I know I'm jinxing myself....

...by even writing about this, but as of 2:45 this afternoon, I only have 20 babies in my class. TWENTY!!! That's music to my ears. I wish I could have videotaped the office today, because you had to see it to believe it. There was a non-stop flow of people in and out ALL DAY!

Today was the first day of class for students at schools that are still on a "regular" schedule, as opposed to our year-round schedule. So, naturally, there were plenty of scumbag parents who have been bringing their kids to the Hell-Hole for FREE BABYSITTING for the past month. But, now, they are transferring them out faster than the office can handle the paper work. They are returning to their own neighborhood schools. And, they're pretty smart, because in less than 3 weeks, we'll be going on our fall intercession, but now their kids won't be off because those schools won't have that break. Pretty slick, huh?

Sadly, my little Diana Betsy Ross is one of those kids. When I went into the office to swipe out today, her mom was there filling out the paperwork for a transfer. She was dumb enough to tell me that she was transferring her to "a school that's closer." Well, duh!!! If you don't even live within our boundaries, I'd love to know how the hell you registered a month ago! Just last week, I spoke to New Principal about this mom because she was starting to work my nerves. Every single day, at about 2:30ish, the office would buzz my room to tell me either a)there was an early dismissal for Ms. Ross (which is so ridiculous, since we get out at 2:45!) or b)send Ms. Ross to the office at dismissal because her mom is running late. Every single day, without fail, I would get one of these two messages. Oh, and I forgot to mention that she brought her to school LATE every day, as well. 15-20 minutes late, for the record. At least I won't have to deal with that anymore.

Two more babies left while I was out last week. I did get a new boy today, while my class was at lunch, of course! Man, I HATE when the office does that!!! I know I've complained about this before, but why can't they tell them to come back the next day? Let the kid start fresh in the morning, instead of in the middle of the day, when they just get thrown into the routine. This poor kid came at the end of lunch, but luckily, he was able to eat. But, then, when I went back to pick the class up, he looked a little teary-eyed. As we walked down the hall to our room, he saw his mom still sitting outside the office (for who knows WHAT reason!) and immediately burst into tears. He then spent the next 30 minutes crying. He told me he had never been in school before, which makes sense. I'm going to have to look into that tomorrow. Poor baby.

Another one of my babies (who is the sister of the Beyonce I had two years ago!) has now missed 11 out of 20 days of school. And, the 9 days that she DID come, she never arrived before 9:30. Um, school starts at 9! I actually saw her oldest sister in the hall this afternoon, and asked where she was, to which her sister replied, "She's not here?" WTF?! I said, "What?! Don't you know whether or not you brought her to school this morning?!" Ugh! Seriously?! I think it's time to get the office involved with this one. Maybe someone should make a little home visit.

Overall, today was a relatively nice day. It definitely helped that I only had 15 babies to deal with all day. I had 5 out today, which is weird. I wonder if any of those are going to end up being transfer-outs. We did fun centers this morning, that were so nice because we only had 2 babies at each center. It was awesome! We also did some 'remodeling' with our homework folders. I may even post about it separately. I feel like I actually got a lot accomplished today. It's amazing how much you can do with 1/2 a class. tee hee!

Plus, I got to school really early today, since I had to drive Stud to school. Believe it or not, this was the first time I've driven him to school this year. His father has been driving him every morning, which has been REALLY nice. Especially since this year, Stud has an early-start schedule, which means he starts about 30 minutes earlier than usual. His first period class is chemistry, and that extra half hour is lab time. Unfortunately for me, his father will be out of town all week for work, which means I'll have to drive him all week, which means I have to leave 30-40 minutes earlier in the morning. It's been so nice not having to drop him off, because his school is the exact opposite direction from our house than the Hell-Hole. That means 15-20 minutes to get him there, then 15-20 minutes back to our house, THEN on to work. OK, I'm finished whining. I'm going to put on my big girl panties now, and deal with it. Or, as Stud's best friend said on the way home today - I'm going to build a bridge and get over it!

Despite dealing with such a heartbreaking loss this past week, I was able to get some rest this past weekend and I actually felt re-energized this morning. Friday (the wake) and Saturday (the funeral) were mentally, emotionally and physically exhausting. By Saturday night, I felt like I had been run over by a truck. And, my feet were swollen beyond belief. I finally arrived home around 8:30 that night, and vowed to stay horizontal until I had to go to work today. I was able to do just that on Sunday. I only got out of bed for about 30 minutes, only to spend that time in my hammock. I went right back to my bed after that. I read a stack of magazines, watched some mindless television, and just relaxed.

When I woke up Monday morning, my feet were almost completely back to normal. I had planned to do the exact same thing on Monday, but my mom insisted that we all come over for dinner, and I couldn't say no. I figured, since I had to get up and get dressed, I might as well run an errand or two. I needed to go to Michael's for something for school, and I hit my favorite dollar store. I then went home and made cheesy potatoes and pasta salad, and went to my parents'. It was a lovely evening, and I was home and back in bed at a decent hour.

When I woke up this morning, I felt great. I ended up being away from the Hell-Hole for a total of 6 days in a row, which is the longest break I've had since our spring break back in March. Good Lord, I needed that!! Thank you, Auntie. Now I'm looking even more forward to our fall intercession. I plan to do a whole bunch more of the nothing I've done the past two days. :)

Wow, I haven't rambled like this in quite a while. I apologize. Although, if you're still reading at this point, you have no one to blame but yourself!