Homesick...

For the first time since I moved I'm homesick. There, I feel better now that I said it. I've been trying to deny it all day, but I simply can't. I am so stressed out about making a decision about whether to move or not move and what to do and what to say, I think it all just kind of bubbled over today. And I didn't work out today. I know I should give myself a break sometimes but I really loathe the days I don't motivate to do something (they are few and far between, BELIEVE me, but I just hate it).

I still can't decide if I'm going to move or not. It would be a whole lot easier just taking care of a dog (I think) but I'm so used to my schedule now, that I'm just nervous I'm trading one ridiculously crazy situation for another. This new place is 6 miles further away from where I work and I would have to be there EVERYDAY of the week by 3:30 which really just might be kind of tough. I'm not sure. On the other hand, it might be a lot nicer not having to babysit ALL DAY SATURDAY EVERY WEEKEND. Ack. I just wish something would work out that was mutually agreeable to everyone involved. I know that if I'm going to live somewhere rent-free I've got to do... SOMETHING. I get that. I just wish that someone would appreciate all that I have to offer and be really, well, overwhelmed by it. And that something would just. work. out.

One highlight of my night- - I arrived at a house to babysit (a family who attends the school that I teach) and the mom knew that I moved right before school started and the first thing she asked me when I walked in the door was, "Hey, how are you doing? Are you homesick?" And, for the first time, I realized that no one has asked me sincerely how I was doing since I've been here. Yes, there are people who care and I've made some great friends but it's just not the same as feeling like someone GETS where you might be coming from and how you might be feeling.

AND, knowing that I might be homesick, she made home-made chocolate chip cookies for me. How sweet is that? Sometimes, it's the little things and today, I really needed it.

Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?

Okay. I have a dilema. Things at The House have been fine (the mother is a crazy but I knew that) but I've been approached to live with another family (again, free of rent) in exchange for walking their d0g twice a day. The morning walk is fine, but the afternoon walk needs to be BY 3:30pm which means I'll be rushing home from school every day. There are a lot of other factors but basically my responsibilities would go to 15-20 hours/week of childcare to 5 hours/week of dog walking.

What do you think? If you need more info, let me know, but I REALLY can't decide!

AH!

Privileged

Is anyone watching Privileged on the CW? Do those twins not remind you of Khloe and Kim Kardashian? It's the only thing I think about when I see them.

Tech Speak

I would like to preface this but saying that while I'm no technical genius, I'm pretty computer savvy and can generally resolve my own problems.

I was getting an error message all day today when trying to send email so I asked our tech person about it during our classes computer class. He tried to fix the issue quickly this morning but ran out of time so he told me to send an email to "helpdesk". Obviously, I couldn't do that due to being UNABLE TO SEND ANY EMAIL but that is beside the point.

He just came back into the room and this is how the conversation went:

Computer Tech: Miss T. could I see your computer?

Me: Sure. Did you figure out what my issue was?

Computer Tech: Yea, you deleted your Sent Mail folder.

Me: I did? How did that happen?

Computer Tech: You. Clicked. On. Your. Sent. Mail. Folder. And. Hit. Delete.


Well, thankyouverymuch.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a FOX?

Today we watched an animal slideshow (for fun) briefly during Morning Meeting. When the kids saw this image:One little girl yells, "Oooh! A Chiuaua!" Another girl matter of factly replied, "Uh, that's a WILD chiuaua."

Apparently there aren't too many foxes in these parts. ;)

Friday Fun

Friday afternoon I had an unexpected thirty minutes to spare on my way home from work so I pulled into Target because I needed three things:

q-tips
toothpaste
rubbing alcohol

A 1/2 hour later I emerged with:
q-tips
toothpaste
rubbing alcohol
facewash
chapstick
toothpaste (in case I didn't like the first one)
mouthwash

Craziness.

Internetz... I has it. Kind of.

So, I finally got internet at The House but now it only works on my work computer. Not my personal computer. This is, obviously, not acceptable.

Abcd, 123?

Today during some free time a few students were singing their ABC's. A boy attempted to join them and goes, "a b c d e f... f, that's as far as I know!"

I prompted him, "g...h, i."

He goes, "Um, excuse me, Miss T? I only know up to f, I can't count higher than that."

HA!

Chill is in the Air

It feels and smells like fall this morning and I couldn't be happier. I love fall. It is my favorite season. It's not to hot, not too cold, not to rainy... it's absolutely perfect. There are pumpkins and apples everywhere, I can sleep under my covers and not wake up soaked in sweat, I can go through the day without wiping my brow from perspiration. (Okay, I also have a sweating problem.) There's just something about this season that I cannot get enough of.

I'm so glad it's here.

Thank you for Flying

We have classroom jobs around here and one of them is a Door Holder. When you're the door holder you get to, well, hold the door. Today's door holder, every time a child walked by said, "Thank you for flying Airline, thank you for flying airline."

Hahahahahaha.

CT Jazz

I taught my first CT Jazzercise class last night! It. Was. Awesome. I was only subbing (I haven't found time for a regular schedule yet) but the class was FULL. I did my favorite songs and was super-upbeat. I came out of class on such a high. I miss teaching all of the time.

I went to bed at nine last night trying to combat this ridiculous sickness I've fallen to, but that only prompted a night of ridiculous dreams. Like... my friend leaving me at my house to drive off with my boyfriend- - in the dream- - in a red Porshe. And me walking into a haircutting place that accepted walk-ins and having the crew of 5 women sitting on a couch watching soap operas, crying then just walking up to me and cutting off 8 inches of my hair- - dry.

Totally weird.

One Fish, Two Fish

We have three classroom fish in our room and since they've already lived for two weeks we decided it was about time to name them. The kids all had suggestions and we voted... you want to know the winners? Really?

Gummy
Orangie
Goldie

Honestly.

Some other contenders were Bob, Bobby, Blackie, Purple Max and Sol. Really.

I'm Getting Sick

Ugh. I don't know if it's because of the germ-factories I hang out with all day, five days a week or if it's because the weather is finally cool enough that I don't wake up sweating profusely in the middle of the night but I am officially getting sick. I didn't even want to wake up this morning and my throat has hurt all morning.

I do not want to get sick. It's only September. Not to mention, I can't remember the last time I was sick. I guess between 15 kids all day at the 3 kids at night... it's bound to happen more often. ugh.

Today is the first full day of school for the Kindergarteners- - usually they would have gone home by now... we'll see how this goes. I'm ready for naptime. Unfortunately, that's not in the curriculum.

Oh Yea

Oh yea, and we lost a Kindergartener today. (I KNOW!) Apparently the moms got their wires crossed and someone's nanny picked up a kid but the mom was here to pick her up too. Not good. Moms freak out about that sort of thing, you know? Like their kid not being ANYWHERE when they pull in to pick them up.

7 hours of class tonight. Greeeaaaat...

The Weekend: It was a Good One

I still don't have internet at the house so posting from work has obviously been a little difficult what with all of the Kindergarteners around. :)

This weekend was completely fantastic. Friday night I had to babysit (so I just went to bed after that) and Saturday I had to babysit all day. ALL DAY LONG. I woke up and got the girl's ready to go to the Stepping Stones Children Museum in Norwalk (CT). If you've never been there, I HIGHLY recommend it. Everything in the place is kid-friendly and FUN. In fact- they have a bubble area outside with out 15 different bubble stations. Talk about fantastic. We had lunch at the museum then headed home. It was the eldest girl's birthday party Saturday night so they were supposed to take naps (riiiiiiight) so when we got home I tried to get them to relax but the only thing they wanted to do was fight with each other. The eldest would say, "I'm going to blow out all of my candles at my party tonight" then her younger sister (who repeats EVERYTHING she says) goes, "I blow out da can-els oo" and the older one FREAKS OUT starts CRYING HYSTERICALLY saying, "NOOOO! It'S MY PARTY! I GET TO BLOW THEM OUT!" And I'm all, "dude. We KNOW it's your party and you get to blow them out. Get. Over. It." So the afternoon went like that until 5 when they (finally!) left (WITHOUT ME!) for the party.

I had a faculty dinner to go to at school and I invited my friend who lives in NY to come with me so I picked him up from the train station, got ready and we headed up to school. It was so great. My friend is fantastic and so easy going and personable that it wasn't akward at all and he got to meet all of my new school friends and we had lobster/clams/chicken/WINE and it was. so. good. After dinner we headed out to a bar in South Norwalk (SoNo for all of you CTer's) and the rest of the night is kind of a blur... :)

I woke up Sunday morning with the. worst. headache I've had in a long time and said to my friend, "God, I only had three glasses of wine and two beers. I shouldn't be this hungover" and he was all... "Uhhh... what about those shots of Patron you had at the end of the night." F. I always forget about the damn shots.

We weren't really up for anything wild and crazy so we headed out for breakfast then headed over to my sister's boyfriend's to lounge by the pool. (Lounging in this case meant passing out poolside for three hours in the ridiculous heat and waking up completely SOAKED in sweat and sunburnt). We woke up to my friend's phone ringing crazily (it was his boss) who said he needed to get his sweet a$$ into work immediately due to the financial craziness that occurred over the weekend. He works for a large financial company (like- LARGE LARGE) and I guess they were figuring out big things or something. I don't know- - he looses me as soon as he starts talking about fixed icome bonds so I have no idea what he really does.

All of this financial distress has me really worried though. I was watching the news last night and all of the Lehman Brothers employees cleaning out their desks was heartbreaking. I wouldn't wish that on anyone...to quote of my favorite blogger's... "Something's Gotta Give."

It's Official

Notes came in this morning. The new "couple" is having a playdate afterschool. :)

Kindergarten Romance

I'm pretty sure we have a Kindergarten romance brewing. The two of them walked out to recess together, walked in together and sat next to each other at our morning meeting. Then, during the meeting he let her feel his loose tooth. I'm pretty sure that's close to engagement in Kindergarten time-span. :)

In the Life of a Kindergartener

Everyday we have morning meeting. This is a time for the kids to see their schedule for the day, we read a book, talk about the weather, update the calendar, etc. Yesterday we read a story about a crab. After we finished, I asked the class, "What other things live in the ocean?" They raised their hands and we heard, "whales," "sharks," "jellyfish"... then the next hand, "One time, I got stung by a jelly (pronounced Yelly) fish." Next hand, "I got stung by a jellyfish too." Next hand, "I got stung by TWO jellyfish. THIS SUMMER." (You can see how this goes...) Next hand, "Well, one time. I got an EEL!" I laughed a little and this little boy looks at me, totally annoyed that I'm smiling about this MAJOR FISH HE CAUGHT. WITH TWO NETS. Crosses his arms and says, "FOUW. WHEEL." ("For real" for all of you non-little kid talkers).

This job? Is a comedy show.

Ugh

After just seeing myself in the school bathroom mirror I've decided that my mirror at home makes me look 20lbs thinner.

Thistotallysucks.

I got it

My kids are too cute. They were super well behaved today (it’s only day one- - I know) but they genuinely seemed to enjoy the day. I was telling them that after our Centers it was time to go home and one little boy goes, “but we get to come back as soon as we wake up tomorrow.” Oh, the attitude of a six year old…

The school that I teach at is incredible. I feel so lucky to be working there. At lunch time all of the students and teachers/staff in the lower school eat a family style lunch. The teachers are all assigned a table and have students from every grade sitting with them. My table was so great today. This was my first lunch with the kids so I was a little tentative about how the entire process worked but one little girl explained the entire process to me, I felt like she should have been in charge. Then as we were walking out to recess a 1st grader ran by us (the rule is “Always Walk”) and she goes to me, “Oh, just so you know, you’re allowed to say, ‘Excuse Me, STOP, you need to wait for us and Walk’ you’re allowed to do that. Just so you know.” I am in love with this job so far.

My day ends at 2:50pm every day (yea, how great is that?!?) so as soon as I can I’ve been ditching my teaching clothes and heading out for a run. I live in a very urban area so running from my house is notsomuch a fun endeavor what with all of the traffic lights, cars, and crazies around. Where I work however, is a completely different story. It’s on the ocean (I KNOW!) so I run out the driveway and I can run on the ocean for about 3 miles until the road turns inland again. It’s awesome and until I can get a jazz schedule figured out, it’s keeping me sane. Then I’m home and showered by 5pm- - just when I was leaving my previous job.

Be prepared for no segue.

Is anyone watching tennis tonight? (Hey, I warned you!) I can’t believe how close this match is. I always root for Venus because she’s older and I think she’s a little more personal but now that I’ve typed that I’m sure Serena will win. The internet has not been working at The House so I’ve resorted to watching tv and writing my post in Word so I can post tomorrow (today!) in the morning. Um, wow. Venus is up in the second set 5-2. When did THAT HAPPEN?!?
I’m heading into the city tomorrow (today!) to watch some tennis.

Aaaaand…that’s about it!

It's a Whole New Year

Ugh- - I had a new post for you but I can't cut and paste it...?!?!?! What the F?!?!??!?!

Back to School, Back to School

Today is the first official day of school! AH! And my internet has not been working at The House so I couldn't update last night. Hopefully this afternoon I'll have some time!

Orientation

It's Kindergarten Orientation today! I (finally!) get to see what my class looks like! I can't wait! I am still in a little bit of disbelief that this is happening...

Ahhhh the life

I love long weekends. This one has been exceptionally enjoyable because it's the first Labor/Memorial Day in three years that I haven't spent traveling. I guess that comes with the territory of not being in a long distance relationship anymore...

I babysat all day Saturday for The Family so when yesterday came I headed to jazz, (yes, there's a jazz here and YES I go and YES YES I will be teaching there) ran home quickly to change and pack a lunch and headed over to my sister's boyfriend's house. His family lives in Greenwich and has extended an open invitation to stop by their house whenever I feel like it. They have a beautiful backyard so I parked myself by their pool all afternoon and got all of my reading/work done for my classes for the next two weeks. I know.

Today, the BONUS WEEKEND DAY, I woke up, headed to jazz and headed right back over to the pool. I've been sitting out here since 11:00 this morning and have since caught up on all of your blogs, painted my nails, and read a book I needed to read by the end of the semester. (It's a short one, don't be too impressed.)

My sister's boyfriend's family has invited me to stay for dinner so I'll probably just hang out here until then...this is totally the life. :)

But um... is it REALLY SEPTEMBER?!?!??!?! Whoa.