Uh-Oh

The other morning I was talking to Miss R while she was in the shower (probably along the lines of "hurry up! you've been in there long enough!!) when I happened to look up and spied this.....

It seems we have a leaky roof.

In other "uh-oh" news, Miss R's camera refuses to turn on, despite the battery being (supposedly) fully charged. But is it the camera or the battery that's the problem???

And in even more worrying "uh-oh" news, Mr G's mother is back in hospital in Qld. Has been for the last 2wks but didn't want to worry Mr G so we only found out last night. She has a wound on her back that refuses to heal, she's in the public system which doesn't seem to cater for quadraplegics, is dehydrated but not on a drip because "when she gets thirsty enough, she'll drink" and refuses to eat the hospital food. It doesn't sound good but not sure what we can do from here. It's difficult not having the full picture.

But to end on a positive note, yesterday Miss R hiked from the Torrens outlet at West Beach to the city wearing her new hiking boots and there were no blisters.  :-)

I didn't win.....

and even though I didn't really expect to, I'm still feeling a little disappointed.

2010 Royal Adelaide Show – Competition Results
OPEN ART & CRAFT

ROYAL ADELAIDE SHOW QUILT COMPETITION
Class 1221 Quilt, made by one person, any size. Handquilted.
1 1306 Margaret Kretschmer
2 1315 Pamela Seppelt
3 1314 Pamela Seppelt
Class 1222 Quilt, made by one person, any size, machined quilted
1 1334 Heather Ridley
2 1331 Susan Grant
2 1333 Roma Crowhurst
4 1316 Norreen Atkinson
Class 1223 (made by more than one person) Hand or machine pieced. Hand or machine
quilted. Hand or machine appliqued.
1 1340 Fleurieu Quilters
2 1345 Robyn Inverarity
3 1343 Lyn Yarwood
4 1346 Ms Cookson Scotch Reception Class 2010
Class 1224 Quilt or Wallhanging Challenge,
1 1360 Heather Ridley
2 1352 Jill Christian
3 1358 Zara Zannettino
4 1357 Zara Zannettino
Class SP BEST NOVICE QUILT EXHIBIT
1 1328 Kate Pitt
Class SP QUILT DISPLAYING THE BEST USE OF COLOUR
1 1334 Heather Ridley

Update to My Angry Post

I had a brief meeting with Teacher L (I should have packed my angry eyes!) on the Friday and then a longer one last Tuesday, which also included the classroom SSO, who has known Miss R since Reception.

I gave Teacher L several handouts on Asperger's that I've found particularly useful (and had highlighted the behaviours that applied), some reference material and discussed what I thought would be issues. It seems that neither Teacher nor SSO really saw these behaviours, which means that

• they really don't know my daughter at all,
• Miss R is very, very, very good at masking her difficulties (which I already knew) or
• She has made so much progress over the past few years that she is now able to cope in the classroom

I suspect that it's a combination of the above. Teacher L had nothing but positive things to say about Miss R and I'm sure she was completely baffled as to why I was so upset. (I could just about hear her thinking "Sheesh, all this over one bad evaluation!!) I don't think she's ready to concede that she let Miss R down by not giving her enough support & direction, but hopefully she will be more aware of the need to give specific instructions and guidance in the future. If nothing else, hopefully I have heightened her awareness. So I'm happy again......for now.

***********************************************************

I've been busy over the past week making window coverings. We have 7 high windows down the north side of our house that are designed to catch the heat in winter and let it escape in summer. Problem being that if we don't cover them at night, then all the heat escapes and naturally it's been one of those things we hadn't gotten around to. Mr DIY knew he wanted canvas frames, he just couldn't find anything off the shelf that was the right size(or price) so was going to make frames himself .....so waiting, waiting, waiting. And this winter has been COLD. Anyway, last week we were at the Art shop at Harbourtown and discovered that you can buy wooden frames that lock together...perfect! And cheaper than buying the frame with the canvas. I'd bought curtain material from Spotlight over 12 months ago but it wasn't quite wide enough, so I've added a strip of material and voila!!

To help with insulation, it has a layer of calico - that faces outside so fading won't be obvious - then a layer of Sisalation - the foil stuff builders use in the roof - and then the lined material. They sit on the wooden window frame.

So in winter, they'll go over the window around 5pm when it starts to cool and come down in the morning to catch the heat during the day. And in summer, they'll go up during the day to keep the heat out, then removed at night to let any heat escape. So one step closer to a house that won't need heating or cooling!

Now if only I can get the pelmet boards up so I can start making the curtains......


ETA: Theresa, unfortunately we couldn't find more canvasses the same size as the ones you offered us and Mr G has a thing for symmetry, so no hurry to get the others out from behind the wardrobe.  :-)
Why don't you see if the school can use them??

Don't ever stand behind me in the checkout queue

Because it doesn't matter which aisle I pick, it will be MY checkout that has the 16 price checks......or the paper roll will need to be changed on the till....or the person in front will have their card declined.....or the supervisor will need to clear the notes/top up the change.....you getting the picture??

Today the woman in front of me dropped a Glade scented candle on the floor, so the checkout girl decided to close the checkout while she called someone to sweep up the small amount of glass. When she looked at me and said I would have to move to another checkout, I KNOW that I audibly sighed and rolled my eyes, looking like an absolute uber-bitch. But it was an involuntary action....because this stuff happens to me ALL THE TIME. And I had already debated about which checkout line to join because all had a just one person with a similar amount in the trolley, but naturally by the time I was asked to move, every other checkout had another 4 people lined up.

I don't know quite what it is about me and the supermarket checkout but me and the planets are never quite aligned......

So very angry

This is a HUGE venting post, so please forgive me....

I am incredibly angry with Miss R's teachers. We go through this sh*t every year....year starts well as Teacher gets to know Miss R and her problems and quirks, then by Term 3 the cracks are starting to show and things very rapidly go downhill until we get to Term 4 and we're all just praying for the year to be over.

At the beginning of this year, I met with Teacher M (in the classroom Mon & Thurs) and Teacher L (in the classroom the remaining 3 days but fresh out of teacher's college) and explained that I wasn't going to be harassing Miss R about completing homework. Basically I wasn't going to be making MY life a misery (as per the years preceding), that Miss R has other commitments after school 4 days/week + dance on weekends and I felt these were incredibly important and would be maintained, so homework wasn't going to be our priority. However, if they emailed me the details of the homework that needed to be completed, I would ensure that this happened but the rest.....if it got done, then it got done. Both teachers seemed ok with this. I've been emailed ONCE by Teacher M, back in March.

Since this term started, I've been getting weekly notes from Teacher M that Miss R hasn't been completing her spelling/grammar homework. I gather she wants me to write a note each and every time. I emailed her after the first note but am yet to receive a reply.

Today I see an evaluation from Teacher L for a presentation that Miss R had to give on Ancient Greece. She had to work with another girl, the topic was Discoveries & Inventions. I gather Teacher L allocated the partners and the topics. The evaluation was appalling and the written notes at the end were scathing.....basically saying that Miss R did not do her share, the presentation was poorly prepared and presented and it was clear that the girls had not worked as a team. So I asked Miss R about it and her version of events goes something along these lines.....

• the other girl decided that she was doing Inventions and Miss R had to do Discoveries
• Miss R asked me for help (I had no idea of the details; I assumed it was for a project) and it was really difficult to find any Discoveries that Miss R could put into her own words. Most of them were far too complicated for her to explain.
• Miss R approached Teacher L for assistance but was ignored
• the other girl offered no assistance so Miss R was basically left to her own devices.

All of this I could be ok with except for one thing. Miss R has a learning disability. Miss R has a language disorder. Miss R has Asperger's Syndrome. Miss R could have achieved something if she had been given just the tiniest amount of support!!

I showed Mr G the report and he just about had steam coming out of his ears.The bit we find so very offensive is that Miss R was marked particularly poorly in 2 areas.....language and eye contact. FFS! This child has a language disorder and Asperger's. This child finds it incredibly difficult to articulate in a concise and coherent manner and the classic signs of Aspie's is that THEY CANNOT MAINTAIN EYE CONTACT. If this teacher had done even an ounce of research, she would know that.

I am very, very close to sending yet another email addressed to Teacher M & Teacher L and cc'd to the ILP Co-ordinator, the Middle School Co-ordinator and the Principal. The email will read something along the lines of  "Dear Teacher M & Teacher L, Miss R will not be completing ANY homework until she is given the classroom support that she needs and that the school is funded for."  Wonder what kind of response that will get?

Guess I will be scheduling a meeting with the teachers sometime soon. Might wait until I am a bit calmer though.

PS The saving grace of all this? Miss R is actually very happy and doesn't seem to be bothered by the poor grades. Each day when I collect her from school and ask how the day went, the response is always "Good". This is the first year I've been getting a consistently positive response to that question....