AAAACK!

Sometimes a week can feel like a lifetime. Last Friday I started my day with staffing issues that would send any sane person in the opposite direction. By the end of the day I was ready to fire them all and start anew. But I survived and they're all still here and I still love them. (They're lucky!) At 2:45 I finally ended a conversation with a needy parent on the phone and rushed off campus to grab my kids and start the drive up to Sacramento. (I'm sure the look on my face said, "Don't try to stop and talk to me, I'm in a hurry and your issues can wait until Monday.") At 3:30 we were in the carpool lane on I-880. At 5:00 we finally made it through Pleasanton (on any normal day, the distance between home and Pleasanton is about 20 minutes). Turns out, someone was stabbed to death and the entire freeway was shut down for most of the day. By 7:30 we were pulling into Granite Bay. I've never been happier to see my friend Mike in all my life! (Thanks for the bone-crushing hug, buddy. I needed that.) At 8:00 we were all splashing around in the pool to save us from the blistering heat of what was to become a horribly frustrating weekend!

Saturday's Highlights = 104 degrees outside; Acrobatic Gymnastics State Championships (which means we were sitting on the bleachers for about 4 hours straight); Mike's house got ransacked by a neighbor's kid while we were gone; baby fell in the pool and was saved by my 6-year-old; bathroom flooded; baby pooped on the ground; both my boys competing for the attention of the same girl; "tall, dark, and handsome" not so suave.

Sunday turned out to be almost as disastrous. (I won't even attempt to type in the details.) I've never been so happy to be home! I walked in the house, kicked off my shoes, shut my door and took a two hour nap. I'm glad my kids are self-sufficient enough to figure out what to do when mom's out of comission.

Monday ended with a little boy falling off the monkey bars and breaking his arm. I made a make-shift splint with two wooden rulers and an ace bandage, then tied a sling around his neck before sending him to the hospital with his dad.

Tuesday I had the unpleasant task of calling Child Protective Services. There are some parts of my job I don't enjoy.

Wendesday at 5:45 am I was awakened by the loudest crash I've ever heard. We thought it was an earthquake, but after some investigation I realized my shelf in the closest had just fallen off the wall and crashed down to the floor. What a mess! Ironically enough, at school that morning we endured a district-wide disaster drill, simulating a massive earthquake. We had the task of trying to entertain hundreds of children on the blacktop with quiet activities for over an hour while certain teachers and students pretended to be seriously injured.

Thursday I was informed that one of our Kindergarteners wasn't on the yard at pick-up time and after going through all the normal procedures to find her, I realized I'd have to call 911 if I failed to get ahold of anyone. Thank goodness I found an aunt who was able to contact mom (who had picked up her child after school and forgot to tell us). :/

Friday I got a call from one of my teachers who told me her daughter had just broken her leg for the second time. Plus, the wind was blowing smoke to us from the fires in Santa Cruz and parents were worried about their kids being outside. Two more staff called in to say they weren't coming: a total of 1 teacher and 2 aides now off for the day.

Today I slept in. I cleaned up the mess in the closet and got absolutely nothing else accomplished. I'm now off to prepare my Relief Society lesson for tomorrow.

What doesn't kill me....