T.M.I.

I don't want to go into too many details about this week and the problem I've faced, but let's just say it's included two trips to the doctor, two heavy-duty antibiotics, and a lot of resting this weekend.  If you saw me at all this week, you would've probably said I looked fine.  Like nothing was wrong.  There was. 

I'm happy to report that I am almost back to "normal".  The metalic taste in my mouth (from the antibiotic), the dizziness (again, those drugs), and the discomfort from this "problem" still couldn't ruin my weekend.  Even the fact that the doc wanted to see me first thing Sat. morning, which for his office means a ridiculously early appointment of 7:45 am, I handled quite well.  We all know I'm not much of a morning person.  Which is why I chose to sleep in today and not go to church.  I was actually looking forward to a quiet morning home alone.   Not to be.  My husband decided to let Alisha sleep in (translation: she is very difficult to wake up and it's easier to go without her) and Rebekah too (she probaly mumbled some thing like "two more minutes" and he just never tried to wake her again.)    I can't say I blame him.  First the fight to get them awake, then the battle over what they are going to wear.  It's not even an issue of style of dress (jeans and tshirts for us, Sunday morning service or not), but usually, "you wore that yesterday and it's not clean." 

It was still a good morning.  I read my Bible for a bit and then enjoyed a bowl of Cheerios and a cup of coffee while checking all my favorite blogs.  I have a ton of school work to do today, and of course the laundry is always needing to be done.  As long as they have clean undies and uniforms for school tomorrow I'll be satisfied.  

Are those blueberries?

As it rains and I'm sipping my sweet cranberry tea, I think back to the great weekend I had.  It's been a long time since I've felt so good about life.  Besides the trip to the Dunes on Monday, on Sunday I went to Schaumburg with my friend Ericka.  I spent more than I should've to eat dinner at Bahama Breeze, but it was so worth it.  I got most of the things I needed at IKEA, but that store is overwhelming with great things and so many choices, that I did forget two things.  Which is really ok, because then I need to go again:-)  Marissa wants to spend a day at the Woodfield mall for her birthday (coming up soon!), so maybe I'll get back there then. 

There were some new shops that I got to experience at the mall on Sunday.  Teavana is tea heaven if you are into drinking tea.  That's where I got the sweet cranberry tea that I'm drinking now, mmm!  You know I love my coffee, but there is something about a good cup of tea on a rainy, gray afternoon. 

One thing we tried (just so we could say we did) was something I shall never consume again!  It's called "bubble tea", and we got it at Chill Bubble Tea.  Smoothies with tea?  Cool!   Now, maybe I just live under a rock, or maybe this is a new craze, but anything with the slogan "have your drink and eat it too" sounds good when you're hungry from all that shopping.  Ericka ordered the banana coconut and I got the mango.  It looked like it was going to be great when they started throwing big chunks of fruit into the blenders.  When they asked if we wanted it with the tapioca pearls we said sure, why not (we were thinking of the little, clear tapioca things in pudding.)   They proceeded to put these large, black shiny things (might they be blueberries?) into cups and then pouring our fruit smoothie on top of it.  What is this??   Not to look completely stupid we grabbed some straws and walked off.  Ericka is way braver than I and sucked one of these "tapioca pearls" up and ate it.  Her response, "Very chewy.  Doesn't taste like anything."  My response, "Ew!"  The fruit smoothie part was great, but those slimy, black, chewy things are disgusting.  I managed to drink most of my mango while avoiding all those nasty tapioca pearls.  The lesson is this, when they ask if you want tapioca pearls in your drink, say NO!  (Go here to see a picture and then tell me, could you drink something that looks like it has fish eggs in the bottom of your glass??)

An Ode to Mt. Baldy

In celebration of the last "official" day of summer (even though today it's 95!!), I offer this ode to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Park.  I finally got to go, Mimi!

On top of Mt. Baldy, all covered in sand. 

We had a great time getting a tan.

We ran down the sand dune, and crashed to the shore.

It was great fun, but we still wanted more.

We splashed in the water and got our feet wet,

Still those girls of mine had more to do yet.

They said, "Oh Mommy, can we please jump right in?

It's so very hot now, and we really can swim."

So I let them jump in fully clothed and all,

They had a great time, yes, they had a ball!

They swam in the water and played in the sands,

Found some pretty rocks to carry in hands.

On our way home all sandy and wet,

Some of us napped while in traffice we set.   (I'm running out of rhymes!)

On top of Mt. Baldy sitting in the sun, was the very best way to end summer in fun! 

Sugar Overdose

I just now finished the rest of my Key Lime Pie from Bahama Breeze.  Dinner was so good that I finished each and every bite, but could only eat part of  my dessert.  I am so stuffed, but had to finish it when I got home.  I blame it on the hour long drive home.  Now I'm thinking that was not the best idea.  It is very, very sweet, and now I'm very, very full.  Maybe I'll have extra sweet dreams because of Rebecca's Key Lime Pie. 

Soccer Mom

It's official.  Bekah and Alisha had their first soccer games this morning.  I am now a soccer mom.  I actually enjoyed sitting out there in the sun.  It got hot toward the end, but it was so nice just to sit and chat with other parents and not have anything else to occupy my time or my mind.  I just allowed myself to enjoy the games.  They played well (I think.)  I know nothing. Ok, less than nothing about soccer.  During half time Alisha's coach came to tell me her shoes aren't fitting her properly and she was limping.  She finished the game, even getting 3 goals, but has a nice, big blister to show for it.  Guess we'll be shopping for some new cleats this weekend. 

I'm doing much better.  I saw a new doctor last week, and I'm on some new meds.  They won't take full effect for a couple weeks, but the antibiotic has taken away the sore throat and earache, so that is a huge inprovement.  Getting a lot of sleep last night helped too.  I am looking forward to tomorrow.  My friend and I are going to spend the day in Schaumburgh at the IKEA, and eating at my favorite restaurant.  I'm sure we'll stop at the Land's End Inlet, and the mall.  I'm so excited to just have a fun day out.  On Monday I plan on sleeping in.  No alarm, just waking up whenever my body says it's had enough sleep.  Oh yeah!   That is my kind of weekend!

I Will Survive

There are a few blogs that I must check daily.  One of them is Mercy Me's blog, or rather S.L.O.B. (Spectacular League of Bloggers.)  Besides loving their music and their blog, these guys are hilarious.  You should go check out their latest cover tune.  It's one of the only things that made me laugh out loud today.   If you really have some time to kill, or need a good laugh, go watch all their other CTGB (cover tune grab bags.)  Ice, Ice Baby and Thriller were some of my favorites.  It's good stuff!

Broken Record

I really wish I had something more interesting to say than I'm tired, but I don't.  The girls had soccer practice tonight and I stayed inside the church where they play and used the tables in their cafe to sort school papers.  Some of the other parents were friendly and asked what I was doing.  Others looked at me like I was an annoyance (I don't know why, I only took up 3 out of 30 tables!)  And still others looked at me like I was the village idiot.  Why do I even care what they think? 

We did stop at the candy store on the way home:-)  Not good for the diet, but great for morale.  I got some assorted chocolate covered nuts, and some pineapple gummy bears.  I know, I'm weird.  The kids got all kinds of horrible sour stuff.  You'd think a sugar high from eating some of the candy would improve my outlook and get me through the rest of the night.  Guess not.

To be quite honest, the battle with depression and the downward spiral is on.  Some days are better than others, and I seem to have had a run of the bad kind.  I know I need to make an appt. with the doc to see about changing my meds.  I just keep putting it off.  I don't know why.  Just 'cause I don't feel like dealing with it.   I'll deal tomorrow.

Teacher's Homework

After surviving the first week of school, I have done nothing this weekend.  I read a book (all 412 pages of it), and slept almost 12 hours straight.  That's about it.  

I did learn something today, though.  The definition of a true friend.  She is someone who knows you so well that she doesn't call you before 10am on a Saturday.  Because she's an early bird (and you're not) she gets up and drives an hour to Trader Joe's, and while she's there she buys you your favorite things.  Like crackers and hummus.  Then at a respectable hour of noon or there after she calls and says she's close by and wants to drop something off.  Oh, and while she's out shopping at your most hated store she calls to tell you she found that they are now carrying your most beloved snack cakes.  The ones you can only get in Pennsylvania and haven't had in months!  And because she is such a good friend she buys the Butterscotch Krimpets for you so you don't have to darken the door of that place.  At least until you need some more.

As a parting thought and to gain some sympathy (or pity) here is my homework for the weekend:

I have to pull all the pages out of these 45 workbooks and sort them by lesson.  At least it's fairly mindless and I can catch up on the last two months of John and Kate plus 8. 

What I Learned on the First Day of School

1. My name is really "teacher".

2.  I can actually go from 6am to 10:00 pm without sitting down and not die. 

3.  I still hate packing lunches.

4.  Parents who send things in to school pre-labeled rock!!

5.  When being bombarded with 15 four and five years olds, their new back packs, and school supplies in a 10 minute time period it's best to not cry.  Even though you want to.

6.  When making a list of school supplies needed for your classroom and you request 2 large boxes of kleenex, make sure to specify that they should be full and not empty boxes. 

7.  Bring throat drops the first day of school because you will start to lose your voice as you probably haven't talked that loud or for such an extended period of time all summer. 

8.  Going to the grocery store when you are really tired and really hungy after the first day of school,  is not a good idea.  You'll find as you unload your groceries that english muffins with cream cheese and apple butter sounded good at the time.  These are 3 items I rarely ever buy, and only briefly thought I would eat together. 

9.  Coffee is definitely a teacher's best friend. 

10.  It's going to be a challenging, but good year:-)

I'm Alive!

What a week!  Now I'm smack dab in the middle of the weekend, and the minutes are rushing by. 

Thanks for all the name suggestions and voting.  Final count was 4 votes for Marcus and 7 for Max.  So, Max it is!  Besides, after thinking about it some more Max is the best choice because it only has 3 letters, and pretty soon the kids will be able to sound his name out themselves.  Thanks for the help.

I am feeling much better, and even looked pretty good today.  We had a wedding this morning, and the reception is in a few hours.  I got my hair cut this morning, so it actually looks like I have a style.  I even bought a new dress for the wedding, and then spent most of the time feeling extremely self-conscious in it.  It's way cute, but let's just say when one is well-endowed, it's really hard to find dresses that don't show it off.  At least the ones I found.   I will be wearing something else to the reception. 

I spent some time this afternoon finding my bedroom and kitchen under all the junk that seems to accumulate when I'm not here.  How does that happen?  Oh yeah, my other four family members are home all day.  Phil has been on vacation and has been able to be home with the girls while I'm getting my classroom ready.  It's getting there.  I'll have pictures soon. 

Right now in this moment I don't even want to think about this week ahead.  I'll deal with the right now.  Which means I need to go to the store!  We're out of just about everything.   Why do things fall apart when mom is busy with other things?  I guess it's good to be needed, and I'll look at it as job security.