Strawberry Coke

I'm really excited about today! :-) This day has such potential for awesomeness: 1. it's Friday 2. it's picnic day 3. the spazmatics are in town tonight 4. i'm wearing my puff paint shirt to the concert hehehehe 4. i get to see some very fun folks tonight 5. i'm dogsitting

My good mood is a tad infectious. So far I've greeted every kid with a huge grin. Some of the kids are thrown off by extra-cheeriness (it's way more than usual-it's cranked up to fifty). During this period, one of the boys asked me what I was on. My first response: Strawberry Coke. Some of the kids started to ask questions about the drug. whoops....I meant my drink from Sonic. I quickly held up my cup....yikes.

I'm used to this kind of thing happening. It happened at every debate tournament. Think about it: I'm skinny, I have a freakish amount of energy, and 95% of the time I'm inexplicably happy. I get why they think I'm on something. So now I'll be waiting to hear the rumors about me...usually they're pretty creative.

Man I'm going to miss this place in the fall!

cute

8th grade girl: You like nice Miss.

me: thanks!

8th grade girl: Do you have a date tonight Miss?

me: no

8th grade girl: Then why are you dressed up?

me: I'm building some stuff for my church tonight & won't get to be cute later so I thought I should be cute now.

8th grade girl: Ooooh. So there's men there?

me: well, yeah.

8th grade girl: Then why don't you wear this?

me: I don't want to get it dirty.

8th grade girl: Are you wearing cute sweats?

me: no. Just shorts & a t-shirt.

8th grade girl: Are they cute?

me: They're ok--they aren't gross or ratty.

8th grade girl: Hmmm...are the men cute?

me: They're married.

8th grade girl: At least two of them are single, right Miss?

me: um......yeah I guess so.

8th grade girl: You should wear the cute sweats then Miss! I've got to go to class but wear your cute sweats. *walks away*

me: Have a good day. *perplexed look*

Round 2

Most people don't realize how I spent many an afternoon as a child: hula hooping on either the front porch or the backyard while Lucky (the greatest dog of all time) would watch. I can hula on my hips, waist, ankle, arm. I can walk forward & backwards while hula hooping. I can turn while hula hooping. I'm a little rusty on working the hoop up to my neck....

Last night the volunteer, Keith, and I had our hula hoop challenge. I'd given him close to a month to prepare. He bought a hula hoop & practiced. I gave him a warning before the competition began. I tried to give him an easy out. I showed him some of my moves but he still wanted to compete. Poor guy couldn't even hula hoop for ten seconds. I told him we could do best of three...which we did. Unfortunately Keith wasn't any better the second go round. I let him know I'd be up for a rematch any time if he needed some more practice.

Keith gets to name the next challenge. He said he wants a bake off. I have yet to warn him that this boy crazy girl has baked many a good in attempts to sway a young man's heart or two or thirty. I think he wants to beat me at my own game.

I now feel bad for the guy and wonder if this cockamamie competition should continue. If I beat him two weeks in a row, I doubt he'll recover his pride anytime soon....and I wasn't as gracious of a winner as I should have been. I might send him an email telling him we can quit now but I think that may be like rubbing salt in his wounds. Tricky choice....tricky competition.

hair

Sometimes I worry that I'm becoming more of a guy (what with build team *i can now use power tools*, video game tutorials with Chris, and my deep love of american gladiators) until a moment like this comes along. One of my students wanted to open the window on this glorious, waitin-for-a-storm-to-hit day which of course I let him do (i really like storms). However I didn't fully weigh the consequence of opening it up. My hair is now a mess...a frizzy mess. It's starting to curl in random places & I feel it getting bigger. The humidity is striking & I'm powerless. I was running late this morning and neglected my anti-frizz products....foolish girl. I could shut the window but the damage is down so I might as well enjoy the weather. At least my dress and shoes are still cute....maybe people will see that rather than my huge hair.

change

Big life change awaits me...

Career Change: It's official: I won't be returning to the public school system for 2008-2009. No joke. My resignation letter was turned in last week in lieu of my contract. I will be working at my church no longer as Kenneth's assistant but as the discipleship coordinator for the elementary department. I get to decide how we run the service, what curriculum we use (ie i'll be writing it!!!!!!!!!!), and planning some service projects (i'm already thinking). As of June 6, I'll no longer be an employee for iisd. Crazy stuff....crazy exciting stuff.

I have a notebook of ideas that I'm using for the style of the room, curriculum ideas, etc. I am setting up a filing system for receipts, volunteer info, and what we've done...I'm going to try to tackle that today. I'm learning about video games b/c we have some the kids play with before service. Chris is teaching me and I've got to say I'm really bad at this. We played on the wii & I'm best at bowling and worst at golf. I think we're going to have weekly tutoring sessions so that by the end of the summer, I'll at least be mediocre.

It's pretty bittersweet at school. I haven't told the students yet that I won't be returning. I've told some of my friends but not everyone. I'm trying to decide what the best way is to spend my time is...how can I make the most of the last few days of school? Certainly not by blogging while having my students read silently....hmmmmm......

Grumpy Pumpkin

It finally hit...and it hit with force!

My allergies have decided to make up for lost time this season...and I'm a grumpy pumpkin. :-( Last night at church during a sermon about waking up (note the irony) I started to nod off....it's important to note that I've never been a church sleeper. I went home, ate some dinner, brushed my teeth, and went to sleep by 8:30. I woke up this morning at 5 but decided that was a tad too early to get up so took a quick nap & got up at 6. All morning has been in a fog...I keep wanting to go back to sleep. I'm not hungry but am dying of thirst.

Apparently I have a certain allergy glow--so far this morning I've had two vps, several students, and about five different teachers ask if I'm feeling ok. As soon as first period is over, I'm hitting up the eye drops, nose spray, and popping some allergy pills. Hopefully this will get rid of my allergy glow and help me to not be a grumpy pumpkin.