Here we gooooooo!

McKenna starts 3rd grade tomorrow,
Andrea starts 10th grade tomorrow,
and I start my 17th year of teaching, 8th at The Villages Charter School and 6th as the Art teacher.

New backpacks are packed and outfits laid out ready for the big day.
(I have photos, but either my computer or blogger are acting funny tonight.)
We will take our traditional "first day of school" photos in the morning and I'll try to post tomorrow night.

Have a great week everyone - love you!
Melle

Procrastination

I have it bad.
My mother doesn't at all.
I do.
My grandfather probably most certainly didn't.
But I do.
PD.....procrastination disorder.

It's weird.
While back to work this week, I noticed from 7:30 to 4:00 I really wouldn't get much done but once everyone was gone and all temptation had left, from 4:00 to 6:30 I'd be more productive then I had been all day. (6:30 was the time I wanted to leave by so I could watch Andrea swim the last half hour of her daily 2 hour swim team practice.)

Today, officially my last Saturday of summer, I excused myself from several responsibilities all in the name of "I have lots to do for Work today". And still, here I am at 10:17 at night and I really haven't gotten a lot accomplished today when it comes to stuff for school.
I did put a few finishing touches on a PowerPoint that I have created for the first day of school (first week of school in my case since I will see each one of my new 19 classes only once a week). I created the PP hoping to "kick it up a notch" when it comes to going over the rules and procedures. Rules and procedures were always the crappy part of the first day of school.
I did sit and listen to McKenna much more often today and sincerely listened to the amazing details of her imaginary play.
I did witness Andrea finish the last of her two book briefs that were assigned for summertime homework - really!?! I can't believe we assign summer homework!
I did get to visit with a good friend when she stopped by for a visit and I did get to text another.
I did get to catch a little bit of church via the internet.
I did get to read and read some more from my new favorite blog that I mentioned before www.pioneerwoman.com
I did check out another blog a friend recommended...she said I could do this.....not so sure...
www.tomkat.blogspot.com
I did create a new banner for the top of my blog...(was supposed to be designing my new classroom blog).....
And I discovered something new called "effects" in Photoshop! Most of you probably knew about this already! I learned about this feature from The Pioneer Woman. She even had free effects to add to my collection.......only after spending way too long on it (which only aided my procrastination disorder) I couldn't get the new ones to work.

I did manage this effect on at least one photo though. (it's called "carved")


This was taken of McKenna when she was 6 years old. I forgot just how much I loved those little wisps of hair that would kiss the side of McKenna's face when she wore her hair pulled back. Now that she has short hair, I hardly ever see these any more.

Well, with groceries, a trip to the library, a trip to Staples and yummy trip to Mimi's for our weekly luncheon with Nana on the agenda tomorrow, in true procrastination form, that'll leave me just a few hours to get "school stuff" done. I imagine, I'll either be very productive or sick to my stomach. Since I always have insomnia the night before the first day of school, I'll have plenty of time to be ready for that first week of school.

Peace ya'll.
and good-night

Hanging on for as long as I can

Yep, I'm hanging on to every last moment of summer by tooth and nail!
When summer started, we girlie girls treated ourselves to pedicures and manicures. Well, since summer is almost over you can imagine we were in great need of new ones, however, after the "back to school expenses" I wasn't as motivated to pay for new ones. So, I figured we could do it ourselves. (I'm afraid we owe Grandma an I.O.U.). Well, not near as good as the professionals, but almost as much fun.

The truth is, I'm really struggling with this going back to school thing. I mean, wah-wah, I need to stop with the pity party. People go to work ALL the time and a good part of our population doesn't get summers off. How lucky am I?!? But I just hate the trying to juggle home and work.
I've only been back to work for 3 days and already the bathrooms need cleaning, the floor needs vacuuming and the laundry needs to be washed......
Okay, here's what I've really been avoiding:

Planning. And I like planning. Well, I like creating calendars and appearing organized. But, I really seem to have a mental block right now. I just can't seem to get the creative ideas flowing.
Okay, feeling a little better now that I've had some blog time.
I'll keep ya posted.
Melle
(I've posted twice tonight so be sure to keep reading.)

PS - I've added a link to my blog list for www.thepioneerwoman.com . I guess it's really a website instead of a blog, but she updates it frequently. I've really enjoyed reading it and thought I'd share just in case you are someone who likes to follow blogs like me. She tells tales of how she went from high heels to cowboy boots and of life on their Oklahoma farm. She has beautiful pictures too! Enjoy.

Also wanted to share...

There were a few more tidbits left from summer that I meant to share:

As you may recall, during our visit to Boston and the surrounding areas, I did not care for the interstate driving and I ESPECIALLY did not care for The Tobin Bridge which linked us from the suburb of Chelsea to the city of Boston. Not that I'm not grateful that it was well constructed and not that I can't appreciate the engineering genius it must have taken to create it, HOWEVER for those of us with a fear of heights AND closed in spaces, The Tobin Bridge was not for me.
The bridge also inspired my mom to some creative genius of her own, enjoy:

July 18, 2010
As promised, here is a draft of the marvelous folk song that I composed:

Tobin Bridge

Never driving Tobin Bridge no more
Could have crashed, and that's for sure,
If you've never been there,
You'd better never try.

Got three levels owned by devils
Three tiers to the sky
All they did was bring me down
Too scared to even cry.

Boston town's amazing
And that is no surprise,
Buildings rise before your eyes
At Tobin tunnel's end.

Stay in your lane and don't complain
An easy way to go insane
Can't make left turns anyway,
I'd rather die with hell to pay.

Never driving Tobin Bridge no more
Could have crashed, and that's for sure,
If you've never been there,
You'd better never try.

By Margi Guthrie Boston

Yep, that 'bout sums it up. I promise to never mention of it again! :o)

About two weeks later, the family and I took a trip of our own to just over the Florida border to a theme park called Wild Adventures in Valdosta, Georgia. Even though it was as hot as I imagine hades to be, we really had a good time.(Of course the water park helped with that issue!) This family photo was taken as we entered the park. I never had any intention of ever really buying this photo, but I just couldn't resist the convenience of having a photographer ready to take a picture when my family was.

And then the photographer said, "okay, a silly one" and this is what we did.

I can't pinpoint why, but I loved the pictures and bought BOTH photos as we left the park.
Wild Adventures; a park we really enjoyed.
Now, please don't go and expect it to be Disney, 'cause it's not. But there were no lines, we walked onto everything and best of all, everyone was very, very nice (despite the heat).

And, I couldn't let the summer slip away without mentioning one of my most favorite things about it.
Do you remember how I mentioned how one amazing person can have such an influence over your child? Well, Kendra girl, I am so grateful you are part of our lives. Last summer and this, Kendra got a few wonderful little girls together for An American Girl book club. Last years books (and Kendra) led us to butterfly farm and alighthouse. This year our book inspired us to have a lemonade stand (and thank goodness for the bake sale, too!). The girls planned to donate any proceeds to "stuff the bus", a local charity that helps children who are in need of school supplies. We never imagined through the help of friends, family and complete strangers the girls would collect $350 dollars in two hours!

The girls got to give their donation yesterday; I couldn't have been more proud.

One person truly can make such a difference.

Ramblings

Just the other day I was reflecting outloud with friends,
"I wonder what this world would be like if athletes got paid what teachers did and if teachers got paid what athletes did?"

Then, this morning while doing another never ending load of laundry, I was thinking about the events of last night.....
although teachers may not yet be paid like athletes, I am here to tell you, for our children, teachers still far out rank them.
A child's whole life can be affected by who their teacher is; how they feel about that teacher; the things they do with that teacher; the words that teacher says are powerful, I mean really powerful.

My dear teacher friends, I mean you know this, but as you get ready to embark on another school year, I just wanted to say, YOU are exactly where you should be. YOU are exactly where God wants you. YOU are such an important part of each child you touch. What a gift we have been given. I know, when I think about it, it's more power than I can handle. It overwhelms me.
But just know, YOU are amazing and so important to all the children you have been given.
So, so very important.
Melle

a little summer montage....

Were did the past two weeks go since my last post?
Really, a few errands later, doctor check-ups, a little family vacation to Wild Adventures in Valdosta, GA and in the blink of an eye, here we are on the last night of my summer vacation.
So many emotions. I feel like a Vulcan trying to suppress them all.

So grateful to have visited with long time friends.
So grateful to have made new memories with even more friends and family.
So grateful to have had the chance to meet new friends.

I am so grateful to have slept for as long as I wanted to.
I am so grateful to have had as many long hot showers as I wanted.

So excited to return to work to catch up with co-workers.
So excited to return to work to see my former and future students.
So excited to return to work to learn of Andrea and McKenna's teachers.
So excited to return to the art room and smell all those new crayons!

So sad not to work in the studio anytime I want to.
So sad to return to long days and homework routine.
So sad to return to fast food for dinner.

Okay, enough about me.

It's taken hours and I'm afraid I've left out so many photos, but I have a little slideshow to share in honor of our summer. Hope you enjoy.

That comment was written at 10:30 last night and it's now 6:00 a.m. and I'm still having trouble. It's off to work for a 13 hour day. I'll try to post the video tonight........urgh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Melle