Stuart’s alarm went off at 3 AM and he was out the door by 3:30 AM. My alarm went off at 5:30 AM and I hit snooze twice. The kids got up with very little fuss and we headed off to school for the day. I discovered, after my weekend away, that my students were out of control. What is so magical about me being there? Actually, they behave the same when I’m there as they do when I’m not there, but the difference is that someone else has to deal with them when I’m not there. The day was relatively chaotic and the same students who had issues on Friday also had issues on Monday. Therefore the phasing that they’ve been doing into the general education classroom did not happen on Monday and would not happen on Tuesday. I left school around 3:35 PM and went and picked up much-needed glow sticks that Jack had texted he needed for a science project that was due the next day. I love the children who plan ahead! I then headed to Ryan Elementary to pick Millie up to take her to gymnastics, before driving to Newell Barney junior high for Jack’s soccer game. They won their soccer match by many goals. Jack played really well and almost scored a goal but it went over the net. When we got home we cracked open his glow sticks in order to create a glow in the dark basketball and a glow in the dark hoop. His invention was to create lighting for night time basketball. When Millie got home she helped him make a video. It was actually quite clever.
Here is a snap shot of the video. Glow sticks to the rescue.
Once we were finished, I went upstairs to do my random viewing of the kids’ texts on their devices. Millie began to cry and beg me not to look at her device. It turns out she had been messaging a boy, proclaiming her love. She cried and cried and cried. It was a sad cry. She told me that the boy threatened to kill her if she didn’t say she loved him and text the things she had texted. Once I convinced her that I wasn’t angry with her, but rather needed to coach her through this as to why this wasn’t appropriate for her age, she admitted that she lied about the boy. I did, however, delete tik tok, as I really shouldn’t have ever allowed her to have it in the first place. She was truly distraught by the experience. She had also changed her password for her phone and couldn’t remember it. Therefore, she got locked out of her phone. I warned her of the safety of not letting her dad or myself know her code to get into her phone. She finally calmed down and I put her to bed. I then took a shower and went downstairs. Jack went to bed around 9:30 and I followed about an hour later.
Tuesday morning we were up and out of the house. After I dropped the kids I headed to the Phoenix Convention Center for a conference on professional learning communities. I’ve decided for third quarter I need only be at school two days each week. This conference was going to last until Thursday. I only went in the morning as the kids had passport appointments in Chandler at 1:30 pm. It actually worked out well as Jack only had a half day of school do to parent teacher conferences. I picked him up first and then headed to get Millie. We swung through McDonalds and then headed to the post office in Chandler. The process of renewing the passports was quick and simple. I took Jack home and then Millie had her med check where the doctor increased her medication. Millie and I left the house about 2:30 to go to her orthodontist appointment. In the fall I had bid on a silent auction item for $1000 off of orthodontics. I purchased it for $200 and so we went to use the thousand dollars to offset Millie‘s braces cost. When we got to the appointment they took x-rays and from the x-rays they were able to see that Millie has issues with her teeth. So she needed two teeth pulled and in nine months they will start the orthodontic work.
Looks primitive, right? Too many teeth for her small mouth.
We decided to get some frozen yogurt before heading home. I made pasta for the kids and decided to watch the Bachelor. Then my neighbor Elise came over and we sat on the back patio and nearly froze to death. It is starting out to be a chilly February. She stayed for a while, the kids went to bed and then I went to bed.
I got up on Wednesday morning and took the kids to school. I met Wendi, my Dean, at Queen Creek and Alma School. She drove to the conference on Wednesday. I learned some new tricks to use with my students while at the conference. So I will try to implement those when I get back to school. We left the conference at about 2:15 and got home in time to pick up Millie for gymnastics. Once I had dropped her off, I headed to Cooley Middle School to watch Jack play soccer. He played really well. He scored twice and the Colts won. We got home just before 6 pm. Chloe had barfed in her cage. Apparently she had eaten part of an irrigation hose. After I cleaned that up, I made Jack two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We left for basketball practice at 6:40 pm. I decided to stay out until I needed to pick Millie up. Once she was in the car, I drove through McDonalds for a nutritious dinner. While we waited for Jack, we listened to the rest of her book on YouTubr for her book report. And, yes, I realize this is cheating, but I think book reports are for suckers. It’s just busy work a teacher gives. So we will do what we need to do, but may take a short cut from time to time. We collected Jack at 8:30 from basketball, got his Peach Frost from Dutch Brothers and headed home. Both kids showered and we were all in bed by 10 pm. I worried about Millie being in bed so late, but she actually woke up pretty easily Thursday morning.
The kids got to school and I met Wendi to drive into Phoenix. This was the last day of the conference and it turns out it was only a half day. Wendi planned on going back to school. I questioned whether I was expected back at school, but in the end decided I wasn’t. There were two keynote speakers who were not terribly inspiring, but we sat and listened, nonetheless. After the conference was over and I had dropped Wendi off at her car. I headed to the grocery store for our dinner guests the following evening. Jack’s friend Jaxon, from last school year, and his family were finally coming to our house for dinner. Since Stuart would not be home until the late afternoon on Friday, I was in charge of the grocery shopping. I went to Wal Mart for the meat and then to Trader Joe’s for the vegetables. Once I was home I decided to clean the kitchen. I then cleaned the downstairs bathroom as well. I left dusting for Millie and vacuuming for Jack. Once I had collected them from school and we were home, Millie started in on homework and Jack vacuumed the upstairs. I dusted and the downstairs didn’t get vacuumed. I still had two bathrooms to clean and then the vacuuming downstairs. So my plan didn’t exactly work out like I thought it would. I also forgot that Jack had basketball practice. This week became very inconvenient as I couldn’t do a carpool because his buddy Andrew was only 6 days in the virus and I just didn’t want to risk Jack getting it. So I had to take him and pick him up for basketball this week. I took Jack to basketball practice and then came home and when I got home Millie was to have showered. But instead she was sitting on the sofa. So I decided we would shower together. This way when we had to pick Jack up at 8:30 PM it wouldn’t be as big of a deal bringing Millie home to put her to bed. However when we went to pick him up, he didn’t come out until about ten minutes to 9. This was terribly irritating to me as his sister really needed to be in bed. Once we were home, he showered, I carried Millie up to bed although she was faking that she was asleep, and Jack had a bite to eat and then went to bed.
Friday when I got to school I discovered that my students who had spent their time in a different room were put on a different point system because my point system wasn’t convenient for the teachers that were taking care of them. Naturally, I was irritated and dismayed by the fact that the teachers did what was convenient for them rather than what was best for my students. Sadly, this program is not terribly effective. I feel the school district is putting a lot of money into a program that really is not working. But the behavioral health specialist came to my classroom and said that the district had a meeting and she felt like maybe things were going to change. I was hopeful after that conversation and let my disgruntlement go. My mom was released from the hospital after her thyroid surgery on Thursday. So as soon as school was over I went to pick the kids up, purchased some flowers, and headed to see my mom. She actually looked better than I anticipated. So that made me happy. We didn’t stay long because we had invited the Barrs over for supper. We had attempted to have them over for dinner for many months and it just never worked out. So the last thing I wanted to do was cancel those plans. Stuart got home just before 5 o’clock, marinated the meat, and chopped up some vegetables. Our guest arrived around 5:30 PM and we had an evening of conversation and delicious food. Jason Barr is the one who introduced Stuart to the Blackstone grill. It was a really fun evening. The funniest part of the evening happened towards the end. Our dogs were barking and whining at the window. I could see that there was another dog outside of our door. So I opened our door and a little basset hound ran into the house. He was not neutered. And he started violating Chloe. Both of our dogs were very friendly and loving towards this dog until he started to have his way with them. We were all cracking up as it was so funny. However, it did show up that our dogs would not be vicious with other dogs.
Saturday morning Millie was awake and ready for gymnastics, well sort of. She refused to do her hair and brush her teeth. After she yelled at me, she then admitted that she was nervous about her competition on Sunday. She’s afraid since she missed the last competition that she is behind. I still feel her little friend at gymnastics is putting pressure on her and not being kind to her. She finally got in the car and we drove her to gymnastics. Stuart and I then went to eat breakfast and I was supposed to hang out with Liz for the day. February 5, 2021 is the day that her father passed away. So this day marked the one-year anniversary. She messaged while we were at breakfast to say that she had been up coughing all night. She got Covid a few weeks back and just has had difficulty recovering from the respiratory part of it. So instead Stuart and I went to Walmart, I bought a little gift basket of goodies for Liz, and then I took it to her house and spent a couple of hours with her before having to pick up Millie from gymnastics.
Sunday was Millie’s gym meet. We didn’t make Jack go as it’s expensive to get into the meet and he didn’t want to go. Millie did amazing! She was so pleased with her performance. It was a good day and I actually did her hair for this competition.
She’s such a cutie, if I do say so myself.
Jack made his own breakfast while we were out and was quite pleased with himself.
We got home just before noon. We dropped Millie and went to lunch. The kids never want to do anything with us on the weekends. The grocery store was our next stop after breakfast before heading home. We spent the afternoon finishing up laundry and other house chores.
Monday Stuart was up at 3:30 am and left at 4 am. My day at school was pretty busy as one of my students came back to me to start all over again. Lovely! I left work to get gas and then take Millie to gymnastics before going to watch Jack play soccer. His team won again. We got home and I fed Jack. I made Millie some pasta and then took it when I picked her up. Once we were home and all were showered, we hit the sack.
Tuesday morning Millie had difficulty leaving the house. The struggle was real. These mornings set my day up for a lot of drama. We finally got everyone where we needed to go. At school we had a field test for writing, which was somewhat disastrous. We made it through but it wasn’t pretty. I picked Millie up from school and took her to have two teeth extracted. Bless her! She was so very brave. She did cry because of the pressure.
I may have cried a bit too. The teeth weren’t even close to being ready to come out. You can see how long the roots are. Yikes!
However, the orthodontist said they needed to come out to allow the adult teeth to come in. Poor little girl! She has had to have this done twice now.
Jack had a soccer game that I couldn’t go to because of Millie’s dentist appointment, but Vicki brought him home. He ate and then showered. I had an online class with the district that I had to do in the dining room. Millie had a popsicle and some mac and cheese for dinner as she wasn’t able to eat anything but soft foods. I ended up carrying Millie upstairs to bed because she fell asleep on the sofa, poor dear.
Wednesday I had parent teacher conferences. So the kids were only there for a half day. I had two conferences in a row. I was able to leave school at 3 pm and went to Wal Mart to get dog food before taking Millie to gymnastics and collecting Jack from soccer practice. When Jack and I got home he watched television while I tidied up and put a load of laundry on. I took him to basketball practice and then met Ken at Chilis. I picked Millie up and we picked up Andrew and Jack after basketball. We went through Culver’s and they gave us the wrong order and then they gave us the right order. The boys were in heaven with double food. We got home way too late and Millie was cranky do I worried what the following morning would look like.
Getting up Thursday morning was easier than expected. We were out the door and where we needed to be on time. We had another half day of school and then we had our late night of conferences. Since I only have five students, it was a bit of a boring day for me. Naturally, I had two late conferences. After the conferences I had to go to Fry’s Pharmacy to get medication for the kids. I then went to my mom and dad‘s house and picked Millie up. She was frustrated and angry with me because I hadn’t been there earlier. She really doesn’t understand the job obligation. We got home and she showered, but was aggravated about it all. I let her stay up about 15 minutes later than her normal bedtime. She seemed quite satisfied with that. I simply ignored the yelling from the time we got home, and she actually settled down on her own. I wish I could ignore more often. At 8:30 PM I went over to my neighbors house to have a chat. My dad had taken Jack to basketball and would deliver him home after basketball. Millie was sound asleep, so a neighbor chat was in order. When I got home, Jack had been in bed for a while. This was only the second time in his life he had put himself to bed without me going up to his room with him. He’s growing up, you know, at the age of 13. Ha!
Friday one of my paras was out sick. She suspected she had Covid. Ugh! Seems it will never end. The school day was pretty easy because most of my students were phasing for the majority of the day. I left school as soon as the buses pulled away from the school. I met some of our teachers at Postino’s in downtown Gilbert. Stuart picked the kids up from my mom and dad’s once he was home from Gallup. My parents have been so helpful with the kids this quarter. I got home just after 6 pm and around 8 pm Mitch and Elise came over. We sat outside by the fire the rest of the evening.
Saturday morning I got up around 7 am and got ready to take Millie to gymnastics and then go to a professional development class. Millie was perfectly fine until I got downstairs. She then started getting mad at everything I said. She refused to leave the house. I finally dragged her out of the house and forced her to go. We were both angry and speaking in a louder voice than necessary. These situations are so frustrating to both of us. Thank goodness we start counseling soon. After I dropped her off at the gym, I headed to my class. It was not terribly interesting but it finished off my 8 hours needed to get the bonus stipend they offered this year. After my class, I met Stuart at JC Penney to try to find Suns shirts for the basketball game that night. We then went to eat lunch before I picked Millie up. When we got home, she changed her clothes and we went shopping for a few things. The one thing I can say about Millie getting over things is that it’s easy for her. She was perfectly fine during our shopping trip and said it was the best day ever.
We dropped Millie at Grammie’s around 5 pm and headed to the basketball game.
Since we were rookies at this, we tried to get as close as we could and possibly get an autograph, but sadly there was no autograph.
These tickets were a Christmas present to Jack. He was told he could bring one friend with him to the game. This was the ‘friend’ Jack chose to bring to the game with him.
The Suns played the Magic. They won by nearly 30 points.
Once we were home we went to my mom and dad‘s to pick Millie up. She got home and went straight to bed. Jack showered, had a glass milk, and went to bed as well. The next morning I got up and did my 5K sloth running team run with Sue. We had a great time and we took a picture to commemorate the moment.
When I got home from my walk, I cleaned bathrooms and tidied up the house for our Super Bowl party. While we were cleaning, Millie found a hat that belonged to Jack’s friend Jaxon. Jaxon and his family recently suffered a fire in their home, and they lost all of their possessions. So I sent this picture to his mom and she told me that she cried over it. I can’t imagine the devastation that family has been through.
Our guests all arrived around 3 PM. We had Ken and Maytee, Tim and Sue, friends of Ken and Maytee‘s, and our neighbors Mitch and Elise, and all of the children of those people. We were disappointed that the Chiefs were not in the Super Bowl, but the social gathering was great anyway. Stuart made three different types of meatballs that were all very delicious. He was concerned that he hadn’t made enough, but as always we had too much. Everyone left after the Super Bowl, Jack showered, Millie refused to shower, and thus ensued a fight. I ended up having her shower with me, but she didn’t do it willingly. In the end Stuart went to bed just before 9 PM and I stayed downstairs and watched television.
At 3 o’clock on Monday morning Stuart‘s alarm went off and he got up to go to work. At 5:30 in the morning my alarm went off and I got up to wake the kids up. Millie got up with no issues, got dressed, brushed her hair, ate breakfast, and brushed her teeth. We walked out the door at a reasonable time and all were happy. I did speak to Millie about playing her dad against me the previous night. She seemed to understand and was very agreeable. School was chaotic, as it would be on Valentine’s Day. I had four of my six students in my class for the entire day. Three of them were to go to another class for a Valentine’s celebration. In the end, their behavior did not allow for that to happen . At any one time on Valentine’s Day I had a student who was ‘kicking off’, as the English would say. It was an exhausting day. I had found out the night before that my male paraprofessional would not be working for us anymore. It was upsetting, but he was going to go to a job that paid eight dollars more per hour and so I was very happy for him. After school, I went to the fourth grade team in order to plan for next week‘s lessons. I then headed to pick Millie up for gymnastics and then was off to Jack’s last regular season soccer match. He played very well and they won the match. We came home and I fixed him spaghetti and meatballs , I folded some laundry, and I sat for about 40 minutes before I had to go pick Millie up from gymnastics. I made her pasta and butter for dinner and put it in a hot pot to take so she could eat it on the way home from gymnastics. She really does only eat pasta, chicken nuggets and French fries. Both kids went to bed very easily. Jack came back downstairs to discuss with me why his perm isn’t as curly as it used to be. This boy may kill me! He has to go through everything on his own so he knows I actually was right about this perm thing. I knew he would hate it after a month. Mother knows best, if you ask me. I fell asleep on the recliner and finally went to bed just before 11 pm.
Tuesday morning I decided I would make waffles for the kids for breakfast. This was a big undertaking for a school day, but since I banned chocolate for breakfast I needed to do something. They came out perfectly! The kids got off to school without a hitch. I dreaded the school day because of the previous day. I decided I would do some different activities with the kids and keep them as busy as I could all day long. It nearly worked, too. The snags were tiny, so at least it was a better day. When I left school I went to get gas and stopped at the grocery store for laundry detergent and some other odds and ends. I then went to the counseling appointment at Jewish Family and Children’s Services. The counselor wanted to meet with me before he met with both Millie and myself. My parents had picked both kids up from school and delivered them to our house. Before counseling started I got a message, Jack was begging me to let he and Millie make a cake while I was gone. Against my better judgement, I said ‘yes’.
I was relieved to only find a cake mixing mess when I got home. The rest of the evening was good as I started using some of the tools given to me from the counselor to help my relationship with Millie. The kids showered and Millie headed to bed. I was putting clothes in the washing machine and discovered the clothes had been jumbled, which indicated that someone had dug through the washing machine to find something. When I asked Jack he said he got his underwear out of the dryer. Wrong! He pulled his favorite pair of underwear out of the dirty washing machine clothes. This is who I’m raising! He didn’t even understand that the clothes in the washing machine that were dry had not been washed. Ah, bless his little soul. Fortunately, he has a good sense of humor and giggled along with me. He’s a goof!
Wednesday school was better. I picked Millie up and took her to gym. I picked Jack up from practice and delivered him home before heading back toward Millie’s gym for happy hour with Skip and Lisa, Millie’s teacher. I then went to Bashas for some groceries, picked Millie up from gymnastics and then went home. She showered and in a disgruntled mood, went to bed. Jack had been picked up from the house to go to basketball. He got home just as Millie was going to bed. He stayed up until 10 pm and I followed him shortly after.
Thursday morning we were all up and out on time. Millie reminded me that my niece, Morgan, was having her baby on this day. On the journey to school, the boy who needs his phone for Google classroom left it at home. So we had to turn around and get it, causing me to have to take him to school, making me about 20 minutes late. It was then that I decided to talk to my principal about a transfer for next year. I need to move Millie, for her sake, and I really need to be at a school that is closer to my kids.
Once at school, the kids were relatively well behaved. At about 10 am we got pictures of Hallie Cline Buck, the newest member of the family.
Look at this chubby bunny!!!!!! I can’t wait to hold her in March.
I left school as soon as I could get one of my students on the bus. I had my two lower teeth prepped for crowns, one that was being replaced and the other that was getting a crown because the tooth was cracked. I love spending money on teeth and other things people never really notice. Ugh! Of course, I suppose if I didn’t have teeth, people would notice that. My parents had picked Millie up from school and once me teeth were temporarily fixed, I went to pick Jack up from school. He had wanted to stay at school and watch the 8th grade soccer team in their first playoff game.
Once we were home, Jack had a bite to eat. Pop took him to basketball and Grammie brought Millie home. Grammie had fed Millie so when she got home she showered and got ready for bed. When Jack got home from basketball he was so pleased with his practice. He had said Pop had really complimented him about his play. That always means so much to Jack. I was happy for him. I had Elise over for a little back porch chat by the fire pit. She left just after 11 pm and I then went to bed.
Friday morning Millie had a meltdown and I ended up leaving the house and driving down to the stop sign on our street. She had to run to get to me. She got in the car and screamed she hated me and wanted to be unadopted. For the first time EVER I did not engage at all. I just let her go on and on. I can’t win for losing. If I talk to her she accuses me of interrupting and not listening. If I ignore her and don’t engage she accuses me of not even caring. Well, because I didn’t get involved, my feelings were too overwhelming and I just started crying. For her to tell me she wanted to be unadopted was more than I could take. I dropped her at school and then got to school for a meeting. My school day was full of high emotions from my students. At the end of the day I was exhausted and my emotions were a bit of a wreck. I went to the grocery store to get ingredients to make banana bread as well as a few other things. I then picked Millie up and she was as happy as anything. She did say she was sorry about the morning. We went to pick up Jack and then headed home. Stuart showed up around 5 pm. We just hung out in the front room for the evening.
Saturday morning was pretty typical Millie. She was totally fine for gym, until she wasn’t. I let Stuart deal with her. He told her that how she had treated me and what she had said to me the previous day was unacceptable. He told her that if she were to be unadopted that would mean she no longer had a brother, a sister, a dad, a mom, grandparents, and all the things we have supplied to her as her family her entire life. He asked her if that was really what she wanted. She said no and he said she seemed remorseful. I know she really doesn’t mean it, but boy it can sting.
Once Stuart was home from taking her to gymnastics, we went to try to find him something to wear to the Blue and Gold FFA Gala that evening. The kids were going to spend the night with Grammie and Pop. In the end he decided he had clothes that would be fine. We left for Glendale around 11 am. We went to lunch with Liz and then checked into the hotel. The food at the gala was amazing and the conversation with some of Liz’s friends was good. It was a lovely evening.
Jack was the winner at Grammie and Pop’s while we were in Glendale.
Maytee had stayed at our house with the dogs on Saturday evening as she had to sing in Queen Creek the following morning. She had lowered our blinds in the front room and didn’t raise them before leaving. Well, guess what district I’ve dogs lay so close to those blinds while in their cages during the day? Yep! Irritating to say the least. Stuart ended up trimming the blinds and switching them for the ones on the side of our house. We will eventually replace them, but for now moving them will do.
On our way home from Glendale we decided to stop at IKEA and get Millie a much needed desk for her room. She helped Stuart put it together and was very pleased with the result. We took the kids to see a movie on Sunday afternoon. When we got home our neighbors came over to hang out.
Monday was President's Day so Stuart was able to be home another day. We did some shopping and then Jack had soccer practice because they were having a playoff game the next day. Millie had gymnastics. Other than those two things we did very little on our day off. It was really nice!
Tuesday at school one of my little guys wasn’t there, this made the day much more tolerable. After school I went to pick Millie up and we headed to the playoff game at Casteel high school. We had to leave around half time because Millie and I started our family counseling together. Our counseling session went really, really well. The counselor asked Millie what she wanted to get out of therapy and she said she just wanted to stop fighting with her mom. She started crying, I started crying, and the therapist told both of us that because of our openness we were going to do very well in therapy. It made us feel good and we went away with a feelings wheel that was to be used each day to describe our day to one another. Pop had brought Jack home from his soccer match and they ended up winning.
Wednesday I got up and the kids were already up and about and getting ready to go to school. My student that has been a little bit off recently actually totally flipped out on Wednesday and ended up being suspended for Thursday and Friday. Wednesday after school I went to pick Millie up to take her to gymnastics and then collect Jack from Andrew’s house. Once we were home he got a bite to eat and we headed out to basketball practice. I then went to shop for some groceries and then collected Millie at gymnastics. We went to basketball to get to Jack and Andrew, and then I took them all to Dutch Brothers to get a drink before taking Andrew home. When we got home the kids showered and Millie went to bed, and Jack followed shortly after.
Thursday at school was so pleasant because my biggest challenge was not at school that day. After school on Thursday I went to collect Millie from school and we headed to Santan Junior High to watch Jack in the semi finals of the seventh grade soccer tournament. It was an absolute show at the school. The referee got agitated early on in the match and insisted that all Casteel parents leave the pitch or he would have to forfeit the game allowing Santan to be the winners. It was crazy. I ended up emailing the district athletic director, the Santan athletic director, and the Casteel athletic Director. My letter was very eloquent and professional and respectful. The email I got back basically said that the parents were at fault. It was so frustrating to know that we had no part in the issue that the referee had. He had a chip on his shoulder from the beginning of the game. But, it’s always the parents’ fault.
Because there was a delay of game at soccer match, I ended up taking Jack to basketball practice and then Andrew‘s mom brought him home. Millie and I came home and she and I showered. I had run through Burger King to get the kids chicken nuggets so dinner was done. She ended up going to bed just after eight and then my neighbor Elise came over. We sat outside by the fire pit until the propane ran out and then we went inside to the front room. Jack came home from basketball, showered and watched television before going to bed.
Friday was a relatively easy day at school. Most of my kids were phasing for a chunk of the day. After school I picked both kids up and ran them back to the house. I then went to my friend Marty‘s house and the bunco babes got together for dinner. Stuart got home around 6 o’clock and the kids had made themselves pizza and had already eaten. I got home around 9:30 PM, took a shower and went to bed.
Saturday morning I got up and took Millie to gymnastics. Stuart and Jack came along and we went to breakfast. We then took Jack to Costco and made him go inside. He was frustrated because he wanted to go home. But when he found out we were going to let him buy an oculus quest, which is a virtual game system, he was pleased and glad he had decided to come with us. When we got home he played with his new toy for a while while Stuart and I did yardwork. I looked at my watch at 12:30 PM and realized that I hadn’t gone to pick Millie up from gymnastics. I called her on the way in a little bit of a panic. I finally got a hold of her and her coach stayed with her until I arrived. I apologize profusely to Millie and she said that she was fine. As the day went on it was clear that she was not fine and that she was pushing down her feelings about being left at gymnastics. As I was trying to help her get ready to go to my mom and dad‘s for the evening, she closed up and wouldn’t speak to me. In the end, because she didn’t make the choice to come on her own we had to pick her up and carry her out to the car to take her and Grammie and Pop’s. It wasn’t the best way to leave her, but she would figure it out and be fine. I knew my mom would handle things.
We left the house for our revived Supper Club that was to be hosted at Diane and Dennis’ house. I drove as Jack had his tournament games that evening, which we didn’t know about when we committed to going to Supper Club. I left to go watch Jack’s tournament games. They lost the first game, but won the second game. He played much better the second game than he did the first game. He went home with Pop and I returned to the party.
The crew!
We left just before midnight and Gina drove our car to our house and then got her car and went home. We went to bed shortly after we got home and had taken a shower because we smelled like bonfire.it was another wonderful evening with friends we are just now reconnecting with.
Sunday morning we got up and puttered around the house a little bit. We then went down to my mom and dad‘s to pick the kids up. We headed to the Renaissance Festival. Santa had bought us tickets. As you would guess Jack was not thrilled in the least. Millie made the best of it and Jack was OK as long as he was doing something he wanted to do. Teenagers!
When we got home in the afternoon we didn’t do much of anything and the kids messed around on their electronic devices.Monday morning we got up and went to Millie‘s gymnastics meet. Grammie had decided she would go with us. It’s a bit odd because I think a gymnastics meet for a 10-year-old in the middle of the day at the beginning of the week is not acceptable, but she would’ve been the only one on her team to not go. She did very well. In fact she got the highest score of the entire weekend of competitors. So amongst around 1000 girls she received the highest total score. So I guess I’m glad she went. Stuart left for Gallup as soon as he got back from the meet. Millie and I sat around the house and did a whole lot of nothing because I didn’t make her go back to school. We then went to Sossaman middle school to watch Jack play in the final soccer match for the championship. And they won! It was such an exciting game, for soccer that is.
What a way to end the season.
Grammie and Pop came to watch as well.
I then took the kids to McDonald’s to get dinner and drop them at the house. I went and met Diane Wells, Lisa Reynolds, and Jillian Cunningham, all whom I worked with at Ryan Elementary years ago. We had dinner and a good catch-up. It was a great deal of fun. When I got home I put Millie to bed and then took a shower myself. Jack went to bed around 10 o’clock and I fell asleep in the chair downstairs, as is quite common these days.
Tuesday when I got to school I heard all the troubles my kids had the previous day. It’s the least favorite part of my day. Everything was fine that day, but I was just growing so weary of everything. I did apply for a transfer to another elementary school even though I have only been at my current school for two years and the Chandler rule is three years. I was hopeful because of my situation I would be given an exception. So I took my chances and applied for a job at Riggs Elementary, which would have been perfect. Tuesday evening my neighbor Elise came over. We sat out on the back patio and lit the fire pit. It wasn’t terribly cold, but it was cool enough for the fire pit to be lit. We had a good chat and then she left just after 10 o’clock.
Wednesday morning I got a call from human resources and I asked about being able to transfer to a different school. I told my situation about basically being a single mother and having to cart my kids all over the place. I said it was just too difficult and I was wondering if they would make an exception to the rule. I was told they would not. So although I had been in the district previous years that was not taken into consideration. So I began to wonder what I would do. It was very troubling, because to think about being at my current school for another year was just too much. So I spoke with Stuart and he told me to resign. I sat on that for a little bit, and then decided that that was my only reasonable option. To think that a policy put into place was so inflexible that I would need to resign my job in order to maintain my sanity was a little more than I could understand. Wednesday after school I took Millie to gymnastics and then met up with two teachers I teach with. We had dinner at Chili’s and discussed my resignation. Jack was home the evening by himself and when I got home he had already showered. I had picked Millie up and brought her chicken tenders from Chili’s so she ate in the car. Both kids went to bed and I followed shortly after.
Thursday morning when I got to school I asked our administrator assistant for paperwork for resignation. She was shocked. My principal was not there on Thursday morning so I left the paperwork for her to sign with my administrative assistant. When my principal got there Thursday afternoon she signed the paper and told the administrative assistant that she wasn’t surprised. She didn’t come to speak to me, just signed the paper and sent it to the district office. This convinced me even more that what I was doing was best for me. This district says they care about people taking care of themselves, but in the end of that means no flexibility from them, only from the employees, that’s fine. It’s maddening!
My dad picked the kids up from school because I had to finish up my dental work on Thursday afternoon. I had the two permanent crowns put in on my lower left side and I had a filling and a crown prepared on my upper right side. When I left the dentist I ran by my mom and dad’s house to talk to them about my resignation. My mom was relieved and my dad was very supportive as well. That made me feel a lot better. Once that was finished I got home and relaxed for the rest of the evening. I did give a call to someone who works online just to get some information. I also had a meeting with Empower, which is a company Stuart works for. I was offered the opportunity to write lesson plans for third grade for the Gallup McKinley school district in New Mexico. It turns out that I will be paid a big chunk of change. So that will be nice.
I woke up on Friday morning feeling a little bit sick to my stomach. There’s only been one other time that I resigned a job when I didn’t have another one to go to, and that’s when I got my job in Chandler originally in the year 2000. I don’t worry about getting a job, but I do get a little anxious about when all that will happen. I’m hopeful that I get some thing that is fitting for me. I may have to take a job as a steppingstone, but I can deal with that. When I got to school I walked into the front office and greeted everyone. My principal heard me and called me into her office. She was really nice, and just questioned my resignation. But she didn’t hesitate to sign the paper the previous day and ask absolutely no questions. I guess I wasn’t really looking for her to beg me to stay, but it would’ve been nice to know whether she was disappointed that I had left. I felt none of that. The rest of the day was fine. My students were relatively well behaved. I told my paraprofessionals that I had resigned. They were very supportive and told me that they would miss me but they understood and they didn’t blame me for leaving. My friend Gina asked me at the end of last year how many times I was going to let Chandler punch me in the face before I got the hint? I finally got the hint.
Friday evening we had Elise and her boys come around. She had ordered food for the kids, and Jack had gone to their house to play with his oculus virtual reality game set. Millie went to a carnival with a friend of hers from school so Stuart picked her up at 8 o’clock and brought her home. We sat on the back porch for a while and then got too cold and decided to come inside.
Saturday morning we took Millie to gymnastics and then took my car to have new tires put on it. We then went to have breakfast at IHOP where I broke down a little bit. I received an email from the district that outlined my resignation. It’s crazy how devalued I felt these last two years. So I’m hopeful that this next season of my life I will feel as if I’m making a difference. I also hope that I will feel as if I’m appreciated. I never have been one to need a lot of accolades, but when you just feel like a number and warm body it can be quite discouraging.
After breakfast we went and picked my mom up and went to the nursery to buy plants for our backyard. We bought three shrubs and a lot of vegetables to put in our planters. We knew the dogs would eat the plants in the lower planter, but we got plants for it anyway. So we spent most of the day working in the backyard, trimming trees and planting vegetables. I picked Millie up at about 1230 and once we were home I helped finish in the backyard.
These shrubs will be great once they are grown up.
Peppers, tomatoes and pumpkins! Oh my!
At 2:30 pm I took Jack to get his booster Covid vaccine. Once I was home, Stuart and I went out for a bit and decided to have a beer at Uncle Bear’s. We talked about our spring break plans and started planning meals for our trip to Mexico. When we got back home I laid on the sofa for a slight nap. I then went upstairs to get dressed and go play bunko with Millie‘s teacher, Lisa. It was fun and a good distraction from what was going on in my brain. There were a few teachers there from Ryan Elementary and they asked where I taught. I went into the story and tried to not paint a horrible picture, but someone pointed out to me that policy like that is meant to be bent in cases like mine. I totally agree but nothing will become of it and I’m just gonna have to move on. I’m kind of looking forward to what is going to be next. Stay tuned.
