Sunday, October 7, 2012

10 things I learned this week...

This week was rough, and I learned plenty of lessons....some not so pleasant.  I'm going to mention some of those not-so-great lessons, but I'm going to try to find more positive ones than negative ones.  Here goes....

10. My son is a horrible at telling a lie.
He is an amazing kid, trustworthy, kind, respectful, smart, athletic....but this week he lied to me.  Not a huge lie, but a lie none the less.  He lied about a soccer game so he could stay out later and finish watching the game even though I told him to come home.  See, nothing huge, but it's the small lies that turn into big lies, that turn into bad choices, etc.  Well, he got caught because he just might be the worst liar on the planet!  Things didn't work out so well for him and I don't think he'll be lying in the near future.

9. I can't live without a microwave!
Our microwave died this week, and I realized just how much I use that little guy!  I didn't have a chance to go out and get one, plus I'm not sure what kind I want so I ended up eating cold leftovers all week for lunch.  Then, my small and weak brain remembered that I have a microwave in my classroom...duh!  I brought it home and we will be using it until I can do a bit of research (a.k.a. shopping) and find the one I really want.


8. 11 year old girls really care about picture day....ALOT!
Katie had picture day this week so that meant a new top ("Cuz mom, nobody sees the waste down in the picture.") and a fancy hair style.  The hair style required getting up 25 minutes earlier, flat ironing her hair, and then curling it into locks.....people, my girls got a boat load of hair....I mean thick, shoulder length, and wavy. The flat ironing went pretty smoothly, but about half way through the curling session, her curling iron died!  She was majorly disappointed that we had to just go with flat, straight hair, and I was bummed that I will be shopping for another small appliance!


7. I love decorating!!!
Okay, I already knew this, but when I get some time to do it, I realize how happy it makes me.  Here are a few (okay, a ton) of pics of some fall decor in my little ol' house. I made the little banner out of book pages and jute, then hand wrote the letters....I love it!!!






 6. Sunday volleyball makes me happy!
Here's my girlie and her team in action!  Sorry for the poor picture quality, the lighting in the gym and my camera do not work well together!




5. High school homecoming brings out the crazy in my son.
He turned the 8th grade dance, red tux, into this for the homecoming gameFriday night. Katie painted the M for him :) Let's remember it was 40 degrees when he got home....wonder who will be sick on Monday????



4. A giant Boy Scout sticker is hard to remove from the screen of a laptop!
On Wednesday I noticed that one of the boys in my class had stuck a Boy Scout sticker on top of my desk.  I had a discussion with them about giving me a sticker and letting me choose where it goes.  I explained that when I handed out the stickers I did not choose where they put their sticker, they got to choose, just like it was my right to choose where I put my sticker.  Then I had to scrape and scrape to get the cheap sticker residue off my desk. On Thursday, after I had high-fived every one and sent them out the door, I sat down to check my email, and the same type of sticker was smack dab in the middle of my laptop screen.  I FREAKED OUT!!!  It took me almost 30 minutes with rubbing alcohol and a paper towel to get it off.  I was in tears by the time I got home.  I can't imagine which one of my little kiddos dislikes me so much, or is so mad at me that they would have the nerve to go behind my desk and repeat the same action I talked about the day before....bad, bad day!  I'm guessing I will never find out who did it :(

3. I take all bad behavior to heart!
Yep, the bad behavior of my students really affects me.  I stress about it, and lose sleep.  I've got a tricky one this year and it is wearing me out.  I'm trying different strategies to deal with it, but right now it's just really got me down!

2. Having my son's spare key is not such a good thing!
He locked his keys and his cell phone in his car Thursday night while he was at his basketball training session.  I had to load up Sis and Charlie and rescue him at 8:30 at night.....I'm guessing this won't be the last time.

1. Pumpkin Bread and movie night with my sweet girlie can fix a horrible week!

8 comments:

  1. Use the ol' trick to find out who did it . . . sit your class down, and very calmly say something like: "It has been brought to my attention who put the sticker on my laptop. I want to say how disappointed I am in this individual - and their friends for not telling me sooner. I am going to give this person and their friends until the end of the week to come and discuss it with me and I know that they will take this opportunity to do so because making a mistake in judgement is one thing - - - lying about it is a much worse mistake. I am hoping that this person will come and talk to me privately. Otherwise, I will have no option but to go to Mr. ___ (Brett) and have him visit with your parents during parent-teacher conferences, as well as with the parents of your friends who know about it, but are choosing not to talk to me. You can talk to me in person, or in a note, but if you or your friends to not come to me and talk to me before the end of the week, the consequences will include the principal and your parents and I sitting down to talk about how severe your consequences will be. Remember, someone has already told me who did it and I know who their friends are who know about it." Then stand up, have them go back to their seats for DEAR or something quiet (and then watch for glances, exchanges, etc) I have had similar situations and within a day, I know who did it :)

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    1. Misty, did something like this! Unfortunately when it happened I was out at recess. Andrea had a bunch of kiddos making corrections and finishing late work in her room. When they finished something of mine they put it in the turn in box in my room and came out to recess. I'm guessing it was done when no one else was in the room. I didn't hear a peep from anyone on Friday, and most of the kids look honestly floored when I told them what someone did. I thought I knew who it was, but then realized that kiddo was outside with me the whole time. My other suspect was late getting back from Andrea's so I was in the room with him the whole time while he was packing up. I honestly have no idea who would've done it. I did consider telling them I knew, but then if no one confessed I'd look like a liar and still have no recourse....ugh, so frustrating!

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  2. Maybe talk to the boy scout leader?

    I would follow up with each parent at conferences - - -

    And unfortunately, maybe you have to start locking your door when not in the room.

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    1. No scout leader....there was a meeting for all boys in the gym before school and we (the teachers) had to hand out stickers to them at the end of the day (the day the sticker showed up on my desk). I wanted to send a note home about it on Friday, but my plan time is the very first hour of the day and I had a few phone calls and other things that sucked up my time. We have PD tomorrow so the kids won't be back until Tuesday. Do you think that's too late? I did tell them that I am less trusting of the whole class since I don't know who did it and that nobody will be left alone in the room at all for any reason because of that.

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    2. Yeah - - - maybe it's just one of those situations where you have to let it go, but be cautious from now on. It sucks that it happened at all - and especially in a week when it sounds like it was the straw that broke the emotional camel's back. Sounds like you need some retail therapy :)

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    3. Yep, this camel's emotional back is broke! I didn't even mention in the post about the disaster with the LB sale checks to consignors....it's a major nightmare. It could slow up my pay check and prevent some retail therapy until mid or end of November....fingers crossed it all works out okay....it's been a doozy of a week!!!!!

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  3. I'm glad you were able to find some pleasant moments to enjoy as well. I hope next week is better for you.
    ❀ Tammy
    Forever in First

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    1. Thanks Tammy! It's amazing what a weekend can do for you mood :)

      Lisa

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