Hello, again...

Hello. (Do you see the Lionel Richie video in your head now? I do.)

I've not been very good about keeping up with blogging, have I? Hmmm, there's a shock. Lately, it seems that I'm not keeping up with a lot of things. Just this morning, several of us were lamenting the lack of Bewitched-type nose-twitch-induced cleaning abilities. Or a wand...my kingdom for a wand and a spellbook, a la Harry Potter. You know, a Marauder's Map that would show where all my childrens' misplaced belongings are would be lovely, too.

So I'm sitting here recovering from the Friday night junior high dance (complete with fire alarms going off!) and Saturday night's fiesta of 12 year old girls. MissyMiss had several friends over to celebrate her birthday, even though it was a couple of weeks late. MisterBoychild and his father left to go to a car show several hours away for the day - side note, what is the attraction of driving 5 hours away, sitting in a parking lot with a bunch of other car people, then driving home 5 hours? I don't get it - so it was just Estrogen City at Casa Rambling last night.

Lord have MERCY. I don't remember having that much energy when I was 12, though I probably did. Like a gaggle of geese, they honked and hooted all night long! Every time I went to check on them, they went silent.......agreed very politely to whatever I said.......then shut the door and burst into hysterical giggles. Not very suspicious behavior, not at all! I know that they spent the majority of the night talking into their cellphones at the same time, all to different people. I believe most of them were boys, but I'm not positive.

I watched a couple of movies (chick flicks, as MM called them - What Happens in Vegas and Marley and Me) and graded some papers between bouts of providing snacks and drinks and calling for BG checks. The good news on the D front is that neither girl (MM or her pal C, both of whom have the 'betes) had horrifying BGs last night, despite the junk that mysteriously appeared in the game room, as evidenced by the wrappers found on the floor. Bad news was that one pal went home in the middle of the night because she felt so lousy. I hope that her headache/stomachache/general yuckiness weren't passed along to the rest of the crowd.

Met with a couple of moms from the support group today, which was fun....though I heard stories about teachers and diabetes that made my blood pressure SKYROCKET. Just when I think I've heard it all, comes another chapter of "how to NOT behave with a student with diabetes in your class". Suffice it to say that if this particular teacher were on the staff at MY school, I would have done something......unseemly.....to her. After I made sure that the principal, the superintendent, the board members, and the little green men on Mars heard about her terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad behavior. (side note #2 - Judith Viorst has SUCH a way with words....if you don't know what I mean, you must go out IMMEDIATELY and get the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day. Immediately! Like right now! Library or bookstore, I don't care....stop reading my sorry little blog and go NOW!)

It makes me so sad to think that so many teachers who WANT to be in the classroom, who LOVE to work with children and their parents, who SHOULD be teaching, are losing their jobs while nasty old crones are still there. I have friends who are fabulous teachers that have no idea if they will have a job next year, simply because they switched school districts at a bad time.


So, having rambled on and on, Gentle Readers, I send you forth with a few tasks. First, if you still are here and haven't read Alexander...., you really must. The followup book, Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday is a great one as well. Second, if you are a parent of a CWD and you have a wonderful, supportive teacher, TELL HER/HIM. Teacher Appreciation Week is coming soon, and this is a great time to tell your child's teacher how grateful you are. Tell the principal if your teacher is doing a great job, and if you have a nurse or health tech that is fabulous, tell about them, too. Let the district office know that you are pleased with the care your child receives in his/her school and name names! They hear the bad stuff all day long; we need to impress upon those who make decisions that it's NOT JUST ABOUT TEST SCORES. Children have so many more needs than just to write a complete sentence or add a column of numbers correctly, and having staff that sees to the *whole* child is a blessing that can't be quantified. Third, if you have a teacher that is NOT all that could be desired, document and report. I'm certain that there are days where I have not been Mary Sunshine and probably made children and their parents unhappy for one reason or another, and most of the time I have heard about it. But there is a big difference between having a bad day and violating a child's rights, and THAT needs to be put to a stop.


As the school year comes to its conclusion, I can't promise to update more frequently, or with fewer rambles. I will promise to at least make an attempt to be slightly more current.
Next time, my summer plans - some of which should be great, and some of which are not going to be any fun at all....