Back to school

I got back from NYC on Tuesday, bringing travel month to a close. The following day, I procrastinated as long as possible and then dragged myself in to work. The room is in such disarray since I essentially had to move all my stuff in the week after school ended and haven't been back since. It looked like a glorified storage unit, essentially. On top of my own crap to sift through, there is a bunch of trademarked crap I need to find a place for (or pitch) left behind by ancient teacher-now retired-former room owner of 25 years whose room I inherited. Gotta love that. :/

Josh came and "helped" yesterday by power washing my rugs and then sitting on his butt working/playing on his iPhone for 2 hours while I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off. Tomorrow is the big day. Kindergarten assessments begin and I meet my first munchkin at 8 am. My room doesn't need to be finished, but it does need to have some semblance of order/cheer/welcoming nature. Good luck to me.

Little Loves

I got this email from a mom of my student who not only brought me a big heart box of candy yesterday, but also a Mylar balloon and card:

Just wanted to share, we were picking our your card (his idea - very important) and I read one he picked and it was a bit too romantic. "Layne it says 'I love you so very much' " Layne replied with "But I do love Ms. B so very much". Then another romantic one said 'On our first Valentines Day'. Layne said "But this is our first Valentines Day". Ha ha Fun experience.

I love my munchkins. I am so very lucky.

stuff

Josh leaves tomorrow for a full week. Despite the fact that I don't see him too terribly much during the work week, I am sad about this. I will miss him! I'm also freaked out about being a single parent. Our ability to care for a dog really rests on the fact that he has such a flexible schedule. He's really the main caregiver because he's typically home by mid-afternoon. I'm lucky to get home by 7 and I frequently have other evening commitments that have me gone til 9:30/10. I'm particularly freaked out because I have Parent Teacher conferences til 8 on Thurs and Friday night with no ability to come home before then. Our dogwalker only comes M, W, F and it's in the mornings. Oh well, I'll figure something out. Either ask the dogwalker to add a day and come later....or....ask Nikki for help??

I am going to a coffee benefit with Josh when he gets home from work. Then brunch and the dog park followed by some shopping and a movie. We're making the most of his last day home. Tomorrow I'll be home all day writing my fellowship to go on a science expedition. I should have brought home report cards, but I wasn't thinking. Either that, or I subconciously thought the absence of them would make for a more pleasant weekend. Which it does. :) We know what I'll be doing next weekend, though..... Fun times.

Before I go, I need to document something for my files of "Holy crap I'm so glad I switched schools!" I had a fabulous evaluation meeting on Tuesday in which my principal told me I was an amazing teacher and she is so grateful to have me. Then on Thursady, when I dropped my class off at Art, the Art teacher stopped me and said, "You are a wonderful addition to this school. We are so glad to have you here." It's like I'm making this stuff up. But I'm not!! Talk about a world apart from the last few years! Every teacher deserves to feel this appreciated.