Saturday! Saturday! The most wonderful day in allllllll the week! I Saturday!

Today my oldest ds and I went to one of my kiddos birthdays! DS and I bowled with a bunch (and I do mean a BUNCH!) of the kiddos from my class! The kiddos LOVED it! The birthday boy hugged me so many times. He has some special needs... and hugs are few and far apart...so everyone was thrilled! His mom must have thanked me for a zillion times for coming and for bringing DS. (The invitation was for all of my family; however, the other ds and dh were on the baseball field! Winning, by the way!!! ) So anyway. I spent the entire time trying to appear like I was trying hard while in reality I was trying NOT to knock the pins down. I didn't want to win. And didn't! LOL I do have to admit that IF only they would allow adults to bowl with the bumpers up, I might like bowling more AND go more often! LOL With bumpers it was rather fun! I did get to watch the dynamics of some of my kiddos with their parents! Wow! Telling! We stopped at Walmart on the way home and I watched one of my kids who had been at the party pitch a royal fit and yell at his mother. His behavior AND how she dealt with it (or not*gasp*) confirmed what I had thought. Ahem. Oh BTW, I did NOT eat any cake at the party! Yeaaaa me! (Little battles....little battles!)

Ohhh while I was in the store, I saw a girl that I went to HS with. I had not seen her since I was 19. THAT was a LLLOOONNNNNGGGGG time ago considering I'm days from 40! We stood right in the aisle of Walmart and had a great time catching up! AND she complimented me on my hair and weight. (She must be blind, huh?!) She had seen a photo of me when my youngest ds was an infant.... But it was great to see her! Her husband just retired (mannnnn we are old!) and she is now living in the same town as I am! I am glad to have bumped into her!

And one last OOOhhhhh before I go get dinner ready.... Yesterday at school, we went roller skating in the gym. Every year the P.E. teacher rents old fashioned boot skates from some guy who goes around the country with them. The 4th and 5th grade kids skate every day for a week. WELL... as soon as the kiddos left on the buses, there was announcment that they were having a "teacher free skate" in the gym. Ok.. NOW...it wasn't pretty...BUT, I went down and went skating. It had been at LEAST 27 years since I last strapped on skates.... OMG! It was fun! Didn't fall. Mannnnn thats great exercise! The PE teacher has said that we can skate each day next week after school.... While it was a hoot...I'm sorta sure that I am done. I am thinking that yesterday I may have sort of PUSHED my luck.... 1 more time might not be a good thing!
....or not...will have to see who else is going to skate! We were laughing and telling stories from our youth about skating rinks and all the fun they were! LOL

Ok... enough from me... I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Saturday...glorious SATURDAY! Hope that you are enjoying yours!


take care,
~R

Good evening everybody.
I am suffering from a serious convention overdose: by 1:00 this afternoon, I just had this glazed look on my face and wasn't even trying to process things anymore. I was just picking up handouts and stuffing them in my bag. I did some more networking today... if only my supervisor would appreciate it, but I know he won't. We bought 5 licenses last year for this wonderful functional reading software. It uses video clips and voice-over along with digital pictures to SHOW functional things. We bought safety signs and symbols, grocery store words, and some other things. Its very simplistic... For example, the word might be "bread". It'll show you the word, say the word, and when you click the mouse button, it shows you a video of a person putting bread in their cart at a grocery store. Lovely. The company was at the convention, so I stopped to compliment them. Turns out I talked to the guy that owns the company... I shared my compliments and what we used the software for, some constructive critiscm... and he wants to know if he can use me or me & the school, for a refernece. Either way, he's going to upgrade our software to the latest version for FREE... AND, if we agree to let him use us as a reference, we can get the vocational software he's created (which is good stuff, let me tell you!) for a 40% discount!!!!! However, we all know that my supervisor won't follow through on this, and may even get very upset with me. We got a similar offer based on comments I made about IntelliTools classroom software, which he also never followed up on.
That drives me absolutly nuts and around the bend because any public school principal would be jumping all over the chance to get 40 and 50% off commercial software licenses that would benefit their shcool. Even my inner city principals weren't that dumb.
In case any of you were curious, I did talk to the director yesterday and my supervisor. The director is fair, but my supervisor encourages his staff to tattle and lie. I said something inappropriate to a fellow staff member that I considered (and he told me all the time he was my friend...sought me out after school and stuff, too) my friend. But, it was after a meeting with my supervisor & after he did some typical joking around that I really don't like but typically ignore (he makes sexual inneundos all the time). Now, what I said wasn't appropriate, but its not like the other 3 people in that room had never said it before. They have, and to me. I just don't go tattling to my supervisor. It gets better, though, because he said I didn't apologize to the staff either. That's really rather amusing because the same day this happened, I registered his son for swimming lessons at the gym where I work, and got him a hefty discount. The street price is $240 for 8 hours of private lessons. His son has CP, so we thought private would work better, since the main pool might be too cold for him. A private can go in the therapy pool. I talked my supervisor there down to $100 because I knew that my co-worker couldn't afford $240. Guess what? The discount is now GONE. I put my job there on the line for him because I like him and I like his son. I did NOT have to do that, and don't do things like that for people who tell lies.
I told my supervisor at the gym already about the incident and she said she'll back me and not to worry about it.
I'm at the point where I know I have to talk to these people IN SCHOOL, but I'll be damned and double damned if I do ANYTHING with them outside of school or for them. I have always offered them parking passes and stuff for my garage (its $5 for residents to buy a visitors pass... our garage is typically $3/hour, or $7 for a theatre event and $10-15 for an Orioles or Ravens game. We're only 4 blocks from Camden Yards, and the convention Center, 10-12 blocks from Inner Harbor and the Raven's stadium, and directly across the street from the Hippodrome Theatre, Lexington Market, etc... right on the light rail tracks and the subway. Very convenient. And I was being nice to people I thought were my friends. They can pay full price or park on the street.
And, I'm getting all of my instructional materials back from them on Monday.
I'm such a bad team member and such a non-team player that I always give them and share curriculum materials with everybody.

DAGGGGONNNN Mousie......

What a bunch of creeps you work with! I'm so sorry that this junk continues to happen to you! I hope that you find another position somewhere to your liking! You really need to get out of that place!

Do you know much about MathPad made by Intellitools? I've often said that you and I need to talk AT...and just never get to it.......... We continue to search for appropriate math software for my oldest ds to use. Everyone continues to tell us that MathPad is the only thing out there.... Got any ideas? He needs to use the computer to do all of his "written" math practice. And MathPad has sooooo many problems and shortcomings! ARghhh.... I would GREATLY appreciate ANY info you could offer!

Try to get some rest this weekend!
((hugs))
~R

Hey!
Yes I agree with Robyn WONDERFUL WONDERFUL SATURDAY! I am such a bum...............Fun to be a bum sometimes. I'll pay for it tomorrow afternoon, however. Oh well. I did manage to wash about two loads of clothes and drag myself into the shower, but that's pushing it.
Mouse: OMIGOD!!!!!!!!!! I just simply can't believe all the BS you put up with from those people. I would come home crying everyday. I am the type of person who tends to cry when I get really mad. I also get my feelings hurt easily. Just hold your head high.......you are there for those kids, not for them anyway. I know that doesn't make things any better, but they are absolutely ridiculous. We had a principal (female) a couple of years ago that encouraged tattling as well. She had her pets, and it got really ugly. I swear about twenty teachers asked for a transfer at the end of the year. She would actually come into the faculty meetings saying stuff like You people think I can't hear the things you say about me. I know what you are up to.....Blah BLah Blah. She went as far to tell us that we were basically good for nothing........Nobody else would want us..........Then end the meeting with.....You know I love you........I swear, she was psycho. I thought I would have an ulcer by the time that she left. I had a student bring a gun to shoot me the year that she was there, and do you believe she had the nerve to say I know you know you were the target, but he really does love you? I said You are Crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, ew unpleasant flashback!

Robyn: Isn't skating fun? The day we took my son and his friends skating for his birthday we had such a blast. My legs have not been so sore in a long time. Sounds like you have had a fun day today though. Hope things are looking up with your hubby. CONGRATS ON NOT EATING THAT CAKE!!!!!!!!! I'm sorry to say I would have!

On the lighter side, I finally found a pair of capri pants today. I was able to fit into an XL from Walmart. Which is basically a sixteen/eighteen. I was excited because eighteen's have been getting loose and sixteens are still too tight. The thing that amazed me the most, was that the same pair of pants in plus size was about four dollars more. That's just wrong................. Anyway that was fun. I think the fitting room attendant was getting irritated with me because I kept trying on clothes.
Ok I'm outta here!
Pam

Robyn,
I'm familiar with MathPad & MathPad Plus. What level of math is your son at? That changes the options, of course. The biggest issue with MathPad is that the teacher has to put all the problems in the program first, which is a total pain. The keyboard commands also don't work that well.
IntelliTools also makes IntelliMathics, which is a math manipulative program that will go up to PreAlgebra, maybe higher if you're more clever. I've hardly ever taught or been in higher math classes since I always taught functional math... But I know of some other options:
MathType lets you use MS Word or another word-processor to do mathematical equations.
MS Word already has an equation editor built in, and you could probably work up an IntelliKeys overlay to make access to the equation editor easier if your son uses the keyboard. There is also a version of one of these programs that works with Dragon Naturally Speaking, but its pretty pricey. I think its MathType, but I don't remember for sure what the program is called. There are lots of on-screen calculators, some of which do a "print out" like a desktop calculator would, which might work as well.
As for the people I work with, I am just continually amazed. I've seen this type of backstabbing happen before, but just never to this extent. Its absolutely unreal, because its not even for political favor or to get more stuff for a classroom, etc. In other schools, I could figure it out... but I just don't get this.
Oh well. I'm looking for another position, but there is an additional problem: my school is so heavily involved with Johns Hopkins University that I'm almost afraid to leave the school before I finish this latest degree. Even my current supervisor teaches there, although I have no idea why: he isn't qualified to teach the subject he is doing. If I could stick for another year, I'd be mostly finished with the credits. And I don't necessarily have to complete the dissertation.

Mousie..... OMG OMG OMG! YOU speak the language I need to hear! We are going out to do some running around... BUT I will be back! YOU are JUSTTTTT the one I need to talk to.
thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!
((hugs))
~R

Robyn... I'll be here. I've got the student-plague. First time in 2 years that I've gotten a cold at all, and its settled in my chest really fast. I'm home today at the very least.
I can't sleep when I'm sick. Drives me nuts.
But! Its my own fault: I didn't drink enough on Wednesday and Thursday when I was running around that convention center. That gave the bugs a chance to get a good hold on me.
Hope everybody else has a positive, and productive start to your week!

Hey everyone!
Hope everyone had a good Monday. Mine was good but busy. Towards the end of the year it's one meeting after another, and something is due to the office every single day. Grades are due day after tomorrow. So, I guess that is what I'll be doing tonight. I also have a triple AAAI meeting tomorrow, and that is due soon. Problem with that, is that I haven't covered all of the objectives yet, and I have to include a work sample for each one. Don't know what to do about that. Maybe I'll give a cumulative test or something to meet several objectives.
I had a great day. I actually was complimented twice in a matter of five minutes by two different people about my weight loss. That really made my day. (Two teachers who are on the other end of the universe from me.)
Mouse: Gosh, I hope you get well. Seems like you are having a time of it lately. I hope you can find a job where you will be truly appreciated for your talent. I know you will.
Hello to Robyn, Ginnie, Paisley, Kerry and Summer.
Talk to you later!
Pam

So sorry to hear that you're not feeling well, Mouse! My week started with another "beginning teacher training" session.......which as a now 18 year (my teaching anniversary is in March!) classroom veteran... I nearly went crazy enduring! Yes, I am a beginning teacher with the system that I'm working in..... BUT, MANNNNNNN!
AND if they had not required me to attend I would have been offended....and yes, I would have griped about "being BRAND new to the system and they assume because I've taught before that I shouldn't be trained!" SEE! I admit it. They couldn't win!


It is 4:15 and I've been home for over a 1/2 hour! Being home early is a wonderful reward for NOT falling out of my chair during the training! I was not able to sleep (last night NOT at training!) due to a stomach thing.... so I'm going to take a nap for about an hour or so before my dh gets dinner ready. (See....there are some great things about him being unemployed!)

Mouse... I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to talk more about AT and mathpadplus as well as ds's trials and tribulations with some of the other applications you mentioned! ???What is the best way to handle it??? PMessages? or shall we bore these gals to pieces with our AT talk! hehehhee Feel better!

Will return after I nap...........what wonderful words!
take care,
~R

I am still alive.....totally up to my eyeballs with all kinds of stuff...and a stomach bug to boot. Hopefully tomorrow will be more sane and I can post. Take care- sorry to be so short and not personal at all.
Ginny

Feel better Gin.... I too am sort of "stomach buggy" tonight........ bleech!
Mousie, you feeling better? Hope so...

Pam...Don't compliments JUST make you GRIN?! You earned them! Enjoy them...

heading out in a hurry....
take care,
~R

Sounds like a whole bunch of us are sick. I'm apparently REALLY sick. I can't do anything by half measures, ya know? I'm sure you guys can guess what it takes to drag me to a doctor because I see so many of them so often! But, I was on the phone at 9:00 this morning trying to get an appointment. Managed to get one with the nurse practioner. Well, you'll never believe it, but I was actually running a fever with swollen glands and a stiff neck. I have a upper respiratory infection, a 101 degree temp. I'm on antibiotics and codeine-flavored cough syrup. I'm allergic to hydrocodone (synthetic codeine), so I can to take syrup instead of pills. The pills all use synthetic codeine in them.
I'm out of work till Friday, and when I told my team leader, she asked for a copy of the doctors note. This from somebody who is, quite literally, out at least 3 times a month. She was out last Monday, which was the first day back after spring break. I have over 100 hours of sick leave (well, not anymore!), and lots of perfect attendance months. I was miffed. You have no idea... especially since I talked to my supervisor on the phone Sunday (called him at home) and her today, and they both told me how bad I sounded. Oh, geez. I so need to get out of that place.
Its not like there isn't work for the kids (there is stuff from last week that they didn't do), plus I have emergency vocab packets in a drawer in the filing cabinet... told my team leader where those were. If worse comes to worse, they can show an educational video involving some form of technology. I had downloaded the remote access plug-in for the network, so if the gradebook program will work with that (my team leader is supposed to check with our database administrator), and she faxes my grading sheets to me, I can enter the grades myself from home. That leaves IEP updates. I have 6 kids in my homeroom. We probably have to do 4 updates, so it wouldn't take long for somebody else to do them.
I'm just so annoyed. I didn't ASK to get sick! Certainly not like this. Its not like I'm enjoying my time at home. I'm high from the codeine, can't sleep from the codeine (I get jittery from hydrocodone, but both drugs make it nearly impossible for me to sleep) and the coughing. By tomorrow afternoon, I'll have all the typical side-effects of taking antibiotics... I'm not supposed to have any dairy products right now (they make mucus thicker), so I can't eat yogurt to prevent it.
GRRRR! I have to reschedule my appointment with the reproductive endocrinologist too, because of being sick.
Okay, enough whining. I babble and whine like crazy when I'm sick.

Mouse- boy, when you get sick you do a fine job of it. Sorry you are SO sick....but I am relieved to hear that you went for the help to get over this. Feel better!! Hope you can get some reading in while recuperating.
Robyn- lots of luck making it thru the day if your stomach bug is/was like mine. Very interesting for me with limited access to a potty! Feel better.......
Sorry to be so short- Dd is sick and I am trying to get medical help for her at college.....ah the joys of medical insurance......Hi to everyone I missed
Ginny

All right everybody stand in line while I spray you with Lysol!
As I sit here typing (wearing my mask)..........Gosh, I hope you all feel better. This is not the time of year for sickness. Gracious. I hate to say anything, because I normally catch everything within a hundred miles.......
I WILL SAY A GENERAL GET WELL EVERYONE TO YOU ALL.
I am just sick of school of that counts. It's getting to that burned out time of year for me. I feel like I'm spinning around in circles. We have less than three weeks until our End of Grade Tests, and we are sooooooo not ready. I think my scores are gonna look a might pitiful this year. For example, I was putting the kids into groups today, and was going around the room touching them on the head and telling them their number. (Usually they pull a number, but we didn't today.) So, at the end, I say, ok, everyone in group one should be here............Hands in the air......I can't remember my number. What's my number? I don't know which group I'm in. Ok, but these same kids, who are only responsible for one little number to their group are supposed to remember The Pythagorean Theorem, and the formula for the circumference of a circle? Omigod, I am doomed. We need a prayer circle over here............... Ok, thanks I feel better now. I believe that aliens truly suck the brains out of middle school children and then return them to their bodies on their twenty first birthday.
Ok, so it was a long stressful day, and I ate six hershey kisses when I got home. I want to eat about two bags of them. I am going to try and walk tonight, but there is so much to do.
Hope you all feel better, glad you went to the doctor Mouse.....Poor Ginnie! I had a period in the fall where for two weeks, all I did was run to the bathroom. When I had to go, I had to go right then. There were many days I didn't think I would make it home, I was driving like a maniac. Thank goodness I had a student teacher, and a co teacher, or we would have had some serious complications.
Take Care!
Pam

Well, I'm still a sleepless Mouse. But, I am feeling a little better. I'm coughing less, but still running a fever. I snuck some yogurt this morning with breakfast (a little tiny cup of the sugar-free Dannon stuff) so I don't have too many bad anti-biotic side effects yet. Just the itchy dry skin.
They've fired two staff at the high school in the last two days. One guy had it coming in a big way, he has been absent a whole lot and not calling out; I don't know what the other woman did. She was only here 4-5 weeks, if that. But it makes me nervous when they send out those "staff change" emails.
And I don't trust my team leader or my supervisor anymore so that just makes it harder.
Hope others are feeling better. Pam, a few hershey kisses is better than 2 bags!
Me? I have this horrible craving for McDonalds!! I HATE McD's. I'll eat a dry sandwich from the gasoline quick shop before I eat at McD's.
The only time I eat at McD is if I can find one that has the mint milkshakes during March (They have green milkshakes for St. Patrick's day, and they're mint flavored. I love them... but never get them often because most of the restaurants don't serve them). I always want fast food and junk food when I'm sick. Double cheeseburgers, roast beef sandwiches, curly fries. All the stuff that even before my endocrine disorder I didn't eat.