Lice
There was no putting it off. Today was an emergency-crash-course in lice head inspections. Welcome to the world of elementary school. I spent a good portion of the day sifting through the hair of my beloved students trying to determine if they too are victim to this horrid, nasty, little parasite. My scalp itches. Could be sympathy pains. Could be that I have lice. Icky. I had my head checked (quite hastily)...so I think that it is purely psychological...but I have been closely examining my own scalp with a fine comb and a mirror...a great way to spend a Friday night let me tell you. But I can almost say for certain that I am lice free...almost.
Lauren's Mom is Wonderful
Lauren's mom is wonderful...I just can't say it enough! She came to visit Lauren and she brought
ME a gift! I love gifts but this one makes me very, very happy indeed! I now have
my very own copy of
Phantom of the Opera! Yea! Life is good. And Lauren's mom is wonderful.
A lot of Sleep
I have to love this season, my second season, of school sickness. I fight it hard let me tell you. I have stockpiled medications. I have lots of "home remedy type" solutions for sore throats, coughs, sniffles and aches of all varieties. But mostly my body is pretty good at fighting all on its own- with plenty of rest. So I sleep, A LOT. I will fall asleep watching a movie and then climb into bed and sleep for eleven more hours. But this morning I feel great! At least this time I know what I need.
Thunderstorm air
We had a slight thunderstorm this afternoon. Quite remarkable. I love thunderstorms so. The rain is quite welcome. The air was absolutely fantastic. It was the kind of "wake-me-up" air that when taken into your lungs actually
adds days to your life. It is like the air at camp: it brings a smile to your face before you wake up. As you breathe it in, this warm air nudges your senses awake: whispering promises of a beautiful day in your ear, planting images of energy and life and love in your eyes, brushing across your skin with a breeze that is warm but sends tingles down your spine, intoxicating your brain with the smell of lilac mixed with fresh-cut grass and sunshine, air that tastes like fresh fruit dissolving in your mouth. It's a great kind of air.
sickishnesses
I am starting to feel a little sick-ish-ness-es starting in the back of my throat. Oh, the joys of working in an elementary school. I hate to be sick and let me tell you I am fighting this one hard. I won't go down without a fight. Seems to be my motto or something these days. Cut me a clear path because I am just itching for a good fight. *wink*
And as a side note: how is it that I always forget how much caffeine tea has? Since my throat was feeling its sick-ish-ness-es I was drinking tea early this morning to soothe the pain of it away. (This is why I need to refrain from alcohol...I am trying to drink away my pain) Anyhow, tea
does have a significant amount of caffeine. And I woke up in a really good mood this morning (when does that
ever happen?). So add my good mood to a caffeine induced high and I was flying-high-couldn't-move-fast-enough-to-keep-up-with-me ... all-day-long. It was great! My kids were exhausted trying to keep up with me. I love my life. Sick-ish-ness-es and all. :D
Amendment
I just read through that post and felt obliged to add one more thought.
While I am exhausted from work today, and while I know that tomorrow it going to be hectic, it would be wrong of me to allow you to assume that I in any way had a bad day today.
I had a great day. I was busy with preparation but it was a great day. I know that the students (and Grandparents too) are looking forward to tomorrow and I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that I greatly enjoyed getting this ready for them. There is no greater class in the world than the class that I currently teach. It makes me want to give them the very best...or at the very least,
my very best. So, yes, I put in longer hours, but I am doing it happily. Yes, I loose sleep, but I do it willingly to watch them smile. I am daily reminded of why I love my job.
Grandparents Day
Tomorrow is Grandparents Day at school. Whew! Those are a little crazy let me tell you. Just imagine adding several extra people to the daily routine; people that you don't have room for, people that can't stand for extended periods of time, people that you don't have enough seats for, people that want to cuddle and hug their grandchildren. Then imagine that it is the expectation of the school that we complete
ALL classes as usual,
plus we need to entertain the guests, provide them with a "snack" (which means gourmet brunch at CCA), allow time to "conference" with each visitor, while photodocumenting the event and creating lifelong memories. No big deal.
I am going to be
very ready for the weekend when tomorrow is over. I spent several extra hours at school today and I am planning on getting there before dawn tomorrow.
But let me tell you...Life is going to be
bliss this weekend.
"Why?" you ask.
I reply, "I have no idea but I can feel it coming and I love it already!"
Bike Ride
I just bought a bike a couple of weeks ago. I love it so much!
It has been years since I had last ridden a bicycle. Lauren and I go riding down the bike path that is right behind our house. I have even ridden it to school twice but it was mostly difficult because of all of the "stuff" that I transport to and from school. But riding in the downtown proved to be quite charming.
I have found myself enjoying these little escapes tremendously. I would highly recommend it to you.
While I ride I sing, "Let's go ride a bike" (to the tune of "Let's go fly a kite") It works remarkably well and it is ever so much fun. So if you need something to do and you want to hang out sometime...Let's go ride a bike!
What's it Like...?
I have been asked many times what it is like to live with a married couple. Up until the other night my response was always that you should be asking them what it is like to have to live with me! ;) Now I would say that a better question would be, "What's it like to live with a boy that is crazy?"
Tom totally grossed me out the other night. All was well and good we were all watching a movie or something on TV. Fine. Then Lauren says to me, "Do you see what your roommate is eating?" (Notice how she claims no association to the man that
she is married to and somehow seems to be blaming me for getting her mixed up with this guy...I will refer to this as "Genesis 3:12 syndrome" as I feel that it is very similar in nature to the attitude that was brought about at the fall of mankind.)
I look over at Tom to seen him with a bowl, a fork, a saucer, and a powdery substance that I had not yet identified. I observed carefully for a moment, slightly confused.
He poured the yet unidentified powdery substance onto the saucer and then began to sift through it with the fork. He was removing something and discarding it into a garbage bag...what was it? After he had sifted through the entire saucer, he dumped the clump free powder into the bowl and refilled the saucer with new powder and began sifting again with the fork. I don't think I ever would have guessed what it was if I hadn't been able to smell the blueberries. My roommate was sifting through blueberry muffin mix and extracting the blueberries. Weird!
But at this point it was still forgivable, weird but forgivable. I figured that he just didn't like the imitation blueberries or something but was somehow attached to the muffins. That was before I knew that this mix would never live to see its muffin form. I had an uncle who liked cherry pie without the cherries, so I figured that this was a similar situation. No such luck.
I was then informed that he intended to eat the mix...No baking involved. This was again very strange. I started to imagine him sprinkling the powder on top of ice cream or something...I could imagine that as a garnish it might be ok...So I just laughed and thought that he was crazy. He then goes on to tell me that he does this a lot. Bragging even that in college he had nearly 1/2 of a 2-Litter soda bottle filled with just the discarded berries. That was when I realized that this boy had a serious problem. But there is more to come. Because he doesn't plan on eating this as an ice cream topping...Nope.
He mixes it into a batter and just eats it by the spoonful like it was pudding! I
HATE pudding! It was so gross. Spoonful after spoonful, he just kept eating it...
thinking that he is normal! Poor, crazy boy. I mean there is just something fundamentally wrong about eating batter of any kind and the fact that he goes through all of the work of removing the blueberries just floors me. And it leaves me with just one more question,
"Why doesn't he just mix himself up some pancake mix?"
A new student
A new student comes tomorrow. I am excited. Not too sure what to do, but excited just the same. I have confidence that my students will welcome him. I just hope that he feels comfortable in his new surroundings.
make no sudden moves
i am trying to breathe in calmly, make no sudden movements, ignore my peripheral vision, avoid darkness and maintain some level of peace so that i can fall back into a restful sleep.
i watched the sixth sense for the first time tonight
i cried, i screamed, i covered my ears, i hid my eyes, i buried myself under my pillows, i changed into my comfiest of all comfy jammies (because nothing can hurt me in my jammies), and i
begged for it to be turned off several times...and each time i was reminded that
i was the one that wanted to watch it in the first place...
oh yeah.
it is a good thing that my bedroom is in the warm upstairs because right now if i felt in the least bit cold i would be
freaking out
we watched the sound of music to try to clear our heads a bit...i thought it had worked 'cause i was falling asleep while singing along but now without the singing i just get scared any time my eyes start to drift shut.
the dreams were bad enough before adding this...how can anyone expect me to be alone after this? i am currently contemplating sleeping in the living room...not too sure that would help since that is where i viewed the movie...maybe i just need to find a night light, i could steal the one from the downstairs bathroom, that would involve dark hallways and...well maybe that would just create weird shadows...don't need any of that...maybe i can just leave my lights on...or just keep typing...or something....
say it
sometimes i don't even know what to say
i mostly never know what to think about you-
but i think about you
sometimes i have nothing to share
i hardly know what to feel-
but i feel something
sometimes it seems easier to write nothing
to hope that through my absences you will see my struggle
and know
that i think about you and i wish that i had the words to tell you
to tell myself
but
sometimes i don't even know what to say
Labor Day
This is a weekend quickly spent. But well spent it was. (Why am I talking like Yoda?) Point is that time flies when you are having fun.
From a fantastic Friday of doing blissfully
NOTHING (as soon as school got out), to an energize Saturday of football with our Huskies in Ann Arbor, to a calm and leisurely Sunday, to a great family picnic here on Monday.
It was all so very much fun. Plus I finished my first knitting project and I am now on to project number TWO. :D I am also deeply engrossed in a novel. Which has again caused me to wonder why I go through long bouts of "non-reading-times" no matter how busy I am I should never be too busy to read...Its not good for me.
Fire Drill
My Job
Rocks!I
love my job. I am telling you that this is what I was
made to do. It is fabulous! I have awesome students. Let the bragging begin.
The entire class is just filled with sweet, sweet children. They are considerate: they open doors without being told, they look you in the eye when you are speaking to them, they use manners, they give hugs, and they try so hard to please me. They are sensitive: one look can silence them, one smile can make them laugh, a pat on the back will motivate them, a word of encouragement cheers them up and a game will make their day. I have never felt so appreciated in my life. I want to make this the best year
ever for them. I love giving them gifts just to see them get so excited about the littlest priveldge.
Today we had a fire drill with the fire chief (that's a big deal in the world of elementary school). We have been talking about procedures and expectations for such a drill for the past couple of days. I couldn't have imagined that things would go so smoothly. They knew right what they were supposed to do and did it flawlessly, quickly, and seriously (which is exactly what I wanted them to do I just wasn't so sure that I would get those results). It was amazing; I couldn't stop complimenting them: and they deserved every word. As other teachers were frantically grabbing shirt collars, yelling commands, and trying to corral tumbling, yelling chaos into order... I sat on the grass with my students circled around me telling stories, solving minute mysteries and having a mini-lesson on the insects that we found all around us. It was literally a mini-miracle. My head teacher recognized us and asked me in hushed tones, "How in the world did you do that?" I told her to ask one of my students.
"Which one?"
"Any of them."
She looked doubtful as she walked away. I shrugged it off and thought that she didn't trust my students the way that I did. But she surprised me that afternoon by popping in unannounced and asking my class how they thought they did on the fire drill. All faces grinning they said they
knew they did well because I had told them that
I was proud. It's about procedure, but more importantly it's about getting your students to want to do it your way. I don't know how I got so fortunate to have such an eager group. She asked them how they knew exactly what to do. As soon as the question was asked, hands shot up around the room.
"we
knew what we had to do, we talk about it until everyone understands"
"we wanted to do our best"
"slow obedience is no obedience" *laughter* (I say that
ALL the time ...and it is true each and every time I say it!)
"we wanted Miss A to be happy"
"she gets so excited when we do it just like she says and that makes me feel excited too"
And that is just how all of my days have been.
