Piranha 3D

So, okay, I am going to apologize right now because this post is going to be a random hot mess! I am sorry...really...sorry! Now on with the craziness:

1. You know how there is the Land Shark that goes around eating people? He tries to fool us by disguising himself as a pizza delivery guy, candy-gram delivery person, or a repairman. Then, if you fall for his clever ploy and allow him entry into your house he will eat you where you stand. Yep, that's the LandShark. You better believe it.

The LandShark is a nuisance and can be very dangerous if you are not careful. Beware!

Well, I haven't had to deal with the LandShark, thank goodness {but don't think I'm not keeping an eye out for you LandShark!}  HOWEVER, I have been visited by the LandPiranha! He may look cute and very similar to my little sweetie Gus, but don't let his looks fool you. This guy is all teeth and is out to destroy your stuff!!!!

He has chewed through 3 sets of iPod buds, 2 computer power cords, 1 Wii power cord, 2  phone adapters and recently {and most notably} 1 computer modem.

This little darling has a fixation for skinny cords. I think I may have to wrap them all with electrical tape. I yell at him, spray him with water, put pepper/apple bitter on the cords and he still comes back for more. Arg!

Alas, this LandPiranha is my baby and I will be a good pet owner and train him to chew on his toys and not our stuff. Honestly, I'm shocked he hasn't gotten electrocuted, yet!

I have been without the internet for 5 days! What a pain in the neck, y'all. NO paying bills. NO checking e-mails. NO Christmas shopping. AND, NO blogging!

It's one thing to not post or read my blogs because of being super busy, but it is quite another to not do this because you just CAN'T!

Plus, getting a new cord was such an ordeal. Lesson learned: the people that work at our local Radio Shacks are morons. Hopefully, we won't have to go back there again or any time soon.

If any of y'all have LandPiranhas in your home, I feel for ya!

2. Now, wouldn't you believe it but my teacher workstation (MY COMPUTER) died on Friday!??! It is messed up so badly that the tech people have called for more tech people to check it out because they haven't seen anything like what I have. Great! They don't know how long it is going to be before they can fix it or replace my workstation. Nice! One long vacation please!

3. I want to give a huge THANK YOU to Sara at Smiling in Second Grade, Patricia at Primary Practice, Jess at Rambling About Reading, and Haylee at Following Optimism for giving me the Sunshine Award. I love it, love it, love it, LOVE IT!

I will post more about this award and all of the goodies that go along with it tomorrow after Scott and I's last Merengue dance class. {sad} We have had such a blast learning how to dance with each other. I always want to dance with Scott and he never wants to dance with me. Well, it turns out, he was too embarrassed to dance in front of others. Not anymore, thanks to ballroom dance lessons!  Now, wherever we go and as long as the DJ only plays Latin music, we are SET in the dancing department. If the DJ plays any other type of music, we're screwed! Haha! After Christmas Break, we will learn the West Coast {whatever that is...} and broaden our dancing spectrum.

4. If you are a Florida teacher then you are probably familiar with the FAIR test. If you are not from Florida, the FAIR test is a reading assessment that takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R to administer for K-2 teachers. It covers most components of reading and is designed to show what a student can or can't do in terms of reading ability. K-2 teachers have to administer the test individually to all students. In the past, the teachers at my school have been given the professional courtesy to administer this assessment whenever we can get to it within the testing window (which is about 6 weeks long.) Last week, my grade level was informed that we were to double up our classes and administer the test this week. I have NEVER wanted to give this assessment before Christmas. And I have never completed testing all of my class in two days. I want my kids to do well and right now they are in an elf and Santa fog. The last thing on their minds is their reading ability. I'm pretty bummed about this. I hope my results don't stink too bad! Plus, I had to come up with 14 stations for my class and my teammates class.

Having to prepare stations makes me soooooooo grateful that I decided to teach using the DAILY 5.  Color printing, cutting, laminating, cutting again, making copies, and storing these stations has been a major chore. My teammate tested her kids today while I taught 30 kids in my classroom. They were having fun and being productive, but it was so loud. Two hours later and I was exhausted. Now, I am also grateful that we have class size here in Florida. My first four years of teaching were in fourth grade and I had 30 students in my classes. It wasn't fun, but I did it. Grading all of their work was a nightmare. I never stopped grading. Then, I moved down to first grade and the Class Size bill was passed. Thank God!

Well, that's enough randomness. I hope I haven't bored y'all to death. Oh, and THANK YOU to everyone who made me feel better about my ridiculous boxtops cutting habit. While I was meticulously cutting them out, I was thinking about how anal I was being but I couldn't get myself to stop. Oh well, I guess I can't give up all of my bad habits!