Cat in the hat...or the box...or the...

My cats like to sit / nap in weird places. Their favorite place, though, is a basket of clean laundry. You'd think that J and I would learn and just put the stupid laundry away right away, but as this sampling of photos shows, we don't learn.

I sort of understand a basket of soft, warm clothes. I don't understand a school bag full of pencils and notebooks...

In the next picture I wasn't fast enough to catch Zoe in the box...I was fast enough, however, to catch the blur of her backside as she jumped out. I don't know why this picture makes me giggle, but it does.

A day in the life of...well, me

For those of you (like me) who were wondering what on earth I was going to do during Spring Break to occupy my time, I thought I would give you a snapshot of my day today...the very first official day of my break!


5:25 a.m. - Alarm goes off. I immediately reach out and hit snooze, simultaneously wondering what on earth possessed me to think I would get up at that ungodly hour during my vacation.


5:32 a.m. - Alarm goes off again. Remember that I just hit snooze instead of turning it off. Curse the idiot who invented the snooze button while blindly reaching out and turning off the alarm.


5:45 a.m. - What the heck? I turned off that stupid alarm! Oh, that's right...I have a backup alarm in case I hit snooze too many times during the work week. Apparently last night I thought it would be smart to set them both. Must have been J's fault. When in doubt, blame him. Turn off second alarm and go back to sleep. Aahhh, blissful sleep.


6:11 a.m. - Wake up yet again when Zoe (cat) decides she's had enough of sleeping under the covers, and instead of just crawling out, takes her SHARP claws and pats my leg to let me know I need to lift the blankets up so she can get out. (When I say she patted my leg, it was a nice way of saying that she was viciously clawing.)

6:14 a.m. - You've. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me. The bleeping alarm clock is like Phoebe's smoke detector on that episode of Friends. Hit the snooze button and nothing happens. Hit it harder, but still nothing happens. Realize that it's not my alarm clock, it's J's. And he's sleeping through it.

6:15 a.m. - Poke J hard in the ribs and tell him very nicely to turn off the alarm clock or I will kill him.

6:22 a.m. - For the love of Pete. The world is conspiring against me, I may as well just get up. Poke J in the ribs again and tell him, "Either hit snooze or freaking get up already!" Then get up and stomp to the bathroom.

6:23 a.m. - 6:30 a.m. - Bathroom business and brushing my teeth. Look in the mirror and decide it's pointless to brush hair, and nobody's going to see me anyway.

6:31 - 7:14 - Browse internet, check blogs I follow. Play a game (or two) of Feeding Frenzy 2.

7:20ish - Decide to quit wasting time on the internet and call the vet to make an appointment for the cats. They are both overdue for annual check-ups. Make the appointment for 11:00 today.

7:24 a.m. - Check e-mail. Get excited to see there's a message from Leah!! Get worried when I see it's titled, "HELP!" Get excited to see she wants me to guest blog again! Yahoo!! It's kind of an honor that somebody trusts me enough to blog for her - especially when there are a lot of people who regularly read her blog!

7:33 a.m. - Click on "Publish Post" on Leah's blog.

7:34 a.m. - Realize that there are a lot of people who read Leah's blog, and now I've committed myself to several posts! Ack! I can't hardly come up with topics for my own blog. And Mom H, J, and Leah are pretty much the only ones who ever read my blog. (That I know of, anyway. Sometimes other people leave comments, but it's rare.) What have I done?

7:35 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. - Shower, dress, do my hair, etc. There may or may not have been another game or two of Feeding Frenzy 2. And I may or may not have checked Leah's blog four times to see if anyone left comments.

9:45 a.m. - Head out to PetCo to get Sid a new cat carrier. Make sure all bedroom doors are closed before leaving to prevent cats from hiding under bed. (When J is not here, it's impossible for me to get them out from under the bed. They sneer derisively at me, and sit just a half an inch out of reach.) Giggle uncontrollably when I get home at 10:15 and realize that the carrier I bought has a permanent label on it that says...Dog Whisperer.

10:15 a.m. - Take both cat carriers into the bathroom and hide in the shower. Then go back to the computer to play a few minutes of Feeding Frenzy 2, and pretend I haven't seen the cat carriers and today is a regular day. A day just like any other. Nope, I have no plans to shove my cats into boxes and take them to the vet.

10:28 a.m. - Stretch, yawn, and casually make my way to the bathroom. Pass the treat can, and grab it, hoping the cats may have forgotten they saw the carriers earlier today. I'm in luck as they follow me! Yay! Sit down on the toilet (with the seat down and my pants up), and shake the can again. Zoe took the bait!! Dummy came into the bathroom! I gave her the treat so she would be occupied while I shut the door.

10:32 a.m. - SUCCESS!! Only minor scratches on my hand, and one pissed off cat, but I did it! She is in the crate and ready to go! Now, it's on to Sid.

10:33 a.m. - Curiosity really did kill the cat. Sid heard Zoe yowling, me cussing, and started scratching at the door. He wanted in to check out what was going on. Stupid cat.

10:36 a.m. - SUCCESS again!! No more scratches, two pissed off cats, and I'm ready to go!

10:40 a.m. - 10:55 a.m. - Both cats "sang" all the way to the vet. Maybe they don't like country music?

10:55 a.m. - 11:55 a.m. - In the exam room at the vet. A cool $487 later, we're on our way home. (Everyone is fine, they just needed blood work, and dewormer, and a myriad of other things...)

12:10 p.m. - Home at last. Operation "Pay the vet two arms and a leg" completed. Operation "Dehair self" commencing. Send more tape rollers ASAP.

12:20 p.m. - On my way to my friend's mom's house. While at the vet I texted her to tell her I was there (because she needed a play by play of my day), and found out she was in the ER with her mom. Immediately thought my friend may want company, so I volunteered to go sit with her at the ER. I had lots of stuff on my to do list at home, but friends and their moms are more important than dusting my living room... By the time I got home and dehaired myself, they were on their way back to her mom's house.

12:25 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. - Sat with friend and her mom and talked the day away. Mom was fine...ER was just a precaution. She is 72 and goes for a daily walk. Today, however, she decided not to lift her foot over a crack in the sidewalk and face planted...hard. May you never have to see a black eye on a 72 year old. It was horrible. She looks like she pissed off Muhammed Ali. She's in great spirits, though, and other than a nasty black eye and a badly scraped hand, she's fine.

6:45 p.m. - Have been home for awhile, may or may not have checked e-mail, Leah's blog comments, and played another game or two of Feeding Frenzy 2. J comes home and offers to take me out to dinner.

8:00 p.m. - Sit down to write this blog entry and realize that though I didn't do much today, it takes FOREVER to write about it...

9:46 p.m. - Hit "Publish Post" on my blog and hope that I didn't lose whatever readers I may have had before today...

Spring Break here I come!!

It's finally here!! Spring Break rocks!

I have huge plans. The house needs to be cleaned, the yard needs some serious work, the file cabinet needs to be organized again, and I have about three crafty projects that I've been seriously neglecting.

I've got phone calls to catch up on, books to read, and naps to take.

It's going to be a busy week, and I am looking forward to every second of it!

Hallmark cards rock, pt. 10

I love Hallmark greeting cards. I love them so much I find myself buying them, even when I don't have an occasion to buy them. When I do have an occasion, I find myself buying the card I need and an extra one or two...or five.


As I told you recently, J and I went looking for a birthday card to send to my friend’s son (a former student of mine) who is stationed overseas and is pretty homesick.


As usual, I couldn’t choose just one card and sent him five. And brought home even more than that.



At this point I think it’s an official addiction.

But as far as vices go, this one is relatively harmless. I don’t go often, but when I do, I stock up! I am running out of room in my card storage box. I need to start addressing some envelopes…


You can see the first part of my Hallmark card collection here, the second part here, the third part here, the fourth part here, the fifth part here, the sixth part here, the seventh part here, the eighth part here, and the ninth part here (these are St. Patrick's Day cards we sent to J's family).



Enjoy!

This was in a set of notecards I bought. I pretty much love this, and wish it could be my motto.



This is me and my sister L. She took me to the gym over Christmas break. I enjoyed it...kind of...

This was made for my mother. She is programmed to tell the same story three times (once for each of her daughters), but she often will tell one of us twice and completely leave out the third. Plus, she can never remember a punch line to a joke. You can tell her the same jokes and she's like a new audience every time! Lucky for J...he's kinda prone to repeating himself. But you didn't hear that from me.

J actually picked up this card. He laughed out loud in public. For those of you who know my husband, you know this is a big deal. I am considering having this card laminated and giving it to him.

Why, thank you!

Today, instead of a regular school day, we had Student Led Conferences. That means I worked from 12pm-8pm, rather than 7am-3pm. Typically, on conference days schools invite parents to come to conferences with teachers to talk about student progress - most of the time kids aren't even there. At SHS, though, we invite kids to come with their parents, and the kids lead the conferences. It's actually an interesting concept, and I'd be happy to explain it in a different post later if anyone is truly interested, but that's not the point of my blog tonight.

Tonight I was walking back to my classroom from the main office when I passed one of my senior boys in the hall. He and his mother were on their way to his conference. When he saw me, he said, "Hi, Mrs. Hocking!"

I replied, "Hi, C! Good luck on your conference!"

His mom said to him, "She's a teacher?!?!"

Then she looked at me and said, "You look so young! You just blend right in!"

Man, even after eight years of teaching I'm still getting those comments! At least once a year I get a parent commenting on how old (or young?) I look. Tonight was not the first time a parent this year has said it, either!

A few months ago I met the mother of one of my freshmen. She didn't beat around the bush - she flat out asked me how old I was! That was a little off-putting, so I answered by saying, "This is my eighth year teaching at SHS, and I will be 31 in a few weeks."

It kind of annoyed me when I got those comments the first few years I was teaching, but now that I've breached 30, I LOVE it!!

Shallow, I know. But I no longer get carded at the grocery store or in a restaurant, so I'll take it where I can get it!

From the mouths of babes, part 11

The other day during third hour I was getting really frustrated because my kids were not listening. This time of year it gets harder and harder for seniors to be focused on school. I am not willing to give up the fight yet, though, so I just fell silent and stared at them until they got quiet. I waited until there was absolute silence for about ten seconds to prove my point.

I opened my mouth to speak, and before I could get a single word out, one of my darling boys in the back row lets out a ginormous belch.

It was disgusting and a show-stopper.

Once I quit laughing, we got back to work.

Semi-Homemade

Have you ever seen the show Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee on the Food Network? It's an interesting show. I LOVE the concept - she shows you how to make food using ingenious shortcuts. That is perfect for me!

The only problem is, I can't stand the show.

The woman drives me batty. She just seems so fake to me. Nobody could really be that excited about food all the time. I know it's her job, but come on, be real. If everything you made was really that good, you'd look more like Paula Deen than a stick.

Here are the things that most annoy me about the show.

1. Every episode she color coordinates EVERYTHING. From her dishes to her cookware to the curtains hanging over the sink. And they are different every episode. How ridiculous is that? Nobody in the real world can do that. And why would they? Sometimes she even color coordinates the food in the meal she's cooking. Seriously. I've had the same curtains in my kitchen for the last five years, and I'm totally okay with that.

2. She uses the word "Tablescape" about forty times an episode. That's the stupidest word I've ever heard. If I am having guests over for dinner, I want my table to look good. But I'm NOT going to go out to buy coordinating decorations that go with the food I'm putting on the table.

3. She dresses like she thinks she's still young. The episode I saw the other day when I was flipping through the channels about put me through the roof. She was wearing some gross blouse with a boustier on the OUTSIDE of it. That's not a good look for anyone at any age. But it would be far more reasonable on a twenty-something clubbing with her girlfriends than a forty-something on a cooking show. (Okay, I know forty-something isn't that old, but it's way too old to dress the way she does!)


I may give her another chance, because her method of cooking is perfect for me, but I'm not holding my breath.

Hallmark cards rock, pt. 9 – St. Patrick’s Day Edition!

Back by popular demand...another installation of Hallmark Cards Rock!!

Well, if I'm going to be honest, it wasn't by popular demand. It's because I went on another card binge. But I'm not entirely to blame here. J was with me, and we were buying cards for my friend's son, Jorel, who is overseas in the Marine Corps. We found five cards for him...and a few more to add to my stash.

Okay, it wasn't a few.

It was a lot.

But J picked more than half of them out...and we had a ton of fun doing it.

I'm not ashamed of that.

Really, I'm not ashamed.

Okay, I'm a little ashamed. I have corrupted my husband, and he's now addicted to Hallmark cards, too.

At least I'm not alone anymore. Is it bad that I find some comfort in that?

You can see the first part of my Hallmark card collection here, the second part here, the third part here, the fourth part here, the fifth part here, the sixth part here, the seventh part here, and the eighth part here.

Enjoy!

These are all St. Patrick's Day cards. We sent them to J's family...I doubt they arrived on time, but they should have arrived by now so I am not spoiling any surprises. I hope!

We sent this one to J's sister H in California. It is similar to a card we sent to Jorel for his birthday. It was funny the first time, and it was funny again.

This is the card we sent to his parents. I didn't pick it out. Honestly. This was all J. Only boys find potty humor funny. Even 32-year-old, gainfully employed, seven-feet tall boys.

Especially 32-year-old, gainfully employed, seven-feet tall boys.

And last, but not least, this is the card we sent to J's baby sister C in Seattle. We thought she'd find it funny.

We hope she found it funny.

We were giggling uncontrollably in public at Fred Meyer.

And while I don't appreciate most potty humor, I thought the mooning leprechauns on the back of the card were an appropriate and amusing touch. It's not technically potty humor, so I feel okay admitting that I thought it was funny.

Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day!! And a Happy Belated Birthday to my cousin Patrick!! (No joke, my cousin Patrick was born on St. Patrick's Day.)

Dinosaurs Alive!

Remember my friend, Wall-E?? The cutie-patootie J and I went camping with last summer? Here are my two favorite recent pictures of him to refresh your memory.

Well, in approximately one month from today, J and I will be traveling to Yakima with Wall-E and his parents to go see Dinosaurs Alive at the SunDome! We are pretty excited about it. Several weeks ago I saw a commercial for it on television and thought it would be something Wall-E would get a big kick out of, but then promptly forgot about it. I meant to tell his mom, but didn't.

About a week after I saw the first commercial, Wall-E's mom called me and asked if J and I wanted to join them. She apparently saw the same commercial I saw, and immediately looked it up. We accepted the invite, we bought the tickets, and now we are committed!

It looks really cool. We aren't sure if Wall-E will really like it in person because he is only three after all (he'll be four a little less than a week after the show), and the dinosaurs are enormous. I'm guessing they are loud, too, but it is billed as a family show. And Wall-E is obsessed with dinosaurs. He has been for as long as I can remember.

For Christmas last year he got Kota the Triceratops. Here's the commercial. This toy is pretty unreal. And he loves it.




His third birthday party was a dinosaur theme. I helped his mom and grandma paint some pictures of dinosaurs that were used as decorations. Plus, his mom made a bunch of artifacts from homemade play-doh that got buried in the sand box. She also made a volcano, and I got a bubble machine so it erupted bubbles rather than lava. (Lava is kind of dangerous, and this was a kids' party...safety first!)

It was so much fun! Here are some pictures from preparations and the party. J and I went, and had a blast being photographers. Moms and dads always want to get pictures, but they are always busy with the kids and their guests, so they don't always get pics. J and I volunteered to shoot photos because, other than Wall-E, we don't know many three year olds. We figured we would just be making small talk with parents, and though we're sure they're nice, we thought it would be more fun to take pictures.

Wall-E's mom used her overhead projector at school to project dinosaurs on the wall, then traced them on butcher paper. We hung them up at Wall-E's grandma's house and painted them. Then we cut them out and hung them on the wall at Wall-E's house for the party.

Here I am...artist wannabe.

Wall-E's grandma. She's fixing the stuff Wall-E's mom and I messed up. We suck at painting apparently.

The finished products on the wall at the party!

Wall-E in the blue hoodie, and his mom, in the denim jacket, in the sandbox with other party guests hunting for dinosaur goodies.

Wall-E loves the movie The Land Before Time, and doesn't go anywhere without his "Sharptooth" and "Cera" plastic dinosaurs. I was at JoAnn's fabric store recently and I was looking for Star Wars fabric (Wall-E's newest obsession). I came up empty handed on the Star Wars front, but found a great fleece panel with dinosaurs on it. I thought Wall-E would like that, so I got it. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, though, at first.

Then, I was inspired.

I made him a blanket! This was the easiest blanket I ever made (even easier than rag quilts!) because I just sewed a solid color fleece to the back and trimmed the edges. Wall-E's older sister was going to come to my house to borrow some crafting supplies for a science project she's working on, and I requested that Wall-E come with her to pick the stuff up. I originally intended for the blanket to be a birthday present or a gift on the morning we go see Dinosaurs Alive, but just couldn't wait.

When he got to the house, Wall-E ran through the rooms, just checking to make sure everything was okay. Once he got that chore out of the way, I invited him to the living room to see the present I had for him. I unfolded it and held it up, and his exact words were, "Oh, 'Stina!! It's beautiful!!"

I'm not so sure I would go so far as to say it's beautiful, but I'm glad to know it was a hit! (Excuse J's forehead...I tried to crop it out, but was unsuccessful...) If everyone I knew was that easy to please, I'd make a heck of a lot more stuff!

When Wall-E delightedly told me the blanket was beautiful, I just about died from the sweetness! Then, when I got a hug and a kiss, that pretty much pushed me over the edge.

I thought I loved the kid before, but now? Now I'm positive.

I'll let you know how Dinosaurs Alive goes. Oh, and if anyone knows of any cool Star Wars toys that are appropriate for a four year old, let me know, okay? Because now that I gave him the blanket, I need to figure out something else for his birthday!

Thank you

Recently a good friend of mine e-mailed me the following about her son (one of my old students) who is a Marine and overseas for his second tour of duty:


From: BG
Sent: Friday, March 13, 2009 6:03 AM
Subject: favor to ask re Jorel

As you all know, Jorel is in the sandbox again. He’s in a relatively safe place, and hopefully will stay there his entire deployment (should be home in September). I have a favor to ask all of you – ok, two favors. Jorel will be 21 soon, and he’s feeling pretty lonesome. While it would probably embarrass him a little, that’s okay - I know he would actually love it if he were to receive a bunch of birthday cards. Would you please send him one? It takes about 10 days to get mail, which is why I’m asking so early.

Thanks in advance,
BG


I have known Jorel since he was a freshman in my English class, and his mother since I started working at SHS. This "favor" was a no brainer: Of course I'll send Jorel a card.

You know me, any excuse to buy a card is good for me! J and I were out running errands last Saturday and I told him that I needed to find a birthday card for Jorel. Now, J has never met Jorel, he's only met Jorel's family (his little brother house sits for us when we go out of town, I am good friends with his mom, and his dad has been at the house when we've dropped off keys before leaving town). But he was more than happy to help me look for a card. He likes the family, and is quite patriotic.


We may have different views about war, but J and I agree 100% on one thing: the troops deserve our support. And if Jorel is homesick and about to have a birthday, the least we can do is send him a card.

Or five.

Seriously. We sent him five cards.

Once we got started, we couldn't stop. I think we stood in front of the display at Fred Meyer for approximately 45 minutes. Then, we went to Hallmark to see what else they had there.

I labeled each envelope with a description of when he should open it. Though, if he's anything like me, he'll open all five of them the day he gets it. I have no self control. Sometimes it's embarrassing. Most of the time, though, it's in private so I don't worry too much. Most of the time.

Here are the five cards we picked.



This first one pretty accurately sums up my thoughts. Jorel is not the only former student (or son of a good friend) who has gone off to war. Thank God they both made it back safely. Rod is still safe at home (his four years were up and he didn't re-enlist), and I'm praying that Jorel comes home safely again.

The next two are birthday cards. He's turning 21. He's in the military. J had a BLAST picking these cards out!

This one has sound. (Which is why it got blurry and a bit shadowed when I scanned it - the little speaker inside is bulky...)

Easter follows quickly on the heels of Jorel's birthday this year, so we thought we'd throw one of those cards in, too.

This last card (for the time being...I now have his address. And I still have an unfortunate addiction to Hallmark cards...this is not the last he'll hear from me...poor kid.)

Because five cards wasn't enough, we also picked out some postcards with pictures of home for him. Well, technically he calls California home now as that's where he's stationed, but surprisingly we couldn't find any postcards of California at the Fred Meyer in Kennewick. Shocking, I know, in a booming metropolis such as this.

Oh, well.

Here are the postcards we included. (I put one in each card so he'll get a new one with each card he opens.)

Thanks, Jorel. Enjoy the cards! Happy Birthday! Oh, and Happy Easter!

We miss you, and we love you.

Come home safe.