. Who knows!? But it's cut down now. He then mowed the yard and even got out the weedeater. I cleaned up inside and did some laundry while he was working. Then I went to Janell's baby shower at 2 (lucky me...I got out of all the yardwork!).

On my way home from Janell's baby shower Cody called to tell me he had gotten a phone call from a guy at our neighborhood liquor store. I vaguely remember entering a drawing about a month ago for a minifridge with a Jayhawk on the front. I told Cody I was putting his name in, too. Then I forgot all about it (who ever remembers when they enter those things). Turns out Cody won the fridge! And he was probably the only non-KU fan in the whole drawing. Isn't it ironic? We already have a minifridge, so we don't know what we're going to do with two...

Then Saturday night we went to a housewarming party over at Troy's house (Cody's boss). It was a pretty good time without much to talk about. Cody got up early on Sunday and went golfing. He finally used the gift certificate he got for his birthday (in March). He was pretty sore on Sunday night since he hasn't played much this year. As for me, I spent the day on the couch doing nothing. I finally decided I should do my homework for class around 8:30. And that was our weekend.

The Beginning of a New School Year

Well, I've survived the first two weeks of school....and I've already had a puking incident. On Wednesday a boy got sick while we were sitting on the carpet. I immediately rushed him to the trash can and told the others to go to their seats and read a book. Then one little boy comes up to me...he was sitting directly in front of the sick boy and was covered! He took it a lot better than I would have. He calmly went to the bathroom to clean up as much as he could. Since he was wearing an undershirt, we took off the topshirt and put it in a bag. He called his mother and went home to shower.

So far, I have a GREAT class this year. Most of the kids came in knowing a lot, and for the most part the class is well behaved. I only hope it lasts and we're not just in the honeymoon period. This is much better than the past couple of years when I've been bitten and had students who throw, yell, and who knows what else. I'm really looking forward to this year. We've also already had parent-teacher conferences (which I think is ridiculous). The idea is that we develop relationships with the families early in the school year. That makes sense, but most parents want to know how their child is doing...and I don't have a whole lot to tell them after 9 days of school. Other than that I explain some of the policies and expectations (20 times) which could be done once at an open house or parent night. But of course the district didn't ask me.

My KU class started on Monday. I went in believing that it would be my last class and that I would have to do a two semester internship beginning next fall. My professor informed us that the internship has been eliminated from the program! So (cross your fingers), all I have to do is complete this course and take a test. Then, I'll have my reading specialist licensure. Hopefully I'll be able to find a job in that area. I'm going to email a professor who has done research in my class just to make sure that I'm not missing any requirements before I get my hopes up too much.

Darwin's First Camping Trip

Since we didn't have anyone to watch Darwin and we were only going camping for one night, we decided to take Darwin. He had a great time! When we got to the campsite it was raining. By the time we got everything set up, we were in the midst of a downpour. All three of us were soaked. Fortunately, yours truly had the foresight to tell Cody to buy a "screened pavilion." We hung out inside for most of the afternoon. Darwin slept under the picnic table. Around 4 or 5, the sun came out. Cody did a lot of fishing. Darwin was very interested in the minnows.

We were a little worried about how Darwin would act, but he was a very good boy! We put him on a stake/chain. He wandered around exploring what he could get to. After awhile, he just laid around us. He slept in the tent without a problem. I think he may get to go on more camping trips in the future. But he was tired...he actually slept in the truck on the way home (which is unheard of!).

The end of summer

Today is the last day of my summer. I go back to school on Monday for inservice, etc. Kids come back next Friday (I don't know why they start on a Friday). I've actually been going back to school most days for the past two weeks. Our school went through some major changes this year. Last year we were very overcrowded so this year the district gave us two new classroom teachers; however, we have no space for them. We did some creative rearranging and ended up with almost everyone in the school having to move. I had to move rooms again, so I've been back unpacking, trying to figure out where things should go, and setting up. I'm hoping to have my room set up before I leave today so that next week I can focus on planning and getting materials ready for the first week of school. Cross your fingers!

I'm hoping this semester isn't nearly as hectic as last semester. Last semester I worked at the bar on Monday nights, had a class on Tuesdays, tutored on Wednesday and Thursday for my class, tutored for school on Saturday mornings, and had a small group meeting for another class on Saturdays after tutoring. This semester (so far) I am only taking a class on Monday nights. It's the last class in my reading specialist program. After this I just have a test and a year-long internship. The bar was closed down during the summer so I won't be working there. I've been contemplating signing up to tutor at an after school program, but I'm still undecided.

Last night was the last night of our volleyball season. The bank team finished at 9-15, the school team finished at 13-11. I played on both teams. Cody only officially played on the bank team, but he subbed for my school team at least half of the time so I guess he's an honorary member. We might be playing in a fall league but it starts next week and Cody would like a couple of weeks off between seasons--I don't blame him. Outdoor sand volleyball in July/August is HOT!

Well, we're going camping this weekend at Hillsdale Lake (near here). I guess that will be our last hurrah for the end of summer.

Hottest Canoe Trip EVER!

Last weekend, we went on the hottest canoe trip ever! We drove 5 1/2 hours to Eminence, MO. It was so bright that I had to cover my legs in the car because they were getting sunburned. Once we got there and got the tents setup, we were soaked in sweat. We hung out in the river for awhile to cool off. The float on Saturday was a blast! It didn't seem so hot while we were on the river. Fortunately we were smart enough to keep up with the sunscreen, but both of us forgot to reapply to our legs and ended up burned pretty good. We got off the river late afternoon and went to make burgers. Then I felt miserable. It was too hot in the tent to sleep (our tent fan batteries were dying); my legs were on fire; and it was even hot outside the tent. I went and sat in the car with the a/c on for about 10 minutes to cool off. Finally, Cody woke up and realized why the fan wasn't working and changed the batteries. I finally got to sleep sometime after 1. Remember that 5 1/2 hour drive....we had to come home the next morning. I was feeling sick from all the heat and no sleep. Luckily, Cody was sweet enough to drive the whole way and let me nap (I did offer to drive several times). Overall, it was a good trip....I just wish we would have gone on a weekend that wasn't one million degrees.

And Cody wants to go camping again in a few weeks....