Hallelujah!

School's out until January 5th!
Two kids asked if I was coming back after Christmas.
I guess they took that empty threat pretty seriously.

Blue Christmas

Well, blue and silver. This year I focused on a color scheme for my Christmas decor. I still have my Santa theme, but I wanted to add a little sophistication to my new place. Here are a few of my old and new treasures for the season.

Plays Well With Others

It's report card time at school, and I always have the hardest time coming up with an individualized comment for each student. It's just so easy to say, "Keep up the good work!" or "Your child is a great student!" But it's tedious and boring, and the parents in this area expect more than a canned comment.
For a laugh, one of the teachers at school put a note in all of our boxes called "Report Card Comments Teachers Would Love To Use." They were pretty funny, so I decided to list some of my favorites here:

• Since the last report card, your child has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.
• This student is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.
• The student has a full six pack but lacks the plastic thing to hold it all together.
• When the student's IQ reaches 50, he should sell.
• Gates are down, lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming.
• If this student were any more stupid he'd have to be watered twice a week.
• It's hard to believe that the sperm that created this student beat out a million others.
• The wheel is turning but the hamster is dead.

So there it is. I'm sure some of you are appalled that teachers find humor in stuff like this. You'll also be horrified then to know that we could find at least one student in our classrooms to attach each of these statements to. I apologize, but if I didn't laugh at stuff like this, I'd be crying my eyes out everyday!

I Won't Even Mind If You Call Me Crazy!

Holiday decor, and the like, all have their time and place. According to me, that time and place is 12:01 a.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving through 11:59 p.m. on December 25. You wouldn't believe the lights and such that have been gracing peoples houses and yards already. I drove by a house last night that looked like Christmas had thrown up all over the front yard! It's still November...mid-November...nowhere near decoratin' time! Having said that, you may have noticed the change of background on my blog. You'll notice the date of this post and you'll say, "Huh, she's breaking her own rules." Here comes the part where I don't care if you think I am a nutcase! I just spent the last hour and a half trying to figure out how to change the damn background on this thing, and when it finally worked and I had copied and pasted this holiday themed template on to my blog, there was no way I was going to mess with it again! So here it is, the holiday background, put up way too early. And just to make things worse...it will probably stay up through Easter.

Frustrated!

I am trying to change my blog background for the holidays using a background from http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com, and I am following the instructions to a tee, but still can't make it work. The background I have now is from the same site, and I obvioulsy got those instructions correct, so what am I doing wrong this time? Anyone willing to help?

Civic Duty

In the state I live in, mine may not. But...

I did my civic duty by voting (and I voted early, suckers!). Now go do yours!

36 Today...

...I don't want to talk about it.

Birthday Lunch

This is my sister Julie. She took me out to lunch yesterday to celebrate my upcoming birthday. She said that she wanted to take me out because she knew how important my birthday is to me (in that I have always believed that my birthday should be a national holiday), and that since I am in a different situation than the rest of my siblings (unmarried, no kids, pathetic <----she didn't say that last part) she wanted to do this for me. I thought that was so sweet and started to get teary. She said if I cry I would have to turn the car around and take her home. Ah, this is why we get along so well. We are equal parts funny and equal parts crabby! Thank you, Julie! I had a fabulous time!

Before Winter is Upon Us

Alright, so it's nearly half way through October, and I am just getting around to doing a fallish post. I wish I was better at keeping up on posting and finding time to do so. Wait, I wish I had a more interesting life to blog about. I took some pictures around my house of my Autumn/Halloween decor and made a mosaic of them. I hope this satisfies my seven readers until I can come up with something more to blog about.

A Common Goal

Here are my cats, LuLu and Ruby. I am documenting this for the sole purpose of showing that this is the closest in proximity that these two cats have been to each other since LuLu came to live with Ruby and me almost 4 years ago. I opened my bedroom window this morning to let the fresh air and sun in, and apparently, the draw to the outside was strong enough for both of them that they didn't care that the other one was there. Don't let that fool you though...30 seconds later they were in there respective areas of the room hissing it up. But it was cute while it lasted.

Welcome...

It's been a while since I've blogged, I know. At least nobody's been hounding me for a new post...wait is that because you all stopped reading? Anyway, for those of you that are left, there isn't much to update you on at this point. I moved into my new place almost a month ago and school started almost 2 weeks ago. Those two things alone have been keeping me super busy. I have a great class this year (with great parents I might add). They might be the chattiest bunch I have ever taught, in which regard, I am realizing is my punishment for being kicked out of classes my whole life for talking too much! But they are adorable and we'll make it through! Also, I love my new house, albeit, the huge payment I made at the beginning of this month. WOW! Yeah, I am hoping I don't starve to death come October. No, really, this is one of the best things I have ever done. Here is a picture of my entry way...Welcome! I bought the table, mirror and pumpkins yesterday. I still have a few things to secure to make my house complete, but that is all part of the fun! I'm sure there will be more posts and pictures to come as I embark on the adventure of owning my own home! Until then, thanks for stopping by! Please come again!

No Cruise for You

Sorry to disappoint, dear readers, but I'm afraid I don't have a whole lot to report about the cruise, for a couple of reasons: 1) Currently, I don't have the time. As most of you know I am moving to a new house, and unfortunately that is taking precedence at the moment...the moment being today and tomorrow, and 2) Honestly, I was pretty disappointed in the whole experience. Don't get me wrong...I had so much fun with my friends and we all got along famously (this is why I am including a bonus picture of us). It was the actual cruise that was not what I expected, and, to make matters worse, I was seasick most of the time! So there it is. Maybe six months from now when I stop feeling queasy and dizzy (yes, I am still seasick), I will be able to look back and laugh about the whole thing. But for now...no cruise for you!

Mine

I was hoping to post this great "mine, all mine" post with pictures of my new place, but it just didn't happen. I closed yesterday and everything went smoothly! I am finally excited about my house. Now it's just the cruise that I have to get on board with!

Not Excited

Maybe I haven't been posting because I never liked the style of my blog. I took some time to remedy that this morning...more time than I could afford actually. Lots of stuff going on right now. The next few weeks (especially this coming week) are going to be busy. A short list of the things that will be transpiring: Closing on my townhouse, packing for my cruise, leaving for the cruise, packing up my house, moving, settling in, and school starting. I am so overwhelmed. I don't know where to start, so I don't. I just sit around and let the time slip away. Like right now. I should be packing for something, but instead I am here writing about it. I don't have the motivation to do anything. I am not excited about any of these things. Is that normal?

Red, White and Blah!

I love my mom and dad, the 4th of July was alright and the rest of the weekend sucked!

Vacay!

We're actually doing this! Two of my friends and I finally came to an agreement on a date and location and today we booked our vacation! We are headed to the Bahamas, via a cruise ship, in early August. I am so excited! I haven't been on a summer vacation in 2 years. For quite awhile, I have been begging my friends to let me head up the planning on a vacation for the summer. These friends aren't teachers like me, so it's harder for them to schedule their time off, especially in the summer when everyone wants time off. So this is the summer that it all came together. We made the final decision last night...two of us were in for sure, and our other friend needed a push. We were delighted when she gave in! Then we all stood there and put vacation conditions on each other. Yes, conditions. I mean we are 3 independent women in our 30s. We are pretty set in our ways and we know each other all too well. So, S needs to work on her attentiveness and time management before the cruise. "Lisa" needs to work on her rigidity (is that a word?), and according to the other two I need to work on my moodiness. Hmph! What moodiness? I think I need to work on my tan! So the countdown begins, and I couldn't be happier!

Last Day

Anyone who knows me, knows that I say the same thing at the end of every school year: I love this class, and I am going to miss them the most. This statement has never been more true than it is this year. I mean, look at them (nevermind the fact that it's probably all kinds of illegal to have their pictures up here without permission). They are probably my favorite class in all the ten years that I have been teaching. I've been tearing up all week. And the other day I warned them that I would cry on the last day of school. I told them if they didn't cry on the last day of school then I'd be mad (hee hee). I told them to go home and practice. They asked all week what we were going to do on the last day of school. I told them we would go to an assembly from 9:00 to 10:30, have recess, get ready for lunch, go to lunch and finally, cry our eyes out after lunch until the bell rang to go home. So you'll appreciate that one of my students asked early this morning, "Miss Martin, are we crying after first recess, or after lunch recess...I can't remember." So sometime after lunch I sat down to say my goodbyes and I lost it. And by "lost it" I mean sobbing so hard that I had to put my face in my hands to control myself. They couldn't make out a word that I was saying. Finally, I raised my head up I saw the looks on their faces. A few of them were crying as hard as I was. I told them I loved them, that I would miss them terribly and that I was afraid that the second the bell rang they were going to walk out the door and forget all about me. Twenty-five little voices, in protest, said, "We could never forget you!" Ten years later, I KNOW that I am in the right profession. Nothing else, no presents, no treats, no nothing makes this job more worth it than to hear kids say they love you and that they will always remember you. Here's to Miss Martin's class of 2007-2008! May we always remember each other!

Other Option

I guess I never had it in my head that the Jazz losing could be an option. How very disappointing. You know who the real winners are? The refs. They can pretty much choose any team they want and help them win. You know they're biased. Anyway...Go Celtics!

If Downhill Equals Nosebleed, Then That's Where I'm Headed

Alright, many of you will think I have the capacity to write about only two subjects: School kids and The Jazz. Well, with only 17 days of school left, and being smack in the middle of NBA Playoffs, what else is there to write about? I don't have any new school stories. You guessed it. This one is about The Jazz. I have a ticket to Friday's game. YEEHAW! Yep, I'm going. And it's either the game to hold on, or the game that wins it all. You know I'm hoping for the latter. Because, COME ON! Who wouldn't want to be a part of THAT?

Heaven Help the Space Program

We did a project at school the other day that involved the kids making paper dolls of themselves depicting who or what they will be in 20 years. I asked them the write their names and occupations on the back of the dolls before turing them in, so that I could write that information on a tag that I would tape next to the dolls when I hung them out in the hall. As always, some kids don't listen or follow directions very well, and inevitably E was one of those kids.

Me: (holding up the doll for E to see) E, I can't tell what your doll is, and you didn't write it on the back. What are you planning on being in 20 years?
E: Well, I don't know what they call it, but when I grow up I want to be the first person to walk on Saturn's rings. But, if that's too much for you to write, Miss Martin, you can just go with astronaut.
Me: Umm, yeah. I'm just going with astronaut.

The things this kid comes up with astounds me. You may remember his theory on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. being assassinated with a light saber. This kid is either going to be the next Einstein or the next Unabomber.