Reader, Reader, can I find a reader?

I love having a reader for a son! I was an avid reader when I was growing up. Jacob struggled with reading when he was young, and I despaired of him being "a reader> However, after Reading Recovery and Title 1 in school and me reading to him for years, one of his favorite pasttimes is now reading.

We have read several books and series together and now he is finishing up the Eragon series that we started many years ago. The new (and last) book was out and he could not wait until his birthday or Christmas to get it, so I got it for him before we left to go to Missouri for Thanksgiving.

Now instead of getting on his computer & checking Fox News before he goes to school, he is reading the 800+ page book.

I was always in trouble for reading during classtime when I was in school but I haven't gotten any complaints about him. Does that mean that he follows the rules, he's just better at hiding it, or the teachers are so excited to have a student quietly reading in class instead of mouthing that they don't complain?

We are visiting John in Del Rio. On the drive down, I truly understood what I've heard people say - Dallas is not Texas. The vegetation is different, there are long stretches of harsh nothingness, many ranches, cactus, and even deer (although they are the size of big goats LOL).

We were driving along between Junction and the turn off to Del Rio and I was looking at two horses at their trough in the field beside the road and then realized there about 20 deer there, too! I whipped the rental car into a u-ey and went back to take a photo. Although most of the deer scattered, I got some individual shots and I got a picture of a representation of Texas - the two horses at their trough surrounded by cactus and the tumbleweed.

Yesterday we went to Seminole Canyon and took the guided hike to see the Pecos River Style cave paintings. Again, the starkness of the landscape was beautiful in its own way, but it was hard to imagine this early man eeking a life out of the harsh terrain. The people who created these cave drawings were nomads and no tribe has claimed them so there is not much known about them or their lifestyle. Assumptions can be made but there is no certainty since there are no decendents to share their stories and lifestyles. The tour guide was happy to share with us some 3000 year old poop - although only one kid was interested in holding it (and it wasn't Jacob). She said that from this they could reconstitute it and could tell what the diet of these people were - mostly vegetation and they were protein deprived, but there were sometimes grasshoppers or other small bugs and animals. Guess you get it where you can!

In the evening, we went to Dottie's house. Dottie and her husband who is a deputy sherriff, have meals for the group and it just happened to fall on this weekend. I got to meet almost everyone that John works with and we got to watch Dottie feed the deer. It was amazing to see these deer trained to come at nearly dark when they hear the corn hit the metal bowl. They would come right up close to Dottie. Looking at her feeding the deer, seeing her 4 dogs and the many cats, you can tell the she has a very giving heart. One of her cats was proportioned to what I would expect Garfield to look like in real life!

Classes

What were your favorite classes in school? What class(es) would you like to take now?

Of course I loved Art class with Mrs. Catlett. (hey, another C) She really turned my life around.

I liked humanities with Mrs. Carson (wow, C again)

One of the classes that I think helped me most to prepare for college was Expositions with Mrs. Packer. Even though she seemed a bit scattered sometimes, her emphasis on getting the details in your writing helped me to be the only person in the incoming Freshman class at Columbia College to test out of English 1. Mrs. Braun told me that my scores were very good on the grammatical test but all of the faculty was very impressed with my essay and the detail in it. (As I look around this room.... All of the students were all in the cafeteria testing and I wrote about specific people, i.e. Will North Dakota farm girl Darla be able to handle the homesickness to be the first person in her family to graduate from college?) Another fun thing about the class was playing "Dictionary", the original version of Balderdash. The person who had the dictionary would find a word in it and then write the real definition while the rest of us made our own up, just like Balderdash. Wish I had translated that class game to the money making commercial one!

I HATED math. Thank goodness we were only required to have one year of math for my graduating class (the requirements upped the next few years). I took Algebra with Mr. Baylor. I don't know how I ever stayed awake in that class.

I think I could have liked science, but it was so much about memorization (those periodic tables) instead of learning how things worked or why.

Win some Thickers

Wanna win some Thickers? Check out this gal's contest.

http://thisscrapperslife.blogspot.com/2009/10/thickers-giveaway.html

The Battle of the Gately Boys

My crazy boys (that would be husband and son). They love to torture each other. It's like having two brothers rather than parent & child.

Tonight's torture topic was exercise. John thinks that Jacob should get exercise by trying to escape Dad as Dad tortures him. Lots of yelling goes on. Lots of laughing goes on. At least it's in the privacy of our own home instead of picking on each other at the mall (which always happens if I take them both with me. Maybe that's why we never go to the mall!)

One Word

USING ONLY ONE WORD:
Not as easy as you might think! Now forward, change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to send back to the person you received it from!
Where is your cell phone? Purse
Your significant other? Couch
Your hair? up
Your mother? Missouri
Your father? Garage
Your favorite thing? food
Your dream last night? none
Your favorite drink? milk
Your dream/goal? health
Your hobby? books
Your fear? death
Where do you want to be in 6 years? family
Where were you last night? Rodriguez
Something that you aren't? thin
Muffins? blueberry
Wish list item? peace
Last thing you did? ate
What are you wearing? sloppy
TV? John
Your pets? Lucky
Friends? many
Your life? boring
Your mood? tired
Missing someone? Yes
Drinking? water
Smoking? yuck
Your car? Van
Something you're not wearing? shoes
Your favorite store? Walmart
Your favorite color? Blue
Who will resend this? unknown
Where do you go to over and over? work
People who email me regularly? Groups
My favorite place to eat? TXLC
Favorite place I'd like to be now? chair
People I think will respond? Flyfriends

Black Friday 2008

Couldn't sleep night before. Didn't get to bed until after midnight. Up at 3:30 a.m. sicker than a dog (nausea). Listened to my aunt gripe at my cousin about her driving all the way to the store (about a 30 min drive). Got to Walmart about 4:30. The only thing I really wanted to get that day was a kitchenaid mixer that WM had for $130. When I got there, there were 10 mixers and about 20 people already standing there waiting to grab. I stood around, chatted for a while, evaluated my chances of getting one without being killed and decided that with the carts and people blocking my way, there was no way on earth that I was going to get one of those 10 mixers at 5:00. I went on and got other stuff and met my cousin at the checkout line.

After surviving the long checkout line at WM, we headed to Target. Arrived before they opened. The gal who ended up in line behind me to get in was one of the close ones to the mixers at WM. Asked her if she got one - she did...for her friend. But the little old lady who had been standing beside her - who was the first one to get there at 3:30 - did not get one because "She was too nice. Everyone just grabbed them from around her." Hello holiday spirit......

After Target, we hit radio shack & gamestop in the mall (Target is in our mall back in MO). Then we got breakfast (my aunt with us for the first, and last, time and she has to have breakfast - and it did help my stomach a bit) then to Toys R Us.

While my aunt & cousin stood in line for an hour and a half at TRU to save $9 (yes you read that right - $9), I parked the car (I had let them out at door), came in to check where they were (already in line), went shopping next door at Circuit City, came back, browsed around TRU, visited them, went back and bought more at CC, browsed TRU some more. You get the idea! LOL! I had a 10% discount gamers card at CC - we could have gone next door and bought the two items (Rock Band 1 and Wii Animal Crossing City Folk) for only $9 more. Had my aunt known that, we would have been there (she hates being in line and money really wasn't an object with her) but my cousin was determined that her 20% off one item coupon at TRU was a much better deal.

Oh, and I took over driving once we were in Columbia. My aunt never complains about my driving and my cousin's driving was making me even sicker.

Anyway, after that wonderful morning, we headed home and I went back to bed. I would say my black Friday was the worst part of the whole holiday. No money, sick, only about 10 items on my list, etc. I usually get all of my shopping done on BF, but it didn't happen this year.

And thanks for asking...........LOL!