Happy Thansgiving everyone... We should do more reflecting on the blessings in our lives, but at least we take this one day to remember all that we have and be appreciative, humbled and grateful. My top 10...{in no particular order}
1) My family. Specifically, Parker, Matthew and Christopher. I am so amazingly blessed to be their mom - they continue to amaze me daily, and they think I am the coolest and most wonderful mom in the whole world. (I will appreciate it now, because I am sure this will change when they hit their teenage years and everyone ELSE's mom is way cooler than me...)
2) My family - part II.. Specifically, Steve - my wonderful and loving husband who takes care of me when I'm sick, stays home with a sick child, sings to the baby and is just all around fantastic!
3) My family - part III... I was very blessed to be raised by an amazing man, my dad, who we lost last year. My mom "done good" in the dad-picking department!! I am very blessed that I still have my mom around and am so thankful for our wonderful relationship. We have fun together like a couple of girlfriends rather than mother/daughter.
4) My job... Its been crazy and insane and a racket lately, but I really do love my team and the kids I work with. I am very thankful that it all worked out so that I could stay at my school this year.
5) My camera. I love taking pictures. I love it when they turn out and the people in them are pleased with the results!! I love that I can make a side business doing something that I find so fun! I am thankful that others think I have talent.
6) My computer. Its getting old, and in need of at least a new hard drive, but it connects me to the world outside Arizona in a way that the telephone can't. I have amazing and wonderful friends, most of whom I have never met in person, who are there to encourage and support me and cheer me on. They are an amazing group of ladies and I cannot imaging my life without them.
7) My in-real-life friends... old and new... Life is just so much better with friends!! Especially the kind who have known you since way-back-when or the kind you can just pick right back up with regardless of the time between visits! Good Friends are the sisters God forgot to give you...
8) My new car... it works, nothing is falling apart, it gets great gas mileage, fits everything I need in it...its safe and cute and I don't feel rediculous driving a big huge car alone like I did with the Odyssey.
9) My iPod. I earned it through Arbonne, which was really wicked cool in itself, its an amazing little gadget (and those who know me know my love for gadgets) that goes easily with me running, keeps the boys amused on long flights, goes with me anywhere... I could not run without it!
10) The fact that the sun rises each day and sets each night and that I get to experience both, at least for today, since we don't always know what tomorrow brings, but we can enjoy today for all its splendor and beauty and just be thankful that we can be a part of it all...
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
POP goes the ego...
I made Schooner a very happy puppy today and took her for a quick walk/jog. We covered about 2.5 miles when all was said and done, and it felt good. The air was just cool enough without freezing the tips of my ears or my fingers.
It has been a while since I've done any running at all - life and illness have burst apart all the best of intentions. I figured that I should take it easy today since this was the first time out since being so sick over the weekend. We walked the first 1.25 mile to my usual stopping point, and when it was time to turn around I broke into a nice slow jog.
Felt good... and the more steps I took, the better it felt! As I was heading down the "home stretch" (which is ever-so-slightly downhill) I started picking up the pace, and it felt really good... I'm feeling all proud of myself, moving at a good clip down the street, dragging the poor pooch behind me...
Until...
On my right comes this runner... chiseled and toned without an ounce of extra fat on him, who passes me like I am standing still.
Ho hum.... well maybe someday I will be a true "Runner"... someday...
It has been a while since I've done any running at all - life and illness have burst apart all the best of intentions. I figured that I should take it easy today since this was the first time out since being so sick over the weekend. We walked the first 1.25 mile to my usual stopping point, and when it was time to turn around I broke into a nice slow jog.
Felt good... and the more steps I took, the better it felt! As I was heading down the "home stretch" (which is ever-so-slightly downhill) I started picking up the pace, and it felt really good... I'm feeling all proud of myself, moving at a good clip down the street, dragging the poor pooch behind me...
Until...
On my right comes this runner... chiseled and toned without an ounce of extra fat on him, who passes me like I am standing still.
Ho hum.... well maybe someday I will be a true "Runner"... someday...
Monday, November 20, 2006
Good news, bad news
The bad news... I was hit with the flu something awful this weekend. Could NOT get out of bed except to become all to familiar with our bathroom. Have not been that sick in a year when I was hit with a very similar flu exactly at this time last year.
The good news? I dropped 6 pounds in a day and got to a "low" I have not seen in over 2 years. Being sick has to have a silver lining somewhere, right?
The good news: The flu seemed to last exactly 24 hours and then disappeared as quickly as it arrived.
The bad news: Some of those 6 pounds will inevitably find me again, probably by today. Drat!
Reminds me of my friend Nancy's siggy line... "I'm just one good stomach virus away from my goal weight!!"
Yeah - its kind of like that.
The good news? I dropped 6 pounds in a day and got to a "low" I have not seen in over 2 years. Being sick has to have a silver lining somewhere, right?
The good news: The flu seemed to last exactly 24 hours and then disappeared as quickly as it arrived.
The bad news: Some of those 6 pounds will inevitably find me again, probably by today. Drat!
Reminds me of my friend Nancy's siggy line... "I'm just one good stomach virus away from my goal weight!!"
Yeah - its kind of like that.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Its been a while!
I used to blog daily.
I used to do a lot of things, daily. Somehow "life" seems to be getting in the way of a lot of my daily activities. It's getting kind of annoying!
I guess one of my excuses for not writing more is that there really is not a whole lot going on. There's the endless din of chaos from school (albeit softer now) and the cacophony of sounds that is my house... (as can be expected with 3 boys in residence) and among it all, things are staying rather status-quo.
I'm thinking that's a good thing....
On the "you had to do WHAT??!!" front... we had to take our bird to the vet on Monday. His little left foot was just dangling there, and he was not able to move it. He was no crankier than usual, but something was clearly wrong, so we piled in the car - me, the three boys, a limp bird and a lame dog... what a sight we were!!
They had to x-ray the birds leg. Now someone tell me, how on earth does one actually get a rather twerked off bird to hold STILL long enough to get an x-ray? I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that one, but the Vet came out with his little x-ray in hand to show us that, clearly, the bird's leg was broken.
I think I might have been able to ascertain that one all on my own, without my x-ray vision.
Nonetheless, the bird has some very pricey photos of its leg to show its grandkids, and a splint on its damaged leg.
Wanna see a really pissed off pigeon?? Put his leg in a cast!! (ok, CeCe is not a pigeon, but rather a cute cockatiel, but pissed off cockatiel was lacking the alliteration that makes the first statement fun to say...)
Since he was already wearing his bullet- and Kryptonite-proof vest, the vet also took pictures of Maddy's leg.
Not so good.. she has lesions on her leg, right near the elbow. We don't know why... could be valley fever, or bone cancer. Let's hope its the first one - she's the world's most perfect dog. She is our first child, the daughter I will never have, the smartest canine on the planet with the patience of a saint (as evidenced by Christopher literally crawling over her in the vet's office and her just looking at me, with pleading in her eyes to make him stop) The thought of loosing her makes me literally sick. I know it will happen someday... I'd just like to wait until we actually grow to LIKE Schooner before we have to have her as our only Berner.... (we love her, but she still eats things. Like an entire pumpkin pie, Peanut Butter and Fluff sandwiches, the moulding on the baseboards....)
I used to do a lot of things, daily. Somehow "life" seems to be getting in the way of a lot of my daily activities. It's getting kind of annoying!
I guess one of my excuses for not writing more is that there really is not a whole lot going on. There's the endless din of chaos from school (albeit softer now) and the cacophony of sounds that is my house... (as can be expected with 3 boys in residence) and among it all, things are staying rather status-quo.
I'm thinking that's a good thing....
On the "you had to do WHAT??!!" front... we had to take our bird to the vet on Monday. His little left foot was just dangling there, and he was not able to move it. He was no crankier than usual, but something was clearly wrong, so we piled in the car - me, the three boys, a limp bird and a lame dog... what a sight we were!!
They had to x-ray the birds leg. Now someone tell me, how on earth does one actually get a rather twerked off bird to hold STILL long enough to get an x-ray? I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that one, but the Vet came out with his little x-ray in hand to show us that, clearly, the bird's leg was broken.
I think I might have been able to ascertain that one all on my own, without my x-ray vision.
Nonetheless, the bird has some very pricey photos of its leg to show its grandkids, and a splint on its damaged leg.
Wanna see a really pissed off pigeon?? Put his leg in a cast!! (ok, CeCe is not a pigeon, but rather a cute cockatiel, but pissed off cockatiel was lacking the alliteration that makes the first statement fun to say...)
Since he was already wearing his bullet- and Kryptonite-proof vest, the vet also took pictures of Maddy's leg.
Not so good.. she has lesions on her leg, right near the elbow. We don't know why... could be valley fever, or bone cancer. Let's hope its the first one - she's the world's most perfect dog. She is our first child, the daughter I will never have, the smartest canine on the planet with the patience of a saint (as evidenced by Christopher literally crawling over her in the vet's office and her just looking at me, with pleading in her eyes to make him stop) The thought of loosing her makes me literally sick. I know it will happen someday... I'd just like to wait until we actually grow to LIKE Schooner before we have to have her as our only Berner.... (we love her, but she still eats things. Like an entire pumpkin pie, Peanut Butter and Fluff sandwiches, the moulding on the baseboards....)
Monday, November 06, 2006
Hold that...
I just saw THIS on today's morning news... we're not out of the woods yet. Record breaking heat. Great!! Wonderful! We've not had enough of that this summer, so, you know - go ahead and pile it on!!
Heellloooooo up there - it's NOVEMBER people... wanna stop blasting the heat for us??
We were at Fr. Jon's farewell dinner last night. People were getting up to speak... one of our Choir members, a very outspoken and funny guy, remembered thinking they were hiring a Pastor who may not have full command of his senses when Fr. Jon accepted the job in the middle of July. When it was 119* in the shade....
He said - You know, they call it a "dry heat"... Dry - yeah, its dry, but then again so's a house-fire!
Heellloooooo up there - it's NOVEMBER people... wanna stop blasting the heat for us??
We were at Fr. Jon's farewell dinner last night. People were getting up to speak... one of our Choir members, a very outspoken and funny guy, remembered thinking they were hiring a Pastor who may not have full command of his senses when Fr. Jon accepted the job in the middle of July. When it was 119* in the shade....
He said - You know, they call it a "dry heat"... Dry - yeah, its dry, but then again so's a house-fire!
Friday, November 03, 2006
Its finally OVER
Remember this?? --> First 100* day.
Luckily we have not seen those temps for about a month now, but we still had somewhere around 106 days over 100* this year. ICK.
But yesterday - just after Halloween, right when the rest of the country is finding gloves and gollashes and sweaters with hoods, I was able to turn OFF my air conditioning.
I betcha by the end of the weekend I will be turning on the heat! That's just how things go here in the Sonoran Desert...
Luckily we have not seen those temps for about a month now, but we still had somewhere around 106 days over 100* this year. ICK.
But yesterday - just after Halloween, right when the rest of the country is finding gloves and gollashes and sweaters with hoods, I was able to turn OFF my air conditioning.
I betcha by the end of the weekend I will be turning on the heat! That's just how things go here in the Sonoran Desert...
Job update
Full time contract??
Check!
Job Description???
Check!!!
It only took until the 10th week of school (aren't you glad your kids are not in the Special Ed program where I work!??) for us to get fully staffed and for me to finally KNOW what my job will be!!
Isn't it strange that this is the exact job I had mentioned to the school and the district back in SEPTEMBER? So much of the headaches and troubles would have been avoided if they had just listened to me...
And we all know that if I ruled the world, there'd be world peace, a cure for cancer and pleanty of food on every table... ;-)
Oh, and for those of you keeping score at home, I will be the 6th and 7th grade LRC teacher, included for 4 classes a day with 1 pull-out resource class.... Just as I had suggested way back when....
Check!
Job Description???
Check!!!
It only took until the 10th week of school (aren't you glad your kids are not in the Special Ed program where I work!??) for us to get fully staffed and for me to finally KNOW what my job will be!!
Isn't it strange that this is the exact job I had mentioned to the school and the district back in SEPTEMBER? So much of the headaches and troubles would have been avoided if they had just listened to me...
And we all know that if I ruled the world, there'd be world peace, a cure for cancer and pleanty of food on every table... ;-)
Oh, and for those of you keeping score at home, I will be the 6th and 7th grade LRC teacher, included for 4 classes a day with 1 pull-out resource class.... Just as I had suggested way back when....
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