Sticks and Stones . .

You know? Whoever came up with the aforementioned statement needs to be punched (Please don't miss the irony here!). When you are little, you are taught by your mother, a teacher, some do-gooder grown-up that words are just words and that they cannot possibly affect you. . or shouldn't, because according to E. Roosevelt, no one can make you feel low without your permission. . or something cheesy like that. Fine Eleanor! You win! Guess what, my feelings get hurt when I hear from my boss that a bunch of house-wives hate me because they think I'm "harsh" with their lazy children!
Gosh! I mean, who are these people who are allowing their children to grow-up being able to be so darn sensitive and pass-the-buck-ish? How can your son failing my class be reflective on me and not that child? I consider myself a score keeper not an awarder of grades, otherwise, some of the kids getting "A"s would get "C+"s.
The funny thing is the perpetuation of a vicious cycle that is going on here. Student failing class + teacher being straight with student because he is a year away from driving and maybe that's the problem: is that we as a society are handing out driving licenses to whiners, who in turn are bad, dangerous drivers + student getting feelings hurt because he must be failing because teacher is "harsh" not because he is NOT turning ANYTHING in + mom being self-imposingly important + conversation with teacher's principal + conversation between principal and teacher = teacher getting feelings hurt. Weird.
Call me crazy, I just don't think this is a healthy way of dealing with things. If you have a problem, going to the source is always the best idea, the likelihood people are going to get their feelings hurt isn't as great as when you find out that you have been sitting in meetings with smiling grown women all year, only to find out that they secretly wish you would get dry erase marker poisoning. The best part is, this piggy-backs onto another situation with a different student who thinks I hate him. I wish I could have told my vice-principal, "I don't really care about him one way or another, I just want him to learn," but I think that may have been a little too honest.
You know? People think summer is for students, but it's really for teachers. If we didn't have a break to dust off our fractured little nerdy souls, no teacher would come back for the next batch. Is it summer yet?

It's Here!

Jen Lancaster fans! Let it be known that Jen Lancaster's new book, "Pretty in Plaid," came out today. She is one of the funniest modern-day writers I've read, so much so that I literally laugh out loud when reading her.
You may remember me mentioning her previous works, "Bitter is the New Black," "Such a Pretty Fat," and "Bright Lights, Big Ass." All of these books carry with them comedic genius, and I am sure Pretty in Plaid, her memoir of her youth, will be as entertaining.
Go out and buy this book!

I'm Leaving on a Jetplane

I leave tonight to go to sunny California. Expected weather there is supposed to be 80 degrees and sunny. Don't be too jealous!

Two Years

During Our First Two Years. . .

We've had two first dates, our blind date with "buffers" and a "real" date with just us
We've had two living quarters together, our condo and our house
We've had two seasons of Utes football
We've had two Christmases
We've had two birthdays
We've had two books that we've read together
We've had two "parent meetings" to get through
We've had two bets, both of which I've lost
We've had two hour phone conversations late into the night
We've had two weddings we've been at together, one of them ours
We've had two years now, my husband that I adore and I; can't wait for more.

I love you, my one who makes me a two.