Friday, June 12, 2009
It Begins
Here are some pictures of the kitchen before the remodel and from tonight when Justin ripped out the backsplash. Progress! 
Try, Try Again
So, I'm trying to blog once again. I tried this once when Justin and I got engaged, but I never really followed through. So after pressure from one of my favorite people in the world, I'll try again. This all comes on the heels of what just might become a living nightmare, but I have to think positively. On Monday, Justin and I are starting...A COMPLETE KITCHEN MAKEOVER. Everything, and the kitchen sink :), is going. Well, save for the fridge, range, and microwave. So I've been told to make a blog to keep up with the progress of the kitchen. I don't know if I want to relive it in pictures, but we'll see. Tonight we packed up all of the cabinets since they will be painted, and Justin is currently tearing out the backsplash (or backwash as Brad calls it). Shiner, the wonderful dog that he is, is passed out in the living room floor as if nothing is happening. You would think that this would make a newly rescued dog a little skittish. Not so much for Shiner, our little mellow dog.
So another reason to start a blog (besides one more thing to distract me from doing homework), is that apparently I'll want to keep track of all of my stories from teaching elementary. Now, I've heard from lots of elementary teachers that I'll have a ton of stories. I say, you think they're bad? You should hear high school. I can't repeat half of what I hear, though! So in honor of that and my newly retired high school teacher status, I think I'll re-tell some of my favorites. Eh, Justin's doing the backsplash, he won't mind me skipping out, right?
1. My first year of teaching was close to a nightmare. On the morning of my 2nd day, I woke up in tears. I told Justin, "You just say the word, and I'll never go back. It's horrible." My dear husband, God love him, said, "Honey, it'll be ok!" He's lucky I don't hit early in the morning! So, it was a tough year, but I ended up loving it. My 5th period, I will never forget, told me that for one day they would all use grammatically correct language (one day!!), if they could teach me how to talk like them. Yikes! So, we agreed. I'm sure I was very lenient, but the day ended with them at the front of the room speaking teen or whatever it is they speak now, and I had to decipher what they were saying. Because of this experience, Justin now uses the phrase "What it do?" Since we're old foggies, that probably isn't even a cool phrase anymore!
2. My 2nd year of teaching held many promises. I went from having 50 students my first year (a lot, if you understand what I teach) to having 20 or so. One of my students came to me as a freshman and about 7 months pregnant. Who knew that this beautiful young girl would become someone so special to me? She is also the one that gave me grief about having a tatoo only to tell me that when she got one, it would be her last name on her back so that if she died, the cops would know who she was. I do not lie! Her last name was the equivalent of Smith, too.
3. I just finished my 3rd year, and as my dear friend Amy said it would be, it was my best. I had 16 kids this year (it's now hard to believe I ever had 50!), and they were the most amazing group of kids. I hope that they learned from me half as much as I learned from them. I learned that no matter what your situation is, you can still have compassion for others. I loved and still love those kids like they are my own. For many hours of the day, they were my own. These students taught me not to give up on them because no matter how rough their lives are, they will be fiercly loyal. I had students that had been through more in their 14 or so years than I've ever gone through in my 26. My funny stories from this year were my student that thought Joe the Plumber was running for president, another thought Rosa Parks was President Obama's grandmother, and one whose favorite phrase was, "That ain't right." Now, if you know me, you know that I ring a bell when my kids say something grammatically incorrect or they make up a word, but even I can't bring myself to ring the bell for that phrase because I could not stop laughing! At the end of the year, I wrote each of them a poem and read them outloud in class. I don't think I've ever cried that much. Even the students were crying. Hopefully I will never forget the words that one of them said to me. He said, "I never get told at home that I'm doing well. I never get told that I'm good enough. You have no idea how much it means to hear that someone really cares that much." He has no idea. So I had to say a very sad good bye to my babies, but I know that they will keep in touch and that God has big things in store for them.
So now that my blog runneth over, I must close. I don't guess that homework will get done if I keep typing. So, as long as grad school and a kitchen re-do don't kill me, then I'll keep blogging. Who knows if anyone reads these things, but I'll at least have something to help me remember things!
So another reason to start a blog (besides one more thing to distract me from doing homework), is that apparently I'll want to keep track of all of my stories from teaching elementary. Now, I've heard from lots of elementary teachers that I'll have a ton of stories. I say, you think they're bad? You should hear high school. I can't repeat half of what I hear, though! So in honor of that and my newly retired high school teacher status, I think I'll re-tell some of my favorites. Eh, Justin's doing the backsplash, he won't mind me skipping out, right?
1. My first year of teaching was close to a nightmare. On the morning of my 2nd day, I woke up in tears. I told Justin, "You just say the word, and I'll never go back. It's horrible." My dear husband, God love him, said, "Honey, it'll be ok!" He's lucky I don't hit early in the morning! So, it was a tough year, but I ended up loving it. My 5th period, I will never forget, told me that for one day they would all use grammatically correct language (one day!!), if they could teach me how to talk like them. Yikes! So, we agreed. I'm sure I was very lenient, but the day ended with them at the front of the room speaking teen or whatever it is they speak now, and I had to decipher what they were saying. Because of this experience, Justin now uses the phrase "What it do?" Since we're old foggies, that probably isn't even a cool phrase anymore!
2. My 2nd year of teaching held many promises. I went from having 50 students my first year (a lot, if you understand what I teach) to having 20 or so. One of my students came to me as a freshman and about 7 months pregnant. Who knew that this beautiful young girl would become someone so special to me? She is also the one that gave me grief about having a tatoo only to tell me that when she got one, it would be her last name on her back so that if she died, the cops would know who she was. I do not lie! Her last name was the equivalent of Smith, too.
3. I just finished my 3rd year, and as my dear friend Amy said it would be, it was my best. I had 16 kids this year (it's now hard to believe I ever had 50!), and they were the most amazing group of kids. I hope that they learned from me half as much as I learned from them. I learned that no matter what your situation is, you can still have compassion for others. I loved and still love those kids like they are my own. For many hours of the day, they were my own. These students taught me not to give up on them because no matter how rough their lives are, they will be fiercly loyal. I had students that had been through more in their 14 or so years than I've ever gone through in my 26. My funny stories from this year were my student that thought Joe the Plumber was running for president, another thought Rosa Parks was President Obama's grandmother, and one whose favorite phrase was, "That ain't right." Now, if you know me, you know that I ring a bell when my kids say something grammatically incorrect or they make up a word, but even I can't bring myself to ring the bell for that phrase because I could not stop laughing! At the end of the year, I wrote each of them a poem and read them outloud in class. I don't think I've ever cried that much. Even the students were crying. Hopefully I will never forget the words that one of them said to me. He said, "I never get told at home that I'm doing well. I never get told that I'm good enough. You have no idea how much it means to hear that someone really cares that much." He has no idea. So I had to say a very sad good bye to my babies, but I know that they will keep in touch and that God has big things in store for them.
So now that my blog runneth over, I must close. I don't guess that homework will get done if I keep typing. So, as long as grad school and a kitchen re-do don't kill me, then I'll keep blogging. Who knows if anyone reads these things, but I'll at least have something to help me remember things!
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