Speedy process it's not

I feel like when I go to the local Speedway for fuel, it's a comedy of errors.

First, I want to say that about 6 weeks ago, they went to a pay at the pump policy. There were signs all the over the store and all over the pumps. It was on their big sign by the road and it was on local radio stations and in print ads. And once it became pay at the pump, there were still signs up.

I have a fuel card that I load money on because it give a discount. So I always put money on my fuel card and then swipe my "Speedy" card to earn points (which accumulate to free gas).

The first time I went for fuel in post pay at the pump, I went inside and loaded my fuel card and then neither my fuel card nor Speedy card worked at the pump. I had to go back in and they set it up from the register so I got fuel and my Speedy reward points while using my fuel card.

The second time, I went inside and loaded it up and at the pump it wouldn't read my Speedy card but it did take my fuel card so I didn't get any Speedy points. Bummer. I mentioned it to the girl at the register the next morning when I stopped for coffee (don't judge, it was on the way!) so she had me create an "alternate ID number" so when I went to the pump next time, I didn't need to use my Speedy card, I could just enter the alternate ID. O-kay.

So yesterday I went to get fuel, thinking third time's a charm. Uh... no. I loaded my card and at the pump I entered my alternate ID- and it worked. I swiped my Speedy card, and it worked! I pressed the button for the fuel grade I wanted and suddenly, before I touched the pump handle, the window that counts dollars add 4 cents. I hadn't even pumped anything. I know it's just 4 cents but this was the third time I had a problem. And when i tried to squeeze the nozzle to put in fuel it wouldn't work and then printed me receipt saying I spent 4 cents. WTH?!?

I walked back inside and asked Ashley for help. She said this pay at the pump has been a nightmare since it started so she walked out with me to the pump and between the 2 of us we managed to get everything working and properly after many starts and fits- we actually were cursing Speedy cards and laughing that we managed to beat equipment into submission! She went inside while I pumped. And because I go there almost daily for coffee she came back out with a cup of my favorite java, for free, for my troubles. What a SWEETIE!

I'll keep going there until all the fuel bugs are worked out. I can't be the only one with issues, right? And I'll go because they have amazingly wonderful customer service!

Maggie

About time things look up for him

So mac is making some better choices and good things are happening. After the rough fall of school, the bit of trouble that did not result anything legal- than you God- and then the quitting of school and the miserable time trying to find a job, he seems to have it together... as of now.

He enrolled in a local community college and is taking 16 hours. He's got three classes online and 3 classes in person. These classes started this week and he's already done all the work for all three online classes.

He also finally got a job at Taco Bell and his first day is Wednesday. He'll probably get around 20 hours a week. That's a very good thing.

He's seeing an awesome counselor and several of his friends that he's now spending time with seem to have their collective shit together, so that seems to help him make better choices.

HE wants to make good grades. HE wants to buy a car. HE wants to pen a savings account. This is all awesome and are his choices; nothing that I threatened him with or told him he has to do.

After the entire hellish autumn we went through with him, it's good to see such positive steps forward that are HIS steps. I'm being supportive and shutting up.

All good steps...
Mac's Mom,
Mags

The Pre-Open House to do list...................

• Buy a gift for a student's open house I was invited to attend because I forgot
• wrap aforementioned gift
• attend aforementioned student's open house
• Attend another open house
• get gas in car to go to open houses
• make 100 mini- cheese cakes which means make then, let them sit up, fruit topping them and box up for tomorrow
• go through all pix I took at graduation and find one of Mac to make into a 5x7 for tomorrow
• order aforementioned 5x7
• pick up aforementioned 5x7
• find 5x7 frame for aforementioned picture
• also pick photos to add to slide show for tomorrow
• sync my iPod for open house music to play during slide show
• bake brownies
• pack extra batteries for camera
  
• gather all stuff for memorabilia table and put in boxes
• gather up platters for desserts for tomorrow
• make yard signs so people who've never been to Alcatraz can find their way to the cabin where we are having this shindig
• Call house parents of 2 students who are helping with set up tomorrow to confirm behavior that they can still attend
• return movies to video store so they aren't overdue
• Wash a load of laundry with my underwear in it or I'm going commando to the open house
  
• call to see if mac's wallets arrived so people can have them at the open house
• make a sign that says "cards" to hang up on the card box on the gift table (assuming there will be gifts given and cards...)

All this must happen TODAY- nothing here can wait until tomorrow. You should see tomorrow's list.... And as you can tell, I omitted things like eat, pee, shower....

So what the heck am I doing here?!?

Mags

Plans

I have some plans for the summer and I'm pretty excited about them

My friend Lilith and I haven't seen each other in about a bajillion years and we finally found time with our insane schedules to do something. In about a week and a half we're going to meet in Northern Civilization and spend a day together. Food (absolutely!), movie (maybe), the botanical conservatory (certainly!), and lots of talking and hanging out and books stores and shopping- it's going to be awesome! I can't wait- I've missed her. But that morning, while she's at work, I'm going to take a FREE scrapbook class at Archiever's!

My friend B from work and I have plans to hang at her house and watch The King's Speech together. We're calling it a pajama party. Her daughter is home from college and we're all going to meet at her house one afternoon in our jammies and eat junk food and watch movies!

Curley and I are gonna take a girls day and go do something, somewhere. And do some sewing- Maggie needs another new summer dress!

XRay Girl and I are gonna get pedis, paint pottery, and go to the zoo.

I have a list of festivals to attend this summer.

Mac and I are gonna hit the new IMAX theater and have supper together one evening soon.

Daddy-O and I have a card making date--- he doesn't know it yet.

My sister-in-law, the divine Ms K, Fab Finn and I all had lunch together and we're going to try and do that at least once a week.

And I'm going to see Princess for a visit one long weekend after she's gone home

And this is just what I can come up with off the top of my head.

Mags

My "kids"

Mac:

He was great last night in his school play. He just blew me away. His drama club has accumulated enough money in the kitty and they bought some seriously extravagant sets. The costumes were awesome as was the make up. And the students did an amazing job. They were impressive. But I have to say this about Mac. He was the lead and in a four Act show, he had about 60% of all the lines. He had two terrifically long monologues. And he was just..... wow. He nailed that part. I've never seen anything like it. He has more acting talent in his little finger than I do my whole body. He was fabulous.

The second bit of good news is that he received an almost full ride scholarship to his first choice of schools. We owe around $3k out of a bill of $30k. They take payments. I am so proud of him and so relieved.

And he made the all A and B honor roll at the end of this quarter! Even with the high amount of senior-itis that's affecting (in infecting?) him he hasn't given up on academics.

He's also been attending 2 different church youth groups, all on his own. I don't make him go. I thought he was was going because of a girl but when he was no longer interested in that "skirt" he still kept going. He even goes to youth group when his friends bail. Furthermore, the youth minister is taking him to dinner tonight to get to know him and celebrate Mac's positive contributions to the youth ministry.

Finally, he's looking for a job- and not complaining- so it's great to see that responsible side.

Princess:

She's on the all A honor roll- not a single B+ but all As!!!!!

Because of her outstanding academic record she was presented a trophy at the academic awards ceremony today!

Princess has decided to run track! She's a distance runner and is in three different events. She's been diligent in attending practices and working hard. Today is the first meet!

I'm also impressed because she's given up drinking soda pop for Lent and she hasn't fallen off the wagon yet!!!!

The Alcatraz kids live in a world of points. They earn and lose points at school and in their campus homes. For the 7th week in a row, she's earned 150 points here in school, which is the max number of points students can earn in a week. So she's had perfect school behavior for seven weeks; she so rocks!

Aren't my "kids" awesome?!?

Maggie the Mom

Sweetness at the bottom of the cupcake

I've had a really, really bad week, month, year, whatever. Really bad, especially lately when it all feels like a ton of stuff is piled on me or wrong or just disastrous, out of control.

But once in a while a small act of kindness can restore a girl's faith in humanity.

Friday I went to Northern Civilization and there were 2 things I wanted: a cup of Starbucks with the free mini pastry, and then to stop at my favorite bakery and get a cupcake for later in the weekend. Starbucks went off without a hitch.

ITSam and I arrange at the bakery and there were no cupcakes. I adore, desire, crave, yearn for, dream of, have wild fantasies about, this bakery's vanilla and strawberry creme with white chocolate cupcakes and they were out. Nary a cupcake to be had. I sort of broke down.

I'm suddenly telling the guy behind the counter, a kid basically, named Jeff, about my terrible fate in life right now, that I drove an 1 for one of these cupcakes, they've never been out before and I just sort of faded to a stop, hunched my shoulders, muttered thanks and started to walk away.

Jeff said, "wait! Ya got about 15 minutes." I look at him from behind a curtain of hair and one tear slides down my face and drops off the tip of my nose, and I nod.

Jeff then proceeds to venture into the huge backroom freezer. He comes back and said they have the actual cake part of the cupcake, frozen and if I didn't want to eat it right away he would make me a vanilla strawberry creme with white chocolate chips cupcake. He said he would make me as many as I wanted.

This was not just a matter of grabbing some frosting and slapping it on. He had to get strawberries and make the strawberry part of the filling from scratch. Then he got out a tub of vanilla buttercreme frosting and assembled the cupcakes. He had to fill pastry bags with frosting. He didn't have any white chocolate chips on hand so he went into the store part of the bakery and got the missing ingredient.

I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. I couldn't believe that this guy went to all this trouble for me all because I was having a bad life at the moment. I got four cupcakes since he was going to all the work. Actually, ITSam ordered four for me because I couldn't speak. I was just shocked at his kindness, his effort.

I said thank you about a zillion times. I told his manager on the way out what he did. I wrote a comment to their web site.

It was more than a cupcake, you know. He just restored my faith in humanity, at least for a little while.

I'm thankful for Jeff, and people like him.

Maggie

Party Like a Rock Star... an Old Rock Star

I have a perfectly legit reason for not blogging yesterday. I was out until 3 am. Yes, me, out until 3 am. I didn't think I could do that anymore but I did. Damn...

ITSam and I dropped books off at my favorite used book store and I acquire some more for the school library. While there we met some cat who ended up giving me his business card because I was looking for the entire Michael Buble set of cds and he says he has over 4, 200 CDs and if I email him he'll give me HIS set. More on that in a later post!

Then he and I got some of my favorite cupcakes (tomorrow's post!) and grabbed dinner.

After dinner we decided we really weren't ready to go home. We thought we'd go somewhere to hear some music. Now neither of us were dressed for a club scene nor we were appareled correctly for a nice jazz club. So I agreed, with reticence, to go to a country bar he knew about. He said we could sit in a back booth, chill out, have a few drinks and maybe take a spin or two around the dance floor.

We arrived, parked, paid our cover and then learned there was no country music that night. My first thought was "yay!" until I heard the band. A classic rock band. That covered Poison, Scorpion, Ratt,, etc. Not even the "good" sort of classic rock. I was wishing for country.

But as not to be a killjoy I put my best foot forward, chugged a couple beers and sat back to people watch. Oh my god. It was... surreal. I was wishing I had my camera. You know that web site about the scary looking people at Wal-Mart? Well, I think this bar was where they came to socialize.

There was a woman who had to be in her mid 50s. She was UGLY! She hit every branch on the way down as she fell from the ugly tree! She was also way overly tan. And her body, while sorta skinny-ish, was droopy. And she had this ugly light brown hair all pulled back into a ponytail and then added one of those long extensions so it looked like it went to her butt. Only the extension was a white blonde color. No it didn't match her real color. And she wore blue eye shadow and orange frosted lipstick right out of the 1980s. She also wore skinny jeans, black, with a studded belt. Studded as in goth not in Harley Davidson. And the worse this shirt thing. It was red and lacy and looked of like a negligee. It had a diving neck line and itty-bitty spaghetti straps. Did I mention she was in her mid 50s and her boobs were droopy and she wasn't wearing a bra??

Sam and I decided when her boobs fell out we were leaving.

She would dance and sway alone on the dance floor with one flimsy strap of that top off her shoulder and she would jiggle, with her eyes closed. she was drunk off her ass and couldn't walk a straight line. It was unreal. I can't remember ever seeing anything like that before. Ever.

We left before her boobs hit the floor but it was close. She did manage to take off her shoes and dance alone on the dance floor and once in awhile she perked up and sort of strutted like Mick Jagger.

Other things that were strange were fashions. The 80s are definitely in. There were tons of girls with ripped and holey jeans. Lots of ripped shirts dangling of shoulders- hello Flashdance called and would like her shirt back. One woman who was about 50 wore heels and pants that were totally from the end scene in Grease. And she too was unattractive. And then there was the woman and her friends and she was the one with no style. She had on "mom pants" and tennis shoes. She had on a t-shirt that was Tye-dyed. And she carried a Vera Bradley purse- one of the huge patterned soccer mom totes. Sam said nothing screams "I'm having my period and am old" like that look. Then there were the 2 couples who looked like they came from church....

Then there was the guy in the wheel chair who "danced" and was wearing dirty ripped sweat pants and a t-shirt he had ripped from under the arms to his waist and the young skinny crack whore looking chick who straddled him and bounced up and down on his lap while he buried his face in her non-existent boobs. Hello, Forrest Gump called and is looking for Lieutenant Dan.

The crowd was older. I was expecting it to be young. Well, was I wrong. It was a mixed, eclectic bag of folks but mostly it was older people. They were about my age and up, but mostly up. And dressed outrageously. And behaved outrageously.

Sam and I actually saw people we knew and while they were dressed appropriately they were pretty outrageous as well. I was sort of ashamed at their behavior.

The band made me laugh. They really all wanted to be Bret Michaels. They all wore torn jeans, tight jeans. And no shirts but leather vests. And had long, stick straight white blond hair. And they were old. they were my age or older, mostly older.

After we left we still didn't have enough night life so we tried one more country bar. They actually played country music and we danced and two-stepped. We had a few drinks and laughed and danced and sang.

I got home at 3am.

It was an awesomely fun time.

I can wait to do it again....

Maggie

Sometimes it's not all about the benjamins

Though I could use a job with more money and some benefits I have to say that I work in a place where my school administrators (and some other folks) are not stingy with praise.

Yesterday I hosted a little Mardi Gras party at school; to make it educational I gave a Christian perspective of Mardi Gras (since we're a faith based facility) and fed the kids King Cake. My administrators came in to hear the program and both sent me a nice email thanking me for all my work and exclaiming on what a great job I did.

I attended a School Board Meeting last night to show my support to my administration for a very ugly school politics situation and this morning I had an email thanking me for my support.

I heard from them about liking my newsletter I made for the library.

They aren't the type to "over kill" with praise but they recognize when someone goes out of the way to do something extra and I do appreciate that so much. The last two places I worked did not have administrators who did this. The last school the administrators barely could remember my name let alone recognize anything "extra" I did.

This is a lovely change of pace.

Some of my colleagues are also nice like this. I get notes or emails or just verbal praise or thanks from secretaries or fellow teachers. It's nice to know they realize I'm trying to do SOMETHING good for the students. Even though I make $8 an hour and am considered part time.

And while singing praise on people, I have to say the students in my school completely rocked yesterday. I gave the presentation and the kids sat quietly and were attentive (or faked it really well.). None of them were out of line about Mardi Gras/ beads/ boobs/ booze; they were very school appropriate with their questions and comments. They said "thank you" for the donuts and the programs. They were enthusiastic and engaged. They cleaned up their own messes and pushed in chairs before they left the library. They complimented me on all the decorations. I'm just saying that while my school population are considered "criminals" they were dang nice criminals yesterday. I had contact with the entire student body yesterday and it was an excellent positive experience. I was very impressed with our students.

Sometimes the "atta boys" are just the perk-me-up and reminder that I need to keep doing what I do, whether they come from the students or adults!

Maggie

Nervous about good things

I'm used to things being wrong or bad or rough for me that when something that has the potential to be good I worry about it. I wait for the other shoe to fall. I'm leery of the good.

I'm so worried about such that I won't even write about it here. I'm afraid it will be jinxed. I don't want to talk about it at home or anything. I don't want to jinx the good or own up if it all falls apart... again.

That being said, I have some exciting news that could potentially be excellent news. So, if you could send me your good luck wishes and prayers I'd be appreciative!

Good news!

Mac applied to 6 colleges and now is the waiting. Well, he finally got his first acceptance letter! (Please don't be his last!) and we are thrilled. I blogged about the school that treated him like a rock star- well, that's the one he got in, so far. Yay him!

And the good news on the Mac and school continues. Not only did he get into School 1, but they gave him a scholarship: $20,000, broken into 4 years of $5k each. OMG! I am so excited! he opened hi letter, told us he got in and we all jumped around, high fived and hugged. then later, like an hour, I pick up the letter to read it. There's an attachment explaining the award. I about fell over. He missed that the first time around. Even sweeter!

I worked at Alcatraz at the library last week and it was so good to be back. I hate that my friend who was the librarian won't be working there any more, but am thrilled I will be. It was completely insane and crazy, though, because she was trying to train me AND wrap up her book fair, but it was so very very good to be back. I'm sure I'll have more to report later!

My last piece of good news is about the top 25 blogs of 2010. I made the first cut! Thanks to all of you who voted for me during round one. The voting continues. So please go and vote for me again. It starts all over again with new votes. So we have to all go do it again. I would appreciate it if you would give me some more voting love. Just click the button in my side bar, please!

What a great day!
Maggie

Love for fall festivals

I love festivals but this year I haven't gone to many, because the weather has been so bloody hot this summer. I can't stand to be out in it.

Many moons ago, when I lived in Northern Civilization, there was a park that hosted HUGE festivals each weekend all summer long, some of them drawing hundreds of thousands of people. I loved going to the German Festival and the BBQ festival the most. Not only was there always great music but fabulous food and drinking. I always went with friends and we had a grand time. I didn't go to either of these festivals this summer because of the heat wave. Or so I tell myself. I sometimes thing I didn't go because it would never have been as much as as when I went in the years past. A sort of "can't go home" type of feeling.

All that aside, however, I am super excited about 2 upcoming events!!!! There is a weekend when there is a war reenactment and the other is a chili cook off festival. I went to both of these last year and it was so much fun and I've been looking forward to doing it again this year!!!!

Last year Curley, Daddy-O, XRay Girl and I all went to breakfast and then to a gigantic craft show, featuring local artists and not so local artists work. It was awesome. Then Daddy-O went home and us girls went to the chili cook off festival contest. It was a glorious day. the sort of perfect autumn day we all dream about. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was high, but it was still cool and crisp. there was a lovely breeze. We all wore long sleeves and jackets but it was perfect. We tasted a million types of chili until we were about sick. We ate kettle korn cooked over a fire and had some beers. It was a great time.

I'm hoping that the same crew is ready to do it again this year. daddy-O thought me might be home from Texas in time. If not, I still hope the girls will go out with me. I feel the need to have some 'traditions' and this feels like a great place to start. It was such a good time, with great friends and family- with friends who are part of my family, I feel, that I'm so excited to do it again! Curley, mark your calendar!!!

And nope, I don't mind omitting ITSam from this plan. First, he has jack that weekend and I am NOT spending the day at a chili cook off with a kid who hates chili. And Sam knows I love my girlfriend time so we have a good understanding.

The other festival I'm looking forward to is the war reenactment. This is the second largest reenactment in the Midwest and the crowd is about a quarter of a million strong over the weekend. In addition to all the war stuff, it's just living history. These reenactors are some serious people and things are super authentic, all the way down to no zippers or buttons on clothing. I love to walk around and see what the artisans are making and eating all the food, which is prepped over campfires and sold my non-for-profits who are also in costume and stay with the time period, very early 1800s. I cold eat my way from one end to the other, with the giant turkey legs, the fry bread, turkey noodle soup, ears of corn on the cob roasted in the husks over a fire, pork loin sandwiches cooked in the grillsmoke, and sweet and salty kettle corn that comes out of a huge black cauldron. I love the crafts and talking with the reenactors about what and why they do what they do.

Back in the day I even worked for a not for profit and worked at this same festival and have my own authentic outfit. I always say I'm going to go as reenactor and do quilting but i didn't get myself registered to go this year.

But I'm excited to go this year. The weather is usually good. And I have a pair of muck boots I wear so I don't mind trampling about out there in what could be muddy walking. Last year Curley and I went. I don't know if she'll go with me this year because Mac wants to go with me. And ITSam and wants to take Jack so it might turn into a family bonding type of experience. Who knows? Maybe I'll go twice!

However it works out, I'm excited about this and can't wait for those two weekends to arrive!

Mags

They can surprise me

Teaching at Alcatraz and that first period class has challenged me in ways that have made me question teaching. While they haven't made me cry in class or out, they make me yell, bitch, whine, bemoan and have a lot of hate. I TALK about that class in lots of negative ways. And they've made me question whether or not I should be a high school teacher.

I've bitched about that period of students so much Mac told me this:

"Hey mom? You know those moments where you meet those gangster thug kids, chain the doors to the school shut and a bunch of kids re-write the school song into a cool soul filled song and you use bad-ass karate moves on them and they get all impressed and fill your cabinet with their journals full of personal stories and raise money to meet the Jew saver lady and then there's a big Prom and they sing 'To Ms O, With Love'?* Well, mom, THAT'S NEVER GONNA HAPPEN BECAUSE ALL THE KIDS AT ALCATRAZ ARE CRIMINALS!!!!!!!!! Never forget they can't be inspired and they don't care and you can't save 'em."

Can we say "ouch?" What sucks the most is that he's right, to a certain extent. He's brutally right but, in a weird sort of way.

But then there are moments like today. Those perfect moments in teaching...

I have a class that has 14 students. Of this group, 2 are white, 2 are Hispanic, and 10 are African- American. Thirteen of these students are 'hard core.' there are 11 boys and 3 girls and I wouldn't want to mess with the females, either. Bad asses. They come from ghettos, are gang bangers, and are seriously... like no other kids I've met. Boys and girls alike are just gansta. I'm not being racist but I don't know how to explain it other than every Black person in a gangsta movie you've seen are these kids. The kids and I speak a different language sometimes. They educate me, for sure.

So, how do I reach these kids? Well... leave it to me to be unconventional. One thing I've done to get some buy in is to let them write some raps over some text material. We've been doing this for two weeks, with the incentive they could make their own education rap album. It had to stay on topic about the subject, and it had to be classroom appropriate.

Today was the first big day of recording. They rapped and dropped a beat and spit that out. (this means they beat a rhythm on tables and drums while saying the rap). I was so impressed I almost cried. We set up a sound studio and a stage and microphone with headphones and they did their thing, all taking turns and cheering for each other. It was the coolest thing I think I've ever seen.

In my other class... the kids really got into Beowulf and instead of writing a paper, they got to write their own Beowulf movie script and we're filming it. Today is day 1 of filming and these kids were awesome. They did their narrations and the battle between Grendel and Beowulf. And since they know they can't be "violent" and "fight" even in a pretend way because of Alcatraz rules, they were creative. The battle between Beowulf and Grendel non- violent, you say? How can that be, you may ask? Well.... a thumb war of course. Yes, they painted 2 thumbs, one as an epic hero and the other as a monster and did battle...

So no, while Mac might be right, I may not be a Joe Clark, Luanne Johnson, Erin Gruwell, or even a Mr. Thackery*... but I AM Ms [O'Sullivan], and today I had my teach on. And more importantly, I had students who had their learn on. I had students who cared! That's what I'm talkin' about!

Maggie

*Movies referenced are Lean on Me, Dangerous Minds, Freedom Writers, To Sir With Love

More about my community service kids

So yesterday, when the kids were doing their volunteerism, I had one kid tell me it was "lots of fun." This kid, being a 14 year old boy, is sarcastic- by definition, aren't all 14 year old boys? I rolled my eyes at him and gave him a "yeah right".

But he stopped me and said, "No, Ms. O'Sullivan. I'm being serious here." He went on to tell me that he lives with his mom and she 'works all the time' and all he does after school is sit at home, alone, and watching tv or plays video games.

He continued telling me it was cool I would take them to get their hours and he got to spend time with his friends and it helped old people and poor people, so it was fun. He said it was better than being home alone, day after day.

I was completely taken aback. This is a kid who really seemed to hate me for most of the year and really has given his teachers fits because he's just lazy. He's really smart (he's not special ed or LD or ED) but he just doesn't do his work. As a matter of fact, to prove he's no dummy, the 8th grade teachers told him at the beginning of the last quarter he better pass everything or he would fail 8th grade. He's doing his homework and studying and guess what? He has all As and Bs. He's just lazy and also has no encouragement at home- the grades prove he has the ability.

And this is the kid who was liking volunteering.

He liked it so much he asked if he could still come once a week all summer to keep helping because it "feels good to help" people and "it's better than sitting at home" and he thought it might look good on a resume or college application. Can we say a complete 180? I was very impressed.

Just when I think I can't be surprised anymore by my students...

Smilin'
Maggie Mae

Community Service

My middle school wants our 8th graders to be "well rounded citizens". Well, duh- it's a nice idea in theory but the approach is a pain in butt.

Here's the deal: the kids get "points" for their grades, attendance, behavior, standardized test scores, and extra curricular activities. For a kid who makes good grades, plays a sport or joins a club, doesn't miss much school and passes the standardized tests, this is no big deal. For about 95% of the 8th grade population, this is no big deal. BUT!!!! (yes, there is always a BUT!!!!)

Well, I guess before the "but" I should also say the 8th grade teachers claim that they have the nerve/ the right/ the guts/ the whatever to tell kids who have passing grades, good attendance, who are NOT behavior problems and who pass their standardized tests that they will not allow these kids to PASS to the 9th grade because they don't have any community service hours or because they aren't participating in an extra curricular. You read that right- no passing because of that lack. I think that's one of the stupidest things in the world. And I am pissed.

Now remember what I do? I work with mild special ed kids, and LD and ED kids. These kids, for the most part, HATE school with a passion, usually are discipline problems, fail their standardized tests, and never have any extra curriculars because they hate school and want to be as far away from the place as they can be, once that bell rings. (Or their parents don't have money to pay for them to join anything, they don't have transportation home from something after school!) So MY kids are the ones who are in danger of passing because they have a low amount of points to begin with. So last week, the 8th grade teachers had individual conferences with these kids, and told them they needed 20 community service hours by May 14 or they would not be able to go to 9th grade. Outrageous!

Where are MY kids going to get community service hours? Really? Most people would take one look at them and say they weren't interested in their help. Most don't have parents who can help guide them; obviously, or they wouldn't be in this situation to begin with. Most of my kids don't have a way to GET to a place to work. Who thought of this whole stupid idea?!?

So, I decided since this is stupidest thing I've heard this year, and I teach special ed so I hear a lot of stupid shit, I'm going to make sure the kids get their hours. I called Curley, who works at our local senior citizen rec. centre here in town and tell her about the BS at school and can she help me get 5-12 kids some hours. With her help and with the help of her boss, I have time slots for my kids to go in to volunteer every day, beginning today, until next Friday.

I arranged transportation from the school to the centre, and I'll be taking them home. And I'm staying to oversee this huge bunch of kids for the two hours they're spending working. The kids will be doing anything from yard work to "house cleaning" to stocking the food pantry to moving furniture. The won't really be interacting with senior citizens because we get there so late in the day that most of the 'senior' activities are over.

Tonight, after school, I took the first load of kids over; I had five. These are kids who hate school, really don't have typically good adult interactions, most have criminal records, and in general, aren't kids most adults like nor approve of. WELL!!! My kids totally ROCKED!

They were polite and worked so very hard. They did everything they were asked with very little screwing around, and NO bad attitudes. They stocked the food pantry today and they did as they were told: lugged and hauled food, stocked shelves, cleaned, organized, cut up card board to recycle... I am so proud of them. They used manners (and I didn't even have to give them the manners pep talk) and were very respectful. I am so proud of them. I couldn't be more pleased.

We have five more days to go of this and if each day goes this well, it will be more than worth it. They were phenomenal. I think they deserve monstrous kudos.

And they deserve to be freshmen next year. Hands down. Today reminded me why I like teenagers, and why I don't like school policies.

Good thoughts, prayers, positive energy needed

Hey everyone! I know of a 1 year old little girl who's having surgery today so please keep her and her family in your good thoughts (prayers, energy, juju, whatever works for ya, please!)!

Much obliged,
Maggie

From nasty to nice

In light of my horrid post yesterday about my slug of an ex-husband, that rat bastard, I am now going to spread some Christmas cheer. I hope.

I want to clarify that while I do live in the Midwest in a 'smallish' town, we still have some big city issues that arise in our schools. While we don't have to have an armed guard or drug dogs, we do have lock down procedures, drug problems, extreme poverty, middle school kids who are sexually active, and kids who have personal and family 'issues.' It's really not that uncommon to break up a fist fight between kids or have a student tell a teacher to "fuck off" and then slam out of a classroom. We have kids who are homeless, those who come from divorced families, those who have folks who are in prison and live with extended families, kids who reside in foster care, or with a friend.

Now, all that being said, I want to tell you what approximately 368 middle school kids did in the last two weeks. Over the course of 2 school weeks, the kids raised just about $1200 in CHANGE. I'll omit the details of the contest, but grades 6, 7 and 8 all competed against each other to see which grade level could raise the most money in coins only. When it was all said an done, they raised about $1200, with about 70% of that dollar figure being in pennies.

Amazing. These kids were amazing. They emptied piggy banks and change jars. They brought in left over lunch money. They brought in money found on the street, dug out of couch cushions, anywhere they could get it. And these weren't just the 'rich' or 'well off" kids doing this, but ALL the kids. I saw some kids that I know don't have a pot to pee in drop money in those jars.

And do you know why?

A kid at the high school needs a kidney transplant and is on the donor list. And he had some health complications so he missed an inordinate amount of school, his mother missed all that work while he was in the hospital, and such. The kids decided they wanted to do a community service project as a school, and decided to "help one of their own." The boy who needs a transplant has a younger sibling in the middle school, and the mom was an aide in the school system, so the students know her as well. They thought this family could use help, especially with Christmas coming, and all the driving to the special hospital (about 2 hours one way) and the money that the family spent on fuel, for missing work, for food, bills, anything.

So what I need to remember is when I want to smack these kids in their heads for being idiots, I can think they do have big hearts and they do give. I'm proud of these kids. And they deserve any accolades they receive for doing such a good thing.

Teenagers are good people, too.

Maggie

I dont care if I ever eat chili again, but

On Saturday, Daddy-O, Curley, XRay Girl, and I went to a local craft show. It's the kind of fancy craft show, not macaroni glued on lampshades crafts, but the really nice stuff like quilts, jewelry, original art work, homemade candles and soaps, and gourmet chocolates. It was a nice event, and packed wall to wall with people. I would love to share some pictures with you but cameras weren't allowed because it's a great place for lots of crafters to go and get ideas to replicate so photo taking has been banned. I didn't buy anything except for some of the handmade gourmet chocolates because everything was pretty expensive, but like I said, it was a good time!

The weather was beautiful and agreeable finally after all the rain we had last week. It was still a little cool outside but the sun was shining, the leaves were turning colors, the sky was blue so what else were we to do after a few hours of craft shopping other than go to the local chili for charity cookoff.

Daddy-O bailed out on us girls, since he'd been home sick for a few days, claiming that after his illness (we think I food poisoned him, by accident of course) the last thing he wanted to eat was chili. Us girls were brave and figured if nothing else, we could taste chili, drink beer, look at the people, and just have a good time.

There were about 100 different teams who signed up for the cook-off contest and they cook and get judged in the morning, then the event is opened to the public in the afternoon. For $5 people can go in and taste every single chili available. We arrived about 10 minutes before the gate opened and had to park 3 blocks away. And then wait in line. It was wonderful to see such great turn out for something where 100% of the proceeds went to charities right here in my own community.

Once inside, we were given a spoon and some tickets. If we liked a particular group's chili we could give them tickets so there would be a judging a second time, based on what the people like. AND, according to the later reports, over 2000 people went through there Saturday, so there were lots of winners- people who came out, the charities, and the chili makers!

The chili makers don't just make chili but most of them decorate their booths with a theme and dress in costume. They have a clever name, call to the public and have special extras in addition to the chili, like free ice cream, cookies, candy, corn bread, peanut butter sandwiches, veggies and dip, or Popsicles. Every chili booth had mini 4 ounce cups with about 3 spoonfuls of chili in them. We started walking around, with each of us getting a cup each at every booth. Some of it was SUPER spicy so we started getting one cup and each eating a bite then getting more if we liked it.

After about 3 visits to 3 booths, I was done. I'm not a huge fan of chili to begin with so I had enough. I got beer. I people watched. I tried to not get separated from XRay Girl and Curley since there were, what felt like a bazillion people. We laughed at the vendors and booths. We ate elephant ears. We bought kettle corn. We walked and wondered about and took pictures.

It was a super day- good times for all! I love it when I can hang with my bestest people and have fun. A perfect fall day- it reminds me why I wanted to move back to Civilization!

Maggie

Anything Goes

Last weekend Curley and I went to see our local community theater's production of the Cole Porter classic "Anything Goes" and it was awesome! Curley got me 2 tickets for my birthday and, of course, I took her with me!

After dinner at Applebees (I'm so shameless because I love to eat there. I know I know, but I do and I can't help it!) we went to the theater. We have a super nice facility here in Civilization, to the point where we get famous performers as well as traveling Broadway shows, philharmonics and other professional performers. This happened to just be a local community theater production.

"Anything Goes" is one of my favorite stage shows. It's pretty typical musical fare: guy and girl in love with each other but can't have each other so guy does some crazy things with a toss of mistaken identity to try and get the girl. Great music- I adore the sounds of Cole Porter, happy endings, fun show, lots of sexual innuendo, and just some hilarious slapstick make a wonderful musical.

And this show was amazing. I just couldn't believe it was done by locals. And the woman who was the lead was fantastic. She had a voice that could bring down the house. And this wasn't some ticky-tacky show slapped together with what could "make do." It screamed 'professional' all the way across the board from costumes to sets to the orchestra to everything. It was astounding and wonderful and I was so impressed. I loved every minute of it and was thrilled to see it. I'm also proud that mere mortals who live right here in my hometown could create such a professional looking show. Kudos to them.

It was a great night!

And many thanks to Curley for such a wonderful present and a great night!

It was de-lovely,
Maggie Mae

Pirates, Indians, and Soldiers- oh my!

Back in 1996 I attended my first re-enactment. I worked for a nationwide not for profit, but at the local level and one of my job requirements was to assist in fund raising and one of our fundraisers was selling food at a re-enactment. I thought this was going to be hokey and stupid and ridiculous. I thought it was a bunch of grown men playing "cowboys and indians". I thought it was a reason for adults to play dress up. I whined and moaned and begged my boss to Not make me do it. She said if I would do it one afternoon that first weekend and if I hated it she would never ask me to do it again.

Because the time period was the early 1800s, there's a level of authenticity that had to be captured by all participants, according tot he rules and regulations as stated by the event organizers. All I can say is then I thought "this is STUPID!" But I knew I was going to have to dress in the period. And after going through all the costumes we had on hand to loan to volunteers, I decided to have one made for me. If I had to do something stupid, I would at least look good- and then I was going to donate my "costume" to the agency for which I worked.

And because we were serving food, that meant we were just poor colonists so I had to look like... well, a Pilgrim basically, or Ma Ingols in Little House on the Prairie rather than being English or French elegance.

So I got a chemise, a skirt, a dust cap, a lace up bodice and an apron. And I went. And it was FUN. It was one of the most exciting and fun activities I've ever done. I loved dressing up. I loved the story concocted about myself and the group I worked for. I loved the smell of the fire, the other participants, the entertainment of it all, the guests, the smell of smoke, the reenactment, the living history-- I just loved all of it. And for the four years I worked for that office I went to the re-enactment from open to close both days.


One thing I've been looking forward to since I got back to Civilization was taking a trek to this reenactment. So last weekend Curley and I went and it was awesome. I swear I can eat my way from one end of the site to the other- I love all the food cooked over the open fire pits. We had ribeye sandwiches and kettle corn. I could've eaten more- like the huge turkey leg, the fry bread with homemade applebutter, the ear of corn dipped in butter, the pork chop wrapped in new paper... and that's what I can think of that I wanted but didn't eat.

The entertainment was great; there was music, tons of authentic vendors and the living history everywhere was the best of all. The re-enactment was amazing. It was amazing and fun. I talked to several folks who really bring it to life. There are participants from all over the US, Canada and France. And the Indians are HOT. And when I say pirates, I want to point out that I don't mean Capt. Jack Sparrow "arugh" pirates but French Fur Trappers and traders having "pirate" like battle on the river- which is actually historically accurate as well.

Enjoy the view here since you couldn't all go with me! (And there are more pictures here!)

Love it all!

Your future reenactment participant,
Maggie Mae

Trip to the orchard- a very fall thing to do

I love to go to the apple orchard. Each autumn the one closest to me has an open house every weekend in Sept. and October. They always have different types of musical entertainment as well as cider making demonstrations, wagon rides, a variety of apples to sample, a corn maze, tours, and "u pick it" pumpkin patch.

When I lived in the Wild West I always missed my fall trips to the orchard. We never seemed to have anything like that at all- probably because where I lived skipped the season of fall entirely and went straight from summer to snow blizzards. Anyway...

Now that I've moved back to Civilization, I was pretty excited to go again. And it was a nice time. And just as I remembered it.

One thing I especially like is that every type of apple is available to taste. A visitor can get a knife and cut a slice off a "sample" apple. Each variety is labeled as to the flavor and use for that particular type of apple, as you can see from the picture on the left. You can read the card and if it sounds like it's worth a taste, you can cut a slice off of the apple in the plastic container. We bought a good cooking apple, that's also sweet enough to be a good eating apple called a Spartan. I'm going to make dumplings to freeze and put up some applesauce out of those.

The day I was there an amateur brass band was playing, which was nice. A guy was making cider the old fashioned way and letting people have a taste. Oh, one thing had been updated: the wagon rides. They used to be on a big old hay wagon pulled by a horse. Now, it's a low, flatbed trailer lined with bench seats and pulled by a John Deere tractor. There's also no corn maze this year; the field is a bean field this time.

I also like that there is more for sale than just bags of apples or pumpkins. There are also homemade cider, caramel apples, and apple butter- all made at the orchard from their fruits. Baked goods like pumpkin or apple pies, dumplings, and cobblers can be found as well a fresh honey made from the bees at their orchard as well.

Something else the orchard is offering this year is a little arts and crafts area. Local vendors can set up tents to sell their wares, but it's cannot be flea market junk, but craft type of things. Also a local high school has a little tent set up at the edge of the parking area where they make and sell apple fritters for a quarter. They make them in a kettle over a fire pit- very awesome.

It was a fun day and I hope to go back again in two weeks when the leaves have a chance to turn colors a little more. I'm also going to go for a wagon ride this time and maybe brave the pumpkin patch (I didn't last time because I was wearing flip-flops. Flip-flops are not pumpkin patch appropriate footwear- take my word for it.)

It's nice to have an autumn and find fall activities that I've missed! This is just one of many! This weekend I get to attend a REENACTMENT as a guest, not a participant this time! (Can we say "history nerd"?) I'm also going to a chili cook off festival and an arts/ crafts hobby show, all over the next few weeks. And I've been taking pictures so if you're interested in seeing some of the autumn whereabouts, check out my photo blog!

Enjoying the season change,
Maggie