You might be a redneck if...

... you wake up Thanksgiving Day and use a hair dryer to thaw your turkey.

Yes, yes... Thursday morning my mother found the 20 lb. turkey still frozen and used a hair dryer and multiple sink fulls of hot water to get the turkey ready. It only took 1 hour!! In her defense, she had put the turkey in the refridgerator four days prior... did I mention that the fridge was in the garage?

Anywayz, I had fun at home and was anxious to get back. I missed my BG family! :)


Things to smile about today:
:) picturing my mother, the turkey and the hair dryer
:) time with the Clelands
:) laughing with my roomie

I'm going home for a couple of days. It will be nice! :) This year I am actually getting to have a relaxing Thanksgiving break. Instead of 6 family dinners, I have 2. And instead of driving around 2 different counties to get to all of them, they are at the same house! Even better, it's at mom's! Her family at noon and Mike's family at night! I don't think it can get any better! Can you tell I'm excited? I just used a ton of !!!!

Things to smile about today:
:) Snow
:) 5 days off
:) a good meal with great friends

A lot has happened in the last few days.

Thurs. & Fri. went better than I imagined. Tricia's surgery was succesful despite it being 2 hours longer than she thought. She is planning on being back after Thanksgiving. The kids were not as energetic as they had been in the previous days and I actually felt like I taught on Fri. Tomorrow and Tues. I have a different sub. I'm not sure who it is, but I hope that all goes well. Tuesday is a big Thanksgiving coloring/the kids are not required to do their work areas day... they love those kinds of days and it should make things a little smoother. An interesting thing has come up... I'll have to wait before I can blog about it. Sorry...

We finally got to painting our living room yesterday. It is a shade lighter than before (still a deep blue). It looks so much better now with no white spots showing. :) After painting, we enjoyed the Ohio State game, then went to -f-, the Veller's and finally ended up at Cosmos. It was a busy day!

Today, we started decorating for the Christmas season! There are some more things to do, but it looks good so far. We also got to enjoy lunch with the Davisons' and dinner with the Dilbones'. Can't get much better than this!


Things to smile about today:
:) Christmas decorating
:) friends who feel like family
:) -f-
:) only two days of school this week!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday...

All day. And preferably ending over 12 hours ago. :) Okay, so maybe it hasn't been that bad, but man... what a day. I am absolutely exhausted by the time I get home.

I was so frustrated today because all I did was put out fires. I don't think I gave a single lesson today! When it wasn't one, it was another. Today had more calm points than yesterday, by far... but it was still crazy. I feel so bad for some of our little ones. One little boy is having his medication switched again. They have yet to find one that works well, and in the mean time he doesn't know how to help his body stay in control because when he starts to figure one thing out, it changes! He frequently runs around the room when he needs to get out that energy. This is obviously a hazard to him and the other children. When you try and help him by removing him from the stimulation, he runs from you. However, today, when I walked into the room after my lunch break, he was running around and instead of running away from me, he ran straight to me without me intiating it and hugged me. He wouldn't let go. He knew he needed help with someone being his external control and he has come to the point where he recognizes that I want to help him. At a different point in time, he was also able to verbalize what would help him calm down. When I got that activity for him, he worked on it for 10 min. and you could sense that his body was calmer.

So there were good things that happened, but it drains you!

Anywayz, enough about that. I'm sure I could go on for a long time.


Things to smile about today:
:) seeing the small steps in between the backwards strides
:) a sub with Montessori experience!!
:) Dilbone's tonight

Hi! It's been awhile since I have last posted. I'm not sure what I have done in that time really. When I think back on this last week I can remember conferences, more conferences and a good time at home this weekend. I got to sleep a lot! Much needed. Of course, all of the sleeping happened on Sat. night because I tried to sleep without meds on Fri. Needless to say, it didn't work. So now, I am taking the meds every night. I only have so many left. I hope that something happens before then.

Anywayz, enough about sleep. (or a lack there of)

Some stories from today; some funny, some not so funny.

I had to call parents today and have them come pick up a child early. His behavior was at it's peak and he punched me four times today. He was also pretending to shoot with guns... directly at me.

Another child was playing memory with his friend. When it wasn't the card that he needed, he would say "d%@* it". Because of his speech problem, I couldn't figure out what he was saying at first. When it finally clicked, we had a little conversation.

One of our three's was walking inside with her grandma today after school and said, "Grandma, I want a cold one." I think grandma saw the quizical look on my face, so she explained to me that she meant a popsicle. :)


Well, that's all I have for now. I'm going to go prep my house for decorating! I don't think I will get to the tree tonight, but hopefully sometime this week.


Things to smile about today:
:) a cold one
:) restful weekend
:) a holiday break coming soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Random things...

(a.k.a. My thought process)

I need to check into sleep apnea a little further. Is it hereditary? If so... I need to go get testest no matter the cost. The doctor wanted me to get these tests done last year anyway. (Problem? The costs would be anywhere from 2,500 to 5,000 dollars after insurance.) I talked to my grandma today. She was tested this past week. According to the test, her heart stops 70 + times every hour for an average of 36 seconds each time. When she is breathing and her heart is beating, it can get as low as 8 beats per min. I'm no doctor... but those stats sound really scary to me. She has two siblings that are on breathing machines and according to my grandmother, three of her children probably have it, including my father. Which makes sense. He is always tired, has migrane headaches and never wakes up refreshed. She is on a breathing machine, but has already had the damage done to her heart. No wonder she has had more than 5 heart attacks in the last 10 years.

Today was a good day.

My father spent last Sat. in the hospital with a migrane headache. He actually went because he couldn't stop throwing up. He didn't even tell me today when I talked to him. I found out through grandma.

Scrapbooking has consumed my time today.

I need to go to bed. It is after 10. Part of me can't wait to go to school tomorrow and part of me would like another day off. I hope Tricia's oppointment went well on Fri. I can't believe her surgery is coming up so soon.

Mom and Mike should be traveling home from W. Virginia tomorrow.

Happy 1st anniversary Tonia and Daniel!

How soon can I put up my Christmas tree? Probably not for another couple of weeks. I should wait until after Thanksgiving. :)

Conferences...

12 down... 24 to go! :) That's pretty much all I have to say about that! Besides, if I get going... I might never stop.

I've been thinking and praying a lot about a few different things in life. I was comforted by God on Monday night when I closed my eyes and pictured myself as a 5 year old being held by Him with my head on his shoulder. Not only did I see it, but I felt His presence around me. Since then, I have been calm and more relaxed.

One time consumming thought has been centered around the church. I lost it on Sunday when I saw how hurt my "family" was and yet how graceful they were. It blows my mind away. I love them so much that it became personal. I have tried to follow their example since. The only question I have left (for myself)... is when? Do I leave this week with them? Do I stay just to find another keyboard player? My thoughts were challenged on Sunday and God brought me to the same conclusion. He just hasn't given me the time line, yet.

Anywayz, speaking of time. I need to run out the door. I was suppose to be at the Sterba's 2 min. ago.

Things to smile about today:
:) Weather
:) His presence
:) 12 down, 24 to go!