Couch 60: Don't forget the beachball!

I saw a walking stick bug last week at the bus stop. It really looked like a stick!! It was about 5 inches long. It was hilarious. Fortunately it was on the OUTSIDE of the glass bus enclosure. I think it was the first one I ever saw.

those look so cool but I would freak if I saw a spider as big as a camel spider.i would be afraid it would attack lol

Hi, all! Sorry I've been MIA lately. I've been up to my eyeballs in critters. Most of our summer interns have gone back to school now, but we still have animals to take care of.

I'm also getting back into the swing of working on my school work. That's been on the back burner most of the summer.

Therapy is a challenge right now, too. Stuff's getting real. Eep.

Hope everything is well with everyone here. I'll be back more regularly once we get most of the kids back into wild where they belong.

Nice to hear from ya, critter!

OMG, granite, those camel spiders are my worst fear....although the one good thing about them, I'd imagine, is that you can see them coming. ACK!

Hankster, those walking sticks are really neat looking. I found one on a school camping trip when I was a kid, and they let me keep it in an aquarium for the week. On the last day, I finally let it crawl on me before setting it free.

My daughter was bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning, nervous about her first day of school. I'm leaving in a few minutes to get her from the bus. Can't wait to hear how her first day went.

After getting her to the bus this morning, I stopped at a friend's house for breakfast. It was nice to chat for a while. Then, I came home and tackled mowing my jungle of a lawn - and I did it without *****in about it on the couch beforehand, LOL. The lawnmower kept almost pooping out on me because the lawn was just way too high for it to handle. I got the front lawn done, although didn't do the greatest job. I was too exhausted to do the back lawn. Maybe later tonight or tomorrow.

I have group T tonight. Then, probably need to fill out a bazillion school forms. LOL.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Thanks for asking, granite. I'm keeping my head above water. T sessions were pretty bad last week for one reason and another, but today it went well. (readytostop, if you see this - thanks for your advice to look at the evidence that shows that T does care about me. I'm trying to do that.) Real life is what it is, but work is going okay at the moment, anyway. Also I'm ill, and have been in bed for three days, pretty much, except for going to T this morning. (I did contact him first to ask if he'd prefer me to stay away when I might be contagious, but he was fine with my coming in as long as it didn't make me drop down from exhaustion.) It would not have been good to be ill next week, because then I have classroom teaching - this week I mostly have preparations that I can do at home. Still, fever and a head full of phlegm does sap a bit of energy.

H is away tonight. I just watched The Full Monty on Netflix. A bit of nostalgia there - I first saw it when I lived in London in the late 1990s. How weird is it to tear up during the last scene of that film (for those of you who've seen it)?

I wish you could see your T today, granite.

Nice job on the lawn, mu_e! Lawn mowing season is over for us, I think. In a month we might start to get below-freezing point temperatures at night (then again, that might not happen until November, but early October is pretty normal for that) and you don't want your lawn to be too well-cut then. Longer blades of grass withstand the winter temperatures better.
Or so we tell ourselves.

hankster, we had walking stick insects as pets when I was little. ("we" meaning my family, not kids in general, I don't think.) And praying mantises, which I really preferred, because they were so much fun to feed.

wow mast I hope you are feeling better by next week. is it a summer cold? those are the worst

No, fortunately - those really are the worst! This is more like start-of-term cold. The buses are full of schoolkids, and adults as well, and viruses are mingling happily in the air. And at work all the students are returning, last week and this week, and bringing their own individual colds and coughs. There's always a bunch of colds making the rounds at the beginning of the semesters. Influenza season tends to start just before Christmas, but (touch wood) I have been spared the real flu except for once or twice.

Home... The day went well. Tomorrow is the big day! Students come to school.. and my D starts kindergarten, that is so hard to believe!! I think I am more than prepare, just a tad bit nervous to be teaching in my own classroom again!

I understand the nervousness, healed... but I know you'll do great. I hope you'll have fun!

How old are kids when they start kindergarten there? I'm sure you have mentioned your D's age - I'm really bad at remembering how old children are, I think it comes from not having any kids myself.

Sheesh. It's almost 10pm and I'm getting email from students wanting to sign up for my courses... don't they ever sleep? Actually, more to the point, don't they ever party??

Mast- Our school requires you turn 5 by December 1st.. So most kindergartner are 5 (like my daughter) but we sometimes have some 4 year olds (rare though) and an occasional 6 year old.

Looking back a few pages....

Jersey, you have a lovely singing voice. I picture you with your little charges wandering the Austrian Alps, singing.

murray

stopdog, I like the McGuire Sisters. I have a playlist with oldie-goldie type music I like, and Sugartime is on it.

summer reading assignments..... I never got those, but I remember telling my parents I had to do summer reading when I was in upper elementary (12-13 years old). Well, it was kind of a white lie, and anyway kids are supposed to have fun during their holidays, right?

I have to go to bed.... really not feeling well. Hope the painkillers/fever killers kick in soon.

Some cheese with that whine, please! Goodnight, couch.

Ugh, Mast!!! I hope you feel better soon. Fevers and phlegm are not a good combination and most certainly can cause you to be completely depleted. I'm hoping you'll get some rest and be back in good health in no time.

My daughter had a good first day of school. Gotta fill out the forms. I am hoping she'll qualify for reduced lunches again this year. Apparently, the income requirements have changed, and I know we barely qualified last year. We pack lunches much of the time, but it was always a relief to know that she could buy a lunch if she wanted/needed to for a low cost.

Gotta hop in the shower and get ready to head out to group T.

MAst/apt - I hope you feel better soon.

Way too early in the morning for me. Hope you are doing well.

Darn I went to bed and missed everyone.
Anyway got an appt with my GP so she can refer me to a properly qualified Pdoc, not a junior registrar from the hospital. I get one free review session twice a year under the medicare thing. Hoping he fixes my meds as I'm sick of bouncing around like a ping-pong ball.

Ahhhhhhh!!!! Anxiety is starting to drive me crazy.. I am ready for this week to be over with, so I know that I am more than prepared and know that my daughter will do just fine in school!!

When should you listen to logic and when should you listen to feelings or should you listen to both and make a decision on the stronger outcome. I have no ides what I'm trying to say here. just had to get it out of my head.