Vacation!

What an adventure we had BEFORE we left on vacation! We went to St. George Island, Florida for our vacation again and my sister and niece went with us so that was an extra bonus. We always rent a van because we take so much stuff and we did so this year.Unfortunately, almost everything that could go wrong did. We were to leave on a Saturday and the Thursday before, the rental company called and said we couldn't get the van until late Friday night. No big deal, that will be fine. Friday comes and another call. We can't get the van until Saturday morning. I am mad now. I wanted to leave at 6 am so we could get to the beach house before dark. Ok, I will adjust. Saturday comes and we are chomping to get started. Rental company: There are no vans. There has been a recall on half of the vans. You have got to be kidding me! So, Saturday at noon, the five of us cram into a rented SUV with our luggage strapped to the top and we head out. We arrive at 10 that night so we can't even see the ocean properly. (That sort of cuts down on the fun of arriving in Florida.) We were grateful to make is safely there, however, since a woman nearly ran us off the road several hours earlier. We had a few more adventures on the road but I won't bore you with the details.The following are highlights of the trip:



Sunday: After a good nights sleep, we awoke to a rainy day but that was fine after our long trip. We went to get some groceries that morning then the sun came out and we got some swim and beach time with Michael finding lots of shells. That night, my wonderful husband made spaghetti for us. (One of many great meals he made.)




Monday was a beautiful day of swimming and beach time. My sister, niece and I shopped on the island and Apalachicola. The dinner that night was fresh seafood cooked by the husband on the grill. Yum!



Tuesday was a GREAT day on the beach with beautiful weather and everybody happy. (Can I say again how I love the uncrowded beaches?) The girls shopped some more and ate a late lunch at the Blue Parrot, an ocean front restaurant. It was such a nice time. No big supper that night because hubby had made gravy, biscuit and bacon for breakfast. He is just too good to us.



Wednesday was interesting. That morning, as we were leaving the gated community where our beach house was located, we saw a reporter and camera man. Curious, I checked out the news that night. I about died when the reporter said that it was rumored that Casey Anthony was on the island! (There is a small landing strip on the island and she was listed as on board the flight.) We kept our cameras on the ready the rest of the trip!
Wednesday also included some bad stuff. Michael was having such a good time in the water and my husband and I were actually getting to sit and relax (not our usual on the beach with an autistic child) when Michael got out of the water holding his arm. Yep, jellyfish sting. Thank goodness I had read the reports of jellyfish being bad this year and I had vinegar in the beach bag. We poured that on the sting and got back to the beach house. Bless his heart, I know it hurt so bad. The sad thing is that he loves the water and after that day, he refused to go back to the ocean. (I sure don't blame him!)

Thursday-Friday included steak dinner by the great husband, more shopping and swimming in the beach house pool.
After a terrific week, we strapped on the luggage again and headed home Saturday.

It really was a good trip and I am so glad we had good weather and a good time. Now, it is almost school time. More about that in the next post.

Verdict Reaction

As I have posted before, I watched too much of the Casey Anthony trial but I just couldn't turn away. When the clerk read the verdict "Not Guilty," I sat there a minute trying to figure out which lesser charge she would get then it hit me: Casey is walking away with murder. Yes, I know, I know. We're not supposed to judge others. Sorry, I can't be that perfect. Seriously, haven't you once thought, "Why is that girl wearing that short dress to church?" or "Why did he marry her. She is so mean." You know you have even if you are judging a celebrity who we don't know; we all judge. So back to the trial. I am still stunned but as the days have gone by, I can see where the reasonable doubt came in. I told my husband before they announced the verdict that I thought it would be manslaughter because there wasn't enough evidence for a death sentence. They did convict her of lying. I should hope so! Oh, that poor little girl. She's in God's hands now so she is fine but still why did she die? Casey will write a book or give interviews and make millions. I am not her ultimate judge so I hope she changes her lying ways and straightens up. Now me and the media will have to find something else to obsess over.

I'll get back to the book I'm reading Love Wins. It is the book where the preacher is supposed to be saying that everyone is going to heaven and there is no hell. A friend recommended it and I have read the first chapter. It is pretty good so far. I'll give a review later.

A Happy Fourth

I have loved this weekend. We didn't do anything exciting but it was still enjoyable. The entire weekend, we were watching the Casey Anthony trial. I have been hooked on the trial. I keep trying to figure out how a parent could wait 31 days to report a child missing. Just crazy. I am really curious about what the jury will do. Time will tell.

On the 4th of July, I went downtown to the Yankee Doodle Parade. My sweet nieces and cousin had an entry and won first place in the group category. After, my grandmother, aunt, dad, sisters, nieces and cousins went to Dairy Queen to cool off. It was so nice to visit for a while. At night, we went to the Lowes parking lot and watched the fireworks. It is so nice of Dr. Pepper to put on the fireworks display for our town. They do so good many things for our schools and community. After the fireworks, we headed to Dairy Queen for ice cream. About the time we hit the drive-through, the skies opened up. It is amazing how a storm and hard rain can materialize over one country from nothing. That is summer around here, though. All in all, it was a great weekend.

This week, I need to finish putting the rooms back together and get ready for painting the last room. I will be so happy when everything is finished.

Finally Some Pictures!

The bathroom is finished! Yeah!

The painting is almost finished! Yeah!

No workmen will be here tomorrow at 7 am! Yeah!

Here are some before and after pictures that I have been promising:

Michael's room before



Michael's room after






The bathroom before and after








I love everything. I am tired and anxious to get everything cleaned up and put away but our house looks so much better. All that is left to finish is our bedroom. Maybe next week I can relax. :)

What a Week...Painting, Building and Dodging

This has been the longest week. All this week, I have gotten up at 5:30 (Yes, I know, school is out and I want to sleep!) to meet the painters who get here a little before 7, try to keep Michael out of their way until 8 when the men redoing my bathroom get here. This has gone on every day this week. What has been accomplished: The living room, dining room, kitchen, entry and Michael's room are painted and everything (floor, tile on walls, toilet, vanity and tub) has been torn out of the bathroom and the shower wall, shower and drywall have been installed. Next week, they should finish the bathroom. Unfortunately, the painters will probably take off to do outside painting because the sun should be shining and they have to schedule according to the weather. The hall, our bedroom and the spare bedroom are the only things left to paint. I am still working on getting pictures together to show you the progress. Michael's room is the coolest looking room of all. I tried to post a video of it but it won't load. I will have pictures soon. Don't get me wrong; I am grateful that we are getting our house updated and improved but trying to keep Michael and myself out of their way is a pain. It will be worth it though.

Plans for next week: Start working on curriculum for the new school year, hopefully go swimming at a friend's house and maybe even take a shower in my new bathroom. That will be great! I am shopping for new shower curtains and bedspreads. Any recommendations of stores would be appreciated. I usually go to my old stand-by, J.C.Penny. Let me know of any good places.

Enjoy your weekend and next week and keep your fingers crossed that I survive the renovations. :)

Learning to Put Blogs and Widgets on my Wiki

What a week! I got to spend four days driving back and forth to Tech for the iPad training I talked about a few posts ago. It turned out to be so much more than that. We spent four days learning about so much technology to use in the classroom. I came home every night worn out with my head crammed full of information. On Tuesday night, I actually felt like information overload. There were so many different web sites, apps, blogs and different things to learn. It was great to share ideas with teachers from other counties and to hear how they teach some of the same stories we teach. I learned to use Twitter, Edmodo, Wikispaces, Live Binders, iPad apps and so many more. I came home excited and have some great ideas for my classes. One of the most shocking things for me was the food. Yes, that may sound strange! I commented before about being surprised at how nice the supper was for the March meeting but I thought the lunches would be smaller and less formal. For lunch, we had our choice of chicken or pork chops one day, fajitas one day, and amazing deserts like a huge slice of chocolate cake and ice cream sundaes. I didn't need it but it was so good! Last, the professors were so nice and encouraging. They were patient with those of us who were new to many of the concepts. It was just a great week.

The other part of my week was painting. The painters started on Tuesday and my fabulous sitter and Michael were in charge in my absence. The living room and dining rooms are finished. The verdict on the red paint: We love it! I will have pictures soon. There furniture is still not back all the way because their supplies are in the living room but I am loving it so far. Tomorrow, work starts on the bathroom. It will be totally redone. Michael and I need a hiding place this week from all of the work but I am excited about how the house will look. We have needed these things done for so long. I will keep you informed of the progress.

Have a great week.

Things Are Coming Together

We have had a great week and weekend. Michael and I are enjoying our time away from school. We're not doing anything special. Michael is hanging out, surfing the Internet and I am hooked on that blasted Casey Anthony trial. It's my own fault. I need to quit watching it but I'm hooked. What a tragedy for that little girl. Oh me. It is so sad.

On Saturday, we had a fabulous time with some of our best friends in Alabama. We hung out with the couple and their son (the other "M" in Team M&M) and it was so nice to be with people who get it. Their son is autistic and if the kids are acting a little weird, so what? Michael finally got to swim in their beautiful backyard pool and he had a ball. That is what I love about small, enclosed pools: We can relax and talk. We swam a little while, the boys watched a video while the adults talked and then we went to one of our favorite places, The Outback. The food was so good! After eating, we headed home. Today, we have been taking care of the usual weekend stuff: getting groceries, washing clothes and just getting ready for the week.

This week will be interesting. I am going to Tennessee Tech this week for iPad and technology training Monday through Thursday. I am so excited about it. They are going to teach us how to make a web page to interact with our students. I have wanted to do that for so long with my students. On Tuesday, the painters will be here to paint the inside of the house. Hurray! Our walls haven't been painted since we moved in seven years ago so we are past ready. I am nervous about leaving Michael and the sitter here to deal with the painters but I can't help it. She is a great sitter and I know she can handle things.

I will give a full report at the end of the week. I should have quite a bit to tell. :)