Congratulations!

This post is dedicated to my baby brother John.  As you all may or may not know, my brother graduated from Ole Miss with his Masters in Accountancy this year.  After graduation he also found a job in an accounting firm on the MS Gulf Coast (my brother's friend's dad says he can't believe John got a job where he had to wear shoes).  John now has a starting salary which will probably be more than I will make in my teaching career, but at least I don't have to sit in an office and crunch numbers and boring stuff like that.  Baby brother also recently took the first part of the CPA exam.  Let me first say that he delayed the taking of this test the first time because he wrote down the wrong exam date (by a day).  So, the study materials for the exam are like $2,000, which I think is highway robbery.  But, I guess that was money well spent thus far because he just found out that he PASSED the first part of the exam!!!!  Hooray little bro!  He still has the remaining 3 sections (I think that's how many more there are) to take and pass before he is officially a CPA, but he's well on his way.  I'm so proud of my little brother!!!  Way to go John!

Sorry John, but this was the only fairly recent picture I have of you :)

Do you think I have pink eye???

WARNING: This post may be a little yucky....
The past few days I have been waking up unable to open one eye due to sleepy crustyness.  This morning was the worst by far.  My whole eye was gooped shut and I had a streak of dried up goop running down my cheek.  I kept thinking, well I had my eyes stick shut as a kid, so no big deal.  I soon found out that it was not the same thing as sleep drying up in my eyes as a kid.  I went to school today and mentioned my goopy, stuck together eye to the nurse and she looked at me and said, "that may be pink eye."  I said, "well, yeah, but my eye's not really pink."  To which she responded, "Uhhh, it's pretty red...."  I said I guess I would have to get a doctor to check it, but I don't know anyone that's had pink eye.  She sent a kindergartner home Tuesday with good ole pink eye, but I'm student teaching in 2nd grade, so it can't be the same.  Well, I go to the "urgent" care today after school which took 3 hours of my life from me to have the doctor tell me that, yes, I do in fact have pink eye--not so urgent care if you ask me.  I got prescribed some lovely eye drops and some other something or other.  The good news is that I can still go to school and hang out with my friends because having pink eye as a kid and as an adult are quite different.  Kids can't stop rubbing their eyes and touching other people and touching everything in sight, but adults can.  My husband responded to this with, "Obviously, he doesn't know you..."  I will keep you posted on the conjunctivitis (or however you spell it) but I think I am going to survive this first battle with dirty, germy elementary school kids.

I know, you're laughing with me, not at me right????

Sick & Tired

There must be a season change coming soon or something because I started feeling sick yesterday afternoon.  It started with a sore throat, probably a sinus drip, then increased to an aching body and a sore neck.  Being the hypochondriac that I am, I self-diagnosed myself with a sinus infection or meningitis (which is what I think I may have every time my neck hurts).  Being only my second day of student teaching, I still had to get up and go to school, still in pain even after my hot bath in my not clean enough tub-I was desperate.  On the way to school I had to pull over at the gas station right by my house because my dear husband forgot to put more power steering fluid in my car-I have had a leak for at least a month or so and it's getting worse.  So I figure out where to put the steering fluid and decide a large OJ would be great for my sick and aching body.  Well I couldn't get that at that gas station because the credit card machine was down and I of course didn't have cash.  So I have to go to another gas station to get my life-saving Tropicana OJ.  I drank it just about all day and still feel like crap :(  Now all I want to do is crawl in bed and sleep off this sickness, but I have to finish writing a paper or two that are due tomorrow for my student teaching online classroom.  Woe is me......

I saw the future!!!

This morning while lifeguarding, the usual daily water aerobics class was taking place.  While sitting there watching to make sure no one drowned or had a heart attack or something I realized that they were US in 50 years!!!  I saw most of you in one of these ladies doing their daily workout, so here's what I saw:
Natalie, my high school friend, you are the lady that shows up late to class, gets in the water and starts socializing immediately and actually doing the moves every so often when the instructor starts giving you a look.  You are also the one that brings food for everyone to eat after the class when more socializing takes place. 
Jordo, you are the lady who shows up, but rolls her eyes at the instructor the whole time thinking how dumb and annoying the woman is. 
Katie, you are the lady who is all into the class.  You're the first one to introduce yourself when the instructor asks everyone to say their name and pick a move for everyone to do.  You also call out people who haven't said their name and a move because they're too busy talking to someone else when no one else is volunteering. 
Claire Harper, you are the lady that comes during the class time, but really goes to the outside of the circle and does whatever moves she feels like doing. 
Claire Weaver, you are the lady who is so super excited about the class.  When the instructor is trying to get people to woo and count, you're right there leading the way (when really you're one of the only people actually wooing). 
Mimi, you are the one who stays for the real movement part of the class, but when it comes to the stretching and "weights" you dip out because you've got way too much else to do. 
Courtman, you will be the lady telling us all about what's going on around town: what kind of conferences there are, who's running for what office, what's wrong with the world, etc.  You try to get us interested, but we're here to "exercise" and socialize, not change the world because we're old and we'll be gone soon anyway. 
And finally, I am the lady who can barely do the moves because my body is old and broken.  I try, but can't keep up with the normal pace of the class, so I smile and go with it. 
Oh and we will ALL have super short haircuts apparently. 
So if any of us live near each other in 50 years I look forward to water aerobics classes with yall!

Student Teaching!

I'm sure you're all familiar with the saying, "Better late than never."  Well that is definitely the case for my student teaching!  When I got alternate route certification to teach in MS I had to take a few classes and set up an internship within 3 years of finishing those classes.  Obviously that didn't happen since I've moved quite a few times since Spring of 2007.  I decided to pursue my Masters in Elementary Education at some point in those three years, and good thing I did since AL did not reciprocate my MS certification.  Well the time has finally come for me to student teach.  I was supposed to begin this coming Thursday, August 19, but that is not going to happen.  There was some confusion or lack of communication between my field experience coordinator and the school in which I was placed (I found this out last Friday, so needless to say I began panicking).  But, now everything is sorted out!!!  I begin student teaching at Hall Kent Elementary on August 23 in Ms. Williams' 2nd grade class!!!  I'm pretty excited because I've been observing in her classroom the past few days and she's super nice and really good at what she does.  She also has some great kids in her class.  So, what does all this mean??  1. I will be paying tuition to work for free.  2. I will be super busy trying to juggle student teaching, being wifey, and trying to work some before and after school so we're not totally back to one paycheck and 3. I am that much closer to being certified and being able to apply for a job to have a classroom of my own again!!!!!  I'm sure it's going to be a crazy 16 weeks, but I look forward to the experience.  Not a bad day even though I had to wake up at 4:00 am to go to lifeguard at the indoor pool, fighting to stay awake for 4 of the most boring hours of my life.  I may go get myself a manicure or pedicure to celebrate :)

It's Just Those Rainy Days...

Well it has finally rained here in the 'ham, and it rained long and hard.  I had to get up to go to work and lifeguard at the outdoor pool this morning and the Y, but I really didn't want to get out of bed.  When I finally pulled myself from under the oh-so-comfy covers I heard something.  Could it be?? Rain?? YES!!  No wonder I was sleeping so well.  I don't know what it is about rain, but I always sleep better.  The other good thing about the rain was that I was not going to have to get up on the stand and lifeguard.  I did still have to go to work to be there when the downpour did end.  So I got to work at a little before 9, with the pool supposed to open at 10.  I did not go to the outdoor pool until 11:30!  It was raining and thundering and lightning and that means no pool.  We finally opened the pools at 11:30, but I sat by myself in the guard house until 1.  I was thinking before I left the house and brought a book to read to keep myself entertained.  That was the best idea I've had in a while.  I read the entire 4 hours of my shift!  I got paid to sit and read a book today.  How awesome is that?!? 

Then came the not so fun task of going home and writing lesson plans.  I have finished 3 of the 5 that I have due on Wednesday, but I'm not really feeling inspired by the topics of the other 2, so they are not going to be as easy.  I should actually be writing these last 2 lesson plans right now or writing reflections for the other 3, but I'm just not feeling it.  Maybe it's the rain.  Maybe it's the fact that this is my least favorite class I have taken.  Maybe it's the golf tournament/baseball blaring in the background.  Whatever it is, I've decided to postpone my work until tomorrow, when I'm sure I'll do the same thing: a little work and then come up with another excuse to take a break.  This is pretty much how my weekends go these days.  What an exciting life I lead!  I have tried to remember what weekends were like in college when there were no football games, but I can't really.  I do remember watching like 3 movies that we got from Netflix every Sunday with Ginny and probably some trips to the bar, but other than that I'm at a loss.  Maybe my life has always been this exciting- or not-so-exciting-and I just thought it was more fun in college....surely that can't be the case, right??

*By the way the book I'm reading is called The Tender Bar. I'm only about halfway through, but I'm obviously enjoying it since I read for 4 hours! Check it out if you need a new book to read.

Jump on the Bandwagon!

Well, after months of reading my friend's blogs on a regular basis, I have decided to create my own blog!  No, it will not be as witty as Jordan's, or as informative as Katie's, or as supportive as Courtman's, but it will be an outlet for me to talk about the daily adventures and experiences in my life- from the never dull moments at the Y, to the things kids tell me at school that make me laugh and cry, to the joys and frustrations of growing up.  So, let the fun begin!

Today, while lifeguarding at the Y, I got to talking to a 14 year old that spent yesterday and today in the pool unsupervised.  Granted, if you are 12 or older you are allowed to swim unsupervised, but usually an adult-type person is somewhere exercising at the Y.  Not this kid.  His mom dropped him off for 4 hours while she went to work at Home Deopt.  So I'm pretty much the only person for the kid to talk to since everyone else at the pool is swimming laps.  He informed me he is from Idaho, where he lives with his dad, and is in town visiting his mom.  That sounds normal right?  Well as we continued our conversation he started telling me about his dad.  His dad has 4 kids with 4 different moms!  His mom is 29, he is 14, so that means she had him when she was 15!!!  His dad was 18 at the time.  If that's not young enough, he tells me that his older sister's mom was 13 when she had her and the dad was like 16!!  I didn't get the scoop about the other two siblings, but I don't think I really want to know.  He was a super nice kid and seemed fairly normal, but whoa! what a dad he has...You never know what kind of people you'll meet at the Shades Valley Y while you are being over-worked and under-paid.