My Summer Schedule

1. Wake up
2. eat breakfast
3. exercise
4. surf the internet
5. wash the dishes/do laundry/tidy up the house
6. read a good book on the patio
7. surf the internet
8. prepare dinner
9. Hubby's home!
10. Enjoy our evening together

This schedule = AWESOME.

Summer

Lately I've been thinking that the world would be a much better place if more restaurants provided their customers with after-dinner mints. You have no idea how excited I get when I go to a restaurant and find out that they have them. Usually this results in Mike taking a gigantic handful of them for me. This may possibly be part of the reason why many restaurants do NOT give after-dinner mints. I will choose not to believe that, though.

Today I gave up a chance to go to Australia so that I can visit my family instead. Mike had a random opportunity to go to Australia for work for three weeks. He was going to take me with him. Unfortunately, this just so happened to fall on the exact couple of weeks that I was supposed to be visiting family. He's not going, and neither am I. I'd much rather see my family, anyway. :)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that my siberian husky has been spending countless hours outside laying on our patio basking in the sunlight lately. It just goes to show all those people who gasped in disbelief when we told them we got a husky. "A Husky?" they said, "in FLORIDA?!" (Note: Florida is where we lived when we got him) You know what's funny - not funny "haha", but funny "interesting" - is that labrador retrievers ALSO have two thick coats of fur and ALSO are meant to live in cold weather, but you never hear anyone saying, "You have a LAB? In FLORIDA?"

Mike and I recently became obsessed with the HBO series True Blood. It's actually pretty funny (haha) how many ideas the series ripped off of Twilight. But, for those people who were/are as obsessed with the Twilight series as us, it's a GREAT vampire fix. It's rated R to Twilight's PG. It's definitely for adults, so parents of teeny-boppers beware.

Other than all that, the only other major update I have is that I am just abso-posi-tively LOVING my summer vacation.

You Never Know

If you have read much of my blog, you know that something I am incredibly guilty of is complaining about my job as a teacher. It is often very hard to deal with the attitudes of junior high students. It's very easy to get frustrated and to think you're a failure as a teacher. I have my gripes with the school that I am at, the teaching staff and the administration. But, the one thing that really, truly makes my time worthwhile there are the relationships I form with the students.

There are a couple students who graduated last year who email me every now and then and let me know how high school is going for them. And, many former students stop in to see me pretty regularly just to say hi and to tell me about the "A" they got in English class or their victory on the soccer field. I feel so honored and blessed to be part of these students' lives, still, even after they have graduated.

My first year teaching, when I was the 7th grade homeroom teacher, I worked my butt off to help an especially troubled student, Gabriel. I thought I had made a breakthrough with him, and then the end of the year rolled around, and he ended up getting suspended the 2nd to last day of school because of a situation that occurred in my classroom. He didn't come back to the school the next year. I was worried about how he would fare in the public school system, and truly I felt like I had failed him.

His grandfather worked at the school though, so he came on campus every now and then with his grandfather that year, and those times he was there he was very rude and disrespectful to me. Again, I thought I had failed him, miserably. I was very upset about it.

And then this year arrived, and one day Gabriel was on campus again. He came to talk to me after school. He told me he had gotten caught with marijuana; he was in danger of being expelled. He was on campus with his grandfather for an entire week, and he stopped in to see me every single day, just to talk. Then one day he wasn't there anymore. But, his grandfather stopped me and thanked me for taking the time to talk to and spend with his grandson that week. He said it had meant a lot to Gabriel.

Gabriel didn't end up getting expelled. The high school gave him a second chance.

Today, I went to school to tie up the loose ends there, and Gabriel showed up at my door about 5 minutes after I got there. He wanted to tell me about the good grades he was getting, and how he has turned things around at school. He's staying out of trouble. He's really proud of himself he said, and so is his mom. He also came to ask me if he could borrow that book I had told him about...

I am so very proud of Gabriel, too.

And then there is Victor. Victor was the sweet, adorable 6th and 7th grader who turned into the angry, in-trouble-all-the-time, failing classes 8th grader. He thought I was out to get him. He thought I hated him. I tried so hard to get the message across to him that I cared about him and wanted the best for him. I didn't think I ever got that message across.

Until graduation morning.

The 7th graders put on a breakfast for the graduating 8th graders in which they each gave a speech about their 8th grader. They had interviewed their 8th grader beforehand, to find out information about them.

Victor was the very last person to have a speech given about him. And the very last line of that very last speech went something like this... "Victor is going to miss all the teachers at ASM.... especially Mrs. (Sorry)."

I was completely and totally shocked. There are many students who I wouldn't be the least bit surprised might say something like that... but Victor? It made my day. Literally. I looked at the other teachers and said, "I'm so happy to hear that, but so incredibly shocked."

"You never know," one of the teachers said.

I think about that now, because it's so very true.

You never know.

My Dream Week Realized

It's the strangest thing. This is officially my 3rd summer vacation since I've been teaching, but somehow, it feels like my very first.

I feel incredibly excited and burden free, and oddly that feeling seems very new to me.

I can't really figure out why? My only real explanation is that 1) This is the first summer vacation where Mike hasn't been either deployed the entire summer or about to deploy. He's here, and as far as I can tell, he's here to stay.

And

2) This is the first summer that I don't have plans right off the bat. Last year I had a conference the very first Monday after school let out, then I took a 3 week long trip filled with visiting family, then came back to SD only to have Mike deploy soon thereafter.

This year, I have no real plans for 3 whole weeks. I'm so excited, I don't even really know what to do with myself. I actually felt a little bit guilty for being lazy this weekend, but then I realized that I had nothing to feel guilty about. I have the entire week to catch up on laundry, house cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. etc. etc.

This week my plans are as follows: (in no particular order)

1. Relax by the pool with a good book
2. Do some laundry
3. Meet friends for lunch
4. Clean up the house a bit
5. Watch some daytime talk shows (a first in I don't even know how long!)
6. Go into school and tie up my loose ends there (at my leisure!)
7. Get back on a regular exercise schedule
8. Take my dogs on walks
9. Sleep In
10. Make a stop at my very favorite store in the entire world - TARGET!

And that about sums things up for me. It is really my dream week, and rather than the typical dread I normally feel on a Sunday night, I am so very excited to wake up on Monday morning and officially begin my week.

Lessons in Cleaning

This morning when Mike's alarm went off at 5:00 am, I decided to get up to make a quick stop in the restroom.

The lights were off, and I was still very groggy. A suitcase that I had yet to put back in its place after 8th Grade Camp jumped into my path to the bathroom, however, and before I knew it I was flat on my back on the floor.

It was quite a shock.

Luckily, however, the suitcase wasn't the only thing I had failed to put away. There was also a pile of clean laundry on the floor and thank God for that because it broke my fall.

The lesson in this is that you should make sure to clean up after yourself. But if you don't clean up after yourself make sure to leave lots of laundry on the floor in case you might need it to break your fall and prevent serious injury.

Lesson learned.

p.s.
In other news, today was the last day of school. Thank you God. This was one hell of a school year. Oh My Lanta was it ever.

Peace Out 2009 School Year

I really wonder why I ended up working where I work.

It is seriously the craziest place on the planet. I just cannot wrap my mind around the oddities of this place. It is a total and complete disaster.

Mentally, I am so done with that place.

Today on our 2nd to last day of school we had a staff meeting that lasted 3.5 hours in which we planned the calendar for next school year all the way until June. I was so delirious that I just sat in the back and cracked jokes with my comrades that we might as well go ahead and plan until the year 2020. I mean, seriously. Can't plans for next year be made NEXT YEAR? Nobody wants to sit there and talk about June 2010 when all we can think about is June 2009.

Beyond that, we had a teacher walk out of the meeting crying because she didn't get a contract for next year and another teacher refuse to sign her contract because she doesn't want to teach the grades the principal has assigned her to. Of course, the reason why people were making such scenes is because instead of giving us our contracts privately or possibly even discussing the terms of them with us individually she chose just to hand them out in a meeting with everyone present. I think she was worried about damage control. She didn't want a scene. Well, she had a scene, but I suppose it was more controlled than it would have been had she had the respect to discuss these matters with these people in private as she should have done.....

I took a $2000 pay decrease (we all got a 5% deduction this year due to our financial dire straits), so the fact that I only lost 2000 a year just goes to show that I was making peas and carrots to begin with. It's the teachers who have been around for 20 years who are feeling the pain on that one. Me? I'm actually still making 4000 more than when I started working there 3 years ago, so I figure I'm sitting pretty.

I just want to be done with this school year. I am so mentally checked out that it is not even remotely humorous. At 12:00 pm tomorrow all I will be able to comprehend will be the sound of cheering in my head when school will be officially declared OVER for the year.

All I have to say to this school year is hasta las vista and don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.

Fin.

Love This

I generally despise forwards, but I received this in my inbox the other day and have read it several times since. I absolutely LOVE it. My favorites are #'s
13,26, 29, & 40


Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written."

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful..

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."