I watched as mush as possible of the democratic convention this week. All I can say is that I will be voting Obama. I had a few reservations, but just don't think we can do another four years the way things have been. With the world the way it is and the economy they way it is Obama gives people what they need- Hope. It is amazing that he had almost as many people watching as the superbowl. That says a lot.

Tonight Joelle went and stayed at Emily's and Mitch and I went to dinner and a movie. We saw Tropic Thunder and it was hilarious. The funniest movie I have seen in a long time. I hope Joelle is doing OK- she has a wart on her foot and went in yesterday to have it frozen. It didn't seem to do much as she had calluses over the wart. Now she is wearing duct tape over it and that is supposed to help. It seemed a bit better today so hopefully tomorrow will be ever better.
I went into work today and cleaned- I had so much crap in my classroom- teacher guides for books I don't use and that type of thing. I am trying to clean as much as I can and go through my files. I think I will be moving next year so as this year goes along I want to throw things out.
Tomorrow Mitch has his fantasy football draft- I know you can't see me but I am rolling my eyes. I don't get the whole 'fantasy sport' thing, but he likes it and has fun. To me it is just weird. Joelle and I have to work at a soccer tournament- she isn't playing, it is a rec tournament for her club. I am soooooo excited to do that- yes eyes rolling again.
I am looking forward to seeing mom and dad soon. Hope everyone has a good time and that you all get to see whales- in the water!!!

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Women take the gold!

So the US women win the gold metal soccer match and primetime olympic coverage will be what--- Table tennis? I wish they would rebroadcast it.
Today will be spent running errands. I need to get groceries. My body is still sore from Monday night-- what the heck isn't it Thursday now?

I worked today again and almost have everything done. That is as far as set up goes- I still have to lesson plan. My body is really sore- especially my butt which is a good sign right?

We watched the movie Funny Games tonight. Don't bother with it- was pretty bad. Hope everyone is doing well since no one else ever blogs......

Ouch

I played soccer last night- two games. First it was completely fun. Our regular goalie was out so I played goalie in the first game. (we lost) then I stayed and played with another team- we lost. In the middle of the game I was tackled- pretty hard. I had the ball and was running full speed when someone's foot tripped me. I am sure it was unintentional but still I went down- hard. I slid on my knee and kinda rolled. I heard a few of the other players gasp. It was me though so I quickly said I was fine and hopped up. I was fine- I kept playing. Then at halftime we took a break and I was standing against the wall by our bench- thinking how gross it was that there was blood on the wall- ooops it was MY blood. Of course we had no band aids by the bench so I squirted some of my water on it and called it good. Then I finished playing. So I get home- with blood down my leg. I actually got a little pity and Mitch told me to clean it up right away "because you don't know what kind of bacteria is in the turf". Then today I was looking at tiff's blog and there is a picture of her knee with a turf burn. She is playing soccer now too.

I went to work for a while yesterday and tried to get as much done in my classroom as possible- arranging the furniture and doing the bulletin boards. I want to get as much done as I can before we officially go back next week. I have going in and being there for like 12-13 hours everyday for a week. I would like to have next week for lesson planning and that type of thing. Joelle has a job. She is going t be in my classroom next week and has offered to babysit for the other teachers- I remember how it was looking for someone to watch Joelle while I was sitting in those meetings before school started.

We were also quite excited yesterday to see a hummingbird! I got a feeder a while back, and had noticed that the liquid was going down, but thought maybe it was evaporating as we hadn't seen anything- well we have a hummingbird. Joelle thought it was cool and we got photographic evidence for Mitch who thought we were nuts for putting up the feeder.

Joelle was supposed to golf today but due to thunder and lightning we stayed home. She wasn't too upset as she hasn't been enjoying golf camp much.
We have been quite busy. I have cleaned the house and washed the walls down. Most of the wall that is, but I am calling it done. We really enjoyed Phantom on Thursday. Joelle says it is now her favorite musical which puts it above Wicked. That says a lot cause she loved Wicked. Mitch and I were discussing the fact that when she is old enough and wants to date- it will be hard for a guy to impress her.
We had Tom and Suzy and the girls over on Friday night. It was good to see them and the kids had fun. We made carne asada and it turned out real good. I also did cowboy beans and homemade potato salad.
Saturday night Joelle stayed over at Dani and Sarah's and Mitch went to see his friend Scott's band. Mitch and Dustin wanted me to come, but it was like 100 degrees and I was looking forward to being home all alone. It is rare that I have the house to myself. So they went and I relaxed. It was nice.
On Sunday we went over to Mike and Kerry's.They have a Traeger pellet grill so Mitch was pretty excited to see that! The meat was really good and Kerry said that last week they had smoked a turkey. Mitch now has 'smoker envy'.
I think Joelle and I are going to head in to school today. It is raining so it won't be hot at OLL and it will be a good time to start getting things set up.

Yesterday was spent running around and getting things done. I took Joelle to the uniform store and bought her new uniforms for middle school. We went to costco and picked up things for the classroom and then to kohls where we go Joelle a new swimsuit. Joelle went to her friend Hailey's birthday party and Mitch and I went to dinner- black angus. It was nice- just the two of us. Tonight we are going out again- to Jake's Famous Crayfish and then to see Phantom of the Opera. Tomorrow we are having a few friend over for an end of summer BBQ. It is supposed to be near 100 tomorrow.
Today I am going to try to get the walls cleaned in the bathroom and hallway- maybe the living room too, but that is doubtful. I did my bedroom the other day and it is nice and clean now. I am also going to make potato salad. :)

It was another soccer weekend here. I am exhausted. It is like I played or something. Joelle's team had three games yesterday. they lost one and won two. Just so you know how close the games were her team scored two goals and gave up one. Today they had the championship game against the team they lost to yesterday. The cheetahs. It was a great game. 1-1 after regulation time and then two 7 1/2 overtimes. Still 1-1. It went into PKs. Hb made two of theirs and the cheetahs made 3. What a game though. It was the hardest game Joelle's team has played. The photo is of Joelle making one of the two Pks for her team.

I read this in yesterday's paper.

Dear Amy: I'm responding to the letter from "Maryland Mom," who was worried because her 8-year-old son saw his gym teacher naked in a public changing room. Most of your response was right on the mark.

I could not disagree more, however, with your suggestion that the child's gym teacher in the changing room "should have been more circumspect." To imply to the child that it was OK for the teacher to be naked in front of everyone except the child would have turned a perfectly normal, mundane situation into one that was weird, uncomfortable and confusing.

The most confusing and damaging influence on children's feelings about their bodies is the wildly inconsistent treatment of the topic by adults. Adults need to exorcise their own demons, get comfortable with their own values and understand the values of others before teaching their children.

—Chris in Narberth, Pa.

Dear Chris: I agree with you that parents shape their children's perceptions.

As I said to "Maryland Mom," if she and her husband don't want their son to see naked men, then they shouldn't go to a public changing room at a state park.

All the same, I do believe that teachers have a special charge to be aware of how their students perceive them when they are out in the world.

I'm thinking of how traumatized I was by running into my teacher, Miss Quinn, wearing shorts in the summer. For some reason, I never knew she had knees.


Ok first I had to respond to this. Are you kidding me? I don't think I have to say anymore. How did this Amy person get a job giving advice?

Second I am now on page 21 of my book. It is pretty rough but coming along and I have found I hate writing dialog. I now have a file of characters where I keep their names and descriptions. Another one with basic plot line and then the basic part where I am actually writing.

Not much else going on here.

So we had three games.... the first was a tie. Heartbreakers scored early and it was answered fast and then neither team could score again. This morning HB was up 1-0 at the half and then in the last ten minutes the girls lost it. After the other team scored it was all mental and they ended up losing 1-2. The team was just not playing together well and they looked tired. The last game, was the best I had ever seen Joelle play. She started and then subbed out for about one minute before she was back in. She played mid and forward and it was crazy. Although she did not score a goal- she was amazing. Imagine- Joelle being offsides! What??? After the game there were a few parents going wow- Joelle is faster than I thought. She played great and wasn't even tired. Beating the defense and making some great passes. Her coaches were stunned and told her to keep up the speed training. HB won 3-0. We didn't make the finals and HB took third in the tournament. We have another tournament next week but it is in Vancouver.
jackie thanks for calling- I would call you back but I didn't get the voice message until at 8 pm. TTYL