Kitten Me

I love cats, but I have never had a kitten! This picture has me jonesing for a kitten now:


from cuteoverload

Boo!

I just glanced at my blog and realized that all I've been posting are videos. Lame, I know. Honestly, I haven't had much time to do much of anything except stay afloat with my school stuff or catch up on homelife. It's pretty uninteresting. I also haven't had time to take many photos. However, this weekend I celebrated my birthday. My parents came up for a visit and saw our place actually put together. Then, we went to Cambria, Morro Bay, and San Luis. The day after all that fun stuff, my hubster and I went to the art museum to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. Hopefully, I'll be able to post those pictures soon.

When I do have a free moment, I have been reading The Mysterious Benedict Society. It is an A-mazing book! In certain ways, it's very Harry-Potteresque with the whole unique-orphan-goes-on-a-quest-type plot. There are many other elements that allows for it stand out from behind Harry's shadow. It's well-paced and keeps you interested. I highly recommend it. Watch out, it's super addictive. I can't wait to finish it and move onto the sequel!

Let California Ring

Post Secret (Sunday Oct 26)

Oddly perfect?

As Jonathan Swift Said..

"May you live all the days of your life."

I just wanted to thank everyone who makes this possible in my life. Without having people to care about and who care about you in turn, life would be as tedious as waiting in a doctor's waiting room. My life is so much more than that. A huge warm thanks!

Early Bird

I'm one of those people that has to customize everything. Of course, I customized my iGoogle page. I picked one of those themes that changes with the time of day. This morning I signed in and saw my theme sleeping! I had never seen it like that before. Should I take the hint?

Nothing Like Recession Shopping Sprees

How to Spend $150,000 at Saks and Neiman Marcus

10/22/08 at 4:31 PM

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Photo: Getty Images

When Sarah Palin traded up from her Naughty Monkey shoes, she traded up. According to financial records, the Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 on her clothes, accessories, hair, and makeup. Extravagant shopping sprees took place just after McCain announced her as his running mate, according to Politico: more>>

Closer - Ne-Yo

HappySlip

Here's one of our new favorites on YouTube. My hubster stumbled across her. She's hilarious and uber creative. Enjoy!

He Passed!

My hubster passed his motorcycle test on Friday. Yay! Now, he can have me as a legal passenger. Yesterday, we went on our first ride around our small town. We went to the park and the grocery store. It was a lot of fun. I can't wait for more fun rides to come.

Colin Powell Gives the Best Endorsements

Happy Almost Halloween!

1. 1950's Charles Dye Halloween Calendar Top, 2. Pumpkin Girl, 3. Cats in the Window Pumpkin, 4. All 3 candy corns, 5. Hallowe'en Moon, 6. Halloween Pre-Paint, 7. patch o' pumpkins, 8. Jack & Sally, 9. Wooooooooooooo!

Halloween is only about two weeks away. Yay! With our new place being in an actual neighborhood with kids, we get to give out candy for the first time. I also had to come up with a new costume this year because I didn't feel like being a witch and it's hard to teach with a witch hat on. This year, I'm going to be a fall tree. Yes, there probably will be pictures I can post. Stay tuned!

Career Opportunities

My friend Nicole and I go through days when we wished we had picked any other occupation that involves children except for teaching. Those days roll around when this program is totally kicking our butts. Here's our cycle of alternate career opportunities:

When it's sort of bad and we still have enough energy to move:



It's our nanny day.
We still love kids.
We wouldn't mind working with just one family.

When it's almost unbearable and
we're on the verge of being surrogate mother pandas:



It's a housewife day!
I only want to take care of my kids
and clean the house!

As Nicole put it so eloquently, "This week is a straight up housewife week!" Thank God tomorrow's Wednesday!

Going Batty

Me: I need to work on my bat blindfold.
Nicole: (confused) Like Batman?
Me: Well, I guess kind of but without the eye holes.
Nicole: Why? (still confused)
Me: Not for fun! For my kids, I'm doing a bat lesson tomorrow.
Nicole: (excited ) Do I get to use my scrapbook paper and scissors?
Me: Thanks but I have felt.
Nicole: I have felt too! I'll make one with you.

Going batty is contagious!

A Whale of a Fish Tale

Growing up in the south and being a freshwater fisherman, large catfish are both folklore and reality to me. In the south, some large catfish can be found in secluded farm ponds or around dams, and stories abound of divers observing huge catfish, particularly blue catfish, around dams across the south.

However, folklore seems to have evolved into an extreme reality in India where large catfish might be preying on humans. Some type of creature, in the sacred Hindu Great Kali river, has allegedly pulled three teenagers under its waters. Locals believe that a type of catfish called the goonch has grown large enough, after feeding on partially burnt corpses from funeral pyres, to prey on living humans. more>>

Me = Tortillas

Hubster: "These tortillas are really soft. They're like your face."

Yes, he meant it as a compliment, but I can't decide if the compliment was meant for me or the tortillas. lol. :)

I'm a Rebel

Apparently, I'm a rebel. Watch out! No joke. I got in trouble in seminar yesterday for doing other work--just like 50% of the other people there. The other 50% of the people there were just spaced out. My tablemates thought it was preposterous that I got busted. My other friends cracked up when I told them. The whole situation was ridiculous. Then, it got even more ridiculous. I found out that the teacher who got annoyed with me will be my math teacher for a whole quarter! Oy Vey! Oh, fate why do you have play such games? My plan is to lay low for a little while for the next couple of seminars. I won't bring my beloved lappy. I'll just join the other 50% of non-productive-daydreamers. Yay for daydreaming!

I Know I'm A Teacher-In-The-Making When... (Part 2)

I know I'm a teacher-in-the-making when...

I feel a little hand tug at me followed by "Mrs. T---, I need you to tie my shoes."
I have to read stories with words that have only three letters.
I hear kiddos comparing about how many teeth they have lost.

One Plus+

One plus of moving further from where we work/go to school is that we get to see the beautiful sunrise illuminate the Pacific Ocean every morning.

To Be a Kid Means...

One of the writing assignments for rotations this week was to write what does it mean to be a kid. It was a super cute book that they had to write in and illustrate. Here are some of my favorites that my kiddos came up with:

To be a kid means...

to help others.
to have a mom.
to be cared for by people who love them.
to go to Paris.
to lose teeth.
to take care of animals.

Monkey Business

Lucky Ducky

Sometimes, I wonder why I'm so lucky. I always think I have more than I deserve. Then, I start to wonder when will my luck run out. There's no way I could be this lucky, especially when there's so many of those who are down on their luck. I hope I can do right with all this luck. :)

Shy That Way - Tristan Prettyman & Mr. A-Z (J.Mraz)

Extra Baggage

For the past couple of days, the wear and tear of this intense grad program has been showing. I woke up with totally visable bags under my eyes. Of course, I shared my shock and discontent with my friends. Here were their responses:

Andy: Does that mean that you're going to be taking a trip somewhere?;)
Me: Yes, an eyeball vacation!

Nicole: (looks straight at my eyes) It's not that bad.
Me: Thanks for the honesty! You sound just like an Asian mom. :)

I love the my friends keep me laughing. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Giddy Up Space Cowboy!

from flickr

Simon's Cat in "TV Dinner"

I'm Not Six-Pack Joe or a Hockey Mom

During last week's VP debate, Sarah P. mentioned Six-Pack Joe and hockey moms. What about me? Who will represent us not-so-fresh-out-of-college-grads who are just trying to make it by? I'm not a blue-collared worker who works his fingers to the bone in a factory. I don't pretend to work as hard as blue-collared workers either. Just because I have a college degree, doesn't mean life is peachy keen for me though.

Watch Out: Student Driver

Today, I got down to business and learned how to drive my hubster's stick shift car. He's been attempting to convince me to do it for the last couple of moments since his car gets better mileage. I didn't have the inkling to do so until I realized I don't want my gorgeous car run down into the ground because I'm too lazy to learn how to drive his car. Guilt is always a good reason to learn something right? I almost have it down. I just have to practice shifting gears more fluidly but I have the jist of it down. While he was teaching me this is a conversation we had:

Me: This is hard.
Hubster: Why is it hard? It's not as hard as teaching.
Me: You're right! It's not as hard as teaching.
Hubster: Yea, I know.

In that little brief exchange, I got enough confidence to really give it some effort. Thanks hubster for always putting my life into perspective for me when I'm too deep in the muck to do it myself. :) I heart you.

p.s.
My hubster has decided that we will always have at least one stick shift car, so our kiddos will be forced to learn how to drive one. He's always planning ahead.

Leeky

from Martha Stewart

Today, I made my hubster the leek tart pictured above to go with our grilled salmon. He had some serious doubts when I picked up the puff pastry at the supermarket. He looked at the box and said, "I don't want strawberries with my salmon" because the box had a picture that looked like this:

With a few minor adjustments (adding tomatoes and feta cheese) to the recipe, the tart was a success. My hubster said, "You have to repeat this whatever it is." I told him it came from Martha and he eagerly replied with a "Thank you Martha." He devoured it during dinner. After I told him that I couldn't finish the remaining bit of my corner slice, he gladly snatched it from my plate and gobbled it. Yay my hubster likes tarts! Isn't he fancy?

Next step, learning how to make my tart more golden. I tried putting butter on it, but it didn't turn out as golden as the picture. Do I need an egg wash?

It's Alright

Last week, we were downtown trying to make a quick run to Borders before we had to meet up friends for dinner. We stumbled across this pair of homeless men and their dog. One of the men asked us for any spare change. My hubster's policy is to not take out his wallet in front of homeless people to give them money. I've come to respect that decision for the sake of our general safety. To help him feel more comfortable, I usually try to take money out as we're approaching someone we want to help.

Unfortunately, I didn't take out the money in time. This time we told the man that we didn't have any spare change. His response? It's alright. He didn't say it in a malicious tone, just a-matter-of-fact-don't-worry-about-it tone. I really respected him for that. Normally, we run into homeless people who will ask for us money or yell something back at us if we say no. I genuinely appreciated him being kind to us even though we weren't able to help him.

Ludacris and Martha Yo!

Pair Up for Halloween

During class the other day, I stumbled across couple costumes. Now, I'm trying to convince my hubster to pick one. Here are some of the cheese-tastic choices. My vote is for the bacon & eggs.

My Friends Are So Witty

This is my friend Eliot's current status: "If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself" with a link to his article: Palin Problem.