Still in IL. Still relaxing. :-)

Just some random thoughts for today:

*Happy Birthday to my Dad. He turns 59 today. Happy B-day Daddy!

*Hung out with my "peeps" from high school last night. We had a lovely time at The Maples Restaurant (they have no link or web site). Thanks for coming out ladies . . . had a nice time catching up! :-) Went back to Joann's house to hang out. She bought me some great gifts for Christmas . . . gift cards, stuff for school (paper, Post-it's, pens, etc) and my personal favorite, Western dressing! I love this dressing on my salads and you can't find it in New England so she loaded me up! :-)

*Christmas was low key. My plane ticket to IL was my Christmas gift and got some awesome gift cards in my stocking my Santa. My sis and I gave each other the same gift - The Third Pirates Movie on DVD! You can't tell we are sisters, can ya??? :-)

*My Godfather and his wife drove down on Thursday to spend the day with me. They've always been so good to me. I'm so blessed to have such great folks in my life.

*On Wednesday, the family and I went to Chicago for the day. I wanted to check out this museum. Very informative and gets ya to stop and think about our freedoms and rights. Ate lunch and then my sister got us tickets for Altar Boyz. It's a spoof on the Catholic Church. Oh my goodness, I laughed my ass off! Highly recommend seeing it. Sis went on line that morning and got us front row center tickets for half price! Good deal!

*Not doing anything for New Years. Just going to hang out at my folks house. Low key. I have some resolutions that I'll be working on. Do you have any resolutions or changes that you'll be working on in 2008?

Happy almost New Year and 2008!

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick shot out to wish all my family and friends a Merry Christmas on this fine day.

Hope Santa was good to ya! :-)

Hugs from M-Dawg! :-)

Personal Day for M-Dawg

Resting. Relaxing. Getting some stuff done today.

It's a personal day for M-Dawg. I tried to sleep in but was awaken at 5:45 AM by a text message for a two-hour delay for school (I signed up for a text message through one of the local Boston TV stations for delay or cancellation notice). Five minutes later - the school calls me. Ellie the Cat and I went back to sleep - she's soooo cute! She loves to cuddle with her Momma! :-)

Taking Ellie to the vet today for her yearly shots and check up. I swear it's more traumatic for me - putting her in the carrier is a huge drama! Ughy! She hates the carrier and she hates the ride in the car. Poor Ellie Mae! :-(

Probably will do some laundry. Bake some cupcakes for my department meeting tomorrow. Complete some correcting. Easy day overall.

Hope everyone survived the crazy storms -

Alive and kicking . . . barely!

I'm here. Overworked. Underpaid. Exhausted.

No news yet. Rumor mill states next week will be notification of cut teacher positions due to the budget. Merry freakin' Christmas to you too! :-(

Oh, the $1.8 million deficit is now $3.0 million. Joy.

I do know for a fact that personnel is going through every one's file to make sure they have their P's and Q's tied nicely in a red bow.

Taking Monday off as a personal day. A mental health day is needed for M-Dawg. The only planned activity: taking Ellie the Cat to the vet for her yearly shots.

Working all weekend at Paws. Seeing the doggies and puppies always cheers me up.

Enjoy your weekend peeps! :-)

Overwhelmed and overworked!

Just a quick check in.

Things in my life are really busy right now.

I need to send out an apology. I won't be sending out Christmas cards this year. I have NO time to fill them out. This is the first year eva! Ughy! :-(

Also won't be blogging a lot the next few weeks. Please understand that I'm working a zillion hours between school, my second job, advising the class of 2010, and advising Mock Congress. I have no life as it is right now.

I know I should be taking care of myself but that just ain't happening anytime soon.

I'll be on a plane to Chicago on December 22nd. I'll rest while I'm at my folks house. :-)

Happy Belated Birthday to Cheryl!

Cheryl caught a fish! Go Cheryl go!!! :-)

Happy Birthday to Cheryl . . . we've been friends since high school. Cheryl is a wonderful friend . . . she's always been there for me no matter what. She's a wonderful Mom and wife. She makes me laugh!

Enjoy your day with the hubby and the kids! Love ya kiddo! Can't wait to see ya in IL around the holidays!!!! --)

First round of budget cuts announced.

Opened the local paper this AM and the school committee announced the first round of cuts. Things like not hiring two new teachers (shouldn't they have been hired before the school year?), cut a SPED teacher (isn't this against a SPED law?), turn down the heat in all school buildings by 2 degrees (some classrooms in my building have no heat so how does the savings impact them?) and professional development money (according to Ed Reform of 1994, each school is supposed to provide money for professional development). There are other cuts of various programs as well. Total cuts: $515,458. The total deficit is $1.8 million.

It's the first round of cuts. We've been told by the Mayor and Superintendent that more cuts will occur soon.

Joy.

A rough commute this AM

The weather in New England can sometimes be a challenge this time of the year. Ever since I put my car into a ditch in NH about five years ago, I'm a big baby driving in snow/icky weather.

We had a nice storm (thanks to the Midwest) last night and today. My commute into school was a bit of a challenge. I live about 34 miles north of where I teach (I live near the NH border). Most schools in my area were either cancelled or a two hour delay. I would've enjoyed a cancellation since I really would like a day off and not be penalized for it but it wasn't in the cards for M-Dawg. :-(

The highway I take into work was horrible! At one point, it was dead stop traffic. I passed a few accidents along the way which didn't help the morning commute at all. The secondary roads were not great either.

I made it into school late. I teach a first block class so that was amusing. What can I do? A few of the schools in the same area as my school did do a two hour delay but not my school district. I sometime want to call up the Superintendent and say this: "Look buddy! A huge percentage of your faculty does not live in the city! So, how about accommodating us and giving us that two hour delay?" Oh. There were a ton of teachers out today anyway due to the weather. Nice.

How was your commute today??????

Oh, happy Monday! :-)

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

38 Years of Marriage! Wow!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! They are out in Las Vegas this week enjoying the Strip and the night life.

I love ya's!

Spirit Week Pictures of the Class of 2010

Welcome to Grease!

Kids in my classroom trying to get ready for decorating the halls!

Look . . . .it's Bat Girl!

Morgan, Audrey, and Michael posing for me!

Marquis and Nayroby decorating the cafeteria scene in Grease.

Balloons add to the scene!

Marquis and Lindsay at the Kissing Booth of the Carnival scene.

Michelle and I striking a pose - don't we look exhausted???? :-)

Class of 2010 at the Pep Rally in the Field House.

A weekend of work and not a lot of play for M-Dawg!

It has been a busy yet productive weekend for M-Dawg!

I worked all weekend at Paws. I instantly went back into the swing of things - it's like I hadn't left the store. Which is a good thing since the transition went well. It's great to see the dogs again.

Sold tickets at the high school football game for extra money on Thanksgiving. The extra money will be nice! :-) My school lost but the weather was actually quite nice - foggy in the morning but the sun came out and the temps got up to the 50's. I've worked football games before on Thanksgiving in New England and I can attest that this day was one of the nicest weather days ever! One year, the weather changed three times: it started raining, then sleet, and then snow within one hour! Wow! So, I'll take a 50 degree weather game any day! :-)

Did a few loads of laundry, school work, paid bills, did the budget for the month, caught up with my filing (there's been this huge pile of "to be filed" for months!), applied online for refinancing for my mortgage, cleaned, grocery shopping, and tried to breathe! :-)

Be thankful!

I know this post is one day late. I was a tad bit busy over the past few days.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Turkey Day . . . .

A few updates:
*Survived Spirit Week Hell. Almost killed all the 10th graders on the night of Decorate the Halls because they kept screwing around and not working to get the hallway decorated. My co-advisor lost her voice from yelling at them. They drive me nuts but I do adore them! :-) We got last place in Spirit Week. I'll post pictures over the weekend. I still need to get the pictures off my camera and onto the computer.
*Still in limbo over the job situation. We don't know when or how the cuts will occur. The School Committee and Superintendent is still looking over all budget items. They froze all non-essential funds (school supplies like paper, etc). I'll keep everyone posted.
*Had a field trip on Tuesday during the day. Took my local history classes to see the Witch Trial Stuff. They enjoyed the trip. I took some photos of the kids so I'll post those pictures at some point.
*Worked the Thanksgiving Day football game at my school. Figured the extra money would be good.
*Spent Thanksgiving at my friend Michelle's house with her family. Had a nice day and good food.
*I'm back at Paws for the holiday season. I really could use the money so I asked if I could come back.

My thankful list:
*My family for always loving and supporting me in everything I do.
*My friends for always being there for me.
*My job.
*Ellie the Cat.
*My health.
*Having a home.
*Our troops stationed all over the world - thank you for protecting my freedom.

Happy Thanksgiving to all . . . . .

This is my week from Hell!

OK folks . . . my week of hell has officially started! Spirit Week!

If I'm not answering emails or commenting on blogs, it's because I'm in hell. Technically, hell started last week with meetings and planning. Late nights for M-Dawg! :-(

Try working with 365 plus teenagers (they are sophomores this year) and decorating a massive hallway with a theme?

The theme this year: Grease (the movie).

I'll take some photos and post later.

I'm off to die now. :-(

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

What can I say about Joela???? She's a crazy lady (in a good way)! :-)

Throughout my life, my Mom has been my strength and support (for both my sister Mandy and I). She listens to me rant and rave about my students or my school. She's a survivor of breast cancer - she is my hero!

Mom has always supported my decisions (good and bad) and is always there for me. She's funny and silly - she always makes us laugh. Her passion for life is amazing to me.

Mom has passed on to Mandy and I her love of animals. Mom loves animals and will always help a pet in need. She's Ellie the Cat's grandma!!!! :-)

Mom's love of traveling was passed on to me as well. Growing up, we would go on these family trips all over the country. Because of my parents, I realized that there was a big world out there besides Dalzell, IL (the town of 600 people that I grew up). Next summer, my parents are going to follow their retirement dream of selling the house and traveling across the country in a 5th wheel camper (the photo above - Mom and Dad in front of their soon-to-be new home) full time.

Mom will do anything for "her girls." She protected us when we were little and took crap from no one! For that, I love her more than words could ever say.

Mom - Thank you for your love and support. Thank you for being the "bestest" Mom a girl could ever ask for. Happy Birthday and enjoy your special day!

I love ya Momma! :-)

All sorts of stress going on in M-Dawg's world . . . .

I'm the first one to admit that I haven't been very happy at my school. However, for now, it does pay the bills and as long as I'm in the classroom with the kids, life would be a good thing.

Due to recent developments in my school system, the 2008 school budget is short $1.8 million (the odds are pretty good that the number will go up after a week of back tracking the books). Why? Because some idiot for the city (the Business Manager) was being "creative" with the books and moved money around and decided to pay last years bills with this years budget money. Oh, he longer works for the city - he left in September.

So, who will suffer????? There needs to be some drastic cuts within the next week and the decision has been made to start cutting "in areas that cost the city high amounts." Teacher salaries and benefits is a part of that high cost. So, the Superintendent will be making a decision of who will be cut ASAP.

Oh, guess who is low man in the seniority of her department and has a high chance of being laid off and cut?????????????

Respect to the Vets!

The history of Veterans Day is located here. The average American doesn't even know how or why we have a day for our Veterans. If you see a Vet today, walk up to them and thank them. They are the reason why YOU HAVE YOUR FREEDOM!!!!

Long weekend for M-Dawg & Random Thoughts . . .

Gotta love long weekends.

On Friday, I had a professional day (which was a total waste of time). A professional day means no students at school with us. Sat in a ton of pointless meetings most of the day. The assistant superintendent of my district arranged for my department to go to a local middle school for a demonstration on Smart Boards. The interactive white boards are amazing but costly and my school doesn't have the money to spend on something so high tech. The best part of the day was going out to lunch with my department at Kelly's Roast Beef - a Boston area tradition! I've never eaten there so it was very yummy! :-)

I don't have a ton of plans for the long weekend. I do have a ton of correcting to complete since grades are due for 1st quarter on Thursday.

Oh, there was an article in the local paper about our school system. You can read it here. It doesn't look too good for my job. Since I'm the low man in the department, I have a good chance of being cut. Not a good thing for M-Dawg since I'll be in my tenth year of teaching. No school would hire me since I'm soooo expensive! So, on top of everything else going on at school (no contract, working illegal hours - a grievance is being filed by the way, no support in SPED, etc.), we've got this horrible economic situation going on too.

Be thinking happy vibes for the next few months for M-Dawg . . . . who knows how this situation will play out! :-(

I took a personal day today

If I didn't take a day off, I would probably kill someone! :-(

It's been one of those weeks followed by one of those life times . . . .

The plan for today:
*No school work.
*No thinking about anything related to school.
*No financial worry stuff.
*No human contact.
*No plan! :-)

I'm just going to hang out with Ellie the Cat and enjoy not being around teenagers for the day!

Sometimes, M-Dawg just needs to breathe . . . .

Want a beer?

Having a beer at a Beer Garden in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my trip to Russia this summer. Remembering the good times and the not so great times.

This picture was a good time. Our group had just finished touring the Hermitage and did a canal boat trip. We were given some down time for the evening so a group of us went out for drinks and dinner. The above photo shows me drinking my first Russian beer!

Budem zdorovy ("Let's stay healthy" in Russian)! :-)

Happy Halloween!

This photo was taken a few weeks ago in Salem at the Burial Grounds.

Happy Halloween all!

Candy. Witches. Haunted Houses. Dressing up. My students totally hyper and off the wall for the entire month of October!

What does Halloween mean for you?

Congrats to the World Champions - Red Sox!!!!!

Congrats to my boys! 2007 World Series Champs!!!!

4-0 series baby!!!!!

So proud of them!

Go Red Sox!!!!!!

It's officially Fall in New England!

This photo was taken at Russell Orchards in Ipswich, MA.

Fall is in the air around my neck of the woods. It's starting to cool off a tad bit. Great sleeping weather if you ask me!

I love the Fall in New England. It's my favorite time of the year. I don't like what follows this season but the Fall is my favorite! I love the bright colorful leaves of reds, golds, and oranges. The days are great for taking long walks. At night, you sleep sooooo good - nice and cool.

Pumpkins! I'm a pumpkin addict (hence the photo above)! I adore pumpkin! Pumpkin pie (particularly Janet's recipe which is not the recipe I've linked here). Pumpkin creme brulee. Pumpkin martinis. Anything pumpkin. Oh, and I have pumpkin lotion from Bath & Body Works - I highly recommend it!!!! Do you see a pattern here????? :-)

What are your favorites of Fall?

I think the stress is finally getting to me . . .

I left school early today because I wasn't feeling good. Headache, stomach blahs, fever, etc.

I think the stress of everything is finally getting to me. I'm debating about taking Friday off as a sick day and just take a mental health day.

I have a horrible teaching schedule this year. I get a 90 minute planning period every other day. It's a violation of our old contract but it would require changing all 1600 student schedules to accommodate six teachers in the freshman house. By contract, we are supposed to get 90 minutes planning every day. Yesterday, I lost my planning period due to two parent meetings so I didn't have to do my duty today. This terrible schedule also requires that I plan far ahead and sometimes that is impossible due to assemblies, field trips of other classes, meetings, etc.

My second issue this year is that I was given a student with autism. This student has an aide but the aide just sits there and reads his book and doesn't help the autistic student. I have no background or training in autism. This student is VERY demanding and high maintenance. His mother is pushing for all the SPED services. This student is a cutie pie but very difficult to work with in the classroom when I have 24 other students to teach and help. Getting no help from the aide is pushing me over the edge! And, of course, my school is not providing any help or support either.

My third issue is my co-taught class with a SPED teacher. I've vented about him A LOT last school year. He's the one that sits in the back of my classroom and falls asleep and farts??? Nothing has changed this year. I still have the same teacher and he still behaves the same way. The difference is that this year's class we have at least five students who can't read above a 2nd grade reading level and need more support. We also have over 75% of the class of IEP's (Individual Education Plans). I make as many accommodations as I can but the SPED teacher is supposed to be doing it too. At progress report time, every single one of my SPED kids in that class is failing right now. I run around that classroom with my head cut off trying to help all these kids. Yes, I've complained to the administration and his head teacher and I was told to "Suck it up. He's retiring at the end of the school year." (yes, this is a direct quote!) This school is very lucky that the parents don't understand their children's IEP's or the school would have some serious lawsuits with all the violations and codes they are breaking! As I mentioned above I left school early today. The SPED teacher was in the room and he had the balls to give me an attitude since I asked him to cover the class for the last 1/2 hour since I was going home sick! I need to point out that this man is making THE SAME SALARY THAT I MAKE and does nothing!!!!!! Oh, he does nothing in the other four content classes he's supposed to be co-teaching with too.

And, of course, the NO contract thing. It weighs over the faculty very hard. Veteran teachers are standing outside in the mornings with protest signs (no, we are not on strike; it's illegal in my state for teachers to go on strike!). It's the second year without a contract and I'm making the same salary as I was making last year. Meanwhile, the cost of living goes up and the city I work for will not settle on a new contract. The morale in the building is really low and depressing. And, we are constantly being asked to do more. I just can't take it anymore.

Rumor has it that the high school in the town that I live in will be hiring next school year for a few social studies teacher positions (retirements). I will try and apply but I'd be surprised if they call me in for an interview. It will be my 10th year next year and I'm too expensive to hire at this point. I can't really afford to take a pay cut plus I'd screw myself for retirement by taking less money. So, I'm stuck at my current job. I am looking at other options outside of teaching as well.

So I hope this explains what's up with me. Why I haven't been blogging a lot lately and when I do blog, it's usually negative.

Trying to keep life in perspective these days.

Blogging is a place for me to vent my feelings and emotions. I've been looking at a lot of my posts and I realize how negative they can be at times.

I don't mean to be so negative. I just need to vent those feelings and emotions out there. I sound like a broken record at times. School sucks. My love life sucks. My money situation sucks. Etc, etc, etc.

I will try and be more positive in my posts. I can't guarantee every single post will be cheerful and positive but I will do my best to look at the positives in my life. I know I have plenty:

*My family. They are the strength of my being. Even if I don't always say it or tell them, I do love them and appreciate having them in my life.

*My friends. I have some awesome "peeps" in my life. Over the past few years, I've had to weed out the unhealthy friends out of my life. Some have been by my choice. Some by their choice. I've very blessed to have my friends that support and love me for ME.

*Ellie the Cat. Pets are great. They love you unconditionally. Ellie is no exception! When I was sick last week, she knew something was "up" with her Momma and stuck by my side the entire time. She would cuddle on the couch with me and give me a lick on the face here and there to make sure I was OK.

*My job. Yes, things at school have been sooooo stressful with no contract. But, I need to be grateful that I even have a job. I need to accept myself as an educator and realize that I can only do so much for these kids. I also need to not take everything so personal and to heart.

So, I will try and keep my life in perspective. Thanks for listening aka reading! :-)

I think I need a vacation . . . .

It's been one of those weeks. Even though I was out sick on Monday and Tuesday, it seems like a very long week!

I go back to school on Wednesday - an early release day for the kids in the morning and a professional day for the adults in the afternoon. My school didn't make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress - a No Child Left Behind thing) so we are going into freak out test the hell out of the kids mode. The 9th graders spent two hours doing MCAS English and Math practice tests (in my state, you need to pass these tests to graduate - don't pass - no high school diploma). Since I'm on the freshman team, I had to proctor the tests. These tests were thrown together at the last minute so there were no instructions and no communication to the teachers. The 10th and 11th graders were given the PSAT's. The 12th graders were shown a video on how to make positive choices (no alcohol or drugs) and then were put into groups to create activities (they got the better end of the deal since they got to bond with their class). The 9th graders had an assembly for the last hour about responsibility. The last two blocks of the day were shortened to 30 minutes. Not a lot of academic learning could take place in that time.

After the kids left for the day, I got to sit in a department meeting for an hour and an half to brainstorm about how does my dept. help with MCAS (our MCAS are still in pilot mode and won't count until 2012). We then met as a faculty to discuss all the ways every single department is supporting MCAS. It sounds like all departments are doing what they are supposed to be doing to help the kids succeed on MCAS. I just don't know what more we can do except maybe take the test for the kids. The skill level of reading and writing is VERY low at my school. I have a lot of kids this year that can barely read above a 2nd grade reading level. How do I work with that? I'm not trained in it. I help the kids as best as I can during the school day when they are in class with me but they need more help. They need to stay after school for extra help and they won't stay. Compared to my last school, students don't value their education or respect their teachers. It's emotionally draining to continue sticking your neck out to help these kids and they just don't get it! The day was very long and draining and I still wasn't feeling well. I probably should've called in sick again but I really didn't want to take another sick day.

Today, I had parent conferences after school. I had a line! Almost all the parents that wanted to talk to me were the Honor's parents and all they just wanted to hear how great their kid was doing in my class. The conferences were supposed to end at 3:00 but I didn't leave school until 5:00 pm! Ughy!

Also, today the union rep stopped by to ask if I would mind wearing a t-shirt and protest outside every morning to support the union negotiations. Yes, we are still without a contract and the 2nd year without a raise. And, I need to point out that this is my second year so I'm not tenured yet. It's a high risk to go out and protest for the union since the union can't protect me my first three years anyway. $500 a year is taken out my paycheck for union dues.

Oh, my Dad went to the emergency room yesterday morning. He was in pain - he's got a kidney stone and it won't pass. They admitted him and monitored him. I got a phone call a few hours ago and they are performing surgery to get the stone out. Please think happy thoughts for my Daddy! :-)

Sorry this post is all over the place. I'm tired. I'm exhausted. And, I still feel like poop!

Life just runs away . . . .

It's been a crazy few weeks in the life of M-Dawg.

I've been out sick the past few days from school. I'm finally starting to feel human again which is why I'm posting today.

The drama with the computer: The drama began in August. I had McAffee for my Internet protection on my computer. The service contract was set up for automatic renewal every year. The date for renewal is Sept 30th. The deal is that I have the fee taken out of my checking account 30 days before the renewal date. McAffee decided to deduct the money 28 days. They took the money out and all the bills I had paid a few days prior bounced! I had a pay check coming in around the same time so I knew it would be close but NOT that close! So, I went to my bank and luckily they sided with me and I didn't have to pay any fees and I was able to deposit me check with no problem and the bills were paid (I haven't bounced a check in years so I was freaking out!). I emailed McAffee asking them why did they deduct the fee two days earlier. Their response was to cancel my subscription! I didn't want to cancel the subscription - I just wanted an answer to my question. So I said fine, whatever! I still have 30 days left on the old subscription to research another software company.

So, I research and come up with McAffee being the best out there for protection. I decide to renew (again) with McAffee on Sept 30th. And, it was cheaper this time around: $75.59 per year. I was psyched and figured everything was OK. I was wrong!

On October 2nd, McAffee deducts $75.59 twice out of my checking account! Now, I'm on a strict budget with my money. I had counted on money for gas and food for the week. I called the customer service number and spoke to someone that could barely speak English. I was on the phone for over 45 minutes trying to explain the issue. She kept telling me that she would reimburse me $99.99 and I kept telling her that I just want one of the $75.59 to be put back into my checking account. She told me it would take a few days. A few days went by and still no money in my account. And, they cancelled my subscription for virus protection all together so now I can't get access the Internet without the fear of catching a virus or having my computer break. I finally call a second time. I explained to them I just want my money back for the second charge but I still want one subscription. They said it was being processed. Finally, on Oct 9th, they reimburse me $125.98. I still had no McAffee protection and they still owed me money. Do the math folks. $75.59 + &75.59 =$151. 18; not $125.98! They still owe me $25.20! It's not a lot of money but for someone who is living on a budget and one income, it adds up quick!

So, I called again and this time demanded to speak with a supervisor - they still don't get my situation! Ughy! So, the drama continues.

I finally just went out and bought Norton at Super Wal-Mart to protect my computer. So, hopefully, no more drama for another year with my computer.

What are you folks using for Anti-virus protection on your computer?????

Quick Post

Sorry everyone! I haven't been around in a while. Everything is fine. I'm OK.

I was having MAJOR computer issues with my Internet security system so I didn't have access to my Internet at home. I didn't want to risk a virus or anything else harmful to my computer so I haven't been reading or commenting on blogs or even checking my email from home. I didn't want to post from school since they monitor us on the computer.

I'll share the long story tomorrow. And, I'll catch up with everything at that point.

I just wanted to say hi! and to let ya know I'm still alive and kicking!!!!

Is it possible to go through Internet and blogging withdrawal???????????

I'm going crazy! :-)

I'm doing it again.

You know. The "I can't say no to anyone" thing. Overcommitting to stuff at school.

Let me explain. Yesterday, all I wanted to do was watch a volleyball game at my school. The assistant coach asked me, "How well do you remember the rules of volleyball?" My reply, "I'm a little rusty, why?" "Can you ref our game today?" Instead of saying NO! I said YES! Duh! I have to say that I got a free lunch out of it today (There is no money for paying the refs so it's strictly volunteer - the assistant coach bought me lunch to thank me for helping her out).

Oh, the Harvard Model Congress is looking for a co-advisor. You want to help me M-Dawg? Sure! At least it's a paid stipend position - I get to split $443 with the other advisor. And, I'm still sophomore class advisor too.

Oh, you want to bring the faculty at your school together and bond? Sure! Be in charge of the Social Committee!

Oh, we need a teacher to host the German teachers for the GAPP program for three weeks . . . are ya interested???? Maybe?????

And the final Oh - organize a baby shower for one of your colleagues!

I swear to God I have the word, "Sucker!" tattooed on my forehead!

I guess I should point out that we are STILL without a contract and there is no end in sight for settling! Joy!

How do you say no to things in your life???? Please leave comments!!! :-)

Oh, on a positive and totally unrelated note: I bought the new Matchbox 20 CD today! Wow! Love it! Target has it on sale for a limited time for $9.98!!!!!!!

Busy week - what else is new?

The life of M-Dawg is always busy and overwhelming. This past week was NO exception! Let's re-cap, shall we?

Monday and Tuesday: Not so overwhelming. I stayed late at school on both days since the kids had a project due at the end of the week. Still had my cold and was feeling miserable!

Wednesday: Early release for kids. Professional Day for teachers. We had to sit in these meetings about assessment. Sorta boring. At the end of the day, we went back into the auditorium to finish up our day. The administration put together this PowerPoint about AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress - it's a No Child Left Behind thing in education). We didn't make it this year. The way the PowerPoint was presented to us was very insulting to a lot of teachers and they were upset. We didn't qualify in ANY of our subgroups. We never pass in Special Ed or Black/Hispanic categories (my guess is that most schools are in the same position). So people left for the day upset and angry because we were not provided with any feedback. Also, people are upset that we STILL don't have a contract. The day ended on a very negative note. It looks like the union is finally going to try to do something. I think we are going to do work to rule (which means that I will only work at school my contractual hours) and we are going to start protesting at the School Committee Meetings every other week. It looks like it might get stressful and scary the next few months at my school. My cold is still here and not going away!

Thursday: Back to School Night. A group of us went out to dinner before the events started with the parents. I stayed at school until 9:00 pm. And, then I got to drive home late that night. Bad turnout by the way of parents. It's so upsetting that more parents didn't show up. I lost my voice from talking and my cold is still kicking my butt!

Friday: Exhausted from night before. After school, I had to run shopping to get food and drinks for the dance that my class was co-sponsoring that evening. Had one of the kids come with me (had parental and administration persmission) to the stores to help carry the stuff. Back to school to set up everything for the dance. I would not be chaperoning the dance since I'd already made plans for that evening (the other advisor NEVER checked with me to see if I was free that night so I told him I couldn't chaperone the event). Stayed at school to get some correcting done until I had to meet Janet in Burlington. We had a nice night of catching up and chatting. I miss my Nutty! It was a late night - I didn't get home until almost midnight!

Saturday: Delta Kappa Gamma State Conference in Taunton, MA. I had to meet our chapter president at 6:45 AM and off we drove down to Taunton for the day! It was a long day of meetings and workshops! My head was killing me and I was exhausted! I wasn't feeling feel for most of the day but kept smiling! :-) I went to some great workshops. One workshop was about Vertical Simulation Learning and the other was on Africa and service learning. Very cool stuff! But again, I was exhausted and came home and crashed! Went to bed at 7:30 pm!

So, that was my week. My cold is still here. I slept until 9:00 am. Wow! Over 12 hours of sleeping!

How was your week?

Icky cold needs to go away - NOW! :-(

Sorry for not posting anything in a while.

I'm alive.

Barely.

I caught a nasty head cold thingy from school. It's WAYYYYY TOOOO early in the school year to be calling in sick and to have icky germs and illnesses spreading around my building! UGHY!

I've been in bed by 8:30 every night.

My new best friend: Nyquil!

Sorry about the ranting. It had to be done.

End of story.

List of happies for the week

I'm going w/ the theme from Lauren and Janet. I sorta kind of need a list of happies. It's been a busy and rough few weeks of school (I'll save the vent session for another post).

Happies:
*My Mom - thanks Mom for listening to me rant and rave about school stuff.
*Ellie the Cat - she's my baby girl and I love her so much! She puts a smile on my face when I walk into the door of my condo.
*My job - as much as I bitch and rant and rave about school, I do still love what I do.
*My friends aka "peeps" - thanks for always commenting on my blog, supporting me, emailing or calling me, and just being a damn good friend to me! :-)
*Matchbox Twenty! Rob Thomas! Need I say more??????? Countdown to release of new CD - 11 more days baby!!! Wahooooo!!!!! :-) I've seen Rob in concert in Boston - can't wait to see Matchbox Twenty!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's your list of happies for the week???????

Oops - should've posted about Constitution Day on Monday!

Bad M-Dawg! I didn't post anything yesterday on the 2005 federally-mandated Constitution Day! Oops!

FYI: Federal law requires that all high schools, colleges and universities that receive federal funds hold an educational event about the Constitution on September 17.

For your reading pleasure, here are a few sites to check out!

The National Archives - lesson plan ideas

Justice Learning Web Page

Constitution Day, Inc.

Constitution Center

Constitutional Right Foundation

Center for Civic Education

Are you "Constitutioned" out yet????? :-)

Beautiful and relaxing day

The scoop on what I did today:

Enjoyed a relaxing day with my friend Aileen. We got up a tad bit early to eat some breakfast at the Hallow Cafe in Amesbury. Very yummy food by the way. We then ventured off to Todd Farm and Flea Market. Aileen was on a mission to find a bureau for her clothes. The poor gal has all her clothes in boxes or in baskets on the floor of her loft condo. I saw a lot of cool furniture. I wish I had the space (and the money) to buy some of it. Flea markets are sorta interesting because it's a hit or miss on items. I guess it depends if you are looking for something specific. I just went for the ride and the company.

Her first purchase was this fabulous metal table from the 1950's. The table reminded me of the table my Auntie had in HER kitchen way back in the day! It was refinished and looked amazing! It will look great in her kitchen. Her second purchase was the bureau. She only had $113 and they wanted $120 but she talked them down. The bureau looks great! We loaded both items into her car and drove back to her place to unload them.

We were going to go to Plum Island but I had a ton of stuff to do so Aileen dropped me off at my place.

I ran to Market Basket for some food for the week. I'm trying to be better about making my lunch instead of buying my lunch. I also eat out a lot so I'm trying to cut back on that too.

I just finished two loads of laundry and I'm doing school work. Well, technically, I'm blogging right now but ya get the idea! :-)

The day was beautiful here today. Perfect Fall weather! It's hard to believe that Fall is almost here. Fall is my favorite time of the year.

How was your weekend??????

It's a rainy day here in New England!

It's raining here. Sorta a good day to stay in bed and read a good book kind of day.

I'm exhausted from my first full week back to school. My white days are rough. I teach the first block. 2nd block I have 45 minutes of hall duty and 45 minutes of common planning with my freshman team. 3rd block I teach. 4th block I teach. Oh, the block is 90 minutes each by the way.

I need to point out that my white day schedule is a violation of our old contract (We are in the second year of working without a contract). We are to have a planning block every single day. There are six teachers in the freshman house that have the schedule that I have right now. Someone went to the union to complain (not that the union will do anything about it anyway - our union is VERY weak at this school).

My issue is that I'm all for supporting the team. However, I don't want to be taken advantage of either. As a freshman house teacher, we all go above and beyond our hours as it is. I just want to be treated fairly.

I'm even more annoyed with the situation since this is the second year I'm making the same salary. For those of you not in the teaching world, we usually get a "small" increase in pay every year. Trust me - it's not even a cost of living raise but it's something. I've tried to vow to not stay late after school like I normally would do but I've been staying late since I can't get my work done in the time given to me during school hours. It's VERY frustrating - I really don't want to be doing a lot of my work at home anymore. So what's a gal to do?

So, what am I doing this weekend? Sleeping in, resting, and relaxing. I have a ton of school work to get done but instead I'm relaxing and beating up myself for not being more productive.

Ughy! :-(

Quick shout out Anniversary to Janet and Jeff!

Happy Anniversary to Janet and Jeff!

Enjoy your special day!

Lots of hugs!!!! :-)

Hump Day!

I'm already exhausted and it's only Wednesday!

Have a faculty meeting today after school. I'm going to try to leave school after that meeting - I've been staying late at school again and I promised myself I would start leaving at a decent time.

Also, been trying to get to bed earlier since I get up at 5:00 AM! Yes, I get up THAT early for school!

My body is on a completely different time zone.

I hope to get back into the swing of things soon -

How many of you have a hard time getting up in the morning?????

Sept 11th

I took these photos in July 2002 on a weekend visit to New York City. Across the street from the World Trade Center stood a small chapel. This chapel would become a make shift memorial for the victims of Sept. 11th. These photos capture the different memorabilia of family members, friends, and strangers from all over the United States and world that sent their thoughts and prayers to the site.

I remember exactly where I was on that day. I'm sure most people of a certain age remember too. It's very similar to the generation that was around when John F. Kennedy was assassinated - they know where they were and what they were doing at the time he was killed.

It's a sad memory. A memory that will impact me for the rest of my life. A memory of a beautiful early September day when innocent people were killed for no reason. A day that will forever be etched in my heart and thoughts.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of Sept 11th.

We will NEVER forget!

Back to school!

A quote from Billy Madison (1995):

"Back to school! Back to school, to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool! I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight! Ohhhh, back to school! Back to school! Back to school! Well, here goes nothing!" Watch the clip here.

Well, I'm back into the swing of things at school. We had professional days on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday was a day of meetings. Wednesday was freshman orientation. My team came up with creative ways to present the four major goals of freshman house to our students. The entire freshman house was divided into four teams and then each team was divided into groups of twenty. Each group had a 30 minute presentation from each of their core teachers (History, English, Bio, and Math) about one of the four goals of the freshman house. My goal was "9th graders will take responsibility for their learning."

This is what I did:
1) Welcome to World Studies and quick intro on me.
2) Broke them up into groups and gave them a big piece of butcher paper with the word Responsibility on it and a marker. Told them as a group, to try and come up with a definition of what responsibility means. After 10 minutes, they hung up their sheets and presented their info to the class.
3) Hung up the "real" definition of responsibility according to Mr. Webster (I wrote this out the day before on a piece of butcher paper) and we compared the dictionary version to their own.
4) I then asked them what are some ways that they can take responsibility their learning. Wrote out the ways on butcher paper. We discussed what they wrote.
5) The freshman house has a rubric for each of the goals. I passed out a copy of the rubric goal, went over the expectations with them, and the kids checked off where they thought they were on each of the expectations. Some of them admitted that they "needed improvement."
6) I passed out a strip of paper and a marker to each of them. I asked them to think of one goal they could work on this school year on how could they be responsible for their learning. They were to write their name on the paper and then write their goal for the year of the paper. I then told them that I will take each of these strips of paper and connect them into a chain. A chain of responsibility! After I connected them (stapled) together, I hung the chain across the classroom. It's a huge chain! :-)

The activity went very well. Afterwards, my team members and I met to check in. We all agreed that there will be one class that may be a bit on the rambunctious side! :-) We all agreed to keep them in check right at the beginning.

First day of school on Thursday went well. I have a small section of Salem in History class. My co-taught class is large and of course, I'm receiving no support from my SPED teacher. He just sits in the back of the classroom. We have some severe cases this year that really need some help so I don't know what is going to happen. I can only provide the support that I can provide to these kids. Last year, I advocated for support in my classroom. When I went to the head teacher of SPED, her response was this, "Suck it up. He's retiring at the end of the school year!" Nice support, eh?

My second day (White Day) is going to be rough. I teach the first, third, and fourth blocks. The second block, I have 45 minutes of duty and 45 minutes of common planning with my team. I need to point out that my schedule is a serious violation of contract. We are supposed to have a planning period every day. I have two planning periods on red day. None on white day. There are only five freshman teachers that have the same kind of schedule as me and no one wants to "cause any waves" since they are not tenured (I am only in my second year at this school). Since I've worked in other schools and this is my 9th year teaching, I do SEE what is going on and how wrong it is for the administration to take advantage of us. I was so exhausted yesterday when I came home. You need that break in the day away from the kids. Those of you that teach now EXACTLY what I'm talking about! :-)

Plans for the weekend:
*Going to a psychic party this afternoon. I really don't believe in this stuff but thought it would be fun!
*School work!
*Cleaning the condo.
*Quality ME time???? Maybe????? :-)

Enjoy your weekend folks! :-)

Had lobsta's!

The photo is a little blurry but ya get the idea! I'm holding a seven pound lobster! Rich (notice arm in pic holding other lobster) is holding the eight pounder!

On Monday, I drove out to spend the day with my friend Lauren. We did lunch here. Spent the day chatting and catching up since it's been forever since we've seen each other!

Her boyfriend, Rich, likes to go lobster diving off the coast of Gloucester so imagine my surprise when I was invited for dinner to help eat one of these beasts!

We had corn-on-the-cob and fresh lobster! Yummy!

There was so much meat in these lobsters! I was full immediately!

I also got to hang out with Giz the Superdog! He's such a cutie pie!

Thanks to Lauren, Rich, and Giz for being such wonderful hosts! :-)

It's Official - I'm done! :-)

No more working weekends.

No more working late hours during the week.

I finally will have a life on the weekends. I can attend parties, go out with my friends, etc.

I worked my last shift at my second job yesterday. The only two things that I'm sad about is that I will miss the usual dogs that come into the store and I will miss the gals that I worked with at the store. They are a great group of ladies who really have a caring nature and good heart.

So, what is M-Dawg to do with her free time?????? :-)

Last Day at Paws!

Long story but I got roped into working one more day at Paws.

There is a festival going in Newburyport so with folks giving notice, the store is short of workers. And, there has been more drama with the owner so she's not coming into work.

I told the owner that I would work today and that's it! No more! I already made plans for the rest of my weekend so no more work!

I really would like to enjoy having the long weekend off.

A six hour shift and I'm officially done!

Joy! :-)

Major Duh!

I brought my camera with me to Maine but forgot to take pictures and I left my camera in the car. Bad M-Dawg! :-(

Had a nice visit with Susie and her family. Her and her husband Wayne have twin boys, Walt and Will. They are four years old and are such cutie pies! Full of energy and life! Wayne's sister, Karen, lives in Wells, Maine and spent the day with us too.

We drove over to Kennebunkport for lunch at Federal Jack's Restaurant. I had a delicious lobster roll -it's been forever since I've had lobster and it was yummy!

One of boys got sick after we ate lunch - I felt so bad for the little guy! :-(

Afterwards, we walked around some of the quaint shops and stores. I window shopped! :-)

We spent a nice day together and caught up. It's been over four years since we've seen each other.

Oh, the countdown for the last day of second job is two more days!! Wahoooo!!!!! :-)

Major brain fart - I forgot my camera! :-(

Ughy! Yesterday as I was driving down to school, I realized I forgot my camera to take pictures of my classroom. Oops! :-(

I was able to get some work accomplished yesterday. I hung up most of my posters and cleaned out my desk. I put together my Russia bulletin board. It looks good! I also hooked up my computer but I couldn't access the school system for some reason. As far as I know, I still have the same sign in and password. I'll ask our tech dude on Tuesday. :-)

I also got my hair cut and highlighted yesterday. I had about four inches cut off and my hair is now layered. I just felt like I needed a change. Seems to be the theme around here. :-)

The plan for today is for me to drive up to Maine to meet my friend Susie and her family and spend the day together. Susie and I have been friends since college. I haven't seen her since she was pregnant with the twins! Should be a fun day! And, I WILL NOT forget my camera! :-)

Saturday is my last day at Paws. It's been sorta a strange working environment. It's going to be so strange not working on weekends and having a life again. What is a gal to do in her free time????? :-)

Finally! The Russians are doing something!

I don't know if any of you were aware of this BUT since Russia has been under the leadership of Putin, a lot of Russian journalists have been killed. And, the majority of these murders have never been solved. Anna Politkovskaya was a journalist that was very critical of Putin and the Chechnya conflict. She was murdered on October 7, 2006 (also Putin's birthday). Until now, no one has ever been blamed for her death.

So, a huge step has been made recently. Read all about here.

The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists state 13 journalists have been killed in contract-style murders since Putin took office in 2000. Others say that there have been more journalists (numbers as high as over 100) that have been killed for writing against the Putin government.

I just purchased this book a few weeks ago. I haven't started reading it yet but it looked good. Check it out here.

Let's hope that justice will FINALLY be served!

Getting ready for a new school year!

It's that time of the year again. Time for M-Dawg to go back to school.

I'm actually looking forward to going back and seeing the kids and teaching. It's also nice to have a regular schedule again.

I've been working hard the past few weeks on the curriculum I'm co-writing for that new course that I'll be teaching in the spring semester called Current World Affairs. My colleague will be actually teaching the course the fall semester so hopefully she's get the kinks out it before I get to it in the spring. The course sign ups for the course are high - I hope that means that the course didn't become a dumping ground for students to fill their schedules. This new course has a lot of potential to be an educational elective course for our department so I hope it works out OK.

However, I'm a little stressed about this new class I'll be teaching called Salem in History. I don't have a lot of teaching materials for the class and with the exception of the Witch Trials, I don't know much about the local history in the area. I have a textbook for the class but there is only so much you can do with a textbook. I'm sure it will work out but I can't help but feel a little anxious about teaching a new class.

I've been bad with preparing for my World Studies classes too. I'm hoping to get some work done this week. Every summer, I always have these huge to do lists of how I'm going to go through each of my binders and clean them out and organize them. I also like to re-type some of my old files and put them on my computer so I have copies of them. That SO didn't happen this summer. The other three 9th grade World History teachers were supposed to finish (or should I say start) the curriculum for the class. I have this sneaky suspicion that they didn't write it. I really wanted to help write it but with my being away for most of the summer, it wasn't really fair for me or them.

One of my goals for this week is to go into school for a few hours (maybe on Tuesday morning) and try and set up my classroom a bit. I did go in twice already but it was just cleaning and moving desks around and lugging boxes and books. I'll try and remember to take before and after photos so you can see (hopefully) the improvement. Being I'm out in the modular, my classroom isn't that bad. I have A/C and heat which I can control. The space is actually rather nice in comparison to the classrooms in the main building - we are in construction so they building looks like a bomb went off inside. We (the freshman house) are supposed to be in the modular until the end of the school year and then we move back into the main building.

So, my goal for the week is to try and get my room organized, type up my first day handouts for my classes, and finish up the Current World Affairs curriculum. I'm aiming for a restful Labor Day weekend of not worrying about school work. :-)

My host family in Vladimir, Russia and Problems in the World

This is a picture of me and my host Dad, Andrei, and host Mom, Natalia at their flat in Vladimir.

I just received an email from Yana, my host daughter. She's been wonderful about keeping in touch with me since I've been home. Yana is the inspiration of this post tonight.

My visit with them was so nice and wonderful. They were so kind and good to me. It amazed me how complete strangers could be so kind to a stranger - especially an American! :-)

In my travels over the past few years (Europe), a lot of people in these places don't like Americans. It's really sad when you think about it. A lot of it has to do with our government - mainly our idiot of a President.

When I was in Russia, I spoke with people that always asked me my opinion of President Bush and the war in Iraq. Of course, there is a belief that ALL Americans voted for him (NOT ME!) and that ALL Americans want our troops in Iraq (I support our men and women serving - I don't support our American gov't trying to control the world and push democracy on folks that don't want it!).

My host family asked me if America planned on taking over the world. How do I respond to that? How do I tell them that our government makes decisions that the majority of the American public don't agree? I tried to explain to them I hope that America doesn't have the plan to control the world. Yes, we are a world power (I question for HOW much longer) but that America needs to work with other countries (such as Russia) to make the world a better place, politically, socially, and economically. The focus should be on Darfur or how about this - problems that are going on here in the United States such as education, poverty, Katrina victims, etc. I also pointed out that before Bush was elected, the world didn't hate us as much as they do now. Thanks to our involvement in Iraq and the idiotic decisions that have been made over the past four years by our government, the United States has officially pissed off the majority of the Islamic world and isolated the United States from everyone else. Not a smart move.

So, why did Yana's email motivate me to rattle on these topics here? I don't know. I just get so frustrated with our government. At least here in the United States, we have freedom of speech (or do we?) and freedom of ideas. I'm fearful of where America is heading the next ten years. There are so many other problems in the world that need to be dealt with - global warming, North Korea, poverty and world hunger, etc. Oil is NOT the answer to our problems - we need to find other alternative forms of fuel sources.

While living in Russia for a month, I appreciate the little things in life. Good quality toilet paper. Hot water for a shower whenever I want it. No mystery meat - I know from what animal my meat comes from. Unlimited Internet. No smoking laws. If I get pick pocketed here, the police won't say to me, "Stupid American!" Electricity that stays on most of the time. Cars that have to pass emissions tests to drive on the road. Not seeing piles and piles of trash and litter everywhere in a state or national park. Being harassed by drunk Russian men (in a bad way). Food that has flavor and some taste.

I am proud to be an American. I just don't always agree with how America chooses to do things within its government and the world.

Hang tough folks - we only have 512 more days of a Republican President! :-)

M-Dawg is one busy gal!

I've been a busy lady lately. Not that I'm knocking being busy. Busy is good. Between working at my second job and doing school work, I haven't had a lot of down time.

*I've been working on curriculum for a new course that is being offered in my department called Current World Affairs. I'm working on it with another colleague of mine and thank goodness she's on top of everything and keeps us focused and on task. We've been meeting once a week for at least five to six hours at a time plus the time we put into the curriculum on our own at home. I guess I should point out that we are only getting paid for 10 hours. Oh well. We want this done right and good and are willing to do whatever it takes to make it work.

*I'm also teaching a new course called Salem in History (a local history course). So, I'm trying to brush up on my readings for the class. I really want to do some field trips with my students. Today, I met with one of my colleagues that is also teaching a section of the course at the PEM for the afternoon. We are trying to coordinate field trips with her kids and my kids.

*I need to do a lesson plan on my trip to Russia. I haven't even started it yet. I'm doing something on Czar Nicholas II and his family but I haven't figured out WHAT exactly I'm going it on.

*I'm on officer for my local Delta Kappa Gamma chapter so we've been working on some community service projects and planning meetings for the year.

*And, of course, I'm still working at my second job. My last day will be August 31st. I looked at the schedule and on a few of the days that I'm scheduled to work, there is no one else scheduled to come in! For example, this Saturday, I'm on the schedule 9-3. Well, the store closes at 10:00 pm! I'm NOT working all those hours! Especially on a busy Saturday when the store is really busy! And, I already have plans for the evening. I wasn't originally scheduled on Saturday but to help out, I said that I would work the shift. That's what I get for being too nice. The stress level at the store is still high with all the employees. I hope it gets better for them. They are a really nice group of ladies and I wish them the best. The owner is still dealing with her personal stuff and is not in the store a lot which is causing all sorts of problems. When you own your own business, you need to put your personal stuff aside and RUN your business. That is not happening and it's making everyone on edge right now. I do feel badly for what she is going through HOWEVER, it's no reason to take out your emotions on your employees. Especially when we try our best every single day.

So, that is the life of a busy M-Dawg! Wheh! :-)

Happy Birthday Jacob!!!!

This picture is of Jacob in his baseball uniform.

Happy Birthday Jacob!!!!!

Enjoy the day with Mom, Dad, and Corey. Eat lots of b-day cake and make sure they take you out for some ice cream!

Lots of hugs kiddo!!!! :-)

I finally gave two weeks notice at my second job!

I did it! Finally!

Part of me wanted to give my notice in person. Part of me wanted to do it on the phone.

I went into work yesterday and the owner of the store was there. She didn't even say hi to me when I came in (there were two other employees in the store and they both said hi to me). I think the owner had some idea that I was going to give my notice. Maybe she found this blog. Oh well. I don't know and I don't care anymore.

The owner was in another one of her "moods" and she didn't stay very long anyway for me to chat with her. I had already had it in my head that I was going to give notice on Friday come hell or high water.

I chickened out and told her on the phone that evening when I had to call to give her the totals of the day. She didn't ask why. She didn't really say anything. She didn't beg me to stay like she did the others so apparently I'm not a good worker to keep around. I told her that I'm dealing with some personal issues and I need to take care of myself. I explained to her that it's not fair to the customers, the employees, her, or myself to stay when I'm not happy. I know it wasn't professional to give notice over the phone but to be honest, I really didn't want to deal with anymore drama that there already was in that store. All the employees are unhappy. I'm sorta sick of being unhappy at a second job that I really don't need anymore. I will miss the frequent puppies that come into that store. :-(

Friday, August 31st is my last day. That Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, there is a festival in Newburyport. Sucks to be them!!!!!!!!

However, this will be the first Labor Day weekend in over two years that I won't have to work! Yeah!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all my buds for the words of support - love ya's!!!!! :-)

Happy Birthday Shout-outs - Aunt Jenence and Sherri!

I have no recent photos of Aunt Jenence or my friend Sherri from high school! :-(

Happy Birthday Aunt Jenence! Wishing much love on your extra special day! Hope Uncle A takes ya out for a nice dinner!

Happy Birthday Sherri! I met Sherri my freshman year in high school - such a goofy girl! Always the life of the party! Some of funniest memories from high school are linked to this girl! Mooner - thanks for the memories! Enjoy your day kiddo!

Hugs and love to you both!!!! :-)

Random Thoughts for the Day - school related!

Thanks for the comments about my second job. I'll keep everyone posted about what happens when I call her. Joy!

It's that time of the year again. Back to school. Parents doing the dance thing down the Staples aisle. Teachers stressing out about getting their classroom ready and lesson plans completed. Kids complaining that they have to start getting up early again for the new school year.

I went to Staples (my first trip of MANY!) yesterday to pick up a few things for school. I belong to Teacher Rewards so a certain percentage of what I spend comes back to me in savings. Since I spend so much money in that store, it really pays to belong to the program. I picked up some binders (Although I still keep most of my curriculum on my computer, I still keep the hard copies in a binder), markers for my white board (I officially killed my markers from last year - OR should I say my students killed the markers when they wrote all over my white boards good-bye notes and well-wishes for my trip to Russia on the last few days of school), tacks for the bulletin boards (I'm going to do a board on Russia - surprise!), and binder clips (the best invention ever!). Once I get settled into my classroom, I'm sure that I will be taking a few more road trips to the local Staples to load up on more supplies. Wouldn't it be nice if my school actually provided materials to me???????

Once I get my classroom all set up, I'll take some photos and post them at a later date.

Some of my first day of school memories:

*The smell of pencils and school supplies (still gets me hot and excited - I know - I'm a sick person!)

*Mom and Dad ALWAYS taking a picture of Mandy and I on the first day of school. I have EIGHT of them for the first 8 years of school. You can always tell the styles of clothing and hair of the time based on those pictures.

*Meeting my teacher(s) for the first time. I have mostly positive memories. I have one BAD memory of one teacher I had for 3rd and 4th grades - she was the most horrible teacher in the world! She used to make fun of kids that couldn't read! Who does that???????

*In high school, going shopping to pick out that that "First day of School" outfit.

*In high school, I always wondered if I would know anyone in my classes. I need to point out that my high school had 400 students in it and it was a VERY small high school.

What is your first day of school memory? Could be your own personal experience - could be your child (or children) experience. Please share. :-)

And, for your enjoyment, here is a little picture of me and my friends on the 1st day of school (probably around 5th or 6th grade).

I haven't done "the dirty deed" yet . . . .

I'm such a chicken. I still haven't given notice yet at my second job.

The owner of the store has been so bitchy and hasn't been in the store a lot. She's not even on the schedule for the whole month of August. I understand that she is going through some personal issues but you OWN A STORE!

I worked on Sunday. I was schedule to work 10-3. The lady that was scheduled to work could not work and no one else could work on that day so I got stuck working open to close. I usually don't mind working long hours except that if I need to go to the bathroom and get something to drink, I can't leave the store. And, it was sales tax free weekend in MA so that meant that is would be busy (weekends in the summer at usually busy since we are a tourist town). I worked until 5:30 that day!

The owner came in on Sunday for about 20 minutes (enough time for me to go to the bathroom) and then left! While she was in the store, she was very snappy at me!

So, I guess I won't see her again in the store for a while. I guess I'll have to tell her on the phone that as of the Sept 1st, I will not be working at the store. I don't why I'm being such a chicken about this - I think she's going to throw a fit so I think that is why I'm not telling her. Another employee gave her notice (she's a college student and would be leaving after Labor Day anyway). Another gal that works with us is leaving too.

Reasons why folks are leaving: 1) The bitchiness of the owner (she is very difficult to work for). 2) The responsibility at the store is ridiculous 3) The pay for what we deal with 4) The customers are sometimes rude. The college student that is leaving us got another job this summer working at a retail store in the same downtown area that our store is located (she worked at both stores). I think she realized after working at that store how much easier it is to work at THAT store compared to our store. And, she's making more money for less responsibility. I can't blame her. And, the owner put A LOT of responsibility on her like doing the schedule for the entire summer - essentially this girl was the manager of the store all summer and didn't get paid or treated very well for doing it. I think she just got burnt out. She's been at our store for three years so it's sad to see her go but I don't blame her.

I need to do what is best for me. All of you are commenting and telling me the same thing. I just care too much sometimes. I do love the dogs that come into the store but it's so not worth my aggravation or stress.

Should I just call her to tell her that I won't be working? Please give me your thoughts and opinions. Thanks! :-)

Happy 1st Anniversary Mark & Traci!

Happy Anniversary to Mark and Traci!

Mark and Traci are celebrating their 1st anniversary today!

Wishing you much love and happiness in your lives - love each other - accept each other - laugh with each other.

Enjoy the day!

Lots of hugs and love to you both!!!! :-)

A day off! OR, is it a day off???????

I have the day off from my second job today.

I have lots of stuff to do today. I'm trying to be somewhat productive around the house since I go back to school in a few weeks.

You know those things that never get done but NEED to get done but you NEVER have the time to complete those tasks???? Like organizing and purging the filing cabinet or cleaning closets? I also need to move a lot of boxes and stuff up to my storage unit in the attic. Add to my house list - my school list of stuff that needs to get done before school starts. Like writing curriculum for the new course or research material for a new class I'm teaching this year (Salem in History) or revamping my first unit in World Studies. Plus, I need to write up a lesson plan to submit to the University of IL about my trip by Sept. 1st.

I know that I should probably be relaxing and enjoying my day off. No luck in that happening! My head keeps racing of everything that needs to get done. During the school year, a lot of stuff doesn't get done since I'm so busy working all the time. I'm hoping that once school starts and I get my weekends back, I'll be able to be more productive at home. The best part: not having to set your alarm on the weekend to get up and go to work.

Oh, I did sleep until 10:00 AM today so I guess I did get some relaxing time today. :-)

What do you do on your day off or weekends?

I have to do something that I really don't like or want to do!

I'm sorta of stressed out right now.

I've made the decision to give notice at my second job. There are a lot of reasons why I want to give my notice. Part of it, I don't really need the money. I'm sick and tired of always working all the time and feeling tired and exhausted and not having much of a life. There is also drama that is always happening at the store and I'm getting sick of it.

I also would like to focus on my teaching this school year. I've been in a negative place the past year and I feel that this school year will make or break me as an educator. I would like to be able to say that I gave it my heart and soul and if it's meant to work out, that's great. If not, than life moves on and I will need to find another job outside of education.

The owner of the store is going through some personal stuff right now. I sorta feel bad for her and I don't want to add to her stress but for once, I need to take care of myself. I also found out that another girl just gave her notice too. I want commit to the store until the end of August and finish out the summer. Once school starts, my hours go back to weekends anyway.

The owner hasn't been in the store so it's been hard for me to tell her that I will no longer be working after this month. I don't want to tell her over the phone but I just may have to do that.

So, this is why I'm stressed. I hate confrontations - and I can guarantee that this will be a confrontation with the owner. I would like to leave on a positive note but we shall see what will happen . . . . . . . .

Happy Birthday Mark!!!!!

Mark, Traci, and Jeffrey.

Happy Birthday Mark!

To a wonderful guy and great Daddy! Enjoy your special day with your family and friends!

Hugs! :-)

Adjusting to life back in the United States

Sometimes, you don't realize how lucky we have it here in the United States. Hot water whenever we want it, rights protected under our laws and Constitution, technology, etc.

Life in Russia was hard. And I was only living there for a month. I knew I was coming back to my lovely home with all the modern conveniences, my rights were protected by my government and our Constitution, police are not corrupt here and bribery is rare, and if I wanted to change my financial situation, I could change it. If there is something about my life that I don't like, I don't accept it. I try and change it.

Russians don't live this way. They accept that they can't make a change or difference in their lives. They don't trust the police since the police won't help them. For example, when I was in St. Petersburg, a few members of our group decided to stay in the downtown area for some drinks and dinner for the evening and take the Metro back to the Hotel. We bought our coins for the metro (12 rubles or 48 cents in American money) and headed down the very LONG escalator to the Metro (subway). We were talking and laughing (basically, being loud and obnoxious Americans). We arrived at the bottom and walked in front of the doors to the Metro - waiting for the next available train. The train arrives and we all walk forward to enter the train. As we enter the train, we are shoved HARD! I went flying into the train (which was crowded since it was during Rush Hour or peak hours). I felt someone try and reach into my pocket. I didn't keep anything in my pockets - everything was in my side bag that I always carried in front on me during close confined spaces or situations. One of the guys in my group (Mike) was not so lucky - they stole his wallet with all his money and credit cards and drivers license. Good news - they didn't get his passport which was in his other back pocket. We were warned to not carry our money in our back pockets since pick pocketing is VERY popular in Russia. As the doors were closing, Mike jumped out to chase the criminals that stole his wallet. We all looked at each other - panic-stricken. This woman on the Metro said to us in English, "That's Russia for you!" It's like they accept this type of behavior. The rest of our group got back to the Hotel to tell the main guy in charge of our group what had happened. We also went to the Police and their response was, "Not our problem!" "Stupid Americans! You should be smarter than to keep your money where someone would steal it!" Nice, heh? The Police refused to help us. Mike did come back to the Hotel. He told the Hotel what happened and they allowed him to make a quick phone call home to tell his wife to cancel all the credit cards. And, he'll have to replace his drivers licence. The good news is that he still had his Passport. If they got his Passport, it could've ended up on the black market and sold.

I couldn't get over how the Police reacted (Or should I say the lack of reaction) in this situation. If this happened in the United States, they would've at least filed a report and been more helpful. I heard many stories while in Russia on how the Police are not helpful and if you are in trouble, you don't go to the Police. I had also heard many stories on how you could bribe or pay off the Police. We were also told that if a woman was raped, the Police wouldn't do anything. Very scary society!

Regarding the hot water: There would be days without hot water so people go days without showering or bathing. Makes for a very stinky society! :-( Again, the people in Russia accept it and do nothing about it. They don't go to their local politicians to complain. They don't advocate for their rights. Nothing.

We are very blessed and lucky to have what we have here in the United States. I know we all complain about our government at times or society. But, we really are lucky. Remember that the next time you complain about something here in the United States!

PS Mike lost $150 cash. Nothing was charged on his credit cards before he cancelled them so he was VERY lucky! Some American teachers in my group loaned him money to get by until the end of the trip.