A Low Key 4th

My parents went away for 8 days, leaving me and the youngest (plus dog plus cat plus rabbit) at the homestead. I was going to go with my parents since this has been our family vacation for over 20 years, but I was politely uninvited when my sisters both declined. They probably thought that 8 days of just their 1st born would be tragic.

On Saturday (Court's birthday) we had some company from Massachusetts-my second cousin and my great uncle Donnie. We went to Cici's to unhealthily binge on pizza. At night Corey made a fire and we roasted marshmallows/made S'mores.

I really wanted to have a somewhat festive 4th of July so I made homemade "fried" chicken-which came out so juicy and delicious and my bacon ranch potato salad and some blueberry dessert with marshmallows. It was just Corey and I all day so it was kind of quiet and relaxing. We did bring his 4 year old niece over to swim in the afternoon. Then in the afternoon we watched an Indy Car race, because what is 4th of July without that!?! (HA!) At night we took a walk around the neighborhood with Murphy trying desperately to see the pathetic little fireworks through the pine trees that were being set off by random people. Apparently Nazareth's fireworks are at the end of July. This makes no sense to me.

I loved having a long weekend with Corey! On Monday we were big dorks and went to see Toy Story in 3d. Corey insisted on wearing his 3d glasses for more than just the movie. It was a cute movie. I think you should go see it. :) But it is weird being in that theater. I don't go there much but when I do I am reminded of how we had our first kiss there 10 years ago while watching "Summer Catch" with Freddie Prince Jr, which was after our first date there to see "Big Momma's House." 10 YEARS ago. I feel like I am getting so old. And time is moving too fast.

Here are some pictures of our 4th of July Weekend-and sorry I have no idea how to format them:
Regretfully, I do not have a picture of my boyfriend in his stylish 3d glasses.

Lazy

Is it seriously July 2nd already?!? 2010 is half over! Why does time feel like it speeds up the older you get? I need to go to bed now, but I was just reminding my blog that I haven't forgotten about it (completely). Will post an update of my thrilling adventures or lack thereof soon...

Blog Clog

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately. This mostly has to do with the fact that I don't have internet at my house anymore. So my available times to blog (until I go to my parents for the summer) are very limited.
We won't get into why I don't have internet anymore, but it is frustrating.

So what's been new with me?
-Well, I passed my last grad class with an "A."
-I have started a new grad class that seems like it is going to be ridiculously time consuming. It will go until August 1. :(
-I am ready to lose my mind at work. The students are "done" learning, which makes it difficult to do anything. I have to CREATE 4 finals still, and the task seems daunting.
-I am trying to coordinate our international fair, which is going to be held this Saturday. The ESL students from all 6 schools in the district + their families are attending this event. I am on my own for planning and executing, except for 1 elementary teacher who is helping me. My dad can't help because he will be in Canada. My mom (who was supposed to be in charge of the food-she volunteered herself in January) is taking Courtney (who was supposed to do an African display at the fair) to North Carolina for a sorority conference for the weekend. So everyone bailed on me. AND to make matters worse, my aunts/cousins/sister are going to OCNJ for the weekend and now I can't go because of this fair. That leaves my loving and caring boyfriend to help me set up, cook, decorate, haul crap, and entertain over 80 kids/people! :) God bless Corey.
-I went to Florida for my 2nd cousin's wedding. She looked beautiful! Congrats to Jaimie and Nick!! I had a blast and even though the visit was super short, I got a bit of a tan. And I got sunburn in only one place! My butt. Ouch.
-My 2nd cousin (Jaimie's brother) and his wife had a baby yesterday! Welcome to the world Tristin Blake! I can't wait to meet him, but he lives in Tennessee, so I think I will have to wait awhile.
-June 18= Freedom! The kids finish the 16th and I am finished the 18th! I can't wait for summer. This summer seems to be shaping up to be uneventful, just like last summer. But, at this point, uneventful sounds fine. I just want to sleep and soak up sunshine. And, bummer to Corey living in Philadelphia all summer. :( But good for him for getting some paychecks at an internship.

I think that is the latest run-down on my life!

Cinco de Mayo Loco

I wish I got credit for blogging here instead of on my grad school discussion forum because I am rocking my blogging frequency here...and not so much for my school DF. :(

Now..on to what this post is dedicated to: Cinco de mayo (or Cinco de mayonnaise because that is what I always think of when I read this word). I have a few Mexican students and so we had a fiesta. The problem was that I have them from 8-9 AM, so it was more like breakfast time. Here is the good thing: 7th and 8th graders don't care and will eat and/or drink whatever in the morning. We had a complete fiesta that was so much fun! I was really getting into it. Not as much as Daniel though- the Russian boy who took his shirt off (when I went to get paper towels) and was shimmying with a sombrero on to some Mexican song playing on my CD player. We had music, dancing, streamers from the ceiling, refried beans made by a Mexican grandma, fresh guacamole that one of my 12 year olds made this morning in front of us, Russian chocolate wafers, Buffalo Ranch Doritos, European Aloe Vera juice, and....of all beverages to serve at 8 AM to teenagers: one girl brought in Moutain Dew Volt or Voltage or something. Side note-can you tell from that list that most of my students don't shop at Giant? It is usually from some ethnic market so we get a nice mix of food. I brought in Hot Tamales-those spicy candy things like Mike and Ikes. I thought I had cups, but only had those little bathroom ones..so..I had to pour drinks like every 10 seconds. You can fit like 1 oz. in those cups because of the soda fizz. Mt. Dew was everywhere and I am pretty sure the janitors will hate my classroom now. They were toasting to "ESL class forever." I love them. Although when we were toasting with those little tiny cups, I am pretty sure it looked as though I was handing out shots of Tequila or something. I promise, I wasn't. Here is one pic I snapped with my phone this morning. This is one of my 7th grade girls from Taxco, Mexico. :)

We had a lot of fun and then at 9:30 I had to rush them off to hear a Holocaust survivor speak, which was very sad. Talk about a change of events!

Favs

Currently, I am hooked on 2 things:

1. Starbucks Dark Cherry Mochas. I have a problem when I have too much caffeine. It interferes with medicine I take and I shake and get obnoxious. I remember when I had my first coffee freshmen year in college during fall finals. I was up all night in the library and I was so jittery that my writing looked like a 3 year olds and I was on the verge of having a panic attack. So I haven't had much coffee in my life. BUT, I had a dark cherry mocha the other day because I didn't think I could make it through work without falling asleep. WOW! My students thought I was insane. They loved my energy. And..it put me in a really good mood. Plus, it tasted fabulous. Sweet, but good.

2. Train. I got their new CD from my parents for Easter. I could listen to it over and over again and never get sick of it. Totally recommend the entire CD. I love the songs: Save Me, San Francisco, I Got You, Soul Sister, and Marry Me. They are playing with John Mayer in Hershey July 25 I think. I REEEALLLLY want to go, but I have no one to go with and the tickets are kind of expensive.

Superlatives are Sexy!

I was just grading some papers from the High School. Let me give you a background of the assignments...Lesson: Comparative and Superlative Adjectives. On an index card walk around the room and write 7 sentences comparing you and your classmates in this ESL class now. Sample sentences given: Sam is tall but Roman is taller. Sebastian is the tallest in the class.

Ok-so I am reading the cards this morning and this is what I find on one of my sophomore boy's:

#5. Dah Ler (girl in the class) is sexy but Miss Plamer is sexyest in the room.

Note: incorrect spelling of my NAME! and sexyest. Ugh. High school boys!!! Totally were not supposed to use the teacher in your examples. And stop sitting in the front row staring at me. Thanks, creeper kid.

And then, while grading the advanced classes essays about a book and character collage they had to do...
One of my junior boys, when asked why he put that specific item on his collage, in his WRITTEN essay, he writes: "I chose this picture because it was my favorite part in the book. The girl had big boobies and I love boobies."
That was his concluding sentence and then he turned it in for his final project grade. What are these kids thinking? Nevermind. I don't think I want to know.

Good News!

Grad school has been kicking my butt as of late. Mostly because I find it hard to strike a balance between doing work for work and doing work for school. Whenever I work on one of those two for an extended period of time, I feel guilty like I should be doing the other one.

I have had the same Prof. 2 classes in a row now. I thought the guy hated me. He is seriously one of the most intelligent people I have ever conversed with, but he is so blunt it borderlines being rude. Let me give you an example of one of his messages to my (small) class of like 15 people:
Please do not email me with questions or problems. I get too many emails in one day and don't have time for yours. Send your queries to Stephen and he will contact me. Only do this on Thursday evening and I will get back to you at my leisure.


I turned in my paper the other day which had basically been consuming my life the last 2 weeks. And...I shall brag a bit because [it's my blog] I worked hard!!!! I got an "A." Considering the last course he refused to give me an "A", I think this is a great accomplishment. I really want to tell people, but no one really cares about my paper about Options in Grammar Teaching. :( The stupid paper is worth 50% of my entire grade. So this is good news for me. Now if I can only survive until the end of May................