Rain

It rained yesterday, one of those steady rains that last all day. It was nice. Most people do not get too excited about rain but here in the dessert it is rare enough that when we do get a nice soaker we tend to get a little excited and wreck our cars. Yes, people in Arizona cannot drive in the rain. You would think it could not be that hard but for some of us it can proove to be a real challenge. I do not know if it is because all the oils that have built up on the roads during our long dry spells make the roads extra slippery or they cannot figure out how to use their windshield wipers because they are used so seldom or perhaps is just the sheer excitement of the rain that makes them stupid. In any case, we had our share of fender benders yesterday. Today however the sun is shining, it is a pleasant 65 degrees and they will have to figure out another way to screw up the traffic for the rest of us.

Routines are good

Going back to school or work after a break is always hard. I was anticipating a rough morning getting the kids up and out but they surprised me. My son actually got out of bed the first time I asked him and got dressed, ate his breakfast and gathered up his stuff for school. He was all ready to go when the car pool arrived, my daughter got up and only had to be told a half dozen times to get dressed and then she got dressed. She ate her breakfast while I got her backpack ready I brushed her hair and off she went to the neighbors to walk to school with their two boys. I think one of the reasons everything went so smoothly is that Daddy was home when they got up. Normally Daddy leaves the house well before they wake up but the head on his car died and we are down to one car. He had to take me to work this morning but I was able to get a ride home with my supervisor. An incredibly super lady, who I am glad to call my friend. The hubby is taking Wednesday and Thursday off to go to the junk yard to get a new head and replace it with the help of our son’s friend’s father who luckily for us just happened to be a mechanic. It keeps the cost down and that is always a good thing. So with Daddy home I think they were on their best behavior, we will see how tomorrow goes since the sonster has chess in the morning and has to be at school at 7:00am. It is good to back on our routine, I think we all function a little bit better with some structure in our lives.

My Baby

My baby is growing up. I was playing with my son, who wishes to remain nameless in order to avoid embarrassment, and there it was, an armpit hair. I yelled for his dad to come and see. His dad shrugged and said, “It’s an armpit hair.” However, it is so much more then that, it means he is not my baby anymore. So much has changed since we brought him home from the hospital almost two weeks after he was born, a tiny little boy barely four pounds and now he is growing up into such an incredible young man with armpit hair. I am so proud of who he is becoming but I miss the little boy who napped on my chest and gave me Cheetoes because they would make me feel better after a miscarriage, and who thinks I am the coolest mom because I make the best forts and make his mash potatoes green and his pancakes blue. As much as I miss that little boy it has been an incredible experience watching him growing up to be a smart, funny, compassionate young man who I believe will leave his mark on this world. I hope that it will wash off.

School work

I am currently enrolled in a class for my teaching certificate called phonics, reading and decoding. It is the last class I need to take before I can officially enroll in the program. So far, I have done very well. I have taken 23 credit hours and I have a 4.0 average. Yeah me! However, this class is the hardest I have taken so far and I am struggling just to keep a B average. This will really bite if I do not get at least a B in the class because that is what you need to get into the program and I do not want to retake this class. However, as hard as it has been it has also been a lot of fun and very informative. As I learn how to teach reading and decoding, I have to apply those skills to a real live student. My seven-year-old daughter was recruited for the job. She had no choice but has been a good sport about the whole thing. We are actually having fun working together and I can see her reading skills improving. I might actually have what it takes to be a teacher after all. I tend to waffle bout that, some days I think yes I can do this I can teach! Other days I ask my self what do I think I am doing I can’t even control my two kids and think I can control a room full of little ankle biters? My admiration for the people who taught me and who now teach my children has grown tremendously since I started on the path to becoming a teacher myself. I only hope that I will be able to make a difference in a child’s life by giving them a love of learning that will last their whole life long, that and I get my summers off.

*#@!%#$

I finish creating my blog and even enter my first post. You would think all is good, right. Wrong. I go back to check on it sort of like a new mom I just want to make sure my baby is ok but no. My baby is gone as in not there! Instead I am told I have to have a Google account to get my baby back and if I don’t have one to sign in under my using my old blogger information . I try both they say no such e-mail exists or wrong password. I am going nuts now and I still cannot find my blog! I get an e-mail to reset the password and I hit the link and follow the instructions which leads me to a screen that says to reset the password go back to the e-mail, which tells me to hit the link, which sends me back to the e-mail, which makes me crazy! Finally the computer gods must have had pity on me because somehow I came across a screen that said enter new password reenter new password ok you have pleased the computer gods here is your baby blog back. Yes. All is good again. For now.

Hello and welcome to my blog

After being a reader of blogs for several years now, I have finally decided to dip my toes in the blogging waters. So with the help of my favorite gunfighter, Wyatt Earp, here I am. Therefore, to introduce myself, I am a forty-something mother of two. I am the mother of a preteen who is planning to be the next F Lee Bailey. I told him to pretend as if his sister was not there because he was picking on her, so he promptly sat on her. I said "What were you thinking" and he said, "She’s not there".

I am also blessed with a seven-year old who we refer to as the tornado because she leaves a mess wherever she goes and they are very often the damp kind. Besides being a busy mom, I have finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up and have returned to school in order to earn my teaching certificate. I hope that before the end of 2008 I will be a fully certified teacher and more importantly an employed teacher.

I am a conservative republican, which will make me an oddity as a teacher because most of them seem to be of his liberal persuasion. I will do my best to represent the conservative side. I am a Christian and not afraid to say so. I love chocolate almost more then my husband who I dearly love. I have been told I am somewhat sarcastic and that I have an odd sense of humor.

We moved to Arizona from Colorado in 2003 and we are very happy here. True the summers can be brutal but I would rather be here then driving in the snow in Colorado. So now, you have an idea of who I am and what you can expect from this blog are the posts about how school is going, life in the cafeteria, bits about the family, and interesting things going on in Arizona especially as they relate to education, illegal immigrants and why I think Mike Rowe is very hot.