Toddy Tavern gets a makeover

We found this great bar on KSL.com last weekend ($80, what a steal!). We decided to buy it for our Toddy Tavern kitchen to use as a work space. Well, one thing led to another, and we ended up rearranging all three of our front rooms. I took a few pictures, and I was surprised to see how much wood we have in our house. I love it!
The kitchen

I love our sink. Doesn't it look like it's straight out of A Christmas Story?

This is our living room, looking in from the dining room.

I adore the built-in book shelves.

This is the dining room looking from the living room.

Our dining room table looks so much smaller now that it's out of the kitchen.

All the angles.

I just love old houses. Ours was built around 1917--and it still has all sorts of the original moldings--never painted.

Next order of business--our bedroom. Then we'll be ready to move on to the yard in the spring. It's hard to be patient with these things, but we have made some great improvements--things are moving along quite smoothly and steadily. We love our Toddy Tavern!

Brock and his girls go climbing

We took Brock's girls climbing on Saturday. Rachel wasn't up for it, but Maryanne and Sarah were little mountain goats! They did such a great job. Here's Maryanne kissing the chains at the top.

And here's Maryanne coming down.

Sarah kissing the chains.

Sarah coming down.

They each went up twice. Brock was so proud of his tough-as-nails cutie-pies. They had a lot of fun. We are so lucky to be the parents of six of the best girls in the world!!

Brock and Cody finish the kiln!

Brock and Cody on the job. Look at all those mud-covered 5-gallon buckets behind them. Guess what they used those for? To carry to the TOP of the kiln to mud the rocks. As a result--Brock has UNBELIEVABLY studly shoulder. MMM HMMM!
Brock digging out the chimney. Once he made a hole, he had to squeeze himself through to come out the bottom. In other words, the kiln birthed him. My claustrophobic self would have just freaked right the heck out!

This is the top of the kiln. They put a grate over the chimney for obvious safety reasons.

And here it is! They did a great job. Today they're cleaning up to make it all nice and neat. If you're ever driving through Ogden Canyon, stop at the Indian Trails and take a look.

Top 10 reasons I love teaching at the middle school my daughter attends

10. Her teachers tell me how great she is when I see them in the halls.

9. Starting on Thursday, she will be a student in my class, so I can make darn well sure that she is learning English.

8. Her friends say hi to me in the halls--some of them call me "Mrs. Emma's Mom".

7. Right now (my prep period) she has health in the room next to mine. I can hear her teacher using words like "gonorrhea", "syphilis", and "milky discharge". I'm almost positive I heard her say, "EWWWW!" As a side note--I also just heard a kid ask a question about oral sex! Poor Mr. Johnson.

6. She sometimes comes and hangs out in my room after school. However, it's usually just so she can take control of my computer since we still have dial-up internet at home. I'll bet ya didn't know that still existed, didja?

5. She sometimes writes me notes during health and has her locker-buddy pass the note to me during 5th period.

4. I know who her crush is--and I have him as a student starting on Thursday. hehehe

3. She completely trusts me to not embarrass her when I have her crush in class starting on Thursday. hehehe

2. I witnessed last year's crush TOTALLY flirting with her in the cafeteria the other day. I mentioned the observation later that night, but she just rolled her eyes because she was, "Sooooooo over him!"

1. Sometimes when I'm walking down the hall, I pass Emma with her cute-as-buttons group of friends, and she bounds over to me and hugs me! In the hall! Of a middle school! With hundreds of students all around! I love that!

I've adored having this connection with my Lu! I'm a teensy bit apprehensive about having her as a student. I'm sure she'll be just fabulous, but I sometimes have to get after kids who are squirreling around, and I don't want them to take it out on her. It will certainly be another adventure.

The long and short of it

I got my hair cut on Saturday. And just for the record--I'm not depressed, I'm not feeling fat, I'm not failing in my profession, I'm not unhappy, I'm not feeling trapped in a horrible marriage, I'm not a failure of a mother or any of the other things I associate with my short-haired years in my past. In fact, I'm happier than I have ever been. My marriage is phenomenal (I found the greatest man to ever walk the earth since Jesus!), my professional life is progressing quite nicely, and while I don't have the skinny-Minny runner's bod I used to have, I look pretty damn good for an almost-forty-year-old woman. I'm even feeling like I'm a better mom now than I've ever been.

There was a time when I swore I'd never have short hair again, just because the associations with former haircuts were so traumatic. The short hair became a symbol. I was a scared, miserable, inferior, stupid person then. I had no self-worth. None. There was a time when I even felt suicidal. I was too chicken to do it, but I thought about it quite a bit for a several-month period of time.

When my first marriage ended, I started growing my hair out. It grew. It grew and it grew and it grew. I began to associate my long hair with my happy, smart, confident self. Once again, my hair had become a symbol.

So what does it all mean? I suppose it might mean the symbols have lost their meaning because I'm absolutely content with my life. It might mean I have moved beyond silly things like the meaning of a hair style. It might mean that I got tired of using lots of shampoo and conditioner. Or it might mean I am trying to grow out the natural color of my hair, and the best way to do that is to cut off the dyed ends.

Yes, indeed, I'm embracing my grays! It takes guts, don't you think?

My little baby's all grown up and saving China!

Yay! No more braces! You look absolutely FAB-U-LOUS, my Lu!

faux-pas-mah bin what?

Yesterday the students were all abuzz about how they all think Obama will be assassinated. Sheesh! Our principal caught the drift, so he decided he needed to do something to stop the madness. This is pretty close to what he said over the P.A.:

Students, we have been hearing a lot of you dialoguing (yeah, he really said that to a bunch of 8th and 9th graders!) about assassination. We want you to know that this type of communication is unacceptable. Our new president-elect, Osama buh . . .

He stopped talking and paused for several seconds. Meanwhile my students were going crazy with what they had just heard. One girl kept saying, "He did NOT just say that!" Others were saying, "See, Mr. Principal wants him to be assassinated, too!" Oh dear! Of course anything he said after that had absolutely zero effect.

I felt really bad for the guy. He's a good principal, and it was obviously an unintentional mistake, but sheesh--could you get any worse than that?

Kate's Art Gallery

With her permission, I am posting some pictures of Kate's latest creations. I think she is such a talented artist! She wants to become an artist when she grows up, so we are doing our best to encourage her as much as we can. I'm looking around for someone who will give private art lessons, but I'm not having much luck. anybody have any ideas of where to look?

I couldn't get a picture of this without the flash making a glowing sheen on the monkey's face. Isn't he cute?

Kate wanted me to make sure to say this one is a work in progress. I LOVE the turtle!

This is her Van Gogh oil pastel assignment from her art class at school. It is currently showcased in the 6th grade hall. I just think she is so very, very creative!

Middle School Mock (the) Election

We had a mock election at the middle school today. Box Elder County, as you might guess, is excessively conservative, so I expected many students to vote straight ticket. In an effort to get them to really consider candidates instead of parties, I strongly discouraged straight-ticket voting when I handed ballots to my advisory students. I explained that most intelligent adults consider individual platforms when voting. I even went so far as to say *gasp* it may be a touch irresponsible to vote straight party.

After the ballots came in, I glanced through them. And guess what? Nobody had filled in the "straight ticket" bubble! However, all but two students had filled in individual bubbles for all the republican candidates. *palm to forehead*

Of course the vast majority of students simply voted the way their parents are voting. (Emma voted the way Brock and I are voting, though she was on the other side of the aisle from the majority here.) So all you parents out there who think your children don't listen to you--you're wrong. They soak up all your opinions, and many times they interpret them in crazy town ways and spout them back to their friends at school. For example, here are a few things I overheard students saying in my classroom today:

• If Obama wins, he'll take away all our money.
• If Obama wins, he'll just get shot anyway.
• If Obama wins, the economy will just get worse.
• If Obama wins, the whole country will have riots.
• Obama is a socialist.
• Obama is a fascist.
• Obama is going to take away all our guns!
• Obama scares the crap out of me.
• Obama is a Muslim.
• Obama hates Mormons.
• Obama is the anti-Christ.

Oh dear. I just have to bite my tongue! I mean, sheesh! Why such hatred? I really don't understand this. They can be pro-McCain without bashing Obama, can't they? I try to ask students to tell me why they support McCain instead of why they hate Obama--and they generally can't come up with a single reason.

I suppose they are quite young, and maybe I shouldn't expect them to think on their own yet, but I would love to help them understand that they should at the very least understand what their "opinions" are based on.

Actually, I would love it if more adults could vocalize why they support their candidate. It seems like lunch time talk is all centered on vague rumors and feelings rather than actual platforms.

It will be nice to have the highly charged atmosphere neutralized in a few days (after everyone calms down from their initial freak-out mode after Obama wins!)

Hope y'all voted!

On the rocks

I suppose most of you who read my blog know that Brock got his teaching certificate last spring. It was a three semester program, even with his Master's under his belt. (Crazy, huh?). Unfortunately, history teaching jobs are extremely hard to come by around these parts. In the six closest districts, only three real history jobs were posted for the 2008-09 school year. One of them was a history/P.E. combo (as, if!), one was an A.P. position (no first years were considered), and one was a plain old 8th grade U.S. history job. Unfortunately, there were thirty-odd applicants for that job, and while he made the short list, he was not offered the contract, even with the absolutely raving evaluations his cooperating teachers gave him. Go figure.

This isn't really uncommon among teachers. The only areas with shortages are elementary, math and science--all other subjects are flooded. I had to deal with a crappy part-time job teaching the druggies who were about to drop out of high school for a year before I landed my current contract. When I was searching, I applied with all the districts from Nebo to Box Elder. I considered myself lucky to land a contract at all--and it was just an extremely happy coincidence that it was in Brigham. In fact, I was considering Boise at one point.

So fast forward to now, what does Brock do with his days? He has been doing some subbing (my students told me they wished he was their teacher instead of me after he subbed for me one day--the little snots!) But most days, he is doing something really cool. His long-time friend, Cody, is a stone mason. Brock has worked with Cody in that past, so he hired him to work on his current project. The great thing about this project is the history behind it all. Cody has been commissioned by a historic preservation society to restore an old kiln in Ogden Canyon.

This is what it looked like when they started.

Cody and Brock hard at work.

This is the chimney, viewing from the top of the kiln. They are still filling in around the chimney. This is what it looks like from the front now. It is far more impressive in person, of course.

The best thing about the kiln work is what it has done to Brock's manly shoulders. He has always had strong shoulders, but now--YOWZA! What a MAN! He comes home dead-tired every night from the hard work, but what an accomplishment! I'm so proud of my hubba-hubba honey!

Halloween adventures

Here's the gang on Halloween night. I guess this will probably be the only time the six of them will be together for Trick or Treating fun--so we made sure to have a great time. The weather was great. The costumes worked out fine. The kids got TONS of candy. So I proclaim the weekend a success.

I'm not quite sure what Rachel is here. A witch, maybe? But she's happy with her costume, so that's all that matters, right?

SPOOKY!!

Jane wanted to be something scary for the first time this year. Usually she's a princess of one sort or another.

Don't worry, she wore her shoes for the Trick or Treating.

Maryanne was a countess. She has very pretty hair.

Kate and her friends dressed up as gypsies. Don't you love the wig?

And the fake eyelashes?

Sarah was a ninja. Girl Power!

Even ninjas need to see . . .

Undead cheerleader, Emma.

In all her blood and gory glory.

I sure love these little stinks! You looked great, girlies!

And the collar still pops!

I'm the student council advisor this year at the middle school. It's lots of work, but lots of fun too. This week is 8th grade week, so we're having dress days each day this week. Today is Decade Day--meaning wear clothes from your favorite decade. So, of course my decade is the 80's. And guess what? I still have some clothes I wore in H.S.

Plus my hair remembers how to do "The Claw" (or "The Awning", if you'd rather)

How many of y'all had a shirt like this? I have a picture somewhere of my freshman (college) boyfriend and I wearing our Coke shirts. His was short sleeves with peach on the top and mint green on the bottom. My roommate had a red and white one. I borrowed from both of them.

While these jeans aren't technically from the 80's, they are from Gap, and they're pegged, so I'm calling them authentic.

Emma wore my old parachute pants and my Gag Me With A Spoon t-shirt. Love the headband, Lu!

Rendezvous

We had a great time at the rendezvous this past weekend. The girls had a fun time exploring and making new friends. There were more than 70 participants, half of them children. We had to sew and sew and sew to get ready, but I think the experience for the kids was certainly worth the effort. Brock made some killer food!!! The weather was gorgeous, and the trees were colorful. We had a great time!

Here's the fam standing in front of our tent. I was shocked when I saw this picture because EMMA IS NEARLY THE SAME HEIGHT AS ME!!!!

Maryanne and Jane

Sarah and Kate

Rachel

Jane was stung by a bee/wasp/hornet something-or-another on Friday morning. The poor girl's cheek looked deformed. It's better now.

We camped next to our friends, the Wrights. There were lots and lots of kids.

Emma

Kate

Emma, Kate and Sadie, our neighbor

Jane

Rachel and Sam

A fabulous potluck dinner. Brock made a wonderful ham and bean dish in a dutch oven. The food was seriously great.

It was a fun time. If anyone wants to come with us in the spring, I think we'll do it again. Now that we have the clothes for our kids, all we need is plates, utensils, washtubs, a water jug, benches, bedding, a fire pit, fire tools . . . I suppose this will be a work in progress for quick some time.

He might be the queen

I have a crazy 6th period class. The problems are tri-fold:

1. The boys outnumber the girls two to one
2. There are six class clowns (and only four corners)
3. It's the end of the day and the students and I are all tired

So earlier this week, four of my six "spirited" students were taking up the four corners, and one was in the middle of the room, surrounded by the quiet kids. That left me one more, very energetic, extremely intelligent, highly distracting boy. I couldn't figure out where to put him. I moved him all over the room, very strategically, of course, trying to figure out the perfect place for him. He just didn't fit anywhere! Finally, I was just tired of trying to strategize, so I moved him to the desk on the side of the room--the one that is purposefully isolated from the rest of the class. It worked, so I actually considered keeping him there, until . . .

The next day. He came to me and begged me to put him back with his peers. I said, "Billy (not his real name), why don't you show me where you can sit without getting into or causing trouble." I handed him my seating chart. He looked at it. He sat in his desk. He studied, scrutinized, even strategized.

Within a minute, he came back to me with the chart and said, "If you move this student here, this student here, and this student here, I can sit here." He seated himself in the front row, closest to me and moved all his distractions (and followers) to places where they would likely be okay as well. Then he said, "Man, this is like chess or something!" (can I get an AMEN?!)

And he's been better ever since!

Ya gotta love 8th grade boys. (In a totally teacher/student sort of a way, of course!)

I think I have a new BFF!

One of my students just brought me a note--from Emma! I'm not sure if I should get after her for writing a note during 4th or if I should go out and buy twinner outfits for us to wear to school tomorrow.

I've been tagged--my first time ever! How about that. So here is it:

8 TV shows I love to watch:
(I don't watch much T.V., so I'm going to start with the present and work my way back through time. We'll see if I can make it clear back to Miami Vice)
1. American Idol
2. The Simpsons
3. Saturday Night Live
4. CSI
5. Oprah
6. Friends
7. Seinfeld
8. Days of Our Lives
(Miami Vice would have been #9)

8 Favorite Restaurants:
(this changes all the time--so here's the as-of-now list)
1. Chez Brock
2. The Athenian
3. Virg's
4. Cafe Rio
5. The Merry Piglets
6. Jeremiah's
7. Peach City
8. Greek Souvlaki

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Ate Brock's delicious biscuits and gravy (he had to get up mighty early, see #2)
2. Took Emma to violin lessons (6:45 a.m.!)
3. Taught school
4. Stayed after school to tutor some struggling kids
5. Listened to Jane reading Nancy Drew
6. Helped Emma with her pitches on the violin
7. Watched Kate raise her eyebrows on every staccato note she played
8. Sat in Cody and Kari's kitchen with Brock where we had some homemade grape juice and a pleasant conversation while the kids played

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Brock getting a teaching contract
2. Emma getting her braces off
3. A decision from the judge
4. UEA
5. Halloween with all six girls (our first time!)
6. This weekend with no girls (it's nice to have a quiet weekend sometimes)
7. The presidential election
8. The Holidays!

8 Things on my wish list:
1. A front yard
2. A second bathroom
3. A teaching contract for Brock
4. A straight front tooth (I had braces for 4 YEARS!)
5. More time with our children
6. To be a published poet
7. To have my old runner's body back--just because I was so fit I could do anything
8. Enough time in the day to actually run. I can't seem to force myself out of bed any earlier than I already do--and night time just plain doesn't work for me.
(Ugh! This list is not parallel! Oh well.)

8 People I Tag:
I really don't think 8 people read this blog, so I'm not going to do this one. I'm a rebel that way! :)