WNBP: I Am Very Important Right Now

Greetings from the land of Random Thought Streams And Delusions Of Grandeur.  I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome you to my little blog and reassure you that I am really just a humble being much like the rest of humanity.  My Very Important Work should not deter you in the least from relaxing and enjoying yourself.

We don't stand on ceremony here at Sheepish Annie's place and certainly not on the night of a Wednesday Night Bullet Post.

*OK.  Let's just get this out of the way now.  Yes.  It's true.


*I am a Nielson Family.


*I'll just give you a minute to "oohh" and "ahh" in whatever order and for whatever duration you feel appropriate.


*I forgot that I am part of the grand tradition of Nielson ratings until my packet and payment arrived today.


*Now I have very little time to get the message to Mr. Principal and Mr. Assistant Principal that I can't come to school.


*I have to stay at home for a week and watch television.


*It is my civic duty to protect the television programming we all hold dear.  One little slip of the remote and suddenly we no longer have Reality TV.


*Besides, I have already earmarked that sweet five bucks for lunch tomorrow and that makes the whole thing a binding contract.


*I'm sure that my supervisors will understand and release me from my teaching duties without issue.


*Of course, the fact that my class has been so out of control lately that people no longer want to walk down the hallway to get to the library could be a problem...


*But this is by God television we're talking about here!  I think that some things supersede stuff like education and keeping kids from burning down the bathrooms for a week!!!


*The directions don't specifically say I have to stay home and watch TV for a whole week, but I'm sure that is what they intended.  It's implied.


*Last summer, I braved the heat and canned a lot of carrots, beans 'n whatnot.


*I was miserable because it was a heatwave but I did it anyway.


*So glad now.  I do love eating summer produce in winter.


*Note:  Now that I am in control of future television programming, there will probably be lots of shows about canning summer produce.


*We had a staff meeting after school today.


*That was before I came home and was reminded that I am in charge of television starting tomorrow so I wasn't preoccupied with that.


*Imagine my shock when I glanced to my left and saw that the school counselor was looking up information on local head shops.


*She had reason for doing this and it all made sense later when I asked about it, but it still seemed kind of funny at the time.


*I am easily entertained during staff meetings.  I'll do pretty much anything to avoid the stated agenda.


*Note:  When I am done reinventing television, there will not be shows about meetings.  There will, however, be shows that you can watch during meetings so you won't get bored and wonder about why the school counselor is suddenly researching bongs.


*On Sunday, I required the assistance of a three year old to help me figure out a car seat.


*Note:  Car seats are complicated and boring and will never be on television.  I will mandate shows about kids staying home with sitters because I'm pretty sure that's how the good Lord intended it.


*Wait...I have to go stir my veggies.


*Note:  Cooking shows will continue.  No need to worry.  I'll see to it.


*Even people who watch TV for a living read.  I read.


*I've been enjoying the Kate Daniels series.


*Can't recall where I told you I left off, but you will probably be thrilled to know that I finished Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) over the weekend.


*Now I'm working on Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels, Book 4).


*If you are sick of sparkly, shiny vampires who strut around like they are all that and a bag of O positive, then this is the series for you!


*If you sometimes think, "Sheesh! Where can I find a book that highlights the virtues of were-animals that aren't wolves???", well come on down and enjoy the party!  I gotcha a lion with attitude right here!!


*Plus Kate is wicked snarky and I love that in a main character.  She makes me giggle.


*I did not giggle when I finished listening to Lost Boys: A Novel.


*It took me a minute to realize that I was in the midst of great turmoil and tragedy.  I'd been lulled into a false sense of security.  This is not exactly the kind of moment you need to have right before turning into the middle school parking lot where you are expected to exit your vehicle in a dignified manner then educate children without weeping.


*It was a long journey to that ending and I know not everyone appreciates this novel, but I was kind of impressed.


*Maybe it's better as an audio book?  I dunno...


*Note:  TV will continue to have an audio component.  I think that enhances the viewing experience and will keep it.  You are very welcome.


*Note:  If you are not someone who utilizes the audio portion of the television experience, please disregard the previous statement.  And continue to enjoy the closed captioning because I plan on leaving that just as it is, too.



I'm afraid that will have to be it for tonight, Dear Visitors.  I need to work on getting my television viewing diary organized because it's certainly not going to write in all those local stations all by itself, now is it?  I should also probably start mapping out my viewing schedule for the next week in order that I might make clear what entertainment I deem appropriate for mass consumption.

Yes.  I am a very important person doing very important work right now.  That's why I make the big (five) bucks.  They don't just give that kind of cash to anyone, you know.

I imagine it will just about cover my reality therapy bills...

SA

WNBP: It's All In My Head

I generally try to have something of a theme when I post.  I think it is wicked clever and makes things ever so much more cohesive even when I'm doing a Wednesday Night Bullet Post.  Those are random by nature, of course.  However, I need a bit of an anchor lest I sail off into some weird rambling whirlpool.

Tonight I have a headache.  It is a whopper and has been with me since before the break of dawn.  Nothing seems to thwart the mighty headache from heck and I have given myself over to it utterly.  Hence, there will probably be nothing even remotely connected to the title of this post with the exception of the occasional whining about head pain.

I'm OK with that if you are...


*Let's see...I got the headache announcement out of the way, right?  Did I mention that it was of migraine proportions?


*I get migraine-like symptoms, but the headache part is usually the least of it so I didn't really understand that this was where the whole thing was going until it was way too late to do anything about it.


*I had multiple meetings today.  I made little to no sense in any of them.


*I am quirky.  Hopefully, people will just think I've raised the quirk to a whole new level and leave it at that.


*Otherwise, they might send in some nice people who want to talk to me very softly about how I am feeling and if I might like to go someplace quiet and well-padded for the next six months.


*That won't happen.  No one wants to substitute in my class.  I'm there until death or the lottery goes my way.


*I actually said that in one of my meetings today.


*To a stranger who doesn't really know about my quirks.


*Actually, what I said was, "What if I die?  Then where will these people be???"


*It made sense in the context of the conversation.  Honest.


*But it was still clearly inappropriate based upon my colleague's horrified look so I softened it to "what if I win the lottery and leave this job?"


*Then it was OK because winning the lottery is a nice thing to have happen.


*I probably should have told her about the headache.  She might have been more understanding if she knew about the headache...


*Yesterday, I had to deal with one of the worst cases of cyber-bullying I've experienced in a long while.


*An epic and convoluted tale that ended in a pretty savage beat-down.


*I know you guys all know this, but in case you forgot, you might want to check up on what your kids are reading on-line.  Maybe have a chat or two about it if you haven't in a while.


*I'm as horrified by how many kids knew about this but didn't know how to stop it as I am by the active participants.


*Sadly, it's not my blog audience who needs this reminder...


*Yesterday may possibly have something to do with the headache.


*I've been trying to work on a pair of fingerless mitts to give to The World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach once she is a bit more recovered from her surgery.


*Knitting time has been a bit compromised of late, though.  The headache, if you will recall.


*And we have been given some fairly strong discouragement when it comes to knitting during school hours.


*Some people don't exactly know the meaning of the word "discreet" and with budget cuts around the corner, questions are sometimes asked.


*As in, "If you have so much time to knit, is it possible that your position is superfluous?"


*I'm 99% sure I'm not superfluous, but who knows?  Maybe I am.


*Maybe I wouldn't mind being superfluous, now that I think of it.


*That is just the headache talking.


*I got a new keyboard skin to protect my school issued laptop and it makes typing hard.


*I just need to get used to it, I'm sure.  It will be fine because it is purple and looks really cool and I want it to work out.


*I went to bed early last night and read.


*Having finished Fate's Edge (The Edge, Book 3), I decided to try out another of the books these authors have written.


*It's really two people penning these.  That is why I can say authors.


*I picked up Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) as a trial run and pretty much loved it.


*There is more very complex world-building in this series and readers should be prepared to just go along for the ride, secure in the knowledge that it will all make sense eventually.


*By the time you hit Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2), it'll all feel like old hat!


*And even before I really felt like I had a handle on the setting, the characters were compelling enough that I didn't much care.


*I'll definitely read the series.


*You may recall that my vehicular "reading" (aka listening) has involved Lost Boys: A Novel


*I wanted to make sure I mentioned it because it is getting rather good.


*Not that it wasn't good before.  It was.  It takes place in the way back days of 1983 and it has been great fun reliving the glory days.


*Very cool insights into some of the early history of personal computers and what was going on in the industry at that point.


*Main character is a programmer.


*But it is a very long set up before you get to the meat of the story.





*Wait a minute...gotta go check on the chicken.


*Chicken for dinner tonight.  I wanted cookies and root beer but the headache insisted on chicken, potatoes and green beans.


*Stupid headache.  I already worked out even though I have a headache and my knees don't work.  I should get cookies.


*Hate the headache...


*On a happier note, let's all say a nice Happy Birthday to Daddy Sheep!


*We celebrated it over the weekend, but today is the big day for reals and I'd hate like heck to forget about it just because I've already done the pre-birthday whooping an hollering.


*We didn't really whoop and holler.  We had a nice dinner out in a public restaurant where most of us comported ourselves with dignity and aplomb.


*My year-old great nephew probably being the best behaved member of our group...


*But still a great deal of dignity overall.



I think I need to go feed my headache now.  The chicken seems about finished and those green beans aren't going to microwave themselves.  With any luck, I'll manage to sleep this thing off tonight and be fresh as a daisy for whatever nightmarish conflict tomorrow brings.

Or at the very least convince the nice people with the soft voices that I really am only quirky and not ready for the heavy meds just yet...

SA

WNBP: There Was Snow And Then...

Yes, Sheepie, there are still snow days.

 If you recall, the last post involved yours truly declaring that there would be a snow day or all holy heck to pay.  I knew, based on current weather patterns and the horrific behavior of my students on Wednesday that there would be a snow day.  There really wasn't much doubt.

And so it came to pass. The snows fell in more abundant amounts than predicted and a restful day was had by all.  Or by me, at any rate.  And now let's see where we are this week.  Here's tonight's Wednesday Night Bullet Points!

*My only complaint about the snow day was the Snow Plow Situation.


*One plow allotted for the entire complex.


*And one obviously inexperienced plow guy.


*With a great deal of enthusiasm and desire to move snow with wild abandon if not accuracy.


*He did his best and it wasn't ME moving it so I guess I shouldn't complain...


*Friday was weird.  When you have Thursday off and it's a long weekend coming up Friday back at school feels all crazy-pants.


*Had to visit with The World' Greatest Stylist And Life Coach on Saturday.  I really needed my hair cut something fierce.  And, if nothing else, I had to give her the Annual Handknit Holiday Mitts!


*Except I didn't finish them and ended up giving her a candle instead.


*I'm hanging my head in shame, here.  I don't need those looks from you people!!!


*Except maybe I do because she is also having surgery soon and might have liked her AHHMs.  They might have been a great comfort to her.


*Because I and my average knitting skills have that power, after all.


*She wants me to come visit her while she is recuperating so I still have a second chance at Greatness Through Knitting Altruism.


*On Monday, The Very Complicated Kitty decided to jump on the bed and inform me that it was time to get up.


*He didn't care that it was a holiday.


*What happened next was not his fault.  It was mine.


*It was not an attack.  It was not aggression.  It was a half-asleep woman trying to move a very large cat while she was still lying down and misjudging every single aspect of the maneuver.


*And, for the record, I do not feel that the abuse of animals is an appropriate response to their behaving according to their natures.


*I just want to be clear about that because I have heard many of these poor excuses for humor since The Incident.


*It was an accident.  He felt badly.  I felt badly.  We all got to get up early, mop up the blood from my slashed face and feel really badly about the whole thing as a group.


*No stitches needed, but the scar is pretty impressive.


*And highly visible.  There has been actual wincing when I walk into rooms.


*The considerate people try to hide it and pretend that all is well, but I can still see it.


*For the record, had it been my eyes that got it we'd be having this conversation in braille.


*I don't know braille so that would be really tricky for all of us.


*It was darned near my eyes.

But I still love him very much in spite of it all.

*I still have my eyes, too.  Want to know what I've been reading?


*I'm still living life on The Edge.


*Second book in the series: Bayou Moon (The Edge, Book 2)


*I was kind of disappointed to learn that this series is less about "character" loyalty and more about "place" loyalty.


*Specifically the place known as The Edge.


*But they still reference the folks I came to love in the first book so it all ended up OK.


*I liked it enough to go get the third.


*Fate's Edge (The Edge, Book 3)


*Kind of thought I'd enjoy this one the least, but I think I might like it almost the best except I can't decide because I still really liked the first one a lot.


*I might try some of the other books written by these authors.


*I'm tired of linking so I'll get back to you on that.


*Actually, I'm eating a Pop Tart while I'm blogging tonight and linking is just too much for me right now.


*Juggling links and Pop Tarts is a recipe for disaster.


*I know what a recipe for disaster is.  Just look at my face, for crying out loud!!!


*No.  I'm not showing you my face.  


*I'll be feeling your winces all night long.


*The Phuture Physicist had a birthday last week.  He requested cheesecake for his celebratory treat.


*I bought it on Wednesday and didn't eat it all day Thursday even though it was a snow day and I could have died what with being snowed in and all.


*Please Note:  Students who request a cheesecake for their birthday and force their teachers to stay home with it all day Thursday so it can be brought in whole and unharmed for consumption on Friday should probably...


*SHOW UP FOR SCHOOL ON FRIDAY!!!!!


*I mean...seriously!  You put me through The Great Cheesecake Trials and then go to a doctor's appointment????


*I put it in the freezer at school and hoped the secretaries wouldn't get to it before PP could eat some.


*It all worked out, but a lesson was learned by all.


*I'm not sure just what that lesson was but it mostly happened in a school so something knowledge-related must have occurred at some point.


*And, if not, I got to eat cheesecake on a Tuesday afternoon so that's OK.



And there you have it!  I got my snow day, my hair cut and saved the cheesecake.  I also got scarred for life and failed the Knitting Altruism Test, but you gotta look at the bright side or your head will explode three times a week, right?

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

SA

WNBP: Snow Day. I Mean It.

Tomorrow is going to be a snow day.  I am sorry to just throw that out there without a preamble or anything, but I am not really up for the niceties at the moment.  Tomorrow is going to be a snow day.

I have known this for two days.  I would know this even if I did not have the advantages of television, radio, print media and the sometimes contradictory but mostly helpful thing known as The Almighty InterWebs.  I do not need these things to know that tomorrow is going to be a snow day.

I am an educator.  I spend my days with children.  I spend my days with very challenging children.  And I am telling you right now and for certain that tomorrow is going to be a snow day.

Let us explore this boldly phrased statement in Bullet Point Format.  It is Wednesday, after all.  I'm not going to let a little thing like a snow day get in the way of weekly tradition.  I might be a little rough around the edges when it comes to social niceties and whatnot, but I'm not a savage!

*It would be an understatement to say that things in Ms. Sheep's classroom have been a bit...tense.


*This is not unusual right before a storm.  Low pressure systems are not my friends.


*Monday was PRIDE day.


*We had PRIDE day as part of our school's ongoing efforts to improve the culture and climate and you can trust me when I tell you that this is sorely needed.


*I've nothing against PRIDE.  Please don't knock the PRIDE.


*I'm just tired and maybe a little cranky at the moment.


*All the letters in PRIDE stand for some noble thing or another, but I don't much care about them anymore.


*We used each class to do an activity representing the noble attributes represented by these words.


*By the time I got to E, I'm pretty sure that P stood for Perplexed.


*As in, "Why the heck is Ms. Sheep so Purposefully Pushing us towards Producing Posters today?"


*Low pressure systems do not make for noble sentiment.  Nor the desire to make colorful, positive posters.


*By the time I got to the Write About Something You Are Proud Of assignment and the Phuture Physicist began to weep outright, I figured we might need a break from the PRIDE for one class period.


*PP was sick and had fought with his mom that day...not feeling really proud of anything at that point.


*It was also his birthday the next day so I asked him how old he was going to be and he told me he was going to be fourteen.


* And then I needed to go weep because I've had him in my class off and on since he was freakin' five years old and if he's fourteen now...


*HOW THE HECK OLD DOES THAT MAKE ME???!!!


*Spunky Girl also had a birthday over the weekend.  She's thirteen.


*First had her in my class when she was six.


*My stomach hurts.


*Also my ankles are swelling again and I look like I'm walking on pontoons by 2:00 each day.


*Low pressure system, possibly assisted by the consumption of half a bag of salty nacho chips following the excessive displays of PRIDE and birthdays.


*Here's a fun fact:  The Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty has learned how to rattle the bathroom doorknob.


*He can actually make it twist back and forth, looking for all the world as if someone is testing the knob for entry.


*Which is awesome at 5:30 in the morning as I emerge, still half-asleep, from the shower.


*I do so love to let out a girlish shriek first thing to start the day off right.


*Seriously thought the boogy-man was at the door.


*Best Conversation Of The Week:

Jolly Boy: (running back into the classroom after accompanying the Cheerful Teaching Assistant to her car to pick up some project supplies) Hey!  Guess what?  I just got to look at the Tree Fat!!!

(No one responds because, really, what is there to say?  JB decides to focus his message on one student for better impact)

JB:  Hey!  Anti-Beiber!  You won't believe this!  I was outside and I got to see the Tree Fat!  I was right up close!  I could've touched it if I wanted to!!!!!!

The Anti-Bieber:  (after several minutes of Tree Fat related commentary directed his way)  Dude...what the hell are you talking about?

Ms. Sheep:  (tiredly)  Don't say, "hell."

AB:  But he's yelling at me about Tree Fat!  I don't know what Tree Fat is!  Do you know what the hell he's talking about?

MS:  No.  I do not know what the hell he is talking about.  I just know that our asking about it whilst invoking hell is probably not in keeping with at least three of the PRIDE letters I had to teach you about on Monday and I don't want to have to go back and do that all over again.  If I make anyone else cry this week, I'm going to have to fill out paperwork or something...

Cheerful Teaching Assistant:  (picks head up from desk where she has been resting it)  It is suet.  The Green Team hung suet for the birds and I had to stand there for ten minutes holding a ten thousand pound sewing machine while I explained what suet is made of.

MS:  Oh.  Well...that makes sense.

CTA:  I can't feel my lower arms...

AB:  What the hell is suet?

*You don't have to fill out any extra paperwork if the teacher is crying.  Just the kids.


*My hair is looking so bad these days that the World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach called me to say I need an appointment.


*She hasn't seen me or anything...she just knows.  I'm going on Saturday.


*I haven't finished her Christmas gift yet.


*A snow day might help, but I don't know if even that is going to be enough.


*I finished up The Bride Wore Black Leather (Nightside) the other day.


*I was fairly eager to read it and snapped it up when it came out.  It ended all too soon.


*For fans of The Nightside series, this is a Must Read.


*And yet not the best of the series.


*I used to get rather excited when he did a tie in to one of his other non-Nightside novels.


*Now it just kind of feels like an advertisement for them.  Seems like kind of a cheap thing to do.


*Although this is the Nightside, the place that exists to give the darker souls a place to work out their issues safely away from the lighter realms.


*I suppose a few sneaky, subversive messages are almost in keeping with that tone...


*Also wrapped up the audio version of Enchantment.


*Which I enjoyed very much, although I sometimes hated the fact that two readers were used to cover the male and female perspectives.


*Both were quite good readers...just a little jarring to adjust to both, I was all.


*Since that worked out so well, I decided to keep up the Orson Scott Card theme and try Lost Boys: A Novel.


*I've only gotten a little way into it, but so far so good.


*I listen to books in the car on the way to work so I'm hoping that I won't get to listen to it tomorrow.


*Snow day, if you recall....


*I'd rather be home reading On the Edge (The Edge, Book 1).


*A confusing read at first, but worth the effort.  Hang in there.


*Quickly becomes quite compelling.  


*Although I have to admit that last night, as I was falling asleep over the text, nothing much was compelling me.  


*I am tired from all the PRIDE and edgy children and cats who are trying to open bathroom doors all because of an impending storm that has everyone going a little bit crazy.


*Snow day, people.  That is all I am saying.  



And, with that, I am off to go check the weather forecast one more time.  I don't think there's been much of a change, though.  All indicators still seem to point to a weather event in my near future and the likelihood of a much needed snow day for Ms. Sheep.

Of course, that doesn't always work out.  Just in case, I cautioned my staff to not get too comfortable with the idea of a day off.  We might still have to come to work.

And no one is to speak to me if that is the case.  Or look at me.  Or cross within four feet of my path...

SA

WNBP: New Year, Old Routine

Well, here we are!  It's 2012 and everything is all new and shiny!!  But does that mean a blogger can just toss out all the "old and perhaps a little less glittery?"  Absolutely not!  The Wednesday Night Bullet Post might be getting a little bit tired these days, but it still services.

Besides, vacation is over, I'm back to work and I honestly don't see how much of anything has changed.  It all looks exactly the same to me.

Here's this week's new bullets straight from the old routine:

*We had a staff meeting after school today.


*We are in the painful process of tearing down old policies and trying to build new ones.


*And when I say, "painful," I mean exactly that.  Pain.  A full dose of it.


*I've worked in a lot of schools and it always goes like this.  I usually sit quietly and let the process play itself out.


*Today, I dared to engage in conversation with the school counselor who was sitting next to me and wondering aloud if we were ever going to be released from this Most Painful Of Meetings:

School Counselor:  I am wondering if we are ever going to get out of this Most Painful Of Meetings.

Ms. Sheep:  It doesn't matter.  Nothing matters anymore.  I have heard the words "trust circle" uttered three times now and that means only one thing.

SC:  What's that?

MS:  I have to kill myself.

SC:  That seems kind of extreme...

MS:  Perhaps, but I have no choice.  I cannot live in a world where people say, "trust circle" in a serious way.

SC:  I'm pretty sure they decided not to do that.  We talked about it at the meetings you missed when you were sick, but I don't think it's going anywhere.

MS:  I can't take that chance.  They said "trust circle" three times.  Anything you say three times can come true.  And they said it so seriously!  No one laughed at all!!

SC:  I guess I can kind of see your point...


*I'm not going to really end it all over a circle.


*Oh, I meant it when I said it.  Make no mistake about that!  But I've had some time to think it over and it does seem a little extreme now that I'm away from the TC People.


*It suddenly got very, very cold up here in the Wilds Of Maine.


*It is seasonal.  I shouldn't really be so surprised.


*But I was.


*As were the cats. They were very chilly last night.  I was covered in cats come bedtime.


*COVERED!!!


*I didn't sleep very well.


*Until I finally figured out that I didn't really need the electric blanket anymore.


*Covered in cats.  Cats are warmer than electric blankets.


*I was covered in fifty thousand cats.


*Or two.  It was one of those...


*The Phuture Physicist (also known as The Giant Man Boy) had a baby yesterday.


*Not a real baby.  A computerized one.  All the 8th graders get one for two nights.


*Unless they agree to write a paper instead.


*The Phuture Physicist came stomping into the classroom wearing a tiny pink backpack and scowling.


*He got someone else to carry the baby.


*He was late to school today.  Baby had a malfunction.  Baby lost all sense of cuteness.


*Baby cried every fifteen minutes.


*All night long.


*Baby wouldn't shut down.


*When he finally staggered in to school today, he announced that his mother was turning in his baby.


*"And, just so you know, I'm writing the stupid paper!!!!"


*The Phuture Physicist believes that Baby was behaving in a highly illogical manner and was certainly out to get him.  He also allowed that this could not possibly be a child of his.


*He isn't wrong...


*Short week due to the holiday.  I like a four day week.


*But Giant Man Boys bearing pink backpacks and ranting against illogical computerized babies really makes it all worthwhile.


*I read quite a bit over vacation.


*The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses wasn't what I thought it was going to be.  I decided that I probably wasn't going to finish it.


*Just one more chapter and then I'd call it a day.


*Well, maybe one more...


*Turned out to be pretty good, actually.


*When an author says, "You know what, this ain't Shakespeare.  I'm just gonna find the right voice and write the heck out of it," things usually go rather well.


*And I think that the voice of the narrator is rather well done, with only a few (moderately) heavy-handed explanations of motivation slipping in.


*I spend my days with middle school boys.  I know the author got it right.


*I also re-read A Hard Day's Knight (Nightside).  I like that book.  Plus I think a new one in the series is due out soon and I wanted to recall where I left off.


*I would have sworn that I already read One Salt Sea: An October Daye Novel.


*I'd have sworn it on my life.


*And then I wouldn't have needed to threaten to end it all during the "Circles" discussion.


*I have not read it.


*Now I can say I've read half of it, though.


*I like that series.  Why wasn't I checking more carefully?????


*And, in keeping with the routine, I am rather glad to be back in the car even if it means going to work.


*I get to catch up with my audiobook, Enchantment.


*Not everyone's favorite Orson Scott Card book.  But I like it.





*Not the mainstream routine, but part of my current routine.


*It is good to have something to make going back to the grind a little easier.


So that was Wednesday.  It seems a lot like all the other WNBPs, but it is the first of 2012. That is something worth keeping in the routine, I think.  Happy New Year, Everyone!  I hope that your next 365 is filled with a nice balance of the old and the new! (and maybe a giant boy bearing a pink backpack...)

SA

WNBP: Where We Left Off...

When last we left our intrepid Sheepie, she was suffering from the world's worst cold ever in the history of viral infections, had been strongly advised to take a pass on the two days of teacher workshops and the holidays were looming.

Did Sheepie take the days off when they were kindly offered?  Has she been lost in a pile of used tissues and has she been missed yet?  Did she make it to Christmas dinner with wrapped presents in hand?  Did she have enough of a voice to cry out, "God bless us, every one?"

These questions and many others will be answered in this week's installment of The Wednesday Night Bullet Post!!

*I did, in fact, take both workshop days off as my director instructed.


*I thought about going in for the Friday session, but I was still blowing solid matter from my nostrils so it seemed like a bad idea.


*Plus there was some "weather" going on.  Not much, but enough to justify staying home in bed.


*I'm feeling much better now.


*My voice is back and I hardly blew my nose at all whilst wrapping Christmas presents.


*I did not cry out God bless us every one at any point during Christmas dinner, but I could have should I so desired.


*Still sneezing every now and again and I'm tired beyond all reason, but that is about it.


*Finally realized what a toll the whole thing took on me when I went to a post holiday sale and forgot my purse in the Walmart parking lot.


*The parking lot!  Like...right there in the cart!


*How does one forget one's purse in the cart?????


*I mean, I can see leaving it in a dressing room or on the roof of the car.


*I'm not saying I've done that or anything.  I'm just saying it seems like something someone MIGHT do, is all...


*I got my purse back, thankfully.  But I'd driven all the way home before I realized that it was sitting in the Walmart parking lot.


*I used a gift certificate from my parents to go out and buy a couple of new purses.


*The kind with a long strap that you can hang across your shoulder and never take off.  You can even sleep whilst wearing your purse.


*That way you will never leave it in the Walmart parking lot.


*One of my greatest joys in life is visiting with people who have young children and gifting their offspring with the loudest toys I can find.


*I stay long enough to teach the little bundles of joy how to use the new device and spend some quality time observing just how much noise it can make.


*Then I go home.


*That is a very mean thing to do, but I can't help myself.  It is my only vice.


*Karma came to visit for Christmas this year.  Mommy Sheep gave Da Boyz a new cat cave.


*The Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty loves cat caves.  They are his favorite thing.  And the new one is no exception.


*Love, love, love!!!


*But it is the crinkly kind.  Sometimes I hear it rustling and that is OK.


*However, the AGK has learned that if you hit it juuuuust right and with juuuuust enough force...


*You can make it go, "BAP!!!!!"


*"BAP!!!!!" is the loudest noise in the history of forever.  It is even louder at 2:30 in the morning or when you are settling in for a nice afternoon nap because you are tired from the 2:30, "BAP!!!"


*I'd take it away, but I'm feeling like this is the universe's way of paying me back for all the drum sets I've bought for kids that aren't mine over the years.

I also don't really have the heart...

*He doesn't always make it go "BAP!!!!", after all.


*Is it weird that one of my most favoritest Christmas gifts is a kitchen scrubby brush shaped like a skull?


*It seems kind of weird to me, but what do I know?  I do know that I've been scrubbing stuff in the kitchen with it and that is kind of weird...


*I'm not really much of a scrubber.


*Now that the holiday is behind me, I can get down to the business of vacationing in earnest.  I got the napping thing down pretty good today.


*I thought about scrubbing something but figured I'd done enough of that for a while.  The skull seemed kind of sad about it.


*I've also gotten in some really good reading time.


*I kicked some serious book butt with the Elemental Assassin series.


*If you recall, I started with Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin, Book 1)


*Worked my way through everything up to Spider's Revenge (Elemental Assassin Books)


*Lots and lots of virtual pages were flipped in between sneezing and wrapping and the big, loud BAPs!!


*As so often happens, I was at a loss after that.  So I went back to an author I knew I liked.


*Ended up with Skin Deep (Laura Blackstone, Book 1)


*Quite good.  Not a favorite, but quite good.


*Enough that I picked up the sequel.


*Face Off (Laura Blackstone, Book 2)


*I generally don't like to read the things that other people are reading.


*The very idea that I am part of the masses is just painful for me.


*But I'm starting to think it might be time to break down and read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Movie Tie-in Edition) (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)




*It seems like the right thing to do.


*Plus I've got the time right now what with being on vacation and all...


*And I don't want to resort to scrubbing again.


*And there is every reason to believe that I will be awoken by a hearty, "BAP!" tonight anyway.


*Before I go, I want to wish Daddy Sheep a good night while he recovers from today's procedure.


*We'll be very, very glad to have you back home tomorrow, Dad.  I'm glad it went well for you today.


*Meanwhile, rest up and enjoy all that nice jello!



I think that catches you up.  I'm recovered from the horrific cold, tired enough from the whole experience to forget my purse in weird places and the Christmas Cat Cave is louder than anything I've ever heard in my life.  Now I'm going to head into the kitchen to see about rustling up some dinner.  I'm thinking hot dogs.  The pan I like to cook them in is dirty, but that's OK.  I can scrub it.  I have a scrubber.  And the time.

It's vacation, after all.

SA

WNBP: You've Been Trapped.

I'm certain that, by now, there are very few people out there who wish to continue hearing about my sickly state of being.  That's fair.  I understand.  Frankly, I'm getting pretty sick of the sick myself, but I don't have the luxury of ignoring my texts or faking a seizure whenever I see me.  I sort of have to live with it and just keep trying to snare innocent passersby into conversation so I can whine about my affliction.

Like with Wednesday Night Bullet Posts and such...

*Da Boyz are thrilled with the current state of affairs.  They like that the bed is piled high with extra blankets and that one of them is of the electric variety.


*Between all that extra bedding and the huddled feline bodies, I'm rather snug 'n cozy when I go to bed.


*Of course, when I wake up at midnight with the hacking and wheezing, I am generally sweating to the point of electrocuting myself with the electric blanket, but that is sometimes the price you have to pay.


*I've been going to school for a week with this hideous nasal affliction.  


*No choice.  Other staff people have needed to take sick days and the kids are not doing well.  Not well at all.


*Today was the last day of school for the students.


*Teachers have two days of mandatory workshops.


*They call it The Winter Forum and there are usually ice sculptures involved.


*This makes us feel special because ice sculptures from the Culinary Arts class looming outside the high school doors are really quite distracting.


*Until you get inside and are trapped in your respective workshops and realize that you have been duped into entering the building by the shiny, sparkly things.


*It would be easy to try to get out of the workshops.  Many have tried, but The Very Big Bosses take workshops seriously.  We don't have many whole district training days.  The Very Big Bosses take it personally when people try to get a few extra vacation days in by skipping workshops.


*I have been mentally preparing myself for the sparkly ice sculptures and how I might sneeze upon them without getting caught.


*I have several Bosses Of Me.  They are generally of differing minds and I often get confused as to which one is handing me the best possible direction in any given situation.


*Today my director (sort of an off-site boss) came in to the classroom to visit.  She said three things.


*Well...four things.  The first thing she said upon seeing me was, "Oh my..."

*Understandable.  Lots of people say that to me these days.


*The second thing she said was, "I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and a nice vacation in case I didn't see you."

*The third thing she said was, "I'm sorry you missed our meeting today but your colleagues picked out an ornament for you from the basket I brought.  You know, it is kind of a bad sign when they say they have to find the one that doesn't have any sharp edges."

*Then she had to say, "bless you," because I sort of sneezed in her face a little bit but she was very gracious about it.  I'm not counting that as part of what she said because I don't think it is the most important thing.

*The fourth thing she said was the Most Important Thing.  That went like this:

"I have never done this in my time with this district, but I am doing it now.  You are not coming to the teacher workshops.  There is nothing in these workshops that is so important as to drag you in for them.  You are staying home."

*I'm glad to be given a pass so I can wallow in my snotty state at home in peace, but I was a little disappointed to know that the four hours of sleep I scored last night didn't take.


*I'm guessing I didn't look so good today.


*Also haven't had a voice of any real strength since last Friday.


*Any thoughts on who might have clawed through half a roll of toilet paper while I was at work today?


*I'm pretty sure I've narrowed down my suspect list to two.


*Both feline.


*But I still feel like I should ask for your thoughts on the matter since I can't help but feel that I am engaging in Species Profiling.


*It seems kind of wrong to do that...


*The Kobo app on my iPad is kind of a disaster, but I've still managed to get some reading done.


*I finished Hammered (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Three), thus catching up with all that's going on in the world of the druids.


*Then I downloaded a copy of Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin, Book 1).


*That's another one that kept coming up as a recommendation whenever I browsed books so I figured it was fated.


*Or something like that.


*Wouldn't think I'd find an assassin to be a sympathetic character, but Gin really is.  In her way.


*Plus, it is nice when a book doesn't feel the need for a lot of set up.  This is the world we are in, this is the way it goes, now play along!  You'll catch up soon enough!  


*That's what I like!


*Now I'm working on Web of Lies (Elemental Assassin, Book 2).


*Still good.  


*Plus there are quite a few of these so I should be able to keep myself entertained for at least a part of school vacation.


*I hadn't planned on the two extra days, of course.  But I'm not complaining.  I'll find a way to make it work.


*The plan for now is to hide under five million pounds of bedding and sneeze with wild abandon until the evil virus is expelled.


*Or at least until my nose is a little less scarlet...


I think that does it for tonight.  Unless, of course, you want to hear more about how utterly delightful I look right now.  Yeah...that's what I thought.  You'd like to wriggle free of my trap and run as far away as you can lest the sickness envelope you, too.  I don't blame you one little bit.  Consider yourself freed.

For now.  I can't promise what will happen tomorrow once I've managed to get a little rest.

SA