not your typical monday

So this morning I get to school and after I manage to get the door open to my classroom with all the crap I'm carrying, I am suddenly reminded that the fire marshall is coming today and that I'd better get that darn extremely flammable felt snowman (appropriately named Bob) off the wall before 10:30.

Then I hear voices down the hall talking about the "no water" problem. I hadn't even noticed the 3 locations of port-a-potties (aka "honey pots") scattered around the driveway when I pulled in. Apparently, a water main had broken the day before and the city of Portland water people hadn't figured out where the problem was. So the church went ahead and brought in the big bad green machines because the entire building had no running water.

Now, have you ever tried to take 17 kids to the bathroom when all that's available to you is a set of port-a-pots? No soap, no warm water, germs running rampant. It's mildy disgusting to say the least. Somehow, bottles of Purell just don't seem to be as effective. Purell doesn't even appear to work on the normal runny nose situation I deal with on a daily basis. Not to mention that we've had more kids out sick with fevers the last 2 weeks and I've used nearly half my supply of disinfecting wipes.

Besides all that, there's the nasty aroma of rotten eggs in the air. The gas people had to be called. I was beginning to envision myself going home sick from breathing in all these nasty fumes and then seeing myself on the 5:00 news. The natural gas guy shows up with his little "find the leak" machine and starts going classroom to classroom. Turns out, a couple pilot lights on the furnace were out and we were getting all the fumes.

Well, I'm happy to report that I neither got sick or ended up being blown to bits when the building exploded! Bob the snowman is resting comfortably until next January. The fire marshall is coming tomorrow instead. The senior center across the parking lot has running water and soap in the bathrooms! And the kids were using Purell like there was no tomorrow. Now that they've killed off all the good germs - you know, the ones you hear about on 20/20 and Dateline - we'll see what else can happen on a Monday. But not next week, cause we have Monday off for President's Day! Yippee.