Let's talk about Easter first. It's a much more pleasant subject than the Strike (AKA "Walk-Out".....)
Easter is apparently Piper's favorite holiday. We just discovered this a few months ago. I thought Christmas would be her number 1 but it isn't...? And since Easter is her favorite holiday and since she has been wanting a bird as a pet for a long time now.... we decided that our house is already chaotic so what's adding one more pet into the mix? Are we crazy? YEP. I'm the first to admit it. So, this year the Easter Bunny brought the kids a parakeet named Aussie. (Parakeets are primarily from Australia, so Aussie it is! Pronounced Ozzy, just how the Australians pronounce it). We started off with a small, cheap bird for now. We didn't want to go TOO crazy.... Also, we wanted a boy since I read that boys tend to bond with humans better (woman can get territorial) and the only 2 boys at Petco were this bright blue one and a green one. I liked the bright blue, but someday if we get Aussie a friend, we will probably get green. Anyway, the kids are over the moon about having a bird. They just LOVE to hold him and they talk to him all day. He was extremely timid the first day but we're on day 4 and he's definitely warming up. We will let him fly around the family room and Lucy will pick him up and hold him and coddle him. Piper is still too afraid to pick him up. She likes to hold him, but only if we put him on her. She thinks if she picks him up herself that he will bite her. She will get better as time goes on.
Anyway, we had his cage set up next to their baskets on Easter morning and they flew down the stairs and ran straight to their baskets and looked at everything in excitement...but they didn't even notice the bird! Hahaha, it was SO funny. We stayed silent just waiting for them to notice him and it was a good 10 minutes before Sully finally saw him and started pointing and yelling in excitement. Once the girls heard him they finally looked over. Piper's basket was RIGHT next to his cage too. It was hilarious. We got it all on video, the amount of time it took them to see him.
Anyway, Easter was also on April Fool's day this year, and I'm not sure if you heard... but Mother Nature played the cruelest trick on us! She gave us beautiful weather on Saturday. It was 75 degrees and perfect. But on Sunday, she blew in a cold front and the temperature dropped 36 degrees overnight! We had a high of 39 with freezing rain and blustery, high winds. IT WAS FRIGID. "Happy Easter! I'm gonna give you a day that hasn't been this cold since the 50's!" Good one, Mother Nature, good one..... :(
Thankfully I took some pictures of the kids BEFORE Easter so that I could get shots of them to remember how darling they looked this year :)
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| No one knows why Piper was dying eggs in a swim suit on this day.... |
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| At this point they STILL hadn't noticed the bird cage. Is that not the funniest thing ever??? Their baskets are all emptied out and being inspected. It had been 10 minutes but no one looked over to the cage less than a foot away from Piper's basket. It makes me laugh so hard! |
I love seeing Sully and Lucy's faces pressed up to the cage :)
Ok. Next up- the Teacher Walk-Out. Have you heard what's going on in the news? Maybe you have, maybe not. I'll paraphrase the best I can. Basically, Oklahoma's teachers have the 49th lowest pay in the country. That's terrible. Absolutely terrible. I did not know this. I did not know that we are losing teachers right and left because they're leaving to go work in Texas (which pays teachers at least 20k MORE than Oklahoma) or Alabama (which pays 10k more than Oklahoma). What I did know, however, was that budget-cuts to the school have become second nature to practically the whole country. Every single state has faced school- budget cuts. But as our Principal stated, our state budget cuts have gone past the skin, into the muscle and right to the bone. THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO CUT. We need more money and we need it BADLY.
So here are some facts to know:
Teachers are part of a Union. Unions can go on Strike IF the majority votes for it.
Legislators aren't in office every month of the year (I also wasn't aware of this). They are only in office 3-4 months out of the year.
Oklahoma State testing in schools is this week. Failed tests looks bad in terms of keeping Legislators in office.
The teachers got together a couple of months ago and said "hey, we need more money. We can't afford any more budget cuts. If we have more cuts, we have to get rid of Art and P.E. And then if we have to do MORE cuts, we will have to cut school weeks down from 5 days to 4 days. We are losing teachers to other states that pay better so our classroom sizes are going up, therefore we need to pay our teachers better; we deserve raises. We are almost the lowest paid teachers in the nation, West Virginia just had a successful "walk-out" so we should too. Let's demand raises for every single teacher in the state AND demand money for our schools. Our children come first but we can't provide for them the way we NEED to. They are the future and school cuts just can't happen anymore. Who wants to march at the Capitol and demand funding for our schools?" 96% of the teachers in Oklahoma voted in favor of a walk-out. They chose this week because of what I stated above- state testing is on the line and Legislators aren't in office in the Summer when school is out. So it was now or never. They warned us of a possible walk-out last month. I didn't think it would happen because they told the Legislators their plan. They said "please pass something that puts money in the school funding bucket or we are walking out on April 2nd." The Legislators didn't do anything about tit. So, on April 2nd the walk-out began.
Here's what I think about it all.... I support teachers. I want them to make more money. They do SO much for our kids. I could kiss Lucy and Piper's teachers' feet this year. They are the BEST. I wish they made a million dollars. But they don't. I want them to be paid more..... I want our schools to have better technology, to have updated text books, to keep art and P.E., to have updated buildings, to keep staff happy by paying them what they deserve. I think everything they are asking for is fair.
What I don't like about this is the fact that a walk-out means just that: they walk out and don't go back to school until they get the money. Which means my kids are home with me right now and not in school. Which means they are missing out on classroom time. Which means I have to give lessons to Lucy at home, and she has NO desire to listen to me and do work. And if this walk-out goes longer than 6 days (we have 6 snow days a year) we have to add onto the end of the school year for as many days as they miss. Which means our Summer is shortened. Which is just not fair. So, I'm really on the fence about this. I understand they can't do it in the Summer because the Legislators aren't in office. But why plan on possibly going past 6 days?
There are hundreds of churches here feeding children, taking kids in so their parent's can still go to work, the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club are letting kids come in by the bus loads all over the state to help out, the communities are SERIOUSLY coming together to rally around the teachers and offer support in any way that they can. But when will it end? Last night, around 6pm the Governor signed a 2.9 billion dollar 'bill' that gives each teacher in the sate a $6,000 raise, all support staff a $1,200 raise and 50 million dollars in school funding. That sounds awesome! Historically, it's the largest educational funding bill ever signed in the history of Oklahoma. The problem is, the teachers asked for 150 million in funding, not 50. So, today school is STILL cancelled because they are still down at our Capitol and I don't know when they will decide enough is enough. They are surveying the teachers between 2 and 4pm each day. Basically asking them "do you want to continue the walk-out or do you want to come back to school?" The majority wins and then at 5pm they tell us what the vote is. So Sunday night, Monday night and Tuesday night we have been getting phone calls at 5pm telling us if there is school the next day. I have no idea what tonights' phone call will say since there was some progress last night, but I am PRAYING for my state. I am praying hard. I am praying we can get these children back in their classrooms and I'm praying the teachers feel better about their paychecks.
Since we are in "oil country" we raised the tax on what other states pay us to drill for oil here in Oklahoma, we are adding 3 cents to every gallon of gas we purchase ourselves, and they added 5 cents on all tobacco products. That is where the money is coming from. There are a few other things in there that I can't recall right now, but they made a few small changes and were able to procure 2.9 BILLION dollars. To me, that sounds like a huge win. But still, the teachers are continuing the "walk-out." And, let's be honest- it's a strike. A walk-out is just a nicer word for it.... It's state-wide, as I said. There are THOUSANDS of teachers at the Capitol. On Monday there were 20,000 people there. It's being shown on the news each day. There are hundreds of teachers inside the Capitol waiting in line ALL day to try to get a meeting with a Legislator. It's a big deal!
Sigh. I just hate what is happening. I am upset about the WHOLE situation. And really sad about it. I just want my kids to have a good education :( It's deteriorating all over the nation. What Lucy gets now won't be the same as what Sully gets, because each year it seems to get worse and worse. So, if you're reading this, please pray for Oklahoma. Pray for the teachers and pray for the students. It's all I can do from here.
P.S. I am thankful this is not a violent protest, and I'm even more thankful that our senator literally said that The Bixby district (ours) was one of the nicest, most respectful districts he has worked with. So, at least we are keeping the peace. We just need money to survive!
Hopefully this will end SOON!!
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Finally, Happy 1st birthday (yesterday) Fitz!  💙 Based on your vet exam and er, your development 🙊, the vets’ computer generated April 3rd as your date of birth. You’re a pretty sweet pup, and hopefully as you get older you’ll stop chewing and darting out the door when we open it. Other than that, we are glad you are ours. P.S. You really need a haircut but we are waiting ‘til your leg gets better before we tackle that! So for now you’ll just be a big, messy ball of fluff |
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