My new apartment!

*To enlarge any photo just click your mouse on it!*
Welcome to my new apartment! Come on in!

Mox, my black male cat, is always waiting at the door to greet me when I come home (no matter how long I've been gone!).

My cross collection, intercom box, and mail basket at my front doorway.

Above left, peek into my kitchen from the doorway, or (above right) head into the living room and take a seat! Grab a book from my bookshelf and reminisce about your childhood or knit (below left) or we can watch a movie on my teeny-tiny TV!

My lovely little dining area in blue and sunflowers. A close-up of the sunflower plates and candle sconce wall and the teacher collage wall.

My clean kitchen and the kitties dining area next to the pantry door.

The hallway to the bathroom on the left, Grandpa Pretzer's plaque on the wall in the living room to the right of the doorway.


My colorful, cheerful bathroom may possibly be my favorite room in the house because it's colors are my favorite! A view from the door of the sink, the commode, from the tub to the sink, and my linen closet.

My beautiful sage green bedroom, where Mox and SoDo love to sit in the window and look at the little critters outside, and my large, but messy closet!

You're always welcome to come and see it in person!

It's getting hot in here!

It's getting hot in here! No A/C at school and the three fans I have going just aren't doing enough- I'm sweating just sitting at the computer! Uck!

If it didn't require so many loads I'd take all my work home where I do believe in A/C! I took some work home the other day, but now the work is getting bigger (posters) and heavier (labeling workbooks- I don't want to carry piles of books back and forth). And it really isn't possible to put up a bulletin board from home- I just need to be there to do it.

But I can still think of a few things that I can take home to do in my cool air-conditioned apartment:

• make a seating chart
• write birthday's on froggies
• start writing lesson plans
• write standards for math lessons (I keep procrastinating on this one)

I wish I had a lap top, because then I could do some of my typing at home. I'd like to start typing my spelling words and memory list for the first few weeks, but it's just too hot and humid to keep working much longer today.

Number one wish list item for my classroom: a window A/C unit!

summer vacation, part 3: John's handyman work

Saturday afternoon when I woke up John and I went out to NTB and got a new tire put on my wheel. Then we went to Wal-mart and got some supplies for him to do the electrical work. I had decided that I wanted John to try and fix it, rather than go to a repair shop and spend lots of money. John was pretty confident that he could get it fixed up enough to last me for a few more months; which was good because I was going to ask my grandpa to help me car shop when he and grandma come to visit in October.

John put the tire on, which was the easy part. Then he started putting wires back together and that was a little more complicated because there were a lot of them and he wasn't sure what they went to; in fact, we still aren't sure what they run, because while the wires have been reconnected to themselves, they are no longer connected to anything at the end, yet everything in the car still seems to be in working order.

John got the repairs finished for less than $100 and by the end of the evening. I didn't get to go to the Tiger's game with Heather on Lutheran night like we had planned, but at least my car was running again.

Saturday morning I took my car out for some gas (it only had 1 gallon left) and a test drive: it stalled 4 times in less than 1 miles of driving. John looked at it again, took it back for a test drive and didn't have any troubles; he thought that it was stalling just because sediment at the bottom of the gas tank had gotten stirred up, but with filling the tank and stepping on the gas that the stalling would quit. I took it out for another run and he was right. So, after lunch I was back on the road and heading home to Ann Arbor.

Now, you are reading my blog and I have safely made it home. What will become of my car? Well, it's due for another oil change, so I'll take it to a good mechanic to have him look inside and double check everything. If he says it's good for a while longer I'll have more time to save for a new car. If he says its life span is shorter, then it's a good thing grandpa is coming and helping me car shop.

I said I was going to drive the car till it died, but I am getting close to pronouncing it dead to me. I'm tired of car troubles because of the expense and the stress! But thank the Lord for Joe who changed my tire, the highway patrol officer who drove me to Cambridge, and John and Kim who rescued me!

summer vacation, part 2: John and Kim to the rescue

While I waited for John and Kim at the Cracker Barrel I had a plate of pancakes and eggs; Eme waited in the manager's office. After three huge pancakes and two cups of coffee, I decided to take my bags and Eme to sit on the rocking chairs and read while I waited. I had already been there about an hour and John and Kim should be there in about another half hour. I rocked, read, and waited and finally they arrived, like a knight in shining armor on a white steed, only they were in comfy clothes, looking very tired in their white station wagon, and they rescued me!

John drove us back to my car where he tied the wires together and shoved them back under the hood. The highway patrol officer, the same one as before, drove by again and stopped to see what was going on. He again recommended that I be careful of the car catching fire; so we transferred my important things to John's car "just in case." John decided that we should try to take the car as close to their home as possible to get it fixed, so he slowly drove my car, while Kim and I followed him with the hazard lights of their car on.

Poor John and Kim had just arrived at home a few hours before I called after a 20 hour drive from Orlando and the National Youth Gathering. They were exhausted and Kim could barely keep her eyes open. So, after an hour of driving Kim and I switched and we kept going.

My car made it all the way to their house just outside of Columbus. We all climbed out of the cars wearily and headed into sleep for many hours. The car repairs could and would wait until tomorrow after a good night's sleep.

summer vacation, part 1: travel troubles

This has been an interesting summer. My roommate moved out and up to Frankenmuth a few weeks before school let out. I was lonely without her. Then in July I moved into a new apartment, where I am now settled, but still lonely. So, to cure my loneliness I decided to take a road trip to North Carolina to visit my friends that I used to work with there.

I stayed with my friend Cheryl and her 4 kids; Lisa, the oldest, shared her squeaky bunk bed with me. Eme slept in her cage on Lisa's floor. I spent the first few days there just relaxing and recuperating from my life. The later part of my trip I met up with other old friends swimming, talking, and sharing meals together.

Thursday it was time to hit the road again and return home; my cat sitter was going out of town again and I needed to get home and be with my pets. (And not that Lisa was a bad roommate, but her bed was quite squeaky and I was ready to be in my own non-squeaky queen bed again.) And oh you will smile, laugh, smirk, groan, when you read of my travels woes on the way home...

My car felt like it was shaking, vibrating when I was driving. I thought at first that it was just a bad road, but the slower I went the slower the shaking and the faster I went the faster the shaking. I soon realized it had something to do with the tires. I stopped in one of the Virginia's and put some air in my tires and checked the oil, which was a couple quarts low. The air in the tires was a little low in the front left tire, so I added some and got back on the road.

I thought the car was wobbling less, so I felt better, but it was still shaking a little. I didn't know what it could be, but I kept going and said a prayer that if anything did happen that I would be closer to home, or at least somewhere that I had friends to help me if my car did have problems.

My prayer was answered, but not in that I made it home safely, it was the last option: I had car troubles where friends were able to rescue me. Thirty-one miles into Ohio my front left tire blew it's tred! I hit the hazard lights, carefully slowed the car, and pulled off to the shoulder. I don't know how I thought to hit the hazard lights, but I did. I checked to be sure it was clear and got out to see what had happened. The tred was off, the tire still inflated, and a whole rainbow assortment of wires was hanging from the wheel well.

Not knowing what to do, I called the Greig's who live about an hour away in Columbus. I explained to John the situation and he advised me to slowly and carefully drive along the shoulder to the next exit. I tried, but the car was making such a noise from the dragging wires, that I stopped again to check what was happening: the wires were fraying and pulling off, becoming split and disconnected. I knew I shouldn't continue. I called Cheryl to give her a status report and she advised me to call the Highway Patrol.

I got a hold of the Highway Patrol and they sent an officer. While I was waiting, a very nice man named Joe who was travelling home to Pittsburg stopped and helped me put on the spare tire. As he was finishing up the Highway Patrol pulled up and a very nice officer got out. Seeing the wires hanging out, he strongly advised against driving the car in case of fire. He offered to take Eme and me to the Cracker Barrel restaurant 15 miles up the road, where I could wait for John and Kim to come rescue me.