Now the REAL question is: How long will it stay like this?
Friday, June 12, 2009
Who says spring is the time for cleaning?
Now the REAL question is: How long will it stay like this?
Posted by Amy Jo at 11:05 AM 1 comments
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Another New Old Love
I have always loved to camp. This weekend Dan is coming down from MD just for a camping weekend with Brandon and me. We will be tent camping at the oldest state park in the US, Indian Springs, Ga. Brandon and I will pick Dan up from the airport and with the car already loaded we will head to the campground. We will make one small stop to pick up Bobbaloo and the cooler, then we will be on our way.
I have never camped at Indian Springs although I have been to the park several times as a child. It is very pretty and full of history. I am sure we will take plenty of pictures. If not, we will get in trouble with Sandy. We look forward to cook outs, long walks, maybe a swim, putt-putt golf, maybe a canoe ride and of course we have our Greedy dice and Uno cards!
Too bad we can't leave right now!!
Posted by Amy Jo at 8:50 AM 1 comments
Sunday, May 17, 2009
A New Old Love
Here are our squares. I know it is hard to tell what the final product will look like but we were proud to display our squares on the wall.
Posted by Amy Jo at 10:10 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
From the classroom
I teach science in the middle school setting to kids with special needs. My first period class is my favorite because I have some of the kids from the self-contained class join in with us. They are able to learn and they LOVE being in a typical classroom. It helps them so much with their self esteem and confidence.
We have been studying evolution, changes over time, and we have to introduce the kids to Darwin. So I showed them a power point presentation about Darwin and we talked about how many people didn't accept anything he said because he did not study science in college. Then we talked about other famous scientist that weren't formally taught in the field of science. I told them that I didn't even go to school to be a science teacher but it is my favorite subject to teach. So they asked me, "You didn't? What did you study to be?"I said, " a musician."
One student threw his hands up and said "Great!!! Show us a magic trick!"
Posted by Amy Jo at 9:53 AM 1 comments
Saturday, January 24, 2009
reaching out
I was diagnosed with May-Hegglin when I was 17 years old under some very interesting circumstances. I had an emergency surgery. My platets dropped to only 11,000 yet I had no bleeding out. The doctors were baffled and sent me for testing. Since that time my platets have never numbered higher than 70,000. I was tested for any and everything you could imagine and the Dr finally decided that I had MHA. Ok, the twist is that even though this is a genetic disorder, the tests on my family were all negative. So I was declared as a new mutant, yes wonderful for a teen.
I don't know another single person that has this disorder. The older I get the more questions I have. I will be turning 40 this year and I really would like to have atleast one person to compare conditions with. I have always bruised easily and I understand that part of the disorder but I have noticed that as I age common activities bruise me that didn't when I was younger. For example, some door knobs bruise my hands when I turn them, Bottles and jars are getting harder to open because of bruising, not because of strength.
I would like to know if that is normal and to be expected when aging with this disorder.
Posted by Amy Jo at 7:54 PM 1 comments
Labels: blood disorder, May-Hegglin
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Recital
Kids today rarely get a chance to do some of the things that we and our grandparents did. One of those things is reciting poems or readings for others. I was delighted when Brandon had an assignment to do a reading for his class. He had to choose a poem to recite/read for his class. We practiced every night and I hope he did as well at school as he did for me at home.He has had a slow start in reading but now with medication to help his attention, I have seen him make huge strides in his progress. He isn't afraid to get up in front of others which is good for a future president.Here is the poem he chose:
The Toughest Boys in School
Don't mess with us! Don't be a fool!
We are the toughest boys in school.
So if you meet us - best behave.
We're big and strong and very brave.
Though I admit it's true to say
That we've been known to run away
From kids at school who call us names,
Who laugh at us and spoil our games.
'Cause even though we boys play rough,
The girls in school are twice as tough.
Bob Woodroffe
Posted by Amy Jo at 4:32 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Reading??
Anyone who knows me, even acquaintances, knows that I hate to read. I can handle short news stories and magazines, but give me a novel and I will almost always scoff, roll my eyes and put it on the shelf. I noticed that many of my students were reading these huge, thick books. Yes, the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. So just like I did with the Harry Potter books (which I hated), I got the first in the series and started reading. Within record time I finished the first book and was hungry, or should I say thirsty, for the second and then the third. I am currently reading the last of the series, Breaking Dawn. I am mesmerized with the story and found myself making myself turn off the lights at midnight last night. Of course, it didn't do me much good to turn the lights off when my mind is still full of questions about what might happen next.
I have loved the story line and I will definitely look at the authors other books now that I have read these. If you haven't read the Twilight series yet, get them but have plenty of time to get wrapped up in a swirl of questions, intrigue and love.
Posted by Amy Jo at 9:51 AM 0 comments
Thursday, January 8, 2009
WOW time flies
I started writing here on this blog one year ago. I thought it would be fun to share stories, vent from time to time and discuss all kinds of topics going on in this world. I was right. I found that I did enjoy writing little articles for my blog. So here I am at a new year and it has taken me 8 days to write my first one. Plus I realized I haven't told anyone about how wonderful my Christmas was.
So here we go. On Christmas day I was able to have some time with Brandon before he went to visit his dad's family for their annual Christmas breakfast. We opened presents from each other and had a beautiful time. I was given an present picked out and wrapped especially by Brandon. It was a rock from the yard, a big one. He told me that I could display it in my classroom since I teach science. We set up the Wii that he got from Santa and played a few games before he had to go.
After he left I got myself ready to go out and headed to the Atlanta airport to pick up Dan. The flight was on time and everything went pretty smoothly. We had a nice lunch at Waffle house, open 365 days a year and then headed to the house to play Wii and wait for Brandon to come back home.
On the 26th we had Christmas with my family, we had fun watching the magic of Christmas through all the little one's eyes. We had a big meal together and then played games til late in the night.
It was the best Christmas I have had in a LONG time. I have the best friends and family anyone could ever wish for.
Now as for New Year's resolutions.
I don't really make too many of these because they are so easily broken and forgotten. But this year I have help with really my only one. I have decided to read the Bible in chronological order throughout the year. I also recruited Dan for the task. We found a schedule and we are making sure that we are following the schedule and even discussing what we read for each day. So far we have made it a full week and I look forward to my time in the Bible every day.
I know that is the reader's digest condensed version but at least I got going for this year!
I hope you all had a great Christmas and a great start to 2009!
Posted by Amy Jo at 11:19 AM 1 comments