My Sister

My sister had her birthday in March, the 16th to be exact. I had planned to write this wonderful tribute to her and surprise her for her birthday. Life was a mess in March and most days I felt like I was running on a treadmill and could not get off. So better late than never and hopefully she is still surprised. Oh and a disclaimer before I start; it is not my intention to make you cry.

I was an only child for almost 6 years and I think I spent three of those years wanting a baby sister and I finally got one. I loved her from the moment that I saw her, and wished just a little bit right from the start that I could be more like her. She is fearless.

We did not always get along especially when she was younger. As little sisters do she wanted to tag along and I was the typical big sister I did not want her following me. My sister was a tomboy and she is still very athletic, she does the whole tri thing which I will never understand but I am so amazed and proud that she does.

The trait that I most love about my sister is her fearlessness. Is that really a word? It is now. She broke her arm 3 times before she was twelve. "Look Mom I can slide down the icy hill like Penny Candy and Tim" move forward a few hours and her arm is in a cast. She fell of the horse "look no hands" bam on the ground a few hours later and another cast. I don't remember the third way it must not have been as exciting as the first two or maybe she was just an old hand at it by then. She doesn't give up or let an injury keep her down she just lets it heal and goes right back to the activity that she loved or loves.

After I want away to college we grew closer and as the years past our bond became stronger. My sister is one of my best friends. We can talk on the phone or chat on FB for hours at a time. We joke and say she has my child and I have hers. Her oldest daughter and my youngest son are 6 monthes apart and NP Diva is very much like me while my second son reminds me so much of my sister he makes me laugh and cry at the same time. I think it happened this way so that we are always close to each other even though there are hundreds of miles between us.

My sister loves completely and she is a fierce protector of all that she loves. She has what I consider to be one of the toughest jobs in the world and she is amazing at it. She works with people that have suffered Trumatic Brain Injury. She has started Bookin Feet to help girls build their bodies, minds and self-esteem all while still having two young children at home.

I have learned much from my sister and I am not even sure that she knows it. I learned that love needs to be a two way street and if both people can not give freely then it isn't really worth trying to hold onto. I also learned that dating someone because everyone else thinks you should was not enough of a reason to keep dating the person. Younger than me and wiser than me. She is also one of my biggest cheerleaders. When I doubt my ability my sister is right there to remind me that I can accomplish the task and she reminds me of what I have already done.

My sister is an amazing woman, a great Mom and not only the best sister I could ever ask for but also a wonderful friend and my life would not be as full if I did not have her to share memories with.


My sister does not like many pictures of herself so I will not put many up but there is one picture that needs to be in the post and I hope she doesn't object too loudly.



I love you and Happy Belated Birthday Sister of Mine.

Okay...maybe not

Let me start by saying I am never again going to say my goal is to bring balance into my life. As I tried to become balanced I actually became unbalanced. It did not help that I have spent many weekends not feeling well.

So my goals for this year are out the window. I am just going to take each day as it comes and do what I do best, plan a little and fly by the seat of my pants a lot. Hopefully with the end of the school year just around the corner I can get back to being my normal self.

I actually had time to sit down today, Mother’s Day and read blogs it was nice to catch up with Bone, TC and my cousin Felicia that just had a beautiful baby boy. I also had dinner with my dear sweet husband and our two sons oh and I did laundry.

I have not written in so long, except for a grade school paper every week, I have forgotten how something else to get back to once summer is here.

This Week….Awesome

I had a great week at work. There are three very different events that made it awesome.

First, I was nominated for Teacher of the Year again this year, but I decided to take my name off the ballot so that someone else could be on the ballot. I am not saying I would have won if my name was on the ballot but I really wanted to give others the opportunity. It is enough to know I was nominated again.

Second, my class played the Urban Game. It isn’t really a game it’s an exercise in learning but they think it is a game. Let me take a minute to explain the game incase you have never played it in your world history class. When the students walk into the room the desks are set-up in pairs, with one piece of copy paper in the middle of the desk and two pieces of colored paper with directions and background information for the pairs. The timer was set for 5 minutes to copy the key, when the timer goes off they need to start reading the first paragraph and complete what it says. They had 5 minutes for that as well. If they are not finished when the timer goes off they have to just keep going. They are only told that the river needs to be 1-inch wide, the rest is up to them. With the first 10 minutes completed I start readying short blurbs about the industrial revolution and in those blubs are the directions for what needs to be added to their village next. There are 21 rounds to this game. My perfectionists hate this game because it goes to fast, my ADD kids love it because it is so fast paced and even though my ELLs say it is hard at first as it goes on and they find their rhythm they like it as well. One of the first things they put in their original village is a “nice house” of course many of them draw it way to big so other things have to be really small or they have to erase and redraw. By the end their paper is covered and we then talk about how fast the Industrial Revolution felt to the people of England when it first started. This also launches the lecture about the Industrial Revolution that they now can picture in their mind as we talk and take notes.

Third and to me the most awesomest of all. I know awesomest is not really a word but I used it once this summer and it is now my trademark word. Anyway back to the third item. It occurred this Saturday, I held an AP World History study session at my high school from 8am – 12pm and I had 8 students that attended. I believe that I have between 10 and 12 students that can pass the AP exam. All 8 of Saturday’s attendees are in the 10 to 12 count. It was so great to watch them work together on timelines, the Chinese Dynasties of the Classical Era and essay skills and to see them realize that they knew and remembered a lot more from the first half of the year than they thought they did. I am holding another study session this Saturday and I hope it is as good or better than this one.

On a scale of 1 – 10 I would give this week a 9.5, not a 10 because the one problem I had all week was the temperature of my classroom. It was so warm (above 70 with the fans on) that it flared my asthma.

What Am I…Crazy….Maybe?

Second semester is upon us and with it comes standardized test season. Oh boy the kids love it the teachers love it. Therefore we are all well rested and in the best moods ever.

Last Saturday I went to data training, from 9 to 3 so no massage that day. I was able to keep yesterdays appointment and believe me it was so worth it. This time of year I think I should get two a week but I do not have the time or the money. Sorry back to data; now that we answer to a test everything is data driven. What SEs (student expectations) are they weak in; lets look at the question and see what they do not know/understand. Usually it is vocabulary, please read to your children and use expanded vocabulary with them. It makes everyone just a little bit less stressed. The training I had Saturday had to be turned around this week and given to our teachers so during our in-service I trained the Social Studies department using the new data strategies.

So I decided I was not stressed enough and I added grad school to the mix. Yes I am back in grad school. I had been once before but then when our oldest son got sick I stopped. I did not return to Norwich for my Military History degree I am now taking classes through Texas Women’s University and getting my MA in curriculum and instruction. Why the switch you might ask when I had only 4 classes plus my presentation left for the MMH degree? Okay maybe you haven’t asked but I’m going to tell you anyway. Money…the district is paying for half of this degree but none of the other. Also an MA in C&I allows me do to so much more than an MMH. I would still love to get my MMH one day because it offers more credibility when I write. So far the hardest part about the class I am taking is not the work load; it is the idea that I have to tape myself teaching. Ugh! I do not like to be taped, have my picture taken ect. One good thing I have lost enough weight and toned that I do not look horrible on video.

Why am I concerned with what C&I will allow me to do since I do not plan to leave the classroom anytime soon? Well first some day I would like to be a full-time Academic Coordinator and eventually a Dean of Instruction. This degree allows for that, plus I might be up for another promotion at work, it depends on what the district will allow. My principal wants me to be the EHHS Academic Coordinator next year but I do not want to leave the classroom so she is pushing for it to be like the LCT spot I teach 3 classes and wear the AC job the other half of the day. It would be so fabulous…but I’m not sure the district will approve it. If not I’ll stay AP World History Teacher/Social Studies LCT.

So I am crazy busy but deep down inside I love it. To make it even better it is shaping up that I will be traveling this summer for trainings that are work related.

2010 Goals

I have not set goals for myself in awhile but decided that I would do so this year. So here they are. Yes my sister and my cousin are rubbing off on me, in a good way.

1. Now that I am going back to grad school, changed venues and my degree plan but I am going back. My grad school goal for this semester is to have at least a 3.5.

2. As many of you know I am not the gym type but I do need to work out because of the fibromyalgia. So my goal for this year is to work out for at least 1 hour every day with one day off every 10 days if it is needed. I think this is doable because we got the Wii Fit for Christmas this year and I love it. I’ve worked out everyday for at least an hour and half since December 26th.

3. To outline the first draft of the World War I book I have running around in my head.

4. This one is going to be hard to measure but I want to balance my work and personal life a little bit better than I have in the past year.

5. To get a passport. I am the only one in the family that does not have a passport.

6. To apply and be selected for an AP World History reader position.

I think this is enough considering that I have not set goals for myself in a very long time. They are not resolutions they are goals. I have to keep telling myself that. In the past when I made resolutions and I did not meet them I would be mad at myself. I am hoping that because I am calling them goals I will not be so upset if I do not meet all of them. Wish me luck and I’m off and on my way. Now Bone is rubbing off on me too with the song lyrics. They are close enough to the Carpenter’s “We’ve Only Just Begun”.

Finally

I finally feel like I have something to say in a blog post. After I got over the unconfirmed H1N1 I was so far behind at work and at home I did not have time to write but I also felt drained creatively as well. It took me several weeks to feel like myself again.

As Christmas approached I was still overwhelmed and felt I could not take the time to write before I got all the holiday activities taken care of. While doing so I had lots of thoughts running through my head so here they are in no particular order.

Christmas is so very different once the children of the house are young adults. There are no grandkids yet, which is a good thing, at 19 and 22 they do not need to be making babies. So I was having a hard time getting excited about Christmas. We usually put up a huge tree in the front room but with two weeks before Christmas left and the tree wasn’t even in the house yet we opted to buy a smaller prelit tree. So Paul and I went shopping December 13th right after Church because we had to. We had to go shopping because the MHMR gifts were due at the Church that evening.

For those of you wondering MHMR stands for Mental Health Mental Retardation. It is an organization that provides services to families that have child/children with these issues. Every year our church puts out an MHMR tree and members shop for a child they select. We picked a little boy that needed winter clothes and wanted a tricycle. We got almost everything on his list, I forgot to get pull-ups. We wrapped the gifts and took them to the church. While we were out we did pick up our new tree smaller prelit tree and that was it. I was still not in the mood to shop, I really felt like the Grinch. The tree actually sat in the box for a week before we sat it up.

So the weekend before Christmas I knew shopping had to get done. My love and I went shopping together to purchase family gifts. Tuesday I went to the bike shop to get my love his gift. The Christmas spirit hit me at that moment in time. My love had given me a list of what he needed from the shop. But he had always talked about a Cutter so I asked the shop owner which of the bikes was the Cutter. She showed me the bike that he had talked about for months and I decided to surprise him I got him the bike instead of the things he needed. For those of you that know me and know my love and his bike obsession you understand the big deal that this is. With the help of son #1 and son #2 I got it home, “wrapped” and hid before he got home. This is the front of his bike on Christmas morning. I was still not used to my camera and the idea that I could retake a picture.

With the arrival of December 26th came my Grandmother’s birthday. This year I paid honor to her memory by working a puzzle. My Gram loved puzzles; she always had one going on a card table in her house. So we sat at the table and over the next two days we put the puzzle together and I told my sons stories about their great-grandmother. It was nice. Son #1 had to prove that a round puzzle could be picked up and stay together.

I also got my first digital camera for Christmas and it has been fun learning to use it. One of my first pictures that I took was of the cheesecake that I made for Christmas dinner.
You might be wondering why I took a picture of the cheesecake…it did not crack. My cheesecakes always crack and while it does not ruin the taste it does ruin the presentation.

I brought no work home with me this time. I have cleaned house and I am trying to turn our spare room/junk room into an office/guest room. It is taking me longer than I would like but it is getting done. This is a very big deal I hate cleaning and bringing no work home might make some people think there is something wrong with me.

I have not made a New Years resolution in years but I am actually contemplating making one or two. So with that thought I wish the blogging world a Happy 2010.

Sick

I will start off by saying I hate missing work. It makes me crazy so when I got sick last Saturday I told myself I would be better by Monday. After all grades were due, my students would be writing their first DBQ (document based question) in class and it was the week before Thanksgiving break so it would be hard to find a sub. On top of all of that I was supposed to leave right after work Wednesday evening for Austin. I had a conference to attend with my department. Being sick for more than 24hours was not an option.

So I was really peeved Sunday evening when my body temperature went above 101. I called the on-call doctor and he called in Tamaflu. My building has had confirmed cases of H1N1, the latest case was a teacher that I eat lunch with everyday and that I sat next to during in-service training. I knew that I would not be better Monday so I put in my sub request, and I spit and sputtered the whole time I was filling out the information. Did I say I hate missing work and I really hate being sick, I am not a good patient at all. So much for thinking that the on-call doctor was wrong I was still sick Tuesday and would see my doctor Wednesday.

I went to my doctor Wednesday morning, hopeful that she would say you can go to Austin, just drink lots of water on the trip. That of course was so not what she said. I think she delights in telling me what I do not want to hear, not really but it sure seems that way. Her actual comment was you have an unconfirmed case of H1N1 and there is no reason to run the test at this point because you are on Tamaflu. She also stated that she was not surprised that I have it but was surprised that I had been successful thus far in not getting it. She told me Austin was out of the question and that I was out of work for the rest of the week. As you can imagine I was not a happy camper. She gave me prescription cough medicine and sent me home to rest.

So I came home, called in a sub for the rest of the week and went to sleep. I am still not feeling great but I do not have a fever anymore. Now that Thanksgiving break has officially started I am not worried about missing work.

I am worried that my kids are now behind by a week, lets be honest subs do not really teach they practice crowd control for the day.

One funny dream that was medicine induced did occurred early Wednesday morning. I was in a classroom before I got sick and the teacher had the famous Teddy Roosevelt political cartoon up for the kids to analyze and that must have stayed with me because T.R. was in my dream. In my dream T.R. and I were walking the halls of my school that were now shaped like Latin America but instead of carrying his "big stick" he was carrying a big pink highlighter. He had me by the arm and pointed to the math teachers that were highlighting their data, science and English were doing the same and then we got to my department. They all had their highlighters to mark up the data but they had no data to use. I sat up with a start and texted my principal at 6:30 in the morning because I realized that all the data my department need was still in my classroom. She texted back "no worries" because she brought extra data with her. Oh thank goodness was my response back to her and then I went back to sleep until 1 in the afternoon. At that point I finally admitted I was really sick and stopped thinking about work for about 15 minutes.

So the moral of my story is love your job so much that you hate missing it but if you get sick get to the doctor ASAP to get checked out. Confirmed or unconfirmed H1N1is no fun.