Crunch Time!

Well, it's getting down to the wire around here and although I have done a lot, I don't feel at all ready for school to be starting next week. I don't have kids until Thursday, but still, I just don't feel as though there are enough hours in the day.

Today I had a hair appointment this morning and I went to Z Hair Academy to get it cut and colored. The last time I got my hair cut and colored it cost $99 (including tip), but this time it only cost $32. The hair academy is a cosmetology school, so they give you hair styles at discounted prices, and you are not supposed to tip the students. It was a lot of fun and interesting, as I have never been there. I just got my hair colored to my natural color, although I think it's a bit darker than my natural color. I really like it.

I am currently enjoying the gift I got for my boyfriend for his birthday/Christmas. His birthday is on the 14th and his gift came today! I got him a nice massaging desk chair and ottoman. It's wonderful! He is currently at work, so I am enjoying the nice gift. :) Bandit is not sure about the chair. I was hanging out in my room, watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and I hadn't seen Bandit in a while, so when a commercial came, I went to the living room to check things out and this is what I found:

This is my roomie and Bandit cuddled up with her. Now, the interesting thing about this photo is that Bandit is not supposed to be on her futon. We try to keep him on my futon (and my boyfriend's couch, since it's here), but he hasn't really been allowed on her futon. She was enjoying him snuggling with her, and since she was on the futon too, it was ok :) It really was cute to see them cuddling together.

Anyways, I have been getting complaints from some readers that I haven't put up current pictures of my classroom. I still have some things to get together, but here is an idea of how things are turning out. Since these pictures, I have moved my library shelf and computer table, and also put the desks in their groups. Once things are really finished and cleaned, I will try to take some pictures and put them up. It's hard to get a real feel of the classroom if you aren't really there. I am hoping to take some family members by so they can see it in real life. That won't happen until September, so we will see. Anyways, here they are:

This first picture is our calendar area. During the morning, we meet together and do calendar. This is mainly a time to do some different math activities and learn about patterns.This is another picture of the calendar. You can see a shelf in the background and after I took these pictures, I moved my library shelf against the wall to the right. I love how it looks now and it really cleared out the back of the room. On the other side of the small white cubbies in the foreground is a couch and behind the couch is a shelf with text books and math supplies.Here is a picture of the library shelf that I moved to the other side of the room. To the right of it is my computer table (the computers are covered up with the yellow cloth). I moved the computer table against the wall where the library shelf is in this picture. This is also the back of my room.Here is a straight-on picture of my library. There is a lot of junk on top of the shelf that will be gone before school starts, but all those bins have books in them and are labeled (that's what the white things on the front of the bins are).

This is the other side of my back wall and under all that junk is my table. I got rid of my teacher desk last year and I love it. I have more space in the room and I also feel like it is more accessible to the kids. It is a half-circle desk and a nice set of shelves with all my things behind it. And my last picture... this is the front of my room. I have a blue table to the right of the whiteboard (kind of hard to see). This is where the kids will turn in their binders in the morning and where their mailboxes are currently located. If I turned the camera slightly to the left, you would see the wall with the calendar from the first picture.

I am planning to go back on Sunday, but have to work at Hallmark tomorrow and have some friends in town, so I won't make it to school tomorrow. I still have TONS to do, but luckily I have had time to finish some things at home and have a bit more time to get things done next week. Just wish me luck and hope that I don't have a nervous breakdown before Thursday :)

I leave you with this good news: As I was typing this, I saw my first ad for the new season of Grey's Anatomy (one of my few TV shows that I keep up with)... It's 2 hour premiere will be on September 25th!! Start the countdown!