15 posts tagged “kiddo”

I'm sure that I've made it clear previously that I feel that the school districts down here, well, suck balls.  Let me relay a tale which proves this point.

First, let me say that I know that my child is not perfect.  She's a normal, sometimes forgetful 15 year old.  I'm over that part.  I'm used to reminding her of things a million times.  About a week and a half ago, she told me that she needed $5.  Of course, it's like pulling teeth, so I have to follow up with 'for what?'.  Long story short, the teacher "made" them all take at least one raffle ticket to sell. (it's a computer class and the raffle would benefit some school sports team of which my child is no part)  Needless to say, she didn't sell it.  This, of course, didn't stop the teacher from still wanting. her. five. dollars!

So, I figured that I would send a note asking why I should give up 5 bucks for something that had nothing to do with this class.  What follows is the teacher's response....I have not edited it at all except to remove my last name.

DEAR MRS. MiamiShyner

SORRY I COULD NOT GET BACK TO YOU SOONER, TOO MANY THINGS AT THE SAME TIME.

LET ME EXPLAINED TO YOU WHY CAYTLIN NEEDS TO BRING THE $5.00.
THE TICKET  IN QUESTION WAS A RAFFLE THAT THE SCHOOL WAS GOING TO HAVE TO LIFT THE STUDENT'S SPIRIT BY GIVING THEM SOME PRICES BEFORE THE F-CAT, AND A WAY TO GET AN EXTRA A FOR THE STUDENTS IN THE INDIVIDUAL CLASSES. CAYTLIN COMMITTED HERSELF TO SALE ONE TICKET. I GAVE ALL OF THE STUDENTS THE OPTION OF RETURNING THE UNSOLD TICKET ON THE DAY DETERMINED BY THE ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR, AND SHE AND OTHER STUDENTS DID NOT BRING THEM ON THAT DAY, I HAD TO PAY $160.00 OUT OF MY POCKET TO MAKE UP FOR ALL THE TICKETS THAT WERE NOT RETURNED ON TIME, AMONG THEM CAYTLIN'S.
SINCE THAT MOMENT I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO COLLECT THE MONEY FROM THE STUDENTS THAT DID NOT BRING THE TICKETS, TO MAKE THE ECONOMICAL DEFICIT A LITTLE SMALLER.  AS YOU COULD IMAGINE, THIS WAS THE LAST TIME EVER THAT I WOULD GET INVOLVED IN ANYTHING MONEY RELATED FOR SCHOOL.
I HOPE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND MY SITUATION, AND I THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLAIN IT.

SINCERELY

MS GARCIA

Ha!  Are you done laughing yet?  Here is my response:

Ms. Garcia,
I appreciate the explanation.  It is my understanding that now you are in possession of the raffle ticket.  If this is correct, and I do believe that it is, despite any misunderstandings I cannot now give you the money for a raffle ticket for which I do not even have in my possession.
I have also been informed that you have now isolated Caitlyn (note spelling) from her friends in the class due to this issue about five dollars.  I find this to be highly unacceptable.  I am sure that, per your own note, there are other children who have not turned in the five dollars, and find it hard to believe that they are all receiving the same treatment from you.  If there is a problem with Caitlyn's classroom behavior, please make me aware of it and I will nip it in the bud from home.  If you feel that you need to discuss something with me, you will find my telephone number located at the bottom of this email.
 
Finally, for your own personal note, typing in all capital letters is equated with yelling.  I will assume that is not the message that you were trying to convey.  I do believe, however, that your means of response should be treated with as much care and consideration as your in-person interactions with parents, and that particularly, as a computer teacher, you would be aware of the social norms of electronic communications.
 
Again, you may feel free to contact me by telephone should you wish to discuss this matter further.
 
Regards,
 
Ms. MiamiShyner

Was I mildly bitchy?  Yes.  But over the top?  Nah.  Did I nearly jump out of my skin and want to slap the living shit out of this woman due to her response below?  HELLZ to the YEAH.

MRS. MiamiShyner

LET ME START BY SAYING THAT THE REASON WHY CAYTLIN HAS BEEN "ISOLATED" FROM HER FRIEND, IS BECAUSE SHE IS NO LONGER WORKING ON HER PROJECTS, SINCE SHE SPENDS ALL THE TIME TALKING TO THE GIRL THAT I MOVED AWAY FROM HER.
REGARDLESS OF WHAT SHE MIGHT THINK, MY PURPOSE IN SCHOOL IS TO HAVE STUDENTS WORKING AND LEARNING, GRANTED THAT THEY HAVE THE CHOICE NOT TO WORK, BUT NOT IF I CAN HELP IT.

ABOUT THE MONEY, THE TICKET THAT WAS RETURNED TO ME IS USELESS BECAUSE THE RAFFLE WAS OVER A MONTH AGO , AND AS I SAID, CAYTLIN TOOK UPON HERSELF THE RESPONSIBILITY OF SALLING THE TICKET BY THE DUE DATE, AND SHE DIDN'T, THE TICKET COULD HAVE BEEN THROWN AWAY BECAUSE IT IS WORTHLESS.
CAYTLIN HAS MADE ME ASK HER FOR THE MONEY FOR A MONTH, AND I DON'T THINK THAT IT IS FAIR FROM YOUR PART TO MAKE ME PAY FOR HER LACK OF RESPONSIBILITY, BUT IF YOU WANT TO DO SO, THEN SO BE IT.

WITH CAPITAL LETTERS IS HOW I WRITE ALL EMAILS TO EVERYBODY, I CAN READ BETTER WHAT I WRITE.

I HOPE THAT CAYTLIN'S COMPLAINTS HAVE BEEN CLARIFIED, AND MINE TOO.

AT YOUR SERVICE

MS GARCIA

Seriously?!?!

• I corrected you that it is MS not MRS if you paid attention.
• Kiddo has been in your class for nearly 27 weeks now and you still cannot spell her name right even though I pointed that out to you too?
• I'm sorry, but I don't care if English isn't your first language.  You need to get some classes under your belt about basic grammar.
• You type in caps because "you can read better what you write"?!?!?!  Are you fucking kidding me?!?!  Are we both professionals here?  Wait, it is obvious that one of us is not.

So, I think I'm just going to post this here and let it go.  Why, you might ask?  Because the person who supervises the teachers, whom I've had the pleasure  opportunity to meet, Dr. Diaz, is going to stick up for Ms. Garcia.  I still might respond though if I'm feeling especially bitchy.

Oh, and why don't you get on your bicycle and ride down the K-12 and see if your five dollars is at the bottom.

"Two faculty... One speaks no English, the other learned English from watching "The Wide World of Sports." So you tell me... Which is better, speaking no English at all, or speaking Howard Cosell?"

My recent problem which is getting worse is that I no longer know when I am hungry.  I eat at work at specific times, but not because I'm hungry.  On weekends, I just kind of forget to eat.  The only way I realize that I'm probably hungry is the nasty headache and a bit of an upset stomach.  I don't know if this is a symptom of something, but I'm trying not to let WebMD rule my life.

Last night I told Kiddo before bed that we would be going to Denny's this morning for breakfast so to be ready to go at 10.  At 8:30 I woke up to a viciously pounding headache along with a good bit of nausea.  I trucked off to the bathroom and noticed that her door was cracked and the light and TV were on.  I knocked and peeked in to find her sitting on the floor, fully dressed, watching TV.  She looked at me slightly confused (since I was still in my bathrobe) and all I could say was "Forgot to turn your clock back, huh?"  The look was priceless.

We ended up leaving a little earlier than 10 because I really needed to get some food in me.  Over to Denny's we went, since we all know that I hate IHOP.  It was about a 15 minute wait, which I can deal with.  Every time we've gone in there, the same guy is at the host stand taking names and getting asses in seats.  Today, he was MIA.  Insert train wreck here.

We finally got a seat and watched 4 different waitresses walk past us and not a one said a word to us.  I'm hungry and therefore pretty annoyed.  After 5 minutes, I was past annoyed.  We agreed that if we didn't have someone at least speaking to us in the next 5, we were gonna give up the fight.  Right then, I also called Sergio's, the most rockin' Cuban restaurant EVER!  They just don't speak a lot of English.  Someone picked up and I tried to ask them how long the wait was.  I got put on hold as I could hear the girl who answered the phone yelling "ENGLISH!!"  Not funny then, very funny now.  Someone finally came on and I asked how long for a table of three.  He said that he had three people on the list right now and he would put me on but I had to PROMISE that I would be there in five minutes.  I told him we'd be there in three.

Still never having seen a waitress to get as much as some silverware or a glass of water, we walked out.  I have never done that before in my life.  Sergio's in only a few blocks away from Denny's and Kiddo and I got out while Lovey parked the car.  We had barely walked in the place when they were calling us for our table.  Less than 2 minutes and we had water.  Another minute and we had silverware.  We had barely finished looking at the menu when our waitress was there to take our order.  Oh how I love you cafe con leche.  Less than 2 minutes and we had our coffee.  I am not exaggerating when I say it was less than 5 minutes before we had all of our food.  That's right.  In less time than it took to get seated an aggravated at Denny's, we had been seated, served, and were almost finished eating.

Btw, if you're ever in Miami and you go to Sergio's (and I suggest it), be aware that when they say you're getting two scrambled eggs, you're really getting somewhere in the neighborhood of five.  All full of cheese with a side of bacon and the hugest piece of toasty, buttery Cuban bread ever.  Artery clogging?  Yes,  Delicious and well worth it?  Hell yes.

My boys don't play till tomorrow so I went to do a little shopping today.  Hi Macy's.  I love when the things I want are 40% off and on top of that you let me use my coupon for another 30% off.  I think I got 4 tops and 2 skirts for about a C-note.

Lovey's aunt made some delicioso chicken with onions and peppers.  I love peppers.  I can't wait to eat it.  Sometimes I think she's trying to fatten me up since they're always telling me (and Lovey) that I'm too skinny.  Ah well.  I don't have that badonkadonk butt, but I can deal with that. :-)

Oh yeah, last thing.  Today was the last day of early voting.  On my way to the mall, I drove by the place we voted.  The line was wrapped all the way around the library.  I'm thinking it had to have been at least a five hour wait.  People are serious about some voting down here!  I think I'm gonna need to do some volunteering in these last couple of days.

That's all I've got for you today...as if I didn't ramble enough.  I hope that you've all enjoyed your weekend.  See you again tomorrow for more misadventures of the house of Shyne.  MWAH!

>.<  stuff

• Up until last night, a serious lack of good sleep
• I miss my Kiddo although I know she's in good hands and is having a blast
• Dude.  Work.  Seriously.  I'm smarter than this.
• Almost finished with Duma Key already

:-D  stuff

• 4th of July weekend was totally fun
• A mere four days remain until vacation for real
• Two melatonin let me sleep through one hell of a storm
• I'll be an iPhone whore in a couple days
• The second bathroom will function within the next month!
• Hooray book club
• BruddaShyner may go check out Kiddo at camp
• The end of accounting is in sight
• OMG, last night's hamburgers were freaking delicious
• EDAMAME!
• It's 2 for Tuesday.  Hoo HA!

Welcome back to the reality known as Monday.  Bad for some, worse for others, but for me, I just take them as they come.

So, let's just get the bad news out of the way first.  Last MUM, I set three goals for myself.  Let's see how I did.

1. Finish homework by Friday - She shoots, she SCORES!  I actually had it all done.  I plan to do the same this week.
2. Stretch for an hour daily - That slapshot missed WAY wide.  Not only did I not stretch for an hour daily, I didn't stretch at all.  Bad Shyner.  That just means I'll be in super pain tomorrow after class tonight.
3. Read 20 pages of PHP tutorial - I just got shutout.  Yeah, I didn't do any of the reading.  I am such a mess, but I will do better this week.

So, if I didn't do any of that, then what DID I do last week?  Let's see.  Weekdays are spent at work and then basically collapsing after work from the mental trauma (NOT!).  Really, I'm just lazy and when I get home I don't want to do much.  Saturday I spent basically the entire day fixing up the living room.  Let's just say that before, it was pretty yuck, and seeing as how it's the first thing you see when you walk in our front door, I got tired of wanting to jump off a bridge if I saw it one more time like that.  It was cluttered and full of junk and dark and, well, yuck.  I wanted to get some slipcovers for the couches but after a wild goose chase at Macys, then Target, then Bed, Bath and Beyond, I gave up on them.  I did, however, end up with a decent bookshelf (that Kiddo helped me put together) and a couple of nice plants. 

I should have taken a before picture so you could see what was really done, but I didn't.  If my brother stops by, he'll let you know how much it's changed.

Yeah, that wall is pink.  I still have to paint, but let me tell you, it's a million times better than it was.  My Stephen King collection finally has a home, as do all of my computer books.  Which is awesome in and of itself because it cleared off space on the bookshelf in my office/the gym for some of my other books.  Both Lovey's aunt and our former roommate were awestruck by the transformation and I am quite happy with it.  That was an all day job.

Saturday night was date night and I even managed to stay awake after all day cleaning.  Lovey and I stepped out for a frozen cocktail since it was just under 8000 degrees.  We walked around but there were way too many people out for me so we called it a little early and went home to sit on the balcony.  Good times.

Sunday we met Lovey's mom, step-dad, sister and aunt for lunch in a fantabulous Mexican restaurant.  Super good stuff.  We returned to la casa de doce trienta with full bellies where I cleaned some more and then played some online poker.

The weekend would not have been complete, however, without some sports.  That's right.  Penguins 2, Flyers 0.  Pens in 5 is the way I'm calling it.  Let's go PENS!

Before I ramble on too much further, let me set this week's goals.

• Finish the friggin homework before Friday
• Read 20 pages of the PHP tutorial
• Clean the office/gym
• Create a schedule

With that, I'm out!  REGULATORS, Mount Up!

Well then, happy Monday Voxers.

I feel as though I may have stepped into some time portal as it's already 2pm and I feel as though I've just recently arrived to work.  Now, this would be normal on a day where I was swamped with work, but today is not that day.  Time just keeps disappearing.  The time between meals evaporates like it wasn't there at all.  And on a non-related note, bouts of lightheadedness while sitting are just plain weird.

Weekends are just delicious, aren't they?  Yesterday, Lovey, Kiddo and I went over to the home of the new bride and groom for slideshows and videos (and burgers and beers and snacks, oh my tummy).  Great times had by all and we're going to work on having the get-together monthly.  Hooray!

Talks of the Park City vacation were in full swing, even though it's still 9 months away.  We all feel like it's been forever since we were there but it's only been 3 months.  We have more folks joining us this year which will make it either way more fun or a super pain in the ass, lol.

I found it rather amusing when, joking with another guest, she called me a bad mommy.  Kiddo got pretty pissed and said that I'm not a bad mommy, I'm a great mommy.  The other guest noted that she was just joking but Kiddo wasn't having any of that.  I guess I'm not doing such a bad job after all.

The 8th grade dance is on Friday.  I will post pictures later of Kiddo in her self-designed, MommaShyner-made dress.  Let me warn you now that the color scheme is rather outrageous.  The design itself is cute though.  Yet Kiddo has no desire to do anything in fashion.  Go figure.

The fitness bug is about to hit me again.  I know it's all about how my clothes fit and feeling healthy, but 136 pounds on a 5'1" frame just doesn't sound right.  I've got a lot of muscle mass that I can't get rid of. (If anyone knows a safe way to lose muscle mass, please let me know.)  So, it's Zumba mornings and once a week of LEM the Workout over at Body and Soul.  I got the most rockin deal ever on a Mother's Day promotion to get back to pole classes.  Regular price for the once a week, 90 minute class for 6 weeks and for free I got the punch card that allows me to go to as many classes as my body can take for 6 weeks.  AWESOME!  Now, if I could just find time for the trapeze and aerial classes, I'd be set.  Yeah, well, if I could find the money too.

Anywho, I've rambled enough.  Have a wonderful day everyone!

Yup, today is her birthday.  She's spending it, and the rest of the week in the Domincan Republic.  It's her first full week vacation in almost 10 years.  So happy birthday to her and I hope that she's having a great time. (She won't use her phone over there because of the charges, but I did send her a text message.)

She came to the house yesterday since her flight was leaving fromMiami.  She always gets close to the house but then gets lost.  I had to go get her.  She said that I looked so pretty when I was driving up.  Funny since I hadn't showered and my hair was up in a ponytail.  But hey, I guess I'll take my compliments where I can get them.  She says that I've changed a lot since I've been here in Miami.  I don't see it.

I asked Lovey if he thought that I was prettier now than I was two years ago.  Right, like he's gonna answer that.  I have something that he likes to frequent and he certainly isn't gonna jeopardize not getting to utilize the playground.

So what do you think, Voxers?  Here's me almost three years ago:

Face

Meh, I don't love that picture, but whatever.  Then here's me recently:

Face2

Actually, I don't love either of these pictures, but it's what I have since I typically avoid the camera like the plague.  So, outside of the obvious stuff like my hair is longer and my skin is certainly clearer, I don't really think I see much of a difference.  It's not like I can go backwards either, lol.  Damn not having an upper lip!

Mostly, I think I'm just not very photogenic.  MommaShyner and Kiddo are very photogenic though.  Guess it skips a generation.  Know what else skips a generation?  Talent.  Kiddo designed a dress for her 8th grade dance and my mom made it for her.  I'll post up on that later and while I don't really like the color scheme, it's still pretty good for an 8th grader and it looks like it could have been store bought so big ups to my talented family.

Oh well, happy Sunday all.  It's time for us to go to a BBQ. :-)

Kiddo goes to camp (although not for the 5 weeks, but for 4) thanks to Mom pitching in and Lovey paying half of what's left.

I don't know that I would know what to do without Lovey.  Sure, Kiddo's being out of the house for a month benefits him (let your imagination run and get its feet dirty) but in no way is he obligated to pitch in at all, let alone pay half.  He rocks!

Everyone should have a Lovey.  Just not my Lovey, lol.

Happy Monday, ya'll.

AWESOME UPDATE!! : First time camper discount knocks almost $800 of the cost!  Woohooo!!!

Am I completely insane to try to pull together nearly $6K to send Kiddo to summer camp for a month?  How do people do this? 

Is the name of a Stephen King novel.   There, I said it.  On with the post.

Yesterday was a bad day to be in Miami.  See Roboco's post about the crane collapse, there were break-ins that resulted in shootings, the road that I take to travel the 9 miles from the place I work to my home was shut down because of a very bad accident involving two motorcycles resulting in a 2 HOUR drive to get home and the side street on the way was clogged up because of another motorcycle crash in which an older guy laid it down and was laying in the street when I went past.  Yikes, what a nightmare for Miami.

There are only a few things that I am afraid of.  I mean, really afraid of.  Needles are one and bats are another.  Not like baseball bats, flying rats.  Those nasty little buggers.  I've never been a fan ever since one dive-bombed my head when I was walking home at dusk when I was around 10 years old.  ACK!

When I lived in Mexico, there were bats everywhere.  I was freaked out all the time heading back to my room.  There were places I wouldn't walk because I knew they were hiding in there.  Slightly irrational?  Yes.  I've seen them on the ground.  I know how big they are.  They're small.  That doesn't make them any less yucky.

Last night I dreamt that one flew into the house when we left our sliding glass door open.  This wasn't a small black bat.  This thing was huge and brown.  I think that's why I called it a coconut bat* in the dream.  It was as big as a freaking coconut!  Lovey shooshed it out of the house while I screamed.  I woke up this morning thinking, man I'm glad we got that stupid bat out of the house.  It was just that real.

* I don't think there's any such thing as a coconut bat.

Today, Kiddo goes to Mom's, thankfully not on American Airlines as I'm watching CNN and they just cancelled about 200 flights.  Tomorrow, we leave the country!  No, I'm not excited or anything.  :-D

It's hump day, ya'll.  Get your hump on!  Have a great day!  HEP.

You know, because I don't Vox on weekends.  Any old excuse will do.

Okay, if I don't get these things out, they'll be stuck in my head and they'll be in the way of doing my other stuff.

On commercials:

Yankeebob reminded me of this.  If you aren't in Florida or Georgia or one of the three other states that has a Publix, then you will not have seen this commercial.  Just so you know, Publix is a grocery store like your Winn-Dixie, Giant Eagle (pronounced Iggle), Albertsons, Kroger, whatever monstrous chain you have in your area.  Their slogan is "Publix.  Where shopping is a pleasure." 

They do these commercials about family and family time and such and Lovey seemed to find this one to be amusing.  It rotates around a black family and a woman who just married into the family.  She has just returned from her honeymoon and is attending a family function.  She is in someone's house and everyone is cooking and following recipes on beat up index cards.  Her husband tries to peek at one of the cards and the woman holding it (presumably his sister) yanks it away.

Everyone is cooking away and ignoring this poor new addition to the family.  Someone asks about her honeymoon and she starts to answer but gets pushed out of the way and all of a sudden, it's time to go to Big Momma's house.  The food is being passed around and everyone is chowing down but the Noob still feels a little uncomfortable.  Of course, the watchful eye of Big Momma sees this.  After dinner is cleared (this all happens in about 30 seconds, mind you), BM brings out a cake and Hubby whispers to the Noob that 'that's the cake I was telling you about'.  Three layers of yellow cake with fruit and whipped cream in the middle.  Big whoop, wanna fight about it?

No one eats on camera and everyone is now leaving.  BM is showing everyone the door and tells the Noob, "Welcome to the family."  Noob gives her best fake smile and as she and Hubby walk away, Noob reaches into her pocket to find the recipe for the cake.  AWWWWWWW!

Lovey found this commercial to be funny, bordering on dumb, but then again, Lovey ain't black.  Kudos to whatever ad agency wrote that one up because it's pretty darn true.  My Gram wouldn't write a recipe down.  EVER.  She took some great recipes to her grave.  I'm the only one that can even get close to her mac and cheese because I would stand under her in the kitchen constantly.  Does this part of the blog have an ending?  No.

On wedding plans:

I am so not girly when it comes to this sort of thing.  I've never wanted the white dress/church wedding.  Ever since I can remember, I've been upsetting my mom with a 'why can't I get married in the back yard and have a BBQ' attitude.  Last week, Lovey and I were briefly discussing getting married after watching a funny video.  I mentioned that I wasn't into the whole thing and he said that he was fine with that.  I did say, though, that if it was gonna be anything even remotely done-up, that I would want it to be at the Club Med here in Florida so it would be easier to gather my friends since they're scattered all over.  Lovey happened to love that idea, hooray.  So we didn't set a date, per se, but figured we'd do it before our big move out west.  So, spring to early summer of 2010 is the date.

On to-do lists:

• Return library books, pick up leisure reading
• Buy Zumba videos for delivery upon our return
• Pack Kiddo for a week at Gramma's
• Pack us for weekend at Bernie's Honduras Intercontinental Hotel, Tegu
• Self-manicure
• Buy shoes
• Buy new foundation
• Finish product descriptions before Mr. N kills me
• Write a discussion for class
• Write a paper for class

Okay, it isn't as bad as I thought, but I feel like I'm missing something.  It all has to be done between work and sanity time and leaving work early on Wednesday to get Kiddo to the airport and our early departure on Thursday.  Go me!

So, not that many will notice, but I'll be off the radar beginning Wednesday afternoon, returning Monday.  I lurve a 3 day workweek.  Peace out, ya'll. And, oh yeah, HEP!