Sunday, June 28, 2009

Vacation is here!

It's official. I am now on vacation as of Friday the 26th. No more homework, no more books, no more kiddos' dirty looks! Yeah.

Dad has come home from the hospital today. There were some snafus on Thursday when he went in to have the surgery but in the end it seems to have worked itself all out. He needed another surgery to put in another wire to his heart defibrillator/pacemaker device. He has had problems breathing and this surgery is designed to help the heart pump more efficiently so the oxygen is better passed throughout the body. Or at least that's the way I understand it.

I am so proud that I made it to the end of the year with only one day taken off for a sick day and another 90 minutes off to make my Tysabri appointment this past week on Tuesday. I did it! It may sound silly but those two months were a fight every day to get up and go but I did it.

It was difficult going back to work after all that time off. The kiddos had developed some really terrible habits that I battled each day until last Thursday. The kiddos' last day was a half day on Wednesday and many of them gave me hugs on their way out the door so that was nice. Then Thursday was a day for paperwork and packing up my room as I have to move rooms this year. I got it all packed though.

Then I got crazy and went out for drinks with some coworkers on Thursday. I NEVER do things like that. I think my friends were as surprised as I was when I said I would go. I had three yummy daiquiris that were rather weak so I was okay to drive home after a few hours of enjoying the sun and then the breeze. While we were there it was so windy that we saw the umbrella from the middle of another table come flying out and across the porch area where we were sitting. Thankfully no one was hurt.

My air conditioner was put in place by BJM's hubby the other night. It's been pleasant to have that on some of these muggy evenings. I run the fan every night all year long, even in the winter; unless, of course, it's a night where I have the AC running.

My brother is still in Europe heading to Greece. My sister is flying over to join him in Greece and then they are supposed to see the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. She'll be with him for two weeks. I hope they take lots of pics so I can view them on Facebook.

My MS seems to be holding steady with nothing new cropping up. I have been sleeping a lot since school has ended but that's okay. I have no other plans. I do plan to take my chair outside in the shade and do some reading here soon. I also need to get some exercising in again.

That's all I have for now. Night!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Update

Dad's heart surgery is now on Thursday.

Tysabri was yesterday.

Kids are gone.

'Nuff said.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Thank you, thank you, thank you and other tidbits

I do appreciate so many of you coming back time after time to read and sometimes comment. I know I have been a super slacker since I went back to work but there are some of you committed readers that keep coming back, no matter how little I post.

This is the final week of school for the 2008-2009 academic year. Yippee! A full day tomorrow and then two half-days with students. Thursday is a full day with no students. I suspect that will be the day I am sweating the most as I pack up the rest of my classroom to move next door. Yep, I am moving one room away which is a real pain in my azz but I understand completely the need for it. It's still a gigantic pain in my rear though.

I received a phone call today from a colleague who told me the phone tree was activated. Apparently something is going on in my building as everyone in the middle school is supposed to go to the high school for a 7:30 meeting. Why we have to meet at the high school for a meeting just for our building, I don't get. That makes no sense as students arrive at 7:45 off the buses at the middle school. As you might imagine there are a lot of rumors going around but it seems like nothing good can come from a meeting called over the weekend. Time will tell.

My sister was home for the weekend as her best friend was getting married and she was the maid of honor. I didn't see her but I did talk to her for a while on the phone and she supposedly returned the one awesome CD I burned last summer. Since then I can't get the CD burner thingie to work right so I have been waiting to get back my one accomplishment so I can listen to it in the car.

My brother checked in from Poland as he's traveling throughout Europe on a month long R & R after serving in Iraq and using his leave to come home to see my dad as he went through his heart surgeries this late January/early February. My brother is having a wonderful time and he deserves it completely.

My dad had another heart surgery right after I went back to work in May and he's having another one this Wednesday. If you're one of those who believe in prayer, feel free to add him to your list.

I have another Ty infusion on Tuesday afternoon. I think that may be why I have had four colds since I have been back to work. I didn't make the connection until someone pointed it out in a comment a while back; methinks it was Denver Refashionista who made the connection and comment.

I had another interesting phone call yesterday. In a roundabout way one of my students made a connection for me with someone in the town I live in. The little girl told this person her teacher had MS and unbeknownst to her she was telling someone else who had MS! This other woman called me up and we had a nice conversation about MS in the education world. She's "in the closet" so to speak about her condition because she doesn't have tenure and a secure position. I'm very "out of the closet" as I tell my students and my co-workers and bosses are all aware of my MS. I also have the luxury of tenure and a full-time position.

I know many people feel they do not have the security to tell their coworkers and/or bosses about their MS. I absolutely get that and understand it. To each their own. I just hope that I can continue to be a resource for this woman who reached out to me yesterday.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Did I do it yet?

I'm seven hits away from my future new milestone as I type this. I wish I could give a prize away to the person that puts me over into the next spot for place value. Consider this an imaginary set of concert tickets to the concert of your choice, no holds barred.

Today my little expelled unruly came in to take his math final. At first he wouldn't do anything. Then he took out his pink highlighter and colored in some of the front page. Eventually he wrote my name with the word fagot (sic) misspelled on the front page. (Hey, at least he wrote my name, right?) Then he answered one question with his pink highlighter near the end of the test incorrectly. He spent the rest of the final taking time making water drop noises with his mouth which was super helpful to the people who were actually taking the test.

As an aside, he did me a favor and left me with one less paper to correct. I'm always looking on the bright side, aren't I?

Thanks for reading my drivel. I do hope to actually write something of importance here soon for you. Consider me an under construction site!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Dorkworthy non-news item

I see that I am creeping up toward 10,000 hits. I am so looking forward to seeing that number switch over from nine thousand something to ten thousand something. Call me a dork. It's how I roll.

It's also almost Wednesday which is the "official" middle of the week and then there is the progressive downward slide to Friday, which is the last Friday of this school year. Yippee!

I'm watching some Chris Rock on Netflix and chuckling every now and then. I know, I know, he's got a filthy mouth but sometimes you just need a laugh.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Sick AGAIN

Can I say that I am under the weather yet again with my fourth cold since I went back to work on May 1st? Yes, I can say it. It's the truth. I am sniffling and snuffling.

Why does this keep happening? Maybe if I took all my supplements and my multivitamin every day instead of once a month I may be feeling better. Better living through chemistry is one of my top sayings.

I have one more full week of school and then three more days the next week, two of which will be half days. I am trying really hard to hang in there but I did take a day off this past week. That is going to hurt me in the pocketbook as I have no more sick time available after taking 5 months off to recuperate from a rough bout with some MS symptoms. I wish now that I had buckled down and gone to work so I could take a day off this week. Of course, I think about taking time off every week. That's just me, the tired slacker.

I keep trying to move my bedtime up and I swear there are days when I go to bed at 7:45 which has got to be earlier than some of the kiddos in my class. I moved my wake up time back a teensy bit to 5:38ish. I am still tired.

The good news is that I don't come home from work every single day needing a nap like I did before my sick leave. That may be the Tysabri working its liquid gold medicine throughout my body. Now I come home and nap maybe once a week. The rest of the time I flop on my bed and read for an hour or so to decompress and rest my mind.

I better go as it is almost 8 p.m. and my bedtime. This darned cold will not get the best of me. I can't let it.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Stupid human tricks

Yesterday would have been my fourteenth wedding anniversary. Let's say that I'm glad that I was only married for five years. My wasband was all wrong for me and I knew it on my wedding day but I toughed it out and married him anyway. Ladies if you have doubts, save yourself the time and money and just say no to a walk down the aisle.



Stupid human trick performed by another unruly in my classroom:

Boy #1 punches boy #2 in the bathroom so boy #2 tells my wonder helper/special ed teacher. She questions boy #1 who claims that he was bitten in the bathroom by boy #2. He offers no evidence of said biting.

Boy #1 gets called to the office and bites himself to keep up the lie. Boy #1 tells another boy and does said biting in front of him. Doh!

Wonder helper/special ed teacher calls the office to tell them of this emerging news. Boy #2 has sloppy red bite mark from himself yet claims all day long that he was bitten by one of the most docile children I have.

Boy #1 stays in ISS for the day.

Sigh. Every day is a new flipping adventure. That's why I called in sick today.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Ridiculous

One of my most unrulies had his father arrested sometime within the last week.

The charge: Attempting to buy crack cocaine for ten dollars and a half of a pig.

You cannot make this stuff up.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Field Trip!

Tomorrow is field trip day. Originally it was supposed to rain but now that appears to be to the south of us, yippee. It's an outdoor field trip so no rain is obviously a preferable environment.

I hope to be able to make it through the trip okay because it will involve a lot of standing around and I'm not so good at that.

It will also be the middle of another week so who can complain about that? I hope everything is going well with all of you dear readers. I feel like I'm letting you down now that I have gone back to work and I write so infrequently. Take it in the manner that I am surviving and dare I say it, even thriving, at times.