I’m an 8th grader and I don’t know where to go next period.

School started on Wednesday.

We have a brand new beautiful building which has to be more than twice the size of our old building. The building is free of mold, asbestos, and bad air quality rooms. The best part is my office can actually hold more than three people. It’s funny to talk to the kids about what they think about the new building. Most kids think it is cool, but the common reply from an 8th grader is “it’s huge” said with a big sigh. I can’t decide if they like the hugeness or not. I think we have toppled the typical “rulers of the school” mentality with this new building. The 8th graders look more panic stricken than our 5th or 6th graders. 

Today, as I was thinking about my poor confused 8th graders, I thought back to my time as a junior high camp counselor and how one year we didn’t do something the kids had come to think of as tradition (even though it wasn’t really a tradition). The camp kids almost rebelled because we weren’t doing that activity - even though the new activity was way better. My current students are acting the same - wishing for the old rooms so they can be on top and confidently run through the building. 

It also seems our teachers are almost wishing for the old. The teachers have started to complain that they don’t feel homey in the new place and they don’t know where to congregate in the mornings. We do need art on the walls and we do need some major kinks worked out, but hopefully we will be able to appreciate the new $32 million dollar building soon.

Crazy Tomatoes

We have planted three tomatoes plants this year. One plant only made it three days before the landscapers decided it was a plant and weed wacked the poor thing. Another has been growing in a pot on our deck; so far there is one green tomato growing on an extremely long, skinny stem (way taller than 5′5”). The third we planted in the front of the house along with some other flowers and plants. We purchased the final plant at our church “Spring Fling” for $3.00. Check out the growth on this baby.

You can’t even see that we have a wooden planter with flowers underneath the flop over of the tomatoes. The edge of the tomatoes is growing all the way out to the curb.  I can’t wait to eat these tomatoes.

Hello, Ohio

As most of you know, we recently just returned from our big summer trip. We we were home about 8 days in July. Together, we drove through 15 states and flew from airports in 5 different states. I attended 2 weddings and 1 family reunion. 

The post is titled after my favorite state to drive through. Ohio has it down. Yes, you pay for tolls, but they spend their money wisely on the travel plaza stops. If the Panera, Starbucks, Pizza hut, Burger King did not statisfy me, I could wait until the next stop and get what I wanted there. It was great. Sometimes, I daydream about visiting places that require me to drive through Ohio. That’s a good vacation. 

As for states I like to stop in, I’m still partial to Montana. 

Things that Scare Us

At night, we’ve noticed huge, scary, gross slugs that come from who knows where and slime around where we take Panther out to relieve herself. And by huge, we mean 6 or 7 inches long and an inch wide. Tim doesn’t like to go out barefoot with the slugs for fear they will slime him or he will accidentally step on one (he never goes out without his shoes anymore)…I’m not much better. They are really gross and apparently, if you ask Panther, they taste disgusting. 

I can’t help but wonder what they do. They seem to literally come from no where and don’t make it very far during the night…so my theory is they come out of somewhere, go across the driveway and return. But what are they searching for? 

Family Photo

Panther Time

Panther loves to snuggle and burrow into your neck after she wakes up from a nap. It’s one of my favorite things about her recently.

Heat Days

Monday and Tuesday, we closed school early because it was so hot. We had temperatures close to 100 degrees and our school is not even close to being air-conditioned (and no, they didn’t put air conditioning in the new school building opening August 2008!). I have never heard of schools closing because of the heat, but I was so thankful our school was pressured to close because surrounding schools shut down. Peer pressure can be a great thing.

Ace Reporting

NPR has run numerous stories on rising gas prices. Many clips have created interesting questions about the far reaching effects of the high prices at the pump - a recent one felt like they heard my concerns and responded with a story about states like Montana and it’s residents, who have long drives and small wages.

But there have been some major flops with the coverage on the gas prices. 

A few weeks ago, just about when Connecticut went over the $4.00 mark, a reporter did some interviews at a gas station in DC. Five or six people were interviewed and every single one of them was lamenting that they were officially paying more at the pump than they ever had before. Really?! That’s what I call front page (speaker?) news…high prices at the pump.

And yet, today as I filled up the car and the price went over $40.00, I couldn’t help but think, “Wow, that’s the first time I have ever paid that much for a single tank of gas with this car…”

Dorothy

We took Panther for her first bike ride on Saturday. I have a strong mesh attachable basket that is made for groceries or as we discovered, dog like Panther. She laid down in the basket and enjoyed the wind in her hair. We ended up at the beach and got some good exercise. 

I felt like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

Anne Shirley

Anne of Green Gables turns 100 this year. Anyone want to go to Prince Edward Island for the celebration?