October 20-22

The Arizona State Fair was not at all what I imagined. If it is possible to be fair spoiled, that is what we are in Iowa. Growing up you went to the fair. Even if your parents hated it, they took you because it is the only way to grow up a true Iowan. Or maybe because there is nothing else to do...either way it was a family destination. I would not say that of the AZ version. Our friend said that when she was a kid, they never went to the fair. Plus, it was so small. Like Mr. S. said, it was more like a county fair. The food was there but not in the multitudes that it is in the Midwest. And well, the rides are rides. I don't know what scared me more, the thought of riding them or interacting with the people operating them. The animals were, of course, very cute but there weren't very many of them. There were llamas but no horses or cows. At least not when we were there. So, don't worry Iowa State Fair, my heart is still yours.

Friday breakfast is something of a tradition at our school. Everyone knows that Kindergarten and sixth grade do the best job and all the grades in between put in half an effort. First grade is notoriously the worst with fifth grade only slightly better. So, I have moved from the worst team to one of the best. The first step to putting on a good breakfast is coming up with a theme. Since it is Vegetarian Awareness Month, I suggest a veg theme. My teammates went for it and we decorated the lounge with big cut out vegetables, vegetarian posters, and cookbooks. I thought it was cute and since breakfast is usually a vegetarian event anyway I thought everyone would agree with me. Well, we arrived at school Friday morning to see that people had ruined our decorations by gluing meat pictures all over them. And I heard reports that people were commenting about how I was pushing my beliefs on other people. How annoying! It was just a theme, it wasn't a political statement. I thought people knew me well enough to know my vegetarianism is not at all politically charged, it is just something I enjoy and wanted to share. Going back to my post on gratitude, this is exactly what I am talking about. It is so hard to be positive and remember why I teach when we work with such unreasonable and negative people.

Anyway, I made monkey bread. As I was making it, I became worried that the name was in some way racial so I looked it up on wikipedia. Thank goodness, it is not. I guess it resembles the monkey tree; a giant fir tree that is also the national tree of Chili.

In other news, Mr. S. and I are no longer yoga homeless! We have returned to a studio I used to go to but stopped because the teachers kept quitting and not showing up. Turns out, they now have a really solid staff of extremely knowledgeable teachers. I have liked every class I have taken so far. Plus they have a really fun boutique of interesting jewelry and clothing that is fun to browse after class. Nothing says Ms. Bee like shopping and yoga!