Hair today gone tomorrow!

That's how I felt on Friday. Saturday morning I went in and had my hair cut off. We cut off about 10 inches of hair again. I am sending it in to Locks of Love just like last time (2001). I guess this will become my tradition to cut off my hair about every 10 years to make a donation. I mostly did it because I was so frustrated with my straight, flat, boring hair. After cutting it off I am actually able to style it. This does require that I actually get up in the morning to have time to do my hair but this is a sacrifice I will take to not look like I have a mop attached to my head. I will post a picture this weekend or next week when I have my camera back and things are less hectic.

Coming up for air!

It is sooo nice to actually be able to sit back and relax in the evenings again!!! My class officially ended last Wednesday when I submitted my last draft of the paper. I logged in today and found my grade was a 95! Thank God for the Swine flu day off of school. That is the only reason I was able to do so well on the last draft. If I figured my average correctly, I should have an A for my final grade. I was sure that this would be the class that killed my 4.0 but somehow I pulled it off. Maybe I will be able to get a few things done in the few weeks before my next classes start.

The end of the school year is in sight. Only 11 more days of school left for this year!!!!!!!! I know we are all ready for the summer vacation but not ready for the changes next year. One of the teachers in 4th grade is definitely leaving at the end of the year and we are going to add a 5th section of 4th grade. So no matter what we will have 2 new teachers to bring into the group. We have all been so close for the last few years it will be hard to change. The next few weeks are so busy for us. We have 4th graders testing for advanced math and science classes next week. Our 4th grade play "Tall Tales and Heroes" is on next Thursday night for Rocket Celebration night. The book fair is next week and I promised Linda (the librarian) I would help with it to get some experience at what it takes. We visit the Intermediate school for a tour next week. Then the next week we have our field trip "Baseball day" which is always a blast to celebrate the fact that we have made it to the end of the year. The only negative of the next few weeks is the TAKS results should be in soon and I know my students may not have all done well (especially in math).

Hopefully I will be able to update this more often during the summer and keep up with my friends more than I have for the last couple of months!

School Closed

Our school has followed so many of the others around us and closed due to N1H1 (Swine flu). We have one suspected case so CDC suggested we close until Monday. This is actually a little helpful to me since I have my last draft of the paper due tomorrow (Wednesday) and am still working on corrections from the last draft. Then I will go back and add more to this draft of the paper and finish with section 7 of the paper (our feelings on how the class went).

I had been feeling a little stressed and guilty. Friday several of the teachers took off and went to Canton for First Monday. We got to relax after TAKS and enjoy ourselves. My sub on Friday was awesome and we got a lot done on Monday but who knows how we are going to get everything done in order to finish our projects in class by the end of the year. We are currently working on Science Fair and a play with the 4th grade. The only problem is the performance is the 21st and we haven't even picked roles yet. Hopefully the kids can learn it fast so we can do it.

Okay, back to work on the paper. More to come later.

Race for the Cure

Yesterday was Race for the Cure. Mom and I both walked the 3.2 miles (5K) in right at 1 hour. This is good time for me considering this is the first major workout I've had since the pneumonia. I plan to really get back on track of working out at least 3 times a week so I don't feel like death warmed over the next day.

Everything went well yesterday. I raised $110 so far. I think there are several more people that wanted to make donations but forgot to before we left school on Thursday. I'll try to post the pics of mom at the race later this week. I wouldn't let her take pictures of me after the race because I looked horrible!!

Return to normal

Spring break has ended. :( I got about half of the things done that needed to be done (but of course several things were added to the list as I went through the week). Today was the first day back with the kiddos. As normal, the morning went pretty well (only a few issues to deal with) but the afternoon they are just NUTS!! They just want to talk, play, and avoid doing any work. It's a good thing that I have moved my math time to the A.M. and language arts to afternoon. The only other thing I can think of doing is to eliminate group work except maybe once a week. I know the kids will gripe but maybe it will prove a point and the behavior will improve. I think it's also time to rearrange a few of the desks so that friends are further away from each other. Maybe this will take care of a few more of the problems that have started up in the class. Well, I've put off my classwork long enough. Time to get crackin' and get this thing done.

Spring Break!!!!!!

Waaaa Hooo! It has finally arrived the break we all need as teachers!! Now to start the to do list that just keeps growing. Saturday was spent relaxing and going out to eat with the family. I am spending my Sunday doing the normal- grading papers. I feel like if I get this done today I can worry about the other things on my list this week and relax next weekend.

I guess I'll have to call the vet on Monday and try to get Aja in. She has been really shaking her head and rubbing her right ear. I cleaned it as much as she would let me and put her drops in but she still seems upset about it. She needs her shots anyway so I'll try to get an appointment this week.

This weeks my plans include cleaning and organizing my room, cleaning out all of the junk that is still in the Buick so it can be sold, inventorying my Mary Kay, cleaning the bathroom, getting all laundry done, getting my taxes done, FAFSA completed, donating items to Goodwill or Salvation Army, and working on my class work. We'll see how much of the list I can get done. Hopefully it will ALL be done when I go back next week so nothing is hanging over my head to still get done.

Spring Break is near!!

Only 4 more school days and Spring Break will be here!!!! Yahooooooooooo! I can hardly wait this year. I know all I'm planning to do is work on school work, clean, and get some of my to do list accomplished, but I am so ready for this break from the kids. It seems like they have been ready for the break for weeks.

Last week we reached a milestone. We completed the TAKS writing test for this year. Yea!! I can cut back on the amount of writing we do each week in class and not feel like I am beating a dead horse with some of the students. Now only 2 tests remain- reading and math. At least this means I will only be tutoring before and after school one day a week for math. It is killing me to be there from before 7 a.m. until after 4:30 more than once a week so I decided to cut back and only tutor math once a week. Hopefully my kids will do well. If not I'm sure I'll hear about it at the end of the year.

In my school news, my professor says we are over half finished with the class by turning in draft 2 of our paper. I don't know how he can feel that way unless I truely screwed the paper up when I turned it in. I should get my feedback and grade Wednesday or Thursday. I shall just have to wait and see the results. Next draft is due at the end of the month so I guess it's time to start planning and get my rear in gear.

Our campus biggest loser contest ends tomorrow. I don't think I have a chance at the $230 but who can tell. Maybe everyone will gain 5 pounds this week. :) No, I doubt it will happen but I know I could have done better. I have to stop stress eating. Gee I can't imagine what stress I have had this year!!

In other news I got George Strait tickets to give to my mom for her birthday but I can't tell her yet (birthday is at the end of May and concert is June 6th). She really wanted this for her birthday and I wouldn't mind seeing this concert for myself. I hope it is worth the almost $250 it cost for the two tickets (that doesn't include parking). Ticketmaster said they were out of parking passes that cost $38 a piece so we will either have someone drop us off and pick us up or park way out in the boonies and hike in to the concert. I tried winning Kenny Chesney tickets today and was sooo close. I think I was caller 11 or 12 and they wanted caller 10. Oh well, I'll just have to keep trying.

Sorry if I seem to be rambling a little (or a lot) but it has been a while since I updated my blog so there was a lot of information to fill in.