Choosing What Color Shirt to wear

I used to face the daunting task each day before work of choosing what color to wear. When I was a student teacher in a 5th grade class, I told the kids what color shirts I had. I then allowed one of them to choose what color I would wear. They were always excited to see that I actually wore that color shirt the next day. Once I started substitute teaching, each morning, I would stare in my closet and decide what color shirt I would wear. For over a year now, I don't have to choose. I just grab the next shirt available. I pick from left to right. After I wear a shirt and wash it, I hang it up to the far right so that I can pick the other shirts first. It makes life so much easier! Then I don't have to worry about wearing the same shirt twice in one week. When it comes to polo shirts, I just grab whatever shirt I feel like grabbing. I do the same for T-shirts. I fold them up and put them in the drawer to the far left. I grab the next shirt on the right side of the drawer. Why should I spend time thinking about what I'm going to wear each day when I shouldn't have to?

Making a Big Deal Over Small Things

About a week ago, my mom says pretty loudly, "Oh, crap!" I say, "What's wrong?" She responds, "I forgot to eat strawberries today." I stare at her in shock. When someone says oh crap! and sounds concerned, you think something horrible has happened. I respond laughing, "You sound like the kids at school. 'Oh no, I forgot my pencil!'" Kids tend to be overly dramatic over the smallest things. It takes every ounce of fiber in me not to laugh at them when they say stuff like that. I think I have developed quite the poker face when kids say funny things. It's almost expected now. I've had kids cry over a broken pencil (when I was in 1st grade, I cried over a broken pencil, too, so I shouldn't laugh at this), cry when they can't log in, and cry when someone budges them in line. The biggest thing for kids is getting in line first to go somewhere. They will sprint from the computer to get in line. Sometimes they will still have headphones on and will almost take the computer with them. I cringe every time I see a student run in my room because I worry that they forgot to take the headphones off. It's amazing how dramatic young kids can be about the smallest things to adults. To them, these small issues are the biggest thing in the world. I tell kids all the time, "If that is your biggest problem all day, you are having a great day." Before you get worked up over the smallest things, think about how other people will react to your overreaction.

End of Newspaper Club

Today was the last meeting for the year with my newspaper club students. Because I'm awesome, I made them chocolate chip cookies, brought in popcorn and juice, and we had a small party. They devoured the cookies and popcorn. I had maybe 16-17 kids there today. I was pretty upset when they left. I have to admit, it's not because today was the last meeting. It's because only 3 or 4 kids thanked me for the treats today. That's sad. I try to teach my kids manners whenever they are in my lab. I spent time and money to make those cookies and get the other food for them. I didn't have to do that. All I wanted was a simple, sincere thank you from each of the kids. I don't think that's too much to ask for. On another note, there were a few fifth graders that have told me they will be back for newspaper club next year. I told them that I'd do newspaper club again if I am working as a computer aide again. I'd be pretty upset for them if I do not come back next year. Then they won't have a newspaper club. I know they are looking forward to doing it again next year. Everyone is always asking me what I'm doing over the summer and next year. My response is that I have no clue. That's a true story. I keep applying to teaching jobs. Shockingly I have applied to about 15 in the area. I didn't expect there to be any openings at all. If I don't get any jobs that I applied for, I will keep my job as a computer aide. For the summer, I could be working at the grocery store or doing tech cleanup like I did last year. I have no idea yet. One thing is for sure, I thought that newspaper club was a huge success overall this year. The kids had a lot of fun and wrote some excellent articles are year long. For that, I am very proud of them. Until next year...maybe.

Presidential History

One of my new obsessions has become learning more about the presidents. I go to a bar for trivia every Wednesday night. Every time I go, they have at least one question, sometimes two about the presidents. I always feel like I know the answer, then I don't. Every Thursday, I talk to the librarian in my school and ask her the presidential question from the night before. She almost always gets it right. She recently gave me 6 or 7 kids books about the presidents. It has all sorts of neat facts and information about every president. As I am reading this information, I would have loved to have known it a few weeks ago! I read an answer to a question that was asked a week or two ago and I get annoyed. If I had only read the books earlier! The hard part about reading all of this information is remembering all of it for each president. Since there are 43 different presidents (yes 43, Grover Cleveland was president for 2 non-consecutive terms) there is a lot of information to keep straight. After reading every book that my librarian gave me, I should be an expert on all of the presidents!

Alarm Clock Music

It's a very rare occurrence that I sleep until my alarm goes off in the morning. My body must program itself to wake up five or more minutes before the alarm everyday. I'm not a big fan of that! I never sleep late on the one day I have off every week either. Some people have the annoying beep, beep, beep as their alarm. Many people use a cell phone alarm. I don't have the stereotypical alarm clock that they show in movies. You know, the clock that is analog and rings and the main character throws it against a wall. I have a digital clock that I have set to some radio station. Most of the time, if I sleep until my alarm, I hop right out of bed and turn off the radio and forget the song that was playing. Sometimes I just lay in bed and don't want to get up. That's shockingly pretty rare for me. Normally I can get up fairly easily. I hate when a good song comes on because I always have to turn it off right away since the music is loud and I don't want to hear it while waking up. The most ironic song that ever played as the alarm clock sounded was, "I'm wide awake" by Katy Perry. As I turned off that horrible song, I thought to myself, No I'm not! I wonder if I will sleep until my alarm goes off tomorrow. If I do, what song will I wake up to?

Valet Parking

My grocery store has made some pretty ridiculous decisions in the past. This one tops them all. My friend told me about this on Friday and I was literally left speechless. My grocery store now has valet parking. Really? What is the point of asking someone else to park your car at a grocery store? I think the reason they are doing this is because parking is a bit difficult now with major construction happening. We have limited parking since construction vehicles are taking of most of the back parking lot. I don't want someone else driving my car. I certainly don't want to tip someone for doing that either. We tip people enough for other jobs. I truly think that this is another waste of money for my grocery store. The valet parking service is an outside company. That means my store is paying them. That also means that company is paying workers to do nothing! I don't think many people will want this service. I sure don't!

90° Outside, Yet I'm Freezing

There are two places that I've been to in the summer where I am absolutely freezing while inside. One place is the building where I graded standardized tests. They always had the air conditioner on to keep the computers cool. I had the AC on in my computer lab yesterday and Thursday not so I could stay cool, but so the computers could stay cool. Duh! Haha. The other place that is always freezing is Turning Stone. My dad reminded me yesterday that I needed to bring a sweatshirt today when I went to make a donation. I find it ridiculous that I had to bring one with me when it was 90° again today. I needed it though. While sitting in the poker room, it was very cold. I don't know if Turning Stone keeps the AC on to keep people awake and spend more. Does a cold atmosphere get people to spend more money? I'm sure they have done extensive research on that. Either way, there I was today, wearing a sweatshirt even though it was extremely hot and humid outside.