Tree Hunt 2011

Today was our annual Christmas Tree hunt. We chose to return to the site of last year's success and found our trees (mine, the parents, Traci & Eric's) relatively quickly. Then it was home to deck them out.

Black Friday Shopping

What an experience. This year we left the kids at home and headed out, four women, to enjoy the adventure of insanity.

Our first stop was Walmart. We arrived t 9:30 pm. It was chaotic and disorganized with lots of rude, obnoxious people. One bright spot was running into some family friends and catching up while waiting in the checkout line.

At midnight we were waiting in two different lines: Target and Old Navy. I had to be at Old Navy. My jeans were on sale for $15. Can't beat that. The rest of our happy troop braved Target and I met them a bit later. Again, we ran into friends and spent some time chatting.

From the mall it was off to Denny's for grand slams and time off our feet. I can't remember the last time I had breakfast at 2:30 in the morning. Refueled we hit our next stop at 5:00, then on to Fred Meyer at 6:00. We were back home by 7:30 for power naps before going to KMart and then lunch at Panera. My "day" ended at 1:30 this afternoon.

We had a good day. It was fun to hang out and pick up a few things. And starting early wasn't so bad. I think I prefer it to starting at 4:00 am.

Thanksgiving....

Here are some images from our wonderful holiday. We were blessed by the company, the food and time together.

Veteran's Day Parade

Gotta Love A Parade!. I marched in my first parade as a member of the high school marching band way back when. It was fun. That hasn't changed. This year I took part in the Albany Veteran's Day Parade for the second year with the DAR. The weather was beautiful. A perfect day to honor our our military veterans.

Eola Hills 5K

This morning Erin & I participated in the inaugural Eola Hills "No Hills" 5K in Rickreall. This event was a fundraiser for the Central High School and Dallas High School Track and Cross Country Programs. It was a good excuse to get some exercise and to help out two local schools.

The weather was cold, wet and windy. But it is November, so that was expected. It did serve to motivate. My time was (walking...I don't run) 49 minutes. Not bad considering. And at the end we got pizza and beer, wine or soda, plus the nifty t-shirt above.

Soon it will be time to start preparing for a 10K in January.

Conferences...an observation

Today we had conferences in our district. I've never been a huge fan of these parent teacher meetings, mostly because I rarely saw parents at them in my previous position. That was then. Now...different story. During the first two hours I had parents at my table non stop with more waiting in line. Wow! Not my usual experience. Nor was the following scenario, which happened more than once.

Me: "Your child is doing very well. He/she is a delight to have in class and I have no concerns about their behavior or work."

Parent. "That's good to hear, but his/her grade is 90%. How can they raise it?"

Me: Unsure what to say at this point. We don't give +/- grades. It doesn't matter if if the grade is 90 or 100, it's an 'A'.

To Nano or Not....

NaNoWriMo started today and I'm still undecided about whether or not I'm going to participate. I have an idea, but do I have the time? Teaching middle school is really time consuming. Maybe I'll go for it and see what happens. Wish me luck!