The Final Push

Today starts the final push to summer. 39 days I think. Of course I have a meeting today but thankfully, I'm not leading it so I won't have to say much. It's an ETR (evaluation) and there's nothing changing so should be an in and out kind of thing. The week is going to somewhat suck because Thursday is Senior Service Night so I have to be at school late. I don't think I need to be there until 4:00ish so I might come home so I can give Scout a little walk but we'll see. It really depends on the weather. 

Speaking of which, last night was a doozie. The two tornado warnings were just north and south of Loveland so we didn't have any of the damaging winds but the wind still managed to scare the shit out of me. We probably got the storm just after 9:00 and the wind sounded fierce but once the front passed, it was just heavy rain and some pretty impressive lightning. When I finally went upstairs and tried to fall asleep, I was kept up by the sky lighting up from the bolts of lightning littering it. It was crazy. The possible tornado went right over school and all my lunch ladies were hunkered down in their basements. Scary for them but they all came out safe and unharmed. I hate spring. 

The weekend was good. We had a good time at the wedding Friday and it was good to see that side of the family. Saturday Jim and I hung out at home. Jim worked a bit in the yard and shellacked my new plant ladder and I put my recumbent bike together. I haven't tried it out yet but will tomorrow. Sunday was the typical. Jim and I watched The Comeback when we got home from Shooters. It's the 2004 Boston Red Sox story, which Trip had told me about. It was so good. What a fun team that was. 

Other than my meeting today, school should be easy. We're watching To Kill a Mockingbird in ELA and starting a new chapter in history. I need to check to see which stupid parents haven't acknowledged progress reports and then mail out those. Dummies. 

Dinner tonight: I'll grill some chicken and serve it with broccoli and rice. Nothing special. I'll be in bed early tonight because I didn't get near enough sleep last night. 

And that's all I've got. Time to get a move on. Later!

Big Day

It's going to be a somewhat jam packed day here. First, Jim's working so I'll be walking both boys today. I'll need to do that as soon as I can; either when it's light or when the weather lets up. Currently it's raining/storming (just saw some lightning and heard thunder) but hopefully once that passes, I can get that chore done. I also need to either swim or get on the elliptical. I haven't decided if I'll do yoga or not. My hands still really hurt but maybe if I take some ibuprofen, all will be well. 

Maggie should be here before lunchtime. Our cousin is getting married today, which is the reason for her visit. She's coming alone because A) it's a Friday wedding and Eva has school and B) Charlie is currently in Boston. Anyway, after Maggie drops Eva off at school, she'll walk Birdie and then head down. We'll go out to lunch and then hang until it's time to get ready. We're only going to the reception which starts at 6:00. I have no idea what I'm going to wear because I hate all my clothes and it's that time of year where it's going to be near 80 today but then of course the evening will most likely get cool. Maggie will have to tell me what to wear. 

I'm sad about the Reds game yesterday. We were leading all the way up to the 9th inning then lost our lead. No wire-to-wire for us this year. But I still have hopes. 

The weekend: First of all, I'll wish Anne a happy birthday now. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNE (tomorrow). I hope you have a great day but I'll see you tonight so I'll tell you again then. 

Saturday Jim and I only have plans to get some yard work done. Correction: Jim has some yard work to do. He needs to do some seeding along the fence line and a bit in the front yard. He was supposed to do it yesterday but alas, he's a lazy ass. No Shooters for him Sunday if he doesn't do his jobs. I have to go back to school on Monday so I'll be sad on Sunday but the end is near so I can power through. I think once we go back it's like 39 more school days. We'll have a Monday off in April and I'm taking a personal day on a Friday in May. Woot! I can definitely do that. 

Well it's coming down pretty good out there so I think I will do some yoga and then the elliptical. Looks like the boys may get a pretty short walk today. Although by about 10:00, it should all be out of here. Anyway, happy Friday. Happy weekend. Later. 

Hands Hurt

My hands, especially my left, hurt so bad. I can barely make a fist (how am I going to punch Jim?! I guess I'll just have to kick him.) It all started when I decided to finish putting our new outdoor furniture together. I managed to get the other two chairs, side table and fire table assembled (in record time, I might add) but in doing so, my hands are suffering. I guess I need to do hand workouts? Speaking of which, have you ever seen a blacksmiths hands? Holy shit! Jim and I were in line for check in at the airport several years ago and the guy in line with us was a champion blacksmith and his hands were so muscular. You can't even imagine. Anyway, we're talking about my hands. How am I going to put my recumbent together when it comes if my hands are still aching and sore like this. It's a problem. 

I think I mentioned that Jim did in fact work yesterday and he was supposed to work today but alas, the job isn't ready for him yet. I'm not mad and neither is he especially since it was a downtown job and with opening day today that would've been a hassle. He'll work tomorrow. 

Since Jim's not working today, he has lots of jobs. He's got to get his room cleaned in preparation for Maggie, who is coming tomorrow. He also needs to clean his bathroom and then he needs to get the yard raked and seeded. Plus his normal stuff like walk Boo. All this needs to happen before 4:15 when the Reds have their opening day game. WOOT! Go Reds! 

Dinner tonight: I should have done something that goes along with Opening Day but alas, I have cube steaks (in the instant pot) on the menu. I'll probably make it with mashers and broccoli. Yummy! 

And now I need to get my yoga on. I wonder if there's a yoga for hands? Hmm. Happy Thursday! Later.

Delayed Plans

Yesterday ended up being a lot rainier and colder than I'd expected so I ended up NOT putting my chairs and fire table together. I'll hopefully do that today. Some things that I did do, instead, were: A really good swim spa workout, lunch with Jim and a lot of relaxing with the boys. My swim workout was quite a doozie. I've found that I need to build my stamina up in terms of swimming so right now, I do 5 minutes of arm then 5 minutes of leg for a total of 30 minutes. It left my limbs quite jelly-like yesterday but felt really good. I may or may not do that again today...we'll see. 

By the way, Bitmoji (the cartoon pics I put up on my posts) have added new stickers and it changed how I look and I look weird. Oh well. For instance, what the fuck is wrong with my face here? 

I've discovered a pretty good series as well: Doc. It's a Fox series but on Hulu as well which is where I binged the first 4 episodes yesterday. The premise: A renowned physician suffers a TBI from a car accident, leaving her with retrograde amnesia. As a result, she's lost the last 8 years of her memories. It's a good/bad situation as it allows her to redo somethings that she fucked up. It's actually inspired by an incident that happened to an Italian physician. It's good...check it out if you're looking for an entertaining series. 

Jim's actually going to work today. As I mentioned, things are slow right now with his company but there's an issue with a job that was done last week. Nothing that Jim did wrong but he has to do another coat on a room that just won't take the paint correctly. Truthfully, I really didn't listen to the story Jim told me because it was a story about paint and as you can imagine, hearing a story about paint is a lot like watching paint dry. BORING! Pointless. Sorry Jim.

Dinner: I'm going to make sausage patties with a caprese salad and probably fries. I have a lot of exciting things to make after today (now that I've gone to Aldi). That being said, I love me some sausage patties. 

Okay well, I need to go make Jim his protein shake before he leaves for work and then I need to do my yoga. I'll then walk the boys, exercise and who knows after that. I do need to go to Kroger for a couple things but other than that, I'll be at home. 

Happy Wednesday. Later!

Soaking It All Up

It's officially day 2 of my spring break (I don't count the weekend) and so far so good. Although I did catch a little cold. Right now it's in my nose, which is all kinds of stuffed up and I'm sneezing like an asshole. I had a bit of a tickle in my throat last night before going to bed but managed to fall asleep without much trouble and had my ding dong dogs not woke me up at 5:00 I'd still be snoozing. Hopefully where I am now with my cold will be the worst of it. 

The weekend was good. Saturday I picked up Birdie from Trip and Susan's around 11:00 and then headed north to Columbus. I made it there in just under 2 hours and after getting her settled I went to the grocery to get goods for dinner. From there I went to Mom's and hung with her for a bit. Maggie, Charlie and Eva landed just after 5:00 and were home by 6:00ish. Sunday was another day of hanging out. Maggie's neighbors came over around 10:30 to watch the F1 race. They just got a new puppy (Norwich terrier named Winston) so while they watch the race, I played with the puppy. So cute! 

I was on the road yesterday around 9:00 and home by 10:30. Jim didn't work because the company is really slow right now so he and I went to lunch. Once home I started on my projects for the week. I put the storage box together and then one set of the chairs and table we got for the patio outside. Each set has two rockers/gliders and a side table. Once I put the first chair together (probably took about an hour) I had it down and the 2nd one only took me about 30 minutes to do. I'll put the other set together today as well as the fire table. After that, I just need my recumbent to be delivered so I can get that all set up. 

Today's plans will entail the above as well as a trip to Aldi and then the typical - walk, exercise. I think I'll get in the pool and do some swimming, running and band work. I was going to do it yesterday but it was so windy and all those red buds were flying everywhere and I didn't want that shit in my tub. Anyway, when I finish here I'll get my yoga on. I think my back pain has turned a corner so I want to get some good stretching in to ensure I don't backslide. 

Dinner tonight: I pulled a pulled pork meal that I get at Aldi so I'll do that with coleslaw and fries. 

And that's all I've got. I need to go sign all my tax stuff now so I can get my money. It isn't much this year but it's something and considering I figured I'd owe, I'm happy. 

Happy Tuesday! Later!

I Made It!

I didn't know if I would but I made it through the week! It was a near thing, I'll tell you that. Each day I had to pump myself up to just get out of bed. And yesterday dragged so badly and I nearly fell asleep at my desk during 6th period. However, I got through and I managed to find the energy to exercise this morning so that gives me a boost. Plus, I'm so excited that this time next week I'll be on spring break, it'll get me through my day. 

Speaking of which, my day should be a breeze. A) Several of my kids I know won't be there and B) it's movie day. Woot! Hopefully I won't fall asleep at my desk today. 

Weekend plans: Tonight I plan on relaxing. I'm going to make penne pasta with vodka cream sauce and a salad. I'm going to get in the hot tub and I'm going to go to bed whenever the hell I want...probably around 9:00. Tomorrow I'm going to do my normal Saturday morning routine, a small breakfast for Jim and me and then a walk for Scoutie. I'll head south to Trip and Susan's to pick up Birdie then head north to Columbus where I'll stay until Monday. (They get back Saturday.) Oh, which means, I won't post on Monday. 

Spring Break plans: I have a LOT of stuff to put together so I'll do a lot of that. All the furniture I bought to go outside and then the recumbent whenever that comes. Speaking of which, I tried to use it yesterday (because it still worked a little...it would cut out every 5 minutes) but as I pedaled away the magnetic thing that allows for the resistance crapped out and was clunking along in the wheel well. I wasn't able to do my full workout but you know what? C'est la vie. 

Jim's going to go to Costco for me today which makes me so happy. I hate going there and I had it on my list of things to do next week and now I don't have to. Woot!

Nothing else is happening here. I have a couple brackets for March Madness and I'm pretty sure it's already effed up. In one bracket I have Auburn winning and the other Florida. Jim has a couple as well. One has St. John's taking it all the other, Duke.

And that's it. Time to get this day over with! Happy Friday and happy spring break to me!!! Later!

Longest Week Ever

For much of the day yesterday I thought it was Thursday. As you can imagine, when I realized it was Wednesday, my world shattered and of course now, this week has been the longest ever. Thank the baby Jesus I've got my spring break in front of me. 

When it rains it pours. Here's another 1st world problem: My recumbent bike busted. I looked it up and I posted about my "new toy" on March 1, 2008. That's a pretty good run! And though I don't really use it during warmer weather (I'd rather be on my actual bike), it gets a good amount of usage from me. So, I went online, checked out some reviews and bought the bike you see at left. It should be here next week and it's now on my list of things I need to put together over spring break. (Added to the four chairs we bought, the fire table and the outdoor storage box.) It was pretty cheap, by the way. With 10% off, I paid just over $200. Hopefully it lasts as long as my last one. 

Man, I just had such an ordeal making our morning smoothie. I don't know what the problem was but I just couldn't get the damn blender to blend it properly. Hopefully it was just the amount of stuff in it rather than my blender going on the blink. (I love my blender, by the way...it's a good one...normally). 

Dinner tonight: I'm in the mood for dinner out so Jim and I are going to our local cantina. Is that the right word? Who knows (someone who speaks Spanish)? We're going out for Mexican. 

Guess what? Cheers was on again this morning AND!!! It was my favorite episode! It's the Thanksgiving one where they all go to Carla's for Thanksgiving and then get in a food fight. I love that one so much. Here's the crazy thing: I swear to God, while I was in the shower, I was thinking of that episode! Truly I was. I think I might be psychic! At least when it comes to pointless things like what's coming on TV. That's got to be useful in some realm, right? 

I managed NOT to cry yesterday while reading the last chapter of To Kill a Mockingbird. It was a close thing and I did start to get choked up but I took a breath and powered through! So today, the kids will take the test. They better do well or I'll be pissed. I think they all really liked it. We'll watch the movie when we get back from spring break. 

Okay - I've run out of time. TGTIF (thank God tomorrow is Friday). Later!

Change Of Tune

So we had a department meeting yesterday after school. Per usual: Waste of time. However, it was quite interesting because my dipshit admin (wow, dipshit is a word! No notification for a misspelling. Nice.) suddenly backpedaled about not hiring a sped teacher. I'm sure he was told that per law, we can't have more than 24 students on a caseload and as close as we will be next year to that, we may need to hire. He had to be told because he's too much of a dipshit to know the actual law. There were other interesting parts to the meeting but for the most part - waste of time. 

The other day I was talking to my neighbor about what I listen to on TV while I'm getting ready in the morning. Mondays are good because Frasier is on. Thursdays and Fridays are also good because Modern Family is on. However, Tuesday and Wednesday suck because there's nothing and I usually end up listening to whatever Dateline episode is on. I mentioned to my neighbor that I wish Cheers were on because I love Cheers and it's an easy listen (I'm usually in my bathroom with the TV on in the bedroom so I can't see it). Lo and behold, yesterday morning I turned the TV on and guess what was on? CHEERS!!! This morning!? Same thing! I mean, that's some creepy shit. You know they're listening. Either that or I'm psychic. I'm going to go with me being psychic because I don't want to think about Big Brother listening. 

I'm not convinced I can make it all 5 days this week. I'm so tempted to call in sick tomorrow. The only reason I probably won't is because once I get through today, Thursday and Friday will be so easy as I'm either giving a test or showing videos. I just need to buckle down, pull up my bootstraps and power through. I can do this. I just have to keep saying to myself, This time next week I'll be asleep (or at home or whatever but not at school). 

Dinner tonight: I'll grill a pork tenderloin...probably cook up some long-grained wild rice and steam some broccoli. 

And that's about all I've got. Time to finish my toilet...ooh, and I need to put air in my tires. I'll go do that now. Later!

More Than One Ass

There's more than one ass at work and believe me, one was more than enough. The sad and scary thing is that the 2nd ass is posing as a good guy behind the title of union president. Here's the story:

One of my colleagues/friends is retiring at the end of this year. It's not that she's trying to "burn the place down" before she leaves but she sees the writing on the wall (as we all do) and with nothing to lose, she's made her feelings be known. Now, understand she's done this on social media and she isn't wrong. This past weekend she shared a post about the "government school system becoming more of a jobs program for adults than an education initiative for kids". This goes hand in hand with the fucked up things that our district is trying to do currently (hire admins rather than much needed teachers). And by the way, our prez has voiced his dislike for this new "dean of students" position. 

So yesterday, my teacher friend popped in to say that the prez had emailed a "reprimand" to her. Here's part of what it said: 

I’ve had people send me screen shots of your post on Facebook. I just want to caution you from using social media to voice frustrations/grievances about our district. I don’t want you to face discipline for posting unprofessional remarks via reply-all or social media. The concern about our district being administrative heavy is a valid question, I’m happy to discuss with you if interested. Ultimately, there are better ways to advocate for our school than these posts. Again, I’m happy to talk more and strategize ways we can increase resources in the classroom.

What an ass. She sent me her reply via Messenger and it is perfect:

 

Hi (name), Please stop interacting with me like this. I asked for your help once to help a fellow teacher, merely needing a phone number and you absolutely ignored me. Now you are coming at me like this for a second time when you really ought to be focused on communicating with the teachers you represent who are demoralized from what has happened. Focus on your members. They are the ones coming to me venting, who need you to communicate these things to them. I am not a subordinate. Not a union member. Not asking for your advice. if you want to be helpful go talk to your members about how you might represent them. I have 174 students and I am too busy to spend time on this. Best of luck on your leadership with these teacher reductions. 

I mean, I couldn't have said it better. And if it wasn't clear, she is NOT a union member. I mean, who does he fucking think he is!? And who are the fuckers that sent the screen shots. People need to A) get a life and B) mind their business and C) stop trying to get people fucked.

In other news, nothing much is happening here. I had a meeting yesterday (forgot I had it when I posted yesterday) to talk about  a new student who enrolled on 2/24. He has yet to make it for a full day at school (he's come for 3 partial days) and he's said that A) he only enrolled to get a work permit (he's 16) and B) if he's on an IEP he's definitely not coming to school. In the phone conference with mom yesterday she opted to revoke consent. Woot! One less worry. Unfortunately we don't have a clear "drop out" policy and it's up to that fool of a principal to figure it out. Good luck kid. 

Dinner: Skyline.

And that's all I've got. Jim just sat down here at the table and is staring at me so he obviously has something he wants to talk about. Best mosey. Maybe I'll just wrap this up, stand up and go upstairs ignoring him. Good plan. Later!

Klutz!

Jim is such a klutz. His inability to stay upright is becoming a problem. Yesterday I was finally sitting on the couch chilling out (having done all my dinner prep and lunch prep for the week) watching Ghosts (more on that in a minute) when Jim came peeking around the doorway saying, "What are you doing?" I didn't look at him and just answered, "Chilling." He said, "Uh, I had a little accident." So I turn to him and see that he's holding a t-shirt to his left forehead and he's caked in dirt from head to toe. Oh, and there's blood running down his face, on his arm and all over the white t-shirt. Apparently, he was going to spray down the driveway and while walking backwards (dumb) pulling the hose, he tripped over the make-shift firepit we have around the stump we've been burning out. He managed to fall onto his forehead, splitting it open on one of the stones. Ugh!

I looked at it and originally thought it didn't need stiches. I had him get in the shower (since he was covered in mud) and wash the gash well. He did and then I bandaged it up. Later, after we hot tubbed, I changed the dressing and realized he probably should have gotten stitches. I'm no doctor dammit! I called my neighbor who's a nurse and got some steri-strips and betadine, cleaned it out again and bandaged it. Jim said it feels okay, doesn't hurt too badly so hopefully it'll heal well. Jim needs to cut that shit out! 

You will be happy to hear that the fence is in and it's beautiful. They still need to put in the gate on the right and that should be completed this week at some point. I haven't received the final bill so we'll see what they do for us. I'm anticipating nothing, which will be a problem. The boys are so happy. From the time the workers left Friday (around 4:00) until we went to bed (around 10:00) Boo and Scout just kept going in and out and in and out. Boo took all his ducks out, one at a time, and Scout patrolled for hours. They're so happy to have their yard back. 

The weekend was good. Friday we chilled with the neighbors outside and after dinner Doug and Lauren came over for cards. Saturday Jim and I cleaned the house top to bottom then went to lunch and Aldi. I made chicken marsala for dinner and then we just chilled. Yesterday we went to Shooters, walked, I made meatloaf, we got in the hot tub and that was that. 

The week should be easy. It's the first day of 4th quarter (unbelievable) and Friday is the last day before spring break. I don't have any meetings this week and I'm finishing up a book in ELA and a chapter in history. I do need to get my progress reports done and sent but they're mostly complete. 

Dinner tonight: I'll probably do Skyline. Either that or a cobb salad. 

K - best mosey. Happy Monday. Later!

Disappointment

You probably thought I'd be coming at you today with all good stuff, right? Well, I hate to disappoint you but people disappoint me and unfortunately you get backlash. I left here yesterday morning thinking, "New fence!!! No more walking the dogs in the pitch black at 4:30 AM! The boys will be so happy when I get home!" Well, guess what!? Those mother fuckers didn't show!

So I was sitting at my desk yesterday around 10:00 and I decided to check my Ring camera. As you may recall, we were supposed to have the fence people here as well as Nick. No one was present! I sent a text to Jim and said, "There is NO ONE at our house working!" And then the phone rings and it's Jim who's calling to say he got a call at 8:30 from the fence people saying they weren't coming. As you can imagine, Jim sort of freaked on them because he knew I was going to freak. He told the General Manager who called him, (and they obviously knew they'd fucked up if they had the general manager calling to deliver the news) she was going to have to deal with me because and it wasn't going to go well. 

At 3:00ish yesterday my phone rang and it was Evin, the GM (I wanted to tell her that her name is stupid). She said, "Hi Mrs. Hanke. How are you today?" I said, "I'm pretty perturbed." She then proceeded to ramble on with excuse and story after excuse and story. When she finally shut the fuck up, I said, "You know I've heard a few different stories for why things went down the way they did and so to me, that says I'm getting a bit of a run-around." When she apologized I said, "So how am I going to be compensated?" When she started to hem and haw a bit, I said, "So here's what I'm expecting: In your contract, you state that if the customer is the cause of a delay, then they will be charge $150 per hour of delay. Tomorrow, I think the timer should start when the workers arrive and end when they complete the job. That amount can then be deducted from the balance I owe." She was quiet for a solid 5 seconds when I finished that and then she said, "Well, I can look at that." Me, "That's the only remedy I see." We'll see what happens. 

You will be happy to hear that Nick did show and got the yard all evened out, seeded and rolled out hay in the backyard!

And of course my day started off all fucked up. First, my alarm didn't go off so I woke up 3 minutes late. (I know! But that fucked me up!) As a result, and because I don't have a fence and my routine is already all messed up, I decided NOT to get on the elliptical this morning (I'll do it this afternoon). Then, I go to take the boys out right away. I leash them up, open the door and they race out with Scout screaming! Deer in the front yard. Awesome. So I'm out there yanking and stumbling around and the boys are wrapping themselves around my legs and I'm trying to drag them back inside. Not a good way to start a Friday. But at least it isn't a Monday. 

So here I am and I'm out of time when I thought I'd have plenty since I didn't exercise and I hope this isn't' a foreshadowing of how my day is going to go. I have two meetings and hopefully they go off without a hitch (although the one meeting isn't run by me). 

Dinner: I pulled some pizza bread out of the freezer (Maggie, how do I heat these up tonight?) and I'll make a salad to go with. 

No real weekend plans except to clean the house (lots of dirt everywhere from the yard). Lots of rain Saturday so it might be an inside day. 

K - I'm out. Later! I better have a fucking fence when I get home today or heads are going to roll! 

Got This

I think I've perfected the routine with the dogs during this time of being fenceless. Thank God this morning is the last morning {knock on wood}that I'll have to do it. Yesterday I had a little hiccup and was running late because I shaved my legs. This morning, I managed to take a shower in less than 10 minutes. Don't worry, I thoroughly cleaned my bits and parts...I just didn't shave my logs. 

So yeah, the fence people should wrap things up today and Nick is supposed to be here as well. Fingers crossed people follow through. Hopefully when I get home today I'll be able to open the slider and the let the dogs go wild. They are chomping at the bit to get out there without being hindered by a leash. It shouldn't rain until this evening so I'm hoping they get some deck time too. 

Today should be a good day at school because the sophomores going to the career center next year are taking a trip there...sort of an orientation sort of thing. This means that the two hyperactive kids I have at the end of the day (in both 6th and 7th bells) will be gone. When they told me this yesterday I celebrated and then said, "Oh! You'll probably back for 7th bell though." They said, "We're getting back 10 minutes before the end of the day." I said, "Don't feel like you have to come to class during that time!" 

Dinner tonight will be chicken burgers with fries and a caprese salad. I'm excited to grill. Speaking of which, I need a new grill. Not a great time to buy one either. I'll try to make this one last. 

Jim and I got in the hot tub last night after dinner. I was going to make mudslides but guess why I couldn't? Yep...Jim drank all the Irish cream! I said, "What the fuck dude!?" He said, "I didn't know there was Irish cream in a mudslide!" I said, "When you went to Party Source in preparation for our hot tub, I specifically gave you a list for the makings of both grasshoppers and mudslides. Why do you think Irish cream was on it!? Dumb ass shit ass!" We had grasshoppers instead and they were deeeeelicious! 

And that's all I've got. I'm really happy tomorrow is Friday! This week went by pretty quickly. Lets hope today and tomorrow continue that trend. Later!

Little Baby

So I finally heard from my admin yesterday. He emailed me saying, "Hello. Muir, like I said," (he never "said") "I'd be happy to meet with you...just make an appointment." I replied with, "At this point, I think a staff meeting is called for since there are more than 3 people who have questions about this new position and the lack of transparency that surrounds it." He then replied with, "I understand. Let me know if you change your mind." So then I replied with, "So you're NOT going to explain to the staff the reasons behind this position nor the job description?" And then I never heard back from him. What a pussy! 

Then, one of my lunch ladies met with him after school with a list of questions. She was there for an hour getting no answers from him. He did say that after the board approved the position, he'd share the job description. (Translation: That will give him time to actually come up with a lame job description.) Then, after sitting there for an hour with him, he said to her, "Because of all this, I had the worst birthday ever." Poor little fucking pussy baby! Here's a thought: Karma's a bitch. Maybe if you didn't dick over your whole staff that wouldn't happen. Maybe people would celebrate you if you weren't such a fucking turd." I'm so glad his birthday sucked.

Oh, and then one of my other friends at school sent a reply to all from the thread started on Friday saying, "How about we meet as a staff on Thursday? Say 2:05?" I'm sure that will result in crickets. 

In fence news the posts have been placed. YAY! However, the company is claiming they need to "set" so they won't be back today to finish the job. Fuckers. They could easily finish this shit today and I wouldn't have to deal with this fence-less backyard for another day. But noooooo...it'll be Thursday. I'm sure they have another job they're starting. I'm so sick of liars. 

And Nick...our contractor. Ugh...Jim called and sent him a text yesterday and got nothing in return. Ugh. Really Jim's just trying to find out if he should have the fence people go ahead with the side gate or leave it so Nick can get his equipment back there. Why can't people just fucking follow through on things? 

Dinner: I'll either do chicken burgers tonight or mahi mahi. Probably the fish because I need to grind chicken and I didn't pull it from the freezer until this morning. Fine with me. 

K - I'm running late and need to wrap this up. Later!

A Little Inconvenience

They started the fence replacement yesterday and my yard is an even bigger disaster. They managed to tear it all out and get the posts placed on one side of the yard. It's slow going and really laborious because of all the roots. They're hoping to get the back fence line posts in today but who knows...it's taking a LONG time. I'm guessing it'll take until Thursday before this gets complete. Of course once the posts are in, the hard work should be over. We're also having them put in a gate at the back and the side yard on the right, looking at the house. 

You know who is most bothered about all this? Boo and Scout. It's the nicest week of the year and all they want to do is sit on the back deck in the sunshine. Scout's enjoying all the little walks he's getting but I think he'd rather have his yard back. I told them it's just for a few days and this time next week, it'll be done but Scout still keeps going to the back door to smack the bells. That boy just doesn't listen.

I'm also a little put out with this fence thing but it's no big deal. Jim got up with me this morning and got my coffee ready along with a little smoothie prep while I took the boys out front on leash. Once I was out of the shower and dressed we took the boys for a little walk up the road so they could both poop. I don't know how people do it who don't have a fence...what a pain in the ass.  

In school news my admin never acknowledged my email. Surprise surprise. He's a ball-less ass who can't face shit head on. Although he did meet with one of my friends after school and when she asked that the job description was of this "dean of students" he couldn't answer. She said he kept stumbling over shit and when she'd ask him to clarify, he couldn't. Again, surprise surprise. Oh, and apparently, as we all knew, they already have someone they're hiring for the position. Our football coach. He used to be a math teacher with us then took a HS guidance counselors position and now he wants back into the classroom. He apparently has too much work to do in the guidance department and can't focus on football. And by the way, he doesn't do even a 1/4 of the work he's responsible for as a counselor. He supposedly threatened to quit as football coach and so here we are. Such bullshit. 

Dinner tonight: BLTs. ('Nough said, right? Yummy!)

Okay, well, I'd better get moving because I'll need to take the boys out one more time before I leave and I think Jimmy's headed out. Happy Tuesday! Later.

On The Bright Side

You will be happy to know that Jim and I enjoyed our new spa all weekend long! It wasn't quite up to temp on Friday but by Saturday morning it was at 100 degrees and felt oh so good. I think we spent about an hour in it Saturday morning just reveling in our new toy. Saturday night we enjoyed it again with a grasshopper and some music. It was lovely. Sunday after breakfast and my walk I got in to swim. I actually turned the temp down from the 104 since the next several days are going to be around 70. Plus swimming in 104 temps is not easy.

The one downside of everything is I can't seem to get my pH and alkalinity levels right. They're way too high. It's frustrating. I'll have Jim call today to find out what exactly we need to do because I'm confounded and it's stressing me out. 

In school news, the shit hit the fan over the weekend. As I mentioned last week, there was a fear that they were gearing up to create a new position: Dean of Students. Well, at 1:18 on Friday afternoon my jackass principal sent out a paragraphs long email where at the bottom he explained that they were indeed going to post for a part-time dean of students/math teacher. I mean, WHAT!? I can tell you the bunch of ladies I eat with were furious. Three of us sent out emails. Mine was probably a little to, shall we say, in your face and maybe a little aggressive. Oops. Here's what I wrote: 

So to be clear, you are not replacing Jane's position with a full time position? You are creating an admin position even though we've all been told that there is a basic hiring freeze? This is the first that any of us are hearing about a "dean of students" and there's been no job description given to clarify what that will entail. (And according to the calendar the discussions for this position have been happening since August.)And, rather than explain this in our staff meeting where we were all gathered on Thursday which would have allowed for some much needed questions to be answered, this email went out on Friday at 1:18?

In the spirit of transparency, I'd like to know what it means when you say that this position will allow the administration "more time to focus on instruction". What instruction exactly are you talking about?

There is a lot of uncertainty in our profession right now with everything that's happening, politically. It seems that the administration should be working hard to quell our uneasiness rather than fostering what seems to be underhanded tactics.

So frustrating, right? Interestingly, two of the ladies I eat with also sent emails and they got a response from my principal. I didn't. I find that interesting. I guess he didn't like my tone. Oh well...they're going to do what they want to do and I just have to muddle through like always. It's just so disappointing. And there's so much more that is wrong with the things going on in my school...I could go on and on but I won't. Instead I'll try to have a better attitude. 

Dinner tonight: Since I didn't cook what I'd planned yesterday (Trip, Susan and JJ came over to swim and then we went to Shooters for dinner) I'll make it tonight: Creamy Sausage Rigatoni with a salad. 

The week should be pretty easy especially with the weather we're going to have - 70s all week. I'll break out my flip flops tomorrow! (It's still a little to cold for my tootsies this morning.) I do have a short meeting on Friday for an IEP amendment but that should only take about 15 minutes. 

K - time to get this show on the road. Later! 

Up & Running

Thank the baby Jesus! The Bullfrog is up and running. She's still heating up so I haven't been in but it's happening. 

So yeah, yesterday around noon, my Ring app went off informing there was someone at my door. When I answered on my phone it was the service guy for the spa. I directed him to the back and he was able to reset everything and get her up and running. By the time I got home, she was up to 50 degrees but the highest temp I could set it for was 99. I found the directions for the override and it's now set at 104 (the highest it will go). I checked on it around 6:00 and it had only gone up to 53 so I would imagine it's going to be a bit before it's at the temp set. The manual says 24-48 hours which if you think about the starting temp at around 4 (50), it took 2 hours to go up 3 degrees. That's about 36 hours so we'll be pretty close when I get home today. But who knows? 

Jim got the call yesterday that the fence will be installed starting Monday. It should take three days and once that's done, well, I was going to say we'll be done with everything but of course my yard is still in shambles. Ugh! Okay, how about this: a month from now, all will be done with the grass growing and spring well on it's way...fingers crossed. 

Thank the gods it's Friday! I'm so over this week. It was especially long and I'm ready to stay up late (past 8:00), sleep in late (until at least 6:00) and have nothing to do. Except prepare the yard for the new fence. School should be easy and bonus, it's movie day in history. Hopefully we'll finish watching Les Mis and we'll start War Horse. 

Speaking of movies, did I mention that I started watching Fried Green Tomatoes with the kids in ELA a week or so ago? I love the movie but you never know how the kids will react to things. Yesterday, one of my "cool" kids (he thinks he's all that and he's highly ADHD and the bane of my existence although I really do like him) said to me, "I wish we could finish that movie we were watching the other day." I said, "Which movie?" He said, "That tomato movie. It's so good." That made my heart happy and I promised him we'd watch it again next week. 

Dinner tonight: Flatbread homemade pizzas with a salad. Easy and yummy.

Plans for the weekend: Like I said, nothing. Definitely some hot tub time (Trip and Susan you are welcome anytime) and I need to try out the swim system. Probably lunch out on Saturday and most likely a trip to Shooters Sunday. 

And that's it. Time to move on and get this day done! YAY Friday. Later!

Patience Is A Virtue

You know, nothing is ever easy. I've come to that realization. To get to the good, you've got to waffle in the crap. That's been oh so true of this damn Bullfrog of mine. (First world money problems, huh? Perspective)

So...I got home yesterday and immediately went out to the spa to turn on the hose so it could finish filling. It had about 5 inches to go and within an hour of being home, it was complete. I had just finished on my elliptical, when the electrician arrived around 4:30. All he needed to do was install the breaker in the panel and then fire up the spa. Of course it wasn't that easy. 

When he finished at the panel in the garage, he came in and we both went out so that after he fired it up, I could then fire up the pumps. (There's a process for the initial use.) So he flips the switch and....drumroll...nothing. He tries again. Nothing. So he takes off the cover, pulls out the breaker, checks the wires and...nothing. Oh, except a spark. Apparently it keeps tripping. At that point I was freezing my ass off so I went inside. He then came in and said, "I'm going to get my meter and check things out." He ends up having to take off the spa panel (no easy feat) and after fiddling for about 15 minutes, he comes in and says, I think it's a bad breaker. So he has to go to Home Depot to get a new one. 

While he's gone, I walk the dogs and during that time Jim gets home. As I'm coming back with Boo (round 2), the electrician returns. He goes out and replaces the breaker and YAY!!! That was the problem. 

Oh, and by the way, when Jim got home, I schooled him on firing up the pumps. There's a process and we have three plus the swim system so you have to go through the process. So Jim goes out and starts the pump priming process and guess what? If you guessed that things didn't go smoothly, ding ding ding! You win! Pump 1 primed fine but pump 2 didn't and then an error was thrown up: NO FLO! FUCK! And of course! 

Jim immediately called Frank and he put in a service call. I'm hoping someone can come today. I'm hoping that the spa was still able to heat up but I haven't gone out to check yet. I'm hoping this is an easy fix that the service person can quickly remedy. Nothing is ever easy and it's fucking annoying and I'm trying really hard to stay chill and remember these are first world problems. This too shall pass and maybe by the weekend we'll be able to enjoy our purchase? 

Dinner tonight: I think I'll cook up some pork chops which reminds me I need to pull them from the freezer. 

I just had to talk Jim down from the ledge. He came in ready to leave and started going on and on about what if he messed something up in filling the spa and blah blah blah. Guess what I did? I talked him down. I told him that it'll all get figured out. I told him that this can't be this hard and eventually this luxury of our will be an actual luxury. The maintenance guy will be here and he'll get us back on track. Guess what I didn't do? I didn't freak out and turn sarcastic on him act like a jackass. I didn't pull a "Jim". (You may be wondering why I just went off about all that. It's because that's what Jim did to me the other morning. He's the suckiest communicator/listener/calming force. He should take a lesson from his lovely wife.)

And that's all I've got. I guess I'd better get a move on so I can get this day started and hopefully come home to something good. Other than my puppies who I always love coming home to. (Oh, Anne, I just realized I had a dream about Elphaba last night. Don't know what but she was there. Funny.) Later!

She's So Pretty

You will be relieved to read that the spa/pool is in! All went as planned in the delivery and the forklift did not get stuck. Phew! When I got home, Jim was out there with her getting her settled and filled with water. The electrician didn't show up until after 5:00 and was here until about 8:00 and needs to come back today. Which means that we've not been able to power her up yet. That's okay. I can be patient now that she's in place and nearly filled. By the weekend, in fact by this evening, she will be up and running. It will probably take about 12 hours for her to get to temperature so maybe this time tomorrow? 

All that's left with the whole shituation is the yard needs to be graded, seeded and hayed plus we're going to have Nick elongate the railing a bit where the spa is. It just needs a little more length...no big deal. Nick said that over the next two weeks, he'll get everything done. Oh, and then the fence will so be replaced. Next week looks nice so I'm guessing that will happen in the early part, maybe Monday - Wednesday. I only need to be patient a little while longer. I can do it! Especially when I have my little Bullfrog to keep me relaxed. I'll take a picture later when she's all full and jets are running. 

I slept like a baby last night. I'm guessing that the with the stress of the spa delivery over, my mind was settled which allowed me to shut it all down and get some much needed rest. 

My IEP went well yesterday. Took a little longer than I'd anticipated. We were out in 20 minutes rather than 15. 

Last night with everything going on, I didn't cook. We got Chinese (it was so yummy) and so we have a lot of leftovers. I'll either heat so of those up tonight or more likely make some chicken burgers or buffalo chicken sloppy joes with cole slaw and fries. 

I really don't have anything of interest to talk about. I'm not sure anything above was interesting either but that's my life. So I'll sign off and relax, sip my smoothie, hug my pups and then head out. Later!

Don't Want To Jinx Anything

I'm afraid to even talk about it for fear that something goes wrong again. The yard is considerably dry in comparison to last Thursday but who knows. The delivery, however, is supposed to happen today between 9:00 and 10:30. The original electrician is out of town so Jim had to do some scrambling to get someone else. Thankfully, Frank came though. I'll do my best to stay occupied and not perseverate on my ring camera trying to see what's happening. One good thing is that my IEP meeting is at 9:15 so I'll be busy for about a 1/2 hour. Please, please, please let this happen today. If it doesn't I don't know what how long we're going to have to wait. 

I looked at my caseload for next year (I'd avoided it) and I'll just say, it could be worse. I have one student who is marked as having "highly involved parents" but that can usually work for me because I'm very good at communication. I'll have 22 kids on my caseload (up from the 12 I currently have; scratch that, 13; I had an addition yesterday. More on that in a minute) and looking at the 9 freshman that are being added (I'm losing none as I have no seniors and the sophomore who's going to the career center next year is going 1/2 days) yowza! I think there was one kid who has 5 goals. Reading, writing, math, executive functioning, self-regulation, oh, and a speech goal. I mean what the fuck!? How do you provide direct instruction for all of that with time to do anything else with any other kid. It's going to be a shit show. But, this too shall pass. 

So the kid who was added to my caseload yesterday: He's a junior who's been in about 6 different districts including, Loveland, Lebanon, Little Miami, Goshen, Covington and he's been at Kings before. He's apparently a complete and total asshole who refuses to do anything, is obsessed with his phone and due to behavior he's been expelled twice from other schools. Not sure why anyone thinks a typical public school is the place for him. He's living with his grandparents though he does have a good relationship with his mother but she does not discipline him. His father is not steady in the picture and has been very verbally abusive to this kid. Parents have never been married. I'm not sure why he's living with his grandparents but it doesn't seem like mom lost custody. He enrolled at Kings on 2/24 and has yet to show up. Oh, and his IEP is apparently expired. We'll see. I'm not sure how many credits he even has and what the point of him being here is except to not be truant. This should be fun. 

Dinner tonight: I'm going to do something with pork chops I think. Nothing too exciting. 

And that's all I've got. Wish my pool luck today. Later!

Fingers Crossed

There is a possibility that tomorrow the pool will be installed. We had a lot of dry out over the last few days and since it won't rain again until tomorrow night, we may have a window. We'll see. Nick said he'd come by today to grade the yard. Jim sent a text to the electric guy so now he just needs to call Watson's and talk to the woman who schedules these things. This has to happen. With the amount of money I spent, they need to figure this shit out. Fingers crossed. 

The weekend was uneventful. We really didn't do anything except run errands on Saturday and go to Roosters for lunch. I won $62 on Keno while there. Jim won $22. It was a good day. 

Yesterday I started moving some of the furniture and the grills back onto the deck. I need to figure out where everything will go but we have plenty to fill the space and then some. I still want to get the chairs and fire table for the patio but that hasn't gone on sale yet. 

The fence should happen next week. Jim started getting the area next to the fence where he have wood stacked all cleaned up. We're definitely going to need more wood for next year. We might just take some of the wood from the trees we took down behind the fence. If that's feasible, it will certainly be a money saver.

This week at school should be pretty easy. I have an IEP tomorrow at 9:15 via Zoom. Pretty sure the mother basically wants to say, "Hi", sign and have that be it. I told her it would take all of about 15 minutes if she was good with the draft I sent her a week ago. 

I slept like shit last night. I woke up at 10:00, 11:00, 12:30, 2:00, 3:00 and 4:27. It was annoying. I'll have to go to sleep early tonight. That's a joke...I got to bed early every night...because I'm a loser. 

Dinner tonight: Jim wants hamburgers so hamburgers it is. I'll need to make a quick stop at the store during my plan because I need buns and cheese. 

And that's all I've got. I have a lot of grading to do since I wasn't at school Friday. Which means, I'd best get a move on. Here's to a fast week and please please please send positive thoughts my way for the pool install.