The Feast!

Except for the fact that I had to work yesterday, it was a great birthday! I got flowers and vanilla cupcakes with pink frosting. What's better than that?

In the early evening, I took a nap with Puck. Then Mike woke me up with a card and candy, which I ate while getting dressed to go out. Then I went to dinner with my family and ate the best food I can think of: margaritas, chips, fresh guac, fajitas, and fried ice cream!

I think I need one of those bowls so I can make my own fresh guacamole. What is the proper name for it?

Who ate all the Kit Kats?

And now I am going to have to buy more.

Aunt Betty made me a necklace to wear for Halloween. She's so creative!

CT Pet Show

Since Mike and I are such dog lovers, we went to the CT Pet Show! There were so many animals... everywhere!

I loved watching the retrievers in the water.

I got a little too close:

I'm not really sure what's going on here:

Beautiful show dog:

A 140lb German Shepard. Huge!

A 110lb German Shepard.

Who is cuter than this teacup chihuahua?

My favorite dogs of the whole show were these spaniels. They were so nice and sweet. I wanted to take them home with me.

Spot On!

For all of you that had a rough day-

My Version of Friday Night Fun!

I can't even find the words... mostly because I am still laughing.

Love That Dog

Source

For a school assignment, I had to write a poem inspired by a famous poem. That is, I could use the form of a REAL poem and just change the words. Well, if you haven't read the children's book Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, you should. It's adorable.

So, here is what I came up with:

The Red Wheelbarrow

by William Carlos Williams

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

The White Hammock

by LH

Inspired by William Carlos Williams

so much depends

upon

a white

hammock

gently rocking in the

breeze

adjacent to the majestic

sunflowers

Love That Boy

(first stanza)

By Walter Dean Myers

Love that boy,
like a rabbit loves to run
I said I love that boy
like a rabbit loves to run
Love to call him in the morning
love to call him
“Hey there, son!”

Love That Fish

by LH

Inspired by Walter Dean Myers

Love that fish,

like a fat kid loves cake

I said I love that fish

like a fat kid loves cake

Love to blow kissy faces through the glass

love to blow kissy faces

asking him

"Do you miss your lake?"

Well, it took me all of 10 minutes to write these last week, but I plan on creating more. And as my professor would say, I should always consider my audience. For the poems above, 8-year-old children are my audience. For future poems, I plan on writing to an adult audience.

My dear friend Ashley wrote a FANTASTIC poem that she will share on her blog. She is so creative!

Retail Therapy

After a difficult week, I was cranky, tired, anxious, and getting sick... again. I found myself on Friday morning with NOTHING to wear. So, at 6:30am that morning, I emailed my mother and she and I decided to go shopping for lots of clothes to wear to work. The deals were fantastic, and I am so happy we took advantage!

Beside the pants, skirts, and shirts-

Mom treated me to a Coach purse with a wallet.

Boots at Bass & Co. were buy 1 get 2 free! I'm not sure what I am going to do with 3 pairs of boots, but they are very nice.

Then, on Sunday, Mike took me apple picking at March Farm in Bethlehem, CT. We got quite a variety. I personally like the tiny Golden Delicious.

I also picked up a couple of pumpkins to decorate our front steps. This picture has now made me realize that the pumpkin on the right is not as round as I thought it was. But, the choices were limited because part of the farm flooded.

And I finally got some mums to put in the front of the house. I love the white ones!

My final purchase of the weekend was my Sleepytime Tea. It puts me right to sleep, and better yet, I stay asleep through the night!

Now it's Monday morning, and I feel like a million bucks! Maybe that's because I also feel like I spent a million bucks. Either way, my mood is lifted, and I realize that Tammy has a point:

I always say shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist. ~Tammy Faye Bakker

New Year, New You!

For me and other teachers out there, September is the start of a brand new year. Always starting off, I am so energetic and positive! Here it is October 4th, and I'm already out of steam. I've decided to evaluate why, and here is what I came up with:

1. I spend 7.5 hours a day with 22 eight-year-olds.

2. I am taking 2 grad classes, and one of them is a bit philosophical for my brain

3. With 2 classes, I never have time to run outside.

4. It's getting cold.

5. I spent the first 3 weeks of the month sick, and somehow my house got out of control.

I'm such a good problem solver that I've decided upon these solutions:

1. I WILL remind myself daily that I will have 12 loooong weeks of summer.

2. I will set aside 30 minutes every night to read for my class.

3. I got a gym membership and I have been waking up at 4:45am to go!

4. We bought a pellet stove and now we just need to hook it up. That should make our house hot!

5. I will take an immune system booster every other day, so I won't get sick. And I will just have to lower my standards around the house and wait for the weekend to get organized.

6. My favorite plan: I WILL allow myself to indulge in this once a month:

So if any of you are having parties for this delicious food, I am such a good friend that I would be more than happy to buy this food from you. :)