I keep talking to myself tonight...

And I'm not sure why.

Occasionally, on a normal evening, I will talk to the cat, or laugh at something, or occasionally say something that pops into my brain when I see something.

But, tonight is different. I have been unable to contain thoughts, everything is spouting out of my mouth. It's like my head has reached capacity and is now overflowing.

I hope it's fixed by next week. This would be a very bad trait to carry into parent-teacher conferences...

So you know whats fun?

Screaming, cussing, fighting matches involving pepper spray going on in your parking lot right when you need to be leaving to pick up your husband.

Know whats even more fun? When the cops and the security company don't respond until the people who are fighting have already left.

seriously???

Gillian Anderson of X-Files fame just had a son. She named him Felix. The name itself, I don't care for much, but its ok.

However, her 1 year old son is named Oscar.

WHY? Why would she name her sons Oscar and Felix? You know she has to know who the odd couple is.

Things like that really drive me crazy.

Life happens

We won't be moving (most likely). At least not right now. Lots of things are up in the air.

It's a lot of stress and worry, but I know it'll all be ok.

owies

So, when you stand up off the floor of your classroom and hear a "pop" and then the whole back of your knee hurts so bad you want to cuss in front of the kids (but you don't) and then you limp for several hours afterwards...is that bad?

YAY FOR CHIEFS!!

My Boys won today, after an almost year long dry spell.

I'm so happy, if I were a dog, I'd wet myself.

House...

I found a house I really like. I showed it to Donald. He really likes it, too.

It has a large building in the back yard with electricity, which is a big selling point to Donald, who wants to turn it into "Man World" with punching bags and other manly accoutrements.

It also has a lot of built in shelves, which is great, as we are always in need of more book storage.

It has new carpet and new paint and they are working on remodeling a bathroom right now.

It has a decently large kitchen, a fireplace, three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a 2 car garage and a fenced in back yard.

So...will it still be available when our lease is up? That is the question.

Hypocritcial board games?

Last night at Barnes and Noble, I saw a game called "Drinking games from around the World." Laughing, I picked it up and looked at the back. It proclaimed to contain 31 drinking games from different countries, and the supplies to play them, such as cards, poker chips, etc.

Then, at the bottom, it said "We do not recommend these games be played with alcohol."


Umm...then maybe you should not distribute drinking games....

Houses, dear houses

Today I get to go do walk throughs on houses to rent! Yay!

Cross your fingers we find a nice house for a decent price in a safe neighborhood. Yep, we want it all.

What is this green stuff?!?

So today, I made a purchase of $1.78.

I handed the clerk a $5 bill.

She looked at it, looked up at me and said "Will that be credit or debit?"

Um...that's called cash....

Get Smart

I just wanted to say that we saw this movie on Saturday and you should, too. I have not laughed that hard at a movie in many, many years.

great weekend, horrifying week

This past weekend was great!! We were sure we were going to get hurricaned out of RenFest, or at least hit hard on the drive back, but no! Beautiful day for RenFest, only sprinkled lightly twice, no other rain, and cool enough to be pleasant but not need a jacket. Sundays drive home saw no rain and no flooding. We could not have been luckier.

I also learned a new song from the Irish minstrels at RenFest. I've decided it is now Donald and I's song. The chorus goes:

Through the rain and through the snow
through the streets in my kilt I go
All the lasses say, "Hello!
Donald where's your trousers?"

Donald is changing his name to Fred...


So, as great as this weekend was...this week was horrifying. I had one of the worst experiences of my life on Tuesday, which I will not be able to discuss here for legal and confidentiality reasons. Lets just say I had no idea you could cry, hyperventilate and puke at the same time until I did it on Tuesday.

However, tomorrows Friday, so it's all looking up from here!

thirsty?

At the McDonald's on South National you can get 49 cent driks. Yep, driks. Sounds kinda gross, really.

perfection acheived

A day, spent in pajamas, curled up on a couch, watching football.

AHHHH.



I am even happy in spite of my boys losing, because they put up a fight and were in the game til the end. At no point did they concede. (And they played the Pats, so I wasn't watching to see a win.)

a better week

Last week went better than the first week of school. I am hoping this week is even better and we really hit our stride.

This week we got into some of our routines, and got comfortable with them. We hope that eventually our class can run as smoothly as it did last year.

quite a good weekend

I've really enjoyed Labor Day weekend.

Friday Donald and I had an all alone date, which was needed after the week I'd had. We went out to Nakato's and I really cannot remember the last time I ate there. It may have been for Hanna's birthday 3 or 4 or 5 years ago. We also went to Barnes and Noble and I got two books I have read snippets of everytime we've gone there for the last couple years.

Saturday morning I woke up early and drove to Lake of the Ozarks to spend the day with Nathan, my best friend from high school. It was kind of a make or break time for us. We've had some trouble communicating the last few years and I got a little fed up with feeling cut off. I had emailed him last in February and then decided just to walk away and see what happened. He asked me to come up to his sister's lake house while he was in town so we could catch up in person. I did, thinking we'd either come away knowing the friendship was still there or with closure. We mostly hung out near/in the lake for the first few hours, with his family near. Afterwards, we talked some up on the deck and the familiarity began to return. I had been unsure if I wanted to drive home that night or spend the night, and finally Donald told me I should stay and be safe. After everyone went to bed, we started really talking. After talking for half the night, we fell asleep, exhausted but happily aware that we were going to be ok. Well worth the trip. Losing that friendship has troubled me for several years. I'm glad to know I don't have to.

Sunday morning, I drove back to Springfield and then took a nap. After staying up half the night and then driving home, I was so tired! I woke up in late afternoon and then Bryan came to town. I've been very lucky to see him about 6 times this summer. We had dinner and went to WalMart and then came home and just hung out. Today, we had lunch with Donald and then went to Guitar Center, where Bryan got to buy gear that made him happy. Then we went to the zoo. I had not been yet this year, and I have always loved to go. Then we went to the mall (I needed face wash and bare minerals. I also stumbled on a handsoap sale at Bath and Body, 7 bottles for $20. I got some.) Bryan bought shoes, partly because he's a shoe lover and partly because the salesgirl was cute. We came home and hung out and then went to dinner with Joel and Heather. Good times.

Now, I'm home alone. Bryan left and Donald is at work. Also, I have to cook at home basically the rest of the month after all the eating out this weekend! (Although at the lake, Nathan's brother in law cooked, so other than half a tank of gas that trip cost nothing.)

All in all, I've had a very good weekend.

Ready for anything!

My room is painted, rearranged and decorated. I'm prepped and ready!

Here are some shots of what it looks like before the day to day living in it makes it look less than what it looks like now.
This is "circle time central." Weather board, calendar, class schedule, and lunch choices. The blank strips are going to be individual student schedules, after I take their pictures!






These are the ultra amazing seat sacks Hillery sewed for me. I got a great deal on the fabric, it is a denim with a silvery sheen. Very pretty! She made seven (well, eight, but our prototype did not fit), but she'll probably have to make me more soon...I am starting with six kids and another is expected to be placed within a week!
Crazy.



Here are mine and Deloris' desks. The table jutting out from my desk will be for small groups. The table you only see the corner of will be where the guinea pigs go.






This little alcove housed a file cabinet last year. This year, I am placing the time out desk and mood meter there. It's a much better location for children who are making a scene!






Bryan came from Arkansas TWICE to help with this project. Once to help tape everything off and once to paint. Is he wonderful, or what??

You can see the transformation happening here from dirty beige to light blue (it's really not as white as the picture looks. Its a pretty sky color).


Joel and Heather helped paint too...and even though the picture denies it, we were right side up that day.








My hallway display.







Over my door as you walk in. You can see the difference here in the hall color and my room color. It's still not a true depiction of my room color, but at least you can see that there is one.






Group table, with seat sacks. The pocket chart slides so I can use that part of the chalkboard, too. Way over to the right, you see my Plan, Do, Study, Act board. It's a new requirement due to CQI. I'm still not sure how it is going to work.

This is the back of my room, also. I flipped the room front to back this year to minimize distractions from students going to library and computers right outside my door.

Sage Riley

I finally got around to uploading pictures from my trip home in June. I thought I'd share some pictures of my nephew, Sage.


He loves bath time.










He sleeps really well at nap time. I was able to lay him down and shower, then blow dry my hair without it waking him up!




He always wakes up happy!














He LOVED to stare at Donald. Gabbie did, too as a baby. He's so cute, even babies notice it...



This one is my favorite.












He chews his fingers, but has little interest in his pacifier.









Mom and I bought him this super soft wooly mammoth at T-REX in K.C. He loved to chew it's head and rub it's trunk on his face.








He's a very happy baby. He smiles a lot. he looks so much like my brother it is crazy!







He fell asleep during a bottle, but his mean daddy wouldn't let him sleep and woke him up so he'd sleep at night.

traditions

Well, my (school) year almost always begins with three things. This year was no exception. I start by not being able to sleep well the night before, then wake up super early with good intentions of getting to work early, only to spend over an hour in the bathroom (TMI, I know) and finishing it off by throwing up.

I don't know why my body insists on being stressed enough to vomit just because school is starting.

It's really kind of irritating!

Sweethearts

I've always been a Johnny Depp fan (some of you may be aware of this), but today I found out something that further solidifies my adoration.

He, Jude Law (who is hot in a totally skanky way) and Colin Farrell (Oh, wait, that fits him, too...maybe more so) stood in to finish Heath Ledger's final film "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus." The three decided not to be paid, but to donate their salaries to Ledger's daughter, Matilda. Ledger had not updated his will after her birth and there are doubts as to what she will recieve, as his father is kind of shady and is the executor.

I think this is totally sweet and the right thing to do.

(Side note, it is way past time for me to be in bed, as tomorrow is the first official day of work. Yet, I CANNOT sleep. It's always this way.)