Feel Good Friday

Feel Good Friday the first week of school.  Can I come up with 5 feel good moments?  This should be interesting.  Come with me and let's see!

1.  I had fun the first day.  I wasn't hoarse by the end of the day, like I usually am, and I only stunk up the place a little bit from all the sweating I did.  It's so warm when we get back to school with no AC in September!

2.  One of my advisory (we don't call it homeroom anymore) students saw the newspaper article shellaced taped on my shrine desk from when I was Woman of the Year and she was in awe of me for the rest of the day.  I didn't tell her what it was for or why.  She just thinks I'm famous.  That's a great impression to give a 6th grader!

3.  Kids seem genuinely happy to be back in French.  There have been some years, when EVERYONE hated my class and it was just so miserable as they all grumbled about hating being back at school.

This year, we have a little schedule issue, and there are kids who literally have blanks in their schedules, or this fictitious class called enrichment, which we don't really have.  These kids are missing their foreign language. 

I can vividly remember some years, where if you asked a kid which language they took, they would lie because they hated French or Spanish.  Or, if they were missing a language, they wouldn't tell anyone and they'd just go to whichever class was wrong.  Or, my favorite, they would be accidentally switched from one language to the other and they would try to convince the new teacher that this was correct.

This year, these kids are actually like "Hey, I'm supposed to be in FRENCH!  GIVE ME MY FRENCH!  WHERE'S MY FRENCH CLASS??" and there's a little feeling of panic that they might not really have French anymore!

This is a very exciting thing for me to hear.  I love inciting panic.  It's one of my gifts.

4.  As always, I am very drained by 3pm since it's the first week of school.  I know this is not a disease, it's just first weeks-itis.  Knowing how unplugged I would feel, I planned to ride on Tuesday and Thursday this week anyway.  I figured it would recharge me a little.  And both times, it did.  It took a lot not to just text her and tell her I was dead and wouldn't make it, but once I got going, it energized me for a little while.

Tuesday's lesson was funny because I was more exhausted than I was on Thursday.  I was really tired.   She kept telling me I was very relaxed and this or that looked nice.  I was thinking "yeah, because I have one foot in the grave, so I don't really care if he charges into a brick wall today!"  I wasn't relaxed, I was keeling over with fatigue!

5.  My bed has felt very good this week.  It's been a most pleasant place to lay down and go to sleep.  I hope this weekend will allow me 2 days of very unscheduled behavior.

Oh, who are we kidding??  We know I've already scheduled just about every minute of the weekend so I can be sure that I am really charged for Monday.  Which, by the way, is day 3, not Monday, in my new world.

So, what feel good moments did you have this week?  Grab the button, go write about it chez you and come back here and tell us where to go!

Tune in tomorrow for my request for assistance with a blogger issue that you might know how to fix.

First Day Jitters? More Like Back To School Earthquake

I survived.  Today was the first day back to school with students.  Let me give you a little preview, but first, I have to say, that though there was chaos, it was one of the best first days of school I have had in my career.  I can't even explain why.  Maybe it's quaaludes.

2 weeks ago, I started bugging our new principal about our class lists.

If there is one thing teachers want more than ANYTHING before school starts, it's class lists.  Nothing breeds anxiety faster than the rumor that class lists aren't ready, won't be ready, may never be ready.

Because then you start to wonder.  And imaginations get pretty out of control around August 31st, when class lists are still swirling in the land of technology woes.

So, every few days, I would ask the principal, secretary, UPS guy if the class lists were ready.  And everyone, except the UPS guy, kept assuring me that they would be ready soon.

And then we hit rock bottom.  There was a MAJOR disaster with the schedules.  Like one whole grade had to be redone from the very beginning.  And it was, oh, like a week before school started.

Now, this principal was known for her stellar work with the schedule at the high school.  Scheduling 1200 kids?  No problem.  Coming to our school and scheduling 500 kids?  She could probably do it before breakfast.

Not so fast, lady.  There is some sort of Bermuda triangle-like force in our building that makes things like scheduling harder to accomplish than world peace.  I'm on my 4th principal and not one has been able to do it to anyone's satisfaction.

So, the daily update from the principal was that it was coming.  Or that she had had yet another set back.  Or that it was coming.  Not to worry.

At one point last week, I went in with an example of last year's class lists, explaining that the format on the top, the one that holds the entire secret of the school year- the place where we find out which class we see on which day, must be given to us before school starts.  OF COURSE, she said.  OF COURSE you need to know who you see when.

So, she put the school schedule in everyone's mailbox last Thursday.  So, we all know what times we see periods A,B,C,D,E,F,G.

The question still remained- WHICH KIDS DO I SEE FOR A, B, C?????  Because you can tell me 400 times that I teach 5 of those sections, but if you don't tell me when I see Joe Schmo, how will I know when to expect him?????

Even the day before kids started, I asked about class lists.  The answer was that you would not believe the disaster that had occurred once again.   3 people sat there all over the Labor Day weekend trying to fix things.  It's like Dominoes.   You fix one thing and it undoes 10 other things.

I'm not sure dismantling a bomb is more difficult than trying to get this schedule to actually work and put kids in classrooms with teachers who are also in the same classrooms at the same times.

School started today.  I arrived at school 45 minutes before kids entered the building.  I went to my mailbox, expecting to see my class lists.

It was empty.

So, I got in line to see the principal, who happened to be standing in front of the secretary.  I SHOWED them, for the second time, my example of what the office gave us last year.  The one that says WHEN WE SEE THE KIDS.  The principal assured me they must be in my box.  I assure her that they were not in mine and the 3 teachers I had just passed did not have them either.

So, she looked at the secretary, sure that there was just a little mistake and asked why I might not have received my rosters.  Surely everyone else did.  The secretary looked at both of us and said "You need rosters?"

I have never seen anyone's eyes fall out of their head, but I actually think my principal's might have been hanging by the optic nerves.  If looks could really have power, that secretary would have been beamed right out of the building.

So, we all looked at each other and, being a recent optimist, I said "well, the good news is that you have every teacher in this building in their homeroom for about an hour and a half.  We actually DO have our homeroom lists, so I suppose if you could whip out those rosters, we could get them before we have actual classes come in."

They were HAND DELIVERED within the hour.

So now, I knew when I was to see whom.

But, the first day of school never runs like a well oiled machine.   We have to throw in some monkey wrenches with things like assemblies, extended homeroom and a slight variation of the normal schedule so that classes are shorter.

I had my homeroom for about 45 minutes.  They are 6th graders.  They've never had more than one teacher before.  I've never had a 6 day schedule before (When kids in the auditorium heard that we have a 6 day schedule, they FLIPPED because they thought it meant coming to school on Saturday too!  I thought that was the best advertisement for the fact that our district is finally getting down to seriously preparing our kids.  Front page news tomorrow:  School District Mandates 6 Day Week.  State Test Results Sure to Be Off the Charts.) so I have no idea how to even read their schedules.  So, I did the best I could and sent them on their way.

As the day went on, classes came and went at the right times and Most of my class lists were actually correct.  That is a first!

Then the 6th grade teachers did a little schedule changing of their own and didn't tell those of us who have 6th grade homerooms, so while I was teaching a 7th grade class, my homeroom didn't understand why they couldn't come in for homeroom time.

To top it off, the buses did some weird thing and about 1/2 of our kids found out at like 2:30 that their afternoon bus number would not be the same as their morning bus number.  Everyone ran around trying to make sure teachers had copies of every kid and their bus number so they could actually get on a bus to take them home.

But, I actually made it through the day in these and didn't have a single pain near my bunion.  It was more just the fatigue of my feet in heels all day.  Yeah Aerosoles!  I swear the secret is the soft, suedelike lining, instead of that nasty plastic that so many shoes have on the insole.

I ended the day with the same kids I started with, I didn't kill anyone, what else matters?

How Do You Break In Your New Shoes

One of my hardest transitions as we start a new school year is wearing shoes.  For the whole day.  Don't get me wrong.  I don't run around barefoot all summer. I don't even run around in flip flips all summer because I don't think it's nice to broadcast your feet to every Tom, Dick and Harry.  I wear sneakers when I mow or work out, riding boots when I ride, but then I guess my other shoe choices are docksiders and things that slide on and off really well.

So, the first days back at school, my feet are usually pretty mad.  They are hot.  They are sweaty.  And they hurt.  Even when I'm wearing shoes that I wore all spring with nary a problem.

To add insult to injury, I bought these beauties the other day and I think I love them.

 They are Aerosoles, which is supposed to mean I can play basketball in them, right?  Isn't that what the old commercial used to tell us?  But seriously, I think these are going to be awesome.  And they were only $20 on clearance at Marshall's.  It was destiny, I am sure.

Except that I have bunions on each foot and there is a strap right across them.  That might just kill me.  Dead.  I have serious problems with shoes and those bunions. 

Bu I really like these shoes and they will go with everything.  And after not wearing a heel from February on, because of that ankle thing, I am liking these a lot.  And it doesn't feel like my ankle will break when I wear them, like it did in the spring.

So, I've been wearing them around the house, trying to get my feet used to them.  Trying to convince them that I can do laundry and clean in them and that my feet will remain happy. 

What, you don't wear nude heels when you're dressed like this?

I've Got A Parasite And I Couldn't Be Happier

Remember when I found that lovely, green cherub in my garden a few weeks ago?

Well, when you look at pictures, they always show that if you see one with little white cocoons hanging off of it, don't kill it.  These are parasitic wasps that have invaded the worm and are killing it from the inside.  I always fantasize that this will happen and I then I'll never have them again.

Well, today my fantasy came true.  This plant has been outside my greenhouse door all summer, but we brought it inside, due to the potentially  impending wrath of Irene. 

I've been taking most of the plants back out, but I figured I might as well leave these inside so the tomatoes will turn nice and red.  And bees have been in there when I go in the morning, so I know the remaining flowers will be pollinated.

Yesterday, I found some green caterpillar on the other one, but it was small and didn't look very hornworm like, so I just killed it. 

Today, I happened to see this and thought these white things were the little nubs that sometimes grow off of tomato plants. 

But no!  It is a small tomato hornworm (not sure if it's tobacco or tomato because it was already losing its color so I couldn't count the stripes) that has been infested with the dreaded parasitic wasp.  WHOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!

I always thought these would  be, you know, WASPS, but they were hatching out and they were smaller than mosquitoes.  And they so did their job.  This thing was already barely moving when I first noticed and a couple of hours later, it was frozen in this half on, half off the branch state and was totally dead.  GO WASPS!!! 

I would like to think this means the end of the hornworms, but I cannot be sure.  I now touch each tomato plant with fear and trepidation that I might be touching a hornworm and not the plant itself.

This gardening thing sure is a difficult venture.

It's All In the Bag, Baby

  I was never a big fan of bags.  My mother would buy us new school bags every year, but I was never all that excited about them.  A bag is a bag.  Whoopeee.

Or so I thought.

However, my life is now organized solely by bags.  It makes it so easy to just grab that bag I need for the particular meeting or activity and just go.  However, I may have a few too many bags.  But I never carry a purse, so I think it's OK.

My school bag for all of last year.  This fine piece of plastic was one of those bags they sell at Marshall's and TJ MAXX for like $1.99 near the registers.  You are supposed to buy them and then reuse them.  I could not resist this France theme and figured it might last a month or so.  It was much bigger and said TJ MAXX on the sides, so I took it apart and cut it down and the silly thing last the entire school year!

This year, I'm going with this bag from Thirty-One.  Do you know this company?  They do in home shows, like me with lia sophia, and my mother's friend just started selling it.  I wasn't sure I'd actually buy anything, but then I saw this in a million variations and decided this would fit the bill this year.  It has pockets all around it and as you can see, I already put my umbrella in one, some pens in another, I put my crap that I brought home today and I've had this for all of like 2 hours.  The straps are a great length.  Strap length is a big deal for me with my school bag. 

A former lunch bag.  The problem with these, aside from the fact that they are all probably so laded with lead that our great great great grandchildren will still carry the genes distorted by lead poisoning, is that they are never big enough.  I try not to use sandwich bags if possible, so I have lots of containers for lunch and they don't always fit in these kinds of bags.  So now k-ster gets them for his lunch.  They are a huge hit with the boys.

Enter my new lunch bag.  Another Thirty-One product.  This is called a picnic bag, and really, a normal person would use this for a family picnic, not one person's lunch.  But now I can bring as many containers as I want and had plenty of room.  I think it's sideways and I'm too lazy to delete it, rotate the picture and re upload.

Grocery bags, of course.  This one is somewhat insulated, but I live so close to 2 grocery stores, that's really not necessary.  And this bag is filled with other grocery bags.  Do you know that some real lunatics around here actually wrote letters to the editor of our local newspaper explaining how these bags are carriers of disease and they are just full of salmonella and they should know, because they are nurses?  PU-LEASE.  I'm a germaphobe but it didn't stop me.  It's not like I lay raw chicken right in the bags and then lay fresh cut peaches on top of them.  Get over it.

A former school bag, given to me by k-ster's aunt.  It's now my Table Francaise bag.  The handles are just too short to make it a pleasurable bag to carry to school every day.

My ABWA bag.

My gym bag.  For years, I used a small, Ford bag that k-ster got as a consolation prize when his Ford truck wasn't ready when he ordered it.  Then, I got a bigger bag, but it was too big and I was just carrying around a lot more crap than I needed.  Then I saw this pink underarmour bag and become incensed and bought it on the spot.  Perfect size.  And color.

I even like to use a bag to bring in my garden goodies.  I should have left some goodies in it so you would believe me.

A school bag that I made a few years ago that got everyone all worked up because they were sure I was carrying around a diaper bag. I just thought it was cute and a good way to use up part of a quilt that I didn't need.  It's now my bag for Richmere, when I teach in the pool.  It wasn't the best school bag because it doesn't have a lot of structure.

This is the bag within a bag.  I made this for my ipod and all of the wires I need to make it work everywhere.

My bag with my riding clothes so they don't sit in a drawer and stink up the rest of my clothes.  They don't smell bad, they just smell like leather from rubbing on the saddle and I think it would be frowned upon if I smelled like the barn every day.   I got this from a road race I did.  

It really shouldn't surprise you then, that I think it's a good idea to store my niece in a bag too.   Especially one with her name on it.  

So I don't confuse her with any other kids that might be lined up in their own bags in the luggage bin.

Feel Good Friday

Here we are again. Another Friday. Another end to another week. And around here, the beginning of the end of summer. This is Labor Day Weekend, all in caps because this is one of the biggest weekends in these parts.
Thanks to Irene,we lost a lot of tourists and seasonal residents.  Wait, sorry, we didn't lose them as in they died.  Or as in they washed out to sea.  Miss Irene just made a big ruckus and then blew out of here on the first bus north. 

But, she came with such a reputation, everyone got worried and left or cancelled their plans to come.  It will be interesting to see if they return this weekend for the last big bash of the season.

Anyway, it's Friday and it's time to list the things that made me feel good.  I haven't done a list of 5 in a while, so now that the school routine is almost back in place, I should get this routine going again too.  Remember take the button and don't forget to leave a comment about where to find your Feel Good Friday post!

1.  Hurricane Irene came and went, and personally, the only effects I felt were in the garden.  Sad, yes, but glad that I didn't have to throw out food from the refrigerator, I don't have a spontaneous skylight in my bedroom and while I am still mad at Nstar for another reason, it's not because my electricity went out for days.  just a few hours, really.

2.  I broke 2 glasses in less than 12 hours and didn't cut myself or spill the beverages that were in them.  I now have a superclean kitchen floor!

3.  We have a new principal and assistant principal and while our opening meeting with just teachers was complete chaos, I like their style and I think there might be some good coming out of this change.  The fact that people left that meeting saying they were impressed that she asked questions and actually listened to what we wanted tells me things have to be looking up.

Seriously, nothing could be worse than what we endured for the past 3 years.  And it's amazing how bad things were and how little I noticed until this new principal came along and she actually spoke a language I understand.  One of success, rigor, excitement.  Wow, what an original concept.  Excitement in the school.  Go figure.

4.  I had to return these shoes to LLBean because I wore them so much that the black had started to turn blue and the print was gone from the toes.  And the inside was tattered.  When I hurt my ankle in the spring, I was told not to wear any heels at all, so I basically live in these.

Because LLBEAN has a great return policy, they took them and gave me a new pair, no questions asked.  But, like I mentioned in this post last September, trapping my feet in them for a whole day was a little painful.  And they are brand spanking new so that added to it.  I was pleased that they did the return so simply and that they still have them in stock!

5.  With my first paycheck of the school year, I got a mysterious bonus and my jaw hit the floor. Then I remembered that it's called Longevity pay.  After so many years, you get a one time payment of x amount and that increases with every 3 or 4 years beyond that.  Since we still haven't ratified a contract, I knew we didn't get any pay increases, but I totally forget about the Longevity pay.  That was a nice little prize in my check yesterday!

6.  I got to meet a real, live bloogy friend of mine!  Stephanie from Stephanie in Suburbia came here to visit her parents and we got a cup of coffee (thank you for paying for that, by the way) at a place nearby.  It was so nice to meet someone that I've been following for a while.  It's like the red M&Ms.  She does exist!!   She even mentions me here and gives details about where I live, so if you've been stalking me and just can't find me, now you are one step closer!

Ok, that's my week And yes, it was 6 things, not just 5.  I can break the rules.  Get over it.  Now go write your own Feel Good Friday post and come back and tell us where to go.  Anyone can do it!!

What I Learned From Drama Queen Irene

First I complained about the pre-Irene frenzy .

Then I showed you the destruction she caused.

Then I read an excellent post from frogmama who happens to have been a wee bit more in the path of Irene than I was.  Go read it, her perspective is hilarious, as I read it from my well lit corner of the living room, resting easy that my ice is still frozen and I can vacuum at will.

A few things I learned while 'suffering' through Irene.

1.  Weathermen really have no idea.  At all.  They basically admit that.  Have you ever watched the weather and listened?  They use so many coulds, may, possiblys, mights, it makes me wonder if I'm even hearing what I'm really hearing.  I don't know why we even watch.

We're all armchair weathermen anyway, so it's really a contest to see who can guess better- us or them.

2. While I refused to get all worked up over Irene, I was appalled that I might be that last fool who didn't prepare, so k-ster and I hauled inside  all of the plants, chairs and any items that might blow.  Even though I sincerely doubted we would feel the outrageous effects they were predicting.

I am not one to give in to peer pressure, but when it's a matter of my stuff breaking your windows, I guess I give in a little.

3.  Anything can be cooked on a grill, and I've been known to bring the frying pan out there to make eggs or a pot to boil water.  We had plenty of food and the freezer was full of ice packs, but when I had to make supper and what I wanted to make wasn't something I actually wanted to grill, it suddenly became a chore.  Boiling water takes forever on the grill.

When it comes down to the grill being the only option, it's not something I get excited about.

4.  I really like electricity.  I really like convenience.  I can speak green like the best of them, but when it comes to reading by candle light or flipping a switch, I fear it's the switch I prefer the most.  There is a reason I don't go camping.  Roughing it and making do without modern technology is just something I don't want to do.  I don't think it's fun.  I don't get excited about rigging things and making things to substitute for the real thing.  I just like the knowledge that we have electricity at our disposal.  I like to use it when I need it.

I really couldn't live off the grid.  It's more primitive than I would like to be!

So thank you, Irene, for letting me know that I am really just a sham.

Oh sure, I have these gardens, and work at turning off lights when I leave a room and only using the washer when it's full and I don't care if my cell phone dies, etc.  But when it comes down to it, I can't leave this modern lifestyle.

I spent a whole 7 hours without electricity, most of which were daylight hours.  By 8pm, we had our power. 

People nearby are still waiting for Nstar to give them power.  Still, 4 days later!  And they are in the same town!  My theory is that Nstar is mad that this area won't let them use pesticides below the power lines.  It has become a really big deal here.  I think they are like 'screw them' and are trying to make a point. 

I remember 5 days with no power after hurricane Bob, but we cheated a little with a generator. 

No generator for us this time.  It would  have been a tough 5 days, I'm afraid.