Boo

Conversation with first grader:

"how do you spell book?" me
She writes boos
"That spells boos what letter did you forget?" me
"My Dad drinks booze" her
"Oh, well that spells boos like many ghosts saying boo" me
"Well, My Dad does drink booze." her
"and so does my papa,"
and on the list went... Eventually we got back to spelling book! 

Fumes

I feel like I've been running on fumes for too long. I didn't have help today until this afternoon a mom came in to help. The complete ridiculousness is burning me out.  The parents of my student have been so supportive. The complete embracing of incompetence is tiring me out. When I reflect over everything that has happened in the last month it is no wonder I am tired.  I decided to leave town in a couple of weeks. There games going on at school, but for my own sanity I need to get out of here. If someone finds fault with that they can! If I don't get a break I'm going to break! I have to go to a training tomorrow up north then come back for a game. I really hope the training is worthwhile.

My house looks like a hurricane zone again my laundry mountain is back and did I mention I am tuckered out?  I also have to do some homework for the class I am taking.  So, I am going to work on the rest part before another busy day. Hopefully, I will get my sanity back this weekend.

Blizzards, Heat, Phone!

Woke up this morning to a Blizzard. It was blowing snow. I'd say we probably got about 6 more inches. I woke up at 3 a.m. and it wasn't snowing yet. I could hear the wind starting to blow around 5 a.m. I was pretty sure we'd have some snow. One of the mom's came in and said "It is Antarctica here"!. Just 45 minutes south they didn't have anything going on. It is weird hot the storms blow through around here. 

The classroom wasn't holding much heat today. I found a couple of places where they had cut out sheet rock and you could see daylight. I went and talked to the secretary and we found a blanket to cut up and stuff in the holes. It won't keep critters out but it will keep out cold air.  I have enough heaters in my classroom now that we can stay nice and warm. It is just when you go outside of there to any room that troubles come. It is working slightly better. I don't see my breath when I'm walking down the hallway. I did find out today that they will probably start doing some renovations way sooner than we expected. Like replacing the drywall, painting, etc. The big jobs like carpet replacement will still wait till summer.  I have a feeling my classroom will be torn apart again. Uggh.

I did get my wish today. The principal stayed up north. That was a blessing. I am supposed to go to a training on Friday but then I remembered we have a basketball game Friday at 1 p.m. So I am hoping that maybe I can not go to the training. We'll see!

The co-ed team won their game tonight. I am trying to remember the final score but it escapes me. It was maybe won by 4 or 5 points. So they were pretty excited. Our gym floor is doing amazingly well. Every day is a noticeable improvement. They will still have to come in and sand it but it isn't buckling like we thought it would.

ANNNDDDD MY CELL PHONE CAME TODAY! I was VERY nervous because the contact number they put on the shipping was my cell phone number. Brilliant eh?  Luckily I was at school late because of the game and the Fed Ex guy drove up. I told him " I AM SOOOO HAPPY TO SEE YOU!" I don't think he gets greeted with such joy very often. I feel like I am connected to the world again! Hurrah!  I am sooooo happy to have a new phone.

I feel like step by step, little by little,  a bit of order is being restored in a very chaotic 2013!  

Snow and Heat

Is it awful that I really want it to snow tonight so maybe my boss won't come to school tomorrow?? I am so frustrated. I sent an e-mail to let the boss know the heat in my classroom is NOT working. Her response was to move to the tiny classroom where we had been last week. The problem in that classroom is it is next to the laundry and the grey water is backing up the smell is awful and we are sooo crowded in there! Just please, please, please get things fixed properly.  Is that really too much to ask? I borrowed three heaters along with the heaters I already had. It was nice and warm in there after that.

The kiddo's were excited by our fresh snow. One recess we did go sledding. Then we went on the playground and they were digging snow tunnels in the big piles made by the plow. They had a wonderful time re-arranging the snow. Sometimes a teacher has to get her "goofy" on and so I planted myself in the snow and made a snow angel with the kiddos. They thought that was pretty funny.

The lunch lady and my high school aides helped me get the classroom mostly back into order today.  It feels good to be back in there and the kids appreciated the breathing space. We also had access to things like computers and resources.  Weird that I would think that is important  right?? 

This has been quite the year so far. I hope I am learning a valuable lesson from all of this stress. I do feel physically better today than I have in quite awhile. I still have a cough that is keeping me up at night. It is improving though. My classroom might be the only room in the building that smells fresh and clean. I am so glad I had help washing it down. It made a huge difference. My air purifier arrived today as well so that will be great  My cell phone has not arrived yet so I am anxiously awaiting that delivery. 

P.S. I'm quite proud of myself  I "fixed" a filing cabinet drawer with a pencil and duct tape! YEP! 

Sunday

I haven't been sleeping well, in part because not feeling like I can breathe. When it wakes me up then I start thinking of everything I need to get done and then have trouble going back to sleep. It is not a good cycle. I woke up to snow today. When I went down to the school there was almost a foot of snow there and probably 8 or 9 inches at my house. Usually we have more uphill so that was kind of odd. It started snowing again this evening so we will have a snowy day tomorrow. Oh and no rugs in front of the doorways because they were all ruined in the flood. This could get interesting.

I wasn't at school for fifteen minutes and I had lost my voice. I don't know what they are doing where the mold was but the smell... well it smells like cat urine.  I didn't notice as much on Saturday because it was warm enough I opened the door and windows. I can't wait until some of these issues are resolved. I lasted about 1 1/2 hours at school before calling it quits and heading home. I had a wonderful Sunday afternoon nap. I needed it.

I caught up on dishes and a couple of other things around the house. I promised the basketball team Special K bars for helping me move all the heavy things back into place in my classroom. So I made those tonight. It is snowing pretty hard outside. The kids know if they want to play in snow they need to come in snow pants and snow boots. It might be a sledding day at school tomorrow. Which wears the kids out, which is wonderful.

There is a lot to do tomorrow to get the rest back into place. I am going to have the kids help. When I went into school the small room we were working in I went back to, to get the rest of our stuff out. It smelled terrible. There is a laundry area in that room. The grey water is backing up and oooh boy. Not good! We got out of there just in time.

Clean up!

Well, where to start. I made it through the school week. I was supposed to go to a training yesterday up north. A colleague called me the night before and said "you need to rethink this, the roads are bad, with freezing rain and freezing fog, you don't feel well, you need to rest". It was so nice to have someone from work worry about me enough to say that. I was done in. I went to work when I should've stayed home because they weren't calling a substitute for me. I needed to stay home and rest. I felt so relieved that I could say "I can't do this"!  I emailed my boss and she suggested I go to a different training next week. It isn't for my grade levels but hopefully  I will get something out of it.

Then yesterday my cell phone finally said "ENOUGH" and quit working. It hung up on a couple of people then just went completely off and even with recharging it refused to turn on again. Luckily I was due for an upgrade. My mom went in and picked it up for me and my brother told her which phone to get. So it will all be a surprise to me. I will just be glad to have phone service again.

I needed to put my classroom back together today but I wanted to be sure it was as clean as I could possibly get it. I recruited some mom's to come help me. One ended up in the hospital before coming, one bought some goats the day before that did a disappearing act when they got them home, one had a basketball game, so one ended up showing up to help me. I can't believe how much we got done in one day. I am completely pooped. I got in their early and took everything off the walls and started making a list of what needed replacing. Then the mom came and we washed all the walls, vacuumed everything, and got most things put back into place. It was such a relief you can't even imagine. One of my bookshelves took a dive and broke. I think it was pretty brittle and of poor quality so I wasn't surprised. I will still need to go in to school tomorrow to get stuff back up on the walls and put the desks into place. I know my students will be sooooooo excited to have room to breath and move. I can't wait to be back in my classroom instead of the postage stamp room we were in before.

I had a longer list than I thought I would of what needed to be replaced. Water gets into places you just never think about. It is impressive what a dehumidifier can do though because a lot more would've gotten ruined. I threw out a carpet that was in my room and the janitor was insisting I keep it. It had been there a long time and was completely immersed in water. I said something to someone else and turned my back for awhile. The carpet is gone, it's a mystery where it will end up :)! 

I was playing some music in our classroom last week of math concepts. It was so fun to sit and the back of the room and watch the heads moving and the hips wiggling to the music. I put the c.d. player on repeat and they heard them over and over again. The songs start to run through your head in your sleep. It is good though because hopefully they will remember all of these math concepts through the songs.

I am so worn out tonight. The high school basketball team wanted me to come out to one of the ranches for a little party they're having for the team. I had to decline. I need to rest another busy week is on its way.

Small Spaces

I probably shouldn't have but I went in to work today. Since they have trouble calling in a substitute I feel like I have to go in sick or not. The area where the mold was was cut out and covered with plastic. The rest of the school hadn't changed much just a few less fans and dehumidifiers. There is a smell in the air and your throat gets choked up after you are there awhile.  I did recess outside and I went every time. I needed the fresh air myself.  We can't put our rooms back in order until the insurance agent comes through and re-assesses the damage. This is so frustrating because we are cramped in a tiny space. The kids are having trouble concentrating as well. It is just crowded.

One of my kiddos I was really afraid the parents were going to take the kiddo and head south for winter. The mom came in and talked to me today and they decided they couldn't do that to me or the student. WHEW!  This is a student that just shines in so many ways. It would've been hard on me to have the student go.

I am thinking I am going to have to invest in some bleach and take everything outside to air it out. I wish I could explain what a mess this is but I don't know how to do it justice. I  have so much more empathy for people who've been through flooding now. Just when you think the clean up is done you find something else. The basketball coach is really frustrated with everything.  They actually told us if we bounced on the gym floor too much it could cause the nails to pop up. That doesn't seem to bother anyone except the h.s. coach. I think they should stay off the floor even for p.e. until we are in a safer zone. That wouldn't be a popular decision.

One of my students had a couple of melt downs today. This one had been sick as well and this was the first day back to school. I held the student and said " pajamas, pillows, and blankets and a lonnnnnnng nap sound good right now don't they?"  We both agreed that if we could, we would definitely be home in pj's. We all survived another day amidst the chaos. I  am ready to have my cold over and some kind of return to normal. The room  we are in right now is next to the gym. This isn't fun when the older kids play at lunch and during p.e. It sounds like they are  bouncing the ball in our classroom.

As I type this I had to shake my head. There is one truck that drives through town with its dog in the back head hanging out the window. I know when they've gone down the hill, and back up the hill, and home! The dog barks the whole way. I hope for the sake of their neighbors the dog doesn't do this at home.  I know this is a recurring theme but guess what? I misplaced my keys... AGAIN! I couldn't have gotten home without them so I know they are round about here somewhere. I think my keys are a perfect example of how well my brain is working this week. 

Denim, Nyquil, and Maintenance

I'm trying to remember everything that has happened and luckily I think I have some cold medicine induced amnesia. They said the mold was no longer a problem. I am not sure how they took care of the mold (after putting a blower on it and spreading spores around the school), but it was enough to convince most parents to bring their kids back.  Some kids were sick and stayed home.  My classroom is still torn up and we are still operating in a tiny room across the hall. I was sick today and since my colleague only had two students today they made her teach my class. Sounds like she resented it a little bit, but what are you going to do. I am going back to school tomorrow. I don't think I should but I think I'd better. Not sure if that makes sense. Some kids do not deal well with a change of routine and usually they are the ones who need structure in their life the most. So for them I need to go back so they feel a sense of normalcy amidst the chaos.

I slept most of the night and most of the day because of a Nyquil Coma.  I rarely use it because it does knock me out so completely. When you can't rest because of your coughing it helps. Like I said before I rarely use it. I usually don't take cold medicine at all. I just up my vitamins and wait to get better. Sometimes the way cold medicine makes me feel is worse than the cold itself. 

In the midst of all my cold crankiness  I did get some laundry done. I even dyed my blue jeans blue. Ha! I've been wanting to do that because I don't like it when BLUE blue jeans are faded. I've been wanting to dye them for awhile but was afraid of the whole process. I just did it in the washing machine which makes it a lot less work. Dyeing in the washing machine makes the washer a mess. Most of them came out really well. So that was a new experiment for me.  My laundry pile was quite the mountain.

I don't know when I will be allowed back into my classroom. My aide/lunch lady told me to delegate and take it a day at a time. I have a plan just not the energy to execute the plan right now. I can use the high school boys to put the heavy things in their place. Right now they are turning the fans off during school hours... which I am sure means we are turning the fans off during school hours.  From what I learned today the heating system is still not working. The principal told parents to call the school board or the superintendent. I am trying to figure out why the maintenance requests are ignored. I hate to blame maintenance because they have to have their spending approved. If they aren't given the dollars to fix something their hands are tied. It looks like there is a  lot of finger pointing going on. I don't care who is to blame I just want them to fix it!

I surrender!

I finally had to give it up and acknowledge that my allergies went into a cold and hopefully not more than that. Breathing all the nastiness I think weakened my immune system. I realized today that I am running a
small fever and had the chills off and on. Thank goodness for all that soup I made and froze. My favorite soup with this cold has been Taco Soup. Maybe it is the spices that make my nose run that make it so wonderful. Maybe it is that when you have a cold your taste buds are on the "fritz" and it has flavor. Maybe it is just eating something hot that makes it tasty. Whatever it is I am glad I made it because I haven't felt like doing much but whinging. 

I read a fascinating fact that if you lose something say it's name over and over again and that will help you find it. Luckily no one was around to hear me saying "laundry room key" again and again. I am very good about hanging it in the same place and it has a neon pink lanyard. I couldn't figure out what I did with it. My laundry pile was getting scary. I thought about trying the "credit card" trick to open the door. I practiced it on the bathroom door and managed to get it to work. The Laundry room door is a lot sturdier than that. I kept looking and looking. Of course it ended up in the most obvious place. Hanging from my vacuum cleaner it blended in with the bright orange cord on the vacuum. Sigh.. it's been one of those weeks or something. 

So now that I have the key I have to do some laundry. Yippee Skippee. I probably need to make another pot of soup because I am not sure what nuttiness this week will bring.

Good Attitude..

I've been failing lately at maintaining a positive attitude. I wasn't going to go down to the school today but the secretary asked me to. I went down and was completely overwhelmed. I just looked around and my shoulders sagged. I am not sure what is my responsibility, what isn't, what shouldn't be but is. It is  a mess. It really defies logic the process they have decided to go through to take care of the problem. I know very little about construction... but I know enough to know there is a lot being done backwards in this process.  It is wearing me out.

I think why it bothers me so much is that they expect small children to go back into this environment and learn. We'd be better off in a tent  out in the parking lot with a wood stove.  At least there would be some fresh air available.

Today I missed my good friends baby shower up north. I missed her face!  I am not a baby shower/wedding shower type of person. So if I give one I try to up the fun stakes. If their is chocolate cake it makes it all  "more better"  smile!  I will go to them for good friends.... otherwise I'm quite busy that day!  I can't for my friend to get her special delivery.

So  I am working on having a better attitude. I think when I am feeling better it will help. Homemade soup from the freezer helps too! Thank goodness  for homemade soup! 

Silver Linings via the Lunch Lady

Well, let's see the Dr. said I have allergy induced asthma (duh). So I got and inhaler and some antihistamines. The principal called me in the morning and only five students came to school so she decided to cancel school until Tuesday. The principal was NOT happy withe the students and parents for keeping their kids home. It sounded like the air quality was worse today than yesterday. I think we all needed to get out of that environment. Everyone I talked to that was there today sounds like they are getting a cold so it wasn't doing much for their health. The principal said if the students can't come to school they can't play their games on the weekend. Oh brother, If they were just ditching school I could understand.  Anyhow, so the principal is punishing them for not coming. So I had to cancel the games. I felt really bad but what else could I do.

I didn't get a lot done for my class but I did get a good starting point. Now I have a five day weekend to work on it so I can send it in to them to take a look at it and get some feedback. I was able to do a little shopping up north and got some new boots that aren't water logged and restocked on my groceries. There are always a few things they end up not having. So hopefully my next shopping trip will have those items.

The lunch lady called me and she gave me a list of silver linings about all of this drama. She talked the senior center who makes our lunches into getting rid of this thick hard multi-grained bread off the menu.She also talked them out of the nasty fake cheese sauce they put on the macaroni and cheese. You know when kids refuse to eat macaroni and cheese something is wrong. They are making mac-and-cheese from scratch now and are letting the kids vote on a couple new options. Most of the lunches are amazingly good so the couple of things that weren't good really stood out. 

The other silver lining was she is going to help me re-arrange my room and help me get more organized. Since everything had to be moved it is a great opportunity to try something different. She also told me she was hiring an interior decorator  to redo my room. So basically the lunch lady gave me a few laughs to help me move past the nonsense. It was appreciated. 

The last silver lining was they discovered black mold from a leak we had last year. Since all this testing was done it was found and is going to be taken care of. 

Given a little more time I will come up with some of my own. Today though I really appreciated the lunch lady for the laughs.  So this weekend will be some school work, some house cleaning, some laundry, and some rest. All of those are needed. 

Appendix

Well, the good news... it looks like we cleaned the gym floor soon enough to save it. I was down at the school all day yesterday cleaning up and getting ready for the cleaners to come in and work on phase two of the flood cleanup. The fans were blowing all day and the humidifiers running. They maintenance crew came and worked on the heating system and "jerry-rigged" it so that it is kind of working. Sort of. Anyhow, the principal and the super pushed very hard to have the school back open today. Even though when they left yesterday the hygienic report had not been done. That is the report that checks for mold, mildew, asbestos and other pleasantries. They also schedule the drillers to come in to check the walls for moisture etc, the fire marshal, the cleaners, phone company and more. I am not sure why they thought it would be good to have learning going on during all of that. I can only think that it comes down to money. It is not a healthy environment to work, breath, or learn in.

I went home last night exhausted, not feeling well, and frustrated. I realized today that whatever the fans are blowing around triggered my allergies and my lungs feel tight. I am going in to a Dr. tomorrow so hopefully I will be breathing a little easier. My poor sub said the room was cold and she had brought in her own heater. She said the humidity was high and it really smelled. All of the students were complaining of sore throats by the end of the day. She also said the copier wasn't working along with the phone systems. Another teacher also called me and said the dust from the drilling, the lack of heat, the moisture, the who knows what blowing through the fans made an unpleasant day. 

So I made it to a northerly town for my training today. I had numerous phone calls about many things school related. The principal told me to contact the secretary and I kept trying without an answer. I finally got through and she was in the hospital having an emergency appendectomy. So there ya go. She will be out for awhile. I can only hope her sub is efficient and on top of things. It was good to come up north for my class but I am totally pooped.  I went out to dinner with some colleagues and did a quick grocery store stop and came back to go to bed.  Tomorrow I am going to the Dr. before class to hopefully get some help. 

It has been an eventful couple of weeks, I  am ready for some rest.

Floods and Freezing

Well.... you know what happens when you don't fix the fans that move heat through the school? Yep you guessed it pipes freeze!  GO figure. I kept saying we're so lucky a pipe hasn't frozen. Well one of the pipes in the ceilings froze. It flooded virtually every room in the school.  Luckily it froze near the entrance of the school and it didn't come from above in every room. I am really disgusted because this could have been prevented. I know we will have to get all new flooring throughout the school. The gym floor has started buckling so that will have to be replaced as well. If you've ever had flood damage you know how it can seep up  through things so I think we only have a glimpse of the damage done.  I am not sure how cold it is here tonight but it is well below zero.

I called all of the parents and we canceled school for sure tomorrow but I am not sure about the following day yet. We had to turn off our server and the back up battery. The back up battery was sitting in water. I am not sure when we will have computer access again. My boots were soaked through and my pant legs were soaked up to my knees. I had to go home and change after we had the worst taken care of.

I was defrosting hamburger to make soup tonight so I made a pot and took it down to the school along with some Hot Chocolate. We made coffee and Hot Chocolate so hopefully the workers sent in to do clean up will stay awake until it is done!  I know Hot Chocolate doesn't need to be capitalized. If you are me and it is your go to hot drink, you would capitalize it as well! :) 

What a long weekend. We are meeting for breakfast in the morning. I can't even imagine what a long process this is going to be. Getting anything replaced will take a long, long, time!  The people who came to do clean up have been very busy in our state this year. They actually had to go purchase more equipment to bring to our school. The pipe was near the entrance, the heat wasn't working, and there was no insulation around the pipe. UGGH.....


Tomorrow morning we are meeting at a local cafe for breakfast and then going to work. I am so glad to come home to an electric mattress pad and a warm bed. G'nite

5 Feels Like -5

Not sure how cold it will get tonight but it is already way up on the "BRRRRRRR" Scale!  I don't know if you measure coldness by that where you live I think it is fairly accurate!  We had a Jr. High ball game this afternoon. I got to school to make sure as much as possible was ready and guess what?????? NO HEAT!!!!! The fans were pushing cold air! I am so irritated by this. The silver lining is that people spent a lot on concessions. They'd spend a lot to stay warm.

There was a funeral today for a former town resident that grew up here. I didn't attend the funeral just talked with some of the family. It was extraordinarily sad on so many levels. It sounded like this guy wasted his life. He ended up dying of an overdose. Do you know how they are celebrating this sad life after the funeral?   By going out and getting as wasted as possible. It does not make sense to me. Very sad. 

They are opening the bar below my apartment tonight to continuing "honoring?" the deceased.  Luckily I ran into a nice person at the gas station  who invited me to stay at their house. They are a colleague and understand! When I went to the gas station many of the funeral attendee's were there buying more beer. They seemed like a rough and rowdy bunch and I want do not want to be home. I have a feeling things won't go down well on the bar scene this evening.

My parents went over a hill to a different sort of funeral today for my Great Aunt. It sounds like they honored her life in many special ways. I'm glad my Granny will have her brother for comfort.

I am quite jealous because after the funeral my parents got to hang out for a little bit with my adorable little cousins. I will get over it but expect pouting!   Stay warm where ever you may be.

Blizzards and Brains

One of my students seemed to have left the brain at home. After awhile I teased and said
 " When you woke up this morning did you take your brain out and leave it on your bed?"  
With disgust student  replied  "Noooo, Miss C. I don't have a zipper on my head! Hello!"  Eventually this student managed to reboot the system and get to work.  

One half of my class was gone today either due to sickness or the blizzard. So we kind of had an easy day where we caught up on things and did some online work. I probably don't let them online as much as I should in this digital age. However, using it as a reward works well!  It was snowing hard this morning but then stopped for most of the day until the kids were leaving school for the day. It started up again fast and furious. Basketball practice was cancelled to give everyone time to get home. I ended up leaving school late and it was dark. I could barely see the snow was coming down and it was blowing. The median bumps helped me to stay out of the middle of the highway.  On the way to school I managed to follow the snowplow on the main highway and on the way home as well. So that helped. I parked off the street so hopefully they will plow in front of my house. 

It isn't that we have gotten a lot of snow so far. It is just that the wind blows it and it drifts quite quickly. It doesn't take a significant snowfall to make some serious drifts.  Monday we will have a lot of spelling tests to make up. I have a class on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hopefully, the storm will have moved on quite a bit by then so that I can get there safely.

We continue our reading of "Strawberry Girl" by Lois Lenski. A staple food in the story is Hominy Grits. The kids really have no experience with grits. I decided next trip to town I need to get some and cook them up. I have no experience with cooking grits but I'll just make it "Dad" style and add extra butter.  I am thankful it is the end of the week. I am hoping all of the sick kiddo's or just getting sick kiddos get healthy over the weekend. Then maybe they won't bring it back to school. We've been lucky so far not to have any illnesses pass through school. I think most of the germs were shared and brought back from Christmas Vacation.  It has been so cold and my gloves as thick as they are don't really stand up to the cold. Which makes my hands hurt. I also have a huge pair of Artic Mittens. Once I've put them on the last thing I want to do is remove them. They completely do the job though. My hands stay toasty. I need to get a thicker pair of regular gloves because it is difficult to do much in mittens.  Well, stay warm...
G'nite

Their, There, They're...

I am constantly re-teaching my students the difference between the three "There" words. However, I keep catching myself making the same mistake. I am saying "their" in my head and typing "there"! Uggh!! This is why we need someone to read our writing once in awhile. Grammatical errors are quite easy! I apologize in advance for the errors that will no doubt occur... right now...and in the future.

The grammar program we are currently using is really great. I am learning so much from it. It is systematic and reviews the same concepts so many times it really helps it sink in. I only wish they had a program for first grade. I guess just getting first graders writing at all is the challenge. I really noticed last year and this year I really had to push them to write at all. Right now I feel like I've accomplished something major when I get them to write two complete sentences. I am going to keep pushing hard because they need to be doing better than this!

I have started my kindergarten student on spelling tests. Kinder really feels grown up when Kinder does the spelling test. Kinder is VERY ready for it though. Kinder is a capable reader for beginning phonics books but a little resistant. Why should Kinder read when others can read much more interesting books to Kinder?

We are supposed to get more snow tonight and I am looking forward to it. I love how it brightens everything up! I moved my car off the street. That way if the plow comes through or the sander in front of the saloon will get done. It has been kind of a nutty week. I had a couple students out running fevers. Hopefully, they don't share it. I am taking Airborne and hoping for the best.

Melodious

I am reading "Strawberry Girl" by Lois Lenski to my class. It is a great story lots of  lessons and laughs. Today in our chapter the family went to a "sing" at church. The organ music was described as "melodious". A bouncy enthusiastic kindergarten boy's hand shot in the air.

"What does melodious mean?"  Kinder
"It means it sounds beautiful." Me
"Oh! How Romantic!" Kinder

The giggles started there! It was a difficult chapter to get through today because of many interruptions. The students didn't want to just listen to the story but share their own. I wasn't sure we'd ever finish the chapter. One of my third graders got frustrated and hollered out "NO MORE INTERRUPTIONS!" We made it through the chapter.


Sad news: I found out my great aunt passed away today. She was very special to my granny. She brought her many meals, drove her to town for shopping and doctor appointments. She always took a lot of time for my Granny. So my thoughts are with my Great Uncle and his family.

heat, soup, hash...

Well.... yep NO HEAT! I am resigned to the situation at this point. The janitor came in and started the heaters at 5 a.m. I am uncertain of consistency with this  helpfulness, but I did appreciate it today. I heard rumors it was working on Friday but it doesn't last long. The kids come in from outside at recess and take off their coats. It doesn't take long before they ask to go get their coat on again. So there it is the cold continues. Our menopausal secretary sits at the desk in her scarf, hat, and triple layers and dreams of having a hot flash.

I defrosted some taco soup I'd made quite awhile back for dinner tonight. It really hit the spot. I forgot to label the container and as it was defrosting I remembered... yummy Taco Soup. I didn't have tortilla chips or tortillas to go with it but it was hot and good!

Tonight I am making  some corned beef hash to eat on! I remembered the pepper dad!  It is a great wintertime dish. Hot filling and easy to make. I will freeze some of it as well. There are too many late evenings at school. Then I come home and think "Cook? Yeah Right!"  So I love my previously made frozen dinners. The ones made by me that is. Once in awhile when I hit the store I grab a frozen dinner from the frozen section....then later say to myself "WHY DID I BUY THIS?".  So, I am getting better all the time at figuring out what dinners I can make ahead and freeze. Some freeze better than others so this is a continuous experiment  .

This is the time of year to buy ice cream, frozen juice, and Popsicles. I haven't figured out how to get them home in the summer unless I purchase it from the Schwan's truck. I don't often crave ice cream and luckily one of the restaurants has an ice cream machine. However, if one wants to prevent scurvy and the like, you must purchase your frozen juice in the winter. So it is on my list.

I need to go turn the potatoes... G'nite

Death of a Kindle

My poor Kindle finally gave up and died. I doubt many people used their Kindle as much as I did. It has went with me everywhere. It has delivered books with barely any service in the boonies. It fell in the bathtub once but with a couple of days to dry it started up again. This device has alleviated boredom in the boonies time and time again. Sigh. I had a back up Kindle that I would use once in awhile but it wasn't connected to the 3G network which made it impractical where I am at. Anyhow it will do until I decide which device I want to get next time.  I may stick with the old boring standby. I am tempted by the  Paperwhite which lights up according to where you are at. I just see that wearing out sooner along with the touch screen. I looked at the Kindle Fire which have all kinds of  apps and fun things. As tempting as that is I just want to read books on it not play " Clouds and Sheep" before going to bed. I want it to remain an object of relaxation, not an object of  so much entertainment I stay connected in my sleep.  So I think I've pretty much made my mind up to go with the "old school" Kindle.  It is just a bummer. I read every single day at some point.  So goodbye old Kindle you served me well.

Let there be HEAT!

Brrr, second day in a row without heat. I ran the space heaters in my classroom all day. We partook of Hot Cocoa and tried to get some work done. Sitting in the classroom in hats and coats seems a little nuts but it is true. Getting kids working isn't very easy when they are cold. Luckily most of them brought snowsuits so that they could play in the snow. So they could put on another layer if needed.  Our low last night was 10 below. When the kids arrived at 7:45 it was 3 below. Takes a building a long time to heat up under those conditions. Apparently our boiler is heating it just isn't pushing air. I guess we should've had class in the boiler room.  I finally decided I'd had enough this afternoon and contacted a school board member. Hopefully, someone will be down over the weekend. My old aid stopped by after school yesterday and brought an electric teakettle, hot cocoa, and cups. I really appreciated that. I needed to cook something hot for dinner, haven't decided what that will be yet. I might just heat up some soup.  One of my high school aids said she went home and her parents were asking her why she was so cranky. She finally said  "cause I was cold all day long". It does make you feel kind of cranky when you can never get warm. I am looking forward to my electric mattress pad and a good nights sleep!