The Puppy Children

Hub and I have two puppy children, and that's all we'll have.  I have a rule about not having more animals than humans in a house. 


I call them our puppy children because that's how we treat them.  We get excited to bring home a new toy.  We love watching them run around the apartment.  You know, as if they were real humans.


At first I felt strangely about this, but then I decided that most people regard their pets as integral family members even if they refuse to admit.  So, there ya go.  I'm admitting it--we treat our dogs kind of like they're people, kind of like they're our children, and I'm okay with that.  In fact, I like it.


You met Miss Maisie back in July just after she came to live with us. 

That's when she looked like this.

Now she looks more like this.  She's a whopping 6.5 lbs.  What a big girl.


In December we got Mr. Melvin.  Isn't he a cutie? 

Here he is riding around in my mom's apron pocket over Christmas.

Maisie and Melvin became the best of pals within minutes.  They play all the time, and when one wanders off, the other searches until the missing friend is found.

If you look closely at Melvin's eye, you can see that his is half-blue, too, just like Maisie's.
Presh.

Happy Saturday, 

I'm Back, Y'all. I think.

Fear not, friends.   I have returned to the blogosphere, though I doubt you had major concerns for my safety.  I didn't really mean to leave in the first place; I was all committed to a blog schedule and promising myself I'd use more pictures and... well, you know how I do.  At least this time I have a good excuse for my half-year absence.


Ladies and gentlemen, though I'm certain you already know because the only people who read me are my mom and dad, I got a big-girl job.  That's right; I'm a real, live teacher molding the minds of the future generation, students who are only 6ish years younger than me, but who's counting.


I got hired quite surprisingly only six days before the school year began. Talk about fabulously stressful.  It made for an interesting transition from stay-at-home-work-part-time-go-to-grad-school-some to full time, first year teacher.  Six days is a tiny window of a transitional period, but I survived, and now I'm back to tell the tale.


In the time I've been gone, many things have happened:
-I got a big girl job. (I know I already mentioned that, but I still find it exciting).
-I hit a cement column with the rear passenger door of my car.
-I added an "r" to the word "best" in front of a classroom of high school sophomores.  Talk about a great way to wake up 1st period.
-A bestest friend Charles got married!
-Hub and I got another puppy!  (His name is Melvin.  Pictures coming SOON).
-I made some resolutions for 2012.  (You know I love those).
-And much, much more, but the details escape me now.  See, this is why I really should keep up my blog.  Otherwise, I forget my life.


Anyway, I came to say that I'm back.


Stay tuned, 

Wow.

Md. Teacher Marks 75 Years In Classroom

Miller, 93, Has Taught For An Estimated 27,000 School Days

When Franklin D. Roosevelt was president and a loaf of bread cost about 8 cents, Paul Miller began teaching.

That was 1934, and the 93-year-old Miller has been teaching math ever since.

Miller currently teaches calculus at Baltimore's Ner Israel High School and has been instructing students in private and public schools, from elementary to college, for 75 consecutive years, WBAL-TV's Deborah Weiner reported.

That covers a span of an estimated 27,000 school days.

"I think if I stop, I'd rust apart," Miller said.

He has taught for 51 years at Ner Israel and has taught thousands of Maryland students with his trademark stress-free, mellow style.

"He just keeps going and going, learning more new tricks and new things to teach his kids," said the school's principal, Jacob Schuchman.

Students at the school have fathers and grandfathers who were taught by Miller.

"Mr. Miller has remained steady through the years," said student Gavi Guttman, 16. "Not one generation, not two generations, but three."

Miller is the son of Lithuanian immigrants, Weiner reported. His mother was illiterate, and his father was an indentured servant and self-taught math expert.

When Miller first started teaching, he made copies with a jellygraph, which involved the transfer of an original to a pan of gelatin or a gelatin pad. He recalled the Reynolds ballpoint pen as an invention that helped him.

Family members said Miller has never been officially recognized for his decades of work.

"It's not going to affect our lives one way or another, but it would be really nice for his grandchildren to appreciate a grandfather who had this remarkable achievement," said his daughter, Lisa Miller.

Weiner reported that Paul Miller's children have made a case with Guinness World Records that he has the longest career as an accredited teacher.

Guinness currently recognizes a Brazilian woman who started teaching at age 12 and taught 96 years, Weiner reported.

Miller said he's OK with that.

"I'm already in a book of records," he said. "I'm in the telephone book. Who needs it?"

His son, Jeffrey Miller, said, "He feels like he is the wealthiest man in the world. He's always taught us, 'A wealthy man is happy with his lot in life.'"

Paul Miller said he believes deeply that a man who loves his job will never work a day in his life.

He has taught at Southern High School, the former City High School, Hopkins, Loyola, Essex, Catonsville Community College and others, Weiner reported.

"I'd like to go on for a long time," he said. "Who knows?

WBALTV.com

It Breaks My Heart

What have we done to our earth?

The Big Move

Finally, after much debate, prayer, and discussion, Hub and I have decided that after our wedding, we will be moving to Louisville, Kentucky.

I think neither one of us is sure how to feel about moving away from the Arkansas, but when we put the uncertainty aside, we are super-duper excited.

It'll be an adventure; that's for sure.

No Ordinary Pothole

A sinkhole created by tropical storm Agatha is seen in the Ciudad Nueva neighborhood in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on May 29. Agatha caused landslides and floods that left tens of thousands homeless in Central America.

Doesn't this photo absolutely blow your mind? It does mine.

How does the earth just swallow its surface into a giant hole? It seems impossible, doesn't it?

To me, the picture almost looks fabricated, like it's just some horrible joke the media is playing on the world. I'm afraid, however, that it isn't, and that is what is so scary.

Pictures like this one, pictures of things I can hardly wrap my mind around, remind me of how small I am. Sure, I can do great things in my life and be kind to people and try to make a difference, but I have no control. None of us do, not really.

Humbling, isn't it?

I stole this image from msnbc.com's Week in Pictures. If you don't know, this site posts pictures weekly of things that have happened around the world. The pictures are fantastic. You should check it out.

Driver Calls 911 to Report Herself as Drunk

I read this on MSN today:

Associated Press

updated 8:08 p.m. CT, Mon., Nov . 2, 2009

NEILSVILLE, Wis. - The call came into the 911 dispatcher: "I don't want to hurt anybody. I'm drunk." And with that, Mary Strey, 49, of Granton, reported herself as a drunken driver about three miles northeast of Neilsville in central Wisconsin.

Clark County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jim Backus said Monday that Strey's call on Oct. 24 led deputies to cite her for misdemeanor drunken driving with a blood-alcohol level double the legal limit to drive. She makes her first court appearance Dec. 10.

Backus said drunken drivers reporting themselves is rare.

In the 911 call, Strey said she wanted to report a drunken driver and the dispatcher asked if she was behind the suspect vehicle. "I am them," Strey said. She then followed the dispatcher's advice to pull over and turn on her flashers, telling him she had been "drinking all night long."

"Backus said drunken drivers reporting themselves is rare." Really? Who would've guessed that? :)

At least this woman was honest enough to get herself off of the road before she hurt herself or someone else. I can't help but wonder, now that she is being charged, does she regret reporting herself? IF it were me, I'd probably be wishing right about now that I hadn't taken the high road and turned myself in, but I think I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, and say that she turned herself in knowingly, still remembers this action, and is willing to serve for her punishment in any way the courts deem necessary. A big part of me wonders if such will be the case.

Despite all my ponderings, I couldn't help but giggle a little at this story. We generally stop telling on ourselves at an early age, and I think it's humorous that this woman told on her self in such a way that she will face legal consequences. I also think this action is commendable and honorable. Perhaps life would be easier and the world a much better place if we were all willing and able to admit our faults and ask for help, if nothing more than for the sake of those around us.

'Mermaid Girl' dies at age 10

The Associated Press

9:47 a.m. EDT, October 26, 2009

PORTLAND, Maine - Shiloh Pepin, a girl who was born with fusedlegs, a rare condition often called "mermaid syndrome," and gained a wide following on the Internet and national television, has died. She was 10.

Doctors had predicted she would only survive only for days after her birth at the most, but the girl, described by her mother as "a tough little thing," died at Maine Medical Center on Friday afternoon, hospital spokesman John Lamb said. She had been hospitalized in critical condition for nearly a week.

Being born with "mermaid syndrome," also known as sirenomelia, meant that the Kennebunkport girl had only one partially working kidney, no lower colon or genital organs and legs fused from the waist down.

Some children who have survived sirenomelia have had surgery to separate their legs, but Shiloh did not because blood vessels crossing from side to side in her circulatory system would have been severed. She had received two kidney transplants, the last one in 2007.

Her story was featured recently on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and other national television programs.

Earlier this month, her mother, Leslie Pepin, said her daughter came down with a cold that quickly turned to pneumonia. Shiloh rushed to Maine Medical Center on Oct. 10 and was placed on antibiotics and a ventilator.

For a while, Leslie Pepin said, things were looking up. "She's a tough little thing," she said of her daughter earlier this week.

Shiloh was a fifth-grader at Kennebunkport Consolidated School. "She was such a shining personality in that building," said Maureen King, chairwoman of the board of the regional school district. Counselors will be available next week to talk to students.

Through the television shows, news articles, Facebook and other Web sites, Shiloh inspired many.

"I live in Iowa. I have cerebral palsy. I love your video," 12-year-old Lydia Dawley wrote to Shiloh on Facebook. "You have a great personality I wish you lived close so we could be friends and hang out. You opened my eyes because you are so brave."