All by myself...

I was reluctant to break out this title so soon in the game. But I felt the need. Whenever I walk away from the presence of my friends or my family and get in my car to drive home the same refrain runs through my mind "All by myself.... Don't wanna be, All by myself" Nick was like my best friend/ rock and while he is coming back I have to balance how I relied on him.
I just miss his daily "Nickisms" and I keep thinking how he always said "Sacrifices Kaley, Sacrifices" Though mostly it was joking I've kind of realized that being married to a Naval Officer is going to be a life riddled with sacrifices. I can't wait for him to come home, but I've got to find a way to deal and cope because he is always going to be leaving and coming back. This is only the beginning. It's weird because I've always been a person who craved alone time and could almost be dubbed as a hermit. So you would think I am enjoying this time... but everytime I realize it's JUST me it's like a void fills my eardrums and it just freaks me out. I can't use witty banter to hide from me. I know what I'm like and being alone leaves no distractions from yourself. Even so, I know I have to go to the bank today. I don't want to leave the house. I don't want to go alone. What if I don't know what to do when the teller asks me for my access number? What if I have to make eye contact with a stranger? And I have to take laundry to my parents. With no husband I have to lug the laundry basket down the steep stairs and down a hill to my car (And we all know how I am graceful on the stairs).
So forgive me for complaining and whining and generally feeling bad for myself. I am sure I will be more well adjusted soon. Jesus is really nice to me. I will prevail.
Also, having the day off made me realize how very many people are home during the day. What are they doing??? Do a lot of people have off for Jewish holidays? Oh, and when I came home last night there were FBI things up by the buzz in box that said "Federal Bureau of Investigation for Neighbor 106 & 107" is that a joke? Or is the FBI investigating the people who live below me? It made me feel weird.
Gotta go brave to outside world :/

Kaley

News on Husband

Today was a good day. I heard from my hubby! He is doing well, as well as you can be doing while at "boot camp" for Naval Officers. He has no hair and no voice. If you're wondering what to pray about, his knee is a little swollen so if it rips again he'll have to stay for however long it takes to heal. He has an important physical test on Tuesday and if that goes well Wednesday he gets his Drill Instructor. All things to pray about. He got to go to church so that is a major plus.
Missing him is like a dull physical ache. I feel like someone took half of me away when he left. What I'm thankful for is that I feel like when he comes back we are going to appreciate each other more. It's amazing what three months of marriage will do. Back when Nick was just my boyfriend I think this would have been way easier, but now he is my other half! I'll be praying my other half makes it home soon so I can feel complete, whole, and normal.
Meanwhile my friends and fam have been making it a whole lot easier for me. LP came over and I helped her celebrate her b-day by baking her a cake. See below!

Tuesday we have off, thanks Judaism, and I think I might change out my summer clothes to fall clothes. It's sure to be an enthralling day off with no husband. Kitty and I will hang out and I'll watch her lick the couch maybe.
I know your dying to read more, but I'm going to sign off for now!
Love, Kaley & Kitty (and Nick in spirit, who probably longs to be blogging and not doing push ups in a sand pit)

My life. Boring but apparently intriguing enough to read about

To fight the loneliness and melancholy of a single life I will be blogging.
So firstly I would like to say that the starfish I picked up in Newport, RI smells like rotting fish entrails. Perhaps the entire town smelled slightly of the sea so I didn't notice at first-but I have to tell you- as I was laying on my couch today it smelled fiercely bad. I'm hoping whatever bacteria are causing the smell will die soon and leave me to enjoy this echinoderm's skeletal remains.
I've been thinking that I hope Nick gets sent to Florida for one reason. Guessed yet. You know it- Manatees! I could get a car tag with a save the manatees bumper sticker and become a manatee activist. Up yours Polar Bears, Manatees have got one fierce friend on their side! Okay, in reality I would get a bumper sticker, or some sort of ornament. And go to a manatee sanctuary, or even paint a mural on the wall of me healing their propeller inflected wounds. Okay, case in point that I can't talk about anything without ridiculous exaggerations and lies.
In classroom news, teaching is really hard. You know that part in HP when it says the dark arts are crafty and every changing and to fight them you must adapt (No? Just LP knows what I'm referencing?) I feel like teaching is like that. Today my FAV ADHD friend managed to throw 10 wadded up pieces of paper across the classroom without my noticing. How did I not notice? Because he was rolling them. Grrr. When I flipped out on him and made him start copying the rules one of the high flyers from the reading group I was sitting with goes "Mrs. P, are you having a sour pickle day?" I thought it was funny, but only for a second because once I think of something to stop their scheming... they adapt. Also I didn't beleive this little boys G-mom died... and then I got a note saying she totally did. I am officially awful and changing my view on life. You might even stop reading my blog because I am so evil.
In TV news, on the new show on VH1 that I can't even remember the name of one of the undiscovered stylists was TOTALLY on How do I look? with Finola Hughes. Maybe she's on there because no one ever picked her set of outfits.

Recognize this character??? I hate to break it to you, but Reality TV is a pile of fakeness and lies.
In the BEST news, planet earth is being REPLAYED on sunday and I have DVR. Woot woot! Can't wait to watch the wonder of the shallow seas and the mystical adventure that is Caves!!
In seperation news, I have noticed that I assigned every chore that I disliked to him. Vacuuming, kitty litter, taking out the trash (?! I still can't beleive I have to do that), and cleaning the stove top. Now I will list the things I discovered I can't do now that he is gone:

• Know what temperature to set the thermostat to
• Pay the Bills, bills, bills
• Figure out why the computer keeps turning off
• Plug the computer in right
• Use the web cam
• insert a video into a blog
• Edit pictures
• Upload music
• burn cd's
• and various other activities that continue to puzzle me

That's all I got for you.
Love, Kaley, Kitty, and Nick

What's been happening the past week

Well, it finally happened. Nick went off to OCS (Officer Candidate School) in Newport, Rhode Island. To even try to describe to you the depths of my emotional fragility would be futile. Suffice it to say I will pray for him every day and take it one day at a time until his graduation day (tentatively Dec. 12) I try to take my mind off of his absense, but I think about him getting yelled out by a drill instructor and I get really nervous for his well-being. I wish I could blog about how I'm well adjusted and non-plussed by his absense... but I'm not. At least I have Kitty! No, my friends and family have been very supportive...these two days with no husband. Two LESS days without I guess!

Newport was super nice. I went up two days before Nick had to report so we could spend some quality spousal time together. Newport is like Annapolis' big brother. I saw a Resails and an O Briens pub. However, I say big brother because they have an ocean, we a river. The rich are richer and the town is bigger. Even the U.S. Naval Academy was there in the 1860's. Check out my album on facebook to see all the highlights.

So to change the subject...
I should have known the day was going to be tough when I fell down the stairs today. Not tripped on the stairs-FELL down the stairs. Had I not grabbed the railing when I did I am sure I would have suffered an injury. Our stairwell is steep. My knee is sore right now, but other than that and some skin off my knees, I made it out relatively unscathed.
Today when we were writing our poems for "If I were in charge of the world" a little girl included "High Gas Prices" on her "Get Rid Of" list.
I watched 90210 with my fellow teacher Sarah tonight. It is sucking me in. Big time. Even though I didn't watch 90210... or know who any of the old characters are I do know Aunt Becky from Full House is on it and I loved her!
That's all I have for now. More updates from the classroom later!
Gotta go cuddle with Kitty!!!
Love Kaley (and Nick in spirit)

PS Due to my mother and a couple bucks in Newport I was able to add these recent nautical additions to my home:Bonus Blog!

I've been gone so long I thought I'd give you a bonus as you scroll. There are things I could be doing:

• Learning to cook
• Grading papers
• Studying the Bible
• Calling my Grandparents
• Cleaning the house
• Watching the news

But when I come home... Why do that when I can take pictures of myself with the cat and then blog about it! Listen, hear me out. I had a hard day. I wanted a picture of Kitty and I snuggling. She NEVER stops licking me. NEVER. Hence my face and her licking me. I'm glad she loves me, I just wish she would express it some other way.
And why stop there? Why not add a festive frame if I'm going to post a picture with my cat. I would say I'm not at the point where I need crazy cat lady intervention yet. If you ever sense the need to intervene and stop the madness, I would be okay with that.
Signing off again: Kaley and Kitty: Dynamic Duo

Good Day

So, I'm having a good day despite the inevitable absence of my dear husband. One reason:
I get to drive by this everyday.

The other reason: I am famous. No, but our florist/neighbor did put up my wedding photos taken my my good friend Drea (Of Andrea Ackermann Photography) on her website. This excites me. Without Jo's help my wedding would have been a HOT MESS! A hot mess with, oh, I can't even relay to you the tackiness I had in mind before she helped me with her English taste.
Check me out here!<-----------------------Seriously, it would make me feel better.


The final reason: Nick made fried chicken and mashed potatoes tonight! Score! This day was going badly after my class began to implode on itself this afternoon. I'm talking crying, outbursts of rage, craziness (can't even explain some of my students without a psychologist's help) along with a lesson of Homonyms, homophones, and homographs, it was Quite the day. However, it is looking up! I'll leave you with a haiku from reading groups:
Me-"Can anyone give me a pair of rhyming words?"
Student 1-"Ben, Hen"
Student 2-"Right, Night"
Student 3-"Dog...Blog!"
Me-"Did you just say... Blog?"
Student 3-"Yes, they're websites where you write about your life! I swear!"
Now that's education for the 21 Century,
Love Kaley AND Nick

The Boxcar Children

Today Nick came in to visit my class. For one reason because he goes to the ends of the earth in a week and a half for three months AND I wanted him to commiserate with me when I told stories about my whack class. They did not disappoint oh no they did not. As Nick walks in my student shouts "Well, Oh my, he's a real tough big kind of guy!" The response: hysterical laughter. Good first impression eh? Then he proceeded to read them a chapter of the boxcar children. Anyone remember this book? I thought it was pretty tight that four white orphans survived in the woods in a train boxcar with only their wits and an unnaturally fruitful trash dump for resources. Realistic? No. Realistic Fiction? Yes! (Real child revelation " I know why it's called Boxcar Children!! Because they're children. And they live in a boxcar!) Anyway, as I should have known with an authors name like Gertrude... this book was written in the 1940's. You know what that means? No contractions. None! I can not do that, I do not think that is good...okay after reading aloud with no contractions you realize how laborious it is. Anyway, a temper tantrum and two mommies story later, Nick lived an afternoon in my life.
Today I had my "You waste my time, I waste yours" timer. I had a stop watch around my neck all day. Every time they fooled around or tried to BS me- BAM timer on! Now tomorrow, I get to make them do whatever I want for 3:50. Should I make them do push-ups? Stand with their arms above their heads? Chant "Our teacher is beautiful and witty"? Well, whatever it ends up being-it's going to be good!

We presented "Me Bags" today. Some good "This represents my hamster, Nelson, whom I love!" Some bad "This spider man figurine means a lot to me because it was my first spider man figurine"... 
Also after teaching pronouns this week I realized there are about 14 different ways to spell - well lets see if you can guess.
Joe Jouns
Nick Jons
Jonas Brothers. I got the wonderful spelling of Mis. Pachrya. There's still time. Right?? I've got to go to bed and recover from Back to School night because after all, Who doesn't want to be at school for 12 hours?
Love Kaley, and Nick

Children.

Do you remember that Norah Jones song with the lyric "and melt your cold, cold heart". I sang that to myself today as I heartlessly stared at a sobbing 8 year old. Why was she sobbing? She was flipped to yellow, the warning card. Now she can't go to green day party and apparently her Dad is going to ground her. I had several children warm me she was crying. I shrugged. I have a black heart. Part of me wanted to be like the one legged character from SNL and be like "Yeah, I flipped your card! Jealous??"...but I didn't. I wish every kid cried when I flipped their cards. Then maybe every class would be good. Hopefully, I can keep up my black hearted demeanor and frighten children into behaving. That was a class in college, in case you didn't know "Black Hearted Teaching: How to touch a child 101" In some enlightening school news, today our math problem was centered around... MANATEE'S!!!! They had to write the weight of the friendliest sea mammal from least to greatest. I didn't even make this up, someone ELSE in the teaching biz thinks that manatees are awesome enough to earn a problem...but of course these are the same people that give kids word problems featuring people with impossible names like: Ut, Astrophocles, Deronde, and Tiznaptia ( I def. made that last one up, but some of these names are off the charts ridiculous). One of the manatee's names was Donut. I wish I had a manatee named Donut. In HP news, I asked a child if he was confunded. Then explained it, then regreted it.

Soapbox moment: Saying the pledge of allegience everyday makes me really proud. I love the United States of America. I want to be one of those houses that has a flag banner and a virtual fence made from small wooden flags stuck in the ground. I am proud to be a big flaming republican, but sad that no one at lunch wants to be a red state. And I display my 8x10 of President Bush on my filing cabinet because I love the President of our country. And I am proud of my husband who is going to be serving our country and keeping us all safe. Giving us the right to live in the free country we live in!
Love, Kaley and Nick