5 Things

Today was a good day.  A great first day. A fabulous first day with no pre-planning.

And while I am completely exhausted and Soo needing another glass of wine, I'm going to take a few minutes and share the things that really stuck with me today.

1) The ice machine at Dickerson has really good ice.  You know the ice at Zaxby's?  The ice that never seems to melt?  That's what kind of ice we have in East Cobb.  It's a perk.

2) You can locate the boys' locker room by following the cloud of Axe.  You're surprised???

3) I should have paid attention in science.  I was a bit (*just a bit...) out of my element today.  There were more than a few times when I had to say, "Ummm, hang on a sec, let me check on that for you."   Do you remember how to find the number of neutrons in a particular atom?  Or do you know why an atom is positively or negatively charged?  Yeah... Exactly.  I better brush up on my science.

4) All middle school girls befriend others the same way: with compliments.  It's good for the ego to be surrounded by 8th grade girls who compliment your clothes and hair.  Made my day.

5) Boys, no matter how old, appreciate a pat on the back.  There were a few times when I had to hold myself back from ruffling their hair (It's not preschool...), but I could tell they appreciated knowing I care, even if I just met them.

So those are the points I took away from today.  The school is great, the staff is welcoming, the kids are amazing, and the learning curve is gigantic.

Game On

Ok, it's T minus 11 hours until game time. My lunch is made, my outfit is picked out, little people arrangements are made for before school and after, I've read Chapter 12 in the science book, and I've moved past the nerves.

Let me tell you, Chapter 12 is a snooze.  Would it be bad for me to tell the students that?  Does the periodic table excite YOU?

Anyway, I'm ready.  My hubs gave the best pep talk ever.

"Tomorrow you will go to work, you'll be lost all day, you'll come home.  You'll be tired.  Your feet will hurt.  But you'll be fine."

You gotta love him, right?  He tells it like it is, for sure.

But he's right.  I won't have any idea what's going on tomorrow.  But I'm entertaining the idea of giving each class a 1-minute question-and-answer session.  I've used this before with kids.  They can ask me anything (within limits) and I will answer inside a 1-minute time frame.  Then we will move on.

Of course, I've never used that with 8th graders.

May be problematic.

Either way, I'm excited about my new adventure.

They're just kids.  And kids are still kids with the same insecurities and needs, no matter how much money their parents make or what kinds of jeans they wear.

So I'll tackle tomorrow with the same fervor I had 12 years ago when I entered the doors of Floyd Middle School.

And hopefully these kids will love me (and learn from me) as much as those kids did!

Not the 8th grade I remember

Yesterday was hard.  On many levels.  I've never been "the new girl;" my first job, there were 15 new hires.  My second job, I came in during pre-planning and there were other new teachers as well.  My third job, I had been subbing and my kids had gone to school there, so everyone already knew me.  Yesterday, I was completely new.  Not one person in that building knew me except my assistant principal.

Can you say scary???

And not only was I the new kid on the block, I'm in a new grade level with a new subject area surrounded by new walls in classes with kids who have been with another teacher for almost 2 years (some of the ESEP kids have been with the same teacher since 6th grade).

And 8th graders are intimidating.  And big.  And these 8th graders are rich, which just adds another level of intimidation.

But if you ever tell these kids I said they were intimidating, I'll beat you with a stick.

Luckily, the staff at the school is awesome -- they were all very welcoming and tried to make me feel at ease.  The teacher whose place I am taking (she's moving into a GEN ED position and I'm taking her ESEP position) is my new best friend.  She has gone out of her way to make sure my transition in will be smooth as possible.

But, for some reason, when I got in my car yesterday to drive home, I just lost it.  I was completely overwhelmed and exhausted, my feet hurt, and I was scared to DEATH of what Monday will bring.

What's wrong with me?  I've totally got this.  I'm a teacher, for goodness sake.  I've dealt with some of the roughest kids in Cobb county when I worked in south Cobb.  Most of my general ad kids were worse off than the special ed kids at my new place.  I think my brain had just absorbed all it could take yesterday (every time I turned around it was, "Have they told you about this?" or "Did she tell you that?"  and the answer was always, "No ..."), and tears were the only way to release some of that energy.

I know everything will be fine.  I will go to work on Monday and get in a groove.  Tim and I will get a system going at home.  The kids will be OK without me in the afternoon.  Everything will be OK.

It's just the change.  I'm no good at change.  And even after spending the day at school yesterday, I have no idea what I'm walking into on Monday.  I still don't have a full picture.

But I also know that after a week, it will all be habit.  And I'll wonder how I ever stayed away from the classroom for so long.

So, yes, I'm nervous as hell.

But I'm also excite beyond belief.

A Leap of Faith

I'm so glad I ran into an old friend at Taco Mac last weekend.   And by old friend I mean we've known each other for a long time, not that either of us is old.  In fact, I think both of us have aged rather gracefully --

I digress.

Tim and I were out for one of our many weekend dinners last weekend when we spotted a family of friends a few tables over.  I don't know why but I'm always so shy about approaching people in public ... I don't know if I'm just not sure if they will remember me or if I'm not sure that they will want to talk to me.  You know how you play that game of, "I'll sit here and see if she comes to talk to me first," while the other person is sitting at their table doing the exact same thing??

What?  You don't do that?

Anyway, Friend's hubs and boys got up to go to the restroom so I used that as opportunity to go over and say hi.  Of course, Tim and my poor kids ended up sitting at the table ad waiting because Friend and I don't know how to keep a conversation short.

I won't you bore you with the details of our conversation, but I will tell you this --

She asked me what I have been up to and I mentioned the interview I had at Dickerson.  While she was excited for me, it was something she said about her current situation that really struck me.  She told me that she was quitting her job and going full-steam-ahead into her Rodan & Fields business.  She was going to sell her car , pull her boys from their expensive preschool, and take a leap of faith because it's what she believed God had planned for her.

A leap of faith.

We all need to do that once in a while.

So on Friday afternoon when my phone rang at work and it was Cobb County BOE calling to offer me a position at Dickerson Middle in East Cobb, I stalled for a minute.  I heard myself (in somewhat of an out-of-body way) telling this woman on the phone that I live really far away from Dickerson ... and that I had an interview in Cherokee a few days back ... and that I was scared of never seeing my kids again ...

Then I heard myself ask, "By when do I need to decide?"

WHAT?!  Keisha Morris, you have been waiting for this opportunity for FOUR YEARS.  For FOUR YEARS you have filled out applications and waited for the calls to interview to come in.  Now here you are, questioning a job offer at the number 2 middle school in Cobb County?  What are you thinking??

After she told me that she would need an answer by Monday afternoon (THIS afternoon), I said, "OK, I can let you know by then ..."

And then I stopped myself.  And I remembered what my friend said at dinner.

And I took a leap of faith.  I told her, "Never mind ... I'll take the job.  I absolutely want this job."

And I couldn't be happier.

Of course, I could go on and on about how awesome the interview was and how comfortable I felt when it was over.  I could tell you that it makes a huge difference when the principal makes you feel like you are wanted, or even needed, at the school.  It makes a huge difference when you have an "inside source," gunning for you to succeed the entire time.  And it helps when the people you currently work with are also rooting for you to get this new position because they know you are going to shine brighter when you get where you are supposed to be.

So thank you to my "insider, my new principal, my current co-workers, and my family for all the good vibes.  And thank you to my friend who reminded me that sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and just trust that everything is going to turn out just like you hope.

Stained

For the life of me I cannot figure out how my 6 year old boy gets so darn dirty.  After scrubbing stains out of clothing for the last 30 minutes just to have to wash (and possibly re-wash), dry, and then fold them, I am amazed at how much stuff collects on Tanner's shirts.  Not only is there yogurt, PB & J, chocolate, and marker, but there are also signs of Sharpie, chalk, grease, toothpaste, and some other un-nameable substance.  Smells like rubber cement so I'm not entirely sure what it is.  They don't use that stuff in school anymore, do they?

Anyway, since there is no possible way he made all of that mess himself (though he did leave the house one morning with syrup, water, and toothpaste on his shirt ...), I'm convinced that he not only wipes his own face with his shirt, but his friends must also use his shirt as a napkin.

Or tissue.

Ewww.  I hope that's not what the un-nameable substance is ...

Oh, the joys of having boys!

While I Process

I've got some time while my hair processes, so I might as well take advantage.

Last night, Tim and I took the kids to see the Creekview Grizzlies play against Sequoyah.  I figured since my kids are in the Sequoyah district and I have a little baby cousin who QB's for the Creekview, it was a good game to go watch.  So we loaded up the crew and headed out, dressed in green and blue (yes, I know, not black and gold ...).

First, I had no idea how much it would cost to get into the game.  I never had to pay to enter the gates of any high school game.  It cost our family $30 to get in this game.  Seriously.  (Side note -- Completely worth it.)

Second, Friday nights must be the nights all the high school hoochies whip out their shortest shorts.  I'm pretty sure I saw some butt cheeks at that game last night.

Third, the "kids" look very different now than they did back in my day.  I said several times last night that the kids today look much older.  I know.  It makes me sound like an old maid.  But the girls had much bigger boobs and the boys looked like full grown men.  As I watched the team warm up, I was amazed at the amount of facial hair on the field!!

Fourth, divorce sucks.  I know ... seems completely unrelated to football.  But we went to the game with my brother-from-another-mother to watch his son play.  And as we sat amongst the family that included his ex-wife and her new boyfriend, her other ex-husband and his parents, and my aunt, I was reminded of how much I loved this family when they were a complete unit.  Shane and Dan were one of my favorite couples; I loved being at their house and around their kids (who are now on the brink of adulthood).  I hate that their family fell apart.  However, it was nice to see everyone getting along last night (and I hope it wasn't just for show).

Last, Go, Hayden Hall!!!  How awesome to watch the little boy that I used to hold in diapers.  He is an awesome player and an even better young man.  Shane, you've done good!!  I look forward to possibly watching him on TV one day!!

10 minutes

Idea stolen from friend and fellow blogger Tara Atkisson ...

I have all these thoughts flying around in my head; not necessarily ideas, per se, but thoughts.

So instead of waiting for the proper blog to form around the thoughts (which I've been doing for several months now ...), I'm just going to spout them off.  Right here.  Right now.

And I'm going to do it in 10 minutes because that's all the time I have before I need to get ready for work.

• Annie finally finished her second puppy class and is a graduate of the Advanced beginners class at MerryMac Dog Training.  No, she wasn't the highest achiever in her class.  But what do you expect when a) her classmates were all retrievers, labs, and poodles, and b) she missed a class because her people had to go out of town for a week?  I think she did very well ... but I am a little partial to the cute little thing.
• I interviewed for a job last week.  Most people already know that.  It was very grueling ... the process, not the interview.  It was my first interview since I graduated FROM COLLEGE IN 2000, and this interview was very different from my interview with Jim Snell all those years ago. No, I didn't get the job, but I got some valuable experience out of it.
• Tanner lost a tooth.  Finally.  and he has two more that are loose and on their way out.  I'm such an awful mom ... T doesn't even have a tooth fairy "pillow" or "box" to put his teeth in; he had to borrow his sister's pouch because she has a pouch AND and pillow ...
• Tim and I have been looking for a new place to live.  Because it's such a long story to explain (and I don't really understand it myself), I'll just say its time to move on.  I love my house.  But my job prospects are limited in Cherokee County, and we're thinking it may be time to head back out to Cobb or Paulding.  Luckily, Tim can work from wherever we may roam, so roam we shall do.
• I made a meeting with Kendall's teacher for next week.  She brought home 3 bad grades last week, and I'm freaking out.  She looped this year, which means she has the same teacher and the same friends in class.  Love this idea of keeping the teacher, but I'm stating to wonder if the same friends are a bit of a distraction.
• She will kill me if she knows I ever posted this, but Kendall is "budding."  Are you familiar with this?  That's right, folks.  My 8 year old daughter is building some boobies.  Let's just hope that she gets more than her momma and grand momma.  ;)  The scary thing is that the pediatrician says that Aunt Flo usually follows within about 2 years.  Ugh.  So. Not. Ready.
• The reason i stopped blogging so much was because I had developed quite a routine with my exercise.  Unfortunately, for my energy and my backside, the exercise tapered when we went on vacation in September.  The trip was awesome, but the weight gain was not.  I've gotten 2 pounds off and I guess it's time to "push play" again and get the rest off.  
• Or ... I can just add on some layers and cover them up with fluffy sweaters because IT'S FALL, Y'ALL!!!
• I officially suck at being a friend.  I realized last week during my job interview process that I absolutely, whole-heartedly do not deserve some of the friends I have.  For those of you who go out of your way to help and support me, I love you.  And I'm really going to try harder to reciprocate.
• It's been 10 minutes and I have so much more to say but I must tame the beast that has become my hair.  Or the hair that has become my beast.  Whatever.

Come back another day and I'm sure I'll have more to share.  For now I'm off to get pretty for a day of wiping butts.