Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

[Caoimhe]

never mind!

Edited August 7 by Caoimhe
Deleted!

[shapeshifter]

In more uplifting newsy stories:
“Farmers honor ‘Peanuts’ creator Charles M. Schulz with corn mazes across US and in Canada”
https://apnews.com/article/peanuts-maze-corn-bbe0e062c9b5e632f83d151d440e26f8

[shapeshifter]

On 7/28/2024 at 9:03 PM, shapeshifter said:

I went to look at a condo this weekend, and will probably put an offer on it. 
There are only 16 units, and it's self-governing, so each neighbor has an impact. 
I met a few, and they seemed nice enough, although I question their ability to scrape together enough money for the new roof. 
But it is on the beach, no stairs, and turn-key gorgeous inside with updates.…

On 7/28/2024 at 9:03 PM, shapeshifter said:

…Anyhoo, I caught a quick glimpse of one owner today who was wearing a t-shirt with a screen print of a yellow banner and some black lettering that looked vaguely familiar from a recent meme that I can't quite recall.
Google didn't help.
Does anyone here have a guess as to what it might have said? 

There's a high chance I will be out-bid, but the mystery of the t-shirt graphic is distracting me.

Found it!
It was from Ted Lasso:

BTW, the condo is still listed as "pending," so I don't know by how much I was over-bid.
In this era of high interest rates, I am lightly holding onto the hope for the unlikely outcome of the deal falling through and my realtor actually having asked them to let her know if it did fall through, as she promised.

Meanwhile, at my current condo pool, while doing my volunteer duty of testing the pool's bromine levels, twice in one day men made comments to me clearly intended to test their assumptions about my outsider beliefs and ancestry, but then went on to be neighborly. 
At least in both cases my steely silence seemed to make them wish they hadn't.
Still looking at realtor.com…
Going to swim now while the pool is empty. 

Edited August 8 by shapeshifter

[annzeepark914]

@shapeshifter Didja tell 'em to go pound sand? Is this country (US) getting ruder? 

Good luck with your condo search 🍀🤞😊

 

[Dimity]

Had fun today exploring a free streaming service I didn't realize we even had.  It's called tubi and the fun part were all the really old TV shows they have that I've heard about but never seen.  Comedies like Mr. Peepers and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis among many others.  These shows were on before my time and never seemed to be in reruns but I'd hear them referenced in various places over the years.  Anyway, nice way to pass a rainy afternoon.

[fairffaxx]

Mr. Peepers debuted in 1952, the year we got a TV set, & my parents loved Wally Cox, Tony Randall, & Marion Lorne (who much later appeared on Bewitched as Samantha's ditzy aunt).  I was 5 & it came on past my bedtime, but I was able to watch it in reruns later & agreed with my parents about that inspired cast (especially Tony Randall).

Dobie Gillis debuted in 1959, when I was 12 & allowed to stay up later, so I could watch that as it aired.  My favorite character was Maynard the beatnik but I also aspired to become Thalia Menninger someday (which never happened) & I continue to admire Tuesday Weld.

I'm surprised these are available on a streaming service -- I figured most/all of the audience would be dead by now!

[Dimity]

48 minutes ago, fairffaxx said:

Dobie Gillis debuted in 1959, when I was 12 & allowed to stay up later, so I could watch that as it aired.

I still remember my parents letting us stay up late to watch The Ed Sullivan Show whenever Topo Gigio was on.  This is something my grandkids just can't understand.  The idea that a show was on once, and at a very specific time, and if you missed it, you missed it.  

[roseha]

Interesting @Dimity and  @fairffaxx, thanks I have often seen Dobie Gillis in reruns (it’s pretty funny for its time with some of the young characters who are so blatantly materialistic)(well not Maynard) but have never seen Mr Peepers.  I would have thought maybe it was one of those shows on kinescope that couldn’t look good now.  Will have to check it out.

Edited August 9 by roseha

[Annber03]

I remember seeing "Dobie Gillis" reruns on Nick at Nite when I was really little. They used to show them late at night alongside stuff like "Dragnet" and "F-Troop" and shows of that sort. 

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, Dimity said:

The idea that a show was on once, and at a very specific time, and if you missed it, you missed it.

My parents bought our first VCR in 1978* (which cost about $1000 then, which seems to be, from a brief search, equivalent to about $5000 now!), so I didn't have to deal with that for long as I was born in the mid '70s.  But VHS tapes were expensive then, you could only record one thing at a time, etc. -- there were still limitations that don't exist today. 

*It was enormous, the remote had a cord and had maybe three buttons -- and I still have the machine (but not the remote) sitting in my garage; last time (many years ago) I tested it, it still worked, but I really need to give it to a prop house and be done with it.  It was a supremely cool thing to have for a time when not many others did and it's a cool relic, but one that just takes up space.

[Yeah No]

3 minutes ago, Bastet said:

My parents bought our first VCR in 1978* (which cost about $1000 then, which seems to be, from a brief search, equivalent to about $5000 now!), so I didn't have to deal with that for long as I was born in the mid '70s.  But VHS tapes were expensive then, you could only record one thing at a time, etc. -- there were still limitations that don't exist today. 

*It was enormous, the remote had a cord and had maybe three buttons -- and I still have the machine (but not the remote) sitting in my garage; last time (many years ago) I tested it, it still worked, but I really need to give it to a prop house and be done with it.  It was a supremely cool thing to have for a time when not many others did and it's a cool relic, but one that just takes up space.

Wow, you still have it? I might, I'll have to ask my husband if he kept it when we cleared out my parents' apartment in 2020.

My parents thought they were really ahead of the curve when they spent about $1,000 on a Sony Betamax but where really upset when VHS took over the market. Fortunately my father had a friend that was a recording enthusiast who bought it from him, although I know they took a loss on it and then bought a VHS, which was huge by comparison. Anyway they bought the VCR specifically to record "General Hospital" so that we all could watch it in the evenings. Back in the late '70s the show featured Luke and Laura and then in the early '80s their eventual wedding, which followed the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana. I was thrilled to be able to see those things because by 1980 I worked and couldn't be around a TV to watch things like that.

And BTW, thanks to the VCR both my husband and father got hooked on "General Hospital" and we all used to gather on weekends to catch up to it. Back in those days it was very exciting!

[fairffaxx]

Warren Beatty appeared on Dobie Gillis as Milton Armitage, hopelessly rich & beautiful.  Thalia was naturally smitten by his wealth & the 2 of them competed in vanity & general shallowness.  Poor Dobie was left in the dust.

[BetyBee]

I have only had a few pedicures in my life. The last one was when I brought my granddaughter (around age 12) with to get her first manicure while I got a pedicure. Though we didn't speak the same language, I got a vibe from the guy who did my pedicure, that he didn't want me as a client. Still he did ok, until the very end when he swiped the pumice stone across my ankle. It hurt so bad and ruined the pedicure for me. I couldn't wear sandals until my ankle healed. I suspected it wasn't an accident, but I didn't make a fuss because I didn't want to ruin my granddaughter's experience. It turns out that my granddaughter wasn't happy with the experience and has done her own nails (beautifully!) since. She's 15 now.

I quit dying my hair years ago. Once I became a grandma, I freed myself of that task and expense. My whole head is white now, except for my old brown underneath. Lately, I rarely wear make-up. I'm kind of falling down on the job beauty-wise!

We've been watching Antiques Roadshow UK and old Hollywood Squares episodes on Pluto. The celebrities still crack me up on HS. Many are deceased now and it brings back memories of a different time.

[shapeshifter]

Another cute Google doodle:

https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&ictx=2&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSqv6Sk-iHAxXTj4kEHbPRNY4QPQgJ

Regarding makeup:
Back in the 60s, I used to love painting a thin line of black eyeliner at the base of my naturally black eyelashes. 
When I went back to work in a more office-y environment in the 90s, I used a little cover-up on dark under-eye circles and zits, but, alas, they no longer made that 60s kind of eyeliner that has a watercolor consistency. It was more like oil paint. 
I tried some eyeliner for my daughter's wedding 5 years ago, but it was not fun to apply either.
The daughter in Manhattan who is into eyeliner found me some that was almost like from the 60s, but after a couple of months it became an insoluble rock.

Lipsticks make my lips peel, so I opt for plain, not-peeling lips.

Here's a gift link to a NY Times article: "Ask Well: Is Nail Polish Bad for Your Nails? Here are some signs that it may be time to give your nails a break."
However, their articles of that sort never seem quite right to me. I don't think they fact check them to the degree that they do their news. Or maybe it's that they don't have permanent staff writers who are experts on those topics.
Nevertheless, the comments are often worth reading. 
Mom spent $100k on her hair and nails in her lifetime. At about age 80 she got a serious nail bed infection and lost a nail or 2, and she stopped having them done for about a year. But by the time my sister put her in assisted living at 85, she was getting them done again. For Mom, getting hair and nails done took the place of psychotherapy.

[Ohiopirate02]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

Regarding makeup:
Back in the 60s, I used to love painting a thin line of black eyeliner at the base of my naturally black eyelashes. 
When I went back to work in a more office-y environment in the 90s, I used a little cover-up on dark under-eye circles and zits, but, alas, they no longer made that 60s kind of eyeliner that has a watercolor consistency. It was more like oil paint. 
I tried some eyeliner for my daughter's wedding 5 years ago, but it was not fun to apply either.
The daughter in Manhattan who is into eyeliner found me some that was almost like from the 60s, but after a couple of months it became an insoluble rock.

You can still get cake mascara/eyeliner or water activated eyeliner if you go with an independent brand. 

https://hologravecosmetics.com/products/moon-water-liner

https://besamecosmetics.com/collections/cake-mascara-eyeliner/products/black-cake-mascara?_gl=1*h0apkw*_up*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjw_Na1BhAlEiwAM-dm7FNiVLPR7kmovtByppGK6mgbYgQkDM_zJxY-dEa_V2RKhqfrsNxlFBoCKOcQAvD_BwE

Here's two brands that make it. I know there are more out there. Reading your post, it sounds like your daughter got you a gel eyeliner which is not the same as a water-activated one. I have tried gel eyeliners before and they do dry out pretty quickly. 

[annzeepark914]

I can barely remember Mr. Peepers...just his voice & face. It was a show my parents watched. But Marion Lorne? Her wonderful "sputtering" must've caught my attention because when she appeared as Samantha's funny aunt, I recognized her distinctive voice.  I thought she was in Daddy Long Legs, singing a duet with Maurice Chevalier ("I Remember It Well") but maybe that was another actress.

ETA: That was Hermione Gingold.

Edited August 9 by annzeepark914

[ECM1231]

16 hours ago, Bastet said:

It was a supremely cool thing to have for a time when not many others did 

I'll bet! 1978 seems early. I think I didn't become aware of them until 1980 or so. My sister and brother -in-law gave us one as an engagement gift in 1982.

[partofme]

16 hours ago, Yeah No said:

My parents thought they were really ahead of the curve when they spent about $1,000 on a Sony Betamax but where really upset when VHS took over the market. Fortunately my father had a friend that was a recording enthusiast who bought it from him, although I know they took a loss on it and then bought a VHS, which was huge by comparison

My parents also had a betamax.  I was very young at the time and have no idea what year it was.  I think my mom later had a machine to convert Betamax recordings into vhs.  

[PRgal]

We definitely had a VHS player by 1983 because I remember watching The Sound of Music and singing along!  I even started singing Gretl’s part in So Long, Farewell on my staircase!!!  My parents (okay, my mon, mostly) were big on technology and we had a DOS machine long before a lot of our neighbours and a modem by the early 90s.  

[Kimboweena]

11 hours ago, BetyBee said:

I quit dying my hair years ago. Once I became a grandma, I freed myself of that task and expense. My whole head is white now, except for my old brown underneath. Lately, I rarely wear make-up. I'm kind of falling down on the job beauty-wise!

Yep, it's become fashionable for women to stop covering their gray/white hair.  I'm 62, and stopped dying a few years ago, also go with no or very minimal makeup.  I like being of an age where I just don't worry so much about what others may think.

[PRgal]

I'm in my mid-40s and barely wear makeup unless I'm going out to a nice dinner.  I wear primer and a tinted balm or gloss with a bit of mascara (maybe) if I have to go on camera for a meeting and sub the primer with tinted moisturizer and the tinted balm with lipgloss or lipstick if I'm going out.  It's been like this since the pandemic.

[Dimity]

5 minutes ago, PRgal said:

It's been like this since the pandemic.

This is when I pretty much stopped colouring my hair.  I don't miss the expense, not to mention the time wasted.  

[Yeah No]

Wow, all you natural ladies, in some ways I envy you. I'm a die-hard makeup and hair dye gal. I used to be big on manicures and pedicures but now it's rare for me to get either.

I've made hair dyeing easier over the years. I do it myself and often just do a quick root touch up. I only do a full head application a few times a year. My stylist says it's less damaging that way.

As for makeup I am sensitive to a lot of makeup so I tend to use either Almay or Physician's Formula. I use mineral powder foundation and go lightly with it, but I don't skimp on the eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss. It works for me.

[SoMuchTV]

Oh, man, I feel like I lost the genetic lottery on a lot of the physical attractiveness stuff, but at least I can take comfort that as I enter my late 60s, I still don’t feel like I have gray that I need to be concerned about covering up. I mean, there are gray hairs there, but they aren’t dominating the view, so to speak. Small victories ?

[ebk57]

I've never colored my hair (it didn't really start getting gray until my 50s and now is gray near the ends, but not so much at the top).  I haven't cut my hair since 1979.  I wore makeup for a few years in my 20s, and then in my 30s-40s only when going to an event.  But I stopped doing even that 20 years ago.  The only reason I get pedicures is that my toenails aren't quite presentable and I like wearing sandals. 

It's all I can do to shower, iron my clothes and brush my hair before I leave the house - which I try not to do too often these days. 

[Ohiopirate02]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

Wow, all you natural ladies, in some ways I envy you. I'm a die-hard makeup and hair dye gal. I used to be big on manicures and pedicures but now it's rare for me to get either.

I've made hair dyeing easier over the years. I do it myself and often just do a quick root touch up. I only do a full head application a few times a year. My stylist says it's less damaging that way.

As for makeup I am sensitive to a lot of makeup so I tend to use either Almay or Physician's Formula. I use mineral powder foundation and go lightly with it, but I don't skimp on the eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss. It works for me.

I rarely leave the house without makeup and perfume. I don't dye my hair because the one good thing about the unruly mop on my head is the color. And,.there's not much a hairdresser can do to enhance it. The white hairs that have been slowly taking over my head since I was 25 look like expensive highlights. 

[StatisticalOutlier]

32 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

but at least I can take comfort that as I enter my late 60s, I still don’t feel like I have gray that I need to be concerned about covering up. I mean, there are gray hairs there, but they aren’t dominating the view, so to speak.

I'm about your age and I've got a sprinkling of gray hair.  I like it--it's sparkly.

I'm very low maintenance.  No makeup, no hair dye, no nail polish, short hair (which Mr. Outlier cuts for me and I've had much worse haircuts that I've paid for while enduring soul-crushing small talk with a stranger). 

I take showers away from home a lot, after I work out.  I use whatever squirty soap they have in the shower for soap and shampoo.  I have a little bottle of conditioner, but to be honest, I can't really tell the difference when I use it.  I started using an anti-perspirant that needs to be applied only a couple of times a week, so I wouldn't have to take it with me to the gym.

In fact, one day I forgot the bag I have a towel, hair dryer, conditioner, and folding hairbrush in.  So I used the squirty soap for body and hair, no conditioner, and dried off using paper towels.  The locker room had a hair dryer, but I didn't have a brush, so I used my fingers to "comb" my hair while I dried it.  (Parting your hair with no implement is tricky.)

Mr. Outlier picked me up and I asked if he noticed anything different.  Of course he didn't.  But even I didn't notice anything different--I looked just like I always look.  You know, like how men get to be.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, ebk57 said:

I wore makeup for a few years in my 20s, and then in my 30s-40s only when going to an event. 

I only ever wore makeup when going out, not to class or work, and quit entirely somewhere in my early twenties.  I was equally happy with how I looked with and without it, so I didn't feel like bothering with it anymore, plus it annoyed me that only women were expected to paint their faces before stepping out into the world.  So I quit doing it. 

The only exception since then is when I was World's Most Reluctant Maid of Honor several years back.  The bride asked the bridesmaid and me if we wanted to wear makeup in the wedding; none of us wore it in daily life, but the bride had decided she'd have it done for that day and said she'd pay for us to have it done, too, if we wanted, but we were under no obligation.  We both decided to go ahead with it, and the bridesmaid got elected to be the guinea pig, going first so we could see if the makeup artist heeded our instructions to take it easy.

It was fine, we still looked like ourselves, but, man alive, was that stuff harder to get off than I'd anticipated.  I still remember how good that night's shower felt.  It had been a very long day, I was so happy to be done with it, and we'd been dancing for hours.  I wanted out of that dress and I wanted that stuff off my face.  My friend who drove me home got my dress unhooked and unzipped in the driveway, and I came in and headed straight for a nice, long shower.  

I've never dyed my hair and don't anticipate that ever changing -- I've got lots of grey and don't care, and I think it's going to look even better once it's all grey as it's a nice silver shade, so I don't think there would ever be a reason I'd want to color it.

Edited August 10 by Bastet

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Mr. Outlier cuts for me and I've had much worse haircuts that I've paid for while enduring soul-crushing small talk with a stranger). 

So glad it’s not just me that feels that way about “enduring soul-crushing small talk with a stranger” — especially while they are cutting my hair off.
During the pandemic I started cutting my own hair in a bob (based on Brad Mondo’s YouTube video), and it’s good enough for me. 

BTW, my iPhone 7 (with iOS 15.8.3) isn’t letting me like any posts right now. I’m planning on shelling out for the 16 when it comes out in September/October. It’ll be the first time I’ve actually paid for a phone since my last old flip phone with no GPS from about 10 or 20 years ago, so I can’t complain. 
Apparently it will cost the same as the 15 does now.

[annzeepark914]

Like my sweet stepmother (who my dad married after mom passed away), I plan to be "blonde forever" (she & her late husband were Aunt & Uncle by affection to us). They had five happy years together. She and I enjoyed being blondes 🩷.

[EtheltoTillie]

I had to leave one haircutter because of the small talk. Also he really wasn’t giving me a haircut I liked after a while.  I found someone else now who is all business and gets it done quickly.  I used to color my hair for fun but I stopped. Too hard to keep up with the gray roots.  

[PRgal]

This is my "I'm not going anywhere today" look.  Please don't judge my snacks.

[GHScorpiosRule]

6 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I had to leave one haircutter because of the small talk. Also he really wasn’t giving me a haircut I liked after a while.  I found someone else now who is all business and gets it done quickly.  I used to color my hair for fun but I stopped. Too hard to keep up with the gray roots.  

I’m very lucky in that my best friend cuts and styles my hair as she is a professional hairdresser. I would be her guinea pig while she was in school. She is the BEST.

Premature gray runs in the family and mine is around the sideburns and top of my head.

And as stated before, post mastectomies and chemo, where I lost all my hair and it never grew back thick and wavy as it was before, I continue to color. Because it makes me feel good about myself. I had dark circles under my eyes since my  late 20s which I have my own thoughts why and chemo made them worse where if I don’t put on make-up, I look like I have two black eyes and am dying of a terminal disease. Like the make up you see on actors playing dying characters. I would love to not use make up, but I do it to look good and it makes me feel good. Same with manicures and pedicures. I go to a very good salon, which has won awards for the good services they provide and have never suffered the bad services I’ve read on here. Every single person that has done my nails, or waxing, has taken care that I not get hurt or that they are rough. Never has happened with me.

Edited August 10 by GHScorpiosRule

[Absolom]

That's excellent that you've had no injuries or accidents.  Just be aware that a few decades of the nail chemicals can damage anyone's nails so if you see anything suspicious have it checked out.  

[Caoimhe]

In my younger days I never left the house without foundation, mascara, eye shadow, eyeliner, and sometimes lipstick. Always wore nail polish too. I even started coloring my hair for a short while in my 40s when I saw a few little grey bits.  (I stopped before 50 since my mother said she regretted having to go in to get hers touched up and wished she’d never started.) Now in my 60s I don’t do any of it, I think the last time I had makeup on was my niece’s wedding in 2018. As for haircuts the hairdresser I knew and liked retired just before Covid so I never found another. Right now it’s the perfect length where I can pull it up and clip it out of the way so this is how it will stay.  I have my hair cutting scissors and little clips so I’ll trim when it gets longer, I used to do a shorter cut but would spend the following month trimming little sections that I didn’t think were even so this time I just let it grow out to where I can cut it in front of my face!

Things have been weird around here. We always talked about having apartments in the US and Ireland so we could move between them as we liked. Recently a beautiful three bed condo in a secure building came up for sale, many of the residents travel quite a lot so it would have been perfect. We were ready to put an offer in and the next morning my husband asked if we’d made the offer in a really odd voice.  I told him no, our realtor told me we should sleep on it. It turns out that now he doesn’t want to give up our current house. He says now he’s recovered from all his health issues this year he can handle the outside work. Which is great of course, but you can’t walk away from a house in New England for multiple months at a time so I told him this means no apartment near his family. (My family are all dead so it matters less to me.) I feel like he’s changed the goal posts, but one of the things I need to work on is just going with the flow until there is a need to change something. I always feel like I need to limit risk and control things so I’m just afraid we’ll have another year where he can’t do the work and I’ll be in panic mode again.  He calmly says we’ll deal with it if it happens. I need someone to make a pill that will shut my brain up!

Edited August 10 by Caoimhe

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

post mastectomies and chemo, where I lost all my hair and it never grew back thick and wavy as it was before…

After my 12 rounds of colon cancer chemo (different chemo, I think, than for breast cancer, with possibly different effects on hair?) in 2016, my hair grew back as thick, but instead of 30% white/gray (according to the J.C. Penneys stylist about a year before chemo) post-chemo I would say it's about 60-75% gray. At first I thought it might not have been much different than it would have been if I'd not gone bald for a year at age 63 and then snow white for a year at age 64, but since it's been the same for about 5 years, we'll never know.

3 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

…I had dark circles under my eyes since my  late 20s which was have my own thoughts why and chemo made them worse where if I don’t put on make-up, I look like I have two black eyes and am dying of a terminal disease. Like the make up you see on actors playing dying characters.

The one makeup I continued to use until I retired as a college librarian was concealer on the dark circles under my eyes. 
I thought the circles were darker post-chemo, but hadn't heard that before, so, thanks, @GHScorpiosRule, for sharing the chemo connection.

Post cataract surgery 20 years ago, I still had to wear glasses for astigmatism for driving, and different prescriptions for computer and reading, so, lined trifocals worked best for me.  But they also serve to camouflage my dark under-eye circles. 
I'd get a fun color tint for my glasses, but I am obsessed with color perception, like, today while floating on my back in the condo pool this morning: Ultramarine blue sky directly overhead and cobalt blue mid-sky.
And I wear very expensive frames for comfort (ic! Berlin), so I have just one pair for regular use, so no fun tint for me for now. 
 

Edited August 10 by shapeshifter

[annzeepark914]

A funny moment in Walmart today. I was looking at lotions when "Private Eyes" (Hall & Oates) started playing. I found myself singing softly...then stopped, hoping no one heard me. A few seconds later, as the song continued on its bouncy, infectious way, I heard someone behind me singing along 😁

[Annber03]

LOL, I find myself doing that when in a store sometimes, too :p. Haven't had the experience of someone else singing along as well yet, but maybe someday...:p. 

[SweetieDarling]

Twice (TWICE!) I've encountered people singing and dancing along to ABBA in my local grocery store (different occasions, different songs -Waterloo and I forget the 2nd song-Dancing Queen. maybe) Once, same store, I crossed paths with a man singing along to America (Sandman). I almost (almost) look forward to shopping there (I hate grocery shopping).

[ABay]

1 hour ago, annzeepark914 said:

A funny moment in Walmart today. I was looking at lotions when "Private Eyes" (Hall & Oates) started playing. I found myself singing softly...then stopped, hoping no one heard me. A few seconds later, as the song continued on its bouncy, infectious way, I heard someone behind me singing along 😁

Did you clap?

[Mountainair]

This isn’t really a peeve just a rant so I put it here. 
The American Education system baffles me. We started school last week and I work as a Kindergarten aide. My hours are part time but I’m in the classroom as much as my lead teacher is. I just don’t have to work teacher work days and my pay is significantly lower. I posses no degree but have worked in child care most of my adult life. 
Our school believes in inclusion education which I don’t fundamentally disagree with but we have two kids that cry non stop- like all day making themselves vomit crying which would be manageable if we didn’t have two severely autistic kids in the class, one of which is non verbal and a child with Down syndrome who is also non verbal but can use ASL. One of my autistic kiddos repeatedly hit and kicked me and the lead teacher today which got him sent home before lunch and the other autistic kid required two additional adults on him all day just to keep him from hurting himself. We don’t have the staff to keep this ratio up. Today was more of a crisis mode we need help thing. Meanwhile we have 19 other kiddos we are trying to teach who are getting shafted because it’s all hands on deck with these other kids. I just don’t think it’s fair to any of these kids to have to try and adapt to a learning environment that isn’t what they need for success.
We also have a Spanish speaking only kid so I’ve been trying to learn Spanish at night so I can somewhat communicate with him. My high school Spanish is a bit rusty. I’ve also started learning ASL so there are upsides. My autistic kids do get one on one learning in a different class for about an hour out of the day. It’s frustrating. 

Edited August 13 by Mountainair

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, Mountainair said:

We don’t have the staff to keep this ratio up.

Seriously!

[EtheltoTillie]

In some places, children with such high needs are assigned an individual aide, I believe.  I don't know if that is possible where you are. 

[PRgal]

@Mountainair:  is the Spanish speaking student going for help from an English learner specialist?  A large number of immigrants from Hong Kong came to my school when I was in Grade 2 or 3 and the kids all went for help, usually when it was reading or spelling period for the rest of the class.  And I wasn't an English speaker (beyond a few basic words and numbers) when I started kindergarten and remember being taken out of class and spending time with someone.  This was 40 years ago and to this day, I'm still trying to figure out if she was a counsellor (since I had separation anxiety) or an ESL teacher.  I was also the only child who didn't speak English well enough to properly communicate during the first few weeks.  My parents, who are fluent, didn't teach me much English since they didn't want me to pick up their accents.  The English I knew was from children's programming or watching The Price is Right (which my grandma called "New Car") with my grandmother (and you don't learn much watching that.  If you did, my grandmother would have been fluent too).  As for the special needs kid, what @EtheltoTillie said. 

[Mountainair]

It has to be in your IEP that you require a one on one aide and only one of my special needs kids has that in an IEP. One of them will start going to a small classroom across the hall next week for 2 hours out of the day only. 
My Spanish student will receive ESL class five days a week for 30 minutes only. 
Today- we “lost” the Down syndrome kid as she ran to our classroom bathroom and locked herself in. She’s non verbal so of course wouldn’t answer when we knocked on the door. Her moms make her wear a GPS tracker because she has a history of running away. It’s a mess right now and we are so overwhelmed. 

[shapeshifter]

27 minutes ago, Mountainair said:

It has to be in your IEP that you require a one on one aide and only one of my special needs kids has that in an IEP.

I'm not a regular watcher of Abbot Elementary, but I recall an episode in which one of the teachers came up with an ingenious method for getting "IEP" approval(?) for (I think?) and ESL student to get a tutor.

[PRgal]

This is why I feel for not just the parents of kids with needs, but all parents with kids in classrooms like @Mountainair's.  It must be very disruptive for the mainstream kids and very challenging for the other kids who have needs.  Do parents need to request the need for an assistant or is that something recommended by a specialist?  I don't know anything about this because few students in my son's school require that kind of assistance.  In fact, after a certain grade, kids who do not speak English have to do additional testing.  Basic knowledge is required to be considered.

[EtheltoTillie]

IEP changes have to be requested by the parents, not the teachers/assistants, unfortunately.  It can be such a trial for everyone and sometimes requires hearings and further litigation.  There are attorneys who concentrate in this practice area. 

 

@PRgal IEP stands for Individualized Education Program.  It's part of a U.S. federal government program where every child is required to get a free and appropriate education.  I don't know if you have an equivalent in Canada.  If necessary, you can even get the local public school district to pay for specialized private schools. 

Edited August 14 by EtheltoTillie

[PRgal]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

IEP changes have to be requested by the parents, not the teachers/assistants, unfortunately.  It can be such a trial for everyone and sometimes requires hearings and further litigation.  There are attorneys who concentrate in this practice area. 

 

@PRgal IEP stands for Individualized Education Program.  It's part of a U.S. federal government program where every child is required to get a free and appropriate education.  I don't know if you have an equivalent in Canada.  If necessary, you can even get the local public school district to pay for specialized private schools. 

Yes, the term exists here.  Our local school board has detailed information about it.  I'm not sure about school boards paying for specialized private schools though.  That I've never heard of.  My son goes to a private school where kids need to be age appropriate evaluated to be admitted.  So if you're applying for kindergarten, they want to see that you can play in an age-appropriate way.  Unlike many other schools, my son's school evaluates kindergarten applicants up to birth MONTH rather than all kids who are that age (i.e. if they're applying for Junior Kindergarten, they'd be three years old.  Some schools will look at all three year olds, regardless of whether they're going to be four next month or they just turned three.  My son's school will evaluate the three year old about to turn four as being 3 years, 11 months and the one who just had their birthday as 3 years, 0 months).

[EtheltoTillie]

3 minutes ago, PRgal said:

Yes, the term exists here.  Our local school board has detailed information about it.  I'm not sure about school boards paying for specialized private schools though.  That I've never heard of.  My son goes to a private school where kids need to be age appropriate evaluated to be admitted.  So if you're applying for kindergarten, they want to see that you can play in an age-appropriate way.  Unlike many other schools, my son's school evaluates kindergarten applicants up to birth MONTH rather than all kids who are that age (i.e. if they're applying for Junior Kindergarten, they'd be three years old.  Some schools will look at all three year olds, regardless of whether they're going to be four next month or they just turned three.  My son's school will evaluate the three year old about to turn four as being 3 years, 11 months and the one who just had their birthday as 3 years, 0 months).

I’m talking about special ed private schools. The standards for admission are different. 

Edited August 14 by EtheltoTillie