Okay, Etsy is annoying the hell out of me with their "short test" that apparently started in February.
Can you guys just go to my shop and answer this quick question? (Skip the line that says, "Picks from the Shop Owner" - amazingly, I still have control over that.)
When you go to my Etsy shop, what is the first item you see listed?
12 chill pill soaps
Odds and ends set
Something else - I'll tell you in comments
Thanks!
ETA: Okay, for some damn reason, LJ won't let me actually post the poll as a poll and keeps posting plain text. If you'd like you can answer the question in the comments. Or at DW, which is cooperating. Thanks. Argh.
Can you guys just go to my shop and answer this quick question? (Skip the line that says, "Picks from the Shop Owner" - amazingly, I still have control over that.)
Thanks!
ETA: Okay, for some damn reason, LJ won't let me actually post the poll as a poll and keeps posting plain text. If you'd like you can answer the question in the comments. Or at DW, which is cooperating. Thanks. Argh.
I'm running out of time to get funds matched on my DonorsChoose project. Please use the code INSPIRE when you donate to get us twice as close to our goal! Thank you so much!
Okay, without making this a ridiculously long post...
• This year Illinois switches from the old ISAT state test to the new PARCC common core test.
• ISAT was paper/pencil. PARCC is on computers. Including the long answers in math and reading.
• Kids can't type. Unless they're using their thumbs on their phone. They can't 10 finger key.
• The PARCC is HARD. They really raise the bar on what's expected of kids.
• Thinking and explaining is way harder in front of a keyboard than it is with a pencil until you've had tons of practice.
• Kids can't type.
Which leads me to... I need more iPads in my classroom to help them get ready for this fershlugginah test.
Right now DonorsChoose is matching funds for the first week a project is listed. So if I can get a little less than $500 I'll get two new iPads and covers/cases.
So if I can convince 50 people to part with $10, I'll be all set! So here's me... asking you to help out (again.) :)
Help Waldo get iPads for her classroom.
Sam, if there's anyway this could hit Radio Free Monday, you know, whenever, that would be amazing! Thanks. :) Nevermind, just found the form thingy. :)
• This year Illinois switches from the old ISAT state test to the new PARCC common core test.
• ISAT was paper/pencil. PARCC is on computers. Including the long answers in math and reading.
• Kids can't type. Unless they're using their thumbs on their phone. They can't 10 finger key.
• The PARCC is HARD. They really raise the bar on what's expected of kids.
• Thinking and explaining is way harder in front of a keyboard than it is with a pencil until you've had tons of practice.
• Kids can't type.
Which leads me to... I need more iPads in my classroom to help them get ready for this fershlugginah test.
Right now DonorsChoose is matching funds for the first week a project is listed. So if I can get a little less than $500 I'll get two new iPads and covers/cases.
So if I can convince 50 people to part with $10, I'll be all set! So here's me... asking you to help out (again.) :)
Help Waldo get iPads for her classroom.
Last year when we were moving into the new building, someone donated two fishtanks to the network and my AP stood up and shouted to get one because she knew I'd love having it. And I totally do.
By the time I got it last year, I was ready for the goldfish unit (we do a rather long unit exploring living things - goldfish, isopods, beetles, snails and a whackload of plants) so I just kept the goldfish in it.
But now I get to actually set up a good aquarium set up for this year. I've decided to do a 50/50 tank. Basically the tank is filled about half way or a little more with water and has a few fish and then also has a few air breathers in it.
I'm debating small frog or toad, salamander/s and/or crab. I totally fell in love with the personality (yes, seriously, the damn thing had a personality) of this $30 crab at the cool aquarium store down in Old Town today. But I had salamanders in college and I like them a lot too.
Anyone have experience with this kind of tank? Suggestions? Remember, I'll be there to help, but most of the care will be falling to 10 year olds. :)
By the time I got it last year, I was ready for the goldfish unit (we do a rather long unit exploring living things - goldfish, isopods, beetles, snails and a whackload of plants) so I just kept the goldfish in it.
But now I get to actually set up a good aquarium set up for this year. I've decided to do a 50/50 tank. Basically the tank is filled about half way or a little more with water and has a few fish and then also has a few air breathers in it.
I'm debating small frog or toad, salamander/s and/or crab. I totally fell in love with the personality (yes, seriously, the damn thing had a personality) of this $30 crab at the cool aquarium store down in Old Town today. But I had salamanders in college and I like them a lot too.
Anyone have experience with this kind of tank? Suggestions? Remember, I'll be there to help, but most of the care will be falling to 10 year olds. :)
I'm not sure how to say this without hurting your feelings, but... well, I'm over you.
I know, I know, you want to hang around a while longer so we can see if we can make it work. I've heard it all, "Just 8 more weeks! You'll get to love me!" and "By July you'll be begging me to come back!" Yeah, yeah, heard it. Besides, I've heard from your friend at the news station, that you plan to take your negative self into my home and settle in until at least next month. Are you planning to pay rent? How about at least contributing to the heating bill? No? Didn't think so.
So I just can't do it any more. Maybe if you stopped dumping your stuff all over my space, we could talk. But as it was I couldn't even FIND my car this morning under all that crap you tossed around last night. And then, when I did, I spent almost fifteen minutes (when already late for a meeting) trying to get said car up and over the pile of your junk creating three-foot wide butte between where my car was parked and where my car needed to drive.
There's also this whole physical abuse thing. I'm standing up to say No More. I *need* those fingers you keep trying to freeze off. And my nose? NOT just for decoration! Leaving ice in really inconvenient places so I slip and fall is a little passive aggressive and it isn't cool either. I mean, it's COOL... cold even, but it's not something I can take lying down. Even when, you know, I'm lying down in the middle of the damn street. I'm tired of having to wear almost everything I own in order to have enough layers to keep you from leaving marks on me.
I'm not leaving you for anyone in particular, but I will say that Spring is a lot more mellow than you are, and I could totally go for less frigid, more comfortable right now.
No Love,
Me.
I know, I know, you want to hang around a while longer so we can see if we can make it work. I've heard it all, "Just 8 more weeks! You'll get to love me!" and "By July you'll be begging me to come back!" Yeah, yeah, heard it. Besides, I've heard from your friend at the news station, that you plan to take your negative self into my home and settle in until at least next month. Are you planning to pay rent? How about at least contributing to the heating bill? No? Didn't think so.
So I just can't do it any more. Maybe if you stopped dumping your stuff all over my space, we could talk. But as it was I couldn't even FIND my car this morning under all that crap you tossed around last night. And then, when I did, I spent almost fifteen minutes (when already late for a meeting) trying to get said car up and over the pile of your junk creating three-foot wide butte between where my car was parked and where my car needed to drive.
There's also this whole physical abuse thing. I'm standing up to say No More. I *need* those fingers you keep trying to freeze off. And my nose? NOT just for decoration! Leaving ice in really inconvenient places so I slip and fall is a little passive aggressive and it isn't cool either. I mean, it's COOL... cold even, but it's not something I can take lying down. Even when, you know, I'm lying down in the middle of the damn street. I'm tired of having to wear almost everything I own in order to have enough layers to keep you from leaving marks on me.
I'm not leaving you for anyone in particular, but I will say that Spring is a lot more mellow than you are, and I could totally go for less frigid, more comfortable right now.
No Love,
Me.
[Unknown LJ tag]asked me to ramble about, "a craft you'd love to get into, but won't because of time, expense, fear of failure, etc"
Cold Process soap. Cold process is the 'old school', Little House on the Prairie, type soap. The stuff that uses lye.
Which is why I haven't even thought about doing it. When you play with lye you need to be outside, or at least somewhere with MASSIVE ventilation, which I really don't have access to. You also have to let the bars cure for *weeks*. And I don't have the storage space for a whole bunch of ten-pound soap molds. (And 'ten-pound soap mold' doesn't mean the mold itself weighs ten pounds - it means it holds ten pounds of soap solution. Now add the heavy wooden mold to that.)
But someday I'd love to give it a go. For some reason, cold process soapers are seen as 'more legitimate' soapers than us M&P folks. When I told someone at Craft Bar that I was teaching soaping the next month she actually turned up her nose when I said it was melt and pour and said, "I can't be bothered with that silly sort of thing. If you were doing lye-soaping then it would be worth coming out for." Well, excuuuuuse me!
Not that I don't love the stuff I do. With cold process you have to decide what colors and scent your slab will be and then hope your customers want that. And a lot of that. I kind of love doing things on demand. I know I'm making exactly what the customer wants and I'm not going to be staring at these bazillion soap bars I thought would be awesome, but don't sell, for the next ten years.
If anyone still wants to drop me topics to ramble about, you can add them here on LJ or here on DW.
Cold Process soap. Cold process is the 'old school', Little House on the Prairie, type soap. The stuff that uses lye.
Which is why I haven't even thought about doing it. When you play with lye you need to be outside, or at least somewhere with MASSIVE ventilation, which I really don't have access to. You also have to let the bars cure for *weeks*. And I don't have the storage space for a whole bunch of ten-pound soap molds. (And 'ten-pound soap mold' doesn't mean the mold itself weighs ten pounds - it means it holds ten pounds of soap solution. Now add the heavy wooden mold to that.)
But someday I'd love to give it a go. For some reason, cold process soapers are seen as 'more legitimate' soapers than us M&P folks. When I told someone at Craft Bar that I was teaching soaping the next month she actually turned up her nose when I said it was melt and pour and said, "I can't be bothered with that silly sort of thing. If you were doing lye-soaping then it would be worth coming out for." Well, excuuuuuse me!
Not that I don't love the stuff I do. With cold process you have to decide what colors and scent your slab will be and then hope your customers want that. And a lot of that. I kind of love doing things on demand. I know I'm making exactly what the customer wants and I'm not going to be staring at these bazillion soap bars I thought would be awesome, but don't sell, for the next ten years.
If anyone still wants to drop me topics to ramble about, you can add them here on LJ or here on DW.
I'm seeing a lot of people doing the "give me a month's worth of topics and I'll answer one of them each day" meme and although it looks like fun, and I will try to answer one of them each day. (I reserve the right to skip questions that do not inspire me or skip days because my schedule is psychotic.) Leave topics on DW or LJ, I'll cross post to both.
I'm actually debating writing something again. (I haven't posted fic in over a year. Ai!) But there may yet be more Mistakes to be made. :)
Anyway, in my head-drafting I had John from Sherlock making a Poe allusion. Would Poe be widely read by British school kids? I know we read British classics in US high schools, but the US has only so much history and 'classical time' to work with. Do British kids widely read dead [U.S.] poets?
Anyway, in my head-drafting I had John from Sherlock making a Poe allusion. Would Poe be widely read by British school kids? I know we read British classics in US high schools, but the US has only so much history and 'classical time' to work with. Do British kids widely read dead [U.S.] poets?
Last year I contracted a sore throat unlike anything I've ever had. I went to a couple doctors, neither of them knew what exactly it was - we listed a bazillion things it turned out NOT to be - but the end result was, it went away on its own and left my vocal cords slightly scarred.
So, the short version is, after half a day of teaching I start losing my voice. The obvious problem here is... I have to teach a full day.
Drinking something hot helps, so I walk around with a thermos of coffee after lunch. My thermos has one of those little 3 or 4 ounce lids that becomes a cup.
So, the short version is, after half a day of teaching I start losing my voice. The obvious problem here is... I have to teach a full day.
Drinking something hot helps, so I walk around with a thermos of coffee after lunch. My thermos has one of those little 3 or 4 ounce lids that becomes a cup.
Now note, I've been walking around drinking from this thing in front of kids, every day since *at least* this time last year.
And yet today there was this conversation with a little girl who is the FLAKIEST kid I've had in DECADES. No, really DECADES.
AC: Is that your coffee cup?
Me: Yes. You've seen this thing in my hand every single day this year.
AC: But it's so SMALL! You could drink shots from that thing!
Very, very, very long pause.
AC: Maybe I shouldn't have said that out loud.
Do you THINK???
Then again, this is the kid who made me rearrange my seating system. She's named after a continent. My seating groups are continents (my science tables are oceans). But I had to NOT have a group with the same name as her because every time I said something like, "Why do I hear talking from North America and Asia?" She went all "WHAT? Who me? WHAT?????" So now we have Europe. It makes my life easier.
TARDIS and Dalek soaps at my Etsy. ;)
Much more geekery to come. I went crazy and spent about $80 on geek molds (Star Trek, Star Wars, video games...)
Much more geekery to come. I went crazy and spent about $80 on geek molds (Star Trek, Star Wars, video games...)
My network follows CPS in terms of declaring a weather emergency closing.
CPS is the ONLY district in the immediate area (I didn't pay much attention to the extended area) to declare that they WILL be open on Monday.
Monday's weather in Chicago. HIGH of -12 with 22 mph winds. Which means windchills of -39.
The news has been harping on about FROSTBITE IN TEN MINUTES if you leave skin exposed. Ten minutes. Seriously.
And we're going to school. Seriously. What. the. fuck.?
There is nothing about this makes sense. Will there be Safe Passage workers out there? Are busses going to run? Will they start? (This doesn't actually affect me, but the last real cold snap Chicago had there was a big bussing issue for the special needs kids).
When you tell parents attendance is optional, more than half will have common sense and keep the kids home. Which means we can't actually teach anything... The last time this happened, when I was on the South Side with CPS, we had, I think 5 of 22 show up.
CPS just closed 50 schools which means a lot of kids are walking a lot farther to school. And now they're going to do it in weather that feels like -39 degrees F.
A bunch of my co-teachers and I were just talking on Facebook - if our cars don't start, we're NOT taking CTA. Not in this weather. Just no.
What. the hell. CPS?
CPS is the ONLY district in the immediate area (I didn't pay much attention to the extended area) to declare that they WILL be open on Monday.
Monday's weather in Chicago. HIGH of -12 with 22 mph winds. Which means windchills of -39.
The news has been harping on about FROSTBITE IN TEN MINUTES if you leave skin exposed. Ten minutes. Seriously.
And we're going to school. Seriously. What. the. fuck.?
There is nothing about this makes sense. Will there be Safe Passage workers out there? Are busses going to run? Will they start? (This doesn't actually affect me, but the last real cold snap Chicago had there was a big bussing issue for the special needs kids).
When you tell parents attendance is optional, more than half will have common sense and keep the kids home. Which means we can't actually teach anything... The last time this happened, when I was on the South Side with CPS, we had, I think 5 of 22 show up.
CPS just closed 50 schools which means a lot of kids are walking a lot farther to school. And now they're going to do it in weather that feels like -39 degrees F.
A bunch of my co-teachers and I were just talking on Facebook - if our cars don't start, we're NOT taking CTA. Not in this weather. Just no.
What. the hell. CPS?
Logi's back to being very unwell. He had another one of those not-exactly-a-seizure things tonight. It sure as hell look like a seizure, but it stops when I pick him up and wrap him in a towel. And he pees when it stops, not when it starts. (TMI?) And then he eats like a horse so...
Then an hour after eating he was bad again so I put him in a clean towel, and held him on the heating pad for about an hour. He got comfortable enough to sleep for a while. Then active enough to try and crawl in my bag of pretzels.
But now he's flopped over on the floor of the cage looking awful. And he's had *all* the meds in the world. And food. And fluids. There is literally nothing else I can do for him until it's meds time again at 11:00.
Grr.
Actually today has kind of sucked all the way around. Or maybe the weather is making me moody.
I drove out to work and did about 3 hours. I'm missing two boxes of stuff. Gr. I still don't have shelves in my closet which is the major thing I need to get the room serviceable. Right now the stuff for the closet is scattered hither dither and yon in the room. Spent an hour and a half (after the 3 hours) hanging out and talking with the Lit teacher. Which meant I drove home in the dark and the snow. Lots and lots of snow.
And Sherlock left me... meh. It wasn't awful. But I wasn't all "OMG! OMG! OMG!" while watching it. I'm not excited about Mary. I know they were kind of obligated to bring her in as per canon. But.. meh. I take solace from the fact that if they felt that they had to bring her in due to canon, then they'll have to take her out in short order for the same reason. Maybe some rewatches and some captioning will help me appreciate it better.
ETA: On further reflection, I think part of the reason I wasn't keen on Sherlock was that it wasn't funny. Not like 2.01 funny. I know that given the topic it needed to be dark, but one thing a do adore from this particular incarnation is the drop dead funny stuff. "Are we here to see the Queen?" [Mycroft enters] "Oh, apparently so." Or "I'll be mother." "And there is a whole childhood in a nutshell." Maybe I feel better about next week's.
Then an hour after eating he was bad again so I put him in a clean towel, and held him on the heating pad for about an hour. He got comfortable enough to sleep for a while. Then active enough to try and crawl in my bag of pretzels.
But now he's flopped over on the floor of the cage looking awful. And he's had *all* the meds in the world. And food. And fluids. There is literally nothing else I can do for him until it's meds time again at 11:00.
Grr.
Actually today has kind of sucked all the way around. Or maybe the weather is making me moody.
I drove out to work and did about 3 hours. I'm missing two boxes of stuff. Gr. I still don't have shelves in my closet which is the major thing I need to get the room serviceable. Right now the stuff for the closet is scattered hither dither and yon in the room. Spent an hour and a half (after the 3 hours) hanging out and talking with the Lit teacher. Which meant I drove home in the dark and the snow. Lots and lots of snow.
And Sherlock left me... meh. It wasn't awful. But I wasn't all "OMG! OMG! OMG!" while watching it. I'm not excited about Mary. I know they were kind of obligated to bring her in as per canon. But.. meh. I take solace from the fact that if they felt that they had to bring her in due to canon, then they'll have to take her out in short order for the same reason. Maybe some rewatches and some captioning will help me appreciate it better.
ETA: On further reflection, I think part of the reason I wasn't keen on Sherlock was that it wasn't funny. Not like 2.01 funny. I know that given the topic it needed to be dark, but one thing a do adore from this particular incarnation is the drop dead funny stuff. "Are we here to see the Queen?" [Mycroft enters] "Oh, apparently so." Or "I'll be mother." "And there is a whole childhood in a nutshell." Maybe I feel better about next week's.
Or at least Dreamwidth/LJ.
I always wondered if I stopped posting for any length of time if anyone would notice. Or care. Or if they'd be celebrating in the streets. Apparently the last time I posted here was October 28th.
Since then exactly one person wrote to ask if I was okay. So at least one person noticed. :)
So what have I been up to for the last two months? Mostly Etsy. I processed 389 orders since November 1st and made as much money in those two months as I did in all of 2012. So um... yeah. A lot of soap and bath bombs.
In between those orders I managed to...
( Cut for … well, it's been two months, so...Collapse ) So that's my short story right now. I'm either teaching, caring for Logi or making Etsy orders. And well... right now I'm waiting for a certain download to finish so I can stop being afraid to look at LJ/DW for fear of being spoiled.
And just to have it out there... here are my New Year's Resolutions...
1. Stop buying things just because they're on sale/I have coupon. If I don't need it/can't use it, whatever money I do spend on it is wasted.
2. Limit fast food to once a week and delivery food to twice a week.
3. Take out at least one plastic shopping bag of garbage or donations every day.
What are all of you planning on doing (or quitting) this year?
I always wondered if I stopped posting for any length of time if anyone would notice. Or care. Or if they'd be celebrating in the streets. Apparently the last time I posted here was October 28th.
Since then exactly one person wrote to ask if I was okay. So at least one person noticed. :)
So what have I been up to for the last two months? Mostly Etsy. I processed 389 orders since November 1st and made as much money in those two months as I did in all of 2012. So um... yeah. A lot of soap and bath bombs.
In between those orders I managed to...
( Cut for … well, it's been two months, so...Collapse ) So that's my short story right now. I'm either teaching, caring for Logi or making Etsy orders. And well... right now I'm waiting for a certain download to finish so I can stop being afraid to look at LJ/DW for fear of being spoiled.
And just to have it out there... here are my New Year's Resolutions...
1. Stop buying things just because they're on sale/I have coupon. If I don't need it/can't use it, whatever money I do spend on it is wasted.
2. Limit fast food to once a week and delivery food to twice a week.
3. Take out at least one plastic shopping bag of garbage or donations every day.
What are all of you planning on doing (or quitting) this year?
I actually had to file a report with ic3.gov tonight. I filed a real White Collar Crime complaint tonight.
Short version... Another Etsy shop owner just contacted me to tell me that some website is stealing Etsy listings wholesale - photos, listing text, titles, everything - and putting them on their site as if they had this item. And then they raise our prices by more than 1/2.
They have my $13 crayons up for $23 and my $18 soaps up for $32! And since I've yet to sell any of those particular crayons to anyone, I'm guessing this sham of a 'business' isn't even sending the product out. They're probably just ripping people off and using my product info to do it! ARGH!
I can only hope I get as cute a team as Neal and Peter looking into this. Well, honestly.. I can only hope anyone even looks at it at all, but still...
Short version... Another Etsy shop owner just contacted me to tell me that some website is stealing Etsy listings wholesale - photos, listing text, titles, everything - and putting them on their site as if they had this item. And then they raise our prices by more than 1/2.
They have my $13 crayons up for $23 and my $18 soaps up for $32! And since I've yet to sell any of those particular crayons to anyone, I'm guessing this sham of a 'business' isn't even sending the product out. They're probably just ripping people off and using my product info to do it! ARGH!
I can only hope I get as cute a team as Neal and Peter looking into this. Well, honestly.. I can only hope anyone even looks at it at all, but still...
I actually looked up during the theme song for Big Bang Theory today and saw the captions.
Whaddayaknow...
It's not actually, "Mad science, history, unraveling the mystery..."
Though, you know, given these guys, it does make as much sense.
Whaddayaknow...
It's not actually, "Mad science, history, unraveling the mystery..."
Though, you know, given these guys, it does make as much sense.
Tonight at the Open House one of my kids introduced me to his mom as, "This is Miss [Waldo]. She's the *coolest* teacher on the 5th grade team."
But seriously... my Etsy shop stats today... do they look like a dragon to
anyone else?
And if anyone is still paying attention... still no building, still no word on when we'll have one. And now there's some weird shit about litigation going on and a plan C that will move us somewhere where we can get all the way down to one *grade* in a classroom. How fucking sad is it that that will be a huge improvement?
anyone else?
And if anyone is still paying attention... still no building, still no word on when we'll have one. And now there's some weird shit about litigation going on and a plan C that will move us somewhere where we can get all the way down to one *grade* in a classroom. How fucking sad is it that that will be a huge improvement?
It's some of my students' hands at an exhibit at MSI that had the periodic
table projected onto a surface where you could manipulate the light-text.
My kids fell in love with the idea of having the text 'printed' on their
hands. And one girl did it on her face and it looked awesome, but you
know... can't share kids' faces. :)
table projected onto a surface where you could manipulate the light-text.
My kids fell in love with the idea of having the text 'printed' on their
hands. And one girl did it on her face and it looked awesome, but you
know... can't share kids' faces. :)
Before...
After... 5 hours of moving the entire world around by myself...
As you can see, they took everything that was tagged with our room number and made a great big pile of it in the middle of our rooms. Then they took a WHACKLOAD of things that DIDN'T have our room number on it and dumped that in there too. Someone can't tell the difference between 201 and 207. Worse than that was the idiot who couldn't tell the difference between 201 and 411. Seriously. 411. What's hard to see here is that the pile apparently started with the desks in the back. Then the bookcases in the middle came in and then the tables in the front. Then they shoved boxes EVERY fucking where. You can't see it, but my windows are about one foot to the left of the edge of the frame. So I didn't have a lot of room to move things out of the way so that I could clear a spot to move things where I wanted them.
Also? None of this shit slid on the carpet. OMG hard to move! I have furniture sliders, but it didn't occur to me that I'd need them. Doh!
So in my room, were at least: 14 tables. Not the desks. I had 22 of those. Exactly the number I needed, but also 14 freaking tables. I need five. We have to do something about that soon. 53 boxes. 27 of them were actually mine. Cubbies for 26 kids I have 21. 9 bookcases. And a whackload of chairs I haven't even started sorting yet. One teacher desk. Two teacher chairs. My two plastic stacks of drawers, my two tubs of pillows for independent reading and 4 primary double desks. I need one. Oh, and two easels, a ladder and a huge cabinet.
Already noted to be AWOL: the two overhead projectors labeled for my room. I went on a hunt but no one knows where they are. We may have new ones... possibly in the tech room... but no one really knows. And obviously I still don't have either of the two white boards I should have.
After 5 hours I got it down to this:
The desks are in the front now, loosely grouped in their clusters. My teacher desk is where it belongs. The one teacher chair is behind it, the other is where I'll be having my morning meetings. All the book cases are on the edges of the rooms. The boxes are all on the window wall. One table has been rehomed, the rest are all in the science/centers half of the room. The primary desk is under the phone where I want it as a time out seat. The gazillion boxes that aren't mine are either where they do belong or in the hall. One massive and unwieldy table is in the hall. The cubbies that I actually need are lining the weird entry way walls, the extra set is in the back where I'll use it to stack their notebooks. Many things are piled on the window shelves.
But please, don't let that photo make you think I'm anything like organized yet. Seriously... all I did for five hours was carry things in from my car (with no elevator, so everything went on the cart, then off the cart then up the stairs one box at at time, then back on the cart and then down to my room at the opposite corner of the building. Oy. Then I moved ALL THE THINGS! I am going to hurt like hell tomorrow.
So anyway, that's that. We're still at the other campus tomorrow with 150 kids in one room all day. They say they finished rooms from the top down, so the middle school should actually be in our building on Tuesday, but it's looking like another week before we get in. And no one has even told us when we can come back in to work. After school tomorrow? Next weekend?
After... 5 hours of moving the entire world around by myself...
As you can see, they took everything that was tagged with our room number and made a great big pile of it in the middle of our rooms. Then they took a WHACKLOAD of things that DIDN'T have our room number on it and dumped that in there too. Someone can't tell the difference between 201 and 207. Worse than that was the idiot who couldn't tell the difference between 201 and 411. Seriously. 411. What's hard to see here is that the pile apparently started with the desks in the back. Then the bookcases in the middle came in and then the tables in the front. Then they shoved boxes EVERY fucking where. You can't see it, but my windows are about one foot to the left of the edge of the frame. So I didn't have a lot of room to move things out of the way so that I could clear a spot to move things where I wanted them.
Also? None of this shit slid on the carpet. OMG hard to move! I have furniture sliders, but it didn't occur to me that I'd need them. Doh!
So in my room, were at least: 14 tables. Not the desks. I had 22 of those. Exactly the number I needed, but also 14 freaking tables. I need five. We have to do something about that soon. 53 boxes. 27 of them were actually mine. Cubbies for 26 kids I have 21. 9 bookcases. And a whackload of chairs I haven't even started sorting yet. One teacher desk. Two teacher chairs. My two plastic stacks of drawers, my two tubs of pillows for independent reading and 4 primary double desks. I need one. Oh, and two easels, a ladder and a huge cabinet.
Already noted to be AWOL: the two overhead projectors labeled for my room. I went on a hunt but no one knows where they are. We may have new ones... possibly in the tech room... but no one really knows. And obviously I still don't have either of the two white boards I should have.
After 5 hours I got it down to this:
The desks are in the front now, loosely grouped in their clusters. My teacher desk is where it belongs. The one teacher chair is behind it, the other is where I'll be having my morning meetings. All the book cases are on the edges of the rooms. The boxes are all on the window wall. One table has been rehomed, the rest are all in the science/centers half of the room. The primary desk is under the phone where I want it as a time out seat. The gazillion boxes that aren't mine are either where they do belong or in the hall. One massive and unwieldy table is in the hall. The cubbies that I actually need are lining the weird entry way walls, the extra set is in the back where I'll use it to stack their notebooks. Many things are piled on the window shelves.
But please, don't let that photo make you think I'm anything like organized yet. Seriously... all I did for five hours was carry things in from my car (with no elevator, so everything went on the cart, then off the cart then up the stairs one box at at time, then back on the cart and then down to my room at the opposite corner of the building. Oy. Then I moved ALL THE THINGS! I am going to hurt like hell tomorrow.
So anyway, that's that. We're still at the other campus tomorrow with 150 kids in one room all day. They say they finished rooms from the top down, so the middle school should actually be in our building on Tuesday, but it's looking like another week before we get in. And no one has even told us when we can come back in to work. After school tomorrow? Next weekend?
*Sigh*. I'm pretty freaking well over this.
Got word at 6:37 this morning that we can set up our classrooms from 2:30 to 7:30 this afternoon.
Apparently we can only be in for so long and can only have so many people in at a given time. And also apparently, the other two schools on our campus are getting in first. Gr.
So we've gone from five DAYS to five HOURS, but it's something.
And it may spare us from a few days of having 150 kids IN ONE ROOM for part of this week, which was the current plan.
Oh, and phenomenal... we're supposed to have record breaking heat into the 90s today while we all unload our lives from our cars and drag it into our rooms.
ETA: We are not being spared 150 kids in a room tomorrow. In fact, even with this, we're still not sure when the KIDS can access the building. Guh.
ETA+: I'm taking a $50 hit from my grocery delivery service to cancel my order, because at 8:00 last night when I placed the order, and hadn't heard anything from work, I figured of COURSE I'd be home between 5 and 7 to get my food. Topping that off, I'M NOT GETTING MY GROCERIES. I'm going to have to make an emergency run to Jewel before I go in this morning and get the essentials. UGH!
Apparently we can only be in for so long and can only have so many people in at a given time. And also apparently, the other two schools on our campus are getting in first. Gr.
So we've gone from five DAYS to five HOURS, but it's something.
And it may spare us from a few days of having 150 kids IN ONE ROOM for part of this week, which was the current plan.
Oh, and phenomenal... we're supposed to have record breaking heat into the 90s today while we all unload our lives from our cars and drag it into our rooms.
ETA: We are not being spared 150 kids in a room tomorrow. In fact, even with this, we're still not sure when the KIDS can access the building. Guh.
ETA+: I'm taking a $50 hit from my grocery delivery service to cancel my order, because at 8:00 last night when I placed the order, and hadn't heard anything from work, I figured of COURSE I'd be home between 5 and 7 to get my food. Topping that off, I'M NOT GETTING MY GROCERIES. I'm going to have to make an emergency run to Jewel before I go in this morning and get the essentials. UGH!
Heart attack one: Every time I got up last night, I checked on Logi. He was sleeping in a sleep sack on the floor of the cage, so I just put my hand over the sack and as long as it was warm and breathing, I called it 'as good as we could hope for' and moved on. I wake up at 5:30 this morning and put my hand over the sack and it's room temperature and still. Fuck fuck fuck. So I actually look in the sack and... he's not in there. But he had pulled the bottom layer of fabric to bunch up under the top layer to basically be the same size (read: small and skinny) as his butt.
He was in bed with Kári looking at me like, "WTF are you all excited about?"
Heart attack two: his episode last night. He's back to abnormal this morning. Standing, head control, eating, shiny eyes... So I guess whatever we did last night worked. I propped him up with an extra dose of duck soup this morning, but he seems to be completely okay now. I really wish he didn't live to make me crazy.
I HAVE NO SCHOOL BUILDING I AM CRAZY ENOUGH!!!!
He was in bed with Kári looking at me like, "WTF are you all excited about?"
Heart attack two: his episode last night. He's back to abnormal this morning. Standing, head control, eating, shiny eyes... So I guess whatever we did last night worked. I propped him up with an extra dose of duck soup this morning, but he seems to be completely okay now. I really wish he didn't live to make me crazy.
I HAVE NO SCHOOL BUILDING I AM CRAZY ENOUGH!!!!
Two things have happened that are making a sale at my Etsy shop possible this weekend. First thing: I ended up with some unexpected free time this weekend to complete orders. Second thing: The Greater Chicago Ferret Organization has had a catastrophic disease outbreak.
They've had a Canine Distemper outbreak in the shelter and they're now under quarantine. They cannot take in or adopt out any ferrets which puts a serious crimp in their financial situation. This quarantine is expected to last until *December*. So if you use the code GCFANEEDSHELP you'll get 10% off your whole order and I'll donate a percentage of these sales to the GCFA on top of the lump sum donation I've already made.
In 25 years, the GCFA has helped over 7100 ferrets. That's not a typo. 7100 ferrets have passed through their doors.
If you want to read more about their situation, you can Google "Greater Chicago Ferret Association" or just go to their site at http://gcfa.com/. If you'd simply like to make a direct donation, the directions on how to do so are on their front page. Thanks!
Oh, and for those who don't have it, my shop is at www.wizardatwork.etsy.com
Thanks!
Oh, and for those who don't have it, my shop is at www.wizardatwork.etsy.com
Thanks!
Not that we're doing heaps and heaps better, but at least we can blame all of our issues on not having a building and weird/crap communication from the people in charge of that.
Today I got an email from the middle school counselor I worked with last year asking me what one of my kids from last year's name was. I told her and asked why. Apparently this poor kid got programmed into two homerooms. Once as a boy [firstname lastname] and once as a girl [lastname firstname]. I can only imagine what his adorable little peers would say if they found out about that. This is also the same kid who got put into the attendance computer last year (so we couldn't change it, because it's a CPS system and it's a... thing... anyway...) as firstname "my rat" (no space). It should have been 'my art' (no space). The kids liked to ride him about that one occasionally. He doesn't need to be a girl rat on top of that.
In other news, this is our new schedule:
No mandatory work tomorrow. We can go up to the network office (at the building down the street from our new building) if we want to do copying because we won't have copiers at our building until possibly the Friday AFTER we've started school.
No mandatory work on Friday, but they're apparently letting us have the first floor multipurpose room for a parent orientation at 3:00, they'd like as many hands on deck as possible. I'll be going and on the way there, I'll stop at CMO to do my copying (and the math teacher's since she's busy).
We can, as of the last report, still get in at 8:00 Saturday morning to actually work in our rooms. If they aren't locked. We were told the rooms would be 'on construction cylinders' - whatever the fuck that means - but we wouldn't get keys until approximately the same Friday we get copiers.
I seriously sent our staff into a tizzy today because I had the gall to ask, "So last year the head of the network came to one of our meetings and said, 'for every day the construction company was late delivering the building, we cut $10,000 off what we're paying them.' We're several days late already, so what are they doing with that money?" Believe me, we had a few ideas for how we could put it to good use. Co-teacher AP and I want SmartBoards in a huge way. ;) Basically we were told that since campuses 7 and 8 are in our building too, that the money would be used to pay down the deficit any campus runs at until they're at full capacity.
Fuck that. I want a SmartBoard. :p
OH AND! My room loses six feet off the back for a storage closet. That I don't actually get to use. So my room is smaller than any other.
Today I got an email from the middle school counselor I worked with last year asking me what one of my kids from last year's name was. I told her and asked why. Apparently this poor kid got programmed into two homerooms. Once as a boy [firstname lastname] and once as a girl [lastname firstname]. I can only imagine what his adorable little peers would say if they found out about that. This is also the same kid who got put into the attendance computer last year (so we couldn't change it, because it's a CPS system and it's a... thing... anyway...) as firstname "my rat" (no space). It should have been 'my art' (no space). The kids liked to ride him about that one occasionally. He doesn't need to be a girl rat on top of that.
In other news, this is our new schedule:
No mandatory work tomorrow. We can go up to the network office (at the building down the street from our new building) if we want to do copying because we won't have copiers at our building until possibly the Friday AFTER we've started school.
No mandatory work on Friday, but they're apparently letting us have the first floor multipurpose room for a parent orientation at 3:00, they'd like as many hands on deck as possible. I'll be going and on the way there, I'll stop at CMO to do my copying (and the math teacher's since she's busy).
We can, as of the last report, still get in at 8:00 Saturday morning to actually work in our rooms. If they aren't locked. We were told the rooms would be 'on construction cylinders' - whatever the fuck that means - but we wouldn't get keys until approximately the same Friday we get copiers.
I seriously sent our staff into a tizzy today because I had the gall to ask, "So last year the head of the network came to one of our meetings and said, 'for every day the construction company was late delivering the building, we cut $10,000 off what we're paying them.' We're several days late already, so what are they doing with that money?" Believe me, we had a few ideas for how we could put it to good use. Co-teacher AP and I want SmartBoards in a huge way. ;) Basically we were told that since campuses 7 and 8 are in our building too, that the money would be used to pay down the deficit any campus runs at until they're at full capacity.
Fuck that. I want a SmartBoard. :p
OH AND! My room loses six feet off the back for a storage closet. That I don't actually get to use. So my room is smaller than any other.
Fuck that too. I need to set up both a regular seating arrangement and a pseudo science lab since, for some dumbass reason I didn't actually get assigned one of the two rooms DESIGNED to be a science lab with a sink and everything. Randomass third grade rooms got both of them.
I keep thinking that this delay isn't making me anxious, and then I catch myself doing things really random and pissy and going, "Oh right, I only do that when I'm stressed as hell and a.) it's not my fault , so b.) I can't do anything about it!
Sigh. This sucks. A lot.
So last Monday we were told we'd be able to get into our new school this
Wednesday (tomorrow).
On Friday we were told it was being pushed to Thursday. But really.
Thursday. And you can stay until 10:00 p.m. each day from Thursday to
Monday to get things done before kids show up at 8:00 on Tuesday the 3rd.
So Saturday I drove out to this
building-that-would-theoretically-be-a-s
You can see the photos.
Yesterday I asked if we were *reeeeeeaaaaalllly* moving in on Thursday. I
was told 'yes.'
Today they said we can get in on Saturday and work from either 8 to 4 or 8
to 6... there seemed to be some fuzziness on this and there was nothing
even close to 10:00 anywhere in the discussion. And when another teacher
said, "Are they SURE about Saturday? I mean, I should set an alarm and be
waiting at the door at 8:00 sure?" She was told, "Keep an eye on your email
before you leave the house."
So... raise your hand if you think Tuesday morning, when 800 kids show up,
we'll still be a hot fucking mess?
Wednesday (tomorrow).
On Friday we were told it was being pushed to Thursday. But really.
Thursday. And you can stay until 10:00 p.m. each day from Thursday to
Monday to get things done before kids show up at 8:00 on Tuesday the 3rd.
So Saturday I drove out to this
building-that-would-theoretically-be-a-s
You can see the photos.
Yesterday I asked if we were *reeeeeeaaaaalllly* moving in on Thursday. I
was told 'yes.'
Today they said we can get in on Saturday and work from either 8 to 4 or 8
to 6... there seemed to be some fuzziness on this and there was nothing
even close to 10:00 anywhere in the discussion. And when another teacher
said, "Are they SURE about Saturday? I mean, I should set an alarm and be
waiting at the door at 8:00 sure?" She was told, "Keep an eye on your email
before you leave the house."
So... raise your hand if you think Tuesday morning, when 800 kids show up,
we'll still be a hot fucking mess?
So there's about 12 hours before the code INSPIRE runs out for those who were thinking of helping my kids get their iPads. Right now if I can get about $75 donated before that and using the code, I'll be there! So if you were thinking about helping out a bit, tonight would be an *awesome* time for you to do that! Every tiny bit helps and tonight it helps twice as much!
And a huge, huge, huge thanks to everyone who has already kicked in. I couldn't possibly be this close to the goal so quickly without each and every one of you!
www.donorschoose.org/project/upgrade-us-t
And remember to use the code INSPIRE! Thanks!!!!
And a huge, huge, huge thanks to everyone who has already kicked in. I couldn't possibly be this close to the goal so quickly without each and every one of you!
www.donorschoose.org/project/upgrade-us-t
And remember to use the code INSPIRE! Thanks!!!!
Okay, all *I* may need is my ferrets, my Mac and fanfic, but my students need iPads. We have the most dilapidated, old, junky netbooks in the world. And as a charter school, my kids are not any part of that CPS iPad program.
So if you've got a spare $5 (or more) to spare.... http://www.donorschoose.org/
Sam, if there's any place for this in Radio Free Monday, you'd be my hero! :)
So if you've got a spare $5 (or more) to spare.... http://www.donorschoose.org/
FUNDS MATCHING CODE, PLEASE USE THIS! So this is what happens when I learn about something on Facebook first... No, really, I saw that my project was posted to Facebook before I got the email saying Donorschoose had accepted it. Anyway... in the email I saw this: Our Board of Directors wants to kick-start your project! For the next 7 days, when someone donates to your project and enters the code INSPIRE, we'll match their donation dollar for dollar.
So if you can help, sooner is better than later for my students! Thanks! Or possibly I was just hit with the stupid stick. Or possibly I have, once again, fallen in massive love with the new fandom that no one else gives a rat's ass about, except for possibly a few fourteen year olds on ff.net...
But really... with all the sites for White Collar, why can't I find any for Graceland? Discussion, fic... anything? Okay, I found a kinkmeme on LJ but it's a little hit and miss with it's readability.
Anyone got a line on anything? Am I doomed to be the only person in my little fannish world who watches this thing (*cough*cough*NCISLA*cough*cough*)?
But really... with all the sites for White Collar, why can't I find any for Graceland? Discussion, fic... anything? Okay, I found a kinkmeme on LJ but it's a little hit and miss with it's readability.
Anyone got a line on anything? Am I doomed to be the only person in my little fannish world who watches this thing (*cough*cough*NCISLA*cough*cough*)?
+ Office Max - penny sales, double quantities for teachers. :)
- Michaels for bags for bath boms - none left. Also, there's a Cubs game. Roughly 4 blocks from the Michaels. There are some ridiculously aggressive parking lot staff out there. I had a guy banging on my window telling me it's ONLY $10 FOR THE WHOLE GAME! Telling him that I wasn't going to the game didn't seem to matter much to him. :(
- Staples - has eliminated a really, really good program for teachers. No longer worth the $5 min. purchase to get the penny deals. :(
- Koam Supplies - also sells the bags I needed from Michael's - closed on Sundays :(
- Little Shop on Lincoln - sells the molds I use for bath bombs, wanted one more - absolutely zero parking. Well, I have to go back out there tomorrow to hit Koam again... :(
- Jewel - Logi needs Pedialyte. His didn't come home from boarding - they're out of the unflavored. I Googled whether or not I could give him flavored and got 50/50 results. He has apple now until I'm somewhere until I can get unflavored. After last night, we need to keep SOMETHING on hand. Made the mistake of putting my window down before I left the parking lot and got a REALLY agressive panhandler in my face. I thought I was going to have to either call cops or run over his foot to get away. :(
- My neighborhood - it's a good beach day. Read as: Residents, do not move your car. Not even for a minute. You will be forced to park in Rogers Park when you get back, because 9 million beach-goers can't take a bus. :(
So tomorrow I get to go back north/west to hit Koam and get another mold. And maybe I'll hit Walgreens to see if they have Logi's stuff.
Oh. My. God. Costa Rica was amazing. I've started putting a few things up on my blog, but it's going to be a while before I get all 10,000 pictures sorted and edited. (Now, that's 10,000 before I finish throwing out the absolute crap shots, so yeah, there's a lot, but there's not really THAT much that I'll be spamming the world with.)
If you want to see what I have so far, you can check http://shootingdownthemiddleoftheroad.blogspot.com/.
The really good news is, my sunburn is down to 'annoying but manageable'.
Anyway, I'm officially on my (extended! Woot!) summer break. Because the new building won't be done until Labor Day, we get an extra month of break compared to other schools in our network. We go back for inservice on August 16th. Other schools start July 20thish.
I do have something like 8 random days of inservice and meetings. The only thing I mind is that they're 8 *random* days, not like 8 days in a row, so I'll wake up every morning freaking out going, "OMG, was I supposed to get up for something this morning?!"
So now that break is upon me, I need to start making my regular Plan for the Day posts...
Etsy:
If you want to see what I have so far, you can check http://shootingdownthemiddleoftheroad.blogspot.com/.
The really good news is, my sunburn is down to 'annoying but manageable'.
Anyway, I'm officially on my (extended! Woot!) summer break. Because the new building won't be done until Labor Day, we get an extra month of break compared to other schools in our network. We go back for inservice on August 16th. Other schools start July 20thish.
I do have something like 8 random days of inservice and meetings. The only thing I mind is that they're 8 *random* days, not like 8 days in a row, so I'll wake up every morning freaking out going, "OMG, was I supposed to get up for something this morning?!"
So now that break is upon me, I need to start making my regular Plan for the Day posts...
Etsy:
last batch of caterpillar soaps- set of heart bath bombs
- full run of chill pill bath bombs
- bag current run of chill pills
- tie off and shoot green and blue washcloths
- make and print labels
one load of laundry- two trips to dumpster
- half hour cleaning and organizing in the front hall
run the dishwasher at least once
I'M FREEEEEEE post!
I kicked the kids to the curb as soon as I could. Then I was second in line to get checked out. YOU GUYS!!!! I was the second person in the WHOLE school to be certified as having my entire room cleaned up and packed to the specifications of out moving company. W.T.F??? When am I EVER the one organized before ANYONE else?
So I was officially cleared, I had my meeting with my principal, wherein I found two massive math errors in my evaluation which led to a $500 increase in my bonus. Said bonus which equals MORE than a regular paycheck for me will hit my bank account while I'm in Costa Rica. Pina Coladas on me! :)
But then I had to wait two hours to have a ten minute meeting with the rest of my team for next year so the principal could say, "So this is what I'm thinking you'll each teach next year..." And we all went, "YES! Excellent plan!" and then I got to join everyone else at the bar! I'm teaching science and social studies next year. I'm THRILLED WITH THIS! I also told the lit teacher that I'd pick up the nitpicky sticky stuff from writing - basically grammar and spelling. She'll do the actual workshop writing. I heart this plan so, so, so very much!
And now I have three full days to pack for Costa Rica and then ten days where I'll be Hasta la bye-bye!!!
Oh, and our campus gets an extra month of summer break while they finish building our school. I heart this plan too. :)
Which, you know, is different than 'sunset'...
Anyway, the listings should go up tomorrow.
Anyway, the listings should go up tomorrow.
Yes, I go know it's loaves, but it ruins the pseudo-rhyme.
But look, awesome soaps. Which will actually be on my Etsy tomorrow when
the other mock up is dry.
ETA: Wow, crappy cell phone pic is crappy.
But look, awesome soaps. Which will actually be on my Etsy tomorrow when
the other mock up is dry.
ETA: Wow, crappy cell phone pic is crappy.
• The first and second graders did a musical performance for us at our weekly all-school meeting. It was a freaking hour long. It was a lesson on the lifecycle of the dark-wing beetle set to the music of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons". Did I mention it was an hour long? Done by first and second graders? About bugs? Oy. Anyway, at one point, about half way through, the kids on the stage get down on their knees and tuck their heads under their arms. The music teacher turns to the rest of us and asks the kids, "Shhh... Do you know what the first graders are turning into?"
And clear as day some kid up front (so it was either a kindergartener or a third grader) yells out, "OOH! I know! ZOMBIES!"
• My 6th graders had to fill out a survey about the health (sex ed) class they just took from a community partner. Only, this particular community partner does a really, really wide range of programs and they use one survey for all of them. So number seven read:
The choices were Yes/Some/A little/No. One girl asked me where the "I'm LESS interested in sex now than I was before the program" option was. Several others were just like, "Really, they're asking how interested we are in sex? Really?
• On the long answer section one kid said this:
Q: Do you think or feel differently about the subject than you did before the class?
A: Yes. I'm never having sex a day in my life.
Another one said this:
A: Yes. I always wanted to go raw, but I suppose now I'll use a condom.
Way, way, way, way, way more than I needed to know about Little Darling #2. *sigh*
• A parent decided to share with us at conferences that her son has had very good, very... interesting questions when he comes home from health class. And besides just talking to her about it, he apparently... stole some of her condoms to try them on. When she noticed this (I guess he left one in his pocket and she found it doing laundry) he confessed and said, "I just wanted to try it on. But I guess I'm not big enough yet because it kept falling off."
O_O !!!
And clear as day some kid up front (so it was either a kindergartener or a third grader) yells out, "OOH! I know! ZOMBIES!"
• My 6th graders had to fill out a survey about the health (sex ed) class they just took from a community partner. Only, this particular community partner does a really, really wide range of programs and they use one survey for all of them. So number seven read:
Are you more interested in this subject now than you were before the program?
• On the long answer section one kid said this:
Q: Do you think or feel differently about the subject than you did before the class?
A: Yes. I'm never having sex a day in my life.
Another one said this:
A: Yes. I always wanted to go raw, but I suppose now I'll use a condom.
Way, way, way, way, way more than I needed to know about Little Darling #2. *sigh*
• A parent decided to share with us at conferences that her son has had very good, very... interesting questions when he comes home from health class. And besides just talking to her about it, he apparently... stole some of her condoms to try them on. When she noticed this (I guess he left one in his pocket and she found it doing laundry) he confessed and said, "I just wanted to try it on. But I guess I'm not big enough yet because it kept falling off."
O_O !!!
1.) There has been Much Drama about my broken dishwasher. I finally decided that, well, since I can, I'm going to throw money at the problem. I ordered a new dishwasher and my landlord's guy will install it when it gets here.
2.) I went to the library for books for school.
3.) I did some cleaning. Not nearly enough, but some. Including taking down the trash. Which is a pain in the ass where I live. And also, this time it included my dearly departed 30+ year old box fan. Read: very heavy, made of metal, box fan with broken handle, so awkward to carry.
4.) Finished up the last few outstanding Etsy orders. Other than the $200 wedding favor order that I can't do until the mold I ordered for it comes in. (Hey, when someone wants to order $200 in soap, you order the $10 rectangle mold they want you to use! :) And the 24 crayons that have to go to Denmark that will be ordered when... I guess when Denmark has morning again, since it's a custom listing for a big bunch of crayons.
5.) Now to find the DVD I need to show my class this week.
Oy... just this week before Spring Break. THANK GOD! I need to sleep!
2.) I went to the library for books for school.
3.) I did some cleaning. Not nearly enough, but some. Including taking down the trash. Which is a pain in the ass where I live. And also, this time it included my dearly departed 30+ year old box fan. Read: very heavy, made of metal, box fan with broken handle, so awkward to carry.
4.) Finished up the last few outstanding Etsy orders. Other than the $200 wedding favor order that I can't do until the mold I ordered for it comes in. (Hey, when someone wants to order $200 in soap, you order the $10 rectangle mold they want you to use! :) And the 24 crayons that have to go to Denmark that will be ordered when... I guess when Denmark has morning again, since it's a custom listing for a big bunch of crayons.
5.) Now to find the DVD I need to show my class this week.
Oy... just this week before Spring Break. THANK GOD! I need to sleep!
Or, you know, something...
I finally got ahold of the magazine printing the bit about my shop. I had
expected photos, since they asked me to send samples to them for their
photogs to work with, but you know... I could do WAY, WAY worse than
sharing a sentence with Melissa and Doug toys!
To celebrate, there's a coupon code in my shop announcements. :) www.etsy.com/shop/wizardatwork
I finally got ahold of the magazine printing the bit about my shop. I had
expected photos, since they asked me to send samples to them for their
photogs to work with, but you know... I could do WAY, WAY worse than
sharing a sentence with Melissa and Doug toys!
To celebrate, there's a coupon code in my shop announcements. :) www.etsy.com/shop/wizardatwork
Discovering (on Facebook of all places) that your cousin died. The same cousin you used to hang around with as a kid.
The same cousin who grew up to be a Las Vegas Roofies manufacturer, seller and drug addict.
Who is five years younger than you.
I have 28 cousins (no really, 28), many of whom are a good piece older than I am. Yet this is the first one to die.
Blerg.
After not having a death in the immediate extended (is that an oxymoron?) family since my grandparents in '95, this is two since October. My uncle (on the other side of the family) and now Shawn. Argh.
The same cousin who grew up to be a Las Vegas Roofies manufacturer, seller and drug addict.
Who is five years younger than you.
I have 28 cousins (no really, 28), many of whom are a good piece older than I am. Yet this is the first one to die.
Blerg.
After not having a death in the immediate extended (is that an oxymoron?) family since my grandparents in '95, this is two since October. My uncle (on the other side of the family) and now Shawn. Argh.
- Later than normal to work because of traffic light outage on LSD.
- Improvised parking space next to dumpsters in woefully inadequate parking lot at work. Social worker told me she was boxing me in, I said fine. She always leaves at 4:15 on the dot. I never do.
- Kicked the same kid out of class twice. This kid will be the death of me. Yesterday he got an office referral because he refused to leave the building with the class. The short version is, he walks home and it was HELLA snowing at the end of the day. He wanted to stay inside to see if someone was coming to get him. BOTH me and R told him that he had to walk out. If someone was coming to get him they'd be OUTSIDE anyway, and if not he'd be walking home... you know... OUTSIDE! So I get everyone outside, walk everyone else to their parents' cars and head back in. HEY! Look who is STILL inside calling home.
So I write him up. This is at 4:15.
Today he turns in a reading log saying he was at home reading from 4:07 until 4:47. So I called him on this outrageous bullshit. And wrote all over his log in (teacherese) that this was bullshit and he was getting a zero. Top it off with, when mom signs your log tonight she will SEE that you are full of BULLSHIT! And he kept INSISTING that he was really at home reading and REALLY he didn't make it up. And he was SO TOTALLY at home at 4:07, even though the class was late getting out of Spanish and didn't leave the building until 4:10. And he would. not. quit. arguing. I mean, I walked away and he kept hollering that, no REALLY... After a few minutes of being unable to teach around him, I sent him into the hall to cool off.
Ten minutes later I pull him back in to work and he STARTS AGAIN! This time I called administration to detain him. They were smart enough not to give him back to me for the rest of the day. He got silent lunch with the AP and then they sent him to R's class. - Guess who refused to cooperate at dismissal again today?
- I get out to the parking lot and the social worker hasn't left even though it's 4:30. But I'm not so boxed in that careful wiggling won't get me out of my spot. So I start to wiggle. Until I wiggled the corner of my car into the garbage dumpster which some-the-fuck-how caused my back window to EXPLODE! From the CENTER. And I don't mean it cracked. I mean the middle 1/3 of my window - a big oval in the middle of the window was both inside my car and on the ground below me.
- So I get a garbage bag to cover my gaping hole and get home, calling glass repair places at each stoplight asking, "Can you fix this right-the-hell-now?" Apparently 95% of the world thinks you're supposed to schedule when you do massive damage to your car, so that it only happens between 9 and 5. I finally found one place that was not only willing to work late to fix this for me, but CAME TO ME to do it! It cost a bit more - not because they were working overtime, but because the only glass the warehouse (who also stayed open late so they could get my glass) had in stock right-the-heck-now was a factory piece. But given a.) that it's sleet-raining all night and b.) my car lives on Chicago city streets with absolutely no security... I needed it done now. So I paid the extra. And I do have to say, the mechanic who got detailed to work late, in the dark, in the rain-sleet was the nicest guy in the whole wide world. So once again my car is rain-proof and, you know, all the heat isn't blowing out behind me.
And yet... I'm not in the absolutely crappiest mood ever. Go figure.
Oh, I meant to mention that for those who are so inclined, my odds and ends bath bombs are bonus packs for a while - you'll either get a bonus full size bomb or two extra small bombs with your six regular pieces. I haz a many odds and ends. So if you're both the taking-a-bath person and a mildly adventurous person, this might be a good time to stock up. ;)
Really LJ?
You're using the old version of the Friends page — switch to the new one and try to customize it.
So... you're warning me ahead of time that there's a good chance I'll fail at this? I should *try* to customize it, but... what? I shouldn't be alarmed if I totally lack the skills to accomplish this task? I mean, when I tell my kids to 'try' to do something, it's with the assumption that they may or may not have the skills needed to actually succeed (but in my case I'm trying to see exactly what they can do and where I need to reteach).
I knew your customer service/user friendliness was going down hill, LJ, but this is a pretty impressive display of 'fuck you, loser users.'
You're using the old version of the Friends page — switch to the new one and try to customize it.
So... you're warning me ahead of time that there's a good chance I'll fail at this? I should *try* to customize it, but... what? I shouldn't be alarmed if I totally lack the skills to accomplish this task? I mean, when I tell my kids to 'try' to do something, it's with the assumption that they may or may not have the skills needed to actually succeed (but in my case I'm trying to see exactly what they can do and where I need to reteach).
I knew your customer service/user friendliness was going down hill, LJ, but this is a pretty impressive display of 'fuck you, loser users.'
I'm apparently trending on Pinterest-esque type site that I've never heard
of. But it's giving me stats I've never seen in three years on Etsy...
If I hit 1000 hits today I may have to do a coupon sale or something. I've
never had 1000 hits in a day before. Hell, I've had months without a 1000
hits.
:)
of. But it's giving me stats I've never seen in three years on Etsy...
If I hit 1000 hits today I may have to do a coupon sale or something. I've
never had 1000 hits in a day before. Hell, I've had months without a 1000
hits.
:)
In the last 48 hours...
Seriously?
In other news, I upgraded the incredibly bad point and shoot camera to one that is 16 MB, waterproof, drop-proof (up to 5 feet. Which means I could put the thing on TOP of my head and drop it and it would be fine), dust proof... yadda. It also has a negligible shutter delay and is just over 1 fps. All of which is a MASSIVE improvement over the one I have. Oh, and it does video.
So, you know when I'm on the beaches or in the RAIN forest, I can get some decent shots without risking the DSLR. ;) Also, I saw an AMAZING picture of a nudibranch on one of my crowd-sourced critter sites that was taken in Costa Rica. I don't know if that particular shot was a wading shot, a diving shot or a snorkeling shot, but I don't want to take the chance that I might be able to get a good shot if I wade out with the camera and, you know, not have a camera I can do that with. :)
Also, Groupon goods is going to be the death of my wallet. :)
- Order for camera battery suddenly and mysteriously cancelled. Email only said, "Sorry, we aren't sending you this."
- Twitter account hacked.
- Illinois tax form rejected
Seriously?
In other news, I upgraded the incredibly bad point and shoot camera to one that is 16 MB, waterproof, drop-proof (up to 5 feet. Which means I could put the thing on TOP of my head and drop it and it would be fine), dust proof... yadda. It also has a negligible shutter delay and is just over 1 fps. All of which is a MASSIVE improvement over the one I have. Oh, and it does video.
So, you know when I'm on the beaches or in the RAIN forest, I can get some decent shots without risking the DSLR. ;) Also, I saw an AMAZING picture of a nudibranch on one of my crowd-sourced critter sites that was taken in Costa Rica. I don't know if that particular shot was a wading shot, a diving shot or a snorkeling shot, but I don't want to take the chance that I might be able to get a good shot if I wade out with the camera and, you know, not have a camera I can do that with. :)
Also, Groupon goods is going to be the death of my wallet. :)
- Shipped my 600th order.
- Was asked for a quote on 100 chill pill soaps
- Was asked for a quote on 120 candles (not from the same person)
- Was asked for a quote on 20 full-size bath bombs with prizes inside (I don't even really offer these, she just asked if I could do it and I said, 'sure'. So she ordered 8 and now wants 20 more.)
- 7 orders. 4 of them included sets of the little heart crayons. This is largely due to them being front-paged in the Valentine's section two days last week/this past weekend.
- Finally figured out how to get an amazing dark purple in bath bombs without over saturating the mix!
Etsy alone is going to pay for this month's installment on my Costa Rica trip. I would not have expected *January* to have that kind of traction. I'm used to December being crazy, but I thought this month would be easy. Right now I'm already at 5 times what I made in January 2012 and there's a few more days left!
Also... work-work continues to rock. My mentor person was kind of amazed what I got my afternoon class to achieve in less than a week.
And the gazpacho remark has had me giggling *all* day.
Oh, and Logi, who has long answered to his name (ferrets are typically 50-50 for learning their name and/or choosing to respond to it) is now ALSO recognizing that he's who I mean when I say "Little Boy". Kári occasionally answers to his name and has no idea that he's also "Thunderbutt" and/or "Muppetbutt" depending on how much trouble he's causing.
I haven't had too many really brilliant student gems this year, but there was a really great one today.
We're reading a book about a girl who is Good German Citizen during World War II who discovers that her parents are hiding Jews in their house. As we pick up the book today I ask, "Who had come to visit during the night when I left off on Friday?"
Answer...
... "The Gazpacho!"
I couldn't help but crack up. :)
We're reading a book about a girl who is Good German Citizen during World War II who discovers that her parents are hiding Jews in their house. As we pick up the book today I ask, "Who had come to visit during the night when I left off on Friday?"
Answer...
... "The Gazpacho!"
I couldn't help but crack up. :)
Woke up to...
• the fact that my meds are still determined not to let me sleep until my alarm goes off. No one who doesn't work 3rd shift ever needs to see two 3:30s in a day.
• A former co-teacher and someone I thought of as a friend is under arrest for sexual assault.
• I'm losing half my prep time each week starting right after the state test in March for the rest of the year.
• It's snowing which is fucking up the roads.
It's a damn good thing today is Friday or I'd just give it up for a lost cause and crawl back into bed.
• the fact that my meds are still determined not to let me sleep until my alarm goes off. No one who doesn't work 3rd shift ever needs to see two 3:30s in a day.
• A former co-teacher and someone I thought of as a friend is under arrest for sexual assault.
• I'm losing half my prep time each week starting right after the state test in March for the rest of the year.
• It's snowing which is fucking up the roads.
It's a damn good thing today is Friday or I'd just give it up for a lost cause and crawl back into bed.
How long are the boat rides?
All of the boat rides last 2 hours. The boat rides will make photo stops, but do not make any stops where you get on and off the boat.
Nevermind,
I was totally reading that as "the boat will not stop where you get on and off the boat." You know, like at the beginning and end of the trip. *sigh*
English is fun.
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