Happy Birthday to my most Beautiful Le!

After whom my baby girl is named.

Today (or maybe tomorrow, depending on when you read this), thirty years ago, your mom witnessed the miracle of your birth - because you were not supposed to be - and yet you were...

And how lucky we are all because of this small miracle of Science and Nature and God (mostly God, I'd say)...

For who would bring such beautiful music to so many? Through voice, piano, and I think flute at one time? 

And who would write about Sondheim? Or at least, who else would interest me or provoke me to want to read about Sondheim?

And who would be the best ear for little SB for the last eight years?

How lucky for me to have such a gentle and understanding friend who has taught me about the importance of boundaries, families, fine foods, and tenacious perserverence - slow and steady my dear friend - we could not be more opposite! Yet, how I admire your approach.

Happy Birthday to the most beautiful woman I know! May you teach e about many things - but I hope most of all you impart your love of all things Art --

May you feel young and vital on this day! (wasn't it your mom who said way into our fourties we are at our primes?!)  Let's live by that!

xoxo,

SB,

JB,

Goddaughter-to-be-, e.

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Oh - It's like I have to pee so Badly and the toilet is still five minutes away....

The end is nigh -
Oh it is so close -
And yet I am still running like a bat out of hell...
This week is a crazy one: my brother from out West is coming today and leaving on Saturday: so I must squeeze in two good visits! And it's only me around here for three days and two nights: just call me single mom. So (and I know many do this daily, so bare with me....)I will have to run after school to pick up my little girl from one side of town, grab all her necessities and fly across town to meet up with my family - and I will do this twice...

hm. Sounds fun - huh? Well, I figure, sleep and relax when I am dead, right?

And then once the week of winding down my classroom, and trying to tone down my students, I will be off to D. to spend time with le and family on her 30th birthday! A milestone, indeed!!! We are all excited to go and see le's and Nh's digs - e talks about it nightly before bed: last night it was is it four more sleeps mama? No dear, five more sleeps.... and her response? But I can't wait that long! ....(I know, pretty amazing language for a nearly 15 month old, right?)

And seven more days of school - trying to fill the days with structure and calm....wish me luck!

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slam poetry teacher philosophy

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The Marathon Continues....

Not that you care, but here's the to do list before June 30th's debacle at Barney's...

1. Finish marking tardy assignments...

2. Call parents of students who did not hand in assignments...

3. Pull off talent show that is a thorn in my side for Tuesday (including dress rehearsal and many behind the scenes things that students were supposed to do but didn't - try to keep my head on straight and my frustration level low).

4. Compile final marks.

5. Write report cards.

6. Present final day Paraliturgy last day.

7. Student Parliament dance last day.

8. Serve two class lunches...

9. Do something special for Parliament...

10. OSR's...UGH> filing....

11. Lesson plan.

12. Take care of 39 grade sevens while the grade eight teachers are away at O.T.

13......family, baby, you know...

14. Get healthy...

15. Get ready for le' big 3-0. in D. O. !!! woot woot! what to bring....?

16. Sleep.

17. See my big bro for the first time in five years!!!

18. Go three days without hubby and not jump out of my skin for the entire duration...

19. Do all house stuff while hubby is away...

20. Stay in the present rather than thinking of all that has to be done...I find the most successful people I know do this: and they are usually the least stressed (or appear to be)...

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Getting My Hair Did...

To me, there is nothing more refreshing and uplifting than a good ol' fashion trip to the salon.

Truly.

I am a huge fan of hair.

And an even huger fan of getting it done.

I love the hair wash, followed by the scalp massage.

I love getting it trimmed or cut and wondering what the final product will be.

And I LOVE getting it blow dried (because I am far too lazy to do that one myself!)!

It's been a trying two years, though, as I've been in search for my new stylist (my ex-best-friend, the one who has no nice things to say about me, yah, she was my old hair-stylist).

And I have certainly paid my dues for any wrong I've ever caused her - I have yet to find a better stylist for me.

Yup.

I bet she'd love to hear that.

But I may have stumbled upon her (my new bestest hair stylist, that is) today.

It's a rarity, I think, a good hair stylist. Truly.

And one should really strive to have good hair. For real. Hair is an expression of one's self and how one approaches dress, etc.

And I want my hair to do that: to reflect the stylish and sophisticated, though feminine and soft version of me I want others to see...

You know.

But it hasn't and doesn't often look like that.

Until today.

And after an exhaustive week of chasing students and organizing too much school crap - and heading into my long week of report card recording, I needed this reprieve. This light in the dark...

And so, my friends, on this my favourite day of the week, consider me calm and cool and collected...

Because I just came back from my favourite luxury - getting my hair done by a proper stylist who uses only the most proper techniques and who works a prestigious, though reasonably priced salon (that has free parking I might add).

And now, I might take my lap of luxury further and go to sleep EARLY.

Ha. We'll see.

Happy Hair Day ALL! And to all, a good night!

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feeling very much compressed....

Okay - so jb is now working from 6am until four, which means I now get e ready for daycare, which means getting me ready (takes a while); then getting food into me (also a feat); then waking and dressing e; finally feeding e (a very interesting and challenging early morning endeavour); and once that job is done, I rush to get to my carpool buddy then to work when my day really begins! And I am still running: getting my lessons ready, my materials for said lessons all ready, organizing technology for lessons; running and getting whatever else I need to do or say before the day begins (didn't it already begin???) - all this happens in a condensed fifteen minute period...

And then the day starts to really propel itself and I must teach math then language then religion then geography and art and drama - and in between teaching eloquent and inspired lessons, I am organizing talent shows and sports days and breast cancer research fundraisers - and in between that, I must keep students in to finish work, to do consequences, to show me some something, to clean boards, or whatever...

Oh and somewhere in there I must eat.

Then bam: it's three thirty and students are gone: lessons taught, work collected, parents called, students harassed for not handing in assignments, work marked, relationships made....

And I have fifteen minutes to get my class in order for the next day before I drive carpool buddy home - and then I rush to my home to feed e by five and play with her and do the dishes (jb luckily makes dinner) and and then get her to bed and then mark mountains of work and then and then...

tv maybe?

but usually a collapse into bed...

And repeat.

Phew.

I am tired.

But I do feel vital.

I am just feeling there is not a lot of breathing room right now...

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MTV Movie AWARDS: JLo and Tom Cruise - in case you missed it! PRICELESS!

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Report Card Hell.

http://www.goltv.tv/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/reportcard.jpg

If you are a teacher or know a teacher, then you've either been, or at least glanced at the inferno that is Report Card Season. Oh yes.


(did you hear that echo???)!






And usually I am alright with report cards. Alright. Not good. Not okay.


Alright.


But this year, not so much.


Seems I must have deleted my trusty old report card file during my breezy days on maternity leave....Why would I ever need that file again???!!! DUH!!! - and with it went my report card link, all my comments, and a whole lot of my report card comfort and calm...


Yup - it was, afterall, my resource - my go-to stash of all-things report card....


And now it is somewhere in Internet Abyss...just floating around for no one to use.


So what did that mean for me tonight upon realization of said stupid-ass deletion of hyper-important file?


Um...


Let's see.


One hour of me sweating over my computer trying to figure out why my browser kept collapsing on me every time I tried to get into important report card site - you know the one in which I MUST WRITE MY BLEEPING REPORTS??!!


Um. Yah.


After an hour of my own blind trouble-shooting, I heaved a huge sigh and felt a new weight settle on my shoulders and clamp a nice vice around my brain.


Because I knew that the only step I could logically take for fear of yet again messing up jb's machine, was to ask jb for his help.


Now jb is many things, but he is not patient.


And he values his lazy evenings doing what he wants.


And he hates my computer illiteracy.


So add those already negative points up and what do you have?


A very fearful and nervous sb who has to do report cards but does not want to face the rath of jb...


But I did.


It only took a few hundred expletives and an hour and a half of trouble-shooting (during which time he reminded me over and again why my board is shit and his is awesome)...


And I sat near by, but just far enough...Feeling the pins beneath me - frustrated that we both had to be dragged into this huge, seemingly needless, time suck...


And after a lot of deleting, downloading, add-ons, java this and orcha that....


I was in.


Great.


Just Great.


The only thing worse than wasting an hour and a half of trying to attain some innane goal?


Is when the goal itself sucks just as badly as the time suckage it took to get to it...


A circular cycle of annoyingness...(were there a word)...


I will let you know when these stupid things are done...though I don't think I'll need to as the tone of my blog entries I am sure will tell the tale rather explicitly.


Happy Weekend All!

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