Starting Over - Ending - Starting Over

I want to start blogging again. I want to start faithfully blogging again. I have almost finished my 24th year of teaching. Two weeks to go, review and test. Then it will be summer. I will teach one more year and then retire. If it was just teaching I would probably teach longer, but teaching has become a lot more complicated in the last few years. Teaching is not about the kids anymore. It is not even about the subject. Teaching is about making sure you can prove that you covered the subjects that are being tested. So I want to chronicle my last year. And to get in the habit, I should probably start now, wrapping up the end of my next to last year.

Bringing it all Together

I'm organizing. I'm sorting and storing. I'm working up to the throwing away part. I am reclaiming my territory. Along with starting a new semester at school and getting ready for national testing ARRRGGG, I am working on the house a little bit at a time. This weekend I dragged rugs out on the driveway and shampooed them. Ok, I watched while my son's girlfriend shampooed them. Anyway progress is being made. I will be back to writing when my space is my own. Take care.

Where I'm From .... ....

Thanks to Cowtown Pattie - This one is for you. I wrote it last year and had been saving it.

I am from backyard swing sets, from Ivory soap that floats, and stories that end with happily ever after.
I am from tumbleweed snowmen, roly poly bugs, and freshly mowed grass.
I’m from roller skates, playing jacks, hula-hoops, bicycles with bells, and Barbies. And my very own John Deere tractor.
I am from 45s spinning on a record player, orange juice can hair rollers, trading disks to go steady, going to the picture show on Friday night, and meeting boys at the skate rink on Saturday mornings.
I am from bright yellow daffodils that bloom on Daddy’s birthday, colorama purple and orange sunsets; the Llano Estacado, the yucca, the cottonwood, and the mesquite bush.
I'm from black-eyed peas on New Years, "hit the deck," and “until your better’s best”; from Voncile, and AJ, and Ida.
I am from “clamming up”, and “not counting your chickens before they are hatched”, and “burning daylight”.
I’m from Blue Birds, Camp Fire Girls, Rainbow Girls, MYF, and Student Council.
I’m from Camp Skyline in the Guadalupe Mountains and Camp Mystic on the Guadalupe River, swimming lessons every summer and those damn piano lessons every week.
I am from “slow and steady wins the race”, and “nice girls don’t …”.
I am from Methodists backbenchers, and rebel Campbellites. I’m from going to Church in your Sunday best after dancing in the kitchen on Saturday night.
I’m from Bobbie Brooks pant suits, Villager sweater sets, and Keds with a hole in the toe. And cutoffs that lasted for years.
I am from Carlsbad, from Texas, Tennessee, and North Carolina, from England and Ireland; from fried chicken, pot roast, pecan pie, and cornbread.
I’m from “turn out the light when you leave the room”, “don’t comb your hair in the kitchen”, and “the work ain’t finished til the cleanup’s done.”
I am from snowcones at the ballpark, pickles at the show, and pixie sticks walking home from school.
I’m from Daddy, a roofing contractor who invested in the bogus uranium mine, and Mama who bought her own ladies ready to wear business without asking Daddy and made a success. But they stayed married for 59 years. And they loved each other and me. I will never forget where or who I am from.

Announcing the Retirement of the Muse

The Muse is retiring from daily publication. I guess most of you have figured that out. I have a new project and it has a deadline. With teaching, that leaves little time for my blog. Although I dearly enjoy the friends I have made in association with my blog, I must take care of business.

Thank you to those who have read my ramblings and let me know. Keep in touch. Crime Dog, Cowtown Pattie, and Bill, I have enjoyed our correspondence. I will still be a faithful reader and let you know from time to time. Take care. May the God of your choice bless you and keep you.

Our Best Wishes for the Season ... I think!

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than neither any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere, and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Throw em in the River!

Go to the closet or your kids room or the entertainment room. Get that X Box, Playstation, Game Cube or whatever and throw it in the car or the back of the pick up and drive. Drive so far you know they won't follow and chunk that electronic mind warping babysitter in the river or ditch or where ever you know it won't make it back.

They will scream and holler. They will cry, and maybe even swear - if they have been playing for a long time they might even go into withdrawal. But you will be doing them the biggest favor in their lives. Those games are destroying our children. I am not kidding. You should overhear the conversations I overhear.

I have smart, gifted even, boys and girls who are totally consumed by gaming. They spend every waking moment at school planning what they are going to do on their game when they get home. Theses are the brightest kids at school and the only thing they read is gaming magazines.

You have seen the news reports about the worst games - Grand Theft Auto - all versions. And it is not the worst one. They are worse than any news report can even hint at. They are full of graphic violence and kids think it is funny. Kids think it is funny that a few adults react with horror. After all it is just a game. They think that the adults that are horrified are just too old fashioned. These kids have lost the capacity to be shocked. They could probably watch some of those things in real life and not feel anything. It is scary.

I know this won't sit well with the younger set - but we are raising a generation of kids who have no compassion. They have very little moral compass and what they do have is being quietly eroded by the gaming industry. These are the people who will be in charge when I am in a nursing home. I find that extremely scary.

The Same Old Gripe

I know you have heard it all before, but I can't help myself. What are people thinking? Christmas is way out of control. It is suppose to be the 24 and 25 of December - maybe a week before. I could even live with "The Twelve Days of Christmas". But Christmas should not start on the Friday after Thanksgiving and last until Valentine's Day.

No - I cannot get in the spirit. No, my lights are not up yet and neither is my tree. I might not even put up a tree. I will hang a wreath on the door. I will buy a few gifts. But I feel like I am being held hostage by the entire month of December. Do people really enjoy all this mess and stress? I saw people out in 10 degree weather trying to adjust Christmas lights they hung in November.

Walmart is packed. And no one looks like they are enjoying the season. Wouldn't Christmas be more enjoyable if there was less of it?

Is it just me? Am I turning into a Scrooge?

By the way Christmas on the Pecos is as beautiful as always. And I do respect and admire all of those people who work so hard to make it a successful event. But I'm glad I don't live on the river. Happy Holidays.

December Sunrise in SENM