Politics? Five for Friday? Feel the love, no hate here

I am super-excited for this Friday! Whoot!! I stayed up late last Friday and wrote a Five for Friday and realized that none of it was really blog-worthy. But this week, well, I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!! I'm about to lose control and I think I like it!

Seriously though, I am so excited about the upcoming school year, and I can't wait to get started. I am so excited to have five random things to tell you this week! So hop over to Doodlebugs and read about everyone's week and hey, teacher friends, link up! You'll be glad you did.

 1. So excited to celebrate a "double digits" birthday with this Punky. Do you love her hair? We do! She wanted to celebrate at "the pond." It was 100 degrees and no breeze, plus a little humidity. Sticky, hot, miserable. But she was happy and felt like her wishes were heard. If you know much about Punky, you will already know she LOVES horses. Her grandma made her a new pillowcase for her birthday! Yay!

 2. The new Habitat house is going up on the street right behind me. I can see it from my kitchen window. When I looked out the window at 6:45 this morning, all that was laid was the subflooring. A friend of mine is the recipient of this house. I can't sing the praises of Habitat for Humanity enough. Being a Habitat recipient changed my life.

This is the view from my van window on my way to work at 8:15 am.
What a difference from an hour and a half earlier!

This is the view at the end of the first day. They worked hard.
They worked fast. They were ahead of schedule! I think they may have
even completed their 3-day-blitz in 2 days! 

Habitat for Humanity had a slogan the year I was the recipient which said, "a hand up, not a hand out." This was/is a great and wonderful thing. I would not be a teacher today if not for Habitat. There is no way I would have 1) been able to afford it, and 2) believed in myself enough to just "go for it." My H4H house changed my life in indescribable ways. I had to work this week, and so I was just a spectator watching this beginning, but I am so excited for this family. It will be so awesome!

 3. This is not the final product, I am sure of that. But it is organized and neat and furniture is where I want it.... mostly. We had an open house/meet and greet in the community last night, so my room needed to be ship-shape. And ready for scrutiny. So did the teacher. "Professional Carrie" made an appearance again this week, she's been absent for most of the summer. (My poor principal has had to bear with me running around in my tie-dye and bare feet while working on my room!)

Ms. Horn the professional educator. ;)

 4. Last night Mr. Tiahrt visited our open house. I got my picture taken with him. He is like most/many people I know, I agree with him sometimes about some things, other times, not so much. But he was sort of like a celebrity to this country girl, so I got a picture. Today I read his "Todd Tiahrt's 20 Action Items to Get America Back on Track" flyer. There are some good points in there. However, some points I do not agree with. The biggest thing I ask the American parent and the politician would be to research the Common Core Standards before making them the devil. I am a supporter of education. I don't think we should do math "the old way" or necessarily "the new way." I think we should teach/learn/DO math the way that works and embeds learning in the student. I'll get back to you later in the year with my thoughts on this matter and how it is working for me. It's a little bit (or more than that) uncool to be both conservative AND a public school educator.  I've "always been" a conservative, but this old dog is learning a lot of new tricks. I am not so conservative as I once was, maybe more moderate.... or maybe independent. I want to reserve the right to support what I agree with, whether it is liberal, conservative or somewhere in-between. I didn't realize I was going to go an a rant. Please excuse my rant and realize I am not trying to start an explosive political conversation, but enjoyed talking with Mr. Tiahrt and he had a very calm and peaceful spirit. I wish him the best. I am not disclosing where my vote will be going on the 5th. Get out and vote everyone. That is the only way we will see changes!

5. Luxury vehicle? I think so!! I have been driving my 1998 Saturn SL2 for forever now. Or it just feels like it. It is still a good car, don't get me wrong, but it is *old* and it does have a few miles on it, and not really any "perks." The vehicle on the right in this photo is our van. I bought it for a steal in February or March and it's been sitting in our driveway untagged since then. The Saturn is having starter issues and tried twice to strand us last weekend. So.... the van is officially on the road. And come to find out.... it doesn't get any worse mileage than the Saturn!! Guess who is excited about the drive to work now! This van is only two years newer than our car, but it is MUCH nicer in msny ways! For one thing, it has power! And I have a little bit of "Rickie Race car driver" in me. Well, that is not really why having more power is so exciting, it is more about being able to pass without fear and with more safety.

Look, the van is a Republican! lol! 

Those are my five random things. They may not be exciting to you all, but they were important to me! I feel like I am building the foundation for the rest of the school year. One thing heavy on my mind/heart recently is this blog. I love sharing what is going with me, but I feel like in the two years that I've been a faithful blogger, I have not grown and nurtured this blog as I should have. I want to be more focused about sharing experiences in a way that others benefit from reading about them. I want to be able to share what is happening in the classroom to benefit curious parents, but also so that teachers say... "oh yeah!" and not read it and say, "huh?" when they are finished. I am not now, and do not aspire to be, a TpT contributor. I intend to stay at the consumer level. But I plan to get better about sharing really great products and really great freebies for other educators. I intend to be an intentional blogger this fall!

Thanks for stopping by!