Bye-Bye Ozzie

Ozzie went to a new home today. :( It makes me so sad to see him go, but he went to a really nice handicapped lady that already has three cats, two of them Siamese. I put him in the paper last Wednesday and this lady called me yesterday (Saturday) really excited about adopting him.



He was a good playful kitten, but we had four cats in the house, and I think Danny was going a little cat crazy. I'll only have Megan and Jared's two cats until next summer and they are doing well here. They are declawed and mine are not. They are both very quiet and sweet.

Ozzie tried to play the alpha male with them and he dealt poor Miss Lippy misery. He got along with Alex and Maggie ok. But, he was the logical one to find a new home for. He's a pure bred and still young enough to adapt to a new home. I will miss him so much, but I still have three babies to keep me company.

1001 Dreams

The Texas Renaissance Festival is just outside of Plantersville, TX. It's open for eight weekends in the fall, each with a different theme. A lot of people dress up in time period costumes and many others dress up, but I'm not sure what time period or universe they are from. It's quite interesting.


This past weekend I went to College Station to see Shane and Casey and we drove over to the festival on Saturday. It's about a 45 minute drive. This was our fourth year to attend and we always have a great time. Both of them are 21 now, so I got us tickets to the King's Wine Tasting event and show. We got to taste eight different wines along with a plate of fruit, cheese and bread. There were two servers that entertained us, and we got to take home a commemorative wine glass. We also saw a really funny show, kind of like a medieval vaudeville. We listened to Highland music and wandered through the many artist's booths.


The theme for the weekend was "1001 Dreams". It was magical fantasies come to life with wizards, elves, and faeries everywhere. We saw so many beautiful fairy costumes on people of all ages. The little kids really get into dressing up like faeries and they are so adorable. The women have very elaborate costumes that I'm sure cost a pretty penny.


We had so much fun and some great food.... love those apple dumplings. :-)





This was a belly dancing show. How do they do that??




The sun was shining through these fairy wings, which I thought was pretty.




This was one of our servers at the wine tasting show.




I'm not sure what these guys were suppose to be. The two on the ends have real snakes around their necks. The characters and the snakes were pretty creepy.





This is a wedding chapel. We saw a medieval wedding taking place and it looked like a lot of fun.




The Gutenberg Press makes handmade prints and sells them. This boy is printing a festival sign for me. They give those away free. There are other artisans; a blacksmith, armorer, glassblower, broom maker, candle maker, metal casting, coin minting to name a few.



A couple more elaborate costumes.



Casey, Shane and I had a great day, hope we get to do it again next year.

Sleepover With Eleanor

Last weekend was a real treat for Danny and I. Eleanor got to spend the day with us on Saturday and all night. It was her first time to spend the night with anyone other than her mom and dad, and she did very well. She would ask for her Mommy every once in awhile, but we just told her Mommy had gone to town and she was ok with that.

We had lots of fun playing with toys, reading books and playing in the dirt outside. Is there any child alive who doesn't like to play in the dirt? :) We even went to Wal-Mart to get groceries and she was a very good girl for me. I fed my neighbor's dogs and horses on Saturday evening and she went with me to "help". She liked playing in the barn and watching the horses.

I've attached a few of the pictures I took below. It sure was fun having Eleanor with us for the weekend, and I hope her Mommy lets us do it again soon.



Eleanor is riding a wooden cow that one of my neighbors loaned us. She wasn't sure about it a first, but now she rides it like it's a bucking bull. She doesn't have clothes on because we had just gotten in from playing in the dirt and had a bath.


Mimi bought her a pumpkin for Halloween at Wal-Mart.



Mimi and Papaw read lots of books.



I was trying to take her picture and she came straight up to my camera and said, "Smile". She knew what she was suppose to do. It sure was cute and you can really see those beautiful brown eyes of hers.

It's the Little Things (Like Grapes)

Well, since Megan brought it up in the comments, I thought I would explain about the grapes. :)

A couple weeks ago I noticed a new bulletin board in our front hallway at work. It's title was "What a Grape Bunch of Teachers" (corny school stuff), and it had all the teacher's pictures on a grape. This included all classroom teachers, special teachers (like PE, art & music etc.) all the aides, and even the aide that does our ISS or in school suspension. I thought that was pretty nice. We certainly don't get recognized very often.

I walked a little closer to look at the pictures and didn't see mine. I thought well, maybe they just aren't finished with it yet. So, I asked the secretary, kind of jokingly, where my picture was. They said they didn't know anything about it, and that our assistant principal (AP) had done the board. She has always been a bit cool with me, and I debated about whether to say something to her.

I stewed about it for a few minutes and started to get a bit ticked. I thought, I have a right to a grape too. I teach and help every student in this school every week and some of them several times a week in the library, I'm a certified teacher with a master's degree, and I deserve a *#$@#$ grape.

I went to the AP's office and just stuck my head in and said something like, "Hey, I like the new board, but don't I get a grape too?" She, blew me off as usual, and said that she only put up the classroom teachers. I told her no she didn't, there were special class teachers and aides too. In fact every teacher was up there but me. She started mumbling something, and I said to just forget it and walked away. I definitely had my feelings hurt now, and was feeling very unappreciated. I decided to just go cool off and let it go. This was typical most of the time anyway. Who needed their grape?

Later that afternoon I had hall duty again and what do I see, my picture just stuck up in the middle of one of the bunches of grapes. It wasn't on a grape like the others it was just stapled up there in the middle of one of the bunches like an afterthought. I was not just hurt now but starting to steam.

I almost took my picture down and threw it away, but I thought I deserved to be up there with everyone else. So, I took it down and went and made my own grape. I attached my picture and added it to one of the bunches on the board. The AP has never said another word about it and neither have I.

Now, I know this may sound petty, but it's just one of those little things that drive you stark raving mad. It also goes to show you how much you are thought of and appreciated by the people you work for. I'm sure many people can relate in many different of jobs. I can laugh about it now, and I shouldn't have let it upset me so much, but I really get tired of being forgotten in this school unless they need a duty done or something from me. The AP is still giving me the cold shoulder, but she did that most of the time anyway. Oh well, like they say "Life isn't always fair", but sometimes you just need to stand up for yourself and make your own grape. :)


This is the famous bulletin board.


If you look on the right side of this bunch of grapes, you will see a slightly smaller grape. That's me, a little different, but I'm still there. I think that fits me pretty well, and I'm proud of my grape.


I decided to show some pictures of my library. This is my little office.


This shows some tables used for my classes. The computers are used as an electronic card catalog, research and numerous other things, when they work.


Here's the opposite side where most of the book shelves are.


The reading center for students to come in and read silently.


This is the check-out center where students check-out and return books. They place them on the cart you see to the left, then I shelf them. That's approximately 350 kids checking out and returning several books a week. So, you can see where I spend a lot of my time. This doesn't count the 30 or more teachers I take care of. But, this is my eleventh year in the library, and I love my job!! Thank you God.

Update

I know it's been a long time since I've blogged, but I've been really, really busy. I promise (again) to try to do better. Here's what's been going on.

1. August - This was back to work (school) month for me and is always super crazy. I went back to work the second week of August to get the library up and going before teachers and students came back. We have a new principal, the sixth year in a row, and it's always extra stressful when you don't know what your boss is going to be like. A bad one can literally make your life a living H... I know from experience. But, we just completed our first six weeks and everything is going ok. My assistant principal is giving me some headaches, but that's another story. Overall, it's been a pretty good beginning.

2. September - This was a wonderful month, as it saw the arrival of my daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Megan and Eleanor. They are staying in Texas for a few months while my son works out of country. It has been so nice to have them around. They stayed with us for 2 -3 weeks, then got an apartment close by. It is such a blessing to get to see them both on a regular basis.

3. October - Well, I can't believe it's October already. The weather has been much cooler than usual here. It actually feels like fall. This month always means fall festivals around here. Our little town's is week after next, and I'm planning on getting out of town. This will be my fourth time to go to the Renaissance Festival outside of Houston. I got tickets, for Shane, Casey and myself, to the wine tasting and show this year. They are finally both 21 and can go with me, yea!! There is so much to do there, and I always have a good time. I'll try to blog some pictures when I get back.

And... yes I will try to blog a little more regularly. :)


P. S. I finally got Danny to commit to a trip for next summer. I'm soooo having blue water withdrawals. I think I have enough points on my credit card to pay for airline tickets if we go to Cancun. But, neither of us really want the "party" scene of Cancun. We may fly in there then go to Isla Mujeres or Holbox. Half the fun of a vacation is the research and anticipation for me. I really need something to look forward to.