The Bigger the Figure . . .

I heard this Louis Prima song on a movie, and I just about DIED laughing. I had to share the love. Just listen to this beauty, and think of an inspired compilation of "chunky" songs. ("I like big butts", "Chunky", "The Bigger the Figure", "I'm Fat" (wierd Al), "Fat Bottomed Girls", "I really love you Fatty Fat" (Bad Manners), "Fat Sally" (Bad Brains) . . . ) Now why does that make me smile????

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00138BBRE/ref=dm_dp_trk5?ie=UTF8&qid=1239996939&sr=301%5F1

I'm officially fired!

Okay,
So I just spent ten minutes steaming about my non-pink pink slip, and it was lost when I tried to add a picture, arrrghhhh. Now I'm too emotionally drained to rehash it, so I'll give you the abridged version. I finally officially recieved my notice of "job termination" and it's not even a pretty pink, it's white, ugly, and depressing. I'm sad/relieved/mad/depressed, and I'm going to go home and cry for a couple of hours until I have to pick up Max! I don't even have Dove chocolate in the house, damnit! I promise that the next post won't have as much angst. . . sigh.

Here's a song that expresses my mood right now.

http://www.amazon.com/These-Boots-Are-Made-Walkin/dp/B000QOEN6W/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1239311493&sr=1-10

scaling the ten foot fence

I love teaching, I really do. There are days, like today, when a situation is really stressful at the time, and later on you can laugh about it. This morning, I did an activity with my 3rd graders where I wrote music notes on easter eggs and had two kids from each class hide the eggs outside for the rest of the class to find. I guess that it didn't occur to me to tell them NOT to hide the eggs inside the 10 foot chain link fence surrounding the electrical box. That's LOCKED! I keep forgetting that kids don't have common sense, though. So out comes my class, I tell them to go find the eggs, and the next thing I know, I hear a thud and one of my kids is clutching his ankle FROM INSIDE THE LOCKED FENCE. One of the boys climbed the fence to get the eggs, then JUMPED into the electrical area, spraining his foot in the landing. He's locked in, and can't get out because his foot hurts too bad to climb. I had to send two kids to the office to get someone to unlock him so that we could take him to the nurse. Geez. Does it even sound like I have a valid excuse for the principal?

Give me some chocolate.

I need a Mommy hug!

I will never get over how even though I'm almost 27 years old and have my own baby, I still need a hug and loves from my own mommy. She just had surgery this past week to get her galbladder taken out and I have been worried about her. I would love to be there to wait on her hand and foot like she used to do for me when I was sick as a little girl. She always used to make me some hot tea, rub Vicks on my chest, and tuck me into the couch to watch AMC. Sometimes, she would even make me some chicken soup to soothe my sore throat. I'll never forget when I was in high school and I had my wisdom teeth taken out. She fed me frostys, and taped frozen peas to my head so that I would feel better. I hope that I help Max as much as mom helped me. Sometimes it's really hard to be so far away from my family. Maybe someday we will be close enough so that I can take care of her when she is sick, and she can give me a good mom hug when I have a rough day and want to sell my 5th graders to the circus. . . sigh.

Check out this song

Okay, if you haven't seen "Madagascar 2" yet, you are missing a great thing. My new theme some is sung by the hippo Moto Moto. Here it is . . .

http://www.amazon.com/Big-And-Chunky/dp/B001NRXWYU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1236894074&sr=8-3

AAAAHHHHH, SPRING BREAK!!!!!

No news is good news, right? Next week, I promise not to stress!!!!!! I'm going to play with my little man, read a good book, clean house, make comfort food, and . . . rest. (Cue William Tell Overture beginning) Last night, I was so proud of Max! He said my favorite color PURPLE, but it came out more like "pupa". I am seriously grateful that my job pays me to be home for a week right now. It's about the only thing that I love my job for right now . . . maybe I can move to Utah and help Lulu dress manniquins.

A mother's outrage

I wanted to share with you a letter that I wrote late last night and shared with all of my collegues and school today. Everytime I read it, it makes me so mad that I cry, and then I get mad because I'm crying . . .


Dear Carmichael Family,
I wanted to share with you something that affects me personally and also affects you professionally. Yesterday, my husband and I attended a transition meeting to help my two and a half year old son transition to special education preschool. Some of you may know that he was born with microcephaly, a condition where his head and brain are significantly small and he consequently has motor, speech, and other developmental delays. What you might not know is that he has been receiving early intervention services since he was three months old. At the time that he began this process, the doctors did not know how severe his delays would be, or if he would even be able to be in a regular classroom. It soon was very clear that although his personality was sharp, his motor skills were very delayed. With the help of a physical therapist, he was able to roll over at 11 months old, crawl at 12 months, and walk at 16 months old. We then learned that he also has significant speech delays. At this point, after over two years of visits from Physical, Occupational, and Speech therapists, he is doing much better than we had anticipated, but still has far to come. My husband and I discovered yesterday that because of the severe budget cuts coming from the state, my son will no longer be receiving any of these services after next week. If he is able to successfully transition to Special Education Pre-School, he can once again have all of his services reinstated next school year. To my outrage, not only does this affect my son, but all children who are covered by the Blake Foundation with AZIP who do not have "severe" handicaps. Do I need to stress how important early intervention services are to our children? Max’s neurologist has told us time and time again that the most important years of a child’s brain development are before he even starts school. I am willing to take shots at my own personal career with the already devastating budget "solutions" coming from the state, but I REFUSE to allow my son to suffer because the legislators feel that these essential services can be cut! I am willing to stand and fight these problems until my fingers are sore from typing, or my voice is gone from speaking, alone, if I have to. But I am asking you to support me, and all of the children that need this help more than I can express. Please contact our representatives (again) and fight for what is right for our children.

Thanks for being my shoulder to cry on (and my ear to complain to),
Giuliana Fleming

I have recieved comments, all positive, from my fellow teachers, and I plan on sending this letter to my legeslators. I thought about taking out all of the strong language, but I really think that these decision makers in Arizona need to feel the wrath of a mother, because I'm sure that I'm not the only one who is fuming right now.

Here is the link to the Blake Foundation's webpage:

http://www.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=AZTU_homepage