I Pulled a Penny...

Yesterday, as cleaning the bathroom, I dusted my soap.



First, I have to admit that I do in fact have decorative soap. After much teasing and hassling my mother gave me an extra decorative soap she just happened to have on hand. I am normally foursquare against decorative soap. What is the point of having a bar of soap in pretty paper sitting uselessly on the counter? However, my husband found this really cool marble soap dish, that he says you can't put soap in because it will ruin it. So what do you do with a soap dish you can't put soap in? Fill it with decorative soap.
And then, when you clean the bathroom, you might notice that a bit of dust has settled atop the decorative wrappings, and that is when you dust your decorative soap. Penny, you should be so proud.

A Day of Silence

I'm sitting here hacking up my left lung. I am sure it's my left because I can't breath out of my left nostril. Ok TMI - already.

Today was an interesting day of teaching, as I had to do so with no voice. This morning they were sympathetic, patient, and a little disbelieving that I really couldn't talk louder than a barely audible 12 inch whisper. But as I struggled to explain they did their best to jump in and help.
- They made random announcements, "SHE says we only have 3 minutes and it's too loud! Right? (he turns back to me) that's what you wanted me to say?"
- They read my lips as I handed out books - a choral of voices trying to distinguish between "Hannah" and "Madi", apparently those look the same when silently mouthed.
- They read my hand signals
- Took over the class novel
- And sent the kids out to recess when their work was done....

By the end of first recess their sympathy was generally gone, and Art became a bit of a fiasco attempting to teach using only pictures (thank heavens I had my slide show ready to go). And I
am not sure any of them know how to properly say "Achromatic" but oh well, who could correct them....


Things seemed to get worse after lunch and the throbbing in my sinuses wiped out my brain function. After 5 minutes of whispered explanation (we really looked silly gathered in this incredibly tight group trying to explain my notes on the board - not really good for the germ thing) I went to typing the rest of the days instructions. They read aloud as I wrote, they got really close to me to listen to my one word answers, and took the liberty of shouting out, " It's just too loud!" without me having to say a word.

But I survived, I even survived a whispered rehearsal this morning where everyone got so used to hearing me whisper, they started whispering their lines - I had to remind them they could actually talk.

Now, if only it was Friday and I didn't have to attempt to do this for two more days... I could call in sick, like most people do if they're sick. But I'd have to start making lesson plans now, and drive to school tomorrow to get out the papers and make copies, and make 10 phone calls to find a sane sub, and scratch the day for any possible learning, so I guess I'll just go to work.

2 Issues...

1. For some reason my dashboard is not updating with everyone's new blog post, and it's irritating. And I don't think it's showing my posts on others dashboards either - stupid! And I don't know why.

2. I feel bad for Thanksgiving! I am NOT one of those people who decorate early (or hardly at all), or turn on the lights mid-November, or get out the Christmas music in October, or start shopping in August. I'm not. Because I feel bad for Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday that focuses on food and family, yes food in the forefront, but always enjoyed by family. I think it is ridiculous that we have become so overly obsessed with Christmas that we no longer take the time to appropriately celebrate Thanksgiving. Instead we (mostly meaning my overly-decorated Mother) put away the Thanksgiving decorations away the week before Thanksgiving and fill the house with Christmas. Then on 'the day' we spend hours enveloped in Black Friday ads, pushing the start of the Christmas season to a ridiculous 3 AM.
I enjoy the spirit of Thanksgiving. I like spending hours cooking and preparing in a crowded kitchen, busying the kids making paper turkeys for place cards, and lounging exhausted on the couch afterward. I also enjoy Black Friday, and the beginning of the holiday season. But I sure to do wish that Christmas would wait its turn, and let Thanksgiving have its moment in the spotlight.PS - When I searched "Happy Thanksgiving" to find above picture, there on the screen were a smattering of turkeys, and a big fat "Merry Christmas".

Such a slacker....

Yup, I've become a hypocrite. Hassling people about not updating their blog, and then not doing it myself. I've thought about it, many times, but always found something more important to do. In fact, right now, I have many more important things to do, but I just don't want to.

I was up at 5 AM trying to finish last minute grading and getting report cards ready to print.... 3 and a half hours later is was the start of a busy day including making one dessert (I really should try planning and a recipe, oh well), grocery store, gas, acquiring 60 binders for the bargain price of 70 cents a piece, and relaxing for a couple of hours while "showering" Jessica with baby fun (or maybe traumatizing her, geez hens, you don't have to share ALL the gory details...) I came home to mud and tape the "shop" (AKA 4th bedroom) while Art put up the last sheets of dry-wall, fortunately I'm a fast mudder than he is dry-waller so I got to clean the upstairs while I waited for the next sheet, all this while managing to get 5 loads of laundry done (how two people produce 5 loads of laundry I will never know), which I just folded while I ate dinner.
And that is why I don't want to do the more important things, like prepare for the presentation on Monday, or write the three papers I need to, or finish my SEP forms, or plan the next week, or block scene 2, or write the 5 pages I am not behind on... or... or.... It just goes on.
And that is why I do not update my blog, because it always becomes a giant vent, and who really wants to read that...
My next entry: Why the 5th Grade team is considering early retirement? Or moving to Guam.... (Libbi you may want to skip this one, it's not good for your future career.)

And the chaos begins...

Tomorrow begins the first day of my 13th school musical...
It is always an exciting and terrifying endeavor that takes much planning and a whole lot of of chaos.
We begin with our 2nd through 4th grade auditions. I have 117 kids signed up to attend. They will be showing up around 7:30 to sign in and begin learning a one minute song and dance. We then perform in groups of about 10, followed by a minute of standing in line while I madly write down notes. Having done this quite a few times, I have a pretty good system, but no matter how organized or prepared I am, it never works out exactly as planned. There are bound to be papers that are forgotten, resulting in kids that can't audition. Mom's that wait anxiously at the doors the ENTIRE audition so their 2nd grader can come out and say, "it went fine."
Thursday I audition 5-6th graders, about 70. And Friday anyone brave enough to sing a solo brings their big 30 seconds and gives us their everything.
The casting process is never easy. Cutting a 7 year old is heart breaking no matter who you are. But I'm one person, with my faithful assistant (another teacher I've suckered into helping me) and we can only handle so many kids. The hardest part is explaining to parents (yes, parents, not kids) that life is actually not fair, and sometimes you don't get what you want.
In real life, not everyone gets a trophy.

Meetings...

I had 12 meetings last week.
12.
I don't work in the business world where you might have a meeting before lunch and another after lunch and then call it a day.
I work in the education world where you say, "Sure I'll come in at 8 for a meeting and then stay until 6 for another meeting, and yes I'll still work for 8 hours somewhere in the middle there."
I had 5 meetings on one day.
I didn't get home until after 9 - twice.
And that's just meetings... I taught, important stuff... like 5 part essays, 4 strategies to multiply, the routes of the top 12 most important explorers, how to discuss a book in 5 minutes, and lots of other things that I can't remember because I can only remember stupid meetings!!!!
And it was midterms.
And 5th grade is hard.
MUCH harder than 4th grade.
And 5th grade teachers are too hard on students. (Revise that - I (the mean Mrs. Reina) am too hard on 5th graders.)
Deal with it. 5th grade is hard.

So when you're scheduling your meetings, don't pick "the second Tuesday" or "the second Thursday"...try a different week, or try an email, or just skip the meeting idea all together.

Sorry to complain, I would report on other aspects of my life, but I don't have any.

I grew a watermelon!
It was my first, and it's real, and tastes good.

I am a gardener. I love to plant, and dig and all that stuff. I have had very succesful tomato plants, and even grew some peppers this year. I've been able to take lunch from the garden every day this year, and take homemade salsa to Sunday dinner several times.
I planted the watermelon on a whim.
I have a LARGE yard. I have a SMALL flower budget. So I stretch with lots of 'starts' and fill with the garden. I had a large blank spot in a hard-to-grow area, so I decided to try a watermelon, if nothing else the vine would be green and lovely.
This morning Rudy and I were out playing ball when I noticed my watermelon vine had finally frozen, but there in it's blackened remains was my only melon. It was about the size of a cantoulope, and had great green color. I wasn't sure if it was ripe, or ready, but I knew it would rot if I didn't pick it, so I did.
Tonight I cut into it to find a beautiful little melon, sweet and delicious. I grew a watermelon! Hooray!