Isn't Ironic....

For those of you on facebook, this may be somewhat of a repeat from a post I made earlier, but for the rest of you it's new.

So for at least the last month, I've probably put in a good 60 hours of work a week. Between planning stuff for our Writing BLITZ right before TAKS, to writing Saturday School lessons and teaching Saturday school, I've been more than busy. Since TAKS was the week before last, I thought this past week we be a little less hectic and the we would pick right back up after Spring Break. Boy was I wrong. Tuesday morning we found out that we are changing things up for the 3rd time this year. So in the matter of 4 days I've managed to plan reading lessons for not only my students, but also one of the bilingual classes. Before doing lessons, I met with our literacy strategist analyzing data and figuring out what the bilingual students need to be taught/retaught so I know what lessons to plan for them. I've also organized everything for our new rotation including folders, attendance, behavior, spirals, boxes/crates and a other things that come to me at random times. Anyways, you get the point :-)

So this morning I woke up, played on facebook and did a few other things before deciding to check my work e-mail. Why? I wish I knew, but I did it. So I took care of a few things and logged out. Everyday my horoscope is posed on my homepage and I enjoy reading it, if for nothing else, the fun of it. Every now and then I'll read it and think about how true it was. So today I scroll down and this is what I read...

Let go of work matters -- at least until you get back there on Monday. You've done more than your part to take care of business. You're tired, you haven't had any fun in longer than you can remember and you can't really do any more than you've already done. There. Now that it's all been said, do you think you can actually give yourself a reprieve? Just for a couple of days? You know you deserve it.

I couldn't help but laugh and think to myself that God really is trying to tell me something. This just reminded me that He always knows what I need and makes sure to find a way to remind me of that :-)

I miss my mommy

Well my mom has been on vacation all week and I've sure missed her. So much has gone on this week and I really could have used her "words of wisdom" a time or two. With family night, sitting in on interviews, CPS, kids in ICU, TAKS training, Writing BLITZ, Saturday school, and teaching 25 kids a day I think I've been on overdrive. Staying so busy all the time certainly keeps me on my toes, but when I finally have time to relax I get so bored. I forget what it's like to have "me" time and not have to take care of something or someone else all the time. I must admit that I'm really looking forward to spring break and hope to get in some much needed relaxation; a hot stone massage and a pedicure. I think after all this, I've earned it :-)

What a Week

This week has certainly been one for the record books. I feel like I haven't stopped going since last weekend and I probably really haven't. Tuesday during our weekly meeting with administration, everyone realized what we've been trying to tell them for weeks; that our Writing TAKS is in 7 days. So then we went into freak out mode. What that means for me is that I've spent all week getting ready and planning 7 days of intensive writing lessons and 2 weeks of Saturday School. I've done this on top of teaching and giving benchmark tests. Needless to say it's Friday night and I'm sitting on the couch watching a Lifetime movie. Tomorrow morning I get to teach Saturday school from 8-12 and then I get to spend some quality time with Robin. Tomorrow night I'm going to a wine bar in Grapevine with her, Becky and Becky's mom Susan. Beck and I went a few weeks ago and it's a really cool place. They have a whole wall of wines that you can sample either by the ounce, half glass or glass, a live band and pretty good food. Maybe one day I'll get better about keeping up this whole blog thing, but for right now it's kinda hit or miss.

Whirl Wind of a Month

These last few weeks have gone by like a whirl wind. The first week after vacation was a little tough, but slowly things are getting back to normal; if you can call it that. I've gotten 7 new kids since coming back from Christmas vacation and each day brings a new challenge. Last week I started team teaching with another one of my team mates and that's been quite a challenge for me. As I'm sure most of you know, I'm a little bit of a control freak,so turning over control of my kids to someone else hasn't been easy. It's also been difficult taking in all these new kids and teaching them the structure of my classroom. Most days I feel like I've gone back to the first few weeks of school and we're just learning everything, and for the most part that's true. On top of all this change, I'm trying to get all these kids ready for the TAKS Writing test in a few weeks; 5 to be exact or 31 days :-) but I'm not counting or anything.

Well I'm going to finish watching The Bachelor since I'm done grading papers. I hope everyone is doing well and 2010 is bringing you everything you've asked for so far.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Can you believe it's already 2010? It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the year 2000, and here we are 10 years later. I'm amazed at how quickly life goes by and reminded just how much things can change with the drop of a hat.

2009 was a pretty good year for me, and I look forward to more great adventures in 2010. After getting back to my apartment on New Years Eve, it's only taken me a little over a week to get all of my new stuff put up and in it's place :-) I spent New Years Eve with the usual crew and we had a pretty low key night. Everyone went over to Becky and Kyle's and we all played games and drank before crashing around 2 or 3 that morning. The best part was knowing that everyone had a place to stay and no one had to get out and drive home. Beck and I ended up spending most of the next day laying around and watched a movie after everyone left.

Monday I had to go back to work, and it's been hard getting back into the groove of things. Finally by Thursday I was feeling back in the groove, and then Thursday night I went with Robin and Tammy to watch the football game. We had a little too much fun, so Friday was a little rough, but we made it.

Today I'm suppose to go meet mom and Marsh for pedicures and dinner so I'm excited about that. If for some reason that doesn't work out I'll either go hang with Katy, Beck, Kyle and Susan or go watch the game somewhere with Tammy and Robin. So as you can tell, life hasn't slowed down one bit for me, but that's just the way I like it; most of the time.

Here are a few pics for the holidays for your enjoyment. By the way, I love the pic with my daddy. I don't get to many of them so when I get a good one, I get excited :-)




The "bar" for New Year's Eve


Mom, Brad and I


My daddy and me

Some Birthday Fun!!!

Here are a few pics from my birthday party Saturday night. Thank you to everyone who came out to help me celebrate; 30 has been great to me so far :-) I will say that we managed to party like rockstars and Sunday I was pretty much worthless, but that's what I was planning on. Hopefully 30 will continue to bring me great memories with wonderful friends.


The Birthday Girl


Everyone pose with the Beer Tower


Robin, Beck, and I
I love these girls so much!!

Birthday Weekend

It's my birthday weekend and I'm so excited. I was given strict orders to get plenty of sleep tonight because "we're going to party like rockstars tomorrow night" My wonderful friends are taking me to dinner and then out for a night on the town. I'm super excited to get to celebrate with my friends, but kinda sad that not all of them are going to be able to make it. I'm also sad that I don't get to bring in my 30th birthday with anyone in my family :-( or a man, but who needs a man when you can have cake :-)

The wonderful girls I work with bought me lunch and a yummy cake today. My kids are probably ready to divorce me since they had to test all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then I had to give make-up tests today and didn't get to spend much time with them :-( They are such a handful and keep me busy every minute of the day, but there is something about them that I just adore. It always amazes me how they will stay out of trouble with me, but once I'm out of sight they go crazy. I've only written one office referral this year, but there have been at least 12 written on different kids in my class. I swear they have split personalities or something... maybe they just know better than to pull that crap with me :-)

Hopefully I'll have some fun pics to put up and document the welcoming of this new decade in my life.