What we've done this weekend.

NOTHING!

All PJ did was play with her skunk toy.
All we did was watch what channels we have left on our tv. Since Friday, they (Comcast evil people) have been ripping away our viewing choices, channel by channel.

They are trying to force us into an upgrade!
We are down to CBS and the home shopping channels. They even stripped us of PBS.

This is what I ate for breakfast this morning. It's a lemon square with blueberries on it. Very healthy. SYKE! It was so good though. Our friend Stephanie brought them over for me. Thanks Steph- they're delicious!And here's what I'll be doing when I finish this post.... Jealous?? I didn't even bring home the essays to grade- they are waiting for me on my desk. Oh well, summer sure was nice!

The New School Year in Numbers

I love it when Laura writes her blogs like this, so I thought I would steal the idea.

Here is this year so far:

1......................broken air conditioner in the Portable on the first day of school
7......................angry e-mails begging someone to fix it
97....................degrees in the Portable classroom with a broken a.c.
275..................Room number of my new classroom in the main building!

This new room has:

4...................... filing cabinets
2......................TV sets
5......................bookshelves
1......................fabulous SMART Board
1......................document camera (I am in LOVE!)
1......................printer
2......................computers

I think I am pretty much SET!!!! The old portable had NONE of this! I have gone from the ghetto to the penthouse.

My students:

41..................in 4th block English. That is a lot.
1....................student who calls me "Miss" because he feels weird saying "Butts" (who doesn't?)
only 1...........who drives me crazy so far. But it's only the 2nd week:)

And here's one more link to check out. My TV Broadcasting students have teamed up with the Football Booster Club to broadcast every football game on the internet this season. It is pretty legit. We have several cameras, a switcher, commentators, the whole 9-yards. Go here to see our games... the players think they are famous. We are having a blast doing this!

Cheese of the Month for AUGUST!

I skipped July. Oh well. But cheese of the month is back on like Donkey Kong.

This month, the cheese is Blue. Go get you some!

I have two favorite blue cheese dishes. The first one is blue cheese biscuits that my mom makes at Thanksgiving and Christmas only. The other dish is pictured below and it's what I had for dinner tonight. It took 7 minutes to make.

This salad contains chicken, blue cheese, dried cranberries, candied walnuts, lettuce, and raspberry vinaigrette dressing. It is so delicious!!!!

In other news, I had a wonderful surprise at work today! I was told I can permanently stay in the classroom I'm using right now, and that I don't have to return to my portable. They were told that it might be another month before a new a.c. could be delivered, so I get to stay where I am. This is such good news, you just don't even know. Today was crazy trying to teach and move all my stuff from the portable to Rm. 275, but I am never going to complain about it. I now have a.c., all the filing cabinets and book shelves I could ever dream of, AND a smart board. Life is good!

On another note, I was told today at 2:30 that I am a 10th grade sponsor this year, and that I have to give a "Welcome Speech" to the entire sophomore class during their class meeting tomorrow. I also get to oversee the creation of a Homecoming Float. WHAT????

School Start Update.

Well today was the first day, and if you're curious about how it went, I will just say that the a.c. unit had died over the weekend. By 1pm it was 97 degrees in my classroom. That is not me exaggerating- that is exactly the number on the thermometer inside the room.

The high in Mobile today? 92 degrees. Ergo, it was hotter in my classroom than it was OUTSIDE.

P.S.- I might have been super grumpy about this and may have shot off some angry emails that included the words "de-motivating", "sweating through my nice dress", and "beyond irksome."

180 Days in Portable 704

So here she is, ladies and gentlemen... may I present to you, Mrs. Butts classroom, Portable 704. Notice how clean the floors are and how neat the desks of rows are. Also take note of how each textbook is neatly place in the desktray. This is the last time the room will look like this.

I've seen my roster for the school year so far, and currently, I can pronounce about 15% of the names. Going only by names, it looks like I will have students representing every country on the globe.
The teacher next to me got moved into the big building this year. I guess they like her more. After she moved out, I stole her bookcase. Sorry to whoever moves into her old room, bah ha! Doesn't it look so great in my room though?

And I fixed up a cute little corner of the room. It's the first thing you see when you walk in. I LOVE the "Be Awesome Today" print which I found on... PINTEREST! What did I do before Pinterest???

So now that my room is ready, I've really been thinking A LOT this week about if I'm spiritually ready. I'm committing to really praying over my room this year, and seriously looking at it as a mission field instead of just trying to get through the day.

I found out earlier this week that one of my most favorite students EVER (who just graduated this past May) is pregnant. I've had a ton of students to have babies or be pregnant in my class, but this one has really upset me so much. We've emailed back and forth this past week- I just wanted to make sure she is ok. She wrote me this:

"Thank you so much for being here for me even after high school. The only person I really talk to about my concerns is my boyfriend. My mom was ok at first, then she got really upset, and now we are back on good terms. We just have to take this day by day and everything will work out. I'm just really scared! I am happy, I am just scared that I won't be able to provide the way I have always wanted to for my future kids. I don't want this baby to go without because of my carelessness as a teen. I'm staying positive as of now :) there are bad days but for the most part, I try to stay positive."

I can't pronounce most of the names on my roll, but I am praying for each student and trusting that God put them in my class for a reason.

What does it mean to be a PC?

PC = Project Coordinator.

It means having this jump drive in use A LOT:)

And filing A LOT of paperwork, participant forms, and reports.

And getting it all back to the International Mission Board in a timely manner... or if you're me, a full month after the project (not timely). It's finally all going in the mail TODAY!

And praying that God's name was brought to an area that doesn't know Him, where 8 out of 10 kids are abused by a male relative, where water is not clean.

And praying that God uses our meager efforts and these precious faces know a bit more of God's love and grace for them, if they but accept it!

How much does a fish cost here? A Buck a Tuna! haha.

It was a dark and humid night.... 12 miles north of Buckatoona...

And we ran over an entire tire that was in the middle of the highway.
This whole piece of our car fell off and is now in the trunk.

The damage is only cosmetic, which we are sooooo thankful for. I still can't believe neither of us (or the Peej) was hurt. We are very lucky.

The back bumper is going to be replaced, and they are also going to have to work on the passenger side door where some of the bottom was shredded off.

After being in Ecuador, I am reminded of how lucky we are to have TWO cars- one for each of us. And GOOD cars, too. Vehicles that we really don't have to worry about breaking down, etc.

A "summer cold," as Aibileen called it

I don't get sick a lot, which is crazy since I'm usually surrounded by gross teenagers, whom I am sure carry all kinds of diseases. But here I am, on my last day of summer... sick. Boo hoo for me, I know.

In my sick stupor, I took non-drowsy medicine at 11pm last night and was wide-eyed awake until 3am when it wore off. Did you know that at 2am, the local NBC affiliate just freeze frames the screen? I read about 200 pages of The Help, so that was good.

Anyway, when I woke up this morning, I found these on the counter....

...and these delights in the fridge! Caleb woke up and got all this for me before going into the hospital this morning. So I guess he's pretty great.

Good bye Summer 2011! You were awesome.
I accomplished all but one thing on my "summer to-do list," got to spend a week in St. Louis with some fabulous friends and youth groups, spent almost 2 weeks in Ecuador with Caleb/friends/youth groups, discovered my own fully-staffed pool, and read a few good books.

Only 180 school days until I get to do this all over again:)

Giveaway Winner!

Hip Hip Hooray for JAN JOHNSON, winner of the first BDP Giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway!

My personal pool and trained staff

Apparently, I am the only one taking advantage of South's Rec Center's new pool. Another thing I observed today while laying out at what I will now refer to as "my personal pool" is that THREE lifeguards must be on duty even if there is only ONE person in the pool. So even though I was the only human in the pool, there were three college kids making sure I did not drown. And the part of the pool I'm in is only 6 inches deep. It's awesome, I sit with my back to the wall and read my book (currently, I'm reading The Help and I just started it and it's awesome!) It's kind of creepy being the only one in there with three people sitting in the lifeguard stand though.

Guess who is back in America!!!

Yay Molly!
Welcome Back!

Magazine Culling. No Check.

Agh! Why do I let magazines pile up? I have never gone back and read any of them once I read through them the first time. Yet, there it is.... Glamour from October 2009. I bet it has really helpful make-up tips for Fall 2012. Yeah right, haha.

In my quest to rid the house of old mags, I found them EVERYWHERE. Including the blanket drawer in our living room. I think I have a problem.

So my goal is to go through them all and clip recipes, crafts, home decor, and all the other stuff I might make one day. So far, I've gone through this first stack. The back stack in the picture is still sitting there.

Because even though I got really organized with these binders, I'm not sure why I'm doing this now that Pinterest exists. As it stands, I have about 30 Martha Stewart Livings to go through. I can't just throw them away!

In other, more disgusting news, we came home last night to find PJ's sickness right when we walked in. Oh my, words do not describe how bad that smells. At least it was on tile floor this time and not carpet. I will be glad when she is better!

Organize Closet. Check.

I go back to school in 8 days. Agh!

During the school year, my parts of the closet got WAY out of control. Instead of doing anything about it at the time, I put it off until the summer.

But of course summer rolled around, and the closet was still full of leaning, wadded towers of clothes. Then I got my letter from school telling me to report back on August 9. So I guess the time to clean out the closet was at hand.

It took 4 hours. UG! But look at all I got rid of! There were some pants from High School in there which I haven't worn since, well, High School. Why was I boxing up and moving all this junk. Am I a hoarder?

Our church is having a huge yard sale on August 27, so I guess these bags are going to sit in our kitchen floor until then.

Next on the summer to-do list... Cull old magazines. Anybody want some Southern Livings from 2008?