squirrels

I am the squirrel of the month. No, seriously. I was given the squirrel award at the faculty meeting Friday.

Squirrel awards are given to staff members who make fools of themselves.

A few weeks ago, my principal and I were the last two people in the building. Her hands were full, so she said, "Let's go out together and you can swipe us out." We walk to the swipe box, I swipe the card, the alarm activates and we walk out. When we were outside, however, she tested the doors and found them still unlocked. Needing to go back in for the hex-key to lock the push bars, she said, "You swipe us back in and I will get the hex-key." OK, simple enough. We enter, I swipe, she goes to the office door. The light is still blinking red. I swipe again, still red. I swipe again and it says "Zone 1 alarm, zone 1 alarm." I say, "It's not de-arming. Is it because you are already in the building?" Principal says, "No, that shouldn't matter. Swipe it again." I do, still red. She says, "Hand me your card." I do. She laughs, then says, "Amber, this is a Visa."

Yes, I was swiping in with a debit card. Apparently the school only takes MasterCard.

She calls school security and tells them there is no zone 1 alarm, just a special ed. teacher swiping in with her Visa instead of a prox card.

Later that night, as I reentered the building, the security staff gave me a hard time, then said I am probably not the first one to do it, I am just the first one to get caught doing it by my principal.

The bad thing is that I am in the building more than any other staff member after hours. Due to the guinea pigs, I go to school EVERY weekend, either on Saturday or Sunday, to check on them, feed them, etc. Also, with the one car issue and dropping the man off at OTC classes, if I have things to get done at school I usually just go back there instead of driving home. It's closer and I get something accomplished! So, in my hundreds of after hours visits to school, swiping in and out, I have NEVER screwed it up. I have never swiped the wrong card or activated an alarm. The one night I do, of course, my principal is standing there to see it.

So, I am now the proud recipient of a ceramic squirrel....until I hear of a new "squirrel" to pass it along to.

cutsie pies!

I made these tiny little pies shaped like butterflies and tulips. But my camera is at school!! I so want to show these to the world, but they will be eaten up soon by the monday night dinner crowd.

I put NO effort into dinner tonight, its just spaghetti, green beans and bread. I used all my time and effort on the pies. I think everyone will agree its worth it when they see an adorable pie flower on a scoop of ice cream.

do you have a deputie?

I saw a car this weekend that looked a lot like a police vehicle...but I figured it wasn't when I saw that the side said "Sherif."

I laughed.

to-do lists

I like to-do lists because marking things off as I go makes me feel accomplished...but I hate the current one on my desk. It is not getting shorter. I've added so many things as I go that I cannot keep up!

But, I have always had that same type of feeling before a year starts, then I finally get it done and find out I still missed some things that should have been on the list, yet the first day still comes off ok.

I am resting in that knowledge now.

Happy New Year!

Yes, it's that time of year! The August heat has finally gotten to the point where being outside is completely miserable unless you are in a cool body of water, car A/C's can't get cold for several minutes and everything you touch burns your skin.

Which means....school is starting soon! I am excited to be back in my routine, with my schedules and structure. I am ready to see my little darlings and all my teacher-friends.

I've been working in my classroom some this week, getting it ready. I've made trips to IPA, Mardel, Walgreens and Walmart getting the necessities (and a few frills!). I've got a class website half completed, where my students will be blogging about out community outings and cooking projects. I hope to finish it by the middle of next week.

Speaking of the class website...I am now the "Webmaster" for my school building. Our website has not been updated since 2005! It needs some major work. Since I took the technology boot camp class this summer, the head guy of the educational technology department decided I was the one who could do this work. I'm not sure I am entirely qualified...but luckily I married a man who is! Since beginning work in my room, I've already made 3 calls to the help desk, so they are probably scared to death that I've been choosen for this task. I'm not striving for awesome perfection (at least not yet), just something functional and decent to look at.

I've gotten 16 things marked off my to-do list...but 43 left to do, and I am sure I'll think of more before it's all said and done. Fortunately, a lot of them are "10-minute tasks."

That is all I really have to say. I just needed to share the excitement of the new year!