1 down...a million more to go

I declare day 1 to be a success!

Some things were to be expected. My principal, who is a male, picked out men's cut polos for his almost entire female staff for the school shirts...again. I just washed it in hot water and stuck it in the dryer in hopes of it shrinking..even though I know it won't. Oh well. 

Some things were not to be expected. Instead of teaching 3rd and 5th grade like I had been planning since last spring, I will now be teaching 2nd and 5th grade. It might not seem like a big deal, but I was already a little nervous for 3rd grade. I have no idea what to do with 2nd graders, they're little babies compared to my big bad 5th graders. I think I will end up loving it though. Most of the students I will be working with will be in the 2nd grade classroom right across the hall from me, and their teacher was a 1st year teacher with me last year who I get along with great and love. I was shocked at first, but after some thought I think it's a blessing in disguise.

Last surprise - I thought the new special ed teacher that I would be working with would be older and experienced, but he is young and has little experience besides subbing in a high school class. Eek! He seems very positive though, which is a plus - it's hard to work with negative people whether they know what they're doing or not. 

I can remember how overwhelmed and confused I felt at this time last year, and how I ended up doing just fine last year. I'm sure he's probably feeling the same way and will end up doing just fine. I am just a teeny tiny bit nervous.

So sorry for the teaching overload the past couple of days, but not sorry enough to promise it will stop anytime soon. I am just so anxious (in a good way) for kids to come and the school year to really get going. 

Good luck to the rest of the teachers, and students, out there starting their school years too!

back to school

It has been a fabulous, free summer, but as the saying goes all good things must come to an end and tomorrow I must go back to school.

I've gone in a couple of times over the past week, and thank goodness I did - my classroom was a mess! I guess this is something you learn as the years go by, but I had no idea that all my stuff would be moved around. I thought I did a good job at the end of last year getting everything off the floors so they could refinish them over the summer, but they took stuff out of the bottom shelves of my bookcases that was sticking out a little bit and even stacked some of my really big bookcases that I didn't think I needed to, and all of my furniture was moved everywhere in the room. I guess they take it all out in the halls to refinish the floors, and when they put it back they just have a field day putting it in the most random places. It took me a while to put everything back where I wanted it, and then of course everything was covered in dust. The very last thing I did before I left in the spring was deep clean everything, and that was pretty much the first thing I did when I got back - so lesson learned there, spring cleaning is overrated and unnecessary. 

I also went through piles of papers I thought I would need for this year, but I definitely will not need. I probably got rid of enough paper to fill my entire refrigerator, seriously. Even with all the hard work, I still do not feel organized at all, or ready for students to come. From tomorrow morning 7:30am to next Thursday at 7:30am when the students arrive I will pretty much live in my classroom getting everything together. 

I am actually excited for everyone to be back tomorrow though. I'm ready to get back on a routine, and ready for the kids to come back. Even though I joke about not being ready, I know I'm a million times more prepared than I was last year, and that this year can only be better than last year so here goes nothing!

There's three things in life every girl needs: Love to make her weak, Alcohol to make her strong, and Sisters when both things make her hit the floor. TSM.

 

Yes, I just did a TSM, and only TSM post, and made it sorority colors and wore a letter shirt today. It' s just the kind of mood I'm in. Post college I almost never wear letter shirts, but every once in a while after they've fallen to the bottom of my drawer I bust them out. 

WILW

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Wednesday!

Here's what I'm loving this week!

I'm loving that we found the dog's owners and they are now home safe and happy!

I'm loving that a new coffee shop opened up right next to my apartment...and that they also make milkshakes!

I'm loving these wedges from Urban Outfitters. I love the two-tone strap, it's just a little bit different so they stand out.

I'm loving that Katie wants to golf with me. Neither of us are very good, but we both enjoy it so we figured with a partner we could learn and get better.

I'm loving my 10am wake-up calls this week. Next week starts my official getting ready for back to school routine, but this week I have been so lazy and loving it!

Be sure to link up with Jamie and let us know what you're loving!

C'est Août!

Title translated = It's August! Just a little nod to my French minor that I never ever use. 

Q: Why did I work my butt of for a French minor when it has nothing to do with education?

A: I have no idea besides the fact that it sounds cool.

Anyway, here is my recap of Juillet/July with commentary:

$1 billion spent on gas 

$1 million spent on alcohol (Ok ok... probably not that much, but I did go over my mint.com alcohol/bars budget, woops)

1,000 miles driven in my car (unfortunately, this is probably pretty accurate)

31 days

26 miles ran (more next month, but I'm proud of that number in the hot hot heat of July)

12 Maryland blue crabs eaten, yummm!

3 mini-vacays (Delaware, Clemson, Myrtle Beach)

2 books finished (Heart of the Matter, The Help)

1 new life plan - be just as happy with being myself by myself as I was with someone else, that doesn't sound really clear, but I mentioned the $1 million alcohol budget riiiight.

It's 5:30pm, you know what I mean.

Je ne peux pas attendre un Août amusant!

(I can't wait for a fun August!)

 

on the road again

You know how when you are bored for a couple of days you are just wishing you were busy with something to do, and then when you get busy you wish you had some free time? Maybe I need to work on achieving that happy medium more often. Anyway the past couple of days since sassy sister left have been pretty boring, but starting today comes my busy days. I am packing and running errands today to get ready to visit Clemson sister in South Carolina for a couple of days and then go to Myrtle Beach with friends for the weekend. I can't decided if I want to drive right over from Clemson to the beach or not. It seems to make more sense, except then I have to find someone to come check on little G. I'm excited to go visit my sister, she's lived in her apartment for almost a year now and I still haven't seen it. Myrtle Beach should be fun too. I haven't been there since I was a little kid, but I've heard a lot of good things. I'll definitely let y'all know how it goes.

On another note, last night I was outside with a friend of mine and we found these two cuties wandering around. 

Don't judge my Goodwill chair

They're both wearing collars, and one had a rabies tag, but nothing with a name or phone number. We didn't think they were strays because of the collars and they were so friendly, but they were also a little skinny. We took them inside and gave them water and some food. I feel so bad because it's been close to 100 degrees the past couple of days, they must've been dying out in that heat. We looked on Craigslist for any ads for lost dogs, but nothing matched them so I put an ad up, but I haven't gotten any responses yet. I didn't think they'd get along with little G too well so my friend took them home for now. I'm not quite sure what the right thing to do is when you find lost dogs. Normally I would've been really skeptical about taking them in at all, but this heat has been so sweltering, it just seemed mean to leave them out. Hopefully we can get them back to their owners quickly.

moving in to a new phase

I am finally back, and it feels so good to be (at my other) home! Little sassy sister is loving it and is determined to help me decorate on a budget in the couple of days she's here which is great. I definitely need help with that. One of my college roommates is staying with me for a couple of days while she works at a day camp in the area too so my little apartment has become a full house, but I love it! In fact I have realized how much I really love living with other people and I have decided to look for a roommate. 

It was great living alone last year while I was figuring out the whole first year teacher thing and had no social life, and had MH visiting a lot, but I feel like I have moved on from that phase of my life, and I don't want to live alone anymore. I don't want to rush into finding a roommate though. I want to wait until I find someone that I really feel like we could get along well. The last thing I want is to live with someone who is creepy or rude or loud, or smokes inside. (I hope that doesn't offend anybody, it's just not my thing) I've never looked for a roommate other than college, which was completely different than this. I'm not sure how to go about looking for a roommate other than on Craigslist or word of mouth. Most of the people on Craigslist are in Raleigh (1 hr away), Chapel Hill (25 mins away), or Greensboro (45 mins away), and I am smack dab in the middle in a very tiny town. I might be open to moving to a new town if it was still relatively close to work, saved money and I found a cool roommate, but I'm not sure. I've gotten really attached to my town over the past year. I'd also really like to move, or at least have it figured out, before school starts again in a month. I have a lot to figure out and plan in the next couple of weeks. You know what would be a lot easier? If one of y'all knew an amazing gal who was looking for a roommate around here...only in a dream world!