Bad Slacker, Bad!

So I totally feel like a slacker for my neglect on posting the last couple of days, but I have done anything but slack off! I have been busy, busy, busy!
Let's see, I last posted on the 7th, so this is what has happened:
On the 8th, I spent the entire day (ok, not the ENTIRE day, but most it) at the school actually making headway and feeling that I might actually pull off the first day of school! (We'll see how that actually comes off). I also found out that I was WAY under-insured on my house. So I had to almost double my coverage! But at least now if my house burns down I can actually build a new one.
As for yesterday (the 9th), I took my little family to the Castle Valley Pageant. It was a blast! It rained pretty hard for the first little bit and then cleared up. It was a wonderful and touching. It reconfirmed my beliefs (I think we need that from time to time) and reminded me yet again why I feel, say, and do the things I do. Anyways, this is best left for my new blog: http://ldspointofview.blogspot.com/ so check that out for more of this talk! :) We missed the opening ceremonies and got home late (like 12:30) and I crashed.

Today, August 1oth, has been a really good day. I was able to tutor this morning and help my mom pay some of her on-line bills (which I enjoy doing and she saves postage- not to mention she gets to live in the 21st century) and then I headed to the school. After 6 hours of working I got a ton done. A lot of the little things got done that needed to be done and I am now free to move on to getting serious about planning out my first week. I do a lot of community building with my class. We do a lot of interaction games and activities and slowly add in the math and writing and everything else. The kids like the approach and I like that they seem to get along better and have more fun. Anyways, my wife and kiddies showed up for the last couple hours and were my helpers/slaves. My amazing wife was able to organize all my math manipulatives and supplies (markers, crayons, etc.) that the students use. (Thank you Honey! You are a life saver). We came home and I was able to mow that lawn (even with all the dead spots we are getting :( ) but couldn't water the lawn or finish the garden as the water was too low in the gravity ditch. Oh well!
I am excited however about inside the house. We bought new window treatments for our game room/exercise room. The previous owners had hung vertical blinds that were designed to cover a sliding glass door. TWO of them side by side and they took up the whole wall for two smaller windows. I had NO sorrow in my heart as those babies hit the carpet! Then we hung a nice curtain rod and tan/brown suede curtains. It looks really cool (I know, I need to be better about including photos with my posts- I do try. Just like Pod casting, I am SO FAR behind on that- Oh Well!) We had just finished dinner after hanging the curtains when my parents walked in and said they were watching the kids while my wife and I headed to the church to see a couple who was celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. They had the most amazing cakes. One was a grand piano and the other was a mountain camping scene. While there, I also got to visit with the mom of one of my soon be students. My little family is really good friends with the mom's daughter who is in college. She(the daughter) is coming to dinner with our family tomorrow. YEA! The kids love her to pieces and she is so good with them.
Well, the Olympics will only be on for a short while longer and I want to watch. So I hope these ramblings made sense. Nothing too humorous or crazy! Enjoy- Tell your friends about this blog. I mean, who can't relate to my crazy and usually problem riddled life! :)
Later...

Bad Luck Hits Again!

Well Dear Readers,

My life continues to be what it is. I have had a few ups today and a few down and a total loss of control!

Let's see. Let's start with the few ups shall we?
1) Tutoring went well. I was very touched when the grandmother gave me a copy of "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. We had been discussing the book and she said I just had to read it. I asked if I could borrow her copy when she was done, and today she handed me a copy and told me it was mine.
2) I was able to help clean up our house. It felt nice to help out my wife. She is SO swamped with doing her Melon Days sales items that she needs the extra help. (As to what she is doing- it is fantastic! I really think we will be able to make some good money selling them. I really hope to have pictures for them soon.)

For the downs:
1) I am still SO FAR from done in my classroom that it is almost depressing. And I think I need to remove the count down timer. It is making me stressed and nervous!
2) The humidity is killing me. (I am truly thankful that we had 6 hours of a light rain. It watered our yard REALLY well.)

And for the Blow-Up:
1) Well, it all started when we ordered Breaking Dawn Stephanie Meyer from Amazon.com, ended up cancelling it and ordering from Barnes and Noble because they have never let me down on the 3-day shipping. Well, 4 days later, and the tracking showing that the book is still in MD, I was a little miffed, not to mention my wife! So I called customer service and was told that I was out of luck. I asked to talk to a supervisor, and was told that it was my fault. I could give you all the grisly details about it but I am trying to not be angry about it any more. I told them that everything we ordered will be coming back, to cancel my on-line account, and that I will not EVER be buying anything with them again. I was beyond angry. What is up with these companies that think they can totally put off their customers and have a customer base for tomorrow? I would say don't support them, but the way my life is going and if you followed that advice, you wouldn't even be able to buy toilet paper. So, I guess another business down the drain.

I think that I will go to bed now. It is late and I am tired. We are going to my sister's tomorrow to watch the Castle Vally Pageant and visit for a few hours.

The Olympics starts tomorrow! YEA! I am sad that I am missing the opening ceremonies, but that is life (especially mine).

Later...