Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Monday, June 18, 2007

Leaving for Russia . . .

OK folks!

All my school stuff is officially completed. Corrected projects. Corrected final exams. Entered grades into school system. Cleaned and packed up classroom. Checked out with the proper administrators. Had my last American meal in MA with two of my colleagues today for lunch.:-)

Now . . . packing! I can take two pieces of luggage and one carry-on. You should see me trying to pack everything I need for a month into a suitcase and a smaller suitcase. I think I'm going to be over the weight requirement for my domestic flight. I should be OK for the flight to Moscow. Ughy!

My brain is on overload right now - I'm trying to think of everything that needs to get done before I head out of here on Tuesday.

I won't be updating this blog while I'm in Russia. Please feel free to check out my travel blog. I will have limited access to the Internet while I'm in Russia.

Have a good month and I'll be in touch soon!

Lots of hugs and love to all!!!! :-)

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Happy Father's Day to my Daddy!

This is Dad and I in 2003 - the picture was taken at Pokagon State Park in Indiana.

Happy Father's Dad to my Daddy! I know I can be a pain in the butt. I know that I can be stubborn. But, I get it from you! (Just kidding). :-)

I do love you Daddy! Thank you for everything you do for me. You are always there to stand behind me and support me. I do appreciate all the sacrifices you did for me when I was growing up. I hear a lot of your words coming out of my mouth now as an adult with my students. Scary, heh? I know I wasn't the "easiest" teenager growing up but you and Mom still stood behind me and believed in me.

Enjoy your extra special day!


I love you mucho!!!! :-)
This lovely picture is a flashback from my 8th grade graduation in 1985. Notice the big 80's hairdo on Mandy and I. :-)


This picture is from Mom and Dad's Surprise 25th Wedding Anniversary Party in 1994. Are you feeling the love???

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Winding things down at school and home . . . . . .

I'm slowing getting things done.

Check list:
*Bought all my toiletries for my trip.
*Graded projects.
*Ellie the Cat is taken care of - thanks to Aileen! :-)
*Prescriptions all set.
*Travel to Logan Airport in Boston is all set.
*Contacted my bank to notify them I'm traveling to Russia so they don't do something stupid - like stop ALL transactions! Ughy!
*Contacted my health insurance to notify them I'm going to Russia.
*Cleaned and packed up classroom materials.
*Put my Netflix account on hold.
*Notified my condo association that I'll be gone for a month.
*Stop mail service.
*Travel blog all set.

What needs to be done:
*Finish grading final exams.
*Enter final grades into Gradekeeper and print out sheets for my students so they can pick up thier grades on Monday.
*Enter grades into school system for report cards.
*PACK!
*Hair appt on Tuesday morning before I leave.
*Pedicure.
*Get money out of savings account for my trip.
*Pay bills
*Gifts for my host families.

I'm probably missing a ton of stuff. If I have the time, I'll update my list.

I work all weekend so this should be interesting if I can get everything done that needs to get down. Ughy!

Oh, add to this, I had to deal with four of my Honors students that plagiarized their research papers. They will receive zeros for their grade which will impact their final grade for 4th quarter. The best part: one of the students - their Mom is an English teacher in my building! Joy! That was a drama in itself yesterday! Ughy! :-(

Can my life get anymore exciting and busy?????????

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

I SO have to post this picture!!!!

Picture this. Janet and I. Rainforest Cafe at the Burlington Mall. Mr. Frog wants to take a picture with me.
Strike a pose M-Dawg! :-)
Good times!
Thanks Janet for emailing me the picture.
PS I saved the picture on my desktop on my school computer. I'm such a dork! :-)

Sunday, June 10, 2007

What is the meaning of summer?

For me, the meaning of summer is fishing. I have some nice memories of going fishing with my Dad.

My friend Cheryl from IL emailed me these pictures of her and her family fishing.


Isn't summer great?




This picture is (left to right) Corey, Brian, and Jacob.


This is Cheryl catching a fish!
Good job Hunt family! :-)

Friday, June 08, 2007

I have a little thief in my classroom

I'm very upset right now.

One of my students had her IPod stolen yesterday in my classroom. Now, let me first state that I don't allow IPods in my classroom. However, this student was digging out her project for me that she needed to turn in and she left her cell phone and IPod out on her desk (She keeps these items in her bag to be used before and after school). She walked over to my desk to staple her research paper. She went back to her desk and the IPod was gone. I wanted the police officer in our building to come down but he was in a meeting so my Freshman Housemaster came down into my classroom. He searched every student book bag and even searched the kids. Nothing. But, at least four students named a "potential" thief. The boy they all mentioned is on probation right now for stealing and having a gun (14 years old) - he was transferred from another school. This kid has quite the criminal record already. The Housemaster searched him twice. Found nothing. However, the Housemaster made the comment that it is possible for the boy to have the IPod down his crotch. Yes, you read it correctly. And, we can't search him "in that area" (for obvious reasons).

This girl is the sweetest thing. She is one of my hardest workers in class. She struggles with school but wants to do well in life. She gets good grades so that she can go to a good college. She is from the Dominican Republic and her father worked very hard to purchase this $250 IPod for her (Her father adores her - he really wants the best for her). She was absolutely devastated yesterday. And the ironic thing - in the morning, she found a cell phone and returned it to the housemaster because she's an honest kid. See where kindness and honesty gets ya???

Fast forward to today: The Math teacher on my team has one of our girls out in the hallway and she's crying. HER IPod was stolen out of outside pocket of her book bag. Guess what kid is in the class? So, the Math teacher asked me to go get the Housemaster. I got him and he searched all the kids again and nothing turned up.

What is up with these kids?

I told the Housemaster if this stealing thing with IPods happens again next week and that kid is in the room, I think they should call the police and have the police search the kid. I wouldn't screw around with the situation at that point. The kid has some serious issues.

The Housemaster did explain to BOTH girls that they shouldn't have the IPods in school. Unfortunately, it's a hard lesson to learn for both girls.

Before I dismissed my kids after the search, I told them how hard I had worked to create a safe environment in my classroom and that was completely blown today. A few of the other students came up to up afterwards and told me how violated they felt about the stealing. I have to admit that I feel violated too.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

The Internal Battle . . . . to be sick or not to be sick . . . that is the question!

My body is having a battle of whether or not it wants to be sick and blah OR healthy right now.

The dark side (the sick, blah part) may be winning the battle folks. . . . .

I have Sunday off so I hope I can make it . . . . .

Tired. Very tired.

I'm drinking a glass of orange juice as I type this post. Think it will help????? :-)

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Exhaustion is the word of the day!



What can I say? I'm tired. I'm exhausted. And, I'm buried with school work right now. Overworked and underpaid doesn't flow very well with me right now.

I do it to myself at the end of every school year. Only this time, I have the Russia trip to get ready for on top of everything else.

If I've been out touch with folks - it's because when I do have ONE moment to myself, I choose to sleep. So, please don't be upset with me if I've been unable to comment on blogs or email back right away. I am trying to do the best that I can right now.

I'm also working a ton more hours at the doggie store. The owner of the store has a VERY sick Dalmatian so the owner hasn't be able to work her normal hours so all of the employees have been picking up extra hours to help her out - including me. The money will be nice for my trip but it's making me a tad bit more tired than normal. For example, last week I worked over 22 hours at Paws on top of my crazy hours that I put into school. I kept track of my school hours last week - I worked over 50 hours! Ughy! No wonder I'm not feeling like myself right now.

Our union STILL hasn't negotiated our contract yet which means that we are entering into the second year that the City of Salem has saved a ton of money by NOT paying us what we deserve. I really can't afford to be making the same salary for the second year in a row.

People keep asking me if I'm excited about my trip to Russia. Of course I am excited but I have so much stuff to do before I leave that I can't even think about it right now.

Oh, the local paper did publish the story on me going to Russia. However, when you try and check it out online, it's part of the Plus edition. Here is a snippet. There was a picture of me too. If you want a photocopy of the article, let me know and I can mail it out to you.

Oh, and to add more fun to this scenario - there have been a lot of teachers out since everyone is trying to use up their personal days so that means substitute teachers. Our subs are horrible! They never do their job. Last week, I ended up having to pull apart a wrestling match (yes, you read it correctly) in a classroom as the sub was watching and laughing in the middle of a classroom. I happened to be walking by the room and heard laughing and yelling. This also happened on a day of which I teach three 90 minute classes in a row and have the last block for my prep block (I'm supposed to be making phone calls to parents, photocopying materials, correcting papers, attend meetings, etc. during this block). So needless to say, I wasn't very happy about having to do someone else's job at the end of the day. Every day last week, either myself or my other colleagues had to intervene and monitor the subs. We've all complained to administration about how incompetent the subs are but since it's the end of the school year, no one else wants the job so a bad sub is better than no sub. Nice mentality. Ughy!

So, that sums up stuff here.