Fought the alarm clock this morning. Woke up the first time. Reset the second alarm and then slept through it.
This wasn't what I wanted to do this morning. But, I told myself I needed to.
After I finally crawled out of bed at 7:45 and got myself dressed, Bentley kept giving me this look. You know, the puppy-dog-eyes. So I suited him up and brought him with. I also put in my new Yurbuds. (Thanks Jill!!! They were awesome by the way! If you want to win your own pair, check out Katye's giveaway here.)
As we walked down the driveway I could feel this sensation building in my stomach. It was not the Brown Monster....it was Excitement!!! I was excited to run! When we crossed the crack in the road that I always use as a starting line I was practically dancing! I have missed this feeling!
I could tell that it had been a while since I ran. My legs were tight and my stride was short. But all that mattered was that I was moving forward. Bentley and I only needed 2 short walk-breaks! Our time wasn't fantastic, but it was faster than expected.
2.01 miles in 22.12 minutes. Not bad I say.
We're running again tomorrow before I head in to get some school work done.
Happy Running!!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Eye-opener
Warning!!! I will be whining a lot in this post!!!
The past 48 hours have been stressful!! I now know why teachers quit. I am by no means quitting, but I'm just saying I know why they can walk away so easily after only a few years on the job.
Holy cow!!!!
Here's a small recap of some events:
Network switch over this summer caused the entire order of assignment notebooks and grade books to disappear.....I don't have a grade book and my students don't have assignment notebooks.
Sent 8 first graders home on the wrong bus after school on Tuesday because the transportation department didn't tell us that they were labeling buses differently this year. All our buses are labeled with an "R" and then a number (R1, R2, etc.). Two buses showed up yesterday labeled RAL1 and RAL2 along with the other "R" buses. These first graders got on the RAL1 bus instead of the R1 bus. No one told us there was a difference and they don't line up in number order, so it was confusing. Ugh!!!
2nd grade started with a sub in one classroom because our principal dragged her feet on hiring another teacher....they will have a sub for at least 3 more days because of district regulations for job postings.
5th grade needed 2 more students to register in order to add a 4th section. As of 2:35 this afternoon the second student registered. Instead of posting an opening for a 5th grade teacher, the superintendent is trying to decide whether or not she should deny this student enrollment even though he lives in the neighborhood. This would force him to go to another school and keep us at max student load of 27/class instead of 20/class with a 4th section!!!!! (PS...we have contract language stating that if we exceed 27/class we must add another section.)
That SMART Board that I have.....doesn't work because I don't have a computer to power it. Received an e-mail at 3:30 saying that I could pick up my laptop if I attended a training from 3-4 at the district office this afternoon. Hmmm....I can't get the laptop without the training. No make-up session has been scheduled.
Pulled muscles at kickboxing class on Monday night and still have trouble climbing the stairs :(
Saturday! Where are you?!?!? Must run soon!!!
The past 48 hours have been stressful!! I now know why teachers quit. I am by no means quitting, but I'm just saying I know why they can walk away so easily after only a few years on the job.
Holy cow!!!!
Here's a small recap of some events:
Network switch over this summer caused the entire order of assignment notebooks and grade books to disappear.....I don't have a grade book and my students don't have assignment notebooks.
Sent 8 first graders home on the wrong bus after school on Tuesday because the transportation department didn't tell us that they were labeling buses differently this year. All our buses are labeled with an "R" and then a number (R1, R2, etc.). Two buses showed up yesterday labeled RAL1 and RAL2 along with the other "R" buses. These first graders got on the RAL1 bus instead of the R1 bus. No one told us there was a difference and they don't line up in number order, so it was confusing. Ugh!!!
2nd grade started with a sub in one classroom because our principal dragged her feet on hiring another teacher....they will have a sub for at least 3 more days because of district regulations for job postings.
5th grade needed 2 more students to register in order to add a 4th section. As of 2:35 this afternoon the second student registered. Instead of posting an opening for a 5th grade teacher, the superintendent is trying to decide whether or not she should deny this student enrollment even though he lives in the neighborhood. This would force him to go to another school and keep us at max student load of 27/class instead of 20/class with a 4th section!!!!! (PS...we have contract language stating that if we exceed 27/class we must add another section.)
That SMART Board that I have.....doesn't work because I don't have a computer to power it. Received an e-mail at 3:30 saying that I could pick up my laptop if I attended a training from 3-4 at the district office this afternoon. Hmmm....I can't get the laptop without the training. No make-up session has been scheduled.
Pulled muscles at kickboxing class on Monday night and still have trouble climbing the stairs :(
Saturday! Where are you?!?!? Must run soon!!!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wow!!!
I am a lucky winner in Jill's Yurbuds giveaway!!! How awesome!!!
I have been in a funk the last couple of days and the sucky parts of life have really been getting to me. Seeing my name on Jill's blog reminded me that good things do happen and that the sucky parts are temporary. Thank you Jill for hosting an amazing giveaway!! I can't wait to try out my new Yurbuds and write a review :)
Here's an update on the school situation:
Background: I currently teach 5th grade at a school that I've been teaching at for 4 years. Over the summer, our school received grant money that allowed them to purchase a SMART Board for each grade level. This sounds great, but when you have 3 sections of each grade level, it led to some fighting over who was going to get the board in their room. I, despite having taken 2 classes and creating multiple lessons for this piece of technology, was passed over due to seniority. The teacher who received it over me simply has an "interest" in technology. She hasn't even seen one of these boards before! I have not been happy about this.
Last week, after registration numbers finally started to finalize, my principal called me and told me that I would be moving rooms to accommodate some overflow that was occurring. Let it be known that I volunteered for this move after hearing that the overflow was going to happen and a "new" teacher was going to be put into a classroom that had a SMART Board and I was going to be stuck in a room that still had a chalk board and no working printer! This overflow also meant that instead of having 27 kids in each class we would have 20 kids in each class. Perfect! A SMART Board and a small class! What more could I ask for? (This was the Lucky Day I posted about last week)
Sadly, the very next week, the superintendent calls my principal and says that enrollment numbers were goofed and that we can't have and overflow section anymore. Now we're back to having 27 students per classroom. This isn't horrible, but we won't have a lot of wiggle space in my room this year. At all. We're also only 2 students away from having an overflow section again. So I could be changing everything around again in the next week! Oh....and did I mention that we start school on Tuesday? And that is just one small part of the school drama. We still can't get into the parking lot or the bus lane because of construction. The school still needs to hire 2 more teachers. The building will be closed all weekend because they are waxing the floors so teachers can't get in to do last minute stuff. Drama. Drama. Drama. I almost don't even want to go back.
However...I still get my "dream" room with the SMART Board. Check it out!!! (This is before I was "done" decorating. And before all 27 desk found there way in here. And yes, those are the original desks from 1962 when the school was built. Some of my students' parents sat in those very same desks. Sad.)
Expect some better pictures next week :) Hopefully school starts on time without a hitch!
I have been in a funk the last couple of days and the sucky parts of life have really been getting to me. Seeing my name on Jill's blog reminded me that good things do happen and that the sucky parts are temporary. Thank you Jill for hosting an amazing giveaway!! I can't wait to try out my new Yurbuds and write a review :)
Here's an update on the school situation:
Background: I currently teach 5th grade at a school that I've been teaching at for 4 years. Over the summer, our school received grant money that allowed them to purchase a SMART Board for each grade level. This sounds great, but when you have 3 sections of each grade level, it led to some fighting over who was going to get the board in their room. I, despite having taken 2 classes and creating multiple lessons for this piece of technology, was passed over due to seniority. The teacher who received it over me simply has an "interest" in technology. She hasn't even seen one of these boards before! I have not been happy about this.
Last week, after registration numbers finally started to finalize, my principal called me and told me that I would be moving rooms to accommodate some overflow that was occurring. Let it be known that I volunteered for this move after hearing that the overflow was going to happen and a "new" teacher was going to be put into a classroom that had a SMART Board and I was going to be stuck in a room that still had a chalk board and no working printer! This overflow also meant that instead of having 27 kids in each class we would have 20 kids in each class. Perfect! A SMART Board and a small class! What more could I ask for? (This was the Lucky Day I posted about last week)
Sadly, the very next week, the superintendent calls my principal and says that enrollment numbers were goofed and that we can't have and overflow section anymore. Now we're back to having 27 students per classroom. This isn't horrible, but we won't have a lot of wiggle space in my room this year. At all. We're also only 2 students away from having an overflow section again. So I could be changing everything around again in the next week! Oh....and did I mention that we start school on Tuesday? And that is just one small part of the school drama. We still can't get into the parking lot or the bus lane because of construction. The school still needs to hire 2 more teachers. The building will be closed all weekend because they are waxing the floors so teachers can't get in to do last minute stuff. Drama. Drama. Drama. I almost don't even want to go back.
However...I still get my "dream" room with the SMART Board. Check it out!!! (This is before I was "done" decorating. And before all 27 desk found there way in here. And yes, those are the original desks from 1962 when the school was built. Some of my students' parents sat in those very same desks. Sad.)
Expect some better pictures next week :) Hopefully school starts on time without a hitch!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Aimless
That's what I feel like right now.
After all that training for my half marathon, all that running all summer long, and it's all over. I feel.....well.....aimless. I have other races scheduled for the fall, but they are what I can now call "short" races that don't require intense training like the half did. I kinda feel lost.
What do you do when you're not really training for anything? What should my goals be? Now that school is starting, I will have a lot of time-juggling that needs to be done, but I do want to run at least 3-4 times a week. I can't see myself having time to run every day and make my gym membership still worth paying for...and finding time to sleep or spend time with my husband. I'm thinking I'll be doing mostly afternoon/evening runs and will need to invest in some good reflective/light-up gear. Where does one buy a head-lamp? I haven't seen one at my local running store and I've spent a lot of time there this summer.
Don't forget to check out Jill's Yurbuds giveaway! She's giving away 3 pairs, so I've got to have a pretty good chance, right?!?!
After all that training for my half marathon, all that running all summer long, and it's all over. I feel.....well.....aimless. I have other races scheduled for the fall, but they are what I can now call "short" races that don't require intense training like the half did. I kinda feel lost.
What do you do when you're not really training for anything? What should my goals be? Now that school is starting, I will have a lot of time-juggling that needs to be done, but I do want to run at least 3-4 times a week. I can't see myself having time to run every day and make my gym membership still worth paying for...and finding time to sleep or spend time with my husband. I'm thinking I'll be doing mostly afternoon/evening runs and will need to invest in some good reflective/light-up gear. Where does one buy a head-lamp? I haven't seen one at my local running store and I've spent a lot of time there this summer.
Don't forget to check out Jill's Yurbuds giveaway! She's giving away 3 pairs, so I've got to have a pretty good chance, right?!?!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Lucky Day & A Giveaway!
The school situation = best freakin' news ever!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't even concentrate on the information from the workshop I was at this morning. This excitement was so much that I even forgot to eat lunch! I will update you all with full details and pictures as soon as I can. But for now...just know that I am one happy little bug! Eeek!
Oh yea....
And Jill over at Finishing is Winning is hosting a giveaway. Somehow she got hooked up with 3 pairs of Yurbuds to giveaway! How sweet is that? Click on over and check it out here.
And don't forget about Courtney's Ryders Sunglasses giveaway.
Oh yea....
And Jill over at Finishing is Winning is hosting a giveaway. Somehow she got hooked up with 3 pairs of Yurbuds to giveaway! How sweet is that? Click on over and check it out here.
And don't forget about Courtney's Ryders Sunglasses giveaway.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
More miles and a race regisration
I got up and got some miles in before my workshop this morning. It wasn't as hard to talk myself into as I thought :) It's been quite a while since I've done a run by myself, and this kinda felt weird. But I popped in my iPod and went for it. It's also been a while since I've listened to my iPod while running. But today, I needed it. The music kept me going. I really felt like I was flying :) The time you will see in my Daily Mile widget isn't super fantastic, but sub 11-minute miles are great at this point. I'd like to be sub 10-minute by my next race.
Speaking of my next race, I mailed in my registration for my next race! It will be a 4 mile trail race in September. What I think I will like most about this race is that it is sponsored and benefiting the Girl Scouts. It is also being held at a local Girl Scout camp. I, having been a Girl Scout as a kid, spent many summers at this camp. They happen to be some of my most horrific memories from my childhood...camp was not a good experience for me. Anyway...I'm looking forward to going back to this camp, running the 4-mile trail race, and kicking those bad memories once and for all! Plus, the race is called the Thin Mint Sprint! That means cookies! Who doesn't love GS Cookies?!?! Me...because I can't eat them. But I will be making an exception after the race if they are available. :)
Anyway...summer is over like I've said before. School is still a messy situation and I have workshops to attend for the rest of the week. I'm looking to put more miles on my shoes on Friday morning if the weather is good. We're under a heat advisory for the rest of the week. Yuck!
Now I just need to decide on my October race.....
Speaking of my next race, I mailed in my registration for my next race! It will be a 4 mile trail race in September. What I think I will like most about this race is that it is sponsored and benefiting the Girl Scouts. It is also being held at a local Girl Scout camp. I, having been a Girl Scout as a kid, spent many summers at this camp. They happen to be some of my most horrific memories from my childhood...camp was not a good experience for me. Anyway...I'm looking forward to going back to this camp, running the 4-mile trail race, and kicking those bad memories once and for all! Plus, the race is called the Thin Mint Sprint! That means cookies! Who doesn't love GS Cookies?!?! Me...because I can't eat them. But I will be making an exception after the race if they are available. :)
Anyway...summer is over like I've said before. School is still a messy situation and I have workshops to attend for the rest of the week. I'm looking to put more miles on my shoes on Friday morning if the weather is good. We're under a heat advisory for the rest of the week. Yuck!
Now I just need to decide on my October race.....
Monday, August 9, 2010
Summer's Over
What?!?! Over?!?! No!!!
Sadly yes, for me, summer is over. I went back into my classroom today. Only two weeks until school starts and I need to get ready. All of the ideas that have been exploding inside my head all summer now need to be focused and put into practice.
I'm not even going to describe the nightmare that the first few weeks of school is going to be. Student registration is still unfinished...there are still teachers to hire for our building...it is possible that classrooms might be switched at the last minute...I am missing a printer in my classroom...there is no wireless internet in my wing of the building as promised...the street in front of our school is torn up and you can't even get into the parking lot because of a 5-foot-wide trench that has been dug...and did I mention that they have 2 weeks (10 business days) to fix all of this? And that ain't all sister!
And somehow, despite all of this, I am still planning to run and attend classes at the gym. I'm going to need that "me time" in order to stay sane here!
I'm sure I'll post some pictures of the room when it's all done and pretty :)
Sadly yes, for me, summer is over. I went back into my classroom today. Only two weeks until school starts and I need to get ready. All of the ideas that have been exploding inside my head all summer now need to be focused and put into practice.
I'm not even going to describe the nightmare that the first few weeks of school is going to be. Student registration is still unfinished...there are still teachers to hire for our building...it is possible that classrooms might be switched at the last minute...I am missing a printer in my classroom...there is no wireless internet in my wing of the building as promised...the street in front of our school is torn up and you can't even get into the parking lot because of a 5-foot-wide trench that has been dug...and did I mention that they have 2 weeks (10 business days) to fix all of this? And that ain't all sister!
And somehow, despite all of this, I am still planning to run and attend classes at the gym. I'm going to need that "me time" in order to stay sane here!
I'm sure I'll post some pictures of the room when it's all done and pretty :)
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