Minnesota Nice

Strand Summer

Nothing too exciting going on here. I'm not working for the summer and enjoying some free time before the chaos of teaching and grad school starts again in the fall. I just registered for my classes and am actually getting excited for the school year to start. To bring you up to speed i will list some random facts/thought about us right now.

--we just got new bikes (our old ones both had chain malfunctions on the same day while we were having an outing on the 4th.)

--garage sale on saturday. preparing and pricing will consume my week

--i'm starting to teach guitar lessons this week

--had an awesome 4th weekend filled with family bbq, bean bag toss, 5 fireworks shows over the lake, chain malfunctions, new bikes, and pontooning on the st. croix river

--ankle troubles, long story, 2 year pain, inflamed tendon, can't walk or run for workout, hence the bikes, have to wear tennis shoes all summer, i got busted for my flip flop tan from the ankle doctor

--spend most days at caribou since we shut off our cable and internet for the summer, but we are adjusting well. it makes us think of more creative and active ways to spend our time

happy mid-summer.

Posted by Shelly at 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments

Pics from Cancun....


This was taken on our balcony...


Sunrise...view from our room


bluest water ever...

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The pool where we spent most of our time...


We went with Tony's sis Stacy and hubby Tim.....this is a pic from our bar hopping tour....


This is when we were on the bus back to the airport...not wanting to leave....

Posted by Shelly at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments

I am...

...doing homework in bed on my laptap

...leaving for Cancun on Saturday

...glad j blogged

...needing a new cell phone battery so I don't have to be all 1990 and talk a phone that has to be attached to the wall

...having sleeping issues and now stay up late all the time since I can't sleep anyway

...really wishing i stayed at school to write the 5th grade lit test i need to give tomorrow first period, cause now i have to go in early

...going to leave you with a funny but long story relating to my 5th grade lit class

We have been reading the book Number the Stars about the Danish Jews that escaped to Sweden during WWII. In this book (and also a true part of history) there were hankerchiefs made by scientists that would throw off the scent of the Nazi search dogs that were looking for hidden Jews. Anyone hiding Jews would have the hankerchief on them to deter the dogs scent. The handkerchiefs had rabbit's blood and cocaine on them...the blood attracted the dogs and the cocaine numbed the nose and sense of smell...(told you it was a long story)

anyway, the 5th grade boys are so fascinated with this idea and have been asking about what cocaine is (christian private school boys..they don't know). so we discussed illegal drugs and how most drugs started off for medicinal purposes and people abused them...blah blah...

anyway...with all that background...here is a real conversation that took place between me and some of the boys today...

boy 1: "it would be so cool if we could make those hankercheifs"

me: "well I'm pretty sure you won't be able to get a hold of some rabbit's blood and i'm even more sure that you don't have cocaine in your house or your parents would be in jail."

boy 2: "we have cocaine at our house"

me: "you do?"

boy 2: "yeah that stuff in our grill"

me: "o you mean charcaol, no that's not cocaine"

boy 2: "no, the stuff in the tank attached to our grill"

me: "no, that's propaine"

class: laughter

boy 2: "o...ahhahaha...oops."

It was really cute. He blushed (which was cute and hard to see since he's black) and laughed. I can't wait to tell his mom that he thought they had cocaine in their house....ahhhahah

Posted by Shelly at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments

20 more days until Cancun...
2 more years of grad school, but who's counting...
2 weeks with this sinus infection...
2 stitches in my finger this week...
35 parent-teacher conferences this week...

Posted by Shelly at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments

hello my name is shelly and it's been 3 months since my last blog....

i am sitting at the laundromat and decided to bring my laptop along and catch up on life. I only had 64 emails to sort through, and I figured i'd update my blog.

I just got back from a week of camp with my students and of course i have the day off today for MLK, jr. day....I have one more week of "freedom" before my next semester of grad school starts...

nothing really new here..school, school and more school. tony and i are looking forward to our Cancun vacation in March...

we are surviving the cold winter in Minnesota. we've haven't been out cross country skiing yet this year though...i'm in the market for some new skis...i spent last week doing all kinds of winter adventures at camp including 5 times snowshoeing, orienteering, cross-country skiing, tubing, winter campfires and cooking breakfast in sub-zero temps....my fork actually stuck to my lips...

i can't believe how time flies and I miss all my long distant friends...soem of you should consider visiting MN, others I hope to see this summer at tdubs wedding :) (whom I will probably always call tdubs even when her last name is no longer "w"....tony is excited to call her td, of course for it's football conotation....

Posted by Shelly at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments

Here are a few nicknames I came up with for some people in my class:

-Shouty Shouterson-every time she opens her mouth to speak I literally jump because she's so loud...Tuesday I actually put one of my fingers in my ear...and i'm sitting across the room

-Nose Toucher-every time he talks...which is often and annoyingly..he touches his nose all nervously like the freshman from Dazed and Confused

-Cusser Carrot top-this red head guy always manages to slip in a profanity into every answer he gives

-Whisperer-this lady whispers to the person next to her the entire class, it annoys me so much..and she's like 40-something...she should know better...oh, and she always calls me shannon, even though i straight out tell her my name is shelly

Posted by Shelly at 7:43 PM | Permalink | Comments

I have been at Caribou for 2 1/2 hours working hard on grad school work, reading and taking notes...feeling like i got a lot accomplished...

only to find out that i just read the wrong chapter.....

so i'm going home now...

Posted by Shelly at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments