Drama-Rama

Okay, so I know I haven't been a very good blogger this month. But I promise I have good reasons for my lack of postings! Here they go...

Reason 1: I have been finishing up the first trimester of the portfolio class for my master's. To sum it up, the portfolio I have to create takes the place of writing a master's thesis paper, which means that it's a huge amount of work... and the first third of it is due this week. There were about 5 projects I had to write up and submit to my e-portfolio. Each project takes about 12 hours to complete... so you can do the math... that's a lot of work. And being the perfectionist that I am, I don't like to submit everything until it's exactly right, so the whole deal is frustrating, stressful, and time consuming. Did I mention that I'm simultaneously taking another class while working on the portfolio? On the plus side, my prof. just emailed me to say I passed for the trimester, so that's a relief... until the next third is due!

Reason 2: Because I run the alternative program for Shelbyville High school, I have to work a LOT with the guidance department and administrators in the summer to get ready for the upcoming school year. I like to joke that I'm a pseudo-administrator. Summertime stuff can range from meeting with students and parents, to meeting with the special ed coordinators, to conferencing with the entire administrative team (including the superintendent), to working with the technology department on computer programming and set-up, to completing reports for the DOE. It's not as much as it sounds, but it does eat up some time... and I keep joking with Zobel that he's going to have to start paying me more for all this extra stuff! I don't see that happening, though...

Reason 3: We went on vacation!!! We headed down to Myrtle Beach, South Caroline for about 8 days (including travel time). The beach was great, and there's so many fun things to do there. Also, Chris' best friend Adam and his wife Grace live in Georgetown S.C., which is about 45 minutes south of Myrtle Beach. They moved there after graduating from college, so the boys don't get to see each other that often. In fact, the main reason we picked South Carolina was that Adam asked Chris to play in a golf tournament with him. They didn't win the tournament, but considering one of the guys playing in it was a professional golfer, they did well! Grace and I got to help run the tournament, which was good because it kept us occupied while the boys were playing. It was a good vacation, and a lot of fun. Pictures to come, I promise!

Reason 4: In-law drama! Okay, first I'll give some back story. Chris has an older brother, Jeff. Jeff's 13 years older than Chris and is Claire's dad. For the past 8 years or so, Jeff has been living with Amanda (Claire's mom); they're not married, but I've always considered them a very stable couple. Amanda has a son, Collin, from a previous relationship; he's 10, and we've always considered him part of the Lakes family. Now for the drama part... for reasons no one is really clear on, Amanda has simply picked up and gone to Maryland. She broke up with Jeff, left Claire with him, left Collin with his biological dad's family, and took off with some other guy. She's supposedly coming back to Indiana sometime soon (she's been gone for over a month, though), but even when/if she returns no one knows what she's going to do or where she'll be... or what she'll choose to do with the kids. So needless to say, we're all shocked and angry that she would treat her children and Jeff this way. We've been trying to help, but it's just hard and upsetting, especially to the kids. They're not really old enough to understand; all they know is that everyone around them is upset and mommy's gone. Talk about traumatic!

See??? I told you I had good reasons for letting my blogging slack! I'll make an effort to be better, and hopefully I won't have so many stressful things happening all at once!