still standing

Cute, even though they have sharp teeth...

I actually have an off moment!   

And I've been working for a couple hours straight now, so here is that random once-in-a-great-while update.  Really, you should just go to my LJ.

I have decided that I have THE cutest second graders ever.  Seriously.

Teaching is wonderful, and such a gift.  I was evaluated again, and passed with flying colors :o)  My teacher says I'm a natural - so appariently I'm doing well in the eyes of others.

I also had to talk to one of my little guys today about why we don't kiss the walls in the hallway.  They are SO random!  (This is my guy that I had to tell doesn't have hairballs, and question why his fist was in his mouth...)  When I turned around, Mr. Wilton was standing behind me, cracking up.  Good times :o)

My small group reading tested the waters for Reader's Theatre, and did FANTASTIC! 

I also had them share their fables with the class.  We did a study on fables, and I had them write their own, which we turned into a book.  Each kid got a copy.  I got one parent note and one in-person parent comment on how much they loved the books :o)  It makes me happy to hear that they like what I'm coming up with for their munchkins.

I am so blessed to be able to go into work each day and do something I love so much!  We just have so much fun, and they breeze through their material, and make learning interesting.  They are so receptive to what I'm doing and saying that we can do really cool things - like bake, play with Oobleck, and do station work.

Other than that, life has been good.  Minor bumps in the road, but nothing worth my time or effort.  I had an awesome Valentine's Day, spending most of it with my kids (whom gave me chocolate and the sweetest cards) - we partied like you wouldn't believe, dinner with friends, talked to my dad for a while, a movie with a friend over at South, and some general crazy townhouse girl fun to wrap the night up.  All-in-all, great.

And, for Jenn (and Katie):  Oooooh!  Kisses for you!  Kisses for you!  Click on a button and you'll see what we do! ... Oooooh!

I just thought I would let you all know that over the past 24 hours, I have removed some of the most vile things I have ever seen from the refrigerator. 

I hope you find this as amusing as I do in hindsight.  Becuase when I was trying not to vomit while faced with these things, I was not laughing.

Nothing grosses me out like the following, as I have just learned:

(And keep in mind that this stuff has been in the fridge since mid-December... about a month... by no control of my own.  I just happen to be the first to come home, and I just moved in, so it was a ... um... lovely... welcoming gift from my housemates.)

Milk that is so curdled I have issues getting it out of the jug.  I could have made some (nasty) cheese.

Something that once was a noodle and meat dish (?), left in a covered casserole dish complete with spoon, molded over in a grey fungus.

Very old and now very green potato salad.

Carrots that are rubbery, grey and rooting.

Celery that I held up to Leslie and exclaimed "Bunnicula was here!" ... it was seriously that yellow/white.

Very very curdled yogurt and sour cream.

A frying pan left dirty in the sink with water in it and a lid on it.  It was so gross I wasn't going to touch it, and was half tempted to leave it in the upstairs bathroom or hallway, but thought better and just left it.  Fortunately for the others living in this house, Les took pitty and washed it.  After Spoo and I both nearly puked on it.  In the words of Les, it smelled like "rotting old people"... I couldn't have described it better.

Tin foil with food bits on it left on the counter... they were pretty moldy as well. 

And these just baffles me -

A metal cake pan left in the microwave with bits of cake still in it.  But by time I got here, the cake was so hard that I could have thrown it at a small creature and killed him with it. 

Empty bottles left either in the fridge or on the counter seriously FEET from the garbage/recycle bin.  Amazing.

Fortunately I have this awesome friend named Leslie, and another one named Becky, and the people in my house owe them HUGE.  I mean huge in the way that they should be feeding those two for free for the rest of the semester.  Because after my rage through the fridge, they came over today while I was teaching and cleaned up after the housemates so I wouldn't have to.  They scrubbed, and in the end, I could actually tell it was a kitchen.  There was no more food spatter on the counter, no more nasty dishes with God knows what caked on them, and the living area did not smell like rotting old people any more.  They even cleaned off the stovetop, which I was afraid of... especially after it started to burn and smoke this morning when I was trying to scramble eggs because there was so much crap on the burners.

They are amazing, and deserve a lot for being so kind.  Becuase I wouldn't have been.

I am in London.  It is great.

That is all you will get her.  Go to my LJ if you want detail :o)

http://www.livejournal.com/users/magpiefirefly

That is where you need to go to get the DL on me!

Here's a little something for you though:

I'm taking summer courses at MCC - it sucks.  I will be leaving on July 15th for Washington DC to work as a nanny.  I will be there for a week-ish, then driving to Conneticuit with the 2 babies to drop them off.  Then Kelly (the mom) and I will be driving to ND, and moving in.  Once out there, I will take care of 4 kids - 13,12,4 and 7 months.  Girl, boy, girl, boy.

It is going to rock.

I will be back here on the 10th of September, and leaving for England on the 15th.  Heck yes.