Holiday Planning

I have no excuses not to have my house fully ready for Christmas. I finished all of my shopping Tuesday night, so all I need to do is finish wrapping items. What a great feeling!

Over Thanksgiving Josh's mom wanted to take some pictures, and since our 5 year old nephew is so curious, he wanted to take some pictures of just us. Aren't we lucky?

Josh had to work Thanksgiving day, so I spent the day with his side of the family. My sister in law will be thrilled to see herself as the Santa version of Mr. Potato Head. Or would she be Mrs.?

Friday Josh & I battled the crowds to go shopping. Not as many deals as I remember in the past, but there were a couple that persuaded me to drag out of bed at 5 a.m. Nothing against the people who shopped at 4 a.m., but there were no deals that great for me. We did purchase some movies, the new Guitar Hero (for my brother, he never reads any posts), tools at the farm store, and a couple of presents for me. Actually, Josh purchased a new Cricut Expressions machine for me for Christmas. It's absolutely killing me not to get it out of the box. I suppose that's why he purchased one for me with me there. It's some rare form of torture technique, I'm sure. Although, now with the new machine, I'll really have no excuses not to get fully caught up with my scrapbooks.

Only two weeks left of school. (yea!) That means a lot needs to get done. Where does the time go? I need to get back to wrapping, and get started with my baking & candy making.

Look for our Christmas cards someday soon too!

Oh my goodness

Okay, so this is ridiculous. I'm checking out other people's blogs (because I should be grading papers), & they have all these wonderful posts.

Here I sit in a fully immersed computer haven at school, yet I don't even regularly post to my own blog. I guess I need to start making this a priority.

Really have been having a busy school year. Start my day with freshmen in Computer Applications, and then the rest of the day is junior high. I know what you're thinking, but they're my express lane into heaven. Unless I murder one of them, I'm free and clear.

We spent most of August & September making trips to the Diller area. My grandmother's cancer recurred and pretty much consumed her body. The week school started she was in the hospital, one week later transferred to a nursing home, and about one month later passed away. Really sudden, but yet for the best, as she lived 85 great years.

On to other aspects of our life that have kept us busy. Junior class stuff just never goes away. Hosted the soup supper that we have every year during Homecoming. Even while we are serving soup, the kids want to talk about prom, or the p-word as I call it.

For some other reason, I don't know what it is, I teach talented drama to 5th and 6th graders every year. I'm pretty sure something is wrong with me to volunteer for this position again. Although maybe this is what I need to remind me that although 7th and 8th graders are strange, they're nothing compared to 5th and 6th. Pierce is thinking of creating a true middle school. I kindly informed the powers that be that I'm not really keen on teaching even 7 & 8, let along lower grades.

Tomorrow in talented drama we are doing makeup, which is oh-so-much-fun for them, but it absolutely is a mess for me. But that is something kids always remember and talk about, so I guess it's worth the trouble.

I promise not to let this go for 2 1/2 months before updating again.

Girls' Trip 2008

Our annual girls' trip took us to Oklahoma City this year. Of course, the weather was extremely hot, but hey, it's July! On the way down to Oklahoma, we stopped at the Russell Stover's factory in Abilene, KS.

My, how humbling the Memorial is...I can't imagine what New York City must have been like. We also took in a ball game, state capitol, and cowboy museum.

Not positive where next year will take us. We're thinking about Colorado though.

We posed for our group photo in Toby Keith's restaurant. A $2 Corona was perfect on the blazing hot day. Plus, the restaurant was right across the street from the ballpark.

In the cowboy museum, one of the exhibits was an old west town. Mom & Peggy posed in the jail.

Taste of Chicago

Okay, even though we're not from Chicago, we referred to this as "Taste" because that's what everyone calls it. From Michigan Ave. east the streets were blocked off--all of Grant Park. I think there were over 65 food vendors alone, let alone the live entertainment, displays, cooking demonstrations, and today only--the Budweiser Clydesdales. They really are cool to see in person.

We ate and drank our way through the afternoon. What a wonderful way to spend the day in Chicago!

Museum of Science & Industry

Well, we figured out the El to get to the museum, but we still ended up walking for what seemed like forever (no really). But we did get to see Washington Park and University of Chicago. Now on ER when they talk about University Hospital, I have a complete frame of reference.

The museum was completely cool. We saw a U-505, which was the actual German U-boat captured during WW2. That thing was huge! We also took in some other really interesting exhibits. I'm sure Josh & I could have stayed there all day long.

Here's the real beyond the ivy

We had a fabulous time at the Cubs game, despite the heat & despite the loss. Nothin' beats a good 'ol Chicago style dog. Our seats were awesome as well.

Just thought I'd share the photos.

Preparing for playday

Since posting is so easy, I've decided to create a quick post for all the playday participants. What a wonderful opportunity a blog creates! The photo was taken at my hotel room last week when I was creating a homepage for one of my summer classes.

Please be sure to explore the other blog examples I've provided as they really do an excellent job of keeping everyone updated.

Learning in Lincoln

I'm at an NSEA (Nebraska State Education Association) training session in Lincoln for the first part of this week. I actually have learned some stuff, plus I've found out what our local teacher's union should be doing & stuff I should be doing.

Just started my two online classes--Intro to Media Studies, which will be okay and Copyright, Fair Use & Ethics, which at first I thought would be pretty boring, but after reading some of the court cases & their decisions, it reminded me why I like the academia world so much. Lord I'm a geek.

I'm sure Josh is living the good life while I'm away. He's told me he watered all of the vegetables & flowers. Before I left my tomatoes were just starting to bloom. With the salmonella scare, hopefully I have some soon.

Storms in Pierce!

Crys was adamant that I post at least one time on our blog. Since I didn't really know what to post she suggested that I tell the world about the hail that we got from the latest storms on June 5th. I don't know how much rain we got because I have been forgetting to pick up a new rain gauge. We did get quite a bit of hail, marble and ping pong ball size. I don't think it caused enough damage to our roof that we'll be able to get any insurance money, but I can always hope for more hail. By the way, I had to figure out on my own how to post the slideshow because Crys didn't know how. Maybe I should be teaching the computer applications class at Pierce High next year. [editor's note by Crys, I did play with slideshows yesterday, but I couldn't remember what I had clicked on.]

Outdoor Fun

Since we sank a boat two years ago, the first time we take the boat out for the year should always be chronicled--just in case. Josh did some fishing, while I relaxed and did some reading.

The great fisherman prepares to for the day. All I had to do was bring along a book, which, by the way, I finished.

Since other people can take pictures of their kids & pets, I settle for the flowers blooming. My peony bush didn't have tons of blooms, but quality over quantity counts. I also had iris, pansies, gerbera daisies & columbine. Since these pics were taken, I've also planted some rose bushes. Maybe I'll add more pictures of my summer blooms, when they start.

School's Out for Summer--but not like Alice Cooper

Finished up some stuff at school that needed to be done this past week. Glad to have that over with. Actually, we were done with kids on the 14th, so summer technically started then. Less than 3 months though until school starts again. I'm sure the time will fly by.

However, time was sooooo slooooow at the golf course earlier today. When multiple inches of rain gush upon Nebraska & sustaining winds blow at around 25 mph, not many people want to golf. Oh, add to that the windchill early this morning was around 48. I had one high school golfer at the course around 9:30, but otherwise no one came out until 1:00. What a slow day! I did get my iTunes in order. I even watched some back podcasts. Finally decided to order my textbooks for the online classes I'm taking throughout June & July.

Both classes start June 9, the week I'm at a conference in Lincoln. At least the hotel has high speed internet. The shorter of the two classes is called "Copyright, Fair Use, and Ethics," which really should be applicable in all of the classes I teach. Pretty sure the material will be dry. I'm also pretty sure I'll have a hard time getting myself back into the academia world of paper writing & researching. The second class, which lasts all of June & July is "Intro to Library Media," which will focus a lot on information literacy. But once again, I'll be Loper, as UNK has the entire Information Technology degree program online. (Yes, I know I already have one Master's Degree, but this will not only aid in my quest for lifelong learning, but it will also move me on the pay scale!)

That's all the news from Pierce.

Twittering

Actually, twitter is this cool new way to send a quick message to people. You're only allowed up to 140 characters. Give it a try @ twitter.com--my address is twitter.com/cbauermeister (creative, I know).

Living in the digital former Soviet republics

So I just returned from NETA (Nebraska Educational Technology Association), & even though I'm finally making a commitment to a blog, I'm living in the digital version of the former Soviet states. Wow...I don't Twitter (well, I do now, but I didn't before), I don't socially network (hardly have time for live people some days), and I don't watch TV shows on the internet.

BUT, I do lots of other stuff, just ask me! Anyway, I'm working to finish up requisitions for next year along with getting mini tech work days set up for the summer. I'm planning to do something with Google apps and a sort of playground of stuff they offer. Actually, in researching tonight, I found out you can text questions directly to Google (466453). Say for instance you want to know the score of the latest Cubs game, just text 'score cubs' to Google & a response will be returned in about 30 seconds. Now, don't do this if you don't have free text messaging, but if you do, ask away. I threw out some odd questions & all answers were provided. How cool. (Well, at least in a techie geeky world!)

Yours truly, trying to cross the digital divide...Crys

Thanks

I'd like to say thanks to those friends we have that are kind enough to let us live vicariously thorough their lives & blogs. I've decided that I will commit to updating this periodically. Who knows, maybe I'll even add pics & video soon.

Prom 2008

After reading all the cool things our friends do, Josh & I REALLY lead a boring life. However, we did have the pleasure again this year of sponsoring prom. Actually Josh would like to state for the record that he does not sponsor prom, but it's part of the wedding vows (you know "for worse"). We had a picture taken by the photographer, so when I get it, I'll upload the pic. Until then, you'll have to settle for the pics of the decorations in the slideshow.

Decorating was all done in one afternoon this year, but life was a little crazy 'cause the other prom sponsor decided to have a baby 2 weeks before prom. It was manageable, but I'll be glad to get the prom queen back next year. 2 adults vs 70+ kids is much better than 1 vs. 70.

2008 edition

Since it's been a year and a day, I decided to post again. Actually I have no excuses to not post more often. Just finished my first two days back at school & will have the first speech meet of the year this weekend.

Josh just switched back to days, so his sleep schedule is, needless to say, a bit off.