Aquarium Contrarium

Run Run Run

2008-11-19T08:06:00.002-06:00

Everyone knows I'm a little busy. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Well, because I eat it up. On toast.

I worked on two local campaigns this fall in addition to running the election. One of them won. One of them is in a runoff set for mid-December. So there's still more work to do. At a "war room" meeting for the second campaign, I was asked by a former party leader to run for a leadership position in the party in 2010. Woah, I didn't expect that! It means some travel locally and meeting lots of people between now and then, and keeping my name and my face in front of them. I could actually get this position, and it would mean a seat at the table for the state party.

I'm also back to teaching drama, a big fun job which is as good as ever. Fewer classes but bigger ones. That's really good. Productions are easier to put together when the cast is large enough to have choices.

One bad thing, I'm now addicted to Facebook. Like I needed that.

And I'm still studying my parliamentary procedure.

But for now, the coolest thing I can think of that I'm doing these days is that I've become a columnist!

Conservative Oasis

It's a small site, but who knows where this ends up?

Free!

2008-10-24T09:46:00.003-05:00

Love this from my friend Murphy's blog, whom I am totally ripping off:

Free is not always better.

Top Ten Reasons Hurricane Season Is Like Christmas

2008-09-30T09:26:00.002-05:00

Number Ten: Decorating the house (with plywood).
Number Nine: Dragging out boxes that haven’t been used since last season.
Number Eight: Last minute shopping in crowded stores.
Number Seven: Regular TV shows pre-empted for ‘Specials’.
Number Six: Family coming to stay with you.
Number Five: Family and friends from out of state calling you.
Number Four: Buying food you don’t normally buy . . . and in large quantities.
Number Three: Days off from work.
Number Two: Candles.
Number One reason Hurricane Season is like Christmas: At some point you’re probably going to have a tree in your house!

Dog Day

2008-09-29T13:20:00.008-05:00

Just for fun, I occasionally take the pooches to the Bark Park. The Millie Bush Bark Park, to be precise, which certainly cracks me up. But sometimes when I go, the poochinis don't want to play nice. If there are men around, Cowgirl goes a little nuts protecting me, and sometimes Spot thinks he's Big and Bad and tries to chase dogs three times his size.

It's easier not to go there.

So I stumbled on a little soccer field bordered by woods, and I've begin taking them there. I keep them off the fields, don't worry. We go straight to the edge of the woods. They love this place so much, all I have to do is say the word "RIDE?" and they are in the car. Witness:

Lately they've been tracking down squirrels and birds and they even surprised a rabbit out of some underbrush by a lone tree and sent it back into the woods for cover. They treed a squirrel recently, and the squirrel sat on the branch teasing and scolding them. They are far too slow to catch these critters, but they love the chase. By the time they notice a varmint, the varmint is already long gone.

There are deer who live in those woods and occasionally come out to wander on the edge of the fields. I wonder if that's what they smell when they dash to the edge of the woods.

Good thing they're too chicken to go find out.

FEMA - your tax dollars at work

2008-09-25T08:00:00.002-05:00

Now, I'm usually a fan of self-reliance. But then, I haven't been two weeks without power and ice and water and work. After a while, that has to get to you. But FEMA, this federal agency with a gazillion dollars to pour into communities in an emergency, just can't seem to get anything right.

Three neighbors. Same street, same answers to questions, same EVERYTHING. One denied, one pending, one approved.

And now this story, where FEMA sent trucks full of ice to Seguin, outside of San Antonio, in order to dump them on the runway of an airport out of view of reporters. Heh heh, reporters caught them anyway.

When some truckers consented to an interview, a man wearing a FEMA shirt arrived on a golf cart within moments and threatened to have the truckers fired.
"This conversation is over," he told the truckers. "Or you guys will not be here any longer."

And this is a part of the agency charged with keeping the country safe? Of patrolling the border?

2008-09-24T19:11:00.003-05:00

Mailbag:

No bills today. That's good. We're pounding away on the credit mess we're in, so we're in high gear. It helps that several credit card companies gave us a month or so free ride due to hurricane expenses. That never sucks. We're using that money to build up the emergency fund ala Dave Ramsey. And get everyone glasses or contacts. Poor Little Critter needs glasses. I was hoping we could have ONE child who didn't. Nope. Plus braces are also an impending necessity, so we're working towards that as well.

Also, I got the new Texas Association of Parliamentarians roster today, and lo, my name is on there as an actual listed at-large member. Coolness! There are less than 400 of us in the state. Pretty exclusive, eh?

When Fish have a bad day

2008-09-20T20:26:00.002-05:00

Here are more pictures around the area.

Third World Country

2008-09-19T13:22:00.008-05:00

All the posts were once holding up houses.

And some of them may never be able to go home again to try to rebuild, if this is any indication. You can debate the stupidity of people who live on the edge of the water all you want. It was still someone's home, and that has to hurt.

My daughter just called - she heard through some connections that they've identified 47 bodies in a flyover of the marshes north of Bolivar. I don't know if it's true, but if it is, it's being well hidden. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY is talking about this. I said Saturday afternoon they'd find the bodies of all those people in the marshes, and I hope I am not right and that this is wild rumor.

Somehow I doubt it.

In the dark

2008-09-17T19:18:00.004-05:00

Red=no power.

Blue=water.

Bolivar Peninsula etc.

2008-09-16T08:37:00.003-05:00

I spent a lot of my childhood in our family's beach cabin on Bolivar Peninsula, across the ferry from Galveston. Everyone knows Galveston. Hardly anyone knows Bolivar. It was the beach for the rest of us, little towns made up of summer visitors and year-long residents and renters and fishermen and shrimpers.

Here are some amazing pictures of the devastation. One town has two houses left out of over 250.

Meanwhile my own world is only slightly less comfortable than it was before. Grocery stores are crowded and have no frozen food or dairy, and they are closing early. Gas lines are two or three cars deep most times unless everyone else is trying to get gas at the same time. I paid $3.59 for gas last night. It takes a while to get through the drive-through lines - nobody wants to cook and I don't blame them. We had power back within 15 hours of losing it, and so we slept Saturday night in air conditioned comfort.

Houston proper, however, has a long way to go.

The Beaumont Enterprise, my hometown newspaper, has a series of interesting photos of the damage there. I have a relative on the paper who rode out the storm on one of the emergency staging ships loaded up with fire trucks and ambulances and everything. Apparently one of the graveyards there was washed up and caskets floated down the road. I don't know if there are pictures of that.

The president is coming today to Galveston and Houston, but Beaumont, Orange, and Bolivar aren't getting any attention at all. Nobody realizes that power is still out as far north as Huntsville in places.

Back in the saddle

2008-09-10T14:40:00.003-05:00

Oh, yeah, the Fish is back.

I got my study materials yesterday. 1200 possible questions. This is probably comparable to the LSATs! Or the bar exam even! I read the first question and just put the book down and walked away.

I start teaching tomorrow, and I can't wait. I need to get back to my kiddos. It's been too long since May.

I'm also busy trying to find people to work the election with me in November. Everyone is excited about it but few want to be there at the polls. I guess after the primaries I don't blame them, but it shouldn't be this hard to get people to give up one day to make sure everyone can vote.

/rant. But it still makes me a little frustrated.

On the plus side, my range hood and top of my fridge are spotless. FLYlady rocks!

But that's just in time for Hurricane Ike to take a trip through the neighborhood. Lots of water, a full gas tank, lots of lunchmeat, ice, soda, bread and chips, so we won't starve. I'm just worried about the winds breaking my flimsy windows. We'll be policing the area for projectiles, but with next-door neighbors like we have, who knows what possible missiles could be launched.

The news is full of projected paths, stories of past hurricanes and evacuation orders. They're basically telling us inland in west Harris County to hunker down and ride it out, then leave afterwards if we need to. In downtown Houston they're warning of possible 100+ mph winds intensified by the tall buildings. And all over Texas the most urgent warnings of all: college football games may have to be moved or rescheduled. THAT shows how serious it is.

The first bad thing

2008-09-08T23:20:00.002-05:00

My mentor Bill is in a rehab facility after a stroke. Bill has been a Party Animal for four decades, and is a Rules maven. Now he can barely get out a couple of sentences before he's gasping for breath. He looks so worn out from the pain and stress. He missed the convention in St. Paul and feels he has to resign as precinct chair, so I know it has to be driving him crazy. I ordered the study materials for the Registered Parliamentarian test, and that made him happy that I'll be trying that. Now it's a matter of pride - I have to pass it for Bill.

Tap Tap

2008-09-08T22:46:00.003-05:00

Wow, I finally figure out how to get back into my blog and everything on this side looks different! I've got to figure all this out before I lose entire posts or something.

Madame Secretary II

2008-06-20T09:24:00.006-05:00

Wow, State convention at home is MUCH HARDER than going off to a convention elsewhere. It's been years since they had it here, and I'd forgotten the grueling schedule. Besides, the first time around, I was really a spectator. This time I was early to everything and late to leave. I made it on about three hours of sleep a night since I had to drive back and forth an hour each way to get there and go home. (Never again: if they hold this in Houston again I am selling everything not nailed down to get a room. I was so tired and migrained-out by Saturday we had to pull over on the way home for me to throw up.)

This time I e-mailed the Senate District chair and told him I'd be happy to help out, so he asked me to be secretary again. Good thinking, actually, because the meetings were much shorter and I met many more people. Doing that job consisted of two meetings wherein I had to write down names of people being elected and time speakers. Way cool. And while I was up there doing that, the parliamentarian, an old hero of mine, gave me a treat.

Bill is the longtime parliamentary expert in my SD. He taught a "How to Get Involved in Your Precinct Convention" class ten years ago, and I hung on every word. Over the years I'd talked to him occasionally about political stuff at meetings, but he barely seemed to remember me. This year, however, when I worked on the Rules Committee for the SD, I told him that I had passed the Parliamentary Exam with a perfect score, and THAT got his attention.

He began talking about having me move into his slot as parliamentarian. This makes sense as he's getting older, but I also think he likes the idea of mentoring someone. Besides, nobody else seems the least interested in doing it. That's how I found my way to being elected from our SD to the County Rules Committee, a good first step, even if I ran unopposed. Bill got appointed to the committee so he didn't have to go through the election process, and he'll be there to help me out. But at this meeting it sounded as if Bill is thinking of moving me into his slot on the STATE RULES COMMITTEE. Gulp!

So at the SD meeting at State, I was telling Bill how I had been at the Rules committee meeting until eleven the night before, watching him and his counterparts argue over things like adding the word "intentional" to a rule. He hadn't believed I was interested so much until I said that, so I replied "Bill, I've been going to those meetings for eight years, four conventions now; didn't you know that?" Apparently this impressed him to no end because NOBODY goes to those meetings unless they have a particular rule change to advocate.

After we talk and the meeting comes to order, Bill gets up to report on the Rules Committee meeting to the SD body. In the course of his report he mentions me twice as a parliamentarian and as a person who has an abiding interest in the rules, so much so that I go sit through these dull meetings. I have to say, it's nice to be recognized for being a nerd.

Later that evening I met up with a high school buddy who wanted to take me to a Young Republican event. With nothing better to do, I went, and it made me feel old. They're all in their late twenties, but one of them is a city councilman in the small town where my friend lives. Yeesh!

However, at that event the guy running for our SD in the Texas Senate strolled in. Since I was secretary, he remembered me, and came over. We chatted for a bit, but then he burst out with "I have to tell you, I've never heard Bill sing anyone's praises so warmly, ever. Not once, but twice!" Which makes me feel all sorts of special, I have to say. I'll probably end up working for his campaign, but first there's the Rules meeting on Monday where I get to sit at the grown-up table for the first time.

It may take a while, but yes, I am on my way to ruling the world. In such a nerdy way, too.

I'm Done with Nice

2008-06-03T18:18:00.002-05:00

Yep, school's out and never was I so glad of it. The year has been completely draining, and so I'm making up for lost time with the pool. I've got a wee burn in a couple of places, but otherwise it's all good poolside.

But here's the downside. We have an audit due in a week or two, and there will be an investigation. Not of me, exactly, but an investigation into Where Some Money Went. I've been kicking up a fuss over this for months, so hopefully this will tend to relieve me of suspicion. Still, it irks me that it has taken half a year to get this dealt with.

Back in December we bought cameras to take pictures of events that we could print for immediate use. For example, if we had Santa come, we could have a picture taken and printed for the kids to take home. The photographers decided the printing was too slow so they decided to return the cameras. This is fine, as far as it goes. However, the photographer didn't take the Sam's Card with her and could not return them herself. She then gave them to the president to return, reasoning that the president could get her hands on the card at leisure.

This is where it breaks down. The president returned them, all right, but it's June and I haven't seen the money.

This isn't the only time, either. In April she sold T-shirts at our carnival and didn't turn in that money either. I finally got it on Wednesday of last week. And, against all policies and rules, she took all the cash in the deposit and exchanged it for two of her personal checks. When I saw one was close to the amount that I was missing for the cameras, I called and asked exactly what the check was for. When she said it was T-shirts, I knew she couldn't then go back later and say it was camera money.

I've asked for the camera money several times, and been asked by others if that money had been deposited. Nope. Nope. Nope.

But when I asked her about the camera money after getting the T-shirt deposit, saying politely "I can't find where I deposited it," she swore she had documentation, and that she'd get it to me the following day.

Have I seen it? Nope. Nope. Nope.

So what now? The audit committee will find that no, indeed, it isn't in the bank. Then they will have to get her statement. If she can produce a piece of paper with her signature and one other saying she had a deposit, then she can try to make the case that I took it. Of course, the one pursuing it is me, so one member of the audit committee already thinks she never handed it in, and any documentation she has without my signature on it is useless. At least there's that bit of support for me.

And if this isn't handled well and doesn't end in my total vindication, I'm walking. I refuse to be dragged through this mess of people not following procedures. How can I expect anyone else to do it when I can't get the freaking president to follow the rules?

Arresting

2008-05-21T07:41:00.002-05:00

Well, productions done! Pretty well done I might add. The boss even got an e-mail from one of my student's mother, who praised the program with improving his diction! That's pretty neat about him, because his school counselor wanted him in speech therapy and we recommended against it earlier in the year. And five bouquets later, my house smells like a rose garden.

So on to yesterday, which I spent at the Police concert. In spite of having seen Sting several times in my life, I had never seen the Police in concert. This was their last Texas go-round ever, so I was happy not to miss it.

It was great fun, and they played a lot of the really really old stuff that most people skip over in favor of their later work. But there on stage they performed:

Next To You
So Lonely
Hole in my Life
Can't Stand Losing You
Bring on the Night
Walking on the Moon
Darkness
Secret Journey
Driven to Tears
When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around
Invisible Sun

Along with the standards everyone expected:

Roxanne
Message in a Bottle
Don't Stand So Close to Me
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Spirits in the Material World
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
Demolition Man
Every Breath You Take
King Of Pain
Wrapped Around Your Finger

That's a pretty huge set, and of course all my favorites are the obscure ones. I don't think there's anyone else I could go see and know every lyric to every song. No, you don't want me sitting by you at a Police concert.

The audience was interesting too. Gray-haired folks and preteens and everything inbetween. Grannies in Police Synchronicity-style shirts; too cute.

And the sound those three can put out is pretty neat. Something sounded off about the bass, but everything else was incredible. The funniest thing is that Sting sported a graying beard. It was disconcerting; kind of cognitive dissonance. I know he's older, but by gum, Sting shouldn't be graying!

Stages

2008-05-17T21:16:00.002-05:00

Interesting day.

Three of my classes had their productions today. Of course, I had to be up first. And second. And also third. It didn't start out as well as it ended.

Last night after I went to bed I remembered several things I wanted to bring to the productions, so I had to get a list started, and I had to keep it by the bed for those 'omigosh!" moments when I remembered yet another thing. That made sleeping a little difficult. Then I set the time on the alarm, but forgot to actually turn it on, and woke up just in time to wash my hair and go. Not an auspicious beginning.

I remembered everything and made it in time, but we ran late as we worked out the bugs of hanging sets and getting props straight. I know I saw the plays, but it's different when you're the director rather than the audience. I didn't "see" them; I saw the technical aspects nobody else noticed. Still, all my kids hit it out of the park. One of them even gave me flowers.

In the middle of the next set of plays, I got a call from a guy running for our state senate seat. He promised to call back later, and did, but more on that after the rest of the day.

The other first-year teacher is still struggling, but her kids were adorable. Her main problem is living and teaching further in to the city. She doesn't have the luxury of dropping into a class someone else teaches and observing as I do. There were a couple of calls I would not have made, but I think with more training she can do it. Her main problem seemed to be a tendency to read the script as the children were performing instead of having memorized it. It would have freed her up so much!

The senior teacher's teen class was abysmal in rehearsal because most of the cast had spotty attendance. She was completely frustrated with them, and I couldn't blame her. Yet she's so good that after spending an hour running lines with them in the back of the room while the little ones prepared, she got them on stage and they transformed into actors! I couldn't do that now if I tried. One day I'll be that good, but it will take a long while.

So with the hard stuff over I came home and JJ made dinner. I just love that man more than chocolate creme pie.

While cleaning up, that senator candidate called back. Amazingly we chatted for 45 minutes on everything from voter ID laws to voice coaching. He asked for my endorsement, which is a first for me. Politicians don't call me, or at least they haven't before. And who has 45 minutes to spend yakking with a voter about an election six months away? He did, apparently. I'd have endorsed him today too, except I promised another candidate to help him if he ran. Well, the other candidate is dragging his heels getting into the fight, so I'll likely be working for this guy.

I figure what the hey, summer's coming, work's on hiatus after tomorrow, and I just finished the school board campaign. For me, this new schedule is almost like vacation.

FAIL

2008-05-12T13:40:00.002-05:00

All three of my candidates lost. Which is not surprising after learning the kinds of things the incumbents do the stay in office. One of them is a walking expletive factory when away from the public, which I learned upon shaking his hand on election day at a polling location. Ick, I need bleach!

Well, we ran a great campaign and all three candidates came close. Two came within 150 votes and the third came within 550. Which tells me it IS possible to win if you a)pre-empt the dirty lying scoundrels and b) spend a lot of money.

And it also tells me in a town of over 200,000 nobody cares about the school board when only 5,000 people vote. THAT'S the greatest hurdle we had to overcome, and we just didn't get it done. An extra 1000 people getting to the polls would have made all the difference.

So after I cry in my beer, I'm ready to work on the next campaign, the State Senator Special Election. Yeee Haw! I just get right back on that horse, don't I?

You Decide 2008 (and let me help you decide)

2008-05-09T12:13:00.003-05:00

Ahhh, yes, spring is in the air, when flowers begin to open their arms to the warmth of the sun, trees begin to cover themselves with green glories once again, and candidates begin to spend tons of money to paper my doorstep, load my inbox, and fill my voicemail with messages to VOTE VOTE VOTE!

Only this time, I'm the one with the addresses and phone lists.

Tomorrow the election will be over and done with. My three school board candidates (up from one when they decided to run as a slate) will discover their fate tomorrow night, and I'll be taking a deep breath as one thing is taken off my plate.

But it has been a blast! I've run reports on all the addresses in likely voting areas, I've sent out endorsement letters, spoken to voters, knocked on doors and left literature, planned and executed parts of the campaign, and I've been in heaven doing it. This while hearing a barrage of comments from the incumbents on what a dirty, nasty campaign this has been. I think that's because a) they're scared of losing and b) they can't respond to our strategy.

It's kinda funny, though. The GOTV (Get Out The Vote) effort has been multifaceted, and I think effective. A mailer went out to senior voters in the area that would help them get a ballot by mail. That's hitting elderly voters who care and vote, but don't want the trouble of going to the polls. I printed lists of people who voted in past primaries and we walked neighborhoods in over half the town. That door-to-door was really effective. There was a frequent response that this was the first year a school board candidate personally came to ask for their vote. We sent people to school campuses to the carpool lines and passed out literature off campus. We posted yard signs anytime a homeowner would ask for one. We printed call lists to give to people to call voters and remind them to vote, and told them where they could do so. On door hangers this week, we put a sticky note with their own polling location featured on it.

What do the incumbents say?

"They're spending a lot of money for a volunteer position."
"We care about kids, they care about power."
"We do NOT have the highest tax rate in the state! (It's sixth, by the way.)"
"They steal our yard signs."
"Who does radio ads for a school board election?"
"They put dog mess on someone's porch that had our yard signs in the yard."

Yep, they're scared.

And all they can come back with, when my candidates point out problems, is "Vote for us! It isn't as bad as they say it is!"

I tell ya, if this campaign can't unseat all three incumbents, then it's impossible to do so. If we can't do it, it can't be done. And if it works, this campaign will be studied dilligently to replicate its success.

While all this has been going on, I was elected to the county Republican Party Rules Committee, which is really cool. Being a rules nerd and all, I'll have a seat at the table while the rules are being made. That just gives me the giggles. It's an honor to be asked to run, and my husband is already teasing me about being a mover and shaker. I also got to bring into another committee a friend who lives in my precinct, a Ron Paul supporter who wants a fast-track political education. He was so eager and determined at convention, the chair decided he'd be a great addition to the committee to develop young leadership. Apparently my precinct is taking over the county and we shall rule one day. Hee!

I'll update with election results when they're in. But now, back to the salt mines; running reports, phoning voters, and taking over the planet, one precinct at a time.

In which I learn the penalty of being nice

2008-04-27T19:28:00.005-05:00

So I was going to tell about Joanne.

We started off the school year in the summer with a planning meeting for going to summer training in Austin. It's a good weekend's worth of classes and information about rules, practices, procedures and policies, as well as lots of practical information on doing the PTA thing. Usually all the officers go, but this year the president had family commitments and couldn't go. A few weeks before the trip nothing had been done about planning transportation, or anything else for that matter, so I called a meeting at the neighborhood pool to get the ball rolling.

At that meeting there were two returning officers and a bunch of new ones, myself included. We started talking room arrangements and car arrangements, and the aforementioned Candy spoke only twice: to ask exactly how many of these classes she HAD to go to, (bylaws say 75% minimum) and to say that since we were talking business, she was getting back in the water.

Sigh.

During the trip nobody seemed to want to talk about PTA business or update anyone. Joanne and I roomed together and we spent the time talking about what we'd like to see, what we'd do if we could, how we'd prefer things to be. We spent hours on plans for the coming year, and discovered we agreed on a lot of things. But after coming home, we two decided on a policy: we'd be able to vent to each other, but only during 'Round Tables' when we'd agree the discussion would go no further.

The year started badly, with rumors that I'd broken confidentiality over health screenings. Though not remotely true, the story went all over the school and there are people to this day who still believe it. Joanne spent the time angry at the perpetrators, one of whom of course was Candy. When we'd get together to vent about it, I certainly let loose about her and a few other people. Some of these people would take home money and not turn it in for deposit for months, and others wouldn't even read the budget and know what their limits were on spending. Some bounced checks and forgot to repay after several notices. Some just didn't show up for meetings or take care of the basic details of their job.

But I could always count on Joanne to listen, talk it out, and keep me from going over the edge in dealing with these people.

Then came Robbie and his sisters.

Robbie's a sad kid from a sad home. He and his two sisters are legend around the school for misbehaving. People won't let their kids play with Robbie and the girls. They alternate turns in the office for discipline. And sadly for Joanne, her daughter is in the same class with one of the girls. This girl spits at Joanne's daughter, pulls her hair, screams in her face, and a dozen other things I can't think of. Joanne has had it with the school and trying to get this worked out.

But one day I saw Robbie and the girls walking home in the freezing rain. They aren't allowed to ride the bus anymore, a wonderful development for all the other kids, and one I'm satisfied with. But as I passed them in the cold and wet, I knew I couldn't let them go home alone. I made them climb into the car and have been taking them home, rain or shine, ever since. Teachers know to keep them close until I arrive, and then they happily release them to me.

As near as I can tell from clues I've put together, Joanne is pissed about this. Never mind it keeps these three kids out of her neighborhood and puts them back at their own home; never mind that the kids would otherwise dawdle home and wreak havok along the way anywhere they could. She's reported to be upset because I'm treating them nicely.

What, pray tell, am I supposed to do about that?

Next time, the results of her pissed-off state, and what I ultimately found out.

Balls!

2008-04-25T22:48:00.003-05:00

What a day. As soon as it began, I was ready to go back to bed.

The little Critter has a perfect attendance record, but today she woke up crying. Apparently JJ left less-than-quietly this morning, and the usually-frightfully-difficult-to-awaken LC was jolted awake with the thought that Daddy had not hugged her goodbye. JJ NEVER does; he's out the door too early. But today it bothered her. She climbed into bed with me to say "Daddy left!" and then began saying how she needed a nap, and she needed to stay home and play hooky.

Oh, bother.

Then after repeating said phrases a few more times to make absolutely sure I heard them, she bounced up and logged on to the computer in the bedroom.

I had no sooner got back from biking her to school when the phone rang. It was Joanne from PTA. Joanne had hung up before I could answer, and then Candy called a few minutes later.

Side note; I cannot abide Candy. It's gradually gone from

* a justifiably low opinion of her abilities and skills, to
* wonderment at her nastiness being tolerated, to
* bewilderment that she is even acknowledged to exist, to
* downright loathing.

She is a rumor-monger, one who has taken every chance she could to make me look bad. She's perpetuated myths about me that have made me mad enough to punch holes in walls. Hardly anything gets me that angry. And she served on the nominating committee with Joanne and has learned not to leave her side. Joanne is the school's PTA darling, working three times as much and as hard as anyone else. But Candy has rubbed off on Joanne, and that has strained my relationship with Joanne a lot.

So whenever Candy calls, something is up.

But it wasn't Candy on Candy's phone, it was Joanne's friend Marilu. Marilu wanted to know where the oreo truffles were that I was to have made for the teacher birthdays this morning.

Well, all year I've been making these things, dozens at a time, for every single teacher. Usually it's been about eight to ten dozen. This time she asked me for 28 dozen. Oh my stars. Never mind that I'm working on three campaigns for school board, that I have five classes in production, that I have maybe a husband and children in there to deal with.

So I said "Why don't you ever ask Sandra to do them? Sandra knows how to make them!" To which she replied that no, Sandra would not make them, would never agree to make them, and no explanation was given.

Aimee piped up and said she'd try to make half of them if I would e-mail her the recipe. So I did, with lots of helpful hints. And I made my fourteen dozen happily (okay, rather grumpily, but I made the durned things) and brought them to school a day early. I left them right atop the file cabinet with Joanne's name on them prominently.

So when Marilu called I presumed they just hadn't bothered to look for them. No, they're calling to tell me they are short.

And in my head, I was saying "How is that MY problem?"

Every month I told myself I'd tell Joanne to take a hike about these things. She has waited until the last minute to call me and ask me to do them, or she has forgotten until the day before to give me the number of orders she needed. But still I made them without complaint.

Not this week. And because she couldn't be bothered to check on the other half, she was short. And I get to look bad because of it. Only I could try to do something nice for someone and still get blamed for it going to crap. Remind me to tell you the other beef Joanne has with me. It's a killer, and it's why we do nothing together socially anymore.

Drama Mammas

2008-04-19T19:00:00.004-05:00

I promised to tell the tale of interfering parents re drama clases, so...

I have one class on Tuesday at an elementary school. The kids have known each other a while in a school context, so they tend to mesh better as a class. This is good and bad. The good is that I don't have to coax them along to admit newcomers. The bad is that they all know each other and tend to be harder to settle down.

That's okay, though. I'm getting reports from the boss that they respond to me much better than their previous teacher who was not at all able to get them to behave. This is a good sign, and I hope I get them again next year. They're likable, funny, and usually teachable.

There are a pair of twin boys in that class, Adam and Tim. Tim is tow-headed, confident, outspoken and cute. Adam is more shy, freckledy, sandy-haired, and more hesitant. Tim makes a good lead in a play; Adam makes a good character for a smaller part. I cast them as such in the Western we're doing, and had Tim cast as the surprise hero. I had noticed something in him during parent day casting, so I had read this play with him in mind for the role.

The first class we read from the script, Tim had to be noticed by Rachel, who had to say a line to the effect that Tim was handsome. Both Tim and Rachel rebelled. Apparently, Rachel likes Tim, and didn't want that to be memorialized in the play.

Shoot me, I thought. Shoot me now. Then I told them all to grow up, but I said it nicely.

So my boss called me and said Tim is upset about the play. Tim and Adam's mother said that Tim is always the Golden One and Adam needs his chance to be in the spotlight. She wanted to pull both the boys out of the program, but would keep them in if I switched their roles. Plus, Mama was going to give Tim $75 to swap.

I did NOT want to do this. But since they pushed, I did. Subsequent rehearsals have shown that Adam does not remember lines well, no matter how I drill him. I sent the script via my boss to the mother, asking her to work on it with them. I'll know Tuesday whether she has or not. I'm trying not to be a stinking perfectionist about this, but being second-guessed by a mom who has seen one-half of a class this year is so not right. Adam has so far spent his time onstage when he isn't saying a line half-lying on top of a prop suitcase. This bodes ill, I say.

Then today, I got another whammy.

Vince started out in my lower elementary group and complained that it was too babyish for him. His mother complained to my boss that he needed to be challenged more, and insisted he be moved to the older group. OK, that too was done, despite my objections. He did do well in the parent day exercises, he learns lines well and listens to my suggestions and acts on them. So far so good.

Except when I handed out papers to all the students about the upcoming final performance and awards day, his mother hit me with the fact that they'll be out of town that day.

This date has been in stone for months; parents, kids, teachers, everyone has known about it. But since Vince's older brother is receiving an award for some SAT achievement that day, Vince is not supposed to be at his own award ceremony.

Luckily my boss was near when I got the news, and she was exasperated. She asked me to look for another student in another class who might be able to come to the three extra classes in the three weeks before the performance and step in to his part. She told me that if they decide not to come to the performance, he doesn't have to come back to class. Now I am SO GLAD I didn't give him the larger part I debated casting him in. Instead all my actors are girls, half of them playing guys. And now, I have to ask another girl to come play HIS role too in case his parents don't make other arrangements. On top of that, his older brother is in another drama class with a performance on the same day, and they didn't say anything about that brother missing yet, though they knew it as well. I don't even know if that brother is the one getting the award, but if not, that puts TWO brothers out of their performances for the sake of another one.

So I have four weeks. I'm not happy at all about the changes, but I have to make it work. Somehow. I know the problems aren't huge, but when the kids don't do well, I look bad. And when the parents interfere, the kids do less well than otherwise.

I'm going to have to tell them NOT to save the drama for their mama.

Bluebonnets

2008-04-14T16:04:00.005-05:00

We went out to the hill country yesterday, looking for bluebonnets and enjoying the view. It took forever to find a decent field, but we stumbled onto one. I didn't know La Quinta meant "next to bluebonnet fields."

Proof that...

2008-04-04T22:55:00.003-05:00

a) girls really are smarter than boys
b) boys have too much time on their hands
c) with the YouTube generation on the rise, soon girls will outnumber boys in our country and China will advertise for mail order US brides.

Want proof?

Now you don't have to see the long version

2008-04-02T08:46:00.003-05:00

If you're one of the three people left on this planet who haven't seen Star Wars (the Little Critter is one of the other two) now you don't have to.

Madame Secretary

2008-04-01T11:13:00.002-05:00

Well, the local convention was a smash hit among members of my precinct. Out of 13 that I had signed up to come, ten came - amazing numbers. Perhaps there IS a resurgence of political activism in my little neighborhood after all. We were the 4th largest delegation. Yeah, baby.

We only had four slots allotted our precinct to take to state as delegates and alternates. My seat was coming from another pool, so there were 9 people vying for the seats. We filled the 4, and then a fifth person was chosen to go from the at-large pool of spots, and then a sixth person decided to go as a guest or a sargeant-at-arms, so out of ten, six for sure, and maybe seven will go (one is a spouse of a delegate.)

On top of all the state business, we managed to get out in record time, thanks in part to one of my delegates. I took him aside early in the day and prompted him to ask a question clarifying the rules. I wouldn't have had to do this, except the body elected not to have the rules read, and then promptly started breaking the rules they refused to read. Still, we were done with all business at least an hour earlier than any previous convention adjournment, and people left happy and excited about going to state convention.

I had to struggle a little with the chair over how speakers were handled, just because, as secretary, I had to try to keep up with the changes the body was making. Some eager members were so excited over their points to be made that they made speeches before motions, and it kept throwing me off. Then this phenomenon, known previously only on CSPAN, reared its ugly head: 'Will you yield the balance of your time?"

Once again, if one had READ the rules, one would know that the speaker limitations are specific to the NUMBER of speakers as well as the time each may speak. I'm getting the hang of this thing, but I think we need to do a better job of educating the body on rules. If they'll let themselves be educated!

I'm still in recovery, as I was up at 4:30 to get the business started. Note to self: don't volunteer anymore for the Arrangements Committee.

After I am really rested up, I'll go into the science program I'm neck-deep in as well as those pesky parents from drama class. Until then, I'm taking every available opportunity to be a lazy bum.

Breaking

2008-03-24T08:19:00.004-05:00

What a break we had...

In all of Spring Break I accomplished very little. I didn't get in my nap quota, the carpets weren't cleaned, the bonus didn't go as far as we expected and curtailed some plans, and we didn't even make it to church.

Since I've last posted, however, much stuff has happened.

I took the Parliamentarian Exam and got 100. It's the first time since college I had to study for any kind of test, and I nailed it. Know what's next? The Registered Parliamentarian Exam. What DID I start? Apparently people PAY these people to be parliamentarians. Wow, who knew?

The PTA crap I'm in I won't go into, except to say that people who don't know what the term "in confidence" means really suck. I hope they get burned by that same fire.

District convention is Saturday and I have a bit to do to get ready for it. Specifically, ironing. Ick. However, they expect nice arrangements on Saturday and I expect to deliver. Good thing plastic flowers last forever. Yes, I am that tacky. No, I don't mind you knowing that.

I also have to shepherd around some of the people from my own precinct who are going to be there. After the Texas Two Step primary nightmare on the Democrat side, we Republicans had to huddle in the community center kitchen and hold our convention there. Fifteen showed up, which is incredible since the most we ever have is 4.

Side note - about 250 democrats showed up in the caucus mess - starting at 6 p.m. before the polls were even closed. That was fun. My Democrat counterparts were prepared, but not for those numbers. I got my husband to get the tennis court key and my headset mic with amplifier in case they needed it. Considering the fire code, they probably SHOULD have used both, though they were somehow spared having to.

I'm tossing around starting a local political blog with another precinct chair. There's not enough exposure to candidates low on the ballot, so we rarely get to meet them and find out if they're crazy or divas or such. So we're constructing a concept that would basically give us press-level access to candidates and struggle to deal with issues 95% of people don't care about. Hi brick wall, meet my head. Still, it's fascinating to try. When you're already the go-to-gal for a small group of people over political issues, it isn't a stretch to expand a little.

Seven weeks of rehearsals until all my classes end. I'll miss them, but jeepers, some people. I have several classes where the parents think they can switch back and forth, rehearsing with one group one day, another the following week. Cohesiveness, people! No wonder half of them don't know their lines. Soon scripts will go out and then no more excuses. I love when parents interfere, too. Remind me to tell you about THAT sometime.

The craziest news on my list - a candidate for local office asked me to be his campaign treasurer. So far that's entailed nothing on my part, but it's coming. I had to ask PTA advice about whether I could do both. Apparently I can, carefully. Watch me walk that tightrope! Wheeeee! I wasn't going to do it, but after talking with him, and hearing the plan, I couldn't say no. It's been four years since I worked on a campaign, and I'm sure I can help.

But really, I can't wait until summer.

In the Interim

2008-02-18T13:10:00.002-06:00

Gosh, for someone so busy, I don't have a lot to say.

I'm gearing up for the Texas Primary, which is all of a sudden becoming a bit more important than usual in election years. It's interesting to see how candidates will work their way through Texas, and with whom they will speak. All I'm doing now is finding election workers and arranging for training, but immediately after the primaries there are convention meetings, then meetings to arrange the next level of conventions and so on. I volunteered for Secretary again of the county district meeting, but I also threw my hat into the ring for the Rules committee. Yes, and now you know exactly what kind of a nerd I really am.

But it's important to me for a lot of reasons. I was skimming a book about the lamentable state of political education in the nation, and I'm a little depressed. Since I was in my teens I've been interested in politics. Since I was in my early 20s I've been actively involved. I've written congressmen and senators, called the White House, voted in every election going, run elections, worked on a campaign, testified before the state school board. I have no frame of reference for anyone who doesn't believe it's important to know what Washington is doing, or especially what is going on in their state capital. If you buy things, government is involved. If you sell things, government is in on that too. If you get sick, win a lottery, have a child in school, buy insurance, drive a vehicle, own a home, watch television, eat out or have a job, government is pit-deep in all that as well. How can someone be content to let other people decide just how government is going to mess with all these things? Never mind the bigger issues such as war and international aid and so on.

/rant

I took out the above frustrations on my car a few days ago. I had a list of things to do last week and as I was pulling out of the driveway I noticed the car rolling funny. A nail in the tire had flattened it all the way. My husband was at work 30 miles away and it was barely 10 a.m. and no guy-types anywhere on the street to be found.

I own an Odyssey and a teeny little jack to jack it up with. You do the math.

But I decided it wouldn't hurt to try, except for possbly my nails. Plus, maybe in the effort some nice guy-type would drive by and notice and offer to change the tire. I got comfortable on the ground and started millimeter-ing the jack up.

Did you know that there's a little hole in the lug-nut bar that you slip the jack-handle into and it turns around super fast? I didn't.

So I manhandled that jack-handle for about 40 minutes, a hair at a time, until the flat tire was totally off the ground. It took about ten minutes to loosen the lug-nuts and remove the tire, then I had to figure out which way the spare went on. After Herculean effort (read: a really long time) I had changed the tire and was ready to lower the car. Remember that little hole in the lug-nut bar? I didn't, until I had got the tire halfway down. Then it was two minutes between that discovery and stowing away the jack and equipment. At least nobody saw me, right? Because that would be embarrassing.

The nice guy-types at Discount Tire did the rest, and I took advantage of the situation and tried a restaurant I've had my eye on. I mean, you gotta reward yourself when you actually do something that you thought couldn't be done.

Plus I get to feel a little superior - my younger sister told me our older sister drove away from a gas pump with the pump still in her tank. At least I didn't do that.

Now what?

2008-02-04T19:34:00.001-06:00

I'm in a mood.

I don't really know why, but I've lost a bit of enthusiasm for stuff. Like I'm wearing glasses with a heavy tint and I can't focus well. There are a lot of things coming up, and nothing I'm really jazzed about. It can't be the weather - the temperature was downright springlike today. My marriage is fine, especially since I smoked JJ two days in a row at online Sudoku. It isn't the kids; they're doing all right. The job is going great. PTA's a little sketchy right now, but it's nominating season and that messes wth everything.

I guess I really want a vacation and there's no prospect of one. I would love to go somewhere, even just overnight. Alone in a king-sized bed, room service, movies on the tv and a good book on the nightstand. And quiet.

Post Production

2008-01-28T20:37:00.000-06:00

I'm finally done with all the parent day productions! Yipes, but that was difficult. A co-worker had to come help supervise one class as they were so hard to teach, and the boss stepped in on the last young class to help me with changes we had to make at the last minute. Ordinarily I'd be ticked off, but not in this case. I really learned quite a bit I can use in future classes, and some of the things they stepped in to do are things I know to do but I'd lost them briefly in the chaos. Nobody disgraced themselves, and I can stop worrying about how everything will go. At least for a month or so when we start working on the final production.

The shuffle begins to reorganize classes, as new students come in and others drop. Supposedly I'm losing three big troublemakers in my first class of the week, which makes me so happy I can't speak. This bodes well! In my last class of the week we're down to seven, one of whom has never actually been to class since November and another whose parents can't get their schedules straight. Ought to be interesting when we get to the end of the year.

Around home things are okay. Nice and slow, really. The Bigun is off for two weeks doing Army things. The Little Critter, coming off a high from a straight A semester, is throwing herself back into school routine. JJ is out tonight, bowling with the guys from our new Bible study class. And I'm contemplating the next year in PTA.

I turned in my form today for the nominating committee, entering Treasurer and Membership as offices I'd like to hold. But I've learned that the first VP doesn't intend to run for anything next year, and the only two other viable president candidates don't seem to be good choices. If the committee gets nominations and doesn't like the choices, they can recruit more people for the positions. I'm wondering if I'm going to be asked to run for president after all. This is frustrating me, because I JUST sat down with JJ and talked it out and decided NOT to run for president, and just to give the PTA this next year. Of course, nothing happens unless I'm approached by the committee, but I have a feeling it's coming.

Meanwhile I'm studying for the parliamentary exam, and not feeling so confident, so more study is in order. I have a month or so, and there are 300 questions, so I ought to be able to get there. It's been ages since I took a test in anything. On top of that, just the other day JJ mentioned me going back to school to get my CPA. Ick ick ick! If I can't hack a 300 question multiple choice/true false test on nerdy parliamentary procedure, no way can I get my Masters in Accounting.

The only other thing going on is a weird little struggle in JJ's family. I say this because it's usually MY family having the weirdness. We thrive on the weirdness. We attract the weirdness. We manufacture the weirdness when it is in short supply. Not so JJ's clan.

That clan, whom we'll call the Jennings since they are distantly related to William Jennings Bryan, has always been ten kinds of normal to me. Three sisters, each of whom had three children. Normal sibling squabbles in each generation, but nothing nasty or vicious or wicked. Scratch the surface, I'm learning, and the weirdness emerges.

Case in point - Janelle. Janelle is in her late 40s or early 50s, but thinks she's 28. When JJ needed a car he called his parents to see if they had one he could borrow until he could find one. They usually do have two or three lying around. (I don't know why this is.) His mom suggested calling Cousin Janelle. Janelle's parents had passed away within five years of each other, and Janelle was supposed to be living in the house tying up loose ends of the estate. Janelle had a hoopty rusting in the driveway and would give it to JJ for $1500. Sold! We drove up and got it and Janelle said she'd send the title in a few days.

This was November. Still no title. Which means no inspection. And no plates.

First she said the title was lost. Then she said she couldn't get to the courthouse to get the paperwork done for a new title. Then she said she lost her driver's license. Now JJ and I think she never changed the title when her parents died, and it is titled to the estate, and that's why she won't get it done.

Now JJ is hopping mad, though I passed that threshhold into denial long ago. When talking to his mother about it, he learned there's another Janelle issue going on. Apparently their 101-year-old grandmother changed her will. In it, I'm told, she's accounting for the fact that JJ's parents moved up to be with her so she can stay in her home as long as possible. Apparently Janelle feels cheated somehow by the new arrangement as it reduces the potential amount the grandchildren get.

Huh?

The lady may be old, but she's still there, and still able to say what she wants to do with her stuff! I'm hoping I understand this all wrong. Really I do. I'd hate to see a will squabble over Grandmommy. We love Grandmommy so much we named the LC after her. The last thing she needs is a tug of war over her stuff.

Blinded me with Science

2008-01-16T22:35:00.000-06:00

Yes, and now you will hate me for getting THAT song stuck in your head.

But I'm the volunteer coordinator of the hands-on science project and I wanted to share one with you. Each grade level has a lesson designed to work with the curriculum and give the kids a lab experience to drive home the main thrust of the lessons. Last year I got sucked in, and I'm glad I did.

Sunday afternoon last year, at 2:30, Reyna calls me. She's in a panic. The science lesson has to be done Monday morning and she has no owl pellets to dissect. She has no idea of how to obtain said owl pellets. And is up the proverbial excrement stream sans means of locomotion.

"Come over," I say. "We'll figure something out," I say.

I dig up an old recipe for play dough and start rummaging in the pantry. Out comes pasta, jelly bellies, and rice. I hunt up the yard for dead grass, thanking JJ that he didn't bag the grass clippings. Which causes him to worry about me. But Reyna has arrived, desperate and not even slightly disturbed at all the mismatched junk on my counter.

We make up several colors of dough in batches, and start folding in the pasta; wheels, spaghetti, curly noodles. We add rice to other batches, along with grass and jelly bellies. Into some samples, we mix a little of both combinations.

Then we make a key.

Jelly bellies = berries
Rice = seeds
grass = grass (wow, that creativity shining through!)
wheels = skulls
rotini = leg bones
spaghetti = spines

So the end product is dozens of batches of play dough shaped like technicolor crap. Now with prizes inside!

In class the next day, we explain about carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. Then we have the kids use plastic knives and carefully pry into the poop. They dig in with gusto, even after (or due to) hearing that these represent animal poop. They carefully consult their keys, then argue, debate and decide which type of animal they are tracking. The rule is that each group must decide on a corporate answer. Once they get their answer, they have to explain how they got it.

After we deal with animal poop, we move on to other ways of tracking animals, such as actual tracks. For that exercise, each student cuts out a set of seven animal tracks, from elephants to ducks to bunnies to bears. Then they have to glue the tracks onto a paper with different habitats represented; a farm, a savanna, a jungle, a field.

The teachers are impressed, the kids have a blast (and a year later can tell you all about that lesson) and Reyna is spared. I get to make up the whole thing from scratch, and teach it too. Oh, and a year later the second grade team is insisting on doing the lesson again, exactly as before, so my work is now built into the curriculum.

And me? I get to put that on a resume when looking for my drama teaching job. Because, not only can I create the shit and deliver the shit, I AM the shit.

Out of Order

2008-01-12T20:07:00.000-06:00

Oh, did we get back into the swing of things when school started again.

Firstly, we're in production in six classes for Parent Day, and that means three different types of presentations, two scripts, endless pair scripts and monologues, various speech exercises and so on. In the middle of that, everyone seems to want me for something else, but more of that later.

Today's older class was excruciating. Of the eight students that are on the roll, five showed by class time. Our play requires all eight members, so we couldn't work on that. The speech work planned we did get to cover, but I'll have to reteach next week to the other ones, and this is a 32 line piece complete with motions and variations in pace, pitch, and energy. Ugh. Their pair scripts went very well, which gives me some hope for Parent Day. The biggest challenge is getting them focused. When I entered the room, all of them were on their knees and genuflected, saying "All Hail the Mighty Fish!"

OK, I admit, that was funny.

Most of the other classes are okay, but nothing I am too confident about. I'll lose a third class after January, as there are too few students to keep it open. That's one of the sub classes I picked up, and I'm not too sorry to see it go. How can you have a class with two kids in it? You just can't, though I've done it. Until then, we'll work on some pieces for an end of January Parent Day and then close the class. I want to blow them out of the water at that one so that everyone feels bad they wouldn't get their kids to class on time each week. (So there, nyahhhh.)

At the same time as all this, there are school things as usual, and election things approaching. One day this week I had one friend drop by to chat coupons for 5 minutes (when I was going to nap) and then two people over right after school for different things. One was letting her granddaughter try on my stage to see if she could earn money for pageants that way, and another wanted all the info on elections and primaries I could give him in five minutes. Yikes.

Shockingly (not) the PTA meeting was cancelled, and no sign of a reschedule in sight. This probably means no carnival. The president really needs to be removed, but this late in the game nobody wants to take her on. It's agonizing. And it's only going to get worse.

My friend J, who was there when I got the true story about being maligned, is in a dither. She's worked herself up over the incident and has decided to insist that I get a formal apology at the next meeting. What triggered it is a chance meeting at a restaurant with a peripheral member. They were talking PTA and the member declared she wouldn't be active in PTA because of the politics. When J pressed for examples, the lady referred to me and that incident. This was a full two months later. So J spent ten minutes setting the lady straight, at which the lady declared she was going home to make phone calls about this.

I'm STILL trying to live this down, and what ticked J off is this: when the president called me out over it (and I denied it) she didn't even have her facts straight, which a simple visit to the nurse would have accomplished. So far bad, but understandable. What was worse was when J walked into a meeting of the HOA a few days later, everyone THERE knew about the episode. Now, how, she asks, could that have gotten around without the president spreading it?

Well, I know; the president heard it from the Fundraising chair who misheard it, embellished it and then spread it far and wide, and didn't take the detour to the nurse before jumping me over it. For the record, J found out who did it and it was our old dear friend S, but again I got tarred with that brush.

Can't wait to see the sparks fly.

Oh, and the title for this post, which is what I logged in to blog about in the first place? I'm studying for the National Association of Parliamentarians exam, so my brain is awash in procedural technical jargon. I'll take it in a month but until then I'll be making motions and calling "Point of Order" in my sleep.

Just Bummin' Around

2008-01-04T08:43:00.000-06:00

I have rediscovered my Inner Lazy Bum and it's delightful.

There have been no meetings this week or last. Not one class did I have to teach. No deadlines, no headaches (both figuratively and literally,) no massive food shopping excursions, no political tasks (with the exception of filing for precinct chair) and not one school-related activity.

Bliss.

I should have been blogging during this time, but alas, there has been nothing to tell, other than the fact that there's nothing to tell.

We had a blast at my boss's New Year's Eve party, where they had crockpots of chili and queso and platters of food, along with a firepit in the backyard and karaoke in the house. Oh, yes, Fish jammed on some karaoke with the gang. At least I did when the boss's spouse wasn't hogging the machine. He loves him some karaoke, and treated us to some interesting interpretations. It's funny when the drama teacher in the family is the normal one. Speaking of that, JJ got up and acquitted himself quite nicely during Mack the Knife. It took several glasses of adult beverages and some prodding, but he did it. I love that man.

Somewhere in there we drove up to the Woodlands to scope out convention hotels for the PTA convention in February. We scored a suite with kitchen and living area for about $120 a night, which will be an in-your-face to some of the people who aren't sure what they want to do or where they want to stay. The president was talking about sleeping 5 to a room so several people could go, and so my friend J and I pledged to pay our own way. We get the room and they get whatever they can find.

Eventually I'm going to have to turn my brain towards work again. There are three classes in which I need to revise a script so the students can learn it before parent presentations. I'm not all excited about that, if only because each class wrote their own material and some of it is good, some not so much. Still, Tuesday is days away now and I have to return to the real world some time.

The one thing I'm really dreading is that there's a PTA meeting the day BEFORE the kids go back to school. I have to get into the school somehow and run reports before that meeting, and I have no idea how to do that. Oh, well, there just won't be any financials if they haven't got it together.

Until then I think I'll clean house and try to avoid learning who won the Iowa Caucuses.

Yummy Pasta for Kimmer, and alla youse, too

2007-12-29T14:54:00.000-06:00

Not that I'm Ree or anything, but this is some good pasta. I blatantly stole this from a meal I had in Sugar Land at Leonardo's this fall. Usually I am a sketti and meatballs kind of girl; my pasta should be long, stringy, and capable of being slurped. My sauce has to be a jar affair, because I just don't have eight hours to make sauce myself. OK, I do, but I refuse to give up a day to cook it. If I had a large kitchen with an MP3 player going and maybe some adult beverages, I might could swing it.

I have simple tastes, is what I am saying.

But this dish intrigued me. I brought home leftovers and tried to analyze them. I poked around in my food enough to drive my mother crazy were she with me. In the end, I came up with this. It can't be exactly what I ate, but it's close enough; it's rilly rilly good, not your usual pasta fare, and is simplicity itself. Plus, I figured it out myself, so technically, this is my recipe. I sorta created something, even! The ingredients aren't measured well, because it's so easy to vary. If you hit near my recommendations, you'll be fine.

Chicken Farfalle

olive oil
diced chicken breast (1-2 breasts, more if desired for larger servings)
chopped onion (1 medium-sized one will do)
chopped frozen or fresh asparagus (either works fine; fresh is easier to come by - use as much as desired, but I put the whole bunch in)
fresh chopped spinach (1-2 handsfull)
2-3 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes (use more or less as desired)

Saute asparagus in oil about 4 minutes, then add chicken and cook until no longer pink. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until onion is translucent. Add spinach and tomatoes and stir together well. Cover and let sit on low heat, stirring occasionally, until spinach is wilted. Serve over bow-tie pasta (farfalle.)

Variations:

* add other vegetables such as mushrooms, small broccoli bunches, zucchini at the same time as asparagus
* add 1 clove garlic, crushed when adding chicken
* sprinkle lemon juice in pan when adding chicken

You can really make this your own by playing with it and adding different things. It all goes in one pan, and you can do it in order as above, or precook the chicken and onion together and have them in the fridge ready to add when the asparagus is starting to cook. The thing that gives it the zing, for me, is the sun-dried tomatoes. They add so much flavor it doesn't need much more seasoning. This adjusts to any size crowd, from dinner for two to a dozen. Just figure for each person about 1/4 chicken breast, 3 spears asparagus, 1/8 onion, and more or less tomato as desired.

If you make this, let me know how you liked it. I'm kinda proud of it.

Sorry

2007-12-28T14:23:00.000-06:00

I didn't forget to post so much as I got majorly sidetracked. Everyone knows the holiday swirls around us and throws curves we didn't expect. Still, it's a little embarrassing.

One major time-sucker has been the Anne of Green Gables books. Some fool left them at school for eons and I decided I'd take them home to read over the holiday. Oh Em Gee, those books are just crack for a reader. I'm on the last Anne one, and MAKING myself walk away to feed the family, clean the house, pay the bills. Why did I never read these before?

Oh, and we did get to have Christmas morning at home, and it was delightful. After returning from my parents' we set to getting the huge dollhouse assembled. It took forever, then we had other things to set out. At one point JJ had to look up the dollhouse online to see how it was supposed to look. He left it up, so first thing after the Little Critter finished with her opening things was to go to the computer. There was the window open to the dollhouse. BUSTED!

This was probably going to be the last Christmas she believed in Santa, and JJ almost ruined it. He saved the day by saying "LC, I have to confess. I got up early and saw this stuff. I had to use that computer to look it up since I didn't want to wake Mom. I wanted to see what kind of house that is."

She bought it.

Then he walked around swearing "damn internet" all day.

The Bigun gave me the lovely sign you see above.

And all of the family got tins of candy from us. I made peanut chocolate clusters, peanut marshmallow things that taste like Snickers bars without caramel, pecan pretzel things and, of course, mudballs. I also made a neato pasta dish to be served over bow tie noodles. My parents were so anxious to try it they completely forgot about the noodles, but I think it was a success anyway.

I have to say one thing for the post-holiday period. My phone has rung exactly once when it has not been family. No crises loom, no mad dash to get anything done for work or school, just peace, quiet, family, and housework.

And that Anne.

I'm not that girl

2007-12-20T02:12:00.000-06:00

J and I were shopping for stuff for teacher lunch today, and after traipsing all through the aisles, knocking things over and nearly breaking them, I was ready to leave. It was her event but I had already committed to a long list of baking and cooking.

See, we started out in produce, where I showed her how English cucumbers could be used as a weapon. These hummers were over 15" long and heavy, and we needed a pair for the salad. After that we hit canned goods, dairy, frozen foods and every other corner of the store. I kept forgetting things and we'd have to backtrack. Plus I had a bum cart with the wheel that won't cooperate, so I was banging into wine displays, cell phone displays and other carts.

We'd forgotten pretzels, so we had to schlep over to the chip aisle. I grabbed just two bags, because really, there are only so many pretzels one can coat in chocolate before one explodes. J asked how many more I needed. I said "None! What, are you trying to chain me to the kitchen ALL DAY?"

Unbeknownst to me, right beside us was a lady who must have heard this as a lovers' spat. According to J, she gave us a disgusted, dirty look and shrank away to another aisle. When J told me what happened, we doubled over in the middle of the beer aisle laughing so hard. It certainly perked up the rest of the shopping trip.

Finally we made it to checkout and ran both orders we were buying and J took over cart-pushing, announcing loudly "I'm the man of the house, I'm pushing the cart!"

And who was there to hear this comment? Oh, yes, the disapproving lady from the chip aisle.

A wonderful lesson on thinking before one passes judgement. And on the fact that a pair of 15" cucumbers in your cart say a lot about you when you shop with a friend.

Final Countdown

2007-12-17T11:26:00.000-06:00

OK, so I didn't exactly stick to my plan of stress-free holiday-ing. In fact, I pretty much suck at it. But that's okay, because this year there is one important first that has overshadowed all the suckiness of my character, or lack thereof.

I'll be home for Christmas!

Yes, since my mom is working Christmas day we'll be doing the family Christmas on Christmas Eve. And since there's no good place to board the dogs, we'll be returning home that night and falling asleep in our own beds.

And therefore waking up in them as well.

I can't explain how big a deal this is for me. I won't even try. Just say I'm overjoyed and glad and leave it at that. So that leaves me with a little baking, a lot of shopping, and the regular mess of things to do.

Today is competition meeting after school for which I need to invent a challenge, then shopping tonight, if I'm lucky, or sorting pictures to download to my in-laws digital frame if I'm not. Then tomorrow I take JJ to the doc, work, shop some more if possible, and make sure the Bigun goes to the dentist. Wednesday is prep for the teacher lunch on Thursday, and Friday is loaded. Friday there's a sing-along, classroom parties, cleanup, drama class, then a caroling event in the evening. Work Saturday and then I'm free, except for holiday prep, until the new year.

It didn't help that I had a headache most of the weekend, but still the LC and I had a baking day and churned out 4 dozen toll house cookies (FROM SCRATCH!) and made sugar cookies (also from scratch.) We're up for fudge and mudballs as soon as we can find the time. I guess that will be April at this rate.

Too Much Information

2007-12-10T10:51:00.000-06:00

It's report day. So I'm running reports for the board and general meetings, having lunch with the LC, trying to clean a little around the house, preparing for a meeting after school for the challenge competition, and then I'm off to my first official meeting of the party executive committee. I've already averted disaster by redating two requests that put me off by $33.16. Glad that's fixed.

I'm not a math person at all. Why did I agree to do this treasurer thing? For that matter, why did I get an accounting degree?

At any rate, aside from trying to figure out who spent what on which things, I'm reading Dinesh D'Souza. I always feel dumb when I start one of his books. He's a Dartmouth-educated immigrant from India, and incredibly detailed in his analyses of whatever he tackles, from higher education to religion to the post 9/11 world. By the time I finish a book he has written I do feel smarter, but I also have headaches from stretching my brain. I haven't thought this much since college lit.

It makes me think of going back to school for something. Anything.

I miss hashing out ideas. I miss pouring over a work and feebly attempting critical analysis. Reading this level of stuff actually makes me miss my high school friend Sean. He was one for making me stretch my brain on a daily basis. Between Sean and Burte, another one too smart for me, I was able to divert my attention from all the high school mess going on around me and stay sane. But nowadays, there's almost nothing making me insane that I cannot walk away from.

I worked the first of the last three days at church yesterday, and as I thought, it went easier because I knew there was an end date. It actually wasn't a typical crazy day, with the possible exception of Charlie. When Charlie and his mom arrived, I got the warmest greeting. Poor guy, I've had him under my supervision one way or another since he was three. The first day I met him he tried to throw himself down the stairs to get away from me. (Charlie does NOT like change.) Since then, I've had him in class and then as a hall monitor, and when nobody else can handle him, I get him.

He got booted from worship for doing whatever he wanted a few months ago, and his parents have been trying to come in and stay with him to ease the problem. That didn't work out well, so they went back to leaving him. It makes their Sundays crazy, because they never know when they'll get a call to come get him.

But when he started again yesterday, we pulled him out of class and he had to sit outside the room with me. It took about 20 minutes for him to settle, and only the prospect of getting cupcakes for snack sobered him. He tried everything; whining, wrestling, crawling all over the hallway, but I worked him over with Love and Logic principles and he seemed to respond a little. When it was snack time, he carried in the cupcakes for the class, and then went like an angel to service and participated more fully than I had ever seen him. His parents had a whole Sunday in class and worship without the fretting, and Charlie had a good time once he reined himself in. It felt good to report back to his mom and brag on how he got himself under control. The look on her face at pickup time was worth all the fuss he gave me.

Then I had to tell her I'm leaving. I don't regret leaving, but I hate to see them get him settled in again only to have him regress soon after I leave.

*note to self: this is not my problem*

So maybe I can go back to school for early childhood development? At least there's no accounting involved.

Things can only get better

2007-12-08T22:20:00.000-06:00

Once again, I'm in a mood.

JJ and I went to Comedy Sportz tonight. Like on a date even, since the Little Critter is at a sleepover. We had a great time, but still, I'm in a mood. Part of it has to be that I have to work in the morning. That's as fun as lint-harvesting. Still, I should be excited to have only three more weeks of church work until I can be out of there. When I gave my notice, the boss said "You sure are one busy woman."

Ya think?

Still, I don't know why I'm a grumpus. Maybe it's the general holiday malaise. Maybe it's that I've reached my tolerance limit for taking crap. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's temporary. Still, I bore myself when I'm this way, so I can only guess what anyone reading feels.

I think I'll commit to two things; breaking in my new food steamer and baking something from scratch. There's bound to be some mood-altering qualities in steamed vegetables. I KNOW there are in chocolate.

Money

2007-12-07T21:05:00.000-06:00

Five hundred twenty-two dollars and change, deposited after an hour's effort at the bank. School store has earned all its income for the year! Strike up the band! Light the fireworks! Crack open the case of sparkling adult beverages!

Something works in the PTA after all.

Hello Goodbye

2007-12-06T21:41:00.000-06:00

I'm again reaching terminal velocity, running eighteen places at once. It's another full roster; school store, classes, treasurers' meeting, hearing screening, reports to prepare for next week's meetings, the GOP executive committee meeting, and that's just through Tuesday. I work this weekend too.

The short but fun update to the neverending saga over the nurse:

My friend who witnessed the exchange where I was cleared made a phone call to the fundraiser chair yesterday. After talking some other business, she said this: "I have to tell you, whoever said Fish stole phone numbers and called parents is a total liar. Fish confronted the nurse today and the nurse said it didn't have anything to do with her."

"How do you know that?" she was asked.

"I was there! I heard the whole thing! And believe me, now Fish is on the warpath. She's going back to the president and finding out where she got her information, because that's slander!"

According to my friend, it got really quiet on the line.

Let the kissing up commence, she is on notice. Not saying she definitely did it, but I have a feeling.

Bonus good news; people finally got off their duffs and got their deposits and check requests turned in. Nothing like a little ultimatum to get people moving. One person has been sitting on some checks since September, and I'm the one getting e-mails about it. Love that.

And yay me, I told church today to take me off the next months' rotations, so I have actually dropped an activity! Let's see if I can make it a habit. Right after convention. Or after the competition. Or maybe after the primary...

Lies

2007-12-05T20:17:00.000-06:00

That one ought to be really easy.

I was vindicated today. And it felt so sweet.

A few months ago, I helped the school nurse with hearing screening. I take that seriously, so when I noticed her doing something that could inadvertently tip off a child as to when to indicate he heard the sound, I called her on it. I didn't do it in the most positive way, and I feel badly about it to this day.

At the same time, screeners ought to reduce "interference" as much as possible, and I don't feel badly about bringing it up.

At about this time, there was an issue with the fundraising chair over how to record deposits. That ended up with the president taking me aside and giving me a lecture on how, if I were to become president, I needed people to like me.

Yeah.

At the end of that lecture, she brought up the nurse. I thought she'd address the way I brought up the testing integrity issue. Instead, she informed me that she had been told this: that I had contacted a parent and told the parent to forget the nurse's test. I reportedly told this parent the nurse didn't know what she was doing, and the kid needed retesting. Also, according to the nurse, the kid passed the original test.

This is bovine excrement.

I have been leery of getting involved again in testing because of the whole hearing screening issue. Yesterday, when the nurse asked me to help out again, I was shocked. So after testing the kids today, I grabbed a friend to witness the conversation and talked to the nurse. I told her what the president had said, and she immediately said "Oh, no! That's not what happened at all! What was said was much more of a general statement, and I know who said it and it surely wasn't you!"

So all this extra stuff was a fabrication, someone just making things up. One friend remembers that around this time the resident bigmouth S made broad general statements about the nurse's competence at screening, which she also attributed to me (surprise.) It was S who suggested that we call the parents and tell them they needed to have their kids independently screened. Several people heard this, and it was the following Tuesday that the president brought it up. One of those people happened to be the fundraising chair.

Now I have proof someone slandered me, and I'll be bringing it up to the president and asking her for her source. I've overlooked a lot this year, but this is my reputation, my integrity. I got called on the carpet for something awful that I never did, and have had people thinking that I did do it all this time. Sure, there are people who know me and know better, but they had to have experienced a bit of doubt, too. Most people, however, know I would never "steal" a phone number and contact a parent to undermine the school.

I'll report back on the outcome, but at least today I had the satisfaction of being vindicated in front of a witness, and to have her know for sure means a lot to me.

Great Indoors

2007-12-04T21:32:00.000-06:00

Nobody is into guessing the song titles yet?

The temperature has finally dropped significantly, reaching the classification of an official change of seasons. This is great news in a way, because I loathe sweating. But in another way, it's a headache. I really don't keep a large collection of cold-weather clothing. Don't get me wrong, I love sweaters and jackets. I just don't have enough to get through an actual cold spell. And pants? Forget it. Everything has to be hemmed, and even then nothing fits right.

I end up wearing a scarf all day every day, just to keep my neck warm, and my back will not officially be warmed up until spring. That's depressing. I'm going to be chilled until at least March. No amount of clothing makes my back warm. Good thing JJ has warm hands.

I say every year that I'll not complain about the cold, because I know then I'll end up with a scorcher of a summer. This has not worked out as a life strategy, though, because the summer still bakes me regardless of that happens in the cooler months. I admit it, I'm a wimp. People who live in colder climates are laughing at me now. If civilization depended on my being able to handle temperature fluctuations, we'd all be doomed.

Still, in a way, something hopeful happens to me in the fall, something to do with finding a greater variety of weather than hot or wet. And somehow I always end up getting to go shopping for warmer clothes, and shopping is rarely a bad thing. Still, if anyone has any tips short of toting around a huge extension cord and a heating pad to keep me warm this year, let me know. I'm shivering with anticipation.

Virtual Insanity

2007-12-03T10:26:00.000-06:00

That one ought to be easy.

And it describes the school event for the weekend. After I worked I went back to help clean up, and was told by the event coordinator "I'm not doing money today." Meaning, I suppose, that she didn't want to worry about a deposit. Hey, I just came to clean! I surely wasn't going to worry about it.

But upon arriving at school this morning, I went in search of the money so that if it were not in a locked cabinet I could secure it. I couldn't find it anywhere. There's no telling what happened to quite a few hundred dollars. I assume someone has it in their custody, but I wish they had made arrangements beforehand. Over the weekend I got an e-mail question: Did we pay the caterers? Um, didn't anyone notice that I was NOT THERE and had no opportunity to pay them? That there was no documentation requesting a check? That they kinda had to get that worked out ahead of time?

Apparetly not.

So as soon as I finished minimal business this morning, I split. If some situation caused by the event blows up today, I don't want to be anywhere around. It's hard to be a treasurer and make people follow rules. It's harder when there's no one with greater authority willing to enforce them. It's hardest when you're told "You need to let people fail and stop stepping on toes." when you know a few words here or there would save a lot of trouble.

One Bible study teacher explained Biblical legal tradition thus: God gave man a few laws to follow, such as to honor the Sabbath. Man, being what he is, will always fall short of the law. Therefore, the legal tradition added to the law in order to make it more narrowly defined. It was, he said, like moving the sidelines on a football field. If a team's chief goal was to stay inbounds, then narrowing the field would always keep players from going out of bounds. The problem, he said, is that people begin to view the new constraints as the original law. So they narrow the field again, meaning that now you can only walk so many miles on the Sabbath. Yes, it kept people inbounds, but distorted the entire purpose of the original law, which was to rest, worship, set aside time for God and family, and recharge for the week ahead.

This is how I seem to be operating at school. There are a whole set of things I can't do. I can't offer help; I have to wait until I'm asked. I can't intercede when someone is struggling; I have to be invited into the problem. I can't preemptively coach people on procedures; I have to let them screw up and then try to fix it. It's insane. I'm a problem-solver by nature. It's what I do. I see something not working and I think of a way to get in on track. This, however, is not a skill highly prized in this community. Instead I'm supposed to let people figure things out. Let people realize they need help and come to me. Stay out of things unless specifically asked to get involved. I don't want to run everything, I swear! I just want to see things done correctly. And I'm shackled.

No Time This Time

2007-12-02T13:45:00.000-06:00

I'm trying to see if I can name all the posts after songs I've known. Bonus points to the one who guesses where this one comes from. Double bonus points if you didn't have to look it up on the internet.

But literally, I had no time yesterday to post, so I'm already out of the Holidailies running. I was up early to go perform puppets at the school's Breakfast With Santa event. Immediately following that, I had to rush to get to work and teach two classes. Then a quick lunch and a trip to Kohl's to get JJ some clothing. Of course, the little Critter had to go shopping too, then camped out in the toy area. This would have been fine had she not just lost a $28 game from Blockbuster and is under obligation to pay it back. We ended there and ran home with just enough time to get to a production of one of my students in his Christmas play. That was several hours long, but adorable and well worth it. By the time we got home, I was ready to collapse. I nearly blew off church this morning, but until I quit working at the other church I will have very few chances to go to an actual worship service. I'm glad I did go, but I'm still wiped.

JJ got out all the Christmas decor and tree things yesterday, and so the LC is off in the entryway opening boxes, unwrapping lights, sorting ornaments and making a large mess. Meanwhile he has escaped to the store and the gas station. I'm hoping the schedule this year allows us to be here on Christmas morning. It might be worth it to do some decorating after all. It always feels so pointless, setting up the tree, the lights, the mantle, the low wall, only to be somewhere else for the holiday. I suppose there's something to be said for setting the mood of the season, but usually the season just offers more opportunities to get into scrapes with people over stupid stuff.

Maybe I'd be smarter to make New Year's resolutions at Thanksgiving.

Huge Debate (Or JJ and I have no life)

2007-11-30T01:13:00.000-06:00

I was watching a commercial for Gears of War (I guess) and it juxtaposed images of warfare with a soft version of Mad World by Gary Jules. That has been rattling around in my head, but I didn't know the artist until today. The reason it made such a huge impression on me is the original by Tears for Fears. It was a track on their first album, and I've owned it almost since it came out.

I raised the Bigun on Tears for Fears, Crowded House and all those '80s standards. She still remembers a lot of them. However, she had no clue about Mad World when I asked her about it. She and all her friends assumed that it was new.

JJ, who loves music, looked up a song for me tonight from the CSI Vegas credits. Turns out that was originally Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill. Then he searched out Faster Pussycat's You're So Vain.

All that to make a point; everything old is new again.

That started JJ on a quest to find all maner of songs that had been remade so we could listen to them and judge whether they were sufficiently the same or sufficiently different to be interesting. Let me tell you how glad I am that he did this, because I am a doof who committed myself to making over 12 dozen Oreo Balls tonight and it took a lot out of me. I was so tired after work that I was ready to collapse on the couch, but he kept me awake until I could finish.

God bless that man. I keep telling him that we'll never run out of things to talk about. It's true, too. We're still debating the paradox in Terminator. Regularly.

See? No life. But that's okay. "No life" with him is better than life with anyone else.

Dang, I'm so tired the word "life" doesn't look right anymore.

2007-11-29T15:55:00.000-06:00

I have a weird sharp pain behind my right ear, so this will be brief.

People who can't add shouldn't be in charge of money.

People who wait until the last minute to do things deserve a bumpy ride.

People who live life as freeloaders shouldn't be surprised when they aren't invited along where it costs money.

People who can't keep their thoughts to themselves should be able to figure out why no one tells them anything.

Mean people shouldn't be surprised if no one wants to help them.

I suck at this

2007-11-29T00:00:00.000-06:00

Dang, another post-twelve post.

Oh, well, funny thing happened today. The Little Critter wanted to take a walk after school. She never wants to do any such thing, but I decided we'd go. We don't get out enough since the days are shorter, and it was a good chance to just talk. We decided to just make the block and come back home. I mean, no reason to overdo it.

As we turned the second corner, we saw Miss Amy, a friend and prayer group member I've known a few years. After chatting with her, we headed down behind our house. Here we saw the house catty-corner behind us where Michelle and Michael live. Right next door to that, we see little Ali, daughter of one of my good PTA friends. She greets us, we go on, and then I stop dead in the sidewalk.

Wait a minute. Ali? I knew they lived around there, but was that her HOUSE?

I remember this little goofy girl named Ali who peeked in between fence boards and made Cowgirl bark herself hoarse. I remember her brother who climbed the fence and drove the pooches crazy. Or got on his roof and scared me to death.

All I knew of the family behind us is that they had a girl named Ali, they barbecued occasionally in the backyard, and that they were all familiar with Cowgirl's bark.

That's my friend Brenda's house! We've lived behind each other for over four years and didn't know! I had to call her and confirm, and sure enough, that's them.

For the record, I warned her the next time she barbecues, I'm coming over the fence.

And Now for Something Completely Different

2007-11-27T20:51:00.000-06:00

I'm too upset to talk about what's really bothering me, so I'm going to have some fun thinking about my classes. I started out teaching seven classes a week, which was great, but soon it became apparent two of the classes would not have sufficient students. This put me at five. However, one lady who teaches the older students has been experiencng morning sickness from hell, so I get to sub for her a lot. Temporarily back to six.

Tuesday is the long day; I teach 3-4 at an elementary school, then down the road from that school I sub at 6:30. Yikes. But the students are fun. The elementary class is full, about fifteen students, and they're mostly experienced by at least a year. However, they all know each other and spend a lot of my time trying to impress each other with their wackiness. I can deal. Especially since the boss told me the last teacher they had was really not a stong classroom order-keeper. I tell you, I have got that down. I hit them hard with warnings early in the class, toss a couple of kids out of an exercise here and there, and by the end they are right where they need to be to finish.

Last week they performed short duet skits and I could see how much they had improved since September. These scripts had all been covered previously, so nothing was new. That gave them time to get comfortable with their setting, blocking, facial expressions and timing. This is NOT the class I started with, and I'm proud of that.

The older class has six girls and a guy in it. The guy is a clowny type, which can be fun, but too often his goofiness takes away from the scene. The girls are under-motivated, probably not comfortable looking uncool. They are also tied to scripts, holding them through any exercise. I'm trying to break them of that. It's a crutch, and it gets in the way of physical stuff.

Thursday I teach back to back young elementary and older elementary classes. The young class is probably my least remarkable class, but there are two girls who do really well in there, and one guy who will do well when he loosens up. The Little Critter sometimes has to go with me to that class, and so she gets double lessons. The older class is the most experienced bunch I have, and the most challenging. Oh, and loud. They rock the script memorization, but the class clown in there is a girl. She's so cute and so distracting! Luckily, I have a nice tambour to bang when they can't hear me. That's fun. I think all parents and teachers need to be issued a tambour. It would make the low pay bearable.

Saturday I teach two more classes. The younger class is cute, but with three girls who like to take turns getting off-task, and three boys who have trouble controlling themselves and following directions. It also has the boss's daughter. The older class has its clowns as well, but often I get good stuff out of them. That's my international class, with kids from England, Scotland, India, Mexico, Bangladesh, China and California. (Har!) By this time all my lesson bugs are worked out and I usually get a good class.

In February, we'll have parents in to see things we do, and in May we'll have the year-end performance and awards ceremony. I hate to think of what I will do without them in the summer.

Deep Breath

2007-11-26T22:50:00.000-06:00

As if.

It was crazy. I had a school store meeting in the morning to catalog shop for new items, and when we opened the cart to see what we had we found a ton of stuff we didn't know was there. I had to completely empty it, check everything, and repack it. It took forever. M and J did the order while dodging inquiries from one of the troublemakers.

And dis bre'r rabbit (or sissa rabbit, I guess) she say none.

Then there were all the reports that had to be done for the board meeting. Ick. Ick. Ick. Why did I sign up for this job? The reconciliation wouldn't reconcile, I lost documentation for two checks, and the reports looked funny. I found a few errors, but I will have to finish the reconciliation soon, and that I don't look forward to. It took almost the whole school day to get the paperwork done, and then no sooner had I got home and made dinner than back again to explain what I had printed out.

Stupid meeting. It took me hours longer to prepare than it did to hold. And for what? Watching the problems mount up and be tabled.

I need a raise, and a big one at that.

Shoot

2007-11-25T14:13:00.001-06:00

Thought I had made an entry yesterday. Pooh. Off to napsville and then I'll make up for it.

Big Deal

2007-11-23T22:25:00.000-06:00

So I did Black Thursday shopping with Kohl's, Target and Sears this morning. I'm amazed I'm still conscious. I didn't go to sleep, but instead headed over to Waffle House at 2 a.m. for breakfast and ad perusing. After picking up hot chocolate to go, I joined the Kohl's line. Once the door opened, I was inside almost immediately, and was almost immediately run down by a karate shopper with a cart.

Aaaaah, bargain-hunting.

I finished there in less than an hour and joined the Target line. Again, near the front, I had a much less positive experience with that line, as we were on the north side of a building in a zippy north wind. Oh, and people who cut in line suck.

Then off to Sears for stuff for JJ. Thank God he picked the things out, because I don't speak Hardware. Everyone there was so nice and friendly and relaxed, probably because it's only a Sears Hardware store and not the full department store. Otherwise we'd have been mobbed by mommas going after daddy gifts between getting the hot new electronics items and the big clothes markdowns.

I was done by 6:30 and back home in time to pick JJ up and drop him at the park and ride.

A brief three hour nap, and then I was up for the day, getting the tire fixed (I needed three new ones and apparently a front-end alignment to be done in the near future) and cleaning and trying to recover. My back's a little sore from all the standing in line, and I didn't follow any of my resolutions from last year except for getting there earlier, but at least I knocked out a few things on the list and can take a few days off before going out and braving the crowds again. I hear Tuesdays are pretty good shopping days.

Anyone get any good deals yet?

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T20:32:00.001-06:00

Oh, I didn't want to go. But we did.

We discovered a nail in the tire of my van this morning, which would have been an excellent excuse to stay home. But the alternative was driving the not-yet-legal car JJ uses to get back and forth to the park and ride. Needless to say, we're back and safely home. Don't try that, should it happen to you.

Dinner was great, if swift, and the family was goofy as ever. This time, however, they started a new tradition.

My little sisters husband was being a doof, trying to bug her by licking her ear. That got them in a half-wrestle, which the Bigun broke up by squirting Reddi Whip on my sister's hand. So a Reddi Whip battle ensued, and I, being the smart one, hid under the table.

This turned out not to be the smart thing to do.

She got me.

And then she got just about everyone else: her grandmother, her uncle, her dad, and her aunt again.

So for Christmas, send me whipped cream. I need ammo!

Missed one due to migraine

2007-11-22T00:39:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving - I'll add more later. I have hopes the headache will be gone by then. Hate to cramp my turkey-eating style.

Forwarded

2007-11-20T13:00:00.000-06:00

I am not a message forwarder.

I get maybe thirty e-mails a week with messages from recipe exchanges to good wishes to prayers, all from the same people. OK, to be fair, I WOULD have done the recipe exchange, but I didn't know ten people I could send it to who would participate.

Still, it used to take effort to pass something along to someone. One had to cut out an article or copy it, write a note to go with it, find a stamp, locate the current address and pop it in the mail. Now it's click and send. So while the internet makes it so much easier to share, people are sharing crap.

It isn't like someone picked me out specifically to receive one of these messages, or found just the right sentiment to suit me. I'm usually one in a list of fifty people so honored. And of course, it isn't just good thoughts. I can't count how many warnings a month I receive, whether on political issues, dangerous new ways of being attacked, scam alerts, ingredients to avoid, dangers of over the counter meds or killer toys. Oh, and missing children. Those abound. People are sure I'll buy the wrong thing, forget to be vigilant when out, eat crap that's bad for me, and buy my children things that will lead to their imminent demise. And while I'm out doing those things, could I please keep an eye out for this missing girl?

Thank God for snopes.com and truthorfiction.com. Without them, I'd still be wildly paranoid and boycotting Proctor and Gamble products. My usual response nowadays is to hit "Reply All" and post the link to the debunking and a mild lecture to the tune of "Please check these sites before you jam up my inbox with this excrement."

Still, it hasn't helped much, because messages are going around now with "Snopes says this is true!" or "Verified by truthorfiction.com." Besides the issue of these statements being lies, there are no corresponding links to the purported rumor's discussion.

I can't decide if I'm a curmudgeon about it or just ticked off at four seconds of my life being wasted. Logically it shouldn't affect me as much as, say, Darfur. But I get so much more worked up over it than genocide, so my priorities are way out of whack.

I love it when

2007-11-19T22:59:00.000-06:00

...people who crap on you find they need you soon afterwards.

...stuff you touch works wonderfully well.

...you have cash for Christmas.

...you find a huge coupon stash on your doorstep.

...your dog gets out and lets himself back in.

...you have a free day to yourself and shopping to do.

Maturus Interruptus

2007-11-18T22:07:00.000-06:00

Some people.

I am a bit too miffed to post the details, but suffice it to say that there's some interferin' goin' on. Someone could have learned a valuable life lesson this year about responsibility ten times over, and others are conspiring to thwart the lesson while it's still relatively cheap. I shudder to think of the consequences. Truly.

But at least JJ was there to save the day. He prevented my spinelessness. He propped me up and never left my side during the weekend. Love that man more than chocolate.

Drive-In Heaven

2007-11-17T23:45:00.000-06:00

We had a blast at the drive-in! The kids in the next car were a little noisy in parts, but they settled down fine. The hardest part of parking next to them was that the dad drove a diesel. Can you say LOUD?

The food was good (we had a shrimp basket with fries, popcorn and a pretzel,) the screen was easy to see six rows back, the sound came in fine through the radio, and the place was really well-run and well-maintained. I think my biggest problem was with JJ toting up the salaries, possible revenues, expenses and other income statement items to see if he could get in on the fun with a drive-in of his own.

We saw Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, which I expected to hate and didn't, and Bee Movie, which I expected to like and didn't. The Little Critter said she laughed during Bee Movie only once. But hey, two movies for $5 and the price of food and we didn't come out too poorly.

Weekend Update

2007-11-16T20:15:00.000-06:00

...but a lot less humorous.

We did about $425 at school store today; this would have been stellar last year, but we've all raised the standards and so we're glad, but not elated. We are, however, a little pleased to discover that we're $450 away from making the budgeted income for the year.

I'm happy it's Friday, for sure. Usually I'm so busy the weekend sneaks up on me, but this time I'm ready for it. After I work in the morning, we're hoping to track down the rumor of a drive-in theatre still operating outside Tomball. The LC had another great report card, so we thought that kind of treat would be in order. It will be a first time for either of us to go to a drive-in. JJ will be in heaven.

Hopefully nothing will happen this weekend and I will get some needed down time. Or shopping time. Or coupon filing time.

What I really need to be doing is researching low-cholesterol recipes, as JJ has been to the doctor and earned himself a prescription of Lipitor. He's cringing at the thought of giving up queso, as his motto has always been that there isn't anything that can't be made better with cheese. I can tell you, though, the new Green Giant Healty Weight, Immunity Boost, and other varieties, however good or bad they are for one, taste really good! He says they taste vegetable-y, but he ate them. Good. Because unless he's tripling his life insurance coverage, he's lowering these numbers pronto.

Snot Nosed Brat

2007-11-15T20:09:00.000-06:00

Okay, not really, but I nearly called him one.

"Noah" is a kiddo in the Little Critter's grade, and his mom has been having medical crises du jour for a number of weeks now. His mom is my friend, but this series of issues is bringing out a side of her that I'm not comfortable with.

They live around the corner from the school, in easy walking distance, and the boys are in third and forth grade. They've been used to their mom picking them up after school with the rest of us at the side gate, but since her medical issues began, she can't walk up to the school and/or drive up and get them. It's not so much pain as the medication she's taking. But every day she wants someone to bring them home to her.

So she calls endless times among us who meet on that side of the school, wondering who will get her kids each day. I was driving them home most every day except when I work. Another friend who has a daughter and four grandchildren, two of whom go to the school, was rounding them up with her crowd when her DIL couldn't get the grandkids. Eight kids don't fit into her vehicle, so it's always a little of a hardship to get them. But she managed when she could help.

The boys' mother, though, took to calling my friend and pretty much demanding to know who would be bringing the kids to her. Not a smart move. When my friend became more selective about answering her phone, messages would be left stating "Call me when you figure out who's picking up my kids."

This lady is also the chair of the school store, so we've stepped in and kept that going since she couldn't be there, and you all know how proud we are that the store is making a great deal of money. But she calls my friend and says "There's a lady who signed up to help, you really need to call her." Um, she made a phone call to tell my friend to make a phone call she could have made? I've caught her doing this to me as well. She asked me, while I was obviously away from the computer and couldn't possibly know, whether one company or another had better deals on wallets. It rather puzzled her that I replied that she should look online, compare the two, and then decide.

Apparently it's gotten so bad that my friend ends up on the phone with her for over two hours at a time, listening to her go nonstop about everything and running up huge cell bills for my friend. And on a day when my friend had to get her DIL to pick up all the kids because she was taking her 14 year old dog to the vet to put it down, their mom queried "Why didn't you pick up my kids?"

OK, all that to say this.

Noah and his brother met me outside the gate today as usual. I picked them up even though I was on my way to work, but it was either that or hear their mom call six times looking for another person to ask. I would have had them the previous day as well, except I got called in to sub for someone. I had called and told their mother to find someone else to get them and then I arranged for my friend to pick up the LC.

Well, Noah comes charging out, the little bugger, and challenges me with "Where WERE you yesterday?" As though I owed him an explanation.

Oh, uh-uh. "Excuse me? You don't talk to me that way. And I'll be taking it up with your mom."

So after my phone call to her, he's supposed to apologize. And after his mom talked to my friend, the new arrangement is that one of us watches them cross the street and make it to their own street, whereupon their mom, who can SEE THE CORNER FROM HER HOUSE will watch them home. Apparently the boys are tired of being shuttled around and never knowing who will see them home. "And we're not?" I didn't say, but thought really loudly.

The kicker is that there are three neighbor families on their street with whom the boys play regularly, who pass right by the boys' house on THEIR way home. And it never occurred to their mom to have those people, who wouldn't be going out of their way to do this, see them home.

Blessings

2007-11-14T17:23:00.000-06:00

In hopes of cheering myself through the holiday season, here begins the list of blessings, to be lengthened as I go on.

#1 - JJ. JJ is absolutely my prop, my cheerleader, my partner in every sense, my unindicted co-conspirator. He can't pass me without touching me or asking for a kiss. He puts up with much more voluminous detail about the Crap that is my Volunteer Hobby than a reasonable person can stand. He even adds his defenses of me to my running commentary. He swears I'm the best thing that has ever happened to him, but I know it's the other way round. I am not going to disabuse him of the notion, either.

#2 - Work. Teaching Drama has been a surprisingly good fit for me. I love all my students (I last counted over 60) and have a blast sharing my love of performing. I can see so much improvement in them after a couple of months, and I enjoy looking for it. Seeing the light go on in their eyes when they nail something is so rewarding. And I'm working at it for a boss who is so willing to follow my lead in managing my classes. She trusts me to sub for the other teachers even if I haven't taught that level's activities before, and is so positive and encouraging. If there's a bad thing about working for her, I swear I haven't found it yet.

#3 - Couponing. That skill has garnered me more respect in the weirdest places than anything else I have done. I't s cool to be able to bring free stuff to school or wherever and just give it away. It's flattering to be told that people have confidence in me when I help them plan a grocery trip. And it's nice to be the Coupon Fairy to others, because they always come back and return the favor.

#4 - Libraries. I have checked out everything from Goldwater to Miss Manners recently, and have a ton of books on order at the local branch. Every book leads me somewhere else I want to go, and I end up ordering more books than I can possibly read in the time allotted. Still, I'm feeling smarter these days, something that helps when I'm frustrated with The Way Things Work. Forget paperless books, I'll never be able to get used to that. Give me paper any day.

Wow, I feel a little better already. Time to go pick up my partner in crime. And count the seconds it takes him to kiss me.

The Battle Begins

2007-11-13T20:58:00.000-06:00

Over PTA issues? No.

Over what to have for dinner? Uh uh.

Over who gets to wash the dog? Not even. (Though I'll take volunteers!)

Over bedtime? Possible, but not this time.

No, the battle is over the holidays, specifically Where We Will Spend Them. My little sister has been calling, and has recruited the Bigun as well, to find out whether we're going "home" for Thanksgiving and Christmas. People, it's the thirteenth! I've got whole days ahead to make up my mind! What's the urgency?

OK, to be rillyrilly honest with myself, it isn't a battle between the family and us. It's a battle between me and myself. The Dutiful Daughter who tries to do what she THINKS the family wants, meaning the action likely to garner the least snippy reaction. The Dithering Wife, who just wants to wake up in her own bed for a holiday. They battle it out every year, and the rest of the family just do their thing.

The Bigun said her biodad wanted to fly her and her friend to Hawaii for Christmas, but oops! Boatman (to whom she has given the title "Dad" which infuriates me) hasn't quite got the cash nowadays to do that, what with him getting a DIVORCE and all. Oh, yeah, I just got that news recently. So now the girls want to go find military transport (whee!) but sadly will not have much dough to do anything else. I was waiting for the "Mom, loan me a couple hundred bucks" request, but it didn't come. Of course, it's hard to make that request when one's mother is saying "Well, call me later kthxbai!"

I don't want to be grumpy this year. I don't! I think I'll have to start a Counting my Blessings post just to keep my head on straight.

But college is years away

2007-11-12T23:07:00.000-06:00

At the PTA Council meeting, we heard speakers on the subject of dual credit programs and community college scholarships. Honestly, I didn't know there were so many opportunities to go to school in so many different ways, but then, the Bigun chose her own way without even a little nudge from me. So I guess I'm excused.

There was also information that districtwide, all 9th and 10th grade students will now be certified in CPR and taught to use defibrilators. If that ain't a kicker. And another school is enrolling all students in the community college system no matter where they are accepted. I don't quite know why, except to be able to say "All of these students are enrolled in a post secondary education program." Um, yeah.

In other education news, my friend J had a rough time in her daughter's class today. We parents were substitutes for the first couple of hours of school so the teachers could attend a special breakfast, and J had apparently scored the class with all the demon children in it. Not only demon children, but by her reckoning, the stupid demon children. She never said that, but I heard her think it. She was amazed at how little they were able to do, so she set them to working. Poor thing. Poor kids. Poor teacher. As for me, the LC's class was decently behaved and said I was cool. So damnit, I may not get to be homecoming queen this year, but my little clique of nine year olds likes me.

This just in!

2007-11-11T23:59:00.001-06:00

Anybody know why the paragraphs aren't registering spaces?

I am so lucky - I got a good nap in today. Of course, it was after I had an astonishingly normal (read: typically annoying) day at work today. For the first time since its inception, I didn't dress for PJs and Pancakes day. We were short a caregiver. One class had to triple up, maxing out at 22 kindergarteners in the class, until an adult made it to the other two classes. In one case, the teachers just breezed in an hour after everyone arrived. In another, there never were teachers; nobody came to teach that class, so it wasn't until the caregiver arrived from her first assignment that those kids were moved.

This is typical. They complain about the cost of providing an adult in every room, and move to teacher volunteers. Which would be great in a setting of typically 7-8 kids. We get 13-20 in most of the classes. It would also be great if teachers were there to greet the kids when they arrived so that the kids wouldn't feel shuffled around from room to room. Most teachers arrive after the kids do lately. So I have one classroom with one paid worker and 22 children that should have been three classrooms with 2-3 adults each. Theory and practice are definitely two different animals, but nobody admits that.

And it isn't like they're being paid a pittance and we can't find people. They pay $12 an hour for these teenagers. We could find them. You can't make that on almost any other starting job. But because the place is what it is, they tend to hire church members' kids, who feel a sense of entitlement to the job once they get it. That's sad enough. But you have to really REALLY screw up badly to get fired. I've only known it to happen twice; once through three years of complaints FINALLY getting through, and even then there was some sort of incident I'm not sure about, and once through attrition. It's hard to fire someone when they just stop coming, so I shouldn't even count that.

On top of the teacher volunteers, they instituted a parent volunteer program a couple of years ago, where each parent takes a turn in the class for the worship hour. Great idea. Except during the worship hour, all the kids are transported into another building, up a flight of stairs, and down three hallways to an enormous room with a hundred other kids. There's no one in charge of that room; it's just a bunch of adults sitting on the perimeter and a mosh pit in miniature in the middle. Well, I admit it isn't always that bad, but some days it's insane. Few parents have felt bold enough to go correct dangerous behavior. Then the late parents who sign in up there make it even more complex, as the parent volunteers now have to remember all the new kids who came in late, and remember to get them back to the classroom too. Even the architecture of the room comspires against order, with half-walls set 4 feet high with an occasional porthole just large enough to fit a wiggly kindergartener. They might as well have printed on them:

Dear Curious Kindergartener,

Please enjoy these lovely half-walls; they are here for your climbing pleasure. Oh, and don't forget to partake in the delights of squeezing through the portholes to slip out the back of the room, threading yourself through all the portholes in turn, hiding in the portholes from your assigned caregiver. We are here to make your worship experience all it can be!

Sincerely,

The Half-wall

I swear, I'm gone when the December schedule is done. I've said it for two years, but this time, I've totally had my fill. I am so done.

Decisive

2007-11-10T16:57:00.000-06:00

The Little Critter had the option to download games today, and she was struggling with which one she would download. That's not unusual, bit it highlighted a trend I've recently noticed. She would ask JJ and/or I to pick a movie, a book, a game for her. Almost without fail, when we would pick one, she'd say "Pick another one." When she didn't do that, she'd just go ahead and choose another one anyway.

Where does that come from? Is it the Inner Contrarian that wells up in her? Why does she feel the need to ask if, when she chooses, she basically says our choices suck? Does she judge the value of her choices by how opposed they are to ours? Why does she keep asking?

This came up last night, when we were deciding which movie to watch. We've tried to instigate a movie night whenever she can't have anyone over, so we told her to pick a movie. She offered five choices. I picked one. She tossed it back in the box. JJ picked one. She set that one aside too. Finally she announced two from which to choose and then chose one. So I made popcorn, snuggled in next to her on the couch, and then a half hour later she abandoned JJ and me for the computer.

I didn't mind seeing Shrek again.

Still, I'm extremely decisive. I make a lot of wrong decisions, but more often I do okay. I find that for myself, much analysis equals paralysis, so I go with my gut. I realize the LC isn't going to do everything the way I do it, but this I don't understand.

Who's running this thing?

2007-11-09T19:08:00.000-06:00

This morning I was at the school and got the new year's roster (It's November, didja notice?) for the PTA board. Interestingly, former volunteer and now-PE-aide "SC" is on the roster for running Pizza Night. This after a few of us went recruiting and got a new person to be interested. SC is already Secretary, and isn't doing very well at that, so we were very suspicious. I had already given the president all the contact information for the new gal last month, and the gal hasn't even been contacted.

So Miss J went to ask SC, and no, SC doesn't want anything to do with it. Hmmmm.

Then I notice that the Evil Former Carnival Chair is on the slate to run it again. This after I recruited another new mom to run that. I had already given the president all the contact information for this new gal too, who also hasn't been contacted.

I called the prez:

"So I notice EFCC is on the roster for carnival again. Is she going to do it this year?"

"Yeah, I talked to her at Halloween."

"Oh, well I had a meeting with that new mom we recruited set for Monday to pass on the binder. I should cancel, right?"

"Um, well, don't cancel just yet. I haven't heard back from EFCC in a while. I'll call her and confirm."

Is there any wonder why this year is harder?

And in the middle of all that, rumor has it that there's a triumverate planning to run a particular candidate for president next year, just so I won't get it. Look, y'all, I'm in high school all over again! Anyone up for a slumber party?

Note to Self:

2007-11-08T22:48:00.001-06:00

When you save drafts of posts, the dates get all funked up. So that was Thursday the 8th, and so is this.

Ferry Landing

2007-11-07T14:11:00.000-06:00

Dang has this been fun! I realized I needs me some more stories. So last time, JJ and the locksmith were approaching the boat:

Thankfully JJ left the man's collar alone, and I met them at the car. In two seconds the poor, harassed locksmith had the door open. It took longer than that to write the check. Not so poor locksmith after all! But I digress. So finally I was able to get off the boat, but I think I recall making JJ drive. JJ’s reaction to getting in the car was: “We got into the car and turned on the air. Sweet air.”

By this time it was getting late in the afternoon, we were hot, tired, and hungry, and about sixty dollars poorer. Plus a little seasick, what with one thing and another. As soon as we were off the island, and this is what kills me, JJ turned to me and said:

“Honey, I’m so sorry you had to go through all that.”

I was waiting for the disappointment, the frustration, the “I’m never letting you drive again” reaction. And while I’m bracing for it, ready to hear all evening about what a doofus I am, he’s hugging me and expressing his sympathy, worried about how I feel after five (FIVE!) trips on this godforsaken ferry boat. A short way up the interstate was a Cracker Barrel, and with money we didn’t really have, JJ offered to take me to dinner there. Food never tasted so good, WATER never tasted so good as after that ordeal. The whole evening he never blamed me or fussed or made me feel bad.

But such is the man I married. All that frustration and worry, and he’s being all solicitous about me.

All of which goes to show, upon reflection, that I really should have expected what came next; that he’d turn it into a party routine. I was off the hook that day, yes, but I’ve been paying for it for ten years since in every social situation. But that’s okay. I’ve got stuff on him that,… well, crap. Nothing tops that. I got nuthin’. Except to say, it wasn’t ME that thought jeans and hiking boots were beachwear.

Ferry Story Limbo (Or, Don't Ask a Man)

2007-11-07T10:19:00.000-06:00

With the best of intentions, and no supervision, I asked my darling JJ to add the next installment of the story. I worked a fifteen hour day at the polls, but forgot to remind him, so he studied for his class, took a test, wrassled the Little Critter, and then greeted me at home with such joy and relief I couldn't ask him again until this morning.

I am hoping he comes through, but I won't know until later. It just doesn't flow as well without his voice, but I will come back and do his part if he can't. And I'll make crap up, too, to make me look better. Oh, yes I will.

Oh, honey, was that a gauntlet that just hit the floor? I believe it was!

UPDATED!

So JJ adds this, but bear in mind, he's wearing jeans, hiking boots, and a golf-type shirt, and it's Texas' Gulf Coast in the summer:

I turn around and it was gone. The Ferry. How could they?

Well since it was gone, I really could not do anything so I went over and put my last 50 cents in the coke machine and got a drink. And chugged it. Literally. Gone in a few seconds. I sat down on the bench and waited. Ferries came and went. I watched one leave, then I saw a guy walking up from the parking lot. He asked:

“Anybody looking for a locksmith”

I literally said “Thank God, you are here! The car is on the ferry. It gets here, you do your thing, and we are done.”

He calls his girlfriend who is in his truck and tells her that he found me. We talk about things when another ferry arrives. A car is pushed off. Stalled. (We're not the only ones having a lousy day.) After a few minutes, a lady walks over and says

“Can one of you give us a jump start”

I said “Ma'am, I locked my keys in the car and we are waiting for the ferry to return. I am sorry.” in a stressful manner. I was trying not to be rude but I was very wired.

She says “Well, My son wanted to see his dad at the beach and my husband did not want to come, and now the car is stalled and he is very upset.”

I said “Ma'am, as soon as I get my car unlocked, he (the locksmith) can help you but right now that is the only thing we are waiting for.”

The son walks over and says “He (the stepdad) is really upset.”

I looked over to the water hoping the ferry was coming. It wasn’t. The stepdad walked over and I basically repeated my statement. He seemed to be cool about it. But the locksmith I don’t think really liked my attitude. He called his girlfriend to move their truck over to the stalled car. As she did this, she unintentionally broke the line to the ferry. An offense of up to $200. The security lady at the ferry office came flying out, saying “You can't do that! You can't do that!” The locksmith told her that she was moving the car over to the stranded car and finally the security guard was ok with that. At the same time, the stepdad flagged someone coming off the ferry and they were going to help them. They left before we did.

The next ferry was ours. As it was docking, we were standing on shore waiting. They would not let us on until the port side cars unloaded and then we could go on. I almost grabbed him by his collar.

The Ferry Story, Part III

2007-11-05T17:07:00.000-06:00

Let's see, where was I when I last wrote? Ahhh, yes, I had just pulled away from the Galveston side, headed back to Bolivar on the ferry, sans husband. Sans cell phone. Sans soda.

So, The ferry has left JJ stranded on Galveston, and I'm on my fourth (FOURTH!) trip across the bay. (Did I say I wanted to ride this boat? I hate boats. Boats are stupid. This boat doesn't even GO anywhere. Dumb boat.)

The ferry ride had gotten pretty old by my fourth trip. I climbed up into the air-conditioned passenger cabin and sat on a bench, trying hard not to cry. Out came a tech from the cabin.

"Hey, is that your car?"

"Yeah, it is."

"What happened?"

"I locked the keys in it."

"Woah!"

He left quickly after that.

Pretty soon, other passengers climbed up as well, to get the view from the upper decks. I considered hiding in the bathroom, but if you're smart, you don't even look in the general direction of the bathrooms on a Galveston ferry.

"Did you see that car sitting backwards?" one said.

"I wonder what's wrong?" another said.

I'd had about all I could take, and nearly braved even the bathrooms by that time. But soon they were gone, and I was too chicken to watch the onloading around my car again. I decided a nap would be the best defense, so I closed my eyes and stretched out on the bench. For my fifth trip across the bay. Not that I was keeping count or anything.

After the boat set out for the island again, the captain came out of the bridge and said hello.

"Is that your car?"

"Yes! Yes, that is my car. In which I locked the keys."

"Happens all the time. Don't worry about it."

And for the first time since the saga began, I started to feel better.

He spoke again: "It just usually doesn't happen in the center of the back of my boat."

At which statement I actually did retreat into the bathroom, at least until we were approaching Galveston again. I knew I had to check to see whether my husband had remembered which boat we had been on, and whether he had got any help while I was on my pleasure cruise.

Damn boat.

The Ferry Story, Part II

2007-11-04T20:07:00.000-06:00

OK, when last we met, I was telling you I had locked the keys in the car smack in the back center of the ferry from Bolivar to Galveston. I used my spare and we were so relieved that I had the foresight to place that extra key in my back pocket.

OF COURSE I didn't have a spare. This is ME we're talking about.

So we tried to decide what to do, and JJ went to the operators and asked for help. Nope, no can do. Not allowed, they said. Call the towing company, they said. Call a locksmith, they said.

Someone offered us the use of a cell phone. OF COURSE we didn't have cell phones. We were poor. So he tried to make a call to a locksmith company on the island. They apparently couldn't understand him.

"What street are you on, sir?"

"I'm on the ferry."

"Sir, what cross street is that located at?"

"I'm in the middle of the bay!"

"So, sir, is that Ferry and Bay streets?"

So we started looking for another answer. Both of us eyed the block sitting behind the tire to keep the car from rolling in transit. Hey, bust window, get key, problem solved.

But we can't do it.

Someone else offered us the use of a coathanger, but alas, these locks were not made for coathangers to find purchase under.

As we approached the island dock, we were getting a little panicky. They offloaded everyone and JJ ran to see whether there was a pay phone at the ferry station. No sooner had they got the cars off than a full load was driven on, all of them facing my car. As JJ raced back aboard, it seemed we were about to make the journey again, pointed in the wrong direction. And make it we did.

"Hey, why is your car on backwards?" some doofus asked. "I drove it on backwards." I replied. OF COURSE I did.

Back at Bolivar, JJ again looked for a pay phone. I couldn't leave the car, because then it would have been a huge mess. (Come to think of it, I probably could have left it, but it would have been towed to a lot and we'd have spent the night in Galveston trying to get it out.) The boat horn blew the departing signal, and JJ had to race again to get back on.

That was our third trip across the bay.

So after looking at the same scenery a third time, I was getting bored, and went up top to see it from a higher view. Upon landing, JJ dashed off again to the pay phone, and got one working. When he turned around, the boat was gone.

And me and the Mazda with it.

I kinda like these cliffhangers! I'm having fun stringing you all along! But I swear, it won't take all of November to tell.

The Ferry Story

2007-11-04T19:26:00.000-06:00

This is why I married the man I married. We have dined out on this story, and have practically got it honed to a routine. He loves telling it more than I do, the reasons for which will quickly become apparent.

It was summer, and it was hot, and JJ and I were newlyweds, living in Austin. My brother and family had rented a beach cabin near Galveston, and had invited everyone down. At the time, the Bigun (then 7) was living with my folks, and so she was already at the beach when we made the trek. We spent a great day visiting and catching up, and were about to head back. We had come to the Bolivar Peninsula overland, and yet the ferry to Galveston was SO CLOSE, and I really wanted to take the ferry back to Houston, and thus to Austin.

I proposed it to my husband, and JJ said, "Nah, I don't think we ought to."
I proposed it then to my father, and he said "Nah, it's easier and faster if you go back over land. Trust me."

At this point, nearly thwarted before I'd begun, I stomped my foot (literally) and said "I WANNA RIDE THE FERRY!"

As I was pulling on to the beach highway, I begged once more to JJ "Come on! It'll be FUN! It's a boat! You LIKE boats!"

Reluctantly he gave in, under the following condition: "If there's a long line, we're turning around." Sure, fine, whatever; I was RIDING THAT BOAT.

As we approached the ferry line, I noticed it wasn't too long. So we waited while they loaded on all the cars ahead of us, and then closed the gate. This would have made us the first car on the next boat. But then they discovered there was room for just one more, and squeezed us in to the spot at the back of the boat, almost dead center.

No delay after all! A fun trip across the bay! Wheeeee! Wait, what's that? Is that some weird foreshadowing music?

Oh, nevermind!

So we'd collected our things from the Mazda, and it was one of those cars where you had to lift the handle to engage the lock. I lifted the handle, slammed the door and simultaneously blurted out an expletive.

I'd locked the keys in the car. On the ferry. In the last space in the center of the back of the boat. And we were taking off.

I'll add to this tomorrow - it's much more fun to tell serially!

Time Out (And I did it again)

2007-11-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

OK, I did find a little time for R&R today; I went with the Bigun to Comedy Sportz. She was in the High School League last year, and I got to see her in all of one (ONE!) match. So she took me tonight to the Big League match.

I got two words: Freaking Hilarious.

CS is a professional improv theatre experience, and invites a lot of audience participation. Some of the "rounds" are:

Dumbell Races - three players answer audience questions with the dumbest line, thereby advancing in the race

New Choice - Players start acting out a scene and in the middle, the ref will call out "New Choice" and the player who just spoke has to come up with another line

My So Called Life - An audience member s invited onto the stage and gives details about people in his life; players have to act out their interpretation of a day in that person's life, and are awarded points based on how accurate they are

Da Do Ron Rap - Players have to sing "Da Do Ron Ron" rap style and find rhyming lines in a lightning-fast elimination round

BooYea - Players alternate telling stories about given situations, offering positive statements (inducing a "yea") and negative ones (inducing a "boo")

We had a blast, of course, and I learned they offer improv workshops. On Mondays. Which I am ABSOLUTELY NOT going to sign up for. At all. Really.

Oh, but I want to.

In other news, I hauled myself over to the election center (which took over an hour) and picked up my materials (which took fifteen minutes) and am all ready to go. When I got back I even had time to attempt to recreate a fabuous dish I had at an Italian restaurant last month involving farfalle, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus and chicken. I have also begun revision of How We Met in order to offer more juicy details. But I think tomorrow I will tell you an even better one. You didn't know it, but I have my own Ferry Story (you read that right, but it's a great verbal trick.)

Technically, I didn't violate the NaBloPoMo spirit, I guess, if you consider that today is the end of Daylight Savings. Right?

OK, but not by much

2007-11-03T00:09:00.000-05:00

I missed the 2nd, but only just. I spent the morning selling school store stuff (setting another record at $650) and then off to drama classes, dinner with JJ and the LC, and then an evening of battling with the LC and her friend trying to get them to behave. In between we started watching a financial planning video series.

So sue me!

I did write a draft this morning about how JJ and I met, but I wasn't sure it fit, so it sits on my draft list. I might touch it up later and actually publish it when I've had time to think about it.

Mostly I spent today tired. After school store and making the deposit at the bank, I went home and napped. While the LC was in drama class, I napped in the chairs in the lobby. I'm running low on energy, so it's time to look into vitamins or buying my meds online so I can get back on them. I teach in the morning, then run across the city to pick up the election materials I will need for Tuesday. In the evening, the Bigun has asked me to go with her to Comedy Sportz, so no early night then either. Thank goodness I don't work this Sunday, because I will need the time off. Monday I go get my teeth cleaned in my hometown, and then Monday night set up here for the election, and then Tuesday work the election for fourteen hours or so.

I've pencilled in sleeping a few minutes on Wednesday, but we'll see how that goes.

The Pressure is On

2007-11-01T07:48:00.000-05:00

Hello, November! Did you know you are actually my favorite month? Of course you are! What glorious things happen in November! You, dear Month, are awash in comestibles. From the first day, when all of the leftover Halloween treats force me to shove them in ever more creative places so I can't find them, to the last week, when the smells of my childhood (and a lot of the feelings, too) return to entice me into the kitchen for an average of six meals a day. Yes, November, you rock.

I appreciate that you started out with some decent weather. I'd love more, if you please. I also thank you for the many opportunities to overschedule myself. Next year I promise to lighten the load a bit, though.

I counted; there are 53 days of shopping left until Christmas, including today. So my goals for November are pretty small. I'm making that list starting today. I'm getting the Christmas stuff down early. And I'm thinking of a great excuse to stay home for our first Christmas ever. Since the in-laws will not be coming down, they've made it a bit easier on us. Now it's my half of the family we have to convince.

So far there's money in the bank, food in the pantry, cool-weather clothes in boxes to be unpacked, and a coupon for a free turkey on the counter. It's looking to be a great month. And best of all, at least at this moment, I have fulfilled 1/30th of my NaBloPoMo requirement!

Happy November! Happy Posting! Get busy, y'all!

Having It All

2007-10-29T17:57:00.000-05:00

I've been doing a lot of thinking about my life.

This is in response to doing a lot of reading. I've scoured the library system to find interesting books I'd like to catch up on. Several of these are nonfiction books centered around politics and sociology.

I guess it started a ways back when I was retailing all I had on my plate:

Mom
Wife
Payer of Bills
Precinct Chair
Treasurer of the PTA
Drama Teacher
Church Employee
Coupon Queen
School Store Staffer
Science Program Chair
Copy Room Trainer

and so forth. Every one of those duties has made demands on my time, and of late the increasing demands have been a challenge to shuffle. My housework has suffered, of course, and I'm not as good a wife as I'd like to be. Sometimes I don't get calls made that I'd like to complete for work, and as for church, I've all but dropped off the radar, coming in only twice a month when scheduled and missing the extra events and meetings I ought to go to.

(To be fair about church, when I've gotten more involved in the past, I've been slapped down and made to understand my input is minimally valued, so I quit trying to change the situation and started doing just the minimum. That's a major character flaw in myself, and one I'm sure I'm paying for. Still, it is a bit difficult to dash one's head against the same brick wall year after year, hoping that it will magically dematerialize.)

But I thought about all I do, and how fortunate I am to be able to do it. We don't NEED a second income, but it is really nice to have it. The major bonus of the drama job, though, is that I love doing it. I have a skill set, and I can use it to pass on my love of drama to kids. I wonder if I'd feel the same way about it if I HAD to work.

Right now, the Little Critter is at her computer, playing a game after a hard day. Soon we will tackle Spelling together, and then have dinner and goof around a bit. She'll go to bed with both parents home at a reasonable hour, and with parents who have time to spare for her.

I remember working full time and putting the Bigun in an afterschool program about eleven years ago. I know she loved the program, and several of her friends went to the same program and enjoyed it immensely. Still, after a full day at a job I neither liked nor understood well, I had very little left to give her or JJ. She got my best for a half hour in the car on her way to private school, and then she got the hectic mom all evening until bedtime. I never found a way to balance working all day with doing everything else I had to get done.

Unbelievably, now I'm doing a lot more, and yet have more time for the family. I'm trying to wrap my head around it. I do all of the above, and also the occasional unscheduled school work or volunteer committment (just today I was asked by the Homeowner's Association to help count ballots for the Association Election) and still I have dinner on the table most evenings, and clean clothes and a full pantry. I'm sure part of it is the enthusiasm that comes with doing things I love doing. Another part has got to be my Late Onset Order Disorder, which manifest itself after I got married. All that means is that where once I couldn't juggle two things at a time, now I can easily handle ten. Often just in my head.

I laughed at Contrary when she said I rocked the multi-tasking, but I'm beginning to think it's not just pretty words because she's nice to me like that. But honestly, ask my parents; there is nothing in my history before we got married that would point to this as being the stuff of which I am made. "Fish?" they would say. "She's a little goofy, generally kindhearted (but not nearly enough,) a voracious reader and a bit of a dreamer, and not much to show for it. She's got potential, but she's not living up to it. Full of plans, but nothing ever comes of them. She's sort of coasting."

I don't know what they would say now.

We're getting closer

2007-10-25T09:54:00.000-05:00

Nearly time for NaBloPoMo. I want to get in the habit of adding a little something in these spaces, but I hesitate to put down the mundane stuff I'm doing.

I went to election law training for election judges. I went to training on the voting machines, and have to repeat it because the team we got stuck training with on "fast track" moved agonizingly slowly. I got roped into helping with the Halloween event in the community center. I subbed for another teacher this week, and got to play with the older students, but I had about an hour's notice and barely time to read their assignments before stepping up and winging it.

I also got an e-mail from the Bigun's biodad, Boatman, about her emotional state. She feels "cut off" apparently, and not connected to the family. Hmmmm, when I have to go to WORK to see my daughter, that tells me she ain't around all that much to be seen and relate to. Other than that, I haven't laid eyes on the girl since her car had trouble weeks ago. Cut off? Come on!

I'm taking a parenting class, which really is fun, based around letting kids suffer the natural consequences of their behavior. Love and Logic, it's called. The premise is that kids making mistakes earlier in life over small things will cost them less in the long run. They get to practice making good decisions early, when the stakes aren't so high, so they will be equipped to make decisions when they have a lot more on the line.

An example: The kids are fighting in the car. You could:

a) Pull over and pick up a book and start reading until they finish
b) Tell them you charge $20 an hour to listen to fighting
c) Tell them to get out of the car and walk
d) Tell them the car only goes 15 mph when you have to hear them bicker

My personal favorite is b, but any of these would work. Now, I don't have kids in the age ranges where they are together enough to fight, so this never applied to me. But think of the possibilities!

"You can clean your room, or I charge $8 an hour to clean it for you."
"You can take your vitamins and wear your coat, or you can choose to pay the $30 copay when we have to take you to the doctor."

Hee! Imagine it! Submitting a bill to your ten-year-old for cleaning! I love it!

We're in the middle of the "stay up as late as you want, but get up on time" experiment. So far the LC hasn't made it to sleep before 10:30 any night for a week, but she has made it up and to school on time every day. That's been fun, because now JJ and I can watch Corner Gas in peace. Still, it feels so WRONG!

I'll report later on the results.

Paused

2007-10-20T00:50:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a break right now. I mean at this very moment, I am not doing anything.

I folded some laundry earlier, read a chapter in my book, barbecued sausage and chicken for dinner tonight, took the LC to drama class and shopping, invited a friend to spend the night with LC, made a bank run, made a grocery run, worked school store today (selling a record $646,) chopped veggies for teacher birthdays, ran JJ to work, challenged him to a Sudoku match when he got home and helped recruit 3 new members for the PTA.

So now I'm doing nothing. In half an hour Corner Gas comes on and we're staying up to watch it. But at this very moment, all I am doing is setting it all down. It's quiet; only the fan noise and my pecking at the keyboard.

I think this, more than anything else, is why I want to move to the country. There just isn't the option of overscheduling myself. It's quiet there, just crickets and an occasional cow. Maybe wind blowing over the trees on the top of the hills. You can see stars out there, and feel a hush that sits on you gently but dares you to break it.

"But I'm not crazy!"

2007-10-17T16:10:00.000-05:00

I teach, therefore I am... crazy.

Truthfully, I love my job. I'm teaching seven classes a week, with an occasional eighth or ninth thrown in when I substitute for someone else. Each class is an hour long, full of high-energy activities focusing on speech, movement and improvisation. The kids, while sometimes a challenge, are always coming up with interesting things, and no two classes go the same way at all.

It's the parents that kill me.

I teach at a particular school on Tuesdays at 4:30. The class starts exactly 1/2 hour after my first class at another campus ends, and I have to traverse a very busy boulevard to get to work at the second location. Sometimes I stop for a quick drink (Like Fanta, get your mind out of the gutter!) and then go to class. Yesterday I had to get a bite to eat because I'd be facing three more classes instead of my usual two.

So I arrive exactly at 4:28 and go directly to the school office. Apparently the school cannot spare a person for 5 minutes to walk my one student who attends school there over to my building. Picking this child up usually takes about 5 minutes because they have to find him. He is usually on the playground, so I am inevitably starting late.

Yesterday I go through this rigmarole and ask at the front desk for him. They clear me in to go get him, but another mom stops me in the lobby.

"When did you change the class time? The class starts at 4."

"The class always started at 4:30. I teach at another campus and I end there at 4. The class here CAN'T start at 4 because I'm not here."

"I know I'm not crazy. I get off work at 3:30 so she can be here at 4."

"Well even so, I can't BE here at 4. I'm teaching another class in another location until 4. I can't get here before 4:30."

"I always brought her at 4. I'm not crazy! I know the class used to start at 4."

"No, see here on my sheet? The time is listed, and has been listed since the 19th, as 4:30."

"No, it used to start at 4, and I want to know why you changed it."

"I have to go get the other kids. You can talk to my boss about it - I'll have her call you." And I went to retrieve my student and THEN make my way to class and set up and THEN start teaching.

So later, after I get home, the boss calls me. It turns out the lady argued with HER too, and also sat outside my class and railed against me to the other parents. She concluded her account to my boss with the statement that I called her crazy.

Now, pause a minute. In the above exchange, just WHERE did I do that? It was HER saying she WASN'T crazy. Or did I dream that?

So the jist of it is the boss called another parent or two. The first parent she called, when asked about the encounter (which only the school staff heard, but apparently the woman did go talk to other parents,) asked "You mean the crazy lady?"

Pow. Case closed.

So the boss talked to the woman who had to back down and admit she was wrong, and said she guesses (GUESSES?!) she owed me an apology. But she still wasn't crazy, she said.

It's a good thing I love my job. Especially since I have to deal with strange people. Because that lady? Man, she was crazy.

The Things I (Never) Said Today (aka I'm Cranky)

2007-10-10T17:10:00.000-05:00

* Do it your own damn self.

* That's the meds talking.

* Why is this suddenly MY problem?

* I told you so (nearly did say that one)

* Why, yes, since the world does, in fact, revolve around you, I will certainly drop everything and do your bidding.

* If you feel disconnected, maybe you should plug yourself into other people's lives instead of sitting over there.

* How is it that when X has an attack of the vapors, suddenly it's incumbent upon everyone to keep from upsetting her?

* By the way, did you ever notice when others have a problem with X, they don't bring it to you? They just deal with it, suck it up, and move on.

More to follow as I make it up...

UPDATE: Oh, Miss Doxie is so very generous. She had a link to this site and I've spent the morning in LOLCat therapy. Try it.

Goodbye, Ray

2007-09-30T23:39:00.000-05:00

Ray died today.

Ray was "da man" on campus in high school. I remember a scrawny bespectacled goof in elementary school who the next year came back muscled-up and the center of the school universe. We never had one class together, which isn't unusual in a class of 500+, and I didn't go to the same parties and hangouts he did. We travelled in separate universes.

Still, in all the years of hearing all the rumors of all the guys and their jerky behavior, I can truly say I never heard one bad word uttered about Ray. You couldn't catch him being a jerk, even if you were looking.

I discovered this spring that we were in the same Bible study class at church. Small world. I re-introduced myself and he asked me if I was going to the reunion. Reunion? What reunion? Nobody told me about any reunion! But Ray made a point to inform me, forward my e-mail to the organizers, and encourage me to go. He didn't know me at all, and still was that nice.

He had the most annoying habit of typing in all caps on the board, probably due to Blackberry issues. We teased him mercilessly about that, as well as his habit of answering e-mail posts with posts in the open forum. He'd have this cryptic one-sided conversation going on and we'd roll, because it looked like a form of Typing Tourettes.

He teased the other guys on the message board about joining him for a triathlon. One had to have surgery and couldn't go, one was recovering from surgery and wasn't well enough yet. He wanted to get the old gang together and compete again, though he talked as if her were an old man who was creaky and out of shape. I think that was him being gracious. He was in fine shape. He just didn't want the other guys to skip the event thinking they couldn't do it. He wanted to see them try.

He died running that race, of a heart attack.

He had turned 39 on the 15th.

He leaves a wife and two girls under twelve.

And the hearts of all who knew him.

God Bless, Ray; you're Home now.

Waiting for Fall

2007-09-26T17:11:00.000-05:00

Somehow, every year I make the same mistake.

Each year about this time, I get my hopes up. It's going to get cooler soon. The school year will turn out differently; better somehow, than all the years prior. I will have enough money for Christmas and will not stress over the holidays.

And every year I find I've gotten my hopes up again for no reason.

Not that optimism isn't on the face of it a good thing. It just also, in my case, appears to be frequently stupid. (And yes, I am indeed off my meds again, thank you for asking.)

It's the end of September, there's no cool air outside of my freezer, and school is another hotbed of disappointment. At least now that I'm grown there aren't any more tests. On paper. But my patience has been tested. Severely.

This lovely "friend" S, who needs way more meds, or a hobby, or a job, or all three, struck again. At a meeting of the community association Halloween committee, she spent her time loudly announcing to all the attendees that they need to get out of the way and let Fishie run that thing. Blessedly, J turned to her and finally snapped "Don't you think you ought to ask FISH before you go committing her to all this?"

Uh huh.

Where was Fishie? Fishie didn't even KNOW there was a meeting and wouldn't have gone if she did. She had other things like, oh, a JOB to keep.

So after S flounced out, my friend J apologized for S and said "Y'all can't paint Fish with the same brush as S. Fish didn't have anything to do with that." By this time, I think, that impression has gotten out there. And yet, she's the Mouth that Wouldn't Quit. She can't take a breath without pissing someone off. And it's getting to the point where even innocuous things she says make people cringe and want to slap her.

I'd get her pointed at a job, but I'd be afraid to unleash her on anyone else.

Somebody FedEx me some wellbutrin. Me off my meds + S running her mouth = One Tired Fishie.

I'm definitely a Drama Queen

2007-09-13T21:31:00.001-05:00

I had my very first class tonight teaching after-school drama, and I am completely hooked, no pun intended. There were 15 kids in my class ages 9-11, and by the end I had learned all their names and had led them in their first whole day of exercises. They were a riot! I feel really good about it. It's hard playing to a tween audience when you're used to preschoolers, but I think I've got the hang of it.

The funnest part? When I chose Tyler to be the lead in the mini play. Tyler had a great time, and did his part with enthusiasm and energy, ad-libbing right where I needed him to, and learning his lines flawlessly. After it was all over and the kids were gone, I talked to my boss about how it went, and how well Tyler did.

"He didn't want to come today." she said.

"Get out!"

"Yeah, it's true. His mom said he didn't want to do it at all. She said he had to come ONE TIME in order to be able to drop it. So he did. Today."

"You mean it was his first time?"

"Yes. She says he has a hard time with new situations."

I was floored. I hadn't studied my class list that closely to know which were my newcomers, and didn't pay too much attention when I asked a show of hands to see how many kids had done it previously. He did not act like a kid who has a hard time with new situations. He looked just like a veteran to me.

So apparently God led me to just the right kid to be the lead. Maybe he'll end up coming back, and then I'll know I did well from objective evidence. As it is, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have stumbled on this job. I can not believe they pay me to do this.

But I'll still take the money!

Not so much

2007-09-09T22:00:00.000-05:00

I'm having a week.

Tuesday: Leave school after a brief attempt to get some treasurer stuff done. J calls me around lunch and says she has to tell me what's up. She comes over and proceeds to tell me S is around the bend completely. S has been going around saying things like "When Fish is president, I'll be 1st VP." and "We are going to get rid of the current president." and "I'm going to barge in the board meeting and tell them all what's what." She's all lumping my name in with hers over her hate-on of the president. To anyone who will listen.

At the same time S is a big drinker and partier, and Tuesday was talking about one of those "sexy parties" she had which I hear went very very wrong. At school. Loudly.

So J took her out and politely read her the riot act regarding getting me into trouble by claiming I'm in on all this anarchy talk, and also talking about sex and alcohol in the halls of the school at top voice. It was hard, but J figured she was the only one who could do it, being old enough to be S's mom.

Thursday: S throws a fit because J and I went to buy a couch for the library without taking her.

Friday: J reports that S said she had a couple of beers before coming to school with the kids because her meds are low and she needed something to take the edge off before coming in. She then further infuriates J by seeming to claim credit for all the hard work J had done to get an event running that day, and event S had zilch to do with.

Then later that morning the Bigun calls to say her car died at school on the other side of town, and I have to get over there and try to get her car going. We get it to her apartment and it doesn't survive being turned off again. It sits there until JJ and I go back over there and buy a new battery for it, which is how we get it over here to the mechanic we just paid $800 to two weeks ago.

The mechanic looks at it Saturday and gets it going around 6 p.m. JJ goes over to pick it up, turns out of the shop drive, and it dies again. So the mechanics look at it again today but can't get it done until tomorrow. JJ is taking the day off to get up early and drive the Bigun and her roommate to school, then come back here and see about the car. This on a day when I have reports to run and financials to prepare for the general meeting tomorrow night.

I think I'm almost ready to move to Bellville. I hear it's a lot less crazy out there. And this looks like a good start.

Drawing the Short Straw

2007-08-31T14:14:00.000-05:00

I got the chance to go to Ft. Worth for a day to attend the Texas Republican Straw Poll tomorrow.

According to the Texas GOP, they've never held one, and theoretically, candidates come and speak and delegates vote for "their" candidate and there's a winner declared and everything. Then said winner gets a big PR boost and so on. Since so many states are going ahead of Texas in the primaries in the Spring, they've billed this as possibly the only chance to help choose a candidate.

Which, when you think of it, is a really crappy thing, but that's a rant for another day. We shall not speak of the Electoral College either, though I support it. I was an inch away from being an actual Elector three years ago. Par-tay!

Anyway, So I'm all excited to be in on this thing. Then I start reading news reports (never do that.) It seems even Mike Huckabee has cited a conflict with the event and has bowed out. So we're stuck with 2 candidates; Ron Paul and someone who I've never heard of.

Yeah. Texas gets the shaft.

So I'm driving about 500 miles round trip and spending $160 before meals and gas to go vote for people who aren't even there.

Shoot, when I'm dictator, the democratic process is really going to get a makeover.

(Nearly) Instant Karma

2007-08-22T16:19:00.000-05:00

It's been a long summer, but now school starts in five (FIVE!!!) days and the PTA wagon has begun to roll. Except it hasn't.

The president cancelled the planning meeting we expected. Which is okay, except it wasn't rescheduled, and we had a major event to put on yesterday, namely the teachers' Welcome Back Lunch. Nobody ever told us how many people to prepare food for, how long they had to eat it, nothing. So we winged it as best we could, and we managed to feed everyone for under $3 a person, which still blows me away. But that's another story.

In the middle of planning this lunch, J (who chairs hospitality) had to take a break and go up to the school to see the teacher class lists and find out which kid got which teacher. While she was there, S walked up to do the same. They chatted with other people around and compared teacher names until G walked up. G is school store chair, and S and I had been picking up bargain school supplies all month for the school store since G couldn't/wouldn't come with us.

A side note: when you can find poly folders that sell for $1.50 on sale for 50¢, I'm there. Especially when we can sell them in the store for $1. PROFIT! WOOT!

So S sees G and decides she has to say something about G not shopping with us. From across the drive S shouts "Hey, you're falling down on the job! We've already got you a ton of supplies and you need to get busy!"

G comes in and tries to calm S down, or at least get her not to be so loud. It seems G's husband is going to be laid off in three months and they have to be very tight with money. That's why she hasn't come shopping; she can't front the money.

S snaps in G's face and says "Uh uh, no way, you could have had Fish go with you with the checkbook, since she's treasurer." And on and on.

J was mortified witnessing this, and her daughter-in-law who was right there was ready to smack S down. Now, what S said was indeed true, G didn't have to front any money, but it was so out of line, it didn't matter where she was right. There were a dozen people around, and S, though she resigned the position, had been slated to tackle volunteer coordinator this year, and I bet many people still thought she was in that position. What a testimony to how well we treat our volunteers! All year, before S quit, we'd been talking about how we'd get more people in, make PTA more inclusive. Ha.

So J called me to tell me all this stuff, and I couldn't believe it. I'm closer to S than anyone, but since I wasn't there, I didn't feel I could say anything to S about it. It would look like so much gossip. J said she would bring it up, and found an opportunity the next day, and S did call G and apologize. So far, so good. However, one of the president's closest friends had been at the school when all this went down. Nobody knows if the president was informed, but it's certainly possible.

Fast forward to this week, when we're hosting the lunch. Now, to this point the president has been invisible. No responses to e-mail, rare callbacks, no meetings, nothing. She has been working, true, but still school is days away from beginning and there's nothing on her end. So the prez walks in right when the lunch is beginning and chats and walks around. After the principal gets up to introduce her to all the teachers, the prez starts introducing us, the worker bees.

(The reason S quit the volunteer position, which I must include here, is that the president kept postponing a meeting with S and blowing her off over getting an early start for the year. S prepared new documents for the position, including a new sign-up form, and the prez just flat refused to look at it, saying the old one was already submitted and translated, so the new one wasn't needed. All this wthout having opened the document and taken one look. Yeah, I'd be a little upset too.)

When the prez gets to introducing S, she says "This is S, and she's a quitter." She goes on to say how S had a medical issue that kept her from taking on the duties (which was true, and also S's cover story) but you could hear, no you could feel the awful silence in the room.

I made sure I wasn't in the immediate vicinity when the prez later walked up to S and said "I was just kidding." S didn't take that well at all. She went on to rail about it the rest of the day, as I would likely have done in her shoes. But deep inside me there was this voice, this little voice that kept chanting, like a mantra: "Karma, Karma, Karma."

Neither J nor I have the courage to walk S through the obvious similarities, but we were both thinking it really loudly. So much so that we couldn't look at each other the rest of the lunch, for fear of giving it away in our faces.

Now I think the prez was way out of line, especially since the rest of us are plodding along effectively leaderless, but if S gets the message even a little bit, perhaps it was all for the best.

The '80s are Back

2007-07-29T23:07:00.000-05:00

Or at least that is what it felt like this weekend. How many days do you get to hear "Lean on Me" and "Brass Monkey" in the same hour unless you're listening to oldies radio?

Things I learned:

1) Some of us aged better than others.

2) Guys held up better on average than expected, but there were some women who had to have made a deal with the devil to look that good.

3) Ben still makes me nervous (see picture).

4) All my parts still move on the dance floor. Sometimes the way they're supposed to.

5) I can still hold my liquor.

6) I still don't know what a hangover feels like.

7) Cleavage is in.

8) My memory for names is improving. There is hope for me yet.

9) Some people really turned out nice. And said some lovely things about me.

10) It's one thing to put your J-High dance picture with Former Love of Your Life on a Yahoo Group where a few people will snigger at it in good fun. It is quite another to see it up on a screen eleventy feet tall in a room of two hundred other people.

11) '80s hair was big. Shockingly so. I blame the lack of CHI iron technology.

12) Acne comes back. Even in your '30s.

13) The bad boys are, for the most part, still bad. Just bad with credit cards attached.

14) Never count out the class clown; he will end up being a lawyer and running for judge. His charm will get him there.

15) Hug even those you barely knew. It makes them feel good (usually) and their spouses will put up with it for one night.

16) White boys can dance. But they have to be drinking.

17) Getting all mooshy and sentimental about the class song is okay. Everyone else feels as dumb, and it makes good pictures.

18) Dancing = barely walking the next day = feeling old.

A day in the life

2007-07-18T15:17:00.001-05:00

Pictures, I have pictures...

Waking up I stumble to the patio and survey the backyard. The grass is looking nicely mowed. Not that I had anything to do with it.

Next, it's time to wake up the Little Critter. Increasingly difficult these days without using the word "computer!"

Then it's time for the to-do list.

Capture dogs.

Feed dogs.

Clean out office area for coupons and PTA stuff.

Straighten pantry.

Clean out entry hall.

Stack blocks.

Make truffles for $16 order from JJ's work.

Package chocolatey goodness.

Do dishes.

And somewhere in there, try to pack for the weekend.

And it isn't even 4 p.m. yet.

Six down, six to go

2007-07-13T14:11:00.000-05:00

Summer weeks, that is.

Let's see where we are...

Number of hours training for new job: 0
Number of hours anticipated in training (soon please!): eleventy six
Number of Anne Perry WWI novels read: 5 (Reavleys ROCK the early 20th century)
Number of other books read: 31+
Number of edifying, character-building non-fiction books read: 1/2
(Number of trivial-minded lazy arses writing this entry: 1)

Number of hours the Little Critter has read this summer for the summer reading program: 28:20
Number of hours left to go until she earns the top prize: 21:40
Number of times Fish swore she would do something educational with the LC for summer: 4
Number of successes prior to this: 0

Number of days the LC went to Vacation Bible School this week: 3
Number of days the LC threw up in the morning: 2
Number of times the LC tried diving this week: 84
Number of times the LC dove after teaching herself how: 14
Number of sunburns acquired by Fish: 1

Number of times the Bigun called since she left for training: 14
Number of times the Bigun had a specific request to send/fix/solve something: 2
Number of hours needed to clean Bigun's room once vacated: 2
Number of items of clothing hung, folded, straightened etc.: 72

Number of toothpaste tubes purchased this summer: 13
Number of dollars spent on said toothpaste: 1
Number of coupon inserts left by Roger the Coupon Fairy: 219
Number of dollars tipped to Roger: 30
Number of dollars 219 papers would cost: 378.80

Number of weekends until Summer PTA Seminar: 1
Number of items on to-do list: 44
Number of items accomplished: 2
Number of weekends until 20th reunion: 2
Number of items on to-do list: 25
Number of items accomplished: 4

Number of pounds lost: 6
Number of pounds gained: 9
Number of times felt like Bridget Jones except with husband and children: 45

Number of pregnancies: 0
Number of likely pregnancies, since "quality of ovulation is that of a post menopausal woman": 0
Number of sons: 0
Number of "false alarms": 2

Number of days without rain: 13
Number of days at poolside: 20
Number of stupid Fish getting wet out of the water: 1

Number of tomatoes grown: 2
Number of tomatoes eaten by critters: 2
Number of times Lowes' nursery has been cursed: 4,000
Number of years Fish has tried to grow vegetables: 5
Number of failed years: 5

Number of movies seen in a theatre: 0
Number of vacations: 0
Number of Astros' games in ballpark: 1
Number of road trips for fun: 1
Number of road trips upcoming: 3
Number that involve airplanes: 1
Number of dollars for said jaunts: 0

Number of times felt completely happy with life: 78,951

Number of blog role models who generously nominated Fishie as a Rockin' Girl Blogger: 1

Contrary definitely deserved her nomination, which is why she's one of my "Loverly People." I'm going to get out my gold stars and make my list in a little bit.

Little Lies

2007-07-02T19:33:00.000-05:00

I get this phone call while I'm in line at the post office. The LC has spent the night with her BFF and as soon as I'm through I'm off to pick her up. I ignore the call, figuring 5 minutes more won't make a difference in calling the mom back. It rings again. "Let me call you right back." I say and hang up. They frown on chatting on the cell phone while you're in line.

When I'm free, I call back and get this story.

Both girls are in trouble. Someone went into the mom's bathroom and spilled her (only) bottle of perfume. Neither girl will fess up and they're both in hot water. Apparently someone thought it would be fun to pour perfume into a spray bottle and spray stuffed animals with it.

Now, my first reaction is to think the other kid did it, because mine knows a world of trouble falls on her if she messes with stuff like that. Basically it isn't in her character. However, the friend has been in trouble before for lying, more than once over pretty serious stuff. But the mom says they've both lied to her, and she's fed up.

OK, I'll play.

I walk in and say "This is the last opportunity to tell the truth." Mine says she didn't do it. The other one says her sister was there, the perfume was already open, and she was trying to clean it up. The sister is dragged in, and the sister says the friend did it, and talked about doing it the day before. But, of course, she didn't see it. The LC agrees, the friend says her sister was there. It's all one big mess.

The friend is grounded for a month from the phone and can't have her tv or other stuff. I tell the LC the same will happen to her, but this is just for show in front of her friend. I have my suspicions that she didn't take part. Then I get her in the car.

On the way home, while she's crying, I ask "Do you know I love you? Do you think even after all this, I would stop loving you? Do you think anything could make me stop?" We've had this talk before; she wants to be good, and when she makes a mistake, she feels as though she won't be loved. So any time there's an issue, I remind her nothing she does makes me stop loving her.

That said, we talk about what happened. She maintains she didn't do anything. I say "You know in your heart whether you did it or not. If you didn't, and your friend is blaming you, what does that say about your friend?"

I think she's getting it.

I tell her just to have a quiet day, with no TV and with a little cleaning, and not to worry about punishment. So a few hours later I get a call. The mom and the friend are on the way over. The friend confesses, and apologizes. I'm a fair sport about it, but inside I'm seething.

The LC is getting a good hard look at what it means to be dishonest, and how it affects other people. Hopefully she'll take it as an object lesson. For the record, the LC isn't in trouble at all. But mom will definitely be watching this friend.

For Comparison

2007-06-29T22:27:00.000-05:00

Me at a football game in high school. Compare with the one below. I'm not fishing (Har!) for compliments; I truly want to know if I really still look the same. This is bugging me.

Surprise!

2007-06-28T10:46:00.000-05:00

So my *coughtwentiethcough* reunion is coming up, right? And I did not enjoy high school, as I think I've stated. But one of the people I did like is in a band, and they were playing in Houston and Austin this week. The Austin-area reunion folks were turning this into an occasion, so I tried to get the Houston people similarly excited about reuniting early. One girl I didn't know well at all in school came, and we traded stories and had a blast. Unfortunately we both had to leave before getting to see our drummer friend, so I was supremely bummed about that.

After the show, JJ and I were talking, and I told him about the Austin show the following day. "If there were any way possible to go to that Austin show I'd be there in a heartbeat. I'm so disappointed in these Houston slackers!"

"Well," he says, "I took tomorrow off, so why don't you just go?"

Can you believe this man? I could not be luckier!

So yesterday afternoon I took off for 6th street in Austin, taking in hill country sights I hadn't seen in ages along the way. Most everything about that stretch between Houston and Austin is scenic; small towns, stretched-out pastures, rolling hills, distant valleys. It makes the 2.5 hour drive worth it. I hit Bastrop in a downpour that slowed everything to less than 40 mph, so that part I didn't get to see. It did make me worry about making it into Austin, and worry about whether there would be anyone to reunite with when I arrived.

After locating the club, which took some doing, and finding parking, which took more doing, I walked in to a nearly vacant room to be greeted immediately by drummer C who apologized for the Houston show and not getting to visit. He saw shapes waving to him from the stage in Houston, but didn't see who it was until we stood to leave. Then I got to hug on R, on whom I had a pretty nice crush in school until I realized his family was Jewish and I was out of the question as a date for him.

Double R, my best bud in 6th grade and the one who was there when I first started writing, brought her husband, and when she saw me I got the biggest squeal: "What are you DOING here! Did you drive all this way?" Oh, yeah, that was worth half the drive right there. Then J showed up, J whose mom used to substitute for us in grade school and whom everyone loved.

The band did their shortened set and then we retired to the deck outside to chat and catch up. It turns out I had a party in 8th grade that I totally forgot about that C and R had been to and loved. And it turns out that I was a bit more memorable than I ever credited myself with being, as several also-forgotten stories were dredged up and repeated for me. Thank goodness I was fairly nice, and also fairly well-behaved in school. That could have gotten ugly.

What surprised me most was some of the nice things that they said they remembered about me. C remembered me writing poetry and being a little bold and introducing him to a lot of people. R remembered my party as one of the first he'd ever been invited to, and remembered how that made him feel. J remembered, rather tactfully and nicely, that I looked then exactly as I do now (his wife ought to love him if he talks like that all the time) and Double R brought up the best of times when we were thick as thieves, and how sad she was when the busing business hit town and we got separated in the school shuffle. And Ed, a graduate of another local school showed up. I never knew Ed until last night, but it turns out we know a hundred people in common from my days at private school. I wish I had known him before; he was precious and funny and such a comfortable person to talk to.

I stayed until almost 1, having so much fun that it was unthinkable to leave before that. When I did leave, I spent the entire drive back thinking about how I thought I had people pegged in high school, and how wrong I must have been on so many of them. At least with this bunch, certain long-held beliefs had to evaporate, and though I liked them before we got together, I like them so much more now. I don't know if that says something about me, or them, or both, but it makes the reunion coming up so much more exciting. Who else will I see with new eyes?

Happy Birthday, Little Critter

2007-06-25T10:58:00.000-05:00

The LC turns 8 Wednesday, and she had her party Saturday. The plan was for us to go swimming a couple of hours, then come back home and have a karaoke party. (We loves us some karaoke.) But God has blessed us in southeast Texas with a truckload of rain, and so the pool was closed. Silver lining: fireworks for the 4th are ON!

So we cleared the den, rented the karaoke machine, set up a makeshift stage, arranged the Luau party favors from Oriental Trading (I'm a sucker for a 2" plastic pig in a hula skirt and lei) and had us a party. (Pictures to follow)

The kids paired off at first to sing favorites from High School Musical and Cheetah Girls and the like, but eventually got together in large groups and belted out "Girl Power" and "We're All In This Together." Even the moms got into the act after I dragged them into it. I belted out "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and then N did a wonderful version of "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About." Then we did "I Will Survive" together, and finally dragged all the moms and kids together into a version of "We Are Family."

Then they took turns, boys, then girls, and we thought that was darling. And it was, at least until the boys decided they'd like to take a whack at singing "Macho Man."

Body...wanna feel my body?
Body...such a thrill my body
Body...wanna touch my body?
Body...it's too much my body
Check it out my body, body.
Don't you doubt my body, body.
Talkin' bout my body, body,
Check it out my body

Um, yeah. Any mom in the room when that began lost any composure left. Worse? They sang it TWICE.

The kids sang almost nonstop for 4 hours until the MOMS got tired and decided it was time to go. But I have to say it was the best birthday party we've given, and the one that was the least work and the most fun for us as well as the kids. The great thing is that we bought the Little Critter a karaoke machine of her own, so we can have regular karaoke parties now.

But I think I'll steer clear of anything by the Village People for a while.

Those were the days

2007-06-18T01:04:00.000-05:00

Oh, man, it's reunion time. Here's me way back when:

And here's even way-er back:

And way backer than that:

And worst of all, the way way back inna day picture:

I've been exploring a reunion site put together by old classmates. Tons of old and new pictures. Stories from our misspent youth. Secrets of High School that are just coming out.

And surprisingly, it's kinda fun.

When I left high school, I had no intention of ever seeing anyone there ever again. I did not like it. It was not Party Central time for me. I was not popular, well-loved, admired, but merely tolerated on most days. Granted, I was an obnoxious ass on my bad days, but there was stuff going on; at home, at school, and in my head. I had a gang of friends I hung out with, but for the most part they were older. Or younger. The one junior guy I had a big thing for my sophmore year (see above picture) ripped my heart out, stomped it into the ground, ground it up beneath his heels, and dumped me for a drum majorette. She was nice, though.

My senior year I had a thing for a sweet shy goofy smart guy named Sean. He had something in there for me too; whether it was just for amusement or loneliness or the comfort of being with someone who liked him. But he'd call me ten minutes after I dropped him off after school and say "What are we doing this afternoon?" Gosh, he was precious, until his stock rose and he was off in a whirl to grad parties and beach blasts I couldn't get invited to if I tried. (He did answer my e-mail this week asking him if he'd been informed about the reunion, so apparently 20 years has mellowed him a little.)

The funny thing is that I'm so much happier now than I was then, and so now I'm actually looking forward to the reunion. It makes a weird sort of sense. I didn't like myself very much then, because I had that huge failing of judging myself by what others thought of me. Now, though, I've really learned not to give a rat's patootie. At least, not nearly as much as I used to. Maybe it's age, maybe I'm more mature, maybe I just got bold, or tired of caring so much. But I like where I am, and I like who I am. Maybe that is what I was missing all along.

At any rate, I'm going to the reunion, and in the meantime, I am contacting a few people the committee hasn't mentioned yet to let them know I'd love to see them. Who knows, maybe I'm the only person who lets them know it's on. I only found out about it because one of the class nice guys goes to church with me. Who else might they have missed?

So here's me, now, with the LC and JJ. And I guarantee it's the happiest picture of the bunch.

Because there's no news...

2007-05-24T11:10:00.000-05:00

..I have to share something.

Drama Queen

2007-05-19T19:10:00.000-05:00

This week the drama company director sent me an e-mail saying she was checking my references, and meanwhile I should come see the kids in their spring performance. That was scheduled for this morning. They were so cute and amazingly good for only a few months' practice. At the end I stayed around to watch the kids get their awards and trophies, and finally the director came up to ask me what I thought. After a quick chat, and a verification of my schedule, she said "Well, I talked to two of your references, and they both said 'You really want to have Fish work for you!' and so welcome aboard!"

Apparently I will have at least six classes a week, and during summer I'll get to train at another director's camp if it is possible to arrange it. Then in the fall, I get my own classes! YAY!

I can't wait to get started!

In my best "Chandler" voice...

2007-05-15T16:42:00.000-05:00

"...Could I BE any stupider?"

Here's what I'm already in to...

PTA treasurer (incoming)
Church job
Precinct chair (elect)
Truffle maker
Floral Delivererer
Coupon shopper/instructorer

Here's what is in the works...

Possible Drama instructor job
Possible position on PTA local council
Possible 08-09 PTA president
Possible Draft House employee (I got the strong encouragement to go apply)

Just looking at it makes me tired. The latest is being asked to be on the PTA council today. Basically, we had Leader Orientation Training to educate people in the general knowledge one needs to be an officer. They had a game-show format to teach with. So we played "Jeopardy" for a while (I did okay) then switched to "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Nobody wanted in the hot seat, so they asked me to.

Fifteen questions later I had not missed one, nor used a "lifeline." That prompted them to say "Hey! You want to be on council, don't you?" Not an honor to be taken lightly in this local organization, I must say, so I had to say yes. I hope I won't regret it.

I got to feel smart today; that's a bonus! At least until I added up all I'm doing...

Target Practice

2007-05-10T07:56:00.000-05:00

I wish I had seen this done. Bang!

In Which We Evaluate My Interview

2007-05-08T16:00:00.000-05:00

I feel really good about it. It was an hour and a half before we looked at our watches and checked the time. I consider that a good sign. The program seems easy to step in to and has a curriculum all planned out for an instructor; an outline of what exercises the kids will be doing each week. I got to peek at a few.

I like her attitude that the kids need to have a lot of fun doing the class, so it isn't performance/product oriented. Instead, it's focusing on the process of improving speaking skills etc. I sound like a commercial for them already, but she sold me on it.

They train teachers before they throw them in front of a class, but I get a mini-audition Friday. I'll go to a class and lead a 5 minute group exercise in each class, 5-8 year-olds and 9-12 year-olds. Then I'll get to pump that class' teacher to see how she does it all. And I did learn that if I get the j-o-b, then I will definitely get the Saturday classes. Hot doggie!

I feel so good about it. It wasn't even like an interview; it was more like we struck up a conversation and found we had something in common. I LOVE it when interviews go like that! Not that they ever have before...

Anyway, Friday I shall report back when I have more. But I will say I haven't felt so suited for something and so comfortable with interviewing ever.

Now I can breathe a little!

Break a Leg - Updated Yet Again

2007-05-02T22:14:00.000-05:00

That work thing is contagious. First everyone at school decided they ~~needed~~ wanted to ~~eat pay bills~~ work part time, then Pley had to go get all employed-like. Now the financial planing duo that's helping us get control of our money says I really really ought to do the same. But dangit, I don't want to go around a thousand places dropping resumes and applications, only to hear nothing from anyone.

So Pley and her craigslisting self got me thinking about checking out the site.

There's a listing for waitstaff at the local Alamo. Hey, I can do that! And it's great hours! AND I know someone who already works there! So I'm checking into that one.

There's also an opening for a drama program for a teacher. I meet every one of the requirements, and that schedule doesn't conflict with the Alamo thing; so I can, technically, keep my current job and get two more and still have time for it all.

So ~~wish me luck~~ wish me to break a leg.

The drama program director called me today while I was out. I left a message so now I'm waiting for phone tag to end. That was fast!

After a 20 minute phone call, we scheduled a meet for Tuesday, a kind of get-to-know-you. I can not wait!