ten on tuesday ~ the "i have 6.5 more days to go" edition

A bunch more randomness that will actually be posted on Wednesday instead of Tuesday because our computer is acting like a retard. I really did write most of this on Tuesday.

1. Six and a half more days to go. Then school's out for the summer! I could tell today the kiddos are really shutting down. Must've been because they had such a nice, sunny weekend. Honestly, it was hard for me to be there today too. Around 11:30 or so, I was ready for a nap.

2. Friday afternoon we're setting up camp. Camp Read-a-Lot. The 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms are separated by a big partition/curtain thing, so we're opening it up, pitching some tents, building a fake campfire, packing some snacks, and relaxing by the blue butcher paper river with some good books. We've got mystery readers coming. We've got a dad bringing in his guitar for some campfire songs. I picked up a whole boatload of camping themed books from the library this afternoon (I'm going to display them somehow in a cooler) and then stopped at Goodwill and bought them all a 99 cent chapter book for a take-home incentive. The kids are excited. I think it's going to be extremely fun. Mostly because I'm going to wear Phil's big camping hat. This idea, by the way, is completely stolen from a teacher friend of mine.

3. Did I mention yet that I'm going to Las Vegas in July? Six teachers from school are heading there for a two day Singapore Math conference. The entire trip was paid for by Title I funds from the public district our school is in. I don't know how that all works, and I don't really care. Just sign me up for free professional development. I also can't stop singing "viva Las Vegas!" which then makes me think of that other song "viva Viagra." How I hate that commercial.

4. I went online to check out the hotel we'll be staying at/conferencing in. Found out there's a topless comedy show every night. That makes me laugh just thinking about it. Oh, and they also have a Russian ice show. I'm pretty sure they wear tops in that one, but I think I'll pass on both.

5. Today we had Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. The whole entire school. They were brought in by two students whose parents paid big bucks for them to be "principal for the day" at the school auction. I thought the doughnuts were a nice extra touch.

6. Phil and I took a nice walk around the neighborhood tonight. I was admiring the cool little evergreen trees that have crooked trunks. He was checking out everyone's grass. It's just funny to me the different things we notice.

7. Last week we had Teacher Appreciation Week at our school. Every day we had something yummy to eat. It went like this: Monday - All American lunch complete with BBQ chicken and apple crisp. Tuesday - coffee bar with danishes and other delightful fattening things. Wednesday - Lunch from Around the World prepared by the Romanian and Ukrainian families. Thursday - brunch for lunch which included one of the best egg casseroles I've ever eaten and later in the afternoon a dessert cart came around. (I chose the key lime cheesecake in case you were wondering.) Friday - catered lunch from the principal. Talk about feeling pampered.

8. I made my niece and nephew a countdown calendar so they could keep track of how many more days til they see me. I wrote fun little messages for them almost every day. They're due for some major spoilage.

9. I need a new exercise plan. Since we dropped our Y membership, I've totally fallen off the bandwagon. (See #7.)

10. Phil bought me a can of spider killer today. (That's why I married him. He's always out there protecting me.) I know it's probably harmful to the environment and all the polar ice will melt because of it, but I don't care. There were three spiders that looked incredibly similar to this one hanging around the back side of our house the other day. From my best research, it's most likely a jumping spider. And I'll not be having one jumping on me. Look at it, it's like a mini tarantula with white spots on its back. And I know what a tarantula looks like because we have one named Rosita that resides in the 1st grade classroom.

I was going to take a picture of the ones I saw, but then I thought to myself, "Self, that would be a stupid thing to do. It might react badly to the flash." So I borrowed one off the spider site.