Keeping Time

It never ceases to amaze me that people are so controlled by time. I glance at my watch at least 10 times a day to make sure that I am "on time" or budgeting a job correctly. I have given up on having a regular bedtime and a wake up time this year because my schedule shifts so dramatically each day with the auditorium job. But I do regularly look at my watch in the middle of the night to make sure I'm sleeping long enough! Watches as far as I'm concerned, rank right up there next to the invention of wheels.

Today is a sad day. I have, without success, searched for my watch for four solid days and I am officially announcing that it is lost. My watch ranks right up there next to my wedding rings in personal value. It is an essential part of getting ready for work each morning. My husband seems to understand how important my watch is to me because he bought me a beautiful watch as a wedding gift 15 years ago. I still have that watch....but now it sits in my jewelry box and doesn't work but still looks good! I only take my watch off to shower and on Saturday, after cutting the lawn, I cleaned up, got a shower, and somehow lost my watch. I have a sneaking suspicion that one of our cats knocked it off the counter and into the trash. And now my watch is sitting in some landfill doing absolutely no one any good.

Today is my first day with no seniors in the morning. That means that I no longer have a second block....I may need to make a "watch run" during my new "free" period because I don't think I can survive another day without being able to keep time. (That's kind of a funny concept for a musician!) BTW, I know it is time to be done with the grieving and just move on because yesterday, the whole naked wrist thing got me extremely irritated at least four or five times. I found myself just shouting out, "What time is it?" in a really gruff-not-Heidi-like-at-all-voice. Then I watched as random students just pulled out there cell phones and told me the answer to my question. I don't use my cell phone as a watch....it must be a generational thing. Now that I think back on the day, maybe it was just the "bombs" of giant loads of tar and rocks that were hitting right over the top of my head at any random moment....maybe this was making me a little edgy.

Anyhow, I will not come home without a watch today. It is "time" to move on.

End of the year!

You know that it is the end of the school year when:

1. You find yourself wearing jeans of different colors everyday and not caring. And then you wonder if anyone would really care if you wore your gardening shoes.

2. You constantly have to keep your thoughts in check and make sure they don't come flying out of your mouth! And a lot of times sometimes you forget and hope no one heard you.

3. You pray constantly that someone will pull the fire alarm....every hour.

4. Eating cafeteria food is no longer an "option". It will not ever happen.

5. You stash ice cream in the freezer because you know that it will waste a good amount of class time in order to serve it and it's too cold to eat quickly.

6. You keep rehearsing graduation songs daily even though they are already learned because you know that this will give you five minutes of freedom from excessive student talking.

7. You pull out the crayons and have a coloring contest....in high school. Believe it or not, this is usually a quiet day! I think that is my lesson plan tomorrow.

8. You threaten that seniors won't "walk" at graduation if they don't immediately turn in their tuxedos/dresses. You finally see a look of panic spread through the bass section!

9. You put on a talent show (aka Ham Day) and just your choir watches and participates. It's probably really lame to the onlooker. And then you tell them to bring in snacks for "munchie mania" which you creatively named on the spot today as you announced it. Because eating crunchy food will take up lots of time. ( I hope!) You secretly plan to bring in 4 ounce paper cups that they can fill to the brim with snack foods and then you tell them they can wait in line for the next round of food.

9 more long days and counting. Oh, did I tell you that for the last 3 weeks, the roofers have been reapplying tar to the roof? My roof--the music room and the auditorium. Yes....the sweet smell of pitch and tar. It is something that makes coming to work worth it!

ANTS!!

Madison has been involved with her Science Fair project for about 2 weeks now. She came home one day and told me her key question: What attracts ants the fastest-bananas, apples or hot dogs? She was extremely excited about the project at hand and we spent the next week discussing how we would make this big experiment work. She was so proud of the fact that she came up with this idea all by herself. BTW, her hypothesis was: "I think that the apple will attract the ants the fastest. My reason is that the apple probably has the most sugar out of the three different foods. Ants love sugar!!"

So we set the project up on Saturday. Here is a bit of a pictorial diary for you visual learners.

Here are the objects of desire:


The hallowed placement of the plate:



The decision that ants wouldn't want
to crawl on a plate to get to the objects of desire:

After 20 minutes of waiting...no ants




10 minutes later:
"Mom, we have a problem.
There is only one banana chunk left!"



5 minutes later:
"Mom, my science project is a mess!
(She is sobbing by now.) The ants have nothing to eat!




And here is our little culprit:
Obviously, he takes after the rest of our family!
He likes music and he loves food!

We did redo our project on Sunday with great "scientific" results. Take a guess.....Apples, Hotdogs or Bananas?




Scroll Down for the answer!






More Scolling......







HOT DIGGETY DOG!
Can you believe it?

Oh, in case you noticed, I lost my signature somewhere in the midst of my picture downloading frenzy.

Heidi

10 Nevers

I will never :

1. yell, "Hey, what's shakin?" to my overweight friends.
2. drink Coffee.
3. give up Diet Coke forever.
4. shout from a dressing room, "Could you get me a size zero?"
5. stop worrying about my children.
6. walk into a restaurant and order alcohol.
7. go skydiving.
8. say to my family, "Please line up according to weight".
9. say to my family, "Please line up according to intelligence".
10. change in public.

There you have it. What about you?

Fantasy vs. Reality

Sometimes life takes you on journeys you least expect. Last night was no exception. Without being extremely specific, I managed an "event" at my auditorium that did not go at all as I had envisioned.

Since I learned how to use this nifty strike through option, I will strike through the fantasy part and leave the reality for you to read!

500 800 in attendance. The capacity for the auditorium is 725.

Four three high school servers showed up to help serve food. We found another one soon after the event started.

All six none of the security guards were effective in managing crowd control.

Many very few of the people could speak fluent English.

99% 75% of the people there were driving cars that cost more than my yearly salary.

My slave laborers staff worked extremely hard in an adverse situation.

We all gave up because the place was trashed left for home around 2 a.m.

I didn't enjoy this night. It is over and I am sure that I am supposed to be learning something from this experience. I'm tired and don't like staying up this late! I guess I learned that!

Numbers

Today my life contained a lot of numbers. Here are a few that I would like to share with you:

$743.00....The amount that my "babysitter incident" is going to cost me. I think I will just hire people who drive American made junkers from now on because Volkswagons are a bit pricey for me! So much for that little "incentive" check that I haven't received from the government yet.

$67.23.... The amount I paid for a fill up at the gas station. It is my new all time high. I seem to be hitting new "records" every time I go to the station lately! Gas: $3.99 a gallon.

$30.00.... The amount that I wrote a check for to our High School Auto Tech Class to get my car detailed. I kept saying to people that my car was at the "spa" today. As I drove out of the school driveway, I put on my brakes and literally slid down my leather seats! It is VERY clean, shiny, and extremely slippery.

25...The number of chapter books that Madison has read in the last month. She has currently discovered "Pippi Longstocking". I was in 6th grade when Pippi became my idol! I remember going around asking people that had braids if they were a "Pippi fan too". Trust me, it sounded really cool at the time.

3.....The number of boys that I have signed up for choir next year. I have a lot of recruiting to do. 5 Senior boys graduate this year. Sadness. Oh, and did I mention that one of these 3 boys is actually moving to a new state and won't even be here in the fall?

2...The number of kisses (on the cheek because that is what cool fifth graders do), I got from my ten year old son when I got home today. Wow. What a man! And I didn't even ask for any!

1....The number of seniors that have so far requested to be in my car for the Cedar Point trip. And I couldn't be happier to have her ride shotgun. The rest of the car....who cares.... because we'll at least have a ton 'o fun!

0....The number of cat naps that I have been able to take this week. I am so glad it is the weekend!

Musical Madness

I teach a mini musical class at school every trimester (12 weeks long). I made up this class two years ago so that I would be able to have a large variety and amount of the student population be able to take a vocal music elective class that was not a year long commitment. It has allowed about 40 kids who I wouldn't normally know opportunity to take a class with me and it has worked exactly as I planned.....I get about 10-20 percent of them to sign up for choir the following year.

Each trimester, the class picks out a child appropriate 40 minute show to present to our 3 elementary shows. We do everything...from making up choreography, rehearsing music, assigning the roles, and creating any props and scenery that we may need. It is an extremely busy class but we tend to end up with a fairly good show. This trimester we did a show called "It's s'cool"--trust me, I can spell it much better than I can say it! The show is a blend of Rent, Fame, and Grease with a bit of High School Musical thrown in for good measure!

Today started our big performance marathon. After tomorrow afternoon, we will have performed the show 4 times! It is a high energy show and everyone will be exhausted by the end. Although it is not high quality, I am proud of my students. The dances are clean and the singing is good. The acting....we won't talk about that. (I need to find an acting workshop this summer). The majority of them have NEVER and WILL NEVER audition for any kind of community or professional theater. They don't have the money, a car, or enough talent to be able to be successful in that kind of setting. But I do hope that my little "garage" theater production with zero budget and limited talent is a real bright spot in their high school memories. It is for me.....every trimester! I will attempt to load a video of some of their performance but I make no promises that it will work!

A Very Vicious Cycle

Summer is approaching. We have about 4 weeks of school left and I am starting to dread the "summer makeover". Every year, I contemplate losing a lot of weight. And every year starts out pretty much the same way. Here is a small sample of the "process" of me starting a diet.

1. I decide that it is time to change things.
2. I decide that I should give up Diet Coke first. Because I should drink water.
3. I start to drink water. And I do well dealing with random caffeine withdrawal headaches for about 2 days but I persevere and continue on the "water march".
4. I decide to give up "white". Pasta, rice, bread, flour, etc. I quickly realize that life is really not worth living without "white". So I rethink my options. The no "white" thing lasts about one day at most.
5. I decide that giving up "green" may be better.....because I don't like vegetables too much.
6. I do quite well at accomplishing #5 on the list so I decide that I can reward myself with some Diet Coke.

There you have it! Maybe this summer will be different.

Have a GREAT day!

Isn't it amazing how we use certain phrases every day and don't really think about what they mean? Take for instance the phrase, "How are you doing?" I usually find myself using this phrase to start up a conversation with another person. Most people will answer with a pat response like "oh, I'm fine" or "great", etc. and then launch into conversation. I always wonder if the majority of people are just avoiding the honest answer such as "Well, my life isn't so good right now, but thanks for asking so that I would have to think about how pitiful things are again." I think if people said this, the conversation would be pretty much over before it started because most people who say this "How are you doing" thing really don't care how that person is honestly doing. (Oooo, very sad confession of mine.) It's just a phrase....

Another phrase that really bugs me is when a clerk at a store says, "Have a good one!" What????? Did I hear this correctly? Is he/she saying have a good day and just being lazy and replacing the word "day" with "one" because he/she just isn't thinking? Does anyone know what this "one" is referring too? It could be "Have a good...." dinner, or drive, or time, or shopping experience, or bowel movement for that matter. Has this become the new hip way of talking?

And finally I move to my favorite phrase, "Have a GREAT day!" which is, I believe, what McDonald's trains their employees to say at the end of every transaction. I get really tired of this phrase. Maybe it is because I drink Diet Coke from McDonald's far too frequently. When I am in the charitable mood, I simply say back, "Thanks, you too." And we both smile at each other and I screech away. But most of the time I am in the rushed-get-me-out-of-here-mood so I say, "I will, thanks." I look at those two statements in print and realize that they are profoundly different. One gives back to the worker; the other just leaves them hanging. I guess the second one is a tad bit rude? After all, they have just provided me with a very lovely $1.37 medium Diet Coke that will give me energy for the rest of the day!

So this week, I am going to mix it up a bit! Because I prefer to live on the edge and be different! When someone says, "Have a great day" to me I am simply going to reply "Actually, that's not the kind of day I had planned." And then stare at them with no smile and a blank stare.....it should be shockingly fun!

So my 4 faithful readers (welcome Amber!): "Have a GREAT day!".

Babysitters

I have always taken great pride in hand selecting babysitters that will get to be a part of my private world at home. Being a teacher in high school, you would think that I could just snap my fingers and potential candidates would magically fall into place. But I am picky....I like sitters who are creative and will actually pay attention to my kids. And trust me, this kind of person is really hard to find! This year I have been blessed to have about 5 babysitters that I can rotate through given the activity and needs of my kids.

Adam and Brittin are a young adult couple that I have met through my teaching at WMU. They babysit regularly; sometimes together and sometimes alone. My kids love them! It is nice to call on one for a job and the usual reply will be: "If I can't do it my girlfriend/boyfriend can". I have it great right now!

Although my babysitters are usually fabulous, they obviously don't value material things in general. The cars they drive are somewhat dated and tend to make lots of noise moving down the street in our quiet and preppy neighborhood. They are usually the oldest car in the neighborhood. In fact, I always tell them to park on the street because their "cool" cars are usually guilty of leaking oil in my clean driveway! This rule is always made very clear on the very first visit. Now to the truthful part.

I really do tell them to park on the street because of the oil but secretly I am saying, "DO NOT PARK IN THE DRIVEWAY BECAUSE I HAVE A HISTORY OF HITTING BABYSITTER'S CARS". I figure that if I shared this tidbit out loud to them, I would have no babysitters that would be willing to come back for a second visit....ever! When the sitter shows up, I get extremely focused on leaving and I start thinking about what is ahead of me whether it is dinner, a date, a concert, a show, a shopping trip, etc. I think so much about things that I back up, in a hurry, because I am focused on getting to my "place" and BAM, I hit a car. Each time I have done this....yes, EACH time would be three times, I don't do much damage and they don't care because their cars are junk. So, I have been really lucky....I guess?

Well tonight, I hit my fourth babysitter's car--Brittin's 2004 Volkswagon Jetta. No big deal, right?! It was just a minor ding and the front bumper was plastic and easily popped back into place. Shwew! After I hit the car, an almost surreal and totally bizarre event started to play out right in front of me. When I hit the bumper of her car, I watched her car "jump" out of park and start rolling down my driveway. Of course my driveway is on a bit of a decline so the car just kept rolling out into the street, onto and over the curb and finally came to rest as it made solid contact with a small tree. The tree was in my neighbor's yard and was just planted last year by the city. It was so pitiful looking, leaning sadly over from the weight of the white Jetta. What a sight! Actually the real sight was when I threw my car into park, jumped out and started running after her car! I guess I thought I could catch it or something? I forgot to put on my magic superhero cape so things didn't work out as well as I envisioned. I really wanted to take a picture of all of this so the cyber world (Okay, maybe just 3 of you) would believe me, but I also wanted to run back into the house, get Brittin's keys and get that car out of the neighbor's front yard and tree before I was "discovered" and humiliated even further. I chose the running back into the house option....it seemed more logical in the heat of the moment.

Anyway, I don't think that this accident is going to go away without a little deductible action. That Jetta is just too new and too foreign! It has been a sad driving day but it was simply an accident....that was all my fault. Thank goodness the car came to rest on the tree and not a house or a person. So I guess that I can call it a successful accident. Pitiful, aren't I?

A Roller Coaster Day

I am trying to find all of the great stuff to dwell on during the month of May but it is proving to be more difficult than anticipated! So a good old fashioned honest post will have to do for tonight.

School is really challenging right now. We are in the midst of layoffs and so far 6 high school teachers will be leaving our school system. We only have 2 teachers retiring so I am very sad that we are messing with people's lives here. It must be incredibly hard to deal with life changing news within the walls of your princiPAL's office. I stress "pal" here----I'm not sure I get how our English language came up with that one!

I don't have enough tech people on my auditorium staff right now so I am pretending to be the lighting tech person for 2 large performances. I have spent almost every free moment this week working on cues so that both shows will go well. I have hit a wall with certain parts of the programming of cues/scenes and I am frustrated because there is no one to turn to and I don't do well with manuals.

I was told today that I would be driving to Cedar Point with five seniors because they "overbooked" the buses for our June trip. It will be awkward enough to ask seniors to ride with me since if I were 17/18 years old, I would think this was not a "fun" option. Of course, my dream would be to be able to hand pick my "fab five" and they would just flock to my car door because it would be absolutely awesome to hang out for five hours in a climate controlled, quiet car with leather seats and stimulating conversations or naps o'plenty. Who am I kidding? I am a realist so I know this won't happen! And in reality, I know I will get stuck with five seniors that will be assigned to me the day of the trip that don't "fit" in and I will end up "acting" that the day will be great especially when they all turn out to be strangers. Yay....go me! I was excited to chaperone this trip but now I am wondering if this may be more of a stress than anything else. Maybe I should bow out gracefully now so that I don't have to deal with this?

I am tired and not in the best of moods and once again my day is pretty much done and I have only been home for less than an hour. Will May ever quit?

Tomorrow will be better.

Insectisitis

Is anyone missing any bugs around their house? We seem to have an over abundance of little critters crawling around lately. And I don't like it at all. They give me the creeps. Bugs that are included in this category of creepiness are spiders, flies, big carpenter ants, grasshoppers, beetles, fuzzy caterpillars, and moths. I don't like finding them and I really don't like killing them especially the crunchy ones with shells.

At the beginning of our marriage, I made it very clear that "it was the man's job to kill bugs". My husband was and is usually agreeable to my somewhat bizarre requests so he didn't see a problem with fulfilling this request. I simply had to just shreek his name and point in the direction of the bug and he was there armed with a shoe or some kleenex or in some instances he would just use his hand to stop the intruder before it could further damage our house! He is my hero.

When our children came along, I realized that my husband would not always be around to do the bug killing so I was going to have to learn how. It was horribly difficult at first but after a few hundred attempts, I became more confident and soon was swatting things with only minor creep-out feelings. If a bug got even remotely close to my children, I had no problem smashing it's body against the wall because there would be no way that a bug would endanger my precious child! It was like the flight or fight option instinctually took over and the bug would never win. I obviously choose the "fight" option in high stress situations and let me tell you, carpenter ants still cause me a high amount of stress.

Today, I realized that I have not taught my son to be especially brave in "bug situations". It must be the lack of good modeling. The children were downstairs playing a video game and I was cooking for the week. I suddenly heard Nate yell, "Mom, come down here, we have a spider on the ceiling." I quickly ran across the kitchen to the sink, plunged my hands into the dishwater and yelled, "Nate, you are going to have to take care of it...my hands are wet". A few seconds later, I realized that Nate was in the fight mode. He must have wanted to protect his sister from the evil spider! He was running towards his upstairs bedroom and quickly returned with a nerf dart gun in hand and as he was running back downstairs he yelled, "Mom, don't worry, I am going to take care of this spider. I am going to shoot him off the ceiling." So, here my friends is my son, the spider shooter, in full action:

Since he has excellent aim, he shot the spider right off the ceiling on the first try and it fell behind the entertainment center. We are quite certain that it is not dead. Nate left his dart gun downstairs on top of that entertainment center just in case. Never a dull moment in this house! Happy Buggy Spring!

Finding Perspective

It is May in the public schools. I am in the thick of concerts, grades are due, seniors are leaving, field trip pull outs are happening every other day, teachers are using up their sick days, and administrators are suspending kids left and right. I thought things were going well but I kind of hit a cement wall today. It has been a down right cruddy day. A day that no one deserves to live over. So, it only seems right to forget about that "urgent stuff" (that ends up irritating me) and take some time to reflect on the really important stuff.

This year has been an extremely fulfilling year in my teaching career. To coin a song from Wicked, "I have been changed for good." I think a few of the things for which I am thankful and would like to share them with you. This week has been filled with "lists" in my posts and I guess tonight's reflection is no different.

1. Three weeks ago I received a sealed envelope in my mailbox with my name typed on it. I dreaded opening it because I am always afraid around this time of year that I will be laid off. And this letter had all the markings of that. (BTW, that has never happened....yet). I opened the envelope in the privacy of my office (in case I needed to cry) and it was a letter from a student telling me that I was her favorite teacher. She doesn't say much in class but those few paragraphs spoke volumes about her and how she perceived me. It was a great letter and I will keep it...forever. And I did cry. But it was for all the right reasons.

2. My choir program finally feels like my own. I am rather new at this high school choir directorship thing. I am not as organized as I would like to be but I am steadily getting better at achieving consistent vocal quality within my groups. I listened to my choir's "festival" recording from my first year here a couple of weeks back. It was REALLY horrible. I mean drop-your-jaw-and-try-not-to-gasp horrible. Each year I focus on something different.....last year was sight reading; this year was vocal production/vowel formation. I can't seem to teach everything in one year. None the less, the groups are steadily getting better. It is very encouraging.

3. Sometimes in your teaching career, I have been told, every once in a while you come across a student that understands you and takes a real interest in things that are important to you. I never had that experience because maybe I am too task oriented to really take time to get to know people, or maybe I just wasn't in one place long enough to develop any bonds. But this year I have a student who can predict what needs to be done and then will take over when needed and get the job finished. She is a natural teacher (although she would fight that to the bitter end), extremely respected by her peers, and has a passion to always push people to do their best on the stage. She is a senior. And I don't think there will be "replacement" for her for a very long time.

4. I have a really great bunch of kids who eat lunch with me everyday. A few months ago I gave up eating in the teacher's lounge. It was a place that you could sit around a giant table (ok, it was four rectangular tables pushed together) and talk....or so I thought! I started to listen to the conversations and noticed the same underlying themes everyday. Those themes included TV show synopsis stuff, drinking, parties, sports and dirty jokes. After I realized that there was not one single thing on that list that I enjoy talking or even thinking about, I decided to quit the lunch lounge and start a club of my own. I started eating in my office and pretty soon two or three students started "hanging out" and eating with me. We soon added a few more and now I have 5 students who eat with me everyday. Every single day. They don't go to the lunchroom-ever. I am good with this....it is much more enjoyable conversation and it keeps me connected to the "teenage psyche" which I will never quite figure out.

I am going to try to focus on the positive things that are all around me so that I can survive my 17th time of "MAY" in the public schools and hopefully be able to start my summer vacation on a good note.

Twice in less than a week!

I was in the paper again today! Celebrity status has struck twice! It seems that one of my senior students nominated me for a teaching excellence award! I received an invitation to a fancy dinner/reception that was to happen the same night as my concert. It was sad to have to miss this event because it's not everyday that you get such a high compliment for just teaching! Plus, it is only the top academic 2 percent of Kalamazoo County that participate in this event and to be quite honest with you, I am not sure when another REALLY smart student will come along so my chances are pretty slim that I will be so lucky again!

Anyway, I was so honored and humbled again all at the same time. 14 more days with my Seniors....I will miss them so much!

Concert of Fun

Last night we performed in our spring choral concert. I think the kids had a blast. Let me highlight a few of my favorite moments.

1. I was able to get a Yamaha Clavinova this year for the auditorium/choir. Because of having a portable instrument that was lift-able, I was able to sit in the orchestra pit and play and direct without being on stage....it was good.

2. Each of my choirs performed an accappella (I don't know how to spell that word so double letters all over should work) piece last night for the first time in public. When I came to this school three years ago, the group couldn't sing a scale up or down without lots of help. Last year they couldn't sing a scale down at the beginning of the year and this year they can sing scales AND intervals. Boy oh boy, are we moving up!

3. My principal came without being asked....and then high fived me after the show. He's just like that!

4. My choir pulled off a song at the end with full choreography that was really fun to watch and listen to. And they were polished!

5. Although it is the final concert for 12 of my seniors, it was good to be able to recognize them because it gave them a moment of "specialness" to hopefully remember when they sit home and play video games all day next year!

Although it is over and things can calm down for a while, I am always reminded very clearly why I teach performing groups. It is my biggest accomplishment to see my students, especially the ones that have really pitiful home situations, be proud of what they do. It is a "bigger" goal that I work on all year through small goals like teaching stage presence, vocal technique, etiquette, and rehearsal attitude. We don't always achieve it...but last night it happened in a big way. And it was good.

Remembering

It is amazing how stories/memories come to you when you teach. I share a lot of these moments in my teaching on a daily basis. I am always looking for ways to connect the pieces of learning to each other and I feel that stories sometimes help students make that connection. It always fascinates me that my mind can be so clear when it comes to memories and so foggy when it comes to other things. Let me give you some examples:

1. I can remember foreign language song lyrics perfectly even if I don't know the actual meanings of the words. I can not remember lyrics to songs that are in English most of the time. My choir laughs at me on almost a daily basis for my inventions!

2. I can remember phone numbers from 10 years ago. Ipswich: 356-8665 (it spells elm tool), Wilmore: 858-3511; but since the invention of cell phones, I can't tell you the numbers of most of the people I call everyday.

3. I can remember where I live on a daily basis. I can't remember that the roads and exit ramps that lead to my home are closed and I can't get home that way! (My commute goes from 15 to 31 minutes when I forget.)

4. I can remember how to spell a person's name but I first have to remember their name!

5. I can remember that I have seen a movie but I can't usually remember what the movie is about.

So, is this normal?

This is turning into a super special day!

After becoming a celebrity today (read the post below), I decided to push my luck and clean up the kitchen a bit. It was my intention to get everything possible off the floor so that I could mop it. Guess what happened? I lifted up the table cloth that had been lying in a heap on the floor all week and MY BLACK SHOES were just chillin' underneath! It is a great day and I will be wearing those babies tomorrow to school! BTW, I decided not to mop because I needed to pick out my outfit that will go with black shoes for tomorrow. Priorities people, priorities!

Guilla Monsters

I don't really know if I spelled that title correctly or not. It doesn't seem to have that squiggly red line under it so we'll just go with it!

Most of you know that I have diabetes type 2. I had gestational diabetes with both of my pregnancies and was told with the birth of child number one that I had a 90% chance of contracting the disease later in life. And when the odds are that high, I tend to just go with them. So, about 4 years ago, after a few years of denial, I was officially diabetic.

Like any disease, Diabetes can come in many types and flavors. I have the adult onset type and my sugars actually register pretty well on the "Diabetic Scale". My sugars are registering an average of 120 when I am taking my meds on a regular basis. 120 is actually on the very high side of normal. So I am not that bad....sorta.

I visited my doctor last week. He is very good at his job and likes to practice "cutting edge" medicine. He is about my age and loves his job because everytime I go in and am feeling a bit discouraged about how inconsistent I have become with shots and drugs, he encourages me to "Get in the Game" and just try harder.

It is really hard to "try harder" when the guilla monster juice shot (also known as BYETTA) makes me sick. Byetta works really well for me...my sugars are in the double digits but I feel absolutely lousy for about 2 hours after I take the shot. In a one week time frame, I usually throw up 3-4 different days after taking the miracle drug. Teaching and throwing up really don't mix so I knew that I had to have a conversation with my doctor about this. Here is how it played out:

Dr: So, how is it going?
Me: Well, I don't really like taking that BYETTA. It makes me sick.
Dr: Yes, but look at your sugar readings, they are great!
Me: I probably throw up about 3 times a week in the mornings after I take it.
Dr: This drug is really doing the best possible job that we could ask for.
Me: I don't really like throwing up at school. In fact, I skip the shot all together if I know that I have to be on top of my game that day. I can't predict when it is going to make me sick.
Dr: (Finally, he is listening). Well, I know that this regiment is tough on your body. I guess that if you have to skip once in a while then I will just have to forgive you. Taking it 60 or 70% of the time is better than nothing at all.
Me: So, you are asking me to continue taking a drug that makes me sick?
Dr: Yup.
Me: Well, okay then.

I guess that this is a journey that won't end in one day or maybe even in one lifetime. But it is so hard to be patient.

PS: It made me sick again today.

LOST: Black Shoes

I have lost my black shoes. I wore them to Chicago on Saturday. I did not leave them on the train or in the car or in the house or in the bar. (BTW, I wasn't really in a bar but I was having a Dr. Seuss moment there so please bare with me.) I have other shoes but none are quite as lovely fitting as these. Those of you who know me in person know that shoes and I don't get along because I have a short and fat foot. So when you come across a shoe that fits well, you buy multiple colors in that one style. I have 4 colors in this particular style. I used to have 5. It is a sad day when your favorite pair of shoes goes missing. I will hold out a small flicker of hope through the weekend but the whole thing feels hopeless. I just can't imagine where they are. Please come home shoes....I am terribly missing you. Oh, in case you feel a need to look around your house for my shoes, here is what they look like. I am showing you them in brown because I didn't want you to miss out on all the lovely details.

Tiger and Cassie

There comes a time in life when sometimes things are so boring around the house that one decides to blog about their cats. This seems to be that time. So sit back (does anyone ever read blogs standing up?) and relax and try not to fall asleep.

Cassie and Tiger are brother and sister. In "cat lingo" that means litter mates. We have had them since they were about 4 weeks old. They weren't weaned from their mother before we got them so eating cat food was a bit difficult for them for a few days. This new eating "skill" is what you see in the picture at the top of the post.

Madison got the inspiration for Cassie's name from a then popular show on PBS called "Dragon Tales". Madison, who was just barely three years old, was extremely in love with the show and extremely in love with the color pink. So it made perfect sense to name the gray kitten "Cassie" since the other Cassie was pink and a small dragon. Don't you see the three year old's logic? Does anyone in the entire universe know of a gray cat named Cassie? It is truly, utterly, and purely unique. Now that Maddie is eight and a bit more refined in the naming department, I am sad to report that Cassie is still deeply loved but her silly name has lost it's zippiness. Sometimes, although hard to admit, I rename her when guests visit. It helps to avoid the comments like, "Wow, that is an interesting name" and then they turn away and curl up their noses in confusion. and dislike.

"Tiger" was the name that Nate chose for his gray and black striped kitten. This one I can totally make sense of.

Anyway, the cats are BFF. They hang out together.... they meet me at the door each morning when I get up, they eat together, and they play together. Once in the while, we even catch them sleeping quite closely together! As like most women that I care to hang out with, Cassie is very bossy. She is a mere six pounds to Tiger's twelve but she is the dominating female of the cat clan. She is always quick to "hunt" through the screen window (they live inside). She is always easy to find...just one "kitty, kitty, kitty" sequence away and she will be at your feet in a jiffy. She is also a problem solver--if you need that toy that has rolled under the fridge, she will stretch her tiny paws under the grate until it is found. She is an over achiever--she not only gets that toy, but she will find food, dust bunnies, and dirt particles as well!

Wow! I have just experienced an incredible change of literary events! I just realized that Cassie's life is a complete parallel of mine! This is incredible! I am smallish (okay, a bit more than six pounds), I am going more gray by the day, I "hunt" teachers, students, friends, and family down everyday, I am only a cell phone number away so I am easy to "call", I problem solve at different levels all day long, and I am an over achiever because a musical performance is never ever, EVER good enough.

Hmmmm..... It is quite amazing the direction in which this post has headed. It's not at all what I felt it would turn out like. I was going to tell you about how a twelve pound Tiger runs across my head while I sleep-I guess that will be saved for a different boring afternoon post. I am looking at Cassie joyfully sleeping very peacefully on the chair next to me....maybe I will continue to be just like her. Right now!