The "Real" Truth About Cats & Dogs!

"Excerpts from a Dog's Diary"
8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

"Excerpts from a Cat's Diary"
Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. B*$t*rd$!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe...for now...

Spring Re-Model & About-Me Survey

I am LOVING that it is Monday and that I can lay in bed with my laptop for hours. That is just what I have been doing this morning! I have taken this time to catch up on reading blogs, and have been inspired to re-vamp my own blog. I picked a fun, "spring-y" layout, and re-did my colors. I'm hoping to get a new profile picture up sometime soon. I'm approaching the last months of school with a "happy-positive" attitude, and for me right now, that includes a beautiful (and pink!) transition to Spring. I have always loved Spring- there is something so rejuvenating and refreshing about watching life unfold...


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Here, also, is an "About Me" survey thing that I found. It looked like fun!

Full Name: Lindsey Marie (Unpublished last name!)

DOB/Age: I just turned 27 on March 12th, though I do not feel almsot 30!!

Current Job: Resource Special Education teacher, grades 5-8. I am in my 4th yr of teaching, and while it's extremely challenging- most days, I really love it!

Originally From: Flagstaff, Arizona
Currently Living: Sedona, AZ

Married or Single: Single (and okay with that on most days!)

Siblings: 1 - younger biological sister, 1 - older (step)sister

Best Friend: I met Sarah Ann when we were paired randomly to share a college dorm. Since the day I met her, I knew we'd have a wonderful friendship. I am blessed to have lived with her for 3 years- dorm, apartment, and then a house. She married a single dad last year- a wonderful man- and the four of them live in Prescott Valley, which is about 45 minutes from Sedona. I am inspired by her generosity and patience every time I am with her! She is a wonderful role model for many young women out there, and I'm excited to see what directions her life will take. I also consider my mom and younger sister my best friends.


Natural Hair Color: Brown

Family: My mom & father divorced when I was in 5th grade. My mom met my stepdad when I was in 8th grade- Peter was my math teacher! She attended a meeting at my school, and demanded that my teachers give me what I needed as a student, for my hearing. Peter called one night, impressed by her bravado, and invited himself over. Ten years of relationship later, they are now married and loving life! Peter is my dad in every sense of the word. He brings to the marriage an older stepsister, Stephanie, and Steph's daughter, Rebecca. He brings them- and so much more- to our family!

Childhood sports: I continue to be very un-athletic, so I will stick to this: Reading books!

Mountains or Ocean: Beaches, since I have regular access to mountains!

Sports Car or SUV: Well, I drive a 2005 sedan and love it, but I can enjoy both sports & SUV on occasion!

Favorite TV Show: All things reality! To name a few channels that I watch on a weekly basis - Samantha Brown @ Travel Channell, National Geographic, ABC (Extreme Home Makeover, Supernanny), and there are a few shows not worth admitting publicly...

Favorite Color: That changes daily. I really like pink, green, red-wine, blue and brown.

Favorite Board Game: Hmmm.... I know it's not really a "board" game, but I love Scattergories. Apples to Apples is also fun, as is Balderdash.

Favorite Fast Food: Depends- I can order something from just about any major corporation of fast food & enjoy it. However, I try not to eat it that often!

How Many Times Did You Fail Your Permit/Drivers Test: I didn't fail it either time- I passed! (At 16 yrs old, I did lie on my license application! When I admitted my mom about this lie, afterwards, she asked me all worried-like what I had lied about. I told her that I had written down that my weight was "104" because I actually weighed 98 lbs at the time, and I didn't think they'd let me have a license if I weighed under 100 lbs! Truth.)

Pens or Pencils? PENS! I do not like pencils at all. Weird but true!

Driver or Passenger: I really enjoy being both. I love having control behind the wheel but I also love being able to sleep/relax/look out the windows on occasion! It's a real treat for me to have someone else be the driver, seeing as it's just me in my life. :)

Favorite Actor/Actress: Resse Witherspoon, Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, and Sean Connery. (For the record, I completely avoid anything with Jim Carrey or Jack Black in it)

Favorite Movie: Drama, Documentary, Travel, Chick flicks, Musicals...

Pop or Soda: I call it "soda"- my favorite is Mt. Dew

Tea or Coffee: BOTH!! I love a delicious coffee beverage, as well as an ice-cold iced tea on a hot day!

Hand shake or Hug: Hug! I love hugs!

Magazines or Books: Books

3 Personality Traits: Sensitive, honest and caring.

One other little tidbit... I am severely-profoundly hearing impaired. I was born prematurely in 1982, and this earliness required medication & surgery that eventually resulted in hearing loss. I depend on lip-reading in human conversation, loathe talking on the telephone with anyone but my family, and LOVE to watch tv with closed-captions. I'm still waiting for the day that movie theaters offer captions...



Pets: Sayde ("Say-dee"), my 3-year old German Shepherd mix that I adopted just under a year ago. She was adopted from a rescue organization who had picked her up from the Navajo indian reservation with an injured leg. X-rays they did found that she has a lot of buck-shot encased in her body, and her injured leg healed up just a little bit shorter than the rest of her legs. This causes her to have a little "hop" to her step. Despite her characteristic leg, we love hiking and going on the trails. I knew I loved her from the first instant I met her- and she's my little "SpEd dog!" She truly is one of my very best friends, and one of my most favorite personalities in the world! She loves life, is so thankful to have a forever home, and is such a happy girl!


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I'll be heading up to Flagstaff tonight or tomorrow. We have (MORE) rather dramatic events unfoldings within my family right now- I'll save that for another post someday. I am feeling very content today, and I'm gonna hang onto that feeling with all my might!
I've Spring Cleaned my blog, now it's time to Spring Clean my house/garage.
Happy Monday, ladies! I hope your day is wonderful!

Free Online Entertainment

Supposed to be "me" as a super-hero... I don't think so!!

This Week...

*This week, I turned 27. I am another year closer to 30- yipes. Part of me feels like my life is SO "behind schedule," yet I wouldn't have changed many of my decisions in the past. It is really difficult to be waiting, constantly, and wanting my life to be fulfilling in every way. I really need to not compare myself to others so much in this sense! I also need to remember more often that I should be patient with life... it only comes one day at a time. But yeah--I'm working on it. :)
*This week, my sister and her boyfriend brought me a cheerful bouquet of "birthday week" flowers. They sit beautifully on my table and brighten up the entire room.
*This week, I was surprised by, and sang to by, a group of Junior High students. They gave me a box of Cheez-Its (my favorite!) and a chocolate cake to share with my students. It was very thoughtful- and both cake & crackers were delicious!
*This week, I drove up to Flagstaff and had a wonderful dinner at Red Lobster with my parents, sister, and aunt. (Yummy crab alfredo and cheddar bay biscuits!)
*This week, I was invited to attend a Family-Child-Support meeting on behalf of one of my students. It was very insightful as to the home dynamics, and how it impacts my kiddo. I enjoyed the meeting, and am very flattered that they included me as one of the team members.
*This week, I am closer to deciding finally, that I will not be returning to Sedona Oak-Creek School District next school year.
*This week, my stepdad's mother passed away. Helen Lockwood Smith was content, at peace, and very excited about seeing people she loved in heaven. We are sad, but this has been long-accepted by the family, and by Helen herself. We have family in town this weekend, fortunately she got to be with 2 of her kids when she passed. 7/1/1916-3/13/2009. We will always love you, Helen. You were a very remarkable lady!
*This week, school ended for 9 days and the exhausted teachers are now rejoicing that we are on Spring Break.
*This week, I want to clean out my house, organize, and donate a lot of the "things" I don't use or need. Donating them to the One Hockersmith Garage Sale fund, to help raise money to cover the vet bills of my cousin's dog (named "One"). I just have way too much "stuff" for one single person, it's totally unnecessary.
But... I won't start any of that until tomorrow... or maybe the next day!

*This coming week is Spring Break, but I don't intend to do much other than relax & clean. I will probably go up to Flagstaff in a couple of days. The price is right, for spending a few days with my parents and possibly my family down in Tempe.
*This coming week.... I want to sleep. Rest. Lounge. Slug. Be lazy! :)

Have a good week, y'all!

Entertained & Upside-Down

-ʇxǝʇ spɹɐʍʞɔɐq & sɹǝʇʇǝן puɐ uʍop ǝpısdn ǝdʎʇ oʇ ʍoɥ
¡¡ƃuıuıɐʇɹǝʇuǝ ʎɹǝʌ 'ʎɹǝʌ sı ʇɐɥʇ ǝʇısqǝʍ ʍǝu ɐ punoɟ


ןɯʇɥ˙sɹǝʇʇǝןuʍopǝpısdn/ʎɐןd/ɯoɔ˙sǝɹıʍuǝʌǝs˙ʍʍʍ//:dʇʇɥ

Junior High kids WILL work for food! (So will teachers!)

Rewarding 10 of my 12 participants in the "Resource Reading Rewards" program:

Since I began working with students aged 12-15 these past 4 years, I have since learned that they will do anything - anything - anything for food. Carrots & ranch, Potato chips, Cheezits, Granola bars, teacher-pot-luck-leftover Corn Pudding, Tootsie rolls, Grapes, Clementine oranges (my recent FAVORITE).... You name it. They'll eat it.

It has been such a good motivator for the tasks that challenge my special education students the most. Tasks such as IGNORING the (roar outside the window) construction confusion despite severe having ADHD- such as TRIPLING their assigned reading goal(s)- such as PERSEVERING in each & every task thrown at her despite having documented Mild Mental Retardation- such as attending a class knowing he will be socially isolated but also knows that he desperately needs to arrive for academic support- and namely just for their beautiful smiles that greet me each and every morning... So we created a Reading Rewards "plan" that those that succeeded in effort & attitude would be able to vote on a Made-by-the-Teacher dessert at the end of the month. We targeted February for our first monthly Reading Rewards program.

This afternoon, I photographed a girls' softball game for yearbook, went to the grocery store, scarfed a quick bagel for dinner, and I have been baking for the past 3 hours. Then I cleaned up and began a little laundry.

These kids work hard, and have shown me this month that they are willing to work hard at their tasks. (You will notice that 2 of my "program" students have not chosen to work hard; demonstrating poor attitude, laziness, and manipulation. Thus, they are not included. They will receive verbal praise on their good moments but I need consistency and maturity before dispensing sugar to them.) I also am rewarding my 5th & 6th graders who also have worked hard in their own respective academic, social, and emotional challenges. My students work hard- every day. It is worth it to me to spend my only hours at home baking for them, 1 night a month. If they're willing to work really, really hard for an entire month- and SUCCEED at it, then I can certainly donate an evening baking them COOKIE DOUGH CUPCAKES.

They really are the easiest things in the world to make!

What you need:
1 Box cake mix (I used white cake mix)
+ ingredients found on label of cake box
1 package of pre-made cookie dough that is already pre-sized (I used Pillsbury Ready to Bake Chocolate Chip)
Paper Cupcake holders

What you do:
Fill cupcake tray with paper liners. Fill each liner 2/3 full with your favorite cake batter. Drop your favorite cookie dough (~1 T., or 1 section of pre-made-cookie-dough) into the cupcake batter. Bake 15-17 minutes in a 350° oven. Top with buttercream frosting, chocolate shavings and a chocolate chip.

For the buttercream frosting, this is what I made:
Buttercream Frosting
2 - (1-lb.) pkg. Powdered Confectioners Sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 - 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream or half and half
1 T. vanilla

In large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream butter. Slowly add powdered sugar and blend well after each addition. Slowly add cream and beat faster until you get a light and fluffy frosting. Add vanilla and beat until blended.
*I definitely wait until both the cupcake is room-temperature and much cooled down before frosting it. I also differ from the recipe (above) in that I used a mini food processor to blend a bar of solid Dark chocolate (broken first into chunks) and some powdered sugar (abt. 6 T.) into a semi-fine powder. I then whipped this into my frosting batter with the hand-mixer. I loved the way it looked all blended together, and it tasted SO GOOD.

Also worth noting- this recipe makes a LOT of frosting quantities! (Recipe from weblog BigRedKitchen)

So... I baked an additional cake, a standard traditional classic plain basic American yellow cake, so that I could use up the remaining frosting. I will put it in the teachers' lounge tomorrow, with "TGIF" lettering spelled out in chocolate chips. I enjoy baking & cooking, and spring is a very difficult season for teachers to function in. Kids have allergies, hormones are RAGING, and kids are tired of being cooped up all winter. Plus, we're exhausted and counting the seconds left until spring break. Everyone wants to be outdoors and free from walls & windows. So a special thank-you is nice to receive. And sadly, so rare in the lives of teachers.....

Two great desserts in one & several happy teenagers*!!

*As I firmly do NOT believe in children receiving sugar at school**- these guys truly did earn a special treat. I've been really proud of their accomplishments despite the several disabilities that they face in their daily lives.
**Readers, please note that they WON'T be getting this much sugar (from me) until just before the last bell rings at 3:10 m!! I'm not going to create, then have to take care of, their hyperactive teenagerness! :)

TGIF!
Have super weekend(s)!

PS-
After a life-long detest-ation of all things Jim Carrey, I was sent a video that actually might meet the bare requirements of my being able to tolerate the man.
I think I like it because a) I know the words to the song already ("Across the Universe"/Beatles fame), b) He can't make obnoxious facial distortions while singing to retain some decency, and c) the conductor dude is the actor who plays Billy Something-Other in movie "Love Actually"-one of my faves, d) the people around him are reacting positively to Jim's behavior, and e) I don't know- it's just funny!?! He fills me with irritation, annoyance, and my skin wants to crawl when I see his picture or hear his voice, typically. His movies are not ones that my money fund, whether they be in theaters, video stores, or in printed publications. Anyway- I was sent the link & I clicked it with slight trepidation, expecting the usual shudder. I did find myself enjoying this- not for voice quality or anything, though. It's a real 'thing' for me to be able to use the words 'Jim Carey' and 'funny' in the same sentence! So that's why I added a "PS" tonight. Ok. Who'd ever think I'd blog about Jim Carey!? I'm done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX-D2dfGdhE

Minor Changes

Good morning and Happy Sunday,

I have made a few (minor) changes... I added a "Family Silhouette" picture to the very bottom of my layout. This is supposed to depict the combined families of Epperson & Smith, as a result of my parents' marriage. My sister and I on the left, My parents in the middle, and my stepsister Stephanie & neice Rebecca on the right side. I saw the idea posted on another persons' blog and thought it was really cute. It's a little different with mainly adults, as the silhouette options for the kids (jumping, giving "peace" signs, etc) were adorable.

I've been in Flagstaff for a few days now, as I had taken off Thursday & Friday from work to do some observations of other Special Ed programs. It was a beneficial observation, and I had a great day with the kids there. One of them, K, nicknamed me "Mr. Green Furbio." The teacher, Molly, is "Red Furbio," and I was wearing a green sweater. Having now Googled what a "furby" is, I hope that K doesn't think I look like one!! I have been assured by the wonderful staff working with K that the nicknames are only given to people that he likes! The program was for Autistic High School students, and was highly customized and very well-staffed. I loved observing their program, and can only hope to work among such caring and giving staff members one day. It was amazing- despite their obvious (and sometimes not-so-obvious) challenges, these students are so gifted in other areas.

I'm helping my mom with a few projects around her house, and otherwise am enjoying a quiet Sunday. I have been inexplainably dizzy for the last few days, and spent much of Friday sleeping- but I woke up today with the dizzy feeling much lessened than it had been! Peter fixed us a delicious breakfast and now here I am.

Have a beautiful day, folks!