WNBP: Little Bits And Pieces

I had to make a quick run down to the school library printer yesterday afternoon in order that I might grab a piece of paper vital to the continued education of my students.  There, I met another teacher who was holding my most important document and looking a tad befuddled.

"I think I accidentally grabbed your very important piece of paper," she said.  "I've been staring at it for, like, over thirty seconds and trying to figure out why I printed this."

I smiled consolingly and replied, "That's OK.  I do that kind of thing all the time.  It's sort of standard practice after the noon hour, in my experience."

She looked at me sadly.  "I suppose.  But I'm not here to print.  I'm supposed to be copying something..."

Yeah.  That also sounded kind of familiar to me.  I tried to be encouraging while she copied the wrong page for one of her students and did my best to keep him from getting frustrated while he waited for his poor instructor to get her act together enough to copy the information he required to complete the assignment she gave him in the first place.

"Don't worry," I reassured her.  "You are probably just all excited about our big two hours of free furlough time tomorrow morning."

That got an eye roll and a well-deserved one at that.  When the teachers all agreed to give up a day of pay in order to try and find some semblance of balance in our current budget crisis, I don't think any of us planned for it to look quite like this.  My colleague was quick to assure me that getting our day off in one and two hour increments wasn't the cause of giddy excitement which resulted in her crippled copying ability.

"Oh, I don't know," I mused, "When I agree to freely give money back to my school department, I kind of like it when it's as complicated and non-beneficial to me as possible.  Keeps things...interesting."

In spite of my two hour late delayed start to the work day today, I am exhausted.  But I am nothing if not responsible so here we go with this week's Wednesday Night Bullet Post.  I thought about taking a furlough from that, but didn't really see where that would benefit me in any way and I'm tired of things that make my life more complicated.

Sticking to the plan is really the way to go...


*I heard a few people say that they enjoyed their leisurely morning today, but that wasn't really my experience.

*I allowed myself to go to bed an hour later than usual, figuring that I could always sleep a bit later if I needed to.  Otherwise, I'd just get up at the usual hour, congratulate myself on keeping to the routine and get a few bits of random chores done about the manse before strolling out the door.

*Then I lay awake for hours and hours worrying about whether or not I'd correctly calculated my departure time and factored in the things I might want to do in my two hours of unpaid furlough time.

*Finally, I gave up on the idea of keeping to the usual routine and set the alarm to allow myself another hour and a half of morning snooze time.

*I was awakened at 4:45, per usual, by the persistent feeling of eyes upon me.

*"Isn't she cute when she's sleeping?"

*"Oh, yes...like a little angel."

*"Seems a shame to wake her."

*"Yes.  The right thing to do would be to let her get her beauty rest while we just sit here and appreciate her for all she does around here."

*"Mmmm...that would be the right thing to do, for certain."

*"But we aren't going to do that, are we?"

*"Of course not.  Don't be silly."

*So I was up before 5:00 in the morning to feed the cats because, in spite of their good intentions, two hours of furlough time has very little meaning when you are starving to death.

*I thought about going back to bed, but the die was kind of cast at that point so I just gave in to what fate and my feline roommates clearly wanted.

*I consoled myself with the thought that I would at least not have to worry about being late for work now.

*Except that I forgot I needed to stop for gas.

*I made it to school within the given furlough day time frame.

*With a minute to spare if you go by my car clock and not the main office clock.

*No one seemed to notice.  They were all doped up from that extra cup of coffee they got to have this morning, I suppose.

*Then I remembered that I'd forgotten to have an extra cup of coffee so I lost another five minutes trying to find a cup in order that I might fill it with the dark elixir of happiness.

*Mrs. Secretary Who Sits At The Front Desk finally took pity on me and procured the desired vessel.

*I felt obligated to listen to her rhapsodize about her relaxing morning after that kindness.

*And, because she is a very nice lady who let He Who...PROJECTS set up his own mailbox in the office and even sends him daily mail so he won't be sad, I was happy for her.

*Mostly.  "Exhausted giddiness" and "happy" are states that are kind of easily confused.

*Boy, I am doing some mental math and really wondering just how long it will take to get this thing posted tonight.

*Internet still working at a snail's pace.

*The plan was to do some temporary reconfiguring of the home set up over the weekend and see if I couldn't hide the ethernet cable well enough that a certain Very Complicated Kitty wouldn't see it and eat it.

*Because that is just what he does.

*And my stupid internet provider won't write a repair ticket without an ethernet test.

*Because they don't guarantee wireless service and they are afraid I won't pay the bill if it turns out the problem is on my end.

*And they don't necessarily understand a home computer set up that is worked around the digestive habits of felines.

*BTW, they are right about the bill.  I wouldn't pay it because I know it isn't my problem.  It's the same problem I've had before.

*Which isn't my problem.

*Also possibly related to that time my phone began randomly dialing 911 without my permission and I ended up with police in bullet proof vests at my door.

*That was also the time that the Big Fluffy Kitty stole my turkey sandwich while I was otherwise engaged convincing the local authorities that I wasn't trying to blink "save-me-save-me-oh-please-save-me" at them surreptitiously.

*But I didn't have time to deal with the internets this weekend.  The ethernet cable remains hidden somewhere in the depths of my spare bedroom.

*Otherwise known as That Room Where I Put Things "Temporarily" Until I Can Find A Proper Place For Them.

*There is a lot of stuff in there...

*I woke up in the very, very wee hours last Thursday morning with a horrifying realization.

*I have no semi-formal wear.  Which is fine for most of my life.  I don't dress up much.

*Or if all I have to worry about is being invited to a redneck bar mitzvah.

*But my current circumstances weren't nearly so devil-may-care.

*Niece Sheep's nuptials were Saturday.  And my redneck collection wasn't going to cut it.

*I staggered off to Ye Olde Department Store's clearance racks after school on Thursday.

*I managed to locate a very cute faux fur jacket, a simple pair of black dress pants that would work and a bag of Belgian chocolates.

*Shut up.  I know.  It wasn't a choco-shopping trip but I don't do a lot of shopping that doesn't involve denim and this was a very stressful experience.  I don't need judgement.

*I awoke in the very, very wee hours on Friday morning with yet another horrifying realization.

*Simple black dress pants require shoes and I didn't have anything that matched unless you count the stained suede clogs I sometimes still wear or my winter hiking-type boots.

*Furthermore, the cute jacket doesn't button and it was going to require a top of some sort.

*I was back in the stores Friday afternoon where I located a black, ruffly, scoop-necked sweater, underpants that promised to squish everything back to where it used to was and some snakeskin wedge heels.

*That was a lot of black, but I figured the cute gold purse with the handle wrought to resemble diamond encrusted brass knuckles would break it up nicely.

*Shut up.  Brass knuckles are perfectly appropriate wedding attire.

*Niece Sheep appreciates that sort of thing.

*And besides, no one notice besides Baby Brother Sheep.

*Even when I waved the purse around to punctuate my speech like a maniac...

*It was a lovely wedding and seeing my little brother walk his daughter down the aisle actually caused me to have a "moment."

*Which was unfortunate as I'd forgotten to load my brass knuckle purse with tissues.

*In my defense, I don't normally go to pieces at weddings and I sort of forgot about the whole Little Brother As Father Of The Bride part of the program.

*But my cobbled together wedding duds all worked rather fabulously.

*Unless you count the brown boots I had to wear because the snakeskin shoes hurt my feet.

*I was pretty much counting on dazzling everyone with the purse before they had a chance to look down that far...

*There was a meeting at school yesterday.  It occurred at 8:15.  I wasn't invited.

*At 12:30, a colleague was in my room with a printed schedule and notes she'd scribbled on a napkin.

*Apparently, I am to be gifted with one of her students on a daily basis from 8:15 to 1:00.

*She proudly handed me the schedule they'd developed at this morning's meeting.

*It scripted out the lad's day, including how I'd be supervising him through my prep period, lunch duty, recess duty and during times I'm supposed to be teaching classes.

*My own carefully crafted schedule was in tattered bits and hanging limply off this shiny new document.

*She was certain I'd be glad to know that this would all be starting the very next day.

*I declined.  Which is a bold move considering these sorts of plans can't actually be declined but I figured I could at least buy myself some time.

*Time I used to send a scathing email to my director reminding her that I do not like being told of new students with only hours to prepare and without any input into the scheduling thereof.

*I also pointed out that I was in the meeting with most of the people involved prior to that meeting and that I doubted my role in the new schedule was something they didn't already know about at that time.

*And, just in case it was something that occurred to everyone after I left, I further reminded her that I am two floors above the meeting room, not two mountain ranges and a small village inhabited by ravenous werewolves away.

*As insurance against further argument, I mentioned the school's handy in-house phone system that doesn't even require a person to clamber up the stairs to get a message to me.  No carrier pigeons required.

*In short, I am available for comment.  And sometimes have interesting things to say.  Give me a jingle.  I'm happy to wander down and be a part of the stupid festivities.

*The good news?  It was agreed I should get a little time to review the schedule and work with the boy's case manager to find coverage for the times I wasn't available.

*I also wasn't fired so that worked out as well.

*The bad news?  No one wanted to be the one to call the parent and tell her she needed to give me a day and they just hoped someone else did it.

*So, while I was giving the new boy a tour of the classroom today, reassuring his mother that he would be just fine and trying to pretend like I wasn't scrambling to figure all this out, my staff was avoiding eye contact, hiding the scissors and trying to come up with a plan for what to do when my head exploded.

*My director received another email from me today.  She showed up at 1:20 looking as pale as I've ever seen her and I wasn't fired for the second email either.

*Let's just say this isn't the first time I've had this happen to me over the past few years.

*I know how this goes.  I will be getting pretty much whatever I want for the next month and don't think I won't be taking advantage of that either.

*I left the building at 3:30 with my nerves shredded and my ability to love my fellow man/woman/people who go to meetings and have brilliant ideas shattered in a billion tiny pieces.

*Really sharp pieces that will cut the feet of anyone who doesn't tread lightly around me for the next few days!

*I was down to the last few minutes of my commuter entertainment and feared for what I might have to resort to.  The good audiobooks are never available without some sort of waiting list at the library.

*However, I was shocked when I went online and found the honest-to-god NEXT BOOK IN THE VERY SAME SERIES!!!

*Yay for me!!!  And yay for the fact that I was at school where the wireless actually works and doesn't deliver information in itty bitty bits of data which crawl at a snail's pace!

*I started Destined for an Early Grave (Night Huntress, Book 4) during today's late partial furlough day commute. 

*And was almost distracted from the fact that I hate having my schedule disrupted because it never really works out as well as it looks on paper.

*On the other hand, they are taking my day's pay out of my checks in the littlest amounts possible from now until next September so I suppose there is an up side to the whole thing.

*But I still can't help but wonder if getting my "day off" in hours and minutes is more trouble than its worth...


And there you have it.  An almost published post (although I'd strongly urge crossed fingers) and a total of six and a half hours of furlough day accounted for.  Assuming I get through the next two days without sending the email that finally goes too far, I can look forward to another hour and a half of this nonsense.  Then it will be done.  A whole work day whittled and chipped down over the course of months.  It's like magic except for the part where no self-respecting magician would bother with this kind of tedium.

I think I might need to bring my new purse to work tomorrow.  Sometimes a girl needs to feel a little control when the pieces start to fall out of place...

SA

WNBP: Strong Words

Every year, we end up with some kind of weird "theme" in my classroom.  We usually don't mean to...it just kind of happens.  And, heaven forbid, I end up having to follow kids through the grades for several years!  There is a risk of that theme tagging along for the ride.

A while back, the inevitable theme grew out of classroom need.  (It often happens that way.)  Hence, I had several kids repeating their mantra at me for three straight years.

Hate is a strong word.

I suppose it is good to remember that, especially since we sometimes forget how powerful certain verbal slings and arrows can prove.  But, sometimes, there is really a need for strong verbiage.  And, gosh darn it all, it feels so GOOD!!!!

As I weave my weary way through this week's Wednesday Night Bullet Post, it is entirely possible that a little bit of venom might sneak its way in.  I apologize in advance for that.  I know "hate" is a strong word and I will try to avoid it.  But there are some things that simply cry out for my scorn.

*Snow.

*Snow cries out for my scorn.

*Piles and piles of snow that have absolutely no business hanging out all over my car or on the path I must travel to reach work or sustenance.

*We had another storm yesterday.  This one left about a foot or so.

*I'm not even going to try to hold back on this subject.  I am hating this snow.  I hate it with the burning passion to ignite a thousand suns.

*And that is not an exaggeration.  

*Because all those suns might melt the stupid snow.

*It was cute at first. 

* "Oh, look at the pretty white stuff!  See how it coats the trees and makes everything all festive?  Such a wonder, a miracle really...Mother Nature all decked out in her winter finery.  Let us stop and gaze upon it whilst breathing in that fresh, crisp winter air!"

*Yesterday I wasn't so much stopping and gazing as I was kicking at various drifts and screaming, "No! Bad frozen water! Go home!!  NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE!!!!"

*And I don't care what the neighbors thought.  Frankly, I was simply acting upon exactly what they were thinking.

*My phone rang around 7:00 Monday night.

*It was Daddy Sheep.

*Who is in Florida.

*And who was calling me in Maine to let me know that school was cancelled the next day.

*Ah...the miracle of the modern age!  Courtesy of TV station text messaging, my parents can still be the ones to tell me I have a snow day.

*I actually had flashbacks to fifth grade.

*It's good he called, though.  My phone was buried in my purse and buzzing futilely.  My own version of that text wasn't likely to get my attention and I might have gone to bed thinking I needed to set that alarm!

*I'd have hated that...

*I am not a person who loves housework.  In fact, I dislike it a great deal.  I do it because I fear the day I am buried in clutter and grime and they have to send in a rescue team.

*You just know a news crew wouldn't be far behind.

*However, the plethora of snow days I've had lately certainly lent themselves to a great deal of dusting and vacuuming. 

*The Boy With The Cutetht Lithp EVER is not cute right now.  Not at all.

*He could be cute if he would start doing his homework.  But he doesn't seem to agree with my thoughts on this matter.

*In fact, he is determined to prove me not only wrong, but also to be an overly anxious, homework obsessed harridan who doesn't appreciate all the stress involved with being eleven years old.

*He has now put me in the awkward position of having to explain to his father that he has a detention for not doing his homework and that he has further placed the responsibility for the lack of said work squarely upon his dear papa's shoulders.

*Apparently, his father keeps him so darned busy that he cannot do homework.  Not even a little bit, so jam-packed is his schedule.

*His father was kind of surprised to learn this due to his having set aside homework time since TBWTCLE started school.

*I spoke with the lad about this matter firmly today.  It's not the first time, but it is the first conversation we've had since Dad and I have chatted about the matter.  It went well.

*In fact, I had him right where I wanted him: contrite, but not so beaten down that he wasn't willing to take up the homework banner and carry forth to fight the good fight.

*Then I got cocky.  And I tossed in just a few more comments. Like how he'd done his homework yesterday and now we knew he was capable.  A little bit of extra naggage to push the point home...

*I should have known better.  Rookie mistake, actually.

*TBWTCLE looked up at me and said, "Well, Mth. Theep. YOU need to underthtand that thum dayth are jutht better than otherth.

*I kind of hate myself for thinking I deserve the Teacher Of The Year Award for not strangling a student.

*However, if anyone on the awards committee had been there at that moment, I really do think I would have gotten at least Honorable Mention...

*The opposite of hate is love.

*And that is what I feel for my library right now.

*Because I was on the last thirty minutes of my audiobook and was deeply concerned about the state of my homeward commute.

*But, when I checked my email, there was the notice letting me know that the title I reserved was ready and waiting for me!!!

*Such timing my library has.

*Now I get to enjoy At Grave's End (Night Huntress, Book 3).

*This makes me happy.

*That is going to have to be my last link of the night, though.

*I am having a few internet "issues."

*Just so you know, I love my Very Complicated Kitty.  Very much so.

*But, even if I didn't, I still wouldn't want to see him electrocuted.

*Hence, I have to place all electronics very carefully.  If I don't he kinda, sorta eats the wires.

*My internet provider doesn't want to write up a repair ticket on my connection issues because my desktop can't reach the ethernet cable.  They agree I have a problem.  They just don't want to fix it without wires involved.

*And I can't move the desktop without dangling tasty, tempting wires.  

*I could probably do it on a temporary basis.

*But I don't want to.

*For the record, they fixed it last summer when it was broken and unwired.  And, even though the helpful service "specialist" wouldn't admit the problem is more of the same and clearly not on my end, he still wouldn't do it.  He even chided the other helpful "specialist" who did do it for me last summer.

*I hate my internet service provider.  And I'm not taking that back.

*I was supposed to bring my school laptop home today, then dig out the ethernet cable to set everything up in a super-secret, cat-proof location but I forgot.

*And I kind of didn't want to.

*Maybe I'll remember/want to tomorrow and then we can get this ball rolling.

*He Who...PROJECTS has been slowly inserting himself into all aspects of the school's key functions.

* He has full access to the kitchens because they love him there.

*He brought a giant cardboard box to school with a slot cut into it, his name on the front in magic marker and helpful illustrations so that everyone will know that this is where they can put his mail.

*The secretaries let him set it up in the office.

*Today, however, I felt we had crossed a very important line.  One that cannot be ignored.  He just went too far.

*I found him coming out of the men's staff bathroom.

*This required a "discussion."

*At this rate, I'll be working for him by May.

*Let's hope he is a benevolent overlord.

*I'd hate to disappoint the boy who successfully managed to take over the school in under seven months.

*Plus he talks very, very loudly and I cannot imagine how a dressing down would sound....


And now I have to stop.  Something just caught my attention.  Something horrible.

I just heard the weather dude on TV say something about a possible storm.  I cannot have heard that correctly.  I don't care if it's a "slim possibility."  That is too much possibility.  In case I haven't been clear, "hate" is not too strong a word in some cases.

Not too strong at all.  At least as far as this winter is concerned....

SA

WNBP: Springing Forth And All That Stuff

Yeah, yeah...I "sprang forward."  Is it just me or does that pesky clock-changing deal seem to roll around earlier and earlier every year?  I know it was extended at some point, but somehow it seems to me that they are sneaking it into the schedule in ever-increasing increments until I have to start losing and/or gaining an hour of sleep every other day...

The extra hour of evening daylight is kind of nice, though.  In fact, I was still so energized that I ran a few errands after school today.  Of course, this has put me even further behind schedule than I normally am on a Wednesday, but that just comes with the territory, I suppose.

Being behind schedule certainly reinforces the fact that it is Wednesday, though.  So why don't I just spring wholeheartedly into this week's Bullet Post?  Maybe I can breeze through it and make up a few minutes along the way...

*Today sure did feel pretty darned Springy.

*Sun, warmth...it was almost enough to make me shed my woolen coat and perhaps even crack a hopeful smile.

*They are forecasting another possible snow storm for next week.

*I'm going to face the sun for as long as I can and see if I can get some vitamin D into my system before we are all plunged back into the winter blahs again.

*The budgetary battles rage on in my school district.

*The board is publishing statements declaring their innocence in this fiscal nightmare.

*The teacher's union dilly-dallied over putting the matter of a cost-reducing furlough day to a vote, citing procedures that require more time before issuing a ballot.

*The superintendent said, "Sure.  I understand.  Take all the time you need.  Meanwhile, I'll just be over here decimating the music and gifted programs then making sure that I issue a public statement on the matter while I'm waiting."

*The union was forced to hustle off to vote, which took time out of their scheduled emails detailing where they felt the budget problems began.

*Everyone behaved about as badly and unethically as I've ever seen and it made me proud to be neither an administrator nor a member of the teacher's union.

*The furlough day was voted in, thus saving music and gifted programming.

*They sprang the details on us a few days ago.

*In order to decrease the impact on instructional time, we will not have parent conferences tomorrow, will get to come to work two hours late in a few weeks and leave school an hour and a half early on the last day.

*That last one is another way of saying, "Please enjoy coming back in later to finish marking cumulative folders and packing up your rooms during your unpaid time. Oh, and the schools will be shut down on and off over the summer months to cut further costs so good luck with scaling the walls and shimmying into half-open windows."

*And I'm still working without a contract.

*Let's just say that negotiations got a bit...sidetracked.

*It's enough to yank the spring right out of your step...

*I stopped by the mega-home improvement store on the way home.

*I need to do drywall repair.

*I do not look forward to drywall repair.

*But what if something happens to me?

*Then the people who come to clean out my meager possessions will see that picture I hung over the gigantic hole in my kitchen wall and forget all about how I probably shuffled off this mortal coil in some heroic endeavor involving the rescuing of infants and kittens.

*All I'll ever be remembered for is the picture over the hole in the wall that fooled no one.

*There's an epitaph to avoid...

*We all know the story of Athena springing forth fully formed and armored from Zeus' noggin.

*He Who...PROJECTS sprang forth onto the playground today fully clad in cardboard armor he'd crafted during morning daycare.

*I did not know that he crafted cardboard armor.  Much less that he was slipping away to don it before recess.

*It's his Anti-Bullying Armor.

*Look up "irony" in the dictionary.  There's a picture of a small boy charging onto a playground filled with 6th and 7th graders whilst fully garbed in cardboard armor.

*The other adults thought it was the sweetest thing they'd ever seen.

*Leaving Ms. Sheep the nasty job of explaining to HW...P that it isn't a good idea to wear cardboard armor on the playground because other kids don't really "get" that.

*It wasn't Little Einstein's opinion that his bus driver is unfair and overly involved in her passenger's drive-time activities that got him into trouble this morning.

*We probably could have overlooked that.

*It was really more the manner in which he chose to express that opinion.

*Which mostly consisted of single-finger salutes and comparison's to female dogs of great girth.

*That was the part that caused the principal to take note.

*And then come up to reenact portions of the show for me.

*Which was funny except for the part where it wasn't because I also had an irked 7th grader rampaging about the room.

*Situation contained and remediated.  I'm keeping LE under wraps for a while.

*Probably bad timing that he also got into a scuffle on the playground yesterday.

*Coincidence works against overly boisterous boys with strong opinions regarding bus driver ethics and fair play in football...

*Blood Magick (Bloodlines #1) sort of sprang off the digital page when I was looking for cheap reads the other day.

*Actually, what really caught my eye was Zombie Confidential (Bloodlines #2.5) because that one was a freebie and I was kind of without a debit card at that point.

*My new card arrived and I figured why not try the series upon which the zombie story was based?

*It's not bad.  But the zombie story was better...

*Definitely worth the couple of bucks I tossed down for it, though.

*Even better is the audio version of Undead and Unappreciated.

*These are short, but long enough to kill a week's worth of commuting.

*This is now how I measure audiobook length.

*And I love Queen Betsy.  She makes me happy.  

*Even if she can't exactly enjoy a nice spring day like I can.

*She makes up for it in awesome shoes.

*Talk about a spring in your step!!!


I'm not doing too badly, time-wise.  But I still think I should do a wrap up here.  I have, once again, failed to make the "eat dinner before 7:00" mark but I think that is just going to have to be a Wednesday Thing.  Sometimes you have to accept matters.

Tomorrow is another day with another chance for eventful happenings and who knows?  Maybe I'll get some spiffy new armor or find someone who wants to repair the giant hole in my kitchen wall without commenting on the fact that I have a giant hole in my kitchen wall.

Or something else will spring forth to surprise me.  You never know...

SA

WNBP: Lost

Well, here we all are.  Another Wednesday is upon us and I am yet again so far behind in the night's agenda that I can't even believe it myself.  I even toyed with a Blog Night Off, just to see if I could maybe get myself together enough to catch some TV before bedtime rolls around.

In the end, my overwhelming sense of responsibility took over and I sat myself down to see if I couldn't come up with a tidbit or two for your reading pleasure.  I think it's important to stick to the schedule.  Frankly, I need the schedule.  Any small, even tenuous, grip on the norm would be nice these days.

So here we go.  It's another fun-filled rendition of The Wednesday Night Bullet Post.  Whether you wanted it or not...

*I have somehow managed to lose part of a filling.  Or all of a filling.  Or an entire tooth.  Or I've offended whatever deity is in charge of pain-free chewing.

*I think it's really just part of a filling or something amiss with the crown, but I've decided to make the whole thing as dramatic as possible because it's a right side issue and that is the chewin' side.

*What I clearly haven't lost is the overwhelming urge to poke at the offending tooth.

*Which is generally not recommended when there is tooth pain.

*I guess I just keep hoping it's naught but a bit of seed or pulp and that it will soon work its way loose, leaving me with my formerly happy mouth situation.

*I do not want to visit Dr. De Sade DMD.  I'm gonna ride it out.  Surely everything will be fine if I ignore it hard enough...

*I tried to buy gas yesterday.  I say "try" because, while purchasing fuel isn't really all that hard what with all the modern marvels available to us nowadays, the process didn't go very well.

*I needed to buy gas because I got lost going to a meeting at a different school and used more of the petrol than I meant to.

*Then I got lost again on the way back to school.

*But I didn't tell anyone about that part because it seemed kind of crazy to miss the same turn twice.

*I really wanted to just give up and go home since the school day was almost done anyway but they've cut all the hours for teaching assistants and the clock was ticking down towards my classroom being manned by naught but a couple of 7th graders with a only a very general idea of the dismissal process.

*My debit card didn't work when I tried to buy gas.  The same way it kind of didn't work the night before when I was paying my cell phone bill but I'd forgotten about that what with all the getting lost and clock ticking and whatnot.

*Plus, I figured I'd just forgotten to enter my new debit card information since I received a new one a while back.

*Thankfully, I remembered that I'd put some cash into my pay-as-you-go card and I was able to get some of the go juice with that.

*When I got home, there was a message waiting from the bank.

*Yup.  The card was locked up tighter than survivors awaiting the end of the zombie apocalypse.

*Somewhere, some vendor had their database hacked.

*And sometime in the near or distant past (who knows for sure since the vendor wasn't identified) I made a purchase from that establishment.

*And now my card has been shut down.  Which is fine.  Responsible of the bank, actually.

*However, a heads up would have been nice.  Preferably before I was stranded 60 miles from home with no cash and naught but a thimbleful of gas.

*I'm just saying is all...

*This isn't the first time this has happened, by the way.  I'm fairly familiar with the process.

*But that doesn't take the sting out of losing my ability to make purchases anywhere, at any time and with wild, plastic-wielding abandon.

*For three to seven business days.

*Tiny Macho came out of the back classroom the other day waving a paper at me.

*Tiny Macho:  Yo, Ms. S.  You gave me this paper about frogs and I can't answer the second question.  I can't read this here word.

*Ms. Sheep: (taking the paper and squinting at the tiny print. she wonders briefly when they started putting out worksheets with such itty-bitty fonts)  OK.  I've got it now.  Let's sound it out, shall we?

*TM: Was kinda hoping you'd just tell me...

*MS:  AM-PHIB-IAN.  Now put it together.  AMPHIBIAN.  Yes, that's right.  The word is "amphibian!"  Isn't that wonderful???

TM:  (with eyes wide) What?  Amphibian?  Does that mean frogs have NO SOULS????


*I don't know why that struck the adults in the room so funny, but we all pretty much lost it.

*TM has a fairly good sense of humor so it wasn't as cruel as it sounds...

*Apparently, it is now acceptable for snow to fall every single day.

*Mostly just flurries, but I've sort of lost patience with the whole sorry business.

*Thankfully, winter wear is now on sale to make way for the spring clothing I don't anticipate ever being able to wear.

*So I was able to get a giant, fluffy hat with kitten ears and and attached scarf with little kitten paw pockets at the end quite cheaply.

*It has been made clear that the kids in my class have lost all respect for me.

*And that I am no longer allowed to speak to them when we go out for recess.

*This could possibly be related to my having invented The Cute Little Kitten Dance to go along with my new hat.

*Interesting new audio book located for the daily commute.

*V Wars is rather long and involves a pretty complex story line.

*And is told through a variety of short stories, not to mention different narrators.

*But I have to admit...I'm transfixed.

*Not bad for a library freebie!

*And it's an "always available" download so there's no problem with the vast amount of listening time required to get through it.

*I've made it up to book 5 in the Vampire For Hire series. (Samantha Moon Rising: Including Books 5, 6, and 7 in the Vampire for Hire Series: Vampire Dawn, Vampire Games, Moon Island, Plus the Short Story "Teeth")

*And snuck in a short story to cover a bit of the details I would have otherwise missed.

*Christmas Moon (Vampire for Hire #4.5)

*But now I'm stuck because I can't get the next one.

*See above note regarding lack of magic plastic money card.

*I wish for all hackers a failed nighttime schedule and a filling/crown situation that impairs dominant side chewing abilities.


There we go.  That about covers it.  I think I'm glad I stuck with the schedule.  I really do feel better for it; like I somehow grabbed a piece of normal away from the clutches of fickle fate.

Now I'm off to see if I can salvage my hair.  I seem to have lost track of time and it has gone and dried without me.  To say I've lost control of this situation would be an understatement and I fear no amount of product is going to straighten this mess out before bedtime.

It's oddly comforting to know that at least fickle fate is sticking with the plan...

SA

WNBP: I'm Not Sure How I Feel About This...

Ah, Ambivalence...welcome back, Old Friend!  Sometimes I get all black and white with my feelings and I need a dose of good old fashioned emotional see-sawing to get back to my usual, waffly self.

That, in a nutshell, kind of describes the state of things around here these days.  Here's more on that in Wednesday Night Bullet Post Format:


*Vacation was wonderful.

*But, as vacations tend to do, it ended all too soon.

*And Monday morning rolled around with all the cold harshness of a snowy day in February.

*Actually, the cold and the snowy stuff was the day before but I'm getting so immune to cold, snow and anything else in the Winter Weather Category that I hardly even notice it any more.

*I dreaded going back.  I really liked that whole Master Of My Own Schedule thing.

*I could use the restroom whenever the spirit moved me!

*Whether I needed to or not!

*But, as of Monday, I had to hold it because a room full of 6th and 7th graders isn't going to teach itself just because I need to answer the call of nature.

*Nor is it going to look anything remotely like I left it when I return.

*Still...it was kind of hard to not feel a bit of gratitude.  At least I had more than a week of work left to come back to.

*Which is more than 22 of my colleagues can say.

*Not to mention everyone who teaches in the gifted program and band.

*While the dust from the first round of layoffs was still hovering in the tear-laden air, they were informed that their respective programs will be ending in mid-May.

*I came back to a flurry of emails, all of which reflected the panic one feels when one's job, the one you thought you had locked in as of Wednesday, is suddenly yanked out from under you on Friday.

*It's a train wreck.  The teacher's union is blaming past and present superintendents.  Past superintendents had the good sense to retire last spring before all this came crashing down and present superintendents are blaming the teacher's union for not taking a vote of accepting furlough days within the time lines given.  Everyone else is evenly split in their accusations, but I'm trying to stay out of it.

*And enjoy my continued paycheck.

*Even if that means going back to work when vacation was really ever so much nicer.

*I was, however, looking forward to lunch.  I got myself a the cutest little pink lunch crock! 

*Follow the linky thingy if you'd like to see it: Crock-Pot SCCPLC200-PK 20-Ounce Lunch Crock Food Warmer, Pink)

*I just plug it in before I go out for recess duty and, by the time I'm finally able to sit down to eat lunch while I help kids during study hall...I have a hot meal!!

*I can't remember the last time I had a hot lunch at school...

*The weather forecast for today was nothing short of weird.  Most of the state was under a storm warning.

*Not me, though.  I live on the coast and we had nothing to worry about according to the weather prognosticators.

*But even 20 miles away, the story seemed different.

*And they kept changing the rain vs. snow line, not to mention when the whole thing was supposed to kick off.

*I finally settled on the harsh reality.  There would be no Wednesday Snow Day.  The timing was off.

*I figured we'd probably get sent home early or something and then I could experience the joys of driving on ice slicked roads in blinding snow.

*Until I got home, that is.  Home was in the Safe Zone.

*I put a lot of thought into this.  So much so that I barely slept a wink all night.

*Which was going to be a problem come 5:00 in the morning when I needed to arise and somehow find my way back to that paying job 'o mine.

*The call came at 5:00 this morning.  Shortly after I got to sleep.

*No school.

*As far as I can tell, there was  mostly rain during the morning hours in the area where I teach.  I can't fathom where the idea to cancel came from.

*Perhaps the superintendent is trying to cover his bases after the last time he tried to pull off a delayed start to school but neglected to announce it to anyone so they could plan accordingly.

*Frankly, I'm not entirely convinced this was the best use of our limited snow day time...

*On the other hand, I was too tired to care.  A certain sleep-deprived Sheepie decided to not look this particular gift horse in the mouth and pencil in an afternoon nap.

*Let's hope this mostly wraps up by tomorrow morning since I doubt we can get another snow day out of this one.

*This is supposed to be a loooooong storm.

*The Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty is pretty much at the end of his rope with all this gray and gloomy weather.

Sometimes a guy just needs to bury his head and ignore the world...

*That used to be the pillow on my bed but I bought a new one during vacation and tossed that one on the loveseat until I could figure out what to do with it.

*Apparently, it is rather perfect for angst-filled face smashing so I suppose it will have to stay there.

*I kind of feel the same way, except for the part where I didn't have to drag my half-asleep self to school today.

*I seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time with The World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach during my vacation.

*Hair cut on Saturday.

*Lunch and shopping on Monday.

*More with the lunching and shopping on Friday.

*Happily, we didn't set off any alarms this time.  The local police departments were pleased with us.

*However, we did have to put an entire store staff on alert when we got distracted by a discount rack and someone absconded with our cart.

*Note: When shopping for a frame to best set off your much loved and now deceased dog it is not a good idea to take the only copy of the photo along with you.

*Or leave it in the cart.

*Or get distracted long enough that some poor lady thinks the cart is abandoned and has to be apprehended by a wandering Sheepie.

*But we didn't set off any alarms this time so I still think we were ahead of the game on this trip.

*Having spent much of my available cash on all these shopping excursions, my book monies were limited.

*Fortunately, I got a heck of a deal on a six book set that looked at least a little promising.

*Actually, it has paid off rather nicely.

*Samantha Moon, Moon Dance (Vampire for Hire #1), is a delight and her story is actually far more compelling than I would have thought.

*To be brutally honest, there are one or two issues with editing and perhaps a few tweaks here and there to correct for the overuse of certain expressions might have made the experience even better.

*But it hasn't detracted at all from the book in the long run.  I just really like this character and the story in which she's embroiled.

*I'm only just starting book 2 so we'll see how it goes from here, but I have to say it was a good purchase.

*Much like my school vacation shopping, I always make sure to check that discount rack.  Even when it's in digital form!

*My ongoing mission to eat dinner before bedtime is moving along at a predictable pace.

*In other words, I am eating dinner sometime between 7:00 and 10:00.

*Don't judge.  I get all involved in other stuff.  Important stuff like TV and computer games.

*Or the blog, now that I think of it.  I just realized it's after 7:00 and I promised myself this would be wrapped up by 6:30 so I could at least come close to my goal.

*Plus I still have to dry my hair before bed so I don't think this is going to end well.

*And, as I said before, I also don't anticipate another snow day tomorrow so sleeping with wet hair isn't really a good idea.

*Now I don't know what to do first.

*And I still haven't wrapped up this blog post!!!!


OK.  That's what I'll do.  I'll finish the post, double check the links and do a cursory spell check.  Then it's off to either dry or cook.  One of those.

On the plus side, my lunch is still packed for today's aborted school day and I have clean clothes just awaiting tomorrow's morning routine.  I think that, with those things taken care of, I might just make my usual bedtime.

That's a good feeling.

SA

WNBP: I Forgot To Mention...

It just struck me that I think I may have forgotten to tell you something important.  It's not an earth shattering revelation, but it is the kind of thing I generally mention once, twice or a billion times at certain points during the school year.

I am on vacation this week.

I know.  It's kind of crazy that I neglected to drop a hint or two.  I like vacations.  I like them a lot.  I'm not saying I chose my career based on time off or anything like that.  I honestly thought I might have an aptitude for educating America's Future.  I suppose the fact that I've stuck with it for a quarter century might bear that out.

But let's not completely discount the school vacation factor.  It might play a role.

Since I've had a few days of non-working bliss under my belt, why don't we explore the comings and goings of this non-work-a-day Sheepie in this week's Wednesday Night Bullet Post?


*Truth be told, I approached this vacation with a bit of the ambivalence.

*I like vacations.  Especially the February Break because it is the first vacation of the school year that doesn't require me to spend at least one day baking.

*Or wrapping.

*Or traveling.

*Or remaining awake well past nap time at least once during the course of the week.

*But this vacation didn't just kick off a few days of rest and relaxation.

*No.

*It was also Doomsday for some of the teaching assistants and clerical staff, not to mention some of the programs and services we've come to enjoy in the wonderful world of education.

*The recent curtailment order from the governor hit the schools hard.  Really hard.

*The Teacher's Association is doing its level best to try and get a vote in on teacher furlough days to see if we can absorb some of the impact to the support staff, but it's a process.

*And one they can't rush or circumvent.  I'm not a member, but even I get that.

*Frankly, I'm shocked they are even willing to consider it.  In the past they've been, how shall we say...

*"Scornful of the idea."  Loudly scornful and with heaping helpings of eye rolls.

*It's actually kind of a bad sign that they are willing to open up the contract to a vote on the matter.

*Nor is it going to be enough to fix the problem created by hundreds of thousands of dollars in promised state funding suddenly going bye-bye.

*Only to be replaced with public flogging of the educational system because apparently things like teacher retirement and fully staffed schools are luxuries to which we have all become too accustomed.

*Fifteen people were let go last Friday.  Most from Special Education, as far as I can tell.

*All support staff (including my teaching assistants) have had their hours firmly cut and the library will be closed and locked at 2:00.

*The After School Help Program is gone.  As is all staff development funding or continuing education reimbursement.

*The custodians have each lost an hour per day as well.

*We will be living in ignorance and wallowing in our own filth unless someone can figure out how to use that floor buffer thingie in the next couple of weeks.

*Each of the support staff was taken out of class for individual meetings with our special ed. director to discuss the matter.

*As my people were led out, my fingers went numb and I moved closer to the trash can in case I tossed my breakfast sandwich.

*We are safe for now.  We can breathe.

*For two weeks.  Then the second round of cuts kicks in and we get to do it all over again.

*I haven't slept a full night for weeks.  For some reason, it got even worse at the start of vacation.

*But yesterday I found a leftover dribble of the narcotic cough syrup I was taking last Fall and I got to take a four hour nap.

*I woke up long enough to eat and take care of a few other bodily functions (mine and the cats') then it was back to bed for another six hours.

*I have a stiff neck today, but I can live with it.

*I kicked off the week 'o bliss by joining The World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach for a day of shopping dining and general revelry.

*We love TWGSALC and not just because she takes me to the Professionals Only Store where I can get volumizing gel at a ridiculous discount.

*I was restrained since I am trying to be a more responsible consumer.

*We dined out for lunch.  If you are a local and haven't discovered this place yet, Mainely Wraps is amazing.  Highly recommended by Sheepie!

*It all went very well, at least until we got back to her house and she inadvertently set off the alarm.

*And then tried to turn it off by hitting the first available button.

*They call that particular protrusion The Panic Button.

*And Mr. WGSALC got to see how quickly the nice people at the alarm company call him at work when his wife hits the panic button.

*They have decided to change the first contact number to the house phone as opposed to his cell since that might have saved everyone a lot of time, trouble and hearing impairment.

*It wasn't a total loss.  We got to meet a very nice policeman.

*And see Roxy The Wonder Dog in full on Protect Everyone From The Very Nice Policeman mode.

*In the back of my mind, I just kept thinking about how, even though I miss him dreadfully, it was good that Max The Best Dog In The Whole World passed a few months ago.

*Max was one of those wonderful, gigantic goldens who loves everyone and wants to sit in all laps in spite of his size.

*Until you threaten those he loves.

*Things would not have ended well.

*Yesterday I cleaned house.  The kind of cleaning that involves using vacuum cleaner attachments.

*As opposed to just accidentally knocking them off their little clip and swearing that I'm going to throw them in the garbage since no one ever uses those stupid things anyway.

*It was the cleaning that led to finding the cough syrup dribble.

*Cleaning is a good thing.  I should do it more often.

*Today I had to go back to the store where I went with TWGSALC so I could buy the 3-day emergency supply kit that was on the clearance rack.

*TWGSALC is awesome and makes sure I get out into the fresh air periodically.

*But she would neither understand nor appreciate my prepper need to have a 3-day kit.

*Or that finding the very one I wanted on the half price table made me giddy with joy.

*I may have picked up one or two other things while I was there.

*Nothing much.  All on clearance.

*Besides, as I chanted repeatedly in my head, I wasn't paying for lunch today.  I had a gift card from Mommy and Daddy Sheep!

*And I'm still telling myself that.

*Because my free lunch clearly balanced out the $71.00 worth of clearance merch I dragged back home with me.

*It came with cookies.  Chocolate chip cookies.

*Shut up.  Cookies do too make a difference.

*And the emergency kit came with energy bars so I won't starve now that my grocery budget is compromised.

*It's still kind of too bad since today, when I stopped in to pick up cat food, the clerk looked me up and down then said, "She's funny.  I like this one."

*I'm good with the banter if not the budget.

*I wish I had more to report on the reading front.  But I don't.

*I've mostly been re-reading some older stuff and trying to settle on something new.

*Between the school budget anxiety and resulting insomnia, my decision making ability has become as compromised as my grocery shopping monies.

*I ended up finishing my audiobook a few days before the end of the school week, which left me kind of at loose ends.

*But then I remembered that I still had some borrowed time left on Cat's Claw (A Calliope Reaper-Jones Novel).

*Not enough to finish it, mind you.  But it gave me something to listen to while I drove back and forth, trying to stay awake.

*Now I can't finish it because time ran out and someone else already had it on reserve.

*::sigh::

*That's the chance you take with a library loan.  It's a race you sometimes don't win.

*Probably should put it back on reserve, but I'm sure I'll be into something else by the time it's available and then I'll have to choose between them.

*Which will add something else to my Lie Awake And Worry List...

*I'll never catch up on the lost sleep if that should come to pass.  There's only a couple good napping days left in this vacation.

*And the next one isn't until April.

*I suppose I should start hoping for those furlough days....


That about covers it, I guess.  Come Monday, I get to go back to a full staff who are working almost a full day and that is a good thing.  At least when you consider the alternatives.

Meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy these next couple of days and see if I can catch a few more refreshing naps before it starts all over again.

On the "bright" side, most of the firings should be all done before April Vacation rolls around.  Then my head might be clear enough to remember to tell you about it in advance.

You know, so you can prepare for all the merriment, alarm bells and emergency supply sales.

SA

WNBP: Drifting Thoughts And Not So Crazy Preps.

Oh dear!  Here it is, Wednesday once again, and me with nothing to talk about!  Well...it seems to me there was a little something.  It's right on the tip of my tongue.  If only I could just recall what it was I wanted to tell you...

Aha!  I remember now.  IT WAS A GIANT, FREAKING SNOW STORM THAT BLEW OUR HATS OFF AND BURIED US IN LAYERS OF ICY DEATH!!!!!

And then there was probably a bunch of other stuff.  Why don't we get right down to it and see where the Wednesday Night Bullet Post takes us?

*I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for last Friday.  I usually just take the day off for those kinds of things.  Why waste a perfectly good day by going back to work?

*And since there was every indication that a weather "event" was in the making, it seemed prudent.

*But I didn't want anyone to think I was wimping out since the snow wasn't supposed to start until later in the day so I went to the main office to discuss it with Mr. Principal.

*He heard me out.  Listened attentively to my concerns around making it to school just in time to be sent home early.  He nodded sagely as I outlined how my horrible, fiery death-by-car-wreck could be avoided by just not coming to work on Friday.

*He nodded, then said, "But how will the cats feel about you being home all day?"

*It is entirely possible that I have become a cliche.  But let's not dwell on that...

*The snow did not start later in the day.  I started, in point of fact, rather early in the day.

*Which made the trip to the doctor's office rather tricky.  Also the trip to the grocery store and the bank.

*That was OK, though.  Right before a storm, everyone is kind of jolly around these parts.  We peruse each other's carts and chuckle over the need to purchase medications for Very Complicated Kitties before things go from bad to worse.

*Even the lady at the bank thought my comment regarding getting my car payment in just ahead of Armageddon quite witty.

*Armageddon didn't seem too far from the truth at that point.  We were talking actual, honest to God blizzard conditions, multiple feet of snow and flooding over here at the coast.

*The lady at the bank didn't see fit to correct me, at any rate.

*At last, I bade farewell to all my new foul weather friends in the outside world and went home to weather the storm.

*And it snowed.

*And snowed.

*And snowed.

*Then, just for kicks, it snowed some more.

*It all got a bit dull in the middle.  Once you've finished your storm preps (putting light sources in all rooms, purchasing a new shovel and counting the canned goods) there really isn't a heck of a lot to do.

*But then Sunday rolled around and we were all jolly again because we got to see other humans and share shoveling duties.

*We were a little less jolly when we realized that the wind was still whipping around like crazy and that our survivalist smiles were now frozen in place, but I like to think my community rose above it in the end.

*Reports vary but, when all was said and done, it looks like my town got somewhere between 27 and 30 inches of the white stuff over a twenty four hour period.  Myself, I lean towards the lower end of that scale since I don't really want to have over 30 inches of snow outside my house.

*Other people have that.  I happily concede the contest.

*It was tricky to tell just how much we really got what with the wind.  It was really crazy.

*Actual "white-out" conditions.

Mama!  Call the cable man!  I no haz picture!!!!

*It was a fickle wind as well, giving and taking with neither rhyme nor reason.

*Here is a picture of my car on Sunday morning.  Once I slogged through the thigh-high snow blocking the driver's side door, it was really rather easy to clean it off.

The winds blew in my favor.  Thank you, Winds!!

*Oh, and that big white lump directly on the right of the photo?

*Yeah, that would be my neighbor's car.

*Not so much with the "easy clean up."

*And here's something else to think about:  Everyone thinks it's great sport to make fun of Crazy Prepper Girl while the sun shines.

*But in a blizzard when she's the only one in the building with a supply of coffee, even the little specialty cups that fit in a certain popular single cup coffee maker, no one thinks Crazy Prepper Girl is all that chuckle-worthy.

*CPG is the belle of the ball.

*And willing to dispense coffee to the so-called norms who don't prepare at all for Things That Will Probably Never Happen.

*It's all over now.  The sun came out and we all went back to work come Monday morning. We were still kind of jolly.

*But once we'd had the chance to tell our tales of harrowing snowbound horror and the routine reestablished itself, we went right back to our usual grumpy and not at all friendly at the grocery store selves.

*It's right around then that you realize you didn't do nearly as much around the house as you thought you would once trapped inside.

*Storms, the really big ones, don't inspire productivity.  You'd think they would since there isn't much else to do.

*But they don't.  I still had to scramble around on Sunday night to get lunches and matching shoes together.

*I got a little reading done, though.

*Thought it was high time I checked in on my favorite self-renounced angel.

*And A Hundred Words for Hate: A Remy Chandler Novel does not disappoint.  I think it's the best one in the series, thus far!

*I may have grumped my way back to work on Monday, but the commute wasn't the reason.

*One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 2) is a delight on audio.

*Even if the reader completely screwed up with the lead male character's voice.

*I mean, honestly!  He sounds like everyone's favorite vampire granny and not at all like the undead hottie he is supposed to be!!!

*Some things one just has to look past.

*Much as one does with giant snowbanks and the "Crazy" part of the prepper girl with coffee she's willing to share.


And that about covers it.  Or at least as much as my internet service provider is willing to cover.  My connection has been dicey since the middle of last week and I haven't gotten around to the service call yet.  I think I'd better try to post this and go see about dinner.  I still have a lot of canned ravioli left over from the storm and it's not going to reheat itself, after all.

Or I could tuck it away for the next big storm.  Right next to the surplus coffee and toilet paper.  I rather liked being popular around here.

SA

WNBP: Wednesday's Back!

Greetings, All!  I trust this Wednesday night finds you well and happy.  It's sometimes hard to believe how quickly midweek rolls around.  Why it feels like only a scant seven days ago, I was sitting right in this very spot and blathering on about whatever nonsense was occurring around me.

Funny thing, time...

Any-hoo, I guess it's time once again to run through the week's events in bullet point format.  Let's see where we end up on this particular W-day!

*I make no promises about blog length tonight.

*It's not so much lack of motivation or material as it is lack of chair stamina.

*Can't sit for too long.  Or lie down.  I can stand pretty darned good, but that gets kind of tiring after a few hours.

*My back hurts.  It started aching last week and I thought, "Oh, woe is me!  For I am surely the most pathetic and put upon creature in the world what with this aching back of mine!"

*Yesterday it felt better.  And I rejoiced for no one likes an aching back.

*And then, right there in front of the microwave, breakfast paraphernalia and various cats scattered about...

*I sneezed.

*I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to anyone who has ever had lower back pain.

*Deeply and sincerely apologize.  I'll grovel and weep if you'd like.

*Because if I ever compared my occasional lower back pain to actual, honest-to-god Pain, I am now truly humbled.

*One sneeze.  That was all it took.  Suddenly, I was seized with a pain unlike anything I have ever experienced.

*Driving to work was fun.

*Not.

*I moved the stupid seat into about fifty different positions before I found one that didn't make my back scream and my feet go numb.

*I was relieved when I took the last right turn towards my school.  Until I realized how one's body reacts to right turns in the car.

*It tries to use its core muscles to remain upright and not go sailing into the car window.

*Which hurts a lot if you've managed to tweak your back.

*And how did I tweak my back, you may ask?

*Picking up my cell phone.  Turning to the left and reaching for an item that weighs less than an apple.

*This will be funny someday.  Not now.  But someday...

*Back is markedly better today.  I know because I don't suddenly find myself wheezing, wincing and squealing every time I perform some mundane action that I never really thought about until my back got all old and dysfunctional.

*We've had several weird things happen at school this year.  The staff has taken to naming some of the bigger ones to save time should we need to reference those days.

*For example, the day of the gas leak is now referred to as Gasoline Friday.

*I've heard the day when the powers that be failed to notify people that the school was having a two hour delay due to the black ice as Bus-capades.

*Lots of late buses sliding about and trying to capture children who didn't know the day's school schedule.

*I hope that name catches on.  I rather like it...

*We don't have a name for last Friday, though.

*No one has the heart to make light of the meeting where we learned of the effects our governor's recent curtailment order will have on our staff and students.

*The governor is not a fan of public schools.  Not by a long shot.  Nor is he particularly tactful about it.

*Which is why no one was particularly surprised that the state's schools took a fairly hard hit when Daddy stopped handing out the allowance money he promised.

*Programs are shut down.  Positions are going unfilled and we anticipate around thirty or so layoffs within the next month to cover the monies we thought we were getting but aren't.

*I liken Mr. Governor's attitude towards school reform to the guy with the car that needs some work.

*Instead of performing routine maintenance and replacing the worn parts, he drains all but six drops of oil, lets the air out of three tires, dribbles water in the gas tank and keys his doors.

*Then he drives the car to its breaking point through the driest desert at high noon and, as a final measure of disdain, smashes it with a sledgehammer a few times.

*Finally, he points to the car and says, "See?  I told you it was a piece of crap.  I want a new one."

*Yeah.  It's kind of like that.

*I am a delightful person and a reasonably good conversationalist.  I have a basic understanding of table manners and I never once blew my nose on a tablecloth.

*I am not, however, anticipating an invitation to dinner at the governor's mansion any time soon.

*There's a snowstorm on the horizon.

*If it comes this way and does what they say it's going to do, we should be left with over a foot of snow.

*I wasn't particularly relishing the idea of driving in that.  Nor was my back since I anticipated a lot of tensing up and turning around to watch the cars going off the road all around me.

*But it seems I have a doctor's appointment on Friday so I might be able to work out a day off.

*A snow day isn't a guarantee here.  The timing could be tricky.  Best to take the sick day, assuming I can get coverage.

*The one down side to this upcoming lack of commute is that I started a new audio book today.

*I finished Undead and Unemployed (Undead/Queen Betsy) yesterday and the book I was wait listed for at the state library hadn't come through yet.

*Just when I was resigned to listening to Cat's Claw (A Calliope Reaper-Jones Novel), a miracle occurred in the form of a well-timed email!

*One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 2) was ready and waiting for download!!

*Not that a few days with Calliope would be a bad thing, mind you.  I just really wanted to hear the other one.

*Perhaps the library knew of my back issues and took pity on me...

*Now I'll miss a day of uninterrupted listening should I take time off for the doctor's appointment or snow day.

*Whichever comes first...

*But I'll find a way to live with it.

*I'm tough.  If I can survive Gasoline Friday and The Sneeze That Shook Me To My Very Core, I can get through this.


Well, that's it for me, I'm afraid.  The back is saying that it doesn't like the office chair anymore.  It wants to wander around the living room for a while, clenching and knotting and being generally disagreeable.  I don't think it's going to be patient for much longer regarding this demand.

I am currently being very kind and accommodating to my back.  One never knows when the next sneeze will roll around...

SA

WNBP: A Delay By Any Other Name...

I hate to start a Wednesday Night Bullet Post with a vocabulary lesson, but I honestly don't see where I have a choice.  These school-specific terms are going to be quite helpful in getting through tonight's post.  You'll just have to bear with me.

And I promise there won't be a quiz or anything at the end.  Unless you want one.  But I honestly fail to see why you'd demand that...

Early Release:  The termination of the school day prior to its regularly scheduled conclusion.  Generally weather induced, but sometimes caused by workshops or randomly occurring nonsense.

Delayed Start: When a school district decides to postpone the start of the school day until it is safe to transport students.  Also generally related to weather and road conditions.  There are 2 hour delays and 1 hour delays.  My school district generally goes with the latter and this means kids arrive in homeroom around 9:15

Late Start:  (local vocabulary may differ on this one)  The pre-planned postponement of school hours in order that staff development needs may be met; generally done on a weekly basis and instrumental in cutting the cost of the five billion subs needed to cover classrooms should they send teachers out to do all this stuff during the regular school day.  Or the cost of paying said staff to go do it during non-school hours.  Students will arrive for homeroom at 9:45 on Late Start days.  That is later than on a Delayed Start day

There.  Are we all on the same page?  Is it clear as mud now?  Good.  Let us begin with this week's regularly scheduled bullet post!


*Last Friday there was an issue at the Learn-a-matorium.  A generator, possibly in protest of the crazily cold weather, began leaking liquid fuel all over one of the stairwells.

*In an effort to clean up the mess and ventilate the rather pungent fumes, the stairwell was closed off to traffic and mopping up/airing out activities began in earnest.

*I guess the mopping went well.  The ventilating sort of went awry.

*Fumes everywhere.  Stinky gassy fumes.  The kind that make the fire department suggest we all go outside.

*Except, as the school resource officer pointed out, it was well below zero out there and sending kids outside was counter intuitive.  And possibly abusive.

*All buses were tied up dealing with the schedule changes caused by finals at the high school so an early release was out of the question.

*And if you're thinking that perhaps finals might be secondary to the bronchial health of a couple of hundred kids, you are not alone in this.  But, much like us, you would be overruled.

*We put kids in the gym.  We put them in the library.  We put them everywhere one might think of except in the academic wings where the pungent fumes were thickest.  Parents were called through the auto-dial system in case they wanted to come get their children and we carried on.

*I was able to stay in my classroom, so I gathered as many of my charges as I could find, fired up the video game station and said, "have at it."

*That was Friday afternoon.

*We were all still smarting from Wednesday's horrific road conditions and failure of the local schools to implement a delayed start so you can imagine the overall mood.

*I think the only one who had a good time was He Who...PROJECTS.  He had a great day.  He got to skip math and look at pictures of Grumpy Cat on his computer.

*He spent his time going between my office and the main classroom quoting captions.  Enthusiastically and with great projection.  Best day ever.

*At least until he came out and merrily bellowed, "FOR THE LAST TIME, WHERE ARE MY BALLS?"

*Even without questioning context, it seemed best to curtail his Internet investigations for the day and find something more wholesome for him to look at.

*Today is Wednesday.  Wednesday is the day that grades 6-12 have a late start.

*I overslept by ten minutes today.

*Ten minutes isn't much.  But it is enough to have one rushing and flailing about frantically as if those ten minutes can be magicked back through sheer will.

*There was a bit of black ice on the road so getting out and on the way was sort of crucial.  Hence the flailing.

*I still managed to arrive at school by 7:00 and with plenty of time to tend to a few matters before the first meeting.

*Then I read my email.

*Which said we had a 2 hour delay due to poor road conditions.

*There was no notice of this.  No phone calls.  No text messages.  Nothing on the news.

*Apparently, the decision was made at 7:04.  Or so.  Information on road conditions kept coming into the superintendent's office all willy-nilly and no one got up the gumption to make the call until it was too late to really make it a useful gesture.

*Now the students who think they have to be at school at 9:45 actually have to be at school at 9:15 and are expected to know this in spite of not having been told.

*And there were buildings full of staff members twiddling their thumbs because they can't start workshops due to the fact that school isn't really open and that constitutes working before contracted hours.

*There was about an hour of people staring blankly at one another and asking, "um...what do we do now?" before we all figured out that we could be photocopying stuff.

*Then you couldn't get near a photocopier for love or money.

*Phones were ringing off the hook as buses rolled past houses of half-dressed children.

*The elementary school couldn't figure out what to do because this was the day of their once-monthly early release day devoted to their own staff development and now they were going to have kids for an hour before sending them back home.

*Little Einstein, in his rush to catch the early bus, left his house sans meds and had to be peeled off the ceiling well before lunch.

*It was only when he caught himself doing a rather impressive imitation of a grasshopper (complete with the boing-boing sound to accompany his jumping) that he admitted, "I think I should maybe go see the nurse and take that pill now."

*The superintendent, who is new to the job and maybe still getting used to the idea, had to issue a written apology on the district web site. 

*And try to explain why there weren't enough buses to cover multiple runs to multiple schools with multiple hours of operation when there was a late start coinciding with a delayed start and an early release.  

*Can you say, "cluster?"  It was that.  And then some.  Between the near-death driving experiences many of us had the week before, the gas bath we gave the students a few days later and today's Late Start That Was Really A Delayed Start Debacle...

*Well, let's just say things are tense.  Parents are tense.  Teachers are tense.  Kids are tense. (mostly because their parents and teachers keep beating their heads gently upon the closest available surface and muttering ominously)  There is tension.

*I left school early today.  Only by ten minutes, but I figured I was owed that.

*Left a message with Mrs. Secretary Who Sits At The Back Desk in case anyone called.

*"Tell anyone who calls that I am done with this stupid day."

*She just nodded because it was, in fact, a stupid day.

*The commute got a bit dicey there for a bit.  And not just because of the weather and lack of delayed starts.

*I finished my audio book and the next in the series wasn't available.  I had to put it on hold at the library, but heaven knows how long that will take.

*I got by for a couple of days with Stonefather.  But that one is really short.  Panic was beginning to set in.

*Then I remembered I had an audio book credit paid for and awaiting my decision so I quickly downloaded Undead and Unemployed (Undead/Queen Betsy).

*Now, even though I have to drive back and forth over black ice to go to a place that may or may not be open for business and which has a lovely petroleum scent about it, I have something to keep me entertained on the way.



Now do you see why it was so important to know the difference between "delay" and "late?"  Late is late either way, but a delay has meanings galore.  And apparently "delay" also means having to go school at the usual time and then doing nothing when you get there.  Or it might mean you think you have to be in homeroom at 9:45 when you really have to be there half an hour earlier.  And that you have to know this on some deep inner level as opposed to the usual methods of gaining knowledge such as seeing it or hearing it.

But it definitely means you will be very glad the day is over no matter what version you use.

SA

WNBP: Weird, Wild, Wacky Times!

Well, I'm not afraid to admit it when I don't understand something.  And weather?  That is just a mystery to me!!  It changes at a whim, causes odd atmospheric pressures that affect mind and body, then just when you think you've found a way to live with it, decides that it couldn't care less about the state of my hair!!!

Mother Nature, indeed!  No self-respecting woman would take a perfectly good hair day and throw it to the four winds.  I simply refuse to believe that.  "Bad Boy Juvenile Delinquent Nature" is more like it.

It's an odd kind of week all around here in Sheepish Land.  I darned near missed the Wednesday Night Bullet Post what with all the confusion...

*The past weekend was of the "long" variety.  The kind that comes in a 3 pack as opposed to 2.

*I spent much of the Monday holiday preparing for the mega-storm bearing down upon us.

*By the time I went to bed around 10:30, we were looking straight down the barrel at about a foot of snow.

*I set the alarm and packed a lunch anyway.  Sure, there was no chance of school given the dire forecast but it never hurts to prepare either way.

*Good thing.  By the time the alarm went off, the weather people were saying, "never mind" and balmy breezes were wafting past my window.

*There was no snow.  Not so much as a flake.  It was, in fact, a rather sunny day.

*Which is why you should always pack a lunch.  Sometimes 12 inches = 0.

*Math.  Something else I don't always understand.

*Of course the sub-arctic temperatures they forecast managed to make their way to my corner of the globe quite nicely.

*When I drove to school in darkness this morning, the car told me it was 12 degrees outside.

*When I drove home during the daylight hours, the car reported that it was 6 degrees.

*I realize that, to some, this is just a January walk in the park.  Nothing to write home about.  Why, they can clearly recall the time the mercury sank so low it drove the thermometer clear down to the bottom of the eight foot snowbank just outside the front door!!

*I, however, am not built for this.

*The cats are happy, though.  All that icy air triggers the monitor heater and it's been blasting away all day trying to compensate for the chill.

*Which is why I now have two furry heater-huggers sucking up all teh warmz.

*Various icky, nasty, boogery type germs have been making their way around my classroom of late.

*I am using disinfecting wipes like they are going out of style.  My hands reek of cleanser and are dry enough to sand paint.

*You can tell kids fifty thousand times to wear plastic baggies on their hands, but they'll still wander around touching everything with their bare, crusty digits.

*And laugh at you while they do it.

*I'm planning on duct taping them all under a protective plastic coating.

*It's just a matter of waiting for school board approval which I'm certain will be no problem.

*Jolly Boy came into the main classroom the other day as I was diligently wiping down all the pens and pencils available for student use.  He stopped, stared for a moment and then said:

Err...I hate to interrupt your anal retentive behavior but I had a question about this math paper.

*I had no idea he knew words like "anal retentive."  Much less how to use them in context.

*Either I'm the greatest teacher known to mankind or the little rascal has been goldbricking it for over a year now...

*With one staff person out for most of the past five school days, it's been kind of tiring over at The Learn-a-Matorium.

*Yesterday, after answering the billionth question of the day, I couldn't handle it anymore.  It was the last period and I was spent.  I put my head on the disinfected table and told them all I was done.  Mama was tired now.

*I guess I'm not the only one because He Who....PROJECTS looked up blearily and mumbled, "Daddy's tired too..."

*And today he suddenly became overwhelmed by the fear that God was going to strike him down for offenses committed during the holiday break and we had to bring him up to the classroom to show him funny cat pictures on the Internet for half an hour.

*Funny cat pictures can pretty much cure what ails ya.  Except for the boogery virus things.  Those require disinfecting wipes and a diligent teacher.

*Otherwise, funny cat pictures will cover it.

*For those who are keeping track of my Not-A-New-Years-Resolution, I have remembered to eat dinner before 7:00 every night this week.

*Once it was 6:57, but that counts.

*Tonight is a toss up since I just remembered I forgot to put dinner in the oven but I still think two days in a row is pretty good.

*Especially with all the preparing for storms that kind of don't really exist.

*I am loving the heck out of the audio version of Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1).

*Of course, the author could probably have used a grammar brush up at the time of its writing.  I kind of can't help but catch these things.

*But the story is so darned compelling that I forgive a little bit of over-writing and why one should proof read with one's direct objects in mind.

*I'm hoping the library has a few more of this series in stock.  Haven't checked yet.  But I still have a few commuter miles on this one before things get dire.

*In the realm of the printed word, I've become somewhat charmed by the Black London books.

*Street Magic (Black London, Book 1) started off a bit slow and I feared the worst but was hooked by the time it wound itself down to the conclusion.

*Demon Bound (Black London, Book 2) was safely snuggled in my Nook before the weekend was out.

*Remember, I thought there was going to be a storm.  I feared being trapped under a foot of snow whilst 6 degree temperatures threatened to freeze my nostrils shut should I leave the house.

*I needed something to read.

*However, as I noted earlier, the weather decided to go from Armageddon to Blindingly Sunny in the period of a few hours so I suppose I might have purchased in haste.

*But I'm OK with that.  A good book is never a bad purchase even if you have to read it during Sustained Silent Reading period and surrounded by middle school boys who don't much care if the protagonists ever get together or not.

*Middle school boys, much like the weather, are kind of incomprehensible to me...


And that's the week so far, at least the parts that are fit to print.  And by that I mean the stuff that isn't so boring you'd fall asleep right there at the keyboard, soon to awaken with a space bar imprint upon your cheek.  Which isn't going to benefit anyone, now is it?

I'm off to see if I can make dinner hot before the 7:00 deadline and try to figure out something I can wear to school tomorrow that affords warmth without bulk.  Bulk is bad so soon after the holidays, methinks.

Or I may just throw caution to the wind and lay out a pair of capris with a matching scoop neck tank.  At this rate, that might actually work.


SA