Hey!
It's 11:30. Just hanging. Everyone is in bed but I think I actualy hear the oldest coming home now. He had football practice tonight, so maybe he will be tired and come home. They have their first football game Saturday in Fayettville, but I think I am going to pass on that. The last time we went to Fayetteville we got so lost and turned around it took us forever to figure out how to get out of there. I'm gonna try and talk hubby into taking us to the beach Saturday. But, he'll just say we have this pool......But, that's ok too I guess.

Oh for Robyn and Ginny: the wonderful cleaning product was just something I had never tried before. It was Lysol Basin tub and tile cleaner. I had tried everything else. We have this old fiberglass tub which I have pure scrubbed scratches in trying to get it clean. I sprayed that stuff on went about my business for ten minutes and that sucker just wiped clean. I was amazed. Then, I thought to myself, wow, I should have bought this stuff years ago. It doesn't stink, burn your eyes, and you don't have to rub your arms off to get soap scum or whatever. I have become a cleaning fanatic this week. I run around in the morning and fold clothes, and all the fun stuff, then just hang out in the afternoon, swim, play, watch tv whatever. If I was home everyday I might actually have a clean house. During the school year we sort of just kick a path.........If you know what I mean. We really don't have a lot of storage space so I have tons of things stuffed here and there. I need the clean sweep team to come in and do my bedroom.............

Mouse: Are your moons and stars out of alignment or something? Dang, girl, you just have one thing after another happening. JOY COMES IN THE MORNING. Remember that............ Congrats on the lifeguard thing. You are one inspiring woman.

Sue: I know what you mean about the weather. It has been in the nineties here with a heat index of like 102. Very humid.......Yuck. They keep promising rain, but so far I have not seen any. Our vegetable garden needs some. We've been watering everyday, hopefully this week it will finally rain. Got the pm, I will be happy to send a postcard.

WELCOME DEBS! I know you'll find everyone here to be very supportive AS WELL AS sarcastic and quite humorous........

Well, still haven't lost anymore weight. But, I will say that my energy level since losing thirty pounds is awesome. I actually don't mind parking farther away at the store and walking now, and really look forward to excercising. I haven't been walking as much this week, since we were playing tennis, and swimming. But, I am either going to get up in the morning and walk before my husband goes off to work, or do the watp tape.

Should we put up a missing persons alert for Paisley? Kerry?


By the way before I go........ My Pepsi addiction got the better of me today. Water seemed less and less appealing and Pepsi my life force kept calling my name. I'm drinking one now !

See ya'll later!
Pam

Pam,
Now that you have the cleaning bug......mind coming up here to NY and cleaning this disaster I live in??? thanks for the name of the stuff........I am always looking for something that will do the job well with less work. Emphasis on less work.........Glad you are enjoying the WATP tape. I am an addict too as you know. Dont sweat it if the scale does not budge. I am a firm believer that staying the same for a while is ok, while in the journey of losing weight. Sometimes it is nice to take the pressure off.
SO good to hear how great you feel!!!!!!! Keep up the good work.

Well, I have had it.....some major teasing on the bus today....and at 4:15 I radioed in for a clean copy of my route sheet so that I can rework the seating chart. Yup, with one week and one day left. I don't care. I am so sick of the 5th graders being so cocky- picking on the younger students......so the seating chart will be changed and all their precious little hides will be separated. Too bad that they are not sitting with their buddies.......don't care. Can't tolerate teasing... ain't I a crab???
Lots of xtra driving today......the last check will be great but I am tired. Next week will be much easier....gotta go finish Monopoly with Dd. See ya!! Sorry for not getting personal........can you tell I am a burn out?
Ginny

Oopps.....Robyn and Mouse you were on the other page and I was too lazy to look.
Mouse- I know Cobra is so expensive......hang in there brave one........you will work this out somehow.
Robyn- OH PLEASE tell me when the fat lady starts singing.........I cant stand this anymore.
Ginny

Are you all still hot and humid? It was FREEZING here today. I think the high was 68 degrees and it was windy! I actually had to wear long pants and a coat! I think it is suppose to improve by the weekend. Something between 68 and 90 would be nice!

I picked up my new camper today. It isn't really that big (26 1/2 ft) but compared to my old popup it seemed huge to haul! Then I figured I'd take the back roads to avoid the expressway but the road was blocked in the middle of no where with no detour signs! I drove all over trying to get back to the road and finally had to go back into town and take the expressway. Then I was afraid I was going to run out of gas and wasn't sure I wanted to try to pull in and away from a gas pump just yet! The good news is we made it safely and if the rain stops I should be able to transfer the gear from one camper to the other. That should be fun! Now I just need to find a campground with an open pull through site! (ha ha).

Ginny - So glad your DM is doing well and no Kemo! That is great news in itself. You know teachers all think bus drivers are saints (or is that insane? Maybe both)! My father drove bus after he retired. He just retired from bus driving last year but he still misses it so much that he has a radio tuned into the bus radios on at all times. He really loves the little guys but some of the big ones gave him fits. He got tendonitis in his elbow from opening the doors manually. I think his last bus had a power door though. Just becareful if yours doesn't!

Robyn - Repeat after me: THE END IS NEAR!!!

Pam - Isn't that a great benefit about summer? You can be productive in the morning and still have all day to play! Not that I have been overly productive this week, but I COULD be!!! Unfortunately (or fortunately?) Maeve Binchy has control over me in my spare time this week. There is nothing better than being curled up with a good book on a rainy day! My husband is a Pepsi addict too. I think you have to let yourself have a treat now and again and if your vise is Pepsi, it could be much worse! Just remember if you aren't drinking decaf, you need to up your water intake. Caffeine will dehydrate you and you know how important water is to weight loss!

Thanks to all who replied to my private message! Please don't feel obligated to send a postcard, I know you are all busy. But thanks to those who can as my DD is already checking the mailbox!

Sue

Good evening, all.
Oh.... wow. I'm SORE. We did the deep water life guard stuff tonight. We had to go to a different pool, because the one at our gym isn't deep enough. The other pool is pretty cloudy, too. I was with 4 other guys, and they don't know their own strength!
I passed everything except the deep water submerged rescue (I can't make myself go down that deep... I keep coming to the top before I get close. You can't do a surface dive, you have to make yourself sink), and I have to redo the brick grab (I took my hand off the brick because I crashed into the wall. I couldn't wear my glasses, so I was disoriented!). But I did everything else, including all the rescues with the tube, and backboarding as seconary, and primary rescuer.
I'm just going to say hi to everybody else, because 4.5 hours in the water (I don't know how to list THAT in my little foot note, but it has to count for SOMETHING!)... we'll leave out what happened when it was my turn to be the victim for backboarding. One of the guys clipped my bad ankle, by accident, and my leg cramped up like it had on the camping trip... I couldn't yell at them to stop becuase my jaw was clamped shut for the neck stabilization part... so I had to flail myself off the damn backboard. I can't imagine how I looked! Funny as ****, probably!
Okay... dinner is calling my name (yes, at midnight, but what the ****)... and I 'd better eat before that tylenol I took (yes, I took more than 2!) get where they are going!

Sue-not offended here…..I think in our jobs we need to find the humor in it. After the year I just had……laughter is all I had. It was one of the hardest I ever had! EEEKKKK! I’m so glad it is over. I’m sure three hurricanes, an intern who lacked motivation and classroom management and the group they gave me didn’t help.

Mouse-you do seem busy. Did you work for another school district and then they let you go? How is the lifeguard going? I couldn’t do the stuff you were doing. I hated swimming under the rope to get to the deep end yesterday. I don’t go to the deep end much—I have my son and he can’t swim YET. There was a sign that said no life jackets in the deep end. They saw us down there….but I think because he was with me they let us stay---I read the sign and told son and we went back to the shallow part—YEAH!

Ginny-My hat goes off to you for driving the buggers . I had bus duty this year and I hated it! I didn’t know there was a system. You see it is best to stand at a bus post closest to the school….not all the way down….duh me? I went by 219 because know was there……after the first day I knew why—WACKY! By the end of the year I love them boys (there were only 3 girls!). The fourth grade ones were a bit mad when they said they wanted me to be their teacher next year…..I told them I was teaching 3rd. I’ll still keep my eye on them! Where in NY do you live? I was born and raised in Buffalo/suburbs. ALL of my family lives in NY. They live in Lockport-my father owns a business in Buffalo. My in laws live in Naples. In 2000 we moved back to NY to be closer to family…..we moved back to FL in 2003! LOL. We don’t want to stay in FL forever…….we’re thinking NC….closer to NY and still close to FL to visit our friends that our like family to us. We’ve to The Mouse. We will probably go in December-our friends mil works for Disney and she lets us in for free. We’ve taken ds twice and it was through the friends MIL. We just can’t afford it. That’s why we have SW passes-I’m free! We thought about getting Kennedy Space Center tickets-I get in free there also. Right now the shuttle is on the launch pad. I was there in April (fieldtrip) and it was out. DS is so into space. We had a space themed party-turned our house into NASA-Nathan’s Astronomical Space Adeventure. It was a blast! Lol

Pam-I thought my house was the only one that got messy during the school year. My dh does help out a lot. He’s on “vacation” from cleaning the house! LOL…wait…that’s not funny…….

Ginny-I just read about you and the 5th graders. I laughed. I know it’s not funny to you…but you see I taught 5th grade for 2 years and I taught 6th grade 2 years prior to that. The 5th graders were the worst. I can totally relate. This year was the worst. The girls were TERRIBLE! My boys picked their noses-one actually likes to fart and wipe it on others(the slime he pulls out of his nose)….stopped that….except when I had an intern (oh I regress)…..not my problem anymore….they are now middle schoolers……now that’s FUNNY!!!!

Sorry to be brief...gotta go back to bring the kiddies home.

Mouse- congrats on getting as far as you did with the lifesaver!!! What an inspiration you are, my friend! (take that tylenol?)

Sue- my big yellow limo has a power door, if you can call it that. Not the manual thing that is torture on the elbow. Yup it is addicting, and the radio chatter so funny.......especially if the kids acting up are not yours! good luck with the camper.
Deb-thanks for the heads up on the 5th graders.......I agree they are tough.
I would appreciate your wisdom on them anytime.

Gotta go pick up the kritters and then go .....to a baseballl game. see ya later!
Ginny

MOUSE!

I just have to say--you are inspiration! I tried to swim laps during the 10 min. adult swim. I did from side to side 2 times and I was like.....I can't do this. I love to swim-I'm not the best swimmer....but you going down to the deep end-picking up bricks saving people---WOW!!!


Well I had a good lunch-salad. I"m about to make dinner. I can hear the thunder.....I'll be going to Curves later. I had a good time with Nathan at the pool.


HELP!!!! Any advice on what type of sunscreen to use eyes?? I'm fine-but Nathan keeps getting burned under his eyes. I have face sunscreen with zinc oxide in it-should I just keep reapplying? We were there for 2 hours? The rest of his body is fine-it's just right under his eyes--and I made sure I put stuff there. Any suggestions???


Have a super evening!

Debs

Hey ya'll...I'm literally sneaking to the computer... kiddos went home yesterday... I've yet to finish my junk at school. I'm having some horribly painful problems with my legs.... to the point of being advised to go to the emergency room...which I did... 4+ hours later ...not only did I find a job that is worse than mine (nursing!) ....I was told that I was not in danger of dying and to call my dr. UMMM.... well...it hurt..but I sorta knew I wasn't dying. (they thought that it was a blood clot.) dh just found me... gotta get back in the bed.... this is one way to get some rest... gotta run...
I'm ok...I'll be back! take care. Robyn

Deb - lets see you taught 6th then 5th then 4th and next year 3rd, are you working your way down to pre-primary?! Eyes are the toughest because you don't want to get the crap IN their eyes. The best thing is sunglasses or a hat that shades his eyes but those are tough in the pool. Maybe goggles would work. In my lifeguard days we would use straight zinc oxide for high burn spots, usually our noses! It wasn't pretty but it would stay in place and stay on in water. That is what I use with my children if they already have a burn and we are back out (They even have cool colors now!). Mostly we try to prevent by reappling and by having the rule that anytime you are out of the water you must have on a hat that shades your eyes.

Robyn - How is your leg? It sounds terrible! Listen to your Dh and stay in bed so you can get healed. Blood clots aren't anything to mess with!

Sue

G'morning, everybody!
Let's see if I can handle this...

Deb: Yes, I worked for a private school run by a a children's rehab hospital that is partnered with a major research/teaching hospital in my area. They claim I had poor communication skills and was passive (in waiting for administration or some other staff to do things for me). It was really strange because they emphasized that my "dismissal" had nothing to do with my teaching. So, clearly, teaching wasn't the most important thing to them.
Ginny/Deb/Sue: I wouldn't say I'm an inspiration... there are, afterall, lots of lifeguards! Our pool is 25 yards (75 feet), so a mile is 72 lengths of the pool. I was doing a mile almost daily until I hurt my ankle again in May. It hurts now... so I've only been doing about a half mile. And not even every day.
Robyn: TAKE CARE OF THAT LEG! You don't want to wind up like me, tripping over everything!!!!
Kerry/Pam/Paisley: Where'd you guys go?
I spent yesterday down in my new area, being fingerprinted and ID picture, doing licensure paperwork. I am going to try to get Virginia to add an endorsement in severe disabilities since that was my minor for my master's program. Not sure if I have enough classes, but we'll see. I mean, the only severe disabilities class I didn't take at Hopkins was the one on language acquisition. I also didn't take a lot of the autism classes, but those probably don't matter as much.
We're trying to get my former employer to verify my employment with them. So far, they've refused to do the other two requests... Let's see if they do that one.
And I still need to find somebody to write that letter. This week has been utterly crazy, so I never had a chance.

Hey!
Happy Friday everyone!
I am thinking of getting started on this day. Still debating actually. I guess I should get my butt in gear and get some stuff done before the house fills up with the neighborhood children. My two are still sleeping. It seems like during the school year I can not get up to save my life, but now I am awake when I could be sleeping in. It doesn't help that my husband is so noisy in the morning. (And he used to complain about my hairdryer.)
It's supposed to be cooler today. It's been in the upper nineties the past few days. The pool water is even warm. We desperately need rain here. Still playing tennis everyday. My little guy is actually getting to the point where he can hit it a few times before I have to run two courts down and get the ball. I think I am going to go buy an extra tennis racquet so that he can bring his friend and they can play, then my husband and I can actually play properly. It's still been a lot of fun though. It really does wonders for the front part of the upper thigh. I am serious!

Ginny: It's no fun to stay the same weight forever, and quite frankly it's pissing me off. It has been over a month now. The scale hasn't budged. The tape measure hasn't moved. I am excercising more now than I ever have in my life. I think I will try drinking more water maybe. I need to make sure that I am writing everything down. I have been sort of slack about that lately.

Robyn: Sorry to hear about the leg. What exactly was it? Was it a blood clot? You need to try and rest. Hate to see get to summer and then be layed up in bed. Yuck.

Mouse: What will you be teaching in your new school? Everyone keeps telling me that I should go for my National Boards, but I swear I am just unmotivated to do that. Just putting together the portfolio in order to be considered Highly Qualified under the stupid NCLB was a lot of work and a lot of time. Don't know if I have it in me right now. I am supposed to be going to a workshop in August called Child Attuned. Dr. Levine I think. Ever heard anything about this workshop? Sounds very interesting. Will also take a lot of time throughout the school year.

Debs: Sounds like you have been having fun in the pool. I snuck out and went swimming without telling the kids yesterday. They were all upstairs playing a video game, and it is a lot easier to swim if you don't have kids cannonballing, hitting you with noodles, flipping your raft over. Ha! Bad aint I? I had to clean the pool anyway, so then I added chemicals and they couldn't go. They were not very happy. Speaking of husbands on vacation. During the school year my husband is really great about helping out around the house, washing dishes etc.... The minute school was out, all helping ceased. What a bummer. I have even been cutting the grass. I tried weedeating until I burned up some grass. I can't do that anymore.

Sue: Camper? Wow, I can't drive big vehicles. When we bought our house a couple of years ago, I was backing up my husband's truck so he could get the Uhaul out and took out part of the neighbor's fence. Scratched up the truck too. Nice way to meet the neighbors huh? I have no depth perception whatsoever. So, I can understand you not wanting to pull in for gas. My husband says I act like I am driving a semi or something trying to park his truck. I'll stick with my lil car thanks.

Summer, Paisley, Kerry: WHERE YOU GUYS AT??????????????

Take care!
Pam

Sue-I taught 4th for only about a quarter-my first year in Buffalo-I was in 3 schools in one year and I started in November. I won’t teach below 3rd. I taught 3rd for almost 4 years prior to my big kids. I only taught 6th and 5th because I needed a job-now I have a choice! Next year will be my 3rd year at the same school! That hasn’t happened since 1997-2000 school years!

Pam-I can totally relate to getting my butt in gear and the husband on strike! He’s feeling a bit left out. He use to take Nathan to and from school. He’d actually pick him up and then bring him to his work. They spend more together than they do now. They are doing a Daddy/Son night while I go out to dinner with my coworker. I’ve thought about National Boards, too-but I don’t know. We are *thinking* of moving to NC in the next 2 years-I would get certification because of my Florida one.---I just don’t know-I hate paper work-plus FL will pay for it (I mean the district)-but if I’m leaving—not the best idea. Salaries seem to be about the same as FL. Housing is NOT. We were going to try and buy the house we are renting. He wants $160,000( he’ll probably sell for $170,000+) for it and it is not a new house at all. We’d have to replace windows and roof and something is up with the plumbing pipes. We looked at new houses in NC and it looks like a new 2 story home would cost us about $30,000 less. NC would also be closer to our families. It be more realistic for us to visit than it is now. We are going to try and find a cheaper place to rent and save as much as we can to move and buy a house. We have talked about moving to NC on several occasions-just never did.

Mouse-it’s best that you are out of that place. 72 laps—like I said I only did 2 and that was from side to side on a med. Sized community pool!

Sue-thanks for the info on the zinc-where can you buy it? We have Ocean Potion face stuff-it’s white-but not real thick.—like lotion. When we go to the beach I do have a hat on him-even in the water- he’s not jumping in-just basically bobbing. He’s not red there today-but he was last night.

Robyn-yes listen do dh and stay in bed. Did they do blood work to figure out if it was a clot? School stuff will get done...


Not doing too much today. My son is playing with little people. He hasn’t pulled that stuff out in a long, long time. He’s pretending that a hurricane is knocking people’s houses down. Can you tell he lives in FL? Every time it storms he asks if it is a hurricane. Poor kid. It was tough on the kids in general I think. He does a good job of drawing and creating the state with play doh. We were blessed-no damage at all to our house or our stuff. Not having power for 6 days was the worst!

I’m going to the Olive Garden for dinner-I’ll be good. My husband and son are doing something together. We might go to the beach tomorrow-if we can reschedule our church directory pictures. We’ll go to the west coast, near Venice. It’s a 2+ hour drive but the beach that we go to is awesome.

I really must go. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Debs

Gotta be short here as the kids (my own!) are being arguementive and I have to go back early......lucky me, I am subbing on a middle school run (Lord, give me patience!) then my elementary.

Robyn- take care of yourself!!!!!!! Stay off your feet....hope this is nothing serious. Where are the leg pains.....could Lyme be a possibility?

Deb- ah, the days of little people.....enjoy it while you can! Speaking of enjoying, I love Olive Garden!!!!! Have a great time (the salad is so wonderful!)

Pam- yup try increasing the water.....and logging all BLT's........(bites, licks and tastes). Also go back to measuring portions- make sure you are not overestimating stuff. A plateau of a month is not unheard of. Also try different foods......sometimes the body gets used to the same stuff. Hang in there!

Mouse-well, I still find you an inspiration....working both your mind and body, and we know that you do not always feel tremendous either!!! So you have survived fingerprinting (will we find you in the next Kay Scarpetta novel?). Oh, I know all about the background check stuff. We live in such a sick world.
Hope things level out for you.

Ok,good thing I did not get here last nite. Dd is done with school and with her report card was her standard testing results. She is a wonderful reader- and the testing results reflected that- she even improved in that.....but her math????? Well, she has been complaining all year that the teacher did not pay attention to her, and she is the shy patient type.......so no squeaky wheel there. Her math scores went down (do I want to strangle this teacher or what!) and I blame the teacher because Dd was not her favorite (teacher was blatant about that) and Dd is not special needs in anyway...Dd complained that she never got extra help when she asked(both my older kids had this teacher and they felt the same). So I was ticked. Regally ticked!
Honestly......can anyone recommend a math curriculum I can work on this summer (and one that a non teacher can get ahold of) to help her. Her confidence is low.....and BTW last years teacher was such a great lady- at the end of the year Dd was proclaiming that she liked math because "Mrs D" 2nd grade teacher made it fun! Seriously- I would love to pick up a decent book to go over with her this summer....gotta do something to avoid brain drain with her before the really hard subject material hits in later grades.

Gotta go........see ya later!
Ginny

And that was short??????????
Ginny