Gas Prices In Northern Illinois

New Birthday Bike

My son, now 8, got to go shopping for his new bike today. I showed him which ones would be the right size for him and then let him pick. It was a difficult process........The bright blue one? The shiny red one? He finally decided on a electric green & black Mongoose.

When walking it through the store to the checkout you'd have thought he'd bought a new Harley the way he was strutting! He got an even bigger grin as he actually got it out of the store to go to the car. He was too funny - everyone we met in the parking lot on the way to the car wished him a "Happy Birthday", each time his little chest puffed up a bit more. I thought he'd explode before we got home and got it out of the trunk so he could ride it.

Leprechaun Trap

We (my preschool class and I) set a leprechaun trap yesterday. We baited it with VERY shiny pennies and one gold-foil covered chocolate. We left signs up such as "Do Not Enter" and "Stay Away" because everyone knows that leprechauns don't like to follow directions and are very curious little creatures.

When we came in today, evidence of the little man dressed in green were everywhere! He had been all over our room leaving a trail of gold dust wherever he went. The best part of all - the trap and been set off! We caught him! (or so we thought)

As I carefully lifted the shoebox, the other teacher waited on the other side to catch him in case he tried to make a quick getaway. Alas, upon opening the trap, we discovered he had taken the shiny pennies and had eaten the chocolate coin. To top it off, he left the foil wrapper behind just to mock us!

We were sure he was still lurking about in the room so a little later we started looking around for him only to discover he had turned the toilet water GREEN! About that time, a child saw a little green hat run quickly behind the toilet and we lost him after that.

To learn if he was still in our room or had moved on to another classroom, we decided to make some pistachio pudding. The powder comes out of the box white, but if there is a leprechaun in the room when you add the milk, it turns green. So we set to mixing and would you believe this - IT TURNED GREEN! He was still here in our room!

There were several other sightings throughout the day and a number of children heard him making scratching noises around the hamster cage area at nap time (Hummmmmm wonder if Clover saw the little green man?), but no one caught him.

A child from another room also saw our leprechaun and a friend dash behind a tree on the playground - I was shocked to learn there was another one lurking about.

Maybe we'll catch them next year & get their gold. If they don't give it to us, I have a little boy that wants to keep him in the hamster cage and feed him hamster food and crayons until he tells us where it's buried.

Happy St. Pat's Day everyone!

The Next "Survivor" Show

Have you heard about the next planned "Survivor" show?

Three businessmen and three businesswomen will be dropped in an elementary school classroom for 6 weeks.

Each business person will be provided with a copy of his/her school district's curriculum, and a class of 28 students.

Each class will have five learning-disabled children, three with ADD, one gifted child, and two who speak limited English. Three will be labeled with severe behavior problems.

Each business person must complete lesson plans at least 3 days in advance with annotations for curriculum objectives and modify, organize, or create materials accordingly.

They will be required to teach students, handle misconduct, implement technology, document attendance, write referrals, correct homework, make bulletin boards, compute grades, complete report cards, document benchmarks, communicate with parents, and arrange parent conferences.

They must also supervise recess and monitor the hallways. In addition, they will complete drills for fire, tornadoes, and shooting attacks.

They must attend 100 hours of workshops, faculty meetings, union meetings, and curriculum development meetings.

They must also tutor those students who are behind and strive to get their 2 non-English speaking children proficient enough to take the TAKS tests.

If they are sick or having a bad day, they must not let it show. Each day they must incorporate reading, writing, math, science, and social studies into their program.

They must maintain discipline and provide an educationally stimulating environment at all times.

The business people will only have access to the golf course on the weekends, but on their new salary they will not be able to afford it anyway.

There will be no access to vendors who want to take them out to lunch, and lunch will be limited to 30 minutes. On days when they do not have recess duty, the business people will be permitted to use the staff restroom as long as another survival candidate is supervising their class.

They will be provided with two, 40-minute planning periods per week while their students are at activity classes. If the copier is operable, they may make copies of necessary materials at this time.

The business people must continually advance their education on their own time, and pay for this advanced training themselves. This can be accomplished by moonlighting at a second job or marrying someone with money.

The winner will be allowed to return to his or her job.

Stalkers AKA: My Ex & his parents

Well, after 2 1/1 years of peace, my ex-husband and his parents have found where we live. He knows where I work, the kids school schedule, everything. Can I do anything about it? NO. Just because he has dug into every crevice of my life and knows my schedule better than I do, he's not really stalking me (according to the local law enforcement officials). They all three can call my unlisted phone number, drive by my apartment as often as they wish (even though they know nobody else in this town) and send as many letters to my home as they wish. I can do nothing. None of them have actually SAID they were going to do anything to harm me or my children so I can do nothing. Aparently it does not matter that none of them have any legal rights to me or my children. They can do whatever they want to harass us.

I have taken great pains to hide my actual address. Legally, my address is listed as that of a relative. My phone number is listed under a friends' name. My lease is in a fake name (and my landlord is aware of it, he's very understanding). Yet the fact that my ex-husband was able to dig through all this and find me doesn't mean that he's trying to terrorize us, at least to the legal system it doesn't.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy 8th Birthday Tiger! Mommy loves you!!!!

The Child From Hell

I have decided the innocent looking little girl that started in my classroom two weeks ago, is definitely, without a doubt, the child from hell.

She will shove kids right in front of you and deny it to the death. She pinches, kicks, trips, and otherwise physically abuses the other children and will innocently deny any wrongdoing.

Today was the topper on the whole thing. My aide is doing a craft project with a few children, I'm working on handwriting with others, the rest of the class is divided up into various play centers. The sweetest little girl in class asks to go to the bathroom, of course, I say yes. I look up a couple of minutes later and Damien's sister is hanging on the bathroom door laughing while Sweetie is in the bathroom crying to get out and banging on the door franticly. The child from hell trapped the little girl in the bathroom! Of course, that's a time-out in the naughty chair.

Not an hour later, a little boy, also very sweet, is waiting his turn in line to go potty before nap time. He squats down to look at something he sees on the floor and the child from hell gives him a swift kick in the butt, knocking him face first onto the floor. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt. Again, another time out.

The afternoon proceeded to get worse, she tried to trip me, then another child. Various questions posed to her were answered with things like "DUH!" "Whatever!" and "HELLO?? Didn't you understand me the first time?" All this kind of mouthy talk out of a four year old child.

I've never seriously considered harming another human being in my life - up until now. My tongue hurts from biting it, my fists are in a permanent clenched position and I've ground my teeth down to little ivory nubs. Geez I love my job some days!!!

Screw the double, I'm drinking the whole bottle tonight!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 101st Birthday to Dr. Seuss!

We celebrated today by eating, you guessed it - Green Eggs and Ham!

Green food dye in eggs makes the most disgusting pile of scrambled egg crap you ever seen in your life. Kids EAT IT UP! The grosser it looks, the better it must taste. Which would explain why children eat dirt and bugs but not green beans..........

Rabbit, Rabbit!

I have no idea why and can't find the origions of this but it's supposed to be good luck. My 6th grade science teacher, Mrs. Maxon, used to tell us "Rabbit, Rabbit!" the first day of each month. We loved it, thought she was kooky too. Anyway, "Rabbit, Rabbit" everyone!

The Trap is Set!

I'm sitting at the computer, reading blogs and minding my own business when I realize that Clover's cage is on the floor of the dining room and she's making little squeaky noises. I investigate. What do I see??? SPARKY!! She's chatting with Clover about how to get into the cage for a little dinner & drink. Clover, being very happy to be safe and caged, has no idea how to get out to let Sparky in.

I set Sparkys cage on the floor, door open and place a huge bowl of mouth-watering hamster kibble inside (the far side of the cage of course!). Pretty soon she ignores the fact I'm sitting on the floor next to the cage & comes to check it out.... the smell is too tempting. Sparky starts up the little ramp that is her cage door, realizes it's a trap and tries to turn around and run. HA! I anticipated that and was too quick for her - I flip the door up & shut sending Sparky flying across her 12" wide cage only to land in the kibble. She's too happy to have food to worry that she's been caught.

Sparky's caged again, mission accomplished.

Sparky is MIA - again

That hairy little beast is an escape artist! She's gotten out of her hamster cage again. I hope we find her before the cat does!

TGIF?

I started my day thinking "Thank God it's Friday!" I've been fighting off bronchitis and battling the cough from hell all week (makes for a great night's sleep). There was a full moon this week, add that to 19 preschoolers & you've got a killer combo (literally).

It's the last Friday of the month so it's P.J.'s day & we usually only have about 12 - 14 children, not our usual 18. I love Friday. Everything was crusin' along just fine until I'm pulling into the parking lot from lunch, my cell phone rings - it's alien #1's school counselor - he's been in a fight on the playground & is deep in the poo-poo. I get that settled and walk back into my classroom and the little critters are STILL awake - they should all be napping soundly by now. Then I realize I still don't have the monthly classroom newsletter done (due yesterday!) so I run out and finish that off quickly. I come back, give a few of them "the look" and for the most part, they quiet down & go to sleep.

Nap is over, kids are up, snack time is done, we're down to 8 little critters and life is good until........... we find out that another teacher has to leave early so "a few" of her little critters will be joining ours. My aide goes down to find out how many "a few" is and comes back with EIGHT of them! Our numbers have doubled and the fun has just begun.

It's a bit hairy but we muddle through and about 4:30 my aide leaves me with 6 kids - NO PROBLEM! (HA!) Who knew that the intestinal tract of a 4 year old child held enough of anything to plug up the sewer system of the entire building!

O.K. well, maybe not the whole building but it sure made one big mess in our bathroom. One toilet in our bathroom overflowed and continued to do so every 10 minutes for a half an hour! I spent 30 minutes cleaning up that crap (no pun intended) then had to send someone else's aide to go get disinfectant to mop the floor with. Geez what a way to end the day. I need a drink, make it a double.

Actress Sandra Dee Dies at 63
LOS ANGELES (Feb. 20) - Actress Sandra Dee, the blond beauty who attracted a large teen audience in the 1960s with films such as "Gidget'' and "Tammy and the Doctor'' and had a headlined marriage to pop singer Bobby Darin, died Sunday. She was 63.

In my dreams......

You're Betty Grable!


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Illinois Temperature Conversion Chart

@ +70 degrees
Texans turn on the heat and unpack the thermal underwear.
People inIllinois go swimming in the rivers.

@ +60 degrees
North Carolinians try to turn on the heat.
People in Illinois plant gardens.

@ +50 degrees
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Illinois sunbathe.

@ +40 degrees
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Illinois drive with the windows down.

@ +32 degrees
Distilled water freezes.
The Wabash River water gets thicker.

@ +20 degrees
Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, and woolly hats.
People in Illinois throw on a flannel shirt.

@ +15 degrees
Philadelphia landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Illinois have the last cookout before it gets cold.

@ +10 degrees
People in Miami all die...
We from the Land o' Lincoln lick the flagpole.

@ -20 degrees
Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in Illinois get out their winter coats.

@ -40 degrees
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Illinois are selling cookies door to door.

@ -60 degrees
Polar bears begin to evacuate the Arctic.
Illinois Boy Scouts postpone"Winter Survival" classes until it gets cold enough.

@ -80 degrees
Mt. St. Helens freezes.
People in Illinois rent some videos.

@ -100 degrees
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Prairie Staters get frustrated because they can't thaw the keg.

@ -297 degrees
Microbial life no longer survives on dairy products.
Cows in Illinois complain about farmers with cold hands.

@ -460 degrees
ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero in the Kelvin scale).
People inIllinois start saying, "Cold 'nuff for ya?"

@ -500 degrees
Hell freezes over.
The Bears win the Super Bowl!

Hamster Hunting

I'm sitting here, minding my own business & catching up on some blogs when I see something move out of the corner of my eye.... it's Bubbles (the hamster). She's just cruising along, three rooms away from her cage.

Alien #1 (oldest son) grabs a glass to catch her in, she runs under the backpack left lying on the floor (it's usual spot). Alien picks up the backpack, Bubbles doubles back past the cat's water dish.

I move my foot, scare the hamster & it jumps straight up, landing in the cat's water bowl. She quickly recovers and dives for the ever-growing pile of crap next to the alien's boots. The alien trades in a glass for my good Pyrex measuring cup & captures her. The wild beast is returned to her cage.

You have no idea how funny it is to watch a 4-inch long hair-cover sausage waddling along and suddenly jump straight up. It looked like a loaded spring had been released right under her and she went straight over the edge of the cat's water bowl.

My life, never a dull moment.

Update

It's been a long time since I've even been online. Between work, my car and all the garbage with my children, there hasn't been much time for blogging. So.... let's see about a little update here....

*car has been fixed (again), I got it back a couple of days ago
*youngest son has lost a couple of teeth
*older son has had his first detention (didn't turn in book report)
*my friend, the model, is getting married & I'm helping plan the wedding
*still searching for counseling for the aliens
*we have a new hamster (Sparky)
*kids let Sparky loose in the house 2 days after getting her (found her 3 hrs later)
*Mom had the flu
*Mom got better, Dad had the flu
*Dad got better, I got the flu
*Sister is still trying to import her husband from Costa Rica (they were married last October)
*I was stupid enough to get my naval pierced (what the hell was I thinking???)
*Job is going o.k. I guess, still looking for work elsewhere
*Still can't find a date (If you're single, age 35 - 50 & are gainfully employed, drop me a line.........just kidding!)

Not much happening as you can see.

I am looking for a new name for my blog so..... if you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Now I'm off to catch up on blogs I haven't read in a long, long time......... until later.

Hit # 3

Well, the insurance company totaled out my car (cosmetic work only), I bought it back and added another $400 to the tab and paid to have my baby fixed. I got my car back last Thursday at 5:50 pm. I was thrilled! The engine that starts in any weather and runs like a dream. I was on cloud 9. The fact that it looked nice again was just icing on the cake. What I really wanted was the fantastic engine that was in it.

Coming home from work tonight, I hit another deer. I've had my car back one week and I hit another of those damn hairy beasts. I didn't kill this one & what's worse, it was a young one.

A plain-clothes (I later learned) state officer happened by as I was hanging up with the 911 operator and stopped to see if I was ok. I told him I was fine but the police needed to shoot the deer because it was still very much alive and trying to escape with it's back end crushed. He identified himself as an officer, showed me his badge and then waited while I turned away before he fired a shot into the deer to end it's suffering. But one shot didn't do it and he had to shoot it again.

He had to stay around until the local officer came because he'd discharged his firearm and had to report it to another officer. He also made sure I had a ride home before he took off & left.

I wanted to walk up and kick that damn thing in the ass I was so mad!

My insurance man is so pissed.

Dad wants to take me hunting - says he's gonna let me drive around the fields to flush them out so he can shoot them (it's been a bad season).

I just want the hair out of my grill and my headlight back again. Damn it all.

Stress

I know I joke a lot about the kids being aliens and the silly crap at work, deer "hunting" with my car but this post isn't any of that. The stress of the last several months has gotten to me. This isn't a pity-me post or anything of the sort. It's a place to vent which is why this blog was begun - a place for me to say whatever was on my mind, happy or sad, silly or serious. If no one likes what I have to say in any of my posts, they can move on & not return to my blog, my feelings won't be hurt, it's their choice. Just as it is my choice to let forth tonight with some serious venting.

In the Fall of 2002, with the help of the police, my children and I were rescued from our home. My husband had been terrorizing us non-stop for almost 24 hours before I was able to get a safe moment to call 911 for help. I almost didn't live until the police arrived. I find child porn on my computer and turn my soon-to-be-ex into the police for it. ( A year and a half later, I have to fight to get my PC out of the evidence lock-up. They never even looked at it. The police said I was just trying to "get even" with him.)

Three months later, I moved out of my parents home where we had been staying since our rescue and I started a full-time job. Life was looking up. I was having some trouble with the boys but nothing serious and was trying to get counseling for all of us after the abuse I had suffered at the hands of my soon-to-be-ex-husband. I managed to get weekly counseling sessions with a pastor who had his degree in family counseling - I thought this would be perfect. He turned out to not understand anything about domestic violence and within 6 months, I fired him.

My job turned sour, the kids got a little worse. My divorce became final it was now one year later, Fall 2003. We had been attending a support group at our church and it was helping us heal, slowly, but we were on the mend.

The local domestic violence advocates became a rather attractive alternative for help. Again, it didn't take long for things to go sour there. The children's counselor basically blamed me for my ex-husbands' abuse of the children and myself. That brought that "counseling" to a screaming halt. She had managed to undo everything my church group had accomplished. And work was getting worse by the second.

By March of 2004 I had quit my job because of the total disregard for regulations regarding the safety of the children there and the licensing agency's lack of interest in the violations. Add to that the owner/director had a horrible temper, drank on the job, rarely paid us on time, frequently bounced paychecks and was in general an ass.

May rolled around and I still hadn't found a job. I was living off of my income tax refund and a little part time clerical work at a local temp agency. And the children were getting worse with their attitudes.

By early July, I had to quit going to our church group because it cost too much in gas money to drive 45 minutes each way to get there and I still didn't have a job.

Mid-July rolled around and I finally got a job, with a significant pay cut and a 45 minute travel time on the end of each day in a car that sucked gas like it was free. I could barely pay my bills but at least I had a job.

September - kids are not off to a good start in school, already teachers are complaining about missing homework assignments and their attitude at home is really bad. Total lack of respect for me. I'm getting to the point of feeling seriously depressed. Late September brings to light my worst fears, my ex-husband molested both children. I file all the reports, talk with the police and family services people and in all the mess, end up losing four precious days of pay which I could ill-afford to do. My boss is not sympathic to my situation and basically tells me to suck it up and leave my personal problems at home. Thank you for being so understanding you b*tch. So much for working for a Christian organization.

I'm now officially a mess and end up on anti-depressants and the children are getting worse. There is little help out there for single moms with very little cash. I know you're all going to blast me with all the social service agency names in the book that will "help" me. I've been through it all and there is little or no help for me unless I'm willing to take a significant amount of time off of my job to accept their "help". I can't pay the bills on what I earn now, I sure as hell can't pay them working part time folks.

October - my uncle dies
November - trash my car hitting a deer, and the kids are so bad I'm considering foster care at this point.
December - I hit another deer totaling my car the Tuesday before Christmas. Grandma died, we buried her the Sunday before Christmas. The children are getting worse by the second. My employer could only worry about if I was gonna miss any time off so close to the holiday - did I "really need to attend that funeral if it wasn't going to be on the weekend?" Yes folks - I was actually asked that question by my boss. After all, it wasn't like it was my parent, it was only my grandparent. After several months of waiting to find out if the police will arrest my vile ex-husband, the news comes to me - Yes, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) investigating the claim believes my children. No, the police will not be doing anything about it.

Now it's January 2005. At a significant cost to me, I did get my car repaired. Christmas was anything but truly joyful for me, it seemed rather hollow this year. The stress and depression are becoming overwhelming to me. My oldest son is becoming more aggressive by the day and my younger one is following in his footsteps.

The finding of guilty by DCFS was supposed to be a victory. They were supposed to not only find counseling for my children and myself, but they're to be paying for it as well. To date, I have been able to make contact with the man that took the report one time. Help was promised "right away"......... three weeks later, nothing. My children do nothing but fight with one another, frequently it becomes physical. I am beyond being able to function as a normal human being. I am seriously void of most emotion. I've gone so far as to having to call the police on my oldest son (age 10) for beating the crap out of his 7 year old brother. They basically did nothing - no blood, no foul. It doesn't seem to matter that at least twice a week I'm pulling kid #1 off of kid #2 and sitting on him until he can calm himself down

And so, here I am. Sad, depressed, alone, frustrated. I am at the point I don't want to get out of bed in the morning and if I get fired for not coming into work, who cares? I am beyond caring. I have fought so long to get help for my children and I, all to no avail. Don't ask me a thousand and one questions of "have you tried _______ agency?" or "Acme Agency will help anyone" or whatever. I have called, and called, and called. I have knocked on doors, begged, pleaded, yelled, cussed, cried, you name it. Unless I am willing to give up my job, I will not get counseling for us. Period. If I give up my job of my own free will, no social service agency will help me because I "quit". It's a catch 22 - I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't. Such is the story of my life. No I don't have family to help - that is another story in itself. If it weren't for the garbage there, I probably wouldn't have gotten into the sorrid mess I'm in now.

Again, I don't want your pity. Pity doesn't help me. I just need to let it all out. I'd like to say I feel better after spewing the garbage that is the real essence of my life but I don't. Yes, I'm a Christian however, faith is a difficult thing to have after a period of time of being beaten down. Not impossible, but in my case, next to impossible.

Emergency!!

I just heard something you NEVER hear in our small town of 4100 people - the fire engines take off out of the station a few blocks from our apartment, sirens blaring.

The last time anyone heard that was almost a year ago when the elementary school I attended burned to the ground. The staff managed to get all the students out and there were only minor injuries suffered by the firefighters themselves. All staff & children were safe. It was such a big deal that it made the news in New York - one of the daily morning shows aired it.

Crap - now the ambulance and police cars are screaming past - this could be very bad.