goodbye January! goodbye first semester!

I kept meaning to get around to updating this, but it never happened. I've debated just giving up, but a lot of this is to remind me of the good times I have being a teacher, so I don't think that'll happen.

Highlights of the last week or so:

• While students were working on their exam review, someone asked me if I read Watership Down. This led to a conversation where we bonded over the book about bunnies and how sad and boring it was. We all didn't like it for various reasons. I was surprised that they still had kids in 6th grade read it. It's funny that most of the kids didn't really remember the title of it, but once you mentioned it was the book with the bunnies, they knew exactly which one it was and all had the same basic reaction: "Ohh, the book with the bunnies--I hated that book!"
• My grandma on my mom's side passed away--the same day we got the car fixed, of course--and a few students found out when they noticed I wasn't my normal self. A few stopped by the classroom to give me hugs and tried to cheer me up.
• We got a new car and have a possible buyer for the Jetta. Nice.
• I'm getting ready to teach A Midsummer Night's Dream again and Romeo & Juliet for the first time. I'm looking forward to both, but I am a little nervous. Anyone that's ever taught Shakespeare and had to deal with the difficulty of students who just don't get it would understand. I'm hoping that everyone comes through in one piece and actually understands the play in the end. Oh, and it would be great if the amount of whining about how Shakespeare writes was at a minimum, but that never happens.
• I've been carpooling with another teacher and it's been awesome!
• Last Monday, we had an event for freshmen that helped them study for their exams. They had snacks, lemonade, and hot chocolate as well as teachers wandering around to help them out if they were stuck. I didn't go to last year's, but I went this year. It was great seeing all those kids hanging out and studying. It's a good habit to introduce them to and I hope it sticks.
• It snowed again this weekend. I was supposed to be in school today for a teacher work day since the first semester ended on Friday, but that didn't happen. I'm not even sure if we'll have school tomorrow since the snow is sticking around and there's another storm possibly coming in tomorrow with more snow. What state do I live in again??

what just happened?

Nothing good ever comes from a week that starts off with an almost fight in your classroom. Never.

Tuesday, my car stopped working. The ignition switch stopped working, has to be replaced and won't be fixed until the middle of this week.

Wednesday was overwhelming because everyone had an opinion on my car, but none of them were the correct one. Shannon saved us by giving us a ride out to the school so we could try something. It didn't end up working, but it did reveal the real problem with the car.

Thursday was a faculty meeting with the addition of a budget of doom meeting. Salaries are getting cut, days off without pay and possible teacher cuts. Geez.

Friday was wrapped up the week with two girls quitting the step team, a long, awkward meeting at the end of a long day and no answer at the car place, which meant no car for the weekend.

In all negatives, there are positives:

+Carpooling with Jen will become more frequent, saving us both miles and gas. I also now have numbers of a few people who will help me get to school and back if I'm ever stranded again.

+Shannon helping us out so much! We couldn't have gotten through this week without her help!

+Lots of laughter, especially from 7th period. Nothing beats a kid waiting for everyone to get back to working, then drop a bomb like "So-n-so picks his zits and then eats them!" into the silence. I laughed so hard I almost cried. Good comedic timing, kid.

+Playing Rock Band and watching Doctor Who

+We are now more serious about looking for a new car. I'm really leaning towards the Ford Fusion or Focus, but it all depends on how it feels when I drive the car.

+I now know who to call if my car ever dies out in the country.

I would usually do the list of books I read this year, but I don't feel like it. I didn't get to 50, but David claims I read more pages than previous years. That may be true.

Yesterday I set up an Amazon wish list for my classroom. I've heard of other teachers doing this and with the school facing another $1.5 million to be cut, I figured it'd be a way I could help cover the supply cost and books for my classroom library (a success, btw). I put a link in the side bar and I'm putting on up on my digital gradebook and classroom website.

I finally uploaded pictures off of my camera AND a few videos from when we first got our Flip camera. They're up on my flickr account.

good gracious

Yes, sir. It is definitely hot. Williamsburg has been hit with a heat wave (what?! in August?! nooo!). Both today and yesterday, there were heat advisories. 95+ degrees, heat index of 110-115. Woooooeeee!
So. Usually I would not venture out on any long, extended walks in the sun & humid, stifling air, but car troubles arise at the most conveinient times, don't they? Last night, Megan and I went to New Town. Since we left at 4, the sun was still out and humidity and heat going full force (as well as the heat advisory), so we drove over there to save us a few minutes in the heat. We park the car, run in and see Hot Rod. It was funny, very random, involved a moped (woo!) and, most important, was air conditioned to the point of freezing. I think it was actually the first time I was in the a/c in the movies and didn't feel like it was too cold. After we got out of the movie, it was still incredibly humid, but not as hot. We got some dinner, walked around, went into a few stores, tra la la. I actually ended up finding an amazing lesson plan/record book all in one! AND it has pockets AND reference charts that I want AND a whole parent contact log. Simply amazing. Thank you, B&N. I also found this awesome little book put out by SparkNotes that has all these discussion topics and writing prompts. They had a ton of them, involving most subjects. I picked up the "Good Books" one, because it involves 50% of the novels/plays we read in class as well as novels/plays for other grade levels. I think every book but one was on the required reading list for 9-12th English. Amazing! I love them! Originally I loved SparkNotes because they actually did a good job on their website, then the whole "No Fear Shakespeare" thing, now this! Wow.
Okay, anyway, back to the car. I start the car up, put it in reverse and there is this loud beep. Then I notice a little icon I've never seen before flashing. As we're driving, Megan looks it up in the Owner's Manual. It is the coolant/antifreeze/thermostat icon. Sweet. She reads from the manual and it's all: "This means your coolant/antifreeze is either too hot or too cold. Pull over and turn off engine. Sit for a while. Then try and start it up again." Yeah, okay, no. We're already halfway home. But then I notice the temperature gauge is moving up there pretty quick. I start to flip out and hightail it into the parking lot. I call David and ask him if he thinks I should walk up to Target or Food Lion to buy some coolant. Bo thinks it's the thermostat. Around 8:30, I try the car again. No beeping and flashing, but the temp rises really quickly again. An hour later, I open the hood and check the coolant. Yep. That's it. The coolant is almost 2" below the min. line. Grrrrrrrreat. At least it wasn't a part gone bad, but still. So, this morning, I got to take a nice, long, 20-25 minute walk to Target. I have never sweat so much in my life. Thank god I put on sunscreen. My face looked sunburned already, because I was so hot. Now, my car is fine and I can stop kicking myself for not getting an oil change yesterday like I said I was going to.
Also, Jackie has a tapeworm. Or tapeworms? I don't know. We found them on her and near where she sleeps (dead, shriveled, don't worry. They die very quickly outside the body because it's not the actually worm, but parts of it, or some crazy stuff like that. Google it. It's crazy) and near where she sits. The reason why we haven't noticed before is because this is the only type of worm that cats get that (thank god) doesn't give them the runs, weight loss, death, etc. Gooood. It's also the only one that made sense for them to have: they usually get it because they ingested a flea (which, if you know our cats, they've had twice in the past 2 years. ugggh) that has a tapeworm or tapeworm eggs. Yummy. She now has an appointment with the vet down the street tomorrow to get her some meds and get it out of her.

Last night was full of bad news, but hey-- it gave me quite a purpose-filled day, made me enjoy the heat (hah) & sweat out everything, and now everything is back to normal, or going to be starting tomorrow. Whew!

already august?

It's almost that time of year again. I've already had a few nightmares that are my version of showing up to school in your undies: showing up to face a huge, overcrowded classroom of new students and not remembering that it was the first day of school. Nothing is ready! oh noes! Tragedy! I don't enjoy these dreams, but they are definitely motivating me more. I've already finished one presentation, have notes/outlines (very rough) for 4-5 units, a list of things I need to buy and things I've already bought (thank you, Target, for having folders for 10 cents and packaged in groups of 10. So much easier.)
The first of August came and brought humidity. July is over, but it was fun. Megan and I recently got over a bag buying addiction, but ended up with some cute, pretty cheap stuff. We also now have a list of things to do before she leaves the "colonial triangle" and goes back to the land of Vernors, Meijer and the mothereffing Root Beer Stand (and you best believe I enjoyed some of that while I was in Michigan!)
So, I made the transition to Virginian: I have a license with a decent picture, a registered car in VA (after many issues and mail and faxes and $77 spent on installing the front plate. Who knew a small piece of plastic could cost $50!?), a taste/constant craving for sweet tea, and I made my first mint juleps! Also, I finally bought some pear vodka, but I have no idea what to do with it, I mostly just like to smell it because it smells delicious. I did look on Absolut's site and they had a few good suggestions. Next time, I want to buy some of the other crazy flavors they have at the VABC store.
There's been lots of talk of improvement in finances, attitude, eating habits and activity. Hopefully it's not all talk and ends up being action, as well. David saw the light on budgeting, planning meals, etc., so that will lead to more financial responsibility on both our parts. We are buying in on the trend (haha) and starting a debt blog. It's only going to be one we can see and, at least for me, mostly a wake up call as to how much we owe right now. It's not a lot, it could be worse. My student loan debt makes up slight more than half of it. Another part of the debt blog we're going to make is keeping track of how much we consume, which is something I don't think a lot of people think about. How much money do you spend in a week? How much was necessary and how much was a "want"?
Now that a lot of new people are moving in, I realized it's been almost a year since we've been here. I do love it down here because of the weather, the seasons, the people, the landscape, etc. etc. It's getting better on the whole "woe is me! I have no friends!" part. Someone told me before we moved that the first year is the worst/loneliest, after that it gets better. Let's hope that's true.

can i just say...

how much of a pain in the ass registering my car in Virginia has been? Good golly.

Also, tomorrow starts Project: Get My Act Together, where I try to use the time in month of August to plan out at least 75% of my 10th and 11th grade classes. I have even more motivation now that I have six classes instead of five.

Alsoalso (kind of like P.P.S.), David quits smoking on August 12th/13th. Wish him (us?) luck and also tell him you're proud of him.

hours and hours

My tire went flat less than 10 miles after merging onto I-64, my daily trek to work. I didn't really get what was going on at first, then I surprised myself at not panicking. I called David to see if he would wake up, then I called 911. Newport News dispatch transferred me to the State Police. I waited an hour. Then I called again. I called again an hour after that. Finally, almost three and a half hours after the initial phone call, a James City County officer stopped. Three police cars (for JCC or other areas) had gone past me already. This guy stopped on his way home from the overnight shift. On his way home! He didn't have to, but he did. I am incredibly happy he did, too, cause he called up a tow truck.
The reason the state police dispatch gave me as the reason they didn't come as quickly as they usually would was because they were all "at the college campus". This probably meant VA Tech, but could've also been ODU in Norfolk, since there was a threat yesterday that emptied the campus. Either way, I was out there for hours in my car.
Thankfully, I have the best, most understanding and forgiving department head there ever was. I called her up after I called the police. We figured I'd be there for 3rd bell. I called her at 8:20 to let her know I wasn't gonna make it, then again when the JCC officer showed up and asked her to call me back. I apologized to her many, many times when I was finally in the tow truck headed back to Williamsburg. I had already missed two out of my three classes and my spare was flat-- there was no way I was gonna make it. I ended up having to replace my two front tires. One was flat, one was gonna be that way soon. I had to get my car re-aligned. And they put air in my spare tire to see if that's all it needed. I got home around 1 PM.
Lucky for us, we got our tax returns already. Otherwise, we'd be completely screwed. $125 for towing. $250 for tires. We just bought those tires about 3 months ago, too. And they realigned the damn thing then. We think it had to do with when we got the ball joints/front end repaired. Remember that noise my car was making? It was the parking brake not disengaging, but it was good we replaced the ball joints anyway (otherwise, who knows what would have happened to my car while I was driving it? I think I prefer the flat tire to a totaled car or death.) After the ball joints being replaced, the steering wheel seemed to be incredibly loose. You go over a bump, sometimes you would have to hold on to the wheel incredibly tight or fight it from going all wobbly and all over the place. We had no clue if this was normal or whatever. We probably should have called. The alignment was incredibly off, which messed up the tires, leading to the flat tire this morning and another $375 to add on to March's total for car repairs of $600. We have now spend almost $1000 (I added in the belts and filters we've had to buy) repairing this damn car since we've been to Virginia. It hit the 100,000 mile mark and it all went to hell! haha. It's all good, though. At least I'm not dead. The VW Jetta has done me good and hangs in there even when it's supposed to be falling apart. The parts we have replaced on this car should have crapped out long before we replaced them. It's a really good thing we hadn't switched residencies from MI to VA before all of this, otherwise, we probably wouldn't have passed state inspection with the car.
I kind of needed a day off anyway. My allergies have been acting up (the pollen is crazy! it's everrrrywhere) and I've felt incredibly exhausted and overwhelmed with getting back into the groove of school after break, kids being cranky, it being the end of the year, and the whole research paper unit. It's made me an easy target for crying and wanting to give it all up. Last night, I started feeling more "up", though. This morning, I only had a few thoughts of: "Wait, why am I doing this again? Do I really feel like getting harassed today by a few cranky ass teenagers who need to get a good slap upside the head by their moms? Why am I putting myself through this?". I've been as whiny as my kids. It's starting to go away though. We'll get into the swing of th research paper and get going.

car woes

Today is my mom's birthday. Happy birthday, mom!

I usually enjoy having only one car for us, but today has illustrated the downside to only having one car and a job 40 miles away. David took my car to get the noise (a very high-pitched, super annoying hum) coming out of my front end checked out. Turns out, it was all sorts of messed up and $350 worth of work has to be put into it. They thought they had the right part... but they thought wrong. Now my beloved Jetta (and a 1/2 case of our CDs) are in the shop until Monday. This means bad things for my 2nd and 8th bell kids, since I won't have any way to get to work on Monday. Ah well, I guess I kind of needed a day off anyway, I could use that extra time to plan and prepare for everyone coming to visit this next week. Plus, I already made copies of everything I was going to use the beginning of the week (except for one sheet) on Thursday and Friday. It pays to be prepared. Now I just have to report my absence in the sub system, and e-mail my department head and my co-teacher to let them know and see if either of them can get my stuff together for my classes. Ugh. I really, seriously hope it gets fixed on Monday... there's no way I can miss Monday AND Tuesday. It's better it's getting fixed now, too, since we're going to D.C. to pick up Megan, Mike and Amanda next Saturday. If we hadn't gotten it fixed, we could have caused some serious damage and probably totalled the car.

This past week in school went okay. We did the "poetry slam" on Tuesday/Wednesday and the kids did really, really well! They took their poetry test the last two days of the week and I'm interested to see how they did. Hopefully, they did okay.

Other than that, I don't have much exciting stuff to share.