Pumpkin spice your life

So, I got this A-MAZING pumpkin spice candle from Wal-Mart last weekend and just lit it today...our house smells so good I could eat it. AHHHHHH....pumpkin spice foreverrrrrr.

Anyway, Saturday night, 5 p.m., I haven't done a darn thing ALL weekend. That is not good. I always tell myself to do a little on Friday night, a little on Saturday and then Sunday won't be so rough, but does that ever really happen? Not exactly, I usually get consumed with phone calls and sleeping...

So, we have been in school for 54 days and my kids saw phy-ed for the first time on Friday!! Haha...basically, I never go to PE. It's not my fault (really, it is), but our schedule for PE is just whack to being with. We are supposed to go from 11:15 to 11:30 and then go right to lunch. Well, the kids get back from their specials (computer or library) at 11:15. It generally takes us 10 minutes to even get lined up for lunch...so what's the purpose of trying to get lined up, go outside, start a game/activity, line up again, and get in line for lunch...we wouldn't eat until noon and my principal would have a field-day with me. Also...since we are supposed to have 30 minutes of PE everyday, our time from 2:45 to 3 is also reserved for PE...but since school is dismissed at 3:15, my class needs that time from 2:45 until 3:15 to color behavior charts, get bags, get situated for the end of the day and whatnot...BUT yesterday, we went outside and played Red Rover for 15 minutes at the end of the day. PS...not a good game to play with little kids, when someone is running at them they squeal and let them run by which defeats the purpose of that entire stinkin' game. But, after one girl was clothes-lined, I decided maybe it wasn't the best game to play anyhow.

I don't know if anything exciting has happened in kindergarten lately...a certain child has been sent home as usual. However, the school is doing a lot more to keep him in school during the day to try and help him pass. The other day he took all of the little tennis balls that are on the bottom of our chairs and threw them across the room while the rest of the class was learning phonics. I just ignored him, knowing he only wanted attention and rolling under the tables wasn't hurting anyone else so I didn't really care. However, fishing out those stupid balls from the garbage was not my idea of a fun time.

Monday we didn't have school because it was Parent's Day...so my assistant and I were in our classroom from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. We made GREAT progress on our room...sorting out all of our books, hanging paper, filing papers and tests galore, and organizing all of my junk. Granted I also spent the day meeting with parents as they came in and thankfully no one left too terribly mad!

Last weekend we had ProSat...our professional development Saturday in Helena/West Helena Arkansas. After, a few friends and I headed up to Memphis since it was only an hour away. We stayed in a hotel and spent the night enjoying the "city life" or basically everything the Delta doesn't have...chain restaurants, retail stores, an outlet mall, bars with people under the age of 30, etc. We spent the majority of our evening on Beale Street which is batting 2/2 in positive ratings for each time I've been there! They basically close 4 blocks of the street off from traffic and there are people everywhere. They even sell beer in the street, what more can you ask for? Don't worry grandma...I didn't have any (I opted for liquor instead!).

Living with Lois is sometimes a cultural experience in itself...in Memphis we went to a Thai restaurant (not my choice, I voted for Subway but lost) and I actually liked it. Basically I got the simplest thing on the menu, noodles and chicken, but it was still good! And today she made Japanese curry which sort of reminds me of beef stew on rice...but that was good as well! She rarely carved pumpkins as a kid, so I opened that door for her and we spent last night carving pumpkins and although my haunted house didn't turn out quite like it should, we still had fun. We spent today wallowing (i.e. working) in smells of pumpkin spice and roasting pumpkin seeds. Sooooooo good :) :) :)

I am in such distress today....weather channel says it's 77 degrees here right now (that seems debatable, but then again I haven't been outside all day)...but 8+ people called to tell me it was snowing at home. UGH...I make myself wait to listen to Christmas music until November 1st OR the first snowfall...but I can't quite bring myself to singing about a "holly, jolly Christmas" when it's 77 degrees out. One more week....one more week....