The semester winds down

Oakton's semester is almost over, we have only 4 classes left. On Thursday we have a big assessement, and another next Tuesday. Next Thursday is the final. The last class, on the 12th, I will give them the results of all of this. Most of the students will pass the class, but I can't predict who will pass the assessments. They have to take two standardized reading tests, the best of the two will be considered for promotion to the next level of reading. Most of them are reading on the 6th-7th grade level now. They have to improve a lot to handle "college" reading.
Since most of my students are not native speakers of English, they have deficiencies in vocabulary. I am recommending that they take a one credit vocab. improvement class next semester. I am impressed that these recent immigrants are so willing to come to a class at night twice a week, mainly to improve their fluency and proficiency in English. The stars of the class are a middle aged woman from Iraq and a VietNamese manicurist. They really work hard on the assignments. I sure hope that they pass off on the tests and move on to a more advanced class.
After the 12th of Dec. I am off until the middle of January. We are getting a new textbook, so some of my time will be spent preparing my syllabus and lesson plans. I have decided that I will demphasize some reading skills--like evaulating computer sites-- and emphasize reading more articles and essays than I have this semester. I like to find articles in the New York Times. The reading level is challenging and the articles are well researched and interesting.

Monday again

Monday is here again, and so is my Weight Watchers meeting. I did fine this week, I lost a little weight. That is good since most people gain over a holiday.
I've been busy last week, and when I get that busy, I start to feel overwhelmed. I have to go back to making a list and crossing things off when I finish them.
Two part time jobs don't add up to one full time job in time, but recently, it feels like they do. The semester is winding down at Oakton. We have one of the assessments Thursday, another next Tuesday. These determine whether students pass off on the reading requirement. I am worried about several of them. I am sure that several will have to repeat the class, mostly because of their limited vocabulary--they are not native English speakers. The others, the ones who don't come to class on a regular basis, don't do their assignments, come late or leave early, will fail. I know that I am doing them no favors to pass them on. They probably won't pass the assessements either. These kids don't have much of a student work ethic and this developed long before they walked into my class.
So, now I will get working on this week's lesson plans and paper marking. When I finish, I will get busy on my other job. The maybe I will repot an orchid that a neighbor dropped off today.

The Thanksgiving Shop

We went grocery shopping today for the Thanksgiving dinner. Our menu is pretty simple and traditional. We decided to drive down to Howard Street, where there is a bigger and better stocked store than the one in our neighborhood. So, we went around the store fairly quickly and met the store manager, and the assistant manager. They were very concerned that we find what we were looking for and even gave us a list of where everything was located. It was a plesant shopping experience. When we checked out, I found a coupon for $10 off on the turkey, which combined with the coupons we already had, took $16 off the bill.
Last week I bought a bag of crab apples which I planned to use as a garnish. I just finished a search and found a recipe for chardonnay crab apples, and it recommended that the apples be used as a garnish! Just what I was looking for. So, this all bodes well for Thanksgiving.
David called, very excited because he found cherry chips at the Target near his house. Now, our friend Lotte used to make cherry chip cookies until she couldn't find cherry chips any more. These just happened to be favorites of David. He bought a few bags, and plans to give them to her on Thanksgiving. At Christmas, he hopes to be munching on cherry chip cookies.

My fascination with orchids

On Saturday, I purchased another orchid. It is white with random reddish-purple sploches. I have admired orchids smilar to this for a while, so when I saw it in Costco, it flew into my cart. I think that I have about 9 orchid plants now, mostly phalenopsis. They require surprising little care, mostly weekly watering and occasional repotting. For this, they produce some mighty spectacular flowers which last for months. Since I have figured out how to get them to rebloom, they do on an annual basis. After reading the Orchid Thief, I know that I am only on the fringe of orchid madness. I would like to have more plants, but where would I put them?
Today is another goal day in my Weith Watchers journey. I now have lost 20 pounds. I am also working out with a heart monitor, which is supposed to keep my heart rate in the 60-70% range. This is the fat-burning range. I hope it works. Acutally the monitor only measures the heart rate, and beeps when it is over or under.

Something about Alma

I realize that even though Alma is in the title of this blog, she is rarely included in the blog itself. Earlier this week, Alma had one of the most exciting days of her life. My husband took her for the morning walk, about 6:30 am. The day was rainy and the sidewalk was slippery with leaves. As she walked along, a squirrel dropped from a tree and fell in front of her. This is a dog's dream situation. She didn't have to track it, or chase it, it was just there. So, she nipped at it, and probably a bit of jaw made contact. The squirrel got away and ran up the nearest tree. It didn't appear to be injured. For the rest of the walk, she was constantly looking up at the trees. She was the picture of dog confidence and pride.

That afternoon, Alma and I went for another walk. In the distance, we saw a lady walking toward us pushing a stroller. When she approached us, I realized that the baby in the stroller was actually a dog! It was Precious, a pug who lives in the next block. Precious is now blind and only walks around his own block. Precious' owner explained that her vet suggested that she get the stroller, so the dog could continue to enjoy a walk--and so could she. The stroller is made for dogs, the leg holes are filled in with netting and there is a netting window in the back of the seat. Now Alma wasn't the most sympathatic dog toward Precious' plight. Instead of gently sniffing him, she lunged toward the stroller. I had the leash tight, so she couldn't scare him. Then she sniffed him a little bit. Poor Precious. He is really a nice dog, I feel sorry for him not being able to enjoy a normal dog's life. But he does have the best of technology available to make an older dog's life pleasant, and two very loving owners.

It's Monday Again

And time for Weight Watchers. So, I went to my meeting and come home with some stuff. I made my 10% weight goal and got a nice key ring for my efforts. I had my smallest weight loss today--but I still lost something. Thanks to Halloween and not enough exercise, I guess. The stuffed monkey toy is back at my house. That was my extra reward for making my goal. So, when I finish this blog, I'll go down to the exercise bike, put on the heart monitor and do a half hour of cardio.

The Commercials Just Get Nastier and Nastier

I am so sick of the same commercials for political candidates being repeated over and over again. During some time periods, you can see 4-5 commericals for the same candidate in 5 minutes. I keep on reading and hearing that negative ads work. I think that by now, negative ads should be backfiring.
I think that I may volunteer to help one of our local candidates for the US House this weekend. His opposition has been a strong and consistent supporter of the president's policies, although he is quite moderate on many subjects. If he loses, it will be a upset, since his party considered that his seat was quite safe. The candidate I am going to help is young and enthusiastic, and seems to be very earnest. I believe he is an attractive and viable candidate, and since I would like to see change, I plan not only to vote for him, but to help convince others to support him too.
I made it through Halloween--not very sucessfully. I opened the bags of candy, and immediately dove into them. It wasn't that great, but I had to taste all the pieces that had chocolate in them. When I got home from school, my husband had given away almost everything. I finished off the few pieces of chocolate that were left. Then in the mail, a promotion came that that 9 pieces of Riesen's chewy carmels. I ate two of them. Then I looked on the Weight Watchers web site and found out that each piece was 2 points. What a relief. I put the rest away for a little treat later on in the week. I can handle that. I know that I won't scarf them all down in one sitting. I also met with a personal trainer and had a fitness assessment. It was quite enlightening. I can do a lot of things, but I rate very poor in cardio. This is a little bit of a surprise, since I do cardio. I must not be doing it correctly. I am seeing the trainer on Friday, so I will know more then.