I may have been a bit premature in my celebrating...

...the end of the school year. Although Friday was supposed to be our last day, we still had to work today, and then tomorrow. That's to make up for the 2 snow days we had in February.

Now, the kids already made up their 2 days. They made one up almost immediately in February. We were supposed to have professional development day on Lincoln's birthday, which meant the kids were supposed to be off, but they canceled that and made the kids come to school. Ok, that kinda makes sense. However, guess when the 2nd day was made up. Go 'head, guess. Um...yeah...it was last Wednesday!!!! Please, someone explain to me what instruction was being made up the day before school got out for the summer. You know what was accomplished that day? Well, let's see, they cleaned out their desks, they washed their desks and chairs, the helped me purge the room of tons of garbage, they organized the manipulatives, I think you get the idea. There was NO instruction taking place. Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either. All I know it that Wednesday was also supposed to be a professional development day. It was supposed to be the day for us to complete our records, and finish getting our rooms packed up. Instead, we had to babysit. AND, on top of all that, instead of being finished on Friday, we had to continue our school year into this week!

I think the whole thing is just ridiculous. First of all, we went for 12 years without using a snow day. Secondly, we supposedly have 5 snow days built into our calendar, so WTF?! Finally, what pisses me off the most is that, although they paid us for those 2 days, they paid us out of our banked summer money. I don't know if I've ever explained our pay system before (so I apologize if I already have) but basically they take money out of every check during the school year, then bank it (and, of course, earn interest on OUR money!!) to pay us during the summer. So, we ALREADY EARNED the money they paid us with. So, please, explain to me why we have to work 2 more days to 'earn' the money back that we ALREADY EARNED! I would have rather gone 2 days without pay over the summer.

Oh, and on top of Monday and Tuesday being make up days for us, New Principal decided that we need to work Wednesday and Thursday, too. Although she can't 'make' us work those days, she put right on our agenda that those days are "STRONGLY SUGGESTED." (Next to Monday and Tuesday it said "MANDATORY.") She made the statement during a meeting last week that those people who couldn't be bother to show up should basically look for another job because they obviously aren't committed to the Hell-Hole. So our already short 6 week summer break has now been cut to 5 weeks. Oh, AND, in that same meeting, she told us that she expects us to come in 1 week in July to work on planning for next school year. So, we're down to 4 weeks.

Now, trust me, I know some of you are thinking, "Quit yer bitchin'! You get FOUR weeks off!" (Well, some of you non-teachers are thinking that. My teacher buddies get it!) But, most of you know how unbelievably stressful this year has been for me. Well, actually, maybe you don't since I REALLY held back from bitching about it here. Regardless, you know that I really need some down time. I'm fairly certain that 4 weeks just isn't going to cut it.

I know this probably sounds ridiculous, but I still feel like I haven't recovered from not getting one single day off LAST summer, and going straight from one school, to summer school, to the next school year, all while trying to move 10 years of "stuff" from one classroom to another (right across the damn hall, by the way!!) I really needed this summer to rest and regroup.

If you're suddenly thinking, "What the hell, ChiTown, I thought you were quitting!?" you're going to have to come back tomorrow for the update. I meant to post about it over the weekend, but I was too busy trying to enjoy myself, and celebrate my awesome Daddy! Until next time...

Oops...

Apparently, I don't know my days of the week. Somehow, I skipped Wednesday's prompt, then I did Thursday's on Wednesday, and Friday's on Thursday, so I'm going to do Wednesday's today!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

What is the best part about travel?

Wow, really!? The traveling itself usually sucks. Dragging luggage, carrying bags, going through scanners, taking off your shoes, squeezing into tiny airplane seats, need I go on? However, depending on why and where you're traveling, arriving at your destination is usually worth it. My last trip was our mini-vacation in Michigan. Despite all the driving, it was TOTALLY worth it. Seriously one of my BEST trips EVER! Before that, my last trip on a plane was when I went to visit my Tiffany. Again, awesome trip!

You can NOT imagine how happy I am that this week is over. Now, if I can just get through the rest of the friggin' school year without a) bitch-slappin' New Principal, b) getting fired (ha! I wish!!) or c) ending up on the evening news, that would be great. I'd love to say I'm going to sleep in tomorrow, however Stud Muffin went and got himself a flimmin' flammin' Saturday detention, which means his MOTHER has to get up early and drive him there!!! Argh!!! Guess I'd better hit the sack then...

5/11/11

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

What is your favourite thing to cook?

Sheesh, where do I start? My favorite crock pot dish is this Mexican chicken thing that I make pretty frequently. It's SO easy and SO good!

One of my favorite dinners to make is pasta with broccoli along side lemon-pepper salmon. Mmmm, just thinking about it is making my mouth water. A tossed salad is usually also on the table. Or, even better, a caprese salad. Ok, now my mouth is REALLY watering!

I'm going to stop with those two, otherwise this post will go on forever.

Today's weather was just as miserable as yesterday's. And, school sucked big giant donkey balls AGAIN! There was one tiny little bright spot, though. One of my biggest PITAs was suspended for the rest of the week. Yep, that's right. A FIRST GRADER suspended for 2 days. I have a feeling there may be an altercation with his mama tomorrow, so I'm preparing myself for the battle. She already called me stupid this week, and her darling little cherub called me a bitch today, so this should be fun.

New Principal hasn't been in all week so far, which is weird. I wonder what's going on with her. One of my coworkers joked that she just might be as sick of the Hell-Hole as we are!!

I'm far too hot and sweaty to type anymore. Even my freakin' fingers are sweating!!! I'm too cheap to turn the air on just yet, but if things don't cool off by tomorrow, I'm gonna suck it up and turn it on. I'll cry about the bill later. I need to go get naked now, and lie on my bed under my ceiling fan.

The post where I overshare...

Thursday, January 20, 2011

What's holding you back?

Hmmm...I guess that depends on what I'm holding myself back from.

What's holding me back from finding someone to spend my life with? Probably the fact that I'm still, down deep, in love with my ex-husband. There. I said it. The past 6 months or so, like I mentioned yesterday, have brought some interesting/crazy changes. It caused me to take a serious look at myself in the mirror and do some major self-analysis. Trust me, I don't like most of what I see. But, it is what it is.

Oh, and just to clarify something from yesterday's post (so Suz doesn't have a stroke!) yes, it WAS a kiss in the morning, but that's because CSJ picks up Stud most mornings, and drives him to school. He has a key to my house, so he lets himself in the back door, goes down to the basement to make sure Stud is up, and then he usually comes upstairs and checks his email or whatever on Stud's computer. If he takes him to school for me, it literally gives me an extra hour to sleep. Usually, I hear him come in (he'd NEVER make a good cat burglar!) but yesterday, I was in a coma or something. I didn't hear him come in, and was seriously in a deep sleep when he planted one on me. As much as I hate to admit it, it was a really sweet way to wake up.

Ok, moving on...

What's holding me back from getting in shape? The short answer - pure laziness. That, and my LOVE of food. All food. I can only think of about 3 things I won't eat. Liver (or any organs, that matter), cilantro, and any kind of innards (tripe, for example). Other than that, I'll put just about anything in my mouth. (Ok, C and Sandra, get your minds out of the gutter!)

The intelligent, educated side of me knows that for health reasons alone, I need to lose some weight and get some exercise. The 'looking better' part would just an added bonus.

What's holding me back from changing jobs? Well, part of that is my aforementioned laziness. When I think about having to pack up all that stuff and move it, it gives me palpitations! But, really, there aren't a whole lot of jobs out there right now. Chicago let about 3,000 teachers go at the end of last school year. There just aren't any positions available. Well, if I was a special ed or bilingual teacher, there would be positions, but I'm neither of those. As my partner at school keeps saying, "Just suck it up and play the game. At least we have jobs." It's hard to argue with her most days. Especially when New Principal is being psycho.

But, as most of you know, it upsets me that I've lost my joy. I used to feel joy about going to school and seeing my babies every day. I used to feel joy when I thought about all the activities we'd be doing. I used to feel joy when writing out my lesson plans, because I was so excited about teaching them new things. Now, all I feel is stress, mixed with anger, occasionally interrupted with rare moments of joy.

Now, in all fairness, this year has been getting better, especially since I decided to approach 2011 with a new outlook on things. But, it's nowhere near what it used to be. I still count down the days until our breaks. Hell, I count down to days off! (For example, the kids are off next Friday for a staff development day, and that's all I can focus on to get me through the week.) I have my tickers right there, smack at the top of my page, so every time I come here, the first thing I see is how long I have before my next break. It makes me sad that I feel this way, but at the same time, I can't help it.

What's holding me back from getting my early childhood certificate? This one would mostly be finances. I finished my last masters program before Stud started high school. I'm going to have to wait until he graduates, I'm afraid, before I can start another program. His tuition is outrageous (but totally worth it!) so I just can't add grad school tuition to the mix right now. I have one more year of tuition for him at this school, then I'm not sure what's going to happen. I'm hoping and praying he'll get some kind of financial aid and/or scholarship money.

And, hey, he can get a job!! That's how I paid for college, for Pete's sake! I started working full-time in high school, as soon as I could get a job at 16. This lazy bones is 17 already, and has absolutely no interest in getting a job of any kind. WTH?! I had to work full-time to pay for college, and I still managed to keep a 4.0. There was a semester that I was taking a full-time load at two different colleges, plus working. How in the HELL did I do it?! I never took out any student loans, my parents made "too much money" for me to get financial aid, so I worked my butt off to pay my own tuition. Just like I worked 3 friggin' jobs to pay Stud's tuition when he first started high school. Thankfully, by suffering through summer school last summer, I can get by with just working one job this year. I am thankful for small victories. :)

Sorry, I'll quit the whining now. Wow, how did this post become such a roller coaster ride of weirdness? I went for over-sharing my self-analysis issues, to confessing my uber-laziness, to bitching about my poor son. This is one of those moments when I wonder why the hell you guys keep coming back every day. I guess you like me. You really, really like me. :)

I'm so tired...

...I almost blew NaBloPoMo! Like I mentioned yesterday, last night was Report Card Pick Up night at the Hell-Hole. It actually went much better than anticipated. I had 12 parents in before our lunch break, and another 9 after lunch. That's 21 out of 26. Not too shabby! And, out of the 5 babies whose parents didn't show, 3 were new students that I've received in the past week and a half, 1 was a student who's been out for the past 3 weeks, and the last one is a boy I had last year whose mother didn't step foot in the school ONCE last year. She didn't come to either Report Card Pick Up last year, either, so I wasn't that surprised she didn't show.

I put together this little "treat" for the parents who showed up.

It's just microwave popcorn, with a label I printed on my computer. Totally cute, right? And, it scored me some major brownie points with New Principal. However, I can't take all the credit. This was actually an idea I came across on another teacher blog (I'm so sorry, I don't remember which one) in the beginning of the year. I had planned to do it at Open House, but you may remember that my aunt passed away that week, so I wasn't at Open House. I was excited to do it for Report Card Pick Up night, and the parents loved it.

After the night ended at the Hell-Hole, I rushed straight to Stud's school (as much as you can rush a half-hour drive!) where he was waiting with a couple of friends. By the time I drove his friends home, we had just enough time to walk in the door, heat up some soup (yay for left-overs!) and walk right back out the door for our hair appointments. I picked up my sister on the way.

For some reason, she chose last night to make a big change. That translated into a VERY long night.

Stud got a haircut. I may have mentioned that when my girlfriend cut his hair a few weeks ago, it was seriously the BEST haircut he's every had. He LOVED it. She gave him a faux-hawk, which you may remember made it into his self-portrait. His hair grows so fast that, despite just getting it cut about 3 weeks ago, he was ready for a trim. I figured it was best to do it now, while it still had it's 'shape,' so my friend would remember how she cut it. (Our girlfriend who does our hair has been our friend since high school. She owns the salon we go to. We always tease her because she almost never remembers from one visit to the next what the hell she does to our hair! But, it always looks great. Every time she's ever cut Stud's hair, it's been different. I figured I'd try and help her keep this 'new' looks, since he liked it so much.)

Naturally, my girlfriend styled Stud's hair with all these different products, so it looked great when she was finished. But, like I said, thanks to my sister, we were there WAY longer than I would have liked, especially since Stud was with me. We didn't leave the salon until after midnight. By the time I drove my sister home, and pulled into our garage, it was nearly 1am. That would explain the fact that Stud looks a bit stoned in these pictures. And, his 'do drooped a bit by then. I was only going to post the two cutest ones, but then I realized, he can't take a bad picture. :) So, here's the whole photo shoot.




I love this one. I love how his eyes disappear when he's genuinely smiling.



Despite how excited the damn weathermen here got me, we didn't get any snow today. Damn. It did rain, though, on and off all day. I had to stay for a meeting after school today, and when I came out, the skies looked very stormy. It was just starting to rain again. The sky looked so crazy as I was driving home. To the south, it was pretty clear, to the north, it looked almost black. I took this picture from my car (don't worry, I was stopped at a red light!) facing east. I just couldn't believe how weird the sky looked. There were dark storm clouds, beautiful white, fluffy clouds, and the prettiest peek of sky blue, all in one place.
For the past few hours, it's been storming outside. The rain has been slamming into my bedroom window. It almost sounds like hail. Even though we didn't get snow during the day, the new predication is that it will come over night or tomorrow. I'm still holding out hope!

It's about 54 in my house right now. I'm cuddled up in bed, wrapped in....wait for it.... A SNUGGIE! Yes, I actually own one. Stop laughing! Stud and his dad bought it for me, I think almost as a joke, over the summer. It's zebra-striped! (Wait, I have TWO Snuggies, but I'll tell you about that tomorrow.) Being all snuggled up, with a storm going on outside, is just a perfect night to me.

Holy crap! After being worried about not having anything to write about for NaBloPoMo, so far these have been some of the longest posts I've ever written. Sorry about that...

I'm gonna miss that little booger....

Remember my Little Stalker, DS? Oh, I'm just kidding! I think his crush is adorable. Actually, I'm afraid I may be losing some of my pull. After finishing my DIBELS, Reading 3D AND mClass math testing (WTH!? When are we supposed to do any TEACHING!?) I saw that DS scored off the charts on all 3 tests. It was really after I tested him in math that I was blown away by his abilities.

The math series that we use at the Hell-Hole (and most other CPS schools) SUCKS MAJOR DONKEY ASS, in my humble opinion. It prepares them for nothing. It basically has them playing games and singing songs all day. Now, don't get me wrong, you KNOW I'm all for singing songs. But, this particular program has no real substance, as far as I'm concerned. And, I see absolutely no correlation between what's done in Kdg. and what they need to be able to do in 1st. I knew that before I made the move to 1st.

OK, so what the hell does all this have to do with DS, you may ask. After testing him in math last week, I went to New Principal to ask about maybe moving him to 2nd grade. Sounds radical, I know, but believe me, he's just as ready as the kids who started 2nd grade this year, if not more so. His birthday just missed the cut-off, which here in Chicago is Sept. 1. His birthday is Sept. 5. Four stinkin' days!!

At first, New Principal said there was no way we could move him because of the birth date. So then I asked if he could go upstairs to the second grade class for reading. You might remember that he already did that last year, going across the hall to 1st grade for reading. Then, I figured, what the hell, let's see how far I can take this. I asked if he could also go for math. This is REALLY the area where he is light years ahead of the other children. (Just to simplify the scoring system, the children can fall into red, yellow or green, with red being the lowest, green the highest. DS is the ONLY child who scored green in all areas. As a matter of fact, only one other child scored green in ONE category out of the six that are tested. Yikes!)

Surprisingly, New Principal said yes. Great! I talked to my friend, Mrs. F. (who you may remember had a baby back in November. She just returned this week from maternity leave.) and she was more than happy to let DS come up to her class. We decided we would start this week. Monday morning, he came in with my class from the playground, but immediately asked about going upstairs. He was totally pumped for this new adventure. He went up to 2nd grade, and I never saw him again! He stayed for the whole day! As a matter of fact, Mrs. F's class has lunch at the same time that we do, so I just assumed he would come back and eat with us, but instead, he grabbed his tray and walked into the other lunchroom to eat with the 2nd graders. I gotta tell ya, I was a tiny bit hurt. Ridiculous, right?

Yesterday, I never even saw him!! The primary teachers had a morning meeting, which made us late for picking up our classes outside, so I didn't see him outside. I had to ask Mrs. F. later in the day if he was even at school! Today, I at least saw him on the playground this morning, but he went upstairs first thing, and never looked back. I think he likes it up there. Whatta you think?

I gotta tell you, the whole dynamic of my class has changed. Most of the other babies looked to him for what to do. They waited for him to answer first, read words first, say the date first, etc. And, I've lost my little secretary! He used to so many jobs for me, since it was one of the only ways to keep him busy. He collected the morning writing papers, stamping the incomplete papers with the "incomplete" stamper. He passed out supplies, set up centers, took messages, and so on. He practically took attendance for me!

I'll be curious to see which of the other babies step up and try just a little harder now that DS isn't there to do the "heavy lifting" anymore.

I miss my Little Stalker.... :(

Randomness...

-Stud Muffin brought home some papers this afternoon from his counselor. Luckily, I had already listened to my phone messages, so I knew to expect them. His counselor wants to make a switch in his schedule to move him up a level in math. He and Stud's teacher feel that Stud is bored in the class he's in now, and the move would provide more of a challenge for him. The downside-he'll have to drop the Honors Art class that he's been waiting 2 years to take. Oh, and he won't have lunch until 7th period, which is one period before the end of the day. We'll have to do some serious talking about this move over the weekend.
0
-New Principal PISSED me off today to the point where I'm still too pissed to even post about it. It seems like this entire year is just going to be one thing after another that's going to piss me off. I think it's all part of her master plan to get me to leave. (I know, I know, I still haven't posted about all this crap that started way back in June. However, I'm trying to cut down on the number of f-bombs I drop here, cuz Suz doesn't like them. ;-) )

-The weather here could NOT be any more perfect. As soon as I hit 'publish' I'm going to go lay my fat ass in my hammock for a while. Maybe I'll start reading one of the books from my summer stack that I never got to read.
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-My sister turned 40 on Wednesday (Happy Birthday, Sissy!) and her friends from work are throwing her a surprise party on Sunday. My mom and I are invited. The funniest thing is that the woman who is hosting the party at her house told my sister about the party the day they decided to have it. "Ok, don't tell the other girls I told you, but we're having a surprise party for your 40th birthday. So, just act surprised." That was about a month ago. At this point, the other girls know she knows that there's a party, but they've kept every detail of the party a secret, right down to the menu. That's making it really difficult for me to decide what to make to bring with me. I decided to just make a couple of things I know my sister likes.
0
-My mom's birthday was yesterday. (Happy Birthday, Mommy!) It was a bitter-sweet day, to say the least. I don't think it's still completely set in that my aunt is gone. We're already dreading the holidays, as that's probably when it's going to hit us full-force.
0
-A girl in my class made an awesome discovery yesterday. There was a baby guppy in our aquarium! The funniest thing is that this particular girl is kinda blind as a bat, and is supposed to wear glasses, although she almost never has them. The baby guppy is seriously smaller than a grain of rice right now, so I don't know HOW the HELL she saw it! When she discovered it yesterday, she yelled out, "There's a baby fish!!!" I was quite confused, and came to look, but didn't see a thing. Naturally, I thought she was crazy, but she kept on insisting. Finally, I saw what looked like a tiny piece of fish food floating around. I really had to focus to tell that it was actually a fish. I don't think that there's normally only ONE fish born (hatched?) but I think what may have happened is that the snail we had (it bit the dust last week) may have eaten the rest of the eggs, and only this one, lone egg survived. (Sounds a bit like Nemo, doesn't it?) Maybe someone out there actually knows something about the life cycle of guppies, and would like to give me some info. It's quite obvious that I know NOTHING about this subject. Anyway, in honor of the fish being born on my mother's birthday, we named it Rosie. :)

-Finally, my Bloggy Buddy, Karen, bestowed this delightful award upon me yesterday. Thanks, Karen!
The Versatile Blogger Award
► Acknowledge the award and thank and link back to the person bestowing it. A good way to do this is through a post such as this.
► Pass on the award to 15 other bloggers: (in no particular order)
Tracey
ModernMom
Tiffany
Katy
Jen
dkuroiwa
Susan
Persnickety Ticker
The Girl Next Door
C
Jo
Heather
JLo
Clippy Mat
Pissed Off
(Suz, I originally tagged you, but then saw that Karen already did when she tagged me, so I gave you a break.)
► Let the new recipients know you've selected them.
► Share seven things about yourself that your readers or followers might not know. (See "Seven Bits," below.)
► Post the badge to your blog.

Seven Bits

1. Although I've wanted to be a kindergarten teacher since I was IN kindergarten, when I started jr. high, and started taking French, I decided that I wanted to be an interpreter at the UN. I took French for two years in jr. high, then continued in high school. I also took 3 years of Spanish in high school, as well as two more years in college. I've (obviously!) been immersed in Italian my entire life. Now, can any of you explain to me why I can't speak ANY of these languages?! I like to say I understand Italian fluently (cuz I do!) but I couldn't get a word out of my mouth to save my life! I have spoken more Spanish, and even French, then I ever have Italian. It just PISSES my parents off, I must say!
2. I'm completely obsessed with Super Mario Brothers 3. I have an original Nintendo console and a Super Mario Brothers 3 cartridge that I still played up until I got myself a Wii last year. Then I bought and downloaded the Wii version. LOVE IT!
3. At some point in my life, I would like to live in Seattle. (Sorry, Laura!) Not permanently, just for a while.
4. My favorite kid's movie of ALL time is The Lion King. When Stud was little, we went through 3 VHS tapes because we watched it every single day. Sometimes more than once. We now have it on DVD.
5. I have a serious magazine addiction. Even though I've cut WAY back on the number of subscriptions I have, I still subscribe to 9 magazines.
6. My super secret fantasy (no, not THAT one!) is to be a professional singer.
7. I am the worst housekeeper in the world. I'm always expecting Oprah or Neicy Nash to come knocking on my door one day! But, hell, I would LOVE it, cuz that would mean somebody would finally clean my house!

Wow, that's a pretty random list of things, isn't it?

I actually stopped during this post to take Stud to dinner and the store, so I missed my chance to read in my hammock. However, I may still go lie out there for a while and listen to the crickets and enjoy the cool breeze. I'm SO happy I don't have to go to the Hell-Hole tomorrow!! Too bad I have to have Buster at the vet by 7:30 am. :(

I know I'm jinxing myself....

...by even writing about this, but as of 2:45 this afternoon, I only have 20 babies in my class. TWENTY!!! That's music to my ears. I wish I could have videotaped the office today, because you had to see it to believe it. There was a non-stop flow of people in and out ALL DAY!

Today was the first day of class for students at schools that are still on a "regular" schedule, as opposed to our year-round schedule. So, naturally, there were plenty of scumbag parents who have been bringing their kids to the Hell-Hole for FREE BABYSITTING for the past month. But, now, they are transferring them out faster than the office can handle the paper work. They are returning to their own neighborhood schools. And, they're pretty smart, because in less than 3 weeks, we'll be going on our fall intercession, but now their kids won't be off because those schools won't have that break. Pretty slick, huh?

Sadly, my little Diana Betsy Ross is one of those kids. When I went into the office to swipe out today, her mom was there filling out the paperwork for a transfer. She was dumb enough to tell me that she was transferring her to "a school that's closer." Well, duh!!! If you don't even live within our boundaries, I'd love to know how the hell you registered a month ago! Just last week, I spoke to New Principal about this mom because she was starting to work my nerves. Every single day, at about 2:30ish, the office would buzz my room to tell me either a)there was an early dismissal for Ms. Ross (which is so ridiculous, since we get out at 2:45!) or b)send Ms. Ross to the office at dismissal because her mom is running late. Every single day, without fail, I would get one of these two messages. Oh, and I forgot to mention that she brought her to school LATE every day, as well. 15-20 minutes late, for the record. At least I won't have to deal with that anymore.

Two more babies left while I was out last week. I did get a new boy today, while my class was at lunch, of course! Man, I HATE when the office does that!!! I know I've complained about this before, but why can't they tell them to come back the next day? Let the kid start fresh in the morning, instead of in the middle of the day, when they just get thrown into the routine. This poor kid came at the end of lunch, but luckily, he was able to eat. But, then, when I went back to pick the class up, he looked a little teary-eyed. As we walked down the hall to our room, he saw his mom still sitting outside the office (for who knows WHAT reason!) and immediately burst into tears. He then spent the next 30 minutes crying. He told me he had never been in school before, which makes sense. I'm going to have to look into that tomorrow. Poor baby.

Another one of my babies (who is the sister of the Beyonce I had two years ago!) has now missed 11 out of 20 days of school. And, the 9 days that she DID come, she never arrived before 9:30. Um, school starts at 9! I actually saw her oldest sister in the hall this afternoon, and asked where she was, to which her sister replied, "She's not here?" WTF?! I said, "What?! Don't you know whether or not you brought her to school this morning?!" Ugh! Seriously?! I think it's time to get the office involved with this one. Maybe someone should make a little home visit.

Overall, today was a relatively nice day. It definitely helped that I only had 15 babies to deal with all day. I had 5 out today, which is weird. I wonder if any of those are going to end up being transfer-outs. We did fun centers this morning, that were so nice because we only had 2 babies at each center. It was awesome! We also did some 'remodeling' with our homework folders. I may even post about it separately. I feel like I actually got a lot accomplished today. It's amazing how much you can do with 1/2 a class. tee hee!

Plus, I got to school really early today, since I had to drive Stud to school. Believe it or not, this was the first time I've driven him to school this year. His father has been driving him every morning, which has been REALLY nice. Especially since this year, Stud has an early-start schedule, which means he starts about 30 minutes earlier than usual. His first period class is chemistry, and that extra half hour is lab time. Unfortunately for me, his father will be out of town all week for work, which means I'll have to drive him all week, which means I have to leave 30-40 minutes earlier in the morning. It's been so nice not having to drop him off, because his school is the exact opposite direction from our house than the Hell-Hole. That means 15-20 minutes to get him there, then 15-20 minutes back to our house, THEN on to work. OK, I'm finished whining. I'm going to put on my big girl panties now, and deal with it. Or, as Stud's best friend said on the way home today - I'm going to build a bridge and get over it!

Despite dealing with such a heartbreaking loss this past week, I was able to get some rest this past weekend and I actually felt re-energized this morning. Friday (the wake) and Saturday (the funeral) were mentally, emotionally and physically exhausting. By Saturday night, I felt like I had been run over by a truck. And, my feet were swollen beyond belief. I finally arrived home around 8:30 that night, and vowed to stay horizontal until I had to go to work today. I was able to do just that on Sunday. I only got out of bed for about 30 minutes, only to spend that time in my hammock. I went right back to my bed after that. I read a stack of magazines, watched some mindless television, and just relaxed.

When I woke up Monday morning, my feet were almost completely back to normal. I had planned to do the exact same thing on Monday, but my mom insisted that we all come over for dinner, and I couldn't say no. I figured, since I had to get up and get dressed, I might as well run an errand or two. I needed to go to Michael's for something for school, and I hit my favorite dollar store. I then went home and made cheesy potatoes and pasta salad, and went to my parents'. It was a lovely evening, and I was home and back in bed at a decent hour.

When I woke up this morning, I felt great. I ended up being away from the Hell-Hole for a total of 6 days in a row, which is the longest break I've had since our spring break back in March. Good Lord, I needed that!! Thank you, Auntie. Now I'm looking even more forward to our fall intercession. I plan to do a whole bunch more of the nothing I've done the past two days. :)

Wow, I haven't rambled like this in quite a while. I apologize. Although, if you're still reading at this point, you have no one to blame but yourself!

2 weeks down, 38 to go...

Another delightful little perk of having to change rooms this year is that my new room has no bulletin board in the hallway. Now, I know LOTS of teachers who would be thrilled about this, as it means no board to change every month (per New Principal's orders), but I, for one, am pissed about this. Most of you probably know that I LOVE to put boards together, and I love to display my babies creative masterpieces, as well as their academic work.

All I have now are some "splotches" of wall in the hallway. I have a huge radiator outside my door, which doesn't allow for a bulletin board to be hung there. I have a little bit of room above the radiator, and some room next to it, which I've decided will have to serve as my "board." Today, I put some papers up in the hall that my babies made in preparation for open house. The pictures aren't the best, but you should be able to click on them for a close up.

The babies and I brainstormed for a couple of afternoons to come up with a list of describing words for every letter of the alphabet. On the third afternoon, I made them a 'practice' paper with their name written down the side, and they needed to pick one word for each letter that they thought described them. Now, I've seen older kids do this, and they were obviously much more successful. They could actually give some serious thought about what words they wanted to use to accurately describe themselves. My babies, on the other hand, just randomly picked words off the list for each letter. Nevertheless, the finished projects turned out pretty cute. I made them each a 'good' paper, with their names spelled out in stickers, and then they copied their words from their 'practice' paper. Then, they were to draw a picture of themselves at the bottom of the page.
Here are a couple of closer pictures of some particularly cute ones.

I know I have yet to really write anything about how the year is going so far, despite the fact that tomorrow marks the end of the 2nd week with the kids. But, my mommy taught me that if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. I'm sure I'll feel like sharing soon, but for now, I'd rather just leave it alone.

Today's the day...

...the kids start school at the Hell-Hole. Woo hoo.

Last week sucked some major donkey ass. Despite not going to school Monday and Tuesday (the ONLY two days I had off all summer. Oh, and did I mentioned it stormed half of Monday and all day Tuesday?) I still put in a full work week. I stayed SO late Wed-Fri that the extra time equaled a full day, AND I went in on Saturday. My room still is only, by my standards, about 45% finished, it's good enough for kids to come in today and sit somewhere.

I know I mentioned before how much CRAP was in my 'new' room, so most of last week was spent going through it all and throwing away most of it. But, I had to take all my stuff out of my old room asap so the new kdg. teacher (AKA - New Principal's Friend!!) could start bringing her stuff in and setting up. There's STILL stuff in there that I had to leave for now, so I hope it doesn't 'disappear' before I have a chance to get it.

OK, my 10 minutes is up, time to get dressed. Believe me, if I didn't set a time limit, I'd be typing for hours just to get all my anger and frustration out. Just wish me luck for today. I plan to come back later and let you know how it went.

Who's the ass here?

During the past 6 weeks, I've taken exactly 0 days off. Well, ok, we did get July 5th off for the holiday at the last minute, but whatever, that doesn't count. I didn't take it off, it wasn't a work day.

Each of the janitors at our building took a different week off. The engineer took a week off, and is taking Monday and Tuesday off, as well. The teachers who worked the other two programs at our school this summer had last week off because their programs were only 5 weeks long. The other two teachers I worked with this summer in my program had the week before last off because they went to CA for a 'conference.' Our assistant principal (who I love dearly, so I'm not really bitching here) took the past two weeks off. New Principal took last week off. (And, yes, I AM bitching here!) Even our office clerk took a few Fridays off, including the one that just passed (aka, the last day of summer school).

So, what I'm trying to say is....I'm the ONLY fucking moron who was at school every single day of summer vacation!!!!!

I knew I never should have broke the seal on this can of BITCH, because it's getting harder and harder to hold back. I have a feeling there are several more of these bitch-bits coming....
(get it? Tidbits, bitch-bits...I crack myself up!)

What WILL I do with myself?

Summer school officially ended at 11:45 this afternoon. I now have 2 1/2 glorious days of summer vacation to enjoy before going back to work. Woo hoo!! What ever will I do with all this free time?!

OK, I'm being slightly cranky about the whole thing (how shocking!) and truthfully, we don't officially go back to work until Wednesday, but I'm going to have to go in to school Monday and Tuesday to set up my classroom. Way back on June 16 I posted this. That was the day that I met with New Principal for my evaluation meeting. It's been about a month and half, and I'm still too pissed to properly post about it. However, I will share that part of what has me soooo pissed is that she told me in that meeting that I will be looping with my class to 1st grade. Um...yeah....you read that right. FUCKING FIRST GRADE!!!!!!!!!! I'm a KINDERGARTEN teacher, NOT a first grade teacher! Argh!! I have been crying about this for over 7 weeks now.

And, in addition to changing grades, she wants me to move to a new room, across the damn hall, which means I have to first clean out the other room, which is NO small task! Bestest Friend came to school with me last Friday to help me, and it was just unbelievable. Perhaps she'll give you her own version of the day in the comment section. Then, I have to pack up and move all my things across the hall. I have been in this room for nearly a decade. Most of you know what pack-rats teachers tend to be, so imagine what a daunting task this is going to be. I'm thinking that, hell, if I have to pack up all my stuff anyway, I might as well put it in my car and bring it home!

Ok, I literally feel my blood pressure rising, and a slew of 'fucks' coming to the surface, so I think it's best I go for now. On my drive home, I did toy with the idea of just saying "Fuck it!" and NOT go in to school until Wednesday. If my room gets done, it gets done. If not, oh well!!! I'm giving some serious thought to just enjoying the ONLY two days I will have had off for the summer. I'll keep you posted....

I am fuckin' PISSED OFF!!!

More later....

Crazy Hat/Hair Day

My little buddy, CS, didn't want to stay at school today. He was embarrassed by how cool his mom did his crazy hair. Check it out:

She did a reverse mohawk, then did a stripe down each side. Then, she dyed the 'stripes' with Kool-Aid, of all things, but it doesn't really show up in the photos. It took a little convincing to get him to stay. He kept saying he looked silly, but then I reminded him that he didn't look any sillier than me!

Apparently, I was right, cuz he stayed! This was the only other baby to come with crazy hair. How cute is she?

This was my absolute FAVORITE crazy hat ever!! This little darling made this hat with his mom. Isn't it just the best?!

I mean, seriously!? Did you see the braid they attached to the back!? Too cute!!

These little cuties came in hats, as well.

The white stuff you see all over their hands and tables is shaving cream. They LOVE when I bring it out. I write different things on the table in front of them, and if they can tell me what it is, they get to smoosh and play with the cream. What they don't realize is that they are giving my tables a nice deep cleaning at the same time. In the beginning of the year, I start out with just letters, then move on to words. Once everyone at the table smooshes their word around, they cover the whole table with a layer of shaving cream, then write in the cream. It a great way for them to practice their writing without using paper and pencil. (Suz, think of all the trees this saves!) When the foam starts to fade away, we get wet rags and wipe the tables down. Voila! Clean tables! And, as a bonus, the room smells awesome.

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Stud came to school with me today. Many of my coworkers have been asking about him, so I thought today would be a good day to bring him for a visit. I had already made arrangements with New Principal to leave early today because Stud had an orthodontist appointment. He got his braces off!! Woo hoo! Anyway, I'm glad he came. Everyone was so happy to see him. Some of them hadn't seen him in quite some time, and they were amazed at how much he's grown and matured. I think I've mentioned before that when he was in grade school, his school bus used to drop him off at the Hell-Hole at the end of the day, so everyone there got to know him well. They think of him as one of their babies. It's always heartwarming, as his mom, to see how they react when they see him. There were LOTS of hugs and kisses given today at the Hell-Hole. :)

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Today was a loonngg day, though. The orthodontist took a while. I had promised Stud this morning that when we were done, I'd take him somewhere for Beef Stroganoff. But first, I had to make that Walmart run for Hershey Kisses. Well, as we pulled into our parking spot, it started raining, so we made a mad dash for the store. Then, we ended up running into some old neighbors, so we were there longer than we intended. The whole time we were there, we could hear the roll of thunder outside.

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We were both STARVING by the time we left. We went to our favorite Polish/Lithuanian restaurant for dinner (which was AWESOME, by the way, even though he ended up not getting the beef stroganoff) and the storm continued. I met CSJ at the grocery store about 1/2 block from the restaurant so he could get Stud, and just as he was coming out of the store, the skies really opened up. It was raining so hard, I could hardly see. I actually picked him up at the door and drove him to his car, while Stud jumped out and stood with the shopping cart, so that CSJ could drive his car back to the door to load his groceries into the car. It was raining THAT hard! The parking lot was already starting to flood as I left the store. Thankfully, I was only about 6 blocks from home.

I'm certain there's water somewhere in my basement, but I'm too tired to even go look. There's nothing I can do about it, so I'll just wait until the storm stops. In the meantime, I guess I'll go stuff my goodies bags with Hershey Kisses....

What are YOU doing this summer?

I really wasn't feelin' the grass in our end-of-the-year display. As soon as I cut it, I realized it was NOT the way I usually cut the paper for grass, but I didn't want to waste the paper I already cut. (I HATE to waste paper!!) But, I couldn't take it anymore, so I cut it the "right" way, and put the "wrong" papers away until I can figure out what to do/make with it.

Here's the 'before'....

And, the 'after!' Looks much better, doesn't it?
Here's a close-up. I like how the fringe looks. Eventually, it will start to curl down and look fringier. (Is that even a word?)

I haven't posted about this yet, because I was afraid it would turn into a bitchy, complaining post (SO unusual, right!?) but now I've come to grips with it. I will be teaching summer school this summer. Some of you know that this year we switched to a year-round schedule at the Hell-Hole. That meant a VERY short 5 week summer vacation last summer, and this summer will be no different. Well, accept that summer school is also 5 weeks long. So, do the math, folks. 5 weeks of summer - 5 weeks of summer school=0 vacation for ChiTown Girl!!!

Ok, I said I wasn't going to gripe. I keep trying to focus on the money part of this. With all the budget cuts this year for CPS, you may recall that the after school program that I used to run was cut this year, which meant no after school money. On top of that, the bar has become so successful, that we now have a full staff, so that means I no longer spend my weekends there. Now, trust me, this is definitely a GOOD thing and I'm thrilled about that, but for me personally, that's another job I no longer have. I went from having 3 jobs to just 1, so financially, it's been a rough school year. Believe me, I know I'm better off than so many people who don't even have 1 job. However, those other two jobs are what paid the very high tuition at Stud's private school. With the elimination of my two extra jobs, I've had to dip into my savings all year to pay it. The main reason I agreed to do summer school is because I should be able to make enough to cover Stud's tuition for next year. (Let me just clarify, so CSJ doesn't seem like such a J - I pay the full tuition every month, then he pays me his half in drips and drabs throughout the month. It essentially feels like I'm paying the tuition by myself, since I don't have the luxury of paying it to the school bit by bit, but at the end of the day, CSJ does help. The problem is, once I pull the money out of savings to pay the full tuition every month, I don't replace it because I don't get it back in one lump sum, and it just ends up going toward other expenses.)

Because our salary is spread out over a full year, we always get paid while we're off in the summer. (It's money we already earned, they just take a certain amount out of every check during the school year, then pay us out of that for the summer. That means our checks are the same amount every pay period.) We are paid our regular rate of pay for summer school, so it'll seem like I'm getting double pay all summer, if that makes sense. I plan to stockpile my summer checks, and hopefully, combined with my tax refund, I'll be able to pay Stud's tuition in full at the beginning of the year, which will earn me a discount. It's not big, but it will be enough to pay for most of his books (which are usually around $300+).

There's one more little piece to this puzzle. Normally, summer school is only Mon-Thur. So, when I agreed to do it, I figured, "Ok, I won't get a summer vacation, but at least I'll have a bunch of 3-day weekends." Well, yeah....not so much.... I later found out that for the program I'll be doing, there are mandatory meetings every Friday at one of the CPS training facilities. Argh! But, I've been trying to focus on the positive. That's 5 more days of pay, which is essentially another week's pay, right? Focus on the bottom line, you big whiny baby!

I suppose I should just be grateful to have this summer position (which I am, seriously). Flattered, even, because New Principal came to me personally and asked me to do this program, which is new to the Hell-Hole. Normally, any teachers interested in teaching over the summer must fill out an application, and then there ends up being about 10 people vying for the limited number of positions available (usually just 3). So, the fact that I she hand-picked me for this says something, right?

Caution - Cuteness ahead....

Last week, I started putting together our end-of-the-year display in the hallway. This is what I came up with...

Just in case you can't read it (and Blogger won't let you enlarge it by clicking on it) it says, "We are almost ready to leave our Kinder-"garden"...And blossom into 1st Graders!"

This the beginning of our display. I traced and cut out each baby's hand, and glued a stem and leaves on to it. I printed their name on one leaf. I cut out some cheesy grass (which I think I might change this week, cuz look how part of it is already falling over) and "planted" my garden.How cute are these "flowers?"

Then, the next day, the babies colored and cut out butterflies and ladybugs. (We've been doing an Insects and Spiders unit in science, so they were really into it!) The ladybugs are WAY too big, in proportion to the rest of the scene. Plus, they took up so much room I had to kind of pile them together on the ends. I knew it was ok, though, when the babies saw it this morning, all finished, and one of them said, "They look like acrobats!" refering to the way they look like they're making a pyramid. If I had to do it over, I would have taken my pattern book to Kinkos, and reduced the size of the ladybugs. Actually, I just may do that this week.

Anyway, this was the finished product. Cute, right?

Everytime I walk down the hall to my room, this makes me smile. And, New Principal came in to tell me that she LOVES it. Woo hoo! It's always is good when you can impress the boss. ;-)

It's SHIT Day!*

I thought I'd show you how cute my new daisies look in their new home. Thanks, again, New Principal!
Last night, my mom had an Arbonne party at her house, and since it was Cinco de Mayo, I made my most-requested appetizer, Crispy Taco Bites. Yum!!

They look so fancy, but they are really the easiest thing to make. I love recipes like this, that make you look like a superstar, even if they only take a few minutes to make. Naturally, this is a Pampered Chef recipe!!

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Ok, ssshhhh.....don't tell anyone....but I just called sub-center and requested a sub for tomorrow. I'm playin' hooky!!!

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Saturday is my birthday, and I usually like to take a personal day (or in this case, a sick day) and just do whatever the hell I want all day. I wasn't so sure about doing it this week, especially because it's usually such a pain in the ass to prepare for a sub, and then the kids are usually nuts all day, etc. Last night, one of my good friends came to my mom's for the party, and told me that she, her mother, and another mutual friend (all teachers!) are all playing hooky tomorrow! Of course, she asked me to join them, so we could celebrate my birthday. I told her I'd have to think about it, but probably not, blah, blah, blah.

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Well, after the week I've had at school, most especially today, I decided at 2:30 that I was going to just do it. The kids have been AWFUL all week. By noon today, I had a pounding headache (which hasn't yet subsided, and I'm afraid is about to become a full-blown migraine by tonight) and was ready to bite someone's head off. Instead, I dismissed the little beasts, I mean babies, and went right back to my room, and prepared a sub folder. It was well worth the hour and a half I stayed at school to do it. Too bad I have to drive Stud to school tomorrow, so I can't really sleep in, but I am meeting friends for lunch, so that'll be nice.

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*Sure Happy It's Thursday!

Flowers, flowers, everywhere!

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. I always made a point to do something for Stud Muffin's teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week, especially during those years that I served on the executive board of the Parents' Club. During his last two years, when I was co-president, my girlfriend and I really worked hard to make the whole week special for the staff. We did something different every day. One day, we catered in breakfast, and one day we did a catered lunch. The one day that was the most popular with the staff was the day we set up the teachers' lounge with an array of appetizers, dips and desserts, so they could wander in and out throughout the day and graze. One of the days (I'm pretty sure Monday) we presented each teacher with a beautiful vase of fresh flowers, and planted flowers in the two giant planters at the front door of the school. We always wrapped up the week by presenting them with some kind of personalized gift. One year we ordered custom picture frames, imprinted with their names, and then one of the moms, who was available during the day, went to school, and secretly took a class picture of each teacher's class, which we then put in the frame.

At other schools that I've worked at, there was usually something done for the teachers during this week. Since I've been at the Hell-Hole, I've come to expect nothing. CPS usually sends cheesy, generic certificates to us, which our principal is supposed to pass out. One year, The Big Cheese just gave us the blank certificate, and told us to write our own freakin' names on them!! Oh, what a piece of work he was!!

Yesterday, during our very brief staff meeting, New Principal mentioned that it was Teacher Appreciation Week, and said that a package would be coming to us later in the day. The day ended, and the packages never came. I really didn't give it a second thought, cuz like I said, I've come to expect nothing. Today, near the end of the day, there was a knock on my door, and when I opened it, there were the gym and art teachers, as well as one of our parent volunteers. The brought me this...
and this!!
These are already transplanted into a planter on my deck. So pretty!

When I pulled up to the house after picking Stud up from school, I immediately saw that my gate was closed, which told me someone had been at my house while I was at work. (Normally, the gate is open, so I can pull into the garage.) Stud thought it was his father, who had to drop off his dirty lunch containers from yesterday. Naturally, I started my (very mature!) ranting about CSJ, and the fact that the gate is closed, blah, blah, blah.

Well, as I started backing into the driveway, I turned my head, and immediately noticed...

Yep, my goddess of a mother-in-law came to do my annual birthday planting!! God bless her heart! My birthday is Saturday, and she always does this the week of my birthday. She does something different every year. This year, she planted mostly petunias, in only white and white-and-purple striped. So pretty! It's always such a wonderful surprise to come home on planting day, and see everything looking so pretty! And, yes, that IS a penguin on my porch. He's like my little sentry. I'm tempted to start dressing him up like those silly geese people keep on their porches, except that, I think those are silly! Besides, I like that he's always in formal wear. He used to have a little hat, but the squirrels kept pulling it off him, and I finally had to toss it. I'm thinking, now that I'm such a pro (haha!) I'll just make him a new hat myself!

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Buster was wondering what the hell I was doing out there with my camera. He's pretty cute for an old geezer, isn't he? Last Thursday, he turned 13!!!