School Renovation

Have I mentioned yet that my school is being renovated over the summer? I don't think that I have. Fort Bend has this like 10 year renovation plan or something and this year it's our school's turn. What does this mean for teachers at the end of the school year? INSANITY!!

Because of the renovation, which is going to be a drastic overhaul of the school, we have to box up EVERY LAST THING and move it out. If it is something that belongs to you personally, you have to take it home. If it belongs to the school, you have to box it a certain way and the movers will take it. You can not leave a single paperclip in the room or cabinets. Guess when the movers are coming? ON THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! That's right, the last day of school the kids leave at 10:45am. But the movers? Oh, they will be there at 10:30. This basically means that you have to already have moved out ALL your personal belongings, and have every single thing boxed up before the kids are even gone. Like I said, INSANITY!!

I am making a very solid effort not to be a hoarder this year. If I haven't used it in 3 years, I am NOT keeping it. I have thrown away SOO much stuff, which is good, because I have a ridiculous amount of things!! I moved into a classroom that was completely empty. This means that the only school items I have are those I specifically asked for and brought in. I packed all those already .... all 4 boxes of them. The unfortunate part is that with that packed up, you would never even know I packed anything. And EVERYTHING else belongs to me. UGH!

Today was another TAKS day, meaning we had no outclass time. So, we watched a movie to make up for it and I spent that hour and 20 minutes organizing, packing, and throwing things away. I actually put a small dent in it today. When a resource aid came in at the end of the day she commented, "it's looking pretty bare in here" So, I guess you could say it's coming along ...

24 1/2 more days ... am I going to make it in time? I hope so ...

Will I lose my mind in the process? Seems highly likely haha

Better Than a Hallelujah

This song came on the radio the other day as I was on my way to church and I immediately fell in love with it. I think the lyrics are just beautiful if you listen to them, and I wanted to share it with someone.

If your life feels like a giant mess like mine currently does, maybe you'll find this encouraging.

Better Than a Hallelujah - Amy Grant

God loves a lullaby,

In a mother's tears in the dead of night,

Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.

God loves the drunkards cry,

The soldier's plea not to let him die,

Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.

We pour out our miseries,

God just hears a melody,

Beautiful the mess we are,

The honest cries of breaking hearts,

Are better than a Hallelujah.

The woman holding on for life,

The dying man giving up the fight,

Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes.

The tears of shame for what's been done,

The silence when the words won't come,

Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes.

We pour out our miseries,

God just hears a melody,

Beautiful the mess we are,

The honest cries of breaking hearts,

Are better than a Hallelujah.

Better than a church bell ringing,

Better than a choir singing out, singing out.

We pour out our miseries,

God just hears a melody,

Beautiful the mess we are,

The honest cries of breaking hearts,

Are better than a Hallelujah.

What time is it?

Yesterday my kids took a math test, and this morning I sat down to grade them while the kids were having a read-in. When I flipped this kid's test over to the back and saw this answer I laughed so hard I cried and I actually had to step in the hallway for a minute to compose myself. I think he deserves points for creativity, what do you think? hahahaha!

In case you have trouble reading that, the question is asking what time is on the clock. The student responded, "I know what time is it ... ADVENTURE TIME!"

This made my freaking day!

Another random school story from today that made me just die laughing: During the read-in, I walked around the room and took some pictures of the kids for my class end of year slideshow. I walked by one boy and found him laying on his pillow, book open, licking the pages like an ice cream cone. I stood there and stared at him for a good couple minutes but he was not phased at all. He kept right on licking! Good thing that book didn't belong to me! yuck!

Project 365 - Week 17

Summer Job

So, thanks to Tony, I got myself a summer job that I am really excited about! I didn't want to teach summer school this summer (I need a break from teaching!) and I since I don't have to work, I wasn't going to be getting a job for the money, I would be getting one just because I would enjoy it. After I decided not to apply to teach summer school, I started thinking about what I was going to do all summer and started thinking about how bored I was actually going to be. Then, Tony found a posting on TexAgs for a summer nanny and passed it on to me thinking it was something I'd be interested in.

On a whim I decided to email about it to get more information. I ended up meeting with the mom last week so we could chat and I could meet the boys. She has twin 3 year olds (well, will be 3 next week), and a soon to be 5 year old. They are ADORABLE! Little bundles of energy for sure, but adorable. They were looking for someone that would be willing to do fun things with them: the zoo, the children's museum, the park, the pool, etc. That is totally up my alley! Unfortunately, they really wanted someone who could work until mid August, but I could only offer them until my trip to Jamaica (July 21st!!). She had to take a few days to figure out if they could make something else work the rest of the summer, but I guess she figured it out because she emailed me before they left for Disney World this week to let me know that if I was still interested they definitely wanted me to watch their boys.

I think it will be a lot of fun! As I said, the boys are precious, and I'll love taking them on "field trips" all summer. Won't hurt to make a little extra spending money either. yay! :)

Project 365 - Week 16

Project 365 - Weeks 15

Here are my shots from week 15:

Project 365 - Weeks 13 and 14

Again, a little behind, but better late than never.

Week 13

Week 14

Volunteering

I'm way behind in my blogging again; I apologize.

So I am really loving this volunteering at Texas Children's Hospital. The way it works is every week once I clock in I go to the patient board. On the board there are slips of paper for children that need visitors. You are supposed to pick a few, pack a bag of stuff to play with, and then go see if they are in need of a visitor at that time. I tend to usually pick all the babies first, then kids under the age of 5. I just love the little ones! Every week I have gone so far, I have spent my evening holding a number of babies, then playing with another child. This week however, was different.

This week when I went I checked the board and took all the babies as usual. Plus, I took the slip for a little boy I have played with every week since I started. I started on the highest floor and made my way down. Every last one of those babies was sleeping! I kid you not! My last stop was to see the little boy, but he was sleeping too. Seeing as how I had no patients to visit, and a lot of time to kill, I figured I'd just ask a nurse if she knew of anyone else who might like a visitor at that time. She directed me to the room of a 13 year old boy. Normally I wouldn't pick a kid that age to visit, I don't know what to say to them! But, I had just asked her who needed a visit, so how could I back out? So I poked my head in and asked how he was doing. He immediately told me to come in because he was so bored by himself. I ended up staying in there playing star wars video games with him for an hour. He was so much fun! When I left he was so grateful that I had hung out with him for awhile. He was all smiles and must have said thank you like 20 times.

With the little ones you know they have fun, but they can't really express gratitude like someone older can. It made me feel really good. Next week, I think I'll pick some more older kids to go visit ... along with some babies of course, how can I give up that?!? hehe