That's the way it goes...

So I begin a new school year tomorrow. It's teacher's meetings all day for me. And this year, I will be carpooling with my dad - since he's going back to teaching this year! I think it will be fun to be teaching together... granted, he'll be in the highschools while I remain in Special Ed Elementary. But still. My numbers for this year: 14. (which is only about 4 over my limit, and 2 more than I can physically handle in my room... so that should be awesome...) AND I'm almost over my tonsilectomy...(yeah. I can sense I didn't spell that right, but it's the procedure where they cut out part of your throat...) Anyway. I was given a recovery time of two weeks - and I stopped taking my pain medicine after one week. (Not because I'm so strong and in no pain, but because the medicine was giving me "flu-like symptoms"...) So the medicine's gone, but the symptoms remain, making the start of this new school year even more fun than I thought it would be!

My "new year's resolutions" (always made at the beginning of the school year as opposed to the calendar year!) are: 1) to lose weight... I know. The usual one. BUT this year looks like an achievable goals since a: I've already lost a bit of weight from two weeks of not eating any solid foods, and *ahem* "losing" any solids I might have previously had in my body, and b: I've invested in several sure-fire ways to keep the weight off and lose more. One was from an infomercial (thanks for the influence, Joe..), one was spur-of-the-moment buy (a punching bag!), and one is my mom who vows for the billionth time that we are going on a family diet and working out more. Next resolution: to drink less. I think this will help with resolution #1, and resolution #3 which is to spend less money. I have made some other drinking related rules, which I choose to keep to myself at this point... but needless to say, I will still be the barrel of laughs you have all come to expect - just considerable thinner, richer, and more sober. That's all! Sounds good to me. OH! And I just thought that #4 will be not to care what other people think about me... I mean, I will still take other people's feelings into account.. But I'm going to live my life more for me than for them. So yeah. I'm feeling good about this. If my stomach and throat would just fall in line, I'd be feeling good in every way! But that's the way it goes, I guess... For all those going back to school: Good luck to you. Have fun, but stay focused. And take it easy on your teachers....

Things not to say to me....

"Why are you so crabby?" -- If I'm not crabby... saying this will undoubtedly make me crabby. Know that.

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but..." -- then DON'T!

"You look SO much like your dad!" -- Love my dad...don't want to look like him..I'm not sure any girl does want to look like her father.

"I was about your age when I got engaged" OR "Don't worry. My..(mother, friend, cousin, aunt...) was almost thirty before she got married". -- Thanks. Not helpful.

"Go ahead. Get pissed." -- that's for you, Mr. B.

"Teacher's are so lucky - you get the whole summer off!" -- Yeah. Right. I had to teach summer school starting a couple days after regular school finished. That's right - I had to teach summer school, or get two more jobs to get me through the summer...lucky me.

"I know. You're right. He's totally an a**hole." -- Then stop talking about him!!!

"We have found you a match" -- screw you E-harmony. I don't know what I answered to those questions to make you think 'Roy' the 42 year old, part-time sanitation worker with two kids by different women who lives with his mom in Nowhereville, WI was the "Perfect Match" for me, but I think you're full of crap.

There's more.. but I feel my blood pressure rise as I write, so I will save them for another time.

PS: In the world of health: I am getting my tonsils removed on Monday. That's right. Happy Summer Vacation to me!! I will be healed just in time to get my room ready for next year's class of 18 Special Education Kindergarteners. Yee haw.