Hello my fellow teachers. We had a PAC (parent action committee) meeting today. I was invited so the principal could announce my exciting news of becoming accredited. Boy has that woman been kissing my butt lately. She has been getting all sorts of praise from all over the district thanks to me. She didn't do a darn thing, and everyone is acting like she did. That is okay, I know how much I earned this. Anyway, as a result of attending that meeting, I ended up on the School Leadership Committee. I didn't plan on it, but there seem to be a lot of things happening with my career that I didn't expect lately. I don't mind, after all, the meetings take place during school hours, and I will get input on major decisions.

My aide is on maternity leave. She used a lot of sick time last year, and I was hoping that she wouldn't come back and would be replaced by someone more committed. Well, the person who is filling in for her in the meantime is inept. Don't get me wrong, she is nice, but boy is she slow...in more ways than one. She is either on lots of medication or is mentally disabled...maybe both! She needs a task analysis for the simplest request. She has trouble understanding what she needs to do. She can't handle the kids. She takes forever to complete the simplest task. She is driving me NUTS!!!!!!! Now, I just want my old aide back. So what if she is out a lot. So what if she acts like the only woman that was ever pregnant...ever gave birth...ever had to take care of a baby. At least when she is at school, she does her job well. She has a good sense of humor, and really GETS me.

Sorry, I just needed to vent.

My eating was atrocious today. I didn't have time to exercise because of a faculty meeting and an appointment after that. In a few minutes, I have to start lesson plans.

Robyn, be safe. Be careful. And please, let us know that you are okay after this is all over.

Story, take care.

Diva, miss you.

Summer

Just a quick check in......

Things here are getting serious with the fast approaching hurricane. We were out of school yesterday...and will be for
today and tomorrow. There go our snow days! Saturday school
here we come! Yesterday we should have been at school! However, I did get alot of last minute details done being here.
We were not in school so we could evacuate if we wanted to.
So, I really can NOT complain about the missed days. EVERYTHING is closed today...as it should be. The darn "real storm" still hasn't hit N.C. yet....but this morning in my part of Va. we are already having rain and serious wind stuff going on.....
When it hits could be interesting.......we've done all we can to prepare.......

take care.........and watch the news...I'm an hour north of VaBch.
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, please.
Will check in when I can..........

riding the storm out,
Robyn

Geez Robyn, I surely will pray for your safety. While you still have power and the ability to, please continue to post so that we know you are okay.

Believe it or not, in coastal Connecticut where I am, we are having really high winds already. It was hot today, so I had my classroom windows open. If it wasn't nailed down, it was blowing all over my room. The meterologists are watching for tornadoes inland. We will be getting very little of the hurricane, and yet, the winds are terrible, and the skies are foreboding. I can't imagine being where you are.

Be safe, and take care of yourself.

Hi Story! Hi Diva!

Summer

Hi teachers! Robyn, I hope you are high and dry where you are, we are definitely watching your area with prayers for all of you. Summer, your area too, tornadoes spawned by hurricane storms can blow up so rapidly. We've had fire drills this year but so far no disaster drills.

Today, well, it challenged me to say the least. My own kids started me off on a less-than-positive start to my day (late for work, undone homework, whining, etc.) to progress to a melee in the cafeteria at lunch and a nearly being bitten. I was lucky I avoided that one. Also, I seemed to have more than my share of little boys shooting me dirty looks for calling them down to behave in class. I finally started telling them they better get that look off their face NOW. I wasn't the one shooting spitballs or pulling hair or whatever I got onto them for. If those kids could only stop and think to see how lenient I am compared to other teachers--they'd appreciate me alot more! Some of the stuff I let slide other teachers would have them written up for in a heartbeat. I needed a vent today, too Summer! I feel bad for you with your aide. It's a tricky situation to work so closely with someone and get along. My teacher depends on me for so much sometimes I feel like her keeper! But we gasically agree philosophically on teaching approaches and the important things. I'm stricter than it would be in my nature to be because she wants me to be, but like I said I still let alot slide that I guess I shouldn't.

Well I really should go ride the old bike, maybe I can make myself do a few miles anyway.
to all in and out of the path of the storm,
storylady

Story: Sorry about the bad day. I have to say, I tend to be very strict. Being in an inner city school where situations quickly escalate to violence (with parents too!), I have found it necessary to give my students a very short leash. My philosophy is basically this: If the children do what is expected of them, I will spoil them, entertain them, throw parties, give extra play time, give prizes, and generally be lots of fun. But, if the children don't do what is expected of them, all of the fun will go out the window. Center time will be taken away, no prizes, no parties, etc. I've left naughty children behind when we've gone on field trips. I've made children sit in a chair and watch while the rest of the class played. I don't mean to sound like a *****, but if they make me happy, I will make them happy...and vice versa. I never raise my voice. In fact, the angrier I am, the quieter my voice becomes. Believe it or not, it scares the crap out of them! It works like a charm. I have the best line in the school. I have total control by October. The only children I haven't been able to eventually bring around to my way of thinking have been emotionally disturbed children. With them, more staffing is required. I have friends who are more lax with their students, and their students walk all over them. I can't stand to watch it. The funny thing is that when my friends' students see me in the hall, they shut up quickly!

Everybody needs to find out what works best for them. My style won't necessarily work for everyone.

Summer

I was interrupted while posting by my sick daughter. She has a 101.6 fever today. We've been to the doctor, and it is viral. Every time we have a major storm, we have to go to the doctor. Last March, in the middle of a blizzard, my daughter was having surgery to have tubes put in her ears. When the weather is bad, I half expect her to come to me and tell me she is sick. At least we got to the doctor before the next round of storms comes. Apparently, we will be hit with the tropical storm again between 2 & 5 pm. Right now, it couldn't be lovelier! You would never know that tornadoes and thunder storms are on their way!!!

Robyn, I'm in prayer overdrive for you. Your area really got hammered. I hope you are okay. You will be on my mind until we hear from you again. Please be safe.



Summer

Well, the tornadoes and even the thunder storms never came. It was a non-event.

My daughter's fever got up to 103.1 by 3pm yesterday. Now she's pretty steady around 101. Her throat hurts, so she isn't eating much. If it was strep, the antibiotics would be kicking in by now, and she would be feeling better, but because it is viral, this could go on for days. I hope she is well by Monday. My district does not look kindly on using sick time. Last year, I broke my foot, and only missed six days. My doctor wanted me home for a month. I insisted that I could hobble around because I didn't want the superintendent getting on my back. Let's just say that I suffered quite a bit, my foot didn't heal as well as it should have, and in the end, the administrators still complained about sick time used (my total for the year was 8). Later in the year, a colleague also broke her foot. She was out for eight weeks. I bet the superintendent went nuts!

This morning, my husband watched my daughter so that I could attend a workshop I had signed up for last spring. It was at the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, CT. It was called, Circusworks Educational Seminar. We learned how to use a circus theme across the curriculum. It was soooooo cool! The arrival was difficult though because there were protesters in front of the museum. I am an animal lover, and I believe with my whole heart that the animals in the RBBB circus are well cared for. As I attempted to walk into the museum, they started shouting at me, "Don't teach our children to abuse animals! You are a cruel and evil ***** if you go in that museum! Shame on you!" It was horrible. The security guard saw what was going on and escorted me into the museum. During the workshop, while we had fun learning how to juggle and do lots of other fun stuff, we also were educated about the circus. RBBB circus are the only organization trying to save the Asian elephant. They are an endangered species with only 30,000 left in the world. RBBB has 70 Asian elephants at a nature preserve in Florida. They are breeding them, protecting them, and taking care of them even through retirement until their natural death at approximately age 60. We saw videotape on the place. It was magnificent. There is nothing about that place that looks harmful. Instead, it looks like a wonderful place. After having a wonderful workshop where I got lots of ideas for the classroom, I had to leave and go through the mob again. I decided to call a friend on my cell phone so that I could more easily ignore the hostile group. They didn't care, they still yelled at me abusively. One lady followed me all the way to my car and tried to stop me from leaving when I finally shouted at her to leave me alone. I threatened to call the police, and she backed off. I was shaking the entire drive home.

When I got home, I pigged out. Boy, am I a stress eater or what?!

I can't wait for my Dr. Phil book to arrive from the book club. I really need a swift kick in the butt!

Story, hope you are having a good weekend.

Robyn, hope you are safe and sound.

Diva, how's it going?

Summer

Where has the day gone? I can't believe I've managed to "waste" my entire Saturday and the only things I feel like I accomplished are grocery shopping and a pot of stew in the crockpot. I guess we were having a good time and it flew by! I bought an issue of Light and Tasty magazine, published by Taste of Home. It has some really good recipes in it, one is the crockpot stew I have going now. I looked at their Low Fat version of Light and Tasty but they don't provide fiber in the nutritional breakdown so I didn't get it. It looked really good though. I have a confession to make: I am a magazine addict. Family Circle, Woman's Day, Woman's World, First, Redbook, and the list goes on. I have to really fight the near-compulsion to buy every one I see!

Summer, I'm so sorry you had to take that kind of abuse from those ignorant protesters. And it is ignorance. If they would only see what you saw for themselves they'd understand how misinformed they really are. I don't think I could ever do that, protest something like that and harrass people. I would have to feel so passionate about it that I couldn't help myself. I can't think of anything that would drive me to do it, thank goodness.
Glad too that the weather there didn't cause you problems. Our district is so lenient on sick days, it's funny. Last year I took my daughter to a Kenny Chesney concert in the middle of the week (he is the love of her life!) and I called in an unexcused absence. They changed it to a sick day to save themselves the paperwork and confusion! I didn't care, but I told them up front I was not sick. I had a chance to do something for my daughter that was super special, we had AWESOME seats and I was going. Kind of like it or lump it. I hardly ever miss work so I didn't feel at all guilty.

My eating, well, it's strange. Not what I eat, but when and how much. I've been STARVING (it feels like it anyway ) for the past 3 or 4 days. I eat a meal and 2 hours later I'm hungry again. I drink water, tell myself it's thirst, or whatever, wait for it to pass only it doesn't. I'm just so hungry, and I'm growing weary of fighting it and nearly hurting or giving in and eating, and hating myself for it. Maybe my metabolism has kicked in to a higher gear? I'm terribly afraid its the seasonal "pack on pounds for winter" syndrome that my sub-conscious is doing. Anyway, I'm beat from dealing with it, thus the stew. It's point friendly and should be extremely filling. Breakfast is still a bit of a problem but it's the after school evening hours that I thought I had licked that are giving me fits now. Anybody else go through this?

Robyn and Diva I hope you weren't blown away by the storm! Let us know how you are and take care.
happy weekend everybody!
storylady

Story, after-school eating is still a big problem for me. And all I want at that hour is carbs like crackers with peanut butter. On the days that I did stay on program, I was sooooo starving, I was ready to eat anything that wasn't nailed down. I know that I probably just need to consistently stick to the diet so that my stomach shrinks and I become used to eating less. But until that happens, I am ravenous!!!

When it gets cold outside, I love to make beef stew like my mom used to make. I doubt that it is low-fat though. But it is one of those "comfort foods" that I crave in the winter. It is supposed to be a very snowy winter in the northeast this year, like last year.

Tomorrow, I will be home all day trying to get my daughter's fever down. As of 30 minutes ago, it was only 101.8, so she is getting better. The poor girl's eyes are glazed over. She looks so miserable.

Take care! Summer

Hi Robyn & Diva

Summer, I was washing my hair last night and it suddenly hit me that I forgot to send along good wishes for your DD to get better soon! I felt like a slug. We all know how hard it is to have a sick little one. When mine were little they wanted me to hold them constantly if they felt bad. Still do, actually! My son gets body aches when he has even a low grade fever that just leave him miserable. I hope she's better soon.

I can so relate to the after school crave for carbs. I think I've gotten that under control, at least in part. It's the constant hunger that's driving me bananas. The stew I made in the crockpot yesterday turned out great. It has corn, carrots and butternut squash, next time I may throw in some extra veggies. Also, it has 6 quartered dried apricots, which I think sounds extremely strange but I gave it a shot anyway and I honestly don't taste them in there, it's just a very good hearty stew. I was even a good girl and portioned them off into serving size bowls so I don't overdo, or can take them for lunch next week. You could try to adapt your mom's beef stew recipe a little, maybe there are things you can do to tweak it that won't compromise taste.

It's supposed to rain here all day, yuck. I have to fight not to get depressed when the time changes and the days grow shorter. I hate being cold, and we have very mild winters here. Can you imagine what I'd be like if I lived where you do?! I'd be a basket case!! I'm still hoping to lose enough to get into some of my nicer clothes by Christmas, but the scale has not budged in 3 weeks and aside from the one pair of jeans my clothes don't fit any different. Even after all this time I've spent doing WW I sometimes still feel lost, like I'm doing it wrong but don't know how. And is this not the most pathetic thing: I don't feel I can go back to meetings because I'm ashamed of how much weight I've gained so I won't go until I lose at least 10 more pounds! I know, it's truly sad.

Robyn and Diva I hope you're both well and safe. Summer take care of the little one and know we're sending healthy healing vibes your way.
storylady

Story, I can totally relate to the shame you are feeling which is keeping you from your WW meetings. That same feeling is what brought me to the web. I was going to join WW online, but I had too many problems with my computer's compatibility and their security system that I gave up and searched for something else...which led me to 3 Fat Chicks! I chose it for the humorous name. Let's face it, we really can't take this tooooo seriously or we will have a much harder time. Just think, there is always one place where you can come and not be judged...right here. Most of the people here are super supportive, and if you come across someone who isn't, you can avoid them. Let's put it this way, you certainly don't need to feel shame or embarrassment around me. I've done nothing but fail at weight loss since May, when I began to gain back the 12 pounds I worked so hard to lose last spring. I've done a lot of things that would embarrass someone. So, please feel comfortable with me.

Thanks for the support for my DD. She is beginning to feel like herself again. Hopefully tomorrow, she can go to school.

Regarding the changing weather, my sister-in-law and her family all suffer from depression if they don't get enough sun. They moved to Arizona several years ago. Her son moved back for a few months, and he couldn't hack it. He became nearly suicidal. Back in AZ, he is perfectly fine.

I definitely prefer summer, but I'm okay until around the end of January. November and December are fun with the holidays. But once winter really kicks in around January, I am unhappy until late April when hope is in the air and my surroundings are coming back to life. June and July are my most favorite months. August is a bit too hot and humid for me, and I get crabby since school starts that month.

Take care, and have a great week at school.

Hi Robyn & Diva!

Summer

Dealing with my computer is the icing on the cake of my sh_tty day! I just typed up 4 paragraphs, and the website was having trouble. So now I get to start from scratch!!!

The day was a frustrating one. My sub aide is getting more inept as days go by. Either that, or my patience is dwindling. I have to work so hard to be nice to her when what I would really like to do is strangle her. It took her 3 hours today to photocopy and collate a 4 page document! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! I took way too much motrin today! My real aide gave birth today, so now the countdown to her return can begin.

Because I was out on Friday with my sick DD, my room looked like, "who did it and ran?!" It took me forever to get things in order. I got two new students. Don't people realize that school started a month ago?! And, I still have space for more to come late and drive me nuts because about 10 kids registered back in spring never showed up. This community is so transient. They go through several addresses and phone numbers a year. It is so sad for the children who could really use some stability in their lives.

The good news is that in spite of the sh_tty day I had, I stayed on program with WW. I logged onto Dr. Phil (I can't wait for his book to arrive.) and found out that I'm at zero hour. Supposedly I've hit bottom. (I think I could get even worse, but I will take his word for it!) He inspired to try today. One trick was to give up on trying to do low carb. I just can't be on such a difficult diet. I got to have my favorite after school snack, goldfish with peanut butter. The difference is that I measured out the right portion rather than just shoving them in my mouth until they were coming out of my ears.

I'm proud that I could have a crummy day and still stay on program!!! Yeah me!!!

I didn't exercise because DD was miserable and wanted to be held. But I know that my head is in the right place, and for me that is 99% of it!!!

Take care Story, Robyn, & Diva

Summer

Hooray for Summer! OP in spite of it all!!

My day, food wise more like, well .
I did ride the bike for an hour, though so I don't feel too bad. Yesterday I went overboard, for no reason whatsoever so I'm sort of trying to get back on track.

Tomorrow my dearest darling beautiful DD turns 14. I'm getting weepy thinking about all the birthday cakes I've baked and decorated on this birthday-eve through the years, the parties I planned down to the last detail, the gifts carefully bought and wrapped. My anticipation in her surprise nearly as great as hers. This year, she wants cash and a trip to the mall with friends. I miss my little girl, but am so boringly proud of this beautiful young woman she is becoming.

Birthday cake alert---need all the strong OP vibes you can send!
Happy Humpday-story

Story, good vibes to stay on program are on their way!!! You can have a piece of that cake, just make it fit into your daily points. If I've learned nothing else, I've learned not to deny myself...if you do, it will cause you more problems. Happy birthday to your DD.

I am sooooo sick. My DD gave me her virus. I am so miserable, and I feel so bad for my child who had to endure the aches and pains that I am enduring now. Yesterday, she was a little feverish, so she stayed home. In the meantime, around 9am, I got a terrible headache, and then the rest of the symptoms quickly followed including a fever. I woke up at midnight wanting to put myself out of my misery. My fever was higher, so I called the sub line. This morning I was worse. I had to get DD ready for school and while making a bologna sandwich for her, nearly vomited. At the moment, my body feels somewhat better, but my head feels like it is going to explode. This must be what a migraine is like.

Tomorrow is back to school night, and I have a ton of stuff to do. Somehow, I have to drag myself to school and do it all. Please send up some prayers that I can cope and that I feel better.

Diet? Well, since the smell of most food makes me gag, and the diarrhea, I lost 3 pounds. This is no way to do it.

Summer

Summer, so sorry you are sick. It's so hard to keep going when all you feel like doing is crawling into bed and staying there. My DS stayed home yesterday, low grade fever, headache and a dry cough. He said he felt better today but when we got home he went straight to his room to lie down. I hope you feel better soon.

Work today was not too bad, until the end when I had to have the "school cop" come and get a kid in my class who refused to listen and was winding himself up to become totally disruptive.
I hope everyone is doing well,
storylady