The after school program has begun

I was pleasantly surprised to see that yesterday's sub left me a wonderful note about my class. She said they were "excellent" and that my lesson plans were "the best I've ever seen!" She even 'graded' the work the kids did for her. It was so nice to have a sub who actually worked! I did, however, find one thing that bugged me. She let them destroy my library that is filled with brand-spankin'-new books that I haven't even read yet. There's now a huge sheet of butcher paper taped over the two book cases that reads, "Keep Out!" for tomorrow. I was more disappointed with my kids than her because they knew better. And you'd better believe they got quite the lecture about the whole thing this morning. They have a very clear understanding of what they can touch tomorrow. I'm actually hoping the same sub comes back. I left slightly more detailed lesson plans for tomorrow, so things should go even smoother.

After school was a bit of a, dare I say it, cluster fuck. I don't really want to go in to it, but our Reading Interventionist (RI), I guess, oversees all the after school programs. However, she wasn't even aware of our program, and got bent out of shape that I was asked to be the site coordinator. She said she would have asked the Lead Literacy Teacher (LLT) to do it,who happens to be her partner. Oh, well! Too bad, so sad! Mrs. J. in the office was telling me the whole story, and she said that when the man came to our school to pitch his program, the two of them didn't want to have anything to do with him, and called him a flake. He has been dealing with Mrs. J. since this summer, and has been working on getting his program in our school. She was the one who asked me if I was interested in the position, and the rest is history. Now she's ticked at the RI for being such a bitch. Well, guess what. I could care less. I'm being paid to do a job, and I plan to do it, no matter who doesn't like it.

On a positive note, this program seems like it's going to be a piece of cake for both me and the other teachers working it with me. It will be easiest money any of us ever made.

Buster report: The vet's office called and left a message on my cell phone earlier in the afternoon. They said that Buster was doing great, the surgery went well, and that he should be ready to be picked up between 5:30 and 6:30. Then, about 5:30, while I was driving home from work, they called again to say that he was doing fine, but his ear was still draining a lot, and maybe I could come later to pick him up, like closer to 6:30. Then Kathy went on to say that if I wanted, Buster could stay another night, free of charge, so that they could keep an eye on him, and so that he wouldn't be bleeding all over my car and house. Sounded good to me!! Actually, it was a much better alternative because I'll feel better knowing that he's at the vet's being looked after by a full staff and doctor, as opposed to being home alone all day while I'm at work. All in all, things are looking good on the doggie front!

Here's one of my absolute favorite pictures of both my son and Buster. This was taken the week we got him, so Buster was about 6 weeks old, and my son was 3 1/2. Immediately before I snapped the picture, my son said, "Look, Momma! I'm laying down like Busser!" (He had a bit of a lisp as a baby. It was so cute!) That was when I almost always had a camera in my hand, so luckily for me, I was able to capture this cute picture of them. It's been hanging on my wall for 10 1/2 years. (I just took it out of the frame to scan it for you.) Wow, time flies when you're going along with your life.

The dog was created especially for children. He is the god of frolic. ---Henry Ward Beecher