YUCK!

Sorry I haven't posted any pics or more stories about having the kids up to visit. I promise I will, things are just kind of crazy right now.

I have been busy this week with our PDC University, a series of workshops our District PDC puts on each summer, and with beginning the process of trying to put my room back together. I had to wait until I could get back in due to the yearly waxing of the floors. What I have discovered is that my new classroom has been the dumping ground for papers, files, unwanted supplies, etc. that any teacher who has retired, been fired, or left for greener pastures for the past few years. I have gone through more junk each night this week (think at least 3-4 hours a night after meetings) than I care to think about. Added to that is the fact that when I have went through boxes of papers, filing cabinets crammed through with ditto books, old student discipline logs, old notes from parents, I have been inundated with dead and live bugs. My skin is literally crawling as I write this. I'm assuming they have been drawn to the boxes and cabinets due to substances I'm sure were candy at one time stored in the boxes or stuck to the papers. I've managed to sort, recycle, and shred what needs to be shredded. I have to put some Science and Social Studies together for the 5th grade teachers to go through and my plan for tomorrow night is to thorougly clean every surface in the room and vacum up all of the bug carcasses littering my floor. I can't believe people would just dump their stuff. I'm truly disgusted and grossed out right now. I refuse to unpack anything of mine until the cleaning is complete. Believe me, I'm going to let my administrators know about this because people need to take care of their own messes. Our cleaning staff is chronically shorthanded, plus it's not their job to clean out teachers' closets, boxes, and files. I just had to vent and now I'm off to take a hot shower and scrub off real and imagined filth!

Wow, I'm tired!

Okay, Mellissa stayed with us for 11 days. We kept asking her if she was ready to go home and her response was always, "No." We took her home last Wednesday and proceeded to spend the 4th of July with my family, as is becoming our tradition. We had her with us for most of those days as well. To make a long story short, Mellissa, Mom, and Robbie returned with us on Monday. So, by the end of this week, Mellissa will have spent approximately 3 weeks with us this summer. Pretty amazing for a 2.5 year old, I think. She's having a blast, but the cats may not forgive me for this. I'll post more on that issue and pics later.

We went to the zoo yesterday (translation, 8 hours at the zoo- I think I'm half dead as I write this) and it's off to the Magic House tomorrow with Kenny's side of the family (Mike, Michelle, Ethan, Lucas) and (Lynn, Allison). Nothing like starting to blend the two families together. Hopefully we'll have fun.