Teacher time

I forgot to mention.... I have a real job! not subbing anymore. It was a tough situation cause I had already kind of committed to this sub thing, but I got a job offer at a junior high and I have been teaching there for one week now. I had to take it because of course the permanent sub thing was going to end and then I'd be out of a job again. I was blessed though to be offered this one. It's actually really perfect. I only teach half day so I'm done around 11:30, my classroom is huge and we have a HUGE budget, and I have an office! Also I had always heard horror stories about teaching junior high, but I love it. These kids are great so far. It's nice to finally have my own classroom. =) Ah how nice to have a job. Phew!

welcome 2011

It's 2011 already?! ! So far in 2011 I have...well? I have been looking for a job! It's weird to be jobless and have so much free time with no homework to worry about. I've tried to keep myself busy. I am now the proud owner of a "project runway" sewing machine (the whole project runway thing makes me feel cooler) and I did some sewing I've been dying to do! We now have pillows on our bed and I fixed our curtains, fixed a whole in my pants, and I have other big plans for my new slick machine. Thanks to mom and dad for the graduation money to help fund my projects =)

oh it's so beautiful! it works like a dream! I never knew I would get so excited over a sewing machine...what have I become.

It hasn't all been "summer" free time, I am going to be a permanent sub for a girl I know who is having a baby soon. It's teaching art at an elementary school and I might get her job next year, schwing. All about networking. And finally we went to go see my paintings at the Springville Museum...we went twice and it was closed. Oops. My fault.

And yay I have started to train for the marathon this summer. ahhhh I'm so excited.

Playing house

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Our pretty star got cut out of this image, oops. Although our tree may be small, it makes our house feel like Christmas! Since school is out, and I am SO glad it is (cause I don't have to go back next semester), I have been playing with the house and doing some painting (update on the art blog).
This is where I've been doing my work. Welcome to my tiny studio! If you can't tell, this is a kid's table. Ha! I found it by the dumpster and grabbed it thinking I might use it...It doesn't really fit with our house or me, but because our green ottoman is small too...it might just work! After sitting here for a while my back starts to hurt, but it has some kid's name written in crayon on the top, so I don't mind messing it up!

This is my favorite corner of our house, yes I have a favorite corner. One day I arranged our books by color and I love to look at them! I know I'm a grown up, but I love playing house!

Give Thanks

So we had a gggrrreat thanksgiving break, wish it wasn't over. On thanksgiving day, david was getting everything set up for the turkey and asked where the 4 gallon jug of peanut oil was that we had bought on tuesday. I didn't take it out of the car cause it was HEAVY. Unfortunately, that meant our oil turned into a solid block of ice, as close as oil can get to ice. I didn't think about it getting down to below zero at night. Oops. Our oil took a nice hot bath for a while until it was ready to use....It was about 20 degrees outside, but that didn't stop todd and david. They were so worried about dangerous flames that they lowered the turkey down on a broomstick. There were no fireworks, would have been exciting though.
We ate with some friends and todd and kristi. It was awesome! Everyone contributed and I am thankful for all of them!
The boys and their broomsticks.So I am dumb sometimes. I've been feeling a little sick in the mornings. On Friday when I went to work, I was feeling really tired and wierd. A little numb actually and dizzy. I actually fell asleep for an unknown amount on time....at work. Well this morning I did the same thing. After taking the same medicine I took on thursday...it suddenly dawned on me my symptoms might be being caused by the medicine. I finally noticed the big moon on the label and the little words that said "night-time." I am such a dork for taking drowsy medicine in the middle of the day. I kept falling asleep at church and had to give the lesson in relief society. By then, I was feeling it. I crashed at home after laughing at my stupidity.

Cause to celebrate

Last Sunday was david's birthday!!! For several years, Mark has been making David a doughnut cake. Apparently it's a tradition they adopted from the cartoon Johnny Bravo. This was my first time trying to make this. It's usually made in a circle cake pan, but we don't have those so I tried it in a pie pan. It worked for the most part. However the last layer completely crumbled when I tried to take it out. So I mixed it with icing and sculpted a doughnut out of it. It tasted good...mostly. Well David liked it so I guess that's the most important thing. Happy birthday to David!!!! He is the best man on earth.

Rewards

I feel bad about my last post, I sound pretty cynical. I was just having a bad day. So I think I should share a rewarding teacher moment to make up for it.

My students did these blind contour self portraits and then chose a color scheme to water color them. They turned out pretty awesome so I set up an exhibition in the school hall. I had to choose 4 from each class to display because of limited space. One little boy's painting I thought was awesome so I took it to display of course. I handed back everyone's paintings and this little boy raised his hand with a concerned look on his face. I came over to him, he asked where is painting was. I told him I thought it was so beautiful, sincerely, that I wanted to display it in the hall for everyone to see. He agreed that was ok. As I walked away I saw a HUGE smile light up his face. I found out later that day this boy has had a hard time in school. He has some learning disabilities and hasn't really been recognized in school. My heart warmed up knowing that a simple thing like choosing his picture could make him so happy. This is his painting, he's in fifth grade.

AHHHHHHH

So sometimes I get the urge to do something drastic to relieve me of this stress. I've been in control of the classroom for a few weeks now and every day is different. Some days I come home ready to conquer the world and others I feel like the world is caving in. It's pretty much a flip flop from day to day. I can't decide either if I'm just stressed and hormonal or if I'm really not liking this. At first I thought, oh these kids are so cute how wonderful. And now I'm frustrated a lot. It's mostly my fault cause I haven't figured out how to manage 6 classes a day with 45 kids in each class with many in each class with ADD, learning disabilities, English issues or whatever. Plus I'm starting to really dislike the school system.

Ok this all sounds bad. Really there are some rewarding things I've seen so far. Some have just done some really wonderful art. It's a great feeling for them to grasp a concept. I also love that elementary students always say "hello mrs. chinn!" when they pass me in the hallway. So among all the craziness, I can find some things to smile about I guess=)

and here's jessi's painting: (also on the art blog and facebook I think)