The Saga Of Squirt

This is a long school year.  There were snow days.  Many, many snow days.  There were weeks I managed to forget how to work full time.  I like a good snow day, don't get me wrong.

I do not love a long school year.

We are hanging in there.  We are, perhaps, a little more flexible in our teaching strategies.  We are doing what it takes to somehow get this group of kids through to the last day with a minimum of office referrals, suspensions and detentions.  My class is particularly prone to this sort of thing, I fear.

This is why I didn't really say much when The Boy With The Bass Booming Earbuds asked to go outside for a walk between classes.  A staff member was available and he really needed the break.  My patience was a little more tested when he came back inside with a friend.

"It's my new pet worm," he proudly announced. "He is green, he bites a little bit and his name is Squirt.  Say hello to Squirt.  Do it.  DO IT!!!"

Sure enough, it was a green worm of the Very Wiggly Variety.  I dutifully said hello because, if I didn't, I suspected TBWTBBE might take exception to that.  Then I dug deep down into my reserves of Teacherly Tolerance for the strength to not make a big deal out of this.  As much as I don't want a very wiggly worm (that bites) in my class, I knew it was a distraction and perhaps enough to keep a boy who is already done with this school year happy for the day.

And Squirt really did make him happy.  He lugged him around the room.  He let him crawl on his desk while he worked.  He took him down to visit Mrs. Secretary Who Sits At The Back Desk and was thrilled to death when she screamed.  Yup.  Squirt did a fine job of bringing the happy and if he was looking a little worse for wear by lunchtime, I opted to not notice that.  Or how he kept ending up in Spunky Girl's hair, for that matter.  I knew that it was an early release day for TBWTBBE.  He'd be leaving soon and then we could release Squirt back into the wild and let him run free as green, wiggly worms (that bite) were meant to do.

It was looking promising right up until TBWTBBE decided to put Squirt on the wall map.  He wanted to see how far his little buddy could make it across Europe before the lunch bell rang.  The fact that he put the worm on Africa doesn't speak well for my recent geography unit, but what are you gonna do?  I had bigger problems at that point.  It seems Squirt wasn't interested in backpacking across Eurafrica.  He was tired.

And he fell into the heater.

TBWTBBE was crestfallen.  Heartbroken.  Inconsolable.  And then it was time for lunch and he forgot all about it because that is sometimes how these things go.  I bid a fond farewell to Squirt, thanked him for his sacrifice in the name of education and told the class that there would be no more creatures brought into the room.  And that was that.

Except it wasn't.

The Future Farmer couldn't accept that this was the end of Squirt.  He believed in the power of the wiggly worms (that bite).  He took a stand on the matter and there was really very little I could do about it.  He was not going to move on until I allowed him to deal with this tragic situation.  And thus I found myself having the following conversation at the beginning of last period:

Mr. Assistant Principal:  ...and that is the scheduling matter I'd like you to fix, Ms. Sheep.


Ms. Sheep:  Why certainly, sir.  Consider it done.  Oh, and by the way, you don't care that we took the heater apart, do you?


MAP:  Of course not...wait.  What?  


MS:  The heater.  We took it apart.  See, there was this worm and it didn't want to travel across Eurafrica so he fell and it's not like we could just leave him in there!


MAP:  OK.  This is the part where you just walk out the door, close it behind you and don't tell me stuff anymore.


MS:  Okey-dokey.


Squirt ended up being released, very much alive and well, into the great outdoors by day's end.  He didn't go quietly.  No, he escaped and hid during math, shutting down the entire classroom while we searched frantically for him.  (Squirt is a very fast worm, not to mention crafty)  He thwarted his departure ceremony by biting Spunky Girl and causing her to fling him into the grass long before we were ready.  He didn't really cooperate with us once TBWTBBE was no longer there to keep him in check, if you want the truth.  Frankly, I was glad to see the last of him.

Still, the whole saga helped the day along and that is what we need right about now.  We are desperate.  I'm grateful to little Squirt, if only for that.

Tomorrow I'm thinking of letting the kids try gator wrestling...

SA

I Got S-s-s-team Heat!!

We here in the northeast do not generally do "heat" very well.  It is not our natural habitat.  Hence, I was not pleased to see that today's temperatures were looking to break 90.  The fact that I was going to be spending this searingly hot day in a third floor classroom during the last two weeks of the school year didn't exactly make me giddy either.

But, it is what it is.  If nothing else, heat means that summer is upon us and I might eventually be on vacation if we can ever get past making up all these snow days.  Even better, it is Wednesday and I can do the Wednesday Night Bullet Post.  This is always something of a picker-upper.

Let's have at it!

*Ice cream for dinner tonight.  Don't judge.


*I am eternally grateful that someone finally figured out how to turn off the heat in my classroom.


*They still haven't gotten around to fixing that window they had to board over last spring so we aren't getting much in the way of air circulation these days.


*We are, however, getting many, many hornets.  They seem to be coming at us from above.


*The angry buzzing creatures are doing wonders for keeping the kids focused and working hard during these last few weeks of school.  


*That was sarcasm, in case you missed it.


*Last week, we were dismissed half an hour early due to tornado warnings.


*Yesterday, we had to be evacuated for over an hour due to a weird odor in the hallways.


*Which smelled a lot like propane, but no one could find a leak.


*Three fire trucks and an ambulance.


*I like firemen.  I like them a lot.


*I didn't get to appreciate them because I was standing in a hot parking lot with kids who blamed me for everything from the heat to the stench of cooking asphalt radiating around us.


*At the staff meeting that afternoon, someone mentioned that a propane truck drove by while we were all standing around out there.


*It is now being theorized that an entire school was evacuated due to a propane delivery down the street.


*I still got the blame as far as my students were concerned.


*They do not like being taken away from their lunches.


*Next week, we have scheduled a plague of locusts.


*The lady next to me at the staff meeting was knitting a dishcloth.


*This made me think of summer vacation because I knit dishcloths during summer vacation.


*I am so totally OVER this school year.


*But it is not done with me.


*It is just heating up!


*Da Boyz were pretty pleased to hear about the upcoming car repair bills.


*It means they get to postpone their visit with The Cat Whisperer until the end of July as opposed to the beginning.

They sit in the window and stare gratefully down upon the ailing vehicle.  I think I hear them singing its praises...

*I'm including this one for no reason other than I think it is sweet how they do the cuddly-snuggle-umpkins thing.

Seriously...can you STAND it????

*I had a rather horrible time last month on the anniversary of the day we lost the Big Fluffy Kitty and it makes me smile to see that the Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty is so happy with his new baby brother.


*Sue me.  I'm sappy like that...


*I am less sappy and sentimental regarding the new Wake Mommy Up At 4:45 In The Morning Routine, though.  


*Fat Siamese in my face.


*Loud, fat Siamese in my face.


*Loud, fat Siamese with an agenda in my face.


*He has not processed that the heat means summer and that this is the time to start thinking about easing off on the early morning wake-up calls.


*We shall be working on this.


*I know.  You don't have to say it.


*I do not control this situation.  I never have.


*I just like to pretend, is all...


*I finished up with Kitty Goes to Washington (Kitty Norville, Book 2).


*Honestly don't recall if I told you that already so I'm doing it again just in case.


*Then I cranked through Kitty Takes a Holiday (Kitty Norville, Book 3).


*Then, as if that weren't enough, I started Kitty and the Silver Bullet (Kitty Norville, Book 4).


*When I start a series, I take it seriously.  I need to power through it.


*Fortunately, this is a fun read.  Not great literature.  Not dark literature, not really.


*It has mood lighting.  Low lighting.  


*It's just plain fun because when you have a werewolf named Kitty, there is really not much else to do but chuckle.


*I'm enjoying this series immensely, if only for the playlist at the beginning of each book.


*More fun!


*When not losing myself in the trials and tribulations of a werewolf/late night DJ, I'm in the car.


*And now I'm listening to something other than free content podiobooks.


*I sprang for Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 11) on audio.


*I figure I got my Urban Fantasy Chick Lit thing going on right now so I might as well go for broke.


*Apparently, the steamy weather has inspired some slightly steamy reading...




And so ends another Wednesday, complete with heat, humidity and a few good books.  Eventually, I'll get to the place where this school year finally ends.  For now, though, I'm hanging in and riding it out.  It could be worse.  The heater in the classroom could still be blasting.  The car could be actually dead rather than possibly dying and the heat wave could be predicted to last longer than I can stand.

That said, tomorrow promises to be just as hot and steamy.  Let's see how my sunny attitude is holding up after another day in the classroom with the cranky teens!

SA

Bagged

I have been driving on tires not really meant for travel for some time now.  I was told that the rubber holding up my car was nothing more than a suggestion of tires and that they needed to be replaced immediately.  At the time, however, tires were a bit on the pricey side.  Especially for one who needed to hire a Professional Worrier to help with a worrisome situation.  I waited on the tires and pretended that I was a reckless risk-taking type who didn't bother with things like traction.

Eventually, the stress got to me, though.  I finally bit the bullet, packed up the knitting and headed over to the dealership to get two of the four sad tires replaced.  I also figured that an oil change might be a good idea what with the car's information center screaming this suggestion at me every morning.  You can only hit the reset button so many times before you run out of luck and I'd already pushed things with the tires.

Those who know me are very familiar with my car repair history.  They know I am the target for all things Strange And Unbelievable when it comes to cars.  If there is a rock to be found within a twelve mile radius, it will fling itself at my windshield.  If a squirrel decides to end it all, he will do so by following the rock aimed at my car.  I have bad luck with cars.  Bad enough that I've gotten pretty good at spotting when things are about to go horribly awry.

For example, getting a free oil change is a portent.  You'd think free is good.  But it is just a way of lulling you into a false sense of security.  All it means is that you've had enough work done over the years that you've racked up a few Customer Rewards Points.  And they want you good and distracted for what is coming next.

When you are invited to come behind the Sacred Service Desk to look at the computer, that is a very bad sign.  No one gets to come behind the desk.  That is blasphemy in the world of auto repair.  And being allowed to look at the computer?  Unheard of!  Probably grounds for immediate termination!!

Unless, of course, you are being invited behind the desk so you can view a picture.  Said picture, of course, having been taken because "we didn't think you'd believe us unless we showed you..."  That is a very, very bad portent.  It's the sort of thing that, if you saw it in a horror movie, you'd be screaming at the heroine to run as fast and as far as she could before the monster got her!!

I didn't run.  Curiosity got the better of me.  I couldn't help myself.  Could this be something new and interesting in the world of auto mishaps?  Something I hadn't ever experienced before?

It was.

Sometime between last November and this past Saturday, I ran over a trash bag.  Not a trash bag full of nails or live grenades.  An empty one.  The kind you see flapping all over highways across this great land every single day.  This trash bag, however, was a killer.  It had me in its sights and wanted me something bad.  It probably heard all about me from the rock and the depressed squirrel.

This trash bag wrapped itself firmly about my front axle, snagged a few other things along the way and proceeded to wind and pull merrily away for miles and miles and miles.  It bent things.  It tore things.  It wreaked havoc.  It was the Incredible Hulk of trash bags.

They did a few hasty patches along the underside of my poor car and the nice lady who took the picture managed to bend my brake line back into place without too much trouble. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of leakage. We've got things running for the time being.  But there are several visits scheduled with the dealership in the immediate future.  Not only to deal with the Killer Trash Bag, but also with the moisture that got into the electrical system at some point while the car was distracted by the mouthful of plastic upon which it was choking.

On the plus side, however, no one is all that worried about my tires anymore.  That is a load off my mind...

SA

WNBP: Irony, Winds And Whatnot

Here it is, again...Wednesday.  It came kind of fast this week, partially because Monday was a holiday.  It is also possible that the mighty, whirling winds have ushered it along at a hasty clip.  Either way, it is time for the Wednesday Night Bullet Post so let's have at it!

*I know what irony when I see it.  Or hear it.


*Irony is the principal coming on the school's PA system to announce that all afternoon activities are cancelled due to the tornado watch going into effect.


*And one of those activities is try-outs for The Wizard Of Oz musical at the high school...


*That is just crazy with the ironic.


*They let us all go home half an hour early to say good-bye to our loved ones and whatnot.


*There have been no tornadoes.


*But still...one likes to have time for a little bit of whatnot before things start whirling about.


*Here are some more skulls and skins from yesterday's fun-filled field trip:

*This was back in the halcyon days before I lived in fear of the raging tornadoes.


*Tornado watches are only up for another hour.  It's all fine here.


*I arrived at school and was told that none of my teaching assistants would be joining me for the day.


*Then a veritable parade of sympathetic souls dropped by to offer their condolences on my being left alone all day with the children.


*Only Mrs. Secretary Who Sits At The Back Desk thought to offer me a bathroom break, though.


*I don't have scheduled lunch or prep breaks like other teachers.


*She's a good egg, remembering that.


*It all worked out, though.  I had a lot of sickly kids who couldn't make it in today.


*There were brief gaps where I could scamper off to the restroom.


*Best parent email of the week:

Hello, Ms. Sheep

Thank you for letting me come on the field trip yesterday.  It was so much fun!  In fact, I enjoyed the time with my son so much that I wanted it all to continue and decided to build a tee-pee with him.  It sounded like a pretty cheap way to have some quality time with the kids.

Then he stepped on a nail and we all had to go to the emergency room and, three hours later, it wasn't quite so cheap anymore.  He will be out today while the antibiotics kick in.

Thank you,

Mrs. Mom

*That is slightly paraphrased, but not by much.


*The lesson here is this:  If you've had a good time on the field trip with your kid, don't push it.  You'll just end up exceeding your insurance deductible.


*Best student line of the week (from Spunky Girl):

I am practicing a new glare, but you don't seem all that scared so I guess it still needs some work.

*She has a wicked glare.  I was scared, but I was also kind of tired and couldn't really give her the reaction she wanted.


*Every time I go to school for the day, someone gets into the knitting.


*I come home and yarn is chewed, needles are scattered...it's so frustrating!


*I think it might be a cat, but I don't want to cast aspersions since I'm not here to bear witness.


*And in reading news...


*I finished Dead Matter.


*And Dead Waters.


*A very enjoyable series and one you can easily whip through without too much difficulty.


*The characters grow on you...they just do!


*Then I heard tell about another series and decided to give it a try.


*Kitty and the Midnight Hour (Kitty Norville, Book 1) turned out to be a pretty decent read.


*I know I've said repeatedly how tired I am of the whole vampire/werewolf thing, but this one is a very different take on it.


*Werewolf DJ.


*Yeah.


*I was as intrigued as I'm sure you are.


*I downloaded Kitty Goes to Washington (Kitty Norville, Book 2) right after finishing the first!


*I've also been hearing good things about Death's Daughter (A Calliope Reaper-Jones Novel).


*Anyone read that?  Just curious.


*If I say to Buffy fans, "Yeah, it's that Amber Benson" they'll know what I mean.



So that's today.  As Wednesdays go, it had the potential for disaster what with the missing staff and tornado possibilities.  In the end, though, it didn't go badly.  I even got to go home half an hour earlier than usual so I guess I should thank the Weather That Wasn't.  Now Thursday is even closer and Friday can't be far behind if my calculations are correct.

For the record, the winds never seem to push Friday along any faster.  It comes when it's darned good and ready.

SA

Making It Bearable

Now that the weather has taken a turn for the "seasonal," I am struggling with the remaining length of the school year.  The very idea that I have to carry on for another almost-whole month is killing me.  After the long holiday weekend, I couldn't be more done with this educational experience.  I spent most of the past three days trying to ignore the reality

Chiefly, I was trying to ignore the fact that I was going back to a field trip.

I used to think of these little excursions as bonuses, a free way to go out and experience stuff.  I was younger back then and had the energy to find the bright side.  Now I've gone on every field trip known to mankind (some of them five or six times) and I don't get quite so enthused about it.  But, when it's time to go visit the Maine Wildlife Park...it's time to go.  Even if you don't want to get out of bed so you can drive for 45 minutes and then board a bus to drive for another hour and a half with a bunch of kids.

 I forgot to bring my knitting and  the Cheerful Teaching Assistant ended up being too sick to travel, but I like to think I dug deep in order that I might find my inner optimist.  In the end, it really turned out to be a kind of nice sort of experience with the kids.  For one thing, the weather couldn't have been nicer.

And they've really spruced the place up since I was last there as a kid!

The program we were schedule to participate in was called Skulls And Skins.  This, of course, means that there will be skulls.  And skins.  You aren't getting around that.

Some little...

Some bigger...

Some that seem to be looking right at you...

Rest assured, none of these animals were sacrificed specifically for the purposes of entertaining children. They were either naturally relieved of their mortal coils, legally shot in season or confiscated by local authorities after having been poached.  In each case, the hide and bones were saved to use as educational tools rather than go to waste.  Our class got to use them to learn more about identifying animal diets and habitats by studying the skulls and fur.

Then we went off to look at all the critters currently in residence.  There were lots, mostly behind chain link fences which don't always play nicely with my camera.  Sometimes, though, I was pretty happy about the heavy layers of linkage.  Like during feeding time in the mountain lion area.

Mountain lions sort of scare the ever-loving daylights out of me.  Even if they already have a snack to nosh on.

I am not scared of bears, though.  I really like bears.  Bears make me chuckle and kind of coo in their general direction.

Coo!  Coo!

I know that it's not OK to hug bears or even shake hands with them.  They get a little grumpy about that sort of thing.  And I also know that you should never try to take away their pik-a-nik baskets.

Even if they have very gentle eyes...

Yeah...it can sometimes be hard to get through the last few weeks of the school year.  The kids are cranky, the classroom gets hot and no one is particularly interested in being educated once June rolls around.  You gotta find something to cling to lest you go mad with it all.  If waving to bears and examining skinless skulls does the trick, then so be it.  I'm not going to quibble with a good day.  I enjoyed myself far more than I thought I would, all things considered.  That is enough.


At least until I can start living like this guy:

SA

WNBP: It's TOO Nice!!!

I guess I'm just never happy.  First, I'm all fussy about the five million days of rain and now I'm grousing because the sun is out and it feels too much like summer.  To be fair, I've got a roomful of middle school students who feel the same way and a very long way to go this year, but it still seems wrong to complain.

I should probably just do the Wednesday Night Bullet Post and not draw any further negative attention to myself...

*The sun was so shiny and bright today.  It was like something out of a movie...


*We finished up as much of the work as we could and then took the kids outside to frolic in the bugs and pollen!


*Today's Life Lesson:  If you leave a sock unfinished for months at a time, then a Very Complicated Kitty will come along and gnaw the yarn in half.


*That is Karma.


*Karma likes it when you have to knot the yarn because Karma is a little bit sick...


*Best Conversation Of The Week:

Spunky Girl:  Is that music coming out of your office?

Ms. Sheep:  Yes.  The power has gone out and the Future Farmer cannot bear to live without music.  In fact, he refused to do his math until I provided some tunes.  Without internet access, the best I could do was open up my Itunes for his general entertainment.  Don't worry, though.  I don't put anything inappropriate on my school laptop because I am a very responsible educator.

SG:  That was a very long story.

MS:  They usually are.

SG:  Wait!  Listen...oh no!  I have bad news.  That's not your music!  That is cool music.  I think that The Boy With The Bass Booming Earbuds has been downloading to your computer!!!

MS:  No.  He can't do that.  It's my account.  That is my music.

SG:  Oh, I don't think so.

MS:  Is too!!!

(the boy who is) Dark & Disturbed:  Hey, is that The Black Eyed Peas?  Where the heck is that coming from???

MS:  It's my computer.

D&D:  Yeah, right.  Seriously...where is it coming from?

The Boy For Whom All The World's A Stage:  Is the power back on?  I hear music and it sounds like it's coming from Ms. Sheep's computer.  How are you getting internet radio without power?

MS:  Oh, come ON!!!


*I can't be cool?  Really?  How fair is that???


*And The Black Eyed Peas are, like, totally old news!!!


*The power was out for well over an hour today and that was a problem since we are doing our annual progress assessments.


*Which are done online.


*Which isn't exactly possible if there is nothing to power the interwebs.


*My kids were already done testing so no harm/no foul.


*Plenty of time to justify my Itunes ownership.


*I had to buy a new blender yesterday.


*Blew up the last one a couple of weeks ago.


*Lots of stuff has blown up here over the past year.


*Lots.  Blowing stuff up is now like a second career to me.


*Don't stand too close, especially if you have a pacemaker or anything like that.


*The Cheerful Teaching Assistant finally tired of watching me limp around or walk on tippy-toes to avoid allowing my right heel to touch the earth.


*Right heel hurts.  Right heel does want to touch the earth.  Right heel screams in pain if it touches the earth.


*Except when it doesn't, but then my ankle hurts so it's really a limp-along no matter how you look at it.


*Since the CTA's husband also suffers from Plantar Fasciitis, she recognized that oh-so-special limp that comes from a heel spur.


*She went online to get pictures of the stretches I am supposed to be doing but forgot about because it has been fifteen years since my foot has bothered me to this degree and who remembers that stuff anyway?


*Ice and stretching.  Things were much improved today.


*Still hurts...but I can walk and that is kind of nice.


*You know how sometimes you are reading a book and you think, "Meh...I can take this or leave it,"  but it's a series and you kind of have to keep going with it?


*Then you are suddenly rather taken with the story and the character and love the whole thing more than you thought you did?


*It was sort of like that with Dead To Me.


*And Deader Still.


*And I'm still feeling it with Dead Matter.


*What can I say?  The very concept of working for a paranormal investigation agency that relies heavily on the use of pamphlets to keep staff trained appeals to me.


*I like a good pamphlet...


*And am looking forward to Dead Waters just as soon as I can get to it.



In fact, there should be ample time for that soon.  There is a long, holiday weekend in my immediate future and then I can kick up my heels.  Well...I can carefully kick up my heels since it is not a good idea to be kicking too much when the heels hurt.  However, I don't suppose reading will do much to cause me pain if I take it easy.  I'm just worried about the one thing:  I hope the weather's not too nice.

I've got to go back to school on Tuesday and it's a very long way to go until the end of the year.  Can't afford to be thinking summery thoughts just yet...

SA

There Wasn't...Was There?

I had mixed feelings when I heard about The Rapture bearing down upon us.  On one hand, I hated the idea of losing half my weekend, not to mention the angst a person goes through wondering if she made the final cut.  On the other hand, it might be a nice way to get out of the five million plans I've made for the month of May.  I couldn't help but feel that I was overbooked and the end of days might make for a handy excuse...

It didn't come to pass, though, and that pretty much solved the whole dilemma for me.  I resigned myself to having plans on Saturday even though I wasn't completely thrilled about going out again.

Monday morning rolled around soon enough and, with no Rapture to close school, I had to head in to teach the children.  I blearily made my way into the classroom and prepared myself for another day just like all the pre-Rapture ones.

The kids filed in, most looking as unenthused as I.  There was one exception, though.  (the boy who is) Dark & Disturbed seemed unusually perky for a Monday morning. Or any morning, for that matter.  I'd figured he'd be all bummed out about the total lack of apocalypse this weekend.  This was weird...maybe I was misinterpreting things.

Nope.  The lad looked me right in the eye and said, "Hey, Ms. Sheep!  You know what happened to me this weekend?  It was really wild!  I was...wait for it....HAPPY!  I thought it was a stroke or something but then I remembered 'happy' from that time when I was three and got an ice cream cone."

It seemed that D&D went to visit a friend and ended up meeting some "cool new people."  This led to the aforementioned happiness.  I congratulated him upon this new state, weird as it was.  In fact, I saw this as an opportunity to share my own experience.  This could only add to his happiness, after all.

"Yes, my lad!  It is so easy to sit around in our own comfort zones and miss out on happiness.  I, too, almost passed up a chance for fun this weekend because I didn't want to venture out amongst the humans.  When The World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach asked me to spend a day with her, I cursed the day I ever knit her a scarf and crossed that delicate line between professional and personal relationships.  In the end, though, I sucked it up and got to go out for Thai food. I had the best time ever! Isn't that nice?"

He looked confused regarding the speed with which this conversation turned to Ms. Sheep's life, but it didn't diminish his happiness.  In fact, the joy fairly bubbled out of him all day long.  It was almost 1:00 in the afternoon before he was able to tell us the whole truth.  He didn't just meet "some cool new people."  He met one cool person.  One cool person who happened to also be a very cute female with an appreciation for Dark, Disturbed Types.

Yes, the boy was smitten and there was no dealing with him.  Instead of drawing flaming skulls on the board, he sketched out happy faces.  He did his math without once calling upon the dark forces to take this burden from him.  I swear to you, I even heard him humming at one point and not his usual rage-against-the-machine type tunes either.  Truth be told, it was a little bit creepy.  I mean...he's Dark & Disturbed!  He wears all black!  The only reason he wasn't sporting his usual black sweatshirt with the skeleton on it was because his new paramour was in possession of it.  He was a whole different person that the one who left us on Friday for his weekend of brooding.

So maybe there wasn't a real Rapture, but I think it is safe to say that something happened to disturb the force.  Don't try to tell me there wasn't.  It's the power of Middle School Love, people.  Dark & Disturbed is now Bright 'n Chipper.

That is bigger than any Rapture...

SA

Dark 'n Dreary

The rain...dear God, the rain!  How long can a person live under such dark and dismal conditions before going utterly mad with the lack of sunlight?  If my own experience is any indication, I'm guessing it's not very long.  In fact, I think I passed the point of demarcation a few days ago.

Let's see if doing the Wednesday Night Bullet Post helps at all...

*I think the overcast conditions are getting to everyone.


*Spunky Girl marched into the classroom today and announced that it was high time we did something about all this gray, gloomy weather.


*She then produced a box of donut holes for the class and I think I may love this girl more than any I might have ever produced on my own.


*Thanks to those who expressed birthday wishes yesterday in personal and on-line formats.  Much appreciated!


*I don't really celebrate my birthday much anymore so don't worry if you missed it.


*It's not that I'm sensitive about my age.  I couldn't care less about that.


*I'm 46.


*It's just that there seems to be an awful lot of pressure around birthdays.


*People always ask things like "what are your plans?" Or "what did you do to celebrate the big day?"


*When I tell them I went home and ate a piece of cake by myself where it was nice and quiet and I didn't have to share, they look at me with Sad Face.


*Worse, they feel they should "do something about this" and then there is every reason to believe they are going to make a fuss.


*I am not a fan of fussing.


*My birthday plans never seem to measure up to what people think they should be so I tend to keep the whole thing to myself until it's well over.


*I am not a person who is kind to coffee makers.  I burn through them at an alarming rate.


*I need a new coffee maker.


*Purchasing new coffee makers is just what I do.


*Student input on this matter went as follows:

Ms. Sheep:  I need a new coffee maker.  Everyone needs to drop what they are doing and help me decide what I want.  Yes, that means you.  I don't care if your math isn't done.  This is important and affects you directly since coffee equals a much more pleasant teacher.

The Boy For Whom All The World's A Stage:  A coffee maker?  Really?  Oh and I suppose you think you are getting one of those really fancy ones, too.  Well, let me ask you this!  Have you replaced those tires yet?  You know...the ones you haven't replaced in months and that I keep reminding you about?  The ones I mention three times a week?  And then you tell me how traction is for wimps?

MS:  Er...

TBFWATWAS:  That is what I thought.  And don't think I haven't been keeping track of your oil changes either.  I have.  We won't even discuss that chip in your windshield but I can't help but wonder if you've given any thought to new wiper blades.  It is raining, after all!  I'll bet you can't see anything when you drive to work!!!

MS:  How did you...

TBFWATWAS:  I know everything.  It's what I do.

*After some tough negotiations and a reminder that yesterday was my birthday, I have been given permission to indulge myself in a new coffee maker.


*I am getting the fancy one, but I'm not telling him that.


*This story has been consuming everyone in my area for days.


*Not a happy ending, but at least now the poor little guy has a name.


*I don't know about anyone else, but the day they put up the picture of his little shoes to see if anyone could identify them, I just about lost it.


*Not knitting a lot these days.


*That's not news, but I still consider this a knitting blog so I have to mention it.


*Plus, the socks-in-progress are right beside me and they will know if I try to pretend they aren't there.


*I've been reading, though.


*Also not news, but I like a nice segue.


*I finished I Don't Want to Kill You.


*Arguably the weakest book of the series.  I think the author pulled his punches a little bit at the end.


*Almost like he wanted to just get past the hard parts.  Understandable...he goes for a pretty rough ending to the whole thing.


*But I think there should have been more of an emotional cost for the reader.


*Still...a pretty decent series of books if you like the horror genre.


*Then I figured I'd read Avalon Revisited.


*It sounded like a good way to pass the time until Heartless (The Parasol Protectorate) comes out.


*It was.  Not as good...but still a nice diversion.


*Then I was out of stuff to read so I downloaded Dead To Me.


*Haven't started it yet.  I'll get back to you...


*Also need to recharge the ereader because I often forget to do that and then it gets all mad at me.


*What can I say?  It's been dark 'n dreary and I was avoiding my birthday and that means I stayed in and read a lot!!!


*I won't be made to feel inferior by my devices!!


*I think it's good that Spunky Girl brought donuts today.


*I might be getting a little loopy from the lack of light.


*Can't imagine my state had she not provided that little bit of sugary sunshine...


That should cover it.  To summarize, it is raining and won't stop so things just look dark.  With any luck, the forecast will change and that bright burning ball that used to be up in the sky will make another appearance.  If not, I can only hope that someone thinks to bring the donuts.

I have a bad feeling that I'll be about fifty pounds heavier by the time this stretch of weather ends...

SA

Getting To The Point

There comes a point in every school year where a teacher says, "By golly, I think I'm done!"  Hopefully, that point arrives on the last day of classes because it is mighty inconvenient when it happens beforehand.  I've had it play out both ways.  Sometimes I make it to the finish line, breathe a sigh of relief and wave a merry goodbye to my colleagues.  Other times...not so much.

This is one of the "other" years.  I think it hit me last Tuesday when I stayed home for a doctor's appointment.  The fact that this impromptu holiday was taken at the request of my staff should probably be an indicator of my doneness, but that didn't occur to me at the time.  Mostly I was just kind of giddy to be home all snuggled up and knitting for most of the day.

It all got me to thinking about being "done" for the year and that was it for me.  Now I have to go in for another month of school, all the while thinking about being done and how unfair it is that I am expected to go to work each day and fulfill the contract I signed.  I am filled with the bitter taste of resentment at the injustice of it all.

And it's not just me.  I could see how someone might think that I'm being overly eager to end this educational nightmare and send these kids on their way, but it honestly isn't my issue alone.  I know this for a fact.  Kids ask me every day how much longer they have until summer vacation.  They ask me while they are not doing their work or kicking back for a nice snack instead of listening to me tell them all about geography.  They all feel as though things have gotten overwhelming.  When they can't find the words, they tell me by falling asleep in the middle of one of my brilliant lectures.

One student has been proving this point with enough force to leave emotional scars upon me lately.  Every morning, this usually kind-hearted lad is spewing enough venom to kill a small army and following it up with few verbal gut punches aimed right at his teacher's self-esteem.  Because he is a good kid almost all the time, we are trying to bear up under the assault knowing that there has to be a good reason for why he's lashing out these days.

Today, however, I perhaps got around to remembering that I was "done."  When the young man fell apart during his tour of the high school, refused to eat anything at a time when he really needed to, almost made himself sick and then returned to class to loudly blame everyone for his morning, I think we'd all had enough.  There was a marked lack of sympathy to be found in the classroom after the past couple of weeks.  Things got better after that, but I still felt a little miffed over his inability to sense my being "done."

Before he left for the day, he mentioned that he was hungry and looking forward to getting a snack.  He had, after all, missed lunch.  I ask you, how much more was I to take?  I had to speak up again.

"You know, no fewer than three people offered to help you out with that.  You could have eaten if you wanted to."

Without missing a beat, he shot back, "No I couldn't.  I was too full of righteous indignation at the time."

We laughed for five minutes straight and now I'm starting to think I'm going to survive being "done" even if I'm not exactly "finished." Maybe there are a few good moments left in this school year.

SA

WNBP: May Madness

No...seriously?  It's been a week???  That just can't be right!  Well...I guess maybe it can.  Even if I didn't mean to wander away from the blog for a whole week, I guess it's possible.  I've been busy at school and had to change a doctor's appointment at the last minute to account for a dwindling supply of medication.  Oh, and let's not forget Mother's Day being thrown in there!

I've been a busy, busy girl.  And, if anyone happens to notice that I've not been any busier this month than I have during a few of the others, I'm just going to move faster and faster until they believe me.  I will also start flinging Wednesday Night Bullet Points around because those tend to be really confusing and are good for deflecting people from other things.

Here's a few now:

*We decided to cook for Mother's Day this year instead of taking Mom out.


*SIL Sheep and I rocked the kitchen and I briefly gave some thought to us opening our own restaurant.


*Then I got over it because cooking is a lot of work and not as much fun once you're past the part where you get to beat up on a chicken with a mallet.


*I realized last Friday that my medication supply wasn't going to last until the 20th.


*Why the doc's office decided to schedule my next visit so late, I know not.  I only know that it would not do...


*At the suggestion of my staff, I took yesterday off to go to the doctor.  Not an hour.  Not the morning.


*The whole day.


*The words, "you should also probably take a nap or something..." were used.


*Ms. Sheep is maybe a little bit over this school year right about now.  


*And maybe showing it more than she intends...


*I wanted to bring my sock-in-progress with me to the appointment, but the yarn is all safely contained in a plastic yarn holder-thingie and it's not exactly portable.


*What was I thinking?????


*I read while I waited instead.


*I finished Nekropolis: A Matt Richter Novel (Matt Richter Novels) the other day.


*Which meant that I had Dead Streets: A Matt Richter Novel (Matt Richter Novels) cued up and ready to rock.  


*Zombie detective fighting the good fight in the bad streets of Nekropolis...always good for a long wait at the doctor's office.


*Or in the car.  Doctor accidentally locked the door behind her when she came in and we, the patients, were all stuck outside for half an hour.


*We tried to show some patience as good patients should.


*But it was raining and that didn't do much for our collective mood.


*Monday's Conversation With The Cheerful Teaching Assistant:

Cheerful Teaching Assistant:  I hate you so much.

Ms. Sheep:  Really?  Why now?

CTA:  Because you had to go and tell me about My Blood Approves.

MS:  What's wrong with that?

CTA:  I told you I didn't want to read it.  I told you it was probably just some clone of all the other stupid, wannabe vampire books.  But could you just accept that?  Nooooo...you had to go and keep talking about it!

MS:  I'm pretty sure I just mentioned it once or twice...

CTA:  You know how Amanda Hocking gets into my head!  You know how hard it is when I read her stuff and how I can't sleep what with all the worrying about the characters.  I've told you this about a million times but you don't care.  Now I'm almost to the end of the series and I'm barely awake right now because you just had to go and ruin my life!!!

MS:  Er...at the risk of making you more hateful, I kinda need to point out that you were the one who told me you were reading Hollowland.  I didn't want to read a zombie book.  You convinced me.  In fact, I'd never even heard of Amanda Hocking until you brought it up.

CTA:  Don't change the subject.  You know what you've done.  Just live with your guilt.

MS:  Okay.


*Good teaching assistants are very, very hard to find.


*Teaching assistants who want to talk about books for an hour a day are even harder to find.


*I'll own the guilt.  Even if I know she'd have eventually gotten around to reading these books anyway...


*She's ahead of me in the series now.  I'm going to have to pick up Wisdom (My Blood Approves, #4) pretty soon lest she have to live with the whole plot line alone.


*Can't right now, though.


*Need to finish what I'm reading and then get started on I Don't Want to Kill You.


*I like it when people don't want to kill me.  That seems like a nice attitude.


*May is, all kidding aside, a very busy month for me.  I have "something" every single weekend.


*I don't know how I keep up with everything.


*It's all stuff I want to do.  But it's also the sort of thing that fills up a calendar.


*Here's hoping I don't lose track and miss a week of blog time again, but let's face it.


*It isn't outside the realm of possibility.


*I'll apologize in advance and own the guilt like the CTA says.


And now I'm off!  Both of Da Boyz are giving me the stink eye and this would indicate that they feel mealtime is overdue.  The fact that it is not seems to mean nothing to them.  While I have no intention of feeding them right now, I do think I should be watching my back.

It's just something else to add to the madness that is May!

SA

WNBP: It Rains

Well, I have somehow managed to make it through three work days and am thinking that a weekend might just be in sight if I play my cards right.  That, in an of itself, is something of a triumph during these rainy, chilly days.  I think I shall simply sally forth and plunge right into the Wednesday Night Bullet Post before something takes the wind out of my sails.

*I think I have mentioned the rain already but it has kind of overshadowed this whole week and it bears noting it again.


*I am sticking to sandals, though.  May is upon us and I'm not going back.


*Plus they can't figure out how to shut the heat off in my classroom and it is like a sauna in there.


*Wait.  I have an auto-dial call from my school district.  Gotta see what's up.


*It's the superintendent.  He's my Big Boss.  Should really listen to his recording because I am sure he will know if I don't...


*He wants me to remind me that the district budget vote is tomorrow and that voting is important.  


*Good to know.


*Of course, I don't actually live in that district and can't vote but it's always nice to be included.


*Where was I?


*Oh, yeah.  Heat won't turn off.  Probably taking up a great deal of our building's oil budget...


*Wanna know how dedicated I am to making a point?


*I took two kids outside today for the last period because they'd finished their Science worksheets.


*And because there was this other kid who was being a puke and who wouldn't do anything but lie on the floor and argue with me over the validity of this choice.


*Yeah.  I took kids out to play in the rain just so one could stay inside and continue not doing his work in overheated misery while my hair deflated and my mascara ran freely like the wild buffalo.


*I am that dedicated to making a point.  Don't mess with me.


*I sort of regretted the sandal decision just then and would have killed for a nice pair of warm wool socks, but not so much that I didn't rhapsodize about how delightful a time we had in the great outdoors.


*My flat hair and wandering mascara sort of detracted from my words, but no one was brave enough to say anything about it.


*Here's a little life lesson:  If you are in a staff meeting on a rainy afternoon when no one can keep their eyes open and someone says, "I want to raise a point, but it's not anything I think we need to discuss right here and now; I'm just planting a seed." please be prepared.


*It will be a hot button topic and we will be discussing it.


*I hated the point-maker until she added another thought:  "Also, could we please remind the students that the bathrooms marked as staff only are for the adults?"


*There was an awkward pause and then...

*"I'm sorry, but I prefer to fart in peace."

*Now I think the point-maker is like a god who speaks that which no one else has the nerve to utter.


*Query:  When did I become the kind of person whose ankles swell up by day's end?


*Just curious.  I never used to be that person.  I'm fairly certain I'd have noticed.


*I'm also fairly certain that they aren't supposed to do that.


*Several people responded when I mentioned that I was at a loss for what to read next.  Yay!


*However, it was Elaine who did it first.


*This coincided with that crucial and horrific moment when I had nothing and was getting a little panicked.


*That's how I ended up purchasing Midnight Riot.


*I've been trying to think of a good way to describe this book and the best I can come up with is "charming."


*I'm fairly certain that this is not what the author was going for, but I mean it as a compliment all the same.


*Well written, witty and featuring a main character you can't help but fall in love with.


*Who doesn't love a wizard-in-training, after all?  


*Also doesn't hurt that the author seems to have a very clear understanding of British police procedure and the ability to work it in seamlessly.


*Had to immediately get Moon Over Soho.  There was just nothing else to be done at that point.


*It's raining, I have to go outside with kids in bad weather and my ankles are fat.  Are you going to try and tell me that I don't deserve a sequel?  Really?


*And it's just as good as the first whether I deserve it or not.





And that's that for this week's bullet points.  I'm going to kick up my feet and read a bit while the raindrops patter outside and my ankles return to their former, youthful state.  It's all about the relaxing and basking in the triumph of a week half done.  I'm hoping for a few breaks of sun at some point this week, though.  The kids are getting grumpy.

I'm probably going to have to take a few more outside just to prove a point or two over the next couple of days, after all...

SA

My Inspiration

I woke up tired this morning.

I can tell by the puzzled looks and murmurs that a few of you might not comprehend what I mean by this.  "Of course you were a little sleepy.  It was 4:45 in the morning.  Worse, it was 4:45 on a Monday morning which is always going to compound the problem, Sheepie.  And yet, even if we take that out of the equation, who among us doesn't awaken a little bit out of sorts?  We all take a moment to orient ourselves as we transition from the sleeping to the waking state."

I can understand how this might be confusing.  I, myself, didn't quite realize the true nature of the problem. After giving the snooze button a few heartfelt smacks, I lay abed waiting for the transition period to end.  Soon, I felt sure, I'd shake off the Morning Fuzzy-Wuzzems and be ready to face the day.

When that didn't happen, I decided that a nice shower would do the trick.  Surely, the very act of standing would help, if nothing else.  I kicked myself free of the blankets, retrieved the handknit socks that always seem to fall from my feet during the night and staggered off to find some coffee.  The last bit of inspiration was a sure-fire way to get the old blood pumping!

Nope.  I was no less awake at the end of my morning beautification ritual that I was when I started.  Nothing helped.  All I could do was hope that my eyes worked their way up from half-mast before I got onto the highway.

I was rather surprised when I pulled into the teacher's parking area.  I know I drove there, but it's mostly a blur.  Since a parade of emergency vehicles didn't follow me to my space, I can only assume that it was an uneventful commute, but who really knows?  There very well may be a squirrel or two cursing my name somewhere out there...

This, I fee,l should help to illustrate the difference between "Morning Transition Period" and "Waking Up Tired."  Tired doesn't go away.  Tired, no matter how well you've slept, lingers.

The whole day was like that.  Sadly, my students weren't exactly on board with the whole "Ms. Sheep is very tired today and we should not spend the day being horrible in shifts so that she cannot get so much as a moment to yawn" plan.  In fact, they could not have been more coordinated in their efforts to make the most of my fatigue.  Even the kids who are normally pretty kind when they see I am a bit off my game, were snappish and ill-tempered.  This is not helpful.  This takes "tired" to a whole new level, specifically the one that involves shrieking and making empty threats.

I am tired.  The only thing I could focus on with any degree of clarity was that I wanted something.  I couldn't recall just what, but I knew there was something I'd seen recently that fit the bill.  Something...

And then, when I was loading some photos from the weekend onto the laptop, I got it.  I knew what I wanted.

This.

I want to be able to say, "Gee, I think I might be tired," and flop down wherever I might be.  I want to drop into a heavy sleep without regard for such petty things as location or relative comfort.  I want to not care who might be around or what they might think of my choice in napping spots.  I want to sleep like that.

Maybe crack one eye open when the camera flash goes off, but still not care so much...

The Very Complicated Kitty has it all together, I think.  I feel that I should study him and perhaps even write a grant which will allow me to monitor his sleepy cycles full time.  I could write a book and maybe get a special on one of those nature channels.  I'd be famous.

I'm too tired to do any of that right now, though.  I'll just sit here and be inspired by him for a while and see where we are with this tomorrow...

SA

WNBP: Feet?

Let's see...where were we?  Ah, yes!  I remember.  I was telling you all about how I had to go back to school after a week's vacation.  I know I am lucky to have a job that lets me take ample time off and whatnot, but I can't help getting a little overwhelmed by how time virtually stands still once I get back to the grind.

I mean, honestly!  What is wrong with the clock on the wall?  And that calendar isn't exactly behaving itself either!  Why don't we just go ahead with the Wednesday Night Bullet Post and see if I can't get this week into some kind of perspective?

*Four people asked me yesterday how the week could only have progressed as far as Tuesday.


*By my count, we should be somewhere into October of 2013.  


*Endless.  That's what the last quarter of the school year feels like.


*The kids have had their taste of summer even if it only came as a rainy week off in April.


*Now they are utterly done with us and our silly notions regarding the importance of education.


*Best Line Of The Day (as spoken by Spunky Girl):


Baby feet are just so cute!  My grandpa's, on the other hand...."


*You'll have to imagine the shudder that followed.  


*Or how we got on the subject of baby feet in the first place because I can't honestly recall...


*Most Disturbing Conversation Of The Day:

(the boy who is) Dark & Disturbed:  My soul is as black as night and I see no hope.  No hope whatsoever.

Ms. Sheep:  Maybe you just need to poop?  Have you pooped today?  Everyone feels better when they poop.

D&D:  Every TIME!!  Why?!


*Apparently, we have had this conversation before.


*My heel spur is killing me.  I am hobbling around like a 90 year old woman.


*The last time I had my heel spur evaluated, I was congratulated on how "minor" it was.


*I cannot even begin to imagine how graceful I'd be if my heel spur was "major."


*Makes me want to knit socks, although I have no idea how socks would help a heel spur.


*An extra layer between my foot and the world, maybe?


*I wore sandals today.  Spur didn't like that one little bit, but I felt all smart 'n springy so that was OK.


*Can't let a heel spur tell you what to do.


*Give them an inch and they take a foot...


*The Absurdly Gi-normous Kitty has a new theme song.

"Someone To Watch Over Me."

*I was able to get a good deal of reading done during school vacation week.


*Avoiding the taxes and staying out of the rain will do that, you know.


*I discovered Sandman Slim while I was cruising Amazon and looking for something to take up the slack after I finished The Naming of the Beasts.


*Apparently, I've managed to wander out of my steampunk phase and straight into urban fantasy...


*Fair Warning:  I know I spend a lot of time enjoying YA titles, but this ain't that.


*Stark has risen from the deep depths of the underworld and is a little cranky after his time in the eternal fire.


*If you like your noir with a side of "Why, oh why didn't I remember to put batteries in that flashlight?" then this will work for you. It's dark.  Very dark.


*Would also suggest that this isn't the book for those of you with strong faith-based perspectives since the author explores some other angelic motivations.


*No harm, no foul and no judgement if you don't like that sort of thing.  I just wanted to make sure I put it out there.


*I read the first book and the sequel (Kill the Dead: A Sandman Slim Novel) in two days.


*On two separate occasions I found myself sitting in a tub full of cold water and realizing that I'd managed to lose enough time that the bath had cooled.


*I still had some weekend left when I was done, so I started Ex-Heroes.


*Picture this:  Zombie apocalypse hits Los Angeles.  No big deal there.  I've already forecast this so you should know by now it's coming.  


*If you are surprised by the arrival of the walking dead, then you have no one to blame but yourselves.


*But it gets better.  Shortly before all the dead rise to eat the living, a group of people find themselves suddenly rewarded with super powers.


*Real super powers.  Picture Marvel and DC stuff.


*And then the zombies come.  We need heroes.  They do their best.


*But some will inevitably get bitten.  That's just math at work.


*Zombies.  And superheroes.  Some of whom are turned into flesh eating creatures of horror.


*Did you just get a little chill?  The really good kind?


*I did and I've been reading it for a few days now.  I'm still not over the delightful-ness of it!!!!


*I'm almost done with it, though.  Need to spend some time tonight researching new options.


*Gonna be hard to beat a grumpy escapee from Hell and a bunch of zombies battling superheroes, though...


*I have no choice.


*I need something to distract me.


*Because it is April and the clock is standing between me and June.


I'm going to sign off now and go see about finding that new book.  With any luck, I'll strike gold when I start clicking on the "if you like" recommendations.  If not, I'll just have to come up with a Plan B.

The conversations at school are beginning to center on poop and Grandpa's feet and I think we are already starting to spiral...

SA

Coping

It's always rough going back to school after a week's vacation.  It's even worse to know I'm going back for the hardest stretch of the year: the one that slogs on until we send the kids home for summer.  It's the fourth academic quarter and, perhaps, a lifesaving one for some students who weren't exactly on top of their game. Yet none of us really have much left in the way of appreciation for the whole process.  To make matters worse, this is going to be a very, very long final push. We are making up just over a week of missed days due to all the storms this past winter and no amount of "built-in" time is going to take the sting out of going to school until almost the end of June.

We all develop our own coping strategies.  It's that or start making paper clip chains and using them to escape from the third floor window.  And that never works.  Trust me.

It's really all about the coping.

Da Boyz, who let me sleep as long as I wanted for an entire week, suddenly appeared on the bed this morning, bouncing and chattering happily.  Apparently, the cats have plans and my being home was cramping their style.

I locked up the liquor and snack foods but I don't think that makes any difference.  Once they get me up and out the door, they rule the roost.

The Cheerful Teaching Assistant took one look at this day and immediately decided to lose herself in random life-changing fantasies.  She started out on some unidentified website and just started following links that might prove inspirational.  During first period, she announced that she would give anything to gain admittance to a local writing program.  She would stay at their coastal retreat a few times a year and immerse herself in the glory of the written word without the distraction of the outside world.  An hour and several links later, this plan morphed into taking an adult education class focusing on the art of growing shitake mushrooms.  By day's end, she was looking into applying for a position as an adjunct professor at a local community college.  I might be worried, but sometime around lunch she informed me that she would come back next year if I promised to can peaches for her during the summer.

The kids had a number of interesting strategies for making the trip back to school less painful.  The sixth graders avoided the whole thing entirely and didn't come at all.  Frankly, I can't say as I blame them but it made it kind of difficult to teach certain classes.  And empty room isn't much of an audience.

The Boy With The Bass-Booming Earbuds (known in the front office simply as Mayhem) worked through the morning classes but fell asleep before the noon hour arrived. Then he proceeded to wander the building for an hour or so, causing anyone who crossed his path to rethink their career choices.  After another short nap, he was ready to finish the day in a more academic manner.

As he left for the day, he called over his shoulder, "I promise to try and not get into trouble between here and my bus!"

 The Boy For Whom All The World's A Stage entered the room pontificating and kept up the chatter straight through the day.  He even talked during lunch which he eats upstairs with us so there was no break in the dialogue.  Since he gave me his apple and string cheese, I didn't feel I should say anything about it, though.

As for me, I tried to put on a sunny face.  At least for a while.  I spent the first few hours pretending I'd had a wonderful vacation, full to the brim of excitement and wonder.  When I realized that no one was buying it, I gave in and embraced my lackluster week.  A vacation is a vacation even if it's not everything you read about in the glamour magazines.  Sure, it rained most of the week, the taxes turned into a three day adventure and I had to give a check (one I sincerely hope will the the last) to my Professional Worrier, but it could have been worse.

 I got to stay up late and watch TV and there was no alarm clock to bug me in the morning except for that time I set it by accident and almost died of horror when I thought I had to go to work.  I stripped a good chunk of the wallpaper that the Very Complicated Kitty declared unacceptable and started removing for me.  I even took advantage of the two hours of sun that peeked through one day and shampooed the carpets while the windows could stay open.

And I got my hair cut.  Which means visiting The World's Greatest Stylist And Life Coach.

And that, in turn, means I get cookies and flowers.

What's that?  You don't get flowers and cookies when you see your stylist?  Well, that's odd.  Have you tried knitting her something?  Or giving her crochet lessons?  The kind that don't go very well, but are fun anyway?  You should maybe do that.  There's freesias and Dutch cookies involved, if my experience is any indication.  What the heck...it couldn't hurt.  Give it a shot.  Who knows?

That was a nice thing to have happen at the end of school vacation week and being full of cookies is always a better way to go back to the grind, in my opinion.  It's certainly better than being full of broccoli and bitterness, at any rate.

In fact, freesias and cookies are probably the best coping strategy I've come up with to date...

SA