Tales From The Cusp Of Summer Break

An unnamed teacher (not me), sitting at his/her desk, eating a store-bought boxed pie out of the pie pan with a fork, yells at me (in reference to the students) as I pass his/her class doorway:  "Take them, I don't want them anymore!"


Three unnamed teachers (two of them were not me) concluded a year of teacher mailbox prank "bombings" by taking each piece of <non-vital> mail from each and every mailbox in the mail room and placing them into a single teacher's mailbox.  Something like this:

We kid because we care.  And, said recipient is beloved by all.


A few of you will remember when we "breaded" a certain coach's mailbox for several weeks, only for him to outsmart us in the end by nailing a board to the opening of his box.


Kidnapping a student's 'robo-baby' - from the life skills class - when she left the robo-tot unattended in my classroom.  I blew my cover by not making sure the baby was turned off, as robo-tot began shrieking from my filing cabinet.


A colleague of mine was given a chocolate bar from a student through a deal struck in exchange for her mimicking performance of the "Robinson" laugh.  I will hand it to her, it's a stellar reproduction.  Sorta scary, too.


In contention for oddest question received from a student, no trivial assignment (obviously): "Miss, can I look in your desk?"  She just wanted, literally, to see the drawer contents in all of their office supply glory.  So I allowed a peek.  


Memorial Day weekend in Vegas proved to be an A Million People Per Square Inch Convention. Which, considering some horror movie scenarios, could make the sighting of the store (below) handy.  It was a great weekend, as always, but we won't return on a holiday again, nor Superbowl weekend.  The second photo below is one of our room views - spectacular!

I wish this were merely a tale, but, in sheer tragedy, a colleague - ironically one of my mailbox cronies - unexpectedly passed over Memorial Day weekend*.  With more than our share of downs this year, within the year staffing changes, and disappointments, our campus is ending the year on a somber note.  Our hearts break for the loss of our jovial friend - 100% nice guy, teddy bear personality, and generous to a fault - but most importantly for the devastation to his wife and young family.  This teacher was merely a few months younger than myself, and his three children are each under age three.  


*I doubt there's a soul in the applicable circle who doesn't yet know about his death, but we might always be mindful of what is placed on social networking sites surrounding events of this nature; despite most people wishing to simply help or express sorrow.  I.e., the "Vague-book posts/tweets," unintended reply to all recipients via smart phone comments, etc.  A recent hometown tragedy sparked a similar deluge of online activity and I hafta appreciate what one of my high school classmates piped up to mention:  "If you can't or won't give information/answer questions, it probably shouldn't be posted."  (at least, at that particular moment**)


**my addition

When life hands you fluorescent duct tape, make a blazer.

Cork-a-palooza

I have created several of the picture frame cork boards as seen below, and am happy to create one for any of you.  For free!  Gratis!  From me to you!  The catch is that I'm corked out.  Even I cannot consume vino frequently enough to maintain a modest supply of corks.  So, send me ye corks if you would like this addition to your kitchen messaging or organization system.  "Little Johnny, empty the dishwasher if you want to eat tonight!"  "Half Off Wine Bottles At Target Today!"  Until then, it's been super fun making these little guys.

Just when I thought posts about potty training were mundane

In our age of social networking, each detail of daily living, for anyone, is available, for anyone, anytime.  Since I've never potty trained a toddler and am not currently potty training a toddler (nor an animal), posts about the guaranteed stressful and arduous task of potty training a little person just, honestly, do not hold any relevance to me; for better or worse and all neutral colors in between.  Considering I once read a book about the history of candy bar brand names in all of its trivial glory, it's difficult for me to admit that anything I read is mundane.

But I may have to read mundane potty posts more carefully in the future after spying this gem (photo below) posted by a colleague's husband:

<no caption is needed, but the little person in the picture "has yet to pee in the toilet, but enjoys sitting on it for unlimited amounts of time">