Chalk, anyone?

This week hasn't been much fun and it's bummed me out a bit. After going to the doctor over a week ago for some stomach ailments, he wanted me to have a CT scan. Naturally they don't do these procedures at convenient times. I was required to fast four hours before the procedure. Okay, I can do that. But the harder part was drinking the nasty, chalky barium sulfate solution the night before and the morning of the scan. So do they really think we'll think it tastes better just by putting a picture of grapes on the bottle and calling it a "berry smoothie?" Please. Remember when you were a kid and you held your nose while drinking some nasty tasting medicine? Like that was supposed to take away the taste? Well, take my word for it. It doesn't work. After my morning cocktail of barium, I headed off to Imaging Specialists where I was greeted with 2 1/2 big cups of some bitter lemon-tasting drink. I had to drink all of it before the scan. I was so hoping it would taste like Starbucks. No luck. The prep for the scan took so much longer than the actual procedure. I can look back now and grin because the results came back normal. I have to say I was a bit tense until today. I still have some other tests to run, but hopefully none that require drinking more nasty tasting solutions.

With that said, I'm looking forward to March. Spring. Warmer temps, freshness in the air. Spring break. Yes, it's been a week. TAKS testing last Tuesday made for a long day. I was giving the test to one lone student (he is able to verbalize his thoughts, so he had to be all alone in a room, with me of course.) He didn't finish until 3:45. We started at 8:30. Broke for 1/2 hour lunch at 12:50. Yes, a long day. But I finally learned how to play Suduko. My AP gave out crossword puzzles and Suduko puzzles to all those teachers administering the tests. She knew we would eventually go nuts without some mental stimulation. It helped pass the time. Next TAKS test: April. I know this is NOT why I got into education. Having your time consumed by teaching for a test is not why I wanted to be an educator. I'll be glad when this NCLB expires.

Well, Bob and I just got back from our dance lesson and he's off packing. Not because of the dance lessons! No, he's off to Japan and Singapore. I'll miss him. The house gets too quiet. Molly's 13 now, and basically just goes from one bed to the other. So she's really not much company. I may borrow Harley from Steve and Mish.

Spring break can't get here soon enough! I'm ready.

Our Weekend

So I guess it's about time for a new blog entry...

Saturday started out with a freebie, and a fishy story happened along the way. What? Explain you say? Okay, well, Bob and I went to Einsteins for our usual Saturday morning bagel and coffee. We're hooked right now on the Dutch apple bagel. It's really sweet and tasty and not like your usual bagel. It's one of the "top-shelf" bagels and worth the extra cents. Well, when we got there, they were out of the Dutch apple. It would be about 12 minutes or so for the next batch. We were offered some other sweets while we waited. No, we said, we'd just wait for the bagels. We got our coffee and sat down. We didn't think 12 minutes was all that long a time to wait, but apparently the Einsteins manager thought we shouldn't have to wait that long. So he gave us our coffee and bagels for free. Yeah, that was nice of him. He didn't have to do that, but he knows we come in there almost every Saturday. Bob and I were hoping that an Einsteins would open up closer to home in all the new stores on 407 and 2499. But then we'd have to start all over again becoming "regulars."

After Einsteins, we ran a few errands before catching up with Steve and Mish at their indoor soccer game. It was their toughest game. They were playing the first place team that was really, really good. Steve and Mish's team is in second and only lost to this team. It was a fast game and fun to watch, though our team did get beat. But we enjoyed seeing them along with Mike and Marj P. who were there to cheer them on also.

After the game, Bob and I had another errand to Home Depot and Lowe's, our homes away from home it seems. We ran into Home Depot, got a few items and while standing at the check out, I noticed a bag of Swedish fish. I couldn't resist and rang the bag up along with our other items. It was then that I remembered I was supposed to look for a plant hanger that swivels. So I told Bob I'd go out to the plant section, look for one and meet him over there. My opened swedish fish bag in hand, I walked over to home and garden, eating swedish fish along the way, and found my hanger. I met Bob at the check out (I never bring in my wallet when I shop with him. It drives him crazy. Oh well.) It turns out the plant hanger was so old it didn't have a bar code to scan. The young man at the register says, "Let me have your fish." I said, "What?" He said, "No, let me see the fish. I'll give them right back." He knew I wasn't going to give up the fish!! He took the bag, scanned it twice, and said, "Okay, you just paid for another two bags of fish." So instead of the higher price for the hanger, it turned out to be $1.78. We thought that was very nice of him. So that was our fish tale for the day. Bob thought we should next go out and look for furniture and see if we could pay with the swedish fish.

After all our errands, which made us seem like we were sitting in the car all day, we decided to go on a walk and get some great air and sunshine. The weather's been so cold we hadn't ventured out much lately. So even though the wind was blowing strong, Steve and Mish and Harley (in his collegiate sweater), joined us and we took our 3 mile stroll through Lewisville. We enjoy our time with them, catching up and hearing about their week. We know this time is fleeting. God-willing, they will be up in Vancouver later this year and strolling through some better scenery. So Bob and I will cherish this time that we have with them now.

It was a good weekend. Didn't get done all that we set out to do, but got to do some things we hadn't planned on. Bob got to help a neighbor in need with a water leak in his sprinkler system. (something we have alot of experience with!) Weekends go by so fast. Months go by so fast. Years go by so fast. The other day I asked Bob, "How did we get to 50 so fast?" Today I thought it's hard to believe that Steve and Mish and Pam and John have been married over a year already. Wow. So we are trying to cherish times together, and laugh at the funny happenings like swedish fish paying for things.

So it's been an interesting week...

Nothing really out of the usual. If you call having a bobcat hang around your classroom a usual occurrence. Yes, this week we had one. I had one. Right outside my portable. In the middle of Lewisville. It was Thursday. The weather's been cold and ugly. The cat probably just wanted in the school for warmth. He (or she) was spotted right outside the doors leading into the school from my portable. I didn't see it personally, but it was spotted by our school nurse and another teacher. Animal control was called, but they didn't catch it. It was last spotted loping through the parking lot. Oh well. So the rest of the day, and Friday, teachers were required to escort students in and out of the building to the portables. That was a pain, especially since the weather was so cold and wet. Trying to keep my ADHD students out of the snow was another challenge. Somehow fifth graders cannot stay on the sidewalks when there's snow on the ground. So just going in and out of the building this week took more effort. I'm really not sure what I would have done had I come upon the bobcat. Of course, I have a few male students whose testosterone level went up a bit, and they were ready to run home and get a gun. I had to explain to them the consequences of bringing fire arms to school. We saw some rather large pawprints in the mud and snow around the portable. Earlier in the week, I had some telltale muddy pawprints going up the ramp to my portable door. So who knows how long the cat's been around. I just want it to be gone by Monday so we can get back to normal...whatever that is.