f-i-r-e

A year and a half ago my friend Koby was at his friend's house a couple of days after Christmas watching the news and he sees his condo building on the news...burning! The guy upstairs had started a fire and Koby's condo received major damage. He finally got to move in back in the spring after going through a huge ordeal with the insurance company and his HOA. I learned 2 good lessons...it could happen to anyone and make sure you have really good insurance, right?

So then about a year ago, I'm talking to Koby on the phone and drive up to my apartment and see 2 fire trucks by my building! My heart stopped! It ended up being a small fire in an apartment one hallway over from me. It was such a horrible feeling and hit way too close to home...literally. (I missed having Carrie as a roommate because we used to always watch interesting things from our balcony. She would have found out the scoop for me in a second!) :)

Now fast forward to this past Tuesday...I'm talking to Jessica and she proceeds to tell me that she saw my old apartment complex on the news. Guess why? Another FIRE in the building next to my old apartment! I went by to check it out and the roof is totally gone! There were several garages full of burned stuff. There must be some pretty irresponsible people in that neighborhood! Supposedly it took 50 firefighters to get the fire out. It started from a candle that fell on a mattress. So all of that to say, after 2 fires and Kristi's car being broken into there, I moved out just in time! :) I think that place is jinxed!

The 1st day of school went well yesterday. The 2nd day wasn't quite as good, but it will get better. The mean Miss Ginn is coming out tomorrow. No mercy! You can't let 'em see you smile until after Christmas. All teachers are familiar with that saying. :) And that's hard for me, but you've got to nip it in the bud or it will only get worse...mostly for me.

Tomorrow is Teacher Appreciation Night at the Rangers game. A big group of us are going from my new school. Should be fun. As soon as they post the picture of my new 3rd grade team, I'll put it on here.

My team leader Jessica went to try out for American Idol in San Antonio last week. She made it to the 2nd round which was being held today. So she went back to San Antonio, but unfortunately she didn't make the cut. They said she needed more expression when she sings. But she sang for us the other day, and she sounded pretty good. She'll be back to school tomorrow. I'm proud of her that she even tried out. I was going to, but I was just so busy getting my new classroom ready. :)

Well, this teacher better get herself to bed soon. Have a good weekend! 2 posts in one week, what will my readers think! :)

Go Cowboys!!!

Did anyone watch last night’s Cowboys game? Well, I was working in my classroom, but they beat the Saints 30-7. This Saturday night I get to watch them play the 49ers. My friend has invited my old 2nd grade team to watch it from their suite. :) Should be fun!

Well, today the kiddos come for Meet the Teacher at 3:00. My room is pretty much ready. I hate to hang up too many posters because when we take the TAKS test, we have to cover it all up or take it down, but I don't like bare walls. Yesterday I called all 21 kids to tell them about today. (kind of late notice in my opinion, but I just did what the principal said) I talked to 7 families, left messages for 4, and the rest of the numbers were disconnected or unlisted. My school has a 46% mobility rate (lots of apartments around), so they said to prepare for about half of my class to move this year and more to move in. One little girl’s mom said she’s moving away a week after school starts. Several of the 2nd grade teachers have stopped by to see my class list and see which kids of theirs from last year that I have. Then they want to tell me all about each kid. But I only let them if they promise to be positive. I don’t want to know the bad stuff. Maybe the kid has changed over the summer, right? :)

Well, I better get back to work. Say a little prayer for the 1st day of school tomorrow. They’re expecting about 75 more kids than originally planned for. Good times! :)

hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go...

Today was my last official day off for the summer. :( Now it's time to finish getting my classroom ready, sit through 4 days of boring trainings that only end up overwhelming me, then get ready for the kids to come. Jessica started school today and Carrie starts tomorrow. But since Irving goes to school until the middle of June (practically!), I still have a few more days to go. It's sad that I'm already looking forward to having Labor Day off, isn't it? :)

So did anyone besides Carrie and I watch the Ron Clark movie last night? I think all of us teachers should take a road trip to Atlanta to observe him in his classroom this year. He's going to be teaching 3rd grade, just like me. He said the other day that they're encouraging teachers to come to his Academy. While we're on that side of the country, we can swing through Savannah and meet Paula Deen's family...right, Jessica? ;)

Well, since I always get in trouble for never posting, I thought I would tonight before I get busy the rest of the week. And now do you see why I don't post when I have nothing to say? :) Here are the pictures I tried to put on my last post.

Michael and Meg...

The yummy cake Jessica brought...

And the girls...

I saw Ron Clark and turned 29...

Last Friday my friend Sarah and I went to HEB ISD's Welcome Back Convocation. Technically, we don't work for HEB, we teach in Irving. But I had seen on Ron Clark's website that he would be speaking to HEB, so we wanted to go. I called my good buddy Jessica up (because she actually works for HEB) and she told me it was at FBC Euless.

If anyone could motivate me to be a better teacher, it's Ron Clark. He was Disney's Teacher of the Year in 2000, was on Oprah, and has written 2 books. He's taught in Harlem and is now opening a school in Atlanta. Sunday night on TNT you can watch a movie about him starring Matthew Perry. After Ron spoke, the superintendent got up to speak so Sarah and I slipped out early and I got Ron to autograph my book. I took some pics too but I can't get any to upload right now.

Saturday night Kristi had a few people over to celebrate my birthday and hang out. Jessica got more pictures than me so hopefully she'll post those soon. :) I'll add mine if I ever get them to upload. We had a good time. It's crazy how we live in the DFW area but never see each other. But it's also not like Garland and Fort Worth and Mansfield are close, either, right? :) Thank you, Kristi and Chris, for having us over. It was fun! I appreciate each of you that went!

If anyone has any helpful tips on adding pics, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I would appreciate the help. :)

I’m giving in to the pressure to update…

Some of you just have no patience. :) Well, July was one long, busy month! I went to Ruston a couple of weeks ago and brought my dad back with me to help me pack up my apartment. Then my mom came, then the movers came, and now I’m all moved in. My new apartment is only about a mile from my old one. But the old neighborhood was starting to change, then Kristi’s car got broken into, so I decided I better find a new ‘hood. I would love for you to come by and visit sometime. I now have 2 bedrooms so you’d have your own bedroom. :) One of my favorite new additions is these French chef curtains. Cute, huh? And I still love the Peach Festival poster. It reminds me of my Ruston roots. :) Most of my apartment is red since that’s my favorite color.

I have a technology training tomorrow. I hate it when August comes because then I know my summer is just about over. :( I know, I know, for those of you that work year-round, you couldn’t care less. But for the teachers out there, you understand!

My next adventure is packing up my classroom at my old school and moving all my stuff to my new school. What a big job it’s going to be! I am NOT looking forward to it! Teachers are big pack-rats! We have to spend our own money on almost all of our supplies so you hate to give or throw things away. But I’m very ready to be out of there and get new principals. So even though I’m nervous about teaching 3rd grade…and TAKS…I’m excited too.

I went to see Kenny Chesney, Dierks Bentley, and Pat Green a couple of weeks ago. Carrie Underwood performed first but we were hiking through the parking pasture at that time. If any of you DFW people haven’t been to the new Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, take lots of cash with you! Parking was $20! And it took forever to get out of there. But the concerts were good and it wasn’t as hot as we thought it would be because the sun went behind the stadium. I tried to post a pic of Kenny and Uncle Kracker but can't get it to work.

I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with my friends Mike and Wendi this summer. Mike teaches PE at my old school and Wendi taught 4th grade (that’s where they met, then they got married). Now she’s moving to be a vice principal. These are their precious kids Riley and Connor.

While I was in Ruston I got to hang out with my nieces some. Here they are. Ree’s going to be a first grader this year and J. will be in the 6th grade. I’m so glad I never have to go back to that awkward time of growing up. I much preferred college! Mostly because that’s where I met most of you that are reading this. :)

I hate that I never made it to Houston and College Station this summer. I will have to put that off until a weekend this fall sometime. Well, I hope this new post makes up for the all the time I wasn’t updating. I hope to see some of you soon.

P.S. Thanks to all of the birthday wishes on here. I was without internet last week while moving and wasn't able to write back. But I appreciated them all. :)