What To Expect?

Until about 5 minutes ago (when I went through the "Soft Opening" slide show my principal sent out) I had no idea what I was going to be doing today when kids arrive. I'm still mostly going to be flying by the seat of my pants but there aren't any "lessons" happening over the next several days...just presentations about safety and hallways etc. This should take all of about 5 minutes per bell but that's okay...that leaves time to chat with kids. 

I was tossing and turning in bed last night and realized that the one kid I was supposed to have today won't be in because he's on the football team and so quarantined. Oh well. 

I was perusing FB yesterday and a former student popped up (from my first years teaching). Of course I then started looking at his page and saw a photo from April posted of him with another former student and I realized it was posted because the other student had died. Ugh! Made me sad...he was such a character (Ryan Pike was his name...I'm sure those of you familiar will remember him with a laugh and a smile). I'm not sure how he died but it said "suddenly".

The weekend was good...uneventful. We did manage to get all our tile for the bathroom and the light fixture. All that's left now is some canister lights and we need to figure out the shower glass. I'm not sure if the contractor will order that or what. 

We were sitting out front yesterday evening having a beer with the neighbors when a man came walking down the street with his dog...and pet goose in tow. Seriously. The dog, Hank, was on a leash and the goose, Little Bob, followed along. It was hilarious! Turns out it is my neighbors cousin. About a year ago, he and his family were driving along and came across a flock that had been run over. The baby goose (gosling) was the only survivor so they picked it up, took it home and now they have a pet goose. So funny. Apparently he's potty trained, doesn't fly much and really doesn't like the water. Ha! 

Okay well, time to get a move on. I should probably try to be a little early to figure out what's what. K - happy Monday! Stay safe and healthy...later!

And So It Begins

I knew it would only be a matter of time before there was a reported case of Covid with our kids and yesterday was the day. Specifically a football player tested positive as did 13 (I think) other players and as a result, tonight's game has been cancelled. All have been quarantined but they are still looking forward to next week's game. Ugh! It's only going to get worse, I'm sure. I get the desire of not wanting to live in fear but when we go too quickly back to what we want (normalcy) it makes getting back to normal a longer process. We'll see what happens I guess. 

Yesterday was a productive day at school. I worked hard at my desk getting shit done but it does seem like every time I mark something off my list of things "to do", I add another two things. However, this isn't any different from any other year. 

So happy today is Friday! I can't wait for a cocktail! I can't wait for take out tonight. Can't wait for a (sort of) day off from my normal exercise routine. Woot! No real plans for the weekend except to go buy our tile for the bathroom. Exciting, huh? 

God I can't stand that giant orange assholes voice! It just really puts a damper on an otherwise pleasant morning. Speaking of which, a funny website popped up in my browser: 409 Hilarious Nicknames for DT. Now, I'm not a name caller but I think it's appropriate and fitting that there are so many names invented to call the biggest name caller in the country. Here's just a smattering from the list:

• Adolph Twittler
• Angry Creamsicle
• Cheeto Beniot
• Fuckface von Clownstick (that from Jon Stewart)
• Groper in Chief
• Mussolini's taint (that might be my favorite)
• Orange manatee

Anyway, that's mean but when it comes to dt, I just don't care. Deserved for sure. 

Okay - time to get a move on. I'm hoping we get some solid rain today...drown out the moles in my backyard. Ugh, they're horrible and driving me nuts! 

Happy Friday to all! Stay healthy. Later!

I Laugh In The Face Of Caffeine

Yesterday I had my usual cup of coffee at home and then my usual two cups while working at my desk at school through the morning. After lunch, I was craving a cold brewed coffee and so thought, Screw it! I was a little curious to see if it affected my sleeping and guess what? It didn't. Which probably isn't good because that sort of convinces me that I can have caffeine all day long without repercussions. I'll cut down once all this prep work is off my plate. 

Plus, I had a couple beers with the neighbor and maybe a glass of wine while making dinner so that could have been the downer I needed to get a good night's sleep. 

School Update: I'm still plugging away in preparation for this year. Who knows what will happen but I'll be as prepared as I can possibly be for when we go remote. I've been working on science for the past couple days because I want to make sure I've got about 3 chapters ready and will soon turn to Language Arts. History is good to go. 

I had a couple visiting kids yesterday...new and old...no big whoop. Today freshmen come in for Open House. I only have 4 9th graders on my caseload but a couple others are in my classes. We'll see who shows. 

Dinner last night (Garlicky Thai sweet chili chicken stir fry) was SOOOOOO good! Tonight will be Pasta a la Betsy which basically a vokdaish cream sauce with shrimp...an oldie and goodie that Jim requests often. Friday I'll be getting take out. 

What else? Nothing. It's pretty boring here. Sorry. 

Well, I guess I'm out. Happy Thursday...stay...lets say it together...HEALTHY! Later!

Under My Belt

 My first virtual meetings of this school year are under my belt and all went well. Each was about 5 minutes (short, just like I like them) and easy. No big whoop. 

Speaking of virtual meetings - I'm figuring out Zoom. Yesterday I managed to put together a "Getting to know you" poll which I'll give to my students when we have our first all virtual day on September 4th. The poll is 10 questions long and based on "Would you rather..." questions. My favorite question was "Would you rather have spaghetti hair that grew back every night or sweat (not sweet) maple syrup?" Lisa and I probably discussed this for about 10 minutes. I think we both decided on spaghetti hair for a number of reasons. My biggest issue with sweating syrup would be that I would attract all kinds of insects. This should open up a lot of fun discussions on our first day of class plus it will help the kids (and me) get the ins and outs of Zoom. 

I'm slowly getting myself prepared for this crazy school year. I had a couple kids pop in yesterday. I should have more today but who knows. 

What else? I just finished watching the Bill Gates documentary on Netflix and listening to Dax Shepherd's podcast with him as well. What a fascinating and brilliant guy. The best take-away about him? He is well-aware of his faults and gives big time props to his wife who he truly couldn't do what he does without her. I love that he calls her his partner when talking about his foundation. He's a charming guy and his intellect is just so boggling! 

I've had a niggling headache every day for the past few days. I'm sure it's a stress headache but it's so annoying. Mainly because of where it's located: behind my right ear. Thankfully it goes right away once I take some ibuprofen. Normally it rears its ugly head when I walk into school but this morning I woke up with it. Most likely because I woke up at 4 AM thinking about the shit I need to do at school today. 

I made a delicious Mexican, rice and chicken instant pot dish last night. Lots of leftovers too so I'll be well fed for lunch over the next couple days.  Tonight I'll make a Garlicky Sweet Thai Chicken and Green Bean stir fry...yum!

And that's all I've got. I think that's enough! Happy Wednesday! Stay cool and healthy. Later!

First Meetings

 Yesterday I scheduled 3 meetings, two of which are today and one (my first IEP) set for 9/22. And so it starts. The meetings today should only take about 5 minutes each - just an agreement for the kids learning remotely this year about how services will be delivered. They are both remote meetings and I'm hoping they don't take longer than I expect. The problem there is the first meeting, at noon, is with freshmen parents which means they could have some questions and concerns that I just don't have time for. We'll see. I have a little cushion before my 12:30 meeting. 

Yesterday was our first day of Open House and as expected, I didn't have any seniors show. Today we have juniors coming in between 8-12. I have several juniors and fully expect to be busy throughout. For the most part these kids and their parents know me and so will probably just pop in to say hi...I'm hoping. However, this is my group of neediest parents (yes, parents, not kids) so they may need some coddling. 

Scout did well yesterday. I rushed home and he was back to normal with no accidents in his cage. Phew! He hadn't eaten for almost 24 hours so when I got home I managed to get him to eat a bit. I didn't want to walk him unless he had something in his stomach. We walked around 4:00 and though it was hot, it was breezy and he was so happy. Additionally he chowed down his dinner last night AND ate all his breakfast this morning! Hopefully we've turned a corner and he's getting used to our work schedule. He'll be a bit pissed today when I get home because he's getting a bath. Shh...don't tell him! 

Not much else to talk about. Miami U has quarantined all student athletes after 27 tested positive. I'm expecting a LOT more stories like this as more and more kids go back to school and sports opens up more fully. Granted, they've had football going since June (practice) but with more kids getting together more often, I see a spike happening. I hope I'm wrong.

Hey - good news: I slept like a baby last night! I think it was the first night since going back that I slept through the night. Well, I did get up one time to pee but I went right back to sleep no problem. Fingers crossed this is the new norm! 

And Jim's outta here. He's been trying to get to work EARLY so that he can get home early. I hate being the one to put the boys away but what else can you do? 

Okay - time to finish getting ready. Happy Tuesday! Stay healthy and cool (90s over the next couple days here and HIGH humidity as Laura makes her way north). Later!

Open House Week

This week is a week of Open House. Students will come in by grade level and last name. Today seniors will be in but I only have 1 senior in one of my classes (he's not on my caseload) and I'm betting he doesn't show up. The afternoons are reserved for teacher in-service. I'll be working in my room all day figuring out and preparing for instruction. 

I got an email from a parent on Friday night saying that her medically fragile daughter (has lots of medical issues one of which is she's a transplant patient) is in the ICU with a "really bad" case of pneumonia. She goes into the hospital several times a year. What I can't believe is that they plan on her coming for instruction in person. Of all people, she is probably one of the highest risk kids in the building with the drugs she's on and the lack of immunity that I'm sure she has. Ugh! I'm sure it's her that's making the decision because I know she wants to be in school but sometimes as a parent you just have to step in and veto your kids. But what do I know?!

Weekend was fine. We didn't do much although we did manage to get all our tile picked out for the bathroom reno. I'll order it this week. From there we went down to Party Source and finally refilled the kegs. We got a Summer Shandy and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The neighbors are certainly happy. After that we came home and hung out until dinner time when we went to Cazadores. Yummy! 

Scoutie's feeling puny again today. He got up last night at midnight and then 1:30 because he was sick. Such a good boy that he woke us up instead of getting sick in the house. When he went out at 1:30, as he was about to come back inside, he barfed. Mostly bile so I'm sure whatever it was is out of his system. Poor fellow. I hate leaving him at home all day when he's not feeling good. He hasn't eaten this morning but I don't expect his belly feels up to it. I'll try to get a little something in him before I leave but I doubt he'll be up for it. 

When I let Scout out at 1:30, there was some sort of weird sounding animal in the yard or just outside the fence. It spouted off loudly when the pups when out into the yard. It's pretty telling that Scout was REALLY feeling bad when he didn't even try to chase or even bark at whatever it was. 

And that's about all I've got. Guess I'll go love on my boy and try and get him outside (he hasn't been out yet this morning). Happy Monday! Here's to a week that goes by quickly. Stay healthy! Later!

Work Day

Today is our "work day" at school which means we aren't required to go to any meetings. However, I feel like the whole week has been that way with random meetings spattered in there. Yesterday I got a fair amount of work done for my Government class but I still have a shit ton to do. I also got intro Shakespeare stuff done for LA (we'll read Romeo and Juliet first this year). My goal today is to complete a couple chapters of Government, get schedules finalized and IEPs sent to gen ed teachers. That might be wishful thinking but we'll see. Kids start showing up next week for Open House but Monday I most likely won't have any show because it's for seniors and I don't have any.  

Here's something annoying: I have an IEP due on 9/24 and emailed the parent two days ago. Result: Crickets. I'll have to email again and then call if I don't hear from her. So stupid. Come on people!

This year we're moving to all Zoom meetings (last spring we were using Google Meet). Yesterday, a ton of my time was spent working to figure it out. Verdict: It sucks! I hate it. Mainly because I haven't figured it all out yet but I did set up meeting links for all my classes as well as my "office hours" in case we go virtual.  I also put all my Google Classrooms together. I feel like I'm sloooooowwwwwwly getting there but it's constantly one step forward, two steps back. 

Jim's already at work. He's on a job with a 6:00 AM start which sucks for the boys. Scout, of course, won't eat. He'll be sorry. I hate that they'll be in his cage for so long but what can a momma do!? I'll stay home for as long as I can before having to leave for work and try not to worry. They did just run out the door and went outside so that's good...maybe they'll get a little energy out. 

The weekend weather sucks! Dumb! I'm losing my tan fast and hate that when the weekend rolls around, I can't get some end-of-season sun because as usual it's raining! 

Weekend plans: I'd like to go down to a tile store and find the tile I want for the bathroom. Other than that, we're on a spending freeze in order to save as we head toward the bathroom reno. I told Jim that we are only allowed to go to Shooters every other week. He asked if this week could be week 1...I'll probably give in to that since the weather's going to blow. We'll see.

And that's all I've got. Better get Scout to eat a little bit. Happy Friday! Oh, yay! I get a cocktail today! Stay healthy. Later!

Oh Thom!

How is it that in the day and age we're living where there is justified worldwide intolerance for the racist, misogynistic and homophobic comments and actions by others, we have a man in the media who is knowingly mic-ed up, saying something so hateful!? Thom Brennaman should be ashamed! And I'm sure he is...because he got caught saying the worst of the homophobic words out there. And you know that if he says it at work, on a hot mic, he says it a lot more than just there. You don't say that word in that situation for the first time! Sucks because he's a great sportscaster but I think he just ended his career. Shame on you dude you SHOULD know better!

What else? I caved yesterday and had a drink or three. I needed it and enjoyed it and am not going to feel guilty about it! (I just keep telling myself that over and over.) 

School is school. I'm still working hard to figure out what the eff I'm going to do in terms of teaching remotely WHEN that happens. 

Obama opened up a can of whoop ass on trump last night in his speech. Man I miss that guy! I wish to God we had someone in the White House who gave a shit about this country and ALL the people in it like Obama does. But we don't. And that needs to change! It's so nice to listen to a leader speak who doesn't ramble and tout conspiracy theories and his own rhetoric. Please of please let trumps days be numbered! 

And BTW - I love that so many GOPers are pushing mail-in voting despite trumps claims of fraud. See they're worried about their own asses and losing their seats if they don't have mail-in voting. Of course they can't stand up publicly and say what they know is the right thing because they have no cojones and for that I say, eff you...you don't deserve to be a political leader!

Okay well, I've said enough and now need to head to school. Happy Thursday! Stay healthy. (Ragweed is giving me a hard time!) Later!

Hello 3 AM

Ugh...as happy as I am to have a piece of normal back in my life, I'm not excited that it's that time of year where I wake up at 3:00 am and then can't get back to sleep thinking about all the shit I have to still do. I don't feel tired (right now) but sitting at my desk and staring at a computer all day may not sound fatiguing but it is. And, I believe, today is full of meetings, which means I won't get what I need to get done but thankfully I still have time. 

Oh, so I was at my desk yesterday and my principal came in to check on our room. I was mentioning that something that I need in place by the beginning of students first day (which I was promised would be done) most likely won't get done. And my principal looked at me and said, "We won't be coming back." In other words, before we even get kids back to that first real day of instruction (September 8), we'll be on remote learning. I kind of thought this too (and of course this isn't a done deal...it's just where things are headed). In fact, a nearby school in our county already has 21 kids testing positive and quarantined and they only went back to school this week (yesterday?). It's nuts. But, at least we have these 3 weeks to work things out and prepare for "quality" remote learning. These other districts that haven't pushed back their start date are up a creek. 

What else? Oh!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!!! For those who don't know who Lisa is, she is my "work wife" or my work roomie. We came to Kings the same year (this is our 21st year) and have shared a room all but 1 of those years. Needless to say she and I rely on each other to balance the other out, for sure (she probably does more for me than me for her but what're you going to do?) and I have to say, I may have had to choose a different career, long ago, had it not been for Lisa! Fifty (YOU'RE 50!!!) never looked so good! Here's to the best year ever! 

Mom - I called last evening to wish Richard a happy birthday but it rang and rang and rang (never going to your answering machine) so I figured someone was on the other line. Happy belated Richard! 

I FINALLY got Scout to eat his breakfast this morning! He's been such a little stubborn turkey lately. He just hasn't wanted to eat. I've changed his food and tried all kinds of things but half the time he won't eat his breakfast until after I walk him. And because I haven't been able to walk him until after I get home from work these past two days, he hasn't been eating his breakfast at all. His only meal Monday and Tuesday was dinner. So today when I got up, I gave him all this extra attention and snuggles and got him really happy and awake and I put his food down for him in the living room and BAM! He chowed down! Hopefully he'll get used to this new routine and start eating again like a normal boy! If you're wondering about Boo I have NO trouble with that little chow hound. Given the chance, he'd eat his food then Scout's food and anything else that ends up in front of his face. Which is why I can't just leave food out and allow Scout to eat whenever he wants. 

K - best head out. Happy Wednesday! Stay healthy! Later!

Day One In The Bag

I have to say I didn't get nearly the amount of work I'd hope to get accomplished yesterday but for the most part, that wasn't my fault. You see things are still so incomplete/in flux at work and the things I need to do to prepare for the year can't get done. For example - because they are still balancing classes I can't get my caseload of students' schedules figured out. That should happen by end of week. Once that's complete, I can send out IEPs to students' teachers. Additionally, I'm still trying to figure out what will happen to the kids on my caseload who will NOT be in school (I only have two). Will they stay on my caseload? This would be ridiculous because how do you serve/give direct instruction to a student you don't see? I have two students who will still be students of Kings but rather than taking the live streaming option, they're taking their classes using the Apex option. Impossible! So who knows what will happen with them and who knows how they will get served. Not to mention one of them is a freshman and so I have NO relationship with her. Never even met her. Stupid. But again, this too will pass and we'll all figure it out. 

So what did I do yesterday? Thinking back, not much. I moved shit around. I figured out how I'm going to structure my classes materials. I figured out which kids are in which class. I did some fiddly spreadsheet work for organization. I did some file prep in my computer. I sat in our building meeting and another meeting (that I didn't listen to for a minute...mainly because it was stupid and virtual and I had better things to do). 

Today: I have two meetings that I'm required to be in; both are virtual. The first one is for an electronic hallpass system we're moving to this year. That's at 7:45 and should only last a half hour. The other is our union meeting at 8:15. That one will be interesting because they should address negotiations for our contract. I don't expect to get any type of pay raise but who knows. Other than that, today will be spent in my room working on IEPs and figuring out how I'm teaching this year. There are some training videos I need to watch for Zoom and other things. I need to set up my Google classrooms as well. That should take me into tomorrow which is pretty chalk full of meetings. Yuck! 

When I got home yesterday, the pups acted like I'd been gone for weeks. They were so excited to see me. I felt like Scout, when he crawled into my lap and held my face with his paws and licked the bejesus outta me he was saying, "What the f&%k!? Where the HELL have you been!? Don't do that again!" He's not going to be happy in about 15 minutes when I leave again. 

Okay well, time to get a move on. Happy Tuesday! Wish me luck in staying focused today and getting shit DONE! Stay healthy. Later!

Here We GO!!!

I've had the Jane's Addiction song "Here we go" in my head since I woke up...at 4:00. Appropriate as I start my 21st year of teaching. This year will certainly be different but I'm looking forward to getting this shit started. The unknown of what's to come and the anticipation is much worse, I'm sure, than what it's all going to really be like (I keep telling myself that in order to stay a little bit sane). But who knows. My prediction of WHEN (not if) we go totally remote is Oct. 1. We'll see though...I hope I'm wrong. 

Here are some of the things I'm going to miss and not miss in having to go back to work:
1st and foremost - my puppies. I'm going to miss walking Scout every morning and hanging most of the day with them. I'm going to miss knowing they haven't had to be caged for longer than an hour or two in months! Basically I'm going to miss by babies sweet faces and random cuddles throughout the day! 

I'm going to miss getting my exercise on every day before 10 am! I HATE that I'm A) not going to get as much in and B) I'm going to have to do it after school. But...it's fine...I'm probably a bit addicted to exercise as it is and could stand a little respite. 

I'm going to miss sleeping until 6:00 AM (rather than 5:00 that I'll have to get up now). I've actually been setting my alarm to 6:00 for the past week just to get used to getting up early again. Normally, I would sleep until about 6:30 but I'm a morning person so it's all good.

What I'm NOT going to miss is Jim driving me crazy. These last few days have been trying on our psyches (and marriage). He's driving me nuts, I'm driving him nuts, we're fighting like cats and dogs (mostly because he's annoying...I'm not annoying, you're annoying!) Just some of the shit he does. For example (and just remember this: the other day he asked me why everything has to be a fight...just remember that) Anyway - for example, the outdoor cushions: I have a specific place I like them kept (behind the furniture) because they are easy to quickly put there in the rain, they are completely undercover, hidden from view and when you're putting them back in place, they're right there. Well, Jim always stacks them way away from all the other chairs, in the corner near the front door, which is inconvenient when putting them back and is an eyesore. So I asked him, "Hey, can you put the cushions behind the furniture it goes on..." blah blah blah. He rolled his eyes and then continued to do it his own way. So yesterday after it happened AGAIN, I said, "You know, you asked the other day why everything has to be a fight and this is a great example why YOU are the one causing the issue! I asked you nicely about doing the outdoor cushions the way I like them, which by the way is more efficient. I'm the one who is usually putting the stuff back on and you know it drives me nuts so in continuing to do something I specifically (nicely) asked you not to do, you are causing a fight!" He conceded to that. I'm sure I do things that cause a fight too but not as much as he does. I mean, I'm pretty perfect.

Okay - I've wasted more time than I should and need to head to work. UGH! Wish me luck. The week will be full of meetings and training. Not sure exactly how it will all go or what it will entail but I'll find out soon enough. Wish me luck! Here's to staying Covid-free. Happy Monday! Stay healthy...later!

Perimenopause Is Kicking My Ass

I'm sure a couple of you don't want to hear this  - those men that read this - and in response to that,  I say f&%k you! (I don't really mean that). What kind of joke is it that men don't have to go through the shit we women are forced to deal with? Not only are women the ones that have to get pregnant for basically 10 months (maybe not me but most other women), deal with morning sickness (sometimes throughout the WHOLE pregnancy), go through sometimes 24 hours of labor, then birth (pushing a bowling ball out of your vagina or getting your belly sliced open, bleed from our nether regions once a month which comes with lovely cramps that have actually made me puke before. And then just when you think the end is near, you've run out of eggs (or in my case they've all gone rotten) you have to go through perimenopause before you can finally feel the sweet freedom of acutal menopause. Night sweats, irregular periods (which can sometimes last for days and days and days and I'm not talking light spotting...we're talking full-on GUSH!), bitchiness (obvs!), brain fart syndrome, exhaustion, weight gain. Sometimes I look at Jim while he's limping around on his "sore" feet and hips and I think "Cry me a river you pussy! I'd love to see how you deal with bleeding from your privates once a month for the last nearly 40 years and everything else that comes with it!" And then I remember he has cancer and I feel bad. Ugh! 

Please pay no attention to me. I'm in a funk for a number of reasons and the above is just one. Along with that, school starts Monday and though I'm excited to finally get back to some sense of normal, I'm also mourning my free time being gone. Additionally, well, see...here I was, I had it in my head what I was going to type and then I lost it! It's out of my brain. Oh well...just more of me bitching and no one wants to read about that CONSTANTLY! 

Anyway - sorry about the rant...but here's a solution: If you don't like it, don't read this! (Sorry...we'll that another perimeno rant!)

Plans today: I've walked Scout and eaten breakfast so when I finish here, I'll go walk Reggie, come home, get on the elliptical and then shower quickly. Larry the contractor is coming over to give us detes about the bathroom reno at 10:00. At 11:30, I have a pedicure appointment. I might take Jim to the brewery today (we'll see if he gets his jobs done). Tonight I'm supposed to go to a friends for some social distance cocktails but I might bail. I'm just feeling like shit and seriously, I can't trust my period right now. UGH! 

K - gotta go give Reggie some love. Happy Friday! Can't WAIT for a cocktail later! I only drank Wednesday this week and am so proud of myself! And even then I didn't drink much! Pat pat pat (on my back). Later...stay healthy and masked!

Teary

I had something specific to talk about which I had in my head last night for this post and now, of course, I forget what it was! ARG! Oh, I know! I just remembered! (Thank you television for reminding me!) I was watching a video about Kamala Harris yesterday - just a video explaining who she is and where she came from and what her career has entailed and can I just tell you I got weepy!? I'm just so full of hope about what she and Biden can bring back to this country. And yet, I'm so scared of what will happen if they don't pull this off! I've never felt this scared about the future of the country and I know it's nothing compared to what people who grew up during a war or the Great Depression must've felt like but it's just frightening. UGH!

Speaking of inept leadership: This whole water/shower head complaint that trump has...I mean, this is what he's worried about during a pandemic, he's concerned about having perfect hair!? And I quote, ""You want to wash your hands, the water doesn't come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair -- I don't know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect." I think the real problem is that he has so much orange God-only-knows-what on his ugly mug that he needs some sort of powerful shower head to get that shit off every day.  How is this our president?! 

Sorry...not sorry...I'll try to minimize my complaints. 

So my plans today: More school work. Maybe a little sun worshiping (if the sun shows it's face). I've walked Scout and just need to walk Reggie. I will either take a bike ride or get on the elliptical. Dinner tonight will be a vegan chickpea ratatouille over quinoa. (Jim'll probably hate it but hey...when was the last time he cooked a meal or planned the menu?). 

So weird, for the above sentence with the word "worshiping" in it? I originally spelled it "worshipping" (with two p's) but it showed that I had spelled it wrong so when I did spell check it said that the correct spelling was with just one "p". The word "worshiping" then should phonetically be pronounced "wor - sheye - ping" rather than "wor - ship - ping". WTF? So I looked it up and it said that "worshipping" is the British spelling where "worshiping" is the American. This is what's wrong with our country! I mean JEEZ! Oh well. 

K - I'm out...happy Thursday! Stay healthy. Later!

Ready To Win!

I'm excited about Biden's pick of Kamala Harris as VP running mate and I think trump should be shaking in his baby booties. And of course he's already resorting to name-calling like "phony" (because that's what immature little assholes do) and her questioning of Kavanaugh "nasty". BTW - if you've watched her questioning of him that is being referred to, she's is the consummate professional who calmly asked a reasonable question about a possible issue that Kavanaugh could be ruling on as a supreme court justice. And I'll say it because it's true, if a male asked the same question, he certainly wouldn't be called "nasty". And I can't WAIT for the VP debate! Harris is going to mop the floor with Pence's ass! Is that nasty!? Gee, too bad! I'm so sick of the world I've been forced to live in for the past nearly 4 years and I'm ready for NORMALCY...a change back to normal! (BTW - how will Pence debate Harris without "mother" being present?) 

In other news, I went up to school yesterday and got my room in relative order. I rearranged as best I could and moved things around. Should be fine. I hate that I don't have a window to the outside but again, this is hopefully temporary and this too shall pass. Of course none of the technology is hooked up so I immediately put an email out about that. I was told to put a "Track-it" in (order for the tech department to fix something) but of course the links were throwing out errors. Oh well...I'm sure it will get dealt with. 

I accidentally let Reggie out today. UGH! It wasn't his fault (there was a locust that freaked me out and I left enough room in the gate for Reggie to escape). Luckily, he only did about two laps of the island before he came back. I sat and waited for him to return and when he did, head down and ashamed, I gave him extra love and hugs. Poor boy misses his family and the escape was truly my fault. He's such a good boy. I'll take him for a nice long walk when I finish here. 

My plans for the day are to do more school work. Still trying to figure out what my teaching experience this year is going to look like and prepare but it's hard when I don't know how things are going to work.

I made shrimp tacos last night with a homemade slaw and it was delicious! Tonight is an easy baked pork chop. 

And that's about all I've got. Time to get a move on before it gets too oppressive out there. The temps aren't bad but the humidity is terrible. And you know Reggie has a THICK coat of fur. 

K - happy Wednesday! Stay healthy! Later!

Scout The Protector

So last night, around 10:45 or so, the storms hit at my house. They weren't bad, in fact they were considerably mild considering what Indiana must've experienced. As per usual, once they hit the Cincinnati area, they had died down considerably. Anyway - I heard the rain and saw the trees swaying and had to get up to check out what the news was saying...which was nothing. They didn't even upgrade them to a warning, just a watch. So I go back to bed and I'm laying there, pretty calm but awake and aware and watching the trees from the bedroom window. And Scout comes up on the bed and he immediately comes and lays in the crook of my belly spooning with me and bathing my face in kisses. And I think, "Aw...he must be scared." But then I lay there for a bit while HE loves on ME (of course I was loving on him too) and I realized, "He isn't scared. He came up to comfort me!" The minute the loudest of the thunder subsided, he gave me one last lick and went back to his usual spot: Jim's legs. I seriously think he was just comforting me because he could feel that I was tense. I love that boy! 

I mentioned yesterday about my neighbors dog, right? Originally we were going to be watching him 1/2 the week. Well, apparently the couple who were going to be watching him the other half, Dan, got a blood clot in his leg and he had to have surgery yesterday. Ugh! I mean, how does that happen? So we'll be taking care of Reggie until Saturday but really it's nothing. He's so easy and sweet. I'll go walk him in a minute.

My other plans for the day: After I walk Reg, I'll shower and head up to work. I need to put my temporary room together...that's my goal. After that, I'll probably head to Aldi since I'll be in the area and then come home and do some school work. 

Gov. Dewine is giving an update today at 2 pm about schools. Should be interesting. A little worried about it...have a feeling I'm not going to be happy. BUT...I just have to keep telling myself that we will get through this and we're all in it together and we all need to be flexible. 

Okay well, I'd best get my shit together. Happy Tuesday. Stay healthy. Later. 

Prepping For A Return

This week will involve a lot of prep work in preparation of my return to work. I can't believe it's been 5 months since we shut down. Who knows what is going to happen in the next couple months? Who knows what hurdles we're going to have to jump to get these kids something resembling an education but I'm ready to get back! I just hope we can sustain some sort of normalcy - new normalcy - for the sake of all our psyches. 

So yeah, this week I'll be working on my science and Government classes and getting them figured out for remote learning. I also need to figure out what to do with my Language Arts class. I usually start with Shakespeare but everything really depends on what parents choose to do: In person, remote etc. I also need to get up to school to get my room in order (since much of my stuff got moved across the hall)...I might do that tomorrow. 

The weekend was good...low key. We went to Raeburn on Friday which made the weekend all messed up. I thought all day Friday that it was Saturday and all day Saturday felt like Sunday. We pretty much did the same things we've been doing for the last 5 months. I did, however, make an amazing meal last night. Probably my favorite Instant Pot meal I've ever made from a recipe in my instant pot bible: Better Butter Chicken. It's a curry chicken dish. I served it over baked potatoes and added peas to it and it was scrumptious! So excited it made so much because I get to have it as leftovers this week. 

My next door neighbors headed to South Carolina Sunday and we're helping to take care of their pup - Reggie - while they're gone. He's such a good boy...and easy. I walked him 3 miles yesterday and what a good walker he is. I'll take care of him Wednesday, Friday and Saturday as well. The other days will be Cari's friend Brit who lives up the street and are the owners of Reggie's brother. He'll be so happy! 

And that's all I've got. Not sure what I'll do for dinner tonight. Maybe leftovers...maybe shrimp tacos...who knows. I'll ask Jim what he wants. Okay - time to get Scout out for his walk. I'll probably take a bike ride today as well...try to beat the line of storms that are supposed to hit late morning. Happy Monday! Stay healthy. Later

Waiting To Hear

 Yesterday they had a board meeting at school to put a 3rd option into place in our plan for returning to school and I'm waiting to hear what the decision was. I'm guessing it passed but who knows. I just wish things would be ironed out but I don't think anything is going to be ironed out through the entire school year. I feel like we're all going to be flying by the seat of our pants. And if you know me, that isn't how I live so it's going to be tough trying to stay stress free when things are so up in the air. Ugh. 

That being said, I did start working on my Government class yesterday. I need to get plans figured out and assignments ready for any possible online learning. 

Here's something that annoyed the shit out of me yesterday: I have an acquaintance on FB that likes to put shit out there that is controversial...as though the rest of us give a shit about how he feels about masks or restaurants having to close at 10 PM and whatnot. So yesterday he posts an article about schools returning. The headline was "Teachers protest reopening schools in central Ohio". First of all, it was a misleading headline because in truth it was about a small handful of teachers that were protesting the return to the classroom due to safety of both children and staff. Not teachers in general around Ohio and not because they didn't want to have to work. This, of course opened a can of nasty worms. There were comments like, "teachers who work less should make less" (because we're raking it in, right?) and then things about teachers having it easy since March and not having to do any actual teaching. I was so disgusted because these people obviously have no fucking idea what they're talking about and they just assume that we don't want to work or haven't worked our asses off through all this. It was so disheartening because I know those comments represented a whole host of others who feel the same. I'd love for those people to spend a day in my shoes or any other teacher's shoes who's having to wade through these uncertain and murky waters while people criticize every thing we do. Nothing is good enough for everyone but we are trying to make it the best it can be for the KIDS!!! 

Okay, I'm off my horse and now need to go get on my bike. After that I'll head to the grocery and today we're heading to Raeburn with the neighbors to have some fun in the sun and pool! Woot! Weekend starts early today! 

K - later and stay healthy. 

Grand Theft Auto

I had a great time up at the Bay with Trippy and J.J. We had shitty weather Saturday and Sunday but Monday and Tuesday were good. We had some pool time with lots of rock climbing, games of horse and going down the slide. We did a bit of putt putt (me just once but they went each day); there was a venture on the paddle boards and for Trip and J.J., lots of wave running (though we had some pretty rough days so they weren't able to go far). All in all, lovely. 

So you may or may not know that this year, we got a new golf cart (at left). It's a beauty and totally different from the last one we had. Where the last one was red, this one is a lovely navy blue. The previous one was a 4-seater; this one seats six. The new one is gas-powered whereas our old one was electric. The wheels on the new one are much larger and in general the it's awesome. The reason I bring this up: So we're at the pool one day and Trip heads home to check on the pup. He gets in the golf cart, drives home, goes inside and realizes SHIT! Our golf cart isn't red! He'd taken (stolen, swiped, hot-wired, pilfered, run off with) someone else's cart! He immediately jumped into the "hot" cart and swapped it out for ours. None the wiser, thank God. I mean...isn't that priceless!? And on another note, it's a little ridiculous that the cart keys pretty much operate any old cart out there. What's the point?!

So now that I'm back, it's kind of crunch time for preparing for school. All of that is completely still up in the air but I will most likely be in the classroom providing in-person classes as well as streaming (they've added a possible option 3 where teachers will have webcams in their classes to allow kids to learn remotely...it has to be approved, however). This means I need to allow students to submit assignments through Google forms or whatever. Which means I'll need to make those actual alternate assignments. Ugh! That should only take hours and hours...no biggie. It is what it is though...I'll just have to muddle through like the rest of the teachers out there and hope this all goes away eventually. 

Anyway - if the weather stays cloudy, like it is right now, I'll start on that today. If not, I may just lay out after mowing the lawn. The boys are taken care of and I've eaten breakfast. Not much else is happening. 

K - happy Thursday! Later! Stay healthy.