You can probably keep better tabs on tdogmom by visiting:
www.mybutterflyguide.com
www.mymonarchguide.com
www.tdogmom.com
These 3 sites likely keep her very occupied!

A fair number of forum regulars have drifted away over the years because of heavy advertising here and browser interference, server problems, etc. Spike as moderator was the good old days.

I saw a post from Tdogmom recently offering some curassavica seeds to a poster looking for them. That was about a week ago.

Add Mike Cronin to the list. We haven't heard anything about Camelot in a long time.

Sandy

I'm glad my name wasn't on the MIA list...although I've had a lot of issues (non-butterfly) lately. I try to check in every so often...

I do miss Susanlynne....

And Larry, I'm so glad you've been posting often..there was a while, not so long ago, that we were worried about YOU.

Maaryann

Sandy, thanks for the update on Susanlynne. Please say howdy to her for me and let her know she's missed. FWIW, I too hate typing on my laptop... a big hands, small keyboard thing. Why I have a regular keyboard and mouse plugged into it. I thought about Mike BTW, but thought I'd seen him not that long ago?

Maryann - I've caught some of your posts, but missed any from the others lately if they made them. Know all about "issues". Sometimes I handle them better than at other times. Right now is an upswing as I'm pushing to get some things done that need doing while I still can. I'll pay the price for the increased activity one of these days though when it catches up with me.

L.

I decided to make a 'career' change. I am leaving elementary ed and the teaching of Kindergarten and am going back to middle school mathematics. SO, this means I have been working to clear out the MULTITUDE of material in my classroom to make the room available for the gal moving in (the person who is one of the main reasons I decided to leave elementary ed!). I donated about 95% of the stuff in my room (if not more) to the Down Syndrome Foundation of Orange County, YMCA KidZone Central Orange County, Happy Hearts Child Care, my niece's Kindergarten classroom, about 50% of the books in my room to the school library (no small amount!), ...and then proceeded to clean out and make space in my storage unit, which I've had for 20 years, to get MORE stuff donated...

This is why I've had basically no time to be online. In fact, today, I didn't even turn on the computer until 6:30 p.m. which is most unusual for me. I'm still trying to get things cleaned and packed and whatnot. At least my room is done. Hooray! Storage unit? Partially re-organized. House is a total mess...can't even get to the stove/dishwasher/coffeemaker in the kitchen because my hatrack and three chairs are in there (I wear an assortment of hats when I teach...and YES, I do plan on taking my hats with me to middle school!).

When I do have time, I have been working on learning a new web design software program so that I can re-do the Monarch website since Blogger is just so, well, old and now whenever people go to my Monarch site it is a pain to navigate. I've re-done the homepage. *sigh*

I started yoga and Pilates as a way to help with stress. This has helped. A lot. I'm doing yoga each morning now. Hubby does yoga with me two to three times a week in the evenings. I'm also looking at building a new math website (I already have one, so anyone interested can check that one out...http://www.savvymath.com) but will be making a middle school one.

So, needless to say, my cup has runneth over lately. I finally went out and collected some butterfly eggs today. ;) I've done a spot here and there on the forum but my time to do much just hasn't been there. Priorities...priorities...

CalSherry aka tdogmom :)

I love my laptop! There are a number of different little platform thingies you can buy that can help prop the laptop up onto your lap. I actually have three different ones (a pink one, of course, and a black one, as well as a grey one) but have found that it all depends on how I am sitting and in what chair. I also found that I prefer to use a different mouse (I've gone through various ones here to find the 'right' one) as opposed to the track pad. Hubby has taken to using my desktop which is just fine by me.

The portability of the laptop is what I like. I take mine outside, sit in my LaFuma zero-gravity chair, have my JoeShade umbrella popped up, Chelsea sits under the chair or at my feet, and the butterflies flutter by and the hummingbirds chatter at me and I am in heaven. OH, and I have wireless, too! IF my battery begins to die, I've got a long extension cord that reaches me so I can plug in to the AC and voila! Back in business. My problem? T-I-M-E but now, I think I will have some of that again. :) woo-hoo!

larry tnx 4 the kind words. i miss y'all so much! raising QMs, RAs, buckeye, BSTs, gray hairstreak, & manduca sextas. i do read the posts every now & then.

Susan

So sorry to hear about your daughter. I've worked with many special needs children over the years and they bring such a special gift and a joy to me and those around them. I think that many people don't realize how much MORE those who were formerly given these 'labels' could do. When I taught 4th grade back in the mid-80s I teamed up with a gal who worked with what was then-called Teachably Mentally Retarded (what a horrid label!). The children in her class worked along the 36 in my class in a number of activities and shared lunch tables. I tell you, we broke MANY of the stereotypes back then and I know that some of the children in my class back then went on to become teachers because of their experiences.

This past year I had four autistic children in my room. No one would have known about these children because 1) I did not have 'extra' or 'special' help with them and 2) they were treated no differently. They all did fine and their parents were thankful and one even cried at the end of the year saying her son didn't want to go to 1st grade because he wanted to stay with me. She had to tell him I wasn't going to be teaching Kindergarten any more (I told him this already) and I told him I'd see him in 6th grade. :)

How about getting a larger-sized keyboard and just connecting it to the laptop? Keyboards aren't very expensive anymore. Just a thought.

Enjoy the MS math! We just got the game "Muggins" here at home, a more complex version of "24." I said to myself, "this would make a great MS math game!"

Jeff

When people found out that I was teaching Kindergarten, it was such a shock. I can remember getting comments like, "What?! Sherry Skipper is teaching Kindergarten? Are you sure? She isn't teaching middle school? Not math? You're kidding." I would say, "First, I CHOSE to teach Kindergarten. After working strictly with adults, teaching math to teachers for years, and having DH say, "You need to go back to the classroom, hon" I thought, "hmmm...Kindergarten would be fun! Singing, reading stories, wearing crazy hats...building that important foundation before someone else screws 'em up...THAT'S what I want to do!" So, that's what I did. Eight years went by and I had this horrid teammate but the kids were adorable and I had a BLAST with them and with their families. The teaching aspect was remarkable and I look forward to seeing where these children go and what they become as they move into adulthood. Quite a few of my Kindergartners were the offspring of former middle school math students of mine (or even former elementary students) so it was a great experience all the way around.

Moving UP to middle school is going to be awesome and I can't wait to get in there to teach the math full-time. My Kindergartners left with a really good foundation in math since I went WAY above and beyond (in science, too). I told the kids, "You are my last group of Kindergartners I will ever teach. I will see you next as 6th graders so you will get me once again when you are big kids." One of the moms was telling me that her daughter was taunting the younger sister, "Sorry, but you won't get Miss Skipper. I was in her LAST Kindergarten class."

I am currently working concurrently on the new Monarch website with the new middle school math website. Learning a new web design program is sure taxing but it is heavenly to be sitting out in the backyard with the birds singing and chirping, the butterflies fluttering, the sun shining, the wind breezing through, and a break here and there for me to do a spot of gardening or picture taking or egg collecting...AHHHH...I am thrilled to be on holiday.

I will look into the game you are talking about. Games are what I used for homework with my Kindergartners. We shall see what I do this go-round with my middle schoolers... :)

CalSherry aka tdogmom

PS: Can you tell I am in a happy place? tee-hee