This weekend it became painfully clear that I am no longer 21. What I mean by that is it takes my poor 27 year-old body a lot longer to ‘bounce back’ after a night out with friends. Saturday started with a day on the boat with Tiff and the boys. It was a beautiful day- no clouds, but a little bit of wind. We found our own little area in the harbor to beach the boat to avoid the chop out in the ocean. Good times! After a quick nap and a refreshing shower it was time to go to sushi. Let it be very clear, Scotty and I do not like sushi. We do, however, like teriyaki sirloin and teriyaki chicken! Next comes the saki.. and the saki comes again and again and again. For some reason it was a good idea to order two bottles for four people. Dinner came and went as did a few bars. And that’s the end of my story- my version anyway! I spent Sunday in the dark in and out of consciousness. Now it is Monday and I am still feeling a little under the weather. Let this be a lesson kids, have your fun at 21 and just enjoy the memories. :-/

Let me start by saying that the student who ‘borrowed’ my favorite mechanical pencil kindly offered to donate his mechanical pencil to me today. He said that he ‘had so many that it didn’t matter’ and that I could keep his. I took this as his apology and decided to end my morning. I will be going to Office Depot this weekend!

So today was wear-your-Laurel-t shirt-to-school day. I finally got my school t-shirt this week and was super excited to wear it today- one less outfit to plan for the week! I go to put it on this morning and well a medium is just not my size in this t-shirt (too big). I had to tuck it in, but I think I looked cute. So cute, in fact that I decided to wear my hair in a ponytail. If you know me, you know I do not veer from the standard straight hair parted on the left side. Needless to say, my colleagues and students were intrigued. Fellow teachers mentioned that I looked very different having all my hair pulled back. My students, on the other hand, simply thought I looked strange. I tried to help them with a different adjective to describe my look than strange. I smiled and said ‘different’ is a better term. After all, I did plaster the sides down and having a massive crease in my hair prevented me from pulling it down and going back to my normal hair style mid day!

The day gets better! Scotty installed a webcam so that he could see me at work and I could see him at home (work too!). I brought a few kids in to frame throughout the day and they were mystified as to how a man got into my computer. Some things kids, cannot be explained!

As any teacher knows, the mechanical pencil is a coveted item among elementary school goers. Today I noticed (after being gone for two days at meetings and having had a sub) that one of my students was writing with a mechanical pencil strangely similar to one I noticed was missing this very morning. I mentioned to this student that I thought his pencil was ‘cool’ as it was the same type of pencil that I was missing. Not accusational at all! Fast forward 30 minutes later into the period as I am passing out homework– this very student shows me a second/different mechanical pencil that his friend (in the same class!) gave him!! I immediately know it is mine because I stole it from my mom when I was in Texas! I call the student out and tell him that it is my pencil. He sheepishly hands it over. I ask him if the ‘cool’ pencil I saw him writing with before might be mine as well. He told me that the same friend gave him the pencil. This friend nervously tells me he got it from home. Being a super sleuth I ask him what store he bought it at. He nervously replies Office Depot. Can’t be! This is my favorite pencil and I have looked for these pencils at Office Depot before and they don’t carry them! I tell him this and that the pencil can only be found at Costco. With sweat nearly beading at his forehead I excuse the group to go to period. I am still mourning the loss of my mechanical pencil!

While on our walk this morning we ran into the neighbor pug- Max. Max’s mom wanted to know what I do to keep my pugs so (dare I say it) skinny!! I told her that their food was regulated. We exchanged stories about whining, yelping, and spins as our boys begged for their food. We always refer to Kooper as a gold fish. Everyday is a brand new experience!

Scotty assures me that all the cool people are blogging, so here is my first attempt. I will first assume that who ever is reading this is truly interested in what the young Hatchers are up to. Today was a relatively mundane day. The day began at 5:00 a.m. with a brisk walk with the kids. Jinx again needed motivation to come out of her kennel. After moans, groans, and I swear a hiss like a cat, she came out of her domain. Kooper on the other hand must have thought today was Christmas morning. From the time Enya sounded on my alarm I heard intermittent whines and yelping. Could he be seriously this excited?! What is so exciting about a pitch black, less-than-warm walk at 5:00 a.m.? What makes this whole experience rather annoying is seeing Scotty roll over in the bed and tuck the blanket under his chin- as if he can’t be bothered by the light turned on in the closet!! Luckily on our morning stroll there was no dew on the grass and our walk was uneventful. Every morning is eventful in this manner, but today seemed a little bit more unbearable as 5:00 a.m. seemed to sneak up on me. Work came and went, although it was pretty hot for mid-October. I say we deserve this Indian summer because we had to withstand April Showers, May Gray, June Gloom, and July-was-gloomy-too weather! Who knows, maybe tomorrow will be a dinner cruise in the harbor!