An Educators View

New Thoughts

2011-03-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I am taking a web development class, and we are now talking about blogs, so I thought I'd start updating again!

Sabbatical

2007-11-21T09:24:00.000-08:00

I am so run ragged right now I can hardly think! So in the interest of my mental and physical health, I am going to take a sabbatical. Don't know how long, but I'll try to pop in now and then.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas.

Touching

2007-09-16T19:27:00.001-07:00

I've been oh so busy with the new school year. After five years, hubby now has a 'regular' shift, and I'm still adjusting to that, along with Little Guy in kindergarten and a six month old. I'm run ragged.

I got this in my email from a cousin, and it's quite touching.

Busy Busy Busy

2007-08-20T06:01:00.001-07:00

School has started, and I've never been so tired in my life. Wrangling 21 kinders, an infant, another kinder (that lives in my house!) and a husband. Yikes!

Where I Have Been

2007-07-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

I found this on The Pensive. I thought it was pretty cool!

Do yours here!

Tragedy

2007-07-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty tough weekend here in Phoenix.

On Friday, two news helicopters crashed while covering a police chase. Hubby works for Phoenix PD, so right away he called me to let me know. All we knew is that it was a Channel 3 helicopter and a Channel 15 helicopter. We don't watch channel 15 all that much, but we have strong ties to Channel 3. In fact, the first theme song my son recognized after he was born, was the 'Good Morning Arizona' them song. We watch it every morning, including the segments on the helicopter with Bruce Haffner. That was our first though, oh god, Bruce! But then Bruce came on the air, and we pretty much knew it was Scott Bowerbank. And his photographer was Jim Cox. While Jim didn't get on camera much, his name was always mentioned as the photographer in the helicopter. Watching multiple hours a day, day after day, you get to 'know' the on air personality. It has hit us hard.

The suspect who started the whole thing was caught, and the Phoenix Police Chief said that they will prosecute him for the four deaths.

Then, that same evening, a Phoenix Police Officer was shot and killed by a suspect in a check forgery scam. This hits hard because Hubby works for the Police Department.

Finally, a man was killed while he tried to do an exorcism on his 3 year old granddaughter! Good lord! We made national news with that, and even Geraldo!

We have a lot of good things in our valley, but the last couple of days have been hard on us...

Not that I would...

2007-07-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

... but with the following conversation as an example, I could never get away with an extra-marital affair.

LG: Guess what Daddy?

Hubby: What?

LG: Yesterday I walked into Bible School all by myself! Mommy sat in the car and made sure I got in ok because she was running late and had Baby L in the car.

Hubby: Really? (With that look at me that said 'Reeeealy')

In my defense, it is only two doors that he has to go to to get into the church. And he is five...

A Think Test

2007-07-24T22:08:00.000-07:00

I took this, and only scored a 14. And I'm supposed to be a teacher?!?

Think Test

Let me know how you did!

Need an Optician?

2007-07-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

I got this from a friend in mind in Vegas... it is too funny! Be careful in front of children!

I'm Done... But No Harry Spoiling

2007-07-22T01:03:00.000-07:00

I just finished. When you're done, let me know, I'd love to get others opinions on it...

Music

2007-07-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

In my tagline, I mention music. I'm not a huge fan of music of all genera's like Desert Songbird, but rather, I play the flute. I'm now 30 and I started when I was in fifth grade (that would make me about 10 or 11 when I started). I've played almost continuously in that time span.

I started in beginner band, and I wanted to play the flute. B A D L Y wanted to play the flute. Why? You may ask. Because the daughter (OK this is where it gets tricky, follow me here) of the woman who my father is married to and broke up my parents marriage, played flute. (At the time when I found out she played the flute and I started to want to play, my parents were not divorced.) With the divorce and my mom having to go back to work - she had been a stay at home mom - there wasn't a lot of money. So, after renting a flute for the first year, to make sure that I was going to stick to it, I was granted the use of the flute that belonged to.... I think you get the picture.

So years pass and I go through grade school band and Jr. High band. I even went to all district in eighth grade. I wasn't a great player, but I played well enough. Then I started high school and marching band. That summer I decided that I wanted to be in Symphonic Band. That meant an audition and I had to be good. So I started lessons. All well and dandy. I didn't get into Symphonic Band. There wasn't auditions, and freshmen didn't get into Symphonic Band. But I continued lessons, and I got better for it.

The Feb of my freshman year we went to NAU for the Solo and Ensemble Festival. With my flute teacher we had prepared a solo and one of my girlfriends from school played piano as my accompaniment. I had worked hard for this, and was scared sh*tless. First time I'd ever performed in front of a judge. He had a copy of my music and listened for my tone, my tempo, if I followed the key signature and a whole host of things that you do as a musician.

I got a '3'. (1 being the highest, 4 the lowest) I was devastated. But it was fun to play in the snow and it was my first time at NAU and my first time to be on a 'field trip' with (in essence) no chaperones.

I got my 'baby' the next year, when I turned 16. My open holed flute. I was ecstatic. Granted it was only a solid silver head joint and the rest of the body and keys silver plated, but it was MINE. (Shortly after I got mine, one of the other girls got her flute, and not only was hers solid silver, but her mouthpiece was gold plated! pphhth). About this time I got into the church choir. I found out that I love performing, especially with a microphone in front of me. I wound up playing in church from that point on until I was pregnant with my son, about 10 years. I've also played in church on and off for the last five years, depending on the director and what my schedule is.

College brought two years of marching band at NAU and a two semesters of a non audition band. It was great for me. I went up as a freshman knowing nobody, and after an afternoon, knew not only a whole section, but was planning parties with that section and other sections. I had 100 new friends.

As I moved towards my degree in hotel management, time and credits became an issue and band moved out of my life. However, during the summers, I still played at church.

After I got married and was living in Las Vegas, I started to wonder if there wasn't a group out there of people who played because they liked to. Not professionally, but the band geeks from high school and college who had real jobs in the real world. Yes they did! But I didn't qualify for residency for UNLV and I wasn't about to pay out of state tuition for a band class. Good thing I didn't, because we wound up moving home in May.

Once back at home, I knew where to look. I found that GCC had an evening band class that was a community based band. The first class I took was the first class for the director. We had about 25 people there. I had a blast! That was seven years ago. With the exception of two semesters off because my teaching program met on the same night, I've been there eight years. We're almost at 100 people and each semester finds us tackling bigger and better pieces of music.

When I talk to my mom about the music, she has told me that she never imagined that I would have done what I have done with that flute. She made me promise that when I 'grew out' or 'gave up' on the flute I would sell it. I promised her, but had no intentions of selling that flute. Nor will I. Maybe some day Baby L will decide that she wants to play the flute as well.

The Weasley Twins!?!

2007-07-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

Find out your Harry Potter personality at LiquidGeneration!

Um, yea, whatever...

The Good News Is... The Bad News Is...

2007-07-18T22:20:00.000-07:00

The Good News Is: Hubby got a new position at work and works days! With weekends and evenings off!
The Bad News Is: I have the kids all day to myself and I'm not used to it. Also, we now need full time day care, instead of just part time!

The Good News Is: We found a babysitter!
The Bad News Is: We're out $200 a week for child care.

The Good News Is: The Monsoons are almost here, it's raining! (Well, sorta)
The Bad News Is: I haven't been dry in days.

The Good News Is: Bible School has started for Little Guy and he's out of my hair for a couple of hours each day!
The Bad News Is: I have to have the whole house (well, Little Guy, Baby L and me) fed, dressed and out the door by 8:30 to get to the church on time.

The Good News Is: School starts in a month, Little Guy is so ready to be around kids his own age.
The Bad News Is: Summer is over! My school opens up next week and I have to start going back to get my (new) room in shape. It'll be the first time since March 2 that I've been back to my school to work. Yikes.

I've enjoyed having almost five months off of work/school. With Little Guy I was chomping at the bit to go back to work. I couldn't get a schedule down, and didn't really do anything because I was going back to work. With Baby L, well, I now have a 5 year old to entertain in addition to taking care of an infant. Time has flown, and both of them have kept me busy.

I never thought I'd hear myself say I wanted to be a stay at home mom, but in some ways I think it might be nice. I'm getting a bit of cabin fever, so I know it's time to do something, but I think a lot of it has to do with trying to keep Little Guy entertained. There isn't a whole lot of kids to play with, and it's hard to keep him occupied. It would kind of be nice to see how it would have worked out staying at home with Baby L while Little Guy goes to school, but it isn't in the cards for us to do that. And I think it's best for us all. We get so much of each other during the summer, that maybe we need the time away from each other during the school year.

More Pictures

2007-07-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

My baby turned 4 months old last Saturday, and we got some pictures taken. I hope you enjoy, I certainly love showing them off!

Babies, Babies, Babies

2007-07-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

My sister had a baby girl about ten weeks after I had Baby L. For Fathers Day we took the kids to Kiddie Kandids for a photo shoot. This is the result:

I'm Recovered?

2007-07-03T08:47:00.001-07:00

Well, the garage sale is over. We made a good chunk of money, enough to buy a new desk, which was our goal. What surprised me was what people bought. With the exception of a coffee table and an arm chair, none of the furniture sold. Whoda thunk? The baby clothes (of which I had 12 Xerox boxes full of) just really sat there all weekend. However, the baby/toddler shoes flew! I had a set of glass wine glasses with a 'gold' rim that sat there, but the margarita glasses went the minute we had people. The baby toys, now they FLEW. We had a bin of little stuff, priced them at a quarter a piece and we darn near sold them all off.

We sweated our butts off, and I swear to whatever deity you want, we are never doing this again. Our garage is still as cluttered as ever, but a WHOLE bunch of stuff is now out on the driveway for Upward Foundation to pick up. And on Friday, we take the baby stuff and maternity stuff to the Crisis Pregnancy Center.

I had two minds about the baby clothes. If I sold them for .25 - .50 a piece, then they probably would have flown. But the clothes are in good shape. I can write them off for a whole lot more than the .25 - .50 I could have sold them for. It was a matter of instant gratification vs delayed gratification (on our taxes in April). Plus, they were good deals for the $1 that I had them listed for. There were a couple of people who came by who recognized what a good deal it was, but most of our shoppers were Hispanics. And if it was more than a quarter, they weren't interested. So... there you go. I wasn't going to drop the price any more, and I'll have delayed gratification.

A word to the wise, don't have a garage sale in June...

What Was I Thinking?!?

2007-06-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I have been talking about having a garage sale for ages. We have EVERY SINGLE piece of clothing that Little Guy ever wore, and (minus the 0-3, & 3-6 boxes) we had 12 boxes of baby/toddler clothes. So we thought we'd put those out, and then the maternity clothes, and some stuff we had around the house. So the longer we thought about it, the more we put off having it. My (our) garage has looked... yikes for so long so we needed to do it. Three weeks ago we decided to do it. Picked this weekend and put the word out to family.

Now, this is the weekend it is going to hit 112. I think I lost five pounds just sweating this morning! And, we're going to do it again tomorrow!

What were we thinking?!?

Baptism of Baby L

2007-06-26T10:09:00.001-07:00

Back in April, we baptised Baby L. At our church, we do full immersion baptisms, so Baby L went in naked as a jaybird. She didn't mind it too much, our baptismal font started it's life out as a spa, so the water is heated and she likes that. She didn't fuss, but I think it's the smallest baby Fr. Robert has had to baptize so far, and he was a little unsure. But our baby is now a part of our 'faith family' as they like to call it at church.

Crafty Me

2007-06-26T09:43:00.001-07:00

I've been 'absent' for a while. I just haven't felt like writing, or reading, for that matter. I got kinda lethargic and was trying to juggle many things at once, getting ready to leave on vacation (on fathers day, so we had to make it up to dads in the days prior...) But now we're back and I'm going to try this thing again!

A while ago, I posted about my crocheting fetish. Since then I completed the blanket for Baby L:

I also made a blanket for my sisters baby:

I'm really quite proud of myself. They weren't hard to make, but they were time consuming. Little Guy has now requested me to make a red one for him. To facilitate that, I went out and bought more pattern books, and I'm hoping to make one for him that isn't so...time consuming. The pattern of the stitches make it a very slow project. I'm hoping to find a pattern that uses stitches that are more open, yet just as warm. However, that will have to wait until I finish the birth announcement for my sisters baby, and to finish hubbies Christmas stocking (that I started last November!)

Eight Glorious Years

2007-05-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

Today, hubby and I celebrate eight years of marriage. In that time, we moved out of state, moved back, had two children, three dogs, four cars and one mortgage. Both of us changed careers, mine included going back to school almost full time.

We met the first time when a girlfriend of mine brought us to the pool hall to meet her boyfriend and friends of his. But it wasn't love at first sight. We wound up 'hooking up' with different people. We did go to prom, with other people, and I have the pictures to prove it!

When we met up again, it was between my freshman and sophomore year in college. I wasn't looking for anything, in fact, was convinced that I was going to marry the guy I left at school for the summer (boy am I glad that didn't pan out). But there was hubby on the eve of 4th of July as my girlfriend and I went out for afterhours. The rest, you can say, is history.

Happy Anniversary Honey,

I love you.

Belated Birthday Wishes...

2007-05-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday, May 20 was both my mothers and my niece's birthday. We spent a lovely day Sunday at my parent's, sunning and swimming. On Saturday we spent a nice 2 hours in church watching this same niece get confirmed, then went back to my SIL to have a party. It was rather fun and I found some interesting things out about hubby when he was little. But that is a story for another time and another place.

For now, Happy Birthday Mama

and Happy Birthday Niece of ours...

Pretty Darn Cool

2007-05-18T23:38:00.001-07:00

I got this email from a girlfriend. It's pretty darn cool!

It was a great run boys...

2007-05-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight our beloved Phoenix Suns lost Game Six to the San Antonio Spurs.

I have to admit, I haven't been 'into' the Suns since the Barkley, Marjelre, KJ, Ainge era, and that was when I was in high school. Then the Diamondbacks came around and I was much more into baseball than basketball because I have a 10+ year history of playing softball, and the rules were second nature to me.

Then last year the Suns took off again. After listening to Tim & Willy talk to Laurel D'Antoni (coach's wife) and hearing their Suns songs, I started getting into Suns Basketball again. This season I made an effort to watch the games when I could. I wound up watching quite a few games because of the damn diabetes and not having much energy to do anything after a full day at school with the kiddos!

I've watched the last two years as we've made it to playoffs and I'll never forget my junior and senior year in high school when the Suns went to the finals against the Chicago Bulls (boo!). My best friend was from somewhere up in that area, not Chicago itself, but somewhere Midwest where there were no teams, so you had to pick the closest one to your state. So, she had been a Chicago Bulls fan for years. And I was a Suns fan. We had some real rockin debates (as much as two 17 year old females can about basketball!) about who was the better team and who would come out ahead. I'll also remember the three pointer made by (I'm stretching here...) Steve Kerr that was the nail in the coffin for the Suns. The town was devastated and my best friend... well, she rubbed it in the rest of the school year.

Gonzales, Attorney General v. Carhart et al

2007-05-17T23:11:00.000-07:00

(warning, I ramble and may not always have coherent thoughts that flow well...)

This is more commonly referred to as the Partial Birth Abortion ruling upheld on April 18 by the Supreme Court. I came across this case in two different circumstances. I am taking a US Constitution Class to renew my teaching certificate and we were asked to pick a 'landmark' case and discuss. I had remembered from reading Bitch PhD some articles - here, here and here - regarding this case. So I looked it up to do my research.

Let me sidebar here for a minute. I am pro-choice. My religion is fanatically pro-life. (I guess I'm going to hell for that, but hey, let's just add that to the list of reasons why...) Although I don't think that I could ever go through an abortion, I do believe a woman has a right over her body and what she does or does not do with it. That's also why I believe in birth control. It's my body, my life and I'll make the decisions about what I'm doing with it. Another reason I am pro-choice is the consequences if Roe v Wade is overturned. Instead of having abortions done in a sanitary, safe place with a trained doctor, it'll be done back door and many more women will be harmed and possibly die due to a procedure that is not done correctly or regulated.

That being said, I went on to read the majority opinion written by Justice Kennedy. It can be confusing, but I found myself following it pretty well. Then I got to Section 1, Part A. It gave a clinical description of what happens during the procedure, then it gives a nurse's testimony. I thought I was going to throw up right then and there. I can't cut and paste what she said, you'll have to scroll down to read it in the opinion, and be warned, it is heart wrenching (at least to me.)

I have had a history of post partum depression. After my son, I was on medication for three years. Two months into this pregnancy, I got back on the medication because I was becoming a mess of emotions again and couldn't control myself. I didn't have problems getting pregnant with either of my children, although it took longer with Baby L than Little Guy. Other than the wildly fluctuating hormones, (and the damn diabetes) I had pretty normal pregnancies. There is no reason for me to go to pieces the way I did, except for the hormones. And even that didn't make sense to me.

I was sitting at the computer with Baby L in the swing next to me sleeping (the only time I can get schoolwork done is when the kiddos are sleeping!). She has a habit of jerking her arms out away from her body when she is startled, mostly in her sleep. So when I read what the nurse had to say, all I could think of was Baby L doing the same thing. It was heartbreaking. It disturbed me then, hubby could tell something was wrong when he came home, and it is still bothering me.

I have no problem with the concept of having an abortion in the first trimester. However, by the second trimester, things should be considerably set in motion. I know that some people don't know their pregnant right away, hell, it took me two months to figure it out with Baby L and we were actively trying to get pregnant. But to wait until after the third month to decide that the pregnancy isn't what you want? I don't get it. I can understand if it involves a birth defect, the test for Downs isn't done until the second trimester and then you have a decision to make. And in some cases, as noted above in Bitch PhD, it is necessary.

I guess my biggest wonder/concern/whatever, is that a person can 1) do the procedure, and do it over and over again (ie a doctor) and 2) the woman who has made this decision knowing and still making this decision (excluding life threatening cases).

I love my children, I love them to distraction. I probably spoil them too much, but they are my life. Even if we had gotten pregnant unexpectedly, abortion wouldn't be an option for us. I can see where for some, that would be an acceptable option.

This has caused some real conflicting emotions for me. While I am a firm believer in a woman's right to choose (abortion, birth control, etc), I am opposed to this procedure being done just because, or without a health risk to mother or unborn child.

In my little world, I don't think this ruling will touch me. At least, I hope this ruling will not have any opportunity to touch me. But for the women that this does touch, man, I wouldn't want to be in their shoes...

Summer Is Approaching

2007-05-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

Summer is here. Not technically, I know, but nonetheless, it is here. I am eagerly awaiting this weekend when we are heading over to my mothers to swim. It has met our requisite 3 days of 100 degree + weather for us to go into the pool. Little Guy is chomping at the bit, we had hoped to go in the pool on Mother's Day, but it didn't work out. But this weekend we are partying for my mom's birthday in the pool.

Pools seem to be a staple here in Phoenix. We don't have a pool now, and I didn't have a pool growing up. We didn't get a pool until my mom and step dad bought the house that they live in now. I was a freshman in high school when that happened, so I only got one summer to relax in the pool until I had to work the summers away. Plus, I had a variance to go to school, so none of my friends lived close enough to come over on a whim to go swimming. I remember living at my friend Dani's house the summer between fifth and sixth grade. We were in that pool from morning till night, and then some.

We're going to have to move eventually, the house isn't big enough now that we have Baby L. I am bound and determined to have a pool. I feel awkward calling up friends and inviting myself over so we can swim. (Plus, I don't have a close enough friend where I can just go over and hang out) I want to do the inviting and have the parties around the pool. My mom says I'm insane, having a pool is a headache... but it won't be my headache, it'll be hubbies!

Happy Six Weeks

2007-04-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

My baby is six weeks old today.

I can't believe that it's been six weeks. She is growing like a weed, and she is a smart one, that's for sure. Between her and her brother, we're going to be in BIG TROUBLE in a couple of years. All she has to do is look at her daddy with her big blue eyes and he's a goner! (So is mama, to tell you the truth). She's starting to smile and really develop a personality of her own, and she's a joy to watch.

Technically, I only have two more weeks left on my leave, but I've decided to take the rest of the school year off. I'm not sure how I did it with Little Guy, going back to work after only eight weeks, but as my husband points out pretty regularly when I start pondering why this pregnancy this time around seemed more difficult, I had a desk job and left my job at home. With teaching, you are never 'off'. Even if you don't want to, the work comes home with you as you are always thinking about stuff. How to make this better, don't forget to do this, to fill out that paper, make sure this kid gets the testing he needs. I'm forever writing lists.

I think one of the best things I did was to take those two weeks off before Baby L was born. I got to relax. And now isn't so bad, because I can nap during the day when Little Guy is at school. My biggest worry is to finish this web class so I can go renew my teaching certificate. I think I'd have a nervous breakdown if I had to go back to work and get up at 5am when I'm giving Baby L her last bottle of the day at 11pm. Plus, when I went to show Baby L to my kids, I was still ready to strangle at least two of them, so I think it's a win-win situation all around that I stay home for the rest of the school year. (To give you an example, after lunch my kids get an opportunity to get a drink table by table, and if they ask me after that, most of the time I don't let them because it leads to everyone NEEDING a drink. My sub [who is a retired teacher] lets the kids go and get a drink as long as she's not teaching. Well, one of my little angels came up to me and, rather smugly, informed me that 'Mrs. H let's us go get a drink whenever we want as long as she's not teaching.' Like, he he, look what we're doing. No, I don't think I want to go back for only nine days and be driven nuts!)

And, I get another three months uninterrupted with my children to work on making my household run smoothly.

Not Really A Slacker

2007-04-25T23:58:00.000-07:00

I'm not really a slacker... honest. I've got a bit on my plate right now with the new baby, feeding schedules, a five year old and trying to finish up a web class so I can renew my teaching certificate. Not to mention I'm just not in the mood to write right now. So, bear with me, as I begin to pick up the pace and get things under control, I'll get back to writing.

In Honor

2007-04-25T23:56:00.000-07:00

Success

2007-04-21T22:21:00.000-07:00

After much ado between me, the insurance company and HR, I have finally received my disability check. Now we can breathe a little bit easier knowing that money won't be all that much of a crunch this summer.

Welcome Baby L!

2007-04-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

**Sticky post. Scroll down to see current posts.

Baby L joined us on March 14, 2007.

She weighed in at 8lbs. 3 oz. and 21 inches.

Big Brother is delighted!

More Pics!

2007-04-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

Enjoy!

Frustration

2007-04-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

Right now it seems like everyone is out to get me. I'm normally a very positive person, but I just feel behind the eight ball. It all started when I called the insurance company to find out about my disability. I paid into short term disability because that is maternity leave. The insurance didn't kick in until September 1st, so I waited until September to get a doctors appointment. They could get me in on September 1st, so great, I jumped at the appointment.

So fast forward to Wednesday of this week when I called in to find out what was going on with my claim. It had been two and a half weeks since I had faxed in the paper work. I had called the insurance company when I went out early to find out what I needed to do, and found out they had a 7 - 10 day turnaround on paper work (on top of the five day turnaround and $10 fee the Dr's office charged to fill out the form). I felt I had been patient and just wanted to know when...

Here's the good part.

Because I wasn't physically at work on September 1st (I took the day off to go to the doctor), my effective date for the insurance got pushed back to October 1st. Which by then the pregnancy had been diagnosed, and it is a pre existing condition that isn't covered. Which means that I don't get paid for two months of work and my summer paycheck isn't as big as it would normally be because I don't pay into the vacation 'bank' while I'm not earning a paycheck through the school district.

As you can imagine, I was just about hysterical. But, the girl told me, it was still in the review process and she'd send an email to the person who was working on it to get it resolved quickly. Well, that was two days ago, and with the time change, I keep on forgetting until it's too late (and quiet around here) to call and check. But I've written this off. I'm so upset it's not funny. It seems like I try to play by the rules and get screwed.

Then, to top things off, later that afternoon I'm checking my school email from home, and I find an email that I'm copied into informing our principal that I'm one of two new representatives for our Site Base Committee for next year.

Hello?!?!? Was I asked about this?

So let me get this straight, I'm at home on maternity leave, we have a grade level meeting and someone decides since I'm not there to defend myself, to assign me to a committee where I'm going to have to spend one night a month at school. Attend the meeting with my coworkers (not so bad, I can still make it home in time), but then to stay after that to attend the monthly PTO meeting. It may not sound like much, and if they had asked me, maybe I'd have done it. But I'm going to have a five month old when I go back to work in August, and it's on one of the nights that my husband doesn't work. I don't get to see my husband enough as it is, I'm not going to let this happen.

Not to mention that the supposed reason I was nominated for this was because I don't get involved enough with the team.

Again, Hello?!?!?!

I put together our team field trip (of which they decided at the last minute to make changes to, making me look bad to both the district and the destination for having to call the day before to change times!). I offered to do Christmas shopping for our principal, vice principal and secretaries for those who wanted to chip in (and got an earful about how you just don't do that, it isn't professional! {???}). Granted I haven't been volunteering for a whole lot, but I think I've got a valid reason (excuse?). I'm pregnant, major morning sickness, then the development of the Gestational Diabetes which made it necessary to go to the hospital twice a week for monitoring. Not to mention a car accident thrown in there. I kinda had my hands tied. But any time someone came to me directly and asked me to do something, I did it.

Please don't call me a non participating team member. And don't stab me in the back in the process.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

2007-03-19T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well, Baby L has joined us. And, as I should have guessed from the pregnancy, she wouldn't make it easy! Very early Wednesday morning my contractions began. They weren't hard and were not close enough to go to the hospital, however they were unnerving enough for me not to get to sleep until about 4 in the morning because I was timing them all! Then I figured if I could sleep through them, it wasn't that bad, and besides, I was going in for my NST at 8 that morning, I'd just let them know then.

So, I'm at the hospital, hooked up to the monitor, and Baby L is just fine, but I'm having contractions about 7 minutes apart. The nurse sent me down to have my weekly ultrasound, and Baby L is just great, but I'm having contractions on the ultrasound table. (Do we see a pattern here!?!) When I get back upstairs to the NST area, the nurse checked me out, and sure enough, I had started to dialate (whoo hoo!) and she called the Dr. on call. He turned out to be a real nice guy, and we talked and basically his reasoning was that I was scheduled for a C section on Friday anyway, I had started labor and had dialated, no reason to send me home to be miserable for two days, lets do it! Great! Finally!

So I called hubby (last time I brought him with me, we got sent home), we got Little Guy to the sitter, called Mom and within an hour I was prepped for surgery. (I won't go into all the gory details here!) And at 11:03, Mommy got her 30th birthday present, Baby L.

I'm Done

2007-03-08T12:56:00.000-08:00

I am so ready to be done with this pregnancy. I thought I had a rough time with Little Guy, but he was a piece of cake compared to what Baby L is putting me through. First the morning sickness, which you could set your watch to, the continued nausea that lasted until Thanksgiving, then being diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. It has not been a poster child pregnancy.

Lately, there hasn't been much room in my abdomen for much of anything, and I think that Baby L is feeling crowded. She doesn't like it when I lay down on my side, I can't sleep on my stomach anymore, standing is making my legs weak and if I don't sit in just a manner, she lets me know. I am so ready to have this baby.

Yesterday I went in for my biweekly non stress test and ultrasound. I let the NST nurse know about the pain I've been in, and the fact that the night prior I had a real bad back ache and thought I might be having some mild contractions. Well, turned out my doctor was on call yesterday, and she came to take a look at me to see if we could get things moving along. No such luck - no dialation. Go home, rest and get off your feet. Great. But, I have my regular appointment with her tomorrow and if I've started to dialate, we can get this show on the road. I could care less about keeping the quadrafecta intact, I just want to sleep on my tummy again!

The Albatross is Off Our Neck

2007-03-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

Finally!!!! We sold the truck this weekend. We've only been trying to sell this thing since August when we found out that I was pregnant and bought the car for more room and better fuel efficiency. Then I got in the accident with it. Now, we have paid off the loan, cancelled the truck insurance and maybe I can start getting my hair done again!

Homebound

2007-03-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

I took the advice of a friend of mine, and I am now home for two weeks before Baby L joins us. While it was hectic getting my classroom together and ready for a sub to take over for the rest of the year, so far it's been worth it. I've been able to not stress about things, kick back and just get some rest and relaxation in. Not to mention some time with hubby and Little Guy. I think I'll look back on this and thank God that I took the time after all.

While I'm lounging about (*snort*) we are getting the baby's room finished. She is due to join us in just over a week, and I'm starting to get somewhat nesting. I never had that with Little Guy, partly, I think, because I worked literally up til my water broke, and we were in an apartment that was packed and ready to move. (That is a story for another time!) There was nothing to clean! I had to clear off boxes from the dining room table to find a place to change Little Guy once we got home. But now I have this house, and I'm starting to look around and there is a lot to do. Or maybe it just looks like a lot...

Bookwormish...

2007-02-25T16:28:00.000-08:00

I found this on Krissa's Blog, le petit hiboux, and I thought it was pretty neat, so I'm posting it here too. While I have deliberately been avoiding books lately (I will stay up until midnight if I have a book I'm engrossed in), I'm looking forward to the time I'll have in the next couple of weeks to relax and maybe catch up on some reading. Maybe I'll even look into some of these...

Look at the list of books below.
Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a 10 foot pole , put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. *Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. +Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. +Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. *A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. +Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Rowling)
17. *Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. +Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. *The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. *Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. *The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. *The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. *I Know This Much is True(Wally Lamb)
39. *The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. *The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. +The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. *The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. +Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. *She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. *The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. *Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. *The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. +Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. *The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. *The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. *Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. *One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. *The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. *Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. *Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. *The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. *The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. *Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. *Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. *Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. *The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. *Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. *In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth(Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. *The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. *Ulysses (James Joyce)

OK, now I realize that there are a lot of asterisks. Maybe I'm not as well read as I thought I was. But my tastes tend to run toward the historical romance and mysteries. Most of these that I've read was because I was required to during either high school or college requirements... oh well. Hope you enjoyed!

I'm Not Dead....

2007-02-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

... Just really really busy.

The Doctor has decided that I need to go out early, so my last day of school will be March 2nd. Two weeks earlier than originally expected. Which is nice, but it leaves me a lot of work to get done in a short amount of time. So, until I hit that magic date, I won't be posting much. Just wish me luck I get everything ready for the sub in time...

Never a Dull Moment

2007-02-03T13:06:00.000-08:00

I think this is the first time in two weeks that I've had time to just sit down and veg. Only six more weeks until the baby comes, and I CAN'T WAIT!

Turns out that while my counts have been lower than target, there have been a few my doctor is worried about. That, and waking up in the middle of the night to do the obligatory bathroom run and being so dizzy that I had to hold on to the wall to get there. That was early Sunday morning, and by the time the alarm went off to get me up on Monday morning, it was still there. Not too bad, but enough that I woke hubby and Little Guy up to drive me to work because I was afraid to get behind the wheel of a car.

So in response, I am now on a medication that will help my pancreas create more insulin on it's own. AND from now until the baby is born I am going into the hospital twice a week for a Non Stress Test, once a week for an Ultrasound, seeing the Dietitian once a week to check on my blood count/sugar count and once a week to the OB for my usual checkups. This is in addition to working with 26 darlings every day, having to prep for them, take the required new teacher classes and the training for my new SmartBoard (all before baby comes!). AND since nobody (but the hospital) sees their patients after 3 or 3:30 in the afternoon, I get ABSOLUTELY no work done at school. **Sigh** Back to grading papers in the evening and on weekends. I had just about eliminated that. Oh, I almost forgot, let's throw in two evening of baptism classes (because although I am there every single stinking Sunday, I still have to do it and be preached to about stuff I already do!). And Little Guy's Birthday at the end of the month. **Sigh** But as long as it means a healthy and happy baby, it's all good.

On a brighter note, hubby, with assistance from Little Guy, got Baby L's room all cleaned out and painted a beautiful shade of pink. Then this past Monday the new carpet came in for the two kids rooms. It is starting to really look like a baby's room. All we need to do is hang the border and then we can move in the baby furniture and I can start going through the boxes and boxes of STUFF we have from Little Guy to see what I can use for Baby L. Start washing and putting away stuff, not to mention to start putting away all the clothes that my mom has bought since she found out we were pregnant again.

Hubby went to the storage shed to get the baby stuff the other day, and it turns out that we have over 10 Xerox boxes of clothes left over from Little Guy, from newborn to about 4T. And since we're having a girl and my sister is having a girl (did I mention she is pregnant too, about ten weeks behind me?) I am not saving it any more. Mom kept on saying to keep it in case I had another boy, and I did, just to humor her. Because even if we were to have another boy, she'd still go out and clothe that child, even with all the clothes we had from Little Guy. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom, and I do not have to clothe my child. My mom is super shopper and hits the sales. Any clothes that I buy for Little Guy are because I want to, not because I need to. And it helps that his birthday is just as the Spring and Summer season come upon us, because I don't have to buy him clothes, he gets it for his birthday! Yea!

Anyway, the whole point of that is that I am going to have one stinking big garage sale in late April or early May. I'm getting rid of clothes and toys! We have more toys coming out of our ears than we know what to do with. And he keeps on getting more! Maybe we'll make enough out of the garage sale to finance the gas to San Diego this summer. You never know!

I'm da bomb!

2007-01-24T19:51:00.000-08:00

I have now received my monitoring kit and have monitored four times a day since Sunday. I've managed to figure out how to get a good drop of blood and to make it a fairly painless process. The good news is that they diet must be working, because I've come in under target in all but one test. And that test was only over by 3.

But being under now brings up a new quandary. Can I be too far under? I see the dietitian on Monday, so I guess we'll bring that up then. In the meantime, Baby L is doing some sort of synchronized swimming, and is always moving. My stomach is one big gyrating blob. Both hubby and Little Guy are fascinated by it and will sit on the bed and just rest their hand on my stomach so they can feel. It's a good feeling...

Accident Update...

2007-01-24T19:48:00.000-08:00

For those of you waiting anxiously, we finally got the police report on the accident. Turns out the guy is going to survive. He'll have some pretty serious injuries, but he's going to make it. Which is a big relief to me, to tell you the truth. While I know I'm not to blame, if he had died, god... not good. Now lets just hope that they accept the insurance offer and leave us alone.

5K Run to Remember

2007-01-21T19:21:00.000-08:00

My husband works for the Phoenix Police Department, and today they had their 3rd Annual 5K/10K Run to Remember. Hubby signed up to do the 5K Walk with some coworkers. Little Guy and I went along to cheer him on, since I can't do a 5K walk this year. Maybe next year...

It was COLD out this morning. Little Guy had the right idea!

They're OFF! The start of the walk.

Crossing the finish line, 50 minutes later! Go team!

A proud daddy and son.

The happy walkers.

I'm so happy and proud of hubby for doing this. He's worked hard to do this, he and the coworkers have been walking in the wee hours of the morning after they get out of work (midnight!) and made real good time. Next year they're talking about running the race instead of walking. Who knows!

Congratulations Desert Songbird

2007-01-21T19:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a shout out to my friend Desert Songbird. Her Colts and Payton Manning are going to the Super Bowl.

So, party at Desert Songbirds' in two weeks?

I Made it Through Week One...

2007-01-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

Well, I made it through.

I made it through almost completely changing my diet. I found out a couple of things.

Peaches in lite lite syrup are actually good!
Whole Wheat isn't actually a bad word! It can be pretty good.
I rediscovered carrots
I can still eat cheese crisps, although it has to be with a wheat tortilla.
I can survive without Coke.
Since I eat every two hours or so, so does Baby L, so she and I are constantly talking.
Diabetic web sites can be a good friend!

So I move on to week 2 (only 10 more weeks to go!), and start monitoring tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Wild Wild Week

2007-01-20T17:03:00.000-08:00

This week was supposed to be good. Three day weekend, with Monday off, two half days on Thursday and Friday due to parent teacher conferences, and only two days of actual school. (Not that the half days aren't actual school, but it's not easy to fit things into only two hours!)

However, that was before I got the call on Monday morning. The call was from my OB's nurse practitioner. Crap. Anytime that comes up on the caller ID, it's not good. Last time it happened it was the happy news that I had a high blood sugar count on my first glucose test and had to go in for the happy happy three hour test. Which was Saturday. The only good thing about sitting in the lab for three hours on a Saturday was that I got my report cards done.

So, anyway, the caller ID shows my OB. I failed my second glucose test. That means I have Gestational Diabetes. That means I have to go on a rather strict diet. That means that I have to monitor (prick myself) four times a day. That means I have to eat six 'meals' a day. That means NO MORE PETER PIPER PIZZA, PIZZA HUT, CHIPS AND SALSA OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT I EAT. To say that I'm upset is putting it mildly. I knew this as soon as the nurse told me. But I had no idea of the extent of this diet. And because NOBODY in this office works past, like 2:30, I had to take another sick day to go to the doctor. (I am not happy with this OB!)

So bright and early on Tuesday morning the hubby and I are in the doctors office to talk to the dietitian. Then I came home and cried. And cried. And cried. Then hubby and I spent three hours food shopping. There was just about NOTHING in the house that I could eat.

I'm normally a very healthy person, who takes a sick day more because I need a 'mental health day' than anything else. Occasionally I'll get a flu bug, but I've never had to really watch my diet for anything other than losing weight - which is good, because I don't like a whole lot of foods. Well, now my health and the health of the baby depends on what I eat. Not a good scenario.

This is what a typical eating day is for me:
Breakfast: Pop tart and glass of milk on the way to school
Lunch: Cheese quesadilla on white tortilla, chips and salsa, low fat pudding (I'm trying at least!) and a Coke with Lime
Snack: Out of the vending machine - butterfingers lately, with a Coke with Lime. Maybe a glass of milk instead.
Dinner: Applebee's, Earl's (Mex Am), McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Peter Piper Pizza, whatever the mood strikes.

Real healthy, huh? Now this is what I have to eat
Breakfast : 1 starch (i.e. half a whole wheat English muffin), 1 protein (i.e. egg or peanut butter), 1 fat (i.e. butter) and 1 milk (8oz milk or yogurt).
Morning snack: 1 fruit. (FRUIT!?!?!?)
Lunch: 2 starch, 2 protein, 2 veggie, 1 milk, 2 fat (thankfully whole wheat tortillas are OK, as well as cheese. The quesadilla lives!)
Afternoon Snack: 1 starch, 1 fruit, 1 milk
Dinner: 2 starch, 3 meat, 2 veggie, 1 fruit, 1 milk, 2 fat
Evening Snack: 1 starch, 1 fruit, 1 milk.

I'm slowing going insane. And not just any starch, I've been warned off any white starch. Everything is whole wheat. Whole wheat bread, pasta, tortillas... No more soda (unless it's diet, and I'd rather drink water than drink diet soda!), no more candy, no more random snacking. Quite frankly it sucks. But there are risks to the baby if I don't follow this, the most serious (and most rare) being stillborn. But gestational diabetes causes big babies and early delivery (maybe I was borderline diabetic with Little Guy, he was 9lb 12oz and two weeks early!)

But it is so stinking hard. Thank god for hubby. He was right there next to me through it all. He's willing to change his diet and he was a godsend during the massive shopping event. He took labels and compared and read and put together things that I could eat (that I liked!) That has been the biggest challenge. Eating fruits and veggies. I don't like fruits and veggies. Ick, gross. And I have tried them. I guess before this pregnancy is over I will have od'd on peaches, banana's and carrots, because that is the extent of fruits and veggies I like. Of course, I like corn too, but that doesn't count as a veggie, it's a starch!

Thank god it's only two more months until Baby L is scheduled to come into the world.

Hello?

2007-01-14T21:08:00.000-08:00

Just wondering if there is anyone out there following this blog. Feel free to leave a posting... I feel like I'm writing to thin air sometimes...

World of Wheels

2007-01-14T20:42:00.000-08:00

Mamma and Little Guy with the General Lee!

Hubby with his favorite! Jack Daniels!

Little Guy in front of the Hot Wheels Car.

Little Guy with the life size Mater.

Today we went to the annual World of Wheels car show. Mostly because it was held close to our house, at the new University of Phoenix Stadium (yuck, I hate that name, it'll always be Cardinals Stadium to me). We thought that Little Guy would get a kick out of seeing the life size Mater from Cars and the General Lee. Heck, I was excited to see the General Lee. And Little Guy was excited to see all of that. He was even more excited about seeing all the classic cars and the engines. Don't ask me where he got this from. We've never done anything like this before, and I don't think he's been exposed to cars and engines like this before. Occasionally Little Guy and Hubby will sit and watch Overhaulin', but that's it. They're more into American Chopper. Anyway, it was fun to watch him.

I, on the other hand, was disappointed. I expected a lot more, since this has traditionally been held at the Civic Center. It seemed small and there were not very many vendors. I don't know what I expected, but this wasn't it. What was really disappointing though, is that the General Lee was advertised but we couldn't get close enough to actually see it or get our picture taken close to it because they wanted $10 to take a Polaroid picture and get an autograph with Cooter. So we got ours in front of the merchandise table. Same thing with Mater. They wanted $5 to take a picture with Mater. We just stood outside the rope and hoped for the best when we shot that picture. Thankfully, it turned out well.

Hubby and I were excited when we found out that Chris Garver from Miami Ink was going to be there, and the line wasn't too long. But then there was his handler. Five bucks for an autograph. I guess this is how things are done, but it seemed like a rip off. Oh well. Live and learn. I guess the most important part of the day was that we had fun, and Little Guy had a ball.

Catholic Codes

2007-01-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

I'm Catholic, and when my girlfriend sent this to me, I just found it too funny. I hope you enjoy...

Catholic Codes

This information is for Catholics only. It must not be divulged to non-Catholics. The less they know about our rituals and code words, the better off they are.

AMEN: The only part of a prayer that everyone knows.

BULLETIN: Your receipt for attending Mass.

CHOIR: A group of people whose singing allows the rest of the Parish to lip-sync.
HOLY WATER: A liquid whose chemical formula is H2OLY.

HYMN: A song of praise usually sung in a key three octaves higher than that of the congregation's range.

RECESSIONAL HYMN: The last song at Mass often sung a little more quietly, since most of the people have already left.

INCENSE: Holy Smoke!

JESUITS: An order of priests known for their ability to found colleges with good basketball teams.

JONAH: The original "Jaws" story.

JUSTICE: When kids have kids of their own.

KYRIE ELEISON: The only Greek words that most Catholics can recognize besides gyros and baklava.

MAGI: The most famous trio to attend a baby shower.

MANGER: Where Mary gave birth to Jesus because Joseph wasn't covered by an HMO (The Bible's way of showing us that holiday travel has always been rough.)

PEW: A medieval torture device still found in Catholic churches.

PROCESSION: The ceremonial formation at the beginning of Mass consisting of altar servers, the celebrant, and late parishioners looking for seats.

RECESSIONAL: The ceremonial procession at the conclusion of Mass led by parishioners trying to beat the crowd to the parking lot.

RELICS: People, who have been going to Mass for so long, they actually know when to sit, kneel and stand.

TEN COMMANDMENTS: The most important Top Ten list not given by David Letterman.
USHERS: The only people in the parish who don't know the seating capacity of a pew.

Navy Drill Team

2007-01-10T17:45:00.000-08:00

A friend sent this to me, this is too cool. Never mind the jerks who posted about how this was a waste. I think it's cool and it takes a lot of time and talent to do this. Enjoy!

Picture Crazy!

2007-01-06T15:05:00.000-08:00

I've put together some slide shows of our holiday fun. Check them out and enjoy!

Check This Out!

2007-01-06T15:00:00.000-08:00

I am blog hopping, and found this post. As I'm shortly about to turn 30, I thought it was quite funny!

Crafty Crafty Me!

2007-01-06T13:37:00.000-08:00

Many moons ago, while I was visiting relatives in Albuquerque, my cousin started to show me how to crochet. I started this scarf about three years ago, with nothing more in mind then to try to get the stitches down. I worked on it for a while, then put it away for what turned out to be years.

This year I started making a stocking for hubby, and when I went to pull out the materials I needed, found the length of crocheting. Little Guy saw it and asked if it was a scarf for him. Sure, why not? So I finished it off and added some tassels to it. (That is, after I went and bought a crocheting book to find out HOW to do the tassels!) The scarf itself, when you look closely at it, is really quite amateur. But Little Guy is quite proud of it, and so am I.

In fact, I'm so infatuated with crocheting right now that I'm practicing to make Baby L a blanket. Wish me luck, it looks to be complicated!

The Quadrafecta!

2007-01-06T12:59:00.000-08:00

I got a call from the Surgery Scheduling nurse the other day regarding my due date. Since Little Guy was a C-section, I had the option of doing the same for Baby L. Since I'm not big on pain or anything, I chose the option of another C-section. Plan it, go in on the specified date, get the spinal block and not have to worry about labor pains or contractions. That's the plan.

When we found out that Baby L was due in March, hubby groaned. March is a big month for us, at least in my family. We have a unique birthday happening in my family. My father is March 13, I am March 14 and my younger sister is March 15. In addition, my father in law is March 1, sister in law March 29 and an assortment of anniversaries and birthdays of other friends and family.

When I was pregnant with Little Guy, his due date was March 11. He was so big, however, that the doctor induced me and he was born on Feb. 28. So while he missed the March 'curse', he's still close enough to be a part of the festivities.

Baby L's anticipated due date (should I carry to full term) is March 25. But with having a C-section, the doctor wants to make sure I'm not going to go into labor, and we're planning for about a week ahead of time. My doctor has gone ahead and scheduled my due date for.... drum roll please.... March 16!

We have now put the Quadrafecta in action...

Accident Update

2007-01-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

Well, as of the day after Christmas the 'Jaywalker' (as I have nothing else to call him by and refuse to let myself think that I had anything to do with his decision to walk in front of my truck!) was still in the hospital in Critical Condition and on life support. Egads. But it's out of my hands now, all I can do is say a prayer and trust that whatever happens is meant to happen. Of course, after I hear that, we start worrying about the family coming after us to pay for medical expenses, even though I AM IN NO WAY AT FAULT. This is such a sue crazy country that you never know what will happen.

However, I had some good news shortly after hearing this. We got a call back from the insurance agent regarding the damage to the vehicle and they do their own investigation based on my statement and the police report. The gal said the same thing to me that the officer did. It sounds like I was no way at fault, there is no liability on my part. We have medical coverage up to $15k per person in an accident, and since he was the only injured party he's the only coverage. And since he's injured so badly they are going to offer the $15k for medical expenses, but in return they are going to ask for a release that they will not hold us liable or come after us for any other expenses.

So I'm resting a little easier now...

Blogging Chicks

2006-12-29T13:22:00.000-08:00

I've joined a new blogging community, Blogging Chicks. There is a link to it on the left, check it out, it's pretty cool!!

Newscasters

2006-12-29T13:04:00.000-08:00

My uncle works at a local TV station, and earlier in November Little Guy and I were watching the news and he wanted to know how it all works. So I told him that Uncle works at a TV station and he could take us down to see how it all works. You would have thought that I'd told him he could watch Power Rangers all day, he was overjoyed. So at Thanksgiving we asked if Uncle would show us, and he happily agreed. (This is my bachelor uncle, or at least, was a bachelor until he got married six months before hubby and I!)

So the day after Christmas when the station was officially closed, the four of us headed down. We got the grand tour, and it culminated in the news studio. We got pictures behind the desks and we are newscasters extraordinaire! Little Guy is sitting behind the 'Live, Local, Late Breaking' desk, Hubby is sitting in Kent Dana's chair and I in Diana Sullivans chair. It was quite fun!

OMG, Too Funny!

2006-12-29T12:46:00.000-08:00

I found this on Desert Songbirds page, you gotta check this out!

http://deserticebox.blogspot.com/2006/12/cheers.html#links

One Rough Week

2006-12-27T17:42:00.000-08:00

This year the season has been hard on me. I'm pregnant with my second child, and this pregnancy is nowhere as smooth as my first one was. I also have my four year old, and while he is a joy, there are times where life can just get plain crazy. I don't remember Christmas being this hard for me while I was pregnant with the first, but my husband points out that I had a desk job where I sat all day and I didn't have a child who demanded the attention that I give him (and I am by no means complaining!). Not to mention I'm five years older than I was before. (And it's not only the Christmas season that I feel that I was behind on. The whole school year has felt like that so far.)

I find that I just can't do the things that I used to be able to do after leaving school. And with school getting out just three days before Christmas, that didn't leave a whole lot of time to do any shopping. And since I didn't want to hit the mall or Wal-Mart the Saturday before Christmas, I did all the shopping for my husband on the 16th. Little Guy and I spend about five hours between MacFrugals, Wal-Mart and Boot Barn. In the interest of self preservation, after seeing the parking lot at the mall I decided to forgo that plan and have my husband go and get the gift cards during the week. Little did I know that was the best decision that I had made all month.

On Sunday, I hit Michaels looking for some ornament kits so that my kids could make presents for their parents. When pictures are taken, the teacher gets a strip of about five pictures of each child. I wind up using them for gifts or something for the parents. Well, it seemed like more than a week before Christmas and already things were out of stock. Great, I really didn't have a plan B for the presents, and I had made up my lesson plans with this activity in the forefront. Crap, what was I going to do?

On Monday I emailed my mom (who is also a first grade teacher in the district that I work in) and asked her what she was doing, and if I could steal her ideas. No problem, was the reply, stop by her school on the way home from my school and she'd have the stuff ready for me. Great! I was saved!

Stopping by my mom's school meant taking a different route home. No big deal, turn right here instead of left, left up ahead at the light, and I'd make Grand Ave a mile up the street. However, it turned into a nightmare.

I got into the left hand turn lane and as I was about 150 feet from the light I hit something. My first thought was, "What the hell..." as I hit the brakes. Then I saw it was a person. I freaked out. Totally freaked out. I didn't know if I was coming or going. I tried to call 911, but someone else already had them on the line, and I was left just standing there and I was getting hysterical. I HAD JUST HIT SOMEONE! Not good. And as the wife of a PPD employee, really not good!

Thankfully, the people who stopped to help (this was a busy intersection and one under construction at that, traffic was backed up for at least a quarter mile just for the red light) were wonderful. I had so many people trying to comfort me and supporting me. I don't know if they felt sorry for the pregnant lady or what motivated them, but faith in my fellow man to do good when put to the test was somewhat restored. I was starting to move from hysterical to terrified. How many times on the evening news do we hear about something like this happening, and I was scared that even though this guy stepped out of nowhere in front of me, I would be arrested or something. I called my husband (who was off that day, thank God) and he got there as fast as he could. That was the one thing I focused on, get hubby here, he can help me.

The cops got there really fast, and as it turned out, Vehicular Crimes was the first on the scene. The officers couldn't have been nicer. But I was still scared silly. The ambulance had come and gone, taking the guy with them. He hit the truck hard and the ground harder. His leg was broke and he wasn't responding. While all the witnesses were adamant that there was nothing I could have done to prevent this accident, I still wasn't sure about what was going to happen. Thank goodness hubby showed up then, and I had him to lean on. The first thing he asked the detective was if anyone had looked at me because I was six months pregnant. Uh-oh. In all the excitement(?!?) I had forgotten to mention that. But the baby was kicking still so things were OK.

I talked to the detective some more, the detective talked to the witnesses and it turned out the Sergent on Duty was one that hubby knew and quite a few officers were aware that I was the wife of a PPD employee. Turned out that hubby called the office to find out what they knew, and word spread rapidly that I was involved. Hubby is well liked and respected so everyone was keeping an eye on things for us.

Finally the detective released the witnesses, but we had to wait for a tech crew to come and take pictures of the scene because at the time, the guy was in critical condition, and it didn't look good for him to survive. Great, just what I needed to hear. But that news was tempered by the detective telling me that from what he heard from the witnesses, the statements I had made and the scene, that I had done nothing wrong, there was nothing I could have done to prevent it and they were not going to cite me. OK, I guess I could breathe again.

But no, here comes Channel 5 with a newsvan... Nothing ever aired, the guy didn't die and there was no dirty laundry to air. But it's still unnerving. I had a girlfriend whose baby died when she accidentally left her in the car, and I know the court of public opinion can be deadly. The last thing I wanted was to be smeared all over the TV.

Finally the tech crew showed up and got pictures of everything and we left three hours after I left my mom's school. The detective promised to keep in touch with us with what he knew and not to worry. I made hubby drive the truck and I drove the car home. I DID NOT want to try to get behind the wheel, but what else could I do? I had to get to and from work, it didn't make sense to delay and just get more jittery about it. So I drove.

While I didn't have any immediate reaction to the accident with the baby, over the next couple of days I had some tightening of my tummy, so when I called hubby at work, he said that I should probably go to the ER. (He was not the only one to encourage me to do this, but he was the deciding factor!) So Wednesday night I spent about four hours in the ER with a stress belt across my stomach to monitor the baby. Baby is fine, I am fine, it was probably just a reaction to all the stress and the fact that my water intake is really bad. Boils down to dehydration. And apparently dehydration will cause early labor. So now I'm drinking water like it's going out of style.

Needless to say, it was a hellish week. The kids were squirrely and didn't want to be at school, most of the teachers were right there with them, and I spent two nights in places I really didn't want to be. But we are all safe and sound now, and counting our blessings.

**Note: At last communications, the guy was still in critical condition, on life support. Things still aren't looking well.

Many Christmas Blessings

2006-12-27T17:20:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas. It's my favorite holiday, both secularly and liturgically. There is just something about walking into a hushed church and seeing the advent candle burning and the Nativity Scene up and waiting for the Baby Jesus to be placed in it. I've always loved it, since I was a little girl. Now that I'm a mom, I find that I like passing on that reverence and love of the holiday to my son.

I keep on trying to be a good role model and reminding him of why we buy presents for other people and why we get presents and why we celebrate Christmas at all. Try explaining to a four year old that we get gifts for other people because Jesus was born. But he accepted that, and actually came home and told everyone that we came into contact with.

I also try to teach him that we have a lot of blessings to be thankful for. Each year we get a Christmas Angel (or two) but this year we had to do it without Little Guy's help. It was sooo much easier not having him along, but at the same time, I want him to understand that not everyone has as much as we do and just getting a doll or a truck means the world to them. He gets it now, I just hope that as he grows he'll remember.

Whoo Hoo, Score One for ME

2006-12-16T15:46:00.000-08:00

I just had two of those door to door salesboys come to my door. They were young twenty somethings I'd say, and I was in the back of the house when superdog started barking wildly. Little Guy was totally immersed in the TV, so he didn't even bother to go see who it was, even though we had the door open with the screen. I don't think I've ever seen two adults so wary of a little 15 pound dog. It was quite funny.

Anyway, then wanted to sell me some cleaning product. First they told me the neighbors told them to come over to my house for dinner because I cooked a mean dinner. **SNORT** I don't cook. I told them that my neighbors didn't know me very well. Then they started in asking me if I liked the rust stain on the driveway. I told them it wasn't my thing, it was my husbands. He deals with it. Then they started in on the cleaning, and I told them I didn't clean. They asked if I married Mr. Perfect, and I told them that I had cleaners. Then they tried the young child bit, because they saw Little Guy. They asked if he ever wrote on the walls. That got a quick "NO!" and they were stumped. All of a sudden I got, "Well, thank you, Merry Christmas!"

Score one for ME!

This is superdog!

My Christmas Elf Name

2006-12-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

Actually, it kinda sounds kinky....

Christmas Elf Name

My Christmas Elf Name is

Get your Christmas Elf Name at JokesUnlimited.com

Christmas

2006-12-10T17:41:00.000-08:00

OK, we have our decorations up, and it's time for me to be a proud Mama and wife...

This is what the house looked like when we were all done. You will not believe the trouble we went through to get the lights on the garage just so. We wanted to have lights on the bushes on either side of the garage, but wouldn't you know, the big lights had the safety prong, and the little lights didn't. Humph! So no lights on the bushes this year.

Little Guy just wanted to help...

And climb the ladder...

And this does a Mama's heart good... Daddy and Little Guy setting up the Nativity.

Egads!

2006-12-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

Last night was the staff Christmas Party and hubby and I had a blast. It's only the second year that our school has gotten together to do a party, and I thought it went pretty good. We had it at the Elephant Bar up by Arrowhead, and I'm not sure what I was expecting, but when I saw that we were (kinda) squished on the outside patio, I had some doubts. There were about fifty to sixty of us (teachers and spouses) and while it was a tight fit, we did OK. There wasn't a whole lot of room to move around, but we managed to visit who we wanted to visit. Of course, it doesn't matter where we end up, we wind up segregating ourselves by grade level. The cool first grade teachers showed up and we had a blast. Or, at least, I did. It was a great deal too. For twenty buck we got drinks (soda), an appetizer to share, an entree (and there was at least eight entrees to choose from), desert AND it included tax and tip! There was some discontent within the staff about the choice of venue and cost, but man, hubby and I thought it was the deal of the century. We would have wound up spending at least twenty more than that had we gone by ourselves.

Of course, being a group of teachers, we ate early and were done by 7:30. Whoo-hoo, we know how to party! My mom was watching our son, so we decided to take the opportunity to go and get some Christmas Shopping done for him. It's hard for us to find time to do this, mostly because I work days and my husband works a swing shift. I see him three to four days a week, on his days off and in the mornings of my weekends. So when Mom offers to take him overnight for something like this, we jump at it. And shop we did. This Christmas will be just as successful for our little guy as previous ones. We just love to shop for him. We just took stock of the things we've bought (and stockpiled!) and it'll be a Power Ranger and Cars Christmas.

The EGADS comes in when we went to pick up little guy after church this morning. I had turned my phone off during church (proper etiquette, you know!) and Mom had called me to let me know that little guy had been throwing up since three thirty in the morning. Yikes! In the four and a half years since he's been born, little guys has been throwing up sick a grand total of ONE time. And that time it was projectile vomit and so bad we went to the emergency room. I was (and still am) a little scared. Thank god hubby will be home the next couple of days. He's so much more level headed than I am in situations like this. Since we've been home, though, little guy has been able to keep down some crackers, some Dora Chicken Noodle Soup and Pedialite. He then conked out for about an hour or so. Knock on wood that things stay down. I'm not good with vomit...

I So Need A Vacation - Part 1

2006-12-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

I'm in one of those moods lately. I think it started at our weekly Tuesday meeting with the grade level. I sent out an email to the team asking if anyone wanted to go in with me to get Christmas presents for our principal, intervention specialist (that's what they're calling Vice Principals these days) and the three secretaries. I figured that we could go in on something nice and not break us all. I only had three replies (there are ten of us in first grade) and that was fine with me. I wasn't going to bring it up again, just reply to those who gave me a positive feed back.

Well, it got brought up in the meeting, and there is only lady on our team who is just... well, difficult I guess could be a good term. If it isn't thought of by her, or approved by her, it's met with frosty disdain. Well, her response was that you only gave down (ie the secretaries), not up (ie our principal and intervention specialist) and that was the way it was done in the business world.

Then another one piped up that she wasn't going to do it because they had enough and she can get more presents for her own kids instead of spending on the secretaries. A sentiment that I don't agree with but can respect.

The thing that bothered me the most though, was the tone in which all of this was said. Kind of like I was twelve and they were trying to explain to a moron what was going on. And I'm not good at comebacks. I lived in a household where you NEVER talked back, no matter what. In fact, you still don't to this day. So I'm not good at that. Or at defending myself. And I don't like conflict, so most times I'll just keep my mouth shut. As I did this time.

I was appalled at some of the attitudes displayed by my colleagues. Especially as they are educators. We're supposed to be teaching our kids to be kind and have respect. Yet here they were voicing some rather nasty opinions. Prior to teaching I worked in the business world. I spent three years in a Corporate setting. And we ALWAYS passed the hat for our boss' birthday, boss' day and Christmas (and in the case of one boss, who didn't celebrate Christmas because she was Hindi, we just made it a 'Holiday' gift). To me it's just crap to say that you don't 'give up'.

Also, my Bachelor's Degree in in Hotel Management and I spent about a year in a Vegas Hotel, first in Housekeeping then as a secretary in several different departments. Secretaries and maintenance/housekeeping run things. You're in deep doo doo without them. No matter what industry. It upset me to hear our secretaries being talked about like that. Our secretaries work their butts off. None of the first grade teachers speak Spanish, and I would say that we only have about 4 students (in each class) whose parents speak English. I rely heavily on our secretaries, who are bilingual, to communicate for me. Plus, being new, I am always going to them for something or another. Plus it's just common courtesy.

Needless to say, as I was walking back to my classroom, I was fuming. The teacher in the room next to me said that after the 'that's the way it's done in the business world' she expected me to get upset and say something. Well, I got upset, but I didn't say anything. I did talk to the four teachers who said that they'd go in with me, told them that I didn't realize it would be such a to-do, and if they didn't want to go in, that would be ok with me. But they all said they were as shocked and disappointed as I was at the attitude shown that day and they were still in on the presents. OK, we'll keep on trucking. Next year I won't ask anyone else, just those who I want to. My neighboring teacher told me not to get too discouraged, I'm doing the right thing and I have good intentions. So I try to keep that in mind.

Top Ten Simple Pleasures

2006-11-27T17:45:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been tagged by Desert Songbird, so here I go with my Top Ten...

1. My husband and son (and soon to join us daughter)
2. Playing my flute
3. Watching a monsoon move in. (I live in a beautiful but deadly desert!)
4. Iron Chef (the original from Japan!)
5. Singing horribly off key to my son
6. Watching the D-backs.
7. Valle Luna
8. Watching Deadliest Catch
9. Playing with my first graders
10. Chips and Salsa

I hope you enjoy!

What Kind of English Do You Speak

2006-11-27T17:44:00.000-08:00

Well, considering I've never lived east of Arizona...

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English

20% Dixie

10% Yankee

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

My Celebrity Look-alike

2006-11-26T16:25:00.001-08:00

Tee hee... Saw this one on Desert Songbird's page and had to try. Wow! Kate Hudson huh? Watch out boys, here I come...

ASU Prevails

2006-11-25T18:46:00.000-08:00

Final Score:

ASU 28 - UofA 14

Devil Pride!

2006-11-25T16:15:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting and watching the "BIG" rivalry here in AZ - the Arizona State vs. Arizona game. While I am a proud graduate (twice over) of Northern Arizona Univ., I was raised on Saturday afternoon Sun Devil Football. While my parents were married they had season tickets and occasionally we got to go with them to games. SO although I have no real ties to ASU, I am a huge ASU fan. And lets be honest here, ASU has SUCKED so far this year. I don't think Coach Koetter made the right move in letting Sam Keller go in favor of Rudy Carpenter. I've been cringing thinking about this game in the last couple of weeks. UofA is on a roll, and ASU isn't. So with trepidation I turned on the game at 4, and imagine my surprise when on our first drive we SCORED! Now I know that plenty can happen, and I'm watching with baited breath. However, with 6 minutes left in the first half, we are leading.

So....

GO DEVILS!

Pregnancy Sucks

2006-11-25T15:26:00.000-08:00

I am five and a half months pregnant. I can't wait to have this baby, because I can't do JACK anymore. We did our regular Wal-Mart and Fry's shopping this morning, and it laid me out for 4 friggin hours. What I don't understand is how I can teach for six hours and just be mildly tired but go out shopping for two hours and be utterly exhausted to the point of passing out? Thank God my son is at the age that he can entertain himself with minimal supervision.

This pregnancy also found me throwing up for the first three months, something that I did not have with my first. I was eating in the morning just to have something to throw up ten minutes later. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper for the first couple of months. Don't get me wrong, we are absolutely delighted to be having another baby. We want this and my husband is already getting wrapped around her little unborn finger. But if the pregnancy of my son had been this miserable, he may have wound up being an only child!

I'm Taking the Plunge...

2006-11-24T14:38:00.000-08:00

Here I go... after being introduced to blogging by a high school friend more than a year ago, I've played around with the idea of creating my own blog.

The funny thing about all of this is that when my friend told me she had a blog, I had to ask my husband what a blog was. He was astonished to find out I did not know what it was. I'm not exactly a computer nerd, but I worked in the Computer Lab in my dorm when I was in college and since moving into the work force, have been the go to girl for just about all things computer. If I didn't know the answer, I could find it. However, the all things computer just covered basic computer knowledge. How to save, how to import files, how to recover stuff you thought was lost. Microsoft Word and Excel applications and an occasional Power Point presentation. When it come to the internet, I could shop, do email and surf with the best of them. But... put together a web page, or even think about hosting a blog? Nope, no way, out of my scope of things. Besides, who would want to read about what I do?

Besides, reading the blogs are much more fun. I get to live vicariously through other people. Then it hit me one night as I was waiting for my husband to get home and reading through the regular list of blogs I enjoy to see what was happening... the people that I am reading about really are no different than I am. Just people who want to share with other people what is going on in their life. I look at it as kinda a living diary. Only with people who don't hesitate to give it back to you!

So, gradually the idea has grown and as I sit here the day after Thanksgiving with my son at Grandma's, my husband at work and time on my hands, I decided to take the plunge. Here is my shot to ramble on and to see if someone else thinks I have a life to live vicariously through.