Summers end

Ahh the crazy busy summer is coming to an end. I will head back south soon to begin my two week training. I had hoped to have more time in July for things I wanted to accomplish. This summer however,  my job isn't allowing for that. I will miss some good times with family and friends but so it goes for us working folks right? I am very thankful we are getting training instead of handing us a curriculum and saying good luck, hope you have time to read it before implementing it!  So the training will be good. It just sucks up so much of summer. I know I am whining.

I had a great time visiting cousins, aunts, and uncles on this trip. I got to hang out with some pretty darn cute short people.  I also was able to see granny for a bit.   I am finishing up my online class this weekend. Hurrah! I can't take any more "busy" work and the  banality of this course.  It was a disappointment to me. I doubt I will take another online class through this organization.

I wish I'd had more time to see more pals, so life goes.

Head Spinning

I headed down south to that terribly hot place for my conference. I am very grateful for the invention of air-conditioning.  The conference was amazing. I learned so much that it is a little overwhelming. I am trying to take away those nuggets of gold that I can use immediately. I went to an all day conference with  one of the writers of the math curriculum that we use. It was very beneficial. Our staff had been approaching this curriculum in the wrong manner. I realized this but I didn't know how to make the connection to change it as much as I needed to. It was also encouraging to find out some of the ways I had been teaching it were correct. I attended this all day session with my principal and vice-principal. I was sitting between them all day. That is kind of stressful. I jokingly said to them I was in an Administrator Sandwich today! Since they were at the same training I believe we will be changing our implementation as a staff.

In other news, our fire marshal has gone off the rails about what we can and cannot have in our classroom. I am going to call the state fire marshal tomorrow and see what I can figure out. I am wondering if it is more principal preference than what fire code says. I don't know. You try to make your classroom a comfortable inviting space because students and teachers have to spend a LOT of hours there.

I started painting my classroom over the weekend. I finished the primer coat yesterday so today I am working on the color coat. This takes a lot longer. Especially on our block walls. A friend gave me a hint to go buy the thicker rollers because the others just don't work well on this surface. So hopefully once I have the edging done it will go smoothly. I will be heading back north soon for a short while. I can't stay as long as I'd like because I have another training to attend. The upside of the training is that I am getting paid for it and I will learn about our new curriculum. The downside is that it is really sucking up all my summer free time. I've been north and south and north and my head is spinning a bit. In part with all I've learned and in part with being on the "go".

I told my colleagues and my vice-principal and anyone who had anything to do with class lists to please NOT TELL ME anything!  I wanted to be in denial about that for awhile longer.  My colleague broke the rule today she just couldn't help herself. Sigh!  Let this brain have a break!  I am debating now if I want to know about the rest of the list or just wait. Booger! I didn't want to think about what difficulties I may have to deal with yet.  Soo.... here we go again. I almost feel like I am a first year teacher again because so much is changing this year that it is difficult to keep up with.

I'm back!

Well drove back on the 4th it was a great day for travel because there was little traffic. I made it to the largest town I drive through right when their Fireworks were set off so I got some dinner and watched them from the highway for a bit.  I drove through an area where there is currently a wildfire. The mountainside looked like the world from space with all these glowing embers. There is normally nothing near there and the sagebrush was riddled with the lights of the Firefighters campsites.  I got back quite late unloaded my car and went to sleep. When I woke up the next day I had a nice greeting from my neighbors. They noticed all the bugs on my windshield and car and they washed it for me. That was wonderful!

I went in to school today and taped off the wall and prepped it for the primer coat. I am thinking I didn't get quite enough paint but I am excited for the improvement in my classroom.  It was a bit stressful because I ran into a couple of teachers there and I heard some not great things about our new principal. I was thinking ummm can I live in denial a little bit longer and enjoy my break??  I think I have everything taped off so I can go in tomorrow and begin painting. I also got a little cleaning and laundry done. My fridge is very empty because I've been gone so I am thinking I might squeeze in a fridge cleaning tomorrow. I leave Monday for my conference so I need to do some packing at some point as well.

My lawn was mowed while I was gone and it looks pretty green. I am going to water it well so I can mow it before I head north again. It is good to be back and get some things done I needed to accomplish here!

Yep it's Hot!

It's a good think Mom and I did all the cooking we did last week, the HOT weather has arrived.  We have accomplished a lot including going through stuff and getting a load together for the thrift store. Stuff accumulates so easily and quickly. Going through it is much easier with a helper. Mom and I used to do this together every couple years but it had been many years since we had. We are feeling pretty good about it.
So Mom's freezer is stocked with Mom meals :)!  I did get a new purchase which made chopping so much easier you can find it by clicking HERE! It chopped some things a little finer than necessary. I don't like to bite into a big ole hunk of onion and this solves that problem. Mom doesn't like biting into onions or celery herself, so we chopped them so small she can barely tell they're there.

I did some pruning, some lawn mowing, some sorting, worked on my online class, visiting many friends, went to the woods with dad, and got some shopping done. My conference starts next week so I need to go home check my mail and get ready to go to that.  It is supposed to be a good one. Right when I get back I hope to get a coat of primer in my classroom so things are ready to paint.

The hot weather is here for awhile it seems. I made a fruit smoothie  for all of us tonight. Thank goodness for air conditioning. I can remember life before it and flipping my pillow to the "cool" side. Well, I'm off I hope to have a couple more visits before heading back south to more hot weather. G'nite