More Location Issues

So, last night we discovered that KC doesn't want her litter box near the ferrets either. She peed on Steven's armchair 3 times and pooped on it once. I ran her under the bathtub faucet twice last night. Not just the head, her whole body. Spanking her didn't seem like enough of a statement. She's getting too picky for her own good.

Location, Location, Location

So my cat KC is a freak. That's generally an accepted fact. For 2-3 weeks she's been insisting on drinking out of the dogs' water bowl. I know she hates Zoot so I figured it was a dominance thing. But about a week ago she stopped eating. KC's a little on the hefty side so I wasn't too worried at first. She didn't act sick and she wasn't dehydrated so I figured she'd eat when she got hungry enough. During this time though she was trying to eat any dog food that dropped on the floor (and Zoot didn't get to first) or that Tim left unfinished. Once again, I thought this was a dominance issue. On Wednesday she still hadn't eaten anything and I started to worry. Yesterday I got her some canned food. I put it in her bowl and put her bowl in Tim's bowl. We were thinking maybe she didn't like her bowls anymore. Or maybe she didn't like her food anymore. So we took the dogs out to the hay field for about half an hour. We came back and KC had eaten half the food! So, it wasn't the bowl but it could still be the food. I was just glad she had eaten something. This morning when I fed the dogs she started meowing. I heated up her left over canned food and she went crazy. I went and put it in her room. She didn't go eat. I picked her up and put her in front of it. She turned around and walked away. I put her food on the kitchen table and put her up there. She ate it. So, ok. She doesn't want to eat in her room, whatever. But she's not eating on the table all the time. So to test my theory I put her regular dry food and her water on top of the washer. When I got home from work she had eaten all the food. When I fed the dogs tonight, I fed her also. She jumped up on the washer and started eating. What a freak!! She's SO picky!

Behavior

When you have persistent behavior issues but are still expected for the education of 24 students to be your focus, how do you serve either set of kids.

The current method of behavior modifications in schools (in-school-suspension, out-of-school-suspension, expulsion, and assignment to the campus for kids with persistent behavior problems) doesn't do much good.

ISS-don't get help with work, sit and do nothing, get on the computer and play
OSS- most kids get a vacation because parents are at work
Expulsion- vacation
Rebound(reassignment campus)- on computer and no help with work

I feel like I've failed a few of my students.

Dominant Cat

For a while KC has been showing some behaviors that suggested she is dominant over Zoot. She's been drinking out of the dogs' water bowl, sleeping where Zoot sleeps, playing a little with a couple of their toys, and laying on Zoot's bed. Well, today I looked over and saw KC scratching at Zoot's bed. I didn't think anything of it. I looked away, then looked back. She appeared to be squatting in the pooping position. I asked Steven if she was going to the bathroom on Zoot's bed. Sure enough, we watched her poop on Zoot's bed. Weird cat.

Stomach problems

So I went to the doctor for my stomach problems about a month ago. She gave me a glucometer to use. She said to take my blood sugar any time I felt symptoms of hypoglycemia. After three weeks it was obvious that my stomach problems are not hypoglycemia. I would feel horrible and my blood sugar would be in the 80's or 90's. Hypoglycemia is considered to by below 70. I went back to the doctor yesterday and they're checking for H. pylori. It is a bacteria that can live in the stomach for years. It can live there forever if not treated. This bacteria is what causes ulcers. So, if this bacteria is what's been causing my stomach problems all this time that's good news, because it can be cured! Oh, this bacteria was discovered in the mid 1800's, linked to gastric disorders in 1899, proven to cause ulcers in 1981, and accepted by the medical community in 1994. Very interesting.

Moving and pet news

Well, we slept at our new place last night. We have most of our stuff moved in. All the big stuff and all the stuff that had been boxed up. We still have a few things that will require a van or a truck, and then the dreaded miscellaneous stuff. That's the worst. But on the plus side, at our new place we've had the windows open for the past 4 days. We slept with the windows open last night. KC came to the house with us last night. The dogs were at Frandy Oaks and the ferrets are still at the other house. We wanted to give KC a chance to explore before the others were there. I woke up in the middle of the night to very loud meowing. She was just walking around the house meowing. She might have just been happy to have the cone off of her head. I took her and Tuck (male ferret) to the vet yesterday. KC has a scab on the side of her face that's not healing, so the doctor gave her a cone so she couldn't scratch her face. I have never seen her sulk for so long and I've never gotten the evil eye from an animal before. Tuck went in because he had a bump on the tip of his tail. I thought it was an abysses. It's been there for about a month but it started getting bigger at the beginning of the week. Turns out it was a tumor. The doctor did a quick surgery and he seems to be fine. He never did act like he felt bad, which is good.

I took a picture of KC but it may be a few days before I get around to posting it.

That's all for now.

Oh, big thanks to our friends Jessica and Paul for all their help. Jessica painted an fed us and Paul moved large heavy objects, picked me up from the u-haul place, and helped Steven get the washer and dryer hooked up.

New Place to Live

Ok, this may be a bit impersonal, but I'm already tired of talking about buying a house. I figured the most people could find out this way. We did not get the house over by Daniel and Fanny. The lender had requested a closing date of the 6th. On Wednesday they were asking for more information so we weren't closing. Then on Thursday they were asking for more financial information. They still hadn't order the survey and they were having questions about the title and the appraisal. So we decided that we're through. Our realtor has been awesome though. He did more that I ever expected. I would recommend him to anyone. We definitely use him when we try again.

Friday I called around to a few places for rent that hubby had found. We went out to look at one and put down the deposit on Friday. We're going to be moved in by the time spring break is over. It is a double wide mobile home that is about twice the size of where we live now. The change in our rent is exactly the amount we had been paying for VA each month, but now don't have to. It is out in Reedville, behind the house I worked at when I worked with adults with brain injuries. All our animals are welcome and the lady seems really nice. I'm actually not disappointed about the house since we're getting to move. There are pictures of the house of Flickr. Oh, and now we can actually have people over!

Thursday

1. Buddy rooms at school.
2. Railroad BBQ allowing a group to watch the Democratic debate.
3. Steven being happy that he got to watch the debate.
4. I took tomorrow off.
5. I might be able to get some tattoo after St. Patrick's Day.

The last week

Well, I haven't posted, but not because there haven't been positive things happening. I haven't posted just because.

Today-Wednesday
1. House news. That's all I'm going to say for now. Don't want the Fates to hear :)
2. Steven was very supportive when I cried before school this morning.
3. Organic ice cream.
4. I've taken a personal day on Friday.
5. Supportive assistant principal

Last night I woke up to Zoot standing over me. Not unusual. That's her way of waking me up when she needs to go to the bathroom at 1:30 am. But I heard a lot of barking outside. I could tell that it was our neighbor's (D) beagle. Again, not too unusual. I put Zoot on the leash and cracked the door open. I didn't want the dogs running after deer, rabbit, opossum, skunk, etc. Well, I saw Jersey, the mom beagle, in the middle of the street. I shoved my dogs back inside and went to get Jersey. I heard D say, 'There she is.' I let Jersey sniff me and then walked her back over to her house. As I was walking with her I saw 10 puppies explode out of the kennel. It was a funny sight because all of a sudden all the puppies were out and wandering around the porch and under the porch. I helped D round everybody back into the kennel. I stood in the kennel and held puppies and mom at bay while D shoved puppies back in the kennel. She was very grateful. It made me feel good to help her out. About a month ago our other neighbor (P) helped out with Tim for a week. We tried to give her some BBQ gift certificates but she wouldn't take them. She just said she knew we would help her if she needed it (she has two Pomeranians). Even though it wasn't helping her, I felt like I was paying back P's kindness by helping D with the beagles.

Wednesday

1. Some of the parents we needed to conference with actually showed up.
2. I got some IEP goals written.
3. I like all three of my co-teachers and can't imagine a better team.
4. Mom went back to work and is doing well.
5. I'm going bead shopping on Saturday.

Tuesday

1. Tim doesn't pee on our bed or on us.
2. We had yummy pizza at Valentino's. Pepperoni, green olive, mushroom, and spinach on whole wheat.
3. We split the class in language arts today. One group in the regular room, and one group in the science room (the science teacher had her conference). It went really well.
4. KC doesn't pee on us or on our bed.
5. We have a washer and dryer that we can just take freshly peed-on laundry to. We don't have to go to the laundry mat.
6. The ferrets don't have the opportunity to pee on our bed.

Monday

1. The workshop I went to wasn't a total waste of time.
2. I paid my library fine so I won't get charged with a misdemeanor.
3. We gave our bank statement to the realtor to fax to the lender.
4. Even though I took a couple of wrong turns, I made it home without having to call Steven for directions.
5. I love Steven, even when he's sick and grumpy.

Sunday

1. I got to sleep in and the doggies snuggled with me.
2. Steven made BBQ chicken.
3. I got my school work done.
4. I know where I'm going for my workshop tomorrow. And I didn't have to call anyone.
5. We got some cleaning done around the house.

Saturday

1. I got to sleep in.
2. I got my grades in.
3. We got to go to the Kaisers and play Settlers of Catan.
4. We got to hang out with the McMains.
5. Zoot actually got tired out after obedience class, some errands, playing with Will's (the McMains tenant) dog, another errand, and then in the kennel while we were at the Kaisers. It only took several hours of activity!

I'm Back

I am alive. I just haven't wanted or needed to post in a very long time. but this week Lent started and I have a few new goals. So, I'll be posting most everyday some positive things that happened that day. It's been a very stressful year and it's easy to start focusing on all the stressful/negative stuff.

Thursday: I honestly can't remember right now. But I did think of 5 positives at the end of the day.
Friday:
1. Student I finally being moved to resource. This is the best placement for him.
2. Student C did a lot of work without much prodding.
3. Most of my class had a great week and one of the teacher/mentors let us use their room for a spontaneous surprise/reward for the kids. They got to play guitar hero instead of having Social Studies. (Since I spend at least 8 hours a day at school, a lot of these are going to be school related.)
4. We got some promising news on the house. I don't want to say anything else because the Fates might hear. :) It's hard to not be excited.
5. Steven is a wonderful husband. My blood sugar has been very weird since I was sick a couple of weekends ago. He went to the store and bought some high protein food for me last night at about 10pm. He also puts up with how cranky I get.

Well, that's it for now. I need to go to school to put in grades because I'll be at a workshop on Monday.

Oh, also I'm posting pictures to Flickr again. Sean McMains started A Photo A Day for the month of February and Stephanie and I are joining him. Go look.

Iced in...still

Well, school has been canceled for tomorrow also. We took Tim for a walk today while it was sleeting/raining. He loved it. He was running around in the yard when we got back and didn't want to come in. He's made for the cold weather. The only thing that sucks about this cold weather is that we'll have to make tomorrow up on a Saturday. Oh, it's also cold enough in our living room that you can see your breath. WWWEEEE, it's an adventure. It's really not too bad, our room is warm and all 3 animals slept with us last night so it was toasty.

Iced in

School was canceled today. They actually canceled it last night which tells you how bad the weather is. Yesterday the kids were off for MLK day, but the teachers had a workday. Unfortunately it was not canceled. But I got a call last night that school was called off for today. It is 11:18 am right now. It is 31 degrees (feels like 19) and there is still a light sleet falling. The sleet started at around 10:30 last night and hasn't really stopped for any significant amount of time. Yesterday afternoon when I got home around 3, the water on the steps (it was raining all weekend) had already frozen. It's not supposed to get warm enough today or tomorrow to melt the ice, so we might have another day off. It's cool, but we have to make the days up later. We've been taking Tim for walks in the freezing weather, but if the streets are still icy we may not be able to. Well, that's all for now.

New Teacher Orientation

It sounds like more than it was. It was just watching a video about blood borne pathogens (which I've now seen about 5 times) and filling out insurance paperwork. After that I went to have lunch with Steven and the secretary from Hernandez had called. I needed to go by the school and try on a shirt to give her my size. The shirts are for convocation. I asked the principal a few questions but she had to go back to a training. She called the head spec ed teacher from the campus and asked if she could stop by and talk to me for a few minutes. We talked for about an hour and a half. I will be teaching 5th graders. I'll have about 12 or so and I'll go with them from language arts, to math, and science. I'll have a few other students that I go help as needed while my kids are at their specials (pe, computer, etc). I won't have to do lesson plans or keep a gradebook. And they have a spec ed clerk who fills in the ARD and IEP paperwork. So pretty much what I'll be doing is teaching without a lot of the other stuff. S (the head spec ed teacher) said that she thought inclusion was a great position because there's so little of the outside stuff to keep up with. Just progress reports, some paperwork, and then teaching. I'm pretty nervous but I'm excited also. S said that the teachers I'm working with are great and will treat me like a co-teacher (which is what I am) not like an aide. And they have experience with co-teaching, so that makes me feel better.

Today Steven and I went and got our marriage license. It really wasn't exciting. I can only imagine how I seemed to other people when I worked at the county clerk's office. She probably does dozens a week and has that not-quite-polite voice of repeating the same questions over and over: "Are you related to the bride/groom? Are you deliquent on child support? Are you currently married?" But it's exciting to have that piece of paper ready for next Saturday.

Job

As in, I have a job!! WOOHOO!! I got the call last week from the principal at Hernandez Intermediate offering me a position. Yesterday I got a call saying that my recommendation to the superintendent had been approved. Tomorrow I go to new teacher orientation. I'll be co-teaching in a class with a high percentage of kids with special needs. Right now I'm not even sure if I'll be teaching 5th or 6th, but it doesn't really matter. I'm really looking forward to it.

wedding progress

Steven and I went to HEB to order our cake last week. We were trying to explain to the lady in the bakery how we wanted the icing decoration but she wanted us to bring in a picture in case she's not the one who makes the cake. So Kathy and I decided to make a cake and try our hand at decorating. At Photobucket you can see the interesting results. We're not going to make or decorate our own cake. I also decided to make my own earrings for the wedding. I got the beads out of a magazine and made the earrings last night. There are pictures of them on Flickr. Check them out.