so today . . . it rained.
i know it rained, because when i pulled out of the 7-11 parking lot this morning, my tires skidded on the wet pavement.
you know that song, "it never rains in california..." well, it is almost true. almost. but not today. today it rained.
rain was in the forecast for tomorrow, but not for today. so when i looked out the kitchen window this morning and noticed that the ground was wet, i thought, "oh wow, it must be getting cooler. the water from the sprinkler hasn't evaporated yet..."
(this is how i know i am turning into a california person. an oregon person wouldn't even notice that the ground was wet! oregon's ground is wet most of the time in the fall! but rain doesn't even enter the mind of a california person--we immediately think "sprinklers!")
i finished gathering up my stuff and went out to the car. i opened the garage door and noticed the driveway was wet too. and getting wetter by the second. and then i saw it. rain.
to be clear, it was california rain--there was water in the air, but it was still safe to wear suede boots. i didn't know how long it was going to stay that way though, so we took the preventative measure of putting electrical tape on those two small cracks that have developed in the roof of my car. thankfully rollie was working from home today and could help me, because since we moved, i'm not sure i could find the electrical tape. i know it is in the garage (which is rollie's territory,) and so i know it has a specific place (like all of rollie's stuff.) i just don't know where that specific place is...
it took a little time to complete the rainproofing of my roof. thankfully i had the time. i have learned that if i set my alarm a little bit earlier and only hit the snooze button once, i have time to make a quick stop at 7-11 and still make it to work on time...
yes, i said on time!! i haven't been late to work once this year! of course, i've only worked seven days, but i think i have turned over a new leaf. apparently being docked 15 minutes of pay isn't enough to get me out of bed earlier, but the promise of a gigantic diet lemon cokesi is! of course, i wish i could survive the day without that infusion of a fizzy, caffeinated drink, but i've been so tired since i went back to work that i've NEEDED it. of course, maybe if i slept a few more minutes in the morning instead of going to 7-11, i wouldn't need it...
but i digress.
i walked in and out of 7-11 without the aid of an umbrella (you see, i am still an oregon person at heart,) but again, to be fair, i did get the parking space right in front of the door. my brain was still not really registering the fact that it was RAINING! how could it be raining?!?! just yesterday i was wearing tank tops and flip flops. i had acquiesced to the cooler temperatures today by donning boots and a sweater, but still... and then my tires squealed out of the 7-11 parking lot...
i was not going terribly fast. however, there were cars approaching me, and they were going terribly fast. so when i hit the gas and felt my tires spin but did not feel my car move, i knew it must be raining. i should have registered "rain" when i had to turn on my lights or use my windshield wipers, but it was early and i was sort of on autopilot (remember, i only hit the snooze button once!) my tires finally gained traction and propelled me toward the first of four stop lights that have become my arch nemeses...
i hate those four stop lights. really. if i could rat them out for their inconsistent and inconsiderate behavior and send them off to traffic light jail, i would. they are never green. never. i always have to wait. and sometimes i have to wait through two or even three rotations at the left turn light. this morning i had time to tweet and post to facebook about my squealing tires before i finally got through that light! (i'm pretty sure it isn't breaking the law to tweet while you are just sitting still at a stupid red left turn light. i think tweeting while sitting at a red light might be the only thing between certain motorists--who shall remain nameless--and road rage...)
i got to school with my diet lemon cokesi (which is no small task, considering that the cup is so big it won't fit in any of my cup holders, so i have to put it in the passenger seat and prop it up with my handbag. which i hate to do, because my handbag is cloth and i'm always afraid that when i turn a corner, my soda will spill on it. or worse yet, completely tip over and spill everywhere! that happened once. it was awful. so to try to prevent that, i put my right hand on the cup to steady it when i go around corners. which wouldn't be a big deal, except my car has a manual transmission which requires me to use that same right hand to shift. it's a good thing i am coordinated...) i knew it was going to be a long day. tonight was open house and i wasn't quite ready. it was also art day. art day on the same day as open house!! what was i thinking?!?!? AND since it was raining, we were going to be stuck in the classroom for recess, which meant energetic kids with nowhere to expend that energy...
i slurped my diet lemon cokesi and hoped for the best...
we got through the morning without any major catastrophes. and then this afternoon i went into the classroom next door to help a teacher who had a screaming, crying three year old who would. not. stop. so i was talking quietly to the child and patting him on the back and just generally trying to get him to calm down and be quiet. because sometimes crying is contagious--especially if you are three and were just awakened from a nap that was not quite long enough! he got a little quieter, but he wouldn't stop crying! and i needed to go back to my own class to finish getting ready for open house! but since i had come in to help, i didn't feel like i could just leave without accomplishing my goal of turning a wailing three year old into a smiling one... so i started talking to the other three year olds sitting at his table having their snack. we were talking about what they were eating, when one precious dumpling looked right at me and said, "i eat boogers!"
okaaayyy... not really information that i wanted to know, but it got the attention of the screaming child, who momentarily stopped screaming to see what was going to happen next...
here's what happened next. "did you see the rain this morning?" i asked.
yep, i deflected and redirected. and it worked. this time. because to a southern california three year old, rain is a BIG deal! he might remember the afternoon it rained last spring, but odds are he doesn't really remember it raining before today. oh, he's heard people talk about it, like they talk about snow and colored leaves falling in october and wide open spaces, but he has had very little, if any, experience with it.
and so, we talked about rain. and the crying child stopped. and the booger-eating child ate his crackers instead. and i managed to escape back to the relative calm of my own classroom...
...just in time for a birthday party. a birthday party in a classroom full of kids who have been inside all day because of the rain. i looked at the clock, breathed a sigh of relief, left my class in the capable hands of others, and headed out into the rain...
...only to be pleasantly surprised by dry ground and sunshine.
yep, it never rains in california... at least not for long :-)
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
caution! this is what it looks like inside my brain.
so today . . . i've been thinking about making some changes to my blog. this is where you come in...
it seems like life is getting a bit more complicated for me lately. i'm trying to keep an awful lot of balls in the air. and when that happens, the ball that typically gets dropped first is my blog. but i love to blog! i don't so much love all the other balls. i've seriously contemplated getting rid of some of them, but the time doesn't seem to be right to let any of them go. i am working toward that though. i am hopeful that maybe a few years down the road i'll have half as many balls, and they will all be happily defying gravity.
do you have any idea what i am trying to say? i'm not quite sure i do either.
i'm feeling the need to simplify and focus, but in practical terms it isn't going to happen right away. moving was a huge undertaking this summer! well, maybe not so much the actual moving as the decision-making that was involved. but the result has been so worth it! hard to get rid of stuff? yes, but so glad to be living a bit lighter... and going back to work takes major chunks of available time out of my day. and makes me tired. i've only been back at work for three days, and i'm already starting to get that 'swamped' feeling. it's not so easy to simplify. or focus.
the problem is, some new balls have been added to my juggling act recently. so in my quest to keep my head above water, i am afraid that i might not be as consistent blogging every day has i have been. or would like to be. because as i said, i love to blog. but it is more time consuming than you might think. but i also know that you, my loyal blog readers, are busy too. and i am sure it is unbearably disappointing :-) to come to my blog and find that i haven't written anything new. day after day after day...
so i am thinking of adding the an option that would notify you by email when i post a new blog. then you wouldn't have to come check every day--you could just look for an email telling you that something new is waiting to be read! i kind of thought this might be a good idea.
but then...
but then i thought, wait. if i do that, then they will only come when i have written something new, and that will slow the traffic on the blog. which doesn't really matter to me at this point, but what if someday i decide to try to market it or make a little extra cash by selling ads? i need lots of hits to make that worthwhile. and if all 19 of my followers only come when there is a new post, i could be in trouble.
but then i thought, get serious. i will never have enough traffic to make any money at this. and even if i did, do i really want to subject my 19 loyal followers to a bunch of ads? (not to mention the fact that i am pretty sure that not all 19 of my followers actually still read my blog every day...) ads would just clutter up my blog! would there even be room for the ridiculous number of labels i have used to organize my blogs if i added ads? or my hilarious (at least to me) tweets? probably not. and what is more important? for you to read that i saw a pigeon wandering around in costco, or for you to have the opportunity to be directed to another site trying to pry money out of your wallet?? i like to think that you would rather hear about the pigeon. and i think i would rather have you hear about the pigeon, than make 4 cents when you click on an ad...
which brings us back to my original question--should i add the gadget that lets you subscribe by email to my new posts? or do you like the anticipation of "will there be a new blog today?" every time you type in www.jewelielyn.blogspot.com? or is the disappointment that occurs when you don't find a new blog too devastating to deal with more than once or twice a week?
perhaps i overestimate my importance in your world...
everything i have read about 'how to get traffic to your blog' says that you should always ask a question. a question encourages a response from those who read. which makes them feel connected, and gets people interested and talking, and then they mention it to their friends, and eventually those friends will come check it out. and that is how you build a large enough base of readers to support ads. but the purpose of my blog has never been to be interactive or have a gajillion followers. i just like to write. and hear myself think. and tell stories. and try to make you laugh (although apparently not today. today you are getting stream of consciousness thinking. i think i'm too tired to be funny today.) so i don't ask questions. i do, however, always hope you will just spontaneously comment. just like you look forward to my blog posts (i think,) i look forward to your comments. so maybe i should ask questions...
but the problem is, i don't like to do things the way i am expected to do them. ever. i'm not a rebel, i just think the unexpected is much more interesting than the status quo. and i would rather be interesting than predictable. so maybe i should continue not asking questions...
...except then how would i know if you want the email notification option?
what we have here is a veritable "catch 22." so here's my solution. i'm not going to ask if you all would like the email notification. i think i might just add it, and then if you are one of those busy people who don't spend your evenings clicking around websites just for fun, you can use it. but, if you are one of those random, spontaneous people who like a surprise now and then, you can ignore it. either way, the blog will still be here, waiting to be read and commented on...
just maybe not every single day.
it seems like life is getting a bit more complicated for me lately. i'm trying to keep an awful lot of balls in the air. and when that happens, the ball that typically gets dropped first is my blog. but i love to blog! i don't so much love all the other balls. i've seriously contemplated getting rid of some of them, but the time doesn't seem to be right to let any of them go. i am working toward that though. i am hopeful that maybe a few years down the road i'll have half as many balls, and they will all be happily defying gravity.
do you have any idea what i am trying to say? i'm not quite sure i do either.
i'm feeling the need to simplify and focus, but in practical terms it isn't going to happen right away. moving was a huge undertaking this summer! well, maybe not so much the actual moving as the decision-making that was involved. but the result has been so worth it! hard to get rid of stuff? yes, but so glad to be living a bit lighter... and going back to work takes major chunks of available time out of my day. and makes me tired. i've only been back at work for three days, and i'm already starting to get that 'swamped' feeling. it's not so easy to simplify. or focus.
the problem is, some new balls have been added to my juggling act recently. so in my quest to keep my head above water, i am afraid that i might not be as consistent blogging every day has i have been. or would like to be. because as i said, i love to blog. but it is more time consuming than you might think. but i also know that you, my loyal blog readers, are busy too. and i am sure it is unbearably disappointing :-) to come to my blog and find that i haven't written anything new. day after day after day...
so i am thinking of adding the an option that would notify you by email when i post a new blog. then you wouldn't have to come check every day--you could just look for an email telling you that something new is waiting to be read! i kind of thought this might be a good idea.
but then...
but then i thought, wait. if i do that, then they will only come when i have written something new, and that will slow the traffic on the blog. which doesn't really matter to me at this point, but what if someday i decide to try to market it or make a little extra cash by selling ads? i need lots of hits to make that worthwhile. and if all 19 of my followers only come when there is a new post, i could be in trouble.
but then i thought, get serious. i will never have enough traffic to make any money at this. and even if i did, do i really want to subject my 19 loyal followers to a bunch of ads? (not to mention the fact that i am pretty sure that not all 19 of my followers actually still read my blog every day...) ads would just clutter up my blog! would there even be room for the ridiculous number of labels i have used to organize my blogs if i added ads? or my hilarious (at least to me) tweets? probably not. and what is more important? for you to read that i saw a pigeon wandering around in costco, or for you to have the opportunity to be directed to another site trying to pry money out of your wallet?? i like to think that you would rather hear about the pigeon. and i think i would rather have you hear about the pigeon, than make 4 cents when you click on an ad...
which brings us back to my original question--should i add the gadget that lets you subscribe by email to my new posts? or do you like the anticipation of "will there be a new blog today?" every time you type in www.jewelielyn.blogspot.com? or is the disappointment that occurs when you don't find a new blog too devastating to deal with more than once or twice a week?
perhaps i overestimate my importance in your world...
everything i have read about 'how to get traffic to your blog' says that you should always ask a question. a question encourages a response from those who read. which makes them feel connected, and gets people interested and talking, and then they mention it to their friends, and eventually those friends will come check it out. and that is how you build a large enough base of readers to support ads. but the purpose of my blog has never been to be interactive or have a gajillion followers. i just like to write. and hear myself think. and tell stories. and try to make you laugh (although apparently not today. today you are getting stream of consciousness thinking. i think i'm too tired to be funny today.) so i don't ask questions. i do, however, always hope you will just spontaneously comment. just like you look forward to my blog posts (i think,) i look forward to your comments. so maybe i should ask questions...
but the problem is, i don't like to do things the way i am expected to do them. ever. i'm not a rebel, i just think the unexpected is much more interesting than the status quo. and i would rather be interesting than predictable. so maybe i should continue not asking questions...
...except then how would i know if you want the email notification option?
what we have here is a veritable "catch 22." so here's my solution. i'm not going to ask if you all would like the email notification. i think i might just add it, and then if you are one of those busy people who don't spend your evenings clicking around websites just for fun, you can use it. but, if you are one of those random, spontaneous people who like a surprise now and then, you can ignore it. either way, the blog will still be here, waiting to be read and commented on...
just maybe not every single day.
Monday, September 26, 2011
a day in the life...
so today . . . i went back to work.
it started off pretty good. i didn't have too much trouble waking up--i only hit the snooze button once! I had everything ready to go, so i was up and out the door in about half an hour. but before i could even get out of our neighborhood, i had to turn around. i had my computer bag, my books, and my lunch... but i forgot to grab something for my breakfast. i would have loved to just swing by 7-11 and snag a brownie, but i am trying to eat better now that i am getting back to work. so i turned around, went back home, and found a hard boiled egg and a cheese stick in the refrigerator and headed back out, confident that now i wouldn't starve...
it took me longer than i anticipated to get to work. even though i still live just a mile and a half away, now i have to go through four stop lights instead of two... and one of those is a left turn... and i am driving on much busier streets, which means more cars sitting at those lights, which means there is a risk that i won't get through on the first green. and then there was construction (although, it was going the opposite way i was going, but still...)
i got to school and went to clock in, but i couldn't find my time card. which was really unfortunate, because for the first time in a long time, i wasn't late. in fact, i was about 7 minutes early, and i wanted it documented!! but my time card was not at the bottom of the rack where it usually is.
my time card position is a bit of an issue for me. i have worked at this particular school for 8 years, but my time card is always at the bottom! other people have been hired since me, but my time card is still always at the bottom. my time card never seems to be able to work it's way up the ladder, because i don't work in the summer. occasionally during the school year, it will manage to go up one or two spaces, only to lose that coveted ground in july when i don't show up for work for two months. then in september, there i am, back at the bottom. this seems so unfair, but i have finally resigned myself to the situation and have tried to embrace it with the thought that at least it is always quick and easy for me to find my time card. which is especially important on those days when i am playing "beat the clock." but since my card wasn't there in it's usual spot at the bottom, i just thought maybe they had forgotten i was coming back today. after all, i am three weeks late starting school, and we have someone new working in the office, so maybe she forgot...
as it turns out, she didn't forget. she promoted me! because there i was, in time card slot #3! yes, i am now #3!!! i cannot even tell you how awesome this is... and i know, you are all sitting there thinking, "this girl needs to get a life! who cares what slot their time card resides in?!?" well, clearly i do! AND not only was my time card now in slot #3, but i clocked in EARLY.
and no, the world didn't end at 7:56 this morning.
my day was off to a pretty good start. then i walked into my classroom...
let me just say here, that i had an awesome substitute while i was gone. really. there are only a couple of people that i would have felt comfortable leaving with my brand new class for the first three weeks of school, and i got one of them. but she hadn't been in the classroom since friday afternoon, and i think gremlins had gotten in...
the tables were moved. there were work papers everywhere. i am pretty sure that on friday afternoon, those work papers were organized, but by this morning, let's just say they were somewhat more randomly arranged. i started trying to make sense of it all and find the things i needed to get through the day. but i also had a room full of preschoolers that hadn't had play time in my room yet, so they were somewhat exuberant in their explorations and needed some supervision.
i continued to move furniture and plow through papers. and then i realized it was time for music...
i love music. i hate leading music time at school. ms. martha and i have finally figured out a schedule that makes us both hate it just a little bit less, but that schedule has me doing music on mondays. and today was monday. which meant i was going to be leading music today. ok, i thought, this won't be so bad. i haven't led music all summer. maybe it will even be fun to do some of the songs i like. so i put a cd in the player and got started. but all of these children are new to our classes. they don't know our songs yet. and as much as i hate leading music, try leading a bunch of kids who don't know the songs yet, while one of them continually runs around swinging his arms, hitting as many kids as he can. yes, my day was going downhill fast...
--the new table arrangement for the pre-k kids was not working out.
--the bathroom light was burned out, and the janitor doesn't come in on mondays.
--we had wheat thins for snack. (i love wheat thins. four and five year olds do not.)
and then it was time for language class. this is one of my schedule changes this year. the kindergarteners go to the same language class as the pre-k kids, which means that on monday, wednesday, and friday i have a 45 minute planning time. YIPPEE!!! i sure needed it today! i spent 15 minutes at the copy machine, 20 minutes moving tables in and out of the room (because something HAD to be done with those pre-k kids,) and ten more minutes looking for the top of my desk under all those papers. but at least i was alone in my room, and it was quiet. briefly.
actually, it was quiet longer than i expected. because usually the kids come back from their language classes at 11:15. but today they didn't come back. and i didn't go looking for them! i just said, "thank you Jesus," and kept shuffling papers. and then suddenly, there they were, all lined up in the hallway and ready to go outside.
some things had apparently changed in the last three weeks...
it was cloudy today, which made for a nice time outside. until i saw a little girl take a nosedive over the front of her scooter and plant her face on the sidewalk. she cried. and bled. and bled and bled and bled. thankfully none of her teeth fell out, but i couldn't tell that immediately because of all the blood! i don't do well when kids are bleeding from their heads. i was the first teacher to reach her, but i quickly handed her off to ms. jessica (my friend who bumped me up to time card slot #3.) ms. jessica is fearless and can handle anything! she saved my bacon more than once today. because later in the day, our toilet (in the bathroom with no light) clogged and overflowed. i don't do well with bathroom incidents either. (i know what you are thinking--why do i teach in a preschool when i can't handle blood and bathroom issues. my answer is, usually i teach kindergarten where we have very few of those issues. but add four year olds to the mix and things are quite different...)
the day did have a few bright spots.
--my lunch time was changed to 12:00-1:00. not only did i get a whole hour (instead of my usual half hour,) but i got it during the kid's lunch time! which means i didn't have to serve lunch. or try to convince them to eat their veggies. or put them down for their naps. ms. jessica got to do all of that :)
--i didn't call anyone by the wrong name. of course, sometimes i avoided using a name if i wasn't sure... but the point is, i didn't call anyone by the wrong name!!
--i got the homework out on time and only had to ask one parent to wait for it. and that only happened because they were early.
--i found the top of my desk. it took me until 5:15, but i found it.
--i have a class full of cute kids. they aren't going to be easy, but they are going to be fun. i think.
and let's not forget that no matter what happened today, or what happens tomorrow, my time card is in slot #3!
i am now just two slots away from being #1...
hehehe...
it started off pretty good. i didn't have too much trouble waking up--i only hit the snooze button once! I had everything ready to go, so i was up and out the door in about half an hour. but before i could even get out of our neighborhood, i had to turn around. i had my computer bag, my books, and my lunch... but i forgot to grab something for my breakfast. i would have loved to just swing by 7-11 and snag a brownie, but i am trying to eat better now that i am getting back to work. so i turned around, went back home, and found a hard boiled egg and a cheese stick in the refrigerator and headed back out, confident that now i wouldn't starve...
it took me longer than i anticipated to get to work. even though i still live just a mile and a half away, now i have to go through four stop lights instead of two... and one of those is a left turn... and i am driving on much busier streets, which means more cars sitting at those lights, which means there is a risk that i won't get through on the first green. and then there was construction (although, it was going the opposite way i was going, but still...)
i got to school and went to clock in, but i couldn't find my time card. which was really unfortunate, because for the first time in a long time, i wasn't late. in fact, i was about 7 minutes early, and i wanted it documented!! but my time card was not at the bottom of the rack where it usually is.
my time card position is a bit of an issue for me. i have worked at this particular school for 8 years, but my time card is always at the bottom! other people have been hired since me, but my time card is still always at the bottom. my time card never seems to be able to work it's way up the ladder, because i don't work in the summer. occasionally during the school year, it will manage to go up one or two spaces, only to lose that coveted ground in july when i don't show up for work for two months. then in september, there i am, back at the bottom. this seems so unfair, but i have finally resigned myself to the situation and have tried to embrace it with the thought that at least it is always quick and easy for me to find my time card. which is especially important on those days when i am playing "beat the clock." but since my card wasn't there in it's usual spot at the bottom, i just thought maybe they had forgotten i was coming back today. after all, i am three weeks late starting school, and we have someone new working in the office, so maybe she forgot...
as it turns out, she didn't forget. she promoted me! because there i was, in time card slot #3! yes, i am now #3!!! i cannot even tell you how awesome this is... and i know, you are all sitting there thinking, "this girl needs to get a life! who cares what slot their time card resides in?!?" well, clearly i do! AND not only was my time card now in slot #3, but i clocked in EARLY.
and no, the world didn't end at 7:56 this morning.
my day was off to a pretty good start. then i walked into my classroom...
let me just say here, that i had an awesome substitute while i was gone. really. there are only a couple of people that i would have felt comfortable leaving with my brand new class for the first three weeks of school, and i got one of them. but she hadn't been in the classroom since friday afternoon, and i think gremlins had gotten in...
the tables were moved. there were work papers everywhere. i am pretty sure that on friday afternoon, those work papers were organized, but by this morning, let's just say they were somewhat more randomly arranged. i started trying to make sense of it all and find the things i needed to get through the day. but i also had a room full of preschoolers that hadn't had play time in my room yet, so they were somewhat exuberant in their explorations and needed some supervision.
i continued to move furniture and plow through papers. and then i realized it was time for music...
i love music. i hate leading music time at school. ms. martha and i have finally figured out a schedule that makes us both hate it just a little bit less, but that schedule has me doing music on mondays. and today was monday. which meant i was going to be leading music today. ok, i thought, this won't be so bad. i haven't led music all summer. maybe it will even be fun to do some of the songs i like. so i put a cd in the player and got started. but all of these children are new to our classes. they don't know our songs yet. and as much as i hate leading music, try leading a bunch of kids who don't know the songs yet, while one of them continually runs around swinging his arms, hitting as many kids as he can. yes, my day was going downhill fast...
--the new table arrangement for the pre-k kids was not working out.
--the bathroom light was burned out, and the janitor doesn't come in on mondays.
--we had wheat thins for snack. (i love wheat thins. four and five year olds do not.)
and then it was time for language class. this is one of my schedule changes this year. the kindergarteners go to the same language class as the pre-k kids, which means that on monday, wednesday, and friday i have a 45 minute planning time. YIPPEE!!! i sure needed it today! i spent 15 minutes at the copy machine, 20 minutes moving tables in and out of the room (because something HAD to be done with those pre-k kids,) and ten more minutes looking for the top of my desk under all those papers. but at least i was alone in my room, and it was quiet. briefly.
actually, it was quiet longer than i expected. because usually the kids come back from their language classes at 11:15. but today they didn't come back. and i didn't go looking for them! i just said, "thank you Jesus," and kept shuffling papers. and then suddenly, there they were, all lined up in the hallway and ready to go outside.
some things had apparently changed in the last three weeks...
it was cloudy today, which made for a nice time outside. until i saw a little girl take a nosedive over the front of her scooter and plant her face on the sidewalk. she cried. and bled. and bled and bled and bled. thankfully none of her teeth fell out, but i couldn't tell that immediately because of all the blood! i don't do well when kids are bleeding from their heads. i was the first teacher to reach her, but i quickly handed her off to ms. jessica (my friend who bumped me up to time card slot #3.) ms. jessica is fearless and can handle anything! she saved my bacon more than once today. because later in the day, our toilet (in the bathroom with no light) clogged and overflowed. i don't do well with bathroom incidents either. (i know what you are thinking--why do i teach in a preschool when i can't handle blood and bathroom issues. my answer is, usually i teach kindergarten where we have very few of those issues. but add four year olds to the mix and things are quite different...)
the day did have a few bright spots.
--my lunch time was changed to 12:00-1:00. not only did i get a whole hour (instead of my usual half hour,) but i got it during the kid's lunch time! which means i didn't have to serve lunch. or try to convince them to eat their veggies. or put them down for their naps. ms. jessica got to do all of that :)
--i didn't call anyone by the wrong name. of course, sometimes i avoided using a name if i wasn't sure... but the point is, i didn't call anyone by the wrong name!!
--i got the homework out on time and only had to ask one parent to wait for it. and that only happened because they were early.
--i found the top of my desk. it took me until 5:15, but i found it.
--i have a class full of cute kids. they aren't going to be easy, but they are going to be fun. i think.
and let's not forget that no matter what happened today, or what happens tomorrow, my time card is in slot #3!
i am now just two slots away from being #1...
hehehe...
Sunday, September 25, 2011
hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work i go...
so today . . . is my last day of summer "vacation."
i say "vacation," because it hasn't been all that restful. i've spent my summer packing, moving, unpacking, trying to get rid of stuff, trying to get someone to take the stuff i want to get rid of, finding places for everything i have left, deciding i need to get rid of some more stuff, and packing and unpacking for business trips. i've spent hours in airports waiting for connecting flights. i've eaten more meals than i care to admit at the burger king which is close to my new house. i've also spent more time than i care to admit at ross, t.j. maxx, and marshall's trying to track down cool and inexpensive and useful things for the new house. which seems contradictory, i know, considering how i have been trying to get rid of stuff. but sometimes new spaces require different things...
i am still in love with my new house (even after some neighbor anonymously complained about our dogs barking "incessantly" during the night, which maybe they did, but 'man up' and sign the note so i can come talk to you!!) and the way it is coming together. i just wish i had been able to spend more days on the porch swing with my book instead of wandering around thinking, "where am i going to put this?!?" but it had to be done. my "to do" list is still a mile long, but most of the big things have been accomplished. and now, it is time to go back to work...
i am starting three weeks late this year, because we had to be out of town for a couple of weeks, and then my mom and dad were able to visit during the week in between :-) so tomorrow is my first day of the new school year with my new students. but i am sort of feeling like the new kid...
usually before school starts, i have spent many, many hours preparing my classroom and materials, and when the kids come in on the first day, they are coming into my space. this year, i only had a few hours to prepare things in august, and now the kids have been there for three weeks without me, so i am sort of coming into their space. it is going to be interesting...
my class is different this year. i have a split class like i've had the last couple of years, but this year i have more pre-k children than kindergarten. since i've been out of town, i haven't been in the classroom since august. usually i plan ahead so that on monday morning, all my materials are prepped for the week. but i wasn't there last week. so i am going in tomorrow armed with only my lesson plan from last year and my teacher voice.
while i don't really feel ready to go back tomorrow, i think it will be good for me. i think i need to get back into a routine. i know that when my alarm goes off in the morning, i am going to smack it a time or two before i actually get up. i know i will wish i had cinnamon melts for breakfast instead of my usual hard boiled egg. i know i am probably going to be playing "race the clock" as i head out the door and discover what kind of traffic perils lie in wait on my new route to school. i know i will mix up the names of some of my new little dumplings. i know my lunch break will seem too short. and i am pretty sure that when it is finally time to go home, i will probably turn the wrong direction out of the parking lot and head to my old house...
but i also know i will get to bed at a more reasonable hour (i hope,) i will drink more water, i will make someone laugh, i will roll my eyes at least once, and i will get a natural dose of vitamin D during recess. and i will help tiny children to learn something new, to get along with each other, and to make good choices. i hope. because that is what gets me out of bed in the morning...
... well, that, and the promise of a paycheck ;-)
i say "vacation," because it hasn't been all that restful. i've spent my summer packing, moving, unpacking, trying to get rid of stuff, trying to get someone to take the stuff i want to get rid of, finding places for everything i have left, deciding i need to get rid of some more stuff, and packing and unpacking for business trips. i've spent hours in airports waiting for connecting flights. i've eaten more meals than i care to admit at the burger king which is close to my new house. i've also spent more time than i care to admit at ross, t.j. maxx, and marshall's trying to track down cool and inexpensive and useful things for the new house. which seems contradictory, i know, considering how i have been trying to get rid of stuff. but sometimes new spaces require different things...
i am still in love with my new house (even after some neighbor anonymously complained about our dogs barking "incessantly" during the night, which maybe they did, but 'man up' and sign the note so i can come talk to you!!) and the way it is coming together. i just wish i had been able to spend more days on the porch swing with my book instead of wandering around thinking, "where am i going to put this?!?" but it had to be done. my "to do" list is still a mile long, but most of the big things have been accomplished. and now, it is time to go back to work...
i am starting three weeks late this year, because we had to be out of town for a couple of weeks, and then my mom and dad were able to visit during the week in between :-) so tomorrow is my first day of the new school year with my new students. but i am sort of feeling like the new kid...
usually before school starts, i have spent many, many hours preparing my classroom and materials, and when the kids come in on the first day, they are coming into my space. this year, i only had a few hours to prepare things in august, and now the kids have been there for three weeks without me, so i am sort of coming into their space. it is going to be interesting...
my class is different this year. i have a split class like i've had the last couple of years, but this year i have more pre-k children than kindergarten. since i've been out of town, i haven't been in the classroom since august. usually i plan ahead so that on monday morning, all my materials are prepped for the week. but i wasn't there last week. so i am going in tomorrow armed with only my lesson plan from last year and my teacher voice.
while i don't really feel ready to go back tomorrow, i think it will be good for me. i think i need to get back into a routine. i know that when my alarm goes off in the morning, i am going to smack it a time or two before i actually get up. i know i will wish i had cinnamon melts for breakfast instead of my usual hard boiled egg. i know i am probably going to be playing "race the clock" as i head out the door and discover what kind of traffic perils lie in wait on my new route to school. i know i will mix up the names of some of my new little dumplings. i know my lunch break will seem too short. and i am pretty sure that when it is finally time to go home, i will probably turn the wrong direction out of the parking lot and head to my old house...
but i also know i will get to bed at a more reasonable hour (i hope,) i will drink more water, i will make someone laugh, i will roll my eyes at least once, and i will get a natural dose of vitamin D during recess. and i will help tiny children to learn something new, to get along with each other, and to make good choices. i hope. because that is what gets me out of bed in the morning...
... well, that, and the promise of a paycheck ;-)
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