~October 5th~
-Wow, October already! The last few days seemed to fly by so I will try to get you updated.
-On Thursday night I went to a book signing. Diana Gabaldon was in the Cities and she is one of my favorite authors. So after school I got home quickly and got ready to go, Adam even said he would go with me. The event didn't start until 7:00 pm, but we got there around 5:30. I was number 154 in line to get my books signed. It got up over 300! Diana is a very delighful person. Funny, witty, smart....I loved it! She talked for about an hour about how she got started writing books and how she came up with the storyline in the Outlander Series. What an awesome experience! I am so glad I went. I took Friday off of work and stayed home to read. I did like the new book, but not as much as I would have liked to? Does that make sense? The characters are great, but I just felt like it was lacking something. Of course, she totally set herself up for another book in the series, and I am so-o curious about where it will lead the characters/storyline! Three more years?! I'm sure the time will fly by, like it has been doing, and three years will be here in no time.
-In other news, school is going well for me, parent teacher conferences are this week. It makes for some long nights! The regional teacher convention is Thursday and Friday, looks like some interesting presentations. It seems we tried to jam into the short week as much stuff as we could. Picture day was today...I hope mine turn out okay.
-Lure coursing this weekend. Last one of the season I think, us Ridgeback people are getting together to have a chili feed at the event. I'm looking forward to it! :)
-Tuesday night, the University Adam attends is having a meeting for an education major/education graduate credit, 20 days abroad program this summer. It is to SCOTLAND! How cool is that. Adam is going to the meeting, and it depends if I can get out of parent-teacher conferences early or not if I can go. If we get accepted then I think we are going to go for it. Which means alot of planning for the dogs and horse and money, but I think we have enough time to plan it out right. I'll keep you updated.
-Congrats to my friend Jenny, in Vermont, on her new horse. I hope you and The Rock have a great future together!
-Adam is doing so well at student teaching, I am so proud of him! He is really finding his rhythm and is getting really great compliments from multiple people. Must feel good! Only a few more weeks for him at this first school, then on to middle school. We'll see how he gets along with them. ;)
-Well, I think that is it for now. Have a good week!
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~Sept. 25th~
-Yea! The weekend is here and no dog show to run to! I need the break from all of the running around. However, a professor of Adam's is coming to pick up a load of horse manure and I (hopefully we) need to get ready. I'm feel a little more pressure than I wanted to with that. Also I got an email saying that our landlords are coming in from California this weekend and want to stop out. Fine with me, I like them alot, but I also feel pressure to make sure everything is perfect for them too.
-So when I do get some time to sit down this weekend, most likely I will be reading. I am really enjoying Anne Bishop's fantasy-fiction series right now, so much so that I bought the books! Maybe find a time to nap or get up to town to use up my gift cards from my birthday.
-Adam had his first student teaching observation today, I hope it went well. I'll let you know. He was offered a long term subbing job at this school after he graduates in December, pretty cool!
-Weekend here I come! :)
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~Sept. 22nd~
-Griffin had an off weekend of lure coursing. He got bumped by another dog in the first run, then went after a white moth in the second run, and then he helped pre-cert another RR and got a lure burn on the top of his back paw. It looked alot worse than it was and is healing up nicely. Adam came with me though, so it was nice to have his company. After coursing we went up to the Cities and purchased some frames for prints and my new, awesome drawing of the dogs. They look so nice up on the wall. I will have to snap a picture of it.
-On Dog Show News, I put up some new agility pictures taken at Griffin's last trial. They turned out nicely I think, make sure to check them out.
-Not too much else going on. Adam's first student teaching observation is this Friday, so he has been working hard to be prepared.
-We finally have some rain today! Off and on but nice to have!
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~Sept. 18th~
-Happy Birthday Mom! I hope you have a great day and I will call you tonight sometime!
-I received the best surprise when I got home from school yesterday. A package had come from my penpal friend in England. She told me she was going to do a drawing of my dogs for my birthday, so this must be it. I was very excited! Wow! What an amazing artist she is, the drawings are breath-taking! Without ever meeting the dogs, she captured all of them beautifully. This weekend I am going to look for frames for them, and have to decide where I want to hang them! Thank you so-o much Susan! I love them! :)
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~Sept. 17th~
-I found out that one of my favorite authors, Diana Galbaldon, Outlander Series, will be coming to a place pretty close to me on October 1st to promote her next book, which I am looking forward to! I am so-o going! Even though it is a Thursday night. It will be my first time going to a book signing.
-Speaking of books, I am obsessing over another series right now by Anne Bishop, The Black Jewel Series. I cannot get through the books fast enough! It makes me want to stay home all day and just read! When I am not reading them, I am thinking about them. Yes, I know I have a problem...a book monkey on my back. :)
-Tomorrow is my mom's birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!
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~Sept. 14th~
-Griffin and I had an agility trial this weekend that went well. He finished his novice JWW title and got another leg towards his novice standard one. I'm having such a good time showing him! :) It does make for a quick weekend though. I did get some reading and grading done at the show, but that doesn't help me with the things I want/need to do at home though. Next weekend we have lure coursing and then we have a little break before the next show in October.
-I did end up buying some photos of Griffin running in agility, so I will get them up as soon as I get them. They turned out really nice! :)
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~Sept. 10th~
-Here are the pictures of our landscaping project, still no bark yet, but hopefully soon!
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~September 8th~
-Yea!! I can finally access my website from my school! I needed the newest version of Internet Explorer installed to make it work. I'm glad I got it figured out.
-So...lots of stuff to get caught up on I guess.
-Adam has started his student teaching and seems to be really liking it, which is a relief for both of us. His cooperating teacher told him he was talented, if that doesn't give him a big head I don't know what will! He is putting in some late nights, but is really ready for the weeks ahead of him.
-Week two of school for me. I really love my classes and students. I have a small class this year, 10 - 7th graders. In my other classes I have 16 - 6th graders and 14 - 8th graders. I think it is going to be a really good year! :)
-Griffin is such an awesome dog! We took first again at lure coursing this past weekend. I pulled him from Best of Breed, because I didn't want him to get hurt and he was very tired. In two weeks we will have another lure coursing trial to go to and I am looking forward to it! I love to watch the dogs run. We have an agility trial this weekend. Hope we get some more legs toward our titles!
-During summer school, I met a teacher that I really hit it off with. We had a job opening at my school and she applied and got it! So we are now working together and I really love having her around. Adam and I had her and her husband over for supper and what a riot we had! I didn't get to bed until 2:00 am!
-Yesterday, my neighbor and I went for a horseback ride and Remi threw me off. I landed on my feet but my legs are still sore today. I got back on from the ground, which some of you might know is hard to do for a fat, short rider with a tall horse. I did it, but it wasn't pretty!
-This Labor Day weekend, we worked on a landscaping project that we have been meaning to do for a while now. On the side of our house where we throw down wood, there has been a trouble area with lots of rocks so we cannot mow it. A few weeks ago Adam sprayed it with RoundUp and it took a few weeks to kill the weeds. Yesterday we pulled the dead weeds, graded the ground, and laid down landscaping paper. Now we just need to get the wood chips to put over the paper. It looks so much better. I will have to get some pictures up of it.
-I'm sure there is more, but I just cannot think of it right now!
-Just a shout out to my friends that are on my mind but far away....Margie and Jenny!
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~August 21st~
-Well, well, well....summer has come and gone already! I said I would do a summer summary, so hear it is, the good the bad, and always the ugly.
-Summer school was a challenge this year, not like last year with the students, but for me. I really did not feel like being there and that was the biggest struggle. I did manage to snap out of it, but boy it is not pleasant to do something you don't want to do! I'm glad that I enjoy my normal school job, I cannot imagine not liking what I do everyday.
-I did not attend too many dog shows this summer. I don't like the normal hot/humid weather, but I did recently attend an obedience show, Griffin got a 3rd one day and a 2nd the next day. Griffin and I are working hard on both agility and obedience, and September is going to be very busy for us! My trainer mentioned working toward AKC's Versatility Dog, which will mean besides obedience and agility, we would train for tracking too. I am excited about that, so we will see what happens with that.
-Adam was out of State most of the summer, so it was very quite and lonely around here without him. He is back now and will be starting student teaching next week! I am very excited for him and we are both glad that he will graduate in December. Stay tuned for details on a graduation party in the spring. We want to have it at our farm, so spring works better for that instead of Dec./Jan. Did I mention the "red terror" is gone?! By that I mean Adam's red beard has been shaved off! However he is growing a new one, maybe it will be more managed though.
-My garden...I have mixed feelings on this. As usual, my wax and green beans are doing well, and I even tried peas this year and they are doing good too. Tomatoes are coming along too. The corn failed again this year. I am pretty frustrated with itright now! I tried some new things like zucchini, melons, and squash....not the results I was hoping for. The zucchini looks good, lots of flowers but it has not produced anything yet. Both the melons and all but one squash did not do well. I guess I have some re-thinking to do and trying some new techniques. There is always next year I guess!
-Adam and I have been hitting the Farmer's Markets pretty hard to prepare for winter. Things that our garden doesn't have or did not produce. We are also going to split a Jersey cow with one of our neighbors. We are trying to be locavores, people who eat food locally. So far so good.
-Next week school starts with in-services. I am looking forward to getting back into the school-year groove. Some changes have been made and I will be teaching science 6-8 and literature 6-7, and also tutoring 4-8. We'll see how it all goes. On a high note, the teacher I was a support teacher to during summer school applied to my school for an open position and got it! We really got along well and I am looking forward to working with her this fall.
-Our good friends moved back home to the opposite side of the state and we will miss them greatly. :( I just want to say thank you to Margie and Tim for all that they have done for us. I learned alot of domestic things from Margie, and I enjoyed our time together alot. We wish them the best, and I'm sure we will keep in contact.
-I have read lots of book series this summer, and all of them have been really good. I'm still reading The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, I'm currently on book 8.
-Well, that's my summer, not too exciting I guess. I'll be keeping up with current news again, so keep checking!!!
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~June 1st~
-Wow! I didn't realize it had been so long since I last updated this page! Well , here goes.....
-The science fair went well. The students did a great job of presenting their projects to the crowds. I was so proud of them! I'm also very glad that it is over!!
-Only one more week of school! The 8th grade graduation is on Thursday, I'm going to miss that class!! I don't think I will be done with my room by Friday, so I might need to come back in on Monday. We'll see how caught up I get by the end of this week from being gone all of last week.
-I'm sure you're wondering how Griffin and I did at the Ridgeback Nationals in Lansing, MI. Here is the breakdown.....
*We left early on Sunday morning for the 10 hour drive to Lansing. Chicago was a pain, but I was expecting that! We arrived around 4:00 pm (Eastern Time) and set up camp.
*Monday: Agility--We were entered in both Jumpers With Weaves (JWW) and Standard Novice. I thought the JWW was a tough course, but we did a pretty good job getting through it. However, I made a handling mistake and we couldn't quite get back on track after it. Plus the woman and her dog who went before us was right outside the exit and the last jump was close to the exit, so Griffin went to say Hi to the dog, disqualified for leaving the ring. Standard agility was a nice course and I felt confident going into it. We had a good run going until Griffin decided to jump off of the teeter-totter half-way through it. Then the same lady and dog were outside the exit again and he missed the tunnel and went to say hi again! It was very frustrating!!
*Tuesday: Obedience--We entered Novice B Obedience and competed against 39 other dogs in that class!! We were in the last grouping of dogs and had to wait around the whole day, which made it very long. We proudly walked away with a score of 192/200! :) We didn't place but were very happy with the score.
*Wednesday: Best Ridge--Didn't make the cut. A dog from Wisconsin did win it though! Way to go Thor!
*Thursday: Free Day to relax, we both needed it I think!
*Friday: BOB and Triathlon Conformation--BOB we didn't make the cut, not a real big surprise to me. Triathlon conformation was a lot of sitting and standing around waiting. Griffin ended up with a nice score of 95/100. So after the first two rounds of the triathlon, Griffin and I were in 4th place out of 40 dog teams entered!! I was so excited!! It all comes down to lure coursing.
*Saturday: Lure coursing--Last day of Nationals! What a week it had been. Griffin had an okay first run, the two dogs he was with made him look like he was standing still they were so fast! He ended up with a score of 147. His next run was a little better, getting him a 149. The triathlon scores were so close, I mean fractions separated the different places. Awards for the top five are nice trophy cups and a huge rosette, I really wanted it! However, in the end Griffin was 0.5 points away from being in the top five! Talk about close! I am still so proud of him and honored to be in the top ten, but still a little sad to not make it into the select five.
~~~Okay, here are more highlights from Nationals~~~
~Wednesday night there was a flashflood through the campground where I was staying at. The tent area just so happens to be right in the emergency waterway I think! We ended up under two feet of water!!! Not fun at all. Most of my stuff was wet and it was just a terrible experience. Griffin and I checked into a motel for the rest of the week.
~After lure coursing on Saturday, Griffin had hurt himself during the last run. We left for home about an hour later, he was a little sore on in. After two hours of driving, I stopped to get some gas and his ankle was very swollen then and he was very uncomfortable! I made some phone calls and we ended up at Purdue's North Campus emergency vet clinic. X-rays were taken, thankfully, no break. As of today (June 2nd), the swelling has gone way done and he is on pain meds to ease the pain of it.
~Last tidbit. About 20 miles from home, around 1:00 am, I hit a deer on my way home! Amazingly, the car has barely any damage at all! You really have to look closely to see a little wrinkle on the hood. I finally made it home and don't really feel like leaving for a while! :)
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~May 19th~
-One word....BUSY! The science fair is tonight and I'm not sure that I'm ready for it. The students are, but not me! I'm sure it will be fine and wonderful but man it can be very stressful trying to get it put together. I'll get some pictures and hopefully post them up here. Deep breaths....
-Griffin and I had a fabulous weekend! We went back to my home town, which is about 2 hours away from us now, and attended our first agility trial! What a roller coaster of emotions! On Saturday, I was so nervous and Griffin wasn't in the mood to listen, a good combination, right? We didn't qualify in either of our classes. However, on Sunday we hit our stride together and wowed the crowd by not only qualifying but placing first in both classes! :) It was great! Most people commented that they had never even seen a Ridgeback before, I think he made a good impression.
-We stayed overnight at our ex-neighbor's cabin. It was nice to catch up and have a fun place to go. Thanks Jim!
-Adam is now done with school and lining up some jobs to keep himself busy. He is such a motivated individual! He is slowly getting his grades for the semester in and I am seeing lots of 'A's in the line-up...Great Job Adam!!!!!
-The final week before Griffin and I leave for Ridgeback Nationals....I'm so nervous and so excited. I hope all of the traveling, camping, and showing goes smoothly! Of course, I will have a full write up of our adventure.
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~May 11th~
-It was such a great weekend! Griffin and I went to our first lure coursing trial (ASFA) and he took Best of Breed! How exciting is that? I was so proud of my boy on and off the field. He also ran in the Best in Field, but a Scottish Deerhound (Bella) had just a beautiful run and took BIF. Grif did run the course beautifully too, but not as well as Bella. I had a great time hanging out with the people and dogs there. It is such a different scene when compared to showing a dog in the ring! On Sunday morning Griffin was sore on his right front leg, I think he could have warmed up out of it but I didn't want to risk it with so many other things going on this month. So we just hung out at home on Sunday. Adam had a study group in town for finals, so I read 400+ pages of the book that I am currently reading. Nice to have some down time.
-While Griffin and I were away, Adam was working hard at home! He got the garden tilled up, mowed the most of the lawn, and other outdoor things. However, in the process of the day he lost the ring he wears on his right hand! He was pretty upset about it. We looked and looked but never did find it. This is the second ring that he has lost....not that I am keeping track! Good thing he isn't Frodo Baggins!! :)
-The grounds at the dog event was crazy busy. There was a military famility picnic and also a Scottish Fair! You know I could resist going over and checking that out! It was very cool. Lots of little shops with Scottish things, Scottish animals, Scottish dance competition, lots of bagpipe music, and of course lots of kilts. I would love to see Adam in a kilt. He has such sexy legs! :) I good day for a Scottish fair too, cloudy, cool, and misting rain on and off.
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~May 8th~
-TGIF! I'm looking forward to the weekend and it seems like we will be having nice weather to be outside. Griffin and I are off to a lure coursing event on Saturday and Sunday (see picture at left, not Griffin, but a Ridgeback coursing), the nice cool weather will be perfect for it! Next week, we are off to our old hometown for an agility trial. I think I am going to camp, as a test run for Nationals. Hopefully, I will have good news to report the next few weekends!
-Adam's last day of classes!!! (Singing) Celebrate good times, come on! I think he has been ready to be done with school since he started it a couple of years ago, but it just goes to show you how stubborn he is. He is also a very well-prepared, hard working kind of guy. When looking at the cartoon above, I would say that he is the 3 week essayist. Okay, maybe not that bad! Next step, student teaching. I hope he gets good cooperating teachers to work with. I'm trying to think of graduation plans already. He will graduate in December, so not the time of year to be celebrating outside in Wisconsin, which would have been perfect at our home.
-I was offered my summer school teaching position again this year, so I reluctantly accepted. This will be my third year doing it, so I know what is instore for me. It all sounds good, working only in the mornings, M-TH, with a nice hourly wage, but I also know what kind of students I will have too. Basically, it will be like babysitting (teaching) brick walls. Sounds like fun, huh?! You do what you have to do.
-Science Fair preparation is in full swing in the 7th Grade. Although, sometimes I feel like I am doing 14 science fair project rather than them! However, I am particular about it, and if it takes walking them through their project to make sure they understand every step, then I will be there for them. The projects are shaping up nicely, there are many good topics this year.
-HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all of the moms out there! To my mom: I love you and I hope you have a great day! To my other "mom" (Paula P.): Thanks for teaching me so much about life! I think of both of you alot, and how you have shaped me to be the person that I am. THANK YOU!
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~May 5th~
-Wow, May is here! So far it has been a good month. This weekend Adam and I worked on our neighbor's horse fence. It is coming along nicely and soon it will be done. I bet those horses will be glad when that happens!
-We also tried to go canoeing. It was really windy out, so we had the canoe in the water, Diesel came with us, and we pushed off but it was so windy that we just were pushed back to the shore! :( We tried a couple of times without success, so we pulled it out and went home. On the way home, we did stop at the pond by us and it was calm, so we paddled around in it for a while. It was fun and Diesel certainly enjoyed it!
-Sunday, we had a very good friends out to our place. It wasn't really planned but being spontaneous is also fun! They brought their 4 boys out with them. We grilled, burned lawn material, went down to the creek, and generally just socialized. It was a nice time, I did end up getting a little too much sun though. I don't know about them but I was pretty tired when I got in the house!
-I think I got all of Griffin's entry forms sent out, they were due May 2nd. The next few weekend are going to be busy with dog events, but I am hoping that after Nationals it will slow way down.
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~April 27th~
-Okay, I have been loading my field trip pictures onto a site to view them, so here is a link to the page....CAUTION...lots of pictures!
http://sites.google.com/site/eagleblufffieldtrip2009/
-Friday, I had an in-service day for school. I'll say right away I don't like them and wasn't looking forward to it. My day did NOT start out good! I was going to walk to meet the person I car pool with. It is only 12-15 minutes away, why not get out in the morning and get some fresh air when you will be stuck inside all day, so I did start out a little later than I would have liked to but still within time. However, I guess my car pool "buddy" didn't think I was timely enough, so she left me. I was...let's just say "mad". Thankfully the walk home let me get out a lot of frustration. Of course, I also realized that I didn't know the location of the in-service! I knew the town but not the building! I did end up finding out where it was and got directions but was late. Good start, huh?! The morning speaker was very boring, the lunch was very good, and the afternoon speaker turned out to be quite entertaining. You could tell that he was a person who had spent some time in the classroom, so that was nice. Lots of good, funny stories and the message was hidden in it. I did end up learning some things that I didn't know. So a bad start, but a good ending!
-Saturday, Adam and I helped the neighbor put up some new horse fencing. It didn't get done but is nicely started. I also took Griffin to an Agility (like an obstacle course) fun show at my trainers. I was looking forward to it since we have been doing so well in class. However, Griffin decided it was a good day to completely ignore me and just sniff around the ring! I was so-o disappointed but realized that dogs aren't perfect either. We have lots to work on before a "real" show!
-Sunday was spring cleaning day. We cleaned the mud room, all of the bedrooms and closets, the kitchen, and did some other dining room/living room maintenance. I could hardly believe that our room has a closet floor!!! :) It was nice to do some purging of clothes, magazines, and other items that needed to go. Did I mention that Adam's Mom and Grandma are planning on coming up next weekend? Both of them seem very strict when it comes to cleaning, but Adam and I are a little more relaxed about it. So I think we will be ready for the visit!
-It rained on Friday night, Saturday morning, and then all day on Sunday. I can see I will have to start mowing very soon! Nice to see it greening up all over the place. I think Remi will be ready to be out in the pasture full time very soon! I am also finalizing garden plans....Jess we should talk soon about this if you are still interested.
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~April 22nd~
-This week is going by fast! I had a few labs in my science classes so I have been busy making them, gathering materials, setting them up, and then... the class flies by so fast! Thankfully, they all went well and the students really seemed to like them. I know I always liked science labs too. Right now in Physical Science we have been working with acids and bases, so we did a really neat pH lab. I love pH labs because they can be so colorful! Here is a picture of one of our lab results. Pretty cool huh?
From left to right: Club soda, vinegar, Ammonia, Borax solution, Baking Soda solution
-In Life Science, we are finishing up dissections. Here is a before picture of the perch we dissected on Thursday. Sadly, yesterday, we finished up dissections with the frog! :) All the students did a great job and no one was too grossed out. Hopefully, the discipline in organization, cleansliness, safety, and techniques will help them throughout high school or college!
-Today students were being updated with immunizations, and the teachers were asked if any of us needed tetanus shots. I was trying to think of the last time I had one, and I think it was when we were remodeling the house back in '95-'96 (I would have been 14/15)? I went ahead and got one just to error on the safe side, who knows what the summer has ahead for me?! :)
-Adam has been very busy lately with projects and presentations, I cannot wait until he is done with this semester! Next up...student teaching...then a job...right? It will be nice to spend some quality time with him soon.
-So Kiddo is blind and I am beginning to think Diesel is deaf! The dog will just not listen any more. Maybe he is just playing stupid, but I wonder. Hard to watch them getting old on me. Griffin is doing really good. We are getting ready for Nationals and that means really tightening up our obedience. I don't want to lose silly points on stuff we don't need to. I'm not sure he is liking the perfection theory though! :)
-I still have moving abroad on my mind. What if we do this or what if we do that? I know we have lots of time to work out details (4/5ish years) and it does give me something to dream (day or night) about.
-Anybody reading this I hope you have a good week and upcoming weekend!
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~April 17th~
-I guess it has been a little while since I have updated so here goes.
-My 7th grade class field trip was a great success! I just love Eagle Bluff! :) I was planning on canoeing and the group challenges, but when we got there our liason said that the water was too cold to do the canoeing... so we were going to do the back up class, Treetops Ropes Course. Now, I did this last year and it was a great experience, but I was also very apprehensive too. My class was very pumped-up about it. They did great, most did all of the events, but some opted for the shorter route too. I still have to say that the zip-line was the hardest thing for me! There is just something about stepping off into thin air. The School camera only could hold 6 pictures on it, so I used a students camera instead. I am having a hard time getting them off though, so when I finally get them I will post them.
-In the afternoon, we did the group challenges which focuses on 4 core things: communication, cooperation, trust, and problem solving. I have brought two other groups to Eagle Bluff and this class, by far, did the best! They just work together well and figured them out quickly. I think the instructor was impressed too. Busing both ways was good, and I had two fantastic parents along too...thanks Amy and Lynn!
GROUP CHALLENGES
-This weekend Griffin and I are trying our hand at lure coursing. I hope he likes it! Adam is coming along too, hopefully it will be entertaining enough for him too! ;)
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~April 9th~
-A nice 4 day weekend awaits me! Of course I have lots of things to do on my list; clean the yard, clean the horse pen, clean the house, sounds like a lot of fun doesn't it?! Oh well, I get to spend lots of time outside in the nice weather we are having. I just love the 50 degree days!
-Tuesday is my classes field trip to Eagle Bluff, I'm so excited! I'll have to post some pictures of the fun we have.
-I really miss having a camera :( Soon, we will hopefully have a new one.
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~April 7th~
*I'm still coming down from my weekend high of finishing Griffin in the conformation ring! I am trying to make a decisions about what to enter and where to stay at Nationals this May. Hotel or camping? Open obedience or Novice B?
*We also have a lure coursing fun day in April that I am looking forward to. I hope Griffin likes coursing?! If he does take to coursing then we will be entering the Triathlon (conformation, obedience, and lure coursing) at Nationals. I think that is the event I am most looking forward too!
*Adam and I did a little shopping last night. His parents gave us a gift card to a shoes store, which was so-o nice of them. We both got a pair of shoes, Adam got a nice dress pair for student teaching and I got more of a hiking shoe. I also had a gift card to Old Navy, so I bought a two pairs of trousers, both were half price. Oh, and some socks, I really needed those!
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~April 5th~
*We got a nice covering of snow over the weekend! I know what April showers bring, but what does April snow bring?
*The BIG news of the weekend is Griffin finishing his conformation championship!!! I am so-o happy, proud, sad, and relieved. Hopefully, our picture will turn out decently. Of course my opinion is jaded, but he is the best looking dog I know! :) What will be next for us? Nail down our open obedience events, get ready for our debut in agility and lure coursing this spring, and get our health clearances completed. We did pass our CERF this past weekend. I think it will be a busy spring/summer.
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~March 31st~
-Goodbye March, hello April! I thought I would get in one more update for March. Normally this month seems to drag on and on, but not this year!
-It is the end of 3rd quarter here at school and I am hussling to get the grading done. I am pretty good at keeping up at the daily stuff, but long projects seem to hang around longer than I would like. I'm not an English teacher, but I certainly feel like one reading through lots of Literature projects and Social Studies reports. I still cannot believe it it the 4th quarter!
-Two weeks from now is the 7th grade field trip that I plan every year. We go to Eagle Bluff Envionrmental Center in Minnesota, http://www.eagle-bluff.org/index.html . It is always fun and I think the students, unknowingly, learn alot about themselves and also each other. The day is set, the classes choosen, the bus reserved, paperwork is in, but I still need to confirm the adults coming along. I'll admit I am a little picky who comes along.
-I had a very lazy weekend. It has been a while since I have had a slothy day, it was so-o nice! Saturday I didn't even get out of pajamas! I did some reading, napping, eating, and watch a documentary, not a bad day at all. Sunday I did a little bit more. I got a bug to sort through old magazines and clean the "dog room" so that is what I did. Adam and I played cards around supper time, and I also did a little more reading. I like the book I am reading but I don't have an urgent curiosity to get through it.
-The weather has been cooler than normal for this time of year. It was 56 degrees in the house last night, so we started a fire to warm it back up, frost has been on the ground when we wake up too, some rain today too. However, it is a good time to be studying about weather like I am with the 6th graders. I am looking forward to green grass and budding trees!
-I think I will be making some visual changes to the website. I feel like it needs a change for spring. Stay tuned......
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~March 23rd~
-March has flown by so quickly I cannot believe it! Normally, it feels like it drags on but not this year!
-Adam and I had a busy weekend. We travelled across the State to visit with Adam's family. There are two birthdays in March, his cousin and Grandma, so a little get together was needed to celebrate. It was a long drive there and back, and I am so-o glad that Adam likes to drive! The food, as always, was very good and I ate way too much. The presents we gave seemed to be well received too.
-So here it is Monday, and a full week ahead of us. Grocery shopping and laundry both didn't get done this weekend due to the activities, so that will need to be done soon. Our old neighbor, Jim, came up for a visit and left this morning. Good to see him and his dog of course.
-We are getting our taxes done on Wednesday, yeah! It will be nice to have them done and also to get some money back hopefully! Adam also has an eye appointment, he has had the same frames since 8th grade and I think he needs to be updated a bit, so I hope we find something that works for him.
-On the lighter side of things, here is a link to a neat little song about men and women; He Said, She heard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FCeBNher0E
It's not a very good video, but the song is worth a listen!
-Dog show coming up in two weeks, I hope we can get that last point! I also signed up for obedience, so maybe we will even get a leg or two towards our CDX!
-I'm flying through books, so make sure to check out my book list!
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~March 10th~
-I had a very nice 4 day weekend! I wasn't feeling good on Thursday night so I took Friday off of work. Then the school had a scheduled day off on Monday, so I enjoyed a busy, but nice, long weekend. Friday I did some running around; laundry, library, post office, stuff like that. Saturday and Sunday, Adam and I cut, split, and stacked wood for next year. We had great weather to work with too. Monday I did some baking, but mostly read my book, Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon, it is the 2nd book in the series. I am really enjoying the series! I already requested the 3rd and 4th book, and cannot wait til they come in!
-The week just got shorter. The town's high school girls basketball team made it to State, 
so most of my students were planning on being gone anyway, but Father and the principal decided to close school all together! Wow! I didn't expect that! Now what am I going to do with all of that time?
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~March 5th~
- The weather has been very good to us lately. Nice 30-40 degrees, clear, sunny, but I don't think winter is done yet. Sounds like we have another snow storm coming and temperatures below zero again! Adam took some pictures of me and the boys yesterday while enjoying the nice weather and the snow that still remains. Here are some more pictures:
- Griffin has been having problems with a toe on his front foot. We are trying to take it easy to let it heal, but it is taking its time. We have a BIG show month coming up in April, so I hope it is fully mended by then. By BIG I mean, conformation (hopefully our last one if we get our point), obedience, agility, and to make it more interesting lure coursing!
-I'm also getting ready for Nationals for the Rhodesian Ridgebacks. It is in Lansing, MI this year, so I am going to make the trip in late May. I still need a roommate in order to be able to afford it! I was having my doubts about it the other day, but I still really would like to experience it.
-I am caught up with all of my grading! Now I just have to get in into the computer. I promised myself that I can pick up my library book after my grades are entered, I have a book just waiting for me to cuddle up and read. With below zero weather coming again, I want to be ready! :)
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~March 2nd~
-The anniversary weekend went well. It was nice to just hang out and not really do anything. We did get some wood in because the next few nights are going to cold, below zero again! I think I am really ready for some spring weather. But I am trying to get in as much snowshoeing as I can while the snow is here. I DO really enjoy snowshoeing!
-Watched a good documentary about the economic problems in the USA, it is called I.O.U.S.A. I didn't think it was too left or right, but straight forward. We often had to pause for Adam to explain things to me, sad I know. I am thinking about showing it to my students at school for Social Studies class.
-Here is a funny SNL skit about money, enjoy! http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff
-Adam is starting his classroom observations today, I hope it goes well for him!
