Things for those of us living in the Mid-Atlantic continue along as usual. The school year is speeding by. We just began the 4th quarter, which means I should have about 9 weeks to finish teaching my material, but I realized the other day that it's much less. The students had 2 days off for teacher inservices, spring break is taking up a week and a day, and then we have an entire week of state testing that pretty much renders everything else at school pointless. I still have two major works to cover with my juniors, so I guess we're going to have to abridge something (probably Black Boy, which I don't care for anyway).
They interesting news for me in March was my trip to Lompoc/ Santa Barbara. Due to school committments, I was unable to make it to Great Grandma Ruth's memorial service, but I went out to spend the weekend with the family. Although it was an unfortunate reason to get together, it was fun to see everybody that I haven't seen in a while. Everybody seems to be doing very well and growing up quickly. Aside from Dalton and Mackenzee, we're all adults now, so that changes the dynamic a lot from what most of my memories of Lompoc are like. I am looking forward to spending a bit more time with the family at Vickie's graduation, and am glad Billy is going to be able to join all of us for that. I might get to stay a few extra days late because it is looking like school will be over for me on June 8.
The only other interesting thing going on with me right now is that I'm trying to learn how to cook. At first it was a big pain because I didn't know what we would like, what I would be able to make, etc. Now that I've gotten used to the menu planning and finding things in the grocery store, however, I am enjoying it. I have this cookbook called "Cheap, Fast, Good" which is turning out to have quite a few meals that fit the title. Tonight was the first time I made something out of a fancier cookbook (one of Rachel Ray's) and it was also the first time I hated what I made (mooshu pork pockets) so maybe I will stick to the simple stuff for a while. The only other frustration that continues to be associated with cooking is that it's kind of a pain to cook for 2 people, and since neither Billy or I are crazy about eating leftovers, it means a lot of extra food. We're trying to make ourselves eat the leftovers... but even if we don't, it's still cheaper than going out to dinner.
I am excited about the baseball season starting up tonight/tomorrow, as well. Billy and I went to Camden Yards yesterday with his family for an exhibition game vs. the Nationals. It was fun to see them bring everybody out and shift people around before they had to set up the official roster. Billy is excited because an Orioles prospect named Nick Markakis made the final cut, and he has looked good in the few spring training games we've watched, as well as putting up a good performance at last night's game. Billy has been following him as he has made his way through the orioles farm system, so he's looking forward to seeing him play in 'the show.'
The A's are looking really good this season, if you haven't already heard, so I'm pretty excited about that. I hardly ever get to watch them out here, but I'm looking forward to going to see them when they come to Baltimore. If their pitching turns out to be as good as it looks, I'm hoping they'll have a few extra day games on national TV.
Although the weather has been warm here the past few days, we are due to get some below freezing weather toward the end of the week. I am ready for it to be warm for good and looking forward to the summer. I think I'm going to take one master's class to see if I'm interested in the program I'm looking at, and possibly try to find a retail job at Border's or Barnes and Noble or somewhere like that to put some extra money in the bank. The cruise with Billy's family to celebrate his parents' anniversary once seemed so far off, but now it's just about 3 months away. We don't really have any other plans for the summer (no weddings this year) so if I'm able to spend a few days at home after Vickie's graduation, Billy and I might be able to fit in another vacation somewhere. At this point a trip to the apartment swimming pool sounds pretty good; I'm ready for it to be hot!
you took down your editorials on the teacher colleagues? Did someone get offended?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a good one, and that maybe some people OUGHT to think before they open their mouths. They want we taxpayers to think they are professionals..they should act like professionals.
dad