The many faces of PJ Joey

Caleb took a lot of these pics. He's really warming up to the pup.



We love her.

And now for stalker story...

I have probably hyped this up more than it really deserves, but alas, I needed to go private before my students found it anyways.

So here is what happened:

About a month ago, I took a purchase order to Best Buy to buy some electronics equipment for the TV Production class I'm going to start teaching next semester. The Geek Squad-er that helped me was very helpful, and I could tell he might like me a little too much, but I laughed about it with Caleb later. Well, last week, I got a pretty long email from this guy named Jon and it said all this stuff about how I probably don't remember him, but he was the guy that helped me at Best Buy. He reminded me of all the equipment I bought, etc. He said he had been kicking himself for not asking for my number in the store and emailing me at school was the only thing he could think of.

I just didn't like how he remembered that the Purchase Order had "Baker High School" on it, so all he had to do was go to the school's main website, click on the "Meet our Staff" link, then look through all the staff pictures until he recognized me. Then he had my name and school email address. Or maybe he had my name from the receipt I signed at the store? I don't know. My parents and Caleb said first thing, "if he found you on the Baker website and has your name, then he has probably found your blog too." He is probably not a psycho and I will probably never hear from him again, but why take any chances...

So that is the story. Be careful out there! :)
More pictures of PJ Joey coming soon!

Did it work?

I'm not sure how to do this, so let me know if it worked! Will at least one person try to leave a comment so I can see if I did this right? Thanks! Just in case I didn't do it right, I'm holding the stalker story and leaving you with this little gem:

I have realized that my feet smell like that of a rotting opossum.

We (PJ Joey and I that is) pass a rotting opossum corpse everyday on our walk and I usually nearly gag while also realizing the smell is vaguely familiar. Upon taking off my shoes the other day, I recognized the smell of my feet as that of the rotting animal. Nice.

Two Crazy Butts are going Private!

Due to a creepy Internet event that reminded me how scary the Internet can be, it has been suggested that I go ahead and make the blog private. If you are friends and family or someone we know... then read on, my friends! I really just need to shut off access to students that I teach and other people of that nature.

If you enjoy reading about the life and times of Caleb, PJ Joey and me, please leave a comment to this post with your name and email address. I already changed the settings to "hide" the comments so you shouldn't have to worry about exposing your email address.

Even if you just read every now and then because you are THAT BORED, feel free to leave your address. I'm glad I have readers and it always makes my day when I hear that people actually read what I write! I'll share the creepy story that spawned "going private" on my first "secure" blog post, so look ahead for that!

Minneapolis

This is the inside of the Mall of America, or as the cool kids in Minneapolis call it, Moa. It pretty much has a county fair going on in the middle of it. I would actually probably NOT want to be there during the Christmas rush. Can you imagine the chaos?

Ok, so the real reason I was in Minneapolis (alas, not to shop) was for this years PowerPlant Coordinator's Retreat. It is so special for me to be around all these churchplanters, some of which are YOUNGER than me! One story I will share with you is an aspect of PowerPlant that they talked a lot about at the conference. There are four summer staffers (like I used to be) that after experiencing PowerPlant, felt like they should start a church on the campus of University of Minnesota. Jacob's Well has been meeting for over 2 years now and is growing in new believers. There is even a PowerPlant project in the summer time in Minneapolis, all from what God has done with some guys that signed up to be on a summer mission trip. Pretty amazing.
Here's two of those very guys leading us in a worship time.
We took a tour of the city and we went to the campus/down town area that is I guess the trendy spot. It is called Dinkytown which I think is so cute.
This is me and Noah. He is the Ministry Coordinator I work with for the St. Louis project. The church he planted in St. Louis' Soulard area launched in August. It is called August Gate and they are doing some really neat things. Noah is an unbelievable preacher. You may not think from this picture that he can preach so mightily, but whew- he does. We had SO MUCH FUN in St. Louis last summer and I am so excited to plan all this with him again.

And last but not least. The milkshakes. Amazing.

So that is all about the conference... except for the adventurous journey back to Mobile. The luck I have with flight delays is bizarre. And I mean Un-luck. I think I get delayed/miss flights more than the average person. Anyway, my flight to Atlanta from MN kept getting pushed farther back, to the point that when it finally arrived in Atlanta, I had precisely 22 minutes to make my connecting flight to Mobile.

The race was ON.

Yes, I sprinted in my skinny jeans across FOUR TERMINALS and up one escalator. I found D26 (located at the VERY END no less) and arrived huffy like an asthmatic smoker. They had already shut the gate, but I guess the wild look in my eyes stirred something in the lady behind the counter's heart, because without a word, she scanned my ticket and re-opened the gate door for me. I ran to the plane, they let me on, still huffing like a marathon runner.

Once on the plane, I threw up my hands in spirit fingers and in with all the enthusiasm I could muster went, "WHOO! I MADE IT!" to all the other riders. I thought some would join in on the excitement, but it was stone silent and so awkward. Chirp. Chirp. I just went to my seat, glad I was in that seat!

Anyway, so all in all, it was a great trip, saw many dear friends, and my students didn't kill their Substitute Teacher.

One more quick story: I went to the Bank today and let PJ Joey ride in the backseat. The tellers at the window sent her a doggie treat through the little bank thing! They give little kids suckers and dogs little treats! LOVE IT!

I am a victim.

Of Pet Abuse. I don't know if you can see the claw marks on the side of my face... but they are there. I promise it is MUCH worse in person.
PJ didn't necessarily mean to nearly blind me, she was just running really fast toward me and we got in a tangle. However, she also clawed me on the exact same eye just last night, so I'm starting to wonder if she is manipulative, and is slowly forming a mutiny against me. Last night she swatted my face out of no where. Caleb says it's because she thinks she is "high fiving" me, which is an adorable trick I taught her early on. Little did I know the adorable trick would bring such violence later on....

Despite her wicked ways, my love for her goes on.

On to other things, I am shooting a wedding today and tomorrow, then I'm flying to Minneapolis, MN bright and early Monday morning and flying back late on Tuesday. It's for this year's PowerPlant Coordinators Retreat and I am PUMPED. I am a little frightened, however, that I will return to school and find my Sub was traumatized while sitting in for me. Students have been crazy (for me anyways) the last few days.

Well one last thing I was going to share is the casserole I'm leaving at the house while I'm gone. Caleb has the worst exam ever and I really don't think he even has time to get up and microwave a hot pocket.
This gloriously cheesy dish is a recipe we found and new we would cherish it always: DORITO CASSEROLE. I thought I would include the recipe because it is easy and delicious and you might like to cook it for a Mexican Fiesta sometime and wow everyone else:
-bag of doritos
-green bell pepper
-onion
-chicken broth
-chicken
-2 cans cream of chicken soup
-1 can rotel chilis
-chili powder

Okay, so soak the doritos with some chicken broth. I don't measure anything, just stir and crunch them down and make sure they are all wet and even a little soggy. This is your first layer. Then put cooked chicken (boiled, about 2 breasts is good), then your veggies (we do peppers, onions, cilantro, and black beans), then cheese then repeat! For the magical top , you combine the cream of chicken and rotel chilis and about 1 tablespoon of chili powder together, pour it on top, then the last layer of cheese. Bake at about 350 for 30-40 minutes. Delish! (not low-fat, in case you were wondering.... the cream of chicken makes it fatty)

Two Friends and One Weirdo

Last night we got to meet up with fellow Gulf Coasters: Trey, Heather, and Baby Skaggs. I got to see a picture of the little one and it really is so cute already!

We met in Ocean Springs at The Shed which has been featured on the Food Network and I must say, it might be a new fave of mine. It is a hole in the wall kind of place with Christmas lights year round and cheap yet scrumptious BBQ.

How many pictures do we have in this exact pose from 8th grade and up? I love each one!

These are the kind of chairs that you cannot allow yourself to think about the people that have sat there before you. You will get hives just thinking about it if you do.

The ambience is not quite captured in this photo, but The Shed is everything you hope it to be. Tacky and Delightful.

Now on to our weird little beast. We were on the couch watching TV, looked over, and realized that she is going to town licking the fireplace. When she tried to bite into it and eat it, I decided to reach for the camera. She licked it continually from about 8:30 to 9:15 pm. Weird. We feed her, I promise.

Hmmmmm....

So it dawned on me yesterday afternoon that it may be possible that the other teachers think I am a Student Teacher. I always thought it was odd that people are always asking me, "How's it going with Barbosa?" I always give them a confused look and say, "Good, I guess." I'm thinking she's a very nice lady, but why does everyone always ask me that? Anyway, it all became clear yesterday when I asked a teacher I had never met before what the password is for the English Planning Station computer. She told me that Student Teachers don't have access to these computers. I said, "Student Teacher? I'm a Teacher-Teacher, a full-blown teacher-teacher." She then said, "You're not with Barbosa? How old are you?" And then this entire 9-weeks suddenly made sense as I realized everyone has thought I was a college student working with another teacher.

My classroom is a portable room in the back of the school so I never see any other adult pretty much all day, so I guess that's where the confusion has come in. I guess it's a compliment that I look so young, huh! That will come in handy when I'm 80.

Meanwhile. I have realized that I have absolutely nothing exciting to ever blog about. Pretty much everything falls in to the boring categories of: What I eat, work, Caleb is studying a lot, and cute things PJ Joey has done lately. Is this what being an adult has become? Having four boring categories!

Jim and Pam 2-getha 4-eva

How sick is it that I recognized Pam's dress as one from David's Bridal? It retails for around $499 in case you're wondering. And yes, I cried throughout the entire episode.