You Have to Love a Sophomore

Time for Julius Caesar in my class. The sophomores amuse me during this unit. Someone always asks if they can get a copy of the play in English. (Yep. Every single year! The Bard is spinning in his grave.)

Shakespeare begins this play on an old Roman Holiday. The Lupercal or the Feast of Lupercus was the holiday set aside to honor the god of fertility. They needed a lot of little Romans to fill up their empire. So when I ask the students on the first quiz to tell me what holiday the Romans are celebrating, their answers are an exercise in creative spelling and interesting guesses. My favorite answers this year:

The Feast of Lutherans (!)

And the one that had me rolling and definitely gave me pause-

The Feast of Lubricants.

Yes, who knew grading quizzes could have the teacher laughing until the tears rolled. (Note to self: it would probably be better if you graded quizzes when there are no students in the room. You'll have less explaining to do.)

Rebuilding- A Celebration in Progress

Rebuilding a school takes time. Our noses have been pressed against the construction crew's fences for the last couple of months. There hasn't been a lot to see--mainly building materials and dirt.

But then last week, the cement trucks came rolling into Tiny Town. A lot of cement trucks. The teachers weren't jumping up and down-- but close!

This is one wing of our new high school. It doesn't look like much. But looking out from a trailer classroom--the view is nothing short of spectacular! I wonder if those workmen know that they are laying down the ground floor of all of our hopes?

Yep!

Blessings: Daughters, U Football win over Rival Team, Sunshine and Sunglasses...

some days are just about perfect!

Let the Games Begin

We have season tickets to U season football. Tailgating, big marching bands, and exciting games (sometimes)--what is not to love? The Mr., old football coach that he is, loves football in any form. His daughters must have inherited that gene.

Me? I love people watching. The two love birds above were in that position most of the game. They didn't leave the rail. I finally thought if they were willing to make such a show of their love by blocking the game and the half-time show, I might as well snap a shot or two.

I never did figure out how old they were. My guess is they were a couple of high school kids able to sneak away from parents for the afternoon. But talk about exhibitionists! No hiding in a corner for them. They put on a show for the entire end zone.

And I'm off to do some more people watching today. Oh yeah, and I hope the U team wins!

Oh So Thankful Friday

A moment or two of gratitude on Easy Street--

• We have cement! Construction has been slow at the schools being rebuilt. Yesterday, we watched cement trucks rolling through Tiny Town. One wing and the main hallway of our soon-to-be new high school now have cement floors. No walls, no roof, just a beautiful cement slab where classrooms will be. I can't begin to explain how exciting it is to see the floor plan of our school coming to life. It brought tears to my eyes to think we could be so excited about cement. Last year at this time we were still looking at tornado damaged buildings that needed to be bulldozed.


• I had a hair cut, supper with L, and a trip to Target last night. Yesterday was just a great day!


• It has taken me forever, but I am finally getting some packages mailed! I am skipping out on lunch for a bit today to accommodate Post Office hours. Gifts have been glaring at me from the dining room table for a couple of days now. Just the dust is staring me down now!


• Tomorrow is a big U football game. The Mr. and I are meeting K and L for breakfast before game time. It has been awhile since we have all been together.


• Bubble wrap. Is anything more fun than popping bubble wrap?

These are just a few of the things I am thankful for this week. Sometimes it is the big things (a new school), and sometimes it is the little things (bubble wrap); but I never have to look very hard to find things to appreciate. I hope the same is true for you!

Midweek Ramblings Again

Here we go again. My mind seems incapable of focusing on one subject today. I hate when that happens. I'm unloading here:

*K made it home safe from Philly. She had a great time. I think there was a conference in there somewhere.

*Julius Caesar. Political corruption. Envy. Manipulation. Who said Shakespeare isn't relevant?

*L now has 26 1st graders. She expects to have 30 students by Christmas. She doesn't have a classroom aide. I'm thankful L has great classroom management skills, but I hate to see her trying to keep her sanity in a tough situation.

*Leaves. What a pleasant surprise to walk up our hill on the way home from school yesterday and see that the city has picked up all of our leaves. Woo Hoo!

*Mailing packages. The problem: our Post Office closes for lunch during my plan period. It also doesn't open before school starts and closes before teachers are off the clock. Drives me crazy. It takes excellent planning and a bit of begging to actually talk to the Post Master. I feel like I live in Barney Fife land.

*Radio color commentary/sideline interviews. I think the Mr. is done for this year. He thought it was great fun. I'll be glad to be able to go out to dinner with him on Friday nights again.

*U team's big game is this weekend. That means breakfast and the game with the girls. Who needs sons when the Mr. has two die-hard football fans for daughters? Me? I'm there for the tailgating, people watching, and the half-time show. The game is just an added bonus.

*Living Like Hepburn in a Hilton World by Jordan Christie. Christie compares the Audrey Hepburn lifestyle to Paris Hilton's. A great handbook on not screwing up your life. I've already finished Catching Fire, the second of the Collins series. Next up: Life of Pi.

*Students without athletic practices. Fall sports ended. We still have two weeks before wrestling and basketball practices begin. In the meantime, I could use someone to run the energy out of the sophomores.

*Tracey. Yes, the mean girl on Biggest Loser finally went home. Terribly important stuff here.

Now that I have dumped my random thoughts here, I can start in on a new batch. My undiagnosed ADD isn't serving me very well this week.

Sweet Jobs and A Division of Labor

When the tree in the front yard starts to look like this--you can bet that the ground under the tree looks like this! Our carpet of leaves is about four inches deep. The good thing: you can't mow when there is this much raking to do!

I hate mowing the lawn. The Mr. usually gets stuck having to mow and use the weed eater. I'm good at sweeping off the steps or the patio when he finishes the mowing. I also make a mean glass of ice water for hydration and refreshment. It's a gift!

My yard work is the raking and snow shoveling. I am very territorial where those jobs are concerned. Don't touch my rake or shovel. Keep that darn leaf blower to yourself!

I've had perfect raking weather the last couple of days. These cool temperatures make me look forward to an hour or so of raking every night after school.

We have a huge pile of leaves lining our drive. I've discovered that under the leaves, we don't have much lawn. (The Mr.'s been mowing weeds?!) We could use a disguise. Green spray paint? I'm beginning to wonder if I could spread the leaves back over the yard--kind of like a toupee for the lawn! We really need to plant grass next spring.

Now we're waiting for the city to collect our leaves or for a big wind to disperse them-- whichever comes first. Right now, my money is on the wind. (The city doesn't like backing up our hill.)

Actually, we'll probably burn the leaves over the next couple of evenings. I know it isn't the best for the environment, but I love the smell of burning leaves. That's the smell of fall!

I'm pretty sure the Mr. will feel the need to do the burning. There are a few pyro tendencies in my family that he doesn't want to encourage. I have one brother who doesn't think there is anything better than a fire. It's a good thing that Dad needs to burn pastures every spring and brush piles from time to time. The Bro gets his "fix" often enough that he uses his pyro tendencies for good rather than evil.

Now that the raking is just about over, bring on the snow! I've got the shovel all polished up and ready to go.

Days Off?

Trailer High had a three day weekend. I know. I know. The community complains that the kids are never in school. Part of that can be blamed on the States.

We are required (by the State) to have a certain number of inservice days every year. It is impossible to train teachers and work on school improvement plans with students in our classrooms. The students can't be left unattended to teach themselves, so the students have a day out of school.

Most schools schedule inservice days on National Holidays. This is great for the kids and their parents. The community thinks that schools have the holidays off, even though the teachers are still working and required to attend the inservice. A little misleading, I'd say.

Parent/Teacher conferences are scheduled in the evenings for parent convenience. Since the school districts aren't willing to pay teachers for additional hours on the clock, they give us a day off for compensation. It looks like a holiday. (I guess it is for the kids.) However, the teachers have already worked the hours, so it really isn't time off for us. It is simply a trade-off.

My three day weekend started out to be a good one. I spent some time browsing at a bookstore and doing a little shopping. Then I learned that the mother of a student had died.

This mother had four sons who had gone through our school system. The Mr. coached her older sons on the football field. Her baby is a senior. She was diagnosed with leukemia on Monday and died on Friday. Talk about a shock. We lost a good friend and a huge fan of our school. Her sons lost their biggest fan, too.

My three day weekend? I had a day off from school, but no one in education really gets a day off from being a teacher. I spent a lot of my weekend worrying about and praying for four farm boys who lost their mom without time to prepare for a future without her.

I'm still trying to figure out how to take time off from being a teacher. It is kind of like taking time off from being a parent. I don't think it is possible.

Ah, November...

November is...

raking leaves, bonfires, scraping frost, turkey and dressing, hunting season, cranberries, hot apple cider, cornucopias, college football, Macy's Day parade, Thanksgiving at the farm or at the Mr.'s cousins, bare trees, dark evenings, harvest moons, holiday decorating, Black Friday, scarves and gloves, K's birthday, soups, snuggling under the electric blanket, Santa's first visit of the season...

Feel free to add your own.

I love November. It must be the Puritan in me. It reminds me of these lines from Elinor Wylie's Puritan Sonnet:

I love the look, austere, immaculate,
Of landscapes drawn in pearly monotones.
There's something in my very bones that owns,
Bare hills, cold silver on a slate of gray...

Wylie was probably talking about the winter, but I've always associated this poem with the month of November: gray, bare, and cold.

As much as I love November, the time change always throws us off a bit. The darkness at 5:30 takes some getting used to. Hibernation comes to mind. Maybe by Thanksgiving we will have all the clocks in the house changed. Who knew a household could have so many darned clocks?

October Blur

The blurriness of this picture almost made me delete it. I couldn't. They braved walking the hill. All energy and motion, the kids come and go so fast.

Trick or Treat!

I think Mickey might be sampling the loot! And the little sis couldn't be left out of the fun.

We had balmy weather for our trick or treaters. They were pretty cute: the fisherman, cheerleader, wrestler, chef, witch, lady bugs, a couple of Minnie Mouses, Mickey, and Dorothy from Oz. Even a high schooler brought me a couple of empty rolls of toilet paper. (No paper in my yard. I checked!) I'd have been worried, but his folks and little sister were with him. He is new to Trailer High this year, and they moved in just up the street. Great kid. Nice family.

I was going to give leaves instead of candy. We have a lot of leaves! I think I know what I am going to be doing this week. Strange to admit, but I like raking leaves; I especially like it if there is a bit of chill in the air.

L was home for the weekend. We walked at a park and had lunch and coffee at a sandwich shop in J town. She wanted to see the kids in costumes and watch U town football with her dad.

Meanwhile, K is in Philadelphia. (I know, L was just there last week to see "the boy.") K has a conference for the next few days, and she is excited to see the city. She hasn't been there before. And she made plans to have lunch with "the boy." (L might not have a single secret left after she gets through!)

Our girls travel all over, while the Mr. and I are lucky to have time for grocery shopping in J town. I'd say it isn't fair, but then the girls would just say, "Life isn't fair. Get over it." I think I spent most of their teen years saying that. I hate when they can use your words against you!