Today is the first of August so that means I will be officially back to work in 13 days!
Unofficially, I have already returned. Spent about 20 hours spread out over 4 days this week sorting through stuff. Organized my entire curriculum in sequential order so that I will be able to find needed resources quickly. Disposed of materials, etc. left behind in my miniscule closet by my predecessor: Teacher X! Wonder what he is up to these days… Took measurements of spaces so that I can efficiently set up my ‘zone’ and also purchase a decent computer stand that doesn’t look 100 years old.
My assignment for this year: AVID curriculum class along with US History! Ms. Perky gets one class of Texas History instead of AVID.
I am in a streamlined frame of mind which I picked up over the summer. School may not have been at the forefront but I did some very necessary purging of my living quarters. It takes years to accumulate the possessions, etc. and it took quite a while to whittle things down to just the essentials. Lots of donations to Goodwill, recycle bins and copious amounts of shredding so my identity won’t be compromised. A thief won’t get far with my identity ~ a crone with marginal credit! Well, after all of that work, I noticed that I needed a bookcase for my office. I perused the ads and went online to see what was out there. Big Lots! © had a reasonably priced three shelf unit that would fit my space perfectly. (Yup, I measured!) Lugged the box home and proceeded to put it together. The directions said you needed two people and you could not use power tools. The only tool required was a Phillips head screwdriver and a basic hammer. I am proud to say that I did it ALONE with lots of sweat equity. It was fun trying to hammer 22 individual nails to secure the backing of the case. There were no guiding marks so I could line up the nails and I did hit my thumb a time or two. The bookcase is working quite well and hasn’t collapsed into a pile of splinters.
Fast forward to this week ~ Big Lots! is having “Teacher Appreciation Day” tomorrow, (Saturday 8-2-08), 10% off all purchases with appropriate id. I went by there on Tuesday to price items, get a list ready for Saturday and do some shopping. Imagine my surprise/horror as I approached the cart holding area. I went to retrieve a basket only to discover that one must now PAY to use a cart and it takes only quarters. Granted the money is returned when you return the cart but it is the principle of the thing not to mention that I don’t carry change. As a few other patrons and I discussed this horror in the parking lot, an employee on his break said that this was already happening up North. I understand the rationale for this but a little heads up would have been nice. Note to self: keep some quarters handy, just in case.
So much for my rambling!
ttfn,
~ba~
3 comments:
Nice post..! Its hard to believe that only a few more days are left for back to school again.
Coming from the north I can say that the quarter carts help eliminate the worry of carts bashing in the side of your car. Kids love to return the carts that adults prefer to leave since they can then harvest the quarter. The biggest problem is getting into the habit of keeping a few quarters in the car for our shopping trips.
It's a sad day when you have to pay a quarter as a deposit towards the return of a shopping cart.
Then again, Tom Hanks could make a living if he had to live in the Big Lots for an expanded period of time.
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