Lab results:

I got my lab results today from my doctor. She said that everything came back normal. The only thing that wasn't normal was that I did not ovulate last month. Apparently, no egg was released... therefore, no period for me. She said to keep an eye on my period and if I don't have one this month to contact her and she'll give me progesterone to start my period.

So... it's a little bit weird for me. I keep asking, "why didn't I ovulate this month?" And now I am really hoping that I get my period this month. I also wonder if each month the ovary that releases an egg/eggs switches (like one month it's the left ovary and the next month it's the right). Does anyone know? If that's the case... I hope there's not a problem with that particular ovary!!

Anyway-- it's made me really want to start a family. I know we'll never be financially ready, but I'm not getting any younger and the desire for motherhood is growing stronger and stronger. So I send up a prayer that if it's meant to be, it'll be.

I got my hair done today. The girl that did my hair was really nice. She even gave me her business card and wrote her email for me and said to email her if I have any questions about the area or things to do. She said if I ever need something to talk to, just to give her a call. Like I said, she was really nice! She added lowlights and a few high-lights to my hair. I'm trying to get back to my roots (so-to-speak)... we'll see how easily done it is.

I think I might go to DSW tomorrow and get some shoes. Buying new shoes always puts a big smile on my face.

Enough from me. I just wanted to give the most recent info on my blood test. I was releived to know that my cholesterol and sugar levels were normal. One less thing to worry about.

Until next time...
>^..^<

Song: "Cry Me A River"- Justin Timberlake
Mood: Content

So I've officially been on vacation for a week now. In the week that I've been off I have attended a writing training that lasted two days and I've been to the doctors twice.

So it's not a big secret anymore, but I thought I was pregnant. Yes, I was very excited and thought it was going to be a wonderful thing, but after six pregnancy tests and a blood test, the results all point to not pregnant. Which is kinda screwed up because I was supposed to start my period on June 21st. I still have not started. I went to the doctors last week to have them do a urine test and blood test. They did both and the urine test came back immediately as negative. The blood test came back two days later and said negative. So this morning I went in for more blood work. I don't know what the hell is wrong with me, but hopefully we'll get it figured out. They did a test for my thyroid with the last blood work and it all came back normal.

So... I'm not sure what's going on internally, but six pregnancy tests can't be wrong... I am most definitely not pregnant. There's always next month right? It's not like we were really trying or anything, so to be pregnant would have just been a great added bonus.

On another subject... we went to the Kenny concert on Friday. I was so tired and felt sick before we went, but it was fine. I wore my stupid black Sketchers sandals (the same ones I wore when we were at Steve's fraternity's anniversary and I got the bad blister on the ball of both feet)... well it happened again. I ended up in pain a few minutes after leaving the car. We were parked out in BFE and then once inside the place had to walk all over to get to our seats. By the end of the night my foot was toast. It's still messed up and it's been three days!!

Anyway, the concert was great. When Sugarland came out Jennifer Nettles was singing "Betterman" by Pearl Jam. I loved it! She also did a cover of "Irreplacible" by Beyonce. It was awesome!

On another note... last night I made some banana nut bread from scratch. It's pretty tasty if I may say so myself! I was surprised at how easy it was to make! Steve took some for a mid-morning snack this morning and said that he thought it was delicious. As long as he enjoys it... I'm happy!!

I watched Shag today. It's the movie that my mom and I used to always watch together. So whenever I feel sad or homesick I try to do something that reminds me of her. So, I watched Shag today. :)

Steve's home now so I'm going to go and catch up with him. Until next time...
>^..^<

Song: "You'll Think of Me"- Keith Urban
Mood: Content

I made it to track out!!! I'm not sure how I did it, but somehow I was able to survive the first three weeks of teaching at Oak Grove. Let me mention, that my surviving was BARELY done. In three short weeks I have learned that the parents at this school are a breed of their own. I have never worked in a school where every parent thinks their child is brilliant (literally... they ALL think their kids are the most intelligent beings on Earth). I was told that the parents need their children to be challenged, so I've been doing just that... and then as a result I've have numerous (like five DIFFERENT parents) contact me for conferences because they're concerned about their child's grades. Mind you, this was all in week two... like six to ten days of school so far, and I had only given TWO assessments.

The whole assessment thing is another issue. We have goals and objectives that are from the NC Standard Course of Study... the same as the GLCEs in Michigan. Nothing that I haven't seen before. However, Wake County does Standards Based Grading (as did Childs with Bs, Ds and Ps) but with 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s. Each goal has multiple objectives and as a teacher, I have to give three different assessments per objective before I can give a final grade for the objective. The numbers work like this, a 1 means they cannot do the objective on their own. A 2 means they can do it with assistance but not without, a 3 means they get it and can do it on their own and then a 4 means they take the objective and go even further with it on their own. I was told that 4s are very rare and should only be given if the kid REALLY goes above and beyond what the objective is asking for.

SO... for reading, there are 16 objectives. If we multiply 16x3 we get 48. That means I have to have 48 assessment grades before I can give ONE reading grade (only one grade goes on the report card) and of those 48 I have ONE.

For math there are 28 objectives and if we do 28x3 we get 84. That means I have to have 84 different assessment grades before I can give ONE math grade. And of those 84 I have given ONE assessment.

So... you can imagine my shock when I had five parents tell me they were already concerned about their child's academics. I flipped out a little... okay, a lot because on the HUGE scheme of things we have only just begun. On many assignments I can only use a 1, 2 or 3 as the scale. They mean the same, but I have given a few 2s. Why give a 3 if they really can't do it?? Well... I've realized that many parents see the 2 as failure. Way to go Wake County... eliminate the logical letter grades that MAKE SENSE and use a stupid system where a 2 means failure. Grrr...

Anyway, I am tracked out and I can't express how happy I am!! I am going to a 3-5 Literacy training tomorrow and Tuesday. I am excited because EVERYONE in 4th grade has been trained and all plan on using this program after day 20 (we were given a step-by-step list of lessons for the first 20 days of school). It'll be nice to come back in August, finish that week and start using 3-5 Literacy.

Other than the training I don't have any plans! We spent all day yesterday cleaning the house and it finally looks good enough to take some pictures (just the downstairs though). Over track-out I am going to try and clean up here and unpack more boxes.

On Friday I was in my room working and Lisa came in and asked if I wanted to join a big group of people that were going to Chilis for drinks. So I wrapped up what I was doing and joined everyone that was going to go. I had such a great time! There were about eight of us that went and it was nice to just laugh and get to know people a little more outside of work. There are a lot of YOUNG teachers in my building!! They all go out (outside of work) and hang out together. I don't think I'll ever go that route, but I look forward to getting to know them better. Lisa asked me and Steve and Katie and her boyfriend Judson wanted to go camping and tubing with her and Chris (her new boyfriend) and all their friends. I think Katie is going to go, but after last year's tubing fun on the Rifle River (go back to July/August 2006 and read about it if you've forgotten)... I told her that we'd pass.

Last night Craig and Christine came over for a bbq. It was so much fun!! We hadn't had a chance to use the screen porch yet and now that we have we LOVE it even more!! We ate dinner out there and then stayed out there chatting and laughing and then had dessert and stayed out until like 11:30 or so. It was the first time that we met Christine... and she is wonderful!!! It's nice to have someone familiar here in NC that we can see!! For those of you not sure who Craig is, he was married to my friend Nicole (Phi Sigma Pi) and then moved down here in January and then a few months ago divorce papers were filed and now they're about to be divorced. Anyway... he is doing amazingly well. Better than I was a few months after going through a divorice!!! Christine is absolutely beautiful... she looks like she could be a Playboy Bunny... and she loves him so much. They're awesome together!

Anyway... there are some other issues with me... but I won't share just yet. Frustrating and annoying but I can't give much more info at this time. Just keep my sanity in your prayers please!!!

Until next time...
>^..^<

Song: "The Captain" by Casey Chambers
Mood: Tired

Well... Open House went well. I made a Power Point last weekend to use and I'm so glad I did! I added some notes to the bottom and then I'm going to email it to the parents. Some were not able to attend because it was the night for all the end-of-season swim banquets. I still had a pretty good turn-out though. All the parents were really nice and had great questions. It was a lot easier than I had expected.

I am really excited to have three weeks off soon!! I feel like there's so much to get done around here (our house)!! I absolutely HAVE to get my books put into my computer and then organized. I am going to start doing novel studies when we track back in in August. I plan on going into school the first week that I'm off, just to get some extra work done. I feel like I have a better idea of what I'm doing and I don't feel so stressed anymore. Oddly enough I have found that I'm not the only that doesn't really know what I'm doing. No one does really, so it's reassuring!!

Last Monday M.E. came to me and told me that she had gone to get her nails done and told the person about me. She gave me the business card and told me to call and make an appointment with Jennifer. As you all know, I spent about four hours removing my acrylic nails and ended up with sore and disgusting looking nails. So on one hand I was eager to get nails back on, but then apprehensive about having them look like they did before.

So anyway, I went on Friday and was so glad I did! I now have gel nails and they look absolutely incredible! I've never had gel, but my mom has and she's had hers for more than 12 years!!! I am so happy that I found someone great that I can go to for my nails!! On the flip side, Steve called my hair girl to ask about getting in to get his hair cut and was told that she no longer works there. So much for that... now the quest is on to find someone good to do my hair. I'm due for a touch-up next week.

Speaking of next week... we have the Kenny Concert a week from Friday! I am so excited I can't wait!!! We're just hoping that there are a bunch of people coming with him to NC like there are to Michigan.

Well... enough from me for now. I'll be writing again sometime soon.
Until next time...
>^..^<

Check out the slide show of my class!!

Song: "Crash" by Dave Matthews Band
Mood: Exhausted, sick and hungry

I survived my first week teaching 4th grade!! Not that I, or you, had any doubts about this. I made the little slide show about my room so everyone could get a better idea of what my classroom looks like and see where I live from 7:45am-7:00pm. Yes... I am putting in just under 12 hours each day and still cannot say I have everything done that I need to have done.

This weekend I brought home a butt-load of books and my plan book so I could spend today (Sunday) getting my plans in order for this next week. I've equated my feelings to that of a person in the ocean with no life-jacket and treding water HOPING that someone will come to their rescue. That's me... and if I don't get things planned this weekend, I will definitely drown this week.

My kids are all very cute and sweet. I have one boy that likes to talk A LOT and I've had to talk to him about his behavior one time too many, and then I have another boy that's just odd. He just is a little strange and does things that I think are on the mean side and he shows no remorse. I'm going to keep my eye on him... but so far I get a very weird vibe from him.

I have Open House on Thursday from 6:00-7:30. Now... at Lincoln we had Open House as well but there were a few differences. One... we were paid (there's the union hard at work for ya) and two... it was never a formal presentation to JUST parents. Thursday there are no kids coming at night and there are two sessions (for parents that have kids in two different rooms). I have to give a presentation about how my classroom works. AHHHH!! I HATE talking to adults! I can talk to kids until I am blue in the face, but I cringe at the thought of having to present to parents!!!

Friday we went to our favorite Mexican place for dinner in Fuquay-Varina and then stopped at DQ for some ice cream. Very tastey... and then yesterday we went to Red Robin for dinner. It was soooo good! I hadn't had Red Robin in months. We also went to Target and Lowes and were looking at their grills, but Steve wants to just go back to Home Depot and get one from there. He's supposed to be going today to get that.

After we went shopping yesterday we decided to take a drive and explore. We went to the Harris Nuclear Plant (VERY SCARY) and saw how absolutely close it is to where we live. We also drove around a little and then went to the lake. We're like just down the street from a HUGE lake!! It's amazing what you find when you start to really look!

I am sick right now. I have a student that was out Wednesday and Thursday with strep throat and I think he might have given me his cold. I don't have strep, but I am sick. Then it dawned on me that I was teaching 5th graders for three years and they aren't as germy as younger kids. When I taught 3rd I was sick for 8/10 months of school. I am hoping that my being sick after a week isn't a sign of things to come. The substitute system is so weird in Wake County... I've just decided to work everyday so I don't have to worry about it. You have to call in and then pre-arrange a sub (if you want) and then tell the system who you got to sub for you and then there's all these days that you can or can't take a leave... it's VERY complicated.

I am going to go eat breakfast and get started with my planning. Have a great week and I'm sure I'll be back to write sometime soon! Wish me luck for Thursday!!

Until next time...
>^..^<