Poems

Today was an interesting day. I have been working on poems at work with the kids. We've done the rhyming ones, roses are red, violets are blue and they end it on their own with some goofy rhyming words, we did haiku poems and even cinquains. Today they did acrostic poems. You know, the kind where you write your name down the side of the paper vertically and then come up with a word or phrase for each letter of your name. I did my name as an example on the board....and I let them come up with the words and phrases:

L is for looney

I is for intelligent (I fed them that one)

N is for neat nick

D is for dark (I have no idea where this came from because I'm SO NOT)

S is for silly sometimes

E is for energetic

and my favorite, Y is for yellow hair

They weren't too harsh. I was thankful we didn't use middle names, because that would have required an M and I'm quite sure they would have said mean. Because I have been now for about a week. As I've said before, this class is wonderfully brilliant, and oh-so-irritating at the same time. But I still do love them.

Tomorrow is the last day of sanity, maybe. Friday, quite obviously Halloween, will be filled with costumes, runny makeup, too much candy (not allowed to eat it at school mind you), cupcakes, punch, meltdowns, a spelling test at some point (I hope), an extended recess, the Charlie Brown Halloween movie (can't remember the name), probably some more meltdowns at some point over lost/stolen candy, and me running to my car at precisely 330 and driving home to either drink a beer or go to sleep, whichever happens first. I love holidays at school. Love 'em! So I will be getting as much work done at school tomorrow as I can with the kids. They will have zero down time and as much work time as I can get out of them, because they won't be doing much of any work on Friday. Whew.

What I am looking forward to is carving pumpkins with Kenny tomorrow night and passing out candy on Friday to the neighborhood kiddos. That is always fun! I might even try to sneak a costume on the dog!

Where do weekends go?

Where? One day here, and 4 hours later, GONE! You blink, it's over, and you are back to work! Friday was wonderful, it was a professional development day so there were no kids at school, and we actually had worthwhile meetings and learned things! It was very enjoyable. And they fed us breakfast and lunch too. That was an extra bonus. Friday evening I went with my inlaws to see our nephew's last football game. He's graduating in the spring so this was it for his regular season. He is AWESOME. I didn't know how good he was! Plus it was fun being at a high school football game again. I haven't done that....since high school! I loved going when I was in high school, and being there on Friday night brought back many fun memories. There's a certain smell of a high school football game....cold air, slightly rainy, popcorn, the crowd, the announcer...it was just like I remember it. And yesterday I did a lot of computer work for Kenny and then I went to work with him. That's always a nice change of pace on the weekends. It is NOTHING like my work, and I don't have to dress up! Today I'm going to meet my mom at my brother's place and go out to dinner for his birthday. I haven't seen either of them in a couple weeks so I'm looking forward to that. I wish my laundry would magically do itself while I was gone...anybody have any advice for that? Heh. I'm really going to have to get geared up for NaBloPoMo that's starting on Saturday. I haven't been a very good blog poster lately....I'm going to have to step it up! Is anyone else participating?

I'll leave you with some animal humor. I wish I had pictures, but Kenny was too tired to get up and take them. I was sitting in "my" chair last night, a very comfy overstuffed leather recliner, and I had a blanket and a pillow, so chances are I was falling asleep there. The dog isn't allowed in the livingroom, and the chair is right where the carpet in the livingroom meets the hardwood floors. She was on the hardwood, puts her paws up on edge of the chair. Sometimes she will jump in the chair on my lap (she's no lap dog either) for a little while, but then get right back down. Not last night. She jumped into my lap, all 62 pounds of her lab self, nestled in on my legs, and fell asleep. A little while later she stretched her head out on my chest and that's how she stayed most of the night....how sweet! Like a baby, she just wanted her mama!!

Happy Hump Day

Halfway to the weekend!! Actually, it's more than that now. Tomorrow is the last day for kids this week. Friday we have a professional development day for staff, so we'll get to leave work at 3pm. No dismissal for 30 minutes, no anything, just getting to walk to my car and leave! That's the best kind of Fridays...except for payday Fridays of course.

I have finally figured out why things aren't running super smooth in classroom yet this year. I am embarrassed to admit that it's taken me this long in the school year to pinpoint the problem. Here's the situation: I have advanced kids, 8 first graders, 9 second graders, and I have the kids for both grades and then they move onto the 3rd, 4th, 5th grade advanced classroom next door. My second graders obviously know how things work in the room because they were with me as first graders. I never have to worry about them....they are my rocks. Usually the first graders are fidgety for a couple weeks, because even though they are advanced, they are still babies. All 8 of the first graders, as much as I love them, drive me crazy every day. They are STILL constantly out of their seats, running up to me to ask questions (they usually can figure stuff out on their own, they just like the attention), blurting out when I call on someone else, interrupting me ALL THE TIME. Can you see why I'm so irritated every day???? I mean this goes on ALL DAY LONG. They get the punishments I give...no recess, phone calls home, no Fun Friday, no special activities....they don't care! I don't mean that they don't care about what I'm saying or teaching them, they just accept their punishment, do the time, and go on about their business of driving me up the wall. And again, they are GOOD kids, I mean loving, sweet, cute, smart, all the things that make it hard to get mad at them. But they are making me crazy. And here's the whole point of why I'm babbling...when they were in kindergarten, their teachers (and I probably would have done the same thing they did) overlooked their fidgety-ness and interrupting because these kids are mostly very well behaved and get exceptional grades, so if they were out of their seats or blurting out, it wasn't that big of a deal. And, if I had them in my kindergarten class, I would have probably done the same thing. But here I am dealing with it now, and it's not pretty. I should say I'M NOT PRETTY at the end of the day. Around 1pm I'm wanting to throw the towel in. Of all the things they do, it's the interrupting that gets me. I can't tell you how many times I have to stop talking/teaching because they are interrupting me. And then as I start talking again, so do they. AHHHHHH! I really love these kids, all of them, and they are probably the smarted bunch I've had yet, but OMG I'm going nutty! So with the help of my parapro I am cracking down. They are losing a lot of privilages, such as classroom jobs that THEY LOVE, and so on. I really hate to do that, because it teaches them responsibility, but I have to do something so that I make it to June!

Enough about work....my 6 month wedding anniversary is Sunday. Yes, I'm one of those people who knows that, but there's a reason for it. Our dating anniversary is also Sunday, October 26th. When we picked our wedding date (we only had 3 weekends to choose from), we decided on April 26th, and a few days later I realized that it was exactly 6 months from our dating anniversary. How crazy is that? So we've been celebrating our dating anniversary for 6 years, hence the reason I am acknowledging that it's our 6 month wedding anniversary. Are you confused now? I hope I didn't lose you on that, but all I really meant to say was that it's good to be a newlywed and I love being married!! Living together first for a couple years helped us have a great beginning to our marriage. I am so glad things worked out the way they did. I always wanted to be married earlier than we were, but in all actuality, it was PERFECT timing. I wouldn't change a thing! Here's to the next 6 months....and MUCH longer!

And to all the Grey's Anatomy fans....what are your thoughts on the show this season? I'm still undecided. It's good, but it just isn't great. What are you all thinking?

Going to be sore tomorrow!

I should be sleeping right now! We are going on a field trip to the apple orchard tomorrow and I need my rest, but here I am on the computer. GO figure.

My BFF Danielle and I have been taking cardio kickboxing classes at our gym lately. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then we work out other days on our own. Tuesdays classes are great. Thursdays classes are suicide. I mean it. The instructor does the boot camp at our gym if that gives you any indication of how tough he is. It's like he knows your weakest moments and chooses those moments to come and stand by you so you have no choice but to step it up. I got to punch him in our class tonight. He said to me, "You can't be tired!" Yeah right, after 40 minutes of hell I was dead on my feet but I didn't stop moving. Then he says, "Hit me, go on, hit me....." so I did. 16 times in the shoulder. He loved it. I never cracked a smile or even look at him in the eye. I was too afraid!!!! But I did hit him with the elbow jab that any of you who know kickboxing know the move. It felt good. Both classes are 60 minutes, and I admit that I can't work out on Fridays now because I have trouble walking after this guy's class. And I won't even talk about the abs and the pain there. But it's good for me, I know it, so I keep going. Maybe one of these days I'll start to see the results!

Now I really have to go to bed. I'll regret it tomorrow if I don't!

TGIF!

2 Days in a Row!

I said I was going to try to be a better blogger...and I'm keeping my word!

Today was picture day at school. You remember the days...the photo company comes to your school, usually sets up shop in the library or some large room, kids get called down by grade or even by classes to get their pictures taken, things go back to normal. Not this year, however. My school opted to go with a new picture company this year. Maybe it was to save money, maybe there were better deals, I'm not sure, I just know that it wasn't good. Our grade was called in at 830 this morning, the first grade to get their pictures taken after administration and the principals. So we take the kids in the auditorium and line them up, and then the photo person walks up to me and asks me where my cards are with the kids' names on them along with their grade and my name. Well, isn't that his/their job to provide those cards to the school? Yes, it is, and here we are WAITING IN LINE TO GET PICTURES TAKEN with no cards. How will they keep the kids' names straight? OMG is was a mess. Apparently they had the cards, but every child had the wrong teacher's name and the wrong grade, and it was a huge jumbled mess. It took 45 minutes to get it together when it should have been a 10 minute in-and-out deal. I think when we have spring pictures taken we will be going back to the old company. At least, if I were in charge, we would be. Happy Monday morning!

I promised some pictures of my brother's new puppy. Here she is! This is Lola and she is now 9 weeks old! I love the way she's leaning back trying to kiss my mom....so cute!!

And just because Kenny asked me to include this picture, I will. He loves taking cruel pictures of me just as I wake up.

Where have I been??

A whole week!!!!

It's been a whole week without posting for me!! Yikes! This past week has been super busy. Now that it's over, things around here can finally settle down. I feel like I've been riding a crazy rollercoaster since school started in September and I'm happy because it's slowing down.

Funny story:
My MIL went on a gambling trip to a casino (she does this often) with her aunt, who is almost 90. The two of them are great together...the aunt wears a hat that says "Dare to walk..." on the front and on the back it says "...on the wild side." That should explain the aunt's personality so you can get a clear picture for this story. Anyway, my MIL was supposed to be home at 530 on Friday night. Kenny called her at 2pm on Friday to ask her a question and normally when she answers the phone and she knows it's him calling, she answers all excited and "HELLO KENNY!!" This time, she answered in a whispered voice, and Kenny could hear bingo numbers being called out in the background. He says, "Ma, I thought you were going to be home at 530! Why are you still at the casino playing bingo??" She says, again in a whispered tone, "I will be home at 530." Kenny says, "How can you be home at 530 if you are still at the casino?" (the casino is 3-4 hours away) My MIL says "We're playing bingo on the bus....I gotta go." And she hangs up. So my MIL is now officially addicted to bingo. And I guess all the other people on the casino tour bus are too, because there's a surround sound bingo game going on to and from the casino! OMG!!!! She's so addicted!!!!!

My students are slowly driving me crazy. As smart as they are, I have never met a more talkative group of students in my life. I got to leave early on Tuesday last week because I had to help Kenny with something and I thought it was the greatest thing ever that I got to escape from prison (AKA-work) an hour early AND miss the whole dismissal process....such small things bring me the greatest pleasure!!

And that is what is going on in my neck of the woods. I promise to be a much better blogger this week:)

Cleaning Bug

Kenny and I caught the cleaning bug today. We cleaned the entire house AND the yard. I always clean on the weekends, and pick up during the week. I must have passed the cleaning obsession on to him recently because he was all into it today. I was in heaven, let me tell you! He only had one room to take care of, and it took him the same amount of time to clean the livingroom as it did for me to do the rest of the house, but I'm not complaining because he actually took everything off the shelves, dusted EVERYTHING in the room, moved furniture to vacuum under it, you know, the stuff that doesn't get done very often. Have I mentioned how much I love this man? And the yard, OMG for the last 6 weeks it's looked like red neck city out there. Ugh. Kenny "cleaned" out the garage the week before school started and things have been sitting in the driveway ever since. I gave up keeping it all together because it was too much for me, and finally he felt the need to take care of it today. I helped him since he helped in the house, which, BTW, has earned him browning points for about a month. Then, he mowed the lawn for probably the last time this year and used the blower with the leaves. I WAS SO HAPPY. You know cleaning is a slight obsession when you get this happy over things like this:)

In other news, my brother has an 8-week-old chihuahua. I was shocked!!! He came to visit today and he got out of his truck with this teeny thing in his arms, and I was like, "WHAT IS THAT?" and then our dog went crazy trying to get to the puppy. We put her in the backyard and took the baby puppy in the house.....so cute!!!! I could just kick myself for not getting pictures....she is still nameless, but she is so sweet.

I'm off to stake our my spot on the couch for Desperate Housewives...Kenny has taken an interest in the show (last season) and insists on watching it with me....but since it's MY show, I get the good spot on our couch!

October October October!!

I think this is my favorite month. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fall. I am currently loving the cold weather. Last night our neighbor was burning leaves (yes, it's again the rules, but whatever) and it smelled so good, especially with the crisp air. Then there's the promise of all the holidays, my birthday, and just a bunch of fun stuff. That's why I heart fall so much!

Back to what I said about loving the cold weather....I really do, but it caught me off guard last night. We still had windows open in our house yesterday. They have probably been open for weeks because it's been so nice in Michigan lately. I fell asleep on the couch last night and woke up around midnight SHAKING because I was so stinkin' cold. Kenny was working on the computer, and I sleepily got up from the couch and staggered down the hallway to turn the heat on for the first time this season. While I moaned and complained about FREEZING, I went to our bedroom which is on the end of the house, and it always the coldest room in the house. It was so cold in there!!!! I got in bed and realized a sheet, thermal blanket and comforter was not going to cut it until the heat was on full blast, so I begged Kenny to bring me a couple fleece bankets. I wrapped myself in them, THEN got in the covers, and was still convulsing from the cold....it was pathetic. It took Kenny laying on me to keep me warm for about 10 minutes and then I started to warm up. I woke up at 430am with a nice, toasty warm house, right at 75 degrees. I know that's too warm, and I probably turned up the heat too much, but I WAS SO COLD!!! Seriously, when I got to work my fingers were still cold. But even after all of that, I still love October!

--------------------------------------------

I need some advice from anyone who has ever made a baby ringsling....I'm making one for Tasha and I'm using a jersey fabric, soft with a touch of stretch to it. When it's folded properly, it's too thick for my sewing machine. Any advice?