You Know What Freaks Me Out?

Armadillos! That's right, I said it, armadillos freak me out. They look weird ...they look like rats! And maybe some people think they're cute as babies but to me, they look like little baby rats with rat tails who scurry with little rat-like creepiness. And don't they naturally carry leprosy!? I mean...who wants to handle an armadillo!? Not me! And ewwwww, look at the little babies nursing! Gross! I much prefer opossum babies! I mean those guys are cute!

In other news - I had 6 student meetings yesterday and all of them showed! I did have to email parents of one who had forgotten but he lickity-split showed up. Today I only have 3 student meetings starting at 9:05...we'll see if they show. One of them is my emotional/behavioral mess of a kid who hasn't done ANY work during this time...we'll see what happens. Of my caseload, I still have 2 who haven't scheduled which is annoying since I've sent several emails but what are you going to do?

So I've NOT been drinking all week which so far has gone okay but I might not make it through today with Jim annoying the shit out of me! Here's why: Today we're supposed to get a LOT of rain which means the dogs most likely won't get their walk which I had mentioned to Jim. So I come down from yoga around 7:45 and I'm making our breakfasts and Jim says, "I think there may be a window where we can walk the dogs...maybe in like an hour." I answered, "Well, that won't work for me because I have student meetings starting at 9:05." And then we sit down to eat and I look outside and say, "It's raining." So then after breakfast, Jim's up doing the dishes and I'm typing this and the weather comes on and shows the radar and Jim says, "There's a break coming...I think we may be able to get the dogs out ." Again, I answer, "I can't have meetings." (It's 8:20 at that point) And Jim says, "Don't get like that...I was just saying...and your meeting isn't until 9:05." Me: "I walk for at least an hour!" Jim: "Why are you yelling at me!?" Me: "Because I've told you three times I have meetings and can't walk the dogs until at least after 10:00!" And then Jim walks outside and he says, "Hey Muir? It's raining." I mean...he's trying to either get punched or push me into getting drunk! Jerk.

In other news, I have a student who has an F in Drawing. She's missing an assignment and when I asked her about it she said she was confused about the assignment. So I emailed the teacher and said, "Hey, so and so is confused about her assignment...can you clarify so I can explain it to her when I meet with her today?" So her reply was to send me the assignment (good) and then she explains that she expects kids to draw for about 3 hours a week. WHAT?! Three HOURS!? That seems a little excessive for drawing class!? So I send an email to my administrators (not mentioning the teacher) just to get clarification about expectations and basically they told me that teachers are expected to be lenient and only be penalized if they do nothing...oh and they wanted me to deal with the teacher and if she was still not receptive to the struggles then they'd step in. So I email the teacher and basically said she may need to tweak her expectations for some students who were feeling bogged down with 6-7 classes of work blah blah blah. Her answer was so weird. She said:

Honestly, Muir I am being extremely easy with my grading as long as it looks like they put some effort into their work.  I can't really tell if students really worked on their projects for 3 hours.  I never heard a time limit and I had already given out all my assignments before the school even came up with any guidelines.  I am high risk and my husband was exposed at work to the virus and I was extremely afraid I would end up in the hospital.

Obviously the first part of her response is what I was hoping for...and then she throws out this last part. Why? I never even brought up anything about the virus or high risk or whatever she was talking about? What does any of that have to do with my question about her assignments? So weird. I didn't respond to the email...just left it there...I think she may have been looking for me to say, "Oh dear! You poor thing...sorry to bother you." But guess what!? We're all dealing with the same shit. But whatever...it's a struggle for us all and we all handle it in different ways. But it was weird, I thought.

Okay - I need to get myself straightened out for my meetings. Happy Thursday! So happy for tomorrow. Stay healthy...later!