Dear Crack-Smoking Mom,

If you're going to criticize me for not beating a poor child to death because they called your child stupid? Please take the time to remove the 6 inch splinter that is festering in your child's hand.

Thanks.

1.) The same song keeps running through my head...You can suck or you can shine. And believe me, y'all, I am trying to SHINE - like this little light of mine - but instead, dh and I have been enveloped in the big SUCK.

2.) Do you know how hard it is to get a job? Today after 45 minutes of WOW! and You'RE GREAT! and WE! WANT! TO KISS! YOUR BUTT!, Assuming Company, Inc. said to dh that he must have an error on his resume, because obviously no one with 14 years of experience would apply for THAT! JOB! But, would you want to hire someone who makes errors on their resume, like me?

3.) There's a girl at my school. I can tell she doesn't like me - my biggest instinct is to tell her to, in the words of my beloved AP, "BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS!" because she has no basis for not liking me, other than the fact that I choose not to piss and moan (publicly, like at meetings) during school hours. Commiserate, I can. Bitching? A waste of my time entirely. So why do I care? I don't know. I miss my old school. I had so many friends. Here, I have maybe 3.

4.) Every time I get close to one of my students, he smells like smoke. Just reeks of cigarette. He's 6. And he steals. I told him that if he needed anything to tell me and that I would buy it for him. And I did. Scissors and erasers and crayons, because I wanted him to have his own set. No child should feel compelled to steal because they are not being provided for. He didn't say thank you, but when I see him just shaking his little head in happiness to a tune that only he hears, it makes me smile.

5.) L.A.M.B. will be 30 soon. She has some crazy pictures of when we were young-er. I'm glad we're together now.

6.) Sometimes I feel like Alice in Wonderland. You just never know what school is going to throw at you that day.