Is Everybody Crazy, or Is it Just Me?

A wife and mother who finds that life is just strange so often!

Monday, January 22, 2007

My School is better than your school.........not!


I recently decided to convert my New Jersey teacher certification to a Georgia teacher certification. I did not think that this would be a very big deal. After all, New Jersey had given me certification as both a Middle and High School Social Studies teacher and as a Elementary Teacher. I won the New Jersey Commissioner of Education's Outstanding Teacher Candidate Award (they only gave out 16 that year in the whole state), I had several years experience in both middle and high school, and Georgia needs teachers. How hard could it possibly be to get certified?

Once I got off my butt and sat down with the paperwork, I was surprised. I was able to get everything started online. I put together copies of my certification and transcript and sent it off. The first response tht I got said that I needed to send 'official copies' of my transcripts. Here is my first aggravated moment. Did the Georgia Department of Education really think that New Jersey had certified me to teach without my having a college degree? Also, they had 'unofficial copies' so what is the big deal. But, I got on the phone with my college and found out that they will not do a transcript request by phone or by fax, only in person on by mail. Since I now live about 800 miles from there, I decided to send in my request by mail, along with the check for the $6 fee. What is up with that? The $25,000+ each year that they got from me as a student wasn't enough? Are you really going to tell me that it costs them $6 to mail a couple of sheets of paper with a stamp on them? The county college I went to was able to send out my transcripts with a fax request, for free!

So now all I could do was wait. Every week or so, I would hop online to check the status of my application. It continued to be on hold while they waited for my transcripts. Finally, I call my college again. They have no record of my request. I check my bank, and the check has not been cashed. OK, now I am really annoyed. I call my dad and ask him to go over there and do the request in person. He calls me while he is there to tell me they need my signature. I told him to just go out to the car 'where I was waiting'....wink, wink...nudge, nudge...and I would sign it. So, he forged my name and the papers were filed.

This was right before Christmas, so I figured by the time we got back from Disney, everything would be set. I get online, and still no transcript. I call the Georgia DOE, they have no record of it. I call my college, again. They sent it out, and...the Georgia DOE sent a response card that they had received the transcript! I call the Georgia DOE back and the person I speak to takes my number and promises to look into it and call me back. Miracle of miracles, she calls back to tell me that she found my transcript and was entering it into my file. Woo Hoo! Now I will have my Georgia certification.

Or not. I just got a letter in the mail about my certification. I am approved for a non-renewable certificate. I can only get this certificate when I am hired by a Georgia school. To get my regular, renewable certificate I need to take some classes, a computer test, and a couple of content tests. Are you kidding me? This state is desperate for good teachers. Test scores are in the toilet. Education is a bit of a joke throughout most of the state. Here I am a certified, experienced, award-winning teacher, and I am not good enough. I taught in a state that is has some of the highest ranked schools in the country. I taught in a state that has much higher test scores and standards. Do they really think that I can't hack it in the backwoods, redneck, hick-ass Georgia schools?!

I tutor h

ere. I have seen the quality of the Georgia education system. They should be bending over backwards and kissing my ass in hopes that I will teach here. Half the teachers here probably look like this:

All in all, it is total crap, but I will cope because I have to!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Christmas, and Disney, and Bad Chinese...Oh My!

Hi all! First of all, I want to apologize for not posting in so long. Life got totally crazy, but now everything is settling back down to normal.

First we had the holidays. In our house we celebrate Christmas and Chanukah so it was a bit hectic for a couple of weeks. We didn't go crazy with gifts this year, the trip to Disney was the big holiday gift. The kids did get a few things, mostly Disney themed to go with the trip. My hubby would say that I bought too much. Both kids got $100 in Disney Dollars, $50 from us and $50 from my brother-in-law. It was nice that they had their own money for the trip.

Christmas was hard for me this year. It was strange not having any family around. It just didn't feel like Christmas. I was pretty depressed all day. I had bought a nice chicken to roast for a family dinner, but when I opened it up it had gone bad! I was really upset because according to the date it should have been fine. My hubby started to look up places to eat on the internet, but I didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on meal right before our trip. We ended up going to the diner and we had a great meal! I was really surprised. My six year old ordered pancakes and they came out shaped like Mickey Mouse. He was so excited. "How did they know we were going to Disney?" Too cute.

The day ended up being nice, but I don't want to do another lonely Christmas. Next year we are going back to New Jersey to celebrate with all of our family and friends.

We left for disney on New Year's Eve. What a great trip! We did so much and had so much fun. I love it there. We are already planning to go back in two years.




I could post a ton of pics, there are so many that came out good. We got in on NYE but we didn't go out. We spent a quiet night at the condo, or as quiet as a small condo with 7 people can be, and went to bed early so that we could be up and out early the next morning. On 1/1 we were at the Magic Kingdom when it opened. If you are going to do Disney and want to enjoy the rides with no lines, you have to get there when the parks open. We rode many rides multiple times that we would have had to wait on lines for later in the day. Our favorites in the Magic Kingdom were Pirates of the Carribean, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, and Buzz Lightyear. We had a great day. We did Epcot that night, but it rained.

On 1/2 we hit the Animal Kingdom and the new coaster, Everest! It was great. My 12 year old ended up riding it 8 times! We were having a good day here when it started to pour. We headed out, but we were all soaked. On 1/3 we did Epcot and it was great. We all loved the new ride, Soarin. So much fun. My 6 year old rode it 4 times! The new show, Turtle Talk with Crush, was great and my son got picked to ask Crush a question. And, we won Dream Fast Passes as part of the year of a million dreams! It was so cool to win something, the boys were really excited.After Epcot we went to MGM to see the night show, Fantasmic. It started to rain and about 1/2 way through they cancelled the show. It was a bummer. My 6 year old was crying and saying it was the worst day of his life. He is such a drama queen. Oh well, we will try again next time.


On 1/4 we were going to have a break but because of the rain we decided to keep going. We spent the morning at MGM and had a great time. The boys loved the Star Wars ride. My parents and 12 year old won Dream Fast Passes AGAIN when they were on the Tower of Terror. I loved the Beauty and the Beast show. After MGM we headed over to Epcot for dinner and Illuminations, the night show. It was cool. A good day all around.

On 1/5 we went back to the Animal Kingdom. The weather was fine, but the baby was sick. He threw up twice, once on my poor hubby, so we didn't do as much as I wanted to. But, the boys got to ride Everest, and this time even my 6 year old went on! We did a few other rides and the Safari. It was a good day.

On 1/6 we had our last day. We spent it in the Magic Kingdom, my favorite park. We did a bunch of rides, took a break, then came back for the Spectromagic Parade and fireworks. It was a great way to end the trip.

When we got home on Sunday afternoon, there was nothing to make for dinner, so we decided to order out. We got Chinese and by two in the morning we were getting sick. The boys ended up missing two days of school. We were all miserable. Thank God the baby didn't eat the food! I think it will be a long time before we get Chinese again.

Today, everyone is back in school, the baby is napping, and I am sad. I miss them, and I miss being at Disney. Reality sucks.