Thank goodness for MEA

When I think back to MEA weekend as a kid, I remember being excused from school a couple days early by my parents and then we scooted up to Grand Marais for some fall hiking and relaxation.  This was before we had our cabin up there, so we always stayed at the same hotel, in the same room, and sneaked Moose in over the balcony (years later, we would find out that the management knew that we were doing that, and just chose to never say anything about it to us).  To us kids, the over-sized hot tub was amazing, and we would spend hours each night in there, swimming around.  Eventually, my parents sold the old cabin in McGregor and we bought a new one in Grand Marais, so now there is no sneaking in dogs or wrinkly hot tub fingers, and we go up there for more than just MEA weekend.

We miss you Moosie!

Now, I'm on the other side of MEA weekend as a teacher.  I could go to the convention that is held on the Thursday and Friday, but I choose to enjoy the long weekend, and boy did I ever need it right about now.  This year, I am teaching two completely new preps: English 11 and Read 180 (a reading strategies class- I'm working on my reading license, so reading skills and strats are starting to become my niche at my school). 

While I love my job nearly every day I am there, the stretch of Sept. 6-Oct. 20 without any days off starts to take a toll.  Last year, I was busy, but this year I'm feeling kind of pulled in a million directions.  I agreed to take part in a group that meets 1x/month on Mondays which focuses on collaboration for interventions in literacy at the secondary levels.  It's an additional 2 hours after school on those days, plus a couple of all day meetings scattered throughout the year.  On Tuesdays, I am still teaching in the Adult Basic Education diploma program until 8pm.  Now, on Wednesdays, I've added my reading licensure classes which go until 7:20 each week.  And then there are the Thursday conferences/calling times/staff development hours which occur about once a month as well until 6:30.  By Friday, I am beat.  I continue to work for my parents on the weekends (both Saturdays and Sundays), so I really feel like I am working 8-9 days a week.

I made the decision to take off from my parents work over MEA so that I could have a true weekend off, and boy am I glad that I did that!  I think that MEA means even more to me now as a teacher, and it's time that I can use to catch up on my social life, sleep, and my mental health.  This year is even more great because I get to spend the days with Lucy while Luke works.  I also actually have time to get some stuff done around the house and try out some new recipes!  Luke gave me a sewing machine for my birthday, so perhaps I'll even squeeze in a sewing project...  mmmmm.... crafts :)

Yesterday was the most amazing start to the long weekend:  Dog park, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Shopping at Target (for some reason, shopping at Target just always makes me feel better!), and getting some chores around the house done at a relaxing pace.  Today has been spent so far catching up on Grey's Anatomy and drinking coffee while lounging with Miss Lucy- she even let me paint her nails to match mine:

Pretty in Sparkles!

Here's looking forward to the rest of a relaxing weekend, and coming back to school refreshed and ready to go!

Newest Family Member!

We've decided that Luke must be some sort of reincarnation of Saint Francis or something because he seems to find abandoned animals all the time.  In 2006, he found Snakey the redtailed Columbian Boa Constrictor in our apartment.  In 2009, he discovered Darla, the guinea pig outside of our apartment.  Flash forward to last week and we can now add another creature who has found his/her way into our ever-growing family.

Meet Trogdor...

 

Lucky for Trogdor, we already have Spinelli and anything a parakeet could ever need, so he definitely found his way into the right home.  Luke spotted him in our backyard, and after confirming that it was NOT Spinelli (I made a beeline to her cage when Luke said that there was a yellow parakeet in the yard to make sure that it wasn't her), we managed to lure him with seeds and a perch, and Trogdor and Spinelli have been bonding ever since.

This little budgie is also much cooler than Spinelli.  Spinelli has never been a very people-friendly bird, but Trogdor will let us take him out of the cage and he'll hang out on our shoulders and not immediately fly away like Spinelli will.

I wonder what we'll find next...

Purchase

Check out my latest Lucy-related purchase at Lucy's blog site!

http://lucylorenz.blogspot.com/2011/08/stray-dog-arts.html

Lucy's Latest!

I managed to teach Lucy a new trick this morning, and I wanted to share it with you all!  She's quite proud of herself :)

2 years!

Happy anniversary to us!  It's been two years since I married my best friend, and we're still holding strong.  Lots of changes have happened in the last year (me getting a full-time teaching job, loosing Dwight, adopting Lucy, and much much more), and Luke has been my rock through it all. 

Here's to another 60+ years!

Cabin!

Yesterday, we got back from Luke's family cabin in Crosslake and Lucy's been kind of pouting ever since leaving.  We had a great time, the weather was excellent, and we came back only slightly crispy!  The weekend comprised of fun lawn games (bags, ladder golf, badminton), lots of drinks, sleeping in the bunkhouse down on the beach, good company, taking Lucy swimming, reading,ice cream, triple yahtzee, grilling, and fireworks. 

I will leave you will my favorite picture of the weekend, and if you're interested, you can see more at Lucy's blog (click on the link!)

A man and his dog.

We heart Xcel!

Seriously, we love Xcel energy right now.  A few weeks ago, a nice young man stopped by our door to see if we were interested in partaking in having their Energy Squad come by our house to make our home a bit more energy efficient.  Normally, I am one to say "No thanks!" and shut the door in their faces before they can even finish trying to sell me anything, but I was feeling nice, so I let the guy tell me about it (it was also 90 degrees out with 80-something % humidity, so I felt a little bad for him).  Turns out, it was a good thing I didn't pretend to not be home, because it ended up being a great deal for us!

For $50, we were able to have the Home Energy Squad come in and have them install the following:

• Weatherstipping on our attic crawlspace door

• Programmable Thermostat

• Faucet aerators in both bathrooms and our kitchen

• A water-saving showerhead in the basement

• 8 decorative CFL lights in our kitchen/dining room

They also rated several appliances in our house, and let us know what the recommended rating was.  What I really liked about the whole thing was that they were no-pressure people.  They basically just said, "Here's what you got.  Here's what we recommend it be at.  Here's where you can find information to upgrade it if you like."

Since it was such a great deal, I want to give everyone else the opportunity to benefit from Xcel as we did.  If you want to schedule a visit with the Home Energy Squad, you can call them at:
(651) 328-6220