Baby Fat

Since we've had our new "fun times" administration, our staff has been given many duties that make us want to slit our wrists. One of my duties is making sure nobody kills each other in line during breakfast. It's very exciting.

But one thing I've noticed by spending time in the cafeteria is what these kids are eating every morning. Crap...junk...garbage...SUGAR! What are these people thinking?? To give a kid lucky charms, a donut, and chocolate milk?? Now, I know I'm no Slim Sally, but come on! It's no wonder a good 60% of the kids at my school are overweight when they start off their day like that.

Oh let's not stop there...Lunch.

A typical day at lunch consists of processed chicken nuggets, or processed fish, or processed beef...get the idea? With a side of instant mashed potatoes, corn, and smiley fries. YES! They'll serve 2 types of potatoes on the same plate...I kid you not. There is rarely anything green on their plates. The USDA has regulations about the fat content and calories, but nothing about carbohydrates or sugars.

If a child is on the free and reduced lunch program, they are required to get milk, whether they drink it or not. Half these kids don't even open them. They just go straight to the garbage (which is actually fine with me since I'm not a fan of milk). But it's the principle of just wasting it. But I digress...

Food in our schools is atrocious. Especially at the elementary level where it's hardly edible. On the off day I happen to forget my lunch, I would rather starve than eat anything from our cafeteria.

I can't make this stuff up!

My neighborhood is so jacked up! Although most nights are pretty quiet, we have plenty of entertainment on other nights. And it's ALWAYS at night that "things" happen. Joe says we should write a book about all the drama that goes on here. I've decided we need to start smoking in order to fit in better. It's like an undercover operation, and we're about to get made. We're overqualified to live here. We have all our teeth, pay our bills on time, don't smoke, we can speak a complete sentence without dropping the F-bomb, and we both have jobs. Completely overqualified.

So last night was no night of disappointment. Let me preface this by saying we live on the inside of a 90 degree curve into the neighborhood. It snowed half the day yesterday, and iced over after. I was not at all surprised to hear a thud outside around 9:30. I've heard this thud before. I heard it when our mailboxes were taken out last year, and again when a pole was taken out last winter. We went outside to take a look and saw what we thought we'd see...one of the "watch it, there's a curve here" sign taken down by a car, but no car in sight. Our neighbors came out too; probably thinking they took out our mailboxes again.

We went back inside thinking nothing of it. But once I sat down, I had this nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right. I didn't hear the usual squealing tires that precede a crash. Nor did I hear a car take off after hitting the pole. So we went back outside with flashlight in hand. Across the street there's a GIANT drainage ditch, and just guess what was at the bottom of it? Yep...the freaking car! It's about a 20 foot drop. Of course we started freaking out and called 911. Some boys from the houses next door to us went down to check on the guy, but he was okay. Actually, he was great...cause he was drunk! Stupid drunk. AND didn't speak a lick of English.

So the fire trucks get there, and the ambulance, and the State Troopers. It's a mess right outside our front door. And to make it even more interesting, the boys who went down to help the guy noticed a bottle of liquor in the car and threw it away from the car so they could go back later and retrieve it. Is that not the dumbest thing you ever heard!? Idiots...

Half the neighborhood was in our front yard wondering what was going on...and smoking. A girl 2 doors down came trotting along about 8 months pregnant without any shoes on! It's 20 degrees and the preggo didn't have shoes! I was just waiting for her to light up too.

There is just no shortage of drama here in Trailer Trash Estates. It wasn't even the accident that made the evening so interesting...it was the neighbors! I wish I had a hidden microphone or video camera. You'll just have to be content with the view we had from our front porch.

Thorny Thursdays

Today is Thursday. Every Thursday morning I have a REALLY hard time getting out of bed. This stems from a fear that one of my Thursday kiddos will drive me to the point of insanity where I cannot be responsible for my actions. Why should I be responsible? Most of my Thursday kids don't feel the need to be responsible for their actions. If they happen to hit me all I can do is document it. If the tables were turned, my career would be over. Yes, I've been hit twice this year, pinched, and had a chair thrown at me by a 5 year old.

All of this has happened on Thursdays. I'm glad this Thursday is over. Just 2 more until Christmas.

Hugs to Last a Lifetime

Every day I come to school I always think about writing this blog. The hug blog. I get more hugs in a day than I blink my eyes. Last year it was probably more. I had morning bus duty last year, and therefore got to greet about 80% of our students first thing in the morning. These kids are very lovey-dovey. I tried to count one time how many hugs I got in a day, but quickly lost track.

Hugs are pretty much the only things that keep me going this year. Every time I think I can't take anymore "stuff", I get kindergarten at the end of the day...and 27 hugs in 2 minutes.

I'll miss my little huggers next year if I happen to get a new job.

Hugs are fun! :o)

Thanksgiving Trip

For Thanksgiving this year, we thought we'd go visit Joe's mom in South Carolina. We had a blast. She sent us to Charleston for a couple nights to do some touring around. The first tour we did was a culinary tour. It wasn't really what I expected, but it was still pretty good. We started out in this hole in the wall cafe that shared it's building with a Lil Cricket conveinent store. I was skeptical. It was fantastic. The grits were better than any other restaurant we went to while there. We went to a couple candy stores, a chocolate shop, a bar-b-que restaurant, where I actually ate some collard greens...still don't like them though, then to a spice store, and then a kichen gadget store. I can't believe I didn't take a single picture on that tour, but there you have it. Again, not the tour I was expecting, but still good.

I think we probably ate every 2 hours we were there. They have the best restaurants. If you ever go, I highly recommend Hanks seafood. That might have been our favorite. I liked Magnolias too, but we both agreed Hanks was fantastic.


Some more fun times in Charleston.




We then made our way to Hilton Head Island.


Joe and his mom.



Riding bikes at the beach.




I tried to take a picture of Phil over my head from my bike. I'm not a very good shot.


Joe's mom and I even had time to go to Savannah.





So we had a pretty eventful Thanksgiving. I'm thinking we need to go again in the Spring to fully enjoy the East Coast.

Decisions, decisions...

I think I'm getting to that point in my life where some big changes are needed to be decided.

Decision #1: Buying or building a new home.

We've lived in our "neighborhood" for about 5 years now, and I'm thinking it might be time to move on pretty soon. Once we sell out last rental property, it will be time for a change in scenery. I'm really not too picky. Preferably just one that doesn't move every time we have a storm...and a garage would be nice too.

Decision #2: Change jobs...again.

When I came to my school last year, I thought I hit a gold mine. The kids were great, the administration was great, my team was great. I should have known it wouldn't last. Some new schools opened up, redrawing our district lines. Lost a lot of good kids. Then our principal ends up going to one of these new schools, so we get a new principal (she is the devil). And only one of my team members is the same as last year. I don't know if I mentioned our principal is the devil, but she is. She makes it really hard to want to stay there. But I love what I do, and I know the kids. She is the devil.

Decision #3: Baby?

This is like a constant ping pong match going on in my head. Back and forth, on and off, yes or no. I have no doubt I'll be a good parent. I'm not really sure what I'm waiting for. Hubby is the decision maker in the house. I can't make a decision to save my life. I've never been "on my own" and therefore have never had to make any tough decisions. I'm spoiled, I know.

So there you have it. These are the things on my mind at this point in time, in no particular order.

Fuming

So our district has been on the news this last week. EVERY night this week. Good ol' Wayne Dulcefino's sticking his nose in other people's business...again. I don't think this man reports news. I think he reports crap. Twisting the truth around until it looks ugly. Our district and superintendent have been accused of misusing taxpayer's money for travel and training of teachers and administrators. I do agree some of the trips are unnecessary, but this is nothing new in the education world. EVERY district does this. They all spend lots of money on consultants and training.

I'm not always happy about what decisions our superintendent has made, but I don't think turning his name to mud is the answer. As a teacher in this district, I fume when I see these "news" reports about us. We spend countless hours with these kids during the school year trying to make them better people. We are counselor, teacher, and parent to many of these kids during the day. We spend more time with them than most of their parents, give them more hugs than they get at home, and discipline them better with our words than with our hands.

If our district wants to send us away from here for a few days of training, why the hell not?