Apparently I was a bigger fan of Garfield as a kid than I remember.  My younger brother, Russ, who is currently living in the house in which we all grew up, gathered together a box of items which he believes belong to me.  I think he found them in the attic.  Just what I needed – more stuff!  Considering I had not known of this stuff’s existence until the other day, I probably would have been safe to chuck the whole box into the garbage, but I’m curious, so I can’t just do that sight unseen. This Garfield was on top,…

Keeping it short tonight because I’m already a day or two behind and I don’t want to get any further behind but I am exhausted and ready for bed.  The last 24 hours have been out of the ordinary.  After school yesterday, Melissa and I farmed out the kids to the two Grandmas in order to get some work done around the house.  Storly, Karen and Keri then came over to help get some doors and trim painted.  In the five years we have lived in this house, we have painted every wall and, in the process, have replaced nearly…

I found a lapel pin a few weeks ago as I cleaned out yet another box from the shed and decided it would be a good thing to give to a student. But I see over 100 students each day in class – and many more in the hallways, so it’s difficult sometimes to determine who to give something to. So I decided I needed to find a true fan of “Pinky and The Brain.”  In my 7th grade class, I drew a picture of “The Brain” on my whiteboard and the first kid to spontaneously start singing the theme song…

As stressed as I feel over starting school again tomorrow (with last minute grading of final exams and planning lessons while trying to get the house ready to sell) at least I’m not Scott, the guy who teaches next to me.  He and his wife went to visit family out of state for Christmas and she decided to go into labor about five weeks early!  The baby was born the day after Christmas, the day they had marked on their calendar to make the drive back to indiana.  Scott left his grading work (a stack of final exam essays) at home…

Christmas Break ends tonight.  Melissa and I go back to the classroom tomorrow.  We managed to get one big item off our To Do List of things needing to be done before we can put our house up for sale. When we first moved in, the upstairs was all carpeted with nasty gray carpet – except for the dining area, which had a beautiful hardwood floor.  Imagine our surprise when we pulled up a corner of the carpet and discovered the hardwood continued throughout the upstairs.  We sanded and polyurethaned the dining area, the living room, the hallway, the boys’ room…

Melissa is on a roll with the crystal, apparently.  Today she decided to give a crystal pitcher to Kate.  Kate and Storly (our friends from Haiti who are responsible for getting this ball rolling in the first place) invited us over today.  They were having friends in throughout the day for pumpkin soup – a traditional January 1st meal in Haiti.  (It tastes so much better than it sounds – believe me!)  I say “January 1st” on purpose because the soup is not really a celebration of New Year’s Day as such – it is served in recognition of Haiti’s Independence Day. …

This has been hanging in our bedroom since we first got married.  After ten years and four different houses, yesterday Melissa announces out of the blue, “Pull that thing off the wall … it’s so DATED.”  So off to Goodwill it goes… where it is bound to find plenty of other dated artwork to hang with.

(Thursday, Dec 30) OK, as a guy, I have to admit that I don’t get the attraction of fancy crystal.  Isn’t it just expensive glass?  Yes, it’s beautiful, but not something I would willingly spend a bunch of money on.  (I feel the same way about a bouquet of roses and, for that matter, diamonds…)  But women seem to appreciate the beauty of crystal. So it surprised me that Melissa was willing to part with a couple of pieces of crystal that we have had on display in the cabinets that overlook our dining table. We had breakfast this morning…

(Thursday, Dec 30) OK, as a guy, I have to admit that I don’t get the attraction of fancy crystal.  Isn’t it just expensive glass?  Yes, it’s beautiful, but not something I would willingly spend a bunch of money on.  (I feel the same way about a bouquet of roses and, for that matter, diamonds…)  But women seem to appreciate the beauty of crystal. So it surprised me that Melissa was willing to part with a couple of pieces of crystal that we have had on display in the cabinets that overlook our dining table. We had breakfast this morning…

I’m caught up on my blogging, including Day 42.  That’s about my only accomplishment for the day!  I am really enjoying the discipline of writing on a daily basis. But when I wrote about the Winnie the Pooh calendar I had used to paint a mural for Dats (now age 9) when he was a baby, it reminded me of an obligation that I had meant to fulfill over Christmas break and had managed to completely forget about (and now it’s Wednesday night and we return to school on Monday!).  Melissa’s cousin Angie had put me in contact with a…