Random

Last Post of the Night!

Last night we order Domino's pizza. Here is HH's pizza:

Apparentely, they aren't too big on cutting the pizza!

I also made Hungry Girl's Yum Yum Brownie Muffins! I saw this while I was half-awake on the sofa yesterday. It only had two ingredients, and I looked it up on the internet to make sure I didn't miss anything. Talk about easy....and they were delicious!

The only sad part was I wanted them to turn out looking "prettier."  But, the ones on TV and her website had this rough look to them as well.  That made me feel better.  The neighbors in my condo are happy, and so my coworkers tomorrow will be.

Spring Break Destination

HH has a job interview in South Dakota.  We will be flying into Pierre, but won't be near Mount Rushmore.  I'd love to see that while we were there.  South Dakota is a state I've never visited before.

Student Teacher's Last Day

I really LOVED this student teacher.  She rocked it every single minute of every single day!  I let Dierra take pictures because she does the best job with the camera. 

Her husband is in the military, and is getting ready to be commissioned as an officer.  She may not be able to start teaching right away, so I went the home decorating route for her gifts.

I was pretty loony for needing sleep at this point!

HH and the arrival of the gourmet cupcakes!

I was feeling so bad I didn't even eat a cupcake!

I taught a shared reading lesson this morning about the origin of April Fool's Day.  I started the lesson by telling the students about what HH had done to me last April Fool's Day.  As soon as he got there, they all wanted to hear the story from him!

Our new student teacher starts tomorrow. 

Tuesday Night with a Favorite Student

HH and I took one of my favorite students out to dinner and to go shopping on Tuesday night.  It had been planned since Christmastime, but with everything with my BIL, we were just now able to do it.  Here are a few pictures:

Never ask HH to do a crazy pose, you just might see a mouthful of food!

Shopping time!  She wore several of the outfits we got her to school the rest of the week!

This student is having a second major hip surgery next month.  HH and I have not planned what we are going to do for her while she is in the hospital, but I want it to be something big.  She is the most precious girl.  I've never met someone so sweet and with such a strong personal desire to improve herself.  I feel priviledged that I've been able to teach her.

Being Sick

HH and I have spent the weekend sick.  On Thursday, I thought I was having an allergy bout, and went to bed at 6:30, got up around 9:30, and went back to bed at 10:00 for the night.  Friday, I felt horrible.  The only reason I went to school was because it was my fabulous student teacher's last day.  I wanted to give her the cool party I had planned.  I should have gone to Urgent Care right after work, but instead I went to bed.

I was second in line for Urgent Care on Saturday morning.  I have bronchitis.  I got a Zpac, and some heavy duty cough medicine.  I slept most of Saturday away.  It was the best sleep I'd had in days.  I plan on doing nothing but resting today as well. 

I will announce later on today our Spring Break plans.  We are waiting on a phone call to confirm things, but it has to do with HH and a job prospect.

Merit Based Pay and Value Added Assessments....Welcome to the Future

Why It Is Important To Marry a Good Speller

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

I'm teaching about the Bill of Rights.  I am talking the kids about cruel and unusual punishment.  One of my boys Tyler asks, "So, do all this happen in the 1980s?"  The kids never fail to give me good material!  :)

Actual Conversation with my Brother Today:

"Are you mad at me?" (We haven't spoken in a week, and I left him two voicemessages.)

***LONG PAUSE***

"Should I be?"

Haha! 

The Place I am in Now...

I've debated blogging on this for some time, but here goes...

I need to do something different.  I love kids.  I love teaching.  I love working with at-risk/high poverty kids.  It is the "everything else" that has beaten me down.  I am a big follower of what is coming down the pike from legislation proposals in other states.  I asked my best friend a few weeks back if I was just losing my edge, or was there significantly more to do (that doesn't involve children) than there used to be?  We are both very Type A people and hard workers.  She affirmed that the work load has significantly increased.  This has pretty much eliminated all the extra things I used to do for my kids, like personal encouragement letters every two weeks, I just don't have the time.  I've done 175 hours of professional development since June.  That is 25 DAYS worth of meetings folks.  At night, I end up spending two hours working on school stuff.  My husband truly gets the "worst" me every evening.  My body is beaten down.

I am fortunate to work for a large school district where even in economic times like these, there are always positions open in other areas.  It seems to be much slimmer pickings than in past years, but there are things out there.  They are hiring two people for a position that I am highly qualified for.  I asked people to serve as references last week, and they all said yes.  I redid my resume to make it very specific for this position.  I've been very proactive in my ten years, and have participated in almost everything that I've qualified to be a part of.  I have a good professional relationship with two of the people who will be making the decision for this job.  I told my husband that I should be in their top ten, and wouldn't see any reason why I shouldn't get the first interview.  Yet, I don't want to get my hopes up.  I know that my references have received the email to fill out about my qualifications.  Three of the five have completed it.  The deadline for applications is Sunday at 4:30.  I would say within two weeks of that date, they would start scheduling for interviews.  I am very hopeful.

Photo Session Proofs

I was so surprised to have a voice message last night saying that Abigail had completed the editing of our photos today, and they were available to see!  I should have the entire CD by the end of the week.  Without further ado:

Be sure to visit Fleur de Lis Photography blog!