Merry Christmas

From the Pear Tree House, to yours:

Merry Christmas!

I hope your holiday is warm and cheery!

The Wonders of Cream Cheese.

Now, I probably love cream cheese as much as the next person, but today I really love cream cheese. Let me tell you why.


#1: Slather it on a freshly toasted bagel, Yum. My favorite is regular cream cheese on a Cinnamon raisin bagel. Delish.

#2: Cream Cheese Salsa. I know it sounds a bit off, but it is so good, and easy. All you need is room temp. cream cheese and a cup of salsa - mix it together, and BAM! I added black beans and sliced olives. Hubs practically inhaled it, I had to take it away from him!

#3: Sugar Cookies. No lie. I was at my neighbor's house and they offered me some sugar cookies. They were the best I have ever had. Their secret? You guessed it: cream cheese, all baked in and everything!

#4: Everyone's favorite, cream cheese icing. YUM! It is so good I could eat it all on its own, just a big spoonful of it! This morning I made Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies using cream cheese icing. YUM!!!

Oh Thank Heavens

It is Friday!

I finally made it through this week.

And it is suppose to snow at least 10 inches tomorrow.

And in Virginia, that is a big deal.

The town is going to shut down.

I desperately need to go grocery shopping, and am trying to figure out how to avoid all the crazies who will be stocking up on food for the 10 inches.

Yay Friday, Yay Snow!!

The Cell Phone Saga of December '09

For about a year now, I've had a LG enV2 Cell Phone. While I am not as obsessed(?) with cell phones as the average American, I enjoyed using that phone.

Until a fateful day in late November when I (for whatever reason) attempted to hug the Hubster while holding the enV2 between my arm and side. It slipped fatefully from my arm/side grasp and plopped with a splash exactly into the glass of water Hubs was holding. What are the chances?

It was completely submerged. It was soaked through! After letting it dry out for the night, I tried to start it up to see if it would work - and it wigged out. Apparently it wasn't dry yet, and was rendered useless.

Did I ever mention that I do not have a land line?

So I quickly went to ebay to search for a new cheap phone. I found a MotoQ and ordered it. The MotoQ is a smart phone, and while I was sure I wouldn't use all of it's fancy abilities I bought it anyway... it was cheap.



Did you know that Verizon had recently started a new rule where if you activate a Smart phone you must upgrade to the data plan? Don't you love how they bind you in with a contract and then change rules on you? So here I am, activating my smart phone, upgrading to the data plan... all of a sudden this is getting expensive. I decided I would try it out.

So I tried it out for about a week, and the MotoQ wouldn't hold a charge for an entire day! That, coupled with it's confusing/annoying-ness, and the fact that my enV2 was slowly coming back to life; I decided to switch back to my enV2. After all that enV2 and I had a good thing going.

So I went back to the Verizon store, and the enV2 wouldn't work. Well I tried right? So I bit the bullet and bought another phone. This time a brand new one. (Sorry ebay, I love you but not for used electronics).

Welcome to the world: my LG Chocolate Touch. It is fancy and shiny. I was surprised to find out that the charging cable doubles as a USB cable, and I even managed to load some songs onto my new Choc.Touch (even though it took me practically all afternoon). Now if only I could figure out how to make those songs my ringtones... it sounds like a simple task, my friends, but it is not. Trust me.

Excuse me while I pick up my jaw and stop drooling.

I stumbled upon this resort via A Cup of Jo's blog.

Everyone, meet Dunton Hot Springs; Dunton, this is Everyone.

Dunton Hot Springs is a spa resort on the site of a (former) ghost town. Most of the buildings, like the one below, are original to the town.


Below is a picture of the bath house, with a walk way to a natural hot spring.

Did I mention that this is an all inclusive resort?

If this place is as nice as the pictures make it seem, I am in love.
If it is better (if even possible), I am moving to Colorado.

My Precious Devils

Look at these two.

They sure are cute.

Peaceful?

Certainly not mischevious.

I mean, look at that face. Can you sence any wrong doing?

Uhh.... YES.

Why just today they mutilated my Christmas tree. Broken ornaments everywhere.

They sure are lucky that I didn't kick them out into the 25 degree weather outside.

My own personal form of torchure.

I feel as though I must explain my long abesnces. You see, I am a High School Teacher. We are a rare breed, and (albeit, not a positive thing...) most of us don't like our job.

High School is a very negative place, you enter this institution of learning and the halls are filled with negativity! You see it in the faces of the worn out teachers as they shuffle papers on their desk or push students through the halls (No, it is not appropriate to make out in the corner). You see it in the faces of the students when you begin class. It is literally impossible to get away from.

So some days I try to be a shinning beacon of positivity, but as the days go on I slowly yet surly get worn out. It is exhausting being the only light out there!

Then there are those days that I try to tell a joke, or be silly in an attempt to keep my students from being so serious. Only to be met with "who does she think she is" looks! Geez come on people, lighten up. A smile will not kill you.

Then there are the instances when I use sarcasm. This is great stuff. They say in college that you shouldn't use sarcasm because the students don't understand it. It is true, they really don't, and it is hilarious to see the looks on their faces. Then you have to explain to them that it was a joke, and it is even more funny: but only to you.



Now I will break down the types of High Schoolers I have come to know.
1. The Angry Annoying Type. These are the worst. They are the type that are angry on the inside and delight in bringing others down. They strive to make you angry because that is what they are: misery loves company I guess. They are the ones that shout inappropriate things out in class to tick you off, and you can either a) discipline them or b) ignore them. I have found that if you choose option a) than that is letting them know that they got to you, aka they have won. The do not care about the punishment, but relish the glory in the knowledge that they ticked you off. If you have chosen option b) then the student simply repeats action because they think you are deaf, blind, dumb or all of the above. In the end they believe that you, the teacher, are unfair and target them because no one else gets in trouble in your class...

2. Little Miss Can't-Do-Wrong Type. This is a special breed. This is the type of student that when you call them on something, for example: talking in class, they respond with "No, that wasn't me, you see...." and proceed to make up some excuse. These students are either manipulative and realize what they are doing, or narcissistic and actually believe they were doing no wrong. In either case I am very sorry if you have to deal with one of these.

3. Good student gone bad. This is the student that was awesome and some how, for whatever reason, has fallen off the band wagon. Normally it is because they are in a class or group of friends that have a few 'bad apples' (see #1-2) This is quite a tragic case, and is most frustrating for the teacher. To see someone with potential, who could be and once was a better version of themselves, is very sad.

4. The Gems. These are the students that are reliable. Wow, what a rare thing! The students that want to strive for things, that ask for help, that have morals, (that realize the stupidity of their peers). I have a hand full of these students and love them to death. It is these students that keep me going sometimes. My only wish is to keep these students from turning into #3.


Now, by the end of the day, after dealing with all of this: I am exhausted, and my creativity is shot; and that is why I have long absences between posts.