Garden Pictures

Dave's hops grow up twine to the garage roof.










This is the backyard from the back











This is my lettuce (isn't it cute?) and the cilantro that reseeded itself.















The backyard view from the house.








The same backyard view, but in April of this year.






My pond; I took out the stupid waterfall part, and now the new bricks don't match. But I'm happier with it now.

School's out for the summer!

Wha-hoo! Thursday was my last official day of school for this school year, and it came to an ignominious conclusion. The kids were dismissed at 11:30 and I hung around for some paperwork and chatting, knowing full-well that I'd be back for the next several days anyway. At about 12:30 as I was looking at my desk getting up the energy to actually leave, a parent came in. We'll call him "Sally's dad". Well, Sally's dad and I have been in email, phone, and personal contact for the last couple of marking periods because Sally, a very capable (even gifted) 7th grader is getting an E in math due to lack of doing any work. I've done my best to help out; she's had multiple opportunities to make up work, though I draw the line when we finished a unit 5 weeks ago so no makeup homework then. I have also emailed dad to tell him the status, he has the "parent internet viewer" to seem my constantly updated grades, and I have given her lists of what is due, the quizzes or tests she's missed, and all extra credit opportunitites.

So dad was supposed to come by on Tuesday and didn't show. I emailed him on Thursday morning and asked if he still wanted to see me. Well, he decided it was important to give me the following message in person: Because of ME, Sally now hates math and I am the worst teacher he's ever met. He went on with more info, but it was pretty much the same and more reiterations of "worst teacher ever".

I said that I don't think that because Sally didn't do her work and lied about it that it makes me a bad teacher. He stood by his opinion and I could only say, "I'm sorry you feel that way". When he left, I was pretty pissed and cried a little. Not necessarily because I believed it, but what a jackass! And my only consolation is that he's going to have to live with Sally for the next several years wheras I'll be done with her.

What a way to end the school year. Thanks, Jackass.

Baby Monkey Stuff

Here is the new bedding I got for the up and coming baby monkey.

Thanks to Dave, who helped me establish a photobucket, I'll soon be able to post pics of my garden and other stuff :-)

On a random note, my cat, Hobbes, just at a Dorito. Weird.

Long time, no Katie

Hello once again. Where have I been? Well, I finally feel well again and the sun is usually shining. So I haven't been in the basement blogging.

The nausea is mostly gone, though I still can't seem to stand meat. Especially grilled meat. Grilled chicken is one of the grossest sights and smells of anything. And yesterday I just about passed out in first hour. I was talking to the kids and I felt dizzy, so I sat down and continued teaching. Then a black haze swam before my eyes and I said, "I'm going to lay on the floor now because I'm about to pass out." Luckily, the assistant principal happened to be observing in my classroom. So he got me my raisins and some water from my desk. Then I felt better. I was pretty embarassed, though.

I can't say I miss dancing at this point, it is nice to have free time to devote to my garden and finally my house (as it wasn't cleaned much in the first trimester).

My yard looks great! I spread mulch last weekend and decided to get the cocoa shell kind. It smells like chocolate in my yard! I need a glass of milk everytime I go outside. Plus, it looks great and it was easy to spread.

School gets out Thursday, we have a half day. It can't come soon enough. I'm done, the kids are done, we're done with each other (til next year). Next year I'm slated to teach 7th grade math, 8th grade science, and 8th grade math. I'm not exactly thrilled about getting a new prep in the year that I'll be 7 months pregnant, then gone, then have a new baby. But I'm under the illusion that I'll be doing loads of work to prepare this summer.

On the baby front, things are going well. I'm into maternity stuff. All of a sudden, I couldn't button anything. I love maternity wear; no buttons or zippers, just elastic and ease. I think I've felt the baby kick. Actually I know it. Something inside me kicked (a real John Hurt moment) but it was cool. Dave is happy to see me getting bigger (of course, my breasts are no exception and he's thrilled about that). I've ordered a crib set that I love and hope to paint the room soon this summer. I'll post a picture if I can figure out how to do that. I'm also planning on staining or painting the doors downstairs and putting up the molding. Oh, and math camp the week of June 19.

And, I'll try to post more often and try to say intelligent things instead of just baby stuff (though it is hard to resist).