Sick Students=Sick Teachers

Yep, you guessed it! I am sick. One of our sweeties came to school Monday morning coughing and asking to go home. We called his mom and she let us know that he has a doctor appointment scheduled...Thursday! Okay, it's one thing if it's a sprained wrist or something, but in my (smart) opinion, you don't wait three days to go to the doctor when it's a cold. Anyways, he was in school all week coughing all over us (yeah, he never covers his mouth, but instead leans towards you when he needs to cough). Thankfully he is somewhat secluded from the other kids for various reasons, so he was mostly around teachers and not others kids. Anyways, he comes this morning, looking AWFUL and saying his head's on fire. One of my coworkers (who was also not feeling great, like myself this morning) walked him to the office and sure enough he had a 102 fever. We called the mom and she said "yeah, we went to the doctor yesterday and they said that he has a sinus infection AND bronchitis...I was hoping he'd be better today." Really? She sent him to school the very day after he was diagnosed with both of those things? Needless to say, we had her come pick him up. We really like this mom a lot, and I know that some people have a hard time missing work, but I feel so bad that her poor child was miserable and sick all week and still having to go to school, AND exposing all of us to whatever he had too!!
Any who...this afternoon I couldn't bear it anymore, so I went ahead and scheduled an appointment for myself. It turns out that I have a sinus infection (what a coincidence!!!) and an upper respitory infection. I have NEVER once had a sinus infection, but it's not much fun. My whole head hurts (nose, throat, the usual) but my ears hurt a lot, and my doctor said there's lots of fluid in them. Okay, I have a question for those with sinus experience...is it normal for the doctor to turn off the lights and hold a light up to your cheekbone? I've never experienced this, but it is what she did right before she said "you definitely have a sinus infection." I guess she could see the fluid through my skin or something? Hmm...weird. Anyways, I guess I was more sick than I thought I was...she gave me a cortisone shot and an antibiotic shot. Anyone ever had a shot of rocephin? It is probably the most painful shot ever! I had it once when I was a freshmen in college for tonsilitis, and I could hardly walk up the stairs to my dorm for a week because my hip hurt so badly. Luckily my doctor today mixed the rocephin with lidocaine, which made it not feel like she was injecting fireants directly into my blood stream, like it did last time I had roephin. Okay, so two shots is enough, right? Nope...she also gave me an inhaler to help with the upper respitory infection (my chest burns to breathe), a weeks worth of antibiotic pills (which I start tomorrow) and tussionex, which is cough syrup with codene in it. I took some of that earlier because of my achiness, which may be one reason why I am so long winded and wordy in this blog. I'm gonna blame it on the tus-tus-tus-tus-tus tussonex. (get it? like the song?) Anyways (I feel like I've said that a lot today, have I? Oh well, anyways) I am sure that you just learned more than you ever wanted to know about my current health status, and I am quite confident I came across as a little whiny. Sorry. Guess I'll be watching lots of movies this weekend...hopefully I'll be feeling better by Monday. Blah..............
To end on a good note...Molly is feeling MUCH better. She is completely back to her old self! :)

Rollercoaster Weekend

The good part of this weekend was really good, and the bad part of this weekend was really bad. A roller coaster of emotions, if you will. Let's start with the good. Saturday we left around noon to head up to McKinney for Claire's third birthday party. I always love spending time with my cousins and their families, but this was an especially great day. We started out at the Allen Natatorium (for an indoor pool party), then went to Ellen and Breagan's house for cake and presents. Claire was so excited to have everyone there and told "Zaccy" and me several times "thanks for coming to my party!" Very cute. After everyone started leaving their house, we stuck around (as well as Amy and Gian), to visit and laugh. We decided to have dinner together before we headed back to Midlo, so we went to Scotty P's for some yummy burgers. We ended up staying there for almost two hours, just visiting (and the guys watching the Cowboys game). It was finally time to go and we hugged a million times...it was so nice to spend the day together. Here are a few precious pics (although Ellen's were MUCH better than mine)...
Above, my lovely cousins. Below, please notice Nati's sweatshirt!! :)

What a little poser! Haha, too cute! ;)
Ellen made Claire's cake, and it tasted as good as it looked...AMAZING!The happy birthday girl and her proud Mama at the restaurant.
Ready for the bad part? We got home from McKinney (about 10pm) and Molly met us at the door...looking nothing like Molly. She was having some type of allergic reaction, and who knows how long she'd been suffering. This is what she looked like:
Just looking at these pics again makes me hurt.

Her appearance alone made me kind of panic and cry, but the guilt of leaving her all day was unbearable. We never found what it could have been (it looked like she just slept the whole time we were gone, there was no food or trash or anything different than when we left). We gave her a benadryl and a bath (in case it was topical) and tried to calm down a bit. I was very worried that it would start affecting her breathing, so I planned on waking up every 30 minutes to check on her. I didn't have to worry about waking up to check on her though, because all three of us didn't sleep all night. Mols was very restless and uncomfortable and we were worried, so we watched her every move. We finally settled in around 5am, and then she woke up vomiting about 7. It had been eight hours, so we gave her another benadryl and went back to sleep. She woke up throwing up again around 10 so we all got up for good. We thought things were getting better, but around 1 the swelling and itching came back. Hives everywhere. This time it bothered me even more because she'd had two rounds of benadryl, so why in the world was this still happening? It also has been driving me mad that we don't know what caused it. Anyways, she wasn't allowed to have another benadryl until 3:30, and it obviously wasn't working much anyways, so we took her to the doctor. Of course, being a Sunday we had to take her to an Animal Hospital, which automatically means super expensive, but it's our baby, the money wasn't even a thought. The vet gave her an IV with steroids and we sat and waited. He would normally give her a benadryl shot (fast acting) but since she'd had two doses in the past 14 hours, he didn't want to overdose her. We watched and the bumps slowly started going down a bit. It was pretty pathetic...bless her heart. This is what she looked like when she was "better" and we took her home.

It was a long and horrible night and day. I am doing better now that I think she is started to get better, but for awhile, I thought my heart was going to break in half. I HATE seeing her in pain, and she's a dog...I pray my kid never looks so pathetic, because I don't know how I will handle it. That probably sounds dramatic, but I really felt weak today, the sadness was taking over me. :( I love that girl so much. I know people who don't have a pet like that probably don't understand, but she is a part of our family, and when she is miserable, Zac and I are miserable too. Haha, we were probably more upset today than she was.
Thank goodness we had such a wonderful day Saturday to make up for our rocky night and Sunday. Okay, enjoy this cute video. Ellen, Braegan, Amy, and Gian love The Office, so they borrowed this little practice from the show, and it has now become a family tradition for them. I love it! :)

It's been too long!

Sorry that it has been SO long since I last blogged. Don't worry, I have been okay, in fact, I have been GREAT! Let's see...I graduated college, had a party, spent the night at a 5-star resort with my favorite coworkers, had an important doctor appointment, was blessed with my first nephew Owen (and was there when he was born), had not-one-but-TWO great Christmases, had a blast with PO5 (we went bowling!!!) and I had a nice New Years Eve with Ramsi and Bez. I have been busy, but happy!





I got to stay home because school was closed today, due to extremely cold weather and icy roads. I'm not a fan of cold weather at all. However...I am a fan of kids singing, and especially when it's one of my nieces!! :) Enjoy!

Third Annual Wine Night

My best friend Stacy has a tradition that once a year she hosts a wine and cheese party, known as "Wine Night!" It has evolved, and gotten bigger and better each year. Here is how it works, and why it is so amazing:
1. Each guest brings a bottle of wine, which gets covered in gift wrap by the hosts. This encourages people to try new types and brands of wine. It is also necessary because we vote at the end of the night for our favorite white, and favorite red, and this makes the voting more about the taste and not who brought it or what the bottle looks like.
2. The hosts serve an amazing plethora of cheese, fruit, and crackers. The cheese MIGHT be my favorite part. In fact, as far as I am concerned, it could be called "Cheese Night" and just have a little wine there to wash it down. :) I love trying new kinds of cheese that I have never had, or don't usually buy or eat. It's a little treat for my tastebuds!
3. We got to excersize while we ate and drank! Courtney (Stacy's roomie) has a Wii and owns "Just Dance" a choreography game where you dance along for points. It's like Guitar Hero, but dancing, aka, SO SUPER FUN!!
4. There are PRIZES! Best White and Best Red each win a gift, and, there are party favors for everyone...what amazing hosts indeed!
5. Everyone looks very pretty, and this year, we were especially beautiful on the inside too, because we all brought canned goods to be donated to a local food bank! Good call on that idea Stacy, Courtney and Nicole!
Please see the video below to experience the fun and silliness we created this year! (at the end of our music videos, there are still pictures)

Here are a few pics from Wine Night 2007...

And Wine Night 2008...


I don't care how far away I live from Stacy, every year she hosts a Wine Night, I will be there! Even if I have to drive in JUST for the weekend! :)

Brothers

We saw Brothers today, and I am still not sure how I feel about it. This is just a quick review, and I will not give ANYTHING away. I enjoyed the whole movie while I was there, and it definitely had the potential to be amazing, but for some reason I thought it fell short. I don't know...I just left disappointed. I did love the actors (including the child actors) and thought they did an amazing job. It's just a heavy subject, especially knowing that we are currently at war, and situations like this are probably more common than we realize. Anyways, I am glad I saw it, but I am sad that it wasn't quite what I thought it would be. Oh well.
Have any of y'all seen it? Thoughts? Any other movie recommendations?

Movies

I just realized that there are tons of movies out (or coming out) that I want to see. Here is a list:

Invictus
Everybody's Fine
Brothers
Precious
Remember Me
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
It's Complicated
Up In The Air

As you see, I have a lot of viewing to do! I will now be taking dates/reservations/requests. Who wants to go with me, and which show? Which movies do y'all wanna see?

On Monday I am going with my class to see The Princess and The Frog! Since we are a middle school, we are not allowed to have a Christmas Party, so our teacher started a tradition a few years ago, that we take the kids to Studio Movie Grill and they get lunch, popcorn, and a movie. It should be lots of fun!!

Live like we're dying...

I like this song a lot. Fun sound and nice message too. Enjoy...

Sometimes we fall down and cant get back up
Were hiding behind skin that's too tough
How come we don't say I love you enough
Till its to late, its not too late
Our hearts are hungry for a food that wont come
We could make a feast from these crumbs
And were all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you
What would you wish you would've done
Yeah gotta start
Lookin' at the hand of the time we've been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start pickin' it
Every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
Gotta live like were dying
We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell em that we love em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like were dying
And if your plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbyes
Should be so careful who we live out our lives
So when we long for absolution
There'll no one on the line
Yeah gotta start
Lookin at the hand of the time weve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start pickin it
Every second counts on a clock thats tickin
Gotta live like were dying
We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell em that we love em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like were dying
Like were dying oh - like were dying [x2]
We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell em that we love em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live - like were dying
We never know a good thing till its gone
You never see a crash until its head on
All those people right when were dead wrong
You never know a good thing till its gone
Yeah gotta start
Lookin at the hand of the time weve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start livin it
Every second counts on a clock thats tickin
Gotta live like were dying
We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell em that we love em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like were dying
Like were dying oh - like were dying [x2]
We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell em that we love em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like were dying
Live like were dying

Spectrum of Emotions

Today I woke up late. I have to be at work at 8 and I woke up at 7:48. Luckily, I live less than a mile from school, and I picked out my clothes the night before. I was in the building at 8:03, but what a horrible way to start the day.
It was a day I will never forget though. It was my last day of college classes. Throughout the day I was stressed about my finals. I was nervous and anxious. After class I was so happy that I was giddy. On the way home I called Mom and left her a silly voicemail (some of it might have been in song). When I turned on our street though, I became suddenly emotional. I pulled into our garage and tears filled my eyes. I parked and walked across the street to get the mail. By this time I was truly crying, and I just kept thinking "I did it! I did it! I really did it!" I felt so proud, and felt like I was flying, like I could do anything I put my mind to. It was the best feeling.
I had finished the tear-fest by the time I walked in the door, but then Zac gave me the best hug and made me start crying all over again. I was crying out of relief, joy, and personal accomplishment. Like years of stress, frustration, and hard work had finally paid off! Sigh...
A very long time ago, I told Zac that IF and WHEN I ever graduate college, I wanted this certain charm from James Avery. Guess what was waiting on me when I got home tonight? I am one lucky lady!

My list...

So many times, I have said I wanted to create a list of dreams that I want to fulfill. I said it when I watched The Bucket List (great flick) and then again when I read my cousin Matt's list of 101 things he wants to accomplish in 1001 days. It's impressive!
This is not a formal list, but here are a few things I hope to do in the next 24 months, in no particular order...
-graduate college
-go to Europe (Spain in particular)
-attend a bullfight
-speak Spanish with the Natives (with confidence and success)
-train and compete in some type of race (5k or something)
-have a pregnancy or experience the process of adoption
-get my first teaching job
-grow my hair out long again
-quit biting my nails
-start saving more money
-travel w/Zac to San Fransisco (he's been wanting to take me for 7 years now)
-see Lady Gaga live in concert
-move to Austin
-find a church we love and join it
-BE A MOMMY!!!!!!

Twins!

I have always had an obsession with multiples, like twins and triplets. (I am the same person who wanted to have quintuplet girls, so I could name them Kacey, Lacey, Stacy, Tracy, Macy!) I thought this video looked SO interesting...I want to see the show it is previewing! Crazy!



PS-Has anyone else seen THIS movie? My sister and I used to watch it, and it also fascinated me. This story kind of reminds me of that movie!