idontbelieveingrammar

Make a Smilebox photobook

Tess Harper 8 lbs 2 oz 20" (thanks to my talented friends tina and rhonda for the pics!)

One of my best friends is a photographer. A really good photographer. I usually take advantage of her services all the time. However, I won't let her anywhere near my belly. I have never been a fan of maternity pictures. I'm not saying that pregnancy is gross (well lots of it is) or pregnant people aren't beautiful. They can be. I am just not a fan. Some maternity pictures I have seen are really neat ( that is the best adjective I can come up with)....but what do you do with them? Really, I am not hanging those things in my house. That being said. I do want to document (at least a little bit) the giantness of this belly I lug around every day. Especially since it should be partly gone in less than 36 hours :) So here are some funny shots me and Owen took.

Since I am supposed to have a baby Thursday morning, Wednesday is my last day of work for about 8 weeks. I have been working really hard to get ready so that I don't have to "lesson plan" over my maternity leave. I got through the first 3-4 weeks with ease but hit a major bump with quantum mechanics. This isn't something most people get. I'm not even sure I really get it. A video or worksheets won't cut it. I wasted hours trying to figure out the best format for notes, practice, etc. Nothing seemed to make sense or like I could leave it with a sub. Electron configurations, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and orbital diagrams take lots of explanation and hand holding. And then I remember something they told us way back in one of my education classes in college. I don't remember what class it was, or probably most of what I was taught. But I do remember the professor saying this: "80% or more of your students will learn the same amount...

I start to wince whenever someone ones to bring up the coming election in group conversation. Don't get me wrong. It is important. It should be discussed. I just don't like it. I don't always no where I stand. This registered Republican is considering voting in the other direction. But truth be told, I haven't done my research. I'm still on the fence. As always it seems there are no good options. Do I go with certain moral issues? Do I go with what I think is best for the hope of the country? Or who will be best at foreign policy? Or who will be best for my bank account. Shaun's no voting philosophy is sounding better all the time ( don't lecture me in your comments.... I will vote) Being a teacher makes you liberal even if you don't want to be. Reading Shane Claiborne doesn't leave you much choice. But secretly I still harbor all these conservative things. Me and Shaun are responsible. We have good health insurance. We are saving for our ret...

I guess this post is probably a week after the fact. But maybe it is more timely than i think. A week is about as long as it takes for us to forget. For the next headline to take over. About this exact time last week, I was making a run to WalMart for water, flashlights and peanut butter. Just in case we lost power. A hurricane was heading our way, well it would be just a tropical storm by the time it got to DFW but still possibly strong enough to knock out the power for a little while. I also tried to fill up my car with gas before the gas prices went up too much. Those closer to Galveston had a lot more prep work. My brother. My friend Laura. My friend Julie. This is Texas. Plenty of people we know live that way. Friday night I went to hang out with some women from church. One of the women works at our mission center and was saying how rough it was to see them stream in all day. It isn't like watching Katrina on TV. That was half a day away. Houston is just down the int...

I forget that race is still very much an issue. I hate to be reminded. Yesterday ( I teach highschool), our spirit "dress up" day was Hip Hop Day. As I walked into the school I thought how fun and original. Lots of students and even teachers participated. They were in their warmup up suits. Crooked hats. Big chains. Jerseys. Big pants. Adiadas. And of course shades. I wanted to bust out with some Run DMC as I walked down the hall. And then I got to first period. It only took a few minutes for me to notice some major tension. Mainly it was the white kids who dressed up and participated. Most of my black students were not amused. They felt mocked. Despite the seating chart that they usually sit in. My kids were now arranged into a white side and a black side. The white kids didn't really know how to respond and the tension increased. At first I just told them to be quiet. Then I tried to ignore it. Then I finally had to address it. I think I even botched it...

I go through phases where I like to pretend that I am a runner. Unlike some people who truly run....I usually have to have a purpose. An event or race that I am training for. A challenge to beat Shaun or finish under a certain time. I haven't been able to run for a while. Yes, I know a person who ran like 10 miles the day before she delivered. I am not that girl. The most running I do is to the bathroom. Too much activity gives me contractions........and trust me I want this baby to stay put for exactly 12 more days. My body howeve is apparently in it's own training routine. She is training me to get used to waking up all night. I pee at least every two hours ( I hope she doesn't want to eat that much). At least every other night I am up for an hour or more. Just awake. Wide awake. Sometimes I lay there. Pray. Lesson plan. Count backwards ( my equivalent of sheep). Sometimes I give up and get out of bed and read or watch tv. I've discovered that 5 am is ...

My friend offered to lend me this velcro belly thing they gave her in the hospital that she swore helped her with her c-section recovery. I looked online to check it out. I found a few for sale and it was named the "swelly belly band". I may borrow it from my friend, but refuse to call anything a swelly belly band. I also have a "boppy".......which if you don't know is an essential U-shaped pillow used for nursing, tummy time and various other things. There is a slightly different brand with a little mroe stuffing, called "my breast friend". I absolutely refuse to buy or use anything called my breast friend no matter how great it is. I would tell you to google it but am afraid of the images that might pop up. People often point to my belly and refer to me in terms like "preggers" and "prego". Not a fan of being called anything that shares a name ( or at least a spelling) with spaghetti sauce brand. For right now, I like to ig...

Me and O just came from getting our flu shots. He has a Tazmanian devil bandaid, I have Bugs Bunny. My arm is already starting to feel a bit warm and heavy and I am hoping to not feel bad in the morning. It will be well worth it if it keeps me and Tess from getting the flu this year. Vaccines are kind of interesting. The flu vaccine for example….people in the CDC “predict” in Jan or Feb which strains of the virus they think will be the most prevalent. Grow those viruses in chicken eggs. Kill the virus and use it to make the vaccine. One shot that just might prevent me from a week of achy fever and chills. They might be wrong at the CDC. Sometimes it mutates. Sometimes we get sick anyways………but……….with the vaccine it isn’t usually as bad. Last year O was the only one in our house to get a shot. We all 3 got the flu. O happily played and watched cartoons after his does of Motrin to deal with the fever, while me and Shaun wanted to curl up and die. I am kind of amazed that a shot ...

We tried to the Sams thing once. I just couldn't do it. I like the idea of having a year's supply of toilet paper in my garage, or never running out of paper towels...but I had serious difficulty in dropping 20$ on toilet paper. I would much rather purchase my 8 roll pack every few weeks or so. Actually I prefer the 4 roll pack because it actually fits in a bag and isn't so awkward to carry. When I order contacts, I usually only get a 3 month supply. Shaun gets his for a year. When gas prices were up close to 4$ a gallon...I refused to fill my tank. I wasn't saving any money. If anything I was wasting it......along with my time......but I didn't want to see the price column click up into the 80s. Sometimes I just didn't want to wait for it to fill up. Sometimes I was hoping it would drop in the next few days. Regardless I always drove off with my half full tank, and would have to return sooner than I wished for another half tank. Gas dropped a bit and ...

I like to play that twisted game w/ shaun when something is new. I ask him if I look different. He stares at me blankly......I assumes goes through the checklist, is her hair shorter, a different color, is that outfit new, etc. Last weekend I asked him that questions. I got the blank checklist stare and finally he settled on "did you get more freckles?". uh, no. I got my eyebrows waxed. No major change. Although it is my favorite 10$ makeover. Teenagers seem to have this dramatic difference down. One of my students from last year swung by my room and asked if she looked different. I didn't have to stare blankly or go through a mental checklist. Everything was different. Last year she sported chains, spikes, chunky shoes, dark colors and rainbow jewlery. I am pretty sure every item in her closet was purchased at Hot Topic. She was often seen walking down the hall holding hands with a different girl every few months. The day she asked me this she was wearing a prepp...

This blog is all about 2 things I don’t usually do. 1. Blog tours. Despite the fact that my friend Tina runs some of these, and you often get free books ( I love books). I have never done one. Is it like selling out? What if you don’t like the book? That kind of thing. 2. Read books with titles like Generation Hex: Understanding the Subtle Dangers of Wicca. Makes me a little scared . It is either going to be over the top conservative or just weird over the top. ( I was pleased to discover it was mostly neither). So two things out of my comfort zone…..here goes. Like I said I was a bit reluctant to get into the book, but was surprised to learn that Wicca is actually one of the fastest growing “religions” in the US, especially in teenagers. I teach high school and started to realize maybe there was a little more here for me than I had first thought. I did have to struggle through the first few chapters about Harry Potter and Halloween, but as soon as I hit the first interview wi...