The boxes are coming, the boxes are coming!

WE MOVED! (mostly)

The big move went well, and I can't recommend the 3 guys from our local Mayflower moving company highly enough! Wow, they were fast and efficient.

We, on the other hand, are having trouble getting back to the old house, packing the remaining stuff, getting to the new house, and unpacking. I'm just not motivated to go back and lug more boxes around. I'm beginning to dislike rectangular cardboard shapes! :-)

Now, we have to spend some time painting the OLD house, scrubbing the carpets, and fixing up any small repairs...everything we did at the NEW house for the last two weeks. The paint brushes and rollers are coming out again, only this time we're painting for someone else. Not as much fun, by far!

The new house is great...just wish we could spend more time enjoying it! That will come (I hope) as soon as we get the old house sale-ready. Open house on Sunday...let's see if someone is interested now that it's empty and they can visualize their own stuff in it.

Maybe I'll sleep in March... ;-)

Visions of paint cans danced through my head...

...because
* the house sale went through on Jan. 22,
* we decided that living in a house with all-white rooms would be scary,
* we were delusional enough to think that painting would be a good exercise for newlyweds,
* we could paint cheaper than a contractor, and have more control over the schedule,
* if we got everything painted before we moved in, it would be easier, and
* since I'd have 2 days off for Presidents' Day weekend, wouldn't it be fun to move then?

Riiiiiight.
Every night until after 10pm, I've been painting one room or another. Bless Bill, he patiently looks at each paint sample of light beiges, ivorys, and pale greens that I excitedly show him and says, "But do you LIKE it? 'Cause if you do, it's fine with me!" He's done his share of painting, too, which is why we're both hallucinating from the paint experience. ;-)
We've decided that we work very well together...in different rooms! :-) I am obsessive-compulsive about the way I trim a room, which takes me forever. I also can't stop until the room is finished. Hence, the 10pm evenings...after which, I still have to drive home and get ready to teach the next morning.
FINALLY...the painting was finished last night, we're packing the essentials today (God bless the snowstorm that finally hit the Northeast - no school!!), and the moving truck comes tomorrow.

More as it happens! (For the record, I'm in awe of you people who pack up and move across the country. I'm having trouble keeping my head above water just moving 12 miles away!)

You know what makes me furious?

This is TWICE now that country music, the music that speaks to my heart, has taken a cheap shot at my profession.

First, Martina McBride trashes us in Concrete Angel:
"She hides the bruises with linen and lace;
The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask"

Now, Jason Michael Carroll takes another swing in Alyssa Lies:
"Alyssa lies everyday at school,
Alyssa lies to the teachers as she tries to cover every bruise...
She doesn't lie anymore at school -
Alyssa lies with Jesus because there's nothin' anyone would do"

Hey Martina - we DO ask. Not only because it's morally right, but it's also the LAW. Get your facts straight.
As for you, Jason - I have 103 students...and every time I see bruises, I ask the kids and I report it to my principal and the nurse. I volunteer for bus duty and wave at the kids going home, knowing that I may be the last friendly face some of those kids will see for the rest of the day. Do you think I sleep easy at night, knowing that someone might be out there hurting my students?

Teachers do the best they can with limited time and limited resources.
How DARE you take a swing at us, just to get a song on the radio?!

Anyone out there care to comment?

No January blues here :-)

It's been such a randomly nice week -- here are some of the high points:

* Hanging border, surfing the Web, and laughing my butt off with Susie last Friday night --> that's also when my blog was created.

* Going back on Saturday to hang the rest of the border with Susie, her husband Chris, and Hubby Bill. Eight hands on deck and the stuff finally stuck! :-)

* Sneaking into the Bald Eagle high school basketball game with my mom and Hubby Bill to surprise my grandparents. Pap didn't know it, but he was being honored at half-time with a replica of the baseball letter he should have received 70 years ago as a high school senior -- the 3 of us are not CIA-qualified, but boy was it fun!

* Feeding my students pickled cactus as part of our unit on Mexico...they ate it, and LOVED it! Best $1.86 I've ever spent on school thus far, and yet another reason why I adore teaching 7th grade -- they will eat anything.

* Making a screen from a white Wal-Mart queen-size bed sheet tacked to my classroom wall. With Bill's borrowed speakers and Temporary Override Permission to access YouTube at school, I'm ready to show the actual grainy footage of Dr. King's 1963 "I Have A Dream" speech to my students on Monday. That's making it as real as I can, teaching where I am!

* Signing the papers again to close on our new-to-us home. Cross your fingers for us on the 22nd!

* Friday..."jeans and sneaker day" AND pay day! Once again, I love my job.

* Sleeping in today with Hubby Bill. The week that he's on the evening shift is our Post-It week: I'm zonked out long before he gets home at midnight, he's sound asleep when I get up at 5:45am, and the only way we communicate is through kitchen counter notes. This morning was nice just to reconnect in real-time. :-)

More as it happens. Susie's promised to teach me how to put up photos, which might cut down on the typing (if a picture paints a thousand words, a good photo should crop off at least 300!).

21-20?!?

I can't believe my Cowboys will be sitting home AGAIN. If anyone else saw that heartbreaker last night and can explain it to me without trashing my favorite football team, please do.

I must say though, once again I'm dismayed by professional athletes who don't get the job done, considering the enormous amount of money they're paid. At one point, our quarterback had completed only 4 passes out of 11 attempts. I'll bet he still gets his whopping salary for last night's game...which is probably equal to my year's salary as a public school teacher. Wonder if I only completed 4 out of the next 11 lesson plans, what would happen? ;-)

TEST

This is only a test. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law...or at least in a court of tennis!