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tex-mex

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Everything posted by tex-mex

  1. I agree. The issue is not the MIL, but the dh not in agreement or simply communicating to spouse/family. He is allowing her to be the fall-guy with this holiday hijinks. I'm curious if he undermines her in other areas of the marriage???
  2. :iagree: :iagree: :iagree: Nothing new under the sun with mankind. We're a flawed lot. Power corrupts no matter if you are a rock star, politician, Big Fish in a little pond, or a Pastor. I cannot tell you how many leaders in ministry have done far worse and not asked for help. My guess? Someone knew of the inappropriate behavior and informed the Board finally. They confronted him and he confessed. They then asked him to step down. I'm not a VF fan, but hoping his family will survive this blow without much more damage. Very sad. That being said, I always find it interesting that no one points a finger to the other woman. She had certainly known he was a married man and yet she either pursued him or encouraged the inappropriate office behavior. Look at Jessica Hahn and Jim Bakker, for example. Or Reille Hunter and John Edwards. There is a profile of a CERTAIN type of woman whom looks at these "men of power" and hunts them down for an opportunity. Whether it is a one night stand, having a $$ sugar daddy, or getting pregnant (Blake Griffin's baby mama drama) on purpose to have a $$ lifestyle, and more. These certain types of women are a blight on all of us who are trying to empower ourselves and be good role models for young girls. Men fall easily into this age-old "trap" of a femme fatale and even KINGS are vulnerable to the charms of a beautiful woman with not-so-sincere intentions. :rant: (Rant over...) I really feel badly for the wife and family of this man.
  3. Age 17 when I graduated from high school. Got scholarshipped into college - moved out of my mom's house - and never returned. :lol: Mom never paid a penny to my needs or education once I left her place. Met DH at age 18. Married him at age 19 (he was 25). We've been married for 27 years! No regrets!
  4. I agree with finding out what the DILs like before buying a gift. My MIL for 26 years bought me gifts that I either did not need, were in the wrong size (and unreturnable as she got them from a garage sale), or things she liked but I did not like them at all like chocolate covered cherries every year as a Christmas gift. For the longest time, I would ask MIL politely for gift cards to buy homeschooling items as that is what I really wanted. In-laws were very wealthy and she let us all know that she spent $200 a year per person for Christmas. She was horrified that I did not want clothes or perfume. It kind of got to be an annual joke in the family as even her son (DH) could expect what she was going to gift him... socks and underwear. The man now has over 50 pairs of socks still in wrappers and piles of undies, to which sonny boy and I giggle over. DH never got what he wanted for Christmas either from his mom. That being said, MIL is no longer with us... but if I had a DIL, I'd make darn sure to find out what her hobbies and likes were before buying. It kind of says a lot about the MIL if they do not take the time to get to know the DIL and be passive-aggressive with gift-giving. Hope this is not your issue, OP. I'm glad to hear you want ideas!
  5. If you google "Stu Redmond" it will come up with a few articles about the book and tv show. I suppose the Illuminati reference this season is the "evil" for the "good" to oppose as in the book? I thought it was poor script writing. Now it is plagiarism and bad acting. Hmmm.
  6. I can't wait for the Queen of Hearts (a.k.a. Cora) to show up... :thumbup:
  7. Loved the link to OUAT with Robin Hood! *SPOILER* Still cannot stand "duck lips" Red Queen, but have to admit her backstory and Will's is interesting. I thought Regina is holding Maleficient somewhere? Is she still alive??
  8. I did the same trick for my son when he was old enough to sit up in his crib. I used those THICK toddler board books and he loved to coo to himself in the morning and "read" his favorite baby books. I also left one sturdy toy (different one each week) like a rattle or stuffed animal for him to play with. We transitioned to reading those early favorites each night before bedtime too. Back in the school days when he was in the primary grades and I got lazy on certain nights to read aloud, he listened to books on tape. He is now 18 and also loves to read late at night with a good book. My mother used the "slurry" of putting rice cereal in the baby's bottle at night. It does work! I never used it on my son as he was on a strict feeding routine as an infant. But did use it with a family when I nannied and the parent was asking for my advice. Her baby slept through the night with the slurry. Make sure it is very watery-thin so the nipple does not clog up. We also did the same routine with CIO a la Babywise... and after 2 weeks of this routine when he was an infant, it worked. It was very tough to do this in the beginning, but it really works!
  9. It just depends on the school district. At my old school district, grades 5 and below never took math textbooks home. At the recent K-12 Charter School I taught at, the policy was NO HOMEWORK, period. Not sure how that helped the upper grades with math and most likely explained our low test scores. At my friend's school district, her son has no textbooks and merely has a school-issued iPad with all of his textbooks on it. He carries it everywhere and loves using it for apps, games and YouTube. I agree with SpyCar in that if you work public, private or charter and do not agree with the methodology... you need to persevere regardless of the chaos you are swimming in. There is a high burnout rate for new teachers, that being said. Me? I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum where I did too many years in public schools, that I'm now disillusioned. I would rather take a cut in pay to work in a good private school at this point. And yes, be careful with the alternative certification programs as many school districts do put you on the "bottom" of the pile.
  10. Sounds like the receptionist is the one to talk to... but she could be very closed off as to her this relationship is "normal". If anything, she needs to see a DV group or counselor. Simply call the police as soon as you hear something.
  11. Recently, while teaching at a school, I had a student come up to me and show me her binder. It was full of drawings of a wedding. Turns out she planned on marrying a boy in our classroom. I got a kick out of her meticulous planning. Weeks later, I overheard the two students talking to each other over the "budget" of the wedding and how out of control her plans were for the ceremony and reception. After all of this time as an observer, I could NOT resist and had to butt in and then kindly tell the boy to consider going on to college as his bride-to-be's nuptials were going to cost him an arm and a leg. He shook his head in deep thought and said he needed a six-figure income with her $$ taste. :lol: :lol: :lol:
  12. You are correct. However, my supervisor at that Charter School used the excuse that in TX, they do not have to follow Federal labor laws?? I ended up in the ER twice due to sheer exhaustion in the first month on that job. They were more worried if I was about to sue them rather than change the rules and hire extra Yard Duty/Lunch Monitors. I quit the job soon after the second ER visit. Just was not worth it, health wise.
  13. Did I hear correctly on the episode that Pan and Rumps are childhood pals??
  14. I cannot answer for everyone on the Spectrum or who is also OCD... but when I was a child (back in the day before OCD/ASD was commonly known) I had these same Sensory issues with food. I also hated my sock's seams touching my toes while wearing shoes. Really disliked the feeling of hair on the back of my neck and preferred a "pixie" cut for decades. Did not like to be touched by anyone. Loud noises and florescent lights bothered me. Now, thanks to my son being dx'ed when he was 8 years old... I got myself dx'ed back in 2006 and discovered I too am on the Spectrum. If anything, it helped me understand my son's quirks and the helpful chopstick remedy. I wish I had chopsticks when I was a kid as I HATED the drips or texture of certain food on my hands. As an adult, the only thing that riles me up with food is when something drips onto my hand. Aaaaauuugh. Many ASD have co-morbidities like OCD too. It overlaps.
  15. My 18 year old ds is both OCD and Aspergers and went thru the same phase at that age. I simply told him to get a pair of chopsticks (with those plastic "trainers") if he did not want to handle the chip or popcorn kernel while eating. He loved eating this way for a long time. Then one day, he stopped. Now he eats with his hands. My specialist says it is classic Sensory issue and common with this population. But don't let the quirky behavior control your family. Set a rule and have him follow it with some modification like my chopstick example.
  16. At my last school, I used to wear boots with dresses or skirts. When it snowed, I'd simply put on some thick knitted leggings (under the dress) and it looked great!
  17. I never heard of Elf on the Shelf until recently. I was surprised to hear my 18 year old son exclaim, "No, mom, do not buy it... that elf is bizarre." Turns out he remembered his 1st grade teacher doing Elf on the Shelf (I never knew this) every day in December. I guess like the other posters, the look on the Elf's face and the daily surprises just creeped sonny boy out. Oh well. :lol:
  18. :iagree: I do believe you are correct. As a child in the 60's and 70's in California's public schools, I do not recall such draconian rules for eliminating recess or lunch times. But then, CA has always been in the bottom tier for rankings in testing. LOL But at least CA's beautiful weather got us freedom outside! :lol: Once I began my professional teaching career in CA in the late 80's to 1999, I was happy to see the students had the same type of recess and lunch times. Though I never thought much of the "noise" level at lunch times (back in 2002-2004, I worked p/t as a Yard Duty and Lunch Monitor in a CA school) as to myself, it was not loud at all. Just kiddos who needed a break to talk with their seatmates. No one was roughhousing or yelling to someone else across the room. No biggie. At the previously mentioned Charter School here in TX, I was floored to see top Admins come into the lunch room and if they thought the noise level was "loud" (to me it was not disruptive), they would blow a whistle and then verbally ream (i.e. yell) at the entire group of students to be quiet. The first time it happened, I was terrified. Later, I was confused as to why students had to sit quietly during their 20 minutes of lunch not talking to anyone. By the time we got to the lunchroom, went through hot lunch line, and then sat down to eat... you were lucky to have 10 minutes left. But I thought it was just that bizarre Charter School experience, ya know? Well, at a recent interview, I found out all schools in my region here in TX do the same philosophy... :eek: yikes. And the school's student (.pdf) handbook had the exact rule and expectations of the previous Charter School. Rules like no talking during before school drop off, no talking during lunch, when an adult talks to you it is always, "Yes Sir" or "Yes M'am"... which made a lot of sense as one day at the Charter School I taught at, one of the Admins came into my classroom thanks to a serious bullying issue and spoke to the class. At one point, the Admin got so heated up, but professionally told the class of a certain expectation and all of them replied back to him in unison, "YES SIR!!". Me being a native Cali girl was again confused at how those students instinctively knew how to address the Admin... that regional (Southern culture) expectation sure did impress me. But gosh, I sure do feel like a foreigner in a foreign land with those regional expectations! (And I have at long last returned back to my Mama's land... my people being Tejanos before Texas was a US State. But me? I feel Native Californian deep down with my childhood. And don't get me started with Tex-Mex cuisine (blech) versus CA's awesome fusion of cultures food wise. LOL) I just can't shake how creepy it is to have 400+ students sit quietly in a large room... reminds me of the Stepford Wives movie. (????) Are we programming a generation of Automated workers who can parrot (or regurgitate) back information via testing versus actual true learning? Sad. :iagree: :grouphug: That is so sad. And unfortunately, it is all too common. The radio show I was listening to had countries like Japan and the Netherlands giving many "recess" breaks during the school day. I had a professional teaching colleague do a Fulbright Exchange to Scotland back in 1995. She had an amazing time teaching in a very nice village. But her Scottish exchange partner who took over her 3rd grade classroom was in SHOCK over our USA culture and low academic expectations. LOL :lol: We taught in a rural Title I school with a high poverty (at-risk) population. I had the classroom next to the Scottish teacher and learned a great many things that year. :iagree: Oh yeah!! Preach it, sister!! I have to laugh when I hear people here who teach in Texas complain about budget cuts. Back when I taught in CA, they already did away with Art, PE, Computer teachers, etc. My 4th graders did not join band as it got cut out of the budget back in the early 90's. We had no extra budget back then to order science material or get reimbursed for Xerox copies. No money to pay for traveling to a teaching conference. When I taught from 1987-1999, I was the only teacher every day, 5 days a week for 180 days a year. Thank God the district did not take away Yard Duty/Lunch Monitor staff (um... thank you, teaching unions for that perk.) :lol: We did have Library for a 30 minute session once a week. And the computer lab was open, but we had to bring our class to the lab and teach the class. Most teachers as a result skipped Computers. But my students needed a BREAK as we did a lot of academic time back then. I don't know how today's teachers handle the student burnout factor.
  19. Maybe I am revealing my age... LOL! :laugh: Back in CA when I taught in the 80's and 90's, we had our school schedule like the following: 7:45-8:05 Before School Recess (Monitored by Yard Duty Staff) 8:10 School Begins 10:10-10:20 Snack Recess 12:15-12:55 Lunch & Recess 2:05-2:15 Afternoon Recess 3:30 Dismissal
  20. :grouphug: Oh my... prayers for quick healing in those lungs!! :grouphug:
  21. Recently, after a 13 year gap of not teaching in the public schools, I returned back to the classroom. Only to discover a LOT has changed. And not for the better thanks to NCLB (No Child Left Behind). I knew schools were in a panic trying to prove they were teaching to the almighty standardized test. But I was not prepared to discover many schools have done away with recess. There was one K-12 Charter School (i.e. At-Will & Non-Union) where I experienced no personal breaks, no lunch breaks, and no money to hire extra p/t staff to do yard duty or monitor lunch. I was stuck from 7:45am to 3:45pm with the students all day. If I had to go to the bathroom... I was flat out of luck. Now recently, with a few interviews with local school districts, it appears they do have "recess" thanks to Teacher Unions giving them a 20 minute break and an additional 30 minute lunch period wrapped into one time period. The students still have to sit through a LONG period of time (IMO) of academics with the teacher having to list the Common Core/TEKS on the whiteboard... which is time consuming and ridiculous, but that is another thread. And some schools still have Specials (the other state I taught in 13 years ago cut those out thanks to Prop. 13) with another daily 50 minute "prep" period. Which is nicer compared to the Charter School I experienced... but still left me saddened to realize the lower K-3 Elementary still had no recess before school. I was surprised to find out that many schools cut out before school recess and expect the student to wait (quietly) in the cafeteria or indoor gym reading quietly during the 15-20 minutes before school began. I experienced this disasterously with the aforementioned Charter School and it was plainly obvious to me that those kiddos needed physical or outdoor activity before school began. Some even more from an ADHD POV. Today, I listened to a radio show that said my experiences thus far... and I wonder how common is this practice of taking away or limiting recess? http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2013/01/07/whats-happened-to-recess-and-why-its-good-for-kids/ Kids today do not know how to play anymore. I understand the Stranger Danger issue since the late 1990's and sadly, no one in my neighborhood plays outdoors anymore. Many kids today have their days highly structured or micromanaged with after-school clubs, classes or events. I get that. One day, the kids in my class were so excited to see me bring out old (from the 1980's and from my garage) bases and kickball. I split up the kids into teams and let 'em have some fun. Only to realize many of them had no clue how to PLAY Kickball. I stopped the game and explained in detail the rules... and then let them have fun. I think personally, my past 13 years being a stay-at-home mom and homeschooler has RUINED me for returning back to the classroom. Or maybe it is the Texan in me that bristles to be told what to do by the Govt. :lol: I was so disheartened and depressed to see the current status of education... and I live in a $$ upper-income rich suburb. I cannot even imagine what education is like in the inner cities or rural areas. Wow. I am truly considering changing careers. Not sure I am able to handle teaching with this restrictive what-to-teach or such in public or charter schools. Terrified if private schools are worse too.
  22. :iagree: :iagree: :iagree: I have for years been wanting to do this with my group of friends!!! And I'm tone deaf! Shoot, I would sing softly or hum in the background and snarf down the appetizers. I say GO!!!! Sounds like fun!!
  23. You may have a valid point. My due date was July 4th. I had my first round of a low drip Pitocin a week after and no go. Second round of Pitocin on July 14... and 5-6 hours later of natural labor, my sonny boy was born. 9 pounder. No complications. But he was "overbaked" as my Midwife pointed out he had meconium all over him. But fortunately, he did not aspirate any of it.
  24. I'm Type II Diabetic, Asperger's Syndrome, and have a rare liver disease. Unfortunately, have migraines all of my life -- it began as a teen. Now, I realize the minute a migraine begins, I have to remedy it with Sumatriptan, Glucose (Gatorade) and a nap. If I wake up with the migraine still forming hours later... then I have to take stronger painkillers. If it continues, then I head to the ER to rule out high ammonia blood labs... which is my body's way of saying the rare liver disease is out of whack. The ER usually gives me a bag of fluids to re-hydrate me and follow the directions in my letter from my rare liver disease specialist. I agree with the others who say you may need to see a doctor or neurologist to rule out anything else. One time I had a migraine for 20+ days and had to do an MRI. It was just high ammonia, but not high enough to be admitted into a hospital. Sorry for the scary story. Hope your son is okay, OP.
  25. tex-mex

    update

    Oh my! I'm so sorry to hear this, Joanne, of the accident. But am glad your kiddos still have their momma. :grouphug: :grouphug:
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