I got to go  out to dinner with one of my best friends, Steve, tonight.  We went to a restaurant that I’ve been wanting to go to for quite some time.  The food was very yummy!  I have penne alla vodka that will likely feed me for the next two days.  I also ate some scrumptious  chocolate cake.  It was great to see Steve, although kind of sad.  He’s going to be moving to Georgia in June, which is pretty stinky.  It’s been nice having him so close by the last few years.  On the bright side, this is a good excuse to go to Georgia!

I’m looking forward to this weekend.  I’m going to a farm that I found out about several weeks ago that pairs abused horses with abused girls in a therapeutic setting.  A woman that used to work at the farm I started riding at about two years ago (the farm that had the weight restriction) is actually the founder of the program, and when I heard about it I sent her an email hoping to volunteer or work in some way.  She got back to me the other day and said how excited she was that I’d reached out to her, and asked if I could come out this Saturday to meet some of the girls and learn more about the program.  I’m very excited and hoping to be able to mentor in the program.  It’s such an amazing program, and a dream situation for me to be a part of it.  Helping people and horses!!  Nothing better.

After that I will be attending a dance recital.  I’m pretty excited, but can’t divulge further details for fear of maiming or death.

Sunday I am incredibly excited for, because I will be traveling to do a portrait session.  The daughter of one of the barrel racers I know contacted me and asked me if I would be willing to do preschool portraits of her son, because the ones they got at school came out poorly.  She wanted to do them at her mom’s farm, and I’m totally game for that.  It’s my first paying portrait gig, so I’m very excited and determined to give her my best work.  I’ve been dedicating a lot of time to working with photo*shop, and I’ve done some great creative post-processing, so I can’t wait to do that work with the portraits I take.  I’m also excited because I have a new portrait lens that will be super wonderful to shoot these photos.  I bought it prior to hearing about how much I was getting docked pay this month, which is frustrating because I absolutely wouldn’t have bought it had I known.  However, I think it will pay for itself after another 2 portrait shoots.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve had food poisoning since Saturday.  The nurse at school seems convinced of that.  I’m still sick, and struggling.  When I told the nurse my symptoms she asked what I’d eaten prior to first getting sick.  I told her it was a hot dog at the festival I was working, and she went, “You’ve got food poisoning sweetie!” BLEH.  I’m hoping that by tomorrow I’m back to normal.  Today was not a fun day dealing with being sick and testing.

All things considered, this has been a good day.  I’ll be hoping for another of those tomorrow.

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I’m responsible for administering the listening, reading, and writing test to all of our ESL students (English as Second Language).  This has me in testing from 9-10:30 and then 1-2:30 every day.  From 10:30-11:30 I try to get caught up on anything around here that I can, and then I do lunch duty, eat my lunch, and then go back in to test.  After this week I have at least two more days next week that will be full of testing.  Then after that I will begin screening kids for EC services.  I have about 18 to complete prior to the first of March.  That will be interesting.

Jake had his wisdom teeth removed yesterday.  They took all four of them out, leaving him groggy and in some substantial pain.  He stayed with me last night, and may stay with me tonight.  I told him he could stay as long as he felt that he needed to.  He’s going to Phoenix on Sunday for work, so obviously he’ll be heading back home before then.  I’m planning ot make mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese tonight for dinner because they’re soft and his favorite.  Hopefully the combination of the two will lead to him eating.  Last night we tried chicken noodle soup and it ended with him feeling nauseous.  Yay anesthesia and vicodin!

Things with my brother had been going fine until a couple nights ago.  My Mom got a call from Sean saying they were sending him home because he has ADHD.  Long story (very) short: he disclosed this fully, is not on meds and hasn’t been in over a year.  Both he and my parents spoke about his ADHD with his recruiter, and Sean put it on all his paperwork.  My Mom and Dad were witnesses to all of this.  Apparently, someone altered his paperwork so it does not show up anywhere that he ever disclosed that he has it.  When he did his “moment of truth” interview, he told them (again) that he has it, and as far as anyone at the base is concerned he didn’t report that prior.  It’s a nightmare.   He has worked so incredibly hard, and he’s been very successful in his training so far.  To have this come up now is devastating for him and for us.  My parents have been on the phone to everyone they can think of, and they’re trying to get things worked out so he can stay.  Of course now he’s so discouraged that he may not want to stay even if he is given that opportunity.  We’re all trying to stay positive, but we only have two weeks to get it worked out.

I’m not looking forward to this weekend.  VD (not venereal disease… the holiday) is on Sunday, and just thinking about it makes me sad.  I’m trying to just pretend it isn’t happening this year.  All those should’ve beens and would’ve beens… *sigh*  Hopefully by this time next year I have something happy going on.  This year I’m thinking of sleeping through it.

Just blah.

I have to go home and clean tonight, even though I don’t want to.  My kitchen is a disaster, and I haven’t vacuumed since Saturday.

It might snow tonight.  Trying not to get my hopes up for a snow day, but I could really use one.  How sad that I’ve only been back a week (less than!) and I already need a break.  Thankfully, everyone seems to feel the same.  I think it’s harder for the staff at a school to get back into the swing of things than it is for the kids sometimes.

Yesterday was the first student day back.  One of my favorite kids had a rough morning, and I was glad I was stationed in the hallway and got to help make his morning a little bit better.  The rest of the day was full of new enrollees, getting 504 plans straight, running errands, planning for RtI paperwork, adding meetings to my calendar, and working hard to stay organized and sane.  It was very good to see the kids though; after being here three years, I see familiar faces.  It’s nice having that much time in somewhere because the kids get excited to see you when they return.

This brings me to another topic…

Last year I had put in for an in-county transfer.  I had been toying with the idea for quite some time of moving to the high school level if the opportunity was there.  There wasn’t a position open at any point over the summer, so I prepared to be back at the elementary level.  The first Friday of work days, about a week and a half ago, I saw that one of the local high school’s had posted an opening.  So I called and said I would be interested in interviewing.  The principal there requested a copy of my resume, which I provided.  Then I waited until last Friday, when he called me again.  He was checking to be sure my current principal is aware that I would like to interview for the open position at his school.  She and I had discussed it on Monday, and she was incredibly supportive.  He said that he’d be glad to interview me, and would be in touch with a time as soon as he saw an opening in his schedule.

I’m hopeful that I’ll get an interview, and that he’ll end up offering me the position.  As much as I love the little kids, the other demands of my position make it nearly impossible for me to actually counsel kids.  I just have too many other things that I’m required to do.  I know that I work very well with kids at the high school level, and I’ve missed being in that environment.  I think that it would be a good move for me both professionally and personally, in that I would be much happier.

My friend Bre has already accepted a job at the school, which makes it that much more ideal.  I’d be moving on to the grade span that I enjoy most, and I would already have a friend there so I wouldn’t feel too lonely.  The school colors also happen to be the same as the high school I attended growing up, which is coincidence but a fun one.

We’ll see what happens.  Either way I have a job, and either way I know I have a support system.  This school is wonderful, and I’ve had a good 2+ years here.  If I do end up leaving this school, it will be sad.  There are many people I will miss seeing on a daily basis, most especially the kids.  However, I know what is best for me.  This would be a very positive move if it happened.

So keep your fingers crossed.  Hopefully I’ll hear something about the interview by this Friday.

This week has been another jam packed week, and will continue to be.  I went to lunch with two good friends, Jenny and Analisa today.  We caught up a little on what’s been happening over the summer, I shared my photos from Disney, and then I had some errands to run.  I got my planner for the year, as well as two books, which I didn’t need… but I wanted them.

Tomorrow I am going to the museum with Bethany.  We had talked about doing this months ago, and for some reason it just never panned out.  I’m looking forward to it, because the weather is supposed to be a bit better (less hot).  After that I’ll come home, relax a bit, and then change and get ready to go to an exercise class with my friend Bre.  Several months ago she and my friend Dana went to a pole dancing aerobics class and they had a blast.  So I said I’d really like to go if there was another one.  I scrapbooked with Bre on Sunday, and she signed me up to go with her.  I’m looking forward to it, simply because it’s something so different… and it’ll be fun to do something like that with a friend.

Friday is work all day, and then this weekend Jake and I are planning to go to Pilot Mountain.  He asked me the other day if I thought I’d want to go this weekend, and even suggested that we do an overnight trip.  I thought it was a fantastic idea, and it is something that we’re very able to do because our neighbor will make sure Merlin is fed and exercised.  I’m really looking forward to going; I’ve heard that it’s absolutely gorgeous there.

I’m not ready for the summer to be over.  I don’t think any of us is.  We’re all apprehensive about how this year will go with our new principal.  I think we’re all going in to things with an optimistic attitude, but there’s always that little nagging doubt in the back of your head.  I had really hoped to be moving up to a high school this year, but there were no openings available.  While I like the younger kids, I don’t believe I’m able to utilize my counseling training as much at the elementary level due to some of the other responsibilities that I have.  Maybe next year.

It’s been a wonderful summer though.  Truly wonderful.  I’ll be hanging on to those memories as I get back to the grind.

We were so lucky this year to have a new principal that truly appreciated us all.  He treated everyone as an equal partner in making this school the best possible school it could be.  Not only that, but he made clear that for him, the most important thing was children.  Every decision he made was with the children in mind… and I think we were all happy to finally have someone leading us that believed that. 

This year I was happy to be at work 90% of the time.  The other 10% I was coordinating testing, so that doesn’t count.  I was supported, I was having fun, and I was making a difference in the lives of kids.  I was doing what I went to school to do.  Don’t get me wrong, there are aspects I would change and that I will continue to try to change until I succeed.  Overall though, this has been the best year since I began.  I wasn’t wishing I could just move back to NY and start over as a Residence Director again, that’s for sure.

This ending is sadder than it normally would be, because this principal that has done so much for our school is leaving.  All of us are wondering what awaits us next year, and hoping that it will be as positive as what came our way this year.  We are all terribly saddened that he is leaving.

There are kids moving on to fifth grade that I will miss very much.  There are kindergarteners moving up to first grade that I cannot believe grew so much this year.  There are friendships that have strengthened and become some of the most important in my life.  I have grown a great deal this year, at least professionally. 

I still have a lot of work to do on myself, as I see myself making the same mistakes over and over again personally.  I struggle to express myself, to be honest about my feelings, and to trust that doing so won’t alienate those around me.  But I see myself trying more, and working toward doing better.

This has been a wonderful year.

Of course, the state has decided that we will retest all students who were not proficient.  This is a change from last year when we only retested students who had not been previously retained.  So instead of having a total of 20-30 kids to retest from grades 3-5… we have about 150 kids.  This means I’m having to plan a very large scale retesting cycle.  I also have to retest all students on alternate assessments, so I’ll be doing testing until approximately June 8th.  It’s good because it gives the kids a chance to do better the second time around.  It’s bad because I have an extra week of testing.

I was shown once again why my boss is so awesome this week.  In an effort to encourage the kids to read, he agreed to dress up like H*annah M*ontana if they read 1,000 books before the second week in May.  They hit that goal about two weeks in to the contest, so he upped the ante.  If they read 2,000 books, he agreed to perform as Hannah on the morning broadcast.  As you can imagine, the kids read record numbers of books.  Yesterday was the big day, and he was true to his word.  He sang on the announcements and then went to each and every classroom to say hello to the kids.  They were so excited, and I know they will always remember that he was willing to do something so crazy for them.

Today I went out to lunch with my good friend Steve.  We had a really good time and after we ate we went to a couple stores.  One was B*est B*uy.  I was looking for a movie, but instead I found the drum set for Gu*itar H*ero World Tour.  Just the drums, which is exactly what we’ve been needing.  So I got them.  I’m super excited about having them and can’t wait to put them to good use.

I’ve begun my official Disney countdown.  Less than a month now.  I’m looking forward to that trip so much.  Bethany and I are both thinking about all the things we need to do prior to the trip, and what we want to do while we’re in Florida.  It’ll be a great trip.

That’s life in a nutshell right now.  I’m incredibly busy with work, and it’s leaving very little time for anything else other than sleeping and dreaming.  Thank goodness I have time for that.

Me and Bethany

I took a pie to help raise money for fifth grade

Me and Sarah

You can see all of the pictures here.  We had lots of fun.

There has been rumor for quite some time around our school, and other offices in the district that something big was coming down.  It was a rumor that none of us wanted to give any credance to, because it was the kind of thing that we just didn’t want to believe could happen.  We didn’t want to believe it because we had faith that someone higher up would see how unfair it would be.

We found out yesterday that the rumor had been confirmed.

Our principal called us in to the media center after school suddenly, and we all suspected what he would say.  When he came in and began to talk, we became certain as the emotion in his voice betrayed him.

He is being transfered to a high school in our district.  It is the high school he came to us from, and a school he holds a special place in his heart for.  So we are happy for him on one hand, knowing that this move is positive for him.  He will be going home in a sense.

We are all deeply, deeply saddened for ourselves and our own school though.

During his time at our school, this principal has shown time and time again that he cares so deeply for each and every student in our building.  His heart knows no bounds, his level of decency is unparalleled.  Seeing his level of dedication to our students is mind blowing.  He is an inspiration.  Just as he cares for the kids, he cares about every teacher in our building.  There was never one time this year when I was dealing with my health problems that he ever made me feel guilty about things, or anything less than supported.  He has helped me have the chance to do my job.  Any time there has been any problem, he has been there to listen or offer his support.

He is a good principal.  And this is only his first year in this position.  He is the type of principal that inspires those around him to do more, give more, be more.

To say we are sad that he is leaving is an understatement.

There are a lot of other things on my mind, and this has been that “one more thing” that has really pushed me to my limit.  I hate that the things we come to rely upon are the ones that are always changing and always ending up upside down.

And I’m left wondering what I’m supposed to do.