Indigo Robe

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Location: United States

Mum likes reading, decorating, shopping with the girls, and Starbucks. She also feels funny writing in the 3rd person. Papa (also known as Sparky) is currently looking at me with a blank stare having asked him to add something about himself to the blog. (Now he wants to say something) The only thing he loves more in life than music and Coke is his wife and kids. (Awww...) :) Little Lotte is a genius on the computer and makes me fall over laughing every day with her quick wit. She loves computers and animals. Sweet Pea abandoned her family and moved to Phoenix for work and is now married as of 2/28/06. She is beautiful and smart and the most nurturing person I know. She gave me the greatest gift ever when she made me a grandmother. I am the proud Mum Mum to Andrew Christopher. There are no words to describe the joy of having a grandson!

Monday, June 30, 2008

Running Errands/Last Week of Complete Freedom


So this week is packed with all the last minute stuff I want to accomplish before going back to work. I have my list (13 things on it for today) and am off and running.

Here is a happy little fellow to start off your week!

Friday, June 27, 2008

Summer time...


I always think I'll have more time to blog but it turns out I have more time to enjoy life during the summer so the postings sometimes fall to the side.

I've been busy this week with the two very special men in my life. I had the honor and joy of being Baby Roo's caretaker for a few days while mommy and daddy had a much needed vacation. Their anniversary was Feb. 28th and they had planned a small getaway - I think they call them Babymoons now - instead of honeymoon -- a pre-baby getaway. However, Baby Roo decided to arrive early and there went the little getaway!

So the timing was perfect and I enjoyed every last minute of being with my grandson. I took lots of photos but mostly we played, tickled, sang, and played some more. That kid sure smiles a lot! He sleeps through the night and is just the most easy going baby ever! Little L was absolutely amazing and helped me so much. I love how she is so calm and caring with her nephew. She often will spend her own hard earned money to buy him a new outfit. She is certainly a doting aunt! It was sad to see him leave with his mommy and daddy but I know it won't be long before we enjoy time together again. I am so grateful that my summers are free to do these kinds of things!

Last weekend was a quick trip to San Diego to escape the heat of Tucson. Turns out there was a heatwave in Calif. and it was 105 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) while we were there. I kid you not. Usually it's ALWAYS 75 and cool breezes. I took photos but we are trying to forget that we spent $5.00 a gallon for gas to escape the heat just to be fried in a Calif. desert instead of the Tucson desert. It is the get away-of-which-we-will-not-speak-of.

And lastly - the other man in my life - my sweet, sweet Sparky is celebrating his birthday today. Since we were so BIG about it last year (Vegas, baby!) we are low key this year. He bought himself Season 3 of the Muppets at the bookstore last night and he wants margaritas and finger foods (ribs, baked potato skins, etc.) on the patio tonight. I am off to get an ice cream cake (DON'T READ THIS SPARKY!) to deliver to his office.

I am looking forward to another weekend with my family. HOW did I get so lucky?

Happy Birthday, Sparky! I love you!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

ARE YOU THINKING WHAT I'M THINKING?!?


Johnny Depp is a cat in the hat one 12-year-old will never forget.

Playing 1930's bank robber John Dillinger – American's Most Wanted at the time – for his upcoming movie Public Enemies, Depp was shooting on location in Wisconsin in April when he was observed on the set by local boy Jack Taylor, who especially admired Depp/Dillinger's hat.

In fact, the boy wanted the fedora, and asked the actor if he could have it. Depp, 45, said Taylor could, once the movie was finished.

Last week, reports the Oshkosh, Wis., newspaper the Northwestern, Depp made good on his promise. Taylor received the hat.

The leading man's rep also included gifts for Taylor's four siblings from Depp's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as well as a note from the star himself, telling Jack to enjoy what was sent.

Now Taylor is at work on a thank-you note. His parents are helping.

*****************************


Dear Johnny,

I want to have your baby. invite you to dinner.

I'll even write a thank you note!

Love,
Me

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

send help -- or ice

Tonight's "low" will be 98 degrees.






Photo taken by me last week on our way to Las Vegas.
Location: Somewhere in Arizona, near Carefree Highway (?) at sunrise.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

ABC's of Sparky - My Great Baby Daddy :-)

A - Always playful...














B - Bob the Clydesdale





C - Caresses that soothe...













D - Dotes on his daughters...








E - Every day begins and ends with this face -- THANK GOD! I love you!







F - Feeding his grandson...









G - Gotta have a camera in his hand all the time!












H - Hero


















I - Ice Cream Lover...












J - Just my perfect prince!












K - Kicking back by the fire...







L - Likes his women with a little cruel streak








M - Matching Puma Sneakers for his grandson.









N - Nightime in Vegas










O - Only One Love - My Prince by Snow White's Wishing Well.








P - Pretends to sleep on Tower of Terror at Disneyland...










Q - Quite the comedian!












R - Roo Love...
























S - Strong Arms
























T - Teaching Andrew finger tricks??!?















U - Under the lights of It's A Small World...












V - Vegas Babes











W - White House squeezer...








X - eXAMPLE OF A GREAT DAD! One of my favorite memories is when I gave birth to Little L and had to be given a sleeping pill to rest that night. I didn't want to rest. I wanted to take care of the baby! But I was pretty out of it. I remember worrying and waking up to see Sparky at the foot of my bed, sitting in a chair, holding Little L, and just cooing away at her. I knew I could rest -- she was in good hands.

Y - You, my love, are the kind of father every daughter wants. You are loved more than you can ever, ever know.





Z - Zen - like patience. (Here he finds a quiet spot in the hospital while we wait for Andrew to make his entrance into the world)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Where I'm From

I am from pocketbooks, from Swanson’s and mercurachrome.
I am from the ghetto - harsh, dirty, piled with boxes of nothing.

I am from a dresser drawer, Shenanigan's and a Flying Nun doll.
From Easter baskets and blue foil paper.
From homemade paper hats with glitter
and bride dolls made from white, lace slips.

I have a feather in my eye and a sparkly belt buckle.
I feel hunger in my belly as I close my eyes to sleep.

I am from the irises, azaleas, and grave markers, the lily of the valley - small and white, pure and fragile.

I am from feeding ducks at the Hollow
and losing my temper easily,
from McNulty’s and McIntire’s and Copple.

I am from blue goblets and chicken bones.
From roaches and razor blades.

I am from the lilting Irish laughter and steadfast determination.
From eating orange flavored asprin and wanting to play with cash registers.
I am from glow in the dark praying hands, demon eyes and scratches.

I'm from Pennsylvania, and from Philadelphia to 1725.
From macaroni salad to Cheesesteaks.
From penny loafers to no socks or underwear.

I am from orange soda and Rudolph,
From pony rides and waving to a dying mother
From large crucifixes and strangers.

From the basement with pepper on my tongue and a wooden paddle raised in anger --
the hand reaching through the broken glass to turn the doorknob --
the horse placed in the window to find my way home.

I am from a very few sacred black and white photos that remain -
none of which
begin to even resemble
the rainbow of colors my life
has taken on
because of the family
I began to build
almost three decades ago.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Irony... 7 Million Dollars vs. $0 for food bank in Texas

Polygamist case price tag: $7 million
By Ashley Broughton
CNN

(CNN) -- Removing 460 children from a polygamist sect compound and then reuniting them with their families will cost Texas $7 million, according to the state Department of Family and Protective Services.


The children were ordered returned to their families this week after the Texas Supreme Court found that the state did not have enough evidence to show that abuse was happening at the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado.

The price tag includes costs from fighting a court battle to retain custody of the children, attempting to determine their parentage through DNA testing and reuniting the children with their parents.

The $7 million does not include more than $500,000 in estimated costs incurred by local governments whose law enforcement agencies were involved in the April 3 ranch raid, according to a budgetary presentation given to Texas lawmakers last month.


****************

FOOD BANK TESTIMONIALS (Secondharvest.org)

Testimonials from America’s Second Harvest Network Food Banks
Shed Light on the Reality of Decreased Ability to Serve Communities
May 12, 2008
TEXAS
Capital Area Food Bank of Texas (Austin)

The whole hunger relief system is teetering right now and it has the potential to snap if things get much worse. It’s hard to imagine what the next few months are going to look like. We are really bracing for a challenging summer.

East Texas Food Bank (Tyler)
One of our clients, a 38-year old mother with three disabled children had to choose between buying food for her family and putting gas in her car to get to work. She had just taken a new
job, closer to home to save on gasoline. She bought the food and then was fired from her job because she didn’t make it in. We have to make daily business decisions that we haven’t had to make in 20 years. The price of gas has made us reevaluate our bulk rice and bean program. We’ve stopped the program because it’s not cost effective because of the price of food and gas. For our upcoming summer feeding program, we have to scrutinize our sources for products like milk. The price of milk has gone up significantly, but the government reimbursement for this program has stayed the same.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Because it's still a man's world...

From MSNBC news...

OBAMA SEALS HISTORIC NOMINATION

Cleaning out...

So I have packed up my classroom and I allowed myself to take 6 bins. (I probably actually took 9 but who's counting)

I'm cleaning out because I asked a friend what she did with her teaching stuff when she left the classroom. She stated that she didn't want it to sit in a box, wasting away. Besides, IF she went back to the classroom, she would start over because a lot of the stuff would be very outdated. Point taken. So I left a LOT of stuff. I mean, TONS as in a whole truck load, for the teachers to fight over! :-)

But there are some things I can't get rid of. So today I am going through the 9 bins in hopes of narrowing them down to 3 bins. I have this thing for getting rid of stuff that is sitting and not being used. As I was cleaning, I found some great apology letters that made me laugh. I will share some of them here so I don't have to keep them now as they will live forever on the internet or at least until Blogger one day goes down the drain.

I don't remember the circumstances as to why these letters were written but I couldn't help but keep the ones that made me smile.

Here is letter #1 (ALL LETTERS = SIC)

Dear Mrs. D*******,
I'm very sorry. The reason I was disrespectful is because I just need a break. At home all I hear from Mom in the morning is "get ready for school!" I hardly see my dad, and my sister's a brat. that's why I need a break. When I messed up, I messed up really bad in your class. I was very disrespectful. It won't happen again.

Who messed up, I messed up by talking without raising my hand. I also was very disrespectful to Mrs. D******. The lady who came to Mrs.D*******'s class got the wrong impression, and Mrs. D******* didn't deserve that.


What I love about this letter is that he used quotation marks for his mom's dialogue, something I rarely see unless I am doing a specific lesson on the topic so that was pretty impressive.

This student must have written it due to a bad report from a sub in my room that day. I have higher standards for how the students behave when I am NOT in the classroom. I explain that their behavior in my absence is a reflection on not only THEIR character, but on mine as well. That usually does the trick but I guess not that day! :-)

Letter #2 (This kid is going to be a lawyer. Whomever asks the questions - is IN CHARGE and this kid clearly realizes that flattery might be a great diversion to the actual problem being addressed!)

Dear Mrs. D*******,
You are a great writing teacher. You taught me alot ( <----grrrr!) about writing. I act the same in this class like I am to my class. Who would you say is the best writer? What is your favorite book? Where did you teach before you taught writing? When did you start teaching at this school? Why did you decide to teach here?

You are the first writing teacher I ever had. When I thought wow I can write I thought it's because of you. You got me into writing. I never liked writing but now I do. Sorry for Wednesday. :-( Thanks for being a great teacher! (smiley face with tongue sticking out drawn here)



Now what I dig about this letter is that the kid using the 5 W's in the questions. What I dislike is that she spelled a lot as one word, which is a pet peeve in class.


Letter # 3

Dear Mrs. D******k, (<--- grrr, spelled my name wrong!!!)
I
m sorry for our behavor on wendsday. And I sware that we will NEVER (underlined twice) be that bad ever again!
If thar is anything we can do to make it up for you then we will do is as fast as we can.

My apoligeas,
cory

P.S. I'm really sorry !!!!!!!
Your a real GREAT (underlined three times) teacher no mater what that visiter say's!


This kid is just stupid.

Not because of the spelling and grammatical errors, but because he has me in the palm of his hand until he started being a smart ass in the P.S.

FAIL!

Monday, June 02, 2008

"I NEED A SPOON!!!"


Sunday, June 01, 2008

Murphy's Law...

Teacher Dies Minutes After Retiring From 36-Year Career

MOLINO, Fla. — An elementary school teacher retiring after a 36-year career died of a heart attack moments after saying goodbye to her final class for the summer.

Sharon Smith, 57, died Friday on the way to a hospital according to her niece, Doreatha Jackson. Smith was a fourth grade teacher at Molino Park Elementary School, where she had worked since 1972.

Principal Alice Woodward said students had not been gone more than five minutes before Smith complained of shortness of breath and an ambulance was called.


I plan to retire at the age of 57 as well. I will have enough "points" required by my state. This makes me seriously consider giving up butter and joining Curves!!!

WARNING: Cute Baby Pictures Ahead!