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The beginning, the middle, and the end my friend...

Friday, June 4, 2010

Can you believe the year is halfway over already? The first six months of this year have zipped by so fast I think I may actually have whiplash - yeesh.  Summertime is good though; school is out, so it means extra time to work on the non-profit stuff and more time to work with the horses. Of course you know that's the best part :o) For those of you outside the educational system that may have raised an eyebrow and thought, "Must be nice to have the whole summer off...", take my word for it; it is absolutely earned. As an educational interpreter, I see what teachers go through [put up with] during the course of a school year and it is not pretty. For every teacher that is splashed across the headlines due to misconduct, there are hundreds more out there that are trying their best to overcome ridiculous obstacles to teach: apathetic parents and absent students (not to mention gigantic budget cuts). I have yet to figure out why the Obama administration didn't blink at bailing out the banks (and weren't they just a bunch of irresponsible idiots with the money they received?) but school systems across the nation are left to fail. I just don't get it.

I've submitted a monster grant proposal for the money we need for facilities. Since this was for all the marbles (not to mention the culmination of three years of very hard work) I'm somewhere between seriously excited and throwing up. Feel free to pray for our funding - I sure am! We have raised enough to cover our liability insurance for the next year - hooray! - so now we're focusing on operating expenses. Aside from building the necessary facilities, opening to the public is only a small part of the fundraising issue: Gotta be able to sustain and maintain, don'tcha know :o) I have three more grants in the works (consider my eyeballs perpetually crossed), and several fundraising campaigns underway too. Don't worry, I'd be willing to bet you'll hear all about them in the next few weeks (did I scare ya? *Grin*) Now I just have to finish filling out that gazillion page questionnaire for the insurance company...
It is the end of DD's years in high school *sniffle* she graduated last week. She'll be off to community college with a new interpreter in the fall. She is going to study her passion: Woodworking (these are some big life changes ahead!) Now that my student/daughter has graduated, I'm leaving high school as well. I'm going to go back to interpreting in elementary school; fifth grade, to be specific. I anticipate a little bit of culture shock there, but I'm kind of excited too (they do lots of reading - Yay! :o)
...And...
LOOK-LOOK-LOOK! No it's not giant gophers gone wild, it's DH and our favorite construction volunteer Ron getting the backyard ready for the patio. This is the last step [other than the liability insurance mentioned earlier] before we can have visitors. We may just be ready to roll before the end of summer...I'm SO excited!! We're finishing up the demonstration/petting area too, which is across from the patio and just to the left in this photo (I'll try to take some pictures for next week's post). The times, they sure are a changin', WOO! As always, thanks for reading this far and I will see y'all next week... 

13 comments:

  1. Urggg post holes I dug far too many of those yesterday.

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  2. Wow, lots going on for you, wishing you lots of strength as you make your way through it. When you come out on the other side, then you get to breath a big sigh of relief for your efforts.

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  3. Sydney: You know what's funny? Even though we have an auger now (one of those amazing yard sale finds) we still have to use those awful old post hole diggers for various reasons. This one was to widen the holes to accommodate those humongous posts. Good thing hubby handles that end of things; I can never hit the same stupid hole twice. He digs post holes, I make potholes :o)
    Btrie: Thank you so much for your kind words! Methinks I will definitely be glad to get there, too. Right now hyperventilating into a paper bag is about as close as I can get to that big sigh *Grin*.

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  4. The big post holes my brother would refer to as "temporary inconvenience to a permanent solution"...lol
    Congrats to your daughter. It is kind of sad seeing them graduate, they just aren't babies anymore.
    Best wishes to you with all your grants, I'll be saying some prayers, crossing my fingers and anything else that will help you along.

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  5. Just reading about all that made me breathless - Hope those grants come through...

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  6. I have home-schooled 7 kids off and on for oh 25 or so years now and I can tell you I would NOT be a teacher or work in the schools for any amount of money. No, NOT EVER.
    I don't know how they do it and they have all my respect. You deserve the summer off (big deal it's not even 8 weeks.

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  7. Ann: Hahahaha - good one. I've tried to help dig those stupid holes before, but I'm lousy at it (we'd just end up with a shallow swimming pool if I kept going :o) Thanks for the wishes!
    Grace: Thanks for the kind words girl, I sure hope so too!
    Rebecca: I thought about home schooling DD, but didn't see us surviving it *grin*. Being her interpreter was the perfect solution. I knew what she was learning every day so I could help her study, plus (big benefit here) I knew exactly who she was hanging out with at school :o)

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  8. You are one busy gal. I hope everything works out for you the way you want it to. I hate being under construction and would like it all finished yesterday.

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  9. GreyHorse: Hopefully outside will not be as annoying as construction that's inside (it's what I keep telling myself anyway...and aren't I just a big fat liar??? :o)

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  10. Wow, you certainly have been working hard. I sure hope you get those grants.
    What kind of business are you forming?? I guess I missed that part. It all sounds exhausting.
    Have a wonderful week.

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  11. Teachers do one of the most valuable and underappreciated jobs that exist.

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  12. A teaching job is really a calling. Only someone with a helping heart can truly teach. By the way, what are you interpreting?

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  13. Onlinepianoguide: I am interpreting for a deaf student. Thanks for commenting; always happy to see new "faces" :o)

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