caught up? Hope SO

Haven't updated in a while, I think Grace is finally caught up in all her classes. It's crazy we went on vacation and she was supposed to have been given all her class work before we left, but of course there's more to school than the homework. She had a few chemistry tests to make up. Of course her most difficult class would be the one she had such a hard time catching up in. Almost feels like the vacation was more work than not having one at all. That is until I remember how relaxing it was.
I'm so thankful to the woman that gave us the week in her time share. We hadn't had a full week away from home since Grace was turned 10 and we went on her Make-A-Wish trip. need to save up for another good vacation, no need for them to only be when someone gives us one.

Runty

OK this has nothing to do with school, but I just have to share. When Grace was about 6 she spent a month in ICU at Shriner's hospital. When we came home our landlord told us that some friends of his had kittens and he thought Grace needed a kitty. I know a lot of landlords don't even allow pets but ours is the best when it comes to pets if we found an elephant he'd be OK with it living here. Anyway I'll get back to the cat. We took her to the people's property and into the barn where their cat had a litter of adorable kittens. Grace was immediately in love with the runt of the litter. I took one look at this little kitten and just knew he wouldn't survive the weekend and chose a second kitten as the back-up. This little Runty ( yes silly name but it stuck)  wasn't very healthy as he was 1/2 the size of the others and didn't even seem developed right. Anyway Runty lived and became a big healthy cat. He was the king of the house. So there we were with 2 cats for years.
Jump foreword about 10 years and we still have the cats. But for some reason Runty started taking little breaks from us, it started as just a couple of days then a week or two. He must have found a second home as he always came home fat and sassy. Well, about a year ago Runty didn't come home we kept looking for him and  calling for him, but no Runty he was definitely gone. After about 6 months I took Grace to the shelter and she picked out a cute little orange cat that has been her baby ever since. The new cat even rides around on the armrest of her wheelchair he just loves her.
Last night I saw a shadow on our front porch, I knew our female cat ( Runty's sister) wasn't outside and the new cat is an indoor cat. I was a little concerned that someone was on our porch and snuck to the window and peeked out. I didn't see anyone so I pulled back the curtain more and there he was, Runty!!! After a year he came home again. He's not really fat this time, and has a sore on one foot, but there he was home again. He walked in, meowed a "hello" and went straight to the food dish. He loved on all of us, my sister lives next door and when I called to tell her she even came over to see him. It amazes me that after all this time he came back. I don't know if he has another home or what happened. The new cat isn't too happy about Runty being here, but they'll work things out. And Grace? She is so happy to have Runty home again. Never would have believed he'd return but so happy he did.

Craziness

Gonna have to drag over my soap box again.........this school year the winter break was a late one. It was from a couple of days before Christmas till Jan 9th. Seems this has just messed up some teachers' schedules. They have one less week to teach required material before the big review time for state testing. I think it's crazy that those state tests have become so important. I realize it all comes down to the mighty dollar. the schools with the best scores will have more people interested in having their children attend those schools which means more money for cash strapped schools blah blah blah.
Don't know when school became something other than teaching. Everyone feels pressure to "perform" better than the year before. Pressure on teachers and administrators just trickles down to students. Then the teaching is almost gone. It's come down to memorizing. Not actual learning why something happens the way it does, or making any sense out of what they're doing. Not fair to the students or the teachers. I'm sure they'd rather skip the entire waste of time testing and reviews as much as the students.
Ok, I'm done ranting.........well until the state testing begins. That's a whole other craziness in itself!

Lover's Lane

Warning: This is all about a rant from Grace.......
Yesterday on the drive home, Grace was a "bit" grumpy. She has decided that there needs to be a special area for high school couples to bid each other farewell. Apparently she's sick and tired of having to either wait for the lovers to finish their "business" or shove people aside with her chair to get to her classes.
She said something to the effect of.......... 'it's not like these boys are leaving after each class to be sent of to war! NO! you'll see him again in 45 minutes! Besides you will be texting him before he even walks in late to his next class, because it's always the guys that have to hang outside the girls' room for that last lingering kiss.'
I think she may be onto something here. If only Grace ruled the world we'd all be put in our places and everything would be perfect :)