Evening Ladies,
Just a quick note to let you know that I dropped 1/4 pound this past week. Had a really bad day at school today with my class and the after school program class. Then went to my TOPS meeting and came home to watch the finale of Biggest Loser. So now I just got done folding laundry, making my lunch and dinner for tomorrow, laying out my clothes and getting my gym clothes ready for tomorrow evening. I am going to head off to bed and pray that the sleep with help restore my energy for tomorrow. Talk to you all later. Have a great Wednesday!
Kerry

Paisley, I love your wild pig story!!! :rofl: I would be the first one to panic about what to do. I am so glad you are here with us...you can take me out of my winter blues :( . I can picture you out in Hawaii where the weather is balmy and beautiful taking a walk...palm trees swaying, as I look out my window at the falling snow...we have about 5 inches so far, and it is FREEZING. Keep talking about your surroundings. In fact, if you have the ability to post photos, even better.

Elana, I bring a big water bottle to school. I pack my lunch and include a morning and afternoon snack along with my lunch. I'm on South Beach, and during the 2nd week, there are no carbs including fruit. So, my snacks are cheese and low-fat pepperoni. I teach preschool, so whole group instruction is only a small part of my day. I spend a lot of time working with small groups. And, during center time, when the children are engaged in activities, and I am observing or working with small groups, I will snack. They have become accustomed to me eating in front of them. The hardest part for me is getting to a sink to wash my hands beforehand. (Yes, I teach 3 & 4 year-olds without a sink or toilet in my classroom.) I am hypoglycemic, so snacking became a part of my lifestyle in the fall when I was diagnosed. Now snacking is second nature. It is all about routine. Just like me needing to get in a better routine for exercising and eating at home. I do great at work because it is all pre-packed for the day. Once in my house, it is REALLY DIFFICULT.

Kerry, thanks so much for your feedback and support.

Gin, a computer virus?! That totally sucks. :(

Mousie, any progress with your endocrinologists?

Robyn, where are you chickiepoo? I need some sarcastic comments to crack me up.

Okay, it is looking like either a delay or snow day tomorrow. I could really use a snow day, but then again, that means another snow day play date from ****. :dizzy: It isn't even a week since the last one. Whatever, it isn't up to me anyway...so I will just go with the flow.

My back still feels pretty good since yesterday's treatment. But, my neck and head are KILLING ME. I've been on 4 Motrin every 4 hours. I've had to take Tylenol as well. No pain relief. :( My arm is just one big bruise, but the pain is basically gone unless I put pressure on the arm.

My aide came back today. Woop-dee-doo-dah-day.

Hello people!

Sorry about being MIA since I don't know when. I am soooo busy that I can't see staight.

On Monday morning, I had a "SURPRISE" evaluation visit from the principal. I guess the 4 hours I spent messing with my lesson plans on Sunday paid off! She came in and sat for nearly 45 minutes! (You know, 45 minutes is a LONGGG time to fake things! GUESS that is why she came and stayed so long! .....For the record, I am *WAYYYY* too old to fake things for anyone let alone the principal! So... I didn't try to AMAZE her! I just kept on with my regular thing, done in my regular way, done in my regular tone, done with my same ole style! Must have worked, cause.... today I went in for the "after observation evaluation" and well, I done good! She said so herself...but in a much more "schooly" way!)

I am "having differences of opinion" with a parent. Her *CHERUB* is playing the two of us against each other.... but...as I said above... I am *WAYYYY* too old to give this "difference of opinion" much of my worry.... but MANNNN! BTW, I will win!

I have spent hours tonight working on a mid year self assessment to turn in. It is done. FINALLY!

Oh, and the stomach flu junk is running rampant thru the school. I do NOT have time to vomit (OR the other) for 36 hours.... altho...IF I have to get it.... it would sure be SWEET to get it overwith PRIOR to Thursday as I WI on Thursday morning! (Ok...so I'm getting desperate to find something positive to say about the stomach junk!)

I've done well with eating BUT I woke up WAYYY too late this morning to walk before school AND then my walking partner from school has the stomach thing going so I didn't walk at school AND then, of course, I totally forgot once I got going on my evaluation junk.... SO...excuses, I know...but the truth!

.......speaking of walking.........
I will NEVER EVER (for now!) complain about the neighborhood dogs being out while I'm trying to walk after hearing that WILD pigs are out and about and after poor Paisley's story.... NOW... I know how the dogs scare me and I can NOT begin to imagine how scary a wild boar must be....EVEN IN THE BEAUTIFUL TROPICS OF HAWAII... Just WHAT is "There is a wild boar blocking my path" protocol?? (JUST in case I ever find myself in a similar situation!)

......I just dribbled water on my printed evaluation thing....I MUST go print another copy and get it in my binder before I ruin it!

I shall return ...eventually!
Positive thoughts to all.....
Good sidewalk (that is for Summer and all her bruises!) and driving kharma to all!
DARNNN it is midnight again! geeSh! Gotta get up at 5 to exercise.....arghh!
take care!
meeeee

Hello All,
Just a quick note to let you all know that I am thinking about you all today. I got out of my bad mood this morning after coming to school and spending some time with my kids. They have worked really hard this morning to cheer me up. I don't know what my problem was yesterday unless it has to do with the way they were acting and the rainy weather we had yesterday.
Ginny bummer about your computer. Hope you can get it devirused and come back soon to visit with us.
Paisley glad to hear that you got motivated to go for a walk yesterday evening. Way to work through your exhaustion. Hope the scales reward you with a loss this week. Keep it up!
Robyn, you crack me up! Thanks for the laugh. The flu bug has arrived at my school. One of my kids was out yesterday sick because of it. Now I have two other one's complaining they don't feel good. So I think it has reared it ugly head in my room. I just hope that I don't get it. Hope your life slows down some what this week. I would say take the time to smell the roses, but if the flu bug is any indication I don't think you want to be smelling much around your school right now.LOL
Mouse,sounds like things have been somewhat tame for you this week. So did you find out any news from your doctors? Hope you heard good news!
Summer, glad to hear that you are feeling somewhat better. Hope your pain goes away in your neck and head. So your aide actually showed up for work yesterday. Hope you worked her lots. She deserves it!! Hope you had school today so you didn't have to have a playdate from ****!
Elana, I try to eat a bowl of cereal (Speical K)for breakfast and drink either a glass of milk or grapefruit juice. For lunch, I usually eat a salad or a sandwich, yogurt, carrots and some crackers. Then in the afternoon when my kids are having a snack, I either have an apple or some crackers. Then for dinner, I eat either chicken or a small piece of meat and eat some form of vegetables and drink iced tea. Plus I drink lots and lots of water through out the day. Hope this helps you.
Well I must be off my lunch break now. Time to tutor a student in reading. Talk to you all later.
Have a wonderful afternoon.
Kerry

I think no news is good news in terms of doctors. The medical endo wants to change the contraceptive I'm on, because there have been some studies that some of the low-estrogen pills can cause an increase in production of male hormones. I already produce way too much of those. But, I won't take a medication that I don't know anything about... and I can find nothing but standard verbiage on contraceptives about this particular pill. She had also suggested Yasmin, but I've heard/read a lot of horror stories about that one causing serious mood swings, water retentions and other unhappy things. So I refused that one outright.
She also wants to increase the dose of one of the other meds I take, which I'm not terribly thrilled about becuase I can't take it during the day. It can cause drowsiness, and while I can stay awake, I notice I'm distinctly unfocused from about an hour after I take it until 4-5 hours later. That's the whole school day, and I just can't be unfocused with my groups! So, I'm waiting to talk with my other endocrinologist to see what she thinks. She is a reproductive endo, and she didn't pick the contraceptive I'm on out of thin air... so I want to hear what she says before I change. But, our schedules just don't mesh. When I need to talk to her, I typically have to skip the gym and come home early so I'm available.
I don't think I said this... maybe I did, I can't remember... but ALL THREE of my kids got into the leadership seminar for this weekend! Woo hoo! :)
One of the parents sent me an email note thanking me for all I do with/for her daughter and saying that she appreciated my efforts. That just totally made my day.
Its not often that things like this happen, you know! :)
:mouse:

Well, at some point during the night, I decided that I really wanted a snow day in spite of the high maintanance snow play date. Unfortunately, we didn't even have a delay. Every single town surrounding my town and school city had either a delay or snow day. However, DD and I had to go to school on time. It was no easy task, but we both made it in one piece.

I have 4 new students...3 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. One in the morning is fine. The morning girl is a stubborn little sh*t-head. She was hitting all morning, and refused to go into time out. I picked her up to put her in the time out chair, and even though she is probably only 30 pounds, it didn't help my back. :mad: I have a VERY DISTURBED AND NAUGHTY boy in the morning as well. He already goes to Child Guidance. His mom is pregnant, and it is his mission in life to kill her baby. He kicks her and does bizarre things like put our classroom baby dolls into the pretend microwave and nuke them!!! He really freaked out the rest of the class with that one. I had to refer him for a speech evaluation because he talks like Buckwheat from the Little Rascals. I got the mom to agree, and then I snuck in a behavioral evaluation along with the speech. The afternoon girl has some MAJOR self-esteem issues. She sticks her tongue out and makes fun of my girls. She is REALLY MEAN, and when asked told me that someone at home calls her a Loser and does all those mean things that she does in class. :( I spoke with mom who just kind of looked really sad and gave me no response.

School is TOTALLY OVERWHELMING. I have massive testing to do for report cards. My aide came in late and left at noon because the electric company turned off her electricity and she had to take two buses and a train to pay the bill. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: My bulletin boards in the hallway are empty and need new work on them. However, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get anything done when my aide is out. All the people who come in to take her place just want to chat. I can't get a friggin thing done. I ended up taking a pile of work home (I always take something home, but not this much.) to try to catch up. My house is a mess. I have too much to do and no time to do it. :(

Okay, I like South Beach, but I can't handle another day without carbs. I am putting myself on phase 2 three days early. I will slowly introduce good carbs.

I still can't exercise because I am still in pain. :(

What a cheerful post!!!

Robyn, thanks for making me laugh. :lol:

Kerry, thanks for your good wishes.

Paisley, watch out for those wild boars!!!

Elana, Mousie, & Ginny, how's it hangin?

Evening ladies,
Good news! I am finally in a better mood. I went to Curves afterschool tonight and that put in back in good spirits. I even came home and begged my dh to go for a walk with me after he eats his dinner. Can you all tell that we have 50 degree weather here this evening? So I am just passing the time while he eats his dinner. I figured out my problem last night and this morning was stress and that TOM finally arrived. This is after I ate off plan today and feel like a wild boar now! LOL But I have stopped eating for the day and plan to stick to my diet tomorrow. Enough about me!
Summer sounds like you had a bummer of a day. Sorry to hear about all the issues your new little ones bring to your classroom. Having your guiding hand and patience they should start to straighten out here soon. That is my wish for you. :) I bet you are counting the days until summer already.
Mouse, Congrats on your three students successes. That should make you feel like you are on cloud nine. I am glad that people are finally realizing that you go the extra mile for your kids and are thanking you for it. I hope you get your meds all sorted out. Sounds like you have two good doctors who are willing to listen to you.
Robyn, Ginny, Elana and Paisley hope all is going well for you this week. Atleast we made it to hump day. Two more days and the weekend is here.
Talk to you all tomorrow. Have a wonderful Thursday!
Kerry

No flu! *THAT*Mom is not currently bothering me. The weather is great! No major things in chaos.... Life is good! oh....It is 6:15.... but I'm hopeful! :D

It is 6:15 and it is 63 degrees. The normal high is 48....so we're loving this! Actually it is rather difficult to figure out how to dress. Today when I walk, I'll be on the lookout for wild piggys...cause this is nearly tropical weather! :) It will be cooling off tomorrow...and raining! So tomorrow, if it rains, I will attempt a LONGER WATP tape!

Gotta run........ Hopefully, I will be back today and I'll share that the scale didn't move this morning. I know what I did wrong! Will fix it! ARGHH!

Everyone feel better! Not much beats a note from a parent thanking you! Way to go Mousie! Summer, hang in there! Ginny, YOU can't disappear! Virus or not! Just look at that computer and explain that you don't have the time! Paisley, LOVE your cheekbones! (I remember the day last year I found my hipbones! Didn't know I had any!) Kerry, Glad the rain has stopped! Keep up your great work!

Have a great day!
take care,
meee

Evening Ladies,
Just dropping in really quick to say say and TGIF!!!. I will come back and chat with you all when I get back from dinner and the grocery store with my dh. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Kerry

Hi, all. What crazy weather! I woke up this morning to thunderstorms, a tornado watch, and pouring rain. It was 65 at 6:00 a.m. By the time I left school this afternoon, it was 38 degrees, windy, and everything (including the flooded streets due to poor sewage systems!) was dry!
The kids were off the hook today. My new girl wound up being transported (IE, adults moved her because she refused to comply and move herself) to resource. Fortunately, not from my class, but this is only her 2nd day with us. This means she's not honeymooning with her behavior at all, and that's a real bad sign. Typically, that means the child can't control the behavior at all, and there is also usually some type of actual psychosis going on such as bi-polar disorder, or such. Most of our kids honeymoon for several weeks or months until they feel safe with us, and then lose it.
That means they have control over the behavior to some extent and we can teach them more coping skills, plus as they mature the behavior can lessen.
Thanks all for the congrats on the kid's success. I'm really proud of them, and am hoping that we are able to get all 3 of them to where they need to be Saturday. 2 of the girls chosen live at least an hour from the school, so its a major commitment for parents to bring them up to us on a Saturday.
Summer: Sounds like your new kids are headed in my direction. Somebody once told me that we diagnose and place kids in special education just so teachers like me can feel powerful and keep their jobs. I just stared at the person, and couldn't formulate a coherent thought. Now, though, I'd cheerfully tell the jerk that I'd love to be unemployed! Because that would mean that there are no children and no adults who have problems and need such extensive help to just have a chance at making it in the world. Wouldn't that be just wonderful?
Paisley: One thing I miss about my old school in Pennsylvania is the occasional Friday afternoon "happy hour". I don't drink, but I'd go anyway. Lots of times, we'd go to this cheesy bar that had the BEST chicken wings. And I hate chicken wings. Now, of course, I can't eat chicken at all, but I could then. The bar was really, really cheesy though, right down to those long plastic booth seats and the plastic table attached to the wall, astro-turf style carpeting, etc. I know staff from my current school go out, but their purpose is to drink and they always go to real bars. I never go, because that's not my idea of fun. I also wanted to point out that 4 mini-square snickers bars is only about 125 calories. That is NOT bad if you're calling that a fall off the wagon.
Don't beat yourself up over it. Thanks for the compliment about the advocacy. It wasn't easy to start standing up to doctors, and when I'm really down, I tend to beat myself over the head with the fact that had I done so earlier, I might not be in the situation I'm in now. I surely had the symptoms of this endocrine disorder my whole life, because I never had a normal menstrual cycle, and it just stopped completely after my junior year of college. I went 7 years without having another monthly cycle until my endocrinologist gave me progesterone to force my body to have one; and since then, have not had another one. But my doctors told me it was perfectly normal for a young woman to have irregular menstrual cycles, especially since my mother had problems with her cycle. I didn't fight with them, or even insist on blood tests until after the weight gain started. And becuase I'd hurt my ankle very badly in 1999 and could no longer walk for exercise, and couldn't swim (the pool near my apartment wasn't accessible), I figured that the weight was all my fault.
Kerry: Woo hoo! :)
Robyn: Thanks a bunch. It really did make my day, and has kept me going the last few days. The only administrator that I really respected and actually LIKED at my school is leaving. Her last day is January 28. The construction shop teacher and I took her out to dinner on Thursday. I'm really going to miss her. She is an awesome person with amazing insight into teachers and students. And the most horrendous part is that I can't help but wonder if she might have stayed if our head principal/director hadn't been fired earlier. I know I told you girls about his firing and about some of the things he did, like refusing to let me present at the international CEC conference this spring. I don't know that my presentation would have made it off the wait list if I'd had a paid membership, but I do know that my presentation wasn't even considered for a move off the wait list because I didn't have a paid memership. The presentation made the final cut, and since the idea behind it is the background for what might eventually be my dissertation, it would have been really valuable to present the core idea and do some reasearch to see if my theory works.
Well, I best get to bed. I really want to get to the gym tomorrow morning before I take the kids to the Red Cross leadership event. I need to be on campus at 9:00 a.m., because I told a parent that she could drop her daughter off early. She needs to be at work, and she's one of the two families that lives more than an hour from the school.
:mouse:

Afternoon Ladies,
I am was finally able to make it to the computer and sit for a while. I know that I told you gals last night that I would be back on to chat with you all later. But that never happened. My dh and I went to dinner at the local Mexican restuarant and they were packed. Then it was off to the grocery store to get pop for the kid's basketball pizza party we had today. Plus went to Wal-mart and can't go in there with out running into a hundred people that we know. LOL. Stopped at the video store on our way home and got Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again and Bourne Supermacy. Came home to relax and watch the movies and then was going to go back on line, only to go right back out the door to go pick up our 13 year old nephew who begged to spend the night with us. So after we came back home we stayed up until 3 am watching the movies and laughing so hard that our sides hurt. Got woke up this morning at 9 am by the phone ringing and no one was on the other end. So I just got up and went to workout at Curves. Came home got ready and went to the kids pizza party. I was very good though, I ordered a chef salad and had two pieces of pizza. But was able to stay away from the pop. I drank green tea. Then we went to see our one nephew play basketball. So for now I think I have some down time. Which is very well needed after the day I had on Thursday. I thought a communication device for one of my students had been stolen by one of the kids in the afterschool program. So they launched an investigation and it was through a talking with our speech path. that she told me that she was the one who had it. She had taken at the end of Dec. and never mentioned it to myself or my aides. So I felt really stupid. I was so embarrassed that I almost didn't go to school yesterday. But I went and faced everyone like a good person. They all said that they would have done the same thing that I did.
So how is everyone's weekend going?
Mouse, I hope that you made it into the gym this morning. I hope your girls' were all able to go and had a wonderful time. The weather sure has been crazy lately. We had 70 degree sunny weather on Thursday and by the end of the day we were down to 30 degrees with lots of wind and rain. It got down right chilly now and I think it is going to be like that for a while.
Well I best go and get some other computer work done. Talk to you all later.
Have a great evening.
Kerry

I have so much to tell all of you, but I must vent first. I am FUMING right now.

At the last Brownie meeting, each child was given a special envelope with directions for a special project. DD didn't get hers. My friend, who drives her to Brownies said that LMSH only gave her envelopes for her daughters, but not DD. She assumed that DD had taken it. LMSH said she handed it to my friend and tried to say that my friend was lying. Anyway, it created this big friggin deal.

Today, we went to a birthday party for the daughter of Little Mrs. Suzie Homemaker. I didn't want to go, but I've been saying, "No," to a lot of birthday parties lately because I didn't know the parents, so I said, "Okay." Well, I really HATE this *****. Yes, I know it is harsh, but those of you who know the whole story will understand.

We got to the party, and the games began. The girls got prizes and had to find their goodie bags. There was a beautiful goodie bag with their names in calligraphy for everyone but DD. DD was left out again. LMSH ran into the laundry room and came out with a bag that she had scribbled DD's name on. So, while everybody had a pretty goodie bag, DD had one thrown together at the last minute. Later on, she was lining the girls up by age. DD is 7 because I gave her an extra year in preschool. As an educator, I felt that my November baby would be more successful if she had an extra year. Well anyway, when LMSH asked DD how old she was DD said, "seven." LMSH made a BIG F*CKING DEAL about her age and that everyone else is six and how could DD be seven in first grade!!!!!!!!!!! I gave a short answer while keeping myself from saying that it was none of her f*cking business and trying really hard not to slap her. There were other subtle snubs against DD, and I managed to keep my cool.

Well, when we got home, I got an email from LMSH. In a veiled "thank you email" she mentioned that her daughter had really good manners when she didn't tell DD that she didn't want the toy we gave her today. She wants to return it, and had the nerve to ask me where I bought it so she could exchange it. I guess her daughter's good manners weren't learned from her. Honestly I don't give a sh*t if she returns the gift. But, after her rudeness all day, I can't believe she didn't just accept it and leave us be.

I don't understand why she is picking on my daughter. She is pure evil.

I am so glad that I don't have to see LMSH at Brownies. I really owe the lady that brings DD to the meetings for me. I'm gonna have to think of a special gift for her when the school year is over.