the first day back

I didn't have high hopes for how the kids would act today after being away from school for a week and I was pleasently surprised how great they were this morning! I praised them and told them how proud I was, yada, yada, yada. And then the afternoon came. . . . .
CHAOS! (Some of) the kids were out of their seats, talking, not following directions. . . arg! Sometimes I wonder if they were just allowed to do anything they wanted for those seven days off with no rules or limitations whatsoever.

Here's hoping tomorrow is better.

By the way-the long weekend was GREAT! I had two Thanksgiving dinners, saw Harry Potter (and sat next to a loud idiot), shopped for Christmas presents, made some Christmas cards, read three books, spent an ENTIRE day in my pajamas, played with the cat and dog, took walks, and talked to my mother on the phone at least 15 times. I can't wait to see her (and my dad) in 20 days! They just told us my brother and his girlfriend won't be able to join us in California, which I am sad about. The good news-my best friend will be joining us for a few days!

What I did tonight

Sometimes they actually DO report good news

Check this out!

http://www.komotv.com/stories/40448.htm

Happy Turkey Day

28 parent-teacher conferences, 2 chocolate pudding pies, and lots of sleep later, I am finally ready for Turkey day!

Calm Conferences

So I had 9 families show up today, one called to cancel, and one was a no-show.

Only 17 more to go!

It's weird though-I never really thought of parent-teacher conferences as being good for moral but I felt REALLY good after I left today. A few parents commented about how happy they were that I am their childs' teacher and how impressed they are with me as a teacher. It's so nice to get compliments when you feel like you're working your tail off every single day and go home completely exhuasted.

On a much more strange note-did everyone hear about the guy who shot up the mall in Tacoma? He shot six people and took some hostages for a few hours. Thankfully no one died. One of the teachers at my school was at the mall yesterday and she said it was very scary. She said she was surprised how quiet everyone was-after the gunshots no one screamed really. I guess adrenaline kicked in and that made everyone calm. I'm just glad she's okay!

Who's the nerd?

I swear this conversation truly did happen.

C (walking into office where the Husband is): Honey. . .

The Husband: Yeah?

C: I did something really bad.

H: What?

C: It's so terrible I can't tell you!

H: Just tell me.

C: I dropped a Nerd in the laptop keyboard and now I can't get it out.

Guess Who Is. .

finished with report cards?

ME!

Yeah!

It's 10:12am. . .

and what am I doing? Scouring the internet to find ANYTHING that can aid in my avoidance of finishing report cards. Now that I've admitted it, I feel better. I think I'll go drink my hot chocolate and get started. Again.

Sometimes, just sometimes, I miss Alaska.

Happiness is. . .

remembering why I became a teacher

The Husband calling in pizza for dinner

A reading training that I left tonight thinking "I can actually DO that!" and plan on "trying it on"

seeing my kids understand multiplication arrays today

getting hugs from my previous students

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

My mom just Instant Messaged me and told me my best friend is meeting us in California for a few days over winter break!

TGI. . . wait a minute?

I thought for *just* a second that it was Friday. . . dang.
Good news: tomorrow actually is Friday.
Then I get to sleep in for two days.
Next, I have conferences for three days.
Then FOUR more days of sleeping in and two Thanksgiving dinners in one day!!!!!!

I'm thankful for. . .

a student finally sharing her thoughts and ideas with the class-on day 48 of the school year!

Oprah showing her 20th anniversary special

pasta for dinner

a warm cozy couch to do report cards on

an adorable dog snuggled up asleep

the walk we took after school today (40 degrees!)

friends inviting us over for Thanksgiving dinner

that Giant M&Ms commercial that cracks me up

Dancing with Ice Cream

I just got home from Amber's dance performance-SUPER fun-and ice cream at Cold Stone with the girls. It was great to see Kate-it's been over two years that she was deployed to Korea and now she's here in good old Washington. I love that we haven't seen each other for so long yet everything was exactly the same as it always was. It's so weird-people always talk about how the friends they make in college are the people they stay in touch with for decades but it's not that way for me and my high school friends. We are still as close (if not closer) now as we were six years ago. I loved being with Kate-she's the same girl who can bring up a silly story from our high school days and make me laugh so hard I almost spit Vanilla ice cream with M&Ms across the table.

WTF is wrong with blogger? Only the titles are posting-none of the post is. . . arg!

The best part of the weekend

I almost forgot to write about

I feel like I have to explain myself for my long absence/spottiness in posting. So first our Airport (internet dealybob) went out for the Mac laptop (where I primarily, no, solely do my computer stuff) and we took that in to the Apple store. Luckily, we did buy the three year Apple Care so it's covered. That's being ordered for us. Then, our hard drive went wacky and decided to malfunction. Seriously!? I am DYING without it. I hadn't really realized HOW in love I was with the laptop. See, here's how my typical weekday goes:
Get up
Go to work
Come home
Walk the dog
Cook dinner
Eat dinner
Sit on couch and blog/read blogs/email/etc.

That's all! It's all I do! I know it's boring but I'm relatively happy with how things are. And my life has been temporarily interrupted-grrrr. We had to leave the laptop at the Apple store and it will be available for pickup in five to seven days. Days!

We just got home from the movie "Jarhead." Very interesting depiction of marine life during Desert Storm. The Husband and I both enjoyed it-but be forewarned: lots of cussing and LOTS of butts! Of the male variety of course.

Nothing new really going on but I am excited for a couple of reasons. First, one of my best good friends, Kate, just moved back to the states from Korea (she's in the military) and I get to see her next weekend! I haven't seen her for over two years but she is now stationed here in Washington so hopefully I will be seeing more of her.
I'm also excited because I am only teaching for three days this week! Tomorrow I am going to a math workshop with my principal and Friday we have off for Veteran's Day. I will most likely be spending the day working on report cards since they are due in two weeks but I can sleep in!

On less exciting news-my Grandpa is in the hospital. Obviously not the same Grandfather that died in September, this time it is my Mom's dad. Long story short, they don't know what is wrong.

The Husband just said the other day, "I think you owe people more than a list, like a few paragraphs." I pretty much told him where to shove it and said it was my blog to write what I felt like on but here I am appeasing him. I love you babe.

Lately I've been. . . .

watching "Crash" (So recommend it!)

eating leftover Halloween candy

reading "Al Capone Does My Shirts"

emailing my best friend

thinking about Winter break

worrying about parent teacher conferences and report cards

listening to my dog snore

wishing we could take a vacation