Thursday, September 7, 2023

Oh, so sorry to read this! Hope you get some relief soon!

You know the pain is one thing but the inability to do so many things is the toughest part.

Good Lord CC!!! What freakadoodle thing is going on in that picture. I think I'm glad your miles and miles away.

Peps it's great to see students who already have a relationship with you. Reminds you of the magic that can happen when you put in some time. Take those little naps, if you are falling asleep that easily, you need them.

Liz I am so sorry to hear about your neck. Sounds excruciating and frustrating as you pointed out. It does seem quite possible the two are related. Can you go back to your physical therapy?

So today went better than yesterday with students. Trying to put in the work to build relationships. An interesting thing happened though. So new sped administrator was chatting with some sped teachers about the increased workload. Very seasoned, capable teachers were sharing they did not see how they would get to all the tasks. She said, well you're salaried, right? OMG, she said the quiet thing out loud. Of course they are expecting us to work longer hours outside of our contract day, I knew that from the beginning of this new sped administration, but they're not supposed to say it out loud!!!! I told my colleagues to email our union reps and cc the president. Then we all agreed to implement our own work to rule. We all got up and left at the end of our contract day. That has been my plan all along. If they're unhappy with my paperwork, which they probably will be, it would take them years to fire me, if ever. Ill be gone long before that happens. Boundaries need to be a thing at work too.

I think I do feel less "weighted" after all. I'm able to move about the building with a bit more ease than last spring. When I first lost weight after surgery, I would say I'd been let out of fat prison. Maybe with my regain I was out on fat parole. Not all the way back in fat prison, but not totally free from it either. Hopefully I'll be done serving parole by spring :)

When I was working, there was always a reason for "belt-tightening". We've all just got to pitch in and do more with less to weather the storm. Except the storm never passes and working with a constricted belt becomes the new baseline until they ask you to tighten it again to respond to the next storm. Like a ziptie, it only tightened, never loosened. The workload never goes back to what it was when it was fairly manageable, they just keep piling on more and if you manage to do it, they figure just a few more tasks on your back won't matter. Maddening whether it's corporate or unionized!

This, exactly. It seems not enough places of employment look beyond what they can squeeze out of people before they use them up. And I thankfully get to step out of the pressure cooker during the summer. It does seem more risky for them to pull these stunts now when there is a teacher shortage, especially in special ed. St. Paul schools were offering a $10,000 signing bonus this year for sped teachers and they pay more period. If I used to think, well the working conditions are tougher, now maybe I wouldn't. If I were a younger teacher in my district, I would shop around this spring...

Nice that you are feeling lighter (less weighted). But boo to that new SPED Administrator.

Greetings all

It's sunny and lovely here and there are flowers everywhere. I am not ready for fall but no one asked me. I will survive.

Speaking of surviving, Liz I am so sorry for your pain! No telling if it's related to shoulder. Hope there is some fast relief with the pain shot. Chronic pain is no joke and impacts so much. These days it seems like something always hurts.

So DH had a nice uneventful birthday. I may have mentioned I bought him a hoodie and such at the hardware store. we have no general merchandise store here and no clothing stores now that kmart is closed. It helps you realize how much you don't need. Fortunately Lands End delivers.

CC what on earth is that man doing on your pavement? Maybe he knew there was a camera and was just pimping you. If so, not funny. Hope the work gets done soon.

Peps Christmas puppies! How fun! Especially if you get 12 and they can be the 12 days of christmas! They will be the age of total chaos!. So nice that your kids were glad to see you. Of course they are! You are the most fun of the day. Did the music closet get sorted?

DD I am with you on working your contract hours. Managers never seem to understand that time is a finite resource. Cannot be manufactured. It is the fourth dimension. When assigning extra tasks managers budget out savings but never allocate time. This was true in my former profession. I sort of lost it when we started having to input a 15 digit client number before placing a long distance call from a conference room - a number that was not easily discoverable. That and endless meetings about squat.

And yeah I also escaped from fat prison only to be a recidivist. Now I am on parole with two ankle bracelets. But I do not regret my surgery one bit. Only wish I had not regained but I was in a sort of strange auto pilot at that time which was similar to my original weight gain times. Food for thought LOL.

Studio day today and I made a few things and delivered gallery insurance payment. Studio continues to be busy. Our 30 year old technician was talking about walking in a certain way so as not to wear out his knees. I told him it would just wear out something else! LOL my knees are fine thanks to lack of jogging. Everything else is a wreck.

Enough rambling. Cheers Diane s