Frustrations

One part of subbing I don't like is when a teacher has different rules than the main office. Here the main office says no gum. 

This teacher? Doesn't care. 

Which results in me tells the kids to throw their gum out, and then I get,  "But Mrs. X lets us!!"  

My usual reply? "I'm not Mrs. X am I?"

They really don't like that reply. 

But gum? Hate it!! Makes people look like cows chewing on a cud. Not attractive at all. 

Subbing would be easier if ALL the teachers would just follow the school rules. 

Odds and Ends...

Friday at work I heard a very entertaining story.  A little background first....  When I was a teenager in a different part of this state, rolling a house with toilet paper was a sign that you were hated - HATED!  But here? A very different story.  Here, it's a sign that you are loved and popular. I have even heard of parents who have not only bought the toilet paper, driven, but even helped roll a house.

I have to admit, when we first got here and started to hear all these stories, my kids were very enthralled.  One even wanted to go one night.  Drew and I quickly put an end to that!  Hello!! Drew's a federal agent!!  Can't exactly knowingly break the law!!

So, back to Friday morning. A co-worker showed me a picture of the view out of her front window....lots of toilet paper hanging down from her trees. She kept saying, "This is suppose to happen during homecoming week  - NOT PROM!!"

Then I heard the other part of the story....apparently, her teens did roll someone's house back in the fall. Afterwards, they had stashed the left over paper in two large garbage bags and a backpack in their shed. This Friday morning there was an empty backpack in the front yard. 

Yep. Not only did they get rolled. They got rolled with their own stash!

Melissa and I thought this was the most hysterical story!  I guess you reap what you sow.

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Saturday Melissa started her driver's ed class - she's thrilled! She very much wants to drive - NOW!!! While she was there, William and Drew were checking out La Tech.  As of now it seems to be a good fit.  With them all out of the house, Benjamin decided to just hang out at his best friend's house and that left me home all alone. Again.  Love it! I have three sewing projects going on, but only send time on one Saturday. It's the easier of the three. I'll post pictures at some point - it's a gift, so need to wait until it's delivered before showing pictures.

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Today Ben had another tooth pulled. He did much better this time around that he did a few weeks ago.  Of course, he knew about this one ahead of time.

It's Spring In Louisiana....

So....

....we eat crawfish...

A William Picture

This is what a seventeen year old does when he's bored while he waits for his sister after church: 

Very safe and secure! 

Highlights of My (Dissappointing) Day

Today I subbed for one of the 6th grade social studies teachers and was to s show a video. Not a bad way to spend the day....even if I have to watch the same video six times. The video was about how the cathedrals were built in the mid-evil times.  I found it fascinating. I really did! Of course, I love documentaries and this was  a good one. It wove a story of the people who built a certain cathedral as well as the nuts and bolts -the mechanics of how the cathedral was completed.

It even included a story about a bishop forcing the priest-in-charge to use stone from a quarry that his (that is the bishop) family owns - even though the priest-in-charge has declared this stone not good enough to hold up such a tall building.  The bishop doesn't care - he only cares about making money for his family.  Sadly, the part of the building that has this stone falls down - and kills the priest-in-charge. Wow! What a story!!  The king ends up sending the greedy bishop away on a crusade, but all the money is gone.

After a while, a local merchant has a vision from the Virgin Mary to give all his money, so the cathedral can be completed - which inspired others to give.  Soon the money was coming in and the decades-long project was able to be completed. 

What a story!! I wanted more!! So, after  all the classes were over,  I found the box the DVD came it. I wanted to know the name of the cathedral,so I could read more about it and to search for pictures. While during the video it said the name several times, but it was the French name and I wasn't sure how to spell it. Well. I found the box. And I was disappointed.  It seems that while the mechanical information was correct, the stories of the people were a combination of several cathedrals not just one.

Disappointing.

After school Melissa said, "Guess what today is???""

Thinking she actually learned something in school, "That's is William Shakespeare's birthday?"

Her: "Um...no.  It's the tenth anniversary of Mean Girls."

Really?  I had no idea that she had even seen the movie much less loved it enough to happy about the release anniversary!

Disappointing.

Later in the afternoon after the kids had gone to church, Melissa text me a picture.  Apparently, as William as walking into the gym at church, he kicked a rock....that hit the glass door....that shattered the door.

Disappointing.

Good thing William has a savings account....and good thing tomorrow is a new day.

Our Short Weekend Get-Away part 2

Here's some pictures from our weekend:

  The boys digging

Drew & Melissa...by this time Melissa was slightly bored as she had realized the diamonds were not just laying on the ground calling her name....

William zipping through the air!

Ben and his pencil-long legs

Melissa...and yes. This part is way, way, way up in the trees!! The person below her with the red helmet was on a lower level - not the ground!!

 Just chillin'

Me zipping on to one side of the nightmare inducing bridge. 

The view from the other side. We were attached to the line on the right side & used those short boards to walk on. 

 

Easter Morning: the Boys

Easter Morning: the Girls

Our Short Weekend Get-Away

Late Friday afternoon we drove up into Arkansas for some family fun. I love driving in Arkansas....it's just so much prettier than this part of Lou-zee-ana (which I think is ugly.) While the fall gets lots of attention for all the wonderful leaves of every colors, the spring has some great colors as well.  I am totally in love with all the shades of green that's on display this time of year....from dark green to bright sour-apple green.  Just lovely!

 Friday night the kids were able to get some swimming in at the in-door pool at the hotel.  They had a blast! It's been such a long time since they had some swim time....possibly since last July 4th...or at least late July. No time for being "too cool" teenagers - they were just kids splashing around!

Our first stop Saturday morning was the Crater of the Diamond State Park.  While I would have loved for any of us to find a diamond large enough to pay for college, we just found some pretty rocks....and had lots of family fun.  I would go back. It's sort of smoothing and relaxing just digging in the dirt.  But I would NOT go in the summer!!  By the time we left at 11:15 the temperature was around 73ish...not that warm  - unless you are sitting in the middle of' an open field in long pants.  I can't imagine how hot it feels in the middle of the summer!

Our next stop after lunch was zip lining at Rowdy's Adventures.  This is our second time to zip line with the Rowdy crew.  We all had fun again. And, once again, I had a little trouble remembering/learning how to break at the end of the zip line.....But I did finally get it and, thankfully, I never knocked our guide off the woodened platform.  I'm sure he's grateful for that!

On our first visit two years ago, after we zipped over the river, we walked a bit then zipped back over the river.  But now the river is higher and the landing platform is not accessible, so we had to cross over on a rusted-out bridge.  Oh, my.  It's the stuff of nightmares!   We did not just walk about on the bridge, we were attached to a zip line.  I didn't ask, but I hope that bridge was inspected and found safe for  walking over....it's definitely NOT for a car! They had added lots of new wooden boards for us to walk on as many of the originals were no longer around. (We were told one story that Bonnie and Clyde had ditched a car at the foot of the bridge once long, long ago.)

I did have to laugh at the differences the harnesses we had to wear made us look. With Benjamin it just made his long thin legs look like pencils. With Drew and William it made their butts look flatter than ever. Then there's the girls....with our Jo-Lo butts.... Oh, well. Such is life.

I will say again, that while zip lining is lots of fun, I would not do this in the summer!  While this weekend it wasn't too hot, last time we went in May and it was almost way too hot!!  I would think that being in the trees it would be cool.  But no. This is the Deep South.  It's just hot.

We drove home Saturday evening so we could worship with our church for Easter morning.  Just a quick trip....but much needed. While the middle school is done with state testing, the high school is now looking at EOCs (end of course testing - a test that MUST be past to receive a grade), AP testing for college classes (William has two), and then finals (all classes - and there's no being excused from them if you have an A - EVERYONE takes a final in EVERY class).  Also, the high schoolers have a few projects to finish.  Drew's new job is keeping him busy, and I have am just about booked for all my available days to sub. It's like a mad sprint to the end of school. So, May is busy...the kids have camps in June....maybe in July we'll get away again.  Of course, by then we'll be looking for some cool temperatures, I'm sure. Summer is a-comin'!