Busy Bees

Sorry I haven't posted as much as my 5 foot counterpart, but I have been busy. Not really, but I like to think I have been. On Tuesday I walked into Adams "The Place for Ribs" to check my schedule for the week and low and behold, they forgot to put me on. I was thinking to myself, this is either pretty good or pretty bad. Good, because I don't have to work for a week, bad because I am getting married in 22 days and need to rake in the dough so that I can provide for my future life mate. So I have been kind of keeping myself busy.

I must say, that most of my time has been devoted to the Internet. What a wonderful thing the Internet is. I can waste hours online just clicking on things. You look at one thing and see a link to something that interests you and it just goes on from there. I think I found my next project on the Internet. As you may know, I am a proud owner of a soprano sized ukulele. Now, since acquiring such an instrument I have become pretty obsessed with it. I have scoured our good friend the "Internet" for tips, tricks, advice, instruction, and entertainment on our smaller guitar counterpart. Now, for the past two days I have stumbled across cigar box ukuleles. Yes, you read right. I think that I am going to try and build one. I brought this to the attention of my beautiful fiancee while driving yesterday and her reaction was, "Maybe you should wait" which translates to "I will kill you if build something to annoy me with". So Kaley isn't to fond of the idea but I will be making a stringed instrument that may not sound quite nice, so I understand her ill feelings. Anywho, I think this will be my summer project.

Other busy news, I move into Kaley and I's apartment tomorrow. It is just another step to that day we say "I do". I am pretty excited but at the same time nervous because I have to move a sleeper sofa which is going to be a pain. It should be fine though.

To close I think I will tell an amusing story. So it's the end of the year for Kaley and she has done her best these last couple weeks to control and entertain a third grade class that is, shall I say, not the quickest bunch of kids. So she has been working pretty hard and so every time she has come home she has been pretty tired. Well, today was the same as the previous couple days. So we get back to her house after spending a lovely evening with our friends Ben and Tara and Kaley falls asleep. Before I go I ask her if she has set her alarm for tomorrow because we have to get up early. Now for a little back story. The beginning of the school year was rough for Kaley. It's her first year and her kids drove her crazy. So sometimes when I would call her I would catch her while she was sleeping. Our conversations were pretty interesting because she would still kind of be sleeping and she would be recalling her dreams while she talked to me. So I would tell her something like, I just got back into Salisbury. And her response would be, "Did you have a good time with Josh". HUH?!?!?! This is one of her students. So I would get splices of crazy talk sometimes. It hasn't happened in a long time. Until tonight, back to my story. So I ask her if she set her alarm and she responded, "yes". Then I asked her what time she set if for and her response... "onions". I can only chuckle to myself and know that I will be marrying the most amazing girl ever. Kaley and I have been very busy bees this week. Goodnight.

Sincerely,

Nick and Kaley

P.S. The National Spelling Bee was today and yesterday. Its always the highlight of my "just getting out of school for the summer" phase. Sameer Mishra from West Lafayette, Indiana won by spelling the word "guerdon". Congrats Sameer!

Dazzling New Purchases!

Dear friends,

This week, Nick and I have made some important purchases for our new life. This first are these (totally necessary) water shoes. Folks, some of you may know that Cozumel is surrounded by coral reef. Nick and I decided to protect our feet and get some COOL water shoes!

I am also thinking these purple water shoes will go great with my skin cancer hat!

Also, Nick and I also learned from watching the travel channel that the hike up Mt. Kilauea is 7 miles. So, I am in my "walking" gear because I am trying to see if I could ever walk 7 miles without dying. Today we walked 2.8 miles. One quarter of which was uphill. So, by the time Nick and I save up enough money to get to Hawaii, I will have built up my walking endurance to 7 miles. I'll keep you updated.

By the way, after searching for the spelling of Mt. K... I found this image. Which made me rethink if people were truly hiking up this vault of fiery death.

But then I also saw this image... so maybe the volcanic ash is just a really good fertilizer for tropical foliage. Don't ask me, Nick's the geographer. (Does that apply? Probably you should ask a botanist or something)

Also, Nick and I are inheriting "Kitty" from Nick's mom. See, she is moving to Wales. And to save Sharon money and Kitty six months of quarentine(because Britain is free of rabies) ... we are adopting her! I splurged a little and bought her this superbly classy cat dish.

Thereby proving without Nick I am at GREAT risk of becoming a crazy cat lady. But he let me buy the dish anyway!

Love, Kaley & Nick

Hello folks, thought I'd share a little "convo" I had with one of my students today.

"Miss M, you know what I learned this weekend?"

"What did you learn?"

"Eating hospital pudding is a big mistake!"

I kind of thought she was going to say something profound, but for future reference-hospital pudding=a trip to the toilet.

Also, this is why I teach. I got this present today!

This made my icy heart melt just a little. Okay, a lot, plus it was from my favorite student.

Field day is tomorrow. That means egg tossing and icy pops. I'm pretty psyched! No instruction for the ENTIRE day!!!!

Love, Kaley

sorry my photography skillz are so lame, but Nick wasn't here to help me.

It has been my life's mission this year to teach my students the continents. To my dismay, this is what I see after "centers".

Apparently, Africa is experiencing a cold front this year. And the thing that makes it extra painful is that directly to the left of this picture, there is a world map on the wall. It makes me nervous for our future. Also, Kristie(My fellow teacher) and I had fun taking pictures at recess. I thought I'd post this one of the children on "the wall". They owe us time during recess for various infractions.


Maybe teaching has made me a little bit evil, but I find this pretty funny.

This weekend Nick and I (Plus Tara, Ben, and LP) went to Amanda and Dustin's wedding. I forgot to take any pictures at the actual event, but I'll post the ones we have from next to the pool.

This is Tara and Ben, dressed up and fancy for the wedding.


Nick felt very enthused for his aviator glasses. And because his future wife is so hot. Just kidding.

LP did NOT feel enthused about not having a date. This is the resulting picture.

And how can you have a photo shoot without including the "funny" picture. I hope this doesn't disappoint! I will continue to keep you updated on all the fun and exciting things that I do.

Love, Kaley (And Nick, in spirit)

Deception

Ok, I am all about numbers, the more the better. So I put the little counter thing on the page off to the side and I have been pretty disappointed at the number of hits that our blog gets. So I decided to put a second one on down at the bottom of the page just to see if they match up and record the same number. Well, low and behold, the original one is lower than the one I put down at the bottom. I've been duped, the counter isn't doing its job, it's not counting!! I have been decieved and am very upset. I don't think that I can trust this counter anymore, our relationship as blog and counter is over! This whole time I thought you guys didn't care but I have been decieved by the traitor to the right.

More seriously now, I started working this week. I got a summer job waiting tables at Adam's, The Place for Ribs, (a little free advertisement there). I started on Tuesday and had to train. I've waited tables before and not to be cocky or anything but I'm pretty good at it. I had to train again on Wednesday and I was supposed to train last night but when I walked in I was told that I would be taking my own table, awsome. It was a pretty slow night but I did pretty well, I think that I did better than the other servers.

Yesterday I also got my official date to Officer Candiate School for the Navy. I am the class of September 14, 2008. And I get sworn into the Navy on June 2nd. So on the second of June it will be official, I will be a sailor in the United States Navy. Kind of a side note but kind of related. Since I have had all the time in the world, I took an online boating certification course and got my boating certification. Its funny though, becuase in a little while I'll be driving huge multi-billion dollar Naval vessels instead of your typical 24 foot recreational boat. Anyways, I'm pretty excited for the Navy. That's all I got for you guys. Good Day!

This will be me during Officer Candidate School.

Hopefully this will be me afterwards.

Signed,
Nick and Kaley

Wednesday: More commonly known as "Hump" day

Dear readers,

I am currently residing in a virtual wasteland of everything Nick and I have ever owned. And presently received from our Bridal Shower. It is hard to walk around in my room, and I just heard Nick fall in there. I'm not even joking.

I met with my florist today. She knows ALOT of ribbon color names. List of ribbon colors I learned today:

• Blush



• Tea rose



• Raspberry



• I can lamely think of no more, but trust me there were more.



• For future reference: Bubble gum and blush do not mesh. You are unwise to combine them. I know, I did, and now I am embarrassed the thought even crossed my mind.

So, for recess I let my class watch "The Chronicles of Narnia" and prefaced it by saying:
"Children, there is only one thing Miss M likes more than Harry Potter. And that is the Chronicles of Narnia. And perhaps I like these even more than Harry. If you talk today during the movie, you will incur my wrath. Be prepared to be taken into a dreamworld of magic"

Which of course is from lazy sunday...which most of them have probably seen. Now, they are trying to read the C.O.N. books which is sadly comical... because most of them can't read on that level. I say comical, because eventually...after eight months... you have to get past how desperately sad it is and laugh. They all want to read "The Last Battle" because the unicorn has a bloody horn.

Nick and I are looking forward to going to IKEA and getting a dresser on Saturday. Please stay posted as I will certainly share a picture with my friends when Nick has assembled it. (Probably alone with no help from me).

Love, Kaley & Nick

PS Good news, now that Nick is home, I don't have to hang out with the cat so much!

College Graduate Suckas!!!

First, I want to apologize for the "in your face" title of this blog entry. I just felt compelled to let you guys know that I am now a college graduate and am moving forward into the real world. I am now sitting in Kaley's house on a Tuesday afternoon using my newly earned college degree skills for typing a blog to you guys. Good way to start off real life, don't you think?

Second, I also want to apologize for not updating as frequently as my counterpart, Kaley. Its just that she's so good at blogging that I find it intimidating to follow up, or its just that I'm lazy and don't find it in my best interest to sit in front of the computer for 10 minutes and type, although I do sit in front of the computer and look up stupid videos on youtube. Which leads me to my next order of business. UKULELE!!!

I know that Kaley had mentioned it in the last blog, but I bought a ukulele and am enjoying it tremendously. Matt and I thought that since we were graduating, we deserved ukuleles. He's moving on from the kazoo and I have always wanted to play one. Matt, you better be practicing! I have already learned a couple things on it, including the intro to Stairway to Heaven. My plan is to be a semi master at ukulele by summer's end and to become the next Jason Castro from American Idol:



Now, I don't really like or watch American Idol but like I said, I spend a lot of time on youtube and came across this video looking up ukulele things, so it worked its way into this blog. Anywho, I'm closing out this entry because I have to get back to the ukulele (ookoo-lay-lay).

Oh, if you guys know how I can put a youtube video in my blog instead of the link, that would be appreciated. I think that the video would be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye more than an blue, underlined, hyperlink to the video I wish to show. Thanks.

Edit: I have searched far and wide for the answer to the question above and I found my answer, so I am now editing this post and have included said video. And instead of taking out the above question I decided to post my own answer instead. I can do that, its my blog.

Big Steps!

Well, Nick graduated from college this weekend!!!!! Yay! We are very excited for this long awaited day. I might add that while we were taking pictures, we saw a baby turtle... and then a dead baby duck. This made us feel a little weird, we were so excited to see the turtle. But then, less enthusiastic, and rightly so, to see the annihilated duckling. Tara saw an alligator snapping turtle on the highway on Friday, which brings our summer turtle sightings up to: 2. I'll keep you posted.

On the flip side... why are graduations so boring? (This is me during the sacred ceremony...but that old lady with the immense turquoise necklace looks a little bored too) There are all these people you don't know, and lots of boring speeches. J. Dudley Eschbach (Could have spelled that wrong, but too lazy to check) congratulated every professor in the known world for their acheivements. And don't get me wrong. I'm proud of them. Wait, no I'm not.

Also, in celebration of said graduation, Nick bought a ukulele (Ooo- ku- lay- lay) if you are a pacific islander. He is learning to play many songs on it... including "Stairway to Heaven". I am impressed by his beginning ukulele skills. In fact, I might buy a hula skirt and we shall go into the luau business.

And so we sign off for now,

Kaley and Nick (Kaley wrote it, but Nick stood behind her and vetoed ideas/added input)

A conversation to forget!

Though I just posted... I shall post again. Because Nick isn't home yet and I won't pretend I have plans.

Just wanted to share a conversation with my third grade einsteins. I was reading a test to some children in the back when I realized that they had all answered the fact and opinion question wrong. And I quote:

Me -"Does anyone know what an opinion is?"

Student 1- "Yes yes I know!!!! It's when... when a person jumps in a swimming pool! And..."

Student 2 interupts- "Yeah, like a verb!"

Me- "Excuse me what? I'm talking about opinions"

Student 1- "Well, I went to five years of high school and got held back, so I KNOW what I'm talking about, and that's an adjective!"

Me- "I give up"



Love,
Kaley

Confessions of a (Third Grade Teacher) Drama Queen,

Today was Grandparents Day. As a first year teacher I did not know what to expect. Here is a comment made by each grandparent (no joke, every single last stinking one)

"When I walked in I thought you were one of the kids!"

Oh, ha ha haha. (Imagine a fake belly laugh here) If you sent your child to school in a pair of high heeled cheetah flip-flops then I AM one of the kids.  My kids take advantage of the fun day to act like total fools. Like, total fools. So after all of the grandparents leave, which was a social commentary in itself, I shut the door and literally say to my students:

"No more Misses NICE TEACHER. Zip your lips and GET IN YOUR SEATS" in the most evil voice you can imagine from me, which you can't even imagine because it developed over the past six months. Seriously, I could burn your soul with my retinas. I wish I had a picture of thier faces when I said that. I chuckle now even thinking about it, which leads me to my next point. Teaching made me the devil. And if I did not have the summer off... I would staple a paper to someone's forehead.
Today, I directly quote, after reading the story "Cows in the Parlor-A visit to a Dairy farm" A kid says:
"How do you get milk out of cows gutters?"
Excuse me it's udders, but I wouldn't expect him to know that after reading the story twice and watching a mid 90's video (Sorry that's all we gots at the library!) on milk production! (It was full of neon and dairy pop songs).
I would like to make a list of all the things I learned about cows over the past week. If you don't want to know, you shouldn't be reading my blog because I am obviously boring, that should have been glaringly obvious by now. (I used obvious twice in that sentence, obviously) I will indent so it is easier for your eyes to avoid the cow fact section:

• Cows have no front teeth, but break of grass with their coarse, abnormally long tongue
• Cows have four stomachs
• Milk has riboflavin in it... don't know what this is, just thought I'd share
• Food in a silo is called "silage"
• Where cows are milked is called a "parlor" (and so entitles our story)
• Where they eat is called a "bunk"
• All my children are obsessed with cows
• I haven't met a third grader who can pronounce "trough"
• I told them cows not only eat hay and corn, but sweet cattle feed with 17% protein (BFS people)
• And finally, I learned it was better to learn about a dairy farm rather than a "hamburger" farm as they became very concerned of the male cows fate....

On a non-teacher note, Nick is done his finals and graduates on Saturday. Woohoo! Then he can come spend the summer with me! And only me. Just kidding.
Think of me May 17 when my BFF is listening to my friend Chris Thile and I am on the Eastern Shore watching Nick graduate.

Peace - in the middle east (Because isn't that what's really important)
Kaley


PS Two disclaimers - Nick will be excruciatingly embarrassed that I said peace in the middle east and
I actually love my class...this is just how I express my love, through griping and insults. Isn't Nick a lucky guy???!!!

Watergate

So good news! Nick and I are now the proud renters of apartment 206 in Watergate Village! As of June 1 that is. We got pretty excited so we bought a beautiful blue crab welcome mat. Please stop by and see it some time...after June 1st. We looked into renting a rental truck and it was only 30 bucks! But then they charge you a dollar a mile! I feel that this is a gyp! Seriously, don't sucker me in with your killer deals and leave me stranded with this one dollar a mile. Whatever, I'll show them. I don't know how but I will. Also, I feel that this is good news for our highly anticipated tennis hobby!!!

I hope everyone likes my Mexican skin cancer hat! Please feel bad for Nick as he will have to walk around with me, his new wife, in a sun hat that is officially worn by persons over the age of 50. However, I must shield my neck from the suns vicious rays. And seeing as how Mexico is just a hop, skip, and jump away from the equator... I'm taking every precaution!

So, I had to teach the students about the Rocky Mountain States and I had to find out which state meant "snow-clad". So, after a lengthy conversation with my recent mexican immigrant

 and armed with a Spanish-English dictionary we found out snow in spanish is nieve... which would seem to implicate Nevada as the guilty state... but isn't Nevada mostly desert? If that makes me an inept elementary teacher I apoligize.

I can think of nothing else relevant at this time

Keep it real folks!

Kaley