Ok, so it’s been a lot more than awhile. I admit it. I have been guilty of neglecting my xanga. The most updating I do is an occasional status update on FB, or liking someone’s status. Oh. and since I got a smartphone, updating and sharing via FB that way. When I read that Xanga was probably going to close down I was actually pretty shocked and felt sad. I have made so many friends here xanga, some I have even become real-life friends with.
As a matter-of-fact, my Bunco and Bookclub groups are a result of friends I met via Xanga. I’ve enjoyed their company for going on 6 years now. Hard to believe all the changes in my life. Heck, all the changes everywhere.
I would give a huge detailed update, but let’s face it. We would ALL die of boredom. Let’s see if I can sum it up.
* Still working at Catholic School, loving 5th grade. Started doing the yearbook, tons of work but sooo rewarding!
*Dakota finishing up her degree in interpreting.
*Corri graduated and is expecting a baby at the beginning of JULY! Woot.
*The biggest and BEST change of all? I’m a grandma!! Cheyenne had a baby last August. She was only 18, and had just graduated High School. It definitely wasn’t planned! It was well timed. It caused tons of problems and changes and adjustments. It was also the best gift anyone of us have EVER received. Cheyenne makes an amazing mother. The daddy is a big part of their lives, although they struggle with the changes.
He is also the cutest baby on the planet. I know I’m biased. But, take this into account – strangers stop Cheyenne in the store to tell her how cute her baby is!! Still not buying it? Here’s proof…
Typically, I as a rule DO NOT make New Year’s Resolutions. This year I decided to make an exception to this and made a few resolutions – actually more like goals for the New Year. They are pretty basic ones, they include being healthier, keeping up with stuff and getting some of my to-do list (especially work on the house) done. We’ll see how it goes, I’m not of the mind that I if I don’t stick to them 100% I’ve failed. They are really more of guidelines for the coming year. I really do plan on making a concerted effort however to make the changes in my life that are needed for success.
That being said I thought I would do some highlights from the past year – just cause I can.
As I said in my previous post, my dad was released May 27th from the Rehab/ Skilled Nursing Center. I spent part of the summer with Mom and Dad in Silver City, helping them out and getting settled in.
In June Nolan and I celebrated our 25th anniversary – go us! We celebrated with a trip to Fiji in July. (June was spent working and in Silver City). It was an amazing trip and OH so relaxing! Picture fest!
Upon return, I went back to Silver. I also got my birthday present a Nikon D-5100, which I LOVE. I am now the official photographer and yearbook person for the school, so this camera couldn’t have come at a better time!
August was back to school – what a class I have this year. A real challenge for me, but it’s getting there. The next five months are going to be busy, busy, busy for the 5th grade! We have about 6 field trips planned – I am excited about the opportunities provided for us and will share more about them in the coming weeks.
Dakota was working at Borders, which you know how that worked out. She stayed until the final day and then had unemployment until she found a new job – where? Barnes and Noble! She still attends UNM full-time. In September Dakota moved into her own place and I suffered some early pangs of empty nest syndrome.
For Thanksgiving we celebrated with the girls, then went to visit my folks again for a few days.
December included a quick trip to Colorado to visit the In-Laws and then Christmas at home, a quick ski trip, helping with another move (Coralora and her hubby moved to a new apartment, closer and much nicer!) and tomorrow I’m off to visit mom and dad one more time. Next Monday is the first day back to school and the New Year really begins!
Alright, enough for now. Everyone have a fantastic year! 2012!
Well, what can I say, it’s been awhile! So much has happened and continues to happen. First things first.
Update on Dad:
Dad was finally released from the hospital. He spent about 2-3 more months in a rehab / skilled nursing facility. He had a feeding tube most of that time. Finally right before he was released he was put on a pureed diet. He was released on May 27th, 2011 (the last day of school). I left school as soon as I could and mom and I drove them home to Silver City. He’s had some ups and downs, a few returns to the hospital, but nothing too serious. He is still in a wheelchair, he can walk with a walker and lots of help but he’s coordination is shot and he’s dizzy as a loon every time he stands up. He still has a lot of confusion. My dad is alive, but we lost the man he was. I really miss that person sometimes, and I know my mom does. She takes care of him all by herself – a huge undertaking and has little respite. I go down whenever I get a couple of days off in a row to help her out as much as I can.
Coralora:
Coralora, the girl we took in her Junior year, got married last December and recently celebrated her 1 year anniversary. She has a 5 yr. old step-daughter and keeps busy with her family and school – she still attends UNM full time studying Media Arts.
Ducky:
Dakota is still attending UNM but changed her major from Journalism to Sign Language Interpretation and Linguistics. She definitely found her calling! She absolutely loves the SLI field and is very good at it! She has been mistaken for a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) several times because she is so natural at it! She continues to date Thomas, the boy she starting dating back in High School. She recently moved out into her own apartment, and the house is much quieter without her – and that’s not a good thing – I miss her. Luckily over Christmas I got the opportunity to spend several days with her and get my Ducky fix!
Shananay:
Cheyenne is a senior in high school. She had applied and was accepted at Art Institute of Seattle. Some recent developments have put that on hold, but she is definitely a baking/cooking genius! She also has found her niche and is excited about exploring the future possibilities.
As for me and the hubby we continue to plug along. We have been so busy we are struggling to get work done on the house. I am still teaching at the Catholic school and most days I still love it. I have a challenging class this year, but we are getting used to each other. I have many exciting things coming up for my class. Hopefully I will be back to tell you all about them!
We returned today from a ski trip to Red River. Unfortunately, only Coralora, Shananay, Nolan and I were the only ones able to go, but it was very nice none the less. I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a very happy New Year!
I wish I could say that everything worked out, but we’re not there yet. After Thanksgiving they placed a permanent shunt in dad. After a few more weeks at the hospital he was moved once again to rehab. A different one this time, but mom and I have concluded that there is no such thing as a “good” rehab / skilled nursing home. He was moved right before Christmas – matter of fact the 23rd or the 24th. He was doing pretty well, working at walking with a walker etc. He was still VERY confused – rambling nonsense much of the time. Everyone kept talking about him having dementia – and we kept telling him he didn’t have that before. He seemed to do pretty well, but kept falling as he kept trying to get up unassisted. Eventually he was released. I think he was there 4 weeks. They released (long before we thought he was ready, although we were ready to have him home) and we brought him to my house for a week. He had his follow up appointment with Neurology and they cleared him. That weekend we took him to Silver City. He was becoming uncooperative – not helping us get him up and back to his wheel chair, not eating well etc.
The trip down was a long one.
We got there, settled dad in for the night and he went right to sleep. I should mention one of the problems they had with him in rehab is that he wouldn’t sleep. He would be up all night sometimes and only sleep an hour or two a day.
We had dinner and visited with my sister and her kids and started getting mom settled back in.
The next morning my mom couldn’t get my dad to wake up. He’d been asleep since 5:00 pm the previous evening. The whole time we were in ICU and worried about something we’d noticed about dad they would tell us the same thing. If he’s hard to wake up or becomes unresponsive, that’s when you need to worry. We were worried. I convinced mom to call an ambulance. They came and got dad and took him to the hospital. An hour later they announced that his shunt was malfunctioning and that they were life-flighting him back to UNM in Albuquerque. We were in Silver all of 15 hours.
So they life-flighted him back. They replaced the shunt and all seemed to be going well. Then that shunt malfunctioned and they couldn’t get him awake. They replaced that shunt. He continued to decline. He had another bleed, caused by another stroke. He got so weak that they had to intubate him. He also developed a touch of pneumonia. He was on a respirator for 9 days. We truly thought that the end was near and our prayers changed from “please heal him” to “please ended his suffering, thy will be done”. Eventually they took him off the respirator. He was still weak and pretty much unconscious. Finally they decided to yet another shunt – now they’ve had external shunts almost the whole time, and every time they took it off, he became unresponsive. This shunt they put in a vein, and had drain into the heart cavity – risky but they were out of options. Did I mention he some how got a VRE in the process? Some antibiotic resistant bug.
Anyways, they put in the new shunt and ba-zing! Dad was awake, moving, trying to talk. That was last week. He’s now in a regular room, he passed his swallow test and is on a liquid diet and they are talking about releasing him. He is still confused, though not as much. He is starting to have headaches again, which in the past has been an indicator that the shunt is not working. It could also just be a result of all the brain trauma he’s been through. The ventricles in his brain are “compromised” from the meningitis evidently. That means that they are enlarged and probably won’t ever revert to normal. Dad will never be the same again. Right now we are just thankful he is still with us and showing improvement.
I don’t know what’s going to happen. I just continue to pray “Thy will be done”.
I guess with wishing all my xanga buddies a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I am thankful today that my dad is still alive and fighting. Now I guess it’s time to go back and fill in the blanks…
October 7th -
My dad, who is 76 but still chopped, split and stacked 3 cords of wood, went white water rafting, and rides a motor scooter all around town – my healthy, strong amazing dad had a stroke. I headed down that night. He was doing pretty good, talking, walking and trying to leave the hospital. The next day he had a major seizure. Not so good after that. During his seizure my mom (who survived a heart attack 2 years ago) started having chest pains. They took her in a wheel chair one way and my dad, unconscious and with a crash team, another. Until then that was one of the worst moments in my life – trying to decide who to follow.
At any rate, dad came around and mom was fine after a nitro and an aspirin. He couldn’t walk and was disoriented but was alive. On Sunday he was doing pretty well and I decided to come home.
Monday morning I get a call that my dad is having swelling and bleeding in the brain. They are going to life-flight him to Las Cruces. In the end they flew him here to Albuquerque, which was a blessing. I went and met my sister half-way and picked up my mom. Meanwhile, my family headed to the hospital to be with dad when he got there. They got verbal authorization from me via the phone to do emergency brain surgery. He had a craniectomy – where they removed part of his occipital bone and some of the brain that was dead from the bleeding. They installed an external drain to relieve the pressure and monitor the fluid.
He spent a week and half in UNM hospital in ICU and SAC.
From there he moved to a rehab hospital. He was still complaining of headaches and just wasn’t feeling well. He was there 3 weeks – and that was a horrible experience and we are considering our options – definitely we need to file a complaint at the least. Lets just say that he left there in much worse condition than he got there in. He was taken by ambulance on the 6th with low oxygen levels. He coded in the ambulance. When we arrived at the hospital they got permission to intubate him, and asked if we wanted him resuscitated if his heart stopped during the procedure. It was traumatic. We were allowed to see him before they did the procedure. While we talked to him, he started calming down and his oxygen levels went up. They didn’t have to intubate him in the end. He made it through the night. They moved him to Neuro Sciences ICU. They discovered he had meningitis caused by Staph bacteria. He had a blood infection and hydrocephalus. They did another surgery to remove the mass of infection in his surgery site. They have had lumbar drains, IV antibiotics and a host of other things done.
He is hanging in there. He lost 15 pounds in two weeks. If the antibotics don’t work… well we’ll deal with that when and if we get there.
Everyday I get up, go to work, go to the hospital from work, come home eat, and then fall asleep exhausted to get up and doing it again in the morning. I forgot to mention, hubby was gone until Monday, so it’s just been me and mom and the girls.
I’m thankful that they moved dad here, that mom could stay with here with us and bring her dog. I had just converted my crafting room to a guest bedroom, so it worked out well.
Dad’s not here at the house with us this Thanksgiving, but at least he’s HERE.
For those of you who made it through this novel – my apologizes, I just needed to get it all out.
I’m thankful for my family, for my dad’s life, for all my friends who have been so awesome and supportive, for my husband who is sharing the load, for the ability to provide a place and support for my mom. So even though this year’s celebrations are very bleak – there is soooo much to be grateful for!
Whew, What a day. It was one of those days that starts out OK, then takes a left turn, leaves the road and heads right into the ditch. You know the ones. The ones that even chocolate doesn’t fix. Yep. One of those.
So, I’ve been teaching 5th grade at a catholic school. This is my second year. Last year I had a class of 23. They were talkative but pretty good and we had a lot of fun. I had some problems – some bullying issues etc., but overall it was a good class. This year I have 16. I thought woo hoo – 16, easy peasy. Ha. Ha ha ha ha. I wish I was actually laughing, However, I’m not.
I’m considering drinking, but since I don’t drink it seems extreme.
Today they really tested my patience. I hadn’t studied – I failed.
Then while sitting ruminating with the school secretary after school, I get a phone call that my youngest was in a car accident and that the other lady is being transported to the hospital. ACK! Luckily it was just a precaution and Shanaynay was just fine. Shaken up – and her little BMW undrivable, but fine. She was at fault, and got a warning. She’s not in a good space emotionally right now, but physically she’s good.
So now I’m sitting here trying to recuperate and planning how to deal with all the repercussionsof the day. I think recovery is going to involve the jacuzzi, some prayer, some TV and the rest of my Reese’s blast.
So day 2 of the challenge (which I’m definitely not going to get done in 30 days) is Favorite Movie.
Another difficult one. I have soooo many favorite movies. Favorite family movies (Sahara, The Three Musketeers, Knight’s Tale, Count of Monte Cristo), favorite series movies (Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia), favorite romance (While You Were Sleeping, A Walk to Remember), comedy (Wild Hogs, Man of the House, Legally Blonde), action (Transformers, Indian Jones, Speed, Independence day). The list can continue: favorite inspirational (The Blind Side, Rudy, Fireproof), animated, classic, musical not to mention 80s teen movies, oh my goodness, the list is endless!
So then I have a dilemna. One that actually took me to my dvd collection to check and see what movie is it that draws back again and again. What movie never gets old? I admit that I never really came to a conclusive answer. Movie titles swirled around my head like mini tornadoes. I went back to my childhood to see if I could come up with an answer, and found several movies that I loved then and I still love now. That in mind, I chose.
OK as cheesy as this may sound:
My Fair Lady wins favorite movie.
Audrey Hepburn is amazing in this (as she is in all her movies). I love the music, the elaborate scenes, the dialogue – the only thing I don’t love is the time – 3 hours is too much I think. If you need an intermission, the movie is too long. However, there is nothing that I would be willing to cut from the movie either, so there you go.
There are still many more I would like to put at this top spot – it’s so hard to pick just one! So even though I did eventually choose one, I am not fully committed to it being “my favorite movie”, but I guess it will do for now!
Question of the Day:
Do you have just one “favorite” movie? or are you like me and have multiple favorites to choose from??
Tonight was the school art and talent show. As a mom of older students, I forgot how bad these things can be. The acts were all cute, and there is definitely some “future” potential – but man, that was stressful just watching!!
One student plays the sax – he’s pretty darn good for a 4th grader. Especially considering that he got hit in the right index finger with a fast pitch ball at the batting cages last night and his finger was black and swollen about 1/2 again it’s normal size. A couple pretty good singers (more bad than good unfortunately) a dance act, piano, harp, drama, you name it we had. OK, so we didn’t have jugglers, balloon animal makers, fire dancers, or bull fighters, but we had just about everything else! We did have Beach Boys. Our janitor, morning care provider (a former graduate and grandfather of a 3rd grader), PE teacher and principal did a version of Be True to Your School.
Dress rehearsal was also today – the entire school was there for that. Needless to say, it was very long. Then I hung out until the evening performance (I was one of the teachers helping out with the show).
My fun meter is definitely pegged.
Woo. Hoo.
Sunday is Run for the Zoo, although Ducky, Coralora and I are just going to walk, Hubby is going to run. That should be fun, I’m looking forward to that. Hubby and I have been hitting the gym and it feels good.
OK I saw this on endlesssummer‘s site and it looked really fun to. I doubt I can do it 30 days, but I’ll give it a shot. Here’s day 1: Your Favorite Song
OK – this one is one of those ummmmm… sure questions. I love music. I listen to it constantly. I have favorite songs from the past, from recent, new favorite and all time favorite songs. In other words, it’s just not that simple. I decided to go with my latest favorite song. I’ve been listening to a lot of Christian Alternative lately, it’s definitely my new favorite genre. At any rate, my favorite song right now is… (drum roll please…. )
Lead Me by Sanctus Real
I absolutely love this song and two days in a row it has brought me to tears. Music talks to me – it always has. These days I spend a lot of time praying for my children, my family, my hubby, and the strength to help them in any way I can. The strength and grace to lead them. The faith to help guide them. The love and patience to accept them
Right now this song is totally where I am at.
Here are the lyrics:
Sanctus Real – “Lead Me”
I look around and see my wonderful life Almost perfect from the outside In picture frames I see my beautiful wife Always smiling But on the inside, I can hear her saying…
“Lead me with strong hands Stand up when I can’t Don’t leave me hungry for love Chasing dreams, what about us?
Show me you’re willing to fight That I’m still the love of your life I know we call this our home But I still feel alone”
I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes They’re just children from the outside I’m working hard, I tell myself they’ll be fine They’re in independent But on the inside, I can hear them saying…
“Lead me with strong hands Stand up when I can’t Don’t leave me hungry for love Chasing dreams, but what about us?
Show me you’re willing to fight That I’m still the love of your life I know we call this our home But I still feel alone”
So Father, give me the strength To be everything I’m called to be Oh, Father, show me the way To lead them Won’t You lead me?
To lead them with strong hands To stand up when they can’t Don’t want to leave them hungry for love, Chasing things that I could give up
I’ll show them I’m willing to fight And give them the best of my life So we can call this our home Lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone
Father, lead me, ’cause I can’t do this alone
Question of the Day:
What speaks to you? (besides the voices – they’re not real you know).
Yesterday I received my feedback on my classroom observation. It was good. My principal was very complimentary. I just have to say I love my job. Despite the 5th grade hormones that are kicking in, the Spring fever, and the fact that we have so much to do and so little time to do it in, I still LOVE my job. I love my school. I love teaching 5th grade. I can’t wait until next year. I am already planning for next year – I am definitely looking forward to summer, don’t get me wrong, but I am already ready to get started for next year. I keep thinking about what I can do better, how I can do this, that, arrange this etc, etc.
That is especially true regarding Mission to Mars. This is a field trip but it’s a lot more than that. It’s several months of planning and working. Students plan lunches based on weight and limited packaging, they learn Mars facts and use them to plan a life support model. They work with other groups to plot locations for colonies on Mars, write sagas, design mission patches, and cut pieces of plastic to construct a habitat. Then on the actual field trip day, they meet their other teams, construct their habitat, each lunch, give a technical briefing on their life support models, weigh their lunches and their waste, and perform their sagas. The culminating activity is to link all the habitats together and then students can travel throughout the colony.
It really sounds cool! Next Friday is the actual field trip. I plan on taking lots of pictures, so I will gladly share them when I get back! If you are interested you can check it out here: AFRL Mission to Mars.
The thing about it… it’s making a mess of my room! I don’t mind a mess now and then. One that’s temporary and relatively controlled. This ongoing mess… not so much. I’m too CDO for that (that’s OCD in alphabetical order). It’s OK, only one more week and then it’s over. I keep telling myself that.
I am ready for next year. I am excited about it. I understand, this year isn’t finished, but I am already planning for next year. What I can do better, what I can incorporate, how I can change this, fix that and rearrange this. Don’t get me wrong…I’m excited about summer. I’m definitely ready for. But I’m also excited about the next school year.
Did I mention that I love my job? That I love teaching? That I love my school?
I do.
Question of the Day:
What do you love?
P.S. – I also LOVE my new laptop. Thank you HUBBY! Muawh I LOVE YOU TOO!
So today was observation day by the principal. Last observation went well. This one was boring as heck. The lesson was boring – World history and about the Articles of Confederation. Not a lot to do there. The lesson on Thursday will be infinitely more interesting, there is an actual interactive activity for the students to participate in. Much more interesting than the cut and dried – read discuss lesson that we did to day.
C’est la vie eh?
We’ll see what he thinks tomorrow.
Did I mention that I love my job? But that I hate 5th graders in the spring?
Hmmm… maybe I did.
So what’s new huh? So much coming up! May is a big month. We have a big field trip – Mission to Mars. We have the talent show coming up. We have Rite of Passage and a dozen other things. No to mention finals, report cards and all the end of year stuff I have to do to close out a school year.
The funny thing is I am ready to get started planning next year. I’m already getting excited about it! Strange huh? Although my summer is already shaping up to be extremely busy. Lots of house projects, planning and visits. I forgot – a vaca to Disney World – That I’m totally stoked about!!
OK – so I’m off to visit. Have a great night everyone.
