Goings On....

Not much outside of the 'norm' has been going on for me and the 'kids'. 

I started back to classes this past Monday... I'm taking 4 courses this semester...  Advanced Diagnostics in Speech Language Pathology, Practicum in Audiology, Practicum in Speech Pathology: Intermediate, and Language Disorders.  At least the two book courses are interesting to me this time around!  Hopefully that bodes well for good grades to boost the weakening GPA :)

The kids are well - Sedona is due in season any day so chaos will ensue shortly...  Dakota has been on glucosamine for a while now and it's been a wonder drug in terms of his limpy rear!  I started giving Sedona glucosamine also - and will have her hips re-x-rayed in a few months...  for one last shot at a passing grade from the OFA.  Chance is going in on the 11th and 12th for his next series of health clearance testing..  On the 11th he's having his Thyroid tested (to be submitted to the OFA) and on the 12th he's having his CERF done (finally).  More feathers in his cap.  I'm hoping he might have his first romantic interlude in the next year...  we shall see :)  Piper is still Piper...  barking and snarfing other dogs bones.... growing up, but not really... LOL She's a clown, a love, a pig, a bossy little.... I love her.  LOL 

School/work is going well... I have 69 kids on my caseload right now, but yet my load still seems lighter than last year did.  I am enjoying my kids and my work...  I am still SO excited and proud of my work.  :)  I work at the same school I worked at last year, and I have THE BEST co-workers! :) 

The weight thing is still going well - I am at a total of 48 pounds lost right now.  I am still on the course to lose 40+ more.  I am finding that I am weedling down my wardrobe day by day.  Clothes are getting bigger and bigger, which is great.  I am due soon for a new wardrobe.  :)  I'm afraid that by the time the show season starts, I won't be able to wear the two pretty new show outfits I got!  Oh well, I guess there are worse things that could happen.... ;-) 

some of this and that...

I've been home from CO for a few weeks now, and have since started back to work...  I see the most amazing kids and staff every day at work.  I have to remind myself how fortunate I am to do what I love doing every day. 

I am also on a "break" from school - classes start on 8/23, and I fully intend on relaxing my brain muscles until classes start again.  I am officially a 2nd year grad student! Eek!  :)  5 more semesters ahead and I will be a Masters Degree holder (finally - Geez!!)

Not sure if anyone has seen my tracker at the bottom of this blog, but it's time for me to  brag on my accomplishments...  I started a new "resolution" for 2010 in January.  I really wanted to get my weight (which had spiraled out of control) under control for 2010.  So far, I have lost 41 pounds, and have a good chunk left.  I am pretty proud of having lost an entire big bag of dog food worth of weight!! :) 

Dogs are well - 2 are losing every little hair on their body, so my house looks a mess all the time right now.  Still major hunting for Sedona - here's hoping she can get that last major in the fall....  (please o please). 

I'm enjoying the monsoon season this year, even thought I missed some while I was in CO.  I love waking up on the weekends to gray skies and windy weather in August...  it's a nice change from the stifling heat of Arizona in the summer.  Wish it got a little cooler, but beggars can't be choosers, right?? ;-) 

What a week!

Wowza.  Tomorrow afternoon will mark a week since I returned home from Colorado.  It's been a whirlwind of a week.  I started back to work on Monday, which as you can imagine, has kept me busy!

The kids started back to school on Wednesday, and I've been running since.  :)  I finished all of the Kindergarten screenings and am starting to work on my schedule...  (homework for the weekend). 

On top of that, I had a final tonight and homework due in one class, had 4 papers and a survey due in another class, and I have another written final due  no later than August 9th.   I'll get a break from classes until 8/23. 

The weather has finally started looking like monsoon season.  It's been REALLY humid and rainy.  I like the rain, but the humidity and stifling heat I could do without! :) 

In case anyone was wondering, I fell absolutely in love with Colorado.  I think I am going to take a trip up to Colorado this winter to see what it's like in the winter.... get a taste of what winter in CO.  :)  Problem with CO is that there aren't as many shows....

Well that's all that's new I guess....  Sedona's still looking for that last major (grumble).  Hopefully she finishes this fall....  :)  I might start Rally with Chance....  stay tuned.  :)

Fun at work....

This week was the Book Fair, Parent Teacher Conferences, and the last few days before Spring Break. On Tuesday the 1st grade teacher next door to me and I decided to have our picture taken... this was set up just down the hall from us. Cute, huh? :) We DO have fun at work! :)

the same, but very different

Life has been pretty much the same as always....

except for the fact that Sedona has been with a handler since Tuesday and I'm missing her presence in the house. It's been nice to only have to feed 3 dogs, but I miss my pretty girl.

I decided to finally go for the handler route after much debate... I figure if a handler can't finish her, she's not going to finish. We'll see how she does in the shows she's entered in and we'll re-evaluate after that.

Fortunately for me, she's only with the handler "part time". I dropped her off on Tuesday, and I can pick her up on Monday. I'll have to drop her off again on Thursday so she can show Friday-Monday. After that we'll figure out what our next step is going to be.

Piper shows next weekend... she's been having fun being a show dog... but she REALLY loves Agility. It might be her calling after doing the show dog thing ;-)

She and Chance are going for photos soon. My friend Amy is going to take pictures of Chance in movement, and she asked me to bring the puppy... she is the one who took the lovely pictures of us last year for her photography class... :) I can't wait to see what she comes up with.

Kota is busy dropping every hair on his body... it's a miracle these guys never go bald with all the hair they lose! He's been doing better since I put him on glucosamine daily.. I'm really glad.

Me, well... I've been crazy busy at work, but Spring Break is just around the corner and before I know it, school will be over! :) I helped a kid figure out how to make the /r/ sound this week and he did it for the first time with complete success! It made my day! Maybe even my WEEK! I love my job, but when awesome things like this happen, it makes me love it even more! :)

School is keeping me equally as busy.... classes are giving me a run for my money. I'm doing the best I can - managing work and school, but let me tell you, it's a challenge most days. I'm looking forward to this semester being over... I'm NOT loving my classes this time around. I go to Greeley, CO this summer for school. I'm looking forward to it in some respects, but not in others. It's a LONG drive, which will be.... LONG... but on the flip side, I've never been to Colorado and when better to be forced to go, but July! :) I probably wouldn't go unless I was being forced. :) Better yet, I'll be able to take the dogs, and we can spend the weekend at Rocky Mountain National Park. :)

Well, it's Wineday, er, Friday... so I'm going to go and indulge in some wine in celebration of the fact that I survived another week :)

my goodness I'm bad...

I haven't been very good about keeping up with my blog lately. :( I have pictures of the girls (Piper and Bobbin) playing in CA, but I will have to get those posted another time...

Today Sedona and Piper went to the shows in Phoenix. Sedona hasn't been out since last March! She had a great time, despite only going 2nd in her class. :) Piper was diving for bait the entire time (which I blame Nash for putting the thought into her head RIGHT before we went in the ring ;-) LOL), but ended up taking RWB. I was quite pleased with my goofy puppy! Her time will come, no doubt. The girls are POOPED tonight! :)

We go back tomorrow - so results will be posted after that, if there's something wonderful (or semi-wonderful) to share.

Work has been BUSY with the gobs of IEP's coming due... school is starting to gear up, with assignments starting to come due. I'm working on an ad for the Handbook for Chance... he's turned into quite a nice boy... I'm very proud. :) I can't believe he'll be THREE this month!

My ONLY dog that has a birthday outside of the month of June. :) Look for birthday pictures towards the end of the month :)

Christmas gift from work....

How cool is that, huh? :) My first "teacher" like thing! I love it. It's a fleecy blanket with a satin edge... :)

Santa Claus comes to Speech too??

Yes Virginia, Santa DOES come to speech too!

I had the kids all color stockings for me last week (well not all - MOST, I should say) and I hung them on the white board on Monday morning for the kids to see... They've all enjoyed "finding" their stocking...
And for your artistic pleasure..... closer shots of the "art" I had the kids do for me... I just love it!


And tonight Santa has come to drop goodies off for the good little boys and girls who go to speech...
They're going to FREAK when they see all the stockings with the goodies....
In each stocking was a candy cane, a Christmas straw, and 4 Hershey's kisses... doesn't sound like much, but it was a lot of work to put this all together for all the munchkins who come to speech on a regular basis! Whew!

I just love kids at Christmas time - despite them all behaving like heathens! ;-) 2 full days and a half day and we're off for two weeks! Hallelujah! :)

Piper's great adventure, and the Great Pumpkin

In an effort to get Piper out more new places, I took her with me to work so I could go in and check on my fish. I have a 10 gallon tank at work with about 15 of my baby Mollies... I have a fish feeder, but I wasn't sure how long the food I left them with would last, so I needed to check. Plus I was meeting a co-worker who I had bought Gold Canyon candles (the very best - ever) from at school.

Piper walked up the school as brave as any 16 week old Cardigan would..... UNTIL she saw her reflection in the windows of the school (floor to ceiling glass windows and doors in the front office). Beverly was about to fall over, she was laughing at my doofus of a puppy so hard! :)

Once we were inside, Piper was cool, but cautious. Unsure of her surroundings. She met another new person (Irene - one of the ladies at the front desk) and then decided she could check out the school.

There are lots of weird smells and things to see at the school for Piper, not to mention big heavy doors and hallways that strange sounds were coming from (they were doing some work on the alarm systems and bells). We got to my classroom and I let her loose. Again, she was cautious, but once she was there for a minute, she was ok. Below is my attempt at being funny :)



Piper on the table where we do our work....


Piper in the beanbag....

Piper as the speech teacher.

Then I remembered that I needed more puppy food, so I took the opportunity to go a few other places with her. I also remembered I needed to pick up an audio book from the library. I tossed her over my shoulder and went into the library to the reserve section, which is right inside the main doors. I checked myself out and left promptly before anyone could yell at me for having a dog in the library... but again... good experience. New smells, new sounds, etc.

From there we went to PetSmart, where she hadn't been since the day after I brought her home. This time I let her walk and take her time going into PetSmart and around PetSmart. Again she was cautious but gained more confidence the longer we were there. She had a hard time figuring out her body placement in regards to the big cart I was pushing, but she managed not to get herself run over. ;-)

Piper led me to the Halloween toys and when I saw this toy, I knew it had to come home....

I've ALWAYS called Sedona "Pumpkin face", so we needed our very own pumpkin face toy! They all love it!


"this is MY pumpkin toy - stay the heck away from me!!!"

Piper managed to steal a few minutes away with it.... it's a hit, as most smallish squeeky toys are around here... :)

Aside from this outing, it's been a pretty quiet Fall Break for me.... I've got school work a plenty keeping me busy, and I'm trying hard to keep the amount of pee in the house to an absolute minimum. We did VERY well yesterday with only one accident in the house, I think....

Just enjoying my time off and enjoying being with my dogs... I'm trying to soak up as much puppy love as I can because I know that the next time I stop and look at her, she'll be a bigdog. :( She's totally toothless in the front.... haven't found any teeth yet. She's been doing a good job of sleeping on the bed, and waking me up with puppy kisses in the (all too early) morning to let me know she needs to go outside. Aside from getting into everything, she's a pretty good puppy. My cousin's girlfriend even wanted to kidnap her and take her back to MI with her! :)

Happy 15 weeks, and some stow-aways...

Piper and the "Charm" crew are 15 weeks this week... here are her 15 week pictures, for what they're worth... I might try for better tomorrow, when it's lighter outside and when the big dogs aren't outside with us distracting her...



and our first stow away - she's just so darned pretty....
not too bad for almost a veteran with a gimpy leg! He still INSISTS I put him on the table and stack him when I put everyone else up there... LOL He LOVES being a show dog.
Chance's pictures turned out not suitable for public... *shudder* I don't know what his deal was, but they looked like crap. I'll try again - especially as his fall show season is due to start in November in Tucson.

(**None of the dogs have had baths in MONTHS.... so take that into consideration!)

Piper's ears are up for good, finally... :) I've never had to work so hard on ears... I can't say I wasn't warned though! :)

Everyone else is good - still no word from Kota's vet, tho a vet friend of mine who consulted with a cardiologist for me after seeing the x-rays said that it's not likely that it's the coil causing the problems... back to the drawing board. *sigh* Chance is a moose - Sedona is a primadonna - Piper is into everything her little puppy mouth can reach and Kota is busy policing everyone... :)

School is in it's 6th week, and so far I'm doing good.

Work is nearing our fall break - we have three half days ahead of us and Parent Teacher Conferences for the rest of the week till 7pm. What sucks is that I don't have many conferences (4), but I have to be there each night just in case. *sigh* After Friday I will be off for 2 weeks! :) I'm thinking of taking the dogs to Northeast AZ to see the pretty fall colors that we don't get here in the Desert....

hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go....

While Friday was officially my first day back, today is the first day I get to do anything productive! I have to get my new classroom all set up for Meet the Teacher night tonight!!!

Being the good little suck up that I am, I baked chocolate chip cookies for the occasion. I met a small handful of parents last year, so I don't expect an arm load, but I'm prepared, just in case :)

I'm getting excited to meet the kids, yet I'm already missing the idea of the freedom of summer.... I keep reminding myself, it'll come around again.... :) The beauty of working in the schools! :)

On that note, I'd better go grab my shoes and get going.... busy busy (long) day ahead of me! :) Hopefully the dogs will forgive me for the extra long day away from home.... :)

a few updates

CAMERA:

I finally lost hope and broke down and bought a new camera. After a TON of research, I decided on the Canon Powershot A1000 IS. I originally wanted another, but I found a great deal on this one that came with a 2GB SD card for a GREAT price... 10 MP, 4x zoom and in the price range I was looking for... life is great! :)
So to "christen" my new camera - this is the first "group shot" of the kids with the new camera!

KOTA'S EAR

It's been 2.5 weeks since Kota had his hematoma surgery - and he's healing really well. Here is a shot that shows the wiggles in his ear currently... you can't see it from the front - only from the side.


From the front the ear looks slightly smaller, but I bet I won't even notice it once the ear isn't nekkid!
and an up close picture of the ear - healing well, I think. We get the stitches out on Tuesday and from there it's just a process of letting the scar tissue settle in and heal. I'll be happy to be rid of the icky-sticky-outtie stitches... they creep me out when they brush against me!
AGILITY

Kota did really well at agility tonight, considering it was raining and he'd never been on the 'big boy' A-frame. We did a "snakes and ladders" game, which was fun. It really took quite a bit to get him up it the first time (and he got a round of applause for it), but the 2nd time, he just couldn't get it. He did everything else really well. :) He's dirty and pooped, but I think I am looking at a happy happy boy :)

FLAGSTAFF

I opted out of entering the shows in Flagstaff, despite them being in my favorite city :) Sedona will be hairless and there won't be majors for Chance, so I decided to save my money in case I have to fly Sedona to Portland. I might make a day trip of it (especially now that I have a new camera!:) ).

WORK

1 more week of school left.... I'm starting to pack my room and getting ready to take all my stuff home for the summer... I will work at a different school for 09-10, so I have to clear out and make room for the next speech therapist! :) I can't believe I've been at this for 14 months! :)

catching up - again

so it was brought to my attention that I've not been a very good blogger lately.... I think some of it is due to the fact that my camera has decided to hate me. I usually post pictures, so not having any pictures to post has kept me from posting.... and considering the fact that life is in overdrive right now, well... it's all I can do to keep up on everyone else's blogs (and of course find time to read Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn ;-) )

KOTA

After his appointment at Companion Pet Clinic, I was more convinced than ever that he needed surgery. His ear filled up 2 days after it was drained... filled up, AND some. Surgery is scheduled for Monday 5/4/09. Please keep all fingers, toes and paws crossed for a flawless easy surgery that leaves Kota's ear as much like normal as it can be. And that it doesn't reoccur for goodness sakes. Poor kid had 12 cc's of blood drained from it on Saturday, and it's even more full now than it was then. :( I feel like such a bad dog mom.
I took this picture of him tonight... I'm amazed that it's clear!! Yahooooo! :)

SEDONA & CHANCE

The kids are entered in the shows in Albuquerque on the 9th and 10th of May. There is a 3 point major in dogs and 4 point major in bitches, so I couldn't NOT go, given that Chance only needs his majors. His sister, Suzie, finished her Championship recently, so Chance REALLY needs to follow suit.

WORK

Work has been drowning me in paperwork and meetings and evaluations and changes, but I still LOVE LOVE LOVE what I do - despite the insane pace it's taking right now. I'm not sure if I mentioned in my last post, but I'll be changing schools next year... it's kind of a bittersweet thing. I'll be getting an INCREDIBLE room at the Elementary school I'll be working at, and I'll also be sharing the Intermediate school case load with my work mentor, Laurie, so I'm really excited about that. The interesting thing, is that the Intermediate school is where I went to 7th - 12th grades.... kinda funny. So I'm really excited about next year, but I'm ready for this one to be over.

CAMERA

I think I'll be starting to look for a new camera. Since my ole reliable Olympus SP-700 has crapped out on me and is taking more UNfocused pictures than focused ones, I need to either get this one repaired (goodness knows how much THAT might cost), or start shopping for another. I wish I could afford the D-SLR that I want, but I might as well keep dreaming... maybe when I win the lottery! Darned technology. LOL

AMERICAN IDOL

I'm a Danny fan through and through.... I picked him out from the auditions, and am proud to say that he's still there, and i expect that he will be in the finals.... I can't wait for his album! :)

TWILIGHT

I avoided the bandwagon for as long as I could. I finally gave in a few weeks ago and bought Twilight (the book) at Costco. I read it in no time flat, bought New Moon, and had that read in a little more than a day. I am NOT a reading fanatic, but these books really did catch me! It took me a few days to get through Eclipse, and I started on Breaking Dawn last week - but since work has been so crazy, and I got myself a touch of something icky in my throat, it's taking me longer than the previous books have. I've really enjoyed them. I finally watched the movie this week and tho I was comparing it to the book the whole time, it was, on the whole, a pretty good movie :) I can't wait for New Moon (the movie) to come out now :)

Well, my bed (and Breaking Dawn) is calling - I will take my fuzzies and hit the pillows....

updates on this and that...

Kota's ear is doing well... *I* still feel fluid in it, but it's not getting any worse and it's not bothering him, so I'm leaving well enough alone. his ear is standing, tho a bit weird looking at the top (to my discriminating eye). I'm going to let it do what it's going to do... no sense in putting him through the stress of the vets office and needles if he doesn't need to. Poor kid. On a good note though, he's REALLY come into his own in agility, and now that our BC friend has moved up, he's one of the best dogs in the class - without a doubt. He LOVES it. I wish I could get him on video for everyone to see... He's not super speedy (like Zoey!), but he's clean and accurate, and he wears a grin from big ole ear to big ole ear while doing it.... that's what's important to me :) I actually had to *run* to keep up with him last week, which was something new! :)

The house is still a weird pain in the butt subject... According to what I can find online, it looks like the owners "sold" the house to a company called Cal-Western Reconveyance Corp, and THEY are managing the "Trustee Sale". My property manager tells me that until I'm notified otherwise, that I am obligated to stay in the house as per the terms of my lease. *sigh* So I sit. I wait. I hope that whoever buys the house doesn't kick me out (but they likely will). Fun times are ahead.

No word on Grad School - they're probably just filing through the gazillion applications they received to find the 25 they want to accept for this cohort... Keep your fingers and toes and paws crossed that it's my time.... this is attempt number 2 to get into Grad School, and if I don't get in this time, I'll have to take the stupid GRE again (which will just stink!). I'm due for something to go my way, and for something good in general dang it. :) Think positive thinks please :)

Work is getting back to normal again - it was a little weird coming back after being out for 3 weeks... I came in to see the notes that I had taken on my Dad's medical condition when I got "the phone call"... they were sitting right on top of my desk. I had to turn them over and just look past it - but I did have to clean my desk later that day.... Today was honestly the first day that it felt GOOD to be back at work. The kids all missed me so, and the feeling was VERY mutual :) I love those little rug rats! :)

I was going to save up for Chance's OFA x-rays, but now with the stinky house situation, it looks like I'll have to put that on the back burner again... He's sitting pretty at 10 points now, and I'm being VERY selective about where I'm entering him. If there's not a guaranteed major it REALLY is not worth my time to enter. He's really grown into himself in the last few months, and his latest win photo is evidence of that, I think. Finally. Whew. He's a handsome big goober of a dog... speaking of which, Carolyn has a FABULOUS picture that I HAVE to post to the blog as soon as she sends it (hint hint Carolyn!!) :)

And now that it's certain that Jeri is going to "test drive" Pilot, I feel comfortable saying that I will "test drive" Sterling... based on how Pilot produces with the beautimuss Lizzie, I might want use him for a 2nd litter out of Sedona, if Pilots moms agree. There are many things about both boys that I really like, so this will give me the opportunity to see what Pilot produces with Lizzie, and what Sterling produces with Sedona. Plus, I like me the blues. ;-)

I need to get Sedona's CERF test done, and aside from that, I think I'm good to go...Sterling's Penn-hip x-rays looked really good per Kim S., so I feel comfortable if she does...
I'll start consulting with folks to see what I need on hand, and who I can import to sit by my side and tell me all is ok.... ;-) After watching Kate, I'm a little scared, but seeing those little baby puppies makes me think it's all worth it in the end when the stress of the whelping is over...

In American Idol news, I LOVE Danny Gokey - HATE Megan Joy whatever-her-name-is. She's got to go. Adam did well tonight... really well. Danny is my favorite... almost as much as David Cook was my favorite last year. Yes. I did my part. I voted :)

Well, I think I will go to bed early tonight.... I had dinner with some friends from High School last night that ran a lot later than I was expecting - but I had a great time, so it was well worth staying up late (and having a hard time waking up). I can't believe the week is almost over!

Friday Skywatch and a few other things

ok, so since it's been FOREVER since I posted a Friday Skywatch post, I post this for your viewing pleasure... taken Thursday night at sunset (obviously). The skies had been kinda boring and normal for a long while, and when I saw a pink glow in the back yard yesterday I knew I had to take my camera outside... :) I love it here sometimes!

Every afternoon after work as I am getting in my car there are a slew of these little birds (sparrows?) in the bush next to the spot i park in... Most had flown away by the time I got my camera out, but I just think they're so neat... any bird folk care to confirm or correct my bird guess?

Dakota went with me to Family Reading Night on Wednesday....

He'd been limping so I gave him some Rimadyl and put him in his crate on Wednesday morning. I got special permission to bring him that night so I could watch him and see how he was doing... I had to leave him in my classroom when the majority of the people were at school, but afterwards I got to take him to meet some of my co-workers. This photo was proof that he was in my classroom :)

One of the 3rd grade teachers recognized Kota as the breed on the cover of Dogzilla, so that was kinda cool.. Next year when they read that book, I'm going to ask if I can bring "Dogzilla" to school for the kids! :)

Fun things at school

I'm not sure I've raved about how much I am loving my job lately, so here's my obligatory post ;-)

Friday was the 100th day of school for our kids... and in honor of such an event there was a red helium balloon filled for each child and staff member at our school. I had to personalize mine ;-)

Throughout the hallways the classrooms had decorated the walls...

This was one of the first grade classrooms... I love seeing their artwork on the walls. :)

The kids got really excited about this event at school.... they were buzzing all week long about it!

At 1:00pm we all went out side with our balloons... a few were let go prematurely unfortunately. This is NOT our entire school (tho it might have been, back in the day).. just the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades. The 3rd, 4th and 5th were still filing onto the blacktop :)

I had to, of course, get pictures of "my kids" :) A couple of my favorites, with their (wonderful) teacher...

The librarians daughter with some friends...

And some 5th graders who say me with a camera and started begging for me to take their picture ;-)

Again, one of "my kids" as she was coming out to take part in the "celebration"

And another of "my kids" with the oh-so-cheesy grin :)


Everyone milled around for a while... Unfortunately, the Principal was talking into one of those megaphone thingies and I didn't hear a word she was saying...

When suddenly, I saw.....

BALLOONS being let go into the air!!!! They all had tags with the childs name and classroom on them...

And away they went... high into the sky in one giant red blob.. I wonder what people nearby must have thought... I know if I were outside, I would have thought it was pretty darned cool! :) Shoot, I was there and thought it was pretty neat!

And before long, they were hardly visable... the tags would twinkle in the sun... I put my email address (work, of course) on it, in hopes that if someone finds it they'll email me where and when they found the tag :) One can dream that it makes it to far off lands, but chances are they won't get outside of Queen Creek. LOL

It's little things like this that really make my job fun. Seeing the kids SO excited about things, and taking part in fun little events like this... :) It's a good thing we have fun little things like this, because after the 12 IEP's I have this month, in addition to the Kindergarten transitions I'm doing, I'll be crazy by March... Oh, and lets not forget the 1 IEP in March, 6 in April and 8 in May! :) Squeeze in 7 more Kinder transition IEP Meetings and I'll be certifyable by the time school lets out in May :)

exercising our rights....

Today was had "Kids Voting" at school. It was cool to hear the kids get so excited about voting... even if some of the younger ones had complete lies in their head about the candidates ("Oh, I won't vote for him, he kills babies" -1st grader). Everyone dressed in red, white and blue, and all 495 kids in the school voted for either the president, or their favorite Thanksgiving food :)

Pumpkin Pie won, hands down, as their favorite Thanksgiving food, and much to my dismay, McSame won the presidential election at Queen Creek Elementary.

I thought it was fun all the same, and the kids learned a lot about voting and democracy... and it made for some cute pictures :)

it's a sign...

It's a sign that I'm in the right field (like I needed a sign!!!) :)

I tried to go on their website to show you, but alas, I can't find pictures to show you... Suffice it to say, one of my favorite catalogs for Speech materials and tools is called Super Duper. Their website is superduperinc.com. On the inside of the front cover of their catalog, each time, there is a photo of at least one of their PEMMIES! And on some of the artic cards for the "or" sound (working on vocalic 'r' sounds) one of the cards is a little girl hugging the "WELSH CORGI"! Ah yes, I'm in the right field, using the right catalog! :)

For being such a good "sport" 1st term and taking on extra work to cover for one of the Speech folks in the Preschool while she was out on maternity leave, we all got a $50 gift certificate to use how we'd like... I'm rummaging through the catalog that was given to me :)

Weird to say this, but I'm actually looking forward to going back to work and seeing the kids :) And before I know it, I'll have another 2 weeks off :) It came JUST in the nick of time, and I feel SO much more prepared to head into the 2nd quarter :)

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?? :) Life is great (mostly ;-) )

spiders & vacations - Yay to one, not the other!

I'm pretty derned sure that my visitor in my garage was a Wolf Spider. I've also had the pleasure of seeing one in my living room (who then got squashed into my living room carpet) and another in my bedroom (who yes, got squashed into my bedroom carpet). Fortunately they don't appear aggressive, but they're still ICKY all the same. I'll be calling HomeTeam Pest Defense and asking them to come out AGAIN. it's not uncommon that I have them come out between cycles... *sigh* between the crickets and roaches and spiders (oh my!) that I find outside... fortunately for me, (unfortunately for those two icky spiders tho) they don't come in the house much...

The count down is on until Fall Break.... just have to survive Parent Teacher Conferences this week, and I'm home free after Friday until the 13th of October!!! :)

Yea, I thought he was a big boy....

39 whopping pounds for the Chance-meister... he's a solid hunk-a-hunk-a dog :) Guess that'd be why he was called "Chunky" ;-)

He'll be bathed (as will Sedona) this week for their upcoming show debut of the season.... We haven't shown since June in Flagstaff! I have high hopes for Mr Pants this season... and once Sedona gets her hair back, her hopes will be right up there too! :)

Kota gets to skip out on the baths, lucky dog! I'm sure he'd love the attention too, but why?? LOL

Been putzing around this weekend.... being domestic and such. Have I mentioned how much I love my normal life again? :) I wake up at 6:30am because I can't sleep anymore.... weird for me, but ok :)

My first progress reports are due this month, and our Fall Break is coming at the end of the month (9/29-10/13). I have hopes to make it to New Mexico for a 4 day show weekend there the first weekend in October... why not, I've got nothing but time! :) This is when I wish I had a trailer or motorhome or something though!