Next Season on Dancing with the Stars...

(Thanks, Bro, for emailing me this! It made me laugh out loud!)

The past few days have been so unbelievably sad, that I wanted to take a mental break for something silly and light-hearted. (Isn't Photoshop amazing?)

Yesterday, I sent Twin Boy home with a note because he had such a GREAT day! He kept his hands and feet to himself all day, he was pretty quiet for the most part, and he did just about everything I asked of him. The rest of the babies noticed it too, just like last time, and they all had to high-five him at the end of the day. He was beaming!! This morning, his dad brought him, and I asked if he saw the note. He did, and I told him how proud I was of Twin Boy, and Twin Boy assured me that today would be a great day, too. Yeah....well.....not so much.

I had to send him back to his seat during calendar time because he absolutely would NOT stop touching the kids around him. When we were ready to go on to some counting activities (about 5 minutes later) I told the group to hold on a minute because I wanted Twin Boy to come back, because "he's so good at this game." He came back, sat right next to me, and then started to cry. Not loud, disruptive crying, but just big, sad tears rolling down his chubby cheeks. I wish I knew what was going through his head at that particular moment. Was he feeling bad for disrupting our calendar time? Was he embarrassed? Was he moved because I said he was good at the game? I truly wish I knew what it was that made him cry.

Twin Boy is also back to all the disgusting nose-digging again!! Ugh!!! I think he does it just to set off the others, because they all start yelling, "Twin Boy is digging in his nose!" I can't stand it. It's absolutely revolting. Between his nose and his ears, that boy digs more than a miner! Ick! I know it sounds mean, but that's what keeps me from hugging him more. I just don't want him touching me with those hands, I'm sorry.

The babies have been busy making Halloween projects. I finally remembered to take my camera to school today to show you what they've been up to. I may just take some close-ups tomorrow to you can see them in detail. I cut out the scarecrows, but they cut out their own witches. The pumpkin lanterns were all them, except that I stapled them together. There's something about little kids' arts and crafts that touches me somewhere deep inside. I think it's because they aren't afraid to truly express themselves creatively yet. I love it!

OK, this has nothing to do with school, but I have to show these pictures to somebody! Last Friday, I picked up my son and his best friend from school, and then we all came here. Long story short, his buddy never went home, and spent the night. (Not an unusual occurrance.) The next morning, I went down in the basement to do some laundry, and saw this. (That's my gorgeous new bamboo floor in the basement, by the way. Don't you love it!?)

I was cracking up!! It was like looking at a father and son's shoes. Oh, wait! I just remembered that you saw my son and his best friend's picture together from homecoming. It's so funny to me that they are so different in size. His buddy is just now wearing clothes I handed down to him in about 4th or 5th grade. My son refers to his buddy as "Mini Me" sometimes, which cracks us all up.

OK, I gotta run because Dancing with the Stars is on, and I'm waiting to hear that Cloris Leachman is leaving tonight. Good Lord, it had BETTER be her!! I'm so glad Carrie Anne (I haven't a clue how she actually spells her name) finally said what the rest of us were thinking last night. You go, Girl! Ugh, it's time for Michael Flatley (again, no idea how to spell that) is about to perform. Maybe this is a good time to run downstairs and do some laundry...

Sad Update...

...this morning, as we were all arriving at school, there was breaking news on all the local stations. I didn't mention all the details in the last post, since I assumed most people heard the reports on TV, but the Hudson's nephew had been missing all this time, and was believed to have been kidnapped by man accused of the murders (it is the boy's stepfather) This morning, around 8:30, the news reported that the body of a little boy had been found not far from the murder scene, and it is presumed to be this little boy. I can't believe it. I have no more words, other than, please, please pray for this family.

Yet another tragedy in Englewood...

I know I never mentioned this before, but our wonderful assistant principal is the uncle of Oscar award winning Jennifer Hudson (our AP and her father were brothers). Yesterday, tragedy struck their family, once again. By now, I'm sure all of you have seen the story on the news, even if you don't live in Chicago, because of Jennifer's fame. If you haven't, I've put a link here to one of our local news stations here.

Last year, another member of this family was run over and killed while working as a flagger at a construction site. She also used to work at the Hell-Hole (before my time) so it was really upsetting for most of the staff. I understand that she left the Hell-Hole when she got this "great job" as a flagger. (It was way more money, and everyone was so happy for her.) This family has had to deal with so much heartache and tragedy in a very short period of time. On a much smaller scale, another member had her car stolen less than a month ago.

I've never really written about our AP because, #1, I LOVE him!! I suppose on some level, one of the reasons I've stuck it out at the Hell-Hole is because I'm waiting for him to take over, and fix things!! Reason #2 is because I knew this tidbit of information would remove a great deal of the anonymity surrounding my school. Because of that, I may just be deleting this post in the near future, but first I must make a request. Please, please say a prayer for the Hudson family.

Last dig today, I swear!

This song has always made me think of CSJ and HWW, for obvious reasons. I could have written this song about 13 years ago when I threw CSJ out on his ass. This should have been their first song at their wedding a couple of weeks ago!

Dirty Man by Joss Stone

you're a dirty, dirty man

and you, you got a dirty mind

you're a dirty, dirty man

you and that other woman, you're two of a kind

but you forgot one thing baby

when you were doing me wrong...oh

that im a good housekeeper, im gonna take my broom and sweep

all of the dirt, yes sir, out in the street

you're a dirty,o0oh, you're a dirty man

oo in so many, so many dirty ways

you're a dirty, dirty man

and you've been hiding your little dirt, all over this here place

i know you have

oo here's my chance baby, to throw some mud in your face

cuz im a good housekeeper,

im gonna take my broom and sweep

all of the dirt, yes i am, out in the street

ooh i'm cleanin up my whole house, fast as i can

it's time to make everything, oh, spic and span

you're a dirty man, ooh you're a dirty man

oooh oh you've done me dirty for so many years, yes you did

you're a dirty, dirty man, yes you are

o0o0o oh and i'm tired of you, and your woman, and your a dog too

you're a dirty man

you're a dirty man

now get out of my house,

don't you never never never never come back again

don't you never

you're a dirty, you're a dirty man

i'm long done with your dirty ways

You can watch the video of Joss Stone performing this live in New York. I adore her, which is something I don't think I've shared before. (Shoot! I should have saved that tidbit for the next time I'm tagged! haha!)

In your face, HWW!

I keep forgetting to share this little story with all my Blogistan buddies. A couple of weeks ago, and shortly after CSJ and HWW were married, my mother-in-law was over because she had picked up my son from school. We had gone down in the basement so she could see the latest progress on the remodel. After my son went upstairs, she leaned over and whispered, "I wanted to wait until L was gone to tell you that I hope you know nothing has changed for us. Dad and I have been talking about it, and we want you to know that we love you, and you'll always be important to us. We don't care who he's married to, you're L's mom, and we love you. Nothing has changed, and we don't want you to feel like you're being pushed out." It was really very sweet.

Well, yesterday, I had called my in-law's house to see if my son was there (because my MIL picks him up every Thursday) and my FIL answered the phone. They weren't there (they were on their way to my house) but I had a short, pleasant conversation with my FIL. You know, the usual stuff, how have you been, how's the arthritis, what's new, and so on. After a few minutes, I say, "OK, Dad, well, I'll talk to ya later." and he says, "You know, I want to make sure you know you're still #1. Ma and I don't care who the hell he's married to, you'll always be #1 to us, and we love you. And, we told N (aka CSJ) that. Nothing has changed for us."

Are you getting the feeling they don't care for HWW very much? And, I'm sure CSJ just LOVED hearing that from his parents. Haha! I just hope they don't think I'm going to follow in my MIL's footsteps, though, and wait around for CSJ to come to his senses and realize everything he threw away. She did that with my FIL. They (finally!) divorced when CSJ was in high school, my FIL ended up marrying some hillbilly piece of white trash (sound familiar?!) who eventually divorced him, too. Then, he had the nerve to ask my MIL if he could come back. Obviously, she said yes, and they've been living together for a little over 14 years now. They're still divorced, but he has all the benefits of a wife. He has someone to cook and clean for him, do his laundry, haul his ass to doctors' appointments, etc. But, you know what, they're happy, so who am I to judge, right? My point was, I'm not going to sit around, ALONE, waiting until I'm in my 60s for CSJ to come back! I really, truly think there's a small part of my MIL that hopes that happens, only because she wants us to be together. Sorry, Ma, I can't do that.

Ta dah!

This is the pumpkin my son finished last night before going to the dance.
He'll be carving a second one this afternoon. I wonder what he's going to do with that one...

The dance was nice. On the way there, my son said something about how maybe he really didn't want to go, and so on, but I reminded him that two of his best friends were going to be there (because they have younger siblings that still attend that school) so he kind of just sucked it up. But, once we got there, he was thrilled that he went. I couldn't believe how many of the kids from his class were there. It was great to see them, since we hadn't seen most of them since June.

After the dance, we had to head over to my friend's salon to get our hair done. My son actually wanted to come with me and get his hair cut. I was a bit surprised, but I wasn't going to say no! Needless to say, it was a late night, and I'm very sleepy today. As a matter of fact, I'm going to play hooky today from work. It's a staff development day today, so the kids aren't there anyway. I could use a long weekend. And, I certainly don't have the strength nor energy to sit through one boring meeting after another at school today. I'm not in the mood to listen to the Big Cheese butcher the English language, either.

I felt bad for my baby, though, this morning, because he had a hard time getting up. He's gonna be tired and cranky all day at school. But, he can go right to sleep when he comes home :) He had planned to try and stay up all night, then sleep during the day tomorrow because they're having a Freshmen Overnight tomorrow at his school. The kids are basically locked in the school from 9:00 Saturday night until 7:00 am Sunday morning. They will have access to the pool and the gym,and they'll be watching movies and playing games. Apparently, the only thing they WON'T be doing is sleeping. He's excited about it, and I'm excited for him.

I was originally going to play hooky with a friend, but he just called and the plans have changed. Damn!! Maybe I'll just go to work....I don't know....crap, crap, crap! OK, I'm going to go figure out what the hell to do. Now I'm annoyed!!!

While I'm waiting...

...for my son to finish carving a pumpkin, let me quickly jot down a couple of things I've been meaning to share this week. On Tuesday, I had to cut the nails of two of my boys. Twin Boy was one of them. He had the longest, most disgusting nails going on, and he had started using them to hurt the other babies. He actually took a big gouge out of his sister's nose on Monday, and I told both of them to tell their mother that Twin Boy couldn't come back the next day if his nails weren't cut. Well, how shocking that he came back on Tuesday with his claws intact. So, I cut them!! It was nauseating, as they were caked with dirt and who the hell knows what else he dug out of his nose and ears (ok, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth!).

The other boy, A.B., just got glasses this week, so I'll be referring to him as Glasses from now on. This is the second time I've had to freakin' cut Glasses' nails!! WTF?! The first time I did it, it was because he took a chunk out of his own finger with his long nails. This time, I just couldn't stand to look at them another second. There was enough dirt under them to plant a vegetable patch! Ick! I asked him why he didn't ask his mom to cut them (like I told him to last week!) and he said that his mom didn't have any nail clippers. I was tempted to send some home, and I still may do so. Better yet, maybe I'll just hand them to her at report card pick-up day. If she shows up, that is.

Glasses also showed up Monday with a HUGE lip. It was unreal. I asked him what happened, and at first he said he didn't know. So I asked him again, and he said, "Somebody busted me in my mouth." Well, no shit, Sherlock! I asked him who, but he said he didn't know. Huh? I asked a couple more times, almost expecting/hoping he'd say it was one of his parents (I was already imagining the field day I would have with the DCF worker, spilling the beans about the long, dirty nails, the dirty face, hands, clothes, etc. But, then I came back to reality...) and he just kept saying he didn't know who. I had every intention of taking a picture of his lip, just in case I needed it later, but I didn't have my damn camera with me. Shoot! Now, don't get me wrong, I don't for one minute wish child abuse upon him, but if that's what is happening, I would surely want to step in and protect him. I'm going to be keeping a very close eye on Glasses....

I got yet another student yesterday. At least it's a girl, so my unbalanced class is just a tad bit closer to being balanced (9 girls, 14 boys) Yeah, right! So far, she seems like a sweetheart. The poor thing has been putting up with me butchering her name for two days. Needless to say, she has one of those very "creative" invented names, and I can't for the life of me remember it!!

OK, Sonny Boy is finished, and we're off to his old school for the Halloween Dance. I'll finish up when I get home!

OH MY HOLY HELL!!!!!

KBL is back!!!!!!!

Are you freakin' kidding me?!

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Hmm...it's 4:40 AM...

...and I've got nothing better to do. I just got home from working at the bar (good night! great tips!) and I discovered that I've been tagged (again!) by Jason. Thanks for trying to take my mind off missing my baby boy! I'm not tagging anyone else since I just tagged 7 people earlier in the week, and the ones I didn't tag are people who I know were already tagged, so I'm not going to tag you again. (You're welcome!) OK, here goes:

1. I played the flute from 3rd grade until I graduated high school. I can't for the life of me figure out why I stopped playing in college. Maybe it was the fact that I was too busy taking classes, and working full-time to pay for those classes, not to mention following two programs simultaneously. (Yes, I have always been a slacker!!) I wish I had kept playing though, and I have often thought about taking some refresher classes so I can start playing again. I was actually pretty good back in the day. I was 1st chair in high school and also played the piccolo (as well as my sister's clarinet and my brother's saxophone.)
2. I married my first "real" boyfriend. He was my first boyfriend, first kiss, first "everything." I met him when I was 17. We dated for nearly 6 years before we got married. We were married about 3 years before my son was born. I thought we had the perfect marriage right up until it was over. We all know how well that turned out! But, it did bring me my beautiful son, so for that I'll always be grateful.
3. I currently work three jobs. (Ah, the joys of being a single mother!!) Obviously, I teach kindergarten. My second job is site director for an after school program. My third (and possibly favorite) job is working at the bar. So, that means most days, I work 2 out of the three jobs, and that I work 7 days a week. All work and no play is starting to make ChiTown a very cranky girl! Especially on Saturday nights, since they are always 12+ hour days. I usually leave my house about 4 in the afternoon, and get home about 4:30 or 5:00 on Sunday morning.
4. I pretty much will ingest anything that is pumpkin spice or pumpkin pie flavored. This afternoon, I enjoyed a scoop of pumpkin spice ice cream from Baskin Robbins, and I had a Pumpkin Pie martini later. I think I'll indulge in a Pumpkin Spice Latte tomorrow (today?) from Starbucks. Yum!!! (It's now Sunday afternoon, and I have a pumpkin spice candle burning at the moment, so the house smells divine!)
5. I have one brother and one sister, both younger than I am.
6. I am addicted to magazines. It's probably because I never have a chunk of time to sit and read an actual book, but I can find a few minutes here and there to read a magazine. I currently have at least 9 magazine subscriptions (Playboy, Womans Day, Family Circle, Womans World, Everyday Food, Rachel Ray, Reader's Digest, All You, First for Women) plus a couple more for my son that I actually read (Highlights, for example!) Sheesh!! Maybe if I got rid of all these subscriptions, I could quit one of my three jobs!!
7. I am also becoming addicted to blogs! My 'favorites' list gets longer everyday (Welcome, Jason!) and I find myself wasting, I mean spending, more time every day reading every one's blogs. That's probably one of the reasons I've sucked at posting on my own this year. Last school year, I faithfully posted each and every school day. This year, I'm lucky if I post every couple of days, and it's not usually about school anymore :(

OK, Jason, I hope that satisfied your curiosity for now. As for the rest of you, these were probably things many of you already knew, so I'm sorry you had to read through it all. I'm off to try and go to sleep, even though I'm wide awake, because it's now 5:10, and the sun is going to be up very, very soon!!

Awww....

....this is what I found taped to the mirror in the bathroom when I came home from work today. Think somebody misses his mommy a little?

(under "I luv you!!!" it says, "plz recycle" with arrows pointing in each direction. I don't know what the arrows are for, either.)

My darling son hasn't been home in days. Let's see...he spent the weekend at his dad's, as always. I already told you about Monday morning, so I only saw him for about 5 minutes. I picked him up Monday afternoon, but he was promptly picked up by his father as soon as we got home. Tuesday morning his dad brought him home and I drove him to school, so we spent almost 30 minutes together, although I was getting dressed and making lunches during that time. Tuesday afternoon, his dad picked him up from school, so I didn't get to see him at all. Then yesterday, he had "Testing Day" at school, which meant he was done at 11:00. His grandma picked him up, then his dad picked him up from her house. I didn't see him at all yesterday. Today his dad drove him to school and his grandma picked him up again because he had a half day. Again, his dad picked him up there, so I didn't see him at all today. Tomorrow, he has the day off for Columbus Day (don't ask - Catholic school thing, I guess!).

So, bottom line...I haven't seen my baby since I dropped him off at school Tuesday morning. I miss my baby!! Judging by my after school surprise, he just may be missing his mommy a little, too. His grandma always stops here at my house after picking him up to let the dog out, so that's obviously when he wrote the note, and left it for me to find. Isn't he sweet?

He'll stay at his dad's now until Monday, when his dad brings him home for school. It's going to be a long weekend. I think I'm going to have him come home Sunday afternoon. I may or may not be having a birthday party here for my youngest niece, who will turn 12 on Monday. I told my sister we could have our family over Sunday night for cake if she wanted. (She lives in a small condo, so it's hard to have a lot of company) If she decides not to, then I guess my baby will stay at his dad's until Monday. Hmmm...maybe I'll beg my sister a little....

Clearly, I'm missing my baby too much to write about school tonight. I'll try and post a recap of the week tomorrow afternoon. As guilty as I feel for not posting every night like I used to, part of me is a actually a little happy about that because it means I don't have something to bitch about every night like I used to!

You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes. ---Walter M. Schirra, Sr.

I can't believe I'm going to write this...

...but I actually have something nice to say about CSJ. This morning, just like every Monday morning, he brought my son home around 7am. Usually, I'm already up and getting ready for school, but since I'm off today, I was still lying in bed. I wasn't really sleeping, but kind of in that in-between stage between awake and asleep. I heard them come in, and for once, they were actually trying to be quiet. I heard CSJ say, "Shhh, Mom's still sleeping. Oh, that's right, she's off today. That sucks that she has to get up on her day off to take you to school." There was some more whispering between the two of them. Then, I heard him go outside. I assumed he left. A couple of minutes later, I got out of bed, went to my son's room to say good morning, and he said, "Why did you get up?" So I say, "To take you to school." He said, "No, Dad's gonna drive me so you could sleep in. He's waiting out in the car." I almost fell over.

I still had to get up, though, because he needed lunch. (He's back to his "diet" so I didn't want him to just buy lunch at school, since that would mean chili-cheese fries!) A few minutes later CSJ came back in the house to see what was taking my son so long, and he genuinely looked disappointed that I was up. He thought my son woke me, and almost yelled at him for waking me, before I explained that I got up to make his lunch. He said he was just going to give him lunch money, and that I should just go back to bed. That wasn't going to happen, but I appreciated the gesture, nonetheless.

Perhaps somewhere under all that shit there's still a teeny, tiny shred of the man I used to love... Luckily for him, these are the moments that keep me from hiring a hit man!!

Thanks, Pops!

My dad just emailed this to me. I was finally able to stop laughing long enough to share it...

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had given their new wives duties.

The first man had married a woman from Louisiana and bragged he had told his wife she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning. He said it took a couple days but on the third day he came home to a clean house and the dishes were done.

The second man had married a woman from Florida. He bragged he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. On the first day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done and he had a huge dinner on the table.

The third man married a girl from Chicago. He told her that her duties were to keep the house clean, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything, but by the third day most of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye; enough to fix himself a bite to eat, load the dishwasher and telephone a landscaper.

Gotta love those Chicago girls .....

The Bully

(You should be able to click on this to enlarge it.)
I think I should make copies of this and put it in all the mailboxes at school. There are a few staff members who should post this in their rooms, where they can see it everyday. Just sayin....

Tag!

The rules:

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

OK, so I've been tagged by Suz. (I also stole that cute clip art from her, cuz I was too lazy to look for another one!) She provides me with my daily dose of laughter, whether it's through her blog, or just by the comments she leaves on mine! Love her! My favorite Suz comment of all time: "May they have a life full of venereal diseases."

1. I almost always leave my back door unlocked, whether I'm home or not. Yeah, I know, probably not a good idea, but I figure I have a very loyal alarm system to let me know if someone's coming in, so I don't worry. When I'm not home, I know he does a good job of guarding our castle. And, I'm too lazy to dig out my keys to unlock the door, especially since my arms/hands are usually full of whatever crap I'm bringing in the house.
2. I could live on chocolate. Seriously.
3. I still sneak into my son's room when he's sleeping to look at him, brush his hair off his forehead, and kiss him. When he's sleeping, he looks exactly the same to me now as he did as a newborn.
4. I love sending out Christmas cards! I usually start preparing around this time of the year. It takes me a long time to pick just the right pictures for the cards (I now seriously start thinking about my Christmas card pictures around New Year's Day, and stay on the lookout all year for a good one! Unlike my friend Suz, I do NOT take good pictures!) I send out about 120 cards, which is why I start now. They are always put in the mailbox the day before Thanksgiving, ensuring that they are received the day after Thanksgiving, thus kicking off the "holiday season!" I know, I'm ill!!
5. I really love to cook, and really, REALLY love to bake! Yet another reason I wish the weather her in ChiTown would stay below 70 all year! It's also the reason I just spent a fortune refinishing my basement, which now has a complete second kitchen (MUCH nicer than my "real" kitchen upstairs!) I can NOT wait to do my holiday baking this year!!!!
6. As completely exhausted as I've been due to working at the bar, I would quit my "real" job in a heartbeat and work there full-time. That is, if the business was established enough to provide me a salary, of course. I'm very much a "people person." I love talking to our customers, and interacting with all the people who come in to the bar. Our regulars are awesome, and just a lot of fun to be around. I know I could never completely leave my babies at school, but if I were able to do the bar full-time, that would leave my days free to volunteer at school, ensuring that I can do all the fun stuff, and not have to deal with all the BS. I'm hoping that by this time next year, the bar is at the stage where I can do just this.
7. I have a very sick, twisted, somewhat immature obsession with penguins. I've posted about this before.

I could probably list a million more weird things about me, but I'll save them for the next time I get tagged. ;-)

Here's my list of friends who will now curse me for tagging them - Smileygirl, Miss R, Christina, Carebear, Dana, The Girl Nextdoor, and Rabidparadise.

Lawd, I'm sooo tired.....

Went to bed at 5 am after working all night at the bar, then had to get up at 7 (!) to drive Stud Muffin to school for a Saturday detention!!! God, motherhood is the bomb!! I'm going to try to fall back asleep for a while, since I get to go back to the bar tonight for, oh, about 12 hours!!! Sadly, I know I won't really fall asleep completely, because I'm already afraid I won't wake up in time to pick him up after his detention. It's going to be a looonnnggg Saturday..... :(

Fantastic Friday!!!

Mostly because it's a 3 day weekend!!! Thank you, Christopher Columbus!

One of my absolute favorite blogs is Cake Wrecks. (Notice the link over there on the side.) You really should check it out if you've never read it. It makes me laugh every single day! Today's post is especially funny. Enjoy!
My little buddy E.B. looks, to me, exactly like David here. Except for the crazy teeth, of course. E.B. is missing most of his front teeth, so he's even cuter!! He has the same round face, and cute little triangle-shaped nose, plus those cute ears. I'm telling you, just like David! So, from now on, I'm going to refer to him as "David." You may remember that David came to me from a therapeutic school. He has kept me thoroughly entertained for the past 5 weeks. He says and does some of the funniest things of any baby I've ever had in my class. Remember the day he let D.B. into the line in front of him? There are so many other cute stories, I could create a blog just to tell David stories. These are the things just from today that I actually remembered to write down:

• We received a new student today (I'll bitch, I mean write, about that in a minute). David is one of the most friendly kids in my class, and New Boy was having a difficult time, so I asked David to be his "buddy" for the day, and show him the way we do things. So David says, very enthusiastically, "I'll teach him EVERYTHING all day today!"
• At the end of lunch, I chose David and New Boy to be the table washers. (I know, sounds like a punishment, but trust me, my kids fight over the job everyday!) I watched from afar as David showed New Boy where to get the washrag, then how to wash the table (so cute!) and then after he shows him, he says, "Ok, you do it just like that, New Boy." After a few minutes, he actually turns to him and says, "Great job, New Boy!" I swear, my heart melted a bit!
• As we came out of the lunch room, we were making our way to the stairway to go up to gym, and there were a couple of guys coming in with some sort of construction material. I had to tell the babies to please move quickly and quietly because we were making them wait for us. The men waited to the side as we started up the stairs. Naturally, David and New Boy were at the end of the line since they just came out of the lunchroom after doing their job. As I was walking up the stairs, I hear David say, "Hell-O PEE-ple, how YOU doin'?" (I was trying to show you how he emphasized the words) I almost wet my pants! As did the men, I'll tell ya! He's so damn funny and cute! Thankfully, they answered him back, because I wouldn't have wanted him to think they were laughing at him.
• When we got up to the fourth-freakin'-floor to the gym, as ALWAYS, David turns to me and blows me kisses as I tell them all to "be good and have fun!" He is just so adorable and sweet.
• At one point this afternoon, D.B. tripped over a chair leg and fell down. David rushed over to him to help him up, and asks, "Are you alright, Little Buddy?" I could eat this kid up with a spoon!

For seven years now, I've been asking/begging/pleading with the office to please not send new students to our classrooms in the middle of the day. If the parents can't get in and get the child registered before school starts at 9:00, then they should have to bring the child back the next day to start school. But, of course, the Hell-Hole does everything ass-backwards, so they have no set times to accept new students, they just let people register at whatever time they walk in, and then they send the kids to their new classrooms. So, this morning, as I'm in the middle of our reading block, the office interrupts on the intercom and asks how many students I had on my roster. I made the mistake of telling the real number (meaning, I didn't include the two that go to preschool in the afternoon) and I just knew that meant I'd be getting a new student. Damn it!!! Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, there's a knock at my door, and standing there is a mom and her two sons. Greeaaattt!!!

So now, I have to stop my lesson, meet and greet the new mom and her son, have a freakin' twenty minute conversation with the mom, all while my other 21 babies are supposed to be keeping themselves occupied. Yeah, like that's gonna happen! Needless to say, it completely upset the peace in our classroom, and it took several minutes to get them back under control. By this time, we had missed a big chunk of instructional time. Then, to make things even better, New Boy suddenly started wailing, saying he wants to go home. Well, of course you do! You were thrown into this crazy room with kids who were already in the middle of a routine that they know, you have no idea how to follow along or what to do, your new teacher is sounding like a big meanie because she's trying to get the rest of the class back on track, gee, why would you want to go home?

Ready for the icing on the cake? Today we had people at school from CPS and from the state doing a walkthrough! Yeah, that's right. And, when do you think they walked in? Go 'head, guess! Yep, you got it! Right in the middle of this chaos! So, here I am, sitting with New Boy, who's crying, the other 21 are basically running amok, even though they really were given something to do. Unfortunately, we were going to try a new center today, which I was in the middle of explaining when New Boy and his mom showed up. Needless to say, they didn't really have a complete grasp on what the hell they were supposed to do, so it seemed like they were wandering aimlessly around the room. What they were supposed to be doing was "Writing the Room," which simply means they walk around with their clipboard and paper, writing whatever words they see around the room. Normally, this is one of the babies' favorite activities, but like I said, they really weren't 100% sure of what to do. Now, here come 5 strangers into the room, wandering around, watching them, looking into every nook and cranny of my room, and, I'm sure, wondering why the hell we were writing when we were supposed to be reading. Gee, guess I didn't make a very good impression, huh? Oh well, fire me!! PLEASE!! I could use the break!

I'm sure I'll be hearing next week from our LLT about what the Higher Ups had to say about what they saw. Ask me if I care. Oh, never mind, you already know the answer. Hell no!

Another cute thing I heard today...One of babies (the last new girl I received) was trying hard to tell me a "story" during our reading time. I tried to ignore her for a few minutes, but then I firmly reminded her that it wasn't time for telling stories, it was time for listening. Well, when we moved off the rug to start our next activity, I remembered that she wanted to tell me something that started with "My momma said..." (That's usually a BIG clue that I don't really want to hear the rest!) I asked her, "Now, what did you want to tell me?" Confused look. "Remember, you started to say, 'My momma said...'" "Oh, yeah! My momma said that you are the bestest teacher in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!" Of course, she threw her arm up to show me how big the world is. Awww....and for the 2,385th time...THIS is why I show up at the Hell-Hole every morning!! Of course I told her, "That's because I have the best students in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!" She's another cutie patootie. I think a great nickname for her would be Sunny, since she's always got a sunny disposition. Always smiling, always happy, love her!!

Since I didn't work at the bar Wednesday because I had a Mothers' Club meeting, I'm working tonight, so I guess I'd better start getting ready. I hope you all have a great weekend. I know I will, although I'm not entirely sure what we'll be doing on Monday. For the past 14 years, we've spent Columbus Day at the pumpkin farm, since we were off from school. But, now that my son and niece are at private high schools, they don't get Monday off. Crap! For some reason, they'll be off on Friday instead. Weird. My younger niece IS off on Monday, though, so I'm tempted to just take her to the farm. However, the two older kids actually want to go, so I'm a bit torn. I've thought about maybe trying to go on Sunday instead, but I know I'll be really tired after working Friday and Saturday at the bar. I guess we'll just play it by ear. It's kinda buggin' me that I'm not even going to be able sleep in on Monday, since I still have to drive my son to school. Ah, the joys of motherhood, right? I hope the rest of you get to enjoy a day off with your families on Monday. Later!

My parents spent the first few years of my life trying to teach me to walk and talk. Now, all they do is tell me to sit down and be quiet!
-- (One of my boys wore a T-shirt to school today with this printed on it. So
funny!)

It's so crazy to me that I started this post at 4:51, like the time stamp says, but I'm just finishing this now, at 6:12. In between, I've done dishes, made dinner, fed my son, thrown a load of clothes in the washer, and had a snack. Women really are the superior sex, aren't we? ;-)

I may regret this tomorrow...

...but I've finally posted a photo to my profile. I have a feeling I'll be deleting it tomorrow, since I hate the way I photograph, so enjoy it while you can :)

Random-ness, continued...

Here are a few things I've been meaning to post about this week. Somehow, it became Thursday night and I realized I haven't posted anything about the babies.

Monday, one of my babies, let's call him Pretty Boy, was absent. When he came back on Tuesday, I noticed his hair was beautifully (and freshly!) braided. I asked him why he wasn't in school the day before and he just kinda shrugged, and had this cute little confused smile. I asked, "Were you sick?" Shrug, with a goofy little grin. Then I say, "Wow, your hair looks nice! Wait, did you stay home yesterday to get your hair done?" Suddenly his face lights up, and he proceeds to tell me all about how he spent his day getting his hair done, complete with all the details (where he went, who did it, etc.) Now, you can see for yourself how cute he is (sort of) but really, how screwed up are his mother's priorities!!? You keep your child out of school for a day to get his hair done?! Why didn't you do it over the weekend, or after school? Screwed up, right?

Same morning, Twin Boy and Twin Girl come in, hang up their things, then come to their table to read. As Twin Boy was turning around to talk (surprise, surprise, since it's SILENT reading time!) I see this:

Apparently, he decided to give himself a haircut the night before, at least according to Twin Girl. As of today, it still looks like this. I don't know if this is Dad's way of punishing him, or what, but I can't believe his parents didn't just shave his whole head by now.

OK, so the other day, I was out shopping and picked these little babies up for myself: An hour later, I had this:Let me apologize now to all of you out there who actually know how to crochet and/or knit. I know this piece is horrific, with it's inconsistent tension and stitches. Sorry. But, hey, I'm tryin'! I actually learned how to knit and crochet when I was a child, and I used to love to do it. I never really made anything of any substance, just a couple of granny squares and bookmarks, but it was fun, nonetheless. Anyway, now my old, stiff fingers are having a much rougher time than my young, supple fingers did. It's still fun, though. I'm hoping this ends up to be something like a scarf. I'll let you know...

Finally, the other day, I had to run out for something, and when I rounded the corner of the house to the driveway, I was struck by the most beautiful sunset. These pictures don't show a fraction of the beauty I saw, but these were the only pictures I could get of the sky through my neighbor's tree. Still awesome!

What a waste...

...of IMAX tickets. With less than 24 hours notice, we weren't able to make it to Navy Pier tonight to see the movie I won tickets to. Bummer! But, we did spend the evening at my parents' house visiting with them. My aunt (mom's sister) and my brother & his girlfriend also stopped by, so it was nice spending time together. For anyone who may be out of the loop, my mom just returned from 4 months at her villa in Italy. Yeah, rough, right? Unfortunately for her, she spent the day at the hospital today undergoing a battery of tests. She'll be seeing her oncologist in a couple of weeks for the results of today's tests. This is the longest she's gone between tests, because she was in Italy, so of course we're all a little worried. But, we're trying to keep only positive thoughts on the forefront!!

I had bought my mom a game called Wineopoly (yes, Monopoly with wine) as a Welcome Home gift, so we played that for a while. Really cute version of Monopoly, I must say. The playing pieces were a cork, a carafe, a wine bottle, a goblet, a wedge of cheese and a bunch of grapes. We didn't realize until we were putting it away that all the "property" cards had tons of info on the back about the kind of wine that was on the card. (Instead of properties, you buy wines - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, etc.) We'll have to read them the next time we bring the game out.

Today was an OK day at school. The highlight - there was a Subway fundraiser today, so I had a yummy tuna salad sandwich and Sunchips for lunch. Yay! Apparently, we're going to do this every two weeks. What a great idea! The meal (sandwich, chips and a drink) costs $5, and $1 goes right back to the school. My friend who runs an outside program within the school brought these people in, so kudos to Mr. C.! It was VERY popular with the kids, so it's a win-win situation for everyone. Another highlight of the day - Big Cheese was out! tee hee! Ok, I shouldn't be like that. He's actually being pretty decent this year. I'd better not press my luck with the universe by putting out negative vibes, right?

How lucky am I?

I can NOT believe it's happened again! It's a small one this time, but a prize nonetheless!! This email just arrived in my inbox:

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

You registered online for the IMAX Screening of Dolphins and Whales 3D, and have been selected as one of the winners!!

You are the recipient of a FAMILY 4 PACK of tickets to the IMAX screening of Dolphins and Whales 3D

The show is Tuesday, October 7th at 6:15pm.

Please read the following information carefully:
The movie begins at 6:15pm, and we recommend you arrive around 5:45pm
Show will run approximately 45 minutes.
Upon arrival, check in at the WLIT Table to claim your tickets.
The location of the movie is at the Navy Pier IMAX theatre (600 East Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611)
You have a (4) pack of tickets waiting in YOUR name. If you can not make the screening and would like to give the passes to someone else, please photocopy your photo ID and give it to the person going in your place.
These tickets are not redeemable for any other movie, showtime, theater or prize. The tickets have no cash value.
Thanks for listening to WLIT! We hope to see you at the movie!!!

Homecoming Pictures!

This is my son and his best friend. I call him my "other son," he calls me his "other mother," and they call each other "my brother from another mother." After I snapped this last night, I said, "Hey, I thought this was Homecoming, not the Father/Son Dance!" We've been laughing at their size difference for as long as they've know each other. It's actually not so bad now that his buddy has finally grown higher than my son's elbow!
Never before seen here on ChiTown Girl.....ME!!! I've never posted my photo (since I'm NOT the least bit photogenic!!) but my son looks so damn handsome, I had to do it! But, don't get excited, it'll probably never happen again!
His "date." Isn't she cute! There are some close-ups of them that I had us cracking up because all you can see is braces!!
The whole gang! All of these kids went to grade school together, and all just graduated together in June. It's great that they are so close. (No "couples" here, just buddies!) These 30 kids have always acted like brothers and sisters for the past 9 years.

After the dance, we all came back here to my house, and the kids just hung out. The girls put on some of my son's sweats and they all just kicked back. Another one of his friends came by with his cousin, and of course all the parents were here, as well. We had such a great night! Actually, while the kids were all at the dance, the parents all went to check out the bar. They loved it (Naturally!) and are already planning another "Parents' Night Out" at the bar.

The plan was to build a fire and make s'mores, but by the time the dance ended and we got home, it was too cold for the girls to stay outside. I think the temp dropped to the low 50s, maybe even the high 40s. No worries, they had just as much fun in the basement. I ended up putting some pizzas in the oven at about midnight, so they were happy! I think they all wanted to turn the night into a sleep-over, but the parents had had enough. I'm sure it had nothing to do with all the martinis that were consumed ;-)


So, my baby (and I!) survived his first Homecoming Dance! Yay!! There was one black spot, however. His father (aka the Cocksucking Jagoff!!) decided to show up at my son's friend's house when we were taking pictures, so that he could take some as well, and see the kids. I know, I know, what's the problem, right? Well, for starters, I want him to drop dead. Second, he's never been involved in ANYTHING my son has done for the past 15 years. So why the sudden interest? Is it because it gave him the opportunity to show off his new wedding band, which was prominently displayed on his ring finger? (Ask me how often he wore "my" wedding band. Go 'head. Let's see, all combined, including our reception, about 18 hours in 17 years!!) Or, even worse, was it because he saw this as some weird rite of passage? My son is becoming a man, so I'd should be there. God forbid!!! I will NOT allow my son to follow in THOSE footsteps, come hell or high water. Jeez, I feel a major rant coming on, so I'll just move on.


Since this will NEVER happen again, I'll leave you with one more little "treat." Enjoy! tee hee! (You're lucky I was having a good hair day! haha!)

Did you hear this?

This is just horrifying...and so sad, at the same time...
http://my.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20081003/48e598c0_3ca6_1552620081003-710956203

Less than one hour...

...til the Cocksucking Jagoff and the Homewrecking Whore become man and wife. I wish I could stop letting it bother me, but I just can't. My son just called to check in, and he was already dressed in his tux, and waiting to go. I'm the only one who thinks it's just wrong that he isn't his father's best man? I'm appalled. He's having his nephew be his best man, the same nephew who was our best man. Idiot! It's not like my son is an infant. He'll be 15 in a matter of weeks. Whatever. And, seriously?!! We're having a full blown wedding, are we? This is at least her 3rd wedding, his second. What's the fucking point?! The Whore is undoubtedly wearing white, I'm sure. I'd love to know which church agreed to marry them. Why the hell didn't they just take their nasty asses over to city hall and get it over with. Have the party, if that's what you want, why all the ceremony to go with it? Neither one of them can follow a commandment, especially "Thou shall not commit adultery", obviously!! It's a fucking joke. They've been "living in sin" for quite some time now. I just don't see the point. The only reason to get married at this stage of the game would be to have children. He keeps telling me she can't have any more children. So, why the marriage? So she can dump him like all the others, and take half of what he has? Not that he has much, but still. He's such a fucking idiot!! Ugh!! OK, I'm obviously not handling this well, which makes no sense. I don't know why the hell I even give a shit. Maybe it's because now that chapter of my life is unequivocally closed. There is no going back. Even though, that's not really what I want. I want my old life back, but not with him. Does that make sense? He makes my skin crawl these days. But, I want to be someone's wife again, I want to have a partner to go through life with, share things with, spend time with, grow old with. I think I'm feeling it more now that my son is getting older. Up until now, he's been pretty dependant on me, and my whole life could easily revolve around him without me feeling like I was missing something. After all, he's my baby, and that's my job, right? But, now that he's slowly pulling away from me, I'm starting to realize that I need to get a life of my own again. It's kinda scary.

OK, enough of the self-analysis. It's time to find some tequila and call it a night. Here's a little tidbit I've never shared - I've had a "boy toy" for about 8 years now. The past few years have been a bit on-and-off, but more on than off. We met when I was 33 and he was 22. Today is his 30th birthday (so I guess he's not a boy toy anymore, is he? A man toy?) I was really looking forward to helping him celebrate, but sadly, his father passed away a couple of weeks ago, and he's still not ready to be social. I feel really bad for him. I (selfishly) wish he was feeling better so he could help me get my mind off the CSJ. I guess I'll just have to make due with my sister and my brother's girlfriend, and lots and lots of tequila. I think we just might hit our favorite salsa club in the city (Nacional 27) and do some serious dancing. Hmmm, I guess that means I should probably go take a nap, huh?

Oo, one final thing. I'm supposed to be going to a workshop on Monday. My longtime readers know exactly what that means....a day off!!! My mommy is finally coming home Monday, so I'll have all day to cook and bake, and get the house ready for her homecoming. My darling son also has his second orthodontist appointment on Monday, so I'm a little afraid for him. It'll be his first adjustment, and I think he'll be in pain all week. Maybe I can make a few things that he'll be able to eat, like mashed potatoes, pudding, pasta, etc. I'm getting excited already just thinking about not having to be at work! I will miss my babies, though.

OK, naptime!! Have a great weekend! I plan to! (Maybe I'll post some Homecoming pics next week...)

Happy Birthday, A.G.!

The baby from my favorite family, The G Family, turned 5 today. I just realized that I haven't written about this, so bear with me. You may remember the G Family from many of my posts. The youngest has been in my classroom since school started. On the first day of work, I saw her name on my roster, which I thought was strange since I knew she wasn't really old enough to be in Kindergarten. Here in Chicago, you must be 5 by Sept. 1 to start kindergarten, and obviously she just turned 5 today. But, I decided not to say anything because I was perfectly happy to have her in my class. On the first day of school, I saw Mrs. G. and told her that A was on my roster, and she was just as excited as I was. Well, two days later, as I was swiping in, Mrs. J. in the office told me that central office sent a notice telling her that A wasn't old enough to be in my room. It also caught another little boy, D.F., who is the grandson of our security guard. I was so upset that they were going to be pulled from my class. They are both such dolls!!

Mrs. G. was so excited that first day when I told her I would leave A in my room, because that meant that all three of her kids would be in school full-time. She immediately started talking about getting a part-time job, and I was so happy for her. Then, boom, I had to tell her about this. But, I immediately told her that I would be willing to keep A with me in the morning, since the 4 year old preschool was in the afternoon. At first she was hesitant because she didn't want me to be "stuck" with A, but I insisted. Plus, in my eyes, the biggest benefit for A would be that we do all of our literacy work in the morning, so she'd be getting all the "good stuff" from kindergarten.

Mrs. T., our security guard, was also called in that morning to let her know that her grandson couldn't stay in kindergarten, either. She was really upset. Last year, D spent his mornings in the 3 year old class, but then spent all afternoon sitting next to his grandma's desk. Sometimes someone was able to come pick him up, but many days, he just sat there for over 3 hours. Poor baby! This year, his mom has a job, so there would be no one to come get him. His grandma was so upset. She didn't want him to have to do that again. Of course, I made the same offer to her that I made to Mrs. G. It was even easier to make the offer to her because her grandson is one of the sweetest babies I've ever met!

So, back to the point...today Miss A. turned 5 (finally!) Mrs. G. brought us the most glorious cupcakes. I seriously wish I had taken a picture so you could see how delicioso they were. They were devil's food cake, topped with chocolate butter cream frosting, with an Oreo stuck into that. YUM! And, they tasted as good as they looked, which doesn't always happen.

How sad is it that I posted about a damn cupcake today? Maybe that's good because I really don't have a lot of complaining to do today. Twin Boy drove me crazy, and almost lost his cupcake, but of course, when it came down to treat time, I didn't have the heart to keep it from him. I told him he earned it back because he was so good during our fire drill. OOO!! That's what I should have been writing about. Something is wrong with our alarm system, and so we had an impromptu fire drill today. (Then the damn alarm proceeded to sound about 10 more times before school ended!) My babies made me SOOOO proud!! They walked (instead of ran!) and stayed perfectly quiet during the drill, despite the despicable behavior of the other kindergarten. (I've seriously been fighting myself everyday to NOT write about what a cluster fuck that room is becoming!!! Mrs. W. needs to go!! But, I'll refrain from going into it any further. At least today!) They really made me proud.

Dorky Dog

I recently purchased dog food at Sam's Club for my beast. The bag I buy is a 55lb bag (yeah, LOVE carrying that thing!) and I store the kibble in a plastic storage bin. I was trying to awkwardly pour the bag into the bin, and as always, managed to spill a good amount of it on the floor. I was sweeping it up into a pile so I could put it into the bin (I just finished washing and mopping the floor, I promise) and suddenly Dorky Dog is right at my side, wanting to eat the spilled kibble. He's such a weirdo!! Of course, his dish was full, since I just filled it, but he wasn't the least bit interested in that. He wanted what was spilled on the floor, probably because he thought it was people food. We have a bad habit of calling him over whenever something hits the ground so he can eat it. He's better than a vacuum or a broom, that's for sure.

Home is where the dog hair sticks to everything but the dog! ---unknown

Welcome...

...to The Bus Driver. I discovered this blog a few weeks ago, and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it ever since. All of my friends in the education field should check it out, (as well as the rest of you!) because it's really interesting to see another point of view for what happens in our schools.

Just for the record, Twin Boy has been back to his old tricks again for the past two days. Ah, it was great while it lasted...Tuesday, the one boy who had asked to high five him the day before actually said something in the morning about how he hoped Twin Boy was going to have another good day. It was so precious. The morning was ok, but as the day went on, it got progressively worse. By the end of the day he was back to punching people. Today was a train wreck from start to finish. I can't even count how many times he hit someone, and he was disruptive all day. It was very difficult to get our lesson finished, because the other babies were having so much trouble hearing me. Plus, it's hard to concentrate on what The Queen is saying when there's a boy rolling on the floor, throwing things, yelling out, and so on. If only there was another adult in the room, it would change everything.

Another big "break through" with D.B. yesterday. I was making the rounds at lunch, opening milk, ketchup and mustard packets, and sporks. D.B. held up his ketchup packet for me to open, which I did. Then, he held up his mustard and very clearly said, "I don't like this." I almost had to sit down. I've continued to ask him to talk to me throughout the day. If he wants to switch centers, he'll normally come over to me, bang on my arm, and then point at the center he wants to go to. I'll say, "Do you want to go to ______ (dominoes, counting bears, links, etc.)?" He'll nod his head, but then I'll say, "Tell me 'I want to go to dominoes'." He usually will just get out "dominoes," but still, it makes me happy.

When Mom came to pick him up today, I told her about yesterday's sentence, and how he's come so far. She was so happy, and relieved, to hear it. She said D.B. told her "I have to get used to the other kids, Mama." So, naturally, I asked her if he speaks at home, and she said he did. Now, obviously, I have no idea what that really means. He's able to make himself understood without being verbal. I told her that I'd keep working with him, and I joked that I hoped soon enough I would be complaining to her that D.B. can't keep his mouth shut! :)

Why the hell does it bother me....

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