Just in TIme

The break has arrived (and just in time) but the weather is refusing to cooperate. Our skies are gray, the wind is blowing, and the temps are on the chilly side (32 degrees at the moment - how depressing is that?). This does not feel like spring or like Easter. Unfortunately, it does feel like the usual Conference weekend (the LDS General Conference is being held this weekend in SLC). I am crying foul! I had hoped to be able to get outside and do some yard work.

I guess the break will have to be devoted to cleaning house and reading. One needs to be done and the other I enjoy, so I can't really complain too much.

Post fashion show - Bailee has been exhausted. She has been sleeping and sleeping and sleeping. Now, she was sick during all the practices and during the show, so we are hoping that her malaize is due to the fact that she pushed herself too hard. HOWEVER, we heard that mono was going through the hair academy ... and they were using common makeup. You wonder. I have to say that I was not impressed by the whole affair, though the show did raise over $6000 for the local women's homeless shelter. I'll provide a link when they have clips available on the event.

I haven't been very faithful about taking photos lately. Something I hope to repent of in the coming week. I just never remember. Life is so frantic.

I just finished reading an rather compelling book called "City of Bones." Very gothic, very compelling, and an interesting concept. I polished it off in two days. I hear that they're making it into a movie. Should be interesting.

The Recession's Depressin'

My favorite part of Idaho Falls is the Snake River Landing development along the river. It is beautiful - and vacant! Right now only a scant handful of businesses occupy the many buildings located there. It's such a shame to see this prime area standing empty like this. It has become a real sign of the times for me.

Being one of "those teachers" we hear so much about on the news and in opinion articles, our family is dealing with the recent legislative cuts to education more than most. Not only are both of us employed as teachers, we also have Bailee who is making her way through the school system. As we see not only our salaries on the chopping block, but many beneficial educational programs as well, you can't help but get discouraged. I'm teaching with only half the lights on in my classroom, turning off all the lights whenever possible (we're supposed to have them off for at least one hour a day), I'm putting all tests and work on our Smart Board to do away with paper (even though this is difficult for many of my challenged students), and every day we are told to find something more to cut. At this moment in time, we are unsure of whether or not we will be able to afford to provide textbooks for all of our students (our enrollment in fifth grade is scheduled to increase from 106 students to 144 students next year). My students expect me to provide them with pencils, pencil lead, paper, erasers, and dry erase markers. Right now I am out of everything, and I'm hesitant to invest my own money in my classroom right now. Part of me says "Why should I?" and another part says "How can I not?"

The most difficult part of this is knowing the effect that it will have on Bailee's education. We are watching the cuts very carefully, knowing that the decisions made now will have a dramatic effect on our futures.

Good friend, Mike Thompson, is still down in Salt Lake at the Huntsman Center. He had surgery to remove the sarcoma from his leg on Wednesday. I hate cancer. It is so cruel!

School is SUCH a depressing place these days. The nontenured staff are frantic about finding jobs next year, certain that they will not be hired back. The district is also apparently taking steps to fire teachers who are tenured. Lots of hush hush meetings and such. Our little island in the fifth grade wing has been spared from all this, but the atmosphere throughout the rest of the school is pretty dismal.

We were tantalized with a hint of spring this week, only to have the rug pulled out from beneath us. When I stepped out of school last night, I walked out into a raging snowstorm! It was incredible! Horribly depressing as well. The worst of the storm was located around Ucon and Rigby, but Idaho Falls and Ammon were not immune. There's snow on the ground this morning and our temperature is sitting at 25 degrees. Spring? What's that? Like Bailee says, "Spring is NEVER going to come!" So it seems.

Hadlee's groomer was killed in a car accident this past week. Mom is devastated. She was very fond of Stephanie. She was only 29 years old and leaves behind a husband and four young children. Lately, I find myself wondering "WHY?" an awful lot. Why do things like this happen? Why do good people suffer? Why? Why? Why? Then I have to wonder, "Why not?" Goodness doesn't make anyone immune to suffering or problems. I guess our mistake is thinking it should. Maybe that's what truly makes good people so good. They accept the challenges and hurts of life and ARE still good.

We're off to a day of dance. The fashion show is tonight and all of us are eager for it to be over. Bailee most of all. This has NOT been a very good experience for her, sad to say. I think she may have learned something valuable from it though. More on that line of thought another time. Have a great week friends!

Finding Fun - Acchoooo!

This has been such a week at school (and everywhere else)! With the snow gone, my allergies are on snow mold alert. Ooohh. I have had a miserable time with sneezing and all that goes with it. It's the price we pay for spring, but it is not a pleasure to endure. This too shall pass (meanwhile, pass the Kleenex).

Being a biblioholic, I fell in love with this video our neighbor's college age daughter posted on her blog. Hope you enjoy it as well.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6D9jiEYxzs

Bailee has been having dance almost constantly. In addition to preparations for Peter and the Wolf and their spring recital, a group of the girls are performing at a fashion show being put on by the Austin Kade Academy as a benefit for The Haven (a local shelter). Last night they had practice from 4:30 to 6:30 and then were supposed to go to the Academy to show them what they had ready to go AND sit down with the stylists to figure out their hair. Due to a scheduling mess up, we ended up having to go back at 9:00 to do the hair affair. The Academy also asked for changes in the dance due to their placement of models etc. The girls (and their dance moms) were all very frustrated. We'll be glad when next weekend is over.

Bailee (and nearly every other fifth grader I know) is going crazy over Iwako puzzle erasers (they come apart into pieces - which is very cool). I have to admit that they are pretty fun.

Spring - Maybe

We are now entering the mud season in Idaho. That's why I am trying to concentrate on this vision of spring. Our snow has mostly melted, leaving behind brown grass, snow mold, and mud. Our temperatures are slowly warming, but spring still seems SO far away! I hate these weeks when our seasons are "neither fish nor fowl or fine red herring." It is what it is and what it is - is ugly. Oh la.

We have been very busy over the past two weeks, which is why I have neglected to post. Last Saturday we took Bailee down to Pocatello to audition for the summer intensive program at the Brindusa-Moor Ballet Academy (she takes technique class from Sergiu Brindusa at our local studio once a week - and she adores him). It was a great opportunity for her last year, and she really enjoyed the experience as well as growing as a dancer. We still don't know how we'll pay for this, but I'm sure that something will present itself. Right now we are considering the possibility of opening a booth at the Farmers' Market and selling baked goods. It's a way to channel Mom's baking obsession into something profitable.

School is absolutely wicked. State testing looms, budget cuts are imminent, and on the whole it is terribly stressful. Our school is SO depressing. Our nontenured teachers are in desperate fear for their jobs, parents are angry, kids are worried, and we old buzzards are just trying to ride the wave in to shore. Whew! These are tough times.

Diana also got assaulted by one of her students. Again. Yet. Still. When is enough, enough? I wish that she would move into a different program. Developmental Kindergarten is noble and everything, but we hold our breath wondering when one of those little ankle biters will really hurt her.

We have been in a movie going mood lately. Last week we saw "Alice in Wonderland." Very Tim Burton. Very strange. Bailee liked it. That worries me a little bit (ha ha). Last night we took Bailee, Paige, and our friend Peggy to see "Percy Jackson - The Lightning Thief." Peggy loved it. Paige was grossed out by Medusa. And, even though this is the second time we've seen the movie, we really enjoyed it.

Today we will be running errands and going to the store. What fun. I desperately need to clean house as well, but the thorough cleaning I want to do will probably have to wait until spring break. Meanwhile, I am viewing the advent of Daylight Savings Time with a great deal of trepidation. I hate this time change with a passion. The kids don't handle it well at all, so the coming weeks will be rather miserable. I also do not adjust well - having a pretty firmly established internal clock. I won't feel normal again until October. Oh pook.

I hope you all have a great weekend. Our weather is gray and threatening, but the prediction is for a lovely weather week. I guess we pay the piper today so we can dance later.