Saturday, December 13, 2014

Week of December 8

Sunday, December 7, 2014
So how many of you grew up with Boy Meets World.  This is a show that I grew up with.  Like Saved By the Bell and such.  I always liked Boy Meets World the best but I am not really sure why.  I remember Mr. Feeny, Sean, Corey, Eric and Topanga.  I was sad when the TV show ended simply because it was like I grew up with them.  Well the Disney Channel now has Girl Meets World which is a secondary story line where Topanga and Corey have two kids.  The show has characters from Boy Meets World like Harley, the bully who is now the janitor at the school where Corey works as a teacher.  They have Minkus on as the dad of one of the students and they just had Sean on as well for a Christmas edition and yes I teared up seeing Sean and Corey back together again.  I know, I know….I am too old to be watching Disney but I like the fact that it is not reality TV nor do I have to hear cussing or see killing and yes, I watch The Walking Dead.  And yes, I am upset they killed off Beth at the mid-season finale!!!!!

Monday, December 8, 2014
Okay, who put something in the water…..You have got to be kidding me.  Well maybe not.  Same story different state.  Thanks mom and dad for waiting until 18 days before your child's final to complain that your child is going to fail the class and you want them moved.  That is not going to help the situation and does not prevent them from failing.  It might have been good to talk with someone in October after the first quarter grades in order to arrange for tutoring and extra help.  At this point, teachers will teach until next Wednesday, give a test on Thursday, do a party of Friday and then when we get back from break they will start reviewing and then do exams.  I know, I know….there should be no parties in High School at this point and as we all know we can make the statement, policy, procedure or regulation and there will always be classes that try and go around it.  Just like in Laurens when the teacher told the kids not to tell but then sent a kid to ask for ice in the main office and another to ask for serving utensils.  Like the kids are not going to say what they are doing.  LOL!!!

Tuesday, December 9, 2014
The water is still contaminated.  It is one thing after another and while I do not mind staying busy it is situations that makes no one happy and causes people to be extremely upset.  We have a great substitute who has done everything she can for a class but since she actually wants them to work, the kids are upset and complaining.  Really???   The sub just wants the kids to do extremely well and wants to help them as much as possible.   I am telling you - IB students and other students at my school are EXTREMELY smart but they can use their brains for good or evil and sometimes evil is what they choose.  I often wonder if they do it intentionally and plan it out or if they get on a roll and forget what their behavior does to others.  Okay - Leann - remember they are high school students and that is the point, to teach them…..

In the afternoon I met with April Aldrich-Johnson who is our athletic trainer to work on a Pathways grant.  Now, April is from Michigan but she went to THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she is a GAMECOCK!!!  The best thing about this is that we get one another and if I say to her, "Five Points, Harbinson Boulevard, Assembly Street, Huger Street or Krispy Kreme - she gets it and understands.  It is nice to have that!  We tend to have the same feelings about a lot of things - but hey we were in the same Athletic Training program at a point.  She is so much fun to work with and it so nice to be working on the grant with her!!!  She is doing a FABULOUS job!!!

I went to the Band / Choral concert and it was FABULOUS!!!  Pete and Tom did a great job of including over 300 students in a program.  Not only one program but two.  They did one at 5:30 and another at 7:00 pm.  The kids were fabulous and I was so proud of all of them.  Now, if you remember, this is a program that he is building and we "PUT" kids in his class.  Last year we only had two choral classes and this year we have 5!!  While you can tell that some of the students are not thrilled, they are doing a great job and like the recognition!


Wednesday, December 10, 2014
I am wondering when they will come and clean the water….. More parent phone calls today.  While I have always worked with customer service I find that people just seem to be getting ruder and ruder.  When working at Steve's Deli, Applebee's, Kroger, Riverbanks, and any other place I have worked, typically people are nice and willing to work with you.  Even parents of students that I taught.  Just in the last week we have had parents who are extremely rude on the phone.  I honestly try and take care of every phone call, email and concern ASAP.  However, if you call me at 3:30 pm when the kids are gone and I need to speak with your student, I cannot "deal" with the situation that night.  I also love when they call and DEMAND I call them back that day!!!!  There are 2400 students on campus.  I want to call you back but the kid that is about to pass out, the teacher that had an emergency, the fire drill that happened and a multitude of other issues might take precedence over your phone call.  It is not that I don't want to help you and I do want to call you back but there are duties I have to do like lunch duty, morning duty, after school duty and meetings I have to attend.  I promise I am not sitting and eating Bon Bon's with my feet up.  I truly do try and help each student and provide everyone with quality time to deal with the situations brought to my attention.   I just need time…..

Well, now that I read these last two paragraphs it sounds like I hate my job and am miserable.  That is not true.  It has just been a couple long days in which I want to help everyone but I get pulled in 99 directions at the same time so I can't get it ALL done.  But I will - it may just take me some time.  :)

Thursday, December 11, 2014
Well the end is near.  At least I think it is near.  I had a two and a half hour Skype meeting with my Committee Chair and we have a plan.  Not only do we have a plan but she helped me see where she is having problems with some of my work that I am so entrenched in, which makes it really hard to see because to me it makes complete sense.  But again, this is something that I have lived with for 5 years now and it makes perfect sense to me.

Thursday was busy…..dealing with lots of little details in the morning, the Skype Meeting, the Leadership Meeting at the district office with student performances and shared fellowship.  Of course we all sat together but our table ended up with a broken Poinsettia.  I promise I did not break the branches off but they kept falling off.  So our table ended up with the Peanuts "Linus" tree in the end.  I felt bad because this was also a door prize they were giving away at the tables.


While the day was full and all of this should have been enough but then it was another late night with the PTSA meeting and Financial Aid meeting lead by the guidance counselors.  I left school at 9:15 pm to get home at 10:00 pm.  For some reason there was a lot of traffic that late at night and I am not really sure why.  


Friday, December 12, 2014
Well, the 2nd storm of the century hit.  Yes, apparently every time it rains it is the storm of the century in CA.  So on Wednesday and Thursday there were huge news flashes on TV and the radio about all the rain we were going to be getting.  It was humorous.  I felt like I should run out and get bread and milk because I was not going to be able to leave the apartment.  In fact on Friday morning, I woke up at 4:30 am and there was nothing happening outside.  I went back to sleep for another hour and when I woke up you could hear the rain.  No thunder or lightening but only rain.  It was slow moving on the way to my meeting at 8:00 am.  It just took so long because I left late but also because people here can not drive in the rain.  They just don't see that much precipitation here.   But hey - it looks like South Carolina!!!

The kids did stay in class today due to the rain and lunch duty was easy because not many students came out in the rain to stand in line for lunch.  They "moseyed" into the lines.  It did finally stop raining about 2:00 pm and cleared off just in time for the end of school.  This was a good thing because we had our Holiday get together for the school on Friday night at one of the teacher's houses.  However, I got to say….this has been one HECK of a week.  It seems like I have not been able to make anyone happy and have had to make some really tough decisions this week which did not make anyone happy but they had to be made.  

I did get to relax some on Friday night.  Of course that was after I picked up the little tree for like the 5th time this week.  I keep losing ornaments little by little to Husky.

I was able to get my nails done and come home and clean the apartment some.  I was able to go to sleep early and snuggle deep into my covers without setting my alarm for Saturday morning.  Ahhhh……the first time in a long while that I have been able to do that.

Saturday, December 13, 2014
Today was a marvelous day.  Both in weather and events.   California usually does not have a lot of clouds but because of all the moisture around we have clouds.  It was a beautiful day with the clouds also.

I was able to sleep in a bit and wake up to have a breakfast and a fun morning with a friend that I love seeing but don't get to see often.  We had great discussions over breakfast and while I know that we have similar feelings about a lot of items, it was nice to see they were confirmed.  After breakfast I was able to just come back home and relax some.  I was able to get all my errands ran this morning as well and feel like I am slightly caught back up after Thanksgiving Break.  You know….just in enough time to get behind again during Christmas Break since I have to work on the PhD.  

The outdoor cats are getting big and while I can pet the two orange ones and momma the great and tabby one are still a little skittish.  They do hang out on my porch and while they know that i won't hurt them, I promise I am not the crazy cat lady - I promise they like to hang out because I am not home so they are safe.


This afternoon I worked with one of the teachers from school on a grant for Career and Technical Education.  I have to admit that April is so easy to work with and has great ideas as well.    It was hilarious because since we are both Athletic Trainers we were having some real problems with the math.  For some reason adding numbers at 4:00 pm was really bothering us and giving us a really hard time.  It was hilarious to see us try and figure out where the mistakes were.  LOL!!!  Spreadsheets can be your best friends or a little difficult at times.  But, HEY - its done!!!

I am looking forward to Sunday to work on the writing and relax.  I am really excited to sleep in and I know that cats will be curled up next to me.  As my new sign says, "Life is Short, Play with Your Cat."  So I will probably look like this in the morning.  They don't like to lay right next to one another, they would rather lie on either side of me so that I cannot move.  Those crazy cats!!!!!!!

I also have one that says, "Never pass up an opportunity to tell someone you love them."  For those of you who I have not talked to recently, please know that I do love you and thank you for all the memories we have had, will have together, time on the phone and time where you have read this blog or a status and wished me the best.  I love each of you.

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