Happy Halloween!

Yeah, that's all I have to say about that. I've been so busy this week that I didn't even pick up candy for my students, something that I always do.

It's been a busy week. I'm in the middle of trying to finish grading Julius Caesar papers (yuck), finishing up my semester exams and keys to go with them, and tending to some last-minute baby business. Last night I packed my hospital bag because Darryl pretty much forced me to. He's convinced I'm having the baby Friday. I think I've got another week...at least.

I have two more days of school. I'm learning that I should have planned a movie for this week. Instead, I'm trying to get through the first four chapters of The Scarlet Letter just so I can get my students clued in to a few things they need to pay attention to. What was I thinking?

Happy Birthday to Darryl!

I'm too tired to post much...but Happy B-day to Darryl! We went to Fleming's tonight for dinner to celebrate, and now I'm stuffed. :(

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Babe!

The weekend is here!

I'm so glad the weekend is here. Of course, I have tons of grading to do, but at least I can sleep in a little.

Here are a few other random facts about what's going on right now:

--I have one more week of school before I'm out. One. More. Week. It's odd...I get a mixture of comments like, "Wow, you're still here?" to "You're not working up until your due date?" I'm due the 6th; my last day is the 2nd. I don't think I'm being ridiculously indulgent or anything.

--Darryl is addicted to the show American Choppers. This makes no sense to me; he's not into motorcycles...what's that about?

That's about it. There's no news on the baby front. I think I'll make it to my due date, at least. I want Coretta to listen to her mother and not make an appearance until at least next Friday, when school is behind me and my grading/work is done. Then she can come any time she wants...the sooner, the better. (The cashier lady at Target yesterday told me that she didn't think I would make it to the 6th. You gotta love how everyone puts in their "two cents.")

Seriously, Santa?

I was lurking on an "Atlanta" board on babycenter.com, and I couldn't believe this...

Apparently, for the opportunity to sit on Santa's lap at Phipp's Plaza, you have to book an appointment.

Wow. Something tells me that Charlie Brown would hate this. :)

My Day in a Nutshell

1. Students rubbed my stomach.
2. People told me I was "getting large" three times within about 30 minutes.
3. I told my 7th period class that they were rude and immature and that I thought some of them should reconsider whether or not they should be in honors. (Um, yeah...I said all that. I said it in a nice, matter-of-fact tone, though--I wasn't yelling or anything.)
4. I worked hard on lesson plans, not leaving school until almost 6.

Baby Dreams

I have had three dreams in the past week that I have the baby, get her home, and forget to feed her. It's like, "Oh my goodness--I haven't fed the baby in eight hours!"

What's up with that?

P.S. Darryl and I slept in until 9:15--I can't remember the last time I have slept that late! My guess is that it won't happen again for a long, long time. :)

A little better today...

I'm halfway out of the funk I was in yesterday. I'm pretty much finished with my lesson plans for my juniors with the exception of the semester exam, which will pretty much be cut and pasted from old tests. My sophomores were a little better today; I think they could tell I was in no mood for their shenanigans, and that seemed to work somewhat.

I've decided that I'm taking the evening off from school stuff--is anyone watching Friday Night Lights? I swear I cry (or at least tear up) in every scene with Tami (played by Connie Britton).

Anyway...

You're Invited to My Pity Party

I know I have many things to be thankful for right now, and I am thankful for them, but this afternoon I have just felt overwhelmed. I'm hoping this post will either A) make me feel better by unburdening myself, or B) solicit any advice that may help. (If your advice is "take care of yourself and get some rest," just save it. These things have to get done one way or another.)

Here we go, in no particular order:

1--I'm not too excited about my longterm sub situation. I put off doing my lesson plans in the hopes that an actual English teacher would be taking on my classes, and my lesson plans would be something like this: "Hey, here are some things I've used in the past to teach The Scarlet Letter. You are welcome to use them, or you can do your own thing if you would rather teach your way." Instead, I have a teacher who hasn't taught English before, so I'm finding that I'm having to give very specific instructions and make detailed answer keys for everything. I probably answered 200 questions on reading guides for The Scarlet Letter yesterday. Today I tackled Taming of the Shrew, which my 10th grade honors students are going to be reading. I still have short stories to do. Oh, and semester exams. It's too much. And now I'm mad at myself for waiting.

2--I also have tons of grading to do. Because I wasn't sure what my sub situation would be, I decided to schedule most major writing assignments for when I would be there. While I think that was a good move (I don't really see my sub grading essays), that has left me with a ton still to grade. I can definitely say that I won't be making extensive comments on anything. And I definitely don't want to take anything with me when I leave to have the baby.

3--I'm very discouraged with my 10th grade honors students. Last year, I had a wonderful group who I felt actually learned something, and we had a great rapport. They were very conscientious, and they kept me going during what was a very trying year with my seniors. This year, however, my honors students are spoiled, whiny, unmotivated...and this afternoon I actually had hot tears coming to my eyes after the last bell rang because I feel like I have taught them nothing, and that makes me feel like a failure as a teacher. Granted, part of it is their fault--if they won't read or take anything seriously, I can't really help them--but I can't help feeling that part of it is my fault because I haven't thought of something great to hook them. And I'm too tired to think of something to hook them.

4--Probably adding to all these is that I'm sleep deprived. The heartburn is killing me--Zantac doesn't even help anymore.

So wah wah wah, right? I also worry that if I feel this overwhelmed without a baby, what am I going to feel like with a baby?

Busy week

It's been a busy week so far...

I enjoyed having my parents here this weekend. My mother and I had a good time buying some baby clothes at the Carter's outlet. While I have tons of onesies and gowns, I didn't really have many outfits for "showing off" the baby. Now I do. I also bought Coretta her first pair of Osh Kosh overalls. Too cute.

Monday night, I went to a school play directed by Tim, and it was really good. Tuesday night, I had to go to Parent Night at school, and it was pointless. I had two parents show up.

I finally have a sub for my class (good), and she is a certified teacher (also good), but she has never taught English before (not good). I'm in the middle of trying to get my lesson plans together, and it is proving to be quite time consuming.

Speaking of lesson plans, I better get back to them...

What???

Seriously...LSU lost to Kentucky? What's that about?

That stinks.

It's almost Friday!

Thank goodness it's Thursday. I think Thursday is actually my favorite weekday--it has always been my favorite TV evening (remember when The Cosby Show and Family Ties were back to back on Thursday evenings?), and there's just something about knowing that you have to make it through one more work day before the weekend is here. (Speaking of TV, if you're not watching Friday Night Lights, you MUST put it on your viewing schedule. I love it, love it, love it. You will love it too.)

Tomorrow should be somewhat of an easy day. It's early release because of Homecoming, and quite frankly, that means that I am just babysitting my students for several hours. I've found that it is pointless to try to accomplish anything of substance on early release days because students have already "early released" their brains. Fortunately, my students are pretty well behaved this year and can usually amuse themselves with looking at magazines and playing Uno while I grade some papers. (Wow--I really sound like Teacher of the Year, don't I?)

My parents are coming up this weekend, and I'm excited about that. It will be their last visit before the baby arrives. My mom and I plan to shop for my "hospital bag"--I just need a few things, and from what I hear, the biggest mistake people make is taking too much stuff to the hospital. Other than that, I think we are just going to hang out.

Well, I need to finish tidying up. It finally feels like fall today, so I think I'm going to put out my Pumpkin Pie Yankee Candle. Little things like that excite me these days. I'm obviously not getting out much.

One of my pet peeves

I hate when people spell "definitely" D-E-F-I-N-A-T-E-L-Y.

Other stuff from last week...and stuff from this week

I mentioned in my last post that last week was a crazy week, and boy, was it ever.

In addition to the shower, another highlight of my week was that we bought a new car. We had reached a point where we could either spend money to do "upkeep" repairs on the Pilot, or we could get something new. While I like my Pilot well enough, I wasn't crazy about it and didn't really want to drive it for a few more years. I ended up getting a CR-V, and I love it. I had a CR-V before the Pilot, and I really liked it better. The Pilot was just too much car for me, and the CR-V is actually just the right size. There's enough room for a car seat (or two--should Coretta have a sibling one day), and the pack-and-play fits in the back. I'll have to post a picture of the car soon.

We also had midterms last week. This is something new we are required to do. We had a "work day" Friday, and it would have been really nice if we could have used our work day to, you know, work. I still have midterms to grade, and my goal is to finish them tonight. Woo hoo.

I'm in a tiny bit of a funk--not a major one (no tears!), but a minor one. I have a lot of stuff to do in the next four weeks in order to leave stuff for a sub, but I don't want to do any of it. And that's another frustration...apparently a sub hasn't been "secured" for me yet. This makes me a bit nervous. I'm not sure what the competency level is going to be of the person who will be in charge of my classes. I know that I have more important things to be concerned about, but this "what's going to happen while I'm out" issue is a constant nagging issue in the back of my mind.

Oh, well...this situation isn't going to get any better if I don't do something, so I better get to grading those midterms. :)

School Shower!

I just realized that I haven't posted in a week--oops! This has been one busy, crazy week. I'll post more about it later, but I did want to go ahead and share some pics from my school shower that was held after school Thursday in the media center (as you can tell from all the books). Photo credits go to Tim, who was super-thrilled about attending his first baby shower.

Here's Kim (a.k.a. Theatre Director) pinning on the corsage:


This shot was Kim's idea...she knows how much I love the stomach touching!

Here are Sabrina F. (my guidance counselor bud) and Anne D. (a fellow English teacher) getting ready to serve:
Here are a couple of present-opening shots:


And here are a few random shots of party attenders. This one is of Bonnie and Patsy, two math teachers:


Here's Fraser, another fellow English teacher, obviously enjoying being one of the two males present at the shower:

I would post more, but Blogger is being a little slow with uploading the pictures. It was a great shower, though. I told Tim right before it that things like this make me nervous in a strange way because I'm concerned about either the possibility that no one will show up (thus scarring me for life) or the fact that I'm the center of attention. In the end, I did have fun and once again, people were quite generous and sweet.

So thanks, Kim and Tim, for your involvement in all this. It was fun!