Family Visit and a Little Rant

I got back last night from visiting my mom and my sister. I had a great time chatting and hanging out with my mom. We got a lot of things accomplished for her....getting her medicine ready for the next month, filling insulin needles, paying bills....that sort of thing.

My sister and I spent some time going through scrapbooking and craft stuff so that we can donate a lot of it to charity. We ended up with so much stuff that we've had to revise who is going to get it....no way can we afford to ship it to South Dakota like we had originally planned. I'm sure we can find somewhere local to one of us so that it can be dropped off rather than shipped. I also got to see her pet frog, Fred, for the first time. Very cute little guy. And I discovered that my sister and her husband make their own wine. John and I aren't wine drinkers, but I promised we would try it. :) I was lured in by the super pretty blue bottle. Entertainment was provided by way of my brother-in-law being attacked repeatedly by small children...never fear, he was able to fend them off.

I even managed to plant two letterboxes and stumble upon a park that I had no idea existed. Woohoo! And now John and I are going to spend the day being slugs...well, except for going to the grocery store and knitting. :) Grace went back to her mommy's last night because she has a funeral to go to. :(

Tomorrow, I get to give my students the second nine weeks reading test. And Tuesday they have to take the math test. That's right....two days per nine weeks (more for other grades) lost to testing that is supposed to prepare them for the big test at the end of the year. That's No Child Left Behind at work. These kids, their teachers and administration are under so much pressure to pass this one test at the end of the year that is supposed to give some indication of what was learned that we actually have to waste instructional time doing district testing to practice. It makes me furious. School isn't about education anymore...it's about one set of test scores. Grrr. I could go on about this for hours, but I'll spare you. :)

Happy Sunday!