The Right Stuff

You know you've married an awesome guy when you're sitting around your apartment and he says, "Want to go to Pottery Barn?", and once you're there you split up to browse, and you haven't told him your secret agenda to find a vase, and then you meet up again and he says, "I was looking at the bud vases over there, because I know you need more, and I think you should pick a few out."

...and all that jazz.

It's been a while. Frankly, I've been too exhausted by school to talk about school. So, I won't. However, there is much to discuss besides the s-word. (That looks like "sword"!)

I went to CdA for a few days and had the fortune to stay with the Shirts'. It was overwhelmingly relaxing (is there such a thing?) to go at my own pace, visit the lakes, take some photographs, and read my book (1491; it's phenomenal!). I missed Hubby and the skunk, but it was nice to get away for a few days, even if that meant driving 63 mph in Joey Lawrence for almost 7 hours each way. With no AC.

But, I did see good wildlife. Three dear within five minutes! (The road that goes left at the bottom of the hill leads to Patty Duke's house; it's just out of the shot.)










And this seagull really wanted my Carl's Jr. We stared at each other the entire time.










James accepted a new job today! We'll be moving to Newburg in a couple of weeks. James will be the new property manager at a small complex; we get a bigger apartment to live in, it's only 15 hours a week and he sets the hours, so he'll be able to work there while he goes to school in the fall. Also, it cuts my driving time from 50 minutes to 20; I save a whole hour EACH DAY; that's FIVE HOURS A WEEK I'll now have to spend on more worthwhile doings than driving.

Skunkie's girlfriend is moving in with us in a few weeks, as well.

More to come...

School is over, the kids have all gone home.

I'll write more later, but in short, the year ended with: a cold, a sigh of relief, a few tears of exhaustion, and two long meetings when I just wished I was at home in bed. And I only have 2.5 weeks this summer to catch up on 9 months of sleep deprivation. Viva high school. This wasn't exactly the cathartic release I was expecting.

Happy Birthday, and much, much more!

Last weekend, Lumina came back to the states from Korea. She's spent the last three years there! There was a party at Skye and Jared's to commemorate.



























Emily Potter was even there! It fah-bulous to hear Emily play, as well as Skye. Dancing commenced.












This is Skye eating a peice of dried squid. The Banana Juice was quite tasty, she said, but I don't think she'd do the squid again.



















The happy couple. They're getting married in less than two weeks!










Then, last Thursday, MACA held it's First Annual Media that Matters Tech Fest. Wow, I was totally amazed at what our kids have done. This is a pic of one of our students (the one who was gracious enough to let us stay at her grandma's house at the beach a few weeks back) giving the opening speech. I was floored - it was a really terrific speech. We held the Fest "Academy" style, with awards.










Heather before the Fest began. I am so glad I work with such professionals. :)












Then, James had his birthday on Friday! We went over to his folks' place and had delicious Pink Lemonade Cake.













Donna and I made dinner. She had a really fabulous Wolfgang Punk recipe for pork, that required Port. She had purchased some Cabernet, which was super delicious with it, but as we were in the middle of cooking she asked me how I would recommend opening the corked bottle. "Don't you have a corkscrew?" Of course not - they don't drink. So, brainstorming began:
1. I could run to the store
2. Maybe stick a knife in it to pry it up?
3. Drill a hole in the cork to pour it out?
4. Push the cork into the bottle?
James' dad ended up drilling a screw into it. A long screw. This is Amy holding the screwed bottle:













James then took pliers to try to pry up the cork. It worked, until he got all the part of the cork with the screw up from the neck, and the top part of the cork ripped off. Then he just shoved the rest of the cork back into the bottle. That was the most redneck way to open a wine bottle as I can imagine.












...but, dinner turned out amazingly, and I wouldn't have altered a thing.

Designer Headgear

This morning, a student showed up to first block late with an excused note from the orthodontist. "Everything okay?" I asked.
"No, I just found out my braces stay on for another two to four months."
"Well, it could be worse. You could need headgear."
"This is true. I guess I should be thankful for that, at least."
This conversation spread to some other students in the room, with the consensus that headgear is just about the worst thing you could have to wear in high school. Some disbelieved me that people even wear headgear anymore.

Right then, we switched classes. The next thing I know one of my more "challenging" students arrives in the classroom... in headgear.

Nobody had ever seen him in it before. Total coincidence. I couldn't even look him in the face, I was trying so hard not to laugh. I had to take a "time-out" in the hallway to get it out.