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Maddie's 1st Birthday Party

Maddie Week of 11-12-07

Blogging (for a change)

Yes, I realize that I haven't blogged since August, and that it is now September. Shame on me. In previous posts, I tended to be wordy, a bad habit of mine. This habit also put off blogging, since I knew it would be a time commitment. I would like to occasionally blog, so I need to kick that habit, or I'll never do it. This post will probably long, because I want to update on several things, but after this, it is short blog posts for me.

My life right now...

...at school:

This school year has been the best yet, for several reasons. I think the biggest reason is our new principal. It is amazing how one person can change the tone of the whole building. She is efficient, organized, prompt, helpful, and willing to listen to suggestions from teachers. Stuff that has been bothering me for years has been fixed in a matter of minutes. I've received several positive comments on my performance, which always makes my day.

The bands are doing great this year. I have retained a good deal of 5th & 6th graders, and I had about 30 fourth graders sign-up. My 7th & 8th grade bands are a lost cause. They are the only classes left that had the guy before me, and they just aren't into it. I very much dislike their attitude, and I kinda wish they all would quit (there are 7 total of them), but I don't think it would reflect well if I had no 7th & 8th graders in the band. Meanwhile, I am focusing my efforts on the 4th-6th graders, who are doing a fabulous job this year. I am finally feeling like I know what I am doing when it comes to band.

General music is also getting a little easier. I still have discipline issues, although not as many. I have taken a zen approach to classroom disruptions. Rather than get angry (which seems to amuse the students, rather than get them to stop their behavior), I calmly issue lunch detentions. There are still a few who continue to act out, and I know I could be more consistent, but I am making progress.

I also have all kinds of cool new technology this year that makes my job fun. My ActivBoard has been permanently mounted on the wall, with a projector coming down from the ceiling. In the corner of my classroom, I have my 'teaching center,' complete with ActivBoard, computer, keyboard, microphones, stereo, etc. I love every opportunity I get to use technology while teaching, and I think the kids are enjoying it too.

Things are looking up, but I am still setting sites on a new job, although it would have to be strictly instrumental, pay about the same, and not be any further away from where I live. I like my job, but I am swamped most of the time. I feel that I am doing the job of two people (three, if you count yearbook advising). And yes, I know I get paid a stipend for doing these things, but there simply are not enough working hours in the day to get done what I need to do have a successful band and general music program. This means some late nights at school (9 PM one night), and taking a lot of work home. I would like a job would allow me to keep school at school, to give me more family time.

I am also nervous about our administration beyond our principal... mainly the superintendent. While I have had only one official run-in with him, I have heard some really sneaky and shady things are going on in the district office. I fear not for my job, but for my program, and would hate to see 4 years of hard work building up the band program go down to the drain to help the district's bottom line. It's not fair to the kids. There is no official danger of the band program being cut, but, after hearing what has been cut already, I am a sneaking suspicion the band may be the next to go.

Despite this, I am actually enjoying myself at work and don't dread driving to school every day like I used to.

...at home:

I am LOVING fatherhood so far. The only thing I regret is that I don't get more waking hours with Maddie. She is a lot of fun now. She is crawling, pulling up, and cruising. She waves, claps, and dances like you wouldn't believe. She says "Hi" to just about anyone. She raises her arms when you ask her how big she is, and she grabs her feet when you ask her where her "piggy toes" are. She kisses (which is really licking right now...gross) just about everything: me, meg, my mom, characters in books, the fridge, the dishwasher, the oven, her own reflection in a mirror. She is so smiley, has wild curly hair, and thinks that life in general is the coolest thing ever.

She will be 1 year this month. It is hard to believe a year has almost passed since she was born, but when you look at pictures from last November and December, she seems like I completely different person.

I think the ultimate best thing about being a daddy is getting to see her do something new and different every few days (even if it seems small and silly).

Meg is also doing well. We are both busy, and don't have as much Bobby-Meggie time as we used to. I think we are still very close though. You would think most of our conversation would be baby-related, but we actually do discuss school, share lesson ideas, and comment on the latest political news on NPR (yes, I said NPR... we are officially old).

I am still keeping busy with home improvement stuff as well. A few weeks ago, I knocked down a wall in the kitchen to make way for our new, wider fridge. Taking down the wall was easy, repairing what was left behind is a little more difficult, so I have put the project on hold until I have a chance to devote more time to it.

I finally got around to closing the pool, after ordering a nice, high-quality cover, which should last me years. I have let the yardwork slide. Last year, this would have bothered me, but with so much else going on, I am just letting all of the leaves be a nice fall decoration.

So that is an update on my life. Things are going well.

Bad Day

I am feeling MUCH better now. If I had posted a few hours ago, I don't think I could've said the same.

It sometimes doesn't take a whole lot to get you in a better mood. In this case it was two things: (1) Our money situation is much better than I thought (more on that later), and (2) I StumbledUpon the coolest website today: Musicovery. It is a web radio with a really unique format. I won't go into explaining it, but you MUST check it out. After being bummed about the events of today, I decided to go with calm/neutral music before starting the money stuff. I am now listening to selections from the positive and medium energy level of the chart (the first pop radio song I've heard tonight is playing right now, Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape"). What I really like about it is that it gives you an opportunity to hear music that you wouldn't get to hear just listening to the radio. Lately, I have become more and more disgusted with the state of popular music in the US for various reasons. One of things that bothers me is the "homogenization" of music, where a small amount of very similar music is actually aired on the radio. The average Joe listens to it, accepts it, likes it, and buys the music, without ever getting a chance to hear something different for a change. The above link is completely different, and I love the opportunity to hear something new for a change.

Anyway, on to my bad day...

Maybe it was because it rained non-stop for the last three days, or maybe it's because Meg's dad went home yesterday, or maybe it's the fact that there are less than two weeks left this summer, but I woke up in a funk this morning, and it was down-hill from there.

First off, I have been putting off 'money stuff' for quite a few days now, because I had expected it to be really ugly. We've been hosting a lot of family this month, which has involved extra groceries, extra traveling, and extra trips out to eat. Max has amassed over $500 in vet bills already with his hypothyroidism. The Saturn needed new tires and an oil change ($250, which is a bargain actually--thanks Dad!). The air conditioner had to be repaired twice this summer (to the tune of $400). Well, the wad of receipts in my wallet was telling me that there must be NO money left in the account.

Meg had originally scheduled us to go get a family portrait done today. I explained that with our current money situation, that it probably wasn't the best idea, and could we wait till September. She understood, but I could tell she was disappointed. So, I suggested that we do something fun and free today, and we came up with the idea of going to Gloucester Township Park, packing lunch, having a picnic, and then letting Maddie try the swings and maybe the sliding board.

Well, after packing everything up, I checked my e-mail and discovered that RAM I had sold to someone over eBay turned out to be defective. Now, I was only selling the RAM because I had won it in another auction, and it turned out to be for a desktop and not a laptop. I had no idea whether it worked or not, but didn't have any doubts. Well apparently I was wrong, and I also neglected to specify a return policy, so I am stuck having to refund this guys money when I get the worthless stick of RAM back. So yes, more money out the window...

...but I was going to have a good time with our picnic; the weather was actually nice for a change. We got to the park, and parked by the toddler playground, only to discover that there was no picnic table there... no big deal, we'll just walk to the next area, and then walk back when we were done eating.

So, we found a picnic table got all of our food out, and got almost halfway through lunch before we started getting attacked by vicious yellowjackets. And it wasn't too long until one of them STUNG MADDIE and the picnic was over. Meg and I panicked at first and prayed that she wasn't allergic. After about 30 seconds of crying, she calmed down, and you would have never guessed that she had just been stung. However, a frantic call to my mom was still in order. She instructed us to head to the grocery store and pick up some meat tenderizer and to watch Maddie for signs of an allergic reaction.

To our relief, she was fine, and nothing is left but a red patch on her arm now. However, it put a damper on our free fun picnic.

My job for the rest of the day was one that I have been putting off. At the beginning of the summer our attic fan stopped working, which means that on hot days the heat just stays trapped in the upper level of the house and the air runs all day (probably why it broke twice). Well, some diagnosing at that time led me to believe that a long stretch of wire needed replaced. I would not be able to do this on a hot day, since it gets to temperatures of over 100°F in the attic. Well, with the cool weather we've been having, I haven't had an excuse, so I got up in the attic today and replaced the wire. This was not easy to do, even with the cooler temperatures, because I do not fit in an attic very well, and there is very little light up there. I even almost fell through the ceiling at one point.

After several hours and a lot of sweat, I was finally finished. I flipped the circuit back on, only to find that the fan STILL doesn't work!!! I was hungry, tired, and sweaty, and I had no desire to figure out why it still didn't work, so it will have to wait until another cool day.

Nothing really terrible happened today, but it was really just one thing after another. So, after a relaxing dinner, a bowl of cookies-n-cream ice cream, and some "calm" "postive" music, I got to work on the money stuff. Yes, we went way over budget this month, but we actually had enough of a cash cushion that we are still in good shape. I happily told Meg that we would actually be going out to eat tomorrow (as we usually do on Fridays).

Tomorrow I am going to spend the day planning for the start of the school year. Being prepared like this will also make me feel better about the end of summer. Things are looking up.

I should be doing something else

Mini-posts: Ikea & the Desk | Yard Clean-Up & Parents Visit | Harry Potter & the Visit to the Past | Meg's Family Visits

Ikea & the Desk

My desk and the rest of the family room are a mess. I sometimes have a bad habit of
starting a project, and then getting distracted and not finishing it.

Today, we went to Ikea, which is basically like a playground for adults. Our main goal (besides just having fun) was to buy a small desk for the family room.

Way back in December, I decided to abandon the whole "office room" idea, because I didn't like that I had to be isolated from Meg and the baby if I wanted to work. So, we moved my desk into the family room and did so rearranging. Meg said she didn't need a desk, and that she preferred to work on the couch.

However, Meg has decided that she loves me SO much that she likes to sit next to me at the desk with her laptop. Only problem was the desk was not big enough for both of us, so off to Ikea we went to buy a small simple desk to put next to our current one.

So, I spent the rest of the evening after putting Maddie to bed assembling the desk and baby-proofing the desk area by moving dangerous stuff out of the room, and bundling all of the wires through split tubing (other great Ikea buy- $3.99 for 16 feet of it).

Well, I had gotten to the point where the old and new desk were usable again, and here Meg and I sit, on our laptops, while the rest of the room looks like a bomb hit it. You know Newton's 1st Law of Motion, "Objects at rest tend to stay at rest." I am finding it very hard to get motivated to finish the project tonight.

I always love how ambitious my plans are, (both in teaching and life). I am an over-planner, I always plan to do a lot more than I actually do accomplish. When thinking about a project, I might think it would take an hour, but then it actually takes 3 or more. It happens all of the time. I think Meg now automatically triples the amount of time I say that I am going to be working on something.

Well anyway, my original plan was to finish this desk project AND continue working on my Elements of Music posters for school (which, as you might expect, is taking much longer than I planned!), but I right now am shooting for just getting the family room back in order after posting this.

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Yard Clean-Up & Parents Visit

Now on to an update on life. Lately we've been entertaining a lot, which I quite enjoy. First off, it was my motivation for finally getting the outside of the house cleaned up. I will have to post some pictures if I think of it, because I am very happy with how everything turned up.

Last Saturday, I spent all day out in 90 degree heat (yeah, I'm crazy) and got the back yard mowed, trimmed, swept, and de-weeded. I also cleaned out the shed, strung white Christmas lights around the pool deck for extra light for night swimming, and added a few Tiki torches and citronella candles to keep the bugs away.

Sunday we had my parents over for dinner. They thought the house looked nice, and it was an enjoyable time, but dinner did not go well. Part of my weekend cleanup project was cleaning the grill, since it hadn't been done since before we moved to Pine Hill (in the summer of '05!). The result of this dirty grill was that I always had these flair-ups that would burn the food. Well, I forgot that after cleaning the grill, that I should probably cook things a little longer. The burgers we had were a little too pink. No biggie, we just nuked the pink ones in the microwave, but still, it was a little embarrassing.

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Harry Potter & the Visit to the Past

Monday Meg and I had planned to go down the shore for the evening, but our plans were foiled by rainy weather. We decided to drop Maddie off at my parent's, and see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Despite the fact that it deviated from the book a little too often, I enjoyed it. OOTP (as us geeky Potter fans call it) is the book that I had remembered the littlest from, so the movie was a nice reminder. Before I read Deathy Hallows last month, I went back and read Half Blood Prince just for a little refresher on what was going on. We also watched the first four movies, since we had them on DVD, so those story lines were fresh in my mind as well. I definitely feel like I need to re-read OOTP, but I plan on starting from the beginning of the series again and reading all seven books. I expect to see the story in a different way now that I know how it ends.

Not only did I get to see a great movie, I also got to visit my former workplace. Since I started teaching, I have only seen a few movies. Cinemark is a bit of a drive from where we live now, so we usually went to someplace closer. However, since we had to drop Maddie off at my parent's anyway, we decided to go there. On the few occasions that I have been back to the theatre since I stopped working there, I've always had that nervous but excited feeling that you get when you meet and old friend who you have not kept up with. I LOVED my job at Cinemark, and still miss it occasionally. But, truth-be-told, I am not much of a movie person, so after I stopped working there, I never had much of a reason to go back.

When we first arrived at the theatre on Monday, I was surprised at how it had not changed much at all in the way it looked. I had expected that anyone who I worked with 3 years ago was long-gone, and that my days of free movie passes (employees got discounts, and managers were usually allowed to give out a free pass to a friend here or there) were over. Well, as soon as I walked into the lobby, I was greeted by Doug, a manager who I had worked with. He was still working there, along with Allison, another manager I had worked with. I was very excited to see both of them, as it had been years. And though I did not ask or even expect it, Meg and I got to see the movie for free.

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Meg's Family Visits

Later in the week, Meg's family (her mom, Grandmom & Pappy) came to visit. While these visits sometimes prove to be a bit stressful (more so to Meg than myself), this particular visit went very well. It felt a little bit like we were running an Inn. Mom had her room downstairs (in the old office room). Grandmom and Pappy stayed upstairs in the guest room. We always made sure to have coffee brewing in the morning, and to have a a variety of foods available for breakfast. They made use of the pool, and even took a day trip to the shore. On Thursday night, I did the cooking (much more successful this time)-- we had grilled chicken, pineapples & peppers, rice pilaf, and salad. Meg's family RAVED over the food, which made me very happy, especially after Sunday night's fiasco. It was such an enjoyable time that I was actually a little sad to see them go on Friday morning.

Okay, we'll your updated now, and I am tired now. Maybe the family room can wait until tomorrow, we'll see...

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Do You Read This Blog?

Okay, so I ripped the idea off of Meg's Blog, but it seemed like a good one, and I was curious. Now, move your mouse to the right and vote!

Me in Springfield

Check out my Simpsons avatar. You can make your own at www.simpsonsmovie.com

Time Flies!

Yeah, it's been a while since I blogged. Summer feels like it has been busy, but really, when I look back at the first half of the summer, it does not seem like I have accomplished all that much. Life is different now, being a dad, and this is definitely not a bad thing. Normally, I would be bummed at the fact that school is starting in a month, and that I have gotten so little accomplished this summer. But, my priorities have changed. House projects, school work, and going back to school just don't seem to be the big deal they were before. The worst part of the end of summer is going to be not spending so much time with Maddie. We have had so much fun this summer. She has got a real personality now, and simply melts me with her smile. She is so awesome that I hardly mind the regular baby maintenance stuff: feeding, changing diapers, bathing, etc... difficult, smelly, or wet as they may be, it is still time that I am spending with Maddie. Let me tell you, if we could afford it, I would be a "stay-at-home dad" in a heartbeat. But unfortunately, we can't live on one teacher's salary.

I know I said I wasn't going to dwell on what I did and did not do this summer, but I was reading a blog post from earlier this summer (50 days ago to be exact), and realized I have accomplished several things on this list, and if I haven't accomplished them it is for a good reason. I also still have a month left to get some more of this stuff done. Let's see how I am doing.

House Projects:

• Lattice around the deck - Can't do it- not enough money left in the budget.
  
• Repairs throughout the house (e.g., no toilet paper holders in either bathroom right now) - Fixed the toilet paper holder! And I have been doing an excellent job on keeping up with house maintenance. The interior of the house is looking the best it has in a while.
  
• Beautify the gardens - The exterior is a different story. There was only enough money to redo the side garden. The front I fixed up last week, and looks really nice. I am going to tackle the backyard, which is currently overgrown with weeds, this weekend.
  
• Clean out the shed (again!) and find a way to keep it more organized - I haven't even touched it yet. And if it was messy 2 months ago, you can't even imagine what it looks like now. Another project for this weekend!
  
• Clean an organize some of the messier areas of the house - As I said before, I've been doing great with this.
  
• Make weekly and monthly cleaning checklists and stick to them! - Checklists made and working great!
  

School Projects:

• Write my own recorder method book - Need to do yet
  
• Make 'Elements of Music' posters for my classroom - Working on that right now

The rest of these school-related things are on my nightly to-do list after Maddie goes to bed I am feeling excited about the new school year (did I mention I am getting an ActivBoard permanently installed in my room!), but I do want to start not only prepared, but overprepared, so that it is less likely that I will fall behind.

• Figure out and plan a better way to structure my middle school general music curriculum
• Start the school year with the 1st marking period planned and ready to go.
• Actually prepare scores for the band (instead of winging it, like I usually do)
• Get into school a couple of days during the end of the summer and clean and organize my room, and find out a classroom arrangement that works better.

Family/Personal Stuff:

• Bond with Maddie, and take lots of videos. - I think I have done this the most this summer, as I mentioned above. I really do feel closer to her than ever before. And we have taken lots of videos. In fact there are a few more on the camera I need to download. If you haven't seen the videos yet, check them out here.
  

• Go fun places with Meg and Maddie - As we learned tonight, this is not easy to do. We were all ready to take a night-trip to the OCNJ boardwalk when Maddie came down with a fever, and we had to abandon the plan. Of course, 1.5 hours later, she is fine. But, in general, it is difficult to get out with Maddie's schedule of eating, napping, etc.
  
• Eat better (despite the fact that in the last year I have gone from a 44 waste to a 40!) - I can't honestly say I've been eating better, but I still fit comfortably into those 40s.
  
• Exercise in the pool with Meg - Once again, not easy to do with a baby. Maddie doesn't like to nap. If we get into the pool together, it is pretty much guaranteed that she will wake up the minute we get in. We have taken her in the pool though, and she LOVES it.
  
• Ride my bike - uh, yeah, it's covered with spider webs...
  
• Take walks as a family - We did this the other day, and it was fun, and we should do it more often.
  
• Have Scamp over to play with Max - haven't done it yet, but Scamp is coming over Sunday with the family.
  
• Have friends from school over - I plan on inviting Lisa over, since she is a mutual friend of both Meg and I, and she has a yellow lab who could play with Max. The state of the backyard is holding me back now, but hopefully I will get it cleaned up this weekend, and I'll send her an e-mail.
  
• Have my parents/brother/sister over more - Well overdue, they are coming on Sunday.
  

Computer Stuff:

• Pick a new theme for the blog (may even do that tonight) - did it the night I wrote this post.
  
• Blog as much as possible. Obviously I have failed on this one. I really do need to do this more, so that I don't have such obnoxiously long posts (like this one!)
  
• Set up my sister's old computer in the 'office' as a file server and guest computer - Done! and then undone! I had the computer up and running, and then a week later, I got the blue screen of death, and I really do mean death. Despite several attempts to get it working again, I determined that the hard drive had failed, rendering the computer useless. This occurred while Meg's laptop was sent out for repairs. So the computer she was using because hers broke, stopped working. Well, the old file server is up and running, but now with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, so it can be used like a regular computer (the old file server, by the way, it a laptop with a broken monitor).
  
• Finish tagging all of our photos (9,000 and counting!) with the names of the subjects of the pictures - Done as of last night!
  
• Clean up, archive, and reorganize files on my laptop - still need to do this.
  
• Keep Maddie's blog regularly updated with pictures and videos (we've been really lazy about that lately) - we've gotten better about this, but are still pretty lazy.
  

Hobby Stuff:

• Attempt to write an original piece of music for my band to play at school. - I would still like to do this, but I don't know if I will have time. I bought the new version of Finale, which has loads of improvements. I need a memory upgrade though (which is another long, frustrating story--let's just say, read eBay listings carefully before you click 'bid') to take full advantage of the improved VSTs. I did a quick, one night arrangement of the Harry Potter Theme for the band to play at the Halloween Parade, but I would like to try at something original.
  
• Refer to everything above. Most of the stuff on the list I genuinely enjoy doing! - I have been having a lot of fun this summer, and am looking forward to tackling more of this list.
  

Okay, so those 72 days (7 hours, 57 minutes, and 34 seconds now) don't seem like enough. - Scarily enough, there are only 32 days, 8 hours, 30 minutes, and 24 second left in Summer! This post is from 50 days ago, as I said before, TIME FLIES!

After taking stock of the list above, I realized that I have been up to other things as well, which makes me feel a lot better. So, to add to what I have accomplished is this list:

• Re-Read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and just finished Deathly Hallows, which I believe is the best book of the series by far.
• Helped out with music at VBS. I wasn't all-too-much looking forward to this, since I really didn't have a clue what I was doing, but it ended up being a lot of fun, and Meg and I both agreed to help out last summer. I also recently learned how to run the sound board at the church, so I can help out by running it for Sunday morning services.
• Vacationed 'down-the-shore'
• Took two trips to Gettysburg
• Kept the house exceptionally clean

Add those things to the above mentioned red items above, and I can see how those 50 days went so fast.

Well, off to get some sleep. I really need to blog more... so much to say!

Hospital Visit

...not for me, for my mom, but nothing serious. She had a scheduled surgery (hysterectomy) yesterday, so today we went by to visit. Considering she had major abdominal surgery yesterday, she was actually up and about, which I found surprising. Tomorrow, she is being discharged from the hospital, so Meg and I are going to pick her up, and help around the house until my dad gets home. The rest of the summer should be interesting, because we will most likely be spending a lot of time over my parents helping my mom out. Not that I mind at all, I like to be helpful, and my parents house is fun (usually lots of snacks, especially if my dad is doing the shopping, and they have digital cable, as opposed to our "limited basic" $10/month cable).

The hospital experience was a little eye opening. Combine that with the fact that I've been watching episodes of Scrubs on DVD lately, and I am pretty much going to do everything I can to stay out of a hospital. My mom had several very inattentive nurses, and was in a tiny, cramped room attached the to ER. It just seems like a very scary thing to have your life in the hands of people who are just as prone to making mistakes as you are. We all make mistakes, we are human. I make mistakes all of the time in my job (like musical chairs--THAT was a disaster). But if a nurse were to enter the wrong dosage on a pain killer pump, or if the surgeon was just a little off, it could be fatal. We pretty much just have to trust that they know what they are doing, and will do something unhuman, like not make a mistake. So like I said, I am going to avoid hospitals for a while.

The last few days have been pretty productive. I've made a small dent in my list. I was reading blog posts from last summer, and couldn't believe that I had already finished the pool deck by this time last year. Now, I did go on a very relaxing vacation, but there is no way I would have been able to finish a project like that by now this year. I am slightly bummed, because part of the fun of last summer was that I had two, big projects to do: the deck, and painting the nursery. There is no big project this year. There are lots of smaller projects I am dying to do with the house, but I just don't have the money for them. Our money situation is good, but we have a habit of not sticking to our budget. I've made a pledge that we are going to stick to it, which pretty much means only essential spending on our house. So, basically, I've got a lot of time, and not much to do with it (house-work wise). I'll keep myself busy with little, free or inexpensive projects (like weeding the garden, tagging photos, prepping for next school year), and spend the rest of the time with Maddie and Meggie. I have a hard time relaxing, can't you tell?

Here's what I have accomplished so far this week:

• mowed & trimmed the front lawn
• sprayed roundup on all of the weeds in the cracks of the sidewalks and driveway,
• continued tagging photos (I'm back to December of 2005, only 2.5 years to go)
• moved the shelves from the office to the family room
• created the ultimate in home-cleaning checklists.

And here is my to-do list for the rest of the week:

• Get rid of all spiders and webs throughout the property, and spray around with that Ortho Home Defense stuff
• Mow & trim back yard
• Weed gardens
• Fix attic fan
• Vacuum pool

That oughta keep me busy!

Shore Pictures

Ocean City Vacation 2007

Finally got all of the pictures uploaded and online. I am realizing the drawback of having the slow DSL connection, in that uploads take FOREVER. Between these pictures, and four videos on YouTube, it took several hours.

When I posted this album, I played with Google's new map feature, where you can place photos on a map based on where they were taken. Pretty cool!

Oh, videos on YouTube! Four new ones of Maddie. I won't post them here because they take up a lot of screen space, but you can check them out at The Maddie Show.

Today was the first day that really felt like a summer day. My big project of the day was getting my sister's old computer set up as our file server. It was a good project for a day like today, since it didn't involve going outside in the heat at all. We also finished our bi-weekly cleaning checklist, and got many pictures and several videos uploaded.

We also stopped in at CHOP today to have Maddie weighed. She gained another pound, which is great news. She has been eating better lately, but still hasn't consistently reached the 25oz/day mark the Dr. is looking for. Since she has gained some weight, they will probably need to adjust her medication. The Dr. was on vacation, so we should know what to do in a few days, but overall good news.

(it just occurred to me that I have not posted much about the subject of Maddie and reflux on my blog...check out Meg's Blog for the full story)

So now that summer has officially started, I can start tackling my summer to-do list. The only thing is, when I wake up in the morning, it is hard to figure out exactly what I am going to do. So, I am going to make a list of things that I would like to accomplish each week at the start of the week. BTW-if you read my blog regularly, you will probably find this to be boring--it is more for me, so skip it if you wish.

Tuesday

• VBS Meeting at Jane's (review music before hand)
• Make up the monthly detail cleaning checklist
• Get rid of spiders in garage
• Vacuum Pool

Wednesday

• Move wall shelves in office and install in family room
• Tag more photos

Thursday

• Mow lawn
• Spider spray outside
  
• Lesson in the morning
  

Friday

• Fix attic fan
• Grocery shopping

Saturday

• Weed gardens
• Spray roundup in cracks on weeds

Home From the Shore

Well, here I am, back on the Internet. We discovered that we were able to steal a unsecured Wifi connection from our shore house. My brother and sister both had their laptops, and found it to be useful. I continued on my plan not to use the Internet at all during the week.

Over all, the vacation was very nice. There were a few good and a few bad things to note, but I got a lot of relaxing done, and feel ready to tackle everything I planned for this summer.

I was thinking of doing a day-by-day review of the week, but since most days consisted of the same routine (get up, sit around all morning, eat lunch, go to the beach, come back to the house, get showered, go to the boardwalk, come back to the house, sit around till after midnight, go to bed), it won't be necessary. I'll give you the highlights.

The week started off kinda rocky. We had no problem getting down there and unpacking, but our first trip to the beach last Saturday night did not go well. I had not planned on getting in the water, but my dad and Laura claimed that the water was warm, so I threw on my suit, and the whole family (minus Nick, who hadn't arrived yet) went down to the beach. My dad took a dive in the water, only to resurface a moment later and realize that he had forgotten to take off his glasses. Well, we searched around the water and the beach, and decided that they were pretty much gone. He has terrible vision, and he ended up having to order a new pair from Lens Crafters, which he got the next day.

You might think that I poked a lot of fun at him for this, but later that evening, I discovered MY WEDDING RING WAS MISSING FROM MY FINGER! Now, I NEVER take it off (with the exception of when I make meatballs), and I was 99% sure where it was--the same place my dad's glasses were. See, I have lost some weight since we got married, and lately my ring has been a little loose. Apparently, when I was in the water, it must have slipped off my finger. I was VERY upset about this, mainly because of the sentimental value, but also because I felt like I complete idiot for leaving it on. The good news is, the ring was not that expensive, since we were poor college kids when we bought our rings. So, I need to add ring-shopping to my list of summer tasks.

That night was also a little rough. Maddie decided that she was not going to sleep for some reason. She slept about 3 hours the whole night (and so did I). I was on "baby duty," so Meg went and slept in the spare bedroom while I dealt with Maddie (whose crib was in our room--long story). I eventually gave up on getting her to sleep, and we had a "slumber party." We watched Baby Mozart and played, and then she FINALLY went to sleep, only to wake up again at 6:30, at which point, I turned duty over to Meg, and slept in the spare room until 11:00.

After that, everything was better. I accomplished everything I wanted to over the week, including:

• Time relaxing on the beach
• Swimming in the ocean/riding waves
• Eating Kohr Brothers ice-cream
• Buying salt water taffy
• Generally making a pig of myself
• Started and Finished Reading Half Blood Prince
• Solving several Crypto-quote puzzles.
• Doing absolutely NOTHING!
• Alone time with Meggie.
• Family time with Meggie and Maddie.
• Play time with Maddie (especially on the beach).

I really can't think of anything that I wanted to do but didn't get a chance to do. In fact, by last night, I was ready to go home, not in a bad way, but just missed my house, and Max, and wanted to get started on my productive summer.

I will be putting pictures on my Picasa Web Album sometime tomorrow, so I will definitely post a link.

Going 'Down the Shore!'

Tomorrow starts the first family vacation down in OCNJ since the summer between junior and senior year. I just love going on vacation there, especially if the weather is nice. There is something really relaxing about sitting on a deck and listening to the sound of the ocean, and the seagulls, and smelling the salty air.

This time is going to be a little different. First off, Meg and I are married, and not engaged, as we were last time. We also have Maddie with us, which I predict will be challenging yet fun. Tomorrow is a busy day, as we have to pack everything up, and get the house ready for Meg's mom, who will be house/dog sitting.

So far summer is going well. The trip to Gettysburg was uneventful. Maddie is starting to eat better (I'll have to get into that story later). I have accomplished several things already. As you can see, I did change the theme to my blog. I also fixed the toilet paper holder in the bathroom and put a much-needed railing on the steps that lead downstairs. I haven't even thought about school yet, except for a few random thoughts and ideas (which I should write down as I think of them--need to get a notebook), but I don't plan on touching school until later in July.

Maddie and I have been bonding a lot. Maybe it's that when she babbles, she just happens to be saying "dadadadadada...," or maybe it's just that I am home more, but I feel closer to her than before. I think it is also because she is really starting to get a personality, and it is (most of the time), I very fun one.

I am still working on tagging photos in Picasa, but I've got a ways to go. I got back as far as last summer, but our photos go all the way back to June of 2003!

My plans for vacation are to relax, and pretty much do nothing productive. I am not even taking my laptop, which means probably the longest I will go without an Internet connection in years. I plan on spending a lot of time on the beach (if Maddie lets us), nights on the boardwalk, playing games with Meggie at the house, eating like a pig, taking lots of pictures, and not worrying about anything. I think the most productive thing I will do is re-read Half Blood Prince, so I will better understand the new Harry Potter book when it comes out. It is kinda strange to have nothing planned. I really need to make sure I enjoy it.

I will definitely need the relaxation after the busy day tomorrow. With that said, I really need to get some sleep. I've gotta get up early and vacuum/backwash the pool, and then let the packing and loading begin.

I look forward to blogging about the experience when I get back.

See you in a week, Internet!

Let's See How Long till Bob Notices that I Put This Here...

You Are a Ring Finger

You are romantic, expressive, and hopeful. You see the best in everything. You are very artistic, and you see the world as your canvas. You are also drawn to the written word. Inventive and unique, you are often away in your own inner world. You get along well with: The Pinky Stay away from: The Index Finger

What Finger Are You?

Love, Meg

Friday!

Or an alternate title could have been "Back in the Blogosphere," since it has been over a month since I blogged. I really wish that I had blogged more, as there is a lot of catching up to do here.

Well, the Friday of Summer began a while ago, on June 1, which seems like months ago. The last few weeks of school are generally very stressful. Even as I spent my last minutes there on Wednesday, I was stressing to get everything done. I am going to need to take a day in August just to unpack and organize, since I was pretty much just shoved everything in the drawers of my desk, since I was supposed to be out of the building by 4 (I didn't leave till 5).

All-in-all, it was a good school year. I think the change in administration helped a lot, as my feelings about work were not as good earlier this year. I am excited, and actually looking forward to next school year. I still made sure to pack up and take home everything I own from my classroom, since maybe that dream job will open up this summer.

Well, there is only 72 days, 8 hours, 26 minutes, and 20 seconds left in this summer. I am going to make a goal to keep myself busy and not waste a second.

As far as what's on the schedule, there isn't a whole lot this summer. Here is what I've got:

• 6/23 to 6/25 - Visit Meg's family in Gettysburg (in progress right now)
• 6/30 to 7/6 - Week in OCNJ
• 7/16 to 7/20 - Working with VBS at church
• 7/21 - Julie's Wedding in Gettysburg (friend of Meg's from HS)

Not a whole lot... which leaves a lot of free time. Free time is wonderful, but it can also lead to a lot of wasted time. When I think back to last summer, I have a lot of pleasant memories. I would like this summer to be the same, if not better. So below, I have a list of all of the things I would like to do/accomplish this summer:

House Projects:

• Lattice around the deck
• Repairs throughout the house (e.g., no toilet paper holders in either bathroom right now)
• Beautify the gardens
• Clean out the shed (again!) and find a way to keep it more organized
• Clean an organize some of the messier areas of the house
• Make weekly and monthly cleaning checklists and stick to them!
  

School Projects:

• Write my own recorder method book
• Make 'Elements of Music' posters for my classroom
• Figure out and plan a better way to structure my middle school general music curriculum
• Start the school year with the 1st marking period planned and ready to go.
• Actually prepare scores for the band (instead of winging it, like I usually do)
• Get into school a couple of days during the end of the summer and clean and organize my room, and find out a classroom arrangement that works better.

Family/Personal Stuff:

• Bond with Maddie, and take lots of videos.
• Go fun places with Meg and Maddie
• Eat better (despite the fact that in the last year I have gone from a 44 waste to a 40!)
• Exercise in the pool with Meg
• Ride my bike
• Take walks as a family
• Have Scamp over to play with Max
• Have friends from school over
• Have my parents/brother/sister over more

Computer Stuff:

• Pick a new theme for the blog (may even do that tonight)
• Blog as much as possible.
• Set up my sister's old computer in the 'office' as a file server and guest computer
• Finish tagging all of our photos (9,000 and counting!) with the names of the subjects of the pictures
• Clean up, archive, and reorganize files on my laptop
• Keep Maddie's blog regularly updated with pictures and videos (we've been really lazy about that lately)

Hobby Stuff:

• Attempt to write an original piece of music for my band to play at school.
• Refer to everything above. Most of the stuff on the list I genuinely enjoy doing!

Okay, so those 72 days (7 hours, 57 minutes, and 34 seconds now) don't seem like enough. In order not to waste any of that time, I need to have a good plan to get all of this done. Not that I HAVE to get it all done, but that I WANT to get it all done. I am going to relax until we get back from the shore. But after that, I am going to spend the rest of July and the first half of August working on all of this stuff. Then, hopefully, I can spend the last few weeks of summer relaxing, and enjoying everything I have accomplished.

Off to tackle that list! Oh, I guess I should sleep first...

Thursday...

MY CONCERT IS DONE!




Need I say more! The spring concert is the product of everything I do during the year, and can be a major stress, so it feels SO GOOD when it is over. And it is now, and it was very successful. Aside from some behavior issues with the students who were waiting to perform, the night was a success. I got some great compliments from my new bosses, and the superintendent is even going to count the concert as my final observation.

The school year is winding down. It is now the "Thursday" of the school year. You know how Thursday is. It's not the end of the week, but the end is definitely near. After Memorial Day is when the "Friday" of the year starts.

Today (even though I stayed home--Maddie did not let me sleep last night) began cycle 27 of 30 six-day cycles. That means there are four more cycles left in the year. 4x6 = 24 days. Plus, we have to make up 3 day fives (unscheduled teacher in-service, snow day, flood day), and Day 1 of this cycle already happened, so that is 24-1+3 = 26 Days!!! There are 3 more day 1's, 4 more of day 2, 3, 4, and 6, and 7 more day 5's. There are 182 periods left of school, 117 hours of teaching-time left, and 188 hours of work day left. If it were possible to finish the school year by working 24/7, one school day after another, we'd be done in one week and one day. Including weekends and holidays, there are 36 days, 17 hours, 19 minutes, and 14 seconds left till Summer Vacation.

While it is completely awesome that summer is so near, it scares me a little that I will only see most of my classes four more times. And, by the way, the last cycle is pretty much a waste, since grades will be due around then. So really, I have to finish what I need to teach this year in 3 more classes. All of my classes are doing a composition project in one form or another. While this is a lot of fun, and takes the pressure off me as a teacher, I am concerned that some classes won't finish, which is going to make a grade for this marking period kind of tough. But, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

* * *

With summer getting so close and the weather being beautiful, I have been spending a lot of time outside. It is funny, because when I was a kid, I hated to go outside. I am still not crazy about some aspects of the outdoors. Mainly spiders, and (even more so), spider webs. I have the strange, extremely irrational fear of spider webs. Spiders themselves never used to bother me, but as I got older, I associated them with my fear, and I now fear spiders just as much. The bigger the spider the worse. Even the various shapes of webs evoke different levels of fear. For example, the typical 'circle web' creeps me out the most, and generally sends me into a panic, my skin is crawling just writing about it. Whereas, a cobweb in the corner of a dusty room does not bother me nearly as much. This time of year I really enjoy being outside. The weather is beautiful, and the larger spiders never seem to show up until late summer. It is then that I walk outside in constant fear of encountering a spider web. Yes, I know, I am certifiable, and probably should get some help, but I have a feeling a shrink would just have me look at pictures of spider webs, or have me actually voluntarily touch one. *shuddering*

Okay, got on a tangent there... Anyway, I have been spending a lot of time outside working on various projects. I have been doing a lot of gardening, and really enjoy it. It is part art, part science. We have this garden on the side of our garage which was always just a bunch of random plants that were all too small for the space. I dug up the garden, prepared the soil, and planted pink and purple azaleas and rhododendrons, along with some hostas, and day lillies. It is a major improvement, and I will post pictures soon. Most of the other yardwork has mainly been cleaning up the leaves, dethatching the grass, etc.

This weekend I got the pool open, otherwise known as the giant chemistry set. I think one of the things that makes me me is that I enjoy things that any normal person would consider to be work. Such as maintaining a pool. Weather-wise, it is a little early to open the pool, but I was getting tired of the ugly cover, and was looking forward to working on it again for another season. The opening went rather flawlessly, except that the cover had a hole in it, meaning it was impossible to get all of the water off the top before removing it. I just gave up and let all of the mucky water slide into the pool, so for a day, I had a green swamp. But five gallons of bleach and 24 hour filtering has cleared the water. It is still cloudy, and needs vacuumed, but it should be swimmable by next week.

* * *

I've REALLY gotta get some sleep. Saturday night I stayed up till 1:30, just messing around on the computer, and then I got up with Maddie at 7. Then last night, Maddie got me up four times for some reason. After the fourth time, I decided that I would take a sick day, so that I could catch up on sleep today. Well, Maddie was not much in a napping mood, so I am still really sleepy. I did manage to catch about an hours-worth of napping, so hopefully, with a goodnight sleep tonight (Meg's on baby duty), I will feel better tomorrow. On that note... Goodnight!

Concert Time!

In 8 days from now, my Spring Concert will be done and over with...

It is a shame, because you would think that the Spring Concert would be the highlight of a music teacher's year, as it is one of the culminating events. But, it is a lot of pressure: pressure that the students will perform well, and pressure that everything will go okay. Right now, #2 is more of an issue for me...

This is the first year where I am pretty confident in my student's performances, especially the Intermediate Band. I originally programmed three selections. When we had them all down a few weeks ago, I added a 4th, and that is now concert ready as well. I am also confident in the Beginning Band as well, although, they are admittedly easier. I am working out of Bruce Pearson's Standard of Excellence series with them. I pretty much picked two exercises that sound good, and then we repeat them, with each instrument section playing each time. Also, the Beginning Band isn't exactly supposed to sound good. They just need to sound better than they did at the Winter Concert, which they do. The Advanced Band is a different story. This group is the group that started with my predecessor, and still don't see the same vision for the band that I do. I have a lot of problems with attendance, and just with a general not-caring attitude. I programmed music that was a little challenging for them, thinking they might actually learn something. We will be okay, but only with some finger-crossing. At least two of my three groups are ready.

The logistics is the hard part. I just realized this weekend that my concert is in a little over a week. It will be one week from tomorrow. I made a short list of stuff that I could possibly get done at school today, and did actually finish it. But, I still have to: make the concert program, put in all of the necessary maintenance requests, move all of the equipment down to the stage, coordinate with the teachers on duty that night so that all of the 100 students in the band/chorus program are supervised, make sure the booster club is ready for the bake sale, get awards for the 8th graders, and I am sure a load of stuff I haven't even thought of yet.

And WHEN EXACTLY DO I GET THIS STUFF DONE?!? One 40 minute prep a day is not enough. I do get an hour lunch, but #1, I need to eat, and #2, I rehearse my bands during lunch. I also hate to stay late at school, because it means less Maddie time. So, basically, I just cram as much work into every free moment, and hope it all gets done before next Tuesday.

Oh, I can't WAIT until next Wednesday. So much pressure will be off. Of course, I still have a field trip, a 50th anniversary celebration (involving a school-song writing project--I better get started on that soon), and involvement with the spring musical...

Only 35 more school days. Only 280 more periods. I will only see most of my classes 5 more times.

Only 50 days 16 hours 56 minutes and 30 seconds till Summer Vacation!

Garden/Car Pictures

Here are the pictures from the garden that I took yesterday:

Garden Pictures April 22, 2007

And here are a few pictures of the new van:

Spring Has Sprung!

This weekend was BEAUTIFUL! I spent all day Saturday outside doing yard work, and while this may sound like something annoying to do to most, I actually love it. Oddly enough, when I was a kid, I hated to go outside and play. But now, there is nothing I'd rather be doing on warm, spring days like we had this weekend. Saturday I got all of the leaves out of the backyard, and then raked the whole yard clean. I got rid of all of the sticks that Max had chewed up, any trash that had been laying around, pine cones, etc. Now the yard looks very clean, but also very empty. Kind of like a blank canvas, I guess. My mom bought me this gardening book that I have started to read. I want to learn more about gardening and landscaping in general. I am always so jealous of the way my parent's house looks, and then I remember that they have been living in that house for over 20 years, and we have lived here for almost two. Once I am finished with the book, I want to sketch out 'dream' plans, that assume infinite time and money to complete. And then, prioritize what I have created, and add a little more every year. I'll get there eventually.

The rest of my week started out kind of hectic, but got easier as the weather got nicer. Monday I had off due to the flooding in the area around my school. Tuesday's trip to school was eventful, considering my main route to school (a country road that goes through the middle of a state forest--so no easy way of getting around it) was CLOSED due to flooding. I had to double-back and find a different route. Even though I was 15 minutes late for school, I discovered that this new route was shorter and faster. So now, I have a new way to school.

Grades were due this week, and I had everything finished by the end of spring break. However, our school still does things the old fashioned way--All report cards are done by hand, so I had to rush to get that done. After that, I actually had a pretty easy week.

Okay, I am going to attempt to browse the web a bit, even though I am uploading a video and pictures at the same time, and with my 768k DSL, that means having a particularly useless internet connection.

Garden Pictures...NEED SPRING NOW!

Okay, it is 1:54 PM, and I am HOME because it was a SNOW DAY today! Yeah, check your calendar, it is April 16. While I am enjoying one more bonus Maddie-Daddy day (Meg only got a 2-hour delay), I can't help thinking that it is April, and I should be outside gardening or something.

To remind us that spring IS actually here, I posted some pictures of the bulbs I planted back in October. They look beautiful. This, of course, is before all of the snow and ice from today weighed them all down.

Enjoy, spring will be here (IT IS HERE!)

Garden Pictures April 2007

I need to do this more often...

I was going to title this post "Where do I begin?" and then, I realized it was the title of my last post. So much seems to be going on lately that: #1-I haven't had the time to sit down and blog, or #2-I know that it will be big task to summarize my life in a single post that I continue to put it off, which means that I just have more I need to blog about. So, I am going to try to highlight some of the things that have been going on...

Meg Goes Back to School
The newest chapter in our life has begun--That of the story of two working parents. So far, it is not as hard as I thought it would be. Meg went back on March 28. We have yet to do a full week of this, due to spring break. It's kinda nice now that Meg is back, since we are both equal now (not that it was a competition or anything). What I mean by that is, when Meg was home, she felt she needed to give me as much Maddie time as possible when I got home. That meant that Meg made dinner, cleaned up, made lunches for the next day, mixed up formula, etc., while I got to play with Maddie and put her to bed. I felt incredibly guilty about this, because I knew that being home with Maddie all day isn't all that easy (see later in this post), and frankly, I actually ENJOY most household chores (no seriously, I am a geek that way). Now that Meg is at school all day, she is just as much in need of Maddie time as I am. So, we've got a good system going where one of us does housework, and one of us takes care of Maddie, and then we switch off. We also have family time, and, after Maddie goes to bed, Mommy and Daddy time, which usually involves cuddling on the couch while watching the same episodes of Scrubs again, because we are both too tired to get up and change the DVD.

Meg's perspective of this is much different than mine, since she had to deal with returning to work, as well as dropping off Maddie for the first time. She has done a nice job of summarizing her feelings in her blog.

Traffic Court
I usually am ecstatic at the start of a long vacation, counting the seconds until that final bell rings. Thursday 4/5 should have been like that, but I had my 5 PM court appearance hanging over my head all day. I had expected to be yelled at by the prosecutor, and then the judge. I had expected an emotionally crushing experience. Really, the only thing that was affected was my wallet. I showed up about an hour early, and was 2nd in line to talk to the prosecutor. I was glad I got there early, because there were a lot of people in line by the time court began. I guess when they have so many people to get through, my speeding ticket was just part of the process. The prosecutor was helpful, and amended the speeding charge to "unsafe vehicle operations," which does not carry any points, but does involve a $250 surcharge from the state of NJ. When I was called up in court, the judge completely dropped the whole insurance card thing, since I had proof that I was insured at the time (after cleaning out my car yesterday, I FOUND my insurance card). I did walk out of there $410 poorer, but at least I don't have to worry about points on my license.

I got home, and Meg and I went out to Friendly's to celebrate the start of...

SPRING BREAK!
Ah, a little reminder of what summer can be like. Well, not really this year, since the weather was pretty much cold and rainy the whole time. I am trying not to get bummed, as today is the last day of Spring Break, and tomorrow starts a full week, with not another day off until Memorial day (and my Spring Concert between now and then AHHHH!!). But on the other hand, there are only 65 days 4 hours, 24 minutes, and 45 seconds left until summer vacation. And that is calendar days, not school days (I haven't gotten organized enough yet to figure that out). We are now officially in the fourth marking period, meaning the year is 3/4 over (so it's gotta be slightly less than 45 days). Thinking back to my analogy of the year as a week, we are at about Thursday morning right now. Thursday as that "the weekend is near" feeling, but you realize you still have two full days of school to get through before the weekend. So a Thursday (the rest of April and then May), and then FRIDAY (June), and then, on June 19 at 3:15 PM, Summer Starts! (Friday after school begins).

Whoops, I am supposed to be blogging about spring break, better get back on task...

Friday was a yardwork day for me--actually, all I did was clean out and organize the shed, but considering that you couldn't even walk in there before, it was a pretty big job.

Spring break started out with a trip to Gettysburg for Easter. We borrowed my parents van (for the last time! to be explained later), loaded everything up on Saturday (including Maddie and Max), and headed over to Gettysburg. Maddie had a very nice first Easter. We headed home on Monday, and basically unpacked, went shopping, and went to bed.

Tuesday was like a summer day for me, in that I got outside and got a lot of yard work done. On Monday night, I bought a new bagging lawn mower. So, I spent Tuesday raking leaves, de-thatching, aerating, and mowing the front lawn.

Wednesday-Friday were my Daddy-Maddie days, as Meg had to go back to work on Wednesday. The first day, we pretty much hung out around the house. I took several cute videos, and took Maddie on a shopping trip to Wal-Mart and Lowes (nothing says home improvement better than buying plumbing supplies with a baby in the cart). When Meggie got home and took over baby duty, I got started on my next spring break project--fixing the pipe that burst underneath the deck this winter. This project also involved moving the hose bibb to a more convenient location. This was probably the biggest plumbing project I have ever done on my own, but it was actually a lot easier than I thought. So far, there are no leaks, and everything works. The worst part of the project was having to climb underneath the deck (lots of ivy and spider webs)

Thursday, Maddie and I visited my parents during the day. I also got my haircut. Meg met us after school, and we hung out there for a little longer. We got home, I buckled down and got to work on finishing my grades, since 3rd marking period grades are due when we get back to school. I stayed up very late that night, because after finishing my grades, I decided to crunch the numbers on our 07-08 household budget. I went into this project thinking, "how are we going to be able to do this, with having to pay my mom to watch Maddie," to "wow, we are way better off that I could have ever expected (due to our raises, and other cost-cutting measures), let's buy a

...Minivan!"

Friday, Maddie and I brought lunch up to Meg at school. I pretty much spent the rest of the day researching minivans. And narrowed our list down to a Dodge Grand Caravan, a Kia Sedona, a Honda Odyssey, and a Toyota Sienna. Friday night we did our Wal-Mart and Sam's shopping.

Saturday we went van shopping. I had already ruled out the Dodge, since my parents seemed to have a lot of problems with theirs. We started out a the Honda dealer, and looked at a 2003 with 67K miles on it. It was 18,000, and had a lot of features, but was a little older than what I was looking for (ideally 2004 or later, but not new). We then went across the Turnersville Auto Mall to the Toyota dealer. We test-drove a blue 2006 Toyota Sienna, with 26K miles for $21,900. It was the standard model, and does not have a lot of the bells and whistles (all of them really cool, but completely unnecessary), but it did have two features I really wanted... 3rd row fold-into-floor seats, and an auxiliary jack for my MP3 player. By this time, we had ruled out the Kia, since the impression we got from both the Honda and the Toyota salesmen is that they are cheap for a reason. The Toyota was a little more than what I wanted to spend, but our monthly payments worked out to be less than the $500 I budgeted for. So, after a talk with Meg, and a phone call to my dad to double-check his professional opinion of Toyotas (he drives a Camry to work everyday and loves it), we decided to buy it! I thought we would have to come back later to pick it up, but we took it home that day! Now, we were at the Toyota dealership for hours, because they were very busy (they had already sold over thirty cars by the time we left).

After getting home, I played around with the car for a while and read the manual. So far, I am happy with it. I would post pictures, but it is pouring today, so I can't get out to take any. But as soon as I have some, I will definitely post.

Today is a "getting organized" day, since tomorrow starts a full work week. In fact, I gotta wrap this up, because there is a lot to do around the house

Where do I begin? (warning: LONG POST)

March madness is definitely the key word (or words, I guess) here. No, I am not an NCAA basketball fan in any way, shape, or form. I am more referring to the insanity that has been the last two weeks. Where do I start?

Well, I started off the week of 3/12 with a bang, and a speeding ticket. My first ever ticket. I got caught in a speed trap in Atco. It is 35 most of the way, except through this stretch in the middle of Atco where it goes down to 25. In the three years I have had this job, I don't think I have ever gone slower than 35. Well, I was clocked at 42. On top of that, I had an expired insurance card (I could have sworn I put the new one in my car--I bet I accidentally threw out the new one and kept the old one). So, I got a ticket for that too. Then, the cop pointed out that none of my brake lights came on when I pulled over. He was nice enough not to give me a ticket for that, but this was obviously a serious problem, so I was car-less on Tuesday, since the car had to go to the shop and have the lights fixed. I ended up with two tickets, one for the insurance card, and the other for speeding. He only wrote speed at 34 on the ticket, to get me two, rather than four points on my license. I have to go to traffic court. If I can prove I was insured at the time I was pulled over, they will drop that charge. I also have to talk to the prosecutor about dropping my ticket to zero points (I am told they do this all the time).

During school that week, things were pretty much insane. All of my music lessons were canceled and I had a completely whacked out schedule because of state testing. Tuesday, was a half day, with conferences in the evening. Now normally, as a related arts teacher, I am not involved in conferences. However, my fellow middle school colleagues decided this year that it was unfair that we don't usually have conferences, and scheduled us a booked-solid schedule of 'round robins' (basically group conferences, with all of the student's teachers, the parent, and sometimes the student), without asking us. About half of these students are not a problem for me, and many were not even requested by the parent. I guess my middle school colleagues forget the amount of extra work we do with related arts: the various performances we have to put on during the year, the prep-work that goes into running an instrumental music department, the extra hours we spent finishing the yearbook.

And the yearbook was probably the biggest issue here. Our deadline was 3/19, but I wanted to have everything submitted before Friday, so that we didn't have to worry about it for the weekend. My plan was to get it all done during conference times, but since we were booked solid, this was not a possibility.

On Tuesday, after our early dismissal (12:45), Meggie and Maddie came up to school to keep me company. The art teacher and I worked on the yearbook until about 5 or so, when Meg and I had to go pick up my car from the shop. Then, we had the conferences at night (more on those later). Wednesday, we stayed till 6 or so, and then I had to go home to teach a lesson. Thursday, we were at school till after 8, when we had all by 5 pages submitted. Those remaining five had to wait until we could get approval (they were ads) and we needed one more picture. As of Friday 3/16, the yearbook was finished. Now, we still have about 30 pages of proofs coming our way, but we were very thorough when we made these pages, so hopefully they won't require a lot of corrections. The book looks great, though! I truly learned the ins and outs of Adobe InDesign, and created some really nice spreads. All I can say, is that there is a major weight off of my shoulders now.

Back to the conferences, despite being rather annoyed that I was involuntarily included in these round robins, I decided to make the best of it and prepare. For each parent I would see. I printed out a student summary report, and noted areas of strengths and weaknesses. I had a general idea of what I was going to say, and felt ready to deal with the parents. Tuesday night, of the 6 RRs I had scheduled, TWO parents actually showed up. Good to know how much these parents care about the child's education. Wednesday and Thursday were better, but in several of the conferences, it felt like a major waste to even be there. The 'core' subject teachers pretty much monopolized the whole thing. And the related arts teachers got like a minute to say something, if they were lucky. What a waste.

Friday was back to normal. No testing, a full school day. However, I had some major preparing to do for the following week. Every year, I have to teach on the stage during the 2nd week of testing. First off, I make too much noise (hey, I am the music teacher, what do you want?), and I am right by the elementary classrooms (who are testing this week), so I get moved. Also, they need to use my room for special ed. testing. My first year, I was not happy at all about this, but I have learned to live with it. I kinda think of it like a teaching 'vacation.' I get to pack up all of my stuff, and teach somewhere else for a week, and then come 'home' to my regular classroom. Well, my goal was to move everything I needed to teach the next week (my keyboard, whiteboard, all percussion instruments, TV cart, lesson materials, music stands, etc.) on Friday after school. Well, an ice storm, prevented that from happening. I moved about one cartload worth of stuff, and decided to get home before the roads got any icier. What I contrast to the last weekend, which felt like spring. The ice eventually turned to snow. When it was all said and done, we got about 3 inches.

Friday's ice storm prevented us from getting a head start on shopping for Maddie's christening on Sunday. We cleaned as much as we could, but were both exhausted, and didn't get a whole lot done. Saturday, we went to Wal-Mart and Sam's and did all of the shopping (groceries, and for the party), then spent the rest of the day cleaning, and getting ready for the party. Meg's family arrived in the evening, and bought us take-out from Bella Vita.

Sunday, we got up early to finish getting everything ready. Then, we were off to the church, in two cars, so I could drop Max and his crate off at my parents so we wouldn't have to listen to him bark all day. The baptism at church went very well. Maddie was cute and smiley, and didn't cry at all. The party was also a major success, despite having bought WAY too much food. But, it made for some really good leftovers. Below are a few pictures. Click the link below the picture to jump to the web album to see more.

Maddie's Baptism & Christening

Maddie posing in her Christening gown for the camera.

Then, after a no-weekend weekend, it was back to another insane week of school.

This was I was on stage all week. In the last two years, things didn't go so well on stage. I ended up having some major behavior issues (like an entire 7th grade class diving under the curtain and leaping off the stage at the same time--I'm serious). This time around, it was much better. I ended up turning the stage into a pretty good classroom. The week was actually much easier than last, mainly because the yearbook was done, but I also had my regular schedule back.

Today (Friday), was the only day I school that I stayed really late. I had to move all of my equipment back to my room. Next week is just another normal week, but the marking period will be over soon, so I my next major project is to grade a ton of stuff. Then, in 12 days, 14 hours, 39 minutes, and 31 seconds, SPRING BREAK arrives. Our little early preview of summer.

Tonight, Maddie and I went shopping by ourselves, cause Meggie is feeling sick. It was fun with it being just the two of us. I managed to push the stroller and a cart through Wal-Mart.

I am looking forward to a much more relaxing weekend. I would love to get outside and do some more yard work, but the forecast is all rain tomorrow. We are probably going to get area rugs for the living room and the playroom 'quadrant' of the family room. I also need to move the third wall unit from my parents over to our house. Then, I have a bunch of poster projects to grade, and a handbell performance on Sunday morning.

I feel better already haven gotten these last two weeks out of my mind and into this blog. Now I can relax. First, let's start with some sleep.

I leave you with an ADORABLE picture of Maddie.

Productive Weekend

I am FINALLY take back control of the yard. After today, I am no longer embarrassed with the state of our front yard. The back yard is a different story, but at least no neighbors can see that.

This weekend, the weather was BEAUTIFUL. It was so nice to get outside and do some yard work again. Meg thinks I am nuts for this, but I really enjoy yard work, and one of the most depressing things about winter is that you miss out on all of that. I spent about 4 hours outside today, first raking and bagging up all of the leaves in the front and side yards that were left over from the fall. Then, I weeded the garden, and discovered that many of the bulbs I planted in October are starting to come up. Some of my crocuses are already blooming. I can't wait to see what this garden will look like when everything blooms. There will definitely be some pictures.

Yard work was just one major accomplishment for the weekend. This morning, I did mail and money stuff as usual. Last night, I did not get much sleep. I stayed up late to get a large chunk of grading done, since I won't have time to do much of it next week with it being the last week to work on the yearbook. Then, we decided to try to sleep Maddie with one arm unswaddled--bad idea, she woke up 7 times last night. Usually when she wakes up, you can just give her a pacifier and she will fall back asleep. At about 6:30 (this is after going to bed around 1, and then losing an hour due to daylight savings), she woke up and wanted fed. I know this sounds like typical baby behavior, but Maddie has been consistently sleeping through the night for weeks now, so this was a bit of a surprise. After that feeding, Meg took over on baby duty, so I could catch up on some sleep. I woke up at 9 to the smell of coffee and the trumpet theme that is played at the beginning of CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood.

Saturday was also a very productive day. We started with a $268 trip to Sam's Club. Since we've been shopping there, there has always been a little left over at the end of the month, meaning we only had to buy a little bit every month. Well, that overflow supply ran out. The 'store' was pretty much empty prior to Saturday, so this was a big trip. I don't like spending a lot of money, but it is fun to load up your cart with a bunch of stuff. Feels kinda powerful. After getting home, I organized the store, made sauce, and separated all of the meat into freezer bags portioned for meals. It doesn't sound like a lot, but I pretty much spent from 1 to about 8 or so in the kitchen doing something. After dinner I got to work on my grading (see above, I am working backwards again, whoops).

The rest of the week was busy as usual. Let's just say I am looking forward to the yearbook deadline being past us. I really enjoy working on the yearbook, but I don't enjoy finding the time to do it with everything else I have to do. My office is once again a disorganized mess. Until Saturday, I was behind on grading. Despite all of this, I am keeping up with my new discipline strategy, and life is actually much less stressful because of it. I am also teaching stuff that I perfected last year, so planning has been really easy.

Thursday was the annual Teen Arts Festival at the local community college. Last year, I took a very small group that I had just thrown together beforehand. This year, I actually started a 'music club' to prepare for the event, and brought 9 kids, divided into two different performing groups. I am glad I did this, because I felt much more prepared, and the kids took it much more seriously. I had a very trusting group, and didn't have any behavior issues, so all-in-all, it was a great day.

Next week is a crazy one. All of my free time will pretty much be devoted to finishing the yearbook. Next week is also round 1 of state testing, meaning my schedule is all wacky. It is also conferences, and I usually don't have any scheduled, since most parents don't have an issue with their kids in music class. I was looking forward to all of this extra time to work on yearbook, but that was all foiled when I was given a booked-solid conference schedule. The related arts teachers were included on several 'round robin' conferences (where all of a kid's teachers meet with the parent at once, sometime with the kid included). So, there goes that time.

Basically, here is what my week looks like:

• Monday: Regular length school day * screwed up schedule due to testing * schedule actually allows for extra free time, which will be completely devoted to yearbook * leaving school at a decent hour * handbells at night
• Tuesday: Short school day (dismissal at 12:45) * More weird scheduling * Meggie and Maddie visiting me for lunch * Yearbook until 7 (with dinner in there somewhere) * conferences till 9 (I just love the idea of being at school for 13 hours <- read that last statement with lots of sarcasm)
• Wednesday: Short school day * weird schedule * conferences till 3:15 * yearbook till whenever I have to leave to make it to a rescheduled lesson, which hasn't been rescheduled yet--add that to Monday's list
• Thursday: Short school day * weird schedule * conferences till 3:15 * yearbook until it is finished, regardless of how late that is.
• Friday: Regular length, testing free school day. (hopefully) celebrating a fully-submitted yearbook.

Wow, lot's to do. Some unwinding time, and then I gotta get some sleep.

Happy Birthdays

Tomorrow is Meggie's birthday, so that is the 1st "Happy Birthday."

The second is to this blog, which I started on March 4, 2006, with a very brief post. I can't believe I actually kept up with this thing for a year. Now, I don't post anywhere near as much as I did in the summer, but I still keep it up regularly.

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Let's start with school... I much better, yet busy week. The yearbook deadline is looming. We submitted 7 more pages, and have 25 (of 64) left to go. There are still tons of pictures to take, and about 10 of those pages are layouts for parent ads. I am looking forward to March 16, when this will all be done!

The best part about this week was how well all of my classes went. I actually applied what I had learned at David Newell's workshop (don't get mad, don't argue, just give them a choice: rules or consequences, discipline with a pencil, etc.) and got immediate results in every single class. It does require me to go against my natural reaction. I just have to learn not to take it personally when a student misbehaves. I think the kids just seem to respect this more. I also think it helps, because, as Meg will point out, it is funny when I get mad, and the kids are entertained by it, and by not getting mad, they don't get that satisfaction. Let's hope it continues to work.

This upcoming week is also a busy one. Students will be handing in their third marking period projects, which of course means I have to grade them. I think I am going to put the grading off a cycle due to the yearbook deadline. I also have the Teen Arts Festival this week. The groups I am taking are ready for a change, so I am not really concerned about that. So much to do. Only 31 days 15 hours 59 minutes and 6 seconds till Spring Break, though!

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Saturday was not as planned, but was still a really cool day. We had originally planned to go to Ikea to "just look around and get ideas." Well, that turned into, "let's borrow mom and dad's van, just in case we find something we want to buy," which turned into "let's buy everything we need to rearrange the family room." We borrowed my parents van, and my mom came along with us. I really love Ikea. It is such a neat store. You just look at so many things (both at what they sell, and how they do things), and you just think... "now, that's a good idea!" I also have a special memory with the store, since last time I was there, it was the day before the day that Meggie went into labor, and Maddie was born. I very vividly remember that trip to Ikea in the sequence of events leading up to Maddie's birth.

Well, anyway, we were looking for two pieces of furniture. The first was something to replace the broken bookshelf that all of our music books are on. What I really wanted was something with bins that you could slide in and out, but didn't think I'd find anything like that, so I figured a horizontal filing cabinet would be a good idea. Well, it turns out, Ikea had exactly what I was picturing. It's basically a shelf with 8 cubes, open on both sides. We also bought 8 bins to store the music. The bins fit perfectly into the cubes, and are even designed to slide in and out. The other piece of furniture we were looking for was some kind of toy organization system for Maddie's toys. We found one, which also has very colorful bins that slide in and out.

After some Swedish meatballs for lunch, we came home, and I got to work on rearranging the family room. I got rid of the treadmill that we never use, because it randomly shuts off--a BAD thing for a treadmill to do (ha ha- I keep misspelling "treadmill" as "dreadmill," --seems appropriate, doesn't it?). I also threw away the broken bookshelf, the hutch part of the baker's rack (it was too tall for it's new location), and the silk tree my grandparents gave me when the moved (Meggie is cheering about this now, since she's wanted to trash it for a while). Then, I moved all of the furniture to it's new location, assembled the new furniture, and got things cleaned up and organized. The results are below:

The music cabinet is in the lower-right corner of the picture, the toy chest behind.

This is a better view of the toy chest.

The basic idea for the family room was four different areas (quadrants, if you will). The room is rather large, so we made use of the furniture, and divided it up. There is the office area, the entertainment area, the music area (where I will be teaching lessons, you can see this area in the 2nd picture), and the play area (which can be seen from the first picture).

We still have more to do. We want to put a carpet in the play area. We still need to get the third wall unit from my parents. We also need to put some decorations in Maddie's play area.

We are very proud of our new family room; it is definitely now a pleasant place to hang.

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This past Wednesday started Meggie's birthday celebrations, with our annual dinner out at one of her favorite restaurants, Don Pablo's. Everything was delicious as usual. I had all you can eat fajitas. Meggie just got the normal portion. We also got a free dip sampler, and 'sopapillas' (sp?) for dessert.

Earlier today Maddie and I had our first Daddy-Daughter outing to the Deptford Mall to go birthday shopping for Meggie. I can't get into too much detail, since Meggie will read this before she actually gets her presents.

Tonight at my parents we did the birthday dinner, cake, and present thing from my parents and Nick. Below you can see Maddie helping her Mommy celebrate:

Tomorrow, I am going to give my gifts to Meggie. It's kinda a bummer day for a birthday, since it is a school day, and we have handbells at night.

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I leave you with random, though really cute picture of Maddie and Maxy bonding:

Happy Birthday Meggie!

Happy Birthday My Blog!