Immune system overload...

Well, add another one to the tally....so far, I've gotten strep throat, bronchitis and the flu from my rambunctious class of 24. BLAH. Who is 25 years old and gets the flu? In fact, I can't remember the last time I threw up (that wasn't alcohol induced). It's my own fault though. In fact, it's a tell-tale sign that karma is biting me in the butt. Yesterday I complained to TWO people how I wish I could have had a 1/2 day snowday (like some of my MN friends) and that I was disappointed that it's almost March and we didn't get a snow day at all. Down here, at the sign of snow life literally shuts down. I would have LOVED to spend the day in sweats

and watch Regis and Kelly. Well...I'm in sweats but couldn't get out of bed this morning for fear of what happens when I sit up.

Anyway, not only am I taking a sick day, but I'm in the midst of a mild flood hitting Ruleville, in particular, our yard that is no longer visible. Don't worry, my car is parked in the back yard and will probably not be able to be moved all weekend. Anyway, it started thunderstorming at 4:15 this morning (I was awake) and hasn't stopped. The last picture you can see partially remnants of our driveway and how it leads into complete submersion. The first picture, you can see what happens when people drive by....the deepest part is definitely at the end of our driveway. I can't even go get the mail. Lois isn't going to be able to get TO the house unless she has rainboots on....oh cripes, what a day.

Blogger is annoying me with these pictures, they keep moving. Anyway, now that I'm confined to the couch, at least I uploaded pictures. I'll put some from the sweetheart pageant on that post...check it out and see how frickin' cute my kids are!!

Monday we are celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday...we get to dress "wacky" or Dr. Seuss wacky, while still wearing our uniforms of course. I've got some ideas, let's hope they turn out. Stupid flu has ruined my travel plans of going to Target (and Mike and Gretchen's this weekend) :( Next year, I MIGHT consider getting a flu shot. Ha, I say that now. Maybe while I'm there I should finally update my tetanus shot since that has lapsed at least 4 years...

None the less, a 3 day weekend. I'll get over it. Happy Birthday, AMBJOR!!!

evacuate the bus for a tornado drill?

So....in an effort to appease people and not wait MONTHS in between posts, I am trying to write on a more consistent basis. Well...and because I kind of have a funny story today...

First off, I am losing my voice. Not sure why, it's just leaving me momentarily....anywho, today I decided that since my kids were being their typical, terrible self...I was going to FORCE them to listen to me and not by yelling. I whispered during the first 15 minutes of math meeting...it worked pretty well although who would have thought that it kind of strains your voice to try to whisper loudly for that long. Anyway, it was a change of pace and sort of fun, until they made me mad enough that I was forced to yell. One kid was falling asleep on the rug, so I made him go sit in a chair. He got up and threw a temper tantrum, literally stomping and screaming to the back of the rug. He's a crier anyway, but still....that went on for 10 painful and annoying minutes.

My kids are sometimes worse than ever...they give each other the middle finger ("gave the finger sign" they call it) they kick one another, they pinch, they hit, they are soooo mean to each other. All of this is a result of my classroom environment and not enough empathy for things like that....ugh...if I could do it all over again...

Anywho...in case you were wondering what went down last Friday during the Sweetheart Pageant...have no fear, the results are in.....KB (my class) WON the lower grade king and queen honors!! WHOOP, WHOOP. Although I was excited for them, the whole situation was mildly redic. The winners were based on the king and queen who could raise the most money for their class. They could sell snacks in our room during school (instead of buying school snacks) or sell raffle tickets for a Wal-Mart gift card or just get donations. Well, as of Thursday night we had like $75. Then, by 8 a.m. Friday morning there was more than $900 being counted on my teacher table. I was not a fan.....a.) I spent a half hour counting and recounting money.... b.)the whole competition brings out the WORST in people, although the parents I had were not obsessively competitive. They had their money turned in and they were done, thank goodness. c.) I cannot get parents to send another box of kleenex to school, where did ALL of this money come from???? Anyway, there was a big 'ole pageant in the afternoon (in fact, we ate lunch before 11 a.m. to get ready for this shin-dig) where these kids wore white formal dresses or a tux shirt and black pants. I have a couple of pictures...they are still on my camera. It was absurd.
Yesterday, in the middle of math...the secretary came over my intercom saying to line my kids up by the door for a bus/tornado drill. I had no idea what this meant...if it's a tornado drill we move to the hallway, but if it's a bus drill we are outside? Anyway...turns out we practiced what to do if you are ON the bus and a tornado is coming. So...without explaining ANYTHING to a busload of kindergartners...they open the back door to let them jump out where my principal and I are. We are semi-helping them jump out. And by 'semi' I mean, some of them left their toes on the edge of the bus and fell face first toward the ground. Again, no one told these kids to put their arms out and we could grab their one hand and under their armpit. So, it's a little scary and mildly funny when some of them put all of their trust into two people who are not 100% ready for them to jump. But...then one of my newest students (new as in November) gets to the back...mind you she is a twin and her nickname is "big mama." She is bigger than the other twin and is a bit larger in size, but she HATES when anyone uses the word 'fat' even to describe an animal. I feel bad for her, except when she spends all day running her mouth, then I don't have any sympathy for her. However, today she gets to the back of the bus and literally steps OUT of the bus towards me...completely expecting me to catch all 84 pounds of her. OMG...I caught her, well, I caught her from hitting the pavement. It wasn't a graceful landing, but at least she didn't faceplant into the ground. Because of this, the other kindergarten teacher and I are laughing HYSTERICALLY. In fact, I was laughing and crying so hard, that I could no longer help kids off the bus and was replaced. After the drill, someone came and pulled four of my kids to take pictures of them practicing this. She was at the end of the line and one they had pulled. I was like, "uh, this one's going to jump on you instead of just jumping down." Needless to say they picked another student. If you call me right now to retell the story, I will laugh until I cry...so.flippin.funny. I wish it had been on video so you could accurately see how hilarious this looked!

Moral of the story, the kids jumped off the back of the bus and went running into the school and crouched down in the hallway as if there was a tornado. I didn't get it either, but whatev. We have had 4 tornado drill practices and 1 fire drill practice...interesting.

Last story (cripes how did this get so long???)...I went down to New Orleans on Sunday morning to meet up with the SOUL group. Somehow, I made it by myself from Mike and Gretchen's house in Jackson to the French Quarter without getting lost. AND...I spent the entire day in the french quarter and my car didn't get towed OR broken into! I'd say it was a successful day!! Monday was spent painting the outside of a house in what we were told was the worst neighborhood in the nation. Catholic Charities didn't tell us that when they sent us there, but the military police that stopped later in the afternoon told us otherwise. They said we would be fine as long as we were in a group and out before dark. If that doesn't freak you out....we were safe though...and we had a good time working. I wish I could have stayed all week, it is definitely an area that can not and will not have too many volunteers. Many homes still have remains of spray paint on their doors. It's a crazy, interesting, overwhelming place...and hopefully someday I'll be back there.

PS....got another new student this week. Well, he is not brand-new. He started in my class in August, the moved to Texas and now they moved back. Current total is 24. My usual talked-about troublemaker was suspended for today and tomorrow. He came storming in from recess ahead of us and refused to open the door for me when we tried coming in (literally I was locked out of the school) and stuck his tongue out saying, "nah na-na, na-na, nah." My principal is fed up with his actions and his momma not thinking he needs to go back to the behavior center for more help. Therefore, she sends him on vacations and will continue to do so until she has enough documentation to show that he is not able to get an education because of his actions and get him back in to the treatment center.

And...now that I've wasted all of my time and yours, peace out, girl scout.

Mail order BB gun?

You know it's bad when Erik Stonestrom has posted-me-up....aka, he's posted twice since my last, what is the world coming to?

Okay...here goes nothing...

I woke up on Saturday morning READY to write a blog, I was SOOO annoyed. Then I refrained because I know I shouldn't only write when I'm angry because then I sound like a raging drama queen, as I sometimes am. But...I woke up AT LEAST 5 times during the night due to cat(s) outside of my bedroom shrieking. Not just like a little cat cry like "feeed me" but a wail. All I could thinking about in my delusional state each time I awoke was, I wish I had a BB gun, I would shoot every last one of them. Then I woke up again wondering if it was legal to send a BB gun through the mail. Mail order BB gun, that was my solution. Come on, it was like 3 a.m....I was not thinking straight (because obviously if I was, I would have realized I could just go buy one). Anyway, thanks to the stupid animals I was up by 8 a.m. and OVERLY productive for me on a Saturday morning. Later in the day I saw the culprit outside of my window still bellowing away. I tried to chase it but it would run a few feet and keep screaming. Grandma's "scat cat" method worked to no avail. However, I have to add that after seeing the cat, I could not shoot it even if I wanted to....which is a good thing because if you know me, I love cats!

Oh...how is school?...blah. It's fine. My kids have been really stinking naughty lately, which is another reason I don't care to write. They are SO.MEAN. They hit, pinch, kick, push, EVERYTHING ALL OF THE TIME. I watched a really great professional development video about how you have to "win them over, not win over them." It's so true. The idea of not smiling until Christmas is disproved in this video as well, good thing, I hated that idea. I'm slowly trying to win my students over because once that happens, I will have MUCH FEWER behavioral issues. I hope it happens with most students before May. We have been doing a good job during our morning read aloud, we are learning about dinosaurs (which has been SO much fun, in a nerdy-kindergarten way!) and I even bought the Land Before Time (partially because I love it so much) to watch on Mondays. They really like it; as Petry would say, "yep, yep, yep!"

My repeater is not.my.favorite.any.longer. I'm at witts end with him most days, especially as of late. He's back to being sent home frequently. He threw a pencil at another student the other day but ended up hitting my assistant in the face. It wasn't hard, but it was enough to get you a one-way ticket home. He creates such a stir amongst the rest of my room that life seems impossible some days. They get so wild when he is there doing whatever his heart desires. He was suspended one day last week and absent another day and it made my life so.much.easier. I enjoyed my classroom so much more and I didn't feel so angry when the kids left. Obviously I let one student get to me, but I've exhausted every possible solution to curing this problem. If behavior continues, he will be sent back to the facility for a longer period of time, his momma was told that this morning when we met. Now she calls my cell phone multiple times a day to check on him. Today he brought a working cell phone to school...then threw a fit when I took it...

Apparently we don't have any valentine's day parties because 'we don't have time.' Wondering how that works? Well...we have a Sweetheart Pageant on Friday afternoon which encompasses our "free time." Last week we had to pick a boy and a girl from our class to be our king/queen. My assistant had briefed me in this. Basically, you pick the kids whose parents will raise the most money. No joke. The king/queen are responsible for bringing in "healthy" snacks for kids in our class to purchase. This is not unusual as the kids can buy "healthy" snacks each day from the school. And by healthy I mean hot cheetos, doritos, fruit snacks and juice. It's a gong show. So, the kids can buy these snacks in our room. All kids in the class are responsible for selling tickets for a Wal-Mart gift card. They can sell as many/few as they want. That money is also going into our class totals. On Friday, all money needs to be turned in (because it is obviously being kept in the classroom for the duration of the week--another wise choice) and is counted prior to the pageant. That afternoon the kings and queens come walking in dressed to the nines. Girls wear white dresses, white shoes, white tights. Boys are dressed for prom as well. The class that raises the most money, their king and queen is crowned. Vanna, what do they win? Well Bob, let me tell you. They win not only bragging rights for an entire year, but a 12'' trophy. I'll let you know how we do....I hope you're on pins and needles awaiting the results....

I'm going to NOLA (New Orleans, LA) this weekend!! Saint Mary's is on February break and I'm going to meet up with the group headed there for their mission trip. I'm super excited, especially because we have Monday (President's Day) off of school.

I'd better get some work done...progress reports have to go out on Tuesday and I have lesson plans to write for next week. I don't want to feel guilty for leaving for the weekend and not getting things done! Shout outs: Happy 30th birthday to my cousin Rachel!!! Keep cutie-pie Kylie in your prayers again....she has more restrictions to her already restrictive diet. Kayla, my friend Sara has LOADS of wheat-free recipes and cookbooks...she could hook you up! Thank you Grandpa Davis for doing my taxes (pray that I don't have to pay in!!) and thank you Grandma Black for finally going to the doctor!! Safe travels to Cassie as she leads her mission trip to...da, da, da-da...Southhhh Dakotaaaaa.