Just in case you were wondering

I am still alive.

Things have been a bit insane, hence no posts in like FOREVER!

My FF... yeah about him. I think that is a post for another day.  Let's just say that this past  Saturday was a TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD  day and I will tell you all about it tomorrow...once I get through our 48/N's Christmas Concert/ my last minute Open House tonight.  I guarantee you will be laughing in disbelief and thanking the Lord you are not me.

Admit it, you're a tiny bit jealous!

Work, INSANE.  My Social Justice class wants to bring our class's teachings to life.  And how do you say no??  So, I have indeed spent my time sleeping in cardboard spaceships in 30 degree weather, stuffing buses with food and planning to dress girls around the world with pillow cases.  We are making differences in small steps, but still making differences.  And it takes a TON of time to make that difference.  And through in my history classes, final projects and papers and you have an official bout of Crunch time going on.

A group of my Fire Wife friends and myself worked really hard to help make the LODDs that Chicago has suffered through a little less horrific.  I don't know if we were successful, but we all came away a bit more aware (as if we really needed to be) at how quickly they  can be ripped from our hands.  Please send your thoughts to CFD, the Patmon family and the Johnson family, they are in need of it.


My school's auction was also in this time frame.  We literally shut the world down and people work nearly 'round the clock to bring this to life.  My 9/11 memorial picture went in the "Buy It Now" option within minutes of the auction opening.  My N was an amazing server and really worked his tail off.

And, sadly, my stepfather passed very unexpectedly last Wednesday in their cabin up north.  My mom's heart is broken, but, truth be told, if you have to leave this world, peacefully in your sleep next to your best friend is the way to go.  Please send your prayers to her.  We will have his memorial down here tomorrow and up north at their cabin this weekend.  But, this tragedy, too, has pulled me away from this blog.  Wednesday I literally drove the entire length of the state - from the WI/IL border to the WI/MI border, in one morning.  I am so glad I checked my phone during the retreat.

So, I promise I will find my way back to my blog.  

Until then, hug your kids and kiss your FFs.  Life is too short to not cherish every moment with them.

Okay, I admit it, I suck at it!

My post yesterday.  All big and bad.  Such a tough girl, I said NO to doing lunch duty.  Oooooooo! That was easily done easier to do, because it was for an adult.  Kids and k9s.  I can't say no.  Now, for the record, that does not mean that I take the kids to the Golden Arches every time they ask or buy them whatever their heart desires.  BUT, when kids hearts are truly in the right place, there is nothing I can do.  I can't say no.  I just can't.

Due to standardized testing, we had all of our classes in the afternoon yesterday.  I proposed doing a service project to really put what we are learning about social justice into action.  I thought, okay, a project for both classes to do together.  Awesome.  Yeah, how about 2 projects from each class for a total of 4 social justice projects.

Yeah, I know.  My FF rolled his eyes, too.  But hear me out and tell me if you could tell these kids no.  Remember, these are seniors.  And in my experience, they tend to be the most self-focused class in high school.  

So my first period class came up with about 20  ideas.  Some were amazing and some were pretty lame, to be honest.  They whittled it down to two.  Doing a Shanty Town for Habitat in our courtyard and making dresses for Dress a Girl Around the World.  Both AMAZING ideas.  Think of the impact!  They couldn't decide.  SO, we decided to do both.  They had true intentions of simply doing good.  Originally they were looking for ideas involving field trips that would get them out of school and yet they chose two events that will require them to give up their oh so precious time.


My next class, same idea.  They started out looking for ways to get out of class and settled on two really good ideas.  One - Stuffing our little 20 passenger school bus with Thanksgiving dinner items and delivering them to a larger Stuff the Bus event in Milwaukee.  Their second idea, not so much based in social justice, but noble none the less was to partner with Children's Hospital to see how we can help them out.  That was in still in the works.  AND both classes wanted to help with the other's projects.  Now, I just added a TON of work to my load and it is all self-inflicted.  Please feel free to remind me that it was indeed my choice.  I am a mom, I am well versed at saying NO, but willingly chose not to.