Hey there, strangers.

I know it's been a while since my last post (which may be an understatement), but I've been pretty darn busy. This whole "full time job" thing has been keeping me on my toes, and so far it's gone pretty well.

School started August 19th, and I haven't really had many disasters (yet). The kids and I seem to get along pretty well, they are passing my tests and don't seem to hate me nearly as much as they hate the other first year teachers. All in all, pretty encouraging. I've been observed by my boss 4 times this year (we've been in school 5 weeks), which seems like a lot to me. Every time, they told me I was doing a swell job and they're glad to have me on board. Wonderful.

My mentor is great ... she is ALSO a graduate of Shawnee, has a music minor, and loves her dogs ... the only real difference between her and I is that she has a 15 month old baby and I am about 8 inches taller than she is. She's been a huge help, and most of the material I've done this year has either been from her or stemmed from an idea that she gave me. I don't know what I would do without her ... she is constantly coming in and looking after me and making sure that my life is as "easy" as possible in the hardest year of my career.

I can't wait until Friday ... this will be paycheck number 2. Adam is coming into town, my birthday is Saturday, and I get paid ... the start to a very promising weekend. I can't wait for Christmas break already. Is that so terrible??