Happy Halloween!

What a week!

This has been an awesome week!

Let's start with Monday:


Monday we went to the fair since it was $2 day! Since it had been raining so much, the fair was extended to Monday. They were running a special: $2 parking, $2 entrance, $2 corndogs. Kate Kate just happened to send us some money that we got on Monday, so we went. We ended up parking in the public library parking lot (even though the guard told us not to), so we didn't pay the parking fee. We each got a foot long corn dog and we shared an apple funnel cake (seen above) and a sweet tea. We tried to win a goldfish, but it wasn't our day. We mainly just walked around and people watched. It was so fun!

Tuesday

John got a call for a seasonal job at Barnes and Noble. It was just an interview, but it went well. I got an email from a lady in McAllen, TX wanting to set up an interview with me for a job there. Things were looking up!

Wednesday


I had signed up for a free $15 box of Edible Arrangements through a promotion. This is what we got! SO good!


Thursday

We did a little Christmas shopping.

Friday
John got a call about the seasonal job! Yay! My interview was postponed to next week, but I did speak with a lady in TX for a few minutes. We drove to Columbus for the weekend.

Saturday
Was game day!


Even though we didn't win, I can say that Florida and Tebow are so overrated! Go STATE! The game was awesome. The atmosphere was insane. What a great day!


Sunday
We headed back home early because John had orientation for his job. After 2.5 hours of orienting, he came home and we carved our pumpkin.

Cutting into the pumpkin:


J cleaning out the pumpkin:


Me carving the eyes:


The final product:


Overall, it has been a great week. I have 5 weeks left of student teaching. It has been challenging, but I really like it. I am learning more and more everyday.

John has an interview for a real job on Tuesday with Frito Lay. As happy as we are that we will have some income, a real job would be great!

And here's a pumpkin or two for you!

Fall is here!

It almost seemed to skip fall and jump to winter. It has been pretty chilly! The wind has not helped anything. But in typical Mississippi fashion, it will be mid-70s again this week. :)

It has been a long week. My placement as MSD was finally decided Wednesday morning, but not after I spent a day in kindergarten. I was so glad to have high school back. It was a hard week since it felt like I was walking into another world. Language wise it was completely overwhelming, but I'll make it though and come out a better signer. I start teaching two classes tomorrow, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. Thankfully, the students in those two classes are nice and are patient with me. I am not looking forward to teaching the middle school girls. Can you say HORMONAL? It is bad! I do enjoy Fridays though because the students leave at 1:30 :) I have to stay until at least 3 though, but I get lots of work done!

I have also started applying for jobs. It is zero fun. Most places do not accept a resume, so I have to type the same information over and over and over. Hopefully, a job will come out of it though. And a job in a place where John can work, too.

Richard came down this weekend. We went to Krispy Kreme! We also went to the Jackson Street Fall Festival in Ridgeland. It was very disappointing. Not much activity. Richard also introduced us to Farm Town on Facebook. We were both anti-applications on Facebook- until Friday. We are both addicted now. In 48 hours, we have both reached level 24 of 34.

Yesterday, I made Chicken Taco Pasta. I had found it as a healthy recipe using ground beef, but we had chicken thawed, so that's what we used. It was so good! Just pasta, chicken with taco seasoning, salsa, sour cream, and corn. Yummy!

Next weekend is the Florida-State game in Starkville, so we will probably head that way Friday.

Well, I need to go plow so I can move up another level in Farm Town!

Whew!

Another long, busy week!

I started MSD on Thursday. I haven't got my official placement yet because they are trying to move me from kindergarten to jr high/high school! I spent Thursday touring the campus and observing the history teacher. Since 9 wks test had just finished and the volleyball team was in SC, we just watched movies, so it wasn't too hard! Friday, I observed 2 teachers (mother and daughter). But again, the volleyball team was gone, so we just sat around most of the day.

Saturday, I woke up and finally felt better! We had bacon, eggs, and pancakes (leftover from last time we cooked them) while we watched The Bridge of Madison County. It was pretty good. We went to Wing Stop last night to watch some of the LSU/Florida game with Chris and Courtney and some other people. We didn't stay long, though.

The weather has been so cool here! It's been nice to keep the windows open. It's finally fall (well, until Tuesday.)

John went to play football with some people in Brandon. I have just been trying to do some homework so I don't have as much to do at the end. We also went to Rite Aid today. The cashier was not very nice though and one of my coupons didn't work. Ugh. Probably won't do much more shopping there.

Next weekend, Richard is coming down. Ridgeland has a Fall Festival we might go to. The Viking Cooking School is supposed to be putting on demonstrations, so I really want to go!

And... the kitties have been coming around some, except they are no longer kitties.

Long, Busy Weekend!

On Thursday after my last day at MMS, we headed to KY. Friday the boys played a little golf while momma and I (mainly her) worked on the cakes. I did manage to squeeze in a little Christmas shopping, too. Friday night we went to the rehearsal; it was so pretty with the moon out! Saturday, we went to Applebee's for a pancake breakfast, picked up the flower arrangements, and got a few other things. Caitlin also managed to lock her keys in her car... but anyway. We got to Kenlake about 2:35 and started getting ready. We had to finish the cakes and get everything ready for the guests to arrive. It was pretty crazy, but we had a good time!

Sunday, I came down with something and still have not been feeling a lot better. Monday, I had to be in Hattiesburg for meetings about student teaching. I managed to go to the clinic where the nice doctor and nurse stayed late to see me. I got some medicine, and am hoping I feel better soon.

I start student teaching at MSD on Thursday. Right now, I am placed in kindergarten, but I may get changed to high school science... either will be a challenge in different ways.

At the meeting, they talked a lot about how to apply for our teaching license and finding a job. I have a lot of work to do!

66 days until graduation - That's 2 months and a week.. wow! It's coming soon!!

Here is the bride's cake my talented mom made (well, I did put the cake topper in ;))


And here are the THREE groom's cakes:

We saw the sun!

It has been so rainy here lately! It has rained everyday. The sun finally poked out this weekend with no rain in sight (although we still are under a flood warning.)

I completed my last full week at MMS last week. I have 4 days this week. I am scared/excited to be moving on. I will miss all my students though.. well most of them anyway ;)

Thursday, I went over to Uncle Sammy and Aunt Lana's for lasagna. I had planned on cooking since J was coming home from Wisconsin. I just brought him some leftovers from the lasagna and pie. Yum! So on Friday, I made eggplant parmesan. I even made my own bread crumbs! It was pretty good, although next time, I will make a few changes.

Here it is!


The eggplant came from the produce stand. It was so good!

Today after church, I cooked again (with hopes of having lots of leftovers so I don't have to cook this week. :)) I made my first poppyseed chicken. It was very good. I might try to freeze some since it makes so much!

Here it is!


I can't remember cooking this much this often before. Hope J doesn't get used to it!

On Thursday, we will head to KY for EJ's wedding. It should be a fun weekend!

Happy Fall!

I can't believe it's been over a week since I updated! I have been teaching all the classes now. It is very time consuming planning for all that! I am really enjoying it though. I am sad that next Thursday is my last day at Madison Middle!

John is in Wisconsin, so his mom came down. So we have been shopping when I get home from school. And we had IHOP tonight. I had New York Cheesecake Pancakes with Strawberries. AMAZING! Seriously. (And of course, we had a coupon to use at IHOP.)

The kitties have been around more, but they are not really kitties anymore. They are more like small cats. They don't run away if you look at them either. Maybe one day, we will be able to pet them. One day.

I am very excited it's fall. That means cooler weather (in a couple of months), Halloween, then Thanksgiving, (then graduation), then Christmas, (then a big girl job??? what???). Ok, maybe I'm not ready for it to be fall yet!

Next weekend, we are headed to KY to see EJ get married. It will be a crazy weekend since I will have to finish all my first experience paperwork in the middle of wedding craziness. Then I have to be in Hattiesburg Monday morning. :(

And, as always, still hoping and praying (and praying and praying) John finds a job soon!

All's Well

We had a great weekend! We got up Saturday morning around 9:30 and made pancakes and bacon. Then, we watched Marley & Me and Big Fish (one of our favorite movies). Then we watched some football! John definitely loves football season. Too bad the dogs lost. :( Maybe this week will be better...

I am still enjoying my student teaching. I did well on my first evaluation today. On Friday, I begin teaching every class. I teach 5 of the 6 classes now, and that's exhausting!

I am so nervous about changing schools and going to MSD. I know it will be so much harder than my first experience. If all goes well, graduation is in 87 days!

John is going to Wisconsin next week for a few days with his dad. John is also addicted to our new ipod touch (thanks, Marion!) It is pretty cool, but it is definitely his new toy! I mean, it's an iphone without the camera and phone parts. He enjoys searching the internet and finding ridiculous apps.







(For followers of my coupon blog, I might not go until later this week. I am swamped with school work.)

Another one down!

My first experience student teaching is halfway complete! I can't believe it. It is going by so fast. I really like what I am doing, but at the same time, I can't wait to go to MSD.

Not much has been going on otherwise. John's family dog passed away yesterday. He was old and had been having some health problems, but nobody was ready for Spike to go. :(

Other than that just homework, job searching and Krogering. :) Kroger is supposed to have a good sale next week. I'm excited!

Next Friday I start teaching every class! So keep me in your prayers!

And of course, as always, we are hoping and praying John finds a job soon!

Labor Day!

We went out to the Reservoir today with Chris, Courtney, and Kathleen. It was such a nice day, and surprisingly, there weren't too many boats out. We tubed, skiied, wakeboarded, etc. There was another boat in the same area as us, and the people wakeboarding were dong flips and 360s in the air. It was awesome to watch! I got little sun, but it will probably be the last time we go out for a while; hopefully I won't be "white, not tan" for a while.

When we got back, we got clean and headed to Chick-fil-a! I wore a Southern Miss shirt and John wore a Central Michigan Chippewas shirt. So we both got our free chicken sandwich! We didn't get anything else but the sandwiches and headed home. We were so exhausted, we both napped. Some more than others.....

Glad this week is a short one! Professional Development Day tomorrow (yay no students!) Only a 3 day week with students! John has an interview tomorrow at 10. Hoping for a GREAT week!

2 weeks down!

I have now finished two full weeks of student teaching. It really has gone by SO fast. I am looking forward to next week because it is only a 3 day week with students. On Tuesday, we have a professional development day. Woo. Next week, I am teaching 4 classes a day. It should be somewhat exciting!

This weekend, we went up to Columbus. John wanted to go dove hunting, and we both wanted to go to the State game. I got out of class early Friday, so we got to get out of Jackson before the traffic was too bad. John got up Saturday morning at 4:15 to hunting. Yeah, you read that right. 4:15! He shot a couple of doves and was home around 9:30. He took a quick nap before we headed to Starkville. Marion rode with us, but had forgotten her ticket in her dorm. We had to take the long way (read: lots of traffic) to get close to her dorm. We normally wouldn't have gone this way otherwise. Well, we witnessed the most awesome thing: someone getting tased (tazed?)! We're not really sure of what caused the policeman to do it, but it was so funny watching the drunk guy shake. It probably wasn't fun for him, but it was a highlight to our day.

Anyway, we continue on to the game. We got there late so no one was at the UCSC tent. There were chairs, drinks, and cookies there though. We took advantage of that! We had real tickets on the West side of the stadium, so we made our way that direction. There were people in unbelievably long lines waiting to get in. Apparently, State hired new security people, and they were slow. We get in just in time for the players to come out onto the field. And within seconds, apparently there was lightning somewhere, so there was a 30 minute game delay. The sky then fell out for the next 15ish minutes. Thankfully, I snuck my umbrella in, so we stayed somewhat dry. It rained off and on throughout the first half, and I couldn't take it anymore. We left and went to the church to hang out with Richard. It was a pretty boring game anyway.

So that was our weekend. We are leaving Columbus this afternoon to head back to the apt. And, as always, we are praying this is the week John gets a job! He has an interview Tuesday at 10!


96 days!

Kroger- A Day Early (and some other stuff)

John doesn't want me to turn this into a coupon blog, but I get excited; so feel free to skip this part. :) Edited: I have started another blog for my couponing! Mississippi Coupon Queen

On Saturday, we went water skiing/tubing with Chris and Courtney. It was SO much fun, but we are STILL sore. We are still debating if it was worth it. :) John has been hanging out with Dustin at church. Today they went to eat at P.F. Changs. I think tomorrow after church we're going bowling with Dustin and Allison. It will be nice to do something fun! I am enjoying my student teaching. The paperwork is no fun, but I like it a lot. I went to class last night at Millsaps. It was a good class. I really look forward to it, which is saying a lot! It is class after all (but I don't have to take the tests ;)) I started teaching 2 classes this week. Both of them are resource classes, which means I just help the students with homework/assignments from other classes. It has been challenging remembering 6th, 7th, and 8th grade work! Scatter plots, cells, collective nouns... I have been relearning all sorts of stuff! Next week is a 3 day week for the students and 4 for the teachers. It will be a nice break. 101 days until graduation!

Week One: Complete

I have finished my first week as a teacher intern. It has been exhausting, but I have learned a lot. I just don't like all the homework/paper work that goes along with it. I have already turned in 10 pages of lesson plans for next week. I still have to write a 3 page journal tonight, but I have no motivation at the moment. I really can't wait until I have my own classroom though!

Tuesday, we went to Belk to buy me some 'teacher' shirts. I got a few cute ones! I have already worn a couple of them to school. Today was casual Friday, so I got to wear jeans and t-shirt. So nice!

Not a lot else going on here. The weather has been awesome though!

I am hoping to finish my work tonight so I can relax this weekend... we'll see what happens!


105 days until graduation!

An apple a day..

So I have now completed two days of student teaching (or teacher interning, as it is now called.) So far, I really like it. It is chaotic because different kids are constantly coming in and out (I see 9 students total, but 6 is the most I see at once.) All, of course, are on different reading/grade levels, so it's hard to keep straight who is learning what! I am learning a lot though, so as exhausting as it is, I can't wait for tomorrow! I can however, wait to do all this homework. I already have a stack of stuff to do, and it's the first week!

Monday night, I went to a Deaf Culture/Sign Language class at Millsaps. It was the first class, so I didn't learn a that much, but I am sure in the coming weeks, I will learn a ton.

Tomorrow is my weekly trip to Kroger (last week's was on Saturday because I was in Hattiesburg Wednesday.) It should be a small trip, but we'll see what I end up with!

Another semester

This week has been extremely long for me. Well, just the past 3 days. School started Wednesday, and for the teacher interns (because we are no longer student teachers..?) there were meetings. Every meeting except for the one today (Friday) was on a subject we had had at least one class on. It was boring and tiring, but we made it through! Monday will be the first day in the classroom. Then the real work begins. All the work we have to do this semester is overwhelming, but I'll find a way to get it done, I'm sure.

On Monday nights, all of us Deaf Ed. majors are going to take a Deaf Culture class on Monday nights. We're pretty excited.

Today when I got back home from Hattiesburg, we made our weekly trip to Kroger. I was very excited for this week because they are having a Mega Sale (which continues into next week.. so I can go back! Don't tell John!) We got some great deals and only a couple of things that weren't on the list.

It was ACCOST!

This is our highest score ever, but we can't help but be disappointed that accost is a real word.

Tour Anyone?

Our apartment is pretty darn close to complete. So let's take a tour! (And for some reason, the pictures are kinda grainy, sorry!)

This is what you see when you first come in:

Swinging around to the right from the entrance:

Just out the doors is our nice patio:

Back inside and more to the right is John's desk/computer area:

To the left of the entrance is the dining room/kitchen (our wishes from our wishing tree are hanging on the wall):

Another view:

The current table setting:

The kitchen:

The hallway from the living room (the doors on the right are the laundry, but no pictures of that!)

Half bath in the hallway just off the living room:

Another view:

Guest room at the end of the hall:

Our bedroom, to the left at the end of the hall:

Our bathroom just to the left inside the bedroom:

Our bed:

View from the corner:

The end! Hope you enjoyed the tour!

We would like to thank:
Grannie and Granddaddy for the dining table and chairs
Mamaw and Papaw for the dresser and mirror
Mom and Dad for the new desk
Kate Kate and Papa Ed for the washer
Everyone who delivered furniture/helped move us in!

Kitties!

Our three kitties sleeping. Ok, so they really aren't OUR kitties. They are just stray kittens that have been hanging around our patio. They are super skinny and the tiger one (I call her Lily) had huge gashes on her leg. I still think that leg is broken :( We went to Wal-Mart and bought some kitten food for them (We know at least one other apartment has been feeding them too). They must be liking it because they eat it all! They are very skiddish though, so if you look at them they run away :( They are getting better though. Hopefully one day soon we can pet them. So far we like the arrangement... we have 3 kittens, but we're not really responsible for them. :) They sure are cute!

I got my swim trunks and my flippy floppies

We have spent most of our time so far hanging out with Chris and Courtney. Now they are in Memphis and Bruce doing clinicals, so we'll be bored. :) It's been awesome to have friends to hang out with.

This past weekend, we went to see my family in KY. We had Matt B's (and I had some DQ!!!) We went to the lake where we all became some shade of red. It was fun tubing and swimming though. We also got some green beans, zucchini, and okra! Yum! I am going to make zucchini bread next week to take with me to Hattiesburg.

Next Wednesday starts my final semester! Woo hoo! I start student teaching on the 24th at Madison Middle. Only 123 days until graduation!

I have also been spending a lot of my free time finding coupons. I guess we all need a hobby, and mine will just save us money. Grannie sent us TONS of coupons in the mail the other day, which was added to my growing stash. I made one of my weekly grocery runs to Brookshire's this morning. I got a gallon of milk, 3 lbs of apples, and 6 yoplait yogurts for $7.52. I was pretty excited. I am going to make John's favorite cinnamon apples sometime this week. I am getting pretty excited about Kroger's upcoming mega event. We need some more cereal! Unfortunately, school is going to throw a wrench in my weekly trips, dang it. Doesn't school know when I go to the store every week?

Our dining room table and end table FINALLY came in. I'm not sure when they will actually get to Ridgeland though. It's nice to know they are real though. I spent the past month wondering. :)

Most of our books have sold on amazon now. There are a few left, but I don't really think they will sell because there are so many of the same book for sale. All the big books are gone anyway!

A whole lot of nothing

Since the last blog, we have gotten our washer and dryer (and even done some laundry!)

I met the principal of Madison Middle School. The school is SO nice. Well, everything in Madison is nice. I am excited/nervous to start student teaching there in 23 days!

We have also made a few trips to the grocery store. We went armed with tons of coupons. All 3 trips so far, I have saved about 50%, which isn't too bad, but I hope to do better. I read Southern Savers at least once a day! It's amazing how little some people pay for groceries. I am just glad that I have a choice of stores now.

Yesterday, we went shopping because we had some gift cards to use and there was no sales tax on clothes. It was a pretty disappointing trip. We barely found anything we liked. I got a shirt and a pair of dress pants. John got a pair of khakis to replace the ones he lost during the wedding weekend. We still have lots of Belk credit, but we didn't really see anything we wanted. I guess we will wait for a while and go back. It was so crowded and picked through, it was hard to find anything anyway.

Next week, we don't have much to do. We have most everything we need now. Maybe a few trips to the post office. We have listed several books on amazon.com and have sold 4 so far (only mailed 3). I doubt some will sell because there are so many other options, but we'll see. We will like the income from the books, since it's more than we have now! We are going to Kentucky next weekend. Hoepfully, we can make it out to the lake.

Still hoping John will find a job soon. He is applying to jobs and/or emailing people everyday. Hopefully something will happen soon!