Thankful

A list, in no particular order, of the things I am grateful for (on days when I am feeling overwhelmed-seems like a lot lately-I need to remember and reflect on this list):

• a supportive family
• strong friends who listen 
• an adorable family
• the job I have always wanted
• a roof over my head
• a loving and devoted dog
• a car that runs, and spoils me with a/c during these hot days
• my loss of 15 pounds.  yes, I'm hungry.  but I have 30 more to go!
• a brother who takes care of my like a dad does
• a sister who provides me lots of laughs and the two most amazing nieces in the world
• a mom who is a role model
• a dad who has a huge heart
• memories
• health (no not joking, I know I get sick a lot but overall...I am pretty lucky)
• Green Bay Packers
• a supportive team
• 32 students who are going to learn SOMETHING this year

(I am sure there is much more, and I will add to it as I remember )

Dreams

We (and by we I mean me) survived the first full week of school :)  With the new grade level, common core, and a different age group I have been a bit stressed.  I had a few odd dreams I'd like to share:

• While house sitting at my brother's Thursday night I was fortunate enough to take Raji with me, and spend some time with Jared's dog Marley.  Halfway through the night I felt a dog lying super close to me (Raji cuddles, but doesn't lay up close to me).  I had the best dream thinking it was GB....until I woke up and realized it wasn't her.  I cried.  I love Marley but it was a reminder of how things used to be at my house....
• I have had a few dreams about driving cross country to Wisconsin.  In my dream(s) I have three days to get there, enjoy the time with family, and get home.  Ya pretty much impossible, but I still try....
• I had a dream I still lived at home, and so did my sis and brother. We weren't young in the dreams, our current age, but we shared rooms like we were younger.  And my mom wasn't speaking to me because I got so mad at my sister for not keeping her side of the room clean....

Anyone know what these dreams mean?  Me either...

Rainy Camping Trip (get ready for picture overload!)

We didn't get to camp at all this summer, except for this past weekend. The whole family went up to a beautiful area past Clint's Wells.  Drove up Thursday night, and planned on staying until Monday or Tuesday.  Our trip was cut short because of the downpour of rain....but all in all we had a good time!

Abby played photographer for a bit...

Jared tried to trim Kaydee's nails...but she jumped so bad she got hurt

As the sprinkles set in...

Lots of rain = lots of mud

The mud went past our shoes...and many times the shoes got stuck in the mud

Good memories with this truck!

Classroom!

For those who don't teach, I thought I'd give a wrap up of setting up a classroom.  Here is my room after sorting out all the items that were NOT mine:

This tree was given to me by Adrian.  He is an amazing artist!

Dad came by to help.  I had him put the crayons and markers in bins for me.

Mom was kind enough to come over and take out the HUNDREDS (no, I am not exaggerating) staples left in the walls by the prior teacher(s).

Whew.  Now it's starting to look like a classroom!

Had to take a lunch break, right?

Our school's AC isn't quite up to par yet from the summer.  It's very hot in the classrooms, hence the multiple drinks.

Calendar/lunch choice board (border was given to me by Jill Hildwine years ago and I still use it!)

Student of the week board!  

Bulletin board in the hallway.  Going to add pics once the students start!

Birthday board!

Cursive alphabet

Job board

Pretty much the only thing "educational" up so far, besides the alphabet :)

Being unemployed....

Today work has ended....7 weeks at camp, cleaned and packed up....and now I don't have a job.  For like a whole two weeks (yes, sarcasm!).  I plan on doing the following; you can consider this a 'to-do' list...in no particular order:

• catch up on my sleep (done-slept in until 11:30 today!)
• go camping with the family (done!)
• organize the kitchen cupboards (done!)
• organize my bathroom (done!)
• shampoo the carpets (done!)
• take a few naps (done!)
• pack up my former classroom (I did not teach one day in said former classroom, fyi)  (done!)
• move to new classroom (done!)
• set up new classroom (done!)
• prepare for a new grade level (done, as much as I  can for now!!)
• see a movie (done-saw Ice Age with a very special family!)
• play with Raji (always can do more of this!!)
• spend some time with my sis and her girls (done!)
• have some drinks (done, and am ready to not have any for a while)
• spend time outdoors  (done!)
• come up with some great activities to do with the future students!  (done-at least for the back to school fun stuff!)
• maybe throw in some extra sleep time (done!)

It's the final countdown...

For the past few summers I have had the pleasure of working with a fun summer camp.  As we enter the last week of camp, I wanted to note a few fun things that have happened:
**getting beat up by a camper while a government agency was there to observe
**being punched in the face by a grown camper
**getting the second hand story of staff changing a diaper, to find a full in-tact balloon coming out of...well, you get it

**the worst meltdown I have ever seen, resulting in:

no, not a bite a good scratching with some small but sharp nails :)

**some amazing laughs with staff and campers

**wonderful memories

**knowing we all made a difference

All done!

So quite a while ago I wanted to touch up some paint areas in the house.  Mistake #1...assuming the brown paint I had was the same I used to originally paint...big mistake, it wasn't the same color...I'd like to think I had a bit of tie dye going on....but that wasn't it.  Just my stupidity! The random spots of color were driving me insane.

The kitchen wall/partition

This is the planter next to the kitchen.   A nice view each time I eat at the table.

The front entrance partition/mail holder

This picture was once I was getting started on the big wall.  Wasn't part of the original plan to paint, but was a last minute add on.  It needed a smooth paint cover...

Here it is after with the curtains and extra's on

Front partition/mail holder :) 

I know these pics are a bit hard to see, since I started in the evening and went until the sun went down.  


Wonder what will be next?  I need to paint the living room and other kitchen wall...next to the new paint job it looks pretty dull!  What color do you suggest?  A dark gray?