My First Week of My Second Year

As I write this, I am exauhsted by my first week back at school with the students. However, as tired as I am now, it is nothing like my first year of teaching. For one thing, the administration is much better - our new principal use to run an alternative school for the department of justice - and the kids recognize that it is not the same old laxidasical approach to their education as previous years have been. This week went as smooth as silk. I am teaching seniors, but I also have one 10th and one 11th grade class. So having three preps is difficult, but not impossible. Also, I am much stricter now and the kids know it. I laid out my policies and procedures in very specific detail and told them that this was a new year and I had been in "mean" training all summer, so be prepared. A few tried me but I stepped on their neck, as Lance says, and let them know I was not taking any crap. So far so good . . .

I also found out last week that I was being made the department head. Needless to say I was suprised. I am only a second year teacher so I did not think I had the experience to handle that much responsibility, but the principal and assistant principal seem to think I am capable so I will give it a whirl.

On the personal side, Lance and me are still together and things are better than ever. They moved his room to another hall so we are not right across the room from each other anymore and I miss him, but every once in a while I will look up and see him looking in my window just stopping by to see me. It is very sweet and I am still happier than I have ever been in my life.

A Few Photos

The third picture is of Lance reading on the beach. Guess what? The Waves. When I got there, he pulled it out and said when I heard that you were reading this book, I went to the mall and bought it. I wanted to suprise you and let you know that I want to be a part of everything you do. We would lie on the beach and read lines that we liked to one another. Many times, I would say "Let me tell you what you liked on this page . . . " and I would be right on, and vice-versa. He made some observations about the characters that I had not thought of before. We had a wonderful time. Why the obsession with feet? I don't know, but we thought that they were funny and just ended up snapping pictures of our feet as they touched. Lance is going to do a collage of just feet pics. We stayed at The Palm Beach Resort Villas and could lie in bed and look at the ocean. Lance's mom let him take her car (I know it sounds high-school, but his mini-van is pretty depressing) a lovely, brand-new Lexus IS250. We felt very Fancy McFancy Pants in that car. Lance rented chairs on the beach and a waitress would come by and take our order for drinks while hot young boys came and adjusted our umbrella. We decided that this type of life suited us and we began to think of ways to achieve it - none of those ways involved teaching. We went to dinner at a place called Seasons 52 that caters to healthy eaters. It was wonderful. They serve deserts in shot glasses so you do not eat too much- they packed a powerful punch. Lance loves to make declarations over dinner, and this time he told me that if this relationship ended tonight, it would be the most meaningful and wonderful relationship he has ever been in before. He says that he wants to spend the rest of his life with me and take care of me when I am old. He quoted a Grace Paley poem that I had read to him a few months ago: "How did this happen / well that's who I wanted to be" (Here - Paley). It was very romantic.

I met his parents - his mom is a former Playboy Bunny (not the nude model, but a waitress in the Playboy Club in Atlanta in the 60's) and the former director for the Miss Tennessee pageant. Even though she is in her late 60's, she is still very beautiful and very nice. His stepfather, who raised him from the age of 3, is not as warm, but was still very friendly. They are quite well-off and I was a little intimidated by their amazing home, but Lance made me feel very comfortable and protected. He said they are all crazy and he is often embarrassed by them. I thought that during my limited exposure to them, they were fine, but he said things can go bad for them quickly.

The pictures of the hotel and other shots are on another roll of film that I have not finished so those will come later. I had a great time and hated to come home. we plan on going to El Rancho on Saturday, so I will keep you updated.

My Destination

This is where I am going to be spending the next 4 days - right on the beach in a king size bed (we don't need that much room because we always cuddle up (he is the only man I can sleep with while touching)) that I can lie in and see the ocean. We also have reservations to a gourmet restaurant that specializes in food for the health conscious and serve desert in shot glasses. When we come back, we are taking my kids to Atlanta to a Braves game.

Beach Photos 2

Beach Photos

This has been the best week! Lance has his boys for the month of July, and while it has been challenging keeping up with his two small kids and my three big ones, it has been the most fun I have had in quite a while. This week, Lance and I had to give the graduation test to the seniors who failed it and so we had to be at the school from 8-11 everyday. Hope watched the boys for us, and outside of a poopie diaper she could not bring herself to change, she did a great job and everyone got along very well. I thought Trey would be impatient and jealous of all the attention two little ones require, but he was excellent and played with them and seemed to really like them. Zane, the oldest, is quite difficult to deal with sometimes. He has Aspberger's - a mild form of Autism - and can get fixated on something and freak out, but overall he is an excellent kid. Eli is three and the cutest little angel. Lance and I worked so well together and kept the kids entertained while entertaining each other. I have never laughed so much at silly little things. We went to the park at the Y one day and Zane loves to race, so I told him we would race while his dad worked out. The race was supposed to be to a slide, but Zane went the wrong way, so I won the race. He was furious and said, "Girls can't win! You should let me win! Girls can't win!" Immediately I said, "Yes, girls can win and I just won." We had to have a long talk about girl power. When we got home I felt bad so I told him I would race him to my front door. Well we take off and I guess I caught my foot on the edge of the sidewalk and feel down. Lance was standing behind me and, as I laid on my back, he came and checked on me. I fel like a big idiot. I was not hurt, but I was mortified. After I began to laugh, he felt it was OK to join in. He said it was a good thing I laughed because he did not think he could hold it in much longer. I now have a new nickname - Stumblebunny. We also took them to the library. That was a treat! Zane was so excited to be in a room full of books, and with excitement comes running and yelling. The library guy was not pleased. He kept calling the boys "Sweeties" and suggesting they use their "inside voices." He was to uptight to be a children's librarian and we had a good time enjoying his discomfort. Which leads me to a list of plans we have for future fun:

(1) Take the boys back to the library and sit in the back of the children's section and read while the boys run wild until the guy is forced to come and get us to do something about the children. Shouldn't take long . . .
(2) Get t-shirts with our pictures on the front and on the back have "Cookiepuss loves Hotboy (our most frequently used nicknames) and wear them to social occasions so we can make our friends even sicker of us than they already are.
(3) We are both going to join Lance's friends in a fantasy football league. We are throwing around some names - Lance says maybe he could be Jocks and Jill's and I could be Jill's and Jocks, but I want mine to be "Baum's Bitches' Ballers" - either way we will make the others sick.
(4) We have also talked about getting married, but decided that we would revisit the issue on July 16, 2008. We both agreed that we would both do it now, but it would be best to wait a little longer. Lance bought me a 2008 calender and circled July 16th. Even though it feels like we have been together for a very long time, we've only been talking since the first week of May and never really got serious until near the end of May. But we both know that nothing before has felt like this. Lance loves to say that everything before us has been preparation for what we have together. I agree, but I wish I could have so many years back. Anyway, below are the pictures from the perfect beach day of last week.

New Favorite

Most Like an Arch This Marriage

Most like an arch—an entrance which upholds
and shores the stone-crush up the air like lace.
Mass made idea, and idea held in place.
A lock in time. Inside half-heaven unfolds.

Most like an arch—two weaknesses that lean
into a strength. Two fallings become firm.
Two joined abeyances become a term
naming the fact that teaches fact to mean.

Not quite that? Not much less. World as it is,
what’s strong and separate falters. All I do
at piling stone on stone apart from you
is roofless around nothing. Till we kiss

I am no more than upright and unset.
It is by falling in and in we make
the all-bearing point, for one another’s sake,
in faultless failing, raised by our own weight.

John Ciardi

This is my new favorite poem! I love the idea and the word order - "All I do / at piling stone on stone apart from you / is roofless around nothing." One of my favorite lines.

I should have some great beach pictures for you guys soon. Today may have been the perfect day. We got up early and went to the beach with all the kids - Lance's and mine - to fly kites. Well, there was little wind and I forgot the string, so I went on an expedition to get string and ended up buying Noodles and shovels. Then we came home and showered, dressed and went to Wal-Mart (our idea of fun - on Sunday, the freaks come out and we laugh at them). Then we came home and cooked dinner and talked and layed on the couch snuggling until Lance had to go home. It was a nice end to a nice weekend. Also, no one has posted their response to my survey. Let's go ladies! I know you all have an opinion on this!

A Little Survey

Lance and I have been having a discussion about past sexual encounters and we disagree about how many past partners are too many and what is a good number of partners for someone to have had. I would imagine that age plays a role in this question, but how many is too many? I tend to think that if you need to use your toes when adding up partners, you may have had too many. Sometimes I am embarrassed that I have not had more, but sometimes I am embarrassed at the ones I have had. I went to a party with a wild girl when I was 19 and I had just broke up with my boyfriend of 4 years. As we played pool in the family room, I had a few too many drinks (likely story) and ended up making out with a guy whose last name was Hanrahan. My drunk friend kept shouting, "You can't make out with him - he's a hammerhead shark!" Absolutely ridiculous I know, but we were young and it was late. It got awkward when Steve reached under my skirt and felt my pantyhose (give me a break, it was the 80's) and asked if I was wearing pantyhose. I was very embarrassed and I left while he went to get a rubber. I remember looking in my rear-view mirror and seeing him come out of the house with his jeans unzipped and looking puzzled. I have had so many near-misses like that - incidences that could have led me to bringing in a calculator to add up my partners - but something in the back of my mind kept me from being an extraordinarily promiscuous girl. Maybe it wasn't my mind, but my heart that kept me from making so many mistakes - and there is no doubt they would have been mistakes - maybe the guy I was meant to love would have looked at me differently if I had said my number was 35 or 40. I don't know, but that is the point, you never know. I could probably cut my number in half and be happier for it - in fact, I could probably cut my number to 2 and be where I need to be, but really, often the morons are adorable. So, what do you think, what is a good number and at what number do you think you should lie about your sexual conquests?