Summer is winding down

I was given the opportunity to teach full-time for a few months this school year. The technology (computer) teacher is on having to be on bed rest so she can't make it back to school. She is due in September. Then she'll take her maternity leave. The principal asked for me personally to take over for her. I'm really excited about it. I spoke with the teacher yesterday and told her, "Are you sure you want me doing it? You know I don't know much about computers!!" She said not to worry because for the first 6 weeks or so the school is still waiting to get back all of the "internet release forms" from the students. (they can't go online, or even touch the computers, until all forms are signed and returned) I did not get the Special Ed position I was hoping for, but I'm sure this one will work out just fine for me. It's a much easier case load. I really only need to prepare 1 lesson each week- the kids only have technology one day a week. So by Fridays, I should be great!
Fred is enjoying his new career as a CO. He's on second shift (2-10pm). I'm not all that thrilled about it, but I think it's going to work out well. He has Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, which is nice because it breaks up the week for us. I'm still not used to him staying home in the mornings. He did a side job last week and got home around 11am. I freaked when he walked through the door, "What's wrong? " He answered, "Nothing, I'm done working." (meaning, he was done working the side job he was doing). Well I thought he meant he was done working for the prison and said, "What do you mean you're done, you quit the prison?!?!!" He said no then I screeched, "YOU HAD TO BE THERE HOURS AGO!!!" At this point, he thinks I'm a total freak. "No Jeanette, I still have an hour before I have to leave." Oh I was so confused. It was the worst feeling!
I'm getting better at it. I'm waiting for the funny prison stories. But there really aren't any. I guess it's not that fun of a place. He did have to have a discussion with an inmate about how he could not keep a toad as a pet. "But why not? I'll take good care of it." It's like dealing with 7 year olds.

School starts on August 4th. I can't believe Eli will be in 5th grade and Emma in 3rd. Wow. They are getting old. Funny how they are and I'm not!

So here are some off-the-cuff ramblings..... (yeah, like this entire blog isn't
*I've been seeing a chiropractor for the last few weeks. Seeing for adjustments, massage, and PT, not for a fling. I don't have time for that. lol I've never felt better in my life. I guess the accident I was in 3 years ago did a number on my neck. Your neck is supposed to have a curve to it and there's space between your vertebrae. Well mine had absolutely no curve and my vertebrae were starting to close. Scary stuff. He called it pre-arthritis. Double scary. After just a few weeks, I've seen tremendous changes. My posture is better, no more lower backaches, little to no shoulder tension, and my jaw isn't sticking so much. I'm going 3x/week for 6 weeks. Eli is going 1x/week because his neck wasn't as curved as it should be. I'm all about overcoming small issues before they become big problems!
*I have a midterm for my Educational Psychology course that I have to take by Saturday. I'm feeling slightly confident. I'm sure I will do fine. I just wish I was more motivated to study instead of doing this.
*We found out that our tortoise, Squirt, is a girl. Much to Eli's dismay. Yeah, he's quite upset about it. He gets mad if you call Squirt "her" or "she". I think it's funny. Yes, there really is a way to tell if your tortoise is a boy or a girl. That is another thing that is funny. The females have a flat-bottomed shell. The males have a concave part to the underneath of their shells. It's so they can, uh, um, climb better. Yeah, that's it. (well that's what I tell the kids) If you need it explained, ask your mother.
*We organized the garage yesterday. I'm still waiting for my scrapbooking room to get done.
*We bought a new car about 3 weeks ago. The van was starting to have too many issues that we didn't want to keep dumping money into. Instead, we'll dump money into a payment. It's a cute, sporty little red Kia Spectra. I'm sad it's not a van, but it's a fine car for us.
*I had my physical today at the doctor. It's only something I'm proud about because it's been over 5 years since my last one. We finally have insurance. I'm happy for that.
*I have a crappy tooth. I was just complaining about the kids' teeth and now I'm stuck with one. I had a tooth capped a few years ago. I guess it needs a crown. A $500 crown. For $500, I want it to have a tiara instead of a crown. Perhaps with some sapphires or rubies. But then again, rubies might look like I have bits of blood on my tooth. I'll have to think about that.

summertime and the livin is....ah, sort of easy!

So tomorrow is the BIG DAY. Fred will be graduating COTA. I am so proud of him. I'm even a bit surprised that he likes it so much! These last 9 weeks have gone by so fast for us. Well, fast for me at least, Fred says they were excruciatingly slow! He's gone through restraint training, tons of physical training, weapons training, and he now knows what it feels like to be PEPPER SPRAYED! (oh you know as soon as I scan that picture, it's going to be on here!). Yes, there's even a picture! Someone snapped one right when he was getting sprayed. He's standing there with his eyes closed and his hands on his hips and this yellowish stream heading right towards his eyes. His sergeant sprayed him twice. Once on the eyes and another time across the mouth. Apparently the sgt didn't even like Fred's goatee. Fred said it was pretty much the suckiest thing he's ever gone through. He said it stung and burned for a long time.

I am so proud of him. Words can't even explain. I can't wait to see him tomorrow at the ceremony. We're driving down to Tucson with the wife of another cadet.

On Friday we leave for the weekend to go camping with friends of ours, Larry and Cindy and their 2 cutie pie girls. I'm really excited. They are such fun.

So far the summer has been a good one. The kids and I went to Pittsburgh for 2 1/2 weeks. We had a blast. It was the perfect amount of time- the kids really didn't get homesick like they did last year and we had just enough time to squeeze in everything we wanted to do. Although we didn't get to go to the zoo and I would have LOVED to spend way more time with family and friends, it was a perfect trip. The kids were on their very best behavior and really had fun. Today we went to the pool. There's a really fun one just a bit north of here. E and Em both brought a friend so I was pretty much left by myself- ahhhhhhh.

Well, better get going and getting everyone ready for bed. We're planning on leaving by 6:30 tomorrow morning.