12/16/17 Saturday

Yep, look for that brain clean article. Its interesting. And I really need a brain clean out about now. Too bad you can't drink something like for a colonoscopy! LOL

Well I guess I know about puppies because I am a dog servant. Much of our decor is designed around dogs. Gates to keep them out of the guest room and from running out the front door because they are ill behaved. And I will never get a leather sofa or furniture because dogs will think they are a giant chew toy (like your Darby). Have a veggie day. Diane S

Good morning or afternoon,

It is DD's dance studio Nutcracker performance weekend. Last night was dress rehearsal, then 2 performances both today and tomorrow.

Amazon should have drones that pick up our emptied amazon boxes. I swear the middle of our cul de sac might as well be a UPS hub this time of year.

Had a good time with DD yesterday in downtown Seattle.

I'm excited about DianeO's new pup!

May your glymphatics (if I am remembering that right) be clear of waste,

Shel

The Nut Cracker! How fun! Love the giant mice. Amazon drones. It could happen. ds

I started writing at about 2:00, then realized I was late to pick up a friend for a medical appointment. I slammed the laptop shut and ran out of the house. Luckily, the post saved and I have finished it, though the mood to write had somewhat passed.

Happy Saturday, friends! Hope all is well in your worlds.

New puppy - the best! I have all sorts of puppy advice, should you need any. I would not expect Sadie to instinctively mother. Mothering in dogs is very hormone dependent. without a hormone surge many *****es do not exhibit motherly instincts. Some do, in a "human" sort of way. They are kind to the puppy. They are gentle and may even be a little wary of a new pup. Those behaviors are instinct to betas who are expected to care for the new member of a pack while the alphas lead and hunt. Dogs have a fascinating hierarchy. We tend to personify dogs with human characteristics, but the truth is far more interesting IMO.

For your new puppy.... MOOSE BEAMS! www.gotantler.com Pricy, but well worth it. Stay away from Elk and deer antlers. Far too hard. Dogs break teeth on those. But moose antler is much softer and a wonderful experience for dogs that need to strengthen jaw muscles for the work they were bred to do. Remember a dog jaw develops to exert between 200 and 300 PSI. Chewing is what gets the jaws strong. The discovery of moose beams (the base of the antler) has saved my furniture (well, to a degree). Airedales are notorious chewers and put Labs to shame.

Onward to weight life: Eh.... it is what it is.... BED is rearing its head even with the meds. Was reading it can be triggered by stress. Hmmm.... got that in spades.... BED with VSG is really more like uncontrolled grazing. I find it fascinating how disease symptoms can morph to suit new physical limitations. I don't meet one of the criteria for BED any longer because VSG has made it impossible. The disease manifestations morphed to accommodate or compensate for my VSG. Go figure....

I am contemplating staring a blog. I need some sort of release - both on the weight issue front and also the work issues that I struggle with. Diane O. may appreciate this: I wrote to Lucy Calkins. Calkins is a current cult figure in education because of her approach to literacy. She has two programs that are student interest based reading and writing workshop models. Polar opinions can be found about the efficacy of her programs and ideology. Yet, because of her prominence in the world of teaching writing, I carefully crafted my letter to her. It was revised, edited, etc... to make sure that I didn't come across like an ignorant boob to this guru of writing. I asked for some very specific things in my letter - especially a significant reduction of narrative text in the manual. Was there a possibility of publishing an easy to follow, condensed version for experienced teachers? Well, none of my specifics were addressed in her response to me. Had I had a mouth full of water, I probably would have done a spit take when I read her response to me, which arrived yesterday. Gotta share it here:

Devon

Thanks for your dedication to great teaching!

hope you are relying on Up the Ladder units for gr 3 and up writing which have all been video taped. I also hope your district provides you w PD from TCRWP.

There are 60,000 teachers in the Reading and Writing U of S Facebook pages and people help each other.

L

I hope you can all see the effing humor in her response. She, the guru of writing education whose manifests are being used to teach hundreds of thousands students each year, writes with poor punctuation and grammar to a fellow teacher! I can aver that her response will keep me from drinking her particular brand of Kool Aid! LOL!

I also need a place to sort through all the dysfunction that leads to my eating and subsequent obesity issues. I am in a total self deprecation mode - pre empt any possible judgement from without by getting to it first in a way that appears light hearted, while it really isn't so much. I've been referring to myself again as the "fat guy" or Fatman. Feeling some anger turning in on myself. So, it'll probably be a good thing to have a place to start to get some of that stuff out. I don't journal well, so maybe this avenue might work. And heck, maybe I can turn my little blog into a best seller like that 50 Shades of Grey lady did with all that smut stuff she wrote. (I finally saw the movie on TV in October. YUCK!!!! Though the actor was none too shabby! LOL)

I guess that's all that is really happening with me at this point. Wish I knew if there was one specific trigger, or if this "mood" is simply a result of a culmination of stressors.

Devon, I would read anything you wrote! Anywhere you publi****

And yes, the response back from your guru is laughable. Guffaw-a-ble! It's disappointing to learn that "the authorities" are awful role models. A benefit of those disappointments can be to respect ourselves and our skills and tools a bit more.

Also, your passage above about self-deprecation rang an old bell with me. Sometimes I wish an electric buzzer would zap me whenever I said or thought those kinds of "gentle insults." I was explaining to hubby the other day how women can blather on with each other like that -- "I could NEVER wear color! You look so much better in that than I ever could! I wish my butt looked half as good as yours!"

It's hard being a primate who aspires to be a god.

Hey Devon, Good to hear from you. Lots of good puppy advice for Diane O. You told me about the moose beams (makes me think of moon beams) but I had forgotten. You are indeed the dog guru.

And what the FFF on that letter from the so called teaching guru? How lame is that!!??!!

Sorry you are so stressed. Its easy to engage in excessive self criticism when things are not going well. Try to remember its not all in your control and its not all on you. I think its a sign of being a capable and accomplished person if you tend to internalize this stuff. I have no words of wisdom except don't be so hard on yourself.

Yep, write a blog. We would love it. It helps put stuff in perspective. Once years ago a dog show judge really dumped on me. So I sat down and composed a letter. By the time i finished it I called him a "Pet Quality Human Being" and was laughing. Of course I never sent it. But it helped.

Hang in there. Diane S