Updates

I think this is a first for me... to blog on a Sunday. But don't get used to it... it may not happen again... we'll see how this one goes.

Yesterday my wonderful sister came over to help me with some blogging issues I had with my template. She is much smarter than I am in the world and realm of HTML. That's what amazes me, I can look at the show Numbers and know when they are making up parts of equations that look half real and half crap, but when it comes to HTML, I am completely lost. It looks like it should be English, but it's just NOT!

So, my sister helped me fix some things, and then we added all the other things that regular blog people have, so now I feel like less of a loser blogger, but now just one of the mid-grade bloggers.

The child cries... must go tend to him, and the baby, too!

Spring Break - Kinda

I started my Spring Break yesterday at 1 o'clock... Kinda.
At least, that's when we got out of school. Then I went and picked up my little man from the sitter's and brought him back to school so that I could try and catch a lady and get some stuff ordered for NHS. I am officially sponsor of too many things. This sucks.

Unfortunately, I need this stuff for May 4th, which is less than 10 business days away, which is how long this company wants to take to get this stuff ordered, and then shipped from there. What kind of crap is this? I don't like this at all. So, I try and get the school credit card so that I can order it on there, but it's gone over it's limit, so I'll have to wait until they post the payment that was mailed on Wednesday. So, maybe by Tuesday of next week I'll be able to order the stuff that I'll need a week from that day. Not very fun. I just pray that this works out okay, and that I don't ruin another event here at school. Argh.

But, then the fun started, because I went home and Little Man took a good nap while I went outside and swept the bottom of the pool, and got a little sun on my shoulders while doing so. Then my beautiful sister and her friend came over and when Jonathan got home we all got in the pool, including Little Man! It was fun! Then Jonathan and I went out to dinner by ourselves while my wonderful sister and her friend stayed and babysat Micheal.

But, then today I had to come back up to school to be a babysitter for two boys that couldn't make it to school enough days this month, so to make up for it, they have to come to school on Saturday. So, I'm here to make sure that they work for four hours on whatever they need to get done, and all they can't do is talk and/or sleep. Kinda sucks. But, I'm getting all my grading done and into the computer, and I get to catch up on blogs that I haven't read lately. Woo-hoo!

So, I wish that more people would blog on a Saturday morning, but I understand why we usually don't. But, at noon, my Spring Break is on again, and I'm going to try to get some sun on my legs this time!

How Rich are You?

I received this as an email from a fellow teacher here at school.

I know it was meant to show me that there are people that need my help, but I just liked that it made me feel pretty cool! :)

You try!

Hope you have a good feeling, too!

One more day

There is one more day until Friday, and then that starts my Spring Break! I am so excited! Our little school is so country that we still stick to the calendar from way back when they had to harvest and all that kind of stuff. So, we had a winter break when everyone else had their spring break, and we'll have our spring break next week! The only drawback to this calendar is that we don't get out of school until May 27th, and we usually start in like the first or second week of August, but I think it's okay.

This whole week has been an educational waste in every sense of the word (waste, I mean, not eduaction). Monday was a prepare for the TAKS test day, Tuesday was 10th grade Math, Wednesday was 11th grade (Exit level) Math, and today is 9th grade Math, 10th/11th grade Social Studies. Tomorrow will be 10th and 11th grade Science. A whole week of not seeing one of my most annoying classes... but I'll have those little stinky freshman boys back tomorrow, rip roaring and wondering why we have to do anything... how fun is this going to be?

Oh well. I'll just have to be the mean teacher again. It's a wonder that they voted me favorite teacher this year... I guess that was because it was at the beginning of the year before they really knew me! :)

Okay, can't turn around too long or else they may start cheating.
If you don't hear much from me this week, it's because our pool is working and the sun is shining! :) Anyone wanna come swim?

It's Over!

You all may now go back to your normal lives and resume the use of one "used-to-be-a-bad-word" word. Prom is now over, and luckily all went off fairly well.

We stayed after school Friday and decorated, covering the walls in black plastic and hanging a tunnel that they entered through, and arranging a numerous amount of white lights. We finally got to go home at 10:30pm after the only things left to do were go into town and buy the last minute things.

Then, Saturday, I left the house at 10:15 or so and went to Card & Party Factory for some tablecloths and napkins that matched... and then to Walmart for things to make a punch and to pick up our cake. I finally got to school at 12:45, expecting to see a few other people there, only to find the other sponsor and his wife the only ones there finishing up. So, I made some phone calls, and we got two more boys to come help. We finally left there about 3:00, and then went home to take care of a little boy with a slight fever.

I got dressed in my bridesmaid dress from Amanda's wedding, curled my hair and grabbed the last minute things I needed for the night, like my flip flops for afterward, and went back to school.

The photographer and DJ were both supposed to be there at 7:30. The photograper showed up on time, I think, and I never saw the DJ until five minutes before 8, when the kids started showing up, too. So, I had kids showing up and no music. That sucked.

But, overall, the appearance was great! It didn't look like a cafeteria, and I was so glad!

The worst part was that a bunch of the juniors left early, so when it came time to help stay and clean up, they weren't there. That sucked, because we were there until 1:30 am. And then my child woke up at 6:30am. That sucked, too.

So, I didn't watch Desperate Housewives or Grey's Anatomy last night, so I DVR'd it so that I could watch it tonight.

Hope this doesn't fail the Blog Patrol tests. Later.

Since When?

Since when is it okay to yell at your teacher?
Since when is it okay to tell someone that you'll call them back and then never do it?
Since when is it okay for a student to tell the teacher "You're such a b..." and stop with the first letter?
Since when did the consumer not have the final say?
Since when did it become okay for a student to tell a teacher what they want to do in class today?
Since when is it okay for a teacher to give out an assignment and the kids to decide it was too dumb and they didn't want to do it?
Since when did I become a whiny baby who cares what these kids say to me?
Since when is it okay for a teacher to be treated like crap by her students?
Since when did I decide that I would take this crap from them? NEVER! It's on now!

Why I Teach

No one goes into teaching for the money. It's just not there. Most people say that the reason they went into teaching was because they wanted to make a difference. Either they wanted to make a better future for themselves indirectly by teaching tomorrow's politicians, lawyers, doctors and educators, or they just wanted to make an impact on someone's life enough to be remembered later. I must admit that I got into teaching for a mixture of the two reasons. I really like teaching, and I know, it's stupid, but I love learning more than that!
I think that's why I get so bothered by the question that I hear seven times a day, "When are we ever going to need this?" To which I reply, "On the TAKS test"... but that's a whole different blog.
This weekend, I finally had a moment when I felt that I made a difference in a child's future. I must have done something right, because I went this weekend to the wedding of one of my former students. Now, when I say former, you would think that she already graduated, but you would be wrong. This little girl left our class in December, as a junior, to go with her parents to be missionaries in Germany. Not too long after that, I got an e-mail from her that said she was back in Texas, but in Dallas. So, that's okay. Then, on Thursday, I received an invitation to her wedding on Saturday. Speculation is that she is pregnant, and that's why they had to come back, but I didn't ask... that's another blog, too.
Anyway.
When I got there, she saw me walk in the door, and so I went back to her and gave her a hug, and she got teary, and said she was glad that I was there, and that she was nervous. I told her she was beautiful, and that she shouldn't cry and mess up her make-up. Thinking back, not the best words of wisdom, but she's not my daughter, right?
Anyway, I watched her walk down the aisle, marry this little boy trying so hard to act like a man, and then all I could think about was how young they were and how I hoped that they had the support system they were going to need to make it through this choice that they made. It made me get a little teary.
Afterward, her mother came up to me and told me how excited her daughter had been that I had come, and her dad came up later and said the same thing. It gave me warm fuzzy feelings inside to know that by one simple act of attendance, I feel like I gave a little girl the reassurance that she wasn't forgotten by our school, and that little bit of confidence that she was loved by someone other than family.
I kept the invitation, just so that I can remember to pray for them when I see it, because Lord knows they are going to need all the help they can get.

Update

For those people that read this that I haven't called yet... I want to let you know that Friday was my boy's doctor appointment with the cardiologist, and he said that Micheal's heart is fine. He said that from a cardiac standpoint, we don't ever have to come back to see him. It's just an innocent murmur, and he'll either grow out of it, or will just be an extra sound that his heart makes. I have never been so relieved in my life. I want to thank you for the prayers and concern, and say that I am now feeling the power of Christ and His grace. I am forever grateful for my perfect little boy.

Holy Gross-ness Batman!

Okay, I have created my own website dedicated to the homework that I assign my students every day, and I was just checking it to see if anyone had looked at it. Well, the thing about geocities is that you have to have these advertisements in order to not have to pay to have the website... I'm all for that part. The part I just had to blog about immediately is that I clicked on one of the advertisements, and this is what came up.

EEEEWWWW!!!! Who the heck ever wanted RE-USABLE!?!

Now that I have promptly grossed everyone else out, I am going to resume my daily grind.

After School Program

I am really dedicated to my students. I do things for them that most high school teachers wouldn't even consider. Our school district thought it would be good if we could stay after school and help those kids that didn't perform very well on the TAKS Benchmark test get a little more one on one time so that they may be able to solidify some more concepts a little better.

We chose Mondays and Wednesdays, and I picked out 5 or 6 sophomores and juniors, and we alternate days, Juniors one day and Sophomores the other day. It's not that long, just an hour, but the extra money is nice, and I like to see that the kids that take the extra time to stay after actually get something out of it and do a little better on the actual test, which by the way is only 11 school days away.

That being said, I'm sitting here after school with not one person that chose to stay after. What the heck? Does that mean I don't get paid for staying? Do I still have to stay? I don't know.
I think I'm just going to give up that they're not coming and go home. Doesn't that make me feel like my time was well-used?!?

Politics and heaven

I am not a person who likes to really discuss political items. I am, however, wanting to discuss this whole Terri Schiavo situation. I don't think it is fair for the media to be showing video footage of a person that seems responsive and act like it was just yesterday or last week that the footage was taken when you can clearly see in the corner in little tiny print that it was really taken in 2001! How is that fair to the emotions of people that depend on television to get the news?
It makes me feel like we are all just their little puppets, dancing the way that they want us to dance, acting like they planned.
I really am glad that she has finally left this world, and hopefully she believed in Christ, and will now take her rightful place in heaven. Because then she will be restored to her best, before she became the poster woman for all vegetative people living in limbo. No one wants to be a vegetable, and I just wish that all this fuss wouldn't have happened over a person that couldn't speak for herself. But then again, isn't that what the judicial system is for? To help those people that can't always speak for themselves...
Okay, now I really need to get off this topic before I stir up the wrong pot.
Thank you for letting me vent.