Apparently, I spoke too soon…

We all had a pretty tough week. I didn’t see mine coming for sure.  I won’t go into too much detail except to say I how frustrated I get when I try so hard to do everything right and people don’t see it.

1.  I got an unkind email from the HS principal upset that I am not at the HS school more and that if my contract states 50/50 sharing, then my butt better be there 50 % of the time.

2. I called central office and got a copy of my contract.  No where on it does it say I am 50/50 or that I am even a teacher librarian being shared by 2 schools!

3.  As I look at it, I notice in tiny print at the top BA+12.  Does that mean what I think it means?  I called central office.  Apparently some idiot lost ALL my paperwork up there and they didn’t know I had a masters degree, which is crap- they wouldn’t hire me without one.  I was jipped over $6000!  I went to a union rep (who really wont help me because I didn’t pay $700 at the beginning of the year to be a union member.  After many calls and meetings I was told I don’t have a case since in essence I was too stupid to notice the small numbers on the contract.  An important lesson for me on contracts.  They will go back to August and pay me from there but I deserve the extra pay from my first year too!  Why do we have to suffer sometimes because of other peoples mistakes?

4.  I met with the middle principal and she basically says she supports me but isn't willing to fork out the money for me to be there full time.  No mention of the huge difference I am making there.

5.  Felt something weird was up with my para at the high school.  Long story short, she finally broke down sobbing and admitted that the principal approached her several weeks ago and ordered her to spy on me.  She is supposed to be documenting when I walk in, when I leave, and what I do there.  I was beyond livid.  If she wanted to know what I did and what hours I was there, why didn’t she just ask me.  Im my opinion this was EXTREMELY unprofessional. 

6.  So I took that to the union and they once again said I am on my own. 

I am not sure what I will do now.  I DO know that my health can’t take this kind of unrelenting stress especially with this weather.  Ok, venting done.

Alayna got the flu…fever, upset tummy, etc.  Missed 2 days of school including her long showchoir rehearsal   She is better now but her tummy has hurt all week.

Then when she got back to school, she pulled a muscle in her leg during basketball.

Then, we have been having some issues with the guineas.  Daisy (the fluffy one) was raised alone for a year so she is an alpha female and Rosie has been our Alpha female. Alayna has been trying so hard to make it work because she loves all 3.  However, they keep fighting.  So, we have kept them in separate cages where they are much happier.  Then yesterday, Rosie needed to pee, so Alayna stuck her in Daisy’s cage and immediately they attacked, Alayna tried to stop it and was bitten hard twice in her hand and 3 fingers.  It was not a good night.  She was crying as she realized she is too tired to take care of 3 piggies as well as 2 cages.  So, we are looking for a good home for Daisy.  She is so fluffy and sweet and loves to be held.  She only attacks when around Rosie (and Rosie is the one that bit Alayna).  So, if you know a good loving family who would love a super easy pet to take care of…I think it was a good learning lesson for her. 

Tyler  took the ACT then had many hours of show choir practice. 

I feel like I am in survival mode.  Spent 6 hours cleaning just to try and get to a point where I can function.  Then, like an idiot, I planned science fun presentations all week.

Now the fun stuff:

Our school celebrated National Ugly Sweater Day on Friday.  Apparently that’s the new hot ticket item so even goodwill was sold out of ugly Christmas sweaters.  So, I had to do some improvising…

Kayla comes home in 6 days!!!!  We can hardly wait to see her again!!!

A fairly quiet week

It was a normal busy week, nothing big happened- weeks like that are really nice!.  Less than 2 weeks til Kayla comes home and only 98 more days until our ultimate family cruise!!!  (I found this written by Alayna on the family calendar)

We got the tree up early- be impressed because last year we didn’t even get one up! We played the Osmond Christmas, but it just isnt the same without Marisa and Kayla

Alayna and Rosie have enjoyed hanging out under the tree.

I went to the Scholastic Warehouse sale and was able to get 122 books for the middle and 42 for the high school all for free (from money we earned from the book fair!)

We got to cover the high school principal in Silly String since we met our book fair goal.

Tyler auditioned for the high school production of South Pacific and got the part of Captain George Brackett!  He is pretty excited about it! 

Alayna started basketball this week.

Happy 46th??? Birthday to Bob!

I made the epic ice cream sandwich cake to celebrate Bob’s birthday.  Bob had to work but we went shopping and started cooking for Thanksgiving.

We had a perfect, quiet Thanksgiving.  We watched fun movies together and I made a super awesome dinner. We watched “Earth to Echo, Maleficent, Arrow, Flash, the Giver (which we LOVED).  I also slept…a lot…

We got to Skype with Kayla and Corey…We sure missed Kayla and Marisa this year.  It’s not the same without them

I got to spend some time reading…with my buddy…

I worked on my science experiments for my Science Fun library days… (Thanks to Bob and Alayna for agreeing to play along with me and figure it out) 

We made Dancing OObleck on a subwoofer…

I was asked this week to speak at the state-wide Iowa Reading Conference this summer.  (I am not the keynote- thank heavens).  I am honored but terrified.  Here is a cute note I got on my HS survery…

We FINALLY talked Tyler into a haircut after 3 months.  So much hair came off and we were able to shape it into the shape of a dog…a shaggy one

They are both heavily involved in show choir, Tyler auditions for the school musical tomorrow, and we are hopefully getting up the tree tonight.

Costumes, cars, and a cage

Well, we got a replacement car.  It’s a Chevy Malibu.  It runs and will do the job, plus its not dented in all 4 sides.  We have told Tyler to protect it with his life!

Yesterday we went to see Mockingjay –Part 1.  First of all, even though it was a tad bit slow, I loved it and cried.  But I really wish they would stop making these final movies into 2 parts.  Ugh!  We also went out to Happy Joe’s to celebrate Bob’s birthday (which is next Wednesday).  What's funny is when I asked how it feels to be almost 46, he said he already was.  All year he had been thinking he was 46 when he was only 45.  You know you are getting old when you cant remember how old you are!

We built another cage for the guineas.  Usually when we go down to watch TV, they have been on a couch.  So, we decided to build them their own space downstairs- yes we have issues…Take note of Tyler’s help.  Impressive.

Tis the season to be jolly, right?  Alayna’s been dying to get a guinea outfit.  Enjoy…

Kayla is clearly having tons of fun without us

Here are a couple pics of my presentation at the EIRC Conference:

Here is my READbox at the high school…

This whole week I taught about Africa and some awesome books about it…

Excited for this week, the break, and time with family.  Love to all!!

Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly…

The past few weeks have had incidents and events that have pushed my thoughts into focusing on an eternal perspective.  Funny how some events can do that- take you out of that day to day survival mode you are in and make you reconsider the things in your life that are the most important.

The news a few weeks ago that my father has cancer- well, it was shocking and devastating and left me kind of stunned.  The first thing that crossed my mind was that I never considered losing him or my mom.  Maybe I always figured I would die first so I would never have to deal with that.  I am relieved at the news that for now he is ok and the trip to the Caribbean means more now than ever. 

Then, this week, one of my worst fears came true.  I always worry when my kids walk out the door that something may happen, an accident, a disappearance (I read too many murder mysteries), any kind of harm.  So far we have been lucky.  This Wednesday that all changed…

Tyler and Alayna were in a car accident.  They were crossing the stupid intersection out by Aldis- the one where there is always an accident.  He swears he looked to the right and didn’t see the car coming.  To his credit it was really dark outside and we don’t know if the other people had their lights on.  The car slammed into Alayna’s side (a few seconds later and it would have hit her directly).  She hit her head on the window and injured her leg (only sore, no blood and not broken).  More than anything they were shocked.  Alayna says she doesn’t remember much.  They hit a young couple- she was 8 months pregnant and taken to the hospital in an ambulance for observation.  Both cars were totaled.  I feel extremely blessed my children are ok as it could have been so much worse.  We watched them carefully the next few days for signs of concussions or whiplash.  Tyler says he will never ever go through that intersection again.  I was also relieved to see that we had full liability coverage- enough that it made me cry.  The other couple didn’t have insurance.  What if we hadnt had it?  We would be screwed financially for life.  So, I am grateful for insurance payments and insurance coverage, as odd as that may sound.

What else was upsetting?  My family didn’t wake me- I found out the next morning.  I am not upset with them, nor will I ever be, I am angry and upset with my illness.  An illness that will progressively get worse.  An illness where I am judged when people can’t see the pain.  An illness that is increasing my weight and CFS exponentially and no doctors can find out how to fix it.  I crashed that night at 5:30.  I am missing hours at night.  I basically function in a survival mode and I hate that.  My family let me sleep- it had been a long week, if they woke me they knew I wouldn’t sleep that night, I’d be in lots of pain, and it would take days to get back on schedule.  So, I wasn’t there to hug my children and let them know it would be ok.  I wasn’t there to kiss their booboos like I did when they were young (although Tyler would smack me now if I tried).  But that was a tough loss for me.  Tough being reminded that I am NOT superwoman.  I can’t do it all- I may never be able to accept that…Ok, on to happier things….

Kayla is having a blast in Idaho!

I made some table décor for the high school using our evergreen tree and some cranberries…

Bob is doing an amazing job on the banister- look at the difference…

We had our 1st snow and I am not ready for all the cold, snow and ice…its not fair that Marisa is in the nice hot sun!  JK Marisa…

The Arrow painting finally arrived!

Sometimes it is the smallest of things that can turn your week around….

When your husband knows it’s a tough week and gets you flowers “Just Because”

Or when you find out the most terrifying guy (The 1st one in years to give you actual nightmares) who plays the Penguin in the new show Gotham, is from Iowa, then you tweet him saying how you would love to meet him and he favorites your tweet and then his fan club contacts you and asks you to join!

Heres to a better week!