1. My husband
2. My children
3. My job where I can laugh and marvel everyday at something.
4. Living in CapeBreton
5. My tweeps who allow me to feel connected when I sometimes otherwise feel a little alone & out of touch
6. Good CapeBreton fiddle tunes
7. Talents
8. The internet (sad.....
9. My blackberry (.....but true)
10. I'm most thankful today that my son didn't electrocute himself or burn down the church when he took off with my keys and put on a little "show" (aka - Look at me on the altar where I know I shouldn't be & all you guys are laughing at me) at church this morning!
Be gracious!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Making my skin crawl
September.
Back to School.
Back to Work (at school).
Back to Reality.
Routines.
Colds.
Germs.
Kids.
Head Lice.
Those last two words make me crazy! I mean... CRAZY. Being a teacher, head lice have been a regular part of my teaching days; throwing my hair up in a ponytail, washing my hands a million times, getting itchy at the mere mention of a case of head lice in our school. I've coped. I've survived unscathed.
But this year is different. My daughter is a student at the school. She's in the field, at the front line of the little creepy, crawly, stigmatized creatures. That makes my skin crawl more than usual.
It only took 2 weeks for head lice to darken the classroom door; my daughter's class. The head checks started. I had a vague idea of what I was looking for. I read the pamphlet that came home with my daughter. I've googled, and googled and googled some more. (example) I've checked, re-checked, and checked my daughter's head again and again. Nothing yet.
We've got the tea tree oil shampoo on the go. We have tea tree oil itself. We've got the lice comb. I even have the treatment just in case.
Sadly, I've become obsessed. Every itch, scratch, windswept lock of hair is under my scrutiny. When I'm driving, I'm checking the visor mirror to make sure I don't see any little friggers crawling anywhere on my own head. Each trip to the washroom has me stopping at the mirror, doing a "quick check". I feel like my skin is crawling...
It's consuming my life and I can't stop!
I know it's inevitable that my daughter gets them. I know it's a normal part of life. I know it speaks nothing of cleanliness, status, well being. I know when she does get them, it will be annoying and a lot of work, but we'll deal with it and cope just fine -- just like every other family has in the past.
But what I know more than any of that is...
I'm completely grossed out, spooked and scratching once again. I'm in a sad state.
Anyone have any pointers/tips for me?
Back to School.
Back to Work (at school).
Back to Reality.
Routines.
Colds.
Germs.
Kids.
Head Lice.
Those last two words make me crazy! I mean... CRAZY. Being a teacher, head lice have been a regular part of my teaching days; throwing my hair up in a ponytail, washing my hands a million times, getting itchy at the mere mention of a case of head lice in our school. I've coped. I've survived unscathed.
But this year is different. My daughter is a student at the school. She's in the field, at the front line of the little creepy, crawly, stigmatized creatures. That makes my skin crawl more than usual.
It only took 2 weeks for head lice to darken the classroom door; my daughter's class. The head checks started. I had a vague idea of what I was looking for. I read the pamphlet that came home with my daughter. I've googled, and googled and googled some more. (example) I've checked, re-checked, and checked my daughter's head again and again. Nothing yet.
We've got the tea tree oil shampoo on the go. We have tea tree oil itself. We've got the lice comb. I even have the treatment just in case.
Sadly, I've become obsessed. Every itch, scratch, windswept lock of hair is under my scrutiny. When I'm driving, I'm checking the visor mirror to make sure I don't see any little friggers crawling anywhere on my own head. Each trip to the washroom has me stopping at the mirror, doing a "quick check". I feel like my skin is crawling...
It's consuming my life and I can't stop!
I know it's inevitable that my daughter gets them. I know it's a normal part of life. I know it speaks nothing of cleanliness, status, well being. I know when she does get them, it will be annoying and a lot of work, but we'll deal with it and cope just fine -- just like every other family has in the past.
But what I know more than any of that is...
I'm completely grossed out, spooked and scratching once again. I'm in a sad state.
Anyone have any pointers/tips for me?
Monday, August 23, 2010
I'm like your favourite roll of toilet paper...
... or your trusty dog.
Your favourite sweater?
That's me -- loyal. I'm the queen of loyalty.
How loyal am I? Well, once I had a hairdresser that mistakenly dyed my hair a plum colour (AWFUL!) but convinced me it looked good, and I went back to her. Again and again... until she moved. Then, I started going to another hairdresser and stayed with her until she moved -- something like 4 or 5 years -- and I hated my hair everytime I walked out of there.
That's a piddly example, though.
I'm loyal in so many ways it's sad sometimes.
To my hairstylist, aesthetician, brand of toilet paper, makeup (I'm very loyal to Shoppers Drug Mart!), wine, beer. Ugh.
But my true loyalties come to my friends.
I'm a fiercely loyal friend. If we've become friends, I'll always expect it to be that way. If we've drifted apart, I'll hold fast to the memories we carved. If you cross me, backstab me, I'll feel sorry for you and still hold on to the goodness of the past.
As I write this, though, I'm thinking that maybe it's not loyalty... maybe it's absurdness. Maybe I'm an old soul. What remains, however, is that I've had to do a lot of reflecting the past few months on friendship, loyalty, honesty, etc. and it still plagues my mind. Loyal or not.... I think I am.
Your favourite sweater?
That's me -- loyal. I'm the queen of loyalty.
How loyal am I? Well, once I had a hairdresser that mistakenly dyed my hair a plum colour (AWFUL!) but convinced me it looked good, and I went back to her. Again and again... until she moved. Then, I started going to another hairdresser and stayed with her until she moved -- something like 4 or 5 years -- and I hated my hair everytime I walked out of there.
That's a piddly example, though.
I'm loyal in so many ways it's sad sometimes.
To my hairstylist, aesthetician, brand of toilet paper, makeup (I'm very loyal to Shoppers Drug Mart!), wine, beer. Ugh.
But my true loyalties come to my friends.
I'm a fiercely loyal friend. If we've become friends, I'll always expect it to be that way. If we've drifted apart, I'll hold fast to the memories we carved. If you cross me, backstab me, I'll feel sorry for you and still hold on to the goodness of the past.
As I write this, though, I'm thinking that maybe it's not loyalty... maybe it's absurdness. Maybe I'm an old soul. What remains, however, is that I've had to do a lot of reflecting the past few months on friendship, loyalty, honesty, etc. and it still plagues my mind. Loyal or not.... I think I am.
Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.
Ann Landers
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
What do YOU expect from your child's teacher?
For 24 hours a day, I'm a mom.
For about 12 hours a day, I'm a teacher.
Yes, e v e r y d a y. Weekends. Evenings. Christmas Vacation. Summer Vacation (aka, right now). I'm constantly thinking of my job... well, it's not really that, it's another part of my daily life, another part of who I am. I eat, sleep, breathe, think about teaching or teaching related things at various points each and every day. (In fact, this week I'm participating in a Math Academy for sixth grade teachers, and the true geek in me is loving that I'm learning so much!)
Come September 1, I'll be starting a new teaching assignment. To some it would be considered an easier assignment than my previous Primary through Twelfth grade assortment. Others wonder why I'd want to "just be a classroom teacher". Me, well, I don't quite know what to think, other than I'm very excited to be a teacher of the grade 5/6 combined class in the school I've taught in for 10 years. It's exciting, exhilirating, and a tad bit scary! (lol)
I'm going from the "teacher of many courses/disciplines" to the "classroom teacher of your child".
My questions for you around what you, as parents, want to see from your children's teachers:
Thanks!
For about 12 hours a day, I'm a teacher.
Yes, e v e r y d a y. Weekends. Evenings. Christmas Vacation. Summer Vacation (aka, right now). I'm constantly thinking of my job... well, it's not really that, it's another part of my daily life, another part of who I am. I eat, sleep, breathe, think about teaching or teaching related things at various points each and every day. (In fact, this week I'm participating in a Math Academy for sixth grade teachers, and the true geek in me is loving that I'm learning so much!)
Come September 1, I'll be starting a new teaching assignment. To some it would be considered an easier assignment than my previous Primary through Twelfth grade assortment. Others wonder why I'd want to "just be a classroom teacher". Me, well, I don't quite know what to think, other than I'm very excited to be a teacher of the grade 5/6 combined class in the school I've taught in for 10 years. It's exciting, exhilirating, and a tad bit scary! (lol)
I'm going from the "teacher of many courses/disciplines" to the "classroom teacher of your child".
My questions for you around what you, as parents, want to see from your children's teachers:
- What makes them good?
- What's the best way to communicate?
- What do you want communicated?
- What's your opinion on homework?
- What do you really want your children to learn?
Thanks!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Daughter Dichotomy
Apparently I used to be shy and quiet; can't really see it, but that's what they tell me. I guess it was once I started dance lessons at age 8 that I became more outgoing (being thrown onstage in front of 100 people kind of does that to someone, I guess). Since then I've danced in front of thousands of people, provided professional development for hundreds of teachers, presented a research project to hundreds of people and spend my working days in front of people.
I'm far from shy now!
So, it's with this outgoing personality that I find it so hard to grasp my daughter's shyness. Man-oh-man. She won't talk, interact with, or otherwise engage with people she doesn't know extremely well.... see, for those of us she does know very well, she's all drama, attitude, bubblingness. A lot of times, she's over the top. This is the kind of girl I can relate to!
Thus, it kills me to have to speak for her with people trying to engage in conversation with her. It kills me to hear that she barely says a word for the 4 hours she's at day camp, yet when she gets in the truck I get a play-by-play of every detail, everything she learned. It pains me to see her clam up and cling to me like speaking will draw out her last breath.
Sometimes I speak for her. Sometimes I force her into speaking by saying that she'll have to learn to speak up for herself in school in September. Most times I wonder if this will be a passing phase once school does start in September. A lot of the time, I must look like a liar as people who read the blog I keep about her see the polar opposite of what we at home experience on a daily basis. She's incredible. She says things you'd never expect. She keeps us on our toes. She's Ramona Quimby from the movie Ramona & Beezus. But if she doesn't know you, you won't see this. That makes me sad.
She's my daughter dichotomy.
I'm far from shy now!
So, it's with this outgoing personality that I find it so hard to grasp my daughter's shyness. Man-oh-man. She won't talk, interact with, or otherwise engage with people she doesn't know extremely well.... see, for those of us she does know very well, she's all drama, attitude, bubblingness. A lot of times, she's over the top. This is the kind of girl I can relate to!
Thus, it kills me to have to speak for her with people trying to engage in conversation with her. It kills me to hear that she barely says a word for the 4 hours she's at day camp, yet when she gets in the truck I get a play-by-play of every detail, everything she learned. It pains me to see her clam up and cling to me like speaking will draw out her last breath.
Sometimes I speak for her. Sometimes I force her into speaking by saying that she'll have to learn to speak up for herself in school in September. Most times I wonder if this will be a passing phase once school does start in September. A lot of the time, I must look like a liar as people who read the blog I keep about her see the polar opposite of what we at home experience on a daily basis. She's incredible. She says things you'd never expect. She keeps us on our toes. She's Ramona Quimby from the movie Ramona & Beezus. But if she doesn't know you, you won't see this. That makes me sad.
She's my daughter dichotomy.
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