Cleaning Drains

Our drain in our bathroom was not working very well and we weren't sure what to do. When ever we find ourselves in this sort of predicament we do what we always do....call Pat!
He told us we needed to clean out our drains. That didn't sound like fun to me but it wasn't as bad as I thought...oh wait, I didn't do anything. Maybe you should ask Pat or Kylan who were sweating and grunting and dealing with the disgusting drains!
Pat said you should clean your drains about 2 times a year. Do any of you do this more frequent?
Let me show you some KEY items you need when cleaning your drains.
1. A husband to do all the work (he he he).
2. Rubber gloves are a MUST.
3. A nifty, skinny, round, hair brush.

Once the pipes are off underneath the sink you use this brush to twist down the drain until it pops out the other side. You would not believe what this brush collects on its way out. Wait...
...this picture is wrong on SO many levels. I'm dry heaving right now.This is where the brush comes out. You clean all of that off too.Hmm, I wonder why nothing was draining through this pipe? Of course Kylan referred to it as a clogged artery. 4. Make sure you have a bucket to collect all of this funk.Yeah, look how nice and clean the pipes are. Once you have all the pipes reconnected you run cold water for a minute to see if there are any leaks.Place paper towels underneath so you can see if they get wet. Don't place them like Kylan did here. Lay them more flat, he misunderstood the directions Pat gave him and wadded them like this.

I'm so happy our drains are cleaned and fixed. I'm only showing pics of the junk in our drains because I can blame part of it on the people who lived here before us. I was thinking that if you haven't cleaned your drains in awhile (years?) that you should do it and then take pics of what comes out of the pipes. Next, post it on your blog and share with all of us and see who has the most disgusting drains!!

Pat did say that even cleaning his twice a year, he still has tons of junk when he cleans them. So don't feel bad, be brave and share!

And More Homecoming

Keion looks like he is still half asleep. Waking up for school is difficult for all of us.
We had to take a shot of him dressed up in the school colors for the last day of the Homecoming celebrations. Isn't he cute?
I also wanted to share pictures from our classroom. The kids were somewhat forced to participate in the interclass games. Most of them did it willingly, others not-so-much.
But they all had a great time painting their faces to get ready for the big events.
Here is a shot of one of the kids I like to give a bad time. He smokes and I'm trying to convince him to quit. He weighs about 125 lbs. and makes me look like large Marge next to him!
All of the students were trying to get me to paint my face all crazy like them. I gave in, but only a little bit. I was real wild and crazy and had them paint a paw print on my cheek!

Here is a shot of all the kids together. We are missing about 12 students in this picture. I should have taken a picture of the back of our class t-shirts that one of our students designed. They turned out great and we got a lot of comments from the other students that they liked ours the best. It ended up being about the only thing we were the best at during these games!!Meet Lisa. She is a sweet girl in our class and is the skinniest little thing. She participated in the pie eating contest. I was a little worried until...


..she started digging in. She was all over it. I was up close and personal taking pics and cheering her on. I was lovin' it.
She has pie everywhere. Note to self, pull bangs back next time.Look at that face, she is so proud of herself. She should be because she actually took 1st place! Our only victory of the day.Here are our guys for the egg toss.

Oops, they dropped it. The clean up crew was hilarious.
It was nice to see the guys give each other five even though they lost. Not too bad of kids after all, regardless of what the majority of people think of them.
Here is a shot of the kids in the crowd.

Our girls were awesome in the tug-of-war. They lost but put up a great fight.
Our guys did even better. Their first match was against the faculty, who is undefeated for 10 yrs. straight. They actually had them in the beginning and then lost it in the end.
This is our girl's egg toss team.

Another shot of the class in the crowd. Every class had their own t-shirts they had made up with a catchy slogan. Seniors-black, Juniors-Green, Sophomore-Blue, Freshmen-White, and CSS (our class which stands for Center for Student Success) was Grey. Oh hey, there is a shot of the back of our shirts. Cool, right?


I cannot tell you how much fun I had at this pep assembly. It was like I was reverting back to my high school days. I loved high school, I don't want to do it again, but I enjoyed everything about it. Mostly the sports. Nothing like getting psyched for a big game especially against our big rivals Poky!

Honestly, I probably had too much fun!! When I got home and told Kylan all about it he made a great point. Even though some of our kids were hesitant about participating and felt out of place, they never would have had this opportunity if they were in the general population at school. Only the most popular and athletic kids got picked to participate in these games and our kids are neither of those two.

I know one day they will look back on this experience and relish the opportunity they had to be apart of something that the majority of kids never get to experience. For that, I'm happy for them and I'll remind them of this when they are complaining to me Monday morning!

Keion also had a soccer game today. I forgot to take my camera. They lost 5-3. It was really back and forth until the last 5 minutes of the game. The other team was great so the boys had nothing to feel bad about. Of course that doesn't make any of them feel any better. They have another one tomorrow so hopefully they will come back strong.

Kylan is getting ready to take his boards. He goes on Tues. to take them. He can't wait. Once he gets his test results back he can stop going to board review...Yeah!

He also ordered his iPhone. I need to keep him away from our friends who have iPhones, Sara has already showed him several games for him to download and I'm afraid he is going to become a phone junky!

Homecoming

I have been such a slacker this week. I haven't posted at all. This week is Homecoming for our high school. The week has been so crazy busy for me. On top of the festivities this week, Keion has also started basketball. He has been invited to workout with Jeff Grier, a former NBA player. He has a son Keion's age and has a team we are trying to get Keion on. We will see. The boys are awesome but I think Keion can hold his own.
I would have loved to have been more festive this week with my outfits but I haven't really dressed up. Today I had red/black/white day and Keion had mix/match at his school. Here are some pics of what we looked like.
Keion looks very thrilled and I didn't get the pic before he took of his shoes...two different ones.
You gotta love these colors. They remind me of my own high school colors...the good ol' Highland Rams!!!
Tomorrow Keion dresses up in the school colors and I wear my school class t-shirt and staff shirt. I'm sure I will have tons of fun photos from the assembly tomorrow plus the parade and many other fun activities. I'll post them all soon.

BBQ

It seems that all we do when we get together with friends, is feed our faces. No complaints here! Food, in my book, always equals fun.
Pat and Norma and Micah and Sara always have us over and are always feeding us. It was about time for us to return the favor.
We made my sister's famous ribs with homemade BBQ sauce, garlic cheese biscuits, garlic mash potatoes (yes our breath is going to be potent), fruit salad and a big bowl of bean salsa dip. Of course both Norma and Sara couldn't come over without bringing something so Sara brought some yummy homemade oreo cookies and Norma brought some ice cream from Cold Stone!!
The night would not be complete without some pics to capture the moment. I still get teased about all of my picture taking but some day we will be happy we have these moments to look back on.
You will have to click on these pics to see the bbq sauce on Pat's face, Keion's greasy fingers and myself and Micah choppin' on the bones. It means a lot if the Iron Chef Sara gives the meal a thumbs up!
Keion had only one bowl of ice cream but piled 3 different kinds into one bowl. He ate so much food I thought he would be sick. No, he wanted to have more only an hour later.
We even had a mad game of Attack Uno. It would appear that Micah and Sara are in a debate over the game, not this time. Usually Sara always wins at the games we play but she got stuck sitting by Keion who kept skipping her and she didn't win once. That really is note worthy!

We are all ready for another week. It is homecoming week here and I'm suppose to be dressing up. I won't be tomorrow but maybe I'll come up with some outfits for the other days. Kylan is starting a new rotation, gastroenterology. Back on house call too which is a big bummer. He is getting ready to take his step 3 boards at the end of the month. He'll be (we will all be) happy when those are over with.

Keion is still doing the same ol', soccer, school, playing outside, bugging his mom, annoying his dad, eating all our food, scaring his mom, taking daily showers (I thought the day would never come), making friends and being the best boy in the world.

A Quicky.

Get your minds out of the gutter.

I figured I better write a quick line about one of the girls in my class. Since I wrote about the student who didn't have a clue on his test, I should also report about some of the smarter ones.

Actually, this was one of those moments that makes any bad day you go through, worth it.
I graded this students Biology test today and she scored an 83%! That is out of this world for most of the kids we work with. Once I finished grading the test I made a HUGE deal about how well she had done.

I bragged to the other teachers. Praised her up and down and told the other students how amazing she did on her test. She had tears in her eyes and couldn't stop smiling. She told me she has never done that well on a test. She was so proud of herself.

Seeing someone gain some self confidence...Priceless!!

Speaking of smarty pants. Keion scored a 104% on a math test... now he's moving up to high math. Didn't take long for the teachers to figure out he's not only cute but smart too. Deadly combo!

Really, sometimes leaving a blank is better.

I so need to sneak my camera into the classroom and take pics of the students. That way when I have a story to share, you will have a visual to go along with the story.

Then again, I'm sure some of them wouldn't appreciate that. The funny thing is, the ones who do the most ridiculous things would WANT to have their picture on here. It is the other ones who care more who wouldn't.

Anyway, I wanted to share something that happened today at school.

One of the students already finished one of his computer classes and was ready to take the final.

I was the lucky one to grade the final when he was finished.

First of all, he didn't do well at all.

Secondly, he should have just left the ones he didn't know blank, because the responses he came up with were just too much.

Here is my favorite.

Question: Describe the difference between carpetbaggers and scalawags? (U.S. History)

Answer: (word for word) Carpetbaggers made carpet (there wasn't even carpet making during this time period) and scalawags picked corn.

You may not find this as funny as I did. I told this to Kylan and he didn't think it was too funny. He didn't know what a scalawag was so the idea that it was someone picking corn wasn't too far fetched.

FYI- these names were derogatory terms used after the Civil War. Carpetbaggers were white business men from the North who moved South during the reconstruction. Scalawags were the white Republican Southerners who sympathized with the federal reconstruction effort.

Today the students also had to sign up to play in the inner-class games for Homecoming. I will DEFINITELY be taking my camera for that. It is going to be awesome. We also have to be in the parade next Friday. I'm hoping to get out of that, I'm going to use Keion as my excuse. I'll just take pics when they come by and watch the parade rather than be in it.

Can I just say it again, I LOVE MY JOB!

Infertility Blog

Sorry, I saw this after I posted or I would have included it.
My friend Jana started an infertility blog and I know many of you can benefit from it.
Check it out here. Leave your story, comments or any questions. It will be a great forum for all of us who struggle to have a common place to vent, get support and know that we are not alone.
A big thank to Jana for starting this up.

Rain Rain Go Away..

It has been raining non-stop for over two days straight. Keion had his soccer game on Sat. morning and it rained the whole game.
I was going to take some sweet shots of Kei doing his thing on the soccer field but I was so worried about getting my camera wet. I decided against it. Such a bummer because Keion scored two goals with the last being scored with two minutes left and putting his team in the lead. They ended up winning 3-2.
It was awesome. I need to do more video recording to capture these awesome moments and share. We were even more impressed because Keion is typically a weather wimp. He doesn't perform to his best in inclement weather. Not Sat. he played hard and did well.
So far his team is 2-0 in league play.
Sat. evening we went over to Micah and Sara's house to watch the BYU game. Most of you know how torturous this was for us. If that wasn't torture enough, BYU had to destroy UCLA. It was pure misery. We are just grateful our friends aren't as out of control as other BYU fans we know.
In the end I will endure any amount of torture to have Sara cook for us. Dinner was super yummy, as always. She is quite the hostess.
Tonight we were invited to dinner at another friends and I'm so pumped because I haven't had to cook dinner all weekend!!! No dishes either (minus breakfast bowls).
I'm refreshed for a new week. Did any of you do anything fun this week? I hope to have new pics up sometime soon. I know my journaling post can be pretty boring.

What a Week

This will be brief. Or so I plan to be.
I've changed the blog a little bit so sorry if you are one of those blog surfers who know just where to go to look at your favorite blogs that are listed on mine. I only mention this because several of you have also re-categorized and it threw me off! I'm definitely a creature of habit.

I survived a full week of school. Not without incident. Several of our "friends" have decided to bend the rules, I was expecting this but the second week into school? I thought the "honeymoon" would last a little bit longer.
One kid was caught smoking, the other-throwing a can of frosting down the hall, making a HUGE mess, and 2 ding dongs that skipped class while all three of us (myself and the 2 teachers I work with) watched. DUH.
How do we deal with these punks. The first had to go to ISS (in school suspension) and write a 10 page paper on why smoking is bad. He then had to give a report to the class. He did a great job until he got to the part where he could share his personal opinion. Let's just say the research was to no avail.
The frosting thrower was ratted out by one of his classmates who told me who did it. We gave him a chance to confess on his own, but did he? Ya right. Daryl (one of the teachers) pulled out a blank VHS tape and called him into his office. He asked the culprit if he had anything he wanted to say or did he want to watch the tape. He confessed. It was funny. He was scared and he would have been furious to know he had been punked.
I was about to go on and describe all the consequences but I said I would be brief. I want you all to come back and check the blog again so I'm going to stop.
Work is good. Sleeping is not (I'm not use to getting up at 5:30 a.m.). Keion is fitting in wonderfully at school, I didn't expect much less. He has a soccer game tomorrow so I will post more pics.
Kylan is working away and has decided he wants an iPhone. Thanks Micah. I'm sure he will get it, it's only a matter of time. Who knows, I may decided I "need" one too!!
Have a great weekend and check back for some new pics.

Complete Randomness...and I'm not talking about brain right now!

Ok, I know I said I would have the finished product posted soon but I just haven't had time to get all the accessories finished for the bathroom. Well, I decided to post pics of it anyway. Many of you have been curious about the color and how the cabinets turned out. They are much better, we think so anyway. We went with a blue color for the walls with white and black accents. You only get to see a few of them here but maybe I will post another pic when it really is finished. I'm still looking for a zebra style rug for the floor, I'm so into animal print right now! What do you think, do you think that would be to wild???Here is a mirror that will hang on the wall, it use to be an antique white and I painted it black. Do you like how I am dodging behind the wall to not be in the shot? I hate catching myself in the mirror while taking pictures. What do you think of the cabinets? Do you like them better black?
Attention: I'm also needing help deciding what color to make the hand towel. The towel holder is silver and white. I should have taken a picture of it but didn't. I'm not hanging it until I have everything in place and know exactly where I want it. I was thinking white or black with the letter "P" monogrammed into it. What color do you think? Please help, you know I'm not good with this kind of thing. Or should I go with some other color?

I've also been busy making some tu-tu's. Because I am very un-crafty, I was pretty pleased how my first one turned out. Keion is always up for modeling, the kid is such a ham for the camera.

Do you like those colors together?

We also spent the entire day on Sat. shopping at the outlets and visiting Frankenmuth. There was a car show there and it's also the home of the largest indoor Christmas store.

While I was there I saw this black tree...I MUST have it! It only runs about $500.00, every year we get a new Christmas decoration and I say this is the one we should get this year. Have any of you ever seen a black tree decorated?? LOVE IT.

We all enjoy the villages. I would love to have a room just for an entire village and train. Have I mentioned that we love Christmas at our house. Kylan starts annoying us with Christmas songs in the beginning of Nov. and doesn't let up until the New Year.
They even had this crazy Halloween village that Keion really wanted. Go figure, he is into anything that has to do with Halloween (his birthday).

There were trees decorated to appease anyone and everyone. If you can think of a specific ornament, this place has it.We are just having good times around here. Everyone is trying to get our new routines down. My brain is a little scattered at the moments but I'm hoping things will slow down. Maybe I should stop doing all these little projects, ya- that would probably be a good idea.