And then there where.....

We did it! We found Sam the missing hamster within hours of him going missing. Then yesterday we officially closed the baby factoy! The daddy and first 6 babies were taken to the pet store. We kept Sam because we had already told Chris that he could keep one. We also kept Mama hamster and the Newest of the new babies. Just as soon as possible we are going to let those babies go to the pet store, too! But Sam is in a seperate cage so that we stay out of the baby making business. I am so happy. I never wanted babies. I trully enjoyed believing that we bought Debbie and Princess. Little did I know Princess would turn our life upside down by just being a Prince. Hope you have a Great Week!

Well, It happened!

Remember those cute adorable hamsters that Mr. Honey thought was such a good idea to get in a set of two? Well Debbie and Princess turned out to be Debbie and Prince and they had a litter of 7. I have told my crew for weeks that it was time for them to go. The first time they took them~the pet store said they were too small. Now~it is too late! Debbie and Prince have decided 7 is not enough and this am delivered a new pile of babies. What in the Hell was I thinking? Now only do we have @7 more we have another problem. Sam ~ the small cute one my dumb husband told my son that he could keep......is missing! Yep! You heard correctly~Samis somewhere in a house that has 4 cats that love moles! Guess what! My son is beyond upset~I am trying not to laugh and Mr. Honey is still an idiot for getting 2!

Well I did it anyway!

In 2 weeks I will have 2 3/4 days for preplanning and then school will begin~AGAIN! Well I am angry that we only get @ 3 days to unpack our room, redecorate, regroup for a new crowd, and plan. They know we will go up there to get it all done even though they are paying for 3 days. But I swore I wouldn't go up to the school to do anything. I was going to get what they paid for~But oh no! I couldn't resist. Jay helped me by painting my bulletin boards. Normally I just put up cloth so that it won't fade. The old stuff had been up for 7 years. And would still be up ~BUT they painted our classrooms so I had to take it down and it is expensive to do the 8 large boards. So I let him paint them. It is the color of Honolulu blue~hopefully it will keep the kids calm! Ha Ha!! But now i have finished making 23 new chair bags with the help of my Mama. not to mention made folders, envelopes, and much more. I have gotten on the computer and made info sheets,favors for open house, and more! I have probably spent two days working on things that I should be doing during pre-planning but there is just not enough time during those few days to do all this plus, schedule, plan, pull resources, books, etc. So there now I said it! I have vented and soon will feel better when I am not in a panic and everyone is wishing they had done what I did! Hope you are having a Smurfy Day!

No, no, no!

I can not believe that the time is drawing near! School will begin in @ 3 weeks. It seems just like 2 weeks ago, summer started. I like to work but recent changes in the education program and systems just make me not like my job so much! I started teaching 19 years ago with dreams of making a difference. No~ I do not mean fixing every child that had special needs~I didn't think I was God! I just wanted to make a difference in one child at a time. I started in Special Education and knew that change for these students did not always occur rapidly and sometimes not at all. Well after @11 years, I made a change to regular education. That first year I thought I was teaching third year French. But I needed to change because I had started my family and I had several students that had passed away in those years due to their conditions. I just couldn't do it anymore. Well, Now I have been in regular education for almost that long and it has changed so much during those years.
It is amazing how we as a society look at test scores and realize that we are failing educationally. There are so many things that affect this change in our culture. Our teachers have pressure to make every child be able to master material, deal with behavior, social, personalities, cuts, headaches, bumps, and dogs that eat homework. Today, both parents typically work and sometimes more than one job. More parents are single parents and can't afford to always provide after school child care. Drugs and gangs are more commonplace than ever. Children have more good and bad choices to make than we can ever imagine. They are faced with all kind of pressures. Many kids come to school angry, hungry, tired, dirty and stressed to the max and that is assuming that they are children that have the ability to learn without putting forth a lot of effort like studying and doing homework. But not all two children are created equal and some children need extra support and changes to be made so that they are on a level playing field. That is when the decsion makers come in and dictate what and how we are to teach and pile on more and more paper work to cover our behind. Their ideas look good on paper especially when dealing with 20 "normal" students, whose parents participate in their education, and students that have no outside issues. BUT...those 20 children never exisit in the same classroom and especially in every classroom in every school.
I went into teaching to do whatever it takes to ensure I can help make a difference and to provide every child the opportunity to learn. I have always said that if the decsion makers would let us know what the children need to know and let us determine based on our children how to accomplish the ask. Let us get into the classroom and teach~get back to the basics. Let teachers do what they have been trained to do. Not all teachers are there for the right reasons, some just occupy space and give millions of worksheets, and are using the same strategies year after year after year. No two kids are created exactly the same and sometimes we have to regroup and try different activities and strategies to help everyone but...that is what we need to do. Sports so many time takes a priority over education and not everyone is going to be a football or basketball star but everyone does need to learn.
Well~ that is my soapbox today~forgive my ramble!

Art Weekend

My daughter loves to draw and color and just be creative. I love to see her just be herself and have fun! A few years ago my son painted a picture and gave it to his Daddy. My husband loves that picture so much. I thought that I would let Sara do the same thing. That has led us to.....Art Weekend. She wanted to paint our cat Maggie playing on the grass. I have to say I did help a little but this is her work not quite finished! have a Great Weekend!

Ode to Lucy

Yesterday I had the unpleasant task to do for my Mama. Her canine companion for the past 5 years had to be put to sleep. Last week I wrote about taking all of the cats and dogs to the vet for Mama. Well I joked about them calling Lucy a geriatric dog. But what I didn't share is that she had a seizure a few weeks back and then last Friday she had another and this time she didn't come out of it for quite awhile. They kept her for a couple of days and put her on anti seizure meds. Well they thought she would be ok and sent her home. But she wasn't~at some point she must have had a stroke and it was pitiful~well being the 4th of July we couldn't do anything until Saturday so.....Mr. Honey and I went to take care of it for my Mama. She couldn't pull or lift the dog due to her physical health and she had watched her for the past few days. She knew that her companion was not living the quality of life that she had been. The Doctor knew more was going in when Jay and I took her in and knew although we were struggling with our decision ~ we had made the best one for the dog. My son and daughter took it hard. I had told them the day before so that they could begin the grieving process. My son wrote this poem for his Gah~Gah (my Mama) and I wanted to share it!

Ode to Lucy

Lucy was a treasure in our lives.
We owe her our full gratitude for all the things
she did for us.
We will forever miss her but know she is here with us.
She has been a friend to us all.
She was there for us and Gah~Gah.
Linus was her adopted child and she will
Miss her like a baby leaving its mom.
Lucy will not die but will forever live on in our
hearts.

Thank you Suburbia!!

Suburbia has given me a very sweet award. Then on top of the award she has taught me how to add it to my blog! I so appreciate the award and the help! I want to pass this award on to two others that have helped me to get in to the blogging world. One is my friend Nadine . She is my Best Friend and has been instrumental in my maintaining my sanity. The other person I want to give this award is Dot. Dot has given me alot of help when I started blogging and I had stupid questions and couldn't find the answers. She always has beautiful pictures and stories to share.
This award was created by Crystal over at Memoirs of a Mommy in honor of the heart donor who saved the life of Crystal's baby boy, Noah.

Crystal says: The rules of this award are: SHARE THE LOVE!!! Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love. All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh. All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog. **All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask your recipient to do the same**

I also want to thank Liz and Suburbia. I really enjoy escaping to the UK and reading about your world only to discover we share some of the same issues in life no matter what side of the world we are on. I really love that Sub. has a clock so that I can keep up with the difference in time!

Thanks again to so many who have helped me to get through to where I am today! I know what they say about teaching old dogs and tricks but ... Suburbia thanks to your tutorial I did get my award posted!!
Thanks!