Because my weekends are goingby in a whirlwind of crazy and have been for weeks, and will continue to do so for months to come. Yesterday for instance I had brunch with the Olsons (my favorite family), drove to Aurora for a stampin' party with Sarah (hosted by another high school friend), and worked on stuff for Jamie's wedding shower.
Today, my mom and I took Nick, Nataly, and Mandy to the zoo for Nick's second birthday. Wait, just in case you didn't catch that, let me say it again- NICK'S SECOND BIRTHDAY. Like, seriously? Because I'm pretty sure it's been about six months since I graduated from AU and he was two weeks old when that happened, so...somebody screwed up their math, and for once I don't think it was me! But we had a lot of fun at the zoo. We got to see the rhinos (Nick was scared of them), the okapi (Nick loved her), the bison, the lions (they were awake, which is rare), and a bunch of other things. Then I spend $37 on hot dogs for lunch for five people! Also, when we were looking at the camels, the tram went by and the guide said "Over here on the right we have Christina, a breeding female [camel]." I was standing on the right between the tram and the camels. Awesome. We also went to the farm zoo (which we'd never done before) and the kids and I petted some goats. Then Nataly said "I want to go back to the grown up zoo" so we left. I would show you pictures, but when I'm done with the song thing, I'm going to do a picture challenge, so you'll have to wait.
30 Days of Song (Days 17 & 18)
Umm...did I mention how busy I was this weekend? So I didn't post the yesterday. Sorry.
Day 17. A song I hear on the radio alot- I actually don't listen to the radio very much, because my commute is litteraly four blocks, and if I'm going anywhere else, I listen to my mp3 player, but I do feel I've heard Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" quite a bit lately, so I guess that's my answer.
Day 18. A song I wish I heard on the radio- Again, I don't listen to the radio much, but one song that I really enjoy that I wish I did hear on teh radio is Katy Perry's "One of the Boys".
Showing posts with label zoo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zoo. Show all posts
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Work! Family! Personal! We've Got It All!!
Sometimes I don’t write anything because nothing has happened, but in this case I haven’t written because too much has happened. I did want to write before I leave on vacation (Taste of Chicago Saturday, Rockford fireworks Sunday, leave for St. Joseph’s Monday!!!). First, work…
I have told you about the situation at work. First a few weeks ago, a parent complained because her daughter got wet and (GASP!!) dirty. Last week the same parent complained (to me, not my boss for once) that her daughter was never in our class newspaper. I explained calmly to the parent that her daughter goes to summer school in the morning, and the morning is when the kids write their articles, and when we do the things that show up in the paper. Friday the daughter threw a FIT about having to play kickball. The class rule is that you play the first half hour at any one place (ball field, park, etc) and then you can sit out. She threw a fit in the middle of the ball field and told me her mom said she didn’t have to play if she didn’t want. After warning her that her behavior would lead to “serious consequences” I made her apologize to her classmates “I’m sorry I ruined your fun.” She had to say. Then I let her off. I told her sister who picked her up, because she was still upset. Monday her mom complained about the way I talked to the sister. Tuesday she slapped another girl in the leg while I was sitting about six inches away. I made her apologize. I should clarify that I make them apologize by looking whoever they’re apologizing to in the face and saying “I’m sorry for…” which you hear in my class about every 2.3 minutes. The girl refused to sit up, refused to apologize for several minutes, finally did it mere seconds before mom showed up. I’m no longer allowed to speak to the family, so I said nothing. Thirty minutes later my boss came downstairs with the mom and her daughter who had been telling them that I made her apologize to another child because the other child kicked her. Twenty minutes after that the kid admitted that she had slapped the person she apologized to, and her mom didn’t care. She was too caught up in what I had done (made her kid apologize). She eventually threatened my boss with a phone call to DCFS (our supervising agency), my boss told her to go ahead. She also said that we favor staff kids (I personally am probably harder on staff kids). Her daughter came outside where I was watching ten other kids to yell “What is wrong with you?!?” at us. She is now hanging out in another teacher’s class until I get back from vacation. Her mom was told she had until then to either adjust to my class (getting dirty, participating, respecting everyone…) or to find a different school for her kid. Works rocks (no, I’m serious, I’m so glad how supportive my boss has been throughout this situation).
Now Family…
We took Niece and Nephew to the zoo again. Nephew can now say rilla (gorilla), pant (elephant), ger (tiger), sheal (seal), fin (dolphin), pig (guinea pig), cat (self-explanatory), and I don’t even know what else. Kid knows his animals is what I’m saying. He’s just over a year old now, so I’m pretty proud of him. We took in a dolphin show, touched the stingrays (actually Niece only tapped the top of the water because she was afraid and Nephew’s arms weren’t long enough, but I touched the rays), played at the play zoo, pet a guinea pig at the play zoo, saw the gorillas and the alligators and rode the carousel. It was an excellent day, but at this point I think they just expect to go to the zoo when they see Aunt Tina and Grandma. I hope they don’t get upset when I’m gone the next three weekends!
Personally…
I got to hang out with a friend from high school. This is the last of my Christian friends, the rest of them having fallen to the wayside as they became more conservative and I became more liberal. Also as I objected to being used as a scapegoat for everything wrong in people’s lives (more on that another day maybe). She is one of the sweetest people I know. She is also the friend whom I told you was adopting. I hadn’t really hung out with her the last month or so due to the drama in her life and my new work schedule. Later, I ran into a friend I usually only see a few times a month at the library tonight. Next thing I knew almost an hour had passed and I had seen his famous movie list (he’s listed every movie he’s ever seen apparently), and records every movie in some crazy system I think only he understands. It was pretty cool. He also showed me this. Mel Gibson is clearly a troubled man.
As of six pm tomorrow I’m on vacation, so this will have to hold you over until I get home. Then I’ll tell you all about vacation, and also what happened to my Christian friends.
I have told you about the situation at work. First a few weeks ago, a parent complained because her daughter got wet and (GASP!!) dirty. Last week the same parent complained (to me, not my boss for once) that her daughter was never in our class newspaper. I explained calmly to the parent that her daughter goes to summer school in the morning, and the morning is when the kids write their articles, and when we do the things that show up in the paper. Friday the daughter threw a FIT about having to play kickball. The class rule is that you play the first half hour at any one place (ball field, park, etc) and then you can sit out. She threw a fit in the middle of the ball field and told me her mom said she didn’t have to play if she didn’t want. After warning her that her behavior would lead to “serious consequences” I made her apologize to her classmates “I’m sorry I ruined your fun.” She had to say. Then I let her off. I told her sister who picked her up, because she was still upset. Monday her mom complained about the way I talked to the sister. Tuesday she slapped another girl in the leg while I was sitting about six inches away. I made her apologize. I should clarify that I make them apologize by looking whoever they’re apologizing to in the face and saying “I’m sorry for…” which you hear in my class about every 2.3 minutes. The girl refused to sit up, refused to apologize for several minutes, finally did it mere seconds before mom showed up. I’m no longer allowed to speak to the family, so I said nothing. Thirty minutes later my boss came downstairs with the mom and her daughter who had been telling them that I made her apologize to another child because the other child kicked her. Twenty minutes after that the kid admitted that she had slapped the person she apologized to, and her mom didn’t care. She was too caught up in what I had done (made her kid apologize). She eventually threatened my boss with a phone call to DCFS (our supervising agency), my boss told her to go ahead. She also said that we favor staff kids (I personally am probably harder on staff kids). Her daughter came outside where I was watching ten other kids to yell “What is wrong with you?!?” at us. She is now hanging out in another teacher’s class until I get back from vacation. Her mom was told she had until then to either adjust to my class (getting dirty, participating, respecting everyone…) or to find a different school for her kid. Works rocks (no, I’m serious, I’m so glad how supportive my boss has been throughout this situation).
Now Family…
We took Niece and Nephew to the zoo again. Nephew can now say rilla (gorilla), pant (elephant), ger (tiger), sheal (seal), fin (dolphin), pig (guinea pig), cat (self-explanatory), and I don’t even know what else. Kid knows his animals is what I’m saying. He’s just over a year old now, so I’m pretty proud of him. We took in a dolphin show, touched the stingrays (actually Niece only tapped the top of the water because she was afraid and Nephew’s arms weren’t long enough, but I touched the rays), played at the play zoo, pet a guinea pig at the play zoo, saw the gorillas and the alligators and rode the carousel. It was an excellent day, but at this point I think they just expect to go to the zoo when they see Aunt Tina and Grandma. I hope they don’t get upset when I’m gone the next three weekends!
Personally…
I got to hang out with a friend from high school. This is the last of my Christian friends, the rest of them having fallen to the wayside as they became more conservative and I became more liberal. Also as I objected to being used as a scapegoat for everything wrong in people’s lives (more on that another day maybe). She is one of the sweetest people I know. She is also the friend whom I told you was adopting. I hadn’t really hung out with her the last month or so due to the drama in her life and my new work schedule. Later, I ran into a friend I usually only see a few times a month at the library tonight. Next thing I knew almost an hour had passed and I had seen his famous movie list (he’s listed every movie he’s ever seen apparently), and records every movie in some crazy system I think only he understands. It was pretty cool. He also showed me this. Mel Gibson is clearly a troubled man.
As of six pm tomorrow I’m on vacation, so this will have to hold you over until I get home. Then I’ll tell you all about vacation, and also what happened to my Christian friends.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Busy weekend
Yesterday Best Friend and I took Niece and Nephew to the zoo. It was tons of fun, partly because Niece doesn’t know “Ms. Best Friend” very well so she wanted to hold my hand and made Best Friend carry Nephew in all the exhibits. This meant that Best Friend was completely exhausted when we got home and I was still feeling excited and energetic. You will, I’m sure, be pleased to learn that Nephew still knows the gorillas, and came even closer than “gerba” when he said “rilla”. He also learned “sheeee” while playing with the seals/sea lions in the underwater viewing space. I learned that if you save the tiger (my favorite animal, but kind of a boring zoo exhibit) for last, she has woken up and is playing. Nephew really seemed to like her so we watched for awhile and I told him stuff about the tiger and he learned to say “ger”. Also, he flat out refused to walk. He will stand, and he would walk if he could put his hand, however lightly, on something. He was clearly completely capable of walking, but he crawls faster than any kid I’ve ever seen. He literally crawls about as fast as Niece runs, so I think he didn’t want to slow himself down.
Today my SIL called me up to let me know he took his first steps. I told you he was capable. Yesterday crawling was more efficient and let me remain stable in the chaos of the park at the zoo. Today he was in his Sunday school class/nursery and he has older friends who walk, so he clearly needed to show them who’s the boss. I made SIL promise we would hang out this week so I could see because I won’t be able to babysit him on Saturday.
Also, I was supposed to get to see “The Mad King of Scotland” (AKA Macbeth) tonight. Sadly, it was not showing, perhaps because of poor attendance. So, if there’s community theatre near you, please go to see it, but I was PISSED to miss the Scottish play. And, also because I put on eyeliner to go out and wound up eating Thai food in my pjs, on my couch, watching The Secret Life of Elephants, Hancock, and Star Wars VI: The Return of the Jedi.
Today my SIL called me up to let me know he took his first steps. I told you he was capable. Yesterday crawling was more efficient and let me remain stable in the chaos of the park at the zoo. Today he was in his Sunday school class/nursery and he has older friends who walk, so he clearly needed to show them who’s the boss. I made SIL promise we would hang out this week so I could see because I won’t be able to babysit him on Saturday.
Also, I was supposed to get to see “The Mad King of Scotland” (AKA Macbeth) tonight. Sadly, it was not showing, perhaps because of poor attendance. So, if there’s community theatre near you, please go to see it, but I was PISSED to miss the Scottish play. And, also because I put on eyeliner to go out and wound up eating Thai food in my pjs, on my couch, watching The Secret Life of Elephants, Hancock, and Star Wars VI: The Return of the Jedi.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Pay your bill you idiot!
So here’s what I learned today. If you don’t pay your bills, they will stop providing the service for you. For example, if you are for some reason an idiot you thought your bill was due on the fourth, and are way to lazy to pay it early, and then it turns out to have been due on the first when you try to get online on the third, you cannot. In fact you will get this stupid error message when you try to make your air card connect and it will take ten minutes before you realize, d’oh I should probably pay my bill. I am not that idiot of course. This never happened to me. I am of course talking about a friend.
In other news, screw the niece and nephew, I am going to the zoo by myself on Wednesday. It’s the last day of the members only bear grotto opening and my SIL said she doesn’t want to take the kids out of day care for the day (because it’s expensive), so WHATEVER I can go all alone. I might end up seeing the bears and everything in the dark rooms (because Naty is afraid of them) and then read until five, because I’m not driving forty five minutes to the zoo to not spend the whole dang day there.
In other news, screw the niece and nephew, I am going to the zoo by myself on Wednesday. It’s the last day of the members only bear grotto opening and my SIL said she doesn’t want to take the kids out of day care for the day (because it’s expensive), so WHATEVER I can go all alone. I might end up seeing the bears and everything in the dark rooms (because Naty is afraid of them) and then read until five, because I’m not driving forty five minutes to the zoo to not spend the whole dang day there.
Monday, April 12, 2010
What's up with me today
Whew I’m exhausted today! Saturday night I was up until about four because I couldn’t sleep. Then my sister-in-law called me at like nine fifteen because she needed someone to watch Nick while she took Naty to urgent care. Turns out my poor three year old niece has strep throat. Poor kid has been basically sick since Christmas. I just hope that she’s feeling better for Saturday when we are going to the zoo for Nick’s first birthday. Anyway, I didn't get anymore sleep last night, tonight will clearly be an early night.
Meanwhile, my students lost all of their privileges last week because they couldn’t behave properly for five minutes in a row. I told them as soon as they could behave for a single day, they could have them back and it took until Friday before they had any privileges. So Friday we got to watch Back to the Future II (because they wanted to, and they had the privilege of watching PG movies again). Today, clearly is Monday, and they nearly lost their privileges again. Those kids are punks. However, as soon as the oldest kids left, the rest of them shaped up pretty quick. Also, they picked me dandelions to put in my hair while we walked. Those kids are sweethearts. :)
BTW, tomorrow the Friends of the Lords Park Zoo is doing a mini-photo shoot in support of the zoo. If you’re interested, meet tomorrow at 4:30 in front of the Lords Park Zoo. I’m taking my class so they can learn about how individual people can get things done and civic responsibility and stuff. Or just so we don’t have to hang around our classroom. Whichever explanation you believe most.
Meanwhile, my students lost all of their privileges last week because they couldn’t behave properly for five minutes in a row. I told them as soon as they could behave for a single day, they could have them back and it took until Friday before they had any privileges. So Friday we got to watch Back to the Future II (because they wanted to, and they had the privilege of watching PG movies again). Today, clearly is Monday, and they nearly lost their privileges again. Those kids are punks. However, as soon as the oldest kids left, the rest of them shaped up pretty quick. Also, they picked me dandelions to put in my hair while we walked. Those kids are sweethearts. :)
BTW, tomorrow the Friends of the Lords Park Zoo is doing a mini-photo shoot in support of the zoo. If you’re interested, meet tomorrow at 4:30 in front of the Lords Park Zoo. I’m taking my class so they can learn about how individual people can get things done and civic responsibility and stuff. Or just so we don’t have to hang around our classroom. Whichever explanation you believe most.
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