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Archive for September, 2014

Tired Tuesday

October 1st, 2014 at 12:17 am

How can it only be Tuesday when I am this tired?

It isn't like I stayed up late last night. I slept well. I'm just weary.

Work is getting rough because there is some of what I call "woman drama" going on. We have two staff members at odds with each other. I want to say shut up and grow up! Sheesh.

We have some other staff members who are playing the pity party for everything it is worth. No one knows the trouble they have. And they love the nonstop complaining.

The sad thing is these folks want to talk about things, but no one really wants do try and do anything about change. After awhile, it gets very, very tiring.

On the up side, I did work on data today and we have quite a few students who did well on our local assessment and show some growth. It just takes time to gather the data, analyze it, and use it for instruction.

Of course after work I came home and fixed supper. I still have some things to do to get ready for tomorrow, but bedtime isn't too far away.

Hope your Tuesday wasn't tiring and your Wednesday is wonderful.

Enough Already!

September 28th, 2014 at 09:57 pm

The phone rang just a few minutes ago...some acquaintance hitting us up for a donation for her organization. Usually it is in the spring, but she said they moved it to the fall. Bet they have one in the spring too. We never hear from this person except when she calls to ask for a donation.

Last week we had two small visitors. Both were neighborhood kids, one selling popcorn for Cub Scouts and the other with a school fundraiser. Overpriced stuff. Yikes. We of course bought an item from each of them. I told DH that was it for the year. This one family sends kids over every single time there is some sort of school fundraiser. I work at a different school and I get hit up at school and have the policy of I buy something from the first child who asks me to support my own school. I understand schools need money, but this is getting ridiculous.

Two weeks ago our school's foundation asked all of us for monetary donations.

And, the two buildings I work in wanted money for the "Sunshine Committee" dues.

This is even pinpointing the mail we received the past two weeks requesting donations.

I can't keep up at this rate. If we give to everyone, it will totally blow my budget. Yet, how and when do we decline? We have three places we give regularly in addition to all these fundraisers. I don't want to take money from them. Yet, I don't need any gift wrap or overpriced candy and popcorn. Enough already!

Birthday Boy

September 27th, 2014 at 11:06 pm

Today is my husband's birthday. Normally we eat out on birthdays, but when I asked him what he wanted, he asked if I minded fixing him a nice meal at home. I said no, and that is our plan. We decided to splurge and get steak and I have tenderized and marinated them and will put them on in a bit and we will have baked potatoes and a salad and fruit. Last night I baked a chocolate cake because that is his favorite.

He did ask for a couple of things for presents, but nothing crazy. I wrapped them up and he opened them and the card and he liked what he received -- he should, he asked for it!

Today we went out and about going to an estate sale, a flea market, and some thrift shops. Nothing grand, but fun nonetheless.

Other than the steak, the meal is pretty reasonable. If we ate out, the meal would be far more than what we would spend and there's no tip. Wait, maybe I need to tell him to leave me one!

Throw out Thursday

September 25th, 2014 at 10:35 pm

Lots of people are posting photos on Facebook for throw back Thursday. It is interesting to see these. I haven't shared any and maybe I should get ambitious and do so.

Thursdays at our house are sort of throw out days, at least when it comes to the fridge. Except I'm not throwing things away, but pulling them from the fridge to finish up stuff from the week. I hate to throw away perfectly good food and it saves us money eating at home.

It has an added benefit because I can clean the fridge when there is less stuff in it.

Today I took soup for my lunch in a little Crockpot. I bought it at a rummage sale last year and it has been handy. Someone asked me if I got up early to make the soup and someone else replied, "No she didn't. That is probably a leftover and we love to see what she brings for lunch." Pretty cool, eh?

Do you have a day where you finish up the leftovers?

Monday, Monday

September 23rd, 2014 at 01:19 am

Mondays are always a different day simply because it means getting up and at 'em and getting to work. Don't get me wrong, I really like my job, but that bed on Monday mornings is so comfortable.

Today was a tough day for a couple of reasons. My asthma has started to flare up and it means my lungs hurt. It makes breathing and talking uncomfortable. I think it is because of the change in weather and the high pollen count. I often get like this when weather changes.

The other reason is one staff member has decided not to do what was instructed. I don't make the rules. I try to help teachers with their work (I'm an instructional coach) and I'm rooting for both staff and kids.

This person, however, decided not to do the interventions our problem solving team developed because this person claims to know more. Hmmm This person just started at our school this fall. This person has had less than six weeks with the students. The intervention was started last year because this child was falling further and further behind. Yet the teacher said the child doesn't stand out.

I get that it is extra work and extra time. But, with the state laws, teachers are to provide interventions for students who are discrepant. And this teacher only has one child identified so it isn't like there are a ton of kids to work with.

Yet this teacher didn't make the effort and is making excuses instead.

I had a difficult time keeping my temper from flaring. I don't get angry easily, but this set me off. This kid needs help and this teacher didn't even make an attempt.

Hopefully I will deal with this wisely. I just know if I were this child's parent, I would be very, very upset to think my child didn't receive help when needed. The majority of our school staff works hard to help our students. Too bad this person isn't doing the same.

Sunday Reflections

September 21st, 2014 at 08:40 pm

It seems like this week passed by quickly. Each night we watched the PBS program on the Roosevelts which meant I wanted to have supper finished and cleaned up and things ready for the next morning so I could sit and enjoy. Between home and school, and school has been busy, I feel like I haven't had any downtime.

One of our stores has had penny pincher coupons near the beginning of the month. If you spend $50 and use that coupon on one of the items, you get another coupon for 10% off your entire order during the last week of the month. I wouldn't buy something and spend $50 just to get that coupon, but it has worked out this month that what the coupon was for was something I normally purchase and I did spend over $50. So, I spent last week culling my other coupons and checking the sales ad and made a pretty extensive list to either buy things I normally buy during the week and playing stock up on things I like to keep on hand. DH was surprised at how many things we had in our cart yesterday, but he knew my plan.

We get to the checkout and everything goes through and then the clerk scans my loyalty card and money starts coming off, she starts inputting my coupons and again, the balance gets lower. I'm feeling kind of proud of myself and the person behind me gets irritated. She starts griping to the checker that she is in a hurry and she has some place to go.

This kind of irritates me because she saw how many things we had put on the belt to begin with. There were other lanes open and they weren't full, most just had one other person in them.

The checker never says a word. She just looks at a coupon, never says a word to me, then proceeds to "read" the coupon. I honestly think she was paying the person back for her bad attitude. I thought at first there was something wrong, but no, she just starts taking her time finishing the coupons and then running the 10% off.

It isn't extreme couponing, but for us, we thought we did decently: the original bill was $173. With everything we saved over $41. And we have a few more things stockpiled in the pantry as well as our regular groceries.

That was the good news. The bad news is my hand mixer died. I sort of thought it was having problems, but I thought maybe I just put too much stuff in the bowl last time. Oh, well. It worked for 12 years. My friend was telling me hers last over 25 and I wanted to say it was probably back before they made things to dispose of. Oh, well.

The Roosevelts program was certainly good and I'm glad we had the opportunity to view it. I learned quite a few things.

The maid didn't show up yet again (she never has) so I guess I better get busy finishing housework.

History ... American and Mine

September 19th, 2014 at 12:17 am

The last few evenings we have been viewing PBS' program on the Roosevelts by Ken Burns. Both of us enjoy history so it has been something to look forward to as well as enjoy.

We always knew Teddy was quite the character and this biographical flick validated and expanded on this.

Intermixed were stories of FDR and Eleanor the first couple of nights since they were still pretty young when Teddy was up and coming.

FDR has always been my favorite president and I think it stems from my father talking about growing up in the Depression and how FDR took some pretty strong action to try and help people work. I know I was devastated to learn years ago that he wasn't loyal to Eleanor and it still bothers me how such a smart person can make such stupid mistakes and have an affair. Nevertheless, I think FDR is someone who battled a lot to even become president.

The historian who wrote the series as well as one who is interviewed almost broke down in tears last night talking about how much FDR struggled with polio and how much pain he was in the rest of his life trying to appear "lame" instead of crippled so he could realize his dream of being president.

Yet I still believe seeing FDR and seeing history has become more real because of my dad's stories and his history. Often times things in the past are just things in the past, but my dad told about listening to FDR on the radio and how my uncle was a member of the CCC which had a project nearby -- refurbishing New Salem, IL.

The Depression was brought about by a number of things, but some of it was unsecured debt...sound familiar? People borrowing more than they could repay...Can we see in our own not to distant history our recession?

There's a quote about those who don't learn from history will repeat it (I'm paraphrasing) and this is so true. I know the economy goes in cycles and is unpredictable. But, folks who continue to make the same mistakes certainly aren't learning from them.

As I climb down from my soapbox, I look forward to another installment tonight of the Roosevelts.

Weekend (Mind)Wanderings

September 16th, 2014 at 12:28 am

This was a busy fall weekend around our place. We did grocery shopping and some cleaning. I did get a chance to can some tomatoes. I do not have nearly as many as some of you who have posted, but DH has a small garden.

I made pork stew out of some of our peppers, carrots, and tomatoes and leftover pork. I added some zucchini and mushrooms and it was quite good. We had it for supper on a fall like evening and even had enough for a couple of lunches.

We went to an estate sale over the weekend. The person who runs it has in his ads it is a prepriced tag sale and on Saturday the prices are 100%. On Sunday morning until noon the prices are 25% off and from 1-5 on Sunday, they are 50% off. We've been to a few of these and this has always been the case. Saturday we attended and found a small piece of furniture we thought we'd like, but not at 100%.

So yesterday we left early so we were first in line and we were delighted to see the piece still there...EXCEPT the guy who runs these sales wife informed us that there had been an offer of 30% off and if we wanted to place a higher bid, we might be considered. And she hinted instead of individual pieces, we should bid on the whole set. I told her this was not what the policy had been and on Saturday the pieces were individually priced and why now a bid and plus having to buy a whole set.

I don't need a whole bedroom set. I only wanted one piece at 50% off which was more fair than the other price. This was, after all, a used set, not something purchased from a retail store. When I asked the guy who runs things, he explained they had received a bid before noon and if we wanted to leave a bid we could. I pointed out this was a change in his policy and never before was this every brought up. I even went home and checked his website and the site said all items would be sold and nothing about leaving bids or having a bidding war.

To say we are disappointed in this person's character is an understatement. He had nothing posted that he was changing how the sale would be. There was nothing about holds or bidding. It isn't an auction. I emailed him yesterday afternoon and calmly explained again that I thought he needed to post when he changes things. DH and I did not get angry or make a scene at the sale nor did I get nasty in the email. I do think it was kind of dirty what he did, but I'm certainly not going to get into a fight over a piece of furniture. It would have been nice to have owned it, because I would have sold a piece I already have. But I'm not going to act undignified because someone else didn't follow his own rules. I look at it I saved money by not buying it.

We've had a lot of rain this weekend and today was soggy as well. Wish we could share some of our precipitation with the drought stricken states out west. With the rain I imagine our tomatoes will slow down even more. DH did pick some carrots. It's funny...he had better luck planting the carrots in large pots than the ones he planted in the ground.

It was a nice weekend and it certainly flew by.