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Friday, May 24, 2013

Preparing for Goodbye

Wow! Has it really been since March that I last posted? How time flies. Here I have this amazing, wonderful new look & no new words to go with it. Boring!

It's been college visits & scholarship forms & FAFSA all over the place here. The Princess is heading off to college this fall. She chose Johnson & Wales University and will be majoring in Culinary Nutrition. Her goal right now is to help develop nutritious meals for bariatric patients (those who have had some type of gastric bypass or banding of some sort). We went for a visit and I have to say that the college is the perfect fit for her. She's going to be amazing I just know it. We've got to go back in July for an orientation and then she'll start in September.

I still haven't gotten to the point where I can say "Yep, she's goin' 6 1/2 hours away!" without tearing up. I've thought about what I will miss and I've tried to treasure those moments that I have now. I'll miss her coming down with her hair flying out like Roseanna-Roseanna Danna, mismatched socks & different colors on that will make your eyes scream. I'll miss the sound of her piano & her guitars. I'll miss her singing. I'll miss her & 'my adopted daughters' running around my house laughing & talking & talking & talking... I'll miss her movie, tv & commercial quotes at the dinner table. Her shout of "I'm comin' in Mom!" when I'm in the shower & she needs to use the mirror or sink. I want to enjoy those things now, because I really don't think she'll be back. Yes, for breaks & summers (if she's not interning someplace) but not to live here. I think she's going to go on to much bigger & better things.

The Lego King and I have been discussing things that he & I can do together since he'll be an only child for the first time in his life. I know that he'll miss his sister much more than he'd like to admit. We've talked about geocaching more, seeing movies, going for walks at the lake, checking out antique shops. What he's decided he'd most like to do is volunteer at our local Humane Society. We'd go down & help with the dogs & cats - socializing & cleaning up & playing & lots & lots of petting.

King Turd of Poop Mountain will miss his Princess too. He loves to tease her & make her 'redhead' come out. He's so excited that he's bought 2 t-shirts for himself and one for the Lego King plus 3 car decals - one for him, one for me & one for Nana-Next-Door (aka my mom). He brags about her to everyone he can. He cracks us up with his college talk.

My mother has decided already that she'll be depositing money into the Princess' checking account each month. This is her first grandchild to head off to college. She's excited too. She even went out & bought a computer. My mother!! You know, the one who refuses to have a cell phone because she doesn't want anyone to know where she is all the time. The one who can't figure out the remote for DISH Network. Yes, THAT one! SHE got a computer with a camera so she can Skype with her granddaughter. Crazy.

For now, I enjoy what I have. And I will be thankful for Skype & emails, texts & phone calls and the fact that we are only 6 1/2 hours away. Things that my mom didn't have when I was a foreign exchange student. We had snail mail and a 16+ hour flight. I will be thankful and I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry.

Bye! Love you! Have a good day, Dear!
Sue

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Low-key

I've been low-key this morning. It's been wonderful. I've caught up on a few blogs that I read. I'm still in my jammies. I even drove The Princess to her ProStart culinary practice in my jammies and I didn't even get a flat tire this time! It is 11:00 though & I do need to get moving. So I started some laundry and checked to see if we still had that Nebulizer thingy that King T used quite awhile ago.

What is a Nebulizer thingy you ask? Well, it's one of those machines that you put medicine in to help with a breathing treatment for asthma or pneumonia or emphysema. Thursday at school we had a half day for students. The remainder of the day was used for Professional Development. Part of that PD focused on Wellness & we had a guest speaker who talked to us about Essential Oils. She had a Nebulizer that was designed to use with Essential Oils. I wanted to see if THIS Nebulizer would work because, I'm cheap & don't want to spend $30+ on one if I don't have to.

I have used Essential Oils for years. The thing is, I don't know enough about them to utilize them to their fullest potential. Since the fall I've been exploring them a little more. This has given me a little more incentive to go even further.

I love Tea Tree Oil (Melaleuca). We use it for everything, from cuts to bee stings, to cleaning. Another Essential Oil that I love is Lavender. Very soothing & gentle, I used it on the bottoms of my kids feet to put them to sleep when they were little or to help calm them down. Recently I've been using Clary Sage to do that too. I use it for myself at night (on the bottoms of my feet) & my kids put some on a cotton ball & tuck it between their pillow & pillow case. The two most recent purchase have been been Medieval Mix & Vetiver (both by a company called Aura Cacia).

The Medieval Mix is similar to other brands called Thieves Oil or 40 Thieves Oil. It has immune strengthening properties that have helped me not get sick this winter (since I'm around germy Middle Schoolers all day). The other is Vetiver, which is a 'grounding' type oil. I recently discovered a website that 'tests' for Adult ADHD. I have a gazillion of the characteristics that point to me having ADHD. Ok, so quit laughing and saying 'Hello? Duh!!'. So anyhoot, one thing that I found out from the speaker was that you can mix oils you wear or dispense in the air. Who knew? So yesterday I put on both Clary Sage & Vetiver and went to school. It was a very good day for the most part. I don't know whether it was because it was a good day or it was because I had a better attitude about the day. So I'll keep trying it & see.

What do you do to keep yourself & your day 'low-key'?

Bye! Love you! Have a good day, Dear!

Sue

Sunday, March 10, 2013

What a Week

It's been a typical week, yet not a typical week. School has been overwhelming this week and I have not been the teacher I want to be. This week, I am embarrassed to say, I was one of those screaming teachers. I hated those teachers when I was in school. I dreaded their classes.

For some reason, there are a few students who are disruptive enough to cause havoc in your class where you are constantly putting out fires & trying to redirect but not disruptive enough to remove from the classroom. Nor are they the least bit threatened when you warn them to stop or wait at the front of the classroom for silence (they ignore you), assign them detention (they skip), write either a Classroom Referral (which goes to their homeroom/team teacher) or an Administrative Referral (which goes to the Dean of Students) or call/email their parents.

This week those students were out of control. I took them out of the classroom to teach off by themselves & the other teacher could teach the majority of students without as many disruptions. I knew they would not be angels off by themselves, that was a given. They were the most obnoxious I had ever seen them - ever.

I was never so glad to see this weekend come. And I am very glad that next week will be a 4 day class week. On Thursday the kids have a half day & the whole school will be doing fun activities using our Character Education Lessons as a base. I've already planned to have a quiet lunch with a good friend at our favorite restaurant. Then the second half of the day is going to be spent learning new strategies in classroom management & wellness.

I don't like who I've become this week. By Friday I was spent. I had a class of 7th graders ask me why I was so quiet. And I told them. Flat out. All of them had me last year so they know that I rarely raise my voice. I told them that I was at my wits end trying to figure out what to do & how frustrating & upsetting it was for me. In response, they said that they were sorry that they & others had been out of control & then they were quiet for the rest of the period.

I wish it was that easy. You say it once & they remember & do it... "One & Done!!" to quote a fellow teacher. I forget too so how am I going to hold them accountable for 100% of the time? It'd be nice if it was only a fraction of that time though.

Here's to a better week ahead.

Bye! Love you! Have a good day, Dear!

Saturday, March 2, 2013

What to post?

What to post? What to post? Hmmmm?

I am still trying to get organized here. Imagine that! When we were off for Winter Break I was really on a roll (except for those few days I was laid up with my tooth). I really almost hated to head back to school. Truth be told, it's not often that I am really into shaping up the house.

The bathroom & the kitchen were the two main rooms that I had gotten in ship-shape. Now it's back to picking them up & restoring order, then on to the living room and our main hallway.

I have ideas and future plans for our bedroom (the kids are on their own), the 'jam room' and my craft room. Over break the Princess & a friend totally reorganized her room. We took tons of boxes to the Salvation Army and bags & bags went to the trash. Her room looks amazing. Hopefully, I can continue on, bit by bit until Spring Break & then I can kick it into full gear.

The Lego King just asked if I could play Lego Creator with him. It's a Lego game, I know, shocker! So I'm off to spend time with my family.

Bye! Love you! Have a good day, Dear!
 
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