My Classroom

Here, I posted pics of my classroom.

:-D

I know I haven't posted in a long time, and haven't been keeping up with it recently, but I've been busy with my new school. Anyone who knows me knows this past school year sucked, and I hated pretty much every moment at my old school. This is for everyone who ever worried about me and my thoughts on leaving the teaching profession:

I'm happy. I'm really happy I decided to stay out here for another year. Almost every day that I've been at the new school, I've been told by either the principal or assistant principal that they are very excited I'm there this year, and are so glad I came to the school. The principal even said that at the first staff meeting of the year. I was in my room the other day, and I smiled to myself as I looked around at "my room." I'm very happy.

It also helps that Amanda's out here. I know that I was anxious as to how this was going to turn out, but it's been great. We take good care of each other. I guess Amanda was having the same anxiety about living with me. We talked about it the other night. Good times.

To those who have been wondering about what the new place looks like, I'll be finishing up unpacking and getting things up this week, hopefully. It's just taking longer since I haven't really had too much time to do it.

Darn kids!

It's been awhile since I've been able to swim my laps. I'm a snob and will only swim laps when the pool is empty. I don't want to have kids swimming into me, or swim into something else if there's a couple in there. Lord knows we don't want any "Little Kristys" running rampant out there in the world. I woke up this morning (thanks for not calling at 4 am Adam!), and decided to get right into my suit. As soon as I had gathered my stuff for the pool, and was ready to sunscreen up, I looked out to find a little kid with his mom. What the h?! I would've gone down to the pool, but this is the same kid who had befriended Amanda Wednesday night, and then took our dive sticks. He saw us bring the sticks with us to the deep end where Amanda was going to play with them, and I was just going to balance on my funnoodle. We're a couple of big kids. He took one look at our dive sticks, and said, "I'm good at finding those." I ignored him, and I think Amanda did too. His parents were sitting in the hot tub, or were laying in the evening sun at the side of the pool. Then a few minutes later, he's over at our sticks, picking them up and seeing how many we have. At that point I told him he could use a couple of them. We have 9, but I didn't want the kid to take all of them. So, he starts throwing them in, and nearly hits me TWICE with MY OWN DIVE STICKS. And, needless to say, he didn't listen, and threw all of the sticks in the pool. His mom's just laying on a chair with her back to him, and his dad is more worried about talking to his wife. If my kid were in a pool with 2 grown people in there, I'd sure be watching him. I wouldn't want him bothering the adults. I guess that's just me. This kid then asked who could open their eyes underwater. I ignored, and just kept on swimming. Amanda, not so much. She told him he could. Then he wanted her to play with him. She kept telling him that she couldn't because she needed special glasses to see, and that she could barely see him at the side of the pool. He couldn't believe it. He kept asking her about it, and finally grabbed his mom's goggles for Amanda to use. At this point she told him that she still couldn't see with those, and to give them back to his mom...who was oblivious as to why he wanted to take her goggles, until he threw them back to her and scratched them. Good lord people, watch your damn kids! We finally went to the "hot tub" (not so much hot, as it was 10 degrees warmer than the pool) to wait til the kid left. That was after his dad joined in on the dive sticks. Nice. Maybe it's just me, but I would've asked where he had gotten the sticks if it were my kid.

This weekend was good. Friday night I think Amanda and I just sat around watching TV. I had made a "Kristy-tini", and she was drinking her drink. Saturday we got up early for teacher stuff. Office Depot was having a breakfast for teachers, and giving us extra off of our discount (can't remember what), so we headed over there first (they were also advertising free totes for teachers). Turns out, you had to buy something in order to get the tote. Amanda got post its, and I got colored pencils. Good times for a tote with some free stuff in it. We ran home to get directions to some other teacher stores on the other side of town (which is like driving half way to Milwaukee from Madison). Went to the "free" store for teachers in the district. Turns out it's free the first time, but then you have to have 50 cents or 1 dollar taken out of your check in order to earn more "points" to come back for more stuff. I found a bunch of stuff that I would've paid a crapload for at a normal teacher store, so I guess it was worth it. We then headed to the teacher store that Amanda had a gift card for, and I spent a bunch. Amanda walked out to the car complaining that she still had more than half left on the card. Uh-uh. We headed to a couple more places, and then home. She went to a BBQ for new teachers at her school, and I stayed home determined to get my room unpacked and organized...while doing laundry. All of a sudden, all of the shopping, and little bit of sleep, hit me like a Mac truck. I was exhausted! Amanda came home, and told me I looked sick. I took my temp, but I was fine. Ended up playing Scrabble and Battleship online with Adam...kicked butt with Battleship, but sucked it up with Scrabble. Headed to bed, had the chills, woke up at 7, took off my sweats, and went back to bed...for almost 4 more hours! I haven't slept that late since I've moved out here! Got up, watched Celebrity Fit Club and Flava of Love, then went out shopping again. Headed to the teacher store closest to us so we could go to the clearance section. Amanda still hasn't used up the gift card. If I had had that gift card, it would've been gone by the time we left the store yesterday. Oh well...it's easier for me since I have a "normal" class, I don't have to look for Spanish things for my room. I headed over to the house I will be dogsitting/housesitting at Labor Day weekend to meet the dogs last night. It was a good time. The dogs are awesome, and so is the owner. She's my godparent's son's girlfriend, so they were all there last night, and we had a good time.

It was a good weekend in all. I'm hoping to get unpacked and organized this week, and to have pics of the new place up this weekend. :)

I guess I'm "sporty" now...

That's what I was told yesterday. I had to navigate Dan through Oshkosh, and then he asked what I was up to. Well, I was just about to put on sunscreen before I went to the pool to do some laps....at 10 am. "Wow, you're getting sporty!" I'm sorry, but I want to go swim and no one's in the pool at that time. The kids start coming in at about 11, and I don't like sharing my pool with kids...they're annoying, and I'm not getting paid to deal with them. Yeah, I know that I hadn't been swimming much when I lived alone, but I wasn't as close as I am to the pool now. I can look out the window in Amanda's room to see if anyone's out there (swimming, or doing anything else...our pool is the make out place here I've learned). It's been my goal ever since I moved out here to become more healthy, and lead a healthier life. I started with eating more healthy foods (unless I just needed something comforting), and now I'm doing more exercise. I've been swimming 2 times a day ever since I've been done with school, and once Amanda is less exhausted when she comes home from school, we're working out and then swimming. It makes me feel good. Too bad the pool isn't open until I have to be at school...I'd be half tempted to get up early and swim some laps. I bet some of you would never have imagined me saying that!

In other news, I went to my new school the other day to get my keys to my room. It was the total opposite of the feeling I got at my other school. They all knew who I was when I walked into the office, and they were really friendly. It made me feel so welcomed and that it was going to be a good year. I sat on my desk, and had to call people to tell them how I felt there. Even now as I write this, there's a smile on my face. I love this feeling!

Well, people were at the pool this morning when I wanted to even out my sunburn, so I didn't go. Lord knows I didn't want to be there when the making out started up. Guess I'll have to find some other time to even out the burn... Oh well, I'm off to my new classroom to set it up and figure out what I need!

Last Night as a Wisconsin Resident

Well, I haven't lived there since last November, but I still haven't registered my car. Tomorrow morning, I will be doing so. On my 36 hour summer vacation, I will be spending a good few hours at the DMV turning my car over to Nevada, and getting a new license (finally having a pic that looks like me!). It's going to be weird. Amanda looked it up online, and since we're not 25 yet, we have to take a written exam to get our licenses. I find that to be bogus since we have valid WI licenses. Whatever.

Living with someone has been good. It's taken awhile to get used to having someone else in the house, but I'm dealing. I feel bad, because I have these shows that I've just become accustomed to watching, and Amanda doesn't watch much TV. I feel like I'm hogging the TV. I do offer to go to my room and watch TV so that she can watch what she wants. Tonight was especially bad. The-N had a marathon of Dawson Creek season 1. I LOVE Dawson's Creek! I miss the early episodes, and I've been looking forward to this night for awhile. I knew that I was going to be done with school today, and I wanted to celebrate by sitting down and watching the beginning episodes of Dawson's. I'm sad and pathetic, I know. Amanda had never seen a full episode of Dawson's Creek. I kept telling her while I was making dinner to turn on something she wanted. I think she did when I realized I forgot something at the store that I needed for dinner, but then turned Dawson back on. Gotta love her!

I'm done with my school. I turned in my keys, and I'm done! I only have 36 hours of vacation, but oh well. I did get to say good bye to some of the teachers I've become friends with, and that was sad in a way. They were the ones who actually helped me out, and that I really got along with. I spent the morning cleaning/scrubbing down my room. I still had a bunch of crap in there since the teacher who started out the year in there still hadn't come to get her stuff. I had a fun time taking that stuff down. I had to leave school last week because I was getting cramps in my hands from removing all of the staples she put in the wall! Anyhoos, back to today. I spent the afternoon in Mr. Clark's room watching Napoleon Dynamite, and looking through some books while waiting for an administrator to check me out of my room. I left Mr. Clark's room to check out with the office manager (as much as I could before the administrator checked me out), and I came back to notice that no one had come by to check me out. I was told that I could leave at 2 since I was leaving for a new school. At about 2:20 I went to an administrator's office to see if she could check me out of my room when she had a minute. "Well, I came by your room, and you weren't there." She sounded kind of miffed. I told her I was checking out with the office manager, and I'd be in my room for the rest of the afternoon. Half an hour later, she came by to check me out of my room. She congratulated me on finishing my (almost) first year of teaching, and wished me luck at my new school. I was out of the school by 3pm. It was kinda sad leaving, but not really. I was more excited. I walked out of the school, and called Adam (since I was venting to him this afternoon on my lunch break).

Tonight consisted of grocery shopping with Amanda, making dinner, and watching Dawson's Creek. I'm trying to stay awake for the episode at 2am my time. It's the beauty pageant one! I LOVE that episode.

Quick update

Just thought I'd throw out a quick update about the last week.

Sunday: Moved big stuff, and 3/4 of stuff to new apt, stayed one last night in my other apt.

Friday: Last day with kids. A couple of them cried, and then made me teary eyed. Sat outside talking to a parent for about 15 minutes after school. Kids got out at 12:20, teachers had to stay til 3:26. Went to crappy staff luncheon, cleaned out my room, talked with the teachers in my pod. Came home to drink, and didn't get drunk. Oh well.

Saturday: Cleaned/ moved out of old apt. Took all day. Need to unpack DESPERATELY. Went to see Talladega Nights with Amanda. We paid less for the movie than the popcorn and drinks...kinda scary.

Today: Turned in keys to old apt, worked out, showered, and couch shopped. Didn't find anything in the price range I wanted. Maybe I'll have to wait a bit to get a new couch.

In general, it's great having Amanda here. I have someone to go to movies with, someone to talk to at night, and someone to just hang out with. We also have each other to work out with. That's going to be nice. I always wanted to use the place at the other complex, but there was a HUGE window that was in the leasing office so I would've been seen by everyone who came in there. Here, it doesn't seem like many people use the facilities. Amanda and I are now going to work out everyday after school, and then do some laps in the pool. It's so nice being within 2 minutes of the fitness room and pool.

Now I get to burn all of my lessons onto a CD for the school....

Real Quick!

I'm sitting here in my apartment two nights before moving all of my crap out. The best way to do so? Having my future roommate make a pitcher of margaritas while I'm at school so that they're ready for me when I get home, and typing up lessons! YAY! It's awesome. I'm already feeling it, and I've only had 1.5 margaritas!

YAY for having Amanda here!!!


(And we've started up a new tradition...playing Trivial Pursuit 90's edition whilst drunk!! Since the last time I played was Homecoming whilst drunk!)

It's been awhile, but I'm here.

This weekend I started packing up the apartment. I tried to on Saturday, but Target didn't let me. Thanks for holding boxes for me Target! I sat around all day on Saturday. Well, I talked to Dan when I was pissed at Target, and I talked to Adam when he was finished with moving into his new apartment in Green Bay. I'm quite jealous of him being in Green Bay. I'd give anything to be back there. I know, I'm sitting here in Vegas saying how I would give anything to be in Green Bay. I would. I would trade this for Green Bay. I'm sad and pathetic.

Saturday night I sat around coloring and watching the last few episodes of Dawson's Creek. I forgot how sad some of the last few episodes were! While I was coloring, I thought about the one night Adam and I were coloring while watching infomercials in my room. That night was awesome. That was the night when we really started coloring pictures for each other. (We have now started a competition to see who can get who's fridge filled with pics first!) I can still remember Harr coming to my door with her Coke and Malibu, and sitting down to play my guitar. It was awesome. I love thinking back to that night.

Sunday I woke up early to go get the boxes Target promised me, only to find out they gave them to someone else who was in earlier than me ( I got there at about 9:30). Yeah, that made me happy. Luckily Borders said they had lots of boxes for me, yay! That is why I will shop at Borders a lot more now, and why I will not be shopping at Target for a bit. I was able to get a lot of packing done on Sunday. I packed up my dresser, my living room, and most of my kitchen. It's getting bare in here! While I was packing, I was getting sad. I'm leaving my first apartment! Plus, I was using some of the boxes I still had from when I originally moved out here. Those feelings came back. Not cool.

I'm also starting to get nervous about living with someone again. I haven't lived with anyone since Niki freshman year, and before that it was my sister when I was 8. I know Amanda and I get along, but I just worry about things. I know it'll work well, and I can't wait to have someone here from home. It'll all work out, I know....