This Weekend

Today I:

1. Drank 2 cups of coffee
2. Swept up cat litter
3. Vacuumed every piece of our couch, loveseat, and overstuffed chair.
4. Vacuumed the rest of the house.
5. Mopped the entire house
6. Dusted
7. Lit candles/turned on my scentsy
8. Gave both dogs a bath
9. Fed/watered the animals (including the hermit crabs)
10. Did 4 loads of laundry
11. Made 2 beds
12. Watched Fatal Beauty while I cleaned (it was a documentary on women who kill)
13. Loaded the dishwasher
14. Cleaned the counters
15. Hung up clothes
16. Finished getting the guest room ready for company
17. Ate a granola bar
18. Took shower/got dressed/brushed teeth/did make up/did hair
19. Cuddled with the animals
20. Sat down to use computer and found out Gary Coleman died.

Yesterday

Stuff I got today for free because of Mypoints.com

What I did and why I don't care.

There have recently been some incidents regarding a certain person I work with who hasn't been treating a certain student nicely at all.  The HUGE problem is that this certain student is MR.  After hearing and witnessing SEVERAL incidents, I have been on the lookout for this student and have been watching out for his/her back.  (I'm not being specific to keep the privacy of those involved.)

On Thursday, I had recess duty.  The student was on the fence, and I asked him/her why.  He/she replied, "I got out of line."  I asked how much time he/she was supposed to spend on the fence.  He/she told me, "The whole thing."  To which I replied:

"Go and play.  You do not owe any time today.  If your teacher asks, you may tell him/her that I told you it was OK."

He/she got off the fence with the biggest smile I've ever seen and played to his/her heart's content.

I was waiting for the person I work with to come and talk to me about it, but that person never mentioned a thing to me. 

A student stepping out of line in the hallway does not warrant missing an entire recess on a beautiful sunny day, especially when a student has MR.  Give me a freaking break. 

Things that are on my mind/stressing me out lately:

1. The cost of my vet bill next week. (Getting the animals ready for Japan)
2. Fixing the car window ($400)
3. Trying to get a part time job before I leave.
4. I've been feeling really down on myself lately.

I guess most of it stems from money, except number 4.  Ugh.  I just hate being uncertain about things, and it's really bugging me.  I just wish I knew exactly what would happen so I could be prepared.  I know that's not how life works though, so I'm just gonna have to push through it.  I just need to pray and hope that I can get something part time.
I really wish I could have gone to Missouri this weekend.

I've been cleaning quite a bit today, and I'm taking a break now.  Still haven't showered or anything, but I've:
dusted (and used a wood refinisher on everything)
vacuumed (almost the whole house)
done almost all the laundry in the house
packed 2 boxes for Japan
killed a spider
cooked breakfast

I've been quite productive. 

I also ordered this dress:

Things I should be doing right now:
1. vaccuming
2. laundry
3. cleaning the kitchen
4. dusting
5. sweeping

Things I am doing right now:
1. Watching Village of the Damned
2. Drinking coffee with vanilla/caramel creamer
3. surfing the internet

Those lists are drastically different, and I'm OK with that...because it's Saturday and I'm home alone.

Field Day was awesome.  No pictures though because Ben took the camera to Missouri with him for Bekah's graduation.  Understandable.  My kids had a great time though.  It's so weird that we're just about done with the school year.
No summer school job, don't know if I mentioned that before, they hired people that renewed their contracts for next year.  Obviously I couldn't...due to the fact that I'm moving to Japan.  Sucks, and now I have to start looking for some crappy job in town to help out financially before we leave.  I'll still be getting a paycheck from the school, but if I can help out more, I want to.

Girls' Night tonight.  Should be a lot of fun.  I definitely need one.  I'm overworked and sometimes (unintentionally) under appreciated.  My job is actually pretty difficult, no matter how fun it looks from an outside perspective.  No one outside the school system sees the hoops that teachers have to jump through.  We're gonna go get drinks and then go see a movie on base.  I'm looking forward to it.  I need to clean first, but I have no motivation to do that.  None at all.

I'm feeling really sad today.  Probably because it's 11:18 in Missouri and Ben hasn't called or anything.

I'm stuck in Clovis

I'm here in NM while Ben is having a fabulous time in Missouri with all of our friends.  I feel grand.

No posts due to STRESS

The end of the school year is approaching, which means all of the kids at school have lost their brains out of their butts.  There is little more I can cram into their poor little heads...the most I can do is try and keep my sanity for at least part of the day and request that NO SUGARY TREATS BE SENT TO SCHOOL.  If parents do that, I will use my judgment and give it to them right before they go home.  You can deal with one, I don't want to deal with 17 6 year olds hyped up on cupcakes/cookies/brownies/chocolates/whatever the hell else you people send!
I have been thinking so much about Japan and school getting out and getting a summer job that I had been unknowingly clenching my jaw...which led to several days of it not feeling great.  I've been trying to not do it as much, and it is going away.

Ben leaves for Missouri on Thursday.  So bummed I can't go with him.

Still waiting to hear about the summer school position.

Dallas was AMAZING.

My favorite things:

1. Meeting George Romero, getting a shirt signed by him (last shirt they had of that kind and it was a size small), and getting my picture taken with him.
2. Meeting Sid Haig and Bill Moseley and getting autographs and pictures with them.
3. Meeting new and original Jasons from Friday the 13^th.
4. Zombie walk (even though I was the one who got up early and everyone was running late and made it to where I couldn’t get my makeup all done up)
5. Duh, this should have been number 1…Mary and Chip coming out to visit!
6. Meeting Danielle Harris.
7. Going to the Grassy Knoll.
8. Standing on the fatal shot point.
9. Cheesecake Factory.
10. Hanging out with people and having a weekend that refreshed me.

Ben’s birthday bash on Saturday was amazing!

So yesterday was interesting.  I was at work, and all of a sudden, I just couldn’t take the lack of discipline/management from another teacher.  Her kids were harassing mine, cheating off of them, and being loud.  Nothing was being done about it.  I set my keys down, went to take a deep breath, and went back into the room.  My kids scores suffered (they take a weekly computer test for the district), so instead of having them practice afterwards, I just had them log off.  The other person had the nerve to come up to me and tell me, “I think the noise problem is leaving.”  She was talking about a special needs kid who was in there making up some work and had to read out loud.  Obviously he was not the problem, so I said, “He was definitely not the noise problem.”  I got my kids lined up and just left.

Well, today, my principal came in and talked to me and apparently he was informed that this other person thought I was being “unprofessional”.  She didn’t mention anything her kids were doing, nor did she mention that she was basically giving them the answers by showing it on her fingers.  (RIDICULOUS!)  He understood, I think.  I told him that it is almost impossible to do any planning with her because she doesn’t talk about work, she tells us about her fictional diseases and afflictions.  I said it nicer than that though.  I was also informed that she felt like she had been ostracized all year long.  Ok, first of all, she is NOT my mentor teacher, secondly, she is not a good teacher.  She is over 40 and has been complaining about this to the principal and instructional coach, but won’t talk to us about it!  Anytime I have had a problem at work, I have confronted it head on, like an adult.  That is how things get solved in the real world…tattling isn’t even allowed in my classroom.  UGH.  Anyway, I don’t feel as if anyone is upset with me because I have never done anything mean or unprofessional.  In fact, I left the situation before it BECAME unprofessional. 

What blows my mind is how fooled she has a couple people in the school.  I’m 100% convinced this person has Munchausen Syndrome.  She wants the sympathy and attention that comes along with being sick, so she creates these problems.  My friend brought up that she hasn’t filled us in on the reports of all her tests…this must mean they all came back OK, otherwise everyone in the school would know.  She gets this weird gleam in her eyes (happiness) when she’s telling people what’s wrong with her.  That’s not normal.  Anytime anyone talks about food, she has to tell them that she has to eat baby food for these reasons…and then lists them.  Doesn’t matter that she’s done it a thousand times before, she’ll do it again.  She was actually really excited about being on oxygen, and gets thrilled when she tells me about how her skin turns blue and she can’t breathe.  It makes no sense.  Also, I’ve never seen that before in my life.  If she was really that sick, she should stay at home with her family and rest and be with them.  Here’s what she says though, “Oh, I tell my doctors…they can’t make me stop teaching!  That’s my passion, it’s what I live to do.”  Yeah right.  If that was true, you wouldn’t suck so much.

We’re on our way to Dallas right now.  I think we’re about an hour and 15 minutes out.  Our friends are about an hour out and Ben still doesn’t know that they’re coming!  We’ve hatched this elaborate plan to keep him out of the loop!  I’m loving it!  He thinks Mary is moving into her condo on Saturday and that they couldn’t come because Chip bought a new motorcycle.  Hahaha, I can’t wait to see his face!

I should know next week whether or not I got the job as a summer school teacher.  I’m still hoping to get it, but if I don’t, that means a trip home in June…if I get it, we’ll be home in October.  It still seems surreal that we’re leaving for Japan in less than 6 months.  Dogs have been through their first round at the vet…good-bye $260!  Exam times 3, rabies times 3, microchip times 3, and 1 leukemia booster.  Blah.