Accomplishments

What a week!

I had a laundry list of things to accomplish when this week started and so far, most of them are complete. It finally feels like the summer is coming. I'm in the tunnel and the light is more than just a a small hole at the far end. It's now giving a soft glow, slowly reaching towards me as I reach it. This almost sounds like something a person expecting Judgement Day tomorrow would say, actually. Let's get the facts here guys: We weren't told a specific date by God.

Okay back to the post.

I began the week with the following tasks to do:
1. Enter all birthdays people had bought to put in the student planner
2. Scan all the ads for the student planner & create 5 pages of ads for my department to put in as a shameless plug
3. Submit the entire planner to company to print
4. Turn in all my finals for those taking them in the Learning Center & Lecture Hall
5. Find a place for Prom 2012
6. Find a place for Post-Prom 2012
7. Collect $$ from kids selling candy for class of 2013
8. Go to middle school next door to try and sell birthdays for the student planner (failed, by the way).
9. Grade any leftover items
10. Find a vet
11. Register for Puppy class
12. Finish tallying all of my student work hours and make copies to give to students
13. Submit course to possibly teach this summer
14. Do laundry
15. Bake cookies for students

Yep, lots of things, outside of the ordinary clean, cook, take out trash, etc. Let's just say I have gotten everything done EXCEPT #5 & 6, which are both works in progress.

I made Italian Wedding Cookies for all my students today. Actually, I've made them in batches all week. Always nice to give a little "love" to kids when they are stressed out. We do that with babies & puppies, don't we?

I've been meeting with my Sophomores all week to discuss picking next year's Prom location, now that we finally have a date. One student and I went to visit our current top choice. It felt weird and I always swore I would never have a student in my car, ever. It was the only way though and all went just fine. It was a nice space and hopefully big enough. The lady in charge of the space is VERY nervous about hosting us. Right now I'm hoping that our other 2 possibilities work out better. I think it will still go smoothly but it's best to have all party's involved to go into happy. I recall many a concert where the venue was NOT happy with us doing a gig at their place. It made life difficult.

In other news, we've made a LOT of progress on the Dual Citizenship hunt. Between Mom's investigations (and my prodding) and my contacts, we've found that my great-grandparent's marriage cert DOES indeed exist as does my grandfather's birth cert, both of which I will need to prove citizenship descent. The ONLY missing piece at this point is my great-grandfather's birth cert in Italy. I'm really struggling to find it but I may have uncovered a few details. I'll make a new blog on this mystery soon.

Puppy planning is the other big thing on my to-do list. I still don't know which of the 6 pups in the litter I am getting and had hoped to know by now. I pick the little one up on June 2nd. I've got a car booster seat (cool!). Amy is giving me her dog crate (her dog, by the way, is named Bacon and is my current favorite puppy!). I signed up for puppy training today. The people at PetSmart are so helpful. Plus a former student was there who I had in Law last semester. She said he learned so much and still had all the resume examples I had given her. And that she had gotten the job because of my help. THIS IS WHY I LOVE BEING A TEACHER! I also bought some puppy treats and a few mini tennis balls. In addition, I have a heartbeat pillow, a little toy that you heat up in the microwave to help the dog sleep and a doggie bed and bowls. I'm nearly ready. Last weekend I prepped the bathroom which is where Piccolo (my dog's name means small in Italian) will be starting out and adjusting to new life. I also cleared a corner in my living room to put the doggie bed and toys.

Obviously, my list was mostly school-oriented stuff up above but I'm getting so many other things done. I got my bike turned in to get tuned up prior to Bike the Drive next weekend. I got my oil changed on the car. Got gas for the drive to Chicago for Mandy & Matt's wedding. I did 2 seriously tough turbokick workouts and am still sore.

So there you go. Awesome week. So much done. And so much more to look forward to.

6 more work days (4 with students). Bring ON SUMMER!

Ciao,
Kristen