The power of prayer

"Dear Lord, please let Tropical Storm Noel come close enough to cancel school tomorrow because I am REALLY REALLY REALLY not in the mood for the Beginning Band's world premier performance. Amen."

Now let's just wait and see what happens!

I'm all about the Butterfinger!

Read what your Halloween candy says about you!

New Walls

YEAH! I don't see cinderblock any more! Time for some paint.....

Feeling trapped

The home renovations are in full swing. The refinishing work on the hardwood floors is scheduled to start this week so I've moved everything I own into the cabana for the time being. It's very tight! I did a lot of purging (stuff, not food!) but I still feel like a rat trapped in a cage. Let's hope the floors only take the 6 weeks they estimated. Less would be better!

Cruising with Tia

Dear Guest:

Please be advised, your response has been received, and you are confirmed for the Azamara Cruises Journey Inaugural on November 10, 2007.

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Tia is the cruise ship Goddess and she's taking me on a short little trip in a few weeks. CAN'T wait, cuz I need a vacation!

I think a bomb went off!

This is the current state of my dining/living room....I'm JUST a wee bit worried because it's 60 days to New Year's Eve.

I'm not cooking

Ummmm....my kitchen is currently closed!

Student logic

I wrote a student up for not tucking in his shirt.
He asked me: “Didn’t you say last year that the art hallway was a “No Tuck” zone?
I said “The art CLASSROOMS may be, but you weren’t in the art classrooms. What period do you have art?”
He said “I don’t.”

Busy, busy weekend

Here's the recap:

1. Date Friday night - not too eventful, a few red flags, but agreed to a 2nd
2. Band director meeting in the Keys on Saturday morning. The ride there and back took ALMOST as long as the meeting itself.
3. Decided on the new cabinet layout for the kitchen on Saturday afternon AND decided how much of the wall to cut away.
4. Date again Saturday night - same guy, NO chemistry, lots of red flags, and to end the night, the clutch blew out on my car.
5. Sunday - couldn't get to church in the morning, but carpooled to the Herald Hunt (more details to follow) which was LOTS of fun. Was also never so happy to have a guy NOT call me back in my life.
6. Today I got a new refrigerator, towed the car to the shop and walked to school so I could do my grades. Luckily there were not kids so I didn't have a schedule. DID teach a private lesson to the child of two doctors. The kids forgot to bring his money. Figures.
7. Now I've finished MOST of my grades. I have two more hours in the morning to get them done, so I'm leaving. It's 11 PM and I have to walk home.

"F" this

As I handed out a theory test to my concert band, one of the students said, "I am SO going to 'F' this." I started cracking up because 1) that adds a new meaning to the term and 2) the test was SO easy (and all the kids knew this) so it was said as sarcasm, which made it even funnier.

Our school cheer

Our middle school football team is playing the big game of the season against our arch rival. We get the smart kids. They get the jocks. Needless to say, we are losing 18-0. I taught some of the kids a new cheer:

That's alright. That's OK. We have a higher GPA!

7th grade DAB

(*Dumb Ass Behavior)

I had this Dean conversation with a 7th grader on Tuesday:

Me: One of your friends told me that you were spitting on him during break.
Him: (sheepishly) Yeah, I was.
Me: Uhhh...GROSS!
Him: I know, but I stopped when he asked me to.
Me: Uhhh...STILL gross!
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Then I had to have THIS conversation with his mother:

Me: I had to write your son up today. He was spitting on another student.
Her: WHY?
Me: Because he's a 7th grade boy.
Her: No, I understand why you had to write him up. Why was he spitting?
Me: Because he's a 7th grade boy.

Don't scrape too hard!

Yesterday, my contractor was scraping loose paint and plaster to prep for painting. Evidently the paint was the only thing holding the wall in the spare bedroom together, because now all that is left is cinderblock. This could get ugly!

I am the goalie

The 7th grade parent dinner is tonight. My principal wants to quote ME in her remarks:

"Our 7th grade dean explains it to the students like this: 'Your job as a 7th grader is to challenge the boundaries I set forth for you. My job as the Dean is to enforce those boundaries when you cross them.'"

What I ACTUALLY tell the students - "My job as the dean is to set the acceptable boundaries for your behavior. Your job is to break the rules. Then my job is to be the goalie and kick you back into play."

toMAYto, toMAHto...it's all the same!

What I REALLY want to say to the parents tonight is to quote Goethe: "If children grew up according to early indications, we would have nothing but geniuses."

Bedtime stories

quote of the day

"If 'all the world's a stage,' where's the audience supposed to sit?"
- Quotable Opera: Aria Ready for a Laugh?

Demolition!

The final phase of home renovation has begun. On Saturday morning, the hole in the second bedroom was opened into the living room and French doors were installed. The kitchen has ceased to exist, as a sledgehammer found its way upside the cabinets' heads. The fridge doesn't know it yet, but it is being "retired" and the wall between the dining room and the kitchen is going to develop a big hole in it.

Today I have to buy a NEW fridge, two air conditioners and LOTS of paint! Only 77 days to New Year's Eve, and I'm hoping to have it all done by then. The floor guys are coming to start the hardwood refinish work on Nov. 1. Wish me luck!

Walkin' with the Devil

"You are permitted in time of great danger to walk with the devil until you have crossed the bridge."
- Bulgarian proverb

The grass isn't always greener....

This little bit of info comes from my Oregonian friend Techno-Chick, who worked in Hippie Town last year:
"I'm not saying I left just in the nick of time, but last week one of my ex-students from last year (at least he wasn't a band geek) was arraigned on charges of being an axe murderer, and today another was charged as his throat-slitting accomplice. The victim of their alleged crime was, as I recall, a band geek from about a decade back. Details of the crime are slow to be released, so I don't know much about it, and from the sound of things I think I'm better off not knowing."

Ummmmm...yeah. My job is not SOoooo bad....

If you have a job...

"If you have a job without aggravations, you don't have a job." - Malcolm Forbes

I have a job; let's leave it at that.

Job insecurity

Tia has some good comments in her blog entry from Monday. She echoes some of my sentiments from last week. I think the reason I am having so much trouble lately is that I've NEVER had to deal with so many things going "wrong" before. Not that I was able to make things go right, but nothing much "bad" really ever happened before. It's just been a crazy year or so. Both dogs died, I had a crazy tenant, a home invasion, my house is a construction zone, my family STILL ignores me, close friendships have changed dramatically and I got "reprimanded" for reporting unprofessional activity at work, while the person who DID the activity got public accolades for being so wonderful.

Truth be told, the work situation is really what it is all about....I got "in trouble" for trying to do the right thing. And now I'm realizing that no matter how hard I work, neither what I do nor what I value most (ethics, character) is valued by those above me. I'm beginning to understand that my values and my employer's values DO NOT line up. Since I have spent 18 years in this profession developing my philosophies on "why I do what I do," it is a huge part of who I am. When you constantly feel like you aren't appreciated for who you are (let alone for what you do) then you start to question why you even bother?

So I guess I have to really decide: do I just put up with it and make my career "just a job" or do I try to find a new job that will value what I value? The bigger question is, is God trying to tell me something?

More crazy parents

Today started with returning a parent phone call. BIG mistake! When a father starts a conversation with "if you want to try and find a perfect child, I'm telling you, my son is IT!" I just want to run like hell. Did he NOT see "The Good Son" with Macauley Caulkin?

Oh, and EVERYTHING that happens with this kid is because someone is picking on him AND it's a racial issue.

WTF?!

New Careers

Today's brilliant text exchange:

Me: Where do I go to find a new career?
Songbird: maybe u should start with things u like to do first then look 4 a job. Eating sugar doesn't count.

Online Dating STILL sucks!

eHarmo-not-me just sent me a match for a guy named "Bubba" from a hick town in central Florida.

I am SO deleting my profile!

Mikhail speaks

Here's what the Herald had to say about Mr. Gorbachev's visit yesterday. I especially love the commentary that readers have left.

"Mother Tells It" Overture

THIS is probably one of the funniest things I have seen in a LONG time. I'm now making it a mission to do the "teacher" version!

Jerkface parents

Dear (Admissions Director),

Mr. (jerkface) was the man who was dropping off bagels and blocking your car this morning as you were trying to leave to get to the US. He was VERY rude to me when I said, “Excuse me, sir, but you are blocking Mrs. (Admissions Director) who has to get to a VERY important presentation at the Upper School.” His response was that we ALL have important things to do and ALL of our time is valuable. I didn't have the heart to tell him that YOU had a meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev, but I DID refrain from punching him in the face!

(Her response - "You are TOO cute!")

on NOT meeting Mikhail

Wasn't sure that I could say who, but everyone is talking about it, since he's here (well, at the other campus) today. And NO, the middle schoolers are not allowed to attend. Neither are their teachers.

Not that I would know what to wear when meeting the former Soviet Premiere.

To me, the coolest thing is that our 7th grade students do a living "wax" museum every year. They act out an important event in history, and then freeze in the famous photo that captured the moment. One of the current 10th graders actually portrayed Ronald Reagan during his "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!" speech. Now that kid gets to sit in the audience and watch Mr. Gorbachev talk.

How COOL is that?

Damage assessment

Sooooo....seems as though Buster's little bump (Buster is my Powerbook; remember he had a little tumble on Friday) caused his wireless card to get jiggly. Then in checking the card, the antennae got ALL FUBAR and disconnected. The kind people at the Apple store told me (after I waited over an hour for the appointment I had made) that it would be $650 and that it wouldn't be worth it and just buy a new one. The "other" Apple repair guys in town said minimum $65 just to look at it, but that it wouldn't be worth it and just buy a new one. My friends keep telling me "it's not worth it; just buy a new one."

What part of "I DON'T WANT A $1200 NEW ONE. I JUST WANT TO FIX THE ONE I HAVE" is not being communicated clearly? While I would LOVE to just upgrade a get a new one, I'm a little short on cash lately.

ENTER PowerBookMedic.com who told me that although it IS the most difficult repair, the part is $50 and they'll do it for $100. Dude even said I could print the "self-help" manual and try it myself, but there are about 100 screws and the antennae has to go UNDER the motherboard, yada yada yada. I tend to get my monkey in trouble when I try to do that stuff myself, so Buster is going on a trip to Alabama this week.