Purple Ribbons

A couple weeks ago, I had the chance to take two of my students to the regional ITEC competition in Cedar Rapids. I had blogged about this project earlier, but as you can see, these girls took their project to the next level.

We were all a little nervous as to how they would measure up compared to the competition. This wasn't something our district had ever participated in before.

The girls came back purple ribbon winners in their division (video) and qualified for the state competition next fall.



I won't say much more, as I think the video speaks for itself. I hope that I can meet up with them at state next year.

SOLD!

I was driving home from my grandparents' house on Friday when a little white dog ran in front of my car. I almost hit it, but Dottie was hanging out the car window in my lap, and the dog stopped, intrigued.

I didn't recognize the dog, so I got out to take a look at it's collar. I was only a block from home, so I figured I could return it to a neighbor. I looked, no collar. I petted the dog, and tried to shoo it out of the middle of the street as a big red truck came driving up.

"Is this your dog?" I asked.

"No, but is that your house for sale down the street?" the man driving the truck asks.

"Yes."

Out of the truck pops an excited 23 year old girl wearing a UNI t-shirt.

"I'm buying your house!" she announces.

She had been driving by showing her new house to her family. We proceed to talk more about the house, my neighbors, and her situation. I come to find out she walked through it the first day it was on the market, fell in love, came back the next day, and had just made an offer.

My dad advises me to keep the emotion out of business, but I could not be more thrilled to sell my house to this girl. She reminds me so much of myself 3 years ago looking for my first house. Yah, sure, the house is a little more move-in ready than it was when I found it, but I swear we share the same excitement.



(This is what the house looked like on Christmas Eve when I found it 3 years ago...)

There's something special about buying your first house, and I'm so glad that the person moving in will love it just as much as I have.


Oh, and the dog? I never saw what happened to it. No one saw it run off, but I'm sure it found it's way home.

This Old House...

Meet BeeBee. Short for "Beautiful Bungalow".

She officially went on the market 7:30 PM Wednesday night. I didn't give her her proper name, my realtor did in the marketing fliers she created. How personal. Because of that, I felt she needed a nickname. BeeBee seemed to fit her.

BeeBee has had a lot of action in her first 2 days on the market. 10 potential buyers have traipsed through her and analyzed her every detail. I'm sure she feels violated.

The interest in BeeBee makes me excited and hopeful. It gives me affirmation that the hours I spent to make a beat up old house into a home will be enjoyed by someone in the years to come. Maybe it will be that girl who came through the house the first day and then again on the second. You know, the one who was pre-approved and made an offer?

Yes, hmm, maybe. : )

2 Weeks Worth

Things have been hectic around here!!! I have (for once) actually felt like I have plenty to blog about. The irony is that I haven't found the time to sit down and write. So here's what's been goin' on.

Since Jay accepted his new job, life has been moving in fast forward.

We've been working on getting our current house ready to sell. This involves lots of organizing, de-cluttering, and pretty much depersonalizing every room. In addition, dad decided we should probably pop up a quick second bathroom in the basement, and replacing some of the siding on the garage. In the end, the house will look better than it ever did while we lived in it - in hopes that someone out there is looking to buy a little 2-bedroom bungalow. Cross your fingers.

Next, my obsessive internet searching for a house and a job in Cedar Falls has begun. The bad news is the job market is looking pretty non-existent at the moment. The good news is that we've already found a new house!


Meet the new Schmeebler house. We're pretty stoked about it. As you can see, there are still some things that are yet to be finished on it (driveway, yard, etc.) but other than that, it's ready to be moved in to. We're not quite sure when that will be yet, but stay tuned for more details.

With house buying out of the way, I was able to take my yearly trip to Alabama with the fam. This was our 10th year going, can you believe it? For the first time ever, I flew to meet my family. I lucked out on my flight out of Moline and took a bump in exchange for a round trip ticket anywhere in the US. I've always wanted to have the freedom to do that, and this was my chance. Now I have another trip to look forward to sometime in the next year!!

Once I got to Bama, there was a lot of fun in the sun by day...

Dinner, chillin', and a little metal-detecting by night....

Johnni visited for a day, and we showed her a day in the life of Alabama...

And we celebrated our 10th year by going on a dolphin cruise.

All in all, it was another great vacation with the fam. I don't know if I'll ever get too old for Alabama.


Speaking of old, it was my birthday on Sunday, and I'm now 2 dimes and a nickel! Jay's birthday present to me was organizing our basement to get ready to move. I seriously almost cried I was so excited. This was the BEST present I could have ever dreamed of right now!! (He knew it, too).



As for me and Dottie, we've been adjusting to life during the week without Jay. He had to leave on Sunday to go back to CF for work, and Dottie was distraught all night. Even closing the blinds didn't stop her from looking for Jay to come back! Isn't she pathetic looking?

That's all for now, more to come later!!!

Home

An older and wiser friend of ours told us last week, "You bloom where you are planted."

Jay says it's a hippie way of looking at life, but I think it's kinda cool. I'm hoping that it doesn't matter where we're planted, because we're about to get uprooted!

(Sidenote: That came across WAY cornier than I wanted it to...sorry. I couldn't resist.)

Mr. Schmeebz accepted a new position within Deere earlier this week, and with the new position comes a transfer to a new (well...not exactly new...) city. That's right, Cedar Falls!

J will actually be headed there mid-March to begin his job, while I'll stay back and finish my year up at school. Oh yes, and sell the house. I'll follow after school is finished, and hopefully will find a job of my own in the Cedar Valley here sometime soon.
(If you know any district who is looking for a fabulous teacher with three years of experience, but relatively cheap on the pay scale, let me know....)

So our lives are about to get flipped upside down, and I don't have much to say about it beyond that. I don't need to bore you with my deeply optimistic views on how all the little details will fall into place, or my fears that they won't, so I'll leave it at that.

We're movin'!!

5th Grade Humor?

Some days as a teacher, I'm concerned for the youth of America. I have felt this concern overwhelming the past few days in my classroom, and I really needed to share my feelings with someone. Thanks for listening.

Why, you ask?

Let me start by saying that I consider myself pretty tuned-in to what kids (or tweens) are into these days. Knowing what my students are interested in helps me relate to them, and it allows me to reach them as learners. Fifth graders can be pretty random, but I find myself fairly tolerant. The past couple of days however, I have questioned the sanity of all 10 and 11 year-olds.

They have been walking around our classroom obnoxiously singing and saying the oddest things. (I'd tell you what, but it'd spoil the surprise!)

Finally, I asked them, "Where in the world is this coming from?"

"YouTube!!!" They announced with glee, and later, one of them emailed me this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFCSXr6qnv4&feature=related

Just watch it, and you'll understand why I'm having a hard time putting this all into words.

Are fifth graders odd for thinking this is the coolest thing ever, or am I bananas?