Back to Reality

So my four day weekend was wonderful! Wednesday (as you know from being an avid reader of my blogging) Sherlock and I went home to see the parents. Thursday I got up way too early to go and hang out at Mom's school for part of the day. It was nice to see a different perspective on how a school can be, and I definitely know I want to be in a small-town school versus the city-district-school I am in now... but there are always positives and negatives to each situation. Still an interesting day though. Sherlock spent the day playing stick with his Frost (aka my dad) and napping in the sun. After school I came home with Mums and then took a very nice long nap. It was nice to just hang out with the parents for the evening (and do free laundry!)

Friday I got up late, ate Mommy-breakfast, and then meandered my way home. It was another beautiful day, so the pooper and I stopped off to dip our toes/paws in the creek and look at the pretty leaves falling on the water. When I got home I fed the Fat Kitty (as he was adamant that he was starving, even though he had plenty of food while I was gone) and then took another nap. I love naps :) Friday evening I hung out in my pjs, cleaned up paperwork stuff, and was in general... lazy.

Saturday I stayed in bed (other than getting up to let Sherlock out and feed the kitty) until 11. Sherlock and Fat Kitty both got to snuggle on the bed, so they were pretty happy with that situation. Then after a nice chat with the brother, I got up and went for a long hike with the pups. The weather couldn't decide if it wanted to rain or not, but we didn't mind... and the occasional rain made the fall leaves smell nice and fally :) I got back just in time to jump in the shower and then headed over to Marci's for dinner. We had lots of fun! I got to play with her two-year old and she got some adult-time so everyone was thrilled :) After the toddler went to sleep we tried out their new backyard-fire-pit and chatted until we got sleepy.

Sunday, I figured I should get up early to make getting up early on Monday easier.... but then I rolled over and went back to sleep :) I was up by nine and got everything else around the house cleaned up and organized. Then Marci called me and we decided to go see "The Lucky Ones." It would make a much better book than a movie, but it wasn't awful (you just don't need to go see it)... but the funnest part was just hanging out with my friend who makes me laugh :) For example - styling her hair by sticking her head out the window while we were driving down the interstate. Oh boy :) Then the pooperdog and I went for another nice hike (a bit shorter as I was sore from Saturday) and he swam lots. We met a family of dogs that included two newfoundlands, one st. bernard, a german shepard, and a black lab. They were hilarious -- it was like a herd of dogs!!

So overall, the weekend was fun and very relaxing. But of course getting up at 5:30 this morning sucked. It was fun to go see the kiddos, but being in class for 3 hours this afternoon sucked too... and of course the four chapters of homework tonight is also on the list of "not so much fun." Oh well. Such is the first day back after vacation :)

I'm Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :)

*ahhhhhhhhh* :) So for the first time since June I actually have nothing to do. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It feels very nice. The very first thing I did was.....
took a nap :)

And then I loaded up Fat Kitty's bowl and then the pooperdog and I jumped in the car and headed up to the parent's house. It was a lovely drive, the aspens are starting to change and it was lovely and sunny. And now I'm getting ready to sit down and enjoy some Mommy food :)

Have I Mentioned?

Have I mentioned how much I adore my kiddos? Today the students came back from art with Mexican suns they had made on thin sheets of metal. Sharla and I were admiring them, and I saw one student kind of hanging back, and when many of the kids went to put their stuff away, he came over to me and said, "Ms. Frostman I want you to have mine."

"Are you sure?" I asked him. "Its very special."

"Yes I am sure!" he said. "I want you to have it because I don't want you to ever forget me!"

I adore my kids :)

I told him that I didn't need his gift in order to never forget him, but he wanted me to have it anyway, so take a peek at the lovely new art-fridge I have :) This sunshine will last me years and years and years.

Happy Fall!

As it is my most favoritest season, I just had to say....
Happy First Day of Fall!! :)

Moonset

The internet decided to be nice, so here is my cool picture :)!!

Semi-Annual Say No To Homework Day!

Yesterday I celebrated a semi-annual say no to homework day. It was delightful :) I was verrrrrrrry lazy in the morning, followed by a very productive clean up the house spree. Then the pooperdog and I went and explored a new park -- Stratton Open Space. Apparently it is very popular for mt. biking too. It is actually very close to home, so its easy to get to. I think it will be our official new favorite place for a while because it has great trails that wander over some open space and then into nice scrubby oak (just like at camp!) and pine trees. A good up/down/flat variety, and the best part is that the trails wander around a small reservoir! This means swimming time for the pooperman!! He was thrilled :) I reveled in the sound of the wind and soaked in the sunshine, and I thouroughly enjoyed not even thinking about all the stuff I "should" have been doing. The trails were near the northern base of Cheyenne Mountain (aka where the Stargate is for you science fiction fans) and there is a shrine on the face of the mountain (to Will Rogers I think) and it has chimes that echo off the mountain. Very very cool.

Today (after a yummy lunch with the parents) I need to work on my math video/project and revise my MR paper, both which are due this coming week. But only 2 1/2 days left of class until I get a break! yay!

Oh... and I keep forgetting to post this very cool picture I took last week of the sunrise/moonset looking from my apt towards Pikes Peak. But the computer is being dumb right now, so I will try later.

Long Week... Happy Ending

Sorry for the lack of blogging this week... it was a long and busy one including lots of homework for math class. The big project for this class is to plan, teach, and video tape a math lesson and then write an accompanying paper critiquing ourselves and tying in all the things we've learned. So I taught/taped on Thursday. The lesson went pretty well... I haven't watched it yet to start writing the paper, but I think the kids enjoyed it.

I had to share the absolute highlight of my week though. On Friday afternoons we have "community time" in our classroom. Part of this time we call "conflicts and compliments" where we pass a globe and the kids are allowed to say anything they want: how they feel about their week, something good, something bad, etc. So this Friday one of our students got the globe... thought for a little while... and then said, "I want to thank Ms. Frostman because she always explains things so we can understand them."

That, in a sentence, is why I am working my tail off right now! And I cannot tell you how amazing it made me feel.

Best part of my Monday :)

This is the email I got from my brother:

Tonight at bedtime, Amy and Sam were talking about God and Samuel said, "Mom, I think God bit the moon. Cause it's not round - it has a bite."

As my big sorority sis Bridget was known to say... this is so cute it makes my uterus hurt :)
I can't wait until I have my own children to light up my life. But until then, at least I have my nephews to shine in once in a while!

In need of fun!

So my best friend Jessica is in Vegas. You might not think that this is so bad, except that she shouldn't be allowed to go to Vegas without me! We had the most AMAZING trip to Vegas a few years ago. I won't go into the details (what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!) but it was probably up there on the list of the best times of my life. The Westward Ho, Xpedex guy, winning at Little Dude, the birthday crown, walking back to the hotel at 7:30am..... ah... the good times. So as a nostalgic toast to my bff (she is probably toasting just fine on her own!) here is a pic of us in Vegas:

My other bff Kyle had a fun party this weekend, and since I was not invited (I think you had to be in the state to be on the list) I didn't get to go there either.

*sigh* I am in serious need of some fun. But since I am not delusional, I know its not going to be dropping in my lap anytime soon. So, I did settle for some extra sleep and some time with my puppy dog this weekend, and I take comfort in the fact that in the short term I get a 4 day weekend in two weeks. More importantly in the long term, I will have lots of summers and spring breaks to go visit my friends and/or call them from super fun/exciting places :)

More Friends :)

So today was another long (oh so long) and busy day. But there were two highlights of my day today and they both revolve around the amazing friends I have here!

The first was a very simple thing... I had to run a bunch of errands between leaving school and arriving on campus, so I didn't have time to eat lunch. I met up with friends walking from the car to the classroom and buy the time I got to the classroom I had a sandwich and an apple! I know it was not a big deal to the friends that gave them to me, but it certainly made my day better! :)

The second was, by far, the best part of my day. One of my friends made the point of stopping me while walking to the car and saying that I am one of the best friends she has ever had. I got teary (part of that, I have to say, is probably from exhaustion) because, while I know this person has been going through some rough times, I had been feeling like I hadn't done much to help her... and apparently I had done a lot more than I knew! I think she is just an amazing, awesome person, so the compliment made me feel super warmfuzzy. Thanks friend! :)

I know this program is making me work REALLY hard, but I definitely believe it will help me to become and amazing teacher... but in addition to that, the friends I am meeting here are also helping me be a better person... and for that, I am truly thankful. I think that who I am is definately influenced by the people I love... so if you are reading this, that most likely includes you :)
And now I should quit procrastinating and get back to finishing my homework :)

Garfield knows what he is talking about!

There are some Mondays where it would just have been better to stay in bed! Ok so this day wasn't that horrible, but it was certainly Monday all day. It probably didn't help that my day started with waking up late (I forgot to change my alarm back to normal times from waking up to go see Kyle time). This sleepy not-ready-for-the-day-ness was not helped by the fact that it was chilly/grey/cloudy all day today! Blah. The kiddos were so out of it this morning that poor Sharla was dragging them along (I was yawning in the back), and one of our trouble-makers started the day off on the wrong foot, so then Sharla, who was also already somewhat Monday-morning grumpy, was even grumpier. Add to this the fact that our Monday is always a weird schedule (Monday school days are shortened by an hour and a half because there are district-wide meetings on Monday afternoons) and it was not a great morning at school.

Needless to say, by lunchtime I was glad to have the excuse to leave and go to class. I would have much rather climbed into bed to take a nap, but instead I went to class (which was freezing!!) to hang out with my friends who are all sick :( Luckily I think its all the same thing I had already, and I am feeling ok so far. Class was blah today though... apparently not many of us had done the reading, so after those of us that had input/ideas had chatted for a while she asked us not to talk so then we all got to sit there in awkward silence for a while since no one else had any other thoughts to contribute. Then we worked on a project that was, in my opinion, not all that valuable but did not get time to talk about the homework problems which would have been much more valuable. Oh well.

I decided to end the day on a good note (other than the fact that I have spent the last 4+ hours doing homework and am still not finished) by buying myself Papa Johns for dinner (I had a killer coupon! woo hoo!) So that was the best part of my day :) See..? Garfield = lasagna, Polly = pizza! :)


*Sigh* now its time to finish more homework and be glad that tomorrow is not another Monday.

Friends

Friends are good stuff. Today I got up to early (it was worth it thought, keep reading) and drove up to Denver to see my bestest friend Kyle. He was in town for a conference for some technical mumbo-jumbo stuff (my opinion, he liked it) this past week, so Sherlock and I drove up to see him before he headed back to ID. Now some of you are thinking... Kyle? Like "the ex?" Yes... the ex. I think we are pretty lucky people to be able to be really good friends even though we aren't "together" anymore, and I'm awfully glad that I still have someone who knows me so well and loves me to be there and support me in life. There is nothing "ex" about that!! :)

Anyway! We went to breakfast and then took the pooperdog to the dog park up in Denver. We had a nice walk and talk and Sherlock loved getting wet and muddy and wet :) I am sure he misses his Dad, and I know Kyle misses him -- who wouldn't? He is the best dog in the world :) So it was fun to just have some friend/dog combo time today :) I dropped Kyle of at the airport, stopped in the gallery to say hi to the crew, and then drove back home. Now I am debating between getting some homework done and taking a nap. I got a lot of work accomplished yesterday, so for now, I think the nap is going to win!

I like being me :)

Today was a good day to be me! Well... not at 5:30 when my alarm went off after three days of getting to sleep late, but after that. After spending yesterday on CC campus in class and going through registration and spending too much money on more textbooks, and then spending the evening writing a short paper, reading two chapters, and working math problems (yes! on the first night of class!!! AND on a "holiday") I was really looking forward to seeing the kids this morning. It was a productive morning because I helped grade some papers, and then I was working with four/five kids during reading groups. Its always fun to work with a small group of kids, and since we switch for reading it helped me get to know some of the kids we now have from other classes. After we switched back, I had to explain to all my kiddos that I was not going to be around as much for the next two months. We decided in our CC class (which is math these days) that we would be in school M, T, W mornings and back on campus in the afternoon and then Th and F on CC campus in the morning and back at our schools in the afternoon. Anyway! I was explaining this to the kids and I had to bite my lip from smiling because they were all so sad. Will you be here tomorrow? Will you miss us? What if we need you? My favorite was (since I told them this would last for two months) Will you be back for our Halloween Party?!? I just love them to pieces!! :) I got extra hugs on my way out :)

Since the kids go to recess/lunch at 11:40, I leave then to have my lunch hour and get to CC class by 1pm, so I get an extra 20 minutes which is very nice. Today I grabbed a sandwich from Jimmy Johns (Mmmmmmm!!!!) and went home to let the pooperdog run around while I ate lunch outside. It was a BEAUTIFUL day outside today, crispy and cool but sunny! So it was so nice to just sit there and enjoy the sunshine. I got to campus a little early to make a few copies and was able to pick up my big art project from the Ed. House. I got an A and lots of compliments! yay!! :)

Class this afternoon was short because we have seminars every Tuesday afternoon for all the MAT students (elem and secondary), but we were able to finish part of the assignment during classtime so it meant less homework this evening. Then we all walked over to the seminar. All the ed faculty was there, and even though it hasn't really been that long, it was fun to get to see some of them :) I noticed my science professor laughing when I asked a question during seminar and I asked him afterwards why he was laughing and he said "It was just such a Polly-question! I miss having you in class!" What a nice compliment!! :) I also got to see some of the other education (non-masters) students who have sat in on our classes from time to time, so there were hugs all around. These people are mostly just amazingly fantastic people, its so great to be a part of the crew.

Then I came home, had some yummy mommy-leftovers for dinner, and took the pooperman outside to play while I worked on homework. I finished sooner than I expected, so I got to call my friend Gwen (I forgot she is off to the equator - Costa Rica or some such place next week, so I am glad I caught her!) and chat for a bit. I have also done my dishes, sorted some laundry, and taken out the trash (it was stinky!!). I feel so productive! :) Once I finish going through things for tomorrow it will be early to bed for me.

So while I am not jetting off to Hawaii like my parents are (have fun Mom & Dad!) ... I'm pretty happy with just being me today.