No Turning Back

This is day one of the kitchen remodeling and I believe we survived.  It is amazing to me how much room there is now without the cabinets, appliances and the counter tops.  Only two problems arose when they tore out the soffit.  The first affects Meg's bathroom.  The soffit was hiding the duct to her bathroom vent.  Luckily, her bathroom is small, so not having air conditioning and heat won't affect it as long as she keeps the door open when she is not using it.  The second problem stems from the pipes to the boys bathroom.  We will still be able to vent the microwave, but our contractor will have to cut a smaller hole.  Thus,  I feel overall that it was pretty good news.  Our home was built over 20 years ago and we expected a few glitches.

Doug was inventive with dinner.  He grilled bratwurst and sausage.  We have one burner on the side of the grill, so he was still able to make pasta.  With all of that he, Cal and I were satisfied.  Meg was content with left over rice and there was enough taco meet for two soft tacos for Cameron.  Tomorrow night we will eat out and we are hoping to try a few crock pot recipes next week.  Hopefully, we will only be without a stove for a month, so we should be able to survive.  In all honesty it is the sink that I will miss the most.  Washing dishes at the bathroom vanity will be a challenge, but we will make do.  Always wanted to be a pioneer, so guess I will just have to learn to "rough" it.

Ready for the Week

Doug and I spent the day getting ready for the week.  Tomorrow begins the kitchen construction project.  Thus, Doug spent quite a bit of time clearing out the cabinets and rearranging the mud room to fit our refrigerator.  I then cleaned up the appliances and counter tops, so I think we are ready for this adventure.  Can't wait to see what it looks like in the end.  It will be nice to have the added cabinet space as well.

We also had time to get a lot of other things done around the house, which will make our week run a lot smoother.  I graded everything that has been turned into me so far - a four hour commitment that I am thrilled to be done with.  I finally got all of the laundry put away that I washed on Friday.  Doug mowed, jogged, ran to the grocery, finished paperwork for Renegade and surprised Cal and I with homemade macaroni and cheese.  It will be a lot harder to cook once the stove is taken out, so we enjoyed having it today.  In making space for the new cabinets we gave my Mom our hutch.  It matches her kitchen table and she already is putting it to good use.  She told me that this counts as her birthday and Christmas gift, but we'll see.

Cal was able to catch up on some homework.  Cameron went golfing with Grandma Jane.  Meg thoroughly enjoyed her first youth group meeting and Brett called to talk about the plans for our upcoming visit.  Overall a very productive day that will hopefully leave us ready for the week to come.

Knight's Duel and the winner is . . .

Cameron talked all week of his upcoming chess tournament - the Knight's Duel.  Being held on Purdue University's campus only added to the excitement.  He told his teacher several times that he wasn't sure he wanted to go since it was at his least favorite school!!!  As the week wore on he was confident that he had a good chance of winning since he was going to be one of the oldest in his bracket of K-3rd graders.  

We were there early and met up with Cameron's friend, Evan.  His mother, Mary, and sister, Deea, came, so Meg, Doug and I had a great group to chat with while we waited in between matches.  The boys brought their chess boards and used their free time to practice.  Cameron won his first match easily.  He was feeling pretty positive about his chances as we headed to the Union for lunch.  Meg spent her time talking with me about the differences between IU and Purdue.  She shares the Heinisch opinion that West Lafayette does not hold a candle to Bloomington.  Doug wore his IU soccer shirt and received some good-natured ribbing while we were ordering our food.

After lunch Meg and I headed to the mall.  We knew that our stamina for being chess spectators would fade quickly if we didn't take a break.  We found Dick's Sporting Goods and she left with a pair of green and gold sliders and socks plus the knowledge that we had ordered her indoor cleats.  I found something I just had to have from Yankee Candle - Bone White and the seven spooks.  Cam called just as we turned back on to campus.  He had won his second match in less than 3 minutes and just completed his third with the W as well.  

We walked around campus and headed back for the fourth and final round.  Cam was ranked second and was playing for first.  Evan was ranked sixth and playing for one of the coveted top five spots.  Cam headed to the players room knowing that we were proud of him no matter the outcome.  As he met his opponent, the competitors' siblings said, "This guy is going to destroy you."  Cameron did win relatively easily.  He was all smiles as he came back into the parents' room.  Evan's match ended in a stalemate, which unfortunately knocked him out of contention for a trophy.  

Cameron, Evan, Meg and Deea talked Mary into touring the building.  All came back with fun stories of their adventures and the boys ability of using the force to open elevator doors.  Shortly after 4 p.m. the awards were announced.  Cameron was the overall champion for his age bracket.  He was proud of his accomplishment and respectful of the fact that Evan was not feeling as excited about his end result.  The boys did very well, however, and even finished in third place for the team competition.  That was a great feat as they only had a team of two!

We stopped for dinner at Bruno's Pizza, a local favorite.  Brett called to congratulate Cameron.  Cal had stayed back to attend the fish fry at Grandma and Grandpa's church.  Watched Something Wicked This Way Comes - a Halloween favorite - on the way home.  What a wonderful family day!  

  

Anti-Social

I am sure that there are some people out there that think that I am anti-social.  Tonight I was invited to go to dinner with two different groups.  It was nice to be included, but I declined.  I have had several meetings this week and I feel like I never get to see my family and just enjoy them.

Thus, instead of joining in on the social activities I met Meg after school and helped her clean out her locker.  Forty minutes later we carried out 8 sweatshirts, 1 t-shirt, 1 bag, two lunch boxes and three bags of paper.  Probably not fun to most, but we both felt a strong sense of accomplishment as we headed to the van.  From there we stopped at Casey's for our Friday after school ritual.  Cam was thrilled to have a donut and slushie for his weeks accomplishment and Meg held tight to her bag of Starbursts for hers.

We then headed straight home to catch up with Cal.  He and Jayce made plans to go to the football game in Goshen with Doug Hapner.  They had to be on the road by 5 as Doug wanted to go to dinner.  I enjoyed listening to Jayce and Cal talk about their week, playing their favorite song of the week and being a part of their exuberance for a short while.

Doug and I decided to go to dinner in town once he arrived home from work.  Meg was content to stay at home and text some friends.  Cam visited his grandparents to practice his putting.  Once the four of us were back together again, we played a round of Mario Kart on the Wii.  It was quickly decided that my skills have deteriorated over the years, but we all enjoyed the activity.

Now we sit and wait to hear from Cal.  Doug's sorting papers from work, Meg's getting ready for her eye exercises and Cam's planning his strategy for tomorrow's chess tournament.  On nights like these I can't imagine being anywhere else.  So, I hope that no one sees me as anti-social.  I really am not.  I get a ton of social interaction during the day at school.  I save my precious free time for the Heinisch family.  I realize that in a few short years they will all be off doing their own thing.  For now I will just enjoy the ride!

Interruptions

I believe that nothing hurts a student's ability to learn more than interruptions.  Every time the learning process is interrupted a little bit of the lesson is lost.  Today I decided to try and end the interruptions.  I cannot control announcements or adults in and out of the room, but I can stop the student interruptions.  Thus, on my smart board this rule was posted:

#1 "There will be no interruptions today.  If you need help, then please sign up on the whiteboard.  Any student who interrupts will be written up."

A write up in our school is equal to a lunch detention.  I do not give many a trimester, maybe one or two.  Thus, the students knew I was serious.  I explained to them that they are sabotaging the entire class' education every time they interrupt a lesson, directions or concentration. I will not let that happen in my class.

The students did very well with the new rule (plus the 4 others that I typed up.)  When I was helping a student and one of the notorious #1 rule breakers walked up, I would say quietly, "reread rule one on the smart board and rethink your decision."  I only had to say that once and the interruptions stopped.  I was thrilled.  We accomplished a lot, finished many projects and actually had the room cleaned up by the time the bell rang all four class periods.  Fingers crossed that it continues tomorrow!!

Granite

The last few days have been spent trying to figure out which granite we would like for our counter tops and which company to use.  Our contractor was very high on one that is less than a mile from our house.  We met with them and picked something out.  Our cabinet maker likes a different company from Fort Wayne.  That is an hour drive for us, so I was against it.  However, Doug decided to go ahead and talk with the one the furthest away, because they could promise to have the granite installed within two weeks of the template date and he had many favorable reviews from them when he worked at Grabill.  The company a mile away, said that it would be at least a month out and our contractor's contact quit working there.

We both spent quite a bit of time on the phone with the companies, looking at pictures of granite and sinks.  We decided that it was too big of a price to take it lightly, so we drove the hour trip up to look at full slabs of granite.  Doug kept gravitating to one that he really liked.  The one I picked out was quite a bit more money, so we went with his.  We brought a small piece home and it will look great.  In all honesty, I would have been happy with anything.  I am ready to get rid of our laminate and get this process going.  Next week construction starts and we should be finished by November 12th, in plenty of time for Thanksgiving.

Hoosier Hysteria

We have two middle schools in our corporation, which is unique for a community of our size.  The one in Milford is quite a bit smaller than the one at Wawasee.  No one really talks about consolidating them.  In 1992 when the Wawasee Middle School was opened, Milford still had a relatively new building and taxpayers did not want to see it go to waste.  Students can choose to go to either school, and Milford does get about 6-8 students per grade from Syracuse or North Webster Elementary Schools at the beginning of 6th grade.  Almost that many from Milford make Wawasee their choice, so the student population in the buildings does not change much from year to year.  Milford still has the small time feel of yesteryear with an average of 70 students per grade.

Time has marched on and there hasn't been a lot of controversy until this fall.  The athletic department at the high school wrote a proposal for the school board to consolidate the 7th and 8th grade basketball programs.  This has been talked about for the past several years by both the girls and boys head basketball coaches, but I don't believe anyone in the public ever thought it would happen.  There was quite a bit of discussion at the board meeting, but they did agree to a pilot year of combining the two programs.  

Six of our other middle school sports have consolidated over the past few years and there were some who complained, but overall it has gone very well.  All of that changed tonight.  The athletic director had a meeting at Wawasee Middle School to explain the decision and give his vision of the future of basketball in our community.  After his initial explanation, several of the 8th grade Wawasee parents became irate.  They did not want their children's chances of winning middle school games to be compromised by combining with the Milford teams.  They also loudly criticized last year's boys head basketball coach while blaming Milford school and their lack of athletic interest in causing this change.

Doug sat there dumbfounded.  It was small town, small mindedness at its best.  As he told me the story, we kept laughing thinking of the movie "Hoosiers."  An angry mob mentality occurs at a meeting in that movie much like ours tonight.  One of the boys stops it when he says, "Coach stays, I play."  Changed everyone's opinion as he was their superstar.  I wish Jimmy Chitwood would have showed up tonight and ended the arguing.  Nothing hurts a program more than a group of parents bad mouthing it.  Kudos to our athletic director for initiating change.  It may not affect our high school teams' records, but it is worth trying.