Friday, September 25, 2009

Dear Vacuum,

I have been wanting to write this letter to you for a long time. A VERY long time. I remember the day that Danny brought you home. You were a pleasant suprise. Our faithful Dirt Devil had bit the dust, and we needed you desperately. I loved your HEPA filter, your self-propelled goodness, and all your gleaming tools. You were great. You sucked up all the stuff our kids left behind. Even mounds of sand from the sandbox. But times have changed. You've gotten older, and every time I use you, strong emotions come flooding to the surface. I can keep them in most times, but sometimes they just come out in bursts. Like last week, when I screamed at you, "Why can't you just suck up that stupid cheerio? Dangit! Why? WHY??!" I know it's not your fault. You are an inferior vacuum. You were from the start, but we didn't realize it until you started getting clogged every time we used you. You are a piece of crap. Everytime I see you I feel like hurtling you out the window, or putting you in the driveway and backing over you a couple of dozen times. Yes, these are strong emotions towards a vacuum, but I require your use almost daily, and with three kids, you just can't keep up. Today, I brought home a new, shiny vacuum. One that has less bells an whistles than you, but with consistant 5-star ratings from several sources, I feel I can trust my new vacuum much more than you. I will not donate you to Goodwill, or throw you in the trash with the 3-day-old diapers, though. I will put you in the garage to help us clean out our cars. The ONLY good trait you have is strong hose suction. I wish you the best of luck in your new role in our home. If you even think about losing your hose suction, though, we WILL let you rot with the diapers.

Sincerely,

Melinda

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

disapointment, frustration

So, this past week has been full of first, disapointment, and now extreme frustration. Last week, I learned that my HS friends got together for dinner. ALL OF THEM. Except me. I was so upset that they didn't ask me to come! I know it's silly, but I still enjoy spending time with them. I just don't understand why I wasn't invited. We all live in the metroplex, and I may live a little out of the way, but I'm not too far! They have my e-mail address, I'm friends with them on Facebook, I mean, there's a way to contact me, even if they don't have my phone number! Sigh...it SUCKS to be left out.

So, my frustration has come because one of my students decided that he didn't want to take lessons from me anymore and has gone with another teacher. He told me TODAY when I went to his class to teach him! Come on! Give me some notice! I didn't even get a phone call or an e-mail from his mom! This is the SECOND student that I have lost to this other teacher this year! I'm so frustrated! I'm a great teacher. I am, at least I think I am, and I've had success with several of my students. It's hard when I teach a kid one week, and suddenly he decides to go with another teacher. I'm angry that I lost a student, and the income from him. The other teacher has 5 times MORE students than I have. I need this kid's money! I am struggling to fill my ONE day of teaching, and this guy has 5 FULL days! Grrr....

And there was a bunch of crap that happened in between. It's just not been a good 7 days. The sun is finally out, so hopefully that means things will change. I sure hope so.

Friday, September 04, 2009

My 16 cent project

I found a couple of great letters at Garden Ridge for 90% off, which made them only 16 cents each, with tax. Unfortunately, the only letters they had were Q and X. What do you do with a Q and X you might ask? You make some book ends! I grabbed some scrap wood from the garage, sanded it down, and cut it to size with my trusty little saw. It took me forever to cut the wood, but I got a great workout! I painted the wood black, screwed it together, and hot glued the letter on. It was super easy!



What do you think? I know it's not stellar, but hey, for the price, you really can't beat it, and it looks WAY better than what I had there before:


This lovely bookend was a whopping 50 cents at Ikea, but it leaves a lot to be desired! I love my new book end and can't wait to finish my other one!



The First Day of School!

Tommy was SO excited for school!!


Look at my THIRD grader! Can you believe it? Anna has to meet out in the portables, so she doesn't have a beautiful classroom like Tommy, but it does the job.



Tommy walked into his class and was so excited to see them working with play dough! But, he first had to find his friend Isabelle before he could feel comfortable in class. Isabelle is a friend of Tommy's from church and lives just around the corner from us, and thankfully is in his same class at school!



Yeah, yeah, I know this is 2 weeks late. I've been a lazy blogger lately. The kids' first day of school went fairly well. We ended up leaving the house 15 minutes later than I wanted, and the walk took a long time because Tommy got really tired and he kept on stopping. We got there just as the bell rang, but I was able to walk Anna and Tommy to class with no problems. No tears. Not until the end of school, anyway. Tommy cried everyday, at the end of school, the entire first week because he was tired and hungry and just wanted his mommy. This week has been much better!