What do you get to come home to?

What I come home to each night.
One of the most anticipated things about moving out on my own was that I would be able to adopt a kitten. In fact I already knew what he was going to look like and what his name was going to be. What else would a Harry Potter lover name their pet other than Ronald Weasley; although the name Sawyer came in a close second. Next came the fun part...shopping for him. As for his Kitty Toys; Ronald has chosen not the “cute” expensive toys I buy from Petsmart or Petco, but rather caps. Now I say caps as in shampoo bottle caps, perfume bottle caps… and I reluctantly agree that yes they fly on my hardwood floors much smoother than anything we have seen so far, and they make a great sound, as if they are trying desperately to escape and as we all know, boys certainly love the chase. Either way, my Ronald does not stick to conventional kitty ways. He always looks up at me, or down on me, depending if he has just woken me up by jumping on my face, with the most innocent "I love you so much" look that it is difficult to be mad at this one. Most recently during the infamous Bone Junior visit, Ronald treated our guest to the full service "wake up" call. To further explain; as Bone Junior was attempting to sleep in on the rare morning off for vacation, Ronald decided that he didn't want her to miss a moment of her visit to Houston sleeping longer than she needed to. To make sure that this travesty did not occur he took it upon himself to initiate Plan A. Materials Needed: 1 spring-y door stopper, one front paw, and stalwart courage. Later described as Ronald batting at the spring-y door stopper until Bone Junior nearly lost her mind...he was locked him out of the room not once, but twice! No need to set the alarm. No wasted time here. We deliver.

Touch the MOON

Come visit me here in Houston! The wonderful city where almost anything can happen- heck I am touching the moon, which strangely wanted me to tell those watching me make a fool of myself that Houston, you have a problem but don't worry I am imported. Well, I may be exaggerating a bit, but if you follow my pal, Janay's dad's, advice when visiting Houston you will return home with all limbs intact. It has been awhile, but when Janay accompanied me here for my interviews last April her dad made sure to tell us not to go playing in any of the canals. Thanks for the advice. We were also informed by Janay's mom that we were not to stay out too late or be out too early in the morning. Great. Interpretation: No swimming in any of the canals too early or too late at night. Noted. But with these rules, what is there left to do? Well, there is always Kemah's boardwalk, the place that only tourists go to purchase overpriced Tejas merchandise. But this way we still saw some water, and the wild reptiles are in large tanks. For those wondering- we did not get there too early, and only stayed until dusk.

Now fast forward six months...I find myself driving through the George Bush International Airport to pick up no other than the Bone Junior. Apparently some people need a fix of the only person they know who appreciates chick flicks, and TGIF reruns...but lets not forget the one who also asked if they stopped a carnival ride so Bone Junior could get off of it because she was "having too much fun" too. The Bone Junior and I spent the next 4 days living it up. I remembered what it was like to have friends who know too much about you and tease you about it all. It was great. Which accounts for my posting of the toilet photo! My Bone Junior fix was filled...and for those of you wondering about the story behind this lovely picture; Bone Junior is always interested in science, here is one experiment she was conducting almost exactly 1 year ago. Please direct further inquiries to the one and only to get the gory details and the conclusion to this fascinating experiment.

A funny thing happened today...

Rule #1: No candy allowed anywhere in the school. This includes classrooms, cafeterias, and hallways in the whole state of Tejas. A particularly hard rule to abide by the day after the Sugar Holiday. I reminded my kids yesterday afternoon that NO CANDY would be tolerated, and if I found any I would throw it away. Well, Thurston [my partner teacher] brought some candy to share with other teachers in a planning meeting this morning. There was some left over once the meeting broke up, so we put it in a pile on her desk. The students came back a little while later and saw that nice juicy pile of candy and asked why she had it. Proving once again to be the quick witted teacher that she is Thurston waits until her homeroom is back in their seats before she answers those students asking why she was allowed to have candy and they were not. Not skipping a beat she tells the kids, "I told you that candy was not allowed, this is all the candy I found in your backpacks while you were gone." Some of the students got very quiet, unsure how to proceed. You can see the student's dilemma; do students claim it might be their candy and get in trouble for bringing it? or do they kiss that particular portion of their candy stash goodbye? Well, one student decided that the trouble was almost worth it. She did not claim any of the candy was hers, rather into the dead silence that rang out as the class was digesting the information that their teacher had caught them bringing candy to school, this student asks "Did you get some of that candy from a purple backpack?" Smart gal, not quite admitting guilt, while still getting the facts...did Thurston confiscate my Halloween loot or not? Morale: You just remember that your teacher always knows...or will find out!