Old School

I'm taking two summer classes, one starting June 1 and the other starting June 8. Okay. Moment of truth...I got three As, a B, and a C this semester. Ugh...C...mathematics for elementary grades. You'd think 2+2 would be easy, right? Wrong. Not when there are fourteen different ways to teach a child that. Amazing the advances that have been made in methods since I was in elementary school. Math is definitely my weakest subject. Unfortunately, my other five classes (one was Pass/Fail and doesn't affect my GPA even though it was about ten hours of work a week and was my practicum/pseudo-student teaching and was still only a two-credit hour class) took up so much of my time (three or four assignments due every week and one class requiring minimum six hours of work every week just on one assignment), I wasn't able to spend a great deal of time studying my math homework. When I have time to study, I can actually get all As. I am determined to do it next semester. I missed an A in the B class by four points. Very frustrating. And honestly, I may not have even deserved the C considering how little studying I was able to do on the first two tests.

So, anyhoo, my summer classes are the second-half of the math class (which I am determined to get an A in) and children's literature. So exciting. Here is my required reading for the class:

Group 1:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Savvy by Ingrid Law
The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

Group 2:
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Bridge to Teribithia by Katherine Paterson
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
Holes by Louis Sachar
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Tale of Desperaux by Kate DiCamillo

I have to pick one from each group. Pick! Pick!

It's That Old Sweet Song

I think we're going to go to Savannah today. We were thinking about checking out Paula Deen's Lady & Sons restaurant. But then we discovered these:

• Mashed potatoes from heaven. Tasty sweet lemonade. Yummy bbq riblets. The best buffet I've had... one of the worst reservation systems/policies known to man.
• For anyone whose ever seen her show, you know Paula Deen uses entirely too much butter in her recipes. And now I am pretty sure they run butter through the air vents and even the air is buttery and fattening here.
• I believe they really did start every dish just as Paula says - with a stick of butter. Therefore by the time you start working on your 2nd buffet helping, you may notice your stomach beginning to rumble. If you keep eating, an aching churn is on its way. I suggest telling everyone at your table that you forgot the mashed potatoes immediately after you inevitably emit some southern fried methane, excuse yourself and leave before anyone knows it was you.
• My arteries are still clogged. The options on the buffet were butter, oil, and grease. Yes, I expected some unhealthy vittles, but I didn't expect fat-broiled fatty chunks of fat swimming in fat. The recipe for Paula's Deep Friend Butter Balls on her website makes so much more sense now.

Oh well. I would like to visit the gift shop. Supposedly there's an apron there that reads: Put a little South in your mouth. I think my mother needs that.

How Fast Can They Run?

So, finals are finally over and I have been stalking my school's website for days now waiting for my grades. Come on, people! GRADE! You're killing me. There are so many assignments that haven't been graded yet. I would love to remind them of all the deadlines they placed on us this semester. Um...hello?

I am on my first vacation in a few years. We're in Hilton Head and I was promised by several people I would not come across any alligators. Well, 'tis not the case. I was sitting outside on the deck with the baby girl blowing bubbles (really good bubbles but they're flavored and colored which sucks). I hear this guttural growl and immediately grab the baby and run into the screened-in porch. The Boy came out and I told him I heard an alligator. He said he was sure I didn't. And then we spotted it in the swampy pondy thingy behind our villa. Yes, I said villa. There are freaking gators at a Westin Hotel! omg

Not happy.

And now I can't stop stalking the gator. Where is he? What's he doing? Most importantly...is he hungry?