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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Random crap...

...to make up for the fact that I'm such a screw up.

This post is LONG overdue. My sweet friend, Tiffany, sent me an awesome package a while back, and I had intended to share it with you all.

Look what was inside!!
Tiffany's mother-in-law has a hand-made soap business, and she and her hubby sent me a HUGE box of goodies! I can't believe their generosity.
I had to take some close-up photos so you could see what the various scents (or as my sister says - flavors!)



How cute are these 'fancy' soaps?

I wish there was some kind of "smell technology" that would allow you to smell these awesome soaps!! Tiffany had gifted me with a bar of this fantastic soap when I was a guest in her home last fall. Imagine my delight at receiving an entire box of these beauties. Thanks, Tiffany and Ben!!! (I'm sure if anyone is interesting in gifting their friends and/or family with these awesome soaps, Tiffany can hook you up. Click over to her place!)

Things at the Hell-Hole have been just awful lately. I've made a concerted effort to not come here and bitch every day, like I have in the past. Truthfully, that's really how this moved from being a "teacher blog" to just a "random ramblings of a crazy lady" blog. I didn't want to come here every single day and complain. I certainly didn't want to focus on all the negativity, or give it any more of my time and energy. I really just wanted to try and forget about it, and writing here became my escape.

That being said, let me just share a teeny bit of what's been going on here in ChiTown recently. Some of you may know that we had a new mayor take office yesterday. He's bringing in a new superintendent of schools and a new superintendent of police. Like I said, I don't want to use this place as a outlet to bitch, but let me just say, I know LOTS of unhappy teachers and police officers.

One of the things we just found out about yesterday is that there is going to big changes to the length of our school day and year. We were told that our school day is going to be increased by 2 hours, and our school year by 2 weeks, all without ONE CENT of an increase in our salary. Nice, right? There has also been a bill passed making it nearly impossible for us to strike, as we would need a 75% majority vote. Convenient how this was passed right before we were told about all the extra UNPAID time we're going to be expected to work. Some of my other friends who are teachers have told me that their union reps have already told them to prepare for a strike. Once we were told about all this added, UNPAID time, it didn't seem so impossible to get 75% of the group to vote to strike.

I can feel my blood pressure rising, and I think I should just stop now. Let me end on a positive note. There are only 19 days of school left for the kids. Woo hoo! The teachers have 21 days, but that's a post for another day. I'm trying not to stroke out tonight. :(

5 comments:

C said...

yeah i dont know cheech, why they have to fix it if it aint broke. bastards, is what they are. i feel for ya. but you do have choices. take the summer to think about what you want and need.

Mary A. said...

The mayor selects the Superintendent? I didn't know that.

as for the other stuff. . . don't get me started.

LOVE the soaps. You don't have to buy a shower gift for the rest of the year!

Little Chef On The Prairie said...

I'm so glad you loved the soaps! I will be on the lookout for something cool for you in our new town! :)

You have GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! The new mayor is crazy. That is not going to fly. We almost went on strike about six years ago over insurance. It was basically going to be better to work as a checker somewhere because of how much we were going to have to pay on our insurance.

I hate teachers being the bad people of our society. I hate even if they were going to compensate you for the hours, because they are going to fill those hours up with more paperwork. We'll still have a TON of things to do outside without pay.

I didn't rent a storage unit last time, but I did fill up my parent's entire basement. Our house is getting really cramped. Does CPS provide you with boxes? Our district will give each teacher TEN boxes that are about half the size of a Xerox box to "pack up" their rooms. They will store things in PODS on site, but they won't guarantee their condition...if the pod gets wet...they tell you that the pods can reach 120 degrees too.

Glad the countdown is on for you!

The Girl Next Door said...

The soaps are awesome the school system sucks and I have to say your comment on my blog about the Ex made me roflmao. You are so funny!!

Gberger said...

Thank goodness for that care package of luscious soaps from Tiffany and her family! I'd say that all of your political/work news indicates that you deserve a nice, long soak in the bathtub with a lovely glass of wine and some of that good music you were writing about above! Time to relax!