Midweek Confessions

For those of you who don't know, E over at emyselfandi does this hilarious midweek confessions series. I'm linking up with her to dish out some self-deprication. (And, E, I'll add one of your cute buttons tomorrow...)

1. I did not cook a meal once last week. We ate out every. Single. Day. Granted, one night I was out with D's mom & Nama. But still. We ate a lot of fast food. 

2. I also didn't do any dishes or unload the dishwasher all week. It took a long time on Saturday to go through a week's worth of breakfast, lunch, & water bottles. 

3. I left my laptop at home yesterday. As in, omgwhatamigoingtodo all my notes and prep stuff is on my laptop, which is 45 minutes away and class starts in 3 minutes. Luckily, only one student knew. She happened to be standing in front of me when I reached down into my bag and panicked. Today, she didn't bring in her homework. Guess who didn't collect homework today, largely as a result? Also luckily, my freshman class had a search through the book assignment that took them 30 minutes, so I had time to remake my French Revolution notes, which were more boring, but at least they existed!

4. I'm typing this in bed. At 9:45. Because I just can't stay staring at my computer working on grades or the next unit any longer. 

5. I cuss myself every time I give a project. Really, the technology challenged of the high school seem to land in my class every semester. 

6. My flower bed is a garden of grass calf-high. And I'm cool with that. My new goal: save enough money to totally rip it out and start over. Maybe pour concrete down to keep the wire grass out next time. I really just don't remember to weed anything. Or water it. Oops. 

Have some funny things to share: Confess away below!!!!

9/11

I teach high schoolers. I teach sophomores. I teach history. And every year on 9/11 I spend 15-20 minutes of very valuable early-in-the-year time talking with my current group of sophomores about what 9/11/2001 was like for me. 

Because I was a sophomore. 

Because it was real life for me. 

Because it was horror for our entire country. 

Because sometimes we need to set aside our standardized testing and our stresses to make sure they know everything they need to know, and take a moment to teach them from our eyes. 

Because I want them to self reflect on what they remember. On what they experienced. 

Today was eye opening for me. Today, for the first time in my teaching career, I had this chat with people who were toddlers when 9/11 happened. Yes, they know where they were. But they were 2 or 3. A couple were 4. One, and only one, was 5. A large part of this year's 7th grade class were born into a post 9/11 world. They don't know what it's like I live in a world where there wasn't 9/11. They didn't have to be told what the WTC was when it was attacked. It never was standing for them. 

And today, I reflected on my experience, and showed, as I always do, the today show coverage. It takes Matt Lauer 12 minutes from the time he says on air there is breaking news to the time he says we must suspect that something sinister is going on. And that doesn't include the commercial break they took to tell him and gather their video feed and phone call contact. And I choked back tears. 

I hope you reflected today, particularly in light of the current political sphere, and the tensions the global leaders are under. 

I also hope that you remember that we banded together in support of strangers, because we are Americans. We showed each other love, compassion, and heart. Slowly, as days have gone by, as kids were born, and lives were lived, we have forgotten that compassion. We have forgotten that love. 

Let's all try to find it every day. 

2,996 people died on 9/11/2001 

Let's find that love in honor of them. 

Midweek Confessions

I just love these! I'm a day late, but these are funny. At least to me. 

-I haven't put laundry away since teacher workdays started. For 3 weeks now, I have gotten up in the morning and sorted through the pile in the guest bedroom. Terrible, yes. Maybe that can be a weekend to do item

-I went to a volleyball game today where the school I currently teach at played a team with several of my former players on it. It was torture. I wanted to run down  to the court screaming, "I can coach!!! Please let me coach!!!" Rest assured, this was only a thought. Not an action. 

-On Tuesday, I went to hand out the tests for my 1st block to take. There weren't any. I hadn't printed the tests and copied them. I had to leave my kids with a worksheet and the teacher on my hall who has planning while I sprinted through the halls to make copies. 

-On Wednesday, in the same class, I misplaced their vocabulary quizzes. A student and I spent 5 minutes searching my classroom for them. We found them in my teacher binder. 

-We have eaten one home cooked meal this week. Just one. Granted, Wednesday was my birthday. But still. That's pretty terrible. 

Hope your week had less confessionable moments!

Wild Friday Nights

D & I are definitely not of the partytilthebreakofdawn type. Both of us prefer calm, small gatherings, and being in bed before the next day starts. (Many days this week, I've fallen asleep on the couch before 10:00, and on Wednesday I said I was going to go to bed in a few minutes, but was persuaded not to because it wasn't yet 8:30.)

Tonight has really not been an exception to that rule (hence me blogging away while he showers at 8:30). However, it has been crazy exciting. Let me tell you why:

Our basement is freezing cold in the winter, but we only have gas logs that cost us an absolute fortune to run. D's Nama has a wood stove she's looking to get rid of, and is willing to give it to us for the small fee of getting the monster price of iron out of her home. Being the newlyweds with a home and me still 2 weeks shy of my first full time paycheck since 7/2012, we LOVE free things that will save us money. 

Unfortunately, a previous owner has sealed up the chimney. They used to have a wood stove, and got rid of it for the gas logs we can't afford to use. Tonight, largely due to the fact that the leaves are changing in freaking August and it was cool enough for me to wear pants and long sleeves to work in the flower bed this afternoon, D decide to do the initial measuring for and locating of the chimney pipe. He enlisted my assistance, and it was my job to hold the beginning of the measuring tap at a particular spot. 

I did a great job on the exterior of the house. 

On the interior is when things got interesting. 

The point of reference for me to hold my end of the measuring tape up to was the corner of the basement window. When I reached up and moved aside the curtain, a bat came flying out. 

A.  Freaking. Bat

In. My. Basement. 

I squealed. I ducked. My hubby may have let out an expletive or two. All the while the bat was flying circles around the basement. I ran, ducking, to the door, left it open, and hid behind the storm door, holding it open and praying that the stupid nasty thing would fly out. D was attempting to hit it with his hat, and missing. 

D went out of sight, and then shouted, "I got it!" Sure enough, it was lying on the carpet and immobile. He had knocked it out of the air with a level. I was thoroughly  impressed. 

Then we had to decide what to do with the thing. My suggestion: beat it to sure death with the shovel. D felt like bat blood would be gross on the carpet. I felt like a room full of new carpet because we killed the bat was a valid monetary sacrifice. I also suggested that bat blood on the carpet was preferable to a round of rabies vaccinations (in case you don't know, they're gross, painful, and include giant needles).  We decided to scoop it up with the snow shovel. It started crawling. We then decided to cover it with the snow shovel and scoop it up with the regular shovel. It started flying. Again. (I'd like to note here that the reason we had these tools close at hand is because I kept picking up things to protect myself with; and that by we deciding, I stood cowering while he acted out our decisions.)

After another series of squeals from me because the stupid thing was at large again, D made a masterful swing with the shovel, knocked the bat into the wall, and it fell into D's open tote box of Legos.

He then drug the box outside, picked up the Lego mat the bat was on, and dumped it out on the other side of our fence, in the woods. 

Thank freaking goodness. 

We got back to our project, only after D made a thorough check of the window for more bats. He proceeded to cut a couple of fairly large holes in the Sheetrock & insulation, exposing the concrete and no chimney pipe. But at least we don't have a bat inside anymore!

Like I said, we don't do big party nights. That doesn't mean we have boring ones!

Oh, and here's a picture of one of our dogwood trees. Its leaves are changing colors already. I'm highly upset about it. I dislike fall because it means it will be cold soon, and I hate the cold. It's a pretty picture though!

Back to School

I haven't posted anything in a while, and if you're wondering why, I'll give you a rundown. 

In the past 2 weeks, I've had my first week of teacher workdays and the students first week of classes. I've spent countless extra hours at work, including staying 3 hours late on the 1st student day because I, along with all the other 1st year teachers, had to be introduced to the school board. It's also where they officially approved us, despite the fact that we had all already put in 7 days of work. 

I've been very diligent this year in not leaving work without my desk clean and my handouts ready for the next day. I also made sure that the work turned in that day was in the grade book before I left for the day. The only exception was Friday when I had 26 projects and 67 tests submitted in one day. Those came home with me. I'm loving being absolutely totally prepared when I walk in the door each morning, but it's giving me some late afternoons. The earliest I have left is 4:00 (one day), and we are allowed to leave at 3:30. 

I wanted to share a link that E had shared on her blog. It's beautifully written and expresses so much of what I think every teacher wants to say. I hope you enjoy it! 

http://jenniechastain.blogspot.com/2013/08/why-teaching-is-so-doggone-hard.html?m=1

Weekend Wrap-Up

D & I had a pretty fantastic weekend, despite D's weird summertime cold.

Friday night, we met up with my cousin, also A, who was coming through town.  We had the chance to grab some good food at a local restaurant (for those local folks, my hubby & my cousin both grabbed a Boston zone).  There was also plenty of girl time catch up, though my poor husband I think tuned us out.  We're like 6 years apart in age, but she spent 2-3 nights a week at our house for most of her life, so she's the closest thing I have had to a sister growing up.  We tend to talk quickly and loudly, nonstop until we have to leave.  It's awesome.

Saturday morning, we debated heading over to a local car sale, just to look.  My motivation was seeing just how much money we will need to spend to replace our current vehicles.  My car is a 2005 with 175000 miles on it, and I'll be adding like 70 miles per day starting Thursday, so we're assuming next year I'll need a replacement.  D drives a truck which was made in 1990something.  His mileage isn't as high as mine, but we've already fixed the transmission twice, so we're just happy every day that it gets him to and from work.  Instead of heading to the car sale, we ended up meeting his parents.  We hit up a Cook-Out, which I'm in love with.  Everyone else?  Not so much.  Then we hit a Kohls, where his mom & dad grabbed a few quick things for the beach.  After that, we headed to the Harley Davidson store for his dad to pick up some oil-change supplies.  I slyly mentioned, "Oh look!  They sell helmets here!" This is a running joke in my household.  My husband owns a Harley (as well as 2 dirt bikes and a 4 wheeler), and, while he has a helmet that I can wear, the helmet has never fit well.  It sort of wiggles on my head, which I chalked up to my odd shaped head.  A size smaller and I have a headache because it's too tight.  The "proper size" doesn't stay 100% stationary.  Then, the salesgirl pointed me to these "new" egg-styled helmets.  Apparently, women's heads can sometimes be shaped like mine, so a change to the shape & I had a perfectly fitting helmet.  There were only 4 designs, none of which I loved, but we ordered one nonetheless.  I'll be very excited if we end up riding this fall to have a helmet that is comfortable!

That evening, we were supposed to go celebrate our friend H's birthday, but we ended up home too late.  So instead, D & I grabbed a quick bite at a new local sub shop Penn Street Station (Phenomenal subs!) and went to see The Lone Ranger.  Blog friends, if you haven't seen this movie, Go Tonight.  It's really entertaining, Johnny Depp is, of course, fabulous, as are the rest of the cast.  Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn't seem to think so.  It's only been out like 3 weeks, and already it's only playing 2 times per day.
Sunday was a great, lazy day.  We filled it with a trip to Sam's Club, watching (and napping through) the NASCAR race, and grass-mowing.

I love weekends like this!  Also, I want to send a special Happy Birthday to my mom!  She had a birthday Sunday, and I get to see her Wednesday!

How was your weekend!  Do you have a weekend wrapup blog?  Leave it in the comments, I'd love to read it!

First Day(s) of School

Hey everyone!

As the new school year quickly approaches me (T minus 8 days of summer before my new teacher orientation!), I have been thinking about outfits for the first few days/weeks. 

For those who don't know me personally, I am one of those people who always gets mistaken for younger. When I was 18, my cousin, 12 at the time, was often mistaken for my older sister. At my first teaching job (and second), I was stopped in the hallway and asked to present my hall pass. Granted, I teach high school, so at least people don't think I'm 10. I had hoped that 6 years post COLLEGE graduation, I was past that stage of my life. 

Skip ahead to yesterday. A wonderful classmate of mine from college volunteered to give me a tour of my ginormous new school. (Here's perspective: the high school I'll be at is more than 4 times larger than the last one I taught at full time.) In the hallway, we met up with another Social Studies teacher, who very politely asked me if this was my first year teaching. Seriously. My first year teaching was in 2008. But hey, I guess she didn't think I was a student. (Though I was introduced as the new social studies teacher.)

So that leads me to my big questions: Does anyone else out there have this problem? Not just in the classroom, but any workplace. 

How do you dress to overcome some of that? 

Young, young looking, or young at heart teachers, how do you dress at the beginning of the year to have visual leadership in your classroom? 

I always buy a new first day of school outfit, so I'm looking for some inspiration for my upcoming year. 

Oh, and feel free to leave any stories you have of being mistaken for much younger. The only time it really doesn't happen to me is when I'm with my nephew, who has my eyes (they're pretty common in my family). Then people at least don't openly state that they think I'm young. They probably just think I'm a teenage mom, with a 6 year old.