Parents of the HS Class of 2009 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
39481

I support our schools in theory but I have to admit I’ve become much less involved in legislative action than I used to be. There is still horrific inequality in school funding in my state across urban and suburban districts, so its not as if there’s no longer any need…I’ve just never figured out a way to combat the state’s rights issue in te US to accord with a uniform federal funding position so I suppose I just threw up my hands :wink:

As as business owner with property in the city, we still have a vested interest in urban school issues and access. Our residence is in a more affluent and well-funded district, so I don’t necessarily accord with the “edifice complex” in this neck of the woods. In other words, I’m not generally guns ho on the various millages for what I view to be campaigns that have little to do with actual education :wink:

39482

That was actually H’s objection. The bond issue includes indoor practice facilities at each HS (e.g. an indoor football field that can also be used by band, gym classes, etc.)

39483

I love that dress, mp!

I have always voted for every school funding bond. I believe strong public education makes a better society whether or not my family directly benefits. But lately the school budgets here are being cut while expensive artificial turf is being installed on the school playing fields. Not my priorities.

39484

I vote for most school issue, but we’ve also had (athletic) edifice complex that I have trouble supporting. And I’m still irked at the bloody fortune they spent building a LEED-platinum certified middle school that has had non-stop air quality issues bad enough to cause teachers and students to transfer. If they’d have built and ordinary middle school they would have had enough extra to air condition all the other middle schools, and they wouldn’t have been on the bleeding edge of technology. Now we’ve spent another fortune on environmental consultants for remediation.

D is enjoying vacation in Rome before heading to Croatia…via Belgium. Not the air routing I would have chosen, but it seems to work. (Getting to Rome from NY via Moscow was also not a routing I would have chosen.) Her hotel has wi-fi, and I think it is pretty cool that she can send us pictures and texts every evening.

39485

Arabrab, that sounds almost like a “shunpiking” way to get to Croatia :wink:

You guys have nailed the kinds of bureaucratic waste I find objectionable in my particular district :wink: Then again, having lived in the City district while on PTA/O etc. and fighting just to keep magnet and music programs funded and building open has likely soured me a bit for such edfice shenanigans :wink:

The city district finally has a really good leader who came up through the ranks and understands how to educate children. I’ll pass anything she puts out, because she has an enormous amount of common sense. Not always the case when they port in corp style “talent.”

We’re able to notice the contrast because we still own the city house as a rental, meaning we get to pay about double the tax on it :wink: So the city millage affects us as much as the township’s.

39486

Need some motivational ideas. I’ve just been tired lately. Having issues getting up and getting to the gym. Now mind you to do this I get up at 4:30 and lately I just don’t want to get up at 4:30. I’ve lost weight and will be starting the next session of the weight loss program that I’ve been doing this weekend. I need some motivation to get my buns out of bed and get the job done. I know what I need to do but darn I really want to sleep most days until 7 although I’ve been getting up in time to be at my desk by 7. So anyone have any ideas why suddenly I just can’t get enough sleep? Weekends have been totally busy as well which is when I usually recoup. We were also just notified that we will have the 4 10 hour work days for the summer which are really tiring for me. 9 I can do no issue but that last hour just hurts. So need ways to motivate me to get out of bed and get to the gym. That helps me throughout the day in not over eating or eating things I shouldn’t. That being said I wonder if some of this is that my friend who used to go to the same gym stopped going. I know other people but not really close with any. Need to stop the excuses!

39487

Your body has suddenly realized that humans should not be getting up at 4:30 am?

39488

LOL MP – yes no one should really be up at that time. However it is when I can “fit” it in - that is if I could just get up and not turn off my alarm and turn over. I think I just need some motivation. Just don’t know what it is at this point in time.

39489

It was my NY Resolution in both 2015 and 2016 to not hit the snooze button. I’m an abject failure at the resolution.

39490

RM can you do another activity? Are you bored with the gym? Maybe you could try Zumba, yoga, pilates or something different. Even after the long day, maybe something new would be energizing (and allow you to sleep a little later). Or…can you take a break in the middle of the day and get away from work? I find that helps sometimes.

Maybe there is something you could drop on the weekend so you could have time then.

39491

I find that the thing that really works for me – and may not for others – is a class or some sort or a buddy. I know some people prefer to exercise alone, but the various activities I do (exercise class; biking with hubby; walking with a friend; horseback riding) all have that “other” built in in some way. This is what makes me get out and do it – but not at 4:30, I admit! I admire you.

39492

I have only been asleep a few hours at 4:30 am!
Would it help if you went to an every other day pattern?
I know you work long hours so evening exercise might not work. If you had a machine
at home such as an elliptical you could watch the news or such. Just a thought.

39493

@missypie – maybe you need the Dwayne “The Rock” Alarm Clock App – http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/2/11565732/dwayne-the-rock-johnson-motivational-alarm-clock-app

I struggle to wake up before 6:30. 4:30 – just no. When D was an infant I dreaded the post 2 am wake-ups. I haven’t improved a whole lot on that front.

39494

Ironically, its 4:33 a.m. as I post this :wink: But I only do it once a week for a standing early morning meeting and it kicks my butt!

These are just thoughts, RM - trust I am personally no good at this at this moment in time :wink: I just happen to have two clients that work in this field, one of whom trains and manages a large triathlete team and a second who gets outstanding results on a mere total hour a week circuit training.

First off, for the kind of strength training that requires a gym, you can (and generally should) only be going 2-3 times a week max or you will overtrain. And it shouldn’t take more than a half hour/40 min. to do the circuit. But your resistance exercises should increase weight wise every time you go so that you get maximum exertion/burn. Otherwise, you’re just kinda wearing out your joints. And you should take a full day of recovery, sometime two.

In a past life, I’ve done this kind of circuit training, with a coach, and its just true. Two mornings a week and a casual weekend trip is just easier to manage and ultimately more effective. More effective because your body actually needs that recovery time to rebuild the micro muscle tears and burn off the lactic acids released. Your metabolism from this kind of circuit will stay well elevated 24 hrs or more after, which supports diet efforts as well because your resting metabolic rate will be increased.

On off days, if you want, you can get a lot of benefit without overtraining by doing something like a lunch hour spin, run, or Nordic walking (walking with ski poles that doubles the burn and works the traverse muscles.)

As to why you feel so tired, I actually think its either your body TELLING you to knock it back a bit, or that perhaps your nutrition isn’t dialed in. The body gets cranky if the caloric intake is less than the (now elevated) resting metabolic rate – and you actually lose more if you’ve matched up your nutrition and your metabolic rate. This is where lots of people stall.

Some trainers have machines to test your metabolic rate and max vo2 rate during exertion and work up a program that’s most efficient based on this pretty customized approach. If you want to sleep more but make the kinds of gains you have in strength and weightloss, its worth looking into because you can truly do more with less if its all dialed in… The point of exercise at all is to give you more energy…not take it :wink:

You can’t out-train your diet, but they say you can make the two work together efficiently.

Now, this is hilarious coming from me so I’m going to go get another coffee and crawl into the hot tub and look up at the stars…which is how I deal with 4:30 am days :wink:

39495

I don’t think that I’m bored at the gym and actually really enjoy it when I get there. It’s the getting up that is the issue.:slight_smile: I

do only lift 3 days a week and only for 20-30 minutes then it’s cardio. I do some sort of cardio most days and vary is up. I would just go out but well it’s DARK at 4:30 AM and I really don’t want to get hit by a car jog/walking around.

I have an eliptical at home just never use it however I do use the eliptical at the gym - go figure? We have a stationary bike and a treadmill. I just don’t do anything at home but instead go to the gym. I do have people there that I like to see and chat with even though my friend is not going any more.

I thought about this a bit last night and I don’t think it’s the gym or the exercise. I think it’s the dread of going to work! :slight_smile: I think lately I’ve just been letting the daily grind get to me. Weekends have been busy with helping out with the grand kids and we did have 20 people to our house last weekend which I cooked dinner for.

I’m hopeful that starting the new session of weight loss will help. Also thinking of maybe a little reward system for me once I go 5-6 times in a week - actually it’s more that 5-6 times in the week I get to 10,000 steps. I don’t have to go the gym to do that but it does help. I sit so much during the day that that is really what helps me get moving.

Once I walk into work unfortunately my day isn’t mine. Yesterday I worked from 7AM to 5:30PM with not one break and I wasn’t expecting it. It just happens when issues arise and they seem to arise more often lately as we get busier and things escape us. Oh well.

Next session starts Sat. and that should hopefully give me some more energy/motivation. The weird thing is is that I DO feel better if I just go - it’s getting up that’s the issue. Thanks though for all the useful tips. I’ll take some and incorporate them and see if they help. Any others feel free to share.

39496

RM you cant understand why you are tired and cant or don’t want to get up at 4;30? Hmmm go back and read your old posts, you have more energy than 3 times most people. The people here are so busy busy busy and don’t always realize how much they do. LOL.

39497

Maybe I compare with people who are even more active than me? Yesterday for example H worked an 8 hour day, worked out 2.5 hours during the day, came home and mowed the lawn than worked on GDs sign for months that he is making – you know her name and then you can velcro on numbers for the months old she is. He wants to get it done before next week when she is a month old!

Neighbors on one side are retired but also the same way. Busy all the time. I always feel that if I sit down to read I’m committing a crime at home. Always busy, busy, busy.

This morning no gym – figured at this point I was leaving it to next week! Do feel more rested. I think last weekend took more out of me than I thought is would. House is clean. Vacuumed the kitchen floor and washed it, power room floor and our bathroom floor before coming in this morning.

Tomorrow grocery shopping, meeting for weight loss, hair colored, than watching GS while S and DIL go out. Thinking maybe about taking him to the zoo. At 16 months thought he might like that. Sunday should be mostly MY day. Hoping to sew. Later in the afternoon we will go to S’s for dinner.

Still need to find time to fit in weeding the gardens. Did it last weekend so it’s a quick hour probably to go around (maybe less) and do the laundry. It will all get done though I"m sure.

I’m sure this feeling too shall pass and my energy level will come back up again.

39498

RM, this should make you feel better. So we’re 2 weeks away from relatives arriving for the wedding. We’ve been doing a good job on the yard, but the inside of the house is far from guest-ready. Plus I still need to return the dresses I bought for Mom that weren’t chosen. Against this backdrop, I had a dentist appointment yesterday afternoon. Only really a cleaning, but I’m truly phobic; Hamilton in my earphones and lots and lots of nitrous oxide got me through it. I came home and did very close to nothing. That long “to do” list? Ignored as I floated down from the nitrous. Capped off the night by watching the season finale of Project Runway All Stars. Yes, that was my accomplishment for the night.

39499

Sounds like a great way to end the evening, MP. The wedding will be beautiful and you’ll have wonderful memories. Looking forward to some pictures on fb.

D’s wandering around Croatia and says it is disconcerting to see so many people who look rather like her grandpa, whose parents were from Croatia. She is learning a little of the song of her people, at least in terms of hello and thank you. The pictures look beautiful, and I gather she’s missing buckets and buckets of rain in NYC, so a win all the way around.

39500

Good morning. For your reading entertainment today, I shall wield a rototiller…provided I can fit it in the Allroad :wink:

So, y’all remember how mch was extremely worried when i bought myself a chainsaw? (Left-handed and notoriously slapstick…)

Well, he must have secretly watched me saw up that tree that fell in the back yard and decided maybe power tools and I really could be friends because when I got home last night and grumbled about the rental guy wanting me there at 7:30 a.m. To pick up the rototiller he told me he had “almost” bought me one.

I said why on earth would you buy me a rototiller? This bed is the only place left to till a bed? Besides, you were opposed to me using a rototiller in the first place…He just said for entertainment value :wink:

Of course, I have no business rototiller ing anything today,as mom is coming and I’ve not prepped the compound for company due to a long workweek, but in my typical impatience I already bought a beautiful nova Zemba rhododendron and a whack of ferns, hostas, and bleeding hearts the other night in a rush whch is one great way to force me to do something.

So I may be muddy and stiff by the time she gets here :wink: