The Lumberjack's Wife

Poor Hadley had her wisdom teeth out on Friday and she was sort of acting like a zombie.

Us:  Hadley.  Do you want to stay home or go to the river?

Hadley:  Mehhhhhhhhhhh.

*one hour later*

Us:  Hadley?  River or home?

Hadley:  Mehhhhhhhhhhh.

*one hour later*

Us:  Hadley?  How are you feeling?  Stay home or go to the river?

Hadley (with a thumbs up):  Mehhhhhhhh-verrrrrrrrrrrr.

So we took her to the river.  And she was a party and a half.

The river was absolutely beautiful, but we all already knew this.

We are trying to squeeze out any remaining getaways we can before we haul the trailer home and call it a year.

I just wish David would figure out some way to build us some sort of a cabin that could withstand the yearly floodwaters so we could go there for all the time.

But we need him at home for several projects, including converting our shop into an apartment so Auntie DateNut can move here to be closer to family.  And that is just plum kind of him, isn’t it?

It is.  He is a gem.

The dudes and their cousins enjoy kayaking and/or wading across the river a bit to a little peninsula, or so I am choosing to call it, and are having a grand time removing sticks to create a nice soft beach in the area.

The dogs usually sit on the shore and cry for the sadness of being too scared to join their human pals.  HD was excited to get them to join him.  And, sadly, Charlie still doesn’t know how to properly swim.

Poor Walter.  He is my niece’s dog, and a pro-champion swimmer.  He was tied up at this moment and very much wishing he could join in on the fun.

It was nice to go the river.  Friday was a weird day at school.

While I was having a lovely day with my firsties taste testing apples, collecting and graphing data, and making our own applesauce, all heck was breaking loose in our community regarding covid 19 precautions and the possibility of requiring masks.

The world just seems really loud right now.

Everyone has all the opinions and strongly feel that their opinions are the truth.  And I don’t know what the right answer or the right opinion is at all.

But I strongly feel like it is best for the kids to be in school and for us to not shut down, if at all possible.  The kids really have gone through a lot with this pandemic.  Teaching at eSchool was a wonderful experience, but those kids were lonely and wanted to be with their teachers and peers.  And it is hard!  It is hard for the littles to learn remotely.  It is hard to teach them remotely.

It is just all so much.  It is hard to think and make decisions when it feels like everyone is yelling about something different.

And that is why it was nice to run away and escape to the river for a night.

David walked in the other night and it was after 6pm and I was sitting upright with my eyes open.

David:  Wow!  You’re alert!

So. I guess you could say I am getting the hang of being back at school.

Exciting things are happening, such as, our hens are finally laying eggs.

Sadly, I have no blue or green eggs, so that is a bummer and a half.  The dogs probably ate THOSE chickens.

I like to randomly remind you of how weird my life is.  Because so many people strangely seem jealous of this life?  And for why?

So here is something I, Taylor, experienced within the past week.

David was butchering pigs.  I could see him from the window as I was folding laundry, even though I try very hard not to look at such atrocities.  And it might be hard to believe, but David does have hobbies other than butchering animals.  And I have hobbies other than laundry.  But not many.

Anyways.  Chickens are omnivores.  And they are also nasty mean to each other.  David was randomly tossing bits of pig flesh into the chicken yard.  As people do.

One chicken would grab it and proudly race around the yard while all the other chickens would go after her and peck at her for the prized pig flesh.  And it went on and on and on.  And they would fight and beat each other up over a morsel of pig flesh.

So.  Farm Life.

LD put his breakfast in the toaster the other morning and then went out to get the eggs.  When he returned, he had a few poo/feathered covered eggs in his hands and dumped them on the counter.  Because my kids are special and cannot put the eggs in the egg basket.  I was busy and watching him out of the corner of my eye.  He went to open the cabinet to get a plate for his breakfast, and literal FEATHERS were falling from his hands.

Me:  Dude!  Wash your hands!

LD:  Why?

Me:  YOUR HANDS HAVE FEATHERS ON THEM.  AND CHICKEN POOP GERMS.

LD:  But my food is just going to touch my plate and I am going to use a fork and knife?  So my hands won’t touch my food?

And he grew another 1/4 inch and I have to stare up at him and scold him.  He is like a four year old in the body of a grown man.  May the Lord bless me and keep me.

Let’s talk about first grade.

At the beginning of the year, I like to read a book about The Pledge of Allegiance to try and help the kids understand what it is, why we say it, and what those words mean.  Words like, “allegiance” and “indivisible,” and so on and so forth.

Anyways, after I read it, my most hilarious student was all moved and touched.

Student:  Wow, Mrs. M.  I did not know that.  I loved that!

Me:  Well, good.

Student:  I want to say that all the time!  Like every time I see a flag!  That is so special.

Me:  It is.

And now, every time I tell the kids to stand for the pledge, Most Hilarious Student whispers shouts “yes”  and does a fist pump. And his whole day is made.

I am loving being back at school.  I really enjoyed last year at eSchool, but I really missed being with kids and being with my teacher friends.  I have been reuinted with two former partner teachers who I have always been close with.  We call ourselves The Dream Team-

Yet, our administrator only permitted us to teach the same grade level together for one year.  Perhaps, we weren’t as dreamy as we had imagined?

Nevertheless.  It is fun to see them every day.

Let’s call them Tiffany and Erika.

Happy Tuesday!

Sunday was cow sorting day.  A day where we all pledge to not call one another an idiot when a cow gets past us, and then we risk our lives to seperate mamas and babies, and tag babies and castrate the boy babies.  It is good, wholesome, family fun.

The most frustrating part is trying to get all the cows into the corral.  Ideally, our herding dogs would do this for us, but they don’t know how to, so we must do it and we are not swell at it.  We do, however, put our hearts into it, and that counts for something.

When we finally got everyone into the corral, our friend, who is also our farrier, came to help us.  He brought with him his favorite horse, “Scott” and I think that is a great name for a good horse.

Scott and Farrier Friend were very helpful, especially when it came time to rope and hold down the calves.  These calves were a bit more on the older side, so the job was trickier because they were so much bigger.

David and FF did most of the dangerous work.  The kids and I helped by holding ropes tight and opening gates and looking horrified when it was time to castrate.

Just kidding.  Only I am horrified.  My kids grew up as farm kids.  I did not.

You cannot see very well, but HD was standing on the other side of the corral panels holding a rope tight to tie down the calf’s front legs and then FF’s very well-behaved horse stood holding the other rope somehow.

Anyways.  My job is the most pleasant job.  And when I am feeling all grossed out and anxious because giant calf legs are going everywhere and trying to kick my loved ones, I look at my pretty cow notebook where I keep all the records.

You may ask, ‘Taylor?!  Is your cute cow notebook sitting on random piles of cow and horse poopoo?”

And I will say, “Yes!  Yes, it surely is.”

Anyways, I am in charge of records and numbers, but I don’t like watching the castration part.  And who would, really?  And normally when David does this without FF he just tosses the calf’s former manhood into the wind.

FF fancied taking some home for a snack.

I could talk to you about the size of them, but I don’t want to.  It is all too much for me.

Then David wanted FF’s opinion on cows that don’t look too hearty and was thinking of sorting some off to maybe slaughter and I was like, “Can they all just live happy lives and die of natural causes?”  And I am getting the impression that I would make a terrible cattle rancher.

We all love FF.  He really enjoys our kids and they enjoy him.  He let the kids ride Scott and told us stories of him and Scott.  He has had Scott for over 20 years.

FF joined us for dinner.  Like a good cattle rancher’s wife, I had prepared a beef roast.  And yes, while at the table, there must be conversation as to whether or not the meat we are eating came from our lands.  Like normal people do.

Meanwhile, back in first grade . . .

This week, I am having to try and complete lengthy one on one assessments with each student.  If it was just me and the child in a quiet room with no disruptions or distractions, I would guess it would take me 5-8 minutes per child.  Which doesn’t sound too terrible, yet, it is, because there is just me and 23 of them.  And there are disruptions and distractions.

Such as this fun tattle I got –

“Mrs. M.  Two kids in our class were peeing in the same toilet at the same time in the bathroom.”

Which was a new one for me.

So, I have to try and monitor the children and make sure they are behaving and all that jazz while pulling kids for their assessments.

I am working with a student.

Me:  Let’s talk about rhyming words.

Student:  Oh, I totally can do that.

Me:  Ok, so you I am going to say a word and you tell me a word that rhymes with it.  So if I said, “cat,” you could say “bat” or “rat” or “sat.”

Student:  Got it.

Me:  Ok.  Tell me a word that rhymes with “tap.”

Student (proudly):  Mouse.

Me:  Ok.

Student (pointing to a book across the room):  I knew that was the answer because there is a mouse on that book.

?

Me:  Ok!  Now I am going to say some sounds and I want you to smoosh them into a word.  So if I said, C-a-t, you blend it into “cat.”

Student:  Got it!

Me:  Ok!  p-ai-d

Student:  Easy.  Painting.

?

Meanwhile, I smell urine and have to go track that down, find the culprit, culprit denies having an accident, yet the smell is strong and then later student admits to accident and apologizes for former denial.

I was relaying some of this to LD last night.

LD:  Wait.  Did this all happen on the same day?

Me:  What do you mean?

LD:  Like, the two kids peeing in the same toilet AND the kid that had an accident?  That all happened on the same day?

Me:  Yes.

LD:  That’s crazy.

Me:  No.  No, son.  That’s first grade.

Happy Wednesday!

Hadley texted me last night.

Hadley:  What are we doing tonight?

Me:  We are recovering from teaching first graders for FOUR DAYS IN A ROW.

*World’s Most Exciting Mom*

But I feel the need to toodle my own horn for a bit here.  Because not only did I teach first graders for FOUR CONSECUTIVE days, but I also accomplished the following:

*Signed all the ridiculous back to school paper work for my own children and got it returned on time.  #winning

*Went to Costco one night and the grocery store a whole different night

*Got HD’s new glasses picked up and all squared away from our favorite Optician, Bob, who will always be our hero

*Went to physical therapy before school at 7am IN THE MORNING (just one day, because, that’s ridiculous)

*Changed out of clothes before falling asleep 3/4 nights

*Made dinner 3/4 nights

Let’s talk about dinner.

Ugh.  I am so over it.  Mostly because I don’t have a plan and I get home and I am so tired from all the things and then I have to think of a meal, prepare the meal, and then clean up after the meal.  It is a lot to ask of me.

So my goal for this weekend, after I write this post and drink my coffee, of course, is to prep and plan dinners for the week AND change my front porch decor from summer to fall.  Because I am 40 now, and that’s what 40 year olds do.  I bought two pumpkins and two mums and I am so hopeful David will take note of our new festive fall porch and I can say to him,

“Mum’s the word.”

And confuse him.  It will be great!

(He won’t notice)

Let’s talk about teaching first grade.

I love it!  But this we knew.  I was trying to think of a way to convey to David just why it is so exhausting the first few days.  And I think it is because there is one of me and 23 six years old in one room and I am in charge.  And the first few days are so exhausting because they don’t know what end is up, not sure which classroom is mine, cannot remember where their lockers are, and so on and so forth.  They roll on into the room and with each one I am so friendly and chatty and helpful and I have to show them where their locker is and check their backpack because if I say,

“Did you bring a lunch from home?”

They will say

“I don’t know.”

So, I have to physically look and show them what that all means and then we have to go and make the lunch choice.  And because the universe is against us, our lunch room offers three different choices daily.  And I get to try and explain the choices and help each one make their choice.

Sometimes life is great, and I can say:

Would you like chicken nuggets, cheeseburger, or veggie tray?

And they kind of get that one.

But then sometimes, the main dish is something like

“Rippers”

I don’t even know what a ripper is?  So I guess!  I guess and I hope for the best.  Oh!  And fun fact.  Veggie tray has neither a tray or one veggie, so riddle me that. It is, in fact, a bag with crackers, cheese, and yogurt.

Poor, confused children.

Anyways, by the time I get all the backpacks and lunch choices figured out, I am already late to start the morning and then two kids walk in with breakfast because they are hungry and late and Mrs. M, can you please open my milk?   Oh, the humanity.

Some kids are reading and some kids cannot recognize their own name.  Some know how they get home after school, but most are surely confused.  Half brought a refillable water bottle and half did not and because I wasn’t at a brick and mortar school last year, I am not up to speed on the Covid changes and the custodian put my drinking fountain in jail so I had to call for help and have someone bring me a bunch of red solo cups for the poor non water bottle children.  And then I have to remember to message parents and remind them to please send water bottles.  I also have to remember to remind the children to take home the water bottles so their loving parents can clean them.  Because I don’t want to.  I will be in charge of my own water bottle, and that’s it.

Then it is time for lunch.  A few hours have passed, so now we have to all remember what we ordered for lunch, because it is just plain rude to order something and tell the lunch lady you are getting something else and then a poor fifth grader who thought they were getting a Ripper has to eat a veggie tray, which is really just some dairy products in a bag.

I am really good at this part, Friends.  Because I line them up in the order of what they ordered so they cannot change their order.  Also, they have to take a fruit or veggie or they cannot leave the lunch line, I guess it is the law, so I do a lot of this:

Me: You need to pick one!

Kid:  I don’t like any of those.

Me:  Gotta take one!

Kid:  I won’t eat it.

Me:  Ok.  Well here is peach.  Enjoy!

And then the peach is bigger than their head and when I place it on their tray they almost drop it.  Because they are six years old.  And I love them.

I also try to tell David about the funny things they say.  And here is the difference between me telling David something, and me telling my teacher comrades something.

To Teacher People-

Ok!  Funny kid story.  I was doing the whole, you know, “our words hurt people” lesson-

Teacher Friends-Oh, yeah.  With the book Chrysanthemum and the big paper heart and the bandaids?

Me-Yup

(because, Pinterest)

To David-

Ok!  Funny kid story.  I was doing a lesson on-hmmm.  Ok, well at the beginning of the year, I do a lot of community and relationship building, so we talk about how things we say can hurt people’s hearts and how even if we say we are sorry, which we should, that person’s heart was still hurt and we need to think about the things we say to people and how they feel.

David:

Me:  It is like a whole thing.  I do it every year.

David:  Do they tell you that you have to do this?  Like in your contract?

Me:  I don’t think so, but I do it.  And everyone else does it.  Because it is just the smart way to start the year.

David:

Me:  Anyways!  This little boy starts telling us about how once his sister said something that hurt him, and he got all choked up and had to stop talking because he was about to cry.  AND THEN, he did the most precious thing!  He turned and looked around the room and said, “Don’t worry, everyone.  If I do cry, they will be happy tears.”  And I just love these kids!

David:

Let’s move on.

I had a text-versation with a middle school teacher friend, and this is how it went:

Friend:  I will take the hearts for sure!

Me:  Ok.  There will be five of them do you want anything else?

Friend:  If it isn’t too much trouble, a lung or two would be awesome.

Me:  So, 5 hearts and 1-2 lungs?

Friend:  That would be great, thank you.

Me:  Weirdest message thread ever.

Friend:  For reals.

So, yes.  It is Saturday, and on Saturdays, David sometimes butchers animals.  It is all very pleasant and not at all horrific and I am sure it is completely normal to listen to saws sawing things I don’t want to think about and dogs protesting being locked inside all morning.

Like so.

They would really prefer to be outside with David.  In case you couldn’t tell.

Because I am a lucky duck, four of my eSchool first graders from last year are at the building I am teaching now.  One of them snuck this into my classroom this week-

Happy Weekend!

How early is too early to go to bed?  Because I am thinking I can stay up until 6pm on school nights now, tops.  I am only blogging right now because I just want to go to sleep, but it is only 5pm, and that seems like a bit too early, yes?

My brain is jello.  Its because I have to think so much and my brain isn’t used to it.  I need to build up my thinking stamina.  I am exhausted.  I have a very sweet class and I feel very lucky.  I have a couple of tricky ones and a couple of kids who have never been to school before.  The new-to-school kids are just funny and wacky and aren’t really sure what to do with this whole school routine, but they will routine it up soon.

Boy:  I wasn’t sure if I was going to have a good first day of school.

Me:  Oh yeah?

Boy:  Yeah.  It took me awhile to get used to my kindergarten teacher.  Like 1-2 days.  And I didn’t now how long it would take to get used to you.

Me:  Oh?  How is it going?

Boy:  Pretty good.  I think I am used to you now.  It only took a couple of hours.  I think it is a good day.

***

Boy:  Is your eraser MAGNETIC?

Me:  Yes!  I have to have a magnetic one so it will stick to my whiteboard.  Otherwise I will lose and spend all day looking for it and lose my mind.

Boy:  Oh, that’s ok.  Our kindergarten teacher lost her mind all the time.  We are used to it.

***

My own children started school.

Left-right

HD: 9th

HIGH SCHOOL!?!

Hadley, 12th

LD, 8th

How is it possible that HD is a high schooler?  I ask you?

Also, let us take a moment to be sad and look at Hadley’s first day of kindergarten picture-

And now her first day of senior year-

I am really, really, really tired.  My burned knee skin is giving me fits.

I am going to try and cook dinner.

And clean up dinner.

And eat dinner.

And then I will go to bed.

We went to the river this weekend-for our last weekend of summer.

David and the boys set up a gigantic Slip-N-Slide.

And I never saw anyone make it completely down the slide and into the river-

but they all had fun.

We went floating.  Alex and Lauralee came for a visit, and they brought Callie.

Remember Callie?

I sure do.

Anyways.  The weekend was fun and filled with food and fishing and swimming and we rounded off the weekend at The Big Fireworks Show.  And I strongly feel like everyone should attend The Big Fireworks Show.

We have been going for maybe 11-12 years now.  It is the same plan every time.

You go early and lay down a tarp.  You hold the tarp down with canned food for a canned food drive.  It is the honor system and no one messes with anyone else’s tarp.

Sometimes people bring an old loveset to put on their tarps.

You arrive and you sit in a chair on your tarp.  You listen to an announcer lady thank all the people who donated for the fireworks.  It has been the same announcer for all the time and we call her Marge, although I am 100% sure that is not her actual name.

David always falls asleep at this time.

Announcer Marge had a special announcment that involved an actual marriage proposal.

And she had everyone in the crowd join together and chant:

“Put That Ring On It.”

(not put a ring on it.  put THAT ring on it.)

I believe the girl said “yes.”  And the guy “put that ring on it.”

We stand for the pledge and The Big Fireworks Show begins.

The Big Fireworks Show is always a comination of two shows:

Light Show

Fireworks Show

I did not record the whole thing for you, beause that would be coco-nuts.  But I did record some tidbits so you could get the gist.

Light Show

Fireworks

Light Show

Fireworks

And it follows that pattern long into the night.

At the end, the announcer gal shouted:

“Don’t we live in the best country in the nation!”

And that is why we have been to that show for the past 11-12 years, and will continue on being in attendance for all eternity.

Happy Weekend!

Today is Friday.

Today I came into school early in the morning to try and finish getting ready for my new second grade classroom.  My knee was very sore and I was limping.  My principal and vice principal asked me to meet with them first thing.  They saw I was struggling with knee pain and got me some ice packs and set me all up with ice for the meeting.

During the meeting, I went from teaching second grade to first grade.  Which is fine, because I double love first grade, but it was exhausting because I had already labeled my whole classroom for my new second grade students.  I wasn’t forced to do this, rather I was willing to do so because another teacher was having a hard time emotionally with letting go of a few second grade students and it was really quite ok with me if she wanted to teach second instead.

When our meeting was over, I stood up and the skin behind and on top of my knee was hard and white and looked like it had frost bite or something!  In my stress, I forgot to make sure I had something between my skin and the ice packs and I think I freezer burned my skin.

And it plain old hurts.

So I went to my classroom and tried to get organized.  I have hardly any faces to any names and this was my third class list, third schedule, and third draft of my welcome letter to parents to sort through and I was all sorts of confused.  Plus I think the skin all around my knee was dying a slow and painful death.

So, I cried.

I had tried hard to stay strong, but I cried.  And these are the reasons I cried:

1.  My knee hurt.
2. The skin around my knee hurt.
3. I loved my new kinderteacher partners and now I had to say goodbye.
4. The sweet gal they transferred from a new building?  She had started the week teaching kindergarten, was switched to second, had met all her second grade students, and then was forced to out school.  She wanted kinder rather than second, which is how I was removed.  And she is lovely and nice and stressed.
5. I had reached out to my families from last year and told them last night that I would have their kids after all.  Then I had to retract.
6. The skin around my knee really hurts.
7. I am tired.

After I cried and texted with a few friends, I had a cup of coffee and got to work.  And a teacher partner from last year stopped by to help me relabel a few things and brought me a personalized cup, of which you can see in the following picture:

It reads:

“When something goes wrong in your life, just yell PLOT TWIST and move on.”

I had to go to the doctor for a knee check up and was ordered more physical therapy and burn cream because I did something way wrong to my skin. I wanted to go home, but really didn’t want to come back in tomorrow.

So, I went back to school.  I slathered on the burn cream.  I had a snack.

The snack gave me new life and I remembered how much I double love first grade and teaching first grade is like second nature to me now.  I lovingly labeled and made copies and wrote plans (only for Tuesday.  I am not exemplary) and knocked it all out of the park.

Then Hadley got off of work and came to help me.  And life is better when you have someone working right beside you.  And I gave her some money and she went to a restaurant to get some take out for the two of us, since David and the boys had already left for the river.

Before I left, I took a few pictures of my completed room.  The room that has been all the following classes in the last 36 hours:
Kinder/1st

Kindergarten

Second

First

And I am now ready for students.

If you enlarge the picture, you might be able to see the two new wall decals I put in the room.

The first says:
“Work hard, be kind, know that you are loved.”

The second says:

“Treat others the way you want to be treated.”

So obviously, I have uncovered the secret to having a loving and kind classroom.  And I just know those two decals will solve all the problems in the world.

Also, I got this on clearance:

It is a framed picture that says:

“No Drama Llama”

And I plan to pull it out anytime there is drama, so I can remind them that we are the:

“No Drama Llamas.”

And that is just perfection.

Anyways.  The room is finished.

I am ready for kids.  I love first grade.

I hope I can read Charlotte’s Web again.  Because it is the literal best.

And I know I have the best job in the world.

And, also, I work with the best people in the world.

Everyone is great, and everyone wants to do what’s best for the kids.

So.

Three cheers for Hadley.

Three cheers for Teachers.

Happy Weekend!

It is 11:51 pm on Thursday night, my knee is hot and swollen, and here are tonight’s top stories.

For the past week or so, our school has been busting with kinder-2nd grade enrollments for this upcoming school year.  I was told in June I was teaching 2nd.  Soon after, I was asked if I would be willing to teach kindergarten, should we need another kinder.

About two weeks ago, I went into the building and started prepping my room for second graders and by the end of the day, I was told I would be teaching a kinder-1st multi age combo.  Which sounded easy-peasy-lemon-squeezey and not at all like an impossible challenge.

Leading up to open house, and watching our enrollment numbers, eveyone was sure the district would decide we needed another teacher hired, and that would even out our K-2 numbers a bit and give us some wiggle room, because, Reader, we were all busting at the seams.  Our poor principal was on the phone often with the district advocating and trying, but things were set to stay the same.  At 2:00 on Wednesday, we were all given our class lists and had two hours to get ready to welcome our new students and families into our classrooms for “Back to School” night.

Since this is not my first rodeo, I wore junky shorts and a t-shirt to school and brought fancy, “I am a professional and know how to teach your child to read” clothes to change into.  My “I know how to teach reading” outfit insisted I needed black sandals instead of my every day casual sandals, but alas, the puppy brothers ate my awesome black sandals.  So I texted Hadley from school and she went to the mall for me to find “I know how to teach reading” black sandals, and she found some and she bought them and she brought them and she even brought me my favorite comfort coffee drink:  Big Train Vanilla Chai with Nonfat Milk Hot.  So, three cheers for Hadley.

I took my class list and alphabetized and attempted to get as organized and welcoming as I could, and at 4pm, the doors were open and the whole building erupted with the joyous sounds of teachers and students being reunited after a long summer.  I am not sure if you are aware of this, but we teachers have the best job in the whole wide world.

I welcomed new families, helped the kids put their supplies away, passed out information, and pleaded with parents to sign up for the Remind messaging app.  Parents were confused and not sure what a kindergarten/first grade combo class was and asked me what exactly this all meant.

I decided to NOT share the new joke I had come up with, which was:

“I like my classrooms like I like my pizza:  Combination style.”

And did my best to instill confidence in the hopeful parents that I, the gal in the “I know how to teach reading” outfit knew what she was doing and would make sure my kinders were taught kindergarten skills and my firsties were taught first grader skills.

Several former students from over the years came into my room to give me hugs, as they had missed me since I was at eSchool last year, and my heart was full and I tried not to tear up and keep looking like I knew how to teach kindergarten and first grade reading at the very same time.

I left school and went home.  The boys felt fussy that I had no dinner ready for them, and I felt fussy that I am the only person in this house who can ever see dust.  So,we had leftovers and called it a night.

Thursday.  Today.

Today, I went to school and tried to sort out some things from Open House the night before and had a few training to attend at the school.  I was all finished with meetings by about 11:30am, checked with the office to make sure I was still teaching a kinder-first combo, and went to start entering all my new families emails in into my email contact list.

And then I was told to wait on labeling anything because we had a new kindergartener register and I might need to switch to a straight kindergarten class.

And then myself, the other two Kinder-Teacher-Babes, and the admin sat down and redid the kindergarten lists to spread out kinders amongst three classes.

Around 1pm, our kind counselor went and got pizza for us stressed out Kinder Teachers and we ate our stress.  And it was delicious.

Meanwhile, there was stress going on in the upper grade hallway because an intermediate teacher had accepted a job in a different district right before open house the night before.  So that classroom was bare, sad, and teacherless, so all of us teachers had a “Let’s Try And Make this Room Happy” party and pulled out extra bulletin board borders and decorations and got that room all happy for the sub who will start the year in that room.  And I want to know how I can get everyone to come and set up my room in  a half hour next summer and forget all this working on my room for hours business.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us, the district is crunching numbers and decided to eliminate a classroom at a different school and have that poor teacher move to our school the weekend before school was to begin.  Which sounds relaxing.  We were told that teacher has only taught kindergarten and will only teach kindergarten, and, long story short, at about 4pm, I was told I was teaching 2nd grade.

I am truly fine to teach whatever kinder-2nd, but I was so hopeful that I would not have to tear down my classroom and relocate, since I was in a first floor room, which is where we like the kinderbabies.  I was told I could stay.  I was given a new class list of kids who I most certainly did not meet the night before, (and who had themselves met a different teacher the night before), and started to switch gears to change my room up to a second grade looking room.

Mother and her sister, Candi, came and brought me fountain Diet Soda and helped me with some labeling and sorting.  And that is just plain nice.

I got home at 7.  David had pizza and wine ready.  HD was proud of himself for doing all  the laundry in the house, even though he left all the clean laundry on my bed to be folded, because, “Mom, doing laundry is so easy.  I don’t know why you complain.  But I didn’t fold because I hate that part.”  And David folded the laundry while I told him about my day, iced my knee, and filled my tummy with comfort pizza for the second time that day.  I was asleep by 8:30, but woke up around 11:30 with pretty bad knee pain and here I am blogging and wishing my fairy godmother would bring me some ice.  But so far, she is not.

I really have nothing else to say.  I am not upset, but I feel very unprepared for the year and am hoping nothing else will change at this point.  And I think now I will end this post and go get some ice.

Later, Dudes.