I'd like to share my Walmart Digital Photo Center photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Our life as an Air Force Family *Retired*, in words and photos.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
1 month down, 10 pounds down
One month ago today I stopped drinking sodas, any and all sodas (except 1 diet coke, and I didn't drink all of it).
About 2 months before that I stopped drinking sweet tea, but I didn't really drink it all that often anyway.
The sodas on the other hand, I was drinking at least 2 a day.
The first few weeks were bad. If I walked into Walmart or even PigglyWiggly, my brain started telling me that I needed a soda, perferably Pepsi or Dr. Pepper. However, I fought the good fight, and I won.
For giggles sake I weighed myself tonight, and I am down ten pounds since I stopped drinking sodas.
Pretty darn cool if I do say so myself.
About 2 months before that I stopped drinking sweet tea, but I didn't really drink it all that often anyway.
The sodas on the other hand, I was drinking at least 2 a day.
The first few weeks were bad. If I walked into Walmart or even PigglyWiggly, my brain started telling me that I needed a soda, perferably Pepsi or Dr. Pepper. However, I fought the good fight, and I won.
For giggles sake I weighed myself tonight, and I am down ten pounds since I stopped drinking sodas.
Pretty darn cool if I do say so myself.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
OMG there are some really really stupid people out there in the world! Do they really think that teachers do not work at home? Do they really think that we do not pour our blood, sweat and tears into our classrooms 190, I mean 183 days a year (sorry forgot about the furlough days!) Telling me to work harder or else I wont get a pay raise because my students don't score well on a test that only tests how well they test on that given day, is just crap! And telling me that I can control every little thing that happens in my classroom is just an idiot! I would like to challenge anyone that thinks that way to come in and volunteer in my classroom several hours a week! Let's see how well you can handle it!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Don't you just love it when
You attempt to contact your local politicians and their email address is rejected as user unknown, and its the email address that you got off of the state website?
It's no wonder that our state is in the middle of a budget crisis!
It's no wonder that our state is in the middle of a budget crisis!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Proposal for congressional and gubentorial reform
I saw this today as a friend's status update on Facebook, and I think its a great idea. It may be the only way to make sure that education is properly funded the way it needs to/should be.
We should make it a requirement for elected officials to have either a.) attended public school or my personal preference b.) have a child enrolled in public school, in the district you are running for.
I think that overall the world would be a better place if these elected officals saw what we had to deal with on a daily basis, and maybe they would care a bit more about the money that they are taking away from the children in their district!
We should make it a requirement for elected officials to have either a.) attended public school or my personal preference b.) have a child enrolled in public school, in the district you are running for.
I think that overall the world would be a better place if these elected officals saw what we had to deal with on a daily basis, and maybe they would care a bit more about the money that they are taking away from the children in their district!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Stress
My friend Renee had this posted on her blog http://www.myspecialks.com/
This is a letter that was sent into the Army Times and can be found here: http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_opinion_letters_120709/ Dai H. Salerno, you rock!
Here’s what stress is
Stress? President Obama suggests Maj. Nidal Hasan cracked under stress. That’s a slap in the face to the men and women who have deployed countless times and have yet to pick up a gun and start shooting their own. I don’t buy the stress defense.
Want to know what stress is? I will take it from the point of view of an Army wife:
Stress is:
• Knowing your husband leaves in a few weeks and making sure you have all legal documents in order in case he doesn’t come back, he’s taken POW or you need his signature to proceed with any number of legal, bank or personal dealings while he is deployed.
• Sitting in a gymnasium for a few hours knowing those are the final moments you will spend with him for 12 to 15 months.
• Keeping your chin up and telling him, “Goodbye” and “stay safe” and holding your tears back because he whispered, “Don’t cry, babe” in your ear.
• Watching the man you love march out with his unit and wave back at you one last time.
• Not hearing from your husband for a week or two until his unit is finally settled in whatever God-forsaken location they are assigned to.
• Coming home and continuing with your everyday life, work, school, children, family, home, pets, vehicles and any other daily activity by yourself and not having the luxury of being able to talk to your spouse about it.
• Living for the brief 10- to 15-minute phone call from him that may come once a week.
• Watching the news every day and seeing the politicians back home tie soldiers’ hands by bringing political correctness into the battlefield.
• Getting a phone call mid-tour telling you your husband is OK but being medevac’d to Germany.
• Calling your husband’s rear detachment and having them give you no further information about where your husband is or how badly he is hurt.
• Quitting the best job you ever had to pack up your stuff and move 18 hours back to the post he’s assigned to so you can have a place before he gets there.
• Having to feed, bathe and care for your husband because he cannot use his arms.
• Listening to his guilt for not being able to come back with his unit.
• Knowing another deployment is just another year and a half away.
• Repeating this cycle two or three or four more times.
I’ve yet to see an Army wife “crack” and go on an “act of violence that is inexplicable.”
— Dai H. Salerno, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
This is a letter that was sent into the Army Times and can be found here: http://www.armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_opinion_letters_120709/ Dai H. Salerno, you rock!
Here’s what stress is
Stress? President Obama suggests Maj. Nidal Hasan cracked under stress. That’s a slap in the face to the men and women who have deployed countless times and have yet to pick up a gun and start shooting their own. I don’t buy the stress defense.
Want to know what stress is? I will take it from the point of view of an Army wife:
Stress is:
• Knowing your husband leaves in a few weeks and making sure you have all legal documents in order in case he doesn’t come back, he’s taken POW or you need his signature to proceed with any number of legal, bank or personal dealings while he is deployed.
• Sitting in a gymnasium for a few hours knowing those are the final moments you will spend with him for 12 to 15 months.
• Keeping your chin up and telling him, “Goodbye” and “stay safe” and holding your tears back because he whispered, “Don’t cry, babe” in your ear.
• Watching the man you love march out with his unit and wave back at you one last time.
• Not hearing from your husband for a week or two until his unit is finally settled in whatever God-forsaken location they are assigned to.
• Coming home and continuing with your everyday life, work, school, children, family, home, pets, vehicles and any other daily activity by yourself and not having the luxury of being able to talk to your spouse about it.
• Living for the brief 10- to 15-minute phone call from him that may come once a week.
• Watching the news every day and seeing the politicians back home tie soldiers’ hands by bringing political correctness into the battlefield.
• Getting a phone call mid-tour telling you your husband is OK but being medevac’d to Germany.
• Calling your husband’s rear detachment and having them give you no further information about where your husband is or how badly he is hurt.
• Quitting the best job you ever had to pack up your stuff and move 18 hours back to the post he’s assigned to so you can have a place before he gets there.
• Having to feed, bathe and care for your husband because he cannot use his arms.
• Listening to his guilt for not being able to come back with his unit.
• Knowing another deployment is just another year and a half away.
• Repeating this cycle two or three or four more times.
I’ve yet to see an Army wife “crack” and go on an “act of violence that is inexplicable.”
— Dai H. Salerno, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
I was feeling left out
because I didn't have a clue what the buzz was this week about Pants On The Ground. This guy is great!
Now if only all the fools that have their pants on the ground would listen to him!
Go Mr. Platt!
By the way if you do not know his story, he is a bona fide American Hero. Not just some wanna be! He was a student of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also is still an an activist today.
Now if only all the fools that have their pants on the ground would listen to him!
Go Mr. Platt!
By the way if you do not know his story, he is a bona fide American Hero. Not just some wanna be! He was a student of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He also is still an an activist today.
An Open Letter to Govenor Perdue
Dear Governor Sonny Perdue,
I am writing to you today, because I am a third grade teacher in T. County Georgia.
I am extremely upset by the recent cuts in education funding, to include the teacher furlough days that the state of Georgia has had this year, and the proposed by you additional 4 to 5 days of furlough days for the coming months.
As a teacher I average $200 a month that I personally spend on my students, and put back into my classroom. The proposed furlough days will cost me over $600. If this happens my family and I will have to do without this money, which in turn means that my students will have to do without the supplies that I usually fund out of my own paycheck.
As I know you are aware our community and several surrounding communities are low income, rural districts, we have between 80 and 100% free and reduced lunch participation. If I don't buy these supplies for my students, who will? Certainly not their parents who are out of work and struggling to put food on the table at home.
I believe that you have forgotten how hard Mrs. Perdue worked as an employee of the public school system, or you would have never proposed these cuts! Most of us are at school 10 to 15 minutes before our contracted time and leave an hour after our contracted time. Most of us work on school work for an average of 30 minutes nightly at home, with an additional 2 to 3 hours over the weekends. Even on your "furlough" days we still are working, we are doing lesson plans, grading papers, and trying to find new and better ways to reach the children of this great state. In our school we do not even have a duty free lunch, because of your cuts in education funding, if we do not eat with the children, there will be no supervision of them.
I would like to personally extend an invitation to you to come and shadow me for a week while I do my job, educating the children of this great state. I would welcome the opportunity to show you how the money that you are planning on cutting from the education system is spent in my classroom. I would welcome to opportunity to introduce you to the people that you are planning on hurting the most with these cuts, my own children, and the children I love like my own, my students. I would welcome the opportunity to show you how hard my fellow educators work on a daily basis, as well as all of our support staff. Please contact me about coming and walking a day in my shoes, where none of the children are prepped that the Governor is coming and to be on their best behavior for the day, or where you are only shown the best of the best, the brightest of the brightest, but where you are shown a real classroom in a real district, with the real children.
You have said how important education is to the future of this great state, and nation, educators helped put you into office, and now you are stabbing us in the back!
I ask that you stop the cuts funding Georgia's education system.
Governor Perdue, what you are doing to our great state by cutting into the education of our children is despicable. There are better ways to make cuts in the state budget than by taking it out on our educators and our students. What is being proposed by you is going to drive the great teachers out of education, because we can not afford to teach any longer.
I promise that anyone that votes for these cuts in education will not have my vote in any coming election, and I will do my best to get the word out to all of my fellow voters as well to not vote for anyone that voted for cuts in education. I will vote for all non-incumbents, in an effort to vote out any incumbent that voted for budget cuts in education. I know that you can not run for office again, however, your party has many other incumbents and also will have someone running for your position and I will help vote them all out of office if I can.
Please, help the children and educators of your state, and put a stop to these proposed cuts!
Sincerely,
Patricia L. Cleveland
I am writing to you today, because I am a third grade teacher in T. County Georgia.
I am extremely upset by the recent cuts in education funding, to include the teacher furlough days that the state of Georgia has had this year, and the proposed by you additional 4 to 5 days of furlough days for the coming months.
As a teacher I average $200 a month that I personally spend on my students, and put back into my classroom. The proposed furlough days will cost me over $600. If this happens my family and I will have to do without this money, which in turn means that my students will have to do without the supplies that I usually fund out of my own paycheck.
As I know you are aware our community and several surrounding communities are low income, rural districts, we have between 80 and 100% free and reduced lunch participation. If I don't buy these supplies for my students, who will? Certainly not their parents who are out of work and struggling to put food on the table at home.
I believe that you have forgotten how hard Mrs. Perdue worked as an employee of the public school system, or you would have never proposed these cuts! Most of us are at school 10 to 15 minutes before our contracted time and leave an hour after our contracted time. Most of us work on school work for an average of 30 minutes nightly at home, with an additional 2 to 3 hours over the weekends. Even on your "furlough" days we still are working, we are doing lesson plans, grading papers, and trying to find new and better ways to reach the children of this great state. In our school we do not even have a duty free lunch, because of your cuts in education funding, if we do not eat with the children, there will be no supervision of them.
I would like to personally extend an invitation to you to come and shadow me for a week while I do my job, educating the children of this great state. I would welcome the opportunity to show you how the money that you are planning on cutting from the education system is spent in my classroom. I would welcome to opportunity to introduce you to the people that you are planning on hurting the most with these cuts, my own children, and the children I love like my own, my students. I would welcome the opportunity to show you how hard my fellow educators work on a daily basis, as well as all of our support staff. Please contact me about coming and walking a day in my shoes, where none of the children are prepped that the Governor is coming and to be on their best behavior for the day, or where you are only shown the best of the best, the brightest of the brightest, but where you are shown a real classroom in a real district, with the real children.
You have said how important education is to the future of this great state, and nation, educators helped put you into office, and now you are stabbing us in the back!
I ask that you stop the cuts funding Georgia's education system.
Governor Perdue, what you are doing to our great state by cutting into the education of our children is despicable. There are better ways to make cuts in the state budget than by taking it out on our educators and our students. What is being proposed by you is going to drive the great teachers out of education, because we can not afford to teach any longer.
I promise that anyone that votes for these cuts in education will not have my vote in any coming election, and I will do my best to get the word out to all of my fellow voters as well to not vote for anyone that voted for cuts in education. I will vote for all non-incumbents, in an effort to vote out any incumbent that voted for budget cuts in education. I know that you can not run for office again, however, your party has many other incumbents and also will have someone running for your position and I will help vote them all out of office if I can.
Please, help the children and educators of your state, and put a stop to these proposed cuts!
Sincerely,
Patricia L. Cleveland
Friday, January 15, 2010
An open letter to the members of Georgia's House of Representatives and State Senate
Dear Georgia State Representatives and Senators,
I am writing to you today, because I am a third grade teacher in T. County Georgia.
I am extremely upset by the recent cuts in education funding, to include the teacher furlough days that the state of Georgia has had this year, and the proposed additional 4 to 5 days of furlough days for the coming months.
As a teacher I average $200 a month that I personally spend on my students, and put back into my classroom. The proposed furlough days will cost me over $600. If this happens my family and I will have to do without this money, which in turn means that my students will have to do without the supplies that I usually fund out of my own paycheck.
As I know you are aware our community and several surrounding communities are low income, rural districts, we have between 80 and 100% free and reduced lunch participation.
As politic ans, you have said how important education is to the future of this great state, and nation, now I ask that you step up and defend the educators and the children in Georgia. I ask that you go to your fellow state Representatives, and state Senators and tell them to stop the cuts funding Georgia's education system.
I ask that you talk to Governor Perdue about what he is doing to our great state by cutting into the education of our children. There are better ways to make cuts in the budget than by taking it out on our educators and our students. What is being proposed by those in office is going to drive the great teachers out of education, because we can not afford to teach any longer.
Please, help the children and educators of your home district, and put a stop to these proposed cuts!
I promise that anyone that votes for these cuts in education will not have my vote in any coming election, and I will do my best to get the word out to all of my fellow voters as well to not vote for anyone that voted for cuts in education. I will vote for all non-incumbents, in an effort to vote out any incumbent that voted for budget cuts in education.
Sincerely,
Patricia L. Cleveland
I am writing to you today, because I am a third grade teacher in T. County Georgia.
I am extremely upset by the recent cuts in education funding, to include the teacher furlough days that the state of Georgia has had this year, and the proposed additional 4 to 5 days of furlough days for the coming months.
As a teacher I average $200 a month that I personally spend on my students, and put back into my classroom. The proposed furlough days will cost me over $600. If this happens my family and I will have to do without this money, which in turn means that my students will have to do without the supplies that I usually fund out of my own paycheck.
As I know you are aware our community and several surrounding communities are low income, rural districts, we have between 80 and 100% free and reduced lunch participation.
As politic ans, you have said how important education is to the future of this great state, and nation, now I ask that you step up and defend the educators and the children in Georgia. I ask that you go to your fellow state Representatives, and state Senators and tell them to stop the cuts funding Georgia's education system.
I ask that you talk to Governor Perdue about what he is doing to our great state by cutting into the education of our children. There are better ways to make cuts in the budget than by taking it out on our educators and our students. What is being proposed by those in office is going to drive the great teachers out of education, because we can not afford to teach any longer.
Please, help the children and educators of your home district, and put a stop to these proposed cuts!
I promise that anyone that votes for these cuts in education will not have my vote in any coming election, and I will do my best to get the word out to all of my fellow voters as well to not vote for anyone that voted for cuts in education. I will vote for all non-incumbents, in an effort to vote out any incumbent that voted for budget cuts in education.
Sincerely,
Patricia L. Cleveland
Matt's band :-)
Warning, Matt's band is named Carnal Bliss, so take it at face value and realize that he is a metal rocker to the core. So the language isn't for the little ones, and probably not some of my normal readers either. ;)
I like it, but I am prejudiced, because he's my bubba!
I like it, but I am prejudiced, because he's my bubba!
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Catch up post~cutting down the Christmas Tree
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Catch up post~world map project for school
Just before the holidays I assigned my social studies classes a world map project. Third grade students in Georgia have to meet the following standards:
SS3G1 The student will locate major topographical features.
a. Identify major rivers of the United States of America: Mississippi, Ohio, Rio Grande, Colorado, Hudson.
b. Identify major mountain ranges of the United States of America: Appalachian, Rocky.
c. Locate the Equator, Prime Meridian, and lines of latitude and longitude on a globe.
d. Locate Greece on a world map.
I decided to have a bit of home fun with the project, and add a few elements. Basically I had them make a world map with all seven continents, identify the rivers listed, the equator, prime meridian, lines of longitude, lines of latitude, and Greece. I don't have the official letter that went home with the project here at the house, but if I can get to it I will add it. :-)
Here are just a few of the results.
SS3G1 The student will locate major topographical features.
a. Identify major rivers of the United States of America: Mississippi, Ohio, Rio Grande, Colorado, Hudson.
b. Identify major mountain ranges of the United States of America: Appalachian, Rocky.
c. Locate the Equator, Prime Meridian, and lines of latitude and longitude on a globe.
d. Locate Greece on a world map.
I decided to have a bit of home fun with the project, and add a few elements. Basically I had them make a world map with all seven continents, identify the rivers listed, the equator, prime meridian, lines of longitude, lines of latitude, and Greece. I don't have the official letter that went home with the project here at the house, but if I can get to it I will add it. :-)
Here are just a few of the results.
Friday, January 01, 2010
Catch up post, last day of school before Christmas Break
Pictures from the last day of school before Christmas break. DJ with his class and Mrs. Beck. 
DJ saw this outfit at the BX the night before and had to have it to wear for their party, and to the girls play on Sunday. He also wore it to children's services on Christmas eve (well with jeans that night lol)
DJ saw this outfit at the BX the night before and had to have it to wear for their party, and to the girls play on Sunday. He also wore it to children's services on Christmas eve (well with jeans that night lol)
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