Meet Champ and Lobo

Champ is the blue betta on the right (hard to see) and Lobo is the red one on the left 

Cary, NC is now listed as a "Cooming Soon" location on the Trader Joe's website. Hooray!

I'm back

from California and Kauai. I'll post pictures later. Right now I need to think about heading to bed or Monday morning will be a problem.

Here's Your Sign

I LOVE this sign...I think it is my favorite part of my daily walk....it just makes me crack up becuase this is one neighborhood where people actually would be out there in their tennis whites 

As close as I'm gonna get

To going to church on Sunday morning 

Apparently

Iron is the key to my happiness. Today was a much better day for the simple fact that not everything made me fly off the handle. And, I was pretty efficient too. Go me!

Amazing Race here I come!

Look at what I found when I was searching today for Kauai info. I am not a particularly adventurous person, but that looks totally fun to me. Maybe I can convince Kendra that it is something we should so when L and R are working and bringing home the bacon!

T minus 3 weeks and counting

until my first track out. I'm not sure yet how it is going to feel to be out of school when everyone else is there. However, I'm thrilled that it is coming.
So, I'm going home and then to Kauai on my first track out break and I am excited excited excited. Kendra and I are going to be looking at adventures that we can have and finding pretty beaches to lay out on and finding cute cabana ( or something) boys to bring us refreshing drinks. Too bad Linda is already taken or she could spend some of her time in Hawaii enjoying the beach and the cabana boys with us :) Ryan will probably want to have something to say about that though.
Now I have 4 1/2 weeks to trim down the pouch on my tummy so that I look spectacular!

Another day, another dollar

I start my new class tomorrow. I have been preparing for this for like 3 months. I have been working so hard to be ready, and now it all begins. I'm excited and nervous and not really ready, planning-wise. But hey, love and logic starts tomorrow and I am determined to have a wonderful and spectacular day and to teach and show and care and learn and not to whine and complain and nag. That is a habit that I really have to break ASAP. Anyway, to all those on summer break, have fun, and to all those going to work, back we go. See you on the flip-side of the first day of school.

Ant hill

I had a run-in with an ant hill yesteday. Actually, it was more like a "step-in." SO not good. They were crawling up my pant legs and into my shoes and everything. I had to cuff my pants up so that they wouldn't keep climbing. Ick!

Teachers are born planners

I don't know why this is so hard to understand. You have to be able to plan, in order to teach. I don't mean that you have to be able to write down your plans or even that you always have to stick to them. You just always have to have a plan. Maybe 2, in case one fails. I can think of no other profession where you need to know what you are going to do, practically minute by minute. Lawyers and such have to bill minute by minute, but that can be done after the actual work. It is not however, possible to decide at the end of a long school day what exactly it was you set out to accomplish, and how. Plans change, and you have to be able to change them all the time as a teacher. You also have to live with your plans when you CAN'T change them, and that makes teaching unique.
I think what policymakers miss about education and teaching is that there is a subculture within every school that makes every school different. But there is also a culture of schools that makes teaching in any school highly similar. They are places where people are segmented and classified, whether they are in charge or not. A place where everyone is simultaneously a leader and a follower, at all times. And a place where bathrooms are always ill-placed. Where one person ( or 2, on rare occasion) have the absolute power, except when they don't. Where politics and agendas play an equal role to childish antics.

Monday, Bloody Monday

Just when I think I might actually start to miss this place, we have a day like today. Everything and everyone went crazy. The staff meeting was just confrontation after confrontation, and nobody really has anything nice to say about anyone else. Gee, I'll be so sad to go.....

Super Kids Day

Super Kids Day was today. Muich better than last year, since it was a good 20 degrees warmer. All manic 8 and 9 and 10 year olds running around playing games and dunking each other with water and generall having a grand old time. I finally got a little color too, though not really enough. I got C all riled up over dunking Drew, which was kinda fun.
In the grand Tug of War championship, we kicked @ss. Last year even with lots of helpful adults, my class lost. This year we had two close, long matches, but we reigned supreme anyway. I don't think anyone else cares as much as I do, and many teachers just coached and yelled, but I actually pulled. But my kids LOVED it and that made it worth it. Until tomorrow, when the weather change makes them crazy again...
Ahh, only 6 weeks left!

For your entertainment

There is a never-ending parade of funny teacher things posted in our bathroom at school. Since I really only get in there a few times a week, they are always funny. For those of you who don't get to share a bathroom with 50 female elementary school teachers, now you too can know why we consider it an escape.

http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6174/YOU_EDUCATION.HTM

Welcome

to my new blog! I've never been terribly good about posting and updating my blog, but I'm gonna give it another go. It seems over the last couple months that I have not had as many opportunities to talk to my West Coast buddies. As a result, I'm opening this blog, with the hope that we can share news and events and crazy days stories. Comment, please :)