C'mon y'all its Monday!

The kids in most of Florida's schools went back to school **today**. In "Flooor-daa" it is by county (why??) and my neighborhood's kids went back this morning. There were a few years (3-4 years ago) where they went back in late July. Never been able to figure the cost-effectiveness of sending the kids back in the hottest month of the summer so the government has to pay the most for air-conditioning.

Karen - you're the only other one on here this morning -- hope I didn't post while you did. Have a good one everyone.

 My daughter teaches in Tampa, and started back this morning, but I don't think the kiddos do.  They started back here on Aug. 1, but today is the first day for 2 grandkids in preschool.  DIL finally has 3 hours of glorious peace and quiet...:)

 

Karen - I'm feeling for you. It's been a long time but I remember going back to work full-time after a long break. It doesn't take long to get in the swing though.

Some of our schools start back today, some later this week and some in the next week or two. I don't remember school starting so early before. I'm not excited to see how much it's going to affect my commute and never have understood why it gets so much worse.

My MIL dropped by some gorgeous tomatoes, plums and peaches last night. She's so good to us :)

I'm determined to chill out a little today. I got a lot done yesterday but none of it was fun and I was exhausted.

I spoke to my friend last night and she hesitantly told me she'd been having chest pain the last few days. She'd tried chewing aspirin and when that didn't help, she used the nitro they'd given her after her heart attack. She said it worked quickly. If she's going to have another heart attack, I'd actually prefer it happen when she's here and I can take care of her.

Schools here don't start back until the day after Labor Day. It's written in the teachers' contracts that way.

That's a little scary about your friend, Cathy. I hope she will go to the doctor.

I just totally blanked out about what I was going to say.

 

 The schools here sometimes start early, but not earlier than the last week in August. It depends on when Labor Day falls when they start. This year, the way Rosh Hashanah falls, a lot don't start till late, or they start, and then they have days off. Some of them are starting the 6th. The district I live in, most of the kids go in on the 3rd, then everyone goes the 4th, then they have a 4 day weekend. One of the kids I work with doesn't start preschool until the 16th.

Schools here mostly start on the 26th of this month.  Some districts start earlier but not by much.  I dread the increased traffic but since my commute is only fifteen minutes it's not like I'm facing long delays.  The worst for me is going home.  I always seem to get stuck behind this one school bus that is completely full and it stops at every single street on my route through our subdivision.  I never remember to leave a few minutes later to prevent getting stuck behind the bus from hades.  I've tried taking a different route through the subdivision but then I encounter other buses.

All the dogs got a bath yesterday and I washed my vehicle and really shined it up.  Then it rained.  lol  

 

Florida has always been insanely early and it goes by county -- what Hillsborough (Tampa) does may not be what Orange OR Seminole do (can we spell "efficient" -- nope didn't think so *sigh*)

But yeah the *kids* went back today -- they were all waiting at the bus stops when I went by. Now I just have to figger out when the bus trundles down Maitland Ave so I can try to stay **ahead** of it. LOL -- there's one street I have to go down and the bus stops FOUR times (I'm patient but I'm not that patient). *sigh*

Tina -- in NY (where I'm from) it was after Labor Day ... and still is. But every year down here it's different. I can't even imagine how difficult that makes it for parents. For a few years they tried "year-round school" so their breaks were staggered all over creation and it was h$ll on blended families -- different kids in the same family had different breaks so no one could go on vacation.

Karen good luck today

Cathy -- you are such a good friend. I know she values you.

We are about to hit the lower yough river for some white water fun! Rawr!

I have lots of bads things to say about budget car rental. Like wrongly charging my Cc and my debit card and putting a $1200 hold on my debit card. Grr. Then the car hadn't been cleaned the gas tank wasn't full and the 12v inlet charger in the front doesn't work. Never. Again.

My friend won't go to the dr. because she's afraid he'll throw her in the hospital and she's probably right. She did just see him for a complete workup about a month ago and she checked out okay. I know that doesn't always mean that much. I sent her an article about the benefits of using the nitro, so hopefully she'll reach for it more readily in the future.

Talk about dirty cars made me realize that's something I need to do before she arrives. It's literally got Shane's hair in every nook and cranny.

Julie - have a great time rafting. It's something I've wanted to try for a long time but no one wants to go with me. You really should move here so I have an adventurous buddy to hang out with :)

 Here the kids go back on the 26th, its been pretty consistently the last week in August.  Here it goes by individual school district, so what our town's schools are doing is most likely not the same as a schools less than 20 min away.  It threw  me off at first b/c where I grew up it went by county.  Do the places that are starting back already get out earlier too?  Here its the beginning to middle of June, depending on # of snow days.

BTW, Callie, I need to remember to call you (and hopefully this will help remind me) we are going to be down your way in early Sept! Would love to try and meet up w/ you and David again.

JackieG

I always seem to get stuck behind this one school bus that is completely full and it stops at every single street on my route through our subdivision.

 

Yeah, what's up with that ??  When did the completely full bus start stopping at every freakin' corner and letting one kid off ??  Used to be the bus stopped every four to six blocks and if you lived anywhere within those blocks - then that was your bus stop. 

 

Deb W.

Deb, I think it has to do with "safety" -- which translates to trying to make sure they don't have to cross ANY major streets, so they have NO incentive at all to "stop, look, and listen" before they cross a busy street.

I'm all for safety -- but really really I think we do kids and adults a dis-service trying to accident-proof everyone's life -- and somehow that ends up with pedestrians being *less careful* -- rather than it just helping the over-all lessening of accidents. But everywhere you go people (in cars and out of them) are chatting on their phones (or heaven forbid texting). And you've got kids, who even at their best are **Just kids** so talking to their friends, listening to their music, etc. is not the best recipe for "care" anyway. The pervasive attitude is simply "you have to watch out for ME" -- and that defeats "safety" Somewhere the idea of personal responsibility has just been lost I think. sorry -- mini-vent over.

I have the same experience getting stuck behind a school bus on my commute because my drive seems to match the average bus schedule on many days.  My summer commute is so much faster!  I've noticed the multi-stops, too.  I think it does have something to do with safety -- in addition to the issue of crossing too many busy streets, I wonder if they try to reduce the length of a child's walk so there's less risk of a stranger abducting them or something? 

My bus stop from 7th - 12th grade was in the center of town.  There were probably 20-25 kids at it -- we all came from various surrounding neighborhoods.  Our apartment was close to the bus stop, but many kids had to walk a long way to get to/from it.  Granted, it was a small New England town, and things were safer then, but it's another example of how kids were so much more active back then.  Now I see more kids being driven to the schools near my house than standing at bus stops.  Not sure why -- maybe parents feel safer doing that.

Cathy, I hope your friend is okay to make her visit to you. 

Julie, enjoy the rafting, and sorry about the rental car headaches.

I forget what else I was going to say.  Feeling sleepy today; I pushed the snooze button too many times. 

 I'm of the opinion that kids are probably safer riding the school bus rather than being driven.  I've seen so many parents in a rush, so they drop the kids off away from the school and let them walk the rest of the way.  That's when things can get hairy...my neighbor accidentally hit a middle schooler who was crossing the street among all those cars.  The girl wasn't hurt and neighbor wasn't charged with anything, but you can't always be sure your child will be conscious of their surroundings.  I heard another discussion about why there are so many stops now...some think it has to do with the demise of covered shelters to wait in.  Not to mention some of the evil goings-on that sometimes happened inside of them.  My son's bus stop was right across the street, and he could wait on out covered porch until he saw the  bus coming.