Lucky # Sevens- July 07 Bandsters

[kirajh 0]

Good Afternoon ladies

Karri - Sounds like you have a handle on food for the week-end. I was going to suggest just eating whatever they do but only a couple bites. That will work unless you are like me and one or two bites aren't enough. Then you worry, but I think you are disapplined enough to stop. Boy, I envy that.

Linda - Boy, can I relate to what you went through last summer. Depression...............I call it the dark times. It hit me really hard, Borderline suicidal. It got to the point where my youngest told me she didn't come home after work cause she was afraid of what she would find. (scary, huh?) Didn't go anywhere, talk to anyone, get dressed, showered once or twice a week, didn't sleep nights and got out of bed around noon and cried constantly. I finally decided to take control of my life, changed antidepressants and got the lapband. Started losing weight and rejoined the land of the living. I am just so thankful now and I never want to go back to the dark.

Janet - My leg muscles are sore but believe it or not, my knees are doing pretty well. They're stiff and crack a lot, but I think the muscles are the worst. How many pages have we done this week? This week sure has passed fast. It's hard to believe that Phyl's been gone a week.

Since it sounds like most of you are going to arrive on the 23, I'll leave that morning and should be there late that afternoon, if I don't get lost.

OKAY, GONNA SIGN OUT NOW. WILL CHECK BACK LATER.

[salsa1877 10]

Seriously funny story coming up. :w00t: (It is funny NOW...not when it was happening.) I want you to all remember that I teach HIGH SCHOOL.. That is right...14-17 year olds. :tt2:

Every year I do a pizza lab with all of my classes. I MAKE the pizza lab fit what it is we are doing. I did it Monday with my Regular chemistry classes and today with my conceptual chemistry kids. It is a bit hectic to cook 25 english muffin pizzas in 3 toaster ovens, but the kids are USUALLY really good and appreciative. So the story begins in 2nd period which is my prep period (for non teachers...this is the class period that you don't teach, but use for grading and preping...and in some cases drooling:bored:). I share my room during this period because there are no other open classrooms. Well this teacher has ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH, NADA classroom control.:mad: I have found things duct taped to my walls, broken, and stolen after this period. Anyway...I digress. I am standing at the side of my classroom working my fingers to the bone trying to the lab set up. I see one of his students get up and go the pretzels that I have for my third period students as Snacks. I was a little peeved :sneaky: but figured if they were hungry then so be it. Well I am still working on the lab and I see pretzels fly up into the air and I figure they are throwing them and trying to catch them. So i was going to politely go back there an ask them to stop. But when i turn around I see that they are throwing the pretzels up in the air, letting them hit the floor and then seeing which one can stomp it into the ground the fastest.:cursing::cursing::cursing: No... I am not kidding you. These are freshman. I swear I went into an alternate reality. I stomped into the back storage area grabbed the dustpan and broom and went back to my classroom where I slammed it down so hard on their table that I bent the dust pan. I screamed at them to clean it up. They of course said they didn't do it on purpose. I...learning early on that I don't fight with students said I don't care if you did it on purpose or if you were born with an inability to use your hands properly to eat...YOU WILL CLEAN IT UP. Probably not my best choice of words...but I didn't care at the time. I was ready to beat them with the dust pan so I figured an INSULT was better than ASSAULT.:laugh: The entire class was completely silent. It was seriosly the only time that I have heard that class silent. Even the other teacher was dumbfounded...well he is normally just DUMB so it wasn't too far of a stretch. So then as the class period is winding up I see the same two boys over eyeing my pepperoni. Another student saw me looking at them and told them they if it were them..."I would back away and pretend like you had never even been born".

Okay...the story continues.

(JUST LOST MY FREAKING POST...FORTUNATELY i HAD SAVED IT TO THIS PART. )

back to the story...part deux.

The next class is my conceptual kids and they are my rough ones. This class also turned into my LIVING NIGHTMARE.:devil:..that is...being required to teach 2nd FREAKING GRADE:ack2:. It started when they were told to get in the assembly line to make the pizzas. There was the start of a shoving match because "he cut in line for the pineapple." Then of course there were the students who were switching the order in which the pizzas were made. One student who threw another students pizza in the garbage. :mad5: So...2 students were removed from the classroom and I was down to 23 of the WORST (but lovable:wub:) students in the entire sophomore class.

The the real fun :out: started next. This is what I heard for the next 10 minutes before I lost my head.:thumbup:

1. He touched my food

2. He took my cookie

3. he touched me

4. He took my pencil

5. She stuck her tongue out at me:tt2:

6. Don't pull my hair

7. Stop touching my shoe

8. Hey that's my pizza

:incazzato::crazy::crazy::party::incazzato::argue:

So I lost my mind. i told them that I would rather teach a class full of pigs with SWINE flu than them. I then mananged to yell at them for about the next 10 minutes. I have serioulsy never been that angry in my LIFE.

But now that I have calmed down and I can see the humor in it. I think my heart rate was around 300 beats per minute.

so I thought I would share!!!

[peaches9 3]

Good Afternoon ladies

Karri - Sounds like you have a handle on food for the week-end. I was going to suggest just eating whatever they do but only a couple bites. That will work unless you are like me and one or two bites aren't enough. Then you worry, but I think you are disapplined enough to stop. Boy, I envy that.

Linda - Boy, can I relate to what you went through last summer. Depression...............I call it the dark times. It hit me really hard, Borderline suicidal. It got to the point where my youngest told me she didn't come home after work cause she was afraid of what she would find. (scary, huh?) Didn't go anywhere, talk to anyone, get dressed, showered once or twice a week, didn't sleep nights and got out of bed around noon and cried constantly. I finally decided to take control of my life, changed antidepressants and got the lapband. Started losing weight and rejoined the land of the living. I am just so thankful now and I never want to go back to the dark.

Janet - My leg muscles are sore but believe it or not, my knees are doing pretty well. They're stiff and crack a lot, but I think the muscles are the worst. How many pages have we done this week? This week sure has passed fast. It's hard to believe that Phyl's been gone a week.

Since it sounds like most of you are going to arrive on the 23, I'll leave that morning and should be there late that afternoon, if I don't get lost.

OKAY, GONNA SIGN OUT NOW. WILL CHECK BACK LATER.

Kari, why not come a day or two earlier and HELP me get ready LOL!!!

[peaches9 3]

:thumbup::seeya:I'm committed!

Booked the flights for 7/23-7/27.

Oh Canada, here we come:seeya:

Yeah, I am so glad you guys are booked... still waiting to see if Stephanie can come(?)

The flight times are great - one stop pick up and delivery LOL

[peaches9 3]

Seriously funny story coming up. :out: (It is funny NOW...not when it was happening.) I want you to all remember that I teach HIGH SCHOOL.. That is right...14-17 year olds. :tt2:

Every year I do a pizza lab with all of my classes. I MAKE the pizza lab fit what it is we are doing. I did it Monday with my Regular chemistry classes and today with my conceptual chemistry kids. It is a bit hectic to cook 25 english muffin pizzas in 3 toaster ovens, but the kids are USUALLY really good and appreciative. So the story begins in 2nd period which is my prep period (for non teachers...this is the class period that you don't teach, but use for grading and preping...and in some cases drooling:bored:). I share my room during this period because there are no other open classrooms. Well this teacher has ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH, NADA classroom control.:mad: I have found things duct taped to my walls, broken, and stolen after this period. Anyway...I digress. I am standing at the side of my classroom working my fingers to the bone trying to the lab set up. I see one of his students get up and go the pretzels that I have for my third period students as Snacks. I was a little peeved :crazy: but figured if they were hungry then so be it. Well I am still working on the lab and I see pretzels fly up into the air and I figure they are throwing them and trying to catch them. So i was going to politely go back there an ask them to stop. But when i turn around I see that they are throwing the pretzels up in the air, letting them hit the floor and then seeing which one can stomp it into the ground the fastest.:cursing::cursing::cursing: No... I am not kidding you. These are freshman. I swear I went into an alternate reality. I stomped into the back storage area grabbed the dustpan and broom and went back to my classroom where I slammed it down so hard on their table that I bent the dust pan. I screamed at them to clean it up. They of course said they didn't do it on purpose. I...learning early on that I don't fight with students said I don't care if you did it on purpose or if you were born with an inability to use your hands properly to eat...YOU WILL CLEAN IT UP. Probably not my best choice of words...but I didn't care at the time. I was ready to beat them with the dust pan so I figured an INSULT was better than ASSAULT.:devil: The entire class was completely silent. It was seriosly the only time that I have heard that class silent. Even the other teacher was dumbfounded...well he is normally just DUMB so it wasn't too far of a stretch. So then as the class period is winding up I see the same two boys over eyeing my pepperoni. Another student saw me looking at them and told them they if it were them..."I would back away and pretend like you had never even been born".

Okay...the story continues.

(JUST LOST MY FREAKING POST...FORTUNATELY i HAD SAVED IT TO THIS PART. )

back to the story...part deux.

The next class is my conceptual kids and they are my rough ones. This class also turned into my LIVING NIGHTMARE.:argue:..that is...being required to teach 2nd FREAKING GRADE:ack2:. It started when they were told to get in the assembly line to make the pizzas. There was the start of a shoving match because "he cut in line for the pineapple." Then of course there were the students who were switching the order in which the pizzas were made. One student who threw another students pizza in the garbage. :w00t: So...2 students were removed from the classroom and I was down to 23 of the WORST (but lovable:wub:) students in the entire sophomore class.

The the real fun :mad: started next. This is what I heard for the next 10 minutes before I lost my head.:thumbup:

1. He touched my food

2. He took my cookie

3. he touched me

4. He took my pencil

5. She stuck her tongue out at me:tt2:

6. Don't pull my hair

7. Stop touching my shoe

8. Hey that's my pizza

:incazzato::laugh::crazy::party::incazzato::mad5:

So I lost my mind. i told them that I would rather teach a class full of pigs with SWINE flu than them. I then mananged to yell at them for about the next 10 minutes. I have serioulsy never been that angry in my LIFE.

But now that I have calmed down and I can see the humor in it. I think my heart rate was around 300 beats per minute.

so I thought I would share!!!

Oh Karri, you sounded like ME when I started Menopause!!! I could fly off the handle easy...

You have the whole weekend now to chill GF.

The story did make me chuckle though...:sneaky:

[cramerk 1]

Oh karri, I loved it! and can I relate. If you are like me, we take it personally when we plan something nice that we expect the students to show some appreciation in the form of somewhat evolved behavior. Then they don't...Unfortunately I don't know if the kids have changed or if I am just tired and I have changed, but the result is the same. Students' attitude is that I am here to serve them. This week our middle schools students decided to plan a food fight in the lunch room. One of them snuck out and shut off all the lights (our lunchroom does not have windows) then the 'fun' began. Chile (sp) flew everywhere along with trays, applesauce, etc. Here is the part that just frustrates me. The student's consequences... no ala carte (which is like a store that kids can get things like chicken strips, etc instead of hot lunch) for 2 days. You have got to be kidding me. Parents have planned the last week of school with ice cream parties, game days, to the point that our principal has told us to collect books and finish grades around May 2nd. We don't get out of school until May 12. In my opinion these activities should be canceled. Oh well, I'm not called the 'Devil in the blue dress' for nothing. I'm not here to entertain you. Okay enough..

Janet, we could put a note on the door during the cruise if one of us gets 'lucky'. I was going to suggest a tie, but no one wears those anymore and a bra just wouldn't be very discrete.

Think I'll take a little nap, students were just bouncing off the walls today.

Catch ya all later, k

[Twilight 2]

Okay...#1 My kids were here all afternoon and I love them to pieces! They are the best! Then they proceeded to tell me about the pinhead who took my job. Let's see...the stories go like this....He left his bong in the boys room, but the janitors didn't know it was his so....He taught us how to do laundry a few times....because he had forgotten to do his coaching duties so took the math class over to do them....He'd make a mistake on the board (which I did ALL the time) but when the kids would point it out he'd either stomp off and quit teaching or yell at the kids...he'd spend at least one day a week telling the kids about his high school persuits, how well he did track, how hard it was "when he was a student", how muscular he used to be and how his body was now ruined because of it....you get the picture. Have I told you all that I hate this man? Well I looked around the table and said, "among you there are three parents on the school board. if you have true issues, go to them. I'll be back." The ball is in their court.

Karri, I loved your stories! Glad you can laugh at it now, but I can picture how frustrated you must have been.

Karla, I think I would be the one teacher NOT finishing up class by then. And when asked about it I would explain that the state requires me to cover x amount of curriculum which would take 230 days, you have been given 180 to do it, and there is no way you can get it done in 160. I would then sit down with the principal and ask them what the consequences will be if the class does not make AYP in math and if your job would be secure no matter how badly they did. Oh yeah...I'd be all over that. And to stage a food fight. Those parents should be brought in to clean up. A school's job is to EDUCATE HIGHLY INTELLEGENT CITIZENS. Sounds like you're system is missing 3 of those 4 words. They are highly something or other.....grrrr

Okay...I'm off to do something. I know there was more I wanted to say. I'll talk to you soon.

[cramerk 1]

Steph, it must have been so hard to see your kids...you miss them, and I can tell that they love you. How could they otherwise you are fabulous!! I need to sit down and figure out what I am going to do about the end of the year. We are limited in the amount of homework we are allowed to give, I am allowed only 12 to 15 problems each day and no homework on fridays. I know that I will be battling myself this next two weeks. I am not happy about losing the math classes. The teacher who got them stopped me yesterday and asked me what I do about math notes because our next years math text does not come with a preprinted set of notes. I told him (by the way he is an ex-pro football player who was hired to coach football but refuses) that I write my own notes because the ones that come with the book are confusing. He informed me that there was no way he was going to take the time to write up notes. This is the same teacher that is teaching 6th grade earth science (which I will be teaching next year) and didn't want the lab supplies cluttering his room so he threw them away. Yep, I just vented, time to let it go. Just one thing, I'd appreciate if any of you know someone who teaches 6th grade earth science, could you connect us. I have never taught it and I have NO activities or projects or labs.

Just woke up from a little nap, uhhh how about a 2 hour nap. I know I was stressed, but I didn't think that bad. I was so incredibly out of it.

I'm home alone tonight. i think it has been 6 months since I have been in the house alone. If I was really ambitious i would do something productive, NOT. My most productive thing was putting Water on some trees.

So how many pages did we mange to fill for Phyll? Lets hope Karri has a good hiking trip!!

Catch ya, k

[kirajh 0]

Kari, why not come a day or two earlier and HELP me get ready LOL!!!

I can do that. I don't think Brad is coming so I could come early if you're serious.

Karri = your story is hilarious!!! Have I mentioned here that my daughter wants to get a mom-mobile (minivan) cause her kids, ages 4 and almost 2 keeps picking on each other. He touched me. She took my toy. That's my drink. Mom, tell her to stop etc. etc. She figured she would separate them. I'm gonna have to tell her that it doesn't stop, even when they're in high school. LOL But, then again, her and her brother did the exact same thing.

Karla - I don't know how you do it. Middle school. OMG!!!! It got to the point when I subbed, I refused to do MS. And I wasn't the only one. The biggest problem was the principal though. He would kow tow to the kids and their parents and would not support his teachers. He became the laughing stock in the district and there weren't too many teachers willing to teach there.

I'm gonna head out now. Just wanted to check in and couldn't resist putting my two cents worth in. Gotta go see what kind of crap I can find to eat. (thank God, there isn't any......or I would eat it) I'll go drink my last Water instead.

I'll check back tomorrow. (what the heck happened to my font?)

[peaches9 3]

I can do that. I don't think Brad is coming so I could come early if you're serious.

• For sure I am serious!! You can come and stay as long as you like!!
  
• WE have LINDA/MEL; PHYL/Earl;JANET; YOU for SURE and possibly Stephanie & Karla?...
  
• Karri, Denise, Chim can't come...
  
• 
  

Karri = your story is hilarious!!! Have I mentioned here that my daughter wants to get a mom-mobile (minivan) cause her kids, ages 4 and almost 2 keeps picking on each other. He touched me. She took my toy. That's my drink. Mom, tell her to stop etc. etc. She figured she would separate them. I'm gonna have to tell her that it doesn't stop, even when they're in high school. LOL But, then again, her and her brother did the exact same thing.

Karla - I don't know how you do it. Middle school. OMG!!!! It got to the point when I subbed, I refused to do MS. And I wasn't the only one. The biggest problem was the principal though. He would kow tow to the kids and their parents and would not support his teachers. He became the laughing stock in the district and there weren't too many teachers willing to teach there.

I'm gonna head out now. Just wanted to check in and couldn't resist putting my two cents worth in. Gotta go see what kind of crap I can find to eat. (thank God, there isn't any......or I would eat it) I'll go drink my last Water instead.

I'll check back tomorrow. (what the heck happened to my font?)

NIght, night everyone!! :thumbup:

[cramerk 1]

Calories for today 650, I had trouble eating dinner, got about 2 tsp. of chicken down, didn't work. I ended up eating 2 FF fudge bars. I'll try to eat some yogurt later when I am not sore. I guess I do need an unfill. I'm starting to eat slider food. Breakfast, Protein smoothie; snack frozen FF pudding cup & bite of jerky; lunch, 1/2 c Tomato Soup, SF jello; snack, 2 bites jerky; Dinner, 2 tsp chicken, 2 FF fudge bar. These are not the best quality foods, so tomorrow I am going to make Steph's chicken salad and see if that will go down. Frustrated, I know, lady take thee to the doc & get thee an unfill. I keep thinking it will get better, that tomorrow I'll be able to eat. Just some thoughts.

[lindaa 1]

Morning all! Melsky (DH) built a fire last night which was great, then a neighbor stopped over and we started drinking Marguritas. So my great eating day ended up not so great :thumbup:.

Reading about your teaching experiences helps me understand why I have such a hard time getting my college students to understand that for every hour of class time they are expected to do 2 hours of homework--reading their textbooks, doing online activities, and something called studying. And, if I change my Power Points without giving them new notes they are ready to lynch me! I gave a take home exam just before the semester ended that had a term on it that we had not talked about and wasn't in their books/notes. Only one student bothered to google the term!

Candice--Please DO NOT go into overdrive getting ready for us. I plan on bringing Wisconsin cheese, brats, hamburgers, and some other local stuff--enough for one (not so lo-cal) meal at least. We really don't need a lot of food. We can all chip in to stock the bar and get whatever Snacks and stuff we want. Plus, I'm sure there are good places to grab a quick meal as well. So don't worry about feeding/entertaining us. We can make it up as we go along!

[peaches9 3]

Morning all! Melsky (DH) built a fire last night which was great, then a neighbor stopped over and we started drinking Marguritas. So my great eating day ended up not so great :thumbup:.

Reading about your teaching experiences helps me understand why I have such a hard time getting my college students to understand that for every hour of class time they are expected to do 2 hours of homework--reading their textbooks, doing online activities, and something called studying. And, if I change my Power Points without giving them new notes they are ready to lynch me! I gave a take home exam just before the semester ended that had a term on it that we had not talked about and wasn't in their books/notes. Only one student bothered to google the term!

Candice--Please DO NOT go into overdrive getting ready for us. I plan on bringing Wisconsin cheese, brats, hamburgers, and some other local stuff--enough for one (not so lo-cal) meal at least. We really don't need a lot of food. We can all chip in to stock the bar and get whatever Snacks and stuff we want. Plus, I'm sure there are good places to grab a quick meal as well. So don't worry about feeding/entertaining us. We can make it up as we go along!

Hello Linda and Good morning!!! Don't worry, I will not go into OVERDRIVE LOL... Food is no problem... as all of us only eat HALF of what regular folks do anyways..hee,hee,hee... I love having company...plus we'll be out and about... at the beach(14 miles long remember) there are many restaurants along the boardwalk.... and in Collingwood at the Elvis Festival there is an outdoor STREET dance on the Friday night... lots of local restaurants to choose from there too. PLUS the Street Dance is "Licenced" which in Canada means you can DRINK beers, coolers etc right outside while you dance... its a blast. The ELVIS impersonators(they compete) will slay you.

One year I saw a JAPANESE Elvis... I swear my jaw dropped a foot and I was catching flies... The funniest thing I ever saw.

I just ment that if Kari wants to come earlier than Thurs. that would be FUN...

Zip lining is up the mountain, so from there we can also do some sightseeing.

DH finally put some AIR in my tires so I am going to go for a nice bike ride today!!!

[cramerk 1]

Candice, it sounds like you all are going to have a fabulous time!!! I wish I could make it. The week you all have planned is my quilting week at the lake/cabin with my quilting ladies. The cabin is owned by the father of one of the ladies and is on Holter lake outside of Great Falls. Each year we challenge each other to a little 'chunkin dunkin' to jump in the lake nude. Let's just say, we've done the chunkin dunkin with our clothes, no one has had the nerve to go naked. We have been going for 7 years now and we have a blast. Everyone brings projects and their 'special' meals. My specialties are chocolate dipped shortbread, hazelnut biscotti, peach sorbet, iced spice coffee, can you see what the week is like. We also do a mini quilt shop tour at Choteu, Helena, Great Falls. No children, no DH, in the evenings we watch movies and do hand work. It is my only vacation each year. But I must say, that if we change the dates I will check into the cost of flying up, if I can afford it, I'd love to come, thanks for the invite. Plus I need to save funds if we are going to try to go on a cruise.

Today is the last weekend before graduation so this is the final push before guests arrive. I'll be outside most of the day working.

Linda, I so understand what you are saying about college students. When one of my daughters was at Duke in their PA program, students would complain about the things you talked about. My daughter, being a small town girl, and thrilled to have the opportunity to go to Duke was outraged, as she said, My Gosh, we are at one of the finest PA school is the world and you are complaining that it is too tough. Isn't that what it is suppose to be. I guess that is why I am frustrated with teaching right now. I know I need to change or get a different career, but as you know, a teaching degree doesn't transfer very well to different careers. I never finished my masters because I couldn't get a middle school science masters. AND there could be the issue of me telling the science education professor that the class was lame, he had us doing a bunch of 'Project Wild/Wet' activities that I was already a trainer for. Well he was assigned as my advisor...and he refused to sign off on my plan of study. I did learn a fine lesson, keep your darn mouth shut. I am much better now.

Well I think I did my part in filling space for Phyll. I'll check in later when I take a break from working.

[peaches9 3]

:tongue2:Karla, YOUR quilting retreat sounds like HEAVEN to me!!! I chuckled when I read about the skinny dipping - sounds like something I'd do.

OHHH the food sounds wonderful too... this year you won't be able to eat 1/4 of it... what a NSV that will be eh?

Someday, I would love to visit Montana it sounds lovely.. I love rugged out of doors.. guess that makes me a natural born Canuck hey!!!

Back from my bike ride with DH, I thought we were gone 45 mins. but DH tells me no, it was more like 1/2 an hour:frown: