Misc.

At school I carry my cell phone in my pocket. I do not have a desk, or space to put my stuff, and I don't want to carry around a bag, so that is my solution. Only problem is, sometimes I forget to take it out of my pocket. I did this over a week ago, and it took me a while to find my phone again. Actually, James found my phone, in the washing machine. There was a swimming pool in the display. We tried to dry it out, but it was beyond hope. I did not purchase that little insurance thing, so I have to replace it all on my very own. Bummer. However, I was able to get a new phone, and it is PURPLE. I love the color purple. That is the fun side of it.

On another sad note, I am going to come right out and admit to something I am embarrassed about. My house is an absolute mess. I have not been able to figure out how to run my house, my kids schedules, and work at the same time. I am just not capable of it. Everyday, I drag my tired bones in the front door, and put on blinders to how things look. I feel like I am the only one that struggles to this extent with it. I would be mortified if anyone saw the state of things at the moment. The missionaries are coming for dinner and our home teacher is coming tomorrow. At this point, We will be having a picnic in the front yard, because I refuse to let them in my house. I am at MYSO right now, and wishing I was able to be home cleaning. I hope James is doing it. He is great to help out when he can, but let's face it, he is as busy as I am. There I said it. So if you come to my house, and I don't want to open the front door, you will know why. Oh, and don't look at our front porch. It is mortifying as well. I drive up, and say to myself, we have the trashy house in the neighborhood. I do not like that, yet I seem to be unable to do anything about it. Okay, enough of the pity party. I will just have to accept that this is not one of my talents.

What? Lacey

I am watching Dancing With The Stars, and low and behold, there is Lacey from SYTYCD. What? I saw her in concert last year, and here she is, as a professional, dancing with Lance Bass. It is fun to see her again.

Out of ICU & A Rhyming PE Teacher

Yes, my dad is out of the ICU. YIPPEE! He is doing much better, and I am very happy about this.

On a very funny note, there is now a rhyming PE teacher working with my kindergarten class. At first, I thought it would be a one time thing, but nope, she rhymed all three times we went to PE this week. Anytime she is giving instructions to the kids, her sentences end in rhyming words. Let me give you a sample:

Hands up high, hands down low,
Hands on the floor, then sit down slow.

This goes on pretty much the entire 30 minutes of PE. With rhyming words like: me and see, go and so, today and way. I am not even exaggerating this one little bit. At first, I just kind of looked at her funny, but everyday it just becomes more humorous to me. From her first sentences, clear until she lines the kids up at the end of class, I am having to control my laughter. It does not help that one of my co-workers has joined me in the mimicking of this rhyming. Then came the challenge by said co-worker to go home and do it to my kids. You know I can not pass up a challenge. I did not attempt to match the length of time with my kids, but I did come up with a few really good ones. Here is the first one I tried out.

Please go put your backpacks away,
So you don't look for them all day.

When I first said this, they kind of looked at me funny. Then Ashley cracked a little smile. Amanda said "what?", so I repeated myself. With the repeat, Ashley starts laughing, and the other kids start to smile. I could see their brains cranking to figure out if I was serious. Then after a third repeat of above rhyme, Nathan, bless his mouth, says "okay!" I thought I would fall off the couch laughing. Then they all got into my little game, and started making up rhymes too. When I told them about the rhyming PE teacher, they all thought is was a little strange.

Here is the kicker, she is a substitute that I think we will have for the next several months. Yes, months. Three times a week, 30 minutes each session, 1 1/2 hours each week of rhyming PE. I am not sure if I can live through it.

Update On My Dad

They decided to move my dad to another hospital. He is now in intensive care. It is so strange, because he became ill very fast. Tuesday morning he started with the stomach virus, or food poisoning they do not know which. He could not keep anything down, and quickly became dehydrated. My mom was trying to help him in and out of the bathroom, because he became very weak. Early yesterday morning, as she was helping him, he lost his balance, and my mom was not strong enough to keep him up, so they both fell over. Mom called my sister, and she went to help. They got him back into bed, but after that he could not get up. They called the ambulance and they came and took him to the hospital. He was really dehydrated, and his sodium was very low. They started an IV. When I talked to my mom yesterday, he was doing much better. They took him to run some tests including a scan of his stomach, and while there, his temp. spiked to 107, and his heart was racing very fast. It was very scary. It turns out that he has pneumonia. It took them some time to get his temp down, and then they decided to move him 45 miles away to a larger hospital.

I talked to my mom late last night, and she said dad was resting. He is in the intensive care. She had gone home with my sister to get some sleep. She had not slept since Tuesday morning. My brother came up from the valley, and spent the night with my dad. They were going to run tests on his heart. It makes me nervous to have him in these hospitals, as they are small town hospitals. I am sure if he does not improve more, they will move him to the valley.

My Day

Today started out with breakfast in bed. Kerrie & Kelsie made me two enormous waffles, and James made four eggs. The true reasons came out when they all sat around and waited for me to not finish the food, then attacked it like starving wolves. That was pretty funny. Then James got all the kids ready for school while I slept in then took a long bath. My fabulous visiting teacher dropped off a beautiful plant that she assures me I cannot kill. It was a fabulous start to my birthday. I went to school, and all 24 of the kids in my class sang happy birthday to me. Then my co-workers bought me cupcakes.

When I got home, things started to go downhill. There was a message from my sister wishing me a happy birthday then apologizing for having bad news. My dad was taken to the hospital in an ambulance this morning. She gave me a number to call her back, but I could not get her. I was so worried. I finally called the hospital and was able to talk to my mom. She said dad was doing better. I was relieved to hear that. Later in the evening, Nathan came to me crying. The kids had decided to make waffles for themselves for dinner. Nathan did not realize the waffle iron was on, and burned his shoulder pretty bad. I called the pediatrician, and they told me to go to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, my sister called and said my dad had taken a turn for the worse. Nathan is fine, and has a note to get out of PE for the next week. The evening ended as James and I went to back to school night about one hour late, but hey we made it.

I am very worried about my dad, and am praying he will be okay. There is such a helpless feeling being so far away. Everything in me is screaming to be there with him, but it just is not possible. I know they will keep me posted on what is happening. Right now the hospital is watching him, to see if he improves. If he does not, they will move him to a hospital with intensive care. Right now he is in a small town hospital that does not have one. I do not think I will get much sleep tonight.

The Front Fell Off

My nephew posted this on his blog, and it made me laugh, so I am posting it on mine. Enjoy.

I Love My Job

I do love my job. I laugh every day. I enjoy the antics of the kids. It is very rewarding to work with kids that need my help. Here is the downside. There are so many germs floating around our room. My immune system is not doing a great job of fighting them off. There were three contagious bugs in our room this week. One of the teachers has a sinus infection, the other teacher has strep throat, and the lovely stomach virus I caught from one of the kids. This week I have caught two lovely little bugs. I already wrote about the first one. The second one is the lovely sinus infection I have now. James called Nightime pediatrics, and took me in to see the doctor. They did a rapid strep test, that came back negative. I was very afraid he was going to send me away, and tell me I probably have a cold, and if it did not get better by next week to see my doctor. After I explained to him where I worked, and the illnesses of my co-workers, he gave me a prescription for an antibiotic. I was really grateful. So I will not be at church tomorrow as I will still be contagious, but hopefully the meds will kick in, and I will feel much better soon.

Major Boxing Match

I find very little time to blog, and that makes me sad. I have time today. I am at home surviving a boxing match. Little muscular men are having a boxing match with my stomach, and they are winning. Well, that is what it feels like. Monday at lunch time, one of the little boys in our class vomited. I was the one who saw it, and cleaned it up. I used gloves, and washed my hands, but apparently that is not sufficient protection against this nasty virus. So, instead of being at work, I am home in bed feeling like garbage. I am looking at the bright side though. I have a laptop, and can blog from bed.

Not Too Smart

Yesterday, I left my home at around 8 am, and did not step back in the door for more then 10 minutes, until after 11 pm. Part of it was that Wednesday's are really crazy days for me. I did not even get to activities last night. After viola lessons, I had to go get gas (big long boring story about that as well, but I won't make you suffer through it) and some groceries. The other part is I just can't resist a phone call from Cami. It came in at about 8:45 pm. It was an invite to watch ANTM. What I should have done gone to bed. What I did, was spend two hours absorbed in the truly superficial. When I got home, James was watching the speech by Governor Palin, at the RNC. I got sucked into that and stayed up even later. I paid dearly for these choice today. I dragged my tired self out of bed and went to work. I got a break, because two of the children that are hard were not there today.

I have to say, one thing that I really liked about what Governor Palin said, was her comments about special needs children. She said that they would have an advocate in the white house, if she was elected. I think at these conventions, a lot is said for show, but this was one thing that I really related to, and could feel that it came from her heart because it is so close to home for her. The other thing that has been on my mind about this election, is that we are seeing history in the making. We will either have the first African American president, or the first female vice president. It is exciting to watch, and see what will happen. The next few months ought to be interesting.