Something about Nothing, come join in........ Part 3

[loribell]

I do have to take the time though for a rant myself. Sorry in advance.

Allyson turned 9 years old one month ago. She is very intelligent. She is on a six or seventh grade reading comprehension level, meaning of course she can understand what those bigger words mean. This does not however mean she has teh maturity of a sixth or seventy grader. So I get a note from her teacher the end of last week that says for their reading program this semester she is required to get 15 points each nine weeks. No big deal. But this note also says that she has to read books within her range (900 - 1100). She brings home a book called "Miss Frisbey & the Rats of Nimh" from "The Secret of Nimh". It is rated at 760 and is a fifth grade, eighth month level book. She says that the Harry Potter books are rated at around 920. I'm sorry but I think that is a little much for a 9 year old to be expected to read. Heck what does she have to read to get to 1100? The Scarlet Letter? Shakespear? War and Peace? Geez! Shouldn't she be reading books that have things in them that interest kids in her age group, not jr high & high school kids? Am I over-reacting? I'm going to go have a talk with the school.

Thanks for letting me vent! Any advice appreciated!


Oh, forgot to add the teacher took one of her papers last week and threw it away. She was supposed to be writing her spelling words 5 times each. Well she wrote each one down and then went back to write them each 4 more times. She was supposed to write each one 5 times then move on to the next! Umm, do kids not learn in different ways? Are they not different? I told her it must have been because she wasn't following directions but man was it hard to do that.

 

[macraven]

rose, tonight i will look thru the brochures for you.

i'll help any way i can

i'm working tomorrow so what i don't find tonight, i'll find out at skool tomorrow.

 

[macraven]

lori, have a meeting with the teacher with the principal present.

that is so not right for your daughter.

her thought process and understanding would or could affect her self esteem if she is required to be moved up to the pre teen level ( 11,12 ) in choice of books.

 

[loribell]

i copied this from what lori posted.


"No, being the world's most unreasonable parents would have been not letting him go to the dance they had already spent money on. But if he continues to throw that fit even that would not be unreasonable. In fact if mine had been throwing things around the house the dance would have already been gone. I guess I am the worlds most unreasonable parent. "




i'm an easy going mom but when my boys got out of hand when they were a lot younger, i was the meanest mom in the world. i even scared mr mac.

one winter day the boys were 15, 14, 12 and fighting in the house.
it was a drag out, knock down, slug out fight.

they refused to stop so i called the police.

one son ran down the street barefooted in the snow.
another hid in the basement.
and good son did what he was told and sat on the couch.

they sent 3 squad cars to the house, i guess it sounded like things were out of control at the home when i called 911.

the one that took off running refused to get in the police car when they found him. i was in the car with the cop. once the copper said, i will tell you for the last time, get in the car or you will be arrested and taken to juvie hall.

he got in.


only had to call the cops one other time and then they listened to me better when i told them i had enough of the fighting.


the next day, all 3 brothers were friends again......

and now one of my sons is trying to get a job as a cop.
to think, i had an influence on him with his future career........


i have more stories i can share about parenting.

I am a very easy going mom too but you have to draw the line somewhere. I remember when Chris was in the 6th grade during Christmas break he got very mouthy with me & I told him he couldn't go somewhere. He proceeded to tell me he was going so I told him if he walked out the door I would lock it and he would not be coming back in. The smart@*** that he was decided to test me and went out in a t-shirt & no shoes. I then locked the door behind him and let him stand out there for about 10 minutes. Sometimes in Oklahoma in the winter that isn't bad but this particular day it was very cold out. He decided that I was right and he would stay home and mind after all.

Hey Mac!
I might look into the Mt, Vernon, colonial Williamsburg stuff for the poster.
I need websites. Can you post some websites here of that you have seen in Virginia? I need written info on the poster as well as Chrissy needs ot draw a picture(I can't just print a pic and glue it on a posterboard unfortunately, teacher doesn't want that).
Thanks so,so much!!


Lori- I might look into Stone Mountain, too. Not sure yet. Thanks!

Hi to all!

You are wlecome! Never been, just knew it was there.

we'll keep a light on for 'ya!

Thanks, guess I better get to it!

Wow! The son that wants to be a cop, was he the one in the cop car when he was younger?

I'm a mean mom too at times. I yell sometimes(I'm sure we all yell at our kids).
I do spank Chrissy and give time- outs, b/c she doesn't listen to me or DH.
I know, spanking bad word

Spanking is not a bad word. There is a difference in spanking and abuse. Refusing to spank no matter what leads to very badly behaved children.

 

[macraven]

i second that request from lori.



who received the special family gift in the exchange in jodie's family?
how did they react?

i'm dying to find out.



and


barb, did you figure out my ahem's last night?


penny, tell us what the doc said when you get back from the scan and test.

 

[loribell]

lori, have a meeting with the teacher with the principal present.

that is so not right for your daughter.

her thought process and understanding would or could affect her self esteem if she is required to be moved up to the pre teen level ( 11,12 ) in choice of books.

That is my thoughts exactly. She does not need to e reading that level of book. I will be going up during her planning period tomorrow. I will ask to speak to both of them. I don't like this prinicpal at all, this is only her second year here. If I don't get any satisfaction I will go to the superintendent, who just happens to be across he street & I have known for 20 years, and I will get satisfaction that way. She will not be reading those levels of books.

 

[loribell]

Now before I head out I need to give more appropriate birthday wishes to the two guys I missed.


First to our little karate kid:

And then to Brad:

 

[RVGal]

I do need some research help from you homies
This is for Chrissy's school project that is due this Friday. I have to help Chrissy make a travel poster-from the southern colonies of the USA. This is from the original 13 colonies. She has the southern colonies region: the states of: Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland.
I need just some info help with maybe Georgia (Tricia, you would probably know this stuff) Is there any tourism in Georgia people go to? Is there something called Stone Mountain(or something like that)?
Doesn't have to be something people went to in the Colonial times, somewhere they go now- tourism.
I know I can just google stuff, but thought if any homies knew of any tourism hot spots in either Georgia,South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, or Maryland.

Do you want strictly tourism? Or stuff the state is famous for? I've lived in Georgia all my life, so I can bore you to tears with all the things I know.

Tourist spots in Georgia:
Atlanta - the state capital, also where you can find the Georgia Aquarium, Centennial Olympic Park, World of Coca-cola, MLK Jr Center, Zoo Atlanta, CNN Center, Six Flags Over Georgia, etc.

Stone Mountain (which is really considered part of Metro Atlanta) - now a private park, formerly a state one (thanks Zell Miller). Constantly in a pitched battle with some rock formation in... ummm... Japan, I think... as claiming to be the largest exposed piece of granite in the world. There is a huge Confederate Memorial carved into the side of the moutain, plus lots of fun stuff to do all around the park.

Savannah - Beautiful antibellum city with lots of squares and homes to tour, such as the founder of the Girl Scouts (Juliette Lowe, maybe? I didn't do Scouts), and lots of famous restaurants like Lady & Sons (Paula Deen from Food Network's place), Pirate House, etc.

Augusta - host city of the Masters Golf Tournament if you are into golf (yawn)

Jekyll Island - on the coast, beautiful beaches if you have the money to stay there.

Dahlonega - site of the first gold strike in our area, also the closest town to the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, lots of trendy tourist stuff including wine tasting rooms and lots of hiking supplies.

We are known as the Peach State (which confuses me because South Carolina produces more peaches), the Peanut State (thanks to Jimmy Carter who was born & raised in Plains, GA), and who can forget Vidalia where all those sweet onions are grown.

I have been on vacation to Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head in South Carolina. I have been to Asheville, North Carolina and to Williamsburg, Virginia.

Probably WAY more than you wanted about Georgia, but I warned you ahead of time.

And did you get them done?

Yeah, she is the smarter one isn’t she? I am planning to move to her area. No I’m not stalking you though Tricia. We want to get closer to Florida but not in Florida and we want to be somewhere that we don’t have to worry about temperature extremes and lots of bad weather.

I got the W-2s done and mailed, except the big master packet that goes to the federal gov't. I'll get that done tomorrow with my bookkeeping crapola.

And stalk away my friend! I would recommend spending some time here (or anywhere) before you decide to move, but personally I love the area and think you'd feel at home here.

She publishes two real estate magazines. I help her on her deadline weekend.

Like the For Sale kind of magazines that you pick up for free? Or the kind that real estate agents subscribe to so they know about listings? Or something else?

I’ll make my pics now -

I say the Pats are going to play poorly but still pull off the victory.

In the Giants - Pack game Eli is amazingly not be the one that chokes. Instead the kicker will miss two field goals that could win the game in the last 5 minutes of the game. It will then go in to over time and the Packers will win the coin toss. Even more amazing then Eli not choking Favre will throw an interception and the Giants field goal kicker will redeem himself and kick the game winning field goal.

I know, that sounds really far fetched but it could happen. What do you guys think?

 

[RVGal]

Not as though he has any interest in being a math major. add it to my bad mother resume

A) he doesn't want to do it
B) i don't want to pay for it
C) it interfers with our vacation plans...should've heard the gasp on that one.

Yep, you did it again!

She had done it to me several times. Of course that’s just cause I care. It wouldn’t affect me if I didn’t. Those are some great pictures, aren’t they?

And I am tearing up again just reading back through here and thinking about it. Geez I’m a sap!

He was a very good looking man & her ma is a beautiful woman.

Sorry I made you cry again. I kinda knew it was inevitable, but... it was worth it, right?

And with this I am officially caught up! It only took about 10 hours! I do have a life. Really I do! Now I have to go catch up on it!

You are a dedicated homie!

i have more stories i can share about parenting.

I LOVE it when you share your son stories. They are the best!

I do have to take the time though for a rant myself. Sorry in advance.

Allyson turned 9 years old one month ago. She is very intelligent. She is on a six or seventh grade reading comprehension level, meaning of course she can understand what those bigger words mean. This does not however mean she has teh maturity of a sixth or seventy grader. So I get a note from her teacher the end of last week that says for their reading program this semester she is required to get 15 points each nine weeks. No big deal. But this note also says that she has to read books within her range (900 - 1100). She brings home a book called "Miss Frisbey & the Rats of Nimh" from "The Secret of Nimh". It is rated at 760 and is a fifth grade, eighth month level book. She says that the Harry Potter books are rated at around 920. I'm sorry but I think that is a little much for a 9 year old to be expected to read. Heck what does she have to read to get to 1100? The Scarlet Letter? Shakespear? War and Peace? Geez! Shouldn't she be reading books that have things in them that interest kids in her age group, not jr high & high school kids? Am I over-reacting? I'm going to go have a talk with the school.

Thanks for letting me vent! Any advice appreciated!


Oh, forgot to add the teacher took one of her papers last week and threw it away. She was supposed to be writing her spelling words 5 times each. Well she wrote each one down and then went back to write them each 4 more times. She was supposed to write each one 5 times then move on to the next! Umm, do kids not learn in different ways? Are they not different? I told her it must have been because she wasn't following directions but man was it hard to do that.

Okay, that is wrong on so many levels. The spelling words thing? Puh-leez. If she gets the words on paper the right number of times and in the right order, who gives a holy hell HOW she got them on the paper??? Seriously! Does her teacher have a humongous bug up his/her butt or what?

And the reading thing, oh yeah... you definitely have a point. There is a HUGE difference between understanding the meaning of a difficult word and being able to handle the meaning of mature reading material.

lori, have a meeting with the teacher with the principal present.

that is so not right for your daughter.

her thought process and understanding would or could affect her self esteem if she is required to be moved up to the pre teen level ( 11,12 ) in choice of books.

Yeah, what she said.

Now before I head out I need to give more appropriate birthday wishes to the two guys I missed.

And then to Brad:

I'll be sure to show him. He enjoyed all the other birthday wishes too. Barb's even got an, "Oh MY!" when he saw hers.

 

[Metro West]

Just a quick drive by today. The taxes are filed and I'm getting a juicy refund this year!

Hope everyone is doing well!

 

[bubba's mom]

Evenin' all.... here to check in and do MY ketchup from the day.....

Okay so you guys are all now going to see how far behind I was!
Snow is pretty for about 15 minutes if it is somewhere other than where I am.

I think you should win an award for this 'ketchup' job

fletcher, you still have time to redeem yourself....

Moanin' Holmes! It's hump day so get to humpin'!

I humped yesterday. Should I hump again today?

I think Fletcher HAS redeemed himself ...and Jodie dear...hump away anytime you want

 

[macraven]

is it the dis or me?

i have been trying off and on since about 3 today to read and post here on the thread.


i can not for the life of me to get the thread to open thru my email notifications.

i came in the back door by the UO forum direct.
even then, a lengthy wait to post.


rose, i'll try again to post the links.
i had them on another page and i know if i go to it, i will be knocked out of the thread again.


todd, so glad you are back.
if anyone is giving you trouble, let me know.
i can hurt them.
and i will take bubba along with me as he is the karate expert.

i'll just talk the person to deaf..............

 

[RVGal]

Just a quick drive by today. The taxes are filed and I'm getting a juicy refund this year!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Way kewl! That's good news.

We paid enough out of pocket medical expenses that we get to claim it on our taxes.

Woo friggin Hoo.

 

[keishashadow]

mac's sneakin in the back door , hurry go open the front door...i couldn't get on either.

metro - i tried, kept losing my stuff on tax site i use. We do exactly what they tell you NOT to do, get back a juicy return. I consider it my patriotic duty to give the government a tax-free loan. A portion goes to investing & the rest is "early retirement travel funds"

tricia - u r a good employer

yep, i have my edumacational priorities in order ; the peeps i've polled today all gave me "the look" tuff toenails

ds has taken general enrichment courses @ Penn State since he was in grade school. Also accepted into C-Mites/Carnegie Mellon (strict application process; have to pass a test, yadda-yadda).

i've also had to pay for remedial classes out the wahzoo for middle DS (he who scored highest on IQ tests of the 3 ) several years and then sports camps.

i'm done, done, done with it all...henceforth; it's unstructured summers for the youngest (except for tennis camp of course )

 

[keishashadow]

Way kewl! That's good news.

We paid enough out of pocket medical expenses that we get to claim it on our taxes.

Woo friggin Hoo.

not sure whether to say congrats or sorry

you're the 1st person i know that has ever claimed it

tuff even when high deductibles ur self-employed & pay private rates for insurance, eek....makes me queasy

 

[RVGal]

is it the dis or me?

i have been trying off and on since about 3 today to read and post here on the thread.


i can not for the life of me to get the thread to open thru my email notifications.

i came in the back door by the UO forum direct.
even then, a lengthy wait to post.

DIS is moving EXTREMELY slow for me, but I can link from the email notifications.

Seems to have picked up a bit in the past few minutes... maybe?

 

[ky07]

Quick drive by cause this crazy criedt card is killin me cause trying to plan our trip for july and so far all it let me get was 2 plane tickets and called they told me since the airline was charging the tickets 1 at a time that the card thinks someone may have stole the card and trying to run up charges and I told them why didn't it do that last year

 

[bubba's mom]

Well you can call me Mary.

We had the same feelings about that park a few years ago also but WOW has it changed in the past two years. We are there often we have season passes . It also keeps the kids busy when there is nothing to do for a pretty cheap price.

Well....hello MARY! Maybe sometime we'll take Bubba and give it another try..... We went to Kings Dominion years ago and had a blast! Went back 2 years ago, we were very disappointed ...who's to say 6 Flags hasn't changed for the better and we'll like it?

P.S. MF, did you work on your crossword comfortably this morning?

Did you REALLY WANT to know?

barb - i miss my waterbed, went out & bought heated mattress pads for that great sensation of hoping in a warm bed.

I can totally relate to 'getting into a warm bed'... i keep my pj's under the covers so when I put them on, they are toasty warm I can't live without my bed! I've slept in one since 1989 or so When I started dating DH and he started sleeping in it, it was SO weird for him! Now, he's as hooked as I am! A couple years ago my original bed had the corner seam of the mattress rip (unrepairable) and we were going to replace the mattress and heater. Turns out, for $300 more, ended up with the king size and whole new bed CAN'T go back to queen (those queen beds KILL us on vacay)....

Funny thing about the medals, we didn't even know he had earned any...lord knows where the original set is. I'm requesting a duplicate set. My mom didn't meet him until after he was discharged, although she was never a detail person lol

I didn't know you could get duplicate medals?? THAT is way kewl.... Proudly display them.... My DH gave his dogtags away to some floozy while still in the service his peacoat to a friend of ours we never see anymore....i still have a uniform and some other memories from his stay in the service, but that's it.....

They delayed school opening an hour today, so I feel like I'm running behind. I'm beginning to think that somebody just likes playing with the automated announcement system. The 5:30am wake up calls STINK, but I have managed to get a workout in the past 2 mornings... which I hadn't done for the past couple of weeks with everything else that's been going on... so maybe it isn't the worst thing ever. Sigh.

I was wondering how your workout was going...altho, I kinda knew (on some level), it wasn't....... But, think of the 'school cancel calls' as a 'wake up call'....blessing in disguise...

My parents unofficially adopted most of my friends. I remember at the Groom's Dinner the night before our wedding, there was a table with Carol, Deb, Leta (my BFF), and probably half a dozen more people. One of Brad's extended family members (an aunt, maybe) walked up to my mom and pointed to the table and said, "Now, which ones are your children?" My mom looked at the table, smiled, and said, "They all are." You have to get the mental picture that one of the people at the table was my friend Barry, who happens to be a huge black guy... and most of the people were roughly the same age. The lady looked totally confused, but didn't ask again.

I can SO imagine that!!!

My dad was funny if you "got" him. He had a very dry wit and keen intellect. I can still remember coming to him with math homework (I absolutely HATED math) and he'd say, "Alright dumb@ss. Forget everything those idiots told you from the book. Here's how you do it. And here's how you put it down on paper to make them happy."

Carol said to me on the morning of his memorial, "What I wouldn't give to have him call me dumb@ss just one more time..."

What a kewl Dad! I don't think dumb@ss is a nickname you want....'poop lady' is much more fitting....

I'm doing my ketchup. Is that throwing you off your ketchup?

There is waaaaayyyyy too much ketchup flying around.....watch you don't get any on me!

Good morning all.

Do you ever have one of those days where you just have to deal with busy-work crud? Pain in the butt junk? No, not junk in your butt. I would've just said dingleberries then.

I have to call my dentist to reschedule an appointment ...

Been dealing with bank issues for the past several days as well -- trying to find someone competent is proving to be unsuccessful so far.

And our 401k plan is changing to an "investments for idiots" type of plan unless we set up a brokerage account, and of course they sent out the wrong information on how we're supposed to open the brokerage account.

And all this stupid stuff like this; I have 10 more things to do, and I won't bore you with the rest of it, but it is just one of those days where I wonder how anyone stays in business. I may deal with it tomorrow when I don't have to worry about getting to bed. I think I might wind myself up too much to sleep.

Ah, but Mike is here singing my favorite song to me: "It's your last night. Walla, walla, bing, bing. Chitty, chitty bang bang." I'll sing it for you sometime in person.

I'm going to read back and respond when I'm not so ticked off and worked up. So I hope everyone has a less tedious day than I'm having so far! xx

Okay....so when you started that post, you were lying? Seriously, that sux and what your company is doing is I hope your day got betterer and you're in a happier place

.....life of parenting teen boys......

gee, mine starting the pouting way before age 15. looks like you got a few years break in there from the shouting, locking doors type of fun.

teens are ME centered. that's because they are not mature yet and don't think of solutions. life is up and down those years and it is hard years for the kids. they don't want to be angry and be rude, it just happens so quickly at times they explode. once he calms down, he will start to eat again and be pleasant.

gee....can't wait

Wow, Barb... great video! They must be good friends as well as brothers. I'm thinking of doing the same type thing for Carol's 50th next year.

DH did a great job on it...of course, always critiquing himself, woulda done this different, that different, etc... I think they were closer when they were younger, but pretty good friends today. His brother lives in Fla and is a very busy person....so, they don't talk as much as they'd like to, but, yeah, when they're together, you can tell there isn't anything the one wouldn't do for the other!

I think a video for Carol's 50th would be the PERFECT gift!!! Half a century of Carol and all she's done, seen, accomplished and experienced....truly a sentimental gift

HA! I don't think I'll ever go to another race in the same style I did last time. Keep your fingers crossed that we are able to go to Daytona. With everything that is happening...

I hope you can do Daytona.....a much needed break for you!! ....even if it's not "Tricia" style.....

Hmmmm... I did too... but I'm always up for another hump! That sounded kinda Dr Seuss-ish.

Kinda sounds like a TAG to me

Isn't everything legal in Jersey?

Actually, NJ has "dry" vacation towns (I think Ocean City is one)....and, except for Wildwood, you have to PAY to use the beach! (One reason we stick with Wildwood..that AND our friends that invite us every year are in Wildwood.... I am NOT paying $3pp to sleep on a beach all day when I can do it at home for free! ) ....Don't stay in the 'dry' towns either..... Okay, so that has nothing to do with "legal", but it's a NJ rant that popped into my head.....

Hi all!
I do need some research help from you homies
This is for Chrissy's school project that is due this Friday. I have to help Chrissy make a travel poster-from the southern colonies of the USA. This is from the original 13 colonies. She has the southern colonies region: the states of: Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland.

Sorry can't help ya.....but Tracie, Jodie, Penny, Sharon, Katie & I have the northern 13 covered (especially if you're talking ole Philadelphia....Tracie is your 'go to girl' there....)

 

[bubba's mom]

DIS is moving EXTREMELY slow for me

ditto

 

[roseprincess]

Mac- Don't worry about the links. I think I'm going to do Cape Fear/Wilmington, North Carolina. Chrissy has to draw something with the geographical stuff( beach area or mountains). Might be easy to do a beach thing. I found a 2007 Cape Fear, NC brochure I must have gotten in the mail a few weeks or months back. It should all go ok. Thanks for your help

Tricia- thanks for your info on Georgia

I've been having problems getting onthe Dis, too.
Ok, gotta run.
Have a good night everyone.