The Kitchen, Visit, & Beginning of School

So, now that I have left the picture with all of the kitchen tools up for awhile, I guess it is time to write about it. So last Saturday (the day I was anxiously awaiting) I got up and puttered around. I had these bugs in my kitchen that were getting on my nerves and multiplying exponentially overnight. Everytime I had my kitchen door open they would fly into my bedroom. I liked this even less than having them in my kitchen. So I decided to shut the door and go on a rampage. For those of you who don't know. My kitchen is in between my room and the "Quilt" room and both sets of locks are on the room side. I keep my side locked all the time so if someone went into the quilt room and decided to come into My kitchen, they at least come into my room. And for the safety. Well...as you can guess from the picture...I shut the door and moments later tried frantically to open the door. NO luck. There is a small window and I opened it, I live essentially on the 1st and a half floor, and there is no ledge below me. I thought well I could jump out, but no matter which way I tried, the outcome wouldn't have been good. Yes I tried to get the hinges off, but they were stuck -- good. So I looked in the drawers. I found the spoons, knives, and luckily I had brought the wonderful kitchenaid knife. I had to go about it very carefully, because even though I am now first aid certified, knowing what to do if I sliced my hand open wouldn't help because I was in the middle of two locked doors. I also really didn't want to break my toes or fingers by being violent and hitting the door. Eventually I worked that hole into the door. I was very proud of myself. I didn't panic. Altogether, I was in there for about two hours. I knew that one year of girl scouts and 2 years of campfire stayed with me all of these years!

That weekend my parents came!! We had a great time. My apartment now looks like I actually live in it. And it actually is sort of set up like my room at home, so it gives it a feel that I know. They also saved me from having to get locked in again. My dad changed the quilt room door around so the lock is now on my side. We spent some good family time together minus peter. On Monday (Labor Day) we drove down to the San Juan Capistrano Mission (the one where the swallows go). It was interesting to see what a mission in California looked like because we have the Alamo, which doesn't look like a mission anymore. That day we took a long drive and drove to Long Beach and saw the Queen Mary ship...it was huge. The day was mostly driving, but fun nonetheless. It was very nice to have a stress free weekend. While they were here we signed me up for a membership at LA Fitness! I now have a reason to leave my apartment. We went to Claremont UMC, second time for me, and it was once again interesting. I am willing myself to get into the sermons. I will next see my family in November for Thanksgiving in Phoenix, so that count down has begun.

That week school finally started. It is very weird for school to start so late. The first two days were boring, because I was in other people's classes doing nothing. Friday I finally had my first class. I realized that when they said that these are the girls that will have the hardest in math, they weren't kidding. I think you have to get math. These girls don't get it. and when they don't want to do something they just shut down. Neeless to say, this class will be very interesting. I am not going to get any help from the other math teacher, but at least I am finally getting a little support from the principal.

This weekend I had my first training session at LA Fitness and man am I sore, but that means that my muscle is building!!
Today in class I had the girls take a pretest, because they are scattered all over the place in what they are able to do. I had a girl this morning come into the office and say that she was not coming to my class. The behavior assistant brought her in a few minutes after class and she was crying. She cried all class period. None of the girls wanted to do the test, but they all did as much as they could, which I was proud of. I thought that maybe I wouldn't have to start at the beginning, but as Rodgers and Hammerstein cleverly put it...Let's start at the very beginning, the beginning is a very good place to start. I now realize more than ever that I was not trained as a math teacher. Now I have to do my part and research the best techniques to help these girls learn. I hope that tomorrow is better, once we start learning and they can see they are making progress. I guess we will see.

I am glad that I finally have things to do at work and I am just not sitting around at work or at home!
grace and peace!