MIA- that me

I've been MIA for almost a month.  In a little over 4 years of blogging, this is the longest break I've ever taken by a long shot.  Enjoy random summer shots as I explain...

(This maybe the stupidest thing I've ever paid full price for... Lou picked out some summer shoes for the pool and theme park.  He wears them though....)

It's summer and the kids and I are out and we're staying happily busy. Also, I'm getting things ready in 'land of third grade' and that is keeping me fantastically and happily busy.  I'm going through boxes and boxes of things from years ago when I last taught elementary school.  I've been going through four years of preschool materials and weeding out items and sharing and passing along others. 

(The logan berries have come and gone.  We picked this many every day for two weeks.) 
 

(It made the most delicious addition to strawberry jam, which hubby helped make!  Afterward, he said, "I don't know how you do this by yourself."  Thank you very much.)

(That's a happy kitchen counter- every surface is covered with the making of jam.  Those would be the kitchen cabinets I'd like to paint this summer...)

The biggest project has been going though over a dozen boxes of files.  I've taught pre-k, 2nd,3rd and 6th and at times wrote 75% of my own curriculum.  I loved doing that, but I accumulated tons of resources and files and papers and booklets and brochures and maps and outdated dittos.  I've gone through each box, each file, each page.  I've tossed half.  At least.  I had kept multiple copies of most pages and class sets of anything I had copied and we didn't get to that year.  Some pages got made into scratch pads, because I am my father's daughter.  My sister may have wanted to make fun of me to my face, she refrained and probably just did it behind my back.  I might have too.

 

 I had to formally apologize to my sweet hubby who has (not without complaint) moved these boxes from house to house over the past 8 years that I haven't worked full time.  Some boxes have been with us all almost 14 years of our marriage.... sorry dear.

 (There have been few if any garden post, I can't even remember... it's not my best year.  My effort is low this year.  Too many pots in the fire as they say.  We did grow a few radishes... that is a radish, right?  I don't even like them. Tomatoes are behind schedule)
 

 
I'm 75% moved into my new classroom. There are still books to bring over and the newly sorted and organized files to slip into their new files cabinets.  This is what I started with...

 

 

 
I've cleaned and tidied a little and brought some of my things in, but I can't do anything with the bulletin boards until August and can't get really set up until right before school.  Summer camp inhabits my room until the week school starts.  It's a lesson in flexibility.  I'm working on all the 'behind the scenes' things.

We had a new staff orientation in June and I must say I felt like an old maiden.  There were three of us 'returning from being home with our kiddos' gals and other 8 or so were fresh from college pups.  Five are getting married this summer.  The talk at lunch that day was half the table (the pups) talking about wedding colors and lighting at the church and the other end (us 3 old girls and the admin staff) discussing past class pets, students we are now friends with on Facebook, and trying to keep up with new technology.  As it turns out, one of the new principals is younger than me.  I'm not sure when that happened, my boss and my dentist are younger than me.

(Lou got another haircut.  He begged daddy to do it and then freaked out a few swipes of the clippers in.  We were fairly committed at that point!  Yep, we cut hair in the storage/laundry/gross basement room)

My other non-blogging includes that my new school email and blogger are both on google and I can't seem to be logged into both at once.  If I'm doing anything with school email then I'm signed in and don't want to witch out to be blogging signed in.  Anyway, I'm sure there's a fix.

(One of my dear students gifted me a gift card to the donut shop... the kids and I went and had to send this thank you)

Last excuse. I' used to do a lot of my blogging while on the treadmill at home.  We joined the Y again.  I'm exercising there now.  I'd better too, after all those donuts.

(This bee picture was taken with my phone.  Technology just amazes and baffles me .... I'm going to have to befriend a pup.)

 

So.  I don't know if I'll blog much this summer, or once school starts.  I don't know.  I have projects photographed and more planned, but they might sit in the camera all summer.  We'll see.