Stories from the first week

So it is amusing that after only one week back to school I already have some good stories.

So in our middle school this year we have implemented some stricter rules to keep the kids in line and keep them more responsible.

Now anybody who has ever been through a teaching program knows that it is common practice to be really strict the first couple weeks of school and hammer home the expectations. So that is what I have been doing. Much more then I did last year.

So I have been really strict with the kids, no joking around. All serious, all the time, and piling on the homework.

So some of the teachers I work with could hear me yelling at the 8th graders one day and were teasing me about how strict I have been. 

Now to the actual story:

The kids were all give a paper with 10 hall passes to staple into their assignment notebooks. So I have one 7th grader who is incredibly unorganized and always forgets things in his locker all the time. So on like the second or third day of school he comes up to me and asks me to write him a pass. As I do this I notice that his pass page isn't stapled into his assignment notebook. I tell him to staple it in or else he will likely lose it.

Fast forward to the end of that day at dismissal. A student finds one of these pass pages on the floor and hands it to me. There is no name on it, so I take it with the intention of throwing it away. As the teachers and I are waiting for dismissal to wrap up I show them the pass that I found. So one of them asks me if I am going to be nice and return it to the child, or be cold hearted and throw it away. I said I would not return it not to mention the fact that I didn't know who it belonged to.

After closer examination we realized that it belonged to the unorganized child who I already warned about losing this paper. This gave us a big laugh because out of all the kids he probably needs the passes the most. But he's fairly annoying so I didn't feel sympathetic about his loss.

(Is a funnier story when you know this kid)

After this situation one of the teachers started calling me steel heart.

So at a meeting we had with out assistant principal last week they were tellin him this story and kept calling me steel heart. He thought it was hilarious and kept saying 'that's it, you're steel heart'

It ends up being a very ironic story because of dear heart. So moms dear heart and I get a completely opposite nickname. Especially funny because the people at school don't know about 'dear heart'.

That's all for now. Hope you guys found that as amusing as it has been for us this week.

I have my moments

I like to think that I am a patient person. I deal with smartalec twelve year olds for a living, which requires a lot of patience. In general I feel like I am able to show a great deal of restraint when I am irritated and go with the flow when need be.

But sometimes, I have my moments. 

It tends to come on suddenly every now and then. Tonight it came from a random question, and my sister very kindly rearranging something just for me.

Sarah was going to have Tommy's birthday party on the same weekend as Marks cousins wedding in Ohio. I am sad to miss his birthday because he is soo darn cute and I see him so infrequently. So she kindly thought that if she had his birthday on Wednesday I could go to Ohio from Detroit. 

A kind offer as it was,it changes the rest of the families plans for going up to Detroit. But all I could think about is Mark. How does he factor into this? He is supposed to be moving out here permanently soon. If so, he would be unable to go to Detroit mid week because he would have to work. 

But I have been hearing that he would be moving out here in two weeks all summer. It isn't through any fault of his own, his bosses just haven't been as complimentary as one would hope. To be honest over the last few months I have become quite resentful towards them. Especially when my husband who never sends text messages sends me a text telling me to find him a new job. It messes with my emotions too when he is so frustrated as well.

I wonder if Marks bosses even realize how difficult this past year has been for us, or if they even care. Sad to question that when the bosses are my brothers in law. I get resentful about it and dont even think ill be able to stand the sight of them when I see them next. 

So I have my moments. Sometimes one little thing like my sisters kind offer just triggers one little nerve and suddenly my stable patience is gone. And all of the sudden I am sad and lonely. So I come home and fix myself a drink and wonder when it will all be okay again.

I think mark and I have a great marriage, and have shown a lot of strength through the last year. It has not been easy and we knew that coming in, but it was never supposed to be this long. My patience is running low.

I know that tomorrow is a new day. I will go for a run, go to meeting.  I will come home and make some delicious Italian beef, and work on some more school stuff. I know that my head will readjust and I will get a hold on my patience again and suck it up again. 

But for now I am having my moment, and I think I'll go fix another drink.

Home

Sometimes there is something so small and so simple that just gives me that feeling of 'home', one of those random things that is so comfortable and so normal to my life that I don't think about it much.

Tonight my cousins wife Angie turned thirty. They had a little get together. When I walked in my cousin Kim said 'hi Meg'. Angie was a few drinks in but when she saw me gave me a big hug and said 'hey Meg!'. 

When I was saying goodbye to my cousin Steve he said 'Bye Meg'.

When Angie took me around and introduced me to her friends I didn't know she kept saying 'this is my friend Meg'. 

One of her friends said 'Nice to meet you Meg'

It felt and sounded so weird!!! For all of my life for as long as I can remember my cousins have always called me Meg. Nobody else calls me Meg but my cousins. they call me Meg and sometimes Meggy. My sisters dont even call me Meg. My friends tend to call me Megs. So when I get called just Meg it gives me that 'home' feeling.

I love it. So happy to be be Meg and to be at home.

Spring has sprung!

Finally!! Spring finally made its appearance!!!! Only took till the end of April to show up, but I am sure happy it's finally here! Steady temps averaging in the 60's with a few warmer days mixed in. I love it!!! It makes me Sooo happy!  It is so nice to see the sun shining a lot more! Also the trees are finally starting to blossom so everything is green again and that dreary winter is behind us!

I've been spending more time outside. I've already gone golfing once, running several times, and have walked with mom a lot. 

The European Market just opened and is every Saturday till the fall.  I bought some fresh herbs there to grow on my little patio. I've also been able to get outside at school too! You've got to love a school that encourages teachers to take the kids outside! I love it! 

As ready as I am for the end of the year, I definitely love my job. Next week I get to take a few kids to Washigton DC!! I am so excited and am soo gonna be in my ultimate nerd zone. 

Plus out here in Indiana elementary and middle schools have what is called 'field day'. It is basically a day at the end of the year where the entire school spends an entire day competing in silly games and just generally having fun. Our school determined the middle school was a little too old for this, so instead we get to spend a day at the beach. Ummm have I mentioned that I love my job???

On top of that, one of the middle school electives is a science club that is all about Eco awareness. For this class some kids were doing a project to promote physical well being or something. They are going to have an all middle school game of capture the flag for an entire day at the end of the year. Again have I mentioned that I love my job? I get to sit outside and watch kids play capture the flag for an entire day. Love it!

Another reason why I love my job is because my school has been taking teacher appreciation week very seriously. Yesterday every teacher got dinner to take home. Chili, salad, and corn bread. And it was enough to feed an entire family. Plus we were given tshirts with our school logo and on the back it said "my boss thinks I'm kind of a big deal". Funny, it made me laugh. Today instead of dismissing students we got to have a yoga class. Tomorrow we get to leave early. Yup, I am loving my school a lot this week. 

I don't know what else to say other then I am pretty happy with life right now. I guess that's it and hope you are all enjoying spring as much as I am!

If you ask me how I'm doing
I would say I'm doing just fine
I would lie and say that you're not on my mind

Lies! All lies!

I'd like to take a moment to write an ode to everyone's favorite groundhog Phil.
-for my California readers who live in nice weather year round, you might not know about Phil. On Feb 2 he comes out of his little hole and if he sees his shadow and runs back into his hole it means 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow, it will be an early spring.

So with that knowledge in hand I give you my little ode to Phil.

Phil, Phil, you darling little squirrel
(Oops I mean groundhog)
When you scurried out of your hole
On that hallowed Feb day
You looked and you looked
You scoured around but just couldn't see
That friend of a shadow that you typically see
Hurray hurray for an early spring!
The people cheered at the thought that spring was near
But those weeks began to pass
And winter stayed winter and cold stayed cold
Lies!!! Lies I tell you Phil is all lies!!!
You blasted little rascal you lied to the world!!
Spring is not here and it doesn't seem near!
You lied Phil, you lied. Excited for spring and its not yet here. Way to Dash my dreams you stinking squirrel!
-the end!

I am itching for spring! It's staying lighter later, and it makes me wanna be able to run outside and enjoy this light that I feel like I haven't seen in 4 months. My body is itching for spring. I can feel it in my bones, this longing to get outside and go for a run, and enjoy the warmth. I want to leave that gloom that winter casts over everything! Even the birds think it should be spring!
In the winter, the birds stop chirping. You just don't hear them at all in the winter. Yes they can be seen flying around from time to time, but you don't hear a peep.
The past week or so walking out to the car in the morning I have heard a few little chirps. Even though its 30 degrees those couple of chirps tell me they want spring to come too.
I'm itching for spring. I'm longing, hoping, yearning desperately ready for its return.

Spring is my favorite season because it feels like such a new warm beginning.

Feeling Nostalgic

Hey kids.

I have had this really strange feeling come over me lately that I don't really know how to describe other than nostalgia.  This little feeling was brought on by an  invitation I received on facebook a few weeks back.  The story starts about oh I don't know 17 years ago.  Way back when I was a little 11 year old girl getting excited to start middle school.  I took piano lessons for a couple years in elementary school.  But when I was making the transition from elementary to middle school I knew I wanted to quit the piano lessons and join the band in middle school.  So that is what I did.  Because my district had an amazing music program, the high school had a day for the elementary kids to go in and try out all of the instruments so they could decide what to play in middle school.
My dad took me in and I tried out the french horn, and the clarinet. I couldn't decide between the two.  We asked the high school director what he thought.  He thought I'd be good on the french horn he said because I had a good ear.  In the end, I ignored him and chose the clarinet.

So it began, for the next 7 years I played the clarinet.  I liked it.  I loved band.  I loved the music.  I loved that all of my friends were in band with me.  So life continued, and I grew up.  By the time I made it to high school band, there were 4 concert bands (one for each grade level, with really good underclassmen in the upper bands). There were two band directors who were polar opposite personalities.  Mr. Rosario (who conducted the freshman and junior bands) was a goofy Puerto Rican who was obsessed with John Williams music, and always had a movie score for us to play.  His walls were also plastered in Star Wars posters.  He was fun. The other director, Mr. Pritchett was stern, and seriously, and not to be crossed, or tested.  His daughter Katie was in my grade.  He was a great conductor, and knew how to get the best out of us.

So high school moves on and I come to my senior year.  By this point in time, I somehow got this strange belief deep within me that I had no reason to stay friends with my high school friends after high school.  I knew who my "real" friends were.  They were my christo friends who I had always had a deeper connection with than anyone of my friends from school.  So I kept most of them at arms length, and I even grew apart from a few of them then.  But the people at school I was close with were all in band with me from 6th grade through senior year.

When we were juniors we knew our band was good.  Not just good, but exceptional.  Each year there is a state music competition for band.  Junior year we got perfect scores in all but one category and missed going to the state final by a tiny margin.  This was unheard of for a schools "secondary" band.

One of my most embarrassing life moments came in front of the whole band.  At our school if you were in band, you were automatically the marching band.  If we weren't forced to do marching band, our school wouldn't have had a marching band.  So our first day of marching band practice of my senior year there was pizza for everybody after practice.  Mr. P dismissed all of the seniors first.  Being so excited about finally being seniors my friends and I started walking inside.  Me, upon being so excited about being a senior, was excitedly talking to my friends and not paying attention to what I was doing tripped and fell on the curb. Embarrassing, yes.  I could hear the rest of the underclassman behind me laughing, and my friends were also giggling at my clumsiness as well.  But when I stood up I knew something was wrong.  My knee was bleeding so I hobbled to the bathroom and when there realized my ankle was swollen like crazy.  I limped back into the band room showed my friends my ankle.  Without informing the teachers about it, took my wounded pride and limped out to the parking lot, got in my car and went home.  When I walked inside I burst into tears.  Partially from the pain, and partially from the embarrassment.  After the hospital, I started my senior year off with a sprained ankle.

Senior year moves on.  At spring break the band took a trip to Disney World, which was awesome.  We got to play at the park.  We also got to go into the Disney recording studios and record a track with part of fantasia.  It was pretty cool.

The rest of the year was devoted to winning the state contest.  Our school hadn't won it in like 10 years which was unfortunate because they used to win it just about every year.
For the contest we played two songs.  One was a march, and the other was a 17 min long variation that featured each section of the band.  We killed it, and won state.

I've been thinking about that a lot lately because I recently got invited via facebook to an even this coming summer to celebrate by old band directors retirement.  He is getting together an alumni band to have a concert this summer.  I don't know why but ever since I got that invite, I've been thinking about my previous band life a lot.   I've been debating doing this or not.  Waiting to see if any of my old band friends were going to do it too.  I'm sure they aren't as several of them are now doctors on the east coast. 
I've been cat sitting for my parents this week.  We got dumped with 12 inches of snow yesterday, so had a snow day today.  So i've pretty much just been laying around my parents house today being bored.  I looked through their movie collection and found the tape of our state band competition.  So I guess watching that, and thinking about this alumni band got me feeling a little nostalgic.  -Among other things which I will go into at a later date.

I really don't know why I felt the need to go on this tangent about high school band, I guess its just been on my brain lately.