Um...yeah

So it has been almost a whole year since I last posted. Went thru a whole school year, remolded our house, watched my kids grow up before my eyes.

One memorable non bus related item is that this year marks the 20th year since I graduated from Kuna High School. Our reunion was a couple of weekends ago and it was fun. A bit weird, but fun. Weird to see how time changes everyone. I don't feel that much different, other than I quit hiding what a weirdo I am. I am not that midnight radio show type of weirdo who wears foil under her hat and thinks 9/11 was an inside job. Rather, I'm drawn to things that are quirky, off beat and sometimes a bit weird. I have 5 kids. Some people think that is just downright insane. I collect banks and egg items. My favorite bank is a large chicken that cackles when I put money in (it is my yard sale savings bank). I love this song on you tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=astISOttCQ0



So here we are at summer. I worked as an aid on a small kindergarten route for 2 weeks and will do 2 weeks in August and any subing that I can get in. The pay is less for summer, but any pay is better than no pay I guess.

With the down economy, our school district had to make cuts to compensate for $5 Million less that they will receive from the state. One of the cuts they made was to do away with full day kindergarten. Now, kinder will be either Mon, Wed and every other Friday full day or Tue, Thur and every other Friday full day (parents choice). They will still offer the half day, but parents will be required to transport their own children. Many people were all for this, except the bus drivers. We are paid 2 hours for each route we do, regardless of the length (some kinder routes were 35-40 mins tops). In our district to receive full benefits, you must work at least 6 hours a day and mid day kinder routes fulfilled that for us. But, with no mid day kinder, 15 drivers were looking at losing their benifits. Many of our drivers are older and moms who work so that their family can have insurance. Plus, when the district laid out how they were cutting expenses, it seemed like we were getting hit the most. Administrators took a 5% pay cut, but it really only comes down to a 2% cut, since there was no 3% cost of living increase this year. Teachers, due to their contracts did not get any cuts. To say that things were tense and stressful is a huge understatement! The district declared a financial emergency so that they had the option of opening up the teacher contracts to make pay cuts. Some teachers were even willing to take a pay cut, but many teachers had no clue how the budget cuts were really effecting others. I know this because as I drove for field trips and sports, the budget was always a topic of discussion and I enlightened more than one teacher about what it ment to the bus drivers. Thankfully, the district is saying that for the current kindergarten bus drivers, they will have jobs for us elsewhere in the district durring the middle of the day to make up those hours and they will pay us drivers pay for them, jobs like food service, playground duty, custodial, ect. This whole thing as been eyeopening for all of the bus drivers and some ugliness reared its head and some drivers may leave over it. I'm hanging on. I'm in a different place than many of the drivers in that my family is not dependent on my pay (some months we are, but for the most part we are not). We also have insurance thru my hubby's work. I do pay for the extra dental to cover what his dental does not (he just had $5k of dental work done YIKES). I am thankful for what I do have. God has been so good in suppling for our family. I see how he provides and am amazed that someone like me, who is so flawed and sinful recieves so many blessings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdd98EnkJNg&feature=related

Think A-B-C order

You have GOT to be kidding me!!!

I know I said that the sewer plant would be my next post, but something happened today that just has me floored!!!

So I picked up my kindergarten kids. I leave the school at 11:05 am. I just got a new student on my route. She was going to a daycare in town, but now goes to a different "day care" (or rather don't care). It is not an offical one, like with a sign outside that says "day care" and a pushbutton lock on the door. Rather it is someone's house. It sits back off the road a bit, but I can see the front door from my bus.

So, this girl is the second stop off. I am at the "day don't care" at 11:10. She gets off the bus, runs up to the door and tries to open the door. Locked. She rings the bell and pounds on the door. Nothing. There are two cars in the driveway but nobody comes to the window. She kept ringing. After a minute, I called her back to the bus. We have a very strict policy about kindergarteners. If no one is home or comes out to meet them, they don't go home. They go back on the bus till someone can be reached and if needs be, back to school. I radioed in that she was back with me. Since this is a new "day don't care", the phone number is not in our system. I was told to continue on with my route and stop back by her house after I was done.

ONE HOUR LATER I'm back in front of the "day don't care". If anyone had called in looking for her, I would of been notified. I had not been notified of anything. Again, two cars in the driveway, ringing of the doorbell and pounding and nothing. So she is back on my bus. I radio in again. "Base" is aware of what is going on and starts calling all the phone numbers on file. Finally, they got ahold of Mom, who is home sick (across the road from "day don't care") and asked if I could bring the girl over to her. When I dropped her off, Mom looked be all of 17 years old.

ONE HOUR LATER, at home, now 1pm. I get a phone call from the dispatcher asking where the girl is. Seems that Dad is just getting around to looking for her TWO HOURS after she was supposed to be dropped off at "day don't care".

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!!

I replayed the whole story to my dispatcher. When I talked to her later, she said that Dad tried to push it back on us (the bus driver and transportation) saying that the "day don't care" provider was standing outside waiting for me and I never showed up. BULL!!!! I was sitting in the road for almost 2 minutes the first time and almost 5 mins the second time.

It just makes me sooooo MAD that it takes 2 flippen hours to get around to looking for a 5 year old. If my child didnt' show up 10 minutes after the scheduled time, I was on the phone tracking her down. I know day care has a purpose and that some parents have to work, but TWO HOURS?!?!?!?!

So much time has passed

and so much has happened since school started. I feel guilty for not updating, but that biggest thing I have been doing is adjusting. I am NOT a morning person. Never have been, never will be. Yet, I ASKED for a route that leaves at 6:30 in the a.m. I must of been nuts!!! (actually I was wanting larger paychecks). Nathan would have to walk to the high school this year so he has to get up with me. That actually should say I have to drag him from his bed at 5:30 to go with me. Eric also rides with me. My hubby got the okay to come into work 30 mins later so he get the girls out the door to their bus stop.

My route this year is a double route. I drive clear out to Timbucktoo to pick up high school and middle schoolers. If you go out to the farest point on my route and kick around in the dirt you will see the diveding line between ours and the next district LOL! After droping the high schoolers (and my son) off at 7:30, I swing by a gym in town and pick up the middle school girls basketball team and take them and the remaining middle schoolers on my route to the middle school. Than I stop at 5 different day cares in town to pickup elementry students. I drop them off at 8:05 am and than some mornings, my sister is waiting for as I watch her daughter while she works two days a week. I only have Brooklyn occasionaly and she rides the bus with me on those days. I also do a kindergarten route mid day than take home the same kids that I picked up in the morning.

I also pick up 6th grade band students on Tuesdays and Thursdays and take them to the middle school for band practice. We have 4 elementry schools and one middle school so they converge to the middle school for band. One day I overheard a student make a threat against a teacher. I don't think he realy ment her harm, but it is my job to report such items. He cried when I talked to him about it, but the teacher who was there thinks he was just upset about being caught and not sorry for what he said. I don't know if anything came of it, as he still goes to band, but at least I did my part.

I'm not doing field trips like I did last year. I was trying to make up for some lost hours last year and my family paid the price. I was gone so much it just wasn't worth all the chaos at home. I have done some trips this year, but they have mostly all been during school hours so I'm not losing time at home. I will make a post about my most favorite trip so far this year.

So, to wrap this up, I was tagged by Jamie. 'Cept I'm going to break the rules and NOT pass this on, but I will post 6 random things about me :)

6 Random Things

1. I hate spiders. I refuse to step on them as the crunch of their bodies makes me sick. I have worked in a nursing home, cleaned up poop, pee, vomit, blood, and packed wounds (including my own) yet I will not squish a spider. It about sent me thru the roof when I ran over a snake with my bus and I could hear it's body crunch under my wheels.

2. I wanted to be a truck driver when I grew up. My dad was a long haul trucker. So I comprimised LOL!

3. I love foods that are pickled. I have never tried pickled eggs or the worm in a tequilla bottle (nor will I ever) but if it is pickled, it is a safe bet that I will love it

4. I have a thing for socks. Not plain socks, but fun socks. I have socks for every major holiday except thanksgiving. I have had Betty Boop ones that everyone thought were cows, I had socks from the Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas ( I found them at a thrift store), Right now I'm wearing socks with cute bugs on them. I also have some toe socks, but my big toe is too fat and they bother me.

5. I split my face open in the seventh grade while riding a snow mobile. It takes real talent to do that. That same talent is what made me break my arm the first time I ever played floor hockey. If you ever wonder why there is no more women's floor hockey at TVBC, just thank me!

6. My girls were all born on Thursday. My oldes on a Wedensday and youngest on a Friday. Megan messed up our month thing. My birthday is Feb. Melissa's is March, Chuck is April, Nathan is May. We had a number thing going on too till Melissa came along. My birthday is the 24th, Nathan the 25th and Chuck the 26th. Chuck and I got engaged in May and married in December so I say we have a May to December romance.

Was that random enough? Stayed tuned for the super exicting story of the field trip to the sewer treatment plant!!!!

Buster the Bus Cat

So, the first full week of school has come and gone and now even the kindergarteners are in full swing. Things have gone pretty well for me and my bus. I am getting into the groove and figuring out times. The first week of school, all bets are off and they expect the buses to be late at least once. I had to readjust my route by 5 minutes....4 to be exact. I had a stop added on and if I leave the shop when my route sheet tells me to, than I am getting back into town when traffic gets heavy around the high school and than the middle schoolers are getting to school just when the bell rings (which means they don't have time to eat breakfast or get to their lockers before class) and than I am pushing to get the grade schoolers to their school before the bell rings. I used to take minutes for granted. Being 5 mins late was not a big thing, but now, being 5 mins late is HUGE! It is the difference between early and almost late and phone calls pouring in from concerned parents because the bus hasn't come yet.

I love how rual part of my route is. Things are starting to get harvested. This past week was the mint harvest. The mint ripening in the sun smells so yummy and it clears up the sinuses. Durring the harvest though it smelled like a toothpaste factory. The last cutting of hay has been baled and the corn will be chopped here in a few weeks. Just subtile signs that fall is comming, that and the need for a jacket in the mornings.

This morning, one of our drivers and her aid resuced a cat! They saw 3 kittens dead in the road and a fourth standing on the side of the road. So they stoped. The cat is now named "Buster the bus cat" and the aid is the proud mommy of a new cat. A super cute grey kitten, not more than a few weeks old. He fit into the pocket of her sweatshirt perfectly and was properly loved on by all the women bus drivers :P

All dressed up and ready to go

The signs are over the back door and say "Step into a great school year". The blobs on the ceiling are foot prints. I traced my 4 yr old's shoe and cut them out of construction paper. Mollie was my helper and she did great considering it was about 200 degrees on the bus!

Wanna see my bus?

Here she is!!! Bus 22 all cleaned up and ready for the first day of school. That was one dirty dirty bus. Some of the windows were left open over summer and each seat was coated with dirt and dust and even sand. Each seat had to be wiped, the floor swept, each window was washed. I even wiped down the ceiling and the rails over the windows. I also tried to get alot of the grime off the window frames. Than it got a good bath in the bus wash and decorated up!

This type of bus is called a transit. The engine compartment is inside the front of the bus, and the driver is sitting in front of the wheels. I really like this kind of bus. It turns sharper than the conventional (nose in front) buses.

I recieved my route lists too and HOLY CAMOLY I have 86 middle school/high school passengers!!!! Last year, not all of them rode, so we may be okay, but if they all come, it is going to take a crow bar to get them off. The route is basically the same as it was last year with a few extra stops. My kindergarten route is really different but I was expecting that. With the cost of fuel rising up and up, routes have been condensed and consolidated to maximize fuel efficency.

So, one more free day than BACK TO SCHOOL!