Long Time Gone...

Thank you Dixie Chicks for my opening mantra:
"A longtime gone/ No I ain't hit the roof since I don't know when/longtime gone/and it ain't comin' back again."

My blog avoidance started with work stress. For those of you who have been around for awhile (if you're still there??? I know I've been away for literally months.) Anyway, those who've been around will recall that I've been teaching at my current school for 4 years. I've been the reading department chair all 4 years that I've worked here. At the end of the first year and beginning of my 2nd, we had a member of our department who left our school without notice. This puts a HUGE burden on my shoulders as I must help the long-term substitute with grades, attendance, lesson planning, etc. It is a lot of extra work. (Unpaid, might I add.)

This year we started the school year off strong. My 5 person reading department was united and working well together. Then, the 2nd week of school, our newest member ended up being hospitalized. It was literally 2 months of burden for me...she neglected to return ANY phone calls or emails. Not only did we have NO idea where she was hospitalized or what was even wrong with her health, we had NO idea if she planned to return to teaching at our school. Eventually, my principal was able to file a grievance (because the teacher also neglected to return any correspondence with our principal....don't get me started about the total lack of professionalism.) At this point, they were able to hire a long-term substitute teacher who was
able to teach for the last 3 weeks of 1st quarter, and beginning part of 2nd quarter. Though the substitute was eager and helpful, it still created a lot of extra work for me. We were finally able to officially terminate the teacher who'd only taught 2 weeks at our school prior to taking medical leave and never returning anyone's calls. The week before winter break a permanent teaching replacement was hired (bless her heart!) She is sticking with things thus far...though you can imagine how rowdy her classes are after literally a quarter and a half of substitute teachers. Our new teacher is brand new to both teaching in our county AND to using the reading program implemented in my school. So, while I'm thankful she's here it has again been a lot of work helping to train her on the reading software, lesson plan formats, etc. Not to mention, she also was unfamiliar with our county's email and attendance system.

SIF:
This takes me to the latest...The latter part of 2011 brought me peace with being a mom to an "only." Not that she wasn't previously, but Emma has been such a delight to spend time with. She is eager to learn, SO smart, enjoys playing fun pranks, and has really mellowed out. She has grown to the stage where she has MUCH independence and ability to do things on her own. I truly love spending time with my girl. Around the time of Emma's birthday last September I had started a new mantra for myself---STOP moping around about not having Child #2 and focus on being the best mommy I can be for Emma.

I was finally okay with the idea of not expanding our family. I was truly comfortable emotionally for the first time in years. (Meaning, no longer wallowing over only having 1 child. No longer hoping/planning/longing for Child #2.) Though we only had a few items left in storage after my major purging of Emma's leftover baby items in 2010, I finally got rid of the rest---the high chair, the baby swing, the Suzy's Zoo crib bedding and room decor, and the rest of the baby and toddler toys. I was content with my life and at a good place.

Then the second week of January 2012, I had another miscarriage. (#3.) It was extremely early. SO early that I didn't even know I was pregnant until I started bleeding 9 days before my period should have been. This lead to a FB post I created on January 10th: "Could use thoughts, prayers and well-wishes...going through some stuff. Thanks!"

Tomorrow is my OBGYN follow-up appointment to verify that all is "okay." I've had a few of you who are also my friends in real life and/or on FBook ask me if the OB plans to do a recurrent loss panel. I'm hoping to have some answers tomorrow.

My awful cramping and bleeding (sorry for TMI) stopped around a week ago. DH and I both took one day off work. I was able to lay and cuddle and mope with him in bed all day...it helped immensely.

My difficulty now is that my emotions are in a state of chaos. I feel like every time I come to some type of acceptance of being a mom to "just" one, something happens to swirl my emotions around again. Why does my body have to wreak havoc on my emotions? I was finally---after years---at a place of acceptance. Now I am playing the "What If?" game again. What if I am meant to have another child? Is my miscarriage the Universe's way of telling me that I shouldn't have given up on my dream of expanding our family? OR what if this is some sick way of confirming my thoughts---#2 is not meant to be. Sighs. I'm working toward finding the self-acceptance I reveled in the last few months of 2011.

That's the "big stuff." I will try to be more proactive about blogging. I had forgotten what a great emotional outlet this is. Just typing this post has helped me feel some relief.

I'd appreciate love and well wishes for my morning appointment tomorrow. <3

Back to School

Tomorrow is the first day of teacher planning week. BOO!!!!!!! Hiss!!!! Drat! Summer has been wonderful this year...LOTS of visiting with family, extended family and friends. Lots of pool visits and swimming with Emma. I hate to see it end!

An Emma-ism from the pool today: While trying to float on her back, "Look! I'm making pool angels!" Yup...definitely the same motion to create snow or sand angles...just in a swimming pool instead. :)

Something to look forward to...the amazing Kym over at The Smartness is hosting Sock-It-To-Me week again! If you are a sock lover (or office supply lover) go sign up! :)

Maybe now that "summer" is over, I'll be back in a blogging groove???

Emmaisms

School:
WHEWIE! This rough, tough school year is nearly over!
Two more days with students. Two "post-planning" days next week, and then I'm free for some Mama/Emma time, family vacation, playdates, and fun in the sun. WHHHHOPPEE! I am drained.... But leave you with the many Emmaisms I've saved on my Blackberry memo pad the past few months.

Emmaisms:

2/18/11 On Equality:
"Rosa Parks helped make SILVER rights for the United States!"

2/20/11 On spilling hot chocolate:
"It's a good thing to spill on black because black is a big, powerful color!"

3/1/11 On clothing tags:
"I couldn't reach my butt hookers." (I think she was talking about belt loops?? Not sure.)

3/2/11 On Snuggling with Mommy:
"I always love to cuddle with you. It's like I wish you were my mom, my sister, AND my cousin!"

3/10/11 On asking our cat to move out of her way:
"Abby, please move! I said, M-O-V, move!"

4/20/11 On puppies and gender:
"I knew the one I was holding was a girl because it didn't have a penis, a wiener, or nuts. HEY! How come boys have so many names for their stuff?"

5/13/11 On exhaustion:
"I'm so tired I could sleep on gravel!"

5/16/11 Philosophy:
"Do you hold your spoon to eat applesauce the same way you hold a pencil? I do usually. But sometimes I don't."

5/17/11 On Restroom Needs while on a Roadtrip:
"I have to go SO bad! I need a pee-hole right now!"

5/21/11 On Poetry:
"Wanna hear something funny I made up? The 3 little mice in a bucket full of ice." (Should I be worried about this?)

5/28/11 On Numbers:
"Don't 2 and 5 look good together? It's 'cause 2 is an upside-down 5!"

5/30/11 Misunderstood Music Lyrics: (Singing along with "Heartbreaker" by Pat Benatar)
"You're a heartbreaker. String maker. Team Jacob, don't you mess around with me." (Insert DH and I ROFL at this one!) :)

6/5/11 On Transportation:
"That's one sick motorcycle!" (When/where did my kid learn that "sick" can mean "sweet?" LOL.)

Books and School

School:
Did I mention that this school year has been completely ridiculous with regards to student behavior? Two issues are currently driving me bonkers--
1. Our district county policy was amended this year to allow students SEVEN tardies PER quarter PER teacher. In other words, a student can be late to my class seven times EACH quarter before I am allowed to write a referral. In addition, since we have 7 periods a day, a student can be late TWENTY-EIGHT times total each quarter with no major repercussions. What the hell? Seriously? What message is this sending to our kids? What employer in the world allows a person to be late SEVEN times without major consequences? UNREAL!

2. There was another HUGE fight and near 'code yellow' status yesterday. The short version--a student was running through the hallways, broke a glass cabinet in a science classroom, hit 2 students, 1 teacher, and 1 police officer before being arrested. What the heck is happening at my school? It's like the inmates are running the asylum. Administration alleges they will be "cracking down" starting today....we'll see if change occurs. With only 14 school days left, I think it is too little, too late. Sighs.


Books:
(I HAVE been managing to read lots! It keeps me sane and helps me "escape" from the chaos at work!) :)

Invisible Id: Written by my hubby! He finally allowed me to read an entire novel from cover to cover. Such a great read! I hope, hope, hope he gets agent representation one of these days...

The Kingdom Keepers Series by Ridley Pearson. These cool books take place at Disney World! I received the 4th book "Power Play" for my birthday, so re-read the first 3 before delving into the newest book. Great book for younger readers! Premise is about teenagers who are recorded to be hologram tour guides at the Disney Parks. Turns out they can swap places with their holograms while sleeping. Disney villains from Disney film lore are trying to take over the parks.... I don't want to do any plot spoilers so will stop there. :)

Juliet by Anne Fortier LOVED this book! Premise: After her aunt dies, a woman follows her will on a treasure hunt of sorts...and ends up exploring Italy when she learns she is related to the "real" Juliet, upon whom Shakespeare based his play. Part romance; part Da Vinci code-ish in her clue seeking; part "Water for Elephants" in the chapters switching between past and present. Wonderful read!

The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide by Stephenie Meyer. Another birthday gift which I read cover-to-cover. Fun read for any "Twilight" series fan. My favorite part was reading Meyer's descriptions of her writing process and her thoughts/ideas for the background history of her characters. I will say that the encyclopedia-type format made this a book I couldn't read in long intervals...I read bits and pieces between reading other books.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. LOVED this book!!!! It is about racism in the 1960's. The neat part is it describes African American woman who worked as maids/nannies for white families. Talks about how they grow to love the children they care for and the children in turn love them...only to grow up and be expected to hire black folks as the laborers in their own households. Beautifully shares the perspective of 2 different maids and one white woman who tries to take a stand for equality.

What have you been reading? Anything you've really enjoyed that you recommend?

Checking In

I've been away from Blogland for a while. The short version: I am struggling internally to figure out where I "fit" in both the Blog universe and the IF/SIF world...

...I hope that one of these days I'll be able to blog more details. For now I'm not ready to "share all" just yet. Thus, I'm just going to update on the basics:

March:

-First a WAY belated thank you to those who voted for me in the limerick contest! I was tickled to earn 2nd place in my round of voting. (And I loved the winning limerick, so can't complain a bit.) :)

-Emma turned 6 1/2 on St. Patrick's Day. I continue to be awed as a parent. Her growth and eagerness to explore and learn new things are wonderful . (And holy crap how can her kindergarten year be nearly over?!)





-My bro-in-law and his family visited Jacksonville during their spring break. It was great to see them. Em was especially thrilled to have an entire "cousin day" at the beach and Nana's house while our relatives kindly babysat Emma when I worked during a teacher's planning day. Kicking myself, because I didn't take any pics during their visit. Doh!

-For the first time in several years, my younger sister Laurel had the same spring break as Emma and I. She traveled from Ohio and spent the week with us. Unfortunately, we had rain everyday of her visit except for one. We still managed to have a great time, but with less fun-in-the-sun than we anticipated.

Here are some highlights from our adventures during her visit:

We visited the Jacksonville Fire Museum:















Em and Auntie Laurel pose on the antique fire truck.


Em and I "climbing" the fire pole.




We went to the Jacksonville Zoo to view the special "Dino Alive" exhibit. The exhibit was neat---we walked along a pathway in the forest looking at life-like dinosaur robotics.

Em enjoyed climbing on this bamboo hut structure we passed along the way...








Creepy!


Auntie Laurel and Emma








2 of my favorite gals on the bridge in the Asian section of the zoo:







Of course a zoo-day isn't complete without a carousel ride!


Self-portrait




The highlight of Laurel's visit was her last day....it was finally SUNNY and beautiful the entire day! DH was able to be off of work to spend the day with Laurel, Em, and I. We went to St. Augustine where we explored St. George Street, rode on a Sightseeing Train, and visited the Pirate and Treasure museum. It was a wonderful day!







--At the end of March, DH (finally) allowed me to read the 5th draft of his novel!! I thought it was super. Per his request I offered some editing suggestions. The story is creative and though sci-fi-ish which isn't my usual #1 choice, I think it has great selling-potential. DH has made revisions and is again seeking agent representation to be published. I SO hope for him that things work out. I admire him sticking with it... He has a co-worker who recently self-published a book. I applaud DH for following his instinct and seeking an agent, as he has seen how his co-worker's self-publishing is not the format he hopes to become published with.

April:
-The transmission in my car went ka-put. Argh. $3,000. My car is a 2002 Honda Civic and though we hated to fork out the $$$, I liked hearing confirmation from the mechanic that Hondas are "great cars" and there are still "plenty of good years" left in mine.

-DH and I celebrated our birthdays...my 36th and his 37th. I received some books from my reading wish list, a dinner out, and surprise cake from Em and DH. We didn't splurge much this year due to the previously mentioned car transmission.

-At the end of the month I chaperoned Em's class field trip to the zoo---SOOOO fun! All my pics were taken on my phone...and I am having difficulty getting them to post, so maybe another time??

-I was able to speak with Emma's teacher, Ms. H about a few things:
1. Ms. H is referring Em to the school psychologist to have her tested for "gifted" placement for next school year.
2. Ms. H spoke about how Emma and Bryce are a "great match" as friends. They are kind to one another, have supportive home lives, and play really well together. At the beginning of the year Em had a few play dates with a girl in her class, Vianna. DH and I noticed in mid-November that Em rarely mentioned Vianna anymore, but mentioned Bryce quite frequently. The teacher reported that Vianna tends to be wishy-washy with her friendships and a bit of a "drama queen" about things...said it was smart of Em to steer away from Vianna when she did. During our zoo field trip I was able to see Em and Bryce in action. I was particularly pleased to watch them when a class bully was saying rude things to them... Bryce leaned in, and whispered something to Emma. Then the 2 of them giggled and walked away from the bully. Priceless! :)

-Easter:
-Easter weekend I had a bit of a stomach bug. My in-laws kindly picked up Em so she could accompany them to the family feast at my sis-in-law's house. These blurry pics are the only pics I took this year.







May:
-The U.S. was finally able to locate Osama Bin Laden. I am grateful he was found. I have mixed emotions about my own feelings and those portrayed in the media---it seems so weird to be joyful over the death of someone. Nonetheless, I am thankful Bin Laden's reign over terrorists has ended. Though like many others I have concerns for the retaliation his followers might plan.

My extremely tough school year continues....
-On Thursday my school was in a "Code Yellow" emergency status for 4 1/2 hours. This means all classroom doors are locked and no one is permitted to enter or leave any rooms without receiving an "all clear" from the office. Short version: some students from a nearby high school threatened to bring a gun on campus to attack one of the 8th grade students at my school. After school, we ended up releasing bus-riders only 2 buses at a time. (Usually when the end of day bell rings, all students are dismissed. Then all busses are dismissed 10 minutes later.) We were still locked in our classrooms 45 minutes AFTER school was dismissed. Luckily, no weapons were discovered, all students were able to leave safely, and NO ONE was hurt. The letter sent home with students by our principal and the interview she gave on the local news report stated that we were in Code Yellow status due to "rumors."

-We are in the final stretch now. The last day of school for students is June 10th. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

-I've continued my pursuit of online masters degree programs. I think I have it narrowed down to 4 programs. My biggest issue is trying to decide which would be best long-term: a degree in educational leadership, or a masters in reading. It's difficult because with budget cuts and the havoc in the education system, I no longer "know" that I will retire in the education field. While I have no current plans to leave teaching, I no longer feel this is a "permanent" career. I guess only time will tell.

WHEW! I think that is the latest... I hope you've been well, Dear Readers.

Random Ruminations

Time for some Sunday ruminations...

Work:
--Work continues to be challenging. At our Leadership meeting this week (department heads, administrators and the principal) we were informed that there were more "Class 3" offenses at our school in the past week and a half than in the ENTIRE school year last year. Class 3's are considered "major offenses" and the recent occurrences include two students who had a knife on campus, assault of a teacher ("luckily" with fists not a weapon,) and stealing. We had a full-faculty meeting this week to discuss safety on school grounds. I am saddened that things got to this point. I fear our meeting was probably "too little too late."

--The Florida state legislature (similar to many states) is looking at several changes within the public education system. Those which currently frustrate me the most are: budget cuts and
connecting teacher pay to a "rating" given by parents. I believe I am a decent teacher who maintains frequent contact with the majority of my students' parents. However, I don't think it is fair to connect my paycheck to a rating given by people who do NOT observe me in the classroom, nor witness my work first hand. Phone calls, e-mail correspondence, conferences and open house are not an adequate portrayal of all that goes into being an educator. Seeing as MOST of a teacher's work occurs IN the classroom, I don't understand how we can be fairly evaluated by people who do not observe us there. Sighs.

--I am at the point I will give my current school one more year and then if things have not improved, I will look at transferring to a different school. This makes me sad, as my goal when I changed to this school 2 1/2 years ago was to stay here until Emma was finished with middle school. Remember, I have her on "special assignment" at the elementary school next door to where I teach. I am disappointed...if I transfer it will mean changing schools for her as well. Crossing all fingers that things get better next year. (This would require HUGE changes within our administration team.) Overall, teacher morale is very low this year. There are many people who are unhappy and who are looking to transfer schools at the end of this year.

Books:
--I recently read "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. LOVED this book! It is narrated by an elderly man who is reminiscing about years he worked in a traveling circus in the 1930's. The book toggles between his present day life and his memories of the circus. Awesome, awesome story! DH actually read the book after I did and he enjoyed it as well. :)

--I'm currently reading "Home" an autobiography by Julie Andrews. Interesting read thus far, though it has been a bit slow going due to school work and our Disney vacation.

DH:
--Plugging away on his 4th book. Entered a contest for his 3rd book...with a 1-in-100 chance of getting to have his entire book read by a book agent. How wonderful would that be? I continue to admire his perseverance. I don't think I could stay dedicated at "keeping at it" without support from an agent by now.

Masters:
--Dear Readers, what is your opinion of on-line university programs? I took several online courses to obtain my teaching degree. I am highly interested in obtaining my masters degree, but would like to find a program that is 100% online. Due to DH's work schedule (he works 11-7 every weekday and 9-5 many Saturdays) evening courses at one of the local universities would be difficult for me to attend due to needing child care for Emma.
--Do you think employers think less of "virtual" degrees than they do of face-to-face degree programs? Or once I've obtained a diploma will it really matter?

I think that's all the latest...

Random Ruminations--Catching Up Version

I can't believe February is nearly halfway gone...I've been managing to keep quite busy, here's the latest:

Vacation On My Mind:

Summer: Super stoked to be able to go to Wisconsin this summer! My Dad was raised there and we spent many July 4ths of my youth in Wisconsin for family reunions. After my grandmother died in '93, two things happened....

1. Myself and many cousins were officially "adults" and no longer had summers free to travel. Welcome to the working and/or college world! (My grandma died the summer after I graduated from high school and I had my first full-time job working to save $$ before starting college in the fall.)

2. The reunions no longer had a matriarch-focal-point, and thus sadly were no longer scheduled as frequently.

This year, my younger sister and I were able to coordinate our summer-schedules a bit. Emma and I will be able to travel from Florida to Ohio, and then on to Wisconsin with my sister! Yay! Cousin time and sister time....SO thrilled!

Spring Break: For the first time in several years my younger sis and I also have the same spring break schedule. She will be coming to Jacksonville to visit the last week of March. Hooray!

Disney: DH and I both put in for personal/vacation days on 2/25. We'll be heading to Disney World after school on Thursday the 24th for a mini-vacation with Emma. CAN'T WAIT!

Why all this vay-cay time on the brain???? Because WORK SUCKS!

School--The Bad: SO tired of administration at my school not buckling down and enforcing things...

-The same teachers (myself included) repeatedly do after school "bus duty" (wherein we go outside with the students and encourage them to get on the bus, try to distract from fights, monitor students in the cafeteria whose buses haven't arrived yet, etc. Despite having emailed and/or stated to the faculty several times that duty is "not optional," there are NO repercussions for teachers who do not help. Thus, you can guess what happens, right? Out of a faculty of 85...there are about 20-25 of us who help each day while the others don't bother. SO ANNOYING!

-The administration does not communicate with one another. The whole faculty was emailed a month ago by our principal with a schedule for a half day training at some point on 2/17 or 2/18. Most of us had already prepared lesson plans and substitute teachers as needed by the end of last week. On Thursday, we were all emailed a message from one of the assistant principals stating that our state-required benchmark testing would be held on the 17th and 18th. Of course there were a slew of emails sent back and forth---do you plan to have benchmark testing when half of the teachers are out at training, etc?---things were finally resolved by the end of the day on Friday. Benchmarks will now be held the week of the 21st. Again ANNOYING. How difficult is it to check with the master calendar before setting up testing dates?

-I've been teaching for 8 years. The team of teachers I am working with this year is leaps and bounds better than any team I've ever worked with as far as their "team" approach. We have a team disciplinary process....usually it is every-teacher-for-themself, but this team has agreed on a discipline procedure and we stick with it! Makes things WAY more effective when they are reinforced by all of the teachers a student sees each day. The pisser is that the house administrator assigned to our grade level is not supportive. Despite having a slew of documentation for the interventions we have done both individually and as a team for students, she is not processing behavior referrals in a manner that we feel is fair.

It is extremely frustrating when as a teacher I rarely write behavior referrals. When I do write a referral, I have a list of documented interventions I include with the referral so she can see what strategies I've tried (usually including multiple phone and/or email contact with the child's parent) prior to writing the referral. Sadly, the consequence given by the administrator usually includes thing like "silent lunch" or "conferenced with student." What the heck? Where is my back up? Kids are getting to the point that they don't think referrals are a "big deal," because the consequences are often lax. It is ridiculous.

-Student IDs: This is the 2nd year my current principal has been at our school. Last year she started a policy where students are "required" to wear IDs. I LOVE this idea and feel it was executed wonderfully at my prior school. However, here....again...NO consequences or follow up for students. They are supposed to be wearing their IDs at all times. Half of my students have lost their ID. At my prior school there were not-wearing-an-ID consequences such as: Students with no ID had to be last in the lunch line, weren't permitted to attend after school games, dances, or extra curricular activities, could be "written" up, etc. At my current school NOT A SINGLE DAMN CONSEQUENCE. Ridiculous! The kicker is that frequently during the morning announcements, the principal will say things like, "Just a reminder--all students should be wearing IDs at all times." Does she really think kids are going to pay $5 to replace a lost ID if there are no consequences for not wearing one?

-I have two students who were in ISSP (in school suspension) last week due to having received behavior referrals from multiple teachers. BOTH of them attended the Valentine's Day dance on Friday. Sorry, but allowing a child to attend a dance on the same day they had ISSP doesn't seem right to me.

-The contract my district had with S.cholast.ic for the reading program used daily in our reading classrooms expired last year. Thus, we no longer have "S.cholast.ic Consultants" who visit our school to provide support services. Things have really sucked district-wide, as the new worker in charge of the reading program for our county has NO experience teaching the program. (Remember me mentioning that we didn't get enough work books at our school until 2nd quarter?) Things continue to be disorganized and "last minute" with regards to testing our students and/or use of data specific to our program. Again, WAY annoying as it makes it difficult to plan things. Leaves me wondering why a county as large as mine would hire someone who isn't familiar with the ins and outs of the program. Duh??

School--The Good:
District Visit: We had a reading-department district visit on 2/8 and ROCKED IT! We finally received positive feedback department-wide, which is wonderful and helped deescalate a (little) bit of stress.

Yearly Evaluation: My yearly observation/evaluation was conducted by the 6th grade assistant principal I mentioned above. I was worried going into it that she might be a hard-ass and not evaluate me fairly. I was pleasantly surprised to have a positive evaluation. Comments included that I am a "positive influence for the teachers on my team" and that I talk to my students "in a calm manner" and "re-direct problem behavior positively. Yay, me!

Date Night: My in-laws watched Em for a few hours on Saturday night so DH and I were able to go out. We had dinner at J.Alexander's a restaurant that is new to Jacksonville...super yummy! After dinner we went to the bookstore and had time to "linger" sans Emma, which was awesome. :)

Blogging and Comments: Sorry I've been away...I've been scrambling to get things ready for our district visit and my yearly evaluation, and then trying to get WAY ahead on my lesson plans, as I won't be able to do plans the weekend we're at Disney, so need to have them finished ahead of time. Things are starting to calm down now, so I should be able to catch up soon.

Valentine's Day: I enjoyed watching Emma as for the first year she did everything independently with regards to the valentines for her class. Though she addressed her cards last year, this is the first year she was able to label/address the cards and fold/sticker them independently. Too cute! Happy v-day, everyone!

I'm grateful

4 things I'm especially grateful for the past few days...

1. My team at school.
This year 2 of my 3 classes consist of students from the same team of "core" teachers. Thus, I am often part of parent-conferences and team meetings. In the past since reading is an "elective," I'm often not part of a "team." This year I am and the team ROCKS. While our administration is at times frustrating and not firm enough (in my humble opinion) the teachers I work with are supportive and have an amazing behavior intervention plan we all use. Though many things at my school continue to be difficult this year, I am thankful for the "Cosmic Wolf" team who has accepted me as one of their own.

2. DH
I can count on both hands the number of times I have to scrape ice off my car windows each year. Yesterday was Monday and of course Em and I were dragging a bit... I hadn't seen the weather report the night before and hadn't planned ahead. When Em and I prepared to load my car to drive to school, I was un-pleasantly surprised to encounter super cold weather. And pleasantly surprised to see that DH had already scraped my car windows for me.

3. Emma
Though she totally embarrassed me this weekend when we were at a restaurant...
Waitress: You can complete this card to join our dinner club, if you'd like. But if you don't I
won't cry or anything.
Emma: I'm not filling one out, cuz' I want to make you cry.

WHAT???? The waitress hadn't been rude or negligent. I still don't know what prompted Emma's rotten response. Geesh!

Anyway....let's focus on the positive here...
I am grateful for a little girl who FINALLY cleaned the entire living room herself without grumbling or complaining. There were pillows, coloring books, markers, L.incon Logs, and blankets scattered around from when Em was feeling sick over the weekend. Today she cleaned it all up on her own. How nice to have her pitching in without bribes and/or nagging.

4. DH---again. Yup, he's a keeper!
Yesterday and today DH was home sick from work. (He finally went to Urgent Care yesterday and received a slew of 4 prescriptions to help him kick the phlegmy yucks he's had the past few weeks.) When Em and I arrived home from school today he had dinner cooking for us. Now mind you, DH is always the primary chef in our house, as I hate cooking. However I found it very sweet that he cooked when I know he still wasn't feeling his best.

Random Ruminations

Ending the week with some random ruminations...

Books: We're only 21 days into the year and I've already read 11 books! Yay!


The 39 Clues:
I highly recommend the 39 Clues book series to anyone with 8-14ish year old kiddos. The series is written by a variety of popular childrens' book authors and was a super fun read! The books are about a brother and sister team who go on an around the world clue hunt. They visit many historical places along the way. I also admit that I have thoroughly enjoyed the online activities and games that correlate with the books. (Each book comes with 6 cards that can be entered online to help lead the reader as a "clue hunter".) Fun!

The only downside---the cards that come in each book can only be entered online one time. This means that families with more than one child will have to share their online account, rather than having one for each child...unless they fork out $12 per book to buy a book for each child...NOT cool in my opinion!

The Hunger Games:
An amazing trilogy I finished at Thanksgiving time and never posted about... The teen-lit series by Suzanne Collins takes place in the future. The premise is that there is not enough food to feed the citizens of the country, so every year there is a contest where 2 representatives from each district must fight----to the death---to determine which district will get food from the government for the year. Offers much to think about and an AWESOME strong, female heroine as the main character.

The Missing Series:
Cool young adult series I finished during winter break... The premise is kind of tricky to discuss. But the books include time travel,adopted children finding out who they "really" are, and are written by Margaret Peterson Haddix an author whose works I love!

The Mockingbirds:
LOVED this book which was a Christmas gift. It is a young adult novel about a high school teen who was date raped. Most of the book is about her seeking justice for the crime with a secret student-run organization called the Mockingbirds.

----------------
School:
--Today was teacher planning day.... as always I didn't get nearly the amount of stuff done that I had hoped to.
--Principal met with me regarding the quarterly departmental reports I send her. Assured me that she knew I was not at fault for not sending them (as the vice principal had alluded to.) Whew!
--Yearly observation is coming up in February. Should be interesting, as I don't have a stellar class to use this year. (Usually I schedule my observation during my best class. This year, I sadly don't have a "best" to choose from.) Doh.

Home:
--DH and Em stayed home sick yesterday. DH with cough and sinus congestion, Emma with the pukes. My FIL kindly kept Emma today while I was at teacher planning day. Fortunately, she hasn't vomited again since mid-day yesterday. And her fever seems to have subsided as well.
-DH just got home with pizza for dinner, so I'm over and out... :)

Keep On, Keep On, Keep On Movin'

Remember the Brady Bunch episode where the kids sing on a talent show, trying to win money to purchase an anniversary gift for their parents? They called themselves "The Silver Platters" and one of the songs they sang was "Keep on Movin'." That has been my motto as of late...

School Stuff:
--I teach in the 3rd largest school district in the state of Florida. (I was also recently informed that we are the 15th largest district in the U.S. Wow.) Due to the large amount of schools, things like painting are done year-round rather than just during the summer.

Our school system re-paints the interior of all buildings every 7 years. This year my school is on the schedule to be re-painted. This means that classes have to be held in the Media Center, or auditorium or other creative areas while individual classrooms are being painted. I was fortunate because my entire hallway was painted during winter break. Thus, I didn't have to endure the hassle of teaching in an unusual place like many of my colleagues have.

However, when I returned to school after winter break my classroom was in disarray. Due to my building being painted over the break, all of my belongings were shoved on the window sill/counters and most furniture was shoved together in the middle of the room:






It took two mornings going in early and 2 evenings staying late to get my room re-organized and back the way I like it. I still don't have all of my posters re-hung....

--Our district also schedules two big "Walk Throughs" per year. These are days when district personnel from every department come to tour the school, observe in a variety of classrooms, and meet with the principal to provide feedback. Usually the Walk Throughs are held in October or November and then again in April or May.

My school had the first Walk Through this year the week after Thanksgiving. However, glitches occurred and the representatives for social studies, phys ed, and language arts were unable to attend for some reason. Thus, they bumped our 2nd visit from April to this past week. So in the midst of re-organizing after our classrooms were painted, we had to prep for visits from the big wigs.

Emma and I stayed late at my school 2 different evenings so I could get things "just so" in my classroom before the walk through. Murphy's Law of my life----for the first time ever no one came to my classroom during the Walk Through. (Usually since there are only 5 of us in the reading department we ALL get visited during district walk throughs.) Sighs...

School Reports: The 7th grade assistant principal came to me just after the visits were completed and said there was a "reading department emergency." I worried that one of my colleagues had been hurt. She then informed me that the principal was meeting with the district personnel who had finished the Walk Throughs and they were upset I had not sent her (the principal) any updated reading department reports. I explained that I usually only send reports once per quarter, and as 2nd quarter is still in session new reports hadn't been sent yet. It irked me a bit... I haven't done anything wrong or out of the norm, and didn't appreciate the insinuation that I had.

Books: I've been reading up a storm. One of my New Year's resolutions is to keep better track of my book reading this year. Last year I did not keep close track and I know I read things that did not get recorded on my "Books Read" list.

I received the 10 books in the "39 Clues" kids' series for Christmas and finished the last one this morning. What fun reads!

DH: Said I could read the last novel he finished. 90,000 words, wowsers! I am stoked---he's let me read a sentence or chapter before, but never a whole book. Yay! I will start it this afternoon. :)

Emma:

While cleaning our computer desk today, I found a few Emmaism's I haven't posted before.

9/18/10 While walking the dog with Grandpa:
"When it's hot outside, hot air comes out of your mouth."

11/11/10 On only wearing socks and underwear:
"Look, I'm a pattern: Naked, not naked, naked, not naked."

1/10/11: "I was just a little bit hot, so I took my shirt off while I was pretend cooking."
(See pics below.)





I think that's all the latest.

Happy New Year

I'm stealing Danifred's idea and doing an end of the year countdown as a "wrap up" for 2010. (You can check out her blog for "Friday Night Leftovers" and other end-of-the year reviews.)

2010 in Review:

1-# of bedrooms we moved (we moved Emma from the baby wallpapered old bedroom to a new "big girl room" at the beginning of the year.)

1-# of new schools Emma has attended this year. We made the decision to pull Emma from the
private school she attended for daycare/pre-K and enroll her in the elementary school beside the middle school where I teach. Thus far, we're (mostly) happy with the way things are going.

1-#of "BFPs" I had this year...though it sadly turned out to just be a chemical pregnancy.

2-# of trips DH, Emma and I made to visit family and friends in Ohio.

3-# of books DH has written. (2 novels and 1 children's book---wow! He continues to seek agent representation in hopes of being published someday.)

6-the grade I am mostly teaching this school year.

6-the age Emma turned in September. How the time flies!

5feet-the depth of the pool in the area Em likes to swim best. She really took off as a swimmer this year!

12-# of boxes and bags of Emma's old infant-4T clothing and items we donated this month.

1-# of garages on our house we can now walk through and store items in (without fearing for our lives due to an avalanche of old stuff) due to the donation of Emma's old Baby stuff.

109,000-# of miles driven on my H.onda C.ivic as of last week.

2-# of date nights DH and I had at the M.elting Pot this year. Soooo yummy!

1-# of national reading teacher awards my principal nominated me for. (Though I didn't win, I was truly honored to be nominated.)

3-# of days I took off work to have "date days" with DH when he was off work too. :)

10-#of days the in-laws allowed DH, Em and I to stay with them at THEIR house due to the air conditioner at OUR house breaking and waiting on a replacement part.

3-#of trips DH, Em and I took to D.isneyWorld....ah how I love it there!

742-# of "points" I had accumulated from classes and trainings I took. The points go toward renewing my teaching certificate.

300-#of points I actually needed...yup, I can be a bit of a nerd sometimes.

12-#of years DH and have been married as of Sept. 5th

15-#of years DH and I have been "together." Smiles.

4-#of TVs with U.verse in our house (thanks to DH's work discount!)

3-# of TV/U.verse remotes that were missing in action at the beginning of this week. (Locations when found: 1-under Em's bed; 1-in Emma's art tray/table; 1-on Emma's dresser. )

1,247-#of conversations we had with Em regarding NOT moving remotes from one room to another.

Ending the year with an Irish toast I posted on F.acebook earlier:

Here's to the bright New Year
and a fond farewell to the old,
Here's to the things that are yet to come...
and to the memories that we hold.

Happy 2011!

Autumn Update

It's been awhile again. I have been avoiding posting because I didn't want it to turn into a giant whining session. I'm going to try to stick to the basics...

School:

--This week marks the middle of 2nd quarter. And we still do NOT have all of the textbooks needed for the reading classes in my department. Ridiculous.

--The person responsible for overseeing the reading program for the entire county resigned at the end of Sept. (Perhaps this is why we don't have textbooks?)

--The 8th grade administrator is in hospital due to an intestinal rupture.

--There have been 10 fights thus far this school year, including one when a teacher was punched in the face and one where a girl had a huge gash on her forehead.

--Many teachers are feeling the administration doesn't seem to have a handle on discipline this year. (To put things in perspective we had less than 10 fights the entire school year last year.)

--The reading teachers do not have inclusion teachers assigned to our classes this year. In the past we had inclusion teachers to co-teach with us in classes with a large special ed population. This year we're on our own.
--It's making for a super difficult year!

Home:
--No TTC updates to report at this time...will update when I have new news. (Crossing fingers for re appointment during winter break, but I will probably have to wait until March.)
--We were able to drive to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. It was wonderful to see them! I am grateful for a wonderful family and for an amazing husband who did WAY more driving than I did to/from Ohio.
--Emma continues to be my shining light. I appreciate her antics and learning discoveries.

Books/Movies:
--I read all of Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" books over the long weekend. LOVED them! Great read with interesting premise.
--I saw "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I" and "Tangled" and completely enjoyed both films.

I'll let my fall photos sum up the rest...

Emma's 6th Birthday












We went to the Magic Kingdom to celebrate Halloween at their "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween" party.


















Jacksonville had a "Boat Day"
Em enjoyed touring and photographing some boats on the downtown Riverfront.







Emma at the "Spooktacular" event at the Jacksonville Zoo


For Halloween night trick-or-treating, Emma dressed as a witch.




DH, Em and I spent the day at the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in St. Augustine 2 weeks ago...we had a great time!

House made of match sticks.


Em and I pose next to a statue/replica of the World's Tallest Man


DH looking disgruntled in a pirate torture device.


Em and her elephant pose outside.

Updates:
--As I mentioned, I just haven't felt like writing much as of late, due to not having a lot of "positive" things to blog about.
--I seem to be on Face.boo.k more often now that I have a Black.berry...if there are any readers who'd like to be FB friends, drop me a line at velmadinkley@aol.com and I'll search for you to friend you on FB.