Tagged...

I've been "tagged" by Danielle to answer the following questions

Four Jobs I Have Had in My Life:
LIfeguard/Pool Operator for two summers
Middle School Math teacher for one year
ESOL (English speakers of other languages) tutor
Special Education teacher

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over Again:
Sense and Sensibility
Lion King
Last of the Mohicans
Pelican Brief

Four Places I Have Lived:
Edgewood, MD
Fallston, MD
455 Crisfield, Abingdon
3467 Howell, Abingdon

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch:
CSI--Las Vegas
The Bachelor
Survivor
King of Queens

Four Places I Have Been on Vacation:
Domincan Republic
San Diego
Vermont
Germany

Four Websites I Visit Daily (or at least weekly):
Hotmail
Various blogs
kennedy krieger webmail
weather.com

Four of My Favorite Foods:
Mexican
Italian
Chicken anything
ice cream

Four Singers I Can't Live Without:
Sarah McLaughlin
Dave Matthews
Matt Redman
??uh, Amanda? ha

Four Places I'd Rather Be:
At home (I'm waiting for my evening class to start!)
In bed (that's always a fav!)
On a beach, with clear water in front of me
On a tropical island on a beach with clear water in front of me

Four Bloggers I am tagging:
Sacha
Amanda
Kris
Steve-O (since you're always bored!)

Firsts

My job often finds me performing tasks that I never imagined would happen at a work place. Today was just one of those days, though not unusual for Lois T. Murray (my school). A little background. One of my students, Adelaida, came in last week with matted, slightly greasy hair. We decided to brush it out and braid it. On Monday, she came in with the same braids. Her father reported that her mother was out of town for the next two weeks and he had NO IDEA what to do with Adelaida's hair. So he left the braids. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Same braids. Thursday afternoon we resolved to wash her hair and rebraid it if she came in on Friday with the same do. This morning, in walks Adelaida--same braids. I had come prepared--Shampoo and conditioner in one hand, towels in the other. Amanda, my coworker, and I trudged off to the bathroom, Adelaida and supplies in hand. Our bathrooms are all equipped with tubs, how convenient for us!

Adelaida started laughing as soon as she saw the water running. Little did I know that the laughing was simply mocking! She undressed and then we put her in the tub. SHe loved the water. She splashed, swam, and laughed some more. Then came the hard part. Washing her hair. A little girl of six, with downs and a will like none other, is not an easy client! She started laughing louder, and darting around, and standing up, and pushing us away, and resisting in whatever way she could. It took both Amanda and me to hold her down, put shampoo in, and rinse. All the while she is wiggling and laughing. After shampoo, she needed more shampoo. Why??? So we went through the process again. This time, we tried to trick her. We'd start to dump water on the back of her hair, then we'd sneak around the front and get her! She would laugh and then stand up, attempting to get out of the tub. Shampoo out, on to conditioner. She loved having her hair rubbed, but hated rinsing. Surprise! When it was time to rinse, Adelaida practically jumped out of the tub. Seriously. She stood up and attempted to lunge toward Amanda. Luckily, we were semi-prepared for any such attempts. We were able to calm her down and gently push her back into the tub. By the end of our hairwashing adventure, Amanda and I were just as wet as Adelaida. We finally got the job finished, no less than 45 minutes later. I now understand why her dad didn't even pretend that he would take care of her hair! I should have taken a lesson from the pro and stayed way from the bathtub!

Bathtubs and all, I can say that my job is an adventure. I never know what new "mommy" duties I will be performing. Maybe next week I will get to wipe some snotty noses or even some stinky rears. But I pray that Adelaida's mom returns soon!

On Reading

A few months ago, a friend asked if I was interested in starting a book club. I talked it over with Miguel, and he gave the go ahead for my involvement. However, time slipped by and I imagined I would never read a novel in the new year, much less join a book club. Well ladies and gents, it's happening...I've finished one novel already this year AND the book club looks to begin within the next few weeks. Anyone interested? It will be comprised of myself, two girls from work, Naomi Sherer, and anyone else! We aim to read a book a month, then host a dinner once we all finish said book to discuss and socialize. If you are interested, send an e-mail and I will be sure to give you more details once I have them. Any suggestions for good, fiction novels?

Friday's word

Last night, I sat in bed reading...Something I haven't done in years. I had forgotten how much I love reading a good book right before bed. I know my tendencies to let 10 turn into 11, which always seems to slip into 12...and then I wake up exhausted. So, I always give myself a reading curfew. "You can read until 10:23, but no later!" Then, like the morning's snooze button, I give myself "just a few more minutes." The few more minutes turned into over an hour last night!

As I sat in bed, I had my blue pen ready. Any word I didn't immediately recognize (or couldn't figure even with an educated guess) got a blue underline. No electronic dictionaries in bed. I had two or three words underlined by the time I went to bed. However, my word of the day comes from my bathroom reading this afternoon, not bed reading. so....without further ado, here is THE WORD OF THE DAY....

ELDRITCH

1. Strange or unearthly; eerie

"It looked marvellously pure, marvellously full of its own gray and eldritch charm..."

Word of the day

I have a tiny blue book, quite unlike "a little black book," to be sure. My blue book contains lists, lots of lists--things I want, things I need, Movies to watch, Restaurants to try, AND books to read. One of the books on my list is "Misery" by Stephen King. I know what you may be thinking....Cheesy horror book. I want to be the one to put that myth to death. Not rest, death. I am a closet King fan. Green Mile, great book. I started Misery on Monday and I have to say: Misery, incredible book so far. Stephen King is, to many people's (mine included) surprise, a dynamic and talented writer.

While I am not sure that I can completely recommend Misery, due to some unnecessary foul language, I can say that Stephen King has increased my vocabularly (not just those foul words!). It has been quite some time since I've read a book in which I required the help of a dictionary. But, it's refreshing. My mind is being stretched; I am being challenged, and I love it. Don't get me wrong, King is not a technical writer; he simply loves using "intelligent" words where a much more simple word could have been used.

SO, my word for the day is RICTUS. Perhaps some of you know the meaning, I however had to use my handy dandy on-line dictionary.com =)

RICTUS:

1. The expanse of an open mouth, a bird's beak, or similar structure.
2. A gaping grimace

"So you just sit there," she said, lips pulled back in that grinning rictus...

Tight Spot

My husband hates to shop. Hates it. But loves the thrill of going out on Black Friday and the day after Christmas. Yesterday was no different. We braved the traffic, packed parking garages, and insane lines. Sure, the outing was fun in and of itself. But the parking garage truly made our entire trip. We drove around for 30 minutes, attempting to find a spot. When it became apparent that our efforts were useless, we decided to park in the garage--just like everyone else. As we drove onto the second level, the car in front of us lucked out--a spot right near the door. Then is happened, as she was pulling into her spot, she hit the car to her right. Not just tapped it, but HIT it. Hard. She realized we saw her and looked as if she was going to leave the scene of the crime. Miguel could never let that happen. Like a little boy who loves to tattle, Miguel encouraged me to flag down the security officer who was driving around the garage. He happened to turn the corner right as we were parking. I shuffled out of the car and waved my hands frantically. I ratted out the young driver, and have to admit, it was exciting. She was caught. Apprehended. Fined. Jailed....ok, ok, I have no clue what the outcome was. Though we wanted to stay and watch, we knew it was in our best interest to leave like nothing had happened.

The remainder of our trip was uneventful, though I did manage to use all of my gift cards in one day! Now that's what I call exciting! Here's to a new year, free from parking garage accidents, enraged young drivers, and empowered mall security officers.

"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire..."

have you ever just wanted to scream, "I TOLD YOU SO!"?! This morning was one of those days. I pulled into work, right on time. Not only did I see the small parking lot full of cars, but I arrived to my boss running around like a chicken with her head cut off (Ok, I hate using such phrases, but this is for real!). Then the sirens started down the street. Apparently, our school building was on fire! Hence the running around like a mad woman. We were told to sit in our cars as three fire engines pulled into the parking lot. After an hour and a half of waiting (still in our cars), we were sent home!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!! No work today. What a nice break. Ok, so it wasn't a nice reason to have off, like snow, but at least it was a reason to not work.

The "I told you so" comes from a conversation the day before. I had jokingly commented that I knew our building was going to burn down. There was an oil leak, which smelled up the entire building all day long. This morning, our oil leak turned into a fire. Scary. I honestly didn't want the building to burn, I just wanted a day off. =)

Another Restaurant Review

Saturday night was an adventure. From start to finish. It was girl's night out. Emily Connell, Emily Sleeman, Kristin Schaub and I headed downtown Fells to spend time together fellowshipping (and eating, of course!). We arrived downtown and found a parking spot more easily than expected. We began walking towards the restaurant, when one of us (ME) was unsure of our directions. SO, we asked a kind, but not so bright, shop owner where we should be headed. She sent us in the opposite direction. Away we walked. As the shops, pubs, and restaurant began to fade, we realized we were headed in the WRONG direction. So we called the restaurant and they sent us back in our original direction. Success. We were led up a flight of stair, into a gorgeous old building on Thames Street. Kali's Court and Mezze, to be exact. (Check out the City Paper review.)

There are two restaurant linked together--Kali's Court and Mezze. We accidentally entered through the wrong entrance, but were taken through to Mezze. It was quite confusing, but worth the race through the maze. It seemed that Kali's court was a more upscale restaurant, while Mezze was a more relaxed, "fun" place to eat. However, we ate upstairs in a beautiful, comfortable, dimly lit room with a total of seven tables. The perfect atmosphere for fellowship and fun. I would be sure to ask for a table in the upstairs room if you ever plan to eat at Mezze--if you want a more romantic, quiet atmosphere.

Mezze is famed for its Tapas (small plate) style, Mediterranean food. We each ordered two different entrees, well, Emily and I each ordered three. As they brought out the plates, we shared the amazingly prepared and displayed items. "There is no other way I'd rather share germs," said Emily Sleeman. And it was true. We all sampled the various foods, having seconds of some and passing on others.

The group consensus was that the salmon was incredible, the spinach fritters were divine (don't listen to Kris' opinions!), and the tuna was succulent, though raw--a warning for those who have a weak stomach. We also sampled baked mussels, braised lamb, quail (definitely the most nicely presented item), shrimp raki, portabella mushrooms, baked eggplant (not a favorite even though I love eggplant), and chicken kabobs (for those less adventurous...ahem...Kris). The menu was extensive, and there are many more items that I would love to sample on my next outing to Mezze!

You know you watch too much T.V. when....

You see the license plate GSR 326 and automatically think: "GSR" stands for gun shot residue, every CSI fan would know that!

You hear someone talk about Guatemala and you mention that Gary just got kicked off Survivor, whether or not the conversation was about Survivor, it doesn't matter.

You see a fat person at work and wish they could go to the fat ranch on the Biggest Loser. You just KNOW they could lose 100 lbs like Matt.

You JUST KNOW that your vice principal would win the nomination for Extreme Makeover, if nominated by good intentioned coworkers.

You sit and wonder what "your room" would be like if you were on Extreme Home Makeover--mine would be a rockclimbing room, or maybe a library with kids books!

(I was seriously thinking about these things at some point in the last week...how sad!)

Easy Pesto

Lately, we've been making our own paninis for dinner. Forget Panera, here come the Barowski's ;-) In all seriousness, we have been making paninis and adding this incredible pesto sauce for a nice zing. Here is the quick and easy recipe for the pesto and paninis.

In a blender, combine the following:

3/4 cups of fresh basil (or five or six hard shakes of dried basil--don't know how much!)
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
>1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup pine nuts (or a handful of walnuts--because we don't have pine nuts)
1 clove of garlic

Add all ingredients in a blender. Blend three minutes or until smooth.

To make Paninis:

One chicken breast cut thinly, grilled.
onions, raw, thinly sliced
sharp cheddar cheese, sliced
2 slices of bread
Pesto

Spread pesto on one side of the bread. Add chicken, onions and cheese on top. Place other side of bread on top of cheese.

We use an indoor grill/George foreman to grill the panini for three minutes. I suppose you could use a buttered griddle as well!

This panini goes wonderfully with soup, especially on brisk evenings like tonight!

101 things to do before...

I am currently enrolled in a dread awful class--assessment for reading. Instead of listening to my classmates drone on (the teacher NEVER teaches), I have found more exciting ways to occupy my time. This past week, for example, I came up with my list. Let me explain. After reading an article in the magazine Real Simple, I was inspired. Inspired to write my list of things that I would like to do before I die. Some of the items are short term (#27 Get my masters) and others are long term (#41 Work closer to home). This list will continue to grow and change, lengthen and shorten, as I grow and change over the coming months and years. I have some silly things on my list (#14 Weigh between one hundred something and one hundred something before I have kids OR #9 Play Black Jack in Vegas). And some outrageous things on my list (#3 Become a child advocate--either a lawyer or free lance). And some things are nothing more than a dream (#5 Write and publish an adapted children's book for students with disabilities). Some are obtainable in the next year (#18 Learn to make Eggplant Parm.). And some are beyond the realm of this year (#42 Own a VW Toureg or an XTerra).

What would be a few things at the top of your list?

Humbolt Earth

This weekend (and beyond) was spent doing more remodeling on our house. Remodeling that we've wanted to do since we moved in. We braved the lines at the brand new Lowes...braved them six different times over the course of two days, we did! The outcome was a drastically different living room and hallway. We transformed the living room from a yellowish color (Which I hear Abi and Jimmy never liked to begin with), to Humbolt Earth, a chocolately brown. Crown modling is next in line for the living room. Kristin said "the room looks formal, but I like it." We added new light fixtures to the entryway, kitchen and upstairs hallway. Amazing what a little update into the 21st century can do! ;-) I bet the lights we replaced were the originals from when the house was built in '89??! =)

I don't have finished product pictures yet, but when everything is finally put together, I will post them! Or ya'll can just drop by. Hmm, I retract that statement. As much as I'd love for you to just "stop by," I can't handle a mad rush! So do us a favor and call first! :-)

Thank God for friends! Ken Wood stopped by all day Saturday to help install the new light fixtures, change out sockets, etc. I am convinced he stopped by for the FIVE sandwiches he ate at lunch!! But either way, he is an awesome friend, and a gifted electrician! Thanks Ken Wood! Kristin stopped by too. But somehow she managed to get out of any sort of work! She grabbed her magazines and ran. Then again, she did put in MORE than her due when we bought the house. I guess Kris is forgiven.

Anyway, this weekend was truly a renovating time--for the house and me personally.
God revealed a lot of sin in my heart this past weekend--impatience, anger, and much more. He faithfully reminded me that the work in our house is a process, one which will not be completed over night. Indeed, the renovations may take weeks or months in some cases. But, He gently reminded me that He will finish the work He started, just as we are GOING to finish the work we started!!! Let's pray God's timing for completing work in my heart is much shorter than our time line for completing the work on our house!

Restaurant Review

Monday night I went to a new restaurant in Hampden, right on the Avenue. That's 36th Street for those of you who are unfamiliar with the area. The restaurant is named "Suzie's Soba." It is famed for it's noodles. Everything is noodles. And Asian. Asian noodles.

AND, it's incredible. You can read the City Paper review, or simply take my word for it.

The spinach and shitake, killer. The Banana Tempura, amazing. The ginger limeade, incredibly delicious. Everything (except dessert) is eaten with chopsticks, which only adds to the ambiance of the place.

If you are looking for an inexpensive and adventurous night out, Suzie's will surely not disappoint.

yogurt

I haven't posted in a while, mainly because I haven't had the opportunity--nor the material--to post. I kept wishing I had something, just a little something to write about. I could post about my student plucking out my eyebrows, yeah, that's a cute story. Or, I could post about my lunch-time incident. That was not so funny. So the lunch-time story won out!

I have eaten yogurt with my lunch since I was in high school. The love affair with yogurt hasn't ended, nor is it likely to. Though my recent luck with yogurt hasn't been so great. Last week I had vanilla yogurt, plain vanilla. I also had shoes on with tiny holes on the top for decoration purposes (that is an important fact!). After eating my sandwich, I opened the yogurt and decided to walk to my class and finish eating there. Somehow, between the lunch table and the trash can I forgot that the yogurt was open. I managed to dump 3/4 of the entire contain down my leg and onto my foot. Remember that the shoes have holes in the top. In went the yogurt. Down between my toes. Under the arch. In the creases. Sick. I gasped. Co-workers laughed.

Today, my daily yogurt was no different. I had a PBJ and a cherry vanilla yogurt. I had eaten my PBJ and was getting ready to eat my yogurt. I took off the plastic lid. The foil was still securely on underneath, or so I thought. I began to shake my yogurt like I do every day to mix it. As I did, the contents of the container ended up ALL over my white dress shirt. Pink blobs flew everywhere--across the table, onto the floor, on my shoulder, in my lap. Grrrrrr. I looked and realized that the yogurt foil was half-way open. How did that happen?! My co-worker suggested that perhaps I had bought it from the store like that. I figured someone had opened it and forgotten to tell me? Maybe another co-worked mistakenly thought it was theirs?!

This evening, I arrived home and HAD to ask Miguel about the mysterious open yogurt. Sure enough, the boy had opened the yogurt intending to eat it. When he realize it was not plain vanilla, but cherry vanilla, he kindly put the half opened container back into the fridge for my consumption. Lovely.

Some say I should give up my quest to eat yogurt every day until I die. However, I walked away with two simple lessons learned: One, never again will I open my yogurt and then forget that it is open. And two, I will never shake my yogurt BEFORE checking the foil wrapper.

What's in a name?

I told my dad that if he had a blog, this story should be in it! But since he doesn't, I felt it still to be blog-worthy...

On Tuesday, a little girl went into the school office where he works. She proceeded to tell the secretaries that she knew Jesus' last name..."Amen."

As in, "In Jesus' name, Amen."

I had to chuckle at the originality of her little mind!

For My Sister

Sacha went apple picking today in New England. If I had've been with her, my apples would have been used in this recipe:

Jewish Apple Cake

Ingredients
4 lg Apples--Granny Smith or Red Delicious are my favorites-you can use more apples if you'd like
2 tsp. Cinnamon
5 T. Sugar

3 c. Flour
3/4 tsp. Salt
2 1/2 c. Sugar
1 c. Oil
4 Eggs
3 tsp. Baking Powder
2 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1/3 c. Orange Juice (the secret ingredient!!)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel, core and slice apples. I like mine sliced thinly and cut into one inch pieces.
Combine first three ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
Let sit while combining remaining ingredients in another bowl.

Pour about a one inch layer of the batter into a tube pan.
Place the cinnamon sugar apples in a thin layer over the batter. Make sure the batter is covered, but not too thickly or the cake will stay raw.
Continue to alternate layers until all of the apples and batter are gone. If you end with apples, they may brown or even burn. Be careful!

Bake for 1 3/4 hours. At times, I've needed to add another 20 or so minutes to bake time.

***Sacha, let me know how it turns out! =)

Escalators

I don't remember my first outing to the mall. But I wish I did. I am sure it was with my mom. Perhaps it was to look for new shoes for my ever growing feet, or maybe to buy her favorite Lilly of the Valley perfume from Crabtree and Evelyn. I don't remember. But I wish I did.

Simple firsts, like the mall, grocery store, and Target are memories that I've long forgotten. I take for granted my ability to quickly and regularly venture into the community and purchase items on my first fancy or whim. This past Tuesday, I realized that the simple pleasures in life, like visiting the mall, aren't so simple to some. The Pink and Yellow rooms ventured out on a big yellow bus to White Marsh Mall. We left promptly at 9:45, just in time to meet all of the elderly mall walkers and moms out for an early morning trip.

Our adventures began in the pet store. The workers were kind enough to bring out dogs, cats and bunnies. The kids loved it. Then on to new adventures. Two of my students discovered the escalators. Up, they begged. So up we went. Down, they giggled, so down we went. Lo and behold, a candy store at the bottom of the escalator. In we went. In went candy into their tiny mouths. The sign clearly read, "NO taste testing." Hmmm, my students can't read! I giggled, the store manager smiled. Out we went. No more candy store for us.

They sighted it. The escalator. Up, they frantically pointed. So up we went. Down, they pleaded. So down we went. Three more times, up and down, up and down, up and down. I have never heard my students laugh like that before. All I could do was smile and laugh with them. The simple joys of childhood are all too easily overlooked and too quickly forgotten.

I am not sure if my students will remember their trip to the mall that Tuesday morning. But I hope they do. I hope they remember the mounds of candy in the new candy store. The princesses in the Disney Store. And most importantly, the ten rides up and ten rides down the escalators. I am not sure if they will, or even can remember. But I hope they do.

Retraction

Ooops. My dad faithfully reminded me yesterday that we (as educators and service providers) fall under some strict confidentiality guidelines. SO that means all pictures of my kids will be removed from my blog, and I will not be able to continue posting the pictures. Stories, however, are a completely different story! There will surely be more stories throughout the year!

Hope no one out there decided to make money off of selling my pictures. Or went to the parents of my kids and said nasty things about me! hehe.

Quiet Voice

I have never said, "Shhh, quiet voice," as many times as I did today! Adelaida, one of my youngest and smallest students, has a tendency to use her inside voice when she's outside and her outside voice when she's inside! The majority of our day today was spent by raising our index finger to our lips and shooshing her. It ended up being a game. Not really a fun game, but a game none the less! She would scream. We would shhh...she would scream louder...we would shooosh. After a while, I broke down laughing. She had to know it was a game. And she played it well! I think Adelaida just wanted to see me looking silly with my "quiet voice" stern face and my shooshing finger at my lips! During OT, the game continued. All the OT could say was, "Libby, You're going to make a great mother!" (Secretly, I think she feels sorry for me and all the shooshing I have to do!)

Besides her rather loud voice, Adelaida is a magnificent signer. She can ask, in a full sentence, for cookies, pretzels and anything else her little heart desires. She is beginning to use sign language to interact with her peers and people in the community! This is my baby who comes from a Spanish speaking home and had NO language when she came to me last year! Amazing! I love my kids.

five down...

175 left to go! For those of you who are teachers, or were teachers, or will be teachers someday, 180 is the magical number. 180 days from the first day of school until the last. 180 days of teaching AND learning. 180 days of joys and pains. (180 days until I back on the white sandy beaches in the Carribean for my first anniversary!) 180 days full of hugs, kisses, laughs, and giddy screams. 180 days with children who need more love and care than I could ever possibly provide outside of God's grace and strength. It seems completely overwhelming. I have been given 180 days to significantly impact the lives of 7 children. 180 days to meet nationally regulated standards for achievement and learning. 180 days to love on my kids like they've never been loved on before! 180 days to ensure they leave the school building better off than they were the moment they walked into my room.

I've talked about my kids so much that I thought I would post their pictures here over the next week or so! I love to brag about them and tell everyone that I really do have the cutest class! So over the next 180 days I am sure that you will hear (and see) stories of our eventful lives in the "Pink" room. WELL...here we go...

The first day of school MIkel drank strawberry milk and had a severe allergic reaction. Think "Hitch" if you've ever seen it! She was rushed to the nurses' office and then wisked away to the hospital by her parents! Never a dull moment in the life of a special educator!