Whatever you do...

Make sure that when you vote for the winner of American Idol next week you vote for.....

David!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My sister just called to say this to me so I couldn't resist. I do have my favorite of the Davids... although my absolute fav this season was Carly Smithson. But my favorite David is David Cook so he will be getting all my votes next week!!!

News...

In my last post I mentioned a career change coming up soon. Well, I was officially offered, and accepted, the promotion today!! It has been in the works for a couple of months now and I've already been slowly learning the position as I have been working part-time there, as a teacher/tutor.

I am waiting until this Friday to give notice at my current full time job so as of May 19th, my new job title will be Assistant Director of Education. To protect myself, I'm not saying where but if you know me than you know where I work part-time!! If something goes awry with giving notice, as can happen because of the Virginia employment laws, I will be able to start there immediately.

I am really excited to begin this new chapter. I will actually be flying to New Jersey in a few weeks for some training so I'm looking forward to getting out of town as well. The main office for our center is only about 30 minutes from NYC so I'm hoping to get back into that city. I haven't been there since 1984 and we all know how much has changed in the 24 years since I've been there!!

Long overdue post

Hi! Wow, I didn't realize I hadn't posted on here in so long. There really is nothing new to report. I've just been busy working both of my jobs and following Idol and DWTS. Pretty boring.

I am in the midst of making yet another career change. Losing my teaching position after last year was such a blow to my ego that I have yet to recover. I had many teaching interviews last summer and none of them came to fruition. In the meantime, I began substitute teaching in the public school system and tutoring on a part time basis. In December I took a position at a college where I used to work. Suffice it to say that I am really not happy with the work I am doing at this position but I kind of knew that would happen as I would not be using my degree and doing what I felt called to do. The change I am making puts me back into the education world on a full time basis although it is not teaching. I am not going to say anything more about it at this point until it happens... I feel as though I can jinx things which I know is strange but considering what this last year has been like I am just a little wary.

I received a phone call the other day from a teacher I worked with last year. She has now retired and was telling me that things are really going down hill at the school where I was. There are at least 7 of the teachers on medication for stress and anxiety, and these are women who would not normally have to take such meds. One teacher actually went out on medical leave a few months ago due to extreme anxiety and has since returned to work at a different school at her doctor's recommendation. The main reason this teacher called me is to ask if I would be willing to share what happened to me in order to support yet another teacher who is under attack. I did not hesitate to say yes because while I was a first year teacher this particular woman has 20 years of experience and does not deserve to be treated in such a manner. I know I am being vague but this is a public blog so I do not feel comfortable posting any more specific details.

Ok... such a negative post!! Nothing new in the adoption world except the fact that I still very much hope and pray to be able to adopt one day very soon. I just feel like I am supposed to be a parent even if I do not find my soulmate and get married. The thing is even if I did get married I am most likely not able to have a biological child of my own so would end up adopting anyway.

Time to get back to work....

Silly boys...

Today my nephews came over for a couple hours while my sister went to the nail shop. They were being silly, as usual, and I played a song on my computer (old Shania Twain but it's a cute one!) and they both came running in the room and started dancing. Actually, by the time I grabbed the camera the older one had sat down but the young one was still boogying away!! Enjoy:

I'm exhausted...

I'm completely exhausted... this was WAY harder to do than I ever thought it would be. I had the hardest time getting it all together. I hope the end result is worth it (meaning I better get a good night's sleep!).

Friday Night and the Weekend's Here!

Since the title of my last post was "Monday, Monday" this seemed appropriate as the next title!

I am soooo glad the weekend is here. For the first time in almost 6 months, I am off work on a Saturday!! I had decided several weeks ago to take the day off so I could at least go to ONE of my nephew's basketball games. He is playing in one of the local Upwards basketball leagues but only has about 2 or 3 games left in this season. I am looking forward to sleeping a little later tomorrow since I usually have to be up and out of the house, somewhat professionally dressed, in order to be at the tutoring center by 9am. But the game doesn't start until 11am so I get to sleep a little!!

And tomorrow I go pick up my new bed!! I am so excited about that. Tonight I tackled the job of taking apart the old bed, then rearranging the furniture in my bedroom in preparation for tomorrow. Now I have my old bed and mattress set in the 3rd bedroom, the new mattress set in my computer room, and my bedroom sits mostly empty for just a few more hours, yippeee!!

Gee, could I be more sillier, being this excited about a new bed?

On a more somber note, I am in shock and disbelief that our nation has suffered yet another senseless school shooting this week. I wanted to offer my prayers along with everyone else's. Lord, I ask for your prayers of peace among the many who knew and loved the victims of this senseless tragedy. Give them the strength and the wisdom to get through the sad days ahead and to find a way to go on. I pray that the students of Northern Illinois University are able to continue their studies despite all that has happened. I ask all of this in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen.

In honor of the victims:

Monday, Monday

Who likes Mondays? Not me!!!! Especially when you've had a pretty nice, but busy, weekend.

This weekend I finally received a package I had been waiting for... I have bought a book from Amazon.com called "Adopting On Your Own: The Complete Guide to Adoption for Single Parents." I haven't had time to really start reading it but at first glance it looks as though it will have a lot of good information for me. Thanks to Mary for posting it on her blog in the list of books she has read! I also have an adoption handbook that my sister has lent to me. She has an 8 year old son they adopted domestically but the book does have a section on international adoption as well.

Now the reason why I didn't have time to read that book this weekend is because I was so busy!! I had to work on Saturday, then I went big time shopping in the afternoon. I haven't been able to sleep really well in a long time so decided it was time to finally do something about it. Since I can get a better night's sleep when I'm not actually sleeping in my bed it didn't take long to figure out that the bed was the culprit. Waking up stiff and sore every day was a big clue. So Saturday I got a nice new mattress set from a store called The Dump... it's an interesting place with lots of great deals on furniture! I didn't see the actual bed I wanted there so after bringing home the mattress set, thanks to my brother-in-law, and having dinner with my sister, brother-in-law, and the kids, I went to Value City Furniture where I bought a beautiful new bed that I will pick up next Saturday! Then it was off to Sears for a new comforter and sheets, and new pillows too. They were having a great sale. So it turned out to be the best weekend to buy all of this, the bed was on sale too. Sunday I had a few more errands to run, then I came home to do laundry and rearrange my living room. By the time I finish straightening out my bedroom next weekend (I'm going to rearrange it too), I think I'll be exhausted.

Here's the new bed I bought, not the same mattress set of course, but it will be so pretty!

Where do I blog?

Just for fun... I thought I'd post a pic of my computer set up. I actually just cleaned and reorganized things in this room last weekend, it wasn't looking so pretty before that, not that it's all that pretty now, just looks better!! The computer is actually open to the home page of my myspace site.

not a good day...

For some strange reason, today was one of those days where I just wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there, just waiting for it to be over. I felt all day like I was doing everything wrong and it would never be right. Then, to make matters worse, a co-worker's daughter came to visit him with her new baby. He was proudly showing off his brand new grandson and I don't begrudge him or the mother the pride, he is a beautiful baby. But this gentleman just turned 50 and has a beautiful new grandson to show off. I, on the other hand, am 41 and I don't even have children yet. I want to get this adoption journey started, I know it's what I am supposed to do but there are still obstacles in my way. I did read on another blog that there might be some positive changes happening for adoptions from Guatemala so I am hopeful about that at least.

Maybe I won't crawl under that rock after all... I think I just need a good cry.

About a year ago...

What a difference a year makes!! A year ago I was in the worst pain I had ever felt in my whole life. I basically felt as though I were having a heart attack 24/7. Nothing I did could alleviate the pain... no amount of painkillers, etc. would even touch it. I slept lying straight on my back with a heating pad which most nights actually did allow me to sleep. A co-worker of mine suggested that my symptoms sounded exactly like what she went through when she needed to have her gallbladder out. Knowing how difficult gallbladder problems are to diagnose, I demanded that my doctor check me for this and surprisingly enough my demands were met. I was sent to the hospital for a GB ultrasound. I had to be there super early on a Friday morning, 6am to be precise. The ultrasound tech did her job, then told me that she wasn't supposed to say anything but that I could expect to be having surgery very soon as I definitely had stones. I then had to start stalking my doctor's office for the results of the ultrasound because my pain was not only not going away, but it was intensifying. I finally went back to the urgent care part of my doctor's office on Saturday and they called in to consult with a surgeon who said I should be given a pretty good painkiller and if that didn't take care of the problem, I was to page the surgeon and they would admit me directly to the hospital for emergency surgery. So the doctor at the urgent care put me on Vicodin and that did the trick, I felt pain-free for the first time in about 2 weeks.

Now did I mention that I was a teacher at the time, and had a class of 26 5th grade students that I was teaching while feeling like I was having a heart attack 24/7?? That was no fun. Then I was teaching while on this super painkiller. Quick emergency surgery over the weekend would not have been a good idea as I had no sub plans written, and no way to let a sub know how my classroom discipline plan worked, who the trustworthy students were, etc. I ended up at the surgeon's office on Monday afternoon and they said yep, you're having surgery and the sooner the better (ummm.. no duh, I had that figured out already!). I was home about 30 - 45 minutes when the scheduling desk from the surgeon's office called to tell me that Thursday, Jan. 11th was the day. So I went into school the next day (Tuesday, Jan. 9th) to let my AP know I needed time off and start preparing sub plans for about 2 weeks. I was given a wonderful sub, she was a retired teacher who was always around our school so she came to see me after school that day and we talked awhile, then she came back Wednesday afternoon and I introduced her to the kids, telling them I was going to be out for a little while due to a medical procedure. What shocked faces!! The sub stuck around with me after school and took the Social Studies materials from me, telling me she would take care of that, I just needed to let her know what to do for the other subjects.

The surgery was fine but lasted longer than expected as it turned out that my gallbladder was way more infected than expected. They came very close to completely opening me up but thank God my surgeon was able to complete the procedure laparoscopically (I think I spelled that right!). But I woke up with a drainage tube and a little bottle due to the infection in my liver and had to stay in the hospital for 2 nights. No fun!!

But it's been a year now and I am so thankful that is all behind me. The only lingering side effect I have is that after I went back to work last year, I suffered a gallbladder attack, even though I didn't have one, as a result of eating a very healthy salad for lunch (I didn't know my body couldn't handle the roughage yet). That attack, and the resulting sickness, was almost worse than what I had gone through before the surgery. So the lingering side effect is I still cannot eat a salad... even looking at lettuce makes me think of how sick I got and I start to feel sick. I can eat veggies and I can cook with them, just can't put it all together in a salad yet. I am hoping that goes away soon because salads are sooo good!!!

I know this post is totally nonrelated to the topic of my blog, but there is simply nothing new to report on that front. I still cannot even begin the process.