Erica: February 2011

Monday, February 21, 2011

Test Prep... Ready..... GO!

Oh. My gosh. Test prep season. 21 school days left until the dreaded ARMT and SAT-10. We are in full test prep mode at GES and it. is. insane!! EVERY free moment is doing something ARMT/test prep related. Our reading lesson plans have all been modified so that we can include more test prep time. I completely understand now what Kacey was talking about in August about how after the ARMT test prep time and the week of testing, she puts all the test prep books away so she and the kids no longer have to see them! I can't WAIT to put mine away!

Read Across America is next week, and I'm so excited. I love Dr. Seuss and all of his fabulous books. And we get to watch a Dr. Seuss movie. I'm totally using that as an excuse to go buy Horton Hears a Who. :)

If you know me, you know how much of a worrier I am. I can't help it; I just am. With that said, I am freaking. out. about next year. With budget cuts and proration and how ridiculous this year has been, I'm so nervous about getting pink-slipped. Although, on an honest note, I'd be more ok with getting pink-slipped if I knew it was 100% because of the economy and budget cuts and whatnot than I would be with getting pink-slipped because my principal thought I wasn't doing a good job. Part of me wants to be ridiculously optimistic and think that if the funding is there, I'll be hired back, no problem. But then there's that pessimistic side of me that is bringing on all this worry about what I'm going to do if the funding isn't there. Be sure to keep an eye on my blog in April... I'll either be posting an exciting entry or a very sad one. Until then, keep me in your prayers.

I took a personal day on Friday and thoroughly enjoyed the mess out of it. I had a rough couple of weeks and just really needed a day off. We were supposed to have today off as well, and a teacher workday tomorrow, but because we had that "bad weather day" in January, they took the holiday away, made today a teacher workday, and bumped up the students' return day to tomorrow. I feel like today was the most unproductive workday known to man. It was Cum Folder Day, and I spent the entire day making sure everything in each of my students' folders was in there and ready to go. That way, come May, all I will have to do is write in their final grades, their attendance info, and the last day of school and I'll be done with them. On the one hand --- YAY for being forced to do this now so that I'm not procrastinating on it later when ALL the other teachers are peacing out quick for their summer vacations. On the other hand, however --- BOO for having my entire day sucked up by those cum folders and those meetings I had. Other than checking over the cums and having to go to some meetings, I got nothing in my classroom done. No lesson plans. No grading papers. No organizing. No putting grades in the computer. No making copies for this week. Ugh. I mean, I knew it was Cum Folder Day, and I'm not upset about that... I'm glad I had to do it now so that I don't have to do it later... But I didn't realize it was going to take soooooooooo long!!! So, all that stuff that I hauled home on Thursday (because I was going to work this weekend... ha!) and hauled back today (because I thought I'd have time to work on our teacher workday... ha!), I got to haul it all back tonight (because I'm going to get papers graded and get stuff done tonight.... h--- I did!). I'm actually pretty proud of myself for getting all those papers graded, recorded, and filed.

And speaking of getting stuff done, can I just take a moment to brag on myself about how stinking productive I was yesterday?! Holy. Moly. My downstairs is so clean now (minus the closet by the front door -- that is still on the to-do list), I wish I had taken a before and after picture. I threw away three bags of trash. THREE. BAGS. OF TRASH. Bleh. I cleaned both bathrooms top to bottom and did all my laundry. I made my bed (which I actually slept in last night, and am planning on doing so tonight -- so long sleeping on the couch!). I cleaned the kitchen. I made an appointment to get my taxes done. I organized papers. I cleaned out my fridge/freezer. I put stuff in the storage shed. I cleaned out my car and put windshield washer fluid in it. And I cleaned my room. Seriously, all that's left to do now is clean out/organize my spare bedroom, clean out the downstairs closet by the front door, and organize my closet in my bedroom. Here's to hoping I can keep it this clean for more than a week...

**I know I've been a super-slacker on posting my Project 365 pictures. It's on my to-do list for next weekend. Pray that I can keep my procrastination at bay and get everything done! :)

Saturday, February 12, 2011

If only he could talk...

Harley escaped today. It was the worst feeling in the world! I went to get something out of the laundry room and noticed that the corner of the screen in the window was sticking out more than it usually does (I've tried to fix it, but haven't been able to). I looked outside - didn't see him. Looked in the kitchen - not there. Ran upstairs and looked in the bathtub - nadda. Looked all over my room and the spare bedroom - zilch. I started FLIPPING OUT. I called Lauren, thinking she was down at her house, to come help calm me down and help me find him, but she had gone home. So then I call the next logical person. My mom. In Alaska. When she got on the phone, I completely burst into tears, "Harley is gone! He got away! He pushed the screen out in the laundry room and he's gonnnnnnnnnne!" She calmed me down and told me to leave the door open for a while, and while I'm doing my thing, he'll get hungry and find his way back. Now, I'm the kind of person who, as much as I hate it, is run by my emotions and my thoughts. The fact that he was out there all alone, for the first time ever, scared me to death. I could hear dogs barking and trains going by and cars whizzing down the road... What if he got attacked? What if he got hit? What if some kind person found him and picked him up? He doesn't wear a collar because of his allergies, so had he been picked up, this person wouldn't have known who to call. And what if someone picked him up and decided to keep him since he didn't have a collar on? But then, when they took him to the vet and figured out all his issues, they just decided to have him put down? I couldn't bear the thought of all those possibilities, but at the same time, I couldn't keep them away. And I couldn't just leave the door open and "do my thing." No no... I sat in the door way, crying and calling his name. Pathetic. But it was all I could do. I was so scared. Eventually it got dark and it got cold, so I had to close the doors. My sitting in the doorway became laying on the couch. I made myself cook/eat dinner and while my potatoes were boiling, I sat on the floor in the kitchen and bawled my bloody eyes out. After dinner, I went back to the couch. I had the TV on, but it was muted so just in case he came back and was scratching at the door, I'd be able to hear him. Finally, I heard something and I ran to the door and there he was. He stopped and looked up at me as soon as he was halfway in the house, so I had to sweet talk him the rest of the way in. As soon as he was in, I shut the door, picked him up, and started bawling. Again. It was the longest 5 hour time span of my life. It felt like he was gone for an eternity, and I was not ok with it. Not ok with it at all. I wish he could talk and tell me what he did on his adventure. I hope he remembers how much fun he had while he was out, and I hope he has lots of dreams about it. Because he is absolutely, without a doubt, never going on one again. Ever.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Catching up

I have been so busy/tired/stressed/all related words, that I have neglected to write in here. I have taken my pictures for Project 365, but I didn't upload them here or on Facebook. Since I have pink eye (again...) and stayed home today, I figured I'd might as well get caught up. Get ready...

Day 20