Stanger danger!

Oh, hi! You guys still here?

Clearly, I am still saying "you guys" :/

This was another sorta crazy week... Let's do this quick and dirty. Heart bullet style.

♥ Wednesday was my dad and my little sister's birthday, yep they have the same birthday. My dad got a nice, little bundle of joy on his birthday 25 years ago! We all went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which is my dad's favorite place. It's sort of a tradition to go to dinner for birthdays, my sister and I and our parents. I really look forward to those dinner because there are lots of laughs!!

♥ My sis got a great birthday present... A present that I am benefiting from quite a bit. She has been talking about wanting a Wii for quite awhile now so we could play old school Nintendo games and transport ourselves back to 1989. I was completely blown away when her boyfriend and best friend contacted me to tell me that they are getting her a Wii and to not tell anyone because it's a surprise. Of course I told my mom and we went in on a Wii Fit for her. So now we are my sister is the proud new owner of a Wii and a Wii Fit! We played a couple Super Mario Bros games on Wednesday night, but since then I have been very good and resisted the temptation of plopping myself in front of the t.v. and letting that glazed look spread over my face. (I have way too much stuff to do).

♥ Speaking of stuff to do... My goodness, the next 30 days are hectic. I have a huge research paper to do and a visual to organize to go with it. I'm excited about the subject - how the arts can have positive effects on special needs children, but I want something more interesting for the visual than a PowerPoint. Slides are boring, I want something more like a brochure/pamphlet to hand out, like at the doctor's office? I could set it up like a new drug - but this drug is the arts! No pills required! (Am I a nerd? Ok, don't answer that). Anyone know of a free site or program that I can do that on. Is it on Word?

♥ Thursday night I spent two hours driving a friend of mine around because her car broke down. It really got me thinking... Would they do this for me? I know this friend of mine would, but I got to thinking about other people. I know, this is negative, but it just happened! I know it's not worth wondering... but maybe it is? I'm more concerned about if I was in a jam and really needed help would my friends rearrange their schedule, like I did, to help me? I can only think of a couple...

♥ Wednesday and Thursday I subbed in a 6th grade reading intervention room. I was super nervous accepting the job at first because it was called an "academic resource lab." It makes perfect sense now why it's called that, but at first I didn't know what it was! What if it was ISS? (in school suspension). What if it was BD kids? What if, what if, what if? I accepted because it was a Wednesday job and I it's so hard to get Wednesday jobs because DMPS gets out early every Wednesday and Waukee gets out early every other Wednesday. Well, long story short, I loved it. If that is (sort of) what special ed is going to look like, which so far what I have seen that it is, I am going to love it.

♥ I co-taught with another teacher and she was fantastic! She gave me feedback and complimented my teaching style. She said she had never seen someone so intent on making sure everyone was taken care of and I distributed my time between all the kids to make sure everyone was okay and taken care of. It was so nice! She said she would absolutely write me any letters I may need - and this was after knowing me TWO DAYS! It made my heart soar and that rewarding feel come over me. I have had more rewarding feelings in five weeks of subbing than in two years of managing a top volume retail store. That is huge.

♥ Ok, one more subbing story. Yesterday while I was subbing at Waukee South (which, omg, is a brand new middle school and it is beyond gorgeous. Seriously, these kids have no idea how good they have it) I got a call from the principal at the school I was at the two days before (the reading intervention group). I kind of freaked and was so nervous I did something wrong. Did I sign out? Did I leave something there? Did I say something wrong to one of the students? But, nope, none of those things were it. She had heard about me and wanted me to come back for a long term assignment! Whhheeeeeee! My heart was pounding so hard, I was so excited! Unfortunately, my class schedule didn't work with their schedule and ultimately it wouldn't have been beneficial to the kids so it wouldn't work. But, we had a nice chat and she said that the district needed to get me in there. That felt amazing! DMPS is the biggest district around here (and probably in the state?) and also where I went to school. I am so flattered and happy to be noticed!

♥ I have a coffee date with a guy next week. We've been emailing quite a bit and he seems pretty great! Hopefully we have the same chemistry in person that we do over email - it's so hard to tell sometimes.

♥ A woman in West Des Moines was shot last week and the entire city is still pretty shook up about it. She was 27 years old and a realtor for Iowa Realty. She was working in a model home here in WDSM and someone came in and shot her twice. Nobody knows why, there are no leads. I know this stuff happens in bigger cities all the time, but it doesn't in WDSM. I'm already skeptical of just about everyone I meet, but this makes me even more skeptical. You could say "stranger danger" really stuck with me as a kid.

♥ My Saturday morning scene is picture perfect right now... I am still in bed, glasses on, coffee cup full, laptop in my lap, newspaper sitting next to me and a pile of books (mostly textbooks) with Libby curled in a ball sleeping. Ahhhhhh, blissdom.

Well, that wasn't really quick and dirty, but oh well! I had to get you all caught up! ;)

What does your typical Saturday morning look like?