Mixed Bag

The bad news: the bus's engine blew. (Rather spectacularly, according to Robb).
The good news: The entire vehicle is a collector's item, so we can still get something for it.
Also, Robb's six week break starts Friday, so it makes only having one car a little easier.
Oh, the joys of vehicle shopping - we meet again!

The Wonder of Technology

Last Friday we went on a field trip to Patchen Christmas Tree farm. It's a 14 year tradition at this point, where we meet up with dozens of Colliers International (commercial real estate company) employees, who take groups of kids off to cut down Christmas trees. This year one of the Collier's guys decided to put his iPhone to work and make this video of my students. I love it!

Patchen Field Trip

Field Trip

"Teacher! When the bus goes over a bump it feels like giggles!"

Osvaldo

Smarty Pants, or why I sometimes enjoy my job

Every year I have a few delightful students who manage to wriggle their way into my heart despite their annoying characteristics. One of this year's candidates is Oscar - a leading member of my ADHD contingent. This means he is more often than not NOT paying attention - or at least not appearing to pay attention, playing with stuff in his desk, or thinking about/working on various other projects that are more mentally stimulating than whatever the current academic task may be. Another of my charming munchkins is Zaira, because she's so inherently nice. It's amazing and endearing.

Last week we were working on multiplying a three digit number by a one digit number (i.e. 346 x 5). Oscar, who despite his distractability is very intelligent and particularly good at math, was having difficulty getting down to work. (Surprise!) As he was singing a song of his own creation (and irritating most everyone around him), Zaira looked at me and said "Maestra, I think Oscar is very creative." (Do you see why I love this girl? That's certainly not how I would have phrased it, so she succeeded in inspiring me to be better.)

Once Oscar got down to work and blasted his way (100% correctly, I might add) through various math problems, I told him I was very proud of his hard work and all the effort he was putting in. He said "I'm a smarty RIPPING pants!!!" I must have made a confused (or amused) face, because he said "You know, smarty because I'm smart and ripping because I'm ripping." Um...okay. Zaira, seated nearby, said "See maestra? I told you he was creative!"

Today a similar situation unfolded. After checking Oscar's work I smilingly thanked him again for his effort and told him he was being a smarty ripping pants again. He gave me a very confused look, to which I responded, "You know, like you told me last week? You said you were a smarty ripping pants?" He said "Oh no. Now I'm a smarty PUTTING pants." (???)

Oscar, my little fauxhawk-haired friend, Zaira was right: you ARE creative. :-)

Blessings

Today, as I'm lying in bed with a serious head cold, I'm trying to be positive and reflect on the many blessings I enjoy. Such as:

Robb

My awesome parents, siblings, and nieces/nephews

Shaine

Kevin

Tiffany

all my former roommates (and current friends!) from LBC, Provo, and Spain

Blogs, so I can keep up with said friends

Telephones (for the same reason, and)

Facebook (even though it's often a pain)

Prayer (because otherwise I'd go crazy)

Music

Books!

My generally-good health

Health insurance (for sure)

My job...even though it DEFINITELY drives me crazy

Hilda and Liz, who keep me sane at work

My students, because they make me laugh

Craigslist (without it, where would I live and what furniture would I have?) ;-)

Computers

The Internet

Cars that run well

My home

And today in particular, cough drops and cough syrup. And tea with honey.

Which makes me think of Honey the cat, which makes me think of Maggie the dog.

And so much more!!!

My new dream bike

So when I was growing up we had a few elderly couples living on our street, and they all had those adult tricycles with a basket between the back wheels. I thought those were the COOLEST bikes and I've wanted one ever since. That is, I wanted one until I read my friend's blog and saw THIS:

I've got a golden ticket

Okay, not really, but the next best thing. I just got a letter from the school district saying I've been moved from probationary to permanent status. Hooray!!!