Quick Update

I taught computer class all by my self today, and by December will be teaching it completely! I'll go into that later. Suffice to say, it was fun, and awesome, and I wanna do it again. 

I substitute kindergarten tomorrow. Which means I have to get up early. Ugh. 

Went out with my coworker friends today, laughed a lot. Fun!

Our apartment is messy. 

I love my boyfriend. 

This weekend will be busy. 

I really, truly, seriously for-reals this time must study for my incompletes. 

Mwah!

Experiences in Teaching

This semester has been all about me figuring out what I want to do. I am (strongly) leaning towards teaching elementary school, because I love kids and enjoy bossing them around. (I kid! Though it is very satisfying saying "five-minute time-out!")

I'm doing two things to figure out if teaching is a good fit: First, I am taking a field experience class where I am put in a classroom at an elementary school for 12 weeks; and second, I am working at a private school's after-school childcare program. 

The field experience class is, in a word, AWESOME. One hour of lecture and then we head to our assigned classrooms, which for four of us at the moment is special education. After six weeks in the first classroom we change over to another class, which for me is kindergarten. 

Special education is amazing. There are anywhere from 4-8 kids in the class at any given time, because the school mainstreams them as much as possible, so if Billy is really good at reading he goes to a regular class for their reading time and then comes back. They have speech therapy (I got to go see a session twice!) and some other classes as well for the kids. It ranges from K-3rd grades, and all the kids are very smart this year according to the teachers. 

I loved that we got to work one-on-one with the students. They had lessons planned, so we would review their sight-words and then do some pages from a practice book and then read . . . and bribe and/or coerce them as necessary. Some days they were better at concentrating, some days they were super hyper, some days they were just not into learning. Every day was an exercise in patience. 

Being in a teaching position like that was very humbling. There are lots of little tricks to getting the kids to understand what you're talking about, and tricks on how to focus--even getting to know each child's strengths and weaknesses helped you understand the best way to work with them. Learning these tricks took time, and an understanding that there was always some better way to help the kids learn. 

Last Thursday was the last day we were in special ed. When we walked in (myself and three other girls), the class was sitting in a circle. We were invited to join.  The kids said thank you to us and why they were glad we were there. They had practiced before we came. 

One little boy said he was glad we came because "it helps because class is quiet and I can work." 

A girl said, "You are my friends and I'll miss you," which of course made my eyes get all hot and wet. 

A boy acted really shy and cute and finally mumbled, "You're all pretty." 

I am going to miss them so much! Kindergarten should be really fun though, so that's something to look forward to. The private school I am working at is great! It has kindergarten through 8th grade, and every day I work somewhere different. The kids and parents are so nice and it is great experience. 

So far all signs point to yes, I do want to be a teacher. 

I have mentioned that procrastination is my middle name, right?

Regarding the lack of uppity-updates . . . . yeah. I suck. Sorry. ^_- And now I'm going to bed, so quick! Here's a summary of interesting things that happened while I wasn't blogging!

1. I vacuumed. (Not interesting, but something I'm very proud of.)

2. Amalah up and got pregnant! Again!

3. I read the whole series of the Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz: this hilarious series about a private investigator dysfunctional family with Izzy Spellman getting into weird situations is awesome. 

4. Speaking of awesome (and legen--wait for it--DAIRY) is the TV series How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM!) that started and is conveniently posted online at cbs.com for us cable-less folk. 

5. Was scared stiff by watching Blade Runner with Harrison Ford. Nick made me. 

6. Made Nick watch the Disney movie the Princess and the Frog as payback. 

7. Cooked a bunch. Dinner tonight was wor won ton soup, which was super delicious. (Also a pain to fold those damn wrappers into the right shape.) 

8. Exercised! A little. 

9. Yelled myself hoarse at kids not behaving across the playground, while I was at work at the after-school program. And yet, it is so fun! Oh! And I got a babysitting gig through work!

10. Frowned at the sky a lot, like, "This is fall, right? So why is it NINETY DEGREES AND UP?!" Seriously. I buy the cutest sweater at Old Navy and then it's too hot for me to wear it. What gives, Nature? 

Okay. Bedtime. Sweet dreams! 

I suspect . . .

 . . . that the Internet is weird. 

Forget suspecting. I KNOW the internet is weird; I think everybody does. But today I was checking out my StatCounter for like the first time in a year (I forgot I had it and tried to make a new one, oops) and I started clicking on how people find my blog. 

Aaaaaand enter the weird. Did you know that people actually search "Put poo in perfume"?!? From my post about spilling perfume when a foster kitten had diarrhea? (Ew, BTW). But seriously. Put poop in perfume? WHO WOULD DO THAT?! 

Apparently, a few readers. 

UPDATE: 

I've been thinking about this "poo in perfume" person. (I had ample time to do so while biking with Nick to school and then again on the way home.) I suppose there might actually be REASONS for googling such a thing. A few I have thought of include: 

1) This person (oh! they live in London, by the way, so let's call them Queenie) received some perfume as a present and it smells awful. They googled "poo in perfume" to see if it is an actual type, (in which case their friend doesn't want them dead) or if the poo smell is from their friend actually mixing poo and perfume together in which case the friend probably wants them to come down with E. Coli. Either way Queenie needs to dump this friend; they're toxic. 

2) Queenie is a fervent vegan soul working for PETA (or the UK equivalent) who is trying to find ways of suing perfume companies by accusing them of mixing the poop of unwilling animals into their bottles. 

3) Queenie is actually a thirteen-year-old boy trying to piss off his sister. 

OH MY GOD THERE IS NO REASON TO GOOGLE "PUT POO IN PERFUME". THIS IS GOING TO HAUNT ME ALL NIGHT LONG. 

Sunday Morning Breakfast: Adorable Edition

Breakfast this morning made me laugh. So I thought I'd share. Doesn't everyone like to see two good-looking young men sitting at an elegant bistro cafe glass table, eating homemade chocolate chip waffles and laughing together?

Sigh. So cute.


Nick and Ryan, acting adorable together. I had finished eating and was about to sit in the living room when I glanced back. And saw them.


What else could I do? I needed evidence. It was too cute for words!

Er . . .


Yep. Simply adorable. Also a delicious breakfast.


PS That painting is by my dad. He has a blog for his paintings: Gary Symington.

De Young and Legion of Honor

A few weekends ago my family and Nick went to San Francisco to see the Impressionist Exhibit at the De Young museum, and the subsequent exhibits at the Legion of Honor. It was very fun and soooo beautiful! We spent the night in a cute suite and ate expensive food.

Mom and Dad being all cute outside the Legion of Honor.

Rodin's "The Thinker" plus three extra Thinkers.

. . . still Thinking.

. . . aaaaand we are Lost in Thought.

My dad also blogged about the visit on his new art blog where he blogs about his paintings, so click to see the pretty pictures: De Young and De Restless.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Whenever I leave Nick's house at night for the ten minute drive back home, he always stops at the top of his stairs and waits for me to back up and start to pull out, and then waves and I blow him a kiss. I love that. 

Waking up with my cats sleeping next to me. Io laid claim to the pillow I don't use (I have a queen-size bed) and Oz sleeps by my feet. Also, snuggling with my foster kittens. 

The book series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon--if you want to read a few thousand pages of fascinating historical fiction, time-travel, medical treatments, absolutely fascinating characters and complex plots, and romance, this is the series for you. 

The TV series Burn Notice, Firefly, and Buffy. 

Baking yummilicious treats (and trying to keep them healthy) (and sometimes really not). Pumpkin pie tonight--but more often brownies! 

Amalah, the first ever blog I knew about and read and got invested in. She went from a hip wino that was good at falling down and making it funny to a hip mom with two kids, one of which has SPD and some other learning issues. Pretty much daily I check Amalah's blog and click on her Advice Smackdown, and the Mamapop gossip site that she helps run. 

Dooce, one of the world's most popular bloggers, who has some ridiculous number of people following her. But she is hilarious and witty and snarky, very blunt about being ex-Mormon and her treatment for mental illness. 

A new hilarious blog that is illustrated (with the best expressions a near-stick figure can have) is Hyperbole and a Half. I just found her and she made me laugh so hard I couldn't resist adding her to my blog listing. 

Hmm. I'm sure I have more faves but I can't think of them now. I love being lazy, watching movies, reading, eating, sleeping, and day-dreaming. 

Exhausted and Dirty

Holy crap on toast, I am so pooped right now! My legs are throbbing in pain from walking. (Oh God am I ever lame. Pretend that they're sore from snorkeling through the Caribbean instead.)

I'm lying in bed but my brain is going a hundred miles a minute, and if Aimee called me right now to babysit I would jump up and jog over. My brain and legs are so contrary because I just cleaned for eleven hours in one go. (You know what would sound impressive? If I said 'eleven hours and I cleaned the house top to bottom'. But that would be someone else's blog, because you know what?) It took me eleven hours to clean my room.

I'll just let you absorb that little tidbit of horrifying information.

Seriously. Whose room is so gross it takes eleven hours to make it clean? WHOSE? (Sidenote; since I am so tired normal things are looking weird, and I just noticed that "whose" is "w"-"hose" and it's weird that the word "hose" is in a possessive form of "who". Now, onward!) Really, who has such a dirty room? There's only so much dusting and vacuuming a person can do before they keel over.

Those of you who know me and/or have seen my dirty room are probably shaking your heads right now in disbelief that I am pretending shocked disbelief. Well, YOU ARE RIGHT. I AM DIRTY. My room is dirty and full of dust and cat litter and EW, if I think about it then yes, I get grossed out too. So I don't.

I wish I had taken a "before" picture but you will have to use your memories for that and settle for "after" pictures. I dusted and vacuumed and mopped repeatedly, threw away and donated and organized and neatened (as strange as it is I am slightly OCD about things being in order. My room can be a hurricane but MY BOOKSHELF WILL BE IN THE RIGHT ORDER. Everything in it's proper place! Or ELSE.) and now my room is so beautiful that I simply must share it with you . . .

. . . tomorrow. (Hey, I'm exhausted and sore here. Ninight!)

In case you were curious

. . . Lexapro tastes like shiznit. I took it tonight (it's my anti-anxiety pill) and took a second too long in between popping the pill and swallowing some water, and GAH! EW! YUCK! Horrible faces, etc. etc.

My solution to all of you lovely people out there; avoid getting so stressed that you cause yourself to need anxiety medication because at some point you will taste it and it is GROSS.

My solution to the producers of Lexapro is two words: CANDY. COATING. (Seriously. Advil makes deeelicious pain relief that I always suck on for an extra few seconds because mmm, it tastes like Skittles. Producers of Lexapro, I am already paying an arm and a leg for your white powdery magic pills, can't you make them taste better?

(See the type of things I get upset over? Is it any wonder that I am on anxiety meds?)

Prom 2010

My brothers just had their senior prom. I feel too young to have them almost graduated from high school! Next thing you know I'll be fretting about wrinkles and age spots.

Here's Quentin with his buddies David and Tony, all looking very handsome in their tuxedos. We won't go into how long it took Quentin and I to stand in line to pick up his tux; suffice it to say that I nearly went bald from pulling out my hair in frustration. (We were late for dinner for the foreign exchange program.)


Quentin went with a girl we didn't know from another high school, Sarah. Aren't they cute?!


Troy. Ah, Troy. When he went out to rent a tux (for free, his friend works there) he called me and asked, "What do you think about a tuxedo with a tailcoat and top hat?"

I must say, he pulls it off. Here he is with his date, Anna.


I think that they are quite adorable. Also? I want a top hat.


Three of their friends (including Troy) wore the tailcoats in black, and three wore them in white. They pretended to be mortal enemies; the VonMonocles and the VonPocketwatches.


Both boys had lots of fun and had funny stories to tell. (Apparently someone brought a blow up doll dressed up and it was tossed around the dance floor!) They danced and talked and ate chocolate strawberries. (I'm sure there was more food, but that's the important one right there.)

I'm kind of nostalgic for my proms now! Off to search out my old prom dress. ^_^

Helping Mom Pack

. . . is exhausting work. His arm is flung out in protest. (On mom's new silk skirt.)

Does that match? Katie says yes, Oz says sleeeepy.

Oz wishes my mom and dad an awesome trip, reminds them to bring him some fish treats, and is now going to take a nap on this convenient pile of folded clothes.

Love you!

What do YOU think?

I found my three barrel curler today. I attacked my hair with it. I want to know what you think about it!

Mom though it was cute, Troy did too (under pressure). Dad didn't say anything but later admitted he was wondering if I had done something to it.

Quentin asked me: "Did you just wake up? And not brush your hair?"

To what you're wondering: Yes, we no longer have a living French boy here. I suffocated him with hair spray.

(Apologies for the same background in every shot. Also that these are taken by photo booth. It's too much work to upload from my camera!)

So, what do you think? I will give you some multiple choice.

A) Why, Katie, that is simply the most sizzling hairstyle you've ever sported! Say you won't ever stop styling it just so!

B) Dear lord, woman, accept that you have straight hair! Stop trying to curl it! My eyes won't take it!

C) Meh. Whatever.

D) I love it but don't think you would ever wake up early enough to do it again. Snap a picture and say you're done.

Kitten in a Fort

I had a lot of fun making a fort for Oz to explore. We received two huge boxes that had new lanterns for our front door--and also lots of neat cardboard and plastic!

'What is this? Can I eat it?'

Looking pensive. Possibly hungry.

'Must. Search. For. Fooood.'

'Yikes!'

STARVING

'SO HUNGRY. SOOOOO HUNGRY. Stoopid human goes away all day without putting enough food out and now I'm STARVING.'

'NOMNOMNOM.'

'Whut?'

Full disclosure: I do not starve my cats. I fill that bowl up like two times a day and my darn kitten goes through it like I go through chocolate. He just got really impatient this time and couldn't wait for Io to finish eating so he could have his turn.

Why You Can't Leave a Drink Unattended in My Home

Because this happens.

'Oooh. What is this? Tasty food, perhaps? I love food!'

'Hmm. Not food. Still, the human was drinking it. Maybe I'll like it!'

'OMG this is the most deeelicious water ever!'

Aaaaaand this is why there are like three or four glasses in the background. I drink something, he jumps up and sticks his head in it. If it wasn't so cute, it would drive me nuts!

Valentine's Day Weekend 2010: Part One

For our third Valentine's Day together, Nick and I went up to his grandparent's cabin. We have been there only once before, and this was our first time up in the winter. We left Saturday afternoon and stayed until Monday, and this time we planned our meals out very well!

Saturday night I made hamburgers and crinkle fries. Sunday morning, while I slept in, Nick got up and made scrambled eggs and toast. He woke me up by telling me to "Hurry up, or your breakfast will get cold!" Which is a wonderful way to wake up if you have to.

Sunday we got suited up and went outside in the snow--or, technically, I got suited up in many bajillion layers, and Nick wore jeans and his jacket.

I am the abominable snow-bunny marshmallow Pillsbury dough-girl.

Valentine's Day Weekend: Part Four

One of my favorite moments from this weekend. I love this picture--that look is classic Nick

Awesomeness! I was cracking up while taking these.

Admiring the view. . .

The hole from his foot shows us exactly how far it is to the deck!

Rocky

Blackmail pics!

Such a cute boy!!!

Dress-Up Time!

For my friend's wedding anniversary I stole her children!

Rocky first tried to call Tokyo . . .

Shelby and Dixie rifled through my jewelery and found some crowns from my cousin's Bat Mitzfah . . . and I gave them some Twilight Sweethearts for Valentine's Day! (Jacob's on them!)

Rocky did his favorite thing of turning the TV on and off . . . while wearing Shelby's shoes . . .

. . . shoes with a half inch heel . . .

All in all it was so much fun! Vicky's kids are awesome and very well behaved. We ate chicken pot pie, made oatmeal peanut-butter chocolate-chip cookies for Vicky and her husband, fed the horses across from our house some carrots, read Cinderella, walked around outside, and colored pictures for their parents.

You Know You Need More Sleep . . .

. . . when it takes you until three in the afternoon to realize your underwear is on backwards.

(Full Disclosure: they're the boy style panties so it's not as uncomfortable as you might be imagining).

In any case, I suspect that I need to be more awake when getting dressed.