Saturday, June 23, 2012

Isn't summer supposed to be relaxing?!

Holy moly.

I've been sooo busy this week!

Ok, maybe not THAT busy, but in terms if this teacher's summer vacation, I was running myself ragged.

Monday and Tuesday were spent at school with my 6th grade partner in crime. (I'm relatively certain she is blog stalking me this summer. Hi Teri!) We spent two full days working out details of our brand new Student Ambassador program

What is the Student Ambassador Program, you ask?

Excellent question.

We're still not entirely sure.

It's at least going to be a combination of safety patrol, student council, PBIS training buddies for new students, peer mentoring/tutoring, school store running (Oh, yeah-we're also starting a school store next year. No biggie.), school event assisting, and probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting.

Easy peasie.

Not.

I'm really excited about starting this next year, but I'd be lying if I said that there isn't a teeny tiny part of me that wonders if we've bit off more than we can chew.

But clearly we both have superhuman abilities (I mean, I pried myself out of bed two mornings in a row during the summer-that HAS to be a super power!), so this should be a cake walk.

Please remind me of that if I have a mid-year meltdown. (Not that that would ever happen.)

I was supposed to meet with my kiddos on Wednesday and Thursday. Due to some scheduling conflicts, it didn't work out to meet with either of them this week. Honestly, as much as I love them, it was nice to have a mini-break (I know, I know, it's summer and I really don't have THAT much going on).

So instead of tutoring and whatnot, I did some antiquing with my mom and sister Wednesday afternoon. And then we made a trip to PetSmart because my sister's 200 6 hamsters needed more bedding.

Ummm...we may have left PetSmart with more than just hamster bedding.

Soooo....my sister has been trying to talk me into getting a class pet since I moved into my classroom. And I've been putting it off because I've just had soo many kids in my room with above average volume levels.

But as of right now, our class sizes are looking pretty small for next year. (WOOT!)

And well, there was this gerbil...

Clearly, you can see where this story is headed, so without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to Walter.

Walter, meet my blogging amigos. Blogging amigos, meet Walter.


Ok, come on now, you can't blame me for not wanting to leave that cute little face in the pet store.

And teacher that had my classroom before me had rats. At least I didn't get a rat, right? Those naked tails creep me out. Walter's tail is completely covered in fur. No bald spots.

He just moved out of his temporary home yesterday into his new gerbil condo. No more spare wire hamster cage for him, no sir.

He's living large, now.



By the way, those tubes? Not as easy to put together as you would think. It took Matthew and I at least half an hour to put that bad boy together.

Then my sister looked at it and told me that I put the lid on backward. Oops. And apparently the set up in the picture (which is how I set it up) makes it super top heavy. So she fixed it. Oops again.

I'll get the hang of this gerbil stuff sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.

Thursday afternoon I spent with one of my friends. She lives about half an hour away, but her in-laws have this awesome pool that she gets to use. We decided it would be great to just lounge around the pool. I needed gas before I left town, and wouldn't you know, as soon as I paid for my gas, it started raining. And it rained the whole way there. And for at least an hour after I got there.

Sigh.

But it did finally stop raining, it was about 75 degrees instead of 90, and we finally made it to the pool.

And then it rained again. Urgh.

This pasty girl needs some sun! Especially to help cancel out my bizarre tan lines from our canoe trip.


Please note that my tan vanished from the knee down.

Because that's not weird or anything.

And finally, I had a two part photo shoot to do, plus I had to get my awesome 100 Follower Giveaway up and going (you did enter, right?)!

The weather was MUCH cooler than it was originally supposed to be, which was awesome for my shoot--and from what I've edited so far, I'm quite pleased with the results!

But I'm sure you don't want to see those.

Do you?

Ok, I haven't even edited this one yet, but I LOVE it. Like a lot.


And because I really like the two that I went ahead and edited so that the couple could get a sneak peek at their pictures, I'll just go ahead and share those with you, too.

Cute, right?!

Today I (finally) finished editing some pictures from a concert that I shot toward the end of May so that I wouldn't have to feel guilty about editing yesterday's shoot.

 And quite honestly, other than watering my flowers and blog stalking, that's pretty much all that I've done today.

I know, I know, I'm not REALLY busy.

But compared to last summer when I didn't crawl out of bed or get dressed until 4:00, this is busy.

Don't judge me. You know you're guilty of it, too.

Before I go polish off the last of the chocolate chip cookies I just made (thank you Tollhouse for your break apart cookie dough), have you joined in my 100 Follower Giveaway yet?!

If you haven't you should! SO MANY awesome prizes! (It would be wrong if I entered, right? I thought so.)

Because you were kind enough to read this far into my ramblings, here is a fun font that I finished up this afternoon that you can download for FREE!

Just click HERE to download it! If you make anything with it, can you show it to me? I LOVE seeing all of the cool stuff you guys make!

Since I know you've missed Charlie here are a couple pictures from this afternoon. I've now given you your cute dog fix for the day. You're welcome.


Oh! Quick shout out to all of my new followers! Hi guys!!!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!



22 comments:

  1. I love this post. I love your ramblings. I also LOVE your font. You are wonderful. Thanks for bringing a smile to my face!

    Brittany
    Stickers and Stamps

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    Replies
    1. Aw shucks-I love you, too! Your comment brought a smile to MY face!

      Delete
  2. I'm curious, what does Charlie think of Walter?

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    Replies
    1. Walter is currently living with my sister and her hamsters until school starts, so Charlie and Walter haven't met quite yet...though I can't wait to see Charlie's total confusion when he meets that little black gerbil!

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  3. Can you get any cooler!? I love your posts; they crack me up! I wish we were aloud to have class pets - I've always thought that would be fun. But alas, no. So I will settle for living vicariously through you...

    Also THANK YOU for the super fun font! Haven't had time yet to play with iFont Maker.

    Lynn
    http://insidethisbookblog.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. I'm cool?! Do you mean it?! :)

      Hopefully we're allowed to have class pets...I didn't exactly ask first...oops.

      And you are very welcome for the font-I'm glad you like it!

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  4. Just found your blog! I love the photos you took!

    Sara :)
    Smiling In Second Grade

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  5. You crack me up and wear me out!!! Love post....lol! Just found your blog and I'm your newest follower:) I'm originally from Illimois:) My Mom and sis still live there...in Springfield. Love going antique shopping too!! Classroom pets are a must.....I have had a few...hamsters don't tend to live long....hmmmm...The pet we have right now is an adorable guinea pig whose name is Blossom. My students loved her. Hoping my new crew will as well.
    Can't believe how much you do...teach, fonts, photogs....Wow!!!

    4th Grade Frolics

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    Replies
    1. Hahaha! I'm wearing me out, too!

      Hopefully next year's class is good to ol' Walter-I'm definitely taking a gamble on this one!

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  6. OMG.......I almost forgot the most important thing.......I LOVE coffee!!!!! ;)

    4th Grade Frolics

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  7. OMG....you had me cracking up this entire post. I am a stream-of-consciousness blogger too! And let me give you a little heads up about gerbils....some breeds are nocturnal so Walter may be sleeping while you are teaching. GREAT,,you say..yeah, until your kiddos start asking "Is he dead?" and "Why isn't he ever awake?." Then of course there is always that little friend that decides to take his/her pencil and poke your little furry friend to "help wake him up!" But it wouldn't be teaching if there wasn't some sort of adventure, huh?

    Well thanks for the laugh this morning along with my coffee. Feel free to head on over and check out my blog at http://talesfroma4thand5thgradeteacher.blogspot.com/

    I just migrated over from WordPress and have not figured out how to import my old posts yet!

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    1. YOU had ME cracking up on this comment! He better stay awake during the day!

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  8. You better bet I'm blog stalking you! So I'm happy to hear that I'm not the only one who thinks this Student Ambassador program is going to be interesting this year. However, since we are amazing, I'm sure we will have no problem!

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    1. Ha! I knew you were lurking around here! And this thing is going to be awesome-because, well, we ARE the coolest teachers in the building! :)

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  9. Hey Laura! I LOVE your font! I actually just used it on my pinterest- Made It Monday craft! Here's the link to my post: Numero Cuatro
    Allie
    The Gypsy Teacher

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  10. I don't want to be presumptuous and almost blog-stalkerish, but you could totally be my twin...I love coffee, even if it's 100 degrees outside and all of my co-workers say I have to make things pretty. I hate ugly stuff, especially in my classroom. Anywho, I'm now following your blog :) Congrats on your followers and I heart the font!!

    Haley
    Following Optimism in 2nd Grade

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  11. Laura -

    Totally cracking up over there because I made that EXACT font on 2ttf.com and just haven't uploaded it! (Mine is only different because I added dots...)

    Great minds think alike!

    And hey! You need to start planning your 200 follower giveaway at the rate you're going! Sheesh! :P

    Lauren
    Life in Middle School

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    Replies
    1. Hahaha! You want to hear something even funnier? When I got your comment, I was about 5 letters in on adding dots to mine!

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  12. Laura,
    I love reading your blog, so I'm awarding you the Versatile Blogger award. Check my blog to see the rules you need to follow!!
    Congrats,
    Aimee
    Pencils, Books, and Dirty Looks

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  13. LOVE your pictures! :) You are so talented, and what fun personality they brought to the shoot!

    Jenny
    Luckeyfrog's Lilypad

    ReplyDelete