Seven Days - Seven Thoughts

So, as of tomorrow, there are SEVEN days of school left. Actually, six and a half. WAHOO!!! This is SO my favorite time of year! It's hard to imagine spending entire days at home, with nothing to worry about but cleaning my house, keeping Afton happy, cooking dinner, going shopping, making appointments, finding babysitters, trying to get stuff done while a baby clings to my legs, wondering if Afton will EVER go down for a nap...hmmm...not so sure about this summer thing now. Anyway, in honor of seven days of school, here are seven random thoughts. No, this makes no real sense but I don't care.

1. Trevor is in school this summer. He won't get a break from school until he finishes nursing school in 2013--if everything goes according to plan. Poor guy. School sucks. And THEN he forgot to register on time so he ended up with awful classes at night. So pretty much the whole summer we can't do anything on week days. Either he works until 8:00 or has class until 10:00. Sucks SO bad.

2. Today I apologized on some kid's wall on Facebook for something I did in the 4th grade. We're friends on facebook, but not really FRIENDS. But I remembered how in 4th grade I was mad that he always got ALL the answers right on our timed math timestables, so when we switched papers to grade, I changed a few answers. Just so he wouldn't get 100%. He called me on it, but I denied it. What rotten thing to do, huh? And 20 years later I still remember it. So I apologized on his wall today. Bet he thinks I'm psycho.

3. I love reading my old journals lately. Right now I'm reading my mission journal. Fascinating. I served in South Africa. I found myself crying at one point--remembering a story about how my companion, Sister Valore, helped a poor boy one day. He was always begging outside a store we often frequented. Ragged clothes--he was about 12. And she just said enough is enough. She brought him in the store and told him to pick five things. Everyone watched. I thought he'd pick candy. No. He picked bread, fruit, meat, and milk. And only when Valore nodded at him did he pick an ice cream bar. Everyone in the store had tears in their eyes. I was bawling when I read it. How could I forget a story like that?

4. I won an award at school. I am the CTE Teacher of the Year for Jordan School District. Cool huh? Of course, no one knows because it was never announced. They announced in an email today that the son of one of the teachers won State. But no one mentioned I won an award. Should this bother me? Cause it does. But it was so nice to have some recognition by my district. I got a plaque and went to a banquet and everything. After two weeks of bugging the head janitor to put it up in my room, I got one of the other janitors to do it. Thank you, Hope.

5. Afton went to bed at 7:10 tonight. Can you believe that? Who IS this kid? That's a total first. Bless you, Baby.

6. I am teaching at a conference this summer. Its the business teacher conference. I always go--it's such a good conference. I offered to teach a class on Keyboarding Games, and one on Digital Scrapbooking. And they accepted both! And I'm teaching digital scrapbooking twice! Yay! I love teaching at this conference. Such amazing people. It's so great to get together with hundred of people who do the same thing you do. You learn so much!

7. I'm going to Loa this weekend! Hooray! I love going to Loa. We go every Memorial Day. Only this year will be really hard because Trevor's Grandpa passed away in December, and it will be hard to not have him there. It will be hard to visit his grave, instead of having him with us. It makes me REALLY sad. I mean, I cry over it. It's like he was MY grandpa. Maybe it's becuase he's so much like Trevor. What a great man he was! Still--it will be nice to get away for the weekend. And when I come back? Only THREE MORE DAYS! And the last day there is no 7th graders and since 90% of my kids are 7th graders--it's practically only TWO MORE DAYS!!

Ok, I'm done. Sorry this was random. But oh well.

Complainer or Problem Solver?

So I've been told by someone I work with (who is in a position of authority) that I am a complainer. This really hurt my feelings. I mean, I was ready to cry. And for the last week I've been thinking a lot about this accusation. One thing about me is that whenever I come across something new about myself--whether positive or negative--I find myself somewhat fascinated. I can honestly say that when I recieve a critisim, I take a great deal of time thinking about it, deciding if it's relevent, finding examples of it in my past, and concluding whether it's accurate and if and what I should do about it. This critisism was no different. However hurt I feel about the way it was delivered, I have to ask myself if it's true.

I mean, we ALL complain. I think people are labeled complainers when they complain to the wrong people--to people who don't care or don't listen. I mean, I tell my husband all my concerns, and HE certainly wouldn't call me a complainer. But if you've got that lady in the office that is constantly harping about everything, and you have no real relationship with her--you are more likely to be unsympathetic and label her a complainer. So--AM I a complainer?

I've thought a lot about it. I've thought of the specific things I have complained about to this particular person. I certainly won't go into detail about what they are on a public blog, but I feel that with few exceptions, most of my "complaints" have been valid concerns. I've brought them up to this person, and because they don't genuinely care about me or my needs, they are labeled as complaints. Where this person sees "complainer" I see "problem solver." If I see something wrong, I'm going to speak up. I'm going to try and fix it.

Some people, when placed in a difficult situation, or when a concern arises--they don't say anything. They don't rock the boat. They sit back and take it. Many of my co-workers are like this. And they are like this because they knew there are people like me who will speak up for them--and take the consequences of doing so. I know all people are different and not everyone can be the spokesman, but I cannot be like those people. But apparently, that is what is expected of me.

So I'm looking back at all the times I've "complained." And I ask myself--did I just complain, or was I offering solutions? I guess that's the real difference, isn't it? My goal is that from here on out, when I speak up about a problem, I will also offer a solution--or at least make it clear that I am seaking a solution, not just venting frustration. I can vent frustrations at home to people who care about me. But not to an authority figure. I don't know that the difference will be noticed or appreciated by said authority figure, but there's not much I can do about that. I can only look at how I can improve myself, and do my best to do it. I just hope I actually DO do it!

Jordan District says "You can't have a baby. And don't get cancer."

You know, I've been dealing with a lot of crap from my district. I've listened to arguments and problems all year about cutting teachers pay, and jobs, and all the crap they need to do to balance the budget. I understand that the money has to come from SOMEWHERE. I know the board has a really, really hard job. I feel for them--no matter what they do, everyone's mad. I get that. And I was relieved when teacher jobs were saved, without raising taxes--though I would had supported a tax increase.

But now, I'm livid. Because with the new budget proposal out yesterday, Jordan District has basically said, "YOU CAN'T HAVE A BABY. YOU CAN'T GET CANCER. YOU CAN'T GET SICK."

How did they say this? They are eliminating the Sick Bank. This is a fund where every teacher donates two of their sick days into a big pool. Then, if you have a special need and don't have the sick days to cover it, you can APPLY to get some of the days out of the sick bank. This is really useful for teachers who have cancer or some other awful disease. And I used 8 days of sick bank last year when I had Afton. Becauase, you see, JSD makes you use EVERY SINGLE SICK DAY you have, before they will let you use the sick bank. So after you give birth, you have NO MORE sick days until the next school year. So what do you do when your baby gets sick? Or when you get an infection? What the crap do you do?

Well, you take unpaid leave I suppose. It's very expensive. They don't just take from your paycheck what you would have made that day--no, they take some of your summer money too. If you work 180 days a year, they take 1/180th of your pay. So it's very expensive, especially if you are taking several weeks. The next time I have a baby (and NO I'm NOT pregnant!) I will have to take eight weeks for a C-Section. 8 weeks--that's what? Seven thousand dollars? Are you friggin' kidding me?

Ok, I know. There are probably a lot of jobs out there that don't give paid maternity leave. Maybe I'm just a complainer. Maybe I should be grateful I got it last time. Maybe I should just have a baby in the summer. And maybe I won't be able to get pregnant when I want to, and then my baby will cost me $7,000. Or, in other words, MY HOUSE. Cause if I have no income for 8 weeks, I can't make my house payment. So there's my choices. I can keep my house and have no more children, or I can have a child and lose everything else.

Being a mom puts me at a huge disadvantage. The district is full of teachers who are older without kids, who never use a sick day and have accumulated YEARS worth. And yet if you are a mom, you have maternity leave and sick kids and yet you don't get any extra days. They can't just give you "maternity" days. They make you use every day you've got. I think it's total discrimination.

So thank you, JSD. You didn't cut my pay, and I thank you. But I'll still lose my house one way or another.

The Many Faces of Afton

I haven't updated in forever. Sorry. Can't think of anything to write. But I've got this! How cute is that??

My New Favorite Blog

Ok. So one of my 9th graders (who is a TOTAL kindred spirit when it comes to reading) turned me on to this webside Sparklife. I just started reading "Blogging Twilight." It's about a GUY who reads Twilight and blogs about what he thinks. IT.IS.HILARIOUS. I'm sitting here reading it during 7th period while my kids are working on their power points. And I keep laughing OUT LOUD. I can't help it. It's that funny. Go read it. But in case you need an extra push, here's a few exerpts:

Edward admits that while hunting with his brother, he felt anxious because he was away from Bella. He says he's drawn to her for some unexplainable reason, and feels he must protect her. Not to belabor the point, but even when confronted with the most delicious sandwich or soup, I never felt the need to protect it from harm.

***

After reading chapter eight, where Edward nearly kills the guys that are picking on Bella, the author makes the following predection:

Predictions: On the way home, Bella gets stung by a bee. Edward freaks out, and struggles to resist the urge to kill the bee. Finally, he screams and bashes his head against the steering wheel to let out his frustration.

***

I think a more realistic conversation between two teens, even if one is a vampire, would go something like this:

BELLA: Hey.
EDWARD: Hey.
BELLA: What's up?
EDWARD: I don't know.
BELLA: Yeah.
EDWARD: ...
BELLA: Um...I like you more than you like me.
EDWARD: Shut up. That's stupid.
BELLA: No it's not. [Giggles]
EDWARD: I...uh...I...
BELLA: Yeah.
EDWARD: I like you more than you like me.
BELLA: For real?
EDWARD: Yep. [Looks at shoes]
BELLA: Cool. What's the deal with werewolves?
EDWARD: I don't know. They're so lame.
BELLA: Totes.
EDWARD: I know, right? I can read minds.
BELLA: Yeah, I know. You already told me that.
EDWARD: [Fiddles with shoe string] Wanna see how high I can jump, after school?
BELLA: Um...all right, I guess.
EDWARD: Cool.

***

Throughout the day, Edward asks Bella all kinds of random, boring questions, such as: "What's your favorite color?", and, "What kind of flowers do you like?" Nothing interesting is revealed. If I were him, I'd ask her important questions such as, "Since I'm immortal and you're not, eventually you're going to get old and busted. When that happens, is it cool if I date another 17-year-old?"

***

The next morning, Edward drives Bella to school. She tells us, "I couldn't imagine how an angel could be any more glorious. There was nothing about him that could be improved upon." Really? How about an eyeball on the end of a finger so he could look around corners without being seen? Or bigger calf muscles?

***

Inside the truck, Edward left a note that says, "Be safe." This is exactly the kind of note a parent would leave. Instead of being so intense all the time, he should have left something flirty and fun in the car, like a note saying:

Hey Isabelly,

I wrote this rap for you:

Promise not to die
And don't be a liar
I like to kill bears
'Cause I'm a vampire

Holla!

Later hater,
Ed-weird

P.S.
I want to touch your face so hard!

***

While hiking, Bella tells us once again that Edward is a godlike creature. We get it. She thinks he's hot. If you eliminated all descriptions of Edward, along with all conversations about danger and scenes of face-touching, this book would be nothing but a short paragraph or two about rain and badminton.

***

Why is Bella so irresistible to Edward? I have no idea. But since he wants her blood,
why can't he have some? A normal person can donate blood every few weeks. If Bella started now, she would have a whole cupboard filled with Eddie Treats in no time, and then the "I can't be with you. But I must be with you" nonsense could end.

Maybe he can just drink Bella's mother's blood instead. Or maybe Bella's mom and dad can get together, have another kid, and feed it to Edward. (But if they choose to do that, they shouldn't name the kid, because then they will get too attached.) I'm just throwing out ideas, because I'm sick of Edward complaining.

***

For a few more paragraphs he talks about how difficult it is being close to her. Edward has turned into a big whiner. Suck it up, man. I thought vampires were supposed to be tough and scary, not wusses who run fast and sparkle.

***

Edward also suggests it would be a good idea for him to meet Bella's dad formally. He asks if she will introduce him as her boyfriend, and she reflects that he's not exactly a boy. Maybe she should introduce him like this:

BELLA: Hey Charlie. This is Edward. He's my man-buddy. He watches me sleep every night. But don't worry. We can't "get busy" because Edward would kill me. So all we can do is smooch and touch our faces, which is so awesome. He eats bears. Anyway, we're off to an enchanted garden filled with rainbows and bubbles. Later.

***

While everyone is standing around and staring at each other, Bella notices the grand piano. You will never believe this, but Edward can play the piano beautifully. Moreover, he writes his own music and has composed a piece that was inspired by Bella.

He doesn't mention it, but I assume his song is entitled one of the following:

Dangerous Passion
Passionate Danger
Back Dat Up, Bella (Slap It, Slap It)
A Whiff of Bella In The Morning
Bella and The Lurker
If Spying on the One I Love is Wrong, I Don't Want to be Right
Back Dat Up, Bella (Slap it, Slap it) [Club Remix feat. T-Pain]

***

After that, he swam to France, for some reason. Edward says swimming is easy for vampires because they don't need to breathe air. While the ability to read minds didn't faze Bella, a vampire's disinterest in oxygen freaks her out. It's like telling someone, "Hey, I'm on fire," and she doesn't care. But then tell them, "I also have a headache," and they panic.

After swimming to France, Carlisle went to some universities, where he fell in love with medicine. He believed that by helping sick people, he could make up for some of the horrible things vampires have done. Maybe this is why Angelina Jolie adopts all those kids! It all makes sense. She must be a vampire. She has the sexy good looks, the overly dramatic attitude, and I've never seen her sleep or eat. Case closed.

***

After first becoming a "Pretty Night Thing That Bites," Edward followed Carlisle's orders and only ate animals. But then Edward started to rebel, which left Carlisle in a flurry of angst. Edward thought he'd be in the clear if he only killed bad people. I agree with that, and cannot understand why these vampires don't fight crime. They could wipe out terrorism overnight by hunting bad guys, but instead they opt to go to high school and drive fast.

OK I'll stop now. It's kinda cool how he goes through the whole book. Poeple comment. Some are haters, and some are big fans who are able to laugh at it still. I'm a big fan of this new website! (Sorry Jill!!!)

A Lesson Learned From the Past

So I'm sitting here in 5th period, which is almost over, having just finished teaching an exhausting lesson in Excel. Required me to walk around a lot, check kids' screens, help them get caught up or fix their mistakes. Made me pretty parched. I came and sat down and went to take a sip from my mug--the big one you get at the hospital when you have a baby. I'm almost out of water. I should refill it. But the drinking fountain outside my door only fills it up so far, since the mug is too big. And I don't have time to walk down to the faculty room and fill it up myself. Maybe I should have a student do it for me.

And then I remember.

Mrs. Densley. 5th grade. She had this ten-minute close-of-the day routine that we did every day. Every person in the class had a job from picking up paper, erasing the board, and other such stuff. My job was to fill up Mrs. Densley's water mug. I had to walk down to the main office where they had ice and water, and fill it up for her. I liked my job. I liked getting to leave the classroom. I felt that Mrs. Densley must really trust me to give me a job like that. I liked Mrs. Densley. She gave out "good working pills" which was like jolley ranchers and stuff. Used to be smarties until some brilliant boys crushed them up and started to sniff them.

Anyway, 5th grade was also the year that I tried really hard to be popular. Totally failed at it, by the way. 5th and 6th grade were the WORST years--except for 7th, which was pretty much the worst year of my life. Anyway, one day while I walked back from class with Mrs. Densley's water, I thought how the girls I was trying to be friends with would think it was SO hilarious if I spit in the teacher's cup. So I did. And then I bragged about it to them after school. I remember feeling really guilty when I watched Mrs. Densley drink that water. But my desire to be popular totally trumped my guilt.

The next day, I can't remember how I rigged it, but I managed to get two other girls to spit in the water too, before I gave it to Mrs. Densley. I watched her drink it. I felt bad. The moment of triumph and attention I got was long over. I'm sure those girls don't remember. Mrs. Densley certainly never knew. But I remember.

Little did I know that one day I'd be a teacher myself, and I'd remember that action every time I ask a student to do something for me. I can't fool myself that they wouldn't do something mean, like steal or lie or cheat, just because I'm a "cool" teacher and they like me. They might have some friends to impress. And then no matter how cool I am, I could be drinking their spit. I'm sure Densley never would have guessed I'd behave that way--how many of the students I trust would spit in my cup if it benefited them?

Yesterday when one of my 9th graders asked me to try some salsa he made, I remembered Mrs. Densley. And I immediately refused. It has to be in a wrapper or I won't take it. Who knows what he put in it? Well, turns out its a good thing I declined--he'd put all kinds of hot peppers and jalapenos in it, and some kid had thrown up after trying it at lunch. So, lesson well-learned I guess.

Five Posts for the Price of One!

I've got a lot of unrelated things on my mind today that I want to blog about. So here goes:

Chair Happy

First a video Trevor and I took tonight playing with Afton. I apologize for how dark the video is. It's becoming very clear that we need to get a new video camera. I got a new digital one at school and I LOVE it. It's so hard to go back to our old one--the viewer rarely works, it won't upload so I have to use my sister's old camera to upload it, and half the time THAT camera won't accept a tape so you have to load and unload it until it shuts up. (Though thank you, Nick, because without it I couldn't unpload ANYTHING) Contrast that with the digital camera--stick in the card and zip! Uploaded! That's it! Grrr...

Anyway, this video was taken tonight while Afton explored the wonders of her new Dora chair. Well it's not NEW, we got it from her cousin Millie--but Trevor fixed it up and I washed the cover and bam! New toy for Afton! She's laughing really weird in this video--I think it's because she's a little sick and she can't laugh normally. Or maybe she'll just really, really excited.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A Quiet House

Titus is gone. The house is very quiet now. I don't hear his constant meows anymore. He doesn't wake me up in the night. He and Tarzan are no longer fighting. Tarzan doesn't miss him one bit, and is turning back into the old Tarzan--playful and PRESENT. Afton doesn't seem to miss him, but she is taking more interest in Tarzan, and he is not a big fan of that. Things are settling back to normal. But you know what? We miss that cat. He was always so willing to cuddle and pur and be there with you. He loved my baby. He let her play with him. The house feels very empty without him.

Trevor's Newest Hobby

Trevor and I both "Hobby" people. You may know this after reading such blog entires as
My New "Bow"dacious Hobby, Useless Talents, The Hobby Hobbit, The Hobby Hobbit Strikes Again, and Behold, the Bat Mobile. Now Trevor has taken on a new hobby. This one--well, I'm not quite so thrilled about it.

Trevor is, apparently, a pretty good shot. He's been hunting with his Dad and brother for years. He also has mad bow-hunting skills. Napoleon Dynamite would be proud. But now he's decided he wants to go into the hobby of airsoft guns. He bought this huge expensive gun partially with some of our tax return (which he TRICKED me into giving him, might I add) and partially with his second job--donating plasma. That's right. He makes about $60 a week doing that. It's how he funds this new hobby. Once he's got all his "gear" he's going to go out into the wildnerness with a bunch of man-buddies and play war. I don't really get it. But he's pretty obsessed. What can you do?

Easter Fun

Last is a bit from our Easter this year. We had two Easter's, one with Trevor's parents and one with mine. I'm afraid the second session of conference was sacrificed in order to achieve this, (why have conference and Easter on the same day, WHY???) but I will try to watch it on lds.org. Anyway, Afton totally dug it. Here she is sitting with all the cousins on the Rees side. I never got a good shot of all of them looking forward, but I DID manage to get a shot of Afton stealing Rhiannon's chocolate bunny. She grabbed it and ripped the wrapper right off. With chocolate in one hand and wrapper in the other, she promptly dropped the worthless chocolate and went for the real treat--shiny wrapper! Yeay!

She got an Easter basket from her Rees grandparents. What we'll do with that chocolate she can't eat and I shouldn't eat and Trevor won't eat I'll never know! Then we headed over to my parents house and had yet another easter egg hunt. She TOTALLY got the easter egg hunt thing. She'd find one, pick it up, and throw it into the basket. So cute!

Easter Politics

Last, here's a little anecdote from our Easter Festivities. My mom planned a hunt for the little kids, in which the big kids hid the eggs. Then she sent me and Greg Bee downstairs to hide the eggs for the big kids, with the instructions to "hide them HARD." So we got pretty creative. Rusty joined us and three of us had a fun time thinking of the torturous places to hide said eggs. This year Mom had opted out of the candy thing and instead put in money. Some had a penny, some a quarter, some a dime. She WAS a little chintzy. So Greg decided to make a "golden egg" and pulled a five dollar bill from his wallet. He put it in an egg and then used a popsicle stick to lodge into the rafter of the barbie doll house. Quite ingenious, I must say.

So, the kids are looking high and low for this "free hand out" until finally Logan, Greg's son, finds it. The kids all crack open their eggs and count their winnings. Logan's twin, Bethany, is disgruntled to find that she only has 20 cents. Everyone else has at least a dollar! Greg opens up the wallet and hands her five dollar bills to keep her happy. We all go upstairs. A few minutes later, Greg Crockett comes up with the five dollar bill that Logan had left on the floor unattended and gives it to Greg Bee. Then Bethany comes up and explains that she felt bad that Gabe didn't get as much, so she gave him some of her money. But Gabe didn't want to just take it, he wanted to EARN it, so she hid it in an egg and made him look for it.

We came to the following conclusions:

1. Bee is a democratic government giving out free hand-outs

2. Logan is ungrateful of his free hand out because he didn't have to work for it.

3. Bethany is a democrat, because she's trying to redistribute the wealth

4. Gabe is a republican, because he insisted on earning his handout.

5. Afton might be a budding Democrat too--judging by the way she made off with this dollar bill a few minutes later...or does that make her a Republican?

Happy Easter everybody!