Kontan Jou

Djembe coaxed me out of bed at 6:38 and there was someone in our garage by 6:45. I go out to say good morning, not menioning that it is not yet 7 AM. I’m sure I looked real cheery in my khaki shorts and black “I’m out of bed and dressed, what more do you want?” t-shirt. These are hard-core yard salers people. Surprisingly there were a good number of visitors today. We didn’t get rid of everything, and not nearly as much as we would have if we lived in town, but all in all it was a good day. I’ll call to have the rest picked up Monday. It will be great to have my garage FINALLY cleaned out!

Celebrate with me now…my MA teaching license came in!!! Woohoo!!! I’ll be submitting it to central office Monday and getting my contract redone. This has been an issue of stress. I completed my master’s in December, which is past the cut-off for contract renegotiation. My current license was set to expire June ’06, but that date was extended one-year to accommodate the many in southern MS rebuilding after Katrina…sooooo the expiration date was June ’07. Shouldn’t matter, right? The first of May I submitted my transcripts for license renewal so that I could have AA license instead of A. Mid-June I call state dept, waiting on hold for 30 minutes before getting anyone, and was told that it would be sent within the week. After we returned from vacation, second week of JULY, I call again. Forty minutes on the phone, and one email later, I find out that it was mailed June 12th. WHAT! Then I’m told that maybe not, they had problems with those mailed that day. OK, well this is something that needed to be addressed, don’t you think? I was told it would be mailed the following day, no worries. Four days later I receive not one, but two in the mail. I thought I was coming out good in this deal, a copy, woohoo. Open first and it is for MA certification. Open second, they didn’t include the MA certification. OK, now I know why they sent two. I look closer at the MA license. “A” certification valid July 2001-June 2007. “AA” certification valid July 2007-June 2012. Whoa, back it up, what? NO no no no. Yes, they messed up the dates. Called them that Friday. After one hour, yes 60 solid minutes, on hold I hung up. I called central office but the person I needed wasn’t coming back until Monday, so I wait. Monday I call CO and was told state dept messed up and I would have to straighten it out with them over the phone. Oh joy. Fortunately hold time was only 15 minutes this time and it was easily straightened out, but an ordeal none the less. Just glad to have it settled.

School starts in 13 days. Wow. ew. Monday I’ll get my classroom together and then I plan on enjoying the rest of my summer. I need to complete the class website and lesson plans, but I’m putting things like that off until post school start weekend.

Thanks for stopping by…kontan jou (happy day).