Snow Day

I knew I was in trouble when I looked out my window at 3am (don't ask WHY I was up THAT early!) and noticed that the 12'' of predicted snowfall had yet to come down... like at all. The ground looked the same as it has the last week. Blah. I knew there was no way they were canceling school, and I was SOOO looking forward to it too. So a few hours later, I dragged my butt out of bed to get to my substituting assignment, which was at a middle school as one of the secretaries. Usually those days are pretty easy... HA!

Except on the day that those 12'' of predicted snow that was supposed to fall during the night starts falling at 6am. By 11 the roads were bad, and by 11:15, they had called school. 2 hour early out. Awesome. Except when you are a substitute. for a secretary. the secretary that fields all the phone calls from parents. Pave texted me about 8 min after they made the announcement, "Hey did you know they were canceling school"... honestly yes, the 50 phone calls from parents that I've received in the last 8 minuets lead me to believe the rumor is true! Thanks love for making sure I wasn't uninformed... (wait, that's a double negative... but I don't know how to fix it and have the sentence make sense... holy shit... and I think I'm ready to go back to teaching.... at least it will be science, not English... who cares about double negatives in science... unless its double negative atom particles....hmmm....)

So ya... today's snow day absolutely SUCKED!! I feel bad that Pave shoveled both our driveway and our neighbors, and 3 hours later, there is AT LEAST another 2 inches covering it.... and the snow shows no sign of stopping. Which I guess is good, because we have nowhere to go, and can just enjoy it. And laugh as we watch the dog's enjoy it. That's the best part of snow falls, watching the puppies have fun! Be on the lookout for more pictures.

I found this picture on failblog.org, and about died....

ok blogger isn't letting me post it... I'll try tomorrow! For now, just click on the blog link, and it will take you to it.

2ww

For those of you who are trying to conceive, or have ever dealt with infertility issues, you know exactly what this title is.... for those of you that don't, its short for the two week wait. The two weeks that are nerve racking, symptom checking, questioning, and full of hoping between the time that you ovulated (either naturally or with drugs (mine was with drugs...)) until you can take a pregnancy test to see if it 'worked'... unfortunately two of my last three cycles have had a great end to the two week wait... positives both in September and November... only to end in my fifth and sixth miscarriages.

So, I guess I have officially entered my two week wait of our last cycle. Maybe just until he comes back from SNCO Academy (April), or maybe forever, depending on how he feels.



Joy.



I think that I have already mentally checked out of this cycle.



Period.



I also have had a rough couple of nights, the anxiety is coming back. In two weeks, if I don't see two lines, I think I'll go to my doctor about getting on some sort of anxiety medicine.

The stress of my husbands job, combined with the stress of now living in the same town as my step-daughter and her mother, and having to deal with her behavior issues (yea for having to go to 'family counseling' all five of us.... shes fine at my house, just because she is a terror at her moms... how is that MY problem.) and academic issues (which I now tutor her two nights a week, which is fine, I actually enjoy that, but point blank, its one more thing that I have to prepare for every week).

My classes have also started so that I can transfer my teaching licence. Ugh. I found out yesterday that I HAVE to take a class, that I have ALREADY taken, and actually my requirements were well above the requirements this college has. The head of the Education department happens to teach two of my classes, so he is in my corner, but still.... to have to re-do all the stuff I've done is AWESOME!

As you can tell from this post, and the fact that it is dripping with sarcasm, that is the status of my life, so for this two week wait, I will be minus the blog... next time you hear from me you'll know if this cycle worked or not!

I'll probably not even log in to read your blogs, but will dedicate a whole day to catching up when I'm 'back'. Unfortunately, I'm taking an online course, and the other ones use 'BlackBoard' to submit assignments and such, so I'll still be near e-mail, so drop me a line! :) (actually, I think right now I would enjoy detoxing from ALL types of technology... just don't see it happening).

See you on the flip side of this 2ww!

Blue Balls

This post isn't nearly as exciting as the title might lead to....

That being said, I substituted for a PE teacher yesterday. Ok, fine, no big deal.

Ya. Right.

This was literally my instructions

12:30-1:00
**Meet students in health room***
Stretching
Loco-motor activities
Duck Duck Goose/ Simon Says

1:30-2:00
***Meet students in gym***
Stretching
Loco-motor activities
Freeze Tag


Really? That's all you can give me??? What kind of stretching, what kind of activities. Well, I figured I could just ask the students what they normaly did.

Except my first class was kindergartners. Oh. My. Gosh. Things I learned about Kindergartners today:

*They don't know how to tell you something, they have to show you.
*It doesn't matter if you have reminded them to raise their hand. 15 times. They still won't.
*They are very whiny.
*They can say 'teacher' 4 times in one sentance.
*Though we've had snow on the ground for over a week, they spent the first 5 minuets after they walked in the health room standing at the window screaming "snow, snow,snow!"
*I am not able to deal with 25 kindergartners for more then 1/2 an hour and still keep my sanity.

I'll take middle school kids ANYDAY!

The second class was 1st grade and they went in the gym and did the stretching, activities, and freeze tag.
The way they play freeze tag is by getting one of those rubber playground balls and that's what they tag the people with. The balls they have are all blue. Ever few minuets or so, I would have the two students that were 'freezing' people find a friend who hadn't been a 'freezer' and pass the ball on.

It went something like this:

"Ok first graders, if you are someone who is freezing now, please pass the blue ball's onto a friend who hasn't had a change to freeze"



There was one of the janitors that was in the corner, who wasn't very old, under 30 (unlike most janitors around here are grandpa aged), and he about died laughing. It took me a second to realize what I said. Since we switched ever few minuets, I tried adjusting it to "please pass the 'freezing' balls to a new friend", "please pass your balls to a new friend", "please pass what you're holding on to freeze people with to a new friend"....

Ya, none of them really worked.

And the janitor and I laughed.

So in my 4 hour assignment, I had 2 half hour classes.... and I made a bagillion copies for other teachers with the other three hours of my day...

Today I was supposed to teach Science at a High School. I bet I wouldn't have been lucky enough to have the 'blue ball' comment go over their heads!

We had a snow day today, and will have another one tomorrow. No more snow is on the horizon, but they are expecting -20* with wind childs.... ugh.

Drug Free is the way to be!

There is no better way to start off this post then with this wicked cool award I got from Ashley at Dog Tags and Pearls. She has been an amazing friend, and it's nice because she knows about the 'fun' that being a recruiters wife is, as well as adding fertility drugs to the whole 'fun' mix!

To accept the award, all I have to do is tell all my bloggy-land friends why I'm a rockstar... but that's kinda funny, because I was Pave's cheerleader during recruiting school, and always called him my "rockstar". So I guess I'm just happy enough being a rockstar's wife! Ok, in all seriousness, I will do almost anything, but those around me will ALWAYS know how I feel about it.... good or bad! I just asked Pave if he thinks I'm a rockstar, and he said "Yes, because you did my boards" (talking about the 4 hours and 1 bottle of nail polish remover I used tonight to clean the lines off the boards listing all the people that have joined and are just waiting for jobs... he needed the squares to be smaller, because he had to many people to fit on them.... once again, proof that he's the real Rockstar in this relationship... I just do the grunt, black finger's, hand's smelling like nail polish remover, broke a nail, work).

I nominate my friend Jen at Trying to Get Knocked Up By Another Man who has been an amazing support to me while going through the whole Military Wife, military training, infertility bull shit!

I also nominate The Mrs. at Trying Our Best, because in the last few days, I have gotten many a laugh out of her. As a side note, she is looking for a hamster for her son, see, he has show and tell, and has a hamster ball, but no hamster, anyone who has an extra hamster, send it on over... double score if said hamster is pregnant! :) (go read the back story.... )

I honestly don't know if I could have made it through today with the full on fertility drug affects. Sunday was my last FSH injection, I triggered on Monday, and this morning (early- ugh!) we had our 'date', so I'm officially in my two week wait! Tomorrow I start with the Lovonox injections, which I hear bruise really bad... we shall see!





Can I once again just say, I'm sick of making dinner for 8:30pm because Pave is working late cleaning up someone else's messes.... and yes, you'll probably continue to hear me bitch about it until a)they all get resolved, b) they call someone back off of terminal leave, slap his ass with an article 15, and make him clean up the shit.... ugh!





Now that I got that off my chest, I MUST tell you about my day. I'm a substitute teacher, and I've been in this same 4th grade classroom at LEAST 4 times before this year. I have never had problems with discipline in this class (or really any other one), that's one of my 'strong suits', classroom management, which is why subbing is fun for me (I guess). Also, let me preface 'the list' by saying except for the one time that two 8th grade boys came to blows outside my classroom (I was a 'real' teacher, science, New Mexico, and one of the boy's was my little brother), I have never, NEVER, sent anyone to the principals office.... that said....


In no particular order,





*Had 3 students cry (2 boys (!), and a girl)


*Had 2 students cry twice (1 boy and the girl)


*Had a student crawl under a table and not come out because his table was being mean to him.


*Had 2 students from the 2nd grade class across the hall (who I also have subbed for several times this year) spend the better half of the afternoon with me.


*Indoor recess. Twice.


*Trying to get their attention during recess, not successful, to the point I blew my whistle.


*Knowing by noon that the only thing getting me through was the shake I was going to get on the way home.


*Looking out the window and seeing snow.... can you order a shake when it's snowing?


*1 student that I wanted to staple his pockets to the chair.


*Another student who was picked on all morning (no matter what I did) so he ate lunch with me


*Lack of a 'student free' lunch probably didn't help


*Totally spacing an assignment (again, a first for me) by setting it to the side, and forgetting about it....


* And the shining glory of today.... 2 boys SHOOTING RUBBER BANDS AT EACHOTHER.





It was at that point that I yelled (and I'm not really a yeller, but today, that all changed) to "GET OUT". I turned around, counted to ten, and started the math lesson.





All I can say is really?!? There were 6 subs in the building, and everyone I talked to had been to the class they were teaching before, and EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. said this had been the day from hell!





Maybe it was leftover's of the 5 day holiday, or the mind numbing Christmas break that is 'almost' here, or the fact its so stinking cold they haven't had outdoor recess all week, whatever it is, I've decided I'm not going to risk it tomorrow....





I'm going dress shopping!

PE= Cardio?

So yesterday I substituted for an Elementary PE teacher... we were doing 'rhythm and movement', so the whole class we were doing dancing basically.... Pave doesn't think that I should count this as cardio, but I say otherwise.

Surely 4 hours of PE will equal at least an hour of cardio right... RIGHT!?!

I'm trying to loose a little weight, because I'm cheep, and don't want to have to go buy a new formal.... we are in a new squadron, so no one knows I wore it to the ball 2 years ago!! :) It fits... but would look a little better if I could loose about 5 lbs, (or if I get lucky, 10 would be best!).

I'm "Favorited"

So, I'm a substitute for our local school system. I graduated with my teaching degree, taught a year of 3rd grade, and never looked back... My parents offered me a job in the family business, matched my salary, and gave me an expense account. Not to mention that now ever trip I took home the business paid for- BONUS! After doing that for three years, I wasn't sure I wanted to start building my up a whole new set of clients, so my Dad "fired me"... (funny how he scheduled it the SAME weekend that my little brother graduated high school!) Pave and I have been doing well paying off our debt, and with his extra duty pay it helped a little, but we still aren't at the point where I can stay at home yet. I didn't know if I wanted to teach full time again, because if I did get pregnant, I would feel horrible if they hired me, I get knocked up, and a few months later I'm put on bed rest... so we decided that I would just sub as much as I can, trying to make it a 'full time' job. I told them I would sub K-12, Monday to Friday, any position. They all pay a little different, but hey, they pay!

I've been working at least 2 days every weeks since school started, and it's awesome, because they have an online system to check for assignments, and do our time card on. This week I actually could have worked 4 days, but I had to cancel my Friday assignment because of my doctors appointment for my next scan. I love being able to walk in, teach, and walk out. No parents, no grading, no planning, nothing! I also just plug in whatever days I want as a 'non-working day', and they don't call me! Which has been great for the doctor appointments that seem to have become a weekly occurrence.

The last two days I have been in a 2nd grade classroom.

I'm exhausted.

Yesterday they were horrible... but I guess when I came back today, they figured that they didn't run me off, and so it was like a totally different class! AMAZING! I actually had fun today. I'm exhausted, but not exhausted ans stressed. As I was leaving, the secretary asked me for my phone number, because a couple other teachers were interested in having me be their sub in the future. She also said she updated the system, and made me a 'School Favorite'. I smiled and said Thank You.... what does that mean? She laughed, and then explained that now whenever their school has an opening, I get to see it online 12 hours before everyone else. Sweet! I think.

When we moved down here, another reason that I didn't want to sub full time, is because I wasn't sure if I wanted to do elementary school, or head back to a middle school environment, like when I was student teaching. Lets just say I wasn't sure I wanted to do elementary. Now I'm DAMN sure I don't want to do them... give me middle schoolers ANY day! At least for a full time job, though I have enjoyed the multitude of hugs that Kindergartner's through third graders freely give out.