Guess Who's Birthday??

Happy Birthday to the sweetest and goofiest guy ever!! I LOVE you!!

I confess.......

My confession...........I have been getting a massage every Tuesday since March. And I love it. And I'm not going to stop going. Sometimes I feel guilty about spending the money, but it's much better than shelling out money for an expensive purse that I'll use for a month and get bored with. And it's really not that expensive. Because I have a regular appointment, I get 40% off. You realize I'm just trying to justify WHY I get a weekly massage...I don't care...everyone needs that selfish moment every so often. My selfish moment just happens to be a weekly habit.

First week of vacation

So my first week of vacation has came and went, and I'm still busy...something's not right here...oh yeah, cause I'm teaching summer school for the first time EVER! It's really not so bad. Only 2 days a week, 3 hours a day. I can survive it. And the money goes right onto our house fund, so it's totally worth it. And after teaching, I can be home for some sun, iced tea, and Dr. Phil. Gotta love it. Here are some pictures from the last field trip with my students to the Toledo Zoo. The pics aren't that exciting for 2 reasons....one, I had to use a disposable because I forgot Kenny's digital, and two, I didn't download any with kids in it for obvious reasons. So the pictures are boring and not that great, but nevertheless, here they are! I loved the giraffes. Their necks are amazing! Then there's the eagle, which is breathtaking when he decides to spread his wings. I couldn't get a picture of that though because he did it so fast (if I had the digit, I probably would have gotten the shot).

The animals that you can barely see in this picture are impalas, which look kind of like deer and run super fast, which is how the Chevy Impala was named. The polar bear was completely showing off for the 50 people that were watching him. He kept ramming his front legs onto the empty barrel and pretending he was crushing it. What a nut. The next picture looks like nothing, but if you look at the tree in the middle of the picture, you'll see a giraffe and a cute zebra to the left and a broken down jeep to the right, put there for asthetics making us believe we were in a real african safari. It worked. Then there were the large birds (for lack of memory of their real names) and then you'll see 2 large lumps. Those lumps were actually tree stumps that started rotting, and termintes came along and started building on them. At least that's what the lady on the tour train told us as we rode by. Crazy, right? But I believe her.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my dad, John, and my Grandpa! But also to all the dads in the world!! I love you both!!

Completely done

I am officially COMPLETELY DONE with school for the year. I am teaching summer school starting next week, but that's only a few hours a week, nothing big. This year has been a tough one, and I can't even begin to say how glad I am that it's over. This fall I will be teaching a first/second grade multi-age after teaching second grade for 4 years. So I'm looking forward to a change, but more importantly, I'm just looking forward to SLEEPING IN this summer and doing something mindless. Ahhhhh, no more "Ms. O, can I.....?" or "Ms. O, I need...."

MS. O. needs a break! And it starts RIGHT NOW!!!!

True Talent

I never thought he'd actually keep this picture on the camera. Oh well. One day, when I'm rich and famous (cause that's what happens to teachers), this picture will be worth a lot!!

Almost to my vacation...

I only have a few days until my summer vacation starts. And I can't wait! Teachers get criticized for "only having to work 10 months a year" and "they get summers off so why are they complaining." Yup, we now get about 6 weeks off in the summer, and we do only go to work for about 10+ months a year. But in those 10 months, we do more than most people do in a year. And I mean A LOT MORE. I'm not complaining, just stating the facts. Ask any teacher, you'll get the same answer. Anyway, I'm looking forward to not getting up to that nasty alarm clock, not having to rush to shower and get ready, not drive 25 miles to the D half awake. I'm really looking forward to not having to be "on" for 8 hours a day without a sit down break too. Or staying after 2 hours for meetings or making copies or what have you. I love my job, wouldn't want to do anything else in the whole world, but every year at this time, I am BURNT OUT!! Completely! Every summer my creative side kicks in again and I start making things....scrapbooks, Christmas presents, afghans, quilts, whatever I can make, I do it. Because I LOVE to be crafty and make things and give them as gifts. Kenny always says I should sell them, but I don't have the "business" knack for things like he does. So my creations are generally given as gifts. Here are a couple pictures of quilts I recently made for friends that were having babies. Aren't they cute? The little boy's quilt (his name is A.J.) has a piece of *MASH* fabric in it from his dad's pillow case that he used when he was a kid. I thought it would be a neat idea to put that in there, and as it turns out, my friends Tim & Amy (the parents) loved it. Tim had no idea that Amy had given me that pillowcase a long time ago. He thought it had just been thrown away. This is the kind of stuff I LOVE to make, and you can bet I'll be making more stuff like this on my summer vacation!

IKEA

It's finally here!! The new IKEA store is finally here!! I have never bought anything from the store, but I've looked for countless hours, milling over furniture and just plain dreaming of our house and how we will fill it. Tomorrow is the first day people can "get in line" for the grand opening on June 8th. I guess the first X-amount of customers in the door get a free chair or something, so you know there will be the insane die hards lining up for 3 days starting tomorrow! Hey, if I didn't have to work, I just might do it. Check out this website for a virtual tour http://info.ikea-usa.com/IKEAVirtualTour/?store=canton. In a few short days, I won't need a virtual tour. I'll have the real thing!! Woo-hoo!! This is perfect timing as everyone around here is getting over the "awful-ness" of the end of the Pistons' this season. Don't even get me started on that. I'm just happy that there's something to occupy my mind and probably countless other people's minds too. I wonder if Tasha over at http://cheeka-beeka.blogspot.com/ will be making a shopping trip to the new IKEA?

My brother's new place

These are pictures of my brother's latest business adventure....I'm such a proud sister! This is a VERY historic hotel built in 1925 that was made into classy apartments & corporate suites. He and his business partner are fixing up what needs it and starting to get people in there as we speak. It's gorgeous!

Called out by kids....

Now that my students can tell time, they are realizing that their teacher (me) is ALWAYS late. For everything. During community time today, one of my girls passed me a note. Keep in mind that my students are 7 & 8 years old, and they are NOT allowed to pass notes let alone bring a pad of paper to community time, and wait a minute....should 7 year olds know how to pass notes yet? Anyway, she hands me this note and I look at her like “what are you doing passing your second grade teacher a note?” She smiles and whispers that I NEED to read the note. I look at it and it says,

“Ms. O, it’s 1:25. Look at the clock. Remember we were supposed to have our ice cream party at 1:15? You’re late.”

I never should have taught them how to tell time. Now my secret is out of the bag. I AM ALWAYS LATE! Late to lunch, late to recess, late to specials, late getting the kids ready to go home....LATE LATE LATE! Next year, I think I’ll just skip the unit on telling time.

Oh Yeah....

THE. PISTONS. ROCK. HARD.