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 |  Welcome to Whatsit's Wild World. |
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Sometimes I think we're all tightrope walkers suspended on a wire two thousand feet in the air, and so long as we never look down we're okay, but some of us lose momentum and look down for a second and are never quite the same again: we know. ~Dorothy Gilman The Tightrope Walker |
| 1. We voted yesterday. Madame Flyswatter did NOT win, I am glad to say. She had been mayor before, and the incumbent beat her. She ran against him again this time, and I suppose there were still enough people who were displeased with her. He won 67% to 33%, or thereabouts. We moved here during the last year of her term, so we didn't personally know that much about her, but our neighbors, as well as other friends, had filled us in on all of her antics. I think the ones who voted for her must have been her relatives. 2. There is this one family in town: ooohwee. Just let me tell you. The husband ran for alderman. This man has three kids around the same age as our three kids. . We are familiar with this family. We used the same day care, our kids are in the same grades, our girls did cheerleading with their girls, plus the mom coached cheerleading one year. The parents are incredibly snobbish. All the times we have been on the football field together, even when she was the cheerleader coach and I was a parent of a cheerleader, they never spoke to us. All the times we have been at the day care and the school at the same time picking our kids up, they have never spoken to us. They are MUCH too good to speak to such as us, you understand. So, he pops up to run for alderman, and we said we weren't voting for him. I am pleased to say that Mr. Snooty-Pants lost. 3. There were nine people running for five alderman positions. Our former neighbor has been an alderman for four years, and he ran again. He is one of the nicest people you can imagine - his whole family is nice. He came in first, with the most number of votes. Of course, it doesn't make any difference, since it is a simple matter of the top five vote-getters winning, but that was still nice to see. Nice guys CAN come in first. 4. Emily's former teacher's husband became an alderman. Their daughter is also Anna Claire's dance teacher's assistant. Small-town America, that's us. 5. We can now take the sign out of our yard. In fact, I am thrilled that ALL the signs all over the town are coming down. |
| What I've been reading Wouldn't Take Nothin' for My Journey Now by Maya Angelou. Full Disclosure by William Safire. . . . and that's it. You would think that during the summer I would have a bunch. I read to escape stress, which evaporates when I'm not at work. What started today Today is my first day of summer break - officially. The reason I count today as the first official day instead of Saturday is because I'm off on Saturday anyway, and today is a "work day." What have I done today? Cleaned up my house and made a trip to the grocery store.  In other words, stuff that I usually spend my whole weekend doing. A good investment Oh, and guess what? I did what I consider to be one of the quintessentially American things to do: I joined the YMCA. Reason? My kids have been about to die to go swimming, and this Y has an indoor pool. Unfortunately, I won't be using the pool - the Whatsit body rebels at the mere thought of a swimsuit. The idea of a mere few sqaure inches of cloth separating me from the world is too much for me to contemplate in my elder years. Still, my husband can take them to swim, and that will get them out of my hair for a while. If I do go, it will be to use the nice air-conditioned walking track. That is my main argument with walking in Mississippi in the summer - too hot! Just as an example, go find the nearest sauna to you, and try walking a mile in it. I'm exaggerating, but not much. Another feature at the Y is the third Friday night of each month: Parent's Night Out! Hooray! I knew when I saw this interesting thing that I had made a good investment. I love my kids, but they are with me every minute, just about. I don't feel the least bit guilty about needing a break sometimes. Small town politics Our little town has been the site of much campaigning of late. The election is tomorrow. We have 5 alderman positions up for grabs, as well as mayor. One of the aldermen used to be our neighbor. Another one is the husband of Emily's second-grade teacher. So we know we will vote for them, but our other 3 votes are open to debate. I met one of the fellows when he knocked on the door, and he seems nice, plus he is an assistant principal in the same school district I'm in, so he's good, to my mind. Usually if we aren't here when the candidate knocks on our door, they will leave their leaflet stuck in the door. The other day, one of the mayoral candidates left a whole gallon sized bag on our porch, and we got our hopes up that it was something good. Guess what? We are now the recipients of an extra-nice . . . flyswatter.  I had about made up my mind not to vote for her, and that sealed it. |
| I'm tired as all get out, but I'm trying to wind down before going to bed. Anna Claire's dance recital was tonight. It was too cute! Anna Claire's group was really good - I was proud of her little self. But I have to admit that the ones who stole the show were the three-year-olds. They were dressed up as ducks, and of course they got up and did their own thing instead of what the dance teacher told them. Sam has a migraine headache. I wondered what brought it on. Probably the prospect of an entire summer with me. No kidding! He gets them on Friday night, when he's about to have to spend a whole weekend with me. He took a pill and went straight to bed. So, it's just me and the dogs, and the TV. Which is nice, kinda sorta. My mother and grandmother went to the dance recital with us. My grandmother complains about e-ver-y-thing. I don't care what it is, she has a complaint for it. We had gotten Anna Claire a little bouquet of roses. So, instead of "Aren't those pretty flowers?" she said "Y'all got too many flowers for that child." Do you know that stuff like that will work on your last nerve? We also got Anna Claire a little purple bear holding a pink rose. Matt actually picked it out for her, if you can imagine. He antagonizes her incessantly - the other day he told his daddy that he was aggravating her because he was bored - then he will turn around and pick out a cute bear for her dance recital. He's something else with himself. Emily's friend Alexa was in the recital. She didn't look very enthusiastic. I guess fifth-graders feel that they are too old to be in dance recitals. The expression on her face said "They can make me dance, but they can't make me be excited about it." I think my mind is about wound down - y'all have a good night. |
| As of right this minute, I have 15 hours and 15 minutes left before my summer break starts. Most of these teachers are just hanging around, waiting for the summer to start. We have long since finished everything, but the district has us here until tomorrow afternoon. I cleared everything off my desk, found something to spray on it, and wiped it down. That made me feel smug, having a nice clean desk to start next year with. I found out yesterday that two of our teachers are having a fling with each other. At least both of them are single. One is white and the other is black. I'm still old-fashioned enough to be surprised by this. Is there anything worse than somebody who WILL NOT quit talking to you? Especially when it is obvious they are not interested in you conversing back. There is a lady who visits our church sometimes on Wednesday night, and this is what she does. It annoys me excessively. I just finished reading one of the Newbery Medal winners, Walk Two Moons. It's classified as a children's book, which is why I like to ignore how books are classified. I loved every second of this book - couldn't keep my eyeballs off of it until I finished it. I feel sorry for adults who think they are too mature to read "children's books." They miss out on a lot of enjoyment. Miss Barbara, the children's director at the church is having a spend-the-night party for the boys tomorrow night. Matt is excited, and a little worried too, I think. But Miss Barbara is like his second mother. Plus her grandson, Jay Jay, will be there. Jay Jay is the same age as Matt - two days younger, and they are big buddies. So I'm sure everything will be fine. Now, if I could just get rid of my other two.  It's funny to think that starting tomorrow, I will be off for about nine weeks. I know it will fly, but I am going to enjoy every minute of it. Wahooooo! |
| I just went to the store after church. We got home at 9:00 tonight, after which I left to go to the store. I don't do this very often. I have to cook for Ladies' NIght on Tuesday night, and I didn't want to spend my Memorial Day at the grocery store with everybody else in town, so I went ahead and got it over with. I tried to call Sam to let him know I was on my way home, shortly after 10. He didn't answer. I tried again - still no answer. When I got home, he had laid his phone in another part of the house, plus the ringer was still off from church. He couldn't understand why my feelings were hurt. I explained to him that I may have had a flat tire, plus when he's gone, especially late at night, I make it my business to have my phone nearby so I can catch his call. He barked at me, "I SAID I was sorry," and I could tell that was supposed to be the end of the matter. I just shut up - he was never going to be able to see my point, no matter how much I talked. So, I think I will just go to bed and be through with this day. I hate feeling this way. I don't want to be mad about this, but I can't just snap my fingers and have the anger go away. So, I will just keep my mouth shut, take a Benadryl which I don't need except to help me go to sleep, and get in bed. |
| Today is the last day of school, both where I work and where my kids go to school. When I got to work, the Pre-K teacher was walking down the hall singing “It’s the moooosssst wooonnnnderful time of the year.” This morning, Anna Claire said “I have to bring myself to school this morning.” I know how Anna Claire thinks, so I said, “You mean you have to bring JUST yourself and leave your bookbag at home?” She nodded her head. I said “Don’t you bring yourself to school every day?” I should have known better than to try to use logic with Anna Claire – she just got a look in her eyes like “Mama has finally lost it.” Do you want to hear something I did? I used my husband’s comb on the dogs, then washed it and put it back in place without telling him. In my library at work, we sent out letters to each child who had an overdue book. One lady called up to the school and wound up speaking to my assistant, wanting to rant and rave about the fact that her child was swearing up and down that she had turned her book in. This is nothing new to a librarian. My assistant came back into the library and said “That’s the heifer who had a baby by my friend’s husband. I hope she comes up here and tries to start some mess about that library book.” I kind of hope she does too –we need some excitement around here. I have to finish checking in overhead projectors - each one I check in brings me a little closer to the end. |
| Emily, Anna Claire, and Matt all had Awards Day in the past two weeks, plus Anna Claire's dance class did a performance at her school. Four different shows on four different days within two weeks, so Sam and I had to decide who was showing up to which events. He went to the Awards Days for Anna Claire and Matt, and I went to Anna Claire's dance performance and Emily's Awards Day. The end of the year is the worst time in the world for two teachers to get off work. Anna Claire and Matt are still at the stage where their teachers make up an award for each student in the classroom. Matt got the Future Teacher Award. Can you imagine a goofy six-year-old boy getting the Future Teacher Award? Sometimes he reminds me of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, and his Kindergarten teacher is saying he's a future teacher? God bless his future students if that's the case. Anna Claire's second-grade teacher did something original: she took the names of candy bars and made awards out of those. You know the Dove chocolate bar? Anna Claire got that award because she's the class peacemaker. If anybody got their feelings hurt or anything like that, she was over there trying to take care of them. She used to be that way for Matt before he got old enough to be irritating. I told my husband that we needed to be glad the teacher didn't give Anna Claire the Airhead award, because she CAN be a little ditz sometimes. What is it about the middle child? Since Emily is in fifth grade, she got real awards - she got the Science, Math, Social Studies, and all-A honor roll awards. That makes me feel smug, that I produced such a smart child. And that's the latest news of the Whatsit kids. |
 Today is the last day for THE test. We have Math today - around 60 or 65 questions is what I heard. So we may be testing for a while today. Math is not these students' strong point. Neither is reading or writing for that matter. Oh, I shouldn't be that way. But it is what it is. Anna Claire and Matt are having field day at school - spending the whole day outside. They will come home nice and tired. Tomorrow is the last day of students coming to the library. Hooray! Then, two more weeks of school, but I can deal with that, since it doesn't involve fooling with other folks' children. After that, the months of summer stretch before me like a meadow filled with beautiful flowers for me to pick. I'm planning on coming to work one or two days a week just to get some things done, but the fact that it's optional makes it almost enjoyable. I've been trying to get off sugar lately. I've cut down, and I'm feeling somewhat better. Plus I'm back to taking a multi-vitamin, which helps. I have more energy. Also, I bought some comfortable tennis shoes for work. I decided comfortable was better than uncomfortable-but-nice-looking. I've been wearing my hair down lately instead of stuck right on top of my head. The first day I wore it this way to work, everybody at school bragged on me left and right, which gave me an extreme case of the big-head. I decided if I looked so much better that it precipitated such a reaction, I'd better wear it that way every day. It's not my manners to brag on how good I look, is it? Oh well, as I said before, it is what it is. |
| Emily was talking yesterday about the fact that she is better at math than at language. What got us on the subject was that she is taking the same test that my students at school are, and the test is divided up into Language Arts for two days and Math for one day. All of my personal kids are fairly straightforward thinkers - they think in a straight line, so to speak, and creativity isn't their forte. Yet. I was telling Emily that one way to inspire creativity was to have somebody give you a writing prompt. For example, if somebody said to write a story with three certain things in it, like maybe a wheelbarrow, a shooting star, and a little girl with red hair. She said she could do that pretty well, since her teacher had given them writing prompts before. It was thinking up ideas that she had a hard time with. She is pretty young yet - eleven. I was in college before I found myself able to think creatively, and then it burst out with a vengeance. Mine tends to come and go, for some reason. If I'm under a lot of stress, I clam up. Not just verbally, my writing clams up too. This happened to me recently, which is why I took a break from my blog. I kept finding myself just sitting there staring at the blank screen. Which I really got tired of pretty quickly, but my mind wouldn't go as far as to figure out something to do about it. I got pretty sick of my non-creativity. It's boring to me not to have my creative juices flowing. Doing a blog every day is my exercise in going back in the other direction. Right now, I'm just doing a blog. Making it interesting is the next step. The point is that with Emily, I found myself trying to explain creativity. Also, I used to try to explain creativity to one of my old co-workers at the juvie jail - a math teacher. It's not exactly explainable. What I told the co-worker was that writing a good story involved looking at something from a different angle: just take one step to the left and see what the difference is, then write about it. Not a very good explanation. Trying to come up with a creative explanation for creativity is hard. |
| THE test was today, or at least the writing part of it was. Reading is tomorrow and math is Thursday. I am the third grade hall monitor, which is a good job. Teachers who get assigned to a classroom are not allowed to sit down - they have to continually walk around to make sure there is no cheating or any other type of nefarious behavior going on. There was a monitor assigned to our school from downtown, and he spent the entire time walking around the school peeking into the windows of the classroom to make sure everything was going well, so the teachers in the classrooms didn't dare take a chance on sitting for even one minute. However, being in the hallway, I got to stay seated until somebody needed my assistance. If there was anybody who needed to go to the bathroom or ask a question about the test that's what I was there for. Not that I knew the answer to the question, but I'd go find the person who did know. The other good thing about being in the third-grade hallway was that I had to stay down there until every child on that hallway got through with the test. There were a few children in one classroom who didn't get through until 1:30 this afternoon. They had to pick the tests up and go eat lunch, then pass the tests back out to the ones who hadn't finished. Why was that good for me? No library classes! Nope - I was sitting right down at the end of my hallway reading a book. Have you ever had somebody that WOULD not stop talking to you? One of the custodians did this to me today. Ooooohweeeee, he would NOT go away, he just kept on talking. The killing part was how boring he was. He was full of boring, I assure you, and it kept spilling out on me. I even said a prayer that he would just go away from me. Finally he did. This is my major pet peeve: a boring person that insists on inflicting their boring-ness on me. The entertaining part of the day was the principal, assistant principal, and secretary getting into a shouting match in the hallway. I didn't see it, but I heard it - I figured it was some kids. If I had known it was adults, I would have gotten up and peeked around the corner to be nosy. The monitor from downtown evidently saw the whole thing, not to mention the kindergarten, first, and second-graders who were passing right by that particular spot to go to lunch. Now, what kind of example is this, I ask you? Such is life in an elementary school - who knew drama would be a part of it? I expected drama at the juvie jail. When I came to a "regular" elementary school, I thought I had lost all of that. I suppose any time you have personalities involved you will have drama, but it seems like professionalism should be in there somewhere. |
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Well, it is the time of miracles I guess.