Freedom Reigns

Happy Memorial Day!

While everyone is celebrating 

our Troops and the Freedoms

they fought for...

We are creating a catch pen and

chute for the cows.

(But with a thought for those who

sacrificed for us as we work...)

This is the new cow chute.

It is currently open on the front

end - into the sand pasture behind

the barn. But will eventually lead

to the trailer heading to, well,

"freezer camp".

Leading to the chute will be this

fancy "catch pen".

The gate in the middle swings closed a bit

at a time and eventually it pushes

them right into the chute.

Slick as a whistle!

Kyle has become the master of the

chainsaw - who needs to carry the

wood up to the house to the table saw?

The guys started it over the weekend

while I was out of town.

Thankfully Sub Tropical Storm Alberto

decided to swing out into the Gulf a little

more. We have overcast skies (so it's less

hot than it could be - and there is a nice

breeze to keep it more comfortable).

Rod did his research (as usual)

and checked out a bunch of pre-made

systems. They ran about $1900.

HA!

These guys are masters of building their

own AND making it better AND

saving us a bunch of money.

The animals are keeping an eye on

all the construction activity.

But mostly they are grateful to be

in the "green yard". They have been

locked out for a couple of weeks

while we rotate pastures.

And Beau is never far away...

Meanwhile, I'm on lemonade duty.

And now I'm supposed to be in the

house making lunch.

Better get to it!

Happy Memorial Day!!!!

And Thank You to all those who

have served and are serving.

Last Day & MORE Cow Fun & Games

This is my last day working at the Town.

It's been fun.

And fills that little void

that misses vacuuming.

You know.

You go into a room with carpet

and leave with nice little

vacuum marks showing 

you were there!

It was a mess.

And now it's all neat and tidy

and orderly.

And the Town Clerk

is SO much happier.

So much so that today I went back

into the fire safe and redid all the

books back there as well.

LOL

Meanwhile,

we had some little visitors to our

farm yesterday.

I ran over to the local feed store

in the morning before work so I 

could get some feed for the horses.

Since we can't feed the fermented stuff

to them. (The cows can eat anything...)

When I got back to the house,

there was an entire family of

Sand Hill Cranes in my driveway.

I'm pretty sure that's Dad

with the kiddos.

Mom was on the other side

out of the picture.

I opened the gate and drove through

and when I got out to go close

the gate, they followed me on in!

They wandered around for a bit,

and then when Kyle opened the gate

again, they walked back out.

Silly birds!

And then...

Last night Rod didn't have to work,

the 3 of us were out back,

having just fed our animals,

I went into the house to check

on the Country Style Pork Ribs

I had in the pressure cooker,

and the guys walked to the back

to check on the new grass.

(Kyle spread 100# of seed on Thursday

and its rained every day since.

It's coming up nicely!)

Glanced over next door and noticed

the cows were out.

And while they watched,

they all lazily hopped over the

"new" fence Brock put in yesterday.

Into the neighbor's back yard.

So they wandered over to see if

they could round them up and put

them back into their pasture.

Naturally, it turned into a "thing".

The cows ran up his fence line and

into his front yard.

The neighbor came out VERY angry

and had words with Kyle.

While I grabbed a bucket of feed

and went out the front to try

to get them to follow me back home.

They were doing so well!

And then another neighbor showed up

WITHOUT a bucket of feed

and freaked them out and off they

ran - back into the back of the property

again, where they split into smaller groups

and forced us to chase them back and forth

for... about an hour.

I was POOPED!

(And it was quite warm as well...)

By the time we got them close to

the hole in the fence so we could

run them back in, the hogs showed

up and decided they wanted to come

OUT the hole in the fence and have

some of my grain.

Rod really had his hands full keeping

the hogs from getting OUT

while trying to get the cows IN.

But we succeeded.

If only that were the end of the story.

We went through the hole only to find

all the cows were now happily in the

middle of the farm garden,

munching the tops off the vegetables.

Good grief.

(Meanwhile, when we called Brock,

he said he was just sitting down to his

birthday dinner...)

(Whatever.)

Kyle and I dashed back to our house

and he loaded up a giant round roll

of hay onto his tractor, hoping they

would follow the hay into the secure

front pasture.

Put the hay in the pasture, but the cows

decided the vegetables were better.

So Kyle got on our 4-wheeler and

herded them - yelling and zooming around

(*and tearing up the grass a bit... oops!)

and FINALLY got all of them in the pasture

(and Rod again did a masterful job of

keeping the goats and donkey from getting

OUT while the cows were getting IN.)

Meanwhile it was FULL DARK.

We still had to go back to our place

and get one of our extra corral panels

and wire it up to the fence in the front

of the property. There has been a large 

hole in that fence for... a year?

Meanwhile.

It was 9:30.

I went to Chick Fil-A and got

us all a chicken sandwich.

Put the ribs back in the fridge

(they are all cooked, but need

some BBQ sauce cooked onto

them in the air fryer, and some

vegetables, and some salad,

and I was DONE.)

Such is the life on a farm.

Never a dull moment!

It's fun.

And we love it.

Mostly.

Good Gravy

Good Ness!!!!

(As Kyle would say...)

This past weekend I was teaching in West Palm.

I had 2 other instructors "visiting",

learning how to use the new eRoster system.

Thank goodness!

When I got ready to begin class,

I switched my iPad over from

"register the students" mode to

"power point - teach the class" mode.

That generally means I tap an icon

and my iPad automatically connects

to my Apple TV and projects up on

my giant white board at the front of the room.

Only this time it didn't.

And I, being the NON-techy member of

the family, had NO idea what to do!

But luckily Carlos is a Tech Expert!

I handed it to him and he messed with it

for fifteen minutes until he got it to

at least connect - but looks like it will

never happen automatically again.

Sigh.

But at least it works.

It was a rocky start to class,

but we got through it.

The rest of the day went well,

until lunch time.

My Subway app was broken.

Which meant we had to go and 

actually ORDER.

Sheesh.

First world problems.

Sunday started out well.

We decided not to mess with the Subway

app and just drove over and went inside.

Where they were SLAMMED.

But I work in a food desert,

so it's Subway or nothing.

(Well, McDonalds... but whatever...)

By the time we got out of there,

and dealt with all the other crazy

people driving in South Florida in 

the RAIN,

we walked into the classroom

ON THE DOT of 1:50.

Which is when class begins.

I walked in the room and said

"Hi!  Class is officially underway!"

And then fortunately I had two instructors

who could go around the room and

collect QR codes and signatures from

each of the students.

(A process you have to go through

at the beginning of each session.)

When class ended (it went well...

we had 24 students - a large class,

but lots of fun!)

we still had to do all the other iPad

nonsense to report the student's hours.

Because it looked like the entire class

was late, we had to put an explanation

note on EACH one. (Thank goodness

for copy / paste!)

But when we tried to finalize it,

we got an error code, 

it said the roster was locked,

and we would have to fix it later.

Whatever.

By then it was nearly 7:30 and we had

been at it for 12 hours.

We were TIRED!

One of the instructors lives 50 miles

north, right on my way home,

so rather than make her husband

pack up their 3 little girls and drive

down to pick her up, I just took her home.

But first I ran to the bathroom.

Where I dropped my phone in the toilet.

(don't ask)

So NOW I have no working phone.

FUN!

I DID manage to get it to connect

to my car so I could use my map

feature (or I'd still be driving around

Port St. Lucie trying to find the highway.)

and listen to music.

But it couldn't hear me,

so I couldn't phone / text anyone.

I NEEDED some Piano Guys.

Whew!

Which means I was up and out of the

house by 8:30 this morning,

heading to Sprint.

They sold me a new phone (upgrade)

since mine was never going to get

any better.

We got it all hooked up,

all my information transferred over,

and I headed out of there about 11:00.

I was headed to Town Hall,

but first I tried to connect it to my

car so I could listen to my book on tape

on the drive.

It refused to connect.

So instead of Town Hall,

I headed to the dealership to have Jim

fix it for me.

We messed with it for 30 minutes

(and had a nice visit)

and gave up.

Back to Sprint.

Where after much trial and error,

and You Tube-ing (is that a word?)

and then Googling,

it turns out the LG V30 does NOT

connect with Android Auto.

Well.

That would have been nice to know

2+ hours ago.

The salesman was really helpful,

we ended up bringing his manager out

to the car - he drives an Audi (basically

the same car as a VW)

and he has a Samsung.

His phone connected right up.

So back into the store to swap the LG

for a Samsung.  That was an adventure.

An hour later, I got to FINALLY eat

something. My reward for dealing with

phone issues is the Steak 'N Shake next

door. They have a really yummy little

jalapeno burger that I love, but I never

get it because I'm never in that part of town.

While eating, I decided to text Jim and

update him. But it wouldn't send.

I looked around for why 

and it turns out the phone wasn't 

activated yet.

WHAT?

Back next door to Sprint.

Ken messed with.

Finally it said it was done.

Back out to my car.

Where I discovered it STILL

wouldn't let me make a phone call.

Back into the store.

More messing around.

We texted each other.

We phoned each other.

We confirmed it worked.

I left.

I phoned Jim.

We talked.

I called my boss to talk about the

new eRoster and some issues.

Meanwhile I drove to Town Hall.

I got there at 2:00.

I worked until 4:00.

I came home.

Rod texted he was trying to call

but my phone went direct to voice mail.

I had Kyle stand next to me and phone me.

It went direct to voice mail.

I still had my salesman's number in my phone.

I called him at home.

I told him I was returning the phone.

He texted me.

I think I fixed it.

He called me.

It RANG!

Rod called me.

It RANG!

Kyle called me.

It RANG!

I'm going to bed.

lol

(Oh yeah, the adventure continues,
turns out the corn in our feed got wet
at the mill and now all our feed
smells like... whiskey?
I really AM going to bed.
And Kyle and I are driving to the
feed mill tomorrow to swap it out.)

Feast or Famine

Seems like suddenly life has hit the FAST lane.

On Tuesday, when Kyle had a migraine,

I took him to the store with me,

and then we stopped by the Town Hall

so I could drop off my latest typing

project and the invoice.

While there, Debby (Town Clerk)

told me Dorothy, secty

is going to be out starting Wednesday

and running through the following

Wednesday. Would I be interested

in covering for her???

Sounded like fun.

They had a "small project"

I could do while I was there...

Dorothy only works part time

and Deb said she know I have a lot

of stuff going on, I could pick my

own hours. Mostly they just needed

somebody to answer the phones

so they didn't have to keep

interrupting what they were doing.

I said Sure!

Wed. morning bright and early,

ok, 10:30 (hahaha) I showed up

at Town Hall.  (Hey! I have stuff 

to DO in the mornings...)

Deb showed me how to use the

phones and left me to it.

They have two bookshelves there in

the front office (first thing citizens see

when they visit) that looks like a mish mash

of three ring binders.

Deb is a little OCD and really likes

things to be uniform, neat, tidy and 

easy for everyone to use.

We ordered a bunch more white binders,

I made up a master so all the spines look

the same, and made a front cover sheet

for all of them.

(Terrible picture... the town logo is 

under that glare...)

It looks a TON better now!

I worked on that all day Wed,

but ran out of books after only two shelves.

Deb gave me some typing

to do for her. (She said she would pay

both hourly to have me in the office

AND my regular "per page" rate for any

typing she had me do...)

The new books came in after lunch,

so it was back to the books.

This morning I took all the books off the

shelves and rearranged them giving us

an extra shelf to store more items.

And then I did some more typing.

I'm going back again next week for

a couple of days.

Nobody is quite sure when Dorothy is

coming back, maybe Wednesday?

Maybe Thursday?

We'll see.

I finished the first shelf.

I have another box of books and

a full bookshelf left to work on.

And there is ALWAYS more typing.

Meanwhile,

I'm having FUN.

And it's temporary.

(I'm typing this from my hotel bed,

while watching the finale of
Master Chef Junior.)

I'm training another instructor this

weekend on the new eRoster system...

Hopefully it all goes smoothly.

Normally they have an instructor do a

class with a mentor (what I did in Miami)

and then run a class on their own,

and THEN move on to training another

instructor. But we skipped the middle step.

I was sure I could do it.

Hope I was right!

(Looking at my bracelet with the 

engraved words "What If You Could?")

So You Want to Raise Cows???

Get a couple of cows, they said.

It will be fun, they said.

And then you come home from the store

and see THIS!

Really???

I just had to laugh.

Poor Kyle, though.

He started the morning with an ocular migraine.

He has been doing lots of reading lately

and I think his eyes were just tired.

Once he put his book down, 

it switched to a regular headache

and then, since he hadn't eaten anything,

it progressed to a regular migraine.

Fun.

When we got home from getting him

some milk (and some other stuff...)

I found the cow.

Surprisingly, dealing with the whole thing

actually got rid of his headache!

(Or maybe it was the handful of various pills...)

First we tried luring them over to the

willow trees and pulling down branches

for them to eat. They LOVE willow!

But the little black cow is super skittish

and every time Kyle would reach for her

she would freak out and run away.

So then we brought them into the barn.

Closed all the stall doors except

for Andy's stall and they tromped

right on in like they had been living there.

(They've never been in the barn before...)

Kyle got the brown cow to let him pet her,

(we call him Dr. Doolittle)

and she would even let him lean on her to

reach over and pet the black cow,

but every time he grabbed a hold of the tire,

she would freak out.

A 12 x 12 stall with two untamed cows

probably isn't the safest place to be.

And we weren't getting anywhere.

Next he got his tractor and brought up

the old chute he got from work.

It's homemade from rebar and not 

particularly well built, has a head catch,

but that doesn't help because we need to get

the tire OVER her head...

He put it in the alley of the barn - crosswise -

and put the forks of the tractor on top and

added a little weight to keep her from

just knocking the whole thing over and

breaking a leg (or neck or what have you...)

Unfortunately there is a piece of steel at the bottom

of Andy's stall door, so the door to the chute

couldn't open - we ended up scootching it to the right,

up against the stall on the other side of the alley,

and then you open Andy's door one direction

and the chute door opens the other, 

making an escape-proof "alley" into the chute.

We also closed the barn gate for extra safety.

We opened the stall door and let the brown cow out.

She was happy to be out on the grass, 

but kept coming over to check on her friend.

Then we loaded the black cow and her

necklace into the chute.

It just BARELY fit.

She wasn't super happy about it.

She can really BELLOW!

There is a ladder built into the front section,

made a good place for Kyle to hang out.

He straddled the chute and tried to lift

the tire off her head.

It was pretty sketchy.

She kept raising her head and thrashing

it about, pinning his foot, or his arm,

or trying to unseat him...

Finally succeeded in getting ONE horn out,

but then either the other horn or her nose

was in the way and we couldn't figure it out.

We were contemplating calling Linda's

large animal vet (she sent me her number)

and having her come over and tranquilize

her so we could cut it off...

but then we got the idea to put a rope through

it to stabilize the tire.

That helped a little,

but not enough.

I was standing at the front of the chute,

holding the rope tight.

Then we added a 2nd rope,

which I was also holding tight,

so no more pictures...

lol.

That was better, but still not enough.

So Kyle got down next to her and added

a THIRD rope so the tire really couldn't

move and then we started popping

her on the nose to try to get her

to back out.

She hollered.

Kyle tapped.

I reached in with my toe and

popped her on the nose.

And Kyle nearly lost his hand.

Kyle tapped some more.

She hollered some more.

And then, after two and a half hours...

SUCCESS!!!!!

She had to back out of the chute

and wasn't happy about that...

but she finally figured it out and we

let them graze on the lawn for a bit

(until they got too close to my peach tree...)

They are happily back in their pasture.

And all the tires are locked up in a trailer.

On to the NEXT adventure!

Oops, a Blessing, and Kinda Bragging....

So last week while I was in Miami,

we were talking about the continuing education

requirements for the license we hold.

Since I was mostly BORED,

I thought it might be a nice idea to

check "My Profile" on the state's

website and verify that my CEs are

in fact due this November.

I was kind of surprised to find there 

was a giant RED notice that my

email address appeared to be wrong.

Correct... we closed that email last

October when I retired and we changed

internet providers at the house.

Generally that causes a $250.00 fine.

Nope.

No fine.

Whew!

And then my eyes scrolled down to a

line that said I had one unread message.

On my way to clicking on that,

my eyes scrolled past the area that

shows my current licenses held.

It said,

No licenses on file.

WHAT?

I've been licensed since the 90's!

Clicked on the message which said

this is a reminder that your license

will expire on 4/16/18 if you do not

get an appointment (job).

Huh.

It was 5/6/18.

Missed it!

Strange they didn't bother to send me a LETTER.

Naturally panic ensued.

Luckily the lady I was visiting has a

very calm and level head.

We went out to dinner together that night.

She loves Red Lobster, and I had one in 

the parking lot next to my hotel...

On my way there, I was listening to Pandora

The Piano Guys channel.

Big surprise, right?

Just as I pulled into the parking lot,

still with that panicked feeling in my stomach,

Danny's Song by Anne Murray came on.

And out jumped the words,

"Everything is Gonna Be All Right!"

I love it when our amazing Heavenly Father

shows His love (and his sense of humor)

to give us those little messages we SO need

in one particular moment in a method we

are mostly likely to hear.

(This is the 2nd time I've gotten a direct

answer through music on the radio in a vehicle!)

(And thanks to that message, the feeling

immediately went away and instead of

laying WIDE AWAKE all night stressing,

I slept like a BABY...)

 Anyhow.

Fast forward to when I got home.

I researched,

talked to the folks at the State,

got finger printed,

and on Friday I sat for my State Exam.

(I took a practice test in the morning

and pulled a respectable 94%.)

Full of confidence (but STARVING)

I sat for my exam.

There were THREE questions that I marked

to go back and look at again,

but remembering "Collette's Law of Test Taking"

I chose not to change my answers.

The proctor was QUITE surprised!

She said she had worked there for the past

four years and had NEVER given out

a 100% score before!

She wanted to know my secret.

(They are SUPER strict about cheating,

I had to take off my jacket to prove

there was nothing written on my arms,

turn out the pockets on my jeans,

pat down my legs,

luckily my hair was pulled up so she

could see my ears, but I still had

to turn around so she could see the 

BACKS of my ears looking for blue tooth

devices!

Sheesh!)

I told her my secret was teaching the class

every month for the past 18 years.

"Nope", she said. 

"That's not it.

I've tested lots of instructors before."

I just smiled and shook my head.

Anyhow.

I'm all legal again.

(Disclaimer - it is PERFECTLY legal in our

state to teach the class without a license.

The license is only necessary if you SELL

insurance - AND only if you are paid

by commission... But I feel silly teaching

a class on passing an exam for a license

that I don't currently hold.)

And now I have more insight into what

my students can expect when they go to test.

(Things have changed a little since I

last passed this test... 30 years ago!)

Graphics

Maybe its because we own a graphics company

but I'm very aware of graphics I see on

the backs of vehicles on the road.

Sometime you just can't read them at all.

Sometimes they are pretty funny!

Sometimes they don't make any sense.

Years ago I followed a guy whose

graphics were advertising

CREAMIC TILE.

Really?????

I actually followed him into a 

parking lot and offered to fix

it for him for free.

Cuz what does that say about

you and your company???

(His friend did it for him and they

had already put tinting over it,

so it would be a THING to fix it...)

Poor guy.

Today on my way home from 

running some errands,

there was a guy in the next lane

over whose graphic said

got mack?

???????????????

What on earth does that mean?

And then I smiled.

Cuz I've got "Mack".

That's my darling's middle name.

I don't know what the graphic meant...

but it made me grin.

Story Worth - What is the farthest you have ever traveled?

Since I don't have a passport,

my days of traveling far and wide

are probably over.

(And I travel plenty here in the

State of Florida

for various schools...

and sometimes around the country

to visit my family!)

But back in the day,

when we still wrote on stone tablets,

you didn't require a passport

to see the world.

Rod and I went to Jamaica!

It was a FUN trip!

It was our 5 year anniversary.

(For our 1 year anniversary

we took a cruise called 

"The Cruise to Nowhere")

That wasn't nearly as far.

LOL

Back then, you could gamble as soon

as the ship hit international waters.

So they had these cruises that just went

across the international border and

parked out there so folks could gamble.

However, there happened to be a shuttle

launch scheduled for that day - so they

went to somewhere we could see the launch

and parked (ok anchored) there instead.

The BIG attraction to a cruise

(if you don't gamble, of course)

is the FOOD!

But since Kennedy Space Center

and Port Canaveral are literally

next-door neighbors,

they had to clear the area long before

launch window opens.

Which meant we had to go out

EARLY in the morning.

Generally you leave mid-morning,

lunch and dinner are on the ship.

FANCY, lavish, yummy food.

But we got Breakfast and Lunch.

By the time we got back on dry land,

we were STARVING!

Hit the local Taco Bell at the first 

town (Titusville) we came to.

It was still a fun day though!

But Jamaica!

Now THAT was fun!

We drove to Ft. Lauderdale

(or Miami?) and caught a flight

to Montego Bay Airport.

SCARY STUFF that right there.

The runway isn't very long and it

looks like you are heading INTO the ocean.

Then we caught a bus to our hotel.

It was the week before "season"

so lots of places were closed,

but the up-side was that there was almost

nobody on the island.

Beaches were empty.

Restaurants were nearly empty.

Everything was still cheap,

before the giant rate hikes for "season".

We rented a couple of bicycles and

tootled all over our part of the island

for several days, enjoying the beautiful

beaches and lovely snorkeling.

All alone.

We had budgeted $30 Jamaican 

for each day's expenses.

But found we could eat for MUCH

cheaper than that each day.

Which meant we got to take a TAXI

and go out to dinner to a famous

sunset spot / restaurant

(Bob's Cafe or something... lol)

and have LOBSTER!

The sunset was lovely.

Warm water lobster isn't as good as

cold water (Maine) lobster,

but it was still delicious.

And the company was outstanding.

On our final morning,

Rod and I both looked at each other

and said "I'm ready to go home."

One day less and we would have been

sad to leave. One day more and we

would have been bored out of our minds.

It was perfect.

And a terrific way to celebrate the first

FIVE years of marriage together.

(Yes, that was THIRTY-TWO years ago...

see note about re: stone tablets...)

Story Worth - What were your favorite toys as a child?

What were your favorite toys as a child?

I remember getting Chatty Cathy

from Santa. And the challenge

poor Mom and Dad had explaining

WHY Santa left her BOX in the

kitchen next to the fridge (where

the box of powdered milk usually sat...)

I loved my Chatty Cathy.

Pull her string (in her back) and she

would say all sorts of things.

She was a fun doll.

And I loved my Francie doll.

Skipper was Barbie's little sister.

Francie was her cousin.

Grandma Hanna made her a bunch

of really nice clothes

and Aunt Karen tole painted an old

round topped lunch box for me to

keep her and her clothes in.

Mom had some ceramic horse statues

that were just the right size for

Francie to ride on...

we had many great imaginary rides

across the countryside together.

I also LOVED Janie Sander's

little playhouse in her backyard.

Before she moved, we spent

hours and hours and hours

playing in that little playhouse

and avoiding Reef, her giant

Newfoundland dog.

He was SIX FEET TALL on his 

hind legs and although he loved

his little girls, 

we were terrified he would eat us.

My favorite "toys" though, would have

to be my library books.

A new one every couple of days

from the school library and the book mobile.

I was always a voracious reader.

Still am today...

(I've finished TWO books so far this weekend...)

(I'm "in" class, but you gotta do SOMETHING

to keep your brain engaged...)

There were lots and lots of toys.

I remember spending hours setting

up the little plastic doll house furniture

Mom used to have from her childhood.

(I think they were her's...)

We didn't have a doll house, so we

just had an "open concept" house

LONG before it was popular on Fixer Upper.

LOL

Roller skates in the basement.

Swing set in the backyard.

The little brown shed made a great playhouse.

Skates.

Hopscotch on the front sidewalk...

And although not a "toy",

we certainly  all "played"

the piano for at least 30 minutes

EVERY day.

Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea.

It's a beautiful flower.

We have a gorgeous,

HUGE plant in the front

of our house.

Kyle hates it.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

I remember taking this picture.

I remembered I took it in February,

because that's when the bush flowers.

(The bougainvillea flowers all year...)

So I went searching through my photos.

Sure enough, I took this picture

February 23, 2015!!!!

Wow.

Anyway.

(That had nothing to do with anything...)

The school I'm at this weekend

has really beautiful landscaping

and one of the things they have

are some beautiful bougainvillea!

They have multiple courtyards,

each one has 4 of these bougenvillea

... stands...?

(I've been doing insurance all day,

my brain is basically mush...)

I thought they were really beautiful

and also pretty useful.

It has benches (and could also have

a picnic table or whatever....)

But you get the beauty of the tree

as well as the shade.

I like the idea...

I took some pictures so I could remember.

Maybe someday...

(It would look REALLY good in our back yard...)

South Miami

Here I am...

in South Miami.

For five days.

When I check into my hotel room,

I never unpack.

I live out of my duffel bag.

But this time,

since I'm going to be living here...

it seems like forever...

I went ahead and unpacked.

When Soni came to visit,

she unpacked.

I laughed at her.

So, Soni, I unpacked.

LOL

It's a nice hotel.

With a Red Lobster and McDonald's

right there in the parking lot.

I'm set!

I'm learning how to use the new

technology for how to get my students

registered without paper.

(Except it turns out I need paper...)

We take care of that for the first

10 minutes of the class.

Then for the final 10 minutes we call roll

and do a little paperwork.

That's all I'm here to learn.

Which means I get to then spend 10 hours

in the middle listening to her teach

the same stuff I teach and have been teaching

for the last 18 years.

Snore.

Except I LOVE watching other teachers!

This particular teacher is a kindergarten teacher

in her "day job"... which makes her pretty entertaining

to watch.

I have my computer open and am

jotting down notes of fun stuff she

does that I might want to incorporate

into my class.

There's a lot that I know I'll never

do - it's just not my style.

But it's still fun to see how other

people do the same thing.

Anyhow.

(I also downloaded a couple of books

to my Kindle... lol)

Bet you're jealous!

My life is SO EXCITING!

HA!