Oy Vey or Hoo-ray?

Okay, so we are in the trenches. What a day. Left the house at 7:30 after getting up at 5 to write my "Non-Negotiables" to discuss with my GED class. Lots of new teachers to accomodate all the new students sent to BOCES from districts to get the help they need. With the Special Ed. GED job in the morning, I have to stand out in front of the school and wait for my kids come on the busses. Three girls coming from Sidney, 40 miles away, missed their bus and a fourth got on the wrong bus and went to a place called Ford's Creek. (?!) Dick (my heroic, fabulous Marine Corp. Vietnam Veteran aide) and I then take them to breakfast in the cafeteria. Everyone is nervous on the first day and nobody wants to eat. So we take them to our classroom and get underway. Thankfully, my dearest friend, supporter and mentor, Gretchen, has organized the required tests for me to give them on the first day, AND prepared some lessons in case I have empty time at the end. She has been doing GED for years and has mastered the bureaucracy of the GED system, which is vast and terrifying. Nothing is worse than a student getting ready to take the test and hopefully receive a high school diploma then finding out some paperwork didn't get done and no test this year! Confidentiality prevents me from describing some of the dramatic moments of the first day, but suffice it to say it was both satisfying and frightening at times. I crawled back into my barn home at 5:30, did some necessary animal feeding, spread some fiber out to dry, then had to lie down on the sofa. I have some salad greens and fixings for a light dinner and some mushroom soup - that's it for tonight. I have two bags half done, then night chores, then prep for tomorrow. Rain is forecast for my big Colorscape festival weekend. I have to make a LOT of creme tomorrow night, providing my jars arrive from The Chemistry Store. If the box is not on the steps when I get home tomorrow, I have to drive back into town and buy some canning jars from the market. Now you understand the Oy-Vey or Hoo-ray. Which will it be????