It means STOP

I had my first ever stop arm violation yesterday! I 've had people blow thru the stop arm, but if I don't get a license plate number, I can't do anything about it. But, I got lucky. The car that ran my sign was going slow enought that I caught the plate and a description of the driver. So, when I got back to the shop, the paperwork started. I had to have a light inspection done than 3 sheets of paper work, basically telling the story on each one. It took almost 45 minuets to fill out. The paperwork is turned over right away to the local sheriff. He called me and gave me a choice of actions. I could insist that the driver be ticketed or, if I didn't want to mess with going to court, the sherriff would track the driver down and talk to them, giving a warning. If the driver turns out to be a jerk about it, he will get the ticket.

Stop arm violations are $75. $300 if it goes to court and judges have no compassion on drivers who blow thru the stop arm. I mean, it's a big yellow vehical and when it is stoped in the middle of the road, something is happening and you best see what you need to do. I even gave plenty of warning that I was making a stop. Law requires us to activate the amber warning lights (on the top of the bus) 200 ft before the student stop. I was on a busy roadway with heavy traffic, so I activated mine at least 300 ft and even waited for a break in traffic before opening the door which activates the red flashing lights and puts out the stop arm.

I really hope it doesn't go to court, but it would be interesting too...I'll update this when I knw more.

I didn't drive off the face of the earth

but I have about driven to the end of it LOL!

May is field trip month. Every teacher gets 2 field trips a year and they all pretty much squeeze them into the months of April and May. Plus, add spring sports of track, baseball, softball, tennis and golf. Plus band festivals and academic decathalons. It has been BUSY BUSY BUSY! In 2 weeks I have logged over 25 hours just in field trips and almost 50 hours of regular routes. If I'm not driving a field trip, I'm covering for a driver who is. I'm hopping for a super good pay check. I haven't made 4 figures (in a month) but I want to be pretty close. I won't get a regular paycheck again (after May 25th) untill October 25th.

Sickness ran thru our famly. Eric came down with the chicken pox and he had them really bad. He still have pox marks on his back almost 3 weeks later. But Mollie still has not come down with them. That worries me. Chuck, my hubby was 30 when he got them and I have never seen someone so sick outside the hospital. He had a fever for a week and missed almost 2 weeks of work. Not to mention how lovely he is when he gets sick :)

I had an interesting incident yesterday. I had a bus load of grade schoolers and one of them was stung by a bee. I asked him if he was allergic and he said YES! All sorts of bad scenarios ran thru my mind, including having to do CPR. I radioed in and the head of transportation was being "base" that day and I think she had all the same thoughts as me. Thankfully, he had NO allergic reaction, but all the kids were late getting home due to me stopping every few minutes to check on him. Of course his mom was not home, but she had just pulled up when I got there and explained to her what happened. She was not worried in the least so I'm thinking he is NOT allergic to bee stings, but of course I had to treat him like he was.

Did you know that a bee flying a bus is license for all girls to start screaming at the top of their lungs??? Did you know that buses have a pretty good echo effect? Did you know that girls screams could shatter glass? Well, they didn't shatter any glass, but my nerves were shattered pretty good.

I should of worn lip stick

This past week, I subbed in as a special needs aide. That bus picks up special needs middle school students first than preschoolers after that.

The middle school kids were fine. One boy, with Down's, did something to throw me off a bit though. To look at him, you wouldn't know he was Down's. In fact, he was down right good looking. Very nicly groomed and well manered. I had to sit behind him to observe another student and the young man turned in his seat and had his head reasting on his hands on the seat back. Than he let one of his hands fall and his fingers were brushing my leg. I moved my leg away from his hand. Than he looked at me, winked and put his hand on my knee. I picked up his hand and placed it back on his seat and said "please keep your hand up here".

I don't think there was anything sexual in his behaviour. I told the driver about it and she said that he is an affectionate boy. But it was just a bit werid, especailly when he winked at me.

But the funniest thing to me was the preschoolers. I had a healing cold sore on my lip, but they all seemed to focus on it. Each one of them (11 in all) had to be buckled into a car seat and when I bent down to do that, they all stared, poked or made comment about my sore. The next morning when I was on that bus again, one little girl took one look at me and said "I remember you! You have a sore on your lip!"

We Survived!

Yes, finally, spring break is over. I am not one of those moms who can't wait to get her kids out of the house, but rather, I like the return to a more scheduled and orderly lifestyle.

Plus, on top of all the sickos in our house, Megan came down with the chicken pox

Or rather, "chicken pops" to quote Eric.

I have 2 kids now that have NOT had them and they should be getting them soon. It may mean that Mollie will miss her field trip on the 10th.

Oh well. Life goes on

GAG!

Yes, this has been one GREAT spring break.

I've been sick and now have pink eye.

It has rained everyday

Now, my oldest daughter has been throwing up since 4:30 this a.m. Thankfully, she made it to the bathroom, but anything hitting a vinyl floor at a high rate of speed has a high rate of splatter. I made my hubby get up and help me clean up the bulk of the mess as I couldn't be in there more than 30 seconds without a chain reaction retching.

I just hope no one ever throws up on my bus.

Field Trip Day!

Thursday was field trip day.

I so remember how much I loved field trips and how few I got to go on. I went to private school from the 2nd thru the 5th grade. 6th grade was in public school but I don't remember taking any field trips at all. We did go on one my sophmore year in high school. Bowling to compliment our unit on bowling in PE.

This trip was for 4th graders. The Boise Philharmonic put on a "children's concert". It was EXCELLENT. As a musicain, it is hard for me to just sit and listen to music. I want to be playing it, but the concert was enjoyable, was free and I got paid to do it. What more could you ask for?

Count Down to Spring Break

and better yet, payday!!!! One of the few, and I mean few drawbacks of my job is the once a month paydays. But, I have learned to adjust. I also have to adjust my budget around for a small small June check (school lets out May 30th) and no check again till September 25th. I had kicked around the idea of finding a small part time job, but decided that my kids are more important. Especailly, with my 4th, Mollie who has some learning issues. She has language deficit issues as a result of undiagnosed hearing loss that lasted almost a year. The girl had NO and I mean NO ear infections. It wasn't till she started putting her ear up to the TV speaker that I got worried. Up till that point, I thought she just wasn't paying attention and was bit of a late bloomer. She also has convergance insufficancy, meaning that her eyeballs do not work together. She also overfocuses when she is doing close work which fatigues her eyes for distance work. The school psychologist feels that she is also ADHD/ADD but I am not so quick to jump on that bandwagon. There are several studies that show that convergance insufficancy can lead to a false diagnosis of ADD. I am also going to try an elimination diet that has shown promise with ADD kids. If anything, improved nutrition will not hurt anyone. So my summer will be spent helping Mollie with her learning issues. She is poor in reading comprehension and math. She also has poor spacial reasoning. It is hard for her look at something that is broken into peices and put it togther to make a whole (like a puzzle). Each evening, she and I play a children's game, do a puzzle and do some flash cards, sometimes a worksheet. She has come to treasure her evenings with mom and I have too. It is hard for me sometimes because it is easy to become impatient with a child who cannot do a simple puzzle. But I also refuse to put her in a box labled ADD, throw in some pills and hope all comes out fine. Thankfully, too, she has a great teacher who has put up with alot from Mollie (she is easily distracted and requires alot of redirection) and has really helped up in our quest to get help for Mollie. I call Mollie my "crack child" because she was never bad enough or tested low enough to trigger any red flags. She didn't qualify for preschool by 8 points! (if we had been low income that would of been diferent). She didn't score low enought on her reading assesments to get placed in Title 1 reading programs and so on and so forth. Had I not pushed for the testing for learning disabilities, we would still be floundering, wondering how to reach her and she would of gotten worse, especially with her eyes. She would of kept falling thru the cracks.

What this all has to do with bus driving? Nothing, but since I have mostly family reading this, I think you will appreciate this. I have some misplaced guilt over this and more heartbreak, but I am also clinging to hope. Many people who have changed history were considered not normal children and learning disabled. Please pray for us as we try to help her discover her strengths and talents and help her with the school subjects that she needs.

Thanks all!