New School

This morning we dropped M off for her first day at a new school. I know, it's December, not the usual time to start a new school but it was time....

She started at our local Montessori School when she was 4 years old and has been there ever since. It goes from age 3 - 6th grade, although most kids leave after 5th grade to make the logical transition to middle school. Well, slowly but surely all of her friends have moved on. This past summer 2 more left and "went public", which I'm pretty sure was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Last spring I was asked to put her on the list at a local charter school and had I done so at that time, she would have gotten in with no problems. BUT, at that time, we were pretty sure we wanted to do 1 more year of Montessori. WELL, the night before the first day of school this year she tells me that she doesn't fit in at school, has no friends there anymore, etc. We chalked it up to drama, but went ahead and put her on the list at the charter school, just in case something came up. (I would say 50% of the students from Montessori go to this school next). When the 5th grader left to go there, she moved up to next on the list. All we needed was 1 more kid to leave in the 4th/5th grade classroom and we were IN! BUT, nothing happened. No one left. AND, she slowly got more and more unhappy at school. Getting her up in the morning became a battle and she even started in with some psycho-somatic complaints to try and get out of going to school. We just kept telling her "soon...there'll be a spot for you soon", but began discussing our other options.

Isn't it crazy that our decision for mid-4th grade ended up including a discussion of college? Well, one of the things we did was look at her future and decided that even if she went to the charter school, we would probably transfer her to our local high school when the time came. The charter school goes through high school, but gets smaller and smaller as the kids get older. Last year they graduated ONE student. We just couldn't see that she would benefit in the long run from such a small environment. We also looked at the programs offerred at our local high school and, barring a catastrophe, it is actually a great school with many programs available, including 2 new "small schools" - an engineering academy, and a media arts and communications academy. She would have access to music and drama and art classes, which she wouldn't have at the charter school. SO - with that in mind, we had to figure out when the best time was for her to transition to a slightly larger environment.

I made some calls to principals and we visited her "home school" (the public school she would go to if we didn't have her in private school). The class sizes are fairly large (30 in each 4th grade and 29 in the 4/5 blend), BUT, surprisingly when we walked through, they weren't crazy! The kids were all working and quiet despite the large numbers. The school itself has a library that is as large as her current school building (HUGE for my little book worm!), a tech lab, music room, gym, etc. Many more bells and whistles than at Montessori. Complicating matters a bit was the fact that the boundary for elementary schools goes right down the middle of our street, so we had another choice we could make. I have worked with the principal at the other school and her 4th grade numbers are a little lower (classes of 25-26) and she said she would gladly take M if we wanted to do an in-district transfer. BUT, we decided to stick with the other school anyway. She already has a BFF there who left Montessori between 1st and 2nd grade, and she could theoretically walk to school, whereas the other school wouldn't have walking be an option.

SO - this morning, at the suggestion of her new principal, she began at her new school. One week of school then Winter Break. This should give her some good social opportunities as well as time to find the bathroom, learn the rules, etc. I mean, let's face it, not a lot of learning happens the week before break :) I took her in on Thursday after school to meet her new teacher and take a tour of the school. She managed to get placed in her BFF's class, and is even sitting right next to her (we'll see how long that lasts!). AND, it turns out there's at least one other kiddo in her class that used to go to Montessori with her.

I know she's going to do great, but what a change for all of us! Homework hasn't been a real part of our Montessori career, but will be now. Hot lunch? Never an option before unless you brought it and heated it yourself (although she has been advised to stay away from hot lunches by her BFF). Even the little things like having to pack her a drink in her lunch now b/c at Montessori they always provided the drinks for them. She has a backpack and binder now - never had those before. A desk! And can wear characters to school (just in time for her to have outgrown a lot of character stuff, but that's OK!).

A big difference for me will be being able to be a class mom. At Montessori they did not allow parent helpers IN the classroom, which was OK, but I always felt like I was missing out when I'd hear my friends talk about their class Mom duties. Now I get to be a class Mom! AND, thanks to my current work situation, I have the time to do that. See, all things happen for a reason! Maybe this is why my position was cut last year - so I could be here to help M transition to public school...

That said, she didn't seem to need much transition time this morning when we dropped her off - after embarrassing her by taking a picture of her outside the school (we have one from each first day), she ran off with a friend from swim team and that was the last we saw of her.

Am I worried? Of course I am! In a larger environment there's so many more unknowns. She's been so sheltered at Montessori. Tuition has a way of "chosing" the student base. Public school takes all. BUT, we live in a diverse world and she is going to need to start breaking out of her bubble soon enough. We have talked to her about making good choices and about dealing with bullies and such, now we just take a leap of faith and hope for the best.

hospitals, surgeries and doctors...OH MY!

October 3, 2009 - World Card Making Day - I take the day to go to 2 different card making events while D and M head off to the coast for company bowling. They are going to stay over night out there and mosey their way home on Sunday. AHHHH! A night off for BJ!!!

I get home from the card making day totally exhausted (did I mention I was working at both of the events?), grab a little dinner with Mom, then head home to bed. I decide that even though the house is a wreck, I'd just get up and clean in the morning.

4:00am, October 4 - the phone rings. I head to the caller ID, then realize that NO CALL at 4am is going to be good, and answer it. It's D - he's in a hotel room at the coast w/ M and is sick. He is having extreme pain in his lower abdomen. Now, we've done the kidney stone thing many, many times over the past 14 years (D gets them regularly, has had 10ish surgeries (we've lost count) and seems to pass a stone about every other month or so in between time). He tells me that this is NOT kidney stone pain and actually sounds to me like some sort of intestinal blockage based on the location and type of pain. By the time he's called me, he's been up for about 3 hours trying to get the pain to go away. No luck. SO - he asks me what to do (mind you, I'm 2 hrs away in bed, barely awake). I tell him I'm on my way and to hang on... I call Mom and the 2 of us head out. The plan is for me to leave Mom with M and take D to the ER. Mom calls into work for the day (she's scheduled to open at 7am) and we head to Dutch Brothers. On the way we're discussing it and decide that perhaps it's better to leave her here in town with the dogs and I'll head out solo if we can find someone to go get M. WELL, I call my cousin in Salem and before we're done at the drive thru, she's agreed to head out and pick up M. I take Mom home and drop her off and head out. In the meantime, D calls and tells me that he's in a cab on his way to the ER and that his boss has come to stay with M in the room. My cousin and I are on our way... and somehow manage to get there within minutes of each other. I stop by the room to drop off the keys to D's car with her and give her hugs and make sure she's not too freaked out. In the meantime, I'm (shhh!) texting with cousin & D's boss to coordinate the plans. I'd call it blind texting, though, b/c I was doing it without looking at the screen at all. Still not safe, but sue me!

M is doing just fine - is up and wearing her fancy dress (what happens when you let the 9 year old pack her own bag with Dad's supervision...). I give her hugs and kisses and the keys to D's car and head off to the ER. My cousin brought her by the ER to see D and see that he was OK before they headed back to the valley. Thank goodness she grabbed her mother-in-law to tag along so they were able to bring D's car back with them.

D is in the ER - he's the only one there - and by the time I get there they've done an x-ray and given him morphine and decided on the plan of attack. He's got kidney stones blocking BOTH ureters (tubes between kidneys and bladder...so sad that I have such knowledge of these things). He's at risk of losing kidney function and will need surgery ASAP. The urologist in town is on his way in and they admit D to the hospital.

The first surgery is to move the stones back up into the kidneys since obviously they are not coming out on their own. AND, to put in stents (I think of them as straws) to relieve the pressure and prevent the stones from trying to escape again. Turns out he had a 1.1cm stone in one ureter, and a 1.4cm stone in the other, not to mention several other smaller stones in the kidneys and around the big ones.

His co-worker came to the hospital to keep me company and hangs out most of the day with me (& him, too, although with the morphine in his system, he was great company!). She is an awesome friend and really went above and beyond throughout this whole thing.

As soon as he's out of surgery, we walk over for some much needed coffee, then head our separate ways after checking back in with him. I'm off to the local Fred Meyer to get his prescriptions filled and pick up a few things (I literally didn't bring anything with me besides a book...I needed clean undies, a bra, change of clothes, etc. since we were spending the nite).

The nurses brought in this cool recliner and I just curled up in it for the nite while D slept in his morphine enhanced state next to me.

Just a quick note to say that we had the absolute BEST CARE I could imagine during our stay at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria. Not a single person was any less than nice to us. The nurses brought me food vouchers for the cafeteria and when I asked about the vending machines, they showed me the "pantry" for care partners and staff. The "pantry" is a fully stocked fridge and cupboards - we're talking food, beverages, sandwiches, ice cream - you name it, it's there... I also have to say that the people of Astoria were very nice as well to the strange zombie woman wandering around in PJ's for the day.

Had we not been 2 hrs from home, he probably would have been released Sunday evening, but since we had that drive ahead of us, we decided to stay the night, and the staff obliged. The next morning the plan was for us to contact his usual urologist to make a follow up appt to blast the stones now that the danger was gone. The Dr out there said he could do it on Thursday, but not until then as they don't have the equipment there on a regular basis. I guess it's the traveling stone blaster show that comes to town once/week. WELL, D's normal doctor is basically retired (I suspect he may be partially dead...kinda like a "Weekend at Bernie's" situation...) who works both in town and up in Portland. He doesn't do his own surgeries anymore and, we found out, has not been in the office and won't be in the office for a week or so. His associate agrees to see us on Wednesday in Portland. We wanted to set this up before we left town in case we needed to head to Portland first. Turns out this stand-in doctor didn't see the urgency of the situation, so we headed over to the urologist in Astoria and scheduled surgery for Thursday. Screw the to/from Portland thing only to have it scheduled for who knows when.

Once that was all worked out, we headed back home - a very uncomfortable trip for D despite the pain meds. We got home Monday in time to meet Mom and M at the pool following swim practice. Apparently M was having a rough time with D being sick and the surgery and all that and the sooner we could see her the better.

Home sweet home with a sick hubby and an exhausted me, but we're all together again.

Wednesday, October 7 - D and I head back to the coast in the evening, after I get back from taking M and her classmates on a field trip, leaving M with Mom for the night. We are staying at his co-worker's friend's house (conveniently across the street from the co-worker) as she is a "weekender" who lives up in Washington during the week. It's a cute little bungalow and we are so happy to be in a home vs. a hotel. We even had a cat to keep us company for the nite!

Thursday, October 8 - up early and off to the hospital for the surgery. We check in, go get the x-ray done, then back to day surgery. They're doing construction in the day surgery area so I'm not allowed to wait in the room while he's gone. They gave me this little beeper/pager type thing (like what you get at Macaroni Grill when you're waiting for a table). I asked what the range was on it - could I go shopping or something or did I have to stay in the building. Just kidding, of course - no way on God's green earth I'd leave the building while he was in surgery. SO - I hang out in the hospital waiting for word. What was odd though was that they wouldn't even let me go back into the day surgery area. They called us in from the waiting room, handed me my beeper thingy, and took him away down the hall - a little different to say goodbye standing up before he gets wheeled into surgery. ANYWAY...Dave's co-worker comes through for me again and brings me fish and chips from a local place (YUM!!!! Don't let the boat-like exterior fool you - those fish and chips are yummy!)

The doctor came out of surgery and told me he felt really good about how it went (this one was to blast the stones with soundwaves - hopefully to obliterate them into sand vs. boulders). Dave was cleared to leave the hospital, but preferably not the area. Fine with us - we headed back to our home away from home for the night. Again, the co-worker came through with take out mexican for dinner, then we all hung out and watched IronMan (apparently I was the only one in the room who hadn't seen it before...surprisingly I enjoyed it...).

FRIDAY - our plan was to leave about 11am and head back home. Well, at about 9am I get a call from my cousin who has M with her (she picked her up at school Thursday and the plan was that she would keep her for 2 nights and we'd pick her up on Saturday). She says that M is not doing real well. She's complaining about her leg hurting and has just been laying on the couch all morning - doesn't want to get up to play or anything. THAT'S NOT M!!!! So, I talk to her about it and she describes the pain to me. It sounds like a groin pull to me and she's not complaining of anything else hurting, just her "leg". I'm thinking that maybe she hyperextended her leg doing the breast stroke at practice on Wed, but she said they only practiced freestyle and backstroke - I have NEVER heard of anyone pulling a groin doing a flutter kick. Although, she said they didn't do any bSO, I text my sister who is a trainer in California about what the proper treatment of a groin pull is, and I pass that along to my cousin, who gave her some ibuprofen.

Obviously we hit the road ASAP to come back and get her. We were not sure if she was milking it (she has a tendency toward the dramatic) or something truly was going on, but there was no way I wasn't rushing home to her. I dropped D off at home (it was on the way) and headed to my cousin's house to pick up M. We went ahead and made a doctor's appt for her just in case. I am SOOOO glad we did b/c when I got there, she was burning up and just laying on the couch like a limp noodle. She was very weak and said she nearly passed out coming back from the bathroom.

The drive home was horrible for me. She was mostly asleep in the van on the drive home. I was grilling her about other symptoms and she was consistently saying that the ONLY thing that hurt was her leg. It hurt so bad that she could barely walk on it and whenever she tried to walk, she'd end up crying. Nothing breaks a mother's heart more than her child in that level of pain, and there's nothing I could do about it.

We went straight to the doctor's office and got there 10 minutes before her appt was scheduled. I ran in ahead of her to use the restroom, and asked about the "mask" requirement for patients with flu symptoms. They said that "just" a fever would not require a mask. Thank goodness b/c I can't imagine the drama of asking her to wear a mask. I went ahead and checked her in before going out to get her. I helped her into the office and we sat down to await our (I hoped) immediate call back to see the Dr since by that time it was EXACTLY 3:30. 20 minutes later, M says, "I'm leaving if they don't call me back soon". 30 minutes later a little hispanic boy came in with his mother, took one look at M and said to his mother, "Ella esta mala!" NO KIDDING!!! 35 minutes later I asked M if she could sit up on her own (she was leaning on me and snoozing), to which she said she couldn't. SO - I did the only thing I could think of - I called the office on my cell phone. "Hi, this is M's Mom, I'm in your waiting room" (at this point heads start popping up over the desk to look) "Her appt was at 3:30pm, I was just wondering if we have an ETA on her getting seen?". Needless to say, we were taken back pretty quickly after that. They put us in an open room and took vitals (her temp was 103.3), then moved us into the regular room to see the Dr (technically a physician's assistant, but we like her and she's good).

They ask if we can give a urine sample since her pain could be a Urinary Tract Infection or something of the sort. Mom (who had made it there after her work shift...I called her from the waiting room too) and I assisted with that process. They did a test and found high white blood cells. They did a flu test and it came back negative and diagnosed her with a kidney infection given the elevated white cells, which indicate an infection. The area of her pain (groin) would indicate urinary tract, and the lack of other symptoms apparently are common with kidney infection. Made sense to me, so we got a prescription for an antibiotic and headed home thinking all was good.

We decided that it would be best to keep all of us under one roof, so we all stayed at Mom's house - M and I in Mom's bed (with TV), Mom in M's room, and D on the couch (he wasn't sleeping much anyway post-surgery, so it really didn't matter where he "slept"). We were able to get M's temp down with alternating Tylenol and Motrin every 4 hours. Saturday was OK, at least until M's second dose (dinner-time) of antibiotic. She immediately threw it back up. BUT (gross out alert) the contents appeared mostly antibiotic and not dinner, so I was thinking it was just a gag reflex from the antibiotic. I called the on-call doctor and he said I would need to give her another dose, since the first one came back out, but recommended splitting it into 2 smaller doses (his exact response to the 3tsp dose was, "OH MY! That's brutal!"). We did that and all was well - no more vomiting. Her temp was down to under 100, so we were OK with not giving her the motrin/tylenol.

Sunday, October 11 - I was heading up to bed at about 1:30am and noticed M was burning up again. I took her temp and it was like 102. I gave her some motrin/tylenol and headed into bed with her. I no sooner close my eyes than I hear her get up to go to the bathroom. She then proceeds to throw up all over the bathroom (this was NOT just a gag reflex...). I ran out of the bedroom, yelling down the stairs (and into where Mom was sleeping), "HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!" Not sure why those words came to my mind at the time, but they did and that's how I decided to tell Mom and D that M had just hosed the bathroom with lasagna. M, Mom and I headed to the Emergency Room at 2am, leaving the other patient behind to continue healing.

The ER was amazingly empty for a Saturday night/Sunday morning, although apparently only the waiting room. We get her checked in and go sit down to watch whatever lame show was on TV. I begin to get increasingly upset as time starts ticking on and we're still sitting there with my little girl dry heaving into a garbage can we brought with us. SERIOUSLY???? Mom goes up to the reception desk and actually has to pick up the phone and call the woman (I knew her from kids' activities...not a fan of hers in general, but especially not after this) - she was literally sitting a few feet from the window eating while Mom stood there and tried to get her attention.

ANYWAY - I digress...

FINALLY, we head back to the triage nurse, then on back into a room. The doctor comes in and does her examination saying that it's clearly NOT a kidney infection, and seems to be appendicitis. Mom of course says, "I KNEW IT", and continues to say that several times over the next hour or so...luckily she stopped before I completely lost it! They do a sonogram, but the tech can't tell us anything (damn rules!). I did ask her if she had seen something conclusive, to which she said yes. Either way, we knew. Then we were waiting again for the radiologist to read it and the surgeon to take a look as well. By this time D had driven himself (on pain meds...) to the ER to meet us there. Mom and D fell asleep leaning on each other waiting (I was asleep leaning over M's bed, except for time to take this pic:

By this time, it is about 7am and we have called my cousin to fill her in on what's going on. Surgery is appearing to be imminent and we are just waiting for the surgeon's official call on it. The surgeon comes in at about 8am to consult and says that there is "something" on the ultrasound, but it's not 100% conclusive. If she were fat (that may be a direct quote) they could do a CT Scan, but she's clearly not fat, so it would be a waste of time and money (THANK YOU!!!!). He tells us that he'd like to go in with the scope and if it's NOT the appendix, he can look around and see what is causing the problem, and he'll go ahead and take the appendix while he's there...worst case scenario, he takes a healthy appendix out, but we'll never have to worry about it again (funny that he'd suggest that - I tried to get the surgeon who removed my gall bladder...different surgeon...to also take my appendix out while he was in the area and he flat out refused...but, I digress again...).

I have to add that by this time M was getting VERY beligerent. She was telling us, "I am NOT having surgery", "I am going home NOW", and (my favorite), "I want a strawberry frappucino and I want it NOW!". I explained to her that her appendix was diseased and if we didn't take it out, it could rupture, go septic, and kill her slowly from the inside out. She repeated that she was NOT having surgery. When D and Mom returned to the room I informed them that M had decided that she'd lived her 9 years to the fullest and was ready to call it quits. That warranted a big "MOMMMMMM!!!!" from her. I had never seen this side from her, but we were finally able to bribe her to have surgery with the promise of a strawberry frappucino as soon as they cleared her to have it post-op. She gave in, reluctantly...

At 9am M is wheeled off to surgery and Mom and I head off in search of food. All of us were starving but wouldn't eat anything b/c M wasn't allowed to and that just wasn't right. Of course, the cafeteria at our hospital is closed on weekends...how rude! I wrote a strongly worded letter about that... Luckily there's a McDonald's right across the street, so we made a quick trip over there. At about 9:45am, the surgeon comes into the waiting room to tell us that it was the appendix and to bring us the pictures (they're cool - sorry I don't have them scanned to put here...maybe another time :) ).

A little after that, my cousin and her mother-in-law arrived with Starbucks for me (THANK YOU!!!!!) and gifts for M. Almost immediately after that the surgeon came in to tell me that M was in recovery and I could go in to be with her when she woke up. Of course I went. She was the only one in recovery, so they let Mom and D come in and say goodbye - they were headed home to give D a rest now that we knew M was OK. They were going to come back when Mom headed to work that afternoon. We got checked into M's room and my cousin made the frappucino run for M, then headed back to Salem to carry on with her day.

M and I got comfortable in her room and settled in for the day.

M was absolutely awesome while in the hospital for awhile - she full on refused any pain meds. We kept telling her there was no shame in asking for them, but she said she wasn't in pain at all. Her IV site was giving her more trouble than her incisions (the surgeon did a happy dance over that fact!). She had full control of the TV, and nurses at her beck and call, what more could she want? She did get a little demanding and needy and not so nice to me. I actually had to tell her when we brought her home that the nurses were getting paid to jump when she said so, we don't get paid, so she better be nice. It eventually got better...

D and Mom came back on her way to work and I took advantage of the "shift change" to head home for a few minutes - just a shower was the plan. Once I got home, I thought, "I'll just close my eyes for a few minutes"...2 hours later I woke up. OOPS! Took a quick shower and headed back for the night. Mom picked D up on her way home from work and brought him home with the promise of returning in the morning.

They said she could probably go home that evening, but we opted to stay overnite. It was a selfish move on my part, but I just wanted to have professional assistance for at least one night - I was still exhausted from D's two procedures and needed the night "off". They wheeled in a fold out bed, Mom brought me a Snuggie (way cool - definitely recommend them!).

Monday, October 12 - M had decided that she wanted to go home after lunch, but they cleared her for departure shortly after breakfast. That morning I headed down to the coffee cart when M's breakfast arrived only to find that it was closed due to illness. The cafeteria didn't carry bottled frappucinos or anything and I was not going to pay money for regular coffee when I could get a cup for free upstairs. SO NOT COOL!!! I was so desperate, I almost considered actually drinking the coffee delivered with my "courtesy meal". Luckily I got a text from our church's associate pastor asking if she could bring me Starbuck's...apparently via Facebook she'd learned of my plight and she brought me a coffee and M a frappucino. (Facebook is awesome for spreading the word!). Mom and D came in just in time to see Pastor Shelley off, and to be there while M got discharged. Once her IV was out, she was ready to go...and we did.

As we were headed home we passed the Children's Minister on the way and she followed us home - apparently she was headed to the hospital to see us. She brought a cute gift for M and well wishes for all of us. She also arranged to have meals delivered to us for the remainder of the week. LOVE OUR CHURCH!!!!!

Home and recovery begins... Through it all, she refused all pain meds (although we did force Tylenol a couple times, then gave up the battle) despite being obviously uncomfortable. What a star! We had some trouble with her appetite and her being weak from not eating and the surgery and all, but for the most part it was a very smooth recovery.

Tuesday, October 20 - M had her post-op appt and was cleared to return to "normal" activity. Since she had chosen to not swim with her class, we were going to pick her up early on Tuesdays and Thursdays anyway, so decided to just wait until Wed. morning to send her back to school. After sharing a bed with M during her recovery, it had become clear to me that her toenails were quite the claws, so I decided to take her for a manicure/pedicure in prep for her return to school. The excursion wiped her out, so we were a little concerned about her return to school, but figured she could always call us if she got tired.

Wednesday, October 21 - M returns to school and has no trouble at all - she stays all day and isn't too horribly exhausted by the end of it. YEAH!

Thursday, October 22 - I end up subbing a half-day, so Mom picked up M at school before lunch, took her to lunch, then home for a sleepover. I was headed out to a meeting that evening and D had class, so M was sleeping at Mom's (in reality, she had never STOPPED sleeping at Mom's...).

Friday, October 23 - D has his post-op appt at the coast so we'd arranged for my cousin to pick M up and take her home for a sleepover. All went well and the kids had a great time!

Saturday, October 24 - Cousins bring M home and stay for dinner...during the evening we start to get concerned about cousin P's temperature, but take it and all seems well, so chalk it up to paranoia.

Sunday, October 25 - 7am - Call comes in that cousin P's spiked a 103ish temp and we need to cancel the stamping party I was doing at their house. Spend all day keeping an "eye" on her as her temp goes up and down with meds. M very sensitive all day long - crying at the drop of a hat, Mom says she's not feeling well, I'm saying she's just being hormonal and add that to my list to talk to her dr at her "well child" visit Tuesday AM.

Monday, October 26, 12:30am - D and I head to bed and shortly after getting in bed, M comes out of her room and heads into the bathroom. She has very loud diarrhea, prompting us to go check on her despite her saying, "I'm OK". I headed downstairs to get the thermometer and returned to find her laying on the bathroom floor, too weak to return to bed. OH NO! She says her tummy hurts and she's running a temp, but she is refusing to take any tylenol/motrin because she says she'll just throw it up. I talk her into taking the dissolvables, but they are at Mom's. Now Mom is up too b/c I head over there in my PJ's and red velvet robe (lovely sight, I'm sure). We can't find them b/c apparently they came back here...DAMN! BUT, I got the swallowing motrin which she ended up taking one of. Her and D stayed up and watched a movie in bed to make sure that no other body fluids were headed out of her. At about 3am, I asked her if she wanted to stay in our bed or go back to hers. She opted for going back to hers b/c of D's snoring (I feel her pain!). Took her temp again and it was still in the 101(ish) range when I put her in bed, but she seemed just fine.

M proceeds to sleep until we dragged her out of bed at 1pm...with a temp of 102.6. I lured her downstairs where I'd set up an inflatable bed in the family room for her. She didn't want to get up, which is so not like her, but I had to get some food in her so I could give her something for that fever. By the time we got her downstairs, it was at 101.9 and stayed there for several hours.

She was just so out of it - so not herself. Her appetite came back BIG TIME and so did her energy, but I still took her in to see the doctor. Due to her symptoms, she had to wear a mask - although she decided to make a fashion statement with it once we got into the exam room:

Isn't that Murphy's Law that as soon as you get to the doctor all is well? That does NOT look like the same kiddo I'd dragged out of bed earlier in the day with a temp.

Well, Dr S said that since her only real symptom was the temp, he didn't think it was Swine Flu, but more like a virus at this point. No matter what the diagnosis it was, the treatment was the same, so we just went with that and carried on with what we'd been doing (fluids, rest, treating symptoms as she'd allow...). We were already planning on keeping her out of school Tuesday b/c of the 24 hr, temp under 99 rule, so no problem at all.

Tuesday, October 27 - today (I know, you're saying FINALLY!!!!) - she gets up and seems to be doing just fine. Then, she starts coughing. I get a phone call from cousin who says that cousin P's doctor said she has swine flu. We compare notes and M is progressing almost exactly 24 hours behind cousin P, even down to the cough, which proceeds to get worse as the day goes on. Her temp also started inching up slowly as well, although not above 100. We decided that she's probably out for the rest of the week and I began the process of homeschooling her for the rest of the week. So far so good on that...

This has been a horrible few weeks - I joke that I have pissed off some gods and need to sacrifice a goat or something to make it right. I have no clue if/when we're getting back to "normal", but am hoping that we're headed down that road real soon!

Thanks for sticking with the life and times of me...hopefully I'll have a happier post next go round...maybe some cute Halloween pix, or I can finally finish up the Tahoe pix post I started several weeks ago...who knows? All I know is that it's way past my bed time, so off I go.

My baby is 9!

Yesterday was M's 9th birthday - where in the heck has the time gone? As always her birthday is a whirlwind of activity. First on Friday we went to school for her "celebration". They light a candle representing the sun, and the birthday child walks around it carrying a globe to represent each year of their life. All the while, the kids are singing, "The earth goes around the sun, tra la, the earth goes around the sun, tra la, around and around and around and around and now, M is...". Following each "revolution" we present a picture of her within that year and tell a story. As you can imagine, as she gets older, this becomes a much longer process! I was joking that it's a good thing Montessori doesn't go till HS b/c I'm not sure I could handle the earth going around the sun 18 times!

After the school celebration, D, Mom and I took M out for lunch at Ruby Tuesday (her choice). Then it was time to prepare for the real "party".

This year M wanted to go camping, so we invited a few of her friends to join us at our favorite campground where we'd rented 2 yurts - one for the kids, and one for the adults. Well, when we made this plan we were expecting more kids and more adults. What we ended up with was 3 kids and 2 adults. Needless to say, there was a lot of extra room! BUT - the girls needed their full 30' yurt to spread out in (apparently, based upon the mess they made in their), and D needed his own sanctuary away from women!

SO, we arrive on Friday evening just in time for the girls to rush the campground store and make purchases of everything they couldn't live without (matching arrowhead necklaces, friendship bracelets, deodorant,...you know, all a 9 year old girl needs to camp!). M took her 2 friends (former Montessori kids who have moved on to their local public schools) on a tour of the campground while D and I got set up. Actually, D went ahead and had things pretty well set up by the time we got there, which was AWESOME! D made an awesome dinner of burgers and chips, and then we enjoyed the campfire telling stories, jokes, singing songs, and giggling...a lot! At about 9:30, we sent the girls inside to get ready for bed, then it became clear there was going to be no me in the adult yurt. I moved my stuff from the adult yurt to the kid yurt and set up camp on what the girls called the "spider bed" (there had been 2 large-ish spiders found near this bed, therefore none of them would sleep in it). All 3 girls tried to share a bed, but eventually M moved to another one to sleep. I stayed up reading for a little bit until all were definately asleep, then crawled into my sleeping bag for the nite.

Now, I should take a moment to describe yurt camping, if you have never done it. Basically it's like a cabin, but with canvas sides and a wooden floor. There's a wood stove inside and electricity as well. The girls yurt had a ping pong table and 3 bunk beds - 2 with queens on the bottom, and one traditional bunk with a twin on the bottom. There was also a sofa, love seat, table, ceiling fan...so basically a bad hotel room or the best tent EVER! D set up our porta potty in the "potty tent" on the deck of the yurt for night time potty runs (we don't need the girls setting out on adventures in the middle of the nite). SO - not exactly roughing it - perfect for 3 9 year old girls who go between being "girly girls" and "tom boys".

We brought along several activities for the girls to do, such as coloring on a large roll of paper, a puzzle, notebooks, a scavenger hunt, and t-shirts to decorate with Sharpies. They had a blast with all of these activities! In addition, on site there's a pond where you can't swim, but can wander around and explore the salamanders that live in there. There's also an RC car track where you can drive these way cool cars around, off jumps, through the dirt, and otherwise wreak havoc with these nearly indestructable vehicles. They also have gold panning and offer a treasure hunt with a metal detector (D & M did this on our last family trip there and deemed it more trouble than it was worth). AND, if you're super adventurous, they have 2 full paint ball courses. We opted out of the paintball, but the girls did nearly everything else on site.

Saturday morning, they awoke at 6:45am. Seriously...it was crazy! D took over and I went back to bed for a couple hours. The girls did all the campground activities before lunch. After lunch we headed off to Butte Creek Falls (or "Butt Crack" Falls, as we like to call it). It's a short drive from the campground, then a short hike down to a pool at the bottom of a waterfall. We have visited there a couple times before doing everything from wading in the water to full on swimming (which resulted in D getting hypothermic from the cold water, and our good friend creating a song to commemmorate the occasion..."D almost died today, Doo Dah, Doo Dah"...so now we don't get heads wet when we go there). The girls (and D) had a great time wading around in the water, throwing rocks, climbing up the other side, exploring and such. Well, that is until M fell and landed square on her hand, then the drama began. She was convinced she'd broken her hand (it was quite swollen, but I'm still calling it a bone bruise, not a break b/c she has full mobility of her thumb). Everyone decided it was time to head back to camp after this. So, we began the hike back up to the van. Part way up, one of the girls got dizzy from the hike and we stopped to have a snack, but all was well and we continued on.

Back at camp, D headed down into town to pick up the birthday cake and I stayed behind to supervise. First I made the girls clean up their yurt - it seriously looked like it had vomited upon itself. They did a passable job of cleaning, so we headed off for another run at the RC cars. While there they met a boy who's Dad works there, and he showed them where the "hidden" tire swing was. Then it became a boys vs. girls situation and drama ensued. Typical 9 year old stuff, I calmly sat and read my book while they ran amok, being "chased" by the boys.

D got back, we got dinner ready, then had the official birthday party. After the party, we traveled around the campground offering leftover cake to other campers, then the girls put on a show for D and I at the stage there.

Back to the campsite for campfire fun. Well, as the girls were getting ready for bed, all hell broke loose. One of them started complaining of a tummy ache (I'm NOT surprised as she was eating everything that wasn't tied down during the day), then was home sick. The other girl got homesick, too, and soon all were in tears (M with sympathy tears for her friends). I explained that we were about 2 hours from home, but that if they wanted, I would bring them home then, OR they could go to sleep and we'd head out in the morning. I was sure it was nothing a good nite's sleep wouldn't cure as they were all exhausted. WELL, needless to say after talking amongst themselves, we packed up and headed home at 9:30pm last nite. D stayed behind to clean up and leave this morning.

I handed off one girl at 11pm to her mother, then took the other home where we had to wait a bit for her mother to get home from a party she was at, handed her off at 11:30pm, then headed home. After a brief visit with Mom, who had just gotten off work, M and I curled into bed for the nite.

SO - lessons learned? 9 year old girls = drama. Expect the unexpected. Be flexible, and go with the flow.

Next year, I'm thinking a local, non-sleepover party...

Catching Up on Summer

Well, I just realized that it's been quite awhile since I posted. It's not that we haven't been busy doing stuff of interest, but rather that I'm no longer sitting at the computer for hours on end working. SO, I shall attempt to catch up a bit here.

M has been swimming this summer every day with the Dolphins program at our local pool. It's kind of a combination between swim lessons and team - D likes to call it the "So you think you want to be on swim team?" program. Well, the answer is that M does want to be on swim team - very much! Her strokes still need a little perfecting before she's ready, but if she buckles down for the next couple weeks, I'm sure she can do it.

In our afternoons we have been doing a variety of activities ranging from hanging out around the house to "field trips" to OMSI, Enchanted Forest (where we met college friends and their kids), fishing, and the movies.

Last week M went to OMSI Camp in the John Day Fossil Beds at Camp Hancock. It was Jr. Survival Camp and among other activities, she saw a real live rattlesnake and participated in a hike/campout in the desert. AND, based upon the status of her gear when she returned home, spent a great deal of time rolling around in the dirt and getting wet in one way or another, then "packing" the wet clothes in her bag! BUT - it was a fun experience and she learned quite a bit about desert survival. She already is looking forward to returning next summer.

Today we are getting the house ready for new floors to be installed in the morning. Between our dogs having accidents, and the general allergen factors of carpet, we have decided that laminate flooring is a better choice for our home. SO - we are having the downstairs done as well as M's room. Eventually we'll do the rest of the house, but this is a good start for now. Right now the house is a little crazy with all the stuff being moved around to allow for the installation, but it's all going to be so worth it!

Now M is home for a week, then her and D are headed off to visit his family in Minnesota and Wisconsin. They will fly out Friday to Minnesota and spend a few days with his sister and her family before heading to his parents' house in Green Bay on Monday. They will be there visiting until the following Saturday when they fly all the way home. My father-in-law has Parkinson's and has recently also been diagnosed with early stage dementia, so this is a bittersweet trip for all as it may be the last time M sees him with most of his faculties working. It's hard to say how quickly he will progress - he's had the Parkinson's since 1999 and has been doing quite well until a few other health issues sprung up in recent years that took him down a notch. D equates it to a stereo volume control - "normal" would go all the way to 10 as it's maximum, but each "issue" brings his maximum down a notch, so that he's probably at about a 7 or 8 these days. He has another surgery scheduled at the end of their visit to straighten out his toes, so that may go down again following it.

ANYWAY - after they return from that trip, we have 2 more weeks of swimming, then it's off on our family vacation to Lake Tahoe. I am so excited to share one of my favorite places in the world with M - I already shared with D on our honeymoon, but this will be M's first trip there. We're hoping to do some lake fishing, take a leisurely rafting trip down the Truckee River, do some hiking and exploring, and otherwise hang out in one of the most beautiful areas of the world!

I am keeping my eyes open for job postings, but so far have found nothing. When we return from Tahoe if I still haven't found anything, I will register with the substitute teacher system and send letters out to local special ed, alternative, and math teachers advertising myself as a substitute. In general, subs don't "like" those placements, so that already puts me at an advantage for finding work. In the meantime I have my unemployment to fill in the gaps financially.

AND - that is the summer so far, and a brief look to the rest of it. Hopefully I'll get around to posting pix (I know, I promise that regularly!) in the near future!

ALL DONE!!!

Today I turned in all of my school district supplies and files (delivered in "Two Buck Chuck" boxes...hee hee hee!) and am welcoming unemployment with open arms! I love that my options are wide open for the fall and that I can truly enjoy the summer with M.

(Was it wrong to quietly sing to myself "Na Na Na Na...Na Na Na Na...Hey Hey Hey...Goodbye" as I walked out of the district office?)

SO now I'm looking forward to the summer and all the fun that it has to bring. Just this weekend we're headed off on our first camping trip of the year. D and M are breaking in the gear in the back yard right now - I'm choosing to sleep in my bed. I don't mind camping, but prefer to do it in the woods, not in my yard where I have a nice comfy bed within close distance! Besides, if I were to join them, we'd either be 3 in a 3-man tent, or have to set up another tent. AND, we all know that when they say "3-man", they really mean "2-man" or "3 very small men", not "2 largish men and 1 child". Still remember the time we tried to sleep the 2 of us & our 85 pound dog in a 3-man tent...think I may still have some of the kinks in my back from that trip! :)

Tomorrow is the final day of VBS and I have volunteered to help out, mostly b/c I can't say No to such things (see blog about "helping" at karate camp). Then we start up with daily swimming, except for the week when M is at Jr. Survival Camp in Eastern Oregon, or the week she is going back to Minnesota/Wisconsin to visit the in-laws.

For fear of rambling like I did on my last post, I shall cut this one short since I'm not sure I have much else worthwhile to say at the moment anyway!

Coast Wrap-Up

We had a wonderful time at the Coast this past weekend for M's Karate Camp. Here's the summary and a couple pix (I took more with my SLR, but haven't downloaded them yet...)









THURSDAY - M and I drove out Thursday after karate class and got to our room just about 7pm. We were staying at the Proposal Rock Inn which is a former hotel (I think) or possibly was designed as condos. Either way, we had adjoining rooms - mine had a full kitchen, and a balcony with a view- a studio apartment of sorts. M's had just a bed and bathroom - more of a typical hotel room. She was so absolutely excited to have a key to her "own" room - so cute!

This is the view looking out our balcony toward the beach. Our room was right near the creek that flows into/around Neskowin. You can see the ocean in the background through the clouds and fog.

After arriving at the room, we unpacked a bit, then went for a walk down to the beach where M played in the sand a bit and had a grand old time. The weather, despite being overcast, was comfortable enough that we weren't cold at all - very nice for the Oregon Coast!

We headed back to the room, showered, and headed into our respective beds. What is it about the beach that makes you NEED to shower? I was just walking on it and felt like I had sand everywhere...but I digress...

FRIDAY - Up at 7:30am - I set my alarm for 7:30 so that I could snooze till 8, then get M up, eat breakfast, and head over to the house in time for "Shugo" (the call to line up and bow in/out). Well, my alarm woke her up, so we were up and ready to go earlier than anticipated. Luckily the "time waster" (TV) was there to fill in the time we had to kill. We walked up to the house where camp was based (one of the families in the dojo owns the house and lets us use it each year for camp). Once we got there, there was a bit of hurry up and wait, but that's OK! Sensei had brought their puppy along, so there was play time with Ty, then another family brought their brand new puppy along, so there was more play time with "No Name" (they have yet to name the little fluff ball, so I lovingly called him "No Name" all weekend). A grand total of 6 kids were there, and 7 adults - a very nice number for camp. All the adults are black belts and 1 of the kids worked out with the adults is a brown/black belt since he has to be 16 to get his black belt. One of the other girls is a brown belt, but stayed with the "kid's camp" along with 2 purple-green belts (M being one of them), and one purple belt, and one big sister who took part in some activities, but not the karate based ones.

After "Shugo", I left and headed back to the room where I sat on the balcony and tried to watch the campers over at the house through the trees. It wasn't easy, but I could hear them and it was especially fun to hear when they got their bos (pronounced bows) out and started clicking them together. I sat on the balcony for long enough to have my feet freeze, then had to go back in and defrost them. It's not that it was THAT cold, it just wasn't THAT warm on my bare tootsies! Took a little nap and headed back for lunch.

After lunch M wanted to show off her room, so we took the other 4 kids over there to show them. I felt like the Pied Piper walking with 5 kids behind me - can't imagine how it looked to passers by! Then I was volunteered (technically I was asked, but when Sensei asks, you do) to supervise the 5 kids on the beach while his wife finished up cleaning up from lunch and getting ready for dinner. She was supposed to meet me down there and relieve me after about 45 minutes of a sand castle building contest. SO, off we go...the 2 older girls were one "team", and the 3 younger kids (2 girls and 1 boy) were the other "team". I didn't split them up, they did that on their own. The sand castle building began - and it occupied them all for about 45 minutes, then they were done with their castles and ready to be judged. I told them I wasn't the judge, but they were welcome to play something else. The 3 younger kids started playing a game which 2 of them play in school (M being the 3rd one who doesn't know the game). The 2 older ones made themselves into mermaids by burying their legs in the sand. All went well for awhile, but then they all started to get bored. Just when I was about to send up my flare (about 90 minutes into this expedition), the reinforcements arrived and I was relieved (in more ways than one!). Back to the room for a much needed nap!

When dinner time came along, I headed back to the house and was greeted by M asking me to NOT eat dinner with them there. OK, fine with me, so I went to the restaurant (there's only 1 restaurant in Neskowin, luckily it's good!) and had the yummiest crab tortellini (cheese tortellini in a creamy crab/gorgonzola cheese sauce...my mouth is watering just remembering it!).

A bit later I headed back to the house and got to take part in the Q&A with the visiting Sensei. Now, I have to tell you, at our dojo we study the greats - Nagamini, Miagi, etc. Gonzo Sensei studied WITH these guys! He's an amazing man! Grew up in Okinawa and has some amazing stories to tell. It was awesome to hear him talk about the history of our form of karate. After the Q&A, everyone headed out for a bo class with Gonzo Sensei which was a blast to watch. Following class, there were rumors of a bonfire, but Mother Nature decided that it was going to rain instead. Well, drizzle, but it was enough for me to tell M we were going to head back to the room. After showers, she hit the bed at 10:30, and I suspect was sound asleep at 10:31! Apparently they did head out and do a bonfire starting at 10:30...and going till 3am! OH, to be young and crazy again!

SATURDAY - I gave M the choice of eating breakfast with the camp (8am) or in our room and showing up for Shugo (9:30am) - she chose to sleep in (That's my girl!). Took her up to the house, then headed back to the room for some reading and relaxation before lunch. Headed back up for lunch and had a great conversation with Gonzo Sensei over a yummy sandwich. Part way into the conversation M came up and asked if she could go back to the room to change her shoes. I said yes and handed her the key. Mind you, this is a very small town and she only had to go the equivalent of up the street to do this task. WELL, not long after she left, Sensei's wife said, "Where's M?" I said, "She went back to the room to get her flip flops." She said, "ALONE???" To which I, of course, replied, "NOOOOO, I was just getting up to go with her!" and proceeded to do just that. Sort of a funny exchange. I was trying to give M some freedom and independence, but she was thinking maybe not and was actually prepared to walk all the way there herself if I wouldn't have!

After lunch a few of us walked up to the condo where Gonzo Sensei and his family were staying and he did this free radical test thing on us (him and his wife are acupuncturists and practice all kinds of cool Far Eastern healing). While there, D called and said he was at the Inn and where was I, so I headed back to meet up with him. As I passed the house, I picked up M and took her back to the room to change into her gi for the formal ceremony/class. D had brought Pasha with him, so we took her out to the beach to watch the formal ceremony, which was way cool to watch all the folks in white gis on the sand doing kata... I got lots of pictures which I'll share another day.

After class, I took some group photos, then it was goodbye and thank you for a great camp. D and M headed back to the room so she could change out of her gi while I chatted with some of the other students for a bit. The plan was for us all to meet at the house so we could help clean up and gather our stuff, but M decided she didn't want to come back (I suspected she was laying on her bed in front of the TV and didn't have a lot of extra energy - and I was right!). SO, I gathered our stuff and made plans to meet up with some folks for a second try at a bonfire that nite.

The 3 of us headed to the restaurant for dinner, and to the store to buy marshmallows, roasting sticks, and a promised sweatshirt for M. Then we went back to the room with full (too full) tummies and relaxed until about 8pm, when we thought would be a good time to head down to the beach for the impending bonfire. We headed down and got to hang out and watch a beautiful sunset while waiting. Just when we were ready to pack it up and leave, the boys (Sensei's sons and another 20ish student who incidentally was one of my students when he was in the 8th grade) showed up with wooden pallets to start up the bonfire. Well, we felt a little silly trying to roast marshmallows over this bonfire that was taller than M, but we still gave it our best try! Stayed out there till 10ish, then headed back to the room (hate to be the "old people" in the group, although this group of kids is such a great group, they probably wouldn't change their behavior if we were there or not).

SUNDAY - Father's Day! - Woke up about 10 and gave D his Father's Day gifts, then it was time to pack up and head out. D and M took off for the Aquarium in Newport, and Pasha and I stayed for a long walk on the beach and lunch at the restaurant before heading home. Got home in time to take a quick nap before starting dinner prep - made D Shepherd's Pie as it's one of his favorites. Used a recipe Mom found on the Internet this time instead of the one I used before which was the one used at Kell's Irish Pubs. He actually liked this one better - more along the lines of college food service "clean out the fridge" Shepherd's Pie. Fine with me! Much easier than the Kell's recipe!

SO - all in all, a great weekend - fun was had by all, except maybe Romeo who wasn't happy we'd left him behind. He climbed into the van when we were unloading it and literally refused to get out - guess that was his way of making sure we didn't leave him behind again! Now, how are we going to break it to him that he doesn't get to come camping with us next weekend? I'm sure that's a story for another day, though...

Coast Karate Camp

We're only a couple hours from our departure time for the Coast Karate Camp. Last year's camp was an amazing experience for both M and I (I was doing karate at the time, so participated in camp as well). This year, it's just going to be her at camp, and I will be nearby, but NOT CODDLING! Sensei was very precise about "no coddling at budo camp" last year. OOPS!

Camp begins at about 9am tomorrow, so M and I are heading out this evening after karate class to check into our condo/hotel and get a good night's sleep. By doing this, we alleviate the super early AM wake-up and departure in the morning. I still need to find out if breakfast is one of the included meals in camp and if not, we'll be hitting the store on our way out of town for a couple items. I also need to find out from him WHEN she will need her gi, b/c if it's only for the "closing ceremony" on Saturday, I'm going to drop it off at home for D to wash/dry and save me quarters at the condo laundry facility doing that.

SO - camp is all day tomorrow with a bonfire in the evening (or so I've heard). Then again all day Saturday with the "closing ceremony" Saturday dinner-ish.

We're staying out there through Sunday, though, which allows us to have a base camp all day Saturday as well, and also to have D come join us on Saturday and be with us on Father's Day morning.

I'm so looking forward to some peace and quiet at the coast for a few hours at least...

AND - crazy thing - here it is 2:30 and we're all packed and ready to walk out the door. That is so unlike me to be that ready to go! Class is at 4pm, so we'll be leaving in about an hour for that, then it's BK drive thru for dinner and off we go.

Hopefully I'll get around to taking/posting some pix when we get back...

SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is the last official day of school for everyone I work with. It's been a slow trickle for the past week of "last days", but today is it - YEAH!

I went out to my last school today and participated/watched their end of school picnic/field day. It was great to see the kids all running around and having a great time. There had apparently been a water fight earlier, which was continuing on in trickles (hee, hee, trickles - water fight - I'm so punny!). They had a BBQ, a presentation of "graduation" between classes, and were about to have root beer floats and games when I got there. My student who had left for surgery was back visiting, so I got to see him and his family. I got to visit with staff and parents, and I got to see the other kids whom I don't work with on a regular basis, but who have come to think of me as part of their school "family". It was a great time!

One of my mothers gave me some tea to try - it's called Kombucha and is made out of mushrooms. The funny part was her handing it to me in an old Jack Daniels bottle - "no really officer, it's organic mushroom tea..." I have yet to try it, but it's in the fridge waiting.

SO - here I am back at home trying to finish up as much paperwork as I can today so that tomorrow is just a matter of packing for karate camp, delivering some copies to the school, and heading out for the weekend. Next week while M is at VBS I will take care of packing up my stuff, making sure all the details are taken care of and getting ready to turn it all in on Wednesday when I meet with the boss.

Technically my last day of work is Friday, but I'll be working through next Wednesday getting it all taken care of. Not a problem at all - M will be at VBS while I'm working next week so I'm not cutting into our summer schedule.

Speaking of summer schedules...ours is filling up quickly...we have:

Karate Camp
Family Camping Trips
Swimming Lessons/Team
OMSI Camp
Tahoe Trip
M/D trip to Wisconsin/Minnesota
hanging out
playing
visiting our local county parks

It's going to be a fun summer and I can't wait to turn in my "work", file for unemployment, and get it started!

Here we go again

A couple years ago D and I went on this "healthy eating" deal with a local naturopath. We were SOOOOO successful! I lost like 50ish pounds on it (plus the 20ish I'd lost before hand), and D lost like 60ish. Well, we went off "plan" and got back into old bad habits and...I've gained back all of mine, plus some, and D has only put on about half of his (yeah for him!).

This school year, as I've mentioned, has been more stressful than almost any in the past many years, 50 pounds stressful (I attribute about 40 of those to one family in particular...). SO, as the year is winding down, it's only fitting that I begin to look to the future with a new healthy outlook.

SO - tonite Mom and I are attending our first Weight Watchers' meeting (of this time...we've done WW before, with great success I might add). Mom has the opposite problem that I do - she doesn't eat enough and doesn't eat the right stuff (well, I have that part too, but rarely the not eating enough). Weight Watchers FORCES her to eat enough each day, which she so needs, and FORCES me to make choices of what I eat each day, also much needed.

I have been hesitant to rejoin a "program" as I know what I need to do (apparently diet and exercise DO work...who knew???), but I think it's time. SO, with that, we are off to our first meeting.

After the meeting we will be hitting Target, REI, and Red Robin for dinner...hell, we can start counting POINTS tomorrow! :P

a little breathing room

As I mentioned, D has been out of town frequently the past couple weeks. First he was in Seattle for a Hazardous Waste Conference (oh yeah - that's a great one, came home and told me how I can't/shouldn't have any scented candles or fabric softener or ANYTHING anymore...thanks guys!), then following our annual California trip, he headed off to the Association of Oregon Recyclers conference in Eastern Oregon. Today he is headed home from there.

In the meantime, M has completed her school year and is officially on summer break Yesterday was her first day "home" and she spent part of it at Mom's (thanks Mom!) while I ran to work, then she came home with me and entertained herself while I worked from home for a couple hours. After I called it quits for the day, we had some fun playing games, going to the store, watching movies, and otherwise hanging out together. Last night she spent the last night (for awhile, I believe) in my bed which is her treat when D is out of town. I had hoped that all would sleep in this morning, but, alas, 2 of the 3 dogs were up with the sprinklers at 6:30am, and M woke as well. I got her back to sleep till 8:30, but then she was up and rearing to go for the day.

Which leads to today - a "lazy" Saturday...M got invited a few weeks ago to a friends party that was being held in the city park. I hesitantly RSVP'd yes for her to go to it, with the caveat of her allergies possibly causing issues. Well, as of yesterday, her allergies were still causing issues, so I was really leary of sending her to the party. We were just about to have a conversation about it when my phone rang and another friend invited her to a party at an INDOOR play area nearby. Now I wasn't just giving her a choice of party or home, I was telling her one party is OK, the other isn't. Makes me less of a bad Mom, huh? She still wanted to make sure her outdoor party friend got his gift, so I promised to deliver it to him (and did) at the party. In the meantime, she is off with the other group while I attempt to get the house ready for D's arrival.

I feel guilty about "choosing" one party over the other. The outdoor party is for a friend who we used to be fairly close with from her school (I actually went to college with his father), but have grown apart in the past couple years as life has gotten crazy for each of our families. Technically I didn't choose one party over the other, or one kid over the other, I chose INSIDE vs. OUTSIDE with M's allergies in mind. AND, I promised the OUTSIDE party kiddo a playdate (or 2) this summer, which is really preferable to a party at a park anyway, as they will truly get to spend time together that way.

Not a bad Mom, right?

SO - while she has been gone, I've been fighting the urge to take a nap and getting stuff done around the house. I keep telling myself, "I'll lay down after I...", then never get to the laying down part. Not a bad thing, since once I lay down I'm sure I'll be out for the count.

I have been productive - have gotten several loads of laundry done (folded and put nearly away, even), took care of recycling, picked up poop, straightened up the living room, read the paper, made a coffee run, delivered outside party kiddo's gift, pulled a few weeds, discovered ants near our garden, googled "organic ant control", decided to go to the store after M gets back to pick up some "organic ant control" and kill those little buggers,...

Tomorrow we ALL have the day off, so will be hanging out around the houses, doing yardwork in 2 yards, and BBQing at Mom's for dinner. M will spend tomorrow nite with Mom, then all day Monday as well while I work. I'm thinking I need to reschedule the housecleaner for Monday so that I can work from home guilt free (I always feel bad being here while she's cleaning). Tuesday and Wednesday M will go to her former daycare, then Thursday hang out with me until it's time for karate class, then out to the coast for karate camp.

I'm SOOOOO looking forward to karate camp this year! Last year I took part in it as I was actively taking karate at the time. It was an amazing experience, and I will truly miss it, although I can't say that I'm not going to enjoy hanging out in the condo or on the beach while M is taking part in the work out part of camp. I'm debating bringing Pasha along with me - Mom is concerned that having her there will "cramp" my style, but I just know she'd love being there with me, hanging out and such. PLUS, if she's with me, I can't be shopping and spending money, which is a good thing. The condo we're staying in has a full kitchen, so I can cook all my own meals while there and don't even need to go to a restaurant for lunch. BUT, I am a bit concerned as I'm sure Sensei will have at least their puppy with them, and what if Pasha doesn't play well with him? I doubt it - she's pretty laid back most of the time with other dogs, but if HE gets an attitude, she'll fight back.

I don't know...have a couple days to decide on Pasha - got a condo that she's WELCOME in, that way I can play it by ear if she comes or not.

THEN, I feel guilty bringing Pasha and not Romeo (or even Sally, who is technically Mom's dog, but realistically we share custody of all 3 of them). I joke that with Pasha being an older dog, it's kinda like a "Make a Wish" for dogs, that she gets to do almost anything b/c she is older and we don't know how many more years she has with us. BUT, that truly isn't far from the truth. Why NOT take her for a weekend at the beach? She will love it - hell, she'd love sitting in a hotel room with me if that's all we did - she just loves being with me. AND, if she's a hassle with the other dog (which I doubt), we can deal with that as well. Romeo is a pup and has his whole life ahead of him to be dragged along everywhere we go and if I brought both (or all 3), I would go absolutely crazy. One dog is enough for traveling, I think.

Well, now I've blogged into an internal conversation with myself and I'm sure all 2 of you who read this are bored silly, so I'll sign off for now. Sounds like the laundry needs rotating.

Perhaps I'll take a nap after I rotate the laundry...

The Final Countdown...

Here I sit on the eve of M's last day of 3rd grade, and what should have been MY last day of teaching if it weren't for those damn snow days. OH WELL! I'm still technically employed (and expected to work...) until next Friday, the 19th. I have kiddos until next Wednesday, although I'm only seeing one of them regularly. My second daily student had his last day today, but was in finals yesterday and today, so I wasn't able to see him then. OH WELL! That means my work day is actually about 9-10:30 each morning "on site", then at home working whenever and however I can fit it in.

Having M out of school tomorrow at noon puts a little hitch in my git-a-long, but luckily we have a decent support network (primarily Mom working swing shifts and a day care provider who still LOVES visits from M), so I'll be able to get my work done and not jumble her life around too much.

AND, D is off again to another conference. This one is in a beautiful area in Eastern Oregon where M and I have often tagged along to, but this year it wasn't meant to be. Seems like Mother Nature agrees that it's just not right that M and I aren't there with him, so has decided to rain and give them crappy weather. Can't say I'm sorry about that...although part of me feels bad that he's stuck in the crappy weather.

Then again, weather here isn't exactly great right now either. Very cloudy, overcast, muggy as hell, and threatening to rain at any moment. BUT, in a way, that's a blessing as well since it kind of helps with all the allergy crap floating around in the air making M and I miserable.

Speaking of which - last Wednesday nite I took her out to the school I teach at (in the middle of a hay field...not my smartest move, I know) for a Talent Show and Fundraising dinner. By the time we got home, her eyes were nearly swollen shut and I was considering heading to the ER for a breathing treatment since my asthma inhaler wasn't even touching my breathing. On Thursday she chose to NOT go to her final day of swimming b/c of her eyes, and I chose to NOT go to that school to teach b/c I like to breath. Instead I picked her up early from school and took her to my "other" school (not in a hayfield) to see my student there. Then we headed off to Salem for hair appointments.

WELL, we no sooner get to Salem and BAM! Thunder, Lightning, Rain, Hail, Wind, Tornadoes...you name it, it hit all at that time. We waited it out (while getting new "do's"), and by the time we headed home things were still nasty, but much, much mellower. Of course, the storm did not help my breathing at all and by the time we got back to town, I was headed to the ER with M in tow. Little did I know that the storm had caused breathing problems in apparently EVERYONE in Yamhill County, who were all at the ER at that precise moment in time. UGH! I'm not much for waiting, especially with M in tow, so off we went hoping for Urgent Care to be open. Luckily they were still open enough to feel pity and stay open and see us. One nebulizer treatment later and I could breath again - home, sent Mom for prescriptions, and off to bed.

Friday morning we were off to California for our annual June trip, but that's another post...

Speaking of which - did I have a topic here? I often digress...oh yeah! The Final Countdown...

Tomorrow is M's last day, early dismissal - I'm in a meeting in the AM, then to pick her up and "off" for the afternoon (unless I decide to brave the hayfield again for an afternoon visit...doubt it!). Friday she hangs with Mom and I head to the hayfield, then home to work. Monday with Mom again, Tuesday and Wednesday daycare, and finally I'm all done with kiddos on Wednesday! I still have work to do, but luckily get to finish it up at home mostly.

Then, on the 24th, I turn in all my district "stuff", and join the ranks of the unemployed Oregonians...

Did I mention that I can't wait until the 24th! Although there's a ton to do between now and then (finalizing IEPs, meetings, preparing files, progress reports, etc.), I'm so looking forward to turning it all in and getting this proverbial monkey off my back. Who knows what next year will bring, only that it will be good.

And now, I have a 3-year re-eligibility to prepare for...

Single Parenting

This afternoon D left for a conference up in Seattle (he JUST arrived at his hotel, thanks to my guidance over the phone using MapQuest! Damn Seattle construction!!) SO - this means I'm a single Mom for the next several days. No problem...I can handle it!

This also means that I'm sharing my bed with M (a treat when Daddy is out of town), so chances of me waking up to find a foot stuck in my face are pretty good. Luckily tonite the dogs are all at Mom's house as the cleaner is coming in the morning. I spent some time getting the house ready for her, but quite frankly, I'm just plain exhausted and she can clean around what's still left - I'm sure she's seen much worse.

The hardest part, I think, is going to be the mornings. I rely a lot on D to get stuff done like lunches made and such. AND, we have flowers and vegies and herbs that he waters every morning when he gets up to let the dogs out - that's now my job for the next couple days. I'm sure I'm going to forget something...

I've already managed to mess up the TV - got it stuck on the Weather Channel somehow. Ran out of steam tonite to try and fix it, so may or may not give it a go tomorrow. Maybe it'll change the channel on it's own when it goes to record something...who knows. Personally I can live without TV and often do when D is out of town. I'm actually planning on using these evenings to get caught up on my paperwork for work and to get good night's sleep.

Speaking of which, I'm off to get started on that good night's sleep right now!

VEGETABLES!!!!!

Earlier this spring we joined a CSA - I'm not sure what it stands for, possibly "Community Shared Agriculture", but basically it means that we bought a share in a friend's farm and every week we get fresh vegetables delivered to our doorstep. Pretty cool, huh?

Last week was our first delivery - we got several bags of green leafy stuff (lettuce varieties, we're guessing), some spinach, and green onions and radishes (which were promptly delivered to Mom's house as I knew she'd rinse them off and eat them for dinner. I was out of town at a presentation last week, so D and M were in charge of the delivery and what to do with it. I think they did some tasting and had a salad for dinner, but didn't rinse or anything. D thought that was the best choice - don't rinse until you're ready to eat.

Today I get home from work to find a huge pile of bags of greens on my front porch, and buried under all of them...6 farm fresh eggs! I can't wait to cook those eggs in the AM! I quickly identified the radishes and green onions (and sent them home with Mom), but the rest was a mystery. M said, "I've seen this one before", grabbed one of the bags and headed out into our backyard - sure enough, it was a sprig of Rosemary, which I also happen to have growing in my herb garden. YEAH M!!! Mom told me to rinse it all, clean it up and put it into Ziploc bags and plan on eating A LOT of salad!

I set out to identify the greens, and have to say, thanks to Google I was pretty able to do so. There were 2 bags of what I'm calling generic leaf lettuce, 1 bag of swiss chard, 1 bag of red leaf lettuce, 1 bag of butter lettuce, and 1 bag of something I couldn't identify at all. I must have looked like a Monkey doing a math problem going from the sink to the laptop, then back to the sink again trying to figure these things out. AND, I have to say, there aren't a lot of good, "WHAT THE HELL KIND OF GREEN LEAFY SHIT IS THIS????" sites out there. Perhaps that will be my next career...

In the middle of the process, I got to take a moment to teach M about exactly WHY we rinse our vegetables with the discovery of a big fat caterpillar, a medium sized caterpillar, and a baby caterpillar in one of the bags of generic leaf lettuce. Of course they are all in a tupperware container waiting to go to school tomorrow for sharing now along with the 2 others I found in the red leaf lettuce after she'd gone to bed. Of course, the discovery of the caterpillars sent us down a whole new Google pathway, and again, I was NOT impressed with the info out there on identifying my caterpillar. I did stumble upon (and couldn't find again) a picture that looked just like the big guy that we decided worked and, you'll never believe what this breed of caterpillar is called??? The Lettuce Caterpillar. SERIOUSLY????? I could have made that up and saved myself a lot of time and energy!

Now comes the fun part...what do I do with all of this stuff? I've asked that next week we get post-it notes, or possibly just a Cliff Notes picture guide for the horticulturally impaired like me to help out with identification. If it were up to me, it'd all go in a salad, but I think some of it gets cooked (like the chard maybe?).

Nothing like trial by fire (or lettuce)...

OH, and did I mention that after I found the caterpillars (and one smallish spider) I have that "bugs all over me" feeling? Gotta love it!!!! Think I'll take a quick shower before bed now!

And, another mystery...

On the heels of my Honor Student "case", I'm faced with another one. Here are the facts as I know them...

At 8pm Tuesday evening, M was sent to bed - given hugs and kisses and told she could read until I came up to call "lights out". D arrived home from a meeting at 8:15pm and proceeded to go upstairs to say "Hello" and "Goodnite" to our little princess. He returned downstairs and we proceeded to finish watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 on DVR (an aside...we have NEVER watched this show before, but since M has become enthralled with it and all things "TLC", we felt compelled to watch this season premier and make sure it was still appropriate for her, what with all the tabloid rumors and allegations of cheating and such).

At approximately 10:00pm, M came downstairs and told us that she wasn't feeling well, that she felt like she was going to throw up, and had even "tried", but couldn't throw up (I didn't ask how she "tried"...some things are best left alone). We asked her a few questions, then suggested that perhaps she move from the top bunk (where she has been sleeping recently) to at least the bottom bunk. I took it one step further and made her a "floor bed" with a strategically placed bucket just in case.

When I put her to bed, I palpated her abdomen (no folks, I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV and I have NOT recently stayed in a Holiday Inn Express...BUT...I have been to enough doctor visits as a Mom to know that abdomen palpation is what is done to rule out some major stuff). She did not appear to wince or show any signs of extreme pain when I was pushing on her abdomen, although it did feel a bit firm, nothing out of the ordinary for typical gas pain and/or constipation. I told her that our first line of "attack" would be to have her lay on her side and pull her legs firmly up into her chest to "open things up" a bit. When I left, she was doing just that.

About 30 minutes later (after CSI Miami ended...on DVR, we don't watch much live anymore) I headed up to bed on the off chance that it was going to turn into a long night for us. I checked in on M and she was sound asleep - I opted against climbing over her to turn off her Radio Disney live stream on her computer, and left the fish tank light on so she had some light in there. I debated leaving her bedroom door open so she had a fast line to the bathroom, but figured we were covered with the bucket.

Shortly after climbing into bed myself, I heard her cough a little, but no follow up sounds to indicate anything other than her coughing. She has allergies and coughs frequently, especially when laying on her back, so I expect the occasional cough from her and thought nothing of this cough. Other than this *cough* *cough* *cough*, I heard nothing else and she never came into the room to tell me she'd thrown up. I debated going in for a quick investigation, but weighed the risks of waking her up against easing my mind and decided that all evidence pointed to me not going in there. Besides, my super sonic Mommy hearing was turned on by now, so no sound would escape me.

D came up to bed about an hour after I did and apparently (according to his report later today) did NOT check in on her on his way by, figuring that I had just checked on her, so why risk waking her.

Early this morning, D left for a meeting, leaving M and I in our respective beds.

I stumbled out of bed a little late and went to wake M up to get ready for school. I opened her bedroom door and looked in at her, then peeked at the bucket. Lo and behold, there was vomit in the bucket. M woke up, looked up at me and said Hi. I said, "Honey, did you throw up last night?" OK - stupid question, I know, OBVIOUSLY she did, but sometimes my brain doesn't work real well first thing in the morning. Well, her answer was, "No", then she sat up, looked in the bucket and said, "OH, maybe I did".

NOW, I'm far from an expert in the area of vomit, being blessed with a minimal occurrence of puking myself (think the last time I did was like 14 years ago when I had food poisoning). BUT, don't you usually notice? It's kind of a body shaking event.

She stayed home today since we couldn't identify the time of day of the vomit, it made it hard to invoke the 24 hour body fluid rule, so we kept her home from school. Well, that and the fact that she still felt pretty crappy, it was hard to rule it out as an isolated incident.

She eventually came around to say that she had coughed/puked at some point, then checked for a mess, didn't find one and decided she was sleepy enough to not get out of bed and come find me. Now, the question becomes, did she really, or was that her "story" since I expressed such disbelief at the phantom puke?

We have ruled out D or I puking in the bucket, and are pretty sure that neither of the dogs has that good of aim (or opposable thumbs to open the door, then reshut it behind them). M can't remember puking, so I'm wondering if we have a ghost with an upset tummy living in our house. OR, perhaps an intruder who gratefully saw the bucket, used it, then got the heck out of dodge before getting caught. I doubt that the Tooth Fairy had done a fly by and lost her lunch in my daughter's room, so I still don't know who puked in the bucket.

Perhaps our Honor Student Vandal is also a drive by puker?

Wonder what mystery tomorrow will hold for me... I think my new career should be as a Private Investigator...then again, my closed cases are minimal at present...

When Smart Kids Go Bad

SO - yesterday I used the restroom at the Beaverton Town Center Fred Meyer (why the location matters, I have no idea). The store is undergoing a remodel, so "excuse our dust" is a little of an understatement...more like "excuse our post-apocolyptic mess". ANYWAY, I go into the stall, hang up my purse and prepare to sit down when I notice...




Just in case that's not really clear to the eye...

Yes, that's a Calculus equation/formula written on the TP holder. I've seen many different forms of graffiti, but have to say, this is a first!

Of course, I have to ask myself, who would do this? I work with the delinquent sort of students, so have a little insight into their minds. BUT, my typical student wouldn't know a limit if it smacked him upside the head. Must be looking at a different sort of vandalizer...one who uses pencil...

Perhaps an Honor Student is being "hazed" into the local chess club?

Maybe this is a geek who had enough of being called "teacher's pet" and decided to "show them" by doing something bad like graffiti...

Local school scavenger hunt with a truth or dare twist?

Could be that with budget cuts, the Beaverton School District is housing classes in the local Fred Meyer break room and this student decided to cheat by writing a formula in the bathroom, then excusing herself (assuming our perp is a female as it is the women's restroom, but perhaps I shouldn't be so quick to assume such thing...I mean, we all know what "assume" means...) to the restroom to view the formula.

Or - with all the construction going on, maybe a construction worker was trying to figure out a complex construction problem while sitting on the potty. Although I'm the first to admit my Calculus experience is limited (ha! a bit punny!), I can't imagine a use for limits in Fred Meyer remodeling, but I could be wrong.

SO - this will remain a mystery...shall I contact the Beaverton PD with my theories? I couldn't imagine trying to collect DNA from that location though...(all together now...EWWW!).

SO - yesterday I used the restroom at the Beaverton Town Square Fred Meyer (why the location matters, I don't know, but apparently it does). I head into the stall, hang up my purse, and as I'm getting ready to sit down I notice...

Reflections

The past several years, pretty much since I left the classroom when M was born, I have been doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and a little bit of something else to "Frankenstein" myself a job. I have tutored, I have subbed, I have built and ran the Incarcerated Youth program at our local jail, and I have done what my boss has asked me to do, when he has asked me to do it.

This year, everything changed...my boss was new at the beginning of last year so spent it learning the ropes of the job, then last Spring decided that he wanted to utilize my skills in a different manner this year. SO - I started back up in the IEP business! I have been case managing several students who are considered "outside placements" because they attend schools outside the physical boundaries of our district, but are still students of our district. I work students in 2 charter schools, 1 private school, and 1 public school within our county. The level of service needed at each of these sites varies greatly. I attend annual meetings only at one site, I actually go in and provide daily service at another, and a little of everything in between.

Making the change over to this level has been very difficult for many reasons. I have had almost full control of my schedule for years, able to take time to drive kids to swimming or take a day off here and there to hang out with the kiddo. This year, not so much. Because I provide DAILY services, I have to be at these sites DAILY. I know that this is something that almost all of the work force does on a regular basis, but it's just hard to get back into that mode after almost 9 years of full flexibility. BUT, I did OK.

In addition, many of the students with whom I work are placed, by parents, in these outside placements because the parents are unhappy with the school district. In I walk, a smiling face representing said hated school district. I have had some success stories, and some not so successful stories this year. There are just some people in this world who are not going to be happy no matter what - and I get to teach all of their children!

All in all, this has been a VERY TOUGH year for me, but I have really enjoyed being back in the loop in so many ways. I have had colleagues whom I see daily. I have been to trainings on stuff I love to do. I have made acquaintances and connections that I will carry with me beyond this year. AND, of course, I have gotten to keep working with kids whom I adore.

Well, this week I was informed that not only was my 1 year contract running out next month (I knew this), but that my position as it currently stands is most likely being eliminated thanks to budget cuts. I wasn't that shocked, but I was hoping for an assurance of "we'll find a way to use you next year", which I didn't get. No hard feelings, I know that my boss' hands are tied by the superintendant, who's hands are tied by the budget. AND, I totally understand their position...it doesn't make sense to continue contracting out with me at my Masters +45 credits w/10 years experience on the pay scale when they can get someone falling a little lower on the payscale.

Did I get hit hard by this, though? Hell yeah! I'm not going to lie, there were tears...a lot of them, I'm somewhat ashamed to say. Perhaps this had something to do with me having just gotten out of a meeting the night before that didn't go great and I was still feeling defeated by that (see above about parents who aren't happy no matter what), or perhaps it would have hit me hard no matter what, but it did.

Then I started thinking...this could be a good thing for me. My options are wide open for next school year. AND, I'm proud to say that in the past 2 days I've already gotten several leads on opportunities for next year. I've made some real great connections with the schools where I've worked this year and I think that all will be OK in the long run.

Now, I just need to convince D of this...he sees it from the family budget point of view - don't blame him, numbers and dollar signs are kind of his job. BUT, I'll keep trying to tell him that it will all work out in the long run. I have a plan and a back-up plan to fill in the $$$ gaps when I don't hit my monthly requirement to keep the family running smoothly.

I'm definately trying to make lemonade out of these lemons, and looking at it with a positive attitude. The way I figure, feeling sorry for myself isn't going to help, nor is worrying myself sick over it. All that will do is put added stress on my family, which I would never want to do.

SO - I'm in the process of winding down this school year, getting ready to turn in all of my district supplies (laptop, portable printer, test kits, files, etc.) and then I get to figure out what to do with my amazingly clean desk! I have a few ideas - I can make it my card making station (did I mention I have gotten into card making recently?) - I can...well, I haven't thought of that many ideas, I guess!

BUT - it's all good...M has been feeling the sting of my working so much in many ways - lack of time with her, bad moods after rough days, etc. Sure, I know that many kids live very successful lives when their parents work full-time - much more than I was working - BUT M has never known anything other than me being there for her whenever she needed me. This has taken it's toll on her as well this year. I haven't told her about any of this yet - we decided to hold off until her school year is up so it doesn't distract her (she inherited a bit of her father's worry gene).

SO - I look to the past year with no regrets, fond memories, and some stinging pain, but I look to the future with an open mind, optimism, hope, and genuine excitement to find all that it has to offer for me. Whatever the end result, I just know it will be good.