Testing...ugh

The Alabama High School Graduation Exam will be taken by thousands of students this week. And hundreds of teachers will be responsible for administering and proctoring. And for us, this week is the. most. boring. ever. During the testing, we cannot do anything. We can't flip through magazines or read a book or grade papers or even do a crossword puzzle. We can sit and watch students test. Believe me, I understand the seriousness of this exam, and I do not by any means take my role as administrator or proctor lightly, but there is nothing I (or any teacher I know) dreads more than test week.

You would think that we would look forward to test week because it would be a break from having to be "on" for our classes, but it is just the opposite. The days we have to test seem to be twice as long as a normal day. Back when I administered or proctored students needing accommodations, I would be more tired at the end of the day than I was when I taught all day long. Fortunately, I have to be involved in testing only two days this time. Tomorrow I will be the administrator for the math portion, and on Friday I will be the proctor for the biology portion.

The crummy thing about Monday and Friday is that I won't have a planning period because of the way we do our schedule. Any student who has passed doesn't have to come to school until 11:00. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we will have our 1st and 2nd block classes in the afternoon during the time we normally have our 3rd and 4th block classes. My planning is 3rd block, so I'll go straight from testing to teaching on those days. But on Tuesday and Thursday, our afternoon classes are on the normal 3rd and 4th block schedule, so I will have ALL morning, with the exception of our 9 minute advisement period, plus my planning. I plan on making copies for their research packets on those days.

After this week, we have one week left, and then we'll be out for spring break. Right now, my plans are to spend Monday and Tuesday of spring break to paint our bedroom. And my ottoman is scheduled to be delivered on that Tuesday. Yea! I hope that maybe John can take off either Thursday and Friday, or even just Friday, of spring break and that it will be warm enough for us to go to the lake. This weekend was so gorgeous, and it just made me want to be sitting in the sun looking out over the water. Those days shouldn't be too far off!

Gotta call it a night. Hope you all have a GREAT week!

Bipolar weather

Let me begin by saying that I am in no way making light of bipolar disorder or any other mental illness. My brother was, after years of hell, diagnosed as bipolar a couple of years or so ago. I know first hand the struggles, the fears, the anger that friends and family go through when a loved one suffers with a mental illness. But I know no other way to explain this crazy weather we've had in Alabama this winter.

Alabama weather is typically a little crazy anyway. Shorts on Christmas Day? Sure. Snowmen in April? Why not. No rain for weeks at a time. Then it seems like it's monsoon season. One hundred degree summers with 100% humidity. We just get used to it. This winter, though, has been more nuts than normal.

Winters are cold when the temps are in the low 30s (or they are to me.) Temperatures will occasionally dip into the upper 20s, but rarely do they ever STAY in the 20s. This winter, records for consecutive days in the 20s were set. I think we learned what cold really is. I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I never want to live in a place that experiences those kinds of temperatures regularly. LOL

In Tallapoosa County, we had our second (or was it third??) day of snow today. (Fortunately, it didn't stick, but it was really pretty.) It was in the 60s over the weekend, and then it was cold enough for snow today. And the weather gurus are saying that there could be MORE snow. If we get one snow a winter, we're surprised. I think in the entire state, there have been six or seven days when there has been a "snow event." It is crazy, I tell you. CRAZY!

I am a warm-weather person. I love to sit out in the sunshine. I feel happy when I can feel the sun on my face. I am really tired of cold weather. I neeeeeeed summer!

"I hate it when people crunch ice."

Last night, John and I were sitting here watching TV, I was playing around on the computer, and I was crunching ice. I have always, for as long as I can remember, been an ice cruncher. When I was little, Daddy would tell me that when I broke a tooth or ruined a filling, I would have to take money out of my savings to pay to have it fixed. That never stopped me from crunching.

So, as we were sitting here and I was crunching away, John looked at me and said, "I hate it when people crunch ice." I stared at him in amazement because we have been married 17 years, 2 months, and 2 days (1 day at the time), and in all of that time, I have never known that my crunching ice bothered him. How can that have happened? I mean, I knew practically everything there was to know about him in the first three months we were dating, but somehow, I've missed this. So for the rest of my ice (because I couldn't just forget about it) I was so conscious of NOT making noisy crunching sounds.

Now, I wonder what other habits I have that make him crazy but he just hasn't said anything about them.

I'm still amazed that he's never, in 17 years, said anything about hating the sound of ice being crunched.

Sighs of contentment

Do you ever have those moments when you suddenly realize just how wonderful your life truly is? Out of the blue, something just clicks and you are filled with that feeling of pure and complete joy. I had that out of the blue moment last night. Honestly, I feel like I have the most wonderful life possible. Sure, it isn't completely perfect by any stretch, but it is truly as close to possible as humanly possible, but I know that far too often, I become complacent. I lose sight of the little things.

Jess and I had spent the day together having coffee, pedicures, and doing some shopping. It was a beautiful spring-feeling day. (Sadly, I know that we'll have some not-so-springlike days ahead.) It was the kind of day I love, a day spent doing the little things.

After Jess and I got home, she, Lance, John, and I were headed to Oskar's for dinner. As we drove down the road, I was overcome with a feeling of complete happiness and contentment. I had my best friend in the seat beside me, and I had my amazing and beautiful daughter and her amazing and gorgeous boyfriend in the backseat. As I listened to Jessi and Lance laugh and talk, I knew that there wasn't much that could make my life any better.

I was hoping that maybe Lance had talked to John about his and Jessi's future, but if he did, John won't talk. (Sorry, Jess, I tried everything I could think of to get some information from your dad. Either they didn't talk, or Lance swore him to secrecy. If that is the case, well, I could be on my last breath and would be taking it to my grave, and he still wouldn't tell me anything.)

That same wonderful feeling has carried over to today. John and I got up and went to church for the first time in a long time. It felt so good to be sitting in God's house, singing praises to him, and asking for His help in making me a better person.

Sighs of contentment...

What a beautiful day!

Have we finally turned the corner weather-wise? I can't say, but I sure hope so. Yesterday was gorgeous, and today is shaping up to be as well. Oh sure, I know we'll still have a cold snap, and the rain isn't gone forever...after all, this is Alabama. We've had snow accumulation in April. But I truly hope the horrifically cold winter weather is gone until next year. I am so not a cold-weather gal. I love feeling the sunshine on my skin and having my toes freed from shoes.

Speaking of toes...Jessi and I are doing a Girls' Day while John and Lance do some manly stuff around the house. We have a couple of dogwood trees that are more dead than alive, so Lance is coming over to help cut them down. I hate to see them go because dogwoods are probably my favorite tree, and these have always been so pretty, but they are in locations that if they were to fall, they could cause some pretty big headaches. Lance is such a sweetheart for doing this. I know he would probably much rather spend the day with his sweetheart. Jessi is a VERY lucky young lady because he adores her so very much. Of course, he is a VERY lucky young man, too.

Got to go wash up some dishes so I can be finished with housework for the day. Then I'll head to the tanning bed, shower, and get ready to play with one of my favorite people in the world.

Have a GREAT Saturday!