NO, NO, I wont go!!!

Well the outdoor kitty is in the garage again. You know I could not let her stay out all night with the possibility of snow. One problem though.... I just tried to boot her out of the garage but she put one paw on the snow and ran back in the garage. She did try it again and did the same thing. The third try she would not even come close to the door. She is holding her ground.... NO , NO, I WON'T GO!

Quick Update

We took the stray kitty to the mobile vet yesterday...no , I did not take off this time, I put him in the carrier before I left.

Anyhow, she is already spayed. So she must have been dropped off by someone because when she found us she had no hair and scabby skin and undernourished. Now she is a plump kitty with fluffy fur. She does not have a microchip either.

Oh and she is spoiled. After spending those two nights in our garage that is where she wants to be every night. She will whine at the front door and if we go into the garage, she will squeal , whine and moan until we let her in the garage. Last night she climbed on the garage door to get my attention and was peeking at me through the window.

Surprisingly once she is in there she is as content as can be and is litter trained. Anyone want a kitty?

I was blessed...

Yesterday I was having a really blue day. I did not take a substitute job because I had made a commitment to my mom to help take the stray cat to the mobile vet unit to get spayed. I was in the garage wrapping the cat up to put in the carrier when the phone rang. It was the mobile vet service cancelling the appointment because the doctor called in. I know that was beyond my control but I had missed a days pay for nothing . The mobile vet unit is a non-profit organization that spays and neuters for a very reduced rate. Unfortunately that reduced rate just cost me a full days pay. By the time that the call came in I did not have time to get a job and get to a school on time. I was frustrated.

Then I checked the date on the calendar and realized I had my dates mixed up in my head and missed going to the bank in time to cover my car payment. So that was returned and cost me a fee. The frustrating part was an auto deposit went in that night but they let the auto payment go through first. I did not need to give the bank a returned item fee nor my car loan people a fee they will charge me. At the current moment, I am broke. My sub pay schedule takes 2 weeks for me to get paid. I worked on January 10 but will not see the money until February 5. That is 5 days short of a month. So things are tight. I had about $50 to last me two weeks and my gas tank will take 30 of that.

Needless to say I was depressed.

I desperately needed a haircut and since I was off I called my hairstylist who only works weekdays until 2 and made an appointment. Sidenote...this is a mom and daughter place and has mostly old ladies so they are cheap. $7 just for a cut. She knew it had been a long time since I had my hair cut by the way it looked. It was bad. We were chit-chatting but I never told her about my financial situation. She did know that my main job was put on hold and I was not working at it at this time because it is temporarily closed. She asked about subbing and I told her it was going great but I was worried about next week because of high school exams and teachers will not be able to call in sick or want to this week. Also it is the end of semester so it is catch-up time too. When I went to pay, she looked at me just as nice and said, "have a good day". I said , "How much do I owe you?" She said , "Nothing, you have been blessed today." I walked away crying because I knew it was from the Lord. See he is the only one who knew about my bank situation.

Today I was cleaning up my computer desk area and I found another surprise. A $20 bill. Wow! I need that right now bad.

So thank you Lord for the two blessings these two days. Just reminds that you are in control and it will all be all right.

Well they must have liked me...

Well they must have liked me ..... because a lot of them showed up for class , unfortunately it was not their class.

Thursday and Friday I substituted for the same teacher. First and last period she has the same classes everyday. I took attendance like usual on Thursday by calling their names and looking for a hand or listening for a "here". Well I turned the attendance sheet in. In my mind there were a lot of kids but I was thinking, it is a small room. I was supposed to have 27 kids and only 2 were missing. Most kids did the work and I noticed one guy in the corner did nothing. I asked him if he had anything to turn in, he said, "no". Ok, my thoughts... he is accountable , not me.

On Friday, the class was a little more crowded. I could not really compare it to the day before because my mind was dreading the last class I would have which was my problem class the day before. I took role and all but one was there. Security came in to collect my attendance sheet. He stopped and looked. I was thinking, they are being good why are you looking at me and them like we are crazy. He then looked, pointed and said, " you and you, in the hall." He nicely told me they did not belong in my class. I was thinking ok less students to be responsible for. Well security came back and took roll again, row by row and asked the kids their last names. Ummh, three more kids left the classroom including the one from the day before that did not do any work . I felt like I did not do my job very well today but then I chuckled thinking, well they all like me and wanted to come in my class. You have to see the positive, right.

Lesson learned..... For now on , I do not call role out , I will go row by row and do a head count. What is odd too is I have been known to do a head count sometimes , well sometimes is all the time now.

Oh the joys of a substitute.

Answered Prayer...

I went into my class today I was dreading. The main guy that gave me the problem yesterday then turned the whole class against me walked in. He looked at me and then went to his seat. He then got up, came up to me and said....." I am sorry for my behavior yesterday. I was in the wrong. That is not like me." I shook his hand and told him he was forgiven. Later when the bell rang, I called him up to me and he looked scared. I told him that it showed he had character to come back to me and apologize earlier. He smiled and said thank you.

Overall it was a good day.

I really was dreading that class today. I worried all night and prayed. Even prayed right before the class again. I knew some of you were praying for me too... Thank you.

Prayer

Rough class ahead of me tomorrow. 10-1150 EST. I had them Thursday and it was the smallest class I had but most difficult. They were mad because I would not give them a pass to go to the nurse, guidance, office, or any other room. It there was an excuse they had it including having to go to the nurse in the last 30 minutes of the school day.
You see when I asked them if their classwork was done they looked at me like I was dumb and did not have classwork. So their response was, no . My response for a pass was also , no. JOY , JOY, I get them all again tomorrow. I had one walk out mad but security was not at their post to have her return. The second walk-out was returned by security. As a Substitute Teacher I am the ENEMY. ... I was nice to these kids today too. I did not fuss about their phones being out or their IPODS, both of which are forbidden during school.
Please pray for me.

The unknown....

I don't like the unknown at all. I have been through a lot of it in the last few months. Yes, everything has turned out ok , somewhat.

Substitute teaching is such a big unknown. Some schools I know, some I don't. I have to remember that two months ago the only school I knew was my old Alma Mater. I have kept my list of schools to the three that are close and that I know, well know now. Tomorrow I head out to another high school across town. I think I may have been there twice way back in the day when I played basketball against them.

Please pray for me as I go to an unfamiliar school where I must find out the following: Where is the teacher's lounge? Where are the teacher restrooms? Where is my room? oh and so many more things I have to find out at every unfamiliar school.
The positive , after tomorrow it is not an unfamiliar school anymore. Must stay positive. It is hard when so much lately I have had to leave my comfort zone in order to somewhat survive in today's economy.
God knows and he is in control.

I know I am big butttt.....

I have thought about posting this for a long time but chicken out but here goes.

I know I am big and have a big butt ( no where as big as some I have seen) but the size of bathroom stalls is ridiculous. I try to go to the handicap bathroom not only because I am a larger person but also because I am taller and the toilet is higher in that stall too. Today I was at a mall and had to used a regular size stall which looked quite smaller than usual. Well I always check the seat and it was clean so I proceeded to sit and two cold metal objects hit my thighs. I was thinking what on earth is going on , I know I am full-figured but this is ridiculous. The man who must have designed and installed both the toilet paper holder and the feminine trash container in the stall had positioned them in the exact same location on either side of the stall walls within inches of the toilet. Now even if Barbie in real life came in to use the facility she even would have a problem. It was the oddest most uncomfortable feeling in my life.
I know it had to be a man to do such a thing because a woman would have thought about such things. It also had to be a 20-30 degree day and the restrooms were right by the entrance of the mall so you can imagine these metal objects were quite cold.
Hope you enjoyed a good laugh at my expense. I really should have taken a picture of the idiotic position of these objects so you know it was not just because of my wide butt.

My Adventuresome Life....

My life is in transition right now. My main position is being eliminated because of the economy. I am seeking full time work as a marketing teacher but this is the middle of a school year and not the hiring season for teachers. I am currently substitute teaching when I can. That means I never know what school , what grade, or what students I may have on a day to day basis. I still work at my main position but now it revolves around my substituting since I know I will get paid from that. This time of changes and waiting can be put me anywhere on any kind of adventure.

This morning I woke up late and gave myself just enough time to get to school with no time to spare. My car had a little frost on it and smarty pants here sprayed the windshield washer fluid and froze the whole stupid windshield and I could not see. I had to pull over on my own street in front of my neighbors house to keep spraying more liquid hoping for the best. It cleared enough for me to see so off I went. I got to the school within one minute of my start time. WOOO!

I then walked into class and another sub was there. He quickly told me he was the substitute for the teacher's assistant today. After talking to him for a few , I found out he is finishing his Master's degree and could have been the sub but I beat him to the job. He was not being smart or cocky but boy did my intimidation begin. Well he turned out to be a nice kid who supported me and helped me but very quiet and not stern.

The kids were not bad but in every class there is one or two that tests me. I had subbed for this class one other day so I knew who the students were that would give me problems. One student kept kicking another student's chair so I pulled the one desk far away from the other student. Problem solved. The TA gave me an inquisitive look like WOW! I quickly had to move two other students to a table in the back away from the other students. One had his test paper taken from him for talking and received a zero. Once again the TA looked at me like, WOW this girl has control. Well even after I moved these individuals they continued to carry on so I marched myself to the back and sat right between them. They were shocked and amazed but extremely good for the rest of test time. The TA was shocked I did it. I could still see all the kids and they knew it.

Later in that day when classes had switched , I had another student really testing me. He is a sweet kid but has to be the center of attention. I moved him to the front right by me and I had to move another student also. Well this other student tried to trip the TA so the TA turns around and pulls his desk across the floor about three feet and walks away. The student said, dang he sure is strong , he actually moved me. Needless to say the student was nothing but perfect after that and I was quite proud at how aggressive the quiet little TA could be. I then gave him a look like.. WOW you can do it. I think I taught him something.

The part that breaks my heart is at least two of the problem students are really nice kids. I had them during a study hall like class and they are bright and nice. I had great conversations (non-school related) with them. Why do they misbehave and get bad grades in a regular class ? My opinion, lack of attention and support at home. No one encouraging them they can do it and probably the only attention they get is from negative behavior. So they just keep on with the negative behavior. It really is sad because deep down they are nice kids.

On to the rest of my day. I came home and really needed a power nap before going into what used to be my main job. I was on my way there and was in a left turn lane and barely missed the light on the last cycle so I was the first car. Well I waited and waited and waited. The light never changed. I thought maybe my mind was off in Pluto and sat through the cycle. Well I looked behind me and knew that could not have happened because there are alot of cars behind me that I knew would have blared at me. Well I waited some more and the light went through all the cycles but not my left turn. It was a busy day on this road and I know 15 minutes had passed and I could not change lanes and this light just was not changing. I finally asked the lady next to me, you know in car language, if she would let me in and she laughed and said ok. Well dang it, behold the light finally changed after 15 minutes and I had finally figured out a way out.

Oh the adventures of my life... Stay tuned.. tomorrow I venture to Richmond to judge a high school competition for Marketing.