drowning in a sea of papers....

school is kicking my tail. my students have doubled from last year...meaning my workload has doubled...and on top of that i have about 12 (of my 40) students that have ieps (individualized education plans) which means they need modified lessons or they need extra help. i am overwhelmed and CONSTANTLY working on grading papers, typing lessons, progress reports... the list goes on and on. i am not necessarily complaining...it is just SO much stuff. i have to come up with a better plan for grading papers. sigh.

i am going to savannah on friday!!! my parents fly in friday and we are driving there after i get off of work. i am so excited to a.) go to savannah...i have never been. 2.) see the parents (and get the inside of my windshield cleaned by def...i can never get the streaks out!) and c.) have a vacation...full of tours and shopping....and hopefully some sleeping!

in other news, i found out that kli married into a family of law breakers. one of ipod's relatives came into the us from canada with a church group. another one (franco) swam the rio grande 3 (!) times and this time he made it into the us. oh those romanians!

kli got a dog a few weeks ago. it is a beagle and seriously she is one of those crazy dog people. it has become her kid. i just shake my head at those crazy romanians and their new romanian beagle dog. i think i am going to buy kli and rocky rachel iepan (rri) matching snuggies for christmas. they make them for dogs now, you know...

"-"

here are some recent quotes from my week...

{fridge opens} few minutes pass. "why am i looking for a power strip in the fridge?!" -beck

"he is my dealer. my kazoo dealer. ...bump my fist now!" -cierra
"you need to lay off the kazoo--it is making you violent..." -me

"i think we are just going to go to the lincoln township cemetary--we get a discount for living in lincoln township..." - lsf

"ms. fischer, i just feel like i am on a crazy train!" -5th grade student

...they crack me up.... ;)

today--a better day.

today has been a better day. i got the ok to go ahead and work out a better plan for our day..meaning that we are going to be able to switch classes for every class except my 5th grade ones--in other words, i am in my room for 4 out of my 6 classes...which is way better than only being in there for 2 classes a day. i am feeling better about that.

178 to go...

i am overwhelmed. it has been a not a bad start to the school year...just (very very very) overwhelming...and (very very very) frustrating. i am *trying* to convince myself it will be better tomorrow....i am not a great job at the convincing part. sigh. 2 days down--178 to go.

part 2....

my saga continues. tonight was open house at school so i just ended up staying after work until open house was over. i got home a little after 9 and as i got out of my car i noticed something sitting by the garage. i kept straining to see what it was as i went to put on my flip flops that were in my trunk. i couldn't really see too well because there really isn't a light there, so i kept unlocking my doors to have my headlights flash (i am sure if the neighbors saw me they'd think i was batty). what i saw looked like a big cat, but it wasn't moving. at all. so i threw my shoes (not at it...but so it made a loud noise..). nothing again. i thought it maybe was a duck (??) or maybe beck decided to cut down a bush that was there...or maybe beck's nephew put some paint cans out there or it was his tennis shoes or something...but it was a but was large. so i hurried by it and was really hoping it wouldn't attack my exposed legs as i scurried by. i went in and told beck there was something out by the garage but i couldn't tell what it was. she says nonchalantly "oh, it is a hawk that ben thinks is dying." ...a hawk! a big hawk (it is probably a standard sized hawk, but i haven't seen on in real life before and it looked big...i shudder at the thought of its talons...) i guess ben had been there about 45 minutes before me and took a picture of the hawk...and it was still sitting in the same position. it had not moved at all. so then we called d. he came over and looked at it and took a picture and then got a fishing pole to see if he put it next to it if it would move. ...i wanted him to poke it, but he wouldn't. he said that it moved over a little bit but he thinks it is dying. so we called animal control. waste of time. they said it isn't dangerous (they don't have to walk by it!) and not to worry about it (what happens after it dies?!) and we could call the department of natural resources. so i called them and they gave me another number to call in the morning, but they wouldn't commit to anything. so for now the hawk is sitting outside. waiting. here is my theory....it is only playing sick but it really has an evil plan and now that our defenses are down and no one will help us, it is going to get me in the morning. you know why??? the wasp sent it.

modern warfare

last night i was loading the rest of my junk stuff into my room and i noticed that a massive wasp had made its way into my room. i was unhappy. so i decided to ignore it and try to work. i was focusing on trying to turn on the tv and all of a sudden the wasp tries to dive-bomb me. it obviously was not smart enough to make it into wasp harvard or even wasp state school because it totally missed me and ended up dive-bombing the end of my bed. :/ at this point i left my room (ok, so it was obviously smarter than me because its tactic worked....) and i was clutching my tv remotes and the tv was still off . at this point i was really starting to regret leaving my ant/roach/wasp spray behind at the apartment and tried to formulate a plan to get rid of this wasp that was now on the ceiling...making the job more difficult. i watched from a safe distance (behind my door) and waited for a time to make some sort of a move. when all at once the wasp fell or dive-bombed again and landed on the ledge of my window. i had to act fast now. i dropped the remotes and picked up my (ah-mazing!) john frieda anti-moisture hairspray (super hold!) and grabbed my cd case of cds and ran to the window. i hit the window (not lifting the blind) numerous times with the cd case and the wasp was now getting a bit agitated...so i sprayed it with hairspray and hit some more...until he landed on the upper part of the window sill ( the part where you lock the window) and i then went a bit crazy with the spray....it was like a blind rage and a steady stream of hairspray bullets were being fired until there was no longer movement from the wasp. i was convinced he was just playing dead and was going to wait until i had my back turned and my defenses were down and then he would dive-bomb again with more accuracy since i had declared war. i kept checking the window throughout the evening to make sure he was still there...and he was every time i checked. later i was getting ready to go to bed and i knew i wouldn't be able to sleep with the wasp still up there (my bed is right under the window), so i grabbed a cup out of a bag that beck gave me to take to school and a paper towel to scoot the wasp into the cup to flush. well...the john frieda did its job and the wasp was not moving with just a gentle push from a paper towel. so i got a nail file and had to kinda loosen him from the window. once he was loose, i pushed him into the cup and then i heard him start buzzing--he wasn't dead, just frozen by all the hairspray! i quickly made my way to the bathroom with my buzzing cup o' wasp and flushed the sucker down the toilet. i was nervous to go to the bathroom after that...i was pretty sure he was hanging out under the toilet seat for the next time i had to go...so before i went later that evening, i made sure to pick up the seat to check...he was not there. victory was (and is) mine.

as of late....

i am at the apartment today...trying to pack. i have toooo much stuff! period! i am so sick of it all... actually i am just sick of having to move it. i do see the light at the end of the tunnel though...which is encouraging.

b's house is still in disarray...the guys are supposed to be finishing the hardwood floors today and then hopefully we can get the house put back together...or at least my room...i need a place to put all of MY junk... :/ the floors look amazing....the carpet is wonderful.... it has been worth the headache.

v had the baby!!!! he is an absolute doll!!! his name is noah chuck and is the sweetest baby! he is the first baby of v's that i have known as a newborn...all of the other kiddos were older when i met them. but he is here and he is wonderful!

i am sick....and i don't know what it is... but i am thinking that it is from the dust being kicked up by the carpet that was torn out (because that is when it all started) and then from the dust of the hardwood...and we have been having bad ozone days...so all of that together has led to me sneezing and coughing non-stop. my chest hurts because i have been coughing so much and so hard. :( i wish it would rain...that would help out so much.

i found out that ms. c (the girl that interned with me last year) has been hired on full time as the 5th grade teacher! i am SO majorly excited about that! she is a great teacher and a great friend! it honestly makes going back to work on monday a little more bearable. i tell you what, i love summer vacation! :)

construction zone

i painted my closet today. dear goodness...i am not good at painting. i see that i am like my dear ol' dad in the way that i get sick of it and just slap it up on the wall.... it is finished though. :/ b and i just took down the nasty (there were two!) wallpapers in the dining room. bob vila, eat your heart out.