Summer is almost over! :(

Scotland was absolutely amazing. It's truly difficult to explain the beauty in everything I saw and the rich culture over there. I'm sad that I couldn't have stayed longer. I hope to someday visit more of the outskirts of the major cities and stay at little bed and breakfasts around the country. I would love to have more time to explore.

Last weekend my dad and brother installed my outdoor lights. They look amazing! My house actually looks classy and I love it!

I've been really struggling for the past 2 weeks getting up early and teaching summer camp. UGH, I don't even want to think about getting back into the grind. I don't feel like I've had a summer break at all! I've been teaching 3 times a week and waitressing at Todd's 3 days a week and going to church. It's been wonderful though and definitely a summer break that I will never forget...for numerous reasons. :)

Next week the teacher inservices and trainings begin. I'm definitely not ready to go back, but it will be nice to see everyone again. I'm happy I'm teaching in a building with a supportive and helpful staff. They make me feel like I'm part of London Elementary even though I'm technically not.

This weekend I'm supposed to go camping with Aaron, Kate & Michael, but Michael may have to work. :( I've been looking forward to this camping trip for at least a month or so, and I will be sad if we have to cancel. Oh well, Kate and I really have to get some stuff ready for Ashley's bridal shower and I really should be getting stuff ready in my room. So, if we don't go camping I at least can be productive.

Well, tomorrow I have to get my 35,000 mile maintenance done on my car. It's about 3,000 miles overdue. Oh well. I have a super busy schedule, but I get the evening off which is GREAT!

8:00-12:00 Summer Camp
12:30-2:00 Tutoring
3:30 - 5:00 Maintenance
5:00 - ? FREEDOM!

It will be nice to get some down time. I may stop at the teacher store to pick up some last minute supplies.

Tomorrow in art class I may try to paint a picture to hang in my bathroom. I changed it to black and white with pink accents! <3

Flying the Friendly Skies...

Tonight I leave for Scotland!! Aaron and I will be taking off at 5:28 PM from Port Columbus. Here is a copy of our itinerary:

Monday, July 19

Flight: Delta 6141 Operated by Freedom Airlines
Departs: 5:28 pm from Columbus, Ohio
Arrives: 6:34 pm at Detroit, Michigan
Seats: 13C, 13B
Gate: See Airport Monitors

Flight: Delta 248
Departs: 9:50 pm from Detroit, Michigan
Arrives: 11:45 am (July 20) at Amsterdam, Netherlands
Seats: 16A, 16B
Meals: Dinner
Gate: See Airport Monitors
Tuesday, July 20

Flight: Delta 9634 Operated by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Departs: 3:10 pm from Amsterdam, Netherlands
Arrives: 3:35 pm at Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Seats: N
Meals: Refreshments
Gate: See Airport Monitors
Tuesday, July 27

Flight: Air France 5147
Departs: 6:10 am from Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Arrives: 9:20 am at Paris - Charles De Gaulle, France
Gate: See Airport Monitors

Flight: Delta 43
Departs: 10:40 am from Paris - Charles De Gaulle, France
Arrives: 1:55 pm at Cincinnati, Ohio
Seats: 26A, 26B
Gate: See Airport Monitors

Flight: Delta 6165 Operated by Freedom Airlines
Departs: 4:15 pm from Cincinnati, Ohio
Arrives: 5:03 pm at Columbus, Ohio
Seats: 13C, 13B
Gate: See Airport Monitors

I can hardly believe that it's all happening. First of all, it's hard to believe that Aaron and I are "together". I've practically waited half of my life for it to happen. I feel so blessed and am excited to make new memories with him at my side. At times I catch myself smiling for no reason at all....well, maybe there's a reason...<3

Not much more to report right now. Hopefully, I will be able to update at some point during the trip. I have to finish packing a couple more things and take a trip to Wal-mart before Kate comes over for lunch. My bag has to be under 50 lbs and last time I checked it was at 47.5, so I may have to downsize. Ugh....International travel is so difficult to plan for! I'm trying not to pack too much, but it's hard not to when I have to practically plan for all 4 seasons in just one day.

Keep me in your prayers during the journey! I'll be thinking about you when I'm embarking upon land that William Wallace once touched...;)

<3 Wendy

Sterilization

I haven't taken a picture in a long time. I lost my camera and the battery in my mom's camera is dead. I work too much. I'm tired.

There were some really idiotic people in the dining room tonight. More than just idiotic...they were extremely disrespectful and inappropriate. There were a set of two adult couples and 4 teenage-ish boys and a 6 year old girl (I only know that because it was her birthday tonight and I had to get the dining room to sing to her). They really made me feel thankful for having such great parents. No wonder kids these days are the way they are...their parents are complete dumb-asses. Seriously, who talks about sex/private parts/prostitutes/boob jobs....etc. and cusses in front of their kids. What a great example. Ugh...it makes me physically ill and sad for them. I hope there kids become druggies/pregnant/drop outs...it would be their punishment for scarring their children for life.

There are people in the world that are unable to have children who would be absolutely wonderful parents and then there are parents who completely abuse their privilege. I'm all about the sterilization of individuals who prove themselves unworthy of reproduction. That is all...

I'm tired.

Beautiful

Cried during Glee tonight. It was a very touching episode. There was a part of the show where they sang the Christina Aguilera song "Beautiful" and they discussed being happy with who you are no matter what you look like. I was going to write a whole schpeal about feeling beautiful, but I'm not feeling it right now....instead, here are the lyrics to the song:

Beautiful

Spoken:
Don't look at me

Every day is so wonderful
And suddenly, i saw debris
Now and then, I get insecure
From all the pain, I'm so ashamed

I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring me down
So don't you bring me down today

To all your friends, you're delirious
So consumed in all your doom
Trying hard to fill the emptiness
The piece is gone left the puzzle undone
That's the way it is

You are beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring you down
You are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring you down
Don't you bring me down today...

No matter what we do
(no matter what we do)
No matter what they say
(no matter what they say)
When the sun is shining through
Then the clouds won't stay


And everywhere we go
(everywhere we go)
The sun won't always shine
(sun won't always shine)
But tomorrow will find a way
All the other times

'cause we are beautiful no matter what they say
Yes, words won't bring us down, oh no
We are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring us down
Don't you bring me down today

Don't you bring me down today
Don't you bring me down today

If you haven't watched Glee I highly recommend doing so...it's amazing!

I had a very productive day today. Mowed the grass, did the laundry, build a cat house, completed my homework, cleaned the house, and watched some news. Speaking of the news, apparently, there was a sub teacher who decided it would be a good idea to kiss her 5th grade male students and wear a bikini under her clothes. She showed her students her tan lines and bikini. Seriously, what's wrong with her? Makes me sick! She should be named a pedophile. Hopefully, justice will be served.

I better get to bed now. I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be a rough day.

<3 Wendy

Answered Prayers

I was hoping to do one of these everyday, but that definitely didn't happen. It seems like I only do these when I have something more important to do that I want to procrastinate on doing. I catch myself constantly thinking about things I want to write on here, but then when I get home to write it I'm always too tired. I'm going to write about something that happened yesterday when I was working at Todds. We had just unlocked the door and we were getting ready for the evening. A man came in. Tyler went up to the register to see what he wanted and I continued making salads. I assumed he wanted to place an order, so I didn't pay attention to the conversation between them. When I asked Tyler what the man had wanted he told me that he just asked if we had any day-old pizza that we could give away. He took a free car catalog on the way out and asked if we knew when we would be getting more in because the one he took was the last one. I thought about that all night and even today. It caused me to wonder and become concerned. I didn't know this man, but I wanted to know his story. Why was he asking for food? Why did he want to know when we were getting more free catalogs in? Did he have a place to live? When was the last time he had eaten? Sometimes it's easier to not think about people who are struggling in this world. He was only one man. What if he had a family? I try to do my best to help out others whenever I can, but I often feel powerless in this world that has so much hunger, hate, pain and destruction. I can only do so much and I hope that my prayers are answered. I did not know the man who came into Todds yesterday, but he is a child of God. I hope and pray that God will do his best to take care of him.

T.G.I.C.T.F ( Thank God It's Close To Friday )

Todds was so slow tonight! I only had 2 tables! I guess it's better than none, but it still sucked!

Ya know what? I'm too cold to be typing right now. I'm going to go to bed.

Peace out!

2 more days 'til Friday! YAY!

Buried Treasure

Went to the Ohio Conference for Classroom and Special Education Teachers yesterday. It was held at the Hilton @ Easton. Gorgeous hotel! Lemme tell you! Doubt I'll ever have the money to stay at one, so I'm happy I had the opportunity to see the inside. I also had a dermatologist appointment yesterday after the conference. No moles were removed! YAY! That means I'm still cancer free. :) I'm very thankful for that.

I've been a crazy cleaner today! I did two loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and rearranged my bedroom. I really like it now. Let's just hope it stays clean! I actually found $20.00 under my bed when I moved it, so that was an added plus for cleaning.

I'm really excited about my case study project with my partner, Dan. He's really motivated, with I'm not normally. He's really helping me keep my mind focused and I'm glad he's my partner because of that. I'm someone who needs an extra push to do assignments before they are due and not the day they are due. I may be turning over a new leaf. Nah...I doubt I can change at this point.

I better get off here and go to bed. I'm thinking about going into school early tomorrow to get some much needed planning done. I work much better when I'm there.

Todd's after teaching tomorrow. Yay... Pray for BIG tips.

<3 ya'll

Procrastinators Anonymous

It has been brought to my attention that I don't update this often enough. I shouldn't have to tell you how busy I've been. My house is becoming increasingly cluttered and in turn my parent's house is looking more like a house and not a storage unit. Thank goodness I bought a house with a basement! I started spring quarter at Ashland and it looks like this semester is going to be a doozie. Lots of debates, case studies and papers. Even 2 exams....bleh. I only need to complete 5 more classes and I'll have my Intervention Specialist Mild/Moderate license. I'm probably going to finish up next year. I don't want to overwhelm myself too much. I have a little over 10 classes left and field experiences for my master's degree. Maybe I'll graduate next summer...who knows?!

This weekend has been a blur. I can't believe it's Sunday already. I guess the weekend goes by more quickly when you're enjoying yourself. I spent Friday waitressing at Todd's and made some really good tips! Friday evening was extremely enjoyable and I stayed in bed past noon on Saturday. How wonderful!? Who doesn't enjoy staying in bed on the weekends? But it didn't last, as I had to meet the family at Red Lobster for lunch/dinner. I had to most wonderful smoked salmon and shrimp linguini. I even treated myself to dessert. YUM! I really need to stop eating out so much. I have a kitchen now, so I need to start putting it to use! It would be more healthy too!

I haven't started my homework yet. BLEH....more than likely I decided to start writing this because I'm a serious procrastinator. I think they should offer classes on procrastination. Procrastinators Anonymous. I could be the president of the club, but it would never get started because I'd keep putting off the development. Yea, that's me. Oh, well...it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

I better get off here and do some laundry, or take out the trash.....or hang some pictures...haha, maybe do some lesson plans for tomorrow. I won't be in school because I'm going to a workshop at the Hilton at Easton. I think it's going to be very beneficial. I hope to bring home a lot of new resources that I can use in my classroom.

BYE!

I promise I won't make you wait 4 months for another post... ;)