Utah Porn

It was 100 degrees in Utah today. Utah is a desert. But what do a large percentage of the population wear? Knee-length shorts and t-shirts. Not tanktops. Oh, no, that would be wrong. A lady might accidently cause a man to have impure thoughts if he were to glimpse her shoulder. But, alas, I am not of that large percentage. So guys enjoy my sexy shoulder (and a touch of collarbone to boot):

Dear Board Members

For those that don't know, the teachers and kids are getting screwed by our administration. If you would like to read a delightfully consise summary please see my friend Hayley's post at http://drpepperjones.blogspot.com/2009/08/suck-it-board.html

Here's the email I sent to the board tonight:

Dear Board Members,

I am writing you as a tax-payer and a teacher in the Jordan School District. As a citizen, I have no problem paying taxes to support public education even though I do not have children. But my taxes dollars are not going to support the education of children; they are going to pad the pockets of an incredibly large and overpaid collection of administrators. Our district was just split. Please take a look at the personnel cuts that were made. http://www.jordandistrict.org/departments/forms/Accounting/full_budget_0910.pdf

Go look at pages 124-125. A total of 2,820.46 jobs were eliminated throughout the district. Of those, 2,024.11 instructional positions were eliminated because of the split. Only 796 non-instructional positions (many of which were people who work directly with students in the schools) were removed despite the fact we have half the district to supervise!

Supervisors, directors, and consultants were hardly touched. The people who actually work in SCHOOLS were removed in a proportional amount but the administrators (many of whom make $100,000+) were not.Please remember who does the educating of students. It is not the administration. Please support your children and your teachers, the heart of your schools. Drastic cuts need to be made in the executive areas. A smaller tax increase and deep cuts to the administration are the best solution to our budget issues.

Suzanne ThompsonWest Jordan, UT

If you would like to email the board, here are their email addresses:

leah@leahvoorhies.com, richardosborn5@gmail.com, jdc_schoolboard@yahoo.com, rbrinker1@msn.com, rbojak@bfsmail.com, cfreeman@pckutah.com, pjkennett@juno.com

Harry Potter Movies

I have a love/hate relationship with Harry Potter movies. If they were just movies and not made from a book, I think I would love them. I think the kids are great (their acting has improved greatly), the adult actors are fabulous, and the special effects are excellent. But...

I love the books. I love the detail and the background and the nuances from the books. Because of the medium of movies, all of those things become lost. Obviously, things have to be cut but for me the movies just become a sersis of scenes glued together. Plus, what's up with adding major stuff that was never in the books?!?! Guess we won't be getting a wedding at the Whesley's in the next book. It also bugs me when major things get left out. Where was Dumbledore's funeral? Kind of major. The wand Harry picked up in his office? That's supposed to be in the tomb. Sort of a major point in the next book.

So I'm torn.

New kids

Monday starts my fourth year of teaching! I can't believe it has gone by so quickly! Guess I can't use the "I'm a new teacher" excuse anymore. :)

So of course, I've been having the regular back to school freak out dreams. For those of you who don't teach, thank your lucky stars. My mom says she still has the dreams even though she's retired. Basically, most teachers dream about their classes being out of control. I think it is the fear of the unknown. I often have the dream that the kiddies are literally climbing the walls, like little monkeys! Last night, I dreamed I showed up for the first day and my classroom had been given to another teacher. No one seemed to know where my new room was but I had 24 little ones coming any second. So much for relaxing before school starts!

For those of you who enjoy the occasional crazy student story, here's one to start the year. I've been informed that one of the boys I'm getting likes to masterbate in class. Yes, you read that correctly. But it gets better! In first grade he had and accident and crapped his pants. So he's in the bathroom and realizes this is going to be a problem. He procedes to return to class, with his pants around his ankles, and presses himself up against the glass door to get his teacher's help! Oh, what a picture! I'll let you know if I get any other gems this year.

One more day

Tomorrow is the last day of school and I don't want it to come. I have loved having this class. Every single kid has a nice personality. Even the slightly annoying ones are at least entertaining. I'm so amazed at how much they've grown up. The girls all started the year with super long, little girl hair and now they've all got cut little dos. Some of my boys are noticing girls! But there are so many amazing friendships between the boys and the girls. I'm definitely going to cry tomorrow!

Weekend Wedding In Washington

I spent the weekend celebrating the wedding of Forest and Jenny in Yakima, WA. I've know Forest since about birth and have recently decided that Jenny trumps him in the friend department if they ever break up. It was a great weekend and there would be more photos except my camera died.


The bride opening wine at the rehersal dinner


My boys Bob and Forest


Jenny and me

More Wedding Fun