Saturday, October 29, 2011

Welcome November!

Dear November,

You are one of my favorite months. Many of my favorite people have birthdays in November.

November means the end of football season. My husband has three more games this week. One Monday (his 7th grade teams), one Tuesday (the 8th grade boys at his school) and then the last one is on Friday night with the varsity football team. I will be so glad to have him home again on Friday and Saturdays!

November starts the holiday season—I love to decorate my house for the holidays. I am one of those people who puts their Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving. I figure it is ok because we have a lot of company coming to town for Thanksgiving, and some of whom we will not see on Christmas, so we will celebrate early.

November also brings cooler temperatures and low humidity to Texas. I love wearing sweaters and bundling up. I also like to be able to straighten my hair and not have it frizz as soon as I step outside. I don’t miss the snow, but I am a Michigan girl at heart, and the cooler weather reminds me a teeny bit of life in the Mitten.

So, November you can stay awhile. I am happy to see you. (Even if I am a few days early, in my heart you are already here!)

Sincerely,

Me

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Teacher Sick Day

What do normal people do on a day off?

People that aren’t teachers don’t have to work on sub plans when they are out.
They don’t have to worry about the 170 kids that are left with a sub.

When I worked in purchasing for a chemical company, I didn’t have to worry about making sure my orders were filled. Life went on without me. I didn’t have to leave plans on my desk with a schedule--that was organized to the minute.

I didn’t feel guilty about leaving my chemical orders.

Today, I felt guilty about leaving my students.

I felt so guilty when I went to the doctor my blood pressure was slightly elevated.
I was nervous because when I left I didn’t have a sub that was assigned to my room all day. My class would be filled with subs from teachers who were also out today.

There were 18 teachers out today—some were at a meeting, but still.

I am hardly ever sick, but last night was one of those coughing all night, nights, and I decided that I was going to go to the doctor today. I had been sick all week and enough was enough.

So, at 4:30 in the morning, I went to put in for a sub, but couldn’t access the sub system. Finally after sending a frantic email to my school secretary around 6am my job was put in.

I rushed around and got my plans ready for the day. Warm up on the board. Check. Seating Charts. Check. Rosters. Check.

The first bell rang for school and my students began to show up. They were excited for the day and raring to go, and I was cranky and sick and told them to wait in the hallway. I kept my fingers crossed that a sub would show up.

At 8:15 a nicely tattooed man showed up to my room with my sub folder in hand.

One of my students told me I was not allowed to leave them with “a person they didn’t know.”

I wanted to tell him that I was not his mother—and I really don’t have to answer to a 6th grader.

I sure am glad I got to go home. I really am starting to feel better.

P.S. 21 more days until Thanksgiving break.

Friday, October 7, 2011

The house that built me



If you have ever heard the Miranda Lambert song, “The house that built me,” you may know where I am coming from.

Last week my mom and dad sold the house they have lived in for 23 years.

It’s an awesome house. They had a builder custom design it. It is on 10 acres. It is in the country, but only 1.8 miles from the highway.

When I was in middle school they put an above ground pool in. We also had a hot tub, and I remember many summers my friends from high school would come over, and we would run back and forth from the pool to the hot tub.

You could sit outside at night and watch the stars. Noises from trains were nonexistent—in fact the first time I realized how loud trains were, was when I spent my first night at Michigan State University.

It is the house that served us through the good times and the bad;
It’s where my husband gave me one of my coolest Christmas presents ever—my wedding ring—almost 10 years ago.

It was the house where I recovered from not one, but two, shoulder surgeries.

It’s the place I remember my dad grilling even in the dead of winter—he’d shovel just enough space on the deck when it was really snowy.

And, yes, our old dog Coco is buried somewhere on those 10 acres.

I knew the house would sell, I just didn’t think it would go so quickly.

Luckily, this summer when I was there I took a few pictures.

As I am writing this, I can’t help but shed a few tears. It is the one place I still think of as home.

8464 Carole Lane, I will miss you.

But, I know that it is just a house and the people that live in the house are much more important than any memory. Those same people (My mom and dad) will be coming to live in Texas, hopefully by the start of the summer.

Selling that house is a blessing. I just wish I could have been there to help my parents clean out 23 years of memories…and junk.

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