"We're the Deerfield _____ and we're swoopin' along!"

The kids today had to choose a different mascot for our school - the Deerfield Eagles. Some of the responses:
The Deerfield...
Hippos
Sugar Gliders
Wild Boars
Deer
Cougars
Bees
Flying Squirrels
Flamingos
Clock Watchers (wow! I didn't know school was so bad!)

Radio Celebrity

One of my morning commute (guilty?) pleasures is listening to the Chunga show on 101.9 The End. They started a new segment a few weeks ago - Battle of the Bad Seventies Bands. They play two songs, and you vote... no one really knows if you're voting for the one you like or the one you don't, but the winner gets played the next day along with a challenger, so I guess you're ultimately voting for the one you want to hear the next morning. They've had some pretty bad songs, and interesting winners... It started with a really bad country song - I'm not even sure of the name, but the lyrics were something like "I like... puppies in the spring... flowers in the yard... and onions..." Pretty bad. Other infamous winners have been Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Candy Man", "Convoy", and "Kung Foo Fighting". (Among the losers is "Muskrat Love"!) The current champ is "The Devil went down to Georgia".

I've been dropping off Holly in AF the past little bit (maybe because she wants to hear the Battle? Hmmm...). She's tried calling to vote a few mornings, but hasn't been able to get in... until this morning! She got in on-air to vote for "Devil"! (The contender was a Kenny Rogers' song... no contest at all!)

Here's how her on-air time went:
Ringing... ringing... ringing (had to wait for them to start taking callers)
Chunga: "Hello, 101-9 The End. Who's this?"
Holly: "This is Holly!"
Chunga: "What's your vote, Holly?"
Holly: "Devil went down to Georgia!"
Chunga: "Ok, thanks."
Holly: "Thank you!"

My part in all this... when she started talking to Chunga, I turned down the radio so that she wouldn't be one of those people who they have to say "Turn down your radio!" to. A very important job! Ta-da!

September 22 is National Diary Day!

Write a diary entry... what else would I do here? :)

Today was school pictures. It always rains on Deerfield's school picture day. When I left my house, it was raining a bit, but it stopped once we got on the freeway. It was so gusty down here at school - why'd we spend so much time doing our hair? Got my hair re-fixed, took our picture (I hate the funny one - I can never think of something really funny to do! We'll see how this one turns out.). The kids got their pictures taken - then the rain started. Good thing most of them were at school before it started really raining bad. It stopped by the time our lunch recess came around (thank goodness - I would not have wanted to have kids in for inside recess today!), and it's looking to be a fairly blah evening now.

Journal prompts

My 5th graders write in their journals every day, usually to a prompt. I've been thinking that my responses to some of the prompts would be fun to put here as well. I'm going to back-date a few, then try to keep current with one every now and then.

Expo and more!

Friday, Joee and I went to the Scrapbook Expo. It usually is fantastic - lots of vendors, lots of deals, lots of old product on sale for cheap, some new product that you have to get. Not so much the last few times we've gone. There wasn't a lot that. I only spent $30 - which included the cost of getting in! I had a few things on my mind of what I'd like to get - but nothing was quite inexpensive enough that I couldn't wait for later. I had thought about getting a Cricut finally - something I've been wanting to get for a long time - but never have. If they were a low enough price, I thought I'd get one... Roberts had them, and they were on sale, but still a little more than I thought they'd be.

Joee and I left, and I met my mom, Holly, and JoAnne at Michael's. (We're all taking a community school class - crocheting - and they were getting our yarn and hooks there.) I looked at their Cricut stuff... and kept thinking about it through dinner. After talking about it with my dining partners, I decided that I'd go back and get one. I have saved a bit of money, and have wanted one for a long time... and I went back to the Expo and got one!

Today was spent trying it out and getting a few cartridges (thank goodness for Michael's where they were on sale!). It is so great! Holly thinks I sound like I've heard the infomercial a few too many times - but it really is that fantastic! I think Joee was a little surprised that I went back to get one (I'd told her my original price limit) - but I am positive that she'll benefit from it - not only will she get fantastic cards from me, but I'm thinking that it'll be a vital tool the next time we get together to scrap.

I've got to get back to the Cricut - there's so much paper to cut and so little time!

New Hair...

Before...

After...

But I like this one best...

The picture doesn't show it that well... but I got my hair tinted... Quite shocking for me, but not so much so for everyone else - hardly anyone noticed, which is part of the point of doing drastic things to your hair anyway, right? A few of my more trendy girls noticed, and Ryan-who-teaches-next-door noticed (which is quite the thing, he must be practicing being more observant) - and that's it! So I hope you notice!

My BFF!

I went to Joee's house on Friday night. We haven't seen each other in 10 weeks! We've talked a lot on the phone, but seeing one another in person is quite different. I got to Joee's at 8 and stayed... well... until "plenty-past eleven!" Yeah, it was a long night... Why'd I even come home? It was so fun to talk and blog-stalk and talk and eat Chinese food (well, watermellon, which we had in China!) and 'Better...' cake.

Let's not wait another 10 weeks to see one another in person!

When I grow up...

If I weren't a teacher... I have no idea what I'd have become when I grew up! Truly, all growing up, this is what I always wanted to be. I do tell my kids, though, that I would be a Zamboni driver. I watched every day at the Olympic Oval during the 2002 Olympics, and thought it'd be great fun. (Very coincidentally, the Zamboni driver at the Oval during the Olympics is now the NOVA officer at school!)