Day of Contradictions

I didn't go to work today. Although my mammogram appointment only takes 15 minutes I always take the whole day off. I feel I deserve it. I also scheduled a massage therapy appointment to work on the knots in my back and shoulders. The contradictions in my day were that I had my 6th mammogram which means I'm OLD, but when I stopped at the store to buy some beer for Forrest I got carded. Which means I still look YOUNG. Yippeee! 21 was more than 2 decades ago.

Free Time

Those of you who also read my sister Michelle's blog will have to look there for pictures of our Mom's Weekend. I'm having trouble with the picture mail feature on my phone.

Before this weekend Olympia has just been a place to pass through on the way to and from family in Oregon. But since it is just about midway between St. Helens and Stanwood we chose is as our meeting spot. The hotel was old, the free breakfast was bad, but the location was perfect. One side of the hotel looks out over the old capitol building and the other side looks out on Capitol Lake, the new capitol, and the marina. And everything was within walking distance of the hotel. Olympia's downtown has delightful shops, coffee houses, and restaurants. I bought a beautiful watercolor for the living room directly from the artist herself. At Dumpster Values, a hip thrift store, Michelle and I pawed through the racks to find vintage wear for Alyssa's Great Gatsby presentation. On Sunday the sunshine on the water beckoned. We strolled along the waterfront to admire the ships. We stumbled upon the farmer's market and took some time to sit by the water with our books.

After lunch at the market I got on I-5 for the drive home. My plan was to take 405 north as I-5 in North Seattle is under construction, however, there was an accident blocking the onramp to 405 so I had to stay on 5. There were 45 minute delays through Seattle so I got tricky and took 90 west across the lake and picked up 405 in Bellevue and proceeded up through Lynnwood and Everett. I made it home in two hours despite my detours.

I didn't know how much I really needed this weekend until I got home. Work has been stressful, the kids and their activities are stressful, and just the general economic uncertainty has been stressful. It was so much fun to poke around the stores, stroll the sidewalks, and just be me and not someone's teacher, mom, or wife. Thanks a bunch Michelle, love you lots.

Happy Easter

Hope you all had a Happy Easter. Forrest had to work half a day as April is Tulip Festival month and he has to deploy flaggers where they're needed and manage traffic control. Easter is usually a very busy day for him, but our cold and snowy spring have put the tulips behind schedule. There are daffodil fields in bloom, but they're not the main draw. The wet, cold weather continued today so he didn't have to deal with many tourists.

Alyssa came home at 2:30 AM this morning and then was up at 9:30. She's been dragging through the day working on homework in her pajamas after her big night. They had a great time. They arrived early and couldn't get into the EMP so they played laser tag at the Seattle Center arcade. Once inside they had access to all of the music exhibits, rock and roll memorabilia, and the sound lab where they go to try out lots of instruments. They did some dancing too. The prom ended at midnight and the boys in her group were starving so they had to stop at Dicks for burgers and fries on the way home. The only trouble they had was that they lost their parking ticket and had to wait for someone with a monthly pass to let them out of the parking garage.

Noah had a game yesterday and won again 12-5. I managed the toddler section of our local egg hunt yesterday too. It was windy, but the rain held off till today so the egg hunters stayed dry.

Prom 2009

The theme is "Big Lights, Big City." The event is being held in the EMP (Experience Music Project) in Seattle. Dinner is family style Italian at Bucca de Beppo. As you can see purple is popular this year, however, as we were taking photos at the school we saw leopard print and every color of the rainbow. And some colors that don't occur in nature. Alyssa and her date, Jordan, were well coordinated down to the flower choices, white roses with purple and silver ribbons. Here are the photos we took at the high school before the kids all went off for dinner and dancing. I'll have to report Alyssa's impressions later. I don't expect to sleep much tonight. Alyssa is driving a car full of kids to Seattle since the mothers in her group of friends trust Alyssa more than the boys.

Trying Times

Since the state legislature revealed their proposed budget cuts I've been to two emergency union meetings.  I don't like the feeling I get when I walk away from them.  It's a very us vs. them attitude.   While I do believe that we have some dead wood that needs to be cut from the district office staff I have never gotten the feeling from our board members and the superintendent that "they" are out to screw the teachers to save themselves.  

Our district has a deep hole, a $4,000,000.00 hole to fill. Cutting programs will not do it all.  There will have to be staff cuts too.  Preliminary figures indicate that 30-40 teachers out of 300 will be let go.  I've been here for 20 years so I know I will have a job, but what concerns me is who will I be teaching with?  Two of my fourth grade teammates are in their second year of teaching, and my other teammate only has five years of experience.  It's likely that I might have a whole new team of people who have never taught 4th grade before working with me.  Additionally I will probably have 30+ children in my room.  I haven't had that many students since Noah's group was in fourth grade (and that was an unusually large group).  Last year I had 25 kids all year, and this year I only have 20.

My pay will at best be frozen but probably cut.  Forrest is likely to take a pay cut too.  We were hoping to take one last big vacation with the kids before Alyssa's senior year since it will probably be the last one we all take together, and that's looking less likely now.

I chuckled at an article I read about our new education secretary.  He was lecturing high school students in Denver about competition with the rest of the world.  He told the students that they need to be in school six days a week 11 months of the year.  Has this man been reading the papers lately?  Every district in the nation is cutting staff, shortening the school year, and/or cutting programs to stay in operation.  Where does he think the money is going to come from to institute his changes? We will receive some stimulus money, but it comes with strings attached, and most of it will go to special education or english as a second language programs.

OK, I'm done ranting now.  I'll climb down off my soapbox. But maybe now that I've written my concerns down somewhere I'll be able to sleep tonight.

On  more positive note, Noah's baseball team won last night 17-3.  Noah pitched a no-hitter for four innings before he ran out of his weekly allotment of pitches.

Alyssa turns in her Senior Project proposal today.

Say Yes to the Dress

Dress #1 was too short.

Dress #2 was itchy and too short.

This one looked like an old lady dress, especially the neckline.

This purple number was the one! You'll have to wait for prom pictures to see how she looks in it. It will be paired with silver sandals, a silver purse, a black sweater with rhinestone button, and a sparkly barrette for her hair. Sorry about the quality of the photos, most were taken with my phone. I promise to post spring break photos soon. Hopefully tomorrow.