Little Bits of time Add up to Relationship

Posted on Friday, 28 January 2011 by MrsDOF

It looked like an easy job on SubFinder, a Friday morning in a junior high class Special Needs- Autism. I’ve worked in that room before, and even know several of the students from previous grades, and buildings.

Now, I would be the first to say that I am not an expert teacher. I haven’t bothered to get more college credits, other than those I needed to pass the test to become a Certified Paraprofessional in Education.
And this is the fifth year I am a TA Substitute in our school system, meaning I give my best efforts according to the schedule for a few hours, or just a day at any one classroom.

Also, I have pretty good instincts with youngsters. I have experience because I birthed and raised 3 sons who turned out pretty darn good. And they had a parade of friends I helped along the way.

I get along just fine with the Resource teacher in the room. She has told me she likes seeing my name on the Sub chart. However, other TAs in the room are not quite so understanding of how I like to run the Reading Group, or letting me decide if the student response gets a sticker or not. The kids have issues, yes, but they usually adapt to me.
Besides, I like to use the excuse that I am not there all the time, so they can see that a slightly different method can still get the desired results.

Which goes in to what happened. Last time I was in the room, I was doing a Science lesson with a kid at one end of an 8′ table, with a different TA working with a different kid at the other end of the table.

I looked over the Word List, pointing and pronouncing each word, and saying the definition of each word.
The other TA kept interrupting, telling me that the student could read the words and fill in the blanks on his own.
About the third time she spoke, I looked her way with the dead stare, which she obeyed and said no more.

I got to a word on the list that I was not sure what it might mean, so I said so, and pointed to the paragraph, and said “I’ll bet the story will tell us the definition”. At the tsk-ing tongue sound from the other end of the table, I added “it will say what that word means”.

My Sub Notes told me to allow the student to read the paragraph aloud, with as few verbal prompts as possible. He did so, carefully pronouncing each new word from the List. When he got to the word we had questioned, there was the context to tell us the meaning. He put his finger on that word, looked at me right in the face, and said “Yeah!”

He then went on to read the rest of the story, and quickly write in all the blanks on the seatwork sheet.

Speed forward to today. Different position as TA Sub, different students in the reading group, although I was not the ‘leader’ since there is a college student intern. The kid from last time came over to the table where I was helping. He wanted to be with me. Other TAs did not understand why he was not going to his own table, and were on the verge of punishment for disobeying.

It was soon after that when the regular TA came in, saying her son’s appointment was prompt, so she was able to come in earlier than expected. I would be free to leave.
When the kid saw me gathering my bag and coat, that the regular TA was there, he settled back into routine.

That might be why a Sub is supposed to keep things very ordinary, and in the same order. A little part of me likes being a “special” person, but those adults who are in the room every day have to be on alert. Any little change can bring on great drama.

I’m gonna say that I do love my job! but I’m kinda glad that today was a short hours day.

Not sure how I will fill the afternoon, but I don’t want to leave the house.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

Posted in School | 1 Comment

Just Me and the Cat and the Music

Posted on Thursday, 27 January 2011 by MrsDOF

This Thursday morning has gray clouds outside

but inside my time been filled
with crochet on a little tote bag,
Bette Midler and Trisha Yearwood CDs on Replay,

and a somewhat needy old cat wanting me to squirt water into his mouth.

Now I’m going to get ready to go to my Needlework Group
and maybe do more listening than talking.
While there, I’ll be working on a shaded blues bookmark for a New Member at church.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

Posted in Crochet | 1 Comment

YOU watch where yer goin’ !!!

Posted on Monday, 24 January 2011 by MrsDOF

So was waiting and waiting on the corner by the school, wanting to cross College Avenue. Very busy that time of day, what with college and junior high traffic.
Finally, to my left was no traffic other than a red truck aways off, so I stepped off the curb and started walking, head bent against the wind.

Then a horn — red truck right next to me, I could have touched the headlight in front of the driver.

I looked up with a glare on my face. He seemed surprised I was there, which means he was traveling too fast in a school zone, and was not watching the road in front of him.

I kept walking, since there was no traffic in the other lane, and shouted that a Pedestrian has the right of way!!!
as I reached the far curb, I turned back to see the truck move along, and a young man jogging across the street, jumping onto the curb beside me. A blue car passed in that lane just then.

Both the kid and I were shaking with a touch of fear, and a lot of indignation. Both vehicles were moving much faster than School Zone regulations, and there is a brightly painted and often busy crosswalk right there.

Doesn’t do us any good if heads are cracked open like an acorn on pavement.

~~Diane (no love for stupid drivers)

Posted in School | 1 Comment

College Student? Not Me, Not Now

Posted on Friday, 21 January 2011 by MrsDOF

Recently, my husband linked this post: Academically Adrift in his Google Shared items.
I read it with great recognition, in that it talks about how college is supposed to develop critical thinking skills, to be academically challenging.

I went to a school of nursing right out of high school, and noticed within days of being there that I was not willing to work as hard as was expected.
I was away from home for the first time, my roomie was very often at her desk being the studying type, whilst I was across the hall chattering and getting to know the neighbors. Deciding who to sit with during meals in the cafeteria meant much more to me than getting five pages read in the next chapter of the Psychology book.

Also, my mother had her last baby the first week that I was in college. Our family was thrilled with the new arrival, but with ME as oldest daughter away, well too many changes resulted in much drama. My mom and my sisters were having an uproar across a screaming baby, dad was escaping to overtime at his job.

My dorm had a pay phone at the end of the hall. Three times in a day I was summoned to it, being asked to be mediator of bickering. Blessed are the Peacemakers, but I had never thought of myself in that role before.

I managed to make it through classes and clinical observations of the first semester, but was notified that my grades were not in the upper percentile, so I would be on Probation when returning after Winter Break.

That should have been a warning sign, but I really wanted to be a nurse, and so I went back to live in a dorm and be miserable in several of my classes.
By Spring mid-term, I knew it was over. The nursing instructor who gave me the news that I had flunked out was rather mean about it,
saying I was not devoted enough, “Miss S, you will never be a high quality nurse”.
If I hadn’t been dragged to Sunday school for all my life, getting lessons about gentle spirits, I would have reached across the desk and slapped the smirk from her face.

My roomie said she was not surprised, I had so many other things I was interested in. We remained friends and in contact for years in spite of that little jibe.

So I went home, doing household stuff I’d been doing since I was 12.

A few weeks went by, someone said that a new restaurant was opening and where to apply to work there. I went in, was hired as a waitress, trained in a class for the opening crew. Carrying a tray was so much easier than slogging thru page after page of terms.
And I had a job I was good at, chattering to earn a better tip, going home with coins jingling in my pocket.
I filled a mason jar with tips that first week, then sat down to roll them to take them to the bank where I had opened an account.

Echoing in my ear was that nursing instructor’s words
“Miss S, you will never be a high quality nurse”.

So I applied to the community college nursing program. I’d heard there was a waiting list, but I was willing. After all, I had a job, was helping with groceries.
But I got accepted into the Fall class. The manager of the restaurant was disappointed when I turned in my notice, so I agreed to work weekends awhile. My mother was not happy that I wasn’t helping get the baby ready going to church, but Sundays was the best tips day after all.

The community college program was only 14 months, for Licensed Practical Nurse, with the curriculum not quite so rigorous as my previous Registered Nurse program. I could live at home, was encouraged to car pool with others due to a small parking lot, which really helped with making friends.

I did graduate from there. and here’s an SPN story

What started all today’s thinking was reading that article at the link about college expectations. I live in a town with a big state university. My spouse, and many of my friends and neighbors have jobs there.
I might maybe someday decide that I would want to take a class towards a Bachelor’s degree. Maybe. After all, I do have my AA degree

But I don’t think of myself as a brainiac college student, in need of critical thinking upgrades.

I am a Do-er person. Last summer, on 6 days notice, I was chief in the church kitchen for a funeral dinner that served almost 100 people and earned a standing ovation from those who ate the meal.

Awhile ago, the phone rang from SubFinder, with a request for me to work a day next week as Teaching Assistant Substitute in the Autism classroom (that is not its official name) at a junior high school. I am the most trusted Sub for that room, since I get along just fine with the students and their little quirks.

I’m crocheting a doll blanket for the children’s table at a church fundraiser next month. I happen to know that several kids got new dolls for Christmas, so a new blanket (and a few other of my handmade treasures) might be nice to spend their allowance on.

I can sit here in my comfortable position because I was blessed enough to marry a man who grabs on to critical thinking, whose being able to stay a step ahead of need has squelched many a crisis.
He’s paid well for his ability.

Which is good, because the animal clinic got Dollar$ Many these last 10 days.
Oscar is holding his own, yet wants to be cuddled some more.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

Posted in Family, School | 2 Comments

In the Bleak Mid-Winter

Posted on Wednesday, 19 January 2011 by MrsDOF

Yesterday came and went without me saying anything special about the date… 18 January.

That date in the year 1989, my own dad died.
Middle Son Lucas was in Kindergarten.

That date in the year 1991, my husband’s dad died.
Youngest Son Christopher was in Kindergarten.

That date in this year 2011, Maria Shriver’s dad died.
Her family is no longer in the governor’s mansion of California.

Is it any wonder that I try to not call attention to a number on a calendar?

Anyway, today is a new day. Much as I hope to see it, I’m waiting for the best is yet to come, cuz this morning has been a downer. When I went out to fetch the paper from the front walk, I could tell you about cold and dreary.

Husband forgot his lunch, so I volunteered to carry it in for him. I gotta clear off the car of all the ice and snow for an errand, so another stop is okay, especially since University Street is open after all the construction.

SubFinder says No Jobs Available, so I decided this is a fine time to haul Oscar back to the critter clinic to see if the antibiotics are doing any good. He complains alot when I pick him up, he’s off his food. A kidney infection means drastic body problems for an old cat.

I’m supposed to be keeping track of what I eat to help with weight loss. My support group has been sending out messages of their own, but I have yet to get to work on mine. My main trouble is not moving enough.

Also, getting my mind to work. It seems I’ve lived in a fog for years, starting with dads dying, and oldest son leaving/ not speaking, and job loss. Sometimes I am not my own buddy, and a long gray winter day isn’t nice.

Well, anyway, I gotta get out of my robe and get ready for a day that is rapidly filling up with things to be taken care of. Keeping busy is my usual way to cope.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on In the Bleak Mid-Winter

Not Much, just as well

Posted on Tuesday, 18 January 2011 by MrsDOF

Today I learned that a guy who was in our wedding party is going to be a “Pappy”. That seems odd to me, I’ve known him since our church camp days, which means more than 40 years. He’s old enough, just a few months younger than I am, and I remember holding his firstborn son when my own was just a toddler. And his kid got married a couple years back, so I guess it’s time to begin his family.
Still… him… a grandparent. Time keeps moving on.

The weather is dismal and getting colder and darker. We’re expecting snow flurry and a major drop in temperature this evening.

Therefore, I took advantage of having an open day to run some errands before any sort of Alert happens.
I mailed off the envelopes containing bill payments, got a haircut at the beauty college on 50% off day (my charge was $4) carried the recycle baskets to the town bins, bought a roasted chicken to make a casserole for supper.

I talked myself out of stopping at a craft store. Over Christmas break, I re-organized a couple shelves and bins in my hobby room, and found some nice stuff waiting, with a couple Unfinished Projects I should work on before starting new stuff.
Here at home, I found the coupons waiting beside the keyboard. Good thing I did not try to buy anything!

The reason I sat down at my desk here and now was to shred a bunch of junk forms which arrived unwanted in the mailbox. I know somebody gets paid to stuff the envelopes, and a government employee is paid to drop ’em thru the slot, but I think they are way too much trouble for me.

So, my sidetracked is done, and I gotta go. JEOPARDY! is happening in a little while, and I gotta get my cuppa hot chocolate ready for when Oscar and I settle in on the couch.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

Posted in Personal | 3 Comments

an Ordinary? Thursday… not yet

Posted on Thursday, 13 January 2011 by MrsDOF

Today is Thursday, which I call my day off from a job. There was a time when I was doing childcare for a Moms Bible Study group in the mornings, but their younguns got old enough for pre-school classes, and they decided to join a different gathering.
Then I signed up for volunteer reading to an early learning class, but no one ever told me where to get a proper background check, so despite my best efforts for communication, that got dropped.
For a few months now, my Thursday mornings are free, so I putter around the house, or maybe do an errand. I’m not really wanting to go out into 3°F weather just to goof around, so here I sit, still in my robe, waiting for the dishwasher to finish a cycle, then I’ll go have a nice shower.

This afternoon is my Needlework Group, and I’m thinking of what I want to work on during my time there. With hook in hand on my crocheted lap robe, I like to have my feet up on the hassock, and besides, it is getting too big to stuff into a tote bag.

I’ve got a split in the pad of my thumb (caused by that dang sanitizer soap at school), which hinders the looping of yarn on the pegs of the loom to knit a hat.

Crocheting a bookmark requires much counting of tiny stitches, so if concentration is broken while I’m chatting with a friend… well, the purpose of Yarn Group is being with a buddy, so bookmark is out.

I’m down to potholder or tote bag. Naw, a tote bag’s craft yarn is rough, and the aforementioned sore thumb would protest some more.

Just talked myself into crocheting a cotton potholder or two. Might even have one started in a bag to help me along.

Oscar the cat is on antibiotics for a kidney infection. He did not eat breakfast, even trying 3 different food brands and/or flavors under his nose. I’ve been pestering him every half hour or so, using a syringe for squirting water or broth into his mouth. We have to keep his fluids high. And we had awhile in the rocking chair with me singing lullabys to him.
Looks to be time I should go look in on him again. He’s curled up on an old pair of Chris’s pants beside the furnace vent in the back room. His go-to place when he’s not feeling so good.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

Posted in Family | 2 Comments

Monday is moving along too fast

Posted on Monday, 10 January 2011 by MrsDOF

Home awhile ago from having Oscar to the critter doctor. The crazy cat has been begging for food every couple hours, and wanting warm water on it to make a broth. So into the crate he went,  with loud protests from both of us, very much against his will.

Doc got a couple glass tubes of blood to send to an outside lab. He first suspects thyroid, but not too far along yet. the cat’s weight and skin and eyes look good. Maybe later we will think about diabetes, which is what took his sister.

At home in the driveway, I opened the little door of the crate, and the cat jumped out very fast, and it was several minutes in the cold outdoors before he pawed the window wanting to come inside.

I’m sitting here eating apple chunks with my bamboo toast tongs. Helps keep my fingers clean enough to type. I also use the tool while working with yarn, for the same reason.
I’ve been looking for a couple weeks, trying to remember where I bought these, so I can buy some more, and not have to keep washing these = not in the dishwasher.
Amazon and Google adverts are giving me all kinds of suggestions, based on my viewing history, of course.

My viewing history caused me to spend a bit of money last week. I was looking up movies starring Leslie Nielsen, so one came up Men with Brooms which I had never heard of. Of course, it is a top money-making film in Canada.
I ordered the dvd, and watched it the day after I got it. Same plot as others before it, guys bonding over a game (curling for this one) troubles with women, old guy wisdom (where Leslie Nielsen fits in) Love this movie, and will keep it for later views.

Its ordering page led me to read about a Boxed Set of a tv series in Canada starring Paul Gross, Slings and Arrows Great customer reviews, an extreme price discount after the holidays, so now I own some fine entertainment. All those evenings of ball game or reality fake shows can be ignored all over again.

Meanwhile, I am crocheting a lap robe of a gray and white twist yarn, with prolly a gray border. While I was on Break, I organized 3 shelfs of my hobby room. I found a bag with this yarn in it, with receipt dated 2007. The yarn was on sale at the time, and I surely musta had some reason to make the purchase, which did not get hooked back then.

The dryer is buzzing. Son’s perma-press load, so I should go rescue quickly. He says no ironing needed, but I cannot agree with settled in wrinkles.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

Posted in Reviews | 3 Comments

Overcoming a Dry Spell

Posted on Monday, 10 January 2011 by MrsDOF

A New Year has begun, and with it some silly resolutions which should be happening right along rather than paying attention to the date of the calendar. At least my refrigerator might appreciate good intentions.

I worked as a TA Sub for 2 full days already this semester, and booked some next week by request. They like me, they really do!!

It seems that I am liked in these parts also. My writing is missed by Readers. I cain’t say that I miss doing the work of the typing. This here Word Press place has so many symbols that don’t say anything, almost like hierglyphics.
but sometimes a gal just gotta step up to meet expectations.

My mind and soul have been in a real dry, low place for several weeks. My kitty girl cat passed away, our oldest son is still so far away from us, middle son says he doesn’t want to be traveling over holidays, I don’t want to be traveling during awful weather, my mother is in chemo treatments, and I’m being told by my spouse that Facebook is a sell-out for serious communication even if it is so much easier to understand and then update the status and photo albums. He’s a very good husband, but I don’t take well to him as a tutor.

So, let’s get into the official blog entry.
I’ve told this story to a few folks in the last few days, but if I write in for the blog, it goes to Archives and might be read over again another day.

On Christmas Day, youngest son Christopher, came over for the traditional freedom toast with real maple syrup, and sausage. After we opened gifts from near and far, and watched Oscar playing in the wrapping paper, then Chris got up from his chair, walked over to his guitar case, and took out my favorite one of his. It seems to have a deeper voice than others, plus the way it came to be in his possession makes for some connections to other persons.

Anyway, he goes back to his chair with guitar in hand, sits down on a bit of paper, some is also hanging on the arm of chair, tunes the strings, plucks a bit, and begins to play.

I recognize the tune of O Holy Night, which is one of my favorite songs of all time, let alone in my own living room on Christmas morning played by my youngest son whose guitar lessons were paid for by my wages whilst I was changing stinky diapers in a daycare center.

By the time he went thru a few times, murmuring the words every now and then, I was a weeping pile of sentimental motherhood, right there in my bathrobe on the couch.
Husband has pictures of it all, but I’m not sure where they are stored now.

So, that was a great time for Christmas.
the day after Christmas, I started working on a knit hat on a special peg loom. Tiny stitches with dark colors in the yarn. I had to set up on a folding tray right next to the window to be able to see for proper wrapping the loops.
I kept a little paper nearby the tray, writing minutes on it, which added up to 18 actual hours of looping to knit a hat of 3-ply yarn. I wanted to finish that one project before moving to any other task. It’s lovely, even if it doesn’t match my coat, but I’ll not do another. I had borrowed the loom to see if I might want to make a purchase. Nope.

Still on my list is the Family Newsletter and Picture Pages, address and stuffing the envelopes. Relatives without computers for e-mail and Facebook are laying on even more guilt than blog readers.
We really do have a failure to communicate.

I was glad to be able to get back in a classroom. First day was in a Pre-K room, with a teacher who is so organized and helpful, and her students know the rules. We had such a fine day.
During the course of the activities, there’s awhile of “Free Play” time, when students can move about from one center to another, chat as friends. I was sitting quietly on the sidelines, available should a need arise.

One boy with dark hair and brown eyes, and the longest eyelashes, pulled his chair over close to me, and quite earnestly asked “Mrs. Wiman, what was your most Favorite Christmas gift?” I stared at him for several seconds.
How could a kid not quite 5 years old be so seriously interested in asking a grown-up that question?
Most children are all full of stories of their own gifts, and one-upping what the others talk about. It was happening in other groups around the room.

And the word choice:
Christmas Gift? not thing, not present, nothing about Santa

And so I told him about my son and his guitar and my favorite song, and how that memory of real music, not a cd, is the sweetest gift I remember from this recent holiday.

Well, by the time I finished my little story, I realized that several other children had stopped playing, and come closer to listen. Even the other teacher was quiet.
then one little girl talked about being in the angel choir at church, and a boy said there was a guy with a horn when he was in a store

The first boy, the one who asked the question, was sitting there looking quite pleased with being the one who started it all. He did not mention his own favorite gift. I figure his future will have him being a guidance counselor in a junior high.

Now I have many good memories, interacting with young folks.

My tale is done. the hour is late. My bed is calling.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

Posted in Family, Thinking | 4 Comments

A New Book for Me

Posted on Saturday, 27 November 2010 by MrsDOF

I bought a book from a bookstore with its inventory online
and it turned out to be withdrawn from a public library
Why the library itself did not sell it is quite a question, but I got a bargain even with shipping
so who am I to wonder?

Anyway, Husband gives a nice explanation about our time in the breakfast nook Decrepit Old Fool . He loves a good reason to pull out his folding knife.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

Posted in Partner | 5 Comments