If the shoe fits

This week has seemed to crawl to a stop. It probably has something to due with the fact that this is the first full 5 day week of, well, the year. But it is almost over.

We went to the store today with all the white teachers. We crammed six of us in and made our way to the Northern. Awaiting us was a package that contained Edgar's boots. When we came home we opened them up and tried them on. Here they are:

He has been so funny with them. He obviously trips a lot, so to compensate he kind of hops around. And because of the rubber soles and size, he sounds and walks like a Clydesdale. It is quite funny. On another note, Claire and I stayed at school all day on Wednesday, so Edgar was in his cage for 8 hours. He managed to hold his bladder the entire time. When we got home, all he wanted to do was play and well, who can blame him.

Food for Thought

Read the whole thing first.... Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit! We can get that for minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That ..................would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3...:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan-- that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET'S SEE.... That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Already?

We have already had some snow this year, but today was the first real snowfall. By the end of the day there was a nice blanket on the ground. Edgar's reaction was funny as he did not quite know how to handle the new phenomenon. He would run around the yard and stick his nose deep in the snow.

On Saturday night the T.V. station held a karokee competition. The five of us (the white teachers) decided to go. Amanda loves to sing and wanted to enter to win the $1,000 grand prize or two plane tickets to Winnipeg. We arrived at 6:15 for the 6:00 pm start, only to come back at 7:45 for the actual start. Amanda started off and did a great job. Jill and I (Greg) also participated. Why not. Eventually roughly 15 people competed and the top four were chosen by an 'outside judge.'

This is our first five day week in a while at the school. We are having an Open House on Wednesday to meet the parents. Otherwise a pretty ordinary week. Just trying to chip away until our Christmas break, which seems pretty soon all considering.



Edgar outside with another dog. Even though the other dogs look and act scary, Edgar acts like the big dog.


Edgar's first foot print.

What to say?

Well, not much has been new here lately. Last week we were in Winnipeg. It was a nice little outing for Greg and I. Edgar had a vacation of his own at hotel Amanda. He played all week with Dexter and kept Amanda from sleeping in, in the morning.

While we were in Winnipeg we went to see a few movies, and did some shopping. We discovered an awesome Christian bookstore called Hull's. We went to Walmart, Polo Park and the grocery store. All in all it was a great trip and we got our Thanksgiving Turkey.

School has been fairly good this week. Not much to report on that note. We are looking forward to a nice Thanksgiving here. Hope everyone else has an awesome Thanksgiving.