We Appreciate Our Teachers!

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to thank all the wonderful teachers that we’ve been lucky to have known in our lives. However, there is one teacher that stands out amongst all of them and it’s Kiana current Kindergarten teacher . . . Mrs. T.

Mrs. T is the most supportive, encouraging, and positive educator we’ve ever met. Her love for her students go beyond the classroom and we really appreciate everything she does for Kiana. She’s sends surprise notes home for Kiana telling her what a great job she’s doing in class. She writes Thank You cards whenever we bring goodies for the students. She even called Kiana on her birthday (which was during Winter Break) to wish her a happy day. Now that’s impressive.

However, what really stands out in my mind was the time when I volunteered at school to help pass out lunches for a special picnic event we had for the parents and kids. I told my kids ahead of time that I wouldn’t be able to sit and eat with them but what I didn’t realize was that I would be too busy to even grab their lunches for them. Mrs. T took it upon herself to pick up Kacie, Kiana, and my lunches and deliver them to the kids for me.

So, this week we’re letting Mrs. T know how much we love and appreciate her.

What about you? Is there a special teacher that you’d like to recognize during Teacher Appreciation Week?

The Hunger Games Opens in Theaters Today!

Last night my niece and I joined 300 other fanatics as we waited for hours to be the very first people on the island to see The Hunger Games. I had read the 3-book series twice and I’ve been anxiously waiting for the movie version ever since it was first announced last year. We pre-ordered our tickets, got in line outside the theater 4 hours before the showing, braved the rain and repeated attempts of strangers trying to cut in line, until FINALLY it was time for the opening scenes.

Some of my friends thought I was crazy since I could have just as easily gone to see the movie today with the rest of the normal people but there’s just something about seeing it surrounded by people who truly understand the characters and storyline. That was an experience in itself.

As for the movie, it was pretty close to the book with a few changes like how Katniss ended up with the Mockingjay pin, how Katniss was able to sneak away from Peeta to get his medicine at the Cornicopia, and the physical characteristics of those vicious mutated mutts. However, what I really liked about the movie is being able to see The Hunger Games from the audience’s point of view. For example, we were able to see Gale’s expression the first time that Katniss kissed Peeta. We saw Rue’s father’s reaction when she died in the arena. We got a look in to the way the gamemakers plotted behind the scenes every step of the way. These were things that we weren’t able to experience through the book.

The Hunger Games was every bit as exciting as I thought it would be and it was amazing to see the story and characters come to life right before my eyes. I can’t wait to see it again!

The Rudest Guy in Town

Kacie has been taking piano classes at a music school in Pearl Ridge Center for about 4 years now. She really enjoys the class and has been progressing very well. However, we  recently found out that one by one the students in her class have been dropping out leaving her as the only child left. We were informed by her teacher that we would need to move Kacie to another day & time or pay for private lessons. Since the other class time did not work for us we decided to stop the lessons and find another piano school. We were told that we could get a refund on the tuition that we had already paid. Kind of a bummer but something we could deal with.

So yesterday I go to the school to get the refund and ended up getting so upset with the school’s owner that I had to walk away in the middle of the conversation . . . if you could even call it that. This guy is the most arrogant and condescending person I’ve met in a very long time. He said it was our choice to remove Kacie from class so we are not entitled to a refund. And in any case, the teacher was not authorized to offer a refund because HE is the owner of the school and only HE could make an offer like that. And in any case, he doesn’t show that we even pre-paid for tuition (even though I have the receipt saying that we had) so why should he refund us anything.

OMG!

How can someone who owns a business that relies on customers be so rude? Does he think he owns the only music school on the island? Even if he were to offer to keep Kacie in her current class at her current tuition I would never let her go back there. When I asked Kacie about him she said he is kind of mean and scary.

When I told DH what had happened he immediately called the school and asked to speak to the owner. It was the owner’s wife who answered the phone but she refused to let him talk to her husband (or the husband refused to come to the phone) insisting that she could help instead. DH explained how upset he was with the way I got treated and demanded that we get a refund on our class. At first she was a little upset by the call but DH asked if she were treated rudely wouldn’t she want her husband to stand up for her?  I think she got the point.

As a result, we will be getting a refund on our tuition. But why did we have to go through the whole confrontation in the first place? I don’t think we were asking for anything unreasonable. It wasn’t like I was insisting on private lessons at a group class rate. And what makes HIM think he can speak to his customers like that? I’m just so glad that we don’t have to ever go there again.

Working For Minimum Wage

The other morning, a bunch of my friends and I were talking about our first jobs.

One guy used to work at a service station (back when they provided service), one girl worked at McDonalds, and another girl in a popular retail store.

Me? I used to clean classrooms at my high school. Thinking back, I realized that it was a relatively easy job – cleaning the chalkboards, emptying the trash cans, sweeping, and clapping erasers for 5 different classrooms. On Fridays, I would also have to mop the floors. I hated Fridays.

I was fourteen when I first started and made $2.10 per hour. Back then, that was a lot of money and I thought I was rolling in the dough! Woo hoo!

Do you remember your first job?

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