Thursday, August 31, 2006

New Job, Big Jeans

Well, I 've been working the new job all this week. We have been moving classrooms upstairs and downstairs and rearranging them. I've got alot done, including some organization for various staff. But I must admit, I can feel every muscle in my body. That is ok with me because the jeans are now sagging.

We had our orientation/open house last night. I was able to meet some new students and some former students. It was a laid back affair which was perfect for me. I had a red face for most of the day and was sweating alot. By the time the open house was in full mode, I had cooled down a bit.

My daughter was also able to get her new schedule. She is really happy with it. I'm glad. Her best friend is in three out of five classes with her. Both girls were happy and full of giggles last night.

Overall, I am happy about it. It seems like a good fit for both of us. And if the jeans keep sagging, it looks like it will be time to go shopping which is never a bad thing. Plus, Kel, my BFOE and personal stylist, will be happy to see me in some new clothes. She abhors big jeans and taught me that I was buying two sizes too big. I guess in the end, everyone will be happy.

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

My Celebrity Twin


This is too funny. I look nothing like Denise Richards. Although I did think Charlie Sheen was cute for a minute. LOL!

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

First Crush

My first crush happened in Mrs. Barrickman's first grade class. His name was Derek and I thought he was so cute. I sat next to him and just quietly admired him. I was teacher's pet and when I was asked to chose other students to help in another classroom, I chose him. He was always nice to me in the classroom and out on the playground. I just didn't know what to do except to crush on him silently.

It is amazing how one day with one small difference can change everything. His small difference was warts. He came to school one Monday bragging about playing outside and catching frogs, fish and worms. He said the coolest part was his souvenir. Then, he showed us his hands. There they were.....fresh warts. He had three on the hand next to me and others on his left on. I felt so sick looking at them. He still had the dirt under his nails and around his cuticle. That's when I realized that I like a guy with decent hands.....no warts please. That day my crush ended.

Derek always remained cute to me, but as we got older, we ended up in different circles. After graduation, I never saw him again. You know, life moves on like that.

As I reflect today, I wonder if he still enjoys playing in the dirt. I hope he does even if he gets more warts.

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Monday, August 28, 2006

The Big Day

I am willing to finally admit it. Summer is over. At least it is over for me. The new job starts tomorrow and life as I know it is changing.

I look forward to tomorrow because I am excited about my job. I still get to work with high school students with special needs like I did last year. The change this year is that I will be doing it from an educational perspective versus the mental health perspective approach I had last year. Also, this job has many oppportunities to explore other areas. It is probably due to the fact that it is a small progressive school. I like that.

The next couple days will be orientation and preparation. We meet the students and their parents on Wednesday. Finally, next week, school will start. That means my daughter and I can drive to school together. I am invading her territory. At least, she is happy about this. I guess that is a clue that we have a healthy positive relationship. I pray we keep it this way.

Well, wish me luck.

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

The Drunk Game

I am not a big drinker. I've had my fair share of toilet time and dancing like a fool. I perfer to do other things in my free time since I've gotten older. But, on certain nights out with my BFOE, we have a few and laugh until breakfast. I am more of a "babysitter" drinker. I get a drink and will drink it slooowwwwly over a couple hours. Plus, I always have a designated driver because I am no fool.

I have a really bad story about me, my shirt, Kel's bathroom, and my desire to keep it clean after a really bad overdose of Goldschlager Cinnamon Schnapps and Vodka. But, I'll let your imagination fill in the rest of that story.

Anyways, now, I am usually the designated driver. I don't mind, just don't puke in my car. That smell sucks to get rid of. Ever had to help out a friend that has had too much too drink? Well, it is time to help him out again....

Well, I found this cute game you can play and help your friend who has had a few too many.

Click here to try.

My best was 81 meters.

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Hip-Hip-Hurray!

Last night, I attended a school board meeting. It was my first since I was a teen. It was for a local charter school that my daughter will be attending this fall. It's a really cool school where the teachers are motivated and interesting. The director is open-minded and committed, plus a friend of mine. The school is based on the Expeditionary Learning Schools Outward Bound (ELS) K-12 educational design. That approach combines rigorous academic content and real world projects -- learning expeditions -- with active teaching and community service. It has 10 design principles that include:

The Primacy of Self-Discovery
Learning happens best with emotion, challenge and the requisite support. People discover their abilities, values, passions, and responsibilities in situations that offer adventure and the unexpected. In Expeditionary Learning schools, students undertake tasks that require perseverance, fitness, craftsmanship, imagination, self-discipline, and significant achievement. A teacher's primary task is to help students overcome their fears and discover they can do more than they think they can.

The Having of Wonderful Ideas
Teaching in Expeditionary Learning schools fosters curiosity about the world by creating learning situations that provide something important to think about, time to experiment, and time to make sense of what is observed.

The Responsibility for Learning
Learning is both a personal process of discovery and a social activity. Everyone learns both individually and as part of a group. Every aspect of an Expeditionary Learning school encourages both children and adults to become increasingly responsible for directing their own personal and collective learning.

Empathy and Caring
Learning is fostered best in communities where students' and teachers' ideas are respected and where there is mutual trust. Learning groups are small in Expeditionary Learning schools, with a caring adult looking after the progress and acting as an advocate for each child. Older students mentor younger ones, and students feel physically and emotionally safe.

Success and Failure
All students need to be successful if they are to build the confidence and capacity to take risks and meet increasingly difficult challenges. But it is also important for students to learn from their failures, to persevere when things are hard, and to learn to turn disabilities into opportunities.

Collaboration and Competition
Individual development and group development are integrated so that the value of friendship, trust, and group action is clear. Students are encouraged to compete not against each other, but with their own personal best and with rigorous standards of excellence.

Diversity and Inclusion
Both diversity and inclusion increase the richness of ideas, creative power, problem-solving ability, and respect for others. In Expeditionary Learning schools, students investigate and value their different histories and talents as well as those of other communities and cultures. Schools and learning groups are heterogeneous.

The Natural World
A direct and respectful relationship with the natural world refreshes the human spirit and teaches the important ideas of recurring cycles and cause and effect. Students learn to become stewards of the earth and of future generations.

Solitude and Reflection
Students and teachers need time alone to explore their own thoughts, make their own connections, and create their own ideas. They also need time to exchange their reflections with other students and with adults.

Service and Compassion
We are crew, not passengers. Students and teachers are strengthened by acts of consequential service to others, and one of an Expeditionary Learning school's primary functions is to prepare students with the attitudes and skills to learn from and be of service.

Another thing I like about the school is that is requires students to complete 80 hours of community service and travel at least once to a foreign country. Here's some of the things last year's senior class did:
  • Organized and Ran first Hunger Banquet
  • Traveled internationally to Italy, Kazakhstan, Belize, and Canada
  • Canoed through the Boundary Waters
  • Climbed and camped in Ely
  • Presented at National Food Prize in Iowa
  • Attended CNA Training in Wisconsin
  • Experienced Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, NYC, Washington DC, Red Rocks, Las Vegas, Minneapolis Murals and the Indiana Sand Dunes
  • Traveled to the Renaissance Festival and on a College Tour of Minnesota
  • Maintained academic excellence
My daughter is very happy about the opportunities she will have at this school and so am I. She was even more excited when her best friend told her she got accepted into the school too. Now, they can be happy together.

BTW, I am happy for other reasons too. Last night at that 3 hour metting, I was hired to work at the school. So, now I am finally employed again. I guess summer is really coming to an end after all.

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Maternal Urges

I believed I learned this one from my mom. I don't know where she learned it from. Maybe for her, it was just instinct. Somehow, this maternal pattern is appearing in my family. Let's backtrack a little.

After I was born and so many years of not finding the man of her dreams, my mom decided for now in her life, I would be an only child. Although she held tight to this belief, she kept having an urge to have another child. I guess Mother Nature and her body had other ideas and kept urging her forward. She fought back though and won temporarily by taking in my grandma's black cat, Dixie.

I loved Dixie. She was a year younger than me and quite the proper lady cat. Although she wasn't that fun since she growled and hissed all the time, I still enjoyed playing with her.

I guess my mom got that urge again when I was seven years old. That was year that we got Trixie. She was an ugly cross-eyed Siamese kitten that my mom bought from a local farming family. I was so delighted. I think Dixie was too. I had a new playmate and Dixie figured she could retire to the tranquility of my mother's room. Sorry, no deal there Dixie. Trixie was a runt and still needed a mom. For whatever personal reason she had, Dixie fixed her own materal urge with the Siamese kitten. Trixie got a mom and I got two furry friends to play dolls with.

After about six years, my mom got the urge again. That's when Pixie entered our family. This gray-striped tabby was not very bright, but she gave my mom much joy. She was a hopper since I raised her with my bunny, Pepsi. She was spooked of everything which made playing with her interesting. Although Pixie never joined the Trixie/Dixie clique, she surrvived as "Mom's favorite" kitty.

A couple years later, the urge struck mom again. This time it was a black kitten with a few select white spots. Spooky began the trend of a new name line and new cat personality issues. She was the baby of the basement. That was her domain. She liked her alone time and large amount of personal space. She always had a runny nose and several allergy issues. Somehow, this loner was placed in Pixie's friend box. Poor Pix, her only kitty friend didn't want to be near her.

Well, things changed. Mom's urges took a break. Dix and Trix and Pix and eventually the Spook got their first class ticket to kitty heaven. During the end of this cycle, mom had a few flashbacks and Princess and Patches were added to the family. Now, you would think it stops there, but it doesn't. My mom has way more hormonal surges than that. This is when she commited a major crime. A crime that rips our family away everyday....

She catnapped our Moo.

It was only suppose to be a temporary visit. In my family, cats get to visit other relatives houses. That's our family norm. No big deal, until the norm was broken with theft. She refuses to give him back. My poor fat guy is hostage to the grandma who won't let go. I think she had another one of those urges again and Moo sated that desire. Too bad, he was mine first.

I wanted another child for years. I think after my two kids entered elementary school, it hit me. I wanted a baby. I was busy raising the two and trying to work my way through school. There was no space for a baby. Plus, there was no prospects for a quality partner and father in my limited vicinity. So, I bought fish, because I live in an apartment.

Over the years, I have bought lots of fish. Sometimes my babies would like to eat each other, but it was never felt satisfying with each new purchase. It's hard to hug a three inch fish. I changed that when I moved and got Meeko da Moo Cat. I finally felt satisfaction to that urge. He became such a wonderful member of our family. We were all so happy....that is until the catnapping.

I think one of her urges took over her mind because at times, my mother can be rather reasonable. She has lost that regarding the Moo. She refuses to return him and wants us to wait until she is dead. Although it tears my heart, I am respecting her wishes. She should thank her mother for that. My grandma taught me to be respectful even in painful situations. One day, Moo will find his way home. At, least we will visit him at Christmas.

In the mean time, another urge hit her house. Her name is Penny and she is sweet. I think this will be my mom's last urge, but who knows.

As for me, I have another urge too. This time, there will be no visiting my mother and we will return to the "Ixie" names of before. I still am attached to the Siamese look, but this time I want a Ragdoll. I'm hoping by spring I will be able to make the announcement of her arrival. I am so excited. As you can see above, she'll be one pretty kitty.

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

So Fresh, So Clean



Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Feeling Moody?



Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Hello again. It's me!

Long time no write. I hope I wasn't forgotten. Time to change that. Maybe I should let you know who I am. First, let's just scratch.........


RockYou Scratcher | View

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Personal Me

My best friend was here for a visit. We were talking about men and dating. She met her man of 8 years online. Wow! We've been online for some time to think of it. Anyways, she suggested I create a online profile like she on some site to meet interesting men. So, I got on the computer and did just that. I created my screen name and password and then I got stuck. It wanted to know who I was and what I was looking for. I never thought that I would ever be at a lost for words, but I was. Who was I and what did I really want. So I sought I would ask my best friend since she knows me better than any other person. An hour later, the following was my creation. Read it and give me your feedback.

I have a great deal of vitality. I am curious, imaginative and resilient and I find pleasure in doing and thinking about all sorts of things and ideas, often at the same time.

I tend to be optimistic, seeing the world as a place of adventure. I seek first-hand experiences. And when I embark on a project or expedition, I like to be organized, thorough and responsible.

I am firmly grounded in reality and live in the here and now. I stand up for my beliefs. And, I have a sympathetic and spiritual side that adds warmth and depth to my being.

In spite of my search for novelty, I have a genuine respect for home, family, work and community. I am conscientious and dependable, yet I occasionally surprise those whom I love with new ideas and tokens of my affection.

I generally enjoy life and have a keen sense of humor. Because I am broad-minded, flexible and playful, I can be a wonderful friend.

I would like to meet someone just as passionate with the willingness to explore and enjoy life. Must like kids, dogs, cats, football, music, movies, pizza, games, traveling, home-cooked meals, family interactions, and the color blue. If you are intelligent, compassionate, can multi-task, compromise, are naturally romantic and love the smell of lavender, you win the door prize.

Well.....?

Stay sweet 'n smile.....................Mz.