weekend roundup

Alas, I have returned. Perhaps you didn't know I was gone in the first place, and technically I wasn't. I've been "gone" in the sense that my computer crashed last Monday and I haven't had access to a Blogger Friendly computer since then (my computer at school won't let me access blogger.) Ben, bless his heart, tore it all apart and wiped out the hard drive. It's up and running again but he still needs to hook it back up to the internet. So, in the meantime, I'm at my mom's using her computer to get caught up in my blogging...because there's a lot to blog!!

It has been a whirlwind of a week and if I were smart, I would have remembered my camera chord to hook up my camera to show pictures...but I wasn't so you'll have to wait for later to see pictures. I suppose the easiest way to bang out a weeks worth of blog entries would just to write about each day, so sit back, grab a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy......

Sunday: My computer didn't officially die until Monday, and you all already know this 'news.' Dad Hubert called at about 8:30 to tell us that President Hinckley had died. I was shocked and saddened, but knew it was expected as he was 97 years old. I instantly remembered one of the most precious experiences I had while in Rexburg when President Hinckley came to dedicate the Hinckley Building. He was tender and expressed his love and showed emotion. It was awesome. I thought a lot about this all week.

Monday: Off to school. It was a Monday, what more can I say. I came to my mom's house in a blizzard of snow and decided I am done with the driving in the snow thing, even though my car handles it pretty well. Little did I know this week would be FULL of driving in the snow experiences.

Tuesday: I had my 8th graders start to read the play version of The Diary of Anne Frank. It's a long process to get them to actually buy into the whole play idea, but we managed. I did homework all night for my ESL class, which is a pain and, oopps, watched American Idol auditions.

Wednesday: We continued to read the play and I also was busy working with the 9th graders on our first yearbook deadline (which is MONDAY!)6th period threw me for a loop by acting like total monkeys bouncing off the wall. Three boys in particular were being most difficult. Not to mention that within the course of that 45 minute period, the lovely counselors (whose solution to too many students in the class is "add a few more desks") added 4 more students to the class. When the last kid came at the 5 minute bell, he handed me his paperwork and said, "I'm in your class now!" and my response was a huff of breath and "Are you serious?" I let myself out of the class and took some deep breaths. From inside my room I heard the same 3 hoodlum boys saying things like, "Is she crying?" "I think she's really upset." The bell rang and the class dismissed, not without stares my way looking to see if I were in fact crying (I was not, I simply had had enough of 6th period and was flustered). I managed to bring it together for 7th period and just got them started on their Bell Work when lo and behold, the same 3 hoodlums from 6th period show up at my door. They urged me to come talk to them in the hall. I huffed a little more and obliged their request. When I got in the hallway, all three of them (as if this were rehearsed!) looked down at their feet and in unison said, "We're sorry, Mrs. Hubert." It was touching and sweet and I told them thank you and encouraged them to try a little harder tomorrow. It will probably stand out as a highlight of the year because of the behavior issues I have had with these 3 boys.
Right after school I recieved a text message from Ben stating that he'd locked himself out of the house and needed me to rush home to let him in. I had one hour before my ESL class and loads of stuff to get done in that time, so I huffed again (in the most loving way possible, of course) and drove home. It's not really as if the drive is terribly long, it just ate up some of my work time. I pulled in the drive way, got out of the car, unlocked the door, and got back in the car. I believe a kiss was shared somewhere in there and there was an exchange of money because I needed gas, but I think that's about all I saw of Ben on Wednesday. ESL class was ghastly, as usual. It's a lot of work and information to comprehend at the end of the mid-day of the week. I was tired, cranky, and hungry by the time I got home at 7...and so I slipped again and watched American Idol auditions. But it turned my frown upside down, so to speak.

Thursday: Our 4 year anniversary! I, of course, worked and Ben had a doctor's appointment. He also had to work that night, so I came home after school and he got home from the doctor's soon there after and had a dozen roses for me, 8 white roses and 4 red. He also got me some chocolate covered strawberries and a cute stuffed frog. He left for work at around 4:30. I spent the night at home reading, which really is always enjoyable. We are going to dinner to celebrate tonight. I can't believe it's been 4 years! Also on this day I recieved to "Character Rocks" cards from two students. "Character Rocks" is a program we have at our school where students and teachers can send a note to someone explaining why their character rocks. I got two from students saying that I'm a great teacher and thanking me. What a special note to recieve!

Friday: I had a busy day trying to finish up some yearbook stuff and had my 8th graders make Postcards to send to Anne Frank (yes, I know she's dead)as an extension activity of the play, which is probably going to take a month to read at the rate we're going. We had an interminably long faculty meeting at which the faculty gave me a round of applause for being the teacher that has to travel (which will be soon, probably). I had the brilliant idea to go to President Hinckley's viewing so I invited my mom and when I got out of the meeting, drove to her work and we took TRAX to the Conference Center. The initial reason why I got the idea to go was because on Thursday they said on the news that it took about 20-30 minutes to get through. Well, we got there at 4:30 and found the end of the line CLEAR on the west side of the Conference Center. We ended up waiting outside in the COLD for 2 hours, by which time our feet were near frost-bite and nearly every other extremity of our bodies were just as cold. We made inside the door at 6:55, only to have to wait another 10 minutes to get through security. THEN, they sent us into the actual Conference Center auditorium where we were seated in a section near the top for yet another hour and a half. I fell in and out of asleep and was thisclose to "eating" the hot chocolate mix I had in my purse because I hadn't eaten since 6:30am. We got to watch the flower people put up all the flowers for the funeral. At about 8:50 our section was finally excused to get up and line up to wait another 10 to 15 minutes to actually get to the Hall of Prophets, were the casket was. We walked into the room which was full of security guys and family and they rushed us right by the casket, which was flagged off by some barriers. I think my view of President Hinckley lasted maybe 5 seconds, maybe. A near 4 hour wait for 5 seconds might not sound worth it, but it was. It was really neat to see him, he looked great and even had a little smile on his face. By the time we got back on TRAX to go back to Primary's it was nearly 10:00. We stopped at Hires for a bite to eat, then headed home. I was beat and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I came to my mom's house this morning to watch the funeral because the city was working on power lines in our neighborhood and we were without power. It was tender and precious and a neat experience.

I'm off to get ready for a fancy date tonight. I'm hoping we'll go somewhere with sushi because I'm in the mood!! Tomorrow we're having a Super Bowl party with all of Ben's fam coming over. It'll be fun! I just got word from Ben that my computer is officially fixed, so my next post will be written from the comforting confines of my own office and computer! Happy Weekend!