My favorite things

A few weeks ago a great friend of mine tagged me in her blog post explaining her favorite things around Christmas time. I meant to follow up and list my own "favorite things" but the holidays have a way of getting away from you ya know?  Maybe I'll just name a few favorites in my next few posts rather than trying to get them all into one. Tammy won't mind. I know her. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

This particular Christmas season we mostly stayed home and it was such a blessing for us. I understand the importance of extended family but I also understand how important it is to rest and relax during our time off from school and work. It sure is difficult to balance those two priorities without anyone getting their feelings hurt.  We've tried to keep it as stress free as possible and we've done pretty darn well! Pete's Mom came up to visit and went to the girls' Christmas program at EBA. Pete even (gasp) took off work early to be there! It was just heartwarming to hear the children sing!  We made a weekend trip to Jesup to celebrate with the Lyles side of the family. Despite the 400 yapping dogs, sleeping in a camper, and having little hot water, it was still good to see everyone. I finally got to meet  Erin, Pete's cousin's fiancee'. She was a sweetheart and asked the girls to be in their summer wedding. We'll plan our beach trip around their Florida nuptials and I'm already looking forward to it!

Pete and I hosted the Louisville Middle School faculty here at our house for our staff Christmas party. We had a great time considering it was sort of a last minute thrown together sort of thing since the weather ran us out of our original destination. It was a great way to start the holidays.

We went caroling in town with the church youth and had a wonderful dinner at a friend's house afterwards. It really set the tone for our Christmas and we hope to be able to do that again next year. It's a great tradition.  On Christmas Eve, Pete's parents came to spend the night with us. We enjoyed having them here to watch the girls open their gifts Christmas morning. Then later that day we went across the road to Nanny and Poppy's, where Santa always leaves the "Cooper Stockings". My brother and his family came Christmas night and we opened gifts and had a great prime rib dinner made by my daddy, who is a great cook!

We are gearing up right now for one of my FAVORITE traditions- New Year's Eve with the Tomlinsons and the Lawsons. The six of us go way back to our time at the University of Georgia. Over the years we've expanded from a party of 6 to a party of 13, but we still manage to get together over New Year's.  No matter what other crazy chaos is going on,  we always seem to figure out a way to get together during this holiday and I always look forward to it. Company starts arriving tomorrow evening!

My two favorite things this week-

1. Burt's Bees - I've always thought bees were cool. My favorite product is the hand salve. My hands are terribly dry and itch in the winter time. Burt's Bees hand salve works wonders. It sounds expensive but it really lasts a long time and once you use it you'll realize it's worth it!

2. Riesling-  Riesling is one of my favorite wines. The riesling grape originated in the Rhine Valley of Germany and despite this fact, I've never had a true German riesling till this past Christmas. Aunt Patti gave me a bottle of Landshut Riesling. Out of this world good.  It's not as super sweet as many rieslings from the US and it's also not very expensive at about 7 bucks a bottle.

Overall we've had a great holiday season. Great wine, good rest, wonderful friends and family, and even a little snow. What more could you want in a holiday?

We may move to Idaho

The way things seem to be heading down the toilet around here, I'm considering building myself a compound in a remote part of Idaho. The news is just depressing. Kids shooting each other in the street,  robbing houses, stealing cars... the list goes on and on and I live in a rural area! Thank goodness most of this foolishness goes on in town and not in the sticks where we live. I am serious when I say that if Louisville would get a Wal Mart, I wouldn't go past Rhodes grocery again. That's where I turn off of Hwy 24 to go to Edmund Burke Academy on this side of Waynesboro, a.k.a Compton Lite.

What really annoys me is that the mothers of these little hellions have been blaming the government, the police, the school system and everyone else for their kids' behavior since they were born. "Ms so and so picked on him," "This school hates boys", "they don't understand my baby"... etc. Give me a break lady. At what point do you start to recognize that the common denominator is your little terrorist?

I've just stopped watching the news.  So of course today I am READING the news in the New York Times and there is an article there regarding cyber-bullying.  All I could say was "wow". Texting each other horrible things (we do not allow our children to have cell phones), harassing each other on facebook (we don't allow the kids to have a facebook account), and generally being little jerks to each other. These are well educated kids with well educated parents who are acting every bit as thuggish as the dirt poor kids stealing from someone's garage. Personally I'd rather have someone steal my lawnmower than terrorize my children online. I'm not condemning parents for allowing these things. I have several friends who allow cell phones and facebook and are what I consider to be excellent parents. It's just a personal decision I suppose. Ali and Addie are never without us except when they're at school. EBA has an excellent parent communication system.  Why do they need a phone? Who would they call? Pete and I are not comfortable with it at this point. That might change. Might not.

A few weeks ago Ali Grace asked us for a Facebook account just to play farmville. I told her I'd discuss it with her Dad. Pete and I discussed it and decided against it. She was very understanding and Pete allows her to play Farmville on HIS Facebook account. A few days ago Ali told us she'd like to have a laptop so she could play on the computer in her bedroom. That was a big NO for us. We have a desktop computer in the office and I feel strongly about kids using a computer only in a public place. I think Ali may think her parents are dinosaurs from the stone age, but that's okay. I have explained to her that her well being is the most important thing to us and that one day she'll understand EXACTLY where we're coming from. She replied "I know- when I'm a mom I'll get it".  : ) So far the only ground we've ceded to technology is email. Ali has an email account that I check here and there. Maybe we're behind the curve- or maybe we're WAY ahead of it.

Here's a link to the NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/us/05bully.html?pagewanted=1&hp

Halloween... ugh...

I've never been a huge fan of Halloween. I don't know why except I've never been fond of having the weebijits scared out of me I guess. I remember as a little girl visiting a friend's house for a slumber party and watching horror movies. It took me about 10 minutes before I was in the living room with the girl's mother watching Dallas and Falcon Crest. That's much more my speed.

A friend of mine on facebook posed the question a few days ago "Am I a bad parent for not paying 100 dollars for a stinkin' halloween costume?"  I had to laugh, because in this house we think paying TWENTY dollars is too much for a costume- especially in times like these. It almost seems ridiculous to spend that much money on a one time outfit when others are having a hard time putting food on the table. This year the girls are wearing their dance costumes from last year (which cost a small fortune). Ali will make a beautiful ballerina and Addie is wearing a glittery red and black costume. I'll paint a Georgia G on her cheek and she'll make a great Georgette! We just don't get into Halloween much around here. On top of that, I'm using John Rosemond's advice and saying NO and saying it OFTEN.  LOL  :)

The girls have only trick or treated a couple times. Once my parents took them while Pete and I were in Orlando for a conference. They went a time or two maybe when we lived in Rincon. However, now they really prefer to go to a fall festival at their grandparents' church. I'm fine with that.

This year I'll be watching the Georgia Florida game at home and after the game, I'll probably go by and help out with our Haunted House at school. As I said before, I'm not a big fan of scary, but watching those kids run out of their shoes to get out of the haunted house is priceless. We should charge admission to have seats by the exit doors. That's where the REAL show is!

We are all enjoying the cooler weather around here. Junior Pro football season is over and it's been really nice to have no obligations during the week. However, Addie INSISTS she wants to play Upward basketball so we'll see how that works out. Anyone who knows Addie, knows that will be interesting! I think Ali is enjoying having some time off, and as long as she doesn't ask, we're not adding anything else to our plate.   Fall is my favorite season of all. My friend Cindy, an avid gardener says fall is so depressing because the garden dies and it'll be a while before she can have fresh veggies again. I understand that view, but I welcome the relief from such intense heat and I have the best fireplace in the South. I swear y'all I do. It is huge and puts out enough heat to heat the downstairs of a 3700 square foot house. I can't wait to use it again! PJ's, hot tea, roaring fire trumps fresh veggies... well until about say February!! Then I'll be sick of the cold and ready to dig in the dirt again!
Enjoy this beautiful weekend! I'll be in dissertation prison again.

A kid, a cat, and some stepped on toes...

I know I've been cynical regarding my job lately. I think cynical is good sometimes. It shows we still have a pulse and that we still care. It's been a tough couple of years around here with furloughs, new mandates, and a ridiculous amount of new paperwork.  Well today a kid and a cat gave me a new outlook. It happened in a crazy way.


Ali Grace went to her first sleepover with friends at Magnolia Springs and Pete went hunting in Baxley with his old friends from ABAC. This left the house to just Addie and me. Dangerous combination. We had planned to get up and go see Secretariat this morning since it was just the two of us. Addie got up and wanted to go to church instead. I have to admit I was not in the mood. I'm exhausted. I'm frustrated with work and the world in general, and really I wanted to just see a mindless Disney movie and take it easy today. Addie crossed her arms and insisted that she wanted to go to church. I finally relented.


When I got to church I realized that we had a guest minister and pouted for a minute. I'm not usually a fan of guest ministers.  I'm thinking at this point that Secretariat would have been much better. Before church even started,  Addie has her bible opened to the book of Luke but she pretends she's reading the story of the Moses and the burning bush, which happens to be her all time favorite. I'm still pouting. 


The service started with the choir singing "Peace in the Valley".  Who can pout when someone sings that????  Anyhow, when the guest minister began to preach, I became completely riveted by what he was saying. I swear that man was talking to me. It was like he knew I was coming there and he knew what I needed to hear. You know how some ministers have a way of stepping on your toes without hurting them TOO much? This man had that talent to a tee. I swear it freaked me out. He even looked at me like he was seriously having a conversation with just me.


He told a story about a cat his son had brought home. He hated cats and one day cranked his car with the cat under the hood. After spending a fortune at the vet, he had to bandage and rebandage and rebandage the cat's leg. The cat didn't want the bandage and didn't understand that his owner was trying to help him. He didn't understand that he needed these bandages. The point was made. We are called to bandage and bandage and bandage again if necessary. I heard what I needed to hear. Many of my students don't want help. They don't understand how important their education is, and most of the time I spend more time pushing paper than actually working with students, but that is beside the point. I truly felt today that God was reminding me of what I was called to do. 


The last hymn was "Here I Am, Lord".  One verse of the song says "Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?"  Okay. I get it. I'm going back to work Monday with a better attitude. I'm still not sure what the future holds, but I know I have to go about it with a better vision and a better attitude. There IS a reason why I'm here. I believe that. It took a 5 year old and a crazy cat story to remind me of that. 


On a funnier note, I ordered a tee shirt this week that shows a circle and a line tangent to the circle. The shirt says "CHECK OUT MY TAN LINE"  Now THAT is funny. I don't care who you are! Have a good week everyone. Be kind to each other. It's rough out there. 

Not so "Teacher of the Year"

This past week my colleagues nominated me as a candidate for TOTY (not the kind with whiskey and honey unfortunately).  I regret the fact that when my AP told me I was one of the three finalists, I actually grimaced without thinking at all. See, I don't feel like a teacher of the year at all right now. I came home and asked my husband what he thought about it and he said that if your colleagues think enough of you to nominate you that you should carry through with the competition.  So, I did. Tuesday is our observation and the decision will be made. Some parts of me feel like an impostor right now and let me say why.

First, I am not very satisfied with my job right now. Our school day begins too early and ends too late. Our kids have very few exploratory choices that involve physical activity and yet we wring our hands and don't understand why the kids are off the chain by the afternoon.  Our calendar is terrible and almost kills teachers before Christmas. And again, we wring our hands and don't understand why teacher absenteeism is a problem.  That's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Second, I'm not very satisfied with public education in general. I don't think ANY of the gubernatorial candidates, nor the President himself, and especially Oprah have any clue how to fix the problem because they don't have a clue what the problem is.  Teachers are better trained than they have EVER been before in the history of this country. Yet, our results are certainly not stellar. Each year we are faced with more students from broken homes, less enthusiasm and support from parents, and over the past few years, less pay. The problem is that in the US, you truly don't need an education to survive. We will take care of you. There's a fine line between helping and enabling. We've crossed it.

Lastly, I think I have this vision of a perfect teacher doting over her students, spending hours grading papers, giving students their home phone number, going to their ball games, etc.  I have a family of my own. I don't do much after school anymore. I only on certain occasions will give my phone number to students, and although I truly care about a lot of them, I cannot lie awake at night worrying about them. I do the best I can do. I work most days like the entire school's success depends on me.  However, when it's time to go home, I go home. Maybe that's how I've survived into my 13th year. God has granted me the serenity to change the things I can change as well as deal with the things I cannot change. Unfortunately, there are a growing number of issues I feel I cannot change and TOTY or not, I am really concerned that I won't be able to handle those issues all the way to retirement.

So Tuesday, the judges won't find me standing on my head, bribing kids with candy, or putting on any sort of show. My students have a killer 9 weeks exam on Thursday and we'll be working our butts off to get ready for it. That may not make me a TOTY and I'm okay with that.

iMama meets iCarly

I'm adding this picture today trying to WILL in some cooler weather. Nothing else seems to work! We've had a busy few weeks around here and I feel like I've been beaten with a stick!  I am oh so thankful that we made the decision to forego dance and gymnastics this fall. Adjusting to a new school hasn't been easy and we've needed that extra time together in the evenings.  Overall the girls are wonderfully happy at EBA now and we've started to get into a groove that works for us.  Ali is busy with cheerleading and Addie is just happy to have her Friday sno-cones.  She LOVES her teacher and especially enjoys reenacting her daily devotionals in the afternoons. It warms my heart to hear them.

Recently, I had the opportunity to actually sit down and watch TV with the girls. We've been swamped   and we haven't had much TV time, which I don't consider a bad thing- especially after this particular experience! Ali was watching a show I'd previously considered harmless, iCarly.  I could not believe the haughty disrespect the characters had towards their teacher and the flippant attitude they showed towards the adults on the show. The show portrayed parents and teachers as stupid, silly, irrational and totally incompetent.  Occasionally over the last year Ali will say something with a very sharp tone and I do a double take. When I correct this behavior she honestly does look at me like she has no idea why I'm upset. Now I know why. She sees this behavior in her favorite shows on TV. I have always been very careful about what the children watched on television. They were never allowed to watch cartoons with indiscriminate violence.  Shows like Spongebob, that are obnoxiously loud were kept to a minimum. I never even allowed the girls to play any sort of  hunting games on the Wii. I come from a huge family of carnivorous sportsmen and while I'm not opposed to hunting in the least, I believe children should understand that when you shoot an animal it dies. Indiscriminate use of video games with guns desensitizes children to this truth and I've always avoided it. But here I am watching iCarly and all of a sudden I realize that I have fallen down on the job!  

Recently John Rosemond, a child pyschologist, wrote an article about such a problem. His column can be found at www.rosemond.com.  I was relieved to hear him say that although today's children are bombarded with this "incompetent parent" scenario, Dr. Rosemond says that reminding them about acceptable tone of voice in MY home will win out if reinforced. Ali and I had a long discussion about the acceptable tone of voice a child should use when talking to an adult, especially a parent or a teacher. She still needs to be reminded occasionally to "try that again", and she always does so successfully.

Raising kids is not getting any easier.  Society isn't making it any easier. We are constantly told that kids don't need a dad in the home, that we can make irresponsible decisions and the government will take care of the consequences, that parents should obey their children, and that disregard for authority is cool.
I am working overtime to keep my children from falling into this terribly detrimental way of thinking, but it's not easy!

 Have a good week everyone. Hopefully some cool weather will be here soon! I'm about to melt out there watching football games. Where's the hot chocolate weather?

win or lose...Glory to 'Ol Georgia

It's been awhile since I've blogged and that's mostly because we are swamped at the house of Bennett.  I guess it's a good kind of swamped. We've got ball games and cheer practices and such. There's a fine line between overscheduling and keeping the devil away from idle hands. I'd decided early on to avoid any "lessons" for Addie this fall until we could get settled in a new school and Pete could get acclimated to a new job. The result has been a happier less hectic home and that makes for a happier less hectic mama.

Ali did go and see her pediatrician who had mercy on us and prescribed a very small dose of Concerta, a time released Ritalin. We have been utterly amazed at the difference. She can now complete her homework in an hour rather than two or three. She has made 104 and 108 on the last two spelling tests. She is doing much much better in her other classes as well. I have not been giving it to her on the weekends but she told me she wanted to take it today because she could concentrate on the cheers better when she takes it. She is not hyperactive in the least and so I don't think her teachers ever realized how serious her attention deficit
was until now. We're starting to get into a rythym and I can see things settling down around here soon.

I bought a new bedspread last week from overstock.com! It is REALLY nice.  It was called "Antique Chic" and I liked the classic quilted look but also liked the unique fabrics. It went well with my dark wood  bed. It was only 79 dollars for a kind sized quilt, two shams and two decorative pillows that were really pretty.

 Our old one we'd had since we built the house three years ago and it looked terrible. There was everything from dry erase marks to kool aid stains to fingernail polish oh and don't forget the burned spot where I laid a hot curling iron on it on the NIGHT my house was on the Christmas Tour of Homes!   I had to run furiously through the house to find a throw to put over the foot of the bed. Good times!  Also bought the girls some fall clothes since Gymboree had a 30% off sale. Addie got some skirt sets from Etsy.com but I'm beginning to wonder if the weather will ever get cool enough to actually WEAR fall clothes.

And one last thought today...  seriously guys. Why are so many people so ugly when it comes to sports? I'm talking 9 year olds all the way to college ball? Why? I am so glad there are men who are willing to go out in the hot sun and coach 9 and 10 year old boys and women who are willing to coach pre teen cheerleaders for nearly no pay. I want role models for my children. I want coaches who teach them about life and that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose but you do both gracefully, fairly and with dignity. Winning with humility and losing with grace are wonderful life lessons. I spent four wonderful years in Athens and not that you have to go to UGA to be a diehard fan, but if you DO, it gets in your blood and when people say such ugly things about the Dawgs, I feel like you're talking about my family! In my family we have at least 7 degrees from the University of Georgia and at least 4  from Virginia Tech. Maybe I shouldn't feel that way but I do. Don't talk ugly about the Dawgs or Hokies. Just root for your own team. Be nice to each other and THINK before you SAY.  Those are good life lessons too!