Hot Chocolate, Cake and Nachos - Oh My!

Does this picture look familiar? Remember when Fred went nuts at Uncle David's house and got so dirty we had to give him a bath at midnight? Well, his cousin Harvey got into the act today. I think my family is having bad luck with their dogs this week!
Wouldn't it be nice if they could go in the wash? LOL! I wish we could see Katie's pregnant belly in this pic...I stopped by Strings and Strands today after work and picked up my first "thing" of yarn and my first size 9 needles. The nice lady at the store convinced me that I should get lighter colored yarn (I bought gray) so that I can see what I am doing in the dark, and a girl in the store suggested I buy the book Stitch and Bitch to help me learn. (The website cracks me up - I like the book title: Stitch and Bitch Crochet - The Happy Hooker! HA!) I then stopped by the Post Office to mail away my application for a Vermont Teaching License. Very exciting! Today we got an email from our Superintendent warning of job cuts in our county, which really makes me wonder about getting a job in Vermont. I am sure that if there is a job available it is going to be mine. Gotta be positive, right?

I decided to stop by Kroger to deposit more Pennies for Patients money today. I wish I had taken pictures of my 7th graders - we looked like a bunch of drug dealers counting all that money. Kids were everywhere collecting money, counting money, sorting money. Our hands were disgusting - but before we could wash them they shut the water off to the whole building! Anyway, I got about half the money deposited when the CoinStar machine broke (we use these because it sends the money directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society). A wonderful woman at Kroger (a manager maybe?) came by and offered to deposit the money for me at the bank inside the store since she had an account there. It took much longer than I anticipated and I felt really bad because she was on her way home... so I bought her a Starbucks giftcard as a thank you for helping me out. I love when people are kind! She was also impressed with our students - and so am I. Last year we raised almost $4,000 when the economy was good - and that was a huge feat for a poor school like ours. This year I publicly set the goal higher at $5,000 with the secret hope of at least getting $2,000. Well, right now we have over $2,700 with a little more coming in on Monday! I can't wait to announce this at school on Monday!

So after all of my errands I came home from work around 5ish and took Fred for a walk, certain he would go #2 after eating all of that crap last night from the trash. But after a nice walk and no poop, I put him back inside and headed back to the grocery. (I don't like Kroger, silly I know. So I had to drive to Publix, Where Shopping is a Pleasure - and they have better commercials!) Anyway, I wasn't gone long but apparently it was long enough for Fred, who decided to poo while I was away... all over my living room. He also attempted to knock over the trash again, as the can was pushed all the way to the back of the kitchen. I was pissed, but again, I should have walked him for hours, if necessary, until he went.

After that disaster I decided that it would be okay to make hot chocolate, red velvet cake and nachos for dinner. If I get hungry before bed I'm digging in to the leftover egg salad.

The pictures below were taken this summer while I was at the Stratford-Monticello seminar. One day towards the end of the seminar, we had some "library time" and Kelly (my roommate), Tyler and I decided to use the time to visit Fredericksburg. It was really fun and we got to see a lot in a short time span. I was disappointed a few months ago when I heard that there were plans to build a Wal-Mart near the battlefield... I even signed a petition from the Civil War Preservation Trust adding my name to the protest along with Ken Burns, James McPherson and John McCullough. Yesterday, the Burlington Free Press also weighed in on the action because the land is of particular importance to Vermonters. Tyler sent me this article today which argues against building. This part especially erks me:

Opposition to the project is growing out of proportion, said R. Mark Johnson, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, which will soon decide whether Wal-Mart receives a special-use permit to build a store larger than otherwise allowed. The area is already zoned for commercial use, he said.

"This is not a pristine wilderness," Johnson said. "It's commercial."

A lot of historic battlefield land in the area is protected from development, he said, and it's unreasonable to expect local residents to protect all of it. "You can't really go anywhere in Virginia without being in proximity to a battlefield, certainly in Orange County," he said.

Anyway, you can add your name to the protest here. I think that it would be fun to get my 8th graders interested in the issue since we are studying the Civil War now.