The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

So, how the heck is it November 20th already? How did it come to be that Sean is already 17 years old? I haven't a clue.
Today was full of "stuff" like the news about Lindsey (this is "the Good").
She will now be attending elementary school in Immokalee Florida in the same building that Don and I teach in!! Yay!! No more being worried about a 10 year old getting herself to school all alone. Ppphheewww! There is a load off. Don almost died today (this is "The Bad). I was absolutely horrified when someone came into my room during instruction and whispered in my ear, "Mrs. Miller wants you to go down to the clinic. Your husband is down there. He is choking and cannot breathe." Needless to say, I bolted out of the room. He wasn't in the clinic. He was still in his room. One of his students had to yell to another teacher to "HELP!" because Mr. Neibert is choking. When I got into the room he was okay (THANK GOODNESS). Don told me he thought for sure he was a goner. He couldn't get a breath in his body because he had taken a couple of pills for his cold (which, by the way, he has had for three solid months) and his throat closed. I cannot even begin to tell you how scared I was. If I lost him, I seriously wouldn't know what to do.
Now, at 10:30, I have been going solid for sixteen hours with no break (I just got done baking three pumpkin rolls). I tired. I'm getting crabby (that, my friends, is "The Ugly"). I am going to bed.

Rattlers: They're not just for babies anymore.

Okay...first you get a quiz, then you get the story behind the quiz. Ready? GO! What is the difference in these two pictures?

Figure it out? Well here's the story. I am driving along down Panacea boulevard when I pass this "mass" in the left lane. I realize what it is, put my car in reverse and high-tail it back to the scene. I roll down my window and slowly peer over the edge (just in case this big mamma jamma is waiting to stick one in me). Anywho...at that point I notice his brains on the sidewalk next to his head. Me being one for nature, I feel bad for the poor guy and decide that I am going to get out and put him in a bush (after all, he deserves a little respect, right? he has probably saved our yards from a few rodents here and there). Oh, did I mention that this scaly creature, while lying there lifeless, had what appeared to be a rattler at the end of it? "Silly", I thought to myself, "We don't have rattlers in Florida!" So, I begin to open the door when LOW AND BEHOLD he starts moving! "Holy crap!" I yell to Paige and Lindsey who are sitting in the car with me. Now I felt even worse. Here is this snake, brains out for the whole world to see (have we no privacy anymore? no humility?) and he is suffering to boot. I battle with myself on whether or not to try and move him, drive over him to finish him off (to end his suffering, of course), or leave him there for someone else to roll over (prolonging his suffering).

I opted to finish him off. Lindsey is in the back seat crying her bloody eyes out. Paige, being the humanitarian she is agreed with me.

But, when it came down to it, I couldn't do it. I drove away. Research the next day revealed that this snake was indeed a Diamondback Rattler: A venomous snake found throughout Florida.

What is even more perplexing is that the very next day, while walking out of our school building, Don and I were greeted by an approximately 4 foot long Diamondback Rattler on the sidewalk. His brains were intact :) He slithered off to the grassland. My only question is this: what does it mean when two Diamondback Rattlers cross your path within two days? There has to be some omen to this.

All I Wanted Was Some Darn Puffcorn

With every new sunrise there is a new chance. With every sunset, you blew it. How true, how true. Perhaps you are one of the people that actually took hold of the reigns and did something with your opportunities of the day. Then, my friends, the above deep thought was not applicable to you. However, for most of us, that isn't the case. We don't seize the day.
Now, sometimes, you try hard to make the opportunities work. Like last night, Mom gave me a great recipe calling for some Puffcorn. I went right out (grabbing hold of reigns) and tried to purchase the puffcorn(making use of opportunity). Do you think Publix had any? No, they did not. I didn't let it get me down though, I came right home and started calling around to some other stores. I called Target, Walmart, AND Sweetbay. Not a damn one of 'em had it!
Why, Billy, why? It's just not fair.

Deep Thought

If you ever fall off the Sears Tower, just go real limp and then people will try and catch you because, hey, free dummy!

Okay, I didn't say it was my deep thought. That was a Deep Thought by Jack Handey. Hilarious that.

So I had lunch today with Skarvi. Same ol' Skarv. I enjoyed it. She is a little bitty thing. We talked for quite a bit.

Yeah, I don't feel like blogging at the moment.

A couple pics for you...

Did I mention that I went home for my mom's birthday? We had a grand old time! Things sure changed a lot in the short time I have been gone, though. Michael got hair.....

Then got a style change...

And Beana got old...

LOLOLOLOLOLOL! Just kidding on that one...Beana was cool as she ever was...
(I call that one the "Hemlock Flip")

Then, sadly, we had to come home. And before you knew it, Halloween was here. Paige, of course, was verbalizing her political affiliation by touting, "Up your nose with a rubber hose, Obama!!"

The Scary Black Juice from Grasshoppers

You know how when you were little you learned about the black juice that grasshoppers can spit on you? Yeah well this stuff is called tobacco juice. Anyway, I would like to introduce you to the beast I met on my walk today. Surely, you would have to agree that a creature this size would be able to hold enough "tobacco juice" to maim a 450 pound man. Here he is: You see what I'm sayin? Probably about an entire carton worth of that black junk up in there!

I apologize that I haven't visited the blog e-blog world lately. I have been busy trying to learn how to be a teacher. Or, should, I say, trying to learn all the things that go with being a teacher. The teaching part is easy....it is the additional things that get my goat. Don and I are also looking for extra work lol. Consequently, I just got my Florida Food Handlers license. I am going to begin to sell my "heavenly confections" here in the deep south. Well, confections, nontheless.

Off I go.....the praline pecans await....

Hugs and Kisses!! mmuuwwaahhhh!!!