Meme

I saw this on Karen's blog today and thought it was fun. Give it a try if you want.

I AM...very tired. It's only 8pm, but we had a late night, and not in the good way. More on that another day.

I WANT...a glass of wine and the cupboard is bare. :(

I HAVE...baked curried chicken ready to go on the grill for the finishing touches as soon as Mike walks in the door. Because it's organic and free-range, I might have a little taste.

I KEEP...a bag of Hersey's Dark Chocolate Kisses hidden in the back of the fridge so that I can have one every once in a while.

I WISH I COULD...become a professional world traveler.

I HATE...when people lie, and yesterday, I listened to a whole lot of lies.

I FEAR...that my mom isn't going to like her new place. (She's moving.)

I HEAR...TV in the background but not much else. Nobody home but me.

I DON'T THINK...I will have any trouble sleeping tonight. My eyes are drooping now.

I REGRET...things that I don't plan on posting here.

I LOVE...my husband and children. Sometimes they drive me nuts, but I wouldn't want to live without them.

I AM NOT...hungry, even though the chicken smells wonderful.

I DANCE...like a dork for my classes sometimes to express my happiness when they do something right. I do the Cabbage Patch, the Running Man, or some equally old goofy dance to make them laugh while I whoop it up for their accomplishments.

I SING...every day of my life. Can't imagine not singing.

I NEVER...wear flip-flops; they are the world's most uncomfortable shoes to me.

I RARELY...wear dresses, other than very special occasions.

I CRY WHEN I WATCH...sad and silly romantic comedies.

I AM NOT ALWAYS...a great housekeeper. I get pissed when no one else seems to care if the house is clean or not, so I periodically go on strike.

I HATE THAT...gas costs too much, requiring us to take staycations instead of vacations. Like Karen, I also hate that House is not on TV all year.

I'M CONFUSED ABOUT...plans for tomorrow. I thought the day was planned out, but now everything's up in the air.

I NEED...a massage. For about an hour. At least.

I SHOULD...go chop up some veggies to steam as a side dish for dinner.

Laugh Out Loud

I stumbled this and found it one of the funniest things I've read in a long time. If you have housebroken pets or potty-trained children, you can definitely relate:

Whose Poop Is This?

Rotten Apple Update

While both boys were arrested, apparently they are both in the queue to come back to school, back to my class, after some time in OSS. Kid #2, I'm OK with having him in my class. Kid #1: no fucking way. I am going to insist that he's moved out of my class, for both my sake and his. How can he possibly ever blend into the class after an outburst like that? He will always feel like I'm out to get him, and you know what, he would be right. I do not want to teach him and I won't.

Rotten Apple

Having had a sore throat for a week, I finally went to the doctor today; turns out I have strep. The antibiotics are upsetting my tummy. As long as I'm awake in the middle of the night, I might as well tell you about the incident at school yesterday.

Out of the 120 or so kids that I teach, there are bound to be a couple of rotten apples, right? Well, one of those rotten apples has been giving me a hard time since the first day of school. His initial impression was not good, and he hasn't done anything to try to change that. He comes to class late, he talks while I'm talking, he refuses to do any work, etc. Yesterday, however, he went off the deep end for no apparent reason.

After coming to class late again, he was sitting there talking to another kid when he was supposed to be working on an assignment. I gave him the "get busy" look once or twice, and finally, I said, "It would be in your best interest to open your book and get to work." He replied:

"Well, it would be in your best interest to suck my dick."

:::thud:::

Believe it or not, I handled it fairly calmly. I told him that I would not tolerate him speaking to me that way and instructed him to pack up his stuff and wait outside the door, while I send a referral to the office. As he was getting up, he was still mouthing off, "What the fuck ever. I didn't want to be in here anyway."

Unfortunately, at this point, another student decided he didn't want anyone talking to Ms. B this way, and proceeded to jump into the matter with both feet: "You better shut the fuck up before I kick your fucking ass!" He got out of his seat and pushed the other student, while I hurried to the call button on the wall and asked for an administrator to come to my room. As the rest of my class looked on with open mouths, the two kept at it, verbally, for the most part, until the administrator arrived and took them to the office. However, apparently once they got to the office, the real fight broke out and they were both arrested.

I feel bad for the second kid. While he didn't handle the situation appropriately, at least his intentions were honorable. I have no idea what makes some kids think they have the right to talk to an adult that way; I can't think of one boy from my high school (back in the day) that would have ever told a teacher to suck his dick. They might have gotten mad, and they might have thought it, but they wouldn't have said it.

Mangia Monday

According to my package of Alessi Pasta Fazool, there is a saying in Southern Italy that states, “Sette cose fa la zuppa,” which translates to “Soup does seven things. It relieves your hunger, quenches your thirst, fills your stomach, cleans your teeth, makes you sleep, helps you digest, and colors your cheeks.” I don’t know about all of that, but I do love soup, and the soup mix from Alessi is delicious. I made some tonight and served it up with grilled provolone cheese sandwiches. Wish you had been here.

On another cooking note, here's the salad I'm having for lunch tomorrow:

Garbanzo Salad

1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained (about 1½ cups)
¾ cup grape tomatoes, halved
2-3 quarters marinated artichoke hearts, chopped fine
¾ cup sliced green and black olives
¼ cup finely chopped green onions
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Grated Parmesan (optional)

In a medium bowl, place garbanzos, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives, onions, feta, and parsley. In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and pour mixture over salad, tossing gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate until chilled. Serve with a garnish of grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Good stuff.

Zzzz

That's what I must be doing. Just got home from a long day at school, followed by dinner out with friends. I should have been home hours ago, grading papers, cleaning the horror that is my kitchen, getting clothes ready for school tomorrow...but whaddyagonnado? You'll have that sometimes. Hope you all had a happy hump day!

New Math?

Consider this new rubric for assessing mastery of the performance standards for American literature, as created by one of the senior teachers in my department. Students will be given a choice of test forms, ranging from easy to difficult, and may demonstrate "mastery" as shown below. Does anyone else have a problem with the number of correct answers required to earn, for instance, a 70, particularly on the two more challenging forms? Am I simply refusing to play well others?

Form A (Easy)
_____ Five of Eight Standards Met 70%
_____ Six of Eight Standards Met 80%
_____ Seven of Eight Standards Met 90%
_____ Eight of Eight Standards Met 100%

Form C (Average)
_____ Four of Eight Standards Met 70%
_____ Five of Eight Standards Met 80%
_____ Six of Eight Standards Met 90%
_____ Seven of Eight Standards Met 100%

Form Ch (Difficult)
_____ Three of Eight Standards Met 70%
_____ Four of Eight Standards Met 80%
_____ Five of Eight Standards Met 90%
_____ Six of Eight Standards Met 100%

Monday Meme

Get your creative juices flowing, with a meme. Or just repost it because you can't think of anything else at the moment. Not that I would do that.

1) If you could have any number of siblings, how many would you have, and of what gender? I wouldn't change this. I have two brothers and a sister. All I would change is the amount of time I get to spend with the siblings I love.

2) When was the time in your life when you felt the most repressed? When I living at home while in college, I felt repressed, oppressed, and depressed.

3) What's the best thing to do right after sex? Wake Mike up and tell him how great it was. Hoho, I made a funny. Actually, the best thing is to fall into comfortable, lazy sleep.

4) Which phobias do you have? I only have one -- snakes completely freak me out. I don't even like to see them on TV.

5) Show and Tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or, tell a story if it reminds you of one.



I imagine ants march through sand, creating their own lovely dunes. (Yes, I know it's not sand, smartass.)

1966

Borrowing Em's idea (that she borrowed from Persephone), I went to Flickr and typed in a year. I chose 1966, since that is the year I was born. Today is my birthday. This photo intrigued me; therefore I'm posting it here, even though all rights are reserved. Photographer Rory MacLean, please forgive me!

Haiku for Children

Wrote this haiku over at Nina's and wanted to put it here, too:

Children want to play
Peace in Kabul is shattered
Scars of war run deep

Good Morning

For a long time, I blogged every single day. However, it seems like those days are gone. Haha. Life has certainly sped up since school started -- and it's only been a week!

My classes are great right now; no real discipline issues to speak of, and I'm staying on top of grades fairly well. I do have a batch of papers to read from my creative writing class, but those are fun. We're doing much more paperwork this year, and I fear that's going to be my downfall, keeping up with all those deliverables. Working on it!

I've been bringing my lunch every day, having decided I was not going to eat cafeteria lunch. I started doing this during pre-planning, and one of the other teachers got so excited about the idea that she is paying me to bring hers as well. She gives me $20 a week, which more than covers the cost of ingredients, and it's not that big of a deal to make 2 lunches instead of 1. This is helpful to me because it gives me the extra push to stay committed to this idea. Her doctor has warned her that her obesity is spiraling out of control, but because she lives alone and swears she can't cook, she eats frozen dinners and fast food all of the time. Thanks to me, she's eating healthy, low-fat, homemade lunches at least.

A couple days ago, I spoke about this idea of universal truth as a writing assignment for my class. One of my universal truths is "When people show you what they are made of, believe them." My life experiences have taught me that most people don't really change; what you see is what you get. For example, my husband is a simple, straightforward kind of guy. I am wasting my time and upsetting myself if I think his words contain some hidden meaning or that there is something he's not telling me, and admittedly, I have created my own drama with him in the past, until I learned to just take him at his word. He's a keeper, one I can trust with my whole heart, and I don't have to "wait for the other shoe to fall." Conversely, I've met people that were trouble from the start, and I knew it, but I convinced myself that making them part of my life might turn out to be better than I thought. Nope. Definitely not.

I enjoyed reading about your "universal truths" as well. It's interesting what we learn as we walk around this blue marble, isn't it?

Terse Tuesday

Go read the unbelievable family mess that Dagny is living thru, and offer some words of encouragement and/or advice if you can.

Oh, and my "universal truth" is "When people show you what they're made of, believe them." I will develop this idea fully tomorrow, when I'm not so tense. My to-do list is too long at the moment!

Manic Monday Quickie

I'm home from my exhausting trip to SC (countless hours sitting in the hospital room, sleeping on a couch for 2 nights, 9 total hours of driving), but other than being very tired, everything is great. Mom is doing much better and is probably being released as I write this. She will still be on antibiotics, but well enough to finish recuperating at home.

My classes are going unbelievably well at school, which is a nice feeling. In fact, everything at school seems to be going smoothly; you can't make everyone happy, but overall, the mood at school is better than last year, for certain. Just getting the freshmen out of the building and into their new academy has been an improvement. I'm having a blast with my creative writing class -- right now we're writing about "universal truths."

Which leads me to YOUR first assignment, if you want to play along. In the comments section here, write about something you consider to be a universal truth for you, based on your life experiences. For example, have you found the phrase "nice guys finish last" to be a truth for you?

Don't want to play? That's OK, but I do know at least one of my blog buddies asked for this. :)

Weekend Road Trip

I'm headed out of town to see Mom in the hospital today. I will be leaving right after school -- hope you guys have a great weekend.

Mom

is doing GREAT, and is convinced the doctors are going to let her go home tomorrow or Saturday. She's still on antibiotics, but can continue that from home. Fingers crossed.

Great First Day

What a smooth first day. Only one student was ejected from my classroom, and as bad as it was to have to throw someone out the first day, at least it gave me the opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of the class that Ms. B doesn't play games. On the first day of school, this cracker fine, young man is interrupting me, disrespecting me, using profanity toward other students, and threatening another student? Oh, no, we won't have any of that.

I loved my creative writing class, and even managed to scare off a couple. I convinced the ones who absolutely do not want to write that they would be better served by another elective, no hard feelings, and gave them all drop/add forms. This is good news because the guidance counselors had stacked this class with 30 students -- if this were a college creative writing course, OK maybe you could do 30, but a high school class? C'mon. There is no way I can conduct a class the way I want to with 30 people in there, many of whom do not enjoy writing. However, the rest of the people seem terrific, and it's my last class of the day, so I couldn't be happier.

Tomorrow may be a whole new ballgame, but it feels good to start the year with optimism. Feel free to take note if and when my enthusiasm declines. :::wink:::

I'm off to do my daily check-in with Mom. 'Til tomorrow...

Hump Day Quickie

Mom continues to improve, little by little. Thanks for all the support.

School starts tomorrow -- yipes.

I got hot, and got frustrated with my hair, and felt spontaneous. I went to a stylist that I've never seen before, and told her how much I wanted cut off. She cut off about 4 times as much as I asked...and uh...I haven't had my hair this short since I was 15. It will take some getting used to.

I'm beat. Time for bed.

Finally, Good News

Best of all: Mom has been deemed "much improved" over the past 24 hours and was moved from CCU to a regular, private room. The blockage is moving and no more vomiting. She is still undergoing antibiotic treatment for the sepsis, but she is improving. She was actually laughing and joking on the phone with me today, which is GREAT.

Michael has a cute, red cast and isn't in pain anymore, now that his arm is immobilized.

Despite the fact that it was one big cluster fuck, Open House 2008 is over, and I lived to tell about it. I met some of my students and their parents; one more staff development day before students return to school. There's not a working copier in the building, but by God, school starts anyway.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. It's nice to have all of you in my court.

Post 2

Michael's arm is broken and we have to take him to the orthopedist tomorrow. Can you believe it?

And even more about Mom

You know that cross-stitchable expression, "God never gives you more than you can handle?" Well, sometimes I think the holy one overestimates people. Hoho. Humor.

Today brought yet another challenge for my mother. She now has a blockage in her colon and has been vomiting practically nonstop since this morning. She isn't eating, so basically at this point, it's just bile and/or mucus from her lungs. That's probably not a detail you wanted, but there you go anyway. Next stop, feeding tube and possibly surgery, if needed.

Can we review for a minute the things that have happened since May?

My son broke the growth plate in his thumb. (Money and worry)
My daughter was arrested for shoplifting, requiring mediation fees and sentencing by the juvenile court. (Money and worry)
My air conditioning died in the 98-degree weather, costing me over $4K to replace. (MORE MONEY)
I developed a case of shingles. (pain and frustration)
My daughter had to go to summer school, which cost me $250. (MORE MONEY)
My sister had to have emergency gall bladder surgery. (Worry)
My mom is abruptly sicker than she's been in the 7 years since she was diagnosed with COPD. (Worry, worry, worry)
Did I mention my son got hurt (again) playing football last night, and we're waiting on the x-ray results, and praying that it's not broken? (worry and money)

My mental stress tends to manifest physically. My stomach is jumpy, my head is pounding, and there's a knot in my right shoulder blade. I imagine weed would be helpful right now if I was into that sort of thing, but I'm not, so...I'm practicing the breathing exercises recommended by my headologist. If I breathe any more, I'm going to hyperventilate.

I went back to work today, also, and the staff development meetings today with our new principals didn't do much to ease my stress.

Here's the statement that sticks most in my craw, a direct quote to the best of my recollection:

A zero is not an appropriate consequence when a student doesn't do his work. The student must learn that a zero won't be given because he WILL do his work, even if it means staying after school in detention or coming to school on Saturday. [Understand, this means I most devote even MORE of my time to those students who don't want to learn.] You must notify the parents if the student fails to complete an assignment, you must issue a detention, or a discipline referral for repeated failure to complete an assignment, but you really should not give zeros.

Call me old school, but I believe high schoolers should be capable of doing their assignments, and if they choose not to, they should be given a zero. Zero work = zero in the gradebook. You may thank No Child Left Behind for the "no zeros" policy. After all, we can't let kids fail. Even if they are failing. No failure. Failure is bad. Passing them along when they have no academic schools is good. Are we all clear on this policy?

My brain is going to explode.

Sepsis

Mom's lung infection has spread to her bloodstream. Her blood pressure dropped to 110/40. However, that being said, she seems to be responding very well to treatment. She is coughing and breaking up the congestion in her lungs. When she first arrived at the ER, she was somewhat dehydrated and had poor kidney function; that's improving with all of the fluids they are giving her. She is bitching about how bad the food is, which is a sign of normalcy to me -- she'd rather have a cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke. I've decided to go through with this first week of school, but go to SC next weekend.

Amazingly enough, I am not feeling guilty about not being there right now; I know she's in good hands and that my being there won't make any difference. Also, she has said she doesn't want everyone lurking around the hospital when we all have jobs and other responsibilities. I'm taking her at her word and doing what I need to do.

Thanks for all the supportive comments. I appreciate it, everyone.

Mom Update

During the night, they transported my mother by ambulance to the VA hospital in Columbia. They have determined that her right lung is infected; therefore, she is getting breathing treatments and antibiotics in the PCU. Her blood pressure shot up to scary, near-stroke level last night when they were transporting her, but that part is stable now. When I spoke to her on the phone a while ago, she sounded pretty bad, but not as bad as I was expecting. The breathing treatments are doing their thing (along with Karen's pink bubbles, Julie's prayer and alcohol, and all the rest of our collective "good thoughts").

Meanwhile, Mom says, "They are treating me like a queen." Between the morphine, comfy bed, air-conditioned room, and "room service," she seems to be as chipper as she can possibly be, given the circumstances. She said they told her that anyone who arrives by ambulance in the middle of the night is a celebrity, so she's getting star treatment. The only thing she wants right now is a large glass of ice-cold Coke, but that, she can't have. She's diabetic and they won't let her have it. (She drinks it all the time at home, refusing to drink diet Coke).

I'm going to be working up my first month of lesson plans, just in case I do need to go out of town, but for now, staying home seems sensible. Unless there is an emergency, I have to report to work on Monday. However, and if she remains in the hospital, I will leave Friday after work and go for a weekend visit. One foot in front of the other -- that's all I can do at the moment.

Breathe

My mom, who has COPD, is having some kind of severe, unexpected attack, starting around 10am today. Her blood-oxygen sats have dropped dangerously low, she's in a great deal of pain, and her lungs are evidently filling up with fluid. My sister called 911 earlier today when Mom's symptoms developed, and after spending the day in the ER, Mom's been admitted because the doctors can't get her breathing under control. The doctors have already done a CT scan, but they won't do any further testing until they get her stabilized. They don't know what spurred this sudden attack; it could possibly be an embolism, but we just don't know yet. After other pain medications failed, they started her on morphine, which she declared, "Works really well," before she drifted off. I'm 6 hours away, so for now, I'm just being updated by phone until we know more.

Dammit. Y'all know the drill already. Pray. Meditate. Drink. Do what you do, please.