Sunday, October 30, 2011

Good News!

WE'RE GOING HOME FOR THANKSGIVING!!!!

I am so incredibly excited!  Over the past couple months, I've been a bit homesick.  Okay, some days I'm a lot homesick.  I think Davis has been too.  I haven't really made any friends outside of work.  My "work friends" all live in Decatur, so there's no getting together on the weekends.  And I'm still trying to find a church that I'm comfortable with, but it's hard to compete with St. Francis.  I have a feeling that making friends is going to be a long process.  While I consider myself a friendly person, I certainly did not inherit the same social skills as my brother and sister.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand - Thanksgiving!
Davis managed to be scheduled off for Tuesdays during November, and everyone has Thanksgiving day off, so he asked his boss for Wednesday off.  Surprisingly, Joel said yes!  Our plan is to drive home (Madison) early Tuesday and stay through Thursday afternoon sometime.  I am looking forward to spending time with family and eating some delicious "Mama" food :)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Life is winning

It's hard to believe another week has passed and that I'm already due for another post (I try to update once a week).

Over the last week, I had quite a few battles with life - most of which I lost.  Please be aware that this is a whiny post

To get to work, I travel 16 miles on 985 followed by 18 miles on 85 South; After that I get onto 285 East/South for another 6 miles or so before taking various roads for short distances to Decatur, GA.  My normal commute is right at an hour when I leave at 5:50-6am - putting me at school by 7am on most days.  Wednesday morning, it was pouring on my way to work.  If you think Atlanta traffic is bad normally, you should see what happens when you add rain to the mix.  Two accidents on 985 meant it took me about 50 minutes to travel the 16 miles to 85 South.  It is now almost 7am, and I know I am going to be late because I hear reports on the radio about two more accidents on 85 South in the 18 miles I travel.  Fantastic.  I call the school to let them know I'll be late; I also alert the other para I do car-rider duty with in the mornings.  Another 45 minutes passes before I make it to 285.  It is now 7:35am with another 15 minutes to the school - thankfully, no accidents the rest of the way.  I arrive at school at 7:50. Car rider line is already closed, and I haven't had any time to prepare for my day.  I am nearly an hour later than usual.

Life = 1
Robyn = 0

On Thursday Davis suggests we go up to Meineke to get my Service Engine Soon light checked out.  We know it has something to do with emissions, but that's it.  The guy at Meineke tells us that it's my catalytic converter and that the part is going to be between $600-800 for a proper replacement.  Don't forget the $170 for labor.  He tells us he'll call tomorrow (Friday) when he gets in touch with the company he buys catalytic converters from with a definite price.  On the way home, Davis notices that my break light is out.  He takes it apart and checks it - bulb is fine, so he puts it back in.  The next day, we find out that it is out again (we're headed out in a few minutes to check the wiring...)

Life = 2
Robyn = 0

Friday morning as I'm leaving the apartment headed for school (at 5:55am) I decide to try to knock off some of the condensation by rolling my windows down.  The driver's side window gets caught and drops out of its track, down into the door.  I know exactly what's happened because this is the second time I've experienced it.  I also know that we have to take apart the door to fix it, which I don't have time to do before school.  I make the decision to drive to work without the window and figure it out when I get there.  It's 40 degrees at 60-70mph.  I get to work and decide that the easiest fix is to duct tape a towel to my door and close it in the door.

Life = 3
Robyn = 0

I pray all day that no one will notice that my car is an easy break-in (we are in Atlanta, after all).  After school I stop by the dealership to see Davis.  He notices how upset I am by the window and everything else that happened this week, and he decides to come home a couple hours early to help me fix the window.  By 9pm, the window is finally back on track and my door is reassembled.

Life = 3
Robyn & Davis = 1

The good news?  Last week is over, and it can only get better from here.

Oh yeah, and I have the most fantastic husband in the world.  He came home from work yesterday with these...

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Bits and Pieces

Per the request of my father (and my grandmother via my father), I am updating the blog.  I don't mean to leave you hanging, it's just that I can't think straight by the time I make it home from a day in Pre-K, which means that my post would probably be somewhat incoherent.

As far as Pre-K world goes, things are starting to smooth out.  We finally got our scheduled nailed down (only took us 6 weeks!).  We are now going outside before lunch instead of before nap - which was a nightmare.  For our non-nappers, we have quiet activities such as puzzles and books for them to do in the second half of naptime.  I've also picked up several books on CD that we play for the second half (thank goodness for public libraries!).  One of our students who is very active and can't stay still for naptime actually sits and listens to the stories.  When one is over, he applauds and says "Yay!"  It's actually quite adorable.

I'm still struggling with being a para, but getting the hang of my role.  I am glad that I get the chance to see what being a teacher is like before jumping in head-first.  It is currently 6:25pm, and I have yet to receive a lesson plan for next week, which is one of the thing that kills me most.  I don't know if my lead teacher is required to send me the plans, but receiving it on Monday morning gives me about 15 minutes to prepare for the day before going to car rider duty.  I'm hoping that improves.  I'm trying to give her some slack because she is a first year teacher, and I know she's got a lot being thrown at her right now.  Still.

On the home front, things are going pretty well.  The fish are doing fine except for the fact that Oscar (Davis's fish) eats all of the food before Einstein (my fish) gets a chance to.  Thus, Oscar is getting fat and Einstein hides in a bowl all day.  We also think that Einstein might be blind in one eye, which explains why he can't find the food.  Boris is still alive, though is he quite obviously getting old.  He spends most of the day sideways in the rocks at the bottom until I shake food in.  It's the only time of the day that he gets excited.

Davis sold a car yesterday.  Hooray!  I think that brings it up to 3 this month.  Luckily, he grossed a lot on that one car, which means commission on that car will be larger than normal.

As my parents keeps not-so-subtly hinting, they are eager for us to come home to visit.  Davis and I are both a bit homesick for family at the moment, and we're concocting a plan to come home at the beginning of Thanksgiving week.  Davis only gets that Thursday off, but if he could get Tuesday off (regular schedule rotation) and ask for Wednesday, we could both come.  If not, I'll be flying solo.

Finally, I'm getting really excited for Susan's bachelorette party.  For those of you who don't know, Susan is one of my best friends from Madison, and she is getting married in TWO months (and one day)!  I am so excited for her and Andrew! Her bachelorette weekend will be spent in Memphis, which means a road trip for me.  (The real disaster, however, is that I will miss the LSU-Bama game...)

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Attack of the Zombies

I spend an hour every day out on the playground - two 30-minute sessions.  Our principal encourages us to interact with our students while we're out there, which I love.  I play a lot of tag/chase, which can be fairly humorous with 4-year-olds.  At any point in time I could have 5 kids tagging me telling me that I'm "it".  I crawl through tunnels, climb up walls, and fly down slides.  A lot of the boys enjoy being some kind of character - bad guys, good guys, animals - and chasing each other.  So, I decided to join in the fun.

When asking the boys what they were, here were their responses:
a Pokemon
a wild cat
a ninja
a pirate
a werewolf

What could I be that would be interesting and exciting to 4-year-old boys?  A zombie.  Yep, I became a zombie.  I started walking funny and chanting "I will eat your brain".  I followed them around the playground; when I caught them, I "ate" their brain.  One of the boys caught on to what I was doing and decided he wanted to be a zombie too.  However, when I tried to eat his brain I found out that zombies don't eat each other's brains (obviously).  In five minutes, every child involved in the game became zombies and were walking around the playground as such saying "I will eat your brain".

And that's how I converted my PreK-ers into a hoard of zombies.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Exciting New Additions

Last weekend Davis and I went to WalMart to get a harmonica (Davis wants to learn how to play).  He made the mistake of turning down the animal aisle, where I got sucked in by the fish tanks.  At first I was just thinking about getting a friend for Boris, but Davis really wanted to get an Oscar. 15 minutes later we were at Petsmart.  We bought a 20 gallon tank and got it set up before we went back to get our fish.  Davis got a tiger oscar and I got an albino tiger oscar.  Here are some pictures of them and their new home.

Davis's tiger oscar...named Oscar.  Oscar is a fatty and eats all the food before my fish can.  He's also a bit of a bully.


This is my albino oscar, named Einstein.  Einstein is a bit of a moron, thus his name.  Whenever he tries to eat, he usually misses the pellet once or twice before Oscar swoops in and eats it.


Their tank now has two bowls and two bouncy balls on strings.  Einstein likes to stay hidden under the bowl, as you can tell.


Sometimes they chase each other, and sometimes they hang out in a bowl together....



And that's how Davis and I became parents to two new scaly fish.