Unexpected surprise

Ok, see, THIS is why I work for the school district, however, I must say, that this large of one rarely closes. Hardly ever. Some winter days every district within 50 miles of here will be closed, but we'll still be open, sloshing through the ice and snow. But today, we are in the center of a bullseye of a storm that's heading up here through the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. POW! So, while my husband trudges off to his job at the state office building downtown, I'll be here at home, enjoying NOT getting out. The coffee is perked, and so am I. To top things off, it's PAYDAY. You get paid once a month, you get an unexpected day off-and they fall on the same day-life does not get better than this! (Unless it happens to be your birthday too.)

The staffing that was scheduled for today will be rescheduled. The testing that was scheduled for today will be rescheduled. And I'll be a day or more behind. My schedule, so carefully written in my calendar last Monday, is outta here, like a school psychologist at the end of a mandatory training session on a Friday afternoon.

Ok, I'm done. All the rest of you hard working people, who have to report rain, shine, snow or no snow, ice or no ice, get out there! {And have a GREAT day. (Ducks to avoid blows raining down on my head.)}

What to do with lemons

I just want to say that I LOVE hearing from all of you who are checking in to read this trivial blog, and to comment. Patzoo, it was nice to hear from you, and yes, you ARE a talented writer! I know you are a little skittish of publishing for everyone to view, but you are creative and have a lot to offer. And Fraser's Girl, well! Thanks for letting me know that things are just "heavenly" with you-especially since you're married to an angel...how was the Prime Rib for T Giving dinner? Jessica, good to hear from you as well, I hope to get to know you better. My friend Candice-are you feeling better? I have fond memories of classes with you-you made me laugh and not take myself too seriously. You are too cool. For those of you who read this blog and have invited me to read your myspace, I really like blogspot better because you don't have to sign in. If you'll send me a link where I could view your blog without having to sign in to myspace, that would be great.

I haven't said too much about my job, but hope to as time goes on. I can tell you that I really really like what I do. It's a challenge, it's rewarding, it's interesting, it's different every day. Although school psychologists are trained to do more than assess eligibility for students to be served in special education, that's really what I do most of. I also enjoy meeting with parents (for the most part) and visiting with them about their child's needs. I'd like to do more consulting work-that's where I feel school psychologists can be more useful than people give them credit for. This week I have 3 staffings scheduled-the one today was a "happy" staffing-the child was doing quite well so we dismissed him. Another staffing tomorrow may not be so happy-I tested a child for eligibility in the "gifted" program, and although the child is functioning well at a high average level, they just don't meet the qualifications for gifted. I think parents will be ok with it, but it's always tense to explain that "Although your child is WONDERFUL, and BRIGHT, and CREATIVE, blah blah blah..."

Thought for the day: When life hands you lemons, chunk 'em down your reeking garbage disposal and get a bowl of ice cream and a bottle of chocolate syrup.

A Dream

Because I'm sort of a practical person, (my siblings would disagree, but I really am), I don't place a lot of stock in dreams. We all have them, they can be kinda weird, but I don't look for hidden meanings. Mine are usually too entertaining to be deeply philosophical. However, last night, I vividly dreamed about my oldest son. I had taken him to a place I used to play as a child and we stood at the top of a high berm looking down a very steep side. It was made entirely of sand. My instructions to my oldest son were to "slide down". Then I turned and walked away. Keep in mind that he's an adult now, (albeit still living at home), but in this dream he was maybe 6 or 7. I went home, and forgot about him. Later, I realized he had not come home and and went looking for him. When I found him, he was several years older. I asked him if he made it down the hill ok. He said, "Yeah. I went down on my knees, and it HURT, but I made it." I stood there thinking, I would have gone on my rear end, but you, of course, chose the odd way to do this that no one else would have.

That's my oldest son. He chooses to learn life's lessons the hard way. He will be 25 in December and I'm ready for him to slide down the mountain once again in pursuit of a life that doesn't use my washer and dryer. His latest plans are to move in March. Looks like it may happen, and I couldn't be happier about it. Get going son!

Sunday PM

It's a nice Sunday afternoon. Dishwasher is running, my daughter is dinking around on my keyboard, I've had lunch, now I'm getting ready to take a little nap before choir practice. I'm thankful for a job with weekends off, for children who I have good relationships with, for a spouse who works many hours a week at 2 jobs, and for my old car, "Hoss", who starts for me every time (except for once when I ran out of gas).

Hope your Sunday afternoon is going well. I have a lot of work to do this week, but I'm not thinking about that just yet. Monday will be here soon enough.

Just Drivel

Happy day after Thanksgiving...for those of you going shopping today, well, good luck with THAT. I refuse to go shopping the day after T Giving, although, I confessed to someone a couple of days ago that back when my kids were kids, in the late 80's I once stood in line at a Target store at 5:00am in order to purchase Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys and figurines. It was crazy then, and it's crazy now. Here in Wichita, people were camping outside a Best Buy here last night in order to be the first in line when the store opened at 4:00am to nab the latest electronic whaddya call it. It's crazy, I tell ya.

So, a nice day here. Sunny, maybe 60 degrees. I'm finally working on my little piece of earth in the front of my house that last spring, I tried rather unsuccessfully to turn into a spot for "eye-catching beauty". The cannas I planted grew about 10 inches and quit, never blooming-it was too hot and dry for them. The petunias perished in the heat. But the ornamental sweet potato vines did fairly well. I was hoping they would choke out the weeds, but no such luck. After Round-Up, black plastic, digging, and more Round-Up, sticker plants STILL grow there. I can't let them win, but I don't know what else to do to kill them off. I may try a "pre-emergent" some sort of weed-i-cide early spring.

I'm thinking next summer, since it's in the sun, perhaps, just perhaps tomatoes would do ok there, but who grows tomatoes in the FRONT of your house, and not only in the front, but out by the curb? I guess I could. Somehow I have the false notion that veggie plants belong in the BACK of the house. The front is for, well, flowers, and bushes, and nice looking things.

"Count your blessings, name them one by one..." They are old words, but timely. What are you thankful for?

Relief

I cannot descibe how I felt after getting this blog up and running. I mean, I KNOW there's not many people who read it, but my goodness, I almost felt what could only be described as relief. I think I have just missed writing. My friend Julie tells me she's taking a creative writing class at the college she works at. I've never done that, but I've thought about it. I think I didn't take the class when I was going back to school because I was afraid I would fail it. Plus, there's a certain vulnerability when you let people read your stuff.

I looked back at this blog and read from the very beginning. There were one or two entries I thought maybe could possibly approach what a real writer might say. If I can pull you in and help you experience a little of my emotions when I write about Kansas sunsets and supper on the stove, then I've met my objective.

I'm here...

Well, I haven't post since June. That's right. Almost six months ago. I've updated my headings and all that stuff. Hey, I'm like a real psychologist now, and (do real psychologists say "like"? I'm sure we don't, but oh well) so I will begin posting once again for those who care to read.

We're almost ready for T Giving break-tomorrow's the last day of school this week. Most everyone on staff at both my schools is looking forward to this vacation-and I am too, sort of, but I know what waits for me when I get back. Yeah. What waits? Well, let's just say that the job will be there when I get back.

I am at two schools, as opposite as you can get-but that's a good thing. My days are always interesting, always varied, and, one of these days, when the pressure isn't quite so great, I'm hoping the job will be fun. It better be. My school loans are now in repayment status-I knew this day would come. You won't believe how old I'll be when they are all paid back. IF I take as long to pay them back as the Academic Loan Group wants me to. Let's just say that when I write the check for the last payment, there probably won't be paper checks anymore and I'll be fortunate if I'll even remember what I went to school for.