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I made it!

Monday, August 27, 2012

I survived the first week of school... Woot! One thing about being an educational interpreter is that it changes from one year to the next; you are "assigned to" the student and not the school. The good news being that if you don't like the particular school you're in, hang in there because you won't be there forever. Of course the bad news is if you love a school or its faculty, you just have to suck it up because you don't get to stay.
I struggle with the transience of my job from year to year and school to school; change is so NOT my thing. This year was another move from elementary to middle school, which meant all new surroundings, faculty, and rules (and the older I get, the harder all this "new" is for me to process ;o) So far though, I love it. Too often, interpreters and deaf students are the red-headed stepchildren at a school (nobody wants an extra grownup in their classroom, for one thing), but so far everyone has been extremely easy to work with (and talk about a load off... whew!). I even have a real chair and a little space to call my very own in the resource room (a rare occurrence). Don't I feel special? You'd better believe it! *grin*
I spent most of Saturday working on the new feed room, but got precious little done (although I was pretty darn productive with the epithets). Meh :o|  DH finally managed to finish out the old patio wall to make the underwriters happy, and the inspector was here last Friday (we're supposed to close Monday afternoon - Halleluiah!) One thing I wasted considerable time on was cleaning up DH's [counter] productive pig piles all over the place. I'm not sure if it's because he worked construction or simply because he's such a manly man, but he seems to feel obligated to alternately drop or toss stuff everywhere and just leave it. Sawdust, screws, wire casings, nails, wood scraps and heaps of old vinyl siding; you name it, he chucked it into a pile on the patio and went on his merry way. I alternately shoveled, swore and swept all manner of crappola to get at least some of it out of the doggone way. Probably a good thing he wasn't around, as I might have been tempted to take a swing at that great big block he calls a head with my trusty broom. Seems I'm still just a titch cranky about it, eh? Heh heh. Ooops.
Look who I found snuggled up underneath the gate latch on my way to the pasture the other day and starting to make his cocoon. Is that cool or what? You can even see where he's attached himself to the circle above the hook (coooool :o) I had quite a time trying to get a picture of him, as my camera kept focusing on the metal parts of the gate hook. He was only there for a couple of days, and in such an awkward place to shoot that this is the only photo I managed to get. Anybody know what he is? He's got Monarch coloring, but I remember them as fuzzy caterpillars (or does that come off before they do the chrysalis thing?) I have no idea, I just know it was awfully annoying trying to open and close the gate without bothering him. Any amateur entomologists out there? Inquiring minds want to know...
Still have an awful lot to do on the feed room, but I did take a few photos of what I've gotten done so far to share. In a stroke of genius (okay, maybe just good thinking but I'm counting it ;o) I got three of these heavy duty moving dollys from Harbor Freight (on sale for $9.99 each). I put the freezer on one, which will allow me to easily pull it out for sweeping and bug spraying. This one I will use for the feed bags; I put an old piece of screen underneath which will - I hope - keep the mice at bay. I made a quick trip to the Habitat for Humanity Restore and splurged (ha) on two rolls of .25c wallpaper in a mottled pattern to cover the foam board insulation. Somehow, I didn't see white as the optimal color in a perpetually dusty room (not to mention that styrofoam tends to come with its own static cling issues). Here's what I've done so far, bearing in mind that I have an awfully long way to go yet. There are double doors going into the feed room which will keep halters and lead ropes nice and handy. This is the [unfinished] one on the right for the Moo Crew:
and here's the one on the left, which I've started on:
The halters fit pretty well, I think:
After bonking my head half a dozen times, I moved the big shelf with the feed buckets up several slots. The ceiling isn't in yet, but hopefully DH will get that taken care of this week (WITHOUT making a phenomenal mess in my nice, clean feed room). It's pretty cramped in there, but hopefully with a little ruthless organization and creative contemplations I'll end up with a nice functional space. That's the plan, anyway ('course we know how the best laid of those go, don't we? ;o)
Have a blessed week everyone, and please say a prayer for those in the path of the hurricane. Thankfully, it shifted away from us but I sure do hate to see anyone hit by a storm. Horsey hugs!


10 comments:

  1. Glad you had a good first week of school. They haven't even started back yet here. I think first day is tomorrow.
    Cool shot of the cocoon in progress. No idea what it is though.

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  2. Feed room is looking great!

    :) It's not just men who don't have the tidy gene. A good friend and I spend Sunday afternoon's helping out with projects at each other's places - one week hers, next week mine. When I am helping her I spend lots of time picking up, putting back and sweeping in between whatever I am helping her with, she is amazed at what tidying will achieve.

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  3. I found this really cool site where you can check off characteristics about caterpillars and it will provide possible ID's. I think your buddy is a Euptoieta claudia, better known as a Variegated Fritillary. The site is: http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Caterpillars

    My hubby does similar stuff. My biggest peace is that he buys things, opens them, often puts the packaging back in the bag and dumps it wherever it is convenient - never in the trash can.

    Congrats on making it through your first week of school. I had a deaf student once in 21 years of teaching. I loved her interpreter - and we still communicate now and then through Facebook. It fascinates me to watch folks interpreting for the deaf.

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  4. Ann: Growing up in PA, we never started until after Labor Day. I'm amazed, looking back, at the changes made to our local school's calendar since #1 son went. It used to be "year round" beginning in mid to late July (then it was 9 weeks in/3 weeks out until the end of May). It gradually got later and later and then stabilized for a couple of years.
    The start date was bumped back again two more times last year and this year due to state mandates on the start and end of school (that was achieved by taking away our fabulous fall break, half of Thanksgiving, and part of Christmas *scowl*). Since most of us considered those sanity savers, it should be an interesting year ;o)

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  5. Clancy: Thank you - I'm getting there, just slowly.
    I can't say I'm never messy ('cause my creative benders and cleaning fits sure do create some chaos), but I'll at least shove things off to one side or do something to keep things out of the way; lest I crash and burn tripping over stuff (there's a reason my mom didn't name me Grace *laugh* ;o)

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  6. Dreaming: You are THE woman - that looks just like him. Always ask a teacher, right? (or at least someone who is as curious as you are ;o)
    I think the one that annoys me the most (and makes my left eye twitch), is the sandwich making sans plate or napkin; crumbs scattered everywhere. I'm mostly sure he does it on purpose *narrows eyes* the Putz.
    I've had a couple of teachers that I really clicked with - those were so very hard to leave behind. I always get a kick out of how distracted most folks are the first few times an interpreter is present (really messes with the train of thought sometimes *grin*)

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  7. Sounds like the first week of school went off without a hitch. That's a relief.

    The feed room is coming along nicely too. Hope it gets finished soon with the least amount of mess. Why do they always thing they have a slave walking behind them to clean up after themselves? Maybe their mother's always picked up after them...

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  8. It did, and it sure was!
    Thanks, me too. Check this out: DH did not walk until he was two years old because his mother - who spoiled him far beyond rotten - would pick him up and put him down wherever he wanted to go. She died before we met, but this was related to me by a close family member (and definitely explained an awful lot).
    Is that not the most ridiculous thing you ever heard? Personally, I think men should come with a Raisin' Report before marriage (forewarned is forearmed, don'tcha know ;o)

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  9. The kids don't start back to school until Sept 4 here. It always used to be before labour day. I'm not sure why they changed it.

    There's never a shortage of work is there? LOL!
    xo Catherine

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  10. Catherine: When we moved our start back from July to August, it was to try to save some money by cutting down on the A/C bill (hot summer days).
    This time it was a state mandate, as they wanted to try to make school starting dates more uniform throughout Alabama. Hopefully, they're about done playing around with our schedule, but who knows?
    Got that right, sistafriend! ;o)

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