Strike, Day One

The phone rang at 4:30 am...never a good sign. The bitchy voice on the other end informed me that I needed to be prepared to picket at 7:30, and to dress warmly. I grunted and rolled back over. At 6:00, I checked the TV and the news said that schools are closed. My mind reverted to its twelve year-old self, and shouted "SNOW DAY"!!! I slept until 11, ate some Captain Crunch, and watched some TV.

Picket? Fuck no. Do you realize WHY my stupid union is walking out on our kids? Because the district wants us to spend 7 1/2 hours a day with our kids instead of the 5 1/2 we are currently required. WTF? First of all, most of us who give a shit are already at school with the students at least that long. Secondly, how many of you have a work day that is less than 8 hours? I don't expect anyone to sympathize with us when some of our kids' parents are working two or three jobs just to keep a roof over their heads.

My boys are gone to Chicago for a few days. They had two deaths in their close family over the past week. One was an uncle who lived with them. He's been bugging me to go out with him for months, and last Wed I finally said, "ok, call me Friday or Saturday". He never called...because he died Friday night of an ashtma attack. Talk about being freaked out! If I wanted to focus on myself, I could say thank God we didn't go out, come back here, and have him die... can you imagine how that would seem to the kids? 'Ms. Tsarina is so wild, she killed James' uncle'. Ok, I'm insensitive, I know, but obviously I didn't say that to James and his brothers.

Well, I need to finish getting ready- we're going to discuss our strike strategy over drinks, pool, and loud music.

Have a great day!

Tsarina returns

This will be brief, and hopefully some of you still come by. So much has happened in such a short few months.

Lots of stress at work (not new). James and his brothers have become very dear to me- to the point that when their grandma passes away, they may come live with me. She's thankfully gotten stronger, though, so hopefully that won't be for a very long time. Their dad and I have begun a slight flirtation... we'll see.

I did meet a guy recently- very cute and lots of fun...again, we'll see.

The job still takes up most of my energy- but I don't regret any of it. We may be going on strike on Wed... pray for a settlement before Tues. They'll be forced to close the schools if it happens. My kids have finally grown on me to the point that I miss them when I'm not there. It took longer for this group to get there, but they had a hard act to follow.

I'll write more later- I'm meeting friends, but I wanted to check in and say hi to all of you- i'll visit you soon!

Have a great weekend!