Oh yeah, I forgot...a couple of mornings ago Grace and I were doing our morning walk and came upon a coyote!! He was trotting down the middle of the road in our neighborhood. He kept his distance and was a block or more away when I first spotted him, so he turned the corner and trotted off down the road...
A neighbor lady was out picking up her paper and commented on him to me...said that they roam around some, but are mainly just searching for food. Kinda sad. Their habitat is non-existant here now.
Anyway, just thought it was interesting to see in the neighborhood on a morning walk. :)
Monday, August 27, 2007
First Day of School...
[Side note: I have pictures to download from my camera...because I ordered a battery charger...now I can't find the computer to camera download cord!!! If it's not one thing it's another! Hopefully it will turn up soon...]
So first day was pretty smooth for the most part...although I did have to kick some people out of my library this morning so I could have class!
They (being front office people, principals included) wanted to use my seating area of the library as a catch-all area for those people who needed further enrollment help (or something like that...hey, as long as I didn't have to supervise...fine, I don't care what'cha do).
So school starts...8:45 rolls around...table seating area is still full of parents, children, office personnel, and principals. Kindergarten is scheduled to come at 8:45. First day of school, first day of Kindergarten. They are late (of course) so I go get them, thinking to myself that maybe all the people will be out by 9:35 when 4th grade is scheduled to come in, and that it's okay because Kindergarten and I will stay over on the carpet and read our stories. And so we did. And I returned them to class (going to be one of those teachers!! grrr).
It's 9:30. All of my tables (and I have 9!!) contain people. I head toward Principal No. 1, she says, "Oh, you have a class coming." I say, "Yes." She says, "What time?" (thinking to myself, doesn't she know? didn't she make my schedule? duh!) I say, "At 9:35, which is in 5 minutes, and I need all of my seating because I'm presenting a PPT and doing an activity with 4th grade." They all promptly adjourn to the cafeteria. Score one for me! lol
Anyway, after that it was pretty smooth sailing. I have a couple of 'interesting' 3rd graders on Monday, but otherwise not to shabby. And I kinda like once-a-week lesson plans (not that I should be making them! incorrect library usage! I should not be a 'teacher' or teaching in isolation but...oh well...it pays the bills).
Some random cute animal pic's:
Here is Pete in stalker kitty mode...and just chillin'.
And not to be outdone...Grace demolishing a stuffed toy:
So first day was pretty smooth for the most part...although I did have to kick some people out of my library this morning so I could have class!
They (being front office people, principals included) wanted to use my seating area of the library as a catch-all area for those people who needed further enrollment help (or something like that...hey, as long as I didn't have to supervise...fine, I don't care what'cha do).
So school starts...8:45 rolls around...table seating area is still full of parents, children, office personnel, and principals. Kindergarten is scheduled to come at 8:45. First day of school, first day of Kindergarten. They are late (of course) so I go get them, thinking to myself that maybe all the people will be out by 9:35 when 4th grade is scheduled to come in, and that it's okay because Kindergarten and I will stay over on the carpet and read our stories. And so we did. And I returned them to class (going to be one of those teachers!! grrr).
It's 9:30. All of my tables (and I have 9!!) contain people. I head toward Principal No. 1, she says, "Oh, you have a class coming." I say, "Yes." She says, "What time?" (thinking to myself, doesn't she know? didn't she make my schedule? duh!) I say, "At 9:35, which is in 5 minutes, and I need all of my seating because I'm presenting a PPT and doing an activity with 4th grade." They all promptly adjourn to the cafeteria. Score one for me! lol
Anyway, after that it was pretty smooth sailing. I have a couple of 'interesting' 3rd graders on Monday, but otherwise not to shabby. And I kinda like once-a-week lesson plans (not that I should be making them! incorrect library usage! I should not be a 'teacher' or teaching in isolation but...oh well...it pays the bills).
Some random cute animal pic's:
Here is Pete in stalker kitty mode...and just chillin'.
And not to be outdone...Grace demolishing a stuffed toy:
Friday, August 24, 2007
Mom's Surgery...
Hi, all...thanks for your thoughts and prayers! Mom's surgery went well and she is re-couping at Aunt Lisa's in Dallas. For those of you who don't know...she had the lap-band procedure done on Thursday and was checked out today.
She seems to be doing well, kinda tired from the hospital stay (they're always waking people up!) and her throat was pretty hoarse sounding yesterday but sounds better today. She didn't go all the way home like she thought she might...riding in the car made her feel pretty queasy.
But all looked well, she doesn't have to go back to have stitches or staples removed...she's glued!! They're using something new(?) that's like superglue instead of stitches! Weird! :)
Anyway, she's keeping record of the process she'll go through with having had this done, you can check her out here: http://halfofkim.blogspot.com/
She seems to be doing well, kinda tired from the hospital stay (they're always waking people up!) and her throat was pretty hoarse sounding yesterday but sounds better today. She didn't go all the way home like she thought she might...riding in the car made her feel pretty queasy.
But all looked well, she doesn't have to go back to have stitches or staples removed...she's glued!! They're using something new(?) that's like superglue instead of stitches! Weird! :)
Anyway, she's keeping record of the process she'll go through with having had this done, you can check her out here: http://halfofkim.blogspot.com/
Monday, August 13, 2007
Brownouts, Transformers, and possible Snake Bites?
Well lemme start of with the possible snake bite episode entitled, "life of a city dog: part 2." Some of you may remember the Halloween Skunk incident that Grace had last fall, well she recently had another incident with something 'wild' in the backyard....
Warren and I went to a Texans pre-game (because they were playing da' Bears) this past Saturday. The game was an evening one so we got home at 11:30ish. Grace went outside, we took showers, Grace came inside, and he proceeded to feed the animals their very late dinner. I walked into the kitchen to get something from the fridge, looked down, (Grace's food bowl is next to the fridge) and noticed her fur on her head looked funny, like it was sticking up or something. So I reached down and lifted her head and OMG her whole face was PUFFY!! She had FAT LIPS! and a little swelling around the eyes. Panic to find the benedryl ensued. None was found. I ran to CVS.
Meanwhile, Warren was trying to figure out the cause....not a food reaction, she's had it before and she was eating as her face was puffy. Too quick for a reaction like that to happen. Maybe an insect sting? Maybe SNAKEBITE????????? Apparently our island is not immune to the poisonous snakes of Texas. We have them all but two species. Yikes! Who knew?!?
I found the benedryl at CVS, $13!?! (I bought the container of 100) and promptly gave her 6 in cheese, cheese being her favorite form of pill taking. I made her lay in bed with me because I was panicky at the thought that she might stop breathing and the nearest Vet ER is 20 min. away. It was good signs tho that she ate and drank and downed the cheese and kept 'em down. I decided just to moniter and see if I needed to take her in in the AM.
Anyway, I have no solution as to the cause of her fat lips....I guess we'll never know. Although I'm now keeping an eye out for snakes.
____________________________________________________________________
So, now, moving on to the other exciting part...the next day around 1:30 PM, I'm working on the computer at the kitchen table and notice that the air coming out of the AC is not so chilly. Rather warm. And the temp for the day was like 97 outside....sooo hot. So, I call the landlord...leave a message.
Warren gets home...we're tinkering with flipping breakers, landlord calls and gives us some pointers to try out first while she gets the info looked up for her AC repairman. (Oh, and this was Sunday afternoon...$$$$ for an AC guy to come out). Not long after we get off the phone with her our lights start dimming throughout the house and our electricity blinks some.
As we are cursing our old house with it's weird breakers and trying to figure out if we should call them about the weird dim lighting happening in the house the lights go out. Partially. Ah ha! Now it is clear we have a problem with the electricity and that we should contact our electric company instead of the landlord. I went over to the neighbors to double check the electric status...she was hot too. (and I mean b/c she had no AC!! for those of you w/ your minds in the gutter.)
So, we have a brownout because our office room retains all power (at full power too), our microwave outlet still worked, and the living room lamp and TV outlet still worked. So us and the animals hole up in the office room and turn the fan on full blast.
Anyway, long story short...it was 2:45 AM before they got a team of 5 guys to come and fix the transformer. It was so toasty, at some point I had the bright idea to go and nap in my car....where the AC worked. ;)
Warren and I went to a Texans pre-game (because they were playing da' Bears) this past Saturday. The game was an evening one so we got home at 11:30ish. Grace went outside, we took showers, Grace came inside, and he proceeded to feed the animals their very late dinner. I walked into the kitchen to get something from the fridge, looked down, (Grace's food bowl is next to the fridge) and noticed her fur on her head looked funny, like it was sticking up or something. So I reached down and lifted her head and OMG her whole face was PUFFY!! She had FAT LIPS! and a little swelling around the eyes. Panic to find the benedryl ensued. None was found. I ran to CVS.
Meanwhile, Warren was trying to figure out the cause....not a food reaction, she's had it before and she was eating as her face was puffy. Too quick for a reaction like that to happen. Maybe an insect sting? Maybe SNAKEBITE????????? Apparently our island is not immune to the poisonous snakes of Texas. We have them all but two species. Yikes! Who knew?!?
I found the benedryl at CVS, $13!?! (I bought the container of 100) and promptly gave her 6 in cheese, cheese being her favorite form of pill taking. I made her lay in bed with me because I was panicky at the thought that she might stop breathing and the nearest Vet ER is 20 min. away. It was good signs tho that she ate and drank and downed the cheese and kept 'em down. I decided just to moniter and see if I needed to take her in in the AM.
Anyway, I have no solution as to the cause of her fat lips....I guess we'll never know. Although I'm now keeping an eye out for snakes.
____________________________________________________________________
So, now, moving on to the other exciting part...the next day around 1:30 PM, I'm working on the computer at the kitchen table and notice that the air coming out of the AC is not so chilly. Rather warm. And the temp for the day was like 97 outside....sooo hot. So, I call the landlord...leave a message.
Warren gets home...we're tinkering with flipping breakers, landlord calls and gives us some pointers to try out first while she gets the info looked up for her AC repairman. (Oh, and this was Sunday afternoon...$$$$ for an AC guy to come out). Not long after we get off the phone with her our lights start dimming throughout the house and our electricity blinks some.
As we are cursing our old house with it's weird breakers and trying to figure out if we should call them about the weird dim lighting happening in the house the lights go out. Partially. Ah ha! Now it is clear we have a problem with the electricity and that we should contact our electric company instead of the landlord. I went over to the neighbors to double check the electric status...she was hot too. (and I mean b/c she had no AC!! for those of you w/ your minds in the gutter.)
So, we have a brownout because our office room retains all power (at full power too), our microwave outlet still worked, and the living room lamp and TV outlet still worked. So us and the animals hole up in the office room and turn the fan on full blast.
Anyway, long story short...it was 2:45 AM before they got a team of 5 guys to come and fix the transformer. It was so toasty, at some point I had the bright idea to go and nap in my car....where the AC worked. ;)
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Roman Ramblings...part 1
Part 1: Transportation and arrival
Well, to begin with...it was very interesting flying for soooooo looooong! Kinda fun to people watch but then you sorta get tired of seeing the same folks after a few hours. Our flight out of Dallas flew to Frankfurt (which was where our passports were stamped, NOT in Italy...kinda strange) which was I think 9 hours and then from Frankfurt a short 1.5 hr. flight on to Rome.
We landed and proceeded through the usual gates and customes type areas (no frisking tho) on to Baggage Claim. (yes...capitalized because of the HORROR of BC!) Off we go all excited and optimistic and OMG we are in Italy and feeling like cool foreign travelers, when we get to the Baggage Claim area. Us and the other couple hundred people or so from our flight. And we wait. More flights arrive. Milan. Paris. Frankfurt. And we wait. Berlin. Nice. (as in [niece] France). London. And still we wait. OUR FLIGHT DISAPPEARS FROM THE LIST. OMG! Oh, and did I mention that out of all the baggage carousels ALL of the baggage from these flights are on ONE carousel. ALL ON THE SAME CAROUSEL?!?! Are these Italian people crazy?!?! Major cities, a gazillion people at this point, pushing someone from their party forward so they can crane their necks and make a mad jump for their suitcase and knock others out of the way to yank it off the belt if it so much as resembles the bag they checked. Some were successful, some weren't.
Some very nice Italian Manly Men Airport Workers (heh) began pulling bags off the carousel and sitting them to the side in a roped off area. People began to jostle some for position around the carousel and the bag overflow area keeping a sharp eye out for their luggage.
At this point it had been roughly 30+ minutes (forever in American Baggage Carousel Time) and we were starting to get a little panicky and were only calmed by the fact that others from our flight were still there and waiting too. (Nice thing about the long flight is we all recognize each other at this point).
Warren began circulating around the carousel and bag areas watching for our luggage while I held down the spot that I had gotten right beside the carousel because our flight had been one of the first ones there. So of course I had a great spot. :)
People began questioning each other, Where are you from? What was your flight? How long have you been here? Sometimes they asked me in English other times Italian and once I think in French...kinda flattering to think I don't reek "American."
Well, to begin with...it was very interesting flying for soooooo looooong! Kinda fun to people watch but then you sorta get tired of seeing the same folks after a few hours. Our flight out of Dallas flew to Frankfurt (which was where our passports were stamped, NOT in Italy...kinda strange) which was I think 9 hours and then from Frankfurt a short 1.5 hr. flight on to Rome.
We landed and proceeded through the usual gates and customes type areas (no frisking tho) on to Baggage Claim. (yes...capitalized because of the HORROR of BC!) Off we go all excited and optimistic and OMG we are in Italy and feeling like cool foreign travelers, when we get to the Baggage Claim area. Us and the other couple hundred people or so from our flight. And we wait. More flights arrive. Milan. Paris. Frankfurt. And we wait. Berlin. Nice. (as in [niece] France). London. And still we wait. OUR FLIGHT DISAPPEARS FROM THE LIST. OMG! Oh, and did I mention that out of all the baggage carousels ALL of the baggage from these flights are on ONE carousel. ALL ON THE SAME CAROUSEL?!?! Are these Italian people crazy?!?! Major cities, a gazillion people at this point, pushing someone from their party forward so they can crane their necks and make a mad jump for their suitcase and knock others out of the way to yank it off the belt if it so much as resembles the bag they checked. Some were successful, some weren't.
Some very nice Italian Manly Men Airport Workers (heh) began pulling bags off the carousel and sitting them to the side in a roped off area. People began to jostle some for position around the carousel and the bag overflow area keeping a sharp eye out for their luggage.
At this point it had been roughly 30+ minutes (forever in American Baggage Carousel Time) and we were starting to get a little panicky and were only calmed by the fact that others from our flight were still there and waiting too. (Nice thing about the long flight is we all recognize each other at this point).
Warren began circulating around the carousel and bag areas watching for our luggage while I held down the spot that I had gotten right beside the carousel because our flight had been one of the first ones there. So of course I had a great spot. :)
People began questioning each other, Where are you from? What was your flight? How long have you been here? Sometimes they asked me in English other times Italian and once I think in French...kinda flattering to think I don't reek "American."
Anyway it took 45 MINUTES before baggage from our flight, which had gone off the list of arrivals, to come around. Needless to say we did the mad dive and surfaced with all of our bags. Yay!
Our next hurdle was to find the airport transport that I had paid for to take us from the airport to the hotel, which wasn't too hard and then we had to wait for more people to arrive (another hour) because the next group departure wasn't until...well...a certain time...because at this point time was irrelevant and we were operating on different hours. (Our room...nice nap...notice how the bed takes up almost the WHOLE room?!) ------>
Needless to say we made it to the hotel before dark (I think around 4ish...we got there around
noonish) and immediately took a shower in the way cool hotel shower and collapsed on the bed for a nap. So exhausting getting somewhere! (Pictures of our shower....) --->
We surfaced around 8ish, perfect time for Italian dinner and proceeded off down the street to find a little Pizzaria that was listed in our guidebook for our area of Rome. (We stayed in the Trastevere section...THE best food in the city is in this area for great prices!). We eventually found it....mmmm....pizza....SO good.
And that was our first day. ha.
Other adventures in trasportation is how small all of the cars are! They are the smartcars
...here is a random pic from the web to show you how very tiny they are. How do people really fit!? Amazing! Also smaller brand cars and many motorcycles & mopeds zip around the streets.
Also, they park them within CENTIMETERS of each other! How everyone isn't dented and dinged I don't know.
I LOVED the bus and train system! It was so easy to get around! And although it doesn't seem like they check for tickets if they do a random raid and you don't have a VALID bus ticket (you have to stamp the ticket in a little machine in the bus when you get on) then you have to immediately pay 100 euros or be hauled off to Italian jail!!! Scary!
Overall tho it was very easy to get around and not to much downtime waiting on mass transit, only occasionally.
We also did a train out of town to Pompeii that I'll talk more about later and it was Super easy to figure out. It makes me less nervous about maybe backpacking around Europe sometime in the future based upon the ease that we had with figuring out the Italian Mass Transit.
Our next hurdle was to find the airport transport that I had paid for to take us from the airport to the hotel, which wasn't too hard and then we had to wait for more people to arrive (another hour) because the next group departure wasn't until...well...a certain time...because at this point time was irrelevant and we were operating on different hours. (Our room...nice nap...notice how the bed takes up almost the WHOLE room?!) ------>
Needless to say we made it to the hotel before dark (I think around 4ish...we got there around
noonish) and immediately took a shower in the way cool hotel shower and collapsed on the bed for a nap. So exhausting getting somewhere! (Pictures of our shower....) --->We surfaced around 8ish, perfect time for Italian dinner and proceeded off down the street to find a little Pizzaria that was listed in our guidebook for our area of Rome. (We stayed in the Trastevere section...THE best food in the city is in this area for great prices!). We eventually found it....mmmm....pizza....SO good.
And that was our first day. ha.
Other adventures in trasportation is how small all of the cars are! They are the smartcars
...here is a random pic from the web to show you how very tiny they are. How do people really fit!? Amazing! Also smaller brand cars and many motorcycles & mopeds zip around the streets.Also, they park them within CENTIMETERS of each other! How everyone isn't dented and dinged I don't know.
I LOVED the bus and train system! It was so easy to get around! And although it doesn't seem like they check for tickets if they do a random raid and you don't have a VALID bus ticket (you have to stamp the ticket in a little machine in the bus when you get on) then you have to immediately pay 100 euros or be hauled off to Italian jail!!! Scary!
Overall tho it was very easy to get around and not to much downtime waiting on mass transit, only occasionally.
We also did a train out of town to Pompeii that I'll talk more about later and it was Super easy to figure out. It makes me less nervous about maybe backpacking around Europe sometime in the future based upon the ease that we had with figuring out the Italian Mass Transit.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
J-O-B !!!!!
OMG, I GOT A JOB!!! TODAY!!! FINALLY!!! WOOHOO!!!
I will be the Library Media Specialist at Burnet Elementary in Galveston, TX!! YAY!!
More info to follow later...I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!
Now I have to go dig out my birth certificate... :-)
I will be the Library Media Specialist at Burnet Elementary in Galveston, TX!! YAY!!
More info to follow later...I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!
Now I have to go dig out my birth certificate... :-)
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Four Things...
Because I have nothing new to talk about...& I can't take any pictures of the amazing Kitty Pi I am knitting. Actually I'm amazed at myself for being able to figure out how to do it. :)
Anyway, just one of those chain e-mail things that you get every so often, this one popped-up on MySpace, but isn't overly long and each little section is Four Things, obviously, hence my title...
Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Student worker -- OSU President's Office & CASC Pres. Ofc.
2. Daycare Provider (hey, it was a summer job...)
3. Schoolteacher
4. Graduate Assistant
Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. The Wizard of Oz (it is ingrained since childhood, I could probably recite the whole movie)
2. Under the Tuscan Sun (b/c I sooooo want to take over a house in Tuscany JUST LIKE Diane Lane does)
3. The Shawshank Redemption (b/c it is always on somewhere on cable and I usually stop and end up watching it...)
4. The Sound of Music, or The Princess Bride, or The Goonies...I couldn't pick! Why is it always the childhood movies that come to mind?! Maybe b/c they're the ones we've seen the most? I could truly probably recite them all...and sing along. :)
Four places I have lived:
1. Kansas City, MO
2. Denton, TX
3. Wilburton, OK
4. Stillwater, OK
Four television shows I love to watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Dexter (yes I'm morbid, but ya'll it's fascinating! OnDemand it and catch up before season 2 starts this fall)
3. The Tudors (yes, I have become addicted to Showtime)
4. Any CSI or Law & Order: SVU
Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Rome, Italy
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Boston, MA
4. Roswell, NM (my first vacation...I was 4...we visited family on my g-ma's side...lots of twinkies and singing Yankee Doodle Dandy over and over and over and over, did I say I was 4?)
Four of my favorite dishes:
1. my grandmother's Fried Chicken
2. Chocolate Cake
3. Anything, from Panera Bread (how I miss you Panera!!)
4. uh, sandwiches? b/c I like eat them all the time! lol, I think it's b/c they are so easy to make...
Four websites I visit daily:
1. http://www.ebay.com/
2. http://www.yahoo.com/
3. http://www.blogger.com/
4. After those it varies to one of the following: http://www.myspace.com/ or http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/ or http://www.galvestondailynews.com/ (notice how I have problems listing JUST 4 things?)
Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Back in Rome...ya'll it was amazing...I'd so move if I didn't have so much crap.
2. Sittin on a pretty beach book in one hand and a colada in the other.
3. Mom's art 'studio'.
4. In NY with Nat & W b/c I so wasn't there long enough last time to drink it all in & he's never been.
Anyway, just one of those chain e-mail things that you get every so often, this one popped-up on MySpace, but isn't overly long and each little section is Four Things, obviously, hence my title...
Four jobs I’ve had:
1. Student worker -- OSU President's Office & CASC Pres. Ofc.
2. Daycare Provider (hey, it was a summer job...)
3. Schoolteacher
4. Graduate Assistant
Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. The Wizard of Oz (it is ingrained since childhood, I could probably recite the whole movie)
2. Under the Tuscan Sun (b/c I sooooo want to take over a house in Tuscany JUST LIKE Diane Lane does)
3. The Shawshank Redemption (b/c it is always on somewhere on cable and I usually stop and end up watching it...)
4. The Sound of Music, or The Princess Bride, or The Goonies...I couldn't pick! Why is it always the childhood movies that come to mind?! Maybe b/c they're the ones we've seen the most? I could truly probably recite them all...and sing along. :)
Four places I have lived:
1. Kansas City, MO
2. Denton, TX
3. Wilburton, OK
4. Stillwater, OK
Four television shows I love to watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Dexter (yes I'm morbid, but ya'll it's fascinating! OnDemand it and catch up before season 2 starts this fall)
3. The Tudors (yes, I have become addicted to Showtime)
4. Any CSI or Law & Order: SVU
Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Rome, Italy
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Boston, MA
4. Roswell, NM (my first vacation...I was 4...we visited family on my g-ma's side...lots of twinkies and singing Yankee Doodle Dandy over and over and over and over, did I say I was 4?)
Four of my favorite dishes:
1. my grandmother's Fried Chicken
2. Chocolate Cake
3. Anything, from Panera Bread (how I miss you Panera!!)
4. uh, sandwiches? b/c I like eat them all the time! lol, I think it's b/c they are so easy to make...
Four websites I visit daily:
1. http://www.ebay.com/
2. http://www.yahoo.com/
3. http://www.blogger.com/
4. After those it varies to one of the following: http://www.myspace.com/ or http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/ or http://www.galvestondailynews.com/ (notice how I have problems listing JUST 4 things?)
Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Back in Rome...ya'll it was amazing...I'd so move if I didn't have so much crap.
2. Sittin on a pretty beach book in one hand and a colada in the other.
3. Mom's art 'studio'.
4. In NY with Nat & W b/c I so wasn't there long enough last time to drink it all in & he's never been.
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