Yippee for Spring Break!

SOLD!!!

We finally sold the BMW! Hooray! The couple drove up from about 4 hours south of here, and we signed papers in my school office with the secretary who happens to be a notary. I only had a slight moment of heart failure/high blood pressure when they came back 5 minutes after driving away to say that the a/c wasn't working, and when I tried to start it to show them how to work it, the car wouldn't start. It started once I moved the steering wheel a little bit (which took me a few panic-filled minutes to remember), and then I showed him the nifty little snowflake button that would produce cold air vs. the 85-degree air blowing through the vent. Hooray for no more senseless car & insurance payments!!!

The poking game

I'm starting to play games with the baby. Actually, Jon started it. If you poke my stomach, she'll poke or kick back some/most of the time. Jon thinks it's funny when she decides to kick me hard and it's on the inside. I don't know that I agree with how funny it is. I think Cindy would agree that this is future soccer training--getting her reflexes going, building up muscles, etc. Until I poke her in the eye.

24-week checkup

My checkup this week went well. Although I did jump from +8 pounds to +14 pounds this month. I thought it was funny that I nearly doubled my weight gain in one month. Oh well. I was thinking about what the baby will look like last night when I couldn't fall asleep, and I was wondering whose genes would win the battle of the eyes. You see, the Steeles have relatively big eyes, and we Hales have little squinty ones. I suppose our kids could end up looking very different from each other if one of the genes is not dominant. I really hope that his dimples are dominant! Oh, and I'm pretty sure she'll be a blondie--unless those Hale genes surface again. She'll probably be the opposite of everything I imagine.

Southern cooking

I feel like a true southerner now, because I cooked a truly southern dish, but it's not what you'd expect. In fact, it's really normal, and I'm wondering why it's even in the "southern" category. I made chicken spaghetti. I'm including the recipe--the only thing I can figure that makes it souther is Rotel or maybe Velveeta. Do they have Rotel in the normal states? I never would've bougnt it, so I don't know. Oh, Rotel is diced spicy tomoatoes & green chiles--I found it in the vegetable aisle on base (weird), but I think it normally goes elsewhere, like maybe near the Mexican food. It's what you'd buy to mix with Velveeta to make a nice spicy queso dip. Anyway, here's the recipe I got from a friend:

Chicken (you can use whole, breast, frozen)
Spaghetti noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can original rotel tomatoes
1 med. Velveeta cheese block

1st: boil your chicken.
2nd: boil noodles in chicken broth
3rd: melt Velveeta in a saucepan
4th: add cream of mushroom, cream of chicken and rotel into the saucepan MIX WELL!!!
5th: Put cooked noodles in a serving dish
6th: Place cut-up chicken over layer of noodles
7th: Pour cheese/soup/rotel mixture on top of it all.
8th: Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Do not steal anything from a pregnant woman

I tried to plan a fun unit for my class this week in Reading--since it's that miserable week between testing and Spring Break. Stolen from my teaching a semester of Film as Lit to juniors and seniors, I decided to have my students write a movie review. I did this last year, too, and it was very successful. We were going to watch "A Series of Unfortunate Events" Tuesday through Thursday, and write the review on Friday. Which is a perfect plan if you don't have a yahoo sub next door. We were passing the TV cart & DVD back and forth each period, which was fine until her 5th period class stole my DVD. There's a longer story behind it, but if I try to type it out, I'm pretty sure my blood pressure will go through the roof, because I'm still pretty livid. The short of it is, she took the DVD out of the player (for some unknown reason--I was just going to show it during 6th period), and sent two girls to bring the TV, etc. to my room. They took it to the library instead, and when my students went up 10 minutes later to get it, the DVD case was empty. We're pretty sure we know which student did it, but at this point I'm guessing it's too late to do anything about it. So I was really mean to that teacher's classes and made them do bookwork instead of watching the movie this week. I borrowed the movie from another teacher, but I wasn't about to let that one out of my sight.

Busy

Okay, I'm beginning to feel like Aaron Geist, I haven't blogged in so long! But I have a reasonably good excuse--I've been super busy. And whenever I've had free time, Jon's been doing homework (he's been rather busy, too). Two and a half weeks ago, the teacher next door to me (a really good friend, not to mention we do all of our planning together) went to be with her dying dad--and then he passed away this past weekend. So I've been writing plans and getting sub stuff ready for another teacher, not to mention getting my own stuff together. This week hasn't been so bad, since our plans were relatively similar, but last week during testing we were reading different novels, and I had to create a whole novel unit for her class. Anyway, I've also worked more at Sylvan in the past two weeks than I've worked in a long time, thanks to my other after-school program being over. So how's that for excuses for not blogging?

24 weeks

Here's the belly at 24 weeks. I'm still feeling pretty good, although I've been introduced to a few new things, like heartburn and some back pain. But I've only had those symptoms a few times, and not too bad overall, so I don't really feel like I can complain. Jon is definitely feeling her kick now, which is exciting.

Stop being jealous of my sexy pants, please.

Bike-a-thon

Yesterday our middle & high schoolers participated in a 50 mile bike-a-thon to raise money for summer camp. Seeing as my balance isn't quite what it used to be, I opted to serve water & snacks. Jon did bike, however, and has the sore bum to prove it. Needless to say, he didn't get many sponsors, so if any of you would like to sponsor him and send donations, feel free to do so!

And yes, I realize none of the pictures are of Jon--he eluded me. Sneaky.

5 months or 6 months?

So I'm looking for some suggestions. As you may or may not know, pregnancies last 40 weeks. However, everyone knows the 9 months thing. If you were to actually do the math, 40 weeks=10 months. Anyway, as I approach 24 weeks this weekend, I'm wondering when I change from dividing my weeks by 4 (thus making me 6 months), to counting down to July (it's just under 4 months until July 18, making me just over 5 months). One friend went by her weeks the entire pregnancy, and told people she was 9 months for two months. I'm just not sure when to transition.

Almost there

Well, I've survived 3 of 5 testing days. So far my kids have actually been better this year than they were last year. Of course, I could attribute that to my phenomenal planning, but somehow I doubt I'll fool any of you. Anyway, only two more, then a week of school, and then spring break!!!! Do you see now why I teach--how many other jobs give you spring break?

And in response to Wendy's comment on a previous post, I do wish that testing were later in the year, because so many of them feel like the school year is over after testing and quit trying. We do get out earlier than California (May 24), but still, I feel like we could push it back to at least April. I'm sure there's some logical tie to the LEAP tests and summer remediation...then again, maybe not. This is Louisiana. We don't use the word "logical" here much.

Hernia

Strange things are happening to my belly button. I know it's not actually a hernia, it just feel's squishy like a hernia, and is significantly flatter--less of an "innie".

Testing week

This week is testing week. Argh. I'm really glad that I grew up in a state where we didn't have an intense week of testing. I mean, I vaguely remember CAT testing, and I'm pretty sure I passed some proficiency tests in high school, but they didn't seem to carry the same weight that they do here. For those of you that aren't familiar the with Louisiana Education system (I know, redundant/oxymoron), all students have to take a LEAP test in 4th, 8th & 10th grade. If they do not pass this test, they do not move on to the next grade, and are forced to repeat the grade, even if they earned straight A's. The 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 9th graders take the iLEAP, which is similar, but is used as more of a tool. Anyway, for the next five days our students will test all morning and go to classes all afternoon, where they will be completely useless and hyper after 3 hours of testing. It's not my favorite week, and I'm the tiniest bit sad that I won't be able to enjoy a glass of wine at the end of it. Oh well, bubble baths & Martinelli's it is!

Flooring

The past two nights (Thursday and Friday) we helped our friends, Rusty & Renae, put pergo-like flooring in their new house. It was interesting mainly because while we've done a ton of home improvement projects, we've done them all on our own house. So it was really strange the past two nights to work really hard and then come home...to the same house. At the same time, I'm realizing (again), how awesome friends can be--we laid that floor down twice as fast with 4 people vs. 2, not to mention we'd done it before in our house and could offer our tips & advice. Oh yeah, and did I mention we're suckers for free food?

Karma...or something

Ha ha! The sweet gods of revenge are finally on my side! After being "forced" to go to a ballet class and several aerobics classes with Jessica, she's finally having to do something that I'm good at. If only I were there to witness it. She's becoming a certified lifeguard. For those of you that don't know Jessica, you could just insert my sister, Cindy, who's not what we'd call a "natural swimmer". Only, as I mentioned before, Jessica is really good at things like ballet and aerobics (she works full-time at the Y) and other things that require a certain cooridination and grace, which I lack. Anyhow, I think she's blogged about it a little, and she called last night to share some of her class experiences. And I'm sorry to say it, Jess, but I'm enjoying this just a little bit.

Weather

It seems we're the only ones that recieved the memo that it's spring. We were in the mid-80s all last week & weekend. This morning at 5:34am as I type this, it's 74. I really like this warm weather--makes my walks very enjoyable. Granted, I don't want to think about what this means for our summer temps...

Sick

I, like Wendy, am tired of being sick. Only my cold has only been around for a week or so. And I can't really complain because Jon's cold turned into something of a stomach bug yesterday, and I definitely don't want that. Mine has just turned into a lovely cough along with the still clogged sinuses.

Potential victims of fraud

We were almost taken. Luckily, we're much too smart for that. Or something like that. In our eternal effort to sell the BMW, we've posted an ad on cars.com. Over the past few days I've received emails from a potential buyer (or rather an "agent" for a buyer) about his buying the car and having it shipped to Canada. Hey, I don't care what he does with it as long as he buys it! Anyway, this morning's email was very strange, telling us he had to write the check for more than the asking price, and we were to give the extra portion to the transportation company, etc. It sounded fishy to me, so I asked Jon to look it over, too. He suggested I email cars.com and ask if this was unusual. While on the site, on clicked on the "fraud warnings" link, and it basically described the exact situation. Thank goodness I married such a smart man. I'm glad we didn't fall for anything weird.

Cool God thing

We had to call a plumber today because our tub & toilet were not draining very well. The kitchen, etc, were fine, but when you only have one bathroom, you really need it to work, and two days of heavy-duty main line cleaner substances didn't work. So Jon met the guy here this morning and they fixed the problem. $108.30. Funny thing is, I deposited my Sylvan check this morning--for $108.30. Perfect, to the last cent. Thanks, God.

The belly

It's officially "the belly". Those of you who have been pregnant may know this, but it seemed to just sprout overnight. Or maybe it was my finally wearing maternity clothes. Who knows. Anyway, this is me, 21 weeks, at +8 pounds.

20 weeks, and all's well

My monthly checkup went well, for those of you that will want to know. I had to see the nurse practitioner this time because my doctor's daughter is in the high school state basketball tournament this week. It's the first time in a LONG time that Airline has made it to the Sweet 16. Plus his daughter is pretty much the star--she already has a full ride basically anywhere, but for some reason I think I heard she's going to Baylor. Anyway, just another normal visit.

Shopping

Shopping while pregnant is MUCH different than shopping while not pregnant. By now I have somehow trained myself not to look in any of the regular stores. It actually didn't really take "training" per se...you can only look at an outfit so many times and hear your inner monologue say, "That would look cute...next year." I am now able to visit the mall in record time. Not that I was normally a mall junkie or anything (far from it), but when I was going to get some khakis at Motherhood today, I walked by some pretty amazing sales without actually noticing or remembering what it was that was on sale. Lots of red signs and posters with a high % off on them. And yet I head to the store that does not seem to have sales. At least not on things you can buy to benefit you--what good will long-sleeved shirts do me now? With kids you can buy in advance because you know they'll be able to wear it. Sure, sometime I'm sure I'll be wearing winter maternity clothes. But right now as July in the South approaches, I'm looking at tank tops and shorts. And a pool.

My spoiled kid, by the way, got another outfit ($2.50 at Dillard's).

Update

As far as I know, the kidney transplant went well yesterday. The last time I talked to Kim, they were up seeing Keith for the second time, the kidney was in Aunt Joyce and working, but she still had a couple of more hours in surgery.

Crazy weather

Well, after our ice storm and about two weeks of rain/clouds, it was 84 yesterday, and should be the same today. I couldn't help but remember my Oregon days, because at the sight of this balmy weather it was almost instinct for me to put on shorts and a tank top and sprawl on my lawn to soak in the sun. Luckily, I resisted urges, and took Kronk for a walk instead.