Happy 23rd Anniversary!!!

23 years together-

Those who read together stay together!!!!!!

Maybe????

Happy reading to you all!!

Tender mercies amongst the whine

Well this semester has been a struggle - too many classes with too many assignments and too many trips to Rochester - I worked my butt off and felt overwhelmed by the amount of work, papers, lesson plans, and reading to be done.  I also discovered that one class I need is only offered in Minneapolis this summer on a Thursday night 6-10PM May-June...yuck...but no class no student teaching in the fall so ...  I even started to question why I was doing this and did I really like teaching in the first place, was this a huge waste of time and money and maybe? .... I have not subbed in my favorite spots as much as I would have liked this semester and I have subbed too many gen ed classes this semester also.  Thursday was my last final and I worked in a middle school class for students needing more structure then is found in a normal school day.  I loved it!!!  I have worked there in the past and Thursday I remembered why I want to teach and why I am working so hard at school.  Hoorah!!!

Here is the point where I really knew the Lord is aware of my struggles-even with all the pleading prayers I was struggling with everything - everything - So Friday morning and I am called to be in the same classroom as Thursday and I love it again - but the tender mercy offered to me that day was multiplied when the director of the program asked me into his office to complement me.  He told me he had been observing me the last two days and was extremely impressed with my performance - he said that he had heard I was excellent in every job I had had, but he hadn't really bought into the praise until he observed my skills himself.  He told me he would love to have me working there when I was finished with school- so please apply when the time comes.  I thanked him and then I thanked the Lord for his words - I needed that so much-I needed to know-again- I wasn't in the wrong place but I was where I needed to be, doing what I needed to be doing - my whole outlook changed and I floated home that afternoon.  Even without the classes I need falling into the time and place I would prefer I know everything is going to work out for the best, I just need to remember these experiences to keep going when the going gets tough.

Almost done with this semester!!!!

Yeah!!!!!!!

School, Life, Family and Guilt- why I haven't posted in awhile-

Well to start I will tell you about my public achievement class.  My group, 4 of us, go to the Rochester ALC and work with 18 students every Wednesday on PA.  At first I was concerned they wouldn't talk to us, but they love to talk about themselves and about their lives....now on to finding what they are passionate about and their true self-interests so we can decide on a topic and a project to start changing their lives for the better.  Power is the medium of exchange in PA so we need to see what they want to do and then discover who has the power to make that happen.  One girl has a 7 month old named Kennedy so I said I have a daughter who had the same name (did not get into the spelling.)  One boy asked how old my daughter was and when I said 13 he said I must have been 13 when I had her.....oh....he is now my favorite student in the group.  Of course we all know I am old enough to be all of their mothers.  Oh well....that is what I do every Wednesday at 4:30 now.  - Not to mention Mondays for literacy, Thursdays for assessments and etiology.  My car just naturally goes to Rochester when I drive now.  I also get to go on a few Tuesdays when we have speakers come for PA, coach training.  I am a PA coach by the way.

Next semester I am taking 6 classes again and it is going to be rough and I get to drive in the wonderful Minnesota winter weather - last night was slick with freezing rain.  My teacher let us out at 9 PM but I drive with a friend and her teacher didn't let them out until 9:45 - so I walked around the place and put more steps on my Fitbit.  Augsburg College in Rochester is at Bethel Lutheran Church and it is an enormous building with stairs rooms galore--you could get lost with how large that place is - I also had to walk off dinner  Augsburg serves dinner to its students and last night it was baked chicken---my favorite...yummy..I am a hobbit at school and have 1st dinner when I get there and 2nd dinner during our first class break...yummy!!!  We all pay a 35 dollar student activity fee to cover food, printing, and tutoring for the semester.

Life is busy with school, work, kids, and the rest.  I have really cut down on the days I work- the only good thing about aesop is that you can control your schedule better.  I work about twice a week and study the other three days.  Good news is that I am caught up and almost finished with everything I need to do this semester and I have 4 weeks left- all my research papers are done and all of my lessons are written.  I do need to teach a lesson in 2nd grade that my teacher will come down to view and grade...no problem I have done this a thousand times.  I am doing my hours in Mrs Watkins 2nd grade....I love that class.  Qatar and Zeke are in Bye Bye Birdie this weekend - Zeke is Hugo and Qatar is Mr. McAfee.  I am going tonight since I had class last night and Riley is getting baptized Saturday night- single guy with a career- one of Billy Andersons friends from HS- great guy he has been investigating for at least 6 months at this point.

Family - We are going to Brainard for the week of Thanksgiving to reconnect with each other and have a bit of fun and family time.  I need time away from distractions so I can concentrate on the kids and David.  We are taking the kids out of school for two days because they messed with our Thanksgiving holiday by having school Monday and Tuesday instead of the whole week off like we have always had in the past.  I look forward to sleeping in, eating junk, swimming, playing games, knitting and other crafts we are bring to do and watching TV and movies.  I am truly thankful for this time away to regroup.  No homework since I am caught up and ahead of the game-but I have wondered if I could get started with next semesters work?  HUMMMMMM.....maybe after Thanksgiving I will email my upcoming teachers and see if there is anything I can work ahead on.

Guilt - there is no shortage of that around here.  I am missing or have missed several concerts, games, events, etc. since I started back to school and this semester is bad.  JT told me I couldn't miss his first band  concert or I didn't love him...oh well I have a final that day in Rochester-I still love you JT.  I did make it to the last half of his parkour class at the Y on Wednesday night after the ALC.  More guilt comes in on the phone when friends and family call and they are shocked when I answer thinking I must be dead they haven't heard from me in so long.  We had scheduled dinner out last weekend a few weeks ago and so at 7 AM Friday the phone rang- my friend reminding me of dinner since she knew otherwise I would be a no show from forgetting.  Oh what a wonderful life if someone cares enough to do that to be sure we get to spend time together-makes me feel guilty I didn't think to remind her.  :)

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School is tough and I am old.

I am feeling old since one of my instructor said he was born in 72...what?  Why the heck and I doing this?  I have asked myself that question a few too many times this semester.  I am not in love with my classes and I am subbing in different building and that makes having a routine hard.  I like having a routine.  

But it is too late I have student loans and if I quit I have no way to pay them back without a better paying job and I love teaching especially sped so I guess I will keep going...anyway what would I do with all this extra time I have discovered?

Glogster for class - it is a bit smaller viewed this way. The Videos can be enlarged to watch.

How do you pay for yearbooks?

Well this year again I have 2 yearbooks to buy and next year and the next year and then 3 yearbooks and then back to 2 again and last back to only 1 and only 1 at the end.  Well that is lots of yearbooks and those sucker are about 70 dollars---on the early buy that is.  So how to pay for all of those yearbooks or at least this years 2 books.  Well a few weeks back I saw a basket of these razor blades at Hyvee and each package was 10 cents.  OK that sounds like the right price for the boys and their hairy faces, so I bought a few packages and then thought about it and sent Qatar back for the rest.

Qatar came back with 183 packages(4 bags full) and I started listing them on ebay.  To date I have made over $150 in profit on these blades and I still have 2 full bags left...I am not sure how many.  I sell them in many combinations, but the most popular is the 4 pack for $9.99 plus $2.99 shipping.  Sold 2 groups just today.  YEAH!!!!  

Did I forget and pray for patience again?

I promised never to do that again after the last time- I must have done it by accident a few months ago because whoa baby I am not having a good time right now.

Everyone and everything is difficult and time consuming and tiring.

Kids, David, School, Work, Fun-wait what fun was that again?  None thats right I forgot.

Life is happening and not the way I wish it would currently and for the last few months on top of it all.

Yelling I AM NOT YELLING!!!! STOP....I don't want to learn any new skills or virtues for awhile...maybe forever at this point.

I am crazy---or just going that way faster every day

Off to school yesterday to do some testing on students before class in the evening.  Well Dad had surgery on his appendix..interrupted the day...oh well...off to school after he gets out of surgery and driving fast to get there before it starts.   Home after 10:30 PM to walk into water pouring from the ceiling.  Bathroom issues again.....Called the plumber still not here...water stopped to bed about midnight and not a very good night sleep at all.  No shower available this morning and Zeke is yelling at me about it...I guess I can hose him off in the yard...Bad day..so far..cross your fingers it gets better.

Colds and Recovery

My mouth hurts...as soon as I could almost fully smile again I was back in for the fruenectomy on Friday and even the doctor said.."This is going to hurt."  I guess my frunum is thick and was hard to cut though so I was to take my medication (pain killers) since the I was told the bottle had a refill on it and I had 2 pills left.  I took the two pills and then realized no refills....ouch...I hurt and I can tell you I hope it is all worth it in the end.  Qatar and I both have a nasty cold currently---school related I am sure.

A teacher last week heard I was getting this done and came up pulling her lower lip down to show me how well hers healed and I was impressed if not a little taken back.  I am not worried about a scar as no one will see it....I just want to keep my teeth.

On to other news.   Qatat is going on the choir trip this year to New Orlenes and I really want to chaperone, but they already are full...darn it.  I had so much fun on Gunnars choir trip a few years back.

Zeke and Cenny are improving their cross country times and enjoying the coaches and other runners.

My classes have started and I am crazy for taking so many classes this semester.  6 classes 2 are praticums, but I have to do 95 hours for them....I am going to lose my 4.0 this year.  I have done 35 hours  so far and will sub for one of my host teachers on Tuesday so I can count those hours also.  20 of those hours are done in Rochester at night at the ALC, I will still need to do 45 at the High School when I get a chance before I student teach next fall.


JT news- He bought a small speaker for his ipod and plays music at school during break.  He plays JB since the girls love him...some of his friends called him gay to play JB and JT laughed as he had each arm around a girl...he tossed back..."really ?  I have the girls if that is gay then I am all in."  He loves girls and is even writing one a song.  Now if we could get him to shower more than 2 times a week.  He is still a bit on the small size...doesn't seem to affect the girls.  One asked his name and he told her and she said she would call him hot...he is 11 what is hot about that?   I will have to watch that boy....

Gum surgery

The white is the donor tissue that is sutured to the gums and eventually should turn pink when the blood flow is good and the graph completely takes.  Crossing my fingers for that to happen...sometimes it doesn't take.

So I have two teeth with receding gums in the very front of my lower teeth.  You can't see it when I smile I just noticed it recently, mentioned it to the dentist and was sent to the periodontist for a consult on gum tissue graphing.  He told me that the reason it had receded so fast was due to a frenum that was attached  from my lip to my gums and that it was acting like a zipper pulling my gums down.  Zeke was tongue tied by another frenum...I guess we have 6 or 8 of these in our mouths.

So gum surgery with donor tissue to cover the gum and a mixture of proteins to help restore the bone loss was done last Wednesday.  Mom picked me up since I was high as a kite from the pain killers and relaxation drugs they gave me.  This Friday I go back for a frenectomy to remove the zipper effect.  At that point the pain should be gone, I can exercise again, just to have to put everything (including eating anything harder than eggs) back to the way it is now and recover again.

My mouth hurts, my teeth hurt, I am grumpy from all the medication I am on and I feel like I have a pharmacy in my kitchen every three hours when I take 4 or more pills.   My tummy is now acting up from all the medication also...yeah!!!!  But life goes on and I have school and service hours to complete and a swollen chin and I can't smile.

All this for the low cost of only $2700.  I do not know how much my insurance will cover we each have 2500 a year and the insurance will pay 80% up to 2500 so I should get a chunk back...they only accept cash prepay at the periodontist...so they always get paid....I have only seen the dentist this year for a regular check-up..so there is money still in my account.

Check with your dentist about a frenenctomy before you have to have the gum graphing done also.

First Day of School - 2013-2014

 8th grade

 6th Grade

 9th grade

Finding lost things in the truck before school.

Senior year at last.

August I am not sad to see you go!!

This month has been a roller coaster of things to do and Dr.  appt.  I am not sad to say good bye to August 2013....hopefully next year will be an August to celebrate.  Gunnar and David became one year older this month and the weather was beautiful the first 3 weeks and then boom humility struck and the A/C went on for ever it feels.  The weather is suppose to clear Sunday...here is  crossing my fingers.

 

I still have my guns appt this week and hopefully we will not be seeing a Dr or Dentist for a few months at least.  Everyone had check-ups and OK's for school to start.  Zeke was diagnosed with mild asthma and JT is not asthmatic...yeah!  I will keep the lump in my breast it is small and I fear if it is gone I will need to go down a bra size....got to keep what I got.,,which isn't much.

Happy September and I hope this is a great month for everyone!

Happy Birthday GUNNAR!! We love you!!!

As Gunnar's Birthday is today I need to tell you how we miss and love him and know that he is where he is suppose to be at this time in his life.

He is 20 today and that blows my mind away!!!!!

Happy 20th Birthday Gunnar!!!!   We love you very much!

Happy Birthday David....I couldn't do any of life without you!!!!!!!

August not my favorite month this year!!

The month started with a bang when I discovered a lump in my left breast, August 2nd.  Luck would have it that I had an appt that day with my doctor and she was concerned, but I wasn't.   I figured it would be gone by the mammogram, August 12th.  It wasn't, but they could not see it only feel it.  SO off to the Ultra Sound which is way more fun when you are looking at a baby..then a lump that looked like a black hole with dust inside.  The radiologist came in to tell me I needed a Mammogram every year because, "This could definitely be cancer."  In my opinion two of those words should not be used in the same sentence and especially when you don't know anything for sure.  He scared me to death at that moment.

They sent me to the parking lot with a appt the next morning at 8AM to see a surgeon and also to the van to cry my eyes out until I could call David to come and get me.  I did not trust myself to drive home.

The next day the surgeon told me all the positives about my lump and then took me, a few hours later, to the ultra sound room to use a needle to poke and aspirate the cyst.  No good it was too hard for the needle to get into and she started to look worried but kept saying ok we will try something else.  Then the big needle came out with the popping head that was to bite off a piece of the lump.  That hurt and the lump kept rolling between my ribs so she couldn't get a piece of it without many painful tries.  Finally they could see on the ultra sound that a piece was missing from the lump...yeah I was about to pass out at that point.

I then went up stairs to see how JT and Zeke's pulmonary tests were going, testing for asthma, had these appts for weeks and didn't want to reschedule.  The nurse saw me and sat me down getting my two warm blankets, she asked what had happened and then told me she had just done the same thing a year ago and was so sorry I had to go through it.  I felt better as the tests progressed and less shocky.  Zeke has mild asthma.  I had them checked because Qatar's snuck up on us.

Well they said to come back for my results on Thursday, August 15th and this was Tuesday, August 13th.  Fear....anxiety...no food I felt sick....no sleep too worried...then Thursday right before we leave for the appt they call saying no results yet come back Friday afternoon......my head about exploded!!!!!!

Finally having made it to Friday, August 16th, the surgeon told me it was a benign fibrous lump and not dangerous at all.  It mimics cancer and many times in the past surgeons have removed the whole breast because of these lumps and then discovered that they are nothing to worry about.....WHEW!!!  I still did not sleep well last night because I kept waking up when the doctor said its not cancer....its not cancer....its not cancer....

Bonnie and I and mom went  out for Mexican food to celebrate...father and son this weekend and poor David looked awful when he left...I hope he got some sleep.  This experience I would not wish on anyone ever and I had good news at the end....how much worse it must be to have bad news instead.

I also need to see the periodontist this week because of two teeth that the gums are receding from....yeah August!!!  I wont be sad to see you go and September come.