real winters

My current blog title references LIW, whose books I loved as a child, and still love today.

She and her family lived out on the plains, where the weather reaches extremes like I have never experienced. I grew up near San Francisco, where 32° was downright tortuous. Living here in GA has exposed me to humidity and stretches of 100° days.

Now, I am preparing myself to live in a place where snow not only falls regularly, but actually sticks and stays. I am contemplating which winter coat, snow boots, and tires to buy. I am considering the fact that we might actually need to buy a snow shovel.

I feel quite worried about poor Husband. He is moving to NY in January. Just in time for his first real winter. His introduction will be abrupt and harsh.

I, however, will have a more gentle transition. I will go up with him for a week or so at the end of December, then on weekends once a month until I move. My exposure will be brief until next winter, when I will at least have the buffer of fall to introduce me to the harshness of an actual winter.

LIW and her family lived in extreme conditions that. They didn't have the insulation we have, or the heaters. Her whole town almost starved one winter because the trains stopped running.

I realize that my first winter experience will be somewhat less dramatic than hers. But that won't stop me from complaining the first time I have to dig my car out of snow!

some time to sit down

So it's been a while... like four months?

I started my new teaching job, and let me tell you, these fifth graders keep me on my toes. Literally. As in, I don't sit down at work. Ever.

I have 20 of them right now. I also have a co-teacher for 3 hours a day because I am the inclusion teacher.

I often question my teaching abilities, but just keep reminding myself that I have 8 students with IEPs, 2 ESOL students, and only 3 students reading on a fifth grade level.

I describe my classroom as teaching fifth grade material to sixth and seventh graders who read and write like third graders. Yes, I have four students who have been retained twice, and at least two others who have been retained once. Hell, I have a thirteen year old in my room and will have three more by the end of the year.

On top of that fun (and really, it is), we are preparing to move to NY.

Husband will move in January, and I will follow in either mid-April or at the end of May. I have been trying to find a place to live, but the area we are going to doesn't offer much in terms of choices. We are going up at the end of December to find a place, so I hope something falls into our laps.

The knowledge that we will be maintaining two households for 4-5 months is just so much fun to plan for. Our goal is to get through it without breaking into savings or running up a bunch of debt, but we will see how that goes.

I am off this week, and planning to grace you with more of my fantastic insight into teaching, moving, and avoiding boredom.

this stuff is awesome. just awesome.

I love this mouthwash. I drink coffee everyday, and get stains between my teeth. I brush and floss, but the stains persist. I bought the 3D White and after using it less than 10 times, my stains are almost gone. I love it.

easy as pie!

I love renting. It's awesome. Our dishwasher hasn't been cleaning correctly for a couple weeks, and last night the garbage disposal went out.

I called maintenance today, and once the guy came out, he had both things fixed in ten minutes.

I love it.

Owning a house does have its appeal, but dude. I have no desire to stick my hand down the disposal, or to pull the cover off my dishwasher and reach around to find what's not in the right place. No thank you.

teaching

I'm in the midst of preparing for my fifth year as a classroom teacher. I'm also preparing to work at my fifth school, in my third school district, and for my sixth principal! Moving around so much has definitely had it's sucky parts, but it also has shown me what a variety exists in public schools.

I've mostly worked with lower income students. Two of my past, and my current, schools have been Title I, and the other two were for the children of lower enlisted soldiers. I've had all kinds of principals, and prefer a more hands on and actually helpful principal instead of the kind that pretty much seems to do nothing. I've also taught a class with a huge group of English Language Leaners, as well as classes of fully native speakers.

Yesterday, I thought of my teaching experiences in contrast with LIW's. She started teaching at 16, and had some students as old as she was. She taught in a one room school and was responsible for teaching everything to everyone. I haven't read the books in a while so I don't remember the details, but I have a hazy memory of one of her teenage boys bringing a bull whip to school. I did have a student with a knife one day, but he was smart (stupid?) enough to leave it in his backpack and not show off in front of everyone.

So far, I feel very good about my new school. I'm a little apprehensive about the student population, just because there's really no way to know what it's like until we start and I meet my kids. The staff seems great so far though. I have a grade level chair, and she and I have been emailing back and forth and are setting up a day to meet and have lunch. She's been very welcoming. The principal seems friendly, helpful, and very experienced with our population. I've also met a couple other teachers, and they all said good things about the school.

I have new teacher orientation next Thursday and Friday, then three work days the first week of August, and the first day of school is August ninth!

shopping!

I went to IKEA yesterday to shop for things for my classroom and got quite the haul. It was a great day. I planned to go with one friend, then invited another friend at the last minute. They were both so helpful with choosing what I needed, and then with packing it all into my Mazda3. If we had gotten one more thing, I would have had to leave a friend in Atlanta. ;)

I was thinking of painting the walls in my new room, but with all the colorful decorations I found, I'm thinking I can skip the painting. I may still do an accent wall, but I want to speak with the other teachers first and see what it involves. I haven't actually painted anything before...

I bought this rug. All my students won't be able to sit on it at the same time, but it will be a nice defined space to sit when we need to. I'm really hoping it doesn't get too dirty.I got these frames in blue and green. I have four, but I may get more later. Right now I plan to put a photo of Husband and me, and a photo of each cat. I realized after the shopping trip that I want to take a photo of the class on the first day, so I'll need a different frame for that.

This chair is for the front of my classroom, so I can sit and still see the class. I like it because it has a foot rest that fits me. I'm 5'3", and many tall chairs don't have foot rests at the right place and my feet just hang there. It gets tiring after a while.

I really like having plants in the room, so I bought four pots. I couldn't find any of the right plants at Ikea, but I know Lowe's will have them. I got pots in red and blue.
I also bought two table lamps, two wire drawer organizers on wheels, and wall stickers of poppies, but I can't find pictures on the website.

I don't really have any good chunk of time to go decorate the room until Friday, but I may go in between my morning and afternoon shifts at Sylvan. I'm itching to see everything in place!

My BIL got married!

We are back from our week in CA. It was definitely a whirlwind of a time! We had stuff to do each day, and rarely had much time alone. I have pictures and stories to tell...

Here's Omar on my suitcase. (Stupid thing costs $50 to take to CA. Stupid fees from the stupid airlines.) As soon as we take the suitcases out of the closet, a cat climbs on. It's like a magnet. I think I took this shot after I packed, right before we left. Husband had to pick up the suitcase and dump Omar off. Poor guy!

My mother-in-law gave me these earrings during our trip. Her mother asked for, and received, them as a 20th wedding anniversary present forty or so years ago. She and her husband had just moved to HI with the Army. He was spending all his time fishing, and he asked what she wanted. She figure since he was gone so much, she wanted something good! So she picked out diamonds in platinum. I very much appreciate the gift, and love the story behind them.

We went to an A's game with my sister and parents, and Husband's brother, his girlfriend and Husband's two cousins. Please notice the jackets and hat. Summer in Oakland, CA is much colder than here in GA. There were fireworks after the game, and we got in line to go down on the field. BIL and his girlfriend didn't get in line with us, but somehow managed to get down on the field, while the rest of us didn't. So much for following the rules!




The wedding was on Sunday of our trip. The ceremony was at beautiful house in Sonoma, CA. The bride's mom works for the owners, and they have a huge piece of property. Their backyard itself wasn't immense, but they'd had 100 guests at a wedding the week before we came. It was very well landscaped, with a pool and vegetable garden. They also had horses and a barn. It was amazing!












The reception was on the Napa Valley Wine Train. We had a delicious dinner with plenty of wine. My in-laws and the brides parents brought their own. I stuck Rosenblum Petite Sirah, and it was so good! The view was wonderful too.









After the reception, we stayed up in Napa. Because really, who wants to drive an hour home after two hours on the wine train? Not this girl! So at our motel, there may or may not have been an after party. It was Husband and his brother and their two cousins, brother's girlfriend, and the bride's sister. We had several bottles of wine, but no opener... Husband's brother used the wine stopper we got as a wedding favor to push the cork in part way, then used a toothbrush to finish the job. The cork was in the wine, but not in pieces, so I call it successful!