Bingo + Karaoke = A Good Time For All!

On Friday night a group of us hit the Greenwood Senior Center in Seattle for some bing0-karaoke fun. (http://www.greenwoodseniorcenter.org/) Some of us went early for the $5 spaghetti feed, while others came at 7pm for the main event.

Now you may be wondering why a bunch of 30/40 somethings would want to hang out at the senior center on a Friday night, but you have to understand that this event has become the hippest place to be on the first Friday of the month! There's an eclectic mix of all ages, and the wine and beer only cost $3. The music is great, and the crowd is rowdy! This time over 160 people reserved tables, which was good since they ended up turning away people at the door!

If you're ever in the neighborhood on the first Friday of the month, you should check it out for yourself!

A Week in Review

Since the beginning of the new year I've been trying to jot down notes about how school went. I'm keeping the entries short and sweet, just enough to remember all the crazy ups and downs of the classroom. Here's some of the more stressful moments of this week:

• One student (Let's call him "D.H." for Dear in Headlights...what he looks like when he gets in trouble and tries to play dumb) threatened another student while playing chess...chess, of all things!
• I called New Kid's mom's cell phone to let her know about the incident report coming home in his backpack. Didn't get to talk to mom, but listened to her ring back tone..."Birthday Sex" by Jeremih. (If you haven't heard it before, you might want to look it up and give it a listen. It gives this story so much more wrongness than you'd expect.)
• I also had to call another student's house to let her mom know about the incident report in her backpack. Let's call this student Highlights. I didn't get to talk to Highlight's mom, but did talk to an older gentleman (grandpa, maybe?) who didn't want to take my name or phone number down. No surprise I haven't heard from Highlight's mom yet.
• Took away New Kid's Ipod after risking a power struggle with him. When I "won" the battle, I felt like I was from that reality t.v. show, "World's Strictest Parents."
• New Kid continues his crappy week, with lots of talking back, crawling under the tables, and refusing to do work. Called his mom at lunch, but all I got was another round of "Birthday Sex." New Kid was mad that I called home, so he refused to go to lunch. I had to call the principal to stay with him until she could get him calmed down and out of my room.
• New Kid was playing too physical at recess. (Why was he playing when he was suppose to be walking around with the playground duty, hmmm?) Anyway, he got another write-up and wouldn't go to the office to calm down. This time I had to have the nurse come and deal with him since the principal was out of the building.
• New Kid came back calm, but grew angry again when he realized he didn't get Friday Free Time due to missing homework. Had to get the nurse again.
• Highlights pretended to flip off a classmate and then threatened to rip off two boys' ears and skin.

Where Did the Weekend Go?

Every Sunday night I find myself wondering, "Where did the weekend go?" Even this weekend seemed to fly by and it was a day longer than normal. I think I've decided that every once in a while I need to write down what I "have done," and ignore my endless "to do" list. That way, I feel like I've actually accomplished something. So here's what I've done since I left work on Friday (in no particular order) :

• took a nap
• attended a partner massage class
• babysat one of the cutest babies around
• picked up Taco Bell for lunch
• planned a ghetto-fabulous birthday party
• picked up pizza for the party
• picked up an ice cream cake for the party (I love me some "ice cream and cakey cake!")
• picked up gifts for the party
• wrapped gifts for the party
• picked up adult beverages for the party
• decorated for the party (while the afore mentioned cutest baby took a nap)
• watched a bad movie (Beyonce's Obsessesed)
• had adult beverages (orange juice + Peachtree Schnapps = yumminess)
• ate a pizza dinner
• ate cakey cake
• watched part of Saturday Night Live
• slept in
• got a peppermint hot chocolate (thanks to one of my Christmas coffee cards)
• took a walk around my new neighborhood
• did three loads of laundry
• watched another bad movie (Dear Me: A Blogger's Tale)...I had hoped to be inspired, but sadly I wasn't. At all.
• corrected a math assignment
• corrected the spelling tests
• corrected two reading tests
• watched a disturbing movie (Nursery University)...It's a very well done documentary about the competitive world of nursery schools in Manhattan.
• corrected a reading assignment
• corrected the science final project
• watched another movie (Up by Disney/Pixar)
• corrected two sets of cursive
• inputted all of the above into my grade book
• slept in again
• had breakfast at Ikea
• delivered meatballs to two friends
• explored a local fabric outlet
• went to the Salvation Army (Bought my mom lots of yarn for less than a dollar a skein!)
• had a late lunch in the International District
• tried two new Asian pastries
• talked to three friends on the phone
• hit an uber Christmas clearance sale at Kmart (Bought myself the holiday cookie jar I had been looking at. Instead of $19.99, it was only $0.99! I got seven bags of stuff for a little over $18! Woo-Whoo!)
• tried out a step aerobics class at a gym I might join
• returned something to Ross
• had dinner (and a glass of wine)
• took a shower
• watched Chuck and Heroes
• put some of my laundry away
• scooped the litter boxes (and washed my hands twice)
• talked to my parents on the phone
• and blogged

I know that sounds like a lot, but when I think of the ongoing "to do" list in my head, I can feel my anxiety start to rise. I didn't use to feel this way. I think all aspect of life became more stressed when I started teaching. Any suggestions for how to deal with it all? I'd love to hear suggestions. :)

-Pigtailed Teacher

Best (and Tackiest) Present Ever!

Last Monday one of my students walked into class and handed me a belated Christmas present. (Yay! I love presents!) But since it was the first day back after break, I didn't have time to ooh and ahh over it immediately. Instead I thanked her for the wonderful surpise and put it aside to look at after school.

At the end of a pretty smooth day in third grade, I sat down at my teacher's desk and noticed the present sitting on the floor next to me. The first thing I take out of the gift bag is a gem in itself...a glossy 8 x 10 photo of my student (and her brother, who I had last year), fresh from their holiday trip. I then pick up the other item in the bag, a medium-sized, wrapped box...I'm thinking chocolates, yup, definately chocolates. But boy am I wrong! This is so much more than chocolates. This is something I can use in the classroom. Something I will smile at each time I see it. This is....

a glossy cat key chain holder!
(engraved with a golden "Florida" in the lower left hand corner!)

Obviously this student had listened to my stories about Mugsy and Mookie (my two senior kitties) and thought of me while walking around a crowded gift shop in Orlando. What a sweetie!

If you're interested in learning more about Mugsy and Mookie, check out their blog at: http://www.crankyoldcats.blogspot.com/

See Dad, I Told You I Didn't Quit!

So it's been over two and half months since I've written, but as I've been telling my dad, that doesn't mean I've quit blogging. It just means I took an extended vacation from it.

During my unplanned hiatus I did some serious apartment hunting, found an apartment, had to pack up the old one, move, and then slowly unpack at the new place. Also during this time our computer broke, and then our rebuilt computer called it quits, too. Since then I've hard a hard time motivating myself to do anything...unpack the last of the boxes in our den, find a gym that has lots of "fun" aerobic classes, or even blog, for that matter.

But with the new year comes renewed dedication for setting goals and actually trying to obtain them. One of mine of course, is to blog more. (Not hard to do considering my recent activity!) Anyway, this time though I'm looking to post twice a week. If I write more than that, great...I can consider it a bonus and give myself a gold star for effort. Talk to you later this week!
-P.T.