Kerry, I'm sorry about that cyst on your back. Was it biopsied? Are you okay? I hope you heal up well, and people keep their hands to themselves while you do so.

Ginny, I hope your mom will be okay as well. My mother had a hysterectomy when I was 12, and back then, they did not do hormone replacement therapy for her because of the supposed cancer risks. The sad thing is that her quality of life took a nosedive. And then, 10 years later, my hormone-free mother died of cancer anyway! When I finally go full-blown into menapause, I will welcome the hormones. There is something to be said for being at peace within your own skin. Let us know how the surgery goes. Take care.

Mouse, good luck with PT. I hope you heal quickly.

Pam, two days?! Yeesh!!! I've got 18 days left. Congrats on the new do and that DH noticed.

Great news: Little Mrs. Suzie Homemaker (Brownie Leader) supposedly isn't going to do Brownies next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was already exploring new troops for the fall, but if she really won't be returning, I won't have to change troops. Cool!

Robyn & Paisley, How's it hangin?

Update: Nextdoor Nightmare has really gone around the bend. I think I told you all that her DM died, and she had a nervous breakdown...no kidding. She crashed her uninsured vehicle, and the next day was brought home by the police after being found out wandering in the middle of the night in a delusional state of mind. She was hospitalized in the mental ward for two weeks, and has returned home. She was drugged up for 24 hours, but has woken up...unfortunately. Now, she is unofficially stalking me. She bangs on my door at odd hours, shows up in my driveway when I'm trying to get to school on time in the morning, and appears peeking over my fence when I'm letting the dog out. Basically, I have to run to and from my car to avoid her, and the poor dog hasn't spent nearly enough time playing out in the back yard. We put up a bamboo shade on the side window of the front porch which faces her house to give us more privacy because we couldn't even sit on our porch without her waving frantically or coming over uninvited. The back yard is much more of a challenge. We have planted trees by her side of the fence, but they aren't growing fast enough. So, DH put up a trellis on the side of the back deck to block her view. It is gonna be a long summer with her bugging me. HELP!!!

My tummy cleared up by Saturday. What a horrible experience. YUCK!!! Thank God, it appears that I did not share it with my family.

So, I am working on my annual reports to the state and NAEYC, testing, and preparing to do report cards. I have to work with my supervisors downtown tomorrow, and we have a field trip to a children's museum on Thursday. We are doing an ocean unit and are currently making "Rainbow Fish." Graduation practice is in full-swing. An international food festival is taking place next week...I am representing my Irish side. (Next year I'll do Sweden.) So much to do, and so little time. I'm gonna miss my little darlings. There will be many tears before this is all over.

Busy day on tap.....school is closed today- we had one extra snow day that was unused, so they extended the Memorial Day weekend with today. Needless to say, I am not heartbroken one bit!!

Summer- so glad you are feeling better!!!! Stomach bugs are the worst.....sounds as though yours was awful. And the neighbor nightmare....wow. And I thought that I had some kooky neighbors. Does she show any signs of slowing down- you know maybe this is just a really difficult time for her and maybe just maybe she will outgrow this obsession with bugging you? It is a lousy feeling to be a prisoner in your own home because of some nut case.

Kerry- how is your back healing??? Did they biopsy the cyst??

Got a walk in this am....now am waiting to go out with my family. Yesterday Kitten- also now known officially as P. Fidget (or Fidget for short) passed her physical with flying colors. Now she is fitting in with our crazy home just fine, and getting along well with RC. No, they do not actually hang out together (I suppose that might come) but they do not fight and peacefully coexist. And for cats, I guess that is a good thing. Nuff babbling from me. Think I will go straighten up a wee bit. See ya later!
Ginny

Hi, everybody.
I was unofficially unemployed for all of... 45 minutes. I was asked to resign or be fired. I resigned... and immediately signed the letter of intent with the northern VA district, so I'm now employed by them.
I'll apply to a temp agency on Tuesday or something, and get a credit card so I can pay for the COBRA health insurance fees, and moving.
So... I truly did work with a bunch of .
I'm kinda peeved because they're hurting my students; I'm not allowed to come back at all... no good byes, nothing.

Mouse, what the heck happened for your school to ask you to resign or be fired. Your most recent posts have been health-related, so I didn't see this one coming. Not being able to say, "Goodbye" to the students that you put before all else seems rather HARSH. I am, however, happy for you that you are leaving, no matter how it transpired. Best of luck with your new position. I'm sure you will fill us in on the details of your new job and home.

Gin, it is nice that you are given snow days ahead of time. In CT, they just add them on to the last day of school or take away April vacation. They act like it doesn't snow in CT. Guess what? It does. We have 4 days added onto the end of the year. Last year it was 5 days. I officially have 15 days left of school...one of which is a personal day for my family to go to Cape Cod on a whale watch weekend...one of which is field day...one of which is graduation day...and one of which is the last half day when we hand out report cards and say, "Goodbye." So, we really only have 11 days of actual instruction left. I can hardly believe it.

Now that summer is looming, I'm wishing that I wasn't a "stress eater." I've made progress on my good days, and undone it on my bad days. I've exercised on my good days, and pigged out on my bad days.

Please pray for me. I really need everybody's support to have more good days than bad days.

Get a load of this:

In response to the federal "No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB), it is proposed that students will have to pass a test to be promoted to the next grade level. In the hope that this proposal will be uniformly adopted by all of the states, the new test will be called the Federal Arithmetic and Reading Test, or FART.

1. All students who cannot pass a FART in the 2nd grade will be retested in grades 3, 4, and 5 until they are capable of passing a FART score of 80%.

2. If a student does not successfully FART by grade 5, that student shall be placed in a separate English program known as the Special Mastery Elective for Learning Langage, or SMELL.

3. If, with this increased SMELL program, the student cannot pass the required FART test, he or she can still graduate to middle school by taking another one-semester course in Comprehensive Reading and Arithmetic Preparation, or CRAP.

4. If, by age 14, the student cannot FART, SMELL, or CRAP, he or she can earn promotion in an intensive one-week seminar known as the Preparatory Reading for Unprepared Nationally Exempted Students or PRUNES.

5. It is the opinion of the Department of Instruction for Public Schools (DIPS) that an intensive week of PRUNES will enable any student to FART, SMELL, or CRAP.

This revised provision of the student component of the House Bill 101 should help "clear the air" as part of the "No School Left Standing" Act.

Thank-you, Summer. I needed to read that last post tonight. I got a similar one about employee training in email earlier this week.
I find them utterly hilarious, because companies act like they really haven't got a clue about what the acronyms they pick mean.
Like... the Red Cross rolled out debit/gift card style devices in order to replace our ancient check disbursement system. Those were bad enough, being called "DOs",which stands for Disbursement Order, and people who could write them were "Authorized to DO". The new system is referred to as a "Client Assistance Card" or CAC. That's not TOO bad... but people who are allowed to authorize the cards are called CACAs... or Client Assistance Card Authorizors. So, basically, I'm full of Caca. Our disaster manager is hispanic, and he laughs so hard he cries sometimes when we talk about who is "caca" and who isn't.
Its lovely, truly.
As for my old teaching position? Their reasoning was that my "communication skills" haven't improved. According to a friend, that is the standard excuse when they want to get rid of somebody and can't figure out how to do it. In other words, since April (because I had excellent evaluations before that!), I stopped communicating. They kept saying that this had nothing to do with my career as a teacher, or my abilities in the classroom. Okay, I stopped listening after that point because you've just told me that you'd rather have me leave now and hurt the children by this move. So that means the children aren't first in your book, and that means its time for me to leave.
I don't want to move, but its not like I'm going somewhere new, and I don't have friends.
:rollseyes:
Gotta run... my friend from Long Island was passing exit 80 on 95 about 10 minutes ago, and I'm exit 53.

Hey!
How's everyone doing. Sort of been missing this week. Been a crazy week. The kids are gone gone gone. I still have to work until Friday. We have the most wordays of any system I know. But, it's ok. I've gotten a lot sorted out and cleaned out. Purging feels good. Took my baby boy to Virginia to spend time with his grandma since I still have to work. I'm almost childless. It's kind of nice actually. We went out to eat, went for a walk......etc....
I'm just ready to be through with these workdays and actually start my summer..............
Mouse: What in the world?????You mean before the year ended they asked you to resign or be fired? Did you see that coming? Was there another incident? That sucks. But,you will have a fresh new start....
Summer: I agree with everything you said about the NCLB. Bluck! It's gettting ridiculous here as well. I can't stand it.
Kerry: How's your back? Hope it's feeling better. No more kiddos?
Ginny: How's your mom? Prayers for her. Glad your new kitty is fitting in. It's nice when they just coexist.....I'm sure they will be friends. My cat, has a bunch of friends in the neighborhood. It's funny, they will be laying outside in the grass. Not necessarily right next to each other but close enough. Some days it looks like a cat convention.
I have gotten a ton of compliments on my haircut. One of the teachers at my school told me the other day to tell my hubby that if he didn't want me anymore he'd take me off his hands cause my hair cut looks sexy. I said Geez thanks. It's a lot of work. I am not used to having to actually style my hair. I am used to just throwing it up in a pony tail and running out the door. Because of the curls I have to blow dry it straight. Hubby is complaining about the blowdryer in the morning now. So, what can I do. I think my weightloss is picking back up again. I was down to 173.5. I've been trying to drink more water. I've also started walking again. Today I am going out in search of a bathing suit. I think the pool water just may be warm enough finally. I hope so anyway. Everytime the temperature of the water gets right, it rains and it makes it cold again. I plan on being a lazy bum for the next few days. I'm going to enjoy my time without my little one. He is a great kid, but it's nice not having to take care of anyone else sometimes.
You guys have a great Memorial Day weekend. I have to go fix my hair so I can get out of this house.
Take Care,
Pam

You got it, Pam. I have no idea why, there wasn't any other incident that I was aware of, and I had no idea this was coming. :grump: I'm SOOOO angry with them. The one thing guaranteed to tick me off is when you hurt the children you're responsible for teaching, and that is what they are doing. Our kids have enough trouble trusting, but for me to just "disappear" and not say good-bye to them or anything is flat out wrong.
That's what bothers me the most. This wasn't necessary, its not like I wasn't planning to leave anyway... Even though I said I'd stay another year to all of you, I didn't want to. I wasn't interested in doing so... the thought was horrifying to me. But I also didn't want to move from Baltimore, and now I have to. I had called from both of the systems that were most interested in me on Friday, and went with the one that offered a truly firm contract because I needed to have something in writing yesterday.
I'm sorry I'm not being personal with everybody... I'm kinda wiped by the whole deal.

Gee, I have lots of kids farting and puking on my bus so my district should make out just fine with the new regs.......will be back later to read the posts...
Ginny

Glad I came back to read all the posts.....

Mouse- what a crummy situation, but in a strange way I think this will be a wonderful blessing to you. It does force you to leave what was an abusive situation- can't believe all the nonsense they pulled every day. Poor communications?? Gee, to me it sounds as though the communications were fine- they were not listening!!!! Takes two to tango- perhaps they should look in the mirror . I just know that you will shine so brightly in your new position. (but I know what a major pain moving is). Congrats on the shortest unemployment period ever!

Pam- the hair sounds adorable! Ok, even if it is more work, sounds great. Try not to rub it in too much about being done with school for those of us yankees with about 19 days of torture left. Congrats on getting back on the weight loss wagon and walking too. Keep up the good work!

Summer- oh, how I understand the stress eater syndrome. Somehow you have to find a non food stress relief or eat large quantities of sugar free jello when under stress. I do a bit of both, and do not always succeed. There are times that the chocolate wins out....Perhaps we can attempt to set a goal for ourselves for the summer- say lose 10# or something like that. Want to try?????

Me, I am one tired pup. Went to Dm's house today to get some stuff done for her before surgery (Wednesday) and then flew back up here to make dinner. I am such a burnout.....needed a quiet weekend and am getting anything but that. Thats the way the cookie crumbles........did get a nice walk in however.
Off to get some rest....take care.
Ginny

Did someone say something about this weekend being restful? Need a vacation badly- tired of running around! Need my rubber room, lots of tea and a stack of good books and my sewing machine..can I add walking shoes too?
Off for a walk- need it for my sanity (what little is left).
Hope each of you has a wonderful day and can find some joy in what you are doing.
Ginny

Hello! Do you have room for another in your group? I just came across your post and was thrilled to see a group of teachers. I am 41, married, two children, 1 step son, two step grandchildren. I teach in a high school resource room. This year I taught Physical Science, Biology and 11th grade Literature and Writing. The principal likes to change our assignments around though, so who knows what next year will bring. He said that he would let us know our teaching assignments in August! He obviously doesn't have a clue.

Pam - Why fight the curls? Curley hair is really in right now and is so cute!

Mouse - Sounds like your administration consist of a bunch of jerks. Maybe this is the best thing that could have happened to you.

Kerry - I just found out that after 20 years of teaching special education I am no longer highly quailifed, so I'll be working on it this summer too. They are making us take the elementary teacher test. It should be interestinig! I thought about doing the portfollio thing but since I never teach the same classses, I would have to do one for each subject. Aren't politics grand?!

I live in mid-Michigan in a rural town. We have 4 more days of school but three of those are 1/2 day with students taking exams. It looks like the weather is finally going to warm up around here. I am so ready for summer!

Hey everyone!
First let me welcome.....What do we call you?LOL (Maintenance ? Momma? ) Welcome! I had to do the portfolio to become highly qualified last year. It was truly a pain.
Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend. I have been eating horribly this weekend. With the youngest son gone to Grandma's we've eaten out a few times. But, it was nice to go to lunch with my husband today. Oh well, tomorrow is a new day.
Had a bit of an adventure today. My son's friend called saying he was stuck and needed a ride which was about twentyfive miles away. I said ok, so my son and I hopped into the car and headed off for Travis. Well, he wasn't where he said he was. My cell phone was dead, so we stopped at a phone booth to find out where he was. His girlfriend showed up and said he was mad and walking down the road and wouldn't get in the car. So we drove forever, and right when we got to where he was, he was getting into somebody's truck which we had to flag down. His girlfriend was in a car ahead of us, he got out of the truck, got his stuff from the car and they preceeded to have a big fight........Blah blah blah...........Anyway, this ended up being almost a two hour ordeal, and they worked out their mess, so he didn't even drive home with us. UGHHHHHHHH teenagers............They apparently have some pyschotic hate/hate relationship.......I told him not to call me unless he was dead next time. He is my adopted son, but what a pain in the butt.
Maybe I will go for a walk. I have become so very lazy, this weekend. We're supposed to be cooking out, except my husband informed me today that he doesn't get off of work until almost 8! Awfully late to be eating if you ask me. I have a luncheon tomorrow. All these school luncheons and stuff are not helping.
Ginny: I am definitely on the lose ten pounds by the end of summer. I will set my goal date for August 8th. That's my anniversary and I have to go back to school early for a workshop. Sounds good to me. I need to be accountable.

Hey to everyone else!
Pam

Ok, Pam, lets go for it!!! I am not sure if Aug 8 will work for me, I will have to look at the calendar and see if it is realistic for me. I might hedge a week or two......let you know later! But I am up for the challenge- even the WW leader told me the other day that I am so close to being "lifetime" that I should gun it and try to get thru these last few#. Hope you got a walk in-which I am sure felt good after your teenaged hormonal exposure. Good luck tomorrow with the luncheon- keep your focus,go in with a game plan to make the best choices there, and aim for good portion control. You CAN do this.

MM- aka maintenance momma. Another person with just a few days of school left!!!! (I have more than a few). Congrats!!!! What shall we call you? Of course there is room for more here, and welcome. Are you on a specific eating plan, do you get any excercise? Welcome here- we share a ton or irreverent humor, sick stories, lots and lots of support and friendship here. It will be nice to get to know you better.

Gotta go- Dh said he is going to go for a walk with me........anyone want to take bets that he does not?
See ya tomorrow- Ginny

Welcome Maintenance Momma!!! I am at the opposite end of the spectrum from you. I teach preschool in an inner city public school. I thought of teaching high school English, but I would never do it in my district...I would need an armed body guard.

I spent my weekend barbecuing relatively healthy foods and gardening.

My lesson plans have yet to be written. My list of "to do's" didn't get done. Once I set foot outside, it was hard to come back inside hence my Sunday night post.

So, since I have a lot of catch-up to do before tomorrow morning, I will say, "Goodnight!"