Sunday, February 28, 2010

Comments sorted

I think... maybe...

Let me know?

Co-pilot

Friday, February 26, 2010

Hmmm...

No idea what's wrong with my comments....
/sigh

Too tired to figure it out tonight - will try again tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Another school shooting...

This one happening at a Denver Middle School... not too far from the Columbine High School...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/23/deer-creek-middle-school_n_473943.html

Scary.

Back in the saddle again

I missed ALL of last week due to my sinus infection and we had yesterday off for a 4-day weekend. That means I had 11 days off in a row. These days were spent sleeping, reading, and watching the Olympics.

At no point during those 11 days did I hear 200+ rowdy students.
At no point during those 11 days did I have to yell at anyone.
At no point during those 11 days did I yell at or get talked back to by anyone.

Yes, I was sick and miserable and in pain... but the up-side presents itself.

Today was a rough day back. I really don't like being gone - for oh-so many reasons...
1. I'm a neat freak and I have a place for everything, but when I'm gone things out of order so I have to re-order and hunt for stuff.
2. The kids tend to "forget" the rules.
3. I have no idea where any of my students are on their assignments.

And of course the longer I am gone the worse these things get.

Add to that a 4-day weekend where kids slept very little and were not ready to come back to school...

Add the fact that I had after school tutoring today - full of kids who cause trouble in class and don't get their work done when they're supposed to...

And... yeah... it was a long first day back.

But I survived it and we only have 2 more days of this week!

And I should also add that I did receive a warm welcome back from many of my students "Ms. E! You're alive! You're back!? Are you better?"

So it wasn't all bad.

I'm just tired.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

5 Things I Love About The Olympics

In between hours of snoozing, sneezing, sniffling and being down-right miserable I've been trying to keep up with the Olympics - thank you TiVo. Here's a list of 5 things I love about the Olympics:

5. They happen only once every 2/4 years so they feel special.

4. I enjoy seeing/learning about the countries they take place in.

3. It's the only time I watch sports of any kind, outside of the Cowboys, so it's refreshing.

2. Learning fun names for tricks/moves in different sports, such as the "kickin' chicken" in snowboarding.

1. I find myself hoping and praying for the good performances of people I knew nothing about 5 minutes before - thanks to the 2-3 minute piece about their life story/bid for the Olympics.

Monday, February 15, 2010

started feeling sniffley yesterday. now i have a full-blown sinus infection. stayed home from school. /sigh. these are becoming a habit.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

my hunt for the elusive CO big game was a bust. the fresh coat of snow created a beauty all its own. love the frosty winter wonderland look.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Feeling the love

Worked at the MS girls basketball tournament - keeping score - this morning.

It was fun to go and support my students and Kaylee was able to go. She loves going to things like that because people are always falling all over her - yes, she's THAT adorable.

Had a short chat with the town's mayor (who is also the mother of one of my students) and she says she's going to put in a good word for me with the superintendent. She says I should definitely keep my job. There are a LOT fingers in the pot and a lot of factors that go into the decision, but it is always nice to know you're appreciated.

I've got to spend this afternoon working on the yearbook... only 1 month left until that's due.

And maybe, if they play their cards right, I'll get some snuggling with a kitty and puppy.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Final count....

Dad went out and measured.... 15 inches of snow.

In Texas.

Ridiculous.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Let it snow.... Please?

This is ridiculous.

The east coast is buried in snow.

Dallas/Ft. Worth has received 10 + inches in the last 12 hours and it's still snowing.

I live in Colorado, in the mountains, 5 minutes from one ski resort and 15 minutes from two other ski resorts... and we have what... 2 inches of snow?

Ridiculous.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Long couple of weeks

- write-ups
- argumentative students
- overheard things I had to report
- more talk about budget cuts
- stress
- lack of sleep
- fights broken up
- major problems happening with kids' families

I really needed tonight.

I went to trivia with the new teacher from school and there were 5 other people on our team. We did pretty well.

I knew it was gonna be a good night when the first question was: "What country's native population refers to it as Aotearoa?"

Answer: New Zealand!

Next round, first question: "What's the sea that separates Australia and New Zealand?"

Answer: Tasman Sea

Third round, first question: "Aotearoa means 'Land of the long white THIS'"

Answer: cloud

Boo to the ya!

There was also a question in the third round about Sir Edmund Hillary's job before he climbed Mt. Everest... I had heard, but forgotten the answer - bee keeper.

In addition to the NZ questions I knew several other answers. It felt good :)

AND I learned that one of the guys who comes to trivia off and on knows sign language. He was talking to me and signed a word... I don't think he realized he was doing it. I signed my answer back and we both got excited. He knows A LOT more than me, because he grew up with it - he's mostly deaf in one ear. I hope he keeps coming so we can sign together!

Overall, it was a very good night and just what I needed.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Can you help "Us" ?

I just got the following message (via Facebook) from an Us Weekly magazine reporter:

"We are working on a story about Jake Pavelka, The Bachelor, and we're looking for classmates to share fun stories and fun photos with Us for our article! Our readers love him and we want to include a fun walk down memory lane for them! Let me know if you or anyone you know could help! We close tonight. Thanks!!!"

At least I went to High School with a Bachelor that people "love."

LoL
me: "What do we know about blogs?"
student: "They start with a 'B' and end with a 'S'"
lunch time. blissfully quiet. resisting urge 2 lock doors and not let "them" back in. but that won't do... must persevere... /sigh

Saturday, February 06, 2010

TOTALLY worth it
finally at the theater. wtg 4 Avatar. Better be worth it!

Friday, February 05, 2010

does that baby have a mohawk? yes, yes he does... and it's kind of awesome :)
working gate at hs basketball tourney. opposing team's coach screams at the boys. entertianing and aggravating at the same time.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Lions and Tigers and Bears!

Oh my!

I've volunteered to help out our 1st-year music teacher who has taken on the ENORMOUS task of producing/directing a musical for our school. We don't have a drama department, but apparently there was enough interest amongst the kids. She has 20 kids for the production of The Wizard of Oz and she was all alone. I told her I'd be happy to help out - I always love music and theater when I was in school. It means staying until 6pm on Mondays for the next couple of months, but it will be better for her and the kids.

In other news... There were two sitings of a mountain lion in my neighborhood at the end of last week. One was about a half a mile down the street. Kaylee is on a VERY short leash. Poor baby, she loves to run!

We won the third round of trivia, but lost overall. And I learned that a group of tigers is called a streak or an ambush. Who knew? Not us.

Hmm... I got nothing for bears... oh wait, there's an adorable German Shepherd mix at the pound that needs a home... his name is Bear!

Ha!

Take that L. Frank Baum!

Monday, February 01, 2010

LoL!

I love being told how stupid I am, but my favorite has to be when a student informs me their mom is a lawyer and she is going to sue me - though the student can't really give me a reason other than I'm being horrible to them (aka making them follow the rules).

That's just awesome!

I didn't laugh in the student's face.... much. I did, however, inform that student that I didn't have ANYTHING worth suing over... I don't own anything other than some dvds, a tv, and my clothes. I'm a second year, single, teacher. So good luck with that!