brenda’s thoughts, watch out I’m Christian

I’ve told ya what angels my students are this year

I got a new student

She’s not an angel

It’s funny how her attitude permeated the class in one day

And even funnier how it revealed the hidden defects each child has been working so hard to control

Like lemon juice on a secret message

Or is it heat on a lemon juice message

My brother used to drive me nuts with his secret messages

and Morse code!

Don’t even get me started on Morse code

He made a telegraph. Then ran and buried wires from the tree house to a box that he also buried at the base of the tree we used to come down when climbing out the upstairs window.

He said, “You gotta learn Morse code, you gotta learn Morse code!!!!”

He drove me nuts

No, I never learned it

I refused

Anyway, about my students, talk about ADD

It was just sad that they worked so hard and one kid could mess them up so bad

I was more upset by seeing their defects so clearly

Its past sad

It’s tragic when a child displays characteristics of abuse

It makes you stop and re-assess everything you’ve thought or said about or to that child

It makes you stop

One child touches my heart more than the others

There is always one

Last year it was a girl

This year it’s a boy

They both have been the victim

Most of my students have

But some become the perpetrator

And others continue to be victimized

This boy is a victim

He continues to be bullied

He likes me because I protect him

I can’t protect him once he leaves

So

I’ve stopped and thought

But even in the heat of the situation

No message has been revealed

Maybe I should’a learned Morse code

Helped Dood skin a rattle snake today

Gave myself a pedicure

Fried up a mess a chicken

Ahh, the life of a southern woman

My opinion

I am a single mom

And have been for over 16 years

I am saved by the blood of Jesus Christ,

The son of the one and only living God

I am a conservative, values-voting republican

I am also a working/career mom

I am a teacher,

I have been working in the education field for over 15 years

It’s hard to find media coverage of anything that is unbiased

I found a few on the internet that I trust,

Though they are biased… in the conservative or Christian direction

http://pajamasmedia.com/

http://michellemalkin.com/

http://www.onenewsnow.com/

There are lots of others but those are the newest to me

Also, as a single mom and a career mom

I think it’s important that I stand up and say

I support Sarah Palin as VP

I believe she is more than capable of the doing the job and doing it well

I believe that in the event of her taking over as president the country and world will also find that she is more than capable

I believe that you will find her to be a formidable opponent

And that is exactly what I want running the country that I live in

 

For my friends who read

What news from my home front????

Well

Fred has come to live with me

Which is good,

Dood was missing him

But I’m the one who has to sleep with him

My cat

First night he spent sitting straight up all night watching and listening to every little thing

Second might he talked to me

All night

I almost injured him

Then he went outside

He loves the culverts under the driveways

A kitty-kitty’s playground

My students have had two field trips now

They’re so well behaved that I will be loosing them soon

To the public schools and to adoptive parents

My daughter and her hubby

Still doing that “in-love” thing

Have moved to a larger apartment so they can throw bigger parties

It’s a hard life

Did I mention Dood’s friends cleaning out my frig

Did I mention Dood’s friends cleaning out my frig

I may say it again

They’re lucky I like Dood

There’s a new song which I just love

Check it out

Brandon Heath, Give Me Your Eyes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTsYAZvHsEQ

 

I’m wading chest deep in memories this morning

I friend sends and email, “we’re hiking a section of the AT want to come?”

I have hiked that section before and loved it,

It was in fact the last section I hiked

A nice leisurely weekend it was for me

Walking slowly

Writing poems

Enjoying the silence

Also where I picked up that water born bacteria

And where I fell and injured my knee

Which started me kayaking so I’m not complaining one bit

The knee is better

Man it was nice up there

I walked in clouds

Cool and quiet

And rested against soft lichen covered rocks

Alone and at peace

 

Also I’m watching
Galveston

And remembering        

We used to camp on the beach at the west end

We had so many tarps up during the day

Matt said it looked like tent-city

And at night I left the tent open so the breeze filled it up

First time I forgot to stake it down,

I had to chase my tent across the doons

We found tiny sea horses in the seaweed,

My brothers and I

I think,

Man that was a long time ago

We would come from Grandpa Louie’s house with a container of cold fried shrimp

And sit at cement picnic tables drinking Shasta sodas

and teasing the sea gulls with the tails of the shrimp we didn’t eat

Those birds would swoop in for anything, even rocks

Much like the alligators in the glades with paper wads

only sea gulls aren’t as aggressive when angered

lesson learned

so I’m remembering fun times

and waiting to be well enough to create more memories

Yesterday God had a little ‘come to Jesus meeting’ with me

He got my attention and kept it all day

I haven’t been taking good care of myself

Its scriptural you know

We are to be good stewards, that includes of our own bodies

Today I’m swimming in videos of
Galveston

Watching the tide rise

Watching homes be destroyed

Watching the media annoy people

My grandpa lives on Galveston with his son’s family

My grandma died of cancer several years ago
They are shrimp boat operators

I’ve watched the surf crash over the sea wall all afternoon

I’ve walked that wall with my family … a lot

The dolphins always put on a great show out off the sea wall
My brother’s and I chased crabs by flashlight at night

My grandpa grew his own oregano, he said I’m, “Italian that’s what we do”

He had a pile of conches in the backyard

I’m wondering if that gift shop with the mermaid still stands

I’m wondering if my grandpa Louie got out

Is his boat safe

I was named after him, you probably didn’t know that

We haven’t been out there in ages

I asked dood if he remembered going to Galveston

Remembered eating fried shrimp in the kitchen

All those Marti Gras beads his great grandpa gave him

Or that he used my lipstick to put tattoos all over his stomach

So I’m huggin my tissue box watching waves crash and remembering

Maybe I’ll fry some shrimp

Probably make me cry, better not
Think I’ll write him a letter
phone could be out for awhile
Let him know we were worried

here’s what I listened to this morning
since I missed church
and as often as I get the chance
Ravi Zacharias
its good stuff

I’m missing church this morning,

You know I’m sick when I miss church

May have to break down and go to the doctor

Maybe

Sewed up the frayed places of my old comforter last night

It’s funny how it brings me so much pleasure to accomplish so simple a task

I went to bed pleased with myself for having sewed up those holes

No I will not mend your stuff

And here I am talking to you as if you were an old friend

I do know who reads this blog

You are old friends

Some of you I haven’t seen in awhile

And I miss you

Sadly some of you I may never see again

To Howard, truly I mean to get back in shape and hopefully get back on the trail

I was just looking at the photos and map yesterday

I only have 24.9 miles to finish
Georgia

Sounds like a nice weekend to me

Answered another email about the river last night

People are always asking me about the river just because I have a site

I’m bragging

I googled the river and it is third on the list, that’s pretty cool

Used to be page three or four

Someone once, many years ago praised me highly for knowledge of the river

I stopped him in his tracks and said, ‘there are lots of folks who know more than me about the river”:

He said, “but none of them wrote about it, you are the queen because you wrote it down”

His words not mine

I haven’t even looked at the river in …..let alone been on it

Man I need to go walking in the woods

Soon it will be fall, cooler weather,

The spiders and insects will disappear with the foliage

The swamps will dry up to soggy streams

And the ground will become crisp and hard under your step

There is a trail under the bridge where the puddles always freeze

past the small island where alligator stretch out on sunny days

that follows the river around the bends

where large boar and deer are

this is where I would like to go

just go,

sometimes following hunters ribbons sometimes not

walk till the sun fades and the darkness threatens

and you rushing to the car before you can’t see at all

and maybe, just maybe

I won’t be alone

If I’m lucky and very quiet

I’ll see some animals that even hunters dream of

There’s my fantasy for when I’m well

After the papers are graded

and the house is clean

and the bills are paid

I’ve given up on trying not to have company till I’m not so sick or the house is in better order

Every time I come home

If there isn’t a gang of gangly young men hangin out playing video games with Dood

Then Sarah comes over with either her dog or her husband or her friends or some combination

and she doesn’t even live here

Bless their hearts I put them to work moving furniture or boxes then feed them

Maybe I should stop feeding them

Am missing a great concert tonight

I’ve missed everything for the last two weeks

Being sick sucks

You have only enough energy for the essentials and none for the fun stuff

Today I’ve been enjoying the mundane

Washing dishes

Sleeping in a bed

Cooking French toast and Shepherd’s pie

Dusting bookshelves

And praising God for blessing me with these little things

Yesterday was my daughter’s birthday

Tomorrow she wants to help me make a cake

White cake with two containers of milk chocolate icing

and pink letters that say, “Happy Birthday Sarah”

Even my baby knows

It’s the little things that bring us the most pleasure

I keep watching the people on the side of the road

On my way to and from work

Mostly homeless but not all

Every time I see a white man with a lot of grey hair I think of my father

I would hate to see him

Even though he grates on my nerves sometimes

In such a humiliating position

Sometimes I can imagine what they were like as children

I saw a man with curly blond hair and worn out clothes

His shirt was red and blue

It made his hair stand out

I imagined that as a child he was complimented a lot on his looks
And still tries to look handsome

Another fella has a coffee mug in his hand every morning

It makes him look like he’s got somewhere he has to be

Maybe he does

And of course the hookers in the afternoon flashing the wares

And in the morning looking tired and wrung out

Bless their hearts

Yeah!!!!
I got the darn right indent figured out 

 

Obviously having some right indent issues
Couldn’t help but notice a group of teenage girls

Hanging out in the road in front of our house

Mentioned it to Dood

And he said they had already approached him

I was amazed at their audacity

He said, “You’re just old”

I was astounded the other day to discover that my parapro is voting for Obama

So I considered long and hard to find a reason

And couldn’t’ find one

It did occur to me that I myself am very excited to have Sarah Palin as the next VP

Why

Because she’s a my aged-white-woman,

Who went from hockey mom to VP candidate for the
United States of America

She could be me!!

Except that I know nothing and care nothing about politics

but seriously

How totally inspiring is that

Got poisoned by another virus from my youngins

But it doesn’t stop me from giving homework and taking points

They will learn

Little viruses only make me grouchy

Was working on geography of North America today

Every time we name the Great lakes

I want to sing that old Gordon Lightfoot song

Edmund Fitzgerald
They’re lucky I had a soar throat today or it would have burst out of me

Like a scene from Alien

I’ll sing it next week

Last month we explored the whole ‘Global Warming’ issue

Several of my students had never heard of it

It was alarming to them, even though I told them all sides

Right in front of my eyes

One little girl, very intelligent

Looked at me with wide, watering eyes for several minutes

She said nothing

She was thinking hard

Then she straightened herself and said

“That’s OK God is in control, He’ll take care of me”

 I love teaching

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/01/gustav.riding/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
watch  Why he won’t leave
it’s heart breaking
big prayers and concerns for those in the path of the storm
it reminds me of Desert Storm
in that we were glued to the news
watching what was happening to someone else
feeling connected but not completely owning it
I’ve monitored CNN since I woke up this morning
like a wreck on the side of the highway
it’s just awful but still you look