Friday, November 20, 2015

Into November

We had a busy couple of weeks with Halloween and going to Cincinnati the first weekend of November.  John and Chellie came in for Halloween and it was fun having them here.  It rained that evening but it wasn't too cold so it turned out alright.  Rob and the girls came here to trick or treat and Jenny and Audriana came shortly thereafter.  Then Amy and Dave came a little later with Sara and Michael.  We probably had about one hundred trick or treaters here.  My sister who lives a few blocks from here had about 500.













The first weekend of November we went to Cincinnati for Grandparent's Day at the girl's school.  We took turns going to each of their rooms.  It's a really nice facility.  I think the girls both enjoy it there.  After school, we met Bill and Polly at Steak n Shake then came back to the house for cake to celebrate Polly's 70th birthday.








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They'll be in St. Louis again for Thanksgiving next week.  Kate and the kids are also coming into town, so all of the grand kids will be here.  We'll have 20 for dinner here, with our family and Wayne's brother Jeff and his wife Judith.  Then we go to my sister Libby's for dessert.  It's always so much fun to see everyone on holidays.  It will be good that Kate will get to see everyone since she won't be here for Christmas.

My class is going better, but I'm ready for it to be over.  The one student who was giving me such a hard time didn't show up for five classes and I hoped she had dropped.  Then last week when I walked up the hall to my classroom I saw to campus police officers sitting outside my classroom.  They asked about that student and said they needed to talk to her.  She showed up about half an hour after class had started and I got a hold of the police officer.  Apparently, she had cursed out a math teacher that morning because she did not like her grade on a  test.  She had to meet with the academic V.P. before she could go back to any classes.  She showed up the next class and was a perfect angel this week.  She knows she's on thin ice.

I've been selling a lot of stuff on the Webster Swap.  I'm trying to get rid of a lot of toys in the playroom so the kids have room to play up there.  I'm also getting rid of some dish wear type stuff because I have too much.  I usually turn around and spend any money I make buying from others on the Swap.  It's lots of fun.  I've done a little Christmas shopping, but most of the grand kids just want gift cards, except for the two little ones.  And we just give our own children checks, so I don't have to do so much shopping anymore. 

Sunday, October 25, 2015

October

October is almost over and life is rolling right along.  I'm keeping busy with teaching and working in the tutoring center Wednesday evenings.  My class is going okay for the most part.   I have one student who s a pain in the behind, a real smart ass.  She sends me e-mails when she's not coming to class to tell me I can't count her absent for me be reason or another. I finally told her this week that I don't care if she is absent or not; it's much more pleasant when she isn't there.  When they turned in their first papers she asked when they would get them back and I told her in a week, then she asked how many classes I was teaching .  When I told her one she asked why it took me a whole week to grade papers.   She's on her phone texting the whole class, although I tell her every class to put her phone away.

I went to Boston last week for a long weekend.  It was a busy weekend; Jack plays hockey, football and soccer.  Corinne plays soccer and does Irish dance, so Kate runs constantly when she isn't working.  We did get to go to a pumpkin farm in between games on Sunday.  It was a pretty drive with all of the fall colors.  We road through Cambridge and there was a big rowing tournament so the streets and bridges were lined with people. It was cool to see.








We're getting ready for Halloween.  John and Chellie will be here with the kids, so it should be fun with most of the grand kids here.  I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures next week. 


Sunday, September 27, 2015

September

Another month has gone by and life has gotten busier and busier.  We went to Hilton Head the beginning of the month with John and Chellie and the girls and her mother and partner.  We had a really nice time but I think Stephanie would have preferred her cousins being there to her grand parents.  Nevertheless, it was a great vacation  We flew in to Charleston then rented a car and drove to Hilton Head.  The house was perfect and the island beautiful.  We are used to Gulf Shores where there are beach and houses, no landscaping.  Hilton Head is very luscious and very well-manicured.

















When we got back I started teaching that Tuesday, and it's been kind of tough.  I haven't taught intro to college writing in fifteen years so I'm starting from scratch, and the class meets for two hours twice a week.  It's really hard to fill that two hours when the students don't participate.  I only have eleven students so anything I plan goes really quickly.  I'm spending a lot of time searching the internet for ideas for classroom activities.

We're still spending time working in the yard and I don't think I mentioned that Wayne put together a new shed.  We bought it from Sam's and it came in multiple pieces with about a thousand screws.  It took Wayne about a week to assemble it; when I read about it on the website it said it would take 6 to 8 hours to assemble, but that was for three to four people assembling it.  Wayne was pretty much on his own except when I would hold things in place.  It turned out nice and I can park my car in the garage for the first time ever.  It will be great come winter when there is snow and ice on the ground.



We've still been walking when we can, at usually Powder Valley, and on Friday we went down to the garden.  And I've been going to doctor and dentist appointments, it seems like a couple times a week.  This growing old is not for the weak of heart!  We also celebrated Rob's birthday last weekend. 




All of the grand kids are in school now.  Corinne started at Boston Latin which is pretty tough, but I think she is doing fine.  She takes a bus to the other side of town, but she has three friends who go there so they take the bus together.  I'm going there on the 16th of this month.  I always like to go in the fall because the colors are so pretty up east.  Kate's company was bought by another company so she has bee super busy training and getting everything in order for the new company.   I've only seen them once since Christmas, so it will be really nice to spend a few days there. It will also be nice to get away from school for a few days.

I've also been getting ready for Halloween.  John and Chellie are coming to town with the girls so it will be lots of fun.  I got costumes for her and Abbey-- or her other grand mother.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll have a good Halloween.