Thanksgiving Week

Monday, November 25, 2014

Well today I got up and went to work out this morning. I did some interval training with some light running.  I have to tell you I am tired of watching X-Men at the gym in the cardio-theater.  This is the third day in the row that I have been and this is the third day in a row they have showed X-Men.  They are only suppose to show it one day but the gym I go to says their gym members want it shown two days in a row.  Ummm….day three people!!!  Time to change!!!  I guess I should be happy it allowed me to watch the time more closely for the intervals I was working on.

I came home to get cleaned up and begin working on the PhD.  This is going to be a long week with this whole "beastie" hanging over me.  I got comments back from my chairman on October 23 but really have not had any time to do anything with it until now.  As I got started with it again, I feel like I am making the same changes that I made last time.  I keep having to tell myself this is just a test of perseverance but my lord, I almost wish there was just a big test to take and be done.  Wait….I did that big test 4 years ago - COMPS!!  Ugh!!  I am so ready to be done!!!!!   So I spent the day going through and making corrections to chapters 1 and 3.  I also double checked all the references to be sure they were correct and be sure that I had a variety of them in the paper.  I will spend Wednesday with Chapter 2 - AGAIN!!!! Then onto chapter 4 to clean it up.  We will have to see how it goes but this could be the death of me!!!

My floor right now.

Yes, a little unorganized.

Monday night I did play with the kitties some.  They are so cute but poor Squeak, she does not deal well with Husky's kittiness. She gets so irritated when Husky pounces on her and Squeak just beats on her a bit and off Husky goes running.  Squeak is just older and wants to hang out and sleep next to me but Husky just wants to PLAY!!!!  It is really funny to watch them.

This is after she was done driving Squeaky nutty. 

Poor Squeak - a kitten is messing up her routine. 

On Tuesday, I worked at school so that I could have a day in case I need an extra day to go back to SC to defend.  I worked on the 2 hour sexual harassment training that all managers have to take and was able to finish the class.  So..if you have any questions on what sexual harassment is or discrimination I can answer that for you.  Or at least identify and investigate enough to know if there is a claim and then get you to the right people for resolution.  After work, I went to get my hair done and I let Kadja play with the color a little.  Well, no, I did not go crazy but she did put some red in it and I can see the red in there.  She decided it would be good to go "fall" but it is really winter - right????  Anyway, it will be easy enough to put more blonde in it later but for now, it is a change.   Since I don't do selfies - I guess you might not get to see it unless you will see me in the next two months.  I left to go home and decided to go ahead and get my nails done today as well.  The shop that I go to has the nicest ladies in there and the two newer young ladies usually do my nails.  They asked me if I wanted to do something different this week and I told them I really did not care that I was so tired they could surprise me but nothing crazy on my hands.  The girl that worked on my feet is truly an artist and what I am about to show you, she did free hand.  She really is talented!!!  However, she got a little excited about the idea of winter and the holiday season.  However, the girls are planning a trip with their families to Big Bear (area on a mountain) in hopes to see snow.  Hence, maybe why my toes are the way they are. :)

Red tips, silver line, snowflake with silver glitter and she put in some bling!

Wednesday I spent the day working on "the beastie."  I have worked over chapter 1 and fixed as much of chapter 2 as I possibly can.  I have reworked chapter 3 and now need to put it down for a day before I pick it up again. I got in my workout as well and ran a few errands.  Then before you knew it the day was over.  My goodness, where does the time go when I have so much to do….????  However, I will say that I am also prepped and ready for my presentation at NSTA next Friday morning as well.  That is one thing off my plate that I no longer have to fret about.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Today I got up and watch the Thanksgiving Day parade as I ironed and vacuumed.  I also finished a few things for work including some items for Teacher Created Materials.  I hung around the apartment most of the morning and then went over to Keri's to eat dinner with her family and some friends.  We had a great time watching football and hanging out for a bit.  Keri did a fabulous job with cooking dinner!!!  Considering how much of a headache I had today due to the head cold that I have and cannot seem to get rid of, I hope that I was good company and conversation.  I have been doped up on Dayquil and Afrin for about two weeks now and it does not seem to be getting better.  I had plans to visit with some other friends today but figured that if I pushed it too much I would not be in good shape to write on Friday and be ready for work next week.  So, it was a relatively quiet day for me and one filled of joy for being with my friends and sadness as well.

Friday morning involved going to the gym early in the morning for a great workout and hanging out with a friend for breakfast.  It is always nice to catch up with people that I don't' see all the time but wish I got to spend more time with on a regular basis.  Time and schedules don't always allow us to see the people we want all the time but I always try to make time for the ones that I care about deeply.  With that in mind, I went to Michael's and Jessica's in the afternoon to hang out with them and the kids.  Jessica and I have been so busy and when we have been together it has been with loads of other people around so we have not had a chance to just talk.  That afternoon I spent time working on my PhD.  Ugh…. Is it done yet..??????….

The cats and I did get to hang out together a lot on Friday evening and they have decided to play with the cats that hang out on the patio.  It is funny to see them play through the screen.  They have been sticking pretty close to me the last few days and are sitting on me or sleeping with me all the time.  Maybe they just love me or they are just cold. LOL!!!

 Squeak likes her new bed.  She has not used it much but when she does she fits in it perfectly.  I really love when she curls up in the bottom of it and tries to bury herself.

On Saturday I watched the USC / Clemson game and needless to say, Husky tried to play also.  She was so cute as she tried to hit the players on the TV.  She kept hopping back up on the TV to play but I only recorded this little bit.  

I ate lunch at one of my favorite places in California on Friday.  If anyone comes to visit I will have to take you here.  They have the best sub sandwiches!!!  While it is a little bit of a drive from my apartment, it is so worth it and the company I had for lunch was one of my favorite people as well.  Another pretty fantastic things was the sub shop had the USC / Clemson game on so I got to watch the end of the 4th quarter and although my fighting chickens were not victorious it was still fun to see them play the kitties of Clemson.

I left lunch to head to work, yes on Thanksgiving Saturday.  I needed a change of scenery while I worked on the paper and there were a couple of things going on at school.  I was able to get some work done and I am 1/4th of the way through Chapter 4.  Only 1/4th….. ugh….. I think I can, I think I can….

I went to dinner with Ali after we left work.  She took me to a chinese restaurant called Dragon House. It was so good!  The food was great, the service was great and we were in the back room in the corner which allowed us to be able to talk and hear each other.  The great thing was being able to catch up before we all go back to work on Monday!   I am thankful I have such great people that I work with each day and we enjoy each others company outside of work.

Week before Thanksgiving Break

This may be a short post but I wanted to post this week.  One of the changes from SC to CA is that when budget cuts hit in CA, teacher contract days were reduced.  Many districts decide to extend Thanskgiving Break, Christmas Break and provide for a winter break in February as well.  I am in a district that starts late (last week of August), takes a week for Thanksgiving Break, two weeks at Christmas, and gets out the first week of June.  There are other districts that start earlier in August, take a week at Thanksgiving, three at Christmas, one the end of February and then still have a Spring Break.

The one thing that is similar is that the days leading up to these breaks are always a little odd and crazy at school.  Last year we had a few students who came to school drunk or tried to drink at school but literally only twice.  We did have students with marijuana on campus and those that would smoke before school and come on campus.  We also had students who had drug paraphernalia such as bongs and such they would bring.  In SC I remember a lot of students coming to school drunk or those that would bring pills to try and sell and occasionally marijuana but not like there is at the school I am at now.  However, remember I was not an assistant principal in SC.  But I was friends with a variety of people who would share these stories with me about what was happening with students in discipline.  So this past week was busy with a number of students who came to school drunk, was drinking at school, we had some who made marijuana brownies and brought them to school, another that was selling cocaine, and then the normal marijuana that kids bring.  Now the crazy thing - all of this was with our 9th grade students!  We have a tough group of 9th graders this year and this is just another challenge for us at school.  Usually the drug dog comes in but we did not have the drug dog this week for whatever reason.  Needless to say, we do have a lot of students who are not out on suspension and some being recommended for explosion as well.

I was also sick this week.  At the beginning of the week I ended up with my mom's cold that she brought from SC when she visited last week.  This past weekend, I started feeling badly but  Monday and Tuesday was tough with a headache and nasal congestion.  I have been surviving off of Dayquil, Nyquil and Afrin Saturday through Thursday and finally started feeling better on Friday and was able to go the day with only one dose of Dayquil in the morning.  I got home on Friday and was able to clean the entire apartment and start laundry.  On Saturday I got up early and went to workout at the gym.  I was suppose to meet a friend in the morning but they canceled on me due to them being sick.  While I am really bummed about it, I completely understand.  So Saturday I spent the morning dropping off my boots to have new heels put on them, running errands for the last of the Christmas presents I needed.  I was also able to use the time to get all the laundry done and get all the gifts labeled and put into bags.  While I did not get Christmas decorations up, there is not really many to be put up and my plan is to do that on Thursday.  

This week I am looking forward to some rest, reading, some time with friends and working on the PhD.  The deadline is May so I have to get on top of things and get it done.  I hope that all of you are doing excellent and looking forward to a restful week.

Week of November 10th

Monday, November 11, 2014

I stayed home today since my mom is visiting.  We were supposed to go to San Diego but after the long weekend of walking around Disneyland all day long mom did not really want to go to San Diego and walk some more.  So instead she made plans for all the stray cats that live outside.  Little does she realize that as much as I love cats and would love to save each of these little darlings. I cannot afford to have them all spayed and neutered! If I take them to a shelter then I worry they will be euthanized.  In addition, the little black cat that showed up in my garage last week she is trying to decide what to do with and I think she has decided that it is going back to South Carolina with her.  So today we had to take her to the vet to make sure she was at least 8 weeks old and healthy.  Of course the vet said she was fine and is about 10 weeks old so she is good to travel.

I did the thing I really hate doing today.  I went bra shopping.  Now for those of you who do not have to do this, you are lucky!!!  For those of you that have done it, I know that you understand my pain.  I tried Soma today, but I have to tell you that I really just did not like the saleslady and the bras are just really thick!  I will go back to my original statement that I say to all my friends who must do bra shopping, "Go to Nordstroms!!!"  I am telling you that I have shopped at two different Nordstoms in Atlanta, one in New York and now one is California and EVERY single time I have a great salesperson who does a fabulous job matching up what I need and what, with the fit that I have while making great suggestions!  It makes bra shopping less painful!

Mom and I then went to the movies to see My Big Hero 6 and it was phenomenal!  So cute and funny, I loved it.  Another huge score for Pixar and Disney!  In addition, there looks to be some great movies getting ready to come out around the holiday season which will be great!  We got home around 9:00 pm to play with the outdoor kitties and the kitty that will be going to South Carolina!

Tuesday, November 12, 2014
  Today I got up to work on the presentation for Saturday at The Space Center in Downy before mom and I headed out.  I got a lot done but now my old laptop has an error with the software and the access point for the TI Navigator will not work so I am kinda flying blind right now.  I mean really - how much more can go wrong.  Well…..let me tell you.

  My mom and I went to run errands today and of course that included going into sketchy stores and trying odd stores with my mom.  She has an eye for the unusual and going off the beaten path, while I just want to get the task accomplished and move on to the next one.  After the errands today and picking up the cat carrier for the trip home tomorrow for Cali, yes the cat's name is Cali, we went back to the apartment only to find out the Escape had a flat tire.  So, that resulted in a call to AAA at 1:30 pm for them to come and inflate the tire to make it to American Tire.  Now, let me remind you these are the same tires that were put on the car last year in September and have less than 1000 miles on them.  Probably even less than 500.  Apparently I picked up a nail in the back passenger tire.  Of course the tire place says it is in a terrible location and I must buy a new tire because it is their policy not to fix them when the nail is in the location (less than 1 inch from the middle tread).  Really!!!!! I am pissed that I have a nail that is in a tire less than 1000 miles used!!!!  While they were able to "prorate" the tire for me and it only cost me $88.00 and they did a certificate for the other four tires so I am covered for any other nails for awhile!  But really!!!!!!!  What else could happen????

  After this was taken care of we did go to Old Town in Temecula to walk around and relax.  We ended up back at the apartment by 6:00 pm to cook dinner of salad and mushrooms as we watched a movie!  I hate the night before I or anyone else leaves.  It is happy because you have such a good time but it is sad because you are not sure when you will see them again.  :(


Sunday, November 16, 2014
Well, I cannot get caught up!!!!  I know it will come but I just have to forge forward.  When I got back to work on Wednesday, I was the only administrator there and got called for everything.  Now, with a blood drive going on and kids giving blood, they were passing out left and right, so I was back and forth from the office to the gym dealing with fainting issues.   Thursday brought with it a host of observations and meetings that kept me busy along with Zumba in the afternoon.  It kept me busy and the Zumba class was one that needed to be done to relieve stress and have fun.  On Friday, there was another set of meetings that took all day long.  The morning included Co-Admin meeting and then the afternoon thoughts about grants for CTE pathways.  OMG!  When will it slow down………LOL!!!

I left school about 6:00 pm on Friday and I have to say that I skipped the football game on Friday to make it home to work on finishing up the preparation for my Texas Instruments presentation in Downey, CA.  The presentation went well and was fun. There was 14 people that attended and about three are serious about starting to use TI equipment in the classroom.  There were lots of questions but was great!  I got home and ran errands in the afternoon / evening.  I was able to get the car cleaned, groceries and run to the mall to take back some clothes, pick up some Aveda products and some Christmas presents.  The mall was PACKED.  Apparently Santa was coming to visit on Saturday night as they lit the Mall Christmas tree.  Someone should really have told me that  because it was crazy busy!!!!    I spent Saturday relaxing a little while cleaning the apartment and doing laundry since i knew I was going to have to work on Sunday.

Sunday morning I was going to get up to work out but I had Husky on the left of me and Squeak on the right of me.  They were so sweet and quiet.  Any time I moved they meowed and moved closer so I spent the morning doing some much needed cuddling with the cats.  I finally did get up and left for school at 8:30 am.  I spend the day at school trying to get caught up from the crazy week.  I got observations completed, emails sent, areas cleaned up and I am still not done.  However, I am in a better place to start the school week.  Thank goodness there will be some time in the next week.  In CA, we have off the entire week of Thanksgiving so I will have some time to get things done - ummmm….by things I mean my PhD!

I would like to send out a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to my friends in SC who have passed National Boards!  Congrats Danielle Hobson and Emily Freeze-Parks!  It is well deserved!  I am so proud of you!!


I did find this on the Internet the other day and I find it very true.  I just thought I would share!

18 Struggles Of Having An Outgoing Personality But Actually Being Shy And Introverted

1. You’re not anti-social, you’re selectively social.

2. At any given point, you have one (maybe two) best friends who are your entire life. You’re not a “group of friends” person. You can’t keep up with all that.

3. Social gatherings that are supposed to be “rites of passage” like prom and dances and other such typical nonsense is just… not for you. You don’t understand it. You want nothing to do with it.

4. When you do choose to grace a party with your presence, you are the life of it. You’re dancing on the table and doing body shots until 3 a.m.

5. … You then retreat into three days of complete solitude to recover.

6. You go out of your way to avoid people, but when you inevitably have to interact with them, you make it seem like there’s nothing in the world you’d rather be doing.

7. Dating is weird, because you’re smiling and laughing and talkative at dinner, and then you don’t want to answer their texts for four days, because like, you just want to be left alone…

8. You’re accused of being flirty with everybody, which is hilarious, because in reality, you can only tolerate like four people.

9. You retain an air of mysteriousness about you, completely unintentionally. (There’s no mystery. You just feel no need to update the social sphere on what’s going on in your life every two hours.)

10. Not to mention the fact that you either have days in which you’re tweeting and status updating every five minutes… or you delete your accounts for a month.

11. You become unintentionally awkward because you at once feel the need to be a social life jacket for other people, though you’re just as uncomfortable yourself.

12. You’ve never really understood the whole “introvert vs. extrovert” dichotomy (can we call it that?) Because you’re… both…

13. You’re always thrown into the wringer because people think you’re best suited to be the one who gives the presentation, confronts the boss, gives the speech, etc. Meanwhile, you’re practically throwing up over the thought of it.

14. You ebb and flow between wanting to be noticed for your hard work, reveling in the attention and achievement you receive, to sinking and panicking over the thought of somebody else paying more than 30 seconds of attention to you.

15. The entirety of your being is a conundrum, so needless to say, indecisiveness is your Achilles’ Heel.

16. You’re at your happiest in places like coffee shops and cafés: surrounded by people, but still closed off and keeping to yourself.

17. You prefer to travel alone, but meet up with people once you’re there.

18. It’s taken you years to figure out that you’re shy. Literal years. And when you tell people, even your closest family members, that you’re “actually just shy” they pause, and then their eyes go big, and they go: “Oh my god you so are.” 

November 1 - 9, 2014

Saturday and Sunday, November 1-2, 2014

I did not do much of anything other than clean this weekend and get ready for my mom visiting.  I took the time to get a lot of things done over the weekend and try to catch up on sleep.  I got the entire apartment deep cleaned, all laundry done and ironing.  It truly was a rest weekend where I just got a lot of little things done during the weekend.  I have to tell you that it was not extremely exciting but more relaxing.


Wednesday, November 5, 2014

After the week that I had last week I am trying to wrap my mind around how to handle all the situations that surround me at work.  It is hard for me because I really want to continue to work to build a great high school but I am having trouble working through all the pieces that require me to move forward.  I know that I will but it will just take a little time to move forward as I learn how to navigate in a new school and district.  I just have to remember to stay on the Energy Bus!

Tomorrow is Parent Teacher Conference Day.  The students will not be at school tomorrow and all of the teachers will be located in the gym for parents to come in and pick up report cards then visit with teachers.  We had originally planned this for a late Thursday morning between 11-3 and then a break and finally finish from 4-7 pm.  We had been talking with department heads for awhile about this event but when it finally did come time to put all the pieces together the teachers complained it was a change in their schedule and they needed to vote on the change.  When they voted, the teachers voted to keep their workday the same and therefore parents would only be able to see teachers from 8:00 am - 2:50 pm.  In addition, my mom flies in tomorrow evening around 7:00 pm and will be here throughout the weekend into next week.  We have a busy weekend scheduled but it will be fun.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Parent Teacher Conferences (PTC) went well and we had a lot of people there for it being the first time we have done PTC's in awhile at John W. North High School.  We had a lot of 9th grade parents attend the event and it was truly pretty consistently busy during the day.  We got everything cleaned up by 3:40 pm and I taught Zumba at 4:15 pm then went to pick up my mom at the airport.  

Saturday and Sunday, November 9 and 10, 2014
Mom and I left Saturday morning to go to Disney for the weekend.  I had used my Disney Vacation Club points to reserve a room on Saturday night so we did not have to drive back.  I am excited for her to see Disneyland for the first time.  We got to the resort and checked in.  They had our room ready and we were able to put our items in the room and go into the parks.  We started with California Adventureland.

One of the highlights of the trip was the Aladdin show which was PHENOMENAL!!!!  The show was so funny and the jokes were slightly different than the first time I saw the show a year ago.  It really is well done and a don't miss!!!!  The second highlight was dinner at Carthay Circle with my mom and Ali.  Ali Lattimer joined us around 2:00 pm at Disneyland and we were able to eat dinner together at the restaurant that is a 5/8 replica of the Carthay Circle in LA.  There are all kinds of pictures dedicated to Snow White and Walt Disney around the restaurant.  It was a fun history lesson!!!  The food was delicious as well which is an additional plus!!!

Pictures in Restaurant

Replica of Snow White wishing well that acts as base for table.

Do you see the evil queen?

The other thing we did was to look for hidden Mickeys.  Now, I do have issues with this because I don't always agree with what they term as Hidden Mickeys.  Some of them seem to be accidental and someone just called it a hidden Mickey.  I do think this one is pretty cool.  It is the tread on a tire from the "Five and Dime" musical act in the center of Hollywood Square at California Adventureland.

After dinner we went to the Confectionery and then back to the hotel room.  Its hard not to love a candy apple Olaf from Mickey's Confectionery.  I mean seriously, how cute is this?????  It tasted really great also!!!

We wanted to watch The World of Color from the Grand Californian Terrace which overlooks Paradise Pier.  While it did keep us from having to wait in line and stand for a few hours for a good spot, it was not a great idea.  The angle is just slightly bad so you don't get to see the pictures on the water.  You get to see the color, hear the music and see water moving around, but you just do not get to see the projections on the water so it loses something in the presentation.  But hey, we would not have known if we did not try it!!!

On Saturday, we spent the day at Disneyland where we walked around and saw a lot of the shows and rode the kiddie rides.  We did It's A Small World three times during the day.  Can you tell which ride is my mom's favorite?  To the point where she video taped the ride so she could watch it later.  It was really great since they have it decorated for Christmas at this time of year but three times is crazy.  We got to see The Golden Horseshoe as well and the show there was different from what it was a few weeks ago.  We had a great time and got to see the Christmas Parade as well.  We spent the day there and finally left around 7:00 pm to travel home!  It was a long day and while I know mom was tired, she truly was a trooper at walking around all over Disneyland!  My Fitbit says we did about 14 miles.  

The end of October 2014!

     This week has been awful!!!  There has been so much going on and I have been in such a state of stress and depression over everything that is happening that it is literally making me sick to my stomach.  Due to the events of the past week and offending someone with what I may write I am going to skip this week's blog.  

     I am remembering what I have learned from Girl Scouts, my mentors and time as a professional…Whatever is said, no matter how it is said, is on the table and you can never take it back.  The words were verbalized, they were heard and while things may settle and not seem to impact a relationship, the words were still said and still put on the table therefore it is always there!  Or as Thumper from Bambi says, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all."  See, Disney did teach me something….

I hope everyone has a fantastic week and is looking forward to a great start of November.