November 18, 2004

• My husband is sick today. He asked me to call in for him. Guess what happens when someone who is a sub calls in for her husband who is a teacher? That’s right – I am subbing for my husband. He has a student teacher, which means that I am getting paid to pay bills, balance my checkbook, and make Xanga visits while the student teacher teaches. Later on, I will do prep for the classes I am teaching at the Minnesota School of Business.

  I was looking forward to a day at home today because we have been gone on weekends lately, and, with my work schedule, I am pretty far behind with a lot of things I really should do. This is nice, though, because I can take care of the financial junk, and then I really have nothing else to do but play. Sometimes life is good!

  We had a nice time at our party last Saturday. We had a potluck dinner – soup and salad courses were Mexican (prepared by authentic Mexican cooks), main course was French, and dessert was good old American cake. I made the French dish. The salad had some kind of green sauce, which made it very hot. I did not realize that salad could be hot. There was also ranch dressing to cool it a little, plus the lettuce and tomatoes helped with that. The whole thing was served over very thin pieces of beef steak. It was quite tasty. The soup was beans and ham shanks, very spicy and very good. After dinner, we played games and I let the kids use our computers. It was a great evening!

  This week has been long so far. I attended a professional workshop on Monday and Tuesday. It was very good, but it is hard to sit for nine hours when you are not used to it. It is also hard to listen for that long. I think that is true for anyone, but I think it is especially true if you are accustomed to being the presenter yourself. It’s good to have those experiences. It helps you develop understanding of your students.

  Yesterday, I taught my college classes. I gave the students their midterm grades and I survived the day, so I guess they were not unhappy with them. I ran into the campus administrator in the administrative offices, and he said that my evaluations were very good. I will be getting a copy, but they are not ready yet. The students evaluated me right after taking the midterm exam, which was the first big test I have given them, so it was nice to know that they were still in a kindly frame of mind!

  After classes yesterday, I spent about an hour and a half shopping for a birthday gift for our daughter-in-law and beginning my Christmas shopping, then I headed from the Twin Cities to St. Peter to attend a meeting for the ABE classes I teach on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. I really enjoy my boss and the other ABE teachers, so it is a pleasure to get together with them. However, I had another meeting after that one, this time in the town where I live, so it was a long day. Most of my days have been long lately.

  When I finish here today, I will run home and check to see how Dan is doing, then I will go teach my GED class. The students I have right now are great. They work hard and I know they will be successful. I am always so proud when one of them receives his/her GED. When you have had the opportunity of an education, it is difficult to understand the plight of those who have not until you have a chance to sit down, work with them, and see what they have to go through to achieve what you take for granted.

  Tomorrow, I am hoping for that day at home. I need to do laundry and I have some mending that needs doing. Dan seems to think he should be able to wear the pants that are sitting in the mending pile. I personally liked the system I had when the kids were growing up – put clothes that need repair in the mending pile until the kid outgrows them, then give them away. It’s a good system! Unfortunately, Dan does not outgrow his clothes!

  I had better get busy on my prep. I want to get a head start on next week’s classes because it is going to be another busy, away from home weekend!

  • 1:39 pm
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