Both of my roommates got robbed - on the same day!
Ryan spent all day Saturday showing a client some corporate locations for a possible restaurant. Ryan has had his real estate license for around 7 years. He really doesn't do much with it, but occasionally his friends contact him when they are interested in buying property. At one point while his car was parked, someone smashed in the rear drivers side window and stole his brand new work laptop and entire brief case.
Then my other roommate, Grant, got his iPod stolen out of his car while at a party on Saturday night. He didn't lock the doors, so no windows had to be smashed to get it.
Apparently 'Tis the Season for THIEVES!
Look who's Pregnant!!!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
T is for Tutoring
I now have 4 students I tutor.
One girl, Lindsay, is in the 8th grade and I work with her on math once per week. I have been working with her for several weeks at this point and our comfort level with each other is good.
One little boy, Jake, is in 3rd grade, and I work with him on everything. I meet with him once per week also.
Another kid I tutor is named DJ, and I expected to hate him. He is failing every single subject in the 6th grade, and this is his second year in the 6th grade. He has a cast on his arm/hand, from punching a classmate. He HAS to pass the GA math CRCT in order to go on to 7th grade, so we work on math together. He is an angel! He is very polite, sociable, and a hard worker. He needs very little guidance; really he just needs someone to sit down with him in a quiet room and make him do the work. He appears to be very smart, he is a hard worker, and regularly stays on task for me. The parents are good with consequences for his poor grades....he has everything taken away from him - friends, TV, internet, going anywhere, etc. I asked his parents if DJ has any way to earn privileges back, and they said no. They simply wait until the next report card, and expect all his grades to be up from Fs. I encouraged them to reward the little successes and progress DJ makes along the way, hoping that positive recognition will inspire more positive recognition. They agreed that that is a good idea, and a concept they've never tried before. I love giving parenting advice when I'm not even a parent!!!! =)
The last student I tutor is named Colton, and he is in 8th grade. Yesterday, he reminded me why teaching 8th grade math is so frustrating. First of all, he can't sit still. He is supposedly on meds for ADHD but only started taking them a couple weeks ago. He gets mad when I ask him if he actually took his meds that day. We are sitting there and he is drawing on a laptop with a pencil. When I ask him if he feels he should be doing that, his reply is "Yeah, it's not mine. It's my brothers." When I ask him if he draws on the desk at school, he gets mad and says "No! I'm not a little kid!" REALLY? Because you're drawing on your brother's lap top as we speak! As we proceed throughout the hour, he repeatedly says "This is stupid" "Why are we doing this?" "I already know all this stuff" "Is this review?" over and over and over. At one point, he turns to me and says "Why don't we just get on You Tube and listen to music?" Are you kidding me? I am not your friend, and I am not here to hang out with you for play time! Then he tells me that if he doesn't bring his grades up, he has to go back to military school. Apparently his parents shipped him off to military school over the summer. But all the kids there do drugs, and they wanted him to do drugs too, but he doesn't "do that shit". I let that one slide....
I have the pleasure of meeting with Colton and DJ twice a week! This tutoring company, Club Z Tutoring, keeps trying to give me more students. NO THANK YOU - I'm perfectly (mostly) content with the clients I already have! If they were all amazing kids, that would be one thing, but you just never know what you're going to get.
One girl, Lindsay, is in the 8th grade and I work with her on math once per week. I have been working with her for several weeks at this point and our comfort level with each other is good.
One little boy, Jake, is in 3rd grade, and I work with him on everything. I meet with him once per week also.
Another kid I tutor is named DJ, and I expected to hate him. He is failing every single subject in the 6th grade, and this is his second year in the 6th grade. He has a cast on his arm/hand, from punching a classmate. He HAS to pass the GA math CRCT in order to go on to 7th grade, so we work on math together. He is an angel! He is very polite, sociable, and a hard worker. He needs very little guidance; really he just needs someone to sit down with him in a quiet room and make him do the work. He appears to be very smart, he is a hard worker, and regularly stays on task for me. The parents are good with consequences for his poor grades....he has everything taken away from him - friends, TV, internet, going anywhere, etc. I asked his parents if DJ has any way to earn privileges back, and they said no. They simply wait until the next report card, and expect all his grades to be up from Fs. I encouraged them to reward the little successes and progress DJ makes along the way, hoping that positive recognition will inspire more positive recognition. They agreed that that is a good idea, and a concept they've never tried before. I love giving parenting advice when I'm not even a parent!!!! =)
The last student I tutor is named Colton, and he is in 8th grade. Yesterday, he reminded me why teaching 8th grade math is so frustrating. First of all, he can't sit still. He is supposedly on meds for ADHD but only started taking them a couple weeks ago. He gets mad when I ask him if he actually took his meds that day. We are sitting there and he is drawing on a laptop with a pencil. When I ask him if he feels he should be doing that, his reply is "Yeah, it's not mine. It's my brothers." When I ask him if he draws on the desk at school, he gets mad and says "No! I'm not a little kid!" REALLY? Because you're drawing on your brother's lap top as we speak! As we proceed throughout the hour, he repeatedly says "This is stupid" "Why are we doing this?" "I already know all this stuff" "Is this review?" over and over and over. At one point, he turns to me and says "Why don't we just get on You Tube and listen to music?" Are you kidding me? I am not your friend, and I am not here to hang out with you for play time! Then he tells me that if he doesn't bring his grades up, he has to go back to military school. Apparently his parents shipped him off to military school over the summer. But all the kids there do drugs, and they wanted him to do drugs too, but he doesn't "do that shit". I let that one slide....
I have the pleasure of meeting with Colton and DJ twice a week! This tutoring company, Club Z Tutoring, keeps trying to give me more students. NO THANK YOU - I'm perfectly (mostly) content with the clients I already have! If they were all amazing kids, that would be one thing, but you just never know what you're going to get.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Christmas Tree
Last Friday Ryan and I went out and bought a Christmas tree. I've never had a real tree before, so I was super excited.
Ryan hasn't put a tree up in several years. He had a ton of lights already, but no ornaments. Since I already have an entire tree set-up back in Indiana...a pre-lit tree, tree skirt, ornaments, stockings, decorations, wrapping paper, bows, to/from stickers, etc., I refused to buy any of it. Then I compromised and we bought ornaments that would compliment the color scheme of what I already have in IN. My colors are red and silver so we bought some ornaments that were those colors. And then we got a $1 Santa hat as the tree topper.
Here is our naked tree: Grant, Ryan's cousin and our roommate, is holding the tree. Monster Truck Mike (Grant's friend) is on the left, and Ryan is on the floor to the right. It looks like they're actually screwing the tree in properly...
Here is the decorated tree with Ryan's lights from the 70s (candle bubblers!) and the couple things we bought:
About 2 hours after getting it all set up, it came crashing down spilling water everywhere, knocking off all the ornaments (good thing we bought the non-shatter able kind), and soaking the surge protector in water (thus shutting off all electricity to the tree). I wish I could've gotten a picture of the tree lying on the ground, but Ryan quickly picked it up. Notice the towels on the floor! It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo funny. Ryan and I just laughed and laughed and laughed!
The next day we went back to the drawing board, and here's the final product that has been standing for a whole 5 days at this point!
Ryan hasn't put a tree up in several years. He had a ton of lights already, but no ornaments. Since I already have an entire tree set-up back in Indiana...a pre-lit tree, tree skirt, ornaments, stockings, decorations, wrapping paper, bows, to/from stickers, etc., I refused to buy any of it. Then I compromised and we bought ornaments that would compliment the color scheme of what I already have in IN. My colors are red and silver so we bought some ornaments that were those colors. And then we got a $1 Santa hat as the tree topper.
Here is our naked tree: Grant, Ryan's cousin and our roommate, is holding the tree. Monster Truck Mike (Grant's friend) is on the left, and Ryan is on the floor to the right. It looks like they're actually screwing the tree in properly...
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Thanksgiving Journey Day 8
Last day of our trip! Ryan and I took mom and Brock to the airport around 9:00am. They were both on the same flight home.
We were going to take 2 days to drive back to GA, like we took 2 days to drive out to MO, but we were actually anxious to get back home. So mid way through driving, we decided we'd plow all the way home. As a result, several fun photo ops I had planned got canceled. For example, we were going to see:
- The world's largest beer can in Lavaca, AR
- A giant Mr. Peanut in Fort Smith, AR.
- The preforming ducks at the PeaBody Hotel in Memphis, TN (this was feautred on Jon and Kate + 8!)
- A 7.5 pound burger at the Kooky Canuck in Memphis, TN.
- The world's largest chair in Anniston, AL.
We did however, get one photo op in for the day. In Alma, AR we found the Popeye statue.
We ended up getting home about 11:30 pm.
We were going to take 2 days to drive back to GA, like we took 2 days to drive out to MO, but we were actually anxious to get back home. So mid way through driving, we decided we'd plow all the way home. As a result, several fun photo ops I had planned got canceled. For example, we were going to see:
- The world's largest beer can in Lavaca, AR
- A giant Mr. Peanut in Fort Smith, AR.
- The preforming ducks at the PeaBody Hotel in Memphis, TN (this was feautred on Jon and Kate + 8!)
- A 7.5 pound burger at the Kooky Canuck in Memphis, TN.
- The world's largest chair in Anniston, AL.
We did however, get one photo op in for the day. In Alma, AR we found the Popeye statue.
Thanksgiving Journey Day 7
It's now Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. I MAY have gotten a little rowdy the day/night before:
If anyone tells you they have video footage, do not believe them. As a result, I MAY have spent all day Friday like this:
leaving Ryan to fend for himself with my family.
If anyone tells you they have video footage, do not believe them. As a result, I MAY have spent all day Friday like this:
Thanksgiving Journey Day 6
It's the actual day - Thanksgiving!
Ryan and I went to pick up my mom from the airport at 10:00am. Then we all went over to my Uncle Boyd and Aunt Mitzi's in Springdale, AR. Every year my dad and Teri being this bread-turkey.
Now we all know Carol doesn't drink. But for some reason she probably had three sips of sangria before eating. After she went through the buffet line, she turned to my cousin Mariann and asked her where my mom's napkin was. Needless to say, can you see it in the picture? The napkin is ON TOP of my mom's plate, underneath all the food she piled onto it! And this is why Carol doesn't drink...
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