The World According to Leslie

Although I haven’t written anything in about 2 months here, I did not fall off the face of the earth. I have, however, sat at the computer wanting to write. Some days it just doesn’t happen.    I have a writing job for the summer—$8/article and I can write at least 2 an hour.   That’s more than I make teaching!  No!  I’m not kidding!  lol  (It’s sad!)   I get to go back to work in just a couple of weeks.  Actually…..  two weeks from today!  WOW!  Same school! More kids.  This year, I’m teaching regular Freshman English and Mythology.  I’ll have about 35 kids in each class!  (I know, right?!)   We went to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge on Vacation last month.  We took Mom and Dad with us!  We love going there. We went to a few shows.  Maybe… just maybe…. I’ll do a post about that!    I am now a CRIMINAL MINDS fanatic!  I love this show!  I had never watched an entir...

So, I have my “To Do” list for today made.  I’m hoping to get through a lot of it!   Most of it revolves around work, Girl Scouts, and the Princess’s school.     Had a really hard time sleeping last night.  I’m hoping tonight will be better.   Now…. to get everything I need ready to go to work. (I really hope I can remember all my passwords for everything at school today.  It has been a REALLY long time since I have used them!)

I have not been in hiding for almost two weeks. Although, there is a chance that I have avoided doing anything that could remotely be considered “routine” during this time.   December 19th was the last day that I worked for 2013.  (It was supposed to be Tony’s last day for the year too!)   December 20th, Tony and I spent the day at the Princess’s school assisting with the in-class parties. I am the chair of the Social Committee at the school for the PTC (Parent Teacher Committee).  My committee and I planned the in-class parties for 39 classrooms and 700 kids!  OMG!  (NOTE: This is not a top of the list thing to ever do again!)   Dec. 21-24, we worked on getting everything ready for Christmas. Our tree was up and decorated over Thanksgiving break, but that was all we had.  We had not purchased gifts or anything.  We had had NO TIME!  So…we crammed it into 4 days!  We got it done!   I did have to go to Walgreens on C...

Wow!  I can’t believe it’s been 5 days since I’ve written anything.  So, I’m going to try to catch up all the things I am thankful for.  I posted them on Facebook, so if you are my friend there, you already know these things, but I guess I just didn’t take the time to do it here.   Day 22: Thankful for Fridays. For some reason, this has been an EXTREMELY long week. Tonight we are going to the tree lighting and hanging out with family.   Day 23: I'm thankful for family time. Today, I got to sleep in....all the way to 8am! We may be heading to a Craft Bazaar at Hickory Ridge High School. We will be going to the Christmas parade in Concord....family tradition! We will be having fun knowing that the HOME team (CONCORD SPIDERS) are still undefeated for this season and moving on in the playoffs!   Day 24: I'm thankful for my nieces and nephews. I really do have a LOT of them. Mariah Rayne will be graduating this year! (How did I get so old?) Dorion P...

Although I know what I am doing in my classroom, I never have any idea how my observations are going to go. I guess today I will find out.   My principal is coming into my 4th period class to observe me. This class’s behavior is somewhat unpredictable. So, I guess we will see how it turns out.

I’m so excited that it is Friday! Today, I can pay $1 to wear jeans to work. I really wish I had something PINK to wear. Then I would be totally appropriate. However, I think I might wear my navy blue and my jeans and my brown boots.   I’m on fluid pills now for all the fluid that my legs and ankles are holding. I don’t think they are working as well as the doc would like. So….she might have to play with it. I still can’t get my black boots on. If  I do, my ankles swell so much that I can’t get the boots off.   Last night, we had 11 girls at Girl Scouts. It was FABULOUS!  I hope they all come every week! That would make it GREAT for the activities that we need to do.  I just need to figure out what we are planning to do NEXT week.      This week has been very difficult. I have had a meeting EVERY night. Tonight I have to work the gate at the football game for work. I’ll probably leave at halftime.   Tomorrow is a double header...

We are starting to settle into our routine over here.  Today we have softball practice. I hope the girls saw on Saturday how important practice is. They won because of the things that the coaches taught them on Monday night.     Tomorrow I don’t think we have anything.   Wednesday, I have a Girl Scout recruitment. I need a few more girls for the troop so that we can do activities and stuff.    Thursday and Friday I have training at work. I have to get my sub plans together. These are days #3 and #4 of 5 training days I have to do. Day #5 is next Thursday!   So I will only see my kids for 3 days this week, 4 days next week, and 4 days the next. (I am supposed to have another training on Sept. 25th!)  Required trainings that are interesting are not bad. I just wish we could have spaced them all out instead of putting most of them in a 3 week period at the beginning of the semester/year!  LOL  But… we are hoping to get the sam...

Yesterday (July 3rd), I spent all day in front of my computer.  I have been working on more articles.  I am finishing another trial set soon.  I am not sure I want to keep writing for this person.  The deadlines keep changing….giving me less time to write.   Today, (July 4th) Tony, the Princess and I are all at home together!  We have a long, 4 day weekend.    What shall we do?   I have 4 more articles due tomorrow—no TODAY!  (Sorry!  12:16am always confuses me! LOL)   We are going to work on changing the playroom into the office and the office into the playroom.  Long story!    Friday, I will probably have more articles due.  Then we will do NOTHNG!  HA!  Yeah, right!  I’m sure we will come up with something to do.  Of course, if it ever stops raining, Tony will do the yard work.  But… according to the forecast, it is going to be raining ALL week—like 80% chance!...

So I have more articles that I am writing.  At the moment, I am having a really hard time getting the information.  There  are 20 articles.  20 topics.  500 words each.    Really?  I can do 500 words.  That’s not the problem.  The problem I’m having is finding the research for the topics.  I don’t know much about these topics, so I guess that’s why I’m having such a hard time.    The only things I can find online are places that sell the items.  I need information ABOUT the items.    I had the same problem last time, but I shouldn’t have this issue with the topics I have now.    Anyways…. I will figure it out and get the articles written.  I wish I hadn’t had to work yesterday.  I wouldn’t feel so rushed right now.    They are due Friday!  I’ll get it done.  I always do, but I always stress over it first!

With this being a holiday weekend, I have an extra day to fill.     So, Saturday, we are going to SC.  My brother-in-law’s daughter is playing softball there in a College Showcase tourney.  We are going to go catch a couple of those games and hang out with his brother.  We haven’t seen him since the Princess was like….2…. I think.  So…. it’s been a while!    Also, Sunday we will have church.   Monday, we will probably get together with family for Memorial Day fun.   All during this time, I am going to be working on those articles I’m writing.  They are due on Tuesday, but I get a bonus if I get them in on Monday!  (That’s what I’m shooting for!!)    Tuesday sends us all back to work and school, but the Princess and I will only have 9 days left until we get to sleep in!    Today….we have 10 days left (counting today!)!!!  Almost single digits.  Almost done! 

Normally I don’t complain about my job because I love it! Normally I don’t complain about my students because they are wonderful!  Obviously, this is extremely different than I felt last year, but I did keep most of that OUT of this space.  I would just talk about vague things….never specifics.  That’s what I am going to do here.  Because….what I am going to say has happened to EVERY teacher…. I’m sure!   I was not in class with the kids on Friday.  I had a meeting.  So, I left them PLENTY of work to complete.  They were left with instructions that if they did not complete the work in class, they should do it for homework.  So yesterday, we needed to discuss three pages of study guide questions they were given on Friday.   Of my 36 kids, only about 6 of them had all the questions complete.   So, instead of going over them yesterday for the test on Friday, we are doing that TODAY!    Unfortunately, that ...

Today, we have a pretty busy day! We have church this morning.  Lunch.  Then....  the dreaded getting ready to go back to school/work tomorrow!  I'm not looking forward to 4am!  However, if I look at it really well, I only have 9 more weeks to do that!  Then.... it's SUMMER break! Today is going to be a classic Sunday.  It's what we do for 10 months.  Church. Lunch. Get ready for school/work on Monday!!! I'm kind of excited to see what my kids did over the break!  :) 

Since I was only off work yesterday for the biopsy, I can only imagine all the questions I'll get today. From the teachers/staff who know why I was out, "How are you feeling?"  "How was it?"  "Are you ok?" From the kids, who did not know where I was going, "Where were you?"  "Why weren't you here yesterday?" "Were you sick?"  "Where did you go?" For the teachers/staff..."I'm good.  Just waiting on results." For the kids..."I had to have an attitude adjustment.  Your behavior today will decide if it was a success or not!"  I love my kids!  So I had to come up with something funny to do to them.  Honestly, I wish I could have had the rest of the week off.  Couldn't we get some snow or something?

So.... on Sunday morning, I posted something.  Or... at least I thought I did. :)  However, there is nothing there.  It really wasn't much.  I was in a hurry (much like right now).  It said "SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!  GO RAVENS!"  (or something just as lame!)  Now, it's not here.  So....  according to Blogger, I "missed" posting on Sunday. :(  I'm thinking in my hurry, I forgot to hit PUBLISH!  lol In the last month, everything I have listed on eBay (5 items) have sold!  Let's hope this trend continues as I have probably 100 things I need to get rid of.  Mostly Chasity's old clothes--good condition, but too small for her! Now....does anyone know anything about RSD?  The docs are saying that's possibly what my dad has.  So... I'm afraid to Google it.  You know all the RANDOM crap you get from Google.  I'm afraid some stupid page will say that his leg is going to fall off from it!  LOL  (Ex...

I know, you just looked at the title and said, "WHAT?"!!!  I would have too. This has been an extremely long week.  For the past few weeks (3 I think) at work we have had early release days, holidays, and "snow"/"ice" days.  So we have not had complete weeks in 3 weeks.  This week, we have been in school normal hours all week.  5 days!  7 hours/day! That's CRAZY! However, even with being in class 7 hours a day, the days have flown by.  It could be that I am still getting used to my new kids.  It could be that time is just flying as I get older.  It could be....  a million things, but this week has flown! Every day seemed to take forever to pass.  Now, today is Friday, and it feels like yesterday was just Monday. I think I could be going crazy.  What do you think?  Ever had this happen to you? So... I have had an extremely long week that has flown by.  (Sounds weird, but it is possible!)

Today, I am going back to work.  I have been off work since 2:20pm on Dec. 21st. WOW!  Those days have flown.  I'm hoping that the kids are still in "sugar comas" or at least still "half asleep" so that they will be CALM today!  Otherwise, I'm guessing these kids are going to be bouncing off the walls after having not seen each other in over a week. Now, it's time to get ready for exams.  In a couple of weeks, I will have new kids.  WOW!  I can't believe the year is almost half way over!  Good morning!  Good day! Let's hope the kiddos are happy to day! :) 

So today, I’m sitting here in a workshop for work.  It was supposed to start at 9am.  However, it’s 9:02am and the presenter just arrived and is setting up all his stuff.  So…..  I guess that means we aren’t going to start on time!     Now…if this is anything like the workshop last week, I should be able to multitask.  I should be able to get some writing done today!  Who knows?   Weird room for the presentation.  Screen is far away.  Small print!   OMG!  Lots of random thoughts today!    Let’s see how this goes!

Two of my RL and bloggy friends—Whitney at Devotionista and Phyllis at Just Bcauz —both nominated me for an award.  I am totally grateful!     I have been nominated for the Liebster Award.  The Rules of the Award: The Liebster Award is given to bloggers, by bloggers. It is a way to acknowledge each other and say, "You are doing a great job." It is for blogs with 200 or fewer followers, so it is also a great way to spread the word about smaller blogs and get them more readers and followers! When you receive the award you post eleven random facts about yourself, and answer eleven questions from the person who nominated you. You pass the award onto eleven other blogs, (make sure you let them know they were nominated,) and ask them eleven questions. You are not allowed to nominate the blog that nominated you. Here are my 11 random facts: 1. I collect salt-and-pepper shakers.  I know some people know this already, but some people may not....

The kids came to school on Monday!  It has been awesome getting to know my new students!  They are very different than the kids I had last year!  My UNCC classes (2) started on Aug. 20th!  I'm totally trying to not fall behind! My princess is at a new school.  She seems to be liking it.  She says she's only made ONE new friend.  I'm sure that's the hardest part about moving schools.  However, in 2 years, she will change schools again to go to middle school.  Then she will meet MANY new friends from several different schools.  Eventually, she might get to be in classes with her cousins who will be at the same middle and high school! :)  We are getting a new house!  We are buying!  So we are trying to keep up with the packing! However.... this weekend, we are trying to keep up with some REST!  We are FINALLY going on our "summer vacation"!  We are heading to Tweetsie Railroad to hang out with some cowboys a...

Today is the 3rd of 3 days that I have to work on a Saturday.    At the beginning of the year, my county had a 3 day Orientation for new teachers.  Since I was not hired until September, I have had make up days –December, January, and February.   I get paid for showing up.    The first day was a lot of taking notes and learning.  The 2nd day was taking notes in the morning and lesson planning in the afternoon.  Today is going to be the same way.  So I am taking two laptop computers…. mine and the one from the school!   I can’t stand to TYPE on the one from the school.  The keyboard is very small.  But, my computer does not have the SMART Board software on it.   I have a lot of stuff to take with me to get to this afternoon.  If I get to it, then I am going to need both computers.     I wonder what they are going to feed us for lunch today!