Survey Says....

My friend Carrie emailed this to me and I LOVE these things so I thought I'd post this one :)

1. What time did you get up this morning? Woke up at 5am got up around 5:30 or so
2. Diamonds or pearls? diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? I think it was national treasure 2
4. What is your favorite TV show? Chuck and Bones
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? bannana and a kashi bar
6. What is your middle name? elizabeth
7. What food do you dislike? fish sticks, its just not natural
8. What is your favorite CD at moment? one of my mix cd's b/c I am kind of random
9. What kind of car do you drive? 4runner (her name is clinique)
10. Favorite sandwich? beef martini from wright's or any cuban sandwhich
11. What characteristic do you despise? Dishonesty
12. Favorite item of clothing? sunglasses
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Mediterranean cruz to greece, turkey and isreal
14. Favorite brand of clothing? don't really have one
15. Where would you retire to? someplace where I could have the mountains and the ocean
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? 21 was the most fun and 30 was the least fun
17. Favorite sport to watch? yeah I don't really watch sports on tv
18. Furthest place you are sending this? oregon
19. Person you expect to send it back first? who knows?
21. When is your birthday? jan 21
22. Are you a morning person or a night person? I've converted to being a morning person but I am not sure how I feel about it
23. What is your shoe size? depends on the shoe
24. Pets? oh lets see there is my dog coco and my guinea pig FiFi and the class fish named Bob, then my parents have 2 dogs and a cat
26. What did you want to be when you were little? I had no idea, I wasn't very ambitious
27. How are you today? tired and cranky, the kids are driving me nutty
28. What is your favorite candy? anything involving the chocolate peanut butter combo
29. What is your favorite flower? Imperial Roses
30. What is a day on the calendar you're looking forward to? June 5 last day of school!
31. What is your full name? I please the 5th
l33. What are you listening to right now? the fan on my computer
34. What was the last thing you ate? veggie burger and an organic shake from Evos
35. Do you wish on stars? I would but I can't see them here in the swamp! too many trees!
36. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? metallic purple with glitter
37. How is the weather right now? Cool, dry, pleasant
38. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My sister, she invited me to Evos
39. Favorite soft drink? sadly I am still addicted to Pepsi
40. Favorite restaurant? Outback
41. Hair color? Brown
42. What was your favorite toy as a child? I had one of those my first tape players, man I loved that thing accept it wasn't loud enough!
44. Hugs or kisses? depends on who is offering
45. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate
46. Coffee or tea? Water
47. Do you want your friends to email you back? yep :)
48. When was the last time you cried? This week was a PMS week so you do the math
49. What is under your bed? the leaf to the dining room table
50. What did you do last night? not much
51. What are you afraid of? clowns
52. Salty or sweet? Sweet
53. How many keys on your key ring? my teacher key ring has like 8 keys and my home key ring has 2
54. How many years at your current job? this is my first year
55. Favorite day of the week? depends on the week
56. How many towns have you lived in? ha ha ha let's see....Tampa, Orlando, Yerington, Dayton, Sparks, Stead, Pahrump, Reno, Salt Lake that makes 10 but I feel like I forgot one
57. Do you make friends easily? Yes
58. How many people will you send this to? Count the addresses
59. How many will respond? Not sure
60. About how many emails do you get in a normal day?does spam count? if it does I get about 25-30

Stupid Atomic Clock!

So my dad is slightly obsessed with atomic clocks. I wasn't really sure why but whatever right? As long as it doesn't infringe upon my happiness I could care less. I think he has 2 at work and bought some for friends as a present. Well he decided to buy one for his and my mom's bedroom too. Have you ever tried to set an atomic clock before? Well me neither and I refused to look at the directions because that's cheating. So I got the thing set fairly quickly and mom attached the outside weather monitor to the front of the house and we were good to go! Until.....my dad noticed that the moon phase was off. Because he has them at work he noticed that the one in his bedroom didn't match. He's really good at paying attention to the tiny details let me tell ya :) So I had to move around the clock until it could "catch" the radio signal that gets transmitted from Colorado to the outside monitor thingy. Ok fine no problemo. I leave it out on the kitchen table and the next morning the moon phase is back on track! However the day, date and time are now wrong! Stupid clock! Who cares what the moon phase is anyways? My dad that's who! The man who will not rest until everything is just right and since he is a quadriplegic that means that I will not rest until everything is just right (my mom said she couldn't "see" the buttons without her glasses). STUPID ATOMIC CLOCK! So I cheated looked at the directions and set the time zone. All is well..........until the STUPID ATOMIC CLOCK runs out of batteries! I plan on growing up and moving out before that happens! :)
PS I am pretty sure he likes the clocks because the time display is so big and he can't see that great without his "reading" glasses! :)

PPS Danica seriously if you post a comment about buying me an atomic clock or you actually buy one for me I won't rest until I've paid you back with interest! And you know my gene pool! :)

Jane Austen Stuff

My friend Anne posted this on her blog and I thought it would be a fun quiz! I have to agree with the findings too! :)

Take the Quiz here!

My First Volcano Experiment!

Yeah so I have never done the exploding volcano thing, and actually I've never seen it done live either. So since we are studying land forms in science I thought it would be fun to do a variation on the volcano thing. You do it 3 times using different colors of food coloring to show the layers the lava make on the Earth's crust. I wish I had a picture but I left my camera in my other purse! Let's just say I started out calling our Volcano Mt. Sussman and by the end was referring to it as Mt. Throwup! (sometimes I have a hard time reigning in my sarcasm around the kids, but they think its funny) But the kids just like to watch the volcano overflow. They really are easy to please.

I got a TON of chocolate (including godiva woo-hoo!) for Valentines Day from the kids. And some super cute cards too! I'm working on making a collage with my valentines and I'll post a pic when its done. My favorite card was from one of my boys and I need to give you some background so you will understand why its so cute..... I modeled a writing lesson a few months ago and I chose favorite color as a topic. Of course my favorite color is purple and I did a little rant about how you can't buy anything like cell phones or laptops or ipods in purple they all come in pink but not purple!! Anyways he got me a spongebob valentine that was purple and he wrote a note on the back that said "I am not angry that you can't buy stuff in purple, but notice the front of the card". How cute is that?!? And he was listening AND he remembered! What more can a teacher ask for? :)

Also this definition was on my google page today and I thought some of you might enjoy it:

virago: an ill-tempered, overbearing woman; also, a woman of great strength and courage.

I wonder if ill tempered and great strength and courage have to go hand in hand? :)

Poking Around

So Friday was fair day. What is fair day you ask? Well the kids get the day off so they can go to the Florida State Fair. Yep it sounds crazy but I remember fair day as a kid. And the best part of fair day is that the teachers get the day off too! Woo-hoo! :) So mom and I went shopping which was way fun and I finally got caught up on my laundry (well almost). But that's not the point of this post! :) So I've posted before about some of the silly boys in my class. (see I survived my first field trip!! Out of the mouths of babes. ) We don't get much of a chance to be silly during the day, well at least I don't. But dissmissal time is a different story. We all kind of hang out on the front lawn until their parents come to get them. We thumb wrestle and poke each other. And they are forever trying to get into my back pockets even though I have told them repeatedly that its not appropriate! And for some reason they like to try and get my keys with my teacher badge. Then they pretend they are me and try and send me to the principals office. It's really alot of fun and the kids just make me laugh and laugh. Well Thursday they were even more off the wall than usual. They were all over me! They examined all the freckles on my arms and were overly fascinated with my elbows. And I was wearing fake cargo capris with lots of pockets and they checked out all of the pockets! They even sniffed my finger nails! Which for the record smelled like anti bacterial soap. And they were just laughing and having the best time! I think anyone else would have had a fit, and I have to admit it was bizarre, but they were just so delighted that it was hard to get mad. I just let them poke and prod for a bit. I really must be one of the most laid back teachers ever!

I love the Dollar Store!

The Dollar store is a teacher's best friend! Went there today and got modeling clay so we can make landforms in science. A broom b/c the custodians never sweep or mop our rooms. Some cute valentines gel sticker thingys to put on the window of my classroom door. And some snacks for my store! AWESOME! Oh and I got 2 purple baskets for no reason at all accept they only cost $1! :) Its all good! I brought work home with me tonight which I finally finished. I guess I should be bummed but there isn't anything on TV accept Gladiators and some kind of dance show! UGH! That gladiator show is the cheesiest thing I have seen in a LONG time. Plus its pretty obvious that all the gladiators are on steroids. I guess its good that I have a ton of work to keep me busy!!

Stressed?!? Who is stressed?!?

Ummmm ME that's who! So there is alot of stuff going on at the Sussman household. I'm not going to get into it because even thinking about all of it brings on a monster headache. But let's just say that between family stuff and teaching stuff I realized that I am wound pretty tight. The teaching stuff is mostly me freaking about b/c my kids have to take a standardized test in March and so I have to teach them everything they need to know in math by then. Now understand that the school year ends in June but they need to know everything by March. And then after March I get to go back and reteach the stuff they didn't have time to absorb b/c I was moving along so fast trying to teach them everything they need to know to pass the test in March. yeah it doesn't make sense to me either. They also take a reading test, but everyone seems to be doing OK in the reading department. And because of all this performance measuring of both me and the kids I end up giving about 1 assessment a week which is a big waste of time! I kind of feel sorry for kids today, we don't have any time to do fun kid stuff. But they know alot more than I did at their age (well accept they can't add or subtract because who has time to teach that? apparently not their second grade teacher). The whole point of this post is that I need to find a way to relax and to be honest I am not sure how to go about doing it. I feel guilty for any free time b/c there are a million things I could be doing for my class. I had big plans for yesterday but I was layed out with a headache all day. I don't feel right about catching up on the Sabbath. UGH! I can't win! So if anyone has any ideas for doing anything relaxing that I can actually do I am open to suggestions. In other words...................HELP!

Six in the morning

Unfortunately its not the time I get up I get up around 5 am :) Who knew I would turn out to be a morning person? I am feeling much better and sound almost normal now which is a relief. My birthday was good! An extended celebration that included cupcakes from my team mates at school, dinner at PF Changs with my sis and friends, and another celebration on Sunday with my family. Really who could ask for more? :) But that's not the point of this post! I got the news Sunday night that my beloved Prophet and President of my church Gordon B Hinckley passed away. He was 97! He is the only Prophet I've known, being a convert and all. I can remember going to General Conference (when I was taking the discussions) and hearing him speak. I remember thinking "ok this guy get's it, he knows what this life is all about". I love the way he always honored his wife who passed on before him. I take comfort in the fact that he gets to be reunited with her again. Also I take extreme comfort knowing that this is the Lord's Church and his perfect plan includes the choosing of a new Prophet. There is no turmoil no chaos, just time to morn the loss of such a wonderful man and be comforted by the knowledge that one day I will get to see him again and thank him personally for helping to bring me closer to the Lord! Although I have a feeling I will have to stand in a LONG line to say my thanks!

An update on my condition

Sooo it turns out I have an upper respiratory infection plus laryngitis! They gave me a zpack and an inhaler! Turns out the inhaler makes me wired and can't be used at night which completely defeats the purpose. My voice is just starting to come back, but is not back 100% so I sound like I've been smoking 3 packs a day for the last 20 years. And I am now in love with the smell of vick's vapor b/c its been in a vaporizer that's been running every night! I really really really hate being sick! I have all these things I want to do but I don't have the energy or the voice to do them! Its frustrating. But I am still going back to school tomorrow so lets all say a prayer that my voice is in good working order by then!

PS my birthday is this Thursday! How old am I? 29!!!! (for the third time) :)

The 11th annual Vince Sussman Rehabilitation Fund Golf Classic

Classic is definitely the right word for it! Not classy by any means but definitely classic! :) So my dad is a former high school football and wrestling coach as well as just an all around great guy. So when he had the accident 11 years ago that caused him to become a quadriplegic a bunch of his former players got together and formed The Vince Sussman Rehabilitation Fund. They do a lot of fund raising for him which includes an annual golf tournament. Its also kind of a Reunion thing for the guys. They get together and tell football or wrestling war stories and act like they are 16 again. They go out and play a round of 9 wholes and drink LOTS of beer! (as in there is a cooler full at every whole). Then they come back for dinner that includes a raffle and an auction. I have to say its super fun to see all the guys every year. And they all remember me when I was a baby of course. :) This year was pretty tame, just a few bets on who could shotgun their beer the fastest. Previous years have included paying money to the fund if a guy would eat a jar of deviled eggs, stuffing a guy into a golf bag etc. The proceeds all go to my dad :) And I have never seen so many grown men tell my dad they love him. A few of them even kiss him! I really do have a great dad! He's always tried to help the people around him become better. And he treats everyone like family(which is where I get it from). So once a year we get together with about 80 of his "sons" and have a blast! Alot of these guys are lawyers accountants and business owners who have done very well for themselves and they all have told me that they wouldn't be where they were without my dad's help! I already know I have a great day but its just awesome to get together with so many other people who feel the same way!

P.S. This year the winners of the tournament donated the prize to my dad, and every year they rig the money pot raffle so my mom wins! :)