School

It seems weird to not have a contract or even a letter from the district yet, but all the back to school stuff carries on as usual. The letter from the school itself came Friday, with the dates for going back and a workshop. The workshop is August 3rd and 4th, and I signed up for it on the theory that I’ll have a contract by then. We get a stipend of $150 each day, although they take forever to pay those. Still, it’s money! The district teachers go back the tenth, but we have to go back the 8th for a 2-day workshop on the reading program we do. Since it’s not “contract time” — time already on the calendar, we get a stipend for both of those days as well.

The other weird thing is seeing my class list — again, because I don’t have an actual job yet. But it has 27 students, which is what I started the year with last year. One of the other teachers was dismayed to see that many on her list, but I reminded her that some of those kids don’t actually show up. Families move all the time. We may lose three and gain three before school starts.

Got lots of feedback on the photos of Grandpa, Lia, and Uncle Tommy! Since the photos are dated 1970, I’ve obviously had them for 39 years — and didn’t realize that I have a rare photo of Uncle Tommy! Who knew? That was the first summer we kids came back to visit New Jersey (and went back to Chicago on our very first airplane trip).

old pics and ancient pics

I’m scanning photos while they’re still in decent condition, and because various people wanted copies at some point. Some of these are ancient — and yet there are readers here who remember me this way! Enjoy!

8 weeks old/January 1958:

May 1958:

First Birthday/November 1958:

Misc. Chicago 1960-61:

Grandpa and Zia Lia, Paterson, summer 1970

Uncle Tommy, Wayne, summer 1970

HP6

So yesterday I went to see Harry Potter 6. I loved it, if you can love a movie that makes you cry twice. Of course they changed things from the book, like what character actually did what, but it didn’t really matter (not like in the first few movies!). There were also plenty of funny parts, but honestly, the funniest was this:

There was this intense scene, and having read the books I knew what was going to happen. I’m sitting there with one leg up crossed over the other. Well, when the things came out of the water it happened so suddenly that I kicked the lady in front of me in the head!! I apologized and she laughed and said it was an added special effect! Note to self: keep feet down during movies!

I sent an e-mail to one of my assistant principals yesterday, forwarding the note from the school office with my “magic number” on it. She forwarded it to the principal, but she also told me not to give up hope! She said that the district is acting conservatively (bringing people back) because they’re worried that although that part of the budget was signed, no one actually knows how it’ll be funded. She reassured me that they will find a way to bring me back somehow in some capacity.

You are 237 out of 384.

That is my magic number on the RIF recall list, according to an e-mail I got today. Yesterday we got an update e-mail so I decided to write and ask exactly where I stood. I’d certainly rather be much higher on the list!!

I actually have more photos on my telephone, that I have to download at some point! They include some that I liked from the fourth of July.

This week (starting Friday when I took Del to the airport), my days are sandwiched between trips to her house and the kitty. I sent her a couple of photos of Shadow that look pretty good. You can’t see all her shaved spots. Except for the medicine part, she’s decide that I might be sort of decent. She likes to lay outside, so when I get there after meds I let her out and sit out there reading the newspaper. She’s gotten to where she doesn’t run and hide under her blue swimming pool but hangs out by me a little while first. She hasn’t purred yet, but I don’t really remember ever hearing her purr.

It’s my last week of my 8th U of Px class. There are three people in my group. I did the whole first assignment (writing a 2-3 page paper) alone — no one bothered to contribute, give feedback, participate, etc. The guy did the second thing, the chart. He actually did an excellent job. The last thing is a PowerPoint that puts it all together. (This class doesn’t have a group assignment due each week, or we’d be sunk!) I made the frame and imported the guy’s chart, and the other woman in the group made the cover slide and another one. The other two groups have a lot of people in them. I’m curious what they all managed to do!

4th, etc.

Actually, I’m not sure how much “etc.” there is. We’ll see! Donna came down the weekend of the fourth of July. She got here on Friday afternoon, and we went to the folks’ for supper. Saturday we spent a lot of time there as well, swimming and eating. Then we went to Marana to see fireworks. There were supposed to be all these activities and stuff, so we went early. Well, the activities were all spread out and not really where we were exactly. But once the fireworks started, it was great! Then Sunday we went to breakfast with the folks’, went to Bookman’s to look at their used books and turn some in for trade. Then we went home and took a nap!!!!!!! Yes, I was pooped! I’ve gotten to like summer naps!!

Friday (yesterday) morning I took Del to the airport for a trip to Cape Cod. It’s a bit nippy where she is!! Some of the days she’ll be gone, the high is expected to be 62! As I was driving home tonight, the temp was 109. A little difference! While she’s gone, I’m taking care of her cat twice a day, visiting and giving her meds. Then on Sunday (the 19th?) night, I’ll pick her up from the airport. She doesn’t live that far from here — 15-20 minutes, and I don’t have to deal with the dog since he’s at “camp” while they’re gone (Del and Laura).

The state has an approved education budget finally, but it hasn’t been signed yet. The superintendent sent a memo saying that actually around 1000 employees have been affected by this, and they should be done recalling RIFs by the beginning of August. That’s like two weeks before school starts!! Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh!

9-4

Some of the pictures were taken with my cell phone and others with the camera. One recent Friday, Jim and Deb (the folks’ neighbors) took Dad, Dottie, and I to a Tucson Toros game. As you can see, the hat refers to this as being their inaugural year. That would make more sense to me if I hadn’t gone to Toros games decades ago! But apparently the former Tucson Toros became the Tucson Sidewinders and then they moved to California, so these are the NEW Tucson Toros. Um, yeah.

It was fireworks night, which was fun, even though we lost 9-4 to the Yuma Scorpions. It was military appreciation night or something like that, and they had a military helicopter in center field before the game. When it left, I thought for sure that it was going to hit the lights! There was an interesting guy behind us (Dad is chatting with him in that first picture of him) who’s temporarily stationed here. Dad was surrounded by Red Sox fans. There were plenty of us wearing Cubs hats and shirts, as well as some Yankee fans, a Detroit Tigers fan, and sundry other team lovers.

Minor league games are a hoot. There was the obligatory tossing of tee shirts to lucky fans in the stands, a child racing the mascot around the bases, a mini concert by a choir, and a karaoke competition. I think there was a baseball game, too!