Robyn, you are hysterical!!! You are also right on target.

Paisley, congrats on the date!!!

Mouse, good luck deciphering the behavior of those around you at school. I'd be confused too!


Paisley has brought back memories of when I was younger, thinner, and lived an entirely different lifestyle. I have great memories of good times, partying, dancing, flirting, etc. I also remember worrying about who the "right" man was going to be, getting married, and having children. It is funny that now that I have reached all my goals...marriage, motherhood, and teaching, I kind of miss the early years of dating. It must be midlife thoughts that everyone has.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE MOTHERS OUT THERE!!!

I remain thoroughly confused, but I suppose that isn't anything new. We had 27 staff out today for various reasons, and this is the FIRST TIME that I haven't been asked to change my plans because of the staff absences.
And, I got thanked for making a doctor's appointment late in the afternoon (although I won't repeat the words from the scheduling office that were shared with me when I asked for a late afternoon nuclear medicine appointment since the technician typically comes in at 6:30 and leaves at 1:30... he's staying till 4:00 for me on Monday!).

Summer: Maybe the chocolate is for hubby? I dunno. We got lots and lots of candy this week and other junk for teacher/staff appreciation week. I gave the majority of it to my students... the only thing I kept were some mints, and 1 single-serve bag of Reese's Pieces. Everything else was given to students. And I have been doing the whole not eating much this week (although I ate today... kept most of it down, too until dinner!) so I didn't go to any of the breakfasts or stuff they had. Good for the diet, I guess.
I have to go buy a tent for the camping trip tomorrow... I hope one of the kids can put it up because I sure as heck can't figure it out!
I'll have to figure out what I'm going to do about food at the camping trip too... I am pretty sure that whatever it is they cook up for the kids won't be anything I can keep down if I go on this way! I also think I deserve a good book, some batteries for my CD player, and a flashlight so I can read said book! Staff have fire duty after the kids are in their tents, so I'll need something to keep me awake.

I certainly hope that the weather cooperates for you and your camping extravaganza better than it has today down here. It is May 6th....and I wore a sweat shirt to school today and was cold. AND it rained the entire day ...HARD... and loud!

We are currently involved in our "end of the year"....30 days early...testing that is mandated. Reading testing that is given 1:1 while I magically ENGAGE the other kiddos with some WONDERFULLY ENGAGING SOMETHING....... It has been a disaster! We have had every conceiveable interruption this week. The kid vomitted on Monday or Tuesday! I'm the inclusion class...and the SpEd teachers have been pulled for stuff IEP meetings, discipline problems in other rooms and then the stuuuuupppid stuff...like going on a field trip with another grade due to the teacher not planning ahead! Pretty much ANY reason is ok to pull them out of my room....at THE time I need them for crowd control THE most!!!! We even had a 30+ minute fire drill....The obnoxious "gifted" 5th grade class that I share a temporary wall with has been literally WILD this week...complete with the teacher yelling and allowing the students to put up the bulletin board on the said shared wall....with 3 staplers.... 3 gifted 10 year old stapling crap into a very hard cork board (I have trouble getting the staples into the board...) I finally left my room and went and reminded the class that I'm giving reading tests. The teacher acted totally offended. The children ignored me. Today I was visited by the Assistant Principal regarding another concern. She was there long enough for the outrageous noises to begin and asked about it.... so I let my children explain to her. They were pretty good with getting all of the details correct....AND they didn't forget to mention the "hitting" (it was the stapler) of the walls the day before! OH WELL! We are all moving rooms. I won't be ANY where near this teacher's class next year...and I can't wait another second! (I am pleasant to her....but I don't mince words about the noise and how loud and distracting she allows her children to be. Her excuse is "Well, they are GIFTED they can't sit and be silent all day." NO kidding?! BUT then again... do gifted children REALLY learn better in chaos??? Okey...enough... soooooo cause I was loving the week soooo much anyway....
THEN...today, mid morning, the reading teacher arrives in my room to tell me that they've changed their mind about the sequence, format, and procedure of giving the testing.....NO kidding! 5 days into it. I put it all away. Pulled out some real stuff and actually spent the day teaching instead of testing..... It was self preservation....AND the kids had really had enough of my Wonderfully Engaging SOMETHING.....

Oh by the way.... in 2 weeks, the 5th graders will be taking the 2nd part of their state mandated testing. They took part 1 in late March. We were told 3 times by the gifted teacher how important it was that we be quiet so that we didn't distract her students. Then within 8 minutes of the beginning of the March test, the teacher was at our door telling us that we had to whisper. The testing runs for 5 days.... ALL day. I've made arrangements for my class to "shack up with" another first grade class down on the primary hall.... There is NO way, ESPECIALLY after the NOISES that have interrupted us lately, will I make my kiddos spend 5 days whispering ........ We will pack up and move, thank you very much!

Sorry to vent. It is 11:20 and I'm still steaming over the testing and noise crap! I've gotten about 1/2 of my homework done tonight..... gotta get it done before bed....so that I can ONLY worry about housework for Saturday and Sunday.

Yippeee skippeee....
My kiddos made the cutest Mother's Day presents and cards for their mom's today. They also took home their marigold seedlings! I hope at least 1 of the kiddos remember to take the plants out of the plastic bag that they were sent home (gotta keep the buses clean, right Ginny?) in!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mommas!
Ya'll take care....
~R

Hey guys!
Ok, we've made it through another week. We just finished our state testing this week. The results are in..............I had 80% to pass. I'm very disappointed with these scores. I teach 75 kids and had 15 to score a level two on the test. The kicker is that one of the kids was advanced and I just found out yesterday that the reason he probably did poorly was because he didn't have his contacts in. I am so upset. So, we have to remediate the kids that didn't pass the test, and retest them in a week. I have worked it out so that the one kid who didn't pass from the advanced class will go to another teacher's class that has a lot to remediate. The inclusion class will be simple since I have a coteacher and she is taking half and I am taking the other half. One day I will remediate and she will teach. The next day I will teach, and she will remediate. The thing that is absolutely killing me, is that one boy who failed has shown 11 points in growth from a level one to one point from passing this test. But, it's gonna be ok. I have done the best I can do. There is a "teacher" down the hall who boasted, I don't have any. Well I expect not since he has two advanced and 1 accelerated class. The only one in my advanced class that failed was a boy who was transfered from his class because he was failing. He actually laughed and said OH WELL, HIS MOTHER WANTED YOU TO TEACH HIM. He is such a jerk. I want to kick him in his eye. Ever since he has been at our school, he has had nothing but the best classes and he is still not fully certified. He was an accountant,and decided to come into teaching. It just irritates me, that I get all the trouble makers because I can handle them. I just think he should have a walk in reality and have to learn how to really handle a classroom like the rest of us. Sorry, it is a very sore subject for me. Anyway it's all over but the singing.........We have thirteen days left. The last two days are half days. I did, however, forget to turn in my leave form for the end of the year and now I have to work all the way until June 6th. Bummer!
My eating has absolutely been horrible this week. I forgot my lunch twice, and we went out to eat at night twice. I CAN'T GET IT TOGETHER.
Hope everyone has a Happy Mother's Day. I need to get off here and get all the yucky stuff done, so I won't have to do it tomorrow.
Take care!
Pam

Do any of you (possibly Robyn, Ginny, or Mouse) remember my next door nightmare? Well, a lot has been going on with her lately. About a month ago, her mother died of alzheimer's disease...the brain shut down the organs. Well, the nightmare has not been handling her grief well. Her behavior has been quite strange. She was put on antidepressants, got in her uninsured car and had a major car accident. She has been pretending that her mother didn't die and driving her brother who also lives in the house, crazy. Last night, the police found her wandering. She was anything but lucid. She apparently had a nervous breakdown and was admitted into the psych ward of the hospital. Meanwhile, she is the executor of the mother's estate and the owner of the home. Yeesh! I can't believe that 15 months ago, she was responsible for driving DD to school every day and had a key to our house to let out our dog. When she started to do things that made us uncomfortable, DH changed his work schedule to drive DD to school, and we made her return our housekey. Thank God we did those things before she went off the DEEP END.

My friend (DD's Godmother), DD, and I had lunch at "The White Lilac Tea Room" this afternoon. It is LOVELY...Victorian decor...antique bone china...silver tea sets...scones...finger sandwiches...LOVELY. I felt like Emma Thompson in "Sense and Sensibility." DD was a perfect lady, however, there was not one luncheon item on the menu that she would touch with a ten foot pole. So, afterward, I had to go through the drive-thru at McDonald's! Next time we will go for late afternoon tea and have sweets instead. No, it isn't on the diet, but for a rare treat, it would be fun.

Good evening, all. In a few moments I'm off to teach swimming. I did get most of the kitchen cleaned today, at least, because that is the ONLY thing I did all day. I still need to mop the floor, but I want to vaccuum all the cat food up and vaccuum the carpet so I only have to get the vac out once. I'll do it tomorrow morning or afternoon.
I didn't go to BJs for the tent, I didn't go to BigLots for toilet paper or student snacks... nothing.
I woke up and ate breakfast, which was the mistake... I should have known better than to believe that I was hungry... Yea, okay. And let me tell you, those meds they give you for nausea knock you out but good. I SLEPT all day. I'm not quite sure how I managed to get up at 4:00 to do the cleaning, either, honestly.
I would very much like not to go teach swimming tonight, but I just refuse to let this nausea endocrine whatever the heck it is interfere with my life anymore than it already does! It was gorgeous today, and I slept through the whole day!!! Now its cloudy and looks like its going to storm!

'Miss me?????? (naw!).
Just a quick check in to let everyone know I am still alive. That upper respiratory thingy I had knocked the tar out of me.....now Dh has it(and we all know what marvelous patients men are!). No time to go back and read the posts....saw that Mouse was not feeling great and I do hope you are feeling better and able to keep some food down.
Hope too that Mothers day was pleasant for everyone....either celebrating it yourself or a pleasant visit with Mom or a day off!!!!
Gotta go get something done.....anything......BTW- we are "with kitten"- Dd got one last nite at the local food store (typical box of kitties needing homes routines) she is cute as a button.....RC the 12# brat is mortified of the .5# kitten.......what a hoot. Although their exposure will be limited until she passes her physical....what a cutie....
Gotta go clean- yuck. Happy MOnday!
Ginny

Hi Ladies,
Sounds like everyone has been having a couple of rough few weeks. Sorry I was MIA for a while. The sinsus infection really knocked me for a loop. Then had to do things for TOPS, school and home. So my computer time was non-exsitent. But I am back now.
Hope all is having a great week so far. I am really tired after spending the weekend with my family. But I hope to catch up on my sleep tonight.
Well I better go and get ready for my class with the K thru 3rd graders about excerising. Talk to you all later.
Take care,
Kerry

Good Afternoon Ladies,
Hope all is well with everyone today. Why is it when you tell your kids you have to leave school early and to be good, there has to be one to test your limits? I had to leave school 45 minutes early today for a foot doctor appointment. The kids had been awful all day long to begin with. But one young man just kept pushing and pushing me. So I finally had enough and sent him to the office. I had to walk him over there myself and make sure he got there before I left. Needless to say the office is in the opposite direction as my van. So I had to hurry up and explain when he needed to the principal and hot foot it down to my van. By this time I am 10 minutes late leaving school and my appointment is in 35 minutes, 30 minutes from my school. I was fine until I got behind a semi on the two lane highway going 10-25 mph. The normal speed limit was between 35-55 mph. I was ready to scream by the time I got to the four lane highway I needed to take. I made it to the foot doctor's with 3 minutes to spare. My appointment went good. I have to come back in 5 weeks for a check up. I have two little bumps of skin on the bottom of my feet where the pinkie toe meets the joint and they hurt when I walk barefooted across our kitchen floor. So I have to wear insoles in my shoes for the rest of my life. But that is better than having aching feet for the rest of my life. Enough venting from me.
So how is everyone doing?
Mouse, big hugs are being sent your way. I am glad that you are actively pursuing a new school to teach at next year. Your coworkers sound like they need the mental help, not you! Keep your chin up, I know it is hard but something good will come your way.
Robyn, I hope your stress level has eased some. You sure do like to pull some all nighters don't gal? I hope things are starting to unwind for you.
Pam, are your middle schoolers driving you nuts? My kids are driving me batty. I think as the end approaches they seem to get lazier and mouthier.
Paisley, love to hear that you are doing great on your eating and exercising. Keep up the good work. I am hoping to get into the 160's by the start of next school year. You have worked hard since starting in Jan. I am very proud of you!
Summer, hope all is well between your dh and you about your weight. I can't believe he said that to you. But if he is anything like mine,he flip flops back and forth about my weight problem. He can say something mean towards me one minute and than be bragging about my weight loss so far or praising me about my hard work the next minute to our families or friends. I have learned to ignore his harsh words and keep pushing myself to do better to prove him wrong. Keep up the hard work. I know it is hard with all the life stressors we have to put up with.
Ginny, glad to see you have a pal to go to WW's with. That has to be very motivating for you now. I think about you every weekday morning while I am doing my Leslie Sansone Walking Videos or DVDs. I really have become a sister in sweat here lately. I have been really sweating more so than normal. I am hoping that means my metabolism is getting higher. I have started to develop a liking for hot spicy foods. I never did like them when I was a young child, but now I love them. Does that make any sense to you?
Well I better go and get ready for my TOPS meeting. I have to give the program tonight. I am going to talk about the 5 tips weight loss tips reveled by Kelly from The Biggest Loser. I loved that show when it was on.
Just thought I would leave you with a little humor to brighten your day:
Tips for women
Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my shape to keep.
Please no wrinkles Please no bags And please lift my butt Before it sags.
Please no age spots Please no gray hair And as for my belly, please take it away.
Please keep me healthy Please keep me young.
And thank you Dear Lord for all that you have done.

Five tips for a woman.........
1. It is important that a man helps you around the house and has a job.
2. It is important that a man makes you laugh.
3. It is important to find a man you can count on and doesn't lie to you.
4. It is important that a man loves you and spoils you.
5. It is important that these four men don't know each other.

Foot Note:
One saggy boob said to the other saggy boob:
"If we don't get some support soon, people will think we're nuts."

Enjoy your evenings.
Love,
Kerry

Kerry: Those jokes are HORRIBLE. I'm putting you in pun purgatory for telling them!

I had the 2nd hida scan yesterday, and wow... the first one wasn't a whole lot of fun, but this one was worse. They had trouble finding an artery for the IV, and had to use a smaller needle and insert... that meant it took longer to infuse the 2nd injection. You have to lay on this itty bitty table perfectly still for 45 minutes, and then after the 2nd injection, another 20-30 minutes. Fortunately, the tech let me sit up in between them this time. I was sick before they finished the first part, and the injection just made it worse: I had a horrible taste in my mouth. He said it was from the saline, and not the injection. And you can't eat 4 hours before the test, but I hadn't eaten anything since Sunday night anyway.
I ate at school today during my break, and got sick... I managed to stay in the room at least, but my TA did the bulk of the teaching during 6th and 7th periods. Fortunately, more than half of my 7th period was gone, and my 6th period is down to 2 kids at the moment.
It drives me nuts: healthy food makes me sick; junk... I can eat, sometimes. I have more luck with junk than I do with anything else.
And, I'm going CAMPING! Oh, geez, what was I thinking? What am I going to EAT while I'm there? I won't be able to eat the glop they serve the kids!!!
I'm going to see the endocrinologist on Thursday, so I'm going to hit Trader Joes... stock up on ginger ale and maybe some other stuff that I can eat... Dry cereal, soy milk perhaps. I'm usually pretty good with those, and they don't need to be refrigerated. I wish I could go to the CA TJs... they have tortillas there that don't need to be refrigerated.

Well.... I can't stay long enough to really "talk" to you all..... I'm about to fall over. Today has been A DAY! Even for ME today's meeting for our oldest was way tooooo longggg! I think we may have *FINALLY* broken the all time record for the WORLDS LONGEST IEP MEETING. Someone try and beat THIS. The meeting began at 3:15 and I walked out of the door at 8:03. Yeah, you read it right. THAT is a LONGGGGG IEP meeting. There was a bunch of junk that had to be fixed. A bunch of junk that we objected to even being wrtiten in his paperwork..... it was all fixed, in the end.... The new OT tried to go head to head, toe to toe with the advocate. Well... seeing as the advocate has known him for years and teh OT has known him for days.... WHO won?! Gawwwd, I'm tired... I'm actually sitting with my eyes closed right now typing.... We ate junky burgers from the drive thru at 8:30. By that point, the paperbag would have worked for dinner.

Anyway....I'm tired...... maybe I will write somemore tomorrow... Tomorrow...ahhh, yes, we go on a field trip tomorrow. (Let me tell you right now, I'm not going to be in teh typing mood tomorrow

take care,
hugs,
meeee still with my eyes closed! ....but now I mus topen them enough to post and disconnect and go to bed!

Hi everyone,
My day yesterday went down the drain when I came back from my TOPS meeting. I gained a pound over the weekend. But it was from eating birthday cake and the buffet lunch on Sunday with my family. So I was okay with that. I just know that I have to watch my food intake better this week to lose for next week. My dh looks at me at 10:48p.m. and asks me if I had been doing my crunches for my stomach and abs. When I politely tell him that I use the ab lounger at Curves 3 days a week, do my Curves workout 3 days and 5 days a week do a walking video, I think I am working my abs enough. He said that I was letting my gut get big and it was not going anywhere. I got instantly mad and hurt and then he couldn't understand why. I had a hard time sleeping last night and woke up still hurt this morning. I have to work through this hurtness and be all smiles tonight at the boys' ballgame. I just hope that I will have enough time to go to Curves between work and the ballgame. Than I should be able to work off my frustations. Well it is lunchtime for my kids, have to go make sure two of the don't slip outside for recess without doing some work with me first. Talk to you all later. Thanks for letting me vent again.
Take care,
Kerry

Kerry,

Please tell me that this man....and his opinion of your gut....has the abs of the young Arnold Swartyouknowtherest back in peak training condition. OR else, I'd tell him to shut up and crunch his own abs and stop worrying about your gut!

I swear men just have to be men and open their mouths when they should keep it closed. GAWWWWWWWW (said in my best Napolean Dynamite voice).....

This is what he meant to say...."Kerry, honey.... You are doing a GREAT job! The changes that you've made in your eating habits and your dedication to exercise is REALLY starting to show! You keep up with the great work! I'm so proud of you! Do you want to start working out with me for about 20 minutes or so some evenings? I need to do some ab work and I thought it would be fun if we did it together! Whatcha say?"

Oh dear GAWD who am I kidding..... anyway...... Kerry, keep up the great work! Don't kill ButtHead in his sleep! (Just remember he suffers from a genetic infliction....he can't help but say stupid hurtful things!)

(((hugs))) from a gal who lives with one too!
take care,
meeee

Hey!
Well, I thought I posted last night, but, turns out it is somewhere in cyber space. Everything is busy and hectic here. We have ten more days to get up and greet these lovely middle school maniacs. YIPEEEEEEEEE!
Trying really hard to be good this week inspite of the fact that we are week behind celebrating teacher's appreciation week, so they've given us popcorn, pizza, and 100,000 grand bars today. Ok, so I succombed to the candy bar, it's one of my favorites. But, so what. I will live to see tomorrow. You know in spite of the fact that I have lost twenty eight pounds I am so totally depressed about this whole thing. I tried to go and buy a bathing suit, all that succeeded in doing was pissing me off. An eighteen would fit my stomach but leave two inches of material hanging off the butt, and a sixteen would fit me perfectly in the butt but things were hanging out that shouldn't have been. So, I bought a tankini top and a pair of shorts until I can find something I am satisfied with. My hubby says who cares we are only swimming in the back yard but still, we may go to the beach or something. I have definitely go to do something about my stomach at the bottom. I have tried everything. Short of taking a hatchet and chopping it off, it's not going anywhere. It just annoys me so badly.
HEY TO ALL KERRY: YES, THE MIDDLE SCHOOLERS ARE NUTS, ABSOLUTELY NUTS. I CAN'T WAIT TIL THEY GO HOME FOR THE SUMMER.
YOUR HUBBY IS MEAN!
MOUSE: GOOD LUCK WITH CAMPING, TRIED THE PEPSI ONE WITH SPLENDA. DIDN'T CUT IT FOR ME. I am just gonna quit trying diet drinks, I am satisfied with my one real one, and it will just have to do.
ROBYN: OMIGOD.........HOW LONG WAS THAT MEETING? THAT IS WAY TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LONG. RIDICULOUS EVEN.
GINNY; CONGRATS ON THE NEW ADDITION. I LOVE LITTLE BABY KITTIES! MY SON CALLS THEM LITTLE MEW CATS.
Paisley and Summer: Hey!
Off to walk!
Pam

Evening Ladies,
My dh redeemed himself by calling me at school this afternoon and checking on me and to say that he loved me. I guess the time he spent working today by himself made him think about what he did to me last night. I choose to skip Curves tonight and go watch all of the boys' game. They have a really good team this year and they won tonight. So we had to do the DQ thing and my dh even bought me a small vanilla cone. I was surprised. I didn't really want it, but since he was buying I figured that I might as well eat it. I will make it to Curves tomorrow night for sure. I really think it is his time of the month. Mine is fast approaching so it must be his time right now. LOL.
Pam we have 12 more days left. My kids are really starting to shut down on me. I got back at my little hellion from yesterday. I knew he was going to be going on a fishing trip and missing school Thursday and Friday, so I called his dad and told him that he was being sent home with his make-up work from the days he just didn't feel like doing his work and I expected him to work on it in his free time. Needless to say my little hellion was not too happy with me. Keep the faith, only two more weeks for you.
Robyn, you crack me up! Thanks for the encouragment. You are such a sweet gal. Hope you got some sleep last night. How was your fieldtrip today?
Hope everyone else is having a great week! Well I am off to bed since I am tired. Talk to you all tomorrow.
Have a great Thursday!
Love,
Kerry