I finished!

I finally finished all of my grading and got all of my final grades done on Friday! I brought essays home all week and I was worried I would be grading all weekend too, but I got it done before I left school. Last week had to have been at least 8 days long. The big topic this year was sports-- injuries, steroids, BCS... I think I read at least 10 persuasive essays on the NFL's new helmet-to-helmet tackling rule, but it's all done. And I'd rather read persuasive essays on sports-related topics over abortion and animal abuse any day. I'm sure there will be some begging and some pleading left to deal with... I do have a handful of seniors who are failing and will no doubt be full of excuses and cajoling and tears come tomorrow, but I can deal with that tomorrow.

Every time I sit down to blog I just don't want to do it and end up playing computer games instead. My life is pretty boring. I do have all these things rolling around in my head that I need to write about, but it's too much effort. Blah. It's easier just to think about it. So I will probably just write about stupid stuff because it's easier.

The Bears won on Sunday! Woot! So awesome. I cannot wait for the game this weekend. Chicago v. Green Bay will be epic. Going to break out the party.

I asked Josh the other morning on my way out the door if I looked OK and he got this really cute scrunchy look on his face and said, "I really don't know, so I just say yes." It was pretty funny.

I made Pineview reservations for this summer, and I always get so excited after. I hate January and February. Once March comes I feel like I can make it.

So I've been pondering goals. Part of me feels like... I'm stressed out, I'm trying to deal with 4 kids with completely different problems and challenges and age-levels, trying to juggle my career and family and be a somewhat decent wife, trying to deal with my own problems... Maybe I should just accept myself for who I am for a little while and not always be trying to change myself. But then, is that a cop-out? It's always hard to lose weight and save money and be more organized and not be such a dork. Why would now be any different than down the road? I just hate always beating up on myself when I fail. At the beginning of the summer my doctor put me on a second med for my thyroid, and it was awesome. I felt so great, and I dropped 6 pounds instantly. But the dose was too high, so she has backed me off to about 1/4 of the dosage, and I gained the 6 pounds back instantly. I still feel pretty good, so I'm happy about that, but I've gained another 4 pounds on top of that, so I've got to lose weight. I put on like 10 pounds in 4 months and it's so not cool. Some doctors are skeptical about taking the T3 meds for thyroid on top of the synthroid, but it works so well for me. I feel way better. Anyway... Still pondering.

OK so I decided that I kinda want to be Pink, just a little bit, and I have a little girly crush on her, and so then I was thinking about celebs who I would want to be my friend, and I came up with these 3. Although, I can't imagine hanging out with all 3 at the same time. Would I even be alive at the end of the night?







Pink is just b.a. and Avril is so stinking cute, and then Beth... I just want her to be all tough... like we'd go to Burger King and someone would talk trash and Beth would get all up in their face. She's Queen B man.

Pretty pictures and pondering goals

One of Courtney's friends posted these pics on facebook, and I hadn't ever seen them before. I loved this dress. And the hair. And the silver sparkly shoes. And the kid wearing it all.







Brittney finished her luminarias. I think she did about 16. They turned out really fun. Next year I'm going to do a whole thing with them.



I'm thinking about revising my goals for this month. Sometimes I wonder why I'm bothering, and if it's really important to have some of these goals at this point. I end up just beating myself up for not reaching them. Perhaps I should accept some things as they are. I go back and forth depending on the time of day. Hmmmm... got to evaluate this some more.

It's really good to be back into the routine, and back to work, but I'm just so stinking tired. Bleh. I've got to find a way to get to bed before I am.

The Ending and the Beginning

As usual, Christmas came and went too fast. Probably because I'm always scrambling so I don't feel like I sit back and enjoy it until the very end.

Christmas Eve we had our traditional Chamberlain family party. It was lots of fun, as usual. Great food, great company, lots of laughs, lots of presents.


cousins picture




Now that is a hot looking crew there... a couple that aren't smiling, one in total meltdown, I look like I could be a linebacker for the Chicago Bears with those giant shoulders...


Josh being wrestled to the ground by Kaden and Spencer

Brittney is doing paper cutting on luminarias for a geography term project, and I was hoping she'd be done with them in time to put them out for Christmas this year, but she's still working on them even now. She's putting tissue paper behind the designs she cut out to make a stained glass effect. So we'll definitely save them and try them out next Christmas.

I didn't take a single picture Christmas day. Sean was videoing, so in my head I guess I figured pictures were taken care of. I don't know if anyone got That One Thing they really wanted, but I think everyone got something they liked, so that's good enough. It was a nice day. That night Dennis and Marilyn came over for dinner, and Katie, Scott, Wendy, and the little folks came over to hang out. We had a nice visit with all of them, and it was just a really fun night for me.

Most of our break has been spent alternating between relaxing, watching stupid stuff on TV, organizing, and eating.

Sean took a few days off this week, and it was fun having him home. New Year's Eve everyone from both of our families that was in town came over. We even got lucky and had Sean's cousin's family from Arizona. We had so much good food and played games and the cousins all got to play together. I think we had 22 kids ages 18 & under. Crazy fun.








Sean getting shrink wrapped-- Cami and Mindi heard of this fun shrink wrapping thing and were doing it to everyone. It was pretty hilarious


Cute penguin appetizers that Katie made

So now it's time to go back to work and school. No one is too thrilled, but it's always good to get back to some schedule and order after all of the excess and laziness. Courtney starts a new semester Monday, and Brittney and I have 2 weeks left in ours. I have papers due when we come back, so I'll be reading and grading like crazy to get them all done for term end grades. Josh has a few weeks and then goes off track.

Lexi told me today that she wants to go to Las Vegas because she loves Las Vegas and they have a swimming pool there. I am totally in agreement. So tonight I'm going to look up prices for Spring Break. Also, looking at making some camping reservations for Memorial weekend and dreaming about summer. Dennis told me yesterday that he can't wait until we go up to Pineview this summer because it will be so nice to be warm again. I thought that was cute, and I totally agreed with him.

Now that a new year has begun I think it's time to start the monthly goals again. So, here goes. Let's see what I can come up with.

January goals:
*Lose the 4 lbs I gained over the last while
*Go to bed by 11:00 pm
*Stick to my grocery budget
*Make a year financial plan
*Start doing family fun night with my family again (and Sean's... I think we were trying to do that too... Did we do it? Hmmmm.... It's all a blur)

Not too original, but all things I'd really like to do.

Is Hot Dog Fingers Contagious?

Brittney filled out this permission slip and then asked if I would sign it. Ummmmm.... She wants to know if they'll let her come if she turns it in. Pretty sure that would be a no. Really? Fartie McTootles? Love the address... Hogsmeade, Middle Earth. Weirdo.



Speaking of weirdos... So Sean and I were leaving the grocery store the other day, when all of a sudden the grinch comes zooming through the parking lot in his arm chair. It's one of the goofiest things I've ever seen. He had a little stuffed dog strung onto a wire so that it dangled out front like it's pulling his chair. And then he zoomed off, out into the street, and drove off down the road. In an armchair!

Art Show

We went to an art show the other night at Brittney's junior high. Her art teacher put on an exhibit for all of the art students to showcase a piece of their work. Brittney's drawing of The Daily Planet was chosen as one of the pieces that went on the invitations. Really cool. She's a great artist, and I love to see her work. She's done a lot of superhero-themed work this year, along with other things that she likes. A few of my current faves:

I lurve this one. She said this is the rough draft, so I'm not sure if the final will be pen & ink or in color or what. Coincidentally, I am supposed to have this same image painted in my classroom, but it has disappeared. Two of my students last year painted it on one of my celing tiles, and they also painted me a castle that is supposed to be really awesome, but they're both missing. Hopefully they can find out what happened to them and I'll get them, but I'm not holding my breath.



These aren't her original ideas... for these sketches they find an image they want to draw and then they copy it freehand.





We had a fun Christmas party at mom's house last night. The kids have so much fun together. It was so funny to talk to Scott and Wendy about all of Eric's naughty adventures because he and Josh are reading from the same play book. I love knowing someone else has had/is having the same experiences.

I've got to check over my lists and see if there's anything else I'm missing on the Christmas shopping. I ordered a $10 item online, paid $5 to ship it, it shipped with FedEx on the 8th and the estimated arrival is the 21st. It's been sitting in Denver for a week. Lame.

We took a drive up to the cabin and around the lake today, and it was rainy. Not much snow. Feels like spring.

Is it vacation time yet?

I don't know whose idea this was, but it was pretty dang cute.



I forgot all of the things I wanted to blog about. Hmmmm...

One more day. I feel like I'm already on vacation. I've already mentally checked out. Problem is, so have my students. Blarg. I'm sick of them, they're sick of me.

We are writing persuasive papers. I had a kid come to me for help with fixing his paper today. There was no help for that paper. I don't even know what it was about. Something about having self-confidence and making your own rules and don't let anyone tell you you're not good enough...like a crappy rap you wrote when you were high. I told him after reading it that I felt like I had just listened to Eminem (minus the swearing) or had a conversation with Tupac from beyond the grave. His eyes lit up and he said, "Really?" I was like, that was NOT a compliment!! This is a persuasive essay, not a drug-induced piece to read at a poetry slam. I need a vacation!!!

Goody. Courtney and her date just walked in. I am wearing a sloppy ponytail, glasses, no makeup, an old long sleeve t-shirt that belonged to Sean about 14 years ago, my pink pajama bottoms with yellow smiley faces on them... I feel so awesome.

I think I'm almost done shopping. Coincidentally, I am almost out of money. I may have a few more things to get. We'll see.

Josh just about broke my heart tonight. He got into trouble, and he got really upset and started crying these heartbroken tears about how he just knows he's on Santa's bad list. It took me a long time to convince him he's a good little boy. I really kinda hate the whole you-better-be-good-Santa's-watching thing.

Time to enter some grades and eat ice cream.

Birthday, Tgiving, Life

Josh turned 7 last month. So let's see... What do I want to remember about Joshy? He can eat more than I can. He drives his sisters crazy, but he's cute enough that they love him anyway. He loves his first grade teacher. He is learning to read and do math so well, and it's like a little miracle to me every time I watch him do either, because I just really thought this kid would struggle hard with school. He had no interest in letters and numbers before kindergarten. He loves Star Wars, Legos, swords and light sabers and guns, baseball, and drawing. He's a great little artist. The only thing he knows for sure that he wants to be when he grows up is a dad. I'm so grateful for my little boy.





Thanksgiving was super delicious and lots of fun. The Chamberlains came over for dinner and second dinner and dessert and wow I ate a lot. They brought tons of food with them, all delicious. Sean took charge of picture taking, which was fine with me because I always forget, and then all the pictures he took were terrible! Some are dark, some are of people's backs, or the subjects of the picture are off in the distance so you can't see them well. He's officially fired as family photographer. My sil's posed for a silly, cheesy picture, and it actually turned out cute. Go figure.


Lookin hawt


My girlies talking


Hanging out in the kitchen talking with Marilyn


Courtney and Jeremy and lots of people milling about in the background

I got my Christmas tree put up, but nothing else. It looks really pretty when all the lights are off and only the tree lights are on. Then it's all sparkly and pretty. By the light of day, well, not quite so much. My ornaments are a hodge podge, and I'm not getting anything new until my kids stop playing with them. I think we're just about there, but I'm giving it another year. Got to put up the rest of the Christmas stuff this weekend. Have done zero Christmas shopping so far.

I brought home a stack of work about 2 feet high to do this weekend. I cannot seem to get caught up in any aspect of my life. I just can only do so much, and it seems that everything gets shorted somewhere. I feel guilty for taking time out to read or to just chill, but I can't just go-go-go. I get so that I really need my down time. All day long I have students who need my attention and I'm constantly "on", then I come home and have kids who need me, and sometimes even their friends that come over to get help with something. I just really, really need that time to myself every day.

I've been stuck in a reading rut of romance novels. It's not such a bad place to get stuck, really, but oh are they cheesy. One day I couldn't find anything I wanted at the library, and I just needed something, so I ended up with a romance novel. It was light reading and fun, so the next time I looked for another one. And now I've been plowing through Nora Roberts and Linda Lael Miller and who knows. It's been fun, but it's embarassing. If the FBI ever looks at my library records someone is going to do a major eye roll. Courtney has read a few romance novels too, and she said that if they have any steamy parts, she just skips over them. I told her that, heck, I'd read it twice. He he he I really don't read it twice, but pretty sure I've done everything they're talking about, so who cares? Whatever.

I just really walk around most days of my life feeling like I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. I don't know how other people can be so sure of themselves. I feel like when I follow my heart or my gut, I always wonder if it was wrong. If I don't follow my heart or my gut, I worry that I should have. I don't usually get clear (or unclear, for that matter) answers to prayers, but of the few really strong answers that I have received, probably 75% or more of them have been the opposite of what logic says, or the opposite of anything you'd ever read in the Ensign. Which makes for an interesting experience, trying to have faith. Anyway, most of the time I wander around clueless and just muddle through and hope I don't take anyone else out with my trial and error mistakes.

Since it's the holidays, Sean got some random weird medical problem. He has a headache in one spot and it radiates from there. The doctor gave him some medication; we'll see if it works. I hope so, because the other things they are talking about are cutting it open to see what's under there and doing a temporal artery biopsy. Neither of which is all that scary, but neither is all that pleasant either. I swear, every year in November or December he has some weird random medical issue. Pericarditis. Bell's Palsy. Weird random nerve pain in his temple.

OK, well, that is all. This weekend I will do school work, go grocery shopping, go see the lights at Willard Bay with the family, put up the Christmas decorations, and read on in my novel to find out what happens between Hallie and Chance. Hint: I bet they do it. he he he Sorry mom, if you happen to read my blog.