Well, it has been an insane two weeks. So much to do, and so much going on! I am now finally able to sit down and update!

The Monday after the ATL weekend, my LOVE came into town on a Greyhound bus. It was so good to see him in all his bearded glory! (Baby, I miss you and your beard, which is now gone!) Monday, we had a much needed date night. We went to Five Guys and then went to see The Reader. Tuesday, while I was at EMS, Rob hung out with his groomsman, Knox, and his wife, Mary. When I got out of school, I met them at their apartment, and later the four of us went and had sushi at Hokkaido... YUM!

Wednesday was a good day, even though it started off badly. Mrs. R gave me the day off to go to a doctor's appointment and to hang out with Rob... she is so sweet. In the morning, I went for my first annual exam since I was 18. The only details I will divulge is that is was highly unpleasant and painful. They started me on Ortho-Tri-Cyclen Lo, and I have had some interesting side effects (to be discussed later in the blog!). After we left the doctor, Rob took me to the mall, bought me a cookie, and took me shopping for skinny jeans, which I was very excited to find for only $20. We 86ed plans to hang out with friends that night, and instead watched "Milk" and "My Best Friend's Girl" at home while eating a Wal Mart pizza. A perfect night in, if you ask me! Unfortunatley, I had to take him back to the bus station at 11 for his long 15-hour trip back to Houston. It was so sad to see him go.

Thursday, Mrs. R had a doctor's appointment of her own, so I was left by myself to teach for most of the day. In other words, the sub didn't show up until 12:30. I had gone down to the office after block A to tell our PERMANENT SUB that the sub Mrs. R had put in for hadn't shown up (thinking that she would just come down for block B, seeing as her job title is "Permenant Sub"). FYI: It's illegal for a student teacher to be "alone" teaching the students; the cooperating teacher or a sub is supposed to be in the room at all times. Seeing as the administration didn't seem to mind that they were committing a crime by not MAKING the permanent sub come down, I decided to wash my hands of the situation. Despite the administration's errors, the day was actually really good. One of my "thugs" in Block B (who is a 15-year old 7th grader) came up to me and, without making eye contact with me, said, "Ms. H, I like the way you teach us," and swaggered out of the classroom. It was very flattering and surprising, to say the least! A sub finally showed up during the middle of block C, but the rest of the day was very very good.

Friday was our designated weather day, so I had the day off! Not knowing how I would spend my long weekend, I called Mom Thursday morning to tell her I would probably be coming home. She told me that she was going to meet my dad in Austin to visit Savannah, Andy, and Claire. She said, "Why don't you just come with me?!" So Thursday, after I left EMS, I ran home, hurriedly threw a bag together, grabbed Gus the cat, and drove to Mobile. Mom and I left Friday morning at about 6 AM, got to Bridge City and picked up Dad at about 11, and were in Austin by 5. Andy and Claire didn't know I was coming, so went sent them a picture message of me when we were almost there to give them a hint!

It was so good to see Savannah: she is growing so quickly! She sits up all by herself, puts her own pacifier in and out (sometimes she puts it in backwards!), and is not far at all from crawling. Saturday, we went to get Claire's bridesmaid dress (and HOT shoes!) and then to Babies R Us for some goodies for Savvy (including a whole set of CUPS for her to play with... for more info on Savvy's cup obsession, visit her mom's blog!). Saturday night, we went to Rudy's for some delicious Texas style barbecue and to watch Savannah entertain us and the entire restaurant!

Sunday was a LONG day. We left Austin at 5 or 6 AM, got to Bridge City at about 11 to drop Dad off, and finally got back to Mobile at 5 PM. I hung out with Mom, collected Gus (who was hiding under the bed after a very traumatic weekend in which he hissed at his Aunt Randi a lot), and finally got back to Tuscaloosa at about 9:30. I crawled into bed and was asleep by 11. The whole weekend, I was in the car for about 30 hours. Thank goodness I'm flying on my next trip to Texas.

[Now, back to what I said earlier about the side effects of my birth control:]
Monday, I started to feel really... hormonal. Everything the kids did just GRATED my nerves and I left school in a terrible mood, vowing to not apply to any more middle schools. Tuesday, I was so tired it was impossible for me to be in a good mood. The night before, I had been up late working on a speech for my night class, and I hadn't finished it, so I worked on that while the kids were working in the computer lab Tuesday. Fortunately, the speech went really well Tuesday night, so I treated myself to Five Guys, went home and was asleep by 9:30. Here's the funny part: Rob called at about midnight after he'd been out at an open mic and I don't remember anything about the conversation. Rob told me later it went something like this:

R: Hey baby!
A: Hey.
R: You asleep?
A: Yeah... why are you always calling me?!
R: Well, I just got home and wanted to talk to you.
A: I'm just sooooooo tiiiiiiired.
R: I'm sorry.
A: It's okay... I'm just tiiiiiiired [whinier now].

Or something like that. Basically, I was really mean to him and I don't even remember saying any of that at all! I apologized profusely the next day after he told me, but I hope it never happens again. I blame The Pill. Wednesday night, I had dinner with my bridesmaid Laine, who is also experiencing similar weirdness on The Pill. Thursday, Mrs. R had ANOTHER doctor's appointment, so it was me and a sub (who actually was reliable and showed up before I did!) and the day was relatively good.

That night, I was up late working on a review assignment for the kids on Friday, and I even had to wake up at 5:30 to finish it before I went to school. Needless to say, I felt like poop when I woke up Friday. I was nauseated beyond belief. I called Mom crying on the way to school, telling her that surely I wouldn't make it through the day. I guess when I got up and started teaching, I forgot about how crappy I felt, so I did make it through the day. I tried to eat during my morning break, but I had no appetite. (That's how I know I'm sick, when I don't have an appetite!) I actually had a really good day with my "problem" class, who were really pleasant and productive. That was nice.

By the end of Block D, I had no energy left and slumped out of the school by 3:20, came straight home and got in bed in all my nauseous glory. I slept till about 7:30, at which time I woke up, watched some movies, and tried to eat, but it actually felt better just to sit rather than try to move to the kitchen. (I'm scared of fainting when I'm at home alone for fear that I'll hit my head or something, so last night, I would crawl anywhere I needed to go.) I finally got to sleep around 12:30 and had to get up in the middle of the night and run to the bathroom. In the process, I almost fainted, so I ended up sleeping on the bathroom floor (so cold... so gloriously cold!) for about 15 minutes. I woke up at about 10 this morning, not feeling much better, but finally by about 3 I felt pretty decent. I actually got out of the house and got some food (which I didn't finish, but at least I ate something).

That should bring you up to speed pretty much. It's been an interesting few weeks. To recap:

I drove, I got moody, I got nauseous.

This weekend I went to Atlanta with Randi and Daryl to see Elton John and Billy Joel.... FANTASTIC! It's my second time seeing Elton but I really enjoyed both sets. Elton played "Levon", which he didn't play last time I saw him, so I was so excited to hear those opening notes on the piano! I wish he could hit the high notes like he used to, but I think he adapts the songs very well to work with his lower register. (Take this clip from "Madman Across the Water" for example). Also, I've never been a huge Billy Joel fan (never really been exposed to much of his music), but I really enjoyed his set and plan to get some of his music now.


While we were in Atlanta, we went the Aquarium. Fish, though slimy, unaffectionate, and delicious fried or grilled on rice, are awesome. I could have watched the fish for hours. I am that much of a tool. They have this long tunnel you can walk through that is right underneath this HUGE tank with sharks, big ol' grouper, and other fishy fish.

Shark door! (Rob, are you listening??)



The only thing wrong with this weekend is that Rob was unable to come. I miss that kid! (Insert him in the picture below! Also, if you enlarge it, you can see a whale shark!)


(Good Lord... My hair is TOO long!)

Rob may not have been able to come this weekend, but he will be here in about 16 hours!! He'll only be here till Wednesday night, but I am ready to see my BABY! I LOVE HIM!

Tonight, Dad and I had a conversation about the new U2 album. I gave him a copy a few weeks ago and I didn't know if he would actually listen to it, but apparently he did! Maybe I am getting through to him on how awesome they are! (Or maybe he's just being polite! Either way, it was awesome.) We talked about the song "Sometimes You Can't Make it on your Own" (not on the new album, but I had given him a copy to listen to along with the new album). I told him I had always thought of him when I listened to certain lines, and he agreed with me after he heard it. We talked for about an hour... awesome. I miss him.

Trying to get the house ready for Rob's visit. Another blog to come after his visit I'm sure! We're going to have a dinner/move date night! You have no idea how much I am looking forward to it!

After a bumpy few first weeks as a student teacher, I am starting to finally feel like a REAL teacher! I have been grateful to have a few small victories in the last few weeks.

It all started last Monday with a great evaluation from Dr. W, my university supervisor. It was the first evaluation she's given me that I haven't felt completly inadequate after! The lesson was for Read Across America Day (AKA: Dr. Seuss's birthday) I read my students Green Eggs and Ham and taught a lesson on demonstrative, comparative, and superlative adjectives.

Thursday was a great day. It may have started with the chocolate cake one of my wonderful students brought me that I ate during my first planning period, but for whatever reason, Thursday was relatively drama free. I had a wonderful review session with all my classes. I made a Power Point using their vocabulary words for their test. It had cartoons and some cute examples I thought they could relate to. After that, we worked on spelling by having students go to the board to spell the words. It turned into a contest between the classes to see which class could spell more words without having to have another student go up and correct them. Block B turned out to be the best class of the day! They were so cooperative and engaged, and I think they may have actually had some fun. Mrs. R passed me the sweetest note after the lesson and while the students were working on their review. The note said something like, "Great lesson! You have a great rapport with the students! Dr. W should have seen THIS one!" It was so encouraging! In the end, Block B ended up winning our spelling contest and so today we brought them juice and snacks.

Today, I was so proud of my block A students! I, for once, arrived early to school this morning. Mrs. R, however, was running late, but I was planning on teaching, so I already knew what we were going to be doing that day. I got in the classroom about 30 minutes early, ate my breakfast, wrote my agenda on the board, etc. and otherwise prepared for the day. My students started filing at about 7:50 and they were all wondering where Mrs. R was (Usually, they take her absence as a sign that we won't be doing anything that day, although that is never true!). I told the students that she was running late and to sit down and begin working on their advisory activity. Amazingly, within just a few minutes of the students arriving (we don't have bells, so there's not really an official "start time") they were all in their chairs with their pencils. I went over the advisory activity and they were quietly working when Mrs. R came in! (That made Ms. H look REALLY GOOD!)

Anyway, the rest of the day went without a hitch. I taught all day long, and though my lesson wasn't my favorite, the students were all well behaved and seemed to catch on somewhat. Dr. W came during Block A to observe me and didn't have anything really bad to say.

Tonight, I just feel relieved. I am so relieved that I am finally feeling adequate at this. I don't want to say good, because I know I have a lot to learn, but it's so good to feel like I am ready to be a first year teacher and survive it!

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Okay, now for some non-work related news! I went home this weekend and Mom and I bought a lot of silk flowers, vases, marble fillers, etc, for the centerpieces. We had the best time playing around with arrangements! We really feel like we can do this! To us, it's proof that you don't need to hire a planner to have a beautiful wedding! YAY! I will post pictures soon.

Per my last post: my Civic is still not fixed. It's been a week since she went dead in the parking lot, and she would have been revived by now had the Honda dealer had the starter she needs! It has taken five days to get the starter from Tennessee and as of today, the starter has STILL not arrived to the dealer and is on a Fed Ex truck somewhere in Tuscaloosa. So I'm still rollin' in the scratched up rental car, which, by the way, smells like cigarettes and peach air freshener (ew!) and will not open from the inside on the rear passenger seat (as my mom discovered Sunday!). I am going to definitely make good on that promise to kiss the Civic on the hood when I see it.

This weekend brings a trip to Atlanta with Randi & Daryl to see Elton John and Billy Joel! I've seen Elton once on my birthday a few years ago (THANKS ANDY!) and I am so excited to be going back! Rob may get to come, but he is unsure if he can get off of work. If he can't come, I think my dear friend Laine will probably be coming as my date instead!

Okay, it's late! If I am going to be superteacher and get there early again tomorrow, I should go to bed! ;-) I will leave you with a great lyric from U2's new album, No Line on the Horizon. The song is "Magnificent" and I think it lives up to its name!

I was born
I was born to sing for you
I didn’t have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice
From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise…

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent

Well, it's been a good week so far, though I've had some issues! To clue you in on what issue that is, take a cue from my shampoo bottle:



Yep. Yesterday evening after I got home, I had greasy roots, frazzled ends, and my car wouldn't start. How terribly ironic, Aussie! Every day when I shower since I have bought this shampoo, I have been looking at this shampoo bottle thinking, "Well, it's a good thing I have an awesome, reliable car!" I spoke too soon! Fortunately, my car is under warranty and I have a rental car until mine gets fixed. The dealer had to order a part to fix it, so I don't know how long that will take. The rental car sucks, but it only makes me appreciate my car that much more. I may kiss the hood when I pick it up. Feel better, Civic!

This weekend I had the privilege of spending with my sister! We went to Birmingham and bought NOTHING, but we had fun nonetheless! Sunday morning, this is what we woke up to:

SNOW! On March 1st. What a weird place this is. Randi and I had a snowball skirmish (not really a fight, or a battle, but it was somewhat epic!) and built a tiny snowman:

(there he is, right below Randi's front fender on the grass!) There was a lot of snow when we woke up, but by the time Randi charged her camera battery, a lot of it was gone. It was wonderful to have shared this time with Randi! I would like to thank her for loaning me her camera (since mine is M.I.A... and I don't mean my camera is a pregnant rapper on the Grammys). The one negative part: I may have also stepped in snowy dog crap, and for that, I thank my neighbor and his hound.

One awesome thing that happened yesterday: My wonderful brother, Andy, agreed to officiate me and Rob's wedding! We are so excited about having Andy be such an important part of our big day.
L: Future husband. R: My awesome bro.