:)

All right, as most of the people I've talked to know, I haven't been the happiest with my career choice. I've been down with teaching, and everything to do with it. Only after a few weeks into teaching out here in Vegas, I've wanted to come home and teach or just leave the profession altogether. Whether it was just the atmosphere of my first school, the behavior of my 5th graders, or the high stakes testing that's done in the upper grades, I just didn't like my job. When I found out that I was being moved to 1st grade this year, I was upset. I was thinking about moving back to Wisconsin again. There was too much drama to handle in the grade level, and I didn't like the fact I had to move to a lower grade. We all know I don't like crying in my classroom, and I wasn't about to deal with that again.
Now I'm halfway through my 1st year teaching 1st grade. When telling dad all about my class and such at the beginning of the year, he told me how he was so glad that I found something that made me happy and I was "out of the funk" I was in my first few years of teaching. I was taken aback that he would say I was in a funk previously. Looking back on the first half of the year, I know I was in a funk when teaching earlier. I'm having a good time with the kids, they tend to melt my heart each day. Today I had a meeting in the morning, and was back to my class by noon. I got back to the class before they got back from lunch, and was able to read the note the guest teacher left. She went on for 3 pages front and back of my notepad going on about what a good group I have. She told me that I had a great class, and they were all trained well. She even left me all of her phone numbers and her email address so I could contact her when I needed a sub again. I've never had that happen before! I don't think I ever had a sub return to any of my 5th grade classes. A lot of the other teachers have told me that I have a great class too. After having this class, I've renewed my love of kids and teaching. I'm kinda glad that this feeling has come back!

2008 in One Liners

*Realized I don't like high stakes testing.

*Loved having short weeks of school.

*Enjoyed her family coming out to visit. Dad's first trip to Vegas in 15 years happened in 2008.

*I started making up new words by combining 2 words, or just thinking up new ones.

*Went to many Happy Hours. Good times had by all.

*I got to sing and dance with a lounge act downtown. Achieved a life goal.

*Planned dad's 65th birthday long distance, and it helped keep her stress level down.

*I was really exhausted this year.

*I got to teach my students songs. Both 5th and 1st graders.

*Had a great Leap Day. Wish we had those more often. It'd be more fun shopping if there were more.

*I guess I spent a lot of time baking. That's ok with me.

*I went on many trips this year. Road trips and others. Road trip in California with the family, and then another one with a friend's family. Road trip home this summer. MANY trips to the obscure. Summer trip to DC. Good times had by all.

*I lived for the weekend a lot. A LOT.

*I was shocked when dad surprised both Sue and I for her birthday.

*I didn't enjoy when the AC at school wasn't working when it was 80-90 degrees out. You know, both near the end and beginning of school.

*I enjoyed celebrating holidays at the halfway point (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter).

*I got a lot of new nicknames throughout the year. Either from movies, or just from stupid things I've done.

*Solarcane. That's all I'm saying.

*Met a few B level celebs at the Mallards games back home.

*I seemed to be in better moods when I was back home. "Refreshed" "happy" "glad" "cheery" were words used a lot in her stati on her trips home.

*I spent a lot of time in Green Bay on trips home. Not a bad thing.

*When watching Women's Gymnastics during the Olympics, I got very pissed at the team from China. Really? 16? Maybe in 4 or 5 years.

*I had a lot of fun with my Vegas peeps this year!!

*I'm enjoying my school year this year.

Gaurdian Angel

It's been almost a year, and I think about her everyday. I miss her everyday. I move on a bit more everyday. This week I realized she's watching over me. Every time I would get down about teaching, I would hear, "Maybe you should try switching grades. Go down to a younger grade. You had a rough time with second grade, but at the school you're at, maybe it wouldn't be bad to try third or first." "Mom! I don't like the little ones. There's too much crying." At the end of the school year last year when I found out I was being moved to first grade, I thought my world was over in Vegas, and went back to my apartment to search for jobs back in Wisconsin. I asked someone to write a letter of recommendation for me to update credential files. All summer I dreaded coming back to Vegas. I dragged my feet about going back to school. Well, this week was my first week of school. I was really nervous, almost more than the students. It turns out that I like teaching the little guys (and gals). I know it's only the first week, and we're in the honeymoon stage, but it seems like a better fit for me. They like to do well for the teachers, and they do what you ask (most of them anyway). AND...I don't have as much grading in this grade. It's a lot easier for me to get done. By the end of the day on Friday, it seemed like I could hear her say, "I told you." I guess she did sometimes know what she was talking about. This year is going to be much better than the previous years. It's weird though since some of friends aren't at my school anymore, the ones that I was used to seeing everyday or going to happy hour with each Friday. I'll adjust.

Summer

This summer has gone by FAR too fast. I don't like that feeling. It feels like just the other day I was packing up to come home for the summer. I've been spending today thinking about where the time has gone. First week home: Milwaukee and Rhythm and Booms. Second week: bumming around Madison. Third Week: Green Bay. Fourth Week: Washington DC. Fifth Week: DC and recuperating from DC. Sixth week: Green Bay, dinner with friends, State Fair, Gary Coleman, Mustard Day. I can't believe I've been home for only 6 weeks! It feels like I've been here forever, and then some days it feels like I've only been here for a short amount of time.
I'll start out by saying this has been a great summer. I've gotten to see just about everyone I've wanted to see, and some more than I thought I was going to see. I got to see almost anyone in Green Bay. I was able to spend a whole week up there. I think that's the longest I've spent up there since I graduated from SNC. I helped a friend move into her new house, and was able to spend a bunch of time with her. It seems like she's always working when I come up to visit. It was nice to be able to spend time with her. I got to spend time with my friend and godson. He's getting SO big. I wish I were here so I could see them more often. I stayed with Adam, and made him leave his apartment when he hadn't left all day, as well as other things that got him away from school work. It was kind of like being back at SNC. I did help out when I read over his papers. So I wasn't a total distraction. And I got to see two friends that I'm not always able to see up there. I was able to meet them in Oshkosh too. I love the fact that we can just talk for hours about so many things when we all get together. I was glad that I was able to get back up there for 2 more days near the end of my trip. Being back up there made me realize how much I really miss being up there. I really hope that there are job openings up there soon!
Washington DC was fun. I saw many things, and still didn't see EVERYTHING out there. I did get to see Dan, and that was awesome. I miss hanging out with Dan. He's always a good person to chillax with. I think my dad, sister, and I were tired of each other after 9 days in DC. But we all had a good time.
I've done so many "down home" things this summer here in the Madison area. The baseball games where I met Beaver from "Leave it to Beaver" and Gary Coleman. Going to the National Mustard Day celebration in Mount Horeb with my sisters and Adam. State Fair in Milwaukee. These are things I can't find in Vegas. Oh well. Some day I'll get back here to good ol' Wisconsin.

It's been awhile since my last update. I'm just sitting here on the couch basking in the AC on a Saturday morning. I don't like growing up...my body doesn't let me sleep too late anymore. I think I can sleep in about an hour later than a normal school day.
Anyhoo...I only have 17 days left with my students. I can't believe the school year is almost over with. It seems to fly by some days, and then drag on other days. This week just seemed to drag on. I don't know if I complained at the beginning of the year about my AC not working in my classroom, but it took them a good couple of months to get it working correctly for more than 2 days. Well, this week the AC decided to stop working. It decided to stop mid-day on either Monday or Tuesday, and we complained so we could get it fixed. It was working the next morning, but at about 9:15 as I was working with my small reading group, I heard a loud pop as I saw my lights surge and couldn't hear the AC anymore. That wasn't cool. It was SO hot in my classroom! It was so bad, that when you walked outside to the 90 degree weather, it was cooler out there. It was like that all week. Thursday morning I complained to one of my admin, and all I was told is that I could use certain areas of the building at certain parts of the day. As I was out talking to my admin, everyone else who was having problems (There are 5 rooms around me that don't have AC either) came out to complain too. We asked if they could at least get us fans (since there are no windows that open up to the outside in our school) to cool our rooms down a little bit. They told us we didn't have the budget to get fans. At that point, my room as well as the three connected to it, opened our doors to circulate air and the back rooms opened their doors to the playground to try and get air in. I emailed my sister to ask her to "be a concerned parent" and call our district region to complain about the conditions in our classrooms. I was coming home with headaches each night, and my kids were complaining of being nauseous and getting headaches too because of the heat. Luckily, Friday morning I was told by my admin that I HAD to move my class to another room because of parent complaints. I got to go to the PE room (we don't have gyms in elementary schools out here), where there were no tables or chairs. My kids did their work laying on the floor. I was sitting in one of the only chairs trying to teach yesterday, when I decided I could get on the floor for them too. They decided to complain about how cold it was in the room. I couldn't believe it! This whole thing with the AC is just ridiculous. Back home, I know we didn't have AC in school, but it didn't get up to 80 or 90 for too long in the beginning or end of the school year. Plus, we had windows that we could open and get a breeze going in. Ok, enough ranting.
I'm getting excited about summer. I'll be heading home mid June. Sue and I haven't decided if we're going to drive or fly. I think we're going to drive just so we have an extra car at home. I can't wait to see everyone, and be able to spend some time at home. This year I want to get up to the Dells for some Noah's Ark action though. Last summer just didn't feel right without going there!

Mom

It's been 6 months now since she died, but I got a few good reminders of her today. When dad came out at the beginning of the month, he brought out a bunch of things from the condo he had found after we had left. He went on a cleaning spree, and pretty much put everything he didn't know what to do with in these boxes to figure out what we should do with them. Today Sue and I decided to go through the boxes (since he's leaving tomorrow morning). As I was going through some things, I came across a bunch of pictures of my friends and I mom kept for herself. There was one that she kept on the side of her old fashioned desk so she could look at it while she was laying in bed. There was another one of a few of us at an event that I emailed her while in college. And there were the pictures of my godson that she kept on her dresser for the few months they were both alive together. This reminded me of the part of my eulogy when I talked about mom knowing, and understanding, that my friends were also my family. And how she always wanted to make sure she was part of that family too. Seeing these pictures (which most were huge print outs on normal 8.5x11), reminded me of mom, and her constant questioning of how my friends were. It's nice, because dad has taken that place. He'll ask me if I've heard from certain people, how others are doing, and how often I talk to my friends. I never knew how much dad also liked it when my friends were around. Guess I'll have to be home for the fireworks this year so everyone can come down!

Taking a break to update

I didn't realize I haven't updated in about 4 months. There's not much to say. Life has been okay. Christmas has come and gone, and so has my birthday. It was weird not having mom there on both occasions. I'm doing okay with it all. I have those days when I wish I could call her and tell her about things, but I know I can't. I can call dad, but I know mom would appreciate these little things more.
Dad came out for my birthday. This was his first time out here in 15 years! My has this city changed! It was a good long weekend. I had staff development the Friday before my birthday, so I was able to meet up with my sister and dad for lunch before they went off and gallivanted around town. We went to dinner with my godparents, and then down to the Strip to show him NY, NY. He loved it! We were all wiped that night since dad's plane didn't get in until 1 that morning. The day of my birthday, I took dad on a driving tour of "my" Vegas. I showed him my current school, my old school, my old apartment, and a few other of my places. Then it was time to pick up stuff for my birthday party. It was a good time. I made the spinach dip and provided the cake, everyone else brought something to share so I didn't have too much clean up after everyone left. It was really nice to have dad meet my Vegas friends. Now when I talk to him, he knows who I'm talking about. We all hung out until about 8 or so. After that dad, my sister and I headed to Fremont Street since dad hadn't been there with it all being covered and such. It was weird when dad bought me my birthday yard-long. Then they told the bartender that it was my birthday, so he made sure to put whipped cream up the straws of my drink. The way I was eating the whipped cream wasn't right with dad next to me. We made our way up to the Plaza, with a few stops to gamble, and I had finished about half of my yard-long. We got into the Plaza and played a game, and ended up winning some money. We meandered further into the Plaza, and decided to try our hand at another machine. While we were playing, we were listening to the lounge act. I mentioned to my sister and dad that I had a life long goal of becoming a lounge act here in Vegas (I think that one came up in late high school or early college). Three minutes later, I'm being dragged up to the stage where they were pulling up some guy since it was his birthday. I actually got on stage and sang and danced!! What?! This girl? The one who can't sing unless there's a radio or she's alone?! I couldn't believe it, but my sister got some of it on her cell phone. That night will live in infamy. Dad loved, my sister loved it, and everyone who's seen the video, loved it.
Other than that...life's been kinda hectic at school with our high stakes testing being pushed up by a month. It's all test prep we're doing in our classrooms for the next 10 school days. I can't wait til the testing is over. School will be so much better. It sucks though because dad's going to be out here at the height of stress...it'll be good though since I'll have him to help me de-stress...Plus, my brother and his wife are going to be out in about a week, and then my other sister's flying out mid-March to hang out. Dad and us girls are heading to California for our Spring Break. Dad has it all planned out...it'll be a good time...