School Letter, Part 2

So, I realize I never shared the outcome of the school's letter to me warning me that my son had missed too much school and that they were pushing for only 6 days off per year. I can be a very shy person at times, but come after my kids and I become the most evil she-bear you've ever encountered.

I started my quest by talking to a lawyer for the VT State Dept. of Education to find out exactly what the laws are in the state. He seemed to be enjoying himself as he read statutes. Basically, there are two applicable laws when it comes to a student being absent. 1. Any child absent for more than 10 days in a row must have a written note from a doctor and the school superintendent. So #1 did not cover my son being absent on and off at 9 times over the entire school year so far.

#2 - No child may be absent more than 21 days per school year without being considered delinquent. Again doesn't fit my son, so the lawyer told me to have fun going to battle.

I then decided to ask an expert pediatrician who works for our local CBS station. He gave me one piece of advice - find out what medical expert was consulted when this policy was enacted.

So I called the school and waited, and waited.... Nothing. So I sent a very snotty email. The next morning I got a call. So I let him speak and basically he covered his behind by saying the letter was all a mistake and never should have been sent and that I should throw it out and ignore it.

Then he proceeded to tell me that the only reason they've been taking a hard line this year is because the area high schools all have stricter policies. He proceeded to say that local high schools - BFA, Milton, Rice, Essex, and Colchester all give students 3 days off per semester and anything over those 3 days per semester, excused or unexcused, lead to automatic failure of the class. This sounded absurd to me. So after he hung up, I did some checking.

The correct policy is 7 days off per TRI-mester. Equaling the 21 day deliquent law. So now I've been lied to again...

It makes me wonder. Do I really want my child being taught by a man who first never stops to think that a parent has the intelligence to verify what he or she has been told? And two, a teacher who will LIE to a parent!!! I've lost all respect for this teacher, and hope he gets his facts straight before coming after my son for attendance issues.

In the end, I have a son who is asking to skip a grade. I know he can handle it, but I think it is pathetic that a 12 year old has now seen that some grown-ups just don't tell the truth.

Song Lyrics

Does anyone else remember a magazine in the 1980's that contained all the lyrics from the current hit songs? I LOVED that magazine, but it fizzled out in the mid-80's.

There was also a contest listing in the back..."Send us your lyrics. If they are good enough, you could be contacted by some of music's hottest music publishing companies..." Then you sent in lyrics and a few weeks later got a letter stating your lyrics were great and that they were interested. Pay $ for lessons on how to promote your lyrics to some of music's best...

I remember being about 12 and sending in a bunch of lyrics. All were deemed fantastic, and then the rest of the letter was a downer. It was an obvious scam, but kids didn't know...

So this weekend, my hubby and I went up to help my little brother install his kitchen flooring. (I say "little" brother, but in reality he's almost a foot taller and a good deal heavier, so he's not really my little brother but my younger brother.) We had on a radio station that plays 80's music on weekends. I listened to some of these lyrics and wonder what they have that I didn't....

I mean Culture Club's "Do you really want to huuuurrrrrtttt me. Do you really wanna make me cry." Pathetic.

"Oh Mickey, You're so fine. You're so fine you blow my mind." My brothers will forever hate Toni Basil because I owned that on 45 and played it a lot! Now, I look back and the lyrics sucked.

So we bought a couple CD's this weekend. Song titles - "Monkeys coming out of my head." I'm still thinking butt would have fit the band better, but I'll let it slide.

Then my husband took a liking to Dirty Vegas and it brings me back to days of New Order and some of those Canadian bands who were similar and unheard of. (The Box is one of them, but I can't remember if that was the song or the group name.) I think 80's music is going to come around again. With more modern lyrics, I think there might be something there.

With that, I'll depart with the song lyrics I actually wrote (or at least the one line I remember...) when I was 13ish. It's quite embarassing now, but please take into mind that this was during my AC/DC time...

"I've got an itch will you scratch it. I've got an urge to do it right."

Worse, if I remember the song was actually about having an itch on the bottom of your foot. :-D

War Path!

I feel like griping today. Certain things woke me up at 3:00am and I'm just not happy with the outcome yet.

#1 - People who let their teenaged daughter's homeless boyfriend live with them. The past week has been extraordinarily quiet with this kid not being around because the kid's girlfriend was visiting relatives in another state. No loud mufflers, no blaring music shaking walls and windows. It's been wonderful. So the girlfriend flew back in yesterday and didn't go to school today. The boyfriend has returned with his loud muffler and plenty of slamming doors, cranked up music, and the likes. I'm not particularly happy today!

#2 - Teachers that do not return phone calls. That just is rude and ticks me off.

#3 - While I'm on the teacher warpath... how about when a child misses a field trip due to illness and the school refuses to return your money paid for said field trip - the bus fare and the likes. I can understand keeping the $5 for the ticket to the play, it was probably non-refundable, but the $5 gas money for that student's place on the bus, that should have been returned.

#4 - Taxes. Enough said.

#5 - School districts where more than 1/2 of the voters are teachers and their friends and family. They outnumber the rest of the population, so there is no way a fair vote can be achieved.

#6 - This one goes out to my little brother. Furnace repairs that cost $500 when the parts come to around $90!

#7 - Laundry - it never ends!

#8 - Television writers. What brainchild decided to try to give the show Joey a final chance by pitting it against both American Idol and NCIS??? Like it would stand a chance??? This isn't the only show I've seen this happen with. So TV execs need to listen up. If a show is failing, putting it on against some of the highest rated shows is the kiss of death.... You're not getting anywhere by trying a show on a new night where there are excellent shows.

#9 - Speaking of NCIS what did Gibbs give Abby for her birthday? I feel cheated. All we know is that is was really glowing.

#10 - School vacations. Just when I was getting used to sleeping late and not having to get out of pajamas all day... vacations over and I have to be up and dressed again. :-( I'm not enjoying that!!

Oscars?

What on earth was last night's show? I didn't watch the entire thing but the snippets I did see while I was flipping back and forth between Iron Chef America and the Oscars horrified me.

I listened to Jon Stewart make his stupid comment about old movies would be better in color. I watched whatever those classic snippets were supposed to represent after Lauren Hutton made her speech.

Then I watched the Lead Actress bit in which Dame Judi was picked on and Reese Witherspoon was made to be the all american. I like Reese, but that whole segment made the Oscars look cheesey, overproduced and just embarassing.

What's wrong with Simon?

As past posts have stated, I'm watching the current American Idol. I have three finalists decided- Chris, Lisa, and I can't think of her name - but the black woman who sang Cry this week.

Meanwhile, I keep listening to all the Simon-slamming. I wonder why people have such issues with him? He calls it as most see it. Sure he's a little abrupt, but some of these people truly suck and think they are fantastic. The way I see it, he's offering a strong dose of reality. I happen to like Simon and think that Paula and Randy are wimps. They keep flattering away, even when someone stinks they keep up the flattery. White lies are not the way to go in a professional competition such as American Idol.

School Policies

Most of you know, I have two children. I work from home part-time. It was very important to my husband and myself that someone be home for our children. We see the problems that occur in this area with latch-key kids, and we wanted to avoid that. Money is always tight, but we'd rather live with a tight budget and know our children are not doing drugs, vandalizing houses, etc, as many kids in this neighborhood do.

My daughter rarely gets sick. I'm not sure why, but she was born almost three weeks late, and she's never sick. She avoids illness in a manner that stumps me. My son, however, is always the first in line to get whatever illness one of his classmates scares. He just had his 9th day sick this school year - he's been through a stomach flu, an ear infection, and now this chest/head cold that I am still battling two weeks later. He was born almost three weeks early - labor was induced and lasted 48 hours, so I often wonder if that plays a part in just how different my son and daughter are when someone is sick in their school...

Anyway, I got a letter a couple days ago - on my birthday no less- the school is demanding I attend a meeting on my son's extreme number of absences. Apparently, the school has a new policy in which they will not allow a student to miss more than 6 days of school per year. I'm baffled. From the time both of my children started school, we've been told not to send our children to school if they have a fever, an ear infection that distracts them from their work, are feeling nauseous or throwing up, and the likes. So I keep my children home when that happens.

My son gets A's, his homework is handed the next day after he returns from being sick, and yet I'm being told he's missed too much schooling and that a meeting is necessary. I'm ticked.

When a school thinks they are a better judge of a child than that child's own parent, I have serious issues. What's worse, the "committee" who deems how many days a child can be sick is now making it a no exception deal. All days off can no longer be allowed without a doctor's note for each day the child is sick. There is talk of my husband's company switching to a health insurance plan that will make copays for routine care rise to $50. So I am supposed to send my son to the doctor for $50 each time for anything - a stomach bug, cold, etc. I won't go into the fact that the doctor is against having to see a child for routine stuff that could be easily treated at home.

It's absurd and making home schooling my children look more appealing by the second.

Reality TV

Okay, there is very little I watch with Reality TV. I think the majority of it is inane and a serious waste of money. With that said, I do watch American Idol. Mainly because I cannot believe that people who obviously are tone deaf continue to go in front of a camera and then get upset when they are told that they really need to give it up.

Now the show is down to the final 24. I still feel a few of them NEVER should have made it in. Some, however, are very talented. I'm kind of rooting for Ayla, because she is the closest to a hometown hero that I'll get. Though I don't think she'll win, but who knows!

Anyway, as we watched last night, I began to question Randy and Paula's judgment. They ridicule Simon, and I realize that's where the money lies with reality TV, but most of the time Simon was right on track. Some of the guys picked HORRIBLE songs. That version of Queen's Crazy Little Thing Called Love was ridiculous. He couldn't have tried harder and that's what was wrong - you could tell how hard he forced it to turn it into a stage production over just getting out there and wowing me with a song.

As much as I don't want to route for the Doughtry guy, he reminds me of someone I'm not fond of, he's the best of the bunch. Ace has it for looks though.

Colds...

I've had a chest cold for the past four days. Now I hate being sick, so I'm drowing myself in juice, tea and soup.

I have had people offer plenty of suggestions on how to get over something the fastest, so I've been testing them all out. Herbs, lemon, onions... Nothing has helped. So tonight I'm going to test out the remedy that usually works best that I've been putting off because I was out of honey... Hot Toddies here I come!

The site will be updated as soon as I'm feeling better.

Tracy

Beware...

I am officially hooked up to wireless internet now, so I have the luxury of working from either my living room or my office corner. But while I was getting hooked up, the point was brought up that one of my neighbors has a wireless connection and they don't safeguard it. So for all these months, I could have been tapping into their connection without them noticing. In fact, if I go into wireless networks, they are on the list and I can click to connect to their connection, but I'm a decent person.

I have a feeling I know exactly which neighbor it is - one gets plagued with more viruses and spyware than normal and they aren't very computer aware... smart... whatever you want to call it.

Anyway, if you are on wireless, you probably should have a clue as to what you are doing or have a professional come in. Isn't your computer/personal safety worth it?

Valentine's Day

I got a present. My husband spent a little chunk of change and bought me a laptop. :-) Hopefully, with a computer downstairs now that I can use in the morning I can keep the blog updated a little more regularly!

So around here - weather, computers and beer. Those tend to be my topics of choice.

The weather is odd to say the least.

Computers - well, I love them, can't live without them, but man does it tick me off when they don't do what I want.

Beer - WHY is Amstel Light so expensive? I ended up doing some homebrewing so that I could have a supply for a smaller amount of cash!

People will buy anything

http://cgi.ebay.com/Jesus-PanCake_W0QQitemZ6251847554QQcategoryZ1447QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

You know, I just don't get it. I look at these pictures and this guy obviously used a cookie mold of some form to create that image. Which leads me to wonder WHY people with too much money on their hands can't put it to good use????? $500 for a pancake is absurd - why not head on down to a pediatric ICU or something and donate the money to a much better cause!!

So maybe I need Jesus molds and I'll start making a line of Jesus everything. Half the money can go to me and I'll happily donate the other half to some of my favorite charities.

It's weird you know?

I just learned that a former classmate of mine had a heart attack and died. We're talking former jock, but the jock that wouldn't shun the others. He was friendly, talkative, and didn't follow class divides. To hear he died at the age of 35 is kind of shocking... a widow, two young kids... Somehow, it just doesn't seem right.

At the same time, I'm watching the news and discussions of a convicted child molester whose been released from prison, booted out of the state because no neighborhood wanted him living among children, and then he flees his current halfway house to return to the area that has booted him... It makes me really wonder why scum can walk the earth and decent people move on...

I know this is one of those theoretical issues - but I still don't see it making sense. I graduated - Class of '88 from a Vermont high school. Of my classmates, one died in a boating accident, another was murdered, another committed suicide, two had heart attacks, one sits in jail for molesting female prisoners (that one still creeps me out, cause I was friends with him). We have the wife beaters, I'm sure there are some abusive females among them... one walked out on her child and never returned... I know of noted drug users and dealers now living the life of the local rich and famous, we have the lazy jerks who took the basic/easy courses to guarantee themselves straight A's. Thank God the principal called him on that and revoked his right to be valedictorian! Somedays it just really seems surreal. I hear local teenagers saying how easy we had it back then... I'm not sure I agree. It is different now, sure, but easy... I'll never agree to that.

Rain & Basements & Flooding, Oh My!

Anyone want some water? I'd LOVE to put in a pipeline from my basement to those in drought striken areas!

Thankfully the water has slowed way down. We are pumping out about 10 gallons an hour now. This is half what it was. It's still annoying though!

Top it off with glitchy Adelphia service, and you have the makings for little to no computer/internet time this week. Thankfully, it seems to be up and running fine now. I'm hoping since the truck left the neighborhood that that means they found the problem and have solved it.

I'm not fond of glitches! I'm even less fond of customer service dingbats who state there are no problems in Vermont when there is a truck sitting three houses behind me.

Politics

So apparently Americans are gas guzzlers...

Here is my response. I want to know what the thermostat at The White House reads? Does George Bush truly do everything in his own power to keep fuel costs at a minimum? I have our house set at 62. It's Vermont, in the winter a house at 62 feels cold. So I'll put on an extra sweater and I usually have slippers on my feet. I want to hear that the White House is doing the same. I want to see President Bush using public transportation! Here it is not an option - we are out of public transportation's range - so people car pool. Can the President say the same? How about that air conditioning? Is President Bush doing without? How about car pooling and stop flying with the Private Jet. Stay home - take a bus. I'd fell a WHOLE lot better about his comments if I knew he was practicing what he preached!!

Another issue - he suggested more Americans should put money into medical savings accounts. Yeah. I knew someone with one of those. She had $5000 saved up and the policy was that the money had to be used up after two years or she'd lose it. So much for saving for when she REALLY needed it. I also know people who are going to be paying $10 more a week this year and their deductible has increased from $500 to $5000. That's absurd.

I have a better idea! NO more frivolous lawsuits. No more suing for any little thing. If doctors were not so worried over malpractice suits, their premiums wouldn't be so absurd that they are charging more. The girl who sued McD's because their food made her fat - NO KIDDING. Don't eat there and stop using up taxpayers money on lawsuits that fit under the "Here's Your Sign" (Thanks Bill Engvel) category.

What kind of lesson are we teaching our kids? I'm sad to say I don't like where the U.S. is heading. We live in a "me, me, me" society - I listen to my husband who comes home after training new employees and having them walk out after two days because "It's hard work and they thought they'd be sitting around. When they found out otherwise, they said they'd be better off in the fast food industry." This is absurd. Yes, work can be hard. Get over yourself!

Homebrewing

Ten or so years ago, my husband got into homebrewing. I love cooking, so homebrewing really became a hobby for me. At the time, I didn't drink beer, so while I loved making a batch of beer for my hubby and his friends, I never sampled it.

Now I am drinking beer regularly and am finding myself branching out into what I enjoy and what I can't stand - apparently lager is my thing. I love lager. I just finished up our very first mead - it took 4 months to ferment - FOREVER - but we sampled some before bottling it yesterday and I can say that it is extremely potent and tastes like the mead we used to get for Christmas from my sis-in-law who worked for a meadmaker up in Stowe, VT. They've since shut their doors, so it was interesting to return to the world of mead. I'm not sure I'll do it again because it does work forever!

Anyway - Amstel Light has become my beer of choice, but it's not cheap. $13 a twelve-pack here. So I've decided that a clone of Amstel Light is my next goal. My basement is great for lager making as it is 55 down there year round. Now my problem is that I can't find a clone recipe for Amstel anywhere. If anyone has one, please share!

My weekly LOST thoughts...

I'm behind...

So how many others think that Locke is connected to The Others? I keep watching him and he gets creepier and creepier. Now I've been trying to remember what role he played on Millenium (another show I liked that was cancelled, but that is a whole other topic...) Terry O'Quinn was on this neat show called Millenium and I want to say his character was bad. So I'm trying not to typecast, but every time I see him, he just makes me cringe.

I really want that baby to be stolen. I want Charlie to get to thumb his nose at everyone and do the "I told you so..." bit. He needs to do it. All of the castaways are too infatuated by Locke, and other than Jack, they all seem immune to Locke's charms. I really want to see that come to an end!

Wacky Weather

Okay, I really don't want to complain, but... While I have enjoyed the warmer temperatures Vermont is seeing this winter, I'm also a little frustrated by the weather that the warmer air brings.

We've had a couple below zero days, which for mid to late January is a miracle around here. Usually by now we've had at least of week of 20 below nights and we are all wondering when the January thaw might grace us with its presence.

This year, we had a very brief below zero spell in December. And then January hit. We bounce between average temperatures to insanely warm temperatures. We've been in the low 50's which is amazing and extremely kind to our heating bills, but it also brings a down side. We've had TONS of rain. Flooding is our new weather warning. We don't get the typical blizzard watch, instead we get flood watches. Going ice fishing means risking your own life heading out on the lake - no one will do it. The ski slopes are taking a major hit.

Tonight a new issue reared its head. Years ago, the guy across the street was moving out and he arranged it so that drainage tiles would be put in for the purchasers. Unfortunately, he pointed the drainage down the hill right into the yard of the couple below him, and into my and my neighbor's yard. So as our yards fill up with water, it soaks into the water table and eventually if the water level gets high enough, it comes into our basement. Our neighbor had the foresight to tell us tonight that his sump pump had turned on. So immediately we went downstairs to check ours and sure enough the bucket was filled to the rim. Our problem comes from the fact that the "good friend" of our former neighbors who gave us a wicked deal on the pair of sump pumps almost a decade ago did a crappy job. He used a ten-inch bucket as our sump bucket and finding a new pump isn't easy. Our old pump hasn't been used in 5 years, so it wasn't working. Immediately a frenzy insued as we tried to figure out what we were going to do. The good news is my husband got the sump pump running. God bless the inventor of WD40!!! We're pumping out about 5 gallons every two hours right now, but I know from the past that that pace will pick up to 5 gallons a minute by tomorrow or Sunday.

So I guess getting back to my complaint--- Hey Mother Nature. I love the warmer temps, but could you slack up on the rain and snow now and give us a good dose of sun???

What is it with girls?

Today we had a snow (more like freezing rain, icky weather) day. So I had my son, daughter and my friend's daughter here. My daughter is 9 and my friend's daughter is 5 and usually the pair get along, however today they were like pitbulls in a dog fight!

I'm still getting use to two girls together I guess. I never had a sister growing up, so I missed a lot of that, and now my sis-in-laws and I get along fine, so we don't fight at all. These two girls today however had to argue over the dumbest things from paint getting onto clothes to who got to sit on what side of the sofa and in what position. It was absurd that two intelligent beings could find the most ridiculous subjects to argue about.

I had to turn into the evil Mom. Not something I like doing in front of any one but my own kids who have grown up to it and are well used to my dropped voice bellow. In this case, the words were simple - "SIT. WATCH THIS MOVIE. DO NOT MOVE, LOOK AT EACH OTHER OR TALK TO EACH OTHER OR TOUCH EACH OTHER." It felt a little more like commanding a dog than disciplining children. Maybe there is not that wide a difference between the two?

I still can't understand though--what makes females so much more evil when it comes to getting along. If my son has issues with a friend, he'll walk away and ignore. These two girls, however, took more to deliberately trying to ignore each other and see who would cry "Mom/Tracy" first. I know as we are older hormones play a big part of this but at 9 and 5 there are not the hormonal mood swings yet? Are there????

Today's 2nd post - LOST, I have questions now!

So we started watching my first season DVD set with a notepad in hand and I've been studying every intricate detail I come across.

Immediately, the first episode brings a question to mind. Jack lands in a bamboo patch a good distance away from the beach. However, he was sat next to Rose on that beach. Why did he land so far away? Was he really on the plane at all? I'm still studying, but I need Rose to confirm that she talked to Jack on the plane because otherwise, Jack and that other doctor Desmond, the one in the bunker, could have been on the island together before the plane even crashed and that opens up a whole new realm of ideas for me. Desmond gave up medical school because he believed in "miracles", maybe the island is purgatory and the black thing is what decides if you have made it to the other side???

Second, Jack is shown with a tattoo on his shoulder. It's the number five with a big triangle over it. In the bunker they show a symbol for The Dharma Initiative - the one in the film - now the symbols are not the same, but the triangle in Jack's tattoo looked like it was formed with a series of lines, not a solid shape, much like each "petal" in the Dharma Initiative's octagon, is there a connection there?

In the first episode, the thing in the jungle makes a whirring sound, much like a helicopter or possibly hovercraft? I don't think that thing and the black cloud which roars are the same thing. It's the whirring thing that kills the pilot, so it's as tall as a medium tree - so a hovercraft works for me...

Like this is something to be proud of???

I came across this story today in Yahoo news. We all know this means he raped and pillaged throughout his lifetime, so why is this supposed to impress people????

~~~~~~

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Scientists in Ireland may have found the country's most fertile male, with more than 3 million men worldwide among his offspring.

The scientists, from Trinity College Dublin, have discovered that as many as one in twelve Irish men could be descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages, a 5th-century warlord who was head of the most powerful dynasty in ancient Ireland.

His genetic legacy is almost as impressive as Genghis Khan, the Mongol emperor who conquered most of Asia in the 13th century and has nearly 16 million descendants, said Dan Bradley, who supervised the research.

"It's another link between profligacy and power," Bradley told Reuters. "We're the first generation on the planet where if you're successful you don't (always) have more children."
The research was carried out by PhD student Laoise Moore, at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity. Moore, testing the Y chromosome which is passed on from fathers to sons, examined DNA samples from 800 males across Ireland.

The results -- which have been published in the American Journal of Human Genetics -- showed the highest concentration of related males in northwest Ireland, where one in five males had the same Y chromosome.

Bradley said the results reminded the team of a similar study in central Asia, where scientists found 8 percent of men with the same Y chromosome. Subsequent studies found they shared the same chromosome as the dynasty linked to Genghis Khan.

GENGHIS KHAN EFFECT

"It made us wonder if there could be some sort of Genghis Khan effect in Ireland and the best candidate for it was Niall," Bradley said.

His team then consulted with genealogical experts who provided them with a contemporary list of people with surnames that are genealogically linked to the last known relative of the "Ui Neill" dynasty, which literally means descendants of Niall.

The results showed the new group had the same chromosome as those in the original sample, proving a link between them and the Niall descendents.

"The frequency (of the Y chromosome) was significantly higher in that genealogical group than any other group we tested," said Bradley, whose surname is also linked to the medieval warlord. Other modern surnames tracing their ancestry to Niall include Gallagher, Boyle, O'Donnell and O'Doherty.

For added proof, the scientists used special techniques to age the Y chromosome, according to how many mutations had occurred in the genetic material over time. The number of mutations was found to be in accordance with chromosomes that would date back to the last known living relative of Niall.

Niall reportedly had 12 sons, many of whom became powerful Irish kings themselves. But because he lived in the 5th century, there have been doubts the king -- who is said to have brought the country's patron saint, Patrick, to Ireland -- even existed.

"Before I would have said that characters like Niall were almost mythological, like King Arthur, but this actually puts flesh on the bones," Bradley said.

When international databases were checked, the chromosome also turned up in roughly 2 percent of all male New Yorkers.