TGIF!

This was a heck of a week! It was busy, from Monday until Friday, without much time for a break. It was just long. By the end of the day today, I needed to get out of the house and have some girl time. So, I took Charley over to hang out with her auntie for awhile, and had a date night with Blair. Blair is one of my oldest and closest friends. We've known each other since we were 12 year olds, training to be counselors at Camp Kici Yapi. We grew up together, went to college together...we've experienced most everything together. And tonight, we had an amazing girl's night.

We went for dinner and drinks at Old Chicago.I hadn't seen her for awhile and we were definitely overdue for a get together. We were having fun people watching, while we waited for our table (which took forever, by the way). An older couple sitting at a booth clapped and cheered when we finally got seated, because they had noticed how we'd been waiting forever! I told Blair I wished we had been seated by them, because they seemed like a good time! It was worth the wait, though. Everything was delicious, and the conversation was awesome. We were going through our wallets, getting out credit cards to pay, and Blair busted out identification cards for her cats, asking if I had one for Charley. I started laughing so hard I cried. The cards were so cute, with her cats' pictures on them! Anyway, they certainly weren't expected, and I totally lost it. It was great. Just what I needed! We blasted music on the drive home, too, which was pretty much the best way we could have possibly ended the night. I love having friends like that.

I work tomorrow, which will be nice. I love my Saturday mornings! Charley is excited, too. She can't wait to go to gymnastics. She talks about it all week long! It's just about her favorite thing to do. After that, I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing evening in. I can't wait to have a quiet night to relax on the couch. It's going to be amazing.

Alright, here's a teaching story for the night...My first year teaching, was my first year working in an Edison-School (it's a type of public school that receives some private funding from the Edison company). When I was in elementary school, we learned keyboarding in about fourth or fifth grade. As I went through school, we relied on computers consistently, and I became a pretty proficient typist, typing about 75 words per minute. Well, my students did not have time in their school day for anyone to teach keyboarding. So, on the days when we went into the computer lab, I would frequently type things quickly for my students who were struggling, mostly due to time constraints. They looked at me in amazement every time I typed, because they couldn't believe my typing speed. One day, after we had been in the computer lab, and the students had been working on their State Reports, I had three of my best students approach me at my desk. They had a little tiny comic book they'd made on lined paper, called, "Mrs. Pierron The Hyper-Typer Spider." They'd made a whole little book, complete with illustrations, about how I came to the rescue with my flying fingers. It was adorable. I still have the comic book, stashed away with the rest of my teacher goodies, and it always brings a smile to my face.