It's Friday!!!!!

I can't believe it's finally here: I wait for Friday all week. I feel bad about it - like a friend at work told me a few months ago: we're wishing our lives away. I guess that's true, and it seems like I have been doing this for so long. Waiting for court decisions, waiting to find the kids, waiting for them to grow up, so they wouldn't have to go any more. At the same time, I didn't want them to grow up, but we had to in order to get away. We paid a great price. I lost my dad who wouldn't have had the first heart attack if he hadn't been under so much stress; but they paid with their lives, too, by never being who they started out to be. The potential to be who they were.
I can't believe that I went from so happy to so sad. I guess that is just the way that things are when you've been through as much as we have.
Today was a good day. Kids brought in their bonus food today. There was birthday cake from a first period student - 17 yesterday, and then brownies for a girl in my second period class whose birthday is tomorrow. Then in third period, there were potato pancakes and noodle pudding - that's what I had for lunch! Thankfully a couple of periods passed without food, and then in the last period, there were two different kinds of snickerdoodles and German pancakes - talk about a sugar overload!
Then I come home. I swear, the paranoia has increased. It used to be just that my ex had entered the home and taken her things. (As in the things that were stolen from the nursing home - and she used to realize that they were taken there - to he's in our home every time we leave. He came in on Mother's Day - she set a trap for him.) Now, today, she's sure that the neighbors are involved as our neighbor has a ladder in our tree. One of our branches broke last week, and for some reason, our neighbor put a ladder in our tree! Now she's sure that he was up there putting another bug in the tree.
Well, at least it's Friday!

Spring

I hate this weather! Sinus, sinus, sinus! And, to think, spring is my favorite season.
I've been working on finding things for my German 4 class next year. They want to do movies and fairy tales and history. This should be a fun year. I've got to get my lesson plans for this class - a combined German 2, 3, 4 class due to necessity - done, so I plan on getting things together this summer. I'll put the plans in a notebook, then pull them out as needed and put them in large envelopes for the kids. I may do that for all the kids, so they can work independently while I am working with another class. It reminds me of my grandmother's school - a one room school house where she taught all 8 grades simultaneously. (I hope I spelled that right!) I used to be able to spell really well, then I lost everything. Fibromyalgia can really mess up your mind.
I love my little pets. For my birthday, I treated myself to a baby iguana and teeny tiny turtles. Remember the kind they used to sell in the "dime store" with the painted backs? That's what I have. Right now, they're in a small plastic storage box, but soon they will have a wading pool all to themselves!
For Easter, I bought my mom and granddaughter a little bunny. She is so cute, and she has brought both of them a lot of happiness in the weeks since them. My mom loves animals as she grew up on a farm. I wish we could find a small farm where we wouldn't be too far away from the hospital but would have enough acreage and buildings to house our pony. Right now, I am spending a fortune every month "storing" him at a stable. I really miss him, and he's getting old, and I would love to have him handy so that my granddaughter and soon-to-be grandson could enjoy him! He's a very sweet pony (and his name is the same as my little grandson's!).
Well, I've rested enough, so I guess I'd better close this blog and get started on more reading for my homework and getting my paper stuff together.
Hope your day is a good one!

Papers

I am hopefully getting started with my papers today. I think I have finished my readings for them and can start putting my notes in order and begin them!
One of them is for my Cognitive Psychology class and will be about cognition and second language acquisition - this one has to be 10 - 15 pages. The second paper for biopsychology is about childhood sexual abuse and how it changes the abused child's brain functioning. This one has to be between 15 - 20 pages, so I guess I'd better get busy!
Today was a fairly good day at work, but I was really tired. My daughter's shower was last night, and it was very nice. The girls fixed chicken salad, ham, roast beef, and egg salad croisant sandwiches. We additionally had chip's with cheese sauce, barbecue and regular chips, a relish tray and fruit tray, and, of course, the cake. They made punch and pink lemonade. Very nice.
Faythe had a good time with her friends, and everybody seemed to blend in with one another. She got a lot of nice things. She took her Elvis bank, but she didn't feel like counting it. I'm really anxious to see how much is in there! I hope there's enough to get her to Dollywood. I wrote "Elvis, Here I come!" on a tag for the bank - I really wanted to write "Dollywood or bust!"

It's Monday!

Another Monday! There's less than three weeks of school!!! Yeah. If only the kids knew how wonderful it makes us feel to know that the school year is almost over. We love the kids, but after a few months and weeks of trying to drill all the wonderful facts into their overloaded brains - not with facts, but with boys and girls and spring break and prom and video games and...
Gretel, my little Dachshund, is jumping on me, wanting to play. She loves her little toys. She brings them to me, and I throw one, and she fetches, and I throw one, and she fetches, etc.
I am still working on the beginnings of my papers and wondering when I will be able to find some time to finish my DVD courses. I'm taking one on counseling and one on life coaching. I'm hoping to begin building up a clientele in the near future. I love counseling. My practicum and internship was spent mainly in a homeless shelter. I always wanted to work with kids - especially abused kids since my family has been through so much, and I do enjoy working with children. I also want to work with victims of domestic violence. I understand.
But, working with the homeless was really wonderful. I love helping them find a job and a new home. So many think that they have nothing to offer, and it's such a wonderful feeling when they discover that they do have a lot to offer society.
And, after working so many years at a high school, I enjoy helping my students decide on which college is best for them and what classes are best in order to be accepted at a college. I always try to tell them to have a back-up plan because we never know what curves life might throw them. How well I know that!
Well, I better get back to my brain and language learning. I have less than two weeks to get my papers written!

Just when you think it's safe to go in the water...

Well, I was feeling pretty good yesterday. The vice-principal called me and asked me if I wanted to do German 4, to which I replied YES! I was really happy about that as there were four students who wanted to sign up for German 4 but were told they couldn't, and I and some others had fought really hard to reinstate the class! I was planning what to do next year, what movies and other things to order, etc., and just was feeling all-around good.
Yesterday afternoon after school, after drinking and drinking (and I'm always telling my students not to use the same word over and over and over!), I went to the doctor's office to have my blood drawn since they couldn't draw it Monday after my appointment. If you stick me, do I not bleed? Well, I didn't! So, as I said, I drank and drank, and then went to have my blood drawn (4 vials - must be selling it on the black market). Today they called. I have a low folic acid level, and my rhumathoid was 239 - normal is 19, so now it's more doctors and more medicine!
Well, at least I have German IV to look forward to, and my classes at Walden, and teaching human sexuality and English in the fall at Ivy Tech, and writing two papers for my classes - which I haven't started yet!
Better go!!!!

What a Day!

Yesterday started out so nicely. we went to my brother's and had the best maple syrup and waffles that I had ever tasted. We enjoyed the company - we were a small group as my daughter forgot, my son didn't come, and my youngest swears that we didn't tell her, so...

I had my mom, my uncle, and my dog in the car with me. We were about to leave when my nephew says, "Do you hear that?" My brother didn't hear it, but my nephew swore that he could hear something. The tire looked a little low, so they put the spare on it - it was also low, so I got everyone out of the house, and my brother took the donut over and aired it up and brought back a can of fix-a-flat. We piled back in the car after the tire was returned and started on our way.

We had just gotten onto the road when there was this horrible sound coming from the rear tire - the donut. I thought it was just the weird tire, so we kept on. By the time we made it out of the wilderness and onto the highway, it was smoking! So we pulled over, called my daughter to come get us, my son to let him know where we were, and my brother for a person who could fix the car. The moral of the story is: it took us nearly 4 hours to make a 30 minute trip. By the time we got home, I was just too tired to grade papers, so I still have a ton of work to do tonight!

We did have a good time although it was so quiet without Rhea Dawn. She wasn't loud, or anything - that's my younger brother - it's just that she's always talking and laughing. I can hear her asking my brother a question, nearly always beginning with "Stevie." Non of the rest could call him that - just her. She was very opinionated but always the first to laugh at herself if she made a mistake. This is a true gift. Most people never do anything wrong.

My brother had new chickens which my neice sent over to him, and he was thrilled. There's nothing like fresh eggs.

Today was okay. I had a very difficult time getting up: I was so tired after yesterday's little adventure in the rain and the muggy heat. Classes went fairly well: 4 had spelling quizzes, 1 did restaurant skits and ate the food that other students had brought in for extra credit, and the last class did modal auxiliary past participles. What fun!

I still need to begin my papers. Although I copied notes onto my laptop, I still needed to get started, but I find it difficult to write when we're at a family reunion and on the road.

I had to go to the doctor's today. My palms and fingers have been tingling off and on for a month, and for the past 4 - 5 days, they've been tingling almost constantly. The doctor at first thought it might be carpal tunnel or even anxiety as it began last month shortly after Rhea Dawn died. She thought that she should rule out other possibilities, so I'm to have blood work for thyroid, lupus, rheumathoid, and vitamin B deficiency. They tried to draw my blood today, but there was no blood to be had, so I'm supposed to drink and drink and go back tomorrow and try again! I wish I had my dad's veins!

Waffle Lunch

We're going to my brothers for lunch. He made maple molasses this year, and we're going to sample it.

When I was a child, my family would get together every few months and have a waffle supper. They were so much fun! Family members would gather in the old family home (probably the oldest in our county, but we have no way of dating it), and there would be food and laughter everywhere as we gathered throughout the house in different stages of eating and just enjoyed the good food and each other. These are some of the most pleasant memories that I have.

But, back to the topic at hand, I really look forward to the day, but it's going to be difficult at the same time; this is the first time that we'll gather at my brother's house without a close family member. My oldest brother's wife passed away quite suddenly and expectedly on Easter. I was hoping to rekindle a closer relationship with her after all the years of ugly that have taken place since I met, married, had children with, and divorced my ex-husband. (Let's just say that all the world LOVES a liar!) She and I had so many things in common, and now thoses future opportunities are gone.

I need to get a ton of things done between now and leaving for the waffle lunch, so I need to get busy - or busier!

Shopping for a wedding shower

Just returned from shopping for wedding shower things. You would think that since June is swiftly approaching that there would be plenty of nice wedding things. Not today. They were changing the location of things in the store, and wedding supplies hadn't been brought out yet.

I am putting off what I really should be doing - writing two papers for the classes that I'm taking. Biopsychology is really interesting. The brain is a wonderful thing! Cognitive psychology is also nice. Learning about learning. I am just very excited about being back in class and working toward my doctorate. Many years in the making.

A little bit about myself: I was born and raised in Indiana University's back yard. My first choice as a major was music, but it's really difficult playing the clarinet when you're can't breathe very well. I discovered when I was a sophomore at IU that I had a muscular disease (Myasthenia Gravis), and so I switched my major from music to languages. I studied German and Spanish, went to Germany for a year as a student at Middlebury College, and met my now ex-husband. I loved living in Germany and hope to go back again soon. We moved back to the States, had four children, and finally, a divorce. Now, I am back in IN, teaching at a high school and community college, and going to school. I'm also trying to learn to play the flute and the clarinet again but haven't had any lessons for a while.

I will post more later. I really need to get started on my papers which are due in 3 weeks!