How do you NOT say "I told you so."

I may have to eat my words on this one. Husband and I were at big box warehouse store when he said, "Shouldn't we get some Halloween candy?" Don't like to purchase it there, but did; a $10 bag of Skittles and Starburst with 200 tiny packages of candy inside.

We live in a neighborhood where LOTS of kids are dropped off. It is not unusual to have 200 kids, and we'll look like Halloween Scrooge if we give a kid one tiny envelope with two Starburst or six Skittles in it. Technically, this package of candy would do us, but that is so chintzy. Yes, I want to give out the good stuff (as in good stuff that I won't be tempted to eat.)

Do I shut up knowing that this bag of candy will not be sufficient, or do I go out and buy more and not tell My Cheapo? I'll let you know.

A Survey for my students. Thanks for helping.

My latest goal is doing things ahead of time. My daughter, Alexandra, has always been the queen of doing things ahead of time. As a child she would come home, do her homework and then play. I once asked her, "How do you do that?" She looked at me quizzically with those aqua blue eyes and said, "If I get my work done then I don't have to worry about it, then I can go play and have fun!" I never taught her that. ( She is left-handed, however.)

I have battled procrastination for a most of my life. When I started goal-setting one of my major goals was to overcome my last-minute-Liz-itis. (Thank you for not rolling your eyes. I don't blame you. I'd roll my eyes, too.) Now I was ready for the next step.

This last year my big goal was to "LIG" or, "Let it go". That was a tough one. Probably the toughest of all, but learning to let go has been one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done. I am now able to let go of the majority of things that bug me. Another way of putting it is that I learn to forgive myself and others. Man! I would have done that decades ago had I known the amazing benefits of letting go.

I have a darling girl in my class this year who waves her hand wildly after an assignment is given and asks, "Can I hand this in early?" I told the class that this young woman was destined for success and happiness in her life. Guess what? It was contagious. Many of the other students started doing it too. We made it a class goal. "I get my work done ahead of time." I was on the bandwagon, too.

So, Alexandra, I am trainable. How many times have you been told that one of the greatest reasons to have children is that they teach you so much? I always wanted to get things done ahead of time, but it was something I just wasn't ready to do because I really didn't think I was even capable of it. Now I am! It is like time-travel. Seriously!

Dear Blogger Friends, here's my question: do you do things ahead of time? Have you always been that way? What are the benefits? Were you like me and just didn't think you were that type of person? Please let me know as I want to share your success stories with my students.

THANKS!

Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences - A Bad Start

(1.) Parent requests change in conference from Monday (THE DAY HE REQUESTED) to Tuesday. I copied his original request along with the change.

Same parent sent in field trip permission slip with his signature and none of the emergency info filled in.

(2.) Parent calls in to say she can't make it to Friday's conference but she could come Wednesday, her day off, or any time next week. Parent NEVER returned the sheet that gave her time preferences. THERE ARE NO CONFERENCES NEXT WEEK. Will offer that parent two choices of phone conference time. Her child claims to live at grandma's, and shouldn't even be going to our school. Child is in serious academic trouble. Gee, I wonder why the child is so flaky?

(3.) First conference parents are 10 minutes late for a twenty minute conference. Mom stands outside the class talking on her cell phone for an additional 5 minutes. I start conference without her. Dad's cell phone goes off and he doesn't know what to do. He pulls it out (the phone, that is) and let it go to voice mail. He shrugged sheepishly. I sent them on the way when their time was up.

(4.) Next conference was on time. Student is getting good grades but is a drama queen. I inform mom that the drama needs to stop as it is apparently for show and attention only. The only victims are the classmates who have to watch her "shows". Child turns on the waterworks. Mom says, "She did this before only it was a lot worse." Oh, I'm glad it's better. And the Academy Award for the best performance by a sixth grader goes to ...

(5.) Next conference super supportive parents. Mom, according to fifth grade teacher used to cover son's rear-end for everything. Today mom turned to her son and said, "It's sink or swim time." Congrats, Mom, you have quit enabling your child.

(6.) Adorable girl who came from Mexico less than 3 years ago and is a top student. She wants to be a teacher. Hooray!

Tips to parents:

- Be on time, damn it!

- Turn off the damn cell phone!

- Sign stuff and turn it in in a timely manner.

- Don't act shocked when you see the grades. All your child's work is sent home weekly.

- Showing up for a conference shows your child you care and love them.

I teach in the public schools. We have no choice as to who is in our class.

News to People in Illinois

I was telling my students about a very heated argument I had with my best friend, Joanne, when we were both in the 3rd grade. At the time we lived in Charleston, Illinois. Joanne was absolutely certain that Chicago was a state.

"Chicago isn't a state?" one student interrupted. Groans from classmates.

Wild hand waving from boy in the back of the class, "But I heard on the news they are gonna make it a state."

I can't make this stuff up, as Dave Berry used to say.

So for all you folks in Illinois I thought you might want to be aware of the confused geography here in Arizona. (I blame this on the 5th grade teachers because they teach the students the states - all 51 one of them. By the way, what's the capital of Chicago?)

Another senseless death

Another suicidal appliance, or is this the plot of a Stephen King novel? The past six months we have had an unheard of number of appliance deaths; too numerous to name here. The terms mind-boggling and "oh, you-must-be-joking" would cover it.

Last night I decided to microwave a mini-bag (not the jumbo bag that I craved) of popcorn in our 6 month old stainless steel microwave. It started shooting flames towards my poor bag of popcorn. Damn! I removed my pathetic unpopped and singed bag and moved it to the ancient brown mammoth microwave which is hidden away in the corner of the rec room. (How old is it? The numbers are in Roman numerals.) It worked fine but is an embarrassment to have in the kitchen. It's about the size of a washer, too.

Gary and I trucked down to Big Box warehouse store and bought another stainless steel microwave. The kid at the checkout asked if we wanted the extended warranty. We declined. Extended warranties are a diabolical trick we now know.

We had bought a policy which covered all out major appliances years ago just in case we did have such catastrophes, but, we found out, when you call to make an appointment to have your appliance repaired you are not only not given an appointment that is always double-digit-days away, they also send you the repair person who learned his (it's always men) skills in the state prison and is not literate. (Why do they always ask to use the bathroom and have serious bowel problems? This I am NOT making up.) Extended warranties mean you are below the bottom of the list. The attitude of the company is that you get what you pay for, you cheap bastard.

So, we are philosophical and realize that the death of our appliances is simply our contribution to boosting the economy.