Adventures in Hair

I'm always surprised by Celia and her Girly-Girl tendencies. Don't get me wrong, she's a bruiser. She can take a fall with the boys like you wouldn't believe. But she LOVES to dress up and get her hair fixed. She also loves to put on makeup...thankfully she doesn't know the brushes I give her have nothing on them.

But I am surprise....how did this thing come from me. I'm the anti-girly-girl. There was nothing I hated more than getting my hair fixed....okay, even brushed. I only wear makeup because I have bad skin...I have two skirts. Not stylish, not trendy...barely even feminine. But somehow this little girl that came from me is a budding fashionista. (Did she get it from her dad? That's a scary thought!)

So after our braid yesterday she is all about hair fixin'. She brought me the comb first thing and asked for more "stars" in her hair. So today we tried some french braids reminiscent of Pippy Longstocking. Isn't she s cutie?!?

First stop after a success full hairdo is always the mirror. She loves to check herself out!






Jordan is on his way home from school (early) as I type. I'm getting so fed up with the public education system this year that I'm actually beginning to look fondly on homeschooling! I've always been staunchly anti-homeschool....but they've had less than 5 days of school for all of February and this first week of March! I know...a lot of weather is something you can't so anything about. But we had tons of days where school was cancelled because of cold. A few day when it was cold and they did try to have school, a bunch of angry parents called the board office! Really people, bundle your kids up! Children's education should be a priority.

Well, now the teachers are talking about a strike. First off, were you asleep when your professor covered salary? Because mine did. Several times. I knew darn well what I would be paid for every year of my career. You don't choose to teach for the money.

Of course I think the teachers are grossly underpaid in West Virginia. But it's a state job and we live in a poor state. Plus, I don't think a strike is the right way to effect change. I think it creates a big ethical question mark to say "Your child's education is the most important thing. As a teacher, I'm sacrificing a lot of myself to put your child first. Unless you won't give me a 6% raise (or whatever that other union is lobbying for)....in that case it's not so important after all"

I really don't think most of the teachers feel that way. They definitely want a raise, but I think a lot of this strike thing is peer pressure. A union rep decides this is what we need, and this is how we get it, and like sheep we all just follow along. If you think that statement sound anti-union, it's because it is. First thing I was pressured to do as a new teacher was join the union. "Join the union, pay the dues, you need to for your own protection!" I know I'm living in a very naive world where I believe that two adults can just talk and come to terms with things about a child's education and not require litigation over it...but that's the way I think. And if push ever came to shove it and some sue-happy parent sued me over something, then I'd just take all that money the union wanted me to pay them and get myself a lawyer. I always worried something like this would come up while I was working and I'd have to be the oddball who DID go to work. I wonder how many teachers feel the same....how many of the are going to call in sick because they feel that's the only way to get a much needed raise and how many of them are doing it because they don't want their union rep bawling them out about not supporting the cause.

I lost my train of thought and forget where that was supposed to be going....but basically I don't like teacher's unions and I don't like strikes. There you have it.