Bah humbug?

So... it's Phase One of LEAP testing here at my school, and since I'm not assigned to moniter testing today, I'm stuck in my classroom teaching all week. I'm one of the few teachers who I think are actually doing real work this week, out of necessity, not necessarily out of choice. I'm even giving tests this week, which makes me about as popular as Hitler right now.

Well, what can you do? They were so far behind when I got here that I'm not sure sitting out a week would be good for them. Especially the week before the holidays: as any teacher knows, holidays have a way of erasing what little retention high schoolers have. That, and the fact that there's only one TV here for the entire high school to share (to my knowledge, anyway). Odds are, if I wanted to show a flick one day, somebody else would be using it. The TV sat largely unused for the last several weeks, but right around the time I find something fun for us to watch, suddenly everyone and their mother needs it. LOL. Such is the life of a teacher in a very small school.

Did I mention I was planning a trip to Chicago this summer? Well, it's still on. I'm planning on going with my friend, Mamie, and possibly my cousin Tiff in late May, after school lets out. I would like to be back in Louisiana in time for summer term at SLU, I need to pick up one more math class to have a math ceretification (since the odds of me passing this danged Chemistry Praxis are slim--I HATE CHEMISTRY). Anyway, I would rather have a math cert anyway. Math and Biology are cool, Physics is tolerable, Chemistry is stupid. At least, that's my take on it.
Anyway, back to the Windy City--when I get there, the first thing I'm going to do is scout out a marketplace and buy some food so I don't have to eat out every night--that's where the expense is. Walking tours, subways or the L for longer trips, an occasional taxi or bus if I can't get around it--I'll save my money for museam admissions, entrance fees to attractions, souveniors and the occasional treat-myself-out-to-something-fancy. That's the way to travel. I think I mastered to art of frugal (yet fun) tourism last year on my road trip to the Grand Canyon--Maddie and I packed all of our own food, and ate MRE's every single night, except when we were crashing at my cousin Helen's house in Santa Fe (two nights). We allowed ourselves one fast food stop, and two resturant stops on the entire trip. We left with $800 between us and came back with $300, and that's counting gas, admissions prices, lodging fees, everything. Are we great or what?

Anyway, enough about that. I am tired and not looking forward to this week, which is sure to last FOREVER since it's the week before the holidays. At least I have Friday off--my doctor cancelled on me last week and I had to reschedule for this week. YAY!

Heather-who-is-grumpy-this-morning.