The Truth

It has been very interesting watching all of the news coverage regarding the football player that was murdered last week. My students and I were discussing it today, and many of them were of the opinion that the guy lived a lifestyle that was not safe and therefore bad things happened to him. I just opened MSN and there was this very interesting article addressing how black men are being murdered by other black men and what to do about it. It specifically addresses the NFL player, but I think it can be spread throughout. I can't wait to get to school and see what my students think. This won't be the first time we have had this conversation, and I wish we as a school would have the conversation campus wide... I mean, we bring these kids from inner city Houston and Dallas and within a week they are hanging out with kids who are just like the ones they left at home... Instead of taking the opportunity to choose friends that will lift you up and help you succeed in life they picks guys who are packing and know how to kick some fanny. It is a situation that causes much distress for me as I watch students get sucked right back into destructive cycles... Anyway, sorry for the rant... any comments???

What I'd like to say...

If you missed Brandi's comment from the post before you should go read it... it had me laughing out loud in my office!

Ok, so this has been one of those mornings that I have had to bite my tongue for fear of telling numerous students how I really feel... Let me give you some examples of how my students are behaving...

I sent an email regarding speech grades yesterday. I gave them an extra credit opportunity that had to be turned in at the beginning of class, typed, no excuses. If they didn't have it, they didn't get the points. (Mind you, the students are required to use their MCM email.)

Student after seeing other students handing stuff in: What email?
Me: The one I sent on Moodle, I'm sorry you missed the opportunity.
Student: But my MCM email doesn't work?
Me: How long has this been happening? (This was in an effort to figure out if this just happened so I should feel sorry for her.)
Student: Oh, all semester.

I couldn't even respond for fear of something sarcastically inappropriate coming out!

After group presentations I had another student come tell me how awful I am for making them do a group presentation. She then informed me that she was offended by the extra credit opportunity because she feels like she did everything she was supposed to for an A and she didn't get one. Mind you this is the same student who has turned in every assignment late... always with some excuse about stress from other classes. Why don't students get it??? If they turn in their work and follow the directions and come to class they will be happy with their grades...

I love my job, I love my job, I love my job...

Catching up...

It is 11 and I really should be in bed... 6am is going to come early after 5 days of sleeping until 8am. I really think grown-up world shouldn't start until at least 9am. If I didn't have to be anywhere until 9am I would be a much happier person! haha!

I've never been good at doing things when I am supposed to do them. For example, I had 5 days home in which I could've completely graded the work for all of my classes not to mention prepared for the next two weeks... instead, I did things like watch all the shows I have DVR for the last 2 mths, cleaned my bedroom from top to bottom, cleaned the living room from top to bottom, and washed, dried, folded and put away about 12 loads of laundry. All important stuff.... but probably not what the most impt.

I will say that cleaning my room from top to bottom completely disgusted me. Has anyone looked under their bed in the last year??? I decided to pull up the mattresses and vacuum under the bed... eww... lots of dust hiding under there. No wonder my allergies have been killing me!

As for the laundry... we had to buy a new dryer on Friday... let's just say how fun that wasn't. When I got my front loading washer I knew I would eventually have to buy a dryer, but I didn't expect the matching dryer to cost 700$. We decided that the matching part was a bit overrated when we could get a dryer that was just as good for 348$ and most dryers are front loading anyway. I will say that dryer should've been bought long ago. I can now get a load of laundry washed, dried and put away in less than 2 hrs. I'll let you know how this affects the electric bill!

So, this post is a little random... sorry... not a lot of important stuff happening... I'm sure I could come up with something meaningful to post... but I'm tired and my brain is not so much working! Have a good week!


PS> I have a grammar question... everytime I use the words should've, would've, could've the spell check goes crazy... why is this??? Those are words, aren't they????

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I spent the day at my mom's cooking for lunch tomorrow. We made dressing, banana pudding, and pie after pie. Oh and I got the job of deboning the turkey... ewww! It was a lot of fun though... something mom and I have never done before. Usually she has the kids out to help, but never has she asked me. She didn't ask this time, I volunteered... and she said that would be great. It was fun to spend the day working with her.

I did find out that my little brother's girlfriend is 7 mths or so prego! Um... how do you get that pregnant and not know??? Or how do you go that long and none of us know??? I mean we just say them a month ago and she didn't look prego... hmmm.

On the way home from my mom's I ran out of gas! I had to call RT to come rescue me! I do this occasionally and the guys he works with enjoyed a laugh at my expense today! I'm so glad I could cause a smile!

Anyway, that's about all I have... I hope everyone has a great day tomorrow!

Better...

Sorry to be all down in the dumps yesterday! After posting yesterday I decided to go get some good ole Burgers and Fries because I loooovvveee their very thick handcut french fries and whoever had cut the fries the day before made them shoestring! Talk about fitting into my day... I called Rt to tell him and he laughed very loudly! Oh well... everyday is a new day!

Today has been a better day... I think it was because I don't teach an 8am on Tues/Thurs. 8am classes are full of people who don't really want to be there and that makes a classroom difficult to deal with.

I have a question for you mothers out there... How do mornings go in your house??? I'm only asking because we struggle sooo much in the morning. It would help if I would get out of bed on time, but 6:30 is soooo early. I thought that getting out of bed would be easier as I got older.... but it's been the opposite. So... do you just bounce out of bed??? Is there some secret to it??? Give me some ideas!

When it rains, it poors...

Not literally of course since Abilene hasn't seen rain since sometime in Oct, but I feel like today has been one of those days that I would have rather not experienced... and it's only 11am. Ugh! I know that there are many people with many problems much worse than mine, but when you are stuck in the middle of the stuff it all seems so big. I know that in the long run it won't really matter and most of what is happening is just annoying, but I don't like how I feel inside when all of this stuff is happening. I woke up at 7:15 this morning and we have to leave the house by 7:30 for the kids to make it to class on time. It was anything but peaceful on the way to school and then I got to listen to 100 excuses for why the students didn't have their work done or why this or that was happening. I blew up at my 9am class because I have frankly heard just about enough. Then I looked at my checking acct and I cannot make heads or tell of what is happening. I used the bill pay that the bank does to pay the bills, but since it doesn't take the money out right away I cant figure out the balance. I guess I will just have to use that acct for bills and nothing else so that I can stay on top of the blow money. (I can budget, I can budget, I can budget... if I keep telling myself this will it happen???) Robert walked into my office before his 11 o'clock class and I burst into tears.... and now I cannot get them to stop. His solution was that I needed to go home and go to bed... he might be right. I honestly think that I have been sick with sinus stuff for so long that my body is just wearing down... or something like that. Too bad I can't just stop time and take a little nap.....

ALyssa Update...

Alyssa came home today. She is doing extremely well. She hasn't needed any pains meds and she is eating the entire house. I guess we will see what the future holds from here for her.

We went to Primetime on Friday night. It was a lot of fun, but I made Megan drive her own go-cart and it turned into disaster. She didn't really want to be by herself in the go-cart, but I made her do it anyway... I really though her anxiety was just her being silly about new things. So, guess what happened... Some great teenage boys who weren't paying attention ran into her in the back and side causing her to spin out and hit the side. She has some great bruises on her neck and down her chest and keeps complaining that her chest hurts and she has a great scrap on her chin. I'm not sure what to do about it... I mean, how long is she going to be sore? Should I take her to the dr? Anyway, the most frustrating thing of it all is that the accident only furthers her anxiety about the world around her. She is the kid who thinks of every possible negative thing that could happen and then refuses to do whatever it is that she was going to do. Not to mention I am now the bad guy... I made her go by herself and the bad things she thought were going to happen did. This is where I would like to thank the boys who only considered themselves and the fun they wanted to have... next time could you perhaps be considerate of the kids who are driving around you???????

Baby Alyssa

For those who are wondering, my walk was amazing. I'll share more later.

Right now I need some major prayers lifted up. My little brother and his girlfriend Ashley had baby Alyssa a little over a year ago. At the time of her birth, we knew there were problems, we just had no idea the extent of the problems. In the last year, Alyssa has had a surgery to fit a cleft small palate, an open heart surgery, and now on Wednesday morning she will have the top half of her skull taken off and reshaped because it has fused together too early. Alyssa is not developing normally... she has no motor skills... as in she cannot hold anything, roll over, or sit up... she can giggle at you when you act silly and she looks around... but that is all. The doctors have never given what she has a name, they just say that she has a syndrome. I'm not sure if the doctors don't know what the problem is or if they just don't think Matt and Ashley could handle it. We love Alyssa, she is quite precious, but her future is so shaky... so unsure... so challenging...

Anyway, on top of all of this my mom called to tell me that Ashley is pregnant again. I want to be happy.... I really do... but they are not married and they have an infant with soooo many problems already not to mention the fact that Ashley gets sick every time she takes Alyssa for an appt... how is she going to have a newborn and Alyssa??? On top of that... the genetic testing shows that Ashley's chromosomes are mixed up and my brother has had so much chemo his dr's suggested he not have anymore kids... anyway, do you get my frustration? I'm trying to be supportive, but I don't think they have been very responsible in all of this... It's too much of a risk if you ask me, but what do I know. I guess I would feel differently about it if I had gotten the impression that this was somehow planned, but apparently this baby was a complete surprise... just like Matt's other 3 children. Really, I'm not annoyed in the least... 4 kids, 3 women, it sometimes amazes me that we grew up in the same family. It was great fun explaining to my children that Ashley was pregnant again and fielding the questions regarding marriage, babies, and sin. Now, I don't want anyone to read this blog and think that I'm being a judgemental twit, I'm not, I love my brother, Ashley, and all the kiddos involved, I just really, really hate explaining all of this to my kiddos... I've gotten to be a pro at saying things like 'everyone makes mistakes' and 'yes I know, but we still love uncle matt.' I don't want my kids to think that babies are 'accidents' or 'mistakes' by any means, but I really don't know how to explain it all to them. Rt joked with Matt that he would pay for the vasectomy... I think he may be ready to make the appt and carry him to it.

So... please pray for baby Alyssa, pray for the dr's and the nurses who will be taking care of her. Pray for Matt and Ashley and my parents as they wait patiently for the surgery to be over... pray that there will be a peace about whatever happens. Pray for peace for all of us regarding this new pregnancy... I do know that everything happens according to God's plan and there isn't a lot that I can do about any of it... (see I did learn something this weekend!).