Saturday, November 27, 2010

weekend update

This morning Jenny & her bf Mike ran/walked in a 5K- way to go guys!

Tonight is the last round of the playoffs for QB1- if they win they go to the state championship next weekend... wish them luck! GO RAIDERS!

Stefanie goes ack to JMU tomorrow afternoon sometime.. having her home makes me realize how much I miss her when she is @ school.

We had a great Thanksgiving, good food, family & fun!   Jen & I hit the stores Fri. morning @ 4:30 AM to get a particular gift for someone... we lucked out & it was in stock...we hit 2 other stores before going to breakfast & then coming home and going back to bed @ 8AM

Today I have ordered a few things online and hope to do more online shopping tomorrow. Christmas is around the corner & will be here before we know it.  Back to school on Monday... boo! 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

My updated Thankful list 2010

  • My husband
  • My kids
  • Our family
  • My puppies 
  • Good health
  • God
  • Having all of us together as a family- doesn't happen that often these days...
  • Our home
  • Hearing "I love you"
  • Christmas morning
  • Hugs
  • Smiles
  • Laughter
  • A clean house thanks to my cleaning lady
  • Wine 
  • Martinis
  • My cell phone
  • A good book or movie
  • Starbucks
  • Manicures, pedicures & massages
  • When I can sleep all night without waking up
  • Snow days 
  • Chocolate
  • Summer = a teachers favorite season :)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

“If I knew then what I know now . . . ”

I would have exercised more...

I would have drank more water...

I would have stayed in touch with more of my college friends...

I would have studied more in college and probably chosen a different major...

I would have gone for my Master's right out of college...

I would have bought stock in Microsoft...

I would have used sunscreen even more than I did (especially on my face)...

I would have traveled more when I was younger...

I would have invented something like those material seats for babies to use while shopping in grocery stores...(I probably would've made millions)

I would have saved A LOT more $...

I would have stressed less about things I cannot control...

I would've continued with the diet plan they put me on when I was pregnant with QB1- (I probably wouldn't have Type 2 diabetes if I had)...

I would have spent more time with my grandparents...

I would have worried less about housework because it always was clean enough...

I would have bought more real estate( if I had bought it on the Jersey shore or down in the Outer Banks when it was cheap- I could sell it for big $ now)...

I would have started my own business...

What would you have done differently???

Friday, November 12, 2010

my hippie geologist

My daughter "the cheerleader" @ JMU is a Geology major. What will she do with that you ask? Well, specifically she wants to become an Enviromental geologist. I looked up what they do & this is what I found:  

"An environmental geologist is a geologist who studies the interaction between humans and the natural environment, and the impact of various human activities on the environment. 

Environmental geologists work to keep the environment safe and healthy while also making it accessible and useful for people."  

The other night she called me on the phone and we talked for an hour about her major and what we are doing to the planet. She said the more she learns the more of a "hippie" she is becoming...

I love that she is passionate about what she is studying and some of the stuff she was telling me I had never even heard of... I am learning about some issues like mountain topping.... She also posted the following link on face book about some of our food supplies.


A mountaintop mining operation in West Virginia

It's scary when you hear about stuff like this and it makes me think- where the hell have I been that I have never heard about some of this stuff?

Monday, November 1, 2010

IN. CONTROL.

Friday Jeff and I had a meeting with the diagnostician  to discuss having Tyreik tested to see if he has a learning disability. Ty has been working very hard, doing his homework etc, but has been not doing as well on his tests. The teacher in me thought hmmmm... could he have an unidentified learning disability?- hence the meeting.

The meeting went very well. The diagnostician explained that since he has had gaps the past few years due to multiple absences from school- she proposed NOT testing him because she said she believes that if she did test him now he would test out as having a learning disability. (are you following me here?)  When in fact she believes that he has missed key information the past few years since he has missed so much school. (these were facts that I was unaware of) His mom did not share some of this info with us and what she did share was modified (to say the least).

She proposed doing curriculum based assessments to see where his areas of weakness are- then teach the concepts,  see if he can learn the concepts, & then she will reevaluate him at a later date to see his progress. If he improves then he does not have a learning disability, if he does not- then he does and they will change his schedule to get the help he needs. Either way- he is going to be getting extra help- which was my ultimate goal.

Anyway- the reason I am explaining all of this was that for the first time I went to a parent teacher conference and actually felt like I was IN CONTROL.

Most of the parent conferences/meetings I attend are for students I work with in special ed. and the school often does not ultimately have the control- the parents seem to run the show, and unfortunately what the parents want is not always best for the student. The stories I could tell...yikes! In my district if a parent does not get what they want they will often threaten to go to mediation which involves getting lawyers involved and 9 times out of 10 when this happens the district typically has always "given in" to the parents demands.

Jeff said that he really enjoyed the meeting b/c he had never seen me in "professional mode". He said he likes to watch peoples body language and that based upon the body language I totally was in control of the meeting. I wasn't  aware of it but he said every time I disagreed I would lean forward- and she would lean back... he said when  I had a question and would stop her for clarification - this seemed to intimidate her & put her on edge a bit... she knew she was dealing with someone who understood special ed. I asked him if I appeared rude- or like a bitch b/c that was NOT what I wanted to convey- he said no- I just appeared to know what I was talking about, I understood the jargon/terminology she used and asked pertinent questions so there was no way she was going to be able to get anything by me...

We were able to come to a consensus and actually this will be more work for her than simply testing him...My momma bear emerged and no one was going to NOT help my adopted son!

This past weekend Jeff & the boys went to JMU to visit Stef & this was the first time Ty got a taste of what college life is like... He LOVED it!  So hopefully this will help him to stay focused & committed to his studies.