"Not Me, Monday" and then some...

I have been wanting to do a "Not Me, Monday" for sometime. The problem is, I don't have a child. I have a (ssshhhhhhh--don't tell her I said this) dog. I have decided, however, to jump into "Not Me, Monday" and not let all the mommys have all the fun.

What is "Not Me, Monday"?  I look at it as a sort of "confessional", without really admitting to anything. ;) Don't worry, you'll catch on quickly.

• I did not spend the greater part of my Sunday in my bed in my room. I did not watch football from the comfort of my bed instead of moving to my couch in the living room. I'm not THAT lazy!
• I was not so tired this morning that, instead of actually washing my travel coffee mug, I simply rinsed it out with hot water. Eeeewwww! I'm MUCH more sanitary than THAT!
• I am not planning on taking today's sports page to school tomorrow to hang on my office door because I am so beyond THRILLED that the redskins lost to the Lions. I would never be THAT obnoxious.
• I did not think, as I talked to a high-schooler today, that I sounded just like my mother. I did not think that because I swore, when I was a teenager, that I would NEVER say the things she said to me because she "just didn't understand." I am so not my mother.
• Work is not so stressful that I now dread getting up in the morning. I manage stress well and would never let what goes on at school affect my mentally or physically. My students behave ALL the time and my supervisor NEVER micromanages me. :) Never ever.
• I am NEVER so stressed when I get home that I yell at miss raven for barking. Um, she is a (ssshhhhh....) dog. I know that they do that and would NEVER yell at her for doing something that comes naturally.

Wasn't that fun? You should try it. Even if you don't have a blog. Write it down, get it off your chest. It will make you feel so much better! Confession is good for the soul, dontchaknow?
miss raven is fine, despite me. I feel like I have been an AWFUL mommy lately. I have been out a lot and when I am home I am tired and cranky and her barking drives me up the wall. She can't help it and she isn't barking anymore than usual. I just usually only have one nerve left by the time I get home from work and have to fight hard not to snap at her. I am trying to spend more time with her but she sleeps all day and is SO full of energy when I get home. I spent most of the day with her yesterday and that was nice but I still feel awful.
I have some many decisions to make for next year. I know that I can't spend another year like this because the stress is too much. :(
On the bright side, ummmm. Hang on, let me think. I know there HAS to be a bright side around here somewhere. I'll let you know when I find it.

thoughts about responsibility in letter form...

Dear Student,

The deadline for your (permission slip, project due date, homework assignement, etc.) was given for a reason. You had enough time to get this turned in. You were given repeated remiders/warnings to get it turned in on time or face the consequences, whatever they may be.

I am not sure why you CHOSE not to turn it in on time. I certainly didn't want to have to administer the consequences for your failure to turn it in. Unfortunately, because you CHOSE not to turn it in, consequences await you.

Why, dear student, are you surprised that I am enforcing the consequences? Why do you think that deadlines should not apply to you? Why do you feel that you are entitled to exception after exception after exception? I am not heartless. I understand that, sometimes circumstances beyond your control occur and things don't get done. I am willing to work with that. You, however, ALWAYS seem to think that you can get away with doing or not doing what is required of everyone else and never have to pay the price.

So, no, you may not attend the party this week. Regardless of what your parents are/are not teaching you, it is my responsibility to treat you the SAME as everyone else in the class. Deadlines are there for a reason and it is PAST TIME that you learn that lesson. Be thankful that you are learning it now because it will help you when you are older.

Oh, and, just so you know, I AM doing this because I CHOOSE to LOVE you. I know you don't agree with that. To you, I am a mean (insert whatever word you would like here) and you will absolutely, positively, HATE ME FOREVER!!!!!! Ok. You aren't the first child to say that to me, and, guess what? You WON'T BE THE LAST. :) I will sleep tonight and you will get over it. Buck up buttercup.

Sincerely,
Your Principal

p.s. Dear Parent,
PLEASE TEACH YOUR CHILD THAT DEADLINES MEAN SOMETHING. QUIT FIGHTING THEIR BATTLES FOR THEM. YOU AREN'T DOING THEM ANY GOOD. YOUR CHILD IS GETTING THE ATTITUDE THAT THEY ARE CONSTANTLY ENTITLED TO EXCEPTIONS AND THAT THE RULES NEVER APPLY TO THEM. PLEASE DO US BOTH A FAVOR AND STOP TEACHING THEM THIS!!! thank you.

Everybody walk the dinosaur....

Last night I went to see Walking with the Dinosaurs at the Verizon Center. I went with a good friend that I work with. She got the tickets from a friend of hers so we didn't have to pay. (note to self...FREE is always a good thing.)

The Verizon Center is located in DC in Chinatown. I had never been to DC's Chinatown and, although it is relatively small, it is kind of cool. I took a few pictures:

Walking with the Dinosaurs is a pretty cool show. It is, of course, chock-full of evolution which I wasn't surprised by. I am not, nor have I ever been, a believer of evolution. All the evolution aside, though, the show itself was pretty cool. I can't say whether or not the dinos were actually life size. For one thing, our seats were on the second level and for another thing, I wasn't there to begin with. How do I know how big they were?? ;)

Anyway--I did manage to get some pretty cool shots. I must say I was pretty impressed by the quality of the shots I got in the dark and with my little camera:

There were a couple of negative things about the show. First, it was WAY loud. Hmmmm....was it really all that loud or am I old? Something to ponder. Second, I would never take a little kid to see the show. When the T-Rex came out at the end and was LOUDLY screaming it's fool head off, I heard many a little one screaming in terror. THOSE parents didn't get any sleep last night, that's for sure!

Anyway (again), I had a great time. It was nice to get out and nice to get out with someone so fun. :)

Today I decided to try and get some shots of miss raven. This is what I ended up with:

Obedience is NOT one of her virtues. I love her anyway. :)

Thankful Thursday

I used to do Thankful Thursday when I was still a teacher. No matter what grade I was teaching, on Thursdays the kids had to come to class ready to share something that they were thankful for, even if it was something as "small" as waking up that day.

I came to really love Thankful Thursday because it forced my kids to really think about what they have (which is much) and be thankful for it. I miss Thankful Thursday, (I miss the classroom, but that is another post.) so, without further ado, here is my very own Thankful Thursday:

1. I am thankful for miss raven. She brings so much joy and happiness into my life. No matter what kind of day I have had she always brings a smile to my face.
2. I am thankful for good friends. I don't need many friends, so the ones I do have are very dear to me and they know who they are.
3. I am thankful for my family. I know that they are always there for me no matter what.
4. I am thankful for my job. These days jobs are hard to come by. I have had MANY several stressful days already this year and I know that I will have many, MANY more, but I am still thankful for my job.
5. I am thankful for summer. It is over, I am dealing with that, and am already wishing it back. I am so thankful for summer after a cold winter. We got our propane bill today and it was just ANOTHER smack in the face that winter is knocking on my door.
6. I am thankful for books. I LOVE to read. Right now I am on a poetry kick and am devouring Keats and Dickinson.
7. I am thankful for football. Ok. This one might not really fit in with this list, but it is my blog and I don't give a hoo-ha if you like it or not. ;)
8. I am thankful for indoor plumbing. Really. There is NO way I could have lived in the times without it. God did not intend for me to use an outhouse. This is why I do not camp. Me? Camping? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! Not likely. ;)
9. I am thankful for Therma Care heat wraps. I do not feel the need to add to this other than to say the person who created them deserves some kind of medal.
10. I am thankful for my country. There is much wrong with what is going on in the country right now, but there is also much right about this country and I am thankful for that. I am most thankful for the military of this country. They deserve much more than they are given and DO NOT ever deserve to be looked down on or maligned.

What are you thankful for?

just a little randomness...

I really feel the need to blog today but I have nothing to blog about. I mean...I DO have a lot on my mind and I have much I COULD say but nothing seems to want to come out of my brain right now. At least not coherently. However, since I know SOMEone in OHIO wants to read my blog (hey--at least someone wants to read it!), I will do my best to come up with SOMEthing.

I am actually having issues at work right now and am trying to decide what is going to be the best course of action for me. I always seem to be at odds with my direct supervisor. Without getting too specific, I feel like he doesn't think that I should be in the position that I am in. I think he feels like someone else could do the job better than me. That may be right (and many times I think it is) however, I am the principal NOW and for this year. I wish so much that he would LISTEN to me and respect me. I work hard to show him respect but many times feel like it is not a two-way street.

The one thing in my favor is that my new administrator does have confidence in me and does believe that I can do my job. That makes me feel better. Knowing that he has confidence in me makes things a wee bit better at work. Right now I am so stressed out every day at work that there are days when I dread having to go back. I am wondering if it would be better for me to go back to the classroom and teach again. I mean, I never said when I was growing up "Gee--I want to be a principal someday." I have ALWAYS wanted to be a teacher, though. Even on the days when I had a horrible time in the classroom, I have always wanted to teach. I miss being in the classroom. I miss the interaction with the kids. I miss all the fun games and things that I was able to do in the classroom. I have some big decisions to make.

The weather is getting much cooler. It is the middle of September and I am dreading what is to come. Have I mentioned that I HATE winter? Cold and I do not get along. I bought a new sweater over the weekend and, while I love it (it is a pretty purple heather), it is a SWEATER. Sweaters+cold=a very sad melicity. A very sad melicity, indeed.

miss raven is wonderful! I took her for little walk when I got home from work. She loves going for a walk and since it wasn't too hot I was able to take her today. She makes me so happy. Even after I have had a HORRIBLE day at work, I can always look forward to coming home to her. No matter what kind of day I have had she is ALWAYS happy to see me. She smiles at me, she wriggles her whole body, she is absolutely thrilled to see me. She doesn't care how many kids are on the detention list, how many parents are ticked at me, how often my supervisor has messed with my mind. All she cares about is the fact that the center of her universe (that would be me-duh!) is home and will love all over her.

And that makes us BOTH happy. :)

RAK attack!

Have you ever been RAKed? Wait. You don't know what RAK means? Well, then, allow me to enlighten you.

Random Act(s) of Kindness. Following me now? So, have you ever been RAKed? Ever RAK someone? Let me tell you, as one who has been on both ends of the RAK "experience", it is WELL worth it. Not only does it make the day of the person that you RAK, but it makes your day, too.

It doesn't take much to RAK someone and you can even RAK people you don't know. Sometimes that is more fun than RAKing people you do know. I try to make it a point to practice RAKing as much as I possibly can. Sometimes, when I am going through a toll both, I will randomly pay the toll for the person behind me. If I can safely watch my rear view mirror to see their reaction, I will. It's kind of funny. :) Yesterday, I was near a Starbucks (imagine that!) and I got a drink for our receptionist. She is so sweet and takes a lot of (ahem) crap from angry parents. She works hard and is such a nice person. She was stunned that I would do that for her. I'm not tooting my own horn, mind you. Please don't think that. It just made me feel super good to know that I was able to bring some happiness in her day. It didn't cost me much and her happiness was WELL worth it.

I have been RAKed, too. I can clearly remember a time in college when I was REALLY hurting for money. It was my freshman year, my dad had been laid off from his job for quite a while, and I desperately needed money to do laundry. I came back to my room to find an envelope on my bed. Inside the envelope was ten dollars. To this day I don't know who gave it to me but I can still remember the feeling that I had when I realized that it was really for me, that it wasn't a mistake, that someone was really thinking about me.

I've been RAKed many times since then. My best friend, who, by the way, as I have mentioned before is the BEST bestie in the whole universe. Sorry to everyone else who may be thinking that their bestie is the best...mine has you beat by light years! Anyway, I digress. My best friend is the best RAKer I know. She will spontaneously send me a card for no reason other than to make me smile. Last year she took a picture of us and had it put on a note pad with the heading "Best Friends". I love that notepad. I love it so much that I don't want to use it because then I won't have it anymore. Shut up and quit laughing. I'm sentimental that way. She also made me a scarf and hat last year simply because I had really admired the ones that she made for her daughter and niece. I told you--she is the BEST bestie.

Every once in a while my dad will surprise me too. I'll get a card or a call or something like that. One time he sent me flowers. I LOVE getting flowers. My mom didn't like it because they die. She would rather have a plant. Not me--again, I am sentimental that way. There is just something about getting flowers that I think is so super sweet. I'm not even talking about a huge bouquet of roses--frankly roses don't do it for me. I mean something simple like a bouquet of carnations or Gerber daisies or something like that. My brother does that for my sister-in-law at the beginning of every school year and I think it is so sweet.

So. RAK someone today. Send a card, write a note, pick up a gift card (if you can), send flowers, buy a cup of coffee, make them brownies. AND DON'T EXPECT ANYTHING IN RETURN. That's the best part of a RAK--doing something to make someone's day and not wanting anything back. Try it, you'll be glad you did! :)

the best laid plans....

I had plans today. I'm not so lame that I sit at home on a day off wishing that I had somewhere to go or someone to do something with. I really did have plans today.

My plans changed. It wasn't like I got a complete brush off or anything like that but when you have plans and are looking forward to them and then they change unexpectedly....well, it can leave you feeling a little disconcerted.

So, instead of doing what I had planned on doing, I wandered aimlessly through Target, Safeway, Old Navy, Macy's, and New York and Company. I didn't get much. A couple of things here and there. Mostly I just wanted to get out of the house and not be one of THOSE people who sits at home and wishes their plans hadn't changed.

I'm home now (obviously) and am doing laundry. Not exciting, I know. I have a Venti Skinny Vanilla Latte sitting next to me and a ravenous miss raven at the foot of the bed. She is pretty much ignoring me and tearing into a sweet potato bone. She keeps eyeing me like she is deathly afraid I am going to come within five hundred yards of the gooey mess and then she would be forced to rip my lips off with her little pirhana teeth. Not that she would WANT to do that, mind you. She would be sorry that she HAD to do it and would wish mightly that I had just kept my distance. Little does she know that, not only do I not want it, I REALLY don't want it. Slimy, wet, gooey, rawhide is just not my thing. ;)

I'm loving Colbie Caillat right now. I used to totally be into country music and to some degree I still am. Right now, though, I am in some kind of change. Ooohhhh. That statement could lead to something deep. Suffice it to say that I have some big decisions ahead of me. About life, about work, about a lot of stuff.

Sigh....

....I was mildly scolded again for not being more faithful with my blogging. It isn't that I haven't wanted to blog, but this thing or that has prevented me from doing it. Excuses, I know, but truth nonetheless.

My week wasn't too bad. It's Friday and, looking back on the week, Monday seems like it was so long ago! I didn't think my week was going to turn out all that well....Sunday I locked myself out of the house. Who DOES that?!? To say I was upset would be a HUGE understatment. I had to call my roommate at church and she graciously came home to let me in. It was a HUGE inconvenience for her and I so appreciate her doing it for me.

Monday and Tuesday were relatively calm. Wednesday was hectic at first as I sent the high school off on their annual retreat. Did I go? Bwhahahahahahah!!!!!!! Um.....(wait for it)................
..........N.O. No, I did not go. I stayed behind to (a) work with the middle school students and (b) get some much needed paper work done.

Thursday didn't start out well. I ended up going into work late because I had a BAD night Wednesday night. It ended up not being too bad of a day, though. Actually, Thursday ended quite well. :)

That brings us to today. Friday. Payday Friday. Payday Friday on a long weekend. One of THE best Fridays in the WHOLE YEAR. School was ok today. Tonight miss raven and I are having movie night. I will make cheesy popcorn (mmmmmmmm) and we will watch a movie. Which movie? Hmmmm.....not sure. Beverly Hills Chihuahua, maybe. ;)

Have a great (llloooooonnnnnggggggg) weekend! :)