In Which We Find Tuesday...

Seriously people..if you are in need of some comic relief, or stress management.. get a kitten. Bailey has provided us with hours of entertainment in the last 2.5 weeks. She is currently sitting half on my belly and half on my laptop, sleeping with her head about resting on my keyboard. Prior to me nudging her, she was asleep in the crook of my left arm. Hard to type with no left arm. She comes out in the morning to greet me, and I have to sit on the couch and snuggle her for 5 minutes. If I don't pick her up right away, she attempts to climb my leg to see me instead. It's a great way to start the day. After about 5 mins she hops down and goes about with her mischief making. She loves the washing machine. The first 3 times I ran it after she got here she sat and watched it (we have a front loader) like it was the best movie she'd ever seen. She's still not sure about the mop, loves to pounce on the dog's ever wagging tail and the cursor on my laptop screen provides her with a plaything and me with some level of frustration. It's been years since our older cat has run and jumped and spun and chased her tail and carried on in such a way. I am enjoying it very much. Do you see how adorable she is? Moving On.


We have 5 more days of school. Graduation practice has started. I was weepy during the first one last week, and have gotten over that (PMS is a joyous time) and resumed my "left/right" marching instructions. It's amazing how many kids can't do the "step/pause" walk.. or be on the right foot when "left, right, left, right" are being bellowed out to them by one person, while another person (me) is walking right next to them showing them how it's done. Not to be critical, but it's mostly the boys who can't get it right. We have 2 more rehearsals this week and I'm hoping I will have desensitized myself a bit by Monday so that I can be happy and take photos and celebrate.

Speaking of school.. I can honestly tell you that this has been *THE* crappiest year ever. How I ever managed to make it to today, I really don't know. There are parts of this year that were so awful and full of stress and anxiety, that I can't even remember what else was going on around me in life other than what was happening at school. I can still point to the spot in my chest where the knot resided for 8 months (the last two months we have been working on transitioning my student and he's now currently working with the person who will go to middle school with him next year... he's not doing any better for her, which secretly makes me a little happy because it just reaffirms that I wasn't doing anything wrong... but now she has the stress and anxiety). This year has kicked my arse and I feel like I need to sleep for a week after school gets out just to rejuvenate myself.

On top of all of this, Father's Day is this weekend. I have never kept secret the fact that my dad and I don't have a great relationship. 98% of the year it doesn't bother me at all. I find that I struggle with it this time of year due to all the Father's Day hype. Hallmark tells us we need to celebrate dad, and tell him how much we love him. Have cookouts, buy gifts, show him how much we appreciate all he has done for us. Ummm.. No thanks. Unless you gave birth to my dh, or are the father of my children.. I don't celebrate you. This year we are going to the city to take in a ball game. I didn't know it was Father's Day when I bought the tickets. My kids think it's a fine way to to celebrate their dad. I couldn't agree more. He is a great dad and deserves to be celebrated, and if not for him, I wouldn't even acknowledge the day. Screw you Hallmark for making me feel so crappy during a hard time of the year.