Bonfire

Roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a backyard firepit with 2 neighbor families and made plans for a trip together to the cabin in a few weeks. Love our neighbor-friends so much!

Hoarding Books

A teacher took ALL (100+) of the discarded books.  Including a book entitled Gangs (copyright 1992) and Famous Negro Athletes.  I think we might have an episode of Hoarders on our hands.

No Help

Third day in a row my assistants have been pulled to sub.  And I have 8 back-to-back 8th grade classes today.  Ugh.

Brrrrr

Just checked the 10 day forecast and the high in Milwaukee on the day of our arrival will be 11*.  Whoa.

Weeding Biographies

Pulled a bunch of old biographies to discard.  "Famous Negros" and "Important Scientist of Our Time" (copyright 1965) are among the many titles that need to go.

Cookies

Baked a big batch of oatmeal cinnamon cookies (with pecans!) on Sunday so I brought a container of them to work yesterday.  They sat on my desk all day and I offered them to every teacher and custodian who came by.  Not only did it boost my ego (everyone thought they were amazing) but I think it improved morale, too!

Korra's Quilt

This quilt is getting to be the second most expensive project I've ever undertaken (the bookshelves beat it but not by much!)  Just bought $30 of fabric for the backing but it's paying to get the quilting part professionally done that's really going to cost me. But I REALLY want the quilting done well and I know I can't do that myself. Here's hoping she uses this quilt for at least 10 years ($13 year isn't that bad, right?)

2T

Just packed up all of Korra's 18month clothes and pulled out the 2Ts. Cute new clothes to dress my cute girl in!

Snuggles

Korra napped on me for 2 hours this afternoon. I can't remember the last time she slept in my arms. 

Road Trip

Driving to Cordele and back today (5 hours round trip) with our church. It's going to be a long nut hopefully fun day. 

Cart Barn

Going out for burgers at the Cart Barn tonight!  Nate's going to be so jealous.

Sticky Surprise

Reach into the drop box to pull out returned books and... find a book that is COVERED in drying syrup.  It's like my worst nightmare.

gmail chating

Nate's in the air on the way to Texas.  I miss him already, mostly because we usually chat back a forth a bit (mostly about Korra) during the day.  

PopPop

Nate's dad arrived this evening. He's staying with Korra for the next few days while Nate goes to Texas for PAX. Korra's looking forward to some quality time with her PopPop and Nate's looking forward to seeing his friends. I still have to go to work  

Farewell

The two retired librarians who have helped me in the library once a week for the last two and a half years came for the last time today.  They've helped me clean up, weed, throw things away, organize, label, add in the 6,000 books from my old school, brainstorm, and plan.  And we realized that we've completed all the big projects that I needed their help for, so they're moving on.  I'm sad and I'll miss them, but I am so happy with what they've enabled me to accomplish here.  

Don't Wanna Go

This weekend was so nice. I'm really having a hard time going to work today. I don't want to get out of my bathrobe. I don't want to get off the couch. And I especially don't want to stay at school until 5:30 for a dumb faculty meeting with the superintendent. 

Impromptu playground trip

Came home from our shopping trip to find some of our neighbor-friends right in front of our house (mid-walk). We decided to join them and walk to the playground. We even picked up some more neighbor-friends on the way (for a total of 6 adults and 6 kids in 4 strollers!). Enjoyed the sunshine and watching our kids play together and talking. 

Pilgrimage

Taking the 30+ minute drive to the nearest craft store and Target. Going to just make an event of it and hit up the Barnes and Noble and eat out for lunch since our sad little town is also lacking in book stores and any variety in restaurants. 

Library Celebrity

Korra is like a celebrity at our public library. All the staff know hey by name (I even heard one say, "look!  There's Korra!" yesterday).

Texting

Korra just brought me my phone and said, "You need to text."

Family Walk to the Library

Combining 2 of my favorite things with 2 of my favorite people. 

Another Post About Korra Not Sleeping

On the weekdays Korra sleeps in until 8:30. On the weekends, she's always up by 7.  No sleeping in for me. 

Night Owl

Korra has gone to around 8:00 for the past year but for the past few weeks she is still wide awake (playing in her room by the light of her nightlight) at 10 pm. That's MY bedtime. If she doesn't go to bed earlier, I don't get a minute to myself all day.  I'm tired just thinking about it. 

Quilt!

Finished the top of the quilt!

Pintrest Project

Hand painted these to help pretty-up the ugly support post. They're attached with magnets so it doesn't hurt the kids or the signs of they get knocked. 

Fye

A student said my wheel-throwing demonstration was fye.  Feeling way cooler than I am for a minute.

Another Hat for Korra

VHS Purge!

Threw away 11 large boxes of VHS tapes.  Probably over 200 tapes and about 80% of my movie collection.  Time to get this library into 2001!

LGBTQ Books

Going out of my way to purchase a bunch of new books with LGBTQ characters.  I know this has the potential to cause huge issues for me, so it's a little stressful, even though I know this is the right thing to do.

Crafting Streak Continues

Painted a sign for the library, assembled a bookshelf, and demonstrated wheel throwing pottery.  Not a bad day at all!

Tech Guru

I must just have the magic touch today.  I easily fixed 2 smart boards and a laptop, all in first block.  

Crafting Fiend

Almost finished with a second hat for Korra (I decided the other one was too small and gave it away) and I made some great progress on Korra's quilt. 

Scary Voice

Over Christmas break Korra started using what we call her scary voice. I'm not sure how to describe it besides gravelly. Anyway, she just sang Jesus Loves Me in her scary voice. It was hilarious. I wish putting videos on this blog was easier. 

Playing Doctor

Korra's been using my crochet hook to give all get stuffed animals shots. 

Fleece-Lined

Made a new hat for Korra. Best of all, I lined it with fleece!  Not even that bothered that she'll outgrow it in a few months because it was so easy to make. 

The One I Love

Watched The One I Love tonight with Nate. Not at all what I was expecting, but really enjoyed it. 

Jeans Day

Getting to wear my jeans today isn't enough. I want to wear my bathrobe.

Today's Math Lesson

B-cups + thick sweater = no bra

Yep, I'm going there. 

Diabetes of the Nose

I will never get used to that maple syrup scented hand sanitizer.  It's so sweet smelling it makes me sick to my stomach.

Fire (not a) Drill

A small electrical fire in a classroom meant all the students and staff got to spend 25 minutes outside in the freezing cold.  Brrr.  

Summer Vacation (planning)

An email alert from Airfarewatchdog.com (informing me of $98 RT flights from Atl to NJ) got me REALLY excited about planning my summer vacation to visit my sister (and her husband, and my nephew, and my new niece, and PHILADELPHIA!)  I think I love planning trips almost as much as I love actually doing the things I plan.  

Playtime?

We've been watching Korra on the baby monitor whole she plays with her dolls in her bed for an hour. Guess she wasn't quite as ready for bed as we thought. 

Dinosaurs and Frozen

Korra got wall stickers for Christmas. Our kid is pretty cool. 

Dry Beans

All these new toys for Christmas and Korra has spent the last hour playing with dry pinto beans, a spoon, and an ice cube tray. 

Internet Explorer

It makes me cringe when I see teachers use Internet Explorer.

Work Day

Today is a teacher work day.  Yep, on a Friday.  Some teachers were complaining about it on FaceBook and someone said, "You should be happy and thankful you have a job."  I can be happy and thankful for this job and still want one more day in my pajamas.

New Year's Lunch

Left the cabin this morning and met up with my high school girl friends (plus all the spouses/boyfriends and children) for pizza. It was so nice to spend some time with them and watch our kids play together!