12 Days of School Left!!!

I'm so excited that there are only 12 days of school left! On June 10th, I'll be waving good-bye to my 25 little darlings and welcoming summer vacation! This job can really suck the life out of you, and this year has been absolutely no exception. I love what I do, but it can be so very trying. Unfortunately, things are going to get worse before they get any better because our bond for a new elementary school failed on Tuesday. We are almost 300 students over capacity right now, and our little town is growing by the day. I honestly believe that I could end up with 30 students within the next few years. And I'm set to do this for the next 30 years?? And while I'm on this venting spree, I have to start on my master's degree soon so that I can keep my job! Of course, I have to pay for it. One of my coworkers just paid off her student loans....she's 41. I'm really not as bitter as I may sound, it just would be nice if teachers would be treated like the professionals that we are.

Heaven in a Pita

Anyone who has lived in Pullman knows the longing that takes place when you crave a delicious pita, but there is no where to get such a gratifying meal! Well, the wait for us in Vancouver is over, because we now have a Pita Pit of our very own! I hope they have a punch card because I'm going to be a frequent flyer!

Two for Two!

So my life hasn't been the most exciting since returning from Vegas, but I finally have something report on! I've now won the second Survivor pool in a row at work. Last season my boy Todd won it all, and this time Parvati somehow managed to win. I'm still not sure really why she won, but it's all good for me since it means another $50 in my pocket!

Viva Las Vegas 3

This is video from Fremont Street in Las Vegas. There are enormous light shows that take place throughout the evening. All of the casino lights shut off at once just before the show starts. Each show is different, so you can see a variety each night. It's funny to watch the crowd too, because everyone is stopped in their tracks looking up. As soon as the show is over, all the casino lights come back on and everyone at once starts moving again! This part of town was definitely one of our favorite places in Las Vegas! Below you'll see pictures of Vegas Vic and Vegas Vicki.

**P.S. Mom and Dad, April Fool's :)

Viva Las Vegas 2

We've made it back and are recovering nicely from our trip to Las Vegas! Skip and I had an awesome time, especially with the warm and sunny weather!

We arrived in Vegas around 11AM and took a shuttle from the airport to our hotel. We checked in right away and dumped our stuff up in the room so we could hit the strip! We nearly walked ourselves to death that first day, just taking in the sights and stopping now and then for some refreshments! We learned quickly the first day that it's easy to spend a lot of money in Las Vegas, gambling and otherwise!

The next day we woke up to another beautiful day...sunny and in the 70's! We headed back out on the strip, but this time we decided to take advantage of The Deuce, a double decker bus that runs up and down the strip 24/7. We made a stop at The Venetian and had a run in with a few celebrities! They were nice enough to stand there and let us take pictures with them...unbelievable! So I got cozy with Matthew here, and Skip got a little too frisky with J-Lo (hence the look on her face!) Afterwards we went to lunch at the Harley Davidson Cafe. Then it was off to M&M World, where you can get anything with an M&M logo. This place was 4 stories tall and we ended up with $12 worth of M&M's when it was all said and done! By that time our lunches were nice and settled in our stomachs so we headed to New York New York to take a ride on the Manhattan Express! It's a very fast and jolting roller coaster that runs around the outside of the hotel and casino, complete with twists and turns and upside down loops! Skip and I even got those lucky front row seats which made it even more fun! After that it was time to head back to Circus Circus to take a break before beginning the evening. That night we rode The Deuce to Fremont Street where we found lots of old-time casinos and a really fun crowd! We saw a bit of the show on the screen above, which was amazing!

The next day we started a little slowly after the fun night on Fremont Street! We actually went back to Fremont during the day and did some shopping, then again that night to take in some more of the light shows. We also made sure to check out the Bellagio fountain show before our trip was over. By the time we made it back to the room it was 1:30 in the morning and we had to be up at 4AM to catch the shuttle back to the airport to head home. By noon we were home, and by 12:30 we were fast asleep! So all in all, it was a fantastic vacation and we can't wait to go back! We might just make it a spring break tradition every year!

**Just for the record, I didn't drink a sip of this beer(some guy bought us the beer), and I ended up giving the rest of my frozen drink away to some homeless guys!

Viva Las Vegas!

Tomorrow morning Skip and I will be on a flight to Las Vegas! I needed some sunshine and warm weather, so Vegas it was for our spring break vacation! The anticipation of heading south even made it easier to bare the snow that fell Friday morning in La Center! So check back at the end of the week for pics and I'm sure some fascinating stories!

The Pictures are Here!

Sorry dad, but you're not off the hook! I just didn't have the pictures available when I published the original post. Enjoy!

Happy 50th Dad!

Last Friday was my dad's 50th birthday, so on Saturday we threw him a surprise party to celebrate the big occasion. For his birthday dinner on Friday we took him to Hooter's, where they did an excellent job of embarrassing him! The party on Saturday was interesting to say the least. For those of you who were there, you know what I mean :) So here's to you dad...and your alter ego.

Yes, I'm still alive...

I suppose I should post so that you all do come back and visit my blog! Things in the Stein household are moving along well...we are both busy as usual at work! The kitties are getting along pretty well, although Max still spazzes out and jumps on Chloe once in a while.

Skip and I spent last weekend in Tacoma because our goddaughter, Katrina, was in the PICU for respiratory problems. She has been sick for a few months, but it took a turn for the worse last week. We arrived on Friday, and I was shocked to see that little girl laying there with tubes and IV's hooked up to her. Skip and I spent 11 hours with her Friday night into Saturday morning so her parents could get some much needed sleep. Our job was to make sure she didn't move around too much if she woke up so that her respirator tube didn't get pulled out. The second night we were taking over the night shift again, and Katrina was waking up so much that they decided to take her off of the respirator. It was so awesome because then we could hold her!! By the next day she was sent from the ICU to a regular room!! So in the few days we were there, Katrina got SO much better! We left Sunday feeling very good about our little girl!! We are hoping to see her again soon for her 1st birthday in just a few weeks!!!

Compared to that, my medical drama is pretty tame! For the second time in my life, I broke my pinky toe. I got home from work one night and had JUST taken my shoes off when I walked into the vacuum cleaner as it sat in the hallway. The first time I broke it was when I was in junior high and I walked into a couch! Anyway, I was pretty slow going for a few days. What's really funny is that Skip hurt his big toe, so when we walked together we were both limping. I'm sure we looked pretty pathetic :)

Chloe has arrived!

The phone rang at 9:30 this morning and it was the humane society! Our little kitty wasn't well enough to get spayed today so they wanted us to bring her home to get better. (She has a bit of a cold!) So this afternoon we went up and rescued her from her 2'x2' cell! Skip and I knew the challenge would be introducing our cat Max to the new addition. After much caution the two met, and I must say Max was less than thrilled! (See attached pic) He follows Chloe around everywhere, and has basically been a big wuss! So now we are a little family with two cats, which will be our limit so that there aren't more cats than people living here. (MOM & DAD!!!)

Dumpster Diving for Cell Phones

So, funny story this weekend! Saturday morning Skip and I woke up and were getting ready to head out the door to run some errands. I looked all around for my cell phone to take with us but I could not find it anywhere. I called it from the home phone to hear it ringing but all was silent! So Sunday rolls around and still no phone. My mind starts turning, wondering where it might have gone. Then the idea came to me. I had taken the trash out Saturday morning, and with the trash was a Burgerville bag that was used to bring dinner home on Friday. The bag had been sitting on the floor next to our coffee table, and I thought that maybe my phone accidently got knocked into the bag. On Sunday morning Skip and I went down to our garbage room and he called my phone. And what do you know, there came a familiar ringtone from the depth of the dumpster. Skip grabbed a flashlight and we spotted the Burgerville bag. I let Skip reach in to get it and dump out the contents, which included my phone! After a quick dusting off and wipe with an antibacterial cloth it was as good as new!! So moral of the story...check the Burgerville bag before taking it out to the trash!!!

As if this wasn't exciting enough this weekend, Skip and I adopted a new kitty!!! She is black with green eyes and is one-year-old. She's still at the humane society because she's getting fixed tomorrow. We're still working on a name for her because she was a stray and the humane society named her Pineapple...yeah, we're not keeping that name. I like Chloe and Skip likes Emerald (for her eyes). She is such a sweetheart and is a very loving cat! More pics to come!

Happy New Year!

Vacation is officially over and it was back to work today! The kids were wound up and I was ready to go back home and take a nap. Luckily it's only a 3-day week!

Christmas was excellent this year! I feel so spoiled and lucky to have such a wonderful family! Santa was especially generous this year, bringing an espresso machine, a Nintendo DS, and my purse!!! We had a great time over at my parents house and enjoyed a delicious dinner and dessert.

Happy New Year to all! I hope 2008 brings you lots of health, happiness and good times!

And the winner is...

ME!!! The Survivor finale was on tonight, and I was feeling a little defeated when Denise was voted off. Looking at the final three, I DID NOT want Amanda to win. I would have been okay with Courtney because she's a smart-ass and was funny to watch. But what do you know, my dear Todd won the million dollars! So I'll be collecting money at work this week, just in time for Christmas vacation! Maybe that purse at Macy's will be mine a little sooner than I thought!

It was a great ending to a not so swell weekend! Skip got food poisoning from Boppin' Bo's restaurant and was very sick over the weekend. He's doing fine now, and even made it to work tonight. All I have to say is thank goodness for earplugs! Okay, sorry, that was probably too much information! Have a great week!

Go Denise! Go Todd!

I was sitting here wondering what I could write about today so I could add a new post to my blog. What's exciting in my life right now? Sadly, it's the fact that my two people in my work's Survivor pool are still in the game. A few months ago I randomly chose Denise, the lunch lady, and Todd, the gay flight attendant. I felt doomed immediately. But to my surprise they are both in the final four. Normally I wouldn't care because reality TV isn't on my priority list, but I could potentially win $80 next week! I did have a dream a few weeks back that Denise won it all. Maybe it's that school connection that we share that's bringing me good luck.

Apple Cup Victory!

Can you believe it? The Cougars won another Apple Cup last Saturday in Seattle. I watched the game from the comfort of my living room, but would have loved to have been there! The fourth quarter was so intense, and I'm not embarassed to say that I did my fair share of yelling at the TV!

A great thing about being a teacher of little ones is that I can influence them to make good choices, like being a Cougar fan! Every Friday during football season, we would be lined up at the door ready to go home, and the whole class yelled "Go Cougs!" I think we'll have to continue this tradition through basketball season too.

I also like to decorate the room with little Coug things here and there. On our alphabet strip, there is a cougar for the letter C, which I altered a bit by adding a Cougar head collar! For the Christmas season I also have my Cougar stocking hanging right up front next to our daily schedule.

And to add to all my happiness...none of my students are die hard Husky fans! I had a few last year who liked to give me trouble, but this year the Cougars reign in Mrs. Stein's class!

Is it Christmas yet?

As a teacher, one of the great perks is getting nearly three weeks off for "Winter Break." At my school we still can say "Christmas" and even dress up for Halloween. But back to the point, I am so ready for vacation. This year I have 27 darling little seven-year-olds depending on me to educate them. Unfortunately with this large number of kids I feel more like a referee than a teacher. Instead of spending 15 minutes on proper nouns, it's 10 minutes getting 54 eyes looking at me and 270 fingers out of their noses. Not to mention all of the "So-and-so hit me" and "so-and-so called me a name." (By the way, my kids do have nicer names than so-and-so, just keeping my hynie covered.) So that leaves 5 minutes learning about proper nouns. And in just a year these kids will be taking a state standardized test that is supposed to reflect on how effective my teaching is. I guess what this all really boils down to is that there are too many little darlings under my wings. I love each of them for their own little quirks, but man am I drained at the end of each day. So as I look at the calendar and count down the days, I can't wait for that Christmas vacation just for the sheer fact that I can re-energize! And shop :)

Our visit up north

This weekend Skip needed to go to Tacoma to do some scuba diving. He earned his first scuba certification and did four dives in the chilly waters of the Puget Sound. But the exciting part of the weekend was staying with the Cahill's! While Skip was diving on Saturday the rest of us went shopping for Katrina (Skip's God-daughter.) Scott and Staci are working on baby-proofing the house because Katrina is starting to scoot around on her own and will be crawling soon!

It was a fantastic weekend with our dear friends and the cutie Katrina!

I've had so much fun looking at all the blogs out there that it's time to start my own. Since there are no little Stein's, I'll keep you updated on how my cat, Max, is doing. Enjoy!