169, 100300, 55, 368...

Well this week has somehow managed to fly by in what feels like a blur!!!

As of today, Wednesday Aug 30, 2006, there are officially 169 days left of school... or at least to the end of my school year contract... hey, the kids get Christmas... I get summer vacation!!!

But other number related news in my world:
My car now has 100300 miles on it... all of which I have put on my car minus 45985 miles... yeah... I haven't even had my car two years yet... I guess that is what happens when you drive 90 miles round trip to/from work each day!

I have 55 students now... and that number is growing... rapidly!!!! Luckily most of my kiddos are only 30 minutes a week...

And even bigger news in my world... my brother's divorce is FINALLY over!!!! There is a GOD out there and he is finally looking over my family! The girls are happy now, for the most part... their other grandmother is telling them that now that the divorce is over we are no longer their family and that they don't have to call any of us by our family names (papa, grammy, daddy) since we are no longer their "family." Continue to pray for us...

Well gotta go get ready for bed so that I can face the day tomorrow with a smile... open house from 6:00 - 7:30... woohoo!

Party til the ANTS move in...

This weekend was a fun weekend... or at least it started out to be... Saturday I spent a better part of my day relaxing and working on a scrapbook that I am making for a friend to document her mother's life... then on Sunday our friends, Jenny and Scott, invited us to join them on the lake.

So we decide that we both need a break from work and need to have some fun. So off we go to Grapevine Lake (Lake Grapevine where I am from...) to play on the boat, swim, wake board and just hang out in the sun and enjoy a beautiful day! We had a lot of fun, these pictures prove it!
This is a picture of me and my friend Jenny. We took the picture ourselves while the guys were working hard at getting Trevor's size 11 feet into the size 9 bindings on the wake board. Who knew that soap was needed to get those bootie things on!!!! Apparently dish soap is good "lube." As you can see we were having a good time on the boat!

Here Jen thought it would be fun to take a picture of me just "lounging" at the front of the boat. Most people know that pictures of me in a bikini are very rare... as in so rare that one of my closest friends that has known me for most of my life has yet to see me in a swimsuit without some sort of a coverup on! Earlier on our trip from the loading ramp to the cove, Jen and I were both laying up here at the front of the boat just chillin. The guys said that they didn't mind the view!

Here Trevor is out and up on the wake board. This was his first time to ever wake board! He is sooo good at water sport things! I was going to try the wakeboard experience, but the life jacket was too big for me and the other life jackets were the orange safety jackets... maybe next time... hahahahahaha! I couldn't even get up on the knee board or the water skis... I doubt that I could get up out of the water on a wakeboard! :)

Here is a good picture of Trevor with the sunsetting behind him. I personally like this shot! :)

Now that the sun is setting, it is time for Tracey and Trevor to head home... well, after we pick up our pizza and eat at Jenny's house... that is when we realize that the ants had moved in...

Cue the kiddie tape with the song "The ANTS go marching two by two hurrah..."

I come home first and get out of the shower and am brushing my teeth when I feel this tickling sensation on my foot... I look down only to see about 15 little red ants crawling around on my foot and up my leg! I screamed like any normal female would, then looked toward my closet where as the old phrase goes I couldn't see the forest for all of the trees... well I couldn't see my closet floor for all of the ants! Calling Trevor to tell him to come home... NOW!!!! He comes in and proceeds to tell me (or remind me) that it is really all my fault cause I had somehow managed to leave food out... (in my closet????) Apparently this is the cure all solution to ants being in a house... I left food out SOMEWHERE... explained the ants in the kitchen two weeks ago... (that was true, I did forget to cover the scotcheroos before leaving for work) and the ants in the living room (dunno when I had eaten next to the baseboard on the OTHER SIDE of the room from the couch...)... but come on... the closet... So to avoid having poison sprayed inside our house (heaven forbid that!) Trevor put paper out in my closet and sprinkled the wonderful ant killer bait otherwise known as AMDRO ANT KILLER... which apparently fed the ants all night, then they got a second helping the next morning, and a third helping that next night...

Wanna know why the ants came into the house??? I'll tell you... my wonderful boyfriend was doing yardwork Sunday afternoon before we went to the lake... while mowing on the side of the house he noticed a nice trail of ants going up the brick side of our house. So what does this intelligent young man do? He goes and gets the bug spray poison stuff and sprays down the grass and the brick wall and anywhere else the ants might have been or have access to during their journey... so apparently they were trying to escape the poison and decided to make their pilgrimage to my closet for revenge! I ended up with 7 bites on my left foot and one on my left thigh! And who would have thought that I would be allergic to these bites, just like I am to mosquitos!!! Who'da thunk that one!!!!

Well now it is time for this little girl to get to bed and hopefully sleep softly, minus the dreams about the ants crawling on the walls and covering the floor and the bed... GOOD NIGHT!

Oh what a week...

To borrow a line from Roomba Mom... oh what a week that was...

Last week was a CRAZY week for me! We had inservice all week long for work, with lots of times where I was wishing I was anywhere but in the really incredibly cold room that we were placed, I had to work on getting my room to resemble a classroom (hahahaha!), and then to top it off I made a trip home to Tulsa...

To start off, the Blakemore family lost a wonderful woman whom they loved very much on Tuesday, August 8, 2006. Memaw Jody lost her battle with cancer and was taken to heaven to live with God for eternity. We gathered together to remember her wonderful life on Monday, August. 14 in Tulsa. A good time was had by all with such wonderful memories! I had the chance to spend some time with Ana Rae this past weekend as well as with my own nieces. When Blake texted me the news I was ready to come home that instant, but he insisted that I stay in Texas and at work (how mature was that!) and to wait until the weekend to come home.

Last week, as I said was a crazy week! I did not get access to my classroom out in the portable until Thursday before we started inservice, and that was when my principal sweetly asked (informed...) me to have my room ready for parents on the 10th... uh huh... like that was gonna happen! It almost did! I loaded my car down to the hilt with stuff from my house and took it to the school where my worst nightmare was in motion! The concrete guys were there pouring concrete for the sidewalk and ramp to the portable!!!! But... this turned out to be good for me as the guys helped me to unload my car... yea... sweet!!!! Then I headed BACK to my old middle school (I liked that place by the way) to get the REST of my supplies that were not at my house all summer... Saturday Trevor sweetly loaded that stuff in his truck and went with me to school to put everything in my room only to find that no one was at school... grrr! Which meant that Monday after inservice would I not only have to work on my room, I was gonna have to find a helpful (and strong) male teacher to help me unload my car... (thanks Jonathan!!!) So, most of the week after 8 hours of training I went to my school to work on my classroom for 2 more hours... I made it home each night about 8:30... roughly 13 hours after I left...

Friday I drove home to be with my family and my adopted family (the Marf's) for the weekend. On Saturday my parents and I took my nieces to a Pow-Wow at the Expo center which was pretty cool! Then Sunday Ana and I took my grandma Alan to dinner! That was pretty hilarious! During a conversation about a girl I know having a baby Ana Rae asks...

Ana: MeMe are you pregnant?
Me: Not that I know of...
(uh oh... not what you say to a 5 yr old... I saw the wheels turning in her head... quickly back pedalled for fear this would be repeated to the family...)
Me: No Ana, there is no way I could be pregnant...
Ana: (sigh) good... cause if you were THAT kind of girl... I dunno if I should hang out with you anymore...

After a few minutes of laughing, I finally was able to compose myself! THAT kind of girl... exactly WHAT kind of girl was SHE referring to with that comment????? A few minutes later...

Ana: My Memaw died...
Me: I know baby girl... I'm sorry about that...
Ana: It's okay, sometimes people just don't make it to that really big number...
Me (innocently): What big number would that be Ana Rae? (thinking it would be 100 or something like that...)
Ana: You know... a big number... like 30...

Once again I had to compose myself... I guess my days are numbered... I have less than 3.5 years...

Monday was the memorial service for Memaw. Ana did very well during the service, I was very proud of her! To learn more about this wonderful lady check out the blog that her daughters have created: www.jodyblakemore.blogspot.com

Now to this week... I have already been told of 3 new referrals... and 2 new transfers... and I still can't find 5 of my 55 kids that I already knew about... not to mention the parents of 3 and 4 yr olds that are calling wanting to know when I am going to start therapy with their kids! I am soooo tired!!! Did I mention that I have to wear heels and walk around that blessed (refraining from using bloody) building all day long! I promise I probably walked more than 2 miles just today!!!!

I hope everyone else has a wonderful week!!! Keep me posted! I will hopefully have a more fun and optimistic post the next time... :)

Prayers Needed

I have a favor to ask of my closest friends. I know that I can come to you all for anything, and through high school you all proved that I could come to you for prayer and a shoulder to cry on at any time... Most of you have heard me talk about my "lil brother" you know, the kid that is the closest thing that I will ever have to a little brother... well I am asking for prayer for his family.

When I came home the last time three weeks ago, Blake's Memaw had gone into surgery to remove cancerous tissue from her body. She has been in the hospital in and out of ICU ever since. Things are not looking so great for her right now. The last I heard the doctors were saying that she had pancreatic cancer and that it was in the late stages of development. I know that some new tests have been completed and she has undergone more surgery... but tonight my lil brother said that she wasn't doing so well.

I am asking for prayer for her, for peace and comfort from the pain... for her family as they struggle with this situation... her daughters, ex husband, and oldest grandkids have been staying up at the hospital around work schedules around the clock... but also prayer for little Ana Rae... the youngest grandchild... she is innocent... she does not know what is going on other than Memaw is in the hospital and that she can't go see her. Prayer for acceptance, comfort, peace, understanding...

Thank you all for this. Losing a loved one is not easy, as we all know... it has been almost 4 years since we lost my grandfather... Memaw is as much like a grandmother to me as my own grandparents. I hate that I can't be in Tulsa right now to stay with Ana and to help the family out. It hurts me to know that I won't be able to come home to be there for them anytime real soon unless the inevitable happens...

Lord hear our prayers...