Best Month Yet

Well, that makes 9 months in a row with over 100 book sales each month! I sold a personal best 195 books this month! That's an average of almost 6.3 books a day. Incredible. I hit 1,000 sales at the end of January this year. I have a very good chance of getting to over 2,000 by the end of the year! Words cannot describe how thrilled I am with how my books are selling. I have no explanation for it. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and bought books! I am so thankful!

Air

As most of you know, I try to save money any way I can. I try not to turn my air on too often when it's hot. This week has been the exception. It's been over 90 everyday. Last night, I had the air on and it didn't cool off the apartment at all. Today, I had the air on and again it hasn't cooled off the apartment even though I feel air coming out. It must be broken because I did switch the filter. I don't have a digital thermostat, I have the old school one. It won't go past 90 degrees and that's where the meter is at! I called a company and they said they are not allowed to come over without Prudential's (the company I rent from) permission. I can't got a hold of them until Tuesday because of the long weekend. I just have my ceiling fans running on full blast and I'll have to deal with that until then.

Bus Ride

I was in for a real treat this afternoon. My principal wanted each of us to ride on one of the buses one time during the first 2 weeks of school to help control the kids on the bus and make sure they get to where they needed to be. I signed up for today since it was the first day available to me when the sign up sheet came to me. I know it's a Friday but I wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. When I got to the bus, the driver told me he didn't need me but I went on anyway so I wouldn't get in trouble by administration. The bus was hotter than hot and I had to sit with 2 kids. It was Friday before a 3 day weekend and it was loud! I didn't do anything to help the driver. I just sat there. Then he wouldn't let a kid off without his parent being there so we had to drive around for a few minutes waiting for the parent. The bus ride was only about 20 minutes but that's something I'd rather not do again.

Endurance

It's very hard to get back into 5-day work weeks. I know, I know, you don't want to hear about me having the entire summer off. Either way, the exhaustion hit me today at about 12:30 so much that my kids were asking me if I was ok. All I was doing was stretching my body and yawning to stay awake. Apparently, I look weird while doing that. I don't know. I was only at school for almost 11 hours today. There's just so much to post on the walls, clean up, create, etc. on a daily basis at the beginning of the year that it requires me to be at school for longer. My 11 hour days should end soon though. Thank God tomorrow is Friday and I have a 3 day weekend!

Wednesday Dinners

There's a group of 6 of us, all teachers, who became close friends throughout last year. A couple of weeks ago, we decided that we need to start rotating going to someone's house for dinner every week. We decided to do Wednesday nights because it is hump day, it gives us something to look forward to each week, and it will get us through the next two work days. We started tonight at my apartment. I made a hamburger helper-like dish. It's hamburger browned up, elbow macaroni, mix them together with tomato soup and some spices. It's delicious if I do say so myself. I also made chocolate peanut butter ice cream pie. I found the recipe on Pinterest. MMMMMMM. We had a great time. I'm already looking forward to next weeks! Of course I would look forward to food!

1st Day

I survived my first day! Man am I tired! I did a lot of talking with rules and expectations and luckily the kids did not! That's a far cry from last years kids. They were very quiet, polite, and friendly. I know that it's only because it was the first day. I'm sure their true selves will come to life once school really gets underway. However, I definitely love my group of kids already and can tell they will be a lot of fun. I just need to keep going over the rules and expectations of all routines and procedures. Once it is drilled into their heads, behavior problems should be kept to a minimum. I had 18 of my 22 kids show up. We have high military turnover, so there is a good chance that those 4 won't show up and that I'll get many new ones throughout the year. That is going to be one of many challenges I will face this year. It's going to be one interesting and exhausting year!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day I've been waiting for since 6th grade. It is my first day as an elementary school teacher. Yes, I officially started in January of this year. However, I consider this the start of my career because I felt like a long term substitute last year. Also, I get to start at the beginning of the year so I can set the tone right away. I am very excited, but incredibly nervous. I'm not sure why I'm so nervous. I have had more support already this year than I had all of last year combined. I have substitute taught many times and have watched many teachers teach. I think I'm so nervous because I lack confidence in my classroom management. I need to show confidence because I know the kids will eat me up if they see the nerves coming from me. I'm not going to sleep tonight so that won't help tomorrow morning. We will see how it goes tomorrow and go from there!

Disc Golf

I went to a friends house this weekend to do a fantasy football draft. Yesterday, he took me to a place to play disc golf. I knew he had played it. I never have. It is exactly what it sounds like. You throw a disc into a basket in as few shots as possible. It was pretty fun. It was also free! However, you have to buy the discs. I would definitely play it again, but wouldn't buy the discs and make a hobby of it.

Gas Pump Lock

How lazy are we as Americans? Or, is this just another way to multitask? In New York, it was against the law to put something in the pump to hold down the lever to pump gas hands free. In North Carolina, they have a mechanism in the pump to lock it in place. I didn't know this until a month or two ago because I was so used to not being allowed to do it. I love it because now I can clean my windows while pumping gas. I always hate standing there waiting for the gas to pump because I don't have patience. Now I don't have to worry about it.

School Tools

School Tools is an overpriced store full of teacher school supplies. There is a store similar to this close to where I used to live in New York. It wasn't called School Tools, but it was the same thing. This store sells your typical school supplies like pencils, crayons, markers, paper, notebooks, stickers, etc. You don't get those type of supplies there though because you can get them much, much cheaper at Wal Mart or Staples. The store is known for the teacher supplies that you can't get anywhere else besides catalogs. They sell motivational quote posters, maps, globes, alphabet borders, name tags, common core books, manipulatives, and all sorts of other neat stuff. I went there today and the place was packed for two reasons: it's near the start of the school year and they give 10% off on Wednesday's. I spent much more than I anticipated but it's okay because I will get all of that back!

Laminator

A laminator is the most popular machine for teachers at the beginning of the year. It's a machine that you use to protect your worksheets or construction paper. It melts two pieces of plastic together on either side of the sheet. I've had to wait in line a lot for this machine all week. I was able to sneak in a few sheets during break today. Naturally when I needed it later, it was broken. I have several more things I need to laminate. I hope someone fixes it for when I get to school tomorrow afternoon after my all day workshop. I heard I could go to a store and pay to laminate, but I'm sure that will cost a lot. There is not enough time in a day to do everything I need to do!!!!!

Passport

I've had my passport for 10 years already! I got it in 2004 for my trip to Germany. Unfortunately now that it has been 10 years, it's about to expire. It's annoying that I have to spend like $125 to renew it. Since I go on 42398 cruises, I better renew it. I printed out the application to do so. It's just sitting in my room. I'll do it eventually. I'm just trying to survive the first few weeks of school. Once things die down, then maybe I'll spend more money because that's what I love doing oh so much.

Thirsty

Have you ever had a day where no matter how much you drink, you're still thirsty? That's me today. I have had so much water and powerade today on this 90° humid day and I am still thirsty. If I keep drinking, I'll be up all night going to the bathroom. You have to stay hydrated on days like this when I sweat by breathing. I stepped outside at 10 this morning to go shopping and I sweat! On a side note, I spent another $25 on school supplies at the Dollar Tree today. Three teacher friends and I went in and it was like Christmas morning for us because they had some awesome supplies for teachers and the Dollar Tree is now the only dollar store where everything really is a dollar. I found bulletin board borders that I will use that would have cost probably $5 a piece at the store specifically designed for teachers that I'll be going to sometime this week. Who says the dollar store doesn't sell good stuff?

$150

One good thing about my new school is that they are allowing me to spend $150 on school supplies and then I will get the money back. I have to bring the secretary my receipts. I've spent about $40 already. I need to do some more shopping next week once I get a better idea of what I need. I already have 482390393 and a half pencils, high lighters, permanent markers, crayons, paper, notebooks, folders, etc. I think I'll be buying stuff for bulletin boards and maybe some more decorative stuff. Since I'm a guy, I don't have a decorative bone in my body. But I have to make my room look pretty for the parents and kids when they come in Friday!

Ice Bucket Challenge

It amazes me that one person starts something on social media and then it becomes huge. The ice bucket challenge is that you either have to dump ice water over your head, or donate to a charity for ALS. We should all be donating to ALS instead of dumping water on our heads, but most people are just dumping water on their heads. There are many people that are dumping water on their heads and donating, which is awesome. My brother nominated me to do the challenge a few days ago and I declined. Yesterday, another friend nominated me and a few friends begged me to do it. So I decided to dump water on my head. It was pretty fun actually. I unfortunately did not donate money to ALS. Maybe next time.

Door Prizes

At the end of orientation today, they gave away door prizes. They gave us each one ticket and called numbers. All of the prizes were gift cards to various local and chain restaurants. They made a huge mistake. They didn't call my number! Since I'm so cheap, I was really hoping to get a gift card to whatever restaurant. Oh well. I'm glad orientation is over! I start workshops in my school on Monday!

So Much Information

I just finished my second day of 1st year teacher orientation. Since I have under 6 months of teaching experience, I have to go to these orientations. Some of the sessions are dreadfully boring. Others have been pretty decent. The website on my district page has an insane amount of resources for all subjects. It's incredible. I spent yesterday and today downloading many documents from this website because I know I will have to use it. At least I have gotten some useful information from these sessions.

Hush Puppies

Here I go talking about food again. Hush Puppies are a classic southern side dish. They are absolutely amazing. It's basically a fried dough ball. It's much more flavorful than fried dough because it's made with corn meal and other spices. Hush Puppies are what made today's first year teacher orientation bearable. Well, not really. Today was my first day of three teacher orientations. It lasted all day long and it was basically a bunch of people telling us their names and welcoming us to the district, because I'm going to remember those names and go to them for help. Ugh, I would have much rather spent the day in my classroom preparing it since I won't have time next week!

RIP Robin Williams

Actor Robin Williams passed away today at the age of 63 from an apparent suicide. My friend texted me this information and I was shocked. He was a comedic genius. One of my favorite movies of all time, Mrs. Doubtfire stars Robin Williams. He has a list of great movies such as Jack, Patch Adams, Aladdin, and many more. There were some movies he was in that I didn't like such as Flubber and Jumanji. Overall though, he was an incredible actor and comedian. I'm sure many kids don't even know who Robin Williams was. If you don't, go watch Mrs. Doubtfire and I guarantee you that you will laugh. I'm sad that there will be no more movies featuring Robin Williams.

New School Year

Tuesday is the official start of my new school year. Since I have less than 6 months of teaching experience, I have to go to first year orientation Tuesday through Thursday. That will be very exciting... At least I get paid for it! I plan on going to my school tomorrow to start setting up my classroom. I'm very nervous about having my own classroom for the first time at the start of the year. I just have to be firm with my classroom management and consistent. Piece of cake, right?

Food

As I'm sure you have figured out by now, my life revolves around food. I love food and eat a lot of it. Cruises are known to have amazing food. We stayed at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale before we went on the ship. They gave us food vouchers so we could eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner there. The food was terrible. Our "dessert" was pudding. The food had no flavor and the selection was abysmal. I was able to stomach most of it and eat a lot because I have no self control when it comes to buffets. Before we got on the ship, we had to choose where we were going to eat both nights. One night we chose a sit down restaurant and the other was I believe a buffet. We didn't make it to the sit down the first night because we were busy with, um, exploring other things the ship had to offer. The second day, my friend said that we had to go to the nice restaurant for the $30 dinner because he needed a good meal. I didn't argue there even though I hate spending money because I was less than pleased with the food too. Even at the Bahamas for our all inclusive beach day the buffet at that hotel was dreadful. The $30 meal however, was amazing! We each had the 9 ounce Filet Mignon. I kid you not when I say it was one of the best steaks I have ever had in my life. It was juicy, tender, moist, and cooked to perfection. I was so full from the other food but forced myself to eat all of the steak because I didn't want it to go to waste and it was that good. Even though the food besides the meal we paid for was terrible, I ate way too much of it and I'm sure I gained a ridiculous amount of weight.

Timeshare

I would love to never hear the word timeshare again. Part of our vacation package required us to go to a timeshare meeting. We were told it would take 2 hours tops. We were in that building for 6 hours! These people would not take no for an answer. They started with a high offer and went down incredibly low. We made the mistake of telling them we are financially stable. They had 5 different people attempt to persuade us to buy a timeshare. We heard quotes like..."Which offer will you buy today?", "You are stupid if you turn this offer down", and "You are so much better and smarter than all of the people around you." I cannot tell you how many times they asked us why we weren't buying a timeshare. They clearly saw how uncomfortable we were. They knew they could keep us there forever since they had our cruise voucher. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. I will probably never buy a timeshare strictly because of my unpleasant experience. If you are interested in buying a timeshare, please do a lot of research and ask many people who own timeshares to see if it is worth it for you and your needs. If you don't, you can easily get hosed for a lot of money. I will not be recommending timeshares to anyone.

Interesting Vacation

I just got back from Fort Lauderdale. I went there on Sunday and stayed until Tuesday. Then I went on a cruise ship on Tuesday and got back today. It was the most unique vacation of my life for many reasons. I will get into much more detail tomorrow. Right now, I'm cleaning up my laundry and going to bed. I'm very sleep deprived.

Fantasy Football

I believe this will be my 9th year of doing fantasy football already! I remember when my younger brother started it up. It was $20 to get in, which I thought was way too much. I also thought I wasn't going to like it at all. I was wrong on both accounts. $20 is nothing and I love fantasy football! I now do it for $100. It's a 5 month investment so at least if I lose the money, it takes a long time to lose. I love drafting the players and following how they do each week. My draft is three weeks from tomorrow and I am already a step ahead of last year. I actually bought a magazine and have done some research. I'm going on vacation tomorrow and plan on reading the magazine some more during my flights and my time on the beach! The football season cannot start soon enough!

My Apartment

I've lived in my apartment for 6 months already. There are still a few pictures and stuff I haven't hung up. I just bought a bookcase two days ago for all the junk I brought back from New York. I started filling it up this afternoon. My guest bedroom is still a mess of stuff thrown all over the floor. A lot of stuff on that floor is school supplies. I'm just looking for something to store it in over the summer and something that's easy to bring to school during the school year. Me leaving junk all over is just pure laziness. I'm sure if I had a house I wouldn't wait this long to hang stuff up and put things away.