Life

There are so many times I sat down to blog, but Life was moving way too fast these days.  Even the girls are noticing that life is starting to fly by.

I didn't do too much with my stitching over the last week and a half.  While I love to create, I also want to ensure that I'm focusing on the work and relaxing at the same time.  If I'm too tired, I won't stitch as I'll just have to rip out my mistakes.  I am focusing on getting the Round Robin done for Lori.  I will need to get it done and off to Aury to work on next, so I'm focusing on that piece before starting the last of my 15 Miras and working on them.
 

My original start

Where I last left off on 1-26

Another down-side to working out of the house is that I'm missing the girls' awards assemblies again. Jordan told us she was getting an award, and I knew I couldn't make it. Even worse was that we didn't get a notification about it until the night before, and the teacher didn't tell us the time of the event until an hour before.  That meant that Ken couldn't make it either.  Luckily, Jordan didn't mind that we weren't there, and she took her photo for me at home that night.

On Saturday, the 24th, we hosted the new Pastor and his family over for supper.  Mandy got all "done up" for the event.  It wasn't like her to spend hours in the bathroom, but we soon discovered the "why."  She had actually curled her hair!! 

We were so surprised to see she had done it, and she looked amazing.  I'm just trying to figure out where all of the years have gone!!

The dinner party was a success.  Pastor Abel and his wife, Abbe, couldn't believe how fast time flew by. It was 10:30 before they left.  I teased the children the next day at church about how hard it must have been to get up in the morning.  They laughed.

Mandy and Taylor were not happy with me for "making" them get up to sing with Pastor at the end of service.  Mandy was so consumed with the fact that she was in front of people, that she didn't notice that I was taking pictures.  HeeHee

The work week seriously sucked. There is just no other way to put it.  The students were in true form of unacceptable behaviors.  Staff was being assaulted, students harmed, and yet the students causing the problems were sent home for the day and told to come back tomorrow.  The Staff has almost no morale left and everyone is wondering why we do what we do.  Every morning, there is an email from the Superintendent about how to improve and yet no mention of thanks for what we are already doing.  

I walked into a situation where a student was refusing to stay in his classroom, and was randomly throwing things around, etc.  Another Staff member and I managed to get him in the cafeteria since running outside in the ice was not a safe option, and having him run around the hallways was disrupting other classes.  He kept climbing on the coat racks, and when he dangled off of a table, my Mom instincts were going nuts.  I didn't want him falling on his head and requiring an ambulance ride.  Unfortunately, we are not allowed to touch students, so even when they are hitting you, there's nothing that you can do.  I hated watching this kid repeatedly hit the other Staff member and he just stood there and took it.  This kid is 6 years old!!  What the hell is causing this kind of behavior???

When he flung himself at a table, I instinctively put my arm out to keep him from cracking his head.  Sadly, it was the arm that already had a torn rotator cuff, and yes, I got to feel and hear more tearing.  I assured my boss that I wasn't going to put in for Worker's Comp, as there was the already present tear, however, I did hear more tearing, and it was hurting like a son-of-a-bitch.  Oddly enough, my boss did not offer for me to go home nor did he do anything about the child.  He sent the boy home for the day, and the kid was back the next morning.  This child returned every day for the next week and a half, and he had an "incident" every day.  

On top of all this, I have an aide who is listening to another teacher, and is now questioning my abilities as well as being insubordinate - she refuses to follow my directions.  With my student with Down Syndrome, she lets him do whatever he wants since she feels that if he is not having a temper tantrum, then his behavior is improving and it's a "good day."  I explained that we need to remove all temper tantrums to include when he is not getting his way, otherwise, we're not helping the child.  He is 10 and in 5th grade for crying out loud.  His mom yelled at me that I was "complaining" about her boy when he slapped my ass and punched me, and she said I needed to "have more patience" with him.  Seriously?!  I have patience for him and love the kid, but I do not have patience for being assaulted and for him being allowed to act this way.

There are only so many sick days in a year, and I took another one last Thursday for Mental Health.  I woke up to my shoulder  hurting, my face completely broken out from stress, my nerves shot, and I just couldn't stand the idea of going to work another day.  It was a good call to stay home.  Never have I questioned myself so much about being a teacher.  Was this a good calling for me? Do I really know what I'm doing? Am I actually making a difference?

I spent the morning baking.  I always forget how nice it is to create something with your hands.  I know, I cross-stitch, but baking is just as therapeutic to me, and I make delicious things for the family.  So, I worked on making Saffron Scones and Black Forest Bars.  They are yummy, and I took some to work for my mentor, Kristen, since she has had to listen to me whine so much lately.  

Since I had the ability, I had Ken take me to the local Gun Club.  I had never been here since we moved, and I had a brand-new pistol that I haven't used.  So, that day was a perfect choice to blast the shit out of something - which, of course, always eases tension. It was fun to see it.  It was back up on the Crow hill, and there is a marker to commemorate that Colonel Custer used to practice up here. It's always fun for me to see the history here, and to learn about it all.

Ken is not a fan of Heckler & Koch. He feels they are overpriced, and when I picked up my P30, he kept telling me how loose the trigger is.  Yeah, I'm aware that it's not a sharp pull, but it's not a problem for the HK.  So, I threw down the target and had a GREAT time blasting it!!  It was great fun to watch the cube bounce around!!!

It is so weird for me to have more than 10 rounds in a magazine.  Once again, I am completely thrilled that I left the Republik of Kalifornia!!  I can own this wonderful pistol, which I couldn't before, and I had a 15 round magazine.  Those five "extra" rounds don't seem like much until you're shooting!

Ken asked to shoot my pistol, and he was so surprised at how accurate it is, and he didn't have to make any adjustments to shoot it perfectly.  He even shot at a water bottle to watch it fly. 

While I played with my pistol, Ken was working on some loads to see what worked in his .308.  He has been obsessed with this rifle since he bought it, and he finally got a good scope on it, and sited it in.  Unfortunately, he used my "sick day" to site in, so I froze my ass off (too bad that is a figurative statement, by the way) while waiting for him to test his loads.

Another friend of ours, Robbie Koyama, showed up to fire a shotgun that he had purchased. We chatted for a while, and then Robbie left and we went back to getting Ken's loads tested.

At the end of the day, Ken took me out to supper at 3 Brothers.  We were so happy to walk in and find the place empty, and even more fun was Kerri decided to take a break and sat down with us.

After great food, laughter and copious wine, I was finally relaxed.  I managed to get a great night's sleep and tackled work on Friday.  Thank God, I had the day before off as the place was nuts again in my absence.  The last Friday of each month, for me, is Pizza Day for my students.  If they work hard and do what is asked, they get a sticker each day.  A majority of days with stickers gets Cheese Pizza, which is an event.  So, my morning was busy, but my afternoon was easy.  Sadly, my aide took advantage of me being pulled out of my class to handle other students and paperwork, and she promised the boy with Down Syndrome the pizza if he completed just one line of work rather than the two lines of writing and the math.  Ugh!! Talk about not helping!!  Oh well, I'll make it work next month for me, and she can request a transfer if she wants.  

Friday night, we learned that Mandy got an award at school.  UGH! Another one missed!!  She earned the B Honor Roll in school.  

I was also happy to see that my Valentine's gift to Ken (and to myself) had arrived, so I opened it up and put it together.  Ooohhh! I love being a grown up!!!  

Say hello to the Gemini Aerator and Decanter.  I enjoyed seeing this last year while in Ohio visiting Tina and meeting Nora Corbett (a stitching designer).  This place, Cooper's Hawk, had the best decanter that I had ever seen, and I knew Ken would never purchase anything like this for us.  So I purchased it.  You push the glass up against the bottom and the wine dispenses. There is also a filter to take out the sediment which is awesome!!  Friday night was a night of relaxing, and I enjoyed the wine so much that I couldn't stitch.  

Yesterday, however, I was completely busy!!  I managed to sleep in, but I had to take Taylor to Billings to look for a Prom Dress.  Holy shit!!  She is a freshman in high school!  Seriously, I spend too much time wondering where time has gone, and yet I have three daily clocks that can show me how much time is going by.  

Oh - interjection - Taylor had been bugging me for a baby bottle for some reason.  I told her that I wouldn't spend the money on a bottle, but I did get her a jar of baby food bananas.  I made her eat it before we went out shopping, and it apparently doesn't taste as good to her at 15 as it did when she was 1.  

Taylor's friend, Chase Molina, asked her to the prom.  They are going as "friends" and yet she is completely giddy about it.  She cannot understand why he asked her so far in advance, and she doesn't understand that he asked her now rather than risking she would be asked by someone else.  Taylor inherited my low self-esteem, and I keep working on that with her.  So far, I'm not really making a dent.  The shopping helped though.

I had a great time watching her.  She was insistent on getting a long dress since this is a "formal" because I am apparently an idiot when never went to high school and doesn't know how this all works.  Yes, I laughed at her the entire time - especially when she wasn't understanding that she had picked strapless dresses and was wearing the hanger straps as shoulder straps on all but the black one:

Mama's favorite

Taylor's choice

Despite my really liking the black dress on her, she fell in love with the peach one.  Wait! It's called "Bellini" which is totally cool, and then I had to tell her that name is a drink.  She laughed at me.  The entire time we were picking out accessories, she was complaining about the cost, and that I shouldn't spend so much money on her.  Ugh! Does she not  understand that this is how it works???  

I worked really hard at not being my mother during this experience.  I didn't force her to go with my choice since I was paying (and the dress was $50 cheaper), nor did I do anything that Kay had done to me.  Taylor started getting emotional about the sizes she had to pick out, and I refused to go along with it.  I spent the entire time reminding her that she is perfect, that she is beautiful and she was someone's first choice as a date for this event!!  

We went to three different stores to look at dresses, but we went back to David's Bridal for the Bellini dress she had chosen.  There was nothing better that was found, and the price wasn't that bad.  I added in a necklace, earrings and shoes for her, and off we went to finish our shopping and dining experience in Billings.  

Of course, the snow returned just as we started this trip, and the temperatures kept dropping the entire day.  By the time we finished getting everything for the Valentine's party for church and Ken's birthday, we were starting to freeze.  We enjoyed supper together and off we started home....

Only to suddenly hit massive traffic.....

This is NOT normal for here. We had miles of brake lights and there was no movement, at all, for 48 minutes.  There were people turning around in the emergency lane and heading back the other direction, but that was it.  We finally started moving, and I never actually saw anything that would explain what had caused the stopping.  

Not a bad dusting of snow just after it all had finished melting

Taylor and I had fun singing in the car and being silly while we waited.  By the time we got home, she was completely happy.  We had talked to Chase's mom who just LOVED the dress on Taylor and was gushing, Chase came straight over to see her even though I refused to let him see her actually in the dress.  Now, I need to spend time helping her pick out a style for her hair and her make up - which she wants ME to do!  Has she not seen that I don't really wear make up because I don't know what I'm doing??  Ugh! The things I do for these girls.  

Daddy loved seeing her in her dress, and I finally got her to realize that it is strapless.  Even her sisters piled into her room to see it and they gushed and fawned over her which made her smile really big!! 

Now, I have to prepare for our attendance at a Super Bowl Party.  We are going to head over to some new friends' house to watch the game and hang out.  I have no idea who all is going to be there, but Ken and I love to be social and have fun.  Since we do not have TV, we don't keep up with anything, and we lost interest in football.  I still have the NHL app on my phone, so I always know how the Kings are doing.  Just once, I would love an unscheduled weekend.  I don't have any of those until March - if I can keep Ken from planning something....