Graduated!

She did it! My Lorie-loo graduated high school last Thursday. And, as always, she did it with style. She has a 4.25 weighted gpa which made her 3rd in her class (our county does some weird weight thing for the dual enrollment kids that everyone thinks is unfair and the county has changed...but the change goes into effect NEXT year!). As Secretary of her class and one of the ones who actually did stuff, she got asked to give the inspiration speech at graduation (and gave a speech at the Baccalaureate Service). As per usual, the residents of Rockdale County showed their tackiness and lack of manners and decorum and either screeched like banshees whenever anyone they knew's name was either announced or when they walked past to get back to their seat...or they decided to have a loud discussion about their lives because their graduate either had been announced or wasn't announced yet. Either way...it meant that I didn't even get to hear my kid's name announced because of the ridiculous behavior of others. It's not going to get better...I suggest that Rockdale invest in a super p.a. system that blasts so that all names are blared louder than anyone could possibly talk.

But that's just my opinion.


My girl getting her diploma. What a smile!

Mom got here on Wednesday. Dad & Susan got here on Thursday. We all met up at the house and drove to the school. It was plenty hot but a lovely breeze. That lovely breeze ended up blowing pretty hard so it made noise on the mic and Lorie's hat blew off during her speech. But it wasn't a sweatbath like Kenny3's graduation two years ago!

The sisters blew into town on Friday night. We did Lorie's family party on Saturday. Dad & Susan and the Jehns went home early Sunday. Mom and the Haneys stayed for church and I got to see them as I popped in to do Promotion Sunday and watch the graduate video and then for a couple minutes at the graduate reception after church.

Meg left with Mom to spend the month in Olean. I hope the time away is good for her.

Good heavens. I have to go to work tomorrow morning and see what I can pull together that the other secretaries have been working on since school ended. Should be interesting. Also gotta get myself in gear and stop making random plans for CM and actually do something!

Pet peeve # 143

Okay so I really don't have that many pet peeves (well, at least I think I don't) but this one just irritates and totally grosses me out.

Ladies who have small male children, please listen up. If they aren't old enough to go to the bathroom in the men's room themselves and you bring them to the ladies' room. Please, please, PLEASE, clean up after them! Why should I have to clean up urine sprinkles all over the seat. And lest something claim that it's from women "hovering," the sprinkles are all on the back side of the seat. Women who hover back that far have bigger issues than leaving sprinkles.

BUT, speaking of hovering. If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweety, wipe the seatie. I thought that was basic human hygeine, kindness and common sense!

Gack!

Job woes

I work in a public school. We are always having budget problems and they do affect me because I have children so they not having updated technology and resources does affect me. But now...it really affects me because it may be my job on the line.

My "official" positon, and what they pay me for, is INTEL/Instructional Technology Liaison. Fancy name for the computer grunt. I also do data entry since I know the student information system, SchoolMax. Next year we are moving to a different sis, InfiniteCampus, and I have had hours and hours of training on it. Step in the superintendent with the recommendation for the budget, which is  19 million dollars short of what we need. My position will see a reduction-in-force. They will change from having 20 INTELS systemwide at each school to 10. We'll share a school. Guess who is last hired? Yep! I do have 3 years total at being an INTEL and 8 years total with the county so hopefully that will work in my favor.

Add to that, my principal saw me in the hall the other day and pulled me aside to tell me about the r.i.f (he's on the budget committee) and he said that he would find something for because he couldn't not have me here because of the I.C. training and he didn't want to share an INTEL with another school. Fast forward a couple days and we are having our last faculty meeting. I'm watching the clock because I'm supposed to be delivering something to the middle school and time is of the essence. He says he's wrapping the meeting up and then delivers the bombshell...he's leaving. He's going to explore other avenues. I'm not sure what that means for me since a new principal doesn't have to honor the choices the former principal makes regarding classified employees as we aren't under contract.

So now I wait. Pretend everything's okay. And wait.

Geez.....

You really have no idea of a person's past.

This is a double-post with my other blog but I just found the story so sad and yet so inspiring, too.

I had an end of the year luncheon with my boss and other people in our positions. Another coworker and I were talking about grandchildren/grandparents and how she AND her kids all grew up with lots of family around and how I spent my summers with my grandparents. My supervisor listened to us and then said, “You are so lucky to have known your grandparents.” And we both agreed. My supervisor related the following story to us:

Her father was black and her mom was white. When they married, her mom’s family disowned her. Her father was 30 years older than her mom, so his family was already gone when D came along. After her father died, her mom’s parents got in touch with her and asked her to come by and mend the broken relationship and to please bring D with her so that she could get to know her grandparents. She was 8 years old. They went and visited and had a lovely time. The next day the grandparents called to say how nice it was to have the mom back in the family and how wonderful it was to meet D. BUT for future visits they had to come at night so D wouldn’t be seen.

D is one of the most put together women I know (next to my mom and mother-in-law). She handles her duties, our afterschool program, the yearbook, the Sunshine committee and is on probably a hundred other committees as well. She handles it all with such aplomb. She's very rarely even short, though I know she has to be sick of some of the doofiness I pull, not to mention the time crunches and selfishness that tends to be inherent in so many teachers. I would never have guessed she had this kind of hurt in her background. What she went through is enough for young people these days to give up on life and live off the government whining about how they didn't get a fair break.

Oh, please! Get over yourself. What other people think about you is none of your business. If you let yourself be swayed by their stinkin' thinkin', then you deserve to be unhappy. But that's YOUR fault for buying into their thinking! (Talking to myself here!) You are never going to make everyone happy or like you.

That's just the way it is!

Fart!

Okay, so that's not the prettiest word. It's not the most mature word. But it certainly does wrap up all my feelings well!

So here's the whinefest: I'm trying to figure out how to close up the technology at this school around teachers and students. At the same time I'm supposed to be verifying information between our old Student Information System and the new one for next year. My supervisor may be leaving due to budget cuts so I'm trying to keep my ears open for anything I need to learn to keep this school running next year. I'm not sleeping well so I'm exhausted all the time. I'm now in charge of the children's ministry, but don't have enough volunteers. I'm gaining weight too fast but have no time or inclination to exercise. My digestive system hasn't worked properly for almost two months now. My daughter is being turned against us. My other daugher is about to leave for college 10 hours away. My son can't get his butt together and do his work so he can graduate from college, get a job and get a life. My allergies are on high so I'm constantly snuffly. My husband is feeling abandoned because I'm always busy because of the time of year and because he's feeling low about our daughter's desertion.

And to top it all off, the lady that works in the room beside me is loud. Now, I know loud. I AM loud. But this woman takes it to a new extreme. It's hard to concentrate with her fussing at everyone (or just outloud at no one). And, let's face it, I'm extremely distractable.

But...if I can just hold out until next Thursday. That's the last day of school/work for this school year. My family will be down for Lorie's graduation. And I won't have to work but four hours a week in June for the school so I can try to get the children's ministry, my home and my life a little organized.

In the meantime..."fart" is about the best I can do!

My first Biker Week

Yep, you read that correctly. Yours truly went to Panama City Beach for Biker Week. Okay, so that's a bit of a stretch...we were there Friday and Saturday (traveled Thursday and Sunday) so technically it was my first Biker Weekend.

I don't know what I was expecting. Not much. And that's what I got. But mostly because it was rainy on Friday. We checked into what must have been the cheapest motel on the strip. Our room smelled like mildew and could only be accessed through the back of the motel through a glass sliding door. "Security" was a bitty lock. No maid service...if you wanted clean towels, you had to exchange the dirty ones between 10 am and 12:30 pm. So hanging out in the room during the storms? Not really my cup of tea. Since it was rainy, that let out the pool, jacuzzi (not that I would have put a toe in that motel's jacuzzi) and beach were out. But there was a lovely theatre nearby and IronMan 3 had opened that day, so that's where we went. Eating out was interesting since we had a group of 9. Almost always a wait because everywhere was already packed and a group of 9 doesn't get seated easily.

Saturday there was rain in the morning but the afternoon was sunny and bright. We hit Thunder Beach and got to see some "sights."

I don't understand what prompts any female to dress provocatively in public. Maybe they really love showing off their bodies. Maybe they don't really fully "appreciate" how ridiculous they look stuffing (or unstuffing, as the case may be) their bodies in to skimpy, skintight or non-age-appropriate get-ups. Maybe they think that they have to look skanky since it's Biker Week. Maybe they just wanna get laid. I don't know. But only having a couple hours of sun, apparently I didn't get to fully enjoy the sights of Biker Week. And with the weather, the normal sitting on the side of the road looking at the bikes go by like they are on parade didn't happen. At least for me.

But there's always next year. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to that...especially since our group is supposed to get larger which will make traveling and dining that much more hard. But I love the friends that we go with and next year we'll add a baby to the mix, so there will definitely be something to look forward to.

A totally Tracy kind of day

Okay, so it's been a Tracy day. It's only 1:28 p.m., but I'm ready to shout "stick a fork in me...I'm done!"

First, the day started with my alarm going off. Normally I wake up at 4:30 a.m. and spend the next 55 minutes in that half sleep thing until about 5 minutes before my alarm rings. I turn off the alarm so I don't have to hear it buzz and then spend the next 5-15 minutes (depending on my mood) fighting with myself that I need to get up and no, I can't take a sick day just because it's morning. So when I sleep until my alarm wakes me...I wake exhausted and confused and that's just not the way to start a day.

Next I had to face a Weight Reality. Now there are two types of Weight Reality. The first is the reality that sets in when you see the number on the scale. I face that every morning of my life. I am now 183.8 lbs. That's over my top weight from last January. The weight that forced me to join my school's Biggest Loser program and helped me to lose 20 pounds (course, it seems I've found it again). But at that weight --which is lighter than I am now-- I was wearing size 18 pants. Right now I'm 183.8 lbs and still in 14s (although the fit and camel-toe of it all should be convincing me to buy some 16s...but I digress). Today the other Weight Reality came to light. I grabbed a sleeveless blouse and broomstick skirt thinking that it would be good for work and the traveling I'm doing after work. Shower taken, undergarments on and shirt goes over my head and clings to my NOT-so-lovely-lady-lumps. Hmmm...not good. Then I attempt to put the skirt on, but that waist is just not gonna stretch to go over my saddlebags and hips. Not today, my friends. And I can't put it on over my head because it gets stuck on my midriff on the way down. So because time is of the essence and my clothing selection is limited because of what had to be packed for my trip this weekend and what is clean...I have on a stained, brown pair of slacks that need desperately to be size bigger with a different colored brown top...cuz brown is a neutral and goes with everything, right? Even a different colored brown. Okay, not really, but it got me out of the closet...so to speak.

So off to school I go. It's proctor time. I'm with the class where the chucker is. This child is so desperate for attention that he sniffles and coughs, clears his throat and blows his nose, turns around in his seat and counts out loud and, yes, he makes himself throw up for attention. He did it yesterday and was gearing up for it this morning. I talked him down today...but he doesn't like me anymore.

Fast forward to after lunch and I'm on the verge of a big project that affects funding for the school

and just need an answer from a bigwig at the County Office level before I get moving on it. I can’t get started on any of the other things on my plate because once you start on those, you gotta finish them, so I decide to do some office sprucing. I cleaned out some files, put some equipment and cables away in the Tech Closet and wiped down everything I could wipe down. And then it hit me. The perfect project.

 

Currently my desk sits in the middle of my office so when you come in you can see all the power cords hanging from my computer down the back of the desk and into the surge protector under my desk. My desk has those holes in it to string the power cords through so you don’t have the ugly cord mess. Well, I do have that ugly cord mess and it has bothered me all year but I didn’t want to take time away from my other duties to do anything about it. See what I mean? It was the perfect project to tackle. Quick and easy (oh, those words haunt me)… today was the day. And that’s where my story took a lefthand turn. In trying to “help” feed the power cords through the hole, into the pocket and then out through the other hole in the kneehole in my desk, I realized that my hand really shouldn’t have been shoved in quite as far as I shoved it, because it wasn’t coming out. So there I stood, in the middle of my office, bent over slightly with my hand stuck in my desk, frantically trying to yank it out. I have my tennis bracelet on that hand which didn’t help matters and the power cord was in there taking up space as well. As I got more and more frantic that I’d have to call someone to help me, it dawned on me that with a good stretch and just slight damage to my hand, I could touch the toolbox. I was able to finagle a screwdriver out of the toolbox and ever so slightly broke my desk to give me the ¼” that I needed to unjam my hand.

 So now I sit at my desk with a nice and neat deskfront, cords neatly tucked through my desk to the surge protector below. I was able to cover up the damage to my desk (until the next person tries to feed their power cords). My hand –and tennis bracelet—are intact with just slight scratches to attest to the panic-filled yanking they bore, and I am able to cover up with coughing most of the uncontrollable laughter that bursts forth when I imagine what my face must have looked like when I realized I was trapped.

 

I'm NOT still trapped in my desk (good); no one walked in on me while I was trapped in my desk (better); and I didn't have to have someone come rescue me (best). Plus, I got a good story out of it...

The hole in question...and yes, if I'd been able to reach my phone,
 I'd have taken a picture of my hand stuck in there!
Thank you very much!

But all in all...it's just a totally Tracy kind of day.