The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[betty rose]

And like I said previously give it a month or so and start googling your old doctors name and type of practice. His/her name will likely start to pop up where he is practicing now and your insurance may allow you to transfer back to that Doc like I did for my Mom, same Doc just a different location. She was happy.

I'll do this. I got the impression he has thrown in the towel. I know the other women in this practice just tolerated him, and the patient's loved him. I think they were jealous and drove him out.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

@StarWarsGirl

My guess is the cost of overhauling a school for A/C vs the price of iPads are worlds apart in price even with as expensive as tech is. If a building was not built for A/C the main boiler room, vents and electrical system must be reworked. We did all this in conjunction with a building soundproofing for airplane noise back in the '80s. The soundproofing was a grant from the Feds but had to be fronted by school district. Long story but it took years to get the money back from the Feds and our loans were almost paid off which the District had a tax referendum to pay for. Even window units generally require a building rewiring to support the electrical drain. Window units also create more of a security risk as windows do not lock down and units can be stolen or pulled to gain access to buildings. So many issues.

Our attorney's put a backdoor in that '80's referendum (kinda tricked the taxpayers legally) and as long as the loans were left open the district could keep loaning extra money. We have used that for major repairs over the decades. We do not have to go back to the taxpayers and go to referendum to loan large sums of money for construction. When we finally received reimbursement from the Feds for the original funds owed for soundproofing which was like 10 million (small district) district put that money into reserves and is never touched, it is a rainy day or disaster fund. But the money in reserves now close to a full year budget affords the district a much lower interest rate for projects and a perfect bond rating. But the district has always been mindful when taking out additional bonds that those funds must be paid back out of the yearly budget so something else will get less funding that year.

Laws require funds received for budget years be spent or basically returned to taxpayers so it isn't like you can 'save up.' Also school budgets and line items cannot be reallocated without a great deal of effort and some items if funded or partially by state or Feds needs to be used only for those line items. So like us if there is a tech grant the district cannot move those funds into a Capital Project like A/C, it is against the law. My feeling is your district must put a tax referendum on the ballot to get permission from the taxpayers for a major Capital Project. It only needs a simple majority to pass however advocates for lower taxes are usually the ones that come out in droves to defeat tax increases. If it is something you genuinely feel strongly about you can address your school board and start the process of requesting your district go to referendum to rehab the school buildings that lack A/C. For us way back then A/C was necessary to soundproof the buildings so the original referendum of the 80's was easier to get the community behind.

I sometimes believe School Boards and administrators get a bad rap for how funds are spent. Not everyone has a good understanding on how a budget is constructed, attends meetings when districts are constructing the line items for budgets or grasps the rules of funding for sources like the State and Feds vs local tax revenue. They just look at a pile of money and don't think through what needs to be spent on students vs buildings and construction or mandates for special education funding along with transportation. It really makes ones head want to implode. And note here anyhow aside from Chicago, boards are an elected position (we can be voted out) and it is a volunteer of time, we do not get paid.

I still think our district has their priorities out of whack.

The fact that there are still unairconditioned schools is one of many problems our county has. We have a very inexperienced superintendant who only has three years of actual classroom experience. As a result, there have been measures set on the teachers that are much too strict. I ran into a former teacher of mine about a year ago, and she told me some of the teachers who I had in high school had left the county out of frustration over the new superintendant and his standards.

Then there's the fact that our high school, which is one of the top in the country, is getting the short end of the stick. No iPads for kids in that school, no renovations, even though they've received state funding for the renovations (so it's not even a budget issue).

The county has let the school fall into such disrepair that it's shameful. You would think we were an inner city school based on the condition of the building, not a top high school that produces grads that mostly go on to college (94% of my graduating class went on to college), with some of their top students going onto Ivy League schools. Yet they're allowing their classes to get overcrowded, most of the building is unairconditioned, the elevators tend not to work, which means that students with mobility issues have trouble getting to their classes. Oh, and it also doesn't get cleaned regularly, so teachers have to clean the rooms themselves. They used to love having me because their rooms got cleaned on a nightly basis instead of just on a weekly basis.

They have a responsibility to provide a safe learning environment for their students, and it irritates and saddens me that they don't think it's a priority.

 

[Gabe1]

The ironic part of all of this was while at BCV, it was too cold in our room most of the time. Everytime Mousekeeping was in our room, they turned the thermostat down to 69. My mom and I get cold at night, so we turned it up to 71. Then Mousekeeping would turn it down, and we'd turn it up, and then my dad would turn it down, and we'd turn it up...

The thermostat wars have no boundaries. Me now into that warmer era of my life I am fine with everyone putting on warmer jammies or using an extra blanket as I lower the thermostat. At Disney the first thing I do is order an extra blanket from housekeeping for my DD.

 

[betty rose]

From the time I stopped growing in middle school until I hit 40 years old I always weighed 98#. The only exception was while I was pregnant and gained 40# for each of them but it peeled off on its own within 6 weeks and my DS was 9# at birth so lots of it was baby. But 40 was a strange era for me, I gained 10# and at the same time I started to see other age related things start to happen like needing reading glasses and the need to wear better shoes with more support etc. Since my weight didn't fluctuate I always remembered what I weighed.

I battle the weight with low thyroid. It's so hard to take it off. And I have another benign tumor on my adrenal glands. I don't if this affects weight.

 

[betty rose]

The thermostat wars have no boundaries. Me now into that warmer era of my life I am fine with everyone putting on warmer jammies or using an extra blanket as I lower the thermostat. At Disney the first thing I do is order an extra blanket from housekeeping for my DD.

I always went from extremely hot, to ice cold, in a matter of 15 minutes. Our thermostat went up and down like a yo yo!

 

[betty rose]

Poor baby.

I agree, it makes my heart hurt too, @Wrangler-Rick. Have you tried an eye dropper of milk, sometimes the little one can't suck on a bottle and gives up. You might try that. Maybe the kitty isn't strong enough.

 

[betty rose]

Energy efficient? my ***, they were to save money on electricity lol.
good thing I went to Coronado during the coldest days, so not need to turn the AC for me ( only did once)

Agree a million percent. Because, we are DVC, they don't change the sheets until after 4 days. We don't make the bed and pull the sheets all the way down to let them dry during the day.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

The thermostat wars have no boundaries. Me now into that warmer era of my life I am fine with everyone putting on warmer jammies or using an extra blanket as I lower the thermostat. At Disney the first thing I do is order an extra blanket from housekeeping for my DD.

I order three extra blankets, sometimes four, at WDW. At home I use my comforter year-round and wear sweats to bed, even in the summer. My brother's and my rooms are on one side of the house, and my parents room is on the other side of the house. Our rooms tend to get cooler than ours do, so to keep their room cool, ours get pretty cold. It doesn't help that I already have a low body temperature. For the heck of it, I decided to take my temperature in the middle of the night one time to see what it was. It was 96.2. I thought to myself, "No wonder I am always cold!"

 

[Songbird76]

They can most certainly get by. It's far more important that they have a healthy environment. There are still several schools without air conditioning. The high school my brother goes to (and I went to) desperately needs renovation. I'm 99% sure that my college, and even the public one where I took Spanish, are both cleaner than the high school ever was. And class sizes are continually increasing. I've had fewer students in my college classes than most of my high school classes.

So glad I'm not in the public school system anymore. I got a very good education there, but I don't understand the logic behind so many of their decisions.

Our school is terrible about some of that stuff...there was a woman who ended up pulling her kids and sending them to another school because her son had severe allergies and he was placed right next to a vent or something and he was constantly sick. So she went to the teacher, who was a first year teacher and apparently high-functioning autistic, so he couldn't really be flexible. She simply asked that her son be moved to a different seat where his allergies wouldn't be triggered (kind of like putting a kid who doesn't see well at the front of the room) and he refused. He didn't understand how that was going to help. So she went to the principal, who backed the teacher, and requested letters from his doctor explaining why he needed a different seat, and what it would do to help him, which she got and then they "reviewed" the information and decided it wasn't necessary. All to switch seats. They obviously didn't give a darn about his health (granted, this was a mother who made problems about EVERYTHING, so maybe they just figured she was being a drama queen) and then one day the kid walked off the school grounds and went home and the teacher didn't even notice. And then they never called to inform her that her kid wasn't in school. She came home to find him sitting on the couch and she waited to see if they would call her to ask where he was, but they never did. So she pulled the other 2 kids and sent all 3 to a different school. But that, plus them not making any accommodations when it was so unbearably hot, and the fact that they don't seem to do ANYTHING about bullying, which is not good for safety at the school...they are terrible when it comes to creating a healthy environment. I sure hope that changes when they move to the new building.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I agree, it makes my heart hurt too, @Wrangler-Rick. Have you tried an eye dropper of milk, sometimes the little one can't suck on a bottle and gives up. You might try that. Maybe the kitty isn't strong enough.

Could work, but the other day I had to give my cat medicine through an eye dropper. More of it ended up on her face than in her system I think.

 

[Songbird76]

It's cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm freezing and shivering in my fleece Minnie jammies this morning! I think I may have done my work out this morning just to warm up! Somebody please send me some heat. Thank you.

Please take ours!!! It's been in the 90s all week! I got sunburned today at a choir performance.

 

[Songbird76]

View attachment 157757 View attachment 157758
Here are the morning feeding pictures. These 2 are doing pretty good. They have very good appetites...

They are sooooo cute! How's the 3rd one doing? Any better?

 

[Songbird76]

So this was made by my mom and I yesterday. They came out good...not as tall and wider than Disney's. And not enough custard in the middle. But the recipes that is on the Food Blog and other places is very lacking in directions and ingredient amounts.

I shared one with DD at Disney and we threw half away...neither of us liked it. The bread part was bitter.

 

[Gabe1]

I still think our district has their priorities out of whack.

The fact that there are still unairconditioned schools is one of many problems our county has. We have a very inexperienced superintendant who only has three years of actual classroom experience. As a result, there have been measures set on the teachers that are much too strict. I ran into a former teacher of mine about a year ago, and she told me some of the teachers who I had in high school had left the county out of frustration over the new superintendant and his standards.

Then there's the fact that our high school, which is one of the top in the country, is getting the short end of the stick. No iPads for kids in that school, no renovations, even though they've received state funding for the renovations (so it's not even a budget issue).

The county has let the school fall into such disrepair that it's shameful. You would think we were an inner city school based on the condition of the building, not a top high school that produces grads that mostly go on to college (94% of my graduating class went on to college), with some of their top students going onto Ivy League schools. Yet they're allowing their classes to get overcrowded, most of the building is unairconditioned, the elevators tend not to work, which means that students with mobility issues have trouble getting to their classes. Oh, and it also doesn't get cleaned regularly, so teachers have to clean the rooms themselves. They used to love having me because their rooms got cleaned on a nightly basis instead of just on a weekly basis.

They have a responsibility to provide a safe learning environment for their students, and it irritates and saddens me that they don't think it's a priority.

I did read some of the info on how the iPads were acquired. That makes a huge difference. We received a very nice donation to our schools to replace very old band instruments. If a school district receives funds from the government for a specific project they have X amount of years to secure the matching funds and grants, hire contractors and commence work. If not the money must be returned to the government. They can't keep it or use for another purpose. I have yet to ever see a rehab construction project that was fully funded either by the Feds or the State. Local yes. If you send me a link to the funds they received that they are not using I can likely find what the rub is. Likely it isn't because the Superintendent doesn't want better facilities. 2 Superintendents ago we had a well educated Business major and had his doctorate in finance. He was not an education major but didn't need to be. The Assistant Super had a handle on the educational end where the Super kept his thoughts into funding and budgeting. Actually when they don't mess up the money in any category there are few issues in schools. It generally takes 4-5 years to change directions in a school system. There are contracts pre-existing with teachers and support staff, existing budgets and bonds already in existence for school districts that any new Superintendent can't change until years pass. They can start to alter spending but it can take a decade to change. Our addition to our building has a 10 year bond, the Superintendent coming in can't just make that go away.

School funding is the same as it has been in my lifetime and longer. Local, State and Fed Funding. The overwhelming rehab of our schools is from local taxpayers. If the locals want it they are forced to pony up for new schools fair or not. Last year we the locals put an addition on our school to ease over crowding in that building. We the locals will pay for that because local public schools are a priority to this community. I look at the property taxes in the next county over from us and they are half of what ours are for local taxes, in return their schools do not receive the attention they need. Choices. Lots of people complain but few are willing to either pay more to support their local public schools or get involved, attend board meeting and speak up or are willing to become board members put in the hard work and make a difference. I've watched many people who have deep commitment to schools start foundations and work tirelessly to raise funds for schools in Northern Illinois. Do the overwhelming majority get involved no. Do they complain yet do nothing yes. I had access to a local Facebook Page that a parent started to incite the parents yet so many untruths are on there spoken like Gospel. In all my years being involved in Public Schools there are very few that are willing to make a difference and commit to education as a priority.

 

[Songbird76]

Time to fix breakfast. Why do we have to eat so many meals? Can you tell, I get tired of cooking. To the women on here, when you get married, make sure the hubby can cook (and likes too!)

Mine does, but he doesn't really have the time to. He commutes to work every day, so he has 8 hours plus a 35 minute commute each way...the cooking mostly falls to me, even though he's better at it.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Our school is terrible about some of that stuff...there was a woman who ended up pulling her kids and sending them to another school because her son had severe allergies and he was placed right next to a vent or something and he was constantly sick. So she went to the teacher, who was a first year teacher and apparently high-functioning autistic, so he couldn't really be flexible. She simply asked that her son be moved to a different seat where his allergies wouldn't be triggered (kind of like putting a kid who doesn't see well at the front of the room) and he refused. He didn't understand how that was going to help. So she went to the principal, who backed the teacher, and requested letters from his doctor explaining why he needed a different seat, and what it would do to help him, which she got and then they "reviewed" the information and decided it wasn't necessary. All to switch seats. They obviously didn't give a darn about his health (granted, this was a mother who made problems about EVERYTHING, so maybe they just figured she was being a drama queen) and then one day the kid walked off the school grounds and went home and the teacher didn't even notice. And then they never called to inform her that her kid wasn't in school. She came home to find him sitting on the couch and she waited to see if they would call her to ask where he was, but they never did. So she pulled the other 2 kids and sent all 3 to a different school. But that, plus them not making any accommodations when it was so unbearably hot, and the fact that they don't seem to do ANYTHING about bullying, which is not good for safety at the school...they are terrible when it comes to creating a healthy environment. I sure hope that changes when they move to the new building.

Oh wow. I can't say I blame the parent on pulling her kids from the school.

Here in the US, you can request a Federal form 504 for kids with health issues. It allows for accomodations to be made for them. I had one that we got when I was in middle school that stated I could not be penalized for missing class time or absences and that measures had to be taken to ensure that the school was healthy for me. We got it when I was in middle school and they renovated the building...without properly sealing off the areas. I had to change classes a few times because the classrooms were too close to the renovation areas. I had trouble in the art rooms because of sensitivity to the paints and other materials used, so the principal gave me permission to take chorus and orchestra instead of art. I believe I am still the only student who received permission to do that.

In high school, the most they could do was try to assign me to the air conditioned section as best they could. Sometimes that was possible, sometimes not.

Stupid stuff I no longer have to worry about in college. Our older buildings are air conditioned, most of our buildings were built after 2007, and we just got another brand new building, our elevators almost always work, and I'm always tripping over a custodian, so the buildings are definitely clean. I think even stuff like having automatic toilets, sinks, and paper towel holders in the bathrooms makes a huge difference in keeping students healthy.

 

[Songbird76]

My hubby does all the laundry. I would much rather to all the cooking, although he makes a few meals occasionally. Maybe some better advice is to make sure your spouse does the chore you really don't want to do!

Yep...my hubby's chore is the one I hate....dishes. We agreed before we got married that as I hate dishes, he will do those, and he hates laundry/ironing, so that's my domain. Though I rarely need to iron things. My MIL irons EVERYTHING...Tshirts, bed linens, underwear, jeans, tea towels...I don't bother with anything but dress clothing. 5 minutes after you put those jeans on, they are going to be a bit wrinkled anyway, so what's the point?

 

[Songbird76]

And like I said previously give it a month or so and start googling your old doctors name and type of practice. His/her name will likely start to pop up where he is practicing now and your insurance may allow you to transfer back to that Doc like I did for my Mom, same Doc just a different location. She was happy.

But didn't the doctor retire? Then he won't be practicing in a few months, right?

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Superintendents ago we had a well educated Business major and had his doctorate in finance. He was not an education major but didn't need to be.

We'd be better off with a Business major as a superintendant. Ours is an education major with very little classroom experience who became our superintendant at the age of 28. Sorry, but that is not enough experience to be head of one of the largest districts in the state.

We cannot stand him. The only good thing he did, IMO, was to unlock Youtube for teachers so they could use it in the classroom. Other than that, can't say he's a good superintendant, or that I even like him as a person. He's too arrogant.

 

[betty rose]

Ours doesn't. DD's teacher a couple of years ago measured the temp in their classroom during a heatwave. It was 43.3C, so almost 110 in the classroom. And that was on the side of the building that DOESN'T get much sunlight. The parents were ticked, because almost all of the schools in the Netherlands had either canceled or had started 2 hours early so they weren't in school in the hottest part of the day. Ours was the exception...their idea of dealing with the heat was to say that the kids could get up more often and get a drink of water.

Terrible, kids can't learn in that environment. My brain shuts down if I'm too hot or too cold.