My vacation is almost over...

My visit from my college roomie fell through :( so I have spent the last three days getting done what I wanted to do before school got underway. Spent time with the kids, helped my daughter color her hair (boy it's weird using red - rinsing her hair looked like a bloodbath!), cross-stitched, etc. Still gotta clean house a little more.

Monday I leave on our final 3-day teachers retreat (final due to budget cuts).

We are going to a resort on Lake Texoma, spending time as a faculty, and getting our inservice hours out of the way. I have been to the retreat every year since I've been in the district (this makes #5), and it has been a lot of fun. Some teachers go just to get drunk at night, but we in the math department tend spend the evenings together and play card games. I have taught the crew the games of Phase 10 and Zilch (played with dice), and we will sometimes stay up until midnight playing. We are a very competitive bunch. This retreat is also great for building comraderie amongst the various departments. The people I work with are some of the closest friends I have. Our department chair retired at the end of last year, so we will have to find someone else to fill in at Phase 10. We will miss her. Our new department chair is a great young man who is actually the youngest in the department. I think he'll do a good job.

I really do love the people I work with - someday we may have to move, and I hope that when that day comes I can find a school where my colleagues can also be my friends, because I know they are rare.