Poison Ivy..........Not so fun!!

So while I am helping my husband move some brush to a burn pile, or maybe it was when we went to the river, not sure which one,  I got poison ivy in the process. I wasn't really alarmed at first, but then again I couldn't remember having it before either. My mom said I had never had it, maybe she's right. So it started out as a couple of spots on my arm, and quickly turned into a full blown poison ivy rash. I have never been so miserable in my life. Ok, maybe a couple of others times, but can't think of any at this moment. It kept spreading on my arm, then up my arm. Red, itchy, and eventually sores. I tried rubbing alcohol, calamine, a friend's poison ivy med from a dr, nothing. Then I ended up with some more spots on both my legs. Terrified at this point that it was going to get EVERYWHERE, I called to get a shot. The clinic in town would not see me (for specific reasons) so I called a dr in Houston who called me in some pills. Thank goodness, because I don't know that I could have handled more cream. I was completely miserable by this point.

I have taken two days of pills, no more itching, and Cory says it looks like it is healing up. I am one happy girl! My first and hopefully last episode of poison ivy was terrible. I pray I never get it again. Terrible! Not fun at all!! I am definitely ready for this huge red blotch to go away on my arm. People freak when they see it and my kids have noticed it and I'm sure they have gone home and told their parents. I explained to them that it was poison ivy so hopefully the kids remember to mention that when they tell their parents that their teacher has a big, huge, red sore on her arm!!

W.W.

Abby playing in the river

Sun bathing with Alyssa and Tide



Labor Day Weekend

Sorry I have been mia for about a week or two. Things get crazy and then I don't have time to breath. Tomorrow, I have nothing before or after school, so I'm hoping to get another post in. Check back to see if it really happens.

Over Labor Day weekend, Cory and I were just gonna stay home and chill. Well we did but we also chilled at the river with some friends of ours. Cory wasn't too thrilled to go at first, but once I talked him into going and we were there we both had a lot of fun. It was a little chilly at first, but once the sun came out it was quite nice.

We sat by the river and talked,

grilled hot dogs, made smores,

 and watched the dogs and Lys play in the water.

It was so fun to watch Abby play in water for the first time.

She loved it! Wasn't too crazy about getting too deep when

 she couldn't reach, but in the shallow she had a ball!! 

We are so glad our friends invited us to come and

play instead of being stuck in the house all day. It was

a beautiful day and we had so much fun with really

good friends!!

More Pics of Miss Abby

I just had to share some more picts of Miss Abby! She is just

the cutest little puppy I have ever seen!!

Me and Abby

Now that she is feeling better she runs around like

a mad women, eats ALL the time, and gets into everything!

She has only barked twice. I don't think she knows

she can bark yet.

She loves to be outside and runs from

you when you try to make her come in. She fetches

the ball and brings it back, most of the time.

She loves her bed and hates to sleep on the floor.

She always wants to snuggle and sleep in your bed.

She always wants to be where you are and

follows you from room to room. We love our

Abby and are so glad we got her!!



My Birthday Surprise

My birthday was actually August 13 but I have been so busy I haven't had time to post about it. Cory and I have both wanted a dog for a while now but the places we have lived so far weren't really dog friendly. No fences, no dogs allowed, too small of a place. Now that we have moved to Summersville we have a house that has enough room and dogs are allowed. We have a big yard but no fence. But we have a little sun room that a dog could hang out in. We have been talking about and looking for a dog for probably a month now. We really had our eye on a Boston Terrier because a friend of ours had one and we just loved him. We looked and looked and looked. They were either too expensive, not very cute, not a female, too far away, etc..... We finally found one that was about 30 minutes away so after I finally talked Cory into going and getting it, we did. Let me tell you, it was the most disgusting place we have ever been, When we pulled up the grass was up to our knees and there was junk everywhere. The closer we got to the house the more it stunk. It was terrible. It smelled like dog and pee. I just kept thinking if this is how bad it smells outside, I don't want to go inside! We knocked on the door and stood there for what seemed forever. Finally a women came to the door. Surprisingly she looked half way descent. We hesitantly went in side the house. It didn't smell as bad as I thought but it was still disgusting. She had sold one of the puppies while we were on our way so we had no pick. He was a cute little thing but he was covered in bites and Cory said he looked like his fur was coming off. Her husband was sitting on the floor picking flees off of him. Cory made up some story that we were really looking at the other puppy. Thank goodness she bought it and we were out of there. Neither one of us wanted to take home a dog that was covered in fleas or that might have medical problems. We hated to leave him in that filth but we couldn't bring ourselves to take him home. So we were back to square one.

By this time school was getting close and we both had so much to do to get ready for it. Looking for a dog got put on the back burner and I forgot all about it. But my wonderful husband didn't! Since we live in a town that has five hundred people, with any sort of good shopping at least 45 minutes aways and the really good shopping about two hours away, I knew I wasn't getting anything. I decided to go work on my room that morning to get some more stuff done. We had planned to both come back to the house around 3ish and get ready go to out to eat. Cory kept the car because he said he was going to "wash" it. So when 3 rolled along he came and got me and we headed back to the house. When we got into the kitchen there was a cake with candles and a couple of presents. When I rounded the corner 2 our of friends were waiting. I was told to go see what Merlyn had. He was sitting on the couch with a pillow over his lap. I wasn't too sure about going to see what he had but I did anyway. When he pulled the pillow back he had a baby Boston Terrier with a red ribbon tied around her neck. I was so surprised and couldn't believe Cory had actually gotten us a puppy and wo me knowing it. She was so sweet and everything we had wanted.

She was a very good puppy and was very calm. She slept all the time and didn't eat much. We just passed it off blaming it on the fact that she was still a baby. About five days after we got her it was time for another vaccination. So we took her in and got it done. The next night she started throwing up and wouldn't stop. We called the vet who said to just watch her, if she started swelling or getting measles like bumps on her to call him, She just kept throwing up and not acting right, so we called the vet back and talked him into letting us bring her in. So at about 10:00 that night we were at the vet trying to figure out what was wrong with our puppy. He said she looked ok but was going to keep her over night. Said that she either had ate something or was allergic to the shot she was given. The next day they said she was doing ok and that we could come and get her. About a mile down the road after she was picked up, she threw up again. I called the vet to see what he wanted to us to do. Bring her back in, he said. So she stayed another night at the vet. The next morning we called and they said she was fine and had not been throwing up. We went to get her only to find her still acting weird. She wouldn't eat, she played a little but not much. That afternoon my husband decided she just wasn't acting good enough for us to leave it alone. So we called a different vet to see what they thought. Bring her in they said. We took our sick little puppy once again to the vet. He asked questions, we asked questions, he ran a blood test, took her temperature, and finally checked her for parvo. Sure enough, it was positive. She had parvo! I was never so mad in my whole life. The other vet should have checked for that and he never did. They were force feeding her and she was throwing it back up. We assume they had been lying to us the whole time. The new vet told us our choices and we decided to leave her with him. He would do his best to keep her alive. She had a 70% chance of survival. Thank goodness three days later we were able to go and get her. She was a different dog. When they handed her to me, I could barely keep her in my arms, she was squirming so much.

She is spunky and so lively. She wants to play all the time and she has so much energy. She wants to eat all the time and acts as if she is starving. She still likes to sleep a lot but I do blame that on being a puppy and all of her energy!

Miss Abby 11 weeks old

Finished Classroom!!

So I finally got things together and finished my classroom. If you didn't see it before click here! It was a mess!! I had to go through everything to see what I had and then didn't really know where to put stuff. Thankfully I was finished Monday before Open House that night and actually got to go home for an hour to chill for a minute. My nerves were driving me crazy.

I really like how my classroom turned out and love the polka dot apples I chose. I think they are super cute and can be used over and over. I still need to get some numbers to hang on the wall but I feel my room is neat and not overly decorated. Some classrooms have every wall space covered with some kind of poster or distraction. I believe that too much can be over stimulating for the kids AND me!!

View as you enter my room

View from my desk. Door is on the right.

View of my desk, Smart Board, from front of the room

View from front of classroom

View from front of the classroom

Daily Five Board

The CAFE Menu

Behavior Management Clip Chart

All students start the day on green, which is ready to learn. Then

they can move up for good choices, or down for bad choices. It

seems to be working good so far and I have only had to have one student

move their pen down. Hopefully we can keep up the good

behavior. They like to talk so I'm not sure how long it

will last.

The first three days of school went great. The first day I was a little scared. But after

preparing my own lesson plans day two and three went well. I think once we get rules learned

and the kinks worked out, things will run smoothly. Lesson plans still scare me a little but I think after I find a good lesson plan template it will all fall into place. Hoping my first full week of school goes great!!

First Day of School

Oh let me tell you, I am one tired teacher! My first day was good, my kids were pretty good, but I'm exhausted!! I still feel a little unorganized so that was some of the tiredness, from running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I brought some stuff home tonight so hopefully I can get some things done, if I don't fall asleep first.

I was very nervous this morning, more because I wasn't completely organized, but also because it was my first day of teaching ever. The morning went well and as students came in and got settled I began to get more comfortable. I did have one cry as mom brought her in. I was totally not expecting this out of first graders, but I pulled her away from mom and once mom was out the door the crying stopped. Thank goodness!! She ended up being one of my sweetest girls. I have a lot of cuties, sweeties, and some talkers. I already know of some talkative girlie's I'm going to have to move. But that's part of it. I have already noticed my lazy one, and boy do I mean lazy!! I'm going to have to figure out how to light a fire under his butty. It takes him FOREVER to get anything done. He just sits there.  I know most of the kids names, but there are still some I have to think about. I know it's only the first day and I will learn all of them very soon. All the teachers have been very nice, wishing me good luck, asking how my day went, and I even got a little gift this morning. I'm so glad I work with nice, caring people. Oh I have to tell this, I had a sweet little girl come in this morning who told me she had something for me. She tells me she didn't have an apple this morning to bring me, so she brought me a banana instead. While giving it to me, she accidentally broke the stem and it was covered in brown spots. Super sweet thought!! But I had to throw it away. Of course I didn't let her know that, she thinks I ate it. I had another girl that went home from Open House telling her mom the whole ride how pretty I was. Then I got a card from her this morning that said she loved me and that I was so beautiful! Awwwww!! Just melts my heart!! 

I did take pictures this morning of my classroom before kids showed up. I would post them now but I am so tired. I will try to post them this weekend. Hope everyone's week is going well! It's almost Friday!!!! :)