Describe "aggressively"

So I'm coming home from "the city" on a major east/west highway in pouring rain that's beginning to look like freezing rain. The lights are all green as I'm going through town - as long as I stay in the left lane. As soon as we are past the area where semi-trucks have to stay in the right lane I have a large red semi pull out into the left lane behind me and starts tailgating me. He continues to crowd me all the way out of town (until I turned off the highway to go home) - even flashing his high beams at me trying to get me to move over to the right lane. My thoughts were that it was raining too hard and there was too much traffic to my right for me to get over - especially as my turn-off was on the left - and I was doing the speed limit as it was. As I turned left and he sped off I was able to get his liscense plate and words off the side of the cab to call in. I get ahold of the sheriff's office and the dispatcher says "describe aggressively" after she hears part of my tale. She also asked how fast I was going - 60 mph. Once she heard that she thanked me for calling it in. So I won't ever know if the truck got pulled over or not but I figure I did my part to attempt to avert an accident. In the meantime I'm amused at the dispatcher's questions and very very thankful I was able to make it safely home.

Naps and Bus Routes

I took a much needed nap this morning - had a stack of stuff I needed to get done but realized that a nap was much more important. I fell much better now - and have actually got one coffee table straightened. I certainly won't get everything done that I needed or wanted to get done - however I fell better about life in general after that nap. I've not been sleeping well nor have I been getting enough exercise - I know it's affecting me severely mainly in my emotions but also with my weight. I'm not sure how to better organize myself and time to help resolve those issues. It seems like one of those endless circles.

My bus route went well this morning - we only saw 4 deer. That's got to be a record low number - especially as they were all in a group together. I know there had to be more out but it was fairly dark this morning and misting so the roads were abit slick, etc. However I had everyone except 2 of my regular morning riders so that was good. I was able to get down that "closed" road to get my stops down there so I should also be able to get them home tonight. I still wish the county guys had put the signs further apart but on the other hand it's very much a fun challenge to snake the bus through and not hit anything when there's not enough room. I'll be glad when the road is officially opened though - it's not a road I could back out of and there really aren't any good turn-arounds except the one I use.

OK...better scoot to get abit more done and get cleaned up.

So.......

....those 6 kids I picked up this morning - apparently the regular driver waited at that stop for 7 minutes and they didn't come out. She has time issues with the daycare lady on a regular basis. So she's now upset with me for completely screwing things up. I'm thinking if that was the case it would have been nice for someone to let me know - I unwittingly would not have walked into that situation. My afternoon did not start off well.

Then on my route there's one road that supposedly was being closed completely - transportation did not know. One family took care of getting their kids picked up but the other two did not. And we did not have good phone #'s for either one of the later. So I had to squeeze between 2 road closed signs that barely had one bus length between them and deliver these kids. I feel really bad for the family that took care of picking up their own kids - they didn't have to do that if the proper communication had occurred. And to make matters worse - apparently the work was not done at all today - it's supposed to be completely closed tonight. So....I have no idea what to expect in the morning.

Different Day

Wow....what a morning. I feel discombobulated again.....we had a 2 1/2 hr delay this morning due to teacher inservice - the only thing extra that got accomplished was a little extra sleep and 3 of the 4 boxes of Christmas "stuff" got back out to the shed. And to top it off - as I'm coming home I see 6 students that apparently all missed their bus so I picked them up and drove them all the way back to school. They were all daycare kids - and apparently their daycare person had a dentist's appointment so she left. There was apparently someone else supposed to be in charge but I'm guessing that person didn't know what time the bus was supposed to come. Anyway it meant that instead of 3 hours or so at home I've only got 2 1/2 or less.

However the Christmas tree is up and decorated! Yeah! This year we are using a 4 ft tree instead of a 6ft or taller one. It made it much easier to decorate - I had the kids choose 10 ornaments each to put on it - and then I chose a few from my collection. Unfortunately I wasn't able to put any of the heavier porcelain ones on it - that's disappointing because a few of those are ones that about the meaning of Christmas - One shows baby Jesus in a crown and another shows Him in a half globe. I forget the titles though. Anyway it sure was nice to be able to put the lights on by myself and then have the kids do "their" part in 30 minutes or so. And I think taking it down will be much easier also which will be nice. The ornaments I did put on the tree are mostly ones that were handmade and/or gifted to me by kids off my buses or friends.

Today thankfully is nice and sunny and unseasonably warm......it's supposed to cool off but I think tonight I'm going to try to have the kids help me get some branches gathered up so we can use them for firewood. In the meantime I guess I'd better go write a couple of emails and then get the kitchen cleaned and the pantry picked up. I would like to finish the little bit of Christmas shopping I have left to do this week also.

Counting

30 deer this morning while I had students on the bus and 4 without.....I love it. Some of my riders asked me what my highest one day total was - 39! And to make the morning extra pretty - the sun was shining, the sky was pink (red sky at night.....red sky in the morning, sailors take warning!) and everything was covered with hoar frost. I wished I had my camera with me and the time to take pictures. As it was I ran late - oops - too much time slowing down to count. Oh well it was fun.

Have got to finish my shopping list so I can run to the bank and do the grocery shopping. Hopefully soon I will get some additional Amish runs.

Strange To See....

That round yellow-white ball in the sky. It's something we haven't seen for way too long - wonderful to see the sunshine again. It's supposed to be partly cloudy, then mostly cloudy later today - hopefully the forecast is wrong. However the sun is supposed to come back later this week.

Son2 was complaining about the fact that it was snowing last night - not heavy but still coming down. It was cold enough this morning to have heavy frost on the bus and still some snow on shaded areas. I really don't mind the snow - if I could have it without the cold!

Priorities

I feel very discombobulated today....like I truly don't know where to start. I felt like I accomplished alot yesterday - then the mail came! Long story short - I got a letter saying that the receipts I had sent in to get the money from my Flex Spending Account weren't acceptable. So I - disagreeing with their reason - went looking for all of my old paystubs - most of which were in the same place - and my medical bills and bank statements - which weren't necessarily. Now I still have piles on my bedroom floor again and my "to shred" pile is huge. I have one child who got sick on my school bus yesterday - his mom doesn't have a telephone so I can't call to see how he's doing. Therefore I really would like to go by his house to check on him. I also need to get some duct tape and return some movies. So....do I get myself together and go run errands? Or do I stay home - take care of my shredding and continue with slowly getting control of this house? Which is going to be more important in the long run and which is going to be more satisfying? I'm also keeping in mind that I won't be home this evening and much of tomorrow which means very little housecleaning getting done.

Ok....just got a call from the FSA company and got good news!!! They will pay the full claim I sent in and supposedly I still have a bit more I can send for! So....I guess that means I go run errands as I have to make copies of receipts that I can send in to get the rest. That means it will be convenient to return the movies and stop and buy duct tape. So....I guess I will go get laundry going, get ready to go and get going.

Train Up a Child

Train up a child in what is right and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Prov. 22:6

This Scripture has been running through my mind lately. And I struggle with the question - How do I train my child? I have two hot-tempered sons, one of whom is also exceedingly stubborn and a perfectionist. So far I've found very little that works with him as far as discipline goes. One minute he can be the sweetest little (growing up too fast) boy who snuggles and cuddles and wants to be helpful and obedient. The next he's a complete terror - rebellious, doing his own thing, kicking, hitting, yelling, refusing to co-operate, refusing to do his chores.....Hopefully you get the picture. Taking things away doesn't seem to help - nor does restricting him to his room.....It's very frustrating and I feel at my wit's end at times (sometimes more than others.)

Vandalism

Ok.....I know kids can be mean and cruel but why must they vandalize their school bus? Even in "minor" ways? Today while I was checking the bus after my route I found additional writing on one of the seat backs - "whor....=bus driver" "lol - true". Also someone peeled my seat patch off. I know that generally kids don't always like me because most of the time they think I'm too strict - I insist they sit - facing forward, keep their language reasonably clean and be reasonably polite. I don't tolerate kids calling other kids' names (when I catch them) or getting physical with other kids. Basically I don't let them do whatever they want to do on the bus. And I've gotten used to being considered a witch with a capital B. But this really bothers me - and I can't honestly pinpoint why - whether it's the name they chose or the fact that it is vandalism and I don't know who's doing it. I am better than 90% certain that it's some of my shuttle kids that I drop off at a trailer park - I make them sit in the front half of the bus and my regular route kids sit in the back half. The shuttle kids don't like that either because they think that I'm not being fair. I figure it's easier because I'm on a major highway when I drop them off so I don't want to be stopped there too long. And I only have them in the afternoon so it's much harder to get to know them - they are all middle school students - 6-8th. So....the question becomes how do I handle this? I figure by the handwriting it's likely a girl but not sure how I can possibly figure out exactly who's doing it. It's really difficult to do a seating chart because I still don't know all of these kids (shuttle) - there's about 20 of them alone. I do know all my regular route riders...and I have issues with them trashing the bus - leaving candy wrappers, etc in their seats. There is a trash can up front so they could use that. We will discuss that tomorrow afternoon - after I have all my regular route riders on.

Seriously SHE

OK.....so now I know for sure that I'm a totally serious Side-tracked Home Executive! This morning I'm on the computer checking email and getting ready to place an order for some Christmas gifts. But to do so I need my charge card.....which the last time I can remember seeing is beside the computer. I know that that's the last place I used it. After pulling off several different stacks of paper and scanning through them I can't find it. Next stop the Family room - where I look in a drawer then decide "oh I'd better start that load of laundry". While the washer is filling I fold clean laundry and collect dirty to put in the washer. Then another quick scan through a drawer then on to my bedroom where I go through my bedside table drawers....by which time it's time to leave for my haircut. And I still haven't found the card or finished placing my order! Now that I'm back from my haircut and have successfully bought milk - and a few extras - I will finish lunch then go back to searching. I think I will set my timer for 15 minutes though - work in one area for that time then move on. And hopefully sometime today I will get my birdfeeders filled....they've been sitting on the table waiting for several days.

FlyLady's email reminders and routines are slowly slowly beginning to sink in. For more information check out www.flylady.com

Down again

Well MKPlanet is down again tonight.....guess that means I will be heading to bed early - or at least earlier than normal. I'm glad it's not just my computer but still.....There doesn't seem to be much to write about tonight - am still fighting this upper respiratory bug so get tired easily. I don't feel like I've accomplished much around the house the past few days - and tomorrow likely won't be any better. However tomorrow I will be out part of the day - in addition to work - so that will give me more reason to not get stuff done. However I finally get to get a haircut - yeah!!