Katy's happenings

Prince came to visit...

2011-11-20T11:16:00.001-08:00

This is Prince....he came to visit us unexpectedly the other day. James heard honking outside and went to investigate. He said that he thought it was just the school bus but then when he looked outside he saw "Prince" standing in the road stopping traffic. James slapped his leg with his hand to get Prince's attention and Prince came to James right away almost knocking him down. James called the vet clinic's number that was on his tag. They told him to bring him by and they would scan him to see if he was microchipped. So I went in the back of the car with Prince while James was driving. He decided that he liked sitting in my lap. He was the most good natured dog i had ever met. He was so loving and he even would vocalize to you. Thankfully he did have a microchip and the vet's office was able to locate the owner. Turns out that Prince likes to get out of his backyard quite often. So maybe he will come visit again someday soon. :) He was a nice little distraction during this day and broke up the monotany that tends to happen when you go to work and come home or stay home and are sick.

Posted via email from Katy's Space...

Christmas is nearer than you think...and other stuff...

2011-11-20T10:27:00.001-08:00

B433CDFE-B71C-42C2-A5C1-D34C076A9851 4.000000 Letter Letter\signing_pen.imf Business Stationery Signing Pen SU1CTDEsNDYsgUmBSTCJlZU0KDgsTTCdhTRNiZE0kU0kjTSFTSiViTSBnZkkxcGNhUmBSYFJgSxJTUJMMiwwLCxJTUJMMywwLCw= repeat #ffffff X-ASN,X-ASH,X-AN,X-AP,X-AD ;

Christmas is nearer than you think.....and other stuff...

Sitting in my recliner listening to Christmas music from one of the radio stations.I remember James saying just last week..."I don't want to hear any Christmas music until the week of Christmas". Well he is the one that has been putting the music on. (snicker) It is hard to believe that it is about 6 weeks away! This year is growing to an end rather fast. We usually would be at church about now but James was coughing most of the night and still doesn't feel very well. So we stayed home today. The church we have been attending for the past 5 weeks or so has three services so maybe we will make it to the 6pm service. James is gearing up for the Dallas game this afternoon. The game is not showing on TV so he has to go to the sports bar.

The past couple of months I have gotten into "Couponing". I am not quite as good as the ones of Extreme Couponing but I have been able to save money. It truly is a game of knowing when to buy stuff. I never thought about it before, usually I just go to Save-A-Lot and get my groceries and then don't go to the store unless we forget something and I have to send Kristina to get something. The first part of November I think it was I was able to go to a workshop that taught about how to save money using coupons. My favorite sites so far are: www.southernsavers.com and thegrocerygame.com.

Until later....

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Untitled

2011-11-20T09:22:00.001-08:00

Sitting in my recliner listening to Christmas music from one of the radio stations.I remember James saying just last week..."I don't want to hear any Christmas music until the week of Christmas". Well he is the one that has been putting the music on. (snicker) It is hard to believe that it is about 6 weeks away! This year is growing to an end rather fast. We usually would be at church about now but James was coughing most of the night and still doesn't feel very well. So we stayed home today. The church we have been attending for the past 5 weeks or so has three services so maybe we will make it to the 6pm service. James is gearing up for the Dallas game this afternoon. The game is not showing on TV so he has to go to the sports bar.

The past couple of months I have gotten into "Couponing". I am not quite as good as the ones of Extreme Couponing but I have been able to save money. It truly is a game of knowing when to buy stuff. I never thought about it before, usually i just go to Save-A-Lot and get my groceries and then don't go to the store unless we forget something and I have to send Kristina to get something. The first part of November I think it was I was able to go to a workshop that taught about how to save money using coupons. My favorite sites so far are: www.southernsavers.com and thegrocerygame.com.

Until later....

Posted via email from katym's posterous

The beauty of Facebook!

2011-03-20T16:23:00.001-07:00

There are some people that consider Facebook evil. Can you even imagine? There are some people that will not get on Facebook at all for fear that people might get their information and use it in the wrong way. I know that this can be true. However, I have found that Facebook can be fun! I have found more people that I have grown up with as well as distance cousins because of Facebook. We have a connection that we would not have without Facebook or the internet. Some of my acquaintances that I knew from school have now become my friends. When we were in school there were certain groups, the surfers, the kickers, the band geeks and the guys into sports to name a few. I don’t think too many people adventured into a different group too often. We stayed within our groups during high school. Now we are much older and wiser (cough) we do not have the stigma of having to stay in our different groups and we can adventure out and get to know people in a different way. This week I got to email back and forth someone that I actually lived next door to but we just never connected back when we were in high school. We discovered that we had the same birth date. I am exactly a year older than her! How cool is that! Just today I found a long lost friend that James and I knew back when we lived in Houston, Texas. We have not been in touch with this couple for almost 10 years but thanks to Facebook and the internet we can reconnect. Another fun thing that has happened is that I have been able to get back into my genealogy and find out more about the Eads name. I found some of my long lost very distant cousins on Facebook. We were able to find the connect that we needed to prove we are relatives. I think this is exciting. So all though there are people out there that say bad things about the internet and Facebook, I for one think it is awesome. We are able to connect to people we know and want to get to know. We are able to tell our loved ones that we love them and to have a Happy Birthday! <G> How did we ever get by without Facebook?

Katy Moffitt

Our homepage: www.lightourworld.com

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Lord Byron-TDD-Houdini...what should his name be?

2011-03-11T09:26:00.001-08:00

This morning started out pretty normal. I got up early and saw the kids off to school. That doesn’t happen too often but Justin was going over to his friends after school. He plans to spend the night so I wanted to see him before he left. James woke up about 7 ish and I fixed breakfast, eggs, sausage, biscuits with gravy. Well I had put the dogs outside in the backyard as usual. I went to let them back in and only Angel and Frodo came in. I called out for Byron and of course he didn’t answer. <G> I didn’t think much of it cause sometimes he takes a while so I went and did a couple more chores. I went back outside to get him and he was not anywhere to be found. I was rather baffled as to how he got out. I looked around the backyard to see if I could find any big enough holes for him to get through. I didn’t see any at the time. I went back inside and told James. He said we could go look for him after he finished up something on the computer. So he looked outside and saw Byron down the street. As James got closer, Byron picked up speed the opposite direction. This is the second time that he has manage to get away from us. (more about that later) Anyway, I started to head in the direction that Byron was. Every time he looked back at me and saw me, he started walking a little faster and left me behind. Somewhere along the way he tried to cross the street. I closed my eyes cause I didn’t want to see him get hit! Thankfully the cars slowed down. Someone actually got out of his car in the middle of the road and tried to help catch him. I started walking faster, and then I tripped on an uneven part of the sidewalk. SPLAT! I managed to scrap my palms of my hands and one of my knees. They hurt a little but it was mostly my pride that was hurt since I had about 5 cars that were stopped at the time watching me fall. Lol

By the time I was able to pick myself up, James was close by with the car. He went to fetch the dog and I got in the car to meet up with him.

Thankfully Byron didn’t get hurt. James decided that maybe his name should be “That Damn Dog” or TDD for short. I think we should rename him Houdini. What do you think?

Here is a picture of TDD…Houdini…aka Lord Byron with Kristina.

Katy Moffitt

Our homepage: www.lightourworld.com

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Ode to Molly Girl

2011-02-25T17:32:00.001-08:00

This day didn’t start out very good. I ended up waking up at 5:30 thinking it was 6:30. I looked at my watch wrong. When I was trying to look at the computer I couldn’t focus on the words on the page. I thought maybe I was still tired. Turns out I had the wrong glasses on. I had put James’ glasses on instead of my own. It reminds me of the scene with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton in “Somethings Gotta Give”.

Well then right after James left, I had the big door open and only had the screen door closed where I could at least look out. The couple next door motioned to me to come outside. I came out side and looked at what they were pointing at and it was Molly, evidently she had been dead for quite a while. She didn’t look like she had been hit by a car so I am not sure what happened. She was pregnant and the only thing that I can guess is that she wanted to have the babies inside and just didn’t make it home in time. It is one of those things we will never know.

Some of the things I will miss about Molly. She would wait for me while I went to the bathroom outside of the door. She liked to climb on things and liked to sit right in front of the t.v. She would follow Justin around and he was really the only one she would go sit with. My favorite thing she did was when she was outside and wanted in she would climb the screen door and peek into the window of the wood door. I am sure I will think of other things she did later. We will miss her. She was a good kitty. She leaves behind one brother, Jasper and her daughter Dutchess. They both reside with us.

Molly on her thrown pillow….Feb 2009- Feb 2011

Katy Moffitt M.Ed.

Our homepage: www.lightourworld.com

Posted via email from katym's posterous

"Children being held hostage"

2011-01-20T05:53:00.001-08:00

Please be praying for this family. As a former Homeschooler I understand where they are coming from when it comes to education. This family has done nothing wrong!

They are just trying to raise their family the way they think God would want them to.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=253365

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Pay it Forward

2011-01-19T10:45:00.001-08:00

Here's how it works: The first five people to comment on this post that they want to play will get something handmade by me. Gee, I wonder what it could be?

But if you play, you have to put up a post offering something handmade to the first five to comment on your post. It can be anything you have made yourself: photography, baking, knitting, crocheting, jewelry, whatever it is that you like to do. So if you would like to be part of Pay it Forward then be one of the first 5 to let me know and then I will get your information privately.

Have a wonderful day!

Katy

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Deciding what to write about...

2011-01-18T12:25:00.001-08:00

Good day all, I have been contemplating as to what to write about for several days now. I started out for about a week before New Years being able to blog everyday. However, I lost my momentum when James got sick and then I got his cold. When I get sick I don’t just get a cold, mine turns into Bronchitis. So many things have happened just in the past 18 days of the new year. The most eventful I would say is the shooting in Arizona. I think that it is crazy that they have an open carry law there with out any restrictions as to who carries a gun. Almost sounds like the Wild, Wild, West.

I finally decided that I wanted to post something that my brother sent me in email. I believe that it has come that we the people need to put our foot down when it comes to term limits and who is in Congress. I know if it was up to James, he would say take some U-Haul trucks up there and help everyone pack up and give them their pink slip. Which sounds like a good idea sometimes. Funny how any employer in the country can fire you at any given point with no notice, but we can’t do that to the people that WE HAVE HIRED in Congress. After all, they are suppose to be working for us. Anyway, There is a Reform Act that is going around and I feel that it is worthy to post on here for people to see. If you agree, then please continue to send it around to other friends so maybe there will be a domino effect and something can be done.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.

MUCH OF WHAT WE FACE IN TERMS OF PRIVILEGE AND SELFISHNESS IN THIS COUNTRY MIGHT BEST BE CHANGED STARTING FROM THE TOP DOWN.

Reform Act of 2011 Please read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, before e-mail, before cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

I'm asking you to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on your address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. Term Limits.

12 years only, one of the possible options below.

A. Two Six-year Senate terms

B. Six Two-year House terms

C. One Six-year Senate term and three Two-Year House terms

2. No Tenure / No Pension.

A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

3. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.

All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.

4. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

5. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

6. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

7. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

8. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/11.

The American people did not make the current contract with members of Congress. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.

MUCH OF WHAT WE FACE IN TERMS OF PRIVILEGE AND SELFISHNESS IN THIS COUNTRY MIGHT BEST BE CHANGED STARTING FROM THE TOP DOWN.

If you agree with the above, pass it on.

You are one of my 20. I INVITE YOU TO KEEP IT GOING. WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE -- THANKS!

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Rearranging or Nesting?

2010-12-27T20:50:00.001-08:00

Well today I decided that I wanted to move the furniture around in the living room. I had already taken down our tree yesterday. I have put away the Christmas decorations except the lights outside. I will get James or Justin to help me get them down tomorrow if it is warm enough to do it. Actually truth be known I asked James if it was ok to move the stuff around because it meant redoing two rooms. We have been using what is suppose to be the dining room as our “Media Room”. This room had our two recliners and the t.v. as well as the stereo system. The living room, has a couch and two overstuffed chairs. So today I moved the stuff around with assistance from the teenagers. Then when James came home he rearranged it better so that he would be able to have his favorite table by him. I think overall it looks better. The reason we decided to move the furniture around isn’t because we are “nesting”, which is what people do when they first move into places or if they are pregnant. We decided to move stuff around because the Media Room was constantly cold even when we have the heat on. We live in a house that was built in the 1950’s. It doesn’t have central air and heat but instead has window units in certain rooms. We also have a furnace instead of what you would usually have.

I feel like I got something accomplished today. I still need to get back into our bedroom and finish hanging pictures. Maybe tomorrow that will get done.

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T05:55:00.001-08:00

Well Christmas 2010 is gone. It was a good day at the Moffitt household. We got up and went to IHOP to eat breakfast about 10:30ish. Thanks to James searching high and low for a place to go eat breakfast. After breakfast we went to see if the flea market was open. There were a few vendors but the main building was closed. So we adventured back closer to our side of town and went to see what was showing for the movies. We arrived just in time to get to see The Tourist with Angelina Joie and Johnny Depp. This movie was surprisingly good. There was very little cussing and no nudity. The fact that they didn’t have very much of either the cussing or the nudity is amazing in this day and age. It was an action flick but had a little bit of romance thrown in. The kids went to see True Grit. They said that it was good. After our movie we went home for a bit and then James decided he wanted to go bowling. So he gathered the kids up and they all went bowling. I was too tired to go and was dealing with a mild headache. Overall the day was good, we hung out as a family.

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Progress being made...

2010-12-23T09:06:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I started my book that I got, Hatteras by Alice Wisler. I waited until after supper to really start the book. Once I started it, I had a hard time putting it down at 11 last night when it was time to go to bed. I also started it back up this morning for about 30 or 40 minutes while drinking coffee. James asked me, “Why don’t you just savor it for a bit, instead of reading it all at once?” I think I get that from my mom. She was always reading books. I dare say she read at least 4 or 5 books a week if not more. It was rather appropriate that the last few years of her life she had a bookstore for used books. I also worked on cleaning out our closet, yesterday.. I can at least get into the closet and find stuff now. I plan to hang up some pictures and finish straightening some stuff up today. I took some Motrin in hopes to getting rid of my headache that is brewing. I usually take Excedrin but am out of them at the moment. Maybe later I will feel like writing more.

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Baked Potatoes discontinued?

2010-12-22T07:15:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a fun day; I went and did some errands. I checked out some stores for sales etc. Then after my interview that I had I came home and kidnapped my hubby and we went to Applebee’s to get the 2 for 20 deal. I love the two for 20 because you get two meals and an appetizer for 20.00. I usually get the steak and baked potato. Anyone that truly knows me, knows that I love baked potatoes. I don’t know why, but I have since I was a kid. Anyway, when I told the waitress I would like a baked potato instead of the mash potatoes and green beans she informed me that they DISCONTINUED the baked potato. I was like dumb founded. If I hadn’t been so hungry I might have even grabbed James and gone down the street to Outback instead! I kept the urge to myself and ordered the mash potatoes instead. I grumbled to James that this was definitely blogging material. It was still a nice dinner and afterwards James and I went to Books a Million and found some books that we both liked

I have been wanting to read “Hatteras” by Alice Wisler since it came out in Oct. Now that I have about a week before I start my class again I can sit down and read it. What is fun about reading Alice’s novels, is that I actually know Alice. We met a few years at a Renaissance Mom’s weekend that was hosted by Happy Days. Alice and I hit it off right away and hung out that weekend together. At the time she had only written 1 book and it was self-published. She was in the process of writing Down the Cereal Isle when I met her but was still gathering stories from people about their children. At the time, I could have written about Jessica and what she liked etc, but her death was still too fresh and hurt too much to write. You can read more about her books etc at her web site.

Today I plan to work on our closet, make cookies, and read my book! I know that I need to get some of my basic chores out of the way so I don’t feel guilty about sitting down and reading a book for pleasure.

Until tomorrow,

Katy

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Looking ahead to 2011

2010-12-21T08:09:00.001-08:00

I was talking to Justin the other day about this and that. He made a comment about how 2011 will be a better year. It is interesting to hear him as well as others comment about how the NEXT year is going to be a better year. This year was ok…but NEXT year will be better. The next year always gives us a chance to do something more or something better. Justin said that he wanted to take up 5 new hobbies this next year. Five hobbies seemed like a lot of hobbies to take up even if you have 12 months to do it. It seems like most people take up maybe 1 or two hobbies a year. One of our hobbies as a family in the past has been Geocaching. To learn more about Geocaching, you can go to www.geocaching.com and find out more about it. Simply put it is a high tech way of doing a scavenger hunt! We had fun doing this as a family. The only thing that James and I have found that we didn’t like about it was that when you found the Geocache most of the time the “treasure” inside was JUNK and wasn’t something you wanted to take home. This past year we haven’t done much of it because it takes more time to load it on the GPS and to print out stuff than James or I want to do. At one point James had an application on his Blackberry where we could get information for the Geocache and be able to go when we had a “free moment” or when we felt like it. Maybe this next year we will get more into Geocaching by providing a Geocache for others to enjoy. We will see….

There are several things I would like to do this next year:

1) Get my certification and be able to get a teaching job.

2) Go on a cruise with my hubby! We will be celebrating our 21^st anniversary in May and we have never had a first honeymoon much less a second one!

3) I would like to continue blogging as well as start reading more blogs from other people. ( I just recently started this by reading, our friend Andra’s blog.)

4) I would like to continue to work on decluttering our house and only have what we love and what we need in the house.

5) I would like to be able to travel more. We haven’t been to Texas in about 7 years now and it is way past due. I also would like to go see my brother, Steve and Carroll in Virginia as well as see some of my friends that live up north that I haven’t seen in like forever!

As for hobbies, I would like to get back into Scrapbooking, I haven’t really done much of it the past year or so. It has been hard since most of our pictures are digital now and printing pictures tends to be expensive because of the ink.

These are the things that I would like to do this next year. Some of these I have actually started this week. I remember that Flylady (www.flylady.net) has said that to get into a habit you have to do it for 27 days in a row and it becomes a habit.

I am finding myself thinking of more things to blog about just since yesterday when I decided to start blogging again. It is amazing how much writing you can get done in 15 min.!

katy

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Getting into the habit of blogging

2010-12-20T08:10:00.001-08:00

Ok, so I have been a little lax on blogging this past year. I have seen my ways and have decided to write something on my blog for 15 min. Right now I am out of school until the 30^th of Dec. At that time I will start another program, this time for Curriculum and Instruction: Reading. I have always been fascinated with the process of reading and now I will dig deeper into how it works. Tomorrow I have an interview with a company that works with children and eye therapy. This is another fascination I have always had since I have always struggled with problems with my eyes.

One of the stories that James still tells is the first time I took him home to meet my parents. It was raining I think and we had freezing rain. We were driving from Houston, Texas to Corpus Christi, Texas which is about a 3 hours drive. James was getting tired after a long day and night from working security and asked me to drive his “Blue Goose”. I don’t remember exactly what kind a car it was but it was probably close to the size of a Lincoln. Well, I kept hitting the line in the road, James made a comment to me about my driving, I finally exclaimed, “Well, I am blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other!”. Twenty years later I still hear about it from James. LOL

Today, I am doing stuff in 15 minute intervals. I hope to get a lot of stuff done today using this method. Flylady says, “Tthat you can do anything in 15 minutes.” If you have never heard of Flylady, go check her out at www.flylady.net. She helps those that are not born organized. Until tomorrow…katy

Posted via email from katym's posterous

JUST THE BLACK NOTES

2010-06-03T06:37:00.001-07:00

Posted via email from katym's posterous

45 lessons that Life has taught me

2010-04-11T18:59:00.001-07:00

I happened to be looking at old emails and came across this one and wanted to share. Let’s not wait until we are 90 to learn these lessons that this lady learned!

katy

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.. It is the most-requested column I've ever written."

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood.. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain .

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words -- In five years, will this matter?

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Katy Moffitt

www.lightourworld.com

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Emailing: Media_CardBlackBerrypicturesIM.jpg.scaled.1000

2009-12-18T14:46:00.001-08:00

Molly in my dresser drawer with her "one" baby she had. She actually had two kitties but one died the first day. :(

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Emailing: Media_CardBlackBerrypicturesIM.jpg.scaled.1000

2009-12-18T14:34:00.001-08:00

Picture of Jasper on top of the dog crates and in a box that the cat's love to lay in.

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Emailing: Media_CardBlackBerrypicturesIM.jpg.scaled.1000

2009-12-18T14:32:00.001-08:00

Christmas Tree before "Santa" arrived.....

Posted via email from katym's posterous

This week has flown by

2009-09-10T19:52:00.001-07:00

Wow, it is already September 10^th! Next thing you know it will be Christmas.. I managed to get both of my papers that were due done. I

was sweating it for a while there. I also had a headache that I could not seem to get rid of for about 2 days.

We are watching Royal Pains right now. It is a rerun. This week is all reruns and then next week the new shows will start premiering.

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Sept. 14 Jay Leno is back!

2009-09-06T18:25:00.001-07:00

I will be so glad when Jay Leno is back on the air!

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Get a Life...

2009-09-06T13:58:00.001-07:00

Well we went to Seacoast in West Ashley this morning and it was pretty good. We seem to all enjoy it. This also includes the teenagers of our family. Kristina seems to like it a lot more than Justin but that is normal. Justin doesn’t like much of anything. The theme at Seacoast is GET A LIFE…this is so that we get a Life Group. Life Groups are small cell groups of people usually 10 to 12 people that come together once a week have fellowship, bible study and hopefully bond. Well James and I were all set to GET A LIFE tonight…but we called the Life Group Couple to make sure we could come. We never heard from them so we are thinking that because it is Labor Day weekend, they cancelled it. I am hoping that we will be able to get connected soon to a Life Group and meet other couples with the same interests.

The past couple of months since we moved to Johns Island have been a hard transition for all of us. We have been so use to going to Grace Fellowship and seeing familiar faces of friends that it is hard to go to a new church. Grace Fellowship is special because there are several people there that remember Jessica. I didn’t have to explain about her they already knew her. When you speak of a love one that has gone to be with Jesus to a person you don’t know very well there is a certain silence that you get. This silence is because the other person doesn’t know what to say. It is ok to say.” I am sorry for your loss; I don’t know what else to say”. This is perfectly acceptable. I guess the reason I mention Jessica is because her birthday is going to be coming up on this coming Friday. She would have been 19 years old.

That day will also be 8 years since the Twin Towers got hit. That was the day that we saw the true face of terrorism.

As I think of Jessica on that day and what her life would have been like if she hadn’t gone to heaven so early, I will also pause and pray for the families that lost their loved ones on 911.

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Posterous is cool

2009-09-06T10:37:00.001-07:00

This is awesome! I can post to all my blogs. James and I are fixing to go for a walk and then I will come back and blog some more.

Posted via email from katym's posterous

Christmas is over for another year

2008-12-27T05:43:00.001-08:00

Well all is quiet right now in the Moffitt household. Only my bird, Peaches and I are awake. James and Justin were out late last night. Kristina had a friend come over and they stayed up late. I woke up as usual around 7. I have almost the whole place cleaned up from Christmas. I was never one to keep Christmas stuff up after the fact. I think I got that from my Mom. She always took down the tree either the day of Christmas or soon after. Most of the time it was because it was a live tree that had long since had better days by the time Christmas had come around.
Yesterday, James worked from home for a while from remote. I fixed breakfast and did some cleaning up. James then decided that we should go Geocaching. That seems to be our newest hobby this year. I really have not gotten into it as much as James and Justin have but I am getting there. We went to Kiawah Island to pick up his new glasses that were ready. Then we went Geocaching. If you are wondering what that is go to: www.geocaching.com and check it out.
It is like a treasure hunt but using technology. It is pretty cool actually. We only found 1 of the two we set out to look for yesterday. But we had fun looking. It was not too hot or too cold but a little cloudy out. While James and Justin were out doing their "thing", I got on the computer and logged all my finds from the geocaching I have done. I have only done about 10 so far compared to James, who has about 28. I think we will probably go Geocaching later on today. It is suppose to be nice today with the high in the 70's.
I am hoping this next year i will get better at blogging. I can get my weight down. I will be able to make it back to Texas to see my family there. I would also like to be able to make new recipes and be able to cook better meals for my family. I have been stuck in a rut for a while, making the same stuff over and over again and I know if i am tired of it that my family would be tired of it.
I did start making some new stuff lately: homemade brownies, homemade cornbread, homemade lasagna, and homemade chicken pot pie. The lasagna and the chicken pot pie were definite hits. Cornbread was too salty according to Kristina and brownies were ok but nothing to write home about.
Well guess that is it for now.

Merry Christmas 2008

2008-12-25T09:57:00.000-08:00

Well, this is the day the Lord has made. We are to rejoice and be glad in it. Christmas 2008 has finally arrived. At this writing it is about 1 in the afternoon. James got us up (us being me and the kids) at about 8:30 i think it was. I got up earlier to put stuff in the stockings for the kids. I dozed in my chair for a while and then finally went back to bed about 7ish about the time that James decided to get up. hehe Well he got out of bed that is, he went and snored in his recliner for a while i am sure.
I fixed roast for lunch and later on we are going over to our friend Leah's house after all to eat Christmas dinner. Originally we were not going to do this because of the crowd factor, however it works out economically for us to just fix a couple of side dishes than for me to fix a big meal just for the 4 of us.
James went to see one of his dear friends to cheer her up for a couple of hours. She has to work at the hospital so he took her a Latte from Starbucks earlier and probably will be coming home soon. I ended up having to put the air conditioner on because it has gotten so hot outside. The thermometer in the living room was registering close to 80.
This is probably not one of the "better" Christmas' for the kids. We were not able to get a whole lot for them. As James has said before Money doesn't grow on trees and if it did then our tree must have gotten burned along time ago. "
I read his blog just a while ago and he mentioned Jessica and how he missed her so. Christmas has not been the same since our little girl went home to the Lord. She loved Christmas and she would sneak Christmas music on the CD player all year round. She loved to do that. I smile when i think about her doing that now. For the longest time I have not been able to remember her BEFORE she got sick. But slowly memories are returning that remind me how special she was during her lifetime.
Well it is about time to go peel potatoes and fix banana nut bread the dinner tonight.
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!
Katy

Two Days before Christmas!

2008-12-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

Good Morning, I realized today that I have not blogged in ages. I was looking at my daughter's myspace and James' myspace and read their blogs. I then went to mine and realized I have not written anything on here since the summer of 2007. YIKES!!
It is Chrstmas break for the kids. Kristina spent the night over her friend, Barbra's last night and hasn't come home yet. Justin is on the other computer playing one of his many online games. James set a computer up for me to use, free from having to share with the kids. It is nice to have my own computer again. I am hoping that I can work on our web site and get it updated. I have not worked on it in over a year. There was a time when i would change it weekly if not daily. Those days are gone but i hope to get it updated with new photoes of the kids. I also have new recipes i want to add to my cookbook I have on line.
I need to get off of here and clean the kitchen and go to the store for last minute shopping and get my Christmas dinner supplies. We were going to a friend's house for Christmas dinner until James discovered they were going to have 40 people over there. Well, we might drop in to go see them but neither one of us do well with large crowds, especially James. You would think that he is an extravert in most things because he is pretty out going, however when it comes to crowds and idle chit chat you can forget it. hehe I actually do better with groups when it comes to that.
This has been a year of change for us in many ways. I am still struggling to find a full time job or to get into school to get my master's. The government is not handing out financial aid like they were last year so it is harder to get money to go to school. James started a new job with Resortquest in September and really likes it. He is their IT Manager, it keeps him busy.
In October we moved away from the double wide trailer that we knew as home for the past 7 1/2 years. that was the longest we had been anyway in our marriage. It has alot of good and bad memories there. That was the first place we moved to when Jessica was going through her treatments and that was where she past away in 2001. We had 3 dogs, 6 cats and 4 birds while in that place. When we moved we had to give up 3 of our animals. We found homes for Ginger our dog, KC and Oliver the two cats. We kept Angel, who is now 7 years old and my cockatiel, Peaches, who i have had for 8 years now. Although I love our new place and all the benefits it has, I miss having the kids at the schools that they liked. Kristina moved to a different high school and is having a hard time making the switch. Justin has adapted but that is because he knew some kids at the new school and that has helped. The kids recently acquired two guinea pigs from someone at one of the schools i substitute at. Kristina got the boy and his name is Nevil and Justin got the girl and her name is Luna. Both names come from the Harry Potter sequil. They are actually quite sweet and I have held them a couple of times.
I know there are probably more things I want to talk about but can't think of them right now. Maybe I will be able to blog some more later on.

Sometimes silence is Golden!

2008-09-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

The other night, James and I went to a get together at a restaurant with some of the area bloggers. There were about 10 people that came to the gathering. We actually have more people but some could not make it that particular night. James blogs alot more than I do so i always feel funny about going since I don't blog as much as everyone else that was there.

One particular person, has a strong interest in politics. He made a generalized statement about medicaid and food stamps. Well, one of the ladies there took offense to what he said. They said they were not "arguing" but you could have fooled me. I kept my mouth shut.

If someone had asked me what i thought...well then of course i would have told them. If i remember my history right, medicaid and food stamps came from the Johnson era. I went and did some research on the origin of medicaid and this is what I found:

The federal government's involvement with this issue began in earnest in 1934. [6] In that year President Franklin Roosevelt established the Committee on Economic Security (CES) and charged it with drafting a Social Security bill. Although the original CES report on Social Security stated with Roosevelt's approval that a "health insurance plan would be forthcoming," the CES statement caused such a stir that Roosevelt decided to postpone the health insurance issue, fearing that it jeopardized passage of the Social Security bill (Corning 1969: 38). Accordingly, the provision in the original Social Security bill proposing a "Social Insurance Board" and authorizing study of health insurance was changed so as to delete all reference to health and rechristen the board as the "Social Security Board" (Chapman and Talmadge 1970: 342). President Roosevelt had decided that "health insurance should not be injected into the debate at that point, nor should the final report on health be made public as long as the social security bill was still in the legislative mill." Indeed, as of 1969 the final CES report on health still had not been made public (Corning 1969: 40, n. 17). You can read the full article by going to this URL: http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj16n3-3.html

Anyway, i found it interesting that indeed Roosevelt actually started the health insurance issue and started the Social Insurance Board. This eventually developed into the Social Security Administration.

I think that when the administration at the time of creating medicaid and food stamps were thinking that it was going to be a temporary solution to the economic problem of that era.

I do not think they wanted medicaid or food stamps to be used indefinitely.

We have generations of families that used medicaid and food stamps like it is their "right" to have it.

Ok, i will get off that soap box now.

I am glad that September is nearly over. August and September are hard months for our family. August 5, 2001 was the date when Jessica went to be with the Lord. So each year when August 5 comes around, we remember Jessica. Then on Sept. 11th, not only do we remember the terrorist attack but in our house we remember Jessica. Jessica would have been 18 this year.

I tend to think of all the things we missed out on with her. We missed her learning how to drive, her first babysitting job, Jessica going to public school and all the other teenage type stuff.

We are experiencing alot of the "firsts" with Kristina because Jessica is not around. Our family dynamics changed. We are no longer complete. Kristina is no longer the middle child but has taken on the characteristics of the oldest child. I think in someways she has had to grow up faster because of what has happened to our family.

Well guess that is it for now. I am trying to get supper finished up. It is taking forever tonight getting the baked chicken baked!
later

Memories....

2008-08-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

OH something that happened today that was cool...
James and I went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. When we were checking out they had stuff around the counter you can buy. I happened to pick up a box that had candy from the 60's. One of the candies was Red Hots. Now you are probably think and your point is? hehe
Well when I was about 11 or 12, one of my best friends Melinda and I would have a contest to see who could put the most red hots in their mouth without choking on them. They are a very hot cinnamon type candy. Anyway, when i was at Cracker Barrel I saw a box that had this type of candy in it and it brought back some fun memories of what 2 11yr olds would do for entertainment back in the 70's. hehe
Course you gotta remember this was before internet, cell phones, computers etc. So we didn't have that much to entertain us with. We had to make our own entertainment. hehe
James and I also went to the Flea market today and while he was looking at something else. I spotted the Pfalsgraff pattern that we had for our wedding plates. I made a mistake of selling them back when we moved from Texas to Georgia. sigh...hind sight is 20/20.
We sold alot of stuff that I wish we would have kept. But at the time we were trying to move to Ga.

It has been too long ....

2008-08-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

Wow...it has been since March the last time I blogged. That is way too long!
I will try to recap what has happened since March...
I went to the Mom's Sleepover with Courageous Kidz Mom's. That was probably my last blog that i wrote in March. I have some pictures that maybe i will be able to post from my camera phone.
From Feb to June I worked at the middle school as an teacher assistant in a special education classroom. These children have a mixture of disabilities which include severe autism to mental retardation. This was definitely a learning experience and made me want to go back to school and get my Master's in Special Education.
In June, I enrolled online with University Phoenix and started my first class with them. It was a communication class. I did well in there since it has been a while that I have taken courses and since it was only 3 weeks long. There was alot of work to get done in that time frame.
The last week before i was fixing to be finished with my first class I was informed that I didn't qualify for financial aid after all. Why you ask? Well, as much as i hate to admit it, it is my own fault. When I was in UT and going to school to get my Bachelor's back in the mid 80's. My grades were horrible. Some classes were better than others but over all my gpa SUCKED. lol I was not really a serious student and I didn't have any clue as to what i wanted to do back then.
Now when i was in the alternative certification program a year or so ago, I was able to get in with no problem. For the longest time i thought i would not be able to get my certificate because of my gpa. If you take the over all gpa from my jr. college and my UT classes I have a high enough gpa to get into the University of Phoenix and to be able to get financial aid. Anyway, I had to write an appeal letter back at the end of June. I have been waiting ever so patiently to find out the results of the appeal. I know there are other colleges out there but I feel that if UOP will not take me that most likely the other colleges will be the same way.
i should find out this next week if i will continue with University of Phoenix or not.

I have been trying to get a full time job for sometime now. However, i am running into something I have not experienced until now...because i am nearly 50 (choke). I am considered too old for some jobs. It doesn't matter if i have more experience or education than anyone that they hire. Most jobs it seems want young and perky. GRRRRRR
Sorry I am neither young or perky anymore...

Another fun thing that has been going on since March is that Kristina got her learner's permit.
I have been teaching her to drive. She actually has been doing pretty well. I started out with my old car i had in March. I had a 93 Ford Escort. Started with the parking lot and then progressed to a secluded street by our house and then the main road in our town. Well in May, we got a new car, my first new car ever. WOO HOO!! It is a Honda Accord 2008 Silver. Well once we got the new car, I was having a hard time relinquishing control of it to our 16 year old. Finally in August I decided that I needed Kristina to get back behind the wheel so she could get use to the new car.
I would also get use to her driving. This is our first experience when it comes to our kids driving. We missed out on when Jeremy learned how to drive since he lived in Texas.

Kristina and Justin started back to school this past Monday. Kristina is taking drivers ed this semester. So i am figuring by Christmas she should have her license. Lord help us! lol
Both kids are promising to make better grades this year. Last year was not a very good year for either one of them because they didn't try. But I think they realized that NOT trying doesn't get them anywhere.

Our dog Ginger, looks like she is going to have puppies. She looks like a dachsaund/terrior mix. This will be her first litter. She is 2 1/2. The father is our landlord's sheltie. So they should make for some interesting looking dogs.
I will try to post pictures when the blessed event happens.

Well guess that is it for now. I need to go an finish up supper.

Healing Hearts Weekend

2008-03-11T15:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally made it to the Healing Hearts Weekend sponsored by Courageous Kids. This is a weekend for Mom’s that have lost a child from cancer. This is not a club I wanted to be in or any of us wanted to be in. However, we are and we come together and support Mom’s that have a recent lost in the past year. I am now considered an ole’ timer, because I have been going to this weekend retreat for the past 7 years. I missed last year because of work obligations, but I was determined this year that I was going to come.

It was suppose to be raining really bad tonight and James did not want me to be driving here in my little Ford Escort. So I went and got him with the Durango and he brought me to the house where the ladies are staying.

We arrived at this one house, thinking it was the right one, but there were no cars around at all. James was like WOW this is cool, I gotta get a picture of this house. Then I noticed that it was the wrong house! Lol That cracked me up, and of course James had to get a picture of me cracking up. Hehe

I brought my laptop in hopes that I would find a wireless connection. NO such luck! SO I am here all weekend without the internet or my internet buddies. Have you ever been in a crowd of people and suddenly feel really alone? Well, after a couple hours of us talking and cropping (scrapbooking). I went and sat down by the dog. Debby, the founder of Courageous Kids always brings her dog, Murray. I then decided after about 20 min. that I just wanted to be by myself instead of doing the small talk thing.

Most of the ladies at the retreat this weekend are women that have lost their child within the past 3 to 4 years. One lost her daughter not even 6 months ago, where it is so very fresh still.

I am sitting here, blogging into a word document, since I have no wireless and watching CSI Miami.

Before I came to the retreat I had to take Justin to get his permanent cast. He will get it checked in three weeks from now to see how it is healing. He got his cast in red. It use to be when you broke something and had to get a cast, you got a white cast and that was it. Not anymore! Now you can get it all sorts of colors. The guy next to Justin, got a Neon orange color for his cast. It was his second cast. The first one was a bright neon green. Anyway James got me a 1 gig card for my camera phone so I could take more pictures. I took a picture of Justin and his x-rays. As soon as I figure out how to upload the pictures to my laptop, then I will send them to my blog.

Well guess that is it for now.

Saturday, March 8^th

I woke up at 5:30 this morning but was determined that I was not going to get up that early. I would be the only one up at that time because that is what usually has happened in years past. SO this time around I just stayed in bed until about 6:30 and then took my shower and went upstairs. This house has three levels. Each level has a deck that has chairs and a swing. My room has a sliding glass door that leads to one of the covered porches. However, it is so windy outside that I could hardly stand it. Supposedly there is wireless here, if I go outside on the porch. Maybe later I will be able to handle being outside and see if I can get wireless.

This morning I have talked to several mom’s individually and have gotten to know them better. One Mom is coming on the 1^st anniversary of her daughter’s death and had a video that she showed me this morning. She had a portable DVD player. It was a sweet type of memorial about her daughter. It made me want to do something like that of Jessica. We have lots of pictures of her and lots of video that James shot on VHS but we have yet to convert it to DVD.

Anyway, We had a wonderful breakfast at about 10am. One dish was a type of quiche that had fresh asparagus. There also was a breakfast pizza that had egg and sausage and onions in it. It was good. I kept thinking how I would love to make unusual stuff at home but my kids are so picky that they would not eat anything fancy. Kristina doesn’t like sausage.

We spent most of the day painting memory boxes and then painting on glass. I did the memory box and then I went and took a nap for about 2 hours. I then got up and worked on my glass container. At about 7 pm some belly dancers came to teach us how to belly dance. I just could not get into it. So I stepped back and took pictures instead. Then about 8:00 I was talking to James on IM and decided I wanted to come home. So he came and got me!

We went to Longhorn Steak house for dinner and went home and crashed and burned.

This next weekend James and I get to go to the Renaissance Weekend at Myrtle Beach. We are taking Friday off and will do our errands (pay bills) and then head out to Myrtle Beach to have a fun weekend without the kids! WOO HOO!!

We also ordered some new wedding rings for our 18^th anniversary! I am so excited. We will be taking pictures and putting it on our blog I am sure.

Four Hours in ER

2008-03-04T09:54:00.000-08:00

March 3, 2008/ Monday
Yesterday afternoon Justin went with some of his friends to the skateboard park. I hesitated in letting him go because he is still learning how to skateboard. My first answer was NO because he had just gotten a new board and had not used it yet. We then went to the Game Stop and got some movies, that Kristina wanted to get. Then we went by Wendy's and got lunch. We came home and I got a phone call and it was his friend calling saying that Kyle's Dad had brought them over to pick Justin up to go to the skate park. So i gave in and let Justin go with them against my MOM's intuition. (Never doubt Mom's intuition!)
Anyway, Justin went on to the park. In the meantime, James came home and said "Hey, there is a dog park at Wannamaker park, let's take the dogs there and give them some exercise." So we loaded up the dogs, and Kristina and went over to the park. We were hesitant to let the dogs off their leash for a while until we could tell it was safe. Once we did let them get off their leash, they had fun. It was fun watching all the different dogs interacting.
While we were there i got a call from Justin and he told me he had fallen. I figured he was just not happy being there. Told him to wait until Kyle's dad was to come and get them. However, after we were finished with the dog park i decided that maybe we needed to go get Justin after all.
Justin missed school today because he could hardly move his wrist. I wished we would have taken him to the ER last night but i was hoping that it wasn't serious. We put ice on it and elevated it at night.
After work i went and picked Justin up to take him to the clinic to get the wrist x-rayed. Normally we don't have a problem with going to the clinic and paying the deductable and seeing the dr. However, because it is new insurance with my new job it just took effect on Saturday, March 1st. (PTL for insurance!) I have not gotten the insurance card yet. The lady at the front desk said i was going to have to pay the dr. visit and x-rays etc up front.
I saw visions of it being expensive! So i decided that i would take him to the ER instead. We got there about 4:30 and did not get out of there until 8:30. Good thing it wasn't a "real" emergency!
After four hours later, Justin was diagnosed with a broken wrist. They put a temporary cast on him and we will have to go to the orthopedic dr. in the next three days to get his permanent cast on.
SO that was my day after work!

will write more later...

Blogging more...

2008-02-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

I realized today that I do not blog enough! I love writing and I love putting my thoughts on paper but I don't always write stuff down. I discovered today that i have this website that I started back last August. Oops!! I forgot all about it. James and I do that alot, where we join some site and then we forget about it. If you do a search on the web for James and Katy Moffitt, whether it is together or separately. You will find us! We are everywhere on the web!

I have been at home for the past couple of months. I am trying to find a job. Short of going to Walmart or K-Mart and applying for a cashiers job, there really has not been anything. Thankfully I am getting unemployment so that does help.

James has been on the metabolic diet plan for the past couple of weeks. He has lost about 13 pounds so far. What i have mainly been doing is making more salads and giving him healthy snacks. Also cutting out the fried foods.

One thing that James found out when he went to a nutricianist a couple of weeks ago is that he actually has not been eating enough. He has been taking in 1800 for his calorie intake and the nutricianist said that he needed 2800 for his daily intake. His body has been storing up fat and thinking that James hasn't been feeding it. That is why he hasn't been able to loose weight until just recently. I had heard something along these lines from a friend at work last year. She would always eat little healthy snacks during the day. She said that at one time she was overweight but then she started exercising more and eating healthy and drinking more water and she has been able to loose weight.

That is one of the problems i have is that I don't enough enough on the calories and what i do it is not healthy. I have been trying to get better at it since James needs to get healthy as well. However, I find myself not eating breakfast and then skipping lunch. I then start getting a headache because i am hungry. This is one thing i need to work on. Speaking of which, i need to go eat something now.

Least Read Books

2008-01-10T06:55:00.001-08:00

Thursday, January 10, 2008

I got this from one of my long time friends!

These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users.

Instructions: Bold what you have read, italicize what you started and couldn't finish, ~~strike through~~ what you couldn't stand, and underline what you loved.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : A Novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : A Memoir in Books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : A Novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault's Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : A Novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver's Travels
Les MisÃ©rables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela's Ashes : A Memoir
The God of Small Things
A People's History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Scarlett Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : A Novel
Collapse : How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity's Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

Disclaimers: I really do not remember reading some of these because I read them in high school. The most memorable book that i read was Dorian Gray. Oh after rereading the list I realized that I did read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintanence in College my first semester. I could not stand that book!
Guess I should try to read some of the ones I have never read.
Feel free to copy this to your site if you wish.

A New Year!

2008-01-05T13:16:00.000-08:00

Well, This is the first weekend of the New Year! WOO HOO!!
James went to his usual men's breakfast and then when he came home he had a cleaning bug up his behind... and started moving things around and sweeping the porch...etc...
I was in shock.....I mean there are times that James helps clean the house. Usually it is when he wants something found and we have to clean to find something. But today he decided on his own. I know from reading his blog that one of his goals is to be less selfish and be willing to pitch in. I would say he has started off the year great when it comes to this goal.
The kids decided they wanted to go to the library to read. So James volunteered to take them over there. They are going to be there for a couple of hours and then i am fixing to go pick them up. Kristina has been on a reading kick lately and loves to read books. I am all for that so we don't mind them going over there. Plus the added bonus is that it will be quiet at home for a couple of hours.
Of course i say that, as i am listening to the buzzing of a saw outside. Our neighbor and landlord is cutting firewood that he just got. He has the whole family which includes all 8 kids i think. He might have spared the little ones of hauling wood this year. They are 7 , 4 and 3 I think.
I have decided after reading one of my friend's blogs that i need to have not only yearly goals but also monthly goals. So i will be working on them this next week. Also i have decided that i want to retake the Praxis test that i took a year ago (and did not pass by 16 points) sigh....
This is the test that will give me: "Highly Qualified" status. I think this will help me get another teaching job. I am also going to be appealing to the higher up in the PACE program and see if i can get an extention and be able to get a job next year to finish getting my certification. I have come too far and worked too hard to let one lousy year and one hard nosed principal mess up what i have been wanting to do all my life. I have always wanted to be a teacher and in my heart of hearts i am a teacher but now i want to be CERTIFIED!!
So i would appreciate your prayers when it comes to these two specific goals and i will be posting my other goals later on.
Now time to go get the kids from the library.

Until later...

Reflections of 2007

2007-12-31T16:45:00.001-08:00

Here we are winding down 2007 on New Year's Eve. I think Kristina is taking a nap and Justin and his friend Austin are outside playing football. James went to check out the fireworks down the street. I had to look at James' blogs from 2007 to be reminded of what has happened during this year. In January, James lost a good friend that we knew from Houston, John Searcy when they use to run a BBS (before the internet). James discovered IMSafer for the computer so he could track the kids online. That has proved to be a headache because it tracks all of Kristina's friend's comments as well that sometimes are not very good. Also in January of 2007 Justin had Pneumonia and had to miss out on school for about a week. The doctor gave him an antibiotic booster via hyperdermic needle and bam bam was very excited about that. I told Justin that if he did not get better soon that they might have to send him to the hospital. Justin proved that he is indeed our child and addicted to the Net when he pronounced that he did not care if he had to go into the hospital to get better but they had better have high speed Internet access. I just about split my side laughing at that one. LOL...
Thankfully since he has been in middle school he has not been as sick and has only missed maybe 3 days of school this year.
The end of January James started riding Carta Express to work and he is still using it. This has saved alot of money on parking and on gas since he goes downtown to work.
In February, James decided to change the main computer and his laptop to Vista. James is always playing with technology and if you go to our website at www.lightourworld.com and click on James' blogger you can read all about his techno stuff.

Cannon Luke Molthan was born on February 10, 2007 at 5:04 a.m. He weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces and was 20 inches long. He is absolutely gorgeous and too sweet.

Kimberly and her family are very special to us. Kimberly was the counselor for Jessica in 2001 when she attended the Happy Days camp.

March 2007

James bowled his first 200 game at Sandpiper lanes and a 166 average. Now that is something for me to be HAPPY about. Last night I bowled a 145 average which is excellent for me over at Marrington Lanes.

In March of 2007 after we came back from a weekend trip to Myrtle Beach we discovered that our cat Bailey was missing.
He was later found and we think a Fox attacked him.
What is sad to me is that Bailey was not even a year old yet. He was such a good kitty and always loved being in my lap and sucking on the blanket. He will always be remembered and missed.

In April 2007 KC was adopted to the Moffitt household.

James suprised me in April by finding a kitten that needed to be adopted. He knew i missed my Bailey. One of the ladies at his work adopts animals and finds them homes. KC was found back behind a Kickin' Chicken in Downtown Charleston. We decided to keep the name KC but I usually spell it Kacey.

In April, one of the many times James kidnapped me and would get me out of the house and take me to a movie. This is one of the things we love to go do. We love going to movies. We also love playing Punch Bug. You know when you see a VW and say "Punch Bug don't punch back". Well we play this game. We have extended it to where when we are away from each other we will send a picture through our phones to each other. I love doing this! Course most of the time James usually wins this game.

May of 2007 we saw our daughter Kristina turn 15 and Justin turn 12. They are 3 yrs and two days apart. This next year will be very significant as Kristina will be turning 16 and Justin 13. We will have TWO ALIENS in the house instead of one. James affectionately calls Kristina our Alien because when she turned into a teenager there was a major transformation.
May is a busy month for us as we have three birthdays, Mother's Day and our anniversary. I was not thinking when i decided to get married on May 12 turns out that date sometimes falls on Mother's Day!

June of 2007 was the ending of my contract with Charleston County School District. They did not renew my contract which caused problems later on as I was not able to secure a job with anyone else to continue with my certification.
The summer brought sad times as two of my long time friends Paula and Melinda, whom I have known since i was probably 11 or 12 both lost their father's during the summer. This just brought it closer to home that my Dad is not getting any younger either. Unfortunately, for whatever reason we have not spoken to each other in the past 4 years since my brother's memorial service. I am not sure why we haven't spoken. It is not because i am mad at him or anything but somewhere along the way we stopped calling each other and there has been a dead silence. On another sad note, we lost a friend and church member in June. He was a vital part of the praise team and we will continue to miss Chris.

In August the kids went back to school. Kristina started high school and Justin began his middle school days. Neither one are fairing very well with the transition when it comes to their grades.
Usually both are at least B-C students and sometimes even A-B students but this year so far they have been lucky to bring home an A in ANYTHING!
Thanks to technology there is a new system in place where i can check their grades weekly by logging on to what is called INTOUCH. It is great so long as the teachers put in the information on a timely basis.

This is a picture of James and I at the park that is not too far away from us where we can walk to it.
One of the fun things we did not too long ago was go to the park and then have the kids meet us there with the monopoly game. We sat there for hours playing monopoly and when it got dark we took the game back home and continued to play it until of course James won the game. He usually does!

The next picture is a picture of Kristina and her friend Tanda at the park. Kristina is the one on the right.

Tanda and Kristina have been best friends for 7 years now. Tanda has lived across the road from us for those 7 years. And just recently they moved into a house in the next subdivision. Thankfully, it is walking distance and the girls are able to still spend time with each other and go to the same school.

Then there is Justin at the park. He is learning to skateboard. Unfortunately at this time i do not have a good picture of him on his skateboard. Maybe late i will get a good picture.

Sept. 11, 2007
Our angel , Jessica Ann Moffitt would have been 17 years old today. We love you Jessica, never forget that. Hugs

I am hoping that this next year will be alot more productive for all of us. That we will be able to have more family time. Speaking of which i think i will finish up dinner and go outside and see the free fireworks.
Everyone have a wonderful New Year's Eve and I will try to blog more in 2008!

Katy

September 11 remembered

2007-09-12T11:25:00.000-07:00

September 11th has several different memories for me. In 1976 on Sept. 11th my sister married her high school sweetheart Bobby. They were married for 19 years before the marriage ended sadly. They had two wonderful sons and now have a grandson (my great nephew).
On September 11th, 1990 in Houston, Texas in Jessica Ann Moffitt came into the world 3 months early. She was born at 26 weeks. I still remember that day as if it was yesterday. I took James to work downtown. At that time we only had one car. After I dropped him off I made my way back to our little apartment in North Houston. On the way there i stopped off to get a drink and a snack. Well suddenly i felt a drickle of blood down my leg and i knew that something was wrong with the baby. I got the station attendent to call my OBGYN. He wanted me to make it back downtown to see him. Well i was bleeding too much to get in the car and be able to drive. So the attendent called an ambulance. The ambulance took me to the nearest hospital to stablize me and the baby(Jessica). They had called for Life Flight to come and get me and take me to the Women's Medical Center (which is where my OBGYN was located). As they were waiting the weather changed rather suddenly. Instead of it being a beautiful sunny day, it got foggy and the helicopter could not take off. I remember a nurse or someone asking me what I wanted to do. (like i was going to be able to tell them when i was in severe pain by then) James was able to get a friend to bring him to the hospital to where i was. After having an emergency C section I vaguely remember seeing James in the recovery room. He said i looked like a rolled up ragged doll because i had so many blankets on me. I stayed in the hospital for a week to recover. Jessica was transferred that night to the Women's Hospital and she stayed in the hospital for 3 1/2 months. We were able to make our great escape from the hospital on Decemember 22, 1990.
The day of the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, we as a family were remembering Jessica by having M&M pancakes. Those were Jessica's favorites. We were still homeschooling at the time but had not started school yet. The tradition back then was to have your birthday off for school. So what i usually did was not even start homeschooling the kids until AFTER Jessica's birthday. (I miss that tradition) I still remember I was making the pancakes and James was watching the news when we heard about the first plane hitting the WTC. Then we heard about the second one and felt like the world was closing in. September 11th would never have the same meaning to my family again or for anyone else.
Our world changed on that day the terrorist attacked. It showed us how vulnerable we really are. That in an instant history could change.

Puppies, who wants some puppies?

2007-09-04T05:32:00.000-07:00

We have puppies! WOO HOO!! Our dog Angel had puppies on Labor Day. Talk about fitting the day. hehe We have 6 puppies. Most of them are black with some white on them. Angel is part lab and part cocker. The father of the puppies is a sheltie. So far the puppies look more like Angel than Fergus.
Yesterday, James had to work on Labor Day. Kids and I stayed home and just hung out. I watched the Marathon on CSI Miami. I also have started a new hobby! It is not really new because my grandmother showed me how to crochet when i was younger. I just have not taken it up again until recently. Our lady's group at our church started a prayer ministry, where we make shawls, afghans for people that need prayer.Anyway, it took me a while but i remembered how to crochet and have been working on an afghan.
Everyone is gone today, back at school and James is at work. It feels weird not working when everyone else is gone. I am hoping to get a job soon. I am debating if i want to go back into the education world or if i want to get a job in some other industry.
Well maybe I will get to post later and have some pictures of the newest babies in the Moffitt household.

http://weblog.xanga.com/katym521

One of my other blogs.

Six years ago today...

2007-08-05T18:20:00.001-07:00

Today is the 6th birthday into heaven for Jessica. It is hard to believe that it has been 6 years already. Sometimes I think about the things she is missing out on. She missed out on the 911 attack, Katrina hitting New Orleans, and the significance of what happened with 911 by having our troops in Iraq. Those are just a couple of things i can think of at the top of my head. She has also missed going to public school, and all that offers(good and bad). This year she would have been 16 and she would have been learning how to drive along with all the other 16 year olds on our block. (we have 1 next door and 1 across the street).
She has missed so much and at the same time we have missed a lot also. We have missed seeing our little girl grow up and be a beautiful young lady in Christ. We missed having fights with her about her dress code, and her friends. We are having to learn how to deal with a teenager by way of Kristina since Jessica is not here to pave the way for her.
We will never know until we get to heaven WHY she had to leave before us. All I know is that I miss our little girl. Happy 6th birthday Jessica! We miss you!

There is always a silver lining...

2007-06-23T07:17:00.001-07:00

I just got a devotional from an elist that i am on. I wanted to share what it said:

We all know the story of Noah's Ark, however we may have overlooked important lessons from Noah's experience. Well lucky you, for today we will take a look at them. For this week I received the following message from one of our subscribers. Now I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I have, and perhaps have a laugh or two as well.

It is titled.....

Everything we need to know about life, we can learn from Noah's Ark...

One: Don't miss the boat.

Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat.

Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.

Four: Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you

to do something really big.

Five: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to

be done.

Six: Build your future on high ground.

Seven: For safety sake, travel in pairs.

Eight: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on

board with the cheetahs.

Nine: When you're stressed, float a while.

Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by

professionals.

Eleven: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's

always a rainbow waiting.

Twelve: Not everybody is always welcome. In Noah's case, the

woodpecker might have to go!

.....Author Unknown

______________________

I thought this was cute and wanted to share! Guess I will go take my shower now. James should be coming back to get me to see if we can start my car. He went to eat breakfast for the men's fellowship breakfast they do every Saturday.
Kids come home today at 2. I am sure they will be tired.
later...
katy

Amazing what you use your thumb for...

2007-06-22T09:42:00.001-07:00

I wrote about James hurting his thumb the other day. You do not realize how much you use the thumb until it is not usable. You can't button up buttons. You can't put on a tie. It is hard to go to the restroom (clearing throat). hehe Among other things. James wanted to bowl on his league last night and indeed he did try to practice. However, it was just not going to happen since he is right handed and it was his right thumb that met up with the truck door. So once he figured out that he could not play we watched others bowl for a while and then we went home. We watched Smallville, which is one of our favorite shows. It was a rerun but we don't care! Then we continued with our marathon of watching "Surface". For the past couple of nights after watching that show I keep dreaming about the characters in it. Can you tell i am impressionable? hehe
Kids are gone to Carawinds and I had planned to work on cleaning Justin's room and possibly painting it. Somehow though when i went in there and saw what a mess it was, my motivation went out the window. I also have a little bit of an excuse. I hurt myself on Friday when I went to Target. (I think i wrote about the floor at Target and I had an abrupt meeting. ) lol Anyway, since that time I have had problems with my right shoulder. My chiropractor x-rayed it on Tuesday and said that nothing was broken but to come in several more times this week to get adjusted. So i went to him 3 times this week instead of my usual 1.
My motivation for getting a job has been rather glum lately. I had such a hellish time this past year teaching. It was mainly problems with the administration and not the kids. Some of it being my fault, I know. Anyway, because of that experience I have been rather down on my abilities as a teacher and have a hard time wanting to sell myself to a school district after what happened with my last place of employment. I need to snap out of this depression i am in about work and focus on why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place and find a place that I fit in at. I also need to start studying for my test I need to take the first week of August. June is flying by and before i know it school will be back in session.
Well guess i will go get something to drink and see what I can do when it comes to Justin's room.

Monday, Monday....

2007-06-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

Monday we went to a funeral of someone from our church. James went to the grave side service (I went to go help with the heating up of food for the reception). The service was at the same place that Jessica is buried. James went by her grave to check on the flowers. Evidently there has been an increase in population out there since we have gone and he had a hard time finding the grave. Anyway, he thought he had propped the truck door open when he got out. However, somehow he forgot to get his right thumb out of the way and it got caught in the door. OUCH!! He went to the Dr. yesterday to see if he could relieve pressure since the nail was really blue. Well, turns out they will only do that in the first few hours from when you slam the door on your finger. The Dr. did x-ray it though and said that it looked like a bone had chipped on the thumb. So he put James in a splint and gave him some pain killers to help him with the pain. James managed to still be able to get on the computer though. Not even a broken thumb will keep him away from his internet addiction. hehe
Last night we watched a DVD of "Surface" the series. I got the whole series on DVD. They cancelled the show last year. (which is strange since it was really a good show) Anyway, we watched the first DVD that has about 5 or 6 episodes. There is just nothing on t.v. on Tuesday nights right now.
Today I have to take the kids to get bathing suits and do a couple of other things that have been needing to get done. James had to come and get me last night because my car decided to die at the chiropractor's office. I was not a happy camper! I wasn't able to take the kids to their youth meeting. So we just left my car there for a couple of days and I will take James to the bus stop so i can use the truck. It is a good thing i don't have to go to work right now.
Kids go to Carawinds tomorrow and will be gone until Saturday. I am not sure what i will be doing while they are gone. James will be at work Thursday and Friday and I will actually be by myself for those two days during the days minus my animal kingdom around here. hehe
I am thinking about painting Justin's room while he is gone. We are going to be getting new carpet in his room on the 29th and his room really needs to be painted. So I guess I will put music on and start painting.

Dog Days of Summer are upon us

2007-06-18T13:46:00.001-07:00

Well, Summer is upon us and its getting hotter outside. I prefer to stay inside now that I am older and wiser. I just can't take the heat like i use to when i was younger.
Last week Kristina was gone for a week and I wrote about cleaning her room. I got it cleaned up and did some more cleaning here and there around the house. (shocked James) lol But ran out of steam by Thursday.
Friday I took Justin see Pirates of the Caribbean. I had not seen the first two movies so much of the 3rd movie did not make a lot of sense to me. Johnny Depp was good though in the movie, even though I am not a Johnny Depp fan usually. I also took Justin to Target to get something. Dropped him off to go in while i parked the car. Well when i went inside to find him, I was rushing because i had to get to the other side of town before 5:30. Well i was going a little bit faster walking than i should have when i lost my balance and fell down. BAM! This lady helped me up. I thought...that was really smart...and ouch that hurts. I hurt my left knee and my right shoulder and bruised the bottom of my palms when i fell on my hands. I have been limping around and hurting since then.
On Thursday night about 11 we got a call from the pastor's wife that one of our members of our church past away unexpectedly. Chris was one of our leaders on the praise team at one time and he will be missed. The funeral was today at 11. After the service, and the graveside ceremony there was a reception at our church. James and I came home around 1:30 ish and crashed in our recliners for a couple of hours.
Kristina came back from her trip more committed to the Lord, and with a lot more friends calling her on her cell phone. I know how hard it is to be a christian at 15 , so i pray that she can continue her strong commitment and can reach others at school for Christ.
She told me the other day that it was "ok" if we moved to Florence or to Rock Hill because she has friends there now. I just laughed. I told her you know what you can do right? And she gave me a blank stare. I told her, "You can PRAY that I get a job". lol
She doesn't realize it but that is what it is going to take to get me a job right now is lots of prayer that an opening will come open somewhere. I would like to stay here but I am open to moving where ever the Lord wants me to go. "Where he leads, I will follow.....".
In the meantime, I have joined an email group for elementary teachers and they are having some cool discussions about curriculum and decorating of their room. It is nice to be able to talk to other teachers and get their insights about things. They also have some cool ideas I had not thought of before. Several of the teachers that teach the younger children have said they have been teaching sign language to their children to help them start having empathy for students that can not hear. I think this is a cool idea. I learned how to sign the alphabet when i was in 5th grade. One of my friends (Melinda) and I would sign to each other. We thought we were so cool. It was not until I was in COLLEGE that I found out that there were actual signs for whole words. So I learned more sign language then. At one time I wanted to be a teacher for the deaf. I still would like to learn how to sign better. I never got to where I could sign fluently.

The kids go to Carawinds on Thursday with the Courageous Kidz group for three days. They will actually be doing other things and then on Friday I think it is they will be at Carawinds. Neither of the kids have ever gone before so i am sure they will have fun.
Oh I almost forgot to tell you...I have a way for you to get an email to let you know about updates. So at the end of the web page for the blog you can sign up to get the update.
Well guess that is all for now.

It's Raining, It's pouring...

2007-06-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

Well it is Tuesday, James and I took Kristina and Wesley (teen from church) to Agape Camp in Batesburg, SC (SALUTE). Little bitty town that reminded James and I of our days in Georgia.

Anyway, we got up at 6 in the morning to take the kids to camp. The great plan was to go early and drop them off and get home so that James could get to work by 12. Well, that did not work worth beans. lol We got to the camp site at 9 in the morning and alas NO one was awake. Turns out the registration was not until 6 that night. Well, we talked to Chuckie (one of the leaders) and he said to hang tight for a couple of hours and maybe we could drop them off a little later. So that is what we did. We found a McDonald's and got breakfast. James settled in to check his email. Located an electrical outlet and got him plugged in. Well, we had hardly gotten the food down that James tells me that he is on "Battery Power" and that the electrical outlet is not working. So he moves to another spot in the restaurant to see if that one worked. Fat chance!

Turns out he paid for 2 hours of internet time for nothing. He got all of 20 minutes of it before his laptop died. He was NOT happy. He had not even gotten to download his email when all of this happened. He found out where an Atlanta Bread Company was in Columbia so off we went to see if they had an outlet. Well the closer we got, the more James said that he was pretty sure he had already been to this Atlanta Bread Company and it did not have an outlet. But of course instead of just giving up, he had to play it out and make sure that indeed it was the same place.

Poor guy...by this time he was starting to twitch and having internet withdrawals. lol

So James decided to go toward Aiken and see if the McDonald's there had an outlet. NOPE...go figure all these places that advertise Free WIFI or WIFI for a FEE do not have outlets for you to plug in your laptop. So word to the wise...have an extra battery backup if you plan to do WIFI.

Well, we finally got to take the kids to camp and drop them off about 1 on Monday. We got to go to Cracker Barrel after that and then headed home. By the time we got home we were both beat.

Today, I am determined not to take a nap. I tend to wake up too many times during the night, so i don't get that much sleep. But I am hoping that if i stay up and don't take a nap then maybe by the time 10 comes around i will be tired enough to sleep. While Kristina is away I decided to straighten up her room. It is not really that bad but the sheets needed to be changed and it needed to be dusted. So i will clean it up for her. I made a Flylady Teen notebook for her a while back but she has not used it yet. I really have not explained it to her just yet. I figure i will straighten her room and then she can use the notebook to help her keep her room clean.

I told Justin that tomorrow will be his room's turn. He just groaned cause he know's he is going to have to help me with it.

I spent part of the morning looking to see if i could find a decent accomodations in Myrtle Beach for James and I to stay at while the kids go to camp. This will be the kid's 7th year at Happy Days Camp. Hard to believe. The first year they went was the only year that Jessica got to go. Since her death, they go every year and look forward to it. Each year James and I say we are going to go on a vacation while they are gone and we have YET to do it. But this year might be the year finally! lol

We are planning to go to Myrtle Beach for a couple of days and enjoy the beach, sun, shows and of course internet access somewhere. (prerequisite for James) hehe

I am trying to find things to do while school is out so i don't go stir crazy. Right now I am working on cleaning the different bedrooms then will work from there. I am also actively looking for another teaching position for next year. I have one more year of teaching, one class to take and one test to take and then i will have my certification. This last year was not a very good year but I hope to learn from my mistakes and make next year a good year.

Saturday, James and I went to see Ocean Thirteen with George Clooney and Brad Pitt and Matt Damion. Well I was rather disappointed in it. It was not nearly as good as it has been hyped up to be. It seemed to drag on and on because it kept introducing characters. It got to be ridiculous as to how many big names they had in this movie. I think the best movie they had was Ocean 11 when they had Julia Roberts in it. That was the best of the three, in my opinion.
Well, time to check wash and continue with Kristina's room....

School is out! WOO HOO

2007-06-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it is hard to believe but it has been almost a year since i have written in my blog. Shame on me. Alot has happened since last summer. Let's see Bailey, my kitty ended up being a snack for a fox in March. James and I had gone to the Parent's getaway with Happy Days (like we go every year) but this time Bailey was outside when we left. He usually comes home and will get in by dark. Well, he did not come home before we left. Then he ended up being gone all that weekend according to the kids. We came home and he still was not home. By that time i was starting to fear the worst. Well sure enough, Bailey was found dead in someone's yard. I was really sad for about 2 weeks and felt really bad that he had gotten out and stayed out so long. James found someone that was fostering a kitten and got it set up for me to get him. His name is K.C. and we got him the week of Spring Break (April 3). He was about 8 weeks old at that time. Cutest white little fur ball I have ever seen. It has quite the personality. He loves the mouse on the computer. He likes cheese (James gave him some one day) lol and he likes most people food. He thinks he is a dog it seems. It also likes to play with Ginger our almost 2 yr old dach/terrior mix. He tries to play with Angel but she will not have it. She lets him know that she is off limits. hehe
I survived my second year of teaching. It did not go as well as the first year. It was not the kids but problems with administration and how I teach. Evidently I am too easy. sigh...so i have to work on that one. I still have alot of growing to do as a teacher and hope that next year will be alot better. I am looking for another position else where instead of Charleston County. I have one more year of teaching, my highly qualified test to take in August and one more graduate class to take and then i will have my professional certificate in Special Education with Emotional Disorders as my specialization. I then plan to get my certification in teaching students with learning disabilities. This will make me much more marketable in the education world.
I guess that is it for now. Maybe I will write more often now that school is out.

Summer is almost over...

2006-07-31T04:30:00.000-07:00

Well summer is here and almost gone. We have a couple of more weeks of break and then its back to the schedule of school for the kids and work for me. WOO HOO!!
James starts his new job today at the College of Charleston downtown. He will be Operations Manager for the Data Center. GO HONEY!!
Then he will be also working his part-time security job on Mon, Tues, and Fridays. This will make for a very long day for him.
I started my online graduate course on Characteristics of Emotional Disorders and Behavioral Disorders. It is really interesting on how we have class. We have email we use from the University of Phoenix and we write in our responses to what the instructor wants us to write about. Then we respond to each others papers.
We also have two projects we will be working on in groups.
We also have alot of reading. Thankfully the book is online. I was going to go find it and get it from Barnes and Nobles and it was going to cost 87.00. CHOKE!!
Thankfully also...this class is sponsored by a state program called Project CREATE. So i did not have to pay for the class. That is an extra blessing.
I do well in this course then the other two courses i need will be sponsored as well.
I am also getting ready for the beginning of school again and trying to get things together for that.

James and I went to see the movie Miami Vice the other day. The movie dragged and when it did have any action it was either sexual or there was major blood and guts. It was not at all what i was expecting. I like the old Miami Vice better with Don Johnson (and his hair).
It seems the movies that are coming out are more violent and twisted than any before them. I keep seeing commercials for the one called PULSE and it looks really creepy.
I think i am better off just staying at home and renting what i know is good! lol
Well guess this is it for now.

Schools Out, Highly Qualified test, Classes....etc

2006-07-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

Well I did not realize it has been since Spring Break when I wrote last. Alot has happened since then. I survived my first year of public school teaching. WOO HOO!! I took the test to become highly qualified. I should find out the results this next week. I also had my inservice classes with the PACE program in June. It was 2 weeks of being brain fried but I passed. We learned alot of stuff that we can take back to our classroom this next year and hopefully use. The kids just got back from Happy Days Camp. They had a blast but Kristina came back sick. I am not use to her being sick. She is so moppy when she is sick and so sensitive.We have gained 2 new family members. There is Ginger, which i think I already wrote about and then we got Bailey the kitten that thinks he is a tiger. Hopefully i can post a picture of him soon. I have been working on our web page the past couple of days. Boy you can tell i have not messed with it in the past year. There are alot of broken links on there that has to get fixed.While the kids were gone James and I went to several movies. He was finished with his Santee Cooper contract so he was free during the day to go do stuff with me. He is back to working security a couple of nights a week. Neither one of us are crazy with the idea but it will help the budget. He has an interview today with J.D. Aluminum for a Windows Network Administrator position. Hopefully it will be a perfect fit and he will be able to land this job.Anyway, we went to see Superman Returns, Click, and The Break-Up.I liked Superman Returns. The guy who played Clark Kent had an eerie resemblance to Christopher Reeves. It was a movie worth seeing especially if you are a superman fan.I remember seeing the first Superman Movie with Christopher Reeves in it on the movie screen back in 1977 or so. It was funny cause i was on a date and the girls in front of me gave a big sigh and swoon when they showed a close up of Christopher Reeves and those BLUE EYES.The next movie we went to see, was Click. This is the story of a man who wants a Universal remote that will make all his appliances easier to operate. Well he gets more than he bargains for with the remote he got. It makes it where he can control his life with the remote.It was a really good movie. It made you laugh so hard you cried and then you would cry some more because of some tender moments. It also got a point across that Family is number one.I like Adam Sandler anyway so it was well worth the movie.Then the next day we went to see The Break Up with Jennifer Aniston. I was rather disappointed with this movie. I am not sure what i was expecting but at the end it left us hanging. Also there was alot of arguing in the movie which gave me a headache. I had to fight the urge to walk out it was so bad on the arguing. Now this might have been funny to people that are use to a fight. But you see James and I don't fight. That is one thing i really am thankful for is that when a conflict comes up we are able to resolve it with out raising our voices. (thank you honey) Anyway, this to me was not one of Jennifer's best movies. Click and Superman Returns will be two that i will consider buying the DVD's when they come out in a couple of months.Well did not plan for a movie review.Till next time...

Spring Break

2006-04-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

AHHHH, Spring Break...What kids and teachers long for....second to Christmas break and Summer break of course.
It has been nice already to not have to go anywhere unless i really have to.
Saturday I had my seminar for the PACE program. It lasted from 8 until about 3. We had fun actually with doing skits having to do with the history of education in S.C. The next time we get together as a PACE group it will be during the June Inservice.
This 9 weeks we are learning about Earth Materials (translation rocks and minerals) in Science. We have one more 9 weeks and school will be out for the summer. WOO HOO!!

I recently received my certificate for my first year completion of teaching. I had to go to Induction meetings once a month during this year. Charleston County had a special meeting for us where we met the new Rookies of the year as teachers and meet the ones from last year. They also had a reception for us afterwards.
I will not miss having to go to the meetings.

During the summer not only will i take the two weeks of inservice in June. I will be having to take another test to become "highly qualified". I will be taking the test the Saturday before i start my inservice.
Other than that, the summer will be full of the kids getting ready to go to camp the first week of July. James wants to be able to do something that week but we are not sure where we will go. We will be celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary next month so it would be fun to be able to go on a cruise however it depends on the timing with the kids gone to camp if we can find a cruise available at that time that is affordable.

Well guess that is it for now.

I can breathe now!

2006-02-04T05:47:00.000-08:00

This is my first Saturday where I have not had to go to Columbia for teacher training. PTL!! Darn I miss my seat in the second row next to my buddy Sal. NOT!! It is nice to stay home for a bit and just breathe a sigh of relief. I finished my training and PASSED! WOO HOO!!
I now go to the second half which will not seem so bad but is just as important. It just takes longer to do the project. I am now back on track with the teachers in training that had it during the summer. We will all meet on Feb.25 in Summerville for a day filled with information. That is when we have homework due.
School is going well with the kids. We hit the 100 day mark last Monday. WOO HOO!!
I will be glad when I have had a year of teaching under my belt.
I will be glad to not have to be under the microscope like i have been this year. I had my observation from my principal on Thursday. I will not find out how i actually did until Feb. 28th when i go for a meeting with her to find out. UGHHHH!! The torcher we go through to get a teaching certificate. hehe
Well i know there was more for me to write in here but now i draw a blank. Will hopefully write more later.

HO HO HO Merry Christmas

2005-12-25T19:00:00.000-08:00

Well it is Christmas night at the Moffitt household. Kids and Dad are playing poker...hehe
I have been studying and was looking at James' blog and decided to blog myself. I realize i have not blogged since Lulu went missing in October. Well she is still gone so we figure she went off and died in the woods. :( I still miss her a bunch.
We have the birds and Angel and Ginger as well as Justin's hamsters so we do not lack animals around here. hehe
Well i survived the study of the crayfish. They were actually rather boring cause the females died early on when we first got them and all that was left was the males. By the time the principal took the rest of them to a pond there were only 4 left out of 12.
I did find out some interesting things about them. They are from the same family as the lobster and they like carrots.
When we go back to school we will be studying the Bess Beatles for about a week. Then it will be a new 9 weeks and the kids will have Health with the PE teacher and i will have an extra planning period. PTL.
When i start science again the 4th 9 weeks it will be about Rocks and Earth's materials. That will be a fun unit since i like rocks. So alot of my lessons i am working on at my seminar i am trying to make it where i can use them when we are studying rocks.
Well guess that is it for now.

Nice quiet brunch: NOT

2005-10-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, James and I decided to go to Cracker Barrel, which is one of our favorite places to eat. There we can share a big breakfast and both be full but not overly full. Well when we got there it was going to be a 25 to 30 minute wait. It was loud in there and after waiting for about 5 to 10 min. James decided that we needed to go somewhere alot less crowded and noisy.
So off we went toward the beach. We found a cool restraunt called "Coconut Joe's Grill" on the Isle of Palms. We can sit outside and look at the water while being in a screened in porch.

I love kids, I really do...however when I am trying to have a nice, quiet, peaceful brunch with my husband before he has to go off to Miami for 2 weeks or more..... Well there was a screamer in the bunch...not sure what table it was coming from but I do know that he/she was NOT happy. I was having flashbacks from when Kristina was about that age ....probably around a year or so if not less and she was SCREAM...OH MY GOSH....we thought she would peel the paint off the wall it was so bad. We use to say she could be one of the screamers you hear on the horror flicks. Giving out one of her blood curtling screams....shivers....
That is how this child was....not just once did she scream but it seemed to be every 3 or 4 minutes...anyway we were glad to get out of there after that.

We went to our favorite and only christian bookstore in Goose Creek and saw our friend Rick there and chatted with him for a while. Then we went home for the rest of the day.
Monday I have my first teacher workday to work on grades. That hopefully will not take that long. We also have a baby shower for one of the counselors there at 12.
It will be nice to go there and just do stuff that needs to get done and not have to teach for a day. Tuesday we start our second 9 weeks. One of my kids at school was having a rough time of it with his meds but I think he is on the up swing and is doing better. So i think this next 9 weeks he will be making good grades. I am also suppose to get another student in from one of the other teacher's class on Tuesday. SO then i will have 4 kids, all boys. That will at least make it easier to do things with them in groups. That is if the new child cooperates. I heard he was a "challenge".
Guess that is about it for now.

Picture of Ginger

2005-10-21T05:22:00.000-07:00

This is the newest addition to the Moffitt household. This is " Ginger Tinkerbell Stitch Moffitt" Angel and Sammy had one last litter and we just gave away 5 puppies to neighbors around our street. However, this is the luckiest puppy of them all because she was chosen to stay with us.
She is now about 7 weeks.
My kitty Lulu that adopted us 2 yrs ago when we moved back here has gone missing. She got attacked by something about a week ago and was stuck in James' hood of his car. Well anyway, she was injured pretty bad. She could hardly walk. She came in and was under my bed for about 2 days and i would try to get her to eat. Then about 3 days ago she left the house while the doors were opened and has not been seen at all. I am hoping she will show up again soon when she has recovered. As James said...she lost 7 of her 9 lives that day.
Well now that i shared our baby Ginger....and told you about Lulu...I guess its time to get ready for work.

Busy Busy

2005-10-21T05:12:00.000-07:00

Well it is now the close of the first 9 weeks at our school district. YEAHHH!! Our kids at school have a day off on Monday so the teachers can regroup and get the grades together etc.
So for this year as gone pretty good. I only have 3 kids in my class and I teach 6 or 7 classes. I have lost count...I teach: Social Studies, Science, Writing, Reading, Math, Social Skills. I think that is it. We have been studying WATER in science class. I am so glad that we are finished with Water...course all this time we were also getting rain like crazy...so i was dealing with water experiements on the inside while it was having water on the outside. One cool thing though is when I was collecting water for our samples of water. I came across water by our classroom and it had tadpoles in it. So we now have 12 tadpoles that eventually will turn into frogs. I just transfered them over to a different container. It takes several months for them to transform into frogs but it should be fun to see the transformation.
The next kit we get will be about Plants, and Crayfish and Beetles. I can handle the plants but crayfish and beetles...?? ICKKKKK
I have to order the crayfish once i get through part of the plant unit and they come in the mail...LIVE....
I am not really looking forward to that too much.
Justin woke up with a sore throat and not being able to breathe well. I think its his allergies so i gave him some stuff for his throat and gave him a claritin in hopes of him feeling better enough to go to school. I am starting to get stopped up as well so i think i will take a claritin and hope it works. I can't afford to get sick either.
I found out about my winter preservice for my PACE program and i will be going up to Columbia the 16 to the 18 of December and then December 27-30 and then several weekends in January and several in Feb. Once that is done i will get my initial certificate for this year. I will also receive my back pay and start getting my salary that i am suppose to get.
One of the teachers that is at my school is also going through the program and will be going up to Columbia at the same time i am so we decided to room together and split the cost of the room and the gas.
Well it is about time to get ready to go to school.
Now that i know how to get back on here to post maybe i will be able to post more often.

The week of August 1st

2005-08-08T07:10:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how things can change within a blink of an eye. A week ago Saturday Sammy was doing his usual thing of barking at the neighbors etc. Within less than a week he was put to sleep because he lost the use of his back legs and was in severe pain. I read up on dachsands and how they have back trouble. Some go on and get wheelchairs and live supposedly happy lives. I just could not see putting him through the pain and torture of keeping him alive in that condition.
He was so use to being active and running around. I would have had to well.....help him take care of going potty since he was incontinent. That was just too much...sigh...
I miss him a bunch, especially when its time to go to sleep or when i am watching tv. or on the computer or taking a nap. He was like...always there right by me.

August 5 was Jessica's anniversary into heaven...it has now been 4 yrs. The other day i figured it out and it has been: 1425 days since we have been able to give her a hug. This makes 34,200 hours since that time as well. Our lives will never be the same because our family is incomplete not having Jessica with us. Even though we don't talk about her all the time we miss her everyday. She would be turning 15 in September. The other two kids in our little commune that were right by her in age are starting high school and will be getting their learners permits soon to drive.

August 7th this was the anniversary into heaven for my brother Hal. He has been gone 2 yrs now. I still miss him so much. He always called me "KID". Did not matter how old i was getting he still called me that.

August 8th..well this is the first day of school for Justin and Kristina. They are both excited about going back to school. Kristina will be in 7th grade and Justin will be in 4th grade.

I start work for Charleston County on the 11th. We have staff development on the 11th and 12th. The week of the 15th I will have training etc. I have been working on my room a little bit at a time during the past week. I went to orientation last Thursday downtown. It was only suppose to be for a couple of hours...WRONG...it lasted from 8 until 2 in the afternoon.
I had brainfry by the time i got home.
Today I will be going and working on my room some more. I will let the school traffic die down first before I adventure out there. I will be in the middle of it soon enough.
School for me starts on Aug. 22nd. That is when I will have 4 students in my classroom with 2 assistants. Should be an interesting year....I finally get to have my own classroom!! WOO HOO!!
I have been waiting for this for way too long!
Well guess that is it for now...

Kids home from camp.

2005-07-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Ok I know its kinda goofy but I wanted to put a picture on here and thought this was cute. hehe
Kids got home from camp today. Justin was telling me all about it. Kristina just wanted to go home and go to sleep. hehe She is crashed right now.

I go to Rock Hill for an interview on Monday. I first go for the initial interview with the district and then if all goes well I should be able to see the principal that day for an interview with him.
Are you wondering where the heck "ROCK HILL IS? " Well its well up YONDER...close to the SC/NC border and about 30 min. away from Charlotte, NC.
There is also an opening for a ED teacher with Charleston County School district. I just saw it and wrote an email and sent a letter of interest to the principal. I would love to get that job because that would mean we would not need to move anywhere.
I hate the thought of having to move away from our friends. We have been here about 5 yrs now except for the 9 months away in Greenville, this has been the longest we have stayed anywhere.
I am hoping I can land a job soon with one of the school districts so i can start getting ready for the school year. I am tired of being in limbo as well.
Hoping i have good news next time i write. :)

It is finally here! Happy Days Camp

2005-07-03T06:35:00.000-07:00

Well the time has finally come...the time for the kids to go to Happy Days camp for a week. YEAH!! They are so excited they are beside themselves. lol This will be their 5th year to go. It is hard to believe its been that long since they starting going to camp. I know they will enjoy being there and will enjoy the must needed break from Mom and Dad. Just think no chores for a week...WOO HOO!! A kids dream vacation....lol

While they are away I will be working on Justin's room. While Kristina was gone a couple of weeks ago to camp for a few days I worked on her room. I have never seen so much clothes for a 13 yr old...gracious...
Justin doesn't have that much stuff but the closet doubles as a storage area for extra clothes for me and for the Christmas stuff. So i need to go through the closet and straighten it up.

I have now had 4 interviews with 3 different school districts for a teaching position...I am now waiting to see what is going to happen with my last interview. I went up to Anderson, SC for an interview last Thursday. The interview itself was alright but the drive up there and back was a nightmare. No AC is the PITS!!! After my interview I realized that i really did not have enough money with me to make it back home. Let's see quarter tank of gas...230 miles and 4dollars...nope that is NOT going to cut it. Thankfully we have friends that live in a nearby town of Piedmont. I was able to spend the night with them and drive back Friday morning and borrow some gas money to make it home. Many thanks to our friends Gale and Anthony!

One thing about the upper part of SC is that it is beautiful. I was sitting on a swing that Gale has in their front yard and was just listening to the birds and fighting off the "Nosems". The flying bugs that have teeth as James so lovingly calls them. lol
Anyway, besides the bugs i was enjoying the peace and quiet and being able to hear the birds sing. One of Gale's neighbors brought me a salad, granola bar and drink to tide me over until Gale and Anthony got home. That was a blessing because i had not eatten all day long and was quite famished.

So once again i am waiting to see what is going to happen when it comes to a job. One of my friends, Cole made a comment the other day in email that she could not wait to see what job God gave me. I wrote back and said...I can't wait either! I know he has something planned because I don't think he would have gotten me this far in the program just to leave me hanging.

I am not going to get to take the pre-service during the summer like i had originally planned. I was to have a contract signed by July 4th and register for the pre-service so i could take it July 11-22. Well since i did not get a contract signed that messed up my chances of taking the pre-service. That was the whole point of not working for the summer was so i could take the pre-service. So now i am going to see about finding any job i can while i wait to see about the teaching job. Most school districts wait till the very end to hire teachers right before school. Once they know what their enrollment is going to be like that is when they hire new teachers.
So hopefully something will come to pass soon.

Well guess that is enough babbling for now. I might not write in my blog very much but when i do...I write alot. hehe
later

Remembering June 5, 2000

2005-06-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a date planted in your brain you can't get rid of? Well i have a nack for remembering dates. Good dates, birthdays, anniversaries, and bad dates....when Justin fell out of a two story window and can live to tell about it- Sept. 9, 1998 in College Park, Ga.
Kristina busted out her front teeth from a bike accident, June 12, 2002 in Simpsonville, SC. Then there is the most famous date that is edged in my brain. June 5, 2000 when Jessica had to have surgery to remove a brain tumor. This story actually started in May of 2000 when Jessica started to have really bad headaches. We thought she was having them because she had broken her glasses. We were living in Bluffton, SC near Hilton Head, SC at the time. We took her to the ER on June 3rd that night when she started throwing up and she was not able to walk on her own. The doctor was baffled at first and then decided to run a CAT scan of her head. That is when he found a mass in the back of her head the size of a baseball. This is when the Moffitt family would not be the same ever again. They stablized her and sent her by ambulance to MUSC in Charleston, SC. We (the rest of the family, grabbed clothes and headed to Charleston to be with our little girl.
You can read more about what happened on our web page at: http://www.lightourworld.com
and look in the link to the memorial page. I still have the diary i kept when Jessica was going through treatment.

After the diagnoses it was rather a blur but we eventually moved to Charleston to begin Jessica's treatment that lasted for 14 months.

Each year on this date i start remembering all the things we went through and all the emotions that we felt. Jessica is gone from earth but she is never forgotten from our hearts or our minds.

On a lighter note, I have an interview for a teaching job in St. Stephen at a middle school. This is about 45 minutes away from us. It is not close but it is the beginning of looking for a teaching job. There is also an opening at College Park Middle school as well.
At this point I am willing to go where ever God is will to open the door. At first i mainly wanted to work at the elementary level but now i am open to go where ever he leads.
Will let you know how it works out with the interview.

Schools Out for the Summer!

2005-06-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

Well school is out for the summer. WOO HOO!!! Our kids are enjoying the time off. They got out May 26th, last Thursday. They have been enjoying staying up late and sleeping in. The joys of childhood. hehe
I never slept in as a child. I was always the one that woke up when my mom got up. We would sit and talk and have coffee (well after i turned 12 i guess it was i got coffee) . Thanksfully my mo was a morning person.
On Monday, James worked on both computers. We were having some major problems with the computers and i was getting errors left and right. This can be very frustrating when you are trying to write an email and the program closes because of an error.
He finally got it pieced back together Monday night. I am slowly getting all my programs on the computer that i had on here before.
I am using Outlook because it has the calendar and where you can keep up with tasks to do.
I was using Incredimail and though it is cute and i like the stationary, I need something that i can use to keep up with activities going on.

James is at an interview this morning. I am hoping that it is going well and that he will call me soon to let me know how it went. It called just now and well it was not as it sounded at first.

I am still trying to find some type of summer job if possible while still looking for a job for the Fall. It is a catch 22 situation...which is really frustrating. I have to have a job lined up by July 4th before i can take the two week preservice on July 11-23. I can't get a job and not have had the preservice. UGHHH
I would like to work this summer so i can help with the finances but who is going to hire me for a couple of weeks when i have to be gone 2 weeks in July for my preservice. The preservice is an intensive training program where i go to class from 8 to 5 for 10 days. Each night i have homework that is due the next day. This will determine if i get to continue in the program.

During the year i continue to go to a workshop about every other month. Then next summer i take a two week inservice and 2nd and 3rd year of teaching i take my graduate courses. This is when i will be observed alot more. At the end of the 3 yrs i take my teaching test to get certified.
Good news : I will be getting a new eligibility letter stating that i have 4 yrs experience teaching instead of the 0 experience they had for me before. This will greatly increase my chances to getting a job. I have sent out my resumes and letter of interests so now i just have to sit back and pray and hope to hear from someone soon!

Well more dribble later

Finally something to talk about!

2005-05-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

Well if you read James' blog already you know I received my eligibility letter from Education Dept. of SC. WOO HOO!! Finally! Now I am actively pursuing a job for August. In the meantime I am also actively looking for a job for the summer. I need a temporary job for the summer to help keep us going until I start a full time job in the fall. Last year at this time I was fixing to start working for Walmart. Boy do I miss that job now! I do not miss the manager that stabbed me in the back but I miss the paycheck that went with having that job! lol
I know something will come through it always does. There is an opening at Trident Tech for a Instructional Assistant. It doesn't pay that much but it is a job and I can handle that. It is also temporary which is a plus.

Kristina will have her play production tomorrow night. The play is called: "The Seven Wives of Dracula". Kristina plays the Doctor. Should be a cute show. I will be glad when it is over! Kristina has had play practice for the past 6 weeks until 5 in the afternoon. That gets really old for her as well as for her chauffeur.
Next week the kids get out for the summer. They are so excited! They also get their report cards. Hopefully Justin brought up his grades from what he had on his progress report.
I also need to get them in for their physicals so they can go to camp.
Well guess that is it for now. Hopefully the next time i write i will have good news about a job for the summer and the fall.

Gotta make this short!

2005-04-13T08:14:00.000-07:00

I am heading over to MUSC to have an interview. I am hoping i will get the job as Theraputic Assistant (part time). That is what i did before we moved to Greenville area. Even if its just for the summer it would be a good job to have until i can get a job with the school district full time.
We finally have sound back on our computer. James thought it was the motherboard but I did a diagnostic from the control panel and figured out it was the sound card. WOO HOO!!
I am good! LOL
Well time to blast out of here. Hopefully i will have something good to report after the interview. I have had so many interviews with them for the same position i have lost count since i came back here to GC.

Well went to the interview and it lasted about 45 minutes. He told me stuff that no one else went into before...ie How the units had changed, how many hours i would have and when the training would be. I am hoping to hear from him sometime this week with a yeah or a nah.
This would be a good job to have in time for summer.

Camp Happy Days....

2005-04-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

Well the forms for camp came in the mail today for Camp Happy Days. I thought both kids were going to do the happy dance big time. So they will be filling out some of the forms and I fill out the other stuff like the medical stuff. They are going to be gone July 3 till the 9th. I am not sure who enjoys it more, the kids or James and myself. hehe

Well we have one puppy left. I have someone coming to see him at 6 so most likely she will take him home with her. "Bear Bear" as he was lovingly named by Kristina is all black and fuzzy. Cute as can be. If it were possible we would keep him, but three dogs is way too much. Especially since I am the one that takes the dogs out at the wee hours of the night.

I am still waiting for my letter of intent for my critical needs certification. UGHHH, talk about frustrating, I called today to make sure they had everything they needed. The lady said that it all needed to be evaluated. It is like...well hurry up and evaluate it! I already got the academic stuff evaluated last year or i would not have continued the process if they had said that i did not qualify academically.
I am to take a preservice workshop during the summer for 2 weeks before i can start working in the Fall. I also need to find a place to work in the Fall (little catch).
I guess i have waited this long i can wait a couple more weeks.

One down, Four more to go!

2005-03-28T17:05:00.000-08:00

Well we just gave away the runt today. Bruiser as the kids call him was black and tan and had the markings of a dauchsend(sp). Cute as can be! We now have 4 more to give away. I have several people that are interested in them so hopefully this next week we can send them on their merry way.
I located a small dining room table with 4 chairs from my Freecycle group. It is just the right size for the kids to eat at. James and I tend to eat watching t.v. most nights. So this is perfect for the space that we have.

A much better day!

2005-03-25T20:57:00.000-08:00

Well today turned out to be a much better day than yesterday. I don't care to repeat a day like i had yesterday as a substitute teacher. I am off for the next week because of Spring Break. We had today off because of Good Friday. I went and had brunch with my honey and filled my car up. Then I went and got some clothes from someone on my Freecycle list. This is a great list to be on because not only can you give away stuff that you no longer need. You can also get stuff that you need. Justin is forever needing clothes and today I went and got a big bag full from someone on the list at her work. You can check out the elist at: www.yahoogroups.com and search for CharlestonFreecycle. Then from there I went to Summerville to see my friend Evelyn pronounced Eve-Lyn. She lives in a gorgeous house in the older side of Summerville. She has a wonderful front porch. Right now they are redoing the bathrooms so she actually has a toilet and 2 old tubs(that got refinished) on the porch. It looked funny when you go on the porch and see it. What a contrast. lol It would be no big deal to see it around here cause you would think Red Necksville. Anyway, I stayed there for quite a while and watched a scrapbook segment on a craft show. Evelyn has a bunch of cookbooks that she is giving away and so I was able to go through them and find ones I wanted. As James says "I hit the Motherload" lol
There were also some health /diet books that i got too.
I made it home by 5ish. I had to go and get James' clothes at the cleaners.
I have been having fun looking at my new cookbooks. Hopefully I can find something new that my family will eat.

The No Good, Very Bad, Pitiful Day

2005-03-24T18:27:00.000-08:00

Have you ever read the book, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible,No Good, Very Bad Day byJudith Voirst? Well here is the description of this book:

"He could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. He went to sleep with gum in his mouth and woke up with gum in his hair. When he got out of bed, he tripped over his skateboard and by mistake dropped his sweater in the sink while the water was running. He could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Nothing at all was right. Everything went wrong, right down to lima beans for supper and kissing on TV. What do you do on a day like that? Well, you may think about going to Australia. You may also be glad to find that some days are like that for other people too. "

That is kinda like the day I had today! First I kept dreaming I was awake so I did not feel like I got much sleep. James and I both work up at 5 a.m. It seemed to be a pretty good morning and early afternoon until we got to AFTER recess.
I have a class that will not calm down. Now usually I let them talk a little bit while they work on stuff. It is one of those things you learn to have to do as a substitute because they usually do not listen to you anyway. I finally get them calmed down and I hear this constant clicking noise. I go to investigate and its Derrick playing with someone's flute case and flipping the latch back and forth. Talk about irritating! I ask him to please stop. He ignores me. I give him a few minutes and I go and quietly take the flute and go put it by the desk. Well he decides to go off on me and start cussing me out. Well I just go straight to the phone and call the principal to please come in to the room. The principal says he will take care of Derrick and just to write it up. Well after Derrick leaves there are about 4 girls that can't seem to get the idea of WORKING on their Language Arts paper QUIETLY. I send one to another teacher in hopes of squalching the noisy girls. It seems to help for a little while. Because its the last day of school before Spring Break there were alot of kids that tried to start their vacation early. So anyway, i ended up writing up 4 kids just from this one class for either talking constantly or being disrespectful and TRYING to argue with me about if they deserved to be written up.
Well the next class, came in and was just getting settled in as to what they were to do when this one girl goes off at this boy across the room. Next thing I know they are going at it and hitting each other. Now I have never seen a boy/girl fight until now. This girl fought like a guy...and started putting him in a hold and started beating the tar out of him. He retaliated and started scratching and hanging on to her long hair. Needless to say, its amazing she had hair left. lol
I went and got another teacher to help break up the fight. Two of the other kids held the fighters back. I did not care to get hit . Because I am a substitute I really do not have the right LEGALLY to put my hands on a student for any reason. So we got the fighters out of the room. The class was all talking about what happened and basically getting anything done in there was just SHOT!! I then had to write up those two that had the fight.
One of the other subs came over to see if i was ok. I told her "Nah" I use to work in an ED classroom. So this is really nothing. lol You expect stupidity from special education kids that have anger issues etc but not from "regular ed kids".
The next class was not bad at all until the very end...the bell rang and I looked back into the room and 2 girls were going at it. I thought what is going on...geez...
Turns out they are actually friends but Breanna thought Christy was going to hit her and Christy told her "NO, I thought you were going to hit me", well just as she said that Breanna said I was...and punched her right in the face. One of their other friends got in the middle of it until I came and helped to break it up. So now I have to write up those two about what happened.
Christy is an AB honor roll student so this was a shock to me. She is one of my "teacher pets" from a class I had last year for 2 weeks.

Well I finished up writing up my referrals that I had and was leaving and taking Kristina to her audition for the STEP program. This is a program for gifted and talented musicians.
Well we got there early and I kept seeing kids with art portfolios. I went to go see where Kristina was to go and lo and behold...
When I had made the appointment for the audition I had put it on the calendar on FEB. and not MARCH and it was suppose to for the 23rd and not the 24th.
Couse I did not realize it until I got home and looked at the calendar. When we changed the calendar to March, Kristina had put the date for the 24th when indeed it was to be the 23rd.
So I am going to TRY to talk to someone and see if they will give her another chance since it was
something that was basically my fault and not hers. Talk about feeling like a worm.
And the ultimate today was that Kristina just asked to go to the dance that is TONIGHT.
In the past we have told her that she is to ask her DAD and not me and that she is to give us advance warning and ask at least a week before.
So she is going to miss it because of that. Also she has practice for the Drama team tonight. They
have 2 more practices before they have to perform for the church. She asked me why she could not miss it...cause....someone else at church does...I said well hopefully you are more committed to the drama team than they are.
So right now I am not her favorite person. Such begins the life of a mom of a teenager.....

I hope tomorrow will be a better day.

Teacher Recruitment Fair

2005-03-20T04:55:00.000-08:00

Well I went to the Teacher Recruitment Fair on Saturday morning. It was from 9 to 12 at Stratford High School. I got there right at 9. Each school had booths set up to show why WE the teachers should want to be associated with them. lol
Since I pre-registered I was able to go straight to an interview with the Special Education Coordinator, Liz Furmanek. We had a very interesting interview which lasted about 10 to 15 minutes. She does not have any openings for an ED teacher in elementary. However, I told her I would rather have elementary but I have experience with middle school as well and that would be fine. So at least i got the initial interview out of the way. Turns out she came into my classroom when i was a long term sub at Sangaree Elementary. I am still waiting for my critical needs certification to come in.
Well time to fix breakfast and get ready for church.

Renaissance Mom's weekend

2005-03-13T16:03:00.000-08:00

Well I got back from a wonderful and relaxing weekend in Isle of Palms about 11:00am. We had about 10 mom's there this weekend. This was my 4th year going to the special weekend for mom's that have lost children to cancer. Thanks to Happy Days and Special Times who sponsors the weekend we come together and help support the new mom's as well as enjoy the friendships of the other women for the weekend.
Each year they get a house donated for us to stay in. This one was a two story house with 5 bedrooms ocean front view. It was gorgeous! It was too windy and cold on Saturday to do anything outside. By Sunday it was nice and would have been a pretty good day to go to the beach. But by then I was ready to come home!

Friday night we had pot luck where we all brought food to eat. Then the master chef "Cupcake"aka Cheryl and "Sunshine" not sure what her real name is...fixed two wonderful breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday morning. The theme for Saturday was "Rock and Roll" and Cupcake had all sorts of memoribilia showing oldies , it was so cute. Then Sunday morning she brought in her own sand and the theme was "The Beach". She had cups that were made of women's bodies in bathing suits. We all got to keep our cup. I had one that had a blue two piece bathing suit on it. When James came in I showed it to him. He thought it was ceramic. Lo and behold to him it was a cup and had something in it! LOL oops...Sorry honey..he ended up spilling it on his shirt. Luckily it happened when he was coming home instead of leaving to go somewhere.

This year we got into making beaded necklaces, earrings and bracelets. During the day we also have someone give professional massages. Last year we had several people come in for a couple of hours to give massages. This year it was just one person and she stayed most of the day giving massages. This is the first year in 3 years i did not get a massage. I was busy with working on a photo card that Creative Memories has come out with. Each year there is a consultant from Creative Memories that comes in and teaches about scrapbooking.

Then Saturday night we learned about the different grades of chocolate. OH MY!! We had a chocolate overdose. hehe But it was yummy!
I learned I just like plain ole Milk Chocolate! LOL I am not into dark chocolate.
We ate more wonderful stuff this weekend. There was this spinach dip that was wonderful with triskets. I love that stuff!

When I got home I was greeted by the dogs since they were the only ones home. But I could tell when I saw the kids and James they were glad to have me back home. :)

Back to reality again...

Next Saturday I go to the Teacher Recruitment fair at Stratford. I am still hoping that my certificate will arrive in the mail. That would be helpful to be able to show them. I did get my 3 references finally and they happened to be by 3 principals so hopefully that will help.
After next weekend I will see what i can do about getting a job for the summer.

Well guess thats it for now.

Spring is coming...

2005-03-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

Well its a gorgeous day here in Duck Ditch (quack quack). We actually have a duck that comes into our yard from next door. He knows how to fly and likes to hang out in the ditch that has a bunch of water in it right now. hehe... Sammy just goes nuts when he sees him to cause he wants to be "friends".

Well the other day I reported to you about getting another job starting next Wens. After much discussion with James and pondering...I decided to NOT accept the position.
The kicker was when the "new supervisor" told me that they would hold back two weeks pay before i got paid. Well that would just kill our finances completely. Another thing was that I would have to give up time at home when the kids need me. So they would be unsupervised for several hours. We have tried that before when I worked at Wallyworld and it did not work at all. We do not like our kids running a muck.

I think its more important for me to be available to our kids than to have a job that will take me away from my family and church.
This week when I was subbing for a class, the Resource officer came in and talked to the kids. He said that the 5 major reasons that kids get into trouble with drugs and the law were:
Number One reason: NO PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

That was suprising to me. I thought it was going to be drugs, or peer pressure. Which are part of the 5 reasons but he names No parental involvement as the number one factor.
2 was peer pressure, 3 was drugs, 4 was television and boredom.
Some kids even named music content as one of their reasons. I can see that because some of the music today is really ronchy.

This past week I learned while subbing: all about global warming, the problems the slaves had when they were freed and the Jim Crow law that discriminated against the newly freed slaves. I also watched a movie in another class about the Revolutionary war (4 times). hehe
Then in music class, she had the kids look up music trivia. The kids were like "is this true or false?". This was AFTER I explained the instructions...I said they were all TRUE FACTS, you are to figure out what year that they happened. OHHHH, came the replies....the first couple of classes i let the kids listen to "their music" on the radio. Then after lunch I talked to Mrs. Lacy who is one of the secretaries and she told me about 105.2 which is the oldies station and it plays 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's which is what the kids were trying to figure out. So the last two periods, I tortured the 8th graders and MADE them listen to the oldies station. (8th graders are my LEAST favorite of grades, mainly because they think they are tough...until they become 9th graders and go back to the lowest person on the food chain again. LOL
I also learned from the trivia that Marilyn Monroe died in the 60's, Albert Einstein died in the 50's, global warming was starting to be discussed in the 80's. That was just a few of the trivia that we learned in music class. hehe
Well guess thats it for now. Need to get Sammy in cause he is barking like crazy at someone or something!

What to do at 5:30 am....

2005-03-02T05:33:00.000-08:00

Once again I am up before the roosters next door. I woke up at 3 to take Sammy out and then never was able to get back to sleep.
I sent off my fingerprints and my official transcript to South Carolina Education Agency last Thursday. They have not show that they have received it just yet (usually they scan stuff in). The Berkeley County School district received my copy of my SS card/test results and transcript. I just went to check and they are scanned in. I am suppose to go to a Teacher Recruitment Fair on March 19th. I am hoping and praying that I will get my Critical Needs certificate by that date so i can be able to show the principals that I have it. That is a key factor in getting a job as a teacher for next year. (having that certificate)

I went on an interview last week for a position at the portrait studio in Walmart. Lo and behold, I got the job. It is a full time position and has benefits as well as sales bonuses. I will be taking pictures and helping customers with their selections. This will be a good job to have while I am waiting for next year's teaching assignment. This comes with benefits that James and I both need. I need to be able to get some prescription glasses and we both need to go to the Dr. for various things. Course I am wondering how much its going to cost for the insurance, if it will be worth it?
This will also be a good job to have for the summer. This also means I have to stop subbing and only have this job since it will consist of full time hours ie 10 to 7.
Next weekend (11-13th) is the Renaissance Mom's weekend with Happy Days and Special Times , which is going to be at the Isle of Palms Beach House. I have gone every year since Jessica has been gone. I might end up having to miss it this year.
The next weekend is the Teacher Recruitment Fair on that Saturday and if i have to miss a Saturday of work well I need it to be the 19th instead. I mean its not likely I will get a job that fast on that day but its a chance to meet the principals and find out who might have an opening for my specialty.
That needs to be number one priority. I have been wanting to be a certified teacher for over 20 years.
That goal is finally within in my grasp.

Well guess enough babbling....I have to get ready to go to work soon. This should be fun on 4 hours of sleep. sigh....

What to do at 3 in the morning?

2005-02-23T00:24:00.000-08:00

Well here I sit at the computer and its nearly 3:30 in the morning now. I started getting sick yesterday at school. I was sneezing like crazy most of the day. When I got home I started taking meds. I took everything from Claritin (thinking it might be my allergies) to Theraflu and so far no real relief. Then about 11:45pm I took something that had an antihestomine (not sure what it was since it was out of the box) I figure good something that would dry me up. Well it actually did dry me up however I have been a wake most of the night. UGHHH!!

I was suppose to work today but when i woke up at 11:45 pm and good not hardly talk or do much else i called in to the lady that assigns the subs and told her i could not work.
Yesterday, Justin was sick with a low fever and coughing. I am hoping to be able to send him to school today. He has missed 8 days of school so far this year and can not miss anymore than 10 before they decide to retain him. I would rather he not have to stay in 3rd grade again due to absences.
This past Friday I finally was able to get my fingerprints done. I went to the Summerville Police Department and had it done there. I also got my official transcript in as well. So now I need to see if i can send a copy in to the South Carolina Education Agency or if i have to send my only Official copy that i got in. Hopefully i can just send a copy. I would like to keep the original.

This weekend James decided that he needed a break from all the WORK he has been doing. He goes non-stop from one job to the other. Well he came and got the kids and I and we went driving. We drove almost to Florence and he realized there was NOTHING in that area so we turned around. Then we got to Santee and found a motel to stay in for the night. Let's just say I was HAPPY to see my ole' bed when we got home! LOL
We tried to sleep on a double bed together. We are spoiled with our queen size bed.
So after we got up Sunday morning we went to the Ladson flea market and looked around. Found some stuff we needed and scooted with our loot.
We then went bowling with the kids and then to a movie. By the time we got home we were all wiped out.
It was fun but we were all glad to get home.
Well guess I will try to lie down for a bit on the couch.

Finally....I am posting...

2005-02-14T08:09:00.000-08:00

Well i finally figured out how to get back to the part where you can write in the blog. I sometimes forget about bloggin as you can tell since i have not blogged "in a coons age".

I finished my long term substitute assignment on January 24th and have just been substituting anywhere they needed me since that time. I even subbed last week for the middle school where I was a long term sub for the first four weeks. The class has grown since i left and she has a steady 14 kids in each class. She mainly teaches Science to 6th and 8th graders and then also teaches Language Arts and Math to her kids that are considered self contained.
I taught one day last week in a Math class from He**. It was horrible! I told James that it was probably my 2nd worst day of subbing i have ever had in my 2 yrs of subbing. Are you wondering what my worst day was?
Well, last year I went into a 8th grade class room and was barely there for 15 minutes trying to get their attention. I got so frustrated I went to the door to gather myself. Well a teacher happened to walk by and saw me. She asked me innocent enough "How are things going? Well that did it, I broke down crying and had to go to the bathroom. She covered my class. The kids would not listen...they would not quiet down enough to listen. I had to call in the Assistant Principal at the time. She found more work for them to do because the teacher really had not left much for them to do anyway. Well after that class period it got better. But only because Mrs. Fowler came in and reamed them out.

Today on Valentine's day I am taking a day off and doing some errands. At 11:30 I get to have brunch/lunch with my valentine at our favorite place. :)
Then:
I need to go get my fingerprints redone. My fingerprints were rejected from the FBI when I sent them in with my Teacher Application. sigh...
So I will go to Stratford and see if the Resource officer there can do the honors. I also have to take Kristina's clarinet to get fixed at the music shop by Citadel Mall.
Another fun thing i need to do is find out if my 75.00 that we paid for the application fee includes getting my official transcript. I thought it did at the time but if not then i need to get that ball rolling and get a copy. There is a Teacher Recruitment Fair in March at Stratford and I would like to be able to go to it. But its important that i have my critical needs certificate in hand at the time. The fair is mainly to meet the different principals. Very few at that time know if they have any vacancies. Teachers do not have to give their letter of intent until around the end of April or the first part of May. So i am not sure how important the fair actually is but would still like to go.

Kristina had her talent show at her school last week. She did really well. She sang "When I think of Cheatin". I do not remember who actually sings it. Anyway, she did great but you could hardly hear her cause she had the same range as the actual singer. The principal who was MCing the event made a comment as she left the stage about "Look for Kristina on the Grand Ole' Opry". We will see. She is alot braver than i am when it comes to singing in public much less on stage.
Well guess thats it for my babbling for now.
Will try to get better about writing more often.

Things change overnight...

2004-11-16T06:14:00.000-08:00

Wow, amazing what happens within a 24 hour period. Geez...I went to work last night to Walmart after working at school all day long. I get an announcement over the PA that I am wanted in the AD office (where my manager resides). She tells me that I committed an offense at the company by grading papers for my other job while on Walmart time. After she gives this LONG speech about it. I speak up in my defense. I said "Excuse me but you told me when i changed over from being a cashier to being the phone operator that IF i needed to work on lesson plans for my teaching job that i could do so. As long as it was NOT busy and I had done my other work that i have to do by the fitting room (ie sort the endless clothes from returns).
Well one particular night, i did grade papers but it was because it was a very slow night and the phone was quiet and no customers were in the fitting room area. So i graded papers, another supervisor came by and asked what i was doing and i told her. She said i needed to put it up. So i did. Lo and behold she wrote me up for that incident...now back to the present to about 9 last night when my manager called me in. I reminded her what she had told me when i first took over that job..and she sat there and looked me in the eye and said... "I do not remember telling you that Katy" grrrrr.
As far as i am concerned she lied to me and was just trying to cover herself now that it came up from another manager. I told her i was quitting and that i would sign out and hand over my badge to another associate. The next step was for me to sign a statement saying that i did indeed commit the said offense when as far as I am concerned my manager said that it was ok.
So now i can go home after school and not have to deal with working at Walmart anymore.
We will miss the extra money it brought in but I know that God will take care of us. I also will be able to spend some time with our kids which has been lacking since I took on two jobs.
Well back to grading papers, putting grades in the computer etc.

November zooming by...

2004-11-14T06:29:00.000-08:00

Wow, hard to believe its already the middle of November. As i am writing this, James and the kids went to church. I am feeling a bit sniffly and woke up way too early with aches and pains. UGHH!!
This week i will be working at Walmart 5 days in the evenings, unless my manager changes it when i get in today at 4.
I have really enjoyed working with my 1st and 2nd graders and will really miss them when i have to give them back over the the regular teacher. On Tuesdays I have been able to go to a bible study at school after the kids leave for "40 days of Purpose". It has been great to be able to fellowship with other believers that are in the workplace.
I think the most eventful thing that happened to me this week was on Thursday. I stayed after school to work on grades etc. Tuesdays and Thurs. I leave school by 3:15 to go get Justin at 3:45 from his chorus rehearsal. However, on this particular day I was focused on grades and knew i needed to get to Walmart by 4:30. I got into the parking lot at 4:20 thinking "I made it in time and this was my last day to work until Sunday". Then a light went flashing on...and it dawned on me that I was to pick Justin up at 3:45 and it was 4:20!! So i went...fast but NOT TOO FAST...to home to see if he was there first. He had left a message, so I zoomed to his school (but not TOO FAST) and sure enough he was waiting for me along with his music teacher. Poor baby...he just said..."Mom, I was really suprised when you were not there when we got through". I am usually one of the first ones that get there to pick up my child. I felt so bad. :(
To say the least I will be putting a reminder on my chalkboard to remind me to pick him up on Tuesday and Thursdays.
Anyway, after i picked him up I zoomed home and dropped him off, called work at Walmart and let them know i was coming. One of the women there said i needed a psychiatrist. LOL
Nah, just a new brain would help!

This next Saturday, Kristina tries out for the All County Chorus. I sure hope she makes it! I know she has a beautiful voice but then i am prejudice.
Thanksgiving is fast approaching. We will be going to the Happy Days Thanksgiving Dinner that they host every year at a local restaurant downtown. Last year was our first year to go and we enjoyed it. Then the weekend after that they have their annual Christmas party. Which we plan to go to if i can be off that day.
Now that Christmas season is coming around the corner, they will be needing me at Walmart more. Two of the women that do the phones are out for 3 months. So that only leave the other two (myself included) to fill the shoes that at least 3 people usually do for Walmart. Hopefully they will hire some more help soon.
James said i could quit Walmart but until I have a full time job as a teacher somewhere I think i will just endure it and keep this job as well. It helps pay for the in between times when i don't get paid as a long-term sub.
I am hoping to hear soon as to my status about my critical needs certificate. There are no openings right now for what i am getting certified in but I applied for an extension as well so it will cover next year as well.
Since working with the younger group I have decided that i want to work with the elementary school kids instead of the middle school kids. I think there is better chance to help them when they are little than when they have been in the system for years and get to where they don't want to try anymore.
Well guess that's it for now. Back to grading papers etc...and cleaning what i can around here.

Boo Boo's,Report cards, concerts etc....

2004-10-19T18:53:00.000-07:00

Well last Monday I started my long-term substitute position at Sangaree Elementary. It has truly been an adventure already. Last week, I got to go with the class to Wannamaker Park to see the "Touch of the Earth" tour. It has the various Indian tribes that tell about their different tribes and I really liked it alot. I have pictures to share soon. Last Thursday was a half a day for kids and parent/teacher conferences for the rest of us. I had one of the parents come in to meet me and talk about her son. Last week we were having problems with transportation and how i was going to get from Sangaree elementary to Walmart on Monday, Wens. and Thursdays. Most of the teachers there live in or around Summerville. We have since solved the transportation issue. I have a Ford Escort station wagon that we are buying on payments. PTL
I am really enjoying having a smaller car that sips gas compared to the bigger station wagon.

Wel this morning I managed to hurt my right pointer finger while trying to go down the steps of our porch. I missed a step and grabbed on to the rail. It gave way since it was loose anyway...so i grabbed on to a metal section of the bottom cover of the mobile home. (I am sure it has a name but just can't think of it right now.) Anyway, I managed to do a good job on cutting my finger. I went to the school nurse to get it taken care of cause i did not want to miss work. I am thankful that it was just my finger and not a broken bone.

Today the kids got their report cards. Justin made AB honor roll. Kristina made 2 A's 2 B's and a C in PE. This just about devasted her. She has NEVER made a C. I wrote a letter to the PE teacher to at least find out "WHY" she got the C so that next time she has PE she will know what NOT to do. Somehow she went from a 92 which is a B+ to a C+ within 3 weeks time from her Progress report. That to me is a dramatic drop and is questionable.
Tonight Justin had his first play/concert from his Dolphin Company at school. I really believe God took care of us on this.....you wonder why i say that...well....I did not find out that he even HAD a concert until last night when I was working the fitting room/ and answering phones. A customer came in to get some tan pants for her daughter for the concert. I happened to ask what school. Lo and Behold it was Justin's school. hehe
I called Justin and he was clueless. It dawned on me later that last week he had to miss a practice for the chorus and that is when she probably told them that they had a concert and passed out the fliers. Then on Thurs they had a half a day and Friday was a holiday for them.
So it was amazing to me that we found out about it at all. Justin had a speaking part and I did not want him to miss it. Also we were able to find some pants that he could wear so we did not have to buy him any pants. So that was a blessing.
After we went to the concert we went to church for the first Praise Dance Team practice for the teens.
Kristina is now part of the Praise Team. They did pretty good for the first practice.
Well its about time to find something to fix for supper for James and get ready for tomorrow. I have found that i need to get up at 5:45 in the morning in order to get out of here by 6:30 to get to school by 7:05.
Well will try to write more soon.

Puppies gone, new assignment, general update

2004-10-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
Well I went to a meeting with Justin's teacher and speech teacher yesterday. His teacher, Mrs. Latto was singing Justin's praises. He mainly needs to work on his handwriting. Otherwise she said he has all A's. That is pretty impressive I think. I never made all A's or even A's and B's when i was in elementary/middle/or high school. hehe
Kristina is doing just as well and seems to be breezing through 6th grade so far.

The puppies have been gone for almost 2 weeks. Peace as we know it has been restored. lol
They were fun to have around but glad to have them gone now. One of my friends at work as the runt so i can at least keep tabs on that one.

Last Friday I went to an interview for an Elementary school. They need someone to long-term sub until the teacher gets back in January from having her baby. I met with the teacher, principal and the teacher assistant. This particular assignment is not too different from the one i had in August except that this teacher is established in the classroom. They both are special education classes for cross-category students. This means students that have multiple challenges. (sounds better than disabilities). This is also with 1st and 2nd graders instead of with Middle school kids. It should be alot of fun. I start tomorrow and will be there two days before the teacher goes on leave. Next week they have a field trip and a half day because of teacher/parent conferences. One of the inservices they are going to have training when it comes to their reading program. The principal was going to see about having me be able to attend. This will be great because most of the schools in this particular school district use this curriculum. It is always good to have extra training. I will find out tomorrow if i get to go to it or not.

Bloggin'

2004-09-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

Hi all, It has been a while since I have written in here. Time has literally flown by. For about the first 3 weeks of school I was working as a long-term sub at Sangaree Middle school. It was great experience and i wished it had lasted alot longer. I did get a recommendation out of it from the principal. That in itself will come in handy later on. I am still working at Wallyworld..(clearing throat) I mean Walmart. I transferred over to being the phone operator. I was a cashier up until about a month ago and my wrist was hurting too much that i had to make a change. Actually i think its been longer than a month now..as i said time has flown by.
Anyway, I now answer the phones, make announcements and page people when necessary. I would rather be a cashier but at least my wrist is not hurting anymore since i changed positions. So that is a blessing and i still have a job. I am also subbing whenever Sedgefield Middle needs someone. The other day they had 13 teachers out and not enough substitutes. They had me all over the place. I was in PE the most and then covered 2 science classes. During 4th period I had Kristina in my class. That was fun!

Angel's babies have gotten big and we are hoping to find homes for them in the next week.
Before you know it we will be in the mist of the Holiday season...shhhhhhhhh.............................
HO HO HOOOO....hehe
Santa is asleep....
Well time to get ready for work. "Thank you for calling Walmart, How may I direct your call?"

I PASSED!! WOO HOO!!

2004-07-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

Talk about a sigh of relief. YES!!! I finally got the news last night when i went to the mailbox on my way home from work. I checked it before i went home. Sure enough I passed both of the tests for Special Ed. Core Knowledge and for Emotional Disorders. Now i have to send out some forms to my previous employers where I have taught and get them to send me the forms back completed. Once that is done I can send my application packet in and my 75.00 and wait another 6 weeks. I already qualify academically so its just a matter of time as to when i would get my Critical Needs Certificate. Once I get that in my hands then i can apply to any of the school districts ( that have openings having to do with ED classrooms) and start interviewing.
School is fixing to start in a couple of weeks. I know i will not have my classroom at the beginning of the year but I know that it will soon happen! In the meantime I work at Wallyworld and once school starts maybe substitute a couple of days a week. I am not giving up my Wallyworld job until i absolutely have to.
Yesterday I was talking to one of my customers, turns out they homeschool. I thought it was so cool. I kinda figured it out when she said that her daughters had their OWN BUSINESS. They even have a checking account with their mom for the business. One of the girls who is the same age as Kristina (12) had an ID that she got at the DMV. I was really impressed. Their business is to raise Beagle puppies and to sell them. Another clue that i noticed when i was checking her out. She bought Spanish workbooks and a Language workbook. I asked "What school do your girls go to". She said..."We homeschool!" Anyway, we had a great conversation about how people always talk about LACK of Socialization among Homeschoolers. Which is simply NOT true! LOL
Kids that have been homeschooled (like ours) or those that are being homeschooled have more social skills than any Public school child i know. They know how to interact respectfully with adults and how to play or interact with younger kids. They have a wide spectrum of experience compared to the Public School child.
I am thankful that we were able to homeschool our kids as long as we were. It was the best thing we could have done for Jessica while she was here on earth with us. She did not have to EXPERIENCE public school and all that it involves when you are a special needs child.
As you can tell one of my pet peeves is the argument about socialization among PS vs. HS.
Well wish i could write more but its about time to get ready to face the wonderful world of WALLY WORLD. lol

The day for camp has finally come!

2004-07-04T08:48:00.000-07:00

Well here it is the 4th of July already. June flew by and before you know it will be time to get ready for school again. I received my Substitute Teacher identification card from Charleston County the other day. SO I am set up to substitute for them this coming year. I should get one from Berkeley County as well. I am still working at Wallyworld part-time and manage to get in about 30 hours a week. Right now i am working usually from 4 or 5pm until 10:30 to 11pm. I usually get Wens and Thursday off.
This morning we dropped the kids off at the Clarion Hotel in North Charleston, where the Charleston Police Department has a bus they use to take the kids up Camp Bob Cooper which Happy Days has their camp every year. It was the first time we have ever had them take the bus. I was happy to hear that it was a NEW bus they had gotten this past year. I know the kids will have a blast as they do every year. James and I both have to work tonight until 11.
I should be hearing if i passed my test for the Praxis II on July 12th. I sure will be glad to hear if its a yeah or a nah. The waiting is driving me crazy!
Guess thats it for now.

It's a Dogs World

2004-06-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

Well i feel like its a dogs world sometimes. hehe I woke up this morning around 5ish cause Sammy our now 1 yr old puppy wants to go outside and check out the neighborhood. UGHH!! Once i took him out i could not sleep so decided to get on the computer and check email and play my Majohongg.

This past week was the pits at work. Well actually only Friday night was the pits otherwise it has not been that bad so far. Friday was the worst. I had two really rude customers. It did not matter to them that i had just started there. I felt very inadequate that night. I think Satan was having a field day that night. He was making me feel unworthy of everything and as you all know thats not the case. When you are born of the blood of Christ you are a KING'S KID. Nothing can change that! You were already bought with a price.

The Waiting game

2004-06-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well I finally took my test on Saturday. Now i have to wait 4 weeks for the results to see if i past them. I know that even if i do not pass I can still retake the test when i am ready or just continue to substitute this next year as well as have my Walmart job. That is not what i want but at least i know i have some options.
In the meantime i continue to work at Walmart part-time. I had today off and it was nice to be able to sleep late. Tomorrow is a different story. I have to get the kids up early to take them to the dentist and get home to drop them off in time for me to go to work at 1:00pm. I am hoping to go to the library so i can get some more DVD's. Cheap way of watching some DVD's is getting them from the library and you get to keep them for 2 weeks at a time.
Kids are so excited about Happy Days camp that is coming up. The month before camp and the month after camp are the most exciting around here. hehe The anticipation of what is to happen the month before and then the month after they tell us ALLLLL about it! LOL

Library time

2004-06-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

Well I got the kids settled into the library reading program this past week. That was a major accomplishment. I have been studying for my initial certificate test. I take the test on this coming up Saturday the 12th. I have been studying when i ever get a break at work or on my lunch hour.
Since i started working at Wallyworld I have been dreaming about Scanning items in my sleep. lol
Once i tried to scan Sammy(our dog). lol
Then i realized that i was trying to put him into my dream.
I have been on a register since last Tuesday i guess it was. I think I have been getting better on coordinating the scanning and bagging. I have fun talking to the customers and seeing all the little ones that come around. One lady that came through the line had 3 kids under 5. She looked really stressed out. I tried to encourage her and let her know that it DOES get better as they get older. lol

Not much else has been going on besides work. I will be glad when i have taken my test and it is behind me!

More adventures

2004-06-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

The other day when I was coming home from work I was pulled over again by Goose Creek Police. I thought OH GREAT now what? Well turns out that my light for my llcense plate was not working. So the female officer kindly gave me a VERBAL WARNING. This has to make an all time record, I have gotten pulled over TWICE in one week. LOL
The next day i went out and got the bulb from Autozone and they got the light to work so my license plate will show up at night. The pack of two bulbs cost me not even 4.00, where as a ticket according to the officer would have come to about $280.00. James thinks she stretched it about how much a ticket would be. hehe
I was not going to chance getting a ticket just to find out how much the fine would be.

Well, I have now been with Walmart for a full week. I have seen all sorts of people come in and out of Wallyworld. (as James and I love to call it) I have also seen lots of people that i know about a half a dozen kids from the school i use to substitute at, and several people from church.

It is always an adventure there. Yesterday I was in the express lane checking out people for 20 items or less. This was the first day that i was on the register by myself. I had MORE people come up that had more than 20 items but figure little items are better than bigger ones i guess. lol
Today I was at a regular checkout area and I had a constant stream of people waiting in line to be taken care of.
Thankfully I had some really nice customers that were patient as i tried to coordinate putting the stuff in the bags and scanning the items. I think some people expect the cashier to do ALL the work. ON the bottom of the turn table it states: Please help the cashier by taking your bags and placing them in the cart. (well maybe not that exact wording but something like that). Some people wait till the very end to do it, and I am running out of a place to put their stuff. UGHHH!!
Ok, venting over...I know it will get better once i get the hang of it all. I have one more day of work and I am off on Saturday. YEAH!!

I was listening to Focus on the Family on the way to work today and heard something rather alarming that legislation is trying to pass the Hate Crimes bill where it would be illegal to make any kind of comment about Gays/Lesbians or same sex marriage. There is already a bill passed in Canada and Focus on the Family and Dr. Laura can not have any derogatory statements on their programs or they will not air them. It is getting to the point where we will not be able to have any type of RIGHTS as Christians to say what the Bible says about sanctity (sp) of marriage.
Well guess it is time to start writing to our Congressmen/women and let them know what we think.

Air conditioning....where art thou?

2004-05-29T16:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday:
Hi all that come and read my babble.
I got home around 7pm and soon discovered that the air conditioner had frozen up. I went and looked at the thermastat and it was registering 91. I called our landlord and friend Troy and he had Chuck, our other neighbor and friend come and look at it. Sure enough the air conditioner had frozen over and had to have some freon. Chuck happened to have what it needed and with in less than 20 minutes we had cool air!
It took a while to get it cooled down but it finally went back to what its use to being on, 78 or so.

Sunday:
As I was sitting in church on Sunday morning I began to reflect on how God has been taking care of us particularly while James was gone. Now I know he takes care of us everyday. But I could really feel his protection over us the past couple of days while James was out of town. Just because of all that transpired: almost getting a ticket, having a fire out in the parking lot at Walmart,(thankful that James' car was on the OPPOSITE end of the parking lot), air conditioner getting fixed so promptly.
I was also able to have Sunday off to go get James from the airport instead of having to find someone to go get him. So it was nice to have a boss at Walmart that was understanding and willing to switch my schedule to accomodate me. I think since i am in training that is one reason it was so easy cause i am not actually scheduled to be on the floor just yet. But i am still thankful that i was able to get my hubby. :)
Monday:
I go in to work at 3 today and am fixing my family a big breakfast, (for those who will eat it).
James is out walking as i write this.
Will write more later i am sure.

Excitement at Walmart

2004-05-29T05:28:00.002-07:00

Well I started working for the Super Walmart that is about 5 miles down from us on
Wens. the 26th of May. I went down there for an interview on Tuesday and was hired the same day! Talk about fast! lol
On Thursday I took James to the airport to drop him off. I then went over to the school to talk to Justin's teacher and as I looked down on the seat, there was James' PDA. Well I went inside the school and used their phone to call him. Went straight back to the airport to give him his PDA before he left. He can't do anything without his "brain" as he calls it. It also had his credit card and money in it. hehe
Well then i went to talk to Justin's teacher and to get his coat he left. It was teachers work day. SO i got to talk to her at length. It was a good conversation and I wished i could have stayed longer. I got a couple of treasures for Justin(worksheets and a container of Mealworms which turn into beatles). She also gave him a journal to use to write about the Mealworms. Well he has faithfully written in that book since he got it. I have to admit at first it sounded YUCKY but watching them develop has been quite facinating. hehe
Well then i rushed home to get ready to go to work. I was suppose to be there by 12.
I got changed and headed out the door. I have been using James car since he was gone.
Boy that car can go. I was just a driving and drinking Slimfast cause i did not have time to grab a bite to eat. Next thing i know there was a police car trying to get in my lane behind me. I was sitting at the light watching through my rear view mirror.
Then he got in my lane behind me and put on his lights...OOPS!!
So i pulled up into a parking lot. He came around and we did the see your drivers license and registration routine. He came back and said Mrs. Moffitt do you know why i pulled you over. I said "Well, I am not sure but I am using my husband's car and I just got new shoes. So i might have been speeding." He said "Yes, you were going 57 in a 45".
I am just going to give you a warning but if it had been a ticket it would have been 180 dollars and 4 points off your driving record.
So now when i go on that street and am in James' car, I use the cruise control and only drive 45. Lesson learned.
Now on to Walmart i go....

Training has been fun! Getting to meet new people that have just started working there as well and the customers at Wallyworld.
Yesterday as I was helping to MAN the Sidewalk Sale they were having. A lady came up to us all excited and said "There is a truck on fire over there" We all looked and sure enough there was some smoke and I could see a small flame coming from underneath the truck. I went inside and told a Customer Service Manager and she called the Fire Department. It took them about 15 min. to get to us by the time she had called. The flames were getting higher. Well of course a crowd began to form to watch all the excitement. What baffled me was that some people were standing like only a few feet away from the truck that was in flames. I was thinking... HELLO PEOPLE..FIRE, GAS, EXPLOSION!! LOL
As people were going by you could smell something burning..well this one little boy said, "Where's the Bar-B-Que?" I thought that was so funny!

I was all over the place this day, they had me bagging groceries and taking some out to people's cars. I did some cashiering and I also got on the computer for their Computer Based Learning.
I go in today at 11 so I can't wait to see what is in store for me today.

While James is in Houston:

Last night Kristina had her sleepover. This was for her Birthday(May 4th) and for the End of the Year. She had 5 girls over ranging in age from 11 to 13. And then there was JUSTIN. LOL Poor baby was surrounded by Estrogen.
When I got home I was bombarded by everyone being hungry. lol
Kristina had already fixed the meat for the tacos and uh...TRIED to make cheese dip on the stove. They ate it anyway. lol
They also had Burritos, and tostitos. I never have seen girls eat so much. About 3 hours later they were coming in for a midnight snack. lol
Then I was going to take the dogs out at 4am and there they were again...EATTING! lol
I am not sure when they actually crashed. Some went to bed earlier..but there were some, including Kristina who stayed up past 4am. lol
OH to be young again and be able to stay up all night.
Well guess thats it from Duck Ditch.
Will write more later.

Women of Faith Conference

2004-05-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

Friday the 21st I turned 35, oh I mean 45...LOL
Memory laps...I wish it was 35. I did not think of myself as being old until I told one of my students in a class I had on Thursday that I was going to be 45 on Friday. Actually I made her guess how old I was. hehe She said "37" ..I said "I wish..No 45".
She exclaimed, "Mrs M you are OLD"! LOL
Well needless to say I came home depressed Thursday. I guess I opened myself up for that one. hehe Silly me...

Friday I had lots of errands to do which included getting my license renewed. For anyone else this is like NO big DEAL! Well I was sweating the eye exam. The lady told me to look in the eye thingy(technical term) and I did. I read the two columns. Well supposedly there were THREE columns.
So she got a young kid to read it to verify that there were 2 or 3 columns. He said there were 2..Oh no there is the 3rd one.
Well then she had me read it with my left eye instead. Somehow by God's grace I read what she wanted me to read and passed the test. hehe. So I am good for another 5 years. My license is good for 10 years but at the 5 year you have to submit an eye exam or come in and take an eye exam. Lord help me when that comes! lol

This weekend was the Women of Faith Conference. It was held at the Charleston coliseum(sp). It was great! Seeing 8,000 women in the same place at the same time and praising God! Talk about the power of prayers. There were several speakers that stood out from the rest..Sheila Walsh sang as well as gave her testimony. It was really awesome and I felt like she was talking to me. She made a comment about how you could know someone for years but not know when they are really hurting inside. We all put on masks where no one sees the real us. But God sees us when we are hurting and he is always there with his perfect will at the perfect time.
Kathy Troccoli was there and sang and was awesome. She is one of those singers I wish I could sound like if I could sing. LOL
She is not married and is now 40. She is quite content being single. God has used her in an awesome way. (can you tell that it was all just AWESOME!!) LOL
She can belt it out and also hit the high notes. She did some fun songs that are from the 70's and 80's. She also has a new Worship CD out. She said that after 23 years she finally decided to put out a Worship CD of her favorites.
Also Nicole Johnson, who is a dramatist was there. She did several skits that hit home as well.
What was funny was at the end trying to get out of the parking lot with all THOSE women driving...you could only imagine what the police officers were saying as they were directing traffic! LOL
All in all it was a terrific weekend. Our ladies at our church got to go for free, all because we volunteered to be in the prayer room for an hour and a half during the conference. Just to be available to pray with anyone that wants it.
I look forward to next year!

Katy's Blogger

2004-05-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

Well this is my first official post in my blogger. Because there is a new set up I am able to have my own blog now. Pretty cool! Now i can babble with the best of them. LOL
As James said in his blog the other day, I will be taking my Praxis II test for Special Education: Core Knowledge and Exceptional Students: Emotional Disorders. Anyway, it is now paid for and i have been studying for both tests. I take the tests June 12th. Once i take the tests and get my application in again with additional information and send in 75.00. I will be officially applying to get into the PACE program which is simply explained Alternative Certification Program they have in SC for those people that would like to become a teacher but have a different degree. Once i get into the program, I will be eligible to get a job at one of the schools. During the next 3 yrs I will be teaching and each year i take a graduate course pertaining to my specific specialty which is Emotional Disorders. There is a shortage for teachers that can teach kids with this specific problem. I am excited that i am finally realizing something i have been wanting for the past 15 or more years.
In the meantime, school is fixng to be over for the year on May 26th. If you ask either one of our kids they would be able to give the the days and the hours probably. LOL
Kristina will be getting several awards this year at school. One being perfect attendance and a award for her Super Stars (choir) participation.
Justin has gotten the Marvelous Math Magician award twice now at his school. He is our whiz kid when it comes to math. Not sure where he gets that from. LOL
Anyway, once school is over, I will not have a job. I am trying to find something for the summer, in between studying for my tests.
Well i guess that is enough babbling for now. I am sure i will come up with more to say later.