Ultimate Peep Show

Yes, this is a repeat. This is now the third Easter season that I've posted this. But, come on, you KNOW it still makes you giggle!! Thanks again, Jen, for letting me steal it from you so many years ago!

Are you serious?!

The 5-day forecast from my favorite weather guy just showed 81 for Thursday. 81?! OK, I'm already feeling a little irritated. Didn't Mother Nature get the memo? It should never go above 75. EVER! Especially NOT at this time of the year.

Oh, wait, I just realized that Thursday is April 1st. Is that damn weather guy trying to play an April's Fool prank on me? Ugh! I'm going to try not to think about it today. It's bad enough that today's temperature is supposed to reach the mid-to-high 70s. (grumble, grumble, grumble....)

By 9 am...

...I had a load of clothes in the washer, one in the dryer, a roast (complete with veggies) in the crockpot, and a loaf of honey wheat bread in the bread maker. Can we say spring break!? :)

Hmmmm....are you listening, Powers That Be?

Gee, the "geniuses" who came up with No Child Left Behind should spend their every waking moment with this guy...


Thanks you, Michaele, for sharing this!

I'll be back soon...

...only one more day with the babies, then one day of professional development, until....

SPRING BREAK!!

Two glorious weeks away from the Hell-Hole!!! Maybe I can actually get back to posting daily. Wouldn't that be somethin'? The past couple of weeks have been pretty stressful at school, so by the time I get home, the last thing I can do is pull a post out of my mushy brain. We had a HUGE walk-through with the state yesterday, and then today, there were several visitors from CPS. New Principal went ape shit on the kids today at lunch. I'm still not sure what happened there. I'll probably have lots of stories for you by the weekend.

Reason #946 why I LOVE CHICAGO!

Yesterday, when I left work, my temperature gauge on my car said it was 67. My car felt more like 97 after sitting in the sun all day. I was a beautiful day, and again, my windows and sunroof were wide open before I even pulled out of the parking lot. I wish I could live someplace where the weather was EXACTLY like this 365 days a year. Well, ok, maybe 330 days, because I do love me some snow. The month of December should always be snowy, so we can have a white Christmas. But, I digress...

My point is, it was just a perfect day yesterday. Then, this morning, I got up to let Dorky Dog out, and THIS is what I woke up to: (don't worry, they're only a couple of seconds each)

In the time it took me to turn on my computer and upload the videos to my desktop, it started snowing even harder!

Believe it or not, in the few minutes it's taken me to put this short post together, it's increased again, but I'm too lazy to take more video. Plus, I realize that most of you don't really care!!! ;-)

I know I've shared this saying 100 times before, but if you don't like the weather in Chicago, just wait 5 minutes! Oh, did I mention that today is the FIRST DAY OF SPRING?! tee hee hee! The high today is expected to by around 34. But, don't worry, by next Tuesday, they're predicting 60s again. Woo hoo!

If you missed the last post, be sure to scroll down to see Stud Muffin's big, beautiful, BALD head!

The After Post

The Happy Camper at 7am, when we first arrived at school.
There wasn't time for him to get his head shaved before school (too many boys, not enough shavers) so he had to come back during his lunch. My poor baby. He only has a 1/2 period for lunch, and he spent the whole time waiting in line to get shaved.

I asked the woman who was shaving him to start off by giving him a mohawk, just so I could take some silly pictures for you guys. :) I LOVE that she left his sideburns!! I took these pictures in between taking video, which is below.

How hilarious is this picture!? I love his curly mohawk. It reminds me of fringe.

This cracked me up! She just went straight down the middle of the mohawk, making him look like a skunk!

This woman was a riot. She kept doing such silly things to his head, I assume for my benefit. I love this little, I don't know, what is it? A curl? A bang? A patch? Whatever you want to call it, it made me giggle.

OK, it's finally time to lose the sideburns. By this point, I had been laughing at him for a while, and the look on his face expresses what he thought about that, doesn't it?

Finishing touches...

And, voila! His head looks as big and round as the St. Baldrick's mascot, doesn't it?

OK, get this. One of the teachers at his school, Dr. German Teacher, decided to shave her head! Too cool! The stylist started out by dividing her hair into pigtails, then braiding them.

She looked so cute.

There are her two braids, which she will be donating to a foundation like Locks for Love. (I can't remember what it's called right now.)

Now for the really scary part - the SHAVE!

Doesn't she look stunning? While this was going on, the boys were actually in class, but there were about 10 girls volunteering from the sister school, and all of us moms who were volunteering, in the gym. There were many chants of "Girl Power!!" going on.

Ok, here's the video of Stud getting shaved. I realize it's probably boring to everyone who isn't ME, which is why I posted the photos first for you. You're welcome!

The event was a smashing success. This is the 4th year that Stud's school participated in this event. We were informed this morning that to date, the school has raised $229,000 for St. Baldrick's. Once all the donations from today are tallied, we will surpass the 1/4 million mark! Woo hoo!!

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Thank you, again, to everyone who made a pledge and/or accepted my challenge. I just pray that one day, this foundation and all it's wonderful work, will no longer be needed.

We're in the final hours....

Click here to donate.

....before the Big Shave. Thank you so much to those who have donated and/or linked this info to their blog. Stud didn't quite hit his lofty goal, but he still did great. Right now he's at almost $1,200. Yay! If you're interested in making a donation, but can't do it before tomorrow, remember that donations can be made even after this event. I will leave the link to his page on the sidebar indefinitely. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the after photos.

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I know I've been AWOL for a while, but there's been lots going on around here. If you read Smileygirl's blog, then you know that one of my uncles has been in the hospital. Things have not been good with him, but that's all I'm going to say about it for now, other than please send your prayers and good thought out for him.

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Actually, I had two uncles in the hospital last week. The other is an uncle on my mom's side. He's home now, but has a laundry list of things he has to go back for in the next month or so. And, where was he today when I tried to call him? At work!!! WTF?!? He needs to have 3 separate surgeries in the next few weeks, and he went to work! Oy!

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Last week one of my friends lost her aunt, who was more like a mother to her, so that's another reason I haven't really had a chance to post. This friend of mine is the mother of Stud Muffin's best friend, and this friend was incredibly close to this aunt. She was his godmother, and more like a grandma to him. I can't even get into all the details, but suffice it to say, this was a HUGE loss to both my friend and her son. Stud and I were with them for the entire wake, and then the next day for the funeral and luncheon. After the luncheon, Stud went back to their house and hung out for the rest of the night. Aunt Shari was far too young to have died (she was 62) and the rest of the week, I was really in a funk, and thinking about my own mortality. I was definitely NOT in a bloggy place.

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Things at work have been insane, but I'll have to come back later for a proper post about it. Let me just share this little tidbit, though. A little piece of me died today when New Principal pulled a Big Cheese. She put a memo in a mailboxes about some professional resource books that she has available, and she actually wrote "fill free to borrow the books...." FILL free!? Holy crap! It was like the Big Cheese was right there!!! (Believe me, this wasn't just a simple typo. It was written on two different memos that way, and at least three people read these damn memos BEFORE they were copied and then stuffed in our mailboxes!)

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The last few days with my babies have actually been pretty wonderful, so stand by for some posts about that, too. I already miss them, since I won't see them again until Thursday. I'll be volunteering at the St. Baldrick's event at Stud's school tomorrow. They have really been pretty damn sweet lately, and they all wanted bear hugs at the end of the day, and they all whined that they're going to miss me tomorrow. I stopped and bought them a treat for Thursday, assuming that they're going to get a good report from the sub. It figures, just when I'm start to REALLY fall in love with this group, we're about to go on a two week spring break. Don't get me wrong, I'm DYING for this break, but I'm just afraid that they're going to come back and we'll be at square one again. Ok, no more negativity. Moving on...

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On a positive note, it's been GORGEOUS here in ChiTown!! Today, it was about 65 and sunny when I came out of work. Woo-freakin'-hoo!!! The windows and sunroof were open before I even pulled out of the parking lot. I've been walking around without a coat for almost a week here, and lovin' it! One of my cousins from California, and his wife, came in over the weekend (mostly to visit our uncle in the hospital, but he said he came to see all his uncles) and of course, they thought it was a little cold. They were wearing coats and scarves, etc. Then, I walk in to my parents' without a coat on, and they thought I was nuts! This beautiful weather is supposed to last all week. Yay! Do you remember last week when I posted about the funny news tease? Well, it happened again last night. "Joggers, you'll be breaking out the shorts and tank tops this week. We've got mid-60s coming!" This afternoon when Stud and I stopped at the store, I did see a couple of nutjobs in tank tops. One particularly white-trashy-looking young thing was in a tank top, capri pants and flip flops. OK, it's nice, but COME ON!! Then, Stud made me laugh even harder because he asked me if that was tattooing on her legs, or just lots of leg hair. Tee hee!

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Well, that's enough bitchy-judgemental-ness for one night. I'm off to bake some shamrock spritz cookies to share with the other volunteers tomorrow.

Come on, you guys, do it for the kids!!

There's just over a week left before the St. Baldrick's event. PLEASE consider accepting my challenge (see post below) since it's a way for you to help without actually having to give a dime. Just spreading the word will make a difference. And, if you are in a position to make a donation, that's even better.

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Stud is close to reaching the half-way point of his goal. I know with all of you spreading the word, his goal can be reached this week!

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Click here to make a donation.

Shameless Begging

***I'm going to keep this post at the top until the day of the event. PLEASE accept this challenge. It's a quick and easy way to make a contribution, and it doesn't even have to cost you a dime. Check under this post for new posts.***
Click here to donate!

OK, Bloggy Buddies, prepare yourself for some shameless begging, or maybe you'll see it as harassing. Whatever...

There are only 16 days until St. Baldrick's Day. I gotta say, I'm really disappointed with Stud's tally so far. Last year, he was able to raise $250 in the first two days, which prompted us to raise his goal from $500 to $1,000. This year, we're more than two weeks into the pledge "season" and he's only at $275. Huh? Now, I realize that times are tough, and people just don't have a lot to give. Believe me, I get it. But, if everyone just gives a little, together we can make a difference.

So, I've come up with a challenge for all of you. This is all you have to do:

• Mention the St. Baldrick's organization and this event on your blog.


• Put a link on your blog to Stud's page (copy it from here).


• Leave me a comment, letting me know you posted the info and the link.

That's it! For every Bloggy Buddy who does this, I will personally contribute $5 toward Stud's goal of $2,000 (above and beyond my regular pledge) Naturally, if you also make your own contribution, that's even better!

I will leave this challenge open until the day of the event, which is March 17, 2010. I can't wait to see how many of you accept this very simple challenge. (I don't have a ton of followers, but if just each of the 46 I have accept this challenge, that'll be a donation of $230!) Thank you all, in advance, for your help and generosity.

--Let me just make something clear. I know I've mentioned before that Stud was the top fundraiser at his school last year, and that we're hoping to top his total this year. However, I want you all to know that there is NO prize, or anything else, linked to being the top fundraiser. His accomplishment wasn't even acknowledged by anyone at the school, outside of his English teacher, who runs this event every year. I would hate for any of you to think that I'm simply trying to "win" something for my son. This is just a cause that we both feel very strongly about, and we want to do all we can to help wipe cancer off the planet.

Potpourri

I've been scribbling little notes to myself all week so that I would remember to share things with you, but I haven't had much time to post this week. So, you're getting a mixed bag here today. (These won't necessarily be in chronological order - just whatever order my very old brain remembers them!)


Yesterday morning, during small group instruction time, I decided to pull my darling TN and another little boy off by themselves to work on their sight words with me. TN has really been working hard on these lately. Who knows, maybe someone at home has finally stepped it up and started helping him. I know Ms. H. has been spending a lot of time with him, too. Anyway, he's finally starting to learn our words, and knows more than the other little boy, Pumpkin, does. I was going back and forth between the two boys, showing them flashcards with the words. If they knew it, I gave them the card. Well, there are 22 words all together, and after the first "round," TN had about 15, Pumpkin had 4. Second round, TN had about 16, Pumpkin had 5. The game kept kinda going like that, and the boys were making me laugh so hard, I almost couldn't catch my breath. I was wishing so hard that I had a video camera running. I actually almost got up and went to get my camera out of my purse, but I was afraid of losing the moment. Pumpkin was really making me laugh. When I would show him a word, he would say, "Think, think, think!" while tapping on his head. It was hysterical!! When I showed him a particularly "hard" word (I think it was where) he kinda guffawed, then with a sweeping hand motion, says, "TN!" like, 'here, you take it, I don't know it!' I was almost on the floor!! I suppose this is probably one of those things that you just had to be there for, since I realize it doesn't sound so funny to an outsider. But, trust me, by the time we went to lunch, my stomach hurt from laughing. The boys were cracking up at me, too, because whenever they read a new word, or read a word quickly, I would jump and/or make a really surprised face, which put them in hysterics. The more they laughed, the more I laughed, and it was just a wonderfully vicious circle of giggles!



Let me give you a little background on how Pumpkin got his nickname. He and another little boy in my class have very similar names. They only differ by one letter (the last one) so needless to say, I ALWAYS call them the wrong name. A-L-W-A-Y-S. I bugs the crap out of me, but they don't seem to care one way or another. However, they know how frustrated I get with myself, and the other day, after saying the wrong name for the 20th time in one morning, I jokingly said to them, "You know what, I'm going to make up new names for you that I can remember!!" My little friend pipes up with, "I know! You can call me Pumpkin! I like when you call me that!" (Pumpkin is just one of my little pet names for my babies, along with Honey Bunny, Angel, Sweet Pea, and many more.) It was the sweetest thing. Even funnier, the other boy later told me I could call him Squash! Bwah hahaha!



Oh, wait, let's go back to my little session with TN and Pumpkin. At one point, both boys were staring blankly at a word, neither one of them able to read it to me. It was about 2 minutes before we needed to start cleaning up for lunch, so I was a bit distracted when TN said something that sounded like "..eee...uk.." Immediately, Pumpkin says, "I don't suck!" which, of course, caught my attention. So I said, "TN, that's not a nice word, or a nice thing to say." He looked at both of us like we were nuts, and says, "I SAID 'we're stuck!'" Well, that was it, I couldn't take anymore. By the time we stopped laughing, it was time to go to lunch!



I jotted down a couple of DIBELS funnies last week. Actually, one was from Pumpkin. I was giving them the test where they have to tell me sounds in a word. After several words, I said to him, "Tell me the sounds in 'smile.'" He looks at me, and just busts out into the biggest smile I've ever seen. I almost spit in his face, I was laughing so hard. This kid is awesome!



That same day, when it was AM's turn to take her test, she gave me this little beauty. I said, "Tell me the sounds in 'kiss.'" and she proceeds to pucker up and blow me a kiss! Oh, so cute!



I've had an email sitting in my inbox for what will be a YEAR tomorrow. It's some funnies from last year's babies, and I kept leaving in my inbox so I could remember to share them. Well, hell, I sent it to myself March 6, 2009!! Here goes...



Overheard during centers - "...then, when you get to be 100, you die!"



When doing a Star Word (sight word) test -- word shown=for, word said="THREE!" (Hey, at least the kid knew it was a number word!) word shown=a, word said="one" (HUH? Well, it IS the first letter....)



OK, there are a couple more, but I'll save them for another day. I wouldn't want to spoil you! ;-)



One more little funny from this week. Tuesday night, as I was lying in bed watching TV, there was a 'tease' for the 10:00 newscast, and the anchorman says, "We may be putting those winter coats away. 40s are headed our way this week. Get the full forecast here at 10." I almost willed myself out of bed to post this immediately, because it was so damn funny! ONLY in Chicago would you hear that, right? And you guys thought I was the only one!! We actually have had a wonderful week. It's supposed to hit 55 by Sunday, so I guarantee there'll be people out in shorts and/or flip-flops. There may even be a few nutballs out trying to get a tan. Oh, no, I am NOT kidding!! Fellow Chicagoans, back me up here!! I haven't worn a coat all week, but I know you all think I'm nuts anyway.



Don't forget to accept my St. Baldrick's Challenge!! (See above) and if you can, click here to make a donation. Thanks!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Like every other teacher who has a blog, I HAVE to do a Dr. Seuss post today. It's his birthday!!

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Back on the 100th Day, New Principal was all aflutter because she didn't know it was the 100th Day. When she saw my babies in their crowns, she exclaimed, "WHY didn't you tell me it was the 100th Day?!" (Yes, the bitch in me wanted to immediately say, "Well, if you had actually READ my lesson plans, you would have seen it written in all over the place!!" but I held my tongue!) She went on to say that had she have known, she would have gotten the babies some kind of a treat, because the 100th Day is such a big deal, etc. Since it was still morning, she said she would try and have someone run out and get them ice cream for the afternoon. Well, that didn't happen. At the end of the day, she said she would do it on Monday. THAT didn't happen, either. But, no big deal. At least not in my book.

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Later in the week, when I was doing my lesson plans for this week, I realized that Dr. Seuss' birthday was coming, and it occurred to me that maybe if New Principal really wanted to treat the babies, she could do it for that day instead. When I spoke to her about it, she got VERY excited, and immediately agreed. She then went on to say that ALL the primary classes should be involved, and next thing I know, I was assigned to facilitate a meeting with all the primary teachers.

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I have this really awesome kit I received from ComEd many years ago, at my last school, when we had a visit from the Seussmobile. Additionally, I bought a teacher resource book from Scholastic that is all about extension activities for Dr. Seuss books. So, I ran off packets of resource materials for each of the primary teachers. (yeah, for THIS, I was allowed to use the copier in the office. It's just work for the kids that can't be copied!!) At the meeting, I apologized to the others for inadvertently getting them involved in this celebration. I celebrate this every year with my class, but I have no idea which of the others usually did with their classes. I was afraid some of them might resent me for making more work for them. Luckily, they were all very receptive.

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New Principal took it one step further, and purchased a really cute Cat in the Hat costume, which our librarian actually agreed to wear for the celebration. She then came to school today armed with several sheet cakes and gallon buckets of ice cream. A schedule was set up for each of the primary classes to come down to the lunchroom and enjoy cake and ice cream at Dr. Seuss' birthday party! Woo hoo! It was a TON of fun!

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After reading a bunch of Dr. Seuss books during our read aloud time, we got to work making Cat in the Hat hats.

One of the books we read was One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Toward the end, it mentions a Zink (or is it a Yink?) that likes to drink pink ink. So, at lunchtime, I turned every one's milk into pink ink! (It's hard to see in this picture, I guess, but it was pink!) The babies were cracking me up because they all kept saying that "it tastes pink!" which is just hilarious to me. First of all, it was just a drop of red food coloring, hence no flavor. Second, what the hell does pink taste like, anyway? (Ok, Smileygirl, get your mind out of the gutter! You, too, C!!!)

How totally freakin' adorable is this costume!!? I wish I had caught the babies' reactions when she first walked in!! I can't believe I forgot to bring my camera down to the lunchroom with me. When the Cat in the Hat walked in, the kids went apeshit crazy! Luckily, Ms. H. was there with us, and she very graciously ran down to the room to get my camera. God bless that woman!! The little one in the bottom left-hand corner made me giggle while we were eating because he exclaimed, "Ice cream makes my brain freeze!" God, I love these babies!!

Here's New Principal with the Cat in the Hat. I almost think she enjoyed the celebration more than the babies. Oo, funny little side note - we had a very brief faculty meeting this morning, and the celebration was discussed. She made a very serious point of telling us that only those children who deserved to be a part of this celebration would be included, and those who hadn't earned it would be "sitting right there, watching every one else enjoy their cake and ice cream. So, make sure you really enjoy it, and make sure there are lots of smacking noises!" She made me literally laugh out loud! This is generally how things go in our class. When there are babies who can't participate in something, they sit on the side and watch the rest of us. I guess to some that sounds mean, but believe me, it gets the point across. The fact that she was encouraging this was just hilarious to me! In the windup, I had 6 little darlings that had to sit in the lunchroom and watch the rest of us party it up. Obviously, I wasn't the only one who had some sitting out, and New Principal made a point of acknowledging the fact that they hadn't earned this celebration, and that they had better step it up. She also let them know that more celebrations were coming, and that hopefully next time, they would be a part of it. This little pumpkin came to school with new glasses today. They were so stinkin' cute, I had to take her picture. This same little darling said, while we were having cake and ice cream, "I'm so happy, I'm gonna explode!!"

Wow, today was one of those rare days that reminded me exactly why I chose this career. This is what EVERYDAY should be like. I'm not talking about the cake and ice cream. (Yeah, ok, part of me is...that would be the large jiggly part that follows the rest of me around....) I'm talking about the excitement and joy in the kids. Hell, in the teachers, too! It was just a great day overall. I surely could use a whole bunch more of these!!

Why teachers get carpal tunnel syndrome...

This week, the babies FINALLY got to color their very own ABC Books. I say 'finally' because I told them about this project a while ago, and wasn't able to get the freakin' copies made for almost a month. Have you ever heard of a freakin' school that doesn't have a damn copy machine that works anywhere in the building?! OK, before I go off on that tangent, I'll move on...

This is a mini-version of the ABC Book I made and use every day with them. I can't take credit for the adorable pages, they came from a workshop I attended almost 10 years ago. We start using this book on the very first day of school every year. My "big" version has 8 1/2 x 11 pages, and I have both the capital and lowercase letter for each picture, plus the word for the picture. We start from the beginning, and at first we do it "I'll say it first, then you say it." Then I say, "A, aaaaa, apple. (They repeat) B, b, butterfly. (They repeat) C, c, caterpillar. (They repeat)" and so on. We spend a LOT of time with this book in the beginning of the year, and we go ever so slowly. I have them watch my mouth, and I give them little tricks and tips to ensure they say each sound properly. "Your tongue should be touching the top of your mouth." "Don't say 'buh,' it's just b. Remember, it's not a buh-utterfly, it's a butterfly." "Don't say 'puh,' it's just a p, with a puff of air." You get the idea. After a week or two, depending on the group is progressing, I start adding the corresponding ASL sign, which they always LOVE!

At this point in the year, we go through the book in random order, and they just say the sounds for me, I don't say it first. We mostly go through the alphabet once, for practice, each morning. There are a few kids, though, who still need to use the book in the same way we did back in August, as they are really struggling to learn those sounds. They don't have a lot of problem repeating what they hear, but they can not make the association between the sound and the letter.

Anyway, I told the kids a loonngg time ago that we were going to make our own ABC Books for them to take home and practice with. The fact that ALL the babies love this book made it very easy to not single out the handful who don't really get it yet. They were so excited when I finally got the copies made, and they spent almost two full mornings coloring the pages ever so carefully. I asked them to color their pictures as colorfully as possible.

Now, in the past, I've made these books with other classes, and I've let them cut their own pages apart. Sometimes we just use the pages as flashcards, instead of making them into a book. Sometimes I send the pages home so the parents can make the books/flashcards, however, most of the time, the pages never get touched. That's the sad reality with most of my babies' parents. OK, once again, NOT going off on a tangent.

This year, I decided we would make these at school (partly because I needed something for them to work on while I DIBELed, and I knew this would hold their interest long enough for me to get some testing done) and then I would cut them apart and make them into books. Doesn't sound like a big deal, right? Hmmm, have I mentioned I can be a little anal-retentive at times? No? Oh, well, yeah...this would be one of those times.

I wanted them cut a very specific way, which meant I couldn't even ask Ms. H., my parent volunteer, to help. Truth be told, it would have been too embarrassing for me to explain to her the anal-retentive way I wanted them cut.

So, that meant I had to bring the packets home with me this weekend. (I was only able to make one at school.) The first couple took an unbelievable amount of time, thanks to my 'issues,' but once I got into a rhythm, it seemed to go a little quicker. And, by quicker, I mean 20 minutes per book. Yeah, are you doin' the math already? There are 26 pages per book for each of my 23 babies. That's 20 minutes x 24 books (I had to make a sample book, of course) which comes to 8 hours. EIGHT HOURS, people!!! I actually spent 8 hours this weekend making ABC Books!

As I was cutting, I kept going back and forth between thinking, "Oh, it's totally worth it, the babies are going LOVE these, and they're going to use them every day, and they're going to learn their sounds perfectly, and they'll be reading like little demons...." and thinking, "Why the FUCK am I killing myself doing this?! They're gonna take these damn things home and lose them the first fuckin' night. Or, they're baby brother is going to rip it up, or their cat's gonna piss on it. And, even if they don't lose it, their lazy parents aren't going to practice with them, so what's the fuckin' point?!" (Yeah, so the throbbing in my wrist made me a little cranky. Deal with it!)

Here are the pages they colored
and here's the finished product!

Was it worth 8 hours of my life, and the use of my wrist? That remains to be seen. I'm going to think positively, and hope the babies actually use them the way they should. For a brief, insane, moment, I thought about having them make two books - one for home, one for school. But, then I thought about having to cut out 23 more books, and decided I can't do it. Obviously, I could let THEM cut out the second book, which I'm still toying with, so maybe it'll happen.

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I've also thought of 100 things I want to differently next year when we make these. For one, I will run the books off on cardstock, instead of regular paper, so the pages are sturdier. Then, I'd like to laminate the pages. I'm also thinking I will take the time to go buy binder rings to put them together with, instead of the brads I used. It'll make it so much easier to flip through the pages. Right now, the brad makes it hard to see one page at a time. I'm also thinking of perhaps blowing up the pages, so they fit two on a page instead of six, so they're books will be bigger, and then maybe I can bind them with a plastic comb-binding. It's amazing how much your mind wanders while doing annoying, repetitive tasks, isn't it?

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Know what else is amazing? That you're still reading!!! This is the longest post about nothing I've ever done!!! God bless my Bloggy Buddies!! I'll try to write a post that's worthy of your time tomorrow.

The world could use more of this...

Click here to donate!

I don't know if you've ever checked out any of the other blogs on my blogroll, but this one (Not Always Right) is one of my favorites. This was just posted a few minutes ago, and I had to share it.

The Wisdom To Know The Difference

(I’m with my wife at a well known fast food place, and they employ a young man with special needs who we both know and are very friendly with. An angry customer accosts him at the register.)

Customer: “S***, they’re taking so f***ing long with my food!”

Employee: “Just a sec, sir…”

Customer: “You’d better!”

(Not three minutes later, the employee comes with the customer’s food.)

Employee: “Here you go, sir.”

Customer: “Where’s the f***ing ranch?”

Employee: “Right away, sir!”

Customer: “No, forget it! You’ll probably slobber all over it!”

Wife: “Excuse me, sir, but this young man is doing his job. He’s not doing anything to hurt you, so how about you shut the f*** up!”

Customer: “F*** you, fat a**!”

Employee: “She’s a nice lady! There’s a baby inside her, and she’s not fat!”

Customer: “F*** you!” *storms out, upsetting some chairs*

Wife, to the employee: “People are so mean to you, honey. I’m so sorry, I can’t believe he said that to you, that a**hole!”

Employee: *grinning* “Don’t worry about it, Jesus and my mama still love me!” *walks away, the happiest man on earth*