I am alive.

Life has been happening, and I haven’t been very good at documenting it here!  😦    (I blame Scramble on Facebook for that!)

I’ve come to the point in a project that I am feeling overwhelmed, so I am just going to pick up where I am now….and slowly catch you up in bits and pieces as the fit.   🙂 Make sense?

So, while I’ve been “gone” from the blogosphere, I spent 10 days in Chicago.   (Day one has ohotos posted below).  I will add more photos as time goes by—-probably as Worldess Wednesday posts.  I had a great time with my parents, my sister (and her family), and my brother and sister-in-law.  Punky loves being in IL with everyone!

I went to 3 days of “Summer Institute” which is a session of 1/2 day classes for teachers in our district.   That was painful—in the sense that it was August 4th and I had to start thinking about school!

The year anniversary of my mother-in-law’s death came and went.   That was a tough week to get through.  I kept thinking of everything I had been doing a year ago that week.

We went through more of my mother-in-law’s things at their house.   Anything we did not want to keep among the 3 kids, we sold at a  garage sale.   I spent several days getting everything ready and then hosting the sale.  It went well……but each year I have one of these things, I am reminded of how much work they are!!!!!!

A little background on the past week.

Punky had Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease.   Ick.    I blame RC for sending it our way!  😉    Just kidding, RC!   😀

I started back at school.  I had only 1.5 days to get my room ready for Open House.   For anyone who knows me or my classroom, this is not enough time!   Somehow, I stayed late and worked like a dog, and alas, my room was done for Open House.

I will say I am pretty excited about this year.  Everyone knows that last school year sucked for me…….not so much about school, but the rest of my life that seemed to be falling apart.    So, I AM PUMPED!!! This year is going to be great!  🙂

I do have photos of my classroom.  I am thrilled with how it turned out!  I’ll post them when I am at home……I don’t have my camera here.

So, I have been acknowledged from Mr. Geek and RC in the past week or so.   I have been bestowed the following award:

Thank you for sticking with me even though I have fallen off the blogging wagon!   I swear…….I’m back at school and back in my routine….so I will be better!   🙂

And…..even though I haven’t been writing, I am still reading your blogs!   (Mr. Geek…..I too have a smile on my face when I see that you, Helen, Jen, and RC have new posts.)

Some people I would pass this on to have already received this award.   [1], [2], [3], [4],  so I will add….Indigo, Melissa, Babystepper, and Beth.  Enjoy!

More to come……