what a relief!

I already knew, but I was officially notified in the mail today about this:



My student loan is officially paid off! Luckily we don't have any credit card debt either, however I am not a stranger to that trap. This student loan was a result of some credit card debt I had in college. I sure have learned a lot about saving money and finances in general since then. I also have become more disciplined in that arena after getting married. It helps having a spouse who is highly responsible with finances. We do a good job of splitting up the responsibilities. I make sure all the bills are paid each month and he takes on the grueling task of doing our income taxes.

In other news I got to play with my Cricut this weekend. Swarley wanted to join in on the fun as well.

you're already winners

Surprisingly (to some people) I have a slight interest in watching sports, specifically basketball and football. The only sport I enjoy playing is probably volleyball, but that's a different story.

I lived in Houston during five years of my childhood and that is where I picked up following major league sports. So when Oklahoma City was deemed big league enough to get a NBA basketball team I was stoked. However, I was not expecting any playoff games during the first 3-4 years because they of course need to build up the team.

Now they're in the playoffs of their second season against the Lakers. I'm so excited for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Even if they don't win again in this playoff series, I think they have worked really hard and have proved themselves.

It's nice having a home team to cheer for and follow. Last night we went to Bricktown for our date night and everywhere we went we saw local businesses with Thunder logos painted on the windows. This team is well supported, hopefully enough so that they won't return to Seattle.

I've seen NBA finals where the other team gets swept 0-4. At least the Thunder have one win over L.A. Here's hoping they can pull it off again tonight. Good luck Thunder!

full of surprises

It's two weeks before state testing for public schools in our state. In my classroom we have been doing test practice in the morning and doubling up on our math lessons each day.

Today there was a small interruption in my lesson plans when they took more than a quarter of my class out of the room for ESL testing. Keeping in mind that we only have so much time until testing, but I don't want to start something completely new with people gone from the room, I decide to pull a lesson up on my Smart Board on Haiku poetry (which is a component of Figurative Language/Poetry that is on a portion of the reading test).

The students learned about the format of a Haiku (3 lines with these syllables in each 5, 7, then 5 in the last line). I was surprised by their collaborative efforts. The class helped write this poem:

Beautiful water
Trees around the waterfall
Waterfalls are cool.

I just think the poem is pretty and simple.

Poetry is actually a strength for some of my students. Here is another example. Earlier this week a student came up to me and said she wrote me a poem:

Mrs. Kennedy
Always giving someone praise
Quietly in her gentle ways

I'm hoping she actually came up with this herself, but it wouldn't surprise me if this poem was inspired from another piece of work.