A favorite forward!

A little teacher humor and a true story... people seriously need to learn to decipher the English Language....especially if they are going to create names for their children.

This is priceless!!! Suppose a new student enrolls in your school. Her name is Le-a How would you pronounce the child's name?
Leah? NO
Lee-A? NOPE
Lay-a? NO
Lei? Guess Again.
It's pronounced 'Ledasha'

Oh, yes...you read it right. The dash is not silent.
This child attends a school in Livingston Parish, Louisiana.
Her mother is irate because so many faculty & staff are getting her name wrong. So, if you see something like this come across your desk, remember the mother's statement, "The dash don't be silent."

thankful

last night Murad called me in a panic. "Babe, I was in a car accident." He was really worried and upset. I mean who isn't when they've just been in a wreck. He was really upset because it was his fault. "Babe, I feel like such a failure." He's had a hard month. We both have and this is just one more thing that we don't need. However, I am thankful that he was okay. It could've been so much worse. I'm so thankful that he was able to call me and not the police officer or paramedic. It made all my problems so trivial. I guess things like this happen to put things in perspective. I don't know what will happen in the next couple of days (especially financially), but I'm so thankful I'm here to share the hard time with him.

Miserable

I've been thinking a lot lately about my spiritual gifts. I need to get a lot more involved in church, but I feel like I have no time. Thinking about this made me reexamine my career. This has been the worst year by far. I have work I should be doing right now, but I thought I better clear my head before I begin. I know the fall is always crazy, but seriously IT SUCKS! I'm seriously questioning whether or not I can stay in this profession. I just need some sort of reality check. Someone needs to say one of two things to me:
1. "Ashlea, you're an amazing teacher and you would be silly to leave this rewarding profession. Things WILL get better."
2. "Ashlea, you have so many other talents. Why aren't in another profession that can offer you so much more growth"

The question is, what can I do besides teach? I love teaching, but I do not love all the administrative stuff I have to do. Some of it is mandated by the state of Texas, so I can't not do it. I'm also questioning why I'm going to school to be an administrator. That would be such a stressful job. Even if I was an elementary school principal (which is what I would do), it would be stressful.

I don't know if I will leave the teaching profession, but it just felt good to get that off my chest. I just want things to get better. I want there to be a light at the end of this dark tunnel.

Texas State Fair

This is truly one of my favorite times of year and a great part about living in Dallas. Murad and I have had a rough couple of weeks at school and work, and we were able to set aside our worries and attend the Texas State Fair. We love the overpriced food and fried delicacies. We promptly arrived and grabbed hamburgers and something to drink. We then made our way around the fair, stopping to see all the attractions. We then found Fried Hostess Twinkies. We hadn't had those so we ordered them. It was like a sugar high. Delicious fried batter with sponge cake and cream inside....yummy! We then found my favorite....fried oreos! I could eat those every day! We also ate cotton candy and the classic funnel cake. Here are some of the other fried foods you can eat at the Texas State Fair:

fried peanut butter jelly sandwich

fried ice cream sundae

fried guacomole bites

fried cheesecake

fried coca-cola

chicken fried bacon

those are just some of the foods available....

We then made our way to the Latin American displays in Hall of State. We found the Dominican Republic display and talked to the couple running it for a while. The wife is from Santo Domingo, which is where Murad's grandmother grew up. It was fun to learn more about his heritage and answer some of the questions we both have. We're keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to go to the Dominican Republic for our honeymoon in August!

Lastly, we made our way to the Auto show. We picked out all the new cars and the ones we're going to buy. Murad picked the Dodge Charger and I picked the Dodge Caliber. Not that we can afford to buy new cars, but we can dream, right?

Well, I've attached some pics. Enjoy!

Blah

I've been feeling like blah lately. My school year has started off kind of rocky. I just feel so overwhelmed and disappointed at the same time. Luckily, my kids are great so that helps me get through each day. I feel like each day I come home with more to complain about to Murad. I'm sure he's sick of hearing it, but he's very supportive. He keeps telling me that I need to roll with the punches and be creative, but it's hard. I guess I'm just feeling that teacher burn-out everyone talks about. I just need to get out of the funk. I need to get my groove back, or as Tish calls it, her kiwi.

I don't know how to end this blog effectively (Geez, I sound like my students when they write essays "I don't know how to end this, so that's all for now.").

Blah.

Eagles Lost

Boo! The Eagles lost! Good game though, but still upset!

Evolution of a Bridesmaid Dress and other musings

Isn't it ironic that when I decide to give up on wedding planning, that it beckons me to it? Why, why must you call me? I just want to go to work, spend time with my fiance and "kids", hang out with my friends, and talk to my family without having a conversation about "the wedding." However, that is impossible.

"Ashlea, how's wedding planning going?"

"Ashlea, did you go to Michael's and get some ribbon with the 50% off coupon?" MY MOM

"Ashlea, did anyone warn you NOT to order dresses from David's Bridal and that they SUCK!"

Well, I had started out with a beautiful Bill Levkoff dress that I was going to have my bridesmaids order off the internet. However, even with the discount, the shipping and everything was still more than I was comfortable having my bridesmaids spend ( I didn't want them to spend over $150). Plus, they had really weird sizing. So, I found an identical dress at David's Bridal. I set up an account at one of their stores and told my bridesmaids to order it by September 16th. Katie and Amber both got theirs ordered, but Amber called me and told me that it was being discontinued. I immediately got on the phone and checked into sizes for my remainig bridesmaids and they were out and were not making anymore! DAMN! David's Bridal is not flexible at all and they only do exchanges even though it was totally their fault. So, I kept picking new dresses and a bunch of them were being discontinued. I found out why, it was the color...Champagne! Then, I decided okay I'll just have them wear Periwinkle dresses....no, no, it was a discontinued color as well. "They're spring colors," said the saleslady, "Why don't you pick something from our fall collection?" My wedding is March 21st. WHY THE HELL would I order a "fall" colored gown! I eventually found a dress that works perfectly for my bridesmaids. It's totally different than what I wanted, but I love it and I think my girls will look stunning in it. My mom and matron of honor (Katie) both like it better than the original dress, so I think that is a good sign. So, I'm posting pictures of the three bridesmaid dresses. The first one is the NEW dress. The 2nd one is the original dress (Bill Levkoff) and the 3rd dress is the discontinued dress. Imagine it with a periwinkle ribbon tied around the waist. I still need to pick that up!

On another note, not to bitch about the hurricane, but damn, it's really cramping my style. How, you may ask? Because, I haven't recieved the scores of the test I took almost two weeks ago. I'm pretty sure I failed it, but I just want a confirmation. It was by far the hardest exam I've taken for this program. The test is modeled after the TeXes Administrator's Exam. Guess I shouldn't be a principal. On another note, I need to start on my internship. Basically, I just need to start recording everything I've done that can count as internship hours. Luckily, I've done a lot. Unfortunately, I'm not very organized, so it will take a long time to straighten out!

Sorry this blog post has turned into a bitch fest, but just one last thing. SAMPSON! Sam is turning into such a pest. He's so mean to other dogs. At first I thought it was just big dogs, but he's even mean to little dogs. I'm just so embarrassed when we go on walks because every dog is scared of him. Then if he doesn't get his fill of attacking other dogs, he just turns and attacks his sister. He does this way too many times a day. I tried taking them running in the mornings, but I had to start bringing Sam back because he hated running so much that he started attacking Maya. Plus, Sam has been chewing parts of the linoleum in our kitchen (can't wait to see if our pet deposit covers it). I keep trying all the behavioral tricks that our trainer taught us, but he's just a little butt! Then last night, Murad was trying to get Sam off the bed and he started growling at Murad. Murad was pissed! We do not handle disrespect well, even from animals. I used to expect this kind of behavior out of Maya just because she's kind of wild and a free spirit, but she is so awesome now. I wish her brother could be. It's weird because people like Sampson better because he's real chill and for some reason people think he's better looking. However, Maya doesn't warm up to people well, but she's so friendly with other dogs. They're just two totally different dogs!

Well, Murad has officially started the grad school search. (there is one good thing in this post) He talked to a psychologist at his job last night who basically told him that he would be an ideal candidate for a doctoral program. Plus, with his grades and experiences he shouldn't have any trouble getting financial aid. This is such an exciting time in our lives. Not only are we getting married, but things just seem to be falling in place everywhere else. I know that all Murad has ever wanted to do is to get his Ph.D in pyschology. When I first met him he talked of it, but he knew that he would have to go back to school and improve his grades. So, he's back in school, sitting in classes with people who are years younger than him just to get a second degree and get into grad school. I'm just so proud of how far he's come. On another note, as I write this blog the Philadelphia Eagles (Murad's team) and the Dallas Cowboys are playing. This is the last game in Texas Stadium. *tear*

Go Eagles!