Ahhh, summer... I've been having so much fun spending time with friends and family, teaching a little here and there, lounging at the pool/beach, fishing, tubing... I can't believe it's mid July already!!!!
If you haven't heard yet, I took the Title 1 job that'll be Lincoln/South Lawn. If I wanted to stay with the tech job, I would've had to take some classes, which I wasn't thrilled about (obviously). I started out with Title 1 at Washington and loved it, so I'm excited to go back!
I need to find some time to go back and move my stuff... It won't happen in the next few weeks- I'm in 2 weddings (one in Vegas), have a high school reunion and a slew of appointments so if I'm MIA for a little while, that's why!
I'm still jogging as much as possible- I have a very important 5k in August. It's called the Jack Rabbit Run and it benefits Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). My brother in law and I have been talking trash about who's going to run it faster... his team has already killed my team (donation wise) so we'll see. He's a US Marshall and I wasn't built for running... so all I can do is my best :-) Anyway, all proceeds go to SMA families and research, so if you'd like to donate to this cause, here's the link:
http://www.fsma.org/LWC/RachelBentz

Busy! Busy!
I decided to make my own Christmas cards this year using my cricut. I'll be posting pics of them after I send them out. I've only made about 20 and I need a whole lot more than that...The plan is to make as many as possible this weekend (maybe come up with a more simple design so I can crank 'em out faster). My sister and nephew are coming to visit, so I can make her and Z-man help. Diana is so good at the crafty stuff and is going to teach me how to sew(starting this weekend).
School is going well. I'm anxious to get back to the regular schedule after the holidays- I feel like we haven't gotten a whole bunch done lately with all the plays and general crazyness. Needless to say, I'm so excited for Christmas break! We go up until next Tuesday! We survived both the big and little kids Christmas programs and they were so cute!
Bill starts a new job with APex this Friday. I'll blog more about that when I understand it more :-) so thoughts and prayers that it goes well would be appreciated!
One of my best friends (that came to our wedding about a year ago) recently was engaged and has set the date to get married in Vegas at Ceasar's on July 31st! Katie and I met in college when we were both doing a summer program for kids in Sicily. I'm going to be part of the bridal party! I'm so excited!

The man's version of putting away the leftovers:

Yes, that is mashed potatoes, still in the pan, and chicken on a spatula in the fridge...

It's getting to be that crazy time of year when it seems like you barely have time to breathe!


First of all, the Bentz side of the family is having Thanksgiving at our new house! We had it last year too and it was very fun! I'm not nearly as nervous this year about the turkey, but I am wondering what else I should make- the plan is to keep it simple, but delicious. The MIL is bringing the pies and stuffing, and SIL said she'd bring whatever I wanted her to. The tricky part is Bill's father is a very picky eater, so I want to make sure he has enough to eat- I guess I'll just tell Kristin (sil) to bring something Chuck-approved and he'll eat turkey and rolls and what Cheryl (mil) is bringing. I don't think anyone will go hungry...


Speaking of dinner and going hungry, (the only reason I write this is because I'm fairly certain the hubby doesn't read the blog...) Bill's new favorite thing to do is, while I'm making dinner, he'll be on his computer or whatever, and if I make any kind of comment, he'll say "Just wait a minute and I guess I can come show you how to cook" or some comment like that... this coming from the man who makes a killer mac n cheese or omelet (or at least pretends like that's all he can make) He thinks it's hilarious. I think that's why they don't let donkeys attend school...


It's coming up on a year that we've been married already! I can't believe how quickly the time has gone! We have so much fun together and I think we compliment each other well, especially in the sense that he's so easy going to balance out my need to plan everything! I sincerely am lucky and am enjoying my life so much (despite constantly being sick)!


I honestly don't remember a time when I've been so sick so often. I think it's been a rough year for everyone- I missed 2 days this week, which were spent sleeping and coughing. :-( I know it doesn't help that I see over 500 kids/week and touch all the computers/mice that they do! It's all part of teaching the lovely little ones!


Not to keep rambling or anything, but the funniest thing happened the other day at breakfast duty- I was walking by this group of boys (4th & 5th graders) and I heard the word "MoFo" being tossed around. So I go up to the table (a little thrown) and ask what they were calling each other. They repeat "mofo" and I launch into my "school appropriate language" speech. One of the boys stops me and says, "What's wrong with saying that?" So I say, "Well, ummmmm, what do you think that means?" and he says "You know, a cross between a mohawk and a fro?".... ohhhhh. Mofro! So relieved, but they're probably wondering why Mrs. B was so scandalized at the word... Hope I didn't accidentally teach them something new! I'm enjoying teaching for the most part this year and feel a lot more comfortable with the subject and the older kids than I have the past 2 years.


My commute is so much better since we moved to AV. It's such a pretty drive. In fact, the other day on my way home from work, I saw a bald eagle just sitting in a field! It was amazing! Bill, however, started a new job that's in the Polaris area- it now takes him about an hour each way. He says he doesn't mind it and is such a good sport, but I do feel bad for him!


My sister and her family came to stay with us last weekend and we had such a good time! We went swimming, cooked lots of good food, played and watched football, and played cards (once the kids went to sleep). See Sharon's blog for a few pics and cute stories with the kids.


We're in the process of training the dogs with the invisible fence... which is what my grandma would call "interesting". Sammy and Palmer are actually doing very well. You show Palmer the flag and he runs the opposite direction. I was taking Brin out this morning and she started shaking when I put the collar on her :-( Needless to say, we didn't train- we just had fun and barked at a couple deer. She's a good listener and pretty good about staying around anyway, so we'll see. I'm trying to come up with a good Christmas card that will rival the ones I've sent out in years past (using all 3 instead of just Brin) but haven't gotten one together yet- hopefully I will...


I got a notice to join a page on facebook the other day for my 10th high school reunion!!!! It startles me that it's been that long! So crazy! AND I just realized that I'll be 28 in less than a month! Goodness!


Wow! I guess I had a lot to say! If anyone is still reading, hope that was a cure for your insomnia!

Wow.

So, I know I'm not a parent yet and have no room to tell anyone how to do their most important job, but really. I don't think it's parenting skills, but common sense.

Let me back up for a minute... This morning, I was in the cafeteria when a FIRST GRADER made a racist comment. First grade. Really? I wonder where he heard that...

Are we really living in a time/place that it's acceptable for people to think, let alone speak out loud in front of a child our views in which we judge others based solely on outward appearances? How insanely ignorant.

I've been using the site www.swapadvd.com and it's great! I post old movies that I don't watch anymore and get new ones in the mail. All it costs you is the price to mail the DVD (about $1.90- which is cheaper than a rental and if you really like it, you can keep it!). Anyway, if you decide to join, make sure you put me down as the one that referred you (I'll get swap credits!). My user name is Rachel B. Thanks!

More house drama...
Okay, so last we left off, the buyer had backed out. The seller that we were buying our house from was also in contract on another house, so it was the trickle down effect. She called our realtor the next day and said that she'd take money off her price so we could put it toward the fixes that our buyer wanted. So we contacted the buyer (who was still very wishy-washy"I have to talk to my parents" or "I need another 50 people to come inspect everything") and had another basement guy out to tell us if we really needed I beams put in the basement. He said he wouldn't if it was his house, but if you were to be extra cautious, he'd put in 6 at the most (the buyer had requested 11). So, we contacted the buyer AGAIN and told him that we'd have a structural engineer out and we'd to whatever he said we should do to the basement. The seller shoots back with a quick "no, want 11 I beams installed" (which just tells me he wants the $ and knows the I beam talk is crap.) so we tell him that we'll stick to the original offer, and include the money from our seller... He wants to have someone come out and inspect the roof again (the flashing around the chimney is questionable) and get an estimate of how much that'll be to fix. Keep in mind that this guy is getting a steal on this house to begin with... So anyway, he agreed to that, so we're in contract again... I'm not holding my breath or anything but here's hoping!!! I might've missed something, so I hope this all makes sense.

I'm so insanely frustrated. Our buyers backed out today. We dropped the price and still took less than we were asking. They had the inspection done and came back with a huge list of remedy requests (the longest one the realtor's office has ever seen). It's an old house, so it's gonna have problems. We had an electrician come by and fix all of the electrical problems and agreed to fix a few more. I thought we were being very reasonable and so did the realtor. If these people want a perfect house, they better up their price range by a LOT. I'm just so mad and disappointed. I was starting to look forward going back to school, but having a long drive the entire year is going to make it rough.... blah.