I'm so damned aggravated!!

Yes, I cursed.

I just went to get the mail. There was a stiff cardboard envelope with Do Not Bend in big, orange letters. Of course, it was bent into my mailbox. It was my diploma. My diploma is curled and has a crease on one side from being bent in my mailbox all day.

Guess where I'll be as soon as I get up and get going tomorrow?

*Update*
I just called the university and they told me to send it back and they'd send me another one. I'm going to be there this afternoon so I'll just drop it by and have them hold it for me to pick up. I'm still going to talk to the postmaster though.

I'm Way Behind

so I'll try to catch up...

My Graduation:

What can I say? Graduation was absolutely perfiect!

• All the kids were here, Mother, Robert, Susan and all his kids (and Angel too) and Layne and his entire family were there. The only thing I wanted for graduation was for all the kids to be there and they were.
  
• I was sitting on the end of a row and the family was on the side I was sitting on, could we have planned that any better?
  
• We went to eat and the kids surprised me with cake and a gift certificate to have my diploma framed. I was overwhelmed that the kids would all chip in and do that. I know they really can't afford to do that so I'm very appreciative. (I still haven't gotten all my thank you's written, I need to get on that).
• I was one of only 6 people that graduated summa cum laude, I thought there would be more. My transcript says that I was 37th in a class of 1089.
  

There actually were a couple of things wrong with graduation but they were just blips and didn't amount to much. I didn't know to bring bobby pins so I had to keep adjusting my cap and that was annoying. The speaker stunk, to say the least. I did not spend 6 years in college to be lectured about obesity.

The third grade teachers gave me a teacher shower and I got tons of gift certificates to the teacher supply store in Bryan, $286 worth. I can't wait until I know for sure what I'll be teaching so I can go shopping!

End of School:

The last 2 years, I haven't been at work the last two weeks because I was taking a minimester class so I forgot how crazy those last 2 weeks are. It was time for school to be out!

Michele, our secretary, got pneumonia and was out an entire week two weeks before school was out. Not a problem except that end of the year certificates weren't done. Guess who was chosen to do that chore? If you guessed me, you'd be right. I'm sure you don't want to hear the gory details. Suffice it to say that I did about 1000 certificates and only had to redo about 12 before the ceremony and there were only 3 problems at the ceromony and 1 was not my fault. Pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

Rachael's Graduation:

Rachael's graduation was wonderful. Renita Schroeder was the speaker and even though she talked 90 miles an hour, she was absolutely awesome! I have been to 7 high school graduations and 2 college graduations in the past 10 years and she was by far the best speaker. She spoke the truth, in love, to those kids and every one of them needed to hear what she had to say. I need to see if she will let me have a copy of the speech, it was that awesome.

After graduation, Frances had reserved the Family Life Center and we had a party for Miranda and Rachael. Frances said something to me last Sunday about doing a party for Miranda and she wanted to include Rachael. That was very kind of her and I appreciated it. She bought all the stuff, Steven and I did most of the set up and clean up and I'll write her a check for my part of everything. Rachael and her friends went to the midnight showing of Pirates of the Carribean III and had a good time.

I'm really glad graduations are all over!

Rachael started her job at Shell today. It's a good thing. She was going to be working for Mom if she hadn't. Mom's job is for children that won't get a real job. It consists of working mostly outside from 8-5 with a 30 minute lunch and 2 15 minute breaks, 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. The best part is that I don't pay anything! David got to work for Mom one summer. It didn't last but 2-3 days before he decided a real job would be easier. :)

I'm sure there's more I wanted to write about and if I remember, I'll write it later. I'm going to do my best to keep up now...

Scholarships

Tonight was the scholarship ceremony for the graduating seniors. Rachael is in a very small class that is full of very smart kids. She didn't get even remotely the most scholarship dollars but in my opinion, she got the most prestigious one,

The National Honor Society Scholarship. This scholarship is based on scholarship, leadership, service and character. The teachers are presented with a list of the graduating seniors and turn in 3 names that exemplify these traits. The top 3 students are then voted on my the membership of the National Honor Society. Rachael said there were more than 3 names on the ballot but the lady presenting the scholarship said there were 3. Nonetheless, this scholarship is based on the respect of the teachers as well as peers so I feel like it's a great honor to receive it. I'm very proud of her.

With the A&M scholarship, she's received $2850 for her first semester, which should pay for tuition and books. The A&M scholarship will be $1250 per semester as long as she keeps her grades up, basically.

Graduates also have the ability to earn up to 4 academic awards to wear at graduation in the form of collars and cords. These awards are:
Beta Club
National Honor Society
Distinguished Graduate (based on the degree plan they followed)
Honor Graduate (top 15%)
Rachael received all these awards. She's worked really hard and deserves them. She's also starting college with 18 credit hours, more than her first freshman semester.

Comedy

One night last year I was channel surfing and something caught my eye on ABC Family. I was intrigued and finished watching the show, Whose Line is it Anyway? These guys are hysterical and I love it every time I watch. I can never keep up with when it's on so I just sometimes happen to catch it. Tonight is one of those nights. I was watching a movie and then there it was. I need to be in bed but instead, I'll be up until 10:00 watching Whose Line is it Anyway?

Finished!!

It's over! I'm finished!! No more classes, no more homework, no more papers, no more reflections, no more justifications, no more driving to The Woodlands, no more anything!!

I'm excited but at the same time I'm feeling strange. For six years now there have always been assignments that needed to be done and now there aren't any. I know the reality of it will settle in soon. For now I'm just going to enjoy...

My Fish Reflection

In science, we had to reflect on every activity we did. I turned this in and Dr. Foster told me I wrote really good reflections when I was stressed. She gave me full credit (10 points). That really upset one of the girls in my carpool because she wrote a real reflection and only got 7 points. What can I say? I wasn't expecting any points. So, here's my reflection after we did fish painting...

How does fish printing promote interdisciplinary teaching? To be completely honest, I have no earthly idea right now. I am exhausted beyond belief, completely stressed out, completely overwhelmed and feeling like I am not going to make it through the remainder of the semester. I have reflected until I am blue in the face and simply can’t deal with another reflection this weekend. I feel like I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown and there is no way on the face of the earth that I can complete the assignments I have left this semester. I’m neglecting my family, my home, my job and my health to be able to survive this semester and I simply am unable to write this reflection. I work 7.5 hours every day and commute to class 1.25 hours 4 days a week. In addition, this semester I have had to deal with the following life happenings:

1. My husband had to take a job in Austin so he is only home on the weekends. I don’t sleep well when he is gone so I stay exhausted. I was also depending on him to be home to take care of things like cooking, feeding the dogs, etc.

2. I’m dealing with menopause. Hot flashes every 2 hours most nights which wake me up and contributes to my lack of sleep.

3. My youngest child is a senior this year and I’ve missed every Tuesday softball game her senior year. I swore I was not going to miss any of her games her senior year but I can’t put off graduating an entire long semester just to go to softball games.

4. At the end of January, my oldest daughter informed us she was pregnant and getting married in March, in Corpus Christi. Because of school, my only contribution to the wedding was paying for things and dress shopping. I’m getting docked a day’s pay, which I cannot afford, to have been able to go to Corpus Christi and help set up for the wedding.

5. I had the flu, missed an entire week of school and 3 days of work. I have never missed 3 days of work in a school year, much less in one week.

6. My 37 year old brother had emergency quadruple by-pass surgery so I missed 1 day of work and 1 class to be with him.

7. My grandson had his tonsils out so I missed 1 day of work and 1 class to be with him.

8. I had food poisoning, missing a day of work and a night of class because I was deathly ill.

9. My youngest daughter now has a boyfriend so I have the stress of worrying what they’re doing while her dad and I are gone all week. I trust her but she’s 18 and alone all week and I know what can happen.

10. I’m having to depend on my husband to pay the bills and take care of our finances this semester and that is his biggest weakness. I have no idea what I will be faced with in May when I take that job back over. The thought of it stresses me out completely but I can’t deal with doing it until school is over. I’m doing good just to get through the days.

11. There are various and sundry other annoyances that would not be a blip on the radar screen except for the fact that my life is falling apart right now.

So, reflecting on how fish printing promotes interdisciplinary teaching means absolutely nothing to me right now. Reflecting on this will in no way impact what kind of teacher I will be and I simply cannot deal with thinking about it.

I know I will get no credit for this reflection but that’s OK, it sure felt good to get this all on paper and have someone “listen” even if it was involuntary listening.

My Last Night of Bondage

I'm working on finishing up my portfolio. I won't finish tonight but will have it done in plenty of time tomorrow. I think I still have 3 competencies without artifacts but I'll come up with something...

I am soooo sick of justifying and reflecting I could just scream! There are 13 competencies. Each one has to have an artifact, a summary, a justification and a reflection. In addition, there were 12 disposition justifications and weekly reflections. All of that plus some other stuff for my portfolio. If this was something useful, I wouldn't mind doing it but I already have a job and if I go to another district later, I won't be a brand new teacher and won't need this stupid portfolio so it is a complete and utter waste of my time and effort.

This time tomorrow night I will be finished. I can hardly believe it's here...