worse then when I made emily's cake cry

everyone has those relationships in their lives that just aren't good. there is nothing positive that comes of them, but yet they keep trying and hold on just a little longer. for some it is with a friend who just takes and never seems to give in return. for others its with a boy who treats you like crap, but who its easier to stick with then to move on from.

for me, it is with butter cream icing. once I made emily a lion cupcake. it was too humid, my icing didnt hold up and emily's cake was crying by the time she cut into it.
oh and it tasted like a big giant stick of butter. no more martha stewart recipes.

I managed to keep my distance for over two years, but alas butter cream icing got the better of me and I gave it another chance.

this time, not as buttery...but lacking a substantial amount of sugar....and I didnt want to run to the store to get more (this is why you should always use the recipe you check when you are making sure you have enough ingredients) and thus a runny mess. work on cupcakes, put in fridge, work for 10 min, fridge for 15.

at least they turned out cute (until they turned into a melted mess)

o! i'd rather be a pumpkin face...

...then be in a pumpkin pie!

our little pumpkin has turned into a scary crazy-eyed jack-o-lantern.

nick cut the top off

I got the insides out

I cut some...

nick cut some...


finished!
for a complete pumpkin experience please visit here!

happy moment of the night

yea! to At&t and ESPN360 for letting me watch the big ND despite them playing the 0-6 Washington and having it aired on ESPN2 which greatly exceeds our tv watching abilities.

all of which led to perhaps my favorite moments of the game.
1st while talking about ty and how ND let him go after only three years Bob Davie "that was unprecedented. I had 5 years at ND"

and then as we manage to get a field goal "Walker is like a new man. Accurate" granted he was later replaced by the kicker for Siegfried hall's innerhall team. mod quad represent!


oh and apparently I went to school in disneyland.

ACT, I dominated you then, I hate you now

Dear Mr ACT
I kicked your butt when I was in high school. so now apparently you think it's ok to screw me over.

This morning I woke at 6 am (actually 5 since I can never sleep when I HAVE to wake up for something, and apparently it's more stress inducing for me to watch 25 people take a test then for me to teach all day) so I could administer you to 25 unwilling individuals.

I made it to school in record time since no one was out on the road at 6:30 am on a Saturday morning. including the 56 students who didn't show at our school, an unheard of number except when my being paid for my early morning and drive depended on those individuals.

Mr. ACT I fully realize that it was not your fault that these individuals did not show. it is however your fault that I got screwed. Thank you for your $25 which barely covers gas and wear on my car as I drove the 20 miles to and from school. Add to that the hour I spent in "training" and the hour I spent reading your 150 page long instructor manual.

I find it ridiculous that now you have less work and more money. those 56 students who never showed have already paid their money to you. AND you now have 56 less tests to grade. I however was counting on my $114 and sacrificed my day to you for a measly $25.

Thank you for deeming the two hours I spent before today as well as the hour in my car and the hour I spent this morning worth a whole $25.

I'll see you in the People's Court,

Amy

the learning never stops

top 10 things I learned during my day off school:

1. engagement rings = conditional gifts which means you have to give them back if you dont fulfill your side of the contract
2. my grandma's suing my mom for child support. (well the kid's grandma was actually suing his mom for babysitting money)
3. parking people are stupid and want me to never be able to park in the wintertime
4. Garmin uses Kansas City intersections in its ads.
5. Two of the three major types of rock are indigenous and hard (and by indigenous and hard I actually mean igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary)
6. new life goal = be a rabbit lady (aka have tons of rabbits in my home, have them taken by the government, find them, steal the rabbits back)
7. when opening a REALLY old bottle of wine, one might use hot tongs to cut the glass if the cork has gone bad and can no longer withstand the corkscrew
8. defamation requires a third party (note to self....do kittens count???...this I must figure out before preparing for my counter suing on the people's court)
9. vlog sounds a lot like flog. coincidence...you decide
10. no matter how determined to be productive you are...some days you just have to play pirate poppers
    

monkey much?

this is what happens when I stay home. and reason number 1 why I shouldn't have more days off school. even piccolo got in on the action

and of course nick pretended to be a monkey just for the camera.

Mrs. Brita

I tried to fight it for years...though I have secretly enjoyed the crisp fresh taste that is brita water. I first got hooked in high school where lindsey's brita pitcher and lack of caffeine drinking broke me of that habit.

through college I mooched off my roommate's and their brita, enjoying every last drop of freshly filtered water chilled to perfection.

my little sis finally convinced my mom to invest at home and I enjoyed drinking water like I never had before.

grad school brought the filter on the tap. similar yet different, though not necessarily better or worse....sink filter water lacks the coolness from the fridge, but comes in mass quantity rather than just pitchered-size.

then in Chicago...claires hooked me up. I secretly thought of the days that I would get to drink from the brita as I convinced her that brita was soo much better then always buying bottled water way back in may.

then claires moved. and we dealt with white floaties in our water for a month in a half. till walgreens had them on sale. save $7 AND have floaty-free water. done and done.

mamma said there'd be days like this

never have I been so glad to have a day over as I did ending yesterday...

start the day...deal with kids cheating and re taking tests

turn in paperwork for incompletes for kids who never showed up to take tests

dont have a homeroom buddy for firedrills...must both lead my students out AND check to make sure there is no one left behind in my room. .... problem I think so

get pulled out of class and yelled at first for being in the wrong room, then for apparently holding up the grade process for a hour for not responding ot an e-mail and also for putting off turning in forms for incompletes since I spent thursday dealing with cheaters.

get told by one of my honors kids that she wants to drop by class because its took hard and she doesnt understand anything that I've been teaching them since I dont explain things very well

find out I have to spend my only free time during the day subbing for a teacher who is absent.

my keys arent labled and it takes me forever to find the right one to open the right door.

my room isnt cleaned becase my cleaning girl is a failure.

end up with only 2/3 of my students turnign in their homework assignments...not a good way to start quarter 2

get called to the counselors office to talk on the phone with a parent who is upset I havent had a chance to e-mail her back and who's daughter is "overwhelmed" and who has told her mom that I told her I "didnt have time to help her" with an assignment.

nothing that a bike ride downtown, honey chipolte (which I failed to order...honey bbq...not quite as good) chicken crispers and gap store field trip can't fix

welcome fall

I should have known when it took us the extra hour to get down town that this weekend would add to the list of ridiculous times that all of our adventures are.

Friday-home from work, load the car to leave...realize I've left my wallet upstairs and nick has left his sunglasses...send him up for them while I put new CDs in the car...realize one is still upstairs in my computer..oh well fate.

try to get off lake shore on Ontario as google maps instructs...we see the exit sign...then never see an exit. end up south of where we want...no biggie we'll just turn up Michigan... not. happens to be one of the streets where michigan is above. finally make it to a corner get Claires head on our way. tons o traffic later we decide to take columbus down to lake shore. and then columbus is closed. half hour later we end up back on michigan about where we started...and I am informed I have to turn left at the next light. I am in the right hand lane. traffic is stopped. we just waited three light cycles for a bus to clear the intersection I am pathetic at traffic. around the block we go so I can just turn right.

7:00 pm 3 hours later finally made it to Gary, IN. where traffic is stopped for so long my eyes are buring from the pollution before we start moving again.

Rendez-vous at Culvers 9:15 pm michigan time (thank goodness they're open till 10) eat food, ditch claires drive on to lansing. miss the turn to kerrys, fortunatly I've printed the map and not just directions, nick tells me to turn left I turn right. finally make it alive and well.
chat with Kerry and Todd, sleep, confused by why there are two sheets on our bed, up shower, food, tour of lansing, off to cider mill and corn maze.


drink a little wine, buy our tokens for the corn maze. maze...normally has an in and an out. not this one. wander around until you are tired of wandering around then make your way out. corn wandering might have been a better name. but we did take some framable pics! including one for my grandma so I can make the fridge again!


quite possibly best part of the day came next...snack bar...and apple cider sippy cups! I wanted cider doughnuts too but they ran out. sad day. bought some wine and hard cider and hit the road. two very content kids sipping away on cider on the way home


ate some dinner, forced to watch the florida LSU football game till we snuck away for bed. next day zoo adventures, and blast from the past for nick.

we thought we'd hit the zoo in the morning...too bad the animals were still sleeping as well. but again more photo opps and the sleppy animals eventually woke.


then off to nick's old house...where apparently the mortage situation has manifsted itself. forclousure notice on the window.


lunch, picture stealing (since my camera was left at home), and on the road we go. tired, full, and a little more ready for fall!

moving day = poop day???

belated by over a month I know...but I just found these pictures. apparently along with being in charge of providing your moving slaves with lunch you are also required to deal with any and all situations that involve poop.
for example, if someone in your new building has allowed their dog to do its business in your new foyer and then others have tracked said business all over it is your job to clean it up so it doesn't get tracked up the stairs to your new pad


example number two, it's time to move your pet...now pets who routinely poo in a box are convenient most of the time (no scratching at the door to be let out, no cleaning up after them on their walk) but there are those times (when it comes time to empty the box for example) especially on moving day....when they are not the bright shining spot of your day.