Monday, You're Such A Cliche

I really thought this was going to be my week. I got up well before sunrise and went for a run. The kids were up and ready for school super early. So early, that they got to sit and relax and watch cartoons (and I didn't even have to scream at anyone about brushing their teeth). It was going to be awesome.

And then Monday decided to be a stupid cliche. On my way to my classroom, I decided to use the 2 minutes I had to run to the ladies' room. I pulled down my pants and marveled at the giant hole in the crotch of my brand-new pants. As I was trying to figure out a.) how the hell that happened, and b.) would my sweater be long enough to cover it, my phone slipped right out of my back pocket and straight into the toilet. Totally submerged.

In the process of frantically trying to fish my phone out of the toilet (thank the lord I hadn't gone yet) and dry it off, I did something without even thinking about it. I blew straight into those little speaker holes to try to rid them of water. Which, of course, meant that all that toilet water splashed right back into my face. 

Please, don't even try to tell me your Monday sucked if you didn't get spritzed with LITERAL eau de toilette.

And, to top this fantastic day off, we got to report to a mandatory meeting after school to find out that our school has continued to fail and will probably be taken over by the state. After countless hours with some very dedicated teachers working tirelessly, we just continue to fail. It's a little hard to handle. Especially for those of us who CHOSE to come to (and stay at) this failing school and work extra hours with little support from the district.

So, I came home and sat on the porch swing and had a beer. 

Some silver linings: 

• My sweater was, indeed, long enough to cover my stupid crotch hole. (Wow. That sounded so wrong.) 
• The new iPhone is truly water resistant. They didn't just make that new feature up.
• My students are still awesome. They may be at a difficult school that hasn't passed the right tests. Some of them may have behavior difficulties and they may not have the best reading levels. But they love coming to Science to learn and we are going to have an amazing year. Screw the fancy people in their fancy suits. They don't have a clue what it means to work there. And I will continue to teach my scientists and revel in watching them learn and explore.

Tomorrow is Tuesday. At the very least I'd like to make it through the day with out toilet water in my face.

~Lissie

PS

Heres a clip from one of my favorite movies. Very apropos...

Screw italics. How is there STILL no sarcasm font??

I had a little tantrum in the notepad app of my phone last week. This past Wednesday went MUCH better, but I thought my tantrum was still worth posting:

Do you know what's not annoying? Staying late at work every Wednesday for professional development (when Wednesday has the toughest classes). 

You know what's not annoying? When you've had a really tough day of teaching a few really rude students and you come home to children who are acting ever so slightly psychotic. 

You know what else isn't annoying? When your husband decides to test his fancy new smoke detectors at 9 pm to make sure that when one goes off, they all go off. Btw: they work. ALL of them. Yay! 

And do you know what's not annoying? The Rugrats-themed hold music that the hubs has on speakerphone at top volume while he continues to test the smoke detectors. (Seriously. Google the Rugrats music, then blast it on repeat. Not painful, at all.)
 Also not annoying: the chewed-up chocolate Advent calendar that the dog left all over the rug. Now he'll have the runs and Charlotte will be one pissed-off little elf. SO not annoying. 

Do you know what else isn't annoying? When your shins still feel horribly bruised from the ski boots you buckled your giant man-calves into a full week ago. It's fun walking around feeling like you've been kicked repeatedly by evil midgets. (Dwarves, little people... Whatever. Too busy not being annoyed to be politically correct.) 

It is also not at all annoying when one of your students waits until the class is over (and the next group is arriving) to throw an entire bucket of squares on the floor. Math manipulatives make excellent confetti.

Maybe I should've made this some kind of counting activity...

 So, I'm over it today (it is Friday, after all), but I'm sure this list has growth potential. 

What about you? Anything you'd like to add?...

Full-Time, Baby!

I started teaching in September of 2000. I taught into my fourth year, right up until the day I delivered Patrick in November of 2003. I was very lucky to be able to spend the next six years at home raising my children. In the fall of 2009, when Sean was about eight months old, I went back to teaching three days a week. The next three years, I worked four days a week and used my Fridays for things like laundry and lunch-mothering at my kids' school. (I even managed to squeeze in one more child - with a very short maternity leave.)

This year, however, is a whole new story. I am officially back to teaching full-time. I am excited about the job because I followed my principal to a turnaround school. It's a much bigger school (717 students), and it needs a lot of work. The days are longer, too. But, I'm teaching math now (which I love), and I have a lot of faith in my principal that she is really going to be able to turn this place around. She certainly has her work cut out for her.

I've got my work cut out for me, too. Like every other working stiff, my weekends only have two days. They are way too short. PJ & I like to spend our time having fun with the kids. Which leaves very little time for chores and errands. It's going to be interesting trying to strike a balance.

I have yet to figure out how to fit everything in. I'm trying to get a little better each week. Last week, I just tried to survive my first full week. This week, I've already managed two dinners in the slow-cooker (a necessity since I don't get home until 5pm), with another planned for tomorrow. That's a big step in the right direction since we had take-out every night last week. And I have officially given lunch packing duties to PJ. That's one less thing for the nightly "to do" list.

Maybe next week, I'll figure out how I can squeeze in a trip to the gym. I guess this is going to be a year of mastering time management. I can't quite find enough hours in the day just yet. Unless I give up sleep altogether. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough coffee in the world for that. 

So, wish me luck. Or come do my laundry. That would be way more useful than luck. ;)

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Have you mastered time management? Feel free to share your wisdom/secrets in the comments below...