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Yikes! Summer is almost over!

Yes, it's sad but true. Summer is coming to a close. A lot of schools around here started today. We are Urban Promise, thankfully, are not quite that on the ball. We don't start till September 8th, and I'm looking forward to the extra time without kids around. We start inservice a week from tomorrow. I am not looking forward to setting up my classroom. It takes soooo long. I think kindergarten and Pre-K are extra tedious because there are so many little toys to disinfect and organize and just lots and lots of stuff. I am glad I have a car this year, so that means I can go as early and stay as late as I want, so if I'm on a roll one day, I'll just keep working. That should be nice. I plan to blast my music, bring snacks, and just plow through. Last year while I set up my classroom, I listened to Pandora over 40 hours, and then I couldn't listen any more for the rest of the month.

Today I successfully navigated the crazy Delaware DMV and got my Delaware license. I also got my registration switched over to Delaware and got my DE license plate. I miss my Pennsylvania driver's license and license plate already. I'm going to complain for just a minute: Delaware requires that you have a "neutral expression" in your license picture. Ugh. I typically do not look so good with a neutral expression. I like to smile. Plus I was not really prepared when the woman at the DMV told me I couldn't smiled. So it looks like a mug shot. And I'm stuck with it for 5 years! Oh well, I guess bad driver's license pictures are just part of life.

I've still been doing home visits for school. I went straight to one after the DMV today. I left in plenty of time, but then I missed getting on the highway because the GPS was confusing me. Then when I got close to the house, the road was completely closed, and it took me about 10 minutes to get around it. So I was about 10 minutes late. I had to park a little far away, and I walked up to the house (which was two apartments). A woman was sitting outside with a baby, and I couldn't remember the name of the mom I was there to see, but I told the woman I was from the Urban Promise School, and that I was going to apartment 2. I asked if it was up the stairs, cause there were 3 doors, and she said no, it was the door on the right, and that she'd get the mom. Well, basically, that was the wrong apartment, and I sat and had this really awkward conversation with a woman who thought she had somehow forgotten she'd scheduled a meeting with me. But then she took me to the right apartment, and all was well. It just adds to my repertoire of good home visit stories from the summer.

It is quiet here at the apartment because Bethany's on vacation for 3 weeks before after-school program starts up again. I only have the fleas to keep me company. And maybe the mice, although I haven't seen any of them yet. I really, really don't want to see any. But I decided if I do, I'm going to name them after the mice characters from the Kevin Henkes books to make them seem less scary. Like Chrysanthemum, Lily, Chester, and Wemberly. What can I say, I'm a kindergarten teacher!

I've been wanting to go to some yard sales this summer because I had fun going to them last summer, and this weekend I finally did. Well, Bethany and I tried to go to one last weekend, but then we didn't even park and get out when we got there, because it didn't look promising. I went by myself this weekend...2 of them I just drove by cause they looked lame, but one was like a flea market in a middle school parking lot. And I got a box of really nice used children's books for $20. So that was exciting. I might try yard sale-ing again this weekend. Or I might just sleep in!

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