Recession????

As I water my house plants with left over water from work (it's free from the water fountain) in an attempt to lower my water bill, and calculate how I will pay tolls and gas in order to get to work next year (we have already been informed we are getting a $3000 pay cut) I wonder if I should ask for this:


or this:I think it's better then this...right? These commercials are nauseating.

Yes, one of my students really wrote this. No, it is not the correct answer. What do you think the answer is?

Stephanie at Just the 2 of Us tagged me for this one...so here goes:
You must share 10 honest things about yourself and then choose 7 other people to nominate this award to!
10. I am terrified I will never get married. People always tell me 'you are still SO young', however, at almost 27 that just isn't true anymore. And if I never get married....
9. I am concerned I will never have kids. I see all these celebrities pop out kiddos at ages well over 40, but I don't want my kids' friends to think I am grandma! I also know you get thrown into the 'high risk' category at 35...and that's just around the corner for me. YIKES!
8. I may have a touch of OCD. I check both locks on my back door and garage door, and the single deadbolt on my front door at least 8 times before I go to sleep. I have added opening the garage door to ensure the garage is closed all the way. It's bad...I will wake up in the middle of the night at least one time a night to check everything again.
7. I am extremely Liberal (not a very popular view for living in Texas). Extremely...here are some examples: I think drugs should be legal, I think prostitution should be legal, I am happy we don't have a Republican president. I think you get it so before I offend my few followers and readers I will stop.
6. I love my nieces as if they were my own children. Well, you know what I mean. Since I don't have human kids I can't really compare, but I do hope my sister and BIL have left the girls to me in their will. Of course I don't want anything to happen to them, but I would love raising the girls.
5. I have a crazy obsession/fondness/love for even numbers. And I often let it control my life. (Maybe I do have a full blown case of OCD.)
4. I love the students I teach. But, if given the opportunity, I would tell the majority of their parents how terrible they have done at raising them. (Again, since I don't have human kids I won't go in to detail, but manners, respect and common sense are often learned behaviors...I'm just saying!)
3. I let my heart influence too many important decisions. If you want examples, please ask, to me it's kind of sad and disappointing.
2. I insist that all closet doors and bedroom doors be closed. The only exception is when I sleep and I will not have the door closed when I sleep. (OCD is really looking serious now.)
1. I am blunt. If I don't like something I am going to say it...this especially applies at work!

I am going to tag as many people as I can for this, but since I don't have many followers I may duplicate what Stephanie did:
1. Krystyn @ Really, Are you Serious?
2. Papa Bear @ The Hall Family
3. Rachel @ Clumsy Me, Oddity
4. Stephanie @ A Little Bit of Sugar & a whole lot of Spice!
5. Tim (Yes, Tim. If Matt is doing it so can Tim!) @ Daugherty Family

Wanna Win Something??????

Check out my amazing sister's blog for a chance to win!!!!!!

Explicit Material! Read with CAUTION!

Upon our return to work for the 09-10 school year, we were told paper would be very limited- it's expensive, and we waste too much of it. OK, no big deal. They will give us other tools/resources to use to teach. We get all these lovely, colorful, 'exciting' power-points that tell us how technology has changed over the years. While I am 26 years old (which most think is quite young) it made me feel old...I have no idea what the gray haired folks felt like. Anyway, we were told to you use our document cameras (ELMO) as often as possible in order to not use up the limited supply of paper we have. OK, no problem. Use the (ELMO) or make class sets...got it.

Fast forward to 7 painful, boring, miserable staff development days later...The kids arrive to their first day of school. As many of us go over our classroom rules and procedures (using our ELMO's, of course) our bulbs start to go out. We can just replace it, right? I mean, if we can't use paper and are forced to use the ELMO they should have replacement parts, correct? It's just common sense. Ummmm, not so much. The bulbs are $385 each, and our school doesn't have ANY, or the money to order more!!! At this point we are all thinking "ARE YOU F*&^ING CRAZY, SCHOOL DISTRICT!?!?"

So, people are all upset at our Technology Specialist (who I will call 'Tailpipe', and will explain why later) for not telling us what to do to maintain our ELMO and not ordering bulbs But wait, 'Tailpipe' tells us we should have all cleaned out the filters to our ELMO's before using them. What? Como? Air filter? That wasn't on the power point. Then 'Tailpipe' let's us know we are supposed to be responsible for cleaning our equipment.

WAIT JUST ONE MINUTE!!!!!...'Tailpipe' is the Technology GURU at our school. If we touch anything he goes off on us! Seriously, he is the grumpiest, most angry evil person I have ever met (at our school, at least)! So, he can't admit that 1) he didn't clean the equipment while it sat in his office all summer 2) he didn't order the bulbs to replace the broken ones and 3) he recommended that our district get equipment that has such expensive replacement parts.....and he is a SPECIALIST!!!

So, why do I call him 'Tailpipe'???? He has one of those Smart-cars. And he brags about it all the time. (I do know they are good for the environment and all, but for the cost and what you get they are a rip off. But, he loves to remind me he can plug his i-pod directly into the outlet! OMG! That's amazing! I can plug my i-pod into my 1998 Nissan Altima!!!!!!) Anyway, I have decided that he must love his car so much because it is putting out. I can just picture him waking up in the middle of the night, running into the garage (of course his Smart-car can't sit outside) to spend some time with his Smart-car's tailpipe. I know it's disturbing, but if you knew the man you would agree!
And that tailpipe is hard to get to..... I guess 'Tailpipe' loves a challenge!

Thirteen Reasons I am Excited to be Back at Work:
1. A. Cutter
2. W. Cipriano
3. N. Hancock-Webb
4. D. Taylor
4. L. Walls
5. L. Sanders
6. K. O'Connell
7. Gonzalez
8. Carter
9. V. Hernandez
10. S. Lancaster
11. K. Hallberg
12. B. Harrington
13. K Pugh

I am looking forward to a great 2009-2010 school year!!!

Capturing a picture with Blubs and Sampson simultaneously....I had fun! Clearly, the girls were over it!