Finishing Reward

Last week I ended up with an unexpected vacation. There were just no sub jobs to be had. So, when on Thursday night I was able to snag a gig, I didn't even mind that it was a middle school class for a teacher I've heard the students complain about. And according to the calendar, an assembly was scheduled. 

It turned out to be a dual language immersion class, so while it was a middle school history class (world history for seventh grade and U.S history for eighth grade), it was taught in Spanish. 

Of course, this isn't an issue on sub days. It wasn't a class for Spanish speakers; it was a class for students who were working on being fluent in Spanish. I'd had many in other classes. They spoke English fluently. 

Fifth period. Seventh grade world history. 

It was after the assembly (Olympics-themed) and after lunch. So, basically everything for a crazy period. But, they were actually not too terrible, for middle schoolers. 

I was to sign off their packets (per the teacher's instructions) when they finished. When I explained the assignment, one boy asked, "What if I already finished?" Because naturally. 

I couldn't check his work because it was in Spanish, but he had written something for each question. From what I had seen earlier in the day, it appeared that he had, in fact, finished the assignment. And at times like that, I let them have free time. (No reason to give extra work to the one student who is ahead.) 

I walked the room. Ended up behind the kiddo who had finished. He was playing a game on the Chromebook. It took me a moment to recall he was finished so as to not growl at him for being off task. I moved on. 

"You're not going to say anything about him playing a game." 

This was from another student. (No one complained about a student on a game while I was at the front of the room.) I shrugged and said he had finished his work. 

"Does that mean we can play games in class?"

Without coming out and saying yes, I heavily implied that I wouldn't care, once they were done with the day's assignment. 

I did sign off most of the students' papers, so apparently they didn't get too distracted by games or such. 

It's really all I want most days in classes like that. It was nice things didn't go the way I had feared. 

Not Quite a Two-Day Install 13

I finally (FINALLY!) have a completed shower. This whole process started in October. And so, to commemorate this long bathroom nightmare, I'll take you through all the snags in 13 steps (for Thursday 13). 

ONE

I didn't particularly want a new shower, as I was afraid the whole thing would go sideways, but it wasn't up to me. Landlady noticed that the old shower had developed some holes. She had been talking about replacing it for a couple years, and then one day she got a company to come out and look, and she signed the contract. This was late September. 

TWO

It was to be a two-day install. Day one they tore out the old shower. (This was October 30th.)

THREE

Day two was Halloween. Because of the way these condos are configured, to turn off the water to the place required access to the neighbor's garage. You know, the neighbors that flooded our place. Twice. They were apparently not home, even after being called repeatedly for two days. (They were home.) 

So, to get the water turned off, we had to turn off the water to the whole condo complex (it's an ongoing problem). Which required 24 hours notice. As Halloween was a Friday, the earliest they could complete the shower would be the following Monday. 

(There are two bathrooms in the place, but the other one is an en suite attached to landlady's bedroom. This will become more important later.) 

FOUR

When I returned home from work on that Monday, I learned the awful news. The shower was almost finished. All that was left was to attach the doors and a couple finishing touches. But...

An hour away from finishing, they got a knock on the door. The city inspector, who just happened to be in the complex for other reasons, noticed the work truck and had a question: Did the company have the required work permits for the construction? No, they did not. 

FIVE

They had to stop work immediately, get the permits, and then they could finish the shower. In the meantime, we could put up a shower curtain to use the almost fully finished shower in our bathroom. (For the record, I hate shower curtains.) 

They would have to prove that the room had no asbestos. (The complex was build in the early '70s. They definitely used asbestos.) Then they would have to tear out the shower so the inspectors could confirm they were building the shower up to code. Then they could reinstall the shower. 

SIX

Although landlady's convinced that the inspector was just in the area was a lie. She thinks that upstairs neighbors turned us in. (Upstairs neighbors have since moved out.)

SEVEN

After much back and forth with the company, the first hoop to jump through was an asbestos inspection. Failed. So, they had to do asbestos mitigation. Thursday, December 18th. I went to work and returned home to:

No bathroom access AT ALL. Which was kinda a big issue as December 19th was a work day for me, and the only other bathroom in the house is an en suite. I generally get ready quietly so as to not wake landlady when I leave for work in the morning. Having to traipse through her bedroom to get to a bathroom is not quiet. 

Oh, and the bathroom and my bedroom share a wall. In the bathroom was one of those heater/dehumidifier machines. They are loud. I did not get much sleep that night. 

EIGHT

The next day, Friday, December 19th, they came and tested the bathroom again for asbestos. If it tested negative, the worst was over. But, of course, we'd get no test results until the next working day, Monday. Which meant for the whole weekend, no bathroom access and the hum of the machine through the wall to my bedroom. They couldn't legally remove anything until they had the negative test. 

NINE

Landlady wasn't having that, though, and she tore everything open and removed the machine. Whew.

Unfortunately, when they did the mitigation stuff, they threw out the shower curtain. Landlady got another from Dollar Tree. Which did the job, but...

Okay, so I hate shower curtains because they float towards me the entire time I'm showering. And so that's what I'd been dealing with. The old curtain was nice and thick, so not as big a problem. But the Dollar Tree one was flimsy, so it attacked me with more gusto. (Eventually I figured out a way to tape the thing down.)

TEN

Monday, we got the results back: negative. Whew. But, that was December 22nd. Ain't nothing happening Christmas week. Or before the new year. 

ELEVEN

Although, we got a call the next week. (Monday or Tuesday, my memory's hazy on this.) Could they stop by with one of the inspectors who needed to sign off before they could install the shower? Of course. 

The guy arrived, parked by our open garage, but there was no sign of him. When he finally appeared, he said the plumbing inspector had gotten to the complex gate, and he went to meet with him. Turned out that he was okay with just seeing photos of the install. 

TWELVE

Monday, January 12th was the day. They had to tear out what they had done so the inspector could approve their work. 

They arrived at 8 AM. Tore out half the shower. The inspector was scheduled for noon-2 PM. He showed up pretty close to noon. Approved. Then they had to reinstall all that they had torn out. 

The guy asked if they could stay late (after their usual 4-ish finish time), and so when he left just before 8 PM, the shower was done. Double whew. Finally. 

THIRTEEN

Ignore the hole in the wall behind the toilet. They had to rip that out when they did the asbestos mitigation. They patched that hole on Friday. 

The Spam Folder

In December a fellow blogger asked how to find their spam comments folder. And as it is rather hidden, I thought it would make a very good blogging post. 

(You should be checking the folder regularly. There was a point when Blogger marked at least 500 of my comments spam, going back several years. While it took a while to get through that backlog, it was better than letting them languish in spam prison. And since I check the folder daily, I can keep up with rescuing many comments that don't belong there but get sent there for vague reasons.) 

You'll click on your "Comments" in your sidebar. Sometimes Blogger hides the sidebar, so if yours is hidden, first you'll need to open it: 

Click on the "hamburger" in the top left hand corner. That'll open up the sidebar: 

Comments is the third thing in the list. Click on it, and you have a list of all the comments to your blog, in order of posting. Next, you'll go to the arrow next to "All":

Click on that:

And on that pop up menu, you'll click on "Spam". As you can see, at this moment I have zero spam comments: 

Yay!

But not every day is like that. Sometimes I open up that pop up menu to find: 

I click on "Spam":

And there's two comments that are not spam. (I redacted them so as to not call out the commenters.) See how one says "4 hours ago" and one is from December? I've had times when the comments that were in the spam folder were from 2014. And I'm not even exaggerating a little bit. 

Move your cursor over the day or date of the comment to get:

The trash can is to trash the comment if it's actually spam. (Sometimes it's spam.) But mostly things get caught in the folder on accident, so click on the check mark to publish the comment to your blog:

Verify that you want to publish, and it's done. The comment will now appear on your blog. 

If you don't already, get in the habit of checking your spam folder. I don't know why it happens, but with some regularity Blogger sweeps comments into the spam folder that do not belong there. 

How often do you check your spam folder? Is there another blogging topic you'd like me to tackle?

On Ice

How goes the invasion?

🚨 SOS FROM MINNESOTA: "WE'RE BEING INVADED... NOBODY SEEMS TO BE SAFE" "Everyone's scared to go to work," Todd Dahlstrom of Minnesota AFL-CIO tells @therealnews.com. "They're scared to send their kids to school. They're afraid to go to lunch..." Please watch & help amplify!

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— Maximillian Alvarez (@maximillianalvarez.bsky.social) January 19, 2026 at 1:01 PM

And they'll come for your area, too (if they haven't already). So, watch and learn. You'll need to know how to resist when it's your turn. 

Some news from the state: 

• MN ICE Watch
• Queer trans ICE protester in small Minn. city recounts agents' violence and humiliation
• DOJ investigating Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over alleged conspiracy to impede immigration agents
• ICE’s Tear Gas Sent a 6-Month-Old to the Hospital, the Latest in an Alarming Pattern

It's so bad that Minneapolis issued this statement:

Vehicles that are abandoned due to an ICE detention and towed to the City's impound lot will be released to their owners or a representative at no cost. Learn more: https://www.minneapolismn.gov/getting-around/parking-driving/impound-lot/#d.en.200746

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— City of Minneapolis (@minneapolismn.gov) January 16, 2026 at 12:11 PM

But while it's Minnesota's turn, there are some things we can do to help them. There's a phone bank event on Wednesday to call voters in key states to ask them to call their senators. (And you can keep calling your electeds, too.) You can donate to CANMN for mutual aid, especially for those who have to remain indoors due to the threats of being kidnapped off the street. (Like there's a group that's doing laundry for those who it isn't safe to go to laundromats for.) 

And here again is a link for finding groups to help in your immediate area. 

After getting through all that, how about a giggle. ICE thugs slipping on the ice in Minnesota. It's a thing people are now filming and uploading for our entertainment: 

Sleeve Two!

Sleeve one (complete):

Sleeve two (started):

Sleeves together:

So, progress. Once I complete sleeve two, I then add the ribbing onto the bottoms of both (without the detour into Kitchener stitch). And then I put them all together. To finish, I knit the collar. 

In other words, it's getting there. Will I finish before the weather warms up? Well, before the weather warms up in Ohio, as that ship has already sailed for SoCal. (It's January, and yet as I write this at 4 PM on Sunday, I'm sitting in shorts and a short sleeved shirt with my window wide open.) 

I'll keep plugging away on it. 

(It's been a few weeks since I linked to the pattern, so here it is in case you want to knit yourself one: When Harry Met Lucy.) 

The sweater's previous posts:

• Starting the Sweater
• Getting to the Back
• Missed Deadline
• Distractions from Knitting
• A Month Late
• Inching Along
• Tracking the Growth
• Weekly Sweater Update
• Moving Right Along
• Good Progress
• Almost to the Interesting Part
• Plot Twist
• Not Worth the Effort
• Sleeve Progress
• Continuing Sleeve One

Easy Tipping

After winter break, I covered three days in a mod to severe special ed class. (Read: high school aged kiddos who read at an elementary school level.) For the last period of the day, they worked on "life skills". 

The students all had workbooks. Some were working on things like street signs and writing out their home address. I ended up sitting between two girls who were working on activities related to dining out. 

I was later told that Audrey was very anxious and needed lots of assurances. She started with a page that showed various steps in ordering food via phone app, and she had to put the steps in order. Which she did, fairly easily (once I confirmed that she was, in fact, doing it correctly). 

Then we moved on to tipping. 

Explaining how to figure out the tip on a restaurant bill is a challenge even with general ed students. (Everyone hates percentages.) With these special ed students? But I dug in and was ready to work it step-by-step with her.

(And yes, there are shortcuts that are easier in the actual restaurant. And yes, most places now print how much a tip could be on the receipt. Or, it'll automatically add it if you're paying via kiosk. But when it's an actual lesson in an actual workbook, working the actual steps is expected.) 

But then Ms. S, one of the instructional assistants, pulled out her phone. There was an app for that. 

(If you click on the link, the screenshots show just how easy the thing is.)

Oh my. So, so, so much easier. 

Audrey understood what we were doing. Fiddling with the math was the challenge. But the app? She easily could input the total of the bill, slide the percentage to what it needed to be, and have the tip right there. 

This is what we talk about when we talk about accommodations. The student can understand what needs to be done. They just have issues working through the steps to get it done. Take away the fiddly bits, and they can exist in general spaces just fine. 

Audrey needed just a little guidance, and then she was calculating the tips all on her own. 

Phew. That could have been a way harder activity. 

(And if you need such an app, now you know it exists.) 

Working Hard (or Not)

"Could you cover a sixth period..."

Wednesday. Sixth period. Eighth grade English, co-taught. Which meant that the general ed teacher was there. All I had to do was follow her lead. (I've covered Ms. C and I've worked with Ms. C many, many times.) 

Ms. C started with an apology to me and a warning. The room was infested with fruit flies. Someone had left bananas under all the desks before they left for winter break...

Eighth graders... 

They were taking a standardized test (one I've given many, many times), and one of their teachers was there, so I just sat back. The room was filled with familiar faces. Several of them had been in that seventh grade science class I started the year in last school year. (Like Simon.)

At one point Orson called me over. As I search through my previous posts, I see I did not mention Orson before, so let me explain. 

Orson is weird. Probably autistic. I recognize his concerns. Anyway, he speaks very deliberately, and he likes to make sure things are situated as they "should be". He's not a bad kid, but he doesn't fit in well with his classmates. Which sucks, really. 

We're about a half hour or so into the test. The two other boys at Orson's table are clearly not applying themselves. But they weren't talking, so I leaned in to Orson so he could ask his question. 

"Some students are only on question number four," Orson told me. 

I looked down at Orson's test. He was on question 37. The boy next to him was on question four. 

At that point, they totally should have been on at least question twenty. Orson was making decent progress. 

Me: "That's not anything you need to worry about." (I said it kindly. It wasn't his problem and it wasn't anything he needed to do anything about. I was aware the kiddos weren't applying themselves, and when they're still working while everyone else is finished, they'll realize how they wasted their own time.) 

Shortly thereafter Orson informed me he had finished. I told him congratulations. He moved to a different seat and started playing a video game. (There wasn't another assignment after they finished, and the computerized test just closed when he finished, so there was nothing I needed to do.) 

Orson's neighbor? Still working on the test. 

Orson had quite a bit of time to play his game before Ms. C called time. Several students had not finished, so they would be testing the next class period. Including Orson's neighbor. 

And I am not at all concerned. The ones that weren't applying themselves have to keep working until they finish. Those that were got free time. The punishment fits the crime.