Jury Duty

I've been called once before, but that week I only had to call in.  This time I had to go in.  I was jurist number 5, but when we walked into the court room, the defendant waved to me.  I had worked with him for 12 years at Jefferson.  He was accused of driving fast or recklessly with endangerment to another.  The first question the judge asked after we were sworn in was if any of us were related to or knew the defendant.  Two of us raised our hands.  The other school district employee didn't know him that well and thought he could still be fair.  I would like to think that I could judge fairly and have integrity, but I told the judge it would be hard.  I was excused.  They gave me a $3 coupon for lunch downstairs which ended up being half a turkey sandwich, and I drove out to Mom and Dad's for a nice afternoon visit.

Ice Day!

When I checked at 5:00 AM there was no snow.  They wouldn't call a Snow Day, and they didn't.  They should have called an Ice Day.  I have never driven in more treacherous conditions.  My 10 minute commute took 45 this morning.  Federal Way was a parking lot.  Every turn was a skid.  You couldn't go slow enough.  There were flashing lights everywhere.  Everyone on the road between 6:00 and 9:00 had a scary, scary drive.  Walking in the parking lot or on sidewalks was not much better.  Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. 

Back to Blogging

I'm back to blogging, but it gets out of control so easy. 

Blog 1 - Mine.  I love to do this.  I want to do this.  I'm struggling to find the time or routine to get it done.  Just once or twice a week.  It shouldn't be hard.

Blog 2 - My students are blog buddies with a group of sixth graders in Hansen.  We meet at the end of the year for a field trip at Bruneau Sand Dunes.  This is the month we're finally starting.  Everyone is in a group.  Everyone has a password.  Everyone has been trained, and most of them need help  - if not with blogging, then just with writing in general.

Blog 3 - I'm taking a writing class through BSU that focuses on new expectations that are coming with Common Core State Standards.  We're called the Teachers Writing Collaborative, and I'm suppose to set up a group blog for us to post writing lesson ideas, links to interesting books or articles, and other stuff, I think.  I'm not real sure how I'm going to move forward on that.

Blog 4 - It's a new year for my Relief Society Book Club.  We have a group blog that has never caught on.  At the beginning of each year I spend an afternoon figuring out how to get our new book selections on our bookshelf widget, and list the new titles we've selected.  I usually post a couple other things during the year - good things - but I don't think anyone notices.  It all started because everyone kept losing their book lists.  My thoughts were that we would have a blog with information about our books, recipes from our meetings, and something like our own Good Reads where we could share other things we were reading or anything about books.  Like I say, it hasn't caught on.

So in just a couple weeks, my blogging is out of control.  What usually happens isn't anything crazy.  I just quit.  

FrEEEzing !

Wow!  We're in a cold snap - a freezing cold snap.  I don't know what else to say.  I use to laugh at my dad's journal entries which were all short weather reports.  I laugh at Terry because he checks the temperature on his phone, the computer, and on his own mini-weather station installed on the front porch, several times each morning, and gives me the stats.  But the temps here in Boise are unusually low and it's lasting for weeks.

MLK Weekend

It was our anniversary last Thursday, #15.  I always recommend getting married on a little holiday weekend - nothing big like Thanksgiving or even the Fourth of July, but something like Veterans Day or MLK Day.  You have your own little holiday, without big crowds at restaurants, or parties going on.  We put off our celebration until our weekend..

First, I had to plow through my report cards.  No matter how hard I try, I can never get it done early.  After putting in long days all week, I still had all my comments left for the weekend.  It was Early Release on Friday and I spent five hours chained to my computer, stress eating anything I could find, mostly popcorn and safety patrol candy.  By the time I got home, I didn't feel like going to dinner.

Saturday morning we got a text inviting us to see Hadley's little dance/gymnastic recital.  Our loud and crazy girl was suddenly shy.  She was really good at standing on her blue tape and sucking her fingers.  Then she changed out of ballet shoes and into tap shoes to stand on her taped spot again.  We did see one turn around before moving to gymnastics.  Still shy in the gym, but she did hang on the bars, walked on the balance beam, and collected her certificate.

After all the excitement we decided to celebrate with some KFC.

 

 

   I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and writing comments on report cards.  The KFC ruined our appetites for dinner that night.

One of my favorite people spoke in church.  It was a nice afternoon.  On Monday I went to brunch with a couple teacher friends.  It lasted four hours.  I finished my comments by 5:00. 

Even with the extra day on our little holiday, we still didn't get to celebrate our anniversary.

8 Days with Ty

It was so good having a Ty around for the holidays.  He usually spends day and night with his friends.  He still did, but somehow he worked in several meals with family.  Grandpa took him out to eat about four times.  He saw most of the extended family, some of them several times.  It helped that he was injured because he went to see his Uncle Bill a few times to be aligned.  It was nice driving out to Kuna with him.  Both Terry and I had good talks with him.  He also brought his friends by.  It was good to see Josh, Dylan, and Alex.  I miss them too.

I dropped Ty off at the airport after school today.  It was pretty funny watching him try to stuff everything into a carry-on duffel bag.  He had to wear several layers.  His roommate has to pick him up just after midnight.  Fun-filled, happy, eight day break!