Thank You

You know you've done a good job as a teacher when your students pass their tests and will be receiving their black belts in two weeks. You know you've done a really wonderful job when they bring you two dozen roses and a heartfelt, wonderful "Thank You" card for being there support team for the last five years.

I really don't know how I managed to stumble into this position, but I love the fact that I can help people achieve their goals. It makes me so happy. I never want to lose the ability to help my students. It really is what keeps me going.

Ninja One's Last Test

Today is Ninja One's last test. I'm not worried. I know Ninja One will nail it and soon be in the Black Belt class with me. I'm just worried that once Ninja One gets in the Black Belt class she's going to nail me! lol

You Know...

You know, with temperatures above 90 degrees and lots of humidity, it makes it hard to do any outside work. I did give it a go today, though. I have a section of the house that does not have a 12" border of cement. This section corners into the garage and that doesn't have the border of cement either.

I have been meaning to dig it up and put in a cement border, especially since the water pools there when it rains really hard. Luckily for me, it is in the shade. So I dug it up and started the cementing. When I was done I went next door for a dip in the neighbor's pool. Neighbor has been playing Age of Mythology with PlusOne lately and he loves my berries so we have a good arrangement. It really is great to have nice neighbors.

It was awesome just floating in the nice cold water. The sun was filtering down through the trees and I just floated along, relaxing all the muscles and enjoying the cold. I did have to get out after a while, though but I felt a lot better.

Test Day

Today is test day for Ninja One and Ninja Two. They will have to take their physical exam and then the written exam. If Ninja Two passes both tests, then she is all done testing. Ninja One still has to make up the first exam. I am confident they both will do well, and will be attempting to pummel me when they get into the Black Belt class in August. Isn't that awesome?

A Compliment

I covered another teacher's class last night. Normally I teach only on Monday night, Black Belt Prep, Adult Beginner and Adult Intermediate. Mondays are Techniques days and Wednesday are Forms days. I don't teach on Wednesdays. My teacher told me that at the beginning of the next five week cycle, I would be teaching Long Form Three from scratch, to the new students in the Black Belt Prep class. Now, this is a big deal. Normally he teaches them the form. The assistant teachers (like myself) might review it, but not teach it from scratch.

The fact that he wants me to teach it from scratch means he is showing incredible confidence in me. I have to live up to that. I cannot show any doubt or hesitation teaching this Form. I am going to OWN this Form. I am going to write it out and also use my nephew and son as human test subjects for teaching. I have three weeks to do this. I will OWN this Form. You can bet on that!

Happy Birthday Ninja One!

Happy Birthday Ninja One. Hope it's the BEST day EVER!

Trim Is Done!

All three sides are done. I will have to wait to put up the decorative trim. It's $2.85/linear foot and I need about 40 feet. I also have to put up the "J" channel for the soffet covering. That's why I don't need to paint the underside of the eaves. Woo Hoo to that!

But we're having a heat wave here (it was 99 degrees yesterday as I finished this) so I am not rushing anything. I just wanted this DONE so the birds couldn't get in anymore. Now they can't.
:)

Vacation

This nest week is one of the two weeks of the year that the karate studio is closed. My son is going to overnight camp on Sunday until next Friday and I found out yesterday that I have Monday off.

So what am I going to do with all my spare time? Fix the trim on the house and paint it. It looks terrible and it has been bothering me for a while. As you can see in the photo below, there used to be a bird's nest in the trim. I yanked off the trim to the left of the ladder and started pulling the trim off to the right of the ladder. The birds aren't really happy with me, but they really do need to find another place to live. There are plenty of trees nearby for them.

I replaced one piece of trim and painted it. It is a nice silver gray color. I have to put a piece of decorative molding up, install the "J" channel for the vinyl siding of the soffet (so I don't continually have to paint that and then this side will be done.

I don't know if you can see the color. It's hard when the sun is shining so bright but I think it will look nice. I am going to try and get as much trim fixed and painted as I can.

I also bought a darker shade of gray for the cement foundation and the stairs. I plan on using my spare time to get a lot of stuff done. Of course we are supposed to be going into a heat wave, so we'll see how much I actually accomplish.