When you start with dog poo, your day can only go up

This morning, as I walked into the teacher's lounge a little bleary-eyed from the time change, one of my colleagues informed me that there was a lump of dog poo on the rug outside my classroom. Greeaaaaat. It was already raining, which meant indoor recess all day, and now there was dog poo on the rug.

It got better. I walked up to my classroom and realized that not only was there dog poo ground into the rug, but someone had also smeared it on my door, and on the windows. For some reason, the first thought that came into my head was passover. But what do you mark with poo? And it was gross because you could actually see the finger marks in it. I just hope they wore gloves or something.

So, being at a small, private school, I wondered whose job description included "Washing poo off doors and windows and rugs." Of course the answer was me. But, our principal is so amazing that he came down with a bucket of soapy water and a broom and we scraped poo together. He rinsed everything off, and I was happy I could finally get into my room and do some work before class started.

Again, it got better. Apparently the poo rinsing had gotten in through the door, so the whole area by the door was covered in water that smelled ever-so-slightly like poo. Mmmm, nothing like poo water and middle schoolers to make a room smell fresh.

The morning was a bust. Yes, we did have indoor recess, but the afternoon started to perk up. We watched "Cheaper by the Dozen" during lunch recess, and it's actually quite a funny movie. Then my 8th graders were really good and sharp, so that helped. I also received a free box of books just for taking a survey.

I think I may have a new motto: If you start with poo, you can only move up.