Summertime, and the livin’ is easy – NOT….When I married Bill, he labored under the delusion that teachers worked 9 months and had a 3 month vacation.   Well, this summer, I worked three weeks in Columbia, Bill had surgery so I played nurse for 2 weeks, this week I am babysitting 2 of my grandchildren in Augusta, and then I will be back at work helping teachers get started on plans for next year.  I used another blog this summer and found it to be an absolutely wonderful place if you have someone in your family dealing with an illness.  The site is caringbridge.org   and is free, easy to use, and allows people to keep up with what is happening when you deal with an illness.  While Bill was in the hospital, I simply updated how he was doing and sent the link to all our friends.  They could keep up, I didn’t have to call everyone – it was really great.   So, I’m ready to start back to school.  Since I have been updating the web site, if you see links that don’t work or see there is something that is needed, let me know.  See you all soon.

Mrs. Fowler has fussed because I haven’t written in a couple of weeks.  So, here goes.  Mrs. Fowler, Mrs. Fitzgerald, Mrs. Jennings and I are sitting at the district office working on science and social studies curriculum – not a lot of fun for us right now, but I hope we are creating many interesting and educational lessons for next year.  Next Mrs. Jennings and I will be working for two weeks on math and science lessons – I’m not sure what happened to ”summer vacation” for teachers!  
I’m sure lots of people have seen my husband’s picture - it has been spread all over Spartanburg in the Gibbs Cancer Center brochure.  Though I’m not glad my husband has lung cancer, I hope he can inspire other people to fight this terrible disease.  There are such wonderful new things they have discovered to fight cancer today.  Cancer used to be an automatic death sentence.  Now it is a battle to fight that can actually be a fair battle! 

Hard to believe it has been a month since I wrote last.  It has been rather stressful.  My husband is not feeling well; we didn’t know if it was because of his lung cancer or the medication he is taking or…. so emotionally it has been hard and physically tough as I take on new responsibilities.  We have only two more days of school here but I will be working 3 weeks this summer as well as coming in each Wednesday to work with teachers and get everything set up in the science lab for next year.  The web site will have to be revamped as well since we are adding several new teachers and many others are moving to different assignments within the school so I doubt I’ll get bored this summer!   I am pleased that 10 teachers have committed to blogging next year.  I find the ones using it this year have started using it effectively to communicate with their students as well as get them involved in the writing process.  So, I commit myself (that has strange connotations!) to continuing to blog and to using it in an effective manner.  Blog on!

Thank you Sydney.  I think one of the greatest weaknesses in our society is our general lack of thankfulness, or at least our willingness to express that thanks.  I try to make it a point to remember to say thank you for even simple things – a student held open a door for me today, my husband told me I looked nice, a teacher brought me a biscuit for breakfast.  Each of those things made my day so much brighter and the least I could do is to tell them how much I appreciated that action.  It is so easy to be critical of others – the kid who fell down in the hall, the driver who cut you off on the road, the person who was rude on the phone or in an email.  But that critical attitude rubs off on me and makes me feel negative.  So, two of my “words to live by” are patience and thankfulness.  Thank you, Sydney, for reminding me of that.

I’m finding that people responding to my blog motivates me to write some more.  Thank you Chloe and Christie – I really do love writing, I just get so overwhelmed with life at times that I let it slip by me.  Yes, George was a lot of fun.  The venue had tv screens all over so our group was able to watch the fateful NC/Kansas game while they enjoyed the concert!  But I didn’t get pictures that night – did notice however that George was not wearing boots but very nice leather loafers…..Hmmmm.  My yard on the other hand, is looking great.  I took pictures today but will have to find my adapter so I can load and post them.  I surely hope this cold snap they are predicting the first part of this week is not fatal to my plants!  Everything looks so good I would be crushed!   I put up fishing line around my yard – just strung it from tree to tree about hip height – I have found this to be the best deterrent for deer!  Since I started stringing it, I have not lost any plants to deer.  For some reason, I guess since they can’t see it, it frightens them and they avoid the yard.  Now if I could find some way to get rid of the voles in my yard.

Tomorrow I have to go to Columbia for a coaching conference – I always enjoy these meetings but am feeling a bit guilty – I am gone Monday and Tuesday, then have to work at the district office Thursday and Friday, and the next Monday chaperone on the field trip to Charlotte.  All is part of my work – yet I hate to be gone so much.

A favorite part of my work is the professional learning communites that are being formed – groups of teachers who meet to discuss ways to better promote learning in our school.  These groups are so great because our time is not spent griping or even making lesson plans but seriously looking at what is working in our classrooms and then sharing that with others so we all can improve.  This is what makes education such a vibrant, exciting profession. 

Spring break – what a wonderful time.  Before the break, lots of people asked “What are you going to do?  Where are you going?”  Well, nothing exciting – no Myrtle Beach, no Dollywood, but since I did what I wanted to do, it was a wonderful vacation.  I painted my living room – I love to paint.  It doesn’t cost a lot, the results are quick, and you get to use your creative juices to create something new.   My parents live near me and I saw them several times.  I’m very lucky that they are so healthy.  I also took down my greenhouse.  It better not freeze now!  But what fun taking out all my plants and putting them out in the pergola – it reminds me of the courtyards in the deep South with flowers and ferns and water.  I love my yard.  I was able to go see my grandchildren – I have six!  So that was a real treat.  Went to a George Strait concert – what fun that was!  So all in all, it was a great vacation.

I’m sitting here taking a break from my computer work tonight and watching the Cinabon company making cinnamon rolls.  Yummy – they really look good.  But I love to cook.  There is something so creaive and delicious about cooking something new and different.  I watch the food network a lot and have really learned in the past few years.  Before I could cook – my mom taught me, I followed recipes well, but now I understand the science behind cooking.  It really is a science!  Now that I understand why to use butter instead of margarine, or olive oil instead of butter, or a mixture of oil and butter instead of just butter, my cooking results have really improved!  So, I enjoy watching this particular channel.  Now I am watching a show about desserts that have hot chili’s put in them.   Oh well, guess I better go back to work. 

I’ve realized that doing this every day is not really working for me but I still love the idea of keeping this blog.  Last week was survival – getting the science fair together took about all the energy I had stored up for the past month!  I think we all learned a lot through the process, not just about each topic, but also about the scientific process and the next time we do something like this, we will have a lot of plans ready to do an even better job.   I am so proud of all the students and excited about taking 28 projects to USCUpstate at the end of this month.  I hope we place well!

And Patrick is right.  I am always asking parents how I could make BSIS At Home better, but I haven’t asked the kids.  If kids have ideas, like Patrick did, let me know!

I hate that I am not taking time to do this daily!  I love writing here.  I simply need to set my priorities.  Last weekend I went to see my sweet grand children.  They are just the best.  I miss being able to see them often.  aaaa
I spent Monday at Clemson at meetings explaining in more detail what is expected from our standards.  It is so essential that we teach the standards.  I wish we had time to teach a wide variety of things – expose children to more and more concepts, ideas, theories.  But, realistically, with the short amount of time we have to teach, it really is critical that we teach standards.  I realize that seems obvious, but it still is easy to slip back into old methods simply because we are comfortable with those habits.   I hope this makes sense.  I am falling asleep as I write!