Happy "early" Birthday!!!

Yesterday (Saturday, November 13) was a total blur. I was up before 6:00 am grading my students' tests and papers before I left for a Texas Teachers training seminar in Arlington. The alternative certification program I am in (Texas Teachers) required me to attend that particular session for an upcoming test I must successfully pass before I receive my permanent teaching certificate. Basically, it was 8.5 hours of test-taking strategies and "perfect scenario" classroom situations about pedagogy (the study of teaching) and professional skills. I scored 79% on the practice test, and I haven't even sliced the plastic shipping cover off of the study booklet I ordered about two months ago. I really need to get on top of that, it's rather critical in my teaching career.

I finally get home yesterday and want so badly to crawl into bed and sleep for the rest of the afternoon and night, but instead I start grading papers again until Kevin finally says, "I'm hungry, but nothing sounds good." Well, that's helpful for the live-in cook we have...named ME. He decides to go to Wendy's because he wants to stop at Home Depot and look at lumber for a squeeze-chute he bought at an auction that needs a new floor before he tries to resale it (side note: he loves going to farm and ranch auctions to buy implements and trailers and other equipment to resale in Craigslist; he's been really successful....and if he's happy, I'm happy.) We go to Wendy's and neither one of us is very hungry so he gets the kids' meal of chicken nuggets and I get the chicken sandwich. For two big-and-tall people eating kids' meals at Wendy's, I'm sure we were a sight. The toys inside the bags were nothing to write home about, so we gave those to two boys eating a Frosty with Grandma and Grandpa on our way out. Good deed of the day: check.

On to Home Depot we go............

Drinks in hand, Kevin and I stroll into Home Depot and price the lumber he will need for his project. He has to go back up there today with the Dodge truck and flatbed trailer because it would not have fit into the bed of the Tacoma last night. Since we lead such entertaining lives, we decide to spend our Saturday evening walking through H.D. looking at power tools, bathroom fixtures (no, the master bath has not been touched...YET!), furnace air filters, and finally kitchen appliances. Fifteen minutes later, we walked out of Home Depot with a receipt for a Maytag dishwasher that will be delivered next week. The one we currently have is on its last leg and the little support brackets that hold plates and cups on the shelves are breaking off and the unprotected metal (where the plastic has broken off) is beginning to rust. Needless to say, we need a new dishwasher. Home Depot was having a sale, so we bought a dishwasher last night! It's pretty fancy too. All of the kitchen appliances are black (not my preference, but they were here when we bought the house) so, of course, we bought a black one last night. It has a clean front with a single handle and all of the controls are inside at the top. It has a stainless steel tub and extra-tall capacity for platters on the bottom shelf. The regular sticker price was $598 and the sale price was $298. For an additional $50, H.D. will deliver, setup, and remove the old one. Sounds perfect.

As we are leaving Home Depot, Kevin turns and looks at me and says, "Happy early Birthday."

"Thanks," I replied.

A quick trip inside H-E-B for some groceries and to home we went to watch football games and I finished the grading I had begun early, early yesterday morning. Now today, after church and the youth's Thanksgiving Dinner, I will record them into the online grade book before I have to submit them to my principal. I also need to finish lesson plans for this week.

Five days until a mini-vacation............Kentucky here I come! :o)