Ungrateful ....Not Really

This is teacher appreciation week and every day they have been doing something special for us. On Monday they gave us a tootsie pop stuck in a piece of paper with a little note. The one I got was on white paper and written in a pale yellow marker. I could hardly make out the words but one of them was something lick. I felt a little unnerved at first. You see there's a teacher who has made passes at me from time to time and I felt a bit creeped out. How blatant how sick. What should I do. I really could barely read it and the pop blocked some of the message. I threw it in my pocket so I could figure out what was being said and what I should do.

As I walked down the hall another teacher said, "Did you see those pops? You'd think those honor students could have done a better job at writing a message." WEW so it wasn't sleezoid teacher. One of my student was an honor's student and I said, "Oh I got your tootsie pop." She had no clue what I was talking about. I showed it to her. Then I said, you know next time you write something on light color paper you should write it with a dark ink. This was really difficult to read. My old eyes really need help."

Well then it turned into a game of telephone. I said that then she told someone else who told someone else and then the teacher in charge of the group stopped me in the hall.

"I heard you complained about the pops. Some of those kids were really hurt. They worked really hard on them." I told her what I said and suggested that next time she should.... Well before I could spit out what would be helpful she said there might not be a next time. FINE.

The thing was several, not one, not two, not three, but four different teachers were kind of unnerved by the message but I guess I was the only one who said anything to anyone and I suggested that they used a darker ink.

Since student's feelings were hurt, I wrote an apology letter. I suppose I was wrong but it's hard to believe that it took on this much of a life on its own. I really didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings. I didn't lecture the student about the appropriateness. I didn't say anything about how other people were unnerved by it. Just about the difficulty I had in reading it.

We had a Department Meeting after school and now we were told that if anyone leaves Rome they won't be replaced. AMAZING. I just don't know how we will do it.

Here's the blog contests I entered:

Prize: Svan high chair, seat cushion and tray cover (ARV $350).

Prize: Maya Wrap.

Prize: Room It Up Laptop Messenger Bag.

Prizes (2): Copy of Preacher Creature Strikes on Sunday Christian children's book by Mike Thaler.

Prizes (2): Copy of This is the Day children's Christian book by Nancy White Carlstrom.

Prize: $25 Gift card for Coco-Zen Fair Trade Chocolate Products.

Prizes (2): Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head (ARV $19.99).

Prizes (9): Coupon for a free can of Pillsbury's cinnamon rolls and one of the winners will win a Cinnabon prize pack.

Prizes (5): Escape to Witch Mountain & Return to Witch Mountain DVDs.

Prize: Hazelnut Designs clutch.

Prize: Two sets of 60 Pokemon Platinum Trading Cards: Rebellion and Flourish.

Prize: Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells.

Prize: ZoomAlbum kit.

Today Started Out Rainy

I drove to work in the dark with the rain coming down making it difficult to see. It cleared up later in the day only to find us under a tornado warning. As I sat in the faculty meeting at the end of the day I watched the dark clouds in the distance.

On my way home I was listening to the radio when the warning changed to a watch. The weather alert said a tornado had touched down in Cartersville near Cass and was headed towards White around 4:35.

The back storm clouds weren't the only thing making me nervous today. In the faculty meeting we were notified that things next year are looking even worse. Originally we didn't think we would be cutting any teachers. We were notified today that class sizes would increase next year and that they will be eliminating twelve faculty jobs system wide. I could just feel my stomach drop. Dr. Evans says he hopes that this can be handled through attrition.

For the remainder of the year there will be no money for field trips, no money for professional leave or conferences. The budget was explained as to why there were new computers going into many of the rooms at Rome High in the face of all these cut backs. You see in schools there are different funds and each fund spells out specifically what can be purchased with those monies. You can't use Title One Money for things like field trips, etc, etc. So there was money for new computers but not necessarily for teacher salaries next year.

Even while I am typing this I can hear another storm headed this way. We can see the lightening in the distance and hear the thunder rumble. I hope that it isn't going to be as bad as the earlier storm.

I saw an article on the news about a blog where the woman was going to live on $1,500 a year with a family of four. Actually that's a little deceptive because they aren't living off that. That's the amount they are spending each month on their personal items. Here's what it says:

On 1/1/09, my family (2 adults, 1 preschooler and 1 toddler) decided to create the challenge to live on $1,500 for one year for groceries, household items and personal expenses (haircuts, medical copays). I started diligently using coupons in July 2008 and we built up a decent stockpile last year. Our 2009 goal is to make the most of what we have in our household and see if it is really possible for four people to survive on $1,500 for one year.

They are living off stockpiles and she doesn't count the cost of those stockpiles in her calculations. It's good to want to save money but I think you should be honest on how you are able to do it. I checked out her blog and it's really a story and that aspect is good. I have some articles in my thrifty maven but there are also things that are just about savings.

Perhaps I should rethink what I'm doing with Thrifty Maven. I'm thinking about writing a series of articles about dealing with layoffs. I will have to speak with Darryl though.

I have to close before the storm hits.