Throw me a  bone

It is the midway through summer point

What have I done??? hmmmm--not a whole lot!

I've done a lot of physical therapy--almost 2 hours a day and that's about it.

My knee is coming along according to my therapist--according to me it's not coming along fast enough--ohhhh nooo.

I told the doctor it wasn't very good--he disagreed--he said I need to have patience--my mother told him I was miss impatience--he said he knew that and loved me anyways.

I haven't been up to a whole lot.

I go to therapy and that's about it.

I read and I do crossword puzzles.

I watch tv.

I play with the cat.

I sleep

I do my exercises.

I can take a shower now--that's a plus!!!!

I can walk a block or two.

I've been to target.

I can hardly wait for school supplies to come on sale.

Sigh!

nyuknyukpik2 at 3:10:50 PM PDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Ok--so I had my knee surgery on 6/11.  There was supposed to be 2 holes--minor surgery--ummm--not really.

I have 9 holes in my leg now--he did more sewing on me than he's ever done on anyone else.

I have a brace that goes from my ankle to the top of my thigh--it has steel bars on the sides-not very comfortable--I've had to cut legs off my pants to get them on.

I carry a towel around with me and if I need to move my leg up or down I wrap the towel around it and pull it--it's quite silly.  This brace is better than the one post-op--that one was neoprene and so awkward I needed someone to pick my leg up for me--I had to wake my parents up and night to help me.

I start therapy tomorrow.

I'll keep y'all posted!!

Hope you all are enjoying your summer.

 

nyuknyukpik2 at 3:35:50 PM PDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

One more day and then it is summer.  It is not even a full day.  I have to get through one more hour today and grade 1 set of finals.

Then I am done--done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yippeeeee!

It's been a  dramatic week.

4 seniors earned Fs in my class--not even high Fs that I could manipulate into Ds--less than 57% Fs. They are not graduating on time.  What a shame.  One texted his mother that he felt like killing himself.  She came up to school crying.  I told her the grade stood--but we'd get the kid into the crisis counselor to deal with him emotional state.  She tried to tell me how hard the kids life is.  I'm sorry the kids life is hard--but grades are a number--they are not adjusted for trauma.  All of my students have a story to tell and if I changed grades on account of them--a whole lot of kids would be getting grades they didn't earn.  I told her that if she was sooo concerned--she should have come after the first progress report or after the second one--but that now was too late!

That was on Monday.  On Tuesday I got an e-mail from a parent telling me I didn't know how to grade. Wasn't that charming???  I e-mailed her back with why it was graded the way it was and she backed down.  Why oh why do parents do this??????  I mean I understand having a question--but she straight out told me I graded his paper incorrectly.  Sigh. IF she would have asked before jumping all over me--she would have realized a very important fact---without the paper her kid had a 77.4--which rounds to a 77--with the paper he had a 76.9 which rounds to a 77--therefore the paper wasn't what was keeping her son from getting a good grade in my class.  I sent home a copy of the kid's progress report for his momma to see.  Sigh!

I had one crying yesterday because she's getting a D+ instead of a C-.  This was a child who was more interested in score keeping for the baseball team than she was for in any of her classes.  I sure hope she got a cute boyfriend from the baseball team--because her grades went down in all of her classes.  If she had spent 1/10th of the amount of time on my class that she spent on the baseball team--she'd have an A.

I need to get out of here and have all of thiis stuff be Gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wanna hear the kicker??? I won a Wii--there was a raffle here at school and I bought tickets thinking what the heck--it was a good cause.  Now--everyone keeps telling me a Wii is fun--but quite frankly I don't like video games. I am giving it to my cousin's husband because he is very very good to my parents.  He comes by every 2-3 weeks to see if they need him to do anything.  He's a nice guy.

I bought end of the year presents for the support staff--they are all thrilled. I gave them sees candy.  Yummy!

nyuknyukpik2 at 9:51:09 AM PDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 3 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Picking a dog is easier than picking a man--the qualities are less and much easier to come by.

For Rex it was:

He has to be brown or black

He has to be part Lab

He has to be house trained

He has to like cats

He has to be able to be hugged

and his name had to be Rex (this one was negotiable because I thought I could change it later--his name oddly enough was Rex)

For Friday:

A girl dog

Preferably a black lab mix

house trained

liked cats

and able to hug  (sometimes she is--sometimes she's not)

When I picked my cat I had a list too:

He had to be a boy

He had to be orange

He had to let me pick him up and not fight me when I did.

Picking animals is much much easier than men.

nyuknyukpik2 at 11:27:40 AM PDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Last week at school the kids and I were talking about my dogs--and how i got the last two.  I told them how I made a list of what I wanted and went and there they were.

So I've decided to make a list of what I want in a man--although there is no SPCA for men--maybe I'll meet him anyways

1.  someone who reads Books--magazines and newspapers aren't enough

2.  someone who has a job/career/profession they are passionate about--one that pays a liveable wage

3.  someone who enjoys baseball--preferably national league

4.  someone who likes kids and kids like him back

5.  somebody's favorite uncle would be great!

6.  someone who is mellow

7.  someone who only drinks one or two drinks a week

8.  someone who loves animals

9.  someone who's always willing to learn something new

10.  someone who can intellectually challenge me

11. someone who will appreciate my kind gestures and return them.

12.  someone who is thoughtful

13.  someone who is compassionate

14.  someone who values family

15.  someone who values old fashioned values

ok--I think I'll stop there for now.

I read in a magazine you should have a list off at least 100 very specific things-but I'm not that nitpicky anymore.

nyuknyukpik2 at 9:59:04 PM PDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Yippee--I found a dress--it only took forever and I need to get it altered.  I also need to figure out a way to hide my tattoo in it--but that's ok.

Now I need a headband--but that's easy.  I am putting curly gunk in my hair for the party and blowing it out--so my hair will be dramatic, my eyes will be dramatic but my lipstick and dress are pretty subdued.

My dress is black and I love it.  I can see wearing it again--but I'm not sure where--not too a wedding because I don't believe in wearing black to weddings.

Right now I'm teaching Hamlet--I love Shakespeare it makes me happy!!!!!!

Next week I start Macbeth with my juniors.  The last few weeks of school are always wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

nyuknyukpik2 at 11:40:18 AM PDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Can someone tell me why the heck it is so hard to find a dress?

I have been in need of 2 special occasion dresses and haven't found any that fit right.

Ok--I know I'm fat--but it shouldn't be that hard!!!!

Last night I finally bit the bullet and ordered 5 different dresses in 3 different sizes from Old Navy because they have free return shipping.

I am hoping one of them will work.

Our principal is retiring and there's a big party.  I need to look decent.

I don't know why--but I do--I'm tired of looking like a slouch.

I HATE DRESS SHOPPING!!!

I recently found out I'm going to prom next year--I seriously need to shut my mouth and lose 25 pounds in a year so that I can wear one of my old dresses.

nyuknyukpik2 at 10:08:12 PM PDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

I am fooling around today.

I should be grading papers--but quite frankly--I'd rather not.

I am doing piddly things--although they are piddly things that need to be done.

I am making grade sheets for upcoming assignments.

I am writing sub plans.

I am thinking about next year and ordering stuff to prepare for that.

I am drinking coffee.

and yes--it's surgery for my knee.

nyuknyukpik2 at 10:30:01 AM PDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

My surgery is scheduled for 6/11 if nothing goes wrong--we have insurance authorization and I have an appointment--but I'm always afraid something will change at the last minute.

I had the choice of the 11th or 13th--but quite frankly I got a wee bit superstitious.

I see the surgeon again on the 5th and get blood work and stuff done there.

What a relief!

nyuknyukpik2 at 9:39:37 PM PDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

My dad seemed to get through to a bunch of my students--at least he made them cry.

He told them all about basic training, cold weather training in Alaska and then brush training in Fort Lewis Washington.

He told them about the ship to Vietnam and what it was like to watch the helicopters rain bullets down on Nam for 3 days before going in.

He told them about being attacked in a convoy and a base he stayed at.

He told them about a little girl who was thrown in front of the truck he was with.

He told them about a little girl strapped with dynamite.

He told them about a man who collected ears with a grenade strapped to his chest because he would never be captured alive.

He told them about pychological warfare.

He told them about tunnels and tunnel rats.

He told them about a guy who met who went crazy and killed 6 Americans at the next base he was moved to--my father tried to befriend him when he was with his unit.

He told them about his friend Johnny who was going to go to Canada--ended up doing basic training at Fort Ord--met a greek officer who needed a driver and ended up staying there because Johnny came from a greek family and could speak greek.

He told them about Tony who never made it home and how he never got to see his best friend becuase Tony went in before he got home.

He told them about how when people ask him if the war was right or wrong--he has to think about who he's talking to.  He could tell them it was wrong and it was a bull shit war--but he couldn't say that to Tony's mom.  He couldn't say that to 55,000 other mothers who already lost their son.  You can't tell someone who lost their son the war was wrong and their son died in vain.

He told them he believed in the draft--because then the country bled equally and people wouldn't be so quick to jump into war.

He told them he loved America, the Vietnamese were good people, and our troops should be supported regardless of how we felt about the war.

When he cried, the boys cried right along with him--this year more boys than girls cried. I can usually expect one or two in each class to cry--but this year it was 6 or 7 in each class.

The boys try to be slick and wipe their tears on their sleeves and pull their baseball caps down low.

The girls just let the tears flow.

Maybe--just maybe they will walk away with something out of this.

If nothing else, they learned a big man with a beard and a mustache, a few tattoos and 3 earrings in his ear, isn't afraid to cry.

nyuknyukpik2 at 9:25:51 PM PDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own