Miscellaneous Missives

Today is the last day of August, and I'm ready to say goodbye to August. Of course I'll miss summer and going back to work has been a bit difficult, but when I remember August, I think of hot, hazy, and humid. Besides since I don't really have a choice but to go back to work, I am ready for fall. Let me give an example of how going back to work has been difficult. This morning on my drive to work, I was tired and groggy. At one point, I was confused at my location. As I looked at the road wondering if they had switched the 35W route again, I realized I had not gotten over a lane and was on 62W. Oops! Tonight I plan on going to bed a little earlier in order to be awake for my morning drive.

Is posting two political cartoons a lame post? Perhaps. It's 6:15 am, and it's possibly the earliest I've been up in a couple of months. My brain is not fully functioning, but my guess is it's functioning at a higher level than it will when I return home this afternoon. I'd also like to state that I think many teachers will also have a withdrawal from electronics as we return back to school. The other night this crossed my mind as I was reading on my iTouch, texting, and playing Scrabble online.

This morning I awoke to a thousand school related thoughts screaming through my mind. Before I went to church, I sent out four school related e-mails. During church I made a lists of school related tasks to get started today. I wanted to have a bit of a start before I entered school tomorrow since I tend to talk too much instead of working during workshop week. I also am prepared on the school lunch bag front. After three years of my old lunch bag, I bought a new bag. It even has its own napkin. Perhaps it was a bit more expensive than I wanted, but the other looks dirty even when it's clean. The new bag is fun and eco-friendly . My car is packed with my school supplies while my school bag is packed with my computer and notes. I am physically ready for school if I could only get emotionally ready. Let's be honest. I function well without a job in every way except of course financially.

This is a true story. Today while I was getting my hair done, S called over the lady who does massages. She also lives near my dad's place, so S thought I would like to hear the story. S asked her to tell me about the buffalo head. It seems my dad's neighbor's kids were home (I'm assuming they're in their teens or older) when I man pulled up with a buffalo head, fur and all... Supposedly they don't know this man. He asked if he could leave it, so the blood could drain out and the ants (or whatever) would eat the carcass (fur, eyes, etc.). These kids let him leave it without getting his name or number. At this point in the story, if not at least twice before, I ask if they called the cops. No, no one has called the police or any authorities. She continues by saying that the man said he shot the buffalo because it was in with his cows. If this is true, and I'm sure it's not, he should have a place to let the buffalo head sit be eaten to the bone. W...

This plant was loaned to me over the summer because I really liked it. Because my cat also liked it, it had to live outside on the deck. Now I would like to get it into better shape, so it can come inside (at school away from the cat). It has many issues although I'm not sure that it was in perfect health when I received it. I'm scared to repot it because I'm not sure what it is or how it works. The entire plant obviously isn't dead because the new green shoots are fabulous. When I tried to take a piece to grow roots, nothing happened. Maybe I wasn't patient enough. Please give me advice. What can I do to save this fabulous plant, whatever it's name. Any suggestions?

I've been thinking about clearing out some of my books. My devotion [ Sacred Journeys; A Women's Book of Daily Prayer ] gave me the impetus I needed. "What are you being challenged to let go of, materially and/or spiritually in order to lighten your step?" it questioned. Today at 12:30pm when the temperature was 69º, I decided it would be the perfect opportunity. It didn't take long to clear 54 books from my shelves. Now I have room for new books, and The Steeple People Surplus store has more books to add to its collection.

Next week Monday is the official time when teachers in my district are to start back to school. As in most districts, teachers in our district often report early to prepare for the new year. Even though I am teaching out of a new textbook next year, I have done a superb job of ignoring school this summer. Well, of course I've read numerous young adult books, but I've ignored the rest of it. It may be a valid point that since I don't teach much out of the texts I didn't really need to look at the texts, but I still need to look at the materials. The point still remains that while many teachers have already been planning and working on their room this summer, I've abstained until today. Today, however, was productive and fairly painless. A colleague and I went in to separate the multitude of boxes containing new language arts materials into grade levels stacks, so the janitors could deliver them to the correct rooms. We also spent a little over two hours plann...