Rednecks and Gingerbread

I heard "The 12 Redneck Days of Christmas" on the radio today, and it struck me that Sean would actually like most of those redneck gifts.  Hmmmm...  Let's examine this:

12 pack of Bud
11 rasslin tickets
10 of Copenhagen
9 years probation
8 table dancers
7 packs of Red Man 
6 cans of Spam
5 flannel shirts
4 big mud tires
3 shotgun shells 
2 huntin dogs
And some parts to a Mustang GT

He wouldn't have much use for the Copenhagen or the Red Man, and I wouldn't let him have the Spam or the table dancers.  Or the 9 years probation.  But the rest?  Yeah, he'd probably enjoy the rest of it.  Which is fine with me.  I like rednecks.  Rednecks are hot.  Not to be mistaken with hillbillies... that's a whole different ball of overalls and possum pie.  Today's blog brought to you by rampant stereotyping.  

Things I hate:

• When my students have missing work and they tell their parent(s) that they turned it in and I just haven't entered it yet.  Which is a LIE.  So then I get an e-mail from the parents wondering when I'm going to enter their work, and I have to explain to them that Precious never turned it in.  I call the kid over and ask them about it and it's all.... Oh, yeah, I still need to do that.  Then will you please stop lying to your parents about it, ding-dong??  It just makes more work for me.
• When my students cry and complain because we have to write a lot.  Or we have to read something that they don't find entertaining.  You mean, we have to do, gasp, work??   You mean, everything in life isn't fun all of the time?  How will we ever cope??  
• When my students say, "Did we do anything Friday when I was gone?"  No, since you weren't here we considered the day a waste and just sat around staring at each other.  "I'm going to be absent next time.  Are we doing anything?"  Naw, I thought we'd all hall ourselves out of bed at the buttcrack of dawn, get all dressed and do our hair and brush our teeth, drive ourselves to the school, and then just sit here and do nothing.  That sounds like a great idea, doesn't it?  Luckily my sarcasm filter is still working and I just smile and say, "Yes."

Santa came to the daycare last week, and Lexi apparently told him that she wants a mini Pillow Pet and a Hannah Montana poster.  Two things which she never said she wanted until that day.  Hope she's not disappointed, because I bought neither of those.  

Grandma had the kids over to make gingerbread houses.  

 Lexi made a bed on her floor and has been sleeping on it at night.  She wanted me to take a picture of her laying on it and reading.  

Most nights she ends up in our bed before the night is through.  It's hot and I end up with cramped body parts, but man I wouldn't trade it.  On the nights when she doesn't come in, I find myself missing her.  I'm enjoying it for as long as it lasts.  

Josh's Birthday, Thanksgiving, Dr. Who, Me Being Fat...

Josh turned nine this month.  He's such a sweetheart.  He got Legos and books and a Nerf gun for his birthday.  He wanted Subway for his birthday dinner and donuts instead of cake.

Lexi is such a spaz.  First she was back behind these pictures being a goof.

Then the next time I looked at the camera I found pictures she had taken of herself.  Here is my favorite, complete with the chocolate on her chin from her donut.

Then I found these today.

What is wrong with my children, and where did they get those glasses??

Thanksgiving was extra nice this year because Curt and Lauralee and their family came down from Washington.  It was so good to see them and to visit with Lauralee and with everyone else in the family.  We had dinner at Mike and Connie's this year, and it was fabulous.  I ate way too much, which is just as it should be.  While we had the whole family together, we took some family photos.  

I jacked this picture off of Lauralee's blog because I love my Brittbritt.  

We spent a good part of the weekend playing around with Sean's family while Curt and Lauralee were here, so that was really fun.  Friday night we played Mafia and the name game.  Saturday we went to Robintino's for lunch and played cards.  It was really hard to go back to work on Monday.  So hard, in fact, that I didn't go.  Ha!  I took the day off because I had been sick and couldn't seem to shake it, and because I had so many things I needed to get done at home.  So I took a sick day, and it was lovely.  

Last time Lexi went in to the doctor, her doctor adjusted her pump settings quite a bit, and her numbers are looking so much better.  I should have had them take a look at it before.  I'm much happier with it now.

I judged at a debate tournament on Friday night just for fun.  I really enjoy doing it.  I got to judge Lincoln/Douglas, which I haven't ever done before.  That was interesting.  And then I also judged Duo, which is a dramatic interpretation of a piece of literature done by two students.  That was entertaining.  It made for a long day, but I love it.  

I got asked the other day if I'm pregnant.  That's always fun.  Luckily I'm in a pretty OK mental place right now so it really didn't phase me too much.  The lady that asked is an old acquaintance and she has a really thick accent, and she said, "You expecting baby?" and I laughed and said, "No," and she said, "Oh," and just kept talking about something else entirely.  So there wasn't any awkward pauses or apologies, which is good.  I don't know.  Whatever.  At first I was like... Damn, I'm 40 years old, when will people stop asking me if I'm pregnant.  I get it.  I'm fat.  Whatever.  But then I figured, hey, if people think I still look young enough to be pregnant, cool.  

Brittney did these really cool Dr. Who designs on her nails today.  She does the cutest stuff.  I love love the Tardis on her ring finger.  I couldn't get a very good pic of it.  I want her to do union jacks on all of my fingernails.  

November, So Far

Brittney turned 17 last week.  Last week?  Maybe a few weeks ago.  I'm a slow blogger.  I'm having a hard time with her being that old.  Sixteen was OK. Seventeen, not OK.  She had a birthday party with friends, and then we had presents and her requested dinner and donuts on her actual birthday.  

I'm cranky today.  I'm sick, but still well enough to function.  No one will feel sorry for me or just leave me alone for a while.  Lexi wants to work on a "family project" we are supposed to do for school on Monday.  The only problem is, I never got any information on what the family project is supposed to be.  The newsletter I got yesterday says to bring their family projects back to class on Monday so they can talk about traditions at their kindergarten feast.  So I gather it's about traditions.  But what is it supposed to be????  The kids volunteered in class to bring something to the feast, and I know Lexi volunteered to bring silverware, but I have no idea how much because she says it's for two classes, and I have no idea if they need everything or just forks.  She just drew a squiggly purple line on her paper and said, "Mom.  Can't you see I'm very good at drawing horses?"  "Yes, yes I can."  I need a shower, a good book, and a drink with a lot of rum in it.  For medicinal purposes.  My own version of Nyquil.  Except it's daytime. 

I've been counting calories for a few weeks now, and I've actually stuck to it, amazingly enough.  I've lost a few pounds, which is great.  But I'm getting to that point where it's getting old and getting easy to stop being motivated.  I've probably lost all I'm going to without making some adjustments.  So is it worth it to do all this, to give up things I want to eat, just to weigh 5 lbs less?  To look 6.5 months pregnant instead of 7?  My clothes don't even fit differently.  It's more healthy to eat like I am now, and at least I won't be slowly gaining weight over the months and years like I have been.  But it's so hard to be hungry and know that I'm doing it to maintain a weight that still isn't where I want it to be.  Oh well. 

I'm still feeling a little battered and bruised inside after the election.  Still feeling a little sensitive about all the times I was called "idiot," "retarded," "uninformed," "ignorant," "stupid," and many other things because I didn't agree with others' ideas.  Not directly of course, but it was all out there to read on facebook, personal blogs, newspaper comment boards, etc.   I'm kind of pissed off at people.  They wave the flag of patriotism, but then when they don't like what's happening, they say, "F you America, we'll become our own country."  That's not patriotism.  I love this country, and I love it no matter who is president.  We're not on the right path right now.  So let's work together to get there.  Together.  I got a little tear in my eye yesterday, standing in the auditorium at the high school where I work as the ROTC colorguard presented the flags, and the whole auditorium full of high school kids was on it's feet, hands over hearts, and silent.  These kids are never silent.  But when the flag is in front of them, they are.  And two of our students, a brother and sister, sang the National Anthem.  It was just a beautiful moment.  Patriotism.  Love for my country, no matter if I get my way or not.  And as a Democrat in Utah, I very rarely do. 

On a funny note, some of my students were asking about the secession petitions, and one of my girls said, "My brother and I were talking about this last night.  We decided that it would be cool if Texas secedes.  Then we'll wait like a year and invade them and take them over."  Ha!  It just made me laugh.  Then we were joking around about how if Kentucky secedes they'll be surrounded on all sides by our country, so they'll have to secure the borders against us illegally coming into their country for BBQ. 

Sean and Josh got up early and went "rabbit hunting" this morning, which really means "hike around in a field and look for rabbits but end up shooting tin cans."  I still made them promise not to shoot any rabbits, though.

Josh goes through phases where he's really "into" something.  The last one was making things out of duct tape.   Flowers and wallets, mostly.  Right now it's making weapons out of paper.  He has a stockpile of all different kinds of guns and knives made out of paper.  He finds tutorials on YouTube and spends hours making this stuff. 

I'm unreasonable amounts of excited about Thanksgiving.  I want pie!!  I want to bake this week, but I don't want to eat, so that will be challenging.  I work Monday, and then I have the rest of the week off, and I'm so looking forward to it.  Lexi has an appointment at the Diabetes Clinic on Tuesday, and it takes about three hours all told, right in the middle of the work day, and we need to have time to eat lunch afterward, so I just usually end up taking it off.  Her numbers are not going to be looking good this time.  I was talking to a friend of mine with a diabetic kid about how it feels like the numbers are a judgement on us.  Blah.  We'll see what they say on Tuesday. 

Lexi's finished horse is purple with blue peace signs on its tummy and a rainbow tail.  And she's all, "See, told you I was good at it."  Yes you are, my dear. 

Halloween

The kids had fun trick-or-treating.  Sean had to work, so Brittney and Roland handed out candy for me while I took the kids out.  We went pretty far down the neighborhood this year, so on the way back the kids were exhausted.  Lexi wanted to hit the houses on the other side of the street as we made our way home, and Josh was too tired to walk up to the doors, so he just sat on the sidewalk and waited for us.  Poor guy.

Brittney had a birthday party with a few of her friends last night.  They seemed to have a good time.  She has a cute group of friends.  She made a 6 layer rainbow cake with chocolate frosting and Batman on the top.     



Homecoming Pictures

How did I miss putting Homecoming pictures on the blog?  Thanks for the request, Heather.  I will always take your requests.   Brittney's dress was so pretty.  I love it.  I don't have any pics of her with her date. 

Pumpkin Carving

I have a very boring life, just the way I like it.  It does, however, make it difficult to find things to blog about.  So, let's see, a few things I've done over the past week or two:

• Checked out 4 more wedding venues
• Went to Tai Pan Trading with Courtney
• Went out to lunch with my mom, Brittney, and Lexi
• Went to garage sales
• Read Frankenstein: City of Night, I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs, A Northern Light, and started The Good Earth
• Worked, cleaned, grocery shopped
• Watched a presidential debate and a bunch of baseball games
• Carved pumpkins

That's all I can think of. 

We carved pumpkins this weekend.  Brittney did not participate in the festivities. 

 

I'm back to counting calories again.  It's such a rididulously easy thing to do, and I'm not hungry when I eat fewer calories, really.  I feel better, I lose weight gradually by being more healthy in a sustainable way.   But after a week or so it seems like I get tired of doing it, and I figure I know how much to eat so I don't need to count anymore, and then after a few days I just go back to eating whatever I want.  I need to not do that this time.  We shall see. 

Lexi needs a haircut in the worst way, but she refuses to get one.  She'll let me cut it, but I'm not that great at it.  She told me tonight she wants to let it grow and grow so she can be like Rapunzel.  Uh-huh. 

Courtney got another job at a hospital, so now that makes three.  We'll have to see how they all work out together and if she can keep them all. 

Brittney's job is wrapping up Tuesday, so she's starting to look for another one.  I hope she finds something very close to home this time. 

Off to change out the laundry and head for bed.  It would be nice if some times I could get to bed before 11:30 at night. 

A Story About My Eyeball

Why does my body hate me so much?  I woke up Saturday morning with a stabbing pain in my eyeball, which isn't unusual for me, but this one was worse and didn't go away.  I was debating whether I needed to find someone to look at it on a Saturday, and then I was curled up in a ball crying because it hurt so bad, and I decided that yes, yes I did need to get it looked at.  So I woke up poor Courtney, who had only been asleep for a few hours, to run me to the ER, where they told me I had an acute abrasion on the cornea.  I did that to myself while sleeping. That takes some serious talent.  So basically I had a nice big cut on my eyeball and I couldn't see, so I spent the whole weekend laying on the couch, downing percocet and sleeping and not being able to use my eye.  So today I went in for a follow-up, and he said it looks like it's healing up pretty well, and then he's showing me how I have this little cyst in my eye, too, but it's normal and should break off on it's own and go away, and he's all... and see here is your eye jelly right here... and I'm all, dude, do you really want to talk to me about eye jelly and cysts and crud like that?  Look, I am a Rasmussen sister, man.  We will pass out or puke in an eye doctor's office with no provocation whatsoever, so you really ought to keep your eye jelly talk to yourself.  And Courtney was just making fun of me the whole time.  Nice. 

Ok, so I read this YA novel to see if I wanted to maybe use it in class, and I really enjoyed it, so I read the whole trilogy.  The third book is over 800 freaking pages.  So I've invested probably a good 1500 pages in these characters all told, I stayed up until midnight on a school night to finish the last one, and the author turns the only truly likeable character in the book INTO A TREE.  Seriously?  What is your problem, author lady?  Gah.  I hate her.  I picked up some books at a yard sale.  One of them is a romance novel.  I knew it would probably be sort of terrible, but I got it anyway, probably for free even, and oh my goodness it is surely the most terribly written book I've ever read.  Just cheesy.  It's like if the Church tried to write a romance novel.  Like the most cheesiest stories ever included in RS or YW or FHE manual.  That's what it's like.  I'm only on the first chapter and I don't know if I can make it any farther.  But at least this author won't be turning anyone into a tree.