Books and Dogs

Saturday May 16 was cold and wet and one of those days where one lazes around. In the end I went to town and bought 2 books. These ones were bought at Fullers Bookstore which has comfortable seats if one wishes to read a little as well as a cafe upstairs. I was not sure what I wanted but these are what I ended up with. Thought I should read Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father as he is the name on everyone's lips and it looks interesting. As for the other one books on houses, decorating and changing things interest me and it was on sale!

Son Peter and his fiancee Kathryn were suppposed to arrive back after a week holidaying in Brisbane. It seems Virgin notified them via a home phone and email but as they were not at home and did not check email they did not receive notification of flight change. Their flight was moved to an earlier time so as you can imagine they were upset when discovering they had missed that flight and were unable to get on another one bound for Hobart or which had a connecting flight through Melbourne until the following day.

We had Chloe, their 2 year old 'baby' golden labrador. She is a sweetie but boy can she shed and bark! She barks if she knows you are there and she is not with you (in the house or elsewhere on the property). She also sleeps on their bed so had to sleep on ours (believe me she has stayed over before for a couple of days and she will not sleep eslewhere because she will bark hereself hoarse! It took two days of sleeplessness before Chloe (lab) and our Angus (spoodle) worked out where they would sleep on the bed that suited everyone! Much and all as I love Chloe it was nice to see them arrive back to collect her. She and my Kali (terrier cross adopted from dogs home)got on very well together so no doubt Chloe missed her on returning home.

Peter and Kathryn enjoyed their Brisbane visit staying with Kathryn's brother. They spent time at places like Movie World and tried out local restaurants. Chloe enjoyed her week holidaying with us! Will put up a pic of me trying to take them all for a walk!!!!

Today is my eldest girl's birthday. As it is my day off(have every second Monday off) I am taking her to lunch at The Metz in Sandy Bay. We both enjoy going there though hard to leave as I usually have to drop Mel back at work. Bought her 2 pandora beads, one with a green bead and the other her star sign taurus, plus some money in a card. These birthdays come round too quickly! Jasmine (Mel's 6yr old) and I have been doing a scrapbook together so am sure Mel will love that. Next weekend I am babysitting the girls for Mel as she and friends are going to a concert and so I will keep the girls overnight. The next day Mel will pick them up and stay for lunch. The others will join us to celebrate her birthday then.

For F***'s Sake!

The above is a comment from a student made to me this afternoon. Whilst this isnt the first time it has been said I am purely and utterly over it! I am over the lack of respect shown. I understand as a professional that there are many with underlying problems and issues but I am tired of the lack of responsibility being taken for one's own actions. Am I wrong? Am I alone in this? Am I not understanding enough?

Believe me when I say I have tried. I am not agressive, I speak quietly,,,I do not like to embarrass students. I went and quietly spoke to this particular boy who is around the age of 15 and made a reasonable request. He tends to constantly prevent those around him from working. Today he was coloring his student planner with a thick black marker and somehow managed to make a racket in the process. His reply was the above when asked to refrain from doing this and try to make an effort with his work. Work..err he does not know the meaning of that word! I tried various approaches with him last year. At the end of the year I suggested that he would be best to be in another class, away from certain students. So ..surprise..he gets put into another class..yep mine again!

Now I like a challenge but I dont think I can crack this one. They say you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink. During the rest of the week we have National Testing. This kid wont do so well. At the end of the day I still get paid. I wonder what he will end up doing for a living? Somewhere though I have to draw a line. I cant keep worrying about it and yet I feel like I should be able to make a difference. I guess I should accept the fact I cant do this with every student. There also is no reason why he cant at least show some respect, and if he does not have any, at least pretend! There were some other boys being disrespectful as well but it seems to be par for the course these days. Why? Manners are not old fashioned but seem to be seen as such of late.

Ok, enough! Saturday I went to an Adult Ed course on First Response in the caring of injured and orphaned wildlife. Was quite interesting and the information was very comprehensive. Turned out the person taking the course is a parent of a girl I teach at work so talk about a small world. Met my older daughter afterwards, had a bite to eat and did a spot of shopping. I got the most comfortable shoes for work made by air flex. Mel paid the rest of the money for her overseas trip which is happening later the year. I am excited for her! Mel also bought me a lovely warm R.M. Williams long sleeve jumper for Mothers Day.

Mothers Day: Will write about that next time,
Ciao