And in other news...

Most of you that read this already know this, but this is for the benefit of random family and friends that don't know yet.

My Annual Clothing Rant

I love shopping. I love clothes. It should stand to reason that I love clothes shopping. Tis not so... As a rule, I am not a fan of clothes shopping for myself. Shopping for my family's clothes is another story--much fun to be had by all.

I've been clothes shopping recently. A few weeks ago I did my own back-to-school shopping. I love wearing a new outfit the first day of school! I feel more "professional" and ready to tackle the school year. Yes, I'm strange...I know. Anywho, I decided it was time to go shopping for something nice to start the year with.

Why, you ask, do I find clothes shopping for myself such a chore? Because nothing fits me the way it's supposed to. Combining my body type ("fluffy") with my other physical concerns (a.k.a. Spina Bifida wreaking it's havoc on my body) makes clothing interesting, to say the least. Because I have Spina Bifida, my legs are a bit shorted than most peoples. Length of pants is a concern. I sit all day (wheelchair factor), and everyone knows pants fit differently standing up and sitting down. For pants to fit me comfortably sitting down, they are ALWAYS too big in the leg. If the pants fit through the leg, I cannot breathe in them sitting down. I happen to enjoy breathing, at least several times per minute. This is non-negotiable. If I knew how to sew, it might make my life much simpler...I could just alter everything. But I don't, so I have ill-fitting pants (nor do I have the $$$ to have everything I buy altered).

Next is the shirts. Shirts should be simple, right? Shirts don't really fit different whether standing or sitting, right? Right. However, since I'm in a chair, I have broad shoulders (years of pushing myself around). Add to that some decent sized boobage, then take into account that I have to flex my arms whenever I want to move. If it fits in the shoulders, then it gaps in the boobs when I push myself. If I get a shirt large enough to fit my boobs and my shoulders, it's so big I swim in it, and look 50 pounds larger than my already large self.

I enjoy looking at the clothes. I enjoy envisioning myself in the clothes. I enjoy finding awesome sales on clothes. I do not enjoy trying them on and going through a minimum of ten items of clothing to perchance find a single item that actually fits.

So...if there's anyone out there that enjoys shopping that actually is able to easily find things off the rack that fit, do you wanna swap bodies with me for awhile? I promise to give it back when I'm done shopping (and subsequently showing off said new clothes).

Shameless Snapshot Showoff: Classroom Edition

Well, it's that time of year...school's in session! I've been having fun setting up my room (though it's been exhausting getting ready in time) and I thought I'd post some shots on here.



This is the tree right outside my room... right now it's an apple tree, but it will change to a fall tree with a pumpkin patch, to a bare tree at a turkey farm etc. as the months go by.

Here's the other side of the tree display with my sign on it:



This is the bulletin board in the back of my room...where we're going to track the letters as we learn them (a la Chicka Chicka Boom Boom):



This is the alphabet...I found these cute kid-drawn ABC cards that match my calendar set, so I had to have them!



Here's my other bulletin board with my calendar. The blank space is to display their work.



There's a few more pics, but blogger is being difficult and they're not showing up, so I'll have to finish this another time.

And In Spina Bifida News...

Most of you that read my ramblings know already know that I have Spina Bifida (more specifically Spina Bifida Myelomeningocele), and if you didn't, well now you do. Having said that, I need to give a shout-out to Amy at Spina Bifida Moms for her Milo post! Everyone go check it out... get a Milo T-shirt (or a Milo whatever-your-heart-desires) and support a great cause while raising awareness of Spina Bifida!

Coconuts & Picket Fences

I've been getting lots of ideas for my classroom by stealing borrowing other people's ideas. My room is gonna rock this year! I'm having to go through a major "personality shift" as far as my room goes, since I'm going from teaching kids in grades 1-4 to preschool, and most of what I've done in the past is too mature for the little kids. So, my ideas so far:

*Outside my door on the hallway wall I'm going to have a brown field surrounded by a picket fence. It'll have a large green tree, and a "Welcome" sign that says "Welcome to Mrs. ___'s Orchard!" I'll have apples on the tree, and each will have a student's name on it. The great thing about this is I can vary it easily each month without having to change the bulletin board outside my room every month. I can just take down the apples and put up pumpkins on the fence, or turkeys, or snowmen, or... you get the idea.

*Inside my room I'll have a huge palm tree at an orange papered bulletin board with the words "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom...Will there be enough room?" (in purple...which looks like the book). As we learn letters through the year we'll put them on a coconut and put them up on the tree.

*I'm going to have a "Look What I Can Do!" board...showcasing the skills the kids will be working on from their IEP's. Basically, it'll list each goal/benchmark from the IEP that I'll be working on (in other words, only classroom goals...I won't be tracking things like OT or PT goals, since the OT/PT will do that), with a place to write the date and have some type of color code system for attempted, completed, and mastered. This way, parents will be able to see at a glance how their child is doing at meeting goals/benchmarks.

*I'm going to have an interactive number line. I'm going to cut out large numbers (about 5x7...most likey out of cool scrapbooking paper) and mount them on pieces of posterboard. Next to each number I'll hot glue something from the classroom in that number (like 1 pair of scissors, 2 pencils, 3 crayons, etc.). They'll be mounted on the wall where they are easily seen, but also easily accessible for teaching with.

Is anyone else excited yet???

My Summer Is Over!

My summer is unofficially over. Where, oh where did it go??? Even though I don't have to report back to work officially until next Wednesday, I have to get my classroom unpacked and set up. Once next Wednesday comes I'll be in meetings all day with no time to set up my room before open house (which is the Friday before school starts).

Everyone thinks summers off for teachers are so awesome...and while it is nice, I've never had the "summer off". My first year of teaching I had classes and comps over the summer (June thru August). My second year of teaching I had paperwork to finish up, and a class (June & July). My third year I had to learn a new curriculum over the summer and make all my materials for Workshop Way (took the whole summer). My fourth year of teaching (this year) I had a class over the summer, tutoring a student, and a program change plus moving schools, as well as extra paperwork to finish up (June thru August). This summer I've had 3 weeks of my 10 week "free". Five of the remaining weeks I was busy until 8 pm each night of the week (except Sunday) either with class or tutoring. The remaining 2 weeks of my 10 weeks have been spent at my school for at least 1/2 the day.

I want my vacation back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whine over. Anyone have some cheese to go with that whine???

Is Someone Missing a Kick Me Sign???

If you are, please let me know...I think I found it! I've had interesting experiences lately, reaffirming my belief that things happen in threes. First, last Friday I got locked in my garage with my son (who did the locking) for an hour in my pajamas. Did I mention he was naked since we've been potty training, and he peed on the garage floor twice? Umm...yeah. Gotta love potty training.

Incident #2 happened Thursday. I went to a place about 30 minutes from my house to tutor one of my students. We normally didn't work in this particular place, since it's normally very loud and chaotic. He tried, but it just wasn't working, so he decides he'd rather study at his house. So, I head out to the car, and like any normal person, attempt to start the car. Apparantly that was my mistake. My car didn't want to start, and it let me know quite emphatically of its wishes. I call my husband to come rescue me, and rescue me he does, but not before I spend 45 minutes trapped in a car in 107 degree heat (outside air temp...hotter in the car). Why oh why do I not retreat to the chaos of the building 25 feet away??? Because my wheelchair is stuck in my lift, halfway between the ground and the top of the car. Good times. I became one with my sudoku puzzle, and actually contemplated pouring lemonade on me just to cool down. However, the thought of attracting little flying beasties was a little too much...I wasn't that desperate, so I thought better of it. Erwin spent 15 minutes fiddling with the engine, and I thought I was in the clear.

Cue incident #3. It all started yesterday morning. I dropped Daniel off at daycare, planning on swinging by my school, picking up my class list for this year, then heading home to clean without having little hands undo the work as fast as I can do it. Alas, this was also not to be. I got as far as dropping Daniel at daycare. When I got back to the car, it decided to give an encore performance of yesterday's monologue. I call Erwin (again) who winds up taking the rest of the day off to fix my hunk of junk beautiful vehicle. One battery and several cables later, my car is purring like a kitten.

I've decided I don't really enjoy waiting for the other shoe to drop, nor do I enjoy tempting fate with having things happen in greater numbers than three. So, if you've lost your sign, let me know, and I'll FedEx it back to you.