Daily Ooo's: Thursday, October 25

[faerywings]

:horn: :horn:

Wake up sleepy-heads!!!! Y'all have been too quiet in here and that makes me look like a crazy lady talking to myself! And we do not want that! :fear:

We are getting closer to the weekend, whatever that means to everyone. It doesn't necessarily change for some of us, right? I was reading a link a friend posted on FB asking if kids should be allowed a "Mental Health" day off from school on occasion. A lot of people replied that they get weekends off. I am not seeing that all that much, at least not like I did when I was a kid I think kids should be able to get mental down-time-- adults too. IMHO, there is such a strong connection between mental health and pohysical health, so why not allow a Mental Health Day. When I was a in HS, my mom would let me "cut" on Fridays (not every one, maybe once a month) and we would go visit my Grandma. I loved that. Now-- you could never do that with the attendance req's.

What do you think? I would love to hear about non-US policy too. I know that many countries (most?) in Europe have much better maternity/paternity leave, so it would be cool to know what kind of pliciy differences there are in work/school for mental health.

So yesterday was my "day-off" this week and I spent two hours scanning the old negatives...one at a time.... eeeesh....

Do any of you know if it is bad to trim old neg's? They are roughly wallet sized and my grandfather has them trimmed very irregularly. Most don't fit in the tray that you need to put them in to scan. Trimming them would make them fit better but I am nervous that I will ruin them.

After that, I wanted to scrap and fought with 2 LO's for some CT work. One I was able to finish, the other-- I totally gave up on. Maybe today I can try again.

Temptation on Thursday
I want to fly out to somewhere where the sun is shining! Its been so damp and rainy here!

 

[timounette]

Why do you shout ??? Let me sleep at work !!!!!
Tomorrow evening children will be on holidays for two weeks. I' ll be on holidays next thursday..
Children are tired it's time for them to have rest.
We are leaving for a week near the "mont Saint Michel" and "Saint Malo" so nice places to get some pictures....

Back to work !

 

[LaurieW]

morning O-fam- I was visiting my friend Anna and her girls. I can't believe she lives only 2 hours away and I only make it there once a year. It was so much fun. I forgot my good camera- but did get a few wonderful photos with my pocket camera and of course many wonderful memories of my time with the girls. We went to Ikea to shop yesterday and today I am going to build two dressers and buy groceries and mow lawn- it is going be beautiful today.

 

[donnagoar]

Good morning O people!

I'm bad about stopping by and checking in. Wish instead of online we all stopped by for coffee or tea and a real hello in the AM.................I can wish!

Went with hubby yesterday AM to early morning eye appt. He had LASIK surgery many years ago to correct vision and now needs one eye tweaked a bit. We drove 1 1/2 hours to get to the 8AM appt. with the other 50 people who also had an 8AM appt. Half of them had eye patches from their cataract surgery the day before and the other half were their drivers. Have to say they really had a good system for checking all the post-ops and we were in and out in reasonable time. I came home and was not motivated to get much done..................so I scrapped a page!! Today I must accomplish some things!

Chris- I agree and would love to join your on that flight to somewhere with sunshine!
'timounette'- ENJOY your trip...............sounds beautiful! Can't wait to see the photos on your pages.
Laurie-glad you had a wonderful time and hope you get your list done today.

Have a great Thursday all!
donna

 

[whatnext]

Chris, Mean Old Me says this about

why not allow a Mental Health Day?

for kids in American schools. we are near the BOTTOM worldwide in our kids' academic performance. what they DON'T need is a day off. they need a different SORT of school day. what's needed is a complete revamp of the American education system. to WHAT, exactly, i have no idea. but there is no accountablilty in the system. teachers seem to equate a good education with how much $$$ is being pumped into the system. (see Oprah's midwest experiment in Kansas City, to see how well THAT works. she put a lot of $$ into that experiment. http://books.google.com/books?id=1u9yZY63wO4C&pg=PA203&lpg=PA203&dq=Oprah+Winfrey+tries+to+help+a+n+inner+city+school+in+Kansas+City&source=bl&ots=lbltm_hIv-&sig=aa41qmxD1MC-HmcvByBBCeKwiec&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uSWJUKDyLcmA2wWqoYH4Cw&ved=0CEkQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Oprah%20Winfrey%20tries%20to%20help%20a%20n%20inner%20city%20school%20in%20Kansas%20City&f=false) and we're losing our kids. we're losing our edge as a nation. since i taught, we've already lost 2 generations of students to mediocrity and a false sense of self-esteem. if you have a kid who's doing well and accomplishing something, i'm all for individual, mom-sanctioned days off. i used to do that with my kids. but for what appears to be the vast majority of kids in the American system, all they DO is pretty much NOTHING. they can't do math but feel really good about themselves.

whew. well. the data supports what i said. we STINK academically. it's pitiful. a Left-wing source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/us-falls-in-world-education-rankings_n_793185.html. middle-of the-road source: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-12-07-us-students-international-ranking_N.htm probably an older source from the Right: http://www.sntp.net/education/education_stats.htm

we're absolutely in deep crap. :hurt:

Donna, i had to laugh out loud at your comment about the other 50 people with appointments at 8:00. i've noticed that A LOT. i always try to get the first appointment, before the doctor gets backed up. then you end up sitting in the exam room for half an hour, waiting for your FIRST appointment....

Laurie, good luck with the Ikea directions. TG for Hubby. he can "read" those diagram picture directions. i need WORDS!

Timou,

mont Saint Michel

!!! sigh. SO beautiful. i can't wait to see your photos and pages.

today, i'm going to the mall to check AGAIN if Land's End has the fleece tops in yet. it's going to be 80 degrees today, so it's pretty crazy to be looking for fleece. but, hey. it's supposed to snow a little here this weekend. The Joys of Living in the American Northeast. :mmph:

well, Ms. Nasty is off to start her day. avoid me at all costs!! :rofl: ound:

 

[LaurieW]

Morning again- workout done- off to work- on my vacation to find out about benefits and what my drug costs will be next year so I don't set too much money aside. Phylis- so agree that money is not the answer- even when my boys went to school I thought there was too much stuff the schools were "teaching" that should be family/parent business. When my son was in 6th grade- he was out for over a month with mono- I called a meeting with his teachers and principal to talk about how he could achieve his personal goal of maintaining high honor roll. When I asked the question to the teachers- I was met with pretty much blank stares. I eventually asked for a tutor because it was not my job to teach him new stuff and the tutor loved the visits because she had a motivated student. I think the problem is not totally the schools, but we need to address the family and support them to want education and learning, then we will see changes.

 

[faerywings]

Hello hello! I am back for a few. I am having a fun morning so far- NOT! I have decided that if I ever did a Word Cloud on my posts here, Coffee, Tired and Complain would be my largest words!

Sandrine-- sorry for waking you But what a great vacation you are going to have~!!!

Laurie- isn't it amazing how time with a good friend can rejuvenate you? Have "fun" building your IKEA stuff

Donna-Ack! All of those people at the drs! LOL Does YMG like Lasik?I would lovelovelove to get that done.
Here's a virtual cup for you :tea:

Phyllis-- Oh no, you are NOT mean at all. Please don't get me started on education these days, and these damn TESTS!!!! I hate what is happening to our education system on so many levels, and I hate how it sucks the joy of learning from the kids and the joys of teaching from the teachers. There is no learning for the sake of knowledge or critical thinking its all about how to take a freaking TEST!
Uh oh...............

:rant:


:tape:

I could go on, but I will spare you all....



*beep beep beep*
:washing:
Thatwas my dryer beeping. Off to fold laundry. Whew, you were saved by the bell

Hugs!!!

 

[taxed4ever]

Morning ladies... :fear: of coming here today! Everyone is :rant: LOL! Just kidding, I love to hear a good debate! I'm with Phylis on this one!! When hubby and I took our trip to the U.S. we were amazed at how little the kids know about our Country?? Good god we are your neighbours and you know so little about us. We are taught everything about the U.S. we get your news on our t.v.'s and not once did we see a news broadcast about any where other than the States the whole time we were there. A couple of times we would pay for our meals and hubby would give the kids change after they had rung it in the cash register, not one of them knew who to make the difference without using the info on the till. Don't get me wrong, it is almost as bad here in Canada!! Most of the young people don't even know how to tell time on anything other than a digital watch for god's sake!! WTH??? The kids here get so many days off of school its ridiculous! Mental Health days, teachers conference days, wellness days???? I don't get it. Ok I will shut up now :tape:
Guess everyone best stay away from this grumpy lady today too!! Hey Phylis you wanna hang out? Two old grumps are better than one right?? LOL.

Chris - I spent most of my day yesterday trying to get layouts done for CT work as well and struggled with it so badly that I only got one done!! :mmph: I did manage to get a couple more pages done for my brother's calendar though. Hope your inspiration comes back to you !!

Timounette - Your trip sounds devine!! Take lots of photos please!! Green with envy that you get to go on vacation!!

Laurie - Have fun putting together your dressers today! Could be a workout in itself! How nice that you got to spend some quality time with your friend!! Good for the soul!

Donna - Don't you just hate waiting in the waiting room!! I agree it would be much nicer to meet in person every morning, but then we wouldn't be able to meet each other wearing our pj's and slippers LOL.

Phylis - Guess you already know how I feel about education LOL. Hope you find your fleece tops today! They sound so nice and cozy!!

Well gotta work the closing shift today, so best get myself ready and get my lunch made! I really need a second cup of coffee first though. Have a great day everyone and avoid Phylis and me at all cost today ound: :wave:

 

[faerywings]

heheh!! no worries Mrs Trudy!
I don't know how rampant this is in other areas of the country, but I do know that some Americans have the "Exceptional" kind stuck up their butts, if you don;t mind me saying. I am more of the Reality Based mindset. Yes we are exceptional in some, if not many ways --but boy howdy, we are not the only country on this planet.
To be honest, I do read a lot in political blogs and the attitude of some Americans towards Canada and Europe is horrible.

That said, I think I mis-represented what I meant in my original post. I was wishing that kids, as well as adults had the opportunity to play hooky on occasion. Maybe it is b/c my kids were so sick and needed more time off from school than the avg child,... I dunno. But I see lots of time spent being busy over nothing of import. And when a kid really needs a break, there is so much pressure that God forbid they miss a day.

Or maybe it is that I see/saw how stressed my kids get over grades and such- and have an inside track on cutting and eating disorders of them and their friends. I worry,. probably too much. (ya think?? LOL)

Does that make sense at all?
I am rambling I think... shut me up already!!!
ound:

 

[terryb]

good morning O'ladies.

Don't even get me started on the school system. I'm an adjunct professor at the University---I see first hand the product of the school system and it is not good. I've been teaching college since 1997 and the students are getting dumber and dumber. I sure worry about what this world is coming to.

That being said........I golfed horrible last night in the tournament and lost. As one of my son's said "did you really think you could win?" It was a longshot--but there is always hope, right.

I've got a lot of work to do today. Yuck. Mainly reading a bunch of legal stuff. Now that is the pits.

I really want to scrap and blow off work!!

Fleece sounds good--supposed to be 95 today and then drop to the 50's tomorrow. You are probably laughing--but I will be freezing when it gets to 50. Not a cold weather person at all.

Gotta get to work.

 

[Katherine B]

Good morning beautiful O peOple!

Funny you are all talking about schools . . . I'm skipping classes today! 8) 8)
Needed one of those mental health days. Or something.

Actually, the weather here is simply gorgeous and I just wanted to enjoy it (plus, I have a ton of stuff I need to get caught up on). I just hope my instructor doesn't happen by this thread and bust me! ;D ;D

Hope yOu all have a fabulous day!

 

[LaurieW]

Afternoon- I have the one dresser assembled up to the drawers- I am so excited!!

 

[justjen]

Hahahhahaha Chris quit yellin at us tryin to have so
E peace and quiet around here... And take me with somewhere oh so warm I'm freezing my
Butt off. Hee hee and my kid just snuck past with a pail of icecream AS IF IT'S
-12 right now !!!!!! Brrrrrrrrr