Summer, summer, summer!  Yeah!!!  Spent a few days out in the desert with a friend, and am ready to relax a bit before I start planning for the new school year.  But first . . .  I needed to finish up in my classroom!

At the end of the school year, it's always time to clean up, put things away, and get things ready for the summer custodian crew to come in and clean desks and carpets.

This year, I decided to move some things around now, to have a better flow for next year.  (It's hard to fit 35 kids into one room, and still have space to walk around!!)  But once I start moving things around and trying to organize, things got worse:

Yikes!  This is how I left it . . . but I went back a day last week, and here's what it looks like now:

Ahhh!!! Much better!  Time for the custodians to come in and get those desks back to being germ-free and ready for a new crop of students! 

And time for me to get on with enjoying some SUMMERTIME!!

An unexpected visitor

So, on Monday, as I was walking out to the garage to get in my car to go to my math class, I came running back into the house, yelling at my hubby, "Oh no, I just saw a rat running in the garage . . . I saw its long tail running from near the cat's bowl to under the car!" 

"A rat?" he says.  "Maybe it was a lizard.  I see a lot of them out in the yard."

"NO, it was a rat!  The tail was really long, and I saw its round behind."

"Well, I can't do anything about it today because I have to go to work.  Maybe I can put a trap out tomorrow."

Off to my class I go, but I was not happy to think that there was a rat living in the garage.  Yuck.

Tuesday afternoon, after my class, I ask him if he's put out a trap yet.  "No, not yet.  It was probably a lizard.  They have really long tails."

"NO, it was a rat!  Can you please put a trap in the garage??"     (Let's not even go into the fact that a lizard's tail looks more triangular than a rat's tail . . . I'm pretty sure I can tell the difference!! )

A bit later, hubby asks, "Was it a mouse?  I have a mouse trap.  It might have been a mouse."

"NO, it had a  r-e-a-l-l-y  L-O-N-G  tail!"

"Okay, I'll put out both a mouse and a rat trap.  Just in case."     (Fine. Just put out some kind of trap, please!)

Fast forward to late Tuesday night (actually early Wed. morning) . . .  Our son was up at around 2:00AM and went to the garage to get a bottle of water.  He heard my husband up using the bathroom, and I was awake as well (we don't get a lot of sleep around here, clearly) . . .  so our son says, "Dad, I saw what mom was talking about in the garage.  It's not a rat."

WHAT?!?!   Not a rat?!?!

"But I know why she thought it was a rat . . ."   "It's a . . ."

Wait for it, wait for it . . .

. . .

.  .  .


"It's a baby possum!"

"What?!?!"         (Well, at least I was right --- it's not a lizard!!!)

So at 2AM, hubby & son go looking for it in the garage, but they couldn't find it anywhere.  Hubby says to me, "You know what that means. . . tomorrow we'll have to pull everything out of the garage
and try to find it and get it out of the garage."

Wednesday morning, we start pulling things out and purging as necessary.  We find possum poop.  I freak out even more.  The thought of this thing crawling up and onto my shelves (and pooping) is gross.  But things start to make more sense ... the cat's water bowl being completely knocked over; the cat not coming into the bedroom at night like she usually does (she was probably watching the possum tread on her territory).   Note:  The cat's water bowl and litter box is in the garage; she gets out their through a cat door from the kitchen.

We spend hours moving things and cleaning and purging.  No sign of the possum.  Hubby says, "Well, he must be gone for sure through one of the open garage doors today, because there is no sign of him, and we've made enough noise and looked everywhere, so I'm sure he's gone."

"Whew!!"

Later that day, around 6:00, I walked into the kitchen.  The cat is eating her dinner.  Suddenly I hear a noise . . . at the cat door . . . and see a shadowy figure . . . BUT IT'S NOT THE CAT!!  The cat is eating her dinner inside the house.   It's the . . .

. . . POSSUM!!         (No, this is not the actual possum . . . are you kidding me? There was no way I was going to get remotely close to the thing!!!)

So I freak out, yell, keep it from coming IN THE HOUSE through the cat door.  Hubby & son jump into action --- they find him, capture him (using a broom, dust pan, gloves) and quickly put him into a trash bag.  Yeah . . . victory!!!

Don't worry, all of you animal / possum lovers . . . they took the trash bag and let him loose (not right next to the house --- near the park down the street). 

I just home he doesn't find his way back to my garage!  

Summertime, summertime, sum .. sum...  summertime.  Oh wait; summertime is officially here, but me?  My first day of summer vacation, I decided to . . . go to a class.  Yep, 8:00 AM in the morning, there I was, sitting with about 30 other teachers, learning about (drum roll please) --- Common Core Standards for Math! I know, sounds extra exciting, doesn't it?  But I felt it was important to attend.  And no, it didn't end with just Monday's meeting.  I got to go again on Tuesday, and I'll be there again on Friday!! 

Who says teachers have ALL SUMMER off?!?!  Lots of us go to trainings, read trade books, write lessons plans, and do other planning over the summer.  It's just how we roll.

And next week . . . I'll be rolling into summertime for sure, with a trip to the desert and lots of sunshine.  Let the summer begin!

Always lots TO DO!

Spring Break has come and gone (insert *crying* here).  I had my "things to do list":

* Read Hunger Games
* Redo son Mike's bedroom
*Help friend Amy move into/decorate new home

So how did I do on my "to do"?

* Help friend Amy move into/decorate new home

The movers came, and I helped by providing moral support . . .
and being the official photographer, so we can get together and
scrapbook the move at a later date.  I also helped my friend pick
out some new items for her new place, and volunteered my husband
and his truck to pick up the items from the store and drive them
over to the new house. Her  new place looks wonderful . . .
she's just too far away from me now!

 

* Redo son Mike's room

It may not look like much right now, but we did a LOT
of work on the room! This shows the floor sans carpeting ---
which my husband and I tore up. Of course, then you have
the tack strip and the nails to deal with, and the glue, and
the dirt that has accumulated over the past 20 years or so!
We had to work on it over a few days.  Right now it's staying
concrete, to be covered temporarily by an area rug --- long-term,
we'll put in hardwood floors.

* Read The Hunger Games

Didn't read it.  Didn't even crack open the cover.  :-(
No real reason, just got busy with other things.
So my friends still can't talk about the movie in
front of me --- don't want to hear about it until
I've read the book first!

So, I did just okay on my to do list, but I got a lot done over Spring Break . . . including lots of sleeping in and relaxing, which is, of course, the best use of a week's vacation!

Happy Easter!

Image by Stephanie Ackerman @ Homegrown Hospitality

It's Spring Break

Spring Break finally arrived!  I don't know who was more excited, the kids or the teachers!!!

So far, here's what's on my "to do" list:

* Read Hunger Games
* Redo son Mike's bedroom
*Help friend Amy move into/decorate new home

There's much more to do, but those are my immediate goals.  So happy I have a whole week to fill with activities other than school work (although, I will have to do some school work over the break . . . that's the nature of being an elementary school teacher!!)

Happy Spring!

Fate

My new best friend is . . . Manny! He doesn't like "social networks" but he is an awesome guy, who values respect for others andwho leads by example. Here's to people who come into our lives at the right time to give us the right message that we need to hear at that moment . . .