June is Ten Months Old

Poor Junie has been sick! My sister said that she pulled the blanket up all by herself in this picture.

She's starting to walk with her little stroller.

How cute is she?

Skittle Auction

During the last period of the day on Friday, my blood sugar got too low, and after confirming this with my meter, I realized that I was all out of juice in my snack drawer. I quickly recruited a student to get me a Sprite out of the Coke machine in the teacher's lounge. He came back with a Coke (?!) and some Sour Skittles. I don't really care for either one, but I took a few gulps and chews. The kids kept eying them, asking me if I would be kind enough to give any away, so I decided that they would have to work for them during the last five minutes of class.

"Okay. I'm trading one Sour Skittle per one compliment, and you better think of something fabulous. I don't want, 'I like your shirt.' I'm looking for compliments like, 'Your face shines like the glittering rays of the sun.' Okay?"

This little descriptive words exercise got out of hand relatively quickly, with kind compliments turning into pick up lines.

"Your eyes are like glittering jewels."

"It's no wonder you have diabetes. You're just sooo sweet!" (That one got two Skittles.)

And from my sweetest, quietest boy, "Are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only ten I see."

I told him, "Save it for the bars, Sweetheart."

It's times like this I really like teaching middle school. I get a big self-esteem boost in exchange for sugar.

For You, Bev

I got a text from Bev last night saying, "I miss your blog!"

I miss it too... We still don't have a camera. Grrr. Without one, I fear this blog would turn more of a diary instead of a scrapbook. However, if you want an update, you can have one! I'll just ramble for a bit.

1) I went to a Tai Chi class at the gym on Wednesday. It was one of the funniest experiences I've had in the recent past. The class was small - about eight senior citizens and me. The instructor, a middle aged man with long curly hair and a pot belly, could have been played by Will Ferrell in a SNL skit. He kept saying things like this:

"My body is steel on the inside and cotton on the outside."

"I have muscles like a mountain and skin like a baby."

"Comb out the stress. We want to relieve the tension and turn it into a-tension [attention]."

"Breathe in sky. Breathe out earth."

"Tai Chi will cleanse your body of toxins, so you may yawn a lot in this class."

And yes, there was one senior citizen who yawned, LOUDLY, every few minutes or so. There were also stances called lazy rooster, pet the horse, falling monkey, etc. The only thing that kept me from falling apart was trying to mentally record everything so I could tell Nathan later.

2) On Monday Nathan and I had a surprise party for our friend, Mary Lou. It wasn't her birthday, but it was MLK day, so we decided to celebrate her life as well, since she shares the same initials with Martin Luther King. She came to spend the night with us on Sunday night, when we watched a lot of Alias and ate a lot of kettle corn, and then we went shopping the next day at the outlet malls.

Mary Lou kept Nathan and me on our best behavior while spending the very generous gift card from some folks at church at Jos. A. Bank, a men's suiting store. Mary Lou is a frequent shopper there, and she helped us pick out some great stuff! The manager there, Philip, was very... country... and kept us laughing like crazy. When he measured Nathan, he said, "I'm gonna get up right close and personal now."

Nathan cringed and said, "But I'm a minister, a man of the cloth!"

Philip: "Put your arms down."

Me: "He never puts his arms down all the way. That's just how he stands."

Philip: "Well, then you must be Pentecostal."

Nathan came out of the dressing room wearing a certain pair of dress slacks. Philip then suggested that Nathan go up a pant size, but Nathan didn't want to. Philip said, "Well, one church social and you'll be out of them pants." Mary Lou and I cracked up, but Philip kept right on and said, "You can tell what I am! I'm a Baptist. I like to eat."

When we pulled up to the house after our long shopping trip, all of Mary Lou's closest friends were there with balloons and various yummy foods for dinner. She was so surprised! The timing worked out perfectly, because Mary Lou just found out she's going to have back surgery in a few weeks, and she had been discouraged. It blessed my heart to see her so blessed. She said, "This is one for the memory books." :)

3) The annual youth ski trip is this weekend, and I bought a book - a hardcover book - at Barnes and Noble with a gift card and a teacher discount to give myself something fun to look forward to. It's called The Help, and I've heard it's really good. We'll see...

I'm out of things to ramble about right now. I'll leave you with a picture of June, who is sick right now for the first time in her life, and the car my parents got her for Christmas. :)