A month of Gratitude continued...

Last night I was thankful that we have vision insurance. Because of my prescription, my lenses are very expensive. My husband jokes that my glasses are stronger than most telescope lenses. Well, my lenses cost over 500 before my insurance. yep, I am blind.

Today I am home sick. I woke up at 4am sick. I have lost my voice. I am thankful that my student teacher & co-teacher took care of my kiddos! Even though I am still sick, I know I won't be able to get a sub for tomorrow. So I will be there, whether I can talk or not. Hopefully, I will feel a bit better. We are having potato soup for dinner which I plan on taking the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Many people will enjoy my lack of voice!!!

A month of Gratitude

I am really enjoying my month of gratitude. Today I thought about how grateful I was for the rain even while I was soaked to the skin. Today on my way to work, a rainstorm came through. I thought that my car might float away - Marbach Rd. was a river. The construction has made the drainage problem even worse.

Trying to figure out how to cover my album. I bought Ali Edward's December Daily kit from studio calico. I also ordered the November monthly kit from MyTreasureBoxClub.com. I highly recommend both kits but if you can only afford one - treasure box club is an incredible value.

Holiday Thoughts

I am creating a gratitude journal and the basic album for my Christmas Journal. I really enjoy following Shimelle's Journal My Christmas each year. I love the evolution of the prompts. It is really inspiring. When you purchase the class once, you are enrolled forever! I have been doing this for several years. Want to know more? check out shimelle.com for the posts! This is my 5th year.

This is the 10th year that I will be celebrating Christmas without my mom. She died 12/21/01 from complications of a sudden illness. No matter how old you are, you miss your mom.

This is my second Christmas with my grandson, Robby. He will be 21 months on Christmas day. He is such a loving child. We are blessed.

He is just a sweetie! I am enjoying being a granny!

I am off to work on my basic album pages, hope to post them soon!

Summer starts!

Monday was Jay graduation and today was O'Connor's. I said goodbye to all my seniors.
I irritated my bulging disks and started the leg numbness again. I am going to my dr tomorrow to get a steroid series and some pain meds. I will be hurting for a few more days but the steroids will help quickly. Luckily, I only get this sore a couple of times a year and it gets better with medication. I am seriously frightened of surgery because my mother had such terrible results from her surgeries. I am also working on losing weight which will help with the back pain. I am close to my heaviest weight right now. I am tall so I carry the weight well but I am at 168 right now. I would love to get to 130 again but will settle for 140. So, my goal is to lose about 35-40 pounds.

Almost the Last Day of School

well, two more 1/2 days with students. My last day of work for this school year is Friday. On Monday, I am working the Jay Graduation and O'Connor on Tuesday. What can I say? I love graduations... or I'm a sucker for volunteering.
My car wouldn't start this morning. We are going to go buy me a new battery for it. I had to drive Gerry's pickup today.  He doesn't have working air conditioning in his truck.
I was hot so I decided to cut my hair. I got out of the truck and my purse broke. Luckily, I bought it at Kohl's and they took it back. I bought a smaller purse and some sandals with my refund & Kohl's cash from the weekend. I still have some $$ left and I am thinking I will buy another pair of capris in my larger size. I am not telling you the number but it is double digits....
My classes are a bit sad right now. They are all missing me already. I love the connection I have with these kids. They are so sweet. I do love my job.

My Obsessions Revisited

I just wanted update my Obsessions today. I received a wonderful Mother's Day present from my husband yesterday. I got a wonderful color Nook. Wow, it is so much fun. I need to update it still so that I can use the Apps but I have added my pictures and my PDF books. I bought a copy of Eve by Iris Johanson, Quicksilver by Amanda Quick and preordered the new Sookie Stackhouse novel that will be released on Tuesday. Gerry and I are watching Robby G today until 5. Kelsey went out after her class today. Tonight we are going out. Next weekend we are going celebrate Tim's birthday. His birthday is on the 15th but he & Gerry are going to Lake Amistad. They have a fishing tournament.

Obessions currently distracting me...

I am extremely distracked by my obessions. We all know that I love my little Robby. He is just getting into everything now! He is starting to walk a bit, but of course he wants to go backwards first.

I am also obessed with the new Apps for Nook Color. I thought I was happy with my 3G Nook and wouldn't need anything more but I really want a Nook Color. Like seriously bad. I am going to try to sell my 3G for $100. It is only about a month old. The arrow key broke on my orginial Nook and Barnes and Noble replaced it.

My third obession is the BH&G Quilting with PreCuts Magazine. I really want to make the brick quilt on the front cover. I have about half of the bricks cut. I need more fat quarters to complete it. Right now most of the colors are shades of pink, so I need to add some blues and greens.

I also like the purple, red and green thrown in the bottom corner. I got into a sewing kick when I made my purse during spring break. I really love it!
What are your obessions right now?

Happy Easter!

Easter is tomorrow. We took Robby to see the Easter Bunny at Bass Pro last night. He was not happy. He didn't not like the whole idea and cried a bit. He was scared of that rabbit!
My 4th book review will post on Marissa's Sizzling Hot Book Reviews at 1:30 eastern. I am enjoying this! I have just started Vampire Protector this afternoon and it will be my next review.
Next week is our state testing. I have to test on Thursday and Friday. I rearranged my classroom last week and I am slowly organizing everything again. I am trying somethings a bit different with the arrangement. The kids complain, but they never like change...
More soon, going to go read my book!

M is for Migraine

My migraines are getting bad again. I had hoped that they would disappear with my new nightguard. It is a new design for me to try that sits very tightly on my bottom teeth. Before I have had them that fit my top teeth. I have a very bad habit of spitting out the nightguards. I grind my teeth with a vengence, even cracking a couple of my molars. Eight of my molars are crowns because I have damaged them from grinding. I had thought the migraines would be reduced because with the nightguard in place, my jaw joint relaxs. The next step in dealing with my jaw would be to get braces with lots of rubber bands to pull out my lower jaw to correct my overbite. But I am positive that I don't really want to have braces at 42. Just not an idea that is very inviting.
I finished Storm's Heart for Marissa's Sizzling Book Reviews and it should be up in the next couple of weeks. I have four books on my TBR (to be read) for review. I also have a Heather Graham, Lisa Jackson and Laura Lippman waiting on my personal TBR. Amanda Quick has a book that is released on Tuesday that I am dying to read and don't forget the new Nora Roberts that is out.
For my scrapbooking, Shimelle's Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers starts on Monday. I really enjoy Shimelle's classes. She is such a good writer.
For my quilting, I am going to make a brick house pattern. The pattern is in the latest Better Homes and Garden's Pre-Cut Patterns. It uses fat quarters for material. The "bricks" are 4 by 8 1/2. This should be very cute when it is finished.

Thankfully Thursday

Today is Thursday but it is a Friday for me. This Friday is a school holiday. The whole city closes down for a parade. Tomorrow is Battle of Flowers Day. Battle of Flowers is in celebration of the Battle of San Jacinto and the heroes of the Alamo. It started in 1894 when the ladies drove their carriages around and threw flowers at each other. The parade invites nine high schools to participate each year. This year my high school, John Jay, is marching. We don't go to the parade because I don't do crowds. I seriously can't handle crowds. I get a bit freaked out in crowds.
Next week we are off for Good Friday. The next week is state testing week. I hate testing week. Four days of nothing but testing. Yucky, boring testing.
Robby is being sweet. He such a cutie! We went to Bass Pro last night to get supplies for his fishing touney this weekend. He is going to Lake Amistad tomorrow. They also have some great clothing. I found a great outfit but without his discount I don't think I will get it. But it is adorable.
There is talk in the Texas legislature to moving school to a 4 day week. They would add 90 minutes to the school day. I don't know if that would be fair to working parents who don't have child care. The schools would save energy costs. They wouldn't change our pay or at least I hope they wouldn't. We would still be teaching the same amount of time.

Last of the Weekend.

I am very excited about this weekend. Yesterday, I submitted a review for Marissa's Sizzling Hot Book Reviews and it was posted today. It is my first review at the site since my acceptance. I am really excited to be part of this very talented group of ladies. It is so cool to see something that I have written in print. I will let you know when my next review posts!
This is a four day week for school. It is also the last week of the six weeks. I won't have any last minute grading this week because our grades are due on Thursday at 10:30am. So far I have two students failing which is a bit surprising. I never have students failing.
Not only this week a short week, the following week will be a short week also. This Friday is Battle of the Flowers Holiday and next week is Good Friday. Gerry will be going fishing this 3 day weekend at Amistad. He is very glad that there was not a government shutdown because it would close the lake and ruin the fishing trip. I would like to go with him because he will be staying at the temporary living quarters. They are extremely nice! Much better than the hotels that he is known to frequent. I would enjoy a nice weekend away.
Have an incredible week!!

Hangin' with the Robmister

On Wednesdays Kelsey has Chemistry Lab, so I have Robby from 5:15 to about 8:30 or :45. We have fun snuggling or playing. He is enjoying drinking whole milk and eating big boy food. He has really changed this year. Last year at this time he was just a little blob and now he is interacting with the world. He is just such a cutie.
Tim went to the doctor today. He has a slight tear in the muscle behind the achilles tendon. Because he walks so much at school they put him in a high boot. The boot is huge! But I guess it has to be with a size 12 foot in it.
Robby was 19.9 lbs at his appointment. He falls in the 8% for weight. He is in the 50% for height. He isn't as big as his uncle was at this age but that isn't a bad thing.
One of the blogs I follow promoted some boiled chocolate oatmeal cookies. I just had to have some, so I'm making them.
Have fun!!

Happy April Fool's! Or in our house the anniversary of our first kiss

Today is the 17 anniversary of our first kiss. My sweet husband has known me for almost 18 years, but we didn't date for the first year. We were just good friends. Actually we both said that we were glad that we were just platonic one week before the fateful kiss. We knew that it was something special because we decided to get engaged on June 1 of that year. lol, before the kiss we were great friends. Both of us were healing from bad heartbreaks. My first husband had died the year before. It was hard to trust that he would stay. sigh, yes I was afraid that he would die also. Gerry had also had a rough breakup. He had moved to San Antonio for a girl and she dumped him within 48 hours of his arrival. Sometimes I wonder if I should have sent her a thank you card....

Today is not am ordinary day

Today's prompt was to write about an ordinary day. But today is not on of those days. Today is a sad anniversary. 18 years ago, three soldiers came to my door in dress greens. I was a good army wire and I knew they weren't there for a good reason. I made up any and every excuse in the book to not let them in. They finally wore down my defenses and talked to me. My husband had been killed in a rock slide in Egypt. He died trying to save his fellow soldiers' lives by alerting them and pushing some of them out of the way of the rocks. For a long time I have understood that God has a master plan and there was a good reason for him to give his life. My faith in God has been my strongest support during the darkest times.
I never expected to ever see that plan or even glimpse at part of that plan. But my God is just and good and he knew I needed that help.
Last summer the Gulf of Mexico was a scene of a terrible disaster. An oil well was damaged and leaking oil into the environment. It was the largest oil spill in history.
One of my friends was on the team that capped that oil well. He had been the soldier that escorted Bobby's body home to the states. He had been one of the men that 18 years ago that was saved in the rockslide.
What an illuminating gift that was! It really has giving me so much peace.
The girls are grown now, both are in college. My oldest has even made me a grandma. My sweet little grandson will be a year old tomorrow.

Some of my favorites:

This year I have an incredible favorite to add too my life. My grandson Robby (who will turn one on Friday). He is such a blessing to our lives.
A second favorite are my children. All three of them are growing up into wonderful adults. All three are so bright and curious.
My third favorite person in my life is my husband. He puts up with so much with me.
My favorite people numbers 6-86 are my students. I love all them for the bright stars they are.
My puppy is also one of my favorites. My children swear that my chi-weenie is higher on the list. She snuggles with me and doesn't talk back to me. She also listens to me when no one else does!
As for favorite things, I really adore my iPhone. It is so very cool. It is a close call with my nook! My ereader is so incredible! I love being able to carry entire library around with me.
My favorite computer application is google reader. I love reading everyones' blogs even when my reader says I have 700 to read. Lol, enough from me. Time to get reading!

Blogging for Scrapbookers

Shimelle's Blogging for Scrapbookers is going through its second run. The great thing about Shimelle's classes is that once you subscribe to them, you are subscribed forever! :)I really enjoy her prompts. They make you think. Which is sometimes a difficulty in my life.
My intentions for this class are:
-to engage my readers and maybe inform them once in awhile. I have a couple of different projects in the works that I am very excited about
-I would like to do more art journaling and post it on my blog
-make new friends by reading their blogs
-document my life a bit more than I am currently with my scrapbooking
-document my sewing projects a bit more. My purse turned out really cute.
I don't share everything online, but probably everyone thinks I do. I have a few things that I am going through that I don't want everyone to know. I am having some parenting issues but we won't discuss them here.
On other fronts, my grandson Robby will be turning 1 year on Friday. I am so excited. We are having a party for him on Sunday at the Pavillion in our subdivision. Kelsey is an incredible mother even with her tendency to turn the boy into an Oompa Loopa. He loves sweet potatoes and too much of them turned him orange. We had to have an intervention.
Kelsey is making straight As in college right now! Tim is also doing incredibly well in high school. Holly is enjoying her first year of college. She is still a bit up in the air about her major but that is what freshman year is all about. Kelsey started out with education as her major and has switched to nursing. Tim thinks he wants to be an engineer, but I am sure that will change before he graduates from high school. I am still debating on what I want to do when I grow up. But I am not too keen on growing up anytime soon.
I think I would like to try to complete a scrapbook with the prompts from this class but scrapping time is at a premium for me right now.
Last week I did the blood draw for my kidney transplant. I am waiting to see if I am healthy enough to donate my kidney. I am hoping that my iron levels were high enough. I have a tendency towards anemia. My reports usually say that I have young and immature red blood cells. But really, did they need a blood test to say that I was immature? Geez, anyone who knows me could tell you that! I don't think my weight will be a problem even though I personally would like to lose about 20 pounds. I wonder how much a kidney weighs... I know that my head weighs 8 pounds (thank you, Jerry McGuire!) .
Thanks for the comments and the visits! I appreciate them all!!

Second Step in Becoming a Living Donor

I went to the Methodist Transplant Center today for my blood work. These blood tests have several reasons. One to make sure I don't have cancer or any disease that would harm. Second to type my blood for compatiblity. I don't know exactly how long it will take to find out if I passed, but I figure it will take about a week or so. There were a lot of people in the waiting room who seemed to be fairly ill. There was even a little girl with a surgical mask on that really reinforced my resolve to donate. Even if I am not a match for my friend, they will look for someone that can use my kidney and my friend will get one. It would really be neat to be able to see many people benifiting from new kidneys. Praying for my bloodwork to be acceptable. Also praying for the tragedy in Japan. A friend of mine was in Japan and is hopefully on her way home now. I'm not in a place for discussing that yet...

International Fake Journal Month

I am going to join the International Fake Journal Month this year. I will be using this blog to record it. If you are interested in joining check out this Offical International Fake Journal Blog for all the details. Most of the journals are art journals, so I will be challenging myself to create art entries and write in character. I am very excited to try this.

First Step

Well, actually the first step was telling Suzy, so my second step was calling the transplant hospital. There was a bit of confusion because the computer wouldn't save my information. I made it through the inital screening. Nothing really exciting, simple medical history. On Monday, during Spring Break, I will go for the blood tests.

On Becoming a Live Kidney Donor…

Suzy and I have been best friends since our youngest children we in Mother’s Day Out at church. I would guess that most people would say that I am the outspoken one of the pair. (Even by myself, I am considered to be a loud mouth!) We have enjoyed going to Lisa Welchel’s Momtime (2x) and Women of Faith. I think we spend most of our time laughing together.

Suzy recently became ill with kidney failure. All attempts to save her kidneys so far have failed. Suzy is only a little bit older than me and I don’t think long term kidney dialysis would be much of a life. My Grandfather Ben went through his last years with kidney failure and it was so upsetting for me to watch. A transplant is the only cure for kidney failure. Her children are too young to donate and her parents are too old. Her husband isn’t a good candidate. My blood type is O positive which is also Suzy’s. So, I thought I would offer mine.

I want to do this not only for Suzy but also for the memory of my grandfather. My grandfather Ben was a wonderful person who I really looked up too. He drove a city bus in Louisville, KY until he retired. For a special treat, I would sometimes ride with him all over town. He was my step-grandfather but he cared more for me than my biological grandmother (his wife). He died when I was young so the memories are all that I have now. I want to honor his memory and our friendship by becoming Suzy’s donor.

Even if I am not a perfect match for Suzy, we can still get a donor for her with my donation. The transplant centers are now forming transplant chains. The center will match my kidney with someone who is the best match, then their donor will give their kidney to their best match, and the chain will continue until everyone has a compatible kidney. The largest transplant chain was completed here in San Antonio with 17 people getting a new kidney.

Kidney donations are the most common donations from living donors. Most people have two kidneys and can live a healthy life with just one. Live donor kidney transplants have a 97.9% patient survival rate. That is a little over 3% increase over transplants with cadaver kidneys.

My next step is testing. The transplant center will test my blood for compatibility and general good health. I have to have a colonoscopy to insure everything is working correctly. I am just beginning this journey which is going to be very incredible. I feel like I am standing at the edge of something monumental. Stay tuned.
(stats from the National Kidney Foundation, kidney.org)

Finally Friday

Had a wild week. I think the full moon may have had an influence.
Tomorrow I have little Robby for most of the day while Kelsey is at school. Gerry is going crappie fishing tomorrow evening.
Next Friday, Robby will be 11 months old. Got to start planning his bday party. Where, oh, where should we have it? I was thinking maybe Chuck E Cheese but not sure if they have forgotten our last party there... We were banned for a bit because of Tim racking the rat. Yeah, it was quite a hit. Unfortunately I missed that photo. That would have been a great scrapbook layout!
I have two great practicum students this semester. One observes me on Monday & Wednesday while the other is all day Thursday. I can really see the type of teacher they will be. I am excited to help them. I am going to look for some lesson suggestions for them after I am done with my TAKS Blitz. We have written two essays in two weeks. Very ambitious for my guys. Next week we are working on homophones. It will be a good break after working so hard. This summer my curriculum is changing yet again! Next year, my freshmen will have to pass the English 1 EOC exam. I will teach a modified version of the regular English 1. I hope we can do it! The math people have been working hard on getting our kids up on Algebra & Geometry. It is very tough. It is really a challenge.
Kelsey is doing well in her science classes. She has As in both classes and the labs.
New favorite show - Being Human on ScyFy. It is an American version of a British show. They are monster trying to act human. I love it!

Super Bowl Sunday

On the 4th, Gerry and I went to the San Antonio Rodeo. There is a secretary at Gerry's school that has very good tickets to the rodeo. She is a member of the Rodeo Association and has to buy the whole rodeo season. So, she sells the tickets she doesn't need. We got to go see Toby Keith! We know people who have closer seats but these are great because they are over the chutes. Great view of the action! This concert was my birthday present this year.

Another exciting thing happened on 2/4 - it snowed! Insane! Hilariously, today it was 70 degrees. We have another winter storm coming on Tuesday or Wednesday with freezing rain. So we may have another snow day next week.

For Super Bowl Sunday,I created for lunch a buffet of snacking foods for the family to graze on. I make crescent dogs with cheese, queso, mini hot dogs in bbq sauce and of course guacamole. Not sure if we are going to actually eat any dinner because we are still munching. I know the kids look forward to the buffet more than the game.
Robby has his third ear infection. I think that this infection might be still the second one. I don't think the antibiotics did their job. He has a very high fever (102 for most of the day). He has new antibiotics and some ear drops. Please send a little prayer for the bubba!
Starting this week, I will have 2 student observers from UTSA. They will both be there tomorrow. I am going to show off my promethean board and activexpressions. We are going to have a bit of technology going on!

Please excuse the oddness of this post....

I just saw an episode of The Will on Discovery Investigations. Hey, usually it is a forensic show. No not the speech type, the police type. Lol. It had a really cool segment about wreath balls. I want to be a wreath ball when I am done with my body. Have a nice party on a charter boat and throw me over the side. I think that would be a good use. I don't think I want to be buried at Ft. Sam; it has unhappy memories. (though I could be buried with Bobby). I want people to enjoy my funeral, so I think a party at sea is the way to go. Gerry wants to be cremated and sprinkled in a bass lake. Just thinking about odd things. Lol

Date Night

Tonight Gerry, Tim & I went out for Mexican food. We go to a place down the road called Las Palapas. They are my favorite! They have the best salsa. I had enchiladas with chili con carne. Yum.
The weather is cold and rainy here. We should get up in the sixties next week. We should have cold until February and warm up in March. Winter doesn't stay here long.

Eating Cupcakes

A good friend (Debbie N.) made me cupcakes and brought them for me today. My birthday is on Monday. I will be 42. sigh... yeah, I am getting old.
On another front, my dang iPhone won't charge. I am getting a bit upset with it. It won't go past 10% battery. Does anyone know what that means? Is it dying???
Next week my oldest goes back to college. She is taking classes on three evenings and Saturday. I will be watching the Robby boy while she is at school. We might have to call in reinforcements to help her study. She is taking 2 tough science courses.
Holly is living at home and has college on Mondays and Wednesdays. She isn't sure what her major will be. She changed to English but I tried to explain that English majors have a hard time getting a job. It might be going back to science. We will see. She has also decided on a Vegatarian lifestyle. Considering most in our family considers themselves carnivores, this may be difficult. I made potato soup and we had to add bacon pieces. Or mac & cheese isn't good without the hot dogs (according to my family!)
Thanks to all for the comments on my sad note. I feel very cheered up now! I just get blue once in awhile. Too much input and I get overloaded. I am going to need lots of prayers this spring. Things are happening that I really can't comment in a public forum about and we will need prayers of support and love. Especially in the beginning of March. And that is all I will say on that subject...
My puppy Daisy is losing more hair. She is just pulling it out. I will be taking her to the vet on the 22nd for another evaluation. My children swear she is crazy and needs prozac.
I have decided that I am going to test for my English as Second Language certificate. I am going to the study session on 2/5 to see how hard the test will be for me. I don't think that it will be too bad because the requirements for ESL ard so high. I have taken several classes for the subject.
My word for 2011 is wisdom. I am working on not saying things I shouldn't. I have been very quiet on my daughter's food lifestyle and I haven't said anything mean about it. I just tell her that I don't understand it. I believe that God made certain animals for us to eat and growing up in KY on a farm gave me plenty of time to stare cows and pigs in the face. I am trying to keep quiet when my children choose things that I don't understand. Because they are going to choose a lot of things that I just don't understand in their lives.
I have lost 4lbs from my pre-Christmas weight. I know that I gained a ton of weight during Christmas. I didn't even bother to see how much more that I gained. I was 158 at the beginning of December and now I am 154. My goal is 135. Looking at me, no one believes that I weigh that much. But I am tall and the weight doesn't show as much. I really appreciate it when everyone tells me that I don't look that heavy.
Have a great 3 day weekend! MLK Day on Monday. San Antonio has the largest MLK march in the country.

ESL training

I went to training about ESL and discovered that I am going to have to complete training every year because of new federal laws. The training was already things that I do because I teach English to students who have language deficits even if they only speak one language.
But if i get my ESL certification I won't have to take a class each year. Oh, and the school district will reimburse me the cost of the test and the certification fee. I think I am going to add yet another certificate to my list. I am already certified in Elementary, special ed and secondary English.
One more won't hurt.

A bit down but trying to get back up

I have almost always had baggage with my birthday. I think it started when I was 12. On my 12th birthday, my aunt killed herself. The next day would have been her birthday. He husband had died the year before and I always figured she couldn't live on her own. Which is I guess a bit of irony since I did perfectly well with twice the children. But maybe the real reason was growing old. Those crinkles at the edge of my eyes are getting more noticeable. I am not so sure about this whole thing.
Getting old is not fun. I am not enjoying myself. I don't like all the aches and pains that accompany my increase in age. I don't like the problems with my hormones or lack thereof.
I am thinking of refusing to grow old. How about celebrating the anniversary of my 40th birthday? It could be the second anniversary of my 40th. I can call it new math. My students think I am old at 40 - so, just stopping there would be fine. There would be the slight problem of being younger than my little brother. But no one ever guesses my real age anyways....

January 8

Somedays will just live in your mind.
January 8 has become one of those days. The days that you will remember forever. Like 9/11/2001. One of the victims in the shooting was actually born on 9/11/01. She was nine years old. She was born during a tragedy and died in a tragedy. Everyone says that she was an incredible child whose life impacted so many. I am so sad for her family. And for everyone who lost their lives in a senseless shooting by a madman. Our society must make changes so that things like this won't happen again. Calm down the retoric between the political parties. This isn't what America is....