Contagion

photo courtesy of orchid @ morguefile.com

No, not the book.

I have tried to vaccinate myself from it. I have tried to heavily purge to alleviate any and all symptoms. I think I have done a fairly good job.

I am talking about stress.

My stress level has been fairly low. I have had peaceful times for a while leading up to the holidays. I have gone with the flow and rolled with the waves. And I have been stress free.

But everyone else hasn't! In the last week, I have seen stressed people. And the stressed people have come to me. Now I am not talking crying on my shoulder or bending my ear. I could handle those things. I'm talking about far out stuff where you think, "Dang. Did that just happen? Where was that from? What was that?"

Today was particularly hectic. Something was falling from the sky (sleet?) and I knew my commute was going to be a nightmare to get home. A parent showed up in anger immediately after school about an assignment. I explained I would love to talk but was extremely worried about getting home. I made sure she had my cell number and asked her to call. Despite this, I spent the next 25 minutes discussing and explaining the project in depth and calming her down.

This is a mom that has been nothing but sweet and kind to me. We have had lots of friendly communications through email and on the phone. I don't think a 10 year old's project was the cause. I think it was a build up of stress. Holidays, loss of stock $, job cuts, and downturn of home prices are some major real happenings right now. Every day I am thankful.

And no matter how hard I have tried, I can't keep others' stress from affecting me. I just have to make sure it doesn't become contagious.

Stop! I am NOT Ready!

I cannot even believe that Christmas is less than a week away. It just doesn't even seem possible. How did it happen?

I have been busy, busy, busy. And not a lot of it has been fun (although I did get to paint my nails on the snow day I had, which was really an ice day.)
Some might say I have been blogging too much. But that only takes maybe 15 minutes. Well, maybe 25 if I had to put in a picture and edit the picture, etc.

I'm not worried about it being so close. Just surprised.

My husband and I have had this discussion many times. Now that we are older, time is just whizzing by. Have to wait a week? Well, that really feels like 2 days. A month? That really feels like 1 1/2 weeks. Been married 10 years? That really feels a lot more like 3 or 4 (depending on my mood that day :))

What is this phenomenon? Does it have a name? Does it have to do with the amount of time already spent living? As you get older, the day as a 2 year old is 1/730th. One day of a 40 year old's life is now 1/ - hold on - gotta do the math - 1/14,600th. Does this account for our perceived shortening of time??!
Or is it just that not much goes on in a 2 year old's life and a LOT goes on in a 40 year old's?

Well, gotta get working on the family calendar for 2009. I swear I just made last year's the other day . . .

Arg!

I am in the middle of watching the news, which I rarely do. Once again, they have a man teacher that won some kind of award for teaching that they are featuring. This really irks me.

21% of teachers (there are three million in all) are men. That is not even a quarter. Yet every time you turn on the TV lately, or open a magazine, they are raving about a man teacher. What about the 79% of women teachers? Not one of them is newsworthy??? I can't believe that.

Male teachers are a novelty and a necessity - and much needed in schools. This is not a male teacher bash by any means. I am more concerned with the inaccurate amount of representation they are receiving in the media. I know plenty of outstanding female teachers that go above and beyond every single day. Where is their movie? Where is their article about all their great deeds? Or are they all just too humble?

Many of our students need positive male role models. Some of our students respond better to male teachers. But the media needs to remember that there are 2.4 million female teachers and a lot of them are giving their hearts, their money, and their 100% effort to the success of their students every day.

Why I Choose to Make So Little Money

Because of today :)

I have a bachelors in education with an additional 23 hours.

I have a masters in education.

I have +15 (well just shy, I need 1/2 a credit more) in educational technology after my masters.

And I make diddly squat. I know people without any college education that make more than twice what I do.

But, TODAY I AM AT HOME BECAUSE OF A SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!

Yeah yeah yeah I say as I sing and dance around the dining room table with my cup of coffee.

There really isn't anything that even compares to a snow day. Imagine your boss calling you at 5:00 in the morning, an hour before you have to get up, to tell you, "Don't come in to work today." How absolutely fabulous is that???? I always leave my alarm clock on - just so when it goes off, I can turn it off and roll over and fall back to a very happy sleep-in.

When my day does finally begin, I lounge over coffee (sometimes in bed :) and imagine all the possibilities of this newly given chunk of time. I can . . . well, do whatever I want!

So today, I will be working on MY homework and trying to get some knocked out (which is hard to do with a full time job). I think I will also paint my nails and do my toes. I also think I will finish my nephew's Christmas stocking (it's his first Christmas).

A snow day is a gift of time. What a wonderful present. So it's okay if I don't make much $. Sometimes I get an extra 8-9 hours that other people don't. And I am always very thankful, because you can't buy time.

Knock Knock

Who's There?

Blog Reader.

Blog Reader Who?

No, really. Who?? Are you being a secret reader?? :) Here are directions on how to comment: Click the comment button. Type some stuff. Maybe just tell me who you are. Type I was here. Then click submit.

That wasn't so hard.

It's interesting for me to see if anyone reads this. Your comment need not be relevant to the topic. Because the topic changes steadily.

Today I would like to talk about . . . I don't know. I can't think of anything really. I have so much to do and I didn't make a list. So I am a bit . . . out of sorts. :)

Okay. I am leaving to make a list.

I was here :)

Get 'Er Done

photo courtesy of cohdra @ morguefile.com

Today.

I planned for it.

I laid it all out.

I was going to get so much accomplished.

HA HA HA HA HA!

Not one thing went the way I planned.

And I ended up getting absolutely nothing done on my list.

Now, that is not to say that nothing got accomplished. I had two very productive meetings. My students were happy. I got some editing done while they anxiously awaited the return of their stories.

But none of that was on my list.

I took a class about two years ago that was focused on the type of people we are and how we are all different. I read a book (which the title escapes me at the moment). We discussed it. I learned that I am . . . an achiever. I love lists. I make them all the time. The accomplishement I feel when I cross off "Clean toilet" is beyond measure. And it has nothing to do with the toilet. I GOT TO CROSS SOMETHING OFF THE LIST!

My husband teases me about my lists, among other things. Therefore, some of them become mental lists so no one can see them.

But today was a written list and not one thing was crossed off. So despite everything, I don't feel as well as I should.

Now, I have to admit. Sometimes I get sidetracked from my lists and do something important and productive that is not on the list. I am guilty of writing it on the list just so I can cross it off. I am not ashamed to admit it. I'll bet someone else is laughing because they do it to. Sorry to have to tell you this but YOU ARE AN ACHIEVER! :0 And that crossing of just feels so good.

I have been accused by various family members that I don't know how to relax. It is relaxing to me to get something done. That is how I am wired. My husband lovingly refers to me as "The Overachiever."

I just don't see anything wrong with doing it all. And I will leave you with a list from this past summer.

1. Lay out

2. Clean pool

3. Check email

4. Finish book

5. Go to karate

See???? I do know how to relax!

Traffic Geniuses

Okay, I don't know if I spelled the plural of genuis right. But I'll bet I am still smarter than the idiots who are planning the highways around here.

On my home every night (this is the absolute truth) I drive on two portions of two different highways that are "accident reduction zones." This means that there are MANY accidents in both of those areas. And honestly, it happens about once a week during my regular traffic time.

So what, you may ask, do they do to help reduce accidents?? They put up signs that say, "Accident reduction zone" so people have to take their attention away from driving and read the sign in the highly dangerous area. Now THAT is smart!

Actually though, the one area has been much improved the last year due to major construction and a portion of the highway being closed. Because a portion was closed, that meant all people had to exit the highway. To accommodate this, they made what was previously one lane south and one lane north into one lane south and TWO lanes north. This greatly reduced the traffic congestion to non-existant and really did make the area reduce the number of accidents.

"Wow! They did something right," you are thinking. But slow down. The story isn't over yet.

So, after over a year of the highway being closed down (at this point I might add that the highway closing was a major highway and a major problem) they are getting ready to reopen a portion next week. "In honor" of that event, they felt they should put the exits back to the way they were - THIS WEEK! BEFORE THEY OPEN THE NEW SECTION!!!

Can you say idiots???

Why on earth couldn't they open the highway back up and THEN go back to the regular lane exits??? Did they not see how beautiful traffic was flowing? Did they not notice the reduction of accidents?? Did they think that no one was using the area anymore because traffic moved so smoothly???

Needless to say, I will be dealing with this the rest of the week because someone never learned not to put the cart in front of the horse. They are welcome to come back to my classroom and review cause and effect. My fourth graders understand it way better than the MODOT engineers do.

Thank goodness I have this blog or I would stew and rant and rave all week. Now that it is out, I can just drive in peaceful oblivion and work on avoiding all the accidents. (yeah right)