This week will be busy.  I have a inservice day I'm going to this week for school, my classes are singing French Christmas Carols for other classes, I'm having company over for fondue on Wed. and a regular full week of school.  My family is having a cookie/candy making night Tuesday as well.  Hopefully I'll be motivated enough with my rather outdated digital camera to take some pictures for some posts this week.

This last weekend we celebrated an early Christmas with my in-laws as they are out of town through Christmas visiting family on the east coast.  We had a lovely time.  The 2-inch thick hoar-frost really made it feel like Christmas too.  We saw our weekly Patriots Game and they won, as expected, though with not nearly the lead we were expecting.

That's all for now.  I'm rather boring atm anyway...

I added a new blog ending to give a snapshot to what I'm doing right now via Bohemian Twilight, one of the blogs I follow.

•

read: Turn Right at Machu Picchu, very easy reading and fascinating
taste: Red Curry from Thai Won On.
see: Milan sleeping in her corner by the tree
hear: My husband's computer game's sound effects
smell: lavendar
touch: My plush cozy blanket
think:  pulled in so many directions, yet too tired to be too concerned
feel:   fuzzy-headed
via

The oddness that is my husband and I...

We didn't put up our Christmas Tree this year...

because we never took it down.

It was probably a mix between never getting around to taking it down and just not wanting to.  Its kind of a nice decoration for our apartment and people's weird looks about it just don't bother us and in turn, people just laugh about the fact that we left ALL our Christmas Decs up and then get over it.

I did add some decs though this year.  I hung some pretty balls from the windows and got some more candles, balls to decorate the coffee table.  It all looks nice with our decor since I've kept with my red and turquoise color theme for the entire apartment.  Our bedroom is all light green and turquoise for a little difference.

Here's a couple pics, albeit blurry:

I bought Kitty her present early, her very own plush kitty blanket.  I cat-nipped it and she spent the first 2 days litterally licking it to death.  Finally the smell decreased enough for her to just relax and sleep in it.  Overall its a success and it hasn't lost too much of its fuzziness in that one particular patch.  Silly cat.  

Lately, kitty has been sleeping next to the Christmas Tree.  I think she's drawn to it more now that we turn on the lights every evening for it. I did find an ornament on the floor a couple days ago though, so she may have taken a brief destructive interest too. 

Sorry the picture aren't wonderful.  I still don't know how to take pictures without flash and not have them blurry... If any of you know what to do, let me know.  I've tried propping it up on objects to keep myself from moving, but only with limited success.  Before long, I'd really just like to invest in a semi-professional camera so I can do a better job of documenting life's happenings.  But, I'm not even an amateur photographer and have no idea what to get.  I will have to do some research...

A post coming up about my holiday favs.  Happy December all!

Thankful...

In honor of Thanksgiving tomorrow I'm listing the things I'm thankful for.

Family:

I think I have two of the most awesome parents in the whole world.  It almost makes me wish I had more than just two. ;)  My parents are my friends, my confidantes (not everything, but many things), my neverending supporters.  They are so important to me and special.  My sister is also a best friend.  She and I love swapping ideas and information.  She is so generous with her time and love with me.

Friends:

I have two bffs from grade school. They make life that much more wonderful.  We love getting together and making fools out of ourselves in support of all the momentous occasions in each other's lives.  They are kinder and more balanced than in (I'm a firecracker, in the best sense :) and they temper me and make me a better person just from being around them even for the briefest of times.

Work:

The people I work with are wonderful.  They are supportive, they treat me as a fellow colleague despite the fact that I'm the youngest teacher there, they are helpful and interested in how things are going for me.

Relatives:

I have some of the most talented, sweetest relatives, in-laws (sister's in-laws too) that I could ever ask for.  While we each are far from perfect, we all love one another as close family.

Husband:

For a life partner, I've hit the jackpot.  He's so easy to live with. :P  He's generous, loving, interesting, hard-working, supportive, not to mention rather attractive.  I sincerely hope that we have a long LONG future together.  So, hubby, give yourself a pat on the back when you read this. ;)

The minors that combine to make majors:

Home cooking, Christmas music, Christmas decor, Christmas lights, all things Christmas, pumpkin spice lattes, egg nog, molasses cookies, internet, books, students that clean up after themselves without being asked, students that laugh at my lame jokes, students, teaching, did I mention my students? Thai One On, love, learning, small cuddly animals, girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes... oh wait... wrong list.

School breaks, magic, imagination, love, kisses, hugs, warm beds, clean homes, fuzzy socks, laughter, jewelery, magazines, insurance, flowers, people.

There are so many things to be thankful for in my life, I hardly know how to stop. 

I shall just end by saying, "Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!"




Now bring on the Christmas Music!

Blogs I enjoy...

A particularly funny blog post about the truth about children. :P

http://gradovaries.blogspot.com/2011/11/food-chain.html

And another post from one of my fav. mommy bloggers.  It's a letter written to their potential adoptive child (they are in the process but haven't found a match yet).  Brought tears to my eyes.

http://becomingsarah.com/index.php?/becoming_sarah/comments/dear_child_nov11_2011/

My thoughts exactly...

This blogger mommy says it well:

http://gagadiaries.com/post/12557990637/why-are-we-still-beating-our-kids

I don't plan on spanking our future kids, or hitting them with wooden spoons, or hitting them with any object or body part anywhere on their bodies.  It doesn't matter if it doesn't really hurt, it doesn't matter if I explain why I'm hitting them before or after misbehavior, it doesn't matter.  I will not use any sort of violence on a vulnerable child in order to scare them into a temporary behavior adjustment.  No, I plan on teaching my kids how to even discipline themselves and make good choices on their own.  Hitting simply doesn't teach this, so why use it?

Discipline is not about appearances, it is about holding a child accountable in humane ways and then guiding them into better behaviors with reason, natural consequences, and example.

If you are a parent who hits your child, you're taking the easy, less-effective way out.  Do your research and employ better methods. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics agrees with me:  http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;101/4/723

That is all.

The Twins (finally)

I was supposed to post the photos from the weekend I went to see the twins for their baby dedication, but I didn't have the pics yet, or I was busy, or just plain unmotivated to do anything besides the absolute necessary.

They are SUCH darling babes.  So far, they're very "easy" tykes, easy to please and not fussy.  As long as the major things are taken care of, they're content to just quietly experience the world.

I think its such a great thing for us all to experience and be around kids.  It helps us develop our empathetic response which makes us better people.  They are so helpless, and we are so intent on doing everything that they need, even the smallest whim.  Many times we are not able to determine what they do need and spend lots of time trying to imagine what they need by placing ourselves in their little shoes.  Good stuff.

I had a marvelous time. And, since there's two, I got quite a bit of holding time in, bottle fed a lil, and changed one diaper. I was asked at least 3 times if it made me desire to have my husband impregnate me (not quite their words, but essentially the idea if you think about it).  But, contrary to popular belief, I don't seem to be affected much amazingly.  I'm perfectly content driving across the state to cuddle and love on other people's newborns instead.

Enjoy the pictures!

Dru looking quite concerned about something or other.  He may have been concentrating on a certain bodily function, because I remember changing his diaper soon thereafter.

 The next several pics are of me and Luci the next morning.  We didn't get enough the first day and had to return.

 

Sorta smiling. :)

Still sleepy for a morning nap.

Ha ha, I love her lil pouty face in this one. :P

I had to get a picture of Luci and Dru at the end before I had to leave.  I didn't have the heart to ask Tonya (MIL) to give up Dru, so I just snuck in a picture at her knees.

Hope you all have an amazing start to the week.  Now off to finish Lord of the Rings and bed.

This could get interesting...

One of the blogs I read (http://www.mamakatslosinit.com/blog/) gives writing prompts and I've chosen this one. :)

2.) Create an FAQ page for yourself that answers frequently asked questions if people were to frequently ask you questions. People make those up all the time. YOUR TURN!

Here goes...my FAQ page.

Do you have other redheads in your family?  No, not yet.  Who knows what'll happen if we decide to have offspring (we being my sister and I).

How many kids do you want?  1 probably, MAYBE 2.

When will you have kids?  When I'm filthy rich...lol.  Probably around 30.

How old are you?  24, yes I know I still look 16.

Oh! you're married? Yes, yes I am.  People that look 16 but are 24 are allowed to get married. :P

Do you play video games?  Well, yes, if you count computer games.  None much lately though.  There might be one I start playing in December... (Star Wars Old Republic).

What are your hobbies?  Reading, OMG I love reading!  Into classic and newer fantasy.  Like LOTR, Harry Potter, and Tamora Pierce.  I also like to surf the internet, speak french, entertain my students, and eat.

Favorite food?  Pasta, Italian, Cheese, Creme Brulee, chocolate... oh! only ONE thing? ;)

What do you spend waaaaay too much time doing?  Surfing the internet, hands down. :P

What do you do?  I'm a high school French Teacher atm. :)  Give me high schoolers and no younger and I'm happiest!

How is teaching going?  It's going pretty good.  I'm SO busy it seems.  I finished doing the bare minimum today and will just have to finish the rest later.  My students make it so worth it, though.  I always feel sorry for my 1st and 3rd periods though because they are my "guinea pigs" while the following periods receive a much more cohesive and refined lesson plan.  They don't know any better though, so at least there's that.

Hubby:  Do you want to go to Thai Won On?  Yes dear, always.  (Our fav. restaurant a little ways down the road).

Are you hungry?  I'll never say no...

Got any weird habits?  yes, I love cleaning under my nails.  I like to decimate blackheads (my husband thinks I'm beyond gross for this). I have a problem with remembering to turn off the oven and stove. I get really really itchy legs in cold weather.  I always wake up 5 minutes before my alarm ONLY if I go to bed a 8:30pm. I like the blankets on my bed to weigh me down, regardless of the temp.

Some cool things...

Ziplist.  It's a new way to save recipes you find online all in one place.  It doesn't matter where you find it from either, just enter the info into the recipe clipper and voila, its in your online recipe book.  If you find as many recipes as I do on various blogs, this is very handy.

Pinterest.  I've been hearing about this quite a bit lately.  It's the hot new sharing website these days.  Too bad I'm only on the waitlist still, but hopefully I'll be able to sign up soon.  It MUST be popular, or they're doing background checks or something... ;)

Seattle Restaurant Week.  It's several days where top end restaurants in Seattle have 3 course meals for 28$/person.  Considering its usually 50, it's quite a deal.  Hubs and I will be trying out Ray's Cafe in a couple weeks.  If you're a fellow Seattelite, you might wanna check it out.

Giada.  Seriously, I love this lady.  Her cooking show is just my style.  She's talented, italian, quirky, and yet so down to earth.  Except her house.  Seriously, this lady has it all.  Even an adorable baby and perhaps a SAH Husband?  He never seems to work that is . . . she makes bank.  If you like cooking italian with a twist, you've gotta check out her shows.  Sometimes, they have full shows available on hulu too.

Things I've made lately:  Roasted corn with lime/parm, Edamame stir-fry noodle (I didn't use chicken (veggie hubby) and added mushrooms), basil pesto (substituted edamame for nuts, you should try it tonya), and thyme biscuits (didn't do the thyme this time, running low on fresh, but I'm sure its good).

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.  We sure did.  Today we went to our Patriots bar and watched the game.  We beat the Jets, it was epic.  Next weekend I'll be heading out to visit relatives, especially the two newest ones, Luci and Dru. See the newborn pics here.

I love this song...

...no matter the day.  Happy Weekend everyone!

Funny story...

Ah the things that happen...

We have quite a bit of new technology in our classrooms in Northshore, including a microphone that has four speakers in the ceiling throughout the classroom.  To the students, it sounds like you're talking directly over their shoulder and helps with keeping their attention.  Not to mention how much it helps save a teacher's voice.  Anyway, I was using mine turned up medium volume when all of a sudden ...

I leaned over, even closer to the mike, and sneezed.  The class gave an audible gasp.  It must've sounded like I'd just sneezed right into their ears.  I looked up and grimaced for them and then started laughing at myself.  They joined in, thinking it all rather funny.  And it was...

Oh the joys and quirks of technology.

Mad Men . . .

What I've been doing lately . . .

planning, teaching, coming home and watching Mad Men.  If you haven't heard of it, it's a show about the "mad" ad men during the late 50's and 60's and their families.  It sure gives you a pretty accurate picture of what life was like for the middle-upper class during that time.

And boy are they mad.  The housewives struggle keeping up spotless appearances while their husbands work extra long hours coming home late or not at all.  It highlights interesting tidbits, like the total lack of litter control.  The main family in the show goes on a picnic and the father throws his empty beer can into the woods.  Then, the wife simply picks up the picnic blanket, shakes off the garbage and they all walk off.  Evidentally, there were enough clean places left to pick a new one the next time.

The men in the ad agency are constantly vying for recognition and raises and the one woman copywriter struggles to get paid 2/3rds of their paychecks for the same work.  Affairs and flirtations are commonplace and the office is filled with women doing all of the meaningless, dull tasks (yay secretarial).  And then come the weird and strained, husband-wife dynamics, the distanced relationships between fathers and children, the practice of women giving birth while heavily sedated, and other fun stuff.

And then there's Peggy.  She's amazingly successful for the time, becoming a copywriter after the men surprisingly (or not) discover that not all secretaries are brainless as they try to seem.  But, she just doesn't ever seem to fit in.  She's practical, cool-headed, learns from her mistakes, and is talented.  Nothing that is expected from a woman in these times of course.  (Either you are poor, or a secretary, or if you are wealthy, a housewife).  She isn't any of things, and people just don't know what to do with her.   She's simply before her time and she's so refreshing to watch.  She's my favorite character by far, though perhaps not the most "mad".

It's all so perfect looking on the outside, with corruption abounding inside despite people's best intentions.  It's simply fascinating and makes me laugh when people call them the "good ol' days".  They were simply different days with their own vices and problems. Today it seems that the middle class has fared much better in recent years, especially women, but we still fail at providing for the lower class, especially women and children. But that is another matter...

If any of this sounds interesting to you, there's four seasons on netflix and its in the middle of the fifth I believe.

Any of my lovely readers want to share what their fav. show is?

Cruise part deux

 So, yeah, sorry this post is so late. :P  Here's a few highlights of our cruise.  And now, our ship:

We had a tour of the galley, here's a little taste of the artistry of our crew. :)  Yes, it's all fruits and veggies.

A refreshing drink before a tour.  Yay for free stuff! :)

 Us on the first day. It was lovely weather, and rather breezy.

Mum and Dad on the first morning.

 Our dining area.  The windows overlooked out the back of the ship.

The first sunset view from the ship.  A little slanted, but beautiful all the same.

Our first port was Ketchikan, where my cousin and her family lives.  We had a great time getting a tour from the "locals".

Here I am overlooking a river overlooked the pathway that used to lead to all the brothels that used to be rather popular with the men a few decades back. ;)

Below is me loving on my cousin's little black kitty.  She was sooooo happy to be petted.  I wanted to take her home, but didn't think they'd let me for some reason . . . :(

They have some gorgeous forests and plants in Ketchikan, I had to get a picture.

Micah wishing there still were brothels here . . . lol . . . j/k   But, yes, another view of brothel row.

 The "young folks".  My sister, her husband, us, and my cuz and her husband.  We are a good-looking crew, if I say so myself.  It was sad to say goodbye later that afternoon.

Aunt Karen and Palin, best buds. :P  We found her acting the "momma grizzly" in Ketchikan and catching fish evidentally.

The dining on our cruise ship was FANTASTIC!!!  Some of the best food I've had anywhere.  We hope to take this particular ship again somewhere new sometime, mostly because of the food.

Here's our water, showing the famous "baked alaska" we were served for dessert.

Me trying frog legs for the first time.  It might not be my last, they weren't bad.

 More dinner shots.

 Janelle and hubby.

The entertainment was also top notch!  We went almost every night.  Some nights you just gotta be lazy on a cruise . . .

 Our theatre.



The main attraction (and most awesome) were the acrobats.

 And more.  They were beyond talented.  Micah liked them so much, he's friends with them on facebook.

And the last day and evening on the ship was bittersweet.  We got some nice cruiseship pictures though.

Farewell pretty ship.  We'll be back again someday.  Micah and I are determined to become "gold" captain club members someday.  (Which means a lot of cruises, which would just be oh so hard to put up with.)

If you haven't been . . . go.  Simple as that.

So tired . . .

I haven't been posting as I should because it's been a very busy week.  I taught all day and even though I got my 8 hours last night I came home and crashed for another two.  Teaching can be very emotionally draining.  I ended up arriving a little late and was rushing around a bit for most of the day like a chicken with its head cut off.

The day seemed to fly by and by the time the last student left, I just wanted to lie down in the middle of my classroom floor and take a nap.  But, like a good person, I did prep for tomorrow and then dragged myself home.

The kids are awesome though, so it makes it all worth it . . . :)

Snapshot Tuesday . . .

I haven't been posting all that regularly, but I wanted to at least give you a glimpse of the cruise until I get around to posting more details.  I really ought to do it tomorrow before I get into the swing of school again.  Meetings and such start wednesday this week.

Our first formal evening dinner.  You can see my relatively freshly cut bangs, which I haven't been brave enough to do since I dunno, 10?  But, not bad no?

This was our second formal night dinner.

Let me tell you now, the food was superb.  We were on the Celebrity Infinity, which is evidentally known for some of the best food you can ever get on a cruise.  They had lots of different types of cuisine and quite a few vegetarian options that Micah enjoyed (he's not really vegetarian anymore, but still eats veggie most of the time).  I ate vegetarian now and then . . . :P  In the meantime, I tried anything on the menu I hadn't tried yet, including lobster, scallops, oysters, and even frog legs.  All were tasty enough though the frog legs truly do taste like chicken and the oysters tasted like the spinachy, buttery bread crumb topping put on it.  The scallops were lovely and the lobster was ok.  I don't think I'll really try most of this again though, because normally they're not cheap to get a hold of and some of it wasn't good enough to try again.  But, at least I can say I tried it!  Aren't I brave? ;)

More later on glaciers, animal impressions done live by our own Alaskan expert, and whales!

I'm baaaack!

We returned from our cruise and found out that the twins were born!  (I mentioned this in my previous post) Mommy, Daddy, and babes are happy and healthy and have already met a good majority of the extended family.  Sadly, I don't know when I'll get to see them yet.  I live across the state from them and I don't know when we're going to be going across for a visit. Perhaps next month sometime.

In the meantime, here's some pics:

Dru on left and then Luci

Daddy Tres with his newest family members.

Momma Julia and her two sweet little pumpkins.

I am so absolutely thrilled for this family.  And what a cute, CUTE family they are.  There's nothing like TWO little red-faced darlings to make one's heart melt.

Congratulations again Julia and Tres.  You've done good. ;)

General updates . . .

The entire family (my side) including my sister, her husband, my parents, us, and my Aunt are leaving for an Alaskan Cruise tomorrow morning!   I have no idea what the internet will be like or what we'll be able to afford (because I'm sure its extra on the ship).  This is Micah's first cruise, which will be fun to see him experience.

We have a new car.  My old one's transmission started going out and then ended up with enough other problems to make it undrivable within 3 weeks.  Sadly, we didn't get much out of selling it.  We now have a Toyota Yaris, which I really like.  It's just a lil (very lil) economy car to hopefully last us more than 5 years or so.

Our cousin is very pregnant with twins and is expected to go into labor any day.  I can't wait to post all of the pictures that I'm going to do my best to get once it happens.  She's made it about 36 weeks already, so the babies are no longer high risk, blessedly.

I've gone to my first couple meetings for the new school year and I'm quite impressed with the efficiency and technology that will be available in my new classroom.  It seems like a very nice district, not to mention a brand new high school.  I'm so looking forward to my 2nd year, the 1st is always the most challenging . . .

So, hopefully I'll have some pictures or something interesting to talk about for the cruise.  Until later than all.

Women's Health

Let me just give you all a little blip about what I think about the Affordable Health Care Act.

I think it's absolutely marvelously FANTASTIC!

It's taken all too long for our country to realize that free preventive care for over 50% of the population that requires more regular visits to a doctor to maintain their health is not only going to help our standard of living overall, but will safe TONS in healthcare expenses because more serious conditions are being prevented.  That's not all though:

"The Affordable Care Act requires new health insurance plans to cover women’s preventive services including well-woman visits, screening for gestational diabetes, breastfeeding support, domestic violence screening, counseling and screening for sexually transmitted infections and access to FDA contraception without charging a co-payment, co-insurance or a deductible."

Not only are they concerned with women's physical health, but their mental health, their financial health, and their family's health.  A healthy mother goes a long way towards keeping up a healthy family, and women as we know are at higher risk more often than men anyway, making it even more important to provide free preventive care.

I can't even list all of the benefits of this act.  Low income women with the most basic insurance will be able to catch breast cancer earlier on, women will be more likely to report incidents of domestic violence if there is no charge for medical help (which will reduce cases of violence, since more perpetrators will be reported on and have their behavior stopped), infant mortality should lower due to women having better access to breastfeeding support and due to their mothers being healthier in mind and body, more unwanted pregnancies will be prevented (saving countless amounts of healthcare costs), the list goes on. 

Though its really no surprise.  When medical professionals are given the opportunity to weigh in on what sorts of care should be free, they are allowed to put their expertise and knowledge to use when it comes to insurance law.  This should be done more often, in other areas of insurance law.  Maybe insurance law to better support children, especially infants (their mortality is much higher in the US than it should be considered the dollars put into healthcare), perhaps targeting the more concerning health concerns of men, such as prostate cancer screenings.  We can no longer afford to cause people to forgo basic preventive care because they cannot afford it and then have to foot the enormous bill later once they have a preventable condition years later.  Maybe if we continue in this vein, we could actually cut the astronomical costs of healthcare and help reduce the deficit.

Anyway, enough praise, here's a link to check it out and sign your affirmation of this act and for things like this to continue.  http://www.barackobama.com/womens-health-signon?source=20110810_FB_BO_ACA  And more general info with more details about what's covered:  http://www.hrsa.gov/womensguidelines/

1st Anniversary

There are my dock pictures, in honor of the dock pictures that I had hoped to have for my wedding, but the weather refused to cooperate.  Such is life. 

For our anniversary, we went out to Brinnon, WA (the wedding location) with some friends.  We had a lovely time playing games, eating good food, watching MASH, just hanging loose.  Then our good friend Laura snapped the pics above for posterity's sake. :)  And now a small letter to my handsome hubby:

Well, my dearest Micah,

We have made it one year already and it seemed to fly by.

I am still so thrilled to be spending my life with such a wonderful person.

You are hardworking, honest, caring, generous, patient, just to list a few.

We have made a happy home for ourselves and the cat.

I so look forward to our years together, whatever they may bring.

Though I'm sure they will bring much love and happiness.

I love you more than life itself.  Happy Anniversary

Love,

Your lover and wife