What's the worst thing about being a teacher?

School pictures.  Luckily, mine came out great this year- after retakes. The first picture was horrible!  What do I do with my pictures?  Give them to my sisterchicks, my parents, and my students of course!  A few years ago, at the end of the year, one of my students parents told me that they had an 8x10 photo of me on their fridge.  Cringe.

So, here it is:

Market Day

In Jake's 5th grade class, they have an economy.  The kids each have jobs, which they had to submit an application and reference letter for.  They earn "money" with these jobs.  They also have to pay $5 rent a week for their cubby and desk.  They can opt to have insurance as well.  Every 9 weeks they have Market Day.  They have to dress like an 1800s child in the workforce.  This means dirty.  :)  They have to make a product that could have been made in the 1800s and sell it to their friends.  They also have to promote the item during the week before market day.  Jake had a mini pie and woodburning shop. We made mini apple pies and he woodburned some wood pieces and used a blowtorch to burn the edges.  He was sold out in minutes!  Some kids hardly sold anything, so he's going to have the same products for the next market day.  He made a total of $140, not including what he spent (mainly on cupcakes) at the other "stores".  His teacher gave me $10 to spend.  I bought mainly from some of my former students.  I bought an ornament, a few bracelets, a hair clip for Bailey and some snacks.

Here is Jake after setting up shop.



Here he is making his first sale!

Bad News

Kahlua's numbers have doubled again.  His ALT is almost 2000, when it should be under 100.  Plus, his glucose levels were high, so he is probably developing diabetes.  Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done, for sure this time.  We have a few months left.  But, as Dr. Nathan said today, quality of life means more than numbers.  As bad as he looks on paper, he's feeling good and that's what matters now.  So, we'll enjoy him while we have him.

Keep your paws crossed

Kahlua has been on his prescription food for liver disease for about a month now.  He's also been on prednisone and his liver supplement for the same amount of time.  Tomorrow is the day we take him back for a blood test to see how he's doing.  He has put on weight, he hasn't been barfing at all (previously he barfed every day...for 5 years, which was attributed to reflux, but has probably been his liver all along), and he's acting young again.  He's play fighting with the dogs and just acting great!  They gave him 3 months to live, but after a little over a month, he's acting healthier than he has in years!  So.... I'm hoping for good results.  I'll let you all know!

Wordless Wednesday

My WW this week is a little different.  It's Jake's Power Point project for science class.  I want you to check out how much work I he put into this darn thing. It is unbelievable what is expected of 10 year olds these days.  Between all his my crying and his AND my puking, it ended up being kind of fun, but time consuming.  So, check it out.  It's pretty cool!

*Plus- we are doing a little experiment with Jake's meds.  He's not taking any!  We're hoping he'll be able to put some weight on, while being off the Ritalin.  So far, so good!  It's been 3 years since he's been stimulant free, so it's going to take a little while for him to be able to control himself, but he's doing a pretty darn good job of it so far.

travel-brochure-project-net.ppt

My new garden friend

This little froggy has made his home in our banana plant.  I heart tree frogs.  He's only about the size of a nickel. 

Have I told you I like bees?

Drought resistant plants

This year, I unknowingly created a drought resistant mailbox planting!  While all of my neighbors mailbox gardens have withered and shriveled with the heat and the drought, mine looks great.  So, I thought I'd share what I used this year, as I'll be planting the same ones next summer. 

In the back of the mailbox, I have Canna Lilies.  These come in bulbs or in pots and are perrenials, which means they come back every year.  They look great, but only one bloomed, since we didn't have a lot of rain.  But, their foliage is pretty.  Climbing up the mailbox is a Clematis.  We've had this plant for a few years and it is so pretty in the spring.

I chose my annuals this year because they were in the "heat tolerant" section of Lowe's.  The plant is called portulaca and it comes in many warm colors.  I chose a salmon color, a yellow, and a salmon and yellow mix.  I watered when I first planted them and maybe a few times in the next week or so, but I haven't watered them since.  If you live in Ga, you know that we have hardly had rain all summer, so these are obviously very hardy and drought resistant.  They open up every morning and close again in the evening.  They have bloomed the entire summer. 



Here are some closeups of the portulaca flowers.  Aren't they lovely?

Yuck

I just got done cleaning up puke for the second time tonight.  Unfortunately, Jake puked IN HIS SLEEP and didn't use the bowl we gave him.  It was EVERYWHERE.  So, after ushering him to the bathroom and stripping down his bed (it's even on his expensive comforter.  Ugh) I start puking from the god awful smell.  So, then, I get all the sheets in the wash and remake his bed.  I get him back to bed and I go brush my teeth.  Then I start gagging again and puked up my dinner too...I had collard greens...OMG, that was gross.  Sigh.  It is unfortunate that I'm quick to gag and I have the nose of a bloodhound.  :(  So, now it's 11:07 and I can't get in bed because I can't stop clearing my raw throat, so I'm on the puter until Dave can fall asleep.  I have to get up at 6am to go proctor the SAT, so that should be fun.  Let's hope I don't get the real pukes!  Now that I've sufficiantly grossed you out, I'll end this nastay blog!

update: Jake was sick ALL NIGHT.  Every hour.on.the.hour.  I am tired!  Luckily, I'm not sick though, so I'm sitting with 25 high schoolers while they take the SAT.  Fun stuff.