Outraged!

Dear Asshole,

Despite a little fear and anxiety that you are certifiably nuts and will be someone to hunt me down, I called the police and animal control on you this morning.

For over a week I have watched your puppy (an absolutely adorable puppy, by the way) be mistreated. No, you haven't beat him...you've completely neglected him. He's been living on a 3x6' balcony: sleeping, pacing, defecating, whining, eating from a torn bag of spilled dog food (that which is now sure to be mixed with feces) and searching for clean drinking water (of which there is none)...LIVING ON YOUR F---ING BALCONY!!

I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, maybe you had to be out of town and just made a poor choice and left your dog outside for a couple days, but NO...You have been in and out of your condo and you have not opened the sliding glass door once to attend to your dog. How can you listen to your dog whine and paw at the door for hours and do NOTHING?!

Never have I been this outraged with someone I've had no interaction with, nor do I generally wish bad things upon a person...but you...you, I'd like to see strung up by your toes (better yet, your genitals!)...or at the very least, made to live in the conditions you have forced upon that poor puppy!!

The woman at animal control said someone was on their way to your house when I made a follow-up call around 9:00 this morning. From the sounds of it, there is a history of calls concerning you as a horrible pet owner (this didn't help alleviate my anger or disgust). I am praying that when I return home today the puppy will be long gone, that a nice family will have the opportunity to adopt him, and that you will, at the very least, have to pay a hefty fine.

If, heaven forbid, that sweet puppy is still there, know that I will be watching and I will make a nuisance of myself at the animal control center. If all else fails, I'll get a ladder and take matters into my own hands.

Oh, and, if you are the type to retaliate...be warned, I have a bat and a pretty wicked softball swing.

-J

A Gaggle of Girls

This picture always makes me smile.

The fact that it is May and I am just now posting a picture from Christmas is indicative of what my life has been like as of late.

While I love going home for any reason, I especially love it when I get to see all the young ones. I rarely go any length of time without someone on my lap...or four in this case. This is the face of happiness.

Who's Your Celebrity Look Alike?

In the past few weeks I've had random people make comments about me looking like a celebrity. I'm not sure I see myself in any of these famous faces, but it's a nice thought. What do you think?

(L to R: Annette Bening, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Julie Bowen, Geena Davis)

Leave a message in the comments and let me know which celebrity you are told you resemble.

An Update

With so much going on lately I've not taken the time to sit down and write on this space. Technically I should be reading with my students during silent sustained reading, but I'm not...not a very good model today.

Since Writers Week, things have been pretty anti-climatic around school. It's hard to top the reaction and the enthusiasm the students had for that event. I am still receiving positive feedback from administration and kids though...that's awesome!

It is difficult getting back into paper grading mode.

It is nice not having a student teacher anymore! My first day of teaching again was like a drug. I had a "high" like I'd not had in awhile...my students noticed. It's a great feeling when you realize you are right where you should be, doing what you are meant to be doing.

I'm in a writing group with a couple of my colleagues and I love it. I haven't been writing nearly as much lately...not really sure why I'm not finding the motivation, but I love that we are sharing our lives and our knowledge with each other in this way.

This summer is wedding season...several of my Blair Oaks kids are getting married...they are sooo young (or rather, I'm getting old!).

I'm smitten. For the first time in a long time (if ever), I am allowing myself to just enjoy these moments and not over think this. Yesterday afternoon I found myself thinking "this is really going to hurt if it doesn't work out." Then, completely uncharacteristic of me, I told myself to not think about it...that even if it doesn't work out, I wouldn't trade all the moments and laughter we've shared over the past couple weeks. It feels good.