About Me

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I am a twenty-something second year teacher living in the midwest. I am a Christian woman and proud of it! I am the middle child of three girls. I am the proud aunt of the very beautiful Lil E and Lil C!! I love TV, movies, reading, and baseball. I am in my second year of teaching , but my first year teaching kindergarten. It has been quite the journey!

29 March 2011

Fly Away Home

Last night I was flipping through the guide on our TV and saw that the movie "Fly Away Home" was on. I was so excited!! Lil Sis was very jealous when I texted her about it :)

If you haven't seen this movie you must! It came out in 1996, so it has lots of awesome fashion :)

It is the story of a girl who moves in with her dad after her mom dies. Anna Paquin plays the little girl, Amy.


Jeff Daniels plays her dad. I love Jeff Daniels: he's from Michigan, he wrote a song about the Tigers, enough said.


She rescues some goose eggs and raises the baby goslings.


The geese imprint on Amy, so she has to teach them to fly and migrate south for the winter. Her dad creates these two planes that look like geese, so the two of them can fly the birds south to a preserve.


It's a pretty legit movie. Also it's based on a true story.

Right after the movie came out, Lil Sis and I saw a book at the library called Fly Away Home. We figured it was a story about the movie, so we checked it out.

Boy were we in for a shock. It is the story of a boy and his father who live in an airport because they have no place else to live. It is an excellent story, very touching, but not when you are 6 and 8 and thinking you are checking out a feel good story about a girl and some geese...

28 March 2011

Let's Dance!

I love picking winners the first week of DWTS and seeing if they end up the winners. Often they do win (i.e. Drew Lachey, Apolo Ohno, Helio Castroneves, Kristi Yamaguchi, Brooke Burke). I've had a bit of a dry spell the last few seasons, but Jennifer Grey and Donny Osmond were my second place predictions... Last season my top three- Jennifer, Kyle Massey and Bristol Palin were the top three! I have some mad predicting skillz.

Here are my Top 5 for Season 12-

5) Chris Jericho and Cheryl Burke- I wasn't that impressed with him last week, but this week he was cute, funny and a good dancer. Plus I love Cheryl!



4) Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas- Gotta love the Disney Channel Star! I loved her last week, but this week I wasn't lovin' her jive... Also they're adorablespice together.



3) Kirstie Alley and Maks- She floored me last week with her cha-cha. I mean she's sixty years old and she rocked it! Her quickstep wasn't quite as good, but still very impressive. I'm not really sure why I like Kirstie Alley so much, the only thing I really know her from is Toothless, one of those Sunday Night Disney movies where Alley is the tooth fairy... But I do like her and Maks of course :)


2)Hines Ward and Kym Johnson- He is adorable!!! and a great dancer. I was very impressed with him. Plus him teaching Kym his "lingo" this week- hilarious!


1)Ralph Macchio and Karina Smirnoff- I cannot believe that this dude is almost fifty- he looks so young! He is a cutie and a really great dancer! He seems very classy and fun and he's very well-spoken. I hope he keeps getting better and wins the whole thing. Also, Karina is engaged to Brad Penny who is a pitcher for the Tigers, so I've got to root for her :)

24 March 2011

Boo Yah!

When we were planning our epic Florida trip (chronicled here, here here and here)we discovered that renting a car when you are 21-24 is annoying. It said online that there would be a fee because I was so young, then we found out that it would double the price of the car! Yikes! We weren't so happy about that, but we were OK with it, there wasn't really anything we could do about it.

Renting the car was the part I was most nervous about. I've flown without my parents, stayed at hotels, gone to baseball games, etc. But I'd never rented a car without them and I didn't really know what I was doing. When we got to the rental counter (after a super duper duper long wait) everything was going well, we even got a free upgrade because they didn't have the right kind of car :)

Then the agent noticed that I was under 25, mentioned the extra fee and asked for my proof of insurance. I am thinking, 'what?!?!?!?!?!' I said I didn't have it and she said that then I would have to buy insurance through the rental company... I told her that wasn't posted anywhere online when I was going about renting the car. She said, "It's not on the website, it's just one of those things you have to know."

Excuse me?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! How can you have a policy that is not posted on your website???? So I asked if this was just the case that I needed insurance because I was under 25 and told yes. The woman tried to "get me a good deal" and just make me pay for the absolute essentials instead of a complete plan for the "low, low" price of $45 A DAY!!!!! which basically doubled the price of the car again... What?

But I didn't have a choice, so I paid it and decided to not worry about it until we got home. I got the car and we left.

We, obviously, had a fantastic trip and tried not to worry our pretty little heads about the extra costs.

This weekend I received an e-mail asking me to take their customer service survey. I practically rubbed my hands in glee! The actual survey didn't leave much room for me to complain, but I rated their agents badly and said that I would never rent from them again.

At the end of the survey it told me that if I needed a response for a rep. to contact them via e-mail, which I did. I send them this awesome, strongly-worded e-mail

As a driver aged 21-14 I knew when I picked up my car that I would be charged an additional $27 a day due to my age. However, when I was at the counter, I was informed that if I didn't have my proof of insurance I would have to purchase insurance through Thrifty. As I had not seen this anywhere on *******'s website when researching car rentals, I was shocked. Especially since this insurance would be $45 per day, essentially doubling the cost of renting a car. When I informed the worker that I didn't know this policy because I hadn't read it anywhere on the website, she responded, that it isn't on the website, "it's just one of those things that you have to know."It is completely unacceptable to have a policy that your customers are supposed to "just know." My father has rented plenty of cars and has never heard of this policy. If this policy had been displayed on your website when it discusses extra fees for underage drivers, I would have brought my insurance and avoided this problem. I was appalled with this exorbitant extra fee and will never book with ******* again unless this problem is resolved to my satisfaction.

I felt pretty awesome and pumped after I wrote it. I'm not generally confrontational and it felt super to write this.

I got an e-mail back the next business day, saying that they apologized for the customer service I received (and that lady's blatant rudeness and scheminess) and basically that I could have signed a waiver and not had to pay any insurance... and that they would refund all of the money we paid for insurance! Victory!!

But super annoyed that the agent tried to make it seem like she was doing me a service by picking and choosing the coverage I needed and really she was scamming me...

But all's well that ends well. I guess.

(I think this is the last Florida post... :)

23 March 2011

Dr. Seussical

Islands of Adventure, where the Wizarding World of Harry Potter also houses a Dr. Seuss Island. After exhausting all of the adventures of Harry Potter World we headed to check out the Dr. Seussville.

It was so cute and fun! Plus we got 85 cent pop refills in our butterbeer mugs! It was much less crowded than the Harry Potter Island. Here are some of my favorite shots of the afternoon:










Such a fun time! I can't wait to share these pictures with my future students on Dr. Seuss' birthday. We went on two rides in Seussville- A spinny Cat in the Hat ride and a Seuss creature Merry-Go-Round.

22 March 2011

The Rest of the Delightful WWoHP

After the rides, we lunched at the Three Broomsticks...



There are some really attractive pics of us chowing down on our enormous turkey legs, but I will spare you those beauties....

After lunch we hit the shops along Diagon Alley. There was a line to get into the wand demonstration, but we didn't mind a wait in the sunshine as we finished our butterbeers. Lil Sis and I split a regular, cold butterbeer and a frozen butterbeer. I didn't care terribly for either of them, but we both preferred the frozen. Poor Lil Sis had to drink 1 1/2 of our two butterbeers, because I just couldn't drink anymore... But it's not so bad waiting in line, when you've got a gorgeous view of Hogwarts behind you!!


This lucky girl got to take part in a wand demonstration. When she swished and flicked her wand around, things fell off shelves and when the right wand found her a cool glowy light came on. It was legit.

Then we wandered around the other shops in Diagon Alley- The Owl Post-



Honeydukes-


I love love love the cute pink staircase and the candy jars on it. The $10 price of chocolate frogs, not so much. I ended up buying a sugar quill.

Zonko's Joke Shop-



Real Extendable Ears!!
The shops were super crowded and made me claustrophobic, but they were so cute and fun!

Some more shop windows-
A Quidditch Supply Shop


A Book Shop full of Gilderoy Lockhart's books






Me next to some random cauldrons


An adorablespice snowman with a festive Gryffindor scarf


After the shops, we watched the Triwizard Spirit Rally Show. It was basically the Strong Sons of Durmstrang and the Beautiful Daughters of Beauxbatons performing.


We never got to see the Frog Choir before, which was kind of a bummer...


Lil Sis and I were getting ready to have our picture taken by the Hogwarts Express, when all of the sudden a conductor pops up to join our picture :)


Some views of the beautiful scenes of Hogwarts/ Hogsmeade-



Doesn't Hogsmeade just look perfect?? *sigh* Hogwarts too :)





We had such a fantabulous day!!!!!!!!!!! We ended up going on all of the rides twice :) It was one of the best days ever!!! We also spent some time on the Dr. Seussland Island, but that's the makings of another post...

16 March 2011

The Amazingness that is Harry Potter World

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had soooooooooooooooo much fun at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!! It was so perfect and epic and awesome! It was one of the best of Lil Sis' and my lives :) So very very fun.

When we first got into the park (right when the gates open of course) we rushed straight to the Harry Potter island. Well we tried to run, but about halfway there one of us got a cramp and we had to slow down... (hint as to who got a cramp, Lil Sis is training for a 5K...)

When we got through the gate in Hogsmeade *squee* we were literally skipping down the brick lane! It looked sooooooo very perfect, but we couldn't stop and take it in because we were rushing towards Hogwarts and the ride inside- The Forbidden Journey. When we got to the start of the line we had to put all of our stuff in a locker, but it's nice because they time the lockers so that you get the wait time for the ride plus about 15 minutes for free, after that you have to pay, but it's nice that they adjust the time you get free based on how long you'll have to wait...

The line for the Forbidden Journey is awesome, because you get to travel through Hogwarts as you wait in line.
The Mirror of Erised


Mandrakes in the Herbology greenhouse!


House points :)


The tapestry marking the entrance to the room of requirement.


The statue at the entrance to Dumbledore's Office.


These portraits were moving and talking to each other. So sweet!


Inside Dumbledore's office, Dumbledore was talking to us, but you can't see him in the picture.


Hanging with Ron, Harry and Hermione in the DADA room.



The portrait of the fat lady outside the Gryffindor Tower.

Inside the Gryffindor Common Room


The sorting hat!!


Then we got to the ride. It was awesome! You're basically sitting in a row of four seats that travels around the castle on adventures- flying away from dragons, fighting dementors, getting attacked by the Whomping Willow and Aragog. It's a mixture of moving on the track and video screens. The Whomping Willow and spiders, etc are also real. You get dragon's breath and spider saliva sprayed on you :) It was epic.

After that we went on the Flight of the Hippogriff ride. The wait was only five minutes. Score! Hagrid's Hut!


More of Hagrid's Hut.


Lil Sis and I waiting in line :)

It was a pretty fun ride, low intensity, a mine-ride type feeling.

Next we headed over to the Dragon Challenge, which is actually two racing dragon-themed coasters. Lil Sis had never been on a upside-down roller coaster, but she was determined to do it, since she had to go on all the rides at Harry Potter World! We had to put all of our stuff in a locker again. I left my camera, but Lil Sis brought hers.

There was some fun stuff to look at along the way as well. Me next to a Cedric Diggory banner. There were banners celebrating all of the champions leading up to the ride.


An awesome pic of Lil Sis with Hogwarts in the background!!


The Weasley's Flying Car


The Goblet of Fire :)


The Triwizard Cup, watch out, it's a Portkey.

After this, we were basically walking through a cave tunnel. It was dark and narrow and kind of claustrophicy. Once we came around a corner and were like, ooh whats around this corner, expecting something cool... it was a drinking fountain...

When we had just one group of people left in front of us to get on the ride. They said that there would be a slight delay. Then a cleaning person came out to clean off the roller coaster, I guess someone puked on it. Lil Sis was a little freaked out. But eventually we got on. We had to stow our flip flops under our shirts and then pull the safety restraints down, because our feet were dangly and we didn't want them to fall off.

It was so much fun. I love the Raptor at Cedar Point and the Dragon Challenge ride was a lot like the Raptor- feet dangling, lots of upside down fun :) We went on the blue track first, then we went and got a new lockers and got in line for the red track. The blue track goes upside down in a loop more times, but the blue track does more upside down twists, if that makes any sense...

This post as become super long and we haven't even gotten to lunch and the sun coming up and warming us up, so I'll have to do the rest of the day in another post :)