May 11th- A FREE PRETZEL CHALLENGE

May 11, 2018- Day 11 Year 7-

FREE PRETZEL #11

Last night was the last PTA meeting for Johnson School and as teacher liaison to the PTA, I figured it would be a good idea to show up to at least one meeting this year!  As the other liaison, Christine Mays has been a lot more active than me, when it comes to showing up at PTA meetings, taking notes and being involved.  During the meeting I got to talking with Christine and I actually had some pretzels in my bag with me.  I offered her one, but she said, "How about tomorrow morning?" I said "Deal."

Giddy with FREE PRETZEL delight

Well Friday morning FREE PRETZEL came with a small price.  I picked up two rows of mini pretzels and after presenting Christine with her FREE PRETZEL, I also presented her with the challenge of giving out all of the mini pretzels.  

The Challenge

Being the extremely smart person that Christine is, she immediately began sharing them with her grade level partners (first) and then even some second grade teachers and was able to unload all of them before lunch!  I guess I made it too easy on her.

Seriously though, Christine is awesome and a good friend.  It was fun trying to see her play my part, even for a few minutes this morning.  I guess I should have made her write about it.  Ha!.  Next time I guess. Thanks and I hope you had some fun today Christine.   

Until tomorrow...

May 10th- My 200th post!

May 10, 2018- Day 10 Year 7-

FREE PRETZEL #10

Today's blog was my 200th blog entry.  I need to address a major problem with what has been happening at my local Collingswood Soft Pretzel Factory Store.   For whatever reason, here has been construction on Haddon Ave for almost the whole month of May.  This has caused major issues, because right in front of the Pretzel Factory they have closed off certain streets and made Haddon Avenue one way, along with no parking on the street.  It has been a real inconvenience to me in the morning and has disrupted a lot of what I have tried to do with the FREE PRETZEL this month.  

Yes, I am using this as an excuse and it bums me out.  Today was no different.  What a mess.  This issue has caused me to not get the pretzels in a timely fashion and has forced my hand to share them with the family more often than not.  I don't like to be selfish, but at least the kids are enjoying it.  More recently the boys have been enjoying late night (9pmish) snacks of the leftovers.  Lucky them.  

Until tomorrow...

May 9th- My first born

May 9, 2018- Day 9 Year 7-

FREE PRETZEL #9

So this year's journey is a little more than a week old and my first born, Patrick, has been asking me when he was getting his pretzel.  Even though Patrick is partial to pretzel rivets, with vanilla cream dip, soft pretzels are one of Patrick's food groups.

Patrick with his twisted treat

Patrick was very happy that I said yes to him getting the pretzel today and we even bought some rivets with vanilla cream dip!  We enjoyed our treats and hung out at home.  It was a nice relaxing afternoon. 

Until tomorrow...

May 8th- Super Long Term Sub

May 8, 2018- Day 8 Year 7-

FREE PRETZEL #8

When you graduated college early, did you take on a full time teaching job for the final 4 months of a school year?  Well today's recipient did.  Rebecca Forrest has been a long term 5th grade substitute  since early March here at Johnson school.  

A treat that lasted all day

Rebecca is everything a go getting young teacher should be.  Follows the rules, doesn't want to make any waves and is very serious all the time.  All kidding aside, she has been doing an amazing job with the little time she has had to prepare and get things going.  She is an extremely hard worker and in a very short span has taken over the classroom and made it her own.  She has also been very easy to work with and also a good sounding board to bounce ideas off of. 

Rebecca is a Jersey girl, from Marlton, who attended Cherokee and is actually graduating from Rider this Friday.  She is engaged to a young man who is originally from Louisiana.  They are planning on a fall 2019 wedding and she is unsure if they will be settling down here in Jersey or down in Louisiana both now or in the future.  

All done.  Congrats!!!!

Ummm..is that too cute or what?

Rebecca was a lucky recipient to get a very warm very fresh early morning FREE PRETZEL and was very grateful to be able to eat a little bit at at time throughout the day.  Hopefully it will be a small positive memory from her first official/yet unofficial teaching job

It has been a pleasure working with her these months and I wish her nothing but the best as a teacher a wife and beyond. 

Until tomorrow...

May 7th- She said yes to the dress!

May 7, 2018- Day 7 Year 7-

FREE PRETZEL #7

'This morning I woke up and when I opened my phone and facebook appeared, one of the first images I saw was of a first grade teacher at Johnson, Liz Martines.  Liz was holding up a sign that said, "I said yes to the dress," obviously indicating that she has picked her wedding dress for her upcoming nuptials in August of 2019.  Her and her fiance' David will have their reception at Scotland Run Golf Course.

Liz told me she tried on about 20 dresses over a two weekend period at a few different places before settling on "THE ONE" at Country Way Bridal.

"It finally happened!"  Yes it did Liz

Liz has been at Johnson for as long as I have been here, 4 years, but her journey has been a bit different. Her first year she started as an educational assistant before ending that year as one of our Title 1 resource teachers.  Her second year she continued in that Title 1 teacher role before moving over into her own classroom as a full time first grade teacher for years 3 and 4. She loves having her own classroom and not moving all over the school.

Liz is a Cherry Hill lifer attending Queen of Heaven Catholic elementary school before moving on to Carusi for middle school and High School West.  She received her undergrad degree from Franklin and Marshall.

After getting her FREE PRETZEL, she said "It finally happened!"  It's always nice to make someone's day.  She told me later that day that she enjoyed it very much.

Until tomorrow...or whenever I get around to it at this point.

May 6th- Sunday Bloody Sunday

May 6, 2018- Day 6 Year 7-

FREE PRETZEL #6

Today was bizarre.  After spring had finally arrived, it seemed like today was a trip back to March.  Cloudy, overcast and on the colder side, barely reaching the 60s.  A slight wind did not help matters either.  Today was the last day of the Golf Association of Philadelphia or GAP matches.  As a member of the Moorestown Field Club, we belong to this organization.

The organization's statement on their website is:

The Golf Association of Philadelphia was founded in 1897 by members of the Belmont Golf Association (now Aronimink Golf Club), Merion Cricket Club (now Merion Cricket Club), Philadelphia Country Club and Philadelphia Cricket Club.

The organization's 200 Full Member Clubs are spread across parts of three states — Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The Golf Association of Philadelphia encompasses an area that roughly runs from Lancaster to Scranton to Bethlehem to Princeton to Cape May to Wilmington and back to Lancaster.

The purpose of the Association is simple: to preserve, protect and promote the game of golf. Every GAP activity is designed to do just that. 

The GAP team matches as they have been called since 1997, consist of clubs being organized into 4 club divisions and matches in round robin form over a three week period.  Each club sets a lineup of 6 players home and 6 players away.  Each player has an individual match vs a player from the other club and then within the foursome and simultaneously, the two players from one club play against the other two players from the other club.  In each match a play can earn 3 individual points (front nine, back nine and 18 hole match) and then also earn the same as part of the two-man team. This is all probably gibberish to most of you, but I wanted to explain so that I could brag about myself.

The past two years I have served as the Captain of Team 1 for The Field Club, which means I am responsible for making sure we have the top 12 players available each week for our team, based on handicap.  This year was a bit crazy because some of our top players were busy and not able to make some matches.  Since 2003 I have been playing in at least one match with the exception of 2009, the year the boys were born and 2010, when I left the club for half a year.  In that period I have only ever competed in all three matches 5 times, with three off those occurring before the boys were born.

I mention all of this because these matches can always be funny things.  Same days or years you got it and others you don't.  This year, much like 2015, was one of the years that I had it.  In 2015 I earned 16.5 of a possible 18 points, while this year I earned 14 points, 8.5 of 9 possible individual points, which means this year in my individual match I only halved the back nine of my home match vs Indian Valley.  I was able to play Jericho National and DuPont Country Club on the road, two courses that I was eager to play.

Today was special because I was able to play DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware.  This is a course that was home to an LPGA Major Championship for many years and a few of those years, as a kid, I was able to attend with my family and watch some awesome golf.  I always wondered about playing the course someday and how I would do. The course has been altered slightly as a lot of trees have been removed, but the basic structure was still there.  I played very good situational golf, which means that based on the match I was playing against the member from DuPont, I was able to win holes even if I wasn't playing my absolute best every hole.  I hit my driver great, hit my irons ok and putted just good enough.  My actual score was a 6 over par 77, but I won my match all ways and only lost the team match on the back nine when one of my opponents made birdie to our par.

FREE ICE CREAM #1

On my way home I treated myself to the FREE PRETZEL for my performance and as a surprise treat I also was given a free ice cream.   I opted for the Salted Caramel Pretzel.  It was amazing.  I do not know how often this Philly Soft Pretzel factory on the White Horse Pike in Haddon Heights gives out Free Ice Cream with each purchase, but I high recommend it.  Bassetts.  Very tasty.

The only bad part of the day was that the boys lost their soccer game, 4-2 vs Cherry Hill.  Blech.

Until tomorrow... and next year for GAP.

May 5th- Spring in South Jersey

May 5, 2018- Day 5 Year 7-

FREE PRETZEL #5

 Ahhh a spring Saturday.  What could be better?  The opening day of the Collingswood Farmers Market, yard work, soccer practice and Tabitha getting her ears pierced.  Wait, what?  When did my little baby girl grow up so fast?  Sheesh.  A long time ago in a galaxy far far away in my younger self I probably would have scoffed at this notion, but que sera.  Although I do think it's a little weird for babies to have their ears pierced, but even then, whatever.  I guess I'm beginning to make the motto "Life is too short" as my mantra.  Here are some of the highlights from our day.

We ventured to the Collingswood Farmers Market and it was one of the more glorious opening days in the past few years.  We hit all of our regular spots. We stopped by Springdale Farms for apple cider donuts.  We eased on down the block for kettle corn and peach cider.  Then we stopped by the Amber Grain bakery tent for their Collingswood Sourdough bread.  It's phenomenal.  Of course we then had to go to Duker's for their chicken salad, which served on the aforementioned bread is fantastic.   

A fantastic opening day of the market

Where we get most of our produce each Saturday

The best apple cider donuts around

We rounded back, picked up some produce and headed home for yard work.  YAY!!!

After some much needed spring cleaning, Tabitha accompanied me on my trip to Ray's Mower shop in Maple Shade to have ouw mower looked at.  We left it with him and then I decided I needed to introduce her to the Maple Shade Custard stand.  She had not gotten her ears pierced yet, but I thought it would be a nice daddy/daughter treat.  She got a vanilla/chocolate twist on a cone, but in a cup, with gummy bears.  What is wrong with kids these days? Gummy bears and ice cream?

I then told her we were headed to the Pretzel Factory and that she was getting the FREE PRETZEL today for being brave and getting her ears pierced.

Tibby with her doughy, salted treat. 

We headed home where I then would be taking the boys to soccer and she would be off to get her ears pierced and have a fun afternoon with mommy.  When I arrived at soccer practice, I received the text message that included the new look Tibby.

Sparkles!!!!

Katie told me she was very brave, despite Sweet and Sassy apparently being a den of pink disgustingness.  She had both ears done at the same time.  Not a peep.  This is the girl who had a 2 inch gash in her head and didn't flinch while she received 5 stitches.  I guess it pays to have brothers sometimes. 

The boys had one of their best practices ever and as a reward, we rode our bikes to Cabana for ice cream and water ice. 

To complete the night Katie and I got a sitter and walked up to our new favorite restaurant, Sabrina's.  Let me just end by saying that Sabrina's is known for the breakfast and brunch, but the rest of their menu is a hidden gem.  I highly recommend this place if you are not looking for Italian and you want a nice night out without the kids and the noise of the Pop Shop.  The chicken and waffles with a spicy sweet syrup is killer.  Take a look.

Delicious

Amazing right? Bring your own beverage and head over to Sabrina's one of these nights.  You can thank me later. 

Until tomorrow...

May 4- A May birthday!

May 4, 2018- Day 4 Year 7-

FREE PRETZEL #4

Sue Murphy has been an ed assistant in the Cherry Hill school district for the past 14 years.  She has been at Johnson for the last 10.  She was once an elementary school teacher before she had her children and was one of the teachers responsible for starting the elementary classes of the Chesterbrook Academies that you see in the area. 

Sue was happy to get a warm FREE PRETZEL

Sue has three children, a son and two daughters.  After her daughters were born she stayed home for a few years before getting back in the classroom as and ed assistant.  Johnson is lucky to have someone with great elementary knowledge and I was thrilled to have her as the assistant in the room for indoor recess this year.  I am not sure how she felt about it.  Just kidding.  

She spends her time at recess and lunch with the 5th graders and if you spent a week in her shoes you would know she should probably get a carton of pretzels for her service.  She spends her indoor recess time with my class specifically and we had A LOT of indoor recess this year.  

Other than giving her a FREE PRETZEL for being awesome and having to be with my students all year, today was her birthday.  You know how I love birthdays and specifically May birthdyas, so this was a no brainer.  It also happened to be kind of a milestone birthday, but I'm not telling which milestone.  

Thanks Sue

Until tomorrow... 

May 3- Crazy busy day

May 3, 2018 Day 3, Year 7-

FREE PRETZEL #3

Today was a very busy day in the life of Tim Casale.  It was filled with doctor's appointments, running around and a golf match.  The golf match was the coaching kind, not the playing kind, so I can't even say that I got to do something fun. 

Anyway, the appointments went well.  The dermatologist give me a clean bill of health and said come back in a year.  He even told me I was doing a good job on my bald head.  One small hiccup that got eventually got cleared up, was that Horizon, my new health insurer claimed I didn't exist and they had no record of me, yet my referral was in.  So I guess if I ever need to escape this crazy world for good,  I'll let Horizon help me out.

My other appointment was just a check in on my diabetes.  I am happy to report that things continue to be going well with all of my numbers based on my blood tests.  Despite the snafu with Horizon, I completely understand how lucky our family is to have good health insurance and that we are relatively healthy.  It's a big scary world out there and for now it's not something we have to worry about, so let's just hope and pray it stays that way. 

As for the pretzel, I shared it with two of my golfers on the way home from the match.  They were appreciative and after the day they had, not the good kind, they deserved a nice treat.

Until tomorrow....

May 2, 2018- Howdy Partner!

May 2, 2018, Day 2, Year 7-

FREE PRETZEL #2

I met Mary Madden (great full name) during my two year Masters of Education program that we did together, the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE).  She was a Boston College grad ready to volunteer her time and follow in her parents Peace Corp footsteps.  She studied English and Spanish at BC and was one of the lucky 4 chosen to open the Los Angeles community of ACE 7 (7 stands for the graduating class of the program).  We became friends in ACE since we both would be teaching in an elementary school, her in 3rd grade, me in 5th grade in Pensacola. We took a few elementary classes together and since there were only 21 of us, we all stuck together.

And now the back story...

Mary moved back home to Texas after ACE and in the first year she worked at William Sonoma in what she calls the greatest job she's ever had.  She learned how to cook and so many valuable life skills.  After that she attended SMU law school. She has always wanted to be a lawyer since she was a little girl, even though she seems too nice to be a lawyer.  Mary has 3 children, Christopher (9), Josie (6) and Matthew (4).  She now works for a law firm in Dallas called Calhoun, Bhella and Sechrest.

6 years ago or so Mary had little baby Josie and as new moms would be doing and she described to me, she would be feeding her at 12, 2 and 4 am.  Mary said the 4 am feedings were the worst and that she would peruse Facebook and stumbled upon this blog.  She says after reading it, it became part of her early morning ritual and she would get excited to see who would be the next person to get the FREE PRETZEL and then read the story.  She often wondered what the pretzel would taste like and then contacted me through Facebook a few times asking when she could get one. 

As I have stated before. it's not my intent to make mouths water over the internet, but my reach is also a very short one. Therefore, if you happen to be in town during the month of May, make sure you let me know!

In working at her new firm, Mary is also called upon to oversee depositions in different parts of the country.  As luck would have it, she would be in Philadelphia for a deposition in West Chester May 2-3.   Yay! She contacted me through Facebook letting me know that she would be here and wondered if we could get together.  Keep in mind we have not seen each other in person since our graduation from ACE in the summer of 2002.  16 years ago!!!!  That's 4 trips to a 4-year college! 

So I got the pretzel in the afternoon, had a golf match after school, came home in time to put the kids to bed and then boarded the PATCO to meet Mary at her hotel in the Rittenhouse area.

The pretzel gets a train ride!

When I greeted her in the lobby, I was met with the same booming laugh that I knew from 16 years ago.  Her hair was now long and mine was now gone and for some reason the first words out of her mouth were "I don't remember you being that tall."  Uhhh Thanks?

"I can't believe that I am the pretzel recipient. It's a six year dream come true."

The caption of the picture were Mary's exact words.  The crazy thing is, that if you are following the blog, most people have the same reaction.  In this case, being so far away in Texas, following the blog and thinking it would be cool to be a part of it, but knowing it's unrealistic, this was really cool for her.  Mary is anything but untruthful.  She would be the world's worst poker player.  She says what she means and doesn't sugar coat it.  

We had a nice meal at the Marathon Grill where we talked about life, our families, kids, jobs and even our time at ND.  It was really fun.  After dinner we were walking back to her hotel and noticed that there happened to be a Philly Pretzel Factory on the street, one block from her hotel.  To my amazement it was open 24 hours!!!  Like what???!!!!  Since Mary's FREE pretzel was a little hard, even though she said it was pretty damn good, I wanted to make sure she tried a fresh one.  I explained all the different types of things that they sell, including rivets, pretzel dogs and pretzel cheesesteaks.  

I was dumbfounded that they were open 24 hours.  She didn't care and talked us into 3 braids for $5

We got three pretzel braids and on our walk back to the hotel we gave the extra to a man on the street.  I hope he appreciated it.  

During the night we discovered that our fathers were both at Notre Dame at the same time, hers graduating in 1961, mine in 1962.  We couldn't get over the fact that we had not seen each other in 16 years, yet it seemed like we were able to pick up right where we left off.  Facebook might have something to do with that.  We talked about people from ACE and what they were doing now and she shared how happy she was to be back in the Northeast and the enjoyment of the hustle and bustle of a city, similar to Boston, where she went to school.  

She told me that she really wanted to see some historical places and as luck would have it her deposition the next day finished early and she was able to get down to Independence Hall and even sent me a picture of her at the Liberty Bell.  She was extremely excited.  

This FREE PRETZEL adventure was definitely one of the more memorable in the 7 years and was only helped by the fact that Mary was so genuinely excited.  Please take note Melissa Tacey and Kelly Orsi!!  This goes for all of my out of town friends.  Jersey and Philly are lovely in May!

  

Thanks for dinner Mary Madden.

Until tomorrow...

May 1, 2018- Teach me how to Read!!!

May 1, 2018- Year 7 Day 1

FREE PRETZEL #1

Well...it's back for lucky year #7!  Yaaaayyyy!(trailing off in a slightly sarcastic tone)

This year you can expect surprises, laughter, crying and maybe even be scared out of your shoes!  Of course I am kidding, but for the first time ever, I actually planned out most of the entire month.  Crazy right?  Definitely crazy for me.  I never really plan anything.

Anyway, it is fitting that May Day was maybe the most spectacular of the spring so far.  I went out at lunch, because I was running late this morning, and I returned from lunch with a FREE PRETZEL to present to an unsuspecting recipient. 

AJ was very excited to get a FREE PRETZEL as her afternoon snack

AJ Kon came to Johnson two years ago from Kilmer after volunteering to transfer.  AJ has taught 14 years in the district, the last two here at Johnson and the first 12 at Kilmer.  She has taught 1st grade for all of those years.  She is a Cherry Hill native, attending Cooper, Beck and East.  It was then off University of Pittsburgh for her education degree, down to South Florida for her masters and then back to TCNJ for her reading specialist degree.  Whew!  I'm tired from typing that

I am not sure if this would be an exact description, but she is a salt of the earth kind of person, who seems to roll with the days waves.  She is definitely no nonsense when it comes to her students and to her own children, which is why I instantly found her likable.

I was thinking of the best way to describe who she was to people who do not know here and this is what I decided on: She walks fast, carries a giant coffee cup and is always smiling, but she doesn't take any crap from anyone. 

I'm sure she will correct me if she doesn't agree, but like a lot of Johnson Teachers, she's kind of a badass.

AJ was giddy with excitement that she was getting a FREE PRETZEL and I was able to present it to her in front of her 1st grade class as they were sharing things about themselves that made them unique.  I thought it only appropriate in this blog to shed some light on why AJ is unique.  I hope I did a good enough job.

I love birthdays and even though AJ is not a May birthday. She did celebrate her 40th birthday on April 29th.  I’ll be joining this club in a few weeks as well, so I wanted to be sure her special day was also recognized.  She has been celebrating since last fall. That’s my kind of partying.

Until tomorrow...