What is happening

[Priscilla]

My experience was a long time ago (12+ years) and I had forgotten about it until you mentioned your experiences. My last ten years I worked in daycares and the oldest children were about 5. There were certainly still behaviour problems but nothing like the after school kids that went up to 5th grade.

My eyes have been sore and itchy the last few days and while it is still cold outside I am thinking it may nevertheless be seasonal allergies. Trip to the pharmacy for something OTC, I think.

[Lily]

Perhaps it means spring is coming? All those busy little bees starting work ? Let's hope! For me, a very nice sunny day makes my nose run like anything. In fact, my nose is a good indication of weather to come !!

[mawra]

It is suppose to get cold later in the week. Enjoy the nice weather while it lasts.

[mawra]

Good news, bad news with Seth, he does not have TSC like we thought. He has something only 1% of the population has. I am not sure what it is call. There is something in his brain or skull that comes down lower then it should and block his cerebral fluid. I think he will have to have surgery.

[Priscilla]

I am so sorry for him. However, if he has surgery will this correct what is wrong so he can have a healthy life? That at least would be a positive outcome.

This makes me wonder how Cheryl's son is doing. Any improvement?

And, Moonlady. What grade do you teach? You've probably explained and I missed it. A student that has been in the system for 12 years I would think could potentially be anywhere from 15 to 17 years old! How old is this person and will they get passed on to some other teacher next year?!

[mawra]

We won't know anything about Seth until his appts. on the 24th.

While we have been looking on line for what it might be I came across this
Chiari Malformation http://www.conquerchiari.org/education/chiari-faqs.html

One of the main symptom is headaches and it is often misdiagnose as migraines.

Some of the other symptoms match Seth, If his head has always been hurting he might not realize it shouldn't. It may be that. Sometimes the headaches do not show up until latter.

I was wrong when I said they said he does not have TSC. They did not see any tubers in his brain, so the other problem is more important. He may have both.

I think we are lucky that there is a very good teaching hospital with experts in this condition and know what it looks like on a MRI, so close by.

[Moonlady]

My thoughts will be with you Mawra and the doctors that they will be able to help Seth.

Cilla, she is 17. I teach high school, severely handicap. She will go to the adult transition program this year. Since I last posted, things became worse with her. So a meeting was held and she is on a reduced day. She leaves at 1PM and the plan is to move her early to the adult transition program. However, I don't know how long it will last because a different teacher is not the solution. At the same time, administration backed off. Thanks everyone.

[mawra]

Melissa said Chiari Malformation is what Seth has.

[Priscilla]

I just googled that and the amount of information was really daunting.

[mawra]

I am not sure being able to look this stuff up is a good idea or not

[Zelandeth]

Finally have a spare few minutes where I can provide an update on our house buying saga!

So, all of the legal searches etc have come back and such now and everything looks to be OK there. Our mortgage provider *finally* did their valuation at the end of last week, which we should hear back regarding any day now.

IF everything goes to plan from this stage onward (I'll believe that when I see it!) it looks like we might be able to take possession on the 31st March. My comment to that was "only if our luck changes" given the delays in every possible step of the process so far!

Still think the best moment where I felt I was beating my head against a brick wall was a phone call I got from the mortgage provider regarding the survey. Now...One of the security questions they ask me when the phone up is the full address of the property in question, including the number. The reason they had phoned me was to ask the number of the property as they "didn't have it on file."

So the last real expected stumbling block would be if the bank decide that the property isn't worth what we say it is as that could open up a whole world of pain. No doubt though given how this has gone so far, something else will also come out of the woodwork!

So currently I'm staying with friends, in a very cramped, very cold house with very dodgy internet access that is slowly driving me insane, with all of our worldly possessions tucked away in a couple of storage containers (save for the guitars, as I wasn't putting them in there, a laptop and a plastic box with some clothes in). It's been approximately a week now, and I am Officially Getting Very Tired Of This Arrangement! I know that things could be far worse, but it's really grating on me.

Also crossing my fingers and willing the poor old Saab to hold together for another couple of weeks until we've got the house so I can give the thing some much needed TLC. The strain of spending the best part of a month on almost daily "van duty" has taken its toll. Once we're in the house and I've got access to a garage I think it will be taken off the road for a few weeks while I tackle the growing list of gremlins and faults.

[Priscilla]

Crossing fingers for you. In my experience, house buying is never easy, at least not for those who have to get a mortgage, which is most of us. Your current living quarters may not be ideal but at least you aren't living IN the Saab!

This week the high school is performing the Gershwin musical "Crazy For You". Mike is playing bass in the pit and we have tickets to the Saturday matinee. He says it's good, I'm looking forward to it. Afterwards the 5 of us (minus Mike who has to play in the evening show) are going out to dinner for Jeff's birthday. We finally settled on buying him a new recliner chair made by the StressLess company in Sweden. Leather, very fancy!

The first day of Spring is Thursday. It had better hurry up!

[mawra]

After moving into this house and tearing down the old house, but before actually signing papers the bank decided that our well water had to be checked. The fact that we had been using the well for decades and we had moved into the house already was beside the point.
They would not approve the loan that they had already approved until it was done.

The crap banks comes up. Once they called to make sure Mom had signed something because her signature did not look the same.

[Zelandeth]

To be honest, think living in the Saab would be warmer than it is in here!

[Kugai]

Bit tight in there Zelandeth

[Priscilla]

Fast, though!

[Hans]

Oh, to be sure it is a tight fit and let me assure you, warm too

But it might be possible that you misunderstood Zelandeth just a wee bit, Kugs.

[Zelandeth]

I am seriously going to hurl the router here out of the window if it keeps this up. Bandwidth is OK, but the latency actually connecting with anything is intolerable...Generally it's taking anywhere between 30 seconds and a minute to find any host and actually start loading the webpage - if there are elements from different servers on the page, expect that wait for every one of them! Suffice to say, I'm getting really fed up of things which bounce through Google analytics before actually loading the page!

I've tried using different DNS servers (as it's the DNS lookup that seems to be where the bottleneck is), checked all the settings in the router seem sensible, rebooted it, tried different computers to confirm that it's not that at fault, tried wired connections etc and nothing seems to be helping...It is slowly driving me insane.

In other news, we've had word back from the mortgage provider - they're happy with the results of their valuation and have completed the report. For some reason it will now take a minimum of five days for this to be sent to our solicitors...Not sure why it has to take five days in this day and age...but oh well!

Saab might be a bit cramped in the long-term...Know for a fact though that you can camp in it quite comfortably! Rear seats down leaves you a completely flat area roughly the size of a double bed, which fits a double camping mattress nicely.

It's a bit roomier up front than the one Kugai showed!



...Though that one definitely wins in terms of speed and presence.

[P'ter]

I suspect that your insurance is a bit lower than Kugai's

[Zelandeth]

True enough! Still extortionate...though that will be changing in May when it's up for renewal and it will be going onto a proper classic policy.

...Its successor will be even cheaper to insure though once I decide to make that change, though I will miss it when that happens. Has been a really good car, but starting to think that it's maybe time for a change.

There is no logic to car insurance prices...

[mawra]

I haz head pain. Sinus mostly. Kibby actually got to go school. Last week was spring break, before that was snow days. Yesterday was snow day. I think they have had more snow days then they had classes this semester.

[Kugai]

Originally Posted by P'ter

I suspect that your insurance is a bit lower than Kugai's

A Sidewinder through the window tends to get them to lower the rate

[Moonlady]

Positive thoughts that nothing delays getting the house, Zei.

I agree about the two vehicles however I would love to fly or ride in the fighter jet. *drool*

Since my student has gone to a shorten day (she leaves at 1), the school day is becoming productive again.

[Priscilla]

I'm glad to hear that your problem student has gone to a shorter day.

I would not want to ride in a fighter jet. I have a hard enough time riding in a commercial airline. I have a serious fear of heights and the only way I get around it is by figuring once up in the plane I'm stuck with it. No ladders, mountain climbing or other heights for me!


Crossing my fingers for the house purchase, Zelandeth!

[Allen]

Originally Posted by Kugai

A Sidewinder through the window tends to get them to lower the rate

I take it you're talking about either this

or this

and not this

[Hans]

LOL @ Allen

[Zelandeth]

*bangs head against the nearest wall*

Have heard back today that now the rental company from whom the current owner of the house is to be renting are causing problems. Previously she had been advised that she could move in at any time - yet now she has tried to, has been told that she can't move in until 8th April!

So we're stuck in this stupid situation for another couple of weeks...

Also really annoying is that this will mean that for the sake of what looks like two days, we will need to pay for another month's rental of the storage units, which will cost us upward of £500!

[Priscilla]

Absolutely dislike this. Unfortunately, unless the lady had it in writing as to a specific move in date she was "allowed" it sounds like she is at their mercy as are you as well. I'm so sorry, for the aggravation as well as the extra expense!

[Kugai]

I meant the middle one Allen, though the first one would be just as effective too.

[mawra]

Watching and laughing at Hell's Kitchen. Why is it the people who are on are suppose to chefs, but can not cook even chicken or fish

[Moonlady]

Micah's bike was stolen today at the mall, despite using one of the highly recommended heavy duty locks. It seems they used professional cutters to free it. We made a report with the police but I'm not hopeful it will be found.

[Priscilla]

Oh dear! Any chance there might have been surveillance cameras? What a rotten thing! Sometimes I really do despair, especially when I hear things like this.

[P'ter]

Look for it being sold on e-bay!

[mawra]

or flea markets

[Zelandeth]

Wonderful...Just been given a stern talking to by a Council groundskeeping bod basically ordering me to shift my car. Apparently it's not permitted to park as I have half on the verge (there's a grass separation strip about 10 feet wide between the road and the footpath) and half on the road. Looking both ways from the drive, I count 37 vehicles visible right now parked the same way - and that's while everyone is at work. That's also without me actually walking up or down the road.

I've got to put the thing somewhere, and I can't park it in the drive as it doesn't fit! Not to mention the fact that the car belonging to the folks who actually own this place goes in there at night.

Yet another headache to try to sort out.

[GinnyStar]

Oh no, hugs!

A friend of mine Sharon E. who is a fan of Anne McCaffrey mom passed away last week.

She is the one who helped me with an interlibrary loan of an audio copy of Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern. And I showed her the Ship Who Sang books

We are going to the Woman of Ireland this Mon together.

[Moonlady]

Hugs Zelandeth

Thanks everyone

[Priscilla]

Going out to dinner for Jeff's birthday in a few minutes. Fred, Eliza, Jenn, Jeff & I. Mike has to play in the pit for the evening performance of Crazy for You at the high school. Fred, Eliza, Jenn & I went to the afternoon matinee. It was a lot of fun. Good singing and tap dancing. There is a scene in which one of the cowboys is given an upright bass to play, which meant for several minutes Mike basically had a solo. SO good! We have talented kids! We aren't going to the Chowder Pot (Anneli) but are going to another good seafood place. There may be clam chowder involved!

[mawra]

Strange noise coming from Mom's room. I do not want to know what it was.

Yesterday I had to see Dr. that Social Security sent me to, for my disability claim.

[Priscilla]

Strange noise? Are you sure the goat didn't get in again?

I hope you can get things squared away with Social Security. Jeff will be 65 tomorrow. He signed up for Medicare but since he is still working and has insurance through work that will not kick in until he plans to quit next year.