Well, Shucks.

First, to the three whole people who may wander by...sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I have been busy. For real busy...not "I'm just saying I've been busy to get off the hook." I've really been busy. I have new flowerbeds to prove it!

Today I received a thank you card...from a parent. The card was actually mailed to school, and in it the parents thanked me for being such an influential person in their daughter's life. I have been teaching for eight years and never once have I gotten a thank you card from from a parent...especially not at this time of the year. Usually at this time of the year I get nasty emails and phone calls, so this was a welcome surprise.

I emailed the parent to thank her for the thank you card (sounds weird, doesn't it? But I wanted to make sure that she knew that I got it.) She emailed back and let me know that she never sends thank you cards to teachers, but she felt she needed to in this case. I was flattered and taken aback by her kind words and her encouragement.

I get burnt out a lot of times with work. I get VERY frustrated at the end of the year. When I get frustrated, Hubby gets frustrated and asks why I still do what I do.

Today I'll show him the card and he'll get his answer.

Saturday Special...#1

I have decided to try a couple of new memes...so, this week I am playing The Saturday Special. All you have to do it answer four questions each Saturday.

This week the general topic of the questions is remembering childhood...here goes.

~Remembering Childhood~

1. As a child I loved to play?: Anything that allowed me to get dirty. I grew up with a brother and all boys on my street, so I had to adapt if I wanted to play. I wasn't a "girly" girl at all. I played sports, played in dirt, rode my bike, buried stuff in the yard, played with Hot Wheels...I was a tomboy for sure.

2. As a child I wanted to grow up to be...?: A veterinarian. I realized after working with a vet and watching her put a horse down that I just couldn't do that with my life. I became a teacher instead. I have no regrets. In fact, I am grateful to the vet for showing my the truth.

3. As a child my favorite thing to eat was...?: Spaghetti. It was what I always had my mom fix for my birthday dinner. I still love it. Italian food (in general) is my weakness!

4. As a child my favorite relative was...?: My Uncle Bill and my Aunt Taniya. (they are a pair...I couldn't split them up). They are from California so I never saw them. When I did, we had so much fun. As I grew up, my grandma became more special to me, but my aunt and uncle hold the top "childhood relative" spot.

Want to play? Visit The Saturday Special now!

Third Time's a Charm?

I just heard on the news that, according to the latest Gallup Poll, George Bush has a 69% disapproval rating. They said that this rating is the lowest in the 75 year history of the Gallup Poll.

Richard Nixon's disapproval rating was only 66% right before he resigned.

George Bush has been on the list of five highest disapproval ratings THREE times...

The other two? Harry Truman at 67% and the previously mentioned Nixon at 66%.

That is NOT a club I would want to be in.

Irony

Irony: Losing the work ethic certificate paper that you were told to keep..

Ah, it is that time again...time for students to turn in their work ethic certificates.

Time for students who have a 20% to ask why I circled "never" on their work ethic standard.

Time for students to ask if they can turn their work ethic papers in late (like last year).

Time for students to have the "oh, crap, I should have actually done work all year" epiphany.

You've got to love the end of the year!

Deplorable!

For those of you who have been around my blog for awhile, you may remember me blogging about China, a dog whose owner was accused of abusing her...only to get her back. I was outraged by this decision...especially since she had a chain embedded in her neck. But, hey, the guy PROMISED to never let it happen again, so the judge gave him his dog back.

And today, he did it again. Today the story broke that the dog was found filthy, cold and wet outside in a pen...a clear violation of his solemn promise to take care of the dog...which included not leaving her outside.

I was angry when the first story broke, and I am angry now...because we all knew how this would turn out. We knew this guy would most likely not take care of this dog, but he was given a second chance. A second chance that most of us knew he didn't deserve and wouldn't take advantage of.

Now it is time for China to get a second chance. A chance at a life that includes love, warmth and a family who appreciates her for her.

We can only hope it isn't too late.

Jeff Foxworthy...My Hero.

I am stressed out (the end of the school year does that to me...not to mention a few other things that have occurred over the last few days...but that's another story). To de-stress, I wanted to share these funny things with all of you. I hope you all get a chuckle out of a couple of them. Any of you who ever worked in education...or even set foot in a school...should find something to laugh about :-)

Jeff Foxworthy on Educators

YOU might be a school employee if you believe the playground should be equipped with a Ritalin salt lick.

YOU might be a school employee if you want to slap the next person who says, 'Must be nice to work 8 to 3:30 and have summers off.'

YOU might be a school employee if it is difficult to name your own child because there's no name you can come up with that doesn't bring high blood pressure as it is uttered.

YOU might be a school employee if you can tell it's a full moon or if it is going to rain, snow, hail....anything!!! Without ever looking outside.

YOU might be a school employee if you believe, 'shallow gene have its own box on a report card.

YOU might be a school employee if you believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, 'Boy, the kids sure are mellow today.'

YOU might be a school employee if when out in public, you feel the urge to snap your fingers at children you do not know and correct their behavior.

YOU might be a school employee if you have no social life between August and June.

YOU might be a school employee if you think people should have a government permit before being allowed to reproduce.

YOU might be a school employee if you wonder how some parents MANAGED to reproduce.

YOU might be a school employee if you laugh uncontrollably when people refer to the staff room as the 'lounge.'

YOU might be a school employee if you encourage an obnoxious parent to check into charter schools or home schooling and are willing to donate the UHAUL boxes should they decided to move out of district.

YOU might be a school employee if you think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.

YOU might be a school employee if you can't imagine how the ACLU could think that covering your students chair with Velcro and then requiring uniforms made out of the corresponding Velcro could ever be misunderstood by the public.

YOU might be a school employee if meeting a child's parent instantly answers this question, 'Why is this kid like this?'

YOU might be a school employee if you would choose a mammogram over a parent conference.

YOU might be a school employee if you think someone should invent antibacterial pencils and crayons...and desks and chairs for that matter!

YOU might be a school employee if the words 'I have college debt for this?' has ever come out of your mouth.

YOU might be a school employee if you know how many days, minutes, and seconds are left in the school year!