Let the Party Commence

The family is getting into the birthday season.  February kicks it off with my sister-in-law's birthday and then boom....3 in April...2 in May....4 in June (including 3 anniversaries)....2 in July...1 in November and 1 in December.  Whew!

On Sunday we went out to eat to celebrate the brother in law's BD at his favorite steakhouse chain.  I have a new favorite there-- not beef but salmon. Oh my gosh....so good.

Another party is happening in public schools across Texas-- just don't ask the 4th, 5th, or 6th graders about this party!  Standardized testing = yuck for them.  On Friday we had a pep rally to kick off the STAAR test.  Believe it or not.  Years ago, when Career Girl was a little girl, she made herself sick worried about the test.  The school hyped it up.  They even had a pep rally.  We still have the pencil....somewhere.  A local pediatrician said she sees more cases of pediatric anxiety during state testing.  Such a sad cycle.

Hope you are all well, Grainiacs.  Especially you teaching grainiacs.  God bless you!

Oh Hell

Where is time going?  Slow down. I have reading and finals to do.  I have a church presentation to give.  I have a son to get packed and home.  I have too many things to do before my own graduation!

It seems like I just took this library gig and now I am counting down the days till it's over.  So unreal.

As you all know Thursday is my hell day at work.  It seems every class from Kinder to 6th are problem children (okay, it could be me too!!!) but my day was going pretty well for a hell day!  Until my last class.....oy vey...hell day was back on target.  I confess.  I cried.  It was horrible.  I kept thinking "one more month....one more freakin' month."

But this morning was a new day.  I'm an optimist that way.  And I greeted all the teachers and principal with a smile and a cheery "Hello!"  During my morning, my favorite little students came in.  They brighten my day.  They come in every morning before class to check out books.  every.. morning.  Yet, this morning was different.  One little girl came up to me with a container and said "I always give something to my favorite teachers."

Pringles makes everything better!

Can I just say I was humbled and delighted and squealed like a little girl.  Thank you, Lord, for this little blessing wrapped up in a can of Pringles from a smiling cutie.  Thank. You!!!

oh the routine of it all

Every morning since taking an "out of the home" job (let's face it; staying home is a job too, only you don't get paid weekly or monthly!) I have established certain routines.  Wake, shower, get dressed, clean up doggie presents (ugh), feed animals, feed me, fix lunch if I haven't prepared it the night before, blog, check emails or Fb (if time allows), get in car and go to work.  Repeat.  What has NOT been a routine has been once I return home.  Well, I shouldn't say that; my routine is to flop on the couch or easy chair and sit in a vegetative state staring at a big black box that transports me to others' lives.  I can laugh at the shenanigans of the Pritchett and Dumfy families on Modern Family; or relate (too much to my liking) of the Heck Family (The Middle).  All in all, I know they are created families and usually by the end of the episode-- resolution.  Not so much in real life.  My routine continues in the morning, but my afternoons and evenings are complete wasted time.

Don't get me wrong: I WANT to do better, but my mind and body are not cooperating right now.  Maybe it is because deep down I think "I'll have time" to get my act together.  I'm still fairly young, I can do it.  But what if this is my "act."  What if I'm going to continue to be a slug from 4:45- 10:00 pm? 

I have been playing a mind game with myself.  In my 40's I thought "I have time."  Now that I'm in my 50's I still keep telling myself "I have time."  Each morning I resolve to do better with my time and each afternoon I think "screw it!"

This past Monday I decided to take my library classes by the horns.  These poor kids have not had any routine in this library since the former librarian retired.  They had a substitute for one month and then they had me (the "permanent" substitute) who had no idea what she was doing.  Since taking the job, we have had "practice" state testing, "for real" state testing, spring break, Easter break, half-days, events that turn my scheduling upside down--like the time I had prepared the library for usual 2nd grade time, only to see the 5th graders standing at the door.  Never a dull moment and one to keep the blood pressure on a high!  For the past 2 days I have had a heart to heart talk with the students and told them from now on this is where we will sit and this is what you can expect each time you come to the library.  Unfortunately I had to follow through with a threat I have given-- I sent a kid to the office!  I felt bad for a second and then told the next class, I felt bad but now I'm a pro.  Don't push me!!!  (LOL)

So let's hear it for routines.  They are our friends. And don't forget to follow through.  May you have a routine kind of day, Grainiacs!

Psychic Strawberry

Just call me Psychic Strawberry because I knew it.  I JUST KNEW IT!!!!!  What did I know, you ask?  Let me start at the beginning.  Foreseeing the future (with the help of the school district calendar and countless emails about the STAAR testing) I realized I had not gotten an assignment, for example monitoring the halls, lunch duty, recess, etc) so I whipped out an email on Friday asking the asst principal about it.  No reply.  Weekend comes and no reply.  Monday Crazy Morning, I track her down (am I an idiot?  Why didn’t I hide under my desk???) and of course she was crazy busy and said she would think about it after she had taken care of whatever she was doing.  I went back to the library to hide and shelve books and straighten up a tad although that had been taken care of the week before!  Wish I could get that kind of energy when it came to housecleaning.

Anywho, a resource person comes in and says the principal wants me to get the books in numerical order so it will be easier to inventory.  Uh, but we still have 2 months of classes, I think to myself.  Realistically I realize this is busy work because they forgot to hand out an assignment to the sub librarian.  They DID think to hire substitutes for that day! HA  So I sat in the library most of the day (until it was time for lunch duty! Ugh) and squinted and pulled out books looking for those little numbers that are mostly faded and counted.

Here is what the majority of the shelves looked like after I finished.

And here is what they looked like yesterday after classes!  Yep.  It's gonna be a long April month.  I'm psychic, ya know!!



 

 

Hooky...Repeat

I am playing hooky again only this time I am planning to storm my dentist's office.  Several months ago my partial crown fell off.  I went to this "new" dentist and he glued it back on.  As expected it fell off again.  I had told the office to get the paperwork going for a full fledged crown.  Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago.  At work I was eating a piece of cheese on the other side of my mouth and I immediately knew something was wrong...like a piece of me had popped out.  Sure enough part of my tooth came off.  I texted Hubby and said make an appointment "preferably in the evening or on the weekend."  My appointment was over a month later!  That day another sliver of tooth came off.  I have been calling the office ever since.  Last weekend I got a call from the office saying he could see me on Thursday.  Hubby overhears the conversation and says "That is Maundy Thursday!"  (Sidebar: we have a very meaningful Maundy Thursday/ Good Friday evening meal and service.)

I reply "Yeah, and this is my tooth!!"  (This is my second post saying "I think God will understand."  I sure hope so!!!)

Yesterday was Monday....my appointment on Thursday....at school state testing is going on....last night while I was gingerly brushing my teeth a h.u.g.e. chunk of tooth came out!!!!  If you know me, you know that is cause for gagging and panicking and getting extremely mad!

This morning I whipped out an apology email to the Principal and Asst. Principal saying I was parking my butt (okay, I didn't use THAT exact word) at the dentist's office and I'm not leaving till I have something done to this tooth or at least a guard or something.  Can we say "oh I'm so sorry, Strawberry, we will have to extract the tooth and you'll need to get a nice implant...for a reasonable price, of course!" ugh

So that's my day.  I sure hope they received my email this morning.  I marked it "high priority."  I'm getting pretty good at this hooky thing, wouldn't you say?

  P.S.  If you haven't done it already, make an appointment with your dentist.  Don't be a strawberry!  

Playing hooky

Question: is that how you spell "hook-y?" Hookie?  I have seen old recipes where cookie is spelled "cooky."  Or is it "cookey?"  Ooooh shiny....or is it "shiney?"  hahahaha...I'll stop, I promise.

That is why I am playing hooky today.  I think God will understand.  My life since February has been full steam ahead.  My first month of work was total sickness.  I was lucky to drive home and crawl onto the couch and sleep.  Being a stay-at-home wife and mommy really made for a lazy-day kind of woman.  Yes, I was crazy-busy, but I could get my stuff done in a Scarlett O-Hara kind of way.  Fiddly-dee, I'll think about that tomorrow! Or over the weekend; or next month; or....now what was I planning to do???  

Yesterday the youth and I walked in the 2nd annual Child Abuse Prevention Walk/Run (crawl).  Boy and I woke up at dark-thirty and we all drove 1 hour and 15 minutes away to participate.  One of our youth came in FIRST place overall in the run.  I was very proud of all of us whether we ran/walked the 5k or ran/walked the 1 mile.  My sister-in-law and brother-in-law work so tirelessly to make sure Texas is aware of the prevention of child abuse.  God bless them.

Saturday would have been a good day to get myself together and get some much needed house cleaning done.  But that didn't happen!  Instead today I am using the peace and quiet of the house to clean, and pray, and wash clothes, and shine my sink, and blog.  As an extrovert I thrive on people but every once in a while, I need to defrag and keep to myself.  My graini-aunt can vouch for me when I say I was a VERY. very. shy little girl.  Something happened when we moved to Brownsville, TX... I snapped or hatched out of my shell or something because I have been a talker ever since.  HA....blame it on preteen moving.

So there.  That's my confession this morning.  I am taking a hooky day. This is my sabbath. Amen.

Bucky!

If you live in Texas, you have probably heard about Bucky's.  I remember first hearing about this little rodent when Boy was in Cub Scouts and we were heading to Corpus Christi to spend the night on the Lexington.  The Scout Dad driving said "let's stop off at Bucky's."  Now it is a favorite and most popular spot for travelers.  I try to avoid them now.  Not worth the wait. I'm traveling which means I want my gas and my drink pronto.  Port Lavaca has a smaller Bucky's.  I stopped...no waiting...in and out just like I like.

My Spring Break went by really fast.  I'm already back at school....that's how fast it went!  I had an opportunity to stay with a friend in San Antonio.  We went to an amazing restaurant (I forget the name which is probably a good thing (( check out my photo)) ).  I ordered a chicken fried steak.  Here's what I got....1/2 a cow.

uh hello?  may I have 4 forks, please.  This is a meal to share!

Also during my Spring Break I had the happy opportunity to participate in a women's conference and actually led a workshop twice!  We all are asked to volunteer for certain jobs during the event.  I chose driving "Miss Daisy" (plural) around in a golf cart.  As a teen this was my first set of wheels.  Brought back many memories of Dad and golfing and golf carts....and Dad.  :)

Workshop leaders are asked to introduce their workshop.  I came with props.   HA!

Of course!\

P.S.  happy Graini-aunt day!