Ho Ho Ho!

Boy, do Cambrias love Christmas! My poor, but very loving husband let's me have three Christmas trees, puts lights all over my house and has endured Christmas music nonstop all weekend knowing that it's not even close to over. We are also going to THREE, count 'em, three Christmas plays this weekend, seeing the Nutcracker, and doing lots of other Christmas-y things! If I had my way, the holiday season would be twice as long and people would be twice as nice and cheery. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it was Christmas time all the time?

Wow!

It's been a while. I looked at other people's blog just now, just to see if other people were still blogging and I would still be properly cool if I blogged today, and it looks like I've missed out on a lot.
Blogging, it would seem, is still in. I started this other blog for my students when I was all gung-ho at the beginning of the year. "Maybe my kids will read my blog and then we could have discussions on the blog and it would be so cool." yeah, right. I haven't updated this blog since May so I'm pretty sure that I haven't touch my teaching one.
It's Friday, it's November and the holidays are fastly approaching and making me a happy Cambria.
I am killing time here while I wait for the time to hit 3:10 so I can leave school and go to the gym.
. . . .I guess I haven't blogged for a while because I have not had anything to say. Not to say nothing has happened to me, just not enough to cause enough emotion to say, "This must go out to webreaders everywhere!"
I switched schools and now work much, much, much closer to my house. Much closer. It rocks! Life at this school is pretty quiet, so there is no weird PTA ladies, no weird "poopy" students, no crazy committees that I have to be on. Just learning. Huh. Pretty cool.

Sticks and Stones . .

You know? Whoever came up with the aforementioned statement needs to be punched (Please don't miss the irony here!). When you are little, you are taught by your mother, a teacher, some do-gooder grown-up that words are just words and that they cannot possibly affect you. . or shouldn't, because according to E. Roosevelt, no one can make you feel low without your permission. . or something cheesy like that. Fine Eleanor! You win! Guess what, my feelings get hurt when I hear from my boss that a bunch of house-wives hate me because they think I'm "harsh" with their lazy children!
Gosh! I mean, who are these people who are allowing their children to grow-up being able to be so darn sensitive and pass-the-buck-ish? How can your son failing my class be reflective on me and not that child? I consider myself a score keeper not an awarder of grades, otherwise, some of the kids getting "A"s would get "C+"s.
The funny thing is the perpetuation of a vicious cycle that is going on here. Student failing class + teacher being straight with student because he is a year away from driving and maybe that's the problem: is that we as a society are handing out driving licenses to whiners, who in turn are bad, dangerous drivers + student getting feelings hurt because he must be failing because teacher is "harsh" not because he is NOT turning ANYTHING in + mom being self-imposingly important + conversation with teacher's principal + conversation between principal and teacher = teacher getting feelings hurt. Weird.
Call me crazy, I just don't think this is a healthy way of dealing with things. If you have a problem, going to the source is always the best idea, the likelihood people are going to get their feelings hurt isn't as great as when you find out that you have been sitting in meetings with smiling grown women all year, only to find out that they secretly wish you would get dry erase marker poisoning. The best part is, this piggy-backs onto another situation with a different student who thinks I hate him. I wish I could have told my vice-principal, "I don't really care about him one way or another, I just want him to learn," but I think that may have been a little too honest.
You know? People think summer is for students, but it's really for teachers. If we didn't have a break to dust off our fractured little nerdy souls, no teacher would come back for the next batch. Is it summer yet?

It's Here!

Jen Lancaster fans! Let it be known that Jen Lancaster's new book, "Pretty in Plaid," came out today. She is one of the funniest modern-day writers I've read, so much so that I literally laugh out loud when reading her.
You may remember me mentioning her previous works, "Bitter is the New Black," "Such a Pretty Fat," and "Bright Lights, Big Ass." All of these books carry with them comedic genius, and I am sure Pretty in Plaid, her memoir of her youth, will be as entertaining.
Go out and buy this book!

I'm Leaving on a Jetplane

I leave tonight to go to sunny California. Expected weather there is supposed to be 80 degrees and sunny. Don't be too jealous!

Two Years

During Our First Two Years. . .

We've had two first dates, our blind date with "buffers" and a "real" date with just us
We've had two living quarters together, our condo and our house
We've had two seasons of Utes football
We've had two Christmases
We've had two birthdays
We've had two books that we've read together
We've had two "parent meetings" to get through
We've had two bets, both of which I've lost
We've had two hour phone conversations late into the night
We've had two weddings we've been at together, one of them ours
We've had two years now, my husband that I adore and I; can't wait for more.

I love you, my one who makes me a two.

Disneyland! Here we come!

Do you like my art?


In five days my entire family will be going to California and to Disneyland! We have been counting down and now that we can count on one hand (for Sawyer), we are so excited that it is so close.
This will be Sawyer's first time to Happiest Place on Earth and we are sooooo excited. We leave on Tuesday evening and will spend three days in the Park before we drive down to Laguna Niguel to stay at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel for Mother's Day weekend (See, my second job pays off!) and fun at the beach.
This is my family's first Family Vacation in nine years and we could not be more happy to have all of us there. Jarom, my brother, leaves for Marine bootcamp on Monday when we come back, so this will be a bitter-sweet farewell tour to him.
My parents have been awesome to help implement this trip and I wish it was tomorrow.
Our first day there, we are surprising Sawyer by taking him to a "Character Breakfast" with all the Disney Princesses. He is just in love with them all and is going to flip out when they come right up to him and talk to him. My little mommy-disney-thrilled-heart is overjoyed and I know that the crazy magic that Disney conjures up for little ones is going to make my day. Sawyer has no idea what he's in for, but at almost five-years-old, he is at a perfect age and will think that Mickey in real-life is as real as in his cartoons. Our first stop will be Splash Mountain, as requested by little guy and I can't wait to get back to tell you all about it.
FIVE DAYS!!!