Change of Plans

My husband and I are both teachers, and since we are "almost" empty-nesters, we decided to spend some time traveling this summer.  Our first trip was going to be to Colorado to camp and visit our youngest daughter who is a student at Colorado State.  However, Mother Nature has caused us to rethink that plan.  The forest fire west of Fort Collins is still burning and so there will be no camping there.  My heart goes out to all of those who have lost their homes, and I am so sad to think of all that beautiful acreage burning.  Our daughter is safe, but says it is very smoky.  We have postponed our trip and hopefully will be able to visit later this summer.

Our second trip was going to Pennsylvania to visit my family.  We do this almost every summer, but this year we are going to take our time and a detour through The Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina and then drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.  I can't wait!

ADD with a Twist

I've diagnosed myself with a new syndrome:  HADD or Hobby Attention Deficit Disorder.  I'm sitting in my sewing/craft/computer room looking at 20 spools of ribbon from when I decided I would make key fobs for everyone-I made 3.  Across the room I can see 3 sewing and embroidery machines, which sit next to my serger.  I have a basket full of yarn for various crochet projects and my most recent find, loom knitting.  I have 2 organizers filled with scrapbooking and cardmaking supplies.  My Cricut sits behind my laptop.  I have 3 drawers filled with baby items and fabric to embroider or sew for my Etsy store, which has nothing for sale and never has.  I love all all of these hobbies very much, but I can't seem to stick with any of them long enough to complete more than one or two things.  (I started a cross-stitch angel the summer after my youngest daughter finished 1st grade.  She just finished her freshman year of college; the angel is still on the frame.)

It's not just crafts, either.  I have a bookshelf full of workout DVDs from my fitness kick awhile back.  I own dozens of cookbooks.  We won't even talk about the hundreds of dollars I've spent on my doll collection.  It spills over to work as well.  I own a laminator and too many professional books to count.  I'm contemplating ordering empty vending capsules from Ebay to make "Brain Bubbles" because I saw them on someone's blog.  Pinterest has only made this obession worse!

My only consolation is that I am not alone in my obsessions.  Since we have been married, my husband has accumulated supplies and equipment for: remote controlled airplanes, hunting, reloading, woodworking, brewing beer, gardening and fishing.  He not only has every fishing gadget known to man; he makes his own fishing rods.

Please look for us on an upcoming episode of Hoarders.  I'll be the one sewing/quilting/crocheting/scrapbooking/reading and drinking home-brewed beer!

It's alive!

My blog is coming back to life!  I had just started blogging when life took an unexpected twist.  Once I accepted my fate, I actually got excited about going back to the classroom and teaching first grade.  Teaching kind of took over my life for awhile.  At first, I was really excited about buying and making things for my classroom but around January of last year, major fatigue set in.  I was MUCH younger the last time I taught first grade!  Blogging was the last thing on my mind.

Now I've been back in the classroom for 2 years and I am loving it again!  It's summer now and I will again spend way too much time on the computer, following teaching and crafting blogs.  My goal for the next school year is to continue to work on organization.  So much of my stress my first year back came because I couldn't keep up with things.  It seemed like I was always a step behind my teammates.  This year was much better in spite of a really "challenging" group of students.  Next year will be even better, I'm sure!

I'm Back!

I've been kind of depressed for the past few weeks due to some unpleasantness at work.  I'm coming to terms with it now and finally feel like writing again.  I had more dental work done this week- an implant and a sinus augmentation- and my face swelled up so much I could have landed a job in a freak show.  It's better today; I just look a lot like Alvin the Chipmunk!
I've been using retail therapy to deal with my depression!  On a whim, right before all of the stuff happened at school, I ordered a Cricut die cutting machine after watching an informercial during our internet outage period.  I don't even scrapbook but after watching the informercial and seeing that it could cut vinyl and fabric, I researched and ordered one.  It arrived the day Spring Break started (which was also the day I got my bad news at work) so I had a whole week just to play.  But then I had to have vinyl and paper to use in it, more cartridges, design software and various other "necessities"!  Then I felt bad about ignoring my embroidery machine so I bought some more thread and stabilizer and made some lace Easter eggs.  The only thing that didn't cost me money was I pulled out a quilted wallhanging kit I bought about 3 years ago and completed the piecing.  It still needs to be quilted but I added it to the 2 other projects in the "to be quilted" pile!  Too many hobbies and too little time!

I'll try to get some pictures posted of some of my projects and eventually I'll write about what's going on at school.  But that's the update for now!

I can't believe I've let a whole week slip by without writing anything!  I'll blame part of it on the Olympics-I really got caught up in them this time.  The other problem was spotty Internet service.  My husband tried to take care of it Saturday.  He took the router/modem to the phone company Saturday morning.  They assured him all we had to do was plug it in.  Well, after messing with it for an hour (I always end up doing these things) and then spending an hour on the phone with customer service, the frustrated technician finally suggested that the router might be defective and we take it back.  That would have been fine except by then it was 12:30 and the phone company's office closed at noon.  So we had to wait until after work today but finally we have service and it's actually a faster connection.
I was kind of concerned about how hooked on technology I've become- I really missed my computer!  Now, if they would just return our big screen TV life would be good again!

Cartoons by Andertoons

Sunday Stealing: The Clown's Meme Part 1

I found this link to Sunday Stealing on Coffee Slut's blog.  Since I'm still half asleep, answering some questions seemed like an easy way to get started today.

1. How old will you be in five years? 55

2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today? It's 6:30 on a Sunday morning and no one else is up.  If sleeping counts, my husband.

3. How tall are you? 5'7"

4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks? Spring Break!

5. What’s the last movie you saw? In the theater, some chick flik that I can't even remember the title.  DVD, Roman Holiday  We hardly ever go to the movies anymore but I love old movies.

6. Who was the last person you called? My son

7. Who was the last person to call you? One of my daughters

8. What was the last text message you received? My daughter, I think.  My cell phone died on Friday.

9. Who was the last person to leave you a voicemail? The pharmacy to tell me my prescription was ready.  I really need to get some sort of life going here!

10. Do you prefer to call or text?  It depends what I need to say.  I would rather email a stranger than call however.

11. What were you doing at 12am last night?  Sleeping

12. Are your parents married/separated/divorced? They had been married for 50 years when my dad passed away.

13. When is the last time you saw your mom? July :(

14. What color are your eyes? Green

15. What time did you wake up today? 6:00AM

16. What are you wearing right now? Jammies

17. What is your favorite christmas song? I love Christmas music so it's hard to pick just one: The Christmas Song, O Holy Night and White Christmas

18. Where is your favorite place to be? At home with a good book or in my sewing room undisturbed

19. Where is your least favorite place to be? Any place that is crowded and Texas in the summer

20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere? Ireland

21. Where do you think you’ll be in 10 years? God, I hope I'm retired!

22. Do you tan or burn? A little of both

23. What did you fear was going to get you at night as a child? The wolf my dad told the neighbor kids lived in our attic- don't ask me why he told them that!  Actually I was scared of everything as a kid.

24. What was the last thing that really made you laugh? I'm reading one of Jen Lancaster's books- I laughed the whole time I was reading last night.

25. How many TVs do you have in your house? I think 5 but the best one is in for repairs.

26. How big is your bed? Queen

27. Do you have a laptop or desktop computer? Both but I mostly use the laptop

29. What color are your sheets? Beige Ok, I really do lead a boring life!

30. How many pillows do you sleep with? 2

31. What is your favorite season? We don't have seasons here- just hot and humid for about 6 months, pleasant for about 2 weeks, damp and cold for a month or so, and then pleasant for another 2 weeks before it's hot again.  Back home in PA, fall was my favorite season.

32. What do you like about Autumn?  The colors of the leaves, crisp mornings and sunny days, the smell of the leaves, new clothes, the first day of school, football, Halloween, school supplies, the taste of a freshly picked apple and the smell of a new box of crayons.

33. What do you like about winter?  Sitting inside and watching the snow come down, hearing the DJ announce that there is no school today, Christmas, sled riding, coming in from the cold to hot chocolate or a pot of soup or chili, sweaters and mittens.

Saturday Morning Confusion

While visits to my paternal grandparents were filled with lots of love and homemade goodies, visits to my mom's family meant adventure!  I idolized my mother's younger sisters who were teenagers when I was born.  They played rock and roll records, talked about Frankie Avalon and Elvis, and treated me like a princess.  I couldn't sleep if I knew we were going "down home" the next day.

My grandmother or one of my aunts might decide to make ice-cream late in the evening and then the race was on to find all the supplies before all the stores closed.  Everyone would help crank and maybe by midnight we'd have ice-cream!

When I was 4 or 5 my aunt bought a motorcycle.  I felt like the coolest kid in town when she would take me riding. My favorite trip was to a dairy outside of town for the best French vanilla ice-cream ever.

In the evenings I loved to hanging around the kitchen table listening to the adults talk and laugh while they played cards.  Even my parents seemed less "square" on these visits.  Family and friends would come and go all  weekend.  Everyone was welcome and everyone was fed!  I remember going to a nearby Italian deli and getting fresh Italian bread and meatloaf for sandwiches.  Some mornings my grandmother would make doughnuts- what a production that was!

Even after my aunts got married, we'd still all come to stay at my grandparents' home quite often.  My uncles were great, especially the one who would say and do the craziest things and sing "Born to Be Wild"  and "Saturday Morning Confusion" as he went through the house getting the kids all stirred up. Believe me, it was wild and confusing when we were all there!   My other uncle teased us all about something- as a preteen, it was my Donny Osmond obsession that amused him.

Having twin cousins just added to the fun!  We made forts in the back staircase, drove people crazy until they would take us places and spent summer vacations together on the Jersey Shore.

Changes came over the years- my grandfather who we adored had a stroke and then passed away when I was 12, my aunts got divorced and remarried, and my grandmother moved to a smaller house- but the adventures didn't stop.  I had my first lesson driving a stick shift in my aunt's VW Bug with my cousins and brother in the back seat screaming "We'll all  be killed!  On a Christmas visit while I was in college, my aunt threw me the keys to her brand new Camaro to take my cousins and brother to McDonald's.  This was a big deal for a girl who was rarely allowed to drive the aging family Gran Tarino!  I had my first beer in a bar with my aunt and Grandmother, who both swore to the bartender that I was old enough to drink.  (I wasn't)

We still get together every summer.  My grandmother died when my youngest daughter was a baby and one of my aunts died unexpectedly, but it's still always a crazy time.  Family times are at the top of my favorite childhood memories list!

Apples and Geraniums

Since the main reason I started this blog was to become a better writing teacher and help other teachers with their writing workshops, it seemed only natural to try the Writing Workshop on Mama Kat's blog  when I discovered it.  The prompt I chose to write about was "Tell about something you enjoyed doing as a child."



Visiting my grandparents and other family was one of my favorite things to do when I was a child.  My dad grew up in another small  town about 20 miles away so we visited his parents quite often.  I loved when my dad would announce on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon or evening,  "Let's go over home today."  I'd grab my book and maybe a favorite doll and we'd head off "over the mountain."  Our first stop was at my grandparents.  We would park in the alley behind the house and come in through the enclosed porch in the back that always smelled of the apples and geraniums my grandmother kept in there.  Grandma would be in her little kitchen cooking or baking something wonderful.  I can still see her standing at her countertop rolling dough for noodles or slicing apples for fresh applesauce.  She had one of those red stepstool chairs and I would sit and watch her work and listen to her and my mother talk.
My grandfather would be in his rocking chair  He loved to sit and rock with us and since my brother was the only one who would sit still long enough, he usually sat with him.  He and my dad would talk about fishing or hunting or what my dad's brothers were up to.   Sometimes they would go out to the garage to look at the car or a new tool or something.  (I learned later that many times they went out there to drink a beer or 2 as well!)  Maybe we would all go out to see how the garden was doing or pick a few apples if the season was right.
At dinnertime we would all crowd around the little kitchen table and eat fried chicken, mashed potatoes and noodles, corn and warm applesauce.  The menu rarely varied but occasionally during hunting season there would be some fresh game: venison, rabbit and even stuffed squirrel.  I always passed on the latter two. (Yuck!)
After dinner we would all sit in living room and the grownups would talk.  Sometimes my grandmother would tell stories about when she was young, other times they talked about people around town.  She might pull out her current afghan or quilt and show us.  I think I inherited her love of handwork and think of her often while I crochet or work on a quilt.  Some days my grandfather would hand my dad a newspaper clipping  to read.  (I imagine now that these were probably obituaries)  My brother and I would pull out the toy basket and sit in the front room and play with the handmade teddy bear, toy cars and Colorforms.  We loved that basket!

If it wasn't too late we would stop and visit my aunt and uncle.  My dad's youngest brother and his wife always seemed to be so much "hipper" than my parents.  They didn't have kids, my aunt worked and they even had a "hi-fi."  The best part of visiting them when I was young was my brother and I got to have Coke!  Once in awhile we would go there for dinner instead of my grandmother's.  Then we would have steak or hamburgers that my uncle would do on the charcoal grill.  They had french fry cooker that I thought was the coolest thing ever!

Occasionally we'd really make the rounds and visit my dad's sister and a cousin of his that we called aunt and uncle or old friend of my dad's. 

As I look back, there was really nothing exciting about these Sunday trips.  But I got the opportunity to hear a lot of stories and really learn a lot about my dad's past.  It was just such a comfortable feeling to know that you were loved and always welcomed.  I am sad that my kids never really got to experience this since we live so far away from most of my family.

Coming tomorrow: Part 2 Going "down home"- visiting the other grandparents.

Why is everyone staring at the empty spot in the corner?

We are about to see what kind of family we really are.  The barely one year old HD television has been taken off to the TV hospital  for repairs-hopefully at the expense of Phillips/Magnavox.  Yes, we have other television sets but this is the one that everyone wants to watch.  The Playstation and Wii are hooked up to it.  It is connected to the DVR and satellite dish.  It's in the room with the comfortable, reclining sofas and chairs. 
Results so far:  Husband is wandering around aimlessly. (He's been addicted to some shoot 'em up game on Playstation.)  My new fitness routine is shot- no motivation to get on treadmill if I can't watch TV, brand new Wii Fit is still in the box.  Kids are scattered to various spots in the house watching TV's with (gasp) no satellite connection.  Even the dogs seem confused since no one is in the living room.  But the silver lining:  It is SO peaceful and quiet right now.  If it wasn't for the fact that I won't get to see McDreamy and McSteamy tomorrow night in all their HD glory, this could be a good thing.

Post-It Note Tuesday

I thought I would try out the Post-It Note Tuesday from Supahmommy's site and rant about a couple of things that are really ticking me off right now.

Impossible Dreams?

I am spending my 3 day weekend catching up on my reading, and today I am reading a wonderful book called The Next Thing on My List: A Novel by Jill Smolinski. A brief summary of the book so far is that June Parker, the main character, is trying to complete a list left behind by an acquaintance, Marissa, who was killed in an accident while June is giving her a ride home from a Weight Watchers meeting.  The list consists of things that Marissa would like to accomplish before her next birthday since she has achieved the first goal of losing 100 pounds.  As June moves throught the list, she deals with issues in her own life as well as the guilt she feels over the accident.

Since this is kind of a milestone year, I thought it would be interesting to list what I'd like to accomplish by my next birthday in November.

1. Finish at least 1 quilt(or any craft) project. It seems I like collecting the supplies and the initial excitement of projects much more than following through to completion.  Although I promise I will finish the quilt I started years ago for my son if he moves out.  (See #3 below.)


2. Lose 40 pounds. I have a binder full of diet recipes, numerous healthy cookbooks, a treadmill, a Y membership, a shelf full of exercise videos and a Wii. I can't understand why I'm still fat.  Oh wait, you're actually supposed to use all these things?

3. Get my firstborn moved into a place of his own. I love my son but I really think I'd appreciate his <ahem> unique perspective on life so much more if I only had to listen to it when he came by for dinner or to do laundry once or twice a week. I know his sisters share my sentiments.  (If I can ever figure him out I'll write about it some day.)

 

4.  Go on a vacation.  We visit my family in Pennsylvania every summer, but due mainly to the kids activities and summer jobs, we haven't had a chance to do much else in recent years.  Now that they are all  responsible enough to stay home if they can't join us, we might get to go on a real vacation. OK, they probably aren't  responsible to be left at home but CPS can't come after me for abandoning them at this point.  Leaving all 3 of them together probably won't work either.  This may have to be a goal for my 60th year.

 

5.  Buy some fun new clothes. (After I get started on #2)  I came out of the bedroom the other day and both girls told me I looked like just like Grandma. 

 

I originally thought this would be a list of 10, but I'm already getting depressed thinking about trying to achieve just these five things.  Excuse me while I go mix up something in my new cocktail shaker.

Long Live the Queen

If my daughter insists on acting like a little princess, would that make me a queen?  Because if someone doesn't soon get an attitude adjustment, it is definitely "off with her head."

Maybe her plan to go to college out of state isn't such a bad thing....

I Suffer from PPS (Pre Party Syndrome)

If you stopped by from Friday Follow and I haven't returned the favor, be patient with me! Today is one of my top ten stress days of the year. ( See this post: 10 Days and Counting ) I handle big stress pretty well (open heart surgery, accidents, etc.) but I do "sweat the small stuff!"  I guarantee I will cry at least once today, yell way more than once, and start in on the liquor we bought for the party by the end of the day.  The family has already been SO helpful- my son volunteered to watch a friend's puppy for the weekend, to the dismay and delight of our menagerie, Moonbeam(youngest daughter) informed me that she will be in her room for the weekend because she has to finish reading and annotating Huckleberry Finn for AP English by Monday- an assignment she's known about for weeks- and my wonderful husband has already suggested  that maybe I should go take one of "my pills."  Add in some job "drama" from the last week and we have the perfect recipe for a breakdown.

So, I will be visiting you all soon provided I don't end up in a mental facility (or jail.)  Although, it would be quiet, food is provided,  no cleaning ... Naa, they probably wouldn't let me have my laptop.

I'm sure these things didn't happen to June

I decided I would actually cook dinner yesterday since I figured there would be a revolt if I offered leftovers one more day.   So I pulled out the ingredients to make a vegetable stir fry.  (I'm trying to keep Moonbeam, my vegetarian save-the-Earth girl, happy.)  I put the Wok on the burner, put some oil in it , turned on the heat and then decided that I would go look for some photos I wanted to add to my Facebook page.  I was having a great time looking at old pictures and located the picture I was looking for.  I came out of the bedroom to discover the house filled with smoke and Ralph opening all the windows. Did you know that hot oil really creates a lot smoke when neglected?  Now, when I left the room, my husband was in the living room-which opens to the kitchen-, Moonbeam was on the computer-next to the kitchen- and the other 2 kids were upstairs in the game room-directly above and open to the kitchen.  NO ONE noticed anything until the house filled with smoke?  Seriously?  We had get all the animals out (2 dogs, 4 cats, and 2 birds) and sit outside for about 20 minutes until the air cleared.  My son's comment (this is the 23 year old who is still living at home) :  "Yea, I smelled something burning but it smells like that a lot when you're cooking so I didn't think to say anything"

And he wonders why I keep showing him ads for apartments.

New Gadget

I don't really have a lot to post today, but I had to share my excitement with the new gadget I found yesterday, Shelfari.  I love that I can show all the books I'm currently enjoying. I have to admit though I haven't read much during the past week. I have had a horrible sinus infection and my head hurt so bad for a couple of days I couldn't concentrate on anything. It seems to finally be getting better so maybe I can start catching up after I get my house cleaned and all my Super Bowl party preparations done. There are also several quilt projects I need to finish, the treadmill is collecting dust and several school projects that need to be finished- I need more time!

Something New...

I saw this Friday Follow on a blog I visited this morning and it looked like a great way to find new blogs to follow. I have no idea what I'm doing exactly but I just cut and pasted like the directions said!

10 Days and Counting

The days leading up to the super bowl will be very stressful for my family and I. No, we are not Saints or Colts fans. None of us have a gambling problem and are agonizing over the odds. No, our stress all comes from OMG WE HAVE TO GET THE HOUSE READY.


Every year for the past 18 years we have hosted a Super Bowl party for the same group of friends. These are people who probably wouldn't even notice, let alone care about, dust on the baseboards. But every year I drive my family crazy with the annual pre-Super Bowl cleanup. I have to confess- the reason this is so stressful is it really is the only time during the year that I REALLY clean house, I'm talking move the furniture, clean the grout with a toothbrush, wash the curtains kind of cleaning. If I don't do it now, it probably doesn't get done.

It wouldn't be so bad if I could just clean. But before you can clean you have get rid of the clutter. We are "collectors" (OK, we may be on the next Hoarders show.) I also never learned those little parenting strategies like getting your children put away their toys at night by singing cute clean up songs or teaching them not to take something new out until you put away what you are playing with. My strategy was more like waiting until I couldn't walk through the living room anymore and then shouting "If you don't put all these *expletive deleted* toys away right now they are going out with the trash" and then for effect, start throwing things in trash bags. (At this point they would grab the bags and run upstairs with them. I always thought they were trying to get away from me and then I'd feel all "bad mommy". Now I realize they were probably up there high-fiving each other because they got Mom to pick everything up again.) Toys have been replaced with school stuff, makeup, and "Why is there a hair straightener in the living room?" but the mess still exists.

So I will spend this weekend reorganizing kitchen cabinets, cleaning baseboards and wondering if I have time to paint the kitchen. I'll go to Hobby Lobby and Home Goods looking for "decor" items. I'll cry at least once because "I should have finished that quilt/cross-stitch picture/afghan I started 5 years ago cause wouldn't it look great on the sofa or wall". By 3:00 Super Bowl Sunday I'll be a wreck (I also have an annual panic that I won't have enough food and send someone out for another bag of chips or something. We live on the leftovers for a week but no one wants to mess with me so they go get whatever I ask for. Hell, at that point they are all begging to go so they can escape!) However, once the gang's all here, the game starts and the beer starts to flow, all is forgotten (sort of like the pain of childbirth) and I start planning for next year.

A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words

I love looking at old photo albums!  My mom keeps all of her old albums in the hall closet, and it is one of the first places I go when we visit every summer.  This summer it seemed especially important to see them since it was the first summer visit since my father's death.  Looking at pictures from my childhood just seemed to bring him closer.

My mom also had a "little job" for my husband.  (She always has little things she likes him to do when he visits- the man can fix or figure out how to work just about anything)  This time she had purchased a gadget  from QVC that would scan your old photos and put them on a memory card.  My mom is the queen of  QVC shopping but that's another story.  Anyway she wanted Ralph to figure out how to work it which he did.

Going through all those pictures and scanning them was definitely an emotional roller coaster type experience.  Seeing my dad the way he was before the Alzheimer's made us smile but it was also a reminder that he was longer with us.  Ralph and the girls had not heard all of the stories behind the photos so I think they enjoyed the glimpses into our past.

One backstory seemed to sum up my personality as a child pretty well- at least according to my mom.  My dad had purchased one of the very first Polaroid cameras from a coworker. (It was the kind you had to rub the picture with some chemical and wait for it to appear.)  He was constantly taking pictures of us.  Not being the most patient child or the most tolerant of things I felt were stupid, this was a real source of annoyance for my 8 year old self.  One weekend morning I had just taken a bath.  My hair was wet and I was wearing a bathrobe.  For some reason he wanted to take  pictures that morning.  Probably because my 3 year old brother looked so adorable in his footed jammies and his "porcupine" hair sticking up everywhere.  But I was NOT feeling adorable.  The first picture went OK but just as he went to shoot the next one I said in a voice just loud enough to be heard by all, "I just ought to stick my bare ass up in the air."

There were no more photos taken that morning.

(This is not THE photograph but I think you get the idea- doesn't everyone look pleased with me!)

Who is that old woman in the mirror?

I decided this morning I need some new friends.  More specifically, Lady Clairol, Jenny Craig and Mary Kay.  Getting old really just sucks sometimes.

I Love My Kindle!

"It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which are your very own."

— Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 I have always loved reading.  My mom tells me that I liked nothing better than to sit on someone's lap and hear favorite books read over and over. As soon as I could read myself  that is all I wanted to do.  I checked out my 2 favorites, Madeline and Horton Hears a Who, from the public library over and over.  I remember my first "chapter book" that was in my Easter basket is 1st grade.  It was The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore. I went on to read many other stories about Ned, Nan, Flossie and Freddy and then moved on to Nancy Drew, Donna Parker and basically anything I could get my hands on.  I was never without a book.  I read in the car, in bed at night, and even in the midst of family gatherings.  I kept a book in my desk at school and secretly read holding the book on my lap under my desk.  This caused a little trouble now and then especially if the book was funny and I laughed out loud during a lesson. (Sorry Mrs. Probst!)