The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

I am so sad. I did not get one single trick-or-treater. I was so looking forward to handing out candy! I got this adorable box with a pop-up ghost from Gooseberry Patch to put my candy in: I even put a big sign on my door that said, "Trick-or-Treaters Welcome!" The only person to knock on my door tonight was the UPS man. So he got some Smarties. On a totally different topic, I was doing a little shopping on the Disney website. I'm getting a really cute Eeyore outfit to work out in (including matching shoes). And I was wishing that it was socially acceptable to wear things like this: Maybe if it was a hoodie. Or maybe when I'm like 40 and married and have 5 kids... no, probably not even then. I need to squash these nerdy impulses! It's bad enough that Disney World is pretty much my favorite place on Earth...

I heart Halloween! I've been doing my best to fully participate in every Halloween activity possible, although my efforts have been hindered by my cold. (I can't believe I'm sick AGAIN!) Friday was a half day of school, and it was also the Halloween parade! I dressed up as Miss Viola Swamp. Although I don't think I did such a good job, because everyone kept asking if I was the wicked witch of the west. It must have been the striped tights. Anyway, I did lots of heavy makeup and eyeliner and I looked all Goth and it reminded me of how much I loved that look. I tried to listen to Goth music on the way to work, but unfortunately, my ipod is filled with country and Christian music. Most of my kids were not that creative with their costumes, but one boy dressed up as mitosis, and it was awesome. He wore his school uniform and had a fake body attached to himself, also in uniform. Friday night I watched An American Haunting. I thought it would be super scary, especi

Today I had issues with two parents. They are upset about their child's grades. I am so tired of dealing with this. Everyone thinks they are VIP and policies don't apply to them. Or, they don't put any responsibility on the child- it's either their fault or mine (and it's usually mine). 6th grade is old enough to write down your assignments every night, don't you think? Anyway, I'm really tired of it all, and I just remembered a story about a teacher at the middle school last year. A parent was all upset that her child was failing, even though he was failing because he had so many missing assignments. There was a meeting with the principal and the parent and the teacher where the parent was making a big fuss and insisting that the grades be changed. Finally, the teacher said, "Fine, your son has A's for the rest of the year, no matter what he does." And walked out. This teacher is my hero. If only I were tenured...

Today my principal called me in her office because she wanted to show me a video. I thought I was in trouble at first, but she said she saw this video over the weekend and knew I would love it. And she was right. I was skeptical at first, but by the end I was standing there crying in her office. I went home and watched it again, and cried again (and you all know I'm not a crier). It just says it all. P.S. I went to the Kapelle reunion this weekend and sang Bach and saw old friends and it was amazing. But I will have to write about it later- it's past my bedtime. :)

8:00 Arrive at school and remember I'm getting a new student. I had the girl's brother last year. He was good, but never did any work. The reason she is just now starting school is because she went to live with her mom in another state, but it did not work out. I have a feeling things are not going to be easy with this girl. 8:25 No faculty meeting! Sweet! A few extra minutes to grade papers. 8:55 Kids enter my classroom. They are being crazy and out of control. I make them go back in the hall and line up. They are not allowed to enter the classroom until they get it together. 10:05-11:00 The kids are at computers. It's my long prep day, and I am very productive. I'm in a great mood when I pick them up. They are being crazy again, and I have to calm them down before we enter the classroom. 11:05 I realize the new girl is not with the class. I'm informed that she went to the nurse. 12:20-12:50 Lunchtime. One of my students comes back from tak

On Friday I had one of my favorite students ask me if I had ever read some book about an orphan who went to live with these two people, and the man was really nice, and the woman was kind of mean. Oh yeah, and the girl had red hair. "Anne of Green Gables?!" I shrieked. And let my class turn into mayhem as Estella and I talked about our favorite parts. And the great thing was, Estella didn't know there was a movie. I own the videos, but they're still at my parents', so I bought the dvd this weekend. I'm going to lend it to her tomorrow, but tonight I watched it while I worked on homework. I forgot how much I love this movie. I'm not quite sure what the appeal is, but there's something amazing about this movie. And I know I'm not the only one who feels like this. I wish I was Anne. I wish I lived at Green Gables. Most of all, I wish I had a Gilbert. I also love Anne of Avonlea, but what were they thinking when they made the third movie? Wh

Every Saturday morning I wake up and just want to go somewhere. I want to have an exciting adventure. I rarely get to do this. I'm usually broke and have lesson plans and papers to write. My usual fantasy involves going hiking somewhere where there are lots of cliffs or mountains or waterfalls or just anything out of the ordinary. I want to climb and do something slightly dangerous. This is nothing new; remember when I went to Apple River Canyon and had to ford the river? But one silly little hike did not satisfy my craving, so tomorrow, I'm finally going hiking again. I'm going by myself, because it is hard to find friends who are available for a whole day and also want to go hiking. I was originally going to go up to Devil's Lake in Wisconsin, but my friends keeping going on and on about how that would be unsafe or something. More important than that, it's kind of far to go for just a day. So instead, I'm going to Mattheissen State Park , which is d

I have been in kind of a funk for the past few weeks. I don't like feeling like this; it's not who I am. So, instead of complaining (which is what I feel like doing), I'm going to list some things that make me happy. 1. The new outfit I wore today. The dark orange flats from Dillards were perfect for today's fall weather. 2. Since it is cool weather, I can sleep in my Tinker Bell pajamas with my windows open. 3. Today during literature circles, I heard a group having a great conversation about one of my favorite scary books, Coraline . 4. My principal is trying to do more walk-throughs. Today she came in as we were doing body-spelling. It's where we physically spell out the word wall words. She said it was the first time she'd actually seen a teacher using her word wall, and loved that I was doing something to reach my kinesthetic learners. The praise felt nice, although I just got lucky about when she walked in. I'm always afraid she'll walk

I am so excited for Halloween! I've started putting my costume together for our "Fall Parade" at school. I'm going to be Viola Swamp (from Miss Nelson is Missing ). If I end up going out to the bars that weekend (which I hope I do, because I have been so boring lately), Nina and I came up with this plan to get some people together and dress up as the 1985 Chicago Bears. We would each wear different jerseys, and have the black marks under our eyes, and do the Super Bowl shuffle. But if we're actually going to do that, we really should start planning like, now...

It has been one of those long, emotionally draining weeks, which is why I haven't blogged. I didn't want to sound too depressing (which apparently I did in my Martha post; I'm really not depressed, I just give up :)). There were lots of problems with my students this week. Like on Thursday: -L. came back from P.E. crying hysterically and wouldn't tell anyone what was wrong. We found out later that her aunt had died (a while ago), and she really misses her -I found out a little more about why A. is the way he is- all of his male role models are in prison. His behavior has gotten progressively more disturbing. A few weeks ago, he slapped this girl, T., across the face with a rolled up paper. Then he dropped it and demanded she pick it up for him. She did. The first weird thing I've noticed is that T. seems to enjoy being treated like this. She's been hanging around with A. more and more and trying to see what kind of behavior she can get away with. She&#