Christmas Gifts

Okay - here's hoping my loyal readers - all four or five of you - had great Christmases.

Christmas at the Callahan household was a wrapping paper storm of present opening. It was fun, but tiring. On Friday, the elder Bakers visited us for the day for our Christmas, and that was nice, but tiring. So needless to say, Brent and I have spent the last two days resting up - getting ready to put away Christmas and get ready for what will hopefully be a great New Year's Eve.

This year in our contest to get each other the best gift, my sister won. I received a Mood bag. Now, if you aren't a Project Runway fan (and why wouldn't you be?), then you have absolutely no idea what I am talking about. Brief explanation: the contestants on Project Runway have a new challenge each week, and they usually go to Mood, a fabric store in NYC, to buy their materials, and they always come in with these bags that say Mood on the side. One day while Daddy was in the hospital in Greenville back in March, Mary stopped over at my house to watch an episode we had on DVR (and I say we, because Brent watches it too - gotta love him), and I said, "I'm going to go to New York just to go to Mood to buy a yard of fabric and get one of those bags."

So you know what? Mary had Neil get the information off of the Internet (oh what a wonderful tool), and she called Mood, and after what I am sure was an entertaining conversation for the clerk in NYC, Mary had ordered two yards of fabric and a bag for me for Christmas.

My plan now is to use it as my school bag, just to see if anyone recognizes it. I FREAKING LOVE IT - lol - so Mary won this year.

But among all the nice gifts, I have one I want to mention - in honor of one of my loyal readers - Cathy - and her husband David.

The joke is that I am the Queen Bee of Chocowinity Middle School - at least according to some of the teachers - so for Christmas, David decided that I needed these -

Many thanks to everyone for their presents and warm wishes - and many wishes for a Happy New Year!

Leslie's and Mark's Daughter

Well, folks, she's here. Caroline Felton Bradbury was born on December 16. Apparently they waited until the last minute to leave the house, so Carrie was born on the side of the road in an ambulance - in the words of her father, Mark

Here’s the short story: Leslie had contractions on Tuesday (12/16) morning, as we got into the car to drive to the hospital I called 911 just to be safe, Will stayed at home with a babysitter, we got 3 miles from home when we met up with the volunteer fire fighter, he had us stop to check Leslie’s condition, within 10 minutes about 6 more fire fighters arrived as did the ambulance, within 5 more minutes the baby was born – with the car pulled off on the side of the road and Leslie reclined in the passenger seat, that’s why you see her exiting the ambulance at the hospital with Carrie in her arms! Oh, and between the fire fighters and ambulance crew, no one had ever delivered a baby before…

Both Leslie and Carrie (8 lbs, 2 oz; 20 inches) made it through the ordeal just fine and we are all at home now. Quite a day, quite a story.

Mark

And here is the Christmas card/birth announcement that came the next week - impressive timing for parents with two small children!

Congrat's!

Dollar Tree Strikes Again

Many thanks to the people of Indonesia for all their help in my on-going search for reasons we should stop shopping at Dollar Tree.

Technology Conference

Went to Greensboro for two and a half days for a technology conference last week. Learned some pretty cool stuff and got some free stuff, too. But really kept coming up against a couple of things I thought you guys might have opinions on.

First of all, they keep saying we need to engage these students. That they are using technology all the time, and they need to use more. That students are multi-tasking so much that they are doing like 26 hours of stuff in one day - seriously.

My problem with all of this is that students may very well be multi-tasking and doing all of this stuff, but is this allowing them to sit still for an extended period of time? I ask this, because to read a book - or even to listen to a book - you really need to be able to be still - and not distracted. I fear that these multitasking students are being trained to be entertained and drawn to shorter and shorter bits of information.

From TV shows with small bursts of entertainment divided by small bursts of commercials to music videos. It's amazing to me that they can sit down and watch a full length movie anymore. But then again - they are totally immersed in it if they go to the theater, so maybe movies still have a chance - lol

Anywho - the other thing about the conference was the abundance of laptops and the abundance of folks who thought it was not maddening to hear typing during a presentation. People who type during a presentation kill me. I can't even begin to imagine being the presenter.

What do you guys think?

One year anniversary

Well, Thursday marked the one year anniversary for the FIRST f-ing back surgery. The one that either didn't work or was totally f-ed up by the folks that put me on the gurney right after surgery. The one that had me in pain until the SECOND surgery in January.

But I'm doing good now. Although about three days ago the pain started picking up again. I think and hope it's just been aggravated by something - probably too much touch football - lol - but anywho -

Seems like forever ago. The whole wasted winter actually. Things happen at school, and I just say, "I don't remember. I wasn't here." Really weird.

But thank God the second surgery "took." Here's hoping for another year pain free.

A few updates

Well, let's see . . .

Leslie is due on the 21st of December. I haven't talked to her recently. She and Mark are running a hectic schedule between half day daycare and teaching. She's actually looking forward to having spring semester off with the baby. And remember it's a girl.

September is working hard all the time and keeping up with - what is it now? - 13 nieces and nephews. They sold the small store she was running, so now she's in the bigger one at Woodcroft.

Todd is still in St. Louis. How many years to go? He's coming home for Thanksgiving. Gets to work in an extra ECU game that way.

Rob is coming up for Thanksgiving - or at least part of the weekend - which is cool. Apparently there's a new restaurant in Charleston with a good brunch and a cute chef - at least he's cute in the pics on the website - mmm just one more GREAT reason to take a trip south.

Sally is getting ready to come off of a week's rest after working at the library for a million months straight with no real holiday. She's coming up for Thanksgiving as well, as that is also her mom's birthday. She likes her job and is enjoying living alone, but could probably use a roomie, so if any of you are contemplating moving south - lol or east - or north - lol lol

Keith is living in Charleston and working at Ladsen elementary - he and - God knows I forget how to spell it - Ik are having a Christmas party on December 13th. I don't think Brent and I will be able to go down - not that close to Christmas. But eventually we will get down there - oh and Keith's coming up for a couple of days at Thanksgiving as well.

Christie and Charles and their brood are doing the same. Morgan is in 7th grade this year - JESUS are we all really that old.

If I left anyone off, I apologize - and just ask - anonymously works - lol

Anonymous comments

LOL

I guess there are a few things I need to take care of . . .

Okay, Mary's friend was murdered by her boyfriend. They leave behind five children between them now with no responsible parent.

WITN will NEVER move to GVegas because it will probably cost too much. They have owned that property for a million years - ever since the theater closed - but who knows - miracles do happen. They have never claimed Chocowinity, let alone Washington as their first home. IF you want to get local news, you watch WNCT out of GVille.

Brent went to a lawyer back in like January when we realized that the Worker's Comp company was going to try to make him go back to work doing what he had done - but he can't - he can't do the physical work, and the meds make him loopy, so he can't do what he was doing, and the company he worked for is not going to fire him, so we need to figure out the next step. He has been meeting every two weeks with a job counselor, and right now we are getting ready for mediation with the WC company because for the last two years they have NOT been paying him what they are supposed to using the state's calculator. AT least that is what the lawyer has said. So Brent just recently filled out a bunch of paperwork, and then he sent it back to the attorney. So now we wait - won't hear anything back until January.

Uncle Von's visit went well. Jason was down for a long weekend, and I got to hang out with him. He wants to know what the deal is with the property - why his father doesn't just go ahead and sell it to my father - and I wonder the same thing. I was hoping that Jason would talk to his dad, but I don't think anything ever came of it.

Granny's house and the property Well, Dad keeps it up. I go down every once in a while and get stuff - got some utensils for the library the last time - spoons for serving dip and such. If I could go down there with some trash bags and know that Daddy wouldn't lose it, I would. I don't' know what he wants to do. It's just a pain. But we have it, and he's cleaned up a path through the woods, which just makes me want to get a four wheeler and ride around down there.

And oh yeah - Kristen shot JR.

TGIF

Thank God. I was beginning to wonder if I were going to make it to the end. It's been a crazy week, especially as I didn't work Monday or Tuesday. And next week, I get half a day off on Thursday and all day Friday for school related things, so they don't even count.

Other than that, things here are good. Mom had her bladder stretched today. OUCH! This is supposed to help with the pain she has been having now for almost a year. She came through the procedure just fine, BUT (you knew there was a but coming - come on) she hasn't PEED yet. Not since before 8:30. She may have to go back into the hospital if nothing ever comes out. And then it will be a FLOOD!

Daddy's doing well. Mary's tired some, but is making it through. Horrible thing happened to a friend of hers. http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/34180814.html

Things like this happen all the time, but never to people you know.

Brent is doing well. He's lost some weight and is piddling around the house. No news on his lawyer's work.

Guess that's it. I was thinking I would do a post some time this weekend giving everyone info on what everyone else is doing. Let me know what you think - and if you have something you DO or do NOT want included-

Later Peeps

My Dentist is so Going to Love Me

Okay, I finally got stuff straight to take some pics of the stuff I have been scavenging from Granny's.

My parents have always said that my Granny kept so many things around her because she never had a lot in the early parts of her life. They scraped by after she got married - and that was right out of high school, so I guess she started hoarding things she could get.

For instance, right after she went into the nursing home, Brent and I went down to Acre with Daddy, and we cleaned out canned goods. I am not joking - over fifty cans of canned veggies - some with expired dates of course. Yeah - who knew that canned food went bad?

Well, since Granny's death in July, I've been gradually bringing things home from Granny's - a little bit each trip. There's a necklace, and then a vase, and then a set of vases - like I'll ever use them all, but who knows, right?

Well, back to the hoarding part. God bless her heart, but that little woman had a bunch of stuff, odd things, stockpiled for, I guess, the future.

Below is a picture of toothbrushes I have brought from her house to mine. Will Brent and I use all of these? No, probably not. We have already used a couple - one in the bathroom, one in the kitchen - as nail brushes and vegetable brushes - and we gave some to my in-laws, because they like really hard toothbrushes - and that's what these are. And just for the record, this is probably only half of what was there - so many being dispersed in different directions. (In fact, I gave two to Mary today to be put in these shoe boxes Riley's Cub Scout troop is making for the poor.)

There are probably fifty combs in one drawer, and other things like that. It's heart breaking and scary, and it really makes me look around my house as I stock pile things and wonder if I really need it all.

So here are a few pictures of other things I have brought to my house from Granny's. Things you will find on display at times in my dining room.

no excuses

I promise - it's coming - updates this weekend -

:-P

Remember when . . .

This is for all you bitches that took me out, three years ago tonight, and let me drink way tooooooooo many grape crushes.

And a GREAT thank you for September, who got up EVERY time I had to run to the bathroom to puke. It was a LONG night for us both.

Three years tomorrow folks!

Incoming

Uncle Von, Laura, and my cousin Jason will be in this weekend. Von and Laura are going to be staying for a couple of weeks, with plans to go out to Granny's and clean it out. What out means in the last part of that last sentence I am not sure. Should be interesting.

CMS Indian Football

God, I love football season. And I mean the time of the year when as the sun gets down, it gets a little cooler, and the lights on the stadium just make everything look great.

We played Bath last night at home, and beat them, which is WONDERFUL! Actually beat them by 8 points, which is even better. The first half was sorta chaotic - got a couple of calls against us for not have the right number of players on the field, but Chris (the head coach) got that all straight after halftime.

But the weather was great - even had a cool breeze right there at the end - and it was just nice to finally be there. Not that I don't love my summers, but there's just something about fall nights and football.

Hunter Turned Twelve

Not a big deal by most standards, but if all of you will take a second and think back.

Mary - she had a baby - TWELVE years ago.

Jesus God when did WE get this old.

Anywho, we gave him Brent's old electric guitar. Brent fixed a couple of things on it and restrung it. Oh and bought a used amp. So now he can really ROCK the house. LOLOLOL

Always give children noise makers - so they can aggravate the hell out of their parents when they get home.

All in all it was a quiet party. The Bennetts hosted, as Mary was still sorta out of it from her surgery. It was a beautiful day, and we got to sit out on the deck and enjoy the quiet of the country.

Happy Birthday, Hunter.

Oh, and for those of you that know her, Vicki - Reed's youngest sister - is pregnant and due in March.

My Sister and her Surgery

Mary came through her gastric by-pass surgery well, but is taking a little longer to recover in the hospital. They kept her an extra day, but she should be out tomorrow, going home.

She has conceded that she will not be able to host a party for my nephew Hunter's birthday on Saturday, so we will all be going to his grandparents house (the Bennett's) right across the street from Mary's, which will work out well for everyone, I think.

I am very proud of my sister for doing what she has done and hope it all goes well.

Keep your fingers crossed.

And this is why we are falling fast . . .

Granted - I bought it at Dollar Tree, but come on folks, even the Chinese need to know that the Union Jack isn't American. Geez . . .

SAS Tour Summer 2009

Just in case you're interested, recent news puts Stephanie's family moving to Cary in the summer of '09.

Watch out RTP!

Fran Survives

Sorry it's taken so long to update.

Fran survived surgery - they actually had taken her in before I got there - the schedule got moved up, so I didn't have to stay at the hospital as long as I had thought.

She went absolutely bat shit crazy in the hospital. The drugs they had her on totally made her lose her mind.

She called me Friday night and said she wanted me to come pick her up to take her home. When I got to the hospital, Daddy said she had been like that all afternoon. She wanted the tubes taken out and she wanted to go home. They couldn't keep her there. She told me that if I wasn't going to take her home, I could "carry my ass on." LOL it really was sorta funny, but also worrisome, because at that point, Mary and I both were worried that she may have suffered some kind of stroke. But Brent reassured us both that it was the medicine and it was.

She was discharged Monday morning, and the had a medical transport bring her home - because there was no way Daddy would have been able to get her in the house. Even with help. And she's been home doing well ever since.

A physical therapist and nurse came daily last week - it goes to every other day next week, and she's using a walker to get around on. She hasn't been able to get upstairs yet, and it looks as if it will be a while before that happens. But she is doing well after surgery.

What we have to work on now is trying to find out what happened to her to make her fall. Why is she so dizzy all the time. I understand that she is on medication that will affect her blood pressure when she stands up, but she was actually blacking out before the surgery.

Supposedly Mama is going to go to her general practitioner tomorrow to start this next process. Dr. York visited Mama in the hospital and is supposedly already working on this question. Should be interesting to see what does or does not happen next week.

So that's it for Mama - I did manage to use my MP3 player to get some voice recordings of crazy lady in the hospital. Haven't had a chance to see if any of them are, um, interesting, so will let you all know.

Cross your fingers - let's see if we can get through a week with no major catastrophes in my family.

The Continuing Saga of Fran and Gary

Well, folks, I had not meant to write about this (thinking that it would go away and it didn't), but here it is.

Last Sunday, my father called and said, "Lisa, I need your help. Now." and then hung up. So I rushed over and found that Mama had fallen - twice. One time she had completely blacked out and the other time she had just gotten dizzy. So I stayed over there until she started feeling better and talked to Daddy about what the problem could be. Luckily, nothing was broken.

They went to the doctor on Monday, where everything appeared to be okay, but the doctor scheduled a CT scan of Mama's head on Tuesday. (Monday was Daddy's birthday - 67 years old.)

But they never made it to the appointment.

Because on Tuesday around 1:30 or 2:00, Mama fell again. While she was home ALONE. COOKING.

Luckily Daddy got home in time to get the pot off of the stove and call the rescue squad. That's when I got the call at school from Brent - Daddy had called him, I guess, because it was the easiest number to remember. So I called Mary and the whole "spend the night in the emergency room/hospital" story began.

First of all, the ride to the hospital made Mama sick. She can't ride lying down. And the AC on the rescue squad was out, so Mama threw up when she got to the emergency room. Luckily our cousin Tobby was one of the EMT's, so Mama and Daddy felt a little better about that whole situation.

Once she got in the emergency room, they checked everything and sent her to Xray to get her head CT she had been scheduled for, an xray of her chest and an xray of her hip. (And I WILL say at this point that everyone in the emergency room was VERY nice AND helpful.)

Did I forget to mention that she was having pain in her hip?

Well, the xray came back negative for anything in the hip, but she was having too much pain, so the emergency room doc's ordered a CT of her hip as well. And this is the point where I stop to say . . .

Unless I am bleeding profusely or dying, do not stop me off at Beaufort County Hospital.

There is no one at BCH that can read CT scans. They have to send them to Greenville to be read. The next day. Is this such a hard thing to do? What kind of training is involved? Are we, as a nation, suffering from a shortage of CT scan readers? Maybe Brent needs to go to school for that.

Okay, so they put her in a room, around eight o'clock, where she asked for something to eat - I mean she asked Daddy, and he told me to go find out, where - hold on a sec - another departure from the story -

Why can't it be a requirement that ALL nurses be nice. Why do people continue to nurse when they are no longer PEOPLE persons? Go do something else lady . . .

Anyway - Mary and I left around 8. Mama made it through the night. The next day, the magic man CT reader in Greenville called to let somebody know that Mama had cracked her hip. Dr. Miller - who will probably complete the trifecta for SHITTINESS happening at BCH - will be doing surgery this afternoon to put a plate on her hip.

So I am off today. Going to take a shower, go to Dollar Tree to buy my broke-assed Mama some Sudoku books, and then I'm at the hospital for the rest of the day - I guess.

Wish me luck.

Doctors and more doctors

Well, last week was marked with two doctors' appointments.

I had my last (hopefully) doctor's appointment with my back doctor on Tuesday. We are both agreed that the slight discomfort I have sometimes with my leg and hip is going to be with me forever, sadly, but is something we can both live with. I of course live with a nagging thought in the back of my head sometimes that it is a repeat of the condition I suffered from last year, and will once again slowly get worse, but then it gets better, or something else grabs my attention. The pain I lived with over the fall and through the winter last year was terrible, and the situation with having two surgeries in a month's time was even worse, so I think I am allowed a little nagging thought every once in awhile.

My other doctor's appointment was on Thursday with Dr. Kroncke, my gynecologist. I love going to his office, because they always act glad to see me and are so nice. I know that sounds strange, but in a day and age where nurses and PA's and even doctors shuffle you through to get their days done, my gyno's office is really a nice trip. Sadly. They remember things about me, even if they are written in a file, and they act glad to see me. Did I say that part twice? But it's nice. And I really appreciate it.

But the second appointment went fine, just waiting for the notecard that says the tests came back negative. Fingers crossed.

Meltdowns scheduled for Thursdays at 7:00

Okay, so I went to school Monday in high hopes of getting the custodians, or some kids, or anybody that could move tables, to help me get my library straight.

I was in constant motion, putting things away, moving things - oh and the computer lab got six new computers, so I had carts full of computers just sitting by the door - totally unnerving, because it's a mess to look at, and it's more work that needs doing.

So, the first thing I asked the custodians to do was to take out these two coolers that were, at this time, full of water, as they had been there for a WEEK, and the ice had melted.

-Side note - I may talk a lot of shit about our custodians, but the truth is they are probably doing the best they can under the circumstances. One of our custodians had to have emergency surgery the Friday before school started, so we are a man down. But I am still going to talk some shit. -

So our male custodian shows up, and decides he is going to put one cooler on a hand truck and pull the other one behind him because it has wheels. Well, he heads to my front door, and the second cooler hits the rubber edge between my tile and my carpet and guess what. The second cooler tips over, pouring water out in a flood. The funniest thing to me looking back is that it fell over right where we have this ten foot tall lighthouse a teacher made with her class years ago - how appropriate.

Well, a shop vac was found (thank God we have a teacher with one) and the custodian got to sit for 30 minutes or so sucking water up with the shop vac. Then he went to get kids to move the tables - and the two boys did, but when they started moving chairs, they moved them two at a time, and clank clank clank, that was the end of that. I thanked them all for their time, and sent them on their way. I would get the chairs moved later.

That was probably the highlight of Monday.

So Tuesday I get to school and go in the front door of the library - I am the only one that ever comes in that door - besides the odd maintenance man - but it's closer to where I park, so . . .

But there at the edge of the cement was a pile of blue stones, aquarium stones to be precise.

Well, I figured one of my slack ass teachers had dumped her aquarium there, leaving her stones for God only know what - birds with color sense?

So I took a picture. I have it at school and will post it next week. And I printed an 8x10 and have it in a frame on my desk. Seriously. It centers me.

And guess who did it? The custodian. When he dumped the shop vac. The teacher to whom the shop vac belonged had warned him that he needed to empty it before using it. And he had dumped it out and left it there. The custodian.

And then the rest of the day was filled with Language Arts classes visiting the media center for their "refreshers." Did ten classes I guess on Tuesday and the same on Wednesday.

I had gotten my assistant to sign classes up, and on Wednesday she signed classes up that overlapped - guess she just wasn't paying attention - but was that when they were signing up or when she was typing it up to give to me? Wouldn't YOU have checked the times. But it worked out. My 6th grade LA teacher worked with me, and all went well.

By Wednesday I had helpers for 8th grade and knew who my helpers for 6th and 7th would be, so I could see some relief coming. And my list was getting shorter. But it was still LONG for me.

So I worked and worked. And during this, I was staying up until 11:00 or 11:30 with Brent and Second Life (which is worthy of a blog all to itself) every night. And by Thursday, it had all taken its toll.

So Thursday went okay at school, and then I get home, and Brent says lightning has struck the phones. Our phones were dead, our Internet was out, our cable worked, but we had to fix the other. One of our phones had a bulging power pack - so we discarded that. But the Internet - we have to have that. So I got on my cell phone and spent the next hour working with the Suddenlink Guy trying to get the Internet to work. We decided to just let the phones go for the night, scheduled an appointment for the next morning, and kept working on the Internet.

Well, my nerves kept getting more and more RAW, and by the time I got off the phone with the cable guy - we got the old cable modem working, but it wouldn't work with the router, which only made the situation worse - by the time that whole debacle was over, I was, shall we say, tripping.

I was really really ILL. And I just stood in the middle of the living room and clenched my fists and said, "Right now, I am so fucking aggravated that everything is wrong. I'm going to bed." That was at seven o'clock on Thursday night.

At six o'clock Friday morning I got up. (There were a few trips to the bathroom throughout the night.)

And I felt better.

And Friday was a great day.

Meltdowns scheduled for Thursdays at 7:00 - an Introduction

Okay, so the first week of school really, really sucked. Well, actually the first four days did, but Friday, well Friday went fairly well.

I have never had so many people who needed so much all at one time from me. I totally don't remember it being like this last year. And to tell you about my first week, I have to go back to last Friday, before school started.

Well, Cathy, my centering rod, had to leave early for a funeral, so I was left alone. And that's when things started to fall apart. Everything I touched went south. I moved a network printer from one classroom to another and it lost its IP address. Just in case you are reading this and don't understand what that means, here's the translation - it worked in one room, and then it lost its freaking mind and didn't work in the next. In less than five minutes.

And then I go back to my library, dog tired, and it's a mess - things everywhere. You don't know this, but over the summer, people "find" things and drop them off in the library - odd electronic things, carts, tables, SMART board stands with no SMART board. So I had all of this stuff to deal with, because I had been out in classrooms working. And the tables - this was really one of my biggest problems.

My library is only so big, and we have tables on both ends. Well for the first workday when we had our afternoon long faculty meeting, almost all of the tables were crammed on one end. And they stayed that way. Until this Tuesday - when school had started. And being a spatial kind of person who has to see some kind of order, let me tell you that was the last straw - no one to help, because now I can't move tables and things with my back - which really pisses me off.

So, I left. I packed up my stuff and left last Friday. Came home and was so un-nerved, I cried. Yes folks, that's how bad it was and how tired I was - I cried, because this would be the worst opening of school I had ever had.

And then I sat on my fat, happy ass all weekend and rested.

It's the end of the world as we know it . . .

Well, today is the last day before the official start of school for the kids. I have worked all week trying to get classrooms ready for tomorrow, and now my library is in terrible shape. This is going to be the worst start to school I have had in fifteen years. Seriously. I think I was even better prepared my first year, when I was hired after school started and had to push a cart from classroom to classroom.

I will tell you this, and I knew that this was coming. I hate working on computers. I hate networking printers and installing drivers and plugging things in. It drives me nuts. I have had to do too much of this over the past ten years, and now I believe I have reached my limit.

But hopefully I will be able to get things straight tomorrow. If nothing else, I plan to take four 8th grade boys out of their last period science class tomorrow to help me move tables. I have gotta get something done, and fast.

So, if you call and I don't answer, it's probably because I am taking a nap every afternoon this week.

Wish me luck.

It's What the Cannibals Cook In

That's what Brent said when I told him about the item that you will find if you follow the link below -

http://www.dutchtub.com/

Think of what you find there and then hear my husband say, "It's what the cannibals cook in."

You gotta love the man . . .

Do you remember?

Have you noticed the new JCPenny's ad that is based on the movie "The Breakfast Club"? Totally hilarious if you were a fan. And who isn't a Molly Ringwald and John Hughes? God, the movies that man made while we were growing up.

And Anthony Michael Hall was always my hero - the nerd.

So, I'm watching "Sixteen Candles" with the Donger - remember him? You know he was like 21 and everyone else was way underage, so they all got him to buy beer while they were shooting this movie. And then he went on to be on ER forever as Yosh.

And John and Joan Cusack are both in it - amazing.

They're at the part where Anthony Michael Hall has shown up at his friend's house with Jake's dad's car and the prom queen, and he wants a picture taken. And they take one at it's a Polaroid of only AMH's eyeball - lol.

I love these movies. They remind me of being a geek in high school. Something that is farther away than I realized until the JCP ad came out.

And to top it all off. Brent has never seen "The Breakfast Club." God bless his heart. Thank goodness for Netflix.

So, of all the John Hughes' movies, what was your favorite? "Pretty in Pink," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "Sixteen Candles," "The Breakfast Club" . . .

Tough call -

The Tent's Packed Up

Well, the whole "event" is over. Most of the cousins have left, and I have to tell you that it was nice getting to see them. I got to meet some of the littlest Williams - Mina, William, Gabriella, and Xavier. All very cute, and with a streak of Williams in them that will keep the line going.

Everything went fairly well with the exception of one cousin sending a message to another cousin that my grandmother didn't want her at the funeral. Oh Jesus, you know that my Daddy got so mad when he found out. And I'm with him. At this point, what does it matter? Granny wrote that when she was hurt, and I am sure she would have been happy to know that her granddaughter came and paid a last respect. It's a stink, but something that will eventually fade, I hope.

Of course it was sorta poignant thinking that this was the last time I will ever see all of my uncles and aunts together alive. They are now at the front of the line as Todd said. And so it begins.

But to change the subject, tonight we are going down to Mary's, because today is Colin's 4th birthday and from what I hear, there will be cake. And you know Brent and I are driving fools when it comes to cake - lol. So that also means that today is Leslie's and Mark's 3rd wedding anniversary - Happy Anniversary folks!

And so it ends . . .

Well, folks, Granny decided to leave us on Saturday around 2:15 in the morning. I am glad she is hopefully somewhere feeling much better.

http://www.paulfuneralhome.com/obituaries.php?page=0&op=view&id=633

Let the trumpets sound and the angels sing

News flash - Stephanie is moving back to NC.

Read the news here -

http://awomanofegypt.blogspot.com/

Good Friday Morning

For those of you that don't know, my father's mother, Granny, has been in a nursing home for over two years now. Well, about two weeks ago she developed pneumonia, which is not a new story as she as had it before. But this time, she was sent to the hospital because it had gotten so bad. The hospital folks stabilized her and sent her back to the nursing home, at which point my father was told it was only a matter of time before she died.

So, for about a week now, my father has been torn up about the whole situation. A situation compounded by the fact that my Uncle Von has come home to be here for this event. It's strange how there wasn't much of an interest when Daddy had to put her in the nursing home, had to take care of her and visit her every day, but now that she is dying, the interest level has increased exponentially.

My Uncle Russell, who lives in Texas, has told Daddy to call him when it's over, as he has to work. My cousin John (http://www.youtube.com/user/HeleOnHunting) has decided that he will be flying home soon. There's no telling how many folks will show up before this is all over.

What my mission is today - the reason I am up so damn early - is that I am meeting my sister (who has an early Dr's appointment in G-ville), and we are going out to get Granny something to be buried in.

Honestly, it's a little macabre making all of these arrangements before Granny is actually dead, but I will be honest with you - my Granny has been gone for a long time. Now there is only this ghost of a person in a hospital bed at a nursing home.

My family went through this a little over a year ago with Mama's mother, Grandmama, and let me tell you, it is the most painful thing to have to deal with - watching someone waste away to a wraith, to a being that cannot communicate or for lack of a better word - live.

So today is death duty day. One of many to come in the future I suppose.

Hope you guys have a better one.

Pet Peeve

Your - possessive - meaning it belongs to you

You're - contraction of You Are

I do not understand why so few people know the difference. I did not realize that so many people misuse these two words until I just finished reading an email from a person at Central Office for my school district.

I think I may become a crusader for the education of folks as to the difference. Wonder if there is a tshirt somewhere for this?

Projects, projects, projects

Hey, Guys!

Well, I have finally gotten started on a couple of projects around here - and have finished two!

Amazing, huh?

I made a door/draft stopper for the utility room door. YOU may not think that is important, but the door is almost an inch short for some bizarre reason, and now AC and heat won't run out under that door any more.

I have also started making slip covers for the dining room chairs. I have had these chairs since I moved in as gifts from a friend of my parents'. The are beginning to really show some wear and tear, and really need to be recovered and have the bottoms rebuilt, but when you can buy fabric for a dollar a yard at Wal-Mart, why not just try to build something yourself? So, about four or five months ago I saw some cheapie fabric that would work in our house and bought about 8 yards of it. And it has just sat in the corner by the sewing machine - watching me while I played games and such on the computer, wishing it was something other than a pile of fabric.

So now I have made two slip covers - not really great, but so much better. Here are before and after pictures -

And for the final project in today's entry, Brent and I went to Habitat for Humanity on July 3rd and bought a light fixture for the dining room to replace the old fixture that had hung there probably since this joint was built over fifty years ago. When I moved in here, it was a brassy color. I wanted something that was white/cream and textured, you know what I am talking about, but those things cost money, so dad painted it for me, and it looked really good - 8 years ago.

Well, the one we bought was brown metal, but my dear sweetie Brent has painted it, and we have officially installed it - and I must say we are both very impressed with ourselves.

So - what do you guys think?

South Carolina Fireworks

Well, many thanks to the folks in SC that still make fireworks worth a damn. Despite the rain, Brent and his cohorts managed to shoot off the fireworks we had bought over the Memorial Day Holiday, making July 4th a great holiday.

I managed to go shopping at all of my favorite junk spots, and even got Brent out to go with me some.

We ate tons of stuff cooked on the grill - shrimp, sausages, and steaks - and had a great time with his folks.

What did you do fun for the 4th?

Happy Independence Day!

We are leaving in a bit for Franklinton to spend the holiday with my in-laws. Should be fun - lots of SC fireworks for the home-brew show this year.



Hope all of my loyal readers - both of you - have a great holiday.

Summer Vacation Really Begins

Well, I am considering today to be the first real day of my summer vacation as last week was a blur with the trip to Chincoteague. The kind of vacation where you sleep really late and just do the things you want to do. Today I have sat around a couple of hours in my pajamas, and now I am getting ready to go out to lunch with Cathy.

This afternoon, I may take a nap - or not - that's what I love about summer vacation.

Let's hope I don't get bored too quickly.

Ponies

Ponies
Originally uploaded by leaseuhd

Here are some pictures from Tuesday. We are just getting going this morning, but I wanted to upload some pictures, for my loyal readers, to ease your hearts, because I know you were worried that the whole trip was a storm like Monday night.

Things here are so beautiful, and it's nice to not have anything to really do.

Going to the beach today on Assateague. May see some more ponies.

Monday Night on Chincoteague

Okay, today -- Tuesday -- was wonderful. Last night, not so much.

Here is a video of just a small taste of the storm that blew through. More later.

Vacation

Well, tomorrow at the crack of dawn - well a little later, but that's not the point - Brent and I will be leaving for our official summer vacation.

I have been wanting for years and years and years to go to Chincoteague and Assateague to see the ponies. The ones Marguerite Henry wrote about in Misty of Chincoteague and Stormy Misty's Foal and Sea Star. I read those when I was in 5th and 6th grades, and I decided I wanted a pony - like a lot of little girls do - and I wanted to go to Pony Penning Day, which is the last Wednesday of July on Chincoteague, when the fireman go over and herd the herd over from Assategue to Chincoteague for an auction. The ponies swim over, and it's something to be seen, at least that's what I have read.

So we are going up for four days, three nights, and we are going to see the ponies, and we are going to fish, and we are going to swim, and so on and so on.

So, expect few reports between now and the weekend, but expect pictures and such later.

The Woods They are on Fire

For those of you that don't know, Eastern North Carolina is on fire. Yes, I CAN say Eastern North Carolina, because a huge chunk is smoking even as I type.

The local tv station has a story here http://www.witntv.com/news/headlines/19456249.html

We have been hearing about this for a while, but the winds changed direction yesterday afternoon, and in two hours, smoke was reaching as far west as Greenville.

Brent says that they have declared a code red air quality warning in Raleigh. RALEIGH. That's not good. Not good at all.

So, needless to say, it's been hazy, smelly, and your eyes and throat stay irritated. But, thankfully, the temperature has dropped some, and the wind will shift this weekend.

Here we go again . . .

Well, Daddy had some pain on Tuesday and ended up in the emergency room. He couldn't - as he says - make water. Not a drop. And felt like he really needed to.

Well, they couldn't do anything in the emergency room, so they took him up to surgery around ten that night, knocked him out a little, and catheterized him. The doctor said he had a little infection and a swollen prostate, so that had cut off his "water."

And the next day he went home.

Not.

No, the next day - no "water." They did a CAT scan and found a kidney stone which they went in and took out - ouch - and he spent another night in the hospital.

Today he is home. Thank God. I know he is much happier.

Mimosa Tree

A couple of years ago, I guess, a mimosa tree began growing out of the neighbors flower/tree bed into my "space" you could say. I love mimosa trees, so I never did anything about it.

It is now over ten feet tall, and blooms with beautiful pink flowers.

Have you ever looked at a Mimosa flower close up. Totally worth it. Very cool.

Photos on Flikr

2008_0612odds0098
Originally uploaded by leaseuhd

I have uploaded photos from our Memorial Day trip to Charleston here to avoid having to load them up on Blogger.

Enjoy!

Memorial Day Weekend

I know I really shouldn't write anything until I have pictures to upload, but I want to go ahead and tell everyone what a wonderful time Brent and I had in South Carolina.

(Of course the sad thing is that the only people who read this blog are those people we went to see. Hi, Y'all!)

Let me tell you folks, I hate traveling on a holiday weekend, but since I got an extra day off, and since I know I will not be able to afford to do much traveling after the 20th of this month, I packed my husband up and we went down to see friends in Myrtle Beach and Charleston.

While in Charleston, I finally bought something from the ladies that weave the seagrass into baskets. I couldn't afford the baskets - Geezus Gawd they are expensive - but I did buy a beautiful bouqet of roses which I have displayed in my dining room.

Also, while in South Carolina, we ate some of the most delicious food. If you are ever in Surfside just below Myrtle Beach, you must eat at Nibbles. It's right on the pier, and they have the most delicious seafood.

Hopefully I will be able to afford the gas down to Myrtle Beach again. My sister and her family will down there for a week in July, so Brent and I may take advantage of the free place to stay with a pool. Know what I mean?

Charleston was fun, but a really quick one day shot at a visit. I would love to come down for a long weekend, but I don't think I will be able to make it this summer. Sorry, Rob!

But Memorial Day weekend was fun. We spent time with Sally, Rob, and Todd. Just looking around, talking, and eating. Sounds like the perfect vacation to me.

Teach to the Test?

Okay, sorry I haven't been here in a while. I need to take a minute to explain something to everyone - and by everyone I mean my one true fan Rob - about the end of the school year.

Well, first of all, in middle school in North Carolina we give what are called End of Grade tests. We give every grade Math and Reading EOG's, and 5th and 8th grades get an extra dose of Science EOG's. These tests take up a good chunk of the morning at school and make everyone tired, from the kids taking them to the teachers administering them.

Well, I have administered, in the last month, the Reading EOG once. The Math EOG's (one calculator inactive and one calculator active) twice, because if you fail it, you have the chance to take it again. I have also been the proctor for an EOC, which is an End of Course test because it is a high school level test we give our 8th graders smart enough to be in Algebra class.

And this makes you tired, and you don't get as much done, which is a serious problem when you have 8000 books to get straight along with computers, overheads, calculators, blah, blah, blah.

So, I have been coming home and napping. And then I get up and Brent has dinner ready, so we eat. And then I watch some mind-numbing television. And then? Well, then I go to sleep.

Now, besides testing, we have had other things going on.

My fifth graders went to the county Battle of the Books competition and beat two 7th grade teams and one 8th grade team by a bunch of points, which makes me want to holler every time I think about it. So there were days when I spent a couple of hours practicing with the kids to get them ready. And let me tell you something. These fifth graders - they are going to rule the world - they are supersmart - seriously.

And then there was a Character Education celebration, and the yearbooks had to be handed out, and a dance, and athletic physicals (I do height and weight), and a meeting I got to take off half a day for (YEAH!), and last but not least an EOG carnival where over 400 students were rewarded with rides and games outside in the hottest weather we have had in years in June. But they had a blast, and we got pictures, and it's done.

So I've been busy.

But I promise, Rob, to do better.

Happy Birthday, Sally!

Today is Sally's Birthday! I would say which birthday, but most of you know already, because the large majority of us are the same birthyear.

I have known Sally almost all of my life. The only person I have known longer, that is not a family member, is Stephanie Stalls Carrerra Whatever, and we all know that she hasn't been in the picture in years.

I met Sally when my family moved in next to hers on West Second street, when I was four and a half years old. That's a long time folks. A very long time. How many of us can say we have friends that have been with us for over thirty years?

So this is to Sally. I am including several photos. If I had really thought about it, I would have gone over to Mama's and gotten some of the really old photos out to put in here, things that would probably have been forcibly retracted at a later time.

These first ones are two of my favorite pictures. Sally took our engagement picture, you see, and so I took one with Sally in my spot, just to see what it would look like.

Good picture, huh?


Looking through the pictures I have, it's funny how all of the really good ones revolve around the wedding - I guess I need to get better pictures of Sally, huh?

So Happy Birthday, to someone who will always be older than I am!

My Inspiration

Two years ago I stumbled across a blog called Dooce. Heather Armstrong was writing about her life - her daughter and husband and stuff that happened to her. She is hiliarious. I hope only to be half or a quarter as witty and funny as she is.

So she is now part of a wave of "Mommy Bloggers" or something like that. It's a booming business according to the Today show this morning. And here's a link to Heather's interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGKh6lbtKQ0

And I feel very comfortable calling her Heather in references, because I just know if I were to meet her we would become best friends and hang out all the time.

Not really, but it would be cool.

So after you guys watch the YouTube link above, definitely check out Heather's blog - www.dooce.com

And let me know - do you think she is as funny as I do?

Finally someone is bringing money in . . .

Well, Sassy got her prize today for winning in the Humane Society's photo contest under favorites. A $15 gift card to Tractor Supply Company - which works, I guess, because we ARE supposed to spend the money on her - right?

Anywho - with $5 to enter her, $5 to enter Pete (who did not win and is still recovering from the depression of not being chosen), that leaves us with a $5 profit.

Now only about $545 more dollars to go and we can call it even.

How Quickly It all Goes Away

Okay, I hate to admit this, but I have just spent thirty minutes pretty much spending my entire paycheck. Where does it all go?

I'm going now in search of something really sweet to get me through this.

Shooting Star

Okay, I have spent about two hours today and a bunch of tape fixing what can best be described as a mini-studio.

I saw this somewhere, somehow - it's amazing how if I really sit still long enough at the computer I can find all kinds of things and never really know how I got there.

http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html

This is a link to the spot where I found out how to make a cardboard light box or whatever they call it. Anyway, I am really looking forward to playing with this, not because I may start selling small items on Ebay - who has time? - but really because I just love making stuff and seeing if it will really work.

Needless to say I am already happy with the results, and this from simply holding a lamp next to the box while shooting the picture. Actually, I balanced the lamp on my knee while shooting the picture, and not even using a tripod as suggested in the article.

Read the article if you are interested in photography. I love the stuff he does in the article linked at the bottom of the link above - he uses granite and foam board to make a picture that looks like it could be in a magazine or catalog. Amazing.

Expect to see some odd stuff from me. But just for fun - lol. And here are a couple of my first shots.

Sassy

Well, the trouble child Brent and I have has finally made us proud. I have just found out this afternoon that her picture has won first prize in the Beaufort County Humane Society's Photo Contest in the Favorites Category.

Below is the picture I took, about seventh months after we got her. Brent and I both knew that was the picture we would send in for her.

I just hope that Petey can stand the star power we have here with her as part of the family. :-)

So, who has pets? And are they prize winners like ours?

National Boards

I have been wanting, for a long time, to write some about my experience with getting my National Board Certification.

I found out in November, and that was probably the best thing that happened to me all fall and winter.

Getting your National Boards for a teacher means several things -

1. You've spent up to three years trying to prove that you are a really good teacher/media coordinator. Which really means you have jumped through several hoops while having it videotaped and then you sat down and "reflected" on the hoop jumping - like how high did you jump, what would you do differently next time, did everyone get something from your hoop jumping, etc.

2. If you work in North Carolina, getting your certification means a 12% raise in pay. And that's the reason North Carolina is number one in the nation for the number of teachers who have their certification, in my honest opinion.

3. It also means that you get to hang a great certificate on your office wall so that everyone can see that you are Board Certified.

4. And finally, it means that you get recognized at a dinner held in a high school cafeteria this week, along with the others who earned their Certification this year (I think there were only four of us in the county this time.)

So, that's sorta it for that. Dinner on Thursday with some other National Board Certified Educators. Should be a hoot.

The Garden

2008_0411odds0023
Originally uploaded by leaseuhd

For those of you following the flowerbed, I have posted pictures to Flickr, because if you are going to get into this Web 2.0 thing, you might as well dive in head first.

So, what will hopefully happen is that the picture I am using will let you click over to Flickr to see the rest of the pictures.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Harbinger of Spring

I was reading an article in one of Brent's fishing magazines earlier today, and I saw an article entitled "Tuna: Harbinger of Spring."

Well, I don't know about you, but I'd have to say that they missed me with the whole tuna thing.

What I say is the "Harbinger of Spring" is our local ice cream truck. Ice cream truck, you say? In these days and times? Yes, folks, in this part of Washington, there is an ice cream truck, and he drove by today.

I was sitting inside watching TV when I heard the harbinger of spring - the tinkle of the ice cream truck's music. And for some reason, that made me happy. Like, YEAH, it's finally here. (Although we are reportedly going to have a frost on Monday night, because the temps are going to drop so low!)

And no I didn't run out to get an Eskimo Pie, or Rainbow Pop, but I may next time, now that spring is here.

Twenty Years Later

I had a wonderful thing happen to me at a meeting I had to attend on Thursday for school. A lady came up to me and asked if I was Lisa Williams, and I said I used to be, and she said, "Do you know who I am?"

And believe it or not, I did.

When I was a freshman at NC State, I met lots of people, especially as part of the Teaching Fellows Program. I met September there, and we are still friends to this day. I also met a girl named Debbie White, who was from New Bern, and who was married and pregnant, but her husband was in the Marines, so she was living in the dorms like we were.

Debbie White is now Debra Kinsey, and get this, is the Assistant Principal at John Cotten Tayloe right here in Washington. Amazing!

I am actually tickled to death to reconnect with her. We exchanged some information about our lives, and I told her Sep would not believe it when I told her - and she didn't. So now we are going to try to get together here in Washington - if I can get Sep down here - and have a good old remember when session.

So, I was thinking, I have some pictures from our wonderful journeys we took as Teaching Fellows - lovely shots of people that look a little like the people I know now. But what is really cool about this picture I am including here is the date on the back of it - May 1988 - twenty years ago - when in the hell did I ever get to be this old?

So enjoy folks! (Debbie is the one in the middle, and Sep is the one on the right.)

Finally, Pictures

Before

After

For a better shot -

For those of you from around here - that dark and light on the grass - that's sunshine and shadows - sunshine - can you believe it?

Twitter Updates on the Web Site

It's really the silliest thing. You sign up for an account, and then you can send just brief bursts of nothingness from your cell phone. It's addictive. You can also access it from the web. Very cool. Great for doing when you are sitting still on Highway 17 for ten minutes.

All Summer In a Day

Ray Bradbury wrote a story about a planet where it rains all day everyday for like seven years in a row, with one day of sunshine every seven years - well, I am living there. And it is damn depressing.

Flower bed pictures on hold for some natural light.

Flower Bed Redux

Okay, I have just finished showering after a very busy morning during which Cindy finished up the flower bed out front. I helped, and Brent helped a little (he did all of the clearing before this part of the project), but Cindy really did the lion's share of the work.

And it looks gorgeous, so I will take some pictures later today or tomorrow - hopefully the sun will shine.

So be looking for those.

The worst part of today was the fact that it rained so much yesterday and Friday night that if we stepped into the new part of the bed, we sunk down to our ankles. Seriously. So we haven't been able to test out the stepping stones, and we have a really, really muddy porch, which I want to spray off, but will wait to do.

But it was nice visiting with Cindy, and it is a beautiful flower bed with lots of promise for the years to come.

My Little Blue Car

Okay - here is a picture of the final product of my little blue car I made - with Brent's help on the stand. The theme for the spring bookfair is "Take a Reading Road Trip," and the clip art includes pictures of cars piled high with books on top like luggage.

I really wanted him to be much bigger, but it just didn't happen. But I think he's cute.

Naps are Wonderful Things

Well, folks, today was my first day back after Easter Break. I felt great at work - walked all over, talked to people, sorta moved some stuff - really got some stuff done. So . . .

By four o'clock as I was rolling into the carport, my body had decided that enough was enough. I went in, talked to Brent for a few, and then took a nap. An hour nap during which I did not move after falling dead asleep. An hour nap which was the most blessed thing I have had over the past three days.

Do you remember taking naps as a child? I remember summers at my Grandmama's house where we ate lunch right at twelve - while my grandfather listened to the livestock report on Channel 9. Right after lunch, we washed the dishes, and then we went to bed - no questions asked.

My Grandmama had a chenille bedspread on her back bed, with the chenille making a pattern that always made me think of a garden - like the English gardens you see in pictures and such. I would trace my finger around the design until I fell asleep. That's why one of my most favorite possessions from my Grandmama's house is a chenille bedspread with that kind of pattern in it. I doubt that it is the same one, I remember there being pinks and greens in the pattern, and the spread I have is actually all white, but it doesn't matter. It reminds me. And that's enough.

As Friday comes upon us

Well, I would say I have enjoyed my Easter vacation, but I have not vacated nor rested much. On Monday I actually did have a day where I sat around watching bad tv wondering if I should put real clothes on or if my pj's would take me through the day - I think I actually changed over to sweats - only to go pick up dinner . . . gotta love take out Chinese food.


Tuesday Brent and I - mostly Brent - cut out the new and expansive sections of our flower bed out front - what my cousins Cindy and Alan will be coming down next weekend to help with. The hard part was rolling the sod and picking it up - seriously. It weighed a ton. Who knew grass could weigh so much. But Brent pulled the trailer around back, and we attempted transplants in bald spots our dogs have created. We're still watering daily folks, so wish us luck.










Wednesday we took that piece of equipment back, and we got another one - a carpet cleaner, because, girls, if you are going to have men and dogs in your lives, you are going to have spots on your carpet. So after picking up the cleaner, and going for lunch in Choco-hoco land, we came home, and as it was such a beautiful day (the weather has turned out much warmer and nicer than I thought it was going to be), we decided to go fishing for a couple of hours.

Now, let me stop here and say that fishing always sounds better to me than it really is. I don't know why I don't remember from one trip to the next how much I suck at it, or how frustrating it is, or how uncomfortable those seats are in the front of the boat - but anyway . . . We went fishing, and it was actually nice and peaceful. We go up Bear Creek, which is actually not too far from the boat ramp, and it's all trees and birds and quiet. Blessed quiet. So overlooking the fact that I only caught one fish, and so did Brent, it was a nice relaxing trip.



Then we came home and cleaned carpets - until eleven o'clock. That's right - crazy - yes -- but the proud owners of some clean carpet? - yes as well.

Today I was all excited about getting to see my friend Todd. He's home for a long weekend to visit with family and friends. I got up, returned the carpet cleaner (after Brent had cleaned the couch, chair, and ottoman), got my oil changed, ran a couple of other errands, and then came home. Todd showed up sometime after lunch and hung out helping with odd jobs and such around the house.

While all of this was going on, Brent had gone out fishing again - only caught three today - but still had a good time.

And tonight I have worked on a display for school -something for Book Fair - which I will post pictures of once it is done.


Tomorrow, I plan to have lunch with Cathy, and finish a couple of projects around here.


So - if you have made it to the end of this post without falling asleep from the mundaneness of it all, thanks!

Happy Easter

Brent, Daddy, and I went down to Acre Station to walk around the house and look at stuff. Daddy always takes advantage of those times to tell me where every plant came from. I hope I can remember enough to pass some on to the nephews. What I really hope is that at least one of the nephews cares enough to even want to walk around and look at plants.

So, I thought I would include a few pictures from the trip. Didn't take many, but here's one of Daddy, looking very stoic . . .

And here's a patch of spring growing by the front door - actually growing right by where the flag pole used to be.

So, Happy Easter, and Happy Spring!

Saturday Morning Crafts

Well, I couldn't let my spring break begin without a craft for Saturday morning. On the way back from Greensboro on Tuesday Lisa A. and I stopped at World Market in Durham - if you don't know what World Market is, you are really missing out on something. http://www.worldmarket.com/home.jsp

I have been looking for some handmade paper to cover a lampshade in the living room and wouldn't you know it, they had tons of it.

So here it is guys - come by the house for a better look when you are in town.

And just so you know, as I was making this, rose petals kept falling from the paper. Like maybe someone somewhere in a factory has the job of sticking some rose petals and leaves on regular paper to add to the handmadeness of it. (That's right, handmadeness) So here's a picture of the mess.

Riley's Birthday

My nephew turned 6 on March 20th - the first day of spring - and since my sister doesn't want me to post pictures of the boys on the Internet - damn you Internet freaks out there - I am posting this one which is actually a little funny -

Happy Birthday, Riley!

Children's Birthdays and Sibling Gifts

What in the heck does that mean? Well, my parents, being the kind and loving grandparents that they are, began a ritual way back when the second child of my sister's was born, of giving the sibling a gift on the birthday of his brother. So, today is Riley's birthday. Riley gets a big gift. Hunter and Colin, his brothers, get small gifts. Has my sister told Mama and Daddy to stop doing this? Yes. Have they any plans to stop doing this? No.

It's sorta embarassing watching Hunter search for a gift when there is absolutely no reason for him to get one. And it takes away from Riley's birthday, or Hunter's birthday, or Colin's birthday, when they do it.

But Mama doesn't care. She says she is old and she can do what she wants. And I say I am old and I can tell her I think she should stop doing it. At least I can tell her that three times a year - next scheduled discussion - July 30th.

Elevator Etiquette

Okay, I know, I fuss way too much about what other people do, but after spending three days getting on and off of elevators at the middle school conference in Greensboro, I have to fuss about people and their elevator etiquette.

If you are getting on an elevator, you wait for everyone to get off first. No, the elevator is not going to run away from you. No, you are not going to have to wait too much longer, really.

If you are waiting for the next elevator, let the one you just said no to get gone before pushing the button - pushing the button too early only makes the elevator doors open again and again and so forth and so on and she told two friends . . .

So, those two things out of the way - you are free to ride elevators again - go forth and prosper . . .

Conference in Greensboro

I am going to use the NC Middle School Conference as my excuse for not recently adding entries.

Keep checking back - more tomorrow -

Daylight Savings Time

Okay, as much as I hate the whole general idea that I have lost an hour somewhere, I am really happy with more light at the end of the day than at the beginning. I feel like I can get more done - when I am not visiting sick parents in the hospital.

What I love is that spring is here. One day you look out at the yard, and it's all brown and yucky, and then the next day, you look out and there's green here and there, and it grows and grows until your grass is back. And the flowers are blooming. It's so cool.

But I am still really tired, but we can blame that on the surgery and not on daylight savings time.

So I'm looking forward to a long warm spring. How about you?

Rise of the Machine

After talking to Rob, I realize that I should tell you guys a little more about the Boston Scientific machine Daddy had installed.

It's a combo defibrillator and pacemaker. The coolest thing is that in the middle of the night a few months from now, there will be a phone call made from a control unit in my parents' house to Dr. Frazier's office. The two machines will talk about my dad's heart rate, any shocks he may have received, and eventually, when the scales and the blood pressure machine show up, these will conference call with dad's machine and the phone thing and will let Dr. Frazier keep up with Dad's weight and blood pressure as well.

Then there's the machines in the hospital that they use to talk to the thing in Daddy's chest. Looks like a laptop. Communicates wirelessly. Can be stopped with a magnet. But funny thing - when the tech guy took the magnet off of Dad's chest, he threw it right on top of the cart with the two computers - and by the way, one had a touch screen - too cool. So they can talk to Dad's heart and can withstand a powerful magnet.

But that's it for the machines - except it makes you wonder - what kind of world will it be in a few years where machines can control your heart, call the doctor, and keep track of your weight. What will they be in charge of next?

Pronunciation Guide

And just in case you are actually reading the previous entry, Daddy is pronounced Dead-dee - I don't know if it's a southern thing or just a my family thing, but I thought it would be good to let you know.

Defib's and Kicks to the Chest

Daddy had a defibrillator and a pacemaker combo thing "installed" yesterday. It makes for a really long day when they tell you to be there at seven but don't take you back for surgery until eleven. And then we didn't get up into his room until after four or so to see him after recovery.

Mary and I stayed until we saw him in his room and made sure that he had eaten his lunch. Then we left.

At two this morning, Mama calls me and says the hospital has called, and Daddy is having trouble and wants her there. Then they call back and tell her he wants to be sure that she calls us. She called me, I called Mary. I drove Mama over, and Mary met us there. It has been a very long day with a definitely heinous morning.

Apparently around 1:30 this morning, Daddy sat on the edge of the bed to pee and began being kicked in the chest by his defibrillator. He was shocked 13 times in about thirty minutes. THIRTEEN times. Needless to say there was pee all over the floor.

The only way they could get the debrillator to stop was to slap a huge magnet on his chest just over the mechanism. And then start pushing meds that would slow his heart down. Apparently, just resting - or rather just peeing - caused his heart rate to shoot up to 180 beats per minute. Crap like that can blow your heart up - or make it seize up - or just hurt it really, really badly.

So we got there at 2:00 and waited for the doctor. Mama slept in the recliner in his room, and Mary and I went out into the waiting areas to try to cat nap on couches and chairs. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't all that great either. I fell asleep and woke up to find Mary gone - she had gone to find a couch she could stretch out on. Then we began calling subs and such - this was 5:30 - 6:00. To kill time, we moved our cars from the North 40 out front to the parking lot closer to the Heart Center - I think I almost killed my Mama by walking her from the front of the building, but she didn't want to be pushed.

Anywho, the doctor finally came in around 8:00. He said this is amazingly the first time he has ever seen anything like this. The 24 hour harness recording they did on Daddy weeks ago gave no signs that his heart would race like that at rest, so they are going in tomorrow to oblate (a fancy word for close by burning) a node in his heart that should help to keep his rate down. They have also set dad's mechanism to go off when his heart rate goes over 200 beats per minute - it had been set at 180. That was the cool part - seeing the whole mechanism they use to send messages to the defib. And Mama and Daddy will be getting this thing they plug into the phone line that will keep Dr. Frazier's office "in touch" with the pacemaker/defibrillator. Amazing.

So needless to say I got Mama back to Washington and have spent the majority of the rest of the day sleeping off one sick headache. Luckily Brent was gone today delivering Bella (the dachshund we were fostering) to her new home, so it was very quiet.

And now for the highlight of the day - Mama asked the nurses if they were using dirty syringes - Jesus God how embarassing . . .

Back to Work - Day Two

Just to keep everyone in the loop -

My Friday was a bit hairier than Thursday. About 1 o'clock I started losing steam. Ended up sitting at the checkout computer from 1:30 - 2:45 just trying to stay awake. I was so tired.

But I made it through. Came home and went riding in the country with Brent to look at things. It's a disease I inherited from my dad. We are the only people I know who will pay $3.14 a gallon for gas and will ride just for the heck of it.

But I don't know what will happen next week, with five days straight in a row.

Wish me luck.

Challenge

Do you know what a book challenge is? I do, because I am a public school librarian. I also know, because over the course of six years, I have had to handle a few - the most for any school in my school system - yes, I am so proud.

A challenge occurs when someone wants a book removed from the library, because he or she thinks it is inappropriate for students. What usually happens is a parent hears about something his or her child is reading and decides that he doesn't want his child reading that, and for that matter doesn't think anybody else's child should read that book either.

So, they fill out a form, and then according to school board policy, I have to have my Media and Technology Advisory Committee read the book, meet to discuss the book, and then vote on how to answer the challenge. Then I write the parent a nice letter to let him or her know what we decided.

As a librarian and warrior for intellectual freedom, I think that most parents are nuts when they want to control what every other child in the world is reading, just because they don't want their child reading something. But, as a champion for intellectual freedom, I recognize the parents' rights to challenge library books.

You see, in order to have freedom of speech, you have to let everyone speak. Even if you don't agree with them. That's probably one of the most important things I learned while going through the MLS program in college.

So I welcome challenges. Sorta - and I look forward to meeting with my committee to discuss this book and its place in a middle school library.

The book, by the by, is The Giver, by Lois Lowry. Check it out at your local library.

Will let you know how the challenge turns out.

Back to Work

Well, today was my first official day back at work in the library. I managed to work a whole day, too, which I was sure I wouldn't be able to do. And tonight, I am only a little tired and sore, so hopefully I will be able to get out of bed tomorrow and do it all over again.

It was nice to get back to work. I haven't been there since December 4, the day before my first back surgery. I have been gone about 11 weeks I guess, haven't stopped to count out the time, because it's sorta depressing.

I had my first lamenectomy - I think that's what it was supposed to be - on December 5, and it didn't take - although the doctor said it did. How can something have worked - something that was supposed to get rid of the pain - when you wake up on a gurney in terrible pain - I woke up and immediately started crying.

Well, the doctor said that the pain would ease off, and it did, but not enough to make me feel like I could go back to work after Christmas break, which was my plan. But something happened and I had another surgery on January 9th - the day I was supposed to go back to work. I put work off an extra week, hoping to feel better, but what happened? I reherniated my back. OR did I?

Brent and I both think the first doctor screwed something up, or didn't do it quite right or finish the job or whatever. The second doctor went in, cleaned things out, and I am doing rather well as far as the sciatica is concerned. And today I went back to work - did I mention that already?

And I walked from the parking lot to the car and then back again at the end of the day with no pain - amazing -

So, thanks to God and my husband, and our second doctor, for getting me through the past two and a half months, and please help me get through tomorrow - one day a time - as the song says . . .

Looking Glass Wars series

I have just finished Seeing Red by Frank Beddor, the sequel to The Looking Glass Wars. Just as good as the first, although it felt like there wasn't as much going on in the second - really just one large battle. Here's hoping the third one is as good, and that Alyce and Dodge can get together.