So, last year, I had a student I really connected with. I'd heard about his temper issues, and I'd heard about his lack of care for school, and I pushed that back in my mind. He graduated in May and returned as a Freshman in the fall. Well, his temper got the best of him a few times, and so he was asked not to return. At graduation last year and today, I gave my graduates personal letters. I thank them for all that they are and all that they did. I had one mom today come to me with tears in her eyes and tell me how much they both appreciated his letter and how upset she was that I'm staying in 7/8 and can't move up. She said I captured his interest in reading, something no other teacher has done before. She warmed my heart and really made my day.
Just now, I checked my school e-mail. This anger-management kid from last year really and truly reminded me of Blake P., a friend of mine from college who'd better be reading my blog, because I check his every day. Yup. I follow all friends blogs every day. Anyway, he speaks like Blake, like the type of books Blake likes, and has the same demeanor. They even have similar speech patterns. And I had an e-mail waiting for me. I'm changing names to protect the innocent, but this is truly making my job feel worthwhile.
"Dear Mrs. M.,
I hope you don't hold anything against me contacting you because of my reputation at school. If not I look forward to keeping in contact with you. I've heard that the school year is nearly over for you and I hope it has treater you better than it has me. (Not trying to be depressive) I'd like to corespond with you for two reasons; One being that I think you are quite frankly the best teacher I have ever had. I fondly remember the days in your classroom as very happy ones indeed. The second being that I think I've come about to writing my book in a very serious way. You've told me that you really believe in my abilities as a writer. I wish to honor those words by asking a boon that I hope you will look favorably upon. Blunty, will you be my ghost writer? If remeber correctly you finished your courses last year for a literature major. Also I know that you have a great interest in literature as a whole. I hope I can depend on you as a guide in my blundering through the writing process. I know that I'm not on the top of your list of people to talk to and things to do. Knowing this I won't feel put off if you decline. Take as long as you like in responding to this message. I'm in no hurry and the book won't be written in a day. I'm looking forward to your response very much.
Sincerely,
W. L.,
still your student at heart"
I cannot describe what this e-mail means to me. Of course, I will clandestinely work with him. He has a gift in writing. That e-mail was written by a 9th grader. I feel with some guidance, he will be something one day.
This was an incredibly rough year for our grade levels of 7 and 8. We had some problems and some difficult kids. The 8th graders are gone now, so we're down to the 7th graders. And when you have a difficult year (ALL of the 7th 8th teachers did...even the calmest, most zen teacher said there were days she wanted to cry...), you start doubting yourself.
Some of the parents who came on the 7/8 trip to Washington were so amazed by us on the trip. One of the most common phrases we heard across the boards was, "I don't know how you all do this all day, every day. You deserve awards..." Our principal, who was on the trip, put it into perspective. He said, "There are jobs, and there are vocations. We don't look at teaching as a job. It's certainly not a way to make money. It's a calling. A vocation. And most people don't realize that. It takes a lot of dedication and a lot of yourself to be a teacher."
Just wanted to share this.
We don't get paid a lot in money, but I think this e-mail serves as my Christmas bonus for the next year.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Catching up
So, due to my chaperoning adventure in D.C. and Williamsburg, I have left everyone in a lurch. I posted that we bought the house, and that is as far as I've gotten.
It took less than half an hour Friday morning. I didn't even have to take off work to do it, because Friday was the first day of Jazz Fest. Our school is fairly close, and we sell parking spaces for it, so we close down for the day on each Friday. Only one other school, the one next door, gets Jazz Fest Fridays! After we signed the papers, we got lunch and ran errands. Bought 15 cans of paint plus supplies, a shower curtain rod, a microwave, got the water work order in, and finally got a new copy of our marriage license. We are officially married again! And next time, we evacuate with it. Now I just need a birth certificate, a college diploma, and a social security card, and I will be a real live human being again.
Saturday was spent scrubbing. The people who lived there before had 4 teenagers (and one of them had a baby of her own), plus the mother and the grandmother. They lived there for 11 years. They trashed the house. The roaches....ohhh they're awful. We're buying stock in Raid. The filth on the walls from these people is astounding. We have to take Chlorox wipes and rub them down before painting. They have holes in every interior door. Nine windows are broken/cracked. Savory people, I tell you.
We had to do it alone. My mom worked, my dad worked, my brother was helping Alicia and Kurt move, and no friends could make it. It was a very frustrating day, especially since I was leaving Monday. My mom and I went to Wal-Mart and bought over $200 worth of cleaning supplies. It was ridiculous. We still ended up having to buy more stuff as we went through the house.
Needless to say, Saturday was rough. We also fit in picking up my Dee-Dee, whose retirement condo is down the street, practically. We showed her around and got her to agree to sitting at the house Monday to wait for the water to be turned on.
Sunday, though, my parents and Geoff showed up. We painted the den a lovely light buttery yellow color, Morning Sunshine. We didn't get the crown molding, though. We needed a better brush. That was done today. We also started on our bedroom, which is a deep, yet light, greyish purple color to coordinate with our bedspread. We got the first coat done in there. By that point, it was too late to do much else. I had to get home to pack for my flight. We had a 6 a.m. flight, which meant that we had to be to the airport no later than 4 a.m. Blech.
I didn't get to bed until almost midnight. Or maybe after. I had to get up at 3 a.m. It was rough. I was so sore and so exhausted. Made it to the airport on time. Flew out on time. Had a fairly smooth flight to Atlanta, where we had a 25-minute layover. They moved our departure gate, and that caused some confusion. But we sorted it out. We settled in for our flight to Dulles. It was uneventful until we were preparing to land. Now, I am NOT a fan of flying. I'm terrified of it. And we hit some of the worst turbulence I've ever experienced. And I hit that air pocket that time. This was way worse. As we were coming in, one student got sick. A parent chaperon took care of her. We were almost on the ground when the pilot had to pull back up and circle the airport. Which meant much more turbulence. Another kid and a parent chaperon got sick. We finally landed. It had all of the rest of us green and quaky. I've never been airsick before, but I could tell that if we went much longer, I would have been. I was so glad to be on the ground.
We had lunch at Ballston Common Mall. I met up with Emi there! She was going to bring Gavin so I could meet him, but our lunch hour coincided with his naptime, so I missed him. Boo. Lunch was hard to do, because while we were able to not sit with the kids, they still kept interrupting with silly questions. Not like there weren't 12 other adults with us or anything.... But it was still great to see her. Short but sweet, I'll take it.
From there, we went to the Iwo Jima Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. We got to see the changing of the guards, which impressed a few of the kids to no end. One girl even told me that it was the coolest thing she'd ever seen, and she wasn't one of the ones I would have expected to hear that from. We drove past the Pentagon and saw the repaired side of the building. I hadn't been in D.C. since fall of 2000. It was something else to see it. The bricks are different colors. We also saw the Air Force Memorial, which is pretty sweet looking.
We took a lengthy bus ride towards Williamsburg, stopping at Old Country Buffet. Anyone who knows anything about me knows I hate buffets. But the mac and cheese was good, as were the corn and the salad fixings. The chocolate chip cookie I ate was tasty, too. I was almost impressed...
Around 9 p.m., we made it to Williamsburg. We met up with two ghost tour leaders and broke into two groups. We started at the College of William and Mary and walked all through colonial Williamsburg for about 2 hours, listening to spooky tales. It was pretty neat. Exhausted, we checked into the Holiday Inn Patriot. We discovered that the vending machine were empty and the ice machines were broken. We had children who needed medication, and we hadn't had a chance to have a drink since dinner at 6 p.m. We were all dying of thirst. Our On-Site Coordinator threw his hands up over it and said there was nothing he could do. Principal Mike and VP Marie and I went head-to-head with this rude man. He refused to do anything about it and kept saying, "What do you want me to do? I can do nothing." He refused to let our two security guards leave to get drinks. We had no transportation, and, allegedly, neither did he. Finally, the girl at the hotel desk said there was one employee who just left, and she would ask him to do it. One of the parents donated $40 to buy Sprites for the kids. That was pretty nice of him. Around 1 a.m. EST, I went to bed. I'd been up since 3 a.m. CST. I was exhausted.
On this same day, my grandmother babysat the house while we waited for the parish to turn on the water. She was on the front porch when a cop who lives in the neighborhood drove up and stopped to see if she needed help. Around this time, my father arrived to bring her home. While he was there, two code enforcers showed up. A neighbor called in a complaint about the yard, which looked like it hadn't been cut since last summer. I don't blame them, to be honest. It was awful. They were trying to write us up until my dad told them that we'd just bought the house and that the lawn mower wasn't coming until this weekend, but that it would be cut. They said okay and that they would return by Monday to ensure that it had been cut. Sheesh. As it was, there was a problem with the parish's side of the water main, and they couldn't turn on our water "until later in the week." Fantastic. Dee-dee also killed many roaches while she was there. She put her purse in a cabinet, and she ended up taking home two stowaways! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. The pest people can't come until the shoring is complete, because we are getting a termite contract, and they have to dig trenches. Once the shoring is done, it'll be fine. But with no fridge yet, we can't keep food there, anyway, so it doesn't matter. It's just so nasty.
On Tuesday, we loaded up the bus after breakfast and headed out to Jamestown, where we saw a glass blowing demonstration. I bought a cobalt inkwell that I plan to use as a bud vase in my office. We moved over to the Jamestown fort and the ships. We had a great time and learned a lot of interesting things. Well, I did. I'm assuming they did, too.
We had lunch at a '50s-style McDonald's, which was kind of neat. We met up with our account manager from our trip and let her hear all about the previous night's problems. She was appalled. We moved back to colonial Williamsburg and divided into two walking groups. We toured the old capitol, had a mock trial of one of our students in the courthouse, played trapball, saw the apothecary shop and the silversmith's shop, went in the stocks, saw horses and carriages, and did some colonial shopping. I bought Mark a tri-cornered hat, my mom some Earl Grey tea leaves, and my dad a pack of colonial playing cards. One student, who is a natural drummer (never took a lesson until this year, and blew us all away by performing for Reggie Bush last year), played a drum that another student bought. He attracted quite the crowd!!
We had dinner at the commons at the College of William and Mary. I was wary...I thought...ew....college cafeteria....but man...it was amazing. Chefs fixed your food in front of you. They had a vegan line, a Chinese line, a pizza line, a hot meal line (which was serving red beans and rice that looked more like jambalaya), a wrap and panini line, a dessert line, a salad line, a soup line.... I told the lady there that if my college had a cafeteria like that, I would have actually used my meal plan! The food was excellent.
Of course, I also went to a rinky-dink state university. Go figure.
After that, we checked in to the Comfort Inn in Laurel, Maryland. And...guess what.... it didn't have working vending or ice machines! However, we had leftover Sprite and made it through the night. We asked Joe, our awesome bus driver, if he would let us stop at a store the next night, and he agreed.
Mark found out that the shoring company, which was supposed to start working on May 14, could fit us in on Wednesday. Yay! He worked on painting the ceilings in the house all week. All by himself. I was so proud...
On Wednesday, we toured Mt. Vernon, home of George Washington. It was lovely. I bought Geoff a souvenir there, but as I haven't given it to him yet, I won't discuss it here. We had lunch at the Old Post Office Pavilion, and all of the kids got ripped off in a cheapo electronics store that gave away crap, like laser pointers, to each customer. I have a collection of 8. Apparently, our On-Site Coordinator said the record is 10. We took some time at the National Archives (which has its temperature regulated by Geoff's company), then the Holocaust Museum for Daniel's Story. One of our Daniels didn't take it well and had to be reassured and consoled for quite some time. I think he was projecting his name.
While in the exhibit, one of the kids was caught acting up. This old lady who was touring the exhibit ripped him a new one. And rightfully so. He knew full-well what he was doing. Then, after she was done, it was MY turn. This young kid in a museum uniform came up while i was trying not to scream at the child. At first, he was a slight help. Then, he turned to his anti-American political agenda. First, he told them to remember the children being murdered in the Sudan every day. Then he told them to think of global warming. Ummm...aren't we in the Holocaust museum? Isn't there a time and a place? The he says, "Do what you can to stop global warming. And vote. Never forget to vote. Because if you don't, then we end up with idiots like Bush in office." Ok. I hate Bush. That's a pretty well-documented fact. But that wasn't the time, the place, or the audience for an anti-Bush tirade. I grabbed a few kids (many of whom were scared of this young guy), and moved through the exhibit. But then he stalked the nicest mom chaperon. He followed her through, going on an anti-Bush, anti-American tirade. He was apparently of Japanese descent, because he went on a tirade about the Japanese internment camps, and how his family was affected by them. Ok...more on-topic, but this isn't about you, dude. I reported him to the information desk, because he was basically berating that mom. She was very uncomfortable. The guy at the desk was very upset by what I told him, and he had me fill out a complaint sheet and speak to the internship coordinator, who was the guy's supervisor. Apparently, he was just an intern. The mom was very grateful to me for that.
We decided the kids needed to decompress, so we stopped at the Washington Monument and let them run around. We had a great time, especially with our cameras.
Then we went to Union Station to eat at Pizzeria Uno. It was pretty okay. One of the kids, who teases one of our teachers relentlessly about her hometown of Chicago, had me call her so he could inform her that he'd just eaten "nasty old Chicaaaago-style pizza." Haha. We also saw the FDR memorial and drove past some other landmarks.
That day, the shoring people started working, Mark painted more ceilings, our gas got turned on, and the sofa and recliner were delivered. Yayyyy somewhere to sit other than the dirty floors!
On Thursday, we went to the National Cathedral, which was gorgeous. It's medieval-style architecture, complete with flying buttresses. Heh heh. Buttresses. We fit in the Korea, Vietnam, and Lincoln Memorials. Very impressive and striking monuments. We spent the afternoon in the Smithsonian complexes. My group did the Air and Space Museum. We tried to do the National Gallery of Art and the Natural History Museum, but they each closed before we could see much more than a couple of paintings and the dinosaur bones.
We had a strange time at Vie de France for dinner. The service was weird and I think Big Pun was selling blinking necklaces to the kids. Thankfully, the food was delicious.
More painting was accomplished at home, and we still didn't have water!
Friday morning had us checking out of the hotel, driving down Embassy Row, and taking photo stops at the White House and at the Capitol. We had lunch at the Reagan International Trade Center, then we moved back over to the Smithsonian area. We went to the Museum of Modern art and the National Gallery of Art. Actually, only Mike and I went to NGA. Marie and one of the dads brought the kids outside because they were tiring out after the intense week. There was an exhibit of photography of "Paris in Transition." I thought it was such a Zen moment.
Then we found out that the kids were misbehaving. Some will be suspended this week.
We got on the bus and headed toward the Baltimore airport. We were stuck in awful traffic. Emergency vehicles whizzed by. Then we found out why. A SMALL PLANE HAD CRASHED NEXT TO THE HIGHWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! I told you before, I'm an awful flyer. To top it off, we had the bus full of kids, who ALL saw it. And, if it couldn't get much worse, the weather in the southeast was horrible, and we weren't sure if we'd make it to Atlanta, let alone New Orleans, that night.
At 5 p.m., we made it to the airport. Our flight was for 5:32 p.m. We rushed through the airport check-in and security, where I got stopped for forgetting I had a bottle of Fiji in my bag. Had to throw it away. Sigh. We barely made it on the plane, and missed our dinner opportunity. We left right on time for Atlanta, and made it with no trouble. Then, we sat waiting to taxi for almost an HOUR. The airport was busy and we had to wait for runway space. The sky was grim, and we were getting nervous. Luckily, we made it home about 9:15 CST. But we hadn't had dinner, as our layover was only 25 minutes in Atlanta. I was starving. All of the parents were there, the luggage was claimed, and Mark and I made a Cane's run for dinner at 10:15. It was good to be home.
After dinner, we made a quick trip to the house so I could see the furniture and the progress. But then we crashed when we made it back home.
We slept until almost noon on Saturday, then grabbed lunch and headed over. Mark's parents brought us a lawnmower and a weed eater. They ran to Lowe's and got a scythe, a machete, and an electric hedge trimmer, and then proceeded to annihilate the jungle that was our lawn. Mark said people kept slowing down to see the progress, haha. They managed to do it all. My mom and I spent the day painting my bathroom, my dad finished the trim in the den, and Mark worked on the second coat in our room. But then, he ran out of paint, and our hardware store is closed on Sundays, so we had to skip doing that room for the time being. My bathroom is "Breakaway Blue." It's cool.
Dee-Dee and her sister, Myron, came over, as did Alicia and Kurt. We had a very busy day. We were supposed to go to Geoff's to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but we were too exhausted.
Today, we finished touching up my bathroom, picked up two bookcases from Kurt and Alicia, painted Mark's office/the guest room, and painted my office. We did all but his crown molding and the second coat around the edges of my walls, plus the crown molding. We also had a visit from Mimi and Lance, and from Jen. Again, a busy day. We worked from after lunch until 8:45 p.m.
I'm beat.
It took less than half an hour Friday morning. I didn't even have to take off work to do it, because Friday was the first day of Jazz Fest. Our school is fairly close, and we sell parking spaces for it, so we close down for the day on each Friday. Only one other school, the one next door, gets Jazz Fest Fridays! After we signed the papers, we got lunch and ran errands. Bought 15 cans of paint plus supplies, a shower curtain rod, a microwave, got the water work order in, and finally got a new copy of our marriage license. We are officially married again! And next time, we evacuate with it. Now I just need a birth certificate, a college diploma, and a social security card, and I will be a real live human being again.
Saturday was spent scrubbing. The people who lived there before had 4 teenagers (and one of them had a baby of her own), plus the mother and the grandmother. They lived there for 11 years. They trashed the house. The roaches....ohhh they're awful. We're buying stock in Raid. The filth on the walls from these people is astounding. We have to take Chlorox wipes and rub them down before painting. They have holes in every interior door. Nine windows are broken/cracked. Savory people, I tell you.
We had to do it alone. My mom worked, my dad worked, my brother was helping Alicia and Kurt move, and no friends could make it. It was a very frustrating day, especially since I was leaving Monday. My mom and I went to Wal-Mart and bought over $200 worth of cleaning supplies. It was ridiculous. We still ended up having to buy more stuff as we went through the house.
Needless to say, Saturday was rough. We also fit in picking up my Dee-Dee, whose retirement condo is down the street, practically. We showed her around and got her to agree to sitting at the house Monday to wait for the water to be turned on.
Sunday, though, my parents and Geoff showed up. We painted the den a lovely light buttery yellow color, Morning Sunshine. We didn't get the crown molding, though. We needed a better brush. That was done today. We also started on our bedroom, which is a deep, yet light, greyish purple color to coordinate with our bedspread. We got the first coat done in there. By that point, it was too late to do much else. I had to get home to pack for my flight. We had a 6 a.m. flight, which meant that we had to be to the airport no later than 4 a.m. Blech.
I didn't get to bed until almost midnight. Or maybe after. I had to get up at 3 a.m. It was rough. I was so sore and so exhausted. Made it to the airport on time. Flew out on time. Had a fairly smooth flight to Atlanta, where we had a 25-minute layover. They moved our departure gate, and that caused some confusion. But we sorted it out. We settled in for our flight to Dulles. It was uneventful until we were preparing to land. Now, I am NOT a fan of flying. I'm terrified of it. And we hit some of the worst turbulence I've ever experienced. And I hit that air pocket that time. This was way worse. As we were coming in, one student got sick. A parent chaperon took care of her. We were almost on the ground when the pilot had to pull back up and circle the airport. Which meant much more turbulence. Another kid and a parent chaperon got sick. We finally landed. It had all of the rest of us green and quaky. I've never been airsick before, but I could tell that if we went much longer, I would have been. I was so glad to be on the ground.
We had lunch at Ballston Common Mall. I met up with Emi there! She was going to bring Gavin so I could meet him, but our lunch hour coincided with his naptime, so I missed him. Boo. Lunch was hard to do, because while we were able to not sit with the kids, they still kept interrupting with silly questions. Not like there weren't 12 other adults with us or anything.... But it was still great to see her. Short but sweet, I'll take it.
From there, we went to the Iwo Jima Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. We got to see the changing of the guards, which impressed a few of the kids to no end. One girl even told me that it was the coolest thing she'd ever seen, and she wasn't one of the ones I would have expected to hear that from. We drove past the Pentagon and saw the repaired side of the building. I hadn't been in D.C. since fall of 2000. It was something else to see it. The bricks are different colors. We also saw the Air Force Memorial, which is pretty sweet looking.
We took a lengthy bus ride towards Williamsburg, stopping at Old Country Buffet. Anyone who knows anything about me knows I hate buffets. But the mac and cheese was good, as were the corn and the salad fixings. The chocolate chip cookie I ate was tasty, too. I was almost impressed...
Around 9 p.m., we made it to Williamsburg. We met up with two ghost tour leaders and broke into two groups. We started at the College of William and Mary and walked all through colonial Williamsburg for about 2 hours, listening to spooky tales. It was pretty neat. Exhausted, we checked into the Holiday Inn Patriot. We discovered that the vending machine were empty and the ice machines were broken. We had children who needed medication, and we hadn't had a chance to have a drink since dinner at 6 p.m. We were all dying of thirst. Our On-Site Coordinator threw his hands up over it and said there was nothing he could do. Principal Mike and VP Marie and I went head-to-head with this rude man. He refused to do anything about it and kept saying, "What do you want me to do? I can do nothing." He refused to let our two security guards leave to get drinks. We had no transportation, and, allegedly, neither did he. Finally, the girl at the hotel desk said there was one employee who just left, and she would ask him to do it. One of the parents donated $40 to buy Sprites for the kids. That was pretty nice of him. Around 1 a.m. EST, I went to bed. I'd been up since 3 a.m. CST. I was exhausted.
On this same day, my grandmother babysat the house while we waited for the parish to turn on the water. She was on the front porch when a cop who lives in the neighborhood drove up and stopped to see if she needed help. Around this time, my father arrived to bring her home. While he was there, two code enforcers showed up. A neighbor called in a complaint about the yard, which looked like it hadn't been cut since last summer. I don't blame them, to be honest. It was awful. They were trying to write us up until my dad told them that we'd just bought the house and that the lawn mower wasn't coming until this weekend, but that it would be cut. They said okay and that they would return by Monday to ensure that it had been cut. Sheesh. As it was, there was a problem with the parish's side of the water main, and they couldn't turn on our water "until later in the week." Fantastic. Dee-dee also killed many roaches while she was there. She put her purse in a cabinet, and she ended up taking home two stowaways! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. The pest people can't come until the shoring is complete, because we are getting a termite contract, and they have to dig trenches. Once the shoring is done, it'll be fine. But with no fridge yet, we can't keep food there, anyway, so it doesn't matter. It's just so nasty.
On Tuesday, we loaded up the bus after breakfast and headed out to Jamestown, where we saw a glass blowing demonstration. I bought a cobalt inkwell that I plan to use as a bud vase in my office. We moved over to the Jamestown fort and the ships. We had a great time and learned a lot of interesting things. Well, I did. I'm assuming they did, too.
We had lunch at a '50s-style McDonald's, which was kind of neat. We met up with our account manager from our trip and let her hear all about the previous night's problems. She was appalled. We moved back to colonial Williamsburg and divided into two walking groups. We toured the old capitol, had a mock trial of one of our students in the courthouse, played trapball, saw the apothecary shop and the silversmith's shop, went in the stocks, saw horses and carriages, and did some colonial shopping. I bought Mark a tri-cornered hat, my mom some Earl Grey tea leaves, and my dad a pack of colonial playing cards. One student, who is a natural drummer (never took a lesson until this year, and blew us all away by performing for Reggie Bush last year), played a drum that another student bought. He attracted quite the crowd!!
We had dinner at the commons at the College of William and Mary. I was wary...I thought...ew....college cafeteria....but man...it was amazing. Chefs fixed your food in front of you. They had a vegan line, a Chinese line, a pizza line, a hot meal line (which was serving red beans and rice that looked more like jambalaya), a wrap and panini line, a dessert line, a salad line, a soup line.... I told the lady there that if my college had a cafeteria like that, I would have actually used my meal plan! The food was excellent.
Of course, I also went to a rinky-dink state university. Go figure.
After that, we checked in to the Comfort Inn in Laurel, Maryland. And...guess what.... it didn't have working vending or ice machines! However, we had leftover Sprite and made it through the night. We asked Joe, our awesome bus driver, if he would let us stop at a store the next night, and he agreed.
Mark found out that the shoring company, which was supposed to start working on May 14, could fit us in on Wednesday. Yay! He worked on painting the ceilings in the house all week. All by himself. I was so proud...
On Wednesday, we toured Mt. Vernon, home of George Washington. It was lovely. I bought Geoff a souvenir there, but as I haven't given it to him yet, I won't discuss it here. We had lunch at the Old Post Office Pavilion, and all of the kids got ripped off in a cheapo electronics store that gave away crap, like laser pointers, to each customer. I have a collection of 8. Apparently, our On-Site Coordinator said the record is 10. We took some time at the National Archives (which has its temperature regulated by Geoff's company), then the Holocaust Museum for Daniel's Story. One of our Daniels didn't take it well and had to be reassured and consoled for quite some time. I think he was projecting his name.
While in the exhibit, one of the kids was caught acting up. This old lady who was touring the exhibit ripped him a new one. And rightfully so. He knew full-well what he was doing. Then, after she was done, it was MY turn. This young kid in a museum uniform came up while i was trying not to scream at the child. At first, he was a slight help. Then, he turned to his anti-American political agenda. First, he told them to remember the children being murdered in the Sudan every day. Then he told them to think of global warming. Ummm...aren't we in the Holocaust museum? Isn't there a time and a place? The he says, "Do what you can to stop global warming. And vote. Never forget to vote. Because if you don't, then we end up with idiots like Bush in office." Ok. I hate Bush. That's a pretty well-documented fact. But that wasn't the time, the place, or the audience for an anti-Bush tirade. I grabbed a few kids (many of whom were scared of this young guy), and moved through the exhibit. But then he stalked the nicest mom chaperon. He followed her through, going on an anti-Bush, anti-American tirade. He was apparently of Japanese descent, because he went on a tirade about the Japanese internment camps, and how his family was affected by them. Ok...more on-topic, but this isn't about you, dude. I reported him to the information desk, because he was basically berating that mom. She was very uncomfortable. The guy at the desk was very upset by what I told him, and he had me fill out a complaint sheet and speak to the internship coordinator, who was the guy's supervisor. Apparently, he was just an intern. The mom was very grateful to me for that.
We decided the kids needed to decompress, so we stopped at the Washington Monument and let them run around. We had a great time, especially with our cameras.
Then we went to Union Station to eat at Pizzeria Uno. It was pretty okay. One of the kids, who teases one of our teachers relentlessly about her hometown of Chicago, had me call her so he could inform her that he'd just eaten "nasty old Chicaaaago-style pizza." Haha. We also saw the FDR memorial and drove past some other landmarks.
That day, the shoring people started working, Mark painted more ceilings, our gas got turned on, and the sofa and recliner were delivered. Yayyyy somewhere to sit other than the dirty floors!
On Thursday, we went to the National Cathedral, which was gorgeous. It's medieval-style architecture, complete with flying buttresses. Heh heh. Buttresses. We fit in the Korea, Vietnam, and Lincoln Memorials. Very impressive and striking monuments. We spent the afternoon in the Smithsonian complexes. My group did the Air and Space Museum. We tried to do the National Gallery of Art and the Natural History Museum, but they each closed before we could see much more than a couple of paintings and the dinosaur bones.
We had a strange time at Vie de France for dinner. The service was weird and I think Big Pun was selling blinking necklaces to the kids. Thankfully, the food was delicious.
More painting was accomplished at home, and we still didn't have water!
Friday morning had us checking out of the hotel, driving down Embassy Row, and taking photo stops at the White House and at the Capitol. We had lunch at the Reagan International Trade Center, then we moved back over to the Smithsonian area. We went to the Museum of Modern art and the National Gallery of Art. Actually, only Mike and I went to NGA. Marie and one of the dads brought the kids outside because they were tiring out after the intense week. There was an exhibit of photography of "Paris in Transition." I thought it was such a Zen moment.
Then we found out that the kids were misbehaving. Some will be suspended this week.
We got on the bus and headed toward the Baltimore airport. We were stuck in awful traffic. Emergency vehicles whizzed by. Then we found out why. A SMALL PLANE HAD CRASHED NEXT TO THE HIGHWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! I told you before, I'm an awful flyer. To top it off, we had the bus full of kids, who ALL saw it. And, if it couldn't get much worse, the weather in the southeast was horrible, and we weren't sure if we'd make it to Atlanta, let alone New Orleans, that night.
At 5 p.m., we made it to the airport. Our flight was for 5:32 p.m. We rushed through the airport check-in and security, where I got stopped for forgetting I had a bottle of Fiji in my bag. Had to throw it away. Sigh. We barely made it on the plane, and missed our dinner opportunity. We left right on time for Atlanta, and made it with no trouble. Then, we sat waiting to taxi for almost an HOUR. The airport was busy and we had to wait for runway space. The sky was grim, and we were getting nervous. Luckily, we made it home about 9:15 CST. But we hadn't had dinner, as our layover was only 25 minutes in Atlanta. I was starving. All of the parents were there, the luggage was claimed, and Mark and I made a Cane's run for dinner at 10:15. It was good to be home.
After dinner, we made a quick trip to the house so I could see the furniture and the progress. But then we crashed when we made it back home.
We slept until almost noon on Saturday, then grabbed lunch and headed over. Mark's parents brought us a lawnmower and a weed eater. They ran to Lowe's and got a scythe, a machete, and an electric hedge trimmer, and then proceeded to annihilate the jungle that was our lawn. Mark said people kept slowing down to see the progress, haha. They managed to do it all. My mom and I spent the day painting my bathroom, my dad finished the trim in the den, and Mark worked on the second coat in our room. But then, he ran out of paint, and our hardware store is closed on Sundays, so we had to skip doing that room for the time being. My bathroom is "Breakaway Blue." It's cool.
Dee-Dee and her sister, Myron, came over, as did Alicia and Kurt. We had a very busy day. We were supposed to go to Geoff's to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but we were too exhausted.
Today, we finished touching up my bathroom, picked up two bookcases from Kurt and Alicia, painted Mark's office/the guest room, and painted my office. We did all but his crown molding and the second coat around the edges of my walls, plus the crown molding. We also had a visit from Mimi and Lance, and from Jen. Again, a busy day. We worked from after lunch until 8:45 p.m.
I'm beat.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Lots to discuss
You may remember that last year, my eldest cousin had the first great-grandchild in the family. Well, this weekend was his first birthday party. The actual day is the 24th, but we celebrated at my aunt and uncle's house in Folsom, LA, Saturday. Ummm...he's adorable and well-behaved. Totally uninterested in cake and presents. But a very happy little guy.
On Sunday, we walked in the MS Walk. My aunt and my friend both have MS, and I walk in their honors each year. We had fun. It was in Audubon Park, so it was a lovely walk.
Today, we found out ...well...check the post below this one.
Also, we had a bomb threat at school. You may have seen us on the news. Again. I swear, we are NOT happy unless we are on TV or something. I pulled up to work to a very full parking lot this morning and thought maybe I'd watched the clock wrong. Miss Natalie, the cafeteria lady, stopped me and said, "You know we can't let you all in the building yet, right?"
Uhhhh.....
Apparently, someone vandalized the school bus. This happened a few weeks ago. We have one of those giant colorful maps of the US on the blacktop, and someone painted Spongebob up in New England. Spongebob was making an obscene gesture. They painted anarchy symbols on the church and on the school bus. Well, today, they came in and found that they had changed the name of the school to "Holy Moly" and painted a blunt under the word High. Then they drew an exploding bomb (not a Roadrunner and Coyote bomb, but a 24 bomb) and wrote, "There's a bomb under seat 17." They also used tools to remove the mirrors and the stop signs. Because of the use of tools and the events of last week, they called the cops, who brought the bomb-sniffing dogs and the CSI guys. They lifted at least 2 complete palm prints off the bus. Hopefully, they'll catch these hoods.
After about an hour of standing around, avoiding the media, and reassuring parents while trying to keep students in the dark, they let us inside. I'll keep you posted if they catch anyone. They seem to think it's one of two scenarios: 1 is a disgruntled student, 2 is neighborhood kids.
Also, I had my evaluation today, and it was kickass. Getting a small raise and a stipend to update our pathetic school website. Yay...it needs work....
Worked 12 hours because we had a meeting about our class trip to DC and Williamsburg. We leave at 6 a.m. Monday, which means we will have to be to the airport at 4 a.m. Luckily, Mark goes to work for 5 a.m., so it's not that inconvenient. It just sucks royally.
I can't wait to escape reality for a week.
On Sunday, we walked in the MS Walk. My aunt and my friend both have MS, and I walk in their honors each year. We had fun. It was in Audubon Park, so it was a lovely walk.
Today, we found out ...well...check the post below this one.
Also, we had a bomb threat at school. You may have seen us on the news. Again. I swear, we are NOT happy unless we are on TV or something. I pulled up to work to a very full parking lot this morning and thought maybe I'd watched the clock wrong. Miss Natalie, the cafeteria lady, stopped me and said, "You know we can't let you all in the building yet, right?"
Uhhhh.....
Apparently, someone vandalized the school bus. This happened a few weeks ago. We have one of those giant colorful maps of the US on the blacktop, and someone painted Spongebob up in New England. Spongebob was making an obscene gesture. They painted anarchy symbols on the church and on the school bus. Well, today, they came in and found that they had changed the name of the school to "Holy Moly" and painted a blunt under the word High. Then they drew an exploding bomb (not a Roadrunner and Coyote bomb, but a 24 bomb) and wrote, "There's a bomb under seat 17." They also used tools to remove the mirrors and the stop signs. Because of the use of tools and the events of last week, they called the cops, who brought the bomb-sniffing dogs and the CSI guys. They lifted at least 2 complete palm prints off the bus. Hopefully, they'll catch these hoods.
After about an hour of standing around, avoiding the media, and reassuring parents while trying to keep students in the dark, they let us inside. I'll keep you posted if they catch anyone. They seem to think it's one of two scenarios: 1 is a disgruntled student, 2 is neighborhood kids.
Also, I had my evaluation today, and it was kickass. Getting a small raise and a stipend to update our pathetic school website. Yay...it needs work....
Worked 12 hours because we had a meeting about our class trip to DC and Williamsburg. We leave at 6 a.m. Monday, which means we will have to be to the airport at 4 a.m. Luckily, Mark goes to work for 5 a.m., so it's not that inconvenient. It just sucks royally.
I can't wait to escape reality for a week.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Bored on Easter Break
Your Score Is.... 100%!
Congratulations, you scored in the highest percentile. You don't let very many mispronunciations slip by. No sir, not you. You speak quite properly, and everyone is impressed with your command of the English language. But do keep in mind, you probably come across as bookish and pedantic!
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Your life has jumped the shark 13%!
Your life still has meaning. Congratulations. You have not jumped the shark. Your life may even be kinda cool.
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You are 62% Bittch!
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Wednesday, March 28, 2007
What the hell is going on
I know I've left everyone in an uncomfortable state of suspense these past two weeks. I'd like to apologize. I just didn't want to say anything until everything was set.
These past two weeks have been awful. The Friday before our scheduled act of sale, we learned there may have been a problem. When the house was inspected, they noted that there were some foundations issues that were not a problem now, but would become one. When the appraisal went on, they noted this and said it COULD use leveling/shoring. It did not say it HAD to. Our loan officer, a very nice and helpful man named AJ (and that's honestly not sarcasm there...) told us that the bank was taking some issue here. Our plan had been to get my spider monkey brother Geoff and his equally lanky and excitable roommate, our friend Chris, to crawl under the house (it's a raised house) and to add some support to the piers. My uncle, who is an architect restoring a gorgeous shotgun double Uptown (he's been at it for like 15 years now), said he did it to his house, and it is a good solution, at least for a while.
That weekend, we were worried, but not terribly, based on what everyone was saying. Monday, March 12, the day before our act of sale, we found out that the bank was not signing off on the loan until we agreed and were under contract to shore the house. This was a major problem. We do not have the money to do it. My parents told us that they were planning to give us a good amount of money to help fix up the house. However, this was probably not going to cover it. My father had a contractor he's known for years look at the house. He said, without really looking at it, that it would cost $20-$30,000 to fix it, and then left. We think he didn't want the job in the first place.
I took down the countdown at that point. Well, posted to ignore it, as I was in such a deep state of despair.
"Why?" you ask. Because we do not have much money. We are going to deplete our savings with the down payment and closing costs and inspections and the sofa and recliner we bought. The money my parents are giving us was to buy furniture and appliances, the least of which is a refrigerator.
To lose this house is worse than you can imagine. As I said in another post, I've lost one house already. I am not prepared to lose another.
Back to us not having much money: the housing market is ridiculous here. People want more than $150,000 back in Lakeview for a house that isn't even gutted yet. It's selling for "land value only." There are thousands of houses like that in our former neighborhood. Our loan is for the bottom of the unflooded housing market here. It was extremely slim pickings. Each house we looked at was like walking through a fun house; the floors were slanted at dangerous angles and one became disoriented when walking.
ANY house in our price range had one of the following wrong with it: foundation trouble, one bathroom, shitty neighborhood, small bedrooms that wouldn't hold our queen-sized bed...I could go on. It wasn't just us being picky; one house had a crack house on the corner, and upon reading the police reports in the newspaper that night, we discovered countless arrests on that one street. Things were grim until we found this house on the Internet.
It may not be the most attractive home, but it has huge bedrooms, two bathrooms, a nice yard, and is in a neighborhood with million-dollar homes popping up every few houses. It's my brother's neighborhood, Old Metairie. This house, with all of its cosmetic flaws, was the wisest investment. A few coats of paint and some mortar would almost double its value instantly, to be honest.
To lose this house meant several things: losing our shot at freedom and regaining our independence, repairing our straining-due-to-spending-a-year-and-a-half-with-our-parents relationship, and losing our loan. By prequalifying for our loan, we had 90 days to use it. The first 45 had to attach a property to the loan. The next 45 covered all of the inspections and other crap that comes along with buying a house. By the time we had this bomb drop, we were 30 days left to the loan before we would have to endure that painful process all over again.
This is the reason for my explosive post. There was so much at stake on this house. It was more than just house-shopping. It destroyed me.
Mark called a shoring company that advertises with WWL and had them do an estimate. They gave us two scenarios; if it was one type of problem, it would cost $9,000. That we could do. But if it was the other type of problem, the estimate placed it at $34,500. That we could not do.
Everyone started bombarding us with other house ads. I guess it's like when a couple miscarries, and everyone says, "Well, you can always try for another one. By the way, look at this picture of Susie and Gregg's kid!!! Isn't he adorable???" This was a major loss. Another reason for the explosive post. But these ads were more of the same: bad neighborhoods, deserted neighborhoods, one bathroom, etc.
Mark worked with the sales staff at WWL. Apparently, over the years, on-air hosts have done what are called "live spots." A live spot is when the host just randomly starts talking about the nice people over at such and such a company and all of the great work they do. It's not a commercial, per se, but it kind of is. In the past, live spots were done on trade sometimes. One man had Lasic surgery on both eyes for free, another has almost built a house for free. Spud, our savior, agreed to do our live spots and give us the benefits.
But first, they had to get under the house and give us the verdict. The house is raised, yes, but the crawlspace is small. They had to dig a hole in the backyard to get under there. And, as is our luck, it was the $34,500 job.
There went all hope, unless we could get the trade. Then we learned that the trade has been declared illegal in the past couple of years. When Mark told me about it, I said it sounded illegal, but that I was willing to do whatever it took to get the house, and so if it wasn't illegal, well, there you go. Then we found out that it was. Not totally surprised, but crushed. There was only one option left.
We had already low-balled them on the house. They accepted the offer with a slightly higher counter-offer. We didn't think they would drop. Our agent, Jim, told us to try. We dropped the offer by $20,000. All of last week was agony.
Mark spoke with Jim on St. Patrick's Day. He said that the family still owed over $120,000 on the house, and that they were thinking that maybe it could be worked out with their lender. It was a tiny ray of hope. No more word until....
Thursday, Mark talked to Jim, who said he'd spoken to their agent. Apparently, the sellers were having a meeting the next day with their agent. The couple has divorced, and he lives in Texas but was in town for the weekend. We thought this could be a good sign. He wouldn't waste a trip here if the answer was a flat-out no. They met at 1:30. Around 5 p.m., Mark finally heard from our agent. Apparently, the lady was ready to accept the offer, the agent wanted them to accept the offer, and the guy was holding out. He thought they could get a better offer. The agent and ex-wife were trying to get him to understand that they probably wouldn't. The house had been on the market for over a year. They moved out on the 13th, so they were paying the mortgage and 2 rents. If they didn't accept our offer, they had to be up-front about the foundation trouble. Or, they could always fix it themselves. Apparently, there was also a chance of foreclosure if they didn't take our offer. That must have been some meeting.
The result of the meeting was that the guy wanted the weekend to think about it, and we would know on Monday. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...
But at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jim called to say that the guy had thought it over, and he was ready to agree. But they had to speak to their lenders first to work out a payment plan to cover the rest of what they owed outside of what we were offering.
Monday came, Monday went, not a single word was sent.
Tuesday afternoon, Mark got in touch with Jim. The sellers accepted our offer, and there was new paperwork to fill out. AGAIN. However, we have to wait until their lender agrees, which will be by the end of the week. Apparently, this is a small hurdle, and Jim is confident that we should finally get it.
The act of sale has moved to "on or before April 15." Beings as that is a Sunday, I'm guessing it will be before. Our loan runs out on April 18. We pushed our furniture delivery, which was scheduled for March 30, to April 21.
More on this story as it develops. As of now, it looks like we'll get it, but there is still a chance to not get it. I am staying very low-key on this in the meantime.
Thank you to everyone who worried and/or cared. I may not have responded to you, but I had good reason. Adding to the stress was our designing, giving, and grading 6 exams, then creating our massive report cards (10-12 pages per child!!!!) all last week. Now I'm catching up on the other things that have been turned in since then.
Is it June yet?
These past two weeks have been awful. The Friday before our scheduled act of sale, we learned there may have been a problem. When the house was inspected, they noted that there were some foundations issues that were not a problem now, but would become one. When the appraisal went on, they noted this and said it COULD use leveling/shoring. It did not say it HAD to. Our loan officer, a very nice and helpful man named AJ (and that's honestly not sarcasm there...) told us that the bank was taking some issue here. Our plan had been to get my spider monkey brother Geoff and his equally lanky and excitable roommate, our friend Chris, to crawl under the house (it's a raised house) and to add some support to the piers. My uncle, who is an architect restoring a gorgeous shotgun double Uptown (he's been at it for like 15 years now), said he did it to his house, and it is a good solution, at least for a while.
That weekend, we were worried, but not terribly, based on what everyone was saying. Monday, March 12, the day before our act of sale, we found out that the bank was not signing off on the loan until we agreed and were under contract to shore the house. This was a major problem. We do not have the money to do it. My parents told us that they were planning to give us a good amount of money to help fix up the house. However, this was probably not going to cover it. My father had a contractor he's known for years look at the house. He said, without really looking at it, that it would cost $20-$30,000 to fix it, and then left. We think he didn't want the job in the first place.
I took down the countdown at that point. Well, posted to ignore it, as I was in such a deep state of despair.
"Why?" you ask. Because we do not have much money. We are going to deplete our savings with the down payment and closing costs and inspections and the sofa and recliner we bought. The money my parents are giving us was to buy furniture and appliances, the least of which is a refrigerator.
To lose this house is worse than you can imagine. As I said in another post, I've lost one house already. I am not prepared to lose another.
Back to us not having much money: the housing market is ridiculous here. People want more than $150,000 back in Lakeview for a house that isn't even gutted yet. It's selling for "land value only." There are thousands of houses like that in our former neighborhood. Our loan is for the bottom of the unflooded housing market here. It was extremely slim pickings. Each house we looked at was like walking through a fun house; the floors were slanted at dangerous angles and one became disoriented when walking.
ANY house in our price range had one of the following wrong with it: foundation trouble, one bathroom, shitty neighborhood, small bedrooms that wouldn't hold our queen-sized bed...I could go on. It wasn't just us being picky; one house had a crack house on the corner, and upon reading the police reports in the newspaper that night, we discovered countless arrests on that one street. Things were grim until we found this house on the Internet.
It may not be the most attractive home, but it has huge bedrooms, two bathrooms, a nice yard, and is in a neighborhood with million-dollar homes popping up every few houses. It's my brother's neighborhood, Old Metairie. This house, with all of its cosmetic flaws, was the wisest investment. A few coats of paint and some mortar would almost double its value instantly, to be honest.
To lose this house meant several things: losing our shot at freedom and regaining our independence, repairing our straining-due-to-spending-a-year-and-a-half-with-our-parents relationship, and losing our loan. By prequalifying for our loan, we had 90 days to use it. The first 45 had to attach a property to the loan. The next 45 covered all of the inspections and other crap that comes along with buying a house. By the time we had this bomb drop, we were 30 days left to the loan before we would have to endure that painful process all over again.
This is the reason for my explosive post. There was so much at stake on this house. It was more than just house-shopping. It destroyed me.
Mark called a shoring company that advertises with WWL and had them do an estimate. They gave us two scenarios; if it was one type of problem, it would cost $9,000. That we could do. But if it was the other type of problem, the estimate placed it at $34,500. That we could not do.
Everyone started bombarding us with other house ads. I guess it's like when a couple miscarries, and everyone says, "Well, you can always try for another one. By the way, look at this picture of Susie and Gregg's kid!!! Isn't he adorable???" This was a major loss. Another reason for the explosive post. But these ads were more of the same: bad neighborhoods, deserted neighborhoods, one bathroom, etc.
Mark worked with the sales staff at WWL. Apparently, over the years, on-air hosts have done what are called "live spots." A live spot is when the host just randomly starts talking about the nice people over at such and such a company and all of the great work they do. It's not a commercial, per se, but it kind of is. In the past, live spots were done on trade sometimes. One man had Lasic surgery on both eyes for free, another has almost built a house for free. Spud, our savior, agreed to do our live spots and give us the benefits.
But first, they had to get under the house and give us the verdict. The house is raised, yes, but the crawlspace is small. They had to dig a hole in the backyard to get under there. And, as is our luck, it was the $34,500 job.
There went all hope, unless we could get the trade. Then we learned that the trade has been declared illegal in the past couple of years. When Mark told me about it, I said it sounded illegal, but that I was willing to do whatever it took to get the house, and so if it wasn't illegal, well, there you go. Then we found out that it was. Not totally surprised, but crushed. There was only one option left.
We had already low-balled them on the house. They accepted the offer with a slightly higher counter-offer. We didn't think they would drop. Our agent, Jim, told us to try. We dropped the offer by $20,000. All of last week was agony.
Mark spoke with Jim on St. Patrick's Day. He said that the family still owed over $120,000 on the house, and that they were thinking that maybe it could be worked out with their lender. It was a tiny ray of hope. No more word until....
Thursday, Mark talked to Jim, who said he'd spoken to their agent. Apparently, the sellers were having a meeting the next day with their agent. The couple has divorced, and he lives in Texas but was in town for the weekend. We thought this could be a good sign. He wouldn't waste a trip here if the answer was a flat-out no. They met at 1:30. Around 5 p.m., Mark finally heard from our agent. Apparently, the lady was ready to accept the offer, the agent wanted them to accept the offer, and the guy was holding out. He thought they could get a better offer. The agent and ex-wife were trying to get him to understand that they probably wouldn't. The house had been on the market for over a year. They moved out on the 13th, so they were paying the mortgage and 2 rents. If they didn't accept our offer, they had to be up-front about the foundation trouble. Or, they could always fix it themselves. Apparently, there was also a chance of foreclosure if they didn't take our offer. That must have been some meeting.
The result of the meeting was that the guy wanted the weekend to think about it, and we would know on Monday. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...
But at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jim called to say that the guy had thought it over, and he was ready to agree. But they had to speak to their lenders first to work out a payment plan to cover the rest of what they owed outside of what we were offering.
Monday came, Monday went, not a single word was sent.
Tuesday afternoon, Mark got in touch with Jim. The sellers accepted our offer, and there was new paperwork to fill out. AGAIN. However, we have to wait until their lender agrees, which will be by the end of the week. Apparently, this is a small hurdle, and Jim is confident that we should finally get it.
The act of sale has moved to "on or before April 15." Beings as that is a Sunday, I'm guessing it will be before. Our loan runs out on April 18. We pushed our furniture delivery, which was scheduled for March 30, to April 21.
More on this story as it develops. As of now, it looks like we'll get it, but there is still a chance to not get it. I am staying very low-key on this in the meantime.
Thank you to everyone who worried and/or cared. I may not have responded to you, but I had good reason. Adding to the stress was our designing, giving, and grading 6 exams, then creating our massive report cards (10-12 pages per child!!!!) all last week. Now I'm catching up on the other things that have been turned in since then.
Is it June yet?
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Insulting to women everywhere
Just another reason to dislike the products of Texas....
To be clear, I am pro-choice. I know that if I was careless enough to end up pregnant at this point in my life, I would probably abort. At some other point in my life, I may be willing to go for adoption. I don't want kids. I can't afford kids. And to the people who always say, "You can never afford kids," I understand that this is true, but as we are trying to scrape up enough money to level the house we're trying to buy and worrying that there won't be money left for a fridge, don't even try convincing me now. Had Katrina never happened, perhaps I would feel differently. I wouldn't have to start with naught but the 10K Allstate gave us. I'd have appliances and furniture and art and things. Let's hope that the class-action lawsuit against the Corps of Engineers plays out in our favor. We've filed for a large sum...including mental and physical anguish (I have developed depression and reflux as a result) and property not covered through insurance. If that works out in our favor, I'd consider children.
But that's a different blog.
Anyway, I read this article and felt so angry about it that I am here typing my first non-life status post in over a year and a half. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070324/od_nm/texas_abortion1_dc;_ylt=AsOODKwDCSWBReqZJ84awivMWM0F
First, I find it painfully obvious that some Republican man came up with this brilliant plan. I say this not as an obnoxious feminist, but as a human. He wants to offer women $500 to skip the abortion and carry the pregnancy to term.
Let that sink in.
First, how can you even put a price on it? What mathematical procedure did he use to decide this was a brilliant idea? What does this man even know about it?
Yeah. $500 will cover the cost of all of the prenatal care, the hospital fees, and whatever else needs to be covered. What about the physical and mental strains on the woman's body? Does he know what problems can arise during pregnancy? What if it's a case of the woman's life or the child's? "Hey, here's $500. Make sure you spend it all before you die, but go easy on it." That's valuing the mother's life at $500. Maybe she could form a trust fund or buy a tiny bond to leave the kid something. "Mommy died so you can have this $500. Enjoy!"
I may not be worth much, but I'm definitely worth more than $500.
This figure is a slap in the face of every woman faced with the difficult position of what to do once she is pregnant. I know that if I was raped and ended up pregnant, I could forget all of the trauma with a magic $500 check from the government. Worst night of my life? No way! I totally scored $500 out of it! That eases my pain and suffering!
If this gets to the people of Texas, they should be ashamed of themselves, their leaders, and their state if they vote it in. I doubt it will, but the current Christian agenda of the country and that state (cough cough Bush cough cough), anything is possible.
And this is happening in New Braunfels, Texas, land of the world's greatest water park, Schlitterbahn. So disappointed.
I especially love how he brings in Iraq. Interesting that that comment came from a Republican. Classy guy, this Dan Patrick. Also not surprising: he hosts a conservative radio talk show. I hate those people.
This is my favorite part: "Critics say the proposal would violate Texas and federal laws against buying babies, which Patrick rejected as 'the typical ridiculous criticism.'" What? This man in insane. "Typical ridiculous criticism?" Either he doesn't know what he's saying, or the journalist who wrote this needs to go back to J-school and learn to put things in context.
$500. You've got to be kidding me.
To be clear, I am pro-choice. I know that if I was careless enough to end up pregnant at this point in my life, I would probably abort. At some other point in my life, I may be willing to go for adoption. I don't want kids. I can't afford kids. And to the people who always say, "You can never afford kids," I understand that this is true, but as we are trying to scrape up enough money to level the house we're trying to buy and worrying that there won't be money left for a fridge, don't even try convincing me now. Had Katrina never happened, perhaps I would feel differently. I wouldn't have to start with naught but the 10K Allstate gave us. I'd have appliances and furniture and art and things. Let's hope that the class-action lawsuit against the Corps of Engineers plays out in our favor. We've filed for a large sum...including mental and physical anguish (I have developed depression and reflux as a result) and property not covered through insurance. If that works out in our favor, I'd consider children.
But that's a different blog.
Anyway, I read this article and felt so angry about it that I am here typing my first non-life status post in over a year and a half. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070324/od_nm/texas_abortion1_dc;_ylt=AsOODKwDCSWBReqZJ84awivMWM0F
First, I find it painfully obvious that some Republican man came up with this brilliant plan. I say this not as an obnoxious feminist, but as a human. He wants to offer women $500 to skip the abortion and carry the pregnancy to term.
Let that sink in.
First, how can you even put a price on it? What mathematical procedure did he use to decide this was a brilliant idea? What does this man even know about it?
Yeah. $500 will cover the cost of all of the prenatal care, the hospital fees, and whatever else needs to be covered. What about the physical and mental strains on the woman's body? Does he know what problems can arise during pregnancy? What if it's a case of the woman's life or the child's? "Hey, here's $500. Make sure you spend it all before you die, but go easy on it." That's valuing the mother's life at $500. Maybe she could form a trust fund or buy a tiny bond to leave the kid something. "Mommy died so you can have this $500. Enjoy!"
I may not be worth much, but I'm definitely worth more than $500.
This figure is a slap in the face of every woman faced with the difficult position of what to do once she is pregnant. I know that if I was raped and ended up pregnant, I could forget all of the trauma with a magic $500 check from the government. Worst night of my life? No way! I totally scored $500 out of it! That eases my pain and suffering!
If this gets to the people of Texas, they should be ashamed of themselves, their leaders, and their state if they vote it in. I doubt it will, but the current Christian agenda of the country and that state (cough cough Bush cough cough), anything is possible.
And this is happening in New Braunfels, Texas, land of the world's greatest water park, Schlitterbahn. So disappointed.
I especially love how he brings in Iraq. Interesting that that comment came from a Republican. Classy guy, this Dan Patrick. Also not surprising: he hosts a conservative radio talk show. I hate those people.
This is my favorite part: "Critics say the proposal would violate Texas and federal laws against buying babies, which Patrick rejected as 'the typical ridiculous criticism.'" What? This man in insane. "Typical ridiculous criticism?" Either he doesn't know what he's saying, or the journalist who wrote this needs to go back to J-school and learn to put things in context.
$500. You've got to be kidding me.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Not directed at any one person, but every person
No, stop telling me that you understand or you get it. I haven't even said the whole thing.
You don't understand. I lost one house already. I cannot lose another. You have no fucking clue what it is like to be us. And if you do, then skip reading this.
I have felt low in my life. I was pretty low upon Katrina existing. But this, this is a new low. I'm saving what's going on for later. It is not over. But quit fucking trying to understand, because you won't. Don't tell me it will be okay or that it will all work out. Because it may not be okay. Not ever. I will never, I repeat NEVER get over what has happened in the past 18 months. Every time we try to get ahead, some underlying force has ripped the proverbial rug out from under us. It's never anything we do. It's always some force of nature. I'm sick of being shat upon. I have had enough.
I don't even have the strength to keep up. I'm done. There is no spark in me any more. I'm about ready to hang up my hat.
You don't understand. I lost one house already. I cannot lose another. You have no fucking clue what it is like to be us. And if you do, then skip reading this.
I have felt low in my life. I was pretty low upon Katrina existing. But this, this is a new low. I'm saving what's going on for later. It is not over. But quit fucking trying to understand, because you won't. Don't tell me it will be okay or that it will all work out. Because it may not be okay. Not ever. I will never, I repeat NEVER get over what has happened in the past 18 months. Every time we try to get ahead, some underlying force has ripped the proverbial rug out from under us. It's never anything we do. It's always some force of nature. I'm sick of being shat upon. I have had enough.
I don't even have the strength to keep up. I'm done. There is no spark in me any more. I'm about ready to hang up my hat.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Ignore the previous post
THIS IS NOT HAPPENING, THIS IS NOT HAPPENING, THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Update again
Friday was the end of the inspection period for our prospective house. Nothing entirely major...things that can be major in a few years, but that's all due to it being an old house.
We will proceed as planned...
2 weeks until the act of sale...then two weeks until they move out...
Bought a couch and a recliner today. It makes it more real.
We will proceed as planned...
2 weeks until the act of sale...then two weeks until they move out...
Bought a couch and a recliner today. It makes it more real.
| You Are An ENFP |
The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverant, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're qutie the storyteller! You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist. |
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
We may have a winner!
We put in a bid on a house Tuesday morning, and they countered today, much lower than we expected! They want the act of sale to be March 13, and then they want 14 days of occupancy....so we'll get to spend two weeks as landlords!!!!
The reign of casa de Stan is about to end after 18 lonnnnnng months!!!
The reign of casa de Stan is about to end after 18 lonnnnnng months!!!
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Update
--Looking at houses, round two, involving both sets of parents, 10:30 a.m. Central on Sunday. God help us all.
--Flooring finally installed at my parents' house.
--To be done in line of Katrina repairs: New baseboards in bedrooms, closets, and hallway, with exception of my parents' bedroom.
--Flooring finally installed at my parents' house.
--To be done in line of Katrina repairs: New baseboards in bedrooms, closets, and hallway, with exception of my parents' bedroom.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Cribs: Katrina
My brother posted a link to this on Facebook and I wanted to share it, too. It's pretty brilliant. Little disturbing, but I'm strangely desensitized to the visuals. Except the pool and the fridge. Ugh. Quick note: mild language...I'd call it PG-13, maybe PG.
Anyway, thanks for bringing it to my attention, Geoff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlTFuXdbHvc
Anyway, thanks for bringing it to my attention, Geoff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlTFuXdbHvc
Monday, January 22, 2007
I hope Sunday's events don't render the previous post null and void...
I feel so much sadness over the Saints. And so much hatred towards the Bears.
I can't put it into words as eloquently as Chris Rose can, because, frankly, he is the man, and I am not. So I'll let him do it.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1169448177104140.xml&coll=1
By the way...did I tell you how I got to meet him? Back in...October....I think... there was a huge golf tournament and silent auction for school. Lots of Saints and other sports memorabilia, food from local restaurants, a few local celebrities, free spirits...it was fun. Anyway, Chris Rose frequents the bar where it was held, Monkey Hill Bar, and he showed up at the event. He went out, got a couple boxes of his book, "1 dead in attic," came back, and sold and autographed them, donating all of the money to school. He is just so amazing. And, I bought a second copy of his book, which he autographed. It says "To Aimée. Louisiana Toujours! Chris Rose 10-06." It is my new prized possession. He was so cool to meet and chat with while he was autographing. He didn't write up our event, because this was not long before he started writing about things other than despair once his depression article came out. Google it. It's fantastic. So raw...so real...oh heck, I'll link that one, too. Anyway, when we evacuate again, that baby's coming with us. He is my idol.
http://www.nola.com/rose/t-p/index.ssf?/rose/katrina/hell_and_back.html
I can't put it into words as eloquently as Chris Rose can, because, frankly, he is the man, and I am not. So I'll let him do it.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1169448177104140.xml&coll=1
By the way...did I tell you how I got to meet him? Back in...October....I think... there was a huge golf tournament and silent auction for school. Lots of Saints and other sports memorabilia, food from local restaurants, a few local celebrities, free spirits...it was fun. Anyway, Chris Rose frequents the bar where it was held, Monkey Hill Bar, and he showed up at the event. He went out, got a couple boxes of his book, "1 dead in attic," came back, and sold and autographed them, donating all of the money to school. He is just so amazing. And, I bought a second copy of his book, which he autographed. It says "To Aimée. Louisiana Toujours! Chris Rose 10-06." It is my new prized possession. He was so cool to meet and chat with while he was autographing. He didn't write up our event, because this was not long before he started writing about things other than despair once his depression article came out. Google it. It's fantastic. So raw...so real...oh heck, I'll link that one, too. Anyway, when we evacuate again, that baby's coming with us. He is my idol.
http://www.nola.com/rose/t-p/index.ssf?/rose/katrina/hell_and_back.html
Friday, January 19, 2007
Vignet
Phone call, 3:42 p.m., as my students are dismissing for the day.
Phone: "Bzzzzz bzzzzzzzzzzzzz. bzzzzzzzzz bzzzzzzz." ('Twas on vibrate)
7/8 C: "Go Saints!!!!!! See you Monday!!!!!!! Woooooo no school!"
Me: (Finger in ear to hear) "Hello?"
Loan Officer: "Hi, Aimée...this is A.J. How are you today?"
Me: "I'm good...and how about you?"
A.J.: "Good...I tried calling Mark, and he didn't answer, which is unusual, so I decided to try you."
Me: "Yeah, he is working longer hours now. He's probably still at work."
A.J.: "Oh, I didn't know that. So, the Saints are going to the Super Bowl."
Me: "Oh, I certainly hope so!!"
A.J.: "Well, I know they are. You finally got your loan approval!"
Phone: "Bzzzzz bzzzzzzzzzzzzz. bzzzzzzzzz bzzzzzzz." ('Twas on vibrate)
7/8 C: "Go Saints!!!!!! See you Monday!!!!!!! Woooooo no school!"
Me: (Finger in ear to hear) "Hello?"
Loan Officer: "Hi, Aimée...this is A.J. How are you today?"
Me: "I'm good...and how about you?"
A.J.: "Good...I tried calling Mark, and he didn't answer, which is unusual, so I decided to try you."
Me: "Yeah, he is working longer hours now. He's probably still at work."
A.J.: "Oh, I didn't know that. So, the Saints are going to the Super Bowl."
Me: "Oh, I certainly hope so!!"
A.J.: "Well, I know they are. You finally got your loan approval!"
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