Goodbye 20's, Hello 30's...

Oh wow. I thought this whole turning 30 thing would be okay. Suddenly, now that its arrived, its upon me, I'm just not real sure anymore. I think I may be stressing a little bit about entering this new era of my life. Entering this new decade, the 4th of my lifetime...I'm just not real sure it's what I want to do.

I mean, when I sit back and think, there's a whole lot that happened in my 20's that I'd like to remain with. There were some major world events. There were some very minor events that seemed like major world events. There were celebrations of all kinds. There were...well...here are some of the ones that stick out the most...

All things I got to witness/do/see when I was in my 20's...some great, some not so great...

• I became a wife
• I became an aunt
• I became a step mom
• I became a teacher
• I moved houses 4 times
• I won a trip to Disney World
• I've taught every grade 1-5, and even some 6th,7th, & 8th graders
• I became a stepdaughter
• I watched a tragedy at Columbine High School
• The first non-stop world trip taken in a balloon happened
• John Ritter died
• There was an attack of "Boy Bands" in America
• George W. Bush was sworn in as 43rd President
• Fred Rogers died and won't be our neighbor anymore
• The Harry Potter craze took over the nation
• US and Britian launched a war against Iraq
• The space shuttle Columbia exploded
• American Idol
• Johnny Cash died
• An enormous tsunami devastated Asia
• George W. Bush was re-elected
• Martha Stewart had to go to jail for 5 months
• Bob Hope died
• Janet Jackson had a wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl
• Cancer became the leading cause of death for people ages 85 and under, replacing heart disease
• Ronald Reagan, Christopher Reeve, Johnny Carson, Rosa Parks, Saddam Hussein and Steve Irwin all died
• I've met people that I know are going to be life long friends.
• The first African American man became the 44th President of the United States.
• I was baptized
• The Twilight Series over took the Harry Potter craze
• I traveled to other countries: Belize, Hondorus and Mexico
• I lost some friends
• I had a kidney stone
• I visited Washington D.C. for the very first time
• DVD player usage far outweighed VCR's
• There was a great attack on America and the Twin Towers no longer exist
• Gas was .99$ a gallon
• Gas was 3.99$ a gallon
• I became a "Lab Rat" for a medical study group
• New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina
• Life was overall pretty good!

I'm sure there are so many things I'm forgetting about my terrific twenties. I'm going to hold onto the hope that my thirties are just as thrilling...

Goodbye 20's...hello 30's!

Oh...And Also...

I've been known to do some pretty silly stuff to motivate my kids to read as much as possible...

Take for example the time I got slimed with all the food that falls from the sky in Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.

Or the time I played Twister in ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and relish.

Or this year, when I may be turned into a human banana split.

Oh...and we often dress up too. Here's today's look:


This is Sarah (Alice in Wonderland) and I (Fancy Nancy) dressed up like our favorite book characters!

If You Build It...They Will Read...

So those of you that know me well, pretty much know that I love to read. I also try to instill that in my kiddos at school!

Ever since I started teaching, I've always participated in the I Love To Read Challenge hosted by WSBT. I was even once voted the most creative teacher and won a trip to Disney World through this awesome competition.

Our entire school has jumped on board and this has really taken off-school wide. We do our best to come up with a fun theme and then let the reading begin.

Well...this year, we are "Going Bananas For Books" and we're using a rain forest theme. Look at the amazing bulletin board our wonderful parents came up with to keep track of our progress.


For every 10 hours each class reads, they add a banana to their tree. We also have at least one piece of artwork from every child in our school on this wall. Isn't that amazing?

Found Another One...

You might only think this is funny if you can relate closely. Some of them are so accurate it's scary!


Jeff Foxworthy on School Employees
>
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you believe the
> playground should be equipped with a Ritalin salt lick.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you want to slap the
> next person who says, 'Must be nice to work 8 to 3:30 and
> have summers off.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if it is difficult to name
> your own child because there's no name you can come up
> with that doesn't bring high blood pressure as it is
> uttered.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you can tell it's a full
> moon or if it's going to rain, snow, hail....anything!!!
> Without ever looking outside.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you believe, 'shallow
> gene pool' should have its own box on a report card.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you believe that
> unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, 'Boy,
> the kids sure are mellow today.'
>
> YOU might be a school employee if when out in public, you
> feel the urge to snap your fingers at children you do not
> know and correct their behavior.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you have no social life
> between August and June.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you think people should
> have a government permit before being allowed to
> reproduce.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you wonder how some
> parents MANAGED to reproduce.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you laugh uncontrollably
> when people refer to the staff room as the 'lounge.'
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you encourage an
> obnoxious parent to check into charter schools or home
> schooling and are willing to donate the U-HAUL boxes
> should they decided to move out of district.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you think caffeine
> should be available in intravenous form.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you can't imagine how
> the ACLU could think that covering your students chair
> with Velcro and then requiring uniforms made out of the
> corresponding Velcro could ever be misunderstood by the
> public.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if meeting a child's parent
> instantly answers this question, 'Why is this kid like
> this?'
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you would choose a
> mammogram over a parent conference.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you think someone should
> invent antibacterial pencils and crayons...and desks and
> chairs for that matter!
>
> YOU might be a school employee if the words 'I have
> college debt for this?' has ever come out of your mouth.
>
> YOU might be a school employee if you know how many days,
> minutes, and seconds are left in the school year!

'Nuff Said!

This should be posted in all schools and work places!

Love him or hate him,he sure hits the nail on the head!

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things the
students did not, and will not learn in school.

He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a
generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set
them up for failure in the real world.


Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your 'self-esteem'. The world will
expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You
won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents
had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine
about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they
are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your
clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were.
So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's
generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but
life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and
they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer.
This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off
and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do
that on your own time..

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have
to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

They Say It's Your Birthday...

And it really is. Well, Kim and Glenn's at least. They're married. She's my sister, he's my brother in law. They have the same birthday. It's today! Pretty cool!

Kim and Glenn are two very important people in my life. They love me. They put up with me. They help me. They help take care of my needs that I can't always take care of alone. They put so many others before they put themselves. They would both give you the shirt off their backs if you needed it. They have the cutest 4 year old in the world. And it's their birthday!

I'm not sure that I will ever be able to fully express in words or actions just how much my family means to me. Though we haven't always gotten along, and we've had our share of bad times, I know without a doubt that I can rely on them for whatever I need. They've bailed me out of trouble to many times to count, they've turned their eyes when I've messed up. They let me play with the cutest 4 year old in the entire world. They're very special people. And I love them.

Happy Birthday Kim and Glenn! I love you guys!

Where Have I Been?

I was just sitting here remembering that I've forgotten to blog lately! Evidently, my life has just been so fulfilled with such excitement it hasn't occurred to me. (She says with lots of sarcasm!)
Here's just a small glimpse of where I've been and what I've been doing...

• Spending A LOT of time at school! Ugh, this time of year is so stinkin' busy!
• Working out, I wish I could say this is making huge improvements in my looks...we're not there yet...but we're not to the point of giving up yet either.
• Spending A LOT of time at school! It's ISTEP+ time! Double ugh!
  
• Laundry...I've been doing a lot of laundry, but I'm not sure why.
• Spending A LOT of time at school! I Love To Read starts today and that's HUGE for me!
• Making dinner. I've successfully made apricot chicken, nacho cheese soup, meatloaf, and some others that I can't currently recall in the past several days.
• Spending A LOT of time at school! 'Nuff said.
• Taking a writing class...and it gives homework. Are you kidding me? I thought those days were over.
• Seriously addicted to The Bachelor, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Survivor and Biggest Loser. I realize this looks like I am a TV junkie, however, I DVR all of them, so it's not like I sit and waste endless hours of mind numbing television. I watch them on the weekends, in 1/2 the time because I fast forward through boring parts and commercials

Ok, so I can't think of any other thing that has been taking up a lot of my life, but I know there have been some. I really have been busy. So busy, I can't keep my head straight enough to know what I've been doing to pass the time.