I know I know. I always fuss and stress a bit about my assignments and then do way better on them than I expect to lol

No traditional turkey here. Ham is our tradition. But probably won't do that either. Just me and Nathan and no need for a big feast.

955pm Been working on the literacy project. Just finished printing out all of my pictures. Will take them to school and laminate them. And then take pictures of them and them upload them into the power point. Sheesh. A lot of work for nothing (cuz like, I probably will NEVER actually use these things, although that is one of the purposes behind doing these things, to have stuff to use in your own classroom). On the bright side, trying to get these pictures ready before the end of the week means I am that much further ahead in having this assignment done :P I wanted to be able to laminate them before school got out for break.

Anyway. I'm off to bed. G'night!

Hey guys :)

Kat, that's a nice long break!

Ooooh I've made the smores on a stick before, I like them haha. I like anything with marshmallow and chocolate :P

We've been having a hidden spirit week this week, all the adults are dressing up. Monday was all black, and some of the kids thought something was up, but then they were like "maybe it's coincidence...". Yesterday was flannel, and people were wearing PJs and stuff, so they were like "... no, SOMETHING is HAPPENING. Is this FUN for you guys, to drive us all crazy?!" And I said "... yes, yes it is. But I don't know what you're talking about"

Today is Christmas though, so. :P Cat should definitely be out of the bag LOL.

Have to go get tires after work today.

Oooh, I forgot! Iz is in NYC today with the 6th grade, they're going to MOMA and to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

And Lily has a drama workshop tonight.

What kind of idiocy is my school cafeteria pulling? They decided TODAY would be turkey day. Wednesday?! Not Thursday?!? Why?? So we have always had turkey lunch on the last Thursday before break. And PreK always makes native American style shirts, headbands and necklaces for the kids to wear to the "Thanksgiving feast" And now we will be wearing them for ravioli, sloppy joes or pbjs. Well. Food is food I guess. But really? Just weird to serve turkey day meal on Wednesday!!!!

I love the idea of an adult spirit week that the kids don't know about. Especially for older grade levels! I'm sure SOME younger kids would catch on too (some of ours asked why we were all wearing the same shirt today, it was for twin day for the canned food drive)

[edit] 716pm Class over. I swear, sometimes I feel like I have the whiniest group of peers. Instead of discussing what we were supposed to discuss, they all wanted to talk about the projects and how much WORK this class was. I admit, it was a lot of work. I also admit, they all have YOUNGER children than me, and so less free time.... but still, they signed up for classes KNOWING they'd have a lot of work to do. We have a nice teacher. I guarantee she heard my group (or other groups) complaining about the amount of work - she took off one assignment AND extended another deadline for a second assignment. And HONESTLY - I could get ALL the remaining assignments done during Thanksgiving break, because I won't be visiting family or having family over. I know others will be busy. If I do ANYTHING it will be go swap cars with my brother. And that will take like, a day, two at most. I am debating if I want to just go ahead and complete those assignments early since I know I can. I also have to time my presentation to make sure its at least 10 minutes. Sheesh. In addition to implementing the changes she suggested. (Even tho I'll already get a great grade the way it is now) :P

... we had our Thanksgiving dinner today, too :P

Really?? But whyyyy?? Its so weird LOL

Good Morning everyone!

edit: 520 pm Good EVENING everyone! Also, is fireside EVER going to start? I mean, its the 21st!! If it starts now, and ends Nov 30, we only have 9 days! If it starts tomorrow, thats 8 days!! Unless they plan to have it run into Dec and be in the middle of Luminaire!?

Hey, everyone! Kat, you should go ahead and finish your assignments. That will make your free time seem more like a mini-vacation. You know, those raviolis are probably very Thanksgiving somewhere. Actually, it reminded that my sister-in-law would make pasta dishes for Thanksfgiving because her husband was Italian and his family always had some kind of pasta on Turkey Day. ;) Mieke, you're always so busy. Do you ever get a break? :)

I probably will finish the assignments. The one teacher said I could, and the other one has pretty much said she wants everything done early so we don't have to meet on the 9th so I think that is a "get them turned in early" hint. I will probably do my quick write today, then finish the literacy center tomorrow and update the learner difference power point Saturday too, or Sunday. That will only leave the literacy observation paper to write. And the 4hr IRIS module (which I don't think will take me 4hrs). Being home all week will make those easy to get done. Oh and I do have one more work ethics thingy to do but that takes like 5minutes. (I am proficient, I finish my work babble babble babble about what I did and how I did it until I get to 200 words and done).

And very true. Everyone eats different food for Thanksgiving. But it was still weird to me to do it that way! I mean, if they were going to serve the turkey, why NOT on Thursday? If they were not going to serve it at all, I get that. But serving it on Wednesday was weird.

[edit] 425 Sometimes, I wonder how bad my classmates assignments are...like ... .because today .... the teacher sent out an announcement "please write in complete sentences. please express yourself fully. please turn in your assignments on time to get full points" I am like, uuuuhh??? DUH? I do all that. Why would anyone NOT do that? Also YES! for Fireside tomorrow. Someone said in the comments its always about a week long? I don't remember it being that short but eh. Maybe I'm just used to the other events lasting longer so I think this one does too?

Well, was there anything different about Thursday? Say, like it was a half-day or there was some big event going on like a Thanksgiving play or something? I remember when I was a kid the day before we got out for Thanksgiving was always a half day so we did our Thanksgiving stuff on the day prior so there was enough time for it. Just sayin` :) Yeah, I'd say both of your professors want the assignments done early so they can get on with their Christmas vacation.

I'm trying to get my hubby to set up our little 3ft christmas tree. He doesn't want to before Thanksgiving. Party pooper. lol 😂

Nope. Nothing special going on that would require a change in dates for thanksgiving lunch, We had a canned food drive happening all week, nothing to do with lunch. (All dress up days, bring 2 cans, wear a hat, bring 2 cans. dress like a Disney character, bring two cans, dress like your favorite star, bring two cans, dress as twins with a friend, bring 2 cans, dress in pajamas) :P We had the spelling bee happening. That would not change the lunch menu. We don't do half days in my school system. Well, the high school does, but ONLY the last 3 days of each semester (so before Christmas and before graduation)

edit: 7pm Why thank you Major Drills!! :o [item2=Mini Milk Chocolate Bar]

edit 720 AM Oooh guys! I forgot to say, yesterday I got an email from DECAL - my incentives application was approved. They said they will mail the funds ($2500) in January! YAY Of course, next year it will only be $1000 but I can get that for the next 5 years. I wonder if it restarts when I get my bachelors degree? Lol Like because that won't happen until the end of Spring 2026. Either way, its helpful!

Shane is on his way to get the puppy,. He will bring her back Monday morning. Then him or Anna will get her Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Then I'm not sure when I'll get her back because Shane will go back out Sunday or Monday probably and I am nto sure about Anna - she passed all her tests and orientation and is supposed to get picked up by a trainer in Macon after the holiday.

I think she set ours for Wednesday because we get orders in on Thursdays and Fridays, and it's really involved to do... so maybe that's why,too?

Plus, the elementary schools was on Thursday, but normally they have it before we do. :P So that all the leftovers can go down to them or up to us?

And no, , I never do have time to relax or be at home LOL. We got 10 inches of snow that was supposed to start Thursday night, so I switched my work hours to right after my first job Thursday, got home and Alex was like "... it's only 4:30 and you don't have anywhere to go" and I started to BALL because I had no clue what to do with myself first haha. I could clean, I could wrap presents, I could bake cookies... Guys. All I did was sit. And went to bed at 8am LOL. Woke up at 4, fell back to sleep at 5:30 and slept until 9.. then took a nap from 1-3 when Alex got home.. and then slept from 9-9 again. :P

but today I cleaned the house some! And I'm going to put up the tree later.. even if I get nothing done but tree, lights, and topper, I'm fine with that. Eventually it'll get ornaments, etc.

Well then obviously you needed to SIT! and SLEEP! :) I have presents wrapped already too :P I am SO BAD. I keep telling myself to only get a few things for each person (Like I really want to start that whole "4 gifts - something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read" thing (and substitute if needed, like watch for read and get a movie or game instead of a book for example). but just can't get going with it) AND SO - I have random impulse buys whenever I go shopping so everyone ends up with more than I plan LOL And if I grab something for one person I usually try to even it out (sometimes price wise, sometimes item wise depending on what I bought!)

Today I did get ALMOST everything for a "household supplies" gift basket for Shane and Anna - the Walmart I went to did not have the hand soap I wanted to get or else I just could not find it. I went to a different one than my normal one because (yes bad me) I wanted to see what Christmas stuff they had - they often have more/different things than my Walmart. So I ended up with Jack Skellington decorative plates for Katie and Wes, Every Man Jack beard kits for Ryan and Shane, a bodywash kit for Nathan and one for Wes, I grabbed Anna a puppy dog neck massager and some body lotion/bath stuff too. Did NOT find ornaments like I wanted. I got Katie and Shane ornaments, and I wanted to find similar but different ones for Anna and Wes but can't find anything I like at my Walmart and not at that one either. Ugh. AND no ornament for Nathan yet either. sigh I DID find two holiday bear ornaments, so I grabbed one for Katie. Its been a tradition almost every year to get one of those holiday teddy bears...but I got tired of collecting the bears and have nowhere to display them, so when I saw they had ornament versions, I started getting those!!

Mieke, it sounds like you badly needed the time off and rest. I understand why you sat down and bawled, it was pure stress release. I do that sometimes myself. It confuses my hubby because he just can't understand how crying is a stress release. Men! loll :)) Kat, it sounds like you've got a good start to your holiday gift-giving. Jack Skellington decorative plates? At Walmart? omg, I'm going to see if they have them online because I'm a stalwart "Nightmare Before Christmas" fan. I have a ton of the collectibles even though I have nowhere to display them. I just keep getting more, though, it's a compulsion. 😂 I haven't even started my holiday shopping. I'm still waiting on a couple of wish lists from my kids. I may start without them because I need to get a head start or I never feel like I've gotten what I'd like for them. Hubby is no help, either. He tells me to get them pre-paid visas so they can get what they want. Ppfffttt! Men! 😂

Yes! They're smaller ones, a set of three. Like, salad/dessert plate size I would say. Katie LOVES Nightmare before Christmas!! :D A couple years ago I got her Jack Skellington glasses (like regular drinking glasses) AND shot glasses :P She's also gotten JS pj's, shirts, pants, halloween/christmas lights.... Shane got her the giant plushies (almost human sized) of Jack and Sally. I got her the storybook this year, and then found that comic too... OOOH! I got them JS ramen bowls, did I mention those before? HAHHAAH THEY"LL LOVE IT! They even came with chopsticks!

I don't wait on gift lists. Shane is the WORST at that, he'll tell me something then buy it for himself. Nathan tells me "I dunno" or "I don't care" or like today "I like records for my record player" uuuhhh WHICH records? What band? Sheesh. Katie DID give me a list for her and Wes. I got a movie set off of it, and I plan to get her some of the anime books she wants, same for Nathan (he likes anime like she does so I'm getting him something off her list hahahah)

I think Ryan gave them all $100 last year :P Again, because he has no idea what they want, they didn't give list ideas, AND he also feels that way they can buy something they want LOL Me, if I spot something I think they'll like I get it!!

Oooh FIRESIDE! One pickup and ... You've earned the Capture a Floating Rreign achievement!

Oh hahahah I checked the other new tiers - one go and I'll have them all. Burned - 163/150 Charitable - 8140/5500 Item Giver - 3282/3000

LOL I wonder what my number was for the Capture A Floating Rreign was....the tier level only goes to 1000.

[edit] Nov 24th 1230pm I have no idea if I did it well - but I went back and tried to address the suggestions the teacher made for my learner differences power point presentation. I added pictures, removed narrative descriptions and added speaker notes. (I have NO IDEA how speaker notes show up for me when I present the slideshow? I never used them before) I added the developmental milestones in the other domains as well as the language that I already had (since the child has a speech delay I focused on that). I tried to add some "research" comparisons and I added some insights on how to assess the child and impacts on social interactions. :P Argh. I better get bonus points. SHEEESH. (since I already had a "proficient" grading in everything she suggested I add to/fix)

I had no idea that there were JS ramen bowls. I'm going to have hubby hunt them down! I must have everything Nightmare Before Christmas... lol 😂 You're lucky, my kids don't telegraph what their into very ooften and even if they do, their missing some important piece of information - like Nathan wanting records for his record player and you not knowing what group to get. :) You should get extra, extra points for all that work you did. :) Fireside achievements... omg, I'd better check them because I don't know what I've still got to do to get them. I probably have some battle achievements to go because my pet is still small. Oh, well. I don't like battling. It's just plain boring. :)

Well, I'm going to be scarce the next few days. My 2 older kids made it down from Pennsylvania. It's not that big of a deal except this is the first time my oldest daughter came down because we don't always see eye-to-eye. So, this will be the first Thanksgiving with her in quite a while. I'm definitely not complaining, though. I'm verry happy she's here. So, if I don't talk to you again before turkey day, Happy Thanksgiving and I'm very thankful for you all as my friends. :D

Good Morning! I am glad to hear your daughter is coming, I hope it goes well for you both!! Also I hope you enjoy ALL of your family being there!!

My battle pet is ALMOST (less than 100 points) tier 12 :o The rest of my pets are tier 3 or 4 lol Battle IS boring. The fastest way to level up is to do battle quests and spend the xp gotten there tho! I also keep Shelil in training.

The JS ramen bowls were in the holiday section at walmart! Hope you can find them lol

I had the WIERDEST dream this morning.... I was at work, completely zoned out, walked into my classrooom to clock out, gasping that it was SO LATE - why was I there at 4 or 5pm?? CRAP (i needed to clock out and go home!) Tried to clock out and it said I never clocked in...eeeek Ok I'll contact Ms Nancy in the morning I say, and walk out. I get into teh DARK parking lot, and CANNOT FIND MY CAR!!! I frantically call Nathan asking if he knows where the car is, he says yeah, he has it. WHAT? HOW DID I GET TO WORK THEN? he doesn't know. He doesn't even know WHY I am at work. I walk back towards the building to wait for him inside, and all the sudden its like a festival is going on at school, there are parents with kids everywhere doing fun stuff. And this one mom stops to talk to me. I'm still freaked about WHY I am at school so late, and with NO CAR!! What a dream.

[edit] 4pm EURGH. I just re-read my instructions, and I had totally forgot I have to do a LESSON PLAN on this literacy center. At least I have the powerpoint and activities completed. Now I have to come up with assessments, and other garbage for the lesson plan. AND I am still struggling to figure out how to READ my speaker notes when I am presenting the other one, I opened it up and played it and it didn't show me the notes. I DO NOT want to print all that off, just so I can see my notes. I might have to type them out and just print off that. GRRR. I did also do a "presentation" mode thing or something in which I COULD see the notes (but I don't know if that means everyone else would?) and it timed it...Me reading it silently in my head took a bit over 9minutes so I guess I am good :P (its supposed to take 10-15mins)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! The kids are busy elsewhere so I snuck on. 😂 I hope everyone is having a fantastic day.

Thanks for the hint on where to find the ramen bowls. We eat a lot of ramen so they would come in handy. ;) Oh, that dream is just weird. At least you understood it was a dream? Did you try to change it once you were aware of it being a dream? XD Good thing you checked the assignment. Now you'll be able to turn the whole thing in instead of just part. I don't know how speaker notes work in powerpoint. I never used them. I always printed off my script to read along with the slides instead of trying to use the speaker notes. :D

No I've never been able to change my dreams. I also didn't know I was dreaming til I woke up. The only dreams I have that I know it is a dream is one of those ones where I wake up, go to the bathroom or somewhere else and then suddenly I'm back in bed and get up to go do whatever again...and then I'm back in bed. At that point I know I'm dreaming and I TRY to wake myself up, and the cycle repeats in the dream of getting up and doing something then waking up in bed again. VERY ANNOYING

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!? Nathan came out and turned on the parade at 930 so we watched that together. Then I cooked pumpkin pies, yeast rolls and then the ham and the broccoli/rice casserole. We also had our sparkling grape juice. Nathan DOES like traditions....lol I don't mind but I often find myself realizing I don't want to do things by myself, so why do them at all if no one else is going to do it with me? So when he comes out and asks if we are going to do something, then YES we will do it! :)

I'm trying to figure out how to do that, the notes or print something (but not the whole colorful powerpoint slides! (I don't want to use that much color ink!) I have a few more days to figure it out.

Today I am debating going to walmart, but I dont NEED a lot of things, I am just used to going black friday browsing after I wake up. I do NOT get up early to go do it, but when I wake I'll go wander walmart and see if there are any good deals LOL AND do my regular shopping. But as I said, I really don't NEED anything....

I also have to finalize my assignments, work on the 700 word paper one (didn't even start that yet) and watch a 2hr podcast thingy for my work professional development day on Wednesday (I have to watch it and do a quiz before I go to the training day)

[edit] yikes. Just food alone will use over 3/4 of my onhand CSC!!! I have not even LOOKED at books or minions or treasure chest items. sigh I love that stuff is brought back, AND discounted, but I really SHOULD NOT purchase more CSC just to buy items hahahah Most of my CSC comes from morty cards or bathhouse thankfully. And well, yeah, my monthly subscription too lol Serious debate in my head here folks. Do I want to buy CSC to get more items or do I just buy the items with sP later? Some items WON'T be available later tho and I would have to wait and hope they bring them back again next Black Friday (or Thursday or week long whatever hahahah) Not that I mind waiting either, its just...urgh. What do I do? :P (BTW, I have OVER 500mil sP in my shop till, closer to 600 honestly)

1005 - whoop! BHH purchase!! Blackheart Hollow Trading Card

Kat, why not just buy CSC cards with SP?

Hey guys, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Kat, you're doesn't sound bad! I hope having your daughter around was nice :)

We ate waffles and finished decorating the tree yesterday morning (after I watched the parade by myself :P), then went over my in-laws. It was super peaceful because the loud one and her kids weren't there (the kids aren't bad, Ashley is tbh). We played a lot of UNO and some other games, Akira gave Lily eyelash extensions LOL.

Alex is at work today, I wrapped the rest of the kids presents and soon I'm going to take Lily to the mall, she's working for a friend, he's doing a 14 hour vendor fair and asked her to take over for 2 hours so he could have a break.. that really is a LONG day!

Wellllll mostly because right now I don't want to spend my almost 600mil? 30+ mil is in one shop and that's my gift money. I will spend that buying my friends on here Lumi gifts :D And the other shop I promised myself not to touch for a full year, which will be Dec 31 lol

I took a break and met Ryan and Ashley to get trees. He bought mine for me!! AND delivered it to my door because she has a truck and I have a car. And I had to stop and get some lunch because me and Nathan didn't eat breakfast..... Now my living room is decorated with mostly non-breakable things and I can only hope when the little terror comes back in a week or two she won't destroy my decorations!!! Nothing is on the tree yet, since I want the branches to have time to drop before decorating it. So that will be tomorrow or Sunday.

I don't think I'll be putting presents under the tree early this year, due to puppy. We will see. Might just be all brought magically out of the closet by Santa on Christmas eve lol

[edit] 420pm Well finished my 700 word paper (it was almost 900 words by the end). But I think I left off part of what she wanted us to discuss. OH WELL (it was like, how will you use this information to inform your teaching later? or something. If I get a few points taken off, oh well!) Now I need to scan in my observation sheets, as well as my literacy environment checklist sheets AND then upload those and the paper I wrote and turn it all in. Yay what fun :P At least I am accomplishing getting things DONE! Now I have to go back to the lesson plan. URGH! My absolute favorite thing to do (can't you tell? I keep avoiding it).

My brother called me in the middle of that. He did NOT get the car tagged yet, and the tag office is closed today (duh brother! its black friday!) so he will try to get that done next week so I can swap cars with him next weekend. Good thing - since the check engine light went off on its own about a week ago, and just now came back on AGAIN. :P I told him I wasn't in any rush and just let me know whenever. But it will have to be over the weekend since break is now over CRIES Do I have to go back to work?

[edit] Sunday 715am Good Morning and Happy Luminaire!! Its December :o When did that happen? Ooh, I checked my email today and my teacher graded the last two assignments (not the FINAL assignment yet, I haven't turned that in) - the quickwrite, of course I got full points - but I got full points for the PreK lesson plan too! :D Guess I did a better job. Now to just FINISH the lesson plan for the FINAL assignment (the literacy center). Urgh. Its the only thing I haven't finished except the final work ethics in the other class, waiting until after class WED to do that (but am now thinking I better check its due date in case its due Tues night, but I'm pretty sure its due Wed and since it asks about interaction with teacher/peers....lol)

Something I found funny yesterday - Ryan had said earlier in the week (or last week) he would probably just get the kids gift cards or something....and then spent all weekend sending me pictures - For Katie? For Katie? Will Katie like this? And then a picture - Got this for Shane. Should get one for Nathan too? (AND btw, the Katie items were all Jack Skellington, so he should have KNOWN she would like it. Maybe he was just checking to be sure she didn't already have it or I didn't buy it - maybe?) ROFL Guess he changed his mind. I think it was Ashley honestly. He DID get them money instead of gifts last year. HOWEVER - last year he was going to spend Christmas with her family and not see the kids on Christmas, only to find that her family wasn't very welcoming. So he is planning to stay and see the kids on Christmas this year, knowing that Katie and Wes will be here in Griffin (previously they've gone to his grandmothers, but she passed last year)...and Nathan is here. Shane and Anna probably will be too, unless they aren't able to really get home. We shall see what happens with them. So I think he decided gifts for being in person together. :) <3

Phew! That was one hectic holiday and I'm very happy that it was. Turkey day went off without a hitch although the kids kept arguing how long to cook each item. It was good-natured arguing at least. Having my daughter around was very nice. We got to talk a lot although I never did find out why she decided to come for a visit. I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth, though. The kids went out shopping on Black Friday and bought a lot of stuff. They also went over to a friend's house and helped her put up her tree. Now, they've gone back home and I miss them already. Apparently work calls and they can't miss it. So, I'm happy they were here but sad they had to leave. :/

omg, it's Luminaire already! Where did the time go? I had my hubby decorate my tree for me. Now I just need to find gifts for all my friends. I hope your wishlists are up to date! :D