The World According to Leslie

Exams started yesterday at my school.  That means that the kids only have 4 days left.  It means that *I* only have 6 days left.   I’m excited at the prospect of sleeping beyond 3:30am!    I can’t believe that the Princess will be in middle school next year.   I have so much on my mind, but not enough time to write it out right now.  Hopefully I get more writing time this summer to get some of these things out of my head.

Did I get you?  lol    No!  We aren’t moving again!  Hopefully for a VEEEEERRRRYYYY long time!  I hate moving!    Anyways… our house has 3 bedrooms and a bonus room.  When we moved in, we told the Princess she could use the Bonus Room as her play room.  After getting everything in, we realized that our office (the third bedroom) was so very cramped.  The Princess was only used 1/2 of the Bonus Room for toys.   We decided to switch it.    So, we did!   Yesterday!   I went through boxes that had still been packed since November.  Much of the stuff that we are keeping fit into smaller boxes or tubs.   Most of the stuff in the boxes became “recylcables”  or “donatables”.  We have TWO huge boxes of stuff that need to be recycled.  We have a big box and a couple of little boxes of things that need to be donated.    LOVE IT!  So glad we are doing t...

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!...

As promised, here are some of the pics from Hilton Head.  We arrived on Friday to this room.  Nice…right?  The only problem was that we were supposed to have queen beds.  We had doubles.  (A little short, but they worked!)   That evening, Tony and the Princess walked to the beach.  It was a little far for me.  My legs and back were hurting from being in the car for so long.   In order to get the fabulous deal we got, we had to go to a 90-120 minute presentation on Saturday at noon.  It started at noon, and we were back in the car by 2pm.  If we were going to buy a timeshare, these would be the people to deal with.  They weren’t pushy.  When we said “no,” they did make ONE more effort (change price, down payment, etc.).  BUT…after we said “no” again, they shook our hands and took us back to the front door.  Friendly.  Polite.  Did not seem upset that we did not purchase.  Nice. W...

For the past week, I have been trying really hard to get writing jobs.  I have already (in two jobs) made over $100 writing!  I’m excited about it.  (Most of that work was completed in two weeks, but few hours!)   Today, I put in bids for several jobs.  I was the first bid on one job.  And… I got it.  The cool thing about it???  I get to write about what I want to.  Right now, the first four articles have to deal with technology.   What does any good teacher do?  Go straight for the classroom—iPads in the classroom and  online/distance education. Those are the first two.  The other two will be dealing with “tech tantrums” and the technology of hearing.  Those are things I know and I can do minimal research about.  I also found 3-4 other topics I am planning to use for my next set, if I get technology again.     I have to have two of them done today and the other two my Monday.  I should...

I can’t believe that in the morning we are going to be leaving to head home.  The weekend is almost over!  That’s crazy!   Now I am going to need a vacation from my vacation!  LOL  Isn’t that how it always goes?

So we are in Hilton Head.  It’s beautiful.  Everything is “hidden” behind trees.   Points of issue: 1.  The “beach resort” is a 10-15 minute walk to the actual beach.  2. It’s hot!  (LOL  No one can control that.  But… you all know I prefer winter!) 3. Most everything we have wanted to do is across the bridge.  That means $1.25 each way for the toll.  4. It’s still hot!   I guess those are my only real complaints.   Darn!  I was hoping to find something to complain about!  (Just Kidding!!!)   Guess I’m just having a good vacation!

Tonight, we have awards for Girl Scouts.    Right now, I’m trying to write an article or two, but I’m having a hard time writing these.  I am wondering if I should just tell this guy that I am going to look for other things to write.  I can’t find information for the stuff….so I can’t write what he wants written.   Plus….I emailed him to ask questions about a couple of the articles, but I haven’t gotten a response.  Some of the articles are the same names—almost.    For example: Girl Scout Award Girl Scout Awards   See?  I don’t know how to write two articles about that!  They are the same thing…. I just need to know what he wants me to do.  The articles are due tomorrow.  I get so stressed out!!!  I’m sure he will answer… I just have to patient!    As for the awards, the girls are getting all their cookie prizes…. patches…..badges….and gifts tonight!  I have two girls who are br...

Wow!  I can’t believe I went two days without writing.  I have gotten in such a habit that now it just feels strange.   There isn’t much going on in these parts right now. 1. Saturday—Softball was cancelled, but they are rescheduling for THIS Saturday.  8:30am!  (Hooray for waking up early on Saturdays!)   2. Sunday—We officially told our pastor and his wife that we are leaving the church.  They tried really hard to get us to stay, but we aren’t leaving because of them.  It’s the other stuff (some other people) that are killing our church.  Unfortunately, it’s really the only church the Princess has ever known.  We started attending there in June 2003.  She was born in August 2003.  10 years!  A decade!!   3. Monday—I took my dad to get his hearing aid fixed.  Simple enough… the filter was clogged.  He had already cleaned it.  But…. still clogged.  New filter—no charge—now he can hear...

Today, since we are giving new state tests (Common Exams/Measures of Student Learning) in NC, the English teachers at my school are all going to be in one room all day.  (That should be fun!)  We have to grade the tests.    YES!  You read that right!  The teachers are grading the state required tests!    Each test had multiple choice and a written part.  The MC is being sent off to be graded—that’s easy!  Each of the written responses is going to be read by at least TWO teachers today.  Then we will give them a grade.    Does anyone else see an issue here?  I grade differently that other teachers at MY school.  I know that teachers at other schools grade differently than we grade at our school.  So the test results (other than the MC) will be biased/skewed at each school…. or so I fear.    I guess we will see.  I hope that this works the way the state has planned, but we will s...

Today, I was awarded another writing job.  I am going to be writing 3-4 500 word articles a day.  They are about “types of” things.    I have a trial run of 20 articles that are due on May 28th.  I have to research and write about them.  I know I can do it.  I just have to really get into it now.    I’m nervous.  I’ve never been paid to write anything. Now I have two jobs that  are going to pay me for my writing.    Maybe this will get me off my tush and get my book written.   I’ll get there.  I just need to get the confidence.   I’m jumping in head first today!

So I said the other day that I found a place where I could potentially find writing jobs.    Well…… last night, I was awarded my first official writing job.  Ok.  So it’s going to be easy.  I have to read blog posts from a website and comment on them.  I have to do the same for their Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest accounts too.  There are also 3 books they have written that I am going to read and review.  I’m excited!    After I have completed this, maybe I will be more confident in what I can do writing-wise.  Plus, some of the jobs (the way they word them) scare me.  They are like “We need this immediately,” but they posted it 2 days ago….so how fast are they going to expect it?   I will have more time in a couple weeks too.  So I will attempt to get more then.

The current countdown is for the number of days left in school. Unless I counted incorrectly (which is totally possible) we only have 34 days left of school!  That means that we have 7 weeks (excluding ONE Monday for Memorial Day!)   That means that I have 6 weeks and 3 days to finish everything I am going to finish with them!  I have to get a lot of stuff completed, but my kids are great!    At the end of this week, they will have fewer than 30 days left!  I think that will excite them.  I’m hoping it will get them working harder!     We are starting something new today.  I hope they will like it!

At 8am this morning, I am going in to work for 3 hours.  :(  Then I am leaving.... claiming my munchkin from my mommy's house (since she had a sleepover there to avoid getting up so early this morning)...and going Easter SHOE shopping.  We have the dress, we just need cute little white shoes or sandals to go with it! Then I am going to come home....sit on my couch...and do NOTHING until time for softball practice tonight.  My Spring Break starts at 11am today!  I'm so excited to have NOTHING on the agenda (except some rest and munchkin time) for the next week!!!! :) Then the countdown is on until Final Exams and Summer Vacation!!! :)

June 8th--Last day of school June 12--Chasity had pneumonia June 28--Chasity had an ear infection July 8--Dad was rushed to ER (overnight in hospital--congestive heart failure) July 11-26--Working at daycare for Mom to take Dad to doctor's appointments July 18--Chasity had double ear infection July 31--Only 27 days until school starts (for kids)--13 for me! This is crazy.  With all of this going on, we haven't had a vacation.  We haven't gone swimming.  She hasn't had a single one of the softball lessons we had lined up.  This is crazy!  We have a paid trip to Hilton Head waiting on us (3 nights/4 days).  We can't leave town long enough to go.  Mom doesn't really have anyone else who will put up with the kids at the daycare so that she can be out to take Dad where he needs to go.  There are other people who help when they can, but I'm the only one that drops everything to go.  So.... I guess we will go to Tweetsie one Saturd...

Wow! It's been FOREVER since I last blogged! Since I have been home from vacation, I have been swamped with school. The class I am taking is a Research Methods class. I knew that it was going to have a lot of Scientific information and mathematical statistics to do in it. So I put it off as long as I possibly could. Then I decided that instead of spreading the torture out for 16 weeks in the fall semester, I would shrink all the same work into a 5-week summer session. OMG! So far, I have not had many problems. This week is probably going to kill me. :( I actually have to do the math for myself this week. I have been reading the statistics and I have been doing okay in writing about them. So.... I'm just hoping I can find someone to do my homework for me this week! (NO! I'm just kidding! I will actually do my OWN homework!) However, I only have assignments due this Sunday (7/31), next Sunday (8/7), and my final exam and final assignment are due 8/10. Then I have abou...

I have been really lazy the past couple of days. Yesterday, Chasity and I did NOTHING. We watched TV and played with toys, but we didn't do anything else. Today, I woke up at 8:45am. Chasity woke up about 10 minutes later. We are currently watching "Word World" on PBS. It's a pretty neat little show! I really wish things would show up just because we put letters together. lol Update on Aunt JoAnn: As of yesterday, we were told that she had about 72 hours to 7 days left. When mom spoke to my cousin Wayne yesterday, he said that Aunt JoAnn has 2 new tumors on her head. He said that he's figuring maybe 72 hours. He's really not thinking she will make it all week. However, the family is prepared... we're just waiting now. Until next time........

So.... all of my classes are finished for the semester! I'm so glad! I don't know what happened to me this semester! However... I did manage to pull all A's out of my classes again! So for all my Graduate work, I have a 4.0 GPA! For all my Undergraduate work (that counts towards my Graduate degree) I have a 3.70 GPA. I still have 2 classes that I have to factor into the Undergraduate classes...they are being transferred into UNCC from RCCC. Next semester, which starts Aug. 17th, is WAY tooooo closs, but I only I ONE class. So I should be able to stay on top of that class better than I did with 3 this semester! I am praying for a job....so if you want to pray with me.... I really need a job teaching High School English.... I need to start in August! :) I have enjoyed this year being about to go to Chasity's school when I wanted to, but I really need a job to finish out my Phase I coursework! So....let's all pray that I get one! Chasity only has a couple mor...