August 31, 2008

It was a pretty good day today. We went to church and it was Youth Sunday. They do this on the last Sunday every month that has 5 Sundays. The Youth Minister has the middle school and high school kids run the worship part of the service and he delivers the sermon.

I like when the youth minister delivers the sermon. He's a lot easier to listen to then the stick in the mud minister that is younger than me or the older than dirt minister that is getting ready to retire. It was a great sermon. I really enjoyed it. They sang a couple of my favorite hymns today, too, and that always makes church more enjoyable.

We went out to lunch with Michael's parents after church. We went to Pasta House. I had Minestrone and a salad. It was so good. I love Pasta House's salad. My MIL and I had a really enjoyable conversation about politics. Yes, I said a political conversation was enjoyable. As much as I hate politics I did enjoy the talk she and I had.

After lunch we came home and changed clothes. The kids played on the computer some. I changed sheets and got laundry started. Michael kind of just vegetated for a while.

At 2:00 I took the kids to my mom's. They had a date to go help my mom with some chores because she won their sunflower competition they had going this summer. They took their swimsuits to help wash cars and play in the sprinkler.

While they were over there Michael painted some of the fence and I worked on lesson plans until around 4:30. Then, we got ready to go out to eat. That's twice in less than a month that Michael and I have been able to go out to eat without the kids. We went to Applebee's.

I picked the kids up around 7:00 pm and now they are watching Herbie Fully Loaded. I am messing around online for a little while, which includes exploring the website that the publisher of our new math series has for students. Michael has fallen asleep.

August 30, 2008

Tonight we went over to my BIL and SIL's house. They had a big get together for the Mizzou season opener. Mizzou played Illinois at the Edward Jones Dome down town St. Louis tonight to open their football season.

It was a really fun evening. Everyone was playing flag football and/or sitting around talking. There was LOTS of food and deserts to eat. The kids ran around playing.

We got there around 4:00 pm. My SIL's brother and his family were here from Texas. My SIL's mom and aunt, uncle and young cousin were there, too. Her other aunt and uncle came a little later. My SIL's sister and both her boys were there as well as my MIL and FIL. It was a nice group of people. My niece had a friend there, too.

I ate way too much, of course. But, I really enjoyed the day. Even the football game. I'm not a huge football fan, but I like to watch once in a while. Kick-off was at 7:30 and we stayed until half time around 9:30 pm. The kids were getting tired and so were Michael and I.

Michael and I did watch the rest of the game once we got the kids in bed. Mizzou won! 52-42!

August 29, 2008

My daughter, it seems, has been cursed with my imagination and fear. When I was growing up I was insanely afraid of something happening to my parents whenever they went out. I used to have all kinds of hideous and gruesome thoughts about horrible things happening to them while they were out.

If they were so much as a couple minutes later coming home than what they said they would be I would freak and panic. One time not long after I started babysitting my brother I actually called a neighbor over to our house because I was so panicked about them being late. I think they were 15 minutes late, but those 15 minutes I was so freaked I almost made myself sick.

Anyway, Michael went out on his motorcycle just a little while ago. He's been gone maybe 20 minutes. Michaela is in tears because he's "NEVER been gone this long on his motorcycle." Oh boy.

August 28, 2008

Gosh, it's been a long week. I'm still feeling like crap. I'm glad this weekend is a three day weekend. Caleb and Michael went up to the school grounds tonight for an ice cream social for boy scouts. Michael found it painful. He said no one talked to him. But, I know my husband and I'm sure he did not try to initiate a conversation, either. Although, I'm sure they were grouped into groups of people because they already know each other. I really wanted to go, but I just could not make myself get up off the couch. So, Michaela and I stayed home. I hope I get better sleep tonight. I'm just so tired of feeling bad.

August 27, 2008

I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like crap. Every inch of my body ached. My right hand hurt so bad I wanted to cry. Sooner or later I'm going to have to go to the doctor about my carpal tunnel. I took some Advil, but had trouble getting to back to sleep. By the time it was time to get up in the morning I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.

I have been having some pain in my back about where my kidneys are. I also felt some pain after urinating. I really hope I'm not getting a kidney stone or infection. That would suck. In any case, I've really felt like crap mostly since Sunday. At the beginning of th week I was able to ignore it and push through it, but it's getting harder to do.

It is almost time for Aunt Flo to come. Last month she really did not come. It' had not started yet when it was time to start a new pack of pills, so it was kind of cut short. So, I'm hoping some of this is just menstrual.

Some of it is also stress. I don't really understand what is going on. Everyone at work is way more stressed already this year than usual for this time of year. I've been trying to figure out why, but can't seem to put a finger on what's wrong. I just know that we've only been through 9 days of school so far and everyone says the same thing.

It feels like we should be about 2 months into the school year at least. One of my co-workers even said she felt like she'd not even had her summer off. She had the same 8 weeks that we all had, but it already seems like it was so long ago.

One thing that does not help is that our double day planning periods seem like they are going to be completely taken over by administration and specialists. My team mates and I really needed to collaborate on lesson plans today, but the whole meeting was taken up by test data and the math specialist. Although, I have to say he did help a great deal with our first grade universal assessment, that we still cannot use anyway. But, if we ever do get to use it, it'll be done.

Anyway, if all of those grade level meetings are going to be taken up like that, we're going to have to use up yet another planning period a week to get our lesson plans together. Why this surprises me, I don't know. Part of me is so tired of being treated like it's ok to make me put off as much paper work as possible to my time at home or after hours. I just don't understand why it's such a horrible thing to ask for the fact that paper work takes time and to allow us time to actually do it.

August 26, 2008

We had a staff meeting that was a complete monumental waste of time. We have a new lesson plan format this year. No surprise there. It pretty much changes every year. And, of course it becomes more difficult each year.

Today's staff meeting was about how to fill out the lesson plan. But, instead of us making out a lesson plan that we could actually use, we did an exercise where we practiced making a lesson plan. This means we made out lesson plans for things like cooking and exercising.

Ok, first of all lesson plans are supposed to be a guide for the teacher. Something to help us remember what we are going to teach each day. But, our lesson plans have become something that is all for show. It's a horse and pony show. They have to be displayed so that any visitors can see them if they come in the room. And, they are written so you really need to keep it with you as you teach. Which is insane.

There is no reason why a lesson plan should contain information that I need to keep with me so I don't "forget" what is there. It should be something I consult as I'm preparing materials for the lesson and glance at at the beginning of a class to make sure I'm on the page I should be on, figuratively as well as literally.

Second of all, we are all professionals. NONE of us are first year teacher's so the whole process was a bit insulting. A simple question and answer session for anyone who needed clarification of what kind of information we need for our show would suffice with time to actually write a lesson plan we need. Especially since these DAMNED things are designed in a way that they take more time to write than an actual lesson would take to teach. Because, Lord knows we don't have enough to do as it is.

I also find it extremely stressful that I have to re-write lesson plans every year on material that I taught the year before. It's understandable when we have a new series or curriculum. But, for things that we've had more than two years, it's just almost spiteful that we are expected to reinvent the wheel each year.

August 25, 2008

Gosh, where did all this motivation come from tonight??? I made supper, cleaned up the kitchen, including scrubbing the sink and the cabinets down, folded the last load of laundry from yesterday and got caught up on grading papers. They still have to be recorded, but they are graded. I never do that much on a week night after being at work all day.

August 24, 2008

Michael is at work again today. Hopefully he'll be home soon. I've been working on laundry. I don't feel very good today. I've been battling a headache and my stomach is not in the best shape today. I should probably take a nap, but then I'm afraid I won't sleep tonight.

My mom came over to use our computer earlier. We ended up in a fight. Not the best way to spend a Sunday, but actually it's a good thing. We got some things out in the open that should have been out a long time ago. Hopefully, it was a step forward for us.

I need to work on some things for work. I've just not been able to get myself motivated.

August 23, 2008

Michael had to go to work again today. He's got major stuff at work that has to be done this weekend. Which means he may have to go to work tomorrow, too. I just hate when he has to work like this. Hopefully, it'll be short lived.

The kids and I went to Wal-mart this morning. We got some necessities. We got an organizer thing for Michaela's room. We're going to get rid of a few things in her room to make room for it. I'm going to make this her responsibility. Why is it so difficult to let her do these kinds of things herself? She's old enough to do these things herself, but for some reason I feel this need to keep "interfering" in this type of thing. It's so hard to let go sometimes, even when you know it's what's best for them.

I also bought the three Star Wars movies I did not have. The kids are wanting to watch them now, so I figured that was a good enough excuse to invest in the three I did not have. I already had Chapters I - III. But, I did not have the originals and I wanted them to watch the movies as they were released, in the order they were intended to be watched. They had them for $13.00 each at Wal-mart, which is a pretty good price for DVDs.

Tonight we went down to the part of St. Louis county known as "The Vally" or Chesterfield Vally. We had supper at The Old Spaghetti Factory. It's been a while since we've been there. I love that place. I'd like to go back to the one that is downtown St. Louis at some point. Michaela and Caleb have never been down to that one.

I watched two movies this afternoon. I watched Spanglish, which is a great movie. I know it's been out for a few years, but I'd never seen it and I really liked it. The other one I watched was Penelope. It was a cute movie, too.

Then, we went to Chesterfield Mall. I wanted to get the kids some of the jeans they had on sale this weekend. HA! Joke was on me. They had NOTHING left even remotely close to Caleb's size. They had baby and toddler boy sizes and they had big boy sizes, but nothing between size 4T and size 10.

They had a few size 10 in girl's sizes, but nothing in slim. I'm not sure that would have worked anyway. Michaela tried on a size 10 regular just to see. Not only were they too big in the waist, but they were a MILE too long. I guess Old Navy runs big. They did not have any size 8 for girls left.

We wandered around the mall for a while and then Michael was tired out so we came home. I read for a while and then fell asleep watching House Hunters on HGTV.

August 22, 2008

Well, my first week of school is over. Five days down, 172 to go. I just have a really hard time believing that this is my 16th year of teaching. How in the world is it possible I've been doing this for that long already?

Michael was late coming home again tonight. The kids and I went and got fast food for supper. Then, we just hung out at home. I watched re-runs of "That 70's Show" on Family Channel. Other than that, there's not much to talk about today.

August 21, 2008

I got the coolest email from Caleb's teacher today. I am going to cut and paste it here:

Hi there!

Just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that Caleb is doing wonderfully in his first week of school. He’s participating frequently, has a great attitude, helps others, and follows directions very well. You would never know he is new to the district—he’s already made many friends! He’s a definite asset to our class.

It really made my day. Heck it made my week.

Michaela has seemed much more calm and content the last two days when I picked her up. I hope this means everything is on an upswing for her. She is really looking forward to getting back to SOAR. I think the thing that was the best is when I picked her up today I asked if she had a good day and she said, "yeah." And, that was it. There was no, "except when..." that came out of her this time. That was SO nice.

At my school, I got three more students today so I am now at 15, which I think makes it safe for me since both the other first grade rooms has 18 or 19 in them.

August 20, 2008

I'm really tired right now and it's only 7:40 pm. But, I'm in a much better place tonight than I was last night. Today was a lot better day than yesterday.

I left the house earlier this morning so I could talk to Michaela's principal and teacher. Michaela was mistaken, she does not have computer lab on Mondays, so that's not a problem. Yes, they are getting letter grades in Art this year and the principal is going to look into maybe changing the schedule so that Michaela's class goes to Art on a different day or hopefully, if she has to go with another class she'll miss music instead of gym this year.

Michaela's teacher did not respond to my note because they had a very chaotic day yesterday and she ran out of time by the end of the day to write out a response. They had their visiting Japanese students in the building all day yesterday (they do this every year and Michaela loves it) which made the whole day a bit busier than usual.

The talk that I had with both of them went well and I felt much better about it all when I left to go to work. It's why I wanted to talk to them face to face. I knew that it would be a lot easier to resolve things and to figure out where things really stand with the teacher.

Also, at work my grade level had our grade level meeting today. We were going to make out one of the math tests on the computer. We did not get far when we realized there is A LOT of reading on the math test, which is not a problem come the end of the year, but at the beginning of the year first graders usually have their tests read to them.

Our principal, math specialist and reading coach showed up a little while into our meeting. It turned out to be a really great meeting. We got a lot of our questions answered and our concerns were given proper consideration. It was a very good discussion with all parties. We didn't get a test made, but at least we have a better idea of the direction we need to go.

So, in all it was a pretty good day. I did get two more students which makes me happy. I want to get up to at least 15 to feel safe from being moved around to some place else. Ever since the year that I was forced to move to another school and grade level 6 weeks into the school year I get a little panicky about low numbers of students showing up. I don't want to end up with 30 students, but I do want to make sure I have enough to keep me where I am.

August 19, 2008

Wow, what a stressful day! All I can say is, "Is it May yet?"

Ok, so we'll start with Michaela's teacher. I'm beginning to think that this woman and I are not going to get along well. Michaela's class has snack time because they are the last class to have lunch. Michaela's teacher has told them that they cannot bring candy as a snack. But, it seems to be rather vague as to what she means by this. Or, at least Michaela is not completely clear on it.

She wanted to take Teddy Grahams the other day but decided against it because she didn't know if her teacher would accept it as appropriate. She has been taking Whales every day. They are just like Goldfish. We get them at Wal-mart. I've asked Michaela about other things, making suggestions, but she says she's not sure and seems very hesitant to ask her teacher.

So, last night when I was signing her assignment book (which I have to do every night or the teacher takes Michaela's recess away from her) I wrote a note in it asking the teacher to please send me a list of things she felt was appropriate for snack. Tonight when we got home I went into Michaela's room with the intention of signing her assignment book and looking over her homework. At that point I remembered the note I'd written and asked Michaela if her teacher had sent a list home. Michaela tells me that the teacher did not and that she said to Michaela:

"I thought we already went over this."

There was NO RESPONSE written to me in any form. So she completely ignored me. Pissed me off to no end.

Add this to the fact that Michaela is scared to death to ask this teacher anything. She is supposed to read a certain number of AR books this year. Part of that includes checking AR books out from the school library. Michaela says that the AR books are not marked in the library. They have a new librarian that seems like she doesn't know which ones are AR. I asked her if she asked her teacher. She tells me, well it was on my desk and she knows I was taking it home. Which translates into, "I didn't want to ask."

I've really been trying to keep an open mind about this teacher. I mean I know a lot of times things get elaborated in translation and I understand that a lot of times when a child comes home and tells what has happened in school it sounds bad when it really isn't. But, how is my child supposed to learn from her if she's afraid to ask her questions? And, what kind of teacher completely ignores a note from a parent?

I am going up to the school to talk to her, but not just her. I need to talk to the principal too. Michaela's SOAR day is Monday this year and of course they put her class on the schedule to be in the computer lab on Mondays, meaning Michaela would never get to go to computer lab.

Also, according to Michaela the art teacher is taking letter grades this year. And, yup, you guessed it, Michaela's class is scheduled for Art on Mondays.

And, then at work:

Ok, so we've been having Internet issues in our school building since last December. It got to the point by March that it was impossible to do anything on any computer outside the computer lab that was on the DSL. The Wireless still worked. It doesn't now.

On top of our Internet issues, our school was broken into in July. They actually called to tell me this on the day I was getting ready to leave for vacation. The people that broke in took computers, laptops, palm pilots, and the wireless router. This is why the wireless does not work. The wireless is what we used to get the Internet up on our Smart Boards. Luckily nothing from my room was stolen.

We are still having Internet issues. Our computer lab teacher has been documenting and emailing and calling our technology department daily since December about our issues. TODAY was the first time anyone came to find out what is going on. They sent a new guy who did not even know we'd been having issues since December and was not shown any of our documentation.

We were supposed to start using SISK12, the district wide electronic grade book and attendance on the first day of school. Well of course we can't because none of us can log onto the Internet. But, wait it gets better.

We got a new math series this year which I'm actually VERY HAPPY about. This series came with an electronic test generator. It doesn't just create a test, it has the capability of being published to the web so students can take the test on the computer, the computer grades it and analyzes the data. WONDERFUL, right? Well, yeah, when you have the technology and it's all working correctly. But, no big deal because we can still do the paper/pencil tests, right?

HA!

Our principal has decided he wants each grade level to sit down and create all the benchmark tests for the year using the electronic test generator. Which I would be all for and would be cheer-leading for it IF WE DIDN'T HAVE TECHNOLOGY ISSUES. As it stands now, we have NO IDEA when they will have us up and running correctly. AND, the software for this test generator has to be put on the LAN in order for us to publish to the web. Well, of course the same people who have taken 8 months just to come to our building to acknowledge that we have a problem are the only ones who can put the software on the LAN.

So, this means we're being asked to put substantial time into creating tests that we may not even get to use. Excuse me? Do I NOT have enough to do as it is? I already had the inventory test and both Chapter 1 tests for our grade level copied as far as the paper/pencil tests are concerned. Plus, one of my teammates is a PITA to do collaboration with because she has to pick everything apart and discuss and argue over EVERY LITTLE thing when we are planning together. She takes something that should take half and hour to do and turns it into a week long project. The other two of us just want to bang our heads against the wall when we have to do things like this together. She is also not the type that will just let someone take over and do it.

So, we have missing computers and technology. We have a server that cannot maintain our activity level, but yet we're supposed to act like we're a highly functioning technology center.

As I said, is it May yet?

August 18, 2008

It was the first day of class for my students. So far only 10 of my students have shown up for school. I have 18 students on my list. It was a long day. The beginning of school is always so chaotic and long because you have to start all the training all over again. I prefer the routine of the middle of the year much more to the struggle of getting procedures and routines established. But, it's exciting to be able to just start new each year, too.

Last Friday Michaela came home from school with her packet for SOAR. It included the bus schedule for SOAR. Michaela was not on it. This is not a surprise because last year Michaela did not ride the bus to SOAR. My mom took her. Well, my mom has to be at work a lot earlier on Mondays, which is when 4th grade goes to SOAR. So, she can't take Michaela.

I have both Michaela and Caleb to think about getting to school since I'm the one taking them this year. It is impossible for me to get Caleb to school, take Michaela across town in the opposite direction from my work and drop her off and still get to work on time myself. So, I called and asked about getting her on the bus schedule, thinking they would pick her up at her home school.

She and Anikca are the only two who go to SOAR from her school on Mondays. Anikca is picked up by the bus at her grandmother's house which is a few miles in the opposite direction of both schools. There is also a major road construction going on between our house and there on our Elm Street.

Well, the first thing they asked me is if I could take Michaela to Anikca's house and let her be dropped of there. This is after I told them that I still have to get my son to their school, too. The bus driver doesn't want to drive through the construction on Elm. Well, I don't want to drive through it either and I'd still have to get my son to school and get to work on time. This would mean leaving home, driving about 4 miles in the opposite direction I need to go, taking a detour that would add another 3 miles to the trip back to our home school and then trying to get to work in about 45 minutes time. It takes me 30 minutes to get to work from town when there's no traffic problems.

Then she was asking if we were close to Elm. At first I thought she wanted me to leave my daughter on a street corner. Um, not going to happen. But, no she wanted me to take my daughter to the house of a child from another school. A child Michaela does not know and parents I do not know. yeah, what century are you living in. Try again.

Then I got a message saying that they would just pick Michaela up here at home. But, it was going to be at 6:50 in the morning. The means she'd have been riding around town on that bus for 65 minutes. I was willing to accept that as it was only one day, but I wasn't happy about it. Michaela was going to deal with it because it meant she could read.

Finally, they called back and said they were able to move some other things around and that Michaela will be picked up at our house at 7:10 am. That means Caleb and I can leave on time and Michaela is able to go to SOAR on the bus without being on the bus for over an hour. So, at least it's been solved.

August 17, 2008

You know what? I hate politics. The stupid commercials, the idiotic unattainable promises, the fact that you cannot believe a word any of them say and the phone calls. It irritates me to no end to get an automated phone call from a campaign or to have a message from one on my answering machine. I cannot stand when people call me to ask me how I'm voting. I refuse to answer this question. It's no one's business how I vote. We do not put campaign signs in our yard or allow politicians to put their stickers on our children during parades. We do not use bumper stickers or buttons or anything like that. I wish they would just give me a packet of information on their voting history and what they have accomplished for me to use in order to decide who to vote for. Do make me promises you can't or won't keep. Don't tell me what a horrible person your opponent is or the terrible things he/she has done. I will never align myself with any particular political party because there is no way I would ever completely agree with any political party. I see it all as an evil necessity but get so SICK of being bombarded with the propaganda.

August 16, 2008 pt. 2

Tonight we had a kid-less night. My mom decided to take the kids for a sleepover. It's amazing how quiet the house is when they are gone, even after what is their bedtime. The house just is more quiet when they are sleeping somewhere else.

Michael and I took advantage of them being gone. We went to Trailhead to get nachos. We love to eat there because we love their nachos. They have all the normal stuff nachos are supposed to have like cheese, tomatoes, olives, onions, etc. But, they also have black beans, jalapenos, and grilled chicken. The appetizer is enough for us to share as a meal. The kids don't really like to eat at Trailhead, so we try to only go when they are not with us anymore.

This is Festival of the Little Hills weekend, too. So, we spent the rest of the evening wandering around the booths at the festival. The only thing we bought was fudge. There were some other things we saw that we liked, but I don't think either of us was really in the mood to spend money.

There was this one t-shirt I saw that I am adopting as my new mantra. It said, "My goal in life is to be as wonderful as my dog thinks I am." Not sure I could ever live up to that, but hey, it's a good goal to have.

August 16, 2008

Michaela went to her girl scout leader's house this morning. They were making swaps for camp. We have a two night camp coming up next month. Michaela and I will actually not be going down until Saturday morning so we will only be staying over one night.

Other than that it's a pretty low key day around here. Michael and I are both tired today. Caleb is playing Wii. Michaela is playing on Webkinz World on the computer. Michael is napping. I am catching up on blogs and email and stuff like that. I need to do the video training for work, but don't think I'm going to get to it because I cannot keep my eyes open right now.

I think we might go down to Festival of the Little Hills tonight. Maybe we'll go out to eat at Locos and then go down there. We usually go down to it at least once every year. Sometimes we buy things and sometimes we don't. A lot of times I find at least one Christmas Present there.

August 14, 2008

We had Meet the Teacher night at my school tonight. I only had two parents/guardian show up. One parent looked at me and told me her son is a handful. What am I supposed to say to that? I really had no clue how to respond to that. The gym teacher tells me the little boy isn't really that bad, but his teacher he had last year said he was. I guess I just wait and see how it goes. Maybe he'll be better for me than he was for her.

August 13, 2008

The kids had their first day of school today. It was so weird watching them go into the school building together. I'm so happy that I get to drop them off at school. It's nice to know that I don't have to depend on daycare to take them to school AND pick them up this year. It may seem like a small thing, but dropping my own kids off at school is just one of those mom things that I really felt like I was missing out on.

Caleb had a good day. He said he got to move up the wave in class. This is his teacher's way of rewarding good behavior. Caleb was very proud of this. I think he really enjoyed being at the big kid school.

Michaela I think is going to have a tougher transition this year. She says she likes her teacher, but I get the feeling she's trying to convince herself. She's never had a teacher she didn't like. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I hope it's not too hard a year on her.

I spent the day in inservices. I had to go to a reading comprehension inservice first. It was interesting and the lady had some good information. It was better than most of the inservices I've been to through the district lately.

Next, we went to the science inservice. It was an exact repeat of last year's inservice, same guy and everything. But, he's a nice guy and has some good ideas. He's also not difficult to look at, either.

After lunch we spent the afternoon with the Houghton-Mifflin representative while she went over the basics of our new math series. I'm really excited about it. It's got some great stuff with it. The technology component is excellent. It has a test generator that's super easy to use. And, the website for the kids is REALLY cool. It's also got some great resources for teachers and parents on the website.

On my way home I stopped at the Department of Revenue to renew my licenses. Our state re-designed the license plate again so I got the new plates. I also renewed for 2 years so I don't have to do that stuff again until 2010.

August 12, 2008

It was back to work today. Our principal was going to give us the whole afternoon to work in our classrooms, but of course the district had other ideas. We spent two hours in the computer lab going through training that most of us had already done. It was for the new computerized system we're using for attendance, grades, etc. So, I stayed an extra hour to do a few more things in my room when we were finished with that.

The kids went swimming at the YMCA with their grandparents today. They were both pretty tired tonight. So am I!

August 11, 2008

I spent my last day off of work at work. I went in and spent most of the day working on my classroom. My MIL and FIL watched the kids for me today so I could go work on my room all day and not bore my children to death.

I did not get as much done as I wanted to complete. One of the reasons is I was trying to put together this paper storage unit. It's a 24 compartment unit. Had I known what was actually in the box before I bought it, I would not have spent the money on it.

I spent $65 on this stupid thing. It is made of particle board. At least the frame is made of particle board. The rest of it is cardboard. There were no nails or screws that came with this thing. They expected four pieces of very heavy particle board to be held together by small little wooden pegs and glue. I know I'm not an engineer but how in the world does this make sense?

After fighting with it for over an hour one of my co-workers loaned me his hammer and some nails. Yes, nails work much better at holding particle board together than glue. So, I was finally able to get it put together.

I spent a great deal of time making sure I had things organized so I could just put things away where they belong as I prepare my room. I got my desk area as done as it can be without emptying other boxes.

Then, I finished emptying my cabinet behind my desk. I started taking a few things out of the other cabinet, too. I just still have so far to go on my classroom. I stayed at work until a little after 3:00 p.m.

Tonight we went to the kids' school for Meet the Teacher Night. We met Caleb's teacher first. She seems ok. She was not very talkative and seemed a little nervous and/or uncomfortable, but I think she's going to be good for Caleb.

Then, we went upstairs to meet Michaela's teacher. She seemed more talkative and explained some things to us that were in the 4th grade handbook. Michaela is feeling a little nervous about it all. But, I think it will be a good experience for her.

Caleb put his name on the list for Cub Scouts. It sounds like they do a lot of really cool things. Michael was hesitant, but after hearing about the activities, I think he is feeling more positive about it.

August 10, 2008

Could they show any more commercials during the Olympics? Michaela and I have been waiting for weeks to see the women's gymnastics (Michaela is a huge Shawn Johnson fan. I like Alicia Sacramone) and it was just painful to watch for three reasons.

First of all, all the dang commercials. NBC is just as bad as MTV about commercials during the olympics. It is just as annoying as it can get. There were times they would come back from a commercial break just to show one of the girls wrapping their wrists or something and to tell us what was coming up next and then they'd be off on commercials again.

Second, the American team had so many mistakes it was unbelievable. How they had the second highest overall score for the night is beyond me. They were all falling left and right until the last two rotations. It was really hard to watch.

Thirdly, they just HAD to do an interview with the president. UGH! Give me a break. That was the LAST thing I wanted to see during the Olympics. I would have rather seen our team fall a couple more times. But, then again his using the Olympics as his personal political soap box just irritates me to no end.

Anyway, we managed to watch until the end of the gymnastics preliminaries. Hopefully, the finals will be better on Tuesday.

August 9, 2008

Tonight, Michaela had Anikca come over for a sleep over. Why do I do this when I'm so tired and just want quiet in my house? Michael and I are both quiet people so the noise of another child in the house is very hard for me, especially when I am low on energy.

We took them down to Ted Drews for a treat. Michaela and Caleb got Reeses concretes. Anikca got a brownie concrete. Michael got a mint concrete and I got a Dutchman. Anikca informed us that not only had she never had Ted Drews, but she'd never had a concrete of any kind. She doesn't even get them at Lyons.

It was a really nice night out. It was still warm, but not even so hot that you got hot standing in that long line at Ted Drews. There didn't seem to be any mosquito's out, either. It was an enjoyable time for us and great to get the kids out of the house for a while.

August 8, 2008

It was my last Friday off of work. I cannot believe how fast this summer has gone by. I wanna go back to June! Next week at this time the kids and I will be trying to adjust to getting back into a school year routine.

We went back out to my school again today. I worked more on my desk area. I also started cleaning out the big cabinet behind my desk. The kids watched a couple videos and then helped me with a few things. I cannot believe how much stuff I have that I need to go through. But, I'm determined to get everything completely organized BEFORE the start of school so I can KEEP it organized.

This evening we did a finger food supper. We like to do this when there's something special that we want to watch as a family on television. Tonight it was the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Michaela and I have been looking forward to this for a few weeks now. It was really cool, but was kind of long.

Michaela stayed up until about 9:30 or so, long enough to see the Americans come into the arena. Caleb went back to his room and fell asleep about 45 minutes before that.

August 7, 2008

I took the kids swimming for the last time this summer today. We went out to my school again this morning. I worked on my desk area for a while. The custodians moved my old teacher's desk to the computer lab and swapped it for one that was in there. My old one did not have the drawer above the lap, and the one in the computer lab did. The one in the computer lab was only used to hold an extra computer, so it doesn't need that drawer.

I am going through everything thoroughly before putting it away this year. I'm purging what I've not touched in years. I even tested all my markers and pens (with the help of my kids) and threw away the ones that did not work perfectly. I need to buy a few more desk organizer type things.

We came home and had lunch after we were there for a few hours. Then, we got ready to go to the pool. I had to stop at Stacey's house to give her a book. We talked for a little while.

The kids and I got to the pool around 2:00 pm. We had to go to one of the bigger ones today because the smaller one we like is already closed. The "baby" area of the pool we went to was closed for repairs, so we stuck to the main activity pool. It was not too hot, but hot enough to enjoy being at the pool. It was a nice afternoon. I love spending that time with my kids.

August 6, 2008

It's been another busy day for us. We left the house around 8:20 this morning. I needed to get out to work for a while. My plan was to get my furniture arranged and maybe start unpacking things. Then, attend the planning meeting that our principal was having.

Of course I got into a conversation with one of my co-workers that lasted longer than I'd planned. This means that I didn't get much moved before the meeting started. I did get a few things moved, though. I managed to get a movie set up for the kids to watch while I was in my meeting, too.

There were not as many people there as I expected. It was just two of the intermediate teachers, the computer lab teacher and myself with the principal. It was a good meeting and I feel it was very productive. It also managed to help get me more in the mood to go back to work. That and seeing my new math textbooks.

I'm very excited about getting a new math series. The old one I'd used for 9 years. We'd been using it for three years in the district I worked in before coming to this district. I've been with this district for 6 years. Therefore, I'd been using a series I really did not like for 9 years. It feels so good to get to dig into something new, especially something I wanted to begin with.

After the meeting I did move a few other things around, too. I still did not get a whole lot accomplished, but it did get started. And, like I said, I'm getting in the mood to go back to work. That feels good. I like that feeling of knowing that I can start fresh with the beginning of the school year. Getting to start over every year is one of the perks of teaching.

We stayed at my school until around noon. Then, we came back to town and I took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. I'd promised the kids that we'd do that before we went back to school and that they could spend the tickets they'd been saving up. With the almost 500 tickets they got today, they had 2599 total.

They each spent 1200 tickets. Michaela got a heart shaped bean bag pillow, two tubes of body glitter, and a packet of Lick-a-maid. Caleb got two die cast racing cars and a little toy gun. They both did a great job of making decisions on what they wanted quickly today. I had fun spending that time with them, too. They still have 199 tickets to start over with their saving up again.

The dealership called about my car again today around 3:30 p.m. They had to hand over my van to the company that installed the DVD player because they could not figure out what is wrong with it. They have everything else fixed. But, it seems I won't get my van back today either. Oh well, at least when I do get it back it'll be completely fixed.

August 5, 2008

I hate not having my own car. The van had to go into the shop today. We have an oil leak, the horn is dying, the DVD player is not getting any power from the connection it makes in the docking station in the van and it's time for safety and emissions inspections (which should be the only thing I have to actually pay for).

Anyway, I get a loaner while they are figuring things out with my van, but I just HATE not having my vehicle. At least I have transportation, but it's not mine. Wah, wah wah! I know I'm a big baby. I hope they are able to get everything fixed today.

They gave me a Rondo for the loaner. It's like a mini Suv, I guess. It's small, but it's cute. I'm sure it probably gets really good gas mileage. It sure doesn't take up the space in the garage that the van does. I want my van back, though, in perfect condition.

I got a phone call from them around 4:00 pm today. They called to tell me that they had not even gotten to my van, yet. That really irritated me. I'm not sure what the point in my having a 9:00 am appointment was when they didn't even look at it the whole day. I really hope this does not turn into a week long thing without my van. I hope it's all fixed right, though too.

August 4, 2008

It was a busy morning for us. I got up 6:30 am this morning to get myself together. I needed to get the kids up by 7:00 am. They both had dentist appointments this morning at 8:00 am. It was a new dentist again. I had too much trouble getting an appointment with the dentist we used last summer so I decided to try yet another one. This is the third one in three years.

The kids did great. I really like this dentist, too. She was very upbeat and explained things really well. She is in network with our insurance which is great. And, getting an appointment was easy. As a matter of fact, I was able to make the kids' next appointment in February while I was there. That was a huge help to me. The hygienist was a really great guy, too.

After that we came home and grabbed a form we needed for our next stop. Caleb had to be at the doctor's office by 10:00 am. He had to have a physical for school since he didn't go to public school for kindergarten. He also had to get his Chicken Pox booster.

We left there and I took the kids to Walgreens. They both have been so good all morning about being shuffled around all over the place that I decided to treat them. Michaela got a Beanie Baby 2.0 and Caleb got a Lil'kins Cow. I also got a Lil'kins. I got the St. Bernard. It's my first Webkinz. I'm kind of excited about it.

Then, we needed to stop at the grocery store for a few things. I ended up getting a few things more than I went in there for, but that's ok. It was nothing major. We did get some more Popsicles, though as we're out of those. Can't go without those. The kids have to have one every time they go swimming in the pool in the back yard. They swim for a while then have a Popsicle and then swim some more.

Next, we stopped at the kids' school. I had to drop off the medical forms from the doctor and the dentist so Caleb's file at school would be complete. I got to talk to the principal there again. She always makes a point of stopping to talk to me if she sees me and that really means a lot to me. I found out that one of the ladies from church is the nurse at their school, too. I think that's cool.

The rest of the day I spent reading and doing laundry. I'm determined to finish this book that I've been reading before I have to go back to work. I took it with me tonight, too, so I could read when Michaela was in her gymnastics class. That's 80 quiet minutes (I sit out in the car) of uninterrupted reading. That I cannot get at home.

August 3, 2008

We had a great afternoon today. My SIL sent me a text message just as we were getting ready to make lunch. She wanted us to meet them at the park pool. Not the one that I usually take the kids to myself, but the one over closer to their house that has the really tall slides at it.

We decided to ignore the grass that needs to be cut and the laundry that needs to be done and went. It ended up being My BIl, SIL, niece, and nephew. But, my SIL's sister, her son, my niece's best friend and her mom were there, too. It was a fun group to hang out with for the afternoon.

Michaela got to go down the big slides for the first time. Once she did it, we could not get her off of them. She loved it. She's got more nerve than her mommy. My niece braved it once, too. Michael, his brother, my SIL's sister, and her son all went down, too. The rest of us just enjoyed watching.

It was so nice to just relax and enjoy the company of friends and family for the afternoon. It was hot enough to enjoy the water, but not too hot. And, the pool never did get very crowded, which was really nice. I'm so glad we went.

August 2, 2008

It was a busy day. I got up when Michael went to work this morning. Yes, I think we are back in the cycle of him working every Saturday. I got the bank records updated from when we were on vacation. That took a while, but gosh it feels good when that is done.

The kids and I then went to Kidsmart. Kidsmart is a store that teachers who work in districts that service low income families can go to to get free supplies for their students. We are allowed to go and "shop" there once a month. We are given a list that tells us how much of each item we can take at the time since supply inventories go up and down all the time. Then, we have an hour to get what we need. During the school year we have to work at least three volunteer hours in the "store" to "pay" for what we "buy." It's really a great set up.

I was able to get folders, notebooks, crayons, pencils, glue and scissors for my students today. I also got a couple calculators, a bunch of pens, some markers, a couple staplers, three binders of teacher resource materials, and a few other miscellaneous items. It filled up a really big box. They had to help me put it in my van.

Then, tonight we went to St. Louis Mills Mall to look for shoes for Michael. Clothes are included in the tax free items during the tax holiday weekend. We went in through Cabela's because Michael would break out into hives if we did not. They had signs up saying they now have a "Bargain Cave." It's in another store front down two doors from Cabela's so we went in there just to see what they had. I ended up getting two shirts for my brother. My brother wears 3XL Tall, so clothes for him are usually not cheap. These shirts were on sale for $3.88 each and they are really good quality material. I would have bought more if we'd been able to find more in his size.

Next, we stopped at The Children's Place. I just love that store. We decided to get the kids' their outfits for picture day. Michaela got a cute little blue plaid jumper with a shirt that matches to go under neath. Caleb's we were able to get off the clearance racks. He got a really cute dark blue Hawaiian type button down shirt and some khaki shorts to go with it. I'm going to probably get them both new tennis shoes before picture day, too.

Finally, after going into three shoe stores, we found shoes for Michael at Sketchers. He needed some that were dressy enough for church, but he could wear to work, too. He found a pair he really liked and felt comfortable. I saw a couple pairs that would be good for Michaela, but we had spent enough money for the night. We may go back and see about getting them in a couple weeks or so.

August 1, 2008

How in the world can it be August already? I am so not ready for it to be this late in the summer already. Time just goes by too fast during the summer time. My babies are getting ready to start first grade and fourth grade.

We stopped up at the kids' school to see who their teachers are going to be for this school year. Michaela is a little bummed out. She did not get the teacher she wanted. But, she is satisfied with the teacher she did get. She and Anikca are not in the same class this year. Their teacher from last year told them this would probably happen because they did not want all the SOAR kids in the same class again. The one little girl who just bothers both Anikca and Michaela all the time is in Anikca's class this year.

Michaela told Caleb that he got a "nice" teacher. He wanted her to show him the picture of his teacher on the wall where they have all of the teachers' pictures, but Michaela could not remember exactly which picture it was.

While we were at the school we grabbed a supply list for Michaela. We were able to find Caleb's list at Wal-mart, but they did not have the 3rd or 4th grade lists there. Then, we headed to Wal-mart to get their school supplies.

What a mad house. I thought if we went in the morning we'd not have so much crowd to deal with since it's tax free weekend. One of the Wal-mart employees said people started coming in at midnight for the tax free sales. I bet it got even worse this evening and will be like that tomorrow, too. I'm glad we got it out of the way today.