Are you kidding me?!!!!

I mentioned in my last post what was going on at my school. Apparently that post was so horrible and offensive that I am going to have a formal reprimand placed in my personnel file at school. Apparently I am not allowed to feel sad about a major life change and even more importantly, I am certainly not allowed to tell my friends how I am feeling about it regardless of whether they have specifically asked about it, or so I have been told.

The same day I wrote my last entry, I was called in by my principal to ask about the very information I wrote about. I told him that what he had heard was true. He proceeded to lecture me about it. That very day, my power was shut off and I also had to take Alex to the doctor. Not a good day.

The next day, (Tuesday) my would-be principal came to my room to also lecture me about being sad and especially about talking to my friends about it. Again, I admitted that I had told friends about it. He asked why I hadn't said anything to him. Well, quite frankly, he didn't ask. When he did ask, I told him AND I was honest about it. I also told him that I had said nothing negative about anybody because I did not feel badly about anyone. I further told him that I would work for him and I would do a good job, but that I just needed some time to adjust to the shock of the entire situation. He mentioned something in there about being insubordinate. Maybe he was worried I would be insubordinate, but I thought that my comment about working for him and doing a good job would reassure him that things would be okay.

Apparently, I was wrong. Two days later, he met with my current principal and they decided that I would stay where I am and they would instead move another teacher. On Friday morning, I was informed about the decision. I asked him to not do that. The other teacher is (or maybe was now thanks to this change) a friend of mine that I love. He said he would not change his mind and that I would be getting a formal reprimand placed in my file.

Are you ready for the irony of the whole thing? By Monday afternoon (before I was called in the principal's office), I was starting to feel a little better about the change and making plans for next year. As I had mentioned, I just needed some time to be okay with things. So it took me about five days to adjust to a major life change. Never did I say I wasn't going. Never did I say ANYTHING bad about anyone involved. Do you think it is only going to take five days for my principal to forgive me for telling the truth and being sad? I doubt it. I am pretty sure this will make him biased against me for a long time; years possibly. Maybe I should have lied, but I have a hard time with that.

Also ironic is that I have heard from several sources that many others (including people higher up than myself) have been complaining about having to move to the other school. I guess maybe since I don't have any family here or perhaps I am not related to anyone important I am not allowed to feel sad. Maybe I'm allowed to feel sad, but I am certainly not allowed my first amendment right to express that sadness. I can certainly see why I would be written up if I had been insubordinate and refused to change schools, but I didn't. I could understand being written up if I had said something negative about my colleagues or administrators, but I didn't do that either. I don't envy the position they are in and I actually do support them, in spite of all this ugliness.

Perhaps I shouldn't have told my friends how I felt, but I thought that's kind of what friends were for. I know that I listen to my friends when they are upset or have problems. On the other hand, maybe I should have been allowed a little time to process things and to adjust. Instead, I feel a little like the proverbial injured animal. Instead of being allowed a little time to heal, I got to be pecked at repeatedly by the buzzards. Now there will be lasting scars. My friendship with the other teacher will probably never be the same and I never even suggested that she be moved. That was not my doing, but I will reap the blame. We are supposed to allow kids time to adjust to major changes. I just wish I would have been granted that same courtesy.

Sometimes I think it would just be easier to be hit by a bus.

Hmmm.....

I can't help but notice that I have attempted to put my friends' blog links back on here only to have them not show up on my page. I guess I will have to figure out exactly what I did to mess this up. Ugh! I am very much not a technology person.

This weekend was the junior prom. Erica went and had a nice time. Too bad I can't put any pictures on here. That would require knowing where the cord is to connect my camera to the computer. I found two different cords, but they apparently are for old/different cameras. So it will just have to suffice for me to say that she looked beautiful.

My recent news is that I am being switched to a different school next year, but none of my close friends are. Also, the school I am moving to is not the one my kids will be attending. The reason for this is because our district is doing away with the intermediate school (4-6) and instead is having two K-5 schools, a 6-8 school, and the high school. It is a rather lengthy explanation to give all the details as to why they are doing this, but it will save the district a lot of money. Due to budget cuts, this has become necessary. I get that. What I don't get is why I have to be one of those being moved when I will have three of my children attending the other school. There is the option of taking my kids to my school, but I don't think that would be in their best interest. For one, the bus will not pick up/drop off kids from this side of town for that school. They could ride to school with me; no big deal. Having three little boys hang out in my classroom after school every day for hours while I try to get my work done wouldn't work out so well. Plus, there's always the problem of how they would get to and from school if I were to get sick or end up in the hospital for a week or two again. Also, ALL of the kids my children go to church with will be at the other school. Did I mention the fact that my current school is within walking distance of my home? When the weather is nice, I often will walk to work. That won't be happening next year. Needless to say, I am not very happy about this change. It is better than not having a job, though. I have to keep repeating that to myself again and again. Hopefully, that will sink in and I will start to feel that way. Right now I just feel like I am losing my friends and going to be missing out on all of my kids' programs at school.

Well, it's almost 5:00 a.m. and I haven't been to sleep yet. I did try to go to sleep, but to no avail. On the bright side, I should be so exhausted by the end of the day that I should go right to sleep after I get home. I am signing off until next time.

ack!

Hmmm...when I added the new page layout, all of my friends' blog links disappeared! Yikes! I don't know where they went or how to find them again. So, if you are reading this, please feel free to post your link so I can try to add it back on here. Also, if you have any idea how I can find other people's blogs on blogspot, that would be good information to have as well. Thanks.

Six weeks later....

It is so bad that I hardly ever write on here.

Let's see...the best thing recently would have to have been spring break. I went to stay at my parents' house for a few days just to visit. It was very nice. The boys got in the pool! The water was a little too cold for my liking in March. I got to spend a day with my sister and her kids. We went to the air show at Luke Air force Base and had a great time. It was our (kids' & I) first air show and it was pretty cool. We came back home Tuesday night because Tyler had an appointment on Wednesday. On Thursday, we went to Joseph City to visit my brother Chris & his family. Katherine put sleeves on Erica's prom dress so it would not be a slutty one anymore. She is an amazing seamstress. It looks like the dress came that way! On Friday, I went to Safford and stayed overnight at Keith's house. It was nice to get to see him, Charlotte, and the kids. I also got to see two of my dear friends, Connie and Jeanette, while we were there as well. I was so happy to get to see my parents, ALL of my siblings and their families, and even some friends. I don't get to see them often enough.

The pictures above are from spring break. I used my parent's camera because Erica borrowed mine and it disappeared for a couple of weeks. Picture #1 is of my kids and dad at Hole in the Rock. Pictures #2 & #3 are of the kids and me at hole in the rock. Picture #4 is of the kids inside a huge tanker at the air show. Picture #5 is of my sister and her son, Robbie. (He was very excited to get to ride on a school bus from the parking lot over to LAFB for the air show.)

Another big and exciting thing that has happened recently (this week) has to do with Erica. In the fall she attended a regional FBLA leadership conference. On Mon.-Wed. of this week, she went to the state level. She was one of three students selected in the state, in her area of competition, to go on to the National level! This is a huge privilege and honor for her. It will be great for a resume and offer her opportunities for scholarships. The bad part is that the school is able to pay for about $800 of it at this point, but that leaves another $600 to come up with by April 20th. That's a week from Monday. They don't give you much time for that. We are going to see if anyone from the chamber of commerce will donate some money to help out. She is also babysitting this Saturday during the day and then helping clean a friend's house on Monday. I sent an email at work asking if anyone needed some odd jobs done to help her earn some money. I am hoping that she will be able to go. First, we will focus on getting the $600 she needs by April 2oth. Then, we will focus on her earning spending money for meals, etcetera later. The conference is in California at the end of June. We have plenty of time to worry about the spending money part later.

Yesterday, Alex broke his tooth off on the trampoline after school at about 5:00. He REALLY broke it off. It was near the gum line with about 2-3 millimeters left of it. Needless to say, all of the nerves were exposed and it was bleeding. We couldn't find the part that had broken off, but apparently they can't reattach that anyway. The whole story about putting it in a cup of water or cold milk is apparently an old wives tale. Our dentist is in Snowflake (yes there are many other dentists closer to us, but ours is excellent). He had a meeting to go to, but he said he could fix his tooth afterwards at 8:30 so we went then. He was done by 10:00 and we were back home by 10:30. I am SOOOO thankful that he was willing to do that for us. That was very nice of him. Alex's gums are very bruised and swollen from the trauma of his accident, but otherwise, the tooth looks great again.

Tonight I am taking the kids to Mesa to watch the Easter pageant. It is supposed to snow up here, so I imagine it will be raining there. We'll see. We will just make sure to take our coats with hoods. If they cancel it, I guess we can see if my parents would mind if we stopped in for a visit or we can go to the mall if they are busy. I really don't think they will cancel it, though. We have to come back home tonight because, as I mentioned above, Erica is babysitting tomorrow. That will mean quite a bit of driving in one day, but I really enjoy going to the Easter pageant and the kids do as well.

Well, I guess that is all for now. It is actually almost time for me to be getting up for the day. It should be a fun day.