This is too boring to even bother reading! (But the last paragraph is slightly entertaining.)

How time flies. Only two more days of work and then I am hopefully off for the month of July. Am I excited? Can't wait. People often express surprise that I would have to work part of the summer. What is there to do? Here is what I have done since school ended two weeks ago:

1. Our school traditionally gives each student a card which staff members have written friendly and encouraging words to the student. Each year, many students are either absent the last day or carelessly leave them lying about. I then get to address them and mail them.

2. I caught up on work that I had not had time to do the past two weeks of school because of the busyness. That means I was way behind on depositing lunch money. I also spent a good part of a day preparing deposits for yearbook money, drama, band, library, horticulture and various other accounts.

3. Year end reports were expected by the district office for the Mealtime computer program that we use for lunch money.

4. Daily attendance and tutoring attendance needed to be finalized and have reports printed out.

5. In the absence of the office manager who was using vacation time, I prepared many purchase orders to take care of bills that needed to be paid.

6. Also due to the above, I tracked down invoices/receipts on many purchase orders that needed to be paid but couldn't be processed until the district office received them. That particular job involved a lot of detective work and phone calls, but I was able to track them all down.

7. I cleaned out files, boxing up the attendance and Mealtime reports from the past year to be stored away.

8. I cleaned up the workroom and office.

9. I made phone calls and sent letters to parents of students who have been selected to come to summer school in August.

10. I met with administrators to go over the school information pages of our student planner, (about 18 pages of attendance, discipline, academic, incentive, and other information) so I can get them revised and ready for the printer this week. Also prepared a calendar of next year's activities for the planner. Finished typing it Friday afternoon.

11. I stuffed report cards into envelopes (about a week late because of glitches in another department) and noticed an anomaly in the way one teacher's final grades did not average with the three six-week term grades, which caused a bit of a commotion. Some final grades ended up being changed, but it all worked out in the end and thereby saved us some phone calls from upset parents and having to print a corrected honor roll in the newspaper.

12. Prepared an honor roll list and emailed it to the newspaper.

13. Shared our facilities with 600 American Legion members for their annual convention on Thursday and Friday, made copies for them when requested (at 5 cents a copy), smiled when several of them came in at different times to ask us to turn on the air conditioner (welcome to our un-airconditioned world), and called the custodian for various other requests they made. We'll see if they kept their promise to sweep up all the cigarette butts off the sidewalk out by the street where they congregated on breaks.

14. Answered many phone calls from parents wondering why report cards weren't out yet (some actually suspected their child may have removed it from the mail!) and from people wondering what was going on due to all the cars at our school.

Isn't that just fascinating?! Now you'll know better than to ever ask me, "So how's work?" I have actually been a little stressed the past week about getting it all done so I can get out of there! Monday should be my last day, but I have to attend a half-day training on Tuesday on a new computer program for purchase orders.

Then I will stay home lolling on in my back yard and enjoying my flowers. At least for one day. For example, isn't this pot of bell flowers (campanula) lovely? If only it wouldn't tip over every time it gets windy!

My four men are all off helping Molly move from her apartment to a house her dad owns. I wish they'd hurry up and get back because strawberry shortcake is waiting!!

Nick just got back from a week in San Francisco on a youth mission trip. It was really quiet here last week without him. Not that he's a noisy child. But he does things like rest a mayonaise covered table knife on Craig's arm and they end up running all over the house slamming into walls and various objects as the mature older brother tries to exact revenge, and I am yelling "Out, out out! Take it outside!" He also managed to spill a glass of strawberry lemonade all over the carpet at lunch today. His suitcase and clean laundry are messing up my living room. Yes, I missed him indeed.