My Day

I had class today from nine a.m. to two p.m. It is fairly painful to sit through four and a half hours of class (we get half an hour for lunch). We are learning a lot about No Child Left Behind and IDEA, all three versions of it.

Upon arriving home, I watched "Calendar Girls." It has lots of really witty dialogue and half naked British women. Older British women, I should add. It was very funny.

I make chicken Kiev and risotto for dinner, followed by a walk and playdate for Henry and Angel. Henry is now sound asleep on the floor after all the excitement.

My day was not very exciting. I kinda like that.

Two Weeks Later...

Ta-Da! My vacation, all week and a half of it, is boring me. But not bored enough to do anything productive. Two days a week I go to grad school, where I learn all about No Child Left Behind and IDEA 2004. Three days a week I tutor a petulant and tiresome child in reading for 45 minutes. I run about two miles everyday and pray that Henry and I catch Angel outside.

Angel is Henry's new best friend. She's a perky little corgi from across the alley, and she has a small fenced in backyard. Several times now Henry and Angel have had playdates where they run, romp, wrestle, and wear each other out. He loves it so much that if we go out at night to use the bathroom, he sits where he can see their backyard and cries for her. Its a little ridiculous, but he takes really long naps after they play.

I have no plans this weekend. Hoorah! I feel like this week I've been lazy because of all the traveling I did in the previous two weeks or so. Maybe after a real weekend, I'll get into stained glass or reading. But watching Judging Amy reruns on the sofa's not so bad, I suppose.

AAAAHHHHHH! One More Day!

Today I got a lot done at work, including a surprise party for a little girl who is moving. I acted like she was in trouble to get her to come into my room, and the kids all jumped out and yelled, "Surprise!" It was really fun. I had given a fourth grade mom without a job $20 to go get us two pizzas from Little Caesers for the party, figuring she'd bring me back about $8 in change. She didn't have time, I guess, so she went to Papa Johns, which cost $23, and she ate the cost. Some people are so generous, and I'm so thankful! I'm learning everyday that when I ask people to help my kids, most really go above and beyond the call of duty.

My classroom is nearly all packed up, and the walls are bare. I paid a fifth grader in candy bars to go up and down the ladder to pull off all the weird little things I'd put up through the year. The big job tomorrow is moving the fish tank. I may actually move it. I have two week feeding blocks. Surely I can remember to go in every other week. I'll want to know when I can start setting up my new classroom anyhow. I tried to do a decent packing j0b, buts it all ended up mixed together. Always something exciting in the world of education!

Two Days To Go

Since my recent blogs have been pretty low, here's the good news to report for today:
1. I get to keep the furniture in my classroom and take it with me to my new classroom. So its not exciting, but I'm really pleased. I found a layout that I love, and I've already drawn a map to recreate it next year.
2. I played a rousing game of ping pong with Troy. I lost, but 22-24. It was close.
3. Grad school is starting to wind down again, and I turned in/completed nearly everything. Two short papers and a location visit, and I'm done!
4. I got a lot of paperwork taken care of today at school. I had to sit in for a teacher while she picked another teacher up at home (she had fallen) and took her to the emergency room. So considering I lost two hours of my day, I accomplished a lot.
5. I'm going to bed. That's really the best news of all. I love to sleep.

Three Days Left

I'm really bothered that I'm so busy and stressed out. This time of year is typically so nice with the weather turning hot and endings approaching. However, I'm so stressed that I'm crotchety with everyone- students, Troy, Henry... Hopefully the stress will dissipate soon.

Henry has turned into such a weird dog. We still love him, but we're perplexed by his strange combination of absolute wildness (such as LAUNCHING himself at Troy when he was watching television and nearly killing him) and his absolute relaxtion (like now, when he's asleep by the sofa bed while I type). I can't wait until he's always laid back, if he ever reaches that point.

I continue to think about the fact that my parents are moving soon. The geographic issue isn't a big deal. I don't really care where they live, although I'd like them to live nearer to me. If I could trade Mom and Dad for Jerry Falwell, I would in a heartbeat. The big deal? The change of phone numbers. For the last twenty years, if I need moral support, medical information, running help, love, attention, or weather advice, I called the same number. That's all about to change. What if I have an emergency and I can't remember their number? What if I'm attacked by bears and need medical advice? What if there's a freak typhoon in Virginia and I need help? What if my whole world falls apart and I can't remember a dagblasted phone number?!?

Sigh. Three more days.

Four Days Left

WILL IT NEVER END!?!?! Sheesh. The last days are the hardest. On top of everything else, I'm working on packing up everything in my classroom. The kids are themselves, being slightly obnoxious but generally good. The work keeps piling up, though, of things that have to be done by Friday. Plus, I have class. Ugh.

However, the good news is that I'm going to the beach TWICE this summer. Yippee for me! I love the beach. Also, class will only meet twice a week. I can't wait to spend my days studying a bit, playing with Henry, and doing stained glass. Mmmmm... Summer. Meghan and I have several projects planned: a book drive for needy kids, take home bags with activities and books for needy kids, and lots of collaborative teaching in the fall. A week after this year's over, we'll be planning the next, I'm sure.

But before I get too excited, I need to survive just four more days.

It must be love

Troy bought me a pressure washer today! I spent hours outside with it, cleaning everything that wasn't alive. Some of the shrubbery got a little cleaner as well. The porch looks great, the siding is better than its ever been, and the sidewalk is sparkling. What a husband! I've wanted a pressure washer for several years, and now I have my very own.

I started working on some stained glass yesterday. I was thinking about knitting an afghan, but I have too many unfinished projects out there to go buy yarn. I set a table up in the basement by the windows looking outside to the driveway. That way, open windows allow all the yucky lead fumes to go out and Henry can be tied up and still see me. I'm working on a turtle. Its lots more fun than grad school work.

Speaking of stained glass, I had an interesting conversation with my sister today that bothered me a lot. She was talking about learning to do stained glass with her roommate. I got very upset, although I tried not to let her know. I was jealous enough over the crocheting. You see, I thought of myself as a failure at so many things when I was younger. My sister always seemed to be so self-assured, so adept at school, and so emotionally well-rounded. Then I learned to crochet, knit, quilt, and do stained glass. Crafting has been my niche for the last fifteen years or so, something I do and excel at. I could create amazing things that people loved to hang up and gush over. I really loved the gushing. Now, my sister is a great gusher, and she has more of my stuff than most people do. She actually has a more varied collection of my "artifacts" than anyone- stained glass, quilts, etc. But if my sister learns to do stained glass, then I am losing my niche. I don't want to lose the attention I get for my crafting. (Just to note- my sister actually didn't know when she started crocheting that I knew how to. I've been crocheting since I was about ten, but she some how missed that fact as we were growing up.)

Now, I see my sister twice a year. She lives HOURS away, we don't share friends, and our lives are completely different. Why am I so bothered that my sister might do stained glass? Why is she still a yardstick by which I measure my achievement? Its similar to the feeling I have around teenagers. I'm married, I have a job, and a successful life. I have been socially validated. But popular teenagers make me feel about four inches tall.

This is a long ramble, I know. I just need to figure out what I'm doing with regard to my sister. How can someone I never see have such a pull on my life?

Teresa- sorry to ramble about you. Its just what's been on my mind most of the day. I love you- I really do!

Six Days Left

Today actually went by quickly. I've been doing a reading assessment on my students. Its for the Wilson Reading System and I gave them the assessment at the beginning of the year. So far I've completed and scored two, and I'm very impressed at the improvement that's been shown. I feel like I'm getting concrete proof that I accomplished something this year with my students. I know with No Child Left Behind that I'm supposed to be helping all kids become successes to fit the government's definition, but my goals were to make them better people and help them learn to read. I think I've succeeded at both, although its been a tough year.

I have a couple of projects to do for grad school, but I think I can get them done this weekend. I really do procrastinate quite a bit. As long as I don't eat the cookies!

Seven Days Left

Ah... Family life (aka sex ed) was interesting. I was in with the fourth grade boys and the PE teacher, who is one of three men who work at our school. He talked sooo fast. The boys were staring at him, confused. They'd been waiting all year to learn this stuff, and now he was talking so fast they couldn't understand it. Here are a few clips of wisdom:
"In married humans, the egg cell and the sperm cell unite to form a baby."
"A woman's period is when her body gets rid on an unfertilized egg."
"Girls have a reproductive system specifically designed to receive sperm."
I felt like I was in the dark ages. But no, its just public education. The PE teacher mainly read those things from a script. I told the guys they could ask me questions if they couldn't find the PE teacher, and I was mobbed. I guess they feel a little more comfortable with me than you'd think.

Yesterday I bought a smaller size of pants- a major feat. I'm very proud of myself. I'm hoping to be at 175/176 when I weigh in on Friday. If I could've stuck with WW completely for the last several months, I'd be at my goal by now. Its okay- I'm changing my lifestyle, not just my weight.

I get paid for this?!?

So my day consisted of three strange things. 1) Chaparoning a trip to the local children's museum for AR incentive day. Two hours of yelling, screaming, happy children and ten minutes of being in the "tower" or indoor playset. Wore myself out! 2) Driving around to get a student's sex ed permission form signed. 3) Teaching boys the first part of "family life," which was all about hygiene and drugs and alcohol. The family life part was fun, and we had a rousing discussion about the differences in deoderant and cologne. The boys all looked embarrassed until I told them we weren't learning anything about private parts today, that it was tomorrow. So I guess the really funny stories will have to wait.

I woke up today thinking it was Monday. Thank goodness it isn't really. These last few days will make me crazy.

Sunday/Saturday

I love days like this- it feels like Sunday, but since I don't work tomorrow, its really like a Saturday. The weather here was just beautiful. It was seventy-five degrees and breezy. Troy spent half the day doing yardwork- lucky him!

I'm actually working on a quilt. My craftwork has been very sporadic since grad school started, and while I've started lots of random projects, nothing has gotten finished. I have partially finished needlepoint canvases, rugs, hardanger embroidery, and quilts. I've probably started ten projects in the last year, and I haven't finished a darn thing. I guess if starting things makes me feel good, I'll just keep starting things.

We put invertebrates and one fish in our little saltwater aquarium today. Its weird to have an emerald crab in your kitchen, and not to eat, either! Its a lot of fun to just sit and watch the anemones blowing in the current and the hermit crabs scurrying around.

Nine days of school once I get back, and I'm so glad. I'll be teaching the boys hygiene for family life and sitting in on the gym teacher going over sexuality with them. This should be really interesting. The fourth grade boys this year are a motley crew. I just have to remember to take in Troy's deoderant to talk about odor. Mmmm... He smells good.

More Work Avoidance

So I have several article reviews to write, and I'm just not getting them done. That's okay, though. They aren't due for three more weeks. They'll get done somehow, I'm sure. I'm having too much fun enjoying the weekend. Our computer is driving me crazy. I can't ever get it to do what I want it to do, and Troy acts like I'm asking for his liver when I ask him to help me. That's marriage for you, I suppose.

We've had a good day. I did a little shopping earlier for birthday presents, shower presents, and clothes. I also got some fabric to work on a little quilt with- puppy dogs and the like! Very cute. Unfortunately, the computer isn't working to print out what I need printed. The little quilt will have to wait, I suppose.

I got a lot of sleep last night. It was wonderful. I love sleep. Also, I've been "on points" for Weight Watchers for nearly two days straight. I'm feeling good. I still have about thirty pounds to lose to get to my goal. That's a lot. I may just settle for twenty.

Pizza and a Movie

That's my plan for tonight. Meghan and I are going to be bums. Today's gone well, but at the end of the year, every day seems like an eternity. You're so ready for a break, and you know that break is coming. It just can't come quick enough.

I've spent the last half-hour listening to three staff members physically restrain a second grader with paranoid schizophrenia. He's all of eight, and it takes three people to contain him when he gets upset. They can't keep him from screaming, but he is certainly a handful. I start to wonder about my job when I hear him, especially since he may be my student next year. I didn't get into this to hurt anyone, and I'm certainly not relishing the thought of learning to restrain children. You see little children on television in handcuffs, and you wonder why they resort to that. I know how schools get in these tough spots. We have at least three children at my school who shouldn't be in a public, regular education program. Its slightly depressing.

Henry's a good dog. He slept out of his crate last night, and it was very nice. I like feeling his head on my leg. Everyone needs a puppy.

Work Avoidance

I have been meaning to post since Sunday, but each time I sit down, I get distracted. Today's the day, however. Our SOL testing has been good. I have a lot of papers to do for grad school, and I should be working on them now. However, I'm doing this instead. Its much more fun.

This morning a student found an owl stuck in the soccer goal here at school. I don't know what type it was, but it had beautiful yellow eyes. Poor thing- it must've gotten stuck in the neck last night when chasing after some mouse or other animal. Someone from a wildlife organization came and took it to a local vet. We're still waiting to hear more about it, but it didn't seem injured.

School and school are both going well. I can't believe that I've only got two and a half weeks until elementary school is done. I'm pretty ready for it. The kids are starting to really get on my nerves. That's a bad sign.

I'm staying home this weekend, come hell or high water. Enough traipsing all over the place. I want to get ten hours of good sleep in my own bed. Right now would be nice. Zzzzz...

Fun Saturday

We drove down to Cary last night, just in time to go to Ted's Montana Grill for dinner. They have the yummiest strawberry shortcake! I actually ate pretty decently (low fat, I mean), and we had a good time. I didn't sleep real well last night, as Henry barked a two-thirty a.m., five a.m., six-thirty a.m., and from seven-thirty a.m. until I got up and took him out. Did I mention that I was the one that took him out at two-thirty?!?

Becky and I did some fun shopping. I bought a pair of white dress shoes- they are the highest heels I've ever owned in my life. I love them! We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Mmmmm... cheesecake. I really like shopping. I know that it makes me seem shallow and materialistic, but its so much fun!

Tonight we saw the last Star Wars movie. I cried through at least half the movie. Troy and Becky couldn't really understand why I was crying, but several parts seemed pretty sad. Anyways, I though it was really good. It wraps up several loose ends, and the acting is really good. Overall, a good way to spend a weekend.

Happy weekend to all

Woo hoo- Its Friday! Today was pretty boring- I had a lot of time without students, so I wisely worked on some grad school stuff. Lesson plans, transitioning ideas, etc. There's so much to do, and only four more weeks to get it done.

I also hung out with some people doing pet therapy here. I love to watch the kids interact with the dogs. Most of these kids have such big problems, and they are adored by their canine friends. Beasley comes to visit a girl with multiple disabilities that has very loud tantrums when frustrated. The only time I hear her giggle and laugh is when she's with Beasley. One week she wasn't here and Beasley cried outside the door of her classroom. The bonds are just great.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. I'm still on my mission for white dress shoes, something in a strappy sandal. I need to get a bit of a tan on my feet, though. I don't want to end up with skin cancer, but I don't enjoy being pasty. My feet are pasty.

Was there an airport in the bible?

Caylon thinks so. We started talking about Caesar today, then that led to kings in the bible, and that led Caylon to talk the bible. I usually quickly change the subject, but he was asking about some Mr. Jones buying plane tickets at the airport. He was certain it was in the bible. We all got a big kick out of it. I don't know where half these things come from. Like the autistic student that was doing lots of worksheets today. He put another student's name on one of his paper- "Latoya." A little strange.

My time bomb is out of school until next Thursday. The principal didn't pay attention to his heinous behavior until she was subjected to it first hand in the office in front of several parents. It made today a little quieter. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from one of the kids' receipes. We had a good time.

I'm tired, and its not even nine o'clock. We just finished watching "Team America World Police" on DVD. Its so bad that its pretty good. Maybe not pretty good. Pretty terrible. Some of it is funny. Kind of.

I love Henry. I come home and he's so sweet. Most of the day, I sit around and think about how I wish I was home with him. Well, not most of the day. I did get one of my projects finished for grad school and a good start on another. I do actually do stuff at work. Besides play with the kids all the time.

Happy Camper

That's Henry! We got him new food that will hopefully stop the puking. We also bought him a "virtually indestructible" ball to play with since tennis balls are off limits. The best? A huge bag of vanilla flavored rawhide chews. He's positively blissful now.

My day was good. My time bomb exploded, but he didn't do it in my room. The principal drove him home for the rest of the day. I guess he'll be back tomorrow. Other than that, my kids have been good. I use a lot of behavior contracts and checklists. It occured to me yesterday that those are my preference because those are what Mom and Dad used with me. Go figure.

I need to get started on the projects for my grad school class. Ugh. I don't really like work. I love my job, but grad school is too much work.

I'm sooooo stupid.

Not really- but I feel like it sometimes. I was in the OT/PT room and noticed this thing called a "Dizzy Disc" for sitting and standing. I stood on it and spun around some. Now I'm not feeling well at all. Not my brightest moment.

Yesterday's bagel pizzas were a hit. They came out really well, and the kids were pretty well behaved. I'm trying to keep their behavior okay as long as possible. They'll get "summer brain" soon and be good for nothing. Never mind the fact that I have the aforementioned affliction.

I've decided to do book bags this summer to use next year. I'll put a book, a toy, a journal, and an instruction sheet in each bag and send them home every couple of weeks. I've heard most kids and parents really like them. I'll probably make my own bags. It'll be labor intensive, but I think it'll be worth it. The toys will probably come from the dollar store- my favorite place. Maybe Kelly will help me if she comes for a week during the summer.

I'm on my own for dinner tonight. I'm thinking WW pizza. Mmmm... I also need some more WW ice cream cones. I love the last bite, where there's frozen chocolate in the very tip of the cone. I'm hungry already. Not a great sign.

The Weekend

Friday: Henry came to school with me and wore himself out. He was so well behaved and let the kids love all over him. He was even the topic of our story for the day. I'm amazed at how Henry adjusts to wherever we put him (as long as I'm there- he's a mama's boy). At one point, there were about twenty five-year-olds petting him and talking about him. He just stood there, patient as could be. It must've be tiring, because he slept nearly the whole way to Tennessee. We got in about 10:30 pm, chatted some, and then went to bed.

Saturday: Troy and Dad headed off to Pigeon Forge pretty early. Mom and I hung out, and then we went shopping. We got mostly picture frames, along with frivolous other items. I got to see the apartment where they'll be staying while the house is built. Its pretty nice! We went out to dinner with Sarah and David Hetrick, and Scott and Debby Something-Or-Other. It was a blast. We just all kept talking and having a good time.

Sunday: I packed about thirty boxes for the 'rents, so they have a good start on the moving process. I can't imagine how much more I'll be doing in the next couple of trips we make. It was hard to leave. I kind of wanted to move to Knoxville, but that's fairly impossible right now. The drive home was long, but we got home. We got groceries and vegged out. I had a hard time sleeping, much more than usual. But I'm wide awake today and everything's skipping right along.

To make fun of Mom and Dad (I know you read this- you'll just have to deal with it), Troy and I laughed over their communication skills. I don't know if its a hearing issue or obstinancy. I was amazed at how often one would ask a question or yell something out, only to have the other close a door on them without answering. They'd yell across the house and not hear each other, I guess. They're like two really old people, except they aren't. It was just cute.

Today I learned that I can function okay on six hours of sleep. Sometimes.