June 2……..

Hello Everyone!!!  Hope you are doing well.  My SC friends are now celebrating summer break on the east coast and a lot of my friends here on the west coast have started celebrating summer vacation this week.  It is my district that does not start summer break until next week.  We graduate on June 11th.  Then I get my first experience as a summer school administrator!!!!  Looking forward to this new challenge!!!

So as I entered this week there was no time to sit and breath on Monday.  It was from one stop to the next and I am not sure that much got accomplished!!!  I tried to get some things off my "To Do" list and I did not get much marked off the list.  Monday night I left to go and get paint at Lowe's.  I get to paint an accent wall in my office.  Now, picking a yellow is harder than it sounds. If you go too pale it looks like a dirty off-white.  If you go too bright it hurts your eyes.  If you are not careful about a shade, it looks like dirty mustard color or has too much brown in it.  I ended up with a beautiful yellow that fits me perfect and is called "Gone Bananas."  I mean, how appropriate is that for an Assistant Principal office??????

Well the cats have found me…..I now have a pregnant cat hanging out at the apartment and yes, I feed her.  She is petite little thing and exhibiting the same behaviors that Spooky had when she "dropped her kittens" at the house.  She was very stand-offish and is not being very sweet and letting me pet her.  I am worried about how many kittens she is going to have and where she will be having these at.  i thought she might have had them over the weekend but she did not, she showed back up on Sunday night and was still pregnant.  She is a pretty cute kitty.

Tuesday was just as crazy but I like busy days.  If it was not for Ali Lattimer right now I am not sure what I would do.  She is helping with Aeries and master schedule for both Summer School and 2014-2015 school year.  I am learning so much from her.  I am worried about her leaving and me having to work with Aeries all by myself.  LOL!!!!    Tonight was Meg's going away dinner from the Asst Principals.  We had a lot of fun and got to eat Sushi together.  So while we had a great time, it was a little sad at the same time!!!

The rest of the week went well but was super busy.  I need a breather at some point…..  Thursday night was a new event called Baccalaureate for me.  I say new for me because this is not something that we do in the Southeast.  Basically the graduating seniors process through campus and there is a ceremony that includes speeches from valedictorians and salutatorians and performances from various other individuals and groups as a last hooray.  This is done out in the Quad and is really nice for the kids and parents.

Baccalaureate Ceremony

On Friday I spent most of the day in meetings to trying to get organized to move forward… It has been an incredibly busy week and I am ready for a break but I am not sure when I am going to get one.  Friday was a marathon day where I worked all day and into the evening as I supervised the play "Bat Boy."  Yes, you read that right and yes, it is the Bat Boy from The Sun.  I know, I know, crazy huh.  This was the last performance for many of the students in the Harlequin Drama Production Club and they did an amazing job putting together the play.  However, the Southern / West Virgina accents were pretty funny, they sounded like more drunk, slurred speech than accents but it was funny.  I wonder if I really do sound like they do.  LOL!!!

Bat Boy Program

Bat Boy

On Saturday morning I got up and went to work out at the Gym.  I was hoping for a breather this morning and some time to relax with some stress relief but ya know, that did not happen.  Sometimes life is too busy and I don't get what I want and I have to remember there will be time just not when I want it.  When I got to Gold's this morning, I found they were showing Hunger Games, which is a good movie.  They are not changing the movie daily but every two days so this is one of the ones that is not bad and I don't mind seeing.  I probably won't make it to the gym on Sunday due to my plans to go to Disneyland with Ali and Jessica.  I got back and got cleaned up and off to run errands I went.  I got the car cleaned, went to Sam's and the grocery store for the week. Then it was off to work I went.

Now, I know that people think I am crazy for the hours I put in but I am learning a new job while still trying to do my old job and therefore my time is minimal in both places.  I am feeling disorganized and therefore it is hard for me to get things done because I think about all the things I need to do.  Therefore I decided to spend Saturday getting those little things done and getting organized so I can have more time later.  So here was the list:

• Prep the calendar to be given out to teachers.
• Fix summer school issues with Ali
• Plan for New Teacher Meetings
• Plan for Discipline Committee Meetings
• Plan for Technology Planning Meetings 
• Welcome notes to new teachers
• Paint the office
• Clean out Storage Room 
• Move items to room 323
• Fix LCD projector
• Move computer equipment  

So….it was a long list and everything got done but the moving of the old computer equipment.  Thank goodness for Ali Lattimer and Mike Linares.  Ali did the summer school switches in Aeries as we got things together for next week.  Then Mike came in and helped me do all the cleaning and painting.  So….let's take a look at the masterpiece that will be my office.

Before Painting

WAIT FOR IT!!!!!

WAIT FOR IT!!!!!

After Painting

Just so you can see the color better.

Isn't it beautiful!!!  It makes me so happy to look at it with some color.  It is a bright yellow but it is an amazing color and I am very happy with it.  I hope it does not offend too many people.  LOL!  The closet got cleaned and organized and it is so easy to find the items that we need now.  In addition, I got all the boxes move to the other storage room and the cable got ran from the LCD projector to the computer so that hopefully that will work better and we can use the room with the equipment in the room already.  Thank you again Mike Linares for all your hard work tonight.  I know you keep saying that you have never worked as hard since I keep you so busy with cleaning, moving things and organizing but I do truly appreciate everything you do for the school, students, parents and myself!!

So tomorrow is Disney day with the girls.  I am so excited and am trying to stay as busy as possible right now.  Summer school is coming up and of course I am still working on m PhD so I should have plenty to occupy my time as I move forward!!!    Hope you all are ready for a great summer and have the opportunity to spend time with friends, family and those you care about.  For my friends in South Carolina, let me know if any of you are coming west!!  Would love to see you!!