I had to go back and look to see how long I've been on this new dose. It feels kind of like forever, but I know that's not true.
Minor injury month continued with me stubbing my newly-healed, once-broken baby toe last Thursday. It hurt for a while, enough for me to think What is wrong with me? Did I break it again?!? but then it settled down. It wasn't broken, merely insulted. It was very red for a day it's back to usual now.
Physical symptoms are not too bad. My hip was bothering me today, probably from the way I was sitting all curled up watching the Downton Abbey movie, which was delightful. I mean, it was a piece of fluff, but it was still fun to watch. Except I'm paying for it with a sore hip today? It's just a guess.
The lymph node persists, but is only interminttently painful. Palpitations have nearly disappeared, as has the pulsatile tinnitus I've had for several years. I only notice it when it's really quiet and/or I'm dehydrated, so it's not really a bother. I could usually switch it "on" by listening for it, but now if I try to hear it, I can't. I suppose that's good!
On the other hand, I'm definitely more likely to say something to irritate my family these days. My sanity-filter seems to be malfunctioning: there are things that I think, but I don't say, because I know they'll only cause problems of one kind or another. Lately I've been saying those kind of things anyway, with the predictable results of various people being annoyed with me. I could blame the new dose but I know I'm just a jerk sometimes. And then I think, well, do I have to be gracious when I cook a nice dinner at the end of the week when I'm exhausted and nobody says so much as thank you? Feeling unappreciated makes me want to say jerky things.
School-wise, I'm doing my best to keep up with my grading, etc, and I'm managing better. The first half of the year is difficult because I'm losing two afternoons a week to Robotics, and also dealing with all the extra grading for the science fair. It's a lot. I've been looking through my plans and dropping things I've done in the past that didn't seem to help the students' learning, things like virtual labs, and that's helped me keep up a little better. I've seen how many grades the other teachers take and even if I drop an assignment here or there, I'll still have more grades than anyone else.
We're heading into the time of extreme exhaustion, because we're all ready for a break but we don't get a fall break, just a long weekend. It helps, but it's really not enough. But this year I'm taking an extra day to go to New Orleans with DD! Wedding dress shopping is something I've literally never done, in spite of the fact that I've been married twice -- and did, in fact, wear a dress each time. The first time I had a custom dress made for me by a friend of a friend who was a costumer for her dance company, and the second time I just wore a cocktail dress. So the whole bridal gown experience passed me by, and now I'll get to enjoy it vicariously. I believe being the aunt on the shopping trip is ideal, because I have zero involvement in planning the wedding and therefore zero stress about the bride choosing a dress.
Other travel plans are percolating, too. I've been going back and forth on what to do for our 25th anniversary, and had really decided to just stay home and work on the house. (We're selling in a few years, and it needs work before we do.) But various people have told me not to be ridiculous, that we out to do something special to celebrate, and I think that's right. I should have some good memories and not just an updated kitchen which I will eventually be leaving behind, right? So I had to really think about the kind of trip I want, because DH was talking about going to Rome. Italy sounds really lovely, but honestly I'm worried about my dietary restrictions. When eating wheat makes you very sick, it's really hard to be around it all the time. The breads and pastas in Italy are fantastic, and I wouldn't be able to eat them without possibly ruining the rest of my time there with joint pain and digestive upset. I know I would be able to find something to eat (a girlfriend jokes that I could just have a steady diet of gelato), but I think it would really bother me to be in that environment and not be able to properly enjoy it.
Then I started thinking about what kind of trip I would like: a nice, comfortable place to stay - no camping or roughing it in any way; really good restaurants; nature that I haven't seen before that is accessible to someone who's in pretty good shape but is not a mountain climber; perhaps some culture (music, museums, shopping), but those are the least important. I want to be able to go for beautiful hikes to breath-taking places but be back in time for a really great dinner. Today I settled on Colorado Springs, but we'll see where (and when!) we end up going. DH rather maddeningly keeps asking me what I want to do, without telling me what he wants to do. I think both should be considered in making any plans, and the planning really is a big part of the fun. Sometimes I think the anticipation of the trip is at least an equal pleasure to the trip itself. If it seems as if it's more, that's only because the anticipation lasts so much longer!
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Saturday, September 14, 2019
fall
Minor injury month continues (extended from minor injury week.)
Yesterday was a long, mostly pleasant day. School was fine, and afterwards I led a professional development session that went well. I was able to leave almost immediately afterward and came home, and shortly after that I went to pick up DD where her ride-share dropped her off. We stopped on the way home for Starbucks for everyone.
Back home, all the offspring (no longer kids, right?) were gathered around the kitchen counter with their drinks, catching up. I unpacked an Amazon delivery and decided to empty the small, indoors recycle bins into the huge one outside the garage since there was no room for the box... and that's when I fell.
Our garage has a raised area by the door, kind of a like a sidewalk. I appreciate it because it prevents you from accidentally driving into the back wall of the garage, at least if you're going slow enough. I honestly don't know what happened, but one minute I was walking with the two recycle bins and the next I was on the garage floor with recyclables everywhere. The garage is well-enough insulated that the offspring didn't even hear it, even though all that plastic and glass crashing to the groud seemed very loud to me. I'm very grateful that none of the glass broke!
I picked up everything I noticed and disposed of it, then limped back into the house, grumpy. I have several nasty bruises in progress -- they're still not visible but they hurt! I don't think I hit my head (I fell near the car, after all), but my jaw is sore and my hip joint is really complaining, too. Ah, well. This won't kill me, but it certainly wasn't fun, and when the bruises come out it's not going to be pretty.
Just another note in my "hey, you changed my dose and look what happened" file. For the record: no alcohol had been consumed prior to this event.
Yesterday was a long, mostly pleasant day. School was fine, and afterwards I led a professional development session that went well. I was able to leave almost immediately afterward and came home, and shortly after that I went to pick up DD where her ride-share dropped her off. We stopped on the way home for Starbucks for everyone.
Back home, all the offspring (no longer kids, right?) were gathered around the kitchen counter with their drinks, catching up. I unpacked an Amazon delivery and decided to empty the small, indoors recycle bins into the huge one outside the garage since there was no room for the box... and that's when I fell.
Our garage has a raised area by the door, kind of a like a sidewalk. I appreciate it because it prevents you from accidentally driving into the back wall of the garage, at least if you're going slow enough. I honestly don't know what happened, but one minute I was walking with the two recycle bins and the next I was on the garage floor with recyclables everywhere. The garage is well-enough insulated that the offspring didn't even hear it, even though all that plastic and glass crashing to the groud seemed very loud to me. I'm very grateful that none of the glass broke!
I picked up everything I noticed and disposed of it, then limped back into the house, grumpy. I have several nasty bruises in progress -- they're still not visible but they hurt! I don't think I hit my head (I fell near the car, after all), but my jaw is sore and my hip joint is really complaining, too. Ah, well. This won't kill me, but it certainly wasn't fun, and when the bruises come out it's not going to be pretty.
Just another note in my "hey, you changed my dose and look what happened" file. For the record: no alcohol had been consumed prior to this event.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
haha!
Of course I blogged yesterday about a painful node, body aches, brain fog, and getting little sleep because of too much work to do.
So today, on less than 5 hours of sleep: the node has made barely a twinge, body aches just about gone, and brain fog, well, I can't really tell but it's certainly not worse.
(eyeroll)
No harm in keeping track of these things, but this reminds me of the times your tech refuses to work until you actually call tech support, when it auto-magically starts working perfectly again.
I'm just glad I'm feeling a little better. We'll see.
So today, on less than 5 hours of sleep: the node has made barely a twinge, body aches just about gone, and brain fog, well, I can't really tell but it's certainly not worse.
(eyeroll)
No harm in keeping track of these things, but this reminds me of the times your tech refuses to work until you actually call tech support, when it auto-magically starts working perfectly again.
I'm just glad I'm feeling a little better. We'll see.
hmmm
Just keeping track a little more closely: I do think I'm coming down with something, but I can't figure out what. I have no sign up anything upper respiratory -- no post-nasal drip, no congestion -- except I now have a remarkably painful lymph node just under the jaw joint on the right side. I think I've had this before? It's a weird place to have a constant pain and it is kind of distracting. It started Monday morning, I think, but yesterday was an all-over painful kind of day so it was just kind of background noise.
Body aches again today but not as bad as yesterday, but that may be because I slept for about 9 hours last night. That's not happening again today because I had too much grading to do, since I didn't do any yesterday because I was sleeping! Anyway, fewer body aches meant that the painful lymph node was that much more noticeable. And I'm just going to say it: it's just a reactive node, and not cancer. The odds of it being cancer after the incredibly thorough workup I had over the summer are so close to zero we'll just call it zero. Even though it feels like one node to me, it's really a small cluster of survivors from neck dissection, and they freak out if something's going. I've had them biopsied at least twice and examined under countless ultrasounds and they're always 1) reactive which means 2) not cancer. (The evil-thinking part of my brain thinks, Wouldn't it be funny if you got a recurrance because you're on a lower dose now? To which the rational part of my brain responds, Shut up.)
I'm trying not to psych myself out of (or into) anything here, but I feel ... off. Clumsy. In the past week I have sustained 3 minor injuries in the kitchen: one burn, one knife wound, and then to top it off, I grated the side of my thumb just enough to make it sensitive. None of these injuries are life-threatening, but to me they are a sign that I'm not at the top of my game, so to speak.
I really can't afford to be operating at less than peak efficiency. If this goes on much longer I'll have to think about ditching the new dose and going back on the old one, hoping the damage is reversible... or maybe I have a little virus or something that will blow over in a few days... or maybe there's nothing going on (I just typed "they're" and stared at it for a few seconds knowing it was wrong but not knowing how to fix it! I finally figured it out.) and it's all in my head and I'll have forgotten all about this by next week!
I'm busy enough. It's not as if I want to sit around examining how I'm dealing with this new dose, but enough "off" things are happening that I really need to document if I'm going to convince my doctor to put me back on my old dose, even if it is stressing my body in other ways. At least my brain was working well on it...
Body aches again today but not as bad as yesterday, but that may be because I slept for about 9 hours last night. That's not happening again today because I had too much grading to do, since I didn't do any yesterday because I was sleeping! Anyway, fewer body aches meant that the painful lymph node was that much more noticeable. And I'm just going to say it: it's just a reactive node, and not cancer. The odds of it being cancer after the incredibly thorough workup I had over the summer are so close to zero we'll just call it zero. Even though it feels like one node to me, it's really a small cluster of survivors from neck dissection, and they freak out if something's going. I've had them biopsied at least twice and examined under countless ultrasounds and they're always 1) reactive which means 2) not cancer. (The evil-thinking part of my brain thinks, Wouldn't it be funny if you got a recurrance because you're on a lower dose now? To which the rational part of my brain responds, Shut up.)
I'm trying not to psych myself out of (or into) anything here, but I feel ... off. Clumsy. In the past week I have sustained 3 minor injuries in the kitchen: one burn, one knife wound, and then to top it off, I grated the side of my thumb just enough to make it sensitive. None of these injuries are life-threatening, but to me they are a sign that I'm not at the top of my game, so to speak.
I really can't afford to be operating at less than peak efficiency. If this goes on much longer I'll have to think about ditching the new dose and going back on the old one, hoping the damage is reversible... or maybe I have a little virus or something that will blow over in a few days... or maybe there's nothing going on (I just typed "they're" and stared at it for a few seconds knowing it was wrong but not knowing how to fix it! I finally figured it out.) and it's all in my head and I'll have forgotten all about this by next week!
I'm busy enough. It's not as if I want to sit around examining how I'm dealing with this new dose, but enough "off" things are happening that I really need to document if I'm going to convince my doctor to put me back on my old dose, even if it is stressing my body in other ways. At least my brain was working well on it...
Monday, September 09, 2019
Week 3
Everything hurts.
I have been working long hours, but my work is not physically demanding. I don't recall spending a day grading leaving me aching from head to toe, literally, but that's where I am. Perhaps I'm coming down with something? It's a possiblity, but I don't feel sick, exactly, I just hurt all over. Muscles, joints, you name it.
I'm also exhausted beyond what I think I should be! I haven't been too bad on getting sleep -- at least 6 hours and usually more, which is, to be honest, great for me. I have at various times routinely stayed up until 1 or 2 while still getting up by 6:30, so shouldn't I feel less tired?
Digestion: meh. Still nibbling on ginger frequently, and I haven't had the really horrid gastroparesis-full feeling I had a few times the previous week. But I go from having zero appetite to being ravenous, and I'm not sure what that's about since I eat the same way all the time. There's nothing new going on in my diet.
I have been wearing my shoes with the metatarsal orthotic, and I was thinking that was making my legs ache (not a bad hypothesis), but then I realized that there is no way the orthotics could be bothering my hands, so I gave up that idea. I suppose it's still plausible.
Today in my first class I oollected their homework from over the weekend and put it in my expandable file, and then, about 5 minutes later, handed them back out to the students because I had forgotten what they were! The kids laughed about it and forgave me that bit of silliness, and in all fairness we did have about five different things going on at that moment, but it wasn't one of my best mornings, to say the least.
Just a very long and painful day. Here's hoping tomorrow is better.
I have been working long hours, but my work is not physically demanding. I don't recall spending a day grading leaving me aching from head to toe, literally, but that's where I am. Perhaps I'm coming down with something? It's a possiblity, but I don't feel sick, exactly, I just hurt all over. Muscles, joints, you name it.
I'm also exhausted beyond what I think I should be! I haven't been too bad on getting sleep -- at least 6 hours and usually more, which is, to be honest, great for me. I have at various times routinely stayed up until 1 or 2 while still getting up by 6:30, so shouldn't I feel less tired?
Digestion: meh. Still nibbling on ginger frequently, and I haven't had the really horrid gastroparesis-full feeling I had a few times the previous week. But I go from having zero appetite to being ravenous, and I'm not sure what that's about since I eat the same way all the time. There's nothing new going on in my diet.
I have been wearing my shoes with the metatarsal orthotic, and I was thinking that was making my legs ache (not a bad hypothesis), but then I realized that there is no way the orthotics could be bothering my hands, so I gave up that idea. I suppose it's still plausible.
Today in my first class I oollected their homework from over the weekend and put it in my expandable file, and then, about 5 minutes later, handed them back out to the students because I had forgotten what they were! The kids laughed about it and forgave me that bit of silliness, and in all fairness we did have about five different things going on at that moment, but it wasn't one of my best mornings, to say the least.
Just a very long and painful day. Here's hoping tomorrow is better.
Monday, September 02, 2019
two weeks in
Approaching the end of my second week on my new dose, and trouble may be brewing. For the past three or four days I've experienced the return of my gastroparesis symptoms: feeling full after eating just a few bites, feeling bloated all the time, having to burp a lot...
This could be unrelated to the change in meds, but maybe not. We'll see. I'm coping by nibbling on candied ginger, and chewing gum when I can. Both seem to help a bit, but the vaguely unpleasant feeling is still hanging on. I hope it goes away soon!
In other news, I scored two pairs of sandals and a beautiful pair of pumps at The Walking Company's Labor Day sale. It will be nice to wear shoes with the correct footbed to keep me from furthering injuring myself.
I'm almost done with the ridiculous amount of grading I had to do, and then it will probably take an hour to enter all the grades. I think fondly of how good it's going to feel when it is done, and I vow to do a better job of keeping up with the grading, going forward. Thank God for this 3-day weekend so I could catch up!
This could be unrelated to the change in meds, but maybe not. We'll see. I'm coping by nibbling on candied ginger, and chewing gum when I can. Both seem to help a bit, but the vaguely unpleasant feeling is still hanging on. I hope it goes away soon!
In other news, I scored two pairs of sandals and a beautiful pair of pumps at The Walking Company's Labor Day sale. It will be nice to wear shoes with the correct footbed to keep me from furthering injuring myself.
I'm almost done with the ridiculous amount of grading I had to do, and then it will probably take an hour to enter all the grades. I think fondly of how good it's going to feel when it is done, and I vow to do a better job of keeping up with the grading, going forward. Thank God for this 3-day weekend so I could catch up!
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
free!
Doctor cleared me from boot-wearing yesterday: the toe is finally healed!
I wore the same sandals on both feet today and felt short! It was awesome not having to stump around campus in that thing.
The toe still feels a little "crunchy" and the doctor says that's normal. I still feel like I have to have an ice pack with me and my 20-minute timer whenever I sit on the couch. That will wear off eventually.
Now to try to dig out from the pile of grading I've got myself into...
I wore the same sandals on both feet today and felt short! It was awesome not having to stump around campus in that thing.
The toe still feels a little "crunchy" and the doctor says that's normal. I still feel like I have to have an ice pack with me and my 20-minute timer whenever I sit on the couch. That will wear off eventually.
Now to try to dig out from the pile of grading I've got myself into...
Sunday, August 25, 2019
checking in
Since I'm on a new dose of my thyroid meds, I'm going to make an effort to check in more frequently so I can keep track of how I'm handling it.
So far, so good. In fact, the beginning of this school year is almost suspiciously smooth, with no major problems or headaches or seemingly intractable problems. Maybe it's because this is my tenth (!!!) year teaching and I've finally chilled out, but I don't have that sort-of-an-itch feeling that there are things that are just waiting to explode.
Which is not to say that those things aren't there (we're having a meeting to review IEPs for our students this Tuesday), but so far, so good.
I'm seeing my doctor regarding my broken toe tomorrow, and hope that I can finally stop taping, and wearing the boot, etc. We'll see. It's less than ideal timing with respect to my dose change, but I also started a bone-growth-promoting supplement the last couple of weeks to see if it helps. Here's hoping.
Without getting too graphic, I had some kinds of an intestinal bug for about a week that finally seems to have resolved. I was thinking it was a side-effect of the bone-growth supplement, but I haven't stopped that and everything has finally settled down anyway. It was unpleasant but didn't get in the way of teaching, so it could've been worse!
So far no signs of fatigue or brain fog, and I'm definitely feeling calmer, less tightly-wound. I don't think I had any palpitations this week, whereas normally I would feel my heart going crazy at least two or three times a week. It's really too soon to tell, though, since it has only been a week. I'm going for my blood test in mid-October and have even already scheduled it. I'm trying to stay on top of things, with fair-to-middling success so far (she says, eyeing the huge stack of projects left to be graded!)
So far, so good. In fact, the beginning of this school year is almost suspiciously smooth, with no major problems or headaches or seemingly intractable problems. Maybe it's because this is my tenth (!!!) year teaching and I've finally chilled out, but I don't have that sort-of-an-itch feeling that there are things that are just waiting to explode.
Which is not to say that those things aren't there (we're having a meeting to review IEPs for our students this Tuesday), but so far, so good.
I'm seeing my doctor regarding my broken toe tomorrow, and hope that I can finally stop taping, and wearing the boot, etc. We'll see. It's less than ideal timing with respect to my dose change, but I also started a bone-growth-promoting supplement the last couple of weeks to see if it helps. Here's hoping.
Without getting too graphic, I had some kinds of an intestinal bug for about a week that finally seems to have resolved. I was thinking it was a side-effect of the bone-growth supplement, but I haven't stopped that and everything has finally settled down anyway. It was unpleasant but didn't get in the way of teaching, so it could've been worse!
So far no signs of fatigue or brain fog, and I'm definitely feeling calmer, less tightly-wound. I don't think I had any palpitations this week, whereas normally I would feel my heart going crazy at least two or three times a week. It's really too soon to tell, though, since it has only been a week. I'm going for my blood test in mid-October and have even already scheduled it. I'm trying to stay on top of things, with fair-to-middling success so far (she says, eyeing the huge stack of projects left to be graded!)
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
new dose, day 1
For about 15 years now I've been on the same level of thyroid medication. After my last (exhaustive) round of tests, my new doctor has declared me "disease free" which is very nice (I don't really buy it, but whatever, the effect is the same) and decided to lower my daily thyroid meds from 137 mcg/day to 125 mcg/day. I dimly recall being on a lower dose before my cancer diagnosis, but that was all so very long ago...
Anyway, I have some trepidations about this. I know my dose is high, it gets flagged as high every time I have blood work done. But I feel good. This is "normal" for me now. I'm not particularly enthusiastic about adapting to a new normal, not when the school year has just begun.
That's going just fine, except for me wearing THE BOOT at school because that damned pinkie toe is still not healed. I actually bought a new supplement designed to promote bone growth and I'm now putting up my foot in class to try to get it to actually heal. It has been more than 2 months now! I would like this process to be over.
Lots of stuff happened that I did not write about, as usual, now. I accept that is the way things are for the present and forseeable future. Overall things are just fine and I have every reason to expect they will stay that way!
Anyway, I have some trepidations about this. I know my dose is high, it gets flagged as high every time I have blood work done. But I feel good. This is "normal" for me now. I'm not particularly enthusiastic about adapting to a new normal, not when the school year has just begun.
That's going just fine, except for me wearing THE BOOT at school because that damned pinkie toe is still not healed. I actually bought a new supplement designed to promote bone growth and I'm now putting up my foot in class to try to get it to actually heal. It has been more than 2 months now! I would like this process to be over.
Lots of stuff happened that I did not write about, as usual, now. I accept that is the way things are for the present and forseeable future. Overall things are just fine and I have every reason to expect they will stay that way!
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
laziest day
Halfway through our east coast vacation, we're suffering with high heat and humidity as the remnants of that hurricane (Albert?) make their way up the coast. Ninety-plus degrees with similar humidity are a good excuse to stay in and lounge around, so we did.
This year's vacation is weird because it's just DH and me. We left the kids out of the planning because they're all supposed to be working. As of this writing, DS2 just landed a job but the other two are working at finding one, although DD had an interview today for a position that's a great fit for her, so we'll see how it goes.
We're also not doing our usual jaunt to Mystic, because my brother hosted a mini-reunion at his place near Boston, so we did an overnight there instead. I have played more cards in the past two weeks than I've played in the past five years, but that's OK -- last week I taught my boys and their visiting cousins the very basics of whist, our family's favorite game. We'll have to revisit when I get back because my siblings caught me up on some of the finer points of bidding... let's see if I can remember everything they said! They are all much better than I am at paying attention to all the cards, not just the trump suit and the picture cards. It's a great mental workout and a fun way to spend time together.
The next day, DH and I toured the Adams National Historical Park at the suggestion of my sister-in-law. I had not been in Quincy center for years, and the re-design makes the historic places so much more accessible. The visitor's center has a great half-hour video to prepare you for the tour, starts with a trolley ride to the birthplace homes of John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and then takes you out to John Adams' later home, Peacefield, where several more generations of Adamses lived until they deeded it over to the nation. We had a little time before our tour shuttle left, so we walked from the visitor center over to the United church where both former presidents and their wives are encrypted. John Hancock's father was minister there -- founding fathers everywhere you looked! The tour was excellent. I particularly liked Peacefield's all-original-to-the-family-everything. Wallpaper, floor boards, carpeting, dishes... the family stipulated that nothing be changed, and so it's all the original stuff, very nicely kept. The stone library building built by JQA was amazing, too. My only regret is we spent literally not time in the garden at all! There simply isn't time on the tour for it, which makes sense because half of the year it's barren.
Plans are somewhat vague for the rest of our trip, but we'll be heading back up to Boston for a Red Sox game on Thursday (fingers crossed we don't get rained out.)
It's simultaneously nice and weird to have no responsibilities. Lots of time to read! I finished Unseen Academicals, my last Discworld novel (although I may have missed one or two of the witch-centered ones.) Pratchett's later novels all deal with self-discovery and acceptance, but not in a politcally correct way. His faith in people was wonderful, and made his books a joy to read. He was as keen an observer of human nature as you are ever like to find, even if he often wrote non-human characters.
This same attitude ("humans are actually pretty great, even with all their flaws") was the underpinning of the novel he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman, Good Omens. I read the book before I watched the new Amazon mini-series, and rather liked the mini-series better. The book had kind of a "showing off" vibe to it; some parts were written specifically to be amusing and didn't always help the flow of the story. The mini-series managed things better, particularly the denouement, which I absolutely loved.
Also watched season three of Stranger Things with DS1 (along with pretty much all of Farscape) and enjoyed it as an aesthetic experience but like many others, find it lacks a central message. It got really out there this season and while it was a lot of fun, it's hard to find any substance there. Remarkably, one thing that came through this season is patriotism (!), along with family, and trusting your friends. I'm curious to see how the events of the last episode affect the characters going forward.
Health stuff: My little toe is still (fill in your own expletive) broken. I'm trying to keep it up as much as possible, but I'm not encouraged. It's hard to wrap it in a way that the wrap itself doesn't end up making it hurt. It will heal eventually... My new doctor called to say yeah, all those test results mean we don't really have to do anything now, although I apparently missed a blood test last week (oops). So I'll do that when I get back, no big deal. One odd thing was I developed an absolutely huge bruise on my forearm from the IV placement. It's finally starting to fade after growing for several days, and it still hurts like heck. Other than that, things are OK but I am really not sleeping well at all out here. I try to go to bed at a decent hour and just end up lying awake... jet lag. I will just get used to the 3-hour time difference when we are going home!
This year's vacation is weird because it's just DH and me. We left the kids out of the planning because they're all supposed to be working. As of this writing, DS2 just landed a job but the other two are working at finding one, although DD had an interview today for a position that's a great fit for her, so we'll see how it goes.
We're also not doing our usual jaunt to Mystic, because my brother hosted a mini-reunion at his place near Boston, so we did an overnight there instead. I have played more cards in the past two weeks than I've played in the past five years, but that's OK -- last week I taught my boys and their visiting cousins the very basics of whist, our family's favorite game. We'll have to revisit when I get back because my siblings caught me up on some of the finer points of bidding... let's see if I can remember everything they said! They are all much better than I am at paying attention to all the cards, not just the trump suit and the picture cards. It's a great mental workout and a fun way to spend time together.
The next day, DH and I toured the Adams National Historical Park at the suggestion of my sister-in-law. I had not been in Quincy center for years, and the re-design makes the historic places so much more accessible. The visitor's center has a great half-hour video to prepare you for the tour, starts with a trolley ride to the birthplace homes of John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and then takes you out to John Adams' later home, Peacefield, where several more generations of Adamses lived until they deeded it over to the nation. We had a little time before our tour shuttle left, so we walked from the visitor center over to the United church where both former presidents and their wives are encrypted. John Hancock's father was minister there -- founding fathers everywhere you looked! The tour was excellent. I particularly liked Peacefield's all-original-to-the-family-everything. Wallpaper, floor boards, carpeting, dishes... the family stipulated that nothing be changed, and so it's all the original stuff, very nicely kept. The stone library building built by JQA was amazing, too. My only regret is we spent literally not time in the garden at all! There simply isn't time on the tour for it, which makes sense because half of the year it's barren.
Plans are somewhat vague for the rest of our trip, but we'll be heading back up to Boston for a Red Sox game on Thursday (fingers crossed we don't get rained out.)
It's simultaneously nice and weird to have no responsibilities. Lots of time to read! I finished Unseen Academicals, my last Discworld novel (although I may have missed one or two of the witch-centered ones.) Pratchett's later novels all deal with self-discovery and acceptance, but not in a politcally correct way. His faith in people was wonderful, and made his books a joy to read. He was as keen an observer of human nature as you are ever like to find, even if he often wrote non-human characters.
This same attitude ("humans are actually pretty great, even with all their flaws") was the underpinning of the novel he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman, Good Omens. I read the book before I watched the new Amazon mini-series, and rather liked the mini-series better. The book had kind of a "showing off" vibe to it; some parts were written specifically to be amusing and didn't always help the flow of the story. The mini-series managed things better, particularly the denouement, which I absolutely loved.
Also watched season three of Stranger Things with DS1 (along with pretty much all of Farscape) and enjoyed it as an aesthetic experience but like many others, find it lacks a central message. It got really out there this season and while it was a lot of fun, it's hard to find any substance there. Remarkably, one thing that came through this season is patriotism (!), along with family, and trusting your friends. I'm curious to see how the events of the last episode affect the characters going forward.
Health stuff: My little toe is still (fill in your own expletive) broken. I'm trying to keep it up as much as possible, but I'm not encouraged. It's hard to wrap it in a way that the wrap itself doesn't end up making it hurt. It will heal eventually... My new doctor called to say yeah, all those test results mean we don't really have to do anything now, although I apparently missed a blood test last week (oops). So I'll do that when I get back, no big deal. One odd thing was I developed an absolutely huge bruise on my forearm from the IV placement. It's finally starting to fade after growing for several days, and it still hurts like heck. Other than that, things are OK but I am really not sleeping well at all out here. I try to go to bed at a decent hour and just end up lying awake... jet lag. I will just get used to the 3-hour time difference when we are going home!
Sunday, July 07, 2019
this house is too big!
Post-dinner, I'm sitting in the family room with a glass of wine, listening to the soft shush-shush of the dishwasher. DH is upstairs in his comfy chair, and DS2 has moved his computer up to his room so he's not here, either.
My niece and nephew headed back to to New Orleans this morning after a really delightful visit, and DS1 is currently on his way home from a quick trip to California with some friends.
I feel very much like I'm rattling around here, but that's always the way it goes after visits. The visit was great for keeping my mind off the intense round of medical tests I had on Friday: brain MRI, CT scans of my thorax and head/neck, and a PET/CT as well. So far the results of the first two have come back completely clear, which is great, but it's of course the last two that are most dispositive. I am wondering what my new endocrinologist will say if the scans show something, or if they don't (which seems to me is more likely, even though my tumor marker is consistently detectable these days.)
I did a review here of how my cancer has been followed and these tests were all requested for me five years ago (five years!) when I had a similar, positive tumor marker + negative whole body scan, result, but my insurance company at the time (Cigna) denied every requested test. Those denials kept me on the same useless ultrasound/Thyrogen/whole body scan merry-go-round until now. Sheesh.
I'm still not expecting anything to show up. Or should I say hoping nothing will show up? What's worse? I don't know. I just don't want to be thrown back into any sort of treatment loop.
Good news is the pituitary adenoma appears to be stable, so brain surgery is not likely in my future. Totally not sarcastic: Yay! Technically I have to wait for the nurse to call me and tell me what the doctor wants me to do, which won't happen until the other two tests are posted. I can wait.
My niece and nephew headed back to to New Orleans this morning after a really delightful visit, and DS1 is currently on his way home from a quick trip to California with some friends.
I feel very much like I'm rattling around here, but that's always the way it goes after visits. The visit was great for keeping my mind off the intense round of medical tests I had on Friday: brain MRI, CT scans of my thorax and head/neck, and a PET/CT as well. So far the results of the first two have come back completely clear, which is great, but it's of course the last two that are most dispositive. I am wondering what my new endocrinologist will say if the scans show something, or if they don't (which seems to me is more likely, even though my tumor marker is consistently detectable these days.)
I did a review here of how my cancer has been followed and these tests were all requested for me five years ago (five years!) when I had a similar, positive tumor marker + negative whole body scan, result, but my insurance company at the time (Cigna) denied every requested test. Those denials kept me on the same useless ultrasound/Thyrogen/whole body scan merry-go-round until now. Sheesh.
I'm still not expecting anything to show up. Or should I say hoping nothing will show up? What's worse? I don't know. I just don't want to be thrown back into any sort of treatment loop.
Good news is the pituitary adenoma appears to be stable, so brain surgery is not likely in my future. Totally not sarcastic: Yay! Technically I have to wait for the nurse to call me and tell me what the doctor wants me to do, which won't happen until the other two tests are posted. I can wait.
Saturday, June 29, 2019
so, not done...
My head and neck surgeon at MDA referred me to their endocrinologist, and I thought, "Why not?" I like my endo just fine, but her office staff is neither friendly nor supportive. I always feel as if I'm inconveniencing them when I call, if I actually connect to a human. If I don't connect to a person, I inevitably get bounced to a voice mail box that is full. This year, because I wanted to be tested at a more local hospital, I had to make a half-dozen phone calls to figure out where the order should be sent. That's not my job, and I resented it having to do it. I'm glad I did, though, because for the first time ever I didn't have to drive all the way to Phoenix for my testing.
My tumor marker test results finally came in, slightly lower than last time (3.60) at 2.90. But my new endocrinologist and I discussed whether this result is useful or meaningful for someone like me. Her opinion: at this point, it's detectable vs undetectable. I should haven't any cancer activity, so the tumor marker should be undetectable. The fact that it's not means I have some cancer somewhere, albeit (most likely) very small.
Since my ultrasound and my whole body scans consistently come back clean, even though my tumor marker is detectible, that says these tests aren't worth doing any more. (This has been going on for years, after all.) The new endo explains it like this: we know the cancer is there, but it's not showing up on these tests, so there's no point in doing these tests anymore. Half of me says, YAY! No more low-iodine diet, no more Thyrogen (r) trials, none of this foolishness anymore!
The other half says, Wait, what? Intellectually I knew that sometimes thyroid cancer just stops picking up radioactive iodine sometimes, I just never thought mine was like that... except it obviously is, since I've got cancer that doesn't show up on the whole body scan.
The new endo wants a thorough work up to stage my cancer, so next Friday I'm going for a lab test that looks at adrenal function (to see what's going with my pituitary), as well as a CT scan, a PET scan, and a brain MRI. It's going to be a fun (haha) and expensive day.
The good thing is, after all that, we'll know what we're dealing with, because honestly at this point all we know is that there is cancer somewhere. I've been operating on the assumption that it's small because it's not showing up on the whole body scans, but that's only one possibility. The other possibilities include a) it's not small and/or b) it's not picking up the radioactive iodine anymore.
I'm just glad it will be over relatively quickly, and I'll have some idea what's going on soon.
In other news, I had another round of x-rays on my broken toe and it's worse, at least the break near the bottom joint. I'm now buddy-taping two toes over and wrapping around the ball of my foot to try to stablilze it, and I'm back to elevating the foot and icing it as often as possible. I could not possibly be more irritated with that situation.
On the other hand, I watched and enjoyed season 3 of Netflix's Jessica Jones (spoiler, foreshadowed from the very beginning of season 1: Trish was the monster all along. ) and all of season 1 of HBO's Big Little Lies, and I've read two Terry Pratchett novels and have one last one I'm kind of saving. Plus I'm listening to the McElroy's podcast The Adventure Zone, and am caught up with Amnesty but just started the Balance arc. If I'm going to just be listening, I need to find something else to do, so I'm actively toying with the idea of a knitting project. I just don't know what to knit!
Niece & nephew are visiting next week from New Orleans, and then the following week DH and I are heading east. Summer's not flying by but it is going by faster than I'd like!
My tumor marker test results finally came in, slightly lower than last time (3.60) at 2.90. But my new endocrinologist and I discussed whether this result is useful or meaningful for someone like me. Her opinion: at this point, it's detectable vs undetectable. I should haven't any cancer activity, so the tumor marker should be undetectable. The fact that it's not means I have some cancer somewhere, albeit (most likely) very small.
Since my ultrasound and my whole body scans consistently come back clean, even though my tumor marker is detectible, that says these tests aren't worth doing any more. (This has been going on for years, after all.) The new endo explains it like this: we know the cancer is there, but it's not showing up on these tests, so there's no point in doing these tests anymore. Half of me says, YAY! No more low-iodine diet, no more Thyrogen (r) trials, none of this foolishness anymore!
The other half says, Wait, what? Intellectually I knew that sometimes thyroid cancer just stops picking up radioactive iodine sometimes, I just never thought mine was like that... except it obviously is, since I've got cancer that doesn't show up on the whole body scan.
The new endo wants a thorough work up to stage my cancer, so next Friday I'm going for a lab test that looks at adrenal function (to see what's going with my pituitary), as well as a CT scan, a PET scan, and a brain MRI. It's going to be a fun (haha) and expensive day.
The good thing is, after all that, we'll know what we're dealing with, because honestly at this point all we know is that there is cancer somewhere. I've been operating on the assumption that it's small because it's not showing up on the whole body scans, but that's only one possibility. The other possibilities include a) it's not small and/or b) it's not picking up the radioactive iodine anymore.
I'm just glad it will be over relatively quickly, and I'll have some idea what's going on soon.
In other news, I had another round of x-rays on my broken toe and it's worse, at least the break near the bottom joint. I'm now buddy-taping two toes over and wrapping around the ball of my foot to try to stablilze it, and I'm back to elevating the foot and icing it as often as possible. I could not possibly be more irritated with that situation.
On the other hand, I watched and enjoyed season 3 of Netflix's Jessica Jones (spoiler, foreshadowed from the very beginning of season 1: Trish was the monster all along. ) and all of season 1 of HBO's Big Little Lies, and I've read two Terry Pratchett novels and have one last one I'm kind of saving. Plus I'm listening to the McElroy's podcast The Adventure Zone, and am caught up with Amnesty but just started the Balance arc. If I'm going to just be listening, I need to find something else to do, so I'm actively toying with the idea of a knitting project. I just don't know what to knit!
Niece & nephew are visiting next week from New Orleans, and then the following week DH and I are heading east. Summer's not flying by but it is going by faster than I'd like!
Friday, June 21, 2019
and, done!
Most likely.
Since I had the scan at a different hospital, the nucmed doctor was not there to look it over. Technically I have to wait until I get the official report, but I looked at the images and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I was particularly interested to see whether the weird area of uptake in my chest re-appeared, but I didn't see it. (Doesn't mean it's not there, but if it is, it's very subtle.)
There was a blip, however, at the lab: my bloodwork that's supposed to go to UC Davis? "We're not using that code anymore," the technician told me. She assured me they would call the doctor's office and find out what was supposed to happen, and that's all to the good. But I had a blood draw last weekend before this whole process started that was also supposed to go to UC Davis, and now I'm wondering if it actually went.
I could allow myself to become agitated about this, but I won't because I'm not going to find out those results for another month. I'm just going to back-burner all this until my next appointment.
Since I had the scan at a different hospital, the nucmed doctor was not there to look it over. Technically I have to wait until I get the official report, but I looked at the images and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I was particularly interested to see whether the weird area of uptake in my chest re-appeared, but I didn't see it. (Doesn't mean it's not there, but if it is, it's very subtle.)
There was a blip, however, at the lab: my bloodwork that's supposed to go to UC Davis? "We're not using that code anymore," the technician told me. She assured me they would call the doctor's office and find out what was supposed to happen, and that's all to the good. But I had a blood draw last weekend before this whole process started that was also supposed to go to UC Davis, and now I'm wondering if it actually went.
I could allow myself to become agitated about this, but I won't because I'm not going to find out those results for another month. I'm just going to back-burner all this until my next appointment.
Friday, June 14, 2019
at the turn
I'm happily exhausted.
Monday I started my low-iodine diet and my first-ever stint as a summer STEM camp instructor. My school sponsored a session of Camp Invention, and it was both very busy and very fun. The best part was the team I worked with, including the director and one other instructor, both teachers from my school, and then all the interns and "leaders in training" -- older students -- who helped make it all possible. I'll get a stipend that sounds great for a week of 9:00 AM - 3:30 PM contact time, but we all earned every penny of it! I think one afternoon we teachers were out by 4:30, but all the other days it was more like 5:30 or 6, and the day started about 8 the latest. NIHF sends all the material (more than adequate amounts, but a lot of absolutetly lowest-cost supplies) and curriculum (truly superb), and they provide online support with everything from training videos to background music and timers. Even though all I had to do was read through the curriculum and deliver it, there was still considerable prep work involved, and my two classes were probably the least fussy!
The kids had a blast. It was interesting to work with such young students. It took me back to my story-time days when my own kids were very small. The very first sort-of teaching thing I ever did was story time at Borders! The younger group (rising first through third graders) was completely onboard. The older group (rising fourth through sixth graders) had some holdouts on some of the slightly sillier things, but there was only one who pretty much sat out the entire week. Fortunately she wasn't able to poison everyone else's enjoyment, even though she refused to participate in practically everything. The kids built, and we sent home with them, an inordinate amount of stuff that would make me shudder if anyone brought it into my home now, but looking back, I remember that's what you deal with when you have young kids. Also: building and experimenting is such a positive activity for them, they all (except that one) loved just having time to make stuff, and no one telling them to stop making a mess or "No, you can't do that."
Notwithstanding all that, I'm definitely in the right job: teaching the "littles" for more than a week and I think my head would explode. I couldn't even begin to count the number of times the phrase "suck it up, buttercup," went through my head when a child whined about something not being exactly the way they wanted it... I managed not to say it aloud even once! Something to be proud of, I suppose. Redirect, redirect, redirect... In a week, you can really suss out who the good kids who are and who are, sadly, more or less rotten. By today I just wasn't as willing to give the brats a lot of energy or attention. Everyone survived.
LID while at camp: no breakfast (never eat breakfast, really), apple at snack time, a banana and fig & walnut thing from Trader Joe's; after school, a peach, and then dinner. So far it's going OK but DS2 threw a mini-tantrum about the boring roast pork loin and I did rather harshly put him in his place by suggesting that he find a better recipe and cook it himself! With any luck, by this time next week I'll be off the diet and have a clean report from my scan. The scan will be done, of course, but I don't know if I'll get the results immediately the way I usually do, because I'm going to the different, blessedly closer, hospital this time around.
So, a blood test tomorrow morning kicks off the merry-go-round of appointments. Oh yeah, between the ultrasound and the scan, I'm spending $1000 on medical testing next week -- there goes my stipend...
Monday I started my low-iodine diet and my first-ever stint as a summer STEM camp instructor. My school sponsored a session of Camp Invention, and it was both very busy and very fun. The best part was the team I worked with, including the director and one other instructor, both teachers from my school, and then all the interns and "leaders in training" -- older students -- who helped make it all possible. I'll get a stipend that sounds great for a week of 9:00 AM - 3:30 PM contact time, but we all earned every penny of it! I think one afternoon we teachers were out by 4:30, but all the other days it was more like 5:30 or 6, and the day started about 8 the latest. NIHF sends all the material (more than adequate amounts, but a lot of absolutetly lowest-cost supplies) and curriculum (truly superb), and they provide online support with everything from training videos to background music and timers. Even though all I had to do was read through the curriculum and deliver it, there was still considerable prep work involved, and my two classes were probably the least fussy!
The kids had a blast. It was interesting to work with such young students. It took me back to my story-time days when my own kids were very small. The very first sort-of teaching thing I ever did was story time at Borders! The younger group (rising first through third graders) was completely onboard. The older group (rising fourth through sixth graders) had some holdouts on some of the slightly sillier things, but there was only one who pretty much sat out the entire week. Fortunately she wasn't able to poison everyone else's enjoyment, even though she refused to participate in practically everything. The kids built, and we sent home with them, an inordinate amount of stuff that would make me shudder if anyone brought it into my home now, but looking back, I remember that's what you deal with when you have young kids. Also: building and experimenting is such a positive activity for them, they all (except that one) loved just having time to make stuff, and no one telling them to stop making a mess or "No, you can't do that."
Notwithstanding all that, I'm definitely in the right job: teaching the "littles" for more than a week and I think my head would explode. I couldn't even begin to count the number of times the phrase "suck it up, buttercup," went through my head when a child whined about something not being exactly the way they wanted it... I managed not to say it aloud even once! Something to be proud of, I suppose. Redirect, redirect, redirect... In a week, you can really suss out who the good kids who are and who are, sadly, more or less rotten. By today I just wasn't as willing to give the brats a lot of energy or attention. Everyone survived.
LID while at camp: no breakfast (never eat breakfast, really), apple at snack time, a banana and fig & walnut thing from Trader Joe's; after school, a peach, and then dinner. So far it's going OK but DS2 threw a mini-tantrum about the boring roast pork loin and I did rather harshly put him in his place by suggesting that he find a better recipe and cook it himself! With any luck, by this time next week I'll be off the diet and have a clean report from my scan. The scan will be done, of course, but I don't know if I'll get the results immediately the way I usually do, because I'm going to the different, blessedly closer, hospital this time around.
So, a blood test tomorrow morning kicks off the merry-go-round of appointments. Oh yeah, between the ultrasound and the scan, I'm spending $1000 on medical testing next week -- there goes my stipend...
Friday, June 07, 2019
into the maelstrom
In five days, give or take, I'll start the low iodine diet in preparation for my whole body scan two weeks from today. That will give me a solid week before my dose of radioactive iodine. It ought to be enough...
I have an inordinate amount of medical appointments scheduled for the week after next. I feel as if they have come out of nowhere, but they all materialized over the last few days. I have three ultrasound-related appointments, and then four whole-body-scan-related appointments, and three trips to the lab. I still need to schedule my last follow-up appointment, which will be right before I head into my pre-service days, as well as a "spot check" .
I don't really want to think about my summer being over yet, but that's how this plays out. I really wanted to do the scan in early June, but that didn't work out. At least I'm not driving all the way into downtown Phoenix this time, but the situation is still somewhat tenuous. At UHC downtown, I went every day to the same place for the injections, the dose, and the scan. At the closer place, I'm in a different locale for each step! They sound like they have their act together. I just hope they do.
Next week, I'm teaching at a STEM summer camp program at my school. It's a later start than my usual school days, I'll be out by 4, so the days won't be too long. I hope having a broken toe doesn't impair my ability to have fun while I'm there!
Thursday, June 06, 2019
same foot, different summer
Yesterday was a very busy and productive day: the two boys and I finally, finally painted DS2's room. Yay!
Except on the way back up to his room to finish up the second coat, I stubbed my little toe on the rug that is usually in the hall -- I had flipped it over so it wouldn't get (any more) paint dripped on it accidentally. And then I walked right into it, smashing my little toe in the process.
I have a podiatrist now, after smashing my big toe last summer and breaking it in 3 places. I spent most of the summer in a boot, praying it would heal before school started. It did, and I've been very cautious about going barefoot since then, and especially since the neuroma kicked up in my right foot, too. Why is it always the right foot?
Anyway, saw the doctor, she took x-rays, and showed me how it was broken in 3 places. Horrifying, actually. No cast, just buddy-taping, and she wants me to wear the boot again for another six weeks.
Not likely...I feel barely recovered from the hip damage I developed from wearing the boot last summer, and this isn't a big toe, which you really need for balance and walking, etc. This is just a baby toe! Sure, it's kind of purple now, and I will keep it elevated, and ice it, and all that stuff, but I refuse to surrender another summer entirely. Also, I've got sandals that accomplish pretty much the same thing. We'll see how it goes.
Except on the way back up to his room to finish up the second coat, I stubbed my little toe on the rug that is usually in the hall -- I had flipped it over so it wouldn't get (any more) paint dripped on it accidentally. And then I walked right into it, smashing my little toe in the process.
I have a podiatrist now, after smashing my big toe last summer and breaking it in 3 places. I spent most of the summer in a boot, praying it would heal before school started. It did, and I've been very cautious about going barefoot since then, and especially since the neuroma kicked up in my right foot, too. Why is it always the right foot?
Anyway, saw the doctor, she took x-rays, and showed me how it was broken in 3 places. Horrifying, actually. No cast, just buddy-taping, and she wants me to wear the boot again for another six weeks.
Not likely...I feel barely recovered from the hip damage I developed from wearing the boot last summer, and this isn't a big toe, which you really need for balance and walking, etc. This is just a baby toe! Sure, it's kind of purple now, and I will keep it elevated, and ice it, and all that stuff, but I refuse to surrender another summer entirely. Also, I've got sandals that accomplish pretty much the same thing. We'll see how it goes.
Monday, June 03, 2019
best excuse ever
I have some correspondence to write, but the piano tuner is here.
It is possible to maintain a coherent thought, but stringing more than one together with another? Nope.
It is possible to maintain a coherent thought, but stringing more than one together with another? Nope.
Saturday, June 01, 2019
summer
The first unofficial start of summer in my family is Mother's Day, when we celebrate the coming season with a cookout.
The actual unofficial start of summer is Memorial Day weekend, because here in AZ, school (at least my school, and up to this year, my kids' school) conveniently end just before that.
Of course, science-wise, summer doesn't officially start until the summer solstice, which is some 3 weeks away. My brain seems more atuned to that calendar, because I'm surprisingly not exhausted and ready for long, lazy days. I have a long list of tasks I'd like to accomplish, both work-related and house-related, and I've been chipping away at it all week.
Which is not say that I'm being super-productive. Just moderately so, as in, "not completely lazy and doing nothing." But it doesn't feel like much of an accomplishment to spend hours trying to schedule medical appointments, and still be without any for my long-delayed whole body scan. I did schedule an ultrasound, though, and I may just skip the WBS for now... again. It just seems like a lot of money and hassle (Low-iodine diet? No, thanks.) for very little information.
I had my vision field test and eye exam on Tuesday. My eyesight is holding steady which shocks everyone. There is widespread disbelief that I can function well with the same lowest-level cheaters I've been using for years. I guess it's unusual. The VFT, however, showed a gap in my left peripheral vision that I actually noticed during the test. Directly to the left, there's a blind spot. Upper left and lower left, I could see all the flashes just fine, and close to the center, no problem. I requested records be sent to both my endo and my head & neck doctor at MDA, so we'll see what they say. I can't remember the last time they imaged the pituitary, but I do know my pituitary hormones are still behaving themselves. The doctor is having me repeat the VFT in six months to keep an eye on it, so that's something to look forward to, just before Christmas.
I'm still processing the fact that I have only 2 college students now. DS1 is home and diligently applying for jobs but he's going to have do something about his inverted sleep schedule! He's getting lots of interviews and we're all just waiting for something to click. DS2 is also home, post-high school graduation, and we gave him this week to be lazy, but he'll be looking for a job now, too -- the kind of job you can have and still be a full-time college student. We'll see how that goes.
DD is spending the summer up in Flagstaff, and is looking for a job up there. I've seen a bit more of her recently as she's come home for Mother's Day and DS2's graduation. I've made the drive up to Flagstaff multiple times, too, helping her furnish her new apartment. I have to say it's much nicer than any of my college apartments ever were, but then, my parents didn't help my furnish mine. She has great taste and we've been lucky finding her good used furniture at good prices in resale and antique stores. My mother-in-law (visiting for DS2's graduation) found her an awesome little table and chairs set absolutely buried in stuff at the antiques mall.
I'm sure my restlessness will settle down eventually. My classroom is in great shape for the fall, I just want to give my desk a good cleaning and a thick coat of wax to spruce it up a bit. I had the luxury of time to go through all my files and clean out stuff I didn't need, and organize what was left. I'm working one week in June at a STEM camp at my school, but I'm also seriously thinking of applying at Pearson as a scorer for piece work over the summer, too. Otherwise I think I might go crazy doing nothing?
Last summer I had to sit around with my foot up because of the broken toe. I certainly don't want to do the same thing by my own choice this year!
The actual unofficial start of summer is Memorial Day weekend, because here in AZ, school (at least my school, and up to this year, my kids' school) conveniently end just before that.
Of course, science-wise, summer doesn't officially start until the summer solstice, which is some 3 weeks away. My brain seems more atuned to that calendar, because I'm surprisingly not exhausted and ready for long, lazy days. I have a long list of tasks I'd like to accomplish, both work-related and house-related, and I've been chipping away at it all week.
Which is not say that I'm being super-productive. Just moderately so, as in, "not completely lazy and doing nothing." But it doesn't feel like much of an accomplishment to spend hours trying to schedule medical appointments, and still be without any for my long-delayed whole body scan. I did schedule an ultrasound, though, and I may just skip the WBS for now... again. It just seems like a lot of money and hassle (Low-iodine diet? No, thanks.) for very little information.
I had my vision field test and eye exam on Tuesday. My eyesight is holding steady which shocks everyone. There is widespread disbelief that I can function well with the same lowest-level cheaters I've been using for years. I guess it's unusual. The VFT, however, showed a gap in my left peripheral vision that I actually noticed during the test. Directly to the left, there's a blind spot. Upper left and lower left, I could see all the flashes just fine, and close to the center, no problem. I requested records be sent to both my endo and my head & neck doctor at MDA, so we'll see what they say. I can't remember the last time they imaged the pituitary, but I do know my pituitary hormones are still behaving themselves. The doctor is having me repeat the VFT in six months to keep an eye on it, so that's something to look forward to, just before Christmas.
I'm still processing the fact that I have only 2 college students now. DS1 is home and diligently applying for jobs but he's going to have do something about his inverted sleep schedule! He's getting lots of interviews and we're all just waiting for something to click. DS2 is also home, post-high school graduation, and we gave him this week to be lazy, but he'll be looking for a job now, too -- the kind of job you can have and still be a full-time college student. We'll see how that goes.
DD is spending the summer up in Flagstaff, and is looking for a job up there. I've seen a bit more of her recently as she's come home for Mother's Day and DS2's graduation. I've made the drive up to Flagstaff multiple times, too, helping her furnish her new apartment. I have to say it's much nicer than any of my college apartments ever were, but then, my parents didn't help my furnish mine. She has great taste and we've been lucky finding her good used furniture at good prices in resale and antique stores. My mother-in-law (visiting for DS2's graduation) found her an awesome little table and chairs set absolutely buried in stuff at the antiques mall.
I'm sure my restlessness will settle down eventually. My classroom is in great shape for the fall, I just want to give my desk a good cleaning and a thick coat of wax to spruce it up a bit. I had the luxury of time to go through all my files and clean out stuff I didn't need, and organize what was left. I'm working one week in June at a STEM camp at my school, but I'm also seriously thinking of applying at Pearson as a scorer for piece work over the summer, too. Otherwise I think I might go crazy doing nothing?
Last summer I had to sit around with my foot up because of the broken toe. I certainly don't want to do the same thing by my own choice this year!
Tuesday, May 07, 2019
wistful
This evening was DS2's last high school chorus concert, and it was wonderful. The senior boys of the Men's Choir did an adorable rendition of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," and the Schola Cantorum was brilliant as always.
We'll get to hear him sing one more time, at graduation... and that may be it.
Already I'm sad. The end of an era is fast approaching. All three of my children are legal adults. DS2 is already enrolled in his classes for the fall, but I had to stop myself from typing "three college students" because DS1 is graduating tomorrow! So, two college students, but no high schoolers anymore.
It's so strange to think about how little they were once, and how big they are now. Me? I'm just the same, or at least I feel that way. Maybe that's what makes it so hard: they are growing and changing so much, and any changes (or growth) for me are nearly imperceptible.
We'll get to hear him sing one more time, at graduation... and that may be it.
Already I'm sad. The end of an era is fast approaching. All three of my children are legal adults. DS2 is already enrolled in his classes for the fall, but I had to stop myself from typing "three college students" because DS1 is graduating tomorrow! So, two college students, but no high schoolers anymore.
It's so strange to think about how little they were once, and how big they are now. Me? I'm just the same, or at least I feel that way. Maybe that's what makes it so hard: they are growing and changing so much, and any changes (or growth) for me are nearly imperceptible.
Saturday, May 04, 2019
three weeks
In three weeks, school will be over. DS1 will have graduated. DS2 will have graduated. All the concerts, plays, dinners, and everything else will be over, too.
The past couple of weeks have bordered on maximum craziness, but for me personally? I'm just coasting to the finish, now. It has been a bit crazy. Last Friday, DS2 sang in a concert up in Paradise Valley, it was amazing and worth the drive; Tuesday, I helped move DS1 out of his college apartment (translation: I cleaned while he packed. College boys don't clean much, in my experience. Still, he's got his entire security deposit back as fas as I know.) Thursday, DH was in the hospital all day for a cerebral angiogram to investigate his AVM; the doctor reports it's non-threatening and no treatment is recommended for now (*whew*). Also Thursday, DS2's senior dinner, which was a bit stressful since DH didn't get released from the hospital until 5PM and the dinner started at 6. We made it, and it was the usual lovely evening of listening to the faculty heap praise and a little bit of teasing on the graduating seniors. My last unusual task for the week was to make a playlist for the junior high dance yesterday. With the help of a premium Spotify account, mission accomplished. The kids were much more enthusiastic about dancing this year and most everyone seemed to have a good time, even those kids who just sat against the wall watching everyone else be goofy. It was pretty great, but surprisingly exhausting for an hour-and-a-half event. Looking back at the week that just ended, the exhaustion is completely understandable.
Now I just have to keep track of the boys' remaining events, put the guest room (finally all repaired after the most recent plumbing disaster nearly 2 months ago!) back together in advance of my in-laws visit, and keep up with my grading. Nothing even hints at being a problem in that list...here's hoping it stays that way!
The past couple of weeks have bordered on maximum craziness, but for me personally? I'm just coasting to the finish, now. It has been a bit crazy. Last Friday, DS2 sang in a concert up in Paradise Valley, it was amazing and worth the drive; Tuesday, I helped move DS1 out of his college apartment (translation: I cleaned while he packed. College boys don't clean much, in my experience. Still, he's got his entire security deposit back as fas as I know.) Thursday, DH was in the hospital all day for a cerebral angiogram to investigate his AVM; the doctor reports it's non-threatening and no treatment is recommended for now (*whew*). Also Thursday, DS2's senior dinner, which was a bit stressful since DH didn't get released from the hospital until 5PM and the dinner started at 6. We made it, and it was the usual lovely evening of listening to the faculty heap praise and a little bit of teasing on the graduating seniors. My last unusual task for the week was to make a playlist for the junior high dance yesterday. With the help of a premium Spotify account, mission accomplished. The kids were much more enthusiastic about dancing this year and most everyone seemed to have a good time, even those kids who just sat against the wall watching everyone else be goofy. It was pretty great, but surprisingly exhausting for an hour-and-a-half event. Looking back at the week that just ended, the exhaustion is completely understandable.
Now I just have to keep track of the boys' remaining events, put the guest room (finally all repaired after the most recent plumbing disaster nearly 2 months ago!) back together in advance of my in-laws visit, and keep up with my grading. Nothing even hints at being a problem in that list...here's hoping it stays that way!
Monday, April 22, 2019
stings
Maybe because I'm chronically sleep-deprived (my own fault), but over the past week or so, I've had way more than my usual share of bone-headed mistakes. Nothing major! Nobody was injured, it didn't cost anyone any extra money, nothing like that. Just a small handful of times I was just wrong about something and refused to see it.
I know no one is perfect, but I hate it when I screw up like that (or any other way), to the point where truly minor things will keep me unsettled for days on end. It's doubtful anyone else even remembers my mistakes happened. Why should they? But my memory for my faults is tenacious. I still cringe remembering how I handed the scissors to the teacher the wrong way in kindegarten! (I was four and the youngest kid in the class, it was a lot of pressure at the time.)
I'm too old for this. I don't want to brush off mistakes as if they're nothing, I want to learn from them. But shouldn't I be able to forgive myself and move on? Is there a way to balance the tension between rebuke and forgiveness? I'm still hoping to find it.
Sunday, April 14, 2019
post...
In the sense of "after," which didn't strike me as a good post title. I can't explain the way my brain works sometimes. Just go with it.
I'm mostly recovered from the field trip last week, Wednesday-Friday, with 45 seventh graders and 10 other adults, to Mt. Lemmon, south of Tuscon. UA has a fantastic program, Sky School. It was awesome but very cold, and of course some of the students didn't listen and only brought a sweatshirt or two, but no one got frostbite so it's all good. We even got to use the telescopes this year! I had a blast, the kids had fun, the instructors couldn't get over how well prepared and engaged the kids were, etc. A splendid time was had by all, except I only got about 6 hours of sleep over the three days because the bed was like a rock and other reasons having to do with me not being able to relax since I was responsible for 56 people.
So now comes the long, downhill glide into the end of the school year. This year it will be less hectic and dramatic for me because my school is not being renovated this summer, so I don't have to move everything out of my classroom or clean out closets or anything like that (although it would be much easier, since I did all that last year!). But this year my two boys are both graduating, and that means lots of extra events to deal with it. Just this week, DS2's drama performance and his thesis defense, on the same day! He has my sympathy. He doesn't seem stressed but I know he'll be happy to have it over with. DS1's graduation is fast approaching on May 7!
The house is still a mess following the most recent plumbing disaster, but repairs should begin this week. As long as everything is back together for DS2's graduation at the end of May, when the in-laws are coming, it's OK. I won't say it doesn't matter, because it really is getting on my nerves, but I know as soon as all is back together, I'll forget it was ever any other way. At least I hope so.
... but just yesterday DH semi-seriously brought up the topic of moving to a smaller house. I love love LOVE this idea, as much as I hate the idea of moving, this house is just too much for me to keep up with. We'll see!
I'm mostly recovered from the field trip last week, Wednesday-Friday, with 45 seventh graders and 10 other adults, to Mt. Lemmon, south of Tuscon. UA has a fantastic program, Sky School. It was awesome but very cold, and of course some of the students didn't listen and only brought a sweatshirt or two, but no one got frostbite so it's all good. We even got to use the telescopes this year! I had a blast, the kids had fun, the instructors couldn't get over how well prepared and engaged the kids were, etc. A splendid time was had by all, except I only got about 6 hours of sleep over the three days because the bed was like a rock and other reasons having to do with me not being able to relax since I was responsible for 56 people.
So now comes the long, downhill glide into the end of the school year. This year it will be less hectic and dramatic for me because my school is not being renovated this summer, so I don't have to move everything out of my classroom or clean out closets or anything like that (although it would be much easier, since I did all that last year!). But this year my two boys are both graduating, and that means lots of extra events to deal with it. Just this week, DS2's drama performance and his thesis defense, on the same day! He has my sympathy. He doesn't seem stressed but I know he'll be happy to have it over with. DS1's graduation is fast approaching on May 7!
The house is still a mess following the most recent plumbing disaster, but repairs should begin this week. As long as everything is back together for DS2's graduation at the end of May, when the in-laws are coming, it's OK. I won't say it doesn't matter, because it really is getting on my nerves, but I know as soon as all is back together, I'll forget it was ever any other way. At least I hope so.
... but just yesterday DH semi-seriously brought up the topic of moving to a smaller house. I love love LOVE this idea, as much as I hate the idea of moving, this house is just too much for me to keep up with. We'll see!
Sunday, March 24, 2019
2 weeks later...
Am I up ridiculously early for a Sunday, or did I just stay up too late? I did sleep from roughly 10pm to nearly 4am, so that's not too bad. I just managed to unsettle myself enough that going back to sleep now (or trying to) seems like a colosally stupid idea.
Spring break was productive, but I didn't do everything on my list. I did see the doctor about my foot, and she gave me a cortisone shot and new insoles for my sneakers. I started doing more exercises for it, too. The foot is definitely improving and there are even some days now when I can walk around without even thinking about it. It helps that I didn't over-do over break, so no, I didn't go to either the Ren Faire or the botanical garden.
What else didn't get done? I didn't do the closets, nor did we paint DS2's room. Both will wait. I did finish all my grading, only to nearly immediately get swamped again on the return to school. But I'm not behind, and if I manage today well, I can stay on top of it.
I started to type, "this is the most stressful time I've had in a while," but it seems to me I'm always in a stressful time. I have a family and a house and a car and a job, so of course there will be stresses. They've been coming thick and fast, lately.
A quick run-down: DH was recently diagnosed with an AVM in his neck and has further tests pending. Most of the time these are in the brain and can be quiet serious if they rupture, but his is apparently not in the brain. We don't really know, and it's discomfiting. We'll know more after the next test, but the ENT sent an order to the hospital for it that no one there understands, so it had to be rescheduled once already, and may have to be again. It doesn't help that one of his co-workers is off on a 2-week vacation in the middle of a rather intense period at work!
It also doesn't help that the drain seal on the kids' bathtub failed, so instead of draining down the pipes, it drained into the floor/ceiling below, and subsequently into the first-floor guest room. That happened on Thursday night about 10pm - fortunately I heard the sound of the water falling and we caught it pretty quickly. Even so, there is significant water damage Workers were here until 8pm Friday inspecting, setting up de-humidifiers and fans, and removing dry wall. Plumbing and construction repair will be late this week if all works out. We have no idea how much insurance is going to cover. This is the fifth (possibly sixth? I can't remember!) major plumbing failure we've had in this house. Quite frankly, we thought we'd caught them all. DH is grumbling about moving.
Me? It's so helpful that the foot is better! My eye twitch is holding steady but no more visual migraines -- and I'm annoyed I forgot to mention them to my doctor last Tuesday. I'm switching my thyroid cancer scan to a much closer hospital, so most of my appointment was about discussing that, and in the fuss, I forgot to mention it. I managed to come down with a cold just as my break was ending, but I used Zicam nasal spray religiously and it really did cut down on how long I had to deal with it. Just as that nonense resolved I noticed this odd tugging sensation in my right breast. At first I thought, "scar tissue," but my lumpectomy was in my left breast, so that doesn't work. Since it has persisted for about a week now, I'm seeing my doctor about it on Monday after school.
What else... had the parent meeting for my 7th grade field trip last Wednesday, and managed to pull everything together. I have been slightly panicked that we will have too many people to fit, but that knot is untangling itself between students who are not eligible because of behavior and students who are not eligible because of academics. I do need to get back to the parents and let them know how many can come as chaperones, though. I can't believe how quickly time is going by!
In other school news, the plan to offer electives for next year has been hammered out and does not (thankfully) involve the core teachers doing anything other than monitoring a 45-minute study hall one day a week. Yay! I'm also thrilled to be starting astronomy with my 7th graders and biology with my 8th graders this week. I adore my chemistry curriculum but it involves a lot of time in the lab, and so therefore a lot of running between the classroom and the lab, and setting up before and then cleaning up after. Last week about killed me because all that was going on and my students were leading morning prayers so I didn't have as much of my usual time before school to get everything done.
Not enough time to get everything done... that's the theme of my life. Over break, I took the Odyssey in because there was a weird burning smell after driving it sometimes. Of course we were just over 30,000 miles and so it needed, seriously, $2100 worth of maintenance, including new tires. Cars are expensive even if they're not broken! The burning smell was caused by a loose gasket and was a tiny part of the overall bill, but now I have new transmission fluid and everything else. One thing I couldn't get done over break was get the windshield repaired, that had to wait until last Thursday afternoon. It was just bad luck that a rock pinged it hard enough to make a crack about 18 inches long. I delayed calling a few days and then was shocked when I finally did call, how long I would have to wait for the repair. Everyone is so busy!
All that business with the van happened because I knew I'd be making 2 round-trips to Flagstaff within the span of a week. DD's spring break here with her cat was only moderately frustrating. I tease her that she is a bad roommate because she leaves her stuff all over the house. I notice she does not do that in her own apartment. It's so much smaller, she has no reason to do that! When I picked her up, I drove up on Thursday and we came back together on Friday, but yesterday I just made the round-trip, which explains the weird sleeping schedule. She worries us a lot, but she assures us that she's doing fine and we shouldn't worry. If only!
At least it should be easier for me to stay on top of my work now that she is not here, but the noise of the fans is really annoying! The house is topsy-turvy, with the kids' bathroom upstairs and the guestroom downstairs taped off and with noisy equipment in them. 90% of the stuff from the guest room is out in the living room now, and there's paper taped over the hallways to trap the workers' dust, etc. It's nerve-wracking being here. Spending all day on the road got me out of here yesterday but I have too much to do to escape again today!
So, off I go to execute today's plan: shopping, grading papers, attending the matinee of my students' play, cooking a nice dinner, and driving DS1 back up to ASU for what is almost surely the second-to-last time. He's graduating in just 6 weeks!
Spring break was productive, but I didn't do everything on my list. I did see the doctor about my foot, and she gave me a cortisone shot and new insoles for my sneakers. I started doing more exercises for it, too. The foot is definitely improving and there are even some days now when I can walk around without even thinking about it. It helps that I didn't over-do over break, so no, I didn't go to either the Ren Faire or the botanical garden.
What else didn't get done? I didn't do the closets, nor did we paint DS2's room. Both will wait. I did finish all my grading, only to nearly immediately get swamped again on the return to school. But I'm not behind, and if I manage today well, I can stay on top of it.
I started to type, "this is the most stressful time I've had in a while," but it seems to me I'm always in a stressful time. I have a family and a house and a car and a job, so of course there will be stresses. They've been coming thick and fast, lately.
A quick run-down: DH was recently diagnosed with an AVM in his neck and has further tests pending. Most of the time these are in the brain and can be quiet serious if they rupture, but his is apparently not in the brain. We don't really know, and it's discomfiting. We'll know more after the next test, but the ENT sent an order to the hospital for it that no one there understands, so it had to be rescheduled once already, and may have to be again. It doesn't help that one of his co-workers is off on a 2-week vacation in the middle of a rather intense period at work!
It also doesn't help that the drain seal on the kids' bathtub failed, so instead of draining down the pipes, it drained into the floor/ceiling below, and subsequently into the first-floor guest room. That happened on Thursday night about 10pm - fortunately I heard the sound of the water falling and we caught it pretty quickly. Even so, there is significant water damage Workers were here until 8pm Friday inspecting, setting up de-humidifiers and fans, and removing dry wall. Plumbing and construction repair will be late this week if all works out. We have no idea how much insurance is going to cover. This is the fifth (possibly sixth? I can't remember!) major plumbing failure we've had in this house. Quite frankly, we thought we'd caught them all. DH is grumbling about moving.
Me? It's so helpful that the foot is better! My eye twitch is holding steady but no more visual migraines -- and I'm annoyed I forgot to mention them to my doctor last Tuesday. I'm switching my thyroid cancer scan to a much closer hospital, so most of my appointment was about discussing that, and in the fuss, I forgot to mention it. I managed to come down with a cold just as my break was ending, but I used Zicam nasal spray religiously and it really did cut down on how long I had to deal with it. Just as that nonense resolved I noticed this odd tugging sensation in my right breast. At first I thought, "scar tissue," but my lumpectomy was in my left breast, so that doesn't work. Since it has persisted for about a week now, I'm seeing my doctor about it on Monday after school.
What else... had the parent meeting for my 7th grade field trip last Wednesday, and managed to pull everything together. I have been slightly panicked that we will have too many people to fit, but that knot is untangling itself between students who are not eligible because of behavior and students who are not eligible because of academics. I do need to get back to the parents and let them know how many can come as chaperones, though. I can't believe how quickly time is going by!
In other school news, the plan to offer electives for next year has been hammered out and does not (thankfully) involve the core teachers doing anything other than monitoring a 45-minute study hall one day a week. Yay! I'm also thrilled to be starting astronomy with my 7th graders and biology with my 8th graders this week. I adore my chemistry curriculum but it involves a lot of time in the lab, and so therefore a lot of running between the classroom and the lab, and setting up before and then cleaning up after. Last week about killed me because all that was going on and my students were leading morning prayers so I didn't have as much of my usual time before school to get everything done.
Not enough time to get everything done... that's the theme of my life. Over break, I took the Odyssey in because there was a weird burning smell after driving it sometimes. Of course we were just over 30,000 miles and so it needed, seriously, $2100 worth of maintenance, including new tires. Cars are expensive even if they're not broken! The burning smell was caused by a loose gasket and was a tiny part of the overall bill, but now I have new transmission fluid and everything else. One thing I couldn't get done over break was get the windshield repaired, that had to wait until last Thursday afternoon. It was just bad luck that a rock pinged it hard enough to make a crack about 18 inches long. I delayed calling a few days and then was shocked when I finally did call, how long I would have to wait for the repair. Everyone is so busy!
All that business with the van happened because I knew I'd be making 2 round-trips to Flagstaff within the span of a week. DD's spring break here with her cat was only moderately frustrating. I tease her that she is a bad roommate because she leaves her stuff all over the house. I notice she does not do that in her own apartment. It's so much smaller, she has no reason to do that! When I picked her up, I drove up on Thursday and we came back together on Friday, but yesterday I just made the round-trip, which explains the weird sleeping schedule. She worries us a lot, but she assures us that she's doing fine and we shouldn't worry. If only!
At least it should be easier for me to stay on top of my work now that she is not here, but the noise of the fans is really annoying! The house is topsy-turvy, with the kids' bathroom upstairs and the guestroom downstairs taped off and with noisy equipment in them. 90% of the stuff from the guest room is out in the living room now, and there's paper taped over the hallways to trap the workers' dust, etc. It's nerve-wracking being here. Spending all day on the road got me out of here yesterday but I have too much to do to escape again today!
So, off I go to execute today's plan: shopping, grading papers, attending the matinee of my students' play, cooking a nice dinner, and driving DS1 back up to ASU for what is almost surely the second-to-last time. He's graduating in just 6 weeks!
Friday, March 08, 2019
published!
Before I forget, the article based on my master's thesis has been published in this month's Science Scope, the NSTA journal for middle school science teachers: The Science Project Portfolio
This involved so much work. It's kind of surreal that it's actually out there for other people to read.
Also, in the nearly 2 years since it was written, I have revised so many of the supporting documents, including creating an entire Google Classroom implementation which is so much (again) better. I wish I'd had time to update the original, but they didn't ask me, and I didn't have the time, anyway. I received the proof copy for edits during my science fair week.
I'm on spring break now, and seriously thinking about writing down the things I intend to do this week, so they get done. I already harvested the lemon tree. Isn't that enough? No, I still have a huge stack of papers to grade. What else?
Renew my teaching certificate (it expires in May).
See my foot doctor about the return of the neuroma in my right foot? It is getting better...
See not-sure-which doctor about the recurrent eye twitches and visual migraine & headache (3/7) to see if they have anything to do with my pituitary adenoma (or just wait until my endo appointment later this month...)?
Clean my make up brushes.
Dust (including the fake plants) & vaccuum.
Purge closets.
Drop off donations from purging closets.
Check supplies for upcoming labs and order materials as necessary.
Figure out the maximum number of chaperones I'll allow on the upcoming field trip.
Get together with my 2 friends I never see because we have completely incompatible work schedules.
Sleep!
Pick up DS2 from the airport when he returns from Washington, DC.
Help DS2 paint his room.
Retrieve DD from Flagstaff for her spring break, the week after mine.
Go to the Ren Faire (if the neuroma is better)
Go to the DBG (if the neuroma is better)
Bake
Read a book?
It seems like a long list but I'm not going back to school for eleven days! I can do this.
This involved so much work. It's kind of surreal that it's actually out there for other people to read.
Also, in the nearly 2 years since it was written, I have revised so many of the supporting documents, including creating an entire Google Classroom implementation which is so much (again) better. I wish I'd had time to update the original, but they didn't ask me, and I didn't have the time, anyway. I received the proof copy for edits during my science fair week.
I'm on spring break now, and seriously thinking about writing down the things I intend to do this week, so they get done. I already harvested the lemon tree. Isn't that enough? No, I still have a huge stack of papers to grade. What else?
Renew my teaching certificate (it expires in May).
See my foot doctor about the return of the neuroma in my right foot? It is getting better...
See not-sure-which doctor about the recurrent eye twitches and visual migraine & headache (3/7) to see if they have anything to do with my pituitary adenoma (or just wait until my endo appointment later this month...)?
Clean my make up brushes.
Dust (including the fake plants) & vaccuum.
Purge closets.
Drop off donations from purging closets.
Check supplies for upcoming labs and order materials as necessary.
Figure out the maximum number of chaperones I'll allow on the upcoming field trip.
Get together with my 2 friends I never see because we have completely incompatible work schedules.
Sleep!
Pick up DS2 from the airport when he returns from Washington, DC.
Help DS2 paint his room.
Retrieve DD from Flagstaff for her spring break, the week after mine.
Go to the Ren Faire (if the neuroma is better)
Go to the DBG (if the neuroma is better)
Bake
Read a book?
It seems like a long list but I'm not going back to school for eleven days! I can do this.
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
rollercoaster...
The weather is back to its expected, usual beautiful: mid 70s during the day, pleasantly brisk overnight. No complaints there.
School is extremely busy. Every week it's something: first it was science fair, then end of trimester and parent-teacher conferences, and now it's chemistry. I love this curriculum, but I'm in the lab with my 8th graders every day and it's just a lot of running back forth, setting up and putting away, making sure I've got all the supplies, washing dishes... it's just a lot.
All that running around is time I would use for grading, so of course I'm behind again, even though I caught up over the weekend for this week's round of failure notices. *sigh*
But next week is spring break! I can surely make it through the rest of this week!
[It would be easier if my heart ache would settle down. Some days I think everything is going to be all right, other days, not so much. I read this quote once, and haven't been able to attribute it, but it's so true: being a mother is becoming accustomed to having your heart walk around outside of your body... and that's why it hurts so much. God willing it will all come right in the end.]
School is extremely busy. Every week it's something: first it was science fair, then end of trimester and parent-teacher conferences, and now it's chemistry. I love this curriculum, but I'm in the lab with my 8th graders every day and it's just a lot of running back forth, setting up and putting away, making sure I've got all the supplies, washing dishes... it's just a lot.
All that running around is time I would use for grading, so of course I'm behind again, even though I caught up over the weekend for this week's round of failure notices. *sigh*
But next week is spring break! I can surely make it through the rest of this week!
[It would be easier if my heart ache would settle down. Some days I think everything is going to be all right, other days, not so much. I read this quote once, and haven't been able to attribute it, but it's so true: being a mother is becoming accustomed to having your heart walk around outside of your body... and that's why it hurts so much. God willing it will all come right in the end.]
Saturday, February 23, 2019
sunshine!
This is the worst winter weather I can remember since I moved to AZ back in '95. Sure, we've had cloudy stretches and the occasional run of rainy days, but this has been kind of nuts. The temperature hasn't climbed above 60 for two weeks straight, and then on top of that we had two straight days of constant rain. This never happens here:
I keep telling DH that if I wanted to live in weather like this, I'd move to Seattle...
The bright blue sky this morning almost makes up for the fact that the predicted high temperature for today is something like 54 degrees If I were still living in Massachusetts, that would be delightful, but I've been here for decades and that's cold. I have to layer up or I'm uncomfortable all day.
A few weeks ago, before this run of nasty cold, I scored four new sweaters in the men's department at Target on clearance. Thank God I did, too, because I don't know what I would've been wearing to school these past two weeks if I had not. Sure, I had some cardigans but they're mostly cotton, and I'm finding I need wool to keep me warm -- either that, or multiple layers. I currently have on a cami, a fine gauge cotton turtleneck, and an oversized wool sweather, and I'm under a blanket on the couch, and I'm just comfortable. I should be way too warm but I'm not.
So does this mean I've just become extra-wimpy, living in AZ for so long, or is it a sign that there's something else going on with me? I cannot roll my eyes hard enough at that idea. I'm feeling mostly OK physically, and not hypothyroid (other than cold all the time) at all. My energy levels are good and brain fog is not happening, so I'm just going to blame this on the weather!
Life is more unsettled than I'd like right now, even with science fair over. On the family side, DH is still working crazy hours but as an employee not a contractor now, so he's eligible for bonuses (crossing our fingers for a little something in March.) DS1 is finishing up at ASU and is looking for a job, so lots of prayers there. DS2 is finishing up high school and we spent of two days of the recent 3-day weekend working on his (redacted) senior thesis (which was due last Tuesday). He still owes service hours, too, and they were supposed to be finished by the end of his junior year. (I can't roll my eyes hard enough. He had plenty of opportunities, and so now it's on him.) DD is constantly breaking my heart, though. She's up at NAU basically alone because her good friend and room mate is in a relationship that takes her out of the apartment alot. It's good that DD has her kitten (who is adorable), but literally ALL of the people in her life up there are only superficial "friends" who are normalizing her into what is frankly not a normal culture. We're spending a lot of time playing Words With Friends with each other and texting but I wish she were here, or at least in a place with good people who would look out for her.
On the school/work front, a proposal for next year is giving the entire junior high team both head aches and heart ache, but admin is being all, "Don't worry, it will be fine, you'll be fine!" when they're asking us to do a lot more work for literally no reason and no extra money. (Not that $ is a primary motivator for me, but it is a consideration.) I'm still recovering from the parent/teacher conferences which ended yesterday, too. For the most part, they went well, but I just spent an entire hour writing an email response to a parent I did not see (the student is not in my home room.) Also, I've got to figure out which students to ban from the field trip and I hate being the "mean" guy... but actions have consequences, right? If you're a student who is continuously in trouble for not following directions or not doing your work, a reasonable consequence is not getting to participate in the overnight field trip on a mountain-top where following directions and being responsible is really, really important. And last but by no means least, I'll have my eighth graders in the lab on Monday and every day after that for the next 6 weeks or so, and that is just a lot of extra running around on my part - literally since the science lab is across campus from my classroom. It's extremely fun and the students learn a lot but it's exhausting!
I'm seriously thinking about just wearing my sneakers to school every day while that's going on. About 2 weeks ago I re-aggravated the Morton's neuroma in my right foot and it got so bad I could hardly walk on it. Then I remembered I ordered these things from Amazon ages ago because I thought they would help. They didn't back then (it was summer, and they were uncomfortably tight), but I've been wearing them all week to school and they are really helping a lot. Fortunately there is enough space in the boots I wear most of the time to accomodate them. Other than that, a newly-developed occasional eye twitch, and the usual horrible sleeping habits, I'm doing OK physically. (lol)
I've been expending so much mental and emotional energy on family that I'm having a hard time keeping up with my grading -- I still have an assignment to grade that I really wanted to go in last trimester, but I didn't get it graded in time. No one cares (as far as I can tell), but I have to figure out a way to balance my life better. I was going to grade while watching Bohemian Rhapsody last night (boring, but the music was great), but I ended up texting and playing WWF with DD instead. It may sound stupid, but it's just more important right now! And I was too tired to switch between the two -- I suck at that kind of multi-tasking.
At the least the temperature is expected to go back where it's supposed to be later this week, comfortably in the low 70s. Maybe being nice and warm will help me fret less over all these situations out of my control.
 |
| It's hail, not snow. But still. |
I keep telling DH that if I wanted to live in weather like this, I'd move to Seattle...
The bright blue sky this morning almost makes up for the fact that the predicted high temperature for today is something like 54 degrees If I were still living in Massachusetts, that would be delightful, but I've been here for decades and that's cold. I have to layer up or I'm uncomfortable all day.
A few weeks ago, before this run of nasty cold, I scored four new sweaters in the men's department at Target on clearance. Thank God I did, too, because I don't know what I would've been wearing to school these past two weeks if I had not. Sure, I had some cardigans but they're mostly cotton, and I'm finding I need wool to keep me warm -- either that, or multiple layers. I currently have on a cami, a fine gauge cotton turtleneck, and an oversized wool sweather, and I'm under a blanket on the couch, and I'm just comfortable. I should be way too warm but I'm not.
So does this mean I've just become extra-wimpy, living in AZ for so long, or is it a sign that there's something else going on with me? I cannot roll my eyes hard enough at that idea. I'm feeling mostly OK physically, and not hypothyroid (other than cold all the time) at all. My energy levels are good and brain fog is not happening, so I'm just going to blame this on the weather!
Life is more unsettled than I'd like right now, even with science fair over. On the family side, DH is still working crazy hours but as an employee not a contractor now, so he's eligible for bonuses (crossing our fingers for a little something in March.) DS1 is finishing up at ASU and is looking for a job, so lots of prayers there. DS2 is finishing up high school and we spent of two days of the recent 3-day weekend working on his (redacted) senior thesis (which was due last Tuesday). He still owes service hours, too, and they were supposed to be finished by the end of his junior year. (I can't roll my eyes hard enough. He had plenty of opportunities, and so now it's on him.) DD is constantly breaking my heart, though. She's up at NAU basically alone because her good friend and room mate is in a relationship that takes her out of the apartment alot. It's good that DD has her kitten (who is adorable), but literally ALL of the people in her life up there are only superficial "friends" who are normalizing her into what is frankly not a normal culture. We're spending a lot of time playing Words With Friends with each other and texting but I wish she were here, or at least in a place with good people who would look out for her.
On the school/work front, a proposal for next year is giving the entire junior high team both head aches and heart ache, but admin is being all, "Don't worry, it will be fine, you'll be fine!" when they're asking us to do a lot more work for literally no reason and no extra money. (Not that $ is a primary motivator for me, but it is a consideration.) I'm still recovering from the parent/teacher conferences which ended yesterday, too. For the most part, they went well, but I just spent an entire hour writing an email response to a parent I did not see (the student is not in my home room.) Also, I've got to figure out which students to ban from the field trip and I hate being the "mean" guy... but actions have consequences, right? If you're a student who is continuously in trouble for not following directions or not doing your work, a reasonable consequence is not getting to participate in the overnight field trip on a mountain-top where following directions and being responsible is really, really important. And last but by no means least, I'll have my eighth graders in the lab on Monday and every day after that for the next 6 weeks or so, and that is just a lot of extra running around on my part - literally since the science lab is across campus from my classroom. It's extremely fun and the students learn a lot but it's exhausting!
I'm seriously thinking about just wearing my sneakers to school every day while that's going on. About 2 weeks ago I re-aggravated the Morton's neuroma in my right foot and it got so bad I could hardly walk on it. Then I remembered I ordered these things from Amazon ages ago because I thought they would help. They didn't back then (it was summer, and they were uncomfortably tight), but I've been wearing them all week to school and they are really helping a lot. Fortunately there is enough space in the boots I wear most of the time to accomodate them. Other than that, a newly-developed occasional eye twitch, and the usual horrible sleeping habits, I'm doing OK physically. (lol)
I've been expending so much mental and emotional energy on family that I'm having a hard time keeping up with my grading -- I still have an assignment to grade that I really wanted to go in last trimester, but I didn't get it graded in time. No one cares (as far as I can tell), but I have to figure out a way to balance my life better. I was going to grade while watching Bohemian Rhapsody last night (boring, but the music was great), but I ended up texting and playing WWF with DD instead. It may sound stupid, but it's just more important right now! And I was too tired to switch between the two -- I suck at that kind of multi-tasking.
At the least the temperature is expected to go back where it's supposed to be later this week, comfortably in the low 70s. Maybe being nice and warm will help me fret less over all these situations out of my control.
Saturday, February 09, 2019
and the winner is...
Me, because the science fair is over!
I just now finished crunching the numbers, or as I heard from time to time back at MIT, "torturing the data until it confesses," and have my winners to announce Monday morning.
It was a very long, but very good day, for the most part. I had a few random complaints about students being goofy (as they will when they think no one is paying attention), but overall, the fair was well-received by the school and the families.
Coincidentally, my master's thesis-based article -- how to manage student science fair projects without going crazy, basically -- will be published next month! Of course I received the proof copy to review last week in the midst of science fair craziness, but I squeezed that in somehow, and even managed to spot a mistake that has probably been in every single version, and no one else had noticed.
Now my school focus turns to our field trip in April, and my family focus to DS2's senior thesis which he should be wrapping up in the next few weeks.
I just now finished crunching the numbers, or as I heard from time to time back at MIT, "torturing the data until it confesses," and have my winners to announce Monday morning.
It was a very long, but very good day, for the most part. I had a few random complaints about students being goofy (as they will when they think no one is paying attention), but overall, the fair was well-received by the school and the families.
Coincidentally, my master's thesis-based article -- how to manage student science fair projects without going crazy, basically -- will be published next month! Of course I received the proof copy to review last week in the midst of science fair craziness, but I squeezed that in somehow, and even managed to spot a mistake that has probably been in every single version, and no one else had noticed.
Now my school focus turns to our field trip in April, and my family focus to DS2's senior thesis which he should be wrapping up in the next few weeks.
Saturday, January 19, 2019
tough week
Is Mercury retrograde?
This past week was so difficult for so many people I know, I want there to be some cosmic reason for it. I don't know why, exactly -- perhaps if the responsibility is shifted to the heavens, I'll feel less miserable.
But I know it's all on me: last Friday I took DD and her kitten back to her campus, a nearly 3 hour drive since we hit rush hour on the way out. It's frosty up there! We unpacked everything, had a nice dinner, and then did a grocery run at Target since she needed everything, having been at home for a month. Then I had a 2-hour nap and drove home, so I wouldn't lose a whole day of the weekend.
The drive home was instructive. I'm still a Luddite when it comes to cruise control, and what I learned is, if I'm the only car on the road (happened quite a bit), I drive either too slowly or much too fast. I liked having a pace car nearby. The trip home was entirely uneventful and possibly set a land-speed record in spite of the occasional too-slow periods.
Came home, went to sleep, and slept in just a bit. Puttered around the house feeling empty since DD is gone, and couldn't bear to look at my schoolwork.
So I just didn't do it, setting myself up for this dreadful week of working late every evening catching up on everything. I'm still behind, because even though I've graded mostly everything, I still have to enter the grades in the grade books! That's relatively quick compared to the actual grading process, though.
Still left to grade: one class set of quizzes, relatively quick to do; two class sets of Distribution of Resource essays, which look to be dreadful based on the few I glanced at; science fair reports: somewhere around 50, I'd guess, ranging from horrid to excellent. Given everything else I still have to do (planning, etc), I'm very thankful for the long weekend because I need that day to get caught up.
In between grading sessions today, DH and I went to see Aquaman, which was quite fun, but I would've enjoyed it more if I hadn't found out something troubling about someone I really care about immediately before we left. I'm usually pretty good at compartmentalizing ("Put it in a box, put the box away") but that takes some time, and I'm trying not to ruminate on a situation I literally cannot do anything about.
Part of me wonders if that's true while most of me recognizes it is. The thing is, lies of omission hurt just as much as the other kinds. My hope now is, having spewed this here, I can get on with the boxing-it-up.
This past week was so difficult for so many people I know, I want there to be some cosmic reason for it. I don't know why, exactly -- perhaps if the responsibility is shifted to the heavens, I'll feel less miserable.
But I know it's all on me: last Friday I took DD and her kitten back to her campus, a nearly 3 hour drive since we hit rush hour on the way out. It's frosty up there! We unpacked everything, had a nice dinner, and then did a grocery run at Target since she needed everything, having been at home for a month. Then I had a 2-hour nap and drove home, so I wouldn't lose a whole day of the weekend.
The drive home was instructive. I'm still a Luddite when it comes to cruise control, and what I learned is, if I'm the only car on the road (happened quite a bit), I drive either too slowly or much too fast. I liked having a pace car nearby. The trip home was entirely uneventful and possibly set a land-speed record in spite of the occasional too-slow periods.
Came home, went to sleep, and slept in just a bit. Puttered around the house feeling empty since DD is gone, and couldn't bear to look at my schoolwork.
So I just didn't do it, setting myself up for this dreadful week of working late every evening catching up on everything. I'm still behind, because even though I've graded mostly everything, I still have to enter the grades in the grade books! That's relatively quick compared to the actual grading process, though.
Still left to grade: one class set of quizzes, relatively quick to do; two class sets of Distribution of Resource essays, which look to be dreadful based on the few I glanced at; science fair reports: somewhere around 50, I'd guess, ranging from horrid to excellent. Given everything else I still have to do (planning, etc), I'm very thankful for the long weekend because I need that day to get caught up.
In between grading sessions today, DH and I went to see Aquaman, which was quite fun, but I would've enjoyed it more if I hadn't found out something troubling about someone I really care about immediately before we left. I'm usually pretty good at compartmentalizing ("Put it in a box, put the box away") but that takes some time, and I'm trying not to ruminate on a situation I literally cannot do anything about.
Part of me wonders if that's true while most of me recognizes it is. The thing is, lies of omission hurt just as much as the other kinds. My hope now is, having spewed this here, I can get on with the boxing-it-up.
Friday, January 04, 2019
in the new year
I've been off work so long my sleep schedule is completely out of whack. Example: I just had a 2+ hour nap and have no interest in going to bed, even though it's past midnight.
And last night I was feeling restless about work not done, and so I tackled my planning at a similar hour, and ended up working through the night. Oh, I slept on and off, but I never actually got in bed. By rights I should be completely exhausted by now, but that nap...
My last post was in that breathless moment before everything: DS2's recital was lovely, the robotics tournament went better than expected, Christmas parties were lovely, Christmas presents both given and received with joy and gratitude. Mostly this vacation has been a blur of cooking (duck confit cassoulet for Christmas Eve was a tremendous success) and eating and enjoying the company of my family. DD's little black kitten is growng by leaps and bounds, and he's very entertaining to have around. He definitely gets on the older cats' nerves, though! Here he is waiting for our old ginger tabby to wake up from his nap:
It has taken a while but the cats are finally all used to each other and the older cats will actually play from time to time. Mostly they just tolerate the young one briefly and then walk away to sleep somewhere else, undisturbed.
It's nice to have everyone around, but odd, too, because usually when they're home they're out and about and doing their own things, but for various reasons, they've all been homebodies, mostly.
Me, too, except for a quick overnight with DH to Cottonwood, which was lovely except it SNOWED. A LOT. It was really beautiful (I actually had proper gear to deal with it) but then it didn't stop, and our trip home was nerve-wracking until we got far enough south and it turned to rain. The first hour or so looked like this (mind you, this is at about 2pm):
It really did look like we were driving off the edge of the world. Once we got out of the fog, the scenery was rather spectacular. Snow on cactii is something I rarely see. Of course it was impossible to photograph well, because by that time we were up to our usual cruising speed of nearly 90 mph. (Still amazes me how fast everyone insists on driving through those mountain passes!) Anyway, here are a couple of horrible but still evocative views:
Further south, below the snow line, very dramatic clouds:
I am happy to have caught the cloud moving over that outcropping. It was stunning but not easy to snap!
Last night's ambition carried over to today, and I finished my planning, nagged my (many) students about their science projects, and finished another chunk of grading. I'm trying to get my school work done before the weekend so I can relax before heading back. This is one of those good intentions that seems likely to fall by the wayside, but at least I'm trying. DD has drawn me into playing Words with Friends again, and it's amazing how much time that can consume. I've read a couple of books and seen a few movies... and would like to do more of each before I go back to work! Where does that time go?
And last night I was feeling restless about work not done, and so I tackled my planning at a similar hour, and ended up working through the night. Oh, I slept on and off, but I never actually got in bed. By rights I should be completely exhausted by now, but that nap...
My last post was in that breathless moment before everything: DS2's recital was lovely, the robotics tournament went better than expected, Christmas parties were lovely, Christmas presents both given and received with joy and gratitude. Mostly this vacation has been a blur of cooking (duck confit cassoulet for Christmas Eve was a tremendous success) and eating and enjoying the company of my family. DD's little black kitten is growng by leaps and bounds, and he's very entertaining to have around. He definitely gets on the older cats' nerves, though! Here he is waiting for our old ginger tabby to wake up from his nap:
It has taken a while but the cats are finally all used to each other and the older cats will actually play from time to time. Mostly they just tolerate the young one briefly and then walk away to sleep somewhere else, undisturbed.
It's nice to have everyone around, but odd, too, because usually when they're home they're out and about and doing their own things, but for various reasons, they've all been homebodies, mostly.
Me, too, except for a quick overnight with DH to Cottonwood, which was lovely except it SNOWED. A LOT. It was really beautiful (I actually had proper gear to deal with it) but then it didn't stop, and our trip home was nerve-wracking until we got far enough south and it turned to rain. The first hour or so looked like this (mind you, this is at about 2pm):
It really did look like we were driving off the edge of the world. Once we got out of the fog, the scenery was rather spectacular. Snow on cactii is something I rarely see. Of course it was impossible to photograph well, because by that time we were up to our usual cruising speed of nearly 90 mph. (Still amazes me how fast everyone insists on driving through those mountain passes!) Anyway, here are a couple of horrible but still evocative views:
Further south, below the snow line, very dramatic clouds:
Last night's ambition carried over to today, and I finished my planning, nagged my (many) students about their science projects, and finished another chunk of grading. I'm trying to get my school work done before the weekend so I can relax before heading back. This is one of those good intentions that seems likely to fall by the wayside, but at least I'm trying. DD has drawn me into playing Words with Friends again, and it's amazing how much time that can consume. I've read a couple of books and seen a few movies... and would like to do more of each before I go back to work! Where does that time go?
Sunday, December 02, 2018
non-continuous improvement
Trying something new this weekend: do school work on Saturday, house things on Sunday.
Technically, I finished the school stuff on Sunday, since it's after midnight. But the difference between finishing after midnight on Saturday and after midnight on Sunday is that I get to sleep in tomorrow. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't, but the possibility is delightful.
Some weekends, of course, I won't have a choice, but today worked out pretty well because I was disciplined enough to make myself slog through it. I couldn't begin to count how many weekends I've thought, "I should be doing my grading," as I zoned in front of the tv or the computer or allowed myself to go out and about instead. I think playing my Spotify Christmas playlist and burning nicely scented candles helped me focus... that, and not sitting on the couch where I could fall asleep.
Now tomorrow I can tackle house-tasks, like clearing out the stack of stuff in the guest room, which is literally impassable at this point. (It's OK, we're not expecting any guests in the near future.) I hope to wrap some presents, too, because there's no point in doing anything else with them. I admit it will be odd to have presents under the not-yet-decorated tree.
Of course next weekend I won't be able to have "school work Saturday", because my school robotics team has it's qualifying tournament on Saturday, and DS2's last-ever Christmas recital is right in the middle of that (I'll sneak away for an hour, no one will miss me.) The holiday whirlwind that started last week is going full speed now: meeting Tuesday, concert Thursday, DH's company's Christmas party Friday, robotics/recital Saturday! I'm going to need next Sunday to recover from all that.
DS1 comes home for winter break Thursday, and DD (and her kitten), a week later. We're currently previewing what life will be like when they're truly on their own: even when they're home, they're mostly doing their own thing. Already I appreciate the time we get to visit, and I'm really looking forward to it. Even if debilitating waves of nostalgia constantly threaten to engulf me, I can still enjoy everything the season offers.
Technically, I finished the school stuff on Sunday, since it's after midnight. But the difference between finishing after midnight on Saturday and after midnight on Sunday is that I get to sleep in tomorrow. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't, but the possibility is delightful.
Some weekends, of course, I won't have a choice, but today worked out pretty well because I was disciplined enough to make myself slog through it. I couldn't begin to count how many weekends I've thought, "I should be doing my grading," as I zoned in front of the tv or the computer or allowed myself to go out and about instead. I think playing my Spotify Christmas playlist and burning nicely scented candles helped me focus... that, and not sitting on the couch where I could fall asleep.
Now tomorrow I can tackle house-tasks, like clearing out the stack of stuff in the guest room, which is literally impassable at this point. (It's OK, we're not expecting any guests in the near future.) I hope to wrap some presents, too, because there's no point in doing anything else with them. I admit it will be odd to have presents under the not-yet-decorated tree.
Of course next weekend I won't be able to have "school work Saturday", because my school robotics team has it's qualifying tournament on Saturday, and DS2's last-ever Christmas recital is right in the middle of that (I'll sneak away for an hour, no one will miss me.) The holiday whirlwind that started last week is going full speed now: meeting Tuesday, concert Thursday, DH's company's Christmas party Friday, robotics/recital Saturday! I'm going to need next Sunday to recover from all that.
DS1 comes home for winter break Thursday, and DD (and her kitten), a week later. We're currently previewing what life will be like when they're truly on their own: even when they're home, they're mostly doing their own thing. Already I appreciate the time we get to visit, and I'm really looking forward to it. Even if debilitating waves of nostalgia constantly threaten to engulf me, I can still enjoy everything the season offers.
Friday, November 30, 2018
the joy of the season
Among my peers at work, there is universal agreement that this is the absolute worst week of the year: Christmas program week. Our music teacher (who is amazing) writes two programs every year, one for the younger grades, and one for the older grades. The kids practice for weeks during their regular music classes, leading up to this week, where we have an excruciating 3-hour rehearsal one day and then dress rehearsal/performances for the school, followed by this evening's (for my students, anyway) performance for the families.
We had the same complaints as last year: we had no idea what was going on, it's impossible to effectively wrangle 200 students without a plan, it was too hot waiting out in the sun, etc. Tuesday, the 3-hour rehearsal day, was a long slog but of course we all survived. Meanwhile, we're still trying to deliver curriculum and keep the students on track -- we still have 3 weeks to go until Christmas break!
So that brings us to today, with an afternoon performance for the younger grades, and an evening performance for the parents. Aside from a few dress code issues (We told the girls if their skirts were too short, they'd have to wear altar server robes, and some of them didn't believe us...), the evening went very smoothly and the students performed very well. I absolutely loved seeing how enthusiastically my homeroom students, especially the boys, participated in all their songs. They really are a great group of kids, even though they've been daily draining my well of patience dry.
Afterwards, it was lovely to visit with the parents, and to see former students who had returned to see younger siblings. Even though I didn't get home until after 8:30pm (having left home at 6:20am to attend a memorial mass for my parents this morning!), it was a wonderful evening. And only a tiny part of that feeling is because it's over, and now our schedule can get back to normal for a bit as we speed towards the holiday. ¡Feliz Navidad!
We had the same complaints as last year: we had no idea what was going on, it's impossible to effectively wrangle 200 students without a plan, it was too hot waiting out in the sun, etc. Tuesday, the 3-hour rehearsal day, was a long slog but of course we all survived. Meanwhile, we're still trying to deliver curriculum and keep the students on track -- we still have 3 weeks to go until Christmas break!
So that brings us to today, with an afternoon performance for the younger grades, and an evening performance for the parents. Aside from a few dress code issues (We told the girls if their skirts were too short, they'd have to wear altar server robes, and some of them didn't believe us...), the evening went very smoothly and the students performed very well. I absolutely loved seeing how enthusiastically my homeroom students, especially the boys, participated in all their songs. They really are a great group of kids, even though they've been daily draining my well of patience dry.
Afterwards, it was lovely to visit with the parents, and to see former students who had returned to see younger siblings. Even though I didn't get home until after 8:30pm (having left home at 6:20am to attend a memorial mass for my parents this morning!), it was a wonderful evening. And only a tiny part of that feeling is because it's over, and now our schedule can get back to normal for a bit as we speed towards the holiday. ¡Feliz Navidad!
Thursday, November 22, 2018
possibly a record
I finished prep for tomorrow at 9:22 PM, only 22 minutes later than I had intended. The very last thing on the list for today was brining the turkey, which I wanted done by 9 so I could get it out at 9 in the morning, in preparation for the oven just a little bit later. Brining had to wait for the dinner dishes to be cleared away, though, so it was just a little late.
Miraculously, though, the pies were already out of the oven by that time. Only two this year, both apple, and I have both pie crusts and apples to make another. We'll see. My ambitions have shrunk over the years, along with my ability to eat all the stuff I love to bake! One piece of DD's birthday blueberry pie a few weeks ago knocked me back for nearly a week. I can medicate my way out of the joint pain and the digestive upset, but that's no way to live.
Today's marathon began with early morning shopping for those last minute things like green beans, followed by prepping for tomorrow, then picking up DS1 at school, then more prepping, then getting In-n-Out Burger for everyone for lunch because let's face it, there was nothing to eat now, then more prepping, including putting on a big pot of meat sauce so we'd have something for dinner. (It was delicious.) The pies went into the oven somewhere around around 5. Seems to me I'm usually baking till nearly midnight. Good thing I wasn't, this year, because I fell asleep in the middle of this, and when I woke up, I took myself to bed.
And now it's late morning, and the turkey is making the house smell delicious, the last-minute cleaning is done, and I'm about to head into the shower. Happy Thanksgiving!
Miraculously, though, the pies were already out of the oven by that time. Only two this year, both apple, and I have both pie crusts and apples to make another. We'll see. My ambitions have shrunk over the years, along with my ability to eat all the stuff I love to bake! One piece of DD's birthday blueberry pie a few weeks ago knocked me back for nearly a week. I can medicate my way out of the joint pain and the digestive upset, but that's no way to live.
Today's marathon began with early morning shopping for those last minute things like green beans, followed by prepping for tomorrow, then picking up DS1 at school, then more prepping, then getting In-n-Out Burger for everyone for lunch because let's face it, there was nothing to eat now, then more prepping, including putting on a big pot of meat sauce so we'd have something for dinner. (It was delicious.) The pies went into the oven somewhere around around 5. Seems to me I'm usually baking till nearly midnight. Good thing I wasn't, this year, because I fell asleep in the middle of this, and when I woke up, I took myself to bed.
And now it's late morning, and the turkey is making the house smell delicious, the last-minute cleaning is done, and I'm about to head into the shower. Happy Thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 11, 2018
lost and not found
I'm still mentally exhausted from parent-teacher conferences last week, even though they all went well. Still, it's very draining to have 26 extra meetings in one week, many of which went past their scheduled 15 minutes. We had a lot to talk about! I kept to the schedule when I had back-to-back meetings, but when the time allowed, I stretched it if the parents had more they wanted to talk about.
It feels like there was a lot of stretching, just as it feels as if half my class this year is on the Autism spectrum and/or has ADHD. That's an exaggeration, though. Surely it's no more than one third!
I have been cooking and running errands and even did some Christmas shopping, and it has been great to not think about school for a while. Last night I ordered a replacement for the bismuth crystal that mysteriously walked out of my classroom last year. That's two out of three items that went missing last year I've replaced now. But ordering the bismuth reminded me that I'd lost the silver and amber letter opener my mother had given me, and that set me off down several internet rabbit holes.
I had this feeling that if I just kept looking, I'd find it, or one just like it, the way I was able to replace the Bill Campbell pottery platter I broke so many years ago. This is different, though: it was vintage if not antique (it may have been antique), definitely silver if not sterling (and I think it was sterling from the amount of black tarnish it accumulated), and it had a beautiful amber cabochon set into the handle with silver leaves worked around it in art nouveau style. It was a very beautiful piece which I am ashamed now to say that I took for granted. I had it on my desk for years among the pens and pencils in one of the mugs I keep for that purpose. The thing is, in spite of its obvious beauty and value, I used it. It was great staple remover and a fair screwdriver, and it lived happily anonymous among the pens and pencils. No one knew it was there, so no one was tempted to take it. I'm pretty sure I "lost" it by leaving it out after using it to take staples out of a bulletin board. (My classroom is often used by other groups of people in the evenings, a fact I was not sufficiently attuned to last year.)
For whatever reason, I was seized with the idea last night that it was important to replace this piece. My mother gave it to me, and the Polish amber was a concrete reminder of her. I haven't thought about it much in the year or so it has been missing, but last night it blossomed into importance again, so I looked online to see what I could fine. I haven't seen anything even close to it in my Internet searches, and the one that came closest cost several hundred British pounds(!!!).
Clearly that's not going to happen. I dreamed it was in my desk's center drawer, having somehow got wedged under the tray near the front. I will, of course, look there when I get back to work on Tuesday, but there is zero chance that it's there. My desk was completely emptied last May so it could be moved out with everything else in the classroom. If it weren't for that very thorough process, I'd be able to hold out some slim hope that it's still there somewhere, but we took literally every single thing out of that room, and there was no sign of it.
I'm surprised by this turn of events, really. It's just a thing, after all. Yes, it was beautiful and my mother gave it to me and now she's gone, but it's still just a thing. Replacing it isn't going to help anyone (not even me, really, since a different one wouldn't have belonged to my mother) but part of me wants to at least try because it was my carelessness that led to its loss. Nevermind the question of why it would be my fault that someone else stole it. It just is, and I'm sorry.
It feels like there was a lot of stretching, just as it feels as if half my class this year is on the Autism spectrum and/or has ADHD. That's an exaggeration, though. Surely it's no more than one third!
I have been cooking and running errands and even did some Christmas shopping, and it has been great to not think about school for a while. Last night I ordered a replacement for the bismuth crystal that mysteriously walked out of my classroom last year. That's two out of three items that went missing last year I've replaced now. But ordering the bismuth reminded me that I'd lost the silver and amber letter opener my mother had given me, and that set me off down several internet rabbit holes.
I had this feeling that if I just kept looking, I'd find it, or one just like it, the way I was able to replace the Bill Campbell pottery platter I broke so many years ago. This is different, though: it was vintage if not antique (it may have been antique), definitely silver if not sterling (and I think it was sterling from the amount of black tarnish it accumulated), and it had a beautiful amber cabochon set into the handle with silver leaves worked around it in art nouveau style. It was a very beautiful piece which I am ashamed now to say that I took for granted. I had it on my desk for years among the pens and pencils in one of the mugs I keep for that purpose. The thing is, in spite of its obvious beauty and value, I used it. It was great staple remover and a fair screwdriver, and it lived happily anonymous among the pens and pencils. No one knew it was there, so no one was tempted to take it. I'm pretty sure I "lost" it by leaving it out after using it to take staples out of a bulletin board. (My classroom is often used by other groups of people in the evenings, a fact I was not sufficiently attuned to last year.)
For whatever reason, I was seized with the idea last night that it was important to replace this piece. My mother gave it to me, and the Polish amber was a concrete reminder of her. I haven't thought about it much in the year or so it has been missing, but last night it blossomed into importance again, so I looked online to see what I could fine. I haven't seen anything even close to it in my Internet searches, and the one that came closest cost several hundred British pounds(!!!).
Clearly that's not going to happen. I dreamed it was in my desk's center drawer, having somehow got wedged under the tray near the front. I will, of course, look there when I get back to work on Tuesday, but there is zero chance that it's there. My desk was completely emptied last May so it could be moved out with everything else in the classroom. If it weren't for that very thorough process, I'd be able to hold out some slim hope that it's still there somewhere, but we took literally every single thing out of that room, and there was no sign of it.
I'm surprised by this turn of events, really. It's just a thing, after all. Yes, it was beautiful and my mother gave it to me and now she's gone, but it's still just a thing. Replacing it isn't going to help anyone (not even me, really, since a different one wouldn't have belonged to my mother) but part of me wants to at least try because it was my carelessness that led to its loss. Nevermind the question of why it would be my fault that someone else stole it. It just is, and I'm sorry.
Monday, November 05, 2018
just like that
One weekend with all my kids home, and I'm feeling so much better.
My baby girl is 20 years old! I can't fathom it.
In honor of the occasion, and because one of her favorite bands was playing some local dive last Thursday night, she came down for the weekend. Saturday her friends came for brunch and we had a great time. Saturday afternoon was taken up with making her birthday blueberry pie, and Saturday evening with her delightful birthday dinner (our favorite salmon and rice pilaf, simple favorites she never has at school.)
It wasn't anything all that special, except that everyone was here, and happy. So, not exactly special, but delightful, and my spirits are sufficiently lifted as we sail towards the holiday season.
My baby girl is 20 years old! I can't fathom it.
In honor of the occasion, and because one of her favorite bands was playing some local dive last Thursday night, she came down for the weekend. Saturday her friends came for brunch and we had a great time. Saturday afternoon was taken up with making her birthday blueberry pie, and Saturday evening with her delightful birthday dinner (our favorite salmon and rice pilaf, simple favorites she never has at school.)
It wasn't anything all that special, except that everyone was here, and happy. So, not exactly special, but delightful, and my spirits are sufficiently lifted as we sail towards the holiday season.
Thursday, November 01, 2018
what, again?
I remind myself, it's a symptom. It's 3:05AM and I'm still up, reading the internet. I'm looking for the answer to a question that I can't even articulate to myself, so I'll never find it.
Since it was Halloween, I watched The Frighteners for the thousandth time, but it made me inexplicably sad this time. So by way of an antidote, I watched the first 2 episodes of the new season of Dr. Who, with Jody Whittaker as the new lady doctor. She's quite good, and I enjoyed the episodes, but they were also tinged with unexpected sadness. (I should've expected it, but I didn't.)
Now we're well into November and the rest of this week is going to be very very busy, with all the kids home, DS2's concert on Saturday, DD's birthday on Sunday!
And it's end-of-term, so I have to be on top of my grades. I'm caught up for now, but I'm giving 7th grade an assessment tomorrow that will go into the gradebook before grades close Friday morning -- in other words, I have to be efficient.
I just have a sense that's something wrong and I don't know what it is. I spent some time re-reading here (11 years of Novembers!) to see if whatever this is might be a seasonal thing, but that doesn't seems to be the case. Objectively, the only thing that I can think of that's wrong right now is the fact that I'm not sleeping, plus my stomach has been off since last night and isn't feeling too great right now. The second could be the true source of my problem, I suppose.
Ick. I'm going to bed.
Since it was Halloween, I watched The Frighteners for the thousandth time, but it made me inexplicably sad this time. So by way of an antidote, I watched the first 2 episodes of the new season of Dr. Who, with Jody Whittaker as the new lady doctor. She's quite good, and I enjoyed the episodes, but they were also tinged with unexpected sadness. (I should've expected it, but I didn't.)
Now we're well into November and the rest of this week is going to be very very busy, with all the kids home, DS2's concert on Saturday, DD's birthday on Sunday!
And it's end-of-term, so I have to be on top of my grades. I'm caught up for now, but I'm giving 7th grade an assessment tomorrow that will go into the gradebook before grades close Friday morning -- in other words, I have to be efficient.
I just have a sense that's something wrong and I don't know what it is. I spent some time re-reading here (11 years of Novembers!) to see if whatever this is might be a seasonal thing, but that doesn't seems to be the case. Objectively, the only thing that I can think of that's wrong right now is the fact that I'm not sleeping, plus my stomach has been off since last night and isn't feeling too great right now. The second could be the true source of my problem, I suppose.
Ick. I'm going to bed.
Friday, October 26, 2018
diversions of varying success
We're hurtling toward the end of the trimester at school, and that usually means digging myself out of some huge stack of grading.
I do have one - ok, two - things to grade this weekend, but neither is that big a deal. I've done well keeping my resolution to stay on top of the grading this term, and it is paying off in unexpected ways: I actually read a book last week, and I watched the entirety of season 3 of Dare Devil. (I don't think that's how you spell it. It doesn't look right. Don't care.)
The book: Terry Pratchett's Snuff, one of only a few of his I'd not read before. In a way, it makes me sad, because there won't be any more, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and somewhere in the back of my mind, a plan is percolating to start at the beginning and read them through again. Ah, Discworld, how I love you. Especially Sam Vimes.
Dare Devil, however you spell it, was (upon reflection) the best of the three seasons so far. It focused on the main characters almost exclusively, and the new main character (FBI Agent Nadeem) was excellent, and the new villian character (also, not coincidentally, an FBI Agent) was also very good. I could watch it all again and enjoy it.
It's nice, this having time for leisure pursuits. I also thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend Maniac, the Jonah Hill-Emma Stone Netflix series. It was superb in a way that's difficult to describe. Some parts were very funny, some parts were touching, some parts were harder to take, but all of it cohered into something really terrific. Part of me thinks the entire series is worth the single line of dialog, "I heard you took the fall for the lemur caper." On reflection, I believe that's correct. Not all love is Eros, and it's good to see there are people out there who recognize that.
Some days, I have a sense that I literally have no idea what I'm doing: that shadow of Everything is just too hard, give up give up give up is continuously lurking. But most days, I don't notice it. Much. I like the people I work with, and I love my family. My cats are mostly sweet and only occasionally really annoying. The Great Ant Infestation of 2018 made another incursion last week, and honestly I'm too worn out by that entire (apparently never-ending) situation to even go look and see if they're gone yet. The holidays will soon be upon us, and everyone will be home again, and maybe then the shadow will recede completely for a while? Doubtful, but it's nice to contemplate.
I never did get that sleep I needed. (Ha!) And I've been battling a cold -- more or less successfully -- for about a week now. Perhaps that is the source of my sense of impending doom. That, or the fact that we won't have a math teacher come January. We'll manage somehow. We always do.
I do have one - ok, two - things to grade this weekend, but neither is that big a deal. I've done well keeping my resolution to stay on top of the grading this term, and it is paying off in unexpected ways: I actually read a book last week, and I watched the entirety of season 3 of Dare Devil. (I don't think that's how you spell it. It doesn't look right. Don't care.)
The book: Terry Pratchett's Snuff, one of only a few of his I'd not read before. In a way, it makes me sad, because there won't be any more, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and somewhere in the back of my mind, a plan is percolating to start at the beginning and read them through again. Ah, Discworld, how I love you. Especially Sam Vimes.
Dare Devil, however you spell it, was (upon reflection) the best of the three seasons so far. It focused on the main characters almost exclusively, and the new main character (FBI Agent Nadeem) was excellent, and the new villian character (also, not coincidentally, an FBI Agent) was also very good. I could watch it all again and enjoy it.
It's nice, this having time for leisure pursuits. I also thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend Maniac, the Jonah Hill-Emma Stone Netflix series. It was superb in a way that's difficult to describe. Some parts were very funny, some parts were touching, some parts were harder to take, but all of it cohered into something really terrific. Part of me thinks the entire series is worth the single line of dialog, "I heard you took the fall for the lemur caper." On reflection, I believe that's correct. Not all love is Eros, and it's good to see there are people out there who recognize that.
Some days, I have a sense that I literally have no idea what I'm doing: that shadow of Everything is just too hard, give up give up give up is continuously lurking. But most days, I don't notice it. Much. I like the people I work with, and I love my family. My cats are mostly sweet and only occasionally really annoying. The Great Ant Infestation of 2018 made another incursion last week, and honestly I'm too worn out by that entire (apparently never-ending) situation to even go look and see if they're gone yet. The holidays will soon be upon us, and everyone will be home again, and maybe then the shadow will recede completely for a while? Doubtful, but it's nice to contemplate.
I never did get that sleep I needed. (Ha!) And I've been battling a cold -- more or less successfully -- for about a week now. Perhaps that is the source of my sense of impending doom. That, or the fact that we won't have a math teacher come January. We'll manage somehow. We always do.
Friday, October 12, 2018
break
Such as it is: an in-service day followed by a 3-day weekend.
Things are going... well. I'm being very disciplined about keeping on my grading, and it's making everything else easier. For example, this weekend the only grading I have to do are the drafts of my students' research papers.
Which is not to say that things are perfect. Issues pop up and are resolved, and we go on. I like the absence of drama.
I do, however, need sleep and plan to get it!
Things are going... well. I'm being very disciplined about keeping on my grading, and it's making everything else easier. For example, this weekend the only grading I have to do are the drafts of my students' research papers.
Which is not to say that things are perfect. Issues pop up and are resolved, and we go on. I like the absence of drama.
I do, however, need sleep and plan to get it!
Friday, September 21, 2018
after-school snack
It's totally OK that my after-school snack is a glass of rose and a handful (or two) of wasabi almonds, because 1) I'm an adult and 2) I didn't get home from school today until well after 5PM.
I'd recommend it for everyone, but the stipulations above won't be true for many, more's the pity.
I'd recommend it for everyone, but the stipulations above won't be true for many, more's the pity.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
interlude
Trying to find a title for this post, I'm searching my brain for a word that means a short time spent doing something unusual or different..., ah there it is: interlude.
The "something different" was attending a continuing education event for medical providers who treat thyroid cancer patients. There is a new endocrine surgeon here in the valley, and she is very enthusiastic about improving both provider education and patient care. She organized the event through one of the local hospitals, and asked me if I would attend this evening to improve awareness of ThyCa, the patient advocacy organization I have been associated with for over a decade now.
It was a little weird being there, since I'm not a doctor or a genetic counselor or any of the other professional types who there. But several people stopped by and asked about ThyCa and took some of my materials, and the surgeon's office manager took everything that was left! We are going to get together (or at least talk) later in the fall about reviving the in-person support group. At this point, I'm willing to give it a try, and I can afford to give up a few hours every other month or two.
Like this evening: before I went to the conference, I was all caught up with everything: grading, entering grades, planning. But my students submitted their first-pass experimental designs today, and I needed to give them feedback immediately. So I took a nap for about an hour when I got home, and here I am, having finished the feedback and grading but very much awake.
School is going well for me this year. I'm making a serious effort to keep up instead of wandering around campus and chatting people up, as I have done in the past, and it's making a big difference. I'm also making a conscious effort to watch the time when I'm at home in the evenings so I don't start on dinner too late. Some evenings I still miscalculate how long the cooking will take and we eat at 8PM, but that's better than miscalculating and eating closer to 9! So those two relatively small efforts are making life better.
I am struggling, though, simply because it's September and this month is full of sad and difficult memories of my mother's end of life. Most days I want to stay in bed and pull the covers over my head, but I'm working the "fake it till you make it" routine with moderate success. I've been here before, I just have to wait it out. I even have times, like today, where I briefly enjoy something: it rained, and the air smelled wonderful. Eventually it takes longer and longer for my own personal cloud to descend, until it just recedes completely. I have faith I'll get there some day, I'm just not sure when.
The "something different" was attending a continuing education event for medical providers who treat thyroid cancer patients. There is a new endocrine surgeon here in the valley, and she is very enthusiastic about improving both provider education and patient care. She organized the event through one of the local hospitals, and asked me if I would attend this evening to improve awareness of ThyCa, the patient advocacy organization I have been associated with for over a decade now.
It was a little weird being there, since I'm not a doctor or a genetic counselor or any of the other professional types who there. But several people stopped by and asked about ThyCa and took some of my materials, and the surgeon's office manager took everything that was left! We are going to get together (or at least talk) later in the fall about reviving the in-person support group. At this point, I'm willing to give it a try, and I can afford to give up a few hours every other month or two.
Like this evening: before I went to the conference, I was all caught up with everything: grading, entering grades, planning. But my students submitted their first-pass experimental designs today, and I needed to give them feedback immediately. So I took a nap for about an hour when I got home, and here I am, having finished the feedback and grading but very much awake.
School is going well for me this year. I'm making a serious effort to keep up instead of wandering around campus and chatting people up, as I have done in the past, and it's making a big difference. I'm also making a conscious effort to watch the time when I'm at home in the evenings so I don't start on dinner too late. Some evenings I still miscalculate how long the cooking will take and we eat at 8PM, but that's better than miscalculating and eating closer to 9! So those two relatively small efforts are making life better.
I am struggling, though, simply because it's September and this month is full of sad and difficult memories of my mother's end of life. Most days I want to stay in bed and pull the covers over my head, but I'm working the "fake it till you make it" routine with moderate success. I've been here before, I just have to wait it out. I even have times, like today, where I briefly enjoy something: it rained, and the air smelled wonderful. Eventually it takes longer and longer for my own personal cloud to descend, until it just recedes completely. I have faith I'll get there some day, I'm just not sure when.
Sunday, August 26, 2018
new new new
School's back in and has been since the 8th. The entire campus was extensively renovated over the summer, so we had to clear everything out of our classrooms before we left. That meant, of course, we had to move everything back in before school could begin.
It was a little crazy there, since we got our keys (and access to campus) on Friday afternoon the 3rd, and "meet the teacher" was Monday evening. Junior high orientation was Tuesday night, and then classes began on Wednesday. It was an exhausting slog there, but we've settled into a routine now.
I'm enjoying that I just have to revise what I did last year, and not create everything from scratch. I'm somehow managing to integrate the new technology (new projector, Chromebooks, Google classrooms) and help out our new teachers without losing my mind, but it's early going yet.
My new 7th graders seem so very young this year! I'm sure it happens this way every year, but this year I'm not as distracted by everything else going on so I'm just noticing more.
On the personal side, my doctor declared my toe officially and completely healed, even though it feels a little "crunchy" from time to time. She said that was normal. I have been enjoying wearing my normal footwear for the past few weeks. My hip varies from absolutely killing me to not bothering me at all, with more of the latter since I'm back to doing stretches and squats twice a day when I can manage it, but every morning without fail.
DS1 is back at ASU for his senior year, and we drove up to Flagstaff on Friday evening to take DD up for her sophomore year. She is very excited to be in an apartment with one of her best friends. I was less excited by the fact that it's a third floor walk-up. She was scheduled to move in Saturday at noon, but we were able to move her in on Friday evening when we got there. That was excellent because after about an hour of gorgeous sunshine, it absolutely poured rain the next day. We got soaked bringing in her haul from Target.
Now home again (and nursing a hip still objecting to so much time sitting in the car), and it's quiet with just DS2 here, our new "normal" for the school year. I have an engineering design challenge to grade and probably six other things to do, but it will all get done eventually. Overall, the year is off to a good start. There are a few stressors at school regarding new teachers, but I'm doing my best to minimize my exposure there since they don't really have anything to do with me!
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