Eleven women. No kids. No husbands. Add a spa and you have a weekend to remember. This past weekend was the annual trek to the Hershey Hotel and spa. A bunch of my girlfriends from Pitt planned it last year and I was unable to attend. This year, I committed to the weekend months in advance because I...

I went to the gym on Friday for the first time in over two weeks. When a flu goes through a family, Mommy doesn't get to go to the gym. Since Lil C is still sporting a bit of a runny nose, I really didn't want to put her in the KidZone and risk another bout of typhoid illness. So, I enlisted my Mom ...

Last week was one of those weeks that you don't ever want to repeat. My students were all out of sorts last week, sick and late with their speeches. On Wednesday, I said my final goodbye to Lisa and that was hard, really hard. I spent the rest of the week feeling miserable about it.  On Thursday, B...

Yesterday Big I walked in the door from school and I could tell she was upset. Immediately the tears started. "What happened?" I asked her. "'J' hit me hard in the face and my ear when we were in the bus line." "What?" I asked incredulously. "How? Show me? Hit me on the stomach the way she hit you i...

In my Composition class last semester, we spent a couple weeks debating and writing position papers about issues. Some of them were touchy. Students were asked to read two essays each featuring an opposing viewpoint. Then, they were divided up into groups. Depending on how students felt about the is...

If you've been a reader here for a while, then you know that I have a love/hate (mostly the latter) relationship with McDonald's. McDonald's used to be my Thursday savior. I used to pick up food for dinner on Thursday nights because there simply wasn't enough time to make dinner and get to karate on...

When Big I was three years old and she told me she wanted to take karate, I couldn't have been more thrilled. Her interest is what got me involved in the first place. How cool was it that we could take karate side by side? As time wore on though, I continued to get more into it and she, well, she be...

Although most people who know me think I'm a nice person, many people would also tack on to that description that I can be cranky at times. Some of the things that make me cranky? Disorganization Late assignments Constant mess (as in "Pick up your toys already!") Piles of laundry thanks to multiple ...

The entire BBM family is oozing germs in some way shape or form this weekend. My head hurts every time I look or bend down; and my spine feels like it has been a heavy bag for Ikigai or something. Mr. BBM broke out with the flu this week too and is currently sporting a straight up in the air hair-do...

We've been listening to a lot of music around the house lately. Having an IPod Touch makes it all the more enjoyable. I'm totally loving their Genius feature. Anyway, as I was listening to music today, I started to mentally compile a list of some of my favorite songs. My favorite songs are almost al...