FINALLY Friday Roll Call

Good Morning All:

So happy this week is over.  I'm exhausted. 

Flu shot today at work.  Then I'm planning to work today till 4ish.  Home to bed. 

Never made it to work yesterday got caught up in that accident traffic on 95 south, spoke to my boss she said to turn around and head back home.  I didn't have my work laptop home because I was not planning to be home yesterday so I monitored emails and attended the web training in the afternoon.

Hope everyone has a great day...

Ida
 

Good morning Ida and PA - hope you can get some rest this weekend, Ida. Pretty soon you'll be able to relax in that beautiful clawfoot tub of yours!

I'm at work - got here early since I was traveling solo today - hubby is home. Tomorrow is our big community yard sale and I had hoped to have a lot more stuff to put out, but with family here for 2 weeks and then my quick trip to Florida I just don't have as much as I had hoped, but I'll put out what I was able to gather before then. I have furniture to sell but figure I'll wait now to see what type of house we end up with then put the extra pieces I know we're not taking on Craig's List.

The offer was presented to the seller's realtor yesterday and she is going to present it to the seller today, so we'll see how it goes. Not sure why but I just don't have a good feeling about our offer. It was a fairly strong offer, but this house has been sitting for a while so I'm guessing the seller isn't budging much on her price - if she can afford to sit on it that's her business, but we won't pay what she's asking - not in this market. So I continue to look at houses on line so we have a back-up plan just in case we can't come to a decent agreement. One thing we do have on our side is time, and I refuse to let myself get emotionally invested like I did the last time - it's a house, and I love it, but there are others out there if this doesn't work out.

That's about it for me...boss is out today and I have some catching up to do, so guess I'll work on that.

Kathy

 Good Morning Ida and PA,
Sorry to hear traffic on 95 was so bad.  I missed hearing about that one.  Hope you have a restful weekend.  You deserve it.

Well, Mom came over yesterday and beat me at Scrabble, which made her happy.  I was winning till the last third of the game.

Today, I have two appointments.  One is to get my INR checked to check my Coumadin level in my blood, which I always must get done after a procedure.  Then, I have an appointment with the podiatrist to check on the healing of my wound.  Hopefuly, it is healing as expected.  I am grateful.  It did not hurt as much as my surgery in March.  I had three toes operated on then, and only two done this time.  

Then, Mom will probably challenge me to a best out of three match at Scrabble.  She lives for this game, and at 85 years old, she is pretty good with the vocabulary.

Hope everyone has a blessed day.

Hugs,
Trish

 Morning all... I totally agree about thank goodness it's Friday. 

Working ONE job today.  At some point, I need to go to Walgreen's to get our prescriptions and to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  I'll do my big shopping over the weekend at some point.  

Tonight we are going to a potluck dinner at the Caine's for Sukkot.  I am making the cheeseburger pie, but using soy crumbles since they are having dairy (plus the fact that mixing meat and milk is totally not kosher.. lol)  So, I have to get the ingredients for that.  It will be nice to hang out with other families from the synagogue in a social environment outside of the synagogue.  

Tomorrow morning we will go to synagogue and then the rest of the day is up in the air.  I will probably hit BJ's after services to pick up some of the stuff for the Bat Mitzvah.  

Lisa, what kind of soy crumbles work for you? I am interested in alternate protein sources but know that some are icky texture or tasteless.And remember, I am only the most rudimentary kind of cook in the first place!

 um, hmmm.. coming from one rudimentary cook to another, I use whatever's cheapest.. LOL.  I have not made this recipe with the crumbles yet, but can't see how I can go wrong since the seasoning and cheeses will overpower the taste of the crumbles.  

I do have a coupon for MorningStar products, so if they have that, I'll most likely get that.  Again, whatever is cheapest.   Looks like the Giant near me carries MorningStar so hopefully they'll have them cheap. 

Sorry I can't be of more help.  Maybe someone else can chime in with what they use. 

 Good morning ladies.  

I am at school.  Not exactly sure what will be going on as many of the kids will be pulled out for testig for a change.  It is so challenging to stick with the program when there are sooo many interruptions.  It is getting to be too much.  As a matter of fact, my therapist was more than willing to write me out of work for a while.  I absolutely said no!  (however, I reserve the right to go back and revisit if necessary.)  She completely understood and is not pushing me.  We also discussed my telling my principal what is going on with me - and we decided not to at this point.  I am still moving forward with work and that is all she needs to know.  If it gets to be paralyzing, I will think about discussing with the principal.  Who knows!

After school, some down time in the early evening then off to the synagogue for a Sukkot party.  Larry will be playing in the band after services.  He is looking forward to it!

Have a great Friday and a nice weekend.

Steffi, it's a very difficult balance isn't it? Your description of the anxiety you felt at work the other day concerned me. And yet, I know you love your kids and love your work. Can you balance the love for what you do with a way to do it in a way that allows you to find some still waters internally? Add to the picture the fact that running a family is a very demanding role, and you are certainly cast as the supermom. (Of course being in the starring role suits you just fine!)

When the backdrop is things like budget cuts, administration, testing, bureaucracy, politics.....well, you can bet I have some opinions on that. And I realize that this is one of hte "best" stretches of hte school year for uninterrupted instruction. It's not the big holiday breaks (yet). It's not testing season (yet). Kids aren't totally sick of each other (yet).

Hoping that you find some peace wih it all. I am happy to talk if you need to. I remember the days of doing it all....doing it all at once.....doing it all pretty darn well too....but being so dang tired when it was done.

Love ya. L.

 I am glad that you read this.  I was actually thinking of you when I wrote it. I know you know education from all aspects of it.  And yes, I love my kids.  The more challenging they are, the more I am drawn to them......don't ask me why.  I am usually at peace here at school, within my classroom anyway.  I LOVE to teach.  But, teaching is getting harder and harder to do with all the extra stuff expected which comes from the state.  We as educators do get frustrated with the principal, but if we are totally honest, we need to realize they don't have the ability to venture off the state's beaten path.  I do understand it intellectually, however, as a parent, I am frustrated with the interruptions of my child's education as well as my students.

And you would think that it still being early in the year that the interruptions would be minimal, but here in a very large district, it is more than acceptable.  In this district it is ALWAYS testing season.....  We are pulling the kids for assemblies, for state required testing of various needs, some not academic, and they are being pulled for high school aplication stuff as well.  Then with what happened on Wednesday losing an hour is, in my words, DISGUSTING!  My school has made AYP for five years running, (Actually 8, but in this new way of thinking, we are going with 5.)  This does not happen by accident.  The educators in my school work their asses off and are still being challeneged to do too many things over and above what our contract states.  And while we DO have the contract, if we go against it, we are punished in other ways.  We are truly between a rock and a hard place.

And as for taking time, I will do my damndest to see that it does NOT happen.  The therapist told me yesterday that if I know there is going to be a big, out of the norm, activity, like what we dealt with on Wednesday, I should take the day off to avoid another episode.  And I will definitely take that to heart!

I know that deep in my heart, I want to stay in the classroom, however, I am getting the itch to go back to school, and I know that the smart thing would be for me to study administration and work toward my PhD in that arena.  This year is not going to be the year to start, but it is sonething that I have been thinking a lot about.  And with all these changes, I often wonder if I could be a voice to work FOR the teachers in lieu of working against them.  Food for thought I guess!

Steffi, what area is your Masters in?

FYI - I am "ABD" - completed all the coursewok and qualifying exams for my PhD but didn't write the dissertation. And my area was Ed. Leadership/Administration. We can talk about that sometime if you want.

For now? It's Friday. Just breathe. In. Out. Several times a minute. It helps.