SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!


Need I say more?

Hey! I wasn't left behind this time!
Hope everyone is doing ok. Just been a super crazy time around here. Working on trying to get the water in my goldfish pond right. It's full of algae now, and you can just barely see the little orange fish lips when they come up to eat. It's making me insane.
I would like to say that when I went to the doctor yesterday, my blood pressure is down to 120/70. The last time I went to the doctor in January I had noticed that my blood pressure was beginning to creep up it was like 144/90. So, I guess all the exercising is really making a difference.
Still haven't lost a single stinking pound. But, I am trying very hard to be good. I will take the advice and up the water as well as record every taste lick and bite.
Talk to you all later when I have a little more time.
Pam

So you guys think that I can actually remember from the other thread and then post here????? My brains are fried........stressed whatever. But I will give it a shot.
Mouse - congrats on getting the recommendation published. Opps to Imp.....could not remember if he was a he or a she and I goofed. Nothing like a mature cat trying to act like a kittenish goof ball. Speaking of which, Fidget spent most of the time from 10-11 pm ( I was trying to read) attacking me, my book, my feet you name it.......what a space cadet she was!!!!! Then I checked the weather channel and tada!!!!!!Full moon. Explains it all.....

Deb- yup you guessed it right, ABeka for my Dd. I have her 3rd grade book, and she is working thru the additional pages at the end- but there are only a few of them. Later on this week I will have to get cracking and find something else for her. I feel so bad for her......she hates math now...and I feel like such a meany.

Summer- thanks for starting the new thread!!! Can't wait to hear how you have been doing!

Pam- congrats on the reduced BP. Makes you feel great, doesn't it?
Log all those BLT's for a week.....see if the scale budges. And watch/measure those portions.

Gee, yesterday Dh bragged....remarked that now he is involved with baseball/softball almost 8 months out of the year! (fall ball, summer league, spring training). Is that something to be proud of????
So, so day.....hope to be able to post more tomorrow.
G'nite. (Hi toanyone I missed)
Ginny

You are all gonna think me really weird, but I am blue. I miss my students. I spent so much time on testing, reports, and miscellaneous paperwork during May and June, that I feel cheated. I have more I wanted to do with these kids. They are now perfect preschoolers. I worked for months to get them to share, follow rules, and learn. Now they are ready for kindergarten. They are gone. I wasn't ready for this...not yet. Meanwhile, my coworkers practically ran each other over in the parking lot yesterday racing to escape school.

I have said, "Goodbye." I will move on. I will transition. After all, it is my favorite time of year.

So, as I swallow over the lump in my throat, I will say to summer, "Welcome! Welcome to those balmy, sunny days lying by the pool, ocean, lake (insert your favorite here)...welcome to Jimmy Buffet playing in the background as I sip a Cuervo Gold Margarita...welcome to sand between my toes, not to mention all the other crevices...welcome to uninterrupted hours of reading trashy summer reads...welcome to the smell of my coconut-scented sunscreen...welcome to flip flops and sundresses...welcome to evenings lit by lightening bugs and fireworks...welcome summer...

Summer, no Ido not think you are wierd......I think we all do this because we love kids, right???? Surely it ain't the pay, or any of the garbage....I get awfully attached to some of my kids, and actually get choked up dropping them off for the last time (especially my 5th graders who will be on another route in the fall). So~ I understand. The good part is they will remember you always and you get a new crop of munchkins to love in the fall. (but I truly understand what an accomplishment it is to get little ones to learn the rules...and their kindergarten teacher will love you for it).
Ok, nuff from me......feel like a pin cushion here....need some tylenol and a very good nites sleep.
See ya later!
Ginny

Duh.......btw, went to WW today. Stayed the same, which I am happy about considering as disrupted as my life has been recently.

Ya know, Summer.....If I wasn't exhausted, I'd be blue too. BUT... luckily... sheer exhaustion (and pain...in CASE you forgot my leg/foot issues! LOL) took over last week and got me thru the last days with my 1st graders...and the first days of official Summer Break! .....So for the first time EVER, I've missed out on my "But I just got them to where I wanted them....I don't want to give them back" blues! I'm guessing here that those of us who teach LITTLE kidlets might feel this a bit more than those who teach older kids... I mean, I seriously DOUBT that my son's 7th grade teachers are out here somewhere feeling blue that their time together is over! (::choke::giggle::choke: The mere thought of that happening is extremely funny! LOL

Today the doctor officially told me that he is not exactly sure what IS / WAS wrong with my left leg...but that I may begin doing whatever I want to! So. Stand back. I have until next Monday. On Monday, June 27th...... IT begins. I must get my fat fanny back in gear. I am giving myself the rest of this week....to rest (sorta) the foot (it still hurts) and to prepare. Yeah. Stand back. I need to do some math and update my little signature thingy...yadda yadda yadda. It ain't gonna be pretty folks...but I've GOT to do this. So. Today is Tuesday. I've got a 12 pack of Diet Code Red to finish and some cravings to give into. Come Monday, it is water, water, water. The soda will be the first thing out of my life. Even diet.... I've got a lot to do and to plan...so I will spare you the rest of my brain work!

Someone needs to go to the old thread and put a link to the new one. I don't have a clue HOW to do that... Do you? I think Mouse is still posting there.

Summer.... I have plans to get some sand between my pale toes tomorrow! Today was spent at a gathering of my old school friends...one of my dear old friends retired last week...and so we were celebrating with a blender and some other yummy things!

Gin.... I know you hate your husband's dedication to baseball / softball... BUT... hang in there. I'm sure that they will invent SOMETHING for those 4 months that he has NOTHING to do! ((hugs)) Chin up, girl!

Pam... Congratulations on the change in blood pressure! The other day mine was crazy while in the ER. The darn nurse asked if I was under any sort of pressure or stress or had any worries. This was on the official last day of school. Besides being in the ER to be looked at for possible blood clots....NOOOOOO who has any pressures, stress or WORRIES?! :: The ER doctor actually told me that I needed to stay off my feet while at work. Ok...NO problem!

Oh dear... I've turned this into a rant! WHOOOO meeee??? Rant?? Will spare you any further ramblings for tonight!

take care.....
meeee

Hey!
Summer, that is sooooooooooooo sweet. Ok, do I miss my kids????Half of them email me. Someone is emailing me little clues for me to figure out who they are. I guess I am one of the teachers Robin was talking about...... It was a rough year over all. Let's just leave it at that and move on.
Ginny: No gain is great if you ask me......It is a full moon. We went to play tennis at 9:30 tonight because it was full when we went the first time, and the moon was huge and fat. Really pretty. My cat tries attacking the water hose when I am watering. She creeps up on it, slinks through the bushes and then wham.....I move it! It's quite a fun game.
Robin: I am happy to report that I have been gulping huge amounts of water today. Still drinking that one stupid Pepsi. I hope you will get back to your normal routine soon. You can do it.
I have a stupid stupid yeast infection not in the normal place that one gets one, but underneath that roll of fat on my stomach. I am going insane. It is so itchy..............I feel like I could just take a brush and scratch. Went to the doctor, she said to blow dry it after a bath and gave me some cream, which really isn't working. She said that sitting in a wet bathing suit doesn't help. So, I have been out of the pool for a few days. Need to replant some flowers, but it's been so hot..............
Hey to everyone else! See you guys later.
Pam

Well... so I'm the one that got left behind this time. Oh well! I FOUND YOU!!!!!
Ha! Just try hiding!

I don't remember what I said to everybody last time... Except, I do remember asking Summer if we were going to do a summer edition.

Summer: You have no idea... I didn't get to say good-bye to my kids at all. They kicked me out and off campus with no warning; I wasn't even allowed to go to graduation. I was with some of those kids for THREE YEARS, YEAR ROUND practically. I took them on out of state field trips, I went camping with them, I FED them! For 2 years running we had huge birthday parties (pizza or chinese food, brownies or cake, etc) because my birthday and 2 of my student's birthdays were within the same week!
I used to buy my homeroom lunch once a month (out of my own pocket: not too hard because I imposed a $5/limit, and you can do that at the sub shops and chinese places around here)... behavior incentive and grades. I was SERIOUSLY blue the day before graduation. Graduation was the day after my birthday; my friends from Virginia were up here and had to practically DRAG me out of the apartment to go dinner. Then I drove home and cried the whole way because it REALLY hit me. I'm glad we didn't go see the Lion King; I would probably have cried everytime I heard the songs.
Top it off with how they treated my belongings, which showed up that same week...
And Robyn: I teach secondary! I DO miss my students. Maybe its because I'm a self-contained teacher? I dunno. And this last place was really hard because it was a high school, and I was there for 3 years; the kids would actually come back to talk to me or hang out in my room in the morning. I'd never had that in the middle schools before, and since I'm also a special ed teacher it was a unique experience.
Robyn: Soda. I can't give it up... I only drink diet, non-caffinated soda at this point (except the Pepsi One which has caffeine). I just can't drink the amazing amounts of water they want... completely plain water (bottled or tap) just makes me nauseated. I drink lots of decaf iced tea; I can drink club soda or seltzer, but even seltzer sometimes makes me gag. So they finally backed off and said non-caffinated, non-caloric beverages of any type were okay. Especially since they took away my Propel (which is, literally, the only bottled water I could drink without yacking)... but it has some corn syrup in it, and is therefore verboten on this whack-o meal plan I'm on.
Okay, I admit it... I do cheat... but not much. And I'm nowhere near as nauseous as I used to be, and hardly ever throw up anymore. I've also noticed I tend to be more emotional when I cheat. Strange.
Of course, losing weight would be nice too. I'm not sure. On Saturday I checked, and I was at X54 with shorts, t-shirt and sandles. Today, it was X52 with capris, polo shirt, socks, ankle brace and my high shoes with the steel orthotics. More clothes, and I know those shoes add like 5 pounds to my weight if not more! They're HEAVY.
And I forgot to take my keys out of my pocket: had the locker room key and my car keys in there. So I might have lost weight. I have certainly gotten a lot more muscle on my arms from all the lifeguarding practice.
Pam: I'm familiar with those types of infections, and must note that I disagree with your doctor. I don't get them often, but I do get them because of the endocrine disorder... and the more I swim, the less I get them. If I don't swim for a couple of days, I'm more likely to get one... I think the chlorine does something that a regular daily shower doesn't do. Of course, I also won't go to my doctor about it... Too many of them get on my case about that type of thing being from my weight, and refuse to believe that my weight isn't even largely because of my eating habits.

Geez. I should go to sleep... its after 2 in the morning.

Summer - Welcome to summer! I teach high school and although I usually don't miss my darlings right away I do eventually miss them greatly. I also bawl my eyes out every year at graduation because my babies are graduating! Because I teach special education I usually have the same darlings for several years. Sometimes I am more mom than their actual mothers. A lot of them do come back to visit but some I never see again. I take a picture of each one in their cap and gown right before graduation and have a huge photo album of all my past students. Every year I go through my album at least once and get all misty-eyed over my kids. (So Robyn, your DS's teacher may be missing him as we speak!) I am not sure secondary regular ed has the same bond because often they only have the students for a semester or two and they have around 180 students each semester. They probably don't bond as much unless it is a special case. Look at it this way when you are feeling blue about the group you just lost, soon enough you will have a whole new group to mold!

Pam - Don't worry about the fish, goldfish LOVE alae. They will be fat little buggers in no time! Hopefully you will get the water doing what you want it to soon, then I think they are pretty self maintaining. Congratulations on your blood pressure going down. That must make you feel good mentally as well as physically! I actually have always had the opposite problem. My blood pressure is extremely low to the point where I would get dizzy or sick from it. Since I have been on Weight Watchers my blood pressure actually has been higher (still low but not too low). Not sure why that is maybe all the water I am drinking now.

Ginny - Staying the same is not a gain, so that is good. I know it is more fun to see that minus sign in your book but as long as you are not going up it is okay. I get weighed tonight. I have been trying to be good this week but my scales are not showing any loss. I am afraid that I am not getting enough water since I have been active outside in the heat. As far as your DH baseball addiction, just be glad he isn't into gambling or drinking! That is what I have to do when my husband's golf interfers with my plans.

Pam - Your cat attacks the hose and my 125 lb dog thinks that he needs to drink out of mine while I am trying to water my flowers (stomping on all the plants as he goes). We are working on it and he is getting better but it is so hard for him to resist! Look on the bright side, soon that roll will be gone and you won't have to worry about a yeast infection. That must be terribly itchy between the heat and the fact that your pants would rub it and irritate it all the time. Maybe you should just get yourself a two piece swim suit!

Mouse - That would kill me not to be able to say goodbye to my kids not to mention denying you atleast graduation! Why wouldn't they let you go there if it was only your communication skills and not any problems with students? I think that should fall under cruel and unusual punishment! Have you tried drinking Crystal Light? I tried it a long time ago and thought it was terrible but tried it again this year and really liked it. They have tons of different flavors. I really like the raspberry lemon-aid. They even have some that are calcium fortified for those who struggle to get their daily calcium in. They are only 5 calories per 8 oz glass, are low sodium (15 mg), 0 g carbs and have no caffeine! They often go on sale at our grocery store for buy one get one free but considering they make 6 or 12 qts depending on the package, it really isn't expensive. They also have single serving size that you can keep in your purse and pour into a bottle of water if you needed to.

Today is library day. Then I am going golfing (my choice) or to the beach (kid's choice). Maybe we could squeeze in both as it is the longest day of the year and a full moon!

Sue

I haven't posted here in ages--definitely time to get more support. My school year just ended, almost all of it on a very nice note. Packing up my classroom of course a gigantic hassle.

I have been a WW Lifetimer since Nov. 04 but recently put on a few extra pounds. This was entirely due to not writing down my food. I am still eating healthy choices, but that portion control element went by the wayside. Also too many salty snacks have led to some fluid retention.

My plan: cut out all salty snacks for a few consecutive days. Change my workout routine so that my body stays challenged. Go to a WW meeting and pay the stinking $12 if I'm over my range. It's not the end of the world, and the meeting will help me refocus my efforts.

Thanks for listening!

Elana - Welcome back. I too am a WW lifer (since May of 2004). I injured my knee in January and went into a bit of a downward spiral with my WW program. Now I am trying to lose the 7 lbs I gained. Luckily I was way below my goal, so I don't need pay but I did get back to making my weekly meetings a priority. I am also trying to be good about measuring and tracking again. Tonight is weigh in, wish me luck!

Sue

So far, I am OP today. I had a very healthy (portion-controlled) lunch and got my hubby to come home early so I can make it to kick-boxing class at t he Y. One of the best things about my weight loss (18 lbs.) is that I can do lots of exercise that used to hurt my knees.

I love kick-boxing and I'm psyched that I can take it up again. I am having some end-of-year aggravation about my renewal contract (I'm sure several of you have been down this road) so the idea of punching for an hour sounds great!

Evening, all.

Sue: I'm allergic to Nutrasweet/aspartame, so I can't have the powdered Crystal Light. The pre-mixed stuff in bottles uses Splenda, so I buy it sometimes if its on-sale at Target or the store. The personal sized pouches of iced tea (two brands: 4C or Tetley, and Lipton) both use Splenda. The Tetley one has 4 kinds: green tea, decaf regular, caf regular, and raspberry. I bought the decaf today at the store since it was on sale: $4.99 for 20, where the Lipton one is $3.49 for 10.
I am not sure how much I swam today, but I swam for more than an hour, and when I did my "pacing lap" (so I can figure out how many laps I did; I always do it at the end because I swim slower then!), I did it in just over 30 seconds. I refuse to believe that I swam 144 lengths, though, so I put 1.5 miles here, and on the board at the gym. The lifeguard watched and pointed out that I'm "kicking butt" at the Chesapeake Bay swim we're doing: I'm in 4th place overall, and I might be the 3rd place women's finisher... if I pay my fee. The gym's Chesapeake Bay swim is 9 miles total instead of just the 4.0 miles of the real one.
Oh, and about graduation: they did it just because they could and to be mean. I was allowed to give graduation gifts to some of the seniors (only 3 of them were ready on time, so the other 3 didn't get their gifts because the gift cards I ordered got screwed up)... but couldn't give them the gifts personally. I couldn't tell you why, but they do it to everybody. If you leave their employ, you're not allowed on their property, end of story. You're not supposed to communicate with other staff either... any communicaiton has to go through administration or human resources. I've watched them do this for 3 years, so I knew what to expect... at least I had other teaching jobs before this and my master's plus loads of good recommendations and a good resume. I have seen them completely destroy other professional staff's careers by refusing to do recommendations and employment verification forms. Some of the staff they've fired deserved to be let go... but others did not.

Hey guys!
How's things?
It's been a very lazy day for me. Bought a John Saul book at the grocery store today, so am about to start reading that.
Sue: I am rolling on the floor laughing my butt off at the thought of a two piece.. But, thanks for the suggestion. My dog is a big plant smusher too. She, however, hates water, she runs the opposite direction, so don't have to worry about that. We have a nice dog dish full of water, but she has decided that she likes this little frog pump I have near my pond. It's a metal statue and water shoots out the frogs mouth and cascaded down and back to the bottom. She keeps drinking all the water out of it, and I think the pump has burned up. I know the algae isn't bad for the pond, because that's what the hundreds of tadpoles in there are eating. However, it would be nice to see the fish every once in a while. I have just decided to change the filter everyday for a while, and then get more pond plants.
Mouse: What have you done for those infections? I AM ITCHING TO DEATH OVER HERE. OMIGOD. I told her the name of the cream I was given before, and she said, this is better, can't pronounce it (starts with a k) and it really isn't doing much. So, I went to walmart and bought this cheap anitfungal cream which is helping a little. It's crazy. Not too mention........Here is an embarrassing moment.....I decided to shave the bikini area...................ALL OF MY LOWER EXTREMETIES ARE ITCHING. My husband is laughing about this...I told him I would be the one laughing when I shaved him in his sleep.............. By the way, broke down and bought a coca cola zero today............CAN'T BEAT A PEPSI.... And since you've mentioned it, I will be back in the pool asap. It has been really hot and I haven't been swimming since I thought it would just aggravate the situation.

Welcome back Elana: It's been a long time. Sounds like you are doing ok.

Ginny: Are you guys through yet? We'll be going back to school when you finally get a break. Geez...........Happy to report that we turned in my son's application for college today. It's just a local community college. However, we figured that until we are sure he is going to make a committment to buckle down, we're not throwing our money away. Btw: car's in the shop again...........
Hey to everyone else....Should we put out an APB for Paisley and Kerry?
Pam