My no good horrible very bad day

Well the first part of the day was fine, then the no good horrible very bad part started on the ride home from work. I was asked by my husband to pick the kids up from the bus which meant that I had to leave right at the end of the day, as soon as the kids leave my classroom to be able to get to the bus on time. So I did. I hightail it out to the car and get in and head on home. Driving down the road before I get to the on ramp for the interstate I notice a cop car pass me and then get in front of me a few cars up and then hop on the on ramp for the interstate. I think to myself, "boy, I hope he cruises along because I need to get moving today." I hate passing cop cars because I always feel weird, not that I do anything wrong or drive past the speed limit, because I don't ever, plus my car has a little shimmy in the front end when I even approach 60 miles an hour so I don't usually get up that high. Anyway, we all get on the interstate, the cop car then two cars in front of me and then me and then there is another car behind me that entered from the on ramp too. So we are cruising about 55 down the highway, and I am thinking "wow, I am going to make the bus." I call Kenneth on the phone and tell him that I will make it to the bus and not to worry. His phone is dying he says so the conversation is short.

Cruising along all of the sudden the cop car puts on his lights and pulls over to the side of the road. So the other two cars in front of me pass him and I pass him thinking "that is strange he hasn't pulled anyone over and is sitting with his lights on all by himself, weirdo" and I pass and the car behind me passes him. I glance in the rearview mirror and see that he now is pulling back out on the highway and moves into the middle lane. Stange cop. He passes the car behind me who backs off me and he approaches my car and slides in behind me with his lights on. Oh shit!

Okay now this is where I have to back up. A month ago my stepfather said I had a brake light out in the back. Kenneth said he would fix it. I told him then and I remember the conversation pretty clearly that he needed to fix it right away because I work where a lot of police are coming and going all the time and that I will get pulled for that. He said, "yeah yeah yeah blah blah blah I will fix it." (not in those exact words but you get the idea - in one ear and out the other.) I reminded him again a few weeks later and then again. So now this is three times!!! blah blah blah.

Here is the other little problem. AND I admit, I have had an expired license for some time now. Okay 4 years. I don't remember why I couldn't go get it renewed, yes I know how easy it is to renew, but I didn't and I am sure it is because of Kenneth that I couldn't get it renewed, I am sure it was. So last spring I went to get it renewed and I needed a birth certificate. Well, I don't have one so I had to order one from Maryland. It took some days and when it got here I arranged to go and get it renewed. I walked into DMV and they asked me for proof of residency like a water bill or deed to my house or something with proof on it. I didn't have it so I came home. I never went back, I am pretty sure it was because Kenneth couldn't give me the time to do it or something. So, yes, expired license.

Okay, so the cop is walking up to my car taps on my brake light and asks me for my drivers license and registration. So I lean over and get my registration out of the glove box. (sidebar here, it has been a very long time since I was pulled over and frankly I never look at the registration of the vehicle so I am not sure what it looks like) I pull out of the glove box something that has the DMV heading on it and hand it to him and say "is this my registration?" He takes it and looks at it and says "is this your car?" Uh, yeah, if I were going to steal a car I wouldn't pick one that looks as crappy as this minivan and has a bunch of trash in it and oh look bonus three carseats in the back!

"Yes sir it is".

"Did you know you have a tail light out."

"no sir I didn't. I am on my way to get my kids off the school bus, and am cutting it close right now."

"well your light is out."

"I promise to get it fixed right away. May I go now and get my kids, they are little and have no one waiting for them."

"I need to see your driver's license maam." (oh shit here it comes.)

(crap crap crap) I hand it to him.

"Ma'am did you know this expired."

"WHAT???? Expired???" (knowing full well, but putting on a good act)

"Why, yes it expired, uh in 2004"

"2004!!!! That was a long time ago."

"Do you have another one, a valid one?"

"No that is the only one I have."

"I need to get my kids, can I promise to get that fixed too?" Batting my eyelashes -okay not really but asking sweetly."

He walks away, Shit!

I sit there and I call my neighbor. No one answers, I call her cell phone, no one there. 5 minutes to the bus. I call Kenneth, he is way far away and won't make it. I hang up. I call the neighbor again and leave a message "please get my kids off the bus, I have been held up. Kenneth will pick them up from you."

The cop comes back smirking a bit, oh shit shit shit.

He hands me both tickets, one for the light (damn you Kenneth) and one for the license (bad me but wouldn't have gotten caught if Kenneth had fixed the light).

He then says, "is there anyone who can pick up the kids because I can't allow you to drive."

"WHAT???"

"No ma'am, you can't drive without a license. You need to find someone who can come get you and take you and your car home."

"you are kidding me!"

"No ma'am you can not drive."

"Well, it is going to be at least an hour before my husband can come get me. You are going to stay with me on the side of the road here until he comes right?" (remember we are on the shoulder of a HIGHWAY)

"Oh no, I can't stay with you that long but I will let you drive to the nearest exit and you can stay at the gas station until he comes."

"Okay" and he gets in his car and follows me 1/2 mile to the 7-11 and leaves me there.

Now you are thinking. Why didn't you just call Kenneth and tell him not to get you and you would drive yourself home? The cop is gone right? NO he hangs out in the intersection and starts pulling over cars who are running the red lights and lurking in the area. UGH!

I watched him pull over two cars while I was waiting for Kenneth to come get my ass. He gets our neighbor to drive him and the kids to get me. GREAT!!! Now we have involved others. I don't need the neighbors to hear about this. ACKKK!

This cop was young and what can only make sense to me is that he saw my brake light out way back on the other road and he had to think about it for a long time before deciding to pull me over. Then made such an ordeal out of pulling me over. I have NEVER seen a cop pull over let cars pass then get out in the traffic and then pull me over. please. That is a rookie move.

So I had to take the day off and go get my driver's license renewed today. Of all days today, my birthday! I made Kenneth go with me and sit there for the two hours that it took to take the test and the road test and get my picture taken, I made him pay the bill, and finally leave. THEN I made him get me breakfast! (okay that part was his idea)

I am legal now until 2016! Remind me when I need to get it renewed again.

Oh, when we got home from the ordeal last night, Kenneth put in the lightbulb in the back of the car. Do you know how long it took him? two minutes!

I seem to remember the last ticket I had was Kenneth's fault too. He made me drive his mercedes to work one day and I got pulled over for having expired plates. He had the stickers but hadn't bothered to put them on. He paid for that ticket too!

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day!

And for all you mateys out there. You may call me:

My pirate name is:

Mad Anne Flint

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Just in case you were wondering

Your DJ Name Is:

DJ Smokin' Nerd

What's Your DJ Name?

Of All THINGS!!!

Guess What?

You Are a Moderate Mama

You're not overly political, and your views fall more with the American mainstream. In fact, it may be difficult for you to decide who to vote for at times! Your approach to politics is reasoned and well though out.

Are You a Liberal Lady or a Conservative Chick?

I think that about sums it up! And look, I am cute too!

Ever have a day where you just can't get going?

Well, that is me today. I can't seem to get moving. I got up, had two cups of coffee, surfed the net, made and ate lunch, moved on to cold caffene, and ate a candy bar. All I have is blurry eyes and a tired butt from sitting. So what do I do, work on my chair adjustments so it is more comfortable. Oh yeah, I am at work supposed to be working.

Nothing is getting done.

On another note about midnight last night Caroline posed this question to me. "Mommy, did you know that sharks wiggle when they sleep? Why do you think they do that?"

Anyone know the answer? I told her in my tired state of half sleep I was in that it was because they didn't want any other sharks or other animals who might eat sharks to think that they were asleep so when they wiggle it makes them look like they are awake so no one will eat them.

But not that I think about it, what other animals eat sharks? Now I am getting a headache.

The Olympics in Legos

Even though I want to update my blog with more puppy pictures I thought you all would enjoy this site more.

http://www.anewmorning.com/2008/08/13/beiging-olympics-lego-style/

It is pretty impressive!!! But check out the shot where you can see the swimmers and look for the guy with the machine gun.

Wonder where this is. I would love to see it up close.

I'm DONE!

I am done school!!! This day was a long time coming and I am so so so glad it is here. I have been in a crappy mood all day when I should be in a happy, gleeful mood. I can only attribute my crappy mood to the fact that so much has happened at work that is just wrong and it has really gotten to me. One would also think that because this job has been so frustrating that I would definitely be in a great mood today since it is finally over. But noooo, not me.... crappy mood.

Okay so more dirt on the crap at work. Since the blog is now private I am free to use real names and not descriptions of these horrible people. First character is Joel Hughes. He comes from a upper middle class family and he is our PE teacher. He went to Liberty University (praise Jesus) and met his wife there. They have been married for over 10 years and they had trouble getting pregnant and went the invitro route. I say all this because here is one of the many things that pisses me off about him. He and his wife tried without success for years and years to get pregnant. They finally got pregnant with the second attempt at in-vitro and they had a girl. Then a year later they did in-vitro again and had a baby boy. Now one would think that because they tried and prayed and tried and prayed to have kids and then finally had two kids that he would be thrilled beyond belief. OH NO!!! Not him. He has on so many occasions complained about his children and moaned about how one is cranky with a cold or this one kept him up last night, or this one runs all over the place or refuses to take a nap or WHATEVER! This man not only constantly complains about them but he does it in front and to ME! Oh let me get out the pity party banner here... JOEL, I have not two kids but THREE kids! You don't get to tell me how hard something is or that you haven't slept through the night in a week. I didn't sleep through the night for SIX YEARS!!! AND it is rare that I get to sleep in the bed with ONLY my husband. Most nights it is a freaking party in my bed. You little SHIT! Appreciate your kids, love them and enjoy them. You paid enough and tried hard enough to get them. You don't have a right to complain!

Three months ago, Joel came to me when he learned I was filling in for Brad (our principal). He and I had a talk and he wanted to make it crystal clear that while he understood that I was filling in for Brad, I would not and could not ever be his boss. I told him that I appreciated him coming to me and that as long as he continued to do his job that I wouldn't bother him about anything. Really now, what would I bother him about anyway, as long as he was doing his job I had nothing to bother him with. So about a week after Brad left, I am doing my job and saying good morning to the teachers as they come in to work and giving them any news I had that would make their day go smoother, changes in schedule, kids to pay attention to, etc. He comes to me and tells me that I am not genuine in my saying "hello" to him. WHAT???? He says that unless I had something to tell him that was important then I shouldn't come in to his room and say hello. Damn, I thought I was being friendly. So for the next week I made damn sure I had something to tell him each and every morning. The asshole. I will say hello if I want to.

Character number two, Joel's sidekick, Jennifer Warren. She is married to a man who has a heart condition and is on medical leave because he has chronic fatigue syndrome. They have been married 10+ years and they are BESTEST friends with Joel and his wife. They go to the same fundamentalist evangelical church that has about 30 members and they meet in a daycare center. Joel's brother is the pastor. If you don't believe in what they believe in then you are a heathen and Joel makes sure you know it. He tells everyone that the dinosaur bones were put in the ground by God for us to dig up and to test us on our faith that he created the world and that there is no evolution. (Hmmmm.....tell that to the frogs...)

Okay, back to Jennifer Warren. She is the music therapist. This past year she helped Brad with our schedule for the school and she made sure that Joel got the last period of the day as his planning period so he could leave an hour early every day. She also made it so that she really didn't teach but three days a week on any regular schedule. She and I have gotten along fine for the past three years I have been there. She is usually nice and I considered her my friend. Boy was I wrong. A few weeks ago I asked her to help organize a luncheon for the faculty. She did absolutely nothing to help with it and when I thought she had organized it, I find out THE DAY OF the luncheon that she hadn't made reservations for us or anything. So since then she has not spoken to me. Not real sure why but not one word.

Word on the street is that because Joel doesn't like me that he has told everyone else to not talk to me and to do everything they can to be as passive aggressive as possible. Not only does Joel have Jennifer in his clutches but he also has John Levy as well. John is a 60 year old man who I have talked about before. The three have attempted to get Kim Bomba as well and she played for a while but then recently has "seen the light" and not converted to their wiley ways.

What I don't understand and never will is what was so horrible that I did to them that I deserve to be treated like this. They are weird, silly, immature people.

Sorry People

for not updating the blog sooner. We have been plugging along here very nicely. Nothing major to talk about and I think that is just why I haven't updated in a while.

My older daughter is taking horseback riding lessons now. She is actually learning on a pony. So do we still call it horseback riding lessons or ponyback riding lessons? Anyway, she looks very cute in her black helmet and her paddock boots. It is giving her more confidence and something to do that her siblings aren't doing too, yet. Yes there is that yet there. You saw it too. The younger daughter will be taking lessons too as soon as she turns 6 and that is in 6 weeks!! She is very excited but that birthday just can't come quick enough.

On a crafty note, I have been working on scrapbooking our Disney trip. I think we took way too many pictures but you tell me what you think. On average we took between 135-200 pictures a day and we were there for 7 days. I developed over 800 pictures and so far have only weeded out about 40 and I am on the start of day 4. I just can't seem to leave out any cute smile. And since they are my kids' cute smiles and it is my album I am putting them all in there. God help the person who says, "can I look at your pictures from Disney?" LOL I will be bringing out three huge albums and plopping them on their lap.

Okay for all of you faithful readers, you are probably wondering about my garden. Well we have two rows of potatoes in the big garden and they are doing quite well. They have been there for about a month now and have nice little green leaves coming out. Thankfully the deer leave them alone. We are so distraught at the fact that all our hard work will go to the deer that we have been thinking up ways short of shooting the whole clan to keep them out of the garden, hence the garden hasn't really started yet. I did plant some peas a while back and they are about a foot tall but they are in our little garden here at the house and the deer don't know of this lovely place. I also planted a fe cabbage plants but they turned out to be broccoli and they all bolted (grew really tall really fast and have little yellow flowers on them). I sware the label on them said cabbage. Oh well.

Check back again soon as I will post some great pictures of ponyback riding and the garden.

Toodles!

Why I don't go to the Mall anymore...

Not that there is anything wrong with this....

We went to the mall this evening to eat at our favorite restaurant Qdobas. The entrance to the restaurant is outside of the mall. So by going to this restaurant you are not technically 'going into the mall'. It is sort of like lurking on the outside. Anyway, while we are eating I tell my husband that I want to go in the mall and go to a store that is closing/moving and they are having a big sale. He agrees and after we finish eating we walk to the entrance of the mall and walk in. We aren't in there more than 50 steps and I see two young men(not teen agers more like early 20's) walking towards us both wearing khaki pants and pink polo shirts. They are holding hands and talking to each other as they walk by. I at first notice that they BOTH wearing pink shirts and then I notice that they are holding hands. Then the next thing that pops into my little pea brain is that it must be a blatent joke and that someone put them up to it. But then quickly realize that, no, they are a couple and just enjoying each others' company as they are shopping. They walk past us and my husband quickly gives me a knowing glance and I give him 'eyes' back letting him know that yes, I saw them too. Then my middle daughter says, "mommy, did you see those men?" (uh oh) "yes" I say and she says, "they must work at the same place because they were wearing the same uniform." (whew) "yeah, I guess they do", I reply.

I am NOT ready to have THAT conversation with her yet...

The People Who Make me Laugh

Today is.... National She's Funny That Way Day, a day to pay tribute to funny women by listing ways the women in our lives make us laugh (sponsored by Brenda Meridith of Winchendon, Massachusetts, 978-297-1820).

In honor of She's Funny That Way Day I will now list those who make me laugh...

But before I do that there are some that I laugh at and others that make me laugh because they are funny, girlfriend (said in a nice southern drawl). Please note the difference.

1. my sister, I totally laugh at her sometimes but most times she is just downright funny. Her blog cracks me up and the predicaments she gets herself into .... oh I just can't go on... somehow though she always comes out smelling like roses. I kid you not.
2. my youngest child, she doesn't need words to crack me up. It is her expressions that get me. All she has to do is flash those expressive eyes and it is all I can do not to laugh, particularly when I am trying to scold her. The night before Easter my husband was trying to get her to put her pajamas on and she wouldn't go and wouldn't go. So he threatened to call the Easter bunny and tell him not to come. Well, she took off like a bullet up the stairs. She gets halfway up and then comes back down and pops her head in the kitchen again and says, "you can't call him. You don't know his number!" And then runs back up the stairs.
3. Nicole. She is just so funny and well you just have to read her blog!
4. My old college roommate, Zebrafeet. She and I disagree on most things political and well, I just have to laugh. She is a great friend and I love her.
5. The "Yarn Harlet". There are times where I read her blog and laugh so hard I am crying and can't breathe. Even if you are not a knitter I think you will find her blog very entertaining.
6. Hilary Clinton. Yes, this one I laugh at! I just don't understand her sometimes, no, at all. There is just so much here, I don't know where to start. Why did she stay with Bill after the Lewinsky thing? (yes I am sure it was "political", but come one women, we would have kicked his you know what to the curb a long time ago) What was that crying thing in the pastry shop interview/speech a couple months ago? No one really believed it. Why ..... oh I just can't go on.
7. Rosie O'Donnell. I used to think she was funny and I laughed for entertainment, but in the last couple years she has just gotten weird.
8. my neighbor, she cracks me up. She is super anal about everything. Wants to be perfect and ends up being controlling in the process. We all laugh at her in our women's group. And she takes it in jest. She just can't stop and we love her for it.
9. I would be remiss if I didn't include myself in this list. ME! I make me laugh. I crack myself up in the most inopertune times. Usually it is a thought, other times it is because of something I have done or said. And...

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be
amused. - Anonymous

So who makes you laugh?

My Splinter

I was putting a few logs on the fire two weekends ago and I had my requisite Diet Coke in my right hand so I grabbed a log with my left hand and threw it on the fire. I felt a sharp pinch and then some mild pain in my left pinky tip. I put the fireplace screen back up and went into the kitchen where I can see better and looked at my pinky. I vaguely see a splinter or what looks like a very fine hair coming out of the tip of my finger and I call my husband.

You see for Christmas I bought him this great baseball cap from LLBean. It looks like this:

It is super cool because it has two little lights that are in the bill of the cap and they shine a nice bright light on things. He loves it and wears it everywhere.

"Honey, I need your help. Get your baseball cap and a pair of tweezers. I have a splinter in my finger." I wait.

I call my younger daughter. "Can you bring me your magnifying glass. You know the blue one you were looking at dinosaur bones with yesterday." "Yeah, that one. Bring it to me in the kitchen."

My husband returns with his gear, however, he isn't wearing his cap he is wearing his most horrendous head light with the elastic band. This is the very same light I thought he looked like a dork in and thus purchasing, might I say for a pretty penny, the headlight baseball cap.

He turns on the light and then takes the magnifying glass from my daughter and proceeds to come at me with THESE!

I pulled my finger back quickly, saying something like, "No way are you going to use those, I SAID TWEEZERS!"

"They ARE tweezers." he tries to reassure me.

"Now I know why the kids are afraid of you with those. You are NOT touching me with those." I reply.

"Come on I won't hurt you." and then he drops them on the floor. For some reason we both look down at the same time and this torture device is stuck in the linolium poking a hole, straight up! NO KIDDING!

I looked at him and said "And THAT is why you won't be coming near me with those!"

I mean, look at them they are super pointy. He says they are good for getting the splinter and only the splinter but they are scary looking. For the record, though, I still have a splinter that I couldn't get out with the regular tweezers. I am going with the theory that it will come out on its own soon.

There is something wrong...

WAY wrong!

Look at my weather girl. What person in their right mind would be out in THAT outfit in the rain and in 61 degree weather? 61 and rainy is downright cold. It is not weather for wearing a short sleeved shirt with the belly showing. Am I right or am I right?

Photo of the Day

Go ahead ... comment away....

To pox or not to pox that is the question...

Okay a bit corny but bear with me. Tuesday, my middle one came to me and said the nurse at school put some anti-itch creme on her arm for her bug bites. I asked her to show them to me and they were four big bites that looked like mosquito bites. For her they get big and swollen and they scab over usually at the site of the bite. We didn't think much of it and then the next day she said she had more. She showed me that she was bitten on her belly too. I forgot about it later, the bad mom I am and Thursday she had them on her legs, back, belly, both arms and one on her chin. Well, I woke up with these and thought hmmm....maybe it is in her bed. I stripped her bed down and pulled out all her clothes that were on the floor. I looked under the mattress for signs of bugs or ugh bed bugs... nothing... whew.

That night I tucked her in and looked again and thought maybe they are chicken pox and her body is reacting funny to them and causing them to be bigger than normal. I looked it up on the internet and found that often they look like bug bites and get a little white puss in the middle and then pop and scab over. Sounds a lot like what is going on here. My better half and I talk and decide to look at them in the morning and call the doctor. The next morning they are still there and she has another one too. We call and get an appointment. We send her to school and I go to work and as I am sitting there I start to feel very guilty that we sent her to school contageous with a highly transferable disease. I call the nurse attendant who just happens to be my hubby's aunt and she takes one look at her and tells me to come get her.

On my way to pick her up I call the doctor's office again and ask to get an earlier appointment and tell them that she may have chicken pox. They then tell me not to bring her and to treat her for them at home. I told them I wanted a difinitive diagnosis and I wanted her seen and by the way doesn't the CDC want a diagnosis and a count and aren't they doing a disservice to all the classmates who need to know if a child has been sitting in their class touching their pencils with this disease? The nurse then says to bring her in before they reopen for the afternoon appointments. Basically, please come when there aren't any patients around. They then said to tell the office worker to send you straight back to the examining rooms. Okay.

So we get there and she doesn't have the pox, she has HIVES! The doc asks if there was anything that we changed recently, foods, drinks, soaps, shampoos, detergents..... YES!!! my husband thought it would be okay to buy the generic brand of laundry detergent and I did laundry last weekend. Yes most of her clothes were in the wash and yes they were washed with the generic detergent. The doctor said that it was most likely what was causing the hives and that they have been coming on gradually all week because she has been wearing the clothes freshly washed all week.

Final answer? Benadryl and rewash all the clothes I washed last week, including all towels, bedsheets and anything that she will come into contact with.

Thanks honey for trying to save a penny....

Strange Day Number 2!

I am NOT kidding you. I walk in to work today, from the outside which was quite cold, and their was a weird stentch in the air. I had walked in with a co-worker and they said something about the smell too. It like, hit you in the face, well nose really. It smelled like something was burning. As we walk closer to the school area and enter through one set of locked doors the smell got even worse. I said to him, "wow, something is really burning." It was a heavy burning smell. Not a fresh fresh burn. (yes two freshes). It wasn't quite a burned out fire burn smell. But somewhere in between.

I said, "maybe they burned the breakfast this morning."
The other teacher said, "no it smells like charcoal."
I asked, "like a charcoal grill?".
He said, "no like making charcoal."

We then, walked through the next set of locked doors and the smell was worse and now it was starting to burn my eyes and give me a bit of a headache. There were a couple other teachers standing there and someone mentioned that they could see a haze in the air. Yup, I could see it too. So we stand there a minute longer and wonder if it is because the lights are back on or because the heat was back on. Then a guard walked in (which is our first indication that the kids are coming down soon) and we asked them what was on fire. Oh, by the way, they don't always evacuate the building if there is a fire for security reasons. I know don't ask. Yes, if you read yesterday's entry you would know how secure the building is and that this is odd. But there was real possibility that there could be something on fire in a different part of the building and we would be business as usual and may not know. But he says that it was worse in the school area but they could smell it on the units also. We asked what it was and he said it was the forest fires that were burning a county away and it was being pulled in by the ventilation/heating system. And the maintenance people knew about it and weren't doing anything about it nor were they switching it to recirculate instead of sucking in fresh (or in this case smoke filled air).

The weirdest part was that I had just come in from the outside and when I was out there I didn't smell anything, but it was all over the inside of the building. Just another weird day in jail.

All Parts of this Day was Strange

It all started last night. I was getting ready for bed and turned on the TV. The news was on but it was the part just before the sports and the newscaster said, "now just a reminder the following schools will be closed tomorrow" and he listed three schools: a high school, an elementary school that is right next to it and the county technical center that is right next to that. Okay it wasn't that strange but, well it was because our county is huge and we never just have a couple schools out. The other strange part is that there was no snow and no foul weather. We did have a very very windy day and some wind gusts were in the 60 + mile an hour range. The other strange part was that these schools are right down the street from the Juvenile Detention Center where I work as a teacher. I checked the internet and it confirmed that these schools were closed as was the admistration building which is at the other end of the street from me. Hmmm...

So I get up this morning and check the news again and I hadn't gotten a phone call from my principal and so I headed in. Sure enough we had no power. All the teachers and our principal were sitting in the big center room that our classrooms all surround. Okay, so typically the kids come down with the guards and rotate through our classes. So today we have no lights in the classrooms and typically when this happens they lock down the kids in their cells until the lights come back on. It is a security risk. Not that they will escape but they have no video cameras on into our classrooms and with the darkness the kids can do things to each other more easily. So we all sit there and our principal had brought us donuts and coffee so we sat there enjoying. We all figured that we would be able to go home early. I mean we couldn't even really work in our rooms much with the darkness. But NOOOOOO......

We are told that we are going to run a semi-regular day. WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Clean out the ears, yes, I heard right. We would do music therapy, finance/business, reading, PE, and something else. 5 classes for 5 groups of kids and we would all go to the units and hold class there in the center rooms where their cells are, except PE which would be in the gym and music therapy which would be down in the school area in a room that had the most light shining through the window. I was assigned to music therapy with our therapist. So we decide to pull out some puzzles that are in black and white and have the kids work them. They had a good time but it was quite dangerous actually. The kids come down unit by unit and there are about 8 kids per unit. There is no video cameras and they come with one guard. On a typical school day each unit is in a classroom with only one guard but there are no less that three guards that rotate around the large center room and watching the kids through large windows which are the entire half wall facing the large center room. Here, look at the picture and you will see a basic layout of the school area.

So let's just say if a kid wanted to throw a couple of punches while they were in the classroom with us it would be about, oh, 45 second to a minute before anyone else could help. Now we have been trained to back away when a fight erupts. So that would leave the guard by himself to handle it. The kids could easily gang up on us or the guard easily and then there would be no video evidence of the event. Luckily, that didn't happen but I would say on any typical week the tapes of the video cameras are refered to for something or another. We did get out about 45 minutes earlier than a normal day but it was quite strange. The only bathroom we could use today that had generator light was way on the other side of the building from the school area. We had a yucky lunch consisting of overcooked fish (like shoe leather) and collard greens that were overcooked as well. The best part of the meal was the chips-ahoy cookies that were placed right on top of our fish!

The other horrible part was that I didn't have email. So I couldn't contact a person who I needed to contact today, so I had to drag the girls up to my son's cub scout meeting so I could talk to her and get the info I needed. More weird.

Okay, last thing. I go to the grocery store this afternoon. That wasn't weird. But we bought some Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream (the kids' favorite), and I am scooping it out tonight after dinner and there are hardly any chocolate chips in it at all. Where did they go?

Great Wolf Lodge New Ride

So here is my husband riding on the new wave ride at Great Wolf Lodge. The water comes up from the bottom of the hill and it is supposed to simulate riding waves at the beach.

Wanna see where I work?

Here it is...

This is the view from my desk which sits in the "back" of the classroom by the door. This is looking toward the left and the other is toward the right.

Notice the windows with the bars. The board that I use is a state of the art "Smartboard". It is hooked to my computer and I can project the computer screen up on it by my LCD projector mounted at the ceiling. I can touch the board and control the computer like a touch screen. It is pretty cool and the kids love to come up to the board to use it. I also have a regular white board that is on the right side of the room. The tables are weighted and weight a ton. The chairs are made of a durable plastic and are one piece.

For the most part it is a pretty normal classroom. I can't have too much stuff out sitting around. There is no bulletin board as we can't really use staples. The kids come in to class in small groups of 8-10. They are mixed in age and grade levels so they area all usually taking a different social studies course. I teach about 10 minutes to the whole group and then they begin their individual work, independently. In the first 10 minutes I tend to think of it as similar to Jay Leno's monologue. I stand up in the front and talk for a minute about whatever is on my mind. Recently it has been my frustrations in playing the McDonald's Monopoly game on the Internet. (Windows 98 vs. Vista) Then I instruct about some little topic, many times it is a skill of some sort or we watch CNN Student News for current events. Then they get settled in their books. They each have assignments on the regular white board that I didn't take a picture of. I walk around and help them out or sit with one person and instruct on a specific event in history or a concept.

The weird stuff: I have to flip mentally from Ancient World History to Modern (1500 to present day) World History, American History, and US Government in a flash. I can be helping someone with the definition of a complex civilization or why mummies in Egypt pulled their brains through the nose with an instrument that looks like a fish hook to answering questions about the electoral college, then to the first battles of the American Revolutionary war and back again. I have to count pencils going out and being collected each class period. When a child breaks a pencil lead we have to find the lead that got broken off. I can't use paper clips, real adult scissors, or leave my stapler out on my desk. I can use staples in paper only when absolutely necessary and then I have to be ever vigilant about watching the kids who have staples in their papers. We can only use pencils, not pens, not mechanical pencils. The kids can only use yellow legal pad paper. They can't use regular notebook paper to write on AND I have to give it out one sheet at a time. I have to report every doodle on every paper, book, or table.

A majority of my students go to school intermittently when not locked up with us. Therefore, they often won't get much credit for the work they do in our school. They do get credit for the time they are with us, don't get me wrong but when they go to a new school after they leave us it is up to the new school to decide whether or not to give the kids credit for their work with us. Knowing this, I often will work specifically on lifetime skills that will help them in real life and not require them to memorize massive amounts of bogus info that they won't ever use. I am not stupid and I do realize that most people don't love history like I do and I don't hold it against them.

Oh, did I say I love my job?

Crazy Hat Day

Yesterday was "Crazy Hat Day" at the Logos church group. This was Alexandra with her crazy hat that we made and the butterfly wings that she got at dinner the other night.

Our local sports bar has "kids eat free" night every Tuesday night. They put in a kid friendly movie on the big screen TV's in the restaurant side of the place and keep the sports on in the bar area. It is a fun crazy night. There are tons of kids and the movie is playing loud and they have a guy "uncle bert" who comes around to the tables and makes balloon animals and such.

Canning

Okay, so I wonder why they call it canning when you put the food in jars.


I made enough spaghetti sauce to fill one large jar and I put the rest in the fridge. There was only enough left to fill a third of another large jar. So we will have that for dinner one night this week.



This is how much patty pan squash we picked just yesterday.



This is the squash and the zucchini cut up in bags to go in the freezer. The patty pan in front is what I still have to cut up left from yesterdays harvest.



This is what I still have in the fridge that I have yet to do something with. This is harvest from this past week. My vegetable drawers are 10 inches deep.

I have cut some much zucchini and patty pan squash that my fingers are permanently covered with squash juice. It made sort of a layer of stuff on my fingers that I can't get off with regular washing. Weird.