Report Cards

It's Halloween and I am avoiding the trick-or-treaters at home by staying late at school and working on report cards. They are due on Friday, but since I am leaving Thurs. morning I need to have them done by Wednesday. I HATE doing report cards. When I was in third grade I would never have imagined how difficult it would be to determine report card grades, I'm sure I would have thought it would be great fun. Just like in when I was in 5th grade and I would sometimes get to go help one of the younger grades teachers grade papers. I LOVED it. Now I hate that too. The thing that kills me is when students could accomplish so much more, but if I were grading based only on what they actually turn in, they will get terrible grades. I know how hard it is for some of these students to do homework. I know what they have going on at home. Yet it is hard to justify giving a grade based on what I think the student could do. Well, I guess I better get on with it. Soon it will be over and I can start the new nine weeks fresh. I will chase down kids with missing work. I will grade papers as soon as they are turned in. I will not let stacks accumulate on my desk!

Raymond Rocks!!

Yay, I got season two of Everybody Loves Raymond! I know I've been putting it on my Christmas list, but the opportunity was just too good to resist. I figured that if anyone had already gotten it, then they would have gotten season 1, so here I am with my wonderful boxed set of humor. There's still three other seasons in case any of you are still wondering what I'd like for Christmas!
Love Y'ALL!! (hehe)
Jessica

Christmas Plans

So I was wondering if we all wanted to chip in and buy a pre-paid cell phone for Grandma and Grandpa this year. I thought they might need one and that way they aren't stuck with a plan they won't use etc. If anyone is interested let me know.

Be prepared, you are all going to have some Martha Stewart-esque gifts this year. They aren't lame. I promise. Nothing like the magic towel and silly socks Christmas...Amy I know you loved that monkey puppet despite what you say!

Can we please do burritos on Christmas Eve? I am assuming that the coffee cake is a given on Christmas morning. Amy let me know what we can get for Stan in the way of Bronco gear and are there any microbrews he misses that he can't get in WI? Heather...we have no idea what to get for Doug. Any ideas on the in-laws would be appreciated! Jessica, thanks for putting a list up...that will help a lot! Do we want to "draw names" to get Christmas Jammies for each other? I thought it might be fun so we can all wear our new pj's to bed on Christmas eve...and jeddy red reddy...we will call to make sure you have yours on too! ( I wish you were coming! ) Amy, do you have TABOO or do I need to bring it with me? Ken will also want to play MONOPOLY...be prepared. He may pack his Dale Earnhardt Monopoly board. ( you don't need to say it I already know...IF YOU OWN A DALE EARNHARDT MONOPOLY GAME...YOU MIGHT BE A REDNECK!)

NOVEMBER 18 is when Harry Potter~The Goblet of Fire comes out in theaters! Ken and I will be there! I can't wait for it to come out! I saw a preview for it today and it looks great even without the old Dumbledore. (the new one is lame). The one bizarre thing is that apparently there are no barbers in Hogwarts. Harry and Ron have hair that reminds me of Uncle Jesse's twins on Full House! It's long and shaggy not at all flattering.

Otherwise, not a lot going on here. I miss you all!!!!!!!!!!!

Kristin

Christmas List...as promised

Hello Everyone! This is mostly for Heather who wanted to know what Christmas gifts she could buy at Borders this week with her special teacher's discount. SO, here's a list of some great books and stuff.

These, you can find in the Christian Fiction section; they're all by the same author, and this is just a list of books I have not read from her...I don't necessarily want all of them.

Ok, books by Francine Rivers: Redeeming Love, Unafraid, The Scarlet Thread, and The Last Sin Eater

Movies: Everybody Loves Raymond (of course!!) or The Phantom of the Opera (wonderful movie!!)

That's all the Border's merchandise I can think of for now...so I will leave it at that. Y'all need to get your Christmas lists up here, so we can get started early!
Love you guys!!
Jessica

Bugs

Ok, so Friday night, Kyle and I went up to Coastal Carolina University to see a play. He's taking this theater class and he is required to have so many hours at the shows, so I've been going with him every once in a while. This particular play, Bugs, was supposed to be a little weird, but I figured that it would be an adventure if nothing else. Unfortunately, the word "adventure" can't accurately describe our little experience. It was more of an "episode."

So Kyle and I walk into the Blackbox Theater (a small, completely black room with a platform that has three rows of seats and a stage that's way too close for comfort). At my suggestion, we sat as far away from the stage as we possibly could (which was still all too close in my opinion). Kyle looked around and said, "Wow, Jessica...this is looking a little sketchy." The set was a dumpy, run down and falling apart motel room, and there was really random music playing in the background. Well, Kyle opens up the program and says "Uh-oh...." In big, bold letters at the bottom of the page it said:

*CAUTION*
Adult content, Smoking, Nutdity, Language, Violence, Simulated drug and alchohol abuse, Intense Lighting Effects, biting, kicking, screaming, and a whole lotta "God Bless the USA."

WHOA!! I had heard that this play was a little out there, but I did not know what I was getting myself in to. Needless to say, the whole story was completley messed up and twisted....definately something to put on another blog entry when I'm not as scarred as I am now. All I can say, is Thank God we were sitting in the back row!!

Pics ala Anne of Green Gables

Florida Pics

Winthrop Pics

Why I hate Romania

Ok...So I am going to get gas today after work and to save time I pull out my debit card. It says enter pin...I do...Pin incorrect...WHAT THE &^%$ so I try again...pin incorrect...more curse words. I go inside and explain...the guy says I will swipe it here. I say ok...he says ummmm...its not accepting it. I was shocked and said fine I will pay cash. (knowing that everyone behind me in line thinks I am an irresponsible twit). I pump my gas and start to drive home. I call my telephone banking thing to check my balances...plenty o money. So I call the bank and tell them what is going on. The lady puts me on hold and comes back after 5 minutes or so. She asks if I have been vacationing in Romania lately. (HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!) I reply with the calmest no i can muster. She puts me back on hold again. to make a long story short they had to cancel my debit card and re-issue a new one. Fortunately they didn't get any of my money.

I'm here!

Hey everyone! yes, i'm out here...it just took me a while to get "in the mood" for the whole blogging thing. Not a whole lot is going on. I got a new job, working in an insurance office doing some secretarial stuff. I'm going to be really upset to leave all my babies at the daycare, but this job was a lot more practical--less hours, more money, plus good experience, and it looks great on a resume.
School is going well. I'm finishing up government next week. Hallelujiah (can't spell that, sorry)! I'm just about to send off my Teaching Fellows application and I'm taking the ACT for the third and FINAL time next saturday, so please be praying for everything go well. Hmmm....like i said, there's not a whole lot going on, but there's a brief update, and I figured that I needed to 'blog' something at one point or another. I hope I did it right.
I love you guys!!
Jessica

The Drawing

Okay ladies, I have spent most of my day trying to draw self-portraits for my class tomorrow night and have finally produced one that didn't end up in the fireplace. Check it out on my blog. I will have much to post later about life changing decisions, but for now I've got to get on with the rest of the assignments for my class and get ready for school tomorrow. As for Christmas lists, I have a feeling that as far as clothes requests I may be asking for those suited to a colder climate. J

Jessica are you out there?

Life Update

I started my new job this week at WG&R Furniture, and it's a lot of fun. It's a very laid back atmosphere and there are a lot of people my age that I'm excited to get to know. I'm so glad I was able to do this over waiting tables. There is no stress and the nights go by pretty quickly.

Stan passed his real estate exam!! Which is a really hard test. He's working for Century 21 and very excited about his new job. The office is run out of an old victorian house next to Bellin Hospital so it's in a nice area. He's also helping the owner renovate the building.

Things at AVIS are going great. I had a new employee start last Monday and she's absolutely amazing. She fits into our office dynamic perfectly.

Last but not least, congratulations to Lucy for passing obediance class!!! As you all know Henry was also valadictorian, and now Lucy is following in his footsteps. Unfortunatly Toby is a drop out, which Heather can attest to and may be referred to as a spoiled brat. I'm living proof home schooling doesn't work.

Bye for now,
Love Amy

Updates...

So, I wanted to put this up here so we could all post Christmas Wish Lists. Its never too early! (personally i don't know what i would ask for but I will think about it and post as a response to this post)

I haven't heard back yet as far as Ken's Time off Situation yet. I hope he will find out this week.

Lucy graduated beginner obediance tonight. She was the star of the class (hehe there were only two dogs including her) but she was clearly the most improved! I am dog sitting for Lucy's brother until tuesday (today is thursday). My friend Kymberly had a death in the family...her son passed away...she had to fly back to Virginia with her hubby and we had some very last minute dog sitting request thrown in our laps...we obviously could not say no so its been a fun day so far. I think her dog needs obediance badly! (lucy looks like an angel by comparison)

So...thats all for now. I have to catch up with whats happening on the apprentice! I missed like 10 minutes already!!!!

kris