Let the Prom Drama CONTINUE . . . . . . . .

[horseshowmom]

I'm so sorry. I've been in that situation more than once, and it's so hard. Usually, ours get old and gradually get sicker, but I had one dog (Dolly) who was fine one day, started vomiting the next day (completely collapsed), and had to be put to sleep the next day. It's a shock when it happens like that.

I'll keep your family in my thoughts and prayers. I'm so sorry.

 

[Sandy V.]

I'm so sorry about your cat, Agnes.

 

[mamacatnv]

Agnes, I'm sorry about James
I honestly don't know which is worse, when they go suddenly or you nurse them along and then have to take them into the vet or you think they are getting better and you find them "asleep" on the couch it's a loss of a family member and I am so sorry.

 

[agnes!]

I need some getting taking classes in high school and then getting-into-college advice for DD.

DD, a sophomore, has basically decided not to take her particular performing arts class next year (she's been in this discipline in school since Middle School). She is looking at other classes and is really intrigued by the television production class. Her grades are really good, she's taking all Honors + an AP class this year and is planning on taking Honors + 2 AP classes next year. Do you think the production class will hurt her college-admission chances?

I'm at the point where I almost don't care, I just want her to take a class that will be fun and challenging, plus she'll start learning a marketable skill and it will show she isn't narrow in her interests.

What do you-all think?
agnes!
PS - Thanks for all the kind words about James. It's been a rough week and I am sitting here missing my very own "007" .

 

[Sandy V.]

Given her course schedule this year and the intended one next year, I say for her to go ahead and take the production class. She's got plenty of college-preparatory rigor in the honors and AP classes, and the class sounds like it would be fun. You don't need to take every AP and honors course under the sun to be considered a desireable applicant for many top colleges.

She sounds like a very bright girl!!!

By the way, whatever happened regarding your planned "talk" with the condescending, showing favorites teacher? Weren't you supposed to do that earlier this week? If you did, I hope it went well.

 

[mamacatnv]

Agnes - I am no expert, getting into the state schools here is not difficult as long as one has the core GPA and the Core requirements. I would assume a lot would depend on what school she wants to get into. Heck, NV only has 2 Universities.

When DS was a Junior he wanted to drop his AP Spanish, he was "Done" so we sat down with his counselor and reviewed his courses. He had all the cores he needed for any of the schools that were on his radar along with the California UC schools, the Pac 10 etc. The boy was never going to be Ivy or Academy material nor was he looking at any "exclusive" schools.

So, he dropped AP Spanish with our blessing and only took 3 classes the final semester of his Sr. year. He could have taken a bunch of AP with the possibility of getting some college credit but the AP program here really is not that well developed and the "pass" rate is really really low and DS was not interested.
We are not die hard you must sacrifice all your free time in high school in order to get into a "good" college type parents. We were the "would you please graduate and get accepted to the college of your choice" type parents.

It all worked out, he is happy and doing really well at the Univ. of his choice. His grades are better than they ever were in HS and he is not behind by any means.

Yeah, what happened with the teacher?

 

[agnes!]

Given her course schedule this year and the intended one next year, I say for her to go ahead and take the production class. She's got plenty of college-preparatory rigor in the honors and AP classes, and the class sounds like it would be fun. You don't need to take every AP and honors course under the sun to be considered a desireable applicant for many top colleges.

She sounds like a very bright girl!!!

By the way, whatever happened regarding your planned "talk" with the condescending, showing favorites teacher? Weren't you supposed to do that earlier this week? If you did, I hope it went well.

I decided to follow the chain of command and talked to the counselor first and start a paper trail. I was blandly supportive, didn't get personal but did mention all my concerns. For now I am holding off talking directly to the teacher in question - for some odd reason DD's grades so far this quarter from this teacher have improved. I don't know why, unless the teacher has suddenly decided that DD is not the Spawn of Satan or something. I mean, the caliber of work is the same, DD is the same . But that's the problem with this particular class - it's all subjective, it's all the teacher's *opinion*. This teacher doesn't seem to test the students and doesn't use any kind of objective measures to assess them.

This teacher is still on my radar, I am *so* prepared to go to war if she again starts saying condescending things like "A [grade] is a good grade" while giving DD a grade *one* point below the "+" or chirping "A [grade] is above average" while handing back yet another low/subjective/opinion-based grade. DD says she talks to DD like DD is in kindergarten . Grrrrrrrrr, I haven't felt this way about a teacher since the year that we not-so-fondly refer to as The Year from Hell when DD was in grade school.

agnes!

 

[horseshowmom]

Given her course schedule this year and the intended one next year, I say for her to go ahead and take the production class. She's got plenty of college-preparatory rigor in the honors and AP classes, and the class sounds like it would be fun. You don't need to take every AP and honors course under the sun to be considered a desireable applicant for many top colleges.

I agree with this. In fact, it kind of provides a little something "different".

We are not die hard you must sacrifice all your free time in high school in order to get into a "good" college type parents. We were the "would you please graduate and get accepted to the college of your choice" type parents.

Girl, you're too funny!

Even though we homeschooled, we had a similar attitude. DD was encouraged to do the best she could with her schoolwork (with an eye toward performing well on the ACT for scholarship money), but at the same time she horseshowed heavily throughout her high school years (which involved being gone to the trainer and time spent at multi-day horseshows in farflung places). While I like to think her education was very good, I also know for a fact that she got a great deal from the horseshowing as well.

There is a great deal to be said for rounding out your interests!

I decided to follow the chain of command and talked to the counselor first and start a paper trail. I was blandly supportive, didn't get personal but did mention all my concerns. For now I am holding off talking directly to the teacher in question - for some odd reason DD's grades so far this quarter from this teacher have improved. I don't know why, unless the teacher has suddenly decided that DD is not the Spawn of Satan or something. I mean, the caliber of work is the same, DD is the same . But that's the problem with this particular class - it's all subjective, it's all the teacher's *opinion*. This teacher doesn't seem to test the students and doesn't use any kind of objective measures to assess them.

I hate subjective measurements and never used them when I was in the classroom. The closest I came to it was sometimes using a rubric (but even that was spelled out).

I hope things continue to improve!

 

[Sandy V.]

It's Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone has had a good week. Mine has been busy, as usual, but it seems to be ending in a calmer manner than how it started, which is a good thing. It's always hard to try and cram 5 days of work into 4 days.

My behind is sore as I sit on my chair to write this, as I went to my first yoga class last night. DD has wanted me to try yoga for the longest time, but there really aren't a lot of options up here unless you join the YMCA, and I had always thought that would be expensive. Well, went over and visited there on Monday and I was very impressed with the facilities and the monthly fees for access to everything. So I joined on Wednesday and went to my class last night after work.

I liked it because it's a good opportunity to work on my balance and flexibility. To be honest, the beginning breathing exercises that are designed to relax you and get you into "the zone" are a real snoozer, but hey, if that's what you're supposed to do, who am I to complain (but I will anyway!!). We did lots of different stretches that primarily worked on your lower half and I can really FEEL them today!! I like it because it's low impact as well.

Last weekend, we went out to dinner with DS on Saturday night - it had to be an early dinner because he had TWO Valentine's Day meetings with girls after that (not really dates according to me because no dinner was involved!! ). The little Cassanova . . . On Sunday, we went skiing with some friends and had dinner afterwards. It was my birthday and it was a very nice day. I spent all day Monday running errands and cleaning my laundry room. Doesn't sound exciting, but it was a very rewarding day.

Agnes, have you had your cataract surgery yet? I saw you posting on another thread and I wondered about you. Sending good thoughts your way!!

Well, I'd better finish my work here, but I wanted to drop in and wish everyone a Happy Friday and a great weekend!!!

 

[agnes!]

Thanks for asking Sandy.

Yes, I had my first cataract surgery this past Wednesday. All has seemed to go pretty well, the only disconcerting thing is that my focus point in the surgery eye seems to be different now, I don't have the nearsightedness I used to. My eye is still recovering from the trauma of being sliced and diced so hopefully one of my eyes' focal point will be the length of my COMPUTER SCREEN from my face .

My far vision(across the room, roadsigns) is so good it feels like I'm under water or something. My cataract eye is fuzzy.

The new eye experiences colors more vibrantly. Colors through my cataract eye are kind of muted.

I didn't know how bad my vision really was, but then again I've had glasses since I was in 4th Grade. The glasses shop at the opthamologist's removed the single lens for my surgeried eye from my old glasses so I at least have (somewhat) even vision now.

Oh yeah, I'm stylin'.

:rotflmao

agnes!

 

[Sandy V.]

Thanks for asking Sandy.

Yes, I had my first cataract surgery this past Wednesday. All has seemed to go pretty well, the only disconcerting thing is that my focus point in the surgery eye seems to be different now, I don't have the nearsightedness I used to. My eye is still recovering from the trauma of being sliced and diced so hopefully one of my eyes' focal point will be the length of my COMPUTER SCREEN from my face .

My far vision(across the room, roadsigns) is so good it feels like I'm under water or something. My cataract eye is fuzzy.

The new eye experiences colors more vibrantly. Colors through my cataract eye are kind of muted.

I didn't know how bad my vision really was, but then again I've had glasses since I was in 4th Grade. The glasses shop at the opthamologist's removed my old lens from my old glasses so I at least have (somewhat) even vision now.

Oh yeah, I'm stylin'.

:rotfl

agnes!

I'm glad that the surgery was a success. Happy recovery. So how long until the second surgery?

Man, I relate to the COMPUTER SCREEN issue. I am now the proud owner of TWO SETS of reading glasses. One to read small labels and newpaper print, and one to see my computer screen. My regular reading glasses didn't work when I was using the computer at all, and without them, things were just a smidge blurry. So I went to WalMart on Monday and tried out more reading glasses and I stood WAY BACK from the little chart they want you to look at, trying to approximate that I was the correct distance as I normally work from my screen. Luckily I got it right!!

 

[agnes!]

I don't know if this thread is even alive any more, but wanted to update a few things....

Eyes seem to be recovering pretty well from the cataract surgery, the hardest part has been the emotional adjustment. I'm not sure *I* can explain it, but that's the way it is. I have had glasses since I was in 4th grade (which is longer ago than I care to remember), so it's...just ODD not to have glasses on my face all the time. Also, waiting for the near eye & the far eye to adjust to the changes is frustrating. I really REALLY want to be able to clearly see someone's face across a stage WITHOUT glasses, but I don't know if that's going to happen in the end.

Also, please please PLEASE pray for my DD. When she got sick with her October virus and then the Flu a couple of weeks ago...most of her teachers have been very understanding, but she has a 6-page paper she has to write because she missed a concert about two weeks ago(it was kind of a practice concert before the big school Music Festival that all the groups enter and get graded by judges) and there's just no time, just no time.
She's in a play - who knew she would miss even MORE school with the Flu - and really likes it, but so much work to catch up on. And REAL projects, tests, homework not phony projects that are a punishment for getting sick. no good-girl points for making all the extra rehearsals, for being in class, for doing well on tests...nope. End of quarter with major tests and projects in all your other classes? Too BAD. Ugh, I can hardly wait until this year is OVER and she'll never have to step into that persona's classroom again.

She's under so much pressure right now. Please, anyone who reads this, say a prayer to whatever you believe in. She had such high hopes when this year started out and it's all devolved into an unholy mess for the moment, mostly because of this one teacher.

Thanks - I'm getting upset just typing all this out.
agnes!

 

[mamacatnv]

Hi Agnes........we have been a little lax in keeping up this thread but I don't think we have deemed it dead.
Sandy and I have been busy with work and Horseshowmom was on vacation. None of the kids are currently (and I say thay very lightly) dating high school girls, so for now, NO PROMS for us........for now.....they aren't over yet.

Glad to hear the surgery went well, I too wear glasses and I know what you mean. I have contacts and 9 times out of 10 I don't bother. My DH's eyesight took several months to totally come to a resting point. He see's better than he has seen in years, but he does still wear glasses. One of his optic nerves was damaged in a car accident when he was a teenager and nothing can be done to correct the damage other than glasses. While the surgery greatly helped it cannot fix it entirely.

Your poor DD, she has had a rough year. Hopefully she can get caught up and then spend the summer resting up. She is a Jr. right? what are her college plans?

Hang in there
Melissa

 

[Sandy V.]

Happy Monday, everyone!!!

Agnes, I am so sorry about this teacher and how s/he is treating your DD. What a royal pain to have to deal with folks like this. It's sad when you reach the point of just "getting through" the school year instead of really enjoying it.

Things have been very busy here. We are going through a reorganization. It actually started in late October and it took until a month ago for them to actually figure out what the new organization would look like. They have 5 new directors and I only really know and trust one of them, so I am angling to be placed within his department. The others may be fine, but I don't know if they are the kind of folks who will go to the wall for their people or throw them under the bus when the going gets rough, so I would rather work for someone I know that will be loyal to those in his organization. I think I'm probably about 80% sure I'll be working for him, but I won't know until the end of the month or early May. In any event, I did not apply for any of the middle management positions because I think it's best to be production now because around here, middle managers are the first to be let go in the event of an economic downturn.

My highlight of the weekend was going to see Elton John in concert in Colorado Springs. It was a solo concert - just Sir Elton and his piano. May I say - OH MY GOODNESS!!! He was amazing. DH and I sat about 50-60 feet away from him, so we had a great view. His vocal range isn't as good anymore in that he can't hit the high notes like he could when he was 30 years younger, but I tell you, I have never seen anyone play the piano like that man can!! It was mesmerizing. And the kicker is that he played for 2 1/2 hours straight!!!! Stopped only after each song to take a bow and to get a drink of water, then it was back to the keys.

DD is enjoying Sweden. Saturday it got a whopping 50 degrees, so they had a BBQ on the roof to celebrate. She said it felt like summer, they have had consistently cold weather and from what she said, a very long winter which is unusual for Sweden. We are starting to make plans for where we are going to go when we head to Europe to see her. Our initial thoughts are to go to Sweden, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, and then end in Venice. It may be too ambitious for the time we have, so we'll have to see if we need to pare the itinerary down.

DS has been doing well at college. His latest thoughts have actually turned in a more serious direction. He is thinking about applying to medical school when he finishes college. Surprised the heck out of me when he told me, but hey, he's got the smarts and the drive when he really wants to do something., so DH and I told him to go for it Of course, at a just turned 19, things can change, but he's already met with his advisor and one of the school's pre-med advisors to figure out what he needs to do class- and activity-wise. One of the the things that's really recommended is to "shadow" physicians and other medical personnel, so I guess that's what he's going to be doing in his spare time next fall!!

Not much else going on around here other than digging out from some spring snowstorms. Kind of a pain, but the moisture is welcome as we really haven't had a lot of snow over the winter and we all want to avoid high fire danger in the spring and early summer.

Well, I'd better get back to work, but just wanted to check in and revive this thread. I hope everyone has a great day and a great week.

Sandy

 

[mamacatnv]

Good Morning all

I had better catch up now, it's looking to be another hectic week. I'm tired, like so tired I can't sleep tired. Ugh..... Inventory issues are stressing me out. Oh well, this too shall pass.

Agnes, are things starting to settle down for your DD? Maybe she just needs to drop all the extras for the remainder of the school year and just get better. Sometimes playing catch up is not worth the prize at the end. I feel for her, these are such exciting years and to keep getting sick stinks and then to have to deal with a teacher with an attitude on top of it.

Mothers home called again last week. She has done a complete 180 since she was placed there in December. She was evicted from the last home due to violent behavior. Now, oh this is a good one, they have had to move her room again, this time right across from the nurses station, not because she is violent but because now she is "overly" friendly and they need to keep an eye on her.
Aye yi yi, I give up!
The social worker called me last week, they are going to discuss altering her meds slightly with the shrink since she is now stalking the other residents and pinning them down for a lip lock. Oh dear, changing meds never works out well............

Sandy, your Europe trip sounds so exciting, I am so so jealous! What do the Swedes actually BBQ, anything strange?

Med school! Wow, well good for him. DS's BFF is on the med school path. He wants to be an orthopedic surgeon. DS wants to be a PT, we tease them they can have a partnership practice down the road!

DD attended a sleepover B-Day party at a local hotel this weekend. Same hotel we go to for Thanksgiving, they have an amazing pool. She left mid day Saturday and returned thoroughly exhausted and chlorine infused late yesterday afternoon. Had a great time, but a little crabby this morning (okay, a lot crabby but I was giving the princess a little leeway). I'm seeing an early bedtime in her future for a couple of days

DS has been busy. Right now he is juggling his job at the sporting goods store with pre-season lifeguard screening for the water park and keeping his grades up. He has officially been promoted to a Supervisor position at the water park so he was part of the interviewing process at last weeks job fair and has been in attendance at the pool for "screening". Perspective guards must pass a basic swim test, laps, tread water etc. in order to go on to the certified training. He was working at the sporting goods store on Saturday, his Dad and I decided to drop by, I contributed to his commission check I am the proud owner of a new pair of black leather Merrel fur lined clogs and a pair of Teva "Mush" flip flops. I love flip flops!

He picked his classes for next semester and is doing the happy dance of joy that he is pretty much done with math - well maybe, depending on what he ends up doing but right now, no more math. The boy does not have a math brain at all and I can so relate to him.
He decided to spend one more semester "undeclared" although he is leaning heavily towards health ecology which will lead him to Physical Therapy. He is looking into some of the ecological fields but not sure that is the direction he wants to go in.
For P.E. he is taking a scuba diving course, "I need the P.E. credits Mom", what ever happened to badminton? He has been dating, socializing and having a grand ole time. I know he has had a late night when I get into work at 7 and log into Facebook to see that his last post was "4 hours ago" He actually joined us for dinner last night for the first time in weeks..... He wanted to use the washer, promptly way over loaded my poor KING size washer and then departed to guard screening with a "I'll be back" unhuh.......of course as he planned I then sorted his laundry issues out

Not much else going on around here, the weather is being typical N. Nevada weather, snow in the morning and 65 degrees by afternoon. The weekend was cool, almost cold then today we are supposed to get to almost 70 and then snow by Wednesday......yep, welcome to N. Nevada, don't like the weather, well then wait 5 minutes........okay, sometimes it takes 10 minutes to turn.

On a purely fluffy note, I watched the series finale of ER this weekend. Well, me, Simon the fat cat and a box of Kleenex! I have been watching ER since it began 15 years ago. DS was 3/4......amazing how time flies. There was a point in the middle where ER got a little too political for me and I missed a season out of disinterest, but I came back. I'm going to miss it........
I also watched the last season and the current season of The Real Housewives of New York, (love my DVR) I can't help it, its a train wreck and I find it so ridiculous that it is entertaining to a point. I know, I really need to get a life, anyone know where I can buy one?

My guinea pig still is without a name, although she is quite noisey and I am leaning towards Piper........

That is about it,
you all have a great week

 

[agnes!]

I think Piper sounds like a really cute name for a guinea pig.

About your Mom, I think for me the friendliness would be easier to take than the violence. I am so sorry about the whole situation, you & yours will be in my prayers. I hope the meds get straightened out.

Yay for Sandy V's & mamacatnv's DDs & DSs doing well . Doctors & Physical Therapists in your futures...how exciting!

The funny thing, mamcatnv, is that DD doesn't really have that many outside activities, not compared to some of her over-scheduled friends (one has a job + one sports team + *another* sports team + a SECOND job + horse-riding, another has lessons on one instrument + lessons on a second instrument + teaching a grade-school kid how to read + a sports team + assisting at a Tae Kwon Do studio). DD only did the play because we know the director & knew the director would be reasonable & let DD keep school work first. It's just that last week, that one particular pages-long-paper teacher made it even more stressful and has succeeded in making aspects of this school-year another Year from Hell (at least so far as this teacher's class is concerned). DD is counting down the days until the end of the year...not for summer vacation but mostly because she will NEVER have to set foot in this person's classroom again. And I agree with her, she will NEVER take a class with that person again.

Doing the play was wonderful for her - she did a fantastic job & everyone loved what she did. She'd get teary-eyed and say "Mom, they really like what I'm doing. So&so said I'm doing great." I think that the play gave her much-needed positive reinforcement (from people she respects!) and helped keep her sane throughout all this other mess. We had friends come up to us after the show & they'd start talking about DD's performance & they would start crying because it affected them so much.

What's particularly sad or me is that she absolutely loves the subject the 'unreasonable' teacher teaches.

agnes!

 

[horseshowmom]

Good afternoon, ladies! I've only got a few minutes, so I'll just rush through.

DH is still only doing so-so. I'm taking him back to the doctor this afternoon. He had another one of the bad headaches last night. It did come on when he became very upset so it probably is stress related, but we need to find some meds that are working better than what we have at the moment.

(Agnes, just to give you the short version, my husband's sister died very unexpectedly last week, and today's her birthday. There were quite a few other things going on at the same time, and we've been under a lot of stress for the last week.)

Melissa, there is no way in this world or any other that you could call my trip to Israel a vacation. I've never worked so hard in my life! It was a good trip though. It's a new experience for this American to go through checkpoints where you have machine guns trained on your bus. When we went into Bethlehem (Palestinian territory), young military personnel board your bus armed with machine guns and check your passport. It's pretty sobering.

Then when you go to the airport to leave, they are very serious about security. They take the group leader aside and privately ask him/her questions while another member of the group is selected and asked similar questions. If there are any differences, you have a problem. Wouldn't you know that the one they picked from our group was someone who had never traveled and was literally as nervous as she possibly could be (we could overhear her being questioned).

One of the questions the guard asked her was whether we had stopped anywhere. She was taking the questions very seriously, thought hard about her answer, and responded, "Yes, we did, we stopped at all the red lights." Then he asked her how many nights we had been in Israel, and she told him. He asked her where we stayed, but she could only come up with 4 nights worth. I was starting to think we were never going to get out of Israel (and I was really ready to go home ).

Our bags went through the screening machine and instead of just coming out the other side on the conveyor belt, they shot out of the machine and were flung through the air for several feet out onto the floor. At first, I thought it was just mine (got hung up or something), but then everybody else's did the same thing.

We did have a great trip and got to see so much. A short synopsis: we renewed our wedding vows in Cana, DH was baptized in the Jordan River, swam in the Dead Sea, sailed on the Sea of Galilee (where a small storm blew up while we were out there), walked in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Old City, rode a camel (want to see my camel driving license? ), and saw so much that I can't begin to list it all.

The flights over and back were torture. I may never go anywhere again that I have to fly that far. The fact that I'm a little bit claustrophobic does not help anything.

Agnes, I hope things improve for your daughter. Things have been kind of stressful for my daughter too lately, but hopefully, things will improve soon.

Take care, ladies!

 

[horseshowmom]

Just got a phone call from DD who had just gotten off the phone with DFi. He was calling to tell her that their family's barn had burned down tonight. It was hit by lightning, and nobody was home.

DFi's mother and brother were gone. He and his dad were working on the house he and DD will be living in after their wedding. When DFi and his dad pulled up to the house, the barn was fully engulfed.

Jet was in his stall because he had recently been gelded (ETA: they were not able to get to him, and he sadly died). Another of their horses (Shifty) has a pen that goes straight off his stall, so he had gotten up against the fence to try to get away from the fire. Due to that, they were able to get him. The other horses were in the pasture.

They can't find one of their dogs. He's an older dog who always comes when he's called, and they're worried that he's gone too. They also have one cat missing as of now.

They lost all of their hay and feed along with their barn being completely destroyed. I'm just sick over this.

I told DD that it's gotten to the point where I'm almost afraid to answer my phone anymore because we've had so much stuff lately.

 

[agnes!]

Words fail me, you all are in my thoughts and prayers.

agnes!

 

[mamacatnv]

Sheila I am so sorry to hear that. Thankfully they got the horses out and hopefully will locate all their animals.