Now What?

     Let me warn you from the start...this blog post is not too related to the issues of school.  Unless you count that chalkboards can be black, like Wally.  Or maybe that the first student week of school is one of the worst to have to call the vet in for the final hour.  You may also stretch and connect the stress of home and the stress of school setting in so quickly for the teacher during this first week of upheaval and the fact that, when these things happen, you have to just press right on ahead and make things happen at school.  But, all that aside, we had to put our Wally down the first week of school... and I did not expect it to consume me like it has.  So, when I searched my heart and mind for the topics I have been consumed with since this first week of school, this would be at the top of the list.
     Wally was supposed to be a croquet set or a badminton set, I cannot ever remember which.  My oldest and I had gone to Wal-mart for one of those cheap fun sets to brighten up Father's Day in June of 1999.  There was a pickup truck in the lower end of the lot, and a handmade sign for "Free Puppies".   There was one left and he was just adorable.  What puppy isn't?  They are made that way so you will take them.  There was another man looking at Wally too.  We took him, but I always wondered what would have happened for Wally if that man had taken him.  His life here was not all that easy.
     First of all, I am a cat person.  Their independence and cleanliness is just perfect for me.  They like to cuddle at night when things slow down, But otherwise, they do their own thing.  I love that.  Dogs need lots of attention, walking, letting out, quieting down if there is company at the door, baths, and they are sooooo messy.  Sooooo much work.  Not my style.  But we had children and it seemed a dog was in order.  We had purchased a golder retriever puppy the year before and he had worked out ok.  I just worried that he was lonely while we were all gone all day.  It seemed like he might want a buddy.  We brought Wally home, placed him at Skeeter's feet, and there was no magic.  In fact, Skeeter never really took to Wally.  He tolerated him, but that was it.  He would rather have loneliness and us in brief doses than this pesky little black fur-ball following him everywhere and whimpering the second he got up and went out on his own.  It was evident from day one, Wally was a needy little guy.
     This little guy grew to be a huge needy guy within the year.  He outweighed the golden retriever by at least 20 pounds.  The man who gave him to us said mom was a black lab and he was "not sure" about dad.  Well, dad must have been an Angus bull!  Wally was huge!  He did not know it though.  This posed several major problems.  He hated water, so he was impossible to bathe.  His excitedly happy tail wagged nonstop and could take out a four piece place setting in 30 seconds or less.   He thought anything that was not living was food and ate everything in a single gulp.  He was terrified of thunder and he did not care much for fireworks either.  I repeat, needy.
    When he was three, he and the golden decided they needed to go for a run, all over Salem.  When I finally caught up with them, Wally had been hit by a truck.  This required a visit to Virginia Tech's veterinary surgical unit, a lengthy shoulder repair, and four thousand dollars.  All to be followed with two months of one of those silly lampshades on his head, a cage, and to be let out every few hours.  Needy.
     He and the golden continued escaping the electric fence, and they were too big to be indoor dogs in our modest home, so we tried to find them a better home.  We gave them away, as a pair, at least four times, all to be followed by a phone call that it was not working out.  "The Golden Retriever does fine, but the black one won't stop crying."  We finally split them up and gave Skeeter to a fine farm home in Rocky Mount.  I am sure he was relieved.  Equally relieved was Wally, who got to come home and have his family back.  Try as we may, we still could not give Wally away.  But he did stop the escaping now that the other dog was gone, so this made things easier.  At least for a while...
     Wally did not run on his own, but a neighborhood dog started stopping by to play and this turned in to stopping by to pick Wally up on the way to a new escapade.  This became a costly adventure.  One of their "dates" was to a neighboring house for some pet ducks to snack on.  This was another stint in doggy jail, court, two thousand dollar claim against the homeowner's policy, and Wally's new-found home inside the house where he could not run away.
     Four years ago, Wally developed an aggressive cancer that took out a couple of toes and promised to kill quickly.  He lived through it and had only a few problems along the way.  But along with this malady, the promised arthritis from the surgery at Tech was setting in.  Walking became more and more difficult.  We tried to keep him moving, but he soon became immobile, getting up only to go to the bathroom.  Jerry built him a fine 12 foot ramp leading from the front door to the yard and we covered it with green outdoor carpet.  Some folks thought it was the beginnings of a putt putt course or a ramp for me, also a sufferer of cancer. The ramp gave Wally more time with us, and even on his last day, he journeyed down the ramp to do his 'business', then promptly came up to lay back down in his spot in the living room.  He never had accidents and left us with his dignity intact.  For that, I hope he was grateful.
     So, now we look at the emptiness that used to be Wally.  No more little whines, no more showing up at the bottom of the stairs to our bedroom due to fear of the pending thunderstorms, no more loud banging of the happy tail when we walked in the door.  I have to say, although I never will be a "dog" person, I will always be a "Wally" person.  He was a good soul.
     I can see him now, crossing the Rainbow Bridge, finding our other animals to say hello, and waiting there, for us.  I bet we will hear his tail.

The Teacher's Kitchen

    As the return of school is upon us, I share with all of you one of my greatest frustrations....what to have for dinner?  How do we stay out of the drive-thrus and in healthy and affordable mindsets once school is in?  It is a challenge!   Yes, yes, I know, we are out by 2:30, so what's the problem?  Well, let me first address the issue of 2:30.  There are very few teachers who leave at 2:30, unless it is to go across town to a meeting or their second job.  Many teachers, bless their bladders and kidneys, are taking their first bathroom breaks at 2:30, chasing down a mixed up transportation issue, conferencing with teammates, and even still teaching!  Our days are very long and very packed.  For most, there are very few moments that we are not engaged with or about students.   The days are tough, and the misconception of the shorter workday or having June, July, and August "Off" are simply myths thought of by those who just don't know the job.  But that is a topic for a later blog.
     Needless to say, we are exhausted and mentally spent by the time dinner rolls around.  Creativity in the kitchen has never been one of my strong suits anyway.  My children, now 18 and 21, will tell you of their early memories of drive-thru dinners.  When I did cook at home, it was a shock to the family.  I spent many weeks, starting out cooking on Monday, but by Friday, it was pizza or something with fries ordered through a speaker.  The crazy schedules of a family of four just gave me another excuse not to cook.  My dear husband, Jerry, is always glad to 'pick something up', so there is just no pressure here, except from within.  I WANT to cook! I WANT to put a meal on the table successfully.  I WANT my backside to shrink from good healthy cooking.  I really believe I can fix this with some planning and forethought.  
     We have had some successes.  Planning seems to be the key.  If I wait until the moment of need, I will just stand in my kitchen like a visitor in a foreign country and have no idea of what to do.  That is when eating out always sounds the best. For one brief moment in time, we decided we would each took a turn planning a cooking a meal.  It lasted for a few weeks, but we let our schedules get the best of us. There was also the time my best friend Sarah told me about the book Once a Month Cooking by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg.  This was very labor intensive for the one or two days you turned your life upside down to execute the plan, but it was certainly nice to simply follow their guide for the next 30 days.
     Today, I spent the day with my mom.  Now there is a woman who could put a meal on the table.  There were five of us in all and we were extremely poor.  She could make cost cutter fish sticks and a can of green beans taste like a night of the finest dining!  No matter how bad things got, she never let us go hungry and we never ate out.  There also was no issue of who would eat what, you just ate!  That was dinner and you were darn glad to have it.  Times have certainly changed!
     So I asked many of my online networking friends to share their thoughts about this topic.  Here are some of your replies, first names only to protect the innocent of course...

" I try to grocery shop once every two weeks and sort of plan out meals for us so we have something at home and can't use the excuse to go out to eat. Breakfast is our favorite supper--eggs, pancakes, fruit, etc." -Suzanne

"Whenever you make something...such as a meatloaf or pizza, etc. Just make a double portion and freeze half of it for another meal." - Cynthia

"I'm all for quick and easy when I've worked all day. I use the crock pot a lot - put a whole frozen chicken in there in the morning and throw in a few potatoes. Cooks slowly all day and is great. I just add a little butter and salt and pepper when I put it in. Also, another if I remember to put chicken out in the morning, I cook it in the microwave with a little butter, salt & pepper and BBQ sauce for about 15 minutes - great and the juice from it is great over rice."-Sharon

" The crockpot is one of the things I use the most when school start back. Chili, bbq chicken, pot roast, pork tenderloin, soup... the possibilities are endless. I also freeze leftovers and save them for a meal a few weeks later. Having sandwiches and soup or salad with grilled chicken on top is pretty quick and easy too. If you fail to plan ahead - Little Ceaser's 5.99 pizza is always a quick and affordable option."-Brandi

Those are great ideas, and I invite my readers to post more!  I also know my friend and blogger extraordinaire, Jo-Lynne,  features cooking and recipe segments on her blog, so here is a link to Musings of a Housewife where you will find great ideas from this busy wife and mom of three.


     So what is for dinner tonight?  I have to admit, I have no idea.  But I cannot wait to hear some of your ideas for making this chapter of our day a little easier!

It's Time To Clock In!

Yes, it is that time again!  Time for teachers, aides, bus drivers, parents, all of us with an interest in the education of someone younger than us and likely put in our care, to "clock in".  Many have already done so.  As I post, many school system have likely been in session for at least a week and are taking a Labor Day break.  I work for a school system that brings us back to do as much preparing as we can before the big day.  Our students will come back on Tuesday.  Bless their hearts.....

For those of you who may just be getting to know me, "bless their hearts" or "God love 'em" are two phrases I use interchangeably when speaking of someone who may need a little breathing room in life due to a certain quirk or annoyance.  It is a way I give myself permission to feel aggravated, but not guilty.  We all are always glad to see the students, but with them comes 180+ days of intense planning, reflection, and concern. Many will be the hardest little workers we have ever met, and some will not.  Some will have parents who are right on top of everything, some will not. So, be that as it may, bless their hearts.

I used the term "clock in" when I talked about starting the year.  This actually has two roots.  I come from many years of educational exposure, but not always as a teaching professional.  I began as an aide just for fun a few hours a week at my children's elementary school.  I learned more there than one can possibly imagine.  The knowledge of the little things like the copy room, bathroom breaks, sharing v. stealing, the value of a minute, all this and more gave me a firm foundation in education.  There are always great aides at the schools in which I work, and the real treasures take their roles just as seriously as the teachers.  In fact, when I began as the medication aide at our elementary school, there was an aide there who had been MY aide in elementary school years before.  She knew the ropes, and believe me, no one stepped on her ropes! 

One of the most demanding roles of these aides in my first job was to make copies for the teachers.  In this school of 400+ children, there was one high-volume copier and everyone had a designated time to use it.  I remember going back to the copy area, thankfully not part of the medication aide's job, to get a drink out of the machine.  The aide I had known since childhood was copying her heart out while another aide kept impatiently peeking around the corner to check and see when she was done.  She finally asked, "When will you be done?"  Her answer was classic....."June!"  I loved it.  So much so that when my husband Jerry asked me once when he was not quite schooled on being the husband of a teacher, "when will you be done?"  I of course, emphatically replied, "June!"

Needless to say, he knows now, we "clock in" during August, and try to "clock out" in June.  It's a dirty job, but as they say, somebody's gotta do it!