Mother of the Year

(2014) I have to share my "Mother of the Year" story from this week ... I have been crowned once again.   I noticed that Dylan's tennis shoes were full of holes and completely raggedy, so I threw them away, thinking, "Gosh, this poor kid.  We'll get him a nice, new pair this weekend."  The next morning, while rushing to get to school because I had a parent conference waiting, Dylan was in a panic because he couldn't find his shoes.  I told him to wear another pair because I had thrown away the other ones. Well, of COURSE, he went nuts, saying they were his all- time favorite shoes, etc, etc.  I caved, and said in frustration, "Well get them out of the trash for today, but hurry up!!! We are going to be late!!!"  Dylan fished them out of the trash and when I walked in the kitchen, he was hobbling all over the kitchen shouting in distress,  "Mom!  Something is all over my favorite shoes!" I turn and see that his shoes are COVERED and dripping with spaghetti sauce!!?  What on earth??!   Turns out, UNBEKNOWNST to me, Bran had come down in the middle of the night and made himself a big bowl of noodles with spaghetti sauce and thrown out the leftovers in the very same trash can ... all over Dylan's "sacred" shoes. So, I did what any great mother would do.  I screamed, "BRING THEM TO ME!" I turned on the kitchen faucet , slopped water all over them, and handed them back to Dylan dripping wet saying, "Put them on FAST and get in the car!!! We are going to be late!!!"  What a lucky kid.  He arrived at school that day with shoes not only full of holes, but now stained with spaghetti sauce, smelling like tomatoes, AND squeaking and dripping wet  So glad I made the whole shoe situation so much better for him.  Yes, once again, I am Mother of the Year!  What can you do but laugh?!

Worst Mistake Of My Life

Those who know me will attest to the fact that I'm adventurous and will try just about anything once (exempting anything illegal  or immoral! 😉).  However, I am NOT AT ALL adventurous when it comes to food, especially any kind of weird meat.  I can't stand those TV shows where they go to some foreign place and eat a lot of "local delicacies."  I get nauseous within the first five minutes. SOOOO, considering that, I made the ABSOLUTE WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE tonight when I stopped in a food store near my house in the name of expediency that I've never been to before  (store name withheld so I don't hurt anyone's feelings). Y'all .... I should have trusted my instincts when my stomach lurched the moment  we walked In the door. The smells and atmosphere were horrendous, and I didn't recognize even one brand name or food item I'd ever seen before in my life.  As I intrepidly headed toward the meat section to find some simple meatloaf Ingredients, I kept getting queasier and queasier.  I was desperately scanning for ANY  meat I could even identify!  I am not kidding when I say that there were packages of huge wrapped hooves that looked like they were from a big cow or buffalo or something, and big slabs of grayish looking meat wrapped in strings that made my stomach churn. The capper was when I peered down into a refrigerated bin and staring back at me were about six frozen WHOLE lambs heads still with frozen fuzzy wool on them, wrapped in some yellowish cling wrap!  I seriously had to grab Lily's hand and run out of the store before I was completely ILL.  What a nightmare!!  What on earth possessed me to go into a sketchy meat shop to begin with?!  I got OUT OF THERE as fast as I could. Remind me next time to PLEASE take the extra turn into Kroger where I can rest assured that some big frozen animal face won't be greeting me from the meat counter and we won't have to stir-fry giant horse hooves for dinner. I am scarred for life, and Skeet can't quit laughing at my horrible ordeal!

Parent Conference

I had a parent say the nicest thing today that I've ever been told at a parent- teacher conference in 20 years of teaching. She said that her daughter came home the other day after school and told her, "Mrs. Taylor teaches us so many things beyond just Language Arts. She teaches us about kindness and how to treat each other the right way. Secretly, Mom, I know she's a Christian.  She can't say it, but I can see it."  I teared up on the spot ... One of the most meaningful compliments I've ever gotten from a student, and so kind of her sweet mom to share it with me!

Coupons

(2012) Having a Mom for a teacher often means drinking "Dr Thunder" instead of "Dr Pepper",  eating "Whales" instead of "Goldfish", buying "Hydrox Cremes" instead of "Oreos" and having conversations like this one today after school ...
Bran: Mom, can we drive through Sonic? I'm starving.
Me:  No, Sonic is too expensive and I don't have any coupons.  I'll have to go where there's a $1 menu.
Bran: Coupons?!  But you have a twenty dollar bill in your wallet!
Me: Yeah, but it has to last me to the end of the month.
Bran:  It's ok, Mom, that's what DAD is for. (loved that logic!)
Me:  Um, don't tell Dad, but this IS his 20 dollar bill!
Bran (after long pause): Well then ...bring on the $1 menu!

Imagination

(2015) I love imagination. I spent my whole childhood completely immersed in mine ... Still do, really.  I love seeing the same thing in Lily ... She is so much like me as a little girl! Came downstairs tonight and found her in the dark living room with a flashlight "deep in the jungle" exploring and  "having an adventure," in her words.  These are some pictures of the amazing sights on her harrowing jungle expedition ...

Grading

(2015) Must. stop. grading. informational. writing. papers.  My brain hurts.  45 down, 15 to go.... must finish these before the 60 narrative papers are turned in for grading tomorrow. I hope nobody wrote War and Peace.  I'm on a nightmare grading circle of life ... Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

CrossFit

I'm pretty sure I just completed an entire CrossFit routine trying to get on my black tights to wear with my dress tonight. I'm exhausted now.

Dinnertime

(2014) Lily Claire set the table and made dinner tonight .... too bad it wasn't for us!

Sleep

(2008) Oh my heart. My little Dyl. He never slept, but when he did, it was where ever he landed. ❤ So love this boy. 

Alaskan Bushmen

I am watching some show called Alaskan Bush Men and on this episode they are going to town to find girls at the "Grizzly Pizza" hangout. Their names are Bear and BamBam, to name a few of the five guys, and they just washed up to go "hunt women" (their words) with a plastic pitcher of rain water poured over their heads and a pocket knife to clean their nails. Poor Bear's pick up line with the "ladies" was "Who likes to climb trees?!"  One asked for a girl's number but then remembered he didn't have a phone since they live on the ground in the forest.  Oh dear. Surprisingly they didn't have a lot of success, and no woman wanted to come back home with them to their one room "trappershack" that they all five share with their elderly parents. Not sure why!!?  :). In Alaska, there is one woman to every seven men, but as the saying goes, "The odds are good, but the goods are odd."  Definitely.

Lucky Lady

(2014) Dylan "likes" a little girl in his fifth grade class so he picked this extra special Valentine to give to her on Friday at the Valentine exchange.  What a lucky lady ....

Coyote

We got a message from our HOA that a coyote was spotted walking around our neighborhood!  Yikes!  Guess the Roadrunner will be the next to move in!

Peppermint Lotion

I made the HUGE mistake of putting Peppermint scented lotion on my feet tonight before bed! Buddy has been licking my feet nonstop and there’s no escape!! It’s tickling me to death and would be super annoying if it weren’t so darn funny!!  #puppyproblems 😂😂

Mean

(2013) As we were all getting ready for bed tonight, we were talking about all of our Valentines and cupcakes and chocolate and fun from the day.  Dylan asked Skeet,"So how was YOUR Valentine party at work?"  Skeet said, "We didn't have one."  Dylan said, "WHAT?  What did you do all day?"  Skeet replied, "Work."  Dylan angrily replied, "That is MEAN!  I am NEVER working there!"

Dreams

I always have vivid dreams, but I've had a fever the past two or three nights, and my dreams have been CRAZY! Case in point ...
1.  I dreamed that we had a Cyber Day for school, but all my students had to come to my house for their lessons.  The nighbors called the sherrif because we were too loud!(that's not far from the truth!)
2.  I dreamed that an emergency vet team showed up at my door and told me that Buddy had contracted a horrible disease at the pet store from being fed tainted caulifower and it'd cost $10,000 for him to be treated and cured.
3.  I dreamed that I replaced all the carpets in my house with turquoise shaq rugs and then regretted it.
4.  I dreamed that I was at the wrong school one morning and when I tried to tell the principal that I was at the wrong place, I had to swim to reach her because the faculty meeting was taking place in a huge pool.
5. I dreamed that a friend was showing me his new house and we had to slide down a creepy, dirty laundry chute to get inside.
Needless to say, I don't feel very RESTED.  Pretty sure I"ll be laying off the Muxinex tonight!