HM's Odd Ends

Today we had our advisory students for the first time. They have been redistributed due to an effort to engage the seniors in activities that will aid in their job search and college prep skills. That means some kids lost their advisor, and were reassigned. I was lucky, what with only losing one kid and gaining one new student. I would have liked to keep the oldie and give the newbie to the new advisor, but that would make sense. The master list of advisor/advisee assignments was right across the hall from my door. Believe it or not, the kids were grousing about the changes. They had become attached. So had we. I could hardly believe my ears when one well-known troublemaker lamented that he no longer had the principal as his advisor. My kids are now 10th graders. Several of them stopped in the hall today to say, "Only 3 more hours!" I think they have missed me. Our mission was to create a person on a giant yellow swatch of butcher paper that included at least one part of every person in our group. I donated the right hand. We taped our paper to the wall instead of having people lie on it on the floor. I hope the permanent marker did not go through to the wall. I don't want a crime scene outline to last for eternity. The low point of the period was when our finish artist sketched fart fume lines coming out the butt of a bent-over baseball player on my newly-hung master schedule of sporting events. The second low point was when the sketch artist told the head model to "Hold still!" and rammed his head into the wall with the heel of her hand. The third low point was when she sketched my hand, and said, "I think I want it like this" and bent down all but one finger. Ahh...we're just one big disfunctional family. Let the record show that Mrs. Hillbilly Mom made sure that the actual sketching included all fingers.

HH is in North Carolina on business. To the tune of a $900 airline ticket charged to our personal credit card. He called to tell me that he had arrived safely, and had a 'really nice' hotel room, with a chair and couch and stove and fridge and dishwasher. Basically, more than I have in my Mansion kitchen. Husbands can be so cruel. The dogs are a wound-up whimpering mess without their master. Plus, The Pony and I arrived home without the #1 son, so it's a double whammy. I hope they don't bark all night. The cats couldn't care less.

For the first time in his life, The Pony actually wants to sell fundraiser items. I'm in the process of raining on his parade. Though they DO have a good deal on Entertainment Weekly. And the kids love the cookie dough. And there's a handy little gewgaw for stashing credit cards and money that I could use on my casino trips. Not for credit cards, though. For my player's card and cash stash.

The Pony and I got home around 3:35 today. That's the earliest all year. It had something to do with a club using our classrooms and preventing me from working late. Oh, the sacrifices I make! Anyhoo, we came down our still-gravel hill approaching the new bridge, only to find the entrance to our road blocked by those blasted bus people. You'd think they could all park on ONE side of the road. But no. They insist on parking on both sides, and there was a hideous yellow 4WD of some kind parked right in the middle. WTF? Time stands still while these stay-at-homes await the pickup and dropoff of their young 'uns. I signaled to turn in, and nothing happened. So I pulled over by the mailboxes for The Pony to gather our bills. They must have sensed that I would be in the way of the BIG YELLOW SCHOOL BUS when it came over the hill, because that hideous yellow 4WD pulled out and drove towards town. Aha! I was able to pull in and drive the last mile home. But not without fuming about those 'freakin' bus people'.

I forgot my window was down from telling The Pony what to do about the mail. If you don't hear from me again, point the finger at that mob of freakin' bus people.