SAND PYRAMID

While vacationing along the Oregon coast this summer I decided it was high time to build a sand castle. But I am a history teacher so I'm not going to build just any sand castle. Nay. I built a sand (Egyptian) pyramid. It was actually a lot harder to build that it looks and it didn't look super awesome after it was finished. But I loved it. Josh and I worked on it for about 1.5 hours. Good times had by all.

RETRACTION

Leslie is not a beyotch.

Leslie changed her mind.

Leslie is not moving to D.C.

Leslie is staying with me!

Leslie made the best decision ever!

FORCED TO BE POSITIVE

Referring to the post I just wrote two hours ago, I need to be more positive. I decided to listen to some conference talks before going to bed. I randomly chose October 2009, Priesthood session, President Uchtdorf. What is this talk about? WORK! Loving work, working hard, being positive about work, etc. He spoke about loving his job of delivering laundry on his bicycle. I get it. Lesson learned. Stop wining that you just got a two month break. Stop wining that life is so hard that I have to go to work tomorrow. Stop thinking that going back to school is the worst thing in the world. Stop thinking that work is so hard and tiring. Seriously. I love that I randomly landed on this talk. Chance? Nope. I needed to hear it.

Side note, he also mentioned that working will upgrade your resume for marriage. True? We'll see.

REGRETS

I am sitting on my back porch blogging the night before school starts. Only a select few know what thoughts are rolling through my head (Allison, Cameo, Sarah, Lisa, fellow teachers). I have the weirdest job because I love it so much but I dread going back at the end of summer. Looking at an entire school year from the very beginning its an extremely daunting task. All the things I have to accomplish in the next ten months just makes me so tired already. Last summer was effing awesome. This summer was not-ish. My regrets are as follows:

1. not getting out to see Cam in 'Bama

2. not skydiving more because it is awesome

3. only finishing three projects at my house (new granite counter tops, hanging curtains, and my luscious garden)

4. not exploring Utah enough

5. not doing enough service

6. refusing to go organize my classroom

7. not buying one of everything at world market

8. not realizing the joys of pinterest until mid June

9. sitting for a combined 123 hours in the classes I had to take

10. not getting Kathe's house painted

11. And to top it all off, my Mrs. Petersen left me. What am I going to do???

_______ IS A BEYOTCH

It's pronounced bee-otch. Anyway...these are some people who have left me and I hate them and people who are about to leave me and I hate them too (in no particular order):

1. Heather - moved
*Left me twice that trickster. Moved to Texas then came back to me. Now back to Texas. I guess that means it is time to come back to me??

2. Ashton - moved
*Left me for Virginia. Will probably never return to live in the west.

3. Allison - about to move
*This one will be awkward because we have never been apart. All I can say is I already booked my flight to Sacramento for 3 weeks after she leaves.

4. Jaimee - moved
*Left me for Boston. The Belnap children had never ever been separated until this beyotch decided to break from the pack. It is so weird to have our family split up.

5. Leslie - about to move
*Another one of those left-me-twice people. Left me for D.C. and oh wait, leaving me for D.C. again. So fussy.

6. Cameo - moved
*Left me for Alabama and a baby. Also left me to be CTL, not cool.

7. Erica - moved
*Left me for Kentucky. Left her dogs here so it is better.

8. Justin - moved
*Left me for med school. Can you call a boy a beyotch, because I just did???

9. Alisha - moved
*Left me for Vegas. Returns but not frequently enough.

10. Parents - moved but returned
*Nuff said

11. Sarah - moved
*Left me for Texas. Provo return ETA: 2012.

12. Lani - moved but returned
*Chose the right. Came back to Provo.

13. Kizzle - about to move
*The one taking Allison away. Watch your back, Kyle.


Why do you guys keep leaving?? It is so fantastic here. It is not so fantastic everywhere else.

WAGES

I saw this quite a while back but it is still interesting:


Teachers hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit!

We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.

However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET'S SEE....That's $585 X 180= $105,300per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is, the average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids! WHAT A DEAL!!!!

YOU WERE A 90'S KID IF:

1. You can sing the rap to "The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air" and the opening to Full House and Step by Step
2. You played Sega
   
3. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey from "Blossom"
   
4. You remember when it was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.
5. You got super excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
6. You remember reading "Goosebumps"
7. You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, wax off"
8. You danced to "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls
9. You owned multiple slap bracelets.
10. You had ugly bangs.
    
11. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after (almost) every sentence...Not...
12. “Where in the world is Carmen San Diego” was both a game and a TV game show.
13. You remember when super Nintendo became popular.
14. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates
15. Two words... Trapper Keeper.
16. You wore socks over leggings scrunched down
17. "Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, black, black….
    
18. You remember boom boxes and CD players
19. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell"
20. You played and collected "Pogs"
21. You know the Tanner's phone number
    
22. You had at least one Tamagotchi, GigaPet or Nano and brought it everywhere.
23. You watched the original Care Bears, My Little Pony, and Ninja Turtles.
24. You remember when the new Beanie Babies were always sold out.
25. You used to wear those stick on earrings, not only on your ears, but at the corners of your eyes.
26. You know the Macarena by heart.
27. "Talk to the hand" ... enough said
28. You thought Brain would finally take over the world
29. You remember when razor scooters were cool.
30. You knew how to live and communicate in a time before the internet & text messaging.
31. When you rented VHS tapes, not DVDs.
32. When gas was $0.95 a gallon & Caller ID was a new thing.
33. Played games like Red Light, Green Light and Heads Up 7 Up.
34. You drank SqUeeze It "Squeeze The Fun Out Of It"
35. You watched Blossom, Hangin with Mr. Cooper, Wishbone, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Mr. Rogers, Full House, and all things TGIF
    
36. Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school and they were...Doc Martens.
    

AMAZEBALLS

I love America. I love Utah. I love a good 4th of July in Kaysville (there is literally nothing that beats a Kaysville parade and fireworks - your town can try but they will never come close). I love festive desserts (thanks for the coaching Ashton).

CNN FAIL

One of these things is not like the other. Do you see it yet??? Nice CNN. Really nice.