Gold Star For Primrose

Well, it only took a couple training days and a bad experience with the in-home daycare for my job to make a space for Alayna. That's right, my baby gets to come to work with me now. Things couldn't be any better! (Well, they could if Brian's car stops breaking down, but that's a whole other story.)

This first week of actual work has gone great. I'm loving my new classrooms.

I actually float between two different preschool rooms. I'm sort of the floater for the other teachers on their days off since we all do the 4 day thing. So I work with a different person each day. But even though I'm not in one steady classroom, I'm still just as much in charge. I'm getting to know the other teachers pretty well and they are all fantastic to work with. I get

to spend my entire break with Alayna, who is right down the hallway. Not to mention being able to peek my head in the window whenever I go to the bathroom. Brian still picks her up after he gets home from work so she's not there the whole 10 hours with me. That and he gets a little one-on-one time before I get home for the night.

So far, she is doing great at 'school.' They all love her. My director is always going in and holding her and telling me how cute she is. As well as, everyone else. She still sleeps most of the day and they get a kick out of her catnaps, stinky farts and painted toes. She's the youngest of all her friends, but the room she's in is under 6 months, so they are all pretty small. She's starting to 'coo' a lot more now and is still smiling all the time. But just as important, she's sleeping longer at night!

Stay tuned for the up and coming Alayna news.......The Ear-Piercing.

Tropical Storm Gay

the title speaks for itself, guys. it really, really does.

i've never once in my life been known as a 'go-getter' or anything, but i think i've reached that point in my life now where if my occupational headquarters (i.e. school) calls and says 'hey guy, why don't you take the day off today?' my initial response is no longer a 'booya' or, perhaps, a 'cowabunga,' but, instead, a much lamer 'really? are you sure?'

yes, readers, i've gotten that lame.

on tuesday, as ol' fay began pounding southern florida with rain and wind, the higher-ups at the district level decided that our entire county would take the day off of school. at that point in time, i guess, tuesday was to be the day that we central floridians would be getting hit the hardest by fay. and so, on tuesday, my second day with students this year, i didn't have to go to work.

now, i'm a big fan of sitting on my ass and not doing anything (believe it or not), and that's pretty much what happened: i sat around the homestead and did some lesson planning, changed a few urine-soaked diapers, and spent some quality time with the wii. alas, the day off of work didn't feel justified, and was therefore not thoroughly enjoyed, because there was no Goddamn storm. the weather outside was nothing more than the occasional terrifying fury of sprinkles and slight breeze. nothing near to what had been initially predicted. it was just crappy enough outside to prevent us from doing anything entertaining. to make matters worse, i knew i'd be making this day-long prison sentence up by sacrificing one of my thanksgiving vacation days later on in the year.

not so cool.

i'm also a big fan of the 'better safe than sorry' rationale, folks, but come on: nobody realized at some point in time that this storm was nowhere near us on tuesday? seriously? don't they have satellites and other such space tools out there that give people (i.e. meteorologists, other scientists) the appropriate information needed to make such calls as 'on tuesday, we're all pretty much f***ed.'?

apparently they don't.

the next day, on wednesday, we did get hit. my school was without power for two hours in the morning, and i had to consequently keep a room full of bored teenagers content in a dark, sweaty classroom without air conditioning or fans. i couldn't teach and we couldn't go outside because of the wind and rain. horrible, horrible business.

the following day, on thursday, i had to drive through absolute hell to get to work.... that is, if hell was a place where instead of having one's flesh burnt off in fiery pits, one was instead just constantly drenched with rain. on several occasions during my commute, i was nearly killed by morons who don't know how to drive in more than a drizzle. this is somehow not surprising in florida - i'm a firm believer in the theory that all of the world's worst drivers have been relocated here.

...and, might i add, on neither of these two days - neither wednesday nor thursday - was the call made to cancel school. "well crap, fellas - we already took tuesday off, didn't we? the kids need to go to school... and, more importantly, we don't wanna look bad here."

thanks a lot, guys.

- brian

Mr. Hough Returns to Social Studies

hey kids.

well, as you may all remember, the state of florida decided to 'hate on' its teachers and staff last year. i don't really know what we ever to did to mr. or mrs. state to offend it so, but whatever we did do must've been bad enough to trigger termination fest '08.

holy yowzers.

yours truly was able to survive (somehow) last spring's budget holocaust and the consequential mass-exodus of teachers from my school that resulted from it. now is the time, with job security hanging by a thread and the economy showing every telltale sign that we pissed it off too, to up the level of badass-itude.

as i return once more to the educational battlefield that is 7th grade social studies this year, i bring holstered at my side more diversified lesson plans, better differentiated instruction, some fresh-out-of-the-box ideas, and a whole cache of flashy new posters for my walls.

this post, however, will not be about what i plan on doing this year in my classroom. when it comes to teaching, i've never been one to toot my own horn (i hate the people who do so). some folks can go on and on about their job and their personal philosophies concerning their job and how there job makes the world a better place and how 'totally awesome' they are at their job.

i hate those people. i am not one of them.

nay, i'm using this post today to show off some pictures of my new room. that's it.

enjoy.

the greatest thing to happen to public education since the no child left behind act,

- mr. hough

Goodbye Kindercare

After a year and some odd months and after my wonderful summer of maternity leave, I have made the final decision to NOT return to Kindercare. It wasn't a hard decision to make either. The opportunity awaiting me had far better benefits and it's right around the corner from where we live.

So, down the road a little ways, a preschool classroom is awaiting my arrival in a week. This independently owned daycare has offered me $1 more an hour, 4 longer shifts a week instead of 5 so I can stay home with Alayna an extra day, and a discount on childcare! So, things are finally looking up in this neck of the woods. The only downfall is we have to suck up putting Alayna in a family run daycare in the meantime while waiting for a space to become available. I'd feel better about this if I could understand half the people I've met with. Wish us luck as far as that goes. But if its temporary, I can live with it. Without a doubt she'll be coming to work with me when she turns 1 year old. Thank you Primose Schools !

-Kristina

The Eight Point Lake Vacation

sorry for the delay, folks - with school just around the corner and the dust from our recent daycare debacle still settling, we've fallen behind on our updates on here at hough headquarters.

surprise surprise.

now here 'goes...

we flew home to michigan on july 23rd in order to spend a week at the cottage my family rents out a couple weeks each summer on eight point lake. not only were we flying in for the occassion, but so was my step-brother, bryan... making this vacation the first family event in almost two years with 100% attendance (and the first vacation with such since the infamous, ill-fated washington DC venture of 1997).

so... since others have touched on this eight point lake thing before - and a solid percentage of you readers out there were, more likely than not, at the cottage at some point in time over that last week in july - there's really no real reason for me to go into a huge amount of detail with this. (i had a hard enough time putting the damn pictures in this post... don't expect much more from me today, folks).

anyway, this happened to be alayna's first trip on a plane, which went a lot smoother than either kris or myself thought it would. we were both convinced we'd be those parents with the loud-ass kid on the plane, pissing off all the other travelers around us. surprisingly enough, not the case with us (this time around). the cannonball did pretty good. she slept well, she traveled well, and most relatives found her quite friendly (if not smellier than the foulest bowels of hell).

yes, are kid stinks that bad.

anyway, back to the lake: hough tradition usually dictates a fair amount of time being spent on boats, around bonfires, juggling children, drinking, and merry-making.

all of this was done with great fervor, and efficiently compressed into the mere six or seven days we had back home in michigan.

this trip actually was somewhat bittersweet for kris and i, however, as, to date, we're still not sure when we'll be coming home next. with gas prices the way they are, and airlines continuously screwing the average american the way that they are, we've more or less written off Christmas this year.... as crappy as that is. as of right now, team hough is tentatively planning the next michigan venture somewheres in the july 2009 ballpark. stay tuned for further updates there.

now, between myself, dad, and cindy, we shot off nearly 1,000 pictures from the week-long family stint on the lake. i randomly grabbed five for this crappy post right here. my dad, however, has several more up in a photo gallery, and i'd highly recommend checking those out if you get the chance:

http://web.mac.com/jhough/JHH_iWeb/8_Point_Lake_2008.html

that's all you'll get between now and the time i finally manage to muster enough dedication to upload more pictures up onto our flickr account. ...and we all know how good i am at that, right?

more to come, citizens. stay tuned.

cheers,

- brian