Thursday, September 21, 2006

Got to go....

I have been so busy and can't seem to spend an adequate amount of time reading my favorite blogs. I certainly haven't had/taken the time to comment on them. I keep getting interrupted when I do get a chance to read.
I am going to spend my weekend with my father, just him and me. My mom is heading to Mackinaw Island, Michigan for her 50th class reunion. We all encouraged her to attend and I'm sure she'll have a spectacular time. She has never been to Mackinaw Island even though she grew up in Michigan. She'll be gone a week so between my brother and sister and I, Daddy will have someone with him. I plan on taking him fishing and sightseeing, something he adores. There is a wildlife conservation area near us plus some National park areas with ancient trees near the Mississippi I think we will take a picnic to. I'm kinda excited. I get a bit nervous about the nights, though because he looks for Mother in bed and when she's not there, he gets up continually. Oh, well, I revert to when I had young kids and they did the same thing. I can nap in the daytime if need be. In the pit of my stomach, I have a knot, though.
Anyway, my computer time will be cut while I'm there. My parents never bought into the technology age.
Have a happy weekend! And thanks to everyone who comments.

Friday, September 15, 2006

I was in a particularly odd mood last night making a car trip to town. I had some quiet time. What came to me was this question and these answers. What would I want to tell the people in my life if I were leaving this earth?
I would tell my daughter and my son they were my greatest source
of immense pride and joy, that they should investigate what it means to be happy in life and strive for it with all they have, and that they will always be loved if they love themselves first.
My family would know I can't imagine ever having a better family, my love can't be measured and my time with them was appreciated to the fullest a person could hope to achieve. And to not be sad anymore.
I would tell each friend of the joy and enrichment I have felt from each of their lives coming in contact with mine and that I felt the most whole with each of them than I have ever felt in my life.
I would tell Wildman I have been at the pinnacle of my emotions and existence with him because he is so extraordinary and I have truly and completely loved him, no question.
I would tell my first ex I have been truly sorry from the start for ever causing him any pain, that I wasn't grown up enough to understand what I was doing to our family or to him by leaving, I would have done things differently if I could have and that I did love him during our life together. And to find real happiness now.

And maybe if there were time and a way to spread the message, for everyone to be kind to those they come in contact with since no one knows what others could be going through.


Peace.

Monday, September 11, 2006

..Speaking no evil...

Ok, so the problem that caused me to wake up at 3:30 and start worrying was this...

The yearbooks from last year came in and were handed out last week. I love yearbooks and have always bought one for the kiddos for posterity's sake. As I meandered through the book, I was at first annoyed when I found the misspelled words and quotation marks randomly used in any fashion and pretty much incorrectly, I might add. I get to my son's class pages and low and behold! He is not my son but another child, at least in name. I see several kid's photos and names not lining up alphabetically. In all, there were 10 errors on just his 60+ student class page.
Many more elementary pages followed this same pattern.
I moved on and examined middle school pages to find my daughter not listed nor appearing in her band photo which was one of the worst pics they must have taken of any club and tiny in comparison to the athletics team shots (grrr). Luckily, she did appear to have my last name in her class pages. But the middle school pages were pretty unappealing and had many alphabetical line-up mistakes as well.
When examining the high school class pages and clubs, there was a lot of nice pages, not many mistakes and lots of color. Pretty good layout and obvious attention to details, except for those darned quotation marks.
I was fairly irritated by this time. I asked others if they had noticed what I had noticed. They were appalled, maybe not as much as I was. I also found the elementary secretaries had spent a few days proofing the elementary pages when they had been sent over to be checked (as a favor, I might add). The changes were not used.
SSooooo, I sent a letter via school email to the yearbook advisor and the high school principal mentioning that I was disappointed in the many mistakes. I re-wrote it several times so it wasn't too catty(I guess it still was). Was there a way to prevent this in the future? Could she make sure there was proofing done before it was sent for publishing? Of course she sent me an email back and said she was sorry I was so disappointed, it was a student-run publication and I should expect errors, she'd be sure the students knew I was disappointed since she was copying the letter for them to read. She passed the buck to the students instead of taking responsibility for the end result. She is paid to handle the class and publish the yearbook and chose to take the job, and in my opinion, responsible for proofing the pages before they are submitted. The elementary and middle schools make up a large percentage of the total yearbook sales, too, so it's not like they don't deserve a job well done on their pages.
Ok, many times I just don't say much but I picked this to voice my opinion on and I think it backfired. So if I blog about my tires ice-picked or my house spray painted , you'll know why.
By the way, the yearbook cost $29.
I feel really foolish now. I may need to keep my mouth shut next time.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Hola!

Ok, work has begun in earnest. My schedule is up and running with the bulk being Title 1 math push-in. That suits me fine as I found last year I preferred to work with math instead of the reading program since it was truly sucky in my opinion. The funny part of working in Title 1 math is, I was in the equivalent when I was in elementary eons ago. Actually, as one might imagine, the kids like to hear (no, really!) the teacher was where they are now.
The labor day weekend had a bit of everything included in it. Work, relaxation,some rousing intimacy, coffee, screwdrivers and the Sunday paper(in that order), beer, bonfires and s'mores, great conversation with friends and lover, down time with the kiddos, wine-making, apple picking, jelly making! Shew!! It really was a full weekend and truly enjoyable.
I rented a movie I figured would be a dud but I still wanted to see it since I love period films. "The New World". It was so incredible. I loved everything about it. Rent it with no interruptions.
My friend Brenda, has a grape connection with her sister and bro-in-law which she and I took advantage of on Monday. The yard also had 4 apple trees (I think Jonathans and Golden Delicious) and I loaded up. I wondered about making apple wine. I did get my grapes started in the vat.
My kids have had such busy schedules lately that when questioned what would be a good activity for yesterday, they begged to stay at home. I just went about my business in the school garden, dishes laundry, while they lounged. Then we had a bright idea to have iced coffee at 3:30 even though my daughter said my son shouldn't have any or he'd be up all night. I found she was right. He was awake till midnight. Then he needed a Sudafed since his nose was running and itching which I could plainly hear. I didn't sleep very well after that. I'll crash and burn tonight I suppose.
Back to the grind today.
Hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend. I have had trouble commenting since many of you have changed to Beta. Know I am still reading. And laughing or crying as the case may be.