I have the best boss(es)!

When things are difficult, it is often hard to find the silver lining.

I found my today.

I went back to work yesterday and my body was not doing well by the time I got home. If you are a teacher, have been a teacher or know a teacher, you understand that teaching is a physically demanding job. I am up and down, animated, explaining, running around the building, making 2000 decisions, dealing with middle school drama...and that's what happens by lunch. So with my body being so sick and compromised, me going back to teaching right now probably wasn't the best decision.

With that I knew I had to talk to my principal. I was nervous because again, as a teacher, it is really hard to be out. A sub just can't really replace a teacher in the classroom.

So I started the conversation by saying I know how important it is for the teacher to be with the students consistently and that are test scores are falling, etc. My principal then interrupted and said, "But I am worried about you."

That put me at ease. He listened while I explained how I felt and what was going on.

He grabbed my hand when I cried. He said he would cry with me.

Then he told me my options, all of which were the most supportive and generous things I could imagine. He repeatedly said how he supports me and will do whatever he can for me.

This on top of the wonderful support I've gotten from my assistant principal-- she offered to bring me juice one particularly difficult morning.

I am so blessed to work for two truly amazing, selfless and caring people.

Truly a silver lining in this situation.

My favorite time of year

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year.

There are lots of thanks to be had and expressed, which is always a good thing. Plus I get to spend time with my family.

One of my favorite memories from growing up is awakening Thanksgiving Day to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the smell of my mom cooking away in the kitchen. Oh how I love that memory!! The past few years I've not been home to experience this. I'm hoping this year I'll be in the same house as my mom, and I can once again live the wonderfulness of my Thanksgiving morning bliss.

I also love Thanksgiving because it means we can go shopping for our Christmas tree! We have a family tradition of my dad, Douglas and myself going to pick out our fresh tree. We load it in the car and drive home to meet my mom. She cooks up a yummy dinner, and then we talk about how to decorate it. With Christmas music in the background and a fire in the fireplace, it is just absolutely wonderful.

This year Richie promised no fights for a tree and even said we could get it right away. Yay! While last year was, um, not the most fun, it is still a nice memory of our first Christmas as husband and wife.

I can't wait for this holiday season to begin!

I've been MIA again because, well, I'm sick.

For the past few weeks, I've been having what I thought were normal morning sickness & pregnancy symptoms.

I went to the doctor last Wednesday because I was feeling a little sick.

Turns out I am a lot sick.

My pancreatitis has come back.

It is all around not good. While I can manage the physical side, I'll be totally honest and say that the mental side isn't going so well. I am very down, upset, stressed, all of those things.

I go back to the doctor today for a new game plan, because rest & fluids & meds thus far aren't working so well.

This also affirms the fact that my body can't keep up with me teaching or working a traditional full-time job (something my doctor & I talked about back in August). I have been searching and applying for anything I can find that will let me work part-time or from home. Anything. Naturally nothing has panned out. This just adds to the stress of the whole thing.

Any spare thoughts & prayers would be appreciated!

Halloween

I love Halloween. The kids all dressed up, candy galore. It's wonderful!

Last year we didn't have any trick-or-treaters. Granted, there were maybe 10 houses in our neighborhood so that probably has something to do with it, but still...a Halloween without the passing out of candy makes me sad.

I anticipate plenty of kids this year. A few weeks ago, while candy was on sale and I had a coupon, I purchased five bags of candy. I put it nicely in my Halloween bowl and set it out. Then Richie & his dad ate it. All. In four days.

So I went to the store again yesterday and, thankfully, I had another coupon and it was on sale again. This time I bought six bags.

We better have someone come by, otherwise I might have to have John fly back out and help Richie eat it all. Again. :)

The Students

First, another update on the obsessed student.

When I wouldn't give her attention today, she took matters into her own hands. She went and got a Clorox wipe and sucked it dry. When I saw her doing this, I went over and asked her to give me the wipe. What does she do? Bites off a piece and swallows it!

I can't make this up.

In other news, I told my students today that I'm pregnant.

Here's how my 2nd class went:

Me: I'm having a baby!
Student #1: Do you know who the dad is?
Student #2: That's so rude! .... What if she doesn't know?
Me: ....um...it's my husband...
Student #1: Are you sure?

For real.

Mikey's Wedding

My cousin Mikey got married this weekend. It was so great to be there and to be a part of everything. All of my cousins were there and leaving made me realize just how much I miss them. Brian looked so good, though he always does. Jon & Kathleen's kids are adorable!

I can't believe Mike is married. But then again, I can't believe I'm married- and having a baby!- either.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

The cousins minus Doug

Frankie! Isn't she the cutest?

Frankie & her brother Xavier

Waiting on the ceremony to start. The perfect ceremony location- the beach! You could hear the waves

splashing. It was amazing.

Mom & Dad

Aunt Dela & Uncle Bernie

Uncle Paul & Mikey

I think the news is out...

I was hoping to wait a little longer to announce, but Richie & I are expecting a baby!

We have had several ultrasounds, and everything looks good. The babe is growing and moving.

We are thrilled! Now if only this night sickness would go away. For those of you who have been pregnant, did you feel like you were going to die? That's how I feel every afternoon through night.

But I'll take it!

Baby is due early June.

Another notch in the crazy stick

That student that called me all weekend?

Yeah, so she told me yesterday that she hates me and will never talk to me again.

Don't worry, she came to my room between every class and followed me during class change. And lunch. Both yesterday and today.

Then she told another teacher today that she smokes crack.

She also said she was going to call me again tonight. I told her to go ahead and try that. Then I asked another student in the class, "Your mom is a police officer, right? Can I have her number?" Hopefully that got my point across.

I'm a little freaked out...

PS- Please don't think I'm a heartless teacher. I really felt for this student a few weeks ago. I even had to call the police (twice) because I feared for her safety. Turns out she lied about everything just to get my attention (after investigations by police, counselors and child protective services). Oh, and her step-mom said she is basically a pathological liar. So now I don't believe anything she says. I really am a kind teacher :)

Oh My Gosh

Seriously? A months since I've posted?

Oh blog world, forgive me!! I can't believe it's been that long! Hopefully, dear readers, you will still check this blog and see that I am back.

Otherwise, I guess I'll just write to myself :)

Crazy work story to welcome back the life of the blog.

So, I have this student this year who is obsessed with me. Obsessed with a capital O!

I have a special "teacher" profile on facebook for my students. It has basic info and a few pictures, you know, so they can feel like they are special and friends with a teacher on facebook. Said student friended me on facebook. Fine.

Then she started sending me messages. Really disturbing messages. I dealt with all of that. And stop responding to her on facebook.

I was out one day and, according to the other teachers, she went crazy with where I was.

Fast forward to last night. She called me. On my cell phone. Repeatedly!

Then started calling again this morning. I haven't answered a call (I know it is her because of the phone number-- she is from out of town and I know the area code).

So she decided to text me.I texted back that she is not to call or text me. I told her it is inappropriate and to call the counselor if is an emergency.

She immediately called several times in a row. Texted again and left a voicemail. It freaks me out! I told the other teachers, and I will have a talk with the principal on Monday.

They know she is a little obsessed, but this totally takes the cake.

Golden Girls, doc and football

Since Labor Day I've been rather obsessed with watching Golden Girls. Well, I don't know if obsessed is the right word, but basically it is all I watch.

My DVR currently has 43 episodes recorded, and I have watched 37 of those. Eek.

I really enjoy wholesome shows. Yet another reason I'm 26 going on 86.

Both Richie & I had a great week this week. I had an appointment with the urologist that was long but went well. First, let me say that I loooove Dr. Renfroe. He is not only knowledgeable and compassionate in terms of providing medical care, but he recognizes my life as a normal person (and a teacher). Case in point: he kept his office open late so that I could get an IV and have a CT scan done. He said he knows how hard it is for me as a teacher to miss work, so he wanted to make sure I got all my meds and tests done that day, instead of having to come back in the morning. The nurse doing my IV seemed a bit put out, but other than that they were great! To top it off, he didn't charge me the several hundred dollars that I owe. What a kind man!

I ended up having to call dad because of the IV, etc., and he got to talk with Dr. Renfroe for a bit. I'm so glad he is my doctor and will be dad's doctor. Now if only I can get Richie to switch...

Richie was busy at work as usual, but he did get some good news. He won't have to work during the football games this year. He does have to do pre-game stretch and half-time stretch, but during the game he gets to stand on the side line and just watch. He isn't responsible for anything else like he has been in the past. He was very happy with this news.

And, last but not least, today is the first home game for Ole Miss. Go Rebs!

The Ring

Coach Bianco just finished designing the Ole Miss Baseball Championship Ring and it is awesome! I can't wait to see it! Richie is super excited and can't wait to wear it. I'm so proud of my husband!

The Camera

I spent several hours last night and a good deal of time this morning reading and learning my new camera.


It is complicated for sure. But I love it! I'm so glad I decided to get it.


Already, the picture quality is much superior to pictures taken with my Kodak point & shoot. Once I figure out how to use all of the features, I'm sure the pictures will be even better.


My first mission was to figure out how to do the blurred background. You know, where only the subject/thing you are shooting is in focus and everything else is out of focus. I read the manual and tried what it said. Didn't work. Went online and read at least fifteen different sites. All said the same thing. Still wasn't working.


Finally, I figured it out! Too bad it is rainy today so I can't go around taking pictures.


I'm so excited to learn how to use this camera! Next weekend: pictures of the Chunkling :-)

My tomatoes, of course.

My new camera! Not sure what's wrong with the color here.

Next up: perfecting editing pictures

Here's the shot where the bloom is in focus and

everything else is out of focus. I'll be working

to perfect this technique as well.

The Grill

As always, getting the grill yesterday was an experience. It's a good thing we have a good sense of humor!


So we went Saturday morning to pick up the grill. It wasn't assembled, but we had planned to ask Richie's cousin to put it together for us. Two boys at Sneed's offered to put it together for $20. We figured that was a steal, so we agreed and told them we'd be back at 4:00.


Later that afternoon, Dad & I left Richie & Uncle Mike at home watching football while we went to pick up the grill.


We got to Sneeds right at 4:00 and the poor guys were still working on it. I think they said they started at 1:00. Ouch.


When I bought the grill, I told the guy that we wanted to hook it up to the gas line we had put in when we built the house. That way, we wouldn't even have to worry about if we had a full tank or not. You just hook up to the gas line and grill to your heart's content.


The guy I had worked with the other day wasn't there, but a young guy was and he offered to make sure I had the right hose to hook up to our line. It took him 30 minutes, and he had to rig something together for us. But he got it!


Then he asked the dreaded question, "You do have propane gas, right?"


Um, no. We have natural gas. Ugh. The grill we bought is a propane grill, so it won't run on natural gas.


So I had to buy a propane tank, and the guy had to disassemble his hard work.


We finally get the grill home an hour later and go to light it up. It wasn't lighting. We could hear and smell gas, but nothing was catching.


Then we noticed something. They had hooked up the grill/gas line backwards. The gas was pouring out the back, not into the grill.


Dad knew he could fix it, all he needed was a Phillip's head screwdriver.


Could we find ours?


No!


Fast forward to today- Dad came over and fixed the grill (what in the world would we do without him!?). We also found out we can buy a conversion kit for the grill, which makes it able to run on natural gas.


Whew. Thankfully everything always seems to work out in the end.

This is the gas line where we wanted to hook up the grill.

And the propane tank we had to buy instead.

But it is one good looking grill, and I know we'll get lots of use

out of it. Happy Birthday, Lobby!

September 9th & Other Updates

09.09 is my most wonderful, amazing husband's birthday. A few posts ago, I put up a picture from the "surprise" birthday party I threw for him. I put surprise in quotes because, well, I told him about it two days before. Oh, well. It was still a blast!

This year's birthday was significantly less exciting.

My mom was in town visiting, so the day before his birthday she made Richie a special dinner. We had cake, and he opened some gifts. On his actual birthday, we had dinner at home, just the two of us. He requested tacos, one of our favorite meals. I made those and a birthday cake. It was a wonderful, quiet evening, if I do say so myself :-)

The birthday celebrations aren't over yet, though! For his birthday, I bought Richie a gas grill. We are super excited! I had to order it because our local hardware store didn't have it in stock (my dislike of Home Depot will have to wait for another post), and we'll pick it up tomorrow. So the celebration continues!

Happy birthday, Lobster!

In other news...

-I broke down and purchased the camera I've been eyeing. The Canon Rebel I've posted about only once or twice ;-) It was such a deal- $100 off for Labor Day. You can't beat that! It arrived yesterday, and I'm going to have my Dad help me set it up tomorrow.

-Speaking of my Dad, can I just say how incredibly fabulous it is to have him work at the same school with me!? Sure, we are in different buildings, but I still get to see him during the day. I am so happy! He is adjusting to Oxford, but once my Mom gets here it will be much better. I can't wait!!

-Of course, no post is complete without a landscaping update! I know, contain your excitement.
The tomatoes are growing at an accelerated rate, much faster than I imagined. But that's not the big update. We are going tomorrow to order our trees! Yay! Ok, I guess that isn't as exciting to you. We've been discussing what type of trees to get for a year now, and finally we have a decision! I'll take pictures (with my new camera!) as soon as they are planted.

Ding Dong

Sometimes I'm not the brightest.


We have a wreath on our front door, but I wanted a more fall-ish one. Richie & I argued about the size when I had found the perfect one at the garden center. He said we needed it much bigger, I disagreed.



I didn't get that wreath but came across another that I loved a few weeks later. I bought it, so excited, and brought it home.


I wanted to surprise Richie, so I got the step ladder and replaced the old one with my new find.


I stood back and...well...it looked microscopic! Who knew how big that stinkin' wreath had to be! (oh wait, my husband did)


It now resides on our back door, which is about half the size of our front door.

Happy 1st Birthday, Chunkling!

The Martin boys watching football.
The Chunkling got tired of football, so he went off to play.
I followed him. After playing in the kitchen, he decided to go back to the
family room. Hi Uncle Richie!

He walked straight through the family room to the laundry room.

The laundry room gave him an idea to play in the bathroom.

He tried to close the door on me, but I made it in.

The first game we played was throw the water bottle in the toilet.

That excitement lasted 2.5 seconds, but thankfully he found

the toilet paper to occupy his time.

He is such a kind boy and decided to share the toilet paper with me.

In tiny, small pieces. One at a time.

After exhausting the fun in the bathroom, we went to play in DeeDee's room.
And we rounded out the trip back in the family room to play with

birthday toys. Happy birthday Chunklin'!

Dreams

I have so many things on my mind lately. Sometimes life just weighs on you, and when that happens to me, sleep suffers. It isn't even that I can't sleep, it's that my stresses follow me into my dreams. Sheesh! You'd think I could at least escape in my sleep.

No such luck!

Tonight I'm enjoying a quiet night in bed. I've perused all my web sites, done some research on things, purchased a gift or two for Richie's birthday on Wednesday. Richie & Uncle Mike's conversation floats into our bedroom, and I can tell he is so happy. Football + good food + his uncle's company = one happy husband

Still, I wish we were back here. It was so nice to be away from real life, if only for a few days. No bills to pay, no house to clean. We enjoyed each other's company without any other life issues tugging us away. Our biggest decisions were casino or pool? Italian or Japanese for dinner?

Our decisions right now aren't nearly as fun. So it leaves me looking through pictures, wishing we were back in that wonderful hotel room, with the beautiful view of clear water, the sound of ocean waves filling our room. Just me & my husband.

A Big Fat Negative

On the root canal that is.

Took a whole day off of work for this. Richie went to the dentist with me. Sat and waited forever since they were "working us in."

Get back to the exam room, he looks at my mouth and says "Hmm...I don't know if what's causing this is going to be fixed with the root canal. I mean, you still need one but I can't do it today."

He took x-rays, and now I need root canals on TWO teeth.

But he didn't do them today because I have several sores and infections all.over.my.mouth. He didn't want to aggravate things even more.

Plus I have this lump on my jaw/neck, and that has grown in size in about a week and hurts. So I have to go to a neck surgeon on Thursday to get that checked out.

For real, it is never simple with me. Ever, ever.

Thankfully, I really like my dentist. He is super nice and takes good care of me. Part of that is probably because I taught his daughter last year. But, whatever the reason, he indulges my extreme anxiety about dental procedures.

Now I have time to ponder about the pain of a root canal since I won't have it until October 1st. They've given me Xanax (if that's how it spelled?) to take before so that I'm not as anxious. And they are going to give me an IV with other meds so I'm out for the procedure. That's probably best so I don't cry and embarrass myself too much.

I go to the doc about this growth/cyst on Thursday. I'm thinking it needs to be removed. At my last visit, he said if it grows or hurts, it will need to be either biopsied or removed. I'm leaning toward the removal so that if the biopsy comes back weird and I need it out, it's already done! Don't you like how I think ahead?

Oh, and I have the best husband ever. He takes such good care of me. I love him!

Tomorrow's Itinerary

1. Wake up
2. Go to school
3. Have root canal
4. Eat lunch
5. Nap
6. Grade papers
7. Sleep

Wait, root canal!? Yup, a root canal is on my to-do list for tomorrow. I am less than thrilled about it.

It has to happen as I've spent all weekend whimpering in pain, slurping down some mashed potatoes, and waking up every three minutes at night yelping when I've put my right cheek too close to the pillow.

#4 might have to be amended depending on how the root canal goes. I've never had one so I'm completely nervous and unsure of what to expect. The pain can't be any worse than it is at the moment. I've made jello and soft cookies to eat for lunch, should the pain persist.

The only upside is I'll be home from work, hence an afternoon nap will be feasible.

Wish me luck for tomorrow's dental torture, I mean procedure.

Amazon.com

My husband has discovered amazon.com. I'm not sure how he hasn't known about this fabulous web site, but he was looking for a DVD today and I directed him to the site. He was amazed at the selection. He kept saying, "But they didn't have this blu ray DVD in the store!" Yes, love, amazon has basically every blu ray DVD ever made.

Then I showed him how to add things to the shopping cart. Within 10 minutes I think he had almost 20 DVDs added.


I'm going to have to keep a close eye on our bank account as I see him shopping here frequently.


In other news, more tomato pictures! I now have 26 Roma tomatoes growing. I can't wait until they are ready to eat. The grape tomatoes only grow two or four at a time and are much quicker to mature. They are so fresh and delicious. I'm sure the Roma tomatoes will be just as yummy.

See how huge the plant is?

A close up of some of the great looking Roma tomatoes.

The jasmine is really taking off. Can't wait for it to climb up the wall.

Also, remember the Blu Ray player I got Richie for our anniversary? And then had to exchange? Well, we had to exchange it yet again yesterday. This time, the sound stopped working. Err...hopefully 3rd time's the charm. It is a pain to drive almost an hour and a half each way to exchange this thing. It is times like this that I miss living in a bigger city where we actually have stores.

Oh, and my Dad got a new tv while we were there. And guess what? He has to drive back today to exchange it. Oh, Best Buy, can't we just buy something and be done with it?

Tomatoes!

We've been working on the yard lately. It looks totally different than it did a year ago. Probably because a year ago we didn't even have grass!

We have spent lots of time on the backyard, trying to make it a comfy and relaxing place to hang out. I also have my little "food garden" out back. So far I only have tomatoes, but the plan is to add more next year.

These pictures are about three weeks old. I'll have to take newer pics this weekend because, again, things have grown much bigger and higher, and we've added in a few new things.

But for now, here's the latest in yard progress.

This is Richie planting the jasmine (finally!) and lattice work.I tied the jasmine to the lattice so it (hopefully) grows up the bare wall.
And my wonderful tomato plants! The cherry tomato plant has barely grown, but

has produced four tomatoes to date. (And they were delicious!)

The roma tomato plant is huge! Seriously, it has grown five times

larger since I took this picture. It also has produced...20 tomatoes!
Yes, 20! I'm so happy! I can't wait to plant more fruits & veggies next year.

This is totally not related to gardening, but it is an update none-the-less.

Richie & I put up these floating shelves in the family room. It was a little

tricky, but we are very happy with them. I took this picture at an

angle so they look crooked, but I promise they aren't! We plan on putting

pictures and candles on them.

We haven't yet, but baby steps. It only took us a year to hang them. Hopefully

we'll actually put stuff on them within the next 6 months ;)

The Chunkling

The Chunkling is now walking and talking. He has lots of teeth and is growing faster than I can keep up with. Not to mention, he gets cuter by the day! Here are some pictures from our recent afternoon with him.

Playing with my keys, hamming it up for the camera.

Such a sweet boy.
He decided to read the newspaper...

He took it apart, probably looking for the sports section... And then left the mess for Daddy to clean up, although he first stopped to

pose for a picture.

Chunkling taking the cup from Uncle Richie...
and giving it to his DeeDee.Such a sweet boy!After giving up the cup, he then went for Daddy's drink.

He finally settled on just chomping on his thumb.

Happy almost 1st birhtday!