In my classroom, spelling assignments are due on Thursday, and we take the test on Friday. This is to ensure that if someone forgets to do their assignment by Thursday, they will have the next day to turn it in, and it won't be counted as late. So today, spelling assignments are due. And I have stated this to the class. When the kids turn in what they've got, I start correcting and make a list of the students whose assignments I don't have. And it's a LONG list.
I write their names on the board, reminding them to find the assignment and turn it into me, or to finish it and turn it into me, or it will be late. Many of them say, "But I already turned mine into you!" To which I reply, "It's not on my desk, so that must mean I didn't get it from you." End of story. On my lunch period, I even went to the copier and made copies of the assignment for the students who hadn't turned theirs in yet, figuring they lost it or left it at home.
As I am correcting math assignments, one of my young men approaches me and says, "I will be turning this in on Friday," holding up the sheet I had just Xeroxed for him. "No, you have 30 minutes to work on it now, so you will do it now. It will be late if you turn it in on Friday." He sits back down, and I get back to correcting.
Five minutes later, if that, he is back at my desk. "But I have half of this finished at home, so I'm going to finish the other half of it tonight and turn it in on Friday." Getting frustrated with him, because he has everything else turned in and nothing better to do with his time, I tell him that he needs to sit down right now and finish the paper that he has in front of him because it is due today. No excuses. He tries to protest, and I tell him, "No," pointing to his desk that he needs to sit down and do it right now (like I had told him earlier).
I turn away from him, signaling the end of the conversation, and get back to correcting the rest of the spelling assignments that are slowly pouring onto my desk. About 10 minutes later, I turn around and notice the boy isn't doing anything. Not thinking much of it, I go back to my papers.
But wait. He hasn't turned in his spelling. Why isn't he working on it? I turn back to look at him more closely. He's sitting at his desk, scowling and crying. I turn away. After a few more minutes, he is still crying. Hmm.
I go up to my teacher. "Do you know why Fred is crying?" I ask her. "Nope," she replies, busy with something else. "Oh," I said, thinking. "I must have made him cry, then," I said, thinking about the spelling assignment. She asked why, and I told her. She of course was not too worried about Fred, because more often than not his is obstinate and rude, and spelling is due today.
But, only a month into school, and I have made my first student cry. I think I have arrived. Heck, it only took my teacher 2 weeks to make Fred cry...I wasn't too far behind her.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
socks!
I re-learned how to knit over the summer due to boredom, and bought a few books with some fun patterns. Truth be told, the only thing I've managed to make out of the books are two hats, both of which are WAY too small for me.
Well, I decided that I wanted to make some socks. I had know idea how to read the directions, and one of the blackjack dealers at work suggested going to this local yarn store (LYS) because the lady who runs it could teach me how to make socks. So here they are, after a couple of months' work - my first pair of socks!!
Here is the first one I made...the cuff looks a little weird, and it's a little saggy.
Here's the second one I just finished, and I did the cuff's ribbing throughout the whole leg of the sock, and they seem to stay up much better.
Well, I decided that I wanted to make some socks. I had know idea how to read the directions, and one of the blackjack dealers at work suggested going to this local yarn store (LYS) because the lady who runs it could teach me how to make socks. So here they are, after a couple of months' work - my first pair of socks!!
Here is the first one I made...the cuff looks a little weird, and it's a little saggy.
Here's the second one I just finished, and I did the cuff's ribbing throughout the whole leg of the sock, and they seem to stay up much better.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
a day off!
Tomorrow: a day off from school, and a day off from work. How did such a glorious thing happen? Well, it wasn't so glorious, really...I am sick as crap, thanks to one of my beautiful little fourth graders. Last week, she gave me a big ol' hug before leaving school. And then she was gone, sick, for the next two days. And guess who's sick now?
So I went to work last night, not feeling so hot, working in the 90* heat, with smoke that was worse than usual, and staying up way past my usual bedtime of 10pm.
As soon as I got home from work at 1am this morning, I called in sick to work, and came to school in the morning. My cooperating teacher suggested that I stay home from school tomorrow, and I also don't work tomorrow, so I get a whole day off with no work or school! But I have to sit at home and not do anything for a day. w00t. Except hack up a lung or two.
So I went to work last night, not feeling so hot, working in the 90* heat, with smoke that was worse than usual, and staying up way past my usual bedtime of 10pm.
As soon as I got home from work at 1am this morning, I called in sick to work, and came to school in the morning. My cooperating teacher suggested that I stay home from school tomorrow, and I also don't work tomorrow, so I get a whole day off with no work or school! But I have to sit at home and not do anything for a day. w00t. Except hack up a lung or two.
Friday, September 15, 2006
subbing
I'm substitute teaching for my teacher on Monday because she will be gone to the other side of the state that day. I'm nervous, because I don't feel like I've been with the kids long enough that they'll do what I want them to do the entire day, but I will sure as heck not take any crap from them!
Life otherwise has been alright. Things at work are really slow, except on Tuesdays when they bring in the old people busses between 4-6pm that hang out for a few hours. It's quite annoying because they don't know what they're doing or how to work the machines, and they bitch about not winning and all this crap. Well, stay home next time. Jeez.
Still trying to work out a new schedule for work so I can have Mondays off, or at least not have to go in 'til 5pm. Marvin brought up the idea of me working at the Player's Club desk on Fridays, and having a girl who works over there come to the cage on Mondays. If she's up for it, so am I. I can talk on the microphone (at the proper volume, so as not to be blasting out my fellow cashiers over the speakers), and pass out Player's Club cards and coupons. It'll help me to get to know the names of a lot of people better, as most of the time, I only know someone's name at the cage if they want to write a check.
So that's the news for now. I'll try to tell you how Monday went as soon as I can. :)
Life otherwise has been alright. Things at work are really slow, except on Tuesdays when they bring in the old people busses between 4-6pm that hang out for a few hours. It's quite annoying because they don't know what they're doing or how to work the machines, and they bitch about not winning and all this crap. Well, stay home next time. Jeez.
Still trying to work out a new schedule for work so I can have Mondays off, or at least not have to go in 'til 5pm. Marvin brought up the idea of me working at the Player's Club desk on Fridays, and having a girl who works over there come to the cage on Mondays. If she's up for it, so am I. I can talk on the microphone (at the proper volume, so as not to be blasting out my fellow cashiers over the speakers), and pass out Player's Club cards and coupons. It'll help me to get to know the names of a lot of people better, as most of the time, I only know someone's name at the cage if they want to write a check.
So that's the news for now. I'll try to tell you how Monday went as soon as I can. :)
Friday, September 08, 2006
the first two weeks
On the phone this afternoon, Dad asked me if I was ever going to update my blog. Well, I was just thinking about doing it, so here it is. My first update in two weeks. Man, I'm good.
The first week of student teaching was cake. It was only three days long because they started on Wednesday, and I didn't do much except get a feel for the students and the classroom and the way my teacher teaches. There actually wasn't much teaching going on because it was the first few days of school and there was a lot of "getting to know you and me" things going on, along with paperwork galore that needed to be passed out and turned in.
On Friday of the first week, my teacher told me she wanted me to start teaching math next week. Oh crap. Seriously? After I've been there for three days? Ho-kay!
So I started teaching math, place values, which is apparently the most difficult part of the book. Glad I got to take a crack at it.
My teacher is very lenient with the children. Or she doesn't pay that much attention to them because she is so good at blocking out annoying things in her life. Not quite sure yet. I feel sometimes like I am being too hard on the children when they are doing something wrong or annoying me, but she says I'm not, and that she needs to be more "hard" on them, as well. Works for me.
We have a few children who are very, how shall I say, interesting. One is of in la-la land all day long, and only pays attention when it's time for math. Another is a new girl from Georgia who has made fast friends with one of my least favorite little girls in class. (Only because that little girl does things she knows she's not supposed to, and watches you as you watch her doing it wrong, and looks you write in the eyes.) Two little boys are in special education and are pulled out of class every once in a while. One little girl is not only shy, she's stubborn about her shyness. She uses it as a crutch, because she knows she won't have to participate if she keeps it up, even one on one with you. Another little girl is 9, wearing makeup, big earrings, shrug-sleeved peasant tops, with the sleeves pushed down off the shoulders, but it really sweet. A boy just moved here from Alaska, another from Wyoming, and of course the girl from Georgia. One little boy falls asleep during my math lessons because he already has everything done and is bored out of his gourd.
*Sigh* It's a lot of work, and I'm only doing one subject!
Also, my teacher seems (at best) disorganized. She's been teaching for 30 years, LOVES what she does, and is great, but sometimes I wonder what she would do if she didn't have me there to help her do all the stuff after school (photocopies, making posters/bulletin boards, etc.) and during school. How would she get it all accomplished?
Who knows. Next week I'm still doing math, and I'm sure I'll be helping with science and reading when the time comes. We've also been doing DIBELS and Benchmarks testing this week, seeing where the students fall in their reading abilities. Some students did great and are reading at 7th grade levels, but other students are doing miserably and are reading at 1st grade levels. It's very frustrating and discouraging. My teacher said that last year her entire class was a class of readers, but this year, we only have one REAL reader, and I can tell, because whenever we finish with something, he dives into his book. Which is great, and he's and awesome kid, but I just wish the rest of the students were like that, too.
And the entire class seriously has attention problems. I'll give a direction or ask a question, and I'll even write the information on the board for them, and they don't get it. They say, "What were we supposed to do?" "I don't get it." "What do we do when we're done with our math?" I've gotten to the point where I just tell them, "Phone a friend." Because I'm not going to tell six different students what to do when it is written on the board and I have already explained it twice. I don't have the time for it. They're going to have to learn to pay attention. Sure, there's a couple of kids who are in special ed. and need the extra help, and that's fine, but the other 20 children in the classroom are not, and they know what they need to be doing. Grr.
I guess if it were my classroom, I would run it a little differently, but she has her guidelines established, and she is THE teacher for right now, so that's how things are going to be. Maybe when I have my three weeks in the classroom as the teacher, things will be a little different, but these students are no longer primary students - they are intermediate, and they need to start acting that way. That's all there is to it.
And with that, I am pooped and need to veg out in front of the television for a little bit. Until next time!
The first week of student teaching was cake. It was only three days long because they started on Wednesday, and I didn't do much except get a feel for the students and the classroom and the way my teacher teaches. There actually wasn't much teaching going on because it was the first few days of school and there was a lot of "getting to know you and me" things going on, along with paperwork galore that needed to be passed out and turned in.
On Friday of the first week, my teacher told me she wanted me to start teaching math next week. Oh crap. Seriously? After I've been there for three days? Ho-kay!
So I started teaching math, place values, which is apparently the most difficult part of the book. Glad I got to take a crack at it.
My teacher is very lenient with the children. Or she doesn't pay that much attention to them because she is so good at blocking out annoying things in her life. Not quite sure yet. I feel sometimes like I am being too hard on the children when they are doing something wrong or annoying me, but she says I'm not, and that she needs to be more "hard" on them, as well. Works for me.
We have a few children who are very, how shall I say, interesting. One is of in la-la land all day long, and only pays attention when it's time for math. Another is a new girl from Georgia who has made fast friends with one of my least favorite little girls in class. (Only because that little girl does things she knows she's not supposed to, and watches you as you watch her doing it wrong, and looks you write in the eyes.) Two little boys are in special education and are pulled out of class every once in a while. One little girl is not only shy, she's stubborn about her shyness. She uses it as a crutch, because she knows she won't have to participate if she keeps it up, even one on one with you. Another little girl is 9, wearing makeup, big earrings, shrug-sleeved peasant tops, with the sleeves pushed down off the shoulders, but it really sweet. A boy just moved here from Alaska, another from Wyoming, and of course the girl from Georgia. One little boy falls asleep during my math lessons because he already has everything done and is bored out of his gourd.
*Sigh* It's a lot of work, and I'm only doing one subject!
Also, my teacher seems (at best) disorganized. She's been teaching for 30 years, LOVES what she does, and is great, but sometimes I wonder what she would do if she didn't have me there to help her do all the stuff after school (photocopies, making posters/bulletin boards, etc.) and during school. How would she get it all accomplished?
Who knows. Next week I'm still doing math, and I'm sure I'll be helping with science and reading when the time comes. We've also been doing DIBELS and Benchmarks testing this week, seeing where the students fall in their reading abilities. Some students did great and are reading at 7th grade levels, but other students are doing miserably and are reading at 1st grade levels. It's very frustrating and discouraging. My teacher said that last year her entire class was a class of readers, but this year, we only have one REAL reader, and I can tell, because whenever we finish with something, he dives into his book. Which is great, and he's and awesome kid, but I just wish the rest of the students were like that, too.
And the entire class seriously has attention problems. I'll give a direction or ask a question, and I'll even write the information on the board for them, and they don't get it. They say, "What were we supposed to do?" "I don't get it." "What do we do when we're done with our math?" I've gotten to the point where I just tell them, "Phone a friend." Because I'm not going to tell six different students what to do when it is written on the board and I have already explained it twice. I don't have the time for it. They're going to have to learn to pay attention. Sure, there's a couple of kids who are in special ed. and need the extra help, and that's fine, but the other 20 children in the classroom are not, and they know what they need to be doing. Grr.
I guess if it were my classroom, I would run it a little differently, but she has her guidelines established, and she is THE teacher for right now, so that's how things are going to be. Maybe when I have my three weeks in the classroom as the teacher, things will be a little different, but these students are no longer primary students - they are intermediate, and they need to start acting that way. That's all there is to it.
And with that, I am pooped and need to veg out in front of the television for a little bit. Until next time!
Friday, August 25, 2006
and so it begins...
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday have mostly been spent in my teacher's classroom. The teacher who I will be student teaching for, that is. We have been putting together bulletin boards, name tags, mail boxes, calendars, making copies, moving files, and tons of other stuff.
She's a really nice lady, my cooperating teacher. She's been teaching in Spearfish for 30 years, and really knows her stuff. She teaches science, while her students will go to another teacher's room for Social Studies. I'm glad that she teaches science, because that will hopefully allow me to use the science kits that the college has for a week-long unit that is required of all student teachers.
I'm getting really nervous now, however. On Monday, we all meet at the college campus with our supervising professors, go over our portfolios (which I still have a couple things I need to tweak on it), and I'm sure we'll learn some more valuable information that we can use during student teaching. There is one professor in particular that I pray to the gods isn't my supervising professor because I don't like her due to her crappy attitude towards me last semester. Grr. Anyway...
So on Wednesday I will go in to the first day of school. I will get to meet all of the children, learn about them, and learn what is going on for the school year. I honestly have no idea what my cooperating teacher has planned for the curriculum of the school year, and that makes me a little nervous, but oh well...I'll learn as I go.
Also something that could be problematic: We are required by law to stay at the school until 3:35pm or something like that. Well, I've already requested from my boss at work to show up an hour later than usual on Mondays and Tuesdays, the nights I work. That would have me showing up at 4pm instead of 3pm. Well, with this newfound information about having to stay until 3:35pm, that's not going to happen (going in at 4pm, that is), as it takes about half an hour to get to Deadwood and get clocked in and ready for shift change on time. My cooperating teacher said that there's a very good chance my supervising professor will say that I have to stay until 3:35pm, just like all the other teachers do, and that I should talk to my boss again about the schedule.
I just hate doing that because we've already changed it once. I go into work tomorrow morning, but I'm not sure when my boss works, so if he's not there, I'll have to leave him a note of some sort, explaining to him that I wasn't aware I had to stay in the school that long, and could we please push back shift change AGAIN. *sigh*
Hopefully that's the only problem I run into with this whole working while student teaching thing. My cooperating teacher said that most professors want you to only work on the weekends, but to not work during the school week while you're student teaching. Obviously they don't have to do that themselves, or they would not recommend it, because they couldn't afford to pay rent, electricity, and other random bills that are slightly necessary in this world. Grr again.
Wish me luck!
She's a really nice lady, my cooperating teacher. She's been teaching in Spearfish for 30 years, and really knows her stuff. She teaches science, while her students will go to another teacher's room for Social Studies. I'm glad that she teaches science, because that will hopefully allow me to use the science kits that the college has for a week-long unit that is required of all student teachers.
I'm getting really nervous now, however. On Monday, we all meet at the college campus with our supervising professors, go over our portfolios (which I still have a couple things I need to tweak on it), and I'm sure we'll learn some more valuable information that we can use during student teaching. There is one professor in particular that I pray to the gods isn't my supervising professor because I don't like her due to her crappy attitude towards me last semester. Grr. Anyway...
So on Wednesday I will go in to the first day of school. I will get to meet all of the children, learn about them, and learn what is going on for the school year. I honestly have no idea what my cooperating teacher has planned for the curriculum of the school year, and that makes me a little nervous, but oh well...I'll learn as I go.
Also something that could be problematic: We are required by law to stay at the school until 3:35pm or something like that. Well, I've already requested from my boss at work to show up an hour later than usual on Mondays and Tuesdays, the nights I work. That would have me showing up at 4pm instead of 3pm. Well, with this newfound information about having to stay until 3:35pm, that's not going to happen (going in at 4pm, that is), as it takes about half an hour to get to Deadwood and get clocked in and ready for shift change on time. My cooperating teacher said that there's a very good chance my supervising professor will say that I have to stay until 3:35pm, just like all the other teachers do, and that I should talk to my boss again about the schedule.
I just hate doing that because we've already changed it once. I go into work tomorrow morning, but I'm not sure when my boss works, so if he's not there, I'll have to leave him a note of some sort, explaining to him that I wasn't aware I had to stay in the school that long, and could we please push back shift change AGAIN. *sigh*
Hopefully that's the only problem I run into with this whole working while student teaching thing. My cooperating teacher said that most professors want you to only work on the weekends, but to not work during the school week while you're student teaching. Obviously they don't have to do that themselves, or they would not recommend it, because they couldn't afford to pay rent, electricity, and other random bills that are slightly necessary in this world. Grr again.
Wish me luck!
Monday, August 21, 2006
the last week
This is my last full week of summer vacation. Starting on Monday, all student teachers will meet at Black Hills to find out who our supervising professor is going to be (the college professor who will be grading us and obvserving us throughout the student teaching process), and to do one last final check on portfolios. Then Tuesday is the first day of school as a student teacher.
I've been having dreams about student teaching, and it makes me nervous. That means it's finally getting closer and closer. This month flew by so quickly, I have no idea where the days went. Fortunately, near the end of summer, Aaron and I got to spend a lot of time together, which was really nice, compared to the rest of the summer. However, he started training at his new job this morning, so I have the whole apartment to myself for the rest of the day (until I have to go to work, that is). It's kinda nice, but I feel like there's no structure in my daily activities, like lunch time or anything like that.
Aaron and I finished up clothes shopping for my student teaching, which included about six new pairs of slacks to wear while teaching, as I only had about four pairs before. Now I can mix and match quite a bit more than I was able to before. I also picked up a couple of new pair of shoes to wear. I've been trying to get ahold of my teacher I'll be student teaching with, but she's not listed in the phone book, and the two websites that gave her email address were wrong, and she hasn't been at the school each time I've tried calling to get ahold of her. The school finally did give me her email address, and so far the email company hasn't sent back an "email undeliverable", so that's a good sign, I suppose.
Two more days of work, and then I have the last three full days off from work and school until school gets out in December. Once school starts, I will be teaching five days out of the week, and working four days out of the week, two of those four days being on the weekend. So basically, seven days a week, for four months straight. I'm so not looking forward to that.
But now that I've been at Cadillac Jack's for a year, I'll have some personal days and paid vacation days that I can use when I get stressed out or have a big project to work on, and I'll get paid for it. I love being able to do that!
Kool Deadwood Nights starts on Saturday the 26th and goes 'til Monday the 28th, so if you like classic cars from the 50s and 60s, come to Deadwood and check it out. Parking is a pain, so be prepared to search and search, and then pay out the wazoo for a parking place!
I've been having dreams about student teaching, and it makes me nervous. That means it's finally getting closer and closer. This month flew by so quickly, I have no idea where the days went. Fortunately, near the end of summer, Aaron and I got to spend a lot of time together, which was really nice, compared to the rest of the summer. However, he started training at his new job this morning, so I have the whole apartment to myself for the rest of the day (until I have to go to work, that is). It's kinda nice, but I feel like there's no structure in my daily activities, like lunch time or anything like that.
Aaron and I finished up clothes shopping for my student teaching, which included about six new pairs of slacks to wear while teaching, as I only had about four pairs before. Now I can mix and match quite a bit more than I was able to before. I also picked up a couple of new pair of shoes to wear. I've been trying to get ahold of my teacher I'll be student teaching with, but she's not listed in the phone book, and the two websites that gave her email address were wrong, and she hasn't been at the school each time I've tried calling to get ahold of her. The school finally did give me her email address, and so far the email company hasn't sent back an "email undeliverable", so that's a good sign, I suppose.
Two more days of work, and then I have the last three full days off from work and school until school gets out in December. Once school starts, I will be teaching five days out of the week, and working four days out of the week, two of those four days being on the weekend. So basically, seven days a week, for four months straight. I'm so not looking forward to that.
But now that I've been at Cadillac Jack's for a year, I'll have some personal days and paid vacation days that I can use when I get stressed out or have a big project to work on, and I'll get paid for it. I love being able to do that!
Kool Deadwood Nights starts on Saturday the 26th and goes 'til Monday the 28th, so if you like classic cars from the 50s and 60s, come to Deadwood and check it out. Parking is a pain, so be prepared to search and search, and then pay out the wazoo for a parking place!
Friday, August 18, 2006
the bat hat!
So last night at the bar, Henry says that he wants me to make him a hat, a Bat Hat, to be precise. I asked him if that meant he wanted the Batman logo on it, or bat ears on it, and he wanted a black hat with bat ears on it, like Batman's hat.
Here is a picture of the drawing Henry sent me today.
I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to do the eye holes for the "ski mask" part of the hat Henry wanted...as you can see, he wanted to be able to wear it flipped up, and "normal" looking, and then be able to flip the brim down for eye holes. I managed to figure out how to do the eye holes, and it worked out quite well.
After an hour or so, I finished the main part of the hat, but then the tough part came; the ears. I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to construct the ears. I thought about stuffing the ears, but Aaron pointed out that the stuffing I had was white and would show through the black fabric. Then he mentioned something about wires, but all we had was a wire clothes hanger, and we didn't want it to poke Henry in the head and give him an infection. Finally, Aaron and I managed to figure out something with crocheted triangles and clothes pins that had been taken apart and colored black with a Sharpie marker. I sewed the clothes pin parts to one side of the ear on the inside, and then sewed ear halves together. The final step was sewing them to the hat itself.
Henry came over halfway through the process; I was still making the ears and putting them together, but the main part of the hat was finished, so he tried it on, and much to all of our amusement, he looked like Mushmouth from Fat Albert. We figured with the ears on, it would look better. You be the judge.
Here is a picture of the drawing Henry sent me today.
I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to do the eye holes for the "ski mask" part of the hat Henry wanted...as you can see, he wanted to be able to wear it flipped up, and "normal" looking, and then be able to flip the brim down for eye holes. I managed to figure out how to do the eye holes, and it worked out quite well.
After an hour or so, I finished the main part of the hat, but then the tough part came; the ears. I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to construct the ears. I thought about stuffing the ears, but Aaron pointed out that the stuffing I had was white and would show through the black fabric. Then he mentioned something about wires, but all we had was a wire clothes hanger, and we didn't want it to poke Henry in the head and give him an infection. Finally, Aaron and I managed to figure out something with crocheted triangles and clothes pins that had been taken apart and colored black with a Sharpie marker. I sewed the clothes pin parts to one side of the ear on the inside, and then sewed ear halves together. The final step was sewing them to the hat itself.
Henry came over halfway through the process; I was still making the ears and putting them together, but the main part of the hat was finished, so he tried it on, and much to all of our amusement, he looked like Mushmouth from Fat Albert. We figured with the ears on, it would look better. You be the judge.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
i wasn't even on vacation. okay, maybe a little one.
Sorry about the extremely long hiatus of blogging that I have been on. All kinds of things just happened at home that kinda kept me away from the doldrums of weekly blogging about my life, but they were actually things that could be blogged about and of interest to others!
First of all, on July 27th, I headed back to Gillette to see my good friend Lacey. We've been friends since high school, but she has since moved to Montana, and now to Oregon, and she hasn't been to Gillette in about four years, and I haven't seen her in about two years, so that was really great. The reason she was back was because of a couple of weddings that were happening that weekend - friends of hers (and kind of mine) were getting married, and she wanted to be there for them. We spent time hanging out at the bars, catching up, talking about this and that, and it was a really good time. Our friends Scott and Brett were also able to join us in Gillette, and the four of us had a great time.
Pictures to be posted on Photo Journal.
Then after that, work got a little hectic, I filled in for someone in the middle of the week, and then on a Sunday, Aaron and I had driven to Rapid City to see one of his good friends who is in the Air Force and will soon be stationed in Korea, so we wanted to get some hanging out time in before she left. The next week was the week before the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and things were starting to get hectic. Aaron quit his job the Tuesday before the Rally, which left them hurting for cooks, but he had been putting up with promises that were not being fulfilled for months and months, and was just sick of it, so he left.
After that, he and I went to Rapid City again to find me some more clothes for student teaching, as most of what I owned was long-sleeved and more winter/spring related clothing. We found me a ton of great things, and had a good time.
Then came Rally. I worked the first four days of Rally, and then had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off, and I decided that Aaron and I needed to have one last (first) hurrah! for the summer and that we needed to go camping in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. We chose the Big Horns over the local Black Hills because of the motorcycle traffic and just the need to get out of the area for a while.
This was mostly a "shakedown" camping trip, as we spent most of our time in preparation for the trip at Wal*Mart or the grocery store. However, after raiding Aaron's parent's house for camping supplies that they hadn't already taken with them on their current trip, we didn't need to buy much more else for ourselves.
We spent both nights in the Big Horns, but on the second day, we drove out to Cody, Wyoming to hang out there a little bit. During the first night, neither of us slept very well because the ground was hard like a concrete block, so we were up with the Sun and out of the mountains by 9am. We headed to Cody, and as we were almost there, the both of us were quite tired. We stopped at the Cody city park and parked the car in the shade of some trees, put the windshield blockers up, and took a nap for about an hour and a half in the car. Then we ate a sandwich lunch in the park, stopped by the Sierra Trading Post store to pick up some shorts for me and tried to find a pair of sandals for Aaron, but were unsuccessful in that area...
And we headed back to the mountains! This time, we had a hard time finding a camping spot that wasn't reserved or taken, but in time, we did find one, along with a moose, some sheep, and a softer place to sleep.
Although the ground was softer, that didn't mean I slept much better for the first part of the evening; I was having spider dreams. Dreams that they were on the tent wall, on the floor, and in my sleeping bag. Aaron said he could hear me moving around and brushing the "spiders" off of myself, and when he asked me where the headlamp was so he could go outside, I pointed and said, "Over there, by the spiders." He was a little confused. Fortunately, the spiders were all a figment of my imagniation.
We went back through Shell Canyon and saw the Shell Falls, which were very pretty, and headed back home on Friday morning so that I could get some laundry done, as now everything we had with us reeked of campfire smoke, which was quite strong.
Aaron just went in for an interview today as a service technician for customers with an internet service provider in Rapid City. It went well, and he's going back in tomorrow to fill out some paperwork, and starts training at 8am Monday morning. I'm really excited that he's finally going to be employed again.
On the way back from Rapid City today, we stopped at the local yarn shop here in Spearfish, and I talked to the owner, who got me set up with some sock yarn, knitting needles for the socks, and a pattern to go by so I can start knitting my first pair of socks. I'm really excited!! She said if I need any help at all, to come in the shop and she will help me with it. Which is great, because I learn better by watching someone else than by reading instructions on a sheet of paper.
And that's what's been going on!
First of all, on July 27th, I headed back to Gillette to see my good friend Lacey. We've been friends since high school, but she has since moved to Montana, and now to Oregon, and she hasn't been to Gillette in about four years, and I haven't seen her in about two years, so that was really great. The reason she was back was because of a couple of weddings that were happening that weekend - friends of hers (and kind of mine) were getting married, and she wanted to be there for them. We spent time hanging out at the bars, catching up, talking about this and that, and it was a really good time. Our friends Scott and Brett were also able to join us in Gillette, and the four of us had a great time.
Pictures to be posted on Photo Journal.
Then after that, work got a little hectic, I filled in for someone in the middle of the week, and then on a Sunday, Aaron and I had driven to Rapid City to see one of his good friends who is in the Air Force and will soon be stationed in Korea, so we wanted to get some hanging out time in before she left. The next week was the week before the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and things were starting to get hectic. Aaron quit his job the Tuesday before the Rally, which left them hurting for cooks, but he had been putting up with promises that were not being fulfilled for months and months, and was just sick of it, so he left.
After that, he and I went to Rapid City again to find me some more clothes for student teaching, as most of what I owned was long-sleeved and more winter/spring related clothing. We found me a ton of great things, and had a good time.
Then came Rally. I worked the first four days of Rally, and then had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off, and I decided that Aaron and I needed to have one last (first) hurrah! for the summer and that we needed to go camping in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. We chose the Big Horns over the local Black Hills because of the motorcycle traffic and just the need to get out of the area for a while.
This was mostly a "shakedown" camping trip, as we spent most of our time in preparation for the trip at Wal*Mart or the grocery store. However, after raiding Aaron's parent's house for camping supplies that they hadn't already taken with them on their current trip, we didn't need to buy much more else for ourselves.
We spent both nights in the Big Horns, but on the second day, we drove out to Cody, Wyoming to hang out there a little bit. During the first night, neither of us slept very well because the ground was hard like a concrete block, so we were up with the Sun and out of the mountains by 9am. We headed to Cody, and as we were almost there, the both of us were quite tired. We stopped at the Cody city park and parked the car in the shade of some trees, put the windshield blockers up, and took a nap for about an hour and a half in the car. Then we ate a sandwich lunch in the park, stopped by the Sierra Trading Post store to pick up some shorts for me and tried to find a pair of sandals for Aaron, but were unsuccessful in that area...
And we headed back to the mountains! This time, we had a hard time finding a camping spot that wasn't reserved or taken, but in time, we did find one, along with a moose, some sheep, and a softer place to sleep.
Although the ground was softer, that didn't mean I slept much better for the first part of the evening; I was having spider dreams. Dreams that they were on the tent wall, on the floor, and in my sleeping bag. Aaron said he could hear me moving around and brushing the "spiders" off of myself, and when he asked me where the headlamp was so he could go outside, I pointed and said, "Over there, by the spiders." He was a little confused. Fortunately, the spiders were all a figment of my imagniation.
We went back through Shell Canyon and saw the Shell Falls, which were very pretty, and headed back home on Friday morning so that I could get some laundry done, as now everything we had with us reeked of campfire smoke, which was quite strong.
Aaron just went in for an interview today as a service technician for customers with an internet service provider in Rapid City. It went well, and he's going back in tomorrow to fill out some paperwork, and starts training at 8am Monday morning. I'm really excited that he's finally going to be employed again.
On the way back from Rapid City today, we stopped at the local yarn shop here in Spearfish, and I talked to the owner, who got me set up with some sock yarn, knitting needles for the socks, and a pattern to go by so I can start knitting my first pair of socks. I'm really excited!! She said if I need any help at all, to come in the shop and she will help me with it. Which is great, because I learn better by watching someone else than by reading instructions on a sheet of paper.
And that's what's been going on!
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