Let's Rodeo San Antonio!

Dylan and I spent last Saturday night at the San Antonio Rodeo (something we have not done since living here... sad, I know. It is like the Spurs game; not really our thing, but something that needed to be experienced.) We ended up going on the last night of the rodeo, which was not a good idea if you wanted to see the livestock (goats, chickens, pigs, cows, etc) because they were already herded up in their trailers. That was okay though- livestock smells so very bad and I don't really care for any of those animals anyways. I enjoy eating them all too much, minus the goat, so it would have been awkward looking at them thinking about how many of their buddies I have eaten in my lifetime. Hehe! 

Dylan had NEVER, EVER been on the Ferris Wheel. This... was a problem. When we arrived at the Carnival section, I mentioned riding on the Ferris Wheel was one of my favorite things to do at fairs and such. He laughed, thinking I meant the Merry-Go-Round. Uh, NO! I pointed towards the Ferris Wheel, and then Dylan surprised the heck out of me by saying he did not want to ride it. He said it was too tall and dangerous... My husband, who climbs 140,000 ft. mountains, rock climbs every weekend and seriously has no fear, thought the Ferris Wheel was dangerous. 

LAMO!!! I badgered him to go by tickets, thinking he was just messing with me because I generally am not a huge fan of heights. We rode the Ferris Wheel, had a fun view of the Rodeo grounds and Dylan survived. His reasoning behind the "deathly" ride is you are stuck in the cart and cannot go anywhere if the ride breaks down. He wanted to know what kind of metal held the ride together.... PULEAHSE! I still think he was just messing with me.... 

We had enough tickets left over for one ride. While riding the Ferris Wheel, we saw all of these people Drag Racing, unanimous vote- we were going Drag Racing. Now, this drag racing was done sitting on these pillow/towel like rugs and sliding on our booties down this long, colorful chute. Dylan won, of course! I blame it on my purse- I had to somehow wedge it in between my feet and I'm sure that slowed me down because I carry so much stuff in there. Hahaha! In my dreams right?!  But, I have to be prepared for something either myself, Dylan or Goobz needs on a daily basis. Hence, the big bag. In hindsight I should have switched purses, but oh well. 

Dylan did a happy dance and had an absolute fit when we saw this dune buggy. He was already planning on how he could build this replica one day and what all he would use it for. This is sooo not happening for a very long time, but a guy can dream right?! 

The evening was great fun! Dylan and I had a blast remembering good times growing up: Dylan visiting the Lubbock Rodeo and theme park, myself visiting the OKC Fair and Frontier City. We enjoyed the smells of carny food, but did not partake. We are smarter and wiser now- that kind of food would not sit well the next day and neither of us are prepared to be miserable like that. When you are young, eh, no biggie. Now, at the tender age of 26, hehe! We know better. :) We laughed, watching all of those people trying to knock the bottles over and win ginormous stuffed animals that let's be real, nobody really needs in their life. Talked about the rides we used to ride and think were soo scary or so legit: The Himalaya, Pirate Ship Ride, Flying Swings etc. Makes you smile just thinking about it all, huh?! 

Happy Rodeo, Fair and whatever kind of carnival your city enjoys! :)

Parenting 101

Please read the whole article!!! If you are a parent, if you are not a parent, if you want to be a parent someday, if you are a parent of an adult child who might possibly have children, if you work with kiddos of any age, if you are.... just you.... please please read the whole article! I wish every day of my career I could sit parents down and read them this article. (Sorry it is all over the place- the link did not pull through well on the blog.) Hurray and Huzzah for the dad who sat down to write this and had the guts to tell everyone the truth....

"Recently, I read about a father, Paul Wallich, who built a camera-mounted drone helicopter to follow his grade-school-aged son to the bus stop. He wants to make sure his son arrives at the bus stop safe and sound. There’s no doubt the gizmo provides an awesome show-and-tell contribution. In my mind, Paul Wallich gives new meaning to the term “helicopter parent.”

 While I applaud the engagement of this generation of parents and teachers, it’s important to recognize the unintended consequences of our leaders. We want the best for our students, but research now shows that our “over-protection, over-connection” style has damaged them. Let me suggest three huge mistakes we’ve made leading this generation of kids and how we must correct them.

1. We Risk Too Little 

We live in a world that warns us of danger at every turn. Toxic. High voltage. Flammable. Slippery when wet. Steep curve ahead. Don’t walk. Hazard. This “safety first” preoccupation emerged over thirty years ago with the Tylenol scare and with children’s faces appearing on milk cartons. We became fearful of losing our kids. So we put knee-pads, safety belts and helmets on them…at the dinner table. (Actually I’m just kidding on that one). But, it’s true. We’ve insulated our kids from risk. Author Gever Tulley suggests, “If you’re over 30, you probably walked to school, played on the monkey bars, and learned to high-dive at the public pool. If you’re younger, it’s unlikely you did any of these things. Yet, has the world become that much more dangerous? Statistically, no. But our society has created pervasive fears about letting kids be independent—and the consequences for our kids are serious.”

 Unfortunately, over-protecting our young people has had an adverse effect on them.“Children of risk-averse parents have lower test scores and are slightly less likely to attend college than offspring of parents with more tolerant attitudes toward risk,” says a team led by Sarah Brown of the University of Sheffield in the UK. Aversion to risk may prevent parents from making inherently uncertain investments in their children’s human capital; it’s also possible that risk attitudes reflect cognitive ability, researchers say.” Sadly, this Scottish Journal of Political Economy report won’t help us unless we do something about it. Adults continue to vote to remove playground equipment from parks so kids won’t have accidents; to request teachers stop using red ink as they grade papers and even cease from using the word “no” in class. It’s all too negative. I’m sorry—but while I understand the intent to protect students, we are failing miserably at preparing them for a world that will not be risk-free.Psychologists in Europe have discovered that if a child doesn’t play outside and is never allowed to experience a skinned knee or a broken bone, they frequently have phobias as adults. Interviews with young adults who never played on jungle gyms reveal they’re fearful of normal risks and commitment. The truth is, kids need to fall a few times to learn it is normal; teens likely need to break up with a boyfriend or girlfriend to appreciate the emotional maturity that lasting relationships require. Pain is actually a necessary teacher. Consider your body for a moment. If you didn’t feel pain, you could burn yourself or step on a nail and never do something about the damage and infection until it was too late. Pain is a part of health and maturity.

 Similarly, taking calculated risks is all a part of growing up. In fact, it plays a huge role. Childhood may be about safety and self-esteem, but as a student matures, risk and achievement are necessities in forming their identity and confidence. Because parents have removed “risk” from children’s lives, psychologists are discovering a syndrome as they counsel teens: High Arrogance, Low Self-Esteem. They’re cocky, but deep down their confidence is hollow, because it’s built off of watching YouTube videos, and perhaps not achieving something meaningful.
According to a study by University College London, risk-taking behavior peeks during adolescence. Teens are apt to take more risks than any other age group. Their brain programs them to do so. It’s part of growing up. They must test boundaries, values and find their identity during these years. This is when they must learn, via experience, the consequences of certain behaviors. Our failure to let them risk may explain why so many young adults, between the ages of 22 and 35 still live at home or haven’t started their careers, or had a serious relationship. Normal risk taking at fourteen or fifteen would have prepared them for such decisions and the risks of moving away from home, launching a career or getting married.

2. We Rescue Too Quickly

This generation of young people has not developed some of the life skills kids did thirty years ago because adults swoop in and take care of problems for them. We remove the need for them to navigate hardships. May I illustrate?

Staff from four universities recently told me they encountered students who had never filled out a form or an application in their life. Desiring to care for their kids, and not disadvantage them, parents or teachers had always done it for them.
One freshman received a C- on her project and immediately called her mother, right in the middle of her class. After interrupting the class discussion with her complaint about her poor grade, she handed the cell phone to her professor and said, “She wants to talk to you.” Evidently, mom wanted to negotiate the grade.
A Harvard Admissions Counselor reported a prospective student looked him in the eye and answered every question he was asked. The counselor felt the boy’s mother must have coached him on eye-contact because he tended to look down after each response. Later, the counselor learned the boy’s mom was texting him the answers every time a question came in.A college president said a mother of one of his students called him, saying she’d seen that the weather would be cold that day and wondered if he would make sure her son was wearing his sweater as he went to class. She wasn’t joking. 

This may sound harsh, but rescuing and over-indulging our children is one of the most insidious forms of child abuse. It’s “parenting for the short-term” and it sorely misses the point of leadership—to equip our young people to do it without help. Just like muscles atrophy inside of a cast due to disuse, their social, emotional, spiritual and intellectual muscles can shrink because they’re not exercised. For example, I remember when and where I learned the art of conflict resolution. I was eleven years old, and everyday about fifteen boys would gather after school to play baseball. We would choose sides and umpire our games. Through that consistent exercise, I learned to resolve conflict. I had to. Today, if the kids are outside at all, there are likely four mothers present doing the conflict resolution for them. 

The fact is, as students experience adults doing so much for them, they like it at first. Who wouldn’t? They learn to play parents against each other, they learn to negotiate with faculty for more time, lenient rules, extra credit and easier grades. This actually confirms that these kids are not stupid. They learn to play the game. Sooner or later, they know “someone will rescue me.” If I fail or “act out,” an adult will smooth things over and remove any consequences for my misconduct. Once again, this isn’t even remotely close to how the world works. It actually disables our kids.

3. We Rave Too Easily

The self-esteem movement has been around since Baby Boomers were kids, but it took root in our school systems in the 1980s. We determined every kid would feel special, regardless of what they did, which meant they began hearing remarks like:

• “You’re awesome!”
• “You’re smart.”
• “You’re gifted.”
• “You’re super! 

• Attend a little league awards ceremony and you soon learn: everyone’s a winner. Everyone gets a trophy. They all get ribbons. We meant well—but research is now indicating this method has unintended consequences. Dr. Carol Dweck wrote a landmark book called, Mindset. In it she reports findings about the adverse affects of praise. She tells of two groups of fifth grade students who took a test. Afterward, one group was told, “You must be smart.” The other group was told, “You must have worked hard.” When a second test was offered to the students, they were told that it would be harder and that they didn’t have to take it. Ninety percent of the kids who heard “you must be smart” opted not to take it. Why? They feared proving that the affirmation may be false. Of the second group, most of the kids chose to take the test, and while they didn’t do well, Dweck’s researchers heard them whispering under their breath, “This is my favorite test.” They loved the challenge. Finally, a third test was given, equally as hard as the first one. The result? The first group of students who were told they were smart, did worse. The second group did 30% better. Dweck concludes that our affirmation of kids must target factors in their control. When we say “you must have worked hard,” we are praising effort, which they have full control over. It tends to elicit more effort. When we praise smarts, it may provide a little confidence at first but ultimately causes a child to work less. They say to themselves, “If it doesn’t come easy, I don’t want to do it. ”What’s more, kids eventually observe that “mom” is the only one who thinks they’re “awesome.” No one else is saying it. They begin to doubt the objectivity of their own mother; it feels good in the moment, but it’s not connected to reality.

 Further, Dr. Robert Cloninger, at Washington University in St. Louis has done brain research on the prefrontal cortex, which monitors the reward center of the brain. He says the brain has to learn that frustrating spells can be worked through. The reward center of our brains learns to say: Don’t give up. Don’t stop trying. “A person who grows up getting too frequent rewards,” Cloninger says, “will not have persistence, because they’ll quit when the rewards disappear.”

When we rave too easily, kids eventually learn to cheat, to exaggerate and lie and to avoid difficult reality. They have not been conditioned to face it. A helpful metaphor when considering this challenge is: inoculation. When you get inoculated, a nurse injects a vaccine, which actually exposes you to a dose of the very disease your body must learn to overcome. It’s a good thing. Only then do we develop an immunity to it. Similarly, our kids must be inoculated with doses of hardship, delay, challenges and inconvenience to build the strength to stand in them.

Eight Steps Toward Healthy Leadership

Obviously, negative risk taking should be discouraged, such as smoking, alcohol, illegal drugs, etc. In addition, there will be times our young people do need our help, or affirmation. But—healthy teens are going to want to spread their wings. They’ll need to try things on their own. And we, the adults, must let them. Here are some simple ideas you can employ as you navigate these waters:

1. Help them take calculated risks. Talk it over with them, but let them do it. Your primary job is to prepare your child for how the world really works.
2. Discuss how they must learn to make choices. They must prepare to both win and lose, not get all they want and to face the consequences of their decisions.
3. Share your own “risky” experiences from your teen years. Interpret them. Because we’re not the only influence on these kids, we must be the best influence.
4. Instead of tangible rewards, how about spending some time together? Be careful you aren’t teaching them that emotions can be healed by a trip to the mall.
5. Choose a positive risk taking option and launch kids into it (i.e. sports, jobs, etc). It may take a push but get them used to trying out new opportunities.
6. Don’t let your guilt get in the way of leading well. Your job is not to make yourself feel good by giving kids what makes them or you feel better when you give it.
7. Don’t reward basics that life requires. If your relationship is based on material rewards, kids will experience neither intrinsic motivation nor unconditional love.
8. Affirm smart risk-taking and hard work wisely. Help them see the advantage of both of these, and that stepping out a comfort zone usually pays off.

Bottom line? Your child does not have to love you every minute. He’ll get over the disappointment of failure but he won’t get over the effects of being spoiled. So let them fail, let them fall, and let them fight for what they really value. If we treat our kids as fragile, they will surely grow up to be fragile adults. We must prepare them for the world that awaits them. Our world needs resilient adults not fragile ones

"Mr. Blue Sky is living here today..."

"Sun is shining in the sky; there ain't a cloud in sight.... and don't you know, it's a beautiful new day! Running down the avenue, see how the sun shines brightly, in the city on the streets... Mr. Blue Sky is living here today! Hey there, Mr. Blue! We're so pleased to be with you- look around! See what you do, everybody smiles at you. Sun is shining in the sky; there ain't a cloud in sight..."

        -Mr. Blue Sky, ELO-

The weather this past weekend has truly been full of Mr. Blue Sky (The 80s band ELO is strange, not going to lie and most of their songs I just cannot get into, minus "DONT BRING ME DOWN", but I happen to think this one is catchy and peppy and perfect for the sunny day we had today). Dylan and I decided to get out and enjoy the balmy 70 something degree weather we are having down here in February. Yes, I know; some of you are jealous that we are in short sleeves and possibly sandals and it is still February, a Winter month. Well, San Anton does not really have a Winter, per say; most of the time, this is great but for those of us who do know what snow is, we miss it every once in a while. :) 

Saturday saw Dylan out at Enchanted Rock, continuing his education in the field of Rock Climbing. I ran 6 miles outside that day and then walked 5 with Goobz the same day. Sunday saw Dylan and I heading to one of our favorite parks in the area, Government Canyon. We were both a little more wiped than we originally thought from out activities on Saturday, so we only did a mere 10 miles. No matter though! We still got a great workout and had a grand time being outside! 

Today was President's Day and Bummer! Both of us had to work. And of course the weather just had to be gorgeous... again! I caught a lucky break and was let out of work early, managing to get home around 3 instead of my usual 5. Dang Skippy!! :) Changed into shorts and flip flops and took Goobz to the park to play for a while. He chased the ball (I remembered to bring one this time), ran around like a crazy dog and went for a long walk. By the time we got home, he was hot and I was hoping, tired. 

Hahaha! Tired... wishful thinking on my part. After an hour of running my little guy all over the place, he just wanted a drink and then continued to play. He hides his ball in his comforter and spends copious amounts of time and energy trying to find it. The pictures make it look tame- it is not! He growls, moans, groans, pants, drags the comforter all over the place. He even barks when he cannot find it- barks at the comforter and jumps all over it. The pictures do not do justice to the craziness, let me tell ya! Once he finds the ball, Goobz expects you to throw the ball for him over and over, until he decides to bury it again. Repeat process multiple times. We did this for another hour... at least. Then the dinner bell rang (I said the words "food" and "hungry" which he knows) and that stopped playtime. Whew, Mommy was worn out! Turns out, so was Goobz. He sat on the cool tile floor and just panted for a good while with a slap-happy smile on his face. :)

Made yummy pasta with light butter and herb sauce, complete with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes (my favs!!) and ground turkey meat for dinner. Currently, at 7:40 pm, my boys are both passed out on the floor with full bellies and happy hearts. What more could I ask for?! 

Happy President's Day! 

Love actually is all around...

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there- fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge- they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

         -Love Actually 2003-

Neither Dylan nor I make a big deal out of V-day. You love each other every day, and I am blessed to have a marriage that is full of constant surprises and love 365 days of the year. Now, we do always get each other cards. I am a huge stickler on cards, and I know that comes from my mother and am proud to admit that. I keep all of my cards from my husband and pull them out about once a month to look back over them. They make me smile and cry because of how sweet Dylan is and how much we have grown in our marriage and love towards each other. We did have some good eats this year though! Yummy yummy salmon cranberry, spinach, gorganzola burgers with white rice and a refreshing "adult beverage." Dylan splurged too and bought us 4 massive milk and white chocolate covered strawberries- such a weakness of mine! We split them evenly, and I enjoyed every single delicious bite of my two strawberries and am not ashamed to say I picked all of the small pieces of chocolate that fell off the strawberries out of the box and ate those too! :) 

I survived work that day too! This year I decided to try something differently. I told each class, in my most serious teacher-voice ever, that if they brought their balloons (which make noise when they move, which is ALL THE FREAKIN TIME) and their huge teddy-bears that take up extra seats in class because the students refuse to put them on the floor (the floor is gross, I don't blame them but when a massive pink teddy-bear sits in the seat like a real person, it gives me the creeps!) and their boxes of bakery goods (which drip chocolate and other sweets on the floor and make the desks sticky, not to mention they tempt me for 8 hours so by the end of the day I can't stand it and usually give in to too much chocolate) I would kick them out of class, pop their balloons, give their bears to my dog who would rip them to pieces in about 2 minutes and put their food in the trash. I said this on the 13th....NOT ONE STUDENT BROUGHT BALLOONS TO MY CLASS!!! NOT ONE STUDENT BROUGHT BEARS TO MY CLASS!!! And the food was small and minimal. Half of them even told me they gave all of their stuff to a friend to keep because they knew I was serious. (Side Note: I would never do any of those above mentioned things.... not literally anyways. In my head, I have a party completing all of these tasks, but I would never never do this in real life!!!) I have to say though, do I have my students whipped or what?! Hehehe! It was a small victory that I cherished the whole day as other teachers around me complained of these problems. Don't worry though!! I tell them all how pretty or handsome they look, how beautiful the flowers are and I console those who feel left out. I remember what it is to be 16... thank God we are done with that! 

If I could stay home and not work, I would watch romantic comedies all day! First and best of them all, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY and YOU'VE GOT MAIL. I know each of these movies line for line; I have seen them that many times. Meg Ryan is just the ultimate in both of these movies!! Billy Crystal is annoyingly cute- I just can't help but like him! And Tom Hanks, well, that man can do no wrong in my book. LAST OF THE MOHICANS- when Daniel Day-Lewis character tells Cora under the waterfall "I will find you, no matter how long it takes, no matter how far. I will find you." OH MAN... come find me too! hehe! JERRY MAGUIRE- this movie is sweet and makes me laugh so hard with Cuba Gooding Jr's character and his "Show me the money" line! MOULIN ROUGE- do I even need to explain on this one?! I thought not, but just in case, play the 5 minutes where Ewan McGregor covers "Your Song" by Elton John. Trust me, you will be hooked, line and sinker. Even Dylan admits to having a man-crush on him after this movie!!! :) A WALK IN THE CLOUDS- now generally I do not like Keanu Reeves, but he is good in this movie. I love all the metaphors with the grapes and the wine and it is just beautiful where they shoot this film. FRENCH KISS- another Meg Ryan movie set in Paris. Plus, she is a hoot and a pill in this one and makes me feel better because Kevin Kline's character falls for her, even though she is really annoying most of the movie. Good to know that your husband can still love you even when you are annoying!  FIRST KNIGHT with Sean Connery and Richard Gere. I know right, you are good right there. It is oh so good and hard for me to choose which guy I think she should end up with. You fall for both King Arthur and Lancelot for very different, but very good reasons. AUGUST RUSH- the music does it for me in this one! The songs Jonthan Rhy-Myers sings are beautiful and so heartfelt. TANGLED- oh how I love this movie!!! I know every line in this one too, I have seen it so many times! Makes me want to have magical hair and name our little boy Flynn. :) THE SOUND OF MUSIC- too many things to say about this movie. Let me just tell you my parents knew how much I adored this movie when I was in high school, and they took us on The Sound of Music tour when we visited Salzburg, Austria. 4 blissful hours of listening to the soundtrack over and over again while visiting every single place they filmed the movie at. I adored... now I am obsessed. :) "You brought music back into this house... I had forgotten." Oh Captain Von Trapp! Then my husband took my to the Alps in Switzerland where I had a total Maria moment: twirled in the fields and sang "Sound of Music". A-mazing moment in my life! PRIDE AND PREJUDICE- I can't believe I am saying this because I detest Jane Austen, but I love, love the version with Kiera Knightley and Judi Dench!! EVER AFTER with Drew Barrymore- love love this Cinderella adaptation! Pretty Woman and NOTTING HILL - Julia Roberts at her finest. "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her." Gets me every time! 

Many, many others that time and space do not permit me to write and gush over! Just remember that no matter where you look, no matter how ugly and awful things may seem, Love actually is all around.... :)

 

Stay tuned for the Jerry Springer Show....

The last time we tuned in, Mrs. Carey, with the help of other teachers and staff, spent her off period running around after a delinquent who wanted his jewelry back from the ex- girlfriend who refused to give it back because "it meant something." 50 minutes later, the jewelry was returned with the girl crying and the young man being carted off to jail because he was 19 and had threatened her and punched a bathroom stall (he broke his pinky finger btw). Lesson learned.

Most of the time when these crazy events happen, which sadly are becoming more frequent where I work, they are few and far between. You go home that night, shaking your head in bewilderment and amazement at the truly crazy things young people will do these days. But, you sleep it off and go back to class the next morning, realizing it is a brand new day and surely things can only get better. Or at least, you think so.....

The very next day, I sat down to lunch during my off period, thinking that with the crazy debacle of yesterday, today would be quiet. Oh, how very wrong I was. Once again, not 10 minutes into the class period, I hear "Get your hands off me! I'm going to call an administrator and tell them you hit me and then I'm going to call my mom and she is going to sue your ass!" 

What. The. French!! Here we go again!! I sigh, hugely this time, and leave my interrupted lunch on the desk with this sinking feeling I'm not going to eat it again. I walk into the hallway and in front of the classroom right next to me stands the substitute teacher and a young girl about to come to blows with each other.  Both of them are yelling in each other's faces, but all I can hear is the young girl screaming about an administrator and suing people. My first thought was I have suddenly found myself transported to an episode on the Jerry Springer Show. Normal people, like me, DO NOT see things like this in real life. And I stand dumb-founded in amazement as I watch an adult, grown woman yell at a student, sounding just like a student, if not worse. The shock lasts for oh like .5 seconds and then I spring into action. I got in the middle of the two, firmly pushing the substitute teacher back into the classroom and pointing towards the young girl to stand down at the end of the hallway (I am NOT touching this young girl because she is already threatening to sue one person for touching her; I WILL NOT be added to the list). Both of them continued to yell at each other over my head, so I said what any sane person would tell these 2 crazy girls: "SHUT. UP. I DON'T CARE WHO DID WHAT, JUST SHUT UP!" 

And it worked- thank goodness. Oh the screeching and hollering and caterwhalling! It will drive you nuts!! By this time, other teachers are out in the hallway because of the yelling. Both have once again pressed the button to call for an administrator. Both the substitute and the young girl are trying to get to see each other again and start messing with each other so I continually have to remind both of them of my earlier statement. 2 very, very different stories came from both the young girl and the substitute, btw. I'm standing here thinking what a freaking nightmare this is going to be and feeling oh so glad this is not my problem. 

Well, another 10 minutes or so later, an Admin and cop finally get down to the room. They BOTH then elect to talk with the substitute and other students in class first and then ask if I will take the young girl up to the office and sit with her until one of them gets back. WHAT?! HOW HAS THIS SUDDENLY BECOME MY PROBLEM, DURING MY OFF PERIOD?? AGAIN?? But, being the dutiful person I am, I take her up. We get into one of the Admin's office and she immediately calls her mother, claiming the sub abused her, beat her etc. The mother gets on speaker phone and wants her daughter to be checked over by the nurse and have photos taken of all the bruises for documentation. The substitute was my height and easily 15 pounds less than me- tiny. You do the math on that one... Then the mother demands a conference with our principal, the campus police, the city police and the admins who are dealing with this case. She will be bringing her lawyer. O.M.G. I walk the girl over to the nurse and leave her to get her "bruises" checked out. Then I sit in the admin's office to make my statement and hopefully be released to go back to class, as the bell has already rung for my next period and I have students waiting on me. 

I leave, finally, with no solution being reached other than the incident now belongs to our head principal. Oh how very sorry I feel for him in this instance and do not envy the conference he will deal with after school. Now, for those of you wondering, I did manage not to eat any Girl Scout cookies today, so hurrah for my will power! Not quite sure what all went down, but I do know there will be no suing and the young girl came back to class like nothing had happened.

To finish out the week, our "gangs" almost came to blows that afternoon, but got broken up. So they just decided to postpone it a day, and proceeded to fight each other across the street from campus, in front of a coffee shop. Sounds dumb huh, not really. The campus police cannot touch the students on the opposite side of the street, so the "gangs" know the actual police will have to be called to deal with them. Longer response time, more opportunities to beat the crap out of each other. This, I had nothing to do with!!! Whew! 

Springer show or correctional facility... I'm torn between which one fits the bill- I'll leave that one up to you guys! 

Have a great, non-drama filled weekend! :)

"Ain't saying she's a gold-digger, but she ain't messin with no broke bro"

"Now I ain't saying you a gold-digger; you got needs. He got that ambition look in his eyes... This week he's moppin' floors, next week it's the fries so stick by his side.... Now I ain't sayin she's a gold-digger, but she ain't messin with no broke bro..."

         -Kayne West, Gold Digger-

The song is old-school, I know and terribly inappropriate but the incident today made me think of these lines.... My lunch is 5th period, a time when everyone should be in class and 95% of teachers are teaching. That being said, I have enjoyed a relatively quiet year devoid of lunch duty as I teach during both of the lunches. So 5th period started out quiet Wednesday afternoon around 12:30 as normal.... until I hear an incredibly loud, male voice scream "Give me my s*** back you f****** b****!" 

I sigh (extremely loud to myself) and get out of my chair, leaving my lunch uneaten to go deal with this "issue" in the hallway. The language btw, is par for the course where I work. As I walk into the hall, I observe a young girl fleeing into the bathroom and a small, sketchy, sketchy young man going right in after her. Now, this is a problem. A boy.... in the girl's bathroom. Not only a boy, but a boy who has murder in his eyes and is hell-bent on doing some damage. So I enter the bathroom to find 2 other young ladies pressed up against the wall with sheer looks of terror on their faces while the young man beats the crap out of the bathroom stall the young girl has locked herself in, continuing to scream the above-mentioned statement at her, over and over again. Did I mention he had murder in his eyes?! So, I put on my Grade-A Teacher B**** face and voice and tell him to get out of the bathroom N.O.W. (Side note, I was wearing a Kick-A outfit that day: cute black dress with bright red jacket over it and my cockroach killer black boots so I felt I looked powerful.. hehe!) 

Young man turns around to glare at me and then pushes past me to run out of the bathroom. I got a good look at him then, and he seriously creeped me out. Small height, small weight, buzzhead like they do for guys in prison, tattoos up and down his arms, piercings etc. Orange was this guy's color, let me tell ya! Plus, he had "the look." The Look, for me, encompasses having seen dead bodies, bought/sold drugs, hits women, possible physical harm done to another person and a mind that thinks all the time about how to do damage and cause harm etc. After viewing this young man, he would make the 4th young man that has given me these feelings. I always feel as if I need a shower after I encounter these guys. UGH!  

Anyways, I have to beg the girl to come out of the bathroom stall and when she does, the first thing she tells me is "He doesn't mean it," which just makes me sad because now I know for a fact he beats her. We are walking out of the bathroom because I have to take her to the office and handle this situation and the dude is WAITING FOR HER at the end of the hall. He looks at her and does a slicing motion with his hand across his neck and points at her. WHOA! Situation has just escalated and internally, I'm beginning to get a little nervous. I decide she is safer back in class and I will call an administrator for help. Thank God I run into our best Admin... let's call him Mr. D, in the hallway and I explain situation to him. Mr. D then tells me the young man is already wanted for cussing out a teacher and has been on the run for the past 20 minutes. Mr. D also tells me all of our other administrators and police officers are busy so he is going to need my help trying to find this guy. (This is also par for the course where I work- no Admins are ever around when you need them. I cannot count how many times I have gone looking for one, called for one during 5th period and no one is around.) 

I sigh again as I realize I am not going to eat my lunch and I'm going to waste my off-period looking for some twerp of a boy. Mr. D and I enlist the help of my department head, who also has 5th period off. So here the 3 of us go, splitting up in multiple directions, looking for this ONE BOY. I head back around to my room and the bathroom where this all started and HE IS BACK! Trying to peek in the girls bathroom, looking for his girl. I go into my room and call Mr. C (fellow teacher) to detain him while I call for Mr. D to come get this dude. Well, Mr. C tries to talk with our delinquent here, and the student wants nothing to do with anyone until he "gets his stuff back." The kid is becoming a truly annoying broken record here. Mr. C gets too close and the kid bolts... again. Mr. C goes after him and I wait to tell Mr. D he is on the loose again. Someone.. somewhere... finally catches this kid and brings him into the office. I get another call now to retrieve JEWELRY from the young girl who fled into the bathroom. Jewelry... JEWELRY... Are. You. Freakin. Kidding. Me?! And I know you are wondering about the jewelry. It was nothing special, trust me. The ring and necklace had already rusted in many places, which is sad, I know. 

He punched a bathroom stall and threatened the girl over jewelry??!! I don't even have words to express how pathetic this whole situation now is. I return to the classroom and ask the girl for the jewelry. She is crying by this point and says they broke up this morning and he wanted his stuff back he bought her, but she still loves him and does not want to give it back. I made her hand it to me, trying not to think about how stupid she is... trying to remember what is was like to be 15 and think you are in love and that you can change the boyfriend... trying to put myself in the Hispanic cultural mind-frame of relationships etc. As I'm walking away, she asks what will happen to him. He already has 2 probation officers. He assaulted a teacher, assaulted her, threatened her and it is all on camera. Oh, he is long gone girlie. Plus! He is a 19 year old freshman; they will try him as an adult. (Yes, those do exist. I even know of some 20 year old freshmen... scary huh to think of your sweet little 14 year old daughter going to school with GROWN MEN). She begins to cry even more, begging me if she can see him before he goes. Uh, seriously?! NO! 

I walk the jewelry up and give it to the young man who politely thanks me for returning his stuff. I'm getting ready to give him some smart-aleck reply when it dawns on me his bouncer-looking probation officer is sitting in the Admin's room with the kid- OF COURSE he is going to be nice to me. I leave and the bell rings for the next period. Sweet- I have not eaten, nor have I used the restroom, I am running on adrenaline high right now and I have 5 minutes to calm myself down and go teach class. The farther I walk, it occurs to me that anywhere from 4-6 people had to chase this kid around and deal with him. 6 people... for 1 kid- another example of how messed up society is today and where our hard-earned tax dollars are going. And I start laughing. The kind of hysterical laughter that sounds suspiciously close to a cry, but it's not. I manage to pull myself back together for the rest of the day. 4:05 bell rings and those Girl Scout cookies I bought earlier in the day and promised myself I was not going to eat until after dinner, yeah well, I busted those bad boys out and had me a little moment with the bliss of Samoa Girl Scout cookies- delicious combo of chocolate, hazelnut, cookie crackers and coconut all in one.  I mean, what else ya gonna do after a day like that?! 

Until the next time friends... 

Sick as a dog....

Does anyone even know what this phrase means? It just does not make sense to me!!! Goobz is never sick; minus the exception in April 2012 when the little guy threw up 8 times in a row, spewing vomit and blood all over the kitchen floor and giving his mother an absolute heart attack (he had a parasite), but other than that, he is fine. He is fine all the time. And my parents' dog, Normie, he was never sick either until he was old and it was his time to go Heaven. 

So why do people say that when you get sick? If you have the answer, please let me know because I have been laying in bed for the past 3 days trying to figure out exactly what that phrase means. I have been super sick and miserable for the past 5 days now. And the only phrase that made sense during this awful ordeal was "Sick as a dog." However, now that I am hopefully! cross fingers!! on the mend, it does not make sense anymore. 

January through March is Mountain Cedar season down in San Anton. Welp, of the 60 allergies I am allergic to in the lower 48 states, that happens to be one of the worst. After almost 6 years of living down here, I have finally figured this out and thought I was prepared for this year, gearing up on the meds, Vitamin C, extra water and sleep etc. Yah well, the joke was on me. I had been surviving in a less than desirable state of living for the past 2 weeks or so, but I had been surviving. Last Tuesday saw me coming home though and going straight to bed, repeating the cycle each night of the week. Thursday was one of those days from hell, for multiple reasons besides my illness which I will blog about later, and that was the tipping point. By Friday, whatever was plaguing my body was in raging force and there was just no stopping it at this point. 

Now, neither Dylan nor I are quite sure what all was/is wrong with me, but I am going to call it the "Combo Loco." At HEB, they have these Combo Loco deals where you buy something, and end up getting around 3 items for free. It is a package deal and usually has a theme. EX: You buy special brand of pasta, you get salad, bread and dessert for free. EX: You buy "x" amount of their hot dogs, you get buns, chips and cheese for free. You following? Good! 

So, I have this "Combo Loco" deal of Sinus Infection, receive the Flu and Bronchitis free! What a deal!!! NOT! They all just hit me like a Semi and completely mowed me over. I will not bore you nor gross you out with the nasty details, but suffice it to say, I moved from the bed to the couch in severe pain all over my body for 3 days, barely eating the Sprite and crackers Dylan pushed my way. Plus, does anybody know how many tissues are in a box of Kleenx?? I have literally used a box a day for the past few days and was just curious as to how many tissues I have gone through... :)

Today is Monday, and I have decided to join the land of the living. And I am exhausted and dreading the thought of going back to work tomorrow knowing I am not at 100 percent of my game. BUT, more importantly, I would like to thank God for my wonderful caretakers of this past week and weekend. Dylan is an excellent Dr; that license of his only backs up what I already knew about him. :) He has great bedside manner and is super patient with The Patient, who is not always agreeable. He took time out of his weekend off to check on me and be there for me, even if it was to hold me as I moaned in pain. He let me watch all my random, feel-good movies (I know he can't stand most of them!) and continued to tell me how much he loved me and how beautiful I was, even though I KNOW that was a lie. And GOOBZ!! Well, the little guy has not left my side. Now, this is normal to begin with, but he was over the top this weekend. He was always there for a warm, fuzzy hug when I needed it and gave smoochies willingly, without me even having to ask. I know that sounds gross, but let me tell ya, when your head and body are burning up that pink, cold little tongue and nose feel pretty darn good against your hot skin. He was also much calmer than normal- thank goodness!! Dylan does not handle his neediness real well. :) 

So as we move forward into the week, here is hoping I continue to get better and the allergies dissipate for the time being. I would really, REALLY like to eat food again!! I am over this whole not being able to taste my food, not being hungry business. The longer I am not able to eat food like a normal person, the more I crave it and think food is wonderful! Who would have thought eh?! This girl who feared food for most of her teenage and early adult life (yet another blog for another day) is craving it like nobody's business!! :) 

Ah well, life goes on. Here's to a healthy, restful first week of February!