The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

MOXOMUMD

Well-Known Member
Cold and rainy day in Chicago, so I spent my day crocheting. I actually had very little face pain today. I am hoping I get more sleep tonite, than I had the last two.

I am watching this Texas Flip & Move program. Pretty interesting how they buy these houses for barely anything, and then they move them, remodel them, and sell them.
That show is one of my mom's favorites.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Living on such a small island swimming is a large part summer for a lot of children. Swimming lessons in pools however were more interesting. Your proficiency levels were determined by various ways
First stage. Being able to swim a width
Second . Being able to swim a length.
Third . Being able to retrieve a brick from the pool floor.
Fourth . Being able to remove said brick whilst in your pyjamas ...:confused:
We have similar tests here...they go through different groups and each one has certain requirements...you start off learning to float on your back. Once you can do that, you move on to the basic "frog" stroke, learning to use your arms and legs together. My son spent a year in that group and made no progress because it was so much easier to just walk...it was in the shallow end. So we switched him to a different pool that had no shallow end, but used floaty belts and arm floats instead. But then they move on to more strokes..back stroke, front crawl, etc, and then they start learning to swim under water and they have to make it like 3 meters under water and swim through a hole in a tarp and you had to be able to swim in clothes...shorts and a tshirt and swim shoes. Then they have to dive instead of jump in and make it 7 meters and through a hole....that's the one DD had trouble with, and swim in long pants and long sleeved shirt. They didn't teach them to dive until a couple of weeks before they had the test. DS started diving from day one in the other pool. Once we moved DS to the other pool, he made it through every level and got his diploma in a year and man, he could dive. DD took 2.5 years. We're not an island, but a lot of the country is below sea level, so kids HAVE to learn to swim here.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
I probably could have passed that test at about 12 years old. I remember when my swim teacher taught us how to surface dive, she put stuff at the bottom for us to retrieve.

We were always droppings toys at the bottom of the pool and retrieving them. It was usually a competition to see who could pick up the most in one breath. Usually it was me. I actually have large lungs for my height. My normal values for breathing tests are higher than what they should be given my height. Not a bad thing at all, though.
We had to do that too...well, I don't think all the levels had to do that. We had a 2 month swimming session for PE every 2 years I think, and they divided you up by experience. I was always in the highest level because I took swimming lessons every summer for several years. You had to be able to tread water for so many minutes, swim under water the width of the pool, retrieve a couple of objects from the bottom of the deep end and demonstrate proficiency in back stroke and front crawl I think? Just the basics, but there were only a few of us who could do that, so we got more like life guard training rather than swimming lessons. We learned survival and basic first aid...how to use our clothes as flotation devices, how to do CPR, and once we were in Junior High, we also learned to use the back boards to do water rescues. I probably could have gotten my life guard certification if I had wanted to, but I had no desire to swim that many laps for no reason. I enjoyed playing in the water, but lap swimming was just so BORING.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
You likely could have passed at 12. Strong swimmers tend to do well in the water. These days they have to pass an online test that takes a few hours, test out in CPR, swim 8 continuous laps of the pool, be able to retrieve both shallow and deep water spinals on a back board and pull a real human out of the water on backboard without tipping them, know how to administer an epi (you could do blindfolded) and administer oxygen and know how to use an oxygen tank, how to use and AED and shock a Derrick Dummy, how to try and control bleeding and then there is a written test at the end. Likely you would pass with flying colors.

These are Ellis Lifeguards, that is also what Disney pools implement too. At Disney it is taught at Mickey's Retreat and the lifeguards spend 5 8 hour days in that pool being trained and another 4 hours per month going over it all again. Most have been lifeguards elsewhere before Disney. At a resort if you are up before the main pool opens a few times a week you will see the lifeguards for an hour at in service putting those 4 hours in the water or doing CPR skills on the deck. It is interesting to pull up a chair and watch. Those little ***** packs they wear could save your life one day.
Is that what your son does at Disney? Is he still in the college program?
 

BAChicagoGal

Well-Known Member
I set up my new HP printer today. Fairly easy setup. Next week, I will try adding it to my iMac. It is working successfully so far on my laptop. I am able to print wirelessly now, which is great. I had a minor glitch printing a photo, but figured that out the 2nd time around. I am going to have to move some stuff around though, this printer is a little bit bigger than my Epson one.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
I have mixed emotions on school children being their own advocate. I remember you having that issue with your son and all they expected him to do himself to advocate.

I was an advocate for my kids when need be. Most of the time I mentored them or role played. But with some of our staff a kid is no match in advocating for themselves with a school or staff on bigger issues. My DD had some known health issues that she now has well under control. They required her to always eat snacks during day and stay well hydrated also not to become overheated or she went splat. Well stay hydrated means bathroom breaks. She had a music teacher that flat out told her no-sit down. She was 6. I told her the next time that happened and was told no to any of health iep's to just walk out and go. And she did. Then Mommy Dearest stepped in. Most of the time the kids advocated fine as they got older but there are always a few teachers that made me want to pound my head into a wall. Her 4th grade teacher divided the gifted kids up into reading girls and math boys. :mad: DD got perfect scores always on her achievement tests through high school in math. But cause she was a girl she was to be a reading girl??? blahhhhhhhh So glad when school was finished for them.
I'm with you...it depends on the situation, but in DD's case, it was that she wasn't taking ANY responsibility for herself...she was content to let mommy handle everything. Like, if they were going on a school trip and it didn't sound fun, she wanted ME to ask if she had to go, rather than talking to the teacher about it and telling her what her concerns were. Or if she had a disagreement with a friend, instead of talking it out with the friend, she wanted me to talk to the teacher. At the beginning of the year, there was a group project with 3 other kids and the other kids weren't doing their share. They were wanting DD to do the research for them and tell them what to type, and they would just type it. They were each supposed to do certain sections and they were responsible for researching, summarizing, and typing their own sections. 2 of the kids didn't do ANY of their work and then at the last minute, they announced that they would just take over DD's sections that she had done and present them. Obviously that's not what was meant to happen and DD had worked REALLY hard, so she said no. They kept insisting and she kept saying no. Rather than going to the teacher, she wanted ME to do it. That's when the teacher told me I wasn't doing her any favors, because those are skills she needed to learn herself...how to say no, and how to communicate with a supervisor when there's a problem, etc. So I backed off and had her do it herself...and now she's so much better for it. She's communicated a LOT with her teacher on things going on at recess or in the classroom...like, other kids getting bullied, etc. So she's gotten better at it. With DS, that doesn't work...he's communicated with the teachers and stood up for himself and it doesn't work...so THEN I go in mama bear mode. But he does TRY to handle it himself, where DD didn't.

As for that "gifted" program...wow....how worthless! Our school doesn't have a gifted program, but they have advanced groups for math, language, and reading...but you can be gifted in one area and not the others. DD and one other girl are the only kids who are in ALL the advanced groups. There are several kids who are only in the Math, or ONLY in the language one...and DD and this other girl are the only ones in the advanced reading. I like that better than just saying you have to be gifted in all areas to be in the gifted program. I was always GREAT with language, but poor in reading. I never made it into a gifted program because the tests involved a lot of reading. When I got to junior high, I got into advanced math. No reading necessary....I did well in math classes, so they put me in the program where we skipped the 2nd year of basic math and moved us to algebra instead, so we took each class a year early, which made room for calculus our senior year. That was the only thing I ever did that was close to a "gifted" program. My kids are both in the advanced groups, but there's no set "gifted" program and I like that. Any kid can be in an advanced group for something they are good at. They aren't left out because they aren't good at EVERYTHING.
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
1353473


Hey all -- the boss let us animals out early today--at 2:00!!! WOO HOO!!! Long holiday weekend!!!!!!!!!!!! :joyfull:
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
What holiday is it in the US? Here, we're celebrating ascension day, so the kids had no school yesterday and today. So we picked up our new car today and DH and I dropped the kids at my in-laws' and we're having a nice weekend away!! I may not be on tomorrow. We are going shopping during the day and then we have a reservation for an escape room in the evening. Going to the zoo on Sunday.
 

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
I set up my new HP printer today. Fairly easy setup. Next week, I will try adding it to my iMac. It is working successfully so far on my laptop. I am able to print wirelessly now, which is great. I had a minor glitch printing a photo, but figured that out the 2nd time around. I am going to have to move some stuff around though, this printer is a little bit bigger than my Epson one.
Dont forget to do a ink cycle (cleaning cartridges).
Also, I do not recommend using wireless.
As I've read some weakness in the wireless of some models of printers (specially if you do not set password). Which can let other people from your neighbourhood from taking over your printer lol
 

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
What holiday is it in the US? Here, we're celebrating ascension day, so the kids had no school yesterday and today. So we picked up our new car today and DH and I dropped the kids at my in-laws' and we're having a nice weekend away!! I may not be on tomorrow. We are going shopping during the day and then we have a reservation for an escape room in the evening. Going to the zoo on Sunday.
Memorial day I think.
 

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Disneyland fits my style of touring. I hate to plan. I'm really considering staying at Disneyland. We will go to DW with the time share on our anniversary, it times out that way...but I have to see Disneyland.

I didn't realize you have never been to Disneyland...? :cyclops: I guess I just A$$umed :rolleyes: :oops: ;), since So Cal (Anaheim) is so much closer to y'all than Cen Flo ;) (Orlando).
We haven't been to Disneyland since 2010. I've only been there 5 times. The first time in 1968, when I was 6 years old.
Y'all should plan a trip there next. It's a shorter flight, it's the original Disney theme park, and y'all won't regret it...! :)
 

betty rose

Well-Known Member
Just a quick note. We all slept too late, so our plans had to change. We went to Epcot, did Spaceship Earth, living with the Land, Soarin' I liked Soarin' much better this time. It's a zoo with way too many people. We didn't take any pictures, except our lunch at San Angel. The beef taco's were horrible, beef was tough as shoe leather, and over done. The waiter made us wait for a long time to get our food. The server was pretty surly. We we finished, we asked for the check. It came fast, then ,the wait.....when the server came back, after a really long time...he said they were having computer troubles. We paid, with a Disney card, which the server didn't return. They looked through the restaurant and couldn't find it. We went to Guest Relations, to get the card straightened out. We had to call the bank, and cancel the card. And be issued a new card with the money put back on. Disney offered nothing for their mess up. 3 hours later we came back home. Disney need's to work with the employee's at San Angel. Lousy food and service. We won't be going back. On the positive side, many employees were friendly and went out of their to make our time, so far pleasant. Over all, it is going well, except for this one experience at San Angel.
 

Figgy1

Premium Member
Are you heading to Maine? We don't have outlets here but the upper east has 5
2 Maine, 1 NY, 1 CT and 1 ME
No, Heck no and H#LL NO!!!!!!! Sorry about the language. My dh is still trying to figure out when he and the boys all have time off at the same time to go camping in the woods up there. Me I'll be enjoying peace and quiet if they get to go:joyfull:
 

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