Are you smarter than a fifth grader?

Today my students were reading silently as I circulated around the room and observed behavior. One student was reading a book called Dog Friday and I picked it up to read the back. (Because I had never seen the book.) The first sentence speaks about 2 obstreperous girls in their hometown. I have never seen the word obstreperous and so I asked the student if he knew what it meant. He said no, well, he actually said "Nuh-uh." Nice. I thought...hmmm...this IS a fifth grade book. It is bad that the fifth grade teacher doesn't even know what obstreperous means. So, we looked it up. We found out the easy way. Do you know what it means? Use the poll on the right to take a guess. (DON'T LOOK IT UP IN A DICTIONARY THOUGH! THAT WOULD BE CHEATING!) Go ahead...take a guess. What do you have to lose?

Look Great in 2008!

Okay, okay. I'll admit it to you. But just to you...don't tell anyone else, okay? Here goes. I fell off the weight loss wagon. I'm sure you noticed that my ticker hasn't moved since...June. You probably also noticed that I was not signing in over at Tales from the Scales. I KNOW! I have been terrible. I was so persistent in May...successful even...in losing a few pounds. I liked it. Then, I rewarded myself with ice cream. Yummm...Ice cream! Anyway, I am now trying to be back on the weight loss train again. I am excited for this...and we'll see if I can stay on the wagon a bit longer this time, huh? (If you want to know more about this challenge, click on the scale on the right hand side of this screen.)

You know what makes me laugh?

I haven't made a list in a long time...so I thought I would give it whirl again. I was watching a show called "Just for Laughs" on TV the other night and got to thinking about all the things that make me laugh. Here is my (completely incomplete) list...in no particular order...of things that usually make me laugh.

1. People falling down.
2. Billboards like "Eat here. Get Gas." bwahahahahah
3. Other people's flatus. (Farting) and yes, I know how immature that is!
4. Drew
5. Babies laughing

Brian did it!

Do you remember that I told you about Brian Thomas running 50 MILES to raise money for the lupus foundation? Well, he did it! (If you want to see a few photos click here.) It took him 9 hours 30 minutes and 24 seconds to complete the run. Geez...I feel like a big fat lazy. I struggle just trying to run 30 minutes...let alone 9 HOURS! He has almost raised the $5000, but is just shy by about $780. If you still want to donate, click here! Congratulations Brian!

The Sad Realization

On my way to school this morning I flipped the radio over to the local "oldies" station. To my dismay the song that came blaring from the speakers was "Is this Love?" by Whitesnake. My immdiate thought was that I must have hit the wrong button. So, I pushed the button again to the "oldies" station and sure enough, Whitesnake was singin' his heart out. Immediately, I began to panic. I mean, if Whitesnake was on the oldies station and I used to DANCE to Whitesnake at the high school dances....that means... I think you KNOW what that means. By process of logical reasoning, one could assume that if I danced to as song on the oldies station in high school...I must be old. So, I did what any of you would have done, I immediately flipped over to the hippest station around to raffirm to myself as young and groovy. To my further dismay, the song coming forth from my speakers I decided was too loud and lewd to be listening to. I caught myself even saying, in my head of course, "Is this the crap kids listen to these days?!" So, please Bloggy friends...be brutally honest with me...Am I old?

Comfort Food

Are you familiar with that term? You know, it's foods that make you feel all good inside. I love love love comfort foods...more than I should really...but tonight was the ultimate in comfort foods, Macaroni and Cheese. I made if from "scratch" ya'll. I mean I bought the noodles and the velveeta and melted it all together. yummm...it was delish. I have heard about other comfort foods. I have added a new poll where you can vote for your favorite comfort food. Enjoy!

It's Pumkin Time! (Well, Almost.)

Okay, Ya'll, we haven't posted any pictures lately, so...I thought it was high time. Above you see Drew standing on the edge of our massive garden. You can about 1/4 of it here. See? I told you...it's huge! We also planted pumpkins this year. We planted 3 different kinds of pumpkins in the garden. First, we planted some smaller pumpkins that are used mostly for pie making. Second, we planted some medium-sized pumpkins for making jack-o-lanterns. FUN FUN! Then, finally we got all wild and crazy and planted the big boys. The giants of pumpkins. The colossal super pumpkins that can grow to over 100 pounds. Yes, you read that right, over 100 pounds. Well, Drew's boss's wife asked for a few to use in a craft show and so we picked a few early. (Tonight.) I was so excited that I couldn't hardly stand it because orange pumpkins mean fall is here, or almost at least. When I was a kindergarten teacher I always read the book "It's Pumpkin Time!", "Pumpkin, Pumpkin", and "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything" to the students. I LOVED IT! We carved pumpkins, baked the seeds, voted on a face. Such fun. And a mess....a big one. Always. The kids would stick their hands inside the pumpkin and pull the seeds and other stringy ickies out. It was really fun to watch their faces as they experienced all of that. Anyway, if you have small children, or nieces/nephews etc., I would highly recommend these books for this time of the year. (You can click on the link above to see the books OR to purchase them from Amazon.com.) So, I arranged the pumpkins and practiced my photography skills and took the fabulous picture for you to see. (As a side note, did ya notice the fantabulous grass? did ya? did ya? We have worked so hard on this lawn. You can't even tell that a year ago this area of our lawn was a huge brown dirt patch. Thanks to Drew and his talent for plant care, look at what we have now! Whoo hooo.)

News from the old stompin' grounds

I often read CNN news and Yahoo news over my lunch time just to pass the time and stay abreast (yes, I used the word abreast) of events in the world. I was...shall we say intrigued...by this article today on Yahoo News in the ODD news section. I was disgusted to learn that this guy was caught in Angola Indiana! Yikes...what has the toll road come to?

Pillow Paradise

A few weeks ago, okay...a few MONTHS ago, we started to notice that our pillows were just plain getting lazy. They were flat. They were deflated. They were no good really for sleeping. They looked like folded sheets and that was all. So, I kept saying "I'll get us some new pillows!" But, I delayed. Every time I went to the store I would walk past the pillows and feel guilty. I would just ignore them because I was holding out. Holding out for the best pillow I had ever had. Finally, we bought some this weekend. We went to Herberger's and they were having a pillow sale. (Entire stock of pillows - Buy One/Get One Free - SWEEEEET!) We bought 2 Perfect Pillows. No really...they are perfect. AND, they are actually called The Perfect Pillow. I slept last night like a baby. Di-vine! I love new pillows.