somebody loves me

Looky what my honey gave me for our valentine-anniversary (22). Of course, he couldn't wait to give it to me. This is the best picture I can get with my cheap antique digital camera

graduation

Shanna, Matt, Savannah, and I went to SC this week for Joe's graduation. The weather was clear but very cold. We were able to spend Family Day (Thurs) and Graduation Day (Fri) together. On Thursday, we were not able to leave the base, but we had a nice time anyway. We went to the museum, went shopping at the PX, sat by a lake, and sat in the car when it got too cold. Joe had plenty of funny drill sargent stories to tell us. On Friday, after the graduation ceremony, the soldiers got a pass to leave the base for the rest of the day. We took Joe to Olive Garden for a late lunch/ early dinner. This morning (Sat) we headed home, while Joe headed to the airport for his flight to AZ. He has his cell phone back (for now), so it will be easier to stay in touch. Here are some pics of the trip:

Look at the icicles on the palm tree statue in the background.



This is Alpha Company lined up for graduation.


At the end of the ceremony each company marched by for review. Here is Joe in the middle.


proud momma



At the museum.



Joe and a friend.





Waiting for a table at Olive Garden.

veggie soup

I had lots of veggies in the fridge that needed to be cook before I leave, so the easiest thing to do was make a big pot of soup. Into the pot went: 2 cups of cooked navy beans, package of zucchini , package of yellow squash, 1 onion, 2 salad tomatoes, 2 plum tomatoes, 2 bay leaves, a couple of sprigs of fresh dill, 1 can of tomato paste, 4 carrots, 4 ribs of celery with leaves, 1/2 cup apple juice and enough water to cover. (I also added 1/2 package of spinach at the end of cooking.) I think I also added some salt-free seasoning. Enough water to cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until everything is cooked.



I left the zucchini and squash in big pieces. When they were soft, I picked them out with tongs and whizzed them in the food processor, and mixed them back into the soup. It came out a little plain, but ok.

my messy desk

I like my schedule this year the best of any so far:
Language Arts9-10, Language Arts 11-12, Science 11-12, Career Prep 11-12, and Unique Skills 9-10.
But, when my desk gets like this I know there is too much is going on at once.

Note the pile of books on my work table. The stacks of papers and folders that all need my attention. Grades are due this week (by the time I finish inputting and uploading my wrist is killing me). My homebound student, like many teenagers, does not give school a thought when a mean grown-up is not around to nag him. So he is weeks behind in all of his classes from all the school he missed before I started with him, and this is the last week we can turn anything in. Plus, I have got to get ready for missing three days next week. I never miss work. It is not worth the trouble. Normal planning for me is jotting down a few notes in my lesson book. When you have to plan for the sub, you have to write each and everything out and plan double the amount of stuff just in case. It takes forever. Just to confuse things, next week I am getting a new Science class, so that will be my first week with them, and I am not even going to be there for most of it. I also have to find time to take my old Science students' projects to another school to bind them into a book. We don't have the binding machine on our campus. When am I supposed to do this before the end of the week?
If anyone is still reading this after all of that moaning, I really do like my job. This is just one of those weeks when everything happens at once. I really hope that I get to continue in this setting next year, but with all the budget cuts, I have a feeling I am going to get stuck somewhere really uncool.