Busy....

Sorry for no post for a while...... Its getting to be back to school time....

Last week I was at school every day for about 10 hours a day or so....... Then this week I am teaching a class for the district to teach fellow teachers how to use Promethean Boards. Check out the link to see what the boards are.... It will literally change everything I do in the classroom... I am excited... I have some pics of my classroom and some other things to add on here as soon as I get a moment to come up for air...

Congrats to Matt.... He is an uncle for the first time... I am sure He will have pics later today so go and check them out and leave him a comment!!!!!

I Need Your Help!!!

I have been at school everyday this week working on my classroom... Tonight I was there well into the evening.... I really don't think non teachers realize the amount of work that goes into a classroom... but, I digress... I will save that "rant" for another blog.....

One of the things I have been working on is my behavior plan.... It is basically the same that I have used every year... color coded cards, and each color represents a different consequence... Instead of focusing on the bad behaviors, I try to do something to encourage the "good"... 

My theme is "Beeeeeeeee Good" .... I have little bee cut outs everywhere and I am making a bee hive to hang from the ceiling..... It is gonna be good.... Ill get a pic on here soon!!!

The kids can earn extra bees on the wall for being good and I thinking I am just gonna say.... Our class is something to "Buzz" about.... but I want a cool alliterative way to say it.... but I just cannot find the words.... Can any of you??? 

I am looking forward to hearing your suggestions!!!!!!!!

PS......... JESSICA MUNDEN......... OMG I want to email you back from your comment but I DO NOT have your email... I emailed one to what I thought was your email at Portage, but I don't know if you got it!!!!!!! PLEASE SEND ME YOUR EMAIL!!!!  You can put it in your comment and I can see it and not post it to the page.... IT WAS SOOOOOOOOO GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!

In Case You Didn't Know... I AM AN IDIOT!!!!!

Today I was at school working in my classroom... The custodian came down to my room at about 2ish to tell me he was leaving and that I was the only one in the building.... I decided to lock my classroom door so I would feel safe while I worked..... If you haven't been in an empty school... it is kind of spooky!!!

Anyway... I locked the door and got back to work... Around 5ish I was putting up a welcome sign on my door.... I wanted to see how it looked closed so I closed the door.... DUMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT WAS LOCKED!!!!!!!  I had no shoes on... my cell phone, wallet, keys (car and classroom), the glue gun was on and so was the laminator.... AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! I was so mad at myself!!!

I went up to the empty office and looked everywhere for the staff directory... much to no avail!!!!

Finally I remembered I had a directory at home.... I called several staff numbers before I got Mrs. N...she is one of our secretaries.... Thankfully she lives near by and was there in about 10 minutes to rescue me!!!!!

What makes this story even better is that I told myself to clip my keys to my belt loop but I didn't because I wasn't planning on going out into the spooky hallway!!!!!! 

Finally: Florida 3,4,& 5

Finally.... I have had a moment to get to the blog... I love my blog and love entertaining my friends on here, but it just seemed to take me a while to get time to get these pics on this time...

Last Wednesday when I was in Florida, we got to go to Disney... It was a blast... It was the first time that either niece had been there. It was also my brother-in-law, Lawrence first time also... My sister JL hadn't been since junior high and this was only Matt's second time.... Since I have been about 10 times...that put me in charge of getting us around... Some how I always end up in charge at amusement parks... I memorize the maps as soon as I see them so I don't have to waste time hunting stuff....

Me, Taylor, and my favorite.... Buzz Lightyear!!

JL and her family shooting the aliens on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

Taylor rode her fist ever roller coaster, and her BB got ride with her... Being the adventurer I am... I had to record the whole thing.... It is so funny... Be sure to listen to all the funny things Taylor says....

Great video of Sophie and Taylor on "It's a Small World."

JL, mama, Taylor, and Sophie decided to ride Dumbo, and Sophie could not make it... She was like a rag doll...

Funny Story..... While they were in line here, Taylor kept saying she needed to "go".... they had waited 30 minutes in line and still had 30 more to go... They didn't want to leave the line... but they should have.... Taylor went all over herself.... in her brand new princess gown nonetheless.... She went so much she took her she off and emptied in right in the middle of the line.... I would have laughed to death had I been in line.... TOO FUNNY!!!

Taylor just had to meet Cinderella....We went later in the evening and she got lots of personal attention.

Waiting to see Mickey's Philharmonic 4D show!!!

Matt riding the Speedway!

Great shot of Main Street Disney at the end of the day.... We had a blast!!!!!!

Right here the pics are out of order... This is actually the day before Disney.... It rained and washed out the beach so we headed to the mall.. This was Taylor's first time ice skating.

Day 4.... back to the beach... I found my first sand dollar ever... well... i have found them on the beach, but these i actually dug up with my toes in the water... They were everywhere.

What would a trip to the beach be without a game of Putt-Putt... for all you Yankees reading you would call it miniature golf..... we call it putt-putt!!!!

Our last night there we finally made it to Pier 60... It is a great place to watch the sunset... It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

Family photo on the beach one last time!!!

Florida: Day 2

Today has been a great day..... other than the fact that I am FRIED CRISPY!!!!  As a matter of fact all of us are... even with the sun block.

Below are pics of our house we rented.

Taylor talked her mom into this "Shamu" toy and it provided us with lots of entertainment today.

Nana and Sophie relaxing!

This is a creature I found in the ocean... It is like a porcupine and I stepped on it.... When he was in the water these tiny little arms with mini suction cups on them came out and would attach to whatever was near by.... It was cool because he would even attach to me...

I gave Taylor a little lesson in conservation... After we enjoyed him a while we threw him back.

What a great pic!!!! 

Today was great!!!!

Day 2 Stats:

Mileage: 0

Gas: 0

Walk Time: 2 minutes

Florida: Day 1

Ok... I am having De Ja Vous..... Didn't I just go on a road trip??? O well... that's the life of a school teacher in the summer.... 

Our family adventure began actually pretty close to on time, believe it or not.... We left around 530am... I was pretty impressed to leave that early with 2 kids and my mom...my mom being the hardest one to get going.....

We made it here to Clearwater, around 530pm....so needless to say we had "a day"... LONG TRIP!!!!!!!!!!

We got here and our house is VERY nice... Johnnie-Lynn did a great job booking it... not right on the ocean, but it is across the street... Maybe I'll get some pics of it tomorrow... I'm too tired to get the camera out tonight...

We did have some drama after we got here.... You know me... It wouldn't be a Jed trip without some drama....

We were going to Publix... I was waiting in the left hand turn lane with, Johnnie-Lynn, Taylor, Lawrence and Matt in the car.... All of a sudden I heard this guy behind me start honking.... Then BAM!!!! HE HIT ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made it through the intersection and pulled over.... This older man and his wife made it through the intersection and did not even have the decency to pull over... They stopped in the road beside me, and they only stopped because I flagged them down.... I asked what the hit was all about???? He said they didn't hit me, but I hit them.... WHAT???????????? I asked.... You are crazy!!!!!!!!! I was on flat land and the car in drive..... I told the man that he hit me and he said "Oh sorry!, gave me the "California Howdy," and drove away......

Yes... I got his tag number, but there was no damage to the car so what good did it do..... the only damage was to my blood pressure... YOU CAN ONLY IMAGINE!!!!!!

I know that I wasn't moving, I was rolling forward to progress through the intersection.... He must have been rolling and thought that it was me.....

As if that wasn't enough, the grocery store clerk told Matt he was lazy for buying peanut butter and jelly premixed.....

So far my impression of the "Clearwater folks" just ain't a good one.....

The place however......... IS AWESOME!!! The house, the beach, and the company are great.... Good thing I don't have too see that man and his wife again!!!!

Day 1 Stats:

Mileage: 610 miles

Gas: $100

Drive Time: 12 hours

On The Road Again... I Just Can't Wait to Get on the Road Again (Please sing as you read!!!)

It is Saturday night.... Most of you are getting ready for church tomorrow, but I am getting ready to hit the road once again... This time for a family trip to Florida... We will be headed to Clearwater, FL early in the morning.... I was so bound and determined to blog tonight that I resorted to using my sister's mess of a computer she calls a laptop (it is NOT my MAC!!!!!!).... Anyway... Supposedly the house we rented has Internet so I should be able to keep all of you in the loop about our "Griswold" vacation... I am almost positive with this crowd there will be plenty to keep you guys entertained..... Rumor has it we may even spend a day at Disney... WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You never know when I might decide to do another prize drawing, so keep reading!!!!!!!!!

'Til the next time!
Jed

Reunited.......and It Feels So Good!!!! (Please Sing as You Read!!!)

The past few days since my trip have been so great... so great in fact I just have not had time to get on the blog.. 

On Wednesday, out of the blue, one of my best friends from high school, Duke Taylor, who I haven't seen since we walked off the graduation field 12 years ago, called out of the blue at 9pm and said that he was in town to see his sister and niece... His plans of going to a drum corp. show were messed up because of the rain.... 

So.. He came over and we went to have a late night snack at Denny's..... 100 hours later at 4 am.... we had caught up from the past 12 years and  decided to leave... I was so tired... and I had a meeting a 9... Ughhhhh... 

I was so ready to go to bed the next night when Duke called again and said that another one of our high school friends, who still lives here, but I haven't seen since school, wanted to get together for dinner... After dinner we headed back to my house.... We ended up looking at old year books and laughing at how ridiculous my hair looked in every single picture.... It was 3 am before we ended the walk down memory lane.... It was soooooooo good to see them and just catch on the past 12 years... Collectively we had all been through quite a bit.... But it was literally like i had just seen them last week!

Today... I again got to reunite with another great friend of mine... Karen Rampey.... She was my former boss when I worked at the Sleep Inn hotel in Travelers Rest.... I haven't seen her in 8 years... We had lunch today in Greer.... started at 11... left 2.... She is the greatest!!!! I had my camera, but forgot to get a pic of Karen... but I did remember to snap one of me, Duke, and Riketah last night.... What a great couple of days!!!

Then.... as if I had not had enough fun, today was "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-Fil-A.... If you didn't go... YOU MISSED OUT!!!!! All you had to do was dress in a cow costume and they would give you a free meal... 

Me, Johnnie-Lynn, Taylor, and Sophie all dressed up and headed over... We all ate for FREE!!!! It was great!!!! Lots of people were there in the most creative cow costumes!!!

Matt didn't get to go because he is a bit under the weather.... I brought him some food home but he didn't get until he posed with the cow hat.

I will be headed to the beach on Sunday... Stay tuned for some great stories I am sure... Maybe I will do a Florida prize..... What do ya think???

Day 21-23: Omaha, NE to Chicago, IL

Day 21 started out bright and early in Omaha... We were eager to get on the road as we had landed in the second rat bed hotel of the trip....which was not too bad considering we stayed in 13 hotels along the way.... There was a real genius running the Days Inn there in south Omaha.... She was doing her nails when I went in and I had to wait for them to dry for her to check me in.... I should have just walked out...but it was only 49.90 for the night....

We soon entered Iowa... As we traveled through the corn we could hardly wait to see the state welcome sign... and yep you guessed it... There wasn't one!!!!

So we continued through the corn and eventually made it to Illinois... Thankfully there was a sign....and we were on our way to Chicago.

When we arrived in Chicago, the weather was absolutely fantastic.... It was not even 80 degrees with a slight breeze off the lake... We walked around for a bit and checked out the "Magnificent Mile." Our hotel was right on the main part of the mile... It was great!!!

We stayed at the "Inn of Chicago." It was great... Below this pic is one of us in the lobby... You can see how nice the furniture was... The rest of the hotel matched it... It was really nice.

If you noticed in the pic above, we both had to put on warm clothes.... Walking through town after lunch we both got chilly because it was breezy and mostly in the shade...

After changing, we headed down to where the river flows through town... We took a water taxi down the river about 1.5 miles to the Sears Tower....

Views from the 103rd floor!!!

After we went up the tower we headed across town to the "Taste of Chicago." This is the annual 4th of July celebration there in Chicago.... There were sooooooooo many people there... I have NEVER seen so many people in one place!!!! There were tons of food vendors there and they had pretty much every kind of food you could imagine!!!

Just about a mile so walk from the "Taste" was Navy Pier.... The walk along the lake was really nice.... There were lots of yachts in the marina there... I felt like I was on a movie!!!

Insert Firework Video!!! (I have a great video to go here, but it is not uploading right now!!!)

After an awesome 4th we were ready for our last full day of fun on the road trip... One of the things I had been looking forward to the most was riding the segway through the streets of Chicago... it was every bit as exciting as I thought it would be... They were super hard to ride at first, but once you got the hang of it you just wanted to go everywhere.... Don't be fooled though... It was a workout on you feet and legs... Not quite as "relaxing" as I thought it would be.

After the segway tour Matt headed for some rest at the hotel and I went shopping down the mile... It was great!!!

Late afternoon I headed back to the hotel... We headed down to our final act of fun for the trip at around 7. We went to see the play "Wicked." We saw this in New York back over spring break and really enjoyed it... We wanted to see it here with a different cast and it was just as cool as it was in New York...

Insert Prize Video. (I wish yall could see it but its not uploading either...)

So...... I am happy to announce in writing that Kevin and Shelley Arrowood from my church!!!

Congrats to the winners!!!! I am so thankful for all of you who commented and anticipated the prize!!!!!!

Please stay tuned for more favorites from the trip!!!!

Day 21 Stats:
Mileage: 475 miles
Drive Time: 7.5 hours
Gas: $66.00 in Omaha and $73 in Rock Springs, IL

Day 23 Stats:
Mileage: 707 miles
Drive Time: 12 hours
Gas: $78.00 somewhere in Kentucky