Rice

I have really had a craving for jasmine rice lately, and the craving includes wanting to eat the rice with my hands. Weird.

Today in Creative Writing my students asked me where I was going to try to get a job after student teaching, and they said that I should try to get one at Blackford. I told them I didn't know of any openings. I think if there were a job opening here, I would go for it, despite some of the unruly students I have encountered. Every school has unruly students, and the challenge is to get through to them while challenging those who really want to learn. I sound like I'm talking out of some college textbook on education. Oh well. At least now I know how hard it is to put that idea into practice.

ouch! snip, snip

Yesterday I was cutting Dan's hair, and since we don't have a comb, I was using my fingers for a comb, when all of a sudden - ouch! I cut into the space right between my pointer and middle finger. I wonder if it will ever heal with all the movement of my hand. Oh well. At least I cut Dan's hair right for the first time!

I only have 4 more days at Blackford High School and only 2 more days of teaching (although I have a feeling the presentations in Creative Writing won't all get in on Friday, so I may be teaching Monday as well). I am looking forward to being finished but I am also not looking forward to being finished. I've grown rather fond of (SOME OF) the Blackford students and of teaching. So it goes.

Dan hasn't been feeling well lately. He thinks he has a sinus infection. Yucky.

Sammie is still the cutest cat in the world. Today he tried to jump on the kitchen counter, and he was able to grab onto the sink and hang there. That is not a good sign. We already have enough trouble keeping him off the kitchen table. But I still love him. :)

Weekend Guests

This weekend Dan's brother (Andrew, also known as Bear) and his wife Lynn came to visit us from Atlanta! It was so fun to hang out with them, to talk, to eats lots of yummy food and try to make sushi, and to play games like Bohnanza and Carcassonne (has anyone heard of these games?). Good times.

Also, this Sunday, we had some people over from our church - Jeff and Jane Kramer and their two children. We just met them a couple weeks ago, but definitely connect with them. We had a leftover medley lunch, then played with Sammie (who got stuck up in a tree - no, we didn't call the fire department), checked out an abandoned house, and played Bohnanza (the bean game). It was so fun! I love meeting new people and getting to know them.

Matt and Chloe Hilden, Welcome

Hey all, welcome Matt and Chloe Hilden to the blogging inner world.

Check there blog out, they just started so they need some encouraging comments. Maybe you will be the first one to comment . . . wait. . .I already did that, hahahahha.
Dan P
Matt and Chloe Hilden

Good Day

Here are some things that happened on my birthday:

• I drove to school and then found out that testing was going to be all day, so I drove back home beaming, blaring the newest Coldplay album (which I bought with my birthday money!), and waving at everyone I passed on the street. Cheesy, but true.
• I informed Dan that we could go out for lunch (using more birthday money), and we went to Payne's, this great little coffee/frozen custard/sandwich place that's owned by an English guy (we think he owns it) and is only five minutes from our house.
• I went home and played with Sammie outside and must have done other random stuff I can't remember. Then I made potato, red onion and feta frittata.
• My friends Meredith and Chris picked me up and we drove to Indianapolis. I played with Phillip (their almost-2-year-old son) in the backseat and mostly just made him laugh. Oh yeah, I also taught him how to make a pig sound. :)
• Meredith and I went to a writer's group at their church, where we got to listen to excerpts from Golf for the Soul and a novel about what life was like before the Flood in which the author wrote about angels sleeping with people, and dinosaurs, and other unknown things as though they were fact.
• After the writing group, we were asked by Chris (her husband) and friends how the group went. We tried to be kind but I think we may have failed in our frustration.
• Then we hung out at Preston and Angie's (more new friends - well, old friends of Chris and Meredith) in their groovy little apartment in Indianapolis. They are planning on doing the Peace Corp in about 9 months, and they hope to go to India. I like them alot, and I think you (you be the general audience who reads this) would too.
• We drove home and Meredith and I realized we have even more in common than we originally thought! We both love George Eliot and hate cheesy Christian writing!

Well, that's about all for yesterday. Today I was back in the classroom. The freshman were AWFUL, but I only have one more day with them, so I didn't care too much. With my sophomores we played blitzball (from A Separate Peace) and that was great fun.

Tomorrow I start on screenplays with the Creative Writing class, and I am so excited!