It's almost over! :(

My break has been really uneventful so far. We got more snow two nights ago, but fortunately not nearly as much as they had originally forcasted. I finally got to go see my godson. He's getting so big! They just moved into their new house, which is very nice and has less stairs! As for me, I finally got my component questions done for the observation I have when I go back to school. I still need to work on the lesson plan a little bit and tweak the actual lesson, but I can do that fairly easily. I've been sleeping a lot, which will probably catch up to me when I actually have to get up and go to work at 7 AM, but it will be ok. I don't know what's on the agenda for today - maybe going furniture shopping with my mom. Our kitchen looks nice though - it's only been 27 years since it's been redone...

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I think I may finally be on the downside of the craziness. We had Christmas with both sides of my family on Sunday, since we had a blizzard on Saturday. It was nice to get to see my family and hang out with everyone again. On Monday, we drove down to Stillwater, OK to spend Christmas with my sister, since she was working at the dairy. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting. We had chili Monday night and opened presents, and Tuesday we had roast and just watched Christmas movies. It was nice to just kind of hang out and not do anything.

Only about a week before I head back to Iowa. This break is going to feel entirely too short. I hope I get to see some of my friends before I leave, but I understand that everyone is busy.

It's supposed to snow more this week, I just hope it doesn't snow when I'm trying to get back to Des Moines!

Blizzard!

I was originally going to come home today, but the weather was supposed to be bad today, so I came home last night after school. That turned out to be a really good idea. When I woke up this morning and looked outside, I saw a blizzard! The snow was blowing so hard that we couldn't see the houses behind us! I don' t think I've ever been in a blizzard - it was very interesting. It was a good day to stay inside and watch movies and grade myths. I have one more class's myths to grade. I was kind of disappointed that the classic Christmas movies, like It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas, weren't on. We had to cancel Christmas with my mom's side of the family, but we are having it tomorrow. However, my sister won't be there because she has to go back to Oklahoma to be at the dairy at 3:30 in the morning. We are going there on Christmas Eve and Christmas to be with her. My friend wasn't able to fly in because of the weather. That makes me sad because I was really excited to get to see her. Maybe we'll find some time at some point...

Have a safe and happy Christmas!

Two More Days!

Two more days until Christmas Break! I am definitely ready for it. The kids are starting to be a bit crazy, and I'm really not sure what to do about it... I think they need a break from school too.

I spent 3 1/2 hours grading myths Monday night. I'm really glad that my co-teacher took my co-lab class, because there's no way I would have gotten them all finished in time to hand them back so the students could see them and work on them. The final drafts are due tomorrow. They were pretty good for the most part, so I hope I'll see some improvement on the ones I had to do some major fixing on.

I'm going to be in my dance studio's recital! On Sunday I asked Missy and she said she'd find me a part :) I'm excited. I'm not on pointe anymore, so it won't be anything big, but it will still be something...

Break is going to be kind of crazy. I have Christmas with my family on Saturday and Sunday, Monday and Tuesday we'll be in Oklahoma with my sister, Monday and Wednesday I'm going to try to see some of my friends, and then I'll be driving back on Wednesday, the 2nd. I originally had an appointment at 7:30 on Wednesday, but it got cancelled. I guess I won't be seeing that doctor any time soon then.

I still need to wrap my Christmas presents. That's tonight and tomorrow's activity, along with packing.

Christmas Shopping Done!

I finally have most of my Christmas shopping done! I only have to buy a present for my godson, and he's 2 so he won't really care if I give him something after Christmas. Amazingly, it didn't even really take me that long. I went into the stores knowing exactly what I wanted, I found it, bought it, and was out of there! It probably helped that I went on weeknights pretty much right after school and not on the weekend. Now I just have to wrap them all. That was my plan for tonight, but it didn't happen.

This weekend is kind of full. Tomorrow I have a Christmas party right after school, and then Brenda and I are going to see the Rockettes! I've heard the show is really good, so I'm really excited about it! Saturday evening is another school Christmas/Holiday party. Sunday, I have to go to dance since I'll be stuck grading essays on Monday night so the kids can have them back on Tuesday to revamp and revise. Fortunately, next week is going to be fairly easy, minus the grading 52 myths thing.

I'm getting excited for break. I talked to one of my friends today that I haven't seen in forever, and she's going to be home when I'm home! Since my schedule is really crazy, and she's leaving on the 27th, we can really only see each other on the 26th, but as long as we get to catch up for at least a little bit, that will be great!

I have to go make sure I have all of my food and everything ready for tomorrow. It's going to be an interesting weekend!

Snow Day!!!

I received a call at 5:45 this morning telling me that I did not have to get up and go to school today. I happily turned my alarm clock off and went back to sleep :) I am glad that we did not have to get up and break our cars out of their ice prisons and try to get to school to teach at a decent time. I went out after lunch today to get the ice off of my car, and it took me a good 30 minutes. My car had about 1/4 inch of ice all around it. I couldn't get my driver's side door open - I had to get into the passenger side and force the driver's side open. It was fun. It was very interesting when the ice just came off in sheets...

It only snowed until about 12 today, and then it stopped. When I last looked at the radar, the storm has stayed south of us, so it doesn't look like we'll be getting any more snow tonight. That doesn't bother me a whole lot. I was going to go Christmas shopping today, but I think I'll just stay inside. The roads look like they're pretty clear now, but I just don't want to risk it. That, and I'm perfectly comfortable in my pajama pants and sweatshirt inside my warm apartment. I'll try tomorrow.

Nothing else exciting is going on. I made cookies today and I was going to try to clean my apartment. We'll see how well that goes :)

Christmas is Coming!

It's only two weeks until Christmas Break. It seems like this year has just kind of flown by - I can't tell you where all of the time has gone! One of the kids told me today that she didn't like break because she didn't get to see her friends. While I understand the sentiment, and kind of feel that way about my friends here, I need a break and I need to go home and be with my family and get some sleep! It will be nice to just be able to sleep and stay in a warm house and not have to go outside if I don't want to. Granted, it will be warmer (I hope!) in Kansas than it is in Iowa, but it will still be nice to be able to stay inside the house.

We're supposed to get nasty weather tonight - ice with snow on top of it. That should be interesting. The kids are convinced we'll have a snow day tomorrow, but I don't really think that's going to happen. If we get a snow day, we have to make it up at the end of the school year in May. I think it's ridiculous that we do not have at least one snow day built into the schedule. Even Kansas has snow days built in! I guess we do get more ice than snow, which is generally more dangerous, but still. Iowa gets a lot more snow than we do, and they don't allow for that potential of school having to be cancelled for the weather...

We are starting to write myths in class this week. I really like it because I don't have papers to grade every day and can focus on getting some other things done after school - like Christmas shopping! I haven't gotten any of that done yet and I have to be ready by the 22nd because of all the Christmases I have in a row with my family and friends. I was going to go tomorrow - we'll just have to see how the weather turns out. Next Monday is going to be interesting with the myths because we are collecting them all and having them ready for them again on Tuesday... Talk about a long long day. I only have 52 students, so I hope it won't take me too long. The other English teacher is going to be a little swamped I think. I hope it isn't too bad.

I went to The Nutcracker on Saturday. It was pretty good. I was surprised that they had their guest dancers do "Snow" instead of being the Cavalier and the Sugar Plum Fairy, but whatever works for those producers. I kind of want to get back on pointe and try out for their Spring Show, but that would be a lot and I can just see myself stressing out. That, and I haven't been on pointe for 5 years. It's going to take more than 3 weeks to get back in shape for that... I do miss performing though. Maybe at some other point in my life will I be able to do that...

Tired!

The kids are wearing me out! I am just so tired all of a sudden. I'm seriously thinking about taking a "mental health" day sometime soon. I like the routine, but at some points I just feel like I need a break. I can't quite figure out what it is. The kids are starting to break out of the routines we've established and practiced since the beginning of the year. I don't know if it's because they're more comfortable now or if they're just as ready for Christmas break as I am. I don't mind talking and noise in my classroom, but lately it's just really bugged me when they don't do what I ask them to do or they're talking when they're supposed to be reading. Part of it may be the weather - it's colder and darker every day. I guess the thing I have to remember is why I'm there... that, and I really can't think of a good day to take my mental health day! ;)

Our principal told us today that he is retiring in June. That makes me a little sad. I like him a lot. Next year will be interesting because he is retiring and so is one of our deans, so it will be a lot of administrative turnover. It will all turn out o.k., it will just take some adjusting.

I have to make cookies tonight for our holiday get together thing tomorrow. I'm going to try to make them after Advent services tonight. I really just feel like I need to wind down, and church has always done that for me. The cookies I'm making are no-bake cookies, so they shouldn't be too hard to make and shouldn't take that long. I have a meeting at 7 tomorrow morning, so I hope they don't take that long!

It's supposed to snow 3-5 inches tomorrow. That will be fun. I just hope it's a nice snow and the roads aren't too messy.

Band Concert!

I just got back from the 7th Grade Band Concert. They sounded really good. I think that the gold team did the best, but they all sounded good. I sometimes wish I'd had the opportunity to play an instrument when I was in grade school - I didn't because we didn't have a band program when I was there - but then again, I have to ask myself when I would have found the time to play an instrument, much less practice one between school, soccer, volleyball, and dance. Oh well. My sister played the flute for a few years, but didn't play much after grade school. My mom tried to teach us to play the piano. I can sight read well enough to get a melody out, but once the songs get to where the bottom and the top aren't the same tempo, my fingers and my brain don't want to cooperate. I guess that's why I dance instead - at least I can make all of those limbs go where they are supposed to when they are supposed to!

This weekend was pretty uneventful. It iced/snowed on Saturday, making it so that I refused to go anywhere if I had to drive. Sunday was better because the roads were clear and I was able to go to dance. Other than that, I got some grading done and caught up on some reading. I really needed to get some Christmas shopping done, but it didn't happen. I hope I can find some time next weekend to go, because otherwise I don't know when it will get done. I can't believe it's only 3 weeks until Christmas break! I'm sure the time will fly by - it's been a fast 4 months of teaching already.

I haven't heard anything about my great-grandma, so I'm assuming she's doing o.k.

I hope the snow stays away, because then maybe I'll be able to get something taught and my classroom won't implode...