Nerdy Gerdy

I am a word nerd. I love words. I love reading. Nothing thrills me more than wrapping my cerebral cortex around a strange, wonderful, word.

Just the other day I ran across this one:

effectuate - to bring about; effect

I hadn't used that word in while so now I make an effort to use it around my 8th graders and they are picking it up.

"Mrs. Chambers, will you effectuate a transfer of power tomorrow when the sub is here?" Ahhh...new words used correctly in context. It makes my hair fly back and my eyelashes flutter.

Maybe that's why I went to grad school and did nothing but study READING for a few more years...and then became a reading specialist/guru/nerdy gerdy.

Anyway...I am passing on my love of all things literate to my baby.

I am teaching her to read. We work on our words every night.

Here are the sight words she knows thus far. Yes, I'm a tad proud of my girl.
I take a crayon. I write a word. She says the word. She acts out the word or makes a noise to go with it.

For lack of a video, I shall demonstrate.

Me pointing to 'tiger': "What's this word?"

Syd: "Tiga! ROARRR!"

Me pointing to 'hi': "What's this word?"

Syd: "Hi!" (waving hand frantically)

Me pointing to 'frog': "What's this word?"

Syd: "Ribbbbet!" (jumping)

And my all time favorite for now...

Me pointing to 'kiss': "What's this word?"

Syd: (leans over and plants a sloppy one on my chin)

Love,

A.K.A Nerdy Gerdy Girly

From Daylight to Dark

Here is the 2nd installment of my blogging buddy's challenge: "Write about your daily routine."

5:35  My day begins. The alarm clock with the obnoxiously large (3 inch tall green neon) numbers (designed for profoundly blind people to see even with their glasses off) blares a local country gospel station. Not a particular fan of country gospel so it gets me out of the bed pretty quick like.

5:50 My first order of business is to grab a cup of Gevalia coffee (Amaretto) with a hint of cream (Chocolate) and cuddle up on the couch with my devotional book, Bible, and MP3 player. I take my showers at night so I gotta have a little java to tell myself I am conscious. (Just can't go to bed with the day's grime on me and it saves me time in the a.m.)

 

My best friend coffee pot and my cozy reading/meditating/praying spot
(notice the purple tuto on the back of the couch...I wonder who THAT belongs to?)

I have my devotions/prayer time in the a.m. because at night I am too dead dog tired to focus on anything and all I want to do is sleep. Starting the day with the Lord works best for me. I go to work happy and at peace and ready to tackle what the world throws at me.

At 6:30, the fireworks begin...and this little tornado wakes up.

Then, the breakfast making machine swings into action. I make 3 different breakfasts every morning. Sydney orders frozen pancakes and fruit. The hubs always wants scrambled eggs with diced ham and toast....and Mama winds up with a bowl of cereal. Hmmm... I am detecting a pattern here.

After breakfast, we tag team the whirlwind to get her dressed, clean, socked and shoed. We shuttle her into the car at 7:20 and off to work I go.

I teach 1/2 day 8th grade self-contained at Vista Academy. Let me say that again. I teach 8th grade SELF-CONTAINED....I'll let you process that for a moment. If you are a teacher, then you already have processed it and have deemed me clinically insane. That's okay...I have accepted it.

From 8:15 - 11:45, my 13 precious darlings receive full-blown, unadulterated, uncensored, full-blast, non-stop instruction in the 4 core subjects. I teach a potpourri of Literature, Writing, Algebra I, Pre-Algebra, 8th Grade Math, Chemistry, Physics, Geology, Biology, and American History...all at the mastery level required to pass the G.E.D. test. Needless to say, by 11:45, my brain is a bowl of oatmeal.

At 11:45, I pick up Syd (who is conveniently at a small daycare within my school...nice...) and head home. I put the cyclone down for a nap (which she does without protest nearly every day) and start Job # 2.

My husband and I own our own Physical Therapy Home Health contracting company called....

I designed this logo myself. Not exactly happy with it...but it will do.

12:30 - 2:30

I make phone calls, fax evals, route therapists, call my husband, text therapists, coordinate with nurses, call my husband, make copies, bill agencies, create invoices, pay employees, call the C.P.A., verify treatment frequencies, make copies, cuss out Quicken 2011, reconcile accounts, and wade through 348 sticky notes that my hubs has left for me on the desk of things I need to do.

In essence, I am a secretary that doubles as wife. This relationship has been an interesting one. Some people can work with their spouses. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. I love my man, but sharing a desk with him is not God's will for my life.

2:30 - ??

At 2:30, the Energizer bunny wakes up and then it is play time until "Da Da" gets home around 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, or 6:30, or 7:00, or 7:30, or maybe 8:00. Not only do we have a contracting company, but my husband is still out in the field himself. He loves physical therapy and his patients.

When he drags in the door, I throw dinner at him, bathe the baby, read to the baby, and HE puts the baby to bed around 7:30.

Waiting for Daddy

We do not have T.V. at our house, so evenings are pretty productive. I blog, I clean house, I grade papers, I read to Syd, I play piano, I fold 2 1/2 loads of clothes, empty the dishwasher, visit with hubs, and possibly go for a walk. On Mondays/Tuesdays, I leave Syd with my fully competent husband and I go play soccer at an indoor soccer field with a bunch of ladies that need to release pent up aggression...Ahhh...I'm not any good, but smacking the ball into somebody's shins just makes me giggle...and then they return the favor. I limp home sweaty and destressed.

We hit the hay around 11:00...and the whole process starts over again.

It's wild. It's woolly. It's wonderful.

If the Barn Needs Paintin'

My sweet friend Leslie threw down the gauntlet this week to her blogging buddies. She gave us an assignment. I took her up on the challenge. The first assignment was to share what your skin care/make up regimen consisted of...Well...here goes. I warn you in advance. I am no Tammy Faye Baker. I am simple, to the point, and functional.

I will first introduce you to the make up caddy. I do not keep my make up in bags. I lack make up organizational skills and when I travel, I just don't wear make up except for lip gloss and powder because I'm usually on a motorcycle and the wind just blows the make up right off so there is no point.

Please don't judge. This is really how it looks. I so sorry.

Now, let's start with basic skin care.

When I turned 16, my mother took me to a make-up artist (just a friend who sold Mary Kay actually) and we did the entire make-over skin care bru ha ha. Mom taught me make-up principle #1: If the barn needs paintin, paint it for Pete's sakes.

My make up lady then taught me the last 2 most important make up principles:

#2 The most important thing you put on your face is what you do NOT put on your face.

#3 Taking care of your skin NOW will pay off LATER.

With that in mind, this is what I use for skin care morning and night.

Meet the skin care dream team.

Let's meet the players left to right (Beauti Control products)

Skinlogics Gold Moisturizer for 30 something skin, Facial Spa Alpha Hydroxy toner, Skinlogics Lid and Lash Bath, Line Peel and Lip Moisturizer, and Finacea which is a prescription for Keratitis Pilaris.

I have red cheeks and arms and I always thought it was rosacea. My dermatologist said it was a treatable skin condition that is very common called K.P. (Keratitis Pilaris) Finacea really helps with the redness, but it is painful for my pocket book. That little tube is equivalent to our cell phone bill each month

(and we have big data plans).

I highly recommend the line peel and lip balm. Spread this stuff on your lips, wait a minute, and then use your finger to slough off LAYERS and LAYERS of extra lip skin. Then smooth the lip balm over your exfoliated lips. No more creases, wrinkles, or lip stick that cakes up in the canyon sized lip wrinkles that occur especially during the winter season when chapped lips plague everyone. Ahh...

Speaking of lips...here are my lovelies.

The youngest lipstick above is 4 years old.

The oldest lipstick above is 9 years old. (gross I know)

I have four lipsticks and I choose one for the day based on my mood.

#1 Wicked Brown (Lancome) on days I feel well...saucy

#2 Sugared Maple (Lancome) on days I feel well...sweet

#3 Think Bronze (Clinique) on days I feel well...earthy

#4 Raisenberry (Mary Kay) on days I feel well...natural

On to the eyes. I have green eyes and I have no idea how to accentuate them so I just use a hodge podge of Lancome Spring colors and Clinique Earth tones. The little tube on the left is Mary Kay liquid eye shadow which is so fast and easy, it is positively sinful. I don't do much with the eyes. Eye shadow kinda scares me if you want to know the truth. I have seen what it does to ordinarily normal looking people. Ewww.

So it shouldn't surprise you that I use only one color of eye-liner which is Brown from Mary Kay.

Black eyeliner just scares me. I'm so frightened of looking like Elvira.

Mary Kay also provides me with mascara (basic black), brushes, lip liner (natural) and eyebrow brush. No surprises or fancy stuff here.

So there you have it...my make up protocol.

I don't use much. My husband says I don't need much (yeah right) and here I am when

I put a ton of effort into the make up.

Gosh, do I even HAVE blush on here?
And did I mention that putting a ton of effort into make up means spending 5 minutes instead of 3?

Good grief.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

We now interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for a quick session of unadulterated pity party throwing.

I have a sign up in my classroom that says, "Kwitcherbelliaiken."

It translates to "Quit Your Belly Achin" and I should adhere to that rule right now...but...

I have been sick for 3 weeks straight.

First it was the flu. Then it was a horrible sinus infection. Now it is bronchitis and a chronic cough.

It sounds like I have tuberculosis. My students at school tell me, "Shouldn't you be at home?"

But what is so amazing is that when I went to church Sunday and lead praise and worship, my coughing stopped, my voice cleared up, and my head quit hurting. It was like I was given a few hours of relief. The Lord Himself touched my body just long enough for me to serve Him in the capacity in which He has called me.

My body was fearfully and wonderfully made and it MUST line up with the Word of God. Will you agree with me that every cootie, germ, and bacteria that is continually invading my body will LEAVE?!

I would certainly appreciate it. Afterall...I have a certain little 2 year old's birthday party to go to this weekend and I must be able to "Twist and Shout" the house down and then shout the house down even more on Sunday.

Hal-lay-ler-yah!

2nd Birthday Prep

Sydney's birthday is right around the corner and this year we are doing it 50's style...

Poodle skirts, greased back hair, and "Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog" will be filling the air.

Coke floats and hot dogs will be everywhere.

Here is her cake only it will say 2nd birthday and Sydney...well duh, I guess you figured that out.

But ain't it grand? And the best part...it is all buttercream. No yucky, rubbery fondant.

So not only will it LOOK amazing, it will taste FANTASTIC!

Can't wait to boogie!

Icky

Never in my living born days have I EVER had so many icky illnesses in one winter season.

EVER...never ever...I'm always the one who is at work EVERY day looking down my righteous healthy nose at all the sickies wondering, "What the heck is wrong with THEM? They are sick ALL the time....Ewww."  Well...serves me right I guess.

It started with the stomach bug which I can only compare to having your innards smashed by a bowling ball while having every joint in your body wrenched out of socket and having to grab the porcelain throne at the same time... I had the privilege of having this bug not once, but twice.

Then, the upper respiratory infection set in.
Then I sneezed 432 times in 3 days when the allergy attack hit.
Then, the head cold from Hades came to visit.
Then, I couldn't breathe for a week due to a flare up of pleurisy.

And then today, my doc said, "Well, yep..you have the flu...and lucky for you it is too late to take Tamiflu so you get to endure several more days of misery. Oh, and you have a kidney infection to boot. Would you like fries with that?"

My doc doesn't believe in medicating you unless absolutely necessary, so here I sit thinking about placing a help wanted ad in the paper for someone to come entertain my child for say...the next 4 days.

Then, maybe, I can recuperate or at least slip into semi-unconsciousness. Right now, the unconscious choice is lookin' pretty darn promising. And tonight, we are expecting ice and snow and very cold temperatures, so no work tomorrow for me, anyway.

Achin', and burnin', and snottin',