School Dreams.

So yesterday two of my good friends and I went down to Ikea to enjoy some Swedish goodness.

We didn't have any meatballs. But we did act like goofballs.

Last weekend I went with Nicole to the salvation army store in town. I got a lamp for 5 dollars. Because it was half off!!! AMAZING! But it didn't have a lamp shade. So when we were in the lighting section Nicole pointed out a very cool lamp shade.



I got this lovely shade and it's very happy sitting on my bedside table.

While we were enjoying a wonderful Mediterranean meal we were talking about school. My friend Jess mentioned that she had a school dream and then I said "watch - now we're all going to have school dreams."

- Sure enough last night I had a dream about school. It was the first day of school but I didn't know what classes I was teaching and was also late getting to work so when I walked in my classroom they kids were already there. It was awful.

I don't have to go back to work until August 9th but I'm already having dreams. This isn't a good sign for my sleep habits.

Mini Vacation

So this past weekend I drove out to see my best friend Casey. She lives in Phoenix. So I packed up my little honda and got on the road. I enjoy spending time driving. It's about a five and a half hour drive and I rocked out to some mixed cds I made, and looked around at the beautiful, dry scenery.

We have been friends for over ten years. We met while going to NAU. She works in marketing, and so when I got to town I was able to meet her in her office. I don't work in an office, and have never been in that kind of work environment. It was fun to see her in her element. Casey is really good at what she does and that company is lucky to have her.

After the office we went and got some yummy Thai food for dinner and visited her community garden plot. She has sun flowers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and some herbs. A man in her mom's neighborhood gave the community land (when he passed away) and requested that a garden be created. Each person pays a yearly fee for up keep and water. There is a food bank plot and a box for extra food that others have that would be given to the food bank. It's a really awesome program. Who doesn't love fresh fruits and veggies?!

Saturday we did some shopping and then watched My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. That was part of plan for me to go out and see her in the first place. Casey had DVR-ed the six episodes and so we had a mini marathon. It was great.

Then we went to Bingo After Dark (BAD Bingo). It was soooo much fun. Eight Dollars got us 11 rounds of bingo and a lot of glow sticks. Half way through the sessions they stop and have a dance party. There had to be 500 people in the room. AND on the last game of bingo - I GOT A BINGO! I won 150$ It was awesome.

Sunday we enjoyed some samples at Costco and a trip to the pool. The high on Sunday was 111 - soooo hot!

Monday I packed up my bags and headed home. It was a great weekend!

Summer Housewife

Why is it that when I am on summer vacation I want to be a housewife. Like full on butcher, baker, candle sick maker.

I really want to get a sewing machine this summer. I have two very dear friends that are both pregnant and I want to make almost everything from Creation Corner!

I also really want to try and bake bread. My grandmother is a wonderful baker and every year on major holidays she bakes these amazing bread loaves. Her best are her egg breads. I'm not sure of the official name but they are light and fluffy and wonderful. I really want to try these rolls. My friend Carly is an amazing woman and mother. I pretty much want to be her when I grow up. Always have.

So I'm off to attempt a few of these house wifey projects of mine.

Here are a list of things I would like to tackle this summer:

Clean out and organize the garage
Bake bread
Bake a cake from scratch
More crock pot cooking
Clean out my closet
Organize the Pantry
Craft various craft things

It's going to be a great summer!

a week to go

So a lot has been going on over the past few weeks.

I had the amazing opportunity to be nominated for the Crystal Apple Awards and received runner up. I was able to speak for a moment and really was amazed by the outpouring of love and support from my fellow teachers and the members of the LDS church who host the Awards.

My brother Evan got married this past weekend. He had been dating Rachel for three years and they were engaged last summer. We had a wonderful time and I'm so happy for them.

This is the last week of school. It is always the hardest week of the year. I would rather be experiencing the first week - it's the amount of grading the last week that kills. It feels like you are in the last moments of watching the sand fall out of a timer. There are so many emails and so many parents wondering what is going on with their child. I would love to be able to say to them. There is currently nothing you can do to save the grade, but if you have the ability to make a time machine and go back to force your kid to do their homework - then we are in business.

I want to take my camera to school tomorrow and take pictures of some of the amazing projects my sophomores did to capstone our Night unit. I had them choose SR books that would connect to Night. Their project was to make a memorial to honor those 11 million lives lost. They did so well. I'm so proud.

It's been a wild few weeks. And I know that this post is a bit all over the place. When summer starts in a week I promise I will sound less crazy!

The end is near

the end of the school year.

So today I could feel the end. The kids are done. I feel done. And I am ready for the summer to begin.

I assigned what I thought was a simple project last week. We read two pieces and discussed gender rolls. I asked my students to watch a tv show that had a family in it and then write two paragraphs about gender rolls. Just two paragraphs.

But you know... that's a bit hard. Half of the kids did it.

The Sleeping kid feel asleep twice. At one point he was so obnoxious that the class asked him to step outside. You know it's bad when other kids ask someone to step outside.

The school year is winding down and I am ready for it to be over. It's that I don't love my job. Because I really really do. The problem becomes when the students feel like they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope that the next three weeks will allow my little darlings to get their work done.

It doesn't help that I am also on the count down... to SYDNEY! Bren and I will be going to the land down under July 1 for a whole month. I can't wait to eat yummy food, spend time with family, and see all of my favorite places in the city.

So here we go... with great speed - towards the end of the year!