Wednesday, April 21, 2010

the final (not really) countdown

Alright so first things first, WITH SEMESTER TESTS, I only have 23 school days left!!!! I'M PRETTY PSYCHED ABOUT THAT!!! It would be 25 if it weren't for item #2...
I'm also pretty stoked about next weekend! My cousin Duke is getting married!! It's been WAY TOO LONG since I've seen them, so I'm very excited to get to spend a couple of days up there in Michigan....not excited about the 18 hour-both ways-road trip with my mom, brother and dad...but I'm assigning a vocabulary project so I should have some grading to do. :) plus I've got the iPhone and a portable DVD player so I should survive...hopefully. If not, this could be my last blog..just kidding :) So some of you may have read from facebook or heard it from me, but I'm moving out of my apartment this summer!! No, not back to mom and dad's...(ugh- love you guys)... a friend of mine has a house and two empty bedrooms, so Teresa and I are moving in! I'm pretty stoked about this as well. I've never really had roommates, with the exception of girl scout camp, but that doesn't really count cause we had to share a living space. The other thing that this has inspired is a case of puppy fever!! I can't currently have a dog in my apartment, so it has even been on my radar, but when Teresa brought it up with Paula the other day- something sparked. Then I went to Midland to visit my wonderful friends (I'll come back to that) and my wonderful hosts, Karrie and Jason, had the cutest little Maltese dog, Grace, that completely stole my heart. So once we get moved in and everything, I anticipate having a conversation about a getting a puppy/dog :) So as I said, last weekend I drove down to Midland to visit my amazing, wonderful teacher friends! Friends really isn't the right word. They really were my second family. They took me to the doctor, they brought me food when I was sick, they laughed, talked, shared pretty much everything with me! They're really the most amazing group of teachers EVER! I was a little disappointed that some of them couldn't make it, some of them already had plans or children to be responsible for, or..something. But at least we have Facebook! Is it weird that part of me is worried that after a year, they're not going to want to be my friends anymore? Just like a year after college, I started talking to most of my friends from college less, I'm worried that's going to happen. It was a very bittersweet drive home. If you're reading this Midlanders, know that I'm truly blessed to know all of you and I thank you for a wonderful evening last week.
I don't remember what number we're on, but there are only 45 MORE days until CAMP STARTS!! (I'm sorry if that freaks you out Natalie, but I'm stoked and let me know if I can help do anything else..) This is a pretty big year for me- this summer will be my TENTH SUMMER to be on Staff at Girl Scout Camp Kiwanis!! That's pretty dang cool, don't ya think? Sure that only adds up to like 20 months or something, but still TEN SUMMERS!!
I actually think that's just about it, except don't forget to donate to my March of Dimes Walk this weekend! www.marchforbabies.org/teddyzzil
Every little bit counts and I'm getting closer to my goal! Thanks to those who've donated- and if you know anyone that wants to donate, just send them my link! It'll be much appreciated! Also, sorry for the 1990's surfer dude vocabulary, I guess I need to look up a couple of synonyms for "stoked" and "psyched." Well, I'll hopefully I'll get to see you all someplace other than the Cyber-world, but until then! HAVE A GREAT DAY!
--DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT :)
(Kudos to my sister for getting that reference a couple of blogs ago)

Monday, April 12, 2010

Chalk dust

First, let's start with some good news!! In case you haven't heard, I passed my high school math certification test!!! YEAH!! I was concerned mostly because it's been a long time since I've taken Calculus but it didn't matter. Second, I don't do this very often, but I may be having to make a decision about something soon and I would very much appreciate your prayers. I'll share more as it happens, but I'd rather not share anything publicly until I know something. Thank you in advance for that. OK, now onto "the blog"
So, it's kind of weird that I was inspired to blog today while at school. I use mostly the chalkboard at school for teaching and such. I was using the overhead at the beginning of the year, but the chalk board is just so much better and fits with my big handwriting. I also learned from my high school Physics teacher, who did the same thing, that a rag or cloth erases the board MUCH better than an eraser. So I bought a pack of washcloths from Walmart and they work GREAT! Unfortunately, I also use colored chalk, which creates more chalk dust while erasing with more ease than the white chalk. I know that's probably alot more than you ever wanted or needed to know about my chalkboard use, but it will help with the story....well at least I think it will. Anyways, on Friday after school, I decided to clean my board because our cleaning people only vacuum the dust from the tray. So I cleaned it with water and a towel. I used the chalkboard in all 6 of my classes today and I have to say that my chalkboard still looks pretty clean. Which made me think "mistakes are easier to fix with a clean start." This sentence has many meanings for me and I'm still pondering it. So, I'm not going to elaborate on my little insight anymore, I'm just going to let you ponder on it.
I would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of my "loyal readers," and even my "unloyal readers" or "occasional readers" I'm very thankful for the Internet and facebook and this blog for allowing me to stay in contact with my family and friends, many of whom live far away. Frankly I think that's pretty cool. Just like in the "old days" when people would write letters to their family members to let them know what was going on. I kind of feel like that, just a modern day version, mostly cause you don't have to wait 2 weeks to get the letter. Any who. Those are my thoughts as they stand today. I hope your April is just AWESOME!! :)