Back to Life, Back to Reality!

Yeah, that 80's song is ringing through my head about right now.
I go back to work tomorrow. Two months off for summer vacation and I feel like I haven't had one day off. I have been so freakin busy that I have not had time to even breathe.

Just to catch you all up on the mass confusion, AKA- my life in the past week or so since I posted last.

* we got the rent house, been working like crazy to get it finished so we can get our renters in. I have to give my hubby props- he is doing all the work basically by himself cause I am just a gopher. He's never put siding on in his life, but he watched a guy do it, now he's doing the whole thing. He learns by watching and learns so much- saves us a lot of money.

* I went on a mother-daughter weekend last weekend and had an absolute blast. We went to a lake, stayed in a beautiful lake home and was able to totally relax and catch up with my four sisters and mom. I literally did not want to come home. I could live out there, if only WalMart were just a tad closer...

* I have escape artists for puppies. We have had to revert to locking up their little cages like its Fort Knox. You should have seen us running around town, going to the Goodwill, the Flea Markets, the Relief Center, WalMart, Freds, anywhere that might have something that would work for a prison for my little escaped convicts. Eleven little puppies running all over the place and I have to keep counting to eleven to make sure I have all of them little terds. I finally found an old timey play pen and guess what, it worked perfect until they chewed their way through it.

* I am so ready for some of my favorite shows to come back on and football season to start. Desperate Housewives, The Shield (still having Vic withdrawals), Law/Order SVU, and a few more. I'm tired of reruns and tired of fifty million "America's Got Talent". That show truly sucks. I have been watching Last Comic Standing, saw the finale tonight. It was pretty good this season. My boy Josh Blue won! Other than that, we've been watching a bunch of movies. Let's just say, Grandma's Boy sucks, Conviction sucks, AquaMarine is pretty good, Failure to Launch is pretty good, Hush is pretty good, Firewall is pretty good, The Hills Have Eyes is FREAKY!

* I got a phone call today, I have a "Fun Warrant" out for my arrest. Its for a good cause, MDA. For those of you who know me, I am a special ed teacher, so this is my passion and I'd do anything to raise money for them. So get off your bums and sponsor me. I've got until Sept. 21st to raise at least $500. I just sponsored CP in a Blogathon for Pediatric AIDS Foundation. So, CP, I'm countin on you girl. You gotta help a sister out here. I don't want to go to baby jail! Check back, I will have a site to go to to sponsor me.

* I graduate Saturday. This will be my third college graduation, but this one is my best accomplishment, M.Ed. in Administration/Supervision. I worked my butt off to get two Master's degrees in three years and finally finished with this one. This one should be it unless I decide to get my Ed.Doctorate, which I doubt will be soon, if ever. But, if you know me, I never say "NEVER" to school. Its in my blood and heart. I love learning. So I will don the cap and gown one more time and walk across the stage. I wouldn't walk, ut I want my daughter to see what I've worked so hard for. She is geared towards a college education and I want her to see how something you put your all into comes to pass.

* My Studmuffin is leaving me for two whole weeks for some training to put more bad guys in jail. I am really not thrilled about this, especially since he will be gone for the kids first week back in school, the house will be at a stand still till he gets back, and I still have all these puppies to feed, care for and find good homes for. I don't have to cook as much when he's gone, but I'd rather cook than him be gone for so long.

Okay, now that I've caught you up, I guess I better get my butt in the bed. I actually have to get up at a decent hour and go to work. ARGH!!!

Later taters.

Stupid Update, Dreams, and Everything Else

Update on Stupid person that pisses me off: he and another guy in my graduate class FAILED comps, now he won't be graduating. I was the only one out of the class that will be graduating- YEAH ME!! Its really a heated situation at this university though. Two professors who have bleeding hearts and want to help him out and let him do "orals" but their boss says "NO, if he doesn't have leadership ability and knowledge, he should not graduate until he does." (which I agree totally) So... I guess stupid people don't always get a free ride, huh.

So, I'm making my way to the really weird but good part- MY DREAMS, but I have to go all around Laura's house to get there, so hold onto your britches. (This is the "Everything Else" part)

Okay, let me catch you up a little. Monday, I spent all day over at my parent's house watching the house movers pick up and move the house that my father built for my grandmother in 1959 and move it across the back road to a little piece of land that my parents gave me. My sister "inherited" it when they divied up the home land (no, they aren't deceased, just wanted all of us to have a piece of what they shed blood, sweat and tears for) but didn't want to fool with it so she sold it to me.

Well, while I was watching it being moved, one of my professors calls me and tells me that he has decided to go out of state this weekend, so he needs ALL of my assignments completed and in his office by noon the next day. FYI: This is a directed study course, they give the assignments at the beginning of the semester, you teach yourself, do them and turn them in at the end.)

SCUZE ME? DID I JUST HEAR THAT CORRECTLY? Holyshitwhoredammit! I'm in trouble. I had a midterm scheduled for that next day at 12:30, hadn't studied for it and hadn't done half of the assignments that were SUPPOSED to be due in two weeks. So I stay up all night long working and studying and typing like a chicken with my head cut off. A pot of coffee, the jitters and about 12 hours after my regular bedtime, I go to turn in this bullshit and guess what? I am not registered for the class. SCUZE ME squared! So all the powers that be decide since they screwed up and it would be an act of congress to change it... blah, blah, blah... it would just be best to register you for the class in the Fall and that way, you will have until December to get all of your assignments done. SCUZE ME cubed??? I just completed all of my assignments you freakin peckerheads!!!! I am livid, almost postal at this point. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate this university????

So then I go to take my midterm and low and behold, he forgot that we had it scheduled and was at his house waiting on a refrigerator to be delivered. So here I am, no sleep, brain fried, already pissed, all I can do is laugh. LAUGH I tell you. It was either that or cry and luckily I had taken my Happy Pills that week and I just couldn't muster a tear to save my damn life, dammit! So I go to my other class and get home, 30 hours of no sleep and I can't go to sleep for the life of me. At about 10pm (34 hours of no sleep), I fall asleep only to be woken up 4 hours later by a rumbling, tumbling belly. No rest for the weary. I desperately needed some "movement" in that area but it was futile to try to go back to sleep, I just went and studied some more.

So with all that said, I had 4 hours sleep in about a 58 hour period, so last night when I finally got in the bed at midnight, I slept like a freakin baby. And when I am tired, the wierd dreams come like a freight train. Not just one, little snippits, medleys, previews of many, many dreams.

I don't remember all of them, but here are some that stuck with me:

1. we bought a dog that was half porcupine and half chow. When he got pissed off at you, his spiney things would poke out.

2. we traveled from Bastrop to West Monroe (about 30 miles) with 8 horses running bareback and no horse trailer, through the woods.

3. Justin Timberlake jacked off on me as he was running beside me down the middle of the road. I asked him how Cameron was and he thought I was being a smartass, but I told him that I had read an article about how he said that his and Brittney's relationship was like a high school couples and that his and Cameron's relationship was all grown up. He said he didn't want to screw around on her, so there could be no penetration, therefore, he jacks off on me. Then he has this little teeny weeny pecker after all is said and done and these little teeny bopper girls are going nuts and he says to them, "see, its nothing you'd want. Too little and thumps it." {anyone trying to figure these damn things out yet- what the hell?}

4. Two old classmates that I also used to work with were at the movies and had their hair done TOTALLY different than their style is usually. It was Great hair! I mean GREAT hair. Dee, if you are reading this, it was you and your sister-in-law! ???? But the hair rocked! So we chatted and I found out who did their hair and that dream was over. (I hate my hair right now, could this be a sign I need to have something done?)

5. My husband pisses me off because he won't listen to me and I try to tell him something and he totally ignores me. I get mad and wake up angry with him. Poor baby hadn't even done anything. I made him apologize anyhow, made me feel better.

So, any dream interpreters, feel free to analyze away. I'm really surprised because most of the time, my dreams involve snakes or someone trying to rape me (my biggest fears, I guess)... who knows what these mean...

Oh yeah, by the way, a good friend of mine, Certifiable Princess, whose blog I am addicted to is participating in a blog-a-thon this weekend. Check out her blog how to donate to a wonderful cause. She has to stay up for 24 hours straight, writing two blogs per hour, that is 48 blogs (and I have trouble coming up with one a week)!!! So give my gurl a holla and lend a little support. She's not askin for much, just a bit for some sweet babies who've had a rough row to hoe....So go check out CP and give a little, will ya? The blog starts in 1 day and 11 hours.....

Stupid People Piss Me Off

I don't know if it is because I have been out of my HRT meds or the stress is just getting to me, or what, but lately stupid people are grating on my very last nerve. Especially stupid people who are highly educated and have absolutely no reason to be so damn stupid, but still open their mouths anyway and spill out nonsense.

Someone please explain to me how a person can be one class away from a Master's degree in Educational Leadership (to qualify him to be a principal or supervisor) and be such an idiot. This person is a FIRST year teacher. He does not know shit from shinolah. He doesn't complete his assignments on time, is thirty minutes late to class, when he does do his assignments, they are of junior high caliber. But somehow, he always pulls it off. Even when he fails a test, for some reason he gets a second chance at it. If I were the professors at this university, I wouldn't want my school name associated with him as a leader. That can't be good for their reputation.

Just the other day, we had a school superintendent as a guest speaker in class and this dumbass dude tells the whole class and super that he yells at his kids in his class so much that he started taking a tally of how many he's made cry. He asked the superintendent what to do when he has girls that are too sensitive? OY!!!! Has he gone bonkers? This is his boss, the person he will be interviewing with for a supervisory job in the future. The one that signs his paycheck. Can we say incompetent? If you can't handle a few kids, how in the world do you think you can handle running a school?

And I know from studying and having a million classes with him, that there is no way he could have pulled the comp exams out of his ass without someone giving it to him, but just as always, he passed- I don't know how well he did, whether just by the hair on his chinny chin chin or what, but he better be thanking his lucky stars that I wasn't one of his professors... That means he will graduate with me in two weeks. Gats!

Okay, had to get that off my chest. Bitching session over now.

On a good note, I get my precious little great nephew, Jonah, today for the whole weekend. He is so precious. He loves puppies and water, well I have plenty of puppies and a pool, so he's in luck. Note to self, go get Fruit Loops. I don't think he'd appreciate Raisin Bran for breakfast.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I have plenty to be doing, so I best get my rump up and get busy.

Later.

And the Results are IN!!!

Did you ever doubt me?
I doubt it, everyone I know has faith in my abilities to pass tests but me.




I PASSED!!!!
I PASSED!!!!

"doing a happy dance"

Now I need a margarita. A real biggun!

Now I can dig out my cap, gown and cords and walk ONE MORE TIME!!!

I had a professor and a friend ask me to join them in the doctoral program this next semester. I had to take a long hard breath and think about it for ..... oh about 2 seconds and say "HELL NO, I WON'T GO!!!". I just don't think that is in my future. For what? The right to be called Dr. Floyd? To get a better job? Maybe if I were in another town and state.

No, I think I'll pass, at least for now.
When my kids are grown and gone, I may just be that bored....

but probably not.

Exams, Prayers and Tears

First and foremost, please read this post from my friend CP and keep her and her little boy in your thoughts and prayers, send up good vibes, whatever you do. Please read about Nick.

Now that you've talked to the computer screen and the person next to you thinks you are an idiot(but for a very good cause)- go home and kiss your kids and hold them tight. We are not assured tomorrow, so tell them you love them today. Man, now I'm all teary eyed, cause my two girls left at 5am this morning for church camp. They will be back at 1am Friday morning. Hubby and I got up at 4am and they were dressed and ready to go. We came our lazy asses back home and crawled back in the bed. I didn't even know when he left for work this morning. I was out! Although I think I may have been ravished or something because I went to sleep with clothes on, woke up without them. I vaguely remember something..... ah, oh yea. Okay, I was a willing participant, just sleepy as hell.

Anyhow, I really shouldn't be blogging right now, I should be memorizing the ISSLC Standards for my graduate comprehensive exams I have in 2 hours, but if my friend CP can blog for 24 hours straight for charity, I can blog one short one in between brain malfunctions. I really am getting too old for this studying bullshit. But until I really figure out what I want to be when I grow up, I'll continue to fry those little brain cells, one test at a time. So send some good vibes, thoughts or prayers up for a sista who is still sleepy and drinking coffee like its the last beverage on Earth.

Okay, now for a little drama going on in my life. My sister-in-law, Studmuffin's sister has been struggling with alcoholism since she was about 15 or 16. She is around 21 or 22 now. She has a precious little girl, H. that we haven't seen in about 5 years, and she is only 5 1/2. H's dad took her away to Washington state when she was only a few months old. He's no upstanding citizen, addicted to drugs but at one point was more stable than SIL. Anyhow, long story short, we haven't laid our hands on this child in 5 years and her and her dad end up on the street in WA, so my mother in law sends them a bus ticket to come here. Dad leaves her here with SIL and goes to Arkansas. Now, SIL is trying to get to know this child and trying to kick her habit, hold down a job selling snocones and going to vocational school. She is a brilliant girl, but let alcohol ruin her life.

So, I'm putting H at my school so I can be there for her and help out with transportation, etc. Now, we are all running around trying to find her some clothes, toys, shoes, uniforms, etc. so she can start school. She came here with very little. Not even a Barbie doll. She is beginning to open up to us a little bit, even came swimming and talked to me a little yesterday. Poor kid has been through hell and I don't see an end in sight. Needless to say, in my "wanting to save every child from a shitty life" mentality, I am already seeing us doing more than just helping out in the future. Oh I hope SIL can straighten up, but it hasn't happened before so why should a 5 year old make a difference when she didn't at 5 months old. But we are being optimistic here. Hoping for the best, but if it doesn't happen, I will open my home and heart to this child. Studmuffin knows it too and though he says we can't take on another mouth to feed, I see the hurt in his eyes when he sees her. He too will open our home and his heart up to her if and when she needs us to. I want to be a positive influence in this child's life. I have always loved her, and longed to have her in our lives again. I know that God will take care of her, though. So in the mean time, I will do what I can. But if you don't mind, send up a prayer to our little Haley- she needs all she can get.

Oh, and if you haven't had a chance to look at my new grandbabies, take a look at them here. Warning, many "awwwwws" and "how sweets" and "oh how cute" and "I gotta have one"s are in store!

Hope everyone has a great week and don't forget to pray for Nick and CP. I'll keep you posted, or better yet, keep reading her blog. She will crack you up- when she's not worried sick about her child....

I will pass these freaking comps...I will pass these freaking comps...I will pass these freaking comps.... I can do it, yes I can!!!!

Back Home!

Hey ya'll!
Well I'm back from vacation.
We had a good time I guess. Spent 8 days in Branson Missouri. With 3 kids. Need I say more.
No really, it was okay- just a little too fast paced for me. When I take a vacation, my idea of relaxation and resting is laying by the pool and soaking up some rays. I didn't get 5 minutes of that. The kids thought we should run mock 10 to every amusement park, putt putt golf and race track there was. Not to mention two of them argued and griped the whole entire time. I had to come home to rest. Now I need a few days on a secluded beach in the tropics.

While we were there, we got three new dogs. I had two pregnant ones at the vet due anyday when we left. Now we have 11 puppies. They are so cute! As soon as those are old enough to go to new homes, we should have two more litters. Now they are starting to cycle in. So anyone who knows anyone who wants a miniature dachshund, let me know. I should have some pics up of the wee ones in a few days at www.dazysdoxies.com.

I just started three summer classes today. It looks like it will be a pretty intense next five weeks. The kids have 4 1/2 weeks until they start school and I have 4 weeks till I go back to work. It seems like schools are starting earlier and earlier each year. That sucks.

My mom's 75th birthday is this year. We had a big to do for my dad's 75th surprise birthday party but it took all 5 of us girls and my mom to lie our asses off to pull that off. There is no way we can pull the wool over her eyes, so we have decided to just have a family party. I personally wanted to take her on a cruise but when you have 5 children with different income levels and views of what would be fun, it seems like we can't really agree on. One sister says she doesn't have the money, another says she doesn't either and if she did, she wouldn't waste it on a cruise. One doesn't care and two of us are all for it. I am the youngest of all 5 by 16-18 years, so all of my sisters are over the age of 50.

I am at a time in my life that I want to travel and have adventures. My best friend J and I were thinking about taking a trip somewhere out of the US. Bless her heart, if it is not an adjacent state to Louisiana, she hasn't been there. I think we just need to remedy that. Hopefully before we are old and wrinkled up like a raisin...

I have a new obsession. Its called THE SHIELD. Its a very edgy cop drama- one like I've never seen before. Season 6 will begin this fall so DH and I have crammed the first three seasons in every night for the last month. We've got Season 4 and 5 to go. I am addicted. The bad thing is that when the new episodes begin, I will have to wait a whole week to see the next one.

I guess I better get on my homework.
I will try to do better on blogging CP! I promise!

Later.....

What has happened to our kids?

Can someone please tell me what has happened from the time we were kids to now? When I was a kid, my parents would have to basically come down the road to find me at dark thirty to get me home. I would leave the house in the morning and not return till I was made to. I loved riding my bike, jumping on the trampoline, would stay in the little backyard Walmart pool until I was dried up like a prune, and playing with the neighborhood kids. My parents rarely heard the words "I am bored."
There were times that I would pack up a snack and head out on my bike and ride for miles and miles. I would leave out one way and make a big circle back home, about a 13 mile ride. There were no cell phones, so I would have to stop at Mrs. Opal's house (about half way) and call home. Sometimes if it was really hot, I'd end up at the farm with my dad and hitch a ride home. If it were raining, that wouldn't stop me, I'd go out and make mud pies or help my daddy run waterfers in the fields. I got muddy but it was fun.

Not this day and age. I am beginning to have to dust around my children. All they want to do is lay up in their rooms and watch tv. They don't want to go out and play, don't want to ride their bikes (thanks to the new improved scooters which require no energy), don't want to use their imagination, they just want us to make things so simple for them. The don't make play dolls anymore, they don't use old tin and sticks to make forts or tree houses, they want us to build them an airconditioned $2000 playhouse with a deck (okay, I am guilty of this, we actually built it ourselves) or a den and kitchenette in a tree somewhere. They want, want, want and we have spoiled them rotten.

My kids aren't the only ones, it seems to be the going thing now. Children basically have become lazy and sedentary. Unless you have been on another planet in the last year, you should also know that our children today are more overweight than they've ever been. This has become a fast food, biggie sized, video game playing, tv watching society.

This all greatly concerns me. The federal government is on the right track by taking some of the junk food and sugar loaded drinks out of the schools and replacing them with lower fat snacks, water and sugarless drinks. Not that the kids can't bring this junk from home. But until the lunches become more healthy (instead of nachos, pizza, corndogs, etc) and physical education is brought back into schools, this epidemic will continue.

Yes, some schools, including the one I teach at still has PE, but its not the physical education you and I had. These days, they go color with chalk on the sidewalk or play some kickball if they want to. If they don't want to do anything, they just sit around and talk with their friends. When I was in school, we had to run laps, we had to play games we may not know, I dodged that damn ball, tinikled, and red rovered till I about croaked. But we were all made to participate or it affected our grade. We even actually broke a sweat! How horrific!

Now, major cuts in funding for education has meant taking art, music, and PE out of most of the schools and now our kids are being stressed out and schools main focus is teaching to the test. Don't even get me started on these damn standardized tests. I realize us teachers need acountability, we do have this country's future in our classrooms, but our kids are being left behind more now than ever before. I'm not much into politics, but there are somethings I feel strongly about and these are some of the issues that I am deeply concerned about.

Sorry, I didnt' mean to get off on a tangent, but I have four kids in this generation and I just wish things were more like they were when I was their age. A little booze and occasional joint was about all we would be tempted with. Now meth and crack have become rampant and has dug its addictive claws in our youth. Just the other night, there was a bunch of teenage boys mud riding when a 16 year old was so drunk he laid down in the middle of the road and another boy unknowingly ran over him. When he realized what he done, he drove off- scared to death, I'm sure. A few months back, three teenage boys were so barred out on Xanax that the driver lost control and one is totally paralyzed and another basically needs a new face. Sometimes I find myself wishing for the Second Coming to end all this mess.

I used to laugh at my parents when they used to say "back when I was a kid...." and all the "we didn't have this and that..." Now I am saying the same stuff. But I really wish things were that simple again.

God, does that mean I'm becoming my mother...??? Hmmmmmmmm..........