A Couple Little Letters…

Dear That Awkward Moment,
You know, that moment when you walk into church overhearing your name being read aloud from the pulpit only to realize you’re being released from that calling you’ve held for 2 years and no one ever said anything to you about it….I might have been a little annoyed.  

Dear Summer,
You’re a mere 28 school days away and to say I’m excited to hear you would be an understatement.  Truth be told I have no idea how people work real jobs with no summer, Christmas, Thanksgiving or spring breaks.  I can’t to run around DC with 100 8th grades in toe, hang out with Caroline in NYC and do what ever else pleases me.  

Dear Next School Year,
I am really looking forward to you!

Dear This Entire,
You have been really rough and I’d really like for things to ease up ASAP.  

Dear New Bedroom,
Who ever would have thought my new color scheme would consist of green, black, white, coral and gold? But I’m loving it!

Dear Students,
I know you think we should close up shop and call it quit til summer but that’s just not an option.  And maybe the more I keep telling y’all that the more I’ll believe it!      

 

#crazycatladydress

Not everyone can say that they have a cat print dress in their wardrobe…but I can.  I don’t know, it might have been a lapse in fashion or early onset of a mid life crisis but I most definitely own a cat print dress.  

Here are some other things that have been on my mind…

Sometimes its super annoying when I am trying to make a cultural reference to something great like Sixth Sense and my students just stare at me like I’m a crazy woman.  Generational gap!

Sometimes I act like a child and I’ll completely admit it.

In English class, literature and history have collided and its perfection.  

Oh yeah, 9 weeks until summer….crazy right?

   

When…

– when your fan is making an irregular sound it throw off your whole sleep…

– when your friend tells you he’s getting married and the only exciting news you can respond with is well nothing….

– when you thought it the term “period” was understood as “time period” but instead the response was 4th…as in 4th period…teaching fail….

–  when you’re so tired but you mind won’t think

– when you give a middle schooler a book written for an elementary schooler and they don’t give it…it was one of those days….

– when you eat oatmeal for breakfast and lunch because you’re too busy/tired to go to the store….yeah that happened today.

– when it’s been the longest week in the world and all you want is to sleep but then you remember you still have to work Friday night and Saturday morning…

– when again you’re life has been so busy that you’ve missed 2 weeks of New Girl/The Mindy Project…

I Really Really Really Love My Job

It’s true, I really really really love my job.  Not only do I really love teaching I just really really really love the people I work with.  I was thinking the other day that there are so many aspects of my life that just has not gone as plan and sometimes that fact is kind of hard to deal with.  But then at the same time I think of teaching and especially teaching at Hillwood, that was something I never planned and just how absolutely wonderful that is, I never could have dreamed up a better situation.  I am not even sure what I did to deserve the amazing Hillwood family that I have.

I am so lucky to go to school each day and get to be around them.  I joke that the best days are Hillwood are the ones when the kids are there and of course that isn’t entirely true but I sure do love hanging out with my teacher friends.  I am not sure what I would do if I had to handle all the situations that I do and not have them to turn to.  Hopefully one day I can be that support to someone like so many of them have been to me.

Last week at our pep rally I was awarded Teacher of the Month and just kind of stood there in shock.  How could I, Ms. First Year Teacher deserve something like that when I feel like all I’m trying to do is keep my head above water?  And then I felt this huge weight put upon me like I really need to up my game to be worthy of something like that…I’m trying.

Have I told you how I have the coolest principal EVER? Love that lady! Anyways she has concocted some kind of mystery game that we are all playing.  From what I understand each day we are given different tasks to complete and today’s was do something nice for a coworker.  This week has been crazy with cheer tryouts, grading projects and the end of the grading period so I kind of felt overwhelmed trying to think of something to do.  Of course the people I work with are saints and were totally on top of it just look what I was the lucky recipient of….Route 44 Diet Coke, a thoughtful card, bag of M&M’s, blowpop, a huge bouquet  of school supplies (much needed) and one nice co-worker helped me cart up the 30 books I checked out from the library and secretly made me my oatmeal and had it delivered (I wouldn’t have had breakfast otherwise).  I can’t even imagine what my day would have been like had it not been for all these kind acts.  Seriously it was one crazy day and another late night.

So here’s to an unpredictable life that’s even better than I could have imagined it.

As of Late…

I hate those people who make excuses for not writing on their blog…as to think that their reading public as been waiting with anticipation for their next post (please)…so this is no formal apology for my lack of writing just simply a note to say that I have guilt for not writing.  If you didn’t know I teach Creative Writing and one thing i encourage/force them to do is write everyday.  I wish that I could encourage/force myself to do the same but blogging just always falls to the side.  I honestly think about it all the time.  I want to those the words and my feelings out for all the world to read but at the end of the day there just isn’t time.   So regardless of the fact that I have a stack of papers to grade and an early morning wake up call I am going to blog as if I had all the time in the world.  

* I have finally started to feel not so overwhelmed with this whole teaching thing.  For a while I was very stressed out with English thought for sure my kids were learning anything.  While I still have a long way to go, I am pretty sure they are learning and we all just might make it through.  

* That all being said there is a good chance that next year I’ll have a whole new set of curriculum to get use to but I’m not complaining at all.

* My college roomies and I are having a reunion over Spring Break and I couldn’t be more excited! The last time we were all together was almost 3 years ago…it is going to be epic! 

*  Probably the greatest perk of being a teacher is summer vacation. Most of my downtime/all the time is spent pondering what exactly I’ll be doing this summer. I think I’ll bum around NYC/DC/Boston for a little and then try to escape to a beach somewhere.  Of course today I spent far too many hours watching movies set in Europe and now again I have this huge urge to peace out and hang out there.  Really, today I’m willing to hop on a plane just about anywhere and with anyone and go on adventure.   

 

Things That Make Me Smile

On Friday, my English class read a play.  Some of the actors thought it best that they recite their lines with a British accent and it was kind of hilarious and sounded nothing like a British accent.

On Saturday, I hung out at Cheer Banquet….it was awesome.

Spring Break plans are in the work which means reunion time with some of my favorite ladies and their mini people.

We are well underway into the second semester…it will be summer in no time…or at least I hope it will.

I’m going to DC again with the 8th graders and as an added bonus we are day trippin’ it to Philadelphia.

While I haven’t found a spin instructor quite as great as Dan the Spin Man, I have gotten back into it and its feeling great…well not really great while I’m in the class just more great when I’m done.

I may have gotten a manicure on Friday and then a pedicure on Saturday…both of those things really made me smile.

Sometimes I really feel like I know what I’m doing when it comes to this whole teaching thing maybe its just a feeling but it still makes me very happy.

Last weeks episode of New Girl…I can’t stop watching it.

Cheese Balls and Hamburger Helper

On Friday, I watched Les Miserables….

On Saturday, I watched Django Unchained…

Turns out I might not be as cultured as I had hoped because I liked Django over Led Mis…and I mean really what does that mean? But in my defense I found the actors in Les Mis completely distracting.  I mean Russell’s terrible voice, Anne Hathaway who faked a silly British accent in her last movie, that girl from Mamma Mia who every time she sang made me think of that movie….distracting.  Not to mention it seemed super dramatic, like middle school you don’t love me so I am going to but myself in harms way and risk death kind of way.  

But all this to say that Django won out.  In some weird twisted way I really loved it or maybe just love the company…really hard to tell.    

My Week….

* There may or may not be a rumor going around the 8-1 hallway that I’m Buddhist.  I have no idea how it actually started but I decided to roll with it.

* It happened…this week my mom tried to set me up with someone, a someone who happens to be 40.  Now it probably sounds completely closed minded but 40 is a no go for me, really too old and I respectfully declined.  She was completely annoyed with me but really when is she not?

* So they day before Halloween I told my students that if they didn’t want their Almond Joys or Baby Ruth’s I’d take them….best thing ever, you wouldn’t believe how many I got.  I have no idea how after telling them only one time they all listened, past experience would have suggested I wouldn’t have gotten anything…oh the selective hearing of a middle schooler.  And yeah, I have the best job ever!

* I went an saw 1776 the Musical….musical + history = pure love.  I’m just going to pretend the play was based on actual events and personalities….the Founding Fathers just got a whole lot cooler.

* This week I have a big evaluation happening sometime between Monday and Thursday….I can’t wait til Friday!

 

Maybe I Love This…

Happiness

Ticket to London…booked…
Ticket to Ohio…booked…
Made the front page of the local newspaper…picture and all. 

So yeah, it’s been a pretty good week

Well except for all those blank stares during my English lesson today…yeah, those I could have done without…learn something new each day.