Going...Going...Gone

Twlight Zone
My daughter and I went walking today and it wasn't long before we began to notice that we were seeing the same people doing the same things as the last time we walked which was a week ago exactly. We saw all these people in nearly the exact same place as last week. For example, we saw 3 people mowing their lawns last week and we saw the same 3 people mowing this time and basically in the same area of the yard as last week. We saw a man and woman walking their dog and we saw them today in the same place as before. When we rounded the corner to go home, we saw my other daughter and her friends walking down our street just like last time. It was weird.

Son got suspended......again.
Four portfolios down, 4 to go.
Two reference letters written, 3 to go.
Five final evaluations to pick up
And one final seminar left to attend.
Hooray!!!!

Cute Animal Story
We used to live on a 40 acre farm. I loved animals so we always had a variety. One summer some friends gave my son a pigmy goat. I loved that goat. I used to jog 2 miles on our country road. One day I heard something following me. I turn around and it's Mr. Nanny, the goat. He decided all by himself that he'd run with me. The funny thing was he ran crooked, with his head down, bleeting all the way. I don't know how many times people stopped me and asked if that was a goat jogging with me and those who didn't stop....you should have seen the looks on their face. It really was a sight.

Where Did It Go?

I know I had another post on here saying that I would be busy for the next few days grading portfolios and then team-conferencing with the portfolio writers, but it has disappeared somehow! Anyway that's what I'll be doing.

Last week, both heat/air units bit the dust and also the dryer motor. The dryer is only 3 years old and still under warranty, but it taking a long time to get the motor. Living without a dryer is heck. The furnace/air conditioner unit in the house and outside unit bit the dust. It is 30 years old and the parts can't even be gotten anymore. The other outside unit needs replacing too. The total cost, $6500!! OUCH.

Finally got a digital camera, so look for pictures in the near future. I think visuals make a blog more interesting.

Later

SO FUNNY

I have to tell what just happened with my dog Indy. You know how I wrote the other day about how people trip and then turn around to see what they tripped over? Well, something similar just happened with my dog. He was barking to go out so I opened the patio screen door and let him out. Immediately on going out he always goes to this one spot on the patio and looks around. While he was doing that, I closed the screen. (One of my cat's the orange, scared one was sitting to the side of me behind the vertical patio shades.) Anyway, I just closed the screen and am still standing there when Indy wheels around and sees me there. He's coming back at full speed. I guess he thought the screen was open because he rammed right into it with his nose. It made a really loud noise which brought my daughter running in to see what happened. Indy's part collie so he's got a long nose and that hits the screen really hard, so hard it knocks him back and pushes the screen all the way off the track except for one corner. The instant he hits, he gets that kind of embarrassed look in his eyes and looks up first at the screen and then at me to see what's happened. The look on his face changes to, (if he were a human I'd swear he said" "What the hell, why'd you do that?" The instant he hits, my cat jumped straight up and bolted out of the room shagging ass and I jumped back thinking the screen was going to fall in on me. Now Indy is sitting out there looking around and I'm rolling on the floor laughing. Indy looks totally humiliated and patiently waits while my daughter and I try to get the door open. When we finally do, I tell him to come in. He just sits there rolling his eyes and looking all around like, "Yeah, RIGHT." The whole time I'm laughing and my daughter is laughing and Indy is still humiliated and embarrassed. He won't come in. He's been laughed at too much and he knows it. I finally get him by the collar and try to show him it's open, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he thinks I've caused his mishap. Finally, he reaches his paw out and tests the doorway twice, looks at me and cautiously comes in. He doesn't like the fact that we are still laughing and tries everything to make us quit. At first he just sits there with his head hanging. Then he starts rolling on the floor and whining, finally he pretends that nothing happened and maybe if he acts like it didn't we'll stop laughing. I imagine my cat is in Timbuktu because I haven'tseen him since and the screen door is waiting for someone who knows how to put it back on, on.

Poem of the Day

INSIDE OF LIFE

Poems are the interior of life
A glimpse of what makes me
And I decide how much to expose
How much to let you see
And as I sit and type the words
The ones I will allow
It’s up to you to decipher the code
I cannot tell you how
I simply offer a key to hold
A chance to peep inside
A moment to look within the soul
Of a person you don’t know.

A quick note, I've been grading student teacher portfolio's since the 13th. They take about 2 hrs. apiece and I have 3 left to go. I also need to go back over one or two. Then next week my partner and I will conference with the owners of the portfolio's. I have 5 recommendation letters to write as well. One of my student's has not done any of her work for April yet and when I talked to her about it she cried. She always does. I have to pick that work up from her on Friday. So in other words, if I don't blog for a few days, you'll know why.

Another of my student teachers is getting married. Her husband to be won't tell her where the honeymoon will be. The clue is she needs a passport and they drive on the left side of the road. Her mom is packing for her. Not too many choices.

Well, I'm still grading so I'm out of here and thanks to all of those you answered my questions.

Questions?

I have a few questions. How do people find blogs to read and why do they read the ones they pick? In other words, what keeps them coming back to those particular blogs? Also, what motivates someone to post a comment to a blog? I am more an observer than a participator so I read, but rarely post. For myself, I enjoy reading blogs with humor and also pictures. I'd appreciate if someone, anyone would give me an idea of how and why you choose particular blogs and what motivates you to post.

Why is it that when you trip, you always look back to see what tripped you and then immediately look around to see if anyone else noticed? I've always noticed this about people. And, what is in a particular personality that the person never gets embarrassed no matter what happens. I had a friend who went into the restroom in high school. She comes out with a huge trail of toilet paper stuck in her cheerleading tights and her skirt was tucked in as well. Everyone laughed, but it didn't bother her a bit. She just laughed with everyone else. I have no problem laughing at myself either, but the tissue would have embarrassed me.

What's up with people who pull out in front of you really fast and then putt along below the speed limit?

Why don't we like to be laughed at?

Why do teachers dress like teachers? Have you ever noticed teachers dress in a particular way, especially elementary teachers? They wear clothes with little appliqués sewed on them or ABC's. Some wear tennis shoes with dresses.

Why are kids in elementary school expected by teachers to sit perfectly still, walk in perfectly straight lines, not talk in the cafeteria and many other developmentally inappropriate things, but kids in high school or junior high who are mature enough to accomplish these things without much effort don't have to?

Why is it that when people don't do things they're supposed to do they have a tendency to blame someone else or want their silly excuses accepted without question such as always being late or not having projects done on time, things like that.

Just wondering.

Poem of the Day

WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?

What’s wrong with you?
Do you have a screw lose?
Why let other’s choose your path
then sit around so full of wrath?
All your life, it’s what you’ve done
You know it’s true, others chose your fun.
So… What’s wrong with you
the question’s still valid
all these years later, it’s the same old ballad
doing the bidding of someone else
always afraid to trust yourself.
You’re scared, oh how sad
still afraid, someone else will get mad?
So what if they do, it’s not a big deal
I think they should consider, just how you feel.
Until you’re ready to trust who you are
The other guy, will be driving your car.
That’s a depressing thought, for a woman your age
perhaps it’s time, you began the next stage
striving to live, just a little bit more
to your own liking, while shutting their door.

What Will Son Do Next?
A little school background on Son. Son had enough credits to graduate in March. All he had to do was take the ISTEP test and he wouldn't because he, "wanted to visit his friends." We've had trouble with him all year for skipping certain classes or leaving school. He has taken all classes needed so he enrolled in the ICE class where you get a job and go directly from school to work this trimester. Well, he had a job offer but he would have had to cut his hair which is past his shoulders. He refused to do this so he was put into 4 hours of study hall. He's done numerous 2 hour after-school detentions for skipping classes, but today the school called and said he was seen leaving school without permission and would be suspended Monday because all his after-school detentions had been used up which brings me to the next point. His dad took his keys except for driving to school this week because he had been leaving late at night and not coming in until early in the morning. So Son calls me around 3pm saying he has run out of gas. The school called around 1pm so I know he's been running around that long. I just filled up his tank Sunday and he's already used a tank of gas even with his keys taken so I ask him why he's out of gas. He says he doesn't know. I say maybe because he's been leaving school and driving around and ask how many times he's left this week and he says 3 times. He says he can't stand staying in that class for so long, so he leaves. The school is ready to turn him in for truancy. He only has 2 more days he can miss before they will file on him. I take the lawnmower gas which I've already done a thousand times to him so he can get home. He's left his emergency light on so of course, his battery is dead. I have him flag down a policeman and he gives Son a jump. I told him when he turns 18 in August, if he is still acting the way he is, I'm kicking him out to get a taste of life on his own terms and we're not going to help. I've truly had enough!

Update

P.S. I published this last night, but it didn't show up on my blog.

Dad drug Son to counseling yesterday. He didn't want to go, but whining didn't work this time. He also lied to the police. He knew the guy that "robbed" them. I now think it was all planned.

I've been painting the living room and dining room. They look great! As soon as I figure out how to post a picture, I will. The dining room was painted a marigold color first and then I did a combination color wash and rub on, on top of that with a color kind of in the reddish-orange color scheme. It's awesome and the whole family likes it.

It's finally spring here and I'm excited. Yesterday was really cold, but today was great with the week ahead promising to be even better. Everything's in bloom. I've noticed Indiana is about a month or a little more behind Oklahoma. I'm through with painting for awhile so I'll get started on the yard. I hope to plant flowers everywhere so I can have fresh flowers all summer. Some of my favorites: peonies, roses, daisies, zinnia’s, morning glories and many more.

Well, that's it for tonight. Tomorrow I start grading student teacher portfolios and will be observing them all day so I better get some sleep.

It's sad to say, but Son is a total idiot! I take him to get gas today and also give him his check for lunch at school. I told him I was going to put it in the glovebox of his car. He says ok and when I open it up, out falls a huge box of Trojan's. Last month I had told him I knew he was having sex. He denied it of course. When I saw those he said, "I always get busted." Like DUH!! This boy is in for major problems in life if he can't get it together.

Here We Go Again

So, I'm minding my own business yesterday evening just painting when the phone rings and I answer it. I've been wondering when the next bomb will drop with Son and here it comes. It's Detective So&So from the police department. He says Son is a witness in a robbery at a Jiffy Mart and he'd like to talk to him and get a description of the robber. He says the kid robbed was with Son and that they had stopped for a pack of cigarettes and as Son's friend came out a guy came up behind him and took his money. Detective WhatHisName says he doesn't think Son wants to be involved, but they need a description, do I know how to get hold of him. I give him some numbers and he says he'll call back if he gets hold of him. About 30 minutes late he calls back and says Son is on the way home and to bring him down to the station, he is not a suspect, they just want a statement.

I don't even know where the station is and have to ask. We get down there and it is pitch black and I have to ask a policeman how to go in since the station looks dark. In we go and we're greeted by the detective and Captain. They turn on a video recorder and begin asking questions. As the story comes out, the kid didn't get held up at the store at all, he gets robbed twice at a park and Son took him there to buy an ounce of marijuana. Son's friend goes around asking if anyone has any for sale. They all start back to Son's car and a guy comes up to them and asks who’s got the money. They all say none of them do. The robber has a gun and says, "You guys think I'm not serious?" and puts a clip in the gun and tells the others with him to pat them down. Son's friend has over a hundred and he gives the robber $10 and the robber says that's not enough so Friend gives him $20 more and Robber leaves not taking the other $100 and how stupid is that?

So they're all in the car and another guy comes up and tells Friend this is a jack, to give him his watch which he does. Friend got robbed twice. They drove to someone else's house and then here. Son never said a word about being robbed. He says he's taking Friend home, but Friend still wants marijuana so Son tells him he knows where he can get it and they call the dealer from here. They go buy an ounce. Friend wants to leave it in Son's car and Son says ok and takes Friend home. Son smokes half a joint, then gets scared and throws it out into some people’s yard.

The police are going back and forth between Friend and Son and saying Friend and Son's story don't match. They ask who the dealer is and Son says he won't tell, that it doesn't have anything to do with the robbery. The police are getting mad and tell him that if he doesn't they'll throw the book at him and do everything the D.A. will allow to get the dealer. He won't tell. He tells me that he's afraid if he tells he'll get shot, that the suppliers will come after him and that the guy they bought the marijuana off of is a friend and he won't get him in trouble. The police tell him that buying an ounce is a felony and what he did and the guy who sold it did was illegal. Son's story sounds stupid and like he's lying and the police don't hide the fact they know this. They're getting disgusted.

They start yelling at Friend in the next room. Detective What'sHisName comes in with a recorder and has Son tell the story from top to bottom and asks if the guy they bought the drug from names is __________. Son says yes. They ask exactly where he threw the marijuana and did he pour it as he threw it or if he threw it bag and all. They asked if he'd be a witness and then let us go. They asked me if I knew he used drugs and I told them yes, that we'd had him put into drug counseling, but he'd refused to go.

The detective asks if the guys who robbed Friend are from the projects and what their street names are and I'm sitting there feeling like I'm in the Twilight Zone or on the show "Cops" because I know nothing about this kinds of stuff. I heard more and learned more than I ever wanted to know.

It was not a pleasant experience and I don't think it's over. They supposedly charged Friend with a felony and when Son came home he called the guy they bought the drug from and told him what had happened and that the police knew who he was. It made me tired and stressed.

More Later.

Everything

I've been painting. I don't really like too, but our house was so drab something had to be done. I'm going to try my hand at decorative painting either by colorwashing or rubbing on. I've painted the LR a gold color and will apply a darker gold over that. In the diningroom I'm painting it a different gold and rubbing on over that a kind of red-orange color. I like what I've done so far.

My dad still can't swallow, talk well, or walk. He is still being fed through a feeding tube and has a stint in his arm for medication. A physical therapist comes in to work on his legs. He is better though, at this point and they still say it was meningitis brought on by first a sinus infection and then a burst eardrum.

Picked up my daughter at Indy International today and I hate going there. I have no sense of direction whatsoever and that makes for a stressful drive since I drive by landmarks. I've live in Indiana less than a year so I don't know many of the landmarks yet and all the signs have 2 or 3 highways listed which confuses me. Anyway, I've driven there 4 times and 4 times something has gone wrong. The first time I drove up in a horrid rainstorm and traffic was really heavy. On the way back I missed my exit and didn't know where the heck I was because I'd never been to Indy in my life. I also didn't know one person I could call to help me because I'd only been here a month.

The second time I drove to the airport was at 6am and in a snowstorm which I hated.

The third time I made both my exits, but turned on the wrong street because the sign said temporary parking and the sign I was looking for was temporary parking, garage.

Today, I missed the first exit because road construction is going on around the first airport exit. I was just up there 5 days ago and they had 73A closed so I made a mental note that it was the 2nd exit. I was supposed to exit at 73B which the sign said was 1 1/4 miles, but that is wrong. Anyway, I exited at 73A which took me onto I-70 going away from the airport. Of course, there are no turn-arounds and I finally exited onto a street about 4 miles up that road, made a loop left at the light and saw the signs for 46whatever North so I got back on 70 looking for 46whatever. The stupid sign said 1/2 mile. I gage it by my car and get to an exit, but then I see that it goes back to Terre Haute and it's too late to move over. Well, I know where I'm at now, but I'm going away from the airport again and have exited into all that construction. There are construction turn-arounds here, but you're not supposed to. I passed up the first 2 or 3 and then thought what the h, I'm gonna do it anyway and I did. Now I'm going in the right direction and finally exit at 73B. My next exit is 11B and I make that too. I'm almost there and then I see that stupid sign for parking where I turned last time, but my youngest daughter says, "Don't turn there, that's what you did last time." I remembered I was looking for the sign that says, "Garage Parking" so I keep on and there it is, I've finally made it. I thought we'd be late, but the baggage haden't been unloaded yet.

I repeat; I HATE DRIVING TO THE AIRPORT!!!!!!!

Poem of the Day
LOVING ARMS

In loving arms I fell asleep
held so tight in silent sleep
taken to loves lofty height
within your arms all through the night.

Awoken in the morning light
by a kiss that seemed so right
a time for loving, perhaps forever
a love no man should try to sever.

MISC.
Finally got news on Dad. He is doing better and no AIDS. Son turned down a job today because he doesn't want to cut his hair. Daughter whose visiting San Franscisco visited the house in the Mrs. Doubtfire movie, saw some seals, visited a wax museum and fisherman's warf, went to China Town and numerous other places. She's having a blast and would love to stay. It all ends Wednesday because that's when she comes home.

Yesterday we bought a new lawn mower, it has a bagger and mulcher and that makes me glad! I bought the paint for the livingroom and diningroom. I'm going to try some decorative painting, my first time, so wish me luck. My typing is disturbning hubby's beauty sleep, so I'm out of here.

Stuff
Hubby is back from the War College and I'm glad. Now I just have to remember when I type this late, it wakes him up.

We had a nice day today looking at lawn mowers and lots of other stuff and I told him I want a self-propelled one with a mulcher and bagger so when I mow it will be easier. While we were out my daughter called from San Franscisco and said she's not coming back, to pack her stuff and send it. She was joking, but really likes it there and is having a great time.

My youngest daughter has lost 5lbs. to date in her quest to learn to eat more healthy. She's going to lose 5 more and then see if anymore needs to be lost. She was beginning to be a little chubby, a problem that occured when she stayed with her grandma one summer 4 years ago. She was a little stick until then.

That's all for now. I'm tired.

Poem of the Day

UNRAVELED

The situation
has begun
to unravel.
The last string pulled
into taut discord.
Inner thoughts concealed
Outer actions revealed
Bitter words spoken
Unhealthy interaction.
Heartbreak ensues
on the heels
of an unfriendly
altercation.
Divorce follows
without hesitation.

Stuff
I've been really busy the last week or so. I have a student that refuses to let me know when she will be absent from her student teaching so I had to sit on her really hard yesterday. That finally got results. Haven't heard anything about my dad lately except his wife feels he isn't getting good care in the DOC hospital they moved him to. Haven't heard from my brother either and guess I will have to call him to find out about Dad and how he is doing with his divorce. Hubby finally comes home Saturday from the War College HOORAY!! I have not given Son money for 2 weeks and he has actively gone about trying to find a job. I found out yesterday that I will be on a team at my job to evaluate student teacher portfolio's. I have never done this before and find it a little stressful. The lady I'm teamed with has done it many times so she is going to help me. We are to evaluate 7 portfolio's and there is a lot of reading involved and evalutation. We'll see. I got my entryway done and it looks great! The people who lived here before bought the house and lived in it for the next 30 years. They had horrible decorating taste with everything painted gray and beige and mirrors everywhere, even the light fixture! When you walk in the front door now, it is sunny and I have two pictures by the artist herrero of two really large ladies hanging there to greet anyone coming in. I'll probably be really busy the next few weeks turning in grades, observing students and portfolios. I take my daughter to the airport tomorrow for a spring break trip to San Franscisco too.

Well, I better get started. More later.

And, IT'S FINALLY SUNNY! HOORAY!!!!