This is a guest post by Tracey, aka The Head Monkey at Middle School Monkeys www.mrsbowes.edublogs.org aka Trixie at TrashyTvTalk at www.trashytvtalk.blogspot.org

My apologies to Robert Palmer for stealing his little ditty from the 80’s, but it seemed so appropriate! (I refuse to dress like the zombies in the video, though.)

Now that school is out and I have waaaay more free time, I really thought I would be a “good wife/mother” and dedicate myself to domestic responsibilities. Well, the jury is still out, but I’m pretty sure I lost the “Mother of the Year Award” already and Better Homes and Garden is not returning my calls for the 4 page spread. I hired a cleaning lady to do the spring cleaning I never did and my son is excited to be spending the summer with his friends in daycare for most of the summer (I have to pay for it whether he attends or not in order to keep my spot for the fall.) Which leaves me time with my daughter to do what all “good mothers” do – blog!

My daughter is 8 and she has a set of blogs that she likes to read on her Google Reader (think Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, et al). Won’t be long until she wants a blog of her own. Very low maintenace – which is a treat compared to the previous 7 years of her life.

So every morning, we set aside a few hours on our respective computers. You know what they say- the family that blogs together stays together! It is during this time that I catch up on all of my listservs as well – www.teachers.net and www.literacyworkshop.org. I am helping develop a Literacy Initiative for my school so the feedback provided by these expert teachers has helped me immensely. The blogs and listservs also recommend a plethora of educational books to check out and I have been greeted by a few packages from amazon.com already!

A lot of my friends are enjoying the summer reading trashy novels, but adult fiction just doesn’t interest me. Give me a book about differentiated instruction or assessment and a Google Reader full of blog posts and I am one happy gal! Not to mention a glass of White Zinfandel to accompany them. (I’m sure it is 5 o’clock somewhere.)

In the midst of all of this blogging craziness, I decided that since my educational blog is sitting pretty idle (I blog about the adventures in our classroom), maybe I should start another blog about something noneducational -TV! I love talking trash about TV with my girlfriends so why not do it online? Hence, TrashyTVTalk was born.

One afternoon, I stepped away from my laptop to enjoy the beautiful day and while jumping on the trampoline with my daughter I had a suspicion that my wireless internet just might reach to the backyard! I ran inside to get my laptop and lo and behold, I had great reception. Now I can blog and play outside at the same time! Bliss!

Okay, so I know I need a 12-step program for this blog addiction, but here’s the thing – if you all weren’t blogging too, I wouldn’t have anything to read, would I? So I know there must be some fellow Blog Addicts out there. I guess I am just looking for a little validation.

The point of this rambling post is to enjoy the summer the way you want to. We have worked hard all year to get a break, so spend it doing whatever works for you! Don’t worry what “normal” people do on vacations (I think beaches are overrated!), just take some time for you!! Hope you are enjoying some time away, Joel. I am going away next week, too, and of course my laptop is coming with me! (I made sure every campground we are booked at has wireless internet!)

In the meantime, I would love to hear from any fellow Blog Addicts out there. Or maybe you spend the summer doing something that other people might think is “work” but you find quite relaxing or entertaining. Post it here. In my classroom we celebrate differences. Let’s hear what you like to do on your summer break!

Oh, there goes the timer! I set my timer to make sure that I don’t spend all day on my computer.Take care and enjoy your summer,

Tracey

Head Monkey