Miscellaneous Monday

June 1, 2009

It's that time of the year. So much is going on to wrap up the end of the school year that only bits and pieces are bouncin' around in the brain, rather than a complete, cohesive train of thought. So here's what's going on:

--There are nine days left of school. I'm really going to miss some of the kids, but even though I like 'em all, some of them are just WORK, you know? I'm not even talking about the physical job or the paperwork; I'm talking about the emotional work. That's why teachers need summer break--sanity recovery.

--That being said, I am immensely thankful I have a good, solid job in a good district. I'm glad that even though I have summer off, I have a job to go back to in August.

--We just got the official word that Doug's construction job is, in fact, ending. The project is ending tomorrow. Luckily, we knew it was coming. The company is pulling out of the area. They offered him a job at another site, four hours away, but weren't able to offer anything toward housing (hotel during the week), gas, or food. By the time we pay out of pocket for all of that, actual wages would almost be a wash. As of the end of the week, he goes back on the hiring haul list and we cross our fingers. I'm actually excited that he'll have some down time just when I'm getting out of school, but I'd be lying if I said the prospect of looking for a new job in this economy doesn't scare me. It does.

--Looks like all the kids are ending the year on an up-note. We were looking a tad iffy on one front, but everyone has buckled down and is working toward a strong finish. Overall, all three of them had very positive experiences with their teachers this year.

--Today is the beginning of my birthday month, as well as the birth month of my beautiful oldest daughter. I love birthdays: )

--Summer this year will bring a few visits from my sister Lisa and a ten-day visit from my brother and his family. I'm hoping I will also get to see my sister Laura at some point this summer, too.

--I got a new cell phone yesterday that I'm still trying to figure out. I loved my old phone but it was, well, old. Suddenly this week, it started thinking that even with a complete charge, no actual conversation should last more that three minutes. Without warning, it would power down. My phone hung up on my sister, my hubby, my daughter, my ex-hubby, and a random assortment of other people. When we took it in to the Verizon store to figure out the problem, the charming young gal said the first course of action was to try to upgrade the software on my phone. She plugged it in and shortly came back, looking somewaht sheepish. "Um...bad news. The upgrade fried your phone. It's dead. Non-functioning. We're not sure why." So now, I'm figuring out new features and purchasing new ringtones. Because Verizon was responsible for the untimely demise of my phone, Mr. Verizon Manager threw in a new phone for Hubby, too, which he was sorely in need of. Gotta hand it to Mr. Verizon Manager--he did a fine customer service damage control.

Wow. Random though these thoughts may be, I had a lot more to say today than I thought. If you made it through to the end, thanks for sticking with me. Maybe tomorrow will be less scattered, but I can't make any promises about that until after school gets out.