need to teacher vent. i am one of five elementary art teachers in our district. we were all hired at the same time, three of us are local with years of classroom exp. one is from out of state who had just completed her internship. when we met for the first time she was introduced as "the real" art teacher. didn't sit well with the rest of us. well, it seems that she is trying her best to make everyone else look bad. she has taken conversations and turned them around and used them against us with others in our district and also tries to be the one in charge of every meeting we have. she is driving me crazy. the rest of us went to workshops together over the summer and spent a lot of time talking and planning, we didn't hear from her once. we also shared everything we learned with her but she has refused to tell us about workshops that she has gone to or inform us about ones that she plans to attend. we so wanted to work as a team but she does not even know the meaning of the word. sorry, to unload on you all but i am just fed up with her better than you attitude and needed to vent. thanks
hope that everyone has a great monday!!
trob
Sounds like she is trying to boost her self confidence by making herself sound important. Heck, I do this at times too, BUT not at the expense of the team. Teamwork should be the thing you want to boast to others about. "I have a great team, I'm lucky."
The scale is up this morning...ugh! This weekend was not good. I didn't eat fast food or anything, but I just ate too much in general. I have got to keep myself busy on the weekends so this doesn't happen again. I am going to try to make it to my first weight watcher meeting today and see if that helps me stay on track and I guess I do need to start counting points because obviously I am eating too much food because the scale keeps going up and down and up and down...
Melody- WW is a wonderful program. You can also use the Core plan (no counting points) but it sounds as though for now you need the structure of Flex (counting points). Hope you got to that meeting!
Casey- glad your team is good........that is what it is all about, right?
Trob- morons like that exist in all industries. It was one of the big reasons I left my last position, a non team player who took all the glory. Hope it all works out, sometimes you have to document everything you do (so you know who can't take the credit) and perhaps gently confront the offender before you go over her head. I can't stand jerks like that. Hang in there.
Got my walk in this am........eating was ok, but I feel so darned fat today.
Can't figure it out. I was good this weekend.
Happy Monday everyone! I hope that your Monday is going smoothly. So far mine is going great.
I am really watching what goes in my mouth so keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow evening when I go to TOPS for my weigh-in, I am down a pound or two. That would be so awesome since I have gained back 10 pounds over the summer. My mini-goal is to be under 200 by Thanksgiving.
My goal by New Year's is to be below 195 since that is the lowest weight I have been able to get to since I started changing my eating lifestyle four years ago. I get to that point and then it is a mind set.. So I have to break through the barrier and keep on trucking. I am hoping that it is nice out this evening when I get home so I can go for a walk. The weather is beautiful here today. But they are calling for heavy rains and thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. I hope that they don't happen so I can get my walk in. If not maybe, I'll have dust off the vcr tape and put Leslie in and walk with her. I really need to start working out again. But it is just too hard with my work schedule this year. I will find the time sometime. Guess I will just have to only workout one to two times aweek in until I can go back to working out like I use to.
Ginny, I love the lay out of the house too. The kids would have their rooms upstairs and my dh and I would have our's downstairs. I just hope that we can get this house. It is one of the nicest ones we have looked at here in the last six months or so. Plus we could invite friends over and not worry about were they were going to park, were we would put them and the noise level. Since the house is out in the county, but not that far from the city limits. So we are keeping our fingers crossed. If not, then we will just have to keep looking until we find something else we like. So how was your dd's game yesterday?
Trob, I would just try to ignore her. She must feel that she needs her self-esteem boosted and this is how she goes about doing it. I would just work with the rest of the Art teachers and keep planning things with them. I won't include her in any information sharing or team planning if she is not going to act like a team player. I have worked with a few people like her and just ignore them or they will drive you insane. Hope this helps a little bit.
Melody, maybe it is just water gain. You will be able to take it right back off. I find myself sometimes letting my guard down over the weekend and over eating a little too much sometimes..Then I get right back on track through out the week. But I think we need to do this sometimes,so we don't hit brick walls and deny ourselves little treats every once in awhile. Does that make sense?
Casey, sounds like your school year is going well. Is the teacher taking more of the role of being the teacher and letting you be the aide now? Sounds like you are having fun coming up with ideas for keeping your kids on track.
Mouse, I hope your week is off to a good start. Did you enjoy a nice relaxing weekend?
Well I need to go and get my kids back on track. They are working on their math and starting to chat with each other. So I will chat with you all later.
Have a great afternoon!
Kerry
Hi!
Dh came home sick this evening (sounds like an early bad cold to me......) so I have some time to myself. Well, sort of.
Kerry- hope you can sneak in a walk this evening. It stinks that your schedule is so tough this year. Perhaps you will have to become the queen of the mini work out- shorter walks several times a day. It all adds up.
I am pulling for you that you are down this week. Funny that you have a plateau that you can't seem to break either.....instead of a glass ceiling, it is a glass floor. Me too! Maybe we can inspire each other to break thru the glass floor this year! You will get those 10 # off, that I know. You can be such a focused dieter/ excerciser. You can and will do this. I have a ton of faith in you. Do you have any of the Leslie tapes that are broken down into 20 min (1 or 1.5 mile) segments? Those would work on a tight schedule. The house sounds so nice......the layout great. I guess it has a bit of property around it too, which is nice. Hope it works out for you!
Well, it was Trob's turn to bellyache this am, now mine. Remember the mom who wanted her two darlings seated together? (oh, and BTW, the oldest has a thing for throwing his backpack over the seat back at other students).
Well this am mom asked me if would drop the back pack chucker two stops early as she had something to take his little brother to. I explained to her that I need a note explaining that, or a simple phone call to the office would suffice. And that a student's stop cannot be varied from day to day, only in emergency. I relayed all this to the office........no phone call, no note.
So I dropped bp chucker at the other house (after radioing in for final approval) and asked the mom there if she was expecting the extra student.
Oh yes, she was- she knew that the little brother was at horse back riding lessons.(so she will expect this every week) Oh, gimme a break........If these mothers only knew the insanity we go thru if a student is missing- basically we pull over, shut down and search the bus. Then each bus has to check back in with base to verify the completed search. Or if we have not left the school all the buses stay there- fully loaded waiting for the missing student to be located. And if the airhead mother forgot to sign junior out we sit.........for as long as it takes. Heaven forbid I took her son to the wrong stop (and had no note to authorize taking him to another stop). Ok, I know this sounds petty, but we go thru this at least once a week. Missing kids are taken extremely seriously. End point.
Well, Dd needs help with math.....better stop crabbin'.
Hope everyone is off to a decent start this week. Robyn, how you feeling???????
Nite
Ginny
I went to Weight Watchers this afternoon. I am going to try my best to stick with it and count my points and lose weight this time. I tried joining before when R.J. was about 2, but he couldn't sit still and wanted to talk too much so I didn't go back after the first meeting. This time though he was fine and there were other kids there, too. He just sat and practiced writing his name and drawing stick figures...he likes to draw families of people. A good friend of mine who lives next door to us goes to and we are going to try to start planning some meals together...we already do this, but now we are going to make sure they are healthy meals.
I am going to make it a point to get out my Walk Away the Pounds DVDs this week, too. Tomorrow is my long day because I have graduate class, but I am going to shoot for Wednesday.
Hello everyone,
It is Tuesday! Just think we only have three more days after today to make it through to another weekend. My kids have been silly today because we have a sub for my one TA. So they feel that they need to put on a show for her. But I have gotten more work out of them today since I am not cutting them an slack and giving them free time. Maybe if they get all their work done this afternoon I might be nice and give them a little bit before it is time to go home. Well tonight is the big weigh-in at TOPS for me. I hope the scales are being nice and the number goes down a little. Then it is off to my sdd's first volleyball game. She decided that she wanted to play it this year. It should be interesting since only two of the girls on her team have played before. So that is how my day is shaping out to be.
Melody, hope your day is going well. That is great that your next door neighbor is going to WW with you. That way you are not totally doing it on your own. Sounds like you have a plan laid out and are going to stick with it.
Ginny, well I didn't get my walk in last night. It was raining when I got home. Then my dh and I went out to dinner and by the time I got home and got stuff ready for today it was too late to put in a walking tape. The weather is suppose to be nicer this evening, a little on the chilly side but I might see about sneeking in a walk after my sdd's game. You will never believe the words he said last night to me. That he was getting fat and needed to lose weight. I did a silent cheer when he told me that. Then I told him that I knew what was causing him to be fat and how to lose it. I figured that is how he treats me about my weight so I would just treat him the same way. I thought you would get a huge kick out of that one.
Trob so how is your week going? Hope everything is running smoothly for you with your student teacher.
Mouse, is this week a little calmer for you? Have you been able to get any swim time in?
Casey and Angela hope your weeks are going smoothly for you. Well my lunch break is almost over in fifteen minutes and I need to take care of a few things before kids come back. So I will chat with you all later.
Have a wonderful afternoon!
Kerry
Hi!
Kerry, you had me howling! Your husband actually said he was getting fat???
Best of luck trying to get him to cooperate. But it might help you to find some healthier foods for the house and keep the junk out. At least for a little while. Hope the volleyball game goes well this evening. And I am pulling for you at the TOPS meeting. Hope you can sneak in a walk.
Melody - CONGRATULATIONS! I am such a die hard WW enthusiast....forgive me! But that is awesome. WW is such a positive program and how nice that you have company to go with. Are you aware that you can go to as many meetings a week as you like (and just pay for one)?. Lots of times I have to skip my "home" meeting- but get to another. I am not sure if there are other meetings at all nearby. Just thought I would offer that to you, not all are aware of that. Hope you can get some WATP time in this week.
Got my WW tape in this am.......a busy morning so far. Dd has piano tonite, so it gets me home late. Dh came home early last nite, rather sick. Me? I just keep ticking.....gotta go get ready for my afternoon. See ya!
Ginny
I know I will like going to Weight Watchers. I did read that you can go to as many meetings as you want to go, but I doubt I will try that much since I don't want to have to bring R.J. more than once per week. The leader of the meetings on Monday nights happens to be someone I had graduate classes with years ago and I didn't even know she had ever had a weight problem. She showed me her before picture and it was inspiring. She's about my age (30-31) and she lost 70 pounds. I need to lose more than that...but I know I can do it. One thing she said really made me think...she talked about adding up her points for the day and asked her if she still did that every day and she said yes. She's been at goal for probably 4-5 years but she still counts her points every day so it's a lifetime committment. In the past, I would never have thought about still counting points after I was at my goal, but that was probably why I have gained back weight every time I have lost it. Sooooo, I am going to make the point system a part of my lifestyle from now on so that I can effectively manage my weight for the rest of my life.
AARRRRGH! I just lost my entire post! I'd commented on Kerry's possible house (neat!!!!!), Ginny's bus and missing child things (yea, its the same here for elementary and middle school... for high school we don't go that far, except with my kids: the parent has to write a note if the child is staying after school and if something happens during the day, we have to go tell the bus driver that the child was picked up by parents or guardians), and Kerry's walking (it rained here all weekend too!), and her question about swimming... I can't swim until all of the sores from the vasculitis are healed (not raised; the raised ones are active, which means they are still bleeding), and no new ones have shown up for a week. That last bit is okay, I've only had a few small ones show up in the last day or so... But, in my case, several of the patches broke open (because I kept working and they were on my feet and ankles, especially my bad left ankle, so my shoes and socks rubbed the blisters. So... its probably going to be mid-October before I can swim again. At least the gym near me will be almost open by then; they are expected November. I hate not being able to swim, but at the moment I'm not eating much either during the day, so I probably wouldn't be going anyway.
As for the week...
Its not bad, but we've had some hairy moments. My Spanish speaker is still refusing to talk to us in English without lots and lots of prompts. He is refusing to do most of his classwork, even with visual reminders of what he needs to do, and a sticker chart, plus the regular classroom behavioral plans (the tickets and the marbles). Instead of doing his collage in science on the food groups, he read the magainzes. I felt like the world's biggest ogre taking the magazines away from him, and would point to the text saying, "no!", thena picture of food, and say, "yes!". My TA makes it easy for him sometimes, and I had to explain that we can't do that. He needs to speak, or he'll fail the alternative assessment... and also, he can't work or do anything if he won't speak. He CAN speak. We've tried giving him visual cues to remind him (boardmaker icons, digital picthres) and he refuses to use htem.
Our consulting teacher is going to come observe him this week or next week. And then, yesterday my ED kiddo was having a really rough day. One of my seniors told him that he was "just a junior" (which is true, he is!), and he got upset and got in the other kid's face. I had him in chill time REAL quick... I asked my TA to get him a lunch, and he refused to eat, just sat there and gave me the evil eye for the entire lunch period and most of 7th period. He kept trying to bait me, too... demanding to go to one of his other classes, telling me that his father said he didn't have to go with us when we go out to work (not true, and i have permission from his mother), all kinds of stuff. I did a good job ignoring him most of the session, but it was HARD. I'm a natural arguer, and want to explain things to people so they understand why I did or said something... and that just feeds into the behavior.
I hope he is okay tomorrow... I'm looking forward to going on CBI, and because its a work-site, he goes with us.
Melody- one of the things I love about WW is that it is a lifetime commitment- and that there is total recognition of the fact that it is lifetime. I keep threatening my leader, Laura, that she is stuck with me forever.......poor woman! But I love her and her meetings. Congrats.........focus on your first 10% - it happens more quickly than you might think!!!! I know it is tough getting to meetings with kids.....(two weeks ago I left my 17 Ds and 10 Dd in the van with dinner, we had been out all day and did fast food while I got to an awesome meeting. Sure my son bellyached......my response was "oh, well, too bad!"). You have to do the meetings.......they are such an inspiration. And it is so reassuring to hear the struggles of others. And so much support. Congrats again!
Mouse- glad you are ok......been a few days without hearing from you! This must kill you that you cannot swim. Going nuts yet? (sort of like me not walking) Hopefully sooner as opposed to later you will be wet again. It sounds as though you have your hands full with your students. Being an natural arguer myself, I can understand that. But it sure makes sense to avoid the arguement and insist on the appropriate behavior. Must be tough on you- I can't imagine how hard it must be with a student pushing your buttons all the time.
Been ok eating today. Ds came home sick today- he is in bed already.
Not much else is new. Better go watch TV with Dd (promised I would sit with her)
Nite!
Ginny
Hi everyone,
Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday! I think everyone is having a much better week this week.
Well I went to TOPS last night and gained a pound. I think it was from water retention. Since I drank a lot of water yesterday. But it was the kick in the butt that I needed to start excerising again. So this morning I got up and did my 2 mile Walk Strong tape. So I think I am just going to get back on the bandwagon with walking in the morning before getting ready for work. Then I will slow start working in my visits to Curves again in the evenings when I get the time too. My sdd's volleyball game was interesting last night. All of the girls on both teams were mostly first year players so it was neat watching them play. I am sure it will be very neat at the end of the season to see how they improve. My sdd's team has three games on Saturday afternoon. I think that is a little much for the team. They get 45 minute breaks between games, but still that is tough. My favorite show comes on tonight, The Biggest Loser. So I am happy about that.
Melody, that is cool that you have something in common with your WW leader. I am like you when someone I know says that they had a weight problem and they don't look it. But that is very true about what she said that it is lifetime commitment. I don't think that once I get to my goal weight, I could go back to the way I eat before I started my journey. How was your graduate class last night?
Ginny, I did dust the tape off this morning and put it in. I really am glad that I did my walking video. I feel so much better today and not as tired and sluggish. But I thought of you at 6 am while I was walking and firming. So how are the sickies doing? I hope you don't catch it. My kids are all coughing and sneezing in my room. I keep taking my vitamins, washing my hands and just trying to stay out of the path of their germs if I can help it.
Hope your day on the bus is going well.
Mouse, glad you are having a better week. Is there something your Spanish speaking child really likes to do? Maybe you could tap into that interest and tell him if he talks in English you will let him do it for a certain amount of time. That is just a suggestion. Glad to hear that your rash is sort of clearing up.
Hi to Trob, Anglea, and Robyn. How is your week going? Hope all is well with you.
Well I need to go and get ready for recess duty. Talk to you all later.
Kerry
Graduate class was fine. It's a fun class...no lecture...we all work together to present parts of the book and do projects, etc.
For me, in the past it has been easy to slip back into old habits. Last year at this time I might have eaten fast food 5 days a week and desserts often. However, I know that no one should eat like that and I hope I will never slip back into that habit. A lot of succeeding has to do with planning...having a grocery list, planning meals a week ahead of time, always having healthy snacks on hand, etc. It's easy to want to order a pizza or go by McDonald's if I don't have a plan. Speaking of pizza, my husband ordered a pizza last night while I was at class. There was still some left when I got home, but I didn't eat any and I LOVE pizza! So, there's one temptation conquered!
I hope you all had a good Wednesday...the weekend is coming!!!
.
You will get those 10 # off, that I know. You can be such a focused dieter/ excerciser. You can and will do this. I have a ton of faith in you. Do you have any of the Leslie tapes that are broken down into 20 min (1 or 1.5 mile) segments? Those would work on a tight schedule. The house sounds so nice......the layout great. I guess it has a bit of property around it too, which is nice. Hope it works out for you!
I am such a die hard WW enthusiast....forgive me! But that is awesome. WW is such a positive program and how nice that you have company to go with. Are you aware that you can go to as many meetings a week as you like (and just pay for one)?. Lots of times I have to skip my "home" meeting- but get to another. I am not sure if there are other meetings at all nearby. Just thought I would offer that to you, not all are aware of that. Hope you can get some WATP time in this week.
At least the gym near me will be almost open by then; they are expected November. I hate not being able to swim, but at the moment I'm not eating much either during the day, so I probably wouldn't be going anyway. 
But I love her and her meetings. Congrats.........focus on your first 10% - it happens more quickly than you might think!!!! I know it is tough getting to meetings with kids.....(two weeks ago I left my 17 Ds and 10 Dd in the van with dinner, we had been out all day and did fast food while I got to an awesome meeting. Sure my son bellyached......my response was "oh, well, too bad!"). You have to do the meetings.......they are such an inspiration. And it is so reassuring to hear the struggles of others. And so much support. Congrats again!
