Dry Spell.

You thought I'd forgotten...I haven't. I have guiltily been allowing the days to pass without posting, for that I am sorry. There are many stories to be shared -- the difficulty lays in how to cut them all down so that they fit in a readable post and a good night's rest for a sleep-deprived 3rd grade teacher. Let me sum up:

1. I just pulled a BUG that had embedded itself into my flesh out of my big toe. I noticed it as an egg about a week ago, but didn't think it was an egg until it hatched today. Gross. Also, no more open-toed shoes at school for me.

2. I just moved into a new classroom because they are knocking my old one down. You don't know SUCKY until you have to see 3 weeks of hard work go down the drain as you have to move as much as you can to a room half the size and down a big flight of stairs in the span of an afternoon while still teaching a class of rowdy 3rd graders.

3. I am a bad teacher.

4. The parents are coming to scope out the pad this week! EEP!

5. My kids are hilarious. I never knew it was possible to simultaneously love and want to scream at 19 children all at once.

6. Jamie made a really good eggplant frittata the other day. He's the greatest. He is also the only thing keeping me sane at this point.

7. I rule at Madden 2004. (Disclaimer: Madden 2004 only happens on Fridays and Saturday mornings in the Long/Umezaki hovel).

8. I don't think an MAT is worth the pain and suffering they are making me go through...

9. I cannot believe that I have to pay that much in taxes when I make that little in salary. Holycrap. And...

10. I am so, incredibly, without-a-doubt, thankful that I decided not to do the CNN thing. I cannot even fathom how awful it would be to have my failed attempts at teaching captured on television for all the Dan Rather fans to see...

More later?