Life is not a fairy tale....

I think maybe that I might watch too many "chick" flicks. You know the ones I am talking about. The ones where, no matter what has gone on in the last hour and twenty or so minutes, EVERYTHING works out in the end. Adorable, cute, funny, smart, girl gets gorgeous, sexy, passionate, sweet, romantic, boy. Happily ever after.

If you were to ask me what my favorite movie is, I would tell you, without pause, Cinderella. YES, the cartoon movie. I have always loved that movie. I still do. There is something about it that, no matter that I am rapidly approaching (gulp) 40, still gets to me. Still makes me hopeful that one day MY prince will come. I watch, I wait, I try to be patient, I work on being content, but dag-on it! Where the heck is he? I half wonder if, one of these days, when (I have to say when, I can't say if--that is too depressing), so when he shows up I am going to blurt out "You're late! Where the heck have you been?!?"

There are two (more) pregnant women at work. I am struggling to be happy for them. I mean truly happy for them. Happy enough to not be jealous. They are lovely women and I am sure they will make wonderful mothers. They are a good ten years younger than me, though, and I can't help but be jealous. When I was still teaching my middle school students would ask me questions on the back of their quizzes. Some of the questions were silly, some they wouldn't want me to repeat out loud--they just wanted a private answer, and one that I will always remember was "If you weren't a teacher, what would you want to be?" My answer was always the same...a mommy.

I would like to think I would be a good mommy. I would bake cupcakes for the class. I would volunteer to help the teacher. I would give the good teacher presents (because I was a teacher). I would do crafts and finger paint and play-dough. I know there are lots of other things that make one a good mommy and I know that I would make mistakes, but I still think that, given the chance, I would make a good mommy. I am fearing, though, that I won't get the chance.

So, even though I watch Cinderella, and am always a little teary at the end because of the happily ever after, I know that real life isn't a fairy tale, and that makes me kind of sad.

Are you ready?

For some FOOTBALL?!?!?

(disclaimer: if you have the unfortunate luck to be sitting in a law firm in Ohio you probably will NOT enjoy the beginning of this post. Scroll down for a better topic, keeping in mind that if you aren't careful, the face that you are making right now WILL freeze that way. ;P )

I {heart} football. I do not try to hide that fact. Yes, it IS a GAME. I understand that whoever wins the game on Sunday (or Monday, or Thursday, or the occasional Saturday late in the season) will not change what is going on in the world. You know, the important stuff....poverty, national health care (NO! NO! NO!), war, famine. I get it.

Again. I {HEART} FOOTBALL. I can not wait until the first Sunday game of the season. I can't wait to hear that it is, in fact, football night in America. I can't wait to see my COWBOYS! play their first game in their brand-spanking new, fan-freaking-tabulous stadium (sorry, Jerry Jones, I don't give a rat's hiney WHAT you call it, the home stadium for the COWBOYS! will A.L.W.A.Y.S. be TEXAS STADIUM. At least you aren't a sell-out like (ahem) dan snyder). I can't wait to see Terry Bradshaw make a moron out of himself on national TV. I am greedily anticipating that first Sunday and it is ALMOST HERE!!!

I am, in fact, ready for some FOOTBALL!!!

The end of the season used to be bittersweet for me. I love watching the Super Bowl, even in my 'Boys aren't there. And, no, not just for the commercials. But, it is the END of the season (oh, please, the Pro-Bowl SO doesn't count!) I used to go to a friend's house to watch THE big game. We were good friends, at least I thought we were. We haven't spoken since March. That makes me sad. I'm not sure exactly what happened, except that I got tired of being the "friend"-that-gets-the-call-when-I-have-nothing-better-to-do. I finally had enough when I got accused of spreading rumors about her. The last time I checked I was an adult, not a teenager, and oh-by-the-way, have WAY better things to do with my time then talking about someone who was SUPPOSED to be my friend. What ACTUALLY happened, I believe, was that she found someone "better". I was REALLY hurt for a while. This was a person who I had really confided in, shared secrets with. I cried with her, she cried with me. She was one of the few people who I knew I could talk to after my mom passed away. It hurt to know that I wasn't good enough for her anymore. I am not the type of person who needs many friends, so to have someone who I REALLY thought was a good friend turn on me like that hurt deeply. So this season, when it comes time to watch the Super Bowl, I am anticipating watching it alone. I will try not to be too sad. Heck, maybe miss raven and I will throw a party for two. :)

Speaking of two (and dang this is looking like a LONG post)....

Today was the end of week two at school. Only a bazillion more to go. Possibly a slight exaggeration. I suppose it just seems like that many. So...good things that happened this week:

1. Whoo-hoo! A slight raise starting in November!!!!!!!

2. miss raven and I got our picture taken AND I found out that my local JC Penney also does portrait sittings with pets!!!

3. Pre-season football tonight!

4. Cheese popcorn (sigh)

5. Thunderstorms

6. Finding my new favorite song(s). I am totally into Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz. I'm not sure if that makes me lame or not and frankly, my dears..... ;)

7. A tentative solution to a problem that I was wrestling with over the weekend. It is not the solution I want, but it never will be, no matter how much I want it to be. (But I digress, this is supposed to be good things from the week, not sort-of ok things.)

8. My increasing love for my Blackberry. I think that may deserve it's very own post.

9. Finding out on Wednesday that I am 9.4 away from where I want to be.

10. miss raven. She will always be on ANY list of GOOD things that happen to me. I {heart} my girlie!

Have a fantastic weekend!! :)

Chhhheeeeeeeesssssseeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

miss raven and I had our picture taken tonight. As I have mentioned previously, I DESPISE, LOATHE, DETEST, ABHOR having my picture taken. I have never, ever, ever, thought that I look good in pictures. My smile always looks fake and, as we all know, the camera adds 10 (err, 20, maybe 30-50) pounds.

I was intrigued, however, by the offer of a free 8x10 AND being able to have miss raven in the picture with me. I thought I would give it a try. No, we didn't dress alike, but don't think I didn't think about it. I DO NOT dress miss raven up, though, and all she has are sweaters. It was WAY too warm to be putting a sweater on her. She did get to wear her sparkly pink necklace, though.Hey--a girl has to look good for the camera!

We had to wait a few minutes before we were called in to sit for the picture. I wisely brought along a small baggie of cheerios because I knew that it would help distract my little diva. When we got to go in, miss raven decided she really, really didn't want her picture taken. I tried to get her to put her ears up, the photographer tried to get her to put her ears up, a friend of mine from work tried to get her to put her ears up, all to no avail. I sat on a stool, I sat on the floor. I coaxed, I pleaded, I cajoled. Nothing worked. She was not in the mood.

We did end up with some o.k. shots. Not too bad, but I wish she would have put those darn big old ears up. You know, like this:or this:or even this: but, noooooooo. SOMEONE had to be a diva. Honestly, though....I'm not surprised. ;)

A comment for me? Really?!?!

:)

After, ummm (ahem) complaining about the fact that I never receive any comments on my blog, someone actually left one for me!!! I am sure that it is silly of me to care, since I do know that there are a handful of people who read my little blog, but, I do care. And I thank you for the comment.

miss raven and I are having our picture taken professionally tomorrow night. I am actually excited about that. Normally I LOATHE having my picture taken. I always feel that I come off looking phony. Maybe with her in the picture it will make me look better. :)

School has calmed down some (sshhhhhh....pretend I didn't say that out loud--I don't want to jinx anything) I am having issues with someone I work with, but am confident that I will be able to handle it. Well, mostly confident. Ok...somewhat confident. Usually.

Work, life, and everything else.....

I realized, when someone brought it to my attention, that it has been almost a whole week since I have blogged. I knew I hadn't blogged for a while, but I didn't realize that (a) it had been that long, and (b) that anyone really noticed. I must say, it IS nice to know that people read my blog. (leave comments, people!)

I haven't blogged for a couple of reasons. First, last week was a DOOZY of a week for me. The first week of school generally is, but this one was DOOZIER (yes, I just made that word up. It's my blog, I can make up words if I want to.) than most. My school week ended with me having to suspend a 7th grade boy for starting a fight. Fun? I think not.

I have also been going through some things personally. Private things. Personal things. Things that, although writing about them might help me, writing about them on a public blog would not. So instead, I wrestle with them in my mind and in my heart. And I believe that they will eventually work themselves out. Most likely not in the way I wish/want them to, but nonetheless, they will work out and I won't have to wrestle with them anymore.

Today is Monday and Monday is almost over. All was relatively quiet on the school-front and right now miss raven is dozing sweetly beside me while I type and watch ESPN. I WANTED to watch PTI, but noooooooo....the Little League World Series is on. Seriously?!? My FAVORITE sports show is being pre-empted because of a bunch of kids playing baseball? That almost, but not quite, makes me want to use highly inappropriate language.

Day 2 OR Is this really happening?

I so thought that Day 2 would be WAY better than Day 1. LOL! Silly me!

It started out good. I had a teacher out today, but I knew that was coming. I was prepared. Things were going smoothly, classes were progressing well--well, we were really only completely through 1st period. Then. It. Happened.

I got a phone call. A child fainted in Mrs. X's room. I rush down there (as fast as I could in heels) and sure enough, there were four adults tending to one child laying on the floor. I was sent to fetch ice. I came back with said ice and then was able to talk to my student. Very, very long story short.....child went to ER. He is fine. Was a little queasy because of something that was shown in class. But really. THE SECOND DAY OF SCHOOL?!?!

Is it wrong that I am dreading the third day of school??? :(

What? Wait...am I being punked???

UPDATE:
1. The teacher came to school!
2. My morning went well.
3. My afternoon reached up and slapped me for being so confident about my morning.
4. I have very good friends who made me laugh this morning to help take away my stress. You know who you are and I appreciate you very, very much. :)
5. 1 down, 179 to go.


Really? A teacher calls out the first day of school? REALLY?!?! Where are the cameras? I KNOW this isn't real!! Oh, pleasepleasepleaseplease don't let this be an indication of how the year is going to go.......