Uncomfortable Conversations

I'm quickly coming to the realization that I will soon be a master of uncomfortable conversations (or should I say mistress--another word that has an unpleasant connotation, but I digress).

Just this week, these are some of the great things I have had the opportunity to discuss.

At a football game--female student--super short skirt, so short that those of us standing on the sidelines had a view we'd rather not have. So, I spoke to her about the length of her skirt. Her reply, "I didn't think there was a dress code for football games." My rebuttal, "This isn't about football games. This is about life. What message are you sending with that short skirt? The message that those of us standing on the field get is that there are no secrets and nothing hidden. Is that the message you want to send to the Pep Boys, football players, cheerleaders, administrators, and newspaper photographers standing on the field. We are very uncomfortable looking up here and seeing all that you have to offer."

In my office-mom--upset that she'd found a boy in her daughter's bedroom that morning. Allegedly, the boy had only been there 30 minutes. Mom didn't want to have the conversation by herself, so she came to school to pick the girl up and have me sit in on the conversation. The student had not come to school, so I was saved from being a participant in this conversation, which I had no desire to be a part of anyway.

Boy, I had no idea what the "and other duties as deemed necessary" phrase of my contract could entail.

My New Favorite Thing

To most (or maybe all) of you this post will be rambling and meaningless. But humor me if you will.

As most of you know fly fishing is my obsession. I have been in the market for a saltwater reel to go with a 10 weight (big rod) rod that I own. Now, saltwater reels by nature have to be more durable than their freshwater counter parts. Saltwater is more corrosive, and the fish that swim in the sea are bigger and stronger than freshwater fish. So, as you might expect, a saltwater reel for a big rod is not cheap. That's where E-Bay comes in. Once in awhile you can find a steal on flyfishing equipment on E-Bay, but normally stuff sells for just below retail price. After bidding on the reel I wanted, I ended up winning it at a price that was almost half of retail price. Needless to say I was excited, and feeling a bit guilty about spending that much money too.

For all you engineers out there, this reel is CNC routed/milled from a solid block of aluminum. It is anodized to prevent rusting, and has a lifetime warranty. Actually just about all decent flyfishing equipment comes with a lifetime warranty - that's how they can jack up the prices so much.

So this is a picture of my new toy. Hopefully soon, I will get to try it out on some fish that would be able to eat the fish I normally catch.

Pampered Pooch

Mason does live life on easy street. His meals are always prepared for him. At breakfast and dinner, he gets his 'bows lubed (technical term for applying udder cream to the calluses on his front "elbows" that tend to get dry and bleed without the moisturizing). After breakfast, he takes his early morning nap, followed by his mid-morning nap, noon nap, early afternoon nap, etc.

His greatest pleasure in the evening is playing fetch in the backyard with his two squeaky footballs. When we finish playing ball, he has recently developed the endearing habit of picking both balls up and carrying them to the back door, where he has to leave them before coming in.

And, today, further evidence of Mason's pampered existence. . . .he got curb side service at the vet's office.

To do the story justice, you must understand that Mason has been diagnosed as "dog-aggressive." He likes people, but doesn't care much for other dogs. Well, at least that's the way things were and we haven't really tried to test that very much recently. Taking Mason to the waiting room in the vet's office is never fun, but dogs need shots and check ups. Typically, I used to be the one to take Mason to the vet. We muddled by. Then, vet trips became a two person job--one to scout out the waiting room, one to tend the dog. At the new vet's office, after our move to DFW, we discovered that if we go in and warn them that we have a dog-aggressive dog with us, we get to come in and out through the side door. Not only that, we get a waiting room as soon as one is available. (I suppose there are perks.)

But today was the creme de la creme. Dave left Mason in the car and went in to tell the receptionist that they were there and asked if he could be let in the side door when a waiting room was available. Returning to the car, Dave let Mason out. They roamed the parking lot enjoying the shade and the highway traffic watching for me on my trip home. In just a few minutes, the sweet lady vet, Toni, came out with an assistant to give Mason the shot in the parking lot. They figured it was easier than bringing him inside.

What a pampered pup!

Open House Night in the Life of an Assistant Principal

Since the last one was so well received and I'm too wound up to go to sleep just yet . . .

5:20 am--Alarm goes off. I really need to go to the bathroom, so I get up and come back to bed.
5:29 am--Hit snooze again.
6:12 am--Finally get up
7:09 am--Out the door with a blueberry fruit and cereal bar
8:00 am--A student seeking a schedule change arrives at my door
8:15 am--Walk the halls shooing kids to class
9:15 am--Get an email from my collegue at the other high school informing me of a staffing change; get so mad I can't see straight. Go vent to my friend Stacy.
9:30 am--Start the rebuttal email; decide to wait for the head principal to come in
9:45 am--Talk to Dave about needed car repairs and shots for Mason
10:00 am--Answer a nice parent email
12:20 pm--Go to eat lunch; realize I forgot the taco meat for my taco salad, so I just have salad
12:25 pm--Informed that one of my kids is AWOL
1:05 pm--Talk to teacher impacted by staffing change; express my anger and helplessness at the situation. I'm so angry I have a headache.
1:45 pm--Talk with principal about staffing change; she agrees to call the other principal
2:10 pm--Try to fax a letter to a mom--it goes through the third time
3:40 pm--Outside for bus duty
4:00 pm--Inside to organize and get settled; I alphabetize my hanging file folders, inserting the new typed tabs my assistant made for me
5:20 pm--Go down to eat dinner provided by the PTSA.
6:30 pm--Barely make it into the auditorium in time to be introduced. I was caught in the hallway by parents.
6:45 pm--Get ready to help hand out student schedules to parents so that they can have the room numbers to meet teachers
7:15 pm--Walk down to my Academy. Meet six sets of parents; out of 23 this is a great turn out
8:00 pm--Back down to help hand out schedules
8:15 pm--Talk with friends
8:45 pm--Get yelled at by a parent who was incited by the words of a teacher; principal escorts the mom and dad to her office (the mom was yelling)
9:05 pm--Open House is OVER--time to send parents home
9:10--Angry parent still in principal's office
9:15 pm--Help clean up
9:34 pm--Get in truck to head home; formulate this blog; am thankful that unlike Friday this is a shorter day (Friday I worked 17 hours--7:30 am to 12:15 am)
9:55 pm---Arrive home
9:57 pm--Ask Dave if there's anything funny in Devin's blog
9:58 pm--Read Devin's blog and think "At least I didn't find an old, wet diaper today."
10:00 pm--Read Yahoo email
10:13 pm--Finish this post

Still to do:
Take a shower
Pick out clothes that don't have to be ironed
Fall into bed

Ummm . . . excuse me

It's something we all do, whether we like it or not . . . burp. Sometimes the timing is better than others.

Tonight at dinner, while drinking a soda. (Yeah, that's the ticket.) An un-feminine sound emitted from my mouth. In shock, I cried, "Oh, pardon me. That was kinda gross."

To let me know all was forgiven, Dave burped back at me.

Mason was hoovering around the table drawn by the smell of sausage and brisket. A moment later, as if not wanting to be left out of the family, Mason burped, too.

As you might imagine, laughter ensued.

After a Long, Stressful Day . . .

. . . a beautiful sunset is a reminder that better things lie ahead.

A Good Sport

I have been addicted to flyfishing for several years now. A few months ago, Miranda decided that she might want to see what all the fuss was about. She has had a few casting lessons, and one unsuccessful flyfishing trip. So, I decided to take her on an outing to the Paluxy River which is just south of the DFW area. Now, before you get any ideas in your head about a nasty muddy, snake infested river...I can assure you that this is a nice little river with a limestone bottom that is great for wading and fishing. I had fished this river before, and knew it was full of small fish that were usually very hungry for just about anything you put in front of them. We headed out bright and early on Monday morning and arrived just after sunrise.

I won't get too bogged down in the details, but the initial part of the outing didn't go exactly as expected....I'm sure Miranda will expound on that, but at this point I just don't want to incriminate myself....

We fished at one of the local parks for a little while. Miranda got a few bites as we moved from spot to spot, but no fish. As some of the campers (read: local color) started to awake and crack open that first beer of the day (at 8:00 am...), we decided to drive up the road in search of better waters.

At our next spot, Miranda was casting to schools of bass and catching a few too. Here she is fighting her first fish that she caught on her FlyGirl flyrod. Here's the result after her battle with the Guadalupe Bass.
Her second bass of the day.
She also hooked a bigger bass that was "1/3 larger than the others". But unfortunately that one flipped off before she could land him. Every fisherman/woman need a good "the one that got away story", and now she has hers. We weren't able to stay and fish for too long because we had some tickets to see the Rangers play that night. So we ended on a good note, and left around 10:30.

The client and guide.

A Fall Friday in the Life of High School Assistant Principal

5:20 am--Alarm goes off; hit snooze.
5:45 am--Finally get up.
6:20 am--Start trying to get husband up.
6:40 am--Finally succeed after losing patience and explaining that the bed has to be made before leaving for work since the house is getting cleaned.
7:00 am--Out the door with a granola bar to eat in the car.
7:28 am--Arrive at school
8:15 am--Out into the hallways; talk with teachers about a student who has lost privilege to leave during class changes because of a bad decision.
8:25 am--Continue walking the hallways. Assist a female student throwing up in a trash can in the hall. Get paper towels to clean up her hands before walking her to the nurse's office. Am grateful for the teacher who stopped to help and get the student's long hair out of the path of vomit. After dropping the girl go back to the trash can to see if I smell alcohol. Really, I'm sniffing vomit?
8:30 am--Bell rings; kids should be in class for roll call before heading to the Pep Rally.
8:31 am--Start sweeping the halls sending kids to the cafeteria or the gym.
8:33 am--Encounter two girls who get snarly when I point out a dress code violation.
9:00 am--Go into the Pep Rally. It's hot in there, but I need to go in for the "Banana Salute" cheer.
9:10 am--Wade my way up a crowded set of bleachers behind another AP and a teacher to get the boys to stop pushing during "Banana Salute"
9:15 am--Laugh during the "Singing Bee" skit when kids don't even know that "Material Girl" by Madonna is a song, let alone what the next two lines are; laugh because all of the teachers are singing along.
9:25 am--Pep Rally is over; start herding kids into classrooms. Everyone's ready to learn after going to a Pep Rally, right?
9:45 am--Walk back into my office. Steal five minutes of guilty pleasure looking at possible hotels for a Thanksgiving trip to the Keys. Dream I am there now.
10:30 am--Bell rings; head into the halls to monitor. Greeted by a teacher with a kid in tow. He can't stay awake in class, has already been to the nurse's office once, and used profanity when he was told that he'd be watched while he walked to the restroom.
10:31 am--Put the kid in my office to let him settle down while I patrolled the hallways.
10:38 am--Returned to the office; found the kid asleep, with his feet propped up in my second chair. Had a hard time waking the kid up.
10:38 am---until ?--I'll spare you the speech he got. Escorted kid back to class. Check email to discover 1pm meeting is postponed since the lady I was to meet with was having signs that she might be going into labor (she's due 9/4).
11:30 am--Walked the third floor halls to collect attendance; we have to do this the first month of school--I won't bore you with the details of funding and attendance. Six teachers neglected to pick up their sheets; some admitted they forgot to stop by their mail boxes to get it (I can respect that); others said, "It wasn't in my box." Funny how it was there when I went to get it.
11:50 am--Discover that student previously consulted with is still being a fool. Escort him back to the nurse's office when he begins to fall asleep standing up and can't follow the conversation we're having with him.
12:15 am--until ? Acted as a witness as the nurse performed a DITEP (Drug Impairment Test for Educational Professionals). I've witnessed several times. My children will not stand a chance.
12:45--The kid was probably high in the last 24 hours, but doesn't exhibit enough signs now for a ticket.
12:50 pm--Ate lunch.
1:20--Went up to peek in the window of the kid's classroom; his head was up and he was alert.
2:00 pm--Meeting with Director of Curriculum and Instruction to discuss how to award credit for kids in my program
2:48 pm--End of meeting. Walked down to peek in on kid again. Still looking OK.
3:30 pm--Across to the Counseling Office to ask a few scheduling questions.
3:45 pm--Talk to a teacher about a kid who cheated on her exam last spring and consequently failed the class; now he's in trouble for "tagging" (He painted a girl's name on the side of the school. "Tagging" is the name for gang graffiti. He isn't in a gang; he just wanted to impress a girl.)
3:50 pm--Back into my office to print transcripts of the kids in my program. Teachers came in to talk about today's problem child, yesterday's problem child, and the program at the end of week one.
4:28 pm--Dave calls. I ask to call him back in a "minute."
4:40 pm--Walk teacher down to show how to use the big, intimidating-looking copier.
4:48 pm--Call Dave back; inform him of dinner plans.
5:16 pm--Leave for dinner at Chili's with the A-Team (Administrative team) and families.
6:45 pm--Head to the stadium; find the parking lot full. Flash my ID to gentleman who guards a small lot for administrators. Thankfully, he let me in. Repeatedly thanked him throughout the night. He'll remember me in two weeks.
7:30 pm--Kick off against last year's state champions--they're favored by at least 2 touchdowns.
7:30 pm until 10:45pm--Stand on the sidelines watching the game; we're up 10-0 at the end of the first quarter. They find their game in the second quarter. Hold the 5 month old of another AP; she was a great little football fan.
10:50 pm--Get in the car to go home. We lost 16 to 23.
11:15 pm--Arrive at home; sit down for "a minute" that turns into 30.
11:45 pm--Dave and I arrive at Tom Thumb to buy food for College Football Saturday.
12:10 am--Discover that you can't buy beer after midnight.
12:19 am--Arrive home; put groceries away
12:22 am--Find the energy to wash my face before collapsing into bed.
12:23 am--Can't go to sleep; talk about the Keys with Dave . . .

Fixtures, fixtures, and more fixtures

You may remember the new chandolier that my brother and I installed in the spring. Evidently that was only the tip of the iceberg. Since then I have installed two ceiling fans, new entry lights, and a new chandolier in the dining room. Typically these kind of projects are fast and easy to complete. That is, up until your mounting plate won't fit and you have to drill mounting holes, or until you drop a screw into the top of the fan vent that you have just wired in. It's always something when I am on the job...

Anyway, here are some of the newest additions to the house.

Hitting the Wall

During most summers I take on one fairly large-scale home improvement project. One year it was painting the house, another it was laying 1000+ sqft of tile. You get the idea. Lately, we have been having problems with dirt washing down onto the driveway from the hill that is next to it. So, I decided that I needed to put in a retaining wall to remedy this problem. This is what the area looked like as I started my own little "big dig".


Gallons of sweat, a hundred glasses of water (thanks to Miranda), a dozen bags of sand, and a one and a half pallets of wall block later, this is the finished project.


So far it has withstood two drenching thunderstorms and everything is still perfectly level. We still have some grass to plant, and some landscaping to do, but phase 1 of the wall is complete! Phase 2, which consists of the same wall in the backyard, will have to wait till it cools off a bit.