3 days to go

well, i spent my $100 from uncle sonny today. i really got some good stuff for my classroom. i find it hard to believe that school starts monday and the weirdness of school has already begun. i have a meeting on monday that is actually a training session but it's for MATH! i happen to teach language arts, go figure. to cap it off i'm supposed to bring math manipulatives. HELLO, i am a language arts teacher!!!!
school sometimes can just make no sense at all.

we took our animals to the vet today which is always an adventure. our three boys are all grown up with lives of their own so we replaced them with 4, yes 4, cats and a dog. when we go to the vet they have to schedule us for about 45 minutes so everything gets taken care of. when we opened the cat carrier all the cats come out onto the table. our vet said she had never had a table full of cats before. we really got tickled because our smallest cat, sweetie by name, growled the entire time. she sounds like a diesel engine! she also is the one who fills the air with cat fur. she's like a feline porcupine.

tomorrow is another busy day. i have a doctor's appointment at 8:30am (what was i thinking!), then i go with keith to blairsville for his library board meeting, then back home for a hair appointment (those roots have got to go) and then maybe, just maybe, a "moomie."

well, i hear my bed calling and my youngest just im-ed me to go to bed, so i think i will. talk to you later....

waning days of summer

if you are a teacher it always comes as a shock that summer is over and school is about to start and you haven't done nearly all the things that you had planned! but on the other hand, and there is always another hand, i will be glad to be back on a routine.

teachers are an unusual breed b/c we don't make resolutions at new years but at the beginning of each school year. so with that in mind, here are my resolutions:
1. i will do my best not to get caught up in the "drama" at school
2. i will avoid, to the best of my ability, gossip
3. i will remember that all parents are not stupid
4. i will be thankful that i have a job that i know is what i'm supposed to be doing, i don't have to ask why i am on this earth

i truly am excited about this year. i get to "promote" with my class from last year. we don't have to go through the beginning of year rituals, what is this teacher like, how much can i get away with, how much homework do we have, etc. we can hit the ground learning!!! and i am back in 5th grade, hooray! oh, btw, i am now certified to teach middle school reading so i will be applying for middle school next year if all goes well. of course i won't know what's available but we'll see...

Mission Trip

we just returned from our mission trip this past saturday. i forgot how much energy it takes to be with teenagers 24/7! we were really blessed by going on this trip. it's hard for me to believe that this time last year we only had 4 youth. we took 10 on the trip. i also forgot how much fun these trips can be.

as i was reflecting on this mission trip i realized how fortunate and truly grateful to God i am for several things. one, i have a good education which allows me to have a good job and thus have some financial security. two, i have made some right choices in my life that have made my life a little easier. as i watched the people at the mission we worked at (we handed out bags of groceries)i realized that had i not chosen to finish high school and go on to college i could have been one of those people who came for help to the mission. their opportunities for employment are so limited in this area. they are either coal miners or laborers and with the economy the way it is there are just not that many unskilled jobs. they were so poor and many of them so destitute. i believe very strongly that education is the way out for many people who are going nowhere fast. because i chose to go to school i chose a different life for myself. i also believe that God has blessed me with people in my life who encouraged me and were my cheering section when it was not easy to go on. i am so thankful to God that He has led my life and directed me. i could so easily have been one of those folks. they just made me realize that i have so much that i take for granted that shouldn't be taken for granted. sorry for the rambling....

west virginia is beautiful but i am very happy to be home. our summer is over and school is about to start. that should prove to be fodder for some interesting blogging later on.

well, it's late so i will close for now.

learning all the time

nathan told me that nobody could read my blog unless they were from mars b/c apparently i wrote in "wingding" which sounds like a language martians might use! i am going to see if this is better. btw, i did not choose wingding (or whatever it is). hopefully this will work.

family

well, my precious texas family is getting ready to return home. i will miss them terribly but it's time that all our lives return to normal, whatever that state is (lol). we have enjoyed having this time together. it's nice to actually be together rather than just talking on the phone. we hope to go visit them in october or december for christmas. we'll have to wait and see what the crazy gas and airline prices do. my beautiful granddaughter was a joy to have around. she may be ours but even so she is very intelligent, has a great sense of humor, and is very much her own person. she loves to ride horses, "playing" the piano, reading her books, being with her G-daddy and seeing patty puppy, and being with nonni to see the cats. we also had brenna's great grandmother here, keith's mom, so that was pretty good, too. it's nice that this house continues to be a place for family to gather. bj was home while nathan, kayla and brenna were here and we also went to matt and tasha's house for a cook-out. i loved seeing all my boys together.
i love my family!