back in Columbus

I've been having a good time here in Columbus! Jesse had another business trip but this time I decided to come along. I took off 2 personal days from work.

This morning I slept in til 9. Then I went downstairs for breakfast. The hotel has a nice hot breakfast buffet.. and it is expensive! Jesse's company gave him 2 complementary tickets for breakfast...and since he's not a breakfast eater, he gave them to me! I had a fresh waffle, fresh pineapple, grapes, chocolate soy milk, and coffee. Tomorrow I'm planning on eating an omelet.

I spent the whole day shopping. I bought a really cool Toulouse Lautrec tshirt. I spent a long time shopping in a huge forever21. I bought a few things in there. I went to just about every shop in the Polaris Mall.

I may have ran out of things to do for tomorrow!

Tonight Jesse and I ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I ordered a fettuccine with chicken and sun dried tomatoes in Parmesan sauce. Sounded like it would be something that I LOVE.....but it was nasty! I never send stuff back...but this was bad. I didn't want to eat all those calories when it was bland and kinda burnt tasting. yuck. So, I sent it back and I got a Four Cheese Pasta and it was AWESOME. It had a scoop of ricotta cheese in the middle...and it was loaded with cheese and a yummy marinara sauce. I loved it!!

Jesse order Chicken Belaggio. It may have been the best fried chicken breast that I've ever had. Then it had a yummy spaghetti pasta with oil and basil plus it had prosciutto and arugula on top.

Can't wait til I get up and eat some yummy breakfast! goodnight!

no time to breathe.

Oh my goodness... I haven't blogged in forever! I think this may have been my longest hiatus ever!

I'm really really busy....especially at school. I wish I had another hour of planning a day. I feel like I'll never get the stuff done that I want/need to get done. I'm always having to work on stuff at home. Its a pain. I don't get paid for that time and Jesse gets upset with me working at home, too.

I've been really stressed lately. Mostly about my grad school classes.... Mostly my Edf 616 class because the Professor isn't very clear...and we have to write this big paper. We have to find 6 research articles and I was having a really hard time finding what I needed... I think I've finally got my articles now. Its due on Oct. 16th so I should probably get started.

This week, I had my principal come in and do an observation of me teaching this week, too. I had to send a student out of my room. I had to give a student after-school detention. I also broke up a verbal girl fight where the girls were so angry that they were shaking. Its been a crazy week.

Jesse was out of town again this week. Just from Monday to Thursday this time. Next week I took off 2 personal days so I can go to Columbus with him! I'm really excited about that! We are trying to figure out where to eat out while we're there. I kinda wanna go to Macaroni Grill or the Cheesecake Factory. I'm really glad that I'm going to get a couple of days to chill and relax. I hope the weather is nice!!

With all this stress...it was bad timing for the health screening that we had at school today. I signed up for it because if you have good numbers PEIA will pay me 50 bucks! However, I've never given blood for ANYTHING before and I was seriously nervous. I had to squeeze the hand of a large, old, male nurse. But...there was absolutely no reason to be nervous. It was easy! It barely hurt at all.

BUT......when I looked at the tube of blood...it sorta freaked me out. Physically I was fine, but seeing my blood kinda messed me up. I can't stop thinking about it. Is that normal??????? Seeing that much of my own blood made me feel real...like mortal....like someone could squish me and I would bleed and die. It's not like I didn't know this before, but seeing the blood just made me seem more real somehow.

feeling...better

I was totally sick yesterday. BLAH. Felt horrible!! Last night I started feeling sooo much better. I took some Tylenol Cold medicine and it helped but it makes me feel all yucky and disconnected. It makes me feel like my brain doesn't work properly and my reflexes feel slowed. I hate that feeling! I slept much better last night. This morning I'm still feeling pretty good. I'm not back 100% yet, but I'm here at school. I'm making it through.

My sub seemed to do a good job, she complimented me for being very organized and said she would come back to sub for me any time!! :) Thats always a good thing! I know as a sub, that if you don't really mean that, you don't say it. You never want to go back to a bad place.

So, thats good ...since I'm going to be out of town for 2 days the week after next. I'm going to need a sub!! I'm going with Jesse to Columbus for his business meetings. I'm excited! :) We haven't been to Columbus since we left in Dec. 2003. I'd like to go to church on Wednesday night, but... we'll be headed home. We both have to work on Thursday morning.

I'm in the Art office right now and I just woke up. hahaha. I decided to take a little nap. It was nice.

Its almost time for 2nd...gotta go

way too busy to blog!

Oh my goodness. I'm so busy lately that I have to write a post-it note to myself to remember to brush my teeth.

At school I'm always trying to keep my head above water. I feel like I'm always behind and running to catch up. I don't ever have a minute to spare!

My classes have been going pretty well. I'm learning as I go. I still have to find better ways to manage my materials. Eventually I'll find a system that works.

I'm also taking grad classes right now so that has kept me busy while I'm home. Of course, I've still been trying to work out every day....which I'll admit is a challenge!

This past weekend Jesse got his new 47" tv. So, I had planned on having a big football party. I made a TON of finger food. I made pepperoni rolls, sausage balls, cocktail meatballs, cheese ball, cinnamon pretzels, fiesta pinwheels, honeybun cake and homemade vanilla ice cream! It was a little crazy over here being that there were 25+ people and at least 10 kids. The kids didn't really have a place to play so it was a little rowdy.

Last night I started feeling crappy...with a sore throat and sore back. Jesse had been sick all weekend. He gave it to me. I. feel. awful.

So, I got plans ready for a sub. and I'm taking the day off tomorrow. I can't wait to get in the bed and sleep alllllllllllllllllll day tomorrow. I'm beat.

much better day!

Today was a better day... I felt really good about how my classroom worked today. I had to take one of my trouble makers in 4th block out in the hall and have a little conversation. It helped a lot. :)

After school I stayed a little while and fixed all my crazy cords from my projector, computer, ethernet cord, printer, etc. that were all over the place. I got my printer hooked up finally (since I finally found the right cords in the Art Office! :) I even have some ink for it YAY! Tomorrow I just need to stick in cartridges in there and I should be set. I had to download the drivers from http://www.hp.com/.

I was sleepy when I got home, so I just didn't feel like working out. Instead I decided Jesse and I would have an early dinner and then go for a walk. So, thats what we did. It was such a beautiful evening! I miss our really long walks we used to take when we were both unemployeed. :( Tonight's walk was probably only 2 miles or so.

Jesse has to go out of town soon for about 3 nights. He's gotta go to Middletown, Ohio for training for his job. :( I'm upset about this, but I'll make it through.

at school

Right now I'm at school. I'm sitting in the Art office trying to get myself prepared (instructionally & mentally) and ready to face the day. I'm liking my 2nd block a lot, even though its my biggest class. I LOVE my Art II class, which is right after lunch....but 4th block is tough. Today I'm going to be mean. They aren't bad...there are just a few who are trying to push my boundaries and today is the day that I'm going to set them straight.

Last night I stayed up far too late reading The Time Traveler's Wife. I'm getting down to the end and its making me nervous....its one of those books where you kinda know whats going to happen (or at least you think you do) and it adds a lot of suspense because you don't want it to happen. Its been a really strange but really good book.

Yesterday was the first day that the Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy book came out. Its called Catching Fire. I was going to buy it because I couldn't wait....but I reserved it at the library and I'm number 1 on the list!! So, I'm happy about that. I should get it pretty sooN! YAY! My library fine for The Time Traveler's Wife is up to about a dollar now. All in all, a bargain! Plus, I feel like I'm donating to the library. ;) I should finish it up tonight.

Today my students are beginning their first real art assignment. They are going to create a work of art using LINE (the first element of art) that is inspired by the Op-Art movement. We are going to talk about the expressive qualities of line and how a simple line can show emotions. Sound interesting? I hope it keeps them involved for a few days at least.

More about that later....gotta go!

blogs on the backburner

Thanks for all the concerned people responding to my overcrowded classroom situation. It hasn't been completely fixed, but for now the problem is under control. On Monday afternoon they created a new English 9 class. It took 5 kids out of my 4th block, leaving me with around 30. They also took 3 out of my 2nd block, leaving me with 33. It would be nice to get 2nd block down to 30, but its not that bad. There are a bunch of seniors in that class, so they are pretty well behaved and calm.

I have a kid in my 4th block that is driving me crazy and telling me that he loves me. He's one of the biggest smart-you-know-whats I've ever seen. There are a couple of crazies in there. Plus not very many of them can draw so it takes a lot of my attention to give independant help.

well...I gotta go bake a pizza now, but I'm sure I'll blog again soon. I miss it!!

blogs on the backburner