Wordless Wednesday: Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Alive and Kickin'

Well, maybe not kicking, exactly.  But I am still alive!  I know I've been a bit slack with the blog this month.  I had only just realized how long it has been since my last post yesterday morning.  Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed.  My mom called yesterday evening to make sure I was okay and that everything was alright because she saw I hadn't updated my blog recently.  (Hi Mom!)  And Marvin commented on my last post that I've been too quiet.  It's nice to see people notice, at least!  :) 

I would blame my slackness on blogger's block, but it's actually mostly just laziness and procrastination.  I've actually got at least 4 post ideas rambling around in my head that I just haven't gotten around to putting out there yet.  I promise I'll have something soon! 

My other excuse is Pogo.com.  This game website is freaking fantastic for those of us with lots of time to kill.   You can play for free or you can pay a monthly or yearly membership fee to access tons and tons of games!  (You get WAY more games if you buy a membership.)  I seem to find a new favorite game every week and am still in love with my other favorites.  Needless to say, I spend way too much time on this site.  You win tokens for playing the games and can win a "jackpot spin" for winning the game.  You can actually win real money!  And they have a daily $50 drawing, a weekly $250 drawing, and a monthly $1000 drawing that you can purchase entry tickets for with all those tokens you won playing the game.  Can you see how the idea of possibly winning real money for free games is irresistable?  (If you bought a membership, any jackpot you win is doubled!)  Of course I haven't actually ever won anything and probably never will, but the IDEA is there and it is technically possible.  Being the daydreamer and wishful thinker that I am, it's easy to imagine winning at least. 

So anyway, I'm still here and haven't given up on my blog.  Hopefully one day soon I can wow you with my masterful grasp of the English language.  Or something.

Photo found here.

That Sock Monkey is an Animal!

You've probably seen the Kia car commercial where the kid's toys are larger than life and living it up out there in the real world. 



That Sock Monkey guy is one wild character.  Getting a "Mom" embroidery tattoo, Xtreme jet skiing, and mechanical bull riding, and even stunt driving...  His friends - Robot, Teddy Bear, Big Red Bumpy Cyclops, and Shaggy Brown Striped-Shirt Thing - must have their hands full trying to keep him in line. And judging from the club scene, it looks like the ladies still love the bad boy, even when he is made from 96% cotton. 

WooHoo! I'm Rich!

That's right, Friends.  My money woes are over! Who needs a job when I'm earning such big bucks from Squidoo?  I have a handful of articles I wrote up and over the past few months I earned a whopping $4.23!  I'm rolling in the dough now, baby.  As soon as the deposit hits my bank account on Monday I'm going on a shopping spree.  Gee, where should I start first?  Do they still have that $2.99 bacon cheeseburger value meal at Wendy's?  I'm so flush I can even spring for a Frosty. 

Image found here.

I Have Triumphed!

Okay, so some of you may have read the post I wrote about my very first day as a substitute teacher. While it didn't necessarily go badly, I didn't truly feel that it had gone well, and I was unreasonably disappointed with myself over it.  But this week I had the chance to redeem myself!  I had an assignment on Thursday to sub at the same school for another of my DH's colleagues in the science department.  I knew beforehand that each class would be watching videos.  I had mixed feelings about this, since I didn't know how well they would behave or if they would pay attention.  I was relieved to see that this teacher left me detailed instructions on class procedures (like using the restroom, etc) and she left a seating chart.  I heart Ms. B!  That seating chart made a world of difference. It's a lot easier to get their attention and let them know you mean business when you "magically" know their names.  And I was able to start the class off in a firm manner and let them know that I was the boss by making them sit in their assigned seats.  They didn't know I had a seating chart and were again "amazed" by how I knew where they were supposed to be sitting.  That seating chart made it so much easier to learn their names to!  And this time I was able to be assertive and actually speak loudly enough to be well-heard.  I was on a roll! 

When I got to the classroom and went over the notes for the day, I was very glad to see that the teacher had provided worksheets for the students to complete as they watched the video.  It was a great way to force them to pay attention to the video and for me to have a legitimate reason to make them keep quiet.  After all, they had to watch the video in order to answer all those questions!  The physics class in particular had a quite lengthy questionnaire to complete.  This was no joke, to be sure.  The video they watched was actually pretty interesting too.  It was called Einstein's Big Idea, and it was way better than any boring documentary-type stuff we ever watched in school.  I was amazed at how well they all behaved.  There was plenty of "let's see if we can fool the sub" action going on in the first class, (and I had been warned repeatedly by other teachers that this class was the worst of the day) but it was easy to see they were just trying to have fun and weren't being malicious in any way.  With the exception of two students who refused to stop talking despite many warnings and who I eventually had to separate, the class went incredibly well in my opinion. The rest of the classes were the same.  It was such a relief!  Now I can feel that my first experience was not due to a failing in myself.  I don't completely suck at subbing! 

While I was there for that sub assignment, one of the other science teachers came over to my room to ask if I was available the next day, so I ended up with two jobs in a row!  The first and last classes were to watch the movie Osmosis Jones, and the middle class was to take a test and then start on the lab write-ups for the lab they had done the day before.  Mr. M told me that they didn't have to watch the movie if they didn't want to, so long as if they chose to talk they kept the volume down enough to not disturb anyone else who did want to watch the movie.  I amended these instructions when I got to class that morning, as I felt letting them know they could talk would just be asking for trouble.  I knew I'd spend the entire day doing volume control.  They didn't have to answer any questions about the movie, and it was definitley just something to keep them occupied while he was out for the day.  I instead told them they could study or work on homework for another class, or sleep, if they didn't want to watch the movie, and that they only thing they HAD to do was be quiet.  And miraculously nobody had any problems with this at all.  Almost all of them watched the movie (and enjoyed it - it seems to be a favorite among high school students) and not ONCE did I have to ask anyone to be quiet.  Even the class that worked on their lab write-ups after their testing worked quietly with only whispers among lab partners.  I was amazed.  It was great to finish these assignments, and the week, on a positive note. 

Wordless Wednesday: Stairway to Heaven?

Atalaya Castle, Huntington Beach State Park - Murrells Inlet, SC

Bowling Time!

I went bowling the other day for the first time in about 15 years.  Thankfully, bowling is one game that is fun even when you are terrible at it.  In my opinion, so long as you can keep your bowling ball in your own lane, you're doing just fine.  Then again, there's something to be said for the kind of - uh, enthusiasm - that results in your bowling ball barrelling down the lane next door, right?  (Not that I did that.  I'm just saying is all.  No, really!) 

And you know what was great about this bowling alley? NO SMOKE! It was a non-smoking building and it smelled nice inside. I couldn't get over it. One of the reasons I hadn't bowled in so long is that if it ever crossed my mind to see if anyone wanted to go, I'd change my mind as soon as I remembered that it would be all gross and smoky inside. I must have commented on the lack of cigarette smoke about a dozen times.  It made the whole experience so much nicer to be able to breathe and not go home smelling like some nasty ashtray. 

I went with two friends of mine who go bowling fairly often.  They even have their own bowling balls, bags, and shoes!  Needless to say, they were WAY better than I was.  Although I have the distinct impression that I could practice weekly and still be lucky to get a triple digit score.  :)  But it's just so much fun anyway! We played 3 games and I'm surprised my arm didn't give out on me after hurling that ball down the lane so often.  I was lucky enough to get the only 8 lb ball that had adult-sized finger holes.  I didn't break 100 the first game.  Okay, fine, I didn't even break 70.  I didn't expect to be able to do as well as my friends, but it was a bit sobering to see the two preschoolers in the neighboring lane were doing better than me.  Granted, they got to use the gutter bumpers for most of the game, after one little tyke got his ball stuck in the gutter halfway down the lane. But still. 

My high score was 118.  Out of a possible 300.  Not the best, but at least it was over 100!  I totally expected to wake up the next morning with a very sore forearm, but it felt fine.  My right leg and bum on the otherhand, were so stiff and sore!  That's an awful lot of one-legged squats in 3 games of bowling.  I took my camera with me so I could get pictures for the blog here, but of course I forgot to use it until we were leaving.  Rats!  And not only could I have had some of my own pictures for this post, but they were setting up for a kid's 5th birthday party and a picture of that cake deserved a spot on Cake Wrecks!  It had a blog of something on top that took a few moments to realize was supposed to be a giant bowling ball.  :)  It probably would have taken a bit longer to recognize if we hadn't been in a bowling alley. 

I think if I ever win a bajillion dollars in the lottery, I'm going to have to have my own mini bowling alley in my house.  That would be so much fun! 

Image found here.