S-U-M-M-E-R

This week was the last week of classes and so far, finals week is looking fairly reasonable. Today is commencement (what university has commencement BEFORE finals week? And this is the normal schedule, not an emergency schedule because of bad winter weather!) I have three summer classes this summer and then student teaching next fall. I still don't know where I'm teaching, but I'm assuming I will find out sometime....

The last class I pre-student taught in (meaning fewer hours and less responsibility compared to REAL student-teaching) was a 5th grade class and they made me "Thank-You" notes. My cooperating teacher (who we bought our house from --it's a small town) dropped them off yesterday. The notes were so cute! Apparently, I "rock" if you're a 5th grader. They were fun and I appreciated my cooperating teacher letting them make the notes. And when I'm having a tough day in the future and think that I'm just standing up in the front of the classroom accomplishing nothing, I will pull those notes out and remind myself that maybe I am.

With the weather improving, I've been trying to take more walks outside (hence the constant run-ins with the vulture) and I really enjoy it. It's my hour or so to myself when I can think and just be. Although thinking while walking up hill is very hard and I do most of my thinking going downhill. During my down-hill endorphine rush, I've decided that we don't walk enough as a society. We are far too comfortable just getting in the car and driving there. When you walk somewhere, you are forced to slow down and truly look at the world around you. For example, the amount of trash on the roadside is disgusting. And people throw out the oddest things: pillows, pizza boxes (who is eating pizza in their car? Can't you wait till you get home?), and more. But on a positive note, I also get to startle cows, which is always funny but then I feel sorry for the cow and I apologize to her. So, yes, I'm talking to the cows. Gesh, am I weird.....

May, Sway!!

It happened again. I was circled by the vulture while walking. Ok, now it's just getting old. Unless the vulture wants to make friends with me, but I'm not certain how well a human-vulture friendship could happen.

And last week after church, Matt and I were driving home. While we were waiting to turn onto the highway, we were passed by a motorcycle crew. Most of the motorcycles were the typical: black leather, lots of chrome, tough looking guys with bandannas and more black leather with jeans. But one of them was not. He was a tough looking guy but instead of a motorcycle, he was cruising town on a white and red Vespa. So funny! I laughed at him, which I know isn't nice, but it was so incongruous, I had to laugh!!

The end of school...

Is almost here!!! Yippee!!!!

Then it's onto summer school followed by student teaching followed by??????

I had a tough day Wednesday. In the morning I was talking with a classmate when I suddenly swallowed my gum. I choked a little but managed to keep on talking! Then I was walking to class and tripped over a bit of sidewalk in front of an entire class of 2nd graders on campus for some reason. Always good to look silly in front of 2nd graders.

When I reached home, I decided to go for a walk. On my way home, a vulture started to circle me. Now, I walk about 3 miles and while I'm climbing the last hill, I do sometimes think, "Oh, I'm not going to make it," but death is not really in the picture at that time. I thought that maybe the vulture knew something I didn't and that if this is what impending death feels like, I feel pretty good. Who knew there were so many endorphins connected with death!!

Anyhow, the vulture circled me a couple of times and swooped off somewhere else, apparently deciding that I was moving too much to be dead. Vultures are just ugly, prehistoric looking creatures.

Today in my pre-student teaching class, we made reticules. We've been reading a novel about traveling on the Oregon Trail in which the main character makes a reticule. So I got to teach about 9 5th graders to sew. It was....draining. "Mrs. Lee, my string came out of my thingy!" "Mrs. Lee, the needle is poking me." "Mrs. Lee, I broke my sewing." "Mrs. Lee, now what?" "Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Lee" and so on. The kids had fun and didn't do a half bad job for their first time sewing. And, no major bleed-outs, necessary amputations, or anything else that might happen when you give a class of 11 year olds needles and pins!! It was tiring but fun and some of the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves!!!

A plague upon the Lee Household

Recently we have been experiencing a plague of biblical proportions. Well, at least with our small appliances.

First, our microwave decided that it would no longer microwave and would only kinda "defrost" sometimes. So we took it out to the small appliance pasture/graveyard (the garage until electronics recycling day) where it quickly made friends with the space heater that blew up, the record player that wouldn't turn, and other small electronics. It reminds me of the Land of Misfit Toys but instead the Land of the Useless Appliances, which is not as musical or Christmasy.

Luckily, my in-laws had an extra one from someone's dorm room so now we can microwave again.


Then, our blender decided that it would rather leak everywhere than blend. Now, the upright members of the Lee household often enjoy a fruit smoothie or occasionally a homemade milkshake, if we're feeling dangerous. So the death of the blender was quite a blow to us. Since we didn't have to buy a new microwave, we decided to splurge and buy a new blender. (No one ever told me that once you're married, living on the edge means looking at new blenders. I probably wouldn't have believed them anyway....)

Our new blender has a glass pitcher, which I will break. It is only a matter of time but even more intriguing is that it is a "digital" blender. Will someone please tell me how a blender can be digital? Does it have a clearer picture? What, are the digital blenders replacing the analog blenders? Do the analog blenders not have as crisp of a blend? No where on the box does it describe how its "digital" (I checked four times).

I think its a marketing ploy. "Oh, this blender is DIGITAL. It must be better than these other non-digital blenders." It didn't work on the Lees. Instead the marked-down price tag caught us!

Because of our small appliance issues, I'm keeping a crash cart right next to the coffeemaker. I will give it CPR (coffee pot resuscitation) if I need to!!!!

Friday fun

It's hard to believe that it's been over a month since I last blogged. I guess that's because nothing really out of the ordinary has happened. Just life, taxes, cat poo, and dirty socks which are the complete opposite of exciting.

However, yesterday (Friday) was a good day. It started out well because my first class on Friday is at 10, which means that I can sleep in until 7:30!!! I went to school, worked, and came home. When I walked in the back door, Matt said that we were going on a picnic since Friday was a glorious day (70+ and sunny!!!) and that he already had the picnic packed! So I changed shoes, got in the car, and let Matt drive to the Thomson Causeway . We had our picnic sitting on a bench next to the Mississippi River while watching geese, ducks, and other birds enjoy the day. Then we walked around the woods for a while, and just enjoyed nature. The last time that we were there, baby garter snakes were everywhere which frightened Matt and might have made him scream like a little girl. And being the good person that I am, I did not remind Matt of this fact several times and tease him with snake-like sticks. Nope, I didn't.....

Then on our way home, we stopped at Matt's parents house to meet their new cat. Well, not actually their new cat. They had a stray that showed up at their house and I wanted to check him/her out! She (I think it's a she) is a black and white kitty that is very friendly. Either she ended up lost or someone dumped her because she likes people! Matt ran home to get some cat food for her (our boys won't miss a cup or two) while I petted her. She is very sweet, very matted, and looks to be in tough shape. She's been on her own for a while. I call her "Diamond" because she has a diamond shape on her back. After she ate some and I combed her a bit, she wandered towards the road. We thought she was headed back towards the farm on the other side of the road but none of us saw her cross. I looked around and decided that she must have crawled into the drainage pipe. I looked for her but couldn't see her in the pipe. About five minutes later, she showed up again and this time I saw her crawl out of the pipe. We left some food for her and headed home. Once we got home, we both immediately changed clothes and showered because we don't want our boys to get sick from her. And they both weregiving us looks like "Where have you been and what other cat have you been petting? Cheaters!"

So, this morning, Matt is taking Diamond to the local humane society to be checked out and hopefully put up for adoption. We would take her but I've never seen boy/girl cats get along very well and our boys are kinda spoiled and set in their ways. I think she needs a home with only her in it. And Matt has some silly rule about pets equaling the number of people in the house. Whatever.... If it were up to me, I would have taken her home last night and let her sleep in our garage.......

About a month ago, a Jewish lady spoke in our church about her faith and she said something that really resonated with me. She said that there is a Jewish proverb about helping animals. Helping animals, in this proverb, is the best act you can do because animals can not thank you or pay you back in any way. You help them out of the kindness of your heart. I like that quite a bit although I believe animals can pay us back. Gus is constantly paying his rent by holding things down, attacking killer milk rings, laying on slippers so they don't wander off, and monitoring the closed window situation....

So that was our Friday. It was a good day.

A beautiful sight.....

This morning as I was driving to school, I noticed an unusual sight.

Ahead of me on the left (northwesterly) was the full moon.

Behind me (the southeasterly), the rising sun.

At a single point in time, I could see the full moon AND the sun. It was beautiful!! And very odd!! I enjoyed the view all the way to the state line when the moon finally sank.


P.S. We've been combing cornstarch through Gus' (Gus's??) fur and he looks much better!!! Thanks for all the helpful suggestions and Boy.

A cat question

Yesterday Gus had to go to the vet and while he was there, the vet cleaned his ears (Gus's, not the vet's). I think he must have used mineral oil which is now all over Gus's head. He is not making any attempt to clean himself. What can I do to help him? He is a little sensitive about me touching his ears because of his experience with the vet. Do you think a warm wet washcloth followed by a combing (which he loves!!!) would help??

Suggestions?????