Frozen

I think I may have given up on living just a little. Today at the grocery store, instead of the tons of produce I normally buy, I bought a bunch of frozen pizzas and frozen individual dinners. Szechwan chicken, spicy fajitas, and of course, salisbury steak. Sorta gross, but sorta necessary too if I want to feed my husband.

While I felt pathetic, life is just way too crazy to cook these days. I'm at work about 9 hours a day and then come home to plan and work as long as my eyes are open. It doesn't leave much time for cooking. In fact, it doesn't leave much time for anything (except complaining, which I excel at).

I've tried. In fact, I'll call James up and ask him how he'd feel about whole wheat pasta with a creamy homemade tomato garlic sauce, fresh parmesan chicken, and a nice salad with juicy grape tomatoes and my homemade balsamic vinaigrette. He'll get excited, quite naturally.

And then I'll call him up about 15 minutes before he's set to get home and enjoy the above meal and say, "I've just put a frozen pizza in the oven."

He's so sweet about it too. No complaints. He just happily eats whatever I give him (expect tofu pasta-- a mistake I will not repeat). I just hope I feel like cooking again one day.

Please, if you have easy and FAST recipes, please send them my way! erinthornhillreeder@gmail.com

I've Gone Private, Kids

After school a couple days ago a student asked me if I had read his comment on my blog. Jaw dropped and wide eyed, I turned around, ran straight to my computer and made my blog private. Sometimes I hate google. But only sometimes.

Disclaimer: The comment is sweet and full of errors for which I will take VERY LITTLE responsibility because I am, of course, his history teacher and not his English teacher. He may spell things wrong but he can tell you perfectly the causes of the Civel War and give detailed descriptions of the battles of Gettiesberg, Vixberg, and Bool Run. Just ask him.

Car

I got my car back yesterday. I finally feel like it's all over. Mostly.

On Friday, about 11 days ago, a kid (gang member) who I had written up for flagrant disrespect and disrupting my classroom was expelled permantently from the school. He was so angry that the principal called me and told me to keep my classroom door locked all day and not leave the building for a few hours. It was my prep day as school is only M-Th and kids come in Friday for make-up work. This kid showed up for make-up and was told he'd been written up and that it was the last straw. His stack of office refferals was too high and he was already on a behavior contract.

It was all a little intense and crazy. I called James and left a mssage telling him about my exciting mornng and that I had to be locked in the building. By the time he called me back, everything had changed. A couple hours after the incident, I went to my car, and found the handle ripped off & dents ALL OVER. I was stunned. Anger and then the tears. So many emotions. Fear being one of them.

The police came. I filed an insurance claim. I took my car in. Got a rental. Blah blah blah...

The weekend was crazy. I was afraid of what was going to come. Would this kid try anything else? Would my former gang bangers flip out and go shoot him? I was nervous to go back to school on Monday. I even had a dream that my rental had gotten vandalized and that one of my favorite kids was lying dead next to it. A bit scary.

Reality was that nothing happened. Teachers and staff kept it low key and so students dropped it quickly. I have gotten back into the groove of teaching and I really love the vast majority of my students. It's been so wonderful since then, actually. I just am extra careful when I get in and when I leave.