My Sister's Wedding

I am leaving tomorrow for my darling sister's wedding. She is marring an amazing man on Saturday. I am flying down to Charleston, SC to get the party started. We are having a bachelorette party on Thursday, manicures and pedicures on Friday along with the rehearsal and rehersal dinner, Saturday it is hair and the wedding and Sunday and Monday Chad and I are going to see the sights! Should be LOTS of fun!
Tuesday SCHOOL STARTS! BUSY BUSY!

Tag! I'm it!

Becky, a former and future parent in my classroom has tagged me. The task is to list 8 jobs I have had or currently have. Here goes:
Babysitter:
From the age of 11 I babysat for a million kids in my parent's old neighborhood. People literally fought over me. I found it hillarious! I also worked at my Aunt Trudy's daycare for a while when I was in high school.

Bob Evans:
My first real job. I was a hostess and a waitress. It was a good job and it helps me to realize how hard people work in the restaurant business.

Jack's Fruit Market:
This was basically a small grocery store where I was a cashier and "worked the floor" filling the cheese and dairy case, chips, grocery, banana table, bulk candy, cookies, etc. It was a fun job for a while.

Day Camp Counselor:
One summer I worked as a camp counselor at a Christian day camp. I really loved it.

College Student:
As an undergrad and a graduate student I have found this to be one of the most important jobs I have participated in.

Student Ambassador/Tour Guide:
As a student at Western Michigan University I worked in a variety of jobs in the Student Ambassador office. We were like a welcome wagon for potential students. I liked giving tours and setting up special tours for school groups.

Hampton Inn Front Desk:
I worked for two different Hampton Inns for two different summers. I really liked that job, not too labor intensive except you can't sit down. Sometimes it was CRAZY busy and sometimes it was so boring that I couldn't stand it.

Kindergarten Teacher:
This is obvously what I would call my career. I find this to be my true calling and my passion in life. I LOVE being a teacher. I can't wait to meet my new kids and although this is the most exhausting job I have ever had, it is by far the most rewarding. I mean, I literally teach children how to read! That is a huge responsiblity and one I don't take lightly.

Thanks Becky, that was a fun survey. For being 26 years old I have done a few different jobs. I am glad that I did each of them because it kept me going through college to do the job that I love, but it wasn't easy. I guess it helps me to remember that I didn't have everything handed to me. I have worked straight through since I have been 11 years old. Most of the time I did two jobs at once. I guess that is why taking 3 classes this summer seemed do-able to me. I always do too much, oh well. I hope one of my next jobs includes the word "mom".

I Feel Antsy!

It may be the change of weather (very cold and rainy for August) or that the new school year is starting but I am feeling quite antsy as of late. I want all new furniture, home decorations, paint, hardwood floors, all new clothes and everything else. I want everything to be new, pretty, classy, and clean. I think there are just a lot of changes going on and it is unsettling. In that way, I want to settle things and nest in here.
My sister is getting married in like 10 days, which is incredible and long overdue. I just want a bit of a change. Maybe new curtains in the dining room will be enough to pacify me. I am going outlet shopping with my friend Kacey so maybe I will convince here to stop by Linens 'n' Things or an outlet store that sells curtains.
I tried cooking new things for dinner and it was a success. I still feel like I need more of a change. I guess I just feel like many other people in the world. I just like a little change up. Of course a new school year and all new kids could probably help the need for change!
I hope all is well with everyone! I hope my brain settles down soon!

Getting my classroom together!

I love going into my classroom at the end of the summer to get things put together. It is so fun to get a fresh start, a new classlist, and a new setup in the classroom. I am going to have my classroom set up in a new way again this year, as I do every year just to mix things up. I am not sure about my boards or posters as I like a bit of a change there too. I haven't had a lot of time to spend in my room yet so we will see how much gets done before we have to take off to see my sister for her WEDDING on Labor Day weekend!
I am happy to get things going. As Chad always says, I always look forward to the summer but I am actually a lot happier when I am working. My job is NOT easy and it is exhausting but I do love my job. I get very bored, very quickly in the summer. This summer I was extremely busy with classes and workshops and everything else but I still got bored on the off times. I will be happy when I am a bit busier.
I can't wait to meet my new kids. Well, I met most of them at Kindergarten roundup in the Spring but at that point they aren't my kids in my classroom yet. It is impossible to get to know all of the future Kindergarteners at round up but when they start coming in for back to school night and orientation, they are my kids. I can finally open myself up to them and get to know more and more about them. Generally I learn all of their names by the second hour of the first day. I have their pictures from roundup so it is easier for me to remember them a bit but it will be fun to get to know their personalities and how they will interact with each other.
Oh well, that is enough musing for today. Have a wonderful day one and all!

I've been sick, very sick

So, for the past 3 days I have been very sick. I have been to the doctor twice, had bloodwork and a CT scan done, started a new (and very expensive) medication and today it was still bad enough to call the after-hours number at the doctor's office.
This isn't new really. I have felt about the same way for about 2 months and honestly I have felt this way before. I have had about 5 other tests and seen a specialist about a year and a half ago. They all say the same thing. I have a chronic, lifelong condition known as ulcerative colitis. It is an inflamation of the colon. It doesn't sound so bad, but unfortunately it is. The way the disease works is that you can either be in a flare up or in a remission period. I have been in remission since March of 2006. In May, things started up again and they have gone strong since.
Basically, I have a constant stomach ache. Somedays better, some days worse but it is always there. It can be a twisty pain, or a dull ache, or a burning, or a stabbing. I have constant painful gas (usually burps) and overall I just feel junky. I had bloodwork done on Tuesday and they tested my inflamation or SED rate. Normal SED rate is from 0-20. Mine is at 40! I am quite inflamed :)
So tonight I was in a lot of pain and it was so bad that I called to see if anything else could be done. The on-call doctor was very nice but basically said that I had to let my new medicine work (even though I was at a pain level of 7 out of 10 for an hour and a half straight). She also told me that my new medicine could cause stomach cramping (thanks, I need more pain in my stomach!) So, that is what I have been doing since Tuesday. Mostly I just lay around and moan about my tummyache and wear loose pants. I haven't cooked in days and I feel pretty junky. I took a nap and now I feel a bit better. I am hopefull that I will feel much better soon and my new UC medicine will get me into remission phase soon and that I will stay in remission for a long time.
I hope everyone is well and I will post something more exciting soon!

Okay, so we are farmers now!

Well, one day in early June we decided that we were bored so we went to Lowe's and spent $10 on two pepper plants and a few packets of seeds. Everyone said we started too late and that the seeds probably wouldn't amount to much. Well, we thought, what do we have to lose? So, we planted green peppers, red peppers, cantelope, cucumbers, and pumpkins in our garden way in the back of our yard. Over the past couple of months we saw the plants sprout and then all of a sudden there were huge creeping vines in our vegetable garden beds. I kept looking for a harvest but found nothing.

On Sunday, Chad called me way out to the gardens and said, "you won't believe all of the vegetables we have." I didn't believe him. I told him that I wasn't going out there and that he was mean for teasing me about my garden of leaves. I went out anyway and found this...

And then after we saw all of our plants we waited a few days and the vegetables got bigger and bigger. We have had some good rain and hot temps so today I had my first big harvest. Let me just say there is a LOT more where this came from!

Does anyone have a good recipe for cucumbers?

Have a good day everyone!

By the way . . . My Projects are DONE!

I just have to say that my big papers are written, my big powerpoint presentation is done and after tomorrows class ends at 4:50 p.m., I will be officially done with 3 master's classes! WHOO WHOOOOOOO! I can't wait to FINALLY start my summer off! I am LOVING it!

That's all for now, I am going to enjoy a nice relaxing hour with NOTHING to do!