rain rain, go away

I woke up this morning and did not want to get out of bed, especially when I heard it raining. I finally rolled out at bed at 10 til 7 and thought to myself how much I'd like to wake up at this time everyday. I was pretty wide awake, but as the day drug on, I have become more and more tired.

We had a short presentation this morning, and then did a Poverty Simulation in the gym. It was actually pretty cool. We got into different families and had to each play a role. I was a 14 year old who lived with my mom (played by our computer teacher) and my 17 year old drop out drug dealing brother (played by my team member). We had to survive a month based on our situation - ours was that none of us had jobs, we had $10, and some possessions we could pawn off. I had to go to "school" and my "mom" and "brother" had to get jobs, pawn items, get food stamps, and pay all the bills. It lasted an hour and each 15 minutes was a week which = a month. I spent most of my time in "school" where most of us were disruptive and didn't care, and then sat at "home". In school, we took a "test" which had questions about poverty statistics. It was eye opening to see how hard it is for some people to get by day to day, and it made me feel extremely blessed and fortunate.

We had a lunch break, and my friend and I brought our lunch so we ate in her classroom, then worked on lesson plans. I had a typical lunch: salad and strawberries + a few animal crackers from my classroom.

After the afternoon activities I worked in my room a bit. I had to take ibuprofen earlier in the day because I had a headache and on the way home I was feeling it again. I don't know what's up with me. I've been groggy all day. Maybe it's the yucky weather. Whatever it is, I am going to bed early.

My to-do list kept getting long and longer at school. I also am going to be observed this week or next week (I am hoping this week so I can get it over with) and report cards are due in like a week, so I'm stressed to the max.

What must be done tonight:

• Take Christmas tree to curb and vacuum living room
• Put away Christmas decorations to store
• Finalize lesson plans for the week
• Find something for my bulletin board in my classroom to hang up tomorrow
• Load dishwasher
• Make dinner
• American Idol ;)

I haven't decided if I am going to run. I am going to see if I can get some energy and do a short one at the very least. I will try to be back with a dinner post!

Our Christmas tree in all its glory. I miss the holidays.