SWIMMING IN THE OCEAN...SUNBATHING AT THE BEACH...READING TRASHY NOVELS...SLEEPING IN...GARDENING...BLOWING BUBBLES...ITALIAN ICE...FIREWORKS...S'MORES...FROZEN MARGARITAS...LIGHTENING BUGS...

In a couple short hours it will officially be SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SUMMER SOLSTICE...THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR..."I'M GONNA SOAK UP THE SUN. I'M GONNA TELL EVERYONE TO LIGHTEN UP..."

It is finally here...my favorite time of year...

Following our very wise Summer's lead...I will continue the song!
....

It's not having what you want
It's wanting what you've got
I'm gonna soak up the sun
I'm gonna tell everyone
To lighten up
I've got no one to blame
For every time I feel lame
I'm looking up


Today, I will
*drink my water!
*be aware of portion sizes!
*exercise for 20 minutes!
*THINK!
*write in my journal!

Each day is a gift! Untie the ribbons!


Take care!
HatterasMermaid

SUMMER SUMMER BO BUMMER BANANA FANNA FO FUMMER FEE FI MO MUMMER SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Robyn, thanks for picking up where I left off!!! Who knew there was a message beyond "chilling out" in that song...but you, my friend, found it!!! Yippee for you!!!

:grin: Its times like this that make me wonder WHY exactly, I decided to work at an 11-month program...

Oh well, I have 4 days off this week, 3 days off next week, and all of July 4th before I have to see my students again.

And I'm caught up on all of my grad school stuff (even ahead! I don't have another paper to write until after Wednesday!). And yes, grad school is another sign that I'm insane: one master's degree just wasn't good enough for me.

In a few hours, I'm going swimming... then off to grad school.

Welcome Anonymouse! Just think of it this way, 11 months is better than 12! I used to be a legal secretary with only 2 weeks off a year! I am beginning grad school in the fall. I'm a mommy of a 6 year-old, so I am needed home in the summer as well as the vacations during the year. I always knew I wanted kids, and I also knew that I wouldn't be one of the "lucky" ones who was going to marry a doctor or lawyer and be a "stay-at-home" mom. That was my number one dream. But when my number one dream didn't seem to be working out, I went with dream #2...to teach little ones and be home in the summer. We all have to find what works for us with what we have to work with!

Robyn, you sound very cheerful now. Hold on to that great feeling...revel in it!

Kerry, yoo hoo!!! I hope you find us!!!

I'd better be on my way. Tomorrow is graduation, and I need some rest. I'm a bit stressed. I just need my summer break to begin...now!!!

I have an idea which might help you water girl...have you ever tried ice-cold flavored selzer water with a twist of lemon or lime? I swore off diet soda because of a naggingly maternal coworker who daily told me that diet soda turns into formaldehyde in your stomach! "Do you really want formaldehyde in your stomach?" she would say over and over again. Finally one day I couldn't take it anymore and switched to flavored selzer. I'm so used to it now. I especially like it with a twist! Just a thought!

Today was graduation day. My darlings were absolutely adorable! They marched in to the instrumental love theme from "St. Elmo's Fire." They sang, "When the Rain Comes Down," "One Small Voice," and "Wave Goodbye." They sang beautifully! The parents went nuts! Then I gave parent volunteer awards to my 13 parent volunteers. They were not expecting this and were quite stunned. I gave out 4 young author awards, diplomas, and class awards, such as, "Best Personality" and "Most Likely To Be President of the United States." The principal said some words, and I ended with a poem sending them off to kindergarten. My voice only cracked a few times, and I didn't cry like I usually do...that will probably happen when I say, "goodbye" on Friday. I will truly miss these kids. They started out so undisciplined and immature in August and have become so well-behaved, sophisticated, and intelligent in June. A few of them I really love like my own. It is hard knowing that most of them I will never see again (they move on to other schools in the district.) So, even though I am thrilled it is summer, and I am really burned out, I am so sad to say, "Goodbye" to the majority of my students.

The gifts have already started pouring in. I got a dozen yellow roses, a teacher poem plaque, and some very cheap very awful cologne! Tomorrow is a pizza party and water balloons, then the faculty party after school.

DH is still miserable...constant diarrhea. He has a very bad infection, so he is being treated with two antibiotics.

Take care one and all! (Kerry, where are you?)

Hi Ladies,
Sorry I have been MIA. Last week I had to help out with my school's summer program. Had a couple ball games in the evenings to go to. Friday I had to go to the local waterpark with the kids from the program all day. Only to rush home, hop in the shower, change clothes and go sit outside for another ball game. Then Saturday I drove to my parents house to spend the weekend with them. I came back yesterday. Everytime I went to check in with you all, someone needed me for one thing or another. We went to our last ball game this season for the boy's. Now we only have one more softball game. Then maybe my eating can get back in control. I gained two pounds last week. So I called my family doctor to ask him about a weight loss plan or a nutritionist. I have to go in to see him on Friday afternoon. Wish me luck! Since this has been a nasty disagreement with my DH.
Well it off to the grocery store to get some food. Our cupboards and refrigator.
Take care,
Kerry

FORMALDEHYDE? I ask as I pick up my water bottle for another swig!!!!

My DD had her last day of kindergarten today. When she got home the phone began to ring, ring, ring. She got three calls in ten minutes...all from kids I'm not in a hurry for her to socialize with. Then she showed me the address book her teacher helped the kids make. They all wrote their names and phone numbers on the pages. What a cute idea! NOT! Her teacher is young, single, and without kids of her own...no wonder she thinks it is cute! She has no idea the can of worms she just opened. I had my own plan this summer to make playdates with kids we already know and get to know some new families that have nice children for DD to play with. There is a family from school that seem like nice people. Their daughter is in DD's grade, and they are friends at school. It turns out they live around the corner from us. We exchanged addresses and plan to get together over the summer. Once the parents have "checked each other out," the girls can take turns playing at each others' houses. My DD has been receiving and making calls all night inviting "undesirables" over and lying about her little sister named, "Elmo." (I only have one child.) So, it all escalated, I straightened her out..."Mommy arranges all playdates, and you don't have a little sister." DH overheard after all was settled, and he totally blasted her and upset her unnecessarily. AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the heck are the tween years gonna be like?! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

I got a giant order at school today from the early childhood dept. You wouldn't believe all the catty, jealous teachers who were interrogating me today about what I got and who paid for it...then again, you are all teachers, so maybe you would believe it. Why can't people just be happy for others? One of the teachers said I was lucky. I pointed out my accreditation plaque and told her, "No, I'm not lucky, I worked hard for this."

Okay, I'd better get off the computer. There must be a few kindergartners left waiting to call my DD and talk nonsense!

Hi Ladies,
Summer sounds like you are not going to have a peaceful house the next few days until the newness wears off about the phone books. I take it the teacher did not ask the parents permission to have have their addresses and phone numbers given out. I know that I would not like that one bit.
For the second day in a row, I have done good with my food intake. I am going to prove my insensitive dh wrong. He thinks that I am giving up on my weight loss plan. Little does he realize what it is like to have to watch his children and him eat different food then me at times. He keeps throwing it in my face, that it is all my fault that I am the way I am. But the other day when he was at the ENT doctor, she informed him that he needed to eat three meals a day. That only really eating one or two meals a day is not good for his body. He said that if he eat three times a day he would be fat. I told him that it is not true, he just needs to eat healthier foods. I told him that was why his 8 year old daughter is 114 pounds. Because she is not getting the proper nutrition. But once again, he is one of those people who always thinks he is right and never wrong. He can be a really great loving and caring person. But when it comes to my weight and working out, he can be a complete and utter as*hole.
I just hope that my family doctor will send me to a nutritionist. Then maybe when I have to make my meals, I can just squeeze some good food in for the whole family to eat. Keep your fingers crossed.
Have a great evening!
Take care,
Kerry

Today is the day of my doctor's appointment. Wish me luck! I am tired of being overweight. Help is on the way!
Have a great day ladies!
Take care,
Kerry

Kerry, Good luck with EVERYTHING....the doctor as well as your dh! Poor kiddo.... Doomed to wear Plus sizes and she isn't even close to being an adult! Good (heck...Better!) Nutrition / Exercise is hard to embrace when you are the only family member interested in it! Hang in there and don't get too frustrated by it all!

Summer, Was that teacher INSANE? I've got BIG kids who did NOT officially exchange contact info and I'm being driven insane by the phone with kids on the other end! Good gravy! Perhaps you should keep a log of the phone calls for about 2 days and then send it to the well meaning BUT CLUELESS teacher! I bet she truly has NO idea about what those cute little books are doing to summers throughout! What gets me with my kids as well as with your kiddos classmates....WHERE are the parents of the others? I mean do these kids have free use of the phones, etc???

Jimmy Buffett is on Today! How cool! Standing in Rockerfeller Plaza having a Tropical Party! I sure miss our ParrotHead Days! But trust me.... I'm singing loud here in UnTropical VA...in my pajamas! I like mine with lettuce and tomato! Heinz 57 ...sigh... Phins to the right! Sighhhh....

OOOOhhhhhhh....remember I told you that my oldest and I went on an archeological dig? WELL....a photo of Stephen and I is on the FRONT page....of our local paper....In living color! I'm definately back to dieting! The photo sadly looks JUST like me! I've already gotten 2 phone calls asking me for my autograph.... Yeah, everything was fine until the camera got below my neck and well....the truth is painful! Everyone else is so excited about the photo! I'll live! Stephen hasn't seen it yet as he has been gone nearly a WHOLE week to Boy Scout camp! This will definately help that water go down!

If I get a copy of the photo...or a link to the newspaper arrticle...I'll forward it to you all! I bet it will EVEN help YOU stick to YOUR plan! :LOL:

Take care,
meeee

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...I FEEL FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel great, knowing that I have seven weeks of freedom (somewhat...I'm still a mom, a wife, have to do housework and pay bills) ahead of me. But I feel like I didn't quite finish teaching my classes...like there was more for me to give them. I also shed a lot of tears during the last couple of days. Some of them, I will REALLY MISS.

But, all that aside, I AM QUITE THRILLED THAT IT IS MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR, AND I AM OUT OF SCHOOL!!!

The phone calls have died down, and I certainly am not bringing it up. I did mention to DD that we need to be selective about our play dates, and I need to get to know each of the parents. I just can't imagine letting my kindergartner play at a stranger's house. There are just too many weirdos out there now. Her teacher was just plain naive and clueless. I was gonna complain to the school, but I think I will just drop it.

Kerry, my DH is just like yours. Sometimes I wish I was alone so that I didn't have to listen to the complaining. I am so sorry for your stepdaughter. It is so tough to be an overweight child. And it is a very delicate situation because you don't want her to go the other way and become bulimic or anorexic. I would seek professional help for her before it is too late. I hope all goes well at the doctor for you and you get the support you need. FYI, when I was 13 I did Weight Watchers for the first time. I only needed to lose 15 pounds. My sister and mom told me I would never succeed, and I used my anger toward them to fuel my determination to lose weight. I lost all the weight, and didn't have a weight problem again until I was in my 20's when my mother died. Maybe you could use your anger to help you. It doesn't work for me anymore unfortunately.

Robyn, I LOVE JIMMY BUFFET!!! My DH and I drove to Florida on our honeymoon listening to nothing but Jimmy Buffet! I like my cheeseburger with pickles and ketchup. Oh, and VA is a lot closer to being tropical than CT! Being in the newspaper...oh boy...been there...last summer. DD and I were at a school bus orientation, and she refused to get on the bus. We were on the first page...her holding onto my leg for dear life! My large hips made it in the photo. I'm sorry that happened to you. And, I'm sorry for me...that I didn't lose as much weight as I had hoped to by now.

My dear friends, we need to grab the bull by the horns. We are all now relieved of our teaching duties for the next several weeks, give or take a week. This is our chance to buckle down, go to the gym, walk around the block, and do whatever is necessary to look how we want to look. The time has come.

LET'S DO IT!!!