Yes, it is midweek at last, and finally a sunny day, if a bit cool and windy. I think they are predicting more rain, so I want to get out and move some things around in the yard. I'm running out of spots for new things, so I bought a small holly and am going to replace the deer-ravaged small euonymus, and bring that poor thing inside the fence to a spot where it can try to recover. It isn't doing as well as its larger also-ravaged cousins, who are sprouting new greenery left and right.
But I woke up with a headache today. I don't know why, as is often the case. Maybe from lifting the 40 pound bags of potting soil yesterday, or from the stress of driving the Monster Truck to Englishtown for the cheap shrubs and annuals. I took advil and went for a walk, it didn't hurt too much, but then my mouth felt cold in the shower, which usually accompanies a migraine attack. So I drank a coke and now I'll pop a couple more advil before I go dig in the holly.
Speaking of the holly, I have concerns about my beloved holly. As a female, she must have a male nearby, or she will not bear fruit. Last year, she was full of pretty red berries. At the nursery, all the hollies have them by now. Mine is abloom in pretty white flowers, but I don't see any berries! I am going to inspect more closely, but I may have to invest in a young man to keep the ladies happy. The other holly, the one that will take the place of the ill-fated euonymus, is also a little girl, all adorned in red. So she may become sad and lonely next year, too, if I don't act soon. I should have grabbed one yesterday when I could have done so for $15. It will end up costing me at least twice that now, that was my last trip to Englishtown this year.
Finally, my biggest news of the day. I got my hair cut. I was tired of the ridiculously long locks, most unbecoming to someone of a certain age, such as myself. Trapped in the quandary of "where to go?" I decided to go with the cheapest and simplest option, the woman who last cut Megan's hair. So I got a haircut for half the price, and she seems to have done a reasonably good job at salvaging the bang-up bangs. They have grown out quite a bit, but now they taper into the rest of the hair. I'll report later on how I like the cut when I have styled it myself.
In other news, it's been a quiet couple of days. Brian winds down with the testing, and Megan is back to the Y. She's babysitting tonight and again on Saturday, for a new family then. On Sunday, she is attending training for the Bottlecappers, a group of high school students who travel around to the younger children and teach them about not drinking or doing drugs. I'm always unable to comprehend how the group got their name. It makes me think of those little candy bottlecaps that taste like root beer, coke, or orange soda.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
The Portraits are in! The Portraits are in!
One of the standby lines from 'The Jerk' is the inspiration for my title; only in his case it was the phone books. It meant that he was somebody, the Jerk had arrived! In our case, we are a family. We have a family portrait. These are from the church sittings and there are so many extra proofs! I'll scan one or two in and post them if I get time. They arrived in the rain, and were left on the porch. I brought them in, and opened them up on the kitchen table, only to have two cats walk across them. I also noticed immediately that my bulging migraine vein was NOT airbrushed out as promised. Oh well - I guess I might as well look realistic! That picture was taken the week before we left for Nationals, and I was stressed with trying to get everyone packed and off at their respective departure times.
Brian started his standardized testing today. It's four days, and I am terrified to see the results. He has been declining each year, for some reason. He also hates to write with pencils. It's the only sensory issue I would say he has. Last year, in language arts, his teacher asked if there were any other skills they wanted to practice. He raised his hand and said that he would like to practice writing with pencils. She got mad, thinking he was being a wiseguy. He was a bit dismayed; of course, he was serious.
And so my newest project: The Fresh Air Fund. Having grown up in the city (not poor thankfully) I know what it's like to get out to the country for a few days or even a week each year. When I smell wet grass or fresh cut lawns, sometimes the smell still reminds me of my days at Camp Laughing Waters. Last year I saw an article about the fresh air fund, where they described the meeting of the bus from New York City by the dozens of host families from around the area. It sounded like a nice thing, so I sent away for information, but never followed up, as the prospect is a bit daunting if you really think about it: taking in an inner city child, having to be responsible for them, and having to trust that they are well-behaved and responsible themselves. Also, the period was two weeks for the visit! That seemed awfully long to me, in case it didn't go well.
Fast forward to yesterday. I got an email that said that last year there were way more applications than there were host families, and they begged for consideration: "if you have ever considered being a Fresh Air Fund host family, please let this be the year!" So I started emailing, and we are being interviewed and screened on Monday night. After that, if we are approved, we will be matched with an appropriate child within a couple of weeks. This visit would take place in July, and we have a little flexibility as to the time frame and dates. Neighboring counties have slightly different offerings, which might work better for us around Brian's baseball camp.
They only allow children to enter the program at ages 6-12, but they may continue their visits up to age 18. I don't know if we would continue that long or not, but it will be an experience to try it out this year, anyway. I do wish we had started sooner, as Megan is more or less closed out of having a peer, but we can request a boy around Brian's age (if we dare!) So, keep watching this space for updates.
In other news, Megan is officially back to swimming. I worked all day today, but have promised a ride to the garden center in Kevin's truck to my friend Denise for tomorrow. I would like to get a haircut, but don't know if I will have time or inclination. We also have an appointment with a landscape architect to come and look at the front of our house on Saturday, and I filed an application for a permit for a shed. We didn't know what he setbacks were, we thought 15 feet from the property line, but were thrilled to learn that it is now only three feet! And we plan to put it on the side of the neighbor who repeatedly called the pool company in a rage when our water was draining past their driveway. Oh, here comes my little Puff! She must know that Kevin isn't home :-)
Brian started his standardized testing today. It's four days, and I am terrified to see the results. He has been declining each year, for some reason. He also hates to write with pencils. It's the only sensory issue I would say he has. Last year, in language arts, his teacher asked if there were any other skills they wanted to practice. He raised his hand and said that he would like to practice writing with pencils. She got mad, thinking he was being a wiseguy. He was a bit dismayed; of course, he was serious.
And so my newest project: The Fresh Air Fund. Having grown up in the city (not poor thankfully) I know what it's like to get out to the country for a few days or even a week each year. When I smell wet grass or fresh cut lawns, sometimes the smell still reminds me of my days at Camp Laughing Waters. Last year I saw an article about the fresh air fund, where they described the meeting of the bus from New York City by the dozens of host families from around the area. It sounded like a nice thing, so I sent away for information, but never followed up, as the prospect is a bit daunting if you really think about it: taking in an inner city child, having to be responsible for them, and having to trust that they are well-behaved and responsible themselves. Also, the period was two weeks for the visit! That seemed awfully long to me, in case it didn't go well.
Fast forward to yesterday. I got an email that said that last year there were way more applications than there were host families, and they begged for consideration: "if you have ever considered being a Fresh Air Fund host family, please let this be the year!" So I started emailing, and we are being interviewed and screened on Monday night. After that, if we are approved, we will be matched with an appropriate child within a couple of weeks. This visit would take place in July, and we have a little flexibility as to the time frame and dates. Neighboring counties have slightly different offerings, which might work better for us around Brian's baseball camp.
They only allow children to enter the program at ages 6-12, but they may continue their visits up to age 18. I don't know if we would continue that long or not, but it will be an experience to try it out this year, anyway. I do wish we had started sooner, as Megan is more or less closed out of having a peer, but we can request a boy around Brian's age (if we dare!) So, keep watching this space for updates.
In other news, Megan is officially back to swimming. I worked all day today, but have promised a ride to the garden center in Kevin's truck to my friend Denise for tomorrow. I would like to get a haircut, but don't know if I will have time or inclination. We also have an appointment with a landscape architect to come and look at the front of our house on Saturday, and I filed an application for a permit for a shed. We didn't know what he setbacks were, we thought 15 feet from the property line, but were thrilled to learn that it is now only three feet! And we plan to put it on the side of the neighbor who repeatedly called the pool company in a rage when our water was draining past their driveway. Oh, here comes my little Puff! She must know that Kevin isn't home :-)
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Rite 13 Day
Today is Brian's big day. He has to stand up in church, with a whole bunch of girls, while the church recognizes his transition into "manhood". All of the other boys (well, all three) did this several weeks ago, and I hope it's done differently. Dean, our priest, made everyone stand with their hands on the shoulders of the person next to/in front of/near to them, while he went through eternities of readings. My shoulders were killing me by the end of it, and the Rite 13 (this is the name of their class) kids were in a circle in the aisle. But it's already nearly 8, I am the only one up, along with cats, and I have no idea what any of us are wearing.
Then we have to go for a pizza party tonight, so I have to get cookies for that. At least it's nit a nice day, all of this would be eating into our yard time. Yesterday, after running Brian to the soup kitchen and Megan to various random locales, we went to the garden center and picked up mulch and a "sand cherry" shrub to replace the half a tree. We also left our name so that the landscape designer can call us about redoing the shrubs in front of the house. We presently have Sigmund the Sea Monster devouring the front of the house, and he needs to be ripped out. I've spent so much energy on the back of the house that I have failed to mention this.
Kevin wants them all out as soon as possible, I wanted to finish up the back yard first. But this guy can also help with the movement of the evergreens, that will take over the yard if they're not moved around a little. When I bought them, I wanted quick privacy, and we will get that in a year or two. But in five or ten, we will have problems. And we need to install a shed, but in light of our disagreeable neighbor, we have to make sure we go through the town and get permits, and have the thing bolted to the ground, which means we need to put it in exactly within the confines of the zoning laws. With our house on this odd corner, that can get tricky.
So, that's about it for today. I hear the first person arising - and it's Kevin, of course. I will head off to the showers, after:
In other news, Megan's report card arrived and she got TWO A's, not just one (math and biology). That's it, time for a tutor. (joke) The rest were A+'s. She has nine absences in one class! That's because she was sick one day, missed seven for swimming, and made me pick her up at the end of the day once, for a stomachache. Really, she needed to come home and use the bathroom. Anyway, as they're honors classes, they will be more heavily weighted when her average is computed, so if she keeps it up, she should still be attractive to colleges. I forget if I mentioned the little boy at school who had been taken off in an ambulance. I asked on Friday and was told he'd been transferred to Robert Wood Johnson, a little north of here, so that can't be a great thing. I guess I'll ask again when I go in tomorrow. I hope it's nothing serious, but obviously it's nothing minor or they would have kept him where he was taken in the first place. Finally, Brian's rec baseball team lost AGAIN. I left at the end of the fifth, thinking it was the top of the sixth and the game was over, and apparently they staged a rally. But they did lose, 9-7, when two of their heavy hitters failed to get on base. At least Brian had a hit; even though when he scored, it was from a walk. He was left on base the other time.
Sorry, didn't mean for this post to get long. I guess I can't stop myself. (disclaimer: post not proofread)
Then we have to go for a pizza party tonight, so I have to get cookies for that. At least it's nit a nice day, all of this would be eating into our yard time. Yesterday, after running Brian to the soup kitchen and Megan to various random locales, we went to the garden center and picked up mulch and a "sand cherry" shrub to replace the half a tree. We also left our name so that the landscape designer can call us about redoing the shrubs in front of the house. We presently have Sigmund the Sea Monster devouring the front of the house, and he needs to be ripped out. I've spent so much energy on the back of the house that I have failed to mention this.
Kevin wants them all out as soon as possible, I wanted to finish up the back yard first. But this guy can also help with the movement of the evergreens, that will take over the yard if they're not moved around a little. When I bought them, I wanted quick privacy, and we will get that in a year or two. But in five or ten, we will have problems. And we need to install a shed, but in light of our disagreeable neighbor, we have to make sure we go through the town and get permits, and have the thing bolted to the ground, which means we need to put it in exactly within the confines of the zoning laws. With our house on this odd corner, that can get tricky.
So, that's about it for today. I hear the first person arising - and it's Kevin, of course. I will head off to the showers, after:
In other news, Megan's report card arrived and she got TWO A's, not just one (math and biology). That's it, time for a tutor. (joke) The rest were A+'s. She has nine absences in one class! That's because she was sick one day, missed seven for swimming, and made me pick her up at the end of the day once, for a stomachache. Really, she needed to come home and use the bathroom. Anyway, as they're honors classes, they will be more heavily weighted when her average is computed, so if she keeps it up, she should still be attractive to colleges. I forget if I mentioned the little boy at school who had been taken off in an ambulance. I asked on Friday and was told he'd been transferred to Robert Wood Johnson, a little north of here, so that can't be a great thing. I guess I'll ask again when I go in tomorrow. I hope it's nothing serious, but obviously it's nothing minor or they would have kept him where he was taken in the first place. Finally, Brian's rec baseball team lost AGAIN. I left at the end of the fifth, thinking it was the top of the sixth and the game was over, and apparently they staged a rally. But they did lose, 9-7, when two of their heavy hitters failed to get on base. At least Brian had a hit; even though when he scored, it was from a walk. He was left on base the other time.
Sorry, didn't mean for this post to get long. I guess I can't stop myself. (disclaimer: post not proofread)
Friday, April 25, 2008
Friday News
Well, the day was not so bad, even after the principal happened by and found the class largely not on task at 9:30 because we hadn't started our lessons for the day. The band teacher had forgotten his stands at his other school and had to go get them, so we were waiting for the first group to leave for band before launching into poetry and alliteration (as if I even know what that is). Anyway, perhaps she was checking up on me, because she came back about 20 minutes later, to tell me I had to give up my prep to meet with the other fifth grade teachers to sort through the science kits in the All Purpose Room. Well, luckily I had the class entranced with my fascinating readings of the poem, "Souvenir"; they were so quiet at that time that you could have heard a pin drop. Come to think of it, maybe they were asleep.
So it really was an OK day, this teacher leaves reasonable lesson plans, but her entire room is a mess! She has stacks of papers on her desk to the point where you are afraid that if you move one, the whole desk might collapse. To some degree, she leaves duplicates on a table at the front of the room, but you must brave the Big Desk first, in order to get your bearings for the day. When she had Megan for fifth grade, I sent in Megan's baby picture for the yearbook, and she gave it back to me at the end of the year, after finding it on her desk. Luckily, I ran the yearbook and substituted another one.
But those days always go quickly. We were scrambling to get things done. One kid would say, we always do it like this; to which half the rest would all respond, "no we DON'T!!" with indignation. I had to put out a lot of those first throughout the day, but it was fine. I'd go back. Not like that first grade class last Friday. Give me this group any day. Even Nick D., who couldn't stop talking. Then I had to remind myself that this might be how Brian behaves in class. With that in mind, I took away five minutes of his recess. While he was on the bench, one of the other teachers told me he sits there often.
Speaking of Brian...today his report card came and it was not good. Of course, there were some positives, so I can start with those: as he has redeemed himself in chorus and been granted amnesty from the Seat at the Head of the Class, he has been given an A in chorus again, as well as in math. When I told his math teacher that since the brain surgery, blah blah blah, she wrote back saying, "I didn't know he had brain surgery! The poor baby! Does he need a computer? I'll send him a book for home, and some ????"(no idea what this was, but she sent it, it had to do with 3D shapes for geometry); and she did. So he got an A.
Which was interesting, because the other day I had a conversation with his fourth grade teacher, which I started by telling her that was the best academic year he ever had, despite having brain surgery, pneumonia, and missing 32 days of school. She insists that this is not because she was strict (she doesn't think she was, but she is mistaken) but rather because she let the students know what was expected of them, and she took an interest in them. Perhaps she is onto something after all. Too bad she''ll be retiring, along with the teacher I subbed for today.
Otherwise, I believe his social studies grade also improved from a C+ to B+ or some such ... which is a start. We haven't heard how he did on the last test, though, the one he didn't study for until we got the chapters copied at 8:00 Sunday night.
Onto the rest: science declined by a + ... meaning it's a B without one now. But that's sort of OK. I think the grade was mainly based on project work done in-class, and for some reason, Brian hasn't mastered independent work yet. But the biggest dismay comes from the languages - both Spanish and our very own, English. In LA, he dropped a full letter grade, from a B+ to a C+, which may be due in large part to the Rip Van Winkle test I uncovered yesterday, with "67D" written on the top. One example of his response to the vocabulary part:
word: pestilence Brian's definition: something from your past
and so it goes. Here's one from the written responses:
Question: Why did RVW prefer younger people? Brian's response: Because they were nice to him, and he liked them.
And this, folks, is my life. Oh, wait, Spanish. Now he has gone from C+ to C. He claims it's a test he took after the trip to Florida. But funny thing about that, he had the Spanish book with him in Florida. He even ... "studied"...
One thing about Spanish 1 in 7th grade. It is a high school level course (reminder: despite these C's, he got an A on the midterm) in which one must maintain an average of C+. So he is in danger of having to repeat it. Which, according to Megan, may be OK. She says Spanish 2 is "much harder." She is now in 3. It isn't a big deal, I guess, because I would never put him into 3 anyway. I'd have him either repeat 2 or change languages. Megan's teacher speaks to them IN Spanish. He would never survive that. I'm sometimes not sure that he understand English.
Megan's report card should come tomorrow. Stay tuned.
In other news, Megan's knee is hurt. She went to the beach practice the other night, and hated it. He made them run six miles. Six. She has not run since October. Now she can barely walk. She had to run the mile in gym today, too. So she did it in 7:12. I believe she normally runs a 6-something (ha!). But she won't complain, she is too stoic. She'd rather run on it and ruin it for life. If it isn't better by next week I'll have it checked, but I'm furious. She's a good runner and if her knee gets wrecked because he made them overdo it their first time out ... expletive ...I know how it is to lose your knees before anything else. I think I'll buy her an embarassing knee brace tomorrow...hahah -- when I bought mine, I traded woes with a senior citizen and her husband. Her xray had just shown arthritis, and she needed to wear this brace over her knee-highs.
Tomorrow: landscaping!!!
So it really was an OK day, this teacher leaves reasonable lesson plans, but her entire room is a mess! She has stacks of papers on her desk to the point where you are afraid that if you move one, the whole desk might collapse. To some degree, she leaves duplicates on a table at the front of the room, but you must brave the Big Desk first, in order to get your bearings for the day. When she had Megan for fifth grade, I sent in Megan's baby picture for the yearbook, and she gave it back to me at the end of the year, after finding it on her desk. Luckily, I ran the yearbook and substituted another one.
But those days always go quickly. We were scrambling to get things done. One kid would say, we always do it like this; to which half the rest would all respond, "no we DON'T!!" with indignation. I had to put out a lot of those first throughout the day, but it was fine. I'd go back. Not like that first grade class last Friday. Give me this group any day. Even Nick D., who couldn't stop talking. Then I had to remind myself that this might be how Brian behaves in class. With that in mind, I took away five minutes of his recess. While he was on the bench, one of the other teachers told me he sits there often.
Speaking of Brian...today his report card came and it was not good. Of course, there were some positives, so I can start with those: as he has redeemed himself in chorus and been granted amnesty from the Seat at the Head of the Class, he has been given an A in chorus again, as well as in math. When I told his math teacher that since the brain surgery, blah blah blah, she wrote back saying, "I didn't know he had brain surgery! The poor baby! Does he need a computer? I'll send him a book for home, and some ????"(no idea what this was, but she sent it, it had to do with 3D shapes for geometry); and she did. So he got an A.
Which was interesting, because the other day I had a conversation with his fourth grade teacher, which I started by telling her that was the best academic year he ever had, despite having brain surgery, pneumonia, and missing 32 days of school. She insists that this is not because she was strict (she doesn't think she was, but she is mistaken) but rather because she let the students know what was expected of them, and she took an interest in them. Perhaps she is onto something after all. Too bad she''ll be retiring, along with the teacher I subbed for today.
Otherwise, I believe his social studies grade also improved from a C+ to B+ or some such ... which is a start. We haven't heard how he did on the last test, though, the one he didn't study for until we got the chapters copied at 8:00 Sunday night.
Onto the rest: science declined by a + ... meaning it's a B without one now. But that's sort of OK. I think the grade was mainly based on project work done in-class, and for some reason, Brian hasn't mastered independent work yet. But the biggest dismay comes from the languages - both Spanish and our very own, English. In LA, he dropped a full letter grade, from a B+ to a C+, which may be due in large part to the Rip Van Winkle test I uncovered yesterday, with "67D" written on the top. One example of his response to the vocabulary part:
word: pestilence Brian's definition: something from your past
and so it goes. Here's one from the written responses:
Question: Why did RVW prefer younger people? Brian's response: Because they were nice to him, and he liked them.
And this, folks, is my life. Oh, wait, Spanish. Now he has gone from C+ to C. He claims it's a test he took after the trip to Florida. But funny thing about that, he had the Spanish book with him in Florida. He even ... "studied"...
One thing about Spanish 1 in 7th grade. It is a high school level course (reminder: despite these C's, he got an A on the midterm) in which one must maintain an average of C+. So he is in danger of having to repeat it. Which, according to Megan, may be OK. She says Spanish 2 is "much harder." She is now in 3. It isn't a big deal, I guess, because I would never put him into 3 anyway. I'd have him either repeat 2 or change languages. Megan's teacher speaks to them IN Spanish. He would never survive that. I'm sometimes not sure that he understand English.
Megan's report card should come tomorrow. Stay tuned.
In other news, Megan's knee is hurt. She went to the beach practice the other night, and hated it. He made them run six miles. Six. She has not run since October. Now she can barely walk. She had to run the mile in gym today, too. So she did it in 7:12. I believe she normally runs a 6-something (ha!). But she won't complain, she is too stoic. She'd rather run on it and ruin it for life. If it isn't better by next week I'll have it checked, but I'm furious. She's a good runner and if her knee gets wrecked because he made them overdo it their first time out ... expletive ...I know how it is to lose your knees before anything else. I think I'll buy her an embarassing knee brace tomorrow...hahah -- when I bought mine, I traded woes with a senior citizen and her husband. Her xray had just shown arthritis, and she needed to wear this brace over her knee-highs.
Tomorrow: landscaping!!!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Take Your Child to ? work ?.
Tomorrow is Take Your Daughters to Work Day. Which has become politically correct and includes (and sons). Brian knew about it, and he made sure we did, too. He insists that a letter or note will make it an excused absence, and he came right home from school and called Kevin for days this week, first to tell him to ask permission, and, today, to find out if it had been granted.
Kevin was somewhat apprehensive, but his boss was really fine with the whole idea. Some companies have whole programs, like when I was working as a temp at the hospital, I brought Megan in with me and they took her to a program encouraging them all to become nurses, to help the nursing shortage. Then she was bored in the office, making copies and stuffing envelopes all morning. Luckily, that was only a 3 hour a day job, but I think it was enough to make her choose school over a trip to Nordea NY. Plus, she wants to go to swim practice, so she can skip it Friday. Next week and forward, she won't really be able to skip at random.
I'd love to bring her to work with me but (a) I am not working and (b) I am not a 'real' employee so it might be a little awkward. But that would be a relevant spot for her. I'm pretty sure that with her interests and background, she will NEVER end up pushing papers around in a bank. After all, it's the math class that broke her pefect A+ average! But even if they were to call me tonight, it's not in time for me to ask the Principal for permission, plus she's kind of a dictator and might not appreciate being asked that by a sub. Athough I'd ask anyway, if I had time. What would I have to lose?
But I will be going in Friday and Monday to work, then I'll find out how the little boy is doing who went off in the ambulance yesterday. I'm sure he is OK, but maybe not yet back in school.
Oh, right, but Brian. So he is going to Nordea tomorrow. He has to get up at 5:30 and take the bus into NY. I will make sure he takes the murse that I bought him to use as a carry-on, so he can take glasses if he wears his contacts, and a book to read. He's beside himself with excitement at the prospect of going, and I'm not really sure if it's the trip to the office, or the day off from school, or both, that really has him so worked up. It was all he talked about all day. He even called Megan when we were driving back from her beach dryland practice, to see if she wanted to go, too. I think he was disappointed she isn't going - but he got over that really quickly.
I enjoyed my day off today. I walked, then walked Molly, then took her in the yard with me while I raked leaves out from this mysterious bush that flowers in little pink carnation-type buds. I accidentally pulled off a whole branch of it, so I threw it into the car and took it with me for identification, and found out that it is a "flowering almond", which the woman called "old-fashioned" =:-O ... so when it's done blooming, I am to cut it down well, then fertilize/feed it, and make sure it gets plenty of water. And this fall: get the leaves out of it! My friend Denise kept the clipping, she is going to try to get it to grow its own roots. I also bought a new azalea, because it was nicer than any azalea I have ever seen. Now I have to find it a home. It's very small.
In other news, Megan is feeling better. She still has sniffles but she wanted to go to the beach practice, but then she said it wasn't fun. They ran the whole length of the boardwalk, which is probably about 2 miles each way, and then went down to do calisthenics on the beach. The weather is supposed to be stay very warm for the next few days, and I don't think we are able to run our new air conditioner yet because they have not "checked the charge" - and I won't try it. There was a house in town that erupted in flames for no apparent reason last week. I think it had to do with comcast surges, and they camme out to check on it, stuck some monitor in somewhere, backed off in horror, and the house went up in flames. Luckily noone was home, and nobody was hurt. (and no pets! and I heard they saved a piano) Otherwise there really is not much news. Tomorrow: laundry and house cleaning. The blog is sure to be fascinating after that.
Kevin was somewhat apprehensive, but his boss was really fine with the whole idea. Some companies have whole programs, like when I was working as a temp at the hospital, I brought Megan in with me and they took her to a program encouraging them all to become nurses, to help the nursing shortage. Then she was bored in the office, making copies and stuffing envelopes all morning. Luckily, that was only a 3 hour a day job, but I think it was enough to make her choose school over a trip to Nordea NY. Plus, she wants to go to swim practice, so she can skip it Friday. Next week and forward, she won't really be able to skip at random.
I'd love to bring her to work with me but (a) I am not working and (b) I am not a 'real' employee so it might be a little awkward. But that would be a relevant spot for her. I'm pretty sure that with her interests and background, she will NEVER end up pushing papers around in a bank. After all, it's the math class that broke her pefect A+ average! But even if they were to call me tonight, it's not in time for me to ask the Principal for permission, plus she's kind of a dictator and might not appreciate being asked that by a sub. Athough I'd ask anyway, if I had time. What would I have to lose?
But I will be going in Friday and Monday to work, then I'll find out how the little boy is doing who went off in the ambulance yesterday. I'm sure he is OK, but maybe not yet back in school.
Oh, right, but Brian. So he is going to Nordea tomorrow. He has to get up at 5:30 and take the bus into NY. I will make sure he takes the murse that I bought him to use as a carry-on, so he can take glasses if he wears his contacts, and a book to read. He's beside himself with excitement at the prospect of going, and I'm not really sure if it's the trip to the office, or the day off from school, or both, that really has him so worked up. It was all he talked about all day. He even called Megan when we were driving back from her beach dryland practice, to see if she wanted to go, too. I think he was disappointed she isn't going - but he got over that really quickly.
I enjoyed my day off today. I walked, then walked Molly, then took her in the yard with me while I raked leaves out from this mysterious bush that flowers in little pink carnation-type buds. I accidentally pulled off a whole branch of it, so I threw it into the car and took it with me for identification, and found out that it is a "flowering almond", which the woman called "old-fashioned" =:-O ... so when it's done blooming, I am to cut it down well, then fertilize/feed it, and make sure it gets plenty of water. And this fall: get the leaves out of it! My friend Denise kept the clipping, she is going to try to get it to grow its own roots. I also bought a new azalea, because it was nicer than any azalea I have ever seen. Now I have to find it a home. It's very small.
In other news, Megan is feeling better. She still has sniffles but she wanted to go to the beach practice, but then she said it wasn't fun. They ran the whole length of the boardwalk, which is probably about 2 miles each way, and then went down to do calisthenics on the beach. The weather is supposed to be stay very warm for the next few days, and I don't think we are able to run our new air conditioner yet because they have not "checked the charge" - and I won't try it. There was a house in town that erupted in flames for no apparent reason last week. I think it had to do with comcast surges, and they camme out to check on it, stuck some monitor in somewhere, backed off in horror, and the house went up in flames. Luckily noone was home, and nobody was hurt. (and no pets! and I heard they saved a piano) Otherwise there really is not much news. Tomorrow: laundry and house cleaning. The blog is sure to be fascinating after that.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Is It Really Only Tuesday?
This week is creeping by. Today I had to work all day in a resource room. The thing about the resource rooms is that they have very few kids, but the kids are all at such different places that there might as well be 100 of them. Luckily, in this class, one of the kids has a para (personal aide) so there was an extra person in the room. The other thing about the resource rooms is that they group the kids by relative grade level, so you never have just one grade at a time.
The push for next year is "inclusion". The latest trend in education thinking is that special ed and resource kids will do better if you mainstream them, but give them in-class support in the form of a resource teacher. I have heard that there will be no resource rooms next year, and the resource room teachers will "co-teach" in selected regular ed rooms. I have also heard that the elementary schools will only hire new teachers with dual certifications in special ed. There are so many kids who can't keep up in school today. I don't know if it's No Child Left Behind, vaccines, or just our society, that teaches 'to the test'. These are all reasons that I don't think I would ever go back to school for my degree. I've seen too many do it, and they're all still out there, searching.
At the end of the day, one of the special ed kindergarteners had some sort of medical incident and was sent to the hospital in an ambulance! They said he had a seizure, and he had a low grade fever, but his poor teacher was waiting by the door in tears. She is two days from her last day before maternity leave for her second child, with the first being not even two years old. She has one of the roughest classes in the school, with only ten kids (!), and then this had to happen. So hopefully he will be OK. I like this kid, despite himself. He's quite a character, and very smart, so I'm not sure what his classification is. Maybe he's mildly autistic. When I was in the class last week, he said to me, " I don't want to do math. It's boring." And he's six! (I have to admit, it probably his - he is capable of much more than calculating how many apples go to each child when there are six apples and two children)
So otherwise the day was OK, just a little long and I had one kid that couldn't understand me no matter what. It went like this:
Me: there are 36 inches in a yard. How many inches are there in a yard?
Kid: (looks intently at book): Um. One?
This happened in reading, too:
Me: The main idea of this story is getting energy from the wind and the sun. What is the main idea of the story?
Kid: Um. Windmills?
And that was that. Luckily you have pull-out only for an hour in the morning for reading and for forty minutes for math in the afternoon. And I haven't been in this class a whole lot, so I don't know the kids as well as I do the 4th and 5th grade resource kids - who are - by the way - much farther along.
After that, I spent an hour and a half on the phone with the AT&T customer service people. It seems that the place where I bought my cell phones and have changed the plans over the past, oh - I don't know - 12 years? - has been going into the system and making changes to my plan. I have caught the changes, but no rep has bothered to help figure out how until today. This one looked it up and saw that thay had even entered a false drivers' license expiration date, and changed my plan. They actually screwed everything up, because they changed Megan's line to the main line, and they did away with my texting ability completely, which it took me a few days to realize. I just thought everyone was ignoring me all weekend.
So she corrected everything, gave me a credit for the month's fees for my troubles, and said she would register a complaint against the franchise, which is privately owned. She also made a change so only corporate stores can change my account, or I can do it online. That's just insane. I guess they're compensated for new services sold, like the time they put roadside assistance and voice activated dialing without my permission. Jerks.
And there was my day. Brian is searching for Ralph S. Mouse so I can find out how Ralph does in The Great Mouse Caper, as I have read three chapters to this resource group and am dying to know how it turns out. He doesn't seem to have it. Now he is talking about Mr. Popper's Penguins.
And finally, in other news, Megan has come down with the sniffles. I gave her the last of her prescription decongestant, but this seems to need more than that. She is in good spirits, but she's trying to get out of going to school. She also informed me that her math grade has dropped to a plain A. So she won't be #1 in her class after all. Oh, there go my hopes and dreams. It's because of the week missed for Nationals, she got two 86's on tests. Sigh. Brian's baseball team lost tonight, again, 6-3. He had an error on first, a few strike-outs, and four runs scored in the innings he pitched. Other than that, he did great. Oh, and they had a bad ump. That's always fun. I am hoping for no work tomorrow so I can catch up on laundry and chores, and spend some time with Rusty in my lap. But if they call, I will take it, because someone told me today there are nine weeks of school left!
But .. it is only Tuesday.
The push for next year is "inclusion". The latest trend in education thinking is that special ed and resource kids will do better if you mainstream them, but give them in-class support in the form of a resource teacher. I have heard that there will be no resource rooms next year, and the resource room teachers will "co-teach" in selected regular ed rooms. I have also heard that the elementary schools will only hire new teachers with dual certifications in special ed. There are so many kids who can't keep up in school today. I don't know if it's No Child Left Behind, vaccines, or just our society, that teaches 'to the test'. These are all reasons that I don't think I would ever go back to school for my degree. I've seen too many do it, and they're all still out there, searching.
At the end of the day, one of the special ed kindergarteners had some sort of medical incident and was sent to the hospital in an ambulance! They said he had a seizure, and he had a low grade fever, but his poor teacher was waiting by the door in tears. She is two days from her last day before maternity leave for her second child, with the first being not even two years old. She has one of the roughest classes in the school, with only ten kids (!), and then this had to happen. So hopefully he will be OK. I like this kid, despite himself. He's quite a character, and very smart, so I'm not sure what his classification is. Maybe he's mildly autistic. When I was in the class last week, he said to me, " I don't want to do math. It's boring." And he's six! (I have to admit, it probably his - he is capable of much more than calculating how many apples go to each child when there are six apples and two children)
So otherwise the day was OK, just a little long and I had one kid that couldn't understand me no matter what. It went like this:
Me: there are 36 inches in a yard. How many inches are there in a yard?
Kid: (looks intently at book): Um. One?
This happened in reading, too:
Me: The main idea of this story is getting energy from the wind and the sun. What is the main idea of the story?
Kid: Um. Windmills?
And that was that. Luckily you have pull-out only for an hour in the morning for reading and for forty minutes for math in the afternoon. And I haven't been in this class a whole lot, so I don't know the kids as well as I do the 4th and 5th grade resource kids - who are - by the way - much farther along.
After that, I spent an hour and a half on the phone with the AT&T customer service people. It seems that the place where I bought my cell phones and have changed the plans over the past, oh - I don't know - 12 years? - has been going into the system and making changes to my plan. I have caught the changes, but no rep has bothered to help figure out how until today. This one looked it up and saw that thay had even entered a false drivers' license expiration date, and changed my plan. They actually screwed everything up, because they changed Megan's line to the main line, and they did away with my texting ability completely, which it took me a few days to realize. I just thought everyone was ignoring me all weekend.
So she corrected everything, gave me a credit for the month's fees for my troubles, and said she would register a complaint against the franchise, which is privately owned. She also made a change so only corporate stores can change my account, or I can do it online. That's just insane. I guess they're compensated for new services sold, like the time they put roadside assistance and voice activated dialing without my permission. Jerks.
And there was my day. Brian is searching for Ralph S. Mouse so I can find out how Ralph does in The Great Mouse Caper, as I have read three chapters to this resource group and am dying to know how it turns out. He doesn't seem to have it. Now he is talking about Mr. Popper's Penguins.
And finally, in other news, Megan has come down with the sniffles. I gave her the last of her prescription decongestant, but this seems to need more than that. She is in good spirits, but she's trying to get out of going to school. She also informed me that her math grade has dropped to a plain A. So she won't be #1 in her class after all. Oh, there go my hopes and dreams. It's because of the week missed for Nationals, she got two 86's on tests. Sigh. Brian's baseball team lost tonight, again, 6-3. He had an error on first, a few strike-outs, and four runs scored in the innings he pitched. Other than that, he did great. Oh, and they had a bad ump. That's always fun. I am hoping for no work tomorrow so I can catch up on laundry and chores, and spend some time with Rusty in my lap. But if they call, I will take it, because someone told me today there are nine weeks of school left!
But .. it is only Tuesday.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Social Studies Stress
Yesterday was a busy day for Brian. He had to go to church in the morning to get their version of the birds and the bees - not something I really approve of, but I don't really mind so much, either, since I doubt he listens to anything they say to him. He just goes for the munchkins and juice. After that he had a travel baseball game in Somerset, so he had to leave by 1. The neighborhood boys have decided that he's worthy of the occasional inclusion, so they came to get him to go play on the tennis courts at CBA (the Catholic high school behind our neighborhood).
After all this, and also after the whole day on Saturday had passed, he came in and asked in his innocent tone, "have you seen my new social studies book?" He is supposed to have a set of books at home so that he doesn't have to carry them back and forth to school, and in social studies they change books every unit. So it turns out he has a test on five chapters, and hasn't brought his home edition HOME yet! So it erupts, as usual. I explained to him that he is 12. He is in seventh grade, and it's April. This should not still be happening. I told him if he can't pull it together by next year, he will have to go to Oak Hill Academy for another year of 8th grade, and if that doesn't work, he'll have to go away to boarding school, where hopefully they will have someone who can teach him to be responsible for his work. He does not want to go to Oak Hill. The boys have to wear ties.
Eventually, he got copies of the work from his friend, and, as he had said, he knew a lot of it just from having read it in school. So, he went in early for extra help with Mr. Durr (how can you take a teacher with this name seriously, and to make things worse, he teaches special ed) and came home saying the test was easy.
See, I think that is the problem with the schools. If you can put in no effort at all and think the test was easy, then the test wasn't testing you well enough. But stay tuned for the results of that test in a few days.
So I only worked this morning. It was pretty easy. The first meeting was cancelled (I was floating for the child study team meetings) because the parent never showed up (!). The second was fine, I was in the resource room, where I will be all day tomorrow. They're a little hard to work with because all they do is look around and try to roam the room, but they're not bad, and they're just little. It's all second and third graders. Plus, I got to read to them from Ralph S. Mouse. I hope we read more tomorrow. Then I went into the 3/4/5 special ed classroom and played Connect Four with a kid who kept asking when recess would be over, because he hates to play, but the teacher has a rule that he must stay on task. The floating days are usually pretty low stress.
It's a little chilly here today, so I toured the yard and came back in. Megan wants to go back to practice tonight, even though she doesn't have to. It is a good thing, because she has still been having two dinners a night if she can manage it. The other day she went for a "run" and tripped within a half a block, so she came back home and had a snack.
So, in other news, I ordered two lampposts from a lighting store today. They will be in in a week to ten days and then we will have access to an electrician! It's all because of the lighthouse we bought yesterday, we need to be able to plug it in somewhere useful. But I have wanted outdoor lighting ever since we got the pool. Kevin likes those tiki torches, but they just cast a Survivor-like glow about the place. I also ordered a new lamp to put behind the piano. Rusty likes to knock things down, so he knocked over and shattered the antique lamp that we used to have ON the piano. I think this will work. Brian is having a lesson tonight. My friend Denise has applied for my dream job: control desk at the YMCA! She gave my name as a reference, and after trading calls with the woman for a few days, we finally connected. So I am waiting to see if they'll offer her the job. Hey, maybe if it's timed right, I can get her to drive Megan home from practice once in a while. (haha - fat chance!) I'll be so jealous if she gets the job. I always wanted to do that - except you have to start out on the night shift, and I won't do that.
OK, I'm going to get my camera and take pictures of the new shrubs. I'll try to link them in from photobucket.
After all this, and also after the whole day on Saturday had passed, he came in and asked in his innocent tone, "have you seen my new social studies book?" He is supposed to have a set of books at home so that he doesn't have to carry them back and forth to school, and in social studies they change books every unit. So it turns out he has a test on five chapters, and hasn't brought his home edition HOME yet! So it erupts, as usual. I explained to him that he is 12. He is in seventh grade, and it's April. This should not still be happening. I told him if he can't pull it together by next year, he will have to go to Oak Hill Academy for another year of 8th grade, and if that doesn't work, he'll have to go away to boarding school, where hopefully they will have someone who can teach him to be responsible for his work. He does not want to go to Oak Hill. The boys have to wear ties.
Eventually, he got copies of the work from his friend, and, as he had said, he knew a lot of it just from having read it in school. So, he went in early for extra help with Mr. Durr (how can you take a teacher with this name seriously, and to make things worse, he teaches special ed) and came home saying the test was easy.
See, I think that is the problem with the schools. If you can put in no effort at all and think the test was easy, then the test wasn't testing you well enough. But stay tuned for the results of that test in a few days.
So I only worked this morning. It was pretty easy. The first meeting was cancelled (I was floating for the child study team meetings) because the parent never showed up (!). The second was fine, I was in the resource room, where I will be all day tomorrow. They're a little hard to work with because all they do is look around and try to roam the room, but they're not bad, and they're just little. It's all second and third graders. Plus, I got to read to them from Ralph S. Mouse. I hope we read more tomorrow. Then I went into the 3/4/5 special ed classroom and played Connect Four with a kid who kept asking when recess would be over, because he hates to play, but the teacher has a rule that he must stay on task. The floating days are usually pretty low stress.
It's a little chilly here today, so I toured the yard and came back in. Megan wants to go back to practice tonight, even though she doesn't have to. It is a good thing, because she has still been having two dinners a night if she can manage it. The other day she went for a "run" and tripped within a half a block, so she came back home and had a snack.
So, in other news, I ordered two lampposts from a lighting store today. They will be in in a week to ten days and then we will have access to an electrician! It's all because of the lighthouse we bought yesterday, we need to be able to plug it in somewhere useful. But I have wanted outdoor lighting ever since we got the pool. Kevin likes those tiki torches, but they just cast a Survivor-like glow about the place. I also ordered a new lamp to put behind the piano. Rusty likes to knock things down, so he knocked over and shattered the antique lamp that we used to have ON the piano. I think this will work. Brian is having a lesson tonight. My friend Denise has applied for my dream job: control desk at the YMCA! She gave my name as a reference, and after trading calls with the woman for a few days, we finally connected. So I am waiting to see if they'll offer her the job. Hey, maybe if it's timed right, I can get her to drive Megan home from practice once in a while. (haha - fat chance!) I'll be so jealous if she gets the job. I always wanted to do that - except you have to start out on the night shift, and I won't do that.
OK, I'm going to get my camera and take pictures of the new shrubs. I'll try to link them in from photobucket.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Spring is in the Air
OK, so I am a damn fool. I realized that there is a link to this blog in the admin area of the swim team site. So, since now anyone who has access to that page has access to my blog, I have had to make 'life goes on' private. Now I will have to fomulate a list and actually invite people. Oh well, at least I won't have to watch what I say anymore. Never trust the internet.
I had originally linked to the Y page, but then deleted that link as soon as I realized that, in so doing, I had linked them to me as well. But the link on their site stayed, for some reason. I am surprised that it took someone this long to finally click on it. Now I'll just have to never enter the building again, or find a new swim team for Megan, or something.
So it's finally feeling like spring. Sometimes. Yesterday was a beautiful warm day. Today - not so much. But it's at least warm enough to go out in a sweatshirt, and it's good weather for walking, or it would be if I didn't have to work all the time!!
On Friday, I thought I had the day off. Well. I was mistaken. They called for me to work AM, so I thought that was not so bad. At 7am, the phone rang, and it said 'Middletown School'. Thinking, as I always fall for the same trick, that it was Megan, I picked it up. It was not Megan. It was the daytime sub caller, the woman at central office. I felt bad for her, she was begging, so I agreed to go to the farthest school from my house in the entire town, just for the afternoon. Turns out the teacher burned her hand on an iron, trying to protect a dog she was petsitting.
You know you're in trouble when the other first grade teacher comes in and tells you you are going to have a rough afternoon. The kids didn't listen at all. They were not terrible, really I have had worse. But they were definitely worse than my original plans for the 80 degree afternoon; as I had expected when I got dressed that morning! And then another sub at the morning school said she had turned that one down when they called her. So I wasn't even their first choice for the torture! But I did manage to get through it; and I know all they expected was that, so it's all OK.
Yesterday we went out and picked up some more garden items, a rhododendron to replace the one that died last summer, and some hanging plants. Oh, also a lighthouse! I'll try to remember how to put the pictures up here, once I figure out where we're going to put it. We will have to get electricity run through the yard, to the other side of the pool, but we actually needed that anyway. I am just plodding my way through the design of the yard. I don't know if Kevin appreciates it, but that is sort of too bad right now.
(haha. Since Kevin is one of the only readers now that I have had to make this a private blog!)
In other news: Brian is off to a baseball game with the Knights, his travel team. The Mets, his rec team, are awful. They lose every game. The Knights are 1-1. They're headed up North somewhere today for their game. Megan has to go to her 'God class' from 4 till 8 this evening, so I am going to try to get some spring cleaning done, after I go to Acme to get some food, of which we have none. This week, so far, I have a day and a half of work lined up. An AM only tomorrow, and all day on Tuesday. So that should not be too bad, at least I am not expecting it to be. hah.
I had originally linked to the Y page, but then deleted that link as soon as I realized that, in so doing, I had linked them to me as well. But the link on their site stayed, for some reason. I am surprised that it took someone this long to finally click on it. Now I'll just have to never enter the building again, or find a new swim team for Megan, or something.
So it's finally feeling like spring. Sometimes. Yesterday was a beautiful warm day. Today - not so much. But it's at least warm enough to go out in a sweatshirt, and it's good weather for walking, or it would be if I didn't have to work all the time!!
On Friday, I thought I had the day off. Well. I was mistaken. They called for me to work AM, so I thought that was not so bad. At 7am, the phone rang, and it said 'Middletown School'. Thinking, as I always fall for the same trick, that it was Megan, I picked it up. It was not Megan. It was the daytime sub caller, the woman at central office. I felt bad for her, she was begging, so I agreed to go to the farthest school from my house in the entire town, just for the afternoon. Turns out the teacher burned her hand on an iron, trying to protect a dog she was petsitting.
You know you're in trouble when the other first grade teacher comes in and tells you you are going to have a rough afternoon. The kids didn't listen at all. They were not terrible, really I have had worse. But they were definitely worse than my original plans for the 80 degree afternoon; as I had expected when I got dressed that morning! And then another sub at the morning school said she had turned that one down when they called her. So I wasn't even their first choice for the torture! But I did manage to get through it; and I know all they expected was that, so it's all OK.
Yesterday we went out and picked up some more garden items, a rhododendron to replace the one that died last summer, and some hanging plants. Oh, also a lighthouse! I'll try to remember how to put the pictures up here, once I figure out where we're going to put it. We will have to get electricity run through the yard, to the other side of the pool, but we actually needed that anyway. I am just plodding my way through the design of the yard. I don't know if Kevin appreciates it, but that is sort of too bad right now.
(haha. Since Kevin is one of the only readers now that I have had to make this a private blog!)
In other news: Brian is off to a baseball game with the Knights, his travel team. The Mets, his rec team, are awful. They lose every game. The Knights are 1-1. They're headed up North somewhere today for their game. Megan has to go to her 'God class' from 4 till 8 this evening, so I am going to try to get some spring cleaning done, after I go to Acme to get some food, of which we have none. This week, so far, I have a day and a half of work lined up. An AM only tomorrow, and all day on Tuesday. So that should not be too bad, at least I am not expecting it to be. hah.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Banquet Blues
So today was the annual swim team banquet. It was OK. They gave me flowers, which was quite embarassing because I hate to be singled out in front of large groups of people anyway, and this time I didn't feel like I really deserved it, despite having dedicated probably a weeks' worth of waking hours to getting this book done, with minimal organization. I thrive on lists, and I didn't have one for this job this year.
They also made fun of Megan several times, which at least was funny. That made it entertaining. And with only three seniors who all made very tolerable speeches, that part was most enjoyable.
But tonight is a different story. I have gotten emails from two different people saying that ads that they paid for didn't get into the book. First of all, the book this year had more ads than it has in the past two years, and they're saying it should have been even longer!! I can't find any trail for the first two ads, and the third I find mentioned in an email, then I asked a question about where it was, and I never received a reply. I didn't put any ad into the book until I actually saw a physical hard copy. Second, one of them is asking to refund the business that placed the ad, and I don't even have anything to do with that part of the job. It's been more confusing this year, due to the departure of the man who used to handle the intake of all the ads. I was worried that this might happen, although I did my best to make sure everything was accounted for.
Now I'll just have to wait and see if I can figure out why this would have happened, and if I can prevent it from happening again. It reminds me of my first job, when I placed ads for a classified advertising agency. There were two different functions in the system - csv, which would correct errors in an ad that was already placed, and ad pick-up, which would pick up an old ad and rerun it. Well, I believe what happened was that instead of correcting ads in csv, I changed them all in ad pick-up, so that every ad that had errors in it for every client still ran wrong, but also ran right. I just remember coming in all happy with my new job, and the phone ringing off the hook with customers complaining. My boss was trying to pacify them, and I was the biggest flop to ever hit Madison Avenue (or Lower Fifth, at least). That's the way it is tonight. Not to mention other errors in the book, because other things were told to me incorrectly. So I did everything right, but didn't check my facts, so I may as well have done it wrong. Sob.
And in other news: Kevin is flying off to Denmark as I write this, so I can't even use him as a punching bag. Brian is sniffling and sneezing. Megan lost, but fortunately remembered where, a large sum of cash. But best of all, my new shades and blinds are being installed tomorrow!! They come at 9am. I have two half days of work lined up this week already, and I just ordered two new bathing suits from Lands' End. If only it would feel like it might EVER be bathing suit weather!
They also made fun of Megan several times, which at least was funny. That made it entertaining. And with only three seniors who all made very tolerable speeches, that part was most enjoyable.
But tonight is a different story. I have gotten emails from two different people saying that ads that they paid for didn't get into the book. First of all, the book this year had more ads than it has in the past two years, and they're saying it should have been even longer!! I can't find any trail for the first two ads, and the third I find mentioned in an email, then I asked a question about where it was, and I never received a reply. I didn't put any ad into the book until I actually saw a physical hard copy. Second, one of them is asking to refund the business that placed the ad, and I don't even have anything to do with that part of the job. It's been more confusing this year, due to the departure of the man who used to handle the intake of all the ads. I was worried that this might happen, although I did my best to make sure everything was accounted for.
Now I'll just have to wait and see if I can figure out why this would have happened, and if I can prevent it from happening again. It reminds me of my first job, when I placed ads for a classified advertising agency. There were two different functions in the system - csv, which would correct errors in an ad that was already placed, and ad pick-up, which would pick up an old ad and rerun it. Well, I believe what happened was that instead of correcting ads in csv, I changed them all in ad pick-up, so that every ad that had errors in it for every client still ran wrong, but also ran right. I just remember coming in all happy with my new job, and the phone ringing off the hook with customers complaining. My boss was trying to pacify them, and I was the biggest flop to ever hit Madison Avenue (or Lower Fifth, at least). That's the way it is tonight. Not to mention other errors in the book, because other things were told to me incorrectly. So I did everything right, but didn't check my facts, so I may as well have done it wrong. Sob.
And in other news: Kevin is flying off to Denmark as I write this, so I can't even use him as a punching bag. Brian is sniffling and sneezing. Megan lost, but fortunately remembered where, a large sum of cash. But best of all, my new shades and blinds are being installed tomorrow!! They come at 9am. I have two half days of work lined up this week already, and I just ordered two new bathing suits from Lands' End. If only it would feel like it might EVER be bathing suit weather!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Forbidden Knowledge?
So, during spring break, I dragged the kids to Philadelphia for a quick visit. We went out on a quick shopping spree, ending up at Urban Outfitters. Brian, ever the spoiled and pampered, was whining because I wasn't buying him things (like laser pointers, or Airsoft guns). In Urban Outfitters, he picked up a book. It was titled, Forbidden Knowledge: 101 Things NOT Everyone Should Know How to Do. He asked to have it, and I quickly glanced at it. Here are the ones that caught my eye:
* how to know if your neighbor is a zombie
* stage a coup
* e-bay scams
* Negotiate with kidnappers
So, I think, OK, he will read this (thats good, right?) and it sounds a lot like The Worst Case Scenario Survival Guide that I have had for years. So I got it for him. No big deal. He read a couple of humorous excerpts on the way home, and I forgot all about it.
Until today.
I was working, during the Math Olympics at school. At lunch, I checked the messages at home. It was a bit raucous in the teachers' room, so I didn't know who it was that was on the machine, until I realized that it was the guidance counselor from the middle school!!! He was rattling off something about Brian's language arts teacher, and the book...suddenly I realized he meant THIS book! Then my mind went back to Brian showing the book to someone who said, "if that is forbidden, are you supposed to know about it?" at which time I briefly thought, "Hm. Maybe I should delve a little further into the book." And I forgot all about it.
Until today.
So I have opened it up again, and found the topics I did not notice at first:
* how to be a porn star
* how to play Russian roulette
* how to become an assassin
And, as the guidance counselor pointed out, it "goes on and on" and is entirely inappropriate for middle school!!! Of course, most of the topics could be very helpful, such as how to complain and get results, lighting farts on fire, or placing a gypsy curse. I would also very much like to know how to create crop circles, or ten things I should never say to the police. But, all in all, I have been forced to suck it up and act appalled - as, in fact, I am. This is just what I did not need with this kid!!
Lately I have been thinking, well, maybe guidance can help with the fact that these kids in his grade are being mean to him. Just yesterday they were all together in the neighbor's garage, and the other three jumped up and got on their bikes, and all rode off without Brian. It makes me wonder what life is like in these kids homes to convince them that they are so far superior to others that it's ok to treat other people like that. Then they'll come and ring the bell, like they can't wait to play. There's no rhyme or reason to it. Perhaps Brian should look up "build freakish muscles" in his new book, and use that to overcome them the next time they pick on him.
But, I suppose I can scratch that. I don't imagine guidance will be feeling too sympathetic towards us these days. On to Plan B, whatever that might be.
And so, such went my day. Tonight we are going out for dinner and to see a play with a church group. At least I have some good dinner conversation. This book will be well accepted by the church folk, to be sure.
In other news, the one little chiari girl I have been following is not doing well, and it is making me so mad. I am getting the feeling that the doctors who are treating her just do not know what they're doing at all. If that were my kid, I'd want her out of that hospital so fast; but she's too sick to be moved, and she's their mess now anyway. I remember feeling that way with Brian briefly, but he was never as sick as this little girl. For the one day that he was, our surgeon was very understanding and accommodating. And effective. Otherwise, it is the weekend. Which will revolve around baseball and weather in our house. Time to catch up on some more laundry. And maybe make some moonshine, crash a wedding, or do some subway surfing.
* how to know if your neighbor is a zombie
* stage a coup
* e-bay scams
* Negotiate with kidnappers
So, I think, OK, he will read this (thats good, right?) and it sounds a lot like The Worst Case Scenario Survival Guide that I have had for years. So I got it for him. No big deal. He read a couple of humorous excerpts on the way home, and I forgot all about it.
Until today.
I was working, during the Math Olympics at school. At lunch, I checked the messages at home. It was a bit raucous in the teachers' room, so I didn't know who it was that was on the machine, until I realized that it was the guidance counselor from the middle school!!! He was rattling off something about Brian's language arts teacher, and the book...suddenly I realized he meant THIS book! Then my mind went back to Brian showing the book to someone who said, "if that is forbidden, are you supposed to know about it?" at which time I briefly thought, "Hm. Maybe I should delve a little further into the book." And I forgot all about it.
Until today.
So I have opened it up again, and found the topics I did not notice at first:
* how to be a porn star
* how to play Russian roulette
* how to become an assassin
And, as the guidance counselor pointed out, it "goes on and on" and is entirely inappropriate for middle school!!! Of course, most of the topics could be very helpful, such as how to complain and get results, lighting farts on fire, or placing a gypsy curse. I would also very much like to know how to create crop circles, or ten things I should never say to the police. But, all in all, I have been forced to suck it up and act appalled - as, in fact, I am. This is just what I did not need with this kid!!
Lately I have been thinking, well, maybe guidance can help with the fact that these kids in his grade are being mean to him. Just yesterday they were all together in the neighbor's garage, and the other three jumped up and got on their bikes, and all rode off without Brian. It makes me wonder what life is like in these kids homes to convince them that they are so far superior to others that it's ok to treat other people like that. Then they'll come and ring the bell, like they can't wait to play. There's no rhyme or reason to it. Perhaps Brian should look up "build freakish muscles" in his new book, and use that to overcome them the next time they pick on him.
But, I suppose I can scratch that. I don't imagine guidance will be feeling too sympathetic towards us these days. On to Plan B, whatever that might be.
And so, such went my day. Tonight we are going out for dinner and to see a play with a church group. At least I have some good dinner conversation. This book will be well accepted by the church folk, to be sure.
In other news, the one little chiari girl I have been following is not doing well, and it is making me so mad. I am getting the feeling that the doctors who are treating her just do not know what they're doing at all. If that were my kid, I'd want her out of that hospital so fast; but she's too sick to be moved, and she's their mess now anyway. I remember feeling that way with Brian briefly, but he was never as sick as this little girl. For the one day that he was, our surgeon was very understanding and accommodating. And effective. Otherwise, it is the weekend. Which will revolve around baseball and weather in our house. Time to catch up on some more laundry. And maybe make some moonshine, crash a wedding, or do some subway surfing.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Wasting Space
Yep. That is what I'm doing this week, just wasting space. I've been catching up on all the chiari blogs and carepages that I follow, two in particular are very alarming. It's never good when a child goes in for surgery, but when they aren't recovering well and the doctors don't have any idea why - that's when it's really bad. Just as I typed that, I got an email alert to an update on another little girl. Her joints are so swollen that they don't work right anymore, as a result of arachnoiditis, which is her body's inflammatory reaction to all the surgeries she has had. It's incurable, and causes a lifetime of pain. Right now she is in the hospital waiting for an umpteenth shunt revision. Her mother writes that she is more upset than ever before.
So on Sunday night, I turned down that sub call, and she has not called again. I will work tomorrow, but that will be it for me for the week. Maybe she'll call with some more. I don't mind the down time, I even went for a couple of walks, but I would like to have the paycheck.
Brian has a baseball game tonight, the first time he will play with the Little League team. It should be interesting, he missed their first game on Saturday while we were away, and kids told him that his team got clobbered. I don't know why, but perhaps will find out tonight.
It's nice not having to drive to swimming, but weird. Megan decided not to do spring track after all, since she has already missed almost half the season. The coach won't know her, and she probably won't get many opportunities to run. She certainly doesn't need to do it for exercise, as spring training at the Y starts in just another week (actually it starts Monday, but she doesn't have to go for an extra week since she went to Nationals). I'm still waiting for them to post the 2009 Qualifying Times so we will know if she is guaranteed a trip back next year, or if she's going to have to swim her butt off again to beat the new times.
On that note, she has stayed after school to catch up on some missed work, so I must go fetch her and prepare to shuttle Brian to his ortho appointment and thenback for baseball. Stats to follow!
In other news: Molly's leg seems ok today. She had pulled off almost all of the fur, but she hasn't tried to go at it at all since yesterday. I'll leave her helmeted anyway. Kevin continues the Battle of the Moles, half of one now lies bloodied in the middle of the street and our yard looks like it's strewn with mousetraps. They came around and picked up the leaves and itchy balls today, but we didn't know, so our yard is still littered with junk on top of all the metal traps.
But now the sun is coming out! Let me go and join it.
So on Sunday night, I turned down that sub call, and she has not called again. I will work tomorrow, but that will be it for me for the week. Maybe she'll call with some more. I don't mind the down time, I even went for a couple of walks, but I would like to have the paycheck.
Brian has a baseball game tonight, the first time he will play with the Little League team. It should be interesting, he missed their first game on Saturday while we were away, and kids told him that his team got clobbered. I don't know why, but perhaps will find out tonight.
It's nice not having to drive to swimming, but weird. Megan decided not to do spring track after all, since she has already missed almost half the season. The coach won't know her, and she probably won't get many opportunities to run. She certainly doesn't need to do it for exercise, as spring training at the Y starts in just another week (actually it starts Monday, but she doesn't have to go for an extra week since she went to Nationals). I'm still waiting for them to post the 2009 Qualifying Times so we will know if she is guaranteed a trip back next year, or if she's going to have to swim her butt off again to beat the new times.
On that note, she has stayed after school to catch up on some missed work, so I must go fetch her and prepare to shuttle Brian to his ortho appointment and thenback for baseball. Stats to follow!
In other news: Molly's leg seems ok today. She had pulled off almost all of the fur, but she hasn't tried to go at it at all since yesterday. I'll leave her helmeted anyway. Kevin continues the Battle of the Moles, half of one now lies bloodied in the middle of the street and our yard looks like it's strewn with mousetraps. They came around and picked up the leaves and itchy balls today, but we didn't know, so our yard is still littered with junk on top of all the metal traps.
But now the sun is coming out! Let me go and join it.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Home Sweet Home
I don't like Fort Lauderdale. I am glad I didn't waste my youth on that garish place. One week of my middle age was enough! (although, I will hope to return, but not for my vacationing pleasure)
The hotel was huge. It was reasonably clean, and I had no true complaints aside from the entire city, and hence the hotel, being a complete ripoff; and the drain in our tub didn't work. Rather than complain,I spent an extra five miinutes in the shower after I turned it off, making sure all the suds and grunge went down the drain with the water.
Oh, and there was the food poisoning the hotel also had to offer. On the first night of the meet, we ate at the hotel restaurant. The food tasted pretty good, and honestly, I felt fine for two whole days before getting sick. So I don't think I can blame my chicken. I prefer to blame the burger. Brian had a "caesar salad" which consisted of large hearts of romaine laid across his plate, uncut, on a bed of cheese with a little dressing.
Anyway, four kids from another swim team ended up hospitalized from their meal in the same restaurant, and the ones who got sick had chicken for dinner. But, that's all behind us and all I have now is a pony-tail headache that won't go away no matter what I do.
Otherwise, the weather was reasonable for South Florida in April. It didn't rain once while Brian and I were there, at least not during the day. It was, however, extremely hot, and the seats at the pool are all in direct sunlight. We all got burnt in one form or another. Brian is walking around like robot man, three whole days after sustaining this burn. It was a bad one,though. I always knew I didn't trust spray on sunblock, especially when swimming in the ocean. Give me the old CopperBabies any day...SPF 50! So now everyone has an appointment to see their dermatologists.
But oh ... the meet! It was not such a huge success. Megan wasn't really expected to outperform, and she didn't. She missed her two times in the events she was entered into, and the preliminary times for next year indicate she may not even qualify anymore. The meet was oversubscribed, and the only way to get the kids out is to drop the times AGAIN. So many fast kids! Anyway, she did a couple of time trials, did very well in the 1000, dropped about 18 seconds, still not a national cut, though. Makes you wonder how well she might have done had she actually done it while she was swimming so well three weeks earlier!
And then she did the 1650 for the first time, with a pretty good time in that as well, for a first swim at her age. I have no real reference for that one, since it's the first time she'd ever done it. They put her in with some fast-ish time, and she was in the fastest heat of three. She came in second to last in the heat, but her coaches were happy with the time and her pace.
And here we are, back to reality. Unbelievably, I had a call to work today! I told her I can't do it, used the banquet book as an excuse. I really did have to tie up loose ends, but that involved a phone call and an email. I just hope it will be OK. I worked on it for eight hours (!) yesterday, on top of all the time I've already spent on the stupid thing. The banquet is next Sunday.
Megan is debating whether or not to do spring track. She probably doesn't want to, I think she wants to sit at home and eat skittle for two weeks before she has to go back to spring training. I'm not going to force her, but I think she wants me to, so she can blame me if she hates it; but just in case she likes it, I thinks he would like to try it. She's just unmotivated.
OK, I see that this is getting sort of a tad on the boring side. I can't think of much of interest to write because I really would like to just lie down and go to sleep right now!!! I have to work on some laundry, and think about dinner. It's chilly and gray outside.
In other news: well, there is no other news. Maybe next time.
The hotel was huge. It was reasonably clean, and I had no true complaints aside from the entire city, and hence the hotel, being a complete ripoff; and the drain in our tub didn't work. Rather than complain,I spent an extra five miinutes in the shower after I turned it off, making sure all the suds and grunge went down the drain with the water.
Oh, and there was the food poisoning the hotel also had to offer. On the first night of the meet, we ate at the hotel restaurant. The food tasted pretty good, and honestly, I felt fine for two whole days before getting sick. So I don't think I can blame my chicken. I prefer to blame the burger. Brian had a "caesar salad" which consisted of large hearts of romaine laid across his plate, uncut, on a bed of cheese with a little dressing.
Anyway, four kids from another swim team ended up hospitalized from their meal in the same restaurant, and the ones who got sick had chicken for dinner. But, that's all behind us and all I have now is a pony-tail headache that won't go away no matter what I do.
Otherwise, the weather was reasonable for South Florida in April. It didn't rain once while Brian and I were there, at least not during the day. It was, however, extremely hot, and the seats at the pool are all in direct sunlight. We all got burnt in one form or another. Brian is walking around like robot man, three whole days after sustaining this burn. It was a bad one,though. I always knew I didn't trust spray on sunblock, especially when swimming in the ocean. Give me the old CopperBabies any day...SPF 50! So now everyone has an appointment to see their dermatologists.
But oh ... the meet! It was not such a huge success. Megan wasn't really expected to outperform, and she didn't. She missed her two times in the events she was entered into, and the preliminary times for next year indicate she may not even qualify anymore. The meet was oversubscribed, and the only way to get the kids out is to drop the times AGAIN. So many fast kids! Anyway, she did a couple of time trials, did very well in the 1000, dropped about 18 seconds, still not a national cut, though. Makes you wonder how well she might have done had she actually done it while she was swimming so well three weeks earlier!
And then she did the 1650 for the first time, with a pretty good time in that as well, for a first swim at her age. I have no real reference for that one, since it's the first time she'd ever done it. They put her in with some fast-ish time, and she was in the fastest heat of three. She came in second to last in the heat, but her coaches were happy with the time and her pace.
And here we are, back to reality. Unbelievably, I had a call to work today! I told her I can't do it, used the banquet book as an excuse. I really did have to tie up loose ends, but that involved a phone call and an email. I just hope it will be OK. I worked on it for eight hours (!) yesterday, on top of all the time I've already spent on the stupid thing. The banquet is next Sunday.
Megan is debating whether or not to do spring track. She probably doesn't want to, I think she wants to sit at home and eat skittle for two weeks before she has to go back to spring training. I'm not going to force her, but I think she wants me to, so she can blame me if she hates it; but just in case she likes it, I thinks he would like to try it. She's just unmotivated.
OK, I see that this is getting sort of a tad on the boring side. I can't think of much of interest to write because I really would like to just lie down and go to sleep right now!!! I have to work on some laundry, and think about dinner. It's chilly and gray outside.
In other news: well, there is no other news. Maybe next time.
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