Listening to: Meat Loaf- Bat Out of Hell
Reading: The Reef Nora Roberts
Weather: low 60’s and sunny
Trivia: When did people first start using soap?
Soap as a cleansing agent for the body was first prepared by the Phoenicians in 600 B.C. As they were inveterate traders who sailed the Mediterranean, they introduced soap to the Greeks, the Romans and even the Gauls. The Romans, with their exquisite baths
and fountains, were particularly eager to greet the Phoenician mixture of goat's fat and wood ash. Interestingly, the 2nd century Greek physician Galen saw soap as a valuable medicinal agent, finding it useful for cleansing wounds and the body in general and was probably instrumental in its widespread acceptance.
Cool word: cadre [n. KAHD-ree]
A cadre is a group of competent people who work together, usually at the center of a larger organization. Example: "Among the many rescue workers present in the aftermath of the bombing was a cadre of paramedics, without whose aid many people would have died." A cadre can also be a framework, and this sense is most closely related to the word's origin. Just as a cadre of people can support and stabilize an organization, so a connected group of squares can support a framework. The root is the Latin quadrum (square), which
entered Italian as quadro, then migrated to French, where it took on the current meaning.
Meetings and Migraines
Today was a day of meetings, conferences with teachers, and a whopper migraine.
Actually the headache started Monday night and I’ve just not been able to shake it. I keep popping the Excedrin Migraine formula pills, but they only take the edge off, they don’t get rid of the headache. Actually, they serve to make me feel a bit spacey, everything sort of looks fuzzy around the edges.
Of course that could just be how the migraine is affecting my vision. I find it hard to focus on things clearly.
None of the prescription drugs work for me. Most of them have a side effect of heart palpitations, something I’m prone to, so I can’t use any of them. I don’t get a headache that lingers like this very often (thank God!) so this has made life miserable for the last couple of days. Usually I just take the time off and go to bed for a day, but I can’t do that with the schedule I’m currently trying to cope with.
I also went to the special education meeting for Matilda today. I didn’t have to be the advocate from hell, as things were pretty much done well. There were a couple of things I questioned, but I understood the reasoning behind the testing that I questioned, so I’m ok with it.
I actually like this group of teachers who work with her. they are all very competent and seem to have a real handle on Matilda, so I’m not worried about her falling between the cracks. She’s so quiet at school, that I worry they’ll forget about her. This is a complete contrast with the kids we know at home – she never shuts up!
I left my school at noon so I could be at her meeting for one-fifteen, so I might not have been at work, but I was still working. It kept the day a long one.
Her teachers asked me if I’d come in some day to be a mystery reader, then realized that because I each that might be impossible. As it turns out, they have a half day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I have the day off. So I’m going to be the mystery reader and read a Thanksgiving story to the class. At least I think it will be a Thanksgiving story. I'll have to see what I can come up with. I’ll have to find turkey pops or something to give out afterwards as well.
I think this will be so much fun. It’s so rare that I get to do any of the school related things with Keith and Matilda, so it’s a treat to be able to surprise them. Last year I went to Keith’s Thanksgiving pageant, and managed to get to Matilda’s winter concert (my car was dead that day so I ended up calling in sick. My sister-in-law picked me up so I could go to the concert). I can’t wait to see the look on Matilda’s face when I walk in as the Mystery Reader.
I think Keith has a concert at ten that morning, so I’ll be able to go to that too. It’ll be a good day.
The other meetings of the day were either upsetting (I discovered that one of my guys is on Prozac because he gets so depressed he wants to kill himself – he’s only ten years old! I was very upset that the mother hadn’t shared that with the classroom teacher or myself earlier than this. It’s the kind of thing we like to keep an eye on.), or they were coming out of nowhere. Teachers are suddenly getting overwhelmed with notes from parents and they want me to handle them.
It’s all icky.
Tomorrow will be another long day. Meeting at 7.30, reading program observation later in the day, reading class until 5.30, then the Meat Loaf concert in Boston at 7.30 p.m.
I’ll be paying for it on Friday. But that’s ok, I’m looking forward to seeing Meat Loaf and hearing the soundtrack of my past.
For now, though, I need to iron something to wear tomorrow that will take me from school through concert and subway ride.
Then I need to take more stuff to see if I can lose this headache.
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