Anyone Seen My Sanity Lately?

The best thing I can say about this week is that neither life nor limb were lost. Some of you know what happened this week, but it's not worth rehashing. There were some brief shining moments, and when I regain my full mental faculties (yeah, like that will happen any time soon!), I'll be back around - probably in a few days.

In the meantime, enjoy your weekend.

Later daze...

Manic Monday - Fire

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"Where there's smoke, there's fire." Where there is fire, you can often find...

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McLacking

It's not often I indulge, but this morning I really didn't want whole grain cereal, yogurt, or whole wheat bagels for breakfast. I really, really wanted a bad-for-me-but-oh-so-yummy Sausage McMuffin with Egg. Luckily enough, there is a Golden Arches establishment a block from my house, so after dropping the kids off at school at 8:30 a.m., I ambled over to the drive thru at said restaurant and eagerly awaited the "Hello and welcome to McDonald's. May I take your order?" to great me at the microphone.

Alas, the greeting never came, even after I called out, "Hello?!" several times. After four or five such exclamations, I drove up to the pay window, only to see employees rushing by and ignoring me. Eventually, a manger walked over and opened the window. His response to my question of, "Are you open or what?" was thus:

"I'm sorry. We just got here; no one was here this morning."

HUH?! What the heeeeeelllll?

You mean you haven't been here dishing out coffee and Egg McMuffins to the masses since 5:30 a.m.? Whaaaaaa????

So, that made me ask myself, "If everyone is so concerned with the economy and keeping their jobs, why in the world would an entire McDonald's crew NOT show up for work for several hours?"

Am I crazy? Or are there aliens afoot here?

You be the judge, but I'm thinking the term "work ethic" doesn't exist in some people's vocabulary.

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Please note: there are new chips in the box HERE.

Ruby Tuesday - Memory Lane

Visit Mary the Teach at Work of the Poet for links to other Ruby Tuesday posts

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I know it's out of season, but I came across this in my photos from December 2002, and I couldn't help but smile. Hard to believe that Little Man is now almost ten years old. *Sigh*

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Manic Monday - Candy

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Several months ago, I started carrying around a bag of hard candy in my purse to help me NOT consume so much fluid. Many of you remember how last year I was hospitalized because I had to be drained of the excess fluid (all told, 35 pounds!!!) I was carrying, and I have no desire to repeat that torture. I know the sugar isn't much better for me, but I really don't want to consume sugar-free candy. I figure, if I'm going to eat something, it might as well have the good sugar rather than the fake garbage. Besides, I really don't eat that many pieces of candy in a day.

My personal choices have been Brach's Lemon Drops and Jolly Rancher hard candy drops. The lemon drops are good for helping to produce more saliva, and the Jolly Ranchers? Well, I just like them a lot. (BTW, my personal faves are watermelon and green apple. I give my daughter all of the blue raspberry ones.)

Anyway, as I was meandering around the internet looking for candy sites, I came across this place that sells retro candy. You know, the candy you ate when you used to hike up to the local drugstore with your allowance to buy your favorite candy bar which only cost a nickel? Okay, maybe I'm dating myself a bit, but you get the point.

I started reminiscing a bit about those lazy summer days walking to the Hook's Drugstore to buy my Chunky bar, when I came across this video on the website. There was no explanation as to why this was on the site, but curiosity overcame me, and I just had to hit "Play."

It's worth a look-see because, after all, without their sacrifices, our lives wouldn't be so sweet.

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Rise Above It

So, I let myself be sucked into a pissing contest via e-mail with some self-righteous mother, and now I fear I may have gained a new reputation as being PISSY. I need to back away quickly, turn suddenly, and run away with due haste. Argh! I loathe when I stoop down to the level of bitch slapping in retaliation and defense of an insult.

Our state legislators, in their infinite wisdom, have decided to fix the budget's $1.6 billion shortfall with severe cuts to what they determine is their largest expense: the public schools in our state. As a result, we have fallen from number 48 in the nation in terms of expenditures per student to dead last. Yes, boys and girls, we have now sunk to new depths.

Now, I'm not naive enough to think that even if I send e-mails to my state and even U.S. legislators that they'll reconsider the amount of the cuts or that they might consider exploring new revenue avenues instead. I fully realize that funding cuts are inevitable. BUT, and this a large BUT, I'm also savvy enough to think that when I do raise my voice and offer my opinion as a taxpayer and a VOTER in this state, perhaps the legislators might at least CONSIDER all options rather than just lowering the proverbial guillotine. At the same time, I am a proponent of taking all active measures to continue offering our children a safe environment that meets their educational needs.

Am I being a Pollyanna when I think that we can rise above it and still have an excelling school even while facing a statewide cut in funding totaling $1.718 billion that includes a cut of nearly $2.2 million in funding for "soft capital" (i.e., new textbooks, technology, teaching aids, school buses, etc.)? Perhaps. But it's still better than sitting at home and bitching about it, right? And until the full impact on individual districts is known, it's not worth wasting time arguing about it, right?

The morale of this? Get off your ASSES and TAKE ACTION. Write your legislators, tell them you're unhappy about the lack of support for our public schools, and then get thee to the front lines. Volunteer to be a cafeteria monitor, a traffic control aid in the bus lanes, or a bike rack monitor. Read to primary grade students while their teacher works with students who have special needs or require additional instructions. Ask your employers if they'd be willing to donate pencils, notebooks, and basic supplies for your local schools.

Ask and ye shall receive. Work and the rewards are great.

I'll get off my soapbox now. Later daze...

Manic Monday - Wear

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Dear Little Man Warrior,

The next time you want to wear a special or favorite shirt or your most comfortable pair of jeans, please, please, PLEASE don't tell me about it at 8:00 a.m. on a school day when the requested article of clothing is sitting at the bottom of the hamper. I know you think I'm Super Mom, but even I can't perform miracles. Many thanks.

Love,
Mama

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Friday Funny and a Favor

My sister sent me this joke, and being a Hoosier girl, I couldn't resist posting it here. Enjoy!

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Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had given their new wives duties.

The first man had married a woman from Ohio. And he told her that she was going to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away.

The second man had married a woman from Illinois. He had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes, and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results but the second day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean the dishes were done, and there was a huge dinner on the table.

The third man had married a beautiful girl from Indiana. He told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and have hot meals on the table for every meal.

He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything. By the third day some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye………enough to fix himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher.

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Now, the favor. Please click HERE and vote for me. I'm trying to win some beautiful Valentine's Day flowers because I know hubby probably won't get me any this year because I got the iPod touch for my birthday. Thanks for the votes! Voting ends Saturday evening, so click now!

Brain Check

An amazing thing happened today; a friend called to bounce an idea off of me, and when I consulted my brain, I had a good idea.

Wow. The fluff between my ears actually gave birth to a coherent, well thought out suggestion.

And the best part of the whole thing was that the idea came spontaneously; I didn't really think it through. I just expressed it.

Wow.

Nice to know it still works.

Road Show

Not having ambitious career plans has given me plenty of job flexibility, not mention a slew of interesting life experiences, but it hasn’t always done the most important of tasks, which would be to, literally, pay the bills. Don’t get me wrong, fun is great and even challenging has its benefits, but when one is young, single, and trying to find a place to live other than the back seat of one’s car, paying the bills is a necessary evil.

Still, I’ve tried on and discarded several jobs and such, including bank teller (where I met quirky, wonderful, and inspirational people, some of whom I actually dated), an employee benefits administrator, and a financial reporting clerk. All of them led me to other places that I didn’t plan, didn’t expect, and sometimes didn’t want.

Fortunately for all involved, my family’s financial survival doesn’t rest on my shoulders, so my attentions can be turned to the care and keeping of our home and children. As a result, the latest twist in my life has led me to the public school arena. Most of you will remember from last school year my engagement in the battle to save my friend’s job and the subsequent call to roust our principal from her lofty perch in our school. While my friend never regained his position at our school, we now have a principal who is an empowering leader and vocal proponent for student’s rights.

Several months ago, our principal asked me to serve on the Campus Improvement Team, an advisory committee that works with teachers, administrators, and the community to insure that our school is actively working to improve academic achievements. For too long, our community (which has maintained high test scores both nationally and by state’s standards) has shown stagnant growth with regards to improvement.

Now, as is no different with other school districts across the country, we are faced with deep budget cuts while trying to achieve this progress. Because we are a financially more affluent community, some families have found it difficult to continue living here, and with their departure and the removal of their kids from our school, we are left with declining numbers. As a result, for school year 2009-2010 we must continue to improve our academic achievements while doing so with fewer teachers and one less administrator as our enrollment has dropped 7% over the past two years. Never a large school, we are now shrinking rather alarmingly.

Over the next several months, I will be working with the principal to rally the troops (aka The Militant Parents) to step and take charge. To take control of the ship and make sure that our principal, the one for whom we fought the good fight to have come to our school, has the tools in place to continue to make our community a safe and academically stimulating environment for our children.

I have no idea where this road will take me, but it sure will be a kick traveling it. I have no idea who I will meet along the way or what speed bumps I might encounter. I only know that I’ll strap in and turn the ignition.

On with the adventure.

Manic Monday - Cloud

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Some cotton candy clouds for your Monday, which is appropriate since I'm often accused of having my head in the clouds, a head that's filled with fluff between the ears...